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Born into a diaspora family, the new patriarch lost his grandparents in the 1915genocide. His orphaned father was welcomed at Castel Gandolfo at the behest of Benedict XV. Raphael Bedros welcomed Francis during his visit to Armenia in 2016, stressing Armenians "debt of gratitude to the pontiff. When the Pope received the new patriarch, he emphasised the "joy" of the Armenian people.

Rome (AsiaNews) - The Armenian Catholic community has a new patriarch.

The Synod of Bishops of the Patriarchal Church of Cilicia of the Armenians (Lebanon), convened by Pope Francis in Rome on 22 and 23 September, elected Mgr Raphael Francois Minassian.

Hitherto Titular Archbishop of Caesarea of Cappadocia of the Armenians and Ordinary for the Armenian Catholic faithful of Eastern Europe, the new patriarch took the name of His Beatitude Raphael Bedros (Peter) XXI Minassian upon his election.

This morning Pope Francis met the new patriarch in audience, to whom he granted the Ecclesiastica Communio and delivered a letter in which he joins the "joy" of the Armenian Catholic people who were waiting for their pastor.

The election, the pontiff writes, has come at a time when people are particularly burdened by various challenges. I am thinking of the suffering in Syria and Lebanon  countries where the Church of Cilicia of the Armenians is present  as well as the pandemic, which is still far from being overcome in many parts of the world.

We know the Armenian people as expert in suffering, because of the many trials throughout its more than 1,700 years of Christian history, but also because of its inexhaustible capacity to flourish and bear fruit.

The Armenian Church is fully integrated in the affairs of the Armenian people, preserving their memory and traditions, and at the same time deeply linked to the Successor of the Apostle Peter.

In concluding, Francis writes: I entrust to you the care of the younger generations, the promotion of vocations, the wise harmony you must be able to find between the different entities of your community.

The new patriarch was born in Beirut on 24 November 1946. He attended the Patriarchal Seminary in Bzommar (1958-1967), and studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University between 1967 and 1973. His studies include a specialisation course in psycho-pedagogy at the Pontifical Salesian University.

He was ordained into the priesthood on 24 June 1973 as a member of the Patriarchal Congregation of Bzommar (Institut du Clerge Patriarcal de Bzommar). From 1973 to 1982 he served as parish priest at the Armenian Cathedral in Beirut.

From 1982 to 1984, he was secretary to Patriarch Hovannes Bedros XVIII Kasparian. He was responsible for setting up the parish complex of the Holy Cross in Zalka, Beirut, from 1984 to 1989.

From 1985 to 1989, he was judge at the ecclesiastical tribunal of the Armenian Church in Beirut, and taught Armenian liturgy at the Pontifical University of Kaslik.

Soon after he was transferred to the United States, where he served as a parish priest in New York for a year. Later, until 2003, he was parish priest for Armenian Catholics in California, Arizona and Nevada.

In 2004 he founded and directed Telepace Armenia, while the following year he was appointed Patriarchal Exarch of Jerusalem and Amman for the Armenians.

On 24 June 2011 he was appointed Ordinary for Armenian Catholics in Eastern Europe, with the titular episcopal see of Caesarea of Cappadocia of the Armenians and the title of Archbishop ad personam.

A former president of Caritas Armenia, he comes from a diaspora family of the Armenian-Catholic Church, which broke away the Armenian Apostolic Church and entered into communion with the Holy See in 1742.

His grandparents died in the Armenian genocide, which he has strongly denounced over the years, while offering words of dialogue and reconciliation to the Turkish people.

His orphaned father was saved in 1919 and brought with hundreds of other children to Castel Gandolfo at the behest of Pope Benedict XV.

From 24 to 26 June 2016, then Archbishop Minassian welcomed Pope Francis during his apostolic visit to Armenia.

Speaking to AsiaNews on that occasion, the future patriarch underlined the "clear and simple words used by the pontiff in commemorating the Armenian genocide at the Vatican in April 2015, the first of the 20th century, which is why we have a debt of gratitude towards him.

Some of the most poignant moments of the papal visit, which had double value, were the solemn Mass in Gyumri and the ecumenical prayer for peace in Yerevan.

During the visit, Francis showed that he cares for the Armenian people and the country as the first Christian nation in history that bore witness to its faith for centuries in martyrdom.

While the pontiff has special affection for the Armenian people, Armenians are grateful to the Pope for speaking so boldly before the world about the Armenian genocide of 1915.
NorthShore University HealthSystem Must Obey the Law

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Liberty Counsel

Oct 1, 2021



EVANSTON, Ill., Oct 1, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ -- Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to NorthShore University HealthSystem on behalf of 14 health care workers and numerous others who have been unlawfully discriminated against and denied religious exemptions from the COVID shot mandate.

NorthShore must immediately obey the law and provide reasonable accommodations to its employees to avoid litigation.

In their religious exemption requests, the health care workers that Liberty Counsel represents all included their sincerely held religious beliefs against abortion and the connection of all available COVID injections to aborted fetal cell lines. In fact, all three of the currently available COVID injections are produced by, derived from, manufactured with, tested on, developed with, or otherwise connected to or "associated" with aborted fetal cell lines.

NorthShore previously granted exemptions for some employees but then denied them in mid-September. Those denials were either without explanation or because the requests failed to meet some so-called "evidence-based criteria" that NorthShore never provided the employees in advance. NorthShore then only gave employees three business days to file an appeal without stating what was missing in the original application. In that appeal, NorthShore also apparently judged the validity of their religious beliefs by requiring them to include their entire vaccination history since the age of eighteen. However, NorthShore never requested employees to provide prior vaccine information in their initial exemption requests.

After denying these employees, NorthShore also changed its exemption form to include a warning that all religious objections based on "aborted fetal cell lines, stem cells, tissue or derivative materials will result in denials." NorthShore is falsely deceptive in that form by stating that the COVID-19 injections have no link to aborted fetal cell lines and refuting the religious beliefs of health care workers who object to the undeniable connection of the injections to aborted fetal cell lines.

Illinois law dictates that employees at NorthShore University HealthSystem have the fundamental right to determine what medical care to accept and refuse. In fact, Illinois has a Health Care Right of Conscience Act that provides strong protection to all residents against discrimination based on health care choices. It states: "It shall be unlawful for any person, public or private institution, or public official to discriminate against any person in any manner, including but not limited to, licensing, hiring, promotion, or any other privileges, because of such person's conscientious refusal to receive, obtain, accept or participate in any way in any particular form of health care services contrary to his or her conscience" (emphasis added).

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, "NorthShore University HealthSystem must obey state and federal law and grant reasonable accommodations to its employees whose sincere religious beliefs prohibit them from receiving these COVID shots. NorthShore must also revise its deceptive and unlawful religious exemption form."

Liberty Counsel provides broadcast quality TV interviews via Hi-Def Skype and LTN at no cost.



SOURCE Liberty Counsel



CONTACT: Mat Staver, 407-875-1776, Liberty@LC.org



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Rutherford Institute Asks SCOTUS to Protect the Right to Speak Against Government Corruption Without Legislative Retaliation

NEWS PROVIDED BY

The Rutherford Institute

Oct. 1, 2021



WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Rutherford Institute has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the First Amendment right of all Americans to speak out against government misconduct, corruption and abuse of power without fear of retaliation.



In an amicus brief in Houston Community College System v. Wilson, attorneys for The Rutherford Institute, the ACLU and the Institute for Free Speech are challenging the power of legislative bodies to censure and penalize their members for speaking out about matters of public concern, especially when such punitive actions result in tangible losses.

"At its core, the First Amendment is intended to protect the right of all Americans to criticize government officials without fear of retaliation. In fact, the First Amendment does more than give us a right to criticize our countryit makes it a civic duty," said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. "Any legislature that seeks to censure and punish a member for exercising that right to free speech is not only suppressing that member's speech but suppressing the constituents represented by that individual."

Historically, legislatures have been empowered to publicly discipline their members through the act of "censure." However, that power to censure public officials for criticizing legislative bodies about matters of public concern has increasingly come under scrutiny in recent years. For example, David Wilson, who served on the Board of Trustees of the Houston Community College System (HCC) from 2013-2019, was censured while serving as a trustee for challenging Board practices which he believed to be corrupt. The Board's bylaws set rules for the conduct of trustees and allows the Board to censure trustees who violate those rules. The HCC oversees the operations of public community colleges in the greater Houston area. While the HCC's Board has significant government powers, including the power to tax, exercise eminent domain and control the budget of the system, it has been plagued with allegations of corruption and self-dealing that have resulted in numerous investigations of Board trustees and a federal indictment of a trustee for extortion and bribery.

Wilson has been vocal about his opposition to corruption and mismanagement and has publicly criticized the HCC Board for its highly-controversial decision to establish a community college in Qatar and for trustees taking favors from Qatar officials. Wilson also launched a telephone campaign to blow the whistle on how HCC funds were being misspent on the Qatar college and other projects, and filed a lawsuit to prevent Board members from violating the bylaws by voting remotely. In response, the Board adopted a resolution censuring and disciplining Wilson, making him ineligible for officer positions on the Board and for reimbursement of college-related travel, and restricting his access to funds for community affairs. Wilson again sued the Board, claiming that his censure and the punishments imposed constitute retaliation for his speech in violation of the First Amendment. Although his constitutional claim was dismissed by the district court, the federal circuit court reinstated the lawsuit, acknowledging that the censure was intended as retaliation. In their amicus brief before the Supreme Court, The Rutherford Institute and its coalition partners argue that because Wilson suffered tangible losses, such as being denied access to funds, he is entitled to the First Amendment's protection against government retaliation for speech on matters of public concern.

The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties organization, provides legal assistance at no charge to individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated and educates the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting their freedoms.

The coalition's amicus brief in Houston Community College System v. Wilson is available at www.rutherford.org.



SOURCE The Rutherford Institute



CONTACT: Nisha Whitehead, 434-978-3888 ext. 604, nisha@rutherford.org


300 vaccine refrigerators arrive in Vietnam, thanks to support from Japan and UNICEF

300 vaccine refrigerators funded by Japan and procured by UNICEF have arrived in the country as support for Vietnam's vaccination efforts, UNICEF announced on Friday.













200 vaccine refrigerators, funded by the Government of Japan and procured through UNICEF, arrive in Hai Phong City.  Photo Courtesy of UNICEF



The refrigerators, 200 of which landed in Hai Phong City Port today and 100 in HCM City Port in September, will be delivered to 300 provincial and district health facilities in Vietnam, where they will be used to store COVID-19 vaccines.



The delivery is a part of UNICEFs ongoing efforts to improve cold chain systems in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. The Government of Japan is a long-time partner and supporter of UNICEF Vietnam.



This support is aimed at delivering vaccines to each and every person in all corners of Vietnam, which will complement the efforts of the COVAX Facility. Japan will continue to support Vietnamese efforts to deploy vaccines to every person in the country with a view to containing COVID-19 as quickly as possible, said Takio Yamada, the Japanese Ambassador to Viet Nam.



UNICEF has worked with the Ministry of Health to assess 'cold chain' capacity to ensure the safe and efficient transport and storage of vaccines.



This support from the Government of Japan will help ensure cold chain capacity, which is crucial for the safe rollout of COVID-19 vaccination and routine immunization, said Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative.



We are delighted to work with the Government of Japan on this important activity



The refrigerators are the specially designed Vaccine Refrigerator TCW 80 AC, manufactured by B Medical in Luxembourg, and have a storage capacity of 80.5l. Utilising green technology for very low power consumption and environmental sustainability, these refrigerators can maintain temperatures of 2C to 8C, even in the event of a 72-hour power failure.



All of the COVID-19 vaccines currently administered in Vietnam are required to be stored within this temperature range.



The TCW 80 AC refrigerator is equipped with a remote temperature monitoring device, allowing continuous monitoring of temperature-sensitive vaccines. In case of a temperature deviation, an alert is sent. The temperature status can also be monitored from a distance through an online web portal. Also included in the delivery is one set of spare parts for every ten refrigerators.
US-funded project to boost local economic growth through technological transformation

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ministry of Planning and Investment have launched the Vietnam Workforce for an Innovation and Start-up Ecosystem (WISE) project.









At a ceremony to launch the Vietnam Workforce for an Innovation and Start-up Ecosystem (WISE) project.



It is a two-year, USAID-funded initiative that will support the nations Industry 4.0 strategy to advance continued economic transformation.



After decades as one of the worlds fastest-growing economies, the countrys industry and services sectors are entering a new phase of growth propelled by the brain power of an ever-expanding youthful workforce.



With Industry 4.0 at the countrys doorstep, it creates immense opportunities and challenges to upskill and reskill the local workforce to take advantage of new technologies, which in turn will advance and build new competitive advantages. Whilst COVID-19 has accelerated the movement to digital businesses and transformation, the pandemic has made it even more imperative to retool workers for the digital economy moving into the new normal.



At the launch of the event, Ann Marie Yastishock, mission director of the USAID/Vietnam, said, USAID WISE showcases the U.S. Governments commitment to partnering with Vietnam along its economic transformation, and will help advance this strategy, which centers on mastering and integrating new advanced technologies, spurring innovation, and accelerating the growth of the digital economy.



USAID WISE will therefore support scalable, market-driven, and sustainable models in which to prepare the nations workers for Industry 4.0 via partnerships with the private sector. The project will build basic digital literacy, provide Industry 4.0 career pathways information to make smart talent investments, offer information and communication technologies, upskilling and reskilling for lifelong learning, and explore innovative financing mechanisms for relevant skills acquisition.



The Ministry of Planning and Investments National Innovation Center (MPI/NIC) will be the key partner of the Vietnamese Government for USAID WISE. The project will build the capacity of the MPI/NIC and associate Government agencies in human resource development as a means of enabling them to work effectively on upskilling and reskilling the workforce for innovation.



Equally important, the USAID WISE will also support Vietnamese efforts to emphasise Industry 4.0 skills development opportunities to all demographics by devoting a special focus on women and vulnerable groups in order to help narrow the countrys digital divide. This priority is consistent with the USAID Digital Strategy and will deliver a long-term impact in the nation through an information and communication technology sector that features leaders, coders, designers, and technicians that advance the use and development of Industry 4.0 as it takes root across the Vietnamese economy.
Vietnamese students win third prize at ASEAN youth journalism contest

Two Vietnamese student has secured the third prize at the 2nd ASEAN Youth Social Journalism Contest 2021 for their social media campaign to raise awareness about plastic consumption among young Vietnamese people amid the COVID-19 pandemic.













Photo: Facebook Page of the Flatten the Plastic Curve project)

Hoang Nguyen Nhat Vi and Pham Quang Vinh, both from the RMIT University Vietnam, obtained the award with a project titled Flatten the Plastic Curve, which reached close to 200,000 young audiences in just a month.



Following the theme ASEAN Youth and COVID-19  Response, Recovery, and Resilience, the pair, via comic-like graphics and influencer marketing, worked to persuade young shoppers to take small but impactful actions while making their orders online.



The project encouraged young people to make changes, such as ordering from one shop to minimise the use of plastic packages, or directly sending plastic-reduction messages to shop owners or food shippers.



By the end of the campaign, Vi and Vinh reached over 40,000 young people with their print ads, received organic shares, and had their campaign mentioned in four Vietnamese macro influencers Facebook pages.
Brussels (dpa) - The European Union has reacted positively to Italian fencer Elisa di Franciscas decision to fly the European flag at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.



Di Francisca displayed the flag after winning the silver medal in the individual foil.



Mina Andreeva, a spokesperson for EU executive body the European Commission, said that Di Franciscas display was "a nice gesture" and that the commission is "very positive about it."



Di Francisca said that she displayed the flag in tribute to the lives lost in recent terrorist attacks in Europe, such as those in Brussels and Paris.



"I did it to send a message: Europe exists and it is united," she said. "I did it for Brussels and for Paris. If we stay united then we can beat terrorism.



"We will not let ISIS win. Their goal is to keep us locked up in our own homes, but they will not succeed."




Armenia, EU launch new talks on closer ties after Russian union snafu

Armenia and the European Union launched negotiations Monday on a new agreement to deepen their cooperation, after a previous deal fell apart over the country's decision to join the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union.

GALLERY

The Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan, smiles on 10/23/2014 at the presidential palace in Yerevan (Armenia).

Brussels (dpa) - "We aim for a comprehensive framework agreement covering political, economic and sectoral cooperation and taking into account Armenias more recent commitments," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement."Our shared common values and strong commitment to democracy, human rights, rule of law will be at the basis of the new agreement," she added, expressing hope that this would lead to new trade and investment opportunities, better cooperation on issues such as energy and more mobility for citizens.Armenia had originally been expected to finalize a deal with the EU on closer political and trade ties in November 2013 following more than three years of negotiations. But the countrys president then announced that Armenia would join the Russian union.The move put the EU in an difficult situation, as officials believe that a country cannot both join the Eurasian union - a trade bloc of several former Soviet nations - and enter a free trade agreement with the 28-country EU.Relations between Moscow and the bloc have soured over the crisis in Ukraine, reaching their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.The new agreement with Armenia "will allow us to turn the page on the uncertainties created back in 2013," Mogherini said."The work done by Armenia and the EU negotiators in the past, during more than three years of hard negotiations, will not be lost," she added. "Our negotiations will work on what was built already.""I hope and Im sure that the new agreement will be negotiated relatively rapidly and will enter into force rather soon," Mogherini said.The name of the agreement will be decided later, once the outcome of the negotiations is clear.
Martyrs' Day observed across China

Xinhua) 16:39, September 30, 2021

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Thursday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day.

At 9:30 a.m., a crowd of around 1,000 people sang the national anthem in front of the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Beijing.

Thereafter they paid a silent tribute to those who devoted their lives to the liberation of the Chinese people and the construction of the People's Republic of China, which was founded in 1949.

"As a veteran, I can better understand the dauntless spirit and loyal revolutionary belief of the martyrs. They sacrificed their lives for the happy life that we enjoy today," said Wang Wei, an official with Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications who attended the event.

"On this occasion, we can recall the spiritual heritage and historical feats left by those fallen heroes," said Dong Lixin, deputy curator of the museum, who also called on the Chinese people to make joint efforts to build a great cause that can stand the test of time.

China's top legislature approved designating Sept. 30 as Martyrs' Day in 2014 to commemorate those who sacrificed their lives in the pursuit of national independence and prosperity.

Besides Beijing, a series of memorial activities were held in other parts of China such as Liaoning, Jiangxi and Shandong provinces to mark the country's eighth Martyrs' Day, a day ahead of the National Day.

At the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) martyrs' cemetery in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, veterans, family members of deceased heroes and representatives of all walks of life stood in front of a martyrs' monument on Thursday morning.

At around 10 a.m., the national anthem was played and people paid silent tribute to the fallen heroes. Ten honor guards placed five flower baskets at the foot of the monument. Veterans and school students straightened the red ribbons on the baskets.

Seventy-one years ago, the CPV crossed the Yalu River and fought alongside the army of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, eventually winning the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea in 1953.

More than 197,000 CPV soldiers sacrificed their lives in the war. The names of the martyrs can be seen on a memorial wall at the cemetery.

"I will never forget my brothers in arms who fought side by side with me decades ago. The spirit of martyrs is immortal," said Li Weibo, an 89-year-old CPV veteran who participated in the activity on Thursday.

"The establishment of Martyrs' Day is a solemn commemoration of the fallen national heroes in the name of the country. They will be engraved upon Chinese people's hearts forever," said Wang Chunjie, who has worked for the CPV martyrs' cemetery in Shenyang for 17 years.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
East China city hosts forum on ancient architecture development

Xinhua) 16:41, September 30, 2021

HEFEI, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A conference aimed at promoting the protection and industrial development of ancient architecture kicked off Thursday in Huangshan, a city in east China's Anhui Province, famous for its Hui-style architecture.

Around 450 representatives, including experts and scholars from UNESCO, the Palace Museum, China Construction Industry Association as well as businesspersons from relevant industries, attended the opening ceremony.

The event, first of its kind in Huangshan, includes a keynote conference, a forum on the development of Hui-style ancient architecture and architectural skills, business matchmaking and field trips.

Initiated by Huangshan City, an industry alliance of ancient architectures was established at the conference, including 10 cities such as Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province, Yangzhou of Jiangsu Province and more.

Huangshan has many well-preserved Hui-style buildings dating back to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties that feature black roof tiles and white walls with exquisite wood, stone and brick carvings.

The two popular villages of Xidi and Hongcun were listed as world cultural heritage sites for their ancient Hui-style buildings.

Huangshan is also striving to build a digital database of ancient buildings that includes photos, videos and design papers. More than 56,300 photos covering 8,037 ancient Hui-style architectures have been collected so far, according to local authorities.

The market size of China's ancient architecture industry has increased at an average annual rate of over 15 percent in recent years from approximately 61.6 billion yuan (about 9.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015, according to a report on the investment prospect of China's ancient architecture industry.

Over 4.4 billion yuan has been invested to protect and utilize local ancient architectures in Huangshan since 2014.

"There are more than 200 companies that are involved in the ancient architecture industry in Huangshan, and they are becoming stronger day by day. We will spare no effort to inherit and promote these architectural skills, and achieve integrated development of various fields such as planning, design, research and construction," said Ling Yun, Party chief of Huangshan City.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
China's State Council holds National Day reception

Xinhua) 08:56, October 01, 2021

The Communist Party of China and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, attend a reception to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China along with nearly 500 guests from home and abroad in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2021. China's State Council on Thursday held the reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council on Thursday held a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The reception, held a day ahead of the National Day, was attended by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad.

Premier Li Keqiang addressed the reception, while Vice Premier Han Zheng presided over it.

This year marks the centenary of the CPC. Under the leadership of the CPC, China has achieved outstanding development over the past 72 years that has attracted the world's attention, particularly completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and embarking on the new quest to fully build a modern socialist country, Li said.

Noting that this year is the first year in China's 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2015), Li stated that China, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, has coordinated epidemic response with social and economic development, and has effectively responded to the complex and grave international environment, as well as multiple other challenges from COVID-19 and severe floods.

China's economic performance has enjoyed sustained recovery and growth and people's living standards have kept improving, Li said.

"On our way ahead, we still face many difficulties and challenges, and the journey remains long toward realizing the second centenary goal," Li said, stressing that development is the foundation and key to overcoming all challenges.

To foster a new development paradigm and promote high-quality development, efforts should be made to implement regular epidemic prevention and anchor reasonable expectations, with focuses on scientific and technological innovation, expanding domestic demand and rural vitalization, Li noted.

He said reform and opening-up is China's fundamental state policy, which also serves as the key source of momentum for China's future development. He underlined the need to deepen reform across the board and achieve more significant progress on reforms in key areas and sectors.

Li stressed the commitment to reforms oriented toward the socialist market economy and higher-level opening-up on an institutional basis, and called for efforts to create a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment.

A raft of measures should be taken to create more jobs, promote equal opportunities, encourage entrepreneurship and innovation and increase urban and rural personal incomes, Li said.

Li urged efforts to fully and faithfully implement the principles of "one country, two systems," "the people of Hong Kong governing Hong Kong," "the people of Macao governing Macao," and a high degree of autonomy for both regions.

Calling for actions to safeguard sovereignty, security and the development interests of the country, and measures to promote common development and progress of Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland, Li highlighted the need to continuously improve people's wellbeing and ensure long-term stability and prosperity.

He stressed adherence to the overall principles and policies on work related to Taiwan and upholding the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, while promoting the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and advancing national reunification for the benefit of people across the Taiwan Strait.

Li also urged moves to firmly oppose and deter any "Taiwan independence" separatist activities and external interference, calling on people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to make joint efforts to achieve national rejuvenation.

China will step up exchanges and cooperation with other countries to jointly tackle global challenges and promote the recovery and growth of the world economy, Li vowed.

Li closed his speech by calling for rallying more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core and unremitting efforts to build China into a great modern socialist country and realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

(Web editor: Meng Bin, Bianji)
China to expand channels to attract foreign talent

Xinhua) 09:01, October 01, 2021

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with foreign experts who have received the Friendship Award in 2020 and 2021, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China, at the Great Hall of People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2021. Vice Premier Han Zheng also attended the event. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China will further expand channels to attract and utilize foreign talent, improve work permit and visa systems, and create more convenient conditions for them to work and live in China, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Thursday.

Li made the remarks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing when meeting with foreign experts who had received the Friendship Award in 2020 and 2021, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China.

He spoke highly of the contributions made by foreign experts in China's reform, opening-up, development, and exchanges between China and foreign countries.

To achieve its development goals, China needs to better leverage the powerful driving force of innovation and the support role of talented people, he said.

"We will keep deepening international cooperation in scientific and technological innovation and integrate into the global innovation network more actively. We will promote international exchanges and cooperation in technology, personnel, and projects, and support scientists around the world to conduct research on mutual challenges," he said.

China will expand its reform and opening-up, continue to optimize the environment for innovation and entrepreneurship, and build a more attractive global innovation center, Li said. China will also continue reform to delegate power, streamline administration, optimize government services, and foster a market-oriented and law-based international business environment.

China will promote fair competition, strictly protect property and intellectual property rights in accordance with the law, and constantly stimulate market vitality and social creativity, he added.

"China's thirst for talent is sincere, and its policy of attracting and respecting talented people is consistent," Li stressed.

The awardees thanked Li and the Chinese government and expressed willingness to continue contributing to China's development.

Vice-Premier Han Zheng, Vice-Premier Liu He, and State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi attended the event.

At the invitation of Li, the foreign experts later attended a reception held to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

(Web editor: Meng Bin, Bianji)
China plays as global growth driver amid COVID-19 pandemic: WTO economist

Xinhua) 09:06, October 01, 2021

A worker produces a medical mask at Liaoning Shengjingtang Biotechnology Co., Ltd in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, April 14, 2020. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

"During the pandemic, the goods trade has bounced back very fast. Countries like China have supplied the world with important goods, medical equipment and so forth to maintain consumption during the pandemic," said Coleman Nee, a WTO senior economist.

GENEVA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A senior economist at the World Trade Organization (WTO) has told Xinhua that the country has been a growth driver for the world during the COVID-19 crisis, as the global trade watchdog's figures have confirmed the recovery of global trade after the deep shock.

The Geneva-based WTO said in August its global Goods Trade Barometer had hit a record high of 110.4 points, the highest since the indicator was first released in July 2016 and up by more than 20 points year-on-year.

"During the pandemic, the goods trade has bounced back very fast. Countries like China have supplied the world with important goods, medical equipment and so forth to maintain consumption during the pandemic," said Coleman Nee, a WTO senior economist, ahead of China's National Day holiday.

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 24, 2020 shows a cargo ship loaded with containers at Dalian port in northeast China's Liaoning Province. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)

Besides typical goods, China supplied more than 320 billion masks, 3.9 billion protective suits and 5.6 billion nucleic acid testing kits globally, according to Beijing's official figures.

In its March forecast, the WTO said it expected the world merchandise trade volume to increase by eight percent in 2021 after dropping 5.3 percent in 2020. Trade growth would likely slow to four percent in 2022, with the total volume of global trade remaining below the pre-pandemic levels, it said.

However, Nee said that the outlook on services trade remained uncertain. "Services trade has been hit hard, and essentially has not recovered because of the travel restrictions and a number of other things that make it difficult to deliver services face to face."

Nee said that multilateralism was paramount in the runup to the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), which will take place between Nov. 30 and Dec. 3 in Geneva.

"It's important that countries cooperate in all areas of trade and especially on vaccine rollout to guarantee access to poor countries," he stressed.

Workers weld at a workshop of an automobile manufacturing enterprise in Qingzhou City, east China's Shandong Province, Feb. 28, 2021. (Photo by Wang Jilin/Xinhua)

MC12 was originally scheduled for June 2020 in Kazakhstan, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Nee, "China ... has combated COVID-19 effectively, along with other countries. Promoting equitable access to vaccines is something that China and other nations can do to help the global economy get over the pandemic."

China has committed to making COVID-19 vaccines a global public good and promoting vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.

China has provided more than 1.25 billion vaccine doses to more than 100 countries and international organizations and medical supplies to more than 150 countries and 14 international organizations, official figures showed.

In addition to donating 100 million U.S. dollars to the global COVID-19 vaccine program COVAX, China has pledged to donate 100 million additional vaccine doses to other developing countries this year.

"That's probably the biggest single thing that countries can do to put this whole episode behind us," said Nee.

Staff members promote Irish alcohol drinks at the booth of Ireland during the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Wei)

(Web editor: Meng Bin, Bianji)
AUKUS likely to harm regional stability, raise tensions, say analysts

Xinhua) 09:28, October 01, 2021

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The planned move to supply the Australian navy with nuclear-powered submarines through the security partnership between Australia, Britain and the United States, known as AUKUS, is likely to harm regional stability and raise tensions, several experts have said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has voiced his concern that AUKUS would spark a regional arms race. The country's Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein also cautioned those involved with AUKUS against provocative military action that would lead to increasing tensions and possible conflicts in the region.

"This is a very damaging precedent set by the United States, Australia and the UK in forming this strategic pact ... definitely it is going to destabilize the region," said Lee Pei May, a political expert at the International Islamic University Malaysia.

Regional countries might use this as an excuse to acquire their own nuclear technology for military purposes, she said, warning against "an increased, intensified arms race in the region."

Member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have so far made it clear that nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered vessels are not welcome in the region, Malaysian political observer Azmi Hassan said.

Australia acquiring these submarines could cause tensions between Australia and ASEAN states, Azmi said.

"If Australia ignores our request to inform (us of) their submarines passing through," it will create tensions not only with Malaysia but also with ASEAN as a whole, he said.

AUKUS could also divide ASEAN states, which are being forced to abandon their neutrality and take sides, with some in favour of the deal while others against it, said the expert.

AUKUS and the way in which France was sidelined could make U.S. allies view it with some doubt, especially in the aftermath of its messy exit from Afghanistan, said Oh Ei Sun, principal advisor for Malaysia's Pacific Research Center.

These events deal a blow to the reputation of the United States, from which it will not likely recover in the near term, he said.

AUKUS "would of course anger France a lot," and "the other allies would, indeed, have to take a second look, when it comes to relying on the U.S. protection and so on," said the expert.

(Web editor: Meng Bin, Bianji)
China confers Friendship Award on 100 foreign experts

Xinhua) 09:41, October 01, 2021

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, addresses a ceremony to present the Chinese Government Friendship Award to foreign experts, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Vice Premier Liu He presented the Friendship Award for 2020 and 2021 to 100 foreign experts from 32 countries at a gathering held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday.

On behalf of the Chinese government, Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, extended congratulations to the laureates and expressed gratitude to all foreign experts and their families for their support for China's development.

Science has no borders, Liu stressed, calling on Chinese and foreign experts to work together and make greater contributions to the world's prosperity and progress.

The Friendship Award is the highest award to commend foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China's modernization drive. Since its establishment in 1991, 1,799 foreign experts have received the award.

(Web editor: Meng Bin, Bianji)
China continues to fully support Vietnam in pandemic control, socioeconomic development: ambassador

Xinhua) 09:57, October 01, 2021

HANOI, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to fully support Vietnam's efforts in both pandemic prevention and control, and socioeconomic development, Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo said.

In a speech during an online reception on Thursday to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xiong said that China has so far assisted Vietnam with 6.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines and provided the country with another 15 million doses via commercial procurement.

China has also been shouldering the responsibility of supporting the global efforts in fighting COVID-19, he said.

Extending festive greetings to all Chinese compatriots in Vietnam, the ambassador said in his speech that China has now developed into the world's leading manufacturer and the second-largest economy, accomplished the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eradicated extreme poverty.

China's development has not only changed itself historically, but also profoundly changed the world as it has become the leading trading power in the world and the biggest trading partner of over 120 countries and regions, while the Belt and Road Initiative has lifted millions of people in related countries out of poverty, he said.

In his speech at the online reception, Member of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said 2021 is a year with great significance for the People's Republic of China, and congratulated the People's Republic of China on both its 72nd founding anniversary and the great achievements it has made this year.

Vietnam sees the development of the Vietnam-China relations as a top priority and strategic choice in its foreign policy, Dien said, noting that the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has maintained positive growth with the COVID-19 pandemic being put under control, which is a highlight and the material foundation of the bilateral relations.

Dien extended his wishes that the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership would keep going forward.

(Web editor: Meng Bin, Bianji)
DPRK test-fires newly-developed anti-aircraft missile

Xinhua) 10:19, October 01, 2021

PYONGYANG, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) test-fired a newly developed anti-aircraft missile on Thursday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Friday.

The report said the missile was developed by the Academy of Defence Science, and the test was aimed at confirming the practicality of operation of the launcher, radar and comprehensive battle command vehicle as well as the comprehensive combat performance of the missile.

According to the report, the overall test is of very practical significance in studying and developing various prospective anti-aircraft missile systems, and the remarkable combat performance of the missile with features of rapid responsiveness and guidance accuracy of missile control system as well as the substantial increase in the distance of downing air targets has been verified with the introduction of new key technologies like a twin-rudder control technology and double-impulse flight engine.

Pak Jong Chon, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, watched the test-launch with leading officials in the sector of national defence scientific research.

DPRK test-fired several missile tests in September, including both cruise and ballistic missiles amid deadlocked denuclearization talks with the United States.

(Web editor: Meng Bin, Bianji)
78 countries call for early implementation of UN anti-racism declaration



Xinhua) 14:13, October 01, 2021

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Seventy-eight countries, including China, called on Thursday for speeding up the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) and putting an end to discrimination, racism, and xenophobia.

The countries expressed deep alarm at racial discrimination, social prejudice, police brutality and social inequality in a joint statement.

Noting that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the DDPA, the statement reaffirmed that "the global fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and all their abhorrent and evolving forms and manifestations should remain a matter of priority for the international community."

"It is the time for all states and all stakeholders to seize the opportunity to take concrete measures to accelerate momentum for the implementation of the DDPA and combat all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance," it said.

Stressing that all human beings are born free, equal in dignity and rights and have the potential to contribute constructively to their societies, the statement said, "Any doctrine of racial superiority is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous, and must be rejected."

However, the scourge of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance still persists all over the world, and countless human beings continue to fall victim to this scourge due to the persistent gaps in implementation of the DDPA, it said.

"Africans and people of African descent, Asians and people of Asian descent and indigenous peoples have long been suffering from systemic racism, racial discrimination and hate crime," the statement said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, "misinformation, disinformation, hate speech and racist remarks made by political and public figures have led to a surge of discrimination and hate crime against Africans and people of African descent and Asians and people of Asian descent, especially women, children and the elders," it noted.

"It is the time for all to make a real and transformative change. We cannot let our future generations continue to suffer from the brutality of racism and racial discrimination," said the statement.

(Web editor: Meng Bin, Bianji)
Blinken extends congratulations on China's National Day

Xinhua) 14:24, October 01, 2021

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday extended congratulations on China's National Day, which falls on Oct. 1.

"On behalf of the United States of America, I would like to extend our congratulations to the people of the People's Republic of China (PRC) as the country celebrates its National Day on October 1," Blinken said in a statement released by the State Department.

"As the United States seeks to work cooperatively to solve the challenges we all face, we wish the people of the PRC peace, happiness, and prosperity over the coming year," he added.

This Friday marks the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the PRC.

(Web editor: Meng Bin, Bianji)
China is showing off some of its most advanced weapons and fighter jets. The country's largest air show is underway in Zhuhai. Among the aircraft on display is the J-16D, an electronic warfare fighter that's designed to jam radars and erode anti-aircraft systems. China is only the second country in the world to develop this type of plane, after the United States. Huang Fei takes a closer look.

HUANG FEI Zhuhai, Guangdong Province "This is the J-16D, a bright new star in China's growing constellation of anti-access, area-denial weapons. It's a variant of the J-16 strike plane. "D" comes from the Chinese word for "electronic," dianzi. This is not a plane that will go into short-range dogfights, instead it's designed to jam, deter and attack the enemy's air defense system.

The plane has an electronic warfare pod on each wing, and its fuselage is lined with antennas. And there are plenty of hard-points under the plane to hang anti-radiation missiles. Those typically target hostile radar.

The People's Liberation Army insignia indicates that it has been in service for the military. The craft will act as a guardian in the sky for the J-20, China's most advanced stealth fighter jet, flying in Zhuhai for the first time on domestic-made engines.

The KJ-500 early warning and control aircraft, also on show here, will be the eyes and ears of the entire fleet. Experts say the J16-D is evidence of China's vastly improved electronic warfare power, and shows the military's interest in developing specialized aircraft that will offer a full spectrum of air defense power. Huang Fei, CGTN, at the Zhuhai Airshow."
Korean women's favorite foreign car brand is BMW, while men favor Audi. Secondhand dealer SK Encar on Thursday announced a straw poll of 556 adults on their preferred car brands, and BMW and Hyundai topped the list for imported and domestic brands.

BMW came first among foreign brands with 29.1 percent, closely followed by Audi with 26.4 percent. Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen were next with 18.3 percent and 4.9 percent.

But while more men favored Audi with 28.7 percent over BMW with 25.9 percent, 40.3 percent of women chose BMW. An SK Encar spokesman said women like BMW for its high brand recognition and sleek design.
There is now no part of Korea that is not officially an aging society with people over 65 making up more than seven percent of the population, last year's census shows.

In the previous census, one out of some 250 municipalities in Korea still held out with an elderly population below seven percent -- Yeongtong District in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province where Samsung Electronics has its main plant. But now that too has fallen.

Only 42 municipalities have a higher population of children and adolescents than of elderly people, and 110 have become a "super-aged" society with an elderly population of more than 20 percent.

The overall elderly population reached 8.21 million last year, up 460,000 and crossing the 8 million mark for the first time. But the population of children and adolescents stands at just 6.18 million, or 12.3 percent of the total population. The younger population peaked at 21 percent in 2000.

The pace of aging will likely pick up even more in the next decade as the baby boomer generation born between 1955 and 1963 crosses the threshold into old age. That means the economically active population will shrink. The working-age population aged 15-64 has already dropped to 71.3 percent.

However, the total population increased by 50,000 or 0.1 percent. The Korean-born population increased by 130,000 or 0.3 percent while the foreign-born population shrank by 80,000 or 4.7 percent as the coronavirus pandemic kept migrants away.

Many more Koreans live alone. The total number of households increased by 590,000 or 2.8 percent to 21.48 million as single and two-person households accounted for a whopping 60 percent of all households.


However, he blamed "continuous provocation and containment" of China by the U.S. for the "considerable difficulties and challenges" between the two militaries. "China's sovereignty, dignity and core interests brook no violations," Wu said at a monthly briefing. "Regarding the relationship between the two armed forces, we welcome communication, welcome cooperation, face differences and oppose coercion."

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian on Thursday said the sides "exchanged in-depth views on relations between the two countries and the two militaries and issues of common concern."

The secure video conference held Tuesday and Wednesday was led by Maj. Gen. Huang Xueping, deputy direct of the People's Liberation Army's Office for International Military Cooperation, and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China Michael Chase.

Defense officials from China and the U.S. have held two days of talks in a small sign of progress amid a continuing sharp downturn in relations.

In a statement issued in Washington, Department of Defense spokesperson Lt. Col. Martin Meiners said the meeting was "an important component of the Biden-Harris administration's ongoing effort to responsibly manage the competition between the U.S. and the PRC by maintaining open lines of communication with the PRC."

During the talks, he said the two sides held "a frank, in-depth, and open discussion on a range of issues." "Both sides reaffirmed consensus to keep communication channels open. The U.S. side also made clear our commitment to uphold shared principles with our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region," he said.

Relations between China and the U.S. are facing the worst strain in decades over trade, technology, human rights and Chinese military activities in the South China Sea, where Beijing has built airstrips and other infrastructure atop man-made islands.

Military-to-military ties have been characterized by deep mistrust, with the U.S. accusing China of a lack of transparency as it massively upgrades the capabilities of the PLA, the military wing of the ruling Communist Party.

China has been angered by the Navy sending ships to sail close to islands it controls in what Washington calls freedom of navigation operations, along with U.S. support for Taiwan.

President Joe Biden has maintained a tough line on China, but has sought better communication with Beijing. The talks between Huang and Chase are believed to mark the first direct high-level contact between defense officials under the Biden administration. The talks also follow revelations that the top U.S. military officer, Army Gen. Mark Milley, made a pair of calls to his Chinese counterpart on Oct. 30 and Jan. 8 to reassure him during the waning days of the Trump administration.

Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday he was responding to a "significant degree of intelligence" that China was worried about a U.S. attack. He said that such military-to-military communications are critical to prevent war between great powers that possess nuclear weapons.

China has not commented on the calls. Wu also reiterated China's opposition to a three-way strategic defense alliance announced by Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. that includes building nuclear-propelled submarines for Australia. Beijing views the arrangement as firmly directed at containing its development. "China urges the three countries to abandon their Cold War mentality and zero-sum game thinking, revoke the mistaken decision to develop nuclear submarine cooperation," Wu said.
Refugees International said in a statement Thursday it "is deeply saddened" by the killing of Rohingya refugee leader Mohib Ullah.

The Rohingya Muslim leader was shot dead Wednesday by gunmen in a refugee camp in southern Bangladesh. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. He was a "prominent voice defending the human rights of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and on the world stage," the global independent humanitarian group said.

United Nations spokesman Stephanie Tremblay told reporters Thursday the "U.N. strongly condemns" the killing and "urges the Bangladesh authorities to undertake an investigation and to hold those responsible to account."

A Rohingya refugee from the Kutupalong camp in the southeastern Bangladeshi town of Cox's Bazar who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons told VOA's Burmese Service that Ullah's "life was in danger, and we all are concerned about the security situation in our camps."

An unnamed Rohingya refugee in Balukhali Camp No. 9 in Cox's Bazar expressed "disappointment" with the murder in an interview with VOA's Burmese Service. "We would like to request the Bangladesh government and international community to protect us," the refugee said.


The Greens and FDP agreed Tuesday to meet with each other first before discussions with the SPD or CDU. A photo was released to the media showing Green party candidate Annalena Baerbock with FDP leader Christian Lindner.

But since neither party won enough votes to control the Bundestag -- the lower house of parliament -- they must work with the third-place finishers, the Green party, which received 14.8 percent of the vote, and fourth place finishers, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), which received 11.5 percent.

The Social Democrats (SPD), led by Olaf Scholz, defeated outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) 25.8 percent to 24.1 percent, handing the conservative party its worst ever defeat.

The wrangling over who will control Germany's government has begun among the top four finishing parties following parliamentary elections.

While the two parties have some common ground, they have traditionally belonged to rival ideological camps and have different approaches to issues including the economy and fighting climate change.

During media briefings with reporters Wednesday, both parties said they have scheduled meetings with the SPD and CDU, as well another meeting with each other.

But traditionally, the Greens have leaned more toward the SPD's left-center politics, and the FDP has been more aligned with the more conservative CDU, and their leadership indicated Wednesday that may not have changed.

When asked which coalition his party preferred, FDP General Secretary Volker Wissing said, "Our preference was based on content and since the parties' content has not changed, the preference of course remains the same."

At her own news conference, while stressing they were meeting with all parties, the Green party leader Baerbock, said that since SPD was the winner of the election, it was important to meet with them first.



The Green and FDP leaders said they scheduled talks with the two first-place finishing parties for this Saturday and Sunday, followed by deliberations with their own party membership.
The girls of K-pop group Black Pink are taking the spotlight at the ongoing Paris Fashion Week, which began Tuesday.

The event is seeing the return of live runways by big fashion houses like Chanel, Hermes and Louis Vuitton after the coronavirus pandemic limited the industry to virtual shows.

All the members of the quartet serve as global ambassadors for luxury brands -- Ji-soo for Dior, Jennie for Chanel, Lisa for Celine and Rose for Saint Laurent.

On Tuesday, Ji-soo sat in the front row at Dior's show and Rose made an appearance at Saint Laurent's show at the Eiffel Tower on Wednesday. Rose walked the red carpet at the Met Gala, one of the U.S. fashion industry's biggest events, with the fashion house's creative director Anthony Vaccarello last month.

Jennie, who has been Chanel's ambassador since 2017, flew to Paris on Wednesday ahead of the brand's show next week. Lisa, whose solo debut single "Lalisa" recently entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart, will also leave for Paris on Oct. 4.

"Though only half of them have touched down so far, the girls of Black Pink have taken Paris Fashion Week by storm," U.S. fashion news site WWD said Wednesday.

Paris Fashion Week runs until Oct. 6.
Hyundai's luxury brand Genesis unveiled its all-electric GV60 sport utility vehicle on Thursday, ahead of the start of pre-orders next week.

The automaker intends for its entire line to consist of electric vehicles by 2030, and the SUV ushers in this new strategy.

The GV60 comes in three versions costing between W59.9 million and W69.8 million, making them eligible for a government subsidy given to buyers of electric vehicles (US$1=W1,185). Those who buy electric cars priced under W60 million are given a subsidy of some W10 million, while those who purchase models costing more than W60 million only get a W5-million subsidy.
Streets decorated by flowers to celebrate National Day

By:Wu Qiong | From:english.eastday.com | 2021-10-01 13:45

The streets in Shanghai have been renewed with flowers to celebrate the China National Day. 116 thematic flower arrangements have been installed across the city, with three core areas at Peoples Square, the Bund and Lujiazui.

Yanan Rd, Huaihai Rd, Yanan Rd Viaduct and 16 other main roads are also adorned with flower pots.

Apart from the commonly used begonia, poinsettia, and scarlet sage, there are also flowers with prosperous meanings like bougainvillea and sunflower.

(Photos by Bai Kelin, Eastday.com)
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The Florida Department of Health in Flagler County (DOH-Flagler) has modified the location for its COVID-19 testing schedule for October 4 through 8. Due to an event at the Flagler County Fairgrounds, the health department is moving its testing operation to the field across from 120 Airport Road on the way to High Jackers Restaurant. This will be a drive-through operation for one week only, subject to change . Testing at the Flagler County Fairgrounds should resume Monday, October 11.

Saturday, October 2 CLOSED

Sunday, October 3 CLOSED

Monday, October 4 8AM to 10AM

Tuesday, October 5 8AM to 10AM

Wednesday, October 6 CLOSED

Thursday, October 7 8AM to 10AM

Friday, October 8 8AM to 10AM

Please consider the following when testing with DOH-Flagler.

Testing should take place at least 3 to 5 days after exposure . Testing sooner than this may result in false negatives.

. Testing sooner than this may result in false negatives. If your child tests positive for COVID-19 and has symptoms, they shall not attend school, school-sponsored activities, or be on school property until they receive a negative diagnostic test and do not have symptoms. OR ten days have passed since the onset of the symptoms or positive test result, AND the child has had no fever for 24 hours and other symptoms are improving. OR written permission to return to school or work is issued by a licensed medical doctor, osteopathic physician, or an advanced registered nurse practitioner.



DOH staff continues to conduct contact tracing and case investigation. We appreciate your ongoing patience.

We appreciate your ongoing patience. If your child is identified as a close contact to someone who tests positive, You may allow your child to attend school, school-sponsored activities, or be on school property without restrictions or disparate treatment, as long as the child shows no symptoms of COVID-19. You may also choose to quarantine your child up to seven days from the date of last direct contact with the person that tested positive for COVID-19. If your child begins to show symptoms of COVID-19, they should follow the guidelines as laid out for a positive case of COVID.



Vaccinations continue to be offered at 301 Dr. Carter Blvd on Mondays from 3:30 to 6:00PM. Effective Monday, October 4, this will include third doses (boosters) of Pfizer vaccine. Appointments are preferred by calling 386-437-7350 ext. 0. We will advise the public when/if we receive authorization to provide Moderna or J&J boosters. Local pharmacies like ONE Pharmacy, Grace Community Pharmacy, CVS, Walgreens, Publix and Walmart may carry these brands and offer boosters to immunocompromised individuals.

Monoclonal Antibody Treatments are now available in Flagler County at Daytona State Colleges Palm Coast Campus. Monoclonal Antibody Treatments (MAB) for COVID-19 can prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death among high-risk individuals. Individuals 12 years and older who are high-risk, that have contracted or been exposed to COVID-19, are eligible for this treatment. Treatment is free. For more information visit https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/monoclonal-antibody-therapy/mab-locator/.

For more information about COVID-19 vaccination and testing locally, please visit flagler.floridahealth.gov. For testing and vaccine appointments, please call 386-437-7350 ext. 0 weekdays between 8AM and 4:30PM.
Nurse Trey Schleicher cares for a coronavirus patient in the intensive care unit at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa on Monday, July 13, 2020. MIKALA COMPTON | Herald-Zeitung
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October 1, 2021 De Lima calls for Senate investigation on black sand mining in Lingayen Gulf Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima called for a Senate investigation on the detrimental and disastrous effects of the recently approved black sand mining project in Lingayen Gulf. De Lima filed Proposed Senate Resolution (SR) No. 920 directing the Senate Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change to investigate the said project's reported negative environmental and socioeconomic impact on the surrounding coastal areas in Pangasinan. "The State is duty-bound to protect the lives and livelihood of its citizens and uphold existing environmental laws and polices over any and all transactions and contracts it has entered into with individuals and entities concerning these environmentally critical areas (ECAs)," she said. "Activities which tend to negatively impact and destroy the environment must always be preceded by meticulous assessment of their consequences. Environmental impact studies should also be conducted to aid both the public and private sectors in chartering the course of the activities that involve and affect the environment," she added. A massive offshore black sand mining project that would run for the next 25 years in Lingayen Gulf was recently approved, stirring protests from the local communities in Pangasinan province, calling it an "environmental monster." Provincial Board Member Von Mark Mendoza expressed alarm after an official of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) informed provincial officials that the project's proponent, Iron Ore, Gold and Vanadium Resources (Phils.) Inc., will be extracting 25 million tons of black sand annually. According to a document posted on the EMB website, Malacanang approved the project, which is covered by Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement No. 07-2020-IOMR. The agreement allows the conduct of large-scale exploration, development and commercial utilization of minerals found within the areas where Vanadium Resources has obtained the exclusive right to extract magnetite sand. "Anumang benepisyong hatid ng ganitong mga negosyo ay balewala o katiting lamang kung hindi maisasaalang-alang ang kapakanan ng mamamayan. Higit sa lahat, buhay at ligtas na pamumuhay ang dapat unahin ng gobyerno," De Lima said. "There is need to ensure that any possible permit issued by the government takes into account the totality of impact of black sand mining to the eco-system and the community and that government officials who sign off on the permits undertake to hold themselves fully accountable for ignoring clear red flags in the mining projects," she added. In a 2016 study, entitled "Characterization of Black Sand Mining Activities and Their Environmental Impacts in the Philippines Using Remote Sensing," researchers note that black sand mining disturbs marine and coastal ecosystems and increases erosion and associated geohazards and warn that coastal erosion often continued to affect the areas even decades after cessation of the mining activities. Further controversy surrounding the mining industry was stirred when, in a move intended to spur the pandemic-ridden economy, President Duterte issued Executive Order (EO) No. 130 last April 15 which lifted a nearly decade-long moratorium on new mining agreements. Last May, De Lima filed SR No. 720 directing the appropriate Senate Committee to conduct an inquiry into the said mining operation in Zambales as well as a systematic review of all pending and ongoing large-scale mining projects in the Philippines to determine their compliance with relevant environmental laws, regulations, guidelines and procedures. During her stint as justice secretary, De Lima created a task force led by the National Bureau of Investigation to lead a crackdown on several illegal black sand mining operators in Cagayan and Ilocos Sur. The move led to the filing of charges against several individuals.
Home > 2021 > Why Modi did not mention Afghanistan/Taliban in his UN address? | Faraz (...)

September 27, 2021

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 25 was too restrained and cautious about the singular issue concerning Indias security the foisting of Talibani regime forcibly by Pakistani Mullah-military establishment upon the hapless peace-loving people of Afghanistan. He seemed content with joining QUAD group which the Americans have devised merely to confront China in the South China sea.

In his 21-minute brief speech, delivered to virtually an empty house and vacant benches the Prime Minister did not utter the word Taliban or Afghanistan even once as per the English translation of his speech put out on its site by the Ministry of External Affairs. He made a general mention in the prepared Hindi text of the inadequacy and inability of the United Nations to act as an able peace maker to prevent war, strife and terror spreading all over todays world.

Even in the government version as reported by some sections of the media, the Prime Minster touched very lightly on Afghanistan and Taliban, and underlined that the world is facing an increased threat of regressive thinking and extremism, adding that the comity of nations has to ensure that no country takes advantage of the delicate situation in Afghanistan. He is reported to have said that the recent Afghan crisis has raised further questions on the relevance of the United Nations as an effective arbitration body. But the more reliable MEA version does not mention the word Afghanistan or Taliban or Haqqani, anywhere in the text.

The Prime Minister seemed satisfied with the earlier Quad joint statement: In South Asia we will closely coordinate our diplomatic, economic and human rights policies towards Afghanistan and will deepen our counter-terrorism and humanitarian cooperationwe denounce the use of terrorist proxies and military support to terrorist groups which could be used to launch or plan terrorist attacks, including cross-border attacks.

So much for combating terror! What security can be guaranteed with two top functionaries of this Talibani-Haqqani proxy regime of Pakistan, having served 14 years in the US Guantanamo Bay detention camp for their terrorist activity? Mullah Fazel and Abdul Haq Wasiq, are now in charge of intelligence and security to Talibani mullahs in the new setup. How much they care for world reaction is evident from the fact that they have begun their medieval barbaric terror. Under orders of Herat governor Mawlawi Shir Ahmad Mujahir, four persons were publicly hanged for the people at large to come and witness it presumably for some act which the mullah governor pronounced as crime. It was not clear what crime the poor fellows committed, maybe none, except perhaps rubbing the mullah the wrong way.

In fact, earlier this month while addressing the countries of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting held at Dushanbe in Tajikistan through a video conference, Prime Minister Modi was more forthright and outspoken when he had called upon the international community to take a decision on the critical question of the recognition of Taliban regime in a thoughtful and collective manner. Though even here he avoided naming Taliban, he did warn the world community that were this trend of approving the principle of might is right to prevail, it would lead to the rise and spread of terrorist and extremist ideologies all over the world.

Addressing the SCO in the presence of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said, The first issue is that the change of power in Afghanistan is not inclusive, and has taken place without negotiation. This raises questions about the acceptability of the new system, he said, adding, representation of all sections of Afghan society, including women and minorities, is also important, and stressed that India supports the central role of the UN on this issue.

Secondly, if instability and fundamentalism continue in Afghanistan, it will lead to terrorist and extremist ideologies all over the world. Other extremists may also be encouraged to seek power through violenceSo together we must ensure that the soil of Afghanistan is not used to spread terrorism in any countryThird, developments in Afghanistan could lead to an uncontrolled flow of drugs, illegal weapons and human trafficking. A large amount of advanced weapons remain in Afghanistan. Due to these, there will be a risk of instability in the entire region, the Prime Minister surmised at the SCO meeting.

His clear and unambiguous criticism of the Talibans forcible and violent occupation of Afghanistan in the SCO meeting, sent alarm bells among the open and surreptitious supporters of this regime. The US created this Frankenstein and unable to tame it down in 20 years because of cohabiting Pakistan which was providing them safe haven, it has let lose those menacing bearded monsters calling themselves Mullah this and Mullah that on the poor Afghans. We were educated by the Sufi saints Bulle Shah, Baba Sheikh Farid and Sant Kabir that Mullahs place is in the mosque and his jurisdiction does not extend beyond the masjid. The Talibani mullahs have proved that you allow the mullah an inch and he will take the whole country. And I insist that these mullahs wouldnt have crossed the Pakistani border, where they were fattened all these years, but for the active moral and logistical support of Pakistani Mullah-Army establishment, with current Prime Minister Imran Khan a mere puppet in their hands.

No sooner Modi addressed the SCO conference, Saudi Foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud came rushing to New Delhi to persuade India to go soft on Taliban and allow them to consolidate their hold on Kabul. Unlike in the past when it openly encouraged and supported the mullah Taliban regime, this time round the Saudis are more subtle and full of innuendoes. But look deeper and Saudi Arabia too is simply seeking consolidation of the Talibani regime with international recognition, but not a word on why occupation of a territory by violence and terror be provided legitimacy? And therefore, who will stand guarantee that these mullahs will honour the rights of women, ethnic minorities and in effect all citizens of Afghanistan? Who will restrain them from exporting terror in the name of Islam? Saud had stressed the Kingdoms support for the Afghan people and the future choices they make for their country without any external interference, as put out by Saudi Foreign ministry. What did it imply? That let them fight and settle the issue by the simple might is right principle and no one, India included, should raise a finger at them. Prince Faisal visited Islamabad before coming to New Delhi.

Meanwhile their other backers Qatar and Pakistan have issued a veiled threat to the comity of nations, in particular to sceptics like India not to isolate the Talibani regime, lest they become furious and unmanageable. Pakistani Foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi counselled the world leaders at the UN to be Realistic, engage and above all dont isolate them (Taliban), Try an innovative way of engaging with them. Thats like telling the world not to rebuke or punish an abrasive, recalcitrant teenager who considers everything he has snatched forcibly from his young cousins as his. The Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani went one step further and stressed upon world leaders at the UN general assembly the necessity of continuing dialogue with Taliban because boycott only leads to polarisation and reactions urging the world leaders not to repeat the past mistakes in Afghanistan to impose a political system from outside. What was the Sheikh seeking that the world should quietly and meekly give in to the Talibani excesses currently being enforced in Afghanistan today, abandoning any pretence of democracy, as a system devised by the people of Afghanistan? But who decides that and how did the Qatar Emir come to this conclusion? Also, what is his locus standii, unless he has the tacit support of Joe Biden to soften the world to the new Talibani patriarchal, authoritarian order in Afghanistan?

Encouraged by such strong support the Taliban Foreign minister Amir Khan Mutaqqi in a letter to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres pressed upon the United Nations to recognise them as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, while Mullah Nooruddin Turabi of Taliban who enforced the public beheading and chopping of hands in the previous Talibani incarnation, reiterated to the AP correspondent Kathy Gannon that he would resort to the executions and chopping off of hands once again. Everyone criticised us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishmentsNo one will tell us what our laws should be.

This is the Talibani usurpers swagger seeking recognition and acceptance by the comity of nations by sheer use of force and violence! For them India is an enemy territory. Who will stop them from exporting terror to India? None. The world has to put an end to it and it cannot do it but with force and by isolating Pakistan first. For once a slightly sober, saner voice emerged from US Vice President Kamala Harris. But that is insufficient and got drowned in the cacophony? Was it not imperative for our Prime Minister to forcefully present our apprehensions about Taliban to the UN General Assembly? More so when back here in India his BJP party, his Government at the Centre and in numerous states, with the active connivance of his embedded TV channels and other media are spreading the fear of Taliban every day, projecting the entire Indian Muslim community as Taliban?
Home > 2021 > Indo - US relations in perspective | P S Jayaramu

by P S Jayaramu *

(27th September, 2021)

The recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the United States is an opportunity to take a look at the historical development of the bilateral relations between the worlds two oldest and largest democracies. Though there are various aspects to the bilateral relations like trade and commerce, science and technology and culture and education-related aspects, my focus is with reference to the politico-strategic issues.

When Jawaharlal Nehru visited United States for the first time as Prime Minister in October 1949, the then US President Harry Truman appealed to him to join the US in its fight against Soviet Communism. This was part of the US strategy of a joint front of democracies to contain the expansion of Communism and Soviet Power. It is said that President Truman even offered to make India a permanent member of the UN Security Council if it joined the American alliance system. One does not know if the American leadership was serious about it and whether the British and the French would have endorsed the so-called grand offer. But, in any case, Nehru rejected the offer and suggested the inclusion of Communist China which had emerged out of a revolution. There were no meeting of minds and the idea got into the realm of history.

It is well-known that in South Asia, India was Americas first choice to be taken into a military alliance-type relationship in the early fifties and when India spurned the idea, the US turned to Pakistan and signed the military assistance programme in 1954 with the ostensible objective of fighting Soviet Communisms advance into the region. India had put herself on the path of Non-alignment and was not keen to be part of the western alliance system. With the US siding with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue in the United Nations, India chose to establish a special relationship with the Soviet Union, as part of its non-aligned foreign policy. As for Indo-US ties, bilateral relations flowered in the economic and other fields while the politico-strategic relations were on a strained path during the 1950s and 1960s. The 1970s saw a deterioration in bilateral ties, thanks to Nixons role in the 1971 Indo-Pak war over the liberation of Bangladesh. It only got aggravated with Indias peaceful nuclear explosion in 1974. The 1980s saw no significant improvement in bilateral political relations with India adopting a soft line on the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in December 1979. However, relations in the fields of education and science and technology got a boost when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister.

Indo-US relations in the economic, political and strategic fields started witnessing an upward trend only after the end of the Cold War. The disintegration of Soviet Union coincided with the dawn of the Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation era in world politics. With the downgrading of the politico-strategic issues and the primacy accorded to economic-trade issues in foreign policy considerations in the post-cold war era, Indo-US relations were poised for significant improvement. The Indian decision under Vajpayee to become a nuclear weapon state in1998, however, led to US sanctions. The same got lifted, thanks to the skillful diplomatic negotiations carried out by Jaswant Singh and Strobe Talbot. In any case, with the signing of the Nuclear Deal with the US by the UPA regime in 2005, the pariah status of India got removed clearing the way for an active relationship with the US.

The rise of China in a big way under the leadership of Xi Jinping in the last few years, with widespread expansion of its economic interests and investment in the Asia-Pacific region with clear intentions of becoming a hegemonic power globally, led to a reassessment of its foreign policy by the United States with special emphasis on military linkages with other countries. President Biden has given a new impetus to it following his much-debated quick withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. Biden is keen on taking on China in the Asia-Pacific region. It is in this perspective that the US has created the QUAD and has roped in India as a member.

As for the QUAD, there is no doubt that India too needs an architecture to protect itself and if possible participate in the contain China project of the US. But, as is clear from hindsight, India has been historically reluctant to get into any military alliance with the US, though America seems to be keen on such an arrangement. The only treaty which India signed with a defence clause to it was the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace Friendship and Cooperation in August 1971.That was in the context of a war looming large with Pakistan with possibilities of Nixons America backing Pakistan. Otherwise, India has been, as a matter of principle and equally with the goal of retaining its autonomy in foreign policy decision-making, opposed to signing military treaties with external powers. The same strategy has continued to operate under the Modi regime too, thanks to the deft articulation of Indias nuanced positions by foreign minister Dr.Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Going by the manner in which Prime Minister Modis recent US visit went by, it appears that Indian diplomacy has succeeded in de-emphasing the military component of QUAD. President Biden too seems to have been accommodative on this score. So much so, at the first in-person QUAD summit, both Prime Minister Modi and President Biden decided to take some initiatives in the area of climate change, cyber security and to step up vaccine production and distribution to combat the continuing danger from covid-19 to the developing world. Both leaders were clear about the Groups commitment to strengthen the forces of democracy and scientific and technological cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. While India needs to contain Chinas growing influence in the area, it must retain a certain measure of autonomy in handling the Chinese challenge, keeping in mind its own internal requirements and also possibilities of a thaw in Americas economic and trade postures towards China. In any case, America has set up AUKUS, a security alliance, involving itself, the UK and Australia to deal with the military challenges from China.

Finally, it is worth adding that Prime Minister Modi tries to bring in a personal element to the relations with his counterparts across the globe. He overdid it with Donald Trump , even indirectly favouring his re-election as President of America at the Howdy Mody extravaganza in September 2019. He seems to have established a rapport with President Biden too, going by the support he got from the US Administration in dealing with the consequences of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and the promises Biden has made for an improvement of the bilateral ties. In their summit meeting, Biden acknowledged the contribution of four million Indian-Americans in making America stronger. He has assured American help in vaccine production in India.

At the QUAD summit, in keeping with the sentiments to project the Group as a unique experiment for the development of the Indo-Pacific, Modi described the grouping as a force for public good. He also had a one to one meeting with the US Vice President Kamala Harris, where she spoke a bit of her mind on democracy. Her statement was, however, carefully crafted as she talked about the need for both countries striving to protect democracy internally. We dont know the details of their one to one conversation. Modi on his part, referred to India and America being natural allies, borrowing a phrase from Vajpayee, with similar values and geopolitical interests. Notwithstanding his statements in his meeting with Kamala Harris and his speech at the UNGA where he described India as the mother of democracies, it is high time Modi introspects about the causes for the downward swing in his governments image in the western world and initiate corrective measures for creating a positive environment for the operation of liberal democracy at home.

* (Author: Dr.P. S. Jayaramu is former Professor of Political Science, Bangalore University and former Senior Fellow, ICSSR, New Delhi)
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[October 01, 2021] QuestionPro named as a 2021 Technology Leader in Quadrant Knowledge Solutions' SPARK Matrix for Voice of the Customer (VoC) Platform, 2021 MIDDLETON, Mass., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Quadrant Knowledge Solutions announced today that it has named QuestionPro as a 2021 technology leader in the SPARK Matrix analysis of the global Voice of the Customer (VoC) platform market. The Quadrant Knowledge Solutions SPARK Matrix includes a detailed analysis of global VoC market dynamics, major trends, vendor landscape, and competitive positioning. The study provides a competitive analysis and ranking of the leading VoC vendors in the form of its SPARK Matrix, providing strategic information for users to evaluate different vendor capabilities, competitive differentiation, and market position. Driven by the impact of Covid-19 on the global economy, along with major industries, is facing significant challenges and negative growth. Despite the economic recession, technology investments are expected to rise from the year 2021 onwards, driven mainly by the pent-up demand in addition to the eventual economic recovery of the key markets across the geographical regions. Due to the growing digital transformation and customer-centric approach across banking, financial services, insurance, e-commerce, and other sectors, a robust personalized customer experience strategy is considered amongst the most essential to meet ever-growing customer expectations, improve brand loyalty, and win over the competition. With the growing popularity of personalized customer experience strategies across industry sectors, the VoC market is expected to find significant adoption across a variety of industry sectors. The voice of the customer (VoC) platform's key value proposition of capturing omnichannel customer feedback/experience data, assessing customer feedback, closing the loop, and continuously monitoring internal and external datapoints to improve products and services, reduce churn, enhance customer lifetime value, and increase customer acquisition and retention are driving the market growth across the geographic market and industry segments. Owing to the rising competition and exponential growth opportunities, several new vendors are emerging with innovative technology offerings. Leaing VoC vendors are making significant investments in improving AI and machine learning capabilities to support a wide range of marketing and CX use cases and leveraging automation and advanced analytics to improve the overall campaign performance and effectiveness. QuestionPro is a provider of online survey software with specialization in market research software, offline survey software apps, and online questionnaire software. The company is positioned amongst the leading VoC platform vendors in the SPARK Matrix: Voice of the Customer (VoC) Platform, 2021. QuestionPro's Customer Experience Management Platform enables organizations to capture customer experience data, uncover and visualize the impact of loopholes across the customer journey and optimize the services as well as the experiences accordingly. The platform offers comprehensive capabilities, including NPS+, full-featured communities, push metrics, text and sentiment analysis, enterprise survey workflow, advanced survey tools, dashboard sharing, omnichannel deployment, and closed-loop feedback. "QuestionPro's enterprise-scale VoC solution and its focus towards offering an all-in-one VoC Toolbox meets the requirements of market research, customer experience, user experience, and employee experience as well as help organizations understand and manage their branding, and drive innovation across the customer services and products. The company continues to invest significantly in various key areas including text and sentiment analysis, and ticking system to better assess root cause, and churn with less survey, said Priyanka Panhale, Analyst, Quadrant Knowledge Solutions." QuestionPro delivers a strong technology value proposition with its superior platform architecture and key technology differentiators, including NPS+, full-featured community software, support for self-service management, workflows, suits of additional tools including polls, live polls/quizzes, and web forms. The company with its robust product strategy and roadmap, comprehensive functional capabilities and strong customer value proposition, has received strong ratings across the parameters of technology excellence and customer impact, and has been positioned as the technology leader Priyanka further adds." "We couldn't be more thrilled to be included among the top VoC platforms in such a competitive and growing industry. The QuestionPro CX platform allows brands to connect with their customers and understand customers' needs to design an exceptional customer experience. QuestionPro CX is not a tool, but rather a full-fledged solution incorporating services that empower you to create strategies and boost customer loyalty. We are very happy to offer insights and solutions that companies didn't even know they needed." said Ken Peterson, President of QuestionPro CX. Additional Resources: For more information about QuestionPro CX visit here

Complimentary Download, "SPARK Matrix: Voice of the Customer (VoC) Platform, 2021" here . About QuestionPro: Founded in 2006, QuestionPro is a global provider of online survey and research services that help companies make better decisions through data. From free consumer accounts to robust enterprise-level research, we offer tools for the creation, distribution, and analysis of surveys. We also offer platforms for polling, mobile research and data visualization. Fortune 100 companies rely on us to help unlock insights about customers, employees and the marketplace. With offices in the US, Mexico, Germany, the United Arab Emirates and India, we offer customers 24/7 access to highly trained support specialists and engineers. About Quadrant Knowledge Solutions: Quadrant Knowledge Solutions is a global advisory and consulting firm focused on helping clients in achieving business transformation goals with Strategic Business and Growth advisory services. At Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, our vision is to become an integral part of our client's business as a strategic knowledge partner. Our research and consulting deliverables are designed to provide comprehensive information and strategic insights for helping clients formulate growth strategies to survive and thrive in ever-changing business environments. For more available research, please visit https://quadrant-solutions.com/market-research/ Media Contacts John Williams

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Vice-president of Russia's Sberbank accused of embezzlement escapes from investigators

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

14:47 01/10/2021

MOSCOW, October 1 (RAPSI) - Vice-president of Russia's Sberbank Marina Rakova accused of large-scale embezzlement has absconded the investigative authorities, the Interior Ministry's spokesperson Irina Volk has announced.

Charges have been already brought against Rakova. She is on a wanted list.

A criminal case has been opened over large-scale embezzlement at the Federal State Autonomous Institution "The Fund for New Forms of Education Development".

On September 30, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow ordered detention of ex-fund employees Eugeny Zak and Maxim Inkin as well as the executive director of the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences Christina Kryuchkova, who are also involved in the case, for two months.




H.E. Ambassador Hu Zhangliang's Statement on the Occasion of the 72nd Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China

2021/10/01

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear friends,

Today, with great joy and excitement, we are celebrating the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

72 years ago, on October 1st, 1949, the People's Republic of China was established, since then the course of Chinese history in modern times and the landscape of world development have been profoundly transformed.

Over the past 72 years, the Chinese nation has moved from standing up and getting prosperous to becoming strong. And the living standards of the Chinese people have been elevated from bare subsistence to moderate prosperity in all respects.

Over the past several decades, China has been following the path of peaceful development, practicing an independent foreign policy of peace and adopting a win-win strategy of opening-up. China has firmly upheld multilateralism, safeguarded the UN-centered international system, and promoted the international order underpinned by the international law. China has always maintained solidarity with developing countries in promoting world peace and common development.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear friends,

The year 2021 is of great significance for China. It marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the successful realization of the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and the start of a new journey toward realizing the great national rejuvenation. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with President Xi Jinping at its core, China is marching toward the second centenary goal of building a great modern socialist country in an all round way.

In 2021, China's economic and social recovery from COVID-19 pandemic has been accelerated. In order to protect people's lives and health, China kept in place effective prevention and control measures with great courage, firm determination and exceptional resilience. China succeeded not only in bringing the pandemic under control but also boosting economic and social development. In the first half of this year, China's GDP exceeded 53 trillion RMB yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.7%, injecting powerful impetus to the global recovery. For the second half of this year, China's economic growth continues to be robust and impressive.

In 2021, China registered complete victory in the fight against poverty. The eradication of absolute poverty in China represents another miraculous achievement. It is a concrete but strategic step taken by China in promoting human rights, especially the rights to subsistence and development. China has achieved the first target of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals 10 years ahead of schedule. Since China's reform and opening up 43 year ago, the number of China's rural population raised out of poverty accounted for more than 70 percent of the global total over the period.

In 2021, China achieved new breakthroughs in scientific and technological advancement. China's Tianwen-1 probe successfully landed on Mars. A 62-qubit programmable superconducting quantum processor Zu Chongzhi was successfully designed. China's space station core module Tianhe was launched. Recently three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth after working in space for three months and another three astronauts are about to take the next ride very soon, hitting a new milestone in China's peaceful exploration of the space.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear friends,

The year 2021 also marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the legitimate seat of the PRC in the United Nations. China's relations with the world has been further enhanced. H.E. President Xi Jinping attended a series of major diplomatic events such as the Leaders' Climate Summit, the Global Health Summit and the General Debate of the 76th UN General Assembly etc.. President Xi repeatedly put forward China's proposals for the world to fight the pandemic together, strengthen international cooperation, and jointly create a better future for mankind. President Xi also solemnly announced a series of new measures and commitments on behalf of China towards those undertakings, including the provision of 2 billion doses of vaccine to the world throughout this year and 3 billion USD of assistance to the international community in 3 years.

In 2021, China firmly defended her sovereignty, security, development interests, national dignity and international justice. China continued making earnest contributions to the building of a new type of international relations, appropriately handled her relations with other major countries and cemented friendship with her neighbors and other developing countries.

In 2021, the implementation of the follow-up actions of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) entered the final stage. The eight major initiatives for China-Africa cooperation have been fully delivered and China-Africa cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative has been carried out smoothly. Despite the pandemic, more than 1,100 cooperation projects were maintained in operation unimpeded and about 100,000 Chinese technical and engineering personnel stood by their posts, supporting the economic and social development of African countries. A new FOCAC conference is scheduled to be held in Senegal in November. It can be safely predicted that with the concerted efforts of all the FOCAC members, the conference will yield new tangible results and open up a new chapter for China-Africa mutual beneficial cooperation.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear friends,

In 2021, China and Sierra Leone warmly celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. H.E. President Xi Jinping and H.E. President Julius Maada Bio held a telephone conversation in May this year and exchanged congratulatory messages on July 29. As can be seen, new progress has been made this year in China-Sierra Leone cooperation in a wide range of areas, especially the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, infrastructure building and human resources development etc..

Standing at the new starting point, under the guidance of the two heads of state, the Chinese side will continue to work hand in hand with the Sierra Leonean side in further deepening bilateral relationship and proactively seeking common development.

In conclusion, I would like to propose a toast,

to the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China,

to the prosperity of both China and Sierra Leone,

to the longevity of China-Sierra Leone friendship,

to the good health of all of you,

Cheers!
Australia's deadly bushfires in the 2019-2020 season generated 700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - triggering vast algal blooms in the Southern Ocean.

Using satellite data, two new studies published in Nature prove how satellites can illuminate the complicated ways in which Earth is responding to climate change in an era of worsening wildfires.

Australia is no stranger to bushfires, however the 2019-2020 season proved to be unprecedented. As of March 2020, the fires burned an estimated 18.6 million hectares (or 186 000 sq km) destroying over 5000 buildings and killed over 400 people. It was estimated that more than a billion animals perished from the bushfires, with several endangered species facing the risk of total extinction.

Based on a new paper, published in Nature, the extreme bushfires across southeast Australia released 715 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the air - more than double the emissions provided by fire emission inventory datasets.

In southeast Australia, the fires were both intense and extensive. As much as 74 000 sq km of mostly eucalyptus forest, roughly 2.5 times the area of Belgium, was affected. Previous estimates from global inventory datasets of wildfire emissions based on satellite fire data and modelled quantities of standing biomass suggested that the fires released on average 275 million tonnes of carbon dioxide between November 2019 and January 2020.

However, the new analysis indicates that this figure was a gross underestimate. Using data from the Tropomi instrument on board the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, the research team were able to obtain a more accurate estimate of the emissions.

While Tropomi doesn't directly measure carbon dioxide, the instrument takes daily snapshots of carbon monoxide levels in the atmospheric column beneath it. The research team used these data to calculate a more detailed estimate of the carbon monoxide emissions from the bushfires, which they used as a proxy for calculating carbon dioxide emissions.

The team were able to then conclude that the bushfires released 715 million tonnes in just three months. This is twice the amount of carbon dioxide that had previously been suggested by fire inventory estimates and surpasses Australia's normal annual bushfire and fossil fuel emissions by 80%.

Ivar R. van der Velde, an environmental scientist at the SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, in Utrecht, and at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, commented, "The Tropomi data of atmospheric carbon monoxide concentrations provide us with invaluable information on all kinds of wildfires around the world. When the Australian fires raged in December 2019, we immediately sense that there was very interesting science hidden in the vast amount of Tropomi data.

"The disastrous impact the fires had on the local population and local air quality was already known. What we didn't know yet was the magnitude of the pollutants and greenhouse gases emitted by the fires."

Droughts, driven by climate change, are causing an increased frequency and intensity of wildfires. These have been a global problem since the fires release such an enormous quantity of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, further driving climate change and raising global temperatures, driving a perpetual feedback loop.

The question then remains: what happens to all this carbon dioxide emitted in the long-term?

Another recent paper, also published in Nature, suggests that the aerosols generated by the record Australian bushfire season were 'sucked up' by a gigantic phytoplankton bloom thousands of kilometres away in the Pacific Southern Ocean.

The paper found that during the fires, vast plumes of smoke which are rich in nutrients, were swept away over the ocean. Within days, these aerosols had infused the waters with iron, nourishing phytoplankton - microscopic plants - which then absorbed carbon dioxide equivalent to as much as 95% of the emissions from the fires.

Phytoplankton are known to help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as these tiny organisms consume carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. These extensive phytoplankton blooms are said to have covered an area approximately the size of the Sahara Desert, more than 9.4 million sq km.

The researchers monitored aerosol plumes using data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) which include aerosol information from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). They then compared the aerosol observations to ocean chlorophyll concentrations recording by ESA's Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative project and found peaks in chlorophyll concentrations a few days to weeks later.

Thomas Jackson, an Ocean Colour Scientist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), and a member of ESA's Ocean-Colour Climate Change Initiative, commented, "It was an honour to work with this group of international scientists on such an interdisciplinary problem, with each one bringing their expertise to put the whole story together.

"The phytoplankton response to the fallout of the Australian wildfires was impressive in terms of both its geographical extent and the magnitude of the anomaly. Phytoplankton have long been considered sentinels of change, responding at both short and long timescales to changes in the physical and chemical state of the oceans. It will be interesting to see if 'megablooms' such as these become more common, and what the ecological impacts of such blooms could be, as wildfires and other extreme environmental events become more frequent as a result of climate change."

Shubha Sathyendranath, also from PML and ESA's Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative project, added, "This work highlights the intricate interplay among various components of Earth's climate system. The paper shows how fire, aerosols, winds and phytoplankton interact with each other across thousands of kilometres."

The findings from both studies highlight the significance of wildfires on atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations but also how they can directly influence ocean processes. However, more research needs to be undertaken to understand where the carbon taken up by the plankton eventually goes and whether this is re-released into the atmosphere.

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On 29 September 2021, the General Court of the European Union (GCEU) annulled the EU-Morocco trade and fisheries agreements that applied to Western Sahara. "For decades, the concerns of the people of Western Sahara have been ignored and their rights have been violated by the Moroccan occupying power. The EU General Court has made it unmistakably clear that it is high time to talk to and decide with the Sahrawi people and not behind their back. Sahrawi consent must be respected., Andreas Schieder, SPO MEP and Chair of the Intergroup for Western Sahara, a cross-party working group in the European Parliament, summed up. The GCEU invalidated the agreements with Morocco because the EU had failed to secure the consent of the people of Western Sahara, as requested under EU and international law. The Court dismissed the consultations of populations concerned carried out by the European Commission, which could not substitute this fundamental requirement of consent. Through these agreements, the EU has thus been complicit in the unlawful exploitation of natural resources and the entrenchment of the illegal occupation in Western Sahara, and has undermined UN efforts to reach a lasting solution to the long-standing conflict. The Intergroup believes it is now imperative for the EU and its member states to uphold the rule of law, to conform with the decision of the General Court and to ensure that all its dealings with Western Sahara meet the Courts requirements. In this regard, the EU has no choice but to engage with the Frente Polisario as the legitimate and sole representative of the Sahrawi people. Finally, the Intergroup calls on the EU to step up its support to the Sahrawi refugees in Algeria and to the human rights defenders and civil society in the occupied territories.(sps)
Following three overnight races at Scioto Downs then navigating a traffic-troubled trip for a 15-1 upset, Monte Miki seemingly came from the clouds to win Canadas biggest race for rookie pacers last weekend. However, Ohio-based trainer Mark Evers had envisioned his colts Metro mastery right from the start.

The full Monte Miki story starts with his dam Montenegro, a broodmare Evers sought out at the 2016 Harrisburg Sale after competing against her in Indiana and purchased for $57,000.

We'd been waiting for her to become available; I had always wanted her as a broodmare, Evers told Roger Huston in the latest edition of the Ohio Harness Horsemen's Associations podcast Top Of The Stretch. I had a healthy respect for her when we raced against her at Hoosier Park. I had set the track record with Sugar Nips over there and always had to butt heads with her. And then later, she broke the track record that Sugar Nips had set. I think [Jeff] Cullipher had her at the time and when they finished racing her, they sent her through Harrisburg and that's when we saw she was available and we went out there and purchased her."

Sired by world champion Always B Miki, Monte Miki is the first foal out of Montenegro, who won 40 races and $700,000 throughout her career.

He really stood out amongst the other yearlings, said Evers. He was really good looking and he was almost black -- he looked a lot like his mother, but of course, him being a stallion, he had a bigger chest and everything. We always thought hed be something special, especially once we broke him then we really had a good idea.

Evers was pleased when the Velocity Standardbreds homebred qualified on the seven-eighths-mile track at Hoosier Park, winning in 1:58.1 on June 23 and attracting the attention of onlookers.

I try not to rush them if I dont have to. We own all of our horses so we kind of do our own thing, said Evers of the colts early schedule. "A few of the people that had taken care of Montenegro and had been around her came and saw him [when he qualified] and were looking at him because they were all anticipating seeing him go to the races.

From there, Monte Miki reeled off three straight wins at Scioto Downs with Josh Sutton in the sulky leading up to the targeted $824,000 Metro Pace at Woodbine Mohawk Park. After winning his debut on July 8 in 1:55 flat, he went right back out two weeks later to score in 1:54.1 with a :27.1 final frame before lowering his mark to 1:52 in his return from a bout of sickness on September 2.

"Both of those wins, Josh said he had plenty of pace left and the horse was just playing so we were real happy with that and that's when we felt he was ready to go his next race around [1]:52. Well, then he came down sick and he was coughing and it took forever before he scoped clean. It took probably three to four weeks and once he scoped clean, we trained him up pretty good and put him back in and thats when he went his mile in [1]:52 at Scioto out of the eight-hole.

While the Metro was the target all along when Monte Miki was training down, the bay colts impressive performance sealed his trip to Canada, with Evers lining up arrangements to ship him north with OBrien Award-winning caretaker-turned-trainer Teesha Symes, who had stabled in Ohio during the COVID-19 shutdowns in Ontario.

Once I got a hold of Teesha, it made things work out a lot easier for the logistics of getting there and not having to worry because she would take really good care of him, and Beau Brown is there with her, and theyre a nice couple. They really did a good job. I didn't have to worry about anything.

Evers also firmed up the driving services of Scott Zeron, who played a key role in navigating the eventful trip Monte Miki faced leaving from the trailing tier in a field of a dozen young pacers.

I used to race against his dad all the time at Mohawk and Woodbine and he was always a factor. And Scotty just grew up at those tracks and, you know, you've seen him around in big races. Hes very articulate and does some really smart drives. He drove my wifes horse, Sugar Island, at Lexington about three weeks prior to that and he won with him in [1]:50.1 and I knew he was going to be in Canada so we asked him if hed drive him. I think he was a little reluctant, like he didn't know if the horse was good enough or something, laughed Evers. So, I told Teesha, Tell him, do not underestimate this horse, and he didnt. He did everything great.

Evers described watching the race unfold as an emotional rollercoaster but the ride ultimately ended with a thrill of a lifetime for the horseman who always wanted to win one of the big races in Canada after losing a photo finish with Arts Chip to 2005 Canadian Pacing Derby champion Ponder.

"Watching that race going down the backside Im thinking we're not getting anything and then it just completely turned around.

If you've driven in a lot of races, you just know when things aren't going right when youre watching and things weren't going right that first half, recalled the 64-year-old horseman, who has driven 830 winners in the past. But Scott worked it out and everything worked out great. Were really happy with him.

Evers indicated Monte Miki will have a weeks rest before competing in the International Stallion Stakes at The Red Miles Grand Circuit meet and then target the Breeders Crown at The Meadowlands.

As for Montenegro, shes back in foal to Always B Miki with a pair of future prospects in a Rockin Image yearling colt and an Always A Virgin weanling colt.
As Dubai prepares to host the Expo 2020, YouGovs latest survey reveals that a large majority (82 per cent) of UAE residents are likely to attend the event. Only 5% said they are unlikely, while less than one in ten (8%) remain undecided.

At 82%, the intent to visit the Expo is higher than the pre-pandemic times (February 2020) where 67% had shown an interest in attending the event.

Among those who are likely to visit the expo this year, those in the 3544 years category are most likely to be present at the Expo compared to the younger adults in the country.

Similarly, working professionals are more likely than the non-working residents (87% vs 62%) to be there at the event.

When asked about the purpose of visit, almost seven in ten (68%) said they will be visiting the Expo site as a tourist. About three in ten (28%) indicated they will be there for work, while less than one in five (18%) said they will be participating as a volunteer.

Unsurprisingly, the younger adults (those between 18-24 years) are most likely to be there as volunteers.

After a year of postponement, Expo 2020 Dubai is all set to provide extraordinary experiences to its visitors. Data shows that people in UAE are most eager to experience innovation and world class technology at the Expo (58%).

Half of the residents said they are looking forward to interacting with people from different nationalities and experiencing the art, history and culture of different countries (50% each).

More than two in five (46%) are excited about the architectural wonders presented in the form of pavilions, while some are interested in attending global investment forums (37%), education programmes (36%) and enjoying worlds delicacies and cuisines (35%).

Talking about pavilions, this years Expo will be a unique experience as for the first time in the history of World Expos, every participating country will have its own pavilion.

Among those excited to see the pavilions, a majority (70%) thinks that the UAE pavilion is going to be the greatest attraction this year. The pavilions of other countries like Singapore (29%), India (21%) and China (20%) are also thought be the attractive ones this year.

When it comes to the impact of Expo 2020 on the overall development of the nation, more than half (54%) of UAE residents said it will help in creating more economic opportunities in the country.

A similar proportion (53%) thinks it will position UAE as the worlds leading knowledge economy. For both these areas, people who are 45+ seem to be more optimistic than the rest.

Similarly, amongst the nationality groups, Arab expats (54%) are most likely to believe that Dubai Expo will help in diversifying the countrys economy in the post-oil era.

Other perceived benefits of Expo 2020 include improvements in infrastructure and the energy sector (44%), growth of business relations with other countries (42%) and growth of SMEs (40%).

It seems the overall excitement for Dubai Expo 2020 is quite positive as a large majority (85%) in UAE feels that the event is going to be a success despite the pandemic.

Data was collected online among 1,007 respondents in the UAE by YouGovs Omnibus from September 13-19 using YouGovs panel of over 15 million people worldwide.-TradeArabia News Service
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Assam Police on September 29 arrested Sarifudin from Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), where he was undergoing medical treatment after sustaining bullet injuries during the eviction drive on September 23.

Mahibul Hoque | TwoCircles.net

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ASSAM  Assam police arrested one more person from Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) on Wednesday evening on charges of criminal conspiracy and rioting. Identified as Sarifudin of No 1 Dhoplur, he had sustained bullet injury on September 23 in police firing during the eviction drive carried out by the district administration of Darrang. The firing had left two persons dead.

As per his family, Sarifuddin was brought to Sipajhar police station from GMCH where he was undergoing treatment.

According to Sarifuddins relative, he had sustained a bullet injury when he was rushing back home from his in-laws house. He had gone to his in-laws house to help them move as the government had announced evictions would be carried out, the relative told TwoCircles.net.

When the shooting started he said he would go back home. When he was running back home he was caught in the fire, the relative said.

Along with Sarifuddin, 13-year-old Asraful Hoque was also brought to Sipajhar police station for questioning and he was let go the next day. Asraful had sustained a bullet injury on his right shoulder on the day of police firing.

After the doctors said he was getting better and could go home, the police brought us to the police station and let us go the next day saying we are required to visit the police station on October 6, said Moinul Hoque, the father of the juvenile.

Asraful told his father that when he was carrying their belongings the bullet hit him on the shoulder and he fell. He was taken to Mangaldai Civil hospital from where he was referred to GMCH for treatment, the father said.

Earlier on September 28, the police had also arrested two individuals, Asmat Ali Ahmed and Chand Mamud from Kirakara and No 3 Dholpur respectively on charges of instigating violence.

Meanwhile, the Assam Human Rights Commission has said that there was a prima facie violation of human rights in the eviction drive and asked the state government whether a commission has been set up to inquire into the incident that took place at Dholpur on September 23.

Following the evictions which turned violent, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma hinted that the Popular Front of India (PFI) may be involved in instigating the protests. PFI, a Muslim outfit under the governments scanner, had denied its involvement.

The eviction of Muslim farmers from No 1 and No 3 Dholpur was carried out following the governments plan to start an agriculture project in the 77,000 bighas of land in the area to provide employment to indigenous people where around 55,000 Muslims have been dwelling for more than four decades.
by Nirmala Carvaho

Police arrested Rev Charlie John on charges of forced conversion aggravated by monetary inducement. For the president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, the persecution of minority Christians must stop.

New Delhi (AsiaNews)  Last Tuesday evening, police in Rampur, a city of Himachal Pradesh (northern India), arrested a Pentecostal clergyman, Rev Charlie John, on charges of forced conversion using money to induce people to convert.

The pastor was reportedly handing out Gospel booklets and Bibles in the village of Lalas when a group of extremists went up to him, ordering him to stop.

In addition to Rev John, two brothers, Vishal and Keval Ram were also arrested on charges of forced conversion. When questioned, they rejected the accusations, reiterating their innocence.

I only offered the Bible, and I gave it to those who freely accept the Good News, Rev John said. If anyone refused, I didn't insist. We did not convert anyone; I'm even willing to offer the Bible, which is God's Word, even to the police.

What we do is share the Good News with people, tell them about Jesus, without forcing anyone to convert. The accusations made against me are totally false; I have never offered money for the conversion of people ".

Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), spoke to AsiaNews about the incident.

The GCIC strongly condemns the arrest of Pastor Charlie John, with baseless accusations of forced conversion just because he was distributing Gospel booklets and Bibles, George said.

The law that regulates religious freedom in the Indian state, the Freedom of Religion Bill of Himachal Pradesh, is used as an instrument to harass innocent Christians, he explained.

Article 25 of the Indian constitution guarantees religious freedom and Pastor Charlie has not breached any laws. The persecution of minority Christians must stop in secular India.

Himachal Pradeshs religious freedom law was amended in 2019; compared to the previous version (2006), it is tougher on forced conversion.

Section 3 reads: No person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any other person from one religion to another by use of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, inducement or by any fraudulent means.

Under the law, any violator could get up to five years in prison.
by Fady Noun

A group renamed "Let's choose life" calls on Mideast Christians to opt for a multifaceted renewal of their presence, centred on the human person and interfaith relations. Unfinished, the revolutions of the Arab Spring failed to produce democratic governments. The document on the Human Fraternity signed by the Pope and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar is a milestone for the future.

Beirut (AsiaNews)  A ecumenical working group called We choose life has called for theological, geopolitical, intellectual and social renewal centred on human dignity, relationship with others, citizenship, partnership and rejection of the alliance of minorities.

A brief expose of these ideas was presented yesterday at Mar Elias Church in Antelias, in the presence of its eleven signatories, including Souraya Bechaalany, former general secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches; political scientist Ziad el-Sayegh; and Fr Gabriel Hachem.

Such religious and political brain-storming goes against current geopolitical trends. Despite apparent reluctance among the Orthodox, the proposal specifically calls on the Churches in the Arab world to look at their long-tormented history to come up with choices that could lead to a renewal and fulfilment of their common faith, regardless of their demographic weight.

The report was presented in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Joseph Spiteri; a representative of Sheikh Akl of the Druze community; Sheikh Fadel Selim, a representative of Ulema Ali Fadlallah, Sheikh Hussein Chehade; Maronite Patriarchal Vicar Bishop Boulos Sayah; Rodelmar Bueno de Faria, secretary general of ACT Alliance, a Geneva-based international NGO network promoting sustainable development; Faysal el-Khalil, of the Civil Influence Hub; plus a number of intellectuals, civic and other religious leaders, as well as journalists.

In the opening statement, political scientist Ziad el-Sayegh set out the context that justified the group's approach. The very cause of the human person and his dignity is threatened today by distortions of an ideological, state and political nature, he said. The latter have twisted the moral compass and even the sense of dignity.

We are not minorities," el-Sayegh insisted. We reject the alliance of minorities and the use of foreign protection. We are an integral part of an Arab majority aspiring to a state of a civic nature based on active citizenship, respecting and promoting diversity and pluralism.

In his address, Najla Kassab, an ordained minister of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon and president of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, stressed that the document invites us to commit ourselves by choosing life as a victory over death, discouragement, destruction, poverty and forced exodus.

To choose life is to engage in an in-depth dialogue on [. . .] the citizenship-based State, the right to be different, social justice, economic integrity, good environmental stewardship, human solidarity and good testimony for truth, justice, freedom and human rights. [. . .] The Christian presence, she said, is not a passive presence.

The concept of citizenship

For his part, citing key passages from the proposed document, Prof Assaad Kattan, who teaches Orthodox theology at Munster University (Germany), explained how "the Arab Spring revolutions have not yet led to the establishment of democratic political regimes, while campaigning for the concept of citizenship to be placed at the heart of political practice.

We are witnessing a reconfiguration of the present in this region," he explained. The old order has led to uprisings, but the new order has not yet materialised. According to him, "Christians in the Middle East must, together with their Muslim brothers and other partners, build a civic state in all its ramifications, applied without discrimination or exception.

Prof Kattan also called on the Churches to speak out against injustice against women who, through the ages, have been victims, and to work, through bold initiatives, to change their fate and establish strict equality between them and men.

Others spoke at the event via web link, most notably Chaldean Patriarch Card Raphael Louis I Sako, former Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah, ordained Minister Anne Emile Zaki (Cairo), Senator Hanna Grace (Egypt), researcher and theologian Viola Raheb (Palestine/Austria) and Dominican Father Amir Jaji (Iraq).

Open to debate

These proposals are open to debate, said a source close to the signatories of the document. They do not replace previous reflections, but are added to them.

The emerging future of the Arab world is being drawn here, shaped by the Arab Spring, the Document on Human Fraternity of Abu Dhabi (2019) signed by Pope Francis and the Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb of al-Azhar, and the challenges of globalisation.

Churches are invited to reflect beyond Lebanon; the document presents considerable challenges to Lebanese and Arab churchmen, researchers, intellectuals and politicians, although some of the proposals, such as the alliance of minorities, and the citizenship option are non-negotiable.

But beware: The great misfortune would be to see this roadmap suffer the fate of other roadmaps that have remained dead letter.
The measure was in effect in the capital and 18 other prefectures. Yesterday, the country reported 1,576 cases. The imperial family announced that Princess Mako will marry her fiance on Oct. 26.

Tokyo (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Japan today lifted the state of emergency that had been imposed to reduce Covid-19 infections. The measure was in force in Tokyo and 18 other prefectures and included among other things the closure of restaurants at 8 pm and the reduction of spectators at major events.

The population was urged not to leave their homes except for essential travel. After the government announcement, All Nippon Airways received about 50 thousand bookings for domestic flights.

After peaking at nearly 26 thousand infections on August 20, Covid-19 infections in Japan have begun to decline. Yesterday, 1,576 cases were reported across the country. The capital Tokyo had been placed under a state of emergency on July 12, about ten days before the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

Now it remains to be seen what decisions will be taken by the Japanese government to facilitate the return to normality: it could require a certificate of vaccination to attend events or for long-distance travel, but these are provisions that will be up to the future new premier Fumio Kishida.

Health experts expressed concern about a "sixth wave," but also said that if infections were to rise again, the measures to be taken would be different because of the higher rate of vaccinated people.

Meanwhile, the imperial household announced today that Princess Mako will marry her fiance Kei Komuro on October 26. Female members of the imperial family lose their royal status when they marry ordinary citizens, so Mako will not receive part of the family inheritance and will not celebrate the marriage with traditional rites.
by Sumon Corraya

Over 50,000 women have returned to Bangladesh due to the pandemic. They can't find work and have debts they can't pay. One woman was the victim of violence and did not receive her wages. Research shows that returnees face prejudices at home that make social reintegration difficult.

Dhaka (AsiaNews)  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, over 500,000 Bangladeshi migrants have had to return home, mostly from the Gulf countries, and over 50,000 are women.

The condition of repatriated women is a great concern in the country. In report based on a survey among returning women who returned since 2020, the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) found that 60 per cent are unemployed and anxious about their joblessness.

About 55 per cent of women were forcibly repatriated by their employer, the BILS study notes. About 7 per cent of them report being the victim of sexual harassment while 38 per cent say they were subjected to beatings and physical harassment. About 87 per cent of migrant women did not receive any wages in the last period of their employment.

BILS deputy director Monirul Islam notes that almost 70 per cent of the interviewees do not have a formal education that would allow them to find a suitable job in Bangladesh.

"However, some of them are very young and have their whole life ahead. This is why social integration is so important to help them rebuild their lives here."

According to the BILS research, discriminatory attitudes towards returning women are a barrier that prevents them from starting a new life at home.

They are often boycotted socially, abandoned by their husbands, or divorced and considered not suitable for good marriages.

One out of every three women in the survey stated that they were perceived as characterless women by people around them.

Sufia Begum is a migrant worker who returned recently from Saudi Arabia where she worked as a maid. At present, she lives in Dhaka.

She worked more than 12 hours but was not paid. If she protested, she would be beaten and sexually harassed. When the pandemic broke out, my employer sent me to my country, empty-handed, she told AsiaNews. He threatened my life if I protested about his behaviour.

In order to work in Saudi Arabia, she took out a loan worth US$ 1,750, which she cannot pay back. Now she lives in inhuman conditions with her two children, while her husband threatens to divorce her for taking out the debt.

Sufia Begum is just one of the countless women who borrowed money from banks or cooperative organisations in order to seek fortune abroad. About 61 per cent of migrant women are in this situation, the BILS report found.

Debts are not the only problem for repatriated workers. According to local media, thousands of returning Bangladeshi women are at risk of physical and sexual assault, as well as poor working conditions.

More than 10 million Bangladeshis live abroad  mostly in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Libya, Iraq, Singapore and Malaysia  and through their remittances, they support their families back home.
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Armenias incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his Civil Contract party won by an overwhelming margin in snap elections on June 20. Pashinyan confirmed his strong mandate despite his governments responsibility for the defeat in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, and its limited success in handling pressing issues such as the return of Armenian prisoners of war and the border conflict with Azerbaijan. Post-war Armenia faces a large number of serious challenges and to tackle them Pashinyan and his team will have to downplay its populist rhetoric in favor of improved governance.

BACKGROUND: The decision to hold snap parliamentary elections came in March 2021, resulting from a tactical agreement between Pashinyan and the then leader of the largest oppositional group in parliament  Gagik Tsarukyan of the Prosperous Armenia Party.

Pashinyan hoped that early elections would put an end to the serious political crisis in Armenia since its defeat in the Second Karabakh War. As a result, Armenia lost control over large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the important city Shusha (Shushi in Armenian). The war also resulted in a serious humanitarian catastrophe with thousands killed, wounded and displaced. Moreover, the military conflict with Azerbaijan coincided with a serious economic and health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic and a lockdown. It also reinforced disappointment with Russia, which did not take Armenias side in the conflict despite its obligations as an ally. In light of the profound political crisis shaking the country, widespread calls for the government to step down and even attempts to topple it, Pashinyan withheld the decision to hold snap elections until several months after the disastrous defeat.

The tripartite ceasefire agreement of November 9, 2020, ending the Second Karabakh War, was widely seen in Armenia as a crushing capitulation. It triggered widespread protests and mobilized the opposition, which by various different means sought to force the government to resign. Three former political leaders  Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, called on the Prime Minister and his cabinet to step down. Religious leaders such as Catholicos Karekin II joined the appeal and urged the parliament to form a government of national unity in a bid to end the political crisis in the country. The protests were organized by the Homeland Salvation Movement, bringing together 16 opposition parties including the former ruling Republican Party and Prosperous Armenia. The coalition nominated Vazgen Manukyan, a former Prime and Defence Minister of Armenia and a leading proponent of Armenias independence and Karabakhs unification with Armenia in the late 1980s, as Prime Minister and he went as far as calling for an uprising to topple the government.

The most serious effort in this regard came in February this year and provided new impetus to the opposition protests which were slowly abating. On February 25, dozens of senior Armenian officers issued a statement urging the prime minister and his cabinet to step down, asserting that his poor leadership brought the country to disaster and was unable to solve the profound crisis that followed. The appeal also criticized Pashinyan for dismissing Lieutenant General Tiran Khachatrian, the first deputy chief of staff of Armenias army, allegedly because the general denounced Pashinyan in an interview to the media. Pashinyan responded by calling the appeal a coup d'etat and promptly dismissed General Onik Gasparian, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. The dismissal triggered a legal back-and-forth between the prime ministers office and President Armen Sarkissian who refused to relieve Gasparian from his duties. Pashinyan also mobilized his supporters and during a rally in Yerevan issued thinly-veiled warnings that the army must be held accountable for its own shortcomings.

IMPLICATIONS: 22 parties and four alliances took part in the parliamentary elections but only three contenders were able to clear the electoral threshold. The incumbent prime ministers Civil Contract party received a surprisingly high percentage of the votes  53.91 percent and won 71 out of 107 seats in the legislature. Civil Contract will thus retain a two-third majority in the next convocation of the parliament. The Armenia Alliance, an opposition bloc led by former President Robert Kocharyan came in as distant second with 21.11 percent, which will give them 29 seats in the legislature. The last faction to win seats in the parliament (5.22 percent, 7 seats) was the opposition coalition I Have Honor Alliance, led by Arthur Vanetsyan. In 2018-19, Vanetsyan served as director of Armenias National Security Service appointed by Pashinyan, but turned to oppose the government after his dismissal from the post. Vanetsyans bloc gathered some notable politicians from the old regime including former president Serzh Sargsyan.

Even though the popularity of Pashinyan and his cabinet fell sharply after Armenias defeat in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war he was still able to win decisively in the snap elections. Even the security issues relating to the recent border conflict with Azerbaijan, culminating just before the elections, did not significantly alter the outcome. In these circumstances, Pashinyans landslide victory came as a surprise to many observers. All the more so since pre-election polls predicted that Armenia Alliance would go head-to-head with the ruling party or would win the election. Analysts assert that Pashinyans strong mandate has less to do with approval of the current prime minister than with the fear among voters that political figures from the old regime associated with corruption and human rights infringements would again come to power.

Although Armenia is grappling with a severe post-war crisis, the pre-election campaign that officially started on June 7 focused little on concrete governance issues but was dominated by harsh rhetoric and personal insults. Political opponents called Pashinyan a traitor, accusing him of alcoholism and mental illness. The opposition from the start blamed Armenias defeat on Pashinyan and his cabinet and accused the prime minister of worsening ties with Russia. The main opposition forces Armenia Alliance and I Have Honor both advocated stronger integration with Russia, assured voters that they would broker a more beneficial settlement of the Karabakh conflict and put forward plans to remove Western-funded NGOs from Armenia.

In turn, Pashinyan reminded of the corruption and embezzlement of funds especially in the army under the former regime. The incumbent prime minister promised a political vendetta on those who forced their employees to vote in a certain way or take part in political rallies, and a post-election purge in the state apparatus to get rid of Trojan horses. In the most bizarre moment of the campaign, Pashinyan announced that he is ready to send his son as a detainee to Azerbaijan in exchange for all Armenian prisoners of war who are held by Baku. Aside from the turbulent pre-election campaign, the overall vote received positive reviews from Armenias international partners and election watchdogs and was evaluated as competitive and well-managed.

CONCLUSIONS: Armenias embattled prime minister fared far better in early elections than many analysts predicted. However, Pashinyans electoral base has shrunk in comparison to the 2018 Velvet Revolution and subsequent parliamentary elections. This is a result of the governments chaotic and ineffective management of state affairs, which contributed to Armenias defeat in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war as well as the subsequent post-war chaos. The renewed mandate for Pashinyan and his party resulted from the fact that many voters saw no viable political alternatives and feared that political figures associated with the previous regime might return to power.

Although Armenia now has a stable parliamentary majority that renewed its political mandate in the recent elections, the political crisis that has shaken the country has continued. The Armenia alliance has challenged the elections results, claiming widespread fraud, while relations between the parliamentary majority and government and the opposition have been defined by constant confrontation. Meanwhile, the country faces several critical political and security problems. The most pressing is the ongoing border conflict with Azerbaijan in southern Armenia, which escalated even further in August as Azerbaijani soldiers blocked Armenias main north-south highway.

AUTHOR'S BIO:

Natalia Konarzewska ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) is a graduate of the University of Warsaw and a freelance expert and analyst with a focus on political and economic developments in the post-Soviet space.

Image Source: Kansas Adjutant General's Department photo by Sgt. Zach Sheely
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday (local time) met French Ambassador Philippe Etienne at the White House following the envoy's return to Washington.

This meeting was in line with the shared commitment by President Biden and President Macron in their September 22 phone call to begin a process of in-depth consultations on a range of strategic matters, in order to create the conditions for ensuring confidence and propose concrete measures toward common objectives, a statement from the National Security Council informed.

"Sullivan welcomed Ambassador Etienne's plan to engage with officials across the US government to continue advancing our [US-France] shared agenda, in advance of President Biden and President Macron meeting in Europe at the end of October," NSC Spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement.

Days ago, AUKUS trilateral security partnership was announced by the three countries (the US, UK Australia) and under this new pact, the US will develop nuclear submarines for Australia.

Following the pact, France reacted sharply to the cancellation of a multiple billion-dollar agreement with Australia for 12 conventionally-powered submarines and recalled French envoys from the US and Australia for 'consultations'.

(ANI)

Also Read: US Navy approves production of anti-radiation longer-range missile
Hammel knows he is more fortunate than many of his peers, with less than a third of Illinois applicants receiving the restaurant grant at an average payout of about $312,000. With an annual payroll topping $3 million, his nearly $2 million grant buys him time to keep his staff employed and the doors open  at least until next year.
Marc Malnati, who remains active in the pizza chain his father started 50 years ago, said he and his brother, Rick, remain the two largest individual shareholders. He wouldnt disclose the size of the stake that BDT held and that Meritage now controls, and said the shift in investors wont result in much change.
I say this not because Im rooting for it but because Im a realist who decided after his 2016 victory that I would never underestimate Trump or his supporters again. His base is still strong. So is his grip on most of the GOP, as evidenced in its one-page 2020 platform, which announced the partys decision to not have a platform:
But I love my kids schools and teachers and school communities. And school is far from the only place theyre at risk of catching a virus or being shot. On the second day my son was eating indoor lunch, a gunman opened fire at a Tennessee Kroger, killing one person and wounding 14. The first news story I read about the incident included this line: Shootings have happened in at least two other grocery stores this year. A week later, there was a school shooting in Memphis.
Black-owned breweries have historically blended into the broader industry landscape, but Moors aims to stand out, Johnson said. Again, look no farther than the label art; the first two beers released by Moors since its June 19 launch (not coincidentally, the Juneteenth holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in the U.S.) feature a striking portrait of African King Caspar, said to have been one of the three wise men visiting Jesus after his birth.
Wine as the answer: Sip and stroll through Andersonvilles historic district and celebrate the return of this 15th annual event. This year, two routes are offered: cork or bottle. Upon check in, guests receive a commemorative wine glass and route card displaying the wine and occasional food pairings offered along the way. Each route includes 10 host locations. The Andersonville Wine Walk runs from 3-6 p.m. Oct. 3, check in at US Bank, 5340 N. Clark St.; tickets $35 at andersonville.org
I think Dazed is about missing someone, even though theyre really close to you and youre going to see them soon. And this kind of anxiety that you get when you start something new, he said. When I start something new, its like this really intense excitement and then, simultaneously, this really intense anxiety that is coupled with it. Where youre not sure if its as good as you think it is or if you are worried about it ending in a really catastrophic way.
Al Maskati and Ullman knew having a No. 1 song was probably a good thing, but they werent aware of how the success of Hold On, Were Going Home would change their careers on a cellular level. Everybody was like, You have the No. 1 song! How do you feel?  Al Maskati remembers. And we were just like, Um, how do you feel? Its crazy, because that was one of the first things we ever put out, and it was a No. 1 record. Some people, they spend their whole lives chasing that kind of worldwide breaking record, and we had that right off the bat. We appreciate that moment, dont get us wrong, but it came so quickly.
Hansberry knew she was terminally ill  she was thus away from the theater, even though she desperately wanted to be there. "My father was the messenger, he was going back and forth between Lorraine and the theater," Gresham said. "Lorraine was not fully in control  people wanted to protect her from the hard reality of what was to come. And given her health and the strain on her, that is understandable. But it is hard to know exactly what the play would've looked like had she lived."
But the stories told by much of official Chicago too often ignored that Lincoln died for the idea of racial equality: John Wilkes Booth heard the presidents last speech and took it to mean Lincoln wanted full citizenship for Black Americans. And the colonel and his contemporaries, even when they decried legal segregation and even racial covenants for real estate, fought against what the city could be at its best, using their grand plans to justify things like leveling Black neighborhoods and busting up communities.
Once I started listening to the testimony of these historians, I just felt terrible for Mrs. OLeary. I always did feel badly for her, because my grandmother told me she was so sad and wouldnt talk about it. There are no known pictures of Mrs. OLeary anywhere, because she wouldnt let anyone take her picture, Connolly said. And my grandmother, the few pictures that were around, she destroyed them.
Two people inside the home were shot. One of them was a male of an unknown age who was taken by ambulance to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was listed in serious condition, Chicago fire spokesman Larry Merritt said.
On Thursday, surrounded by co-workers and supporters of El Milagro workers calling for the tortillerias owners to meet them at the table and negotiate better working conditions, Sanchez said she was there to represent all the women who work at the factory who have also been sexually harassed.
A similar message was shared with the staff, according to the new defamation suit. In the new suit, DeNicolo alleges those statements were an attempt to see that she be falsely branded as a liar so it, Hubbard Radio, can continue to keep a serial sexual abuser on the air and profit from Eric in the Morning at the expense of Cynthia DeNicolo and all other women whom Ferguson has abused and exploited.
More than 150 firefighters were called to the Princeton Avenue address about 3:30 a.m. for the suspicious blaze that Larry Langford, a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department, said was thought to have originated on the rear porch of a vacant 2.5-story building at 4920 S. Princeton Ave.
Kierra Coles mother, Phillips, said that although she had high hopes for their relationship with the police when her daughter first went missing, because there were so many people working the case, this has waned since her daughters case was assigned to the homicide division a year ago. She also said the communication with the police has stopped. It seem like they aint never in the office, she said, and asked for better communication. Just keep having someone call me, she said.
It would be no different than, when COVID hit, (if) I told Chicago police or Oak Lawn police that for the next 18 months youre going to have to hold people in your lockups in your departments because Im shutting the jail down to keep it secure from COVID, Dart told the Tribune, days after filing a petition with the state Supreme Court asking it to force IDOC to take the overdue detainees. You cant do that!
For more than 30 years, patrol of Chicago area expressways has been a unique duty of this agency and in that time, we have not previously confronted the concentrated levels of gun violence we have faced in 2020 and 2021, Kelly said in the statement. We are a statewide agency with statewide missions and responsibilities, but we must dedicate the greatest resources to the greatest need, and right now the greatest need is here, on Chicagos expressways.
One of Foresights lawyers told state officials the foam used at the Sugar Camp complex was biodegradable and would not harm fish or wildlife. But inspectors later determined the company had pumped more than 46,000 gallons of PFAS-laden foam into the mine, raising the possibility that nearby private wells and other sources of drinking water could be contaminated.
But he said the only reason it was not in earlier drafts of the bill that passed was because it was part of a series of related changes, including tweaks in police licensing, certification and decertification, that arose from a working group that included members the law enforcement community and the attorney general.
For Preckwinkle, the 2022 election will be the 74-year-olds latest in a decadeslong political career that began with her 1991 election to Chicago City Council as 4th Ward alderman. It saw her become the first woman elected Cook County Board president in 2010  and put her within spitting distance of becoming the first Black woman mayor of Chicago two years ago, only to lose to Lori Lightfoot in the runoff.
Chinese authorities have taken stringent measures for flood control along the Yellow River, the country's second-longest, as the floods will likely last until mid-October, the Ministry of Water Resources said Thursday.

The water flow along the Weihe River and Tongguan has reached 7,480 cubic meters per second, said the ministry. It added that social activities in the lower reaches of the Yellow River would be affected when water levels at the Huayuankou hydrology station rise to 5,000 cubic meters per second.

Efforts should ensure the water flow at the Huayuankou hydrology station stays under the warning level of 4,900 cubic meters per second, the ministry said.

Facing the floods rarely seen in history, the ministry dispatched four working groups to the flood-hit regions to guide flood control and called for enhanced preparations against flooding to safeguard people's lives and property.
Attendees at an event organized by the China Disabled Persons Federation in Beijing for people with disabilities to share their stories of poverty reduction, Sept. 29, 2021. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the restoration of China's lawful seat in the United Nations, the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF) organized an event in Beijing on Sept. 29 for people with disabilities to share their stories of poverty reduction.

Six physically-challenged pioneers of poverty reduction from China's Hunan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Tibet, Xinjiang and Qinghai, shared their experiences of escaping poverty and helping other people like them also do so. Many attendees were moved by their touching stories and inspired by their passion and strong will. The speakers not only realized their own value and dreams, but also helped more people with disabilities work up the courage and deal with their challenges.



Zhang Haidi, president of Rehabilitation International (RI) and chairperson of the CDPF, delivered a speech at the event.



Zhang called for the international community to pay more attention to alleviating poverty for people with disabilities, study and implement sustainable supporting measures of targeted poverty reduction and eradication, utilize technological innovations such as artificial intelligence to help them live more stable lives free from poverty, strengthen exchanges in the field, and promote construction of a cooperation platform for people with disabilities around the world. She explained that their aim was to better implement the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, realizing their equal and inclusive development.



Armida Alisjahbana, executive secretary of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, addressed the attendees via video link, praising the event for coming at a very timely juncture.



She added that the notable achievements made by China in poverty alleviation for people with disabilities are valuable assets to the Asia Pacific region.



China has successfully lifted more than 7 million people with disabilities out of poverty. In addition, living allowances now cover over 24 million people with disabilities and nursing subsidies are available for people who are severely disabled.



Over 100 representatives from various countries and international organizations attended the event, including those from embassies in China, U.N. agencies in China, the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and the All-China Women's Federation.
 Flash

China will continue to fully support Vietnam's efforts in both pandemic prevention and control, and socioeconomic development, Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo said.

In a speech during an online reception on Thursday to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xiong said that China has so far assisted Vietnam with 6.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines and provided the country with another 15 million doses via commercial procurement.

China has also been shouldering the responsibility of supporting the global efforts in fighting COVID-19, he said.

Extending festive greetings to all Chinese compatriots in Vietnam, the ambassador said in his speech that China has now developed into the world's leading manufacturer and the second-largest economy, accomplished the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eradicated extreme poverty.

China's development has not only changed itself historically, but also profoundly changed the world as it has become the leading trading power in the world and the biggest trading partner of over 120 countries and regions, while the Belt and Road Initiative has lifted millions of people in related countries out of poverty, he said.

In his speech at the online reception, Member of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said 2021 is a year with great significance for the People's Republic of China, and congratulated the People's Republic of China on both its 72nd founding anniversary and the great achievements it has made this year.

Vietnam sees the development of the Vietnam-China relations as a top priority and strategic choice in its foreign policy, Dien said, noting that the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has maintained positive growth with the COVID-19 pandemic being put under control, which is a highlight and the material foundation of the bilateral relations.

Dien extended his wishes that the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership would keep going forward.
 Flash

Despite the United States' poor record on respecting market economy principles and international trade rules in recent years, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo claimed earlier this week that the Chinese government is blocking Boeing airplane purchases.

Boeing reportedly refused to comment on Raimondo's allegation. In March, the company's CEO Dave Calhoun called on Washington to sort out political issues from trade with China "to encourage a free trade environment between these two economic juggernauts."

In response to Raimondo's claim, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Hua Chunying said Wednesday that whether to buy Boeing airplanes is "a matter that should be left to companies."

"The international community sees very clearly who has been wielding the big stick of sanctions, and politicizing and weaponizing economic issues with ideological prejudice in the past few years," said Hua at the daily briefing, urging Washington to work with China to "strive for a healthy and steady development of China-U.S. trade and economic relations."

These days U.S. trade officials have frequently talked about their take on issues involving China, and claimed to seek to ease relations with the Asian country, but meanwhile, made every effort to suppress Chinese businesses.

On Friday, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Raimondo said she would seek to improve U.S. business ties with China. "I actually think robust commercial engagement will help to mitigate any potential tensions," she said.

However, on Tuesday, she told CNBC that the United States will rally allies in Europe to "slow down China's rate of innovation."

On Monday, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said it would open a 1.9-billion-U.S.-dollar program to reimburse mostly rural U.S. telecom carriers for removing network equipment made by Chinese companies including Huawei.

With regards to the reimbursement program, Hua said: "The U.S. has kept smearing and slandering Huawei and other Chinese companies, but is unable to present any solid evidence to support its accusations. The so-called 'national security' is only a clumsy excuse of the U.S. to impose 'national bullying' and practice trade protectionism."

"The U.S. should immediately correct its mistakes and stop abusing power and trying all means to hobble Chinese companies," she said.
 Flash

Russia and the United States on Thursday held the second round of their bilateral strategic stability dialogue in Geneva, some two months after their first such meeting in the Swiss city on July 28.

The dialogue, led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, was held here behind closed doors.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the two sides said that the discussion was "intensive and substantive."

"The two delegations agreed to form two inter-agency expert working groups -- the Working Group on Principles and Objectives for Future Arms Control, and the Working Group on Capabilities and Actions with Strategic Effects," the statement said.

It also informed that the delegations have agreed that the two working groups would commence their meetings, to be followed by a third plenary meeting.

In a joint statement issued following their Geneva summit on June 16, U.S. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin reaffirmed their commitment to arms control and risk reduction.

The two leaders also agreed that diplomats and military experts from both countries would meet for what was called a "Strategic Stability Dialogue" to lay the groundwork for future arms control and risk reduction measures.
 Flash

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday sent a video message for the China Pavilion of Expo 2020 Dubai.

Noting that Expo 2020 Dubai is the first world expo held in the Middle East, Xi said under the theme of "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future," countries have an opportunity to share their philosophies and success of economic and social development and enhance dialogue and cooperation, which shows the significant importance of the expo.



"Where should the future of humanity be headed? China's answer is to call on the people of all countries to work together, respond to the call of the times, strengthen global governance, pursue innovation-driven development, and advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind," Xi said.



Wishing the expo a "full success," Xi said China is ready to enhance exchange and cooperation with other countries to seize the opportunities for innovation-driven development and actively promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.



Expo 2020 Dubai as well as the China Pavilion opened Friday in the United Arab Emirates. Themed "Build a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind -- Innovation & Opportunity," the China Pavilion showcases the country's achievements in areas such as space exploration, information technology, modern transportation, artificial intelligence and smart living.


As Roe v. Wade is Being Dismantled, Pro-life and Human Rights Advocates Plan Three Days of Public Events at the Supreme Court from October 2-4 NEWS PROVIDED BY

Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution

Oct. 1, 2021



WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ -- Purple Sash Revolution/Stanton Public Policy has organized a series of prayer vigils, rallies, worship services and public witness at the Supreme Court surrounding the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case.



Dobbs v. Jackson, which is being heard by the Supreme Court this term, could be the case to overturn Roe v. Wade.



Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution is a women's advocacy and educational group that works on issues of human rights and justice which empower and inspire women. It is affiliated with Stanton Healthcare which has life-affirming women's health clinics in America and internationally.



There is a Facebook Event Page and below is the schedule of activities at the Supreme Court: Saturday, October 2:



10:00-11:00 a.m.  A prayer vigil will be held at Planned Parenthood, located at 1225 4th St NE, Washington, D.C.



2:00-4:00 p.m.  Historic prayer and worship rally at the Supreme Court with 35 pro-life organizations and leaders participating. They will be praying for the Dobbs v. Jackson case and an end to abortion violence.



Sunday, October 3:



9:30-10:30 a.m.  Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, will lead a rosary at the court praying for the Dobbs case.



11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.  Sunday morning worship service at the Supreme Court asking God to end abortion violence.



7:00-8:00 p.m.  Candlelight vigil for the Dobbs case and dismantling Roe.



Monday, October 4:



10:00-11:00 a.m. Prayer and news conference as the Supreme Court opens their new session. Pro-life leaders will be discussing Dobbs v. Jackson and the future of abortion in America both politically and socially. Brandi Swindell, Founder and CEO of Stanton Healthcare, states: "As an advocate for women, human rights and justice, I am thrilled the tragic history of abortion violence in America, created by Roe v. Wade, is coming to an end in the Dobbs case. Our nation is now embracing the truth that unfettered access to abortion for the full 9 months of pregnancy does not uplift women or advance justice and equality.



"We are wearing these purple sashes, as our Suffragist sisters did, to identify with their struggle to ensure equality for all and join their vocal opposition to abortion. Purple Sash Revolution is coming to the Supreme Court to pray and work toward an America where abortion becomes unthinkable and violence is never viewed as an option to empower women." Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Chief Strategy Officer for Stanton Public Policy Center, comments: "Dr. Martin Luther King said, 'no lie can live forever' and 'the Arc of the Moral Universe is long, but it bends toward justice.' With Dobbs v. Jackson, we are seeing the 'lie' of abortion and Roe v. Wade coming to an end and America 'bending' toward justice.



"As we gather at the Supreme Court for three days of prayer, worship and public witness, we will be seeking God to dismantle Roe and ensure the most defenseless and vulnerable in America will be treated with dignity and equality.



"The pro-life/human rights community will never rest or be silent until abortion ends up on the scrapheap of history like chattel slavery and segregation. We are thrilled the violence created by Roe v. Wade is coming to an end." For more information or interviews contact:

Rev. Patrick Mahoney at 540.538.4741.



SOURCE Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution



CONTACT: Rev. Patrick Mahoney, 540-538-4741



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The global Aquaponics Market is anticipated to reach $1,019 million by 2026 according to a new research published by Polaris Market Research. In 2018, the Deep Water Culture segment accounted for the highest Aquaponics market share in terms of revenue. North America is expected to be the leading contributor to the global Aquaponics market revenue in 2018.

The increase in the population worldwide and growth in global food demand majorly drives the aquaponics market growth. Aquaponics is increasingly being used to meet the high-demand for food crops. The ability to produce high quality crops throughout the year, lesser use of water for crop cultivation, and lower dependency on weather conditions boost the aquaponics market growth. Growing demand for organic and chemical free crops, and rising urban population accelerate the growth of the aquaponics market. New emerging markets, and reduced environmental pollution by aquaponics would provide growth opportunities in the aquaponics market in the coming years.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/aquaponics-market/request-for-sample

North America generated the highest aquaponics market share in terms of revenue in 2018. The growing urbanization, and rising population has accelerated the aquaponics market growth in the region. A significant rise in the demand for organic and chemical free food products supports the growth of the aquaponics market in the region. The technological advancements in farming methods, and increasing awareness among consumers improves the aquaponics market growth rate. Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period. This is owing to significant growth of population in the region. Lack of fertile land, and strong technical expertise in agricultural practices in the region promotes the adoption of aquaponics in the region. Technological advancements and established R&D institutes in China and Japan further supplements the aquaponics market growth.

The well-known companies profiled in the aquaponics market report include Ultrasonics Canada Corporation, UrbanFarmers AG, Backyard Aquaponics Pty Ltd., ECF Farmsystems GmbH, My Aquaponics, Aqua Allotments, Nelson & Pade Inc., Colorado Aquaponic, Greenlife Aquaponics, Aquaponic Lynx LLC, and The Aquaponic Source among others. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to innovate and launch new products to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers.

Complete Summary with TOC Available @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/aquaponics-market

Leading players in the aquaponics market partner and collaborate with other players in the market to enhance their offerings in the market and expand their customer base. For instance, Aerofarms has partnered with Dell Technologies to expand its technological requirements of machine learning and network systems. Fluence Bioengineering, offers lighting solutions for Aquaponics to its consumers. The companys Fluence RAZR Series is developed for various Aquaponics applications such as full-cycle cultivation of leafy greens, young plant propagation of vegetable, ornamental and cannabis crops.

Aquaponics Market Size and Forecast, 2018-2026 by Product Fish Herbs Fruits Vegetables Others

Aquaponics Market Size and Forecast, 2018-2026 by Component Bio Filter Rearing tanks Settling Basins Hydroponics Subsystem Others

Aquaponics Market Size and Forecast, 2018-2026 by Method Deep Water Culture Nutrition Film Technique Media-Filled Beds Ebb and Flow Drip Irrigation Others

Aquaponics Market Size and Forecast, 2018-2026 by End-User Commercial Home Production Community Agriculture and Farming Education and Research Others

Aquaponics Market Size and Forecast, 2018-2026 by Region North America U.S. Canada Mexico Europe Germany UK France Italy Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific China India Japan Rest of Asia-Pacific Latin America Brazil Middle East & Africa



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About Polaris Market Research

Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world.

Contact us-

Polaris Market Research

Phone: 1-646-568-9980

Email: sales@polarismarketresearch.com

Web: www.polarismarketresearch.com
The global Millimeter Wave Technology Market Size is anticipated to reach $6,752 million by 2026 according to a new research published by Polaris Market Research. In 2018, the mobile and telecom segment accounted for the highest market share in terms of revenue. North America is expected to be the leading contributor to the global Millimeter Wave Technology market revenue in 2018.

The increase in demand for high speed data connectivity and growth in mobile traffic worldwide majorly drives the Millimeter Wave Technology market growth. Millimeter Wave Technology is increasingly being used owing to significant increase in the demand for the bandwidth intensive applications. The increasing applications in radar and security sectors, and increasing adoption of advanced networking technologies boost the market growth. The evolution of 5G technology, and growing demand for mobility accelerate the growth of the Millimeter Wave Technology market. New emerging markets, and increasing applications in defense, aerospace, and satellite communication would provide growth opportunities in the market in the coming years.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/millimeter-wave-technology-market/request-for-sample

5G networks will be based on higher frequencies based millimeter wave spectrum. These frequencies are capable of carrying massive amounts of data at very high speeds and with very little latency. Millimeter wave spectrum is capable of accommodating increase in data demands from mobile-first users, connected homes, AR/VR devices, cloud gaming systems, self-driving vehicles, IoT sensors and other cloud-connected devices.

North America generated the highest Millimeter Wave Technology market share in terms of revenue in 2018. The growing demand from the telecommunication sector, and development of 5G technology has accelerated the market growth in the region. The increasing trend of IOT, and growing demand for mobility supports the growth of the market in the region. The technological advancements, and growing demand from defense and aerospace sectors improves the Millimeter Wave Technology market growth rate. Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period. This is owing to significant growth in the automotive industry in the region.

Complete Summary with TOC Available @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/millimeter-wave-technology-market

The well-known companies profiled in the Millimeter Wave Technology market report include NEC Corporation, Siklu Communication Ltd, Bridgewave Communications, Inc., E-Band Communications, LLC, Aviat Networks, Inc., Millitech, Inc., Millimeter Wave Products Inc., Farran Technology, Ltd, Keysight Technologies, Inc., and Ducommun Incorporated among others. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to innovate and launch new products to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers.

Millimeter Wave Technology Market Size and Forecast, 2018-2026 by Product Scanner Systems Radar and Satellite Communications Systems Telecommunication Equipment

Millimeter Wave Technology Market Size and Forecast, 2018-2026 by Frequency Band 24 GHz and 57 GHz 57 GHz and 86 GHz 86 GHz and 300 GHz

Millimeter Wave Technology Market Size and Forecast, 2018-2026 by End-User Mobile & Telecom Healthcare Commercial Industrial Consumer Automotive Defense Others

Millimeter Wave Technology Market Size and Forecast, 2018-2026 by Region North America U.S. Canada Mexico Europe Germany UK France Italy Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific China India Japan Rest of Asia-Pacific Latin America Brazil Middle East & Africa



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About Polaris Market Research

Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world. We strive to provide our customers with updated information on innovative technologies, high growth markets, emerging business environments and latest business-centric applications, thereby helping them always to make informed decisions and leverage new opportunities.

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The global Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) Market is anticipated to reach $9.3 billion by 2026 according to a new research published by Polaris Market Research. In 2018, the consumer electronics segment accounted for the highest Semiconductor Intellectual Property market share in terms of revenue. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the leading contributor to the global Semiconductor Intellectual Property market revenue in 2018.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/semiconductor-intellectual-property-market/request-for-sample

The increase in demand for consumer electronics such as MP3 players, digital cameras, cell phones, coupled with increasing use of connected devices majorly drives the Semiconductor Intellectual Property market growth. Rising demand for modern System on Chip (SoC) design, and growing need to reduce manufacturing and design cost boost the Semiconductor Intellectual Property market growth. Advancement in multicore technology for consumer electronics further supports the growth of the Semiconductor Intellectual Property market. New emerging markets, and emergence of technologies such as embedded and programmable DSP IPs would provide growth opportunities in the Semiconductor Intellectual Property market in the coming years.

Asia-Pacific generated the highest Semiconductor Intellectual Property market share in terms of revenue in 2018, and is expected to lead the global Semiconductor Intellectual Property market throughout the forecast period. The growing urbanization, increasing population, and rising living standards have accelerated the Semiconductor Intellectual Property market growth in the region. A significant rise in the demand for consumer electronics from countries such as China, India, and Japan, and increasing adoption of connected technologies support the growth of the Semiconductor Intellectual Property market in the region. The growing automotive industry, and increasing penetration of electric vehicles support the Semiconductor Intellectual Property market growth in the region. Modernization of vehicles and development of autonomous vehicles augments the Semiconductor Intellectual Property market growth in the region.

Complete Summary with TOC Available @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/semiconductor-intellectual-property-market

Soft Semiconductor Intellectual Property is usually offered in high-level language such as RTL C++ Verilog or VHDL, and is generally portable. However, it is not optimized for a specific process technology. Thus, the power, performance and area are not known until it is committed to a specific process technology and library. Hard Semiconductor Intellectual Property is usually offered in GDSII format along with an accompanying set of EDA views or models, while being optimized for a specific foundry process. Some examples of hard SIP include processors, standard cells, memories, phase locked loops, and analog blocks.

The well-known companies profiled in the Semiconductor Intellectual Property market report include Synopsys Inc., Eureka Technology Inc., Fujitsu Ltd., Lattice Semiconductor Corporation, Faraday Technology Corporation, ARM Ltd, Cadence Design Systems Inc., Ceva Inc., Intel Corporation, and Imagination Technologies Limited. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to innovate and launch new products to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers.

Avail discount on this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/semiconductor-intellectual-property-market/request-for-discount-pricing

About Polaris Market Research

Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world.

Contact us-

Polaris Market Research

Phone: 1-646-568-9980

Email: sales@polarismarketresearch.com

Web: www.polarismarketresearch.com
San Francisco, 1 Oct 2021: The Report Electric Powertrain Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Component (Motor/Generator, Battery), By Electric Vehicle (BEV, HEV/PHEV), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028

The global electric powertrain market size is expected to reach USD 654.95 billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 33.5% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market for pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles has been growing significantly, in turn, creating an increasing demand for automotive electric powertrains. Governments in various countries are taking initiatives to promote the development of Electric Vehicles (EVs). For instance, in 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a public investment of USD 400 billion in clean energy. The investment would help develop 500,000 charging outlets for electric vehicles by the end of 2030.

The rising sales of EVs have propelled prominent automotive component manufacturers to aggressively focus on developing essential EV components to gain a competitive edge. Prominent manufacturers in the market are primarily focusing on enhancing their facilities in countries, such as China and the U.S. For instance, in February 2020, Nidec Corporation invested around USD 1.8 billion to expand its EV powertrain business. The companys three new facilities located in Poland, China, and Mexico would deliver up to 8.4 million electric motors every year.

Asia Pacific is projected to grow at a substantial CAGR over the forecast period owing to the increase in demand for EVs and the rise in the per capita income of people. Countries, such as China, South Korea, and India, are among the prominent manufacturers of automobiles. Stringent government regulations and emission norms, including BS-VI in India, are also expected to contribute to the growth of the Asia Pacific market. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the ten consecutive years of robust growth of EVs, mainly impacting sales in countries, such as China. With factory shutdowns, declining vehicle sales, and decreasing use of public transit, the automotive supply chains have been heavily disrupted by the pandemic. Europe is a crucial market for electric powertrains and holds a substantial share of automotive production. Countries, such as Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands, have the highest adoption rate of EVs in the world. This, along with the presence of several automotive OEMs, is estimated to drive market growth in Europe.

Access Research Report of Electric Powertrain Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/electric-powertrain-market

Electric Powertrain Market Report Highlights

The motor/generator component segment is anticipated to witness the fastest CAGR from 2021 to 2028

The growth is credited to the increasing penetration of BEVs and PHEVs across the globe

The HEV/PHEV segment is anticipated to witness the highest CAGR exceeding 36% over the forecast period

This growth can be attributed to the charging flexibility benefits offered by these vehicles

Asia Pacific is expected to expand at a high CAGR of more than 34% over the forecast period

The regional market is driven by the increasing adoption of EVs in countries, such as China and India

List of Key Players of Electric Powertrain Market

BorgWarner

Bosch Ltd.

Mitsubishi Electric Corp.

Magna International Inc.

Schaeffler AG

ZF Friedrichshafen AG

Valeo

Nidec Corp.

Continental AG

Magneti Marelli CK Holdings

Access Press Release of Electric Powertrain Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-electric-powertrain-market
Market Overview:

The Global Orthopedic Extension Devices Market held USD 837.4 million in 2020 and is to grow with a CAGR of 3.8% from 2020-2030. Orthopedic extension devices are designed for patient safety and outcomes during surgical procedures. This helps the health workers productivity as they dont have to hold the patients hands during the operation. The machines are self-contained and may be used as a functioning tables extension. They are seen in medicine, such as shoulder, leg, arm reconstruction and other orthopedic proc

Market Dynamics and Factors:

Orthopedic extension devices market growth is attributed to increasing numbers of accidents and accident incidents, medical techniques, technical advances, and the increasing focus over development initiatives such as acquisitions, partnerships and product releases by market leaders. Increased incidence of falls and bone injuries is expected to increase market growth during the forecast period. For example, according to the World Health Organization s 2018 fact sheet, there are approximately 37.3 million falls every year that require medical attention, while an estimated 646,000 people die every year from falls. Growing amount of drug approvals by regulatory agencies and product releases are anticipated to fuel business development. For example, in May 2019, Getinge announced the launch of Maquet Yuno II, a surgical table to support advanced orthopedic techniques and to reduce the complexity of the treatment of trauma surgery and neurosurgery in the United States.

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Market Segmentation:

Based on the type, the orthopedic extension devices industry is segmented into arm surgery, hip surgery, spine surgery, knee surgery, and others. On the basis of end-user, the orthopedic extension devices market trends vary into hospitals, clinics, home settings and ambulatory surgical centers. Geographical breakdown and analysis of each of the orthopedic extension devices demand includes regions comprising Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, and RoW.

Geographic Analysis:

North America dominates the orthopedic extension devices market share with the large demand owing to increasing number of surgical practices and product launches. The region is also a hub of advanced healthcare infrastructure and the growing expenditure of government on rapid development of novel disease controlling drugs is further fueling the growth of global orthopedic extension devices market. Asia Pacific is witnessing fastest growth rate and expected to dominate in the future. Increasing number of falls, serious injuries, road accidents, coupled with facility expansions by leading players are probable to drive growth of the orthopedic extension devices market.

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Competitive Scenario:

Key orthopedic extension device market companies concentrate on pursuing growth approaches such as product releases, alliances and acquisitions to expand their product offerings in the future sector, which is projected to fuel business development. For example, in January 2018, at the Arab Health 2018 in Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Trilux Medical and Mizuho OSI exhibited their range of surgical suite solutions, including ProAxis surgical table for surgical positioning.

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Some of the key players involved in the orthopedic extension devices market include ImplanTec, Condor Medicaltechnik, Merivaara, Alliance Impex, Mediland Enterprise, Smith & Nephew, Allen Medical Systems Inc., St. Francis Medical Equipment, Innovative Orthopedic Technologies, Schaerer Medical, MIKAI, Mizuho OSI, NUOVA BN, OPT SurgiSystems, DRE Medical, Schmitz u. Soehne, Skytron, Technomed India.
A LONDON, Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kindred Group plc has taken the decision to cease any services towards Dutch citizens as of today on a temporary basis. Kindred's ambition is to be a sustainable operator in the Netherlands contributing to the Dutch society once a licence is awarded. Today's decision has been taken due to recent policy changes in the Netherlands, on which Kindred will seek further clarification. Kindred Group plc (Kindred) has today taken the decision to temporarily cease further services towards citizens in the Netherlands. The decision has been taken due to the recent policy changes communicated by the Dutch Minister for Legal Protection on 20 September and the opening of the market to licenced operators on 1 October 2021. It is Kindred's view that the letter from Minister Sander Dekker does not explicitly request operators to cease services towards Dutch citizens as long as the prioritisation criteria published in 2019 are followed. Kindred will now seek further clarification on the intention of the Dutch government and the KSA. "The opening of the online gambling market in the Netherlands is a very positive step for all involved. We look forward to receiving our Dutch license during 2022, and thereby positively contribute to the Dutch society as a valued expert in achieving a sustainable gambling market", says Henrik TjArnstrAm, CEO Kindred Group. "We have always put a safe gambling environment at the very core of our strategy and operations, and already now comply as much as possible with all Dutch license requirements. We remain fully dedicated to consumer protection, preventing addiction and combatting fraud and crime. An important part of this is our ambition to reach zero per cent revenue from harmful gambling by 2023", concludes Henrik TjArnstrAm. Kindred is preparing for the opening of the Dutch licensing process under the Remote Gambling Act, and has been working on the preparations for a Dutch licence application, as well as successfully completed all required audits. Having completed preparations, Kindred will now, in accordance with the regulatory timeframe that it must observe, apply for the Dutch license during Q4 2021. Kindred has successfully increased its profitability in locally regulated markets over the past years, in line with its long-term strategy. As long as services towards Dutch customers are ceased, this decision is expected to have a negative impact on Group EBITDA of approximately GBP 12 million per month against Kindred's own forecast before any potential mitigation actions. Kindred Group's CEO Henrik TjArnstrAm will host a telephone conference in English on 1 October 2021 at 10.00 (CEST). For those who would like to participate in the telephone conference please call: Sweden: +46 8A 566 42 705 United Kingdom: +44 33 3300 9264 United States: +1A 646 7224 902 This disclosure contains information that Kindred Group is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014) and the Swedish Securities Markets Act (2007:528). The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person, on 30-09-2021 23:00 CET. CONTACT: For more information:

Patrick Kortman, Head of Corporate Development & Investor Relations,A ir@kindredgroup.com,A +46 723 877 438 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/kindred-group/r/kindred-to-temporarily-cease-services-towards-dutch-citizens,c3425250 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/824/3425250/1475837.pdf Kindred to temporarily cease services towards Dutch citizens A A
GUANGZHOU, China, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Huangpu district in Guangzhou, South China, known as the northern pearl in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), released its latest promotional video "Enjoy the Wonderful Huangpu" on October 1st. The video by the Publicity Department of Huangpu District Committee, shown on outdoor screens of global landmarks such as the New York Times Square in the United States and Printemps in Paris, France, presents to the world an open hub with high-quality development, a technological innovation highland and a livable city. A new round of high-level opening-up is surging in the GBA. The innovative Huangpu has become a frontier window for the international community to observe China's opening-up and international cooperation. With its location advantages, strong industrial foundation, systematic innovation, entrepreneurship ecology and talent policies, Huangpu has attracted nearly 200 of the world's top 500 enterprises. "Huangpu is a successful example of China's reform and opening-up, enterprises introduced here are world-class and have strong cluster effect. It is an ideal place for investment," applauded those corporate executives, at the parallel session of the 2021 Annual Conference on Multinational Corporations Investments in Guangdong recently held in the Sino-Singapore Knowledge City, Huangpu. Huangpu is at the forefront of China's opening-up to the world, one of the nation's earliest areas to receive investment from multinational corporations and with the highest concentration too. The millennium-old Huangpu Port was once "the one and only trading port" in China within one hundred years. In 1984, Guangzhou became the country's first batch of coastal open cities, and Guangzhou Development District, the first batch of National Economic and Technological Development Zones in China. Today, it has become the main area for Guangzhou to develop the real economy and strategic emerging industries, and the innovation source of the GBA, aiming at topping the country as the strongest industrial zone, with output value of manufacturing industry exceeding one trillion yuan. With extraordinary historical charm, openness and innovation and livable ecology, Huangpu is showing a strong "gravity". "Huangpu is one of the happiest urban areas in China. Guests from all over the world are welcome and share the highlights here!" said the head of the Publicity Department.
The purchase, once it goes through, will be a test of the groups aviation acumen. (AFP file photo)

Media reports indicating approval of financial bids by Government of India in the AI disinvestment case are incorrect. Media will be informed of the Government decision as and when it is taken, tweeted Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management. Bloomberg has reported that Tata Sons has won the bid for Air India.

According to Bloomberg report, Tata Sons Pvt. is set to take over ailing Air India Ltd.

A civil aviation ministry spokesman didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. A finance ministry spokesperson couldnt immediately be reached. A representative for Tata Sons declined to comment.

The proposed handover is a key victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has embarked on a bold privatization plan to plug a widening budget deficit. It also puts an end to a decades-long struggle to offload the money-losing flag carrier. Multiple governments have tried to sell the airline -- which began life as Tata Airlines in 1932 -- but those attempts were either met with political opposition or a lack of interest from potential buyers.

The purchase, once it goes through, will be a test of the groups aviation acumen. Tata Group has faced criticism for not running its existing aviation businesses efficiently, even though they represent a tiny portion of overall revenue.
Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh released the results of the Andhra Pradesh Integrated Common Entrance Test (AP ICET) and Andhra Pradesh Engineering Common Entrance Test (AP ECET) 2021 on Friday.

AP ICET 2021 exam was conducted by Andhra University on September 17 and 18 for admission of students into MCA and MBA courses. As many as 42,092 candidates applied for the exam, of which 38,115 candidates appeared for the exam. 34,789 of them qualified for admission. In total, 91.27 per cent of candidates qualified for admission.

The minister also released the results of the AP ECET 2021 examination today. Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) Anantapur had conducted the test on September 19 at 132 test centres spread over all the districts of AP and also in Hyderabad.

A total of 34,271 candidates registered for this examination, out of which 32,318 appeared and 29,904 qualified. The qualifying marks are 50 out of 200 for all categories and for SC/ST category there is no minimum qualifying mark. The overall pass percentage is 92.53 per cent.

The exam was conducted totally in 13 Streams out of which 11 are Engineering Streams; the remaining two streams are B.Sc. (Mathematics) and Pharmacy. A maximum number of 10,654 students have registered for mechanical engineering. Only six students have registered for Ceramic Technology. In Mechanical Engineering 10119 have appeared and 97.96 qualified with a pass percentage of 96.81 per cent.
The data clearly showed that liquor sales have increased sharply due to bypoll. Representational Image. (DC Image)

Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India is keeping a close watch on the flow of liquor in Huzurabad Assembly constituency, where the byelection is scheduled for October 30, and surrounding districts in the wake of liquor sales witnessing a steep rise since June when sitting MLA Etala Rajendar resigned.

Following complaints that political parties are trying to lure voters by supplying liquor in the garb of Dasara gift, the EC has stepped up vigil. Usually, liquor shops across the state witness record sales during Dasara.

Official sources said that the EC had obtained data from the excise department to assess the increase in liquor sales. The EC directed excise and police departments to maintain a strict vigil on Huzurabad and district borders to check flow of liquor from other areas.

The data clearly showed that liquor sales have increased sharply due to bypoll.

Official sources in the excise department said that there are 29 liquor shops in Huzurabad constituency. The sales recorded in these shops from January to September last year was Rs 125 crore, which shot up to Rs 175 crore during January-September this year, an increase of Rs 45 crore.

Till June, the average monthly sales used to be in the range of Rs 10 crore to Rs 13 crore, but have crossed the Rs 20-crore mark since. Liquor sales stood at Rs 22.37 crore in June, Rs 24.82 crore in July, Rs 23.73 crore in August and Rs 16.64 crore till September 20.

Shops are not in a position to meet increased demand and liquor is being procured from other Assembly constituencies in undivided Karimnagar district and from surrounding undivided Medak and Warangal districts.
Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy issued a bulletin late on September 27 adjourning the House for three days till October 1 due to heavy rains across the state. (DC Image)

Hyderabad: The Telangana state Legislature will resume its sitting from Friday, after a three-day break due to heavy rains earlier in the week.

The session is resuming at a time when the political atmosphere has been charged up with the Election Commission of India issuing the Huzurabad bypoll schedule on September 28.

The session started on September 24 but no business was transacted on Day 1 except offering condolences to former MLAs who passed away in the inter-session period. It was later adjourned to September 27, when the House transacted full business.

However, Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy issued a bulletin late on September 27 adjourning the House for three days till October 1 due to heavy rains across the state. With this, the House could transact business only for one day on September 27 in this monsoon session so far.

With the ruling TRS and opposition BJP and Congress engaged in a tough political battle in Huzurabad bypoll, the session assumes significance.

TRS sources said the party leadership wants to utilise the session to hold debates in the House on TRS government's achievements over the past seven years, its welfare schemes and development programmes with an eye on the Huzurabad bypoll.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, ministers and TRS MLAs will participate in debates on welfare schemes such as Dalit Bandhu, Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, Aasara pensions etc and also on Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme and other irrigation projects making Telangana becoming the top food producer.

Since the Assembly session garners huge media coverage, the party wants to utilise the opportunity to benefit in the bypoll

Opposition parties are planning to counter the ruling party by taking up issues in the House such as failure to give job notifications, failure to pay compensation to farmers who lost their crops due to heavy rains, government's policy to discourage paddy cultivation, corruption in irrigation projects, podu lands etc.
Take a deep breath. Say it again. Slowly. Like our finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, was quoted on the dramatic day the Sensex hit 60K, calmly stating: I can see very clearly good signs of a revival. Otherwise, my revenue mop up would not be where it is, both in GST and direct tax. Thank you, Madamji. We desh waasis are feeling good already. The mop up makes the revival sound like puddles of water. Our buckets are leaking, Madamji. But its good to know that some of us are getting rich and a few select stocks are creating the illusion that our economy is on fire, and every chhota mota investor has cash coming out of his/her ears. That too, just before the festive season kicks off.

As Arnab Goswami (some of you may remember him) used to ask nightly:

Whats going on? The BSE Sensitive Index closed over 60,000 points on Friday last week (September 24) for the first time. I live in Mumbai, and pretty close to the old Bombay Stock Exchange. I did not hear crackers being burst. But then again, all this Sensex talk is just talk for the aam aadmi. To be told that it has risen nearly 60 times in three decades  the benchmark being 999 on January 1, 1991  does not bring tears of joy to those of us who are coping with far more mundane, everyday issues. How nice we say vaguely, that the Sensex has more than doubled from its low in March 2020. The poor Sensex had also been Covid-impacted, like the rest of the country. By hitting a new high, we are safely assuming the virus is beating a hasty retreat from India, and the third wave may somehow give us the slip.

Till such time as the lovely lady at WHO (Dr Soumya Swaminathan, its chief scientist) declares it as an endemic and we can thump our chests and boast: See! We did it! Our dashing Prime Minister is already in that zone! Take a look at his pictures in America, with his flowing beard neatly trimmed. Do you really think the timing of the beard trim was accidental? Nope! Modiji is the master at imaging. His non-verbal communication is as impressive as his oratory. The American press wallahs were quick to note the change in his appearance. His unruly locks are gone along with the extended unshaped beard. Hey! Its signal, folks! Modiji ki tapasya is finally over. His attempts to look like a sage or an ascetic have been mercifully abandoned. Besides, after the West Bengal debacle, why bother to mimic the great poet Rabindranath Tagore? The voters were not convinced! And hello!! Who created that fake NYT first page?? Any guesses???

Meanwhile, there is enough to feel chuffed about take a look at the ads across all media platforms. The big sales are on! And consumers are busy splurging money they may not have -- credit cards, zindabad! Live events are happening all across India. Fashion boutiques and jewellery brands are booking full-page ads in the major newspapers. That is, the limited space that is available after Yogi Adityanath has finished with his propaganda. Imagine all the crores of rupees being spent to hang on to his kursi in Uttar Pradesh! The same money could have built a hundred state-of-the-art hospitals!

Our sole Tokyo gold medallist, Neeraj Chopra, is reaping the benefits of his wonderful win, with endorsements galore. Never mind that he was trolled for a rather misjudged attempt (his multiple avatars in an a commercial for CRED), that took away his sheen a bit! But Neeraj is now a mascot for Indias success. Along with our vaccine rollout, which has indeed been praiseworthy. Overall, there is muted euphoria as a roll-up to Dussehra (October 15), and with Diwali to follow. The dark shradh period concludes next week (the night of October 6), and the exuberance of Navratri kicks in across the country. Thats the charm of India! Nothing stops us from celebrating our many festivals -- not even the Covid-19 pandemic.

Compared to this time last year, optimism is definitely in the air, as upbeat citizens make travel plans or think in terms of investments. This year, we actually have options! We wont feel guilty about dancing during Navratri, for example, or about buying new clothes for the family during Durga Puja. Mithai boxes will pass the scrutiny of those eagle-eyed custodians of our conduct during Covid-19 times. Our bachchalog will once again venture out of their homes, and with any luck actually play in an open ground with other children! But wait, home schooling has made brand experts of our kids! A recent study claims that toddlers can recognise popular brands easily, but have trouble identifying common birds or animals! This would have been funny had it not been so worrisome! Imagine brands getting embedded in a four-year-olds mind even before the child can correctly say E for Elephant! All is not lost, however, since this study has led to a review of online teaching with an appeal to aim for a balance between the virtual and real. Kids effortlessly identified the logos of food brands, cars and delivery apps, but were stumped when shown pictures of parrots or a coconut tree!

Well, folks, thats how the laddoo crumbles these days. Our netas are gearing up for Diwali as only they know how  little packets have started arriving well in advance! In Mumbai, citizens use creativity to express their disgust since nothing else works. An imaginative guy (Swapnil Mahindrakar) hosted an exhibition of photographs featuring our notorious potholes at the Street Art Gallery. Please ask the state government to be a bit more serious about this  precious lives are being lost, a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni of the Bombay high court cautioned advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni. Not sure anybody is listening, since we have far more important issues in Maharashtra to deal with -- our former home minister Anil Deshmukh is still lapata, along with the former Mumbai police commissioner, Param Bir Singh. It is a question of who does what deal with whom and for how much. Khul ja Sim Sim!!
A recent development in Kabul is that the Taliban tells Joe Biden to stop flying drones over any part of Afghan territory. This comes about as the Jihadis are concerned over the overflights which are monitoring their every move.

The terror Jihadis even sent a veiled message to the White House of consequences that might arise.

Ironically, the Biden administration is now following a terror group that does not have the best interest of the US at heart. It is the same group that causes a reign of terror in the 90s.

Terrorists cite laws

The terror group's spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that the US violated a peace deal signed in Qatar. It strictly does not allow overflight of a drone as it violates the agreement, reported the Daily Mail.

He added that all nations are called on the US to uphold Afghanistan's sovereignty based on its rights, laws, and commitments. In doing so, to avoid anything negative, VOA Public Relations posted on Twitter as well.

After twenty years in Afghanistan, the US pulled out on August 30, in which the self-determination is not in the hands of the terror Jihadis. But one of the problems faced by Jihadis is where it can retrieve the money the government owns.

Ironic claims of over the horizon that does not exist

President Biden had promised that an over the horizon is still possible in the country. This allows the US flexibility to conduct drone strikes. But they lost this facility with the abandonment of the Bagram airbase, and the Taliban tells Joe Biden to stop flying drones.

Read Also: US Drone Strike Mistakenly Kills Family, Children in Kabul Instead of a Vehicle Carrying ISIS-K Members

The Afghan spokesperson says drones will be flying, which violates international law that disallows it. Once all flights are stopped, it would be hard to know what is happening. Mujahid was cryptic about what would happen if the US still flew drones, violating the Qatar agreement.

The Taliban has a precedent for asking the US not to fly drones based on the Qatar agreement. The Biden administration sanctioned a drone strike on August 29, which killed the wrong target.

Instead of Killing supposed ISIS-K bombers prepping to attack the Kabul airport, a gross error of judgment instead killed an innocent family of 10, with several children too, noted NBC News.

It was one of the worst judgment cases in its haste to even up the score, which killed someone without the usual accuracy needed to confirm the target. This was admitted to by the senior US general Frank McKenzie, which made things worse.

The US general said that it was a righteous strike, but it was a terrible mistake of Biden's so-called over the horizon capability that failed.

The military official tried to explain it was an honest mistake, but instead, it led to the question of whether drones are that precise. But McKenzie still did not admit the US committed a grave error.

Killed in the drone strike was Zamairi Akmadhi, who entered the car park, and the children, who were meeting their dad in greeting. Sumaya, a two-year-old toddler, was among the slain. This wrongly done UAV strike is the reason why the Taliban tells Joe Biden to stop flying drones when the US cannot even confirm if it is civilian or not.

Related Article: US Marine Sacked for Criticizing Biden in Furious Rant Following Afghanistan Disaster that Killed 13 Marines

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While the international world waits to see whether the Taliban will reimpose strict rules before determining whether or not to resume aid to Afghanistan, China sent winter supplies to the cash-strapped country on Wednesday night.

Afghanistan Cuts Off From Receiving Funds

In a recently published article in MSN News, Afghanistan has been shut off from receiving funds from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the United States, which froze assets held by the Afghan Central Bank in American banks, leaving the government short of billions of dollars.

According to a World Bank study, the reduction has been catastrophic since foreign assistance accounts for almost 75 percent of Afghanistan's state spending. Afghans have been left without adequate health care as a consequence of budget cuts, which have resulted in the closure of 2,500 institutions and the nonpayment of over 20,000 health care employees.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Regional Director Alexander Matheou said that there must be a solution to the money flows into Afghanistan, at the very least, to guarantee that wages are paid and that critical commodities, such as electricity and water, are purchased, according to a published article in Newsweek.

Read Also: SNAP Benefits: Reevaluation of Thrifty Food Plan Results To Increase of Food Assistance Up To 15%

China To Send Water and Winter Supplies

China has committed $31 million in assistance to Afghanistan, including food and medicines against the coronavirus. Beijing has said that it is willing to continue contact with the Taliban administration. It went on to say that forming a new temporary administration was an "essential step" toward restoring stability in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, China, a "friendly neighbor" with Afghanistan, intends to deliver additional food and supplies shortly, according to Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, according to a recently published news article in The Washington Newsday.

Afghanistan faces a "very tough few months," according to Matheou. When low winter temperatures set in, healthcare cutbacks put people at risk, food shortages flare, and drought and poverty ravage the nation.

Taliban Prime Minister Hasan Akhund Plans To Improve Organization

In an apparent attempt to impose discipline among Taliban ranks, the Taliban ordered its militants to vacate private houses they had taken over during last month's assault when the organization took control of Afghanistan, according to BBC News.

Taliban Prime Minister Hasan Akhund issued the order after Taliban leaders hinted at intentions to strengthen the organization and mobilize militants in recent public remarks. According to the statement, Taliban militants from the militant group's defense, interior, and intelligence departments residing in private houses are required to "report back to military outposts" throughout the nation.

To portray an appearance of authority, the Taliban have recently abandoned their customary civilian attire in favor of military fatigues. A Taliban security officer, Bilal Karimi, confirmed the order. During the August blitz, the Afghan army abandoned or surrendered most of its strongholds, enabling Taliban militants to take over military outposts as well.

Needless to say, with the approaching winter and significant financial shortages, the Taliban fired bullets to disperse a women's protest seeking equal rights in Kabul. At the same time, Matheou warned that Afghanistan was slipping into a serious "major humanitarian catastrophe."

Related Article: IMF Refuses to Release $450 Million to Afghanistan; Taliban Cannot Access Most Afghan Central Bank Assets

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This is the awful truth of the Taliban's purported amnesty for Afghans who cooperated for the UK. Ahmed has injuries on his shoulders, back, and buttocks from being hit with a steel cable and rifle butts.

On Monday, the Daily Mail took a photograph, ten days after the assault in his house, in front of his horrified family. His injuries have healed over time. One can only imagine how they appeared right after they were inflicted.

Ahmed's "crime" was working as an interpreter at the British embassy in Kabul. His situation was exacerbated by the fact that he was one of the individuals left behind by the UK government during the country's botched departure last month.

Translators in Afghanistan fear for their lives

Within hours after raising the matter, then-Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab ordered the decision to be reversed, and many are already in the UK after fleeing aboard evacuation planes. However, not everyone was saved in time.

GardaWorld, a Canadian contractor that provided translators and security to the embassy, hired Ahmed and Shoaib. Both had spent the previous 16 years working for foreign contractors. They were men with a history.

His eligibility certification arrived on August 24, when the evacuation was nearly complete and security worsened. It was already too late. He attempted to travel to the airport with his wife and four children, but the Taliban turned him away.

On August 26, he was one of more than 200 embassy contractors and families shuttled to the airport. They waited in the heat for hours until almost 6 p.m., when the first Islamic State suicide bombers burst amid waiting for would-be refugees nearby.

Women banned from institutions

Meanwhile, the Taliban's hold on women's rights tightens. According to the most recent Taliban-appointed director of Kabul University, women would be prohibited from enrolling as students and faculty members at the school.

The current university regulation is similar to what the Taliban did when they were in control beginning in the early 1990s, as per Forbes. A past era in which women were barred from attending school, was required to be escorted by a male relative in public, and were physically punished if they disobeyed.

Just a few weeks ago, Afghan women's rights advocates protested for the right of girls to attend secondary school after the Taliban ordered that only male students and teachers return to school. The Movement for Change Party, a women's civil society movement led by Fawzia Koofi, a former Afghan Member of Parliament and peace negotiator who addressed via webcam outside of Kabul, coordinated the demonstration.

Only male pupils and instructors from the 6th to the 12th grade were required to report to their classrooms on Saturday by the Taliban Ministry of Education. On Friday, the statement said nothing about the female students, raising concerns that women might be barred from secondary school once more.

Read Also: UK Fuel Crisis: Petrol Station Staff Hit By Abuse Due To More Brawling in Queues; Soldiers To Patrol on Roads

Taliban orders soldiers out of Afghan homes

The Taliban ordered its militants on Thursday to vacate private houses they had taken over during last month's blitz when the organization seized control of Afghanistan in an apparent attempt to enforce discipline inside Taliban ranks.

Meanwhile, in Kabul, the Taliban fired bullets to disperse a women's rights protest. At the same time, the regional chief of the International Federation of the Red Cross warned that Afghanistan was on the verge of a "major humanitarian crisis" due to the impending winter and significant budget deficits.

Taliban Prime Minister Hasan Akhund issued the order in response to recent public remarks by Taliban leaders indicating preparations to enhance organization and marshal militants. It stated that Taliban militants residing in private houses who work for the militant group's defense, interior, and intelligence departments must "report back to military bases" nationwide.

In recent weeks, the Taliban have abandoned their usual civilian attire to portray authority in favor of military fatigues. During the August blitz, the Afghan army abandoned most of its posts or surrendered to the Taliban, allowing Taliban militants to take over military bases as well.

On Thursday, the Taliban fired bullets outside a local school in Kabul to disperse a small gathering of six women demanding equal access to education. Per ABC News, they seized posters carried by women with the words: "Do not burn our books!"

Related Article: Taliban Executes Child on Suspicion of Father Being Member of Afghan Resistance Force

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The infighting between Democrats over the massive $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and $3.5 trilling budget reconciliation package was democracy at work, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday.

During Psaki's daily press briefing, a reporter asked whether or not United States President Joe Biden had "lost control" of his party. The question was raised after the fact that Democrats have continued to fail to agree on two major pieces of legislation has become widespread knowledge.

Democracy at Work

The major piece of information that lawmakers continue to struggle to agree on is the legislation's price tag. In her response, Psaki defended the situation by arguing that Democrats discussing and fighting amongst each other was the surest sign of democracy in the country's federal government.

"I know it feels foreign because there wasn't much that happened over the last couple of years. But how it works is the American people elect their elected officials, the president of the United States puts forward a bold and ambitious proposal, and then everybody negotiates about it," Psaki said, vaguely referencing former President Donald Trump's administration, Fox News reported.

Psaki said that Democrats had different points of view regarding the legislation and argued that democracy was a messy picture. The situation comes as progressive House Democrats have expressed their opposition to the infrastructure bill, which was already passed in the Senate unless it goes together with the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, which faces opposition from other lawmakers.

Read Also: Fox News Host Dubs Joe Biden As Dishonest, Alleges POTUS Becoming 'Most Unpopular President To Ever Serve'

The press secretary's comments came on the same day that the House was expected to vote on the infrastructure bill, which could still go either way. Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal said they had enough votes to keep the bill from being passed and urged moderate Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin to cooperate with them.

On Thursday, it was revealed that Manchin talked with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to tell him that he only supported the reconciliation bill if it had a price tag of $1.5 trillion. Manchin and Schumer came to an agreement in late July to discuss the massive bill and set a limit to its funding, the New York Post reported.

Criticism of Biden

The situation also comes amid Psaki's defense of President Biden after the Democratic leader was accused of acting Trump-like. She said that a growing number of people have slowly started to see Biden becoming similar to the Republican businessman in terms of leading the country.

A French foreign minister previously said Biden reminded him of the former United States president during negotiations over the submarine deal with Australia. Jean-Yves Le Drian said in early September that Biden had made a "brutal, unilateral, and unpredictable decision," which was in line with what former President Trump would generally do.

Title 42 is another topic that is getting widespread criticism, the majority of which is also felt by Biden. Psaki argued that Title 42 was a "public health requirement" and was necessary due to the coronavirus pandemic to curb the spread of the infection, Yahoo News reported.

Related Article: US Secretary of Defense Claims Pentagon Was Unaware of the Developments That Allowed a Swift Taliban Victory

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After a new prohibition from the Biden administration takes effect in 2022, Americans may see some respite from "surprise" medical costs.

Ban of Surprise Medical Bills Takes Effect in 2022

In a recently published article in Newsweek, patients will not be slapped with large fees from an out-of-network physician when a medical emergency forces them to travel to the closest emergency department due to the new consumer safeguards.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said that they are hoping to give millions of Americans a relief who are blind-sided by billing. Patients will be prevented from seeing exorbitant costs if an out-of-network doctor or surgeon assists in surgery while being treated at a hospital inside their network after the restriction takes effect on January 1.

Meanwhile, hospitals, physicians, and insurers will participate in a 30-day negotiation process to resolve payment and fee disputes, with an impartial arbitrator stepping in if they cannot reach an agreement, according to a published report in The New York Times.

Read Also: Top Most Famous Reasons You Need an Accident Injury Attorney

Aim of the New Protection

The goal was to keep patients and their families out of the financial picture by restricting the amount they may be charged for out-of-network treatments to a fee based on in-network costs. That amount is deducted from their yearly deductible if they are in-network.

Under the new protection, patients are protected from unexpected costs as a result of emergency medical treatment. If a patient is seen in an out-of-network facility or treated by an out-of-network physician at an in-network hospital, they are protected. In either scenario, the patient may only be billed at the in-network cost of their insurance plan, according to a report published in Yahoo News.

When an out-of-network physician becomes involved and files a bill, patients admitted to an in-network hospital for a scheduled treatment are protected. Out-of-network service providers must also offer patients a 72-hour notice of their projected costs. For the hospital or doctor to charge them for out-of-network treatment, they would have to give their consent to it.

Surprise Medical Bills as Common Problems for Americans

Surprising medical bills have been a frequent occurrence for individuals with health insurance, which is all the more aggravating since most patients believe they are covered. Doctors and hospitals outside the network of customers' health insurance plans racked up charges ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars. Emergency visits and in-patient admission resulted in a surprise cost.

Despite the fact that many states have laws against surprise billing, federal action was required to safeguard patients insured by big employer plans, which are controlled on a national basis. A bipartisan plan for addressing the problem was set out in a 2020 legislation signed by then-President Donald Trump; the Biden administration filled in the specifics.

Furthermore, patients had to take the effort to sort out unexpected costs before the prohibition on surprise billing was enacted. In many instances, the hospital or doctor would negotiate with the insurance company until a deal was reached. However, there was no assurance that this would occur; and patients risked being put in collection processes over which they had no influence.

Related Article: Even with COVID-19 Relief Aid, Only 4 in 10 Americans could Pay $1,000 Unexpected Expenses, Survey Reveals



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The North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ignores Joe Biden's offer to reopen talks with the US after it stalled the last time. His reason is that the American's have not honestly considered Pyongyang's intention. This comes as another world leader shrugs off Biden.

He called the US president's offer not sincere and continuing a policy of hostility against North Korea.

Many have criticized Biden for his approach to foreign policy, like managing the Kabul Debacle or the AUKUS, which did not go smoothly.

North Korea ignores US offer

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had spoken parliament last Wednesday, dismissing US President Joe Biden's proposal to initiate talks, reported the Express UK.

Instead, he has given commands, on the other hand, for officials to reopen engagement with South Korea to add to efforts to "advance peace."

The last time Pyongyang and Washington had a meeting was last February 2019 at the Hanoi summit.

When then-President Donald Trump suggested days just before the summit that he didn't need Kim to make any more commitments, the discussions collapsed apart. Trump added that if there is no nuclear testing, everything will be acceptable. Nuclear weapons have been a big issue with the US.

The Biden administration reached out and told Kim Jong Un that it was ready to restart talks.

According to Rodong Sinmun newspaper, Kim Jong Un ignores Joe Biden's offer because of the lack of resolve the dilemma of North Korea with finality. All the past administration has not come close to Trump but got sidelined by events, cited NDTV.

Read Also: Kim Jong Un Allegedly Organizes Women by Force to Construct Border Wall With China

Kim Jong Un added that South Korea does follow America, mutual respect must be ensured, and South Korea must abandon biased viewpoints and a double standard approach.

The NoKor leader is not interested in talking to the US, despite Washington saying it had no hostile intent to North Korea last Wednesday. Negotiations are welcome if Pyongyang agrees to meet.

According to an unidentified State Department spokesperson, saying that they are waiting for a favorable response. One of the reasons for keeping mum on the US request to dialogue comes after North Korea tested a short-range missile, stated it military. The test was conducted in the eastern sea last Tuesday, said reports.

The two Koreas and nuclear reactors

Japanese Defense Ministry officials stated that it suspects a ballistic missile tested in the east sea, though the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff did not add other inputs.

Recently, both the North and South Korea missile tests were launched on the 15th of September. They were barely a few hours for each launch, noted ABC News. NoKor shot two ballistic missiles from its eastern coast, only the first test launches of these kinds of missiles in the last six months.

A month ago, satellite images and open-source information sources had cited activity related to nuclear power plants, cited the Economic Times.

The information came out that the formerly dormant main nuclear complex at Yongbyon, which houses a 5-megawatt reactor, was registering activity to make plutonium used to manufacture atom bombs with weapons-grade uranium. The Supreme Leader offered to dismantle it for lifting sanctions in 2019 but did not continue with it. Kim Jong Un ignores Joe Biden's offer for now but is waiting for hefty concessions to make it worth it.

Related Article: Kim Jong Un Successfully Launches Hypersonic Missile; Joins Elite Club of China, Russia, and US Global Military Power

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Berlin authorities reported the arrest of a 96-year-old woman, who was known to be a former secretary in a concentration camp during the Nazi era, was scheduled to appear in court for charges of being an accessory in the deaths of more than 11,000 people.

However, officials said that instead of going straight to court for her appearance, the suspect traveled to a nearby subway station. The woman was identified as Irmgard Furchner, who was 18 years old when she worked at the Stutthof concentration camp in Poland in 1943.

Nazi Concentration Camp Worker

Authorities did not immediately reveal the destination of Furchner when she evaded her court appearance. Previously, the suspect told reporters that she did not want to be part of the trial and was later apprehended by police after she was reported missing by the court. The Itzehoe court also said that Furchner was undergoing a medical investigation.

In February, Furchner was indicted after a five-year investigation that looked into her involvement with Stutthof camp where she worked as a secretary to the commander. The camp was located near Gdansk, which was then called Danzig, and the suspect worked there from June 1943 to April 1945. The indictment was part of an effort by German prosecutors in holding lower-ranking people of the Nazi regime accountable for their actions, the New York Times reported.

Read Also: Baseball Fans Boo Joe Biden Despite Attempts at Pleasing Crowd; Fellow Democrats Threaten To Strike Down Domestic Agenda

The court also issued the warrant and delayed the reading of the indictment until Oct. 19, which is the next scheduled hearing. Officials said that the reason for the delay was that it could not be done due to Furchner's absence. Authorities said that they did not expect the suspect to evade the trial due to her age and condition.

After Furchner's arrest, a doctor was instructed to examine her health and condition to determine whether or not she was fit to be placed in prison prior to the court's decision of whether or not to put her in custody, Yahoo News reported.

History of Nazi Crimes

The Central Office in Ludwigsburg, which is responsible for investigating Nazi crimes, said that roughly 65,000 people lost their lives at the Stutthof concentration camp and its subcamps. The list of victims also included those who were on the so-called death marches at the end of the war.

The Hamburg Regional Court in July 2020 sentenced Bruno D., a then-93-year-old former guard at Stutthof to two years in prison for his involvement in the crimes. The suspect was believed to have managed prisoners at the camp from August 1944 to April 1945. Authorities charged the defendant with 5,230 counts of accessory to murder over his less than a year of working as an SS guard.

Authorities placed Bruno D. in front of a juvenile court because he was only 17 years old when he worked as a guard for Stutthof camp in the early 1940s. Officials scheduled next Thursday to be the date of a trial against a 100-year-old SS guard at the former Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen, which would be the suspect's first hearing, CNN reported.



Related Article: US Secretary of Defense Claims Pentagon Was Unaware of the Developments That Allowed a Swift Taliban Victory

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The bill, which was rushed through both houses of Congress earlier in the day, freezes funding levels for federal departments and agencies until December 3.

Biden Signs the Stopgap Funding Bill

In a recently published article in Hindustan Times, President Joe Biden signed a nine-week temporary financing package on Thursday that avoids a government shutdown but does not address the danger of a U.S. default related to the debt ceiling.

The plan does not, however, contain a provision requested by Democrats to suspend the nation's debt ceiling, which was rejected by Republicans in the Senate in a previous version of the package. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that if Congress does not increase the debt ceiling by October 18, the government would be unable to pay its debts, putting the U.S. economy in jeopardy.

In the face of adamant Republican opposition, Democrats abandoned an earlier effort to tie a debt-ceiling suspension to the package, and it cleared both houses. On Monday, Republican senators rejected a version of the package that included debt limit provisions, according to a report published in MSN News.

Read Also: House Ways and Means Committee Includes 5-Year Extension of Child Tax Credit in the $3.5 Social Spending Plan

Measures Under the H.R. 5305

Senators rejected a few Republican amendments and then passed a temporary financing measure, 65-35, that not only averts a shutdown until December 3 but also contains $28.6 billion in disaster assistance for states hit by severe weather and $6.3 billion to help Afghan refugees.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has maintained that his conference would not assist Democrats to raise the debt ceiling or even speed up their ability to do so and citing worries over the ruling party's plan to approve billions in additional spending for social and climate policies. This is what is happening despite a debt limit hike to pay for a previous bipartisan debt, as per Reuters.

However, despite broad support for the measure, the temporary package did not contain a planned $1 billion for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system. According to senators from both parties, the House has approved a separate measure giving that money, and the Senate may take it up shortly.

Some Republicans Chastise the Stopgap Bill

Republicans blamed Democrats for the last-minute stopgap vote, claiming they attempted to tie the measure to the debt limit last week. Kay Granger of Texas, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, stated on the House floor that she had voted against the measure last week because of the debt problem.

In a published report in CNN News, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Republican, objected to a provision in the bill that he believes benefits the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The money should be used to offset the cost of the Iron Dome system, according to Paul.

Democrats Defend the Bill

Democrats asked GOP senators to agree to a simple majority vote with just Democratic votes to approve the bill. Republicans have so far rejected this, preferring to compel Democrats to go through weeks-long budget process to accomplish the same objective.

Furthermore, because none of the 12 regular appropriations bills for fiscal 2022 have been passed into law due to a disagreement between Democrats and minority Senate Republicans over military and domestic spending levels, a temporary funding measure is required. Leahy said on Wednesday that he intends to release draft spending legislation shortly in order to kick-start the process of reaching an agreement before the new deadline.

Related Article: 2 Democratic Lawmakers To Oppose Biden's Huge Spending Plan; What is in the $3.5 Trillion Reconciliation Bill?



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Brian Laundrie's parents might go missing next as Dog the Bounty Hunter continues to look for Gabby Petito's fiance, according to online spies.

Chris and Roberta Laundrie have been chastised for remaining silent while Gabby is gone, as well as for failing to report Brian's disappearance until September 17, three days after they believe they last saw him go for a stroll at Carlton Reserve.

Despite their lawyer's denial that they had knowledge on his location, experts believe they may know more about his disappearance.

As the family confronts increased scrutiny, some online critics have speculated that they may also vanish before Brian is discovered. Others condemned Brian's disappearance two weeks ago, despite FBI investigators showing up at his home and seeking to talk with him the same week.

Brian Laundrie's parents visited by police twice

This week, it was revealed that Brian had gone camping with his parents at Fort De Soto Park, some 75 miles from their house, after returning home on September 1 with his and Gabby's white vehicle but without his fiancee.

On Friday, it was revealed that Roberta had canceled her two-person camping arrangements just days before Brian's return. On August 24, the mother made camping reservations for two people in a Florida campground, but on September 3, she altered the reservation to three people.

Local officials confirmed on Wednesday that surveillance video from the stay had been turned over to the FBI, The Sun reported. Dog the Bounty Hunter, a TV personality who has been searching for Brian since Saturday, reports that Brian and his parents arrived at Fort De Soto on September 6, but only two persons departed on September 8.

The day before Gabby Petito went missing, police were summoned to Brian Laundrie's house twice. According to North Port Police records, they initially responded to a "public service" call just before 4 pm on September 10.

The police arrived at 6.30 pm the same day, and both calls were listed as "issue resolved." Fox News reported that at least one of the ten September calls was made by Petito's father, Joe Petito, who resides in Vero Beach, Florida, some 150 miles east of the Laundrie family's house in North Port.

Petito did not go to the Laundrie's address, according to redacted police files, but voiced worry for his daughter's safety. The new information confuses the sequence of events from when Laundrie came home alone on September 1 to when his parents declared him missing 16 days later.

Read Also: Private Jet Crashes Into Connecticut Factory Killing Couple Doctor, Unborn Child, and Two Pilots

Gabby Petito's boyfriend bought cellphone

Laundrie, 23, bought a cellphone on September 4, according to his family attorney on Thursday. On September 6, he and his parents, Christopher and Roberta, went to the Fort De Soto Park campground.

Petito's mother, Nichole Schmidt, reported her missing on September 11. Schmidt had been attempting to contact Brian Laundrie and his mother Roberta for many days after her daughter had abruptly ceased contacting at the end of August.

North Port police records stated they responded to five calls at the address on September 10 and 11, and have responded to 46 calls in total in the last 19 days.

They took the Ford Transit van the couple had been traveling in from the Laundrie's property on the evening of September 11 and transported it for forensic investigation, as per The Independent via MSN.

North Port police revealed last week that they had not seen Brian Laundrie at the property that night, and it is unclear when he was last verified to have been there.

His parents informed investigators that he went on September 14 to go hiking in the Carlton Reserve, and that he filed a missing persons report three days later, on September 17. Grady Judd, the sheriff of Polk County in central Florida, criticized North Port's handling of the issue on Thursday.

Related Article: Gabby Petito's Family Remains Confident With FBI Despite Brian Laundrie's Disappearance; Urges To Give Same Attention to Other Missing People



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A new United States bill could force domestic flyers to show proof that they are not infected with the coronavirus if they want to travel if the proposed legislation, which was revealed on Wednesday, passes into law.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is responsible for the U.S. Air Travel Public Safety Act which would require all American passengers to be fully vaccinated, fully recovered, or test negative for the coronavirus infection. There would be needed documentation before travelers are allowed to board a domestic flight.

Requiring Proof of Vaccination

During a news release on Wednesday, the bill's author, Feinstein, said that air travel during the 2020 holiday season was a major contributor to the devastating COVID-19 surge in the winter. She said that the bill was put in place to prevent something similar from occurring in the future of air travel.

While it was a standard process to show proof of vaccination for international air travel, domestic flights have mostly allowed American passengers to not go through the extra level of restrictions. But building on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) current travel requirement, the bill would force domestic flyers to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test result or proof of recovery from the infection to be allowed to fly within the country, USA Today reported.

In a statement, Feinstein said the bill would ensure that air travelers get themselves protected from the virus and also keep communities in their destinations safe from the disease. She said it was crucial to take extra steps to keep the infection from spreading as more variants of the coronavirus are emerging.

Read Also: Baseball Fans Boo Joe Biden Despite Attempts at Pleasing Crowd; Fellow Democrats Threaten To Strike Down Domestic Agenda

Feinstein said it was only logical to keep the millions of airline passengers that traveled within the country from contributing to the spread of the infection. She noted that young children remain ineligible to receive the coronavirus vaccines and are at greater risk of being infected.

Experts warn that another outbreak of the coronavirus was likely as the United States continues to struggle against the Delta variant. The strain has contributed to the majority of new cases in the country due to its high transmissibility among hosts, The Hill reported.

Feinstein's New Bill Proposal

Feinstein's bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop national vaccination standards and procedures related to the COVID-19 in consultation with the Federal Aviation Administration to prevent future outbreaks of the coronavirus.

The bill would also need the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to provide recommendations. These would include COVID-19 vaccine use in healthcare settings and among healthcare personnel in other settings.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Public Health Association have both expressed their support of the bill. The President of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Dr. Barbara D. Alexander, who is also a professor of medicine and pathology at Duke University School of Medicine said vaccination was a keystone strategy in ending the coronavirus pandemic. She added that vaccination requirements in multiple settings would help boost vaccination rates, prevent infections and hospitalizations, and save lives, Senate, a government website reported.



Related Article: US Secretary of Defense Claims Pentagon Was Unaware of the Developments That Allowed a Swift Taliban Victory

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U.S. officials are looking into Morgan Stanley, Interactive Brokers, and other financial advice companies for handling approximately $100 million belonging to Venezuelan billionaire Luis Mariano Rodriguez Cabello.

Cousin of Former Venezuelan Oil Minister Accused of Laundering $2 Billion

In a recently published article in Newsweek, Rodriguez, the cousin of Rafael Ramirez, the former Venezuelan oil minister and U.N. ambassador, has been accused of laundering $2 billion in the United States on Ramirez's behalf, and the U.S. and international authorities are now investigating him.

Rodriguez's accounts were said to have "red flags" for possible money laundering. The so-called "red flags" included prior regulatory and enforcement examination, as well as the fact that the funds came from Venezuela, which the U.S. government has designated as a high-risk money laundering country for more than a decade.

Furthermore, Ramirez has been a key player in Venezuela's energy industry since former President Hugo Chavez chose him to head the energy ministry in 2002. He is accused of defrauding the government by entering into false insurance contracts with the country's main oil corporation, according to a report published in Market Watch.

Read Also: Prince Charles' Charity Launches Investigation Into "Cash For Access" Allegations

Morgan Stanley and Other Firms are Under Investigation

The FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and other federal authorities are now looking into why Morgan Stanley and the other companies agreed to take on Rodriguez's accounts despite suspicions that they were linked to money laundering.

Financial institutions are prohibited from enabling their services to be utilized in criminal activities under federal banking regulations. They must screen their customers and the individual's connections, source of money, and financial transactions to stay in compliance, according to a report published in Market Insider.

Morgan Stanley, Interactive Brokers, and the other companies have not been charged with any misconduct. Interactive Brokers informed the news outlet that it is "committed to compliance with all relevant rules and regulations" but couldn't comment on individual accounts or clients.

SEC, FBI Did Not Give Any Comments

A news source also claimed that it contacted the SEC and the FBI and Rodriguez and Ramirez but received no answer. According to the news source, Ramirez has previously described his misconduct claims as "unsubstantiated and politically driven" in previous comments.

Ramirez has been branded corrupt by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who worked with Ramirez under Chavez and now confronts a contested presidency. Former U.S. sources claimed the allegations, whether genuine or not, were a ruse to divert attention away from Maduro's current charges of drug trafficking and collaborating with terrorists, which the U.S. has brought against him.

Additionally, according to former U.S. officials and financial security experts, the Rodriguez probe reveals significant flaws in the U.S. finance and regulatory system, which largely depends on financial firms to police the system against fraud. While a whistleblower complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2019 aroused attention in the involvement of financial companies in Rodriguez's actions, the inquiry has roots that go back almost a decade.

Related Article: 106 People Who Scammed Over 10 Million Euros Arrested

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A group of New York City public school teachers has petitioned the United States Supreme Court to intervene and prevent the city's vaccination requirement from taking effect on Friday at 5 p.m.

Teachers File a Petition

In a recently published article in Newsweek, the petition asks Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor to grant an emergency injunction barring the requirement, which they say would put thousands of public school workers out of work if it is not repealed.

Thousands of unvaccinated public school employees will lose their jobs as a result of Mayor Bill de Blasio's order, according to the petition; while other municipal employees, including those who have significant contact with children, are allowed to opt-out of the vaccine mandate through weekly COVID-19 testing.

The new legal challenge comes just days after a federal court ruled in favor of de Blasio's vaccine mandate, lifting a temporary halt on the requirement in the nation's biggest public school system, according to a report published in NBC New York.

Read Also: Hospital in New York Cancels All Baby Deliveries; Maternity Workers Quit Their Job Due to COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

Court's Ruling of Vaccine Mandate

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan overturned last week's injunction and rejected the initial request or petition on Monday evening, clearing the way for the city to begin requiring vaccinations of school employees on October 4, according to a report in News Nation.

The office of Mayor Bill de Blasio expressed confidence that the Supreme Court will rule in the same way. Plaintiffs have no legitimate claims, according to a spokesman for the mayor's office, and have indicated no grounds for the Court's involvement. He also said that the Department of Health and Human Services has the power to carry out a mission that is based on research and the experience of public health professionals from around the country.

According to de Blasio, 7,000 teachers and school workers in the city's public schools got vaccinations on Friday and Saturday alone. As of Monday, 87 percent of the city's school employees had gotten at least one dosage of the COVID-19 vaccination.

Shortage of Teachers

The teachers' unions have claimed that the vaccine requirement may result in a 10,000-teacher shortfall; however, the mayor has said that New York City has an abundance of vaccinated substitute teachers ready to replace their jobs anytime.

The City Mayor said, "We have a lot of substitute teachers, a lot of young people in particular who want to go into the teaching profession, who are ready, willing and able, who are vaccinated, who are going to take those roles immediately," according to a published article in Daily Mail.

He also said that the city would gladly welcome back instructors who changed their views about vaccinations and were vaccinated after the order took effect; but if they reject and continue to refuse, they would be unable to return to their positions and be with their children.

Important Contents of the Petition

Unvaccinated teachers said in Thursday's petition that they should be offered the option of regular COVID-19 testing instead of being vaccinated, particularly because a significant percentage of instructors are already vaccinated.

Other municipal workers may be protected in various settings by social distance, mask-wearing, and testing, according to the petition, especially since at least a fraction of this personnel are vaccinated.

However, de Blasio said that vaccine mandates are one of the most effective methods to raise vaccination rates. After Mayor Bill de Blasio's vaccine requirement for the city's health system went into force this week, vaccinations among New York City's healthcare professionals rose from 85 percent to 92 percent in the previous week.

Related Article: New York Vaccine Mandate Goes Into Effect, Forcing Healthcare Workers To Get Inoculated Amid Staffing Shortages



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Researchers have developed a new delivery system for therapies, a tiny vaccine patch that improves immune responses instead of injections with needles. One reason for not getting a shot is a fear of needles. This new technology will avoid that.

Development of this technology uses microneedles on a patch that delivers medications as if it was not there. So, no more fainting or freaking out in the doctor's office or hospitals.

Patches like these make it easier for doctors and people to self-immunize without a health professional doing all the steps with a needle.

Microneedle patch as a new delivery system for drugs and therapies

Surprisingly, the microneedle patch is not something new at all but in development for some time, but hard to mass manufacture. One more factor is to design a patch for multiple vaccines, too, reported Sciencealert.

A solution to solve the problems with the patch is using an advanced 3D printing technique called continuous liquid interface production or CLIP. Shaping the CLIP based on customized size, shape, and needle distance depend on the overall number used on the patch with ultraviolet light and a special resin.

Microbiologist Shaomin Tian of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill explained that the process makes it easy to 3-D print it. That allows flexibility and cost-effectiveness for the making of the system.

She added the patch could be used for more medical purposes and be made faster, also distributed where it can be used, said the study authors. Such a tiny microneedle patch that improves immune responses is a promising way to deliver vaccines.

Read Also: Another COVID-19-Like Pandemic May Happen in 60 Years? Researchers Anticipates the Probability

Needles make it harder to dispense and use extra materials to manufacture, but these high-tech patches can be used with better ease. There is no need to give vaccines using a needle anymore. Just stick it to the skin, and voila, it is done! There is no need to also spend on a doctor or nurse.

Transdermal vaccines instead of needles

Its shallow needles only need to pierce the skin's top layer to deliver the contents to the patient's system (transdermal), not like traditional vaccines that have to go past skin deep. Its delivery system will inject the medicine to where skin immunity cells are to absorb and propagate. More advances in technology will allow a lower dosage.

Recent lab tests on mice done by researchers increased the T-Cell, and antigen-antibody which is 50 times more than vaccines injected with a needle.

The study published by PNAS mentions it had parts like model vaccine components, like the 3-D technology with microneedles which allows the skin to hold the vaccine then activate the immune cells. It allowed a more potent humoral and improved cell immune reaction than old-style needles.

The study's authors stress that the design is very versatile and adapted to use vaccines for flu, measles, hepatitis, and SARS-C0V-2. One of the problems with some vaccines is that they need special handling or chilled to be used or spoiled.

This is one use of the patch system to spread out COVID-19 vaccines in more significant numbers. Add options of combo-drug patches makes it ultra-efficient.

Scientists did not test it on humans yet, but it might have the same benefit for lab mice, a good chance this system will be deployed faster for quicker action to future epidemics. This tiny vaccine patch that improves immune responses might eventually be used for current COVID-19 vaccines.

Related Articles: Is it Possible for a Mutant COVID-19 Strain To Evade Vaccine Antibodies Through Evolutionary Changes?

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Fake vaccination cards are reportedly being sold online in plain sight, using websites such as Craigslist. Searching for phrases like "vax" on Craigslist yields a number of offers for items like as roof racks and car parts. However, the pictures that are linked are of immunization cards.

12 News sent a text message to one phone inquiring about the advertised vaccine proof cards. The cards sell for $150 each, according to the person on the other end of the line. The individual also stated that they are "registered" with the CDC and that they would pass inspection.

However, the individual also asked personal information such as name and birth date. They even sent images of what seemed to be vaccination cards. There is no such thing as a CDC database.

Fake COVID-19 vaccination card on the rise

The federal government does not keep track of COVID-19 or other types of vaccines. Some states have digital vaccine monitoring systems at varying levels of development, but there is no centralized database.

Check Point Research, a cybersecurity company, recently went on the lookout for fake vaccination card dealers on the Dark Web. They soon discovered that they didn't need to look in the shadows.

On more respectable sites, the sellers were coming out in the open. Linder said demand soared when President Joe Biden announced a vaccination mandate for firms with more than 100 employees.

Customs and Border Protection agents in Memphis, Tennessee, recently made an uncommon but increasingly regular seizure: a box containing fake COVID-19 vaccine cards smuggled from China.

In Memphis alone, more than 120 such shipments containing hundreds of fake cards with errors and misspelled phrases had been confiscated this year. As more cities, music venues, colleges, and businesses demand vaccinations, more unvaccinated people are reconsidering and receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

On the other side, some people have decided to break the law by obtaining fake vaccination cards. As the main legal authorities of our respective states, we want all of our people to realize that selling or using fake vaccination cards is unlawful and can result in penalties or jail time.

Per USA Today, state attorneys general are in charge of implementing consumer protection laws across the country. False and misleading marketing and sales of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards certainly violate consumer protection laws in several states, but they also endanger people's health.

Read Also: Recovery Rebate Credit: IRS Error Letters Are Not Scam And You Can Get Stimulus Payments, Here's Who Will Get More Checks

How to get proof of vaccination if COVID-19 vaccine card is lost

It may appear tempting to buy a card and fill in the information yourself, but the alternatives listed above are preferable than breaching the law. For starters, counterfeit vaccination cards may be rather expensive.

Most significantly, it is unlawful to acquire a fake vaccination card to fill out your information. You should not utilize a government seal without authorization. And both buyers and sellers are defrauding each other.

Even if you've received the vaccination, buying a fake card is considered fraud and is punishable by penalties and maybe jail time. US Customs and Border Protection frequently reports capturing thousands of fake vaccination cards around the country.

The offense is punished by up to five years in prison or a fine. So it's a good reminder to do everything you can to get your vaccination proof the proper manner. Some jurisdictions, such as California, Hawaii, New York, and Oregon, allow you to generate a digital version of your immunization card that you can see on your phone.

You might also be able to use the CDC's v-safe app. You could be in luck if you signed up for it when you initially got the shot. The app saves your vaccination information, making it easier to recover if the white card is misplaced or worn.

It is feasible to obtain your proof of vaccination, and there are a few options to choose. But, before you lose your card, there are a few options for storing it on your phone, including a clear photo of your card.

The CommonHealth app is available for Samsung users, as per . Google offers a solution for Android phones. We'll keep you updated when new options for properly storing your vaccination card become available, as well as the latest on the prospect of vaccine passports.

Related Article: Illinois Woman Gets Caught After Using Fake "Maderna" COVID-19 Vaccine Card to Enter Hawaii



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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been found guilty of illegal campaign financing and sentenced to one year in prison. Reports revealed that Sarkozy was the first French head of state to receive two jail terms in modern times.

In March, he was also found guilty of corruption and influence-peddling and was initially sentenced to three years in prison. However, his lawyer appealed the conviction, so his sentence was reduced to just one year.

Nicolas Sarkozy and his attorney will appeal the recent sentencing

His lawyer, Thierry Herzog, said that he would be launching an appeal on behalf of Sarkozy.

Following his sentencing in Paris, Sarkozy released a statement on his social media account. "I just ask the law to be the same for me as for any other citizen... I appealed for the court to dispense justice. I will go all the way in this quest," Sarkozy said via Reuters.

But even with his two jail terms, Sarkozy won't head to prison because he can serve his sentence by wearing an electronic bracelet at home.

Read Also: French President Emmanuel Macron Claims the US Disrespected France By Going Behind the EU's Back To Secure AUKUS Deal

Sarkozy accused of overspending during his previous campaign

According to CNN, a criminal investigation into the Bygmalion case was first launched in 2014 after authorities discovered that Sarkozy spent $54 million during his campaign. He reportedly used fake invoices and spent way above the limit, which is $24 million.

At the time, Sarkozy and his team are all aware of the allowable spending limit during campaigns. They also received a memo from their accountants to correct the trajectory of their spending, but they didn't listen.

In fact, Sarkozy previously denied that he had any knowledge of the overspending that's been happening during his campaign. Reports also claimed that this isn't the end of Sarkozy's legal woes. After all, another investigation can ensue regarding an alleged illegal campaign funding that he received from Libya.

Nicolas Sarkozy could face more sentencing in the coming years

The late Moammar Gadhafi allegedly provided Sarkozy's 2007 campaign with millions of euros shipped to Paris in suitcases.

In 2018, Sarkozy was taken into custody following a five-year investigation into Gadhafi's alleged contributions to his 2007 campaign, according to the Washington Examiner.

At the time, French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine said that Gadhafi's intelligence chief gave him 5 million euros to deliver to Sarkozy and his former chief of staff, Claude Gueant, between 2006 and 2007. Sarkozy denied any wrongdoing.

Former French president earned a reputation for being flashy

The former French president served a five-year term in office before losing to Francois Hollande in the 2012 presidential elections. His loss earned Sarkozy the title of the second candidate to not secure a second-term win after Giscard d'Estaing.

Ahead of the 2012 election, polls revealed that Sarkozy was in the lead. However, he lost the support of French individuals after he earned the reputation of "le president bling-bling."

Many less-off French individuals disliked Sarkozy's flashiness. He would reportedly wear expensive watches, make appearances with his former supermodel wife, and go on holidays on a yacht.

Following the criticisms, Sarkozy defended his flashiness by saying that he deserves to treat himself because he works hard. Unfortunately, this didn't work in his favor during the 2012 election.

Related Article: Ex-French President Nicolas Sarkozy Convicted of Corruption

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North Korea claims to have successfully launched a new hypersonic missile, raising concerns that the isolationist dictatorship is receiving subsidies from nuclear giants Iran, China, and Russia.

On Tuesday, the Hwasong-8 missile was launched into the sea, with state media praising the "strategic weapon's" role in boosting North Korea's national defense. The test launch is reported to have met a number of objectives, including "guiding maneuverability and the gliding flight characteristics of the detachable hypersonic gliding warhead."

Russia is often regarded as being in the forefront of hypersonic missile research, with the United States trailing behind. Russia tested the Tsirkon (Zircon) missile in July of this year. And according to the Kremlin, it achieved Mach 7 speeds - seven times faster than the speed of sound.

North Korea reveals new weapons

China is also said to be working on hypersonic weaponry, but Beijing has opted to focus on creating drones instead, as per Express.co. The communist dictatorship revealed the Dongfeng-17 (DF-17), a medium-range ballistic missile equipped with a DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle (GHV), in late 2019.

So far this year, North Korea has revealed three new weapons. North Korea launched a ballistic missile from a train as well as a submarine-launched warhead prior to the Hwasong-8 launch.

North Korea announced on Friday that it has tested a newly designed antiaircraft missile, the latest in a series of military tests in recent weeks while declaring openness to talks with the South.

The most recent launch tested a land-to-air missile with greater range, speed, and accuracy than previous rockets, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency on Friday.

The South Korean government has not officially commented on the North's missile test, and it did not disclose the launch when it occurred on Thursday. The South Korean military quickly notifies North Korean ballistic missile tests that violate United Nations resolutions.

However, it has frequently failed to do so when the North tests cruise missiles or other weapons deemed less dangerous, the NY Times reported. Analysts in South Korea said on Friday that based on a photo of the new missile provided by North Korean media, the weapon seemed to be one that the North had displayed at military parades last October and January.

Among the weapons on show during the parades was a new land-to-air missile fired from a truck equipped with four launch tubes. North Korea has complained bitterly in recent years about the United States' sales of sophisticated weapons, particularly F-35 fighter jets, to the South, claiming that they increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula and compelled the North to build its own war deterrent, including a nuclear arsenal.

Read Also: Tech Tycoons Express Support To Xi Jinping's "Common Prosperity" Campaign

Kim Jong Un expects North Korea will be capable of nuclear attack against US

Thursday's test was the second of the week. The North announced on Wednesday that it has tested a hypersonic missile, a highly advanced weapon currently being researched by top military powers such as the United States and Russia.

North Korea conducted three intercontinental ballistic missile tests and its sixth underground nuclear test in 2017. By the end of the year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un asserted that his country was capable of launching a nuclear attack on the mainland United States.

He then met with President Donald J. Trump three times in order to persuade the US to ease international sanctions placed on his country in exchange for a partial reduction of his nuclear weapons development.

The North's leader Kim Jong Un decried Washington's repeated offers of talks without preconditions as a "petty trick," accusing the Biden administration of continuing the a "hostile policy" of its predecessors.

Anti-aircraft missiles are considerably smaller and harder to detect from a distance than ballistic missiles, which the North Korea is prohibited from producing under United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Pyongyang is subject to various international sanctions for its nuclear programs, which have advanced rapidly under Kim, including missiles capable of hitting the whole US mainland and its most powerful nuclear test to yet.

Per Daily Mail, the most recent tests drew worldwide condemnation, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stating they increased the likelihood of instability and insecurity.

Related Article: North Korea Launches Short-Range Missile Into The Sea, Tells UN It Has The Right To Test Weapons



@YouTube

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Illinois Democratic State rep Kelly Cassidy filed a bill earlier this month that when approved will allow women to sue men for unwanted pregnancies.

The Expanding Abortion Services Act also known as the TEXAS bill was filed as a direct response to the state's legislature that restricts access to abortion.

Supreme Court signs 'most restrictive abortion law'

On Sept. 1, the most restrictive abortion law in the nation went into effect. And Cassidy said that her new bill will examine just how extreme the new law is.

The legislature states that private citizens can sue those that perform or aid in abortion. And turning in an individual that performed or aided an abortion will qualify them for a $10,000 reward.

The new abortion law also prevents all abortions after six weeks regardless of how the woman conceived. This means that women who were raped and those that were impregnated by a close family member cannot have an abortion once they reach the six-week mark.

Said law also prohibits abortions in Texas once cardiac activity is detected, according to NBC Chicago.

Read Also: Jen Psaki Scolds At Male Reporter As A Response To Question Why President Joe Biden Supports Abortion

TEXAS bill allows victims to sue men for unwanted pregnancies

Cassidy's TEXAS bill, on the other hand, will do the exact opposite. They are pushing for the suing of any individual that engages in sexual assault, domestic violence, or abuse.

If the case is won, half of the money will be donated to a public state fund to pay for abortions for residents of Texas and other nearby areas.

As of late, Planned Parenthood has not publicly expressed their support for the TEXAS bill, but the organization acknowledged that Texans that want to get an abortion have been going to Illinois.

Illinois Right of Life Action slams Kelly Cassidy's TEXAS bill

On the contrary, the Illinois Right of Life Action, a pro-life lobbying group, called the proposed bill unconstitutional.

Executive director Amy Gehrke believes that even women who will have consensual intercourse can say that they had unwanted intercoure so that they can seek damages.

"The fact that they will be taking money from people to fund abortion. There are so many aspects of this bill that make it completely unserious," Gehrke said via Komo News.

The executive director of the Illinois Right of Life Action also clarified that they do not support domestic abuse and violence and believe that suspects should also be persecuted.

Cassidy fired back at Gehrke's statement about the TEXAS bill being unconstitutional by saying that this is what they've been pointing out regarding the Texas abortion law.

The Democratic state rep said that people Gehrke are unknowingly encouraging people to leave their home states to receive healthcare options elsewhere. And this creates an unsafe situations for everyone.

Justice Samuel A. Alito defends his decision to approve the abortion law

Justice Samuel A. Alito also defended the Supreme Court's decision to let the Texas abortion law go into effect.

While at the University of Notre Dame, Alito also slammed the use of the term "shadow docket."

"The catchy and sinister term 'shadow docket' has been used to portray the court as having been captured by a dangerous cabal that resorts to sneaky and improper methods to get its ways. "And this portrayal feeds unprecedented efforts to intimidate the court or damage it as an independent institution," he said via the Washington Post.

It will take some time before Cassidy's TEXAS bill can go into effect. The bill needs to pass the House, the Senate, and earn the signature of Gov. JB Pritzker before it can become a law.

Related Article: Pro-Life Catholics Criticize Joe Biden's Appearance At Catholic University; Cincinnati Auditor Terms Him 'Most Pro-Abortion' President

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Joe Manchin has made his decision regarding the Build Back Better bill public.

On Thursday, Manchin also detailed his specific demands for the Democrats' bill vital to their legacy. But after weeks of uncertainty, the senator refused to sign the $6 trillion package that the progressives are asking for. Manchin didn't also sign the proposal of Democrats for a $3.5 trillion package.

Instead, he said that his maximum budget to support the Build Back Better bill is only $1.5 trillion. Manchin said that if Biden and the other progressives want to pass a bigger bill, they should elect more liberals.

Joe Manchin wants to limit spending to just $1.5 trillion instead of $3.5 trillion

The West Virginia senator proposed a deal to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer this summer to limit the Democrats' sweeping spending bill to $1.5 trillion.

According to Politico, Manchin has been distributing the document to his colleagues and other leaders recently.

Also, in the one-page document, Manchin states that the corporate tax rate should be increased to 25 percent, and the top tax rate on income should be increased to 39.6 percent. Both Manchin and Schumer signed the document, and the latter said that he would try to dissuade Biden on these matters.

However, a spokesperson for Schumer clarified that he didn't sign the document because he agreed with Manchin. Instead, he was acknowledging what the senator was saying.

Read Also: Senator Joe Manchin Encourages Democrats To Reconsider Child Tax Credit Bill Because It's Too Generous; Wants Wealthier Households To Be Excluded

Manchin has not been supporting Biden's policies

The Huffington Post also noted an irony because Biden reportedly won in the 2020 elections by a considerable margin partly by campaigning on policies that Manchin refuses to support.

What Biden and the Democrats want is to make community college free and pre-kindergarten universally available. They also want to continue providing payments to most households with dependent children.

Biden and the Democrats also want to expand the health care coverage of senior citizens and the poor. And on top of all this, they want new subsidies for new energy.

However, the only way for these bills to pass is if all Democrats in the Senate will agree. But Manchin has proven himself to be the odd man out.

Even though he has not directly rejected the bills that Biden and the Democrats want to push for, he thinks giving Americans too many benefits will work against their favor.

"I cannot accept our economy or basically our society moving towards an entitlement mentality. Because I'm more of a rewarding - because I can help those who really need help if those who can help themselves do so," Manchin said via Yahoo! News.

Manchin not in agreement with Democrats over Child Tax Credit bill

This week, Manchin also made headlines after encouraging Democrats to reconsider the Child Tax Credit bill.

According to reports, Manchin thinks that the current payouts and monthly dues that households with dependent children are receiving are too generous.

The senator has also been lobbying for removing poor households from getting the benefits to punish them for not earning money for themselves and their families.

Related Article: Child Tax Credit: Sen, Joe Manchin Urges Americans To Work To Get Biden's $3,600 Stimulus Payments

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Recognition of Foreign Degrees in Greece The following pertains to Greek and foreign nationals who have studied abroad and wish to pursue further studies in Greece or a professional carrier in a field where a degree of higher education is required in Greece. The Inter-University Center for the Recognition of Foreign Degrees (Diapanepistimiako Kentro Anagnorisis Titlon Spoudon Allodapis - DIKATSA) needs to verify the validity and equivalence of the acquired degree with those awarded by Greek institutions of higher education. Information is provided in Greek and in English. For up-to-date information, for clarifications and to inquire about the procedures, you may contact DIKATSA via e-mail at the address dikatsa@otenet.gr or by fax at +30-1-6756709. Please note that due to the current downsizing of the greek civil service, the DIKATSA is due to be phased-out in the immediate future - exactly what this will entail for people with foreign degrees is unclear at the present time.
The reason behind NASA's decision to turn down Blue Origin is finally revealed. NASA called out all of Blue Origin's lawsuits and complaints, saying the company gambled and lost.

In summary, Blue Origin "gambled" its Moon lander proposal of $5.9 billion, fully expecting NASA to negotiate its price. Despite being "able and willing" to offer it at a lower price, Blue Origin pressed NASA with more funding than it could afford.

Sources from The Verge recently got hold of the NASA-Blue Origin legal filings in court. These documents reveal the harsh reality of Blue Origin's contract loss.

Blue Origin Made a Bet Against NASA: The Truth Behind $5.9 Billion Offer

According to NASA attorneys, Blue Origin must have gotten its confidence from the development contracts provided in April 2020. All three chosen bidders: Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Dynetics received development funding for the program's initial phase. SpaceX got $135 million, Dynetics got $253 million, and Blue Origin got $579 million.

Blue Origin initially proposed $879 million on the development contracts. However, when NASA requested a meeting to negotiate, Blue Origin offered a $300 million discount, dropping the price to $579 million.

NASA attorneys argued the same tactic was applied on the Blue Origin Moon Lander, citing a six-page declaration written by senior vice president Brent Sherwood. Sherwood said NASA "did not afford Blue Origin, a well-funded private space company backed by Jeff Bezos, any opportunity to submit a revised business position."

NASA emphasized that companies were all instructed to submit their best proposals first.

NASA attorneys brutally summarized Blue Origin's stand in a statement, saying: "(Blue Origin) made an assumption about the Agency's HLS budget, built its proposal with this figure in mind, and also separately made a calculated bet that if NASA could not afford Blue Origin's initially-proposed price, the Agency would select Blue Origin for award and engage in post-selection negotiations to allow Blue Origin to lower its price. All of these assumptions were incorrect."

This concluded with nothing but losses on Blue Origin's side.

Read Also: NASA Moon Landing Contract Awarded to Five Companies; SpaceX, Blue Origin To Design Systems

NASA Awards SpaceX Lunar Lander Contract

Costing only half of Blue Origin's budget, NASA made their decision to accept SpaceX's proposal instead. NASA mentioned seven previous circumstances where its award decision to pick one or two companies was also based on their funding from the Congress.

It is worth noting that Blue Origin's protest was not a complete failure. The company pointed out that NASA gave SpaceX an unfair advantage to "waive" requirements on government safety reviews.

Nonetheless, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) ultimately sided with NASA, saying that Blue Origin failed to prove their prejudice claims.

In a post-interview with The Verge, Blue Origin vice president of government relations Megan Mitchell said, "I wouldn't say that we didn't offer our best offer when we put in our proposal ... I think we did give a great offer, I'm not going to comment on NASA characterizing it as gambling - we disagree with that."



Related Article: Elon Musk-Jeff Bezos Beef Starts Again: Tesla CEO Mocks Ex-Amazon Boss Over Legal Fight
By Park Ji-won





Poster for the show "Hunminjeongum" / Courtesy of National Chorus of Korea
gettyimagesbank





By Anna J. Park







While Korea's state-led financial institutions are currently implementing a series of large-scale recruitment drives to hire new full-time employees, major local commercial banks do not appear to be joining the trend due to decreased demand. Only openings for digital specialists are expected to be available at the banks later this year.







According to the financial industry, many state-led institutions, such as the Financial Supervisory Service, Bank of Korea and the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation, have begun recruitment drives for new employees, with a plan to complete hiring by the end of the year or early next year. They are expected to hire 700 new employees.







However, no local banks, with the exception of Shinhan, have announced new recruitment drives, although Shinhan does plan to introduce "digital literacy" as one of its new criteria for hiring.







Given that the banks used to begin "annual recruitment drives" in September, it is likely that most do not plan to hire a large number of new employees this year.







Many market watchers attribute this situation to the rapid transformation to a contactless digital environment that banks have had to adapt to amid the global pandemic.







As more people now opt to do their banking transactions through mobile apps, the need to hire a large number of branch staff has dwindled.







In fact most major commercial banks have continuously reduced the number of their branches nationwide  as of the end of last year this was 3,139, over a 27-percent decrease from 2019.







Banks are also encouraging employees who wish to retire voluntarily to do so, providing them with relatively generous retirement packages. Around 2,500 employees are estimated to have left the country's five major banks between the end of last year and June of this year.







The positions left vacant by retired employees are expected to be filled by staff with strong digital capabilities and work experience, rather than by new recruits fresh out of university. Computer programmers, artificial intelligence specialists and cloud engineering experts are some of the most sought-after employees at local banks that are seeking to strengthen their digital competitiveness.










Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Friday the government plans to support local firms to ease their financial burdens as South Korea seeks to go carbon neutral by 2050.







South Korea plans to finalize its specific plan in late October for the goal of carbon neutrality, and it will submit its plan to additionally raise its nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the United Nations within this year.







At a virtual climate summit in April, President Moon Jae-in said South Korea will reduce carbon emissions by 24.4 percent by 2030 from 2017 levels.







The government will "actively" support the corporate sector's efforts to reduce carbon emissions, Hong said at a meeting with CEOs of five conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor.







"The government plans to consider the achievable goal of NDC as much as possible, and it will set up the sectoral road map to actively support companies and ease their burdens when we finalize NDC," Hong said.







South Korea's greenhouse gas emissions were estimated at 648.6 million tons in 2020, down 7.3 percent from the previous year, according to the environment ministry. It marked the first time that such emissions declined for the second straight year.







Hong also called for the participants to make preemptive investment in batteries and hydrogen cars, as they will serve as new engines for growth in a low-carbon society, according to the finance ministry. (Yonhap)


Container ships are docked at a port in Busan, Sept. 1. Yonhap



South Korea's exports have extended their gains to 11 consecutive months and set a record high level by rising 16.7 percent, data showed Friday, maintaining solid growth despite growing concerns over the spread of COVID-19 variants around the globe.



Outbound shipments came to $55.8 billion last month, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.



The monthly figure was the highest since South Korea started compiling such data in 1956. The previous record was $55.4 billion posted in July this year.



Imports climbed 31 percent to $51.6 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $4.2 billion. It marked the 17th consecutive month for the country to post a trade surplus.



The September exports were slightly above what the market had been expecting.



According to a poll by Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of Yonhap News Agency, the country's September exports were estimated to have risen 15 percent.



By sector, exports of chips moved up 28.2 percent to reach $12.1 billion, on the back of solid demand from the mobile segment following releases of new smartphones. Global server operators also expanded their investment, leading to stronger demand for chips.



It marked the 15th consecutive month for the shipments of semiconductors to grow on-year.



Other major winners included petrochemical products, whose shipments soared 52 percent on-year to $4.7 billion on the back of the strong demand for the construction industry.



Exports of petroleum also jumped a whopping 79 percent amid the limited supply of crude around the globe.



Overseas sales of steel products gained 42 percent due to the hike in global prices as well.



Sales of automobiles, on the other hand, slipped 6.1 percent to reach $3.5 billion, amid the global shortage of automotive chips. Exports of auto parts also fell 5.1 percent.



Rechargeable batteries saw their exports drop 2 percent on-year in September, as the supply shortage of automotive chips weighed down on the production of electric cars.



Exports of ships plunged 40.5 percent. The ministry said the decline came as latest orders won by local shipbuilders have not yet been reflected in the figure.





In this Aug. 2 file photo, vehicles are parked for export at a port near Hyundai Motor plant in Ulsan. Yonhap
Pages of the 15th century manuscript "Seokbosangjeol" volumes 20 and 21 / Courtesy of NMK



By Park Han-sol



Marking Hangeul Day on Oct. 9, the National Museum of Korea (NMK) unveiled Thursday the original manuscript of the first Buddhist scripture printed in the Korean alphabet, Hangeul  which belongs to the massive treasure trove of art donated by late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee.



Known as "Seokbosangjeol," the document was published in 1447 late in the 1418-50 reign of King Sejong of Joseon, just one year after the release of "Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon," an iconic handbook of the Korean writing system.



The Buddhist teachings were translated into Korean under guidance of Prince Suyang, who later became King Sejo (r. 1455-68), to commemorate his mother, Queen Soheon. A total of 24 volumes are believed to have been published, but only a few survive to this day. The two unveiled copies are volumes 20 and 21, printed with the first movable Hangeul metal type blocks.



Unlike other Buddhist scriptures translated later, whose main texts remain in Chinese characters with smaller Hangeul characters added, "Seokbosangjeol" is notable for its large Korean characters compared to its Chinese counterparts. The manuscript thus serves as an important artifact to understand the usage and orthography of Hangeul in the 15th century.



The document's existence has long been known only among experts, making the public unveiling at the NMK all the more meaningful.



Along with "Seokbosangjeol," some 150 metal movable type blocks of Chinese characters believed to have been created in 1434 are also on display.



The NMK was able to estimate the date of production of these items thanks to an archaeological excavation completed in June in central Seoul's Insa-dong. The discovery allowed the museum to compare the shapes and sizes of the blocks of two groups, determining similarities in their forms.




This photo provided by the North Korean government, Oct. 1, shows what North Korea claims to be the test firing of a newly developed anti-aircraft missile in North Korea, Sept. 30. AP-Yonhap



North Korea said Friday it test-fired a new type of anti-aircraft missile a day earlier capable of downing air targets at longer distances with enhanced accuracy.



The North's Academy of Defence Science carried out the test aimed at "confirming the practicality of operation of the launcher, radar and comprehensive battle command vehicle as well as the comprehensive combat performance of the missile," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.



The academy verified the "remarkable" combat performance of the new missile that features rapid response and guided accuracy with a missile control system as it introduced new technologies that included "twin-rudder control technology" and a "double-impulse flight engine," according to the KCNA.



The North has also been successful in substantially increasing the effective range of the missile, it added.






Secretary of State Antony Blinken answers media questions after a family photo with the delegation at the end the first day of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting at the Hazelwood Green Mill 19 building in Pittsburgh, Sept. 29. AP-Yonhap



U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday expressed concerns over North Korea's recent missile launches, saying the country is increasing insecurity and instability in the region.



It marks the first time the top U.S. diplomat commented directly on North Korea's recent missile launches.



"We're concerned about these repeated violations of Security Council resolutions that create, I think, greater prospects for instability and insecurity," Blinken told reporters after attending U.S.-EU trade talks in Pittsburgh, according to the State Department.



North Korea test fired what it claims to be a "hypersonic" glide vehicle on Tuesday, about two weeks after it test launched a short-range ballistic missile.










By Jung Da-min







North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency said Thursday that Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, had been appointed as a member of the State Affairs Commission, along with seven other new members, in part of a shake-up of the country's top government organization. Yonhap

The appointment of Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, to the country's top government organization, has yielded many interpretations regarding her growing presence in the country's politics.







Some North Korea watchers believe she is solidifying her political standing by earning an official title as a member of the State Affairs Commission (SAC).







Kim's appointment to the SAC was reported by the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency, Thursday, along with the adding of seven other new members, in part of a shake-up of the SAC. Nine members were retired or demoted, including 82-year-old Park Pong-ju, a veteran economic official.







Kim Yo-jong has been considered the country's de facto second-in-command, with responsibility for relations with South Korea and the United States, regardless of her official title in the country's ruling Workers' Party of Korea or any government bodies. But as the SAC, headed by her brother, is the country's top government organization that oversees the policies of large sectors, including security and diplomacy as well as economy and social issues, some North Korea watchers say that her promotion could indicate her growing role in running state affairs overall.







Some experts have also said that Kim Yo-jong's solidifying political status could indicate that North Korea wants to engage in diplomacy with South Korea more actively than before, instead of talking directly to the U.S., considering the fact that Kim Yo-jong's role has been focused on relations with South Korea in particular.







Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute, said: "With her official title as a SAC member, Kim Yo-Jong will be able to hold meetings with the South Korean unification minister or U.S. secretary of state."







However, other North Korea watchers have said that the recent SAC reshuffling was not particularly centered on Kim Yo-jong.







Fyodor Tertitskiy, a leading researcher at Kookmin University's Institute for Korean Studies, said: "I would not say it is a particularly meaningful event. The SAC as an organization is pretty powerless, as is any organization chaired by the Supreme Leader, as no one can overrule him, so I think it is more of a pat on the back than an actual promotion. She is even listed last on the rather long list of officials. This shakeup is probably not mainly about her."










North Korea remained unresponsive to South Korea's regular calls via military and liaison hotlines Friday after leader Kim Jong-un offered to restore severed cross-border communication lines in early October.







"North Korea did not answer the opening call through the inter-Korean liaison office at 9 a.m.," a unification ministry official said. The calls through military hotlines also went unanswered, another official said.







North Korea did not pick up afternoon calls at 5 p.m. either, they said.







Leader Kim told a session of the rubber-stamp parliament Wednesday that he will restore cross-border communication lines with South Korea in early October as part of efforts to improve chilled relations, Pyongyang's state media earlier reported Thursday.







North Korea blew up the liaison office in its border town of Kaesong created in 2018 to promote cross-border exchanges and unilaterally cut off all communication lines with South Korea in June last year in anger over anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent from the South.







The hotlines were back in operation in late July, but the North began refusing Seoul's regular calls again two weeks later as it bristled at joint military drills by South Korea and the U.S. that the North has long denounced as a rehearsal for invasion.







Seoul's unification ministry handling inter-Korean affairs earlier said the reactivation of the hotlines will help address a host of pending issues between the two Koreas and expressed hope that the lines if restored will remain in operation in a stable manner going forward. (Yonhap)


This photo taken on Feb. 14 shows the construction site of a mosque in Daegu's Buk District. Korea Times file



By Lee Hyo-jin



The National Human Rights Commission of Korean (NHRCK) said Friday that a mosque construction project in Daegu, which had been suspended due to complaints, should be allowed to resume, as the decision on the suspension was based on discrimination and prejudice against Muslims.



The human rights watchdog expressed its opinion in response to a petition filed by the Darul Emman Kyungpook Islamic Center, against the Buk District Office that had issued the administrative order to halt the mosque's construction.



The Islamic community in the Buk District of Daegu, the nation's third-largest city, located in the southeastern region of the country, launched the construction of the place of worship in Daehyeon-dong in December 2020, after receiving a construction permit from the local district office the previous September. The mosque was to be built on a site where Muslims were previously holding religious gatherings.



But some residents, who worry that the mosque might lead to a larger Muslim presence in the neighborhood, have been fiercely opposing the construction.



The residents and other political activists have been staging multiple rallies in front of the construction site and hanging up banners in protest. They filed a petition with the district office calling for an administrative order to halt construction.



The district office ordered the site owner to stop the construction on Feb. 16, and the project has been on hold indefinitely ever since.



The human rights commission stated that such a decision was based on discrimination and prejudice against Muslims, and recommended that the local government "take the necessary measures to allow construction to resume."



"The administrative order on the suspension is not rational, as it was unilaterally based on the complaints of residents that originate from prejudices against the religion of Islam," the commission said in a press release.



Locals opposed to the mosque's construction have complained about noise and odors coming from the construction site, as well as citing concerns over the spread of the coronavirus, worries that the surrounding area might turn into a "slum" and even fears of terrorist attacks carried out by radical Muslims.



The NHRCK stated that such reasons are invalid, as they lack a clear basis and are rather based on prejudice against Muslims.



In addition, the watchdog told the local district office to take additional measures specifically regarding the banners that had been displayed in the area, as they include hate speech and offensive, Islamophobic comments.





This photo shows a banner hung in a street in Daegu's Buk District that reads, "As in Europe, this area will turn into a slum and become a risk to public safety if it gets crowded with Muslims." Korea Times file
Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz



By Lee Hae-rin



Korean diplomatic officials overseas are facing criticism for spending taxpayers' money to buy foreign luxury cars for official use, despite repeated calls by lawmakers to use Korean-made vehicles.



The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has faced increased calls from the media and the National Assembly's budget committee to reduce spending by replacing foreign cars with Korean-made ones as diplomatic vehicles at embassies overseas.



Korean diplomatic offices abroad are obligated to prioritize domestic brands over foreign ones when purchasing embassy cars, as stated in the ministry's instructions on the management of diplomatic vehicles.



However, as of January this year, 80 percent, or 545 out of 681, diplomatic vehicles at Korean embassies overseas are domestic brands, and a quarter of the top diplomats still insist on riding luxury foreign cars, according to the ministry's 2021 diplomatic vehicle management report. The report was requested and distributed by main opposition People Power Party lawmaker Tae Yong-ho, who is a member of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly.



The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the United Kingdom scored the lowest ratio of domestic brands among its diplomatic vehicles  the embassy has one Hyundai, four Mercedes-Benz and one Volkswagen.



In May 2009, the ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea's leading domestic car brands, including Hyundai and Kia, pledging it would use Korean-made vehicles for diplomatic missions and contribute to the global promotion and export of Korean cars.



However, the report shows that 11 out of 55 embassy cars purchased since 2020 are imported brands, which is in breach of the government's policy on diplomatic vehicle management.



"The ministry has failed to take follow-up measures to repeated criticism of lagging behind in the use of domestic vehicles for diplomatic use. These embassy cars are bought using taxes and diplomatic vehicle management must be done more efficiently and thoroughly," Rep. Tae said.


President Moon Jae-in salutes during the 73rd Armed Forces Day ceremony held on board the Marado, a landing platform helicopter ship, in Yeongil Bay near the 1st Marine Division in the southeastern port city of Pohang, Oct. 1. Yonhap



President Moon Jae-in voiced strong confidence in South Korea's defense posture Friday, saying he proposed an end-of-war declaration with North Korea based on such readiness and vowing to deal sternly with any threats to the country.



His Armed Forces Day speech came hours after North Korea said it test-fired an anti-aircraft missile a day earlier in the third missile launch in about two weeks. Earlier this week, the North tested what it claimed was a "hypersonic" missile.



"I have pride in our solid security posture. I have proposed adopting an end-or-war declaration and opening a new era of conciliation and cooperation to the international community based on such trust and pride," Moon said in a televised speech marking the 73rd Armed Forces Day.



"The government and the military will respond sternly to any acts threatening the lives and safety of people," he said during the ceremony held on board the Marado, a landing platform helicopter (LPH) ship, in Yeongil Bay in the southeastern port city of Pohang. The bay is where the U.S. forces launched its first military landing operation during the 1950-53 Korean War.



Moon, however, did not mention North Korea's latest missile launches in the speech.



Last week, Moon proposed in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly the two Koreas and the United States, possibly joined by China, declare a formal end to the 1950-53 war. The North in response has expressed a willingness to discuss such a declaration on the condition Seoul ensures mutual respect.



The two Koreas are still technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.





President Moon Jae-in, center, and first lady Kim Jung-sook attend a ceremony to mark the 73rd Armed Forces Day on the light aircraft carrier LPH Marado off the coast of Pohang, Oct. 1. Yonhap




Former Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is running for the next director general of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the foreign ministry said Friday.







Kang, a chair professor at Ewha Womans University, submitted her candidacy to the secretariat of the U.N. agency through the South Korean Permanent Mission in Geneva, the ministry said. The election is slated for March next year.







If elected, Kang will be the first Asian and the first woman to become the ILO chief.







"Candidate Kang is considered to have the leadership, quality and competence to lead key ILO agendas, such as job recovery in the post-COVID-19 era, overcoming the economic crisis, and spreading the 'win-win' spirit and solidarity through the trilateralism among labor, management and government," the ministry said.







"She is also expected to make a significant contribution to eradicating discrimination and violence against vulnerable laborers, including women, based on her expertise and experience in efforts to help developing countries and protect women's rights," it said.







Kang served as South Korea's first female foreign minister from 2017-21. Before she became foreign minister, she worked as a special policy adviser to then U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.







Prior to that, she was the U.N. deputy high commissioner for human rights in 2006 and also worked as deputy emergency relief coordinator of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and assistant secretary general for humanitarian affairs.







To win the chief post, Kang will need to garner a majority vote. Otherwise, she will have to undergo a runoff vote.







She will be competing against at least four candidates: current ILO Deputy Director General Greg Vines of Australia, Food and Agriculture Organization chief Gilbert Houngbo of Togo, former French Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud and Mthunzi Mdwaba of South Africa, vice president of the International Organization of Employers. (Yonhap)






Senior defense officials from South Korea, the United States and Japan on Friday discussed a series of missile launches by North Korea and vowed to work closely to respond to its threats, Seoul's defense ministry said.







During the trilateral phone talks, Deputy Defense Minister Kim Man-ki, Ely Ratner, the U.S. assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, and Kazuo Masuda from the Japanese defense ministry shared their assessment on the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, including the North's recent missile firings, according to the ministry.







"The three sides agreed to cooperate closely with each other on their responses to those issues in the future," the ministry said in a release.







North Korea has ratcheted up tensions in recent weeks by unveiling new types of weapons, while rejecting dialogue offers by the Joe Biden administration.







Earlier in the day, the communist country said it test-fired an advanced anti-aircraft missile, days after firing a hypersonic missile for the first time. Two weeks earlier, it fired two short-range ballistic missiles from a train and launched a long-range cruise missile, according to the South Korean military.







Denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea have stalled since 2019. (Yonhap)






A Seoul court on Friday conditionally approved demonstrations planned for this weekend, suspending the Seoul municipal government's ban on the events amid COVID-19 concerns.







The Seoul Administrative Court allowed Lee Dong-wook, a doctor and a vocal critic of the government's antivirus measures, to hold rallies in Seoul on the condition they involve up to 50 people and be held between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. from Saturday through Monday.







Lee, who served as the chief of the Gyeonggi Province Medical Association, initially planned to hold two rounds of rallies in central Seoul between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. during the three-day holiday, along with around 100 and 300 participants, respectively.







The Seoul metropolitan government banned them, citing concerns over virus transmission, and he filed an administrative lawsuit and injunction against the decision with the court.







"The complete ban on outdoor rallies in Seoul, regardless of their time, scale and method, is excessive despite the public necessity to stop the spread of COVID-19," the court said, pointing out that the government allows in-person church services and several other personal events, with more than half of citizens fully vaccinated.







Instead, the court required the organizer to abide by strict social distancing measures, such as temperature checks and listing of participants.







South Korea has experienced the fourth wave of the pandemic since early July, and the situation has worsened in recent days in the aftermath of the fall harvest Chuseok holiday last week.







On Friday, the country reported 2,486 new COVID-19 cases, which marked the sixth straight day that the daily figure has surpassed 2,000.







South Korea will have an extended weekend, as the government designated the coming Monday as a substitute holiday for the Oct. 3 National Foundation Day, which is Sunday. (Yonhap)


The main building of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, is seen in this October, 2020, photo. Korea Times file



The National Assembly will launch its annual three-week audit of the government and state agencies Friday, the last such parliamentary inspection under the Moon Jae-in administration.



A total of 745 government ministries and agencies will be subject to this year's parliamentary investigation to be simultaneously conducted by the assembly's 17 standing committees, according to legislative officials.



The three-week event is predicted to be a scene of intense bipartisan disputes over a couple of snowballing scandals allegedly involving the leading presidential candidates of the ruling party and the main opposition party, respectively.



The ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) are gearing up for a showdown in the three-week event that could shape public opinion for the March 9 presidential election.



At issue is growing corruption allegations Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung, currently the dominant leader in the DP's primary for the 2022 election, gave business favors to certain companies to help them join a highly lucrative land development project in the Seongnam city's Daejang district in 2015 when he was the city's mayor.



Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, the PPP's presidential primary front-runner, is separately under allegations he, while serving as the chief prosecutor, tried to meddle in politics by having one of his close subordinates prod the PPP to file criminal complaints against critical ruling bloc figures and journalists.



The scandals are likely to take center stage of the parliamentary audit as the rival parties lock horns with each other over them.



Another point of attention is the attendance of celebrities and big-name business leaders, including Kim Beom-su, founder of internet giant Kakao, for an inquiry into alleged abuse of power by online platform operators.



Regional heads of global tech giants, such as Google, Apple and Facebook, were also scheduled to appear to answer lawmakers' inquiries.



Other salient issues, such as the country's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the DP's push for a controversial media bill, are also expected to come up in the session. (Yonhap)


In this Aug. 12 file illustration photo, the Facebook logo on a smartphone in front of a computer screen in Los Angeles. AFP-Yonhap



U.S. lawmakers Thursday demanded pledges from Facebook to address escalating worries over its platforms' impact on teens' mental health, but a top executive instead offered assurances the sites are already safe.



Senators grilled the social media giant's Antigone Davis in an hours-long Capitol Hill hearing called over damning reports that Facebook's own research warned of the harm photo-sharing app Instagram can do to teenage girls' well-being.



"This research is a bombshell. It is powerful, gripping, riveting evidence that Facebook knows of the harmful effects of its site on children, and that it has concealed those facts and findings," Senator Richard Blumenthal said.



Davis, under questioning from Blumenthal and other senators, repeatedly said a Wall Street Journal series had selectively chosen parts of its studies to give an inaccurately dark vision of the company's work.



She told lawmakers that a survey of teens on 12 serious issues like anxiety, sadness and eating disorders, showed that Instagram was generally helpful to them.



"On 11 of the 12 issues, teen girls who said they struggled with those issues were more likely to say that Instagram was affirmatively helping them, not making it worse," said Davis, who delivered her testimony remotely.



Yet, Blumenthal read aloud excerpts from company documents he said were leaked to lawmakers by a Facebook whistleblower that directly contradicted her.





U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, second from right, looks on as Facebook Global Head of Safety Director, Antigone Davis, testifies remotely before a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security to examine protecting children online, focusing on Facebook, Instagram, and mental health harms, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Sept. 30. AFP-Yonhap
India should maintain "strategic autonomy" instead of joining any exclusive alliances against its neighbor, Beijing's top envoy in New Delhi said, days after leaders of the Quad gathered in Washington for their first in-person summit, with Beijing a veiled target.



Without naming the US-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or its members, Sun Weidong said any attempts to "gang up for containing and suppressing China" would "be doomed to fail".



"It is worth noting that a few countries are going against the trend," Sun told more than 100 representatives from business, culture and academic communities in India during a virtual meeting on Wednesday.



"Out of selfishness, they hold a zero-sum cold war mentality, vigorously seek closed and exclusive ideological 'small cliques' and military alliances targeting a third party, stoke arms races, tension, division and bloc confrontation, turn the Asia-Pacific into an arena of major powers' game and destabilize the world," he said, according to a transcript published on the embassy's website.



"These activities will find no support and lead nowhere."



India should "maintain its strategic autonomy and refrain from joining closed and exclusive 'alliances' or 'quasi-alliances' against each other", Sun said.



During the summit in Washington last week, the four leaders of the United States, Australia, Japan and India repeated their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region "undaunted by coercion", a thinly veiled criticism of China.



"We stand for the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, democratic values and territorial integrity of states," the Quad leaders said in a joint statement after the summit.



Beijing is deeply concerned about "cliques" that it sees as part of Washington's strategy to contain China's growing influence in the region.





In this 2016 October file photo, from left, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose in front of a sand sculpture ahead of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit in Benaulim, in the western state of Goa, India. Reuters-Yonhap
In this 2017 September file photo, Japan's Princess Mako and her fiance Kei Komuro look at each other during a press conference at Akasaka East Residence in Tokyo. AP-Yonhap



After years of controversy, Japan's Princess Mako will marry this month, but she will forego traditional rites and will not take a usual payment given to royal women marrying commoners.



"Princess Mako will marry on October 26," an Imperial Household Agency official told AFP, adding that "wedding ceremony, reception banquet and other rituals won't be held, and a lump-sum payment won't be provided."



Princess Mako, who is the niece of Emperor Naruhito, has been engaged to sweetheart Kei Komuro since 2017.



But the union has come under criticism, with the agency saying the 29-year-old princess was suffering complex post-traumatic stress disorder because of media coverage.



Mako, the daughter of Japan's crown prince, has endured years of sniping and stalling over her plans to marry Komuro, also 29.



Japan's imperial succession rules mean that Mako will lose her title after the marriage.



But her partner has still been heavily scrutinized over allegations that his mother borrowed money from a former fiance and failed to repay it.



After tabloid reporting on the claims, a furor erupted around the young couple in a country where the royal family is held to an exacting standard.



The pair postponed their wedding, and Komuro moved to the United States for law school in a move that was widely seen as a bid to defuse the negative attention.



Crown Prince Akishino last year said he supported his daughter's marriage, but that she needed to win the public's "understanding".



However, the pair appear to have decided they have waited long enough, and are now expected to move to New York after marrying.



Komuro returned to Japan earlier this week to a media frenzy, with particular scrutiny of his newly grown ponytail.



He is observing Japan's mandatory 14-day quarantine for overseas arrivals, and local media said the couple were expected to reunite for the first time in around three years after he emerges on October 11.





This 2018 January file picture shows Princess Mako, right, the eldest daughter of Prince Akishino, left, and Princess Kiko, center, at the royal family's annual New Year's greeting to well-wishers gathered at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. AFP-Yonhap
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison discusses travel restrictions during a press conference in Canberra, Oct. 1. AP-Yonhap



Australia has outlined plans to lift a pandemic ban on its vaccinated citizens traveling overseas from November. But no date has yet been set for welcoming international tourists back.



Travel restrictions that have trapped most Australians and permanent residents at home over the past 18 months would be removed when 80 percent of the population aged 16 and older were fully vaccinated, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.



Australia introduced some of the toughest travel restrictions of any democracy in the world on people entering and leaving the island nation on March 20 last year.



Most Australians have had to argue for rare exemptions from the travel ban to leave the country. There are a few exceptions from the ban including government employees and essential workers. Tourism is never accepted as a reason to cross the border.



Hundreds of thousands have failed to reach relatives' death beads, missed funerals or weddings and have yet to be introduced to grandchildren because of restrictions aimed at keeping COVID-19 out of Australia.



New South Wales would likely become the first state to reach the 80 percent vaccination benchmark and Sydney's airport the first to open to international travel, Morrison said.



''We've saved lives. We've saved livelihoods, but we must work together to ensure that Australians can reclaim the lives that they once had in this country,'' Morrison said.



Sydney-based Qantas Airways announced international flights would resume from Nov. 14 to London and Los Angeles.



Morrison offered no clue to when other nationalities would be welcome to visit Australia.



''We'll be working towards complete quarantine-free travel for certain countries, such as New Zealand, when it is safe to do so,'' he said.



Australia has its closest relationship with New Zealand, whose citizens are considered Australian permanent residents. The neighbors allowed quarantine-free travel across the Tasman Sea before the delta variant outbreak began in Sydney in June.



The Australian Tourism Export Council, which represents a sector that made 45 billion Australian dollars ($33 billion) a year from international tourists before the pandemic, said the end of the travel ban paved the way for visitors from around the world returning by March.



''It marks a shift in thinking within both the government and community sentiment to reengaging with the world,'' the council's managing director Peter Shelley said in a statement.



A cap on the number of Australian citizens and permanent residents allowed to return each week has left 45,000 people stranded overseas. It's aimed at reducing pressure on hotel quarantine, which the more contagious delta variant had made more difficult to manage.



The cap would only apply to the unvaccinated under the new regime. Fully vaccinated Australians would be able to quarantine at home and for only a week instead of the current two weeks in a hotel.



Australia on Friday added China's Sinovac and Indian-made AstraZeneca shots known as Covishield to a list of vaccines that Australians can take and be recognized as fully vaccinated.



Travel restrictions would not be lifted for Australians who chose not to be vaccinated. People who could not be vaccinated for medical reasons or children too young to get the jab would have the same privileges as those inoculated. (AP)


Vials labelled "AstraZeneca, Pfizer - Biontech, Johnson&Johnson, Sputnik V coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine" are seen in this illustration picture taken May 2. Reuters-Yonhap



United Airlines and Tyson Foods provided fresh evidence Thursday supporting coronavirus vaccine mandates, while ATT expanded its jab requirement to unionized workers.



The announcements show how more large companies are moving ahead with vaccine requirements, despite loud criticism from some employee groups and politicians.



President Joe Biden on September 9 announced the government would demand large businesses to require vaccinations, but the administration has yet to elaborate on how the plan will be rolled out. Many leading Republicans have described the mandate as an overreach and an attack on personal freedoms.



United, which has been among the most aggressive large companies in embracing the policy, said the number of workers scheduled to be terminated for refusing vaccines dropped to 320 from 593, after the airline announced Tuesday it planned to fire anyone who had not received the shot.



That means that 99.5 percent of United's workforce has now been jabbed, excluding those who requested exemptions for health or religious reasons, United said.



"Our vaccine policy continues to prove requirements work," a United spokeswoman said in an email. "In less than 48 hours, the number of unvaccinated employees who began the process of being separated from the company has been cut almost in half."



United revised its numbers following a surge in late vaccination uploads into its computer network. Airline officials expect to discover additional employee vaccinations once they initiate meetings with staff in line for termination.



Tyson, meanwhile, said more than 100,000, or 91 percent, of its US workforce had now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, more than double the number since the company announced the requirement in August.



"We believe that getting vaccinated is the single most effective thing our team members can do to protect themselves, their families, and the communities where we operate," said a spokesman for Tyson.



Tyson is providing a $200 incentive to employees to get jabbed and will pay employees for up to four hours if they get vaccinated outside of working hours.



ATT said employees represented by the Communications Workers of America must be fully vaccinated by February 1 "unless they get an approved accommodation," according to a press release.



The telecom giant previously ordered management employees to be vaccinated by October 11.



Other large companies such as Chevron, Microsoft and Morgan Stanley have enacted vaccine requirements for all or part of their staffs.





A protester against mandated vaccines for healthcare workers holds sign as legislators arrive for a special session at the State House in Augusta, Maine, Sept. 29. AP-Yonhap
Teddy bears, shoes, artwork and flowers left in memory of the Kamloops residential school victims remain on the steps of the former Vancouver Art Gallery North Plaza, on Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, honoring the lost children and survivors of Indigenous residential schools, their families and communities, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Sept. 30. Reuters-Yonhap



Canada on Thursday commemorated a century of injustices against its indigenous populations in the first ever National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, following shocking discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at former indigenous residential schools.



"It is a day to reflect. It is a day to honor. It is a day to grieve. It is a day to mourn. It is a day to shed tears," Algonquin elder Claudette Commanda told a ceremony in front of parliament attended by thousands.



Gatherings and marches were also held in communities across Canada.



The occasion had been observed unofficially as Orange Shirt Day since 2013 to promote awareness of what a truth and reconciliation commission branded "cultural genocide" of Canada's indigenous peoples.



It was inspired by a former student, Phyllis Webstad, who recounted how at six years old she was stripped of her clothes, including a new orange shirt bought by her grandmother, on her first day of residential schooling.



The government elevated the day to a statutory holiday this year following the announcement of discoveries of more than 1,200 unmarked graves at several former indigenous residential schools since May.



"The tragic locating of unmarked graves at former residential school sites across the country has reminded us of not only the impacts of colonialism and the harsh realities of our collective past, but also the work that is paramount to advancing reconciliation in Canada," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement.



On the eve of this day, he said Canadians must acknowledge the "terrible injustices" committed against the country's indigenous people.



"Until we understand as a country that each one of our stories is all of our story there cannot be truth, there cannot be reconciliation," he said in front of parliament illuminated at night in orange.



On Thursday, messages of support poured in, including from Queen Elizabeth II who said she joins Canadians in reflecting "on the painful history that Indigenous peoples endured in residential schools in Canada, and on the work that remains to heal and to continue to build an inclusive society."





The Coastal Wolf Pack dancers perform for the crowd on Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, honoring the lost children and survivors of Indigenous residential schools, their families and communities, at the former Vancouver Art Gallery North Plaza in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Sept. 30. Reuters-Yonhap
In this Sept. 22 file photo, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy delivers a speech on a sidelines of a ceremony held to award Mayor of Calais as Knight of the Legion of Honour in the city hall in Calais, northern France. AFP-Yonhap



A French court on Thursday handed former president Nicolas Sarkozy a one-year prison sentence for illegal financing of his 2012 re-election bid, dealing a fresh blow to the right-winger seven months after he received a jail term for corruption.



Sarkozy, 66, will not serve time behind bars under the terms of Thursday's verdict, with the court ruling that he could serve it at home by wearing an electronic bracelet.



He was not in court to hear the judge impose the maximum sentence for illegal campaign financing after finding that Sarkozy had "voluntarily neglected to exercise oversight over the spending incurred".



Sarkozy immediately vowed a fight to the finish against what he said was an "injustice".



"I am simply asking that the law is applied to me as it is to any other" person, he said, vowing to go "right to the end" to seek "truth and justice".



Sarkozy's lawyer Thierry Herzog said his client would appeal against the conviction.



Sarkozy spent nearly twice the legal limit of 22.5 million euros ($26 million) on his failed bid for a second term in office.



The case is one of several arising from a string of investigations into Sarkozy's affairs, which have largely failed to dent his popularity among conservative voters.



In March, he became France's first postwar president to be sentenced to jail relating to his attempts to secure favors from a judge in return for the promise of a plum retirement job.



He has accused the judiciary, with which he crossed swords during his time as president between 2007 and 2012, of hounding him.



"I never betrayed the trust of the French people," he told the TF1 channel in March.



Fake invoices



Sarkozy pulled out all the stops in 2012 as he sought to fend off his Socialist rival Francois Hollande for a second term.



A series of lavish US-style election rallies caused his costs to spiral, with the final bill coming to at least 42.8 million euros.



The public relations firm Bygmalion, hired to organize the events, set up a system of fake invoices to mask the real cost of the events.



While the investigation failed to prove Sarkozy was aware of the fraud, the court ruled that he had "undeniably" profited from it.



At his five-week trial in May and June, the prosecution portrayed him as having a "cavalier" attitude to the public money available to candidates during campaigning.



Sarkozy argued he had been too busy running the country to closely scrutinize the accounts.



His Union for a Popular Movement party, since renamed the Republicans, picked up the tab for most of the excess.



Thirteen other people, including Sarkozy's former campaign manager, several Bygmalion executives and a handful of former Republicans directors, were also tried in the case.



They received jail terms of up to three and a half years in prison, with part of the sentences suspended.





Thierry Herzog, lawyer of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaks to the media after the verdict was announcement at Paris' courthouse, Sept. 30. AP-Yonhap
Judicial officers stand in the empty court room of the Langericht Itzehoe court prior to a trail against a 96-year-old former secretary for the SS commander of the Stutthof concentration camp in Itzehoe, Germany, Sept. 30. AP-Yonhap



A 96-year-old former Nazi concentration camp secretary was remanded in custody on Thursday after spending several hours on the run in a bid to flee her trial in Germany to face charges of complicity in the murder of more than 10,000 people.



The court in the town of Itzehoe ordered that Irmgard Furchner be held in custody pending the resumption of the trial on October 19.



One of the first women to be prosecuted for Nazi-era crimes in decades, Furchner is charged for her role at the Stutthof concentration camp in occupied Poland where she was secretary to the camp commandant while still a teenager.



But she failed to show up on Thursday at the opening session of her trial.



Furchner had left her retirement home near Hamburg and taken a taxi to a subway station, said Frederike Milhoffer, a spokeswoman for the court.



Amid the chaos, judge Dominik Gross said the hearing has been suspended until October 19.



Lawyer Christoph Rueckel, acting on behalf of Holocaust survivors, said Furchner had written to the court around three weeks ago to say she planned to boycott the proceedings because they would be "degrading" for her.



"If someone remains silent in such a trial, or does not show up, it is rather shocking for these survivors, because after so many years they actually think that one could be more reasonable about it," he said.



'Contempt for survivors'



Christoph Heubner, vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee, told AFP the escape attempt showed "contempt for the survivors and also for the rule of law".



It also highlighted potential shortcomings in the justice system, he said.



"Even if the woman is very old, could not precautions have been taken (to prevent her from fleeing)? Where did she go? Who helped her?"



For Efraim Zuroff, an American-Israeli "Nazi hunter" who has played a key role in bringing former Nazi war criminals to trial, the conclusion that can be drawn was clear.



"Healthy enough to flee, healthy enough to go to jail!," he tweeted.



The suspect had been declared fit to face trial but only for two hours a day, according to Der Spiegel.



"Furchner has not done herself any favors by running away... Anyone who can make off alone in a taxi early in the morning at this age is presumably also in good enough health to face such a trial," it said.





In this July 21 file photo, people visit the museum in former Nazi Death Camp Stutthof, in Sztutowo, Poland. AFP-Yonhap


Full time MBA Opportunities Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino) , California , United States Students Summary

Posted: Sep 14, 2021 Role Number: 200288521 Imagine what you could do here. At Apple, new ideas have a way of becoming extraordinary products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job, and there's no telling what you could accomplish. The people here at Apple don't just build products - they craft the kind of wonder that's revolutionized entire industries. It's the diversity of those people and their ideas that supports the innovation that runs through everything we do, from amazing technology to industry-leading environmental efforts. Join Apple, and help us leave the world better than we found it. Key Qualifications Ability to toggle between strategic and detail-orientated thinking

Tenacious problem solving & issue resolution skills

Ability to influence across multiple functional teams

Flexibility to adapt to dynamic and rapidly changing environments

Possess advanced analytical skills

Communicate clearly and concisely

Be enthusiastic about working through ambiguity

Have the capability to dive deep into complex detail and emerge with clear strategies/plans

Have a passion for the customer experience Description - APPLECARE Contact Center Operations: Optimizes the latest technologies and strategies to support the business and operational needs with tactical support to provide Apple customers. Monitor service level and contact center volumes as well as direct strategic Apple care business goals. Field Service Channel Manager: Ensures high customer satisfaction and lowers operational cost by reengineering processes and policies. Influence Apple Authorized Service Providers and mobile carriers to craft premium service programs that support business objectives and Apple's customers worldwide. Global Repair Center: Lead the operations of the growing network of Apple repair centers around the world in the rapidly growing AppleCare reverse supply chain to handle complex repairs. Online/Digital Support & Service: Crafts compelling digital content solutions to improve the Apple customer experience, support the Advisor population to develop solutions to answer customer questions, inspire learning, and connect customers to the repair with assisted support. Brings innovative self-solve learning solutions to customers on the web, through an application on a device, on social platforms, search optimization, and machine learning. Procurement: Manages AppleCare's OEM supplier's relationship, sourcing optimization, early engagement for repair strategy development, post-production planning including costs, continuity of supply, and capacity planning activities. Reporting & Analytics: Harnesses the vast amount of data relating to AppleCare's business to make strategic recommendations and share insights about ongoing operations. Translating business needs into analytical requirements using advanced quantitative analysis. Supply Chain Management: Build and run AppleCare's Global Reverse Supply Chains, through optimization of forecasting. Analyze and calculate new buy planning, repair planning, inventory management, purchasing, warranty redemption, and project management. - PRODUCT OPERATIONS/MANUFACTURING DESIGN Operations Program Manager: As an OPM, you will work with our New Product Introduction ("NPI") or Sustaining Operations teams on component & ramp readiness, product launch & ramp, or sustaining operations through 'end of life' programs. Run the product manufacturability, testability, and supply chain responsiveness in pursuit of low cost and maximum flexibility while stewarding the highest standards of product quality expected of Apple's products. A successful OPM excels in program/project management; communicates with ease at all levels; is adept at facilitating actions and resolving conflicts; manages through relationships and influence; and brings calm and control to even the highest-intensity projects. Manufacturing Design - Global Supply Manager: Responsible for the commercial relationship with our enclosure manufacturing partners and for cost negotiations, risk management, driving operational and cost efficiencies through process or design change, as well overall project execution. You sit at the intersection of Apple's business activities and engineering communities, and optimally and effectively balance the needs of both groups to ensure successful product launches. Enclosure components (such as the housing, cover glass, and buttons) define the look, feel, and expression of Apple's globally-recognized industrial and product design. GSMs work in concert with operations supply quality and base engineers as well as Apple's Product Design and Industrial Design teams. Together, these teams execute and scale both new and existing manufacturing processes, materials, technologies, finishes, and form factors. - STRATEGIC SOURCING Global Supply Manager: You will interface between Apple and the industries that supply core component technologies. In this role, you are responsible for developing and executing sourcing strategies as well as recommending product innovations based on improving technology. This position requires an interest in market dynamics and competitive behavior, negotiation and pricing, manufacturing processes, and risk mitigation. - SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATIONS Supply Demand Management (role: Supply Demand Planner): In SDM, you will hold a critical role in Apple's multi-billion dollar supply chain decisions by forecasting product demand, analyzing production needs, allocating global supply across all channels of distribution and influencing quarterly sales projections used in guidance to Wall Street. Your job will require you to collaborate and influence across many key groups within Apple (Marketing, Sales, Finance, Procurement, Ops, Materials), all in an effort to both set the strategy and drive the execution of products across Apple's global supply chain. Business Process Re-engineering (role: BPR Project Manager): In BPR, you will lead complex, global initiatives to define, build, and roll out innovative technology and business process solutions that increase efficiencies, improve customer satisfaction, and challenge the status quo. You will define and build capabilities that provide deep business insight, enable rapid decision-making, and drive automation of evolving business processes. Education & Experience Currently pursuing MBA or Master's Degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Operations Management, or related field.




Manager 2, Child Job Summary Develop and deliver business training designed for childcare centers and providers in Utah. Will develop two (2) trainings focused on effective business practices  one for childcare centers and one for in-home childcare providers. The successful candidate will be able to develop training, coordinate faculty and instruction, provide business advising, oversee reporting, and manage the budget for the project. The successful candidate will develop and implement an annual Childcare Providers Summit.

*This is a temporarily funded position Essential Responsibilities and Duties Manage the development and delivery of two (2) approved 16-hour childcare business trainings to childcare centers and in-home providers.

Provide 1-on-1 consulting with participating childcare centers and providers to assure comprehension and application of the learning.

Hire, train, and manage faculty to deliver training. Recruit childcare center owners/operators and in-home providers to participate in the training, meeting the minimum requirement of five (5) participants per session.

Develop and implement an annual Childcare Providers Summit.

Track learning outcomes and student feedback. Evaluate and revise program curriculum, delivery, and outcomes as needed. Manage the project budget.

Other duties as assigned. Essential Responsibilities and Duties Continued Preferred Qualifications Experience or education in Childcare industry. Experience with training and development, including curriculum development, budget management, recruitment, and delivery of training. Minimum Qualifications Bachelor Degree in Management or related field

Three (3) to five (5) years of direct, paid, full-time work in business or industry training coordination and/or delivery.

Trade off 2:1 in experience/education requirement. Knowledge, Skills & Abilities Ability to manage the design and development of curriculum for two 16-hour business trainings for childcare providers.

Ability to develop professional relationships with childcare center owners/operators and in-home providers to provide training and consultation.

Ability to hire, train, and manage faculty and delivery of the training.

Provide outreach and recruitment of providers to participate in the training program, as well as coordination and referral to SLCC Small Business Development Center advisors as needed.

Ability to manage project budget; evaluate and revise program curriculum, delivery, and outcomes.

Manage the development and implementation of an annual Childcare Providers Summit.

Ability to communicate effectively with a broad range of diverse people, ability, culture, ethnic background, to maintain good working relationships across the College.

Ability to work with all groups in a diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, and ethnic background of community college students, faculty, and staff, including those with disabilities. Non-Essential Responsibilities and Duties Special Instructions More information about Salt Lake Community College benefits: http://i.slcc.edu/hr/benefits/benefitsinformation.aspx Full consideration will be given to applicants who apply on or before the priority review date indicated above. FLSA Exempt SLCC Information Salt Lake Community College ( SLCC ) is fully committed to policies of equal employment and nondiscrimination. The College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, disability, religion, protected veteran status, expression of political or personal beliefs outside of the workplace, or any other status protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.



SLCC is a participating employer with Utah Retirement Systems (URS).



This position may require the successful completion of a criminal background check. Care Business Training (Temporary)

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Goochland Powhatan Community Services (GPCS) is seeking 2 Mental Health Peer Support Specialists. These positions will be responsible for providing a variety of services to clients in several CSB programs including Case Management, Outpatient, and Psychosocial Rehabilitation. The position will have both administrative and direct consumer responsibilities, with emphasis on consumer recovery and advocacy. This position relies on a recovery based approach to meaningfully engage with consumers while helping consumers achieve their goals. This position requires collaboration between other members of the clinical team to ensure coordination of care among consumers. The incumbent will receive direct supervision from a Programs Services Supervisor.

Knowledge of mental health, substance use disorders and psychosocial rehabilitation is required as well as a strong recovery focus. Computer literacy and organizational skills are necessary as timely and accurate documentation is essential.

The incumbent must either be Certified and registered with the Board of Counseling as a Peer Recovery Specialist or have completed DBHDS Training and need 500 hours of supervised practice which can be completed at GPCS as part of the position duties.

The GPCS application is required and available at www.gpcsb.org under Job Opportunities. Salary based on Certification status and experience. Generous benefit package. Open Until filled. GPCS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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Sodexo is seeking a Retail Manager 3 for TCU located in Fort Worth, TX.

This position will manage retail volume in the Kings Family Commons Building which consists or four units. One of the units is an allergen free location with service to students with medically diagnosed allergies. This person will be the lead contact with the university and students in understanding specific meals needed by the students with allergies. The candidate must have culinary experience. The candidate will be in leadership role of an entry level manager for the unit, and will manage up to 75 hourly, union employees. The successful candidate will have a flexible schedule and able to work weekends and evenings as needed.

Is this opportunity right for you?

At Sodexo, you will find the ingredients for a great career in food service management specializing in Retail Management. With benefits including schedules that encourage work-life balance and continuing education opportunities, you'll enjoy an improved quality of life that's unique in the hospitality industry.

Are you the experienced retail manager we're seeking?

We are looking for candidates who will manage:

frontline staff;

cash handing process;

department HACCP and safety programs for regulatory compliance;

frontline training programs;

opening and closing the operation; and

daily operation standards.

The ideal candidate will have the following:

Strong leadership and communication skills

Proven client relationship skills

Successful customer service skills

Working for Sodexo:

How far will your ambition, talent and dedication take you? Sodexo fosters a culture committed to the growth of individuals through continuous learning, mentoring and other career growth opportunities, along with the performance of organizations. We believe it is important for our work to be meaningful to all who contribute to it, and we remain faithful to our mission, our core values and the ethical principles that have guided us since 1966. We support these values and help them thrive in each employee.

We strive to make working for Sodexo a genuinely great experience with benefits to promote your professional, personal and financial well-being, and to improve your Quality of Life now and into the future. Our experiences with our over 50 million customers each and every day enable us to develop Quality of Life services that reinforce the well-being of individuals, improving their effectiveness and helping companies and organizations to improve performance ... every day.


YAMHILL COUNTY

CAREER OPPORTUNITY

EASA Therapist/QMHP

(HS Specialist II or III)

HS Spec II: $4639- $5984/month (DOE)

HS Spec III: $5066- $6475/month (DOE)

With Excellent Benefits

Job #CS21-061

Recruitment will close when filled.

Applications will be reviewed every two weeks. The EASA Therapist

This is a regular, full-time position for a mental health therapist/QMHP (Qualified Mental Health Professional) to work as part of a transdisciplinary Early Assessment and Support Alliance (EASA) team in Community Support Services. The person in this position will provide community-based behavioral health support and services to youth and young adults ages 14-30 years old who are experiencing psychosis and support and services for their families as well. The primary services provided will take place in the community and will include community outreach and education, program eligibility screening, direct treatment services with assigned clients, mental health assessment, service planning and implementation, individual and group therapy, case management, crisis intervention, outreach services, and collaborative service documentation. This position will provide service to a broad-based population with complex needs in a recovery -oriented system of care. For more information about the EASA model, please visit https://easacommunity.org/. The Benefits

Health coverage - Group medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage is available for the entire family. For the 2021-2022

plan year, the County will pay 98% of the monthly premium and employees will pay 2% ($35.78 per month) for the Base Plan.

With this plan, employees are eligible for a $100 a month contribution into an HRA VEBA account. Buy-up plans are also available.

Retirement - PERS (Public Employee Retirement System) contribution is 100% employer funded, which includes both contribution

to PERS pension and IAP accounts (IAP contribution is 6% of salary).

Short-Term Disability  100% County paid.

Life insurance - $10,000 for employee/$2,000 for spouse and children  100% County Paid.

Vacation/Sick Leave - Flexible Earned Time (FET) is a combination of vacation and sick leave. To start, employees earn 13

hours per month and future accruals increase based on years of service. After a year of service and depending on FET balance,

employees may sell-back up to 40 hours of FET per year. Yamhill County is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and values diversity. All qualified

applicants are encouraged to apply. A completed County application is required. Applicants are considered

for employment based on their qualifications without regard to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national

origin, age, marital or veteran status, medical condition or disability, or any other factor prohibited by

law or regulation. Veterans are encouraged to apply. In order to receive Veterans Preference Points, please

be sure to submit the required Veterans Hiring Preference Form. Please notify the Human Resources Office

if you need accommodation or assistance with any part of our application process.

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This position offers an optional hybrid work schedule, with three days working in the office and two days working remotely.

Are you a corporate accounting expert looking to advance your career in a challenging and exciting work environment? Would you love to live in a Midwest family friendly area while enjoying a hybrid schedule, working for an industry leader? If this sounds like you, consider a rewarding career as a reporting focused Accountant at Great West Casualty Company.

As a valued member of our dynamic accounting team, you will have frequent interaction with our publicly traded parent company, Old Republic Insurance Group. In this role, you will ensure accurate and timely preparation and review of monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting for tax, statutory, statistical and GAAP purposes. You will provide valuable input and advice on financial matters. Your keen eye for innovation and penchant for research will also serve you well as you support process improvements and sharing of best practices in the handling of company accounting.

Key Responsibilities:

Specialization in the analysis and auditing of the GAAP and Statutory lines of reporting with potential crossover to other areas.

Research and stay up-to-date on pronouncements.

Ensure SEC reporting deadlines are met.



Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance.

CPA certification required.

Insurance, GAAP or statutory accounting experience preferred.

Strong work ethic.

Ability to communicate effectively to drive results.

Adaptable and resourceful to meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.





Why work for us?

We offer you a challenging career with a competitive compensation and benefits package, including:

Paid study materials, exam fees, study day, and monetary awards for professional development.

Flexible schedules for a stable work-life balance.

Paid time off for vacation, holidays, sick leave, leave of absence and more.

Support of a healthy lifestyle through a wellness program and gym subsidies.

Location: South Sioux City, Nebraska

Great West Casualty Company is headquartered in a metro area that joins three states. Our corporate office is in South Sioux City, Nebraska, just across the Missouri River from Sioux City, Iowa, and North Sioux City, South Dakota, in a region nicknamed Siouxland. Recently selected as the 7th most livable small city in the U.S., Siouxland is home to more than 180,000 residents, offers affordable Midwest living, a vibrant downtown, a multitude of outdoor activities, live music, semi-pro sports, shopping, and more.

Who we are:

For over 65 years, Great West Casualty Company has provided premier insurance products and services to thousands of truck drivers and trucking companies across America. We have regional offices located around the country, and nearly 1,000 professionals are proud to call us an employer of choice. We are dedicated to the success, happiness, and wellness of our employees. If you are looking for a company where your contributions are valued, your continued learning is financially supported, and customer service is a priority, we want to talk to you. Apply today and join one of America's largest insurers of trucking companies as we help keep the nation's economy moving forward one mile at a time.

Great People.

Great Careers.

Great West Casualty Company.


Job Title: Specialist, Communications & Digital Strategy



Office: Office of School Improvement and Supports



Date Posted: 9/30/2021



Salary Range: 1-5 / $82,007 - $92,534



NTE Date: N/A



The Government of the District of Columbia values the safety of our employees, our residents, and our visitors. In support of these values, if you are selected for this job you must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, except when vaccination is not medically advised or violates your sincerely held religious beliefs. If you are invited to join our team, you must submit proof that you are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to your initial HR representative, or you must request an exemption from your representative. New employees must either provide proof of vaccination or be granted a medical or religious exemption before working with the Government of the District of Columbia. Position Overview The mission of the Office of School Improvement and Supports (OSIS) is to ensure we support our schools and our students to succeed and to meet the Goals of our Strategic Plan. The Office works to dramatically accelerate the number of excellent schools through school transformation, including design, partnerships, Connected Schools, and Comprehensive School Planning (CSP). The Office develops, aligns, and delivers high-quality supports to ensure students, particularly students furthest away from opportunity, are in school, able to engage in rigorous learning, and have a joyous educational environment. The Office ensures our schools have excellent leaders, educators, and staff who are prepared to meet the diverse needs of the young people we serve.

Divisions/Teams School Improvement School Performance: Promotes data-driven decision-making through a cycle of continuous improvement to develop, implement, and monitor the comprehensive school plan designed to move schools toward a consistent standard of excellence.

Design: Designs innovative school models that transform learning for our students furthest from opportunity and supports District workstreams to be more grounded in community voice by anchoring in data, community engagement and understanding, and elevating and integrating student voice.

Connected Schools: Supports schools in implementing the DCPS Connected Schools Model. Connected Schools take a whole child, whole school, whole community approach by making schools spaces that support not only a student's academic development, but also the student and family's overall wellbeing through access to resources related to health, employment, housing, and more.

Equity Strategy and Programing: Supports DCPS' equity priority by ensuring systemically underserved students are provided with opportunities, skills, and engagements that support their success, and that DCPS staff and stakeholders are centering equity as a central lens and practice. Student Supports School Mental Health: Ensures that students' behavioral and social-emotional needs are met to increase access to the curriculum.

Student Placement: Ensures that schools have the necessary supports to address the needs of the whole child and create the conditions where all students are ready to learn.

Student Health Services: Ensures that all students are healthy and are supported with the appropriate services and accommodations to support their wellness and continued learning. Science of Learning and Development SoLD: Supports the district's transformation to become a Whole Child Centered, Antiracist school system. Grounded in Science and powered by lived experiences, the district's approach is a long-term vision that counts on each district and school staff member knowing the science of learning and development and applying this research to their own work. Charged with building the capacity of district and school staff, as well as integrating a whole child and antiracist lens into the district's key priorities, the SoLD Division will leverage the experiences of school leaders and staff to translate the research into systems, tools, and practices.

SEL and School Culture: Ensures that schools have the resources to provide a safe and supportive learning environment where all students are able to thrive academically and socially. IMPACT IMPACT Operations: Supports the daily implementation of both Staff and School Leader IMPACT. The team ensures IMPACT policy is followed with fidelity, manages a helpline where staff can reach out with questions, handles IMPACT appeals, and fulfills all IMPACT data analysis requests.

IMPACT Align : Ensures all evaluators have the tools they need to accurately and consistently apply the DCPS classroom observation rubric (the Essential Practices) when evaluating teacher practice. Provides tools for teachers to support excellent performance with respect to the Essential Practices.

IMPACT Design : Gathers and responds to feedback from DCPS leadership and staff, and uses this feedback to consider possible IMPACT design changes for the future. The team also liaises with other states, districts, education groups, and researchers to learn from the best practices and lessons learned in the field of staff and school leader evaluation. The Talent Acquisition and Retention (TAR) division supports school-based stakeholders in staffing and retaining critical instructional roles and is comprised of the following two teams: The School Leader and Teacher Talent Acquisition team is responsible for the design and implementation of DCPS's rigorous recruitment and selection processes for principals, assistant principals, teachers, and educational aides to identify the best potential candidates to support student growth. The team manages DCPS's teacher pipelines, including strategic partnerships with local universities and teacher preparation programs. The team also supports initiatives to retain effective educators throughout the district. The Strategic Staffing team is responsible for hiring for all positions in DCPS. The team provides budgeting and position management support, works with principals and managers to develop their staffing plans and personnel budgets, and works with employees, principals, and hiring managers on staffing changes. The Specialist, Communications & Digital Strategy is responsible for ensuring that consistent and clear messaging is available to candidates seeking instructional positions in DCPS across print and digital platforms. The Specialist has the opportunity to connect with key internal and external stakeholders to provide accurate, timely, and transparent information about DCPS priorities to candidates, as well as creating and maintaining a bank of application resources. The Specialist's work closely supports the DCPS goal of ensuring that all students receive a high-quality education and are prepared for college, career, and life. The Specialist, Communications & Digital Strategy will report to the Manager, Teacher Recruitment. Essential Duties and Responsibilities The below statements are intended to describe the general nature and scope of work being performed by this position. This is not a complete listing of all responsibilities, duties, and/or skills required. Other duties may be assigned. Supports the Talent Acquisitionand team in implementing an aggressive and innovative national strategy for recruiting outstanding instructional staff, school leaders, and related service providers to join DCPS.

Helps to facilitate the seamless, efficient execution of various candidate selection processes.

Authors and executes clear, specific, and strategic communications to internal and external audiences that are aligned with the district's overall vision and priorities.

Manages digital marketing and outreach strategy for recruiting candidates to various positions within DCPS.

Drives the development and execution of social media strategy and creates social media campaigns to support the Talent Acquisition team's recruitment and selection priorities.

Creates and maintains a user-friendly resource bank for candidates applying to instructional, school leader, and related-service provider positions, as well as for transferring teachers to support with all aspects of the human capital life cycle.

Authors and manages internal emails and newsletters for candidates, central office staff, and DCPS staff, and external emails and newsletters for various DCPS audiences, candidates, and stakeholders.

Creates content, edits, and updates, and ensures brand continuity for the team's recruitment microsite and affiliated pages on the main DCPS website.

Manages multiple DCPS candidate email accounts to monitor requests and respond accordingly.

Builds relationships and liaises with internal and external stakeholders to drive collaboration and project success, including responding to urgent requests from multiple internal and external DCPS stakeholders. Qualifications Bachelor's degree and three to five years of related work experience.

Master's degree preferred.

Teaching experience or other experience in the education sector preferred.

Experience designing strategy for and leveraging digital media, including social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Exceptional writing, editing, and oral communications skills, especially when under time constraints.

Experience crafting strategic, culturally-responsive communications for diverse audiences.

Strong organizational skills, including key attention to detail, and the ability to adhere to strict deadlines.

Ability to work independently and be a self-starter, while collaborating with others on meeting common goals.

Focus on outcomes and willingness to work as hard as necessary and to work non-standard hours to achieve program and district-level goals.

Strong computer skills, specifically Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator.

Web design experience preferred.

DCPS Values STUDENTS FIRST : We recognize students as whole children and put their needs first in everything we do.

: We recognize students as whole children and put their needs first in everything we do. COURAGE : We have the audacity to learn from our successes and failures, to try new things, and to lead the nation as a proof point of PK-12 success.

: We have the audacity to learn from our successes and failures, to try new things, and to lead the nation as a proof point of PK-12 success. EQUITY : We work proactively to eliminate opportunity gaps by interrupting institutional bias and investing in effective strategies to ensure every student succeeds.

: We work proactively to eliminate opportunity gaps by interrupting institutional bias and investing in effective strategies to ensure every student succeeds. EXCELLENCE : We work with integrity and hold ourselves accountable for exemplary outcomes, service, and interactions.

: We work with integrity and hold ourselves accountable for exemplary outcomes, service, and interactions. TEAMWORK : We recognize that our greatest asset is our collective vision and ability to work collaboratively and authentically.

: We recognize that our greatest asset is our collective vision and ability to work collaboratively and authentically. JOY: We enjoy our collective work and will enthusiastically celebrate our success and each other.






ImOn Communications is the LOCAL choice for cable TV, high-speed Internet and phone service. We value the relationships we have with colleagues, customers, and members of our community and look forward to serving Eastern Iowa for many years to come. As we expand our service availability we are looking for a Senior Systems Analyst to be a part of the ImOn Difference! Our employees share a passion for building a culture of Creating Connections One Person at a Time and fostering a fun and rewarding work environment. The Senior Systems Analyst works as member of the IT Infrastructure team to run systems to support our growing Telecommunications business for our Internal Associates, Customers and Partners. This individual is responsible for bringing together hardware, software, and support to provide the right combination of cost, resiliency, and features for the solution. Essential Job Responsibilities for Primary Functional Area of Accountability  Responsible for the maintenance of and providing direction for all Internal Computing Systems: 1. Active Directory including DNS, DHCP and Group Policy 2. Desktop and Server Operating Systems including Anti-Virus Protection 3. Client, Server and Database Applications including Sharepoint, Exchange and SQL 4. Backup and Recovery  Responsible for the support and maintenance of the Enterprise Application Software designed to support the Telecommunications Billing Processes for own Retail and Wholesale Business. 1. Provide Customer Service to Associates and Partners 2. Provide first line of contact with Software Vendor 3. Provide direction to and oversight of External Consultants  Perform complex Hardware and Software updates 1. Collaborate with Vendors as needed  Responsible for tuning Systems for Redundancy, Performance, Security, and Data Protection.  Responsible for the resolution of Hardware, Software and Application problems. 1. Respond to escalated Client Incidents and Requests 2. Respond to Emergency Calls during and outside of normal business hours 3. Identify Root Cause, Implement Resolution, Recommend Long-term Actions as needed  Audit System Alerts to ensure proactive and timely resolution.  Contribute to the documentation of procedures and guidelines for internal team use. 1. Ensure that documents are kept up-to-date  Act as a Technical Project Leader for complex and/or long duration initiatives.  Make recommendations on Technological Direction.  Contribute to the annual budget process.  All Other Duties as Assigned. Requirements We are looking for someone who has: Advanced understanding and working experience with:  Hardware Installation, Configuration and Support (Desktops, Servers, Storage, VMware)  MS SQL Database  IIS Servers and Websites  Office 365, Exchange, & Share point configuration  Asset Management Tools and Practices  LDAP  Project Risk, Cost and Time Management Expert understanding of and working experience with:  Windows Operating Systems  Microsoft Active Directory and Group Policy  Windows Update Services, Print Server Administration  Microsoft Remote Desktop Services  Antivirus Tools and Remediation  Remote Access (VPN)  Enterprise Software Deployment and Configuration including Automation via scripting  Backup Hardware/Software  Networking as it relates to Server/Storage  Security as it relates to Server/Storage  Virtualization as it relates to Server/Storage  Troubleshooting techniques: Operating System, Application System, Hardware/Software  Technology-leading principles and methodologies Required Experience, Training, and Special Qualifications  Bachelors degree in Information Technology, Computer Science or related field or equivalent work experience.  Strong organizational and communication skills.  Excellent attention to detail with proficiency in Microsoft Word and Excel.  Ability to function independently and efficiently in a fast-paced environment.  Must be team-oriented, friendly and personable with strong focus on customer service. In addition to competitive pay, ImOn also offers health & dental insurance, 401(k), discounted Cable, Internet & Phone services, and additional perks such as FREE vision insurance, FREE life insurance as well as FREE short term/long term disability, vacation & holiday pay, and community volunteer opportunities.

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Salary $76,710.40 - $117,187.20 Annually Location Arlington *METRO-accessible*, VA Job Type Full-Time Department Department of Libraries Job Number 1032-22C-LIB-HQ Closing 10/21/2021 11:59 PM Eastern Position Information Arlington County's Department of Libraries is seeking a Business Systems Analyst II to join its Technology Unit in directly supporting the department's robust technology needs for all staff and public users. The position requires coordination with major stakeholders across the County, including the Department of Technology Services (DTS), which maintains the enterprise-wide services and standards. Other stakeholders include Library vendors, upper and middle management, and module leads for the integrated library system (ILS).



Specific responsibilities include: Resolving complex IT issues not resolved by the Department of Technology Services (DTS) or vendor;

Coordinating hardware, software, network and wireless support;

Managing relationships with vendors and other external entities;

Managing and maintaining public devices using Microsoft Azure and Intune;

Supporting staff computers and laptops, including library-related peripherals;

Developing office-wide technology-related matters procedures and process documentation;

Performing functional testing after patching and upgrades are applied;

Coordinating major upgrades with stakeholders;

Serving as team lead for the management and operations of technology matters to include maintaining relationships with business units and DTS;

Representing unit and department technology needs in enterprise-wide projects; and

Developing requirements and coordinating with the technical unit when system enhancements, patches or customizations need to be developed.

The ideal candidate will have: Familiarity of library technology environment, including use of library specific software (Centurion Smartshield);

Understanding of authentication and access software (EZProxy); and

Familiarity with integrated library systems.

Selection Criteria Minimum: Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems or related field, plus experience in Microsoft Azure and InTune; server maintenance; managing and implementing all phases of systems development lifecycle including two years of project management experience in a complex information systems environment.



Substitution: Additional qualifying experience as defined above may be substituted for the education requirement on a year-for-year basis.



The successful candidate will have the following: Experience with mobile devices (iPads, Surfaces) and Macbooks;

Experience with Windows 10;

Experience with Windows server 2016, 2019 and SQL server 2016+; and

Some experience in the management of smaller projects or as a team leader on larger projects with major stakeholders, both technical and non-technical.

Special Requirements Possession of, or ability to obtain by the time of appointment, a valid motor vehicle operator's license from the applicant's place of residence and the applicant must authorize Arlington County to obtain, or the applicant must provide a copy of the applicant's official state/district driving record. Any offer of employment will be contingent upon a favorable review of the applicant's driving record.

Additional Information Work hours: Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. with periodic night/weekend hours necessary.



Ability to lift 50-70 pounds.



The official title for this position is Business Systems Analyst II.



Each section of the application must be completed. A resume may be attached, however, it will not substitute for the completed application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Arlington County Government employee benefits depend on whether a position is permanent, the number of hours worked, and the number of months the position is scheduled.



Specific information on benefits and conditions of employment can be found on the Arlington County Human Resources Department website: (see application details)



Permanent, Full-Time Appointments

All jobs are permanent, full-time appointments unless otherwise stated in the announcement. The following benefits are available:



Paid Leave : Vacation leave is earned at the rate of four hours biweekly. Leave accrual increases every three years until eight hours of leave are earned biweekly for twelve or more years of service. Sick leave is earned at the rate of four hours biweekly. There are eleven paid holidays each year.



Health and Dental Insurance : Three group health insurance plans are offered - a network open access plan, a point-of-service plan, and a health maintenance organization. A group dental insurance plan is also offered. The County pays a significant portion of the premium for these plans for employees and their dependents. A discount vision plan is provided for eye care needs.



Life Insurance : A group term policy of basic life insurance is provided at no cost to employees. The benefit is one times annual salary. Additional life insurance is available with rates based on the employee's age and smoker/non-smoker status.



Retirement : The County offers three vehicles to help you prepare for retirement: a defined benefit plan, a defined contribution plan (401(a)), and a deferred compensation plan (457). The defined benefit plan provides a monthly retirement benefit based on your final average salary and years of service with the County. You contribute a portion of your salary on a pre-tax basis to this plan. General employees contribute 4% of pay; uniformed public safety employees contribute 7.5% of pay. Employees become vested in the plan at five years of service. The County also contributes to this plan.



For general employees, the County also contributes 4.2% of pay to a defined contribution plan (401(a)) . The County also matches your 457 contribution, up to $20 per pay period, in this plan. The 457 deferred compensation plan allows you to set aside money on either a pre-tax (457b) or post-tax (457 Roth) basis up to the IRS annual limit. New employees are automatically enrolled with a pre-tax contribution equal to 2% of your base pay.



Other Benefits: The County also offers health, dependent care, and parking flexible spending accounts; long-term care insurance; tuition assistance; transit and walk/bike to work subsidies; a college savings plan; wellness programs; training opportunities; and a variety of other employee benefits.



Permanent, Part-Time Appointments:

Part time employees who work ten or more hours per week receive paid leave and benefits in proportion to the number of hours worked per week.



Limited Term Appointments:

Benefits are the same as permanent appointments except that the employees do not achieve permanent status.



Temporary Regular Appointments:

Temporary regular employees who work 30 hours or more per week are eligible for health, dental, and basic life insurance as described above. They are also eligible for vacation, sick leave, and paid holidays.



Temporary Seasonal and Occasional Appointments:

Temporary employees who work on a seasonal basis or variable hours receive sick leave, but do not normally receive other paid leave or benefits. Exceptions are noted in individual announcements.




Salary $145,579.20 - $222,372.80 Annually Location Arlington *METRO-accessible*, VA Job Type Full-Time Department Department of Technology Services Job Number 0133-22A-DTS-BL Closing Continuous Position Information The Department of Technology Services (DTS) is hiring 1-2 Deputy Directors to support the long-term and day-to-day business needs for the County's information technology (IT) services and operations. Reporting to the Chief Information Officer (CIO), the Deputy Director plays an integral role in the development, implementation, and administration of innovative IT solutions and digital strategy initiatives. Through proactive performance management, creative problem-solving, talent management and consultation, this leadership position is responsible for modeling and achieving a supportive, open, and empowered culture that sustains the County's operational service excellence.



Arlington County is experiencing remarkable growth in the adoption of technology requiring a transformative approach to the design and operation of core technology infrastructure and support services. This infrastructure is a hybrid environment with services supporting multiple lines of business throughout the County on a 24/7 basis through both premised and cloud-based resources.



In 2020, for a third straight year, the Center for Digital Government and National Association of Counties awarded Arlington County Government as one of the top digital Counties in the nation for its best technology practices in the areas of open government, transparency, citizen engagement, cyber security and operations. To learn more about Arlington County and its Department of Technology Services, please visit Here .



This Deputy provides oversight and coordination for three DTS Divisions responsible for the following areas: Digital Experience and Technology Innovations;

Enterprise Applications; and

Technology Infrastructure & Managed Services. Specific responsibilities include: Providing leadership and guidance of strategic IT initiatives; providing executive level technical expertise, in-depth guidance, counsel and support to teams of professionals;

Ensuring operational excellence of Arlington County's technology infrastructure, solutions, systems, support services, and digital innovation while Implementing continuous improvement programs;

Collaborating with internal and external business leaders to develop, implement, and operationalize support systems to align with business objectives;

Ensuring technology resource requirements meet tactical and strategic demands;

Aligning technology initiatives, projects and vision with County priorities;

Collaborating with the Department of Management and Finance to analyze the cost, risk and value of IT to advise and make recommendations to the CIO;

Acting on behalf of the CIO and in the absence of the CIO, and supporting the oversight of IT operations to improve cost and overall efficiency;

Managing strategic relationships with municipal, regional and state peers; as well as customers and key product and service providers; and

Providing oversight to the IT asset management team to ensure asset's full lifetime cycle value is achieved. The ideal candidate is a strategic, proactive, decisive, and pragmatic leader, with openness to new perspectives, finding universal solutions, and influencing change. This leader demonstrates a passion for innovative technology trends with the ability to communicate a shared vision for how change may enhance the County's future needs. This individual possesses:

Excellent communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills;

Maintain a proven successful track record in developing and leading high performing teams;

Knowledge, skills and executive level IT and management experiences;

Ability to work effectively under pressure; and

Ability to lead, inspire, motivate and evaluate and counsel subordinate staff and delegate responsibility as appropriate.

Selection Criteria Minimum: A combination of education and relevant experience that demonstrates a record of accomplishment managing IT Operations and evidence of successful navigation in a political or highly participatory community environment. Typically, these skills and abilities would be demonstrated through a combination of education and experience that includes an advanced degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems or a related field plus significant experience in Information Technology operations and leading teams in digital innovations and solutions, enterprise systems and support, and/or technology infrastructure and managed services.

Special Requirements Please provide a cover letter addressing how your education, experience and training meets the requirements described under position information and selection criteria highlighting your accomplishments in these areas.



Be sure to describe your experience developing and leading high performing teams, managing digital innovations and solutions, enterprise systems and support, and technology infrastructure and managed services. Please use the space provided in the Supplemental Questions section of the online application for your cover letter or attach the cover letter to your online application.



Completion of the Commonwealth of Virginia Statement of Economic Interest form will be required of the successful candidate upon hire and annually thereafter.

Additional Information Starting salary will depend upon the qualifications and experience of the candidate selected and is negotiable. This position is in the Arlington County Government's Senior Management Accountability Program (SMAP), in which Senior Program Managers are evaluated and compensated based on a performance agreement linked to the County's Management plan, and results achieved, among other criteria. For more information on Arlington's family friendly benefits, click here .



Note: This recruitment is open until the position is filled with a preferred filing date of November 1, 2021 . Applications submitted by this date will receive first consideration. Interested applicants are encouraged to submit their applications as soon as possible. Qualified applicants in this first group will be referred to the hiring manager and interviews will be conducted on a regular basis throughout the recruitment with candidates whose qualifications best fit our needs. Applications received after November 1, 2021 may be considered only if a hire is not made from applicants received by the preferred filing date. The application process will close when the position has been filled or when enough qualified applications have been received. Arlington County Government employee benefits depend on whether a position is permanent, the number of hours worked, and the number of months the position is scheduled.



Specific information on benefits and conditions of employment can be found on the Arlington County Human Resources Department website: (see application details)



Permanent, Full-Time Appointments

All jobs are permanent, full-time appointments unless otherwise stated in the announcement. The following benefits are available:



Paid Leave : Vacation leave is earned at the rate of four hours biweekly. Leave accrual increases every three years until eight hours of leave are earned biweekly for twelve or more years of service. Sick leave is earned at the rate of four hours biweekly. There are eleven paid holidays each year.



Health and Dental Insurance : Three group health insurance plans are offered - a network open access plan, a point-of-service plan, and a health maintenance organization. A group dental insurance plan is also offered. The County pays a significant portion of the premium for these plans for employees and their dependents. A discount vision plan is provided for eye care needs.



Life Insurance : A group term policy of basic life insurance is provided at no cost to employees. The benefit is one times annual salary. Additional life insurance is available with rates based on the employee's age and smoker/non-smoker status.



Retirement : The County offers three vehicles to help you prepare for retirement: a defined benefit plan, a defined contribution plan (401(a)), and a deferred compensation plan (457). The defined benefit plan provides a monthly retirement benefit based on your final average salary and years of service with the County. You contribute a portion of your salary on a pre-tax basis to this plan. General employees contribute 4% of pay; uniformed public safety employees contribute 7.5% of pay. Employees become vested in the plan at five years of service. The County also contributes to this plan.



For general employees, the County also contributes 4.2% of pay to a defined contribution plan (401(a)) . The County also matches your 457 contribution, up to $20 per pay period, in this plan. The 457 deferred compensation plan allows you to set aside money on either a pre-tax (457b) or post-tax (457 Roth) basis up to the IRS annual limit. New employees are automatically enrolled with a pre-tax contribution equal to 2% of your base pay.



Other Benefits: The County also offers health, dependent care, and parking flexible spending accounts; long-term care insurance; tuition assistance; transit and walk/bike to work subsidies; a college savings plan; wellness programs; training opportunities; and a variety of other employee benefits.



Permanent, Part-Time Appointments:

Part time employees who work ten or more hours per week receive paid leave and benefits in proportion to the number of hours worked per week.



Limited Term Appointments:

Benefits are the same as permanent appointments except that the employees do not achieve permanent status.



Temporary Regular Appointments:

Temporary regular employees who work 30 hours or more per week are eligible for health, dental, and basic life insurance as described above. They are also eligible for vacation, sick leave, and paid holidays.



Temporary Seasonal and Occasional Appointments:

Temporary employees who work on a seasonal basis or variable hours receive sick leave, but do not normally receive other paid leave or benefits. Exceptions are noted in individual announcements.




Library Assistant  Circulation Application Deadline: Monday, October 11, 2021 at 5 PM Hours: Monday  Thursday, alternate Friday/Saturday with some evenings Salary: $18.2418 Hourly Characteristics of the Job Under the close supervision of the circulation services coordinator, performs automated circulation functions of library materials according to established policies and procedures; maintains patron confidentiality; exercises independent judgment in application of a variety of established policies and procedures; provides skilled, efficient and courteous service to the public. Examples of Duties Maintain constant contact with the general public on a daily basis to explain and interpret established policies and procedures relating to the library.

Understand and implement multi-faceted library computer system; perform basic search functions and keep accurate circulation records.

Assess and manage circulation-related complaints according to established guidelines.

Calculate and receive payment for lost materials, fines, library cards, rental fees, etc.

Perform accurate and prompt data entry involving knowledge of state laws and the policies of the library, the library system and the City.

Operate and maintain general and specialized office equipment, such as cash registers, computers, fax machines, calculator, copy machines, multi-line phone system, etc.

Provide specialized services, such as Notary Public, passport services, and voters registrar.

Other duties may be assigned. Training and Experience High school diploma or GED equivalent including or supplemented by computer courses and public service experience; or any equivalent combination of training and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Knowledge of business English, spelling and arithmetic; modern office practices and procedures; numerical and alphabetical library filing; telephone etiquette. Skill in public relations; typing, data entry, arithmetic calculations and operating office machines with reasonable accuracy and speed to satisfy departmental needs; skill in communicating with other employees and the general public. Ability to convey a cheerful and positive personal image; handle confidential information with discretion; exercise initiative, tact and independent judgment within area of responsibility; learn assigned clerical tasks, library terminology and perform detailed accurate work; effectively convey library policies and procedures to the public; learn the use of the librarys computer systems and equipment; follow oral and written instructions; communicate effectively, orally and in writing; establish and maintain effective working relationships with other employees and the general public; learn to operate a multi-line telephone system; work calmly under stressful conditions; adapt to changes; perform several tasks simultaneously. Ability to speak Spanish desirable. Certificates, Licenses, Registrations Valid Illinois drivers license or equivalent. Physical Demands The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, sit, talk, hear and perform considerable repetitive motion involving the use of fingers, hands and limbs. The employee is occasionally required to stoop, bend and lift and push books and other library materials up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision and ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

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Realtime Streaming Media Software Engineer (AVConference, ReplayKit) Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino) , California , United States Software and Services Summary

Posted: Sep 30, 2021 Weekly Hours: 40 Role Number: 200293018 The Interactive Media Group (IMG) provides the media and graphics foundation across all of Apple's innovative products, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod, and Mac OS. We are seeking a software engineer to join our team. Our team develops the framework for AirPlay Screen Mirroring, Sidecar iPad Second Display, Screen Recording, and Internet Live Broadcasting Streaming for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. Apple's Interactive Media Group (IMG) is looking for a proactive dedicated software engineer to join our team. As a member of this team, you will have an outstanding opportunity working with some of Apple's most advance technologies for crafting world class real-time streaming media experiences. Key Qualifications Experience with object-oriented programming in C, C++, ObjectiveC, or Swift

Interest in one or more of the following customer features; Screen Sharing, Gaming, Apple Arcade, Live Internet Streaming, FaceTime, Home Automation, Screen Recording, and Screen Mirroring

Interest in one or more of the following technical areas; VoIP, Video Conferencing, mobile applications, embedded software, embedded firmware, real-time audio, video, multithreaded programming, digital signal processing, device drivers, low latency real-time networking protocols, RTP and UDP Description We are looking for a strong software engineer to help develop features for the real-time audio and video frameworks that drive Screen Capture, Screen Recording, VoIP, and Internet Live Broadcasting Streaming for iOS, tvOS, and MacOS. As a software engineer in this role, you will be responsible for developing features, contributing to design and architecture, analyzing and optimizing performance, and tuning algorithms for enhanced customer experiences. Education & Experience B.S or M.S in EE/CE/CS with focus in software engineering Additional Requirements Curiosity about leading cross-functional projects and shipping high quality software






Detailing all of the pop-up restaurants, pop-up bars, pop-up shops, pop-up galleries, and pop-up gigs in London, complete with maps. Please send any tips to dan.calladine@londonpopups.com or via twitter - I'm @LondonPopups
Senior officials within the CIA and the Trump administration plotted to kidnap, and even assassinate, Julian Assange: whistle-blower and founder of WikiLeaks, as revealed by a shocking report in Yahoo News, published last Sunday.

The article reveals a plan to pluck Assange from the embassy of Ecuador in London, where he had been stuck since 2012, in order to bring him to justice in the US. According to a former intelligence official the plan was to break into the embassy, drag [Assange] out and bring him to where we want.

But the schemes did not stop at merely abducting the Australian journalist from a sovereign country's embassy in the capital of their long-time ally. There were also plans on outright murdering Assange, three former officials confirmed.

None other than the US president himself had inquired at a meeting in the spring of 2017 about the possibility of having Assange assassinated by the CIA, and for them to provide him options for how they would go about it. This was not just Trump being Trump either, sketches of such plans against Assange and other WikiLeaks members were requested and received by high-ranking officials of the organisation around the same time.

Vengeful imperialism

So what had Julian Assange done that warranted this conspiracy against him? In march 2017 WikiLeaks, started to publish a collection of files and documents known as Vault 7.

The WikiLeaks revelations were a great source of humiliation and embarrassment for the CIA and its officers, not least to its newly appointed director Mike Pompeo, who declared war on Assange and WikiLeaks / Image: Gage Skidmore

The collection included source code and documents relating to viruses and hacking tools used by the CIA and other agencies, later described by the organisation as the largest data loss in CIA history.

These leaks revealed to which extent consumer software, operating systems and devices were compromised by the CIA and allied intelligence services, leaving innocent people open to intrusions and attacks, not only by the agency itself but also other malicious agents who could abuse the same backdoors and vulnerabilities.

The revelations were also a great source of humiliation and embarrassment for the agency and its officers, not least to its newly appointed director Mike Pompeo, who out of fear initially wanted to keep the leak a secret from Trump. For him, it became a question of a personal vendetta against the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. A former official of the Trump administration said that WikiLeaks was a complete obsession of Pompeo's.

In his endeavour for vengeance, Pompeo had the journalist group classified as a non-state hostile intelligence service. This means that agents of the CIA could now treat WikiLeaks like they would an antagonistic intelligence bureau. This is an extreme measure to take against what amounts to a group of activists, not a threat to national security.

The only threat posed by the group is to the secrecy surrounding the crimes of the state and the ruling class they represent!

In following months, surveillance efforts around Assange and other persons in connection with WikiLeaks were redoubled. But the new designation not only warranted increased surveillance of the group, but also disruptive actions like breaking into the homes of members and stealing or destroying devices and hard drives.

In addition to allowing a more aggressive approach, the actions against members of the group would now be considered offensive counterintelligence. Normally, whenever the CIA plans to take action against a foreign actor, they would require a signed document by the President, also known as a finding.

This would need to be briefed to the security committees of the House and the Senate. But under this new categorisation they could take action without any of the regular checks and balances, and without prior knowledge of any elected representative.

Callous plans

While the plans to abduct or assassinate Julian did not come to fruition, the sanctity of the Ecuadorian embassy would still not be left unviolated.

In the summer of 2017, the Spanish company UC Global, whose services had been employed since 2015 by the embassy, was compromised. Two former employees testified in Spanish courts that the security company provided US intelligence services with detailed reports of Assange's activities and visitors, as well as audio and video feeds from hidden devices installed by the company.

But not only were the company complicit in the surveillance of Assange, director and founder David Morales even discussed plans to accidentally leave the embassy door open so that people could enter the building and kidnap, or even poison Assange, according to one former employee.

International law apparently doesnt apply to the US. An embassy is supposed to be the inviolable territory of another country. But the imperialists colluded with the boss of a foreign company, to carry out illegal surveillance and even break into the embassy with the intention to murder a foreign national!

This simply demonstrates the extent to which the ruling class will tear up all their own rules in order to preserve their interests.

However, in late 2017, the plans to kidnap or kill Assange were halted, as intelligence reports indicated that there were plans by Kremlin agents to sneak Assange out of London to Moscow. New plans had to be drawn up in order to stop any such attempt.

The scenarios the agency prepared for would not be out of place in any run-of-the-mill spy action film. The scenarios included exchanges of gunfire with Russian agents on the streets of central London, and having a car crash into a Russian diplomatic vehicle in order to stop and then grab Assange from it.

It is of scant consolation to any bystanders caught in the potential crossfire that British agents agreed that they would be the ones doing the shooting on the behalf of the Americans, if it would come to that.

In the event that Assange managed to board a plane, there were multiple ideas for attempts at stopping it from taking off, one which involved shooting out its tires!

This is something we'd do in Afghanistan, but not in the UK'' says a former official to the Yahoo News investigation. Another revealing comment to the same investigation reads: This isnt Pakistan or Egypt  were talking about London.

This underlines the callousness of the CIA, which has absolutely no regard for the sovereignty of other countries' governments, nor the potential collateral damage created by their actions. Their only concern is the fallout these actions would have if carried out in the UK, as opposed to a country like Afghanistan, where they certainly havent had any reservations about using such brutal methods in the past.

Democrats and Republicans equally culpable

While the campaign against WikiLeaks and Assange took on a different character under the Trump administration, and with Pompeo as director of the CIA, it did not start with them.

It was under the Obama administration in 2013 that the WikiLeaks team were assembled by the CIA, as a consequence of WikiLeaks helping Edward Snowden escape to Russia, having committed the crime of exposing the US government illegally spying on its own citizens.

The persecution of Assange and WikiLeaks began under the Obama administration / Image: Pixabay

Similarly to how the group received a new designation in 2017 in order to justify extreme measures against them, top intelligence officials tried to define the group, along with other journalists, as information brokers instead of journalists, which would have allowed even further increased surveillance.

The final nail in the coffin was when WikiLeaks published leaked Democratic Party emails in 2016. After that, there was zero debate about increasing surveillance against the group, according to a former official. Anyone affiliated to the group could now be spied upon without hesitation.

But the different approach of the Obama administration is not a question of principle. The administration had no qualms about continuing imperialist wars in the Middle East, leading to the loss of countless innocent lives; nor their continuing support of the Saudi monarchy, known for imprisoning and killing journalists as they wish.

When John Eisenberg, lawyer of the US National Security Council found out about the plans to kidnap Assange, his response was a cynical attempt to speed up drafting the charges against him.

Eisenberg worried that Assange would be renditioned before the indictment was ready, making it difficult to legally justify the abduction in the first place and generally complicating the prosecution.

This makes two things very clear. Firstly, the plot to kidnap the whistle-blower was taken seriously in multiple departments of the US authorities. Secondly, the real job of the scores of lawyers employed by the US government is not to worry about the legality of this or that action, but to justify them, preferably (but not necessarily) before they are committed.

Regardless of the reasoning being the indictment presented by the lawyers of US imperialism, the motive for Assanges prosecution is obviously political.

Backroom deal with Moreno

And while the lawyers tried to work out the legalities, Assange was under the protection of Ecuador as a subject of political asylum. This is a right enshrined in international law and, at least on paper, recognised by US law. But the corrupt right-wing government of Moreno, facing difficulties at home, decided to sell out Assange for a pretty penny.

A backroom deal was struck, where the US promised the Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno debt relief in exchange for him evicting Assange from the embassy. On 11 April 2019 the Metropolitan Police were invited into the embassy and dragged Assange out. The Moreno government sold its soul and did the bidding of US imperialism, reneging on its commitments to protecting Assange.

Since then, Assange has been imprisoned at the Belmarsh maximum-security prison in London. Although the request from the US to extradite him on charges of publishing classified documents and attempting to help Chelsea Manning hack a classified network was denied, the British courts have not stopped US imperialism from enacting its bloodthirsty revenge.

At the time of writing, Assange awaits the US authorities appeal to the courts decision, and has been deprived of his freedom for more than nine years: seven confined to the Ecuadorian embassy, followed by two years of solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison.

Ever the faithful lapdog of US imperialism, the government of the UK was complicit in the plots against Assange: their only concern was with the public outcry and political implications had the plans been carried out. Ultimately, they were ready to collaborate.

Michelle Stanistreet, the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists said in a statement published on their website:

The suggestion that US security services even considered kidnapping and murder on the streets of a trusted ally is chilling. That such acts might have been contemplated as a reaction to an individual who had simply published inconvenient truths is all the more troubling.

She concludes:

Furthermore, it is clear that when the US appeal against the dismissal of its extradition application in respect of Assange is heard in October, it should be dismissed out of hand and its subject released at once.

Assanges crime", and that of other whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning, for which they are being so brutally mistreated, is exposing the crimes of the ruling class and their stooges.

Millions of workers and youth around the globe are questioning the legitimacy of the current system, and leaks such as those produced by WikiLeaks certainly play a role in that.

Clearly, the bourgeois only care about basic democratic rights such as freedom of speech when they serve their needs. As soon as these rights are used against them to reveal their rottenness, concepts such as due process and journalistic freedom fly out the window.

As Marxists, we continue to take a stand against the unjust persecution of Julian Assange!

Defend freedom of speech!

No to extradition!

Free Julian Assange!
Le gouvernement a mis en place comme annonce il y a quelque temps par le ministres des TICS lors dune conference de presse a Ebene.

Accompagne du No2 du gouvernement, Steven Obeegadoo, Deepak Balgobin a indique lors dune rencontre avec les membres de la presse que le Pass Vaksinal est disponible depuis minuit le 1er octobre 2021.

Il suffira daller sur le site de Besafemoris ou lapplication au choix, cliquer sur le logo Pass, entrer les donnees de sa carte didentite nationale et son numero de portable.

Apres lactivation par un OTP envoyee par SMS, vous aurez votre Pass Vaksinal en terne de QR Code comme ce fit le cas pour les Work permits pour eviter les falsifications.

A savoir que si votre carte vaccinale de la Covid-19 est active dans quelques semaines elle sera obselete, il vous faudra presenter le pass soit sur votre smartphone ou imprime.

The Ministry of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation has developed the Digital Vaccination Pass which will provide citizens the opportunity to download and store their digital vaccination pass for use as and when required by relevant authorities.

The vaccination pass has a QR code containing the vaccination details of the citizens which may be scanned by authorised institutions seeking the vaccination status of citizens.

The vaccination pass may be accessed on https://besafemoris.mu/ by registering the Identity Number and a valid mobile number or the beSafeMoris mobile application and the MoKloud platform on https://mokloud.govmu.org/. Citizens may also avail of the services of the Mauritius Post Ltd to download their vaccination pass.

Citizens who had previously downloaded the besafeMoris mobile application should update it prior to downloading their vaccination pass.

As at date, the digital vaccination pass is available on Play Store and Huawei AppGallery. It will be available on App Store by this afternoon. In the meantime, iphone users may download their vaccination pass on the besafeMoris platform or on the MoKloud platform.

Citizens are hereby informed that data capture for vaccination details is ongoing. For those unable to retrieve their vaccination pass or those appearing as partially vaccinated despite being fully vaccinated, kindly note that it will be available soon.

For queries regarding the Digital Vaccination pass, citizens are requested to call on the 4013060 on weekdays from 08.45 to 20.00 hours and during weekends from 08.45 to 16.00 hours or on email address passvaksinal@govmu.org.

The Digital Vaccination Pass, a product of MoKloud platform, is an initiative of the Ministry of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation in collaboration with Mauritius Telecom.

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The Republic of Mauritius officially reopened its borders on the 1st october 2021, as it lifted restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers. From today, visitors will be able to freely explore the paradise islands beaches, mountains, waterfalls and lagoons from the moment they land.

Mauritius has implemented one of the most successful Covid responses in the world, with 83 percent of its adult population now double-vaccinated. The paradise island is now seeing huge demand from international travellers who are choosing Mauritius for its stunning scenery, safety and security.

There were joyous celebrations at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam international airport this morning, as the first planeloads of tourists touched down.

Deputy Prime Minister Steven Obeegadoo, who was there to greet the new arrivals, said: This is a great day for Mauritius, and we are delighted to be able to welcome tourists back to our beautiful nation. Our global best practice strategy of vaccinating our citizens first before reopening has meant we can lift restrictions today with confidence.

Tourism is crucial to our economy, but so is the safety and security of our citizens, and it is thanks to our worldleading response to the coronavirus pandemic that we are able to reopen our borders today as planned. Mauritius responded quickly and effectively to the threat of Covid-19 right at the start of the pandemic. By implementing an early lockdown and strict quarantine measures we were able to keep infection rates incredibly low and, by prioritising the vaccination of our tourism workers alongside healthcare staff, we were able to put our phased reopening in place right on schedule.

Nilen Vencadasmy, chairman of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA), said:

Tourism accounts for more than 25 per cent of our nations GDP and employs many thousands of people directly and indirectly, so we are extremely pleased to welcome visitors to our shores at the start of our busiest season. It was vital that we implement strict health protocols to protect our citizens, and we remain vigilant in maintaining all necessary safeguards to protect visitors and the local population. Im sure that all of our hard-working staff tourism industry professionals will be so pleased to see holidaymakers visiting our country once again.

Hotel and airline bookings for Mauritius have soared in recent weeks, and additional international flights have been added to keep up with demand. Many major airlines from around the world fly to Mauritius, including British Airways, Emirates, Air France, South African Airways, Air Austral, Air Seychelles, Turkish Airlines, Keyan Airways, Edelweiss, Austrian Airlines and Mauritiuss flagship carrier Air Mauritius.

Mauritius hospitality industry has recently invested millions of dollars in its hotels, infrastructure and visitor attractions, including refurbishing luxury hotels, spas and wellness centres, to provide holidaymakers and business travellers with the very best in accommodation and amenities.

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Mauritius national airline Air Mauritius is back on a firm financial footing thanks to a Rs12 billion (US$280 million) loan from the Government of the Republic of Mauritius, meaning tour operators and business and leisure travellers are able to book with confidence once again.

The financial boost was announced just days before Mauritius prepares to reopen its borders to international travellers by lifting quarantine restrictions from 1st October.

Air Mauritius is increasing its flight capacity to the Indian Ocean island nation as demands for post-pandemic travel to Mauritius soars. The paradise island is now seeing huge demand from international travellers who are choosing Mauritius for its stunning scenery, safety and security.

Mauritius has implemented one of the most successful Covid responses in the world, with 83 percent of its adult population now double-vaccinated.

By flying direct to Mauritius from around the world, Air Mauritius ensures its passengers have a Covid-secure door-to-door vaccine bubble and a seamless travel experience.

Air Mauritius continued to fly throughout voluntary administration and the Covid-19 pandemic, providing passenger and cargo connectivity to the island. The new loan arrangement was overwhelmingly supported by Air Mauritius creditors.

Ken Arian, CEO of Airports Holdings Limited, the parent company of Air Mauritius said:

This new financial arrangement provides Air Mauritius with the stability to rebuild and play a central role in the governments economic development and tourism plans. It is a vote of confidence in our staff and provides them and our tourism industry with reassurance for the future. Air Mauritius is an iconic global brand and will continue to provide short and long-haul passenger and cargo connectivity to some of our most important global markets.

Passenger and cargo flights will operate between Mauritius and Paris, London, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Antananarivo and Reunion with connecting services available globally. Additional capacity and international routes will be added to meet changing consumer demand. Air Mauritius expects Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Perth to be introduced at a later date. Domestic services to and from Rodrigues will resume in November 2021.

Nilen Vencadasmy, chairman of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority, said the news was great for the Mauritius tourism industry. This means that Mauritius is able to meet the growing demand for flights to our country as well as giving more choice to consumers and more options to tour operators, he said. Im delighted that the future of Air Mauritius has been secured which will benefit so many people in the tourism industry as well as everyone who wants to come and visit our stunning island and discover its many attractions.

As part of the new structure, the network fleet has been consolidated from 15 aircraft to 9 aircraft  4 x A350-900 and 2 x A330-900 NEO wide-bodied fleet. The remaining 3 aircraft are ATR72-500 to service domestic and regional routes. Air Mauritius now has one of the youngest widebody fleets in the world.

Mauritius is reopening its borders to fully vaccinated passengers from October 1 and, as a result, demand for flights is soaring. Confidence is high that the nations vaccination drive  with 83 percent of adults now double-jabbed  will allow visitors to feel safe and secure. Non-vaccinated travellers can visit subject to a 14-day quarantine period.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-30 19:24:43|Editor: huaxia

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File photo taken on March 1, 2021 shows former French President Nicolas Sarkozy arriving at the Paris court house in Paris, France. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to one year in prison for illegally financing his election campaign in 2012, a court in Paris announced on Thursday. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua)

PARIS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to one year in prison for illegally financing his election campaign in 2012, a court in Paris announced on Thursday.

Sarkozy was found guilty of having spent almost twice the legal limit on his reelection bid. He has denied any involvement in the logistics of his campaign, but the court said he "continued the organization of meetings after having been warned in writing of the risk of exceeding the legal ceiling."

This new conviction came seven months after Sarkozy got a three-year prison sentence on charges of corruption and influence peddling in a separate trial.

In that trial, Sarkozy was found guilty of proposing a prestigious job in Monaco to a prosecutor in exchange for tip-offs on an inquiry into allegations that he had exploited the mental frailty of late L'Oreal heiress, Liliane Bettencourt, to enjoy donations in cash to finance his 2007 presidential campaign.

Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, had denied wrongdoing in that case and appealed against the ruling. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-30 21:57:04|Editor: huaxia

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A health worker carries out disinfection in downtown Vientiane, Laos, Sept. 30, 2021. The Lao government on Thursday announced an extension of COVID-19 restrictive measures for a further two weeks to Oct. 15 as cases continued to increase. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)

VIENTIANE, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Lao government on Thursday announced an extension of COVID-19 restrictive measures for a further two weeks as cases continued to increase.

Deputy Head of the Prime Minister's Office Thipphakone Chanthavongsa told a press conference in the Lao capital Vientiane that the government is making every effort to lower the rate of infection and death in the country.

The Lao government also hopes to guide the people in transitioning their lives to the new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The transition to the new normal way of life in Laos must be in accordance with the conditions and situation in the country, with the government taking lessons and advice from friendly nations around the world, and listening to the voice of the Lao people.

The COVID-19 restrictive measures will remain in place until Oct. 15.

Thipphakone warned that individuals, legal entities or organizations that violate measures for the prevention and control of the spread of COVID-19 will be prosecuted in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, depending on the case.

The National Taskforce Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control reported 23 new imported cases and 335 locally transmitted cases. As of Thursday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Laos reached 23,846 with 18 deaths.

Laos detected its first two COVID-19 cases on March 24 last year. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-30 23:23:03|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with foreign experts who have received the Friendship Award in 2020 and 2021, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China, at the Great Hall of People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2021. Vice Premier Han Zheng also attended the event. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China will further expand channels to attract and utilize foreign talent, improve work permit and visa systems, and create more convenient conditions for them to work and live in China, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Thursday.

Li made the remarks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing when meeting with foreign experts who had received the Friendship Award in 2020 and 2021, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China.

He spoke highly of the contributions made by foreign experts in China's reform, opening-up, development, and exchanges between China and foreign countries.

To achieve its development goals, China needs to better leverage the powerful driving force of innovation and the support role of talented people, he said.

"We will keep deepening international cooperation in scientific and technological innovation and integrate into the global innovation network more actively. We will promote international exchanges and cooperation in technology, personnel, and projects, and support scientists around the world to conduct research on mutual challenges," he said.

China will expand its reform and opening-up, continue to optimize the environment for innovation and entrepreneurship, and build a more attractive global innovation center, Li said. China will also continue reform to delegate power, streamline administration, optimize government services, and foster a market-oriented and law-based international business environment.

China will promote fair competition, strictly protect property and intellectual property rights in accordance with the law, and constantly stimulate market vitality and social creativity, he added.

"China's thirst for talent is sincere, and its policy of attracting and respecting talented people is consistent," Li stressed.

The awardees thanked Li and the Chinese government and expressed willingness to continue contributing to China's development.

Vice-Premier Han Zheng, Vice-Premier Liu He, and State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi attended the event.

At the invitation of Li, the foreign experts later attended a reception held to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 00:48:23|Editor: huaxia

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A worker produces a medical mask at Liaoning Shengjingtang Biotechnology Co., Ltd in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, April 14, 2020. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

"During the pandemic, the goods trade has bounced back very fast. Countries like China have supplied the world with important goods, medical equipment and so forth to maintain consumption during the pandemic," said Coleman Nee, a WTO senior economist.

GENEVA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A senior economist at the World Trade Organization (WTO) has told Xinhua that the country has been a growth driver for the world during the COVID-19 crisis, as the global trade watchdog's figures have confirmed the recovery of global trade after the deep shock.

The Geneva-based WTO said in August its global Goods Trade Barometer had hit a record high of 110.4 points, the highest since the indicator was first released in July 2016 and up by more than 20 points year-on-year.

"During the pandemic, the goods trade has bounced back very fast. Countries like China have supplied the world with important goods, medical equipment and so forth to maintain consumption during the pandemic," said Coleman Nee, a WTO senior economist, ahead of China's National Day holiday.

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 24, 2020 shows a cargo ship loaded with containers at Dalian port in northeast China's Liaoning Province. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)

Besides typical goods, China supplied more than 320 billion masks, 3.9 billion protective suits and 5.6 billion nucleic acid testing kits globally, according to Beijing's official figures.

In its March forecast, the WTO said it expected the world merchandise trade volume to increase by eight percent in 2021 after dropping 5.3 percent in 2020. Trade growth would likely slow to four percent in 2022, with the total volume of global trade remaining below the pre-pandemic levels, it said.

However, Nee said that the outlook on services trade remained uncertain. "Services trade has been hit hard, and essentially has not recovered because of the travel restrictions and a number of other things that make it difficult to deliver services face to face."

Nee said that multilateralism was paramount in the runup to the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), which will take place between Nov. 30 and Dec. 3 in Geneva.

"It's important that countries cooperate in all areas of trade and especially on vaccine rollout to guarantee access to poor countries," he stressed.

Workers weld at a workshop of an automobile manufacturing enterprise in Qingzhou City, east China's Shandong Province, Feb. 28, 2021. (Photo by Wang Jilin/Xinhua)

MC12 was originally scheduled for June 2020 in Kazakhstan, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Nee, "China ... has combated COVID-19 effectively, along with other countries. Promoting equitable access to vaccines is something that China and other nations can do to help the global economy get over the pandemic."

China has committed to making COVID-19 vaccines a global public good and promoting vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.

China has provided more than 1.25 billion vaccine doses to more than 100 countries and international organizations and medical supplies to more than 150 countries and 14 international organizations, official figures showed.

In addition to donating 100 million U.S. dollars to the global COVID-19 vaccine program COVAX, China has pledged to donate 100 million additional vaccine doses to other developing countries this year.

"That's probably the biggest single thing that countries can do to put this whole episode behind us," said Nee.

Staff members promote Irish alcohol drinks at the booth of Ireland during the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Wei)
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 01:12:57|Editor: huaxia

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The Communist Party of China and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, attend a reception to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China along with nearly 500 guests from home and abroad in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2021. China's State Council on Thursday held the reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council on Thursday held a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The reception, held a day ahead of the National Day, was attended by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad.

Premier Li Keqiang addressed the reception, while Vice Premier Han Zheng presided over it.

This year marks the centenary of the CPC. Under the leadership of the CPC, China has achieved outstanding development over the past 72 years that has attracted the world's attention, particularly completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and embarking on the new quest to fully build a modern socialist country, Li said.

Noting that this year is the first year in China's 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2015), Li stated that China, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, has coordinated epidemic response with social and economic development, and has effectively responded to the complex and grave international environment, as well as multiple other challenges from COVID-19 and severe floods.

China's economic performance has enjoyed sustained recovery and growth and people's living standards have kept improving, Li said.

"On our way ahead, we still face many difficulties and challenges, and the journey remains long toward realizing the second centenary goal," Li said, stressing that development is the foundation and key to overcoming all challenges.

To foster a new development paradigm and promote high-quality development, efforts should be made to implement regular epidemic prevention and anchor reasonable expectations, with focuses on scientific and technological innovation, expanding domestic demand and rural vitalization, Li noted.

He said reform and opening-up is China's fundamental state policy, which also serves as the key source of momentum for China's future development. He underlined the need to deepen reform across the board and achieve more significant progress on reforms in key areas and sectors.

Li stressed the commitment to reforms oriented toward the socialist market economy and higher-level opening-up on an institutional basis, and called for efforts to create a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment.

A raft of measures should be taken to create more jobs, promote equal opportunities, encourage entrepreneurship and innovation and increase urban and rural personal incomes, Li said.

Li urged efforts to fully and faithfully implement the principles of "one country, two systems," "the people of Hong Kong governing Hong Kong," "the people of Macao governing Macao," and a high degree of autonomy for both regions.

Calling for actions to safeguard sovereignty, security and the development interests of the country, and measures to promote common development and progress of Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland, Li highlighted the need to continuously improve people's wellbeing and ensure long-term stability and prosperity.

He stressed adherence to the overall principles and policies on work related to Taiwan and upholding the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, while promoting the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and advancing national reunification for the benefit of people across the Taiwan Strait.

Li also urged moves to firmly oppose and deter any "Taiwan independence" separatist activities and external interference, calling on people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to make joint efforts to achieve national rejuvenation.

China will step up exchanges and cooperation with other countries to jointly tackle global challenges and promote the recovery and growth of the world economy, Li vowed.

Li closed his speech by calling for rallying more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core and unremitting efforts to build China into a great modern socialist country and realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 03:08:10|Editor: huaxia

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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (C-L) welcomes Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger (C-R) in Athens, Greece, on Sept. 30, 2021. Mitsotakis and Heger called for the acceleration of the Western Balkan countries' European Union (EU) accession process during their meeting here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

ATHENS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his visiting Slovak counterpart Eduard Heger called for the acceleration of the Western Balkan countries' European Union (EU) accession process during their meeting here on Thursday.

"We agreed that the accession process ... must be accelerated in order to prevent the Western Balkans from becoming a hotbed of new problems. The Balkan Peninsula is European, therefore its future passes only through Europe," Mitsotakis said in a joint statement to the press, quoted by the Greek national broadcaster ERT.

The meeting was held ahead of the upcoming EU-Western Balkans summit to be held in Slovenia next week, which according to its agenda will explore ways to strengthen cooperation on political and security matters and help the region's socio-economic recovery in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Security in the wider region, which includes the eastern Mediterranean Sea, is a key precondition to economic growth after the pandemic, Mitsotakis stressed.

The two leaders also discussed the migration crisis in the light of recent developments in Afghanistan and the challenges of climate change.

Slovakia is ready to help Greece by sharing know-how and experience in reforestation, Heger said, expressing solidarity with Greece over this summer's destructive wildfires, which scorched forested areas and farmland.

"We will all benefit if we face the challenges together," he stressed. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 13:57:13|Editor: huaxia

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Photo taken on Sept. 30, 2021 shows a scene of the general debate of the Third Committee of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York. Seventy-eight countries, including China, called on Thursday for speeding up the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) and putting an end to discrimination, racism, and xenophobia. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Seventy-eight countries, including China, called on Thursday for speeding up the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) and putting an end to discrimination, racism, and xenophobia.

The countries expressed deep alarm at racial discrimination, social prejudice, police brutality and social inequality in a joint statement.

Noting that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the DDPA, the statement reaffirmed that "the global fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and all their abhorrent and evolving forms and manifestations should remain a matter of priority for the international community."

"It is the time for all states and all stakeholders to seize the opportunity to take concrete measures to accelerate momentum for the implementation of the DDPA and combat all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance," it said.

Stressing that all human beings are born free, equal in dignity and rights and have the potential to contribute constructively to their societies, the statement said, "Any doctrine of racial superiority is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous, and must be rejected."

However, the scourge of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance still persists all over the world, and countless human beings continue to fall victim to this scourge due to the persistent gaps in implementation of the DDPA, it said.

"Africans and people of African descent, Asians and people of Asian descent and indigenous peoples have long been suffering from systemic racism, racial discrimination and hate crime," the statement said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, "misinformation, disinformation, hate speech and racist remarks made by political and public figures have led to a surge of discrimination and hate crime against Africans and people of African descent and Asians and people of Asian descent, especially women, children and the elders," it noted.

"It is the time for all to make a real and transformative change. We cannot let our future generations continue to suffer from the brutality of racism and racial discrimination," said the statement. Enditem


Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 16:54:33|Editor: huaxia

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The Communist Party of China and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, attend a reception to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China along with nearly 500 guests from home and abroad in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2021. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Amidst fluttering flags and floral decorations on the streets and public squares, the People's Republic of China (PRC) celebrated its 72nd birthday, rejoicing the fruitful achievements of the past year and envisioning a bright future ahead.

The year 2021 marks the centenary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and China has realized the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, with absolute poverty eliminated.

After realizing this first centenary goal, China has embarked on a new journey under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, toward the second centenary goal of fully building a great modern socialist country by the time the PRC turns 100.

A HARD-EARNED VICTORY

On July 1, Xi declared the realization of the first centenary goal when he addressed a gathering in Tian'anmen Square to celebrate the CPC's centenary.

Achieving moderate prosperity, or Xiaokang in Chinese, was an aspiration for a well-off life held by the Chinese people for generations. At the time the PRC turns 72, this has become a reality.

Measured by multiple standards such as the economy, democracy, science and education, culture, society and people's lives, moderate prosperity lays a solid foundation for the world's most populous country to realize national rejuvenation.

The most prominent achievement was the eradication of absolute poverty, a milestone made possible after an unprecedented nationwide war against poverty led by Xi. In the past eight years, the final 98.99 million impoverished rural residents living under the current poverty line had all been lifted out of poverty.

On Feb. 25, Xi announced that China had secured a complete victory in its fight against poverty.

"Today, we are closer, more confident, and more capable than ever before of making the goal of national rejuvenation a reality," Xi said.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers an important speech at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC in Beijing, capital of China, July 1, 2021. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

A NEW JOURNEY

"We have laid a solid material foundation to embark on a new journey and achieve new and higher goals by our unremitting endeavors since the founding of the New China, especially over the four decades since the reform and opening up."

Xi made the remarks when addressing the opening of a study session at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee in early 2021, calling for efforts to ensure a good start for fully building a modern socialist country.

He urged the officials to accurately understand the new development stage, act on the new development philosophy and accelerate the establishment of the new development paradigm to drive high-quality development during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period.

-- Sci-tech innovation

China's 14th Five-Year Plan placed great emphasis on sci-tech self-reliance and self-strengthening.

On June 23, Xi spoke with the three astronauts stationed in Tianhe, the core module of the space station independently built and operated by China.

"The construction of the space station is a milestone in China's space industry, which will make pioneering contributions to the peaceful use of space by humanity," he told the astronauts via a video call.

This year, Xi has inspected several sci-tech companies, where he repeatedly highlighted the importance of self-reliance in the field of high-level sci-tech innovation.

Just days before the National Day, Xi called for efforts to speed up China's upgrade toward a major world center of talent and innovation, saying that never in history has China been in greater need of talented people.

Specifying the objectives for talent-related work, Xi said that by the year 2025, China will have substantially increased its total R&D spending, and boasted a large number of scientists and technologists in strategically important and core technological fields, top-level sci-tech leaders and innovation teams.

-- Rural vitalization

Capitalizing on its victory in eradicating absolute poverty, China is ramping up efforts to propel rural vitalization, which is "a major task in realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," as Xi put it.

The country has been working to foster rural industries, promote the application of agricultural technologies and build beautiful countryside.

In the past year, Xi emphasized promoting rural vitalization in various spots across the country, be it a Tibetan carpet factory in Qinghai, an embroidery workshop of the Miao ethnic group in Guizhou, a tea farm in Fujian or a grape farm in Guangxi.

Rural China has great potential and can play an important role in fostering the country's new development paradigm of "dual circulation," which has a strategic basis on expanding domestic demand, he said, emphasizing that the key to rural vitalization lies in developing industries that suit local conditions and benefit local people.

Xi also attaches great importance to promoting rural living environments to ensure residents in such areas have better access to high-quality services and facilities, with "toilet revolution" pushed further and improving local conditions and rural waste treatment high on agenda.

-- Common prosperity

Common prosperity is an essential requirement of socialism and a key feature of Chinese-style modernization, Xi said, calling for adhering to the people-centered development philosophy and promoting common prosperity while pursuing high-quality development.

Rather than being egalitarian or having only a few people prosperous, common prosperity refers to affluence shared by everyone, both in material and cultural terms, and shall be advanced step by step.

Efforts will be made to properly deal with the relationship between efficiency and fairness, make basic institutional arrangements on income distribution, adjust excessive incomes and prohibit illicit income to promote social fairness and justice, according to the 10th meeting of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs held in August.

-- Green development

One of the key characteristics of China's socialist modernization is human-nature harmony, Xi pointed out.

He has repeatedly underscored the importance of environmental protection in inspection trips and chaired several high-level meetings on advancing ecological civilization this year.

Xi stressed the importance of improving global environmental governance, actively responding to climate change and creating a community of life for man and nature, in his statement delivered via video at the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Xi also reiterated the commitment he made last year that China will strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 17:27:29|Editor: huaxia

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Photo taken on Oct. 1, 2021 shows a reception celebrating the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in Hong Kong, south China. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)

Hong Kong is now in the best position ever since its return to the motherland to leverage its unique advantages under "one country, two systems" in seeking to integrate into the national development and create a bright future, Chief Executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Carrie Lam said.

HONG KONG, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chief Executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam said Friday that Hong Kong has truly got on the right track of "one country, two systems" under the double safeguards of the national security law in Hong Kong and the improved electoral system.

Hong Kong is now in the best position ever since its return to the motherland to leverage its unique advantages under "one country, two systems" in seeking to integrate into the national development and create a bright future, Lam said at a reception celebrating the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

A flag-raising ceremony is held to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Golden Bauhinia Square in Hong Kong, south China, Oct. 1, 2021. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)

Hong Kong has been not only a "participant" in and a "contributor" to the country's reform and opening-up for more than four decades, but also a "beneficiary" in the process, she said.

The investment and business expansion of Hong Kong enterprises in the mainland have contributed to the evolution of Hong Kong into an international financial, commerce and transportation center, as well as expansion in the scope of Hong Kong's professional services, Lam said.

With Hong Kong back to the original aspiration of "one country, two systems," as long as Hong Kong remains steadfast on safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, and on ensuring the principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong," Hong Kong enterprises, businessmen and people will have more opportunities and scope for development in the mainland, Lam said.

Hong Kong's economy will also gain stronger impetus and its young people will enjoy more diversified career opportunities, she said.

Photo taken on July 7, 2021 shows a view of the Hong Kong Island seen from Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong, south China. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

As the Chinese Foreign Ministry recently released a fact sheet on the U.S. interference in Hong Kong affairs, Lam said the document shows that the implementation of the national security law in Hong Kong and the improvement of the electoral system of the HKSAR are indeed necessary.

As to a recent report on Hong Kong's business environment released by the HKSAR government, Lam said that despite smearing and defamatory remarks made by foreign politicians and some Western media, Hong Kong's inherent strengths remain intact.

Looking forward, the country's strong support for Hong Kong in the national 14th Five-Year Plan, the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the new development paradigm of the country, plus the newly unveiled plans on the development of Qianhai and Hengqin, will together create unlimited opportunities for Hong Kong, Lam said.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 21:10:17|Editor: huaxia

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Chancellor candidate of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) Olaf Scholz attends a press conference at the headquarters of SPD in Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 27, 2021. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Chinese Ambassador to Germany Wu Ken said no matter which political coalition governs, China will continue to regard Germany as an important partner and maintain close dialogue and cooperation with the cabinet, parliament and each party.

BERLIN, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- China expects the new German government to continue a proactive and pragmatic policy towards China and jointly promote stable and in-depth ties, Chinese Ambassador to Germany Wu Ken has said.

Germany's federal election came to a close last Sunday and the parties have started exploratory talks to form a new government, marking an end to the era of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Wu said no matter which political coalition governs, China will continue to regard Germany as an important partner and maintain close dialogue and cooperation with the cabinet, parliament and each party.

"Tackling global challenges requires more trust and cooperation in the world, and China and Germany should make joint efforts to this end," Wu said.

The ambassador said Merkel's 16 consecutive years as leader left behind a major political legacy in Germany and the European Union.

During Merkel's tenure, he said, the China-Germany relationship has achieved remarkable development, which has evolved from a "partnership with global responsibility" to a "strategic partnership" to the current "all-round strategic partnership."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, June 24, 2021. (European Union/Handout via Xinhua)

Wu said the progress is the result of joint efforts of both sides, inseparable from Merkel's proactive and pragmatic policy of cooperation with China.

"The most prominent impression that Chancellor Merkel gave me is that she is willing to know and understand China with an open mind," Wu said. "She lacked understanding of China at first. Unlike a few other European politicians, she did not stick to political prejudice," he added.

The deeper Merkel understands China, the more objective and comprehensive her views on China become, the ambassador said, and her policy on China has been more rational and pragmatic.

Wu called Merkel "a politician who has a long-term strategic vision and values dialogue and exchanges."

A staff member walks past an entrance of the headquarters of German Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Berlin, capital of Germany, on Sept. 25, 2021. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)

Wu said that some media, think tanks and politicians have deliberately sought to strain China's ties with Europe, including Germany.

Wu noted the fundamentals of bilateral relations are generally stable and win-win cooperation remains at the core of the China-Germany relationship.

"Although there are voices of one kind or another, the pace of China-Germany cooperation has not slowed down, and the bilateral economic and trade volume has repeatedly hit new highs, which fully reflects the resilience and potential of cooperation," Wu said.

He noted that China and Germany are two of the world's major economies and countries of profound influence. Both share a common interest in promoting a global economic recovery, safeguarding free trade and coping with challenges such as climate change. 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 22:36:40|Editor: huaxia

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-- Under the banner of "Build a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind -- Innovation & Opportunity," the China Pavilion gives center stage to the country's latest achievements.

-- China is ready to enhance exchanges and cooperation with other countries to seize the opportunities for innovation-driven development and actively promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

-- The domestically developed technology of China has not only served the Chinese people, but has also been applied in such areas as land mapping, precision agriculture and smart ports in regions including Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa.





by Xinhua writer Wang Jian

DUBAI, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Departing from Beijing, passing through Shanghai, then traveling all the way to Abu Dhabi before arriving at Dubai ... visitors of different nationalities take turns to enjoy a "test drive" in China's high-speed train for a dreamlike virtual trip.

The railway simulator, featuring a model of the locomotive and cockpit of China's Fuxing bullet train, a notable feat of the country's railway technological innovation, is one of the dazzling displays inside the lantern-shaped China Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai, which opened its doors on Friday.

Under the banner of "Build a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind -- Innovation & Opportunity," the China Pavilion gives center stage to the country's latest achievements in such fields as space exploration, information technology, and artificial intelligence (AI), offering a futuristic vision for the better life of human beings.

Photo taken on Oct. 1, 2021 shows the opening ceremony of the China Pavilion of Expo 2020 Dubai in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.(Xinhua/Su Xiaopo)

In a video message for the China Pavilion, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday wished the expo a "full success," saying that China is ready to enhance exchanges and cooperation with other countries to seize the opportunities for innovation-driven development and actively promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.





A POPULAR PAVILION

After an opening ceremony in the morning, the red-and-golden China Pavilion opened to welcome visitors who had been eagerly lining up in front of the gate.

Youssef Allam, an Egyptian boy, had been waiting patiently outside the pavilion with his family long before the doors opened. "This is the first pavilion I need to visit," said the 9-year-old who lives in Dubai.

"I watched some Youtube clips and got to know that there are a lot of cool exhibits about technology here," he said.

His father Hussein Allam said China is such an important country contributing greatly to the world in terms of economy and technology that the China Pavilion is a must-visit destination.

Dennis Ng, who is from China's Hong Kong and now works in Dubai, arrived at the China Pavilion with his wife and three sons right after entering the expo site.

"Today is our National Day, so it is especially meaningful for us to bring the kids to see the China Pavilion," he said.

China's National Day falls on Oct. 1 every year, coinciding with the opening of the expo this year.





FROM PAST TO FUTURE

"I was attracted to the China Pavilion by the architecture because it is so beautiful outside," said 14-year-old Andora Dyerramberg, who is originally from Norway and living in the United States.

The exhibition in the pavilion proves that China is a very innovative country, she said. "The light in the space exploration area is great, and it was a fun experience 'driving' the bullet train."

Covering an area of 4,636 square meters, the China Pavilion was designed with inspiration drawn from the traditional Chinese lantern, symbolizing hope, light and gathering.

In contrast to the appearance of the pavilion which was designed to reflect culture and traditions, the exhibits inside focus on innovation and technology, shedding light on a rapidly developing China.

The space exploration area introduces the audience to some major achievements such as the Chang'e-5 probe, which has successfully brought home lunar samples, and the Chang'e-4 probe that is still performing its task on the far side of the moon.

A hall with circular screens simulating a scene from outer space attracted many visitors to linger. It is an exhibition about China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System.

The domestically developed technology of China has not only served the Chinese people, but has also been applied in such areas as land mapping, precision agriculture and smart ports in regions including Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa.

A friendly panda robot is a superstar at the pavilion. Surrounded by curious visitors, the black and white creature "Youyou" introduced itself, pulled off some tai-chi moves and wielded a calligraphy pen with a flourish, attracting many visitors to take photos with it.

This robot was developed by Shenzhen-based AI and humanoid robotic company UBTECH Robotics. Michael Tam, chief brand officer of the company, said the company's intelligent thermal detection robots have provided anti-epidemic robots services in 15 countries.

Photo taken on Sept. 29, 2021 shows a tour guide robot at the China Pavilion of Expo 2020 Dubai in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.(Xinhua/Yan Jing)

A fancy car presented by the Shanghai-based SAIC Motor is also eye-catching. The concept car named "Kun" integrates bio-intelligence interaction, photosynthetic energy, zero-gravity seats, holographic image interaction and advanced autonomous driving technologies, according to the company.

"Technology is the most impressive part of this pavilion. We were prepared for that, since we knew that China had achieved a lot in technology," said Waty Luc, who had traveled all the way from France with his wife and daughter to see the expo.

After being delayed by COVID-19 for a year, the Expo 2020 Dubai has been a much-awaited event to bring the world together.

China is willing to share its ideas and achievements with the world by participating in the World Expo, said Zhang Shenfeng, commissioner general of the China Pavilion and vice chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

The China Pavilion aims to demonstrate China's contribution to the world in terms of science and technology as well as the country's willingness to share these fruits with the world, said Zhang.

The pavilion embodies the goals of Expo 2020 Dubai, which are to connect minds, become more unified, and create a better future, said Dimitri Kerkentzes, secretary general of the Bureau International des Expositions, at the China Pavilion's opening ceremony.

China's participation in the Expo demonstrates its commitment and actions for global dialogue and cooperation around the future of people and the planet, he said.

(Xinhua reporters Su Xiaopo in Dubai, and Yan Jing in Cairo and Xu Xiaoqing in Shanghai also contributed to the story.) (Video reporters: Wang Jian, Su Xiaopo, Yan Jing, Yu Fuqing; video editor: Peng Ying)
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 23:42:24|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging and the global economy struggling, the international landscape is undergoing profound changes, and humanity has now reached a new crossroad.

"It falls on each and every responsible statesman to answer the questions of our times and make a historical choice with confidence, courage and a sense of mission," said Chinese President Xi Jinping at the general debate of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) delivered via video on Sept. 21.

As the leader of the world's largest developing country and second-largest economy, Xi has over the last month put forward a series of new proposals on how the world should overcome difficulties and build a better future together.

RESPONSIBILITY AS A MAJOR COUNTRY

"China is always a builder of world peace, contributor to global development, defender of the international order and provider of public goods," said Xi in the UNGA statement.

The addition of the fourth dimension to China's global role comes as the country is providing the world with more public goods. The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi, has become the most popular public good in the world, and China has been championing efforts to make COVID-19 vaccines a global public good.

On the globally significant China-U.S. ties, Xi said that whether the two countries can handle their relationship well is a question of the century to which they must provide a good answer.

Getting the relationship right is not optional, but something we must do and must do well, Xi said in a phone conversation with his U.S. counterpart, Joseph R. Biden, on Sept. 10.

Noting that in all countries, people long for peace and development more than ever before, their call for equity and justice is growing stronger, and they are more determined in pursuing win-win cooperation, Xi pointed out that practicing true multilateralism is the need of the times.

On various multilateral platforms, including the United Nations, BRICS, the Eastern Economic Forum and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Xi's consistent call for true multilateralism has charted a course for improving global governance.

"I am convinced that the trend of peace, development and advancement for humanity is irresistible," Xi said.

GLOBAL COOPERATION ON DEVELOPMENT

Development holds the key to people's well-being and is a permanent pursuit of humankind.

At the current critical juncture in global development, Xi, in his UNGA statement, proposed a Global Development Initiative, which has outlined a blueprint for global development and cooperation.

The initiative calls for staying committed to development as a priority, to a people-centered approach, to benefits for all, to innovation-driven development, to harmony between man and nature and to results-oriented actions.

From the Juncao technology that is benefiting more and more foreign communities, to the successful hosting of international trade fairs, and to the steady progress in Belt and Road cooperation, China's development-oriented solutions to global challenges have been bearing rich fruit.

On achieving sustainable development and harmony between man and nature, Xi announced that China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy, and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad.

Delivering a speech at the 13th BRICS summit via video link on Sept. 9, Xi called on BRICS countries to "further enhance the quality of practical cooperation," and made five proposals on how to do that.

China will take over the chair of BRICS and host the 14th BRICS summit next year. Countries around the world are looking forward to hearing more voices from China.

SHARED FUTURE FOR MANKIND

Xi has long been calling for the building of a community with a shared future, and the vision has been further enriched over the past month.

Addressing the 21st Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO via video link on Sept. 17, Xi put forward five proposals on building "a closer SCO community with a shared future."

Since the landmark SCO Qingdao Summit in 2018, Xi has gradually fleshed out his vision on SCO cooperation, inspiring the group to grow into a model in the building of a new type of international relations and a contributor to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

On China-Latin America ties, Xi said in a video speech delivered on Sept. 18 to the 6th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States that China-Latin America relations have entered a new era featuring equality, mutual benefit, innovation, openness and tangible benefits for the people.

China, he said, is willing to work with Latin American and Caribbean countries to overcome difficulties together and jointly create opportunities to build a community of shared future between China and Latin America.

In his UNGA statement, Xi also called for building "a global community of development with a shared future," urging the international community to increase input in development, advance on a priority basis cooperation on poverty alleviation, food security, COVID-19 response and vaccines, development financing, climate change and green development, industrialization, digital economy and connectivity, among other areas, and accelerate implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

"Let us bolster confidence and jointly address global threats and challenges, and work together to build a community with a shared future for mankind and a better world for all," Xi said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-02 00:05:17|Editor: huaxia

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A national flag-raising ceremony to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China is held at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 1, 2021. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

BEIJING, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China was celebrated Friday across the country that has achieved the realization of moderate prosperity in all respects.

Attending flag-raising ceremonies, paying tribute to the motherland's epic journey from hardship to prosperity, or simply enjoying leisure with family members and friends, Chinese people kicked off a week-long holiday with epidemic control measures in place and consumption in full swing.

Some 130,000 people gathered in Tian'anmen Square in central Beijing on Friday morning for a grand national flag-raising ceremony.

In the center of the square stands an 18-meter-tall flower basket, a major feature of the recently installed floral displays in downtown Beijing to mark the special day.

Zhang Dapeng and his schoolmates from Beijing Normal University arrived at the square on Thursday evening in order not to miss the ceremony filled with jubilation and excitement.

"Watching the national flag raised right here on this special day means so much to me," Zhang said. "I want to extend my best wishes to our motherland, and I wish to make my share of contributions to our country's greater future."

In south China's Zhuhai City, the ongoing 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition opened to the general public starting Friday.

Visitors at the Zhuhai International Air Show Center were amazed by the collection of complex items on display as well as a nearly three-hour air show on Friday. Over 120,000 tickets for the three-day open house sold out, according to the organizers.

"I saw lunar soil (brought back by China's Chang'e-5 probe) and a model of the Mars rover Zhurong, and various types of advanced aircraft," a visitor said with excitement, adding that he is proud of China's achievements in aviation and aerospace sectors through decades of technological development.

Tens of thousands of moviegoers across the country on Friday chose to watch the highly anticipated war film "The Battle at Lake Changjin," which was released the day prior.

Set during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953), the film tells the story of Chinese People's Volunteers soldiers fighting bravely in freezing temperatures in a key campaign at Lake Changjin, or Chosin Reservoir.

Yang Yongjun, a 62-year-old retired teacher in Kunming, Yunnan Province, and his wife were among the audience.

Yang said he has a deep reverence for revolutionary heroes, and that watching the film on National Day, one day after Martyrs' Day, has a special meaning for him.

"The film is well made and touching. I simply couldn't hold my tears back when seeing our soldiers freezing to death," he said.

"Without the sacrifice of numerous war heroes, our happy life won't be possible. Every Chinese should remember the history and treasure what we have got," he said. 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 09:18:39|Editor: huaxia

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TRIPOLI, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Thursday that 91 illegal migrants were rescued off Libya's western coast.

According to a UNHCR statement, 91 persons, many from Ethiopia and Eritrea, were brought to Tripoli on Wednesday night after spending two days at sea on a rubber boat, with few supplies.

"Survivors included 12 women and four children," the statement said, adding that the UNHCR, and its medical partner, International Rescue Committee, had provided relief items and medical aids.

The UN agency also called for increasing safe and legal pathways from Libya for people in need of protection.

So far in 2021, more than 25,285 illegal migrants, including women and children, have been rescued, while hundreds others died and went missing off the Libyan coast on the Central Mediterranean route, according to the International Organization for Migration.

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| 2021-10-01 16:22:48|Editor: huaxia

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MBANZA KONGO, Angola, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is assisting Angola in transforming agriculture in the country, FAO representative in Angola, Gherda Barreto said here Thursday.

The FAO official was speaking in Mbanza Kongo city, Zaire province, at the closing session of a training program for 50 cooperatives under a national initiative.

In partnership with the country's Ministry of Economy and Planning, the FAO is assisting in training producers in good production practices, enabling the transition from subsistence to commercial agriculture in order to raise living standards among farmers.

"Agriculture is an activity open to everyone and that helps rural and local development," Barreto said.

Angola's Ministry of Economy and Planning, in partnership with the FAO, has launched an initiative called Agro Prodesi to bolster agribusiness and technological innovation in prioritized value chains.

Valued at 1 million U.S. dollars, Agro Prodesi benefits 600 economic agents across the country's 18 provinces, while in Zaire it involves 50 agricultural cooperatives working in the cassava, banana and citrus value chains, according to the ministry. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 19:27:39|Editor: huaxia

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ABUJA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's apex bank has said it is postponing the proposed launch of the country's digital currency, e-Naira, to an unspecified date.

In a statement late Thursday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the delay was due to other activities lined up to commemorate the west African country's 61st independence anniversary on Oct. 1.

The delay will allow the CBN and its partners to ensure a seamless process that would be in the overall interest of customers, especially the unbanked population, the statement said.

Local financial analysts had earlier cautioned the CBN to be circumspect about the new innovation, and not to be in a haste to launch the digital currency, while carrying out adequate sensitization of the citizens ahead of the proposed launch.

According to the apex bank, with the digital currency, Nigerians would be able to carry out peer-to-peer transfers through the e-Naira wallet, as well as pay for goods and services at selected merchants.

This would also help to reduce the use of cash and ensure the stability of the Nigerian economy, said the apex bank.

In late September, CBN's e-Naira website was test-run ahead of the earlier proposed official launch. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 20:18:22|Editor: huaxia

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ABUJA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said he had directed that the ban of Twitter's operations in the country be lifted, but only if the California-based microblogging giant meets certain conditions given by the government.

In an Independence Day broadcast to mark Nigeria's 61st independence anniversary, Buhari said his administration took the decision to allow Nigerian citizens to continue the use of the platform for business and positive engagements after Twitter reached out to the government to resolve the impasse.

The Nigerian and Twitter representatives have met to address a number of key issues bordering on national security and cohesion, Twitter's registration, physical presence, and representation in Nigeria; fair taxation, dispute resolution, and local content, the president said.

"Following the extensive engagements, the issues are being addressed and I have directed that the suspension be lifted but only if the conditions are met," Buhari said, explaining the government suspended the operations of Twitter in Nigeria on June 5, to allow the government to put measures in place to address identified negative trends allegedly exhibited by the social media platform.

The Nigerian leader said the government has developed some policies to enable citizens to take advantage of the prospects and avoid the perils of digital technologies.

"As a country, we are committed to ensuring that digital companies use their platform to enhance the lives of our citizens, respect Nigeria's sovereignty, cultural values and promote online safety," he added. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 20:59:20|Editor: huaxia

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ABUJA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday called on the global community to accelerate an equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines as a way of supporting one another to fight the pandemic.

"I will take this opportunity to remind the global community that the current state of access to COVID-19 vaccines is unacceptable. We cannot afford a situation where a handful of countries keep the global vaccine supply to themselves at the expense of other nations," Buhari said during a national broadcast to mark Nigeria's 61st independence anniversary.

"We must act now to accelerate the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines," the Nigerian leader said, noting he had earlier conveyed the message to the international community in New York last week, during a debate at the United Nations General Assembly.

Some 5 million vaccine doses have been administered to Nigerians through efforts led by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, he said, adding the country is willing to continue to explore options for purchase or acquisition of vaccines such as through the COVAX Facility and the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust.

Buhari said as Nigeria has continued the push to source vaccines for immediate needs, the country is willing to invest more to support local pharmaceutical and research agencies to come up with ideas for locally developed vaccines.

"Accordingly, I have directed the Ministries of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Health, Education and Science and Technology to work with Nigerian and international pharmaceutical companies and research organizations to enhance Nigeria's domestic pharmaceutical capacity," he said.

He said the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority is raising a 200 million U.S. dollars fund for this initiative, as well as the development of vaccines and drugs to combat communicable and non-communicable diseases, including COVID-19.

Nigeria has an ambitious goal of vaccinating at least 40 percent of its population by the end of this year, and 70 percent by the end of 2022. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-02 05:02:16|Editor: huaxia

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RABAT, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Morocco will start administering booster COVID-19 vaccine shots in the coming days, as part of the national immunization campaign, the Ministry of Health announced Friday.

The ministry said in a statement that following the recommendations of the Moroccan scientific committee, the third booster jabs will be administered as part of the national vaccination campaign, urging all Moroccans and foreigners residing in Morocco to join this operation.

The North African country launched a nationwide vaccination campaign on Jan. 28 after the arrival of the first shipment of China's Sinopharm vaccines.

As of Friday, 22,719,086 people have received the first vaccine shots against COVID-19 in the country, and 19,197,916 people have received two doses.

Morocco reported on Friday 936 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total infections in the country to 934,007.

The death toll rose by 23 to 14,290, while 835 people are in intensive care units. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 10:15:09|Editor: huaxia

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BERLIN, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Afghanistan mission of Germany and the West under the leadership of the United Nations showed that democracy and the rule of law could not simply be exported mechanically, Rudolf Scharping, Germany's former defense minister, has said.

The idea that democracy could be exported to other countries like Afghanistan was naive, Scharping wrote in an essay for the newspaper Berliner Zeitung published recently, noting democracy and the rule of law were "never static, but dynamic processual developments."

The only way to help the people in Afghanistan is through dialogue with those in power in the country, Scharping said, adding the dialogues must be conducted jointly with Russia and China, as well as all regional powers around Afghanistan.

The different levels of development, cultural traditions and social and political history of a country had to be kept in mind, Scharping continued, adding that it will be better to "agree on all basic human rights and make them the benchmark of political action."

"Much would be gained if we in Germany and Europe could reach agreement on the theory and practice of a value-based and realistic foreign and security policy," Scharping noted. "We are not the world's chief teachers." Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 20:05:23|Editor: huaxia

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BERLIN, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- China expects the new German government to continue a proactive and pragmatic policy towards China and jointly promote stable and in-depth ties, Chinese Ambassador to Germany Wu Ken has said.

Germany's federal election came to a close last Sunday and the parties have started exploratory talks to form a new government, marking an end to the era of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Wu said no matter which political coalition governs, China will continue to regard Germany as an important partner and maintain close dialogue and cooperation with the cabinet, parliament and each party.

"Tackling global challenges requires more trust and cooperation in the world, and China and Germany should make joint efforts to this end," Wu said.

The ambassador said Merkel's 16 consecutive years as leader left behind a major political legacy in Germany and the European Union.

During Merkel's tenure, he said, the China-Germany relationship has achieved remarkable development, which has evolved from a "partnership with global responsibility" to a "strategic partnership" to the current "all-round strategic partnership."

Wu said the progress is the result of joint efforts of both sides, inseparable from Merkel's proactive and pragmatic policy of cooperation with China.

"The most prominent impression that Chancellor Merkel gave me is that she is willing to know and understand China with an open mind," Wu said. "She lacked understanding of China at first. Unlike a few other European politicians, she did not stick to political prejudice," he added.

The deeper Merkel understands China, the more objective and comprehensive her views on China become, the ambassador said, and her policy on China has been more rational and pragmatic.

Wu called Merkel "a politician who has a long-term strategic vision and values dialogue and exchanges."

Wu said that some media, think tanks and politicians have deliberately sought to strain China's ties with Europe, including Germany.

Wu noted the fundamentals of bilateral relations are generally stable and win-win cooperation remains at the core of the China-Germany relationship.

"Although there are voices of one kind or another, the pace of China-Germany cooperation has not slowed down, and the bilateral economic and trade volume has repeatedly hit new highs, which fully reflects the resilience and potential of cooperation," Wu said.

He noted that China and Germany are two of the world's major economies and countries of profound influence. Both share a common interest in promoting a global economic recovery, safeguarding free trade and coping with challenges such as climate change. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 14:22:05|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- A possible debt default of the U.S. government, if its debt ceiling remains unchanged, will lead to a series of consequences and a global crisis finally, warned a news analysis carried by CNN Wednesday.

"The United States is heading for a cliff -- and taking the world with it," the article said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that U.S. lawmakers have until Oct. 18 to raise or suspend the debt limit before the country is expected to default on the national debt.

If the U.S. government defaults, the article said, it will fail to pay interest on its debts, leading to a rise in the rates it pays to borrow money, which means that mortgages, car loans and credit card bills will go up, and "millions of Americans would probably lose their jobs and the slowing pandemic recovery would crash."

Military salaries, government retirement payments and other benefits will also dry up, it said.

"Since the stability of U.S. debt is the bedrock of the global economy, a default by Washington could plunge the rest of the world into crisis," the article wrote.

On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a short-term funding bill after Congress passed the measure, averting a partial government shutdown that was set to begin midnight. With the stopgap funding bill approved, Democrats will need to act quickly in the coming days on the debt limit.

The debt limit, commonly called the debt ceiling, is the total amount of money that the U.S. government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including social security and medicare benefits, interest on the national debt, and other payments. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 16:55:44|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. solar developers complained that greater tariffs could derail the Biden administration's green-energy goals and lead to large layoffs among U.S. panel installers, according to an article published by the Washington Post Monday.

Fearing that the Commerce Department could impose greater tariffs, some Chinese solar-panel manufacturers have stopped sending panels to the United States, solar-energy developers and installers said at a briefing organized by the Solar Energy Industries Association, adding that they have already delayed projects because of the lack of inventory.

Some panel manufacturers "have already stopped shipping," said Markus Wilhelm, chief executive of Strata Clean Energy. "We are not able to get any obligations going forward for any of the projects that we have already under construction." Enditem
Government will prioritise investment in infrastructural development and provision of systems and materials required to accommodate the expansion of the countrys surgical care workforce to address the shortage of specialist doctors and improve access to timely care by the people, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has said.

Speaking during the graduation ceremony of the College of Anaesthesiologists of East, Central and Southern Africa (CANESCA), the Vice President, who is also the Minister of Health and Child Care said a significant number of people lacked access to safe, timely, affordable surgical care and this caused immense suffering. A total of 12 Anaesthetists from Zimbabwe and another 19 from other countries within the East, Central and Southern Africa region graduated after a four year rigorous fellowship programme.

The graduation ceremony marks a milestone achievement in our health professionals human capital development. Indeed, a well trained workforce is a key enabler in the attainment of an empowered upper middle income economy by 2030.

In that regard, my Ministry is determined to accelerate attainment of universal access to affordable quality health care services. To this end, our health system requires the right numbers, quality and correct mix of loyal, dedicated as well as competent health workers, he said.

Conditions requiring surgical care cause 17 million deaths (one in three deaths) per year worldwide.

VP Chiwenga reiterated the importance of ensuring the availability of adequate human resources, not only in the health services but in all sectors of the society.

He said the establishment of regional training institutions to address the shortages of health professionals, especially specialist doctors, was a step towards the attainment of universal health care for all.

Pursuant to attaining this goal, the region established the college of Anaesthesiologists of East, Central, and Southern Africa (CANESCA) to accelerate surgical specialist training. I am grateful that Zimbabwe is leading in this training and confident that all of you graduating today are going to ensure that Zimbabweans are assured of access to quality anaesthetic care. I call upon other professionals to participate in these regional training programmes. These training arrangements can be regarded as a big virtual specialist hospital as they allow peer to peer learning and ensure an organised, efficient exchange and movement of specialists across the east, central and southern region, he said.

He said the Government was working tirelessly to address the challenges being faced by health workers with the view to putting in place decent working conditions and making tools of trade available.

Let me remind you, dear graduands that you have a huge task to provide quality services and to monitor your juniors. My Ministry will ensure that you are fully integrated and supported in your work. So far, the Ministry has conducted a comprehensive assessment of surgical services in Zimbabwe and a team is expediting development of the National Surgical, Obstetric and Anaesthesia strategic plan, he said.

The graduands said although the journey had been long and difficult, they were excited to use the knowledge they had acquired to save the lives of Zimbabweans across the country.

It took us four years to finish training after which we sat for an examination and we are happy that we all passed and we now have a qualification. We are ready to face the challenges and deliver quality health services to our nation in all the provinces and districts, said Dr Tafadzwanashe Magodora. Herald
A LEAKED audio between the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana and MDC Alliance secretary for elections Ian Makone has shown that the commission had been running stakeholder consultations since January this year without inviting Nelson Chamisas party.

Early this week, Zec spokesperson Joyce Kazembe admitted that Chamisas MDC Alliance was not invited to a Harare provincial stakeholder engagement meeting because the name of the party was under contention.

But 48 hours later, Silaigwana issued a statement contradicting his boss, claiming no political party had been excluded from the consultations, exposing the deliberate lack of co-ordination within the commission.

In the leaked audio, Silaigwana struggled to explain that he had invited the MDC Alliance to the engagement meetings.

He accused the MDC Alliance of wanting to control the independent electoral body.

We seek not to control, please hear me right, but we seek to be notified, Makone could be heard saying.

Silaigwana retorted: We cherish our independence, Mr Makone, and our independence and our obligation to consult stakeholders. It does not mean that we need to be controlled, no!

Makone said he agreed with Silaigwana that the commission should be independent, but where stakeholders were being invited, the information should be generally shared so that everyone knew what would be happening, claiming he called because he lacked the information.

Aaa aaa, Mr Makone, this is not the first time we are consulting. We started at the beginning of the year, at the beginning of the year. We had been consulting and we had stakeholder meetings, we had meetings with the media, Parliament, etc, Silaigwana said.

To which Makone said he had written to Silaigwana asking about the consultations and no satisfactory answer was given to him.

Silaigwana said the commission could not consult parties on individual capacity, to which Makone said he never made such a request, insisting he said stakeholders.

We started meeting political parties at Parliament, which I am sure your political party is also part of. We met in Chinhoyi, we met in Darwendale, we met each other and this is a continuation of the stakeholder engagements, Silaigwana said.

Makone said his party had never been invited to all the meetings Silaigwana claimed to have convened.

You invited political parties in Parliament, and I dont know who was representing the MDC Alliance in those discussions, Makone said.

In his statement released yesterday, Silaigwana claimed he invited all political parties, including civic organisations to the meetings.

However, election watchdog Election Resource Centre (ERC), which had been agitating for electoral reforms, denied being invited to the meetings.

As Election Resource Centre, we have not received an invitation to the stakeholders meeting. We hear that Zec is inviting stakeholders on a rotational basis and we are not sure what criteria were used to not include us among the invited stakeholders, ERC board chairperson Trust Maanda.

Our calls for legal, election management and administration reforms are well documented. We advocate for reforms in many areas, including but not limited to: access to the media which should be equal, and enhancement the role of Zec in monitoring adherence to this principle, adherence to the constitutional requirement for the security services sector and traditional leaders to be nonpartisan, removal of any laws that hinder freedom of association and other constitutional means of expression and clear dispute resolution mechanisms at all the stages of the electoral cycle.

Silaigwana, however, said: The commission will ensure that all stakeholders get an opportunity to be invited at the round table, whose purpose is to share information and discuss topical electoral issues.

It is the commissions mandate to interact with all its stakeholders in an impartial manner.

All political parties and other stakeholders, including civil society organisations, will be invited to attend the provincial stakeholders engagements on a rotational basis once every month.

Contrary to some Press reports, no political party has been barred from attending these meetings, which are currently in progress throughout the country.

On Wednesday, Kazembe confirmed to NewsDay that the MDC Alliance was not invited to the critical meeting because of the ongoing fights over the party name.

We did not extend our invitation to MDC Alliance to be part of a stakeholder meeting because the matter regarding the name MDC Alliance is still before the courts, Kazembe said then.

Now we dont know who MDC Alliance is before the courts final judgment, hence we could not invite MDC Alliance. We cant acknowledge it until the court judgment. As it stands, we await the court judgment to be able to work with MDC Alliance, just like other political parties in Zimbabwe.

An internal memo also exposed that Zec was taking orders from powers that be in rebuffing the Chamisa-led party. Newsday
THE ruling Zanu PF party has reportedly ordered intellectuals and the academia from the countrys State universities to come up with a document that will form the basis of President Emmerson Mnangagwas political and economic transformation agenda.

Zanu PFs Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology is behind the programme and has written to the countrys State universities, that include the Midlands State University, National University of Science and Technology, as well as Lupane State University, among others, demanding presentations on the project.

Chitepo School director Munyaradzi Machacha said the move was only an academic debate on the ideology of the country and would invite intellectuals and the academia.

We are initiating debate on what best describes the ideology of the country, so we are inviting papers on how intellectuals and academia interpret areas of interest, programmes, utterances associated with the new dispensation policy. Basically, it is an academic debate, Machacha told NewsDay Weekender yesterday.

In a leaked letter from the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology, universities were tasked to debate on the ideology of the second republic as a means for, among other things, fostering political transformation in the country.

The objective of this symposium is to initiate debate on the ideology of the second republic in Zimbabwe as a tool for political, social, cultural and economic transformation, the letter addressed to all universities and colleges read in part.

Papers that will be presented are also expected to uncover the foundation of the current ideological thinking and the development of its trajectory.

According to the letter, all State universities will be asked to present a paper for not more than 20 minutes. The paper will be shared online to all participants.

The second session will involve discussions and adoption of a common understanding on what best describes the ideological thinking and trajectory of the second republic.

The symposium will run under the theme Unpacking the Second Republics Ideological Thought and Direction.

Machacha said the symposium was on the ideological standpoint of Zimbabwe under Mnangagwa.

Critical issues on the ideology of the second republic under the leadership of HE President Mnangagwa will be unpacked and discussed. His Excellencys vision as a tool for political, social, cultural and economic transformation of Zimbabwe will also be presented in the research and panel discussions.

Observers said the action was a reflection of abuse of State institutions to aid Zanu PF and Mnangagwas campaign programmes.

Mnangagwas critics, who include exiled former Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo, have been accusing the Zanu PF leader of lacking an ideological standpoint that goes beyond the slogan ED Pfee.

Moyo claims, unlike the late former President Robert Mugabe whose ideology was clear, Mnangagwa is a chameleon, and lacks vision, ideology and a campaign strategy, except using the military to force people to vote for him.

Zanu PF has also resolved to have civil servants to undergo the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology programmes while the institution has also forced local authorities and traditional leaders, among others, to attend the partys indoctrination classes. Newsday
THE case of a Chinese Mining Company which recently told Uzumba villagers that they did not own title deeds to their land has taken a new twist after it emerged that it actually does not have an environmental impact assessment (EIA) certificate.

Heijin recently pegged a whole village in Uzumba to extract black granite in the area, but is facing resistance from villagers. Eighty-nine households fall within the pegged area, which is approximately 300ha.

The villagers, led by Love Kaseke, approached the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) seeking assistance to stop the company from evicting them.

The lawyers then demanded that the Mashonaland East mines commissioner produces both a prospecting licence and EIA certificate for the villagers to ascertain whether the company followed the necessary procedures.

In a letter dated September 10, signed by the Environmental Management Agency (Ema) provincial boss Juliet Mavu and addressed to ZLHR, which was gleaned by NewsDay, it was revealed that Heijin did not have an EIA certificate.

Reference is made to your letter dated September 2, 2021, which concerns the above matter. Please be advised the agency received a prospectus for the proposed Kaseke and Chibvi 2 black granite mining, cutting and polishing plant in UMP [Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe] district on June 29, 2021, from Heijin mining company.

The Environmental Impact Assessment report is yet to be submitted to Ema for the intended project and, therefore, no EIA certificate has been issued yet, the letter read.

A high-powered government delegation, including government ministers, recently visited the area to resolve the impasse between the locals and the company.

But the ZLHR wrote back saying: We wish to draw your attention to the fact that in terms of section 97 of the Environmental Management Act, as read with section 7 paragraph (a) of the First Schedule to the Environmental Management Act, mineral prospecting, which includes pegging, cannot be conducted unless the Environmental Management Agency has issued a certificate approving the same, wrote ZLHR. Newsday
BLACKGATE investments, a firm that last week lost the disputed Ran Gold Mines near Bindura, has mounted fresh attempts to reclaim the asset, submitting explosive dossiers to anti-corruption agencies alleging mass corruption, racketeering and bribery at the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development.

The dossiers, which were submitted to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) and the Special Anti  Corruption Unit (Sacu), raised previous concerns that Mines ministry officials set in the vortex of problems dogging the administration and allocation of minerals claims across the country.

Presidential spokesperson, George Charamba told businessdigest three weeks ago that the presidency was also concerned by rising cases of disputes over goldfields.

Mines minister, Winston Chitando ruled last week that the gold mine at the heart of confrontations between mining executive Jack Murehwas G&P Industries and Ran Mines and businesswoman, Angeline Munyezas Blackgate Investments belonged to the Murehwa consortium.

But Munyeza, leaving no stone unturned in the battle in which she claims is replete with political muscle flexing, took the case to Zacc after approaching SACU in December.

She said a total clean-up was long overdue to rid the ministry of selfish self-interest which could be underpinning massive looting of Zimbabwes minerals.

The anomalies and irregularities . . . which we strongly allege the ministry is perpetuating along with other interested parties include bribery, collusion, racketeering and an appalling reluctance to uphold the constitutional processes of both the ministry and country, she said in the dossier addressed to Zacc boss Loyce Matanda-Moyo.

We are being prejudiced from what is rightfully ours and we can evidently assume that we are victims of an invisible hand of a corrupt, nefarious and collusion scheming with the sole objective of looting and plundering the mineral resource of this country recklessly. We ardently believe that this web of racketeering characterised by abuse of power, bribe taking and pure malice has been perpetuated by ministry officials, private individuals and politicians who have nothing but selfish interest, thus it has to be busted and exposed . . . through those evidence anchored revelations . . . the blatant acts of corruption and irregularities, Munyeza said.

businessdigest understands that Zacc has allocated the dossier to investigators to strike the bottom of corruption claims by Blackgate.

However, Charamba said the Presidents Office was yet to receive the SACU dossier.

Munyeza said Chitando should have sought opinion of the attorney generals office.

Blackagate, she said, was disturbed because Chitando had disregarded the findings of a mining commissioner, who had previously said the claims belonged to the company.

Chitando has not responded to several questions about the dispute sent to him.

In his letter handing over the claims to G&P, Chitando said: The ground that Blackgate pegged was not open to prospecting and pegging according to Section 31 of the Mines and Minerals Act at the time that Blackgate purports to have repegged and subsequently registered the claim known as Kimberley 18, which belongs to RAN Mine and G&P Industries. In light of these findings, the certificates issued to Blackgate Investments were issued in error. I hereby cancel certificates of registration numbers 36 375 and 37 353 respectively.

But Munyeza rejected the ruling.

She accused Chitando of slipping into contempt by avoiding a key Supreme Court order in coming up with the determination.

Documents seen by businessdigest indicated that Blackgate holds permits demonstrating ownership to the goldfields, which have now been cancelled.

The Zimbabwe Independent has reported that in a 76-page letter submitted to President Emmerson Mnangagwa in December, Blackgate claimed that G&P Industries had warned them to tread carefully as the asset belonged to the family of the late Robert Mugabe.

The letter claimed that after Mugabe unceremoniously left power in 2017, G&P summersaulted and claimed that Mnangagwa had taken over the asset, which collapsed in 1999 before attracting armies of artisanal miners.

G&P has indicated that it has a US$6,5 million war chest to rebuild Ran Mines, which made headlines in November, after its shafts collapsed under heavy flooding as torrential rains swept through Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe Independent
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - Burkina Faso on Friday commemorated the International Elderly Day on the theme "digital equality for all elderly, the Ministry of Women, National Solidarity, Family and Humanitarian Action said
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Visiting Wajir county of northern Kenya on Thursday with Government officials, donor representatives and United Nations colleagues, the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Kenya, Dr Stephen Jackson, called for immediate action to respond to the severe drought that is ravaging communities in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) region of the country
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced his shock on Thursday after the Ethiopian Government declared seven UN staff persona non grata, ordering them to leave the country within 72 hours
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Russian Justice Ministry drops claim against Chamber of lawyer of ex-journalist accused of treason

 Ivan Pavlov's personal account on Facebook

10:57 01/10/2021

MOSCOW, October 1 (RAPSI)  The Kuibyshevsky court of St. Petersburg has terminated the proceedings initiated by the Russian Justice Ministry against the citys chamber of lawyers in relation to the case of Ivan Pavlov, a lawyer for former journalist Ivan Safronov accused of treason, for allegedly disclosing information related to a police investigation.

The Ministry of Justice dropped its claim against the Chamber, the Council of which refused to punish the defense lawyer for refusing to sign a non-disclosure agreement on the data of the preliminary investigation in the Safronov case.

The case against Pavlov is related to an article published by Vedomosti about Ivan Safronov accused of treason. Investigators believe the lawyer gave the newspaper a copy of the decision to bring the journalist to criminal prosecution and told information agencies and Kommersant newspaper about an interrogation of a secret witness in Safronovs case.

Under the respective articles of the Russian Criminal Code, the charges brought against the lawyer envisage punishment in the form of compulsory work for up to 480 hours, or correctional labor for up to two years, or detention for up to three months.

The lawyer has left Russia.

Pavlov is known for his work for human rights association "Team 29", which provides legal assistance to Safronov and other defendants in high-profile cases.




Russian security service averts terrorist attack in one of republics

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

12:37 01/10/2021

MOSCOW, October 1 (RAPSI) - The Federal Security Service (FSB) has arrested an alleged member of the Islamic State terrorist organization banned in Russia, thus averting a terrorist attack in the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia, the FSB press service has told RAPSI.

According to the statement, the man born 2001 planned to commit a terrorist attack against law enforcement officers. He pled guilty.

During his arrest and searches, components and tools for producing a self-made bomb, cell phone with messages to other terrorists have been seized from him.

A criminal case is opened over preparation for a terrorist attack and participation in a terrorist organization.
Memorial NGO fined $4,000 for violation of foreign agents law

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

15:41 01/10/2021

MOSCOW, October 1 (RAPSI) - Moscow's Tverskoy District Court on Friday fined Memorial human rights center 300,000 rubles ($4,000) for breaching the order of the operation of non-commercial organizations discharging the foreign agent's functions, the court's press service told RAPSI.

The NGO was found guilty of committing the administrative offence.

Memorial was added to the register of foreign agents in 2015.
Former Khabarovsk Governor Furgal to remain in detention in murder case until winter

 Moscow's Basmanny District Court

16:03 01/10/2021

MOSCOW, October 1 (RAPSI) - The Moscow City Court on Friday extended detention of the former Governor of Russias Khabarovsk Krai Sergey Furgal charged with contract murders until December 7, RAPSI was told in the court's press service.

Investigation into Furgal was completed in February. He is already in detention for more than a year.

Investigators believe Furgal took decisions to commit the crimes in order to move forward his personal business interests. According to the Investigative Committee, the murder of entrepreneur Yevgeny Zorya was connected with a long conflict with Furgal and court proceedings over a concrete plant purchased by Zorya. The victim had been killed a day before an obvious verdict was delivered, investigators state.

One more alleged victim of Furgal was his partner Oleg Bulatov. After his murder, the defendant acquired his share in their common business, a company engaged in buy-in and resale of scrap iron, , according to the investigation.

Investigators claim that the former Governor of Russias Khabarovsk Krai was involved in the attempted assassination of scrap iron businessman Alexander Smolsky outbidding competitors.

Moreover, a local resident Roman Sandalov was killed for commercial reasons. A driver of Furgal took the rap.

Furgal was arrested on July 9. According to investigators, all crimes were committed by an organized criminal group led by Furgal in Russias Khabarovsk and Amur Regions in 2004-2005. Earlier, four alleged members of the gang were arrested and placed in detention.

Born in the Amur Region, Furgal worked as general physician at a hospital more than 6 years before the start of his political career. After being discharged from healthcare in 1999, he went in for business, according to his biography on the Khabarovsk Krai governments website. He was elected as the State Duma lawmaker three times.

In September 2018, he was elected as a Khabarovsk Region governor by popular vote.
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"In 2014, the countrymen took a pledge to make India open defecation free - ODF and they fulfilled this pledge with the construction of more than 10 crore toilets. Now the goal of 'Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0' is to make the city garbage-free, completely free of garbage," the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister underlined the scope of the country's target in the next phase of Mission AMRUT as 'Improving sewage and septic management, making our cities water safe and ensuring that no sewage drains anywhere in our rivers'.

The Prime Minister dedicated the successes of transformation in urban regeneration and cleanliness to Mahatma Gandhi. "These missions are the result of inspiration by Mahatma Gandhi and are being realized through his ideals only," he said.

The Prime Minister also highlighted the ease for mothers and daughters due to the construction of toilets.

Saluting the spirit of the nation, the Prime Minister said that the journey of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and AMRUT Mission so far makes every countryman proud. "In this, there is a mission, there is respect, there is dignity, there is also the ambition of a country and there is also the unmatched love for the motherland," he said.

Noting that today's event was taking place in the Ambedkar International Centre, the Prime Minister said that Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar believed in urban development as a great means of removing inequality and many people from villages come to cities with an aspiration for a better life.

"They get employment but their standard of living remains in a difficult situation even compared to their lives in the villages. This is like double jeopardy of staying away from home, and after that to stay in such a difficult situation. Babasaheb's emphasis was on changing this situation by removing this inequality. The next phase of Swachh Bharat Mission and Mission Amrit is an important step towards fulfilling the dreams of Babasaheb," said the Prime Minister.

He said, along with Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas are critical for the campaign of cleanliness.

Talking about the level of public participation with regard to cleanliness, the Prime Minister expressed happiness that the present generation has taken the initiative to strengthen the cleanliness campaign, and the toffee wrappers are no longer thrown on the ground but kept in pockets by children. Small children now ask the elders to avoid mess.

"We have to remember that cleanliness is not a task just for a day, a fortnight, a year or for just a few people. Cleanliness is a great campaign for everyone, every day, every fortnight, every year, generation after generation. Cleanliness is a lifestyle, cleanliness is a life mantra," said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister recalled his efforts as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for enhancing the tourist potential of Gujarat where he turned the quest for cleanliness into Jan Andolan by the Nirmal Gujarat Programme.

The Prime Minister pointed out that today India is processing about one lakh tonnes of waste every day. "When the country started the campaign in 2014, less than 20 per cent of the waste generated every day in the country was processed. Today we are processing about 70 per cent of daily waste. Now we have to take it to 100 per cent," he said.

The Prime Minister also talked about enhanced allocations for the Urban Development Ministry. "In the preceding seven years before 2014, the Ministry was given about Rs 1.25 lakh crore while in seven years from 2014 almost Rs four lakh crore were allocated to the Ministry," the Prime Minister said.

The use of modern technology is also continuously increasing for the development of cities in the country. The Prime Minister mentioned the recently launched National Automobile Scrappage Policy, and pointed out that this new scrapping policy strengthens the campaign of Waste to Wealth and a circular economy.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed farmers issues. The meeting was held at the Prime Minister's official residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg here.

It is learnt that Channi in his first meeting with the Prime Minister after becoming chief minister of Punjab requested that the Centre take back its decision to postpone paddy procurement by 10 days. The Centre has postponed the procurement of paddy by 10 days due to rain in Punjab and Haryana. Earlier the procurement was supposed to start from October 1 but now it will start from October 11.

"The chief minister has raised the issue of postponement of paddy procurement and requested to withdraw the order and immediately start the procurement," sources said.

The sources said that the Punjab chief minister also discussed issues concerning the development of the state.

It is learnt that Channi discussed the three new farm laws against which farmers have been protesting for almost a year. "Punjab chief minister Channi has requested the Prime Minister to repeal the three new farm laws or find a solution to end the farmers' protest," sources said.

Last month, the Congress high command made Channi the chief minister of Punjab replacing Amarinder Singh. Channi reached the national capital on Friday afternoon around 3 p.m. and later went to meet the Prime Minister.

There is speculation that Channi will meet former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other senior party leaders before returning to Punjab. Channi is likely to discuss the ongoing crisis in the Punjab Congress unit with the party central leadership after the resignation of Navjot Singh Sidhu from the post of state unit chief. Before coming to the national capital, Channi met Sidhu on Thursday.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah found special praise from an unusual quarter on Friday -- senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, who was addressing the media here.

Digivjay Singh said, "Amit Shah had made comprehensive arrangements for food and lodging when I undertook the Narmada Parikrama."

"It was election time there. We were passing through jungles when a forest department official came to me and said that you are passing through forests, so we have been told by Amit Shah to make roads and provide food and lodging. As Amit Shah cooperated, I thanked him," he said.

While praising Shah on the one hand, Digivjay Singh also took a dig at the RSS, saying that it is not a registered body.

"Till date it (RSS) has not been registered. When it is not registered, it can't have its own account. So where does the entire 'Dakshina' (donations) get deposited," he asked.

In Jaipur, Singh held several political meetings, besides addressing the media at the party's state headquarters here.

He held meetings with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot and also participated in a programme to mark the birthday of state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra.
India on Friday decided to impose reciprocal Covid-19 restrictions on UK nationals arriving in the country.

According to sources, the new regulations will come into effect from October 4 - the same day as the UK's new rules, and will be applicable to all UK nationals arriving from the UK.

Citing the restrictions, a source said said that from October 4 onwards, all UK nationals arriving in India from the UK, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to undertake mandatory measures, such as carrying the report of pre-departure Covid-19 RT-PCR test taken within 72 hours before travel, and undergo Covid-19 RT-PCR test on arrival at any airport in India.

They are also expected to go for mandatory quarantine at home or at the destination address for 10 days after arrival in India, and on the 8th day after their arrival, will have to take a second RT-PCR test.

The sources also said that the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare and Civil Aviation have been asked to strictly enforce the new measures and adequate arrangements must be made at all international airports for this purpose.

Before issuing these mandatory Covid-19 restrictions for travellers from the UK, India had given a warning to UK authorities that it would be well within its rights to initiate reciprocal measures if the UK does not ease the new travel rules relating to Covid-19 vaccine certification for Indian nationals.
The Taliban-led Afghan government has implemented a new security plan for the country's eastern Nangarhar province to ensure security in the provincial capital city of Jalalabad and its adjoining areas, an official statement confirmed.

"In order to strengthen security and prevent corruption, serious plans have been adopted by provincial security personnel in Jalalabad city and Nangarhar province at large," Xinhua news agency quoted statement as saying on Thursday.

"The Islamic Emirate assures all citizens in Nangarhar that they will soon see improvement in security and safety," it added.

The statement quoted Bashir Khan, director of the provincial intelligence directorate, as saying that all "security challenges" would be removed in the province.

Since the Taliban takeover in August, at least 10 people have been killed and many others wounded as Jalalabad, about 120 km east of Kabul, was hit by a series of bombings reportedly claimed by militants affiliated to the Islamic State (IS) terror group.

In response to the bombings, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed that IS militants will be eliminated from Afghanistan.
Unknown assailants gunned down a Sikh 'hakeem' (traditional doctor) near the Charsadda Bus Stand in Peshawar, Dawn news reported.

The police identified the victim as hakeem Satnam Singh who was attacked at his clinic on Thursday in the limits of Faqirabad police station.

A police official said that unknown assailants, whose number could not be ascertained, opened fire on the victim and managed to escape from the scene, the Dawn news report said.

A brother of the victim told the police the attack took place after Singh had left for clinic from his home in Mohallah Jogan Shah, adding that the victim had no enmity with anyone.

Faqirabad SHO Ejaz Nabi said that they were investigating the incident.

He said it was not clear at this moment whether this was a case of targeted killing or had some other motive.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has strongly condemned the murder and directed the city police to immediately trace and arrest those involved.
Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/01/2021 -- According to a new market research report "Content Marketing Software Market by Component (Software and Services), Content Type (Social Media, Blogs, Videos, Infographics), Organization Size (SMEs and Large Enterprises), Industry Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2023" published by MarketsandMarkets, the global content marketing software market size is expected to grow from USD 4.12 billion in 2018 to USD 9.59 billion by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18.4% during the forecast period. The increasing focus on enhancing customer experience among the enterprises is a major growth factor for the market. It also helps marketers provide consistent experience to its customers across multiple touch points.



Browse 73 market data Tables and 35 Figures spread through 152 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Content Marketing Software Market"



Download PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=264192105



Software segment to hold a larger market size during the forecast period



The software segment is expected to hold a larger market size in the content marketing software market during the forecast period. Enterprises have shifted their focus form traditional marketing methods to new and innovative methods. Content marketing software helps enterprises to make data-driven decisions while formulating the marketing strategy. Content marketing software vendors are integrating their offerings with analytics and artificial intelligence, which provide added advantage to the marketers while analyzing the customers' expectations.



Large enterprises segment is expected hold a larger market size during the forecast period



Large enterprises are organizations with more than 1,000 employees. The use of the content marketing software in large enterprises is higher than that of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), owing to the affordability and high economies of scale which enables large organizations to benefit from the content marketing software. Large enterprises have left no stone unturned to compete in the highly competitive market. Large enterprises generate huge volumes of marketing content that need to be effectively managed and published to meet the everchanging demands of the customers. The need for a constant omnichannel digital experience and the provision of quick and comprehensive content to customers are driving the adoption of the content marketing software.



North America to have the largest market size during the forecast period



North America is expected to be the largest contributor to the content marketing software market in terms of regional revenue. The region comprises developed countries such as the US and Canada. North America is open to the adoption of new and emerging technologies, and its strong financial position enables it to invest majorly in the leading tools and technologies for effective business operations. Hence, organizations in North America have a competitive edge over the other organizations in other regions.



Speak to Research Expert @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalystNew.asp?id=264192105



Major vendors offering content marketing software across the globe include Oracle (US), Adobe (US), Salesforce (US), HubSpot (US), Alma Media (Finland), Curata (US), NewsCred (US), Contently (US), Percolate (US), Sprinklr (US), ScribbleLive (Canada), PathFactory (Canada), Uberflip (Canada), SnapApp (US), OneSpot (US), Skyword (US), Kenscio (India), DivvyHQ (US), Scoop.it (US), BrandMaker (Germany), Mintent (Canada), Kapost (US), Wedia (France), Vendasta (Canada), and Annex Cloud (US). These vendors have adopted various types of organic and inorganic growth strategies, such as new product launches, business expansions, partnerships and collaborations, and mergers and acquisitions, to expand their offerings and further expand their presence in the global content marketing software market.



About MarketsandMarkets

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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.



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San Diego, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/01/2021 -- An investigation was announced concerning whether the takeover of Kansas City Southern is unfair to NYSE: KSU stockholders.



Investors who purchased shares of Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) and currently hold any of those NYSE: KSU shares have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail@shareholdersfoundation.com or call +1(858) 779 - 1554.



The investigation by a law firm concerns whether certain officers and directors of Kansas City Southern breached their fiduciary duties owed to NYSE: KSU investors in connection with the proposed acquisition.



On September 15, 2021, Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) announced that the Company's Board of Directors, in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, has unanimously determined that the acquisition proposal Kansas City Southern received from Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (TSX: CP, NYSE: CP) ("CP") on September 12, 2021 continues to constitute a "Company Superior Proposal" under Kansas City Southern's pending merger agreement with Canadian National Railway Company (TSX: CNR, NYSE: CNI) ("CN").



Following the Kansas City Southern Board's determination and the execution of the waiver letter, Kansas City Southern terminated the CN merger agreement and is entering into a merger agreement with CP. Under the terms of the CP merger agreement, upon closing of CP's voting trust, each share of Kansas City Southern common stock will be exchanged for $90 in cash and 2.884 shares of CP common stock. In addition, holders of Kansas City Southern preferred stock will receive $37.50 in cash for each share of Kansas City Southern preferred stock held.



In connection with the termination of the CN merger agreement, Kansas City Southern is paying CN a breakup fee of $700 million and will also pay CN an additional $700 million in return of the $700 million previously paid by CN to KCS to reimburse the termination fee paid to CP in May. Both of these payments will be reimbursed to Kansas City Southern by CP.



Based on a closing price of $68.54 per NYSE: CP share on September 10, 2021, investors in in Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) shares will receive a value of approximately of $287.67 per share.



However, given that at least one analyst has set the high target price for NYSE: KSU at $310.00 per share, the



investigation concerns whether the offer is unfair to NYSE: KSU stockholders. More specifically, the investigation concerns whether the Kansas City Southern Board of Directors undertook an adequate sales process, adequately shopped the company before entering into the transaction, maximized shareholder value by negotiating the best price, and acted in the shareholders' best interests in connection with the proposed sale.



Those who are current investors in Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) shares have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation.



Contact:

Shareholders Foundation, Inc.

Michael Daniels

3111 Camino Del Rio North - Suite 423

92108 San Diego

Phone: +1-(858)-779-1554

Fax: +1-(858)-605-5739

mail@shareholdersfoundation.com



About Shareholders Foundation, Inc.

The Shareholders Foundation, Inc. is a professional portfolio monitoring and settlement claim filing service, , which does research related to shareholder issues and informs investors of securities class actions, settlements, judgments, and other legal related news to the stock/financial market. Shareholders Foundation, Inc. is in contact with a large number of shareholders and offers help, support, and assistance for every shareholder. The Shareholders Foundation, Inc. is not a law firm. Referenced cases, investigation, and/or settlements are not filed/reached and/or related to Shareholders Foundation. The information is provided as a public service. It is not intended as legal advice and should not be relied upon.
San Diego, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/01/2021 -- An investigation was announced concerning whether the takeover of Cimarex Energy Co. is unfair to NYSE: XEC stockholders.



Investors who purchased shares of Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC) and currently hold any of those NYSE: XEC shares have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail@shareholdersfoundation.com or call +1(858) 779 - 1554.



The investigation by a law firm concerns whether certain officers and directors of Cimarex Energy Co. breached their fiduciary duties owed to NYSE: XEC investors in connection with the proposed acquisition.



Denver, CO based Cimarex Energy Co. operates as an independent oil and gas exploration and production company primarily in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico.



On May 24, 2021, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE: COG) and Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC) announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement whereby the companies will combine in an all-stock merger of equals. Under the terms of the agreement, which has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, Under the terms of the agreement, which has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, Cimarex shareholders will receive 4.0146 shares of Cabot common stock for each share of Cimarex common stock owned. shareholders will receive 4.0146 shares of Cabot common stock for each share of Cimarex common stock owned.



Based on a closing price of $17.69 per NYSE: COG share on May21, 2021, investors in Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC) will receive a value of approximately $72.10 per share.



However, given that at least on analyst has set the high price target for NYSE: XEC shares at $112.00 per share, the investigation concerns whether the offer is unfair to NYSE: XEC stockholders. More specifically, the investigation concerns whether the Cimarex Energy Co. Board of Directors undertook an adequate sales process, adequately shopped the company before entering into the transaction, maximized shareholder value by negotiating the best price, and acted in the shareholders' best interests in connection with the proposed sale.



On Sept. 29, 2021, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE: COG) and Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC) announced that both companies' shareholders voted to approve the pending transaction.



Those who are current investors in Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC) shares have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation.



Contact:

Shareholders Foundation, Inc.

Michael Daniels

3111 Camino Del Rio North - Suite 423

92108 San Diego

Phone: +1-(858)-779-1554

Fax: +1-(858)-605-5739

mail@shareholdersfoundation.com



About Shareholders Foundation, Inc.

The Shareholders Foundation, Inc. is a professional portfolio monitoring and settlement claim filing service, , which does research related to shareholder issues and informs investors of securities class actions, settlements, judgments, and other legal related news to the stock/financial market. Shareholders Foundation, Inc. is in contact with a large number of shareholders and offers help, support, and assistance for every shareholder. The Shareholders Foundation, Inc. is not a law firm. Referenced cases, investigation, and/or settlements are not filed/reached and/or related to Shareholders Foundation. The information is provided as a public service. It is not intended as legal advice and should not be relied upon.
Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/01/2021 -- The Latest research study released by HTF MI "Global Organic Frozen Bakery Market" with 100+ pages of analysis on business Strategy taken up by key and emerging industry players and delivers know how of the current market development, landscape, technologies, drivers, opportunities, market viewpoint and status. Understanding the segments helps in identifying the importance of different factors that aid the market growth. Some of the Major Companies covered in this Research are Rich Products Corporation, Flowers Foods, Lantmannen Unibake, Yamazaki Baking, Hillshire Brands, Bimbo Bakeries, Harry Brot, McKee Foods, BreadTalk Group, Hostess Brands, Finsbury Food Group, Vandemoortele & Aryzta etc.



Click here for free sample + related graphs of the report @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/3618212-2020-2025-global-organic-frozen-bakery-market-report-production-and-consumption-professional-analysis



Browse market information, tables and figures extent in-depth TOC on "Organic Frozen Bakery Market by Application (Home Makers & Industrial), by Product Type (, Bread Rolls & Artisan Loaves, Cakes & Cupcakes, Pizza Crust & Sandwiches & Wraps), Business scope, Manufacturing and Outlook  Estimate to 2025".



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At last, all parts of the Global Organic Frozen Bakery Market are quantitatively also subjectively valued to think about the Global just as regional market equally. This market study presents basic data and true figures about the market giving a deep analysis of this market based on market trends, market drivers, constraints and its future prospects. The report supplies the worldwide monetary challenge with the help of Porter's Five Forces Analysis and SWOT Analysis.



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Customization of the Report: The report can be customized as per your needs for added data up to 3 businesses or countries or 2 analyst hours.



On the basis of report- titled segments and sub-segment of the market are highlighted below:

Global Organic Frozen Bakery Market By Application/End-User (Value and Volume from 2021 to 2026) : Home Makers & Industrial



Market By Type (Value and Volume from 2021 to 2026) : , Bread Rolls & Artisan Loaves, Cakes & Cupcakes, Pizza Crust & Sandwiches & Wraps



Global Organic Frozen Bakery Market by Key Players: Rich Products Corporation, Flowers Foods, Lantmannen Unibake, Yamazaki Baking, Hillshire Brands, Bimbo Bakeries, Harry Brot, McKee Foods, BreadTalk Group, Hostess Brands, Finsbury Food Group, Vandemoortele & Aryzta



Geographically, this report is segmented into some key Regions, with manufacture, depletion, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Organic Frozen Bakery in these regions, from 2015 to 2026 (forecast), covering China, USA, Europe, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia & South America and its Share (%) and CAGR for the forecasted period 2021 to 2026.



Informational Takeaways from the Market Study: The report Organic Frozen Bakery matches the completely examined and evaluated data of the noticeable companies and their situation in the market considering impact of Coronavirus. The measured tools including SWOT analysis, Porter's five powers analysis, and assumption return debt were utilized while separating the improvement of the key players performing in the market.



Key Development's in the Market: This segment of the Organic Frozen Bakery report fuses the major developments of the market that contains confirmations, composed endeavors, R&D, new thing dispatch, joint endeavours, and relationship of driving members working in the market.



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Some of the important question for stakeholders and business professional for expanding their position in the Global Organic Frozen Bakery Market :

Q 1. Which Region offers the most rewarding open doors for the market Ahead of 2021?

Q 2. What are the business threats and Impact of latest scenario Over the market Growth and Estimation?

Q 3. What are probably the most encouraging, high-development scenarios for Organic Frozen Bakery movement showcase by applications, types and regions?

Q 4.What segments grab most noteworthy attention in Organic Frozen Bakery Market in 2020 and beyond?

Q 5. Who are the significant players confronting and developing in Organic Frozen Bakery Market?



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Key poles of the TOC:

Chapter 1 Global Organic Frozen Bakery Market Business Overview

Chapter 2 Major Breakdown by Type [, Bread Rolls & Artisan Loaves, Cakes & Cupcakes, Pizza Crust & Sandwiches & Wraps]

Chapter 3 Major Application Wise Breakdown (Revenue & Volume)

Chapter 4 Manufacture Market Breakdown

Chapter 5 Sales & Estimates Market Study

Chapter 6 Key Manufacturers Production and Sales Market Comparison Breakdown

..

Chapter 8 Manufacturers, Deals and Closings Market Evaluation & Aggressiveness

Chapter 9 Key Companies Breakdown by Overall Market Size & Revenue by Type

..

Chapter 11 Business / Industry Chain (Value & Supply Chain Analysis)

Chapter 12 Conclusions & Appendix



Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, LATAM, Europe or Southeast Asia.



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Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/01/2021 -- According to the new market research report "Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Market by Product (Equipment (Immunoassay Analyzers), Consumables), Technology (Immunoassays, Chromatography-MS), Class of Drugs (Antibiotic Drugs, Bronchodilator Drugs), End User  Global Forecast to 2025?, published by MarketsandMarkets, the TDM Market is projected to reach USD 2.0 billion by 2025 from USD 1.4 billion in 2020, at a CAGR of 6.9% from 2020 to 2025.



Growth Driver: importance of TDM in organ transplant procedures;



Conducting TDM for immunosuppressive medications is an essential tool in the management of patients undergoing solid organ transplantation. A person receiving an organ transplant is prescribed immunosuppressants so that the body does not reject the organ. When administering immunosuppressants, clinicians need to individualize a patient's drug therapy and ensure an optimal balance between therapeutic efficacy and the probability of adverse effects. Patients present different pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics, so achieving this goal with immunosuppressant therapy monitoring can be challenging.



TDM is used before administering immunosuppressants as it minimizes the pharmacokinetic component of variability. Improper drug concentrations in immunosuppressants can lead to adverse effects on transplant patients. Supra-therapeutic drug concentrations can put the patient at risk of over-immunosuppression, which may cause infection. On the other hand, sub-therapeutic drug concentrations can cause the recipient's body to reject an allograft. This inter-individual variability in drug concentrations creates the need for TDM.



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North America commanded the largest share of the therapeutic drug monitoring market in 2019.



On the basis of region, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. In 2019, North America commanded the largest share of the market. Increasing per capita healthcare expenditure and the presence of technologically advanced healthcare infrastructure in the region, coupled with initiatives taken by different government associations, are anticipated to boost the market growth in the region.



The major players operating in this therapeutic drug monitoring market are Abbott Laboratories (U.S.), F. Hoffmann-La Roche (Switzerland), Siemens Healthineers (Germany), Thermo Fisher Scientific (U.S.), Danaher Corporation (U.S.), Bio-Rad Laboratories (U.S.), bioMerieux (France), BUHLMANN Laboratories (Switzerland), SEKISUI MEDICAL (Japan), Randox Laboratories (Ireland), DiaSystem Scandinavia AB (Sweden), Cambridge Life Sciences Limited (United Kingdom), ARK Diagnostics, Inc. (U.S.), Chromsystems Instruments & Chemicals GmbH (Germany), Grifols (Spain), Exagen Inc. (U.S.), Theradiag (France), R-Biopharm AG (Germany), apDia Group (Belgium), BioTeZ Berlin-Buch GmbH (Belgium), Eagle Biosciences Inc. (U.S.), JASEM Laboratory Systems and Solutions A.S (Turkey), Aalto Scientific (U.S.), Immundiagnostik AG (Germany), and UTAK (U.S.).



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Immunoassays is expected to hold the largest share of the TDM Market in 2020



Based on technology, segmented into immunoassays and chromatography-MS. In 2019, immunoassays segment accounted for the largest market share, due to the increasing incidence of chronic and infectious diseases and technological innovation.



Antiepileptic drugs is expected to hold the largest share of the therapeutic drug monitoring market in 2020



On the basis of class of drug, the TDM Market is segmented into antiepileptic drugs, antibiotic drugs, immunosuppressant drugs, antiarrhythmic drugs, bronchodilator drugs, psychoactive agents, and other drugs. During 2019, antiepileptic drugs held the largest share among the class of drug due to the high complexity and heterogeneity of epilepsy, lack of biological markers or specific clinical signs aside from the frequency of seizures to assess treatment efficacy or toxicity, and the highly complex pharmacokinetics of these drugs.



Hospital laboratories segment commanded the largest share of the TDM Market in 2019



By end user, the Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Market is segmented into hospital laboratories, commercial & private laboratories, and other end users. Hospital laboratories accounted for the largest share of the market in 2019. The large share of this segment can be attributed to factors such as the availability of advanced healthcare facilities in hospitals and the rising incidences of chronic diseases.



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The ARRL report that this years Northeast HamXposition drew about 1,200 attendees to its new location in Marlborough, Massachusetts, during September 10  12. The event hosted the ARRL New England Division Convention, and was formerly held about 15 miles away in Boxborough, Massachusetts.

This was the first year the convention was held at this location because the event was cancelled last year due to the pandemic. Event proceeds go to the New England FEMARA Scholarship fund, which helps students attend a college or trade school of their choice. Scholarships are administered by the ARRL Foundation Scholarship Program.

HamXposition Chairman Bob DeMattia, K1IW, and his committee said they were pleased with the turnout, given last years cancellation and this years new venue. The event was held at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel and Trade Center in Marlborough. Although there were some last-minute cancellations from a handful of exhibitors and presenters, W1 QSL Bureau Co-Manager Eric Williams, KV1J, believed that there was remarkably good attendance despite the concerns of COVID-19. The W1 QSL Bureau team included ARRL Director of Operations Bob Naumann, W5OV, who checked DXCC and other ARRL award applications throughout the convention.

In addition to ARRL Vice President Mike Raisbeck, K1TWF, and New England Division Director Fred Hopengarten, K1VR, the 2021 ARRL convention team included New England Division Vice Director Phil Temples, K9HI; Field Services Manager Mike Walters, W8ZY; Senior Member Services Representative Kim McNeill, KM1IPA; Director of Operations Bob Naumann, W5OV, and Public Relations and Innovation Director Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R. Several Section Managers and other Field Organization volunteers also supported the convention. Raisbeck and Temples also served as the conventions Vice Chair and Program Chair, respectively.

The Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS) of New Hampshire demonstrated a variety of activities to encourage new licensees to become radio active. NARS was among several radio clubs and organizations that staffed visitor booths at the event.

Members of the Women Radio Operators of New England (WRONE) hosted an exhibit for the Young Ladies Radio League (YLRL), represented by Barbara Irby, KC1KGS, and Anne Manna, WB1ARU, from YLRL District 1. These organizations encourage and assist women entering the Amateur Radio Service.

Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society (STARS) of New England Sci-Tech in Natick, Massachusetts, offered a hands-on exhibit and conducted a youth panel. STARS is hosted by the STEM Education Center and Makerspace at New England Sci-Tech.

DXCC and Contest Dinner speaker Adrian Ciuperca, KO8SCA, recapped the DXpedition and IARU Contest activities and activations from Market Reef and Aland Islands. On Saturday, the banquet speaker was Philip J. Erickson, W1PJE, of Haystack Observatory, operated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Erickson discussed HamSCIs latest ionospheric science investigations, supported in partnership with radio amateurs and scientists from Haystack Observatory and other institutions.

The ARRL leadership team hosted an ARRL Membership Forum on Saturday. ARRL Washington Counsel Dave Siddall, K3ZJ, was among the attendees.

Inderbitzens keynote address on Saturday morning included a tribute to the September 11 attacks and a color guard supported by the local Boy Scouts of America. He also attended the youth panel and met with many young hams, parents, and their advisors throughout the event, including Olin College of Engineering undergraduate Zachary Sherman, KC1NXK, who exhibited for Olin Collegiate Amateur Radio Club, KC1LHR.  Thanks to Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, ARRL Public Relations and Innovation Director

ARRL
The ARRL report that AMSAT-NA Past President and ham radio satellite and digital pioneer Tom Clark, K3IO (ex-W3IWI), of Columbia, Maryland, died on September 28 after a short illness and hospital stay. An ARRL Life Member, he was 82. Clarks accomplishments are legendary, and he left a lasting footprint in the worlds of amateur radio satellites and digital techniques.

His long-time technical achievements, mentoring to others, and technical leadership will be missed by his many peers and friends the world over, said Bob McGwier, N4HY.

To honor Clark, AMSAT has rebranded its upcoming annual gathering as the 2021 AMSAT Dr. Tom Clark, K3IO, Memorial Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting. It will take place on October 30 via Zoom. (AMSAT members may register to attend via AMSATs Membership and Event portal.) The event will be livestreamed on AMSATs YouTube channel.

A founding member of Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR), Clark was a co-founder of the TAPR/AMSAT DSP Project, which led to software-defined radio (SDR). He was a leader in the development of the AX.25 packet radio protocol. Clark served as AMSATs second President, from 1980 until 1987. He also served on the AMSAT and TAPR Boards.

In concert with McGwier, Clark developed the first amateur Digital Signal Processing (DSP) hardware, including a number of modems. He developed the uplink receivers and the spacecraft LAN (local area network) architecture used on all the Microsats (AMSAT-OSCAR 16, Dove-OSCAR 17, WEBERSAT-OSCAR 18, LUSAT-OSCAR 19, Italy-OSCAR 26, AMRAD-OSCAR 27, and TMSAT-OSCAR 31). McGwier said it was Clark who convinced him in 1985 that the future lay in DSP.

We started the TAPR/AMSAT DSP [digital signal processing] project, and it was announced in 1987, McGwier recounted. We showed in our efforts that small stations with small antennas could bounce signals off the moon, and, using the power of DSP, we could see the signals in our computer displays. This led to the software-defined transponder (SDX) for satellite work, including ARISSat and AMSATs Phase 3E.

Clark received a doctorate in astrogeophysics from the University of Colorado. He went on to serve as Chief of the Astronomy Branch at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and was a Senior Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where he was principal investigator for the Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) activity there.

In 2005, Clark became the first non-Russian to be awarded a Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences for his contributions to the international VLBI network. He is a member of the 2001 class of CQ magazines Amateur Radio Hall of Fame.

In 2016, ARRL awarded Clark with its Presidents Award, to recognize his 60 years of advancing amateur radio technology. On that occasion, McGwier said, There would be no AMSAT to inspire all of this work without Tom Clark. Tomsaved the organization and inspired all of us to look to the future and aim for the stars.

Clark was a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the International Association of Geodesy.

ARRL
The town hall of Torremolinos is planning to dedicate a park to the Finnish community, over sixty years after the first international chartered flight brought Finns to the Costa del Sol.

The mayor of Torremolinos, Jose Ortiz, and the councillor for Planning, Maribel Tocon, attended a meeting in Madrid with the Finnish ambassador to Spain, Sari Rautio, to strengthen the relationship that Torremolinos has historically maintained with this Nordic country.

The mayor announced that the town hall is working on dedicating a park in the town to the Finnish community. At present, the Finns make up around five hundred residents, a number that is increased by Finnish tourists every year.

Tourism from this country remains one of the most important markets in Torremolinos. Historically the town was one of the first holiday destinations for Finnish tourists seeking the sun and this year commemorates 70 years since the first Finnish visitors arrived at Malaga airport.

In 1951, the Finnish air company KarAir made its first international flight. It brought Finnish tourists to Stockholm airport, and from there they headed to Malaga with a Swedish airline company.

Eight years later, KarAir offered the first charter flight from Helsinki to Malaga, with stopovers in Gothenburg, Luxembourg and Barcelona which soon became known as 'the sunshine route'.

At first Torremolinos was just a holiday destination but the Finns gradually began to see it as a good place to enjoy their retirement and it became one of the first enclaves where the Finnish community settled. The first Finnish Association - Asociacion Finlandesa Costa del Sol - was founded in 1977.

In Madrid, Mayor Ortiz said: "We are very happy to continue to strengthen ties with Finland and move forward together on exciting projects in Torremolinos." He explained that the town hoped to host events related to Finnish culture and will have a specialised library. "We want it to not only be the main meeting point for the Finnish community here, but also or others outside the town.".
FREAKY FRANKY

Written by: William Blackwell

Available In: eBook|Paperback

Author Website: http://www.wblackwell.com/

When a disaffected group of people begin experimenting with the cult of Saint Death, brutal murders begin happening.
By Mira Diamond-Berman

diamondb@grinnell.edu



Before COVID-19 dictated the safety of indoor events, College-sponsored Harris parties often became the major all-campus event of a given weekend. The COVID-19 pandemic has made Harris parties seem to no longer be an option, at least for now, and in the meantime, there is still the opportunity for outdoor all-campus activities. Still, the disappearance of the parties has changed the Colleges weekend culture and are missed by many third- and fourth-year students.

Harris parties would start every Saturday night at 10:30 p.m. in the Harris Center; the early birds could get pizza while it lasted and later arrivals could show up until closing time at 1 a.m. Anna Brew `22, who was originally in the class of 2021 but took a year off, said she enjoyed Harris parties her first three years.

Its just like a really fun way to like unwind on a weekend. I know people have mentioned that they feel like there is not a lot to do here and I feel like that can fill that up, she said.

Each party had a theme that was chosen and hosted by a student group, often based around a kind of music, style of dress or costume, or time period.

I thought Fetish Harris was really fun to just to see what everyone dressed up as  there was lots of school girls, some like librarians, theres some dads, like the guys used to dress up in floral shirts and be like Hawaiian dads, Brew said.

On Sept. 18, the Student Government Association (SGA) hosted a glow-in-the-dark party on Mac Field to provide an on-campus party option for students.

I wanted to make sure the glow in the dark party happened on Mac Field because initially, most parties were off campus and the whole thing with the off-campus situation was, like, the Grinnell police were being a little more out there and then a bunch of students have been caught, said Aditya Nair `23, SGA all-campus events chair. This poses a liability risk and a safety risk for these students and because of that partying on campus would be a lot more safe than partying off campus.

Nair prioritized having an outdoor Harris, but said it was difficult to organize due to the lack of All-Campus Events Student Safety (ACESS) staff, student workers who have historically overseen Harris and Gardner parties and acted as advocates and liaisons for students in interactions with Campus Safety or healthcare workers. SGA is waiting to run another outdoor party until ACESS are available for the event.

They [ACESS] already have extensive training and then they are there to make sure things are safe, people arent consuming substances, etc. But then since they arent organized at the moment, since its something the administration does and not students themselves, right now we dont have these volunteers or these people, said Nair. Once SGA and the administration reestablish ACESS, he said these outdoor parties will be much easier to organize.

There is also hope that coming Oct. 1, the administration will change the current COVID-19 protocols regarding indoor events.

Currently, groups of students have been approaching Nair with ideas for all-campus events in attempt to bring back campus culture.

They are booking slots for certain events in the coming weeks so I can organize the logistics behind these events whether its lights, sounds, stage set up, etc., for them, said Nair. A student group recently had a pool party sort of thing on Mac Field.

Despite the efforts by SGA and other student groups to organize weekend activities, Nair said that it is still difficult to cultivate a campus culture and bring back the traditions since half of the school lacks a pre-pandemic Grinnell experience.

At this moment it hard to define campus culture because we have two whole class years that have not experienced Grinnell traditions, he said.

The lack of Harris parties also limits students opportunities to meet new people.

I think there was a lot more mingling of humans in general, said Brew. It was fun it was a way to hangout and get some dancing and get the wiggles out.
Lucknow, Oct 1 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh government on Friday recommended a CBI probe into the death of Kanpur-based businessman Manish Gupta who died allegedly after being thrashed by police in Gorakhpur on Monday night.





Additional Chief Secretary Home Awanish Awasthi confirmed that the state government on Friday night recommended the CBI investigation to the Union Home Ministry in the case.



On Thursday, during his meeting with the family members of the deceased in Kanpur, CM Yogi Adityanath had accepted the demand of the family to recommend the CBI probe in the case.



According to officials, the government has also announced to provide Rs 40 lakh as compensation to the family of the deceased. The government has already given Rs 10 lakh and rest would be given on Saturday.



The government has already announce to offer businessman's wife a job in the Kanpur Development Authority as Officer on Special Duty (OSD).



In another decision, the government has decided to shift the SIT probe from Gorakhpur to Kanpur on the demand of the family, till CBI takes over the case.



A case of murder has been registered against six policemen in the case.

Though police officials maintained that Manish got injured while trying to escape from the police raid at a hotel in Gorakhpur on Monday night.

The 38-year-old businessman is survived by his wife Meenakshi and a four-year-old child.

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Srinagar, Oct 1 (UNI) An unidentified militant was killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir district of Shopian on Friday, police said.

On a specific information troops of Rashtriya Rifles (RR), CRPF and Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir police launched a joint Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) at village Rakhama, Shopian, in the wee hours on Friday. After sealing all the exit points, when security forces were moving towards a particular area in the village, militants hiding there opened fire, police spokesman said.

Security forces also retaliated ensuing in an encounter, he said adding a militant was killed so far.

The operation was going on the reports last came in, he said adding additional security forces have been deployed in the adjoining areas to prevent any law and order problem.

UNI BAS GNK 0714
Ashish Srivastava

New Delhi, Oct 1 (UNI) Since the Centre recommended COVID-19 vaccination for pregnant women, around 14 lakh expecting mothers have received at least one shot of COVID-19 jabs in the country till September 20, top government officials told UNI.

The Centre had allowed vaccination for pregnant on July 2. Considering the government data, five lakh prospective mothers are getting vaccinated against the COVID-19 every month.

According to the experts, the rate is quite slow considering the cohort of the population the governments would have to cover in a year which is estimated at around 2.6 to 3 crore in a year.

"You will expect around 2.6 crore pregnant women in a year and by the current rate, we may not be able to vaccinate all of them," highlighted Dr Suneela Garg, advisor to ICMR and professor of excellence at Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC).

"The government is moving carefully but a greater pace is required to immunize the cohort population soon. However, a beginning has been made, she added," she added.

"Vaccination in pregnant women is not an individual's choice but becomes a family decision because many stakeholders are involved in it. This factor also results in the slow progress of the immunisation of this group. However, the government need to work more on sensitization and widely publicise the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines to encourage the group to undergo the immunisation programme," Garg noted.

Dr NK Arora, chairperson, Covid-19 working group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), also agreed that the pace of vaccination is slow but assured that it will pick up gradually.

"Their (pregnant women) vaccination will pick up gradually. We can't summarise the growth on the basis of average monthly vaccination. Such large scale initiatives are run based on the log scale," he said while speaking to UNI.

"The doctors should have confidence over the vaccines and recommend to such women without any hesitancy," he added.

The government data estimates around 3 crore pregnancies every year. Of them, 2.6 crore women deliver children while 30-40 lakh undergoes abortion due to different reasons including miscarriages.

The experts also said pregnant women should be included in the Centre's list of the high-risk group and prioritised for the COVID vaccination.

"According to Reproductive and Child Health programme by Government of India, pregnant women form a vulnerable group since they are at the risk of developing severe health issues. So it is but natural that they are also at a high risk of getting the severe form of COVID-19 infection," Garg said.

"The expecting mothers should be officially recognised as a high-risk group and vaccination for them should be done on priority," she suggested.

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Bhubaneswar, Oct 01 (UNI) Union Minister for Education and Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan today requested Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh government to initiate steps for implementation of values enshrined in new Education policy and preserving the interest of Odia speaking school children .

In two separate letters , the Union Minister requested Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemanta Soren and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy to intervene personally for preserving the interest of Odia speaking school children in their states.

In a letter to Mr Soren, the Union Minister said during formation of Jharkhand it was ensured that the state shall recognise Odia speaking people as linguistic minority and preserve their rights.

He said after a series of agitation Jharkhand government recognised Odia along with other regional languages as the second official language of the state in 2011.

Ranchi University has an Odia department and the Jharkhand state Public Service Commission and Staff Selection commission has Odia as an elective paper.

Appreciating the efforts made by the Jharkhand government to continue Odia medium schools in the border district, he said however the number of school are on decline for various reason. Around 300 Odia schools were set up from 1913 to 1948 in Sashekala, Kharsuan and Singhbhum areas.

Mr Pradhan said after the retirement of teachers posted in Odia medium schools, the Jharkhand government is posting Hindi speaking teachers in Odia medium schools.

Though NCERT has given the copyright to Jharkhand state authority for publication of Odia books, it has not been taken up.

The Jharkhand state education department has started merging Odia medium schools with Hindi medium schools violating the spirit of maintenance and promotion of linguistic diversity and. Rights of linguistic minorities. Since 2006-07 text books for Odia speaking Jharkhand students have not been made available in all subjects.

Similarly in a separate letter to Andhrapradesh Chief Minister, Mr Pradhan said after the demarcation of border both Odisha and Andhra Pradesh had agreed to cater to needs of the students who wish to learn their respective languages.

However requisite support is not being extended to students of Vishakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts who wish to learn Odia. But in Odisha support is being extended to students opting to learn Telugu.

The Andhra Pradesh government is yet to provide text books to Odia medium students in class X.

Mr Pradhan urged the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister to promote Odia language in border districts, recruit Odia teachers , supply books to students in time and safeguard the interests of minority groups and uphold the linguistic and cultural diversity in the country.

UNI BD KK
Annual Wyoming Latina Youth Conference Oct. 8-9 at UW

Lupita Colmenero

Approximately 250 people, including students and school chaperones, are expected for the 21st annual Wyoming Latina Youth Conference (WLYC) Oct. 8-9 on the University of Wyoming campus.

The WLYC is an annual celebration of the power of choice for Wyomings Latina youth who will be our upcoming leaders in the state, says WLYC Executive Director Cecilia CC Aragon, a UW professor of theater and dance, and faculty affiliate of the School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice.

The WLYC is an educational pipeline program at UW focused on leadership training; mentoring; science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); and empowering young Latinas. The conference targets 5th-12th grade girls of Latinx heritage and attracts young Latinas from throughout Wyoming.

The WLYC is a program at UW that exposes the students to higher education and leadership, Aragon says. After many years of being held in Cheyenne, under the leadership of founder Ann Redman, the conference has permanently moved to UW.

The theme for this falls conference is Fostering WY Future Generations: Social Entrepreneurship, STEM and Wellness. Students will participate in a variety of workshops Saturday, Oct. 9, to discuss topics in STEM; entrepreneurship; financial literacy; career choices; healthy relationships; cultural identity; and leadership. Older students learn about applying for college; filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms; career options; and applying for scholarship opportunities.

UW Latina students will serve as peer mentors, working with the school participants and leading all of the various workshops. Many of the UW students participated in the WLYC during their public school days. They say that the WLYC exposed them to UW and taught them the value of seeking higher education degrees and the importance of community leadership.

Students expected to attend the conference will be from Casper, Cheyenne, Fort Washakie, Gillette, Green River, Jackson, Laramie, Lovell, Pinedale, Rawlins and Sheridan schools.

A team-building program opens the conference Friday afternoon and culminates with Noche Cultura: A Dramatic Reading of Las Pajaritas, a production from playwright Jordan Ramirez Puckett. A banquet, featuring keynote speaker Lupita Colmenero, co-founder and publisher of the Dallas, Texas-based El Hispano News newspaper and LATINA Style magazine, closes the conference Saturday evening.

Colmenero is the executive vice president of LATINA Style Inc., and president and founder of Parents Step Ahead, a Dallas-based nonprofit organization. The program recognizes, educates, enables and empowers parents to take a proactive role in the educational and personal development of their children.

Colmenero has served on numerous nonprofit boards, including the Cuban National Council and the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility. In 2005, she was the first woman elected president of the National Association of Hispanic Publications Inc., where she championed the cause of minority-owned businesses, and prioritized training and mentoring Hispanic publications.

For more information about the WLYC, call Aragon at (307) 766-4124 or email ccaragon@uwyo.edu.
UW Global Engagement Office Collaborates to Bring Educator for Scholastic Residency

The University of Wyomings Global Engagement Office is collaborating with an international organization to raise money to bring a scholar from Afghanistan for a yearlong residence at UW.

UW has joined with the Institute of International Educations (IIE) Scholar Rescue Fund (SRF) to raise the necessary funds. IIE-SRF provides $25,000 in matching funds, while institutions of higher learning, such as UW, raise the same amount to cover the cost of sponsoring one scholar for a yearlong visiting position.

We are joining a global campaign to assist academics and artists whose lives have been endangered and uprooted by the current Taliban takeover, says Isadora Helfgott, vice provost for global engagement in the UW Office of Academic Affairs.

Helfgott says a scholar could be on campus as early as next semester.

An account has been set up through the UW Foundations crowdfunding portal. To donate, click here.

The IIE-SRF Alliance launched in August 2020 to expand its efforts and partner institutions to assist the unprecedented number of threatened and displaced scholars globally. It builds upon IIEs 100 years of providing resources and support to vulnerable professors and university students, including academics who faced Nazism and fascism; Black South Africans being denied educational opportunities under apartheid; and hundreds of scholars who are continually threatened by conflict and repression today.

UW joins a network of hundreds of individuals, institutions and organizations spanning nearly 30 countries and multiple sectors in the project. The IIE-SRF Alliances partners host IIE-SRF fellows; provide a safe haven and temporary academic positions; give access to training or courses, free or discounted memberships and other critical support; and provide ambassadors who share their time, skills and networks to empower the scholars to rebuild their lives and careers.

In many contexts across the globe, our colleagues face threats to their lives and careers. Though academics have always been persecuted for their scholarly work and are among the first to be targeted during conflict and instability, the magnitude of the current crisis is unprecedented in IIEs history, says Allan Goodman, IIEs president and CEO. We are extremely grateful to the University of Wyoming for taking this concrete step to support scholars in need."

If logistics preclude bringing a scholar from Afghanistan to UW, the money raised will be used to bring a displaced/endangered scholar from another country or to support an emergency fund for UW international students.

About IIE

Established in 1919, IIE is a global not-for-profit organization that creates and implements international education programs, conducts research and provides life-changing opportunities for students and scholars worldwide.

About the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund

The Scholar Rescue Fund is the only global program that arranges and funds fellowships for threatened and displaced scholars at collaborating higher education institutions worldwide. Since 2002, IIE-SRF has provided life-saving support to more than 900 scholars from 60 countries, collaborating with 429 host institutions in 50 countries around the world.

For more information, email Helfgott at ihelfgot@uwyo.edu.
Lisa Vanderwal dons a face shield and other PPE in her office at West Towson Elementary in Baltimore, Md., on Thursday Shes now in her 12th year as a school nurse there, with 18 years of experience overall in Baltimore County. In addition to her normal workload shes now also been tasked with daily symptomatic testing of students and staff.


remaining of

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On 28 and 29 September 2021, the third regional consultation on the next Strategic Plan was conducted with the South America, North America, Central America and the Caribbean (AMS) region. The session was jointly chaired by the Vice-Chair for the AMS region, Mr. Werner Ovalle Ramirez from the Guatemala Customs Administration, and the WCO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Ricardo Trevino Chapa. Approximately 50 participants attended the session, which was held virtually.

In his introductory remarks, the Vice-Chair for the AMS region was of the view that the consultative cycle launched by the Secretariat was an excellent opportunity for Members to provide their input and contributions on matters of strategic importance for the future, such as the definition of WCO priorities and responses to be given to the red risks flagged in the Audit Plan. He stated that the handling of these matters, through regional contributions and by involving the Policy Commission and Council, was proof of the smooth functioning of the WCO. The WCO Deputy Secretary General agreed that the definition of the strategy required a high-level commitment, both by the Secretariat and Members, to work together in shaping the future direction of the Organization.

Participants raised a number of constructive matters that should be considered as priorities within the next Strategic Plan. They underscored the need to focus on Coordinated Border Management through the development of an appropriate framework to enhance and facilitate real-time information sharing between Customs. The question of data use was repeatedly mentioned, with participants calling for the development of greater data analytics capacity in order to modernize procedures and be fully equipped to address risks. The tailoring of Customs skills to face new challenges and opportunities in an efficient manner was another focal point, in which it was stressed that specific projects and programmes should be launched to respond to new realities. In this connection, experts should be properly trained and systematic follow-up should be carried out to ensure that capacity building support delivered the expected results on the ground. To that end, participants felt that the WCO should make use of its Performance Measurement Mechanism to assess the impact of its activities on Members daily practices.

These consultations will define the new WCO Strategic Plan, following the same approach as for the previous strategy and Environmental Scan. Full involvement by Members has already proven invaluable when drafting these documents, ensuring that the entire Organization shares a single vision and is moving towards achieving the same objectives.
The World Customs Organization (WCO)  with the support of integrity experts of Maldives Customs and Pakistan Customs  has completed an Integrity Diagnostic mission to the benefit of the Philippines Bureau of Customs (BoC). In light of the applicable COVID-19 related travel constraints, it was the third time that such a mission took place on a remote basis. It allowed for engagement with a wide range of stakeholders across the country and complemented the Customs Integrity Perception Survey (CIPS) conducted between 21 July-05 August 2021 among BoC officers and the private sector. The WCOs integrity support to BoC is made possible under the auspice of the Trade Facilitation in Middle Income Countries (TFMICs) Programme, financially supported by the United Kingdom Governments Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. It directly contributes to the BoCs vision of having a credible Customs administration that is among the worlds best.

The missions high-level executive kick-off meeting was jointly presided by Mr. Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero, BoC Commissioner and Mr. Ricardo Trevino Chapa, WCO Deputy Secretary General. They agreed that integrity is a cross-cutting issue that should be part of Customs DNA and internalized by all. The BoC sees the WCOs support on integrity as a cornerstone of successful and sustainable Customs and trade facilitation reform and modernization initiatives as it would reinforce BOC to deliver quality services. During the closing session on 24 September, the key strategic outcomes of the mission and the findings of the CIPS were welcomed by the BoC Commissioner  noting that they will constitute the base for a comprehensive approach on action planning, including awareness-raising and stakeholder communications.

The mission aimed to assess the current integrity situation in the Philippines Customs environment and to identify areas and opportunities for further improvement in the BoC integrity agenda by providing strategic and technical advice and recommendations in line with best practices and the international standards of the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration concerning Good Governance and Integrity in Customs. It also directly relates to the BoCs 2019 WCOs Mercator Implementation Plan, which the BoC Commissioner acknowledges as the start of a groundbreaking transformation journey.

For more information, please, contact Capacitybuilding@wcoomd.org
On 28 September 2021, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) hosted an online meeting of Heads of Customs in the context of the annual European Police Chiefs Convention (EPCC). This event brought together Customs Directors General from the European Union (EU) and third countries associated with Europol, as well as representatives of Europol, the European Commission and other EU law enforcement bodies, to discuss the following two topics: Europol-Customs cooperation and Intelligence Sharing in Investigative Analysis and Customs Risk Profiling in the context of Customs-Police cooperation.

After the opening remarks by Ms. Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director of Europol, and Mr. Boris Kastelic, representative of the Slovenian Financial Administration, Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, WCO Secretary General, delivered a keynote speech in which he highlighted the essential role played by Customs in ensuring the smooth movement of goods and safeguarding the supply chain of medicines and vaccines, while protecting citizens health and safety from the threat posed by illicit trade, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

WCO Secretary General Mikuriya recalled that, in 2020, the WCO, in cooperation with Europol, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and other partners, had conducted Operations STOP I and STOP II targeting the illegal trafficking of medicines and medical supplies linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the second phase also focusing on counterfeit and illicit vaccines. These operations demonstrated the importance of information and intelligence sharing between law enforcement agencies.

More recently, Operation GOALS targeting illegal trafficking in synthetic drugs had also benefited from the support of Europol. Another recent example of this successful cooperation was Operation Pandora, a joint Customs-Police initiative to combat the illegal trafficking of cultural goods, led by the Spanish Guardia Civil and supported by the WCO, Europol and INTERPOL.

The Secretary General also highlighted the WCOs cooperation with other international organizations and partners, such as the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) with whom it had joined forces in the fight against illicit trade in tobacco products. In the area of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), cooperation with the Egmont Group had resulted in the joint publication of the Customs-FIU Cooperation Handbook in March 2020 and the delivery of joint training programmes. The WCO had also developed its cooperation with INTERPOL by holding regular coordination meetings and conducting joint operations such as Operation THUNDER 2020  a month-long global Customs and Police cross-border initiative resulting in significant seizures of illegally traded wildlife and timber species. As part of the WCOs cooperation with OLAF, an automated data transfer system had been set up between the WCOs Customs Enforcement Network (CEN) and OLAFs Customs Information System (CIS+), while various operational activities had been carried out. The WCO had also cooperated with FRONTEX by providing input for its Handbook on Firearms for Border Guards and Customs. Finally, the WCOs cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) had led to the development of the joint Container Control Programme (CCP), which is currently implemented in more than 70 countries.

Dr. Kunio Mikuriya went on to emphasize the importance of the enhanced use and exchange of data and the interconnectivity of Customs/Customs and Customs/Police databases, as well as the WCOs focus on developing its Members data collection and analysis capabilities. To that end, the WCO had developed various applications such as the Customs Enforcement Network (CEN) seizure database; the secure communication system CENcomm; the National Customs Enforcement Network (nCEN), which enables WCO Members to gather and store all types of enforcement data and offers basic data analytics modules; and the Global Travel Assessment System (GTAS), which can be used as a shared tool by Customs, Immigration and Police in connection with air passenger targeting activities.

In support of these various initiatives, the WCOs Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices played a key role in sharing information and intelligence at regional level, as well as in providing added value in the form of operational support, intelligence analysis and the promotion of regional cooperation with Members and other law enforcement agencies.

Looking to the future, Dr. Mikuriya emphasized the need to address human resource issues in Customs and nurture a data culture within Customs administrations. The ultimate aim was to build a Customs data ecosystem, taking into account that the vast amounts of Customs data available are often underutilized. He said that the WCO was supporting its Members by encouraging them to employ a more forward-thinking and data-driven approach and to implement the Capacity Building Framework for Data Analytics, as well as by providing training courses to build capabilities in data science, including machine learning and programming skills.

In conclusion, the Secretary General expressed his support for initiatives not only promoting the exchange of data, but also involving the sharing of risk assessments and intelligence through the development of advanced data analytical skills and use of interconnected Customs and Police databases, resulting in increased Customs-Police cooperation.
Under the umbrella of the WTO Public Forum 2021 (WTO PF21), the World Customs Organization (WCO) hosted a panel session on 29 September 2021 focusing on recovery, renewal and resilience for a sustainable supply chain.

This year's Forum, entitled Trade Beyond COVID-19: Building Resilience, is looking into the effects of the pandemic on trade and how the multilateral trading system can help build resilience to COVID-19 and future crises. Held in hybrid format, with the participation in person and virtually, this three-day forum, which started on 28 September, is the biggest public outreach event on the World Trade Organization (WTO) calendar. Its 102 sessions, organized by civil society groups, academics, international organizations, the private sector, WTO Members and others, covered issues ranging from agriculture to digital trade, and from climate change to geopolitics.

The panel session hosted by the WCO Customs bolstering Recovery, Renewal and Resilience for a sustainable supply chain was moderated by Prof. David Widdowson, President of the International Network of Customs Universities. It brought around the table high-level speakers from Customs administrations, Customs brokers associations, and International Organizations, such as Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, WCO Secretary General, Ms. Tayra Ivonne Barsallo, Director General of the National Customs Authority of Panama, Ms. Carol West, Secretary of the International Federation of Customs Brokers Associations (IFCBA), and Mr. Aik Hoe Lim, Director of Trade and Environment at the WTO.

The panel discussed some of the main challenges faced by Customs, as well as the opportunities offered, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the tremendous growth of e-commerce. Ensuring the smooth flow of parcels across borders, while preventing illicit trade, has been a key objective of Customs during the pandemic. The speakers also debated on what needs to be done to mitigate any obstacles to the further growth of e-commerce.

The panellists acknowledged as well that the automation process in Customs has been expedited, stressing that the momentum for digital transformation should be maintained once the pandemic is over.

The panel explored ways that resilience could remain a priority in a post-recovery scenario, and how Customs and supply chain stakeholders were responding to that need. Lastly, the panellists looked into initiatives, programmes and priorities to ensure an effective and equitable transition towards more inclusive, sustainable and greener supply chains.

More on the WTO Public Forum 2021 and its sessions, including WCO session No. 29 can be found here.
At the invitation of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, WCO Secretary General, spoke at a high-level UN General Assembly online side event - "Regulations as a Stimulus" - held on 28 September 2021. The event was aimed at exploring ways to support the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) through international regulatory reforms, under the slogan "Regulations as a Stimulus", to aid recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic with limited financial resources.

Dr. Mikuriya explained that as Customs was a revenue collection agency, it consequently played an important role in domestic resource mobilization. However, Customs performance could also have a negative impact on economic operators if it lacked efficiency and placed unnecessary regulatory burdens on business. To solve this dilemma, Secretary General Mikuriya described the WCOs approach, based on the 4 Ts of Tools, Technology, Training and Trust.

Firstly, the use of WCO tools, such as the Revised Kyoto Convention, would connect the African economy internally and externally by guiding Customs through the simplification of procedures and the adoption of a risk management approach to minimize unnecessary interventions. Secondly, the WCO provided support for the use of technology to digitize border procedures and move towards paperless trade and contactless clearance, together with interoperability of IT systems using the WCO Data Model to promote single window and transit systems. Thirdly, Customs officers should be well versed in the latest IT tools and technology, with a view to offering high standards of professionalism and integrity. Finally, Customs needed to work with economic operators as partners, based on trust. To that end, the WCO recommended the use of the Authorized Economic Operator concept which granted facilitation measures to recognized trusted business stakeholders.

During the panel session, AfCFTA Champion and former President of Niger H.E. Mahamadou Issoufou joined with other dignitaries to voice support for trade facilitation through implementation of the AfCFTA.
(The Center Square)  A Lafayette Parish judge has dismissed a lawsuit against one of Louisianas largest regional health systems, where dozens of employees sued over a COVID-19 vaccination mandate.

Ochsner Lafayette General employs 4,500 health care workers and staff across seven south Louisiana hospitals. The hospital chains management presented a choice for employees in August: get fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or get fired.

An ensuing dispute came to a head, however, when 48 Ochsner medical professionals and staff members, represented by an attorney who once served as executive counsel former Gov. Bobby Jindal, filed a lawsuit in the 15th Judicial District Court.

Judge Thomas Frederick, however, rejected the entire legal challenge Thursday after three hours of oral arguments.

Frederick said at the outset of the hearing the case was a legal issue, and he would decline to address any medical and scientific arguments outlined in the plaintiffs complaint.

Specifically, did the vaccine mandate transgress a no cause for action employment exception and cause the health care workers an irreparable injury. The judge ruled it did not.

Frederick also said Ochsner Lafayette General is a private employer, as opposed to a public employer or agent of the government, and, therefore, acted within its rights to impose the vaccine mandate and its employment consequences for noncompliance.

Jimmy Faircloth, an attorney representing the Ochsner employees, had anticipated the argument in the plaintiffs complaint but to no avail.

Terminating an employee for exercising his or her right to refuse medical care is facially unlawful, regardless of the nature of the employment. This even applies to at will employees, who are the least protected by law, the lawsuit said.

Faircloth told reporters after the ruling he will appeal the decision.

Everybody knew that this is the first step, and this is not an easy fight," Faircloth said. "This is a tough fight. You have to come out and you have beat the system to do this. So this is just one round.

Theres going to be suits filed all over the state. There are going to be other district judges that rule on these identical issues, and it is going to go through multiple courts of appeal before it gets to the Supreme Court.

The Ochsner lawsuit was one of two Faircloth filed on behalf of Louisiana hospital workers facing COVID-19 vaccination mandates. The other lawsuit is against Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center, which is part of the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, one of the largest in the state.

The Our Lady of Lourdes case will be heard on Thursday by Judge Valerie Gotch Garrett of the 15th Judicial District Court. The complaint mirrors the allegations made against Ochsner, while Our Lady of Lourdes maintains its employee vaccine policy is consistent with the law and appropriate to the circumstances.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-07-01 19:51:37|Editor: huaxia

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LIBREVILLE, July 1 (Xinhua) -- The perpetrators of a failed coup attempt in January 2019 in Gabon were sentenced on Thursday to 15 years in prison, ordered the Special Military Court in Gabon's capital Libreville.

Lieutenant Kelly Ondo Obiang and two of his fellow Republican Guard members were prosecuted for endangering state security, destroying public property, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy and theft.

On the night of January 7, 2019, renegade soldiers stormed the national radio station in Libreville around 4 a.m. local time to announce the establishment of a "national council of the restoration".

In the statement, Kelly Ondo Obiang, then-lieutenant of the Republican Guard, announced that they were disappointed by the message delivered earlier by President Ali Bongo, which "rather heightened doubts about his ability to assume the office of President of the Republic."

In the evening, the Gabonese government had reassured that calm had returned and the situation was under control. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-09 00:01:08|Editor: huaxia

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MANILA, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines has opened its doors to Afghan refugees, Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin said Wednesday night.

"We stay steady where others waver: tonight we welcome Afghan nationals including women and kids seeking refuge," Locsin said on Twitter. "Our doors are open to those fleeing conflict, persecution, sexual abuse and death."

Locsin said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will issue a statement on the matter, stressing "we're not interested in publicity or thanks."

The Philippines has started moving out its citizens from Afghanistan as the Taliban gained control of the country last month with the United States withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan on Aug. 30.

The DFA issued an alert level 4 for Afghanistan "due to the uncertain security situation in the country." Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 13:20:37|Editor: huaxia

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SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export hit a new record high in September thanks to the continued recovery in global demand from the COVID-19 pandemic, a government report showed Friday.

Export, which accounts for about half of the export-driven economy, reached 55.83 billion U.S. dollars in September, up 16.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

It marked the highest since relevant data began to be compiled in 1956, topping the previous high of 55.48 billion dollars tallied in July.

The outbound shipment continued to rise for 11 straight months since November last year, keeping a double-digit increase for the seventh consecutive month.

The daily average export soared 27.9 percent to register a fresh monthly high of 2.66 billion dollars in September.

The shipment surpassed 50 billion dollars for seven months since March as the global demand continued to recover from the pandemic shock.

During the July-September quarter, the country's export logged a new quarterly high of 164.5 billion dollars, bigger than the prior high of 156.8 billion dollars tallied in the second quarter of this year.

For the first nine months of this year, the export posted a new high of 467.7 billion dollars.

Import jumped 31.0 percent from a year earlier to 51.62 billion dollars in September, sending the trade surplus to 4.2 billion dollars. The trade balance stayed in black for 17 months in a row.

Semiconductor export surged 28.2 percent to 12.18 billion dollars in September, continuing to grow for 15 months as the pandemic increased online activity. It was the country's second-highest monthly shipment of chips.

General machinery shipment gained 7.9 percent to 4.48 billion dollars last month, maintaining an upward trend for the seventh straight month owing to the recovery of manufacturing and construction sectors in major economies.

Petrochemical export spiked 51.9 percent to 4.79 billion dollars amid a higher crude oil price, and the export of oil products jumped 78.7 percent to 3.46 billion dollars.

Steel shipment was up 41.8 percent to 3.41 billion dollars, continuing to rise over 40 percent for five months thanks to a higher product price.

Export for mobile devices continued to gain for 11 straight months, and shipment for display panels and computers kept growing for six and seven months respectively.

Shipment for cars and auto parts reduced in single digits in September from a year earlier amid the continued lack of semiconductors used for vehicles.

Export for secondary batteries, biohealth products, textiles and consumer electronics also posted a single-digit slide due to fewer business days, caused by the Chuseok holiday, a South Korean version of Thanksgiving Day.

Export to China, South Korea's biggest trading partner, expanded 17.3 percent to 14.3 billion dollars in September, continuing an upward momentum for 11 months in a row.

Shipment to the United States and the European Union (EU) gained in double digits to 8.01 billion dollars and 5.42 billion dollars each, keeping an upward trend for 13 months.

Export to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) increased 16.8 percent to 9.61 billion dollars on solid demand for chips, display panels and oil products. It continued to rise for the seventh consecutive month.

Shipment to Japan and the Central and South American countries was up in double figures, and those to India and the Middle East logged a single-digit growth last month. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 13:23:10|Editor: huaxia

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CANBERRA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Australia's international border will reopen in November after being closed for 18 months amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday announced that international travel to and from Australia will resume as states and territories approach 80 percent of the adult population fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Under the reopening plan, fully vaccinated Australian citizens and permanent residents will be able to quarantine at home for seven days on arrival in the country rather than for 14 days at hotels.

It is reliant on states and territories reaching the 80 percent vaccination milestone for their over-16s and agreeing to implement home quarantine, trials of which are currently underway in South Australia (SA) and New South Wales (NSW).

"It's time to give Australians their lives back," Morrison told reporters. "We must work together to ensure that Australians can reclaim the lives that they once had in this country."

The changes mean that fully vaccinated Australians will be able to freely leave and enter the country for the first time since March 2020.

It marks an end to international arrival caps that have left tens of thousands of Australians stranded overseas unable to secure flights home.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has advised that China's Sinovac and India's Covishield will be considered "recognized vaccines", paving the way for the return of international students to the country.

Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines have previously been approved by the TGA.

Morrison said the federal government would provide support to states that follow SA and NSW in implementing home quarantine.

"To maximise the number of Australians who can return, our government is also offering facilitated flights into any state or territory that agrees to commence seven day home quarantine trials for returning Australians," he said.

In a media release on Friday, Australian Airports Association (AAA) Chief Executive James Goodwin said airports would be ready to welcome back increasing numbers of Australians from overseas when quarantine arrangements begin to ease and passenger caps are lifted from November.

"This is just the first step to reopen Australia with work needed now on the next phase of the framework where we can welcome back international tourists and other important cohorts such as business people, students and skilled workers," he said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 13:32:23|Editor: huaxia

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CANBERRA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced his latest ministry reshuffle on Friday.

Morrison promoted two of his close political allies in a Cabinet shake-up triggered by the resignation of Christian Porter from his role as the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology earlier in September.

Porter, who previously served as the attorney-general, stood down after accepting an anonymous donation to fund personal legal fees.

Morrison announced that Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor would take on the industry portfolio and Melissa Price, the minister for defence industry, will take on science and technology.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, considered Morrison's closest political ally, has been promoted to Cabinet, the innermost sanctum of the government, after overseeing Australia's evacuation efforts from Kabul.

West Australian Member of Parliament (MP) Ben Morton, who has served as Morrison's assistant minister since the 2019 election, was named the special minister of state and the public service minister.

Price was returned to Cabinet in March after being demoted following the 2019 election.

"These changes provide a timely opportunity to reinforce some of the key issues that the government is progressing," Morrison told reporters.

"I recently promoted Melissa again to the Cabinet and she's been hitting the marks and doing a terrific job and it's great to have her in the new roles." Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 18:02:48|Editor: huaxia

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A zookeeper presents a giant panda cub to the public during its debut at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 1, 2021. Malaysians on Friday flocked to Zoo Negara, the country's national zoo, eager to lay eyes on the third giant panda cub born in Malaysia which is being unveiled to the public for the first time. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Malaysians on Friday flocked to Zoo Negara, the country's national zoo, eager to lay eyes on the third giant panda cub born in Malaysia which is being unveiled to the public for the first time.

The as yet unnamed giant panda cub was born in May, bringing the total number of giant pandas housed at the Giant Panda Conservation Center to four. It is also the first male giant panda born in Malaysia, following his two sisters Nuan Nuan and Yi Yi.

The giant panda cub is in good health and currently weighs about 7.4 kg, Giant Panda Conservation Center's director Mat Naim Ramli told Xinhua.

"We have taken precautions to secure all the animals at the zoo as a result of the pandemic. Special precautions are being taken by all staff for all animals to prevent any health risks.

"The public is encouraged here to see the pandas and other attractions we have at the zoo," he said, adding that the cub would be on display in a special viewing enclosure twice a day.

Visitors were seen lining up to buy tickets to enter the zoo, with admittance granted to those fully vaccinated in line with the government's efforts to open up more sectors including recreational areas to the public since Oct. 1.

The parents of the third cub, Xing Xing and Liang Liang, arrived in Malaysia in 2014, marking the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China.

Coincidently, the third baby panda was born on May 31, which marked the 47th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The date Oct. 1 of its debut also marked the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The first Malaysian-born giant panda Nuan Nuan was born on Aug. 18, 2015, while the second Yi Yi was born on Jan. 14, 2018. Nuan Nuan returned to China in November 2017 after turning two years old. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 20:47:44|Editor: huaxia

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PHNOM PENH, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia exported 203,279 tons of milled rice to China in the first nine months of 2021, up 18 percent over the same period last year, Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon said on Friday.

China is the top buyer of Cambodia's milled rice, followed by the European Union, he said, adding that the export to China accounted for 49.5 percent of Cambodia's total rice export during the Jan.-Sept. period this year.

The Southeast Asian nation sold 104,222 tons of milled rice to the European market, down 35.5 percent, the minister said, adding that the European market absorbed 25 percent of the overall market destinations.

Overall, Cambodia exported a total of 410,698 tons of milled rice to more than 60 countries and regions, down 16 percent, Sakhon said, adding that the kingdom earned 350 million U.S. dollars in revenue from the commodity's export.

Besides rice, the country had also shipped several other agricultural products to China including cassava, cashew nuts, bananas and mangos, the minister said.

He added that some 39,519 tons of cassava chips and starch, 3,897 tons of cashew nuts, 301,629 tons of fresh bananas, 11,794 tons of mango jams, and 212 tons of fresh mangos had been sold to China during the first nine months of this year. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 21:02:45|Editor: huaxia

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PHNOM PENH, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia dispatched the eighth batch of 298 soldiers to join a United Nations peacekeeping mission in the conflict-torn West African nation of Mali on Friday.

The peacekeepers would replace the seventh batch, whose one-year term had come to an end, Gen. Sem Sovanny, director-general of the National Centre for Peacekeeping Forces, said during a sending-off ceremony at the Phnom Penh international airport.

"In Mali, our peacekeepers are divided into two groups. One will be responsible for explosive ordnance disposal and the other in charge of airport repairs and maintenance," he said.

Sovanny added that they all had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and had tested negative for the disease before their departure.

Since 2006 to date, the Southeast Asian nation has sent a total of 7,826 personnel, including 494 women, to join UN peacekeeping missions in Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Chad, Syria, Lebanon and Mali, he said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 21:18:20|Editor: huaxia

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COLOMBO, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank on Friday approved 500 million U.S. dollars in financing for Sri Lanka to provide safe, climate-resilient roads to connect agricultural supply chains through the Inclusive Connectivity and Development Project.

In a statement, the World Bank said this project is expected to benefit around 16 million people living in rural communities in selected districts of Sri Lanka.

In Sri Lanka, roads carry around 95 percent of passengers and 98 percent of cargo. While nearly all national roads are paved, only 67 percent of provincial roads and 13 percent of rural roads are in good condition.

Sri Lanka also has the highest rate of road fatalities in South Asia with around 3,000 deaths per year, the World Bank statement said.

An uninterrupted road network is crucial to link rural communities to health and education services and other economic opportunities and to connect small-holder farmers to domestic and international markets, the statement added.

"Improving access to basic services and economic opportunities in rural areas, and reducing regional disparities in economic development, is critical for promoting inclusion and opportunities for all," said Faris Hadad-Zervos, Country Director of the World Bank for Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

"The project will also create many short-term employment opportunities, which will help advance the post-pandemic recovery," Faris added.

This project is part of the development program to improve 100,000 km of rural roads, a key initiative under the Government's national development strategy.

"The project will help develop green and climate-resilient transport and agricultural logistics, and mainstream climate resilience practices in infrastructure planning and investments for a more resilient future for Sri Lanka," said Winnie Wang, World Bank Task Team Leader of the Project.

The project will build on the ongoing provincial and rural roads rehabilitation initiatives under the World Bank- financed Transport Connectivity and Asset Management Project and the Asian Development Bank-funded Integrated Road Investment Programs - iRoad I and II. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-01 22:42:49|Editor: huaxia

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JAKARTA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Police have arrested four Indonesian hackers on suspicion of an international scam that harmed companies in South Korea and China's Taiwan involving a total of 84.8 billion rupiahs (about 5.94 million U.S. dollars), a police officer said on Friday.

The Indonesian Police's Director of Cyber, Brigadier General Asep Edi Suheri, said the suspects sent fake emails with notification of a change in the account number of a company to its partners.

"Then the company partners transfer the fund to that account," Suheri explained.

With this Business Email Compromise (BEC) fraud scheme that has been carried out since last year, a food and beverage company SW in South Korea lost 82 billion rupiahs (about 5.74 million dollars), while a technology company WWHF in China's Taiwan has lost 2.8 billion rupiahs (about 200,000 dollars).

The police have secured evidence, namely 29 billion rupiahs (about 2 million dollars) in cash, two mobile phones, 14 automatic teller machine cards, and a number of fake company data.

The suspects identified as CT, NTS, YH, and SA have been arrested, and the police are still looking for a number of other suspects. Enditem
opinion

There is a growing interest in the issue of decentralisation of political, administrative, economic and financial dimensions.

Its concern has come in the context of the trend that aims to expand the participation of citizens and their role in the process of governance, which tries to reduce the role of the state in producing and directing the management.

It allows giving the private sector and civil society institutions a greater role in the process of development.

The implementation of decentralisation in Namibia was introduced in 2000 (Decentralisation Enabling Act, Act 33 of 2000).

The main concept of decentralisation is to encourage public participation in matters regarding institutional management. Decentralisation may contribute to reducing disparities because of greater transparency and by bringing more efficiency and equalisation.

Fiscal decentralisation has become endearing mainly due to the consideration that it will boost the efficiency of public expenditures, and the fact that it is seen as a means of breaking the central government's grip on the economy by shifting fiscal authority to subnational governments.

The process of fiscal decentralisation has not been without problems. In many instances, municipalities lack capacity both in terms of skills and finances.

The optimisation of intergovernmental grants from national to municipal governments also serves as a base for many disputes that cause central governments to be extremely sensitive to hard budget constraints and, therefore, effective and prudent fiscal control are instituted.

There are negative reasons, such as decentralisation weakening monitoring, control, and audit by central agencies, thereby creating opportunities for corruption. Fiscal decentralisation affects a variety of socio-economic aspects, which include improving the public sector's efficiency and governance, achievement of macroeconomic stability and fiscal sustainability.

The link between technology and economic growth can ensure a persistent impact of fiscal system of government on economic growth.

Technology is one aspect that contributes a higher percentage to the changes that we experience in the modern day world.

It is necessary that these two aspects be integrated to ensure the economic growth that comes as an impact of fiscal principle is steady.

Considering that, the main objective of fiscal is to enhance economic growth.

Although, there are lots of strategies and policies that have been put forward as solutions to poverty, there is a global call for fiscal decentralisation.

Fiscal decentralisation is viewed as one of the plausible solutions for the alleviation of poverty over the years in most countries and also in Namibia.

Namibian is one of the countries that adopted the policy of decentralising. Basically, fiscal decentralisation in Namibia involves the shifting of responsibilities for both revenue raising and expenditure spending to subnational levels of government.

In order for the anti-poverty intervention to be a success, it is crucial to firstly identify the poor and their characteristics, what causes or factors lead to poverty - and once the two elements are known, the specific policy can be designed and implemented to improve living standards.

The implementation of these policies should however be cost effective, with institutions that complement the policy stance.

Fiscal decentralisation enters into poverty alleviation in a number of ways; for instance, the closer the policy implementers are to the target group, the information costs in identifying the poor and the cost of designing successful policies reduces.

The specific transfers' policy ensures the poor get access to specified services that increase their consumption entitlements and also improve their earning capacity.

This policy leads to the provision of services to the poor, irrespective of whether they are from rich or poor regions.

The types of anti-poverty interventions that fall under this specific-purpose transfer in a multi-level fiscal system are employment policies targeted to the poor, provision of basic education and health, as well as housing facilities to targeted groups.

Poor people are concentrated in poorer regions, where they do not have proper access to basic services and infrastructure. Therefore, the growth accelerating strategy is to provide transfers to reduce these fiscal disabilities of the poor regions so that they can provide improved levels of public services at comparable tax rates.

So, it is crucial to correct these inequities by providing general purpose transfers to fiscal localities that are disadvantaged.

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The choice is left to the locals whether they provide the required standard of living, but most important is that it improves the poorer regions - even though the transfers are not specifically targeted to the poor but they will benefit from the general increase in the region.

All in all, general purpose transfers should enable the fiscally disadvantaged sub-national units to provide comparable levels of public services at comparable tax rates.

Specific transfers should ensure specified services, impacting directly on poverty, are provided at the required quantities.

In conclusion, fiscal decentralisation responds positively and significantly to real household consumption expenditure per capita. However, major interest is on the role of fiscal decentralisation in poverty reduction. It is also possible that the local municipalities are not as effective and efficient as the national government in implementing policies and programmes that are pro-poor in nature. Further, corruption could also limit the benefits of fiscal decentralisation. Based on this, the Namibian government needs to reassess its fiscal framework regarding its expenditure strategies to ensure adequate capabilities at the local government level to discharge their expenditure roles in a way that will yield reduction in poverty in Namibia.
Rape has for years been highlighted as a concern as the violation of the survivors impacts them for the rest of their lives.

The growing number of these vile incidents and the many unreported cases, however, shows that it continues unabated, often perpetrated by those closest to the victims.

The Namibian Police say the country has recorded 690 rape cases from January to August 2021.

According to the gender equality and child welfare ministry, about 1 566 children were sexually violated, while 883 were physically abused between 2019 and 2021.

New Era spoke to a survivor and a convicted rapist to try to understand the prevalence of rape in Namibia.

Selma (not her real name) is just one among thousands of victims who suffered at the hands of sexual predators.

"I was my dad's sex slave for almost five years. He would sneak into my bedroom every time my mother was working nightshift, tie my hands on the bed, and force himself onto me," the rape survivor shared the shocking tale of how she was raped by the man society expects to protect her. "He threatened to kill me if I tell anyone about it. While most people see their homes as safe places, I felt like I was a prisoner in my own home", cried Selma.

She grew up in a house where domestic and sexual abuse was a regular occurrence. It was an open secret - something known, but not spoken about.

Her relationship with her father, who is now deceased, suddenly turned abusive when she turned 15.

"He would touch me inappropriately and always say I am ripe. I don't even remember how many times he raped me because it became a norm, and every night when my mom was not home, he would have sex with me.

It had gotten to such a point where I did not scream anymore; I let him do whatever he wanted to do," she narrated her ordeal.

Selma's experience with multiple incidents of sexual assault by her father left her feeling self-conscious and blaming herself. "I have made several attempts to run away from home, but a part of me thought that was how he showed he loved me."

The abuse only stopped when she turned 20 years old and moved to Windhoek to pursue her studies.

'Fearful'

Asked if she has ever reported the assault or told anyone about it, Selma said she never had the courage to.

She feared that nobody would believe her and the truth would destroy their family, especially because everyone in the family depended on him.

"I was also made to believe that highly connected people are untouchable, and that is what my mother told me when I finally opened up to her three years ago. My mother, who was also being physically abused, never got the justice she needed," said the survivor.

The abuse and trauma had serious effects on Selma's life, including an inability to maintain relationships, suicidal thoughts, and fear of giving birth to a girl. To this day, Selma is also "sensitive to unexpected touch".

"The abuse haunts me daily. I have become too fragile, withdrawn and self-conscious. The thought of men just freaks me out, to be honest," she sobbed. Now 32, Selma is not fully healed from the experience. However, she bravely shared her story to give hope to other victims of sexual assault.

"There is nothing like completely healing from the rape trauma as the feelings of shame, embarrassment, self-consciousness, sadness and anger all hit us at different times. But I am finally comfortable to share my story to give hope to the hopeless. I want everyone going through a similar situation as me to know that they are not alone. We are in this together," she added.

Twelve years after the last rape incident, Selma is still receiving medical and psychological treatment, but says she still bears the wounds of the assault.

Through the eyes of an ex-offender

Meanwhile, aconvicted rapist who says his stint in jail helped him to rehabilitate, shared his experience of being imprisoned for six years, and wants to help fight the prevalence of rape in Namibia. In 2014, Uazenga Tjamuaha, now 29 years old, and three others were convicted of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl in 2008. Tjamuaha, who was only 14 at the time, said he was swayed into raping their fellow learner at the Okakarara Secondary School.

"It was peer pressure. As a teenager at that time, I would do everything my friends would do because I would not want to be called boring and all sorts of names," he said softly as he recounted the day he and his peers violated and assaulted their schoolmate. "I could hear her crying, screaming and pleading with us to stop hurting her, but we continued raping her. All four of us, taking turns. All we wanted in that moment was to satisfy our needs."

Tjamuaha, who is willing to own up to his wrongs, said he acknowledges that he will never be able to repair the damage he did to her.

"I really don't have an answer as to why I raped her. Nothing can ever justify my deeds. My worst regret is causing harm to such an innocent soul, but I will never regret going to prison because it taught me much about humanity," he added.

"Every human being deserves respect and dignity, especially women. I went through the rehabilitation programme, which exposed me to a new world. I started seeing the world differently."

Asked how he feels to be labelled a rapist, Tjamuaha said he has had to deal with being called names since the day he committed the crime.

"At this point, I am not afraid of being called a rapist. You can ridicule me, judge me, but please also learn from my mistakes," he observed.

Life after prison for many former inmates is anything but a cakewalk. Surely, they have their freedom back, but they also face a host of challenges as they integrate back into society.

The most widely known obstacles are unemployment, roadblocks in the areas of public assistance, adoptive and foster parenting, and so forth. "That mistake I have made has destroyed the rest of my life. Till now, I can't even be employed as a security guard because of what I have done," he said with regret.

If there is one thing Tjamuaha would like to teach other rapists is to own up to their wrong deeds, and help combat rape.

"We should be the first people to fight these types of crimes that we caused ourselves. We have caused so much damage in society, and we need to fix the mess we have caused. Change starts with us," he advised.

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Social worker

Renowned social worker and advisor to the First Lady and Gender and Child Protection specialist Veronica Theron said her experience of working with both perpetrators and rape victims has been complex. "The majority of sexual assault cases are perpetrated by people known to the survivor, and that makes it more complicated. Rape remains one of the most underreported cases in the country," she explained.

In 2016, the Office of the First Lady conducted a research study on 65 hardcore criminals, being those who were incarcerated for rape, murder and gender-based violence acts. Some of the key findings from that study were dysfunctional families, the impact on the boy child, fatherlessness, rejection, lack of love, the importance of the first 1 000 days in the child's life, and undealt with trauma that perpetuates violence later in life.

"Not all rapists rape for the same reason. We have different kinds of sex offenders; some rape for sexual gratification, some are anger rapists and paedophiles. Sometimes it can be patriarchy, mental disorder and negative gender norms, so I am conscious not to say these are all root causes that contributed to the high number of rape cases in the country," she added.

Asked what can be done to curb rape in the country, Theron said "children need to be taught about basic safety measures. To end the rape culture, perpetrators must be held accountable. Establish policies of zero tolerance for sexual harassment and violence in the spaces of work, church, school and in our communities in general."
No stranger to the local music scene, Cassidy Karon is a multitalented musician, fashion designer, songwriter and producer.

He is a seven-time Namibian Annual Music Awards (NAMAs) winner as a member of hip-hop duo, Paradox; has appeared on international television channels such as CNN; and was nominated for 2020 Namas Best Hip Hop, Best Kwaito, Best Newcomer and Male Artist of the Year.

"I'm an electronic musician. Experimentation is pivotal to my identity," said Cassidy, who considers himself as a student of life.

He launched his new album 'Katutura's favourite son' earlier this week and the audience can experience his latest tracks for the very first time on stage tonight at the Night Under the Stars (NUTS) concert at the Goethe-Institut Namibia.

Inspired by what he learns from experiences, Cassidy writes about everyday life in Katutura from the perspective of appreciation.

"I try to celebrate who we are and what we're capable of as a community and act as a voice and reference for children who want to take an alternative approach to life. I celebrate being black and from Katutura."

Cassidy grounds himself within the aspiration to become a catalyst for change in his community.

"I spread a homegrown narrative of hope and overcoming difficulties we face in our communities. I have experienced the Namibian struggle, as well as Namibian victory at the highest level."

Cassidy is of the opinion that players in the local music scene are afraid to push themselves creatively and thus are too concerned about trends instead of developing creatively.

Tonight's concert begins at 19h00. Entrance is N$20 and seats are limited due to social distancing regulations.
press release

Minister Fritz welcomes Liquor Authority Report, asks residents for cooperation in calling for end to National State of Disaster

Today, the Minister of Community Safety, Albert Fritz, welcomes reports of enforcement activities by the Western Cape Liquor Authority.

Minister Fritz calls on residents to play their part in being responsible in their alcohol consumption, especially over the weekend, to ensure that our health system continues to manage - as it has done over the last year and a half. This will assist greatly in the call for an end to the National State of Disaster made by Premier Allan Winde yesterday.

The report from the Western Cape Liquor Authority on enforcement activity indicates that over the past week, 282 inspections were conducted, with 137 inspections focused on underage drinking. Four integrated operations with SAPS and/or LEAP were conducted, with 36 compliance notices issued to license holders, and five non-compliance notices submitted for prosecution.

Thirteen license holders were prosecuted for possible contraventions of the Act and/or licence conditions. A further seven licence holders were fined, with fines valuing R120 000.

Inspections were conducted in a total of 47 areas, as geographically diverse as Franschhoek, Cape Town City, Stellenbosch, Scottsdene, Newlands, Khayelitsha, Milnerton, Ceres and Woodstock. The four integrated operations with law enforcement were conducted in Kraaifontein, Dunoon and Joe Slovo, Lwandle and Thembalethu.

Minister Fritz said, "the vast majority of our residents work with us in ensuring that alcohol is consumed responsibly and I want to thank them for this. We want all our residents to do the same, and that is why I encourage you to please be responsible and adhere to the rule of law."

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Minister Fritz continued, "as the Provincial Government, we are calling for a less centralized approach to managing the pandemic going forward. We are asking for a system that is able to respond to different provinces and local municipalities differently, based on things like rates of infection and capacity in specific areas. Residents have an important role in making this happen, through their own behaviour. There is no better example of citizens playing a part than in responsible alcohol consumption."

Minister Fritz concluded, "I would therefore like to ask everyone to be mindful of the dangers associated with excessive alcohol consumption, especially over the weekend. The Western Cape Liquor Authority and other law enforcement agencies are preparing to conduct operations and respond to complaints to ensure the safety of all our citizens. Please enjoy yourselves responsibly."

Anyone who witnesses any criminal acts, or who has any other information that will assist SAPS in making arrests, are urged to telephone the SAPS Command Centre at 021 466 0011.
Representatives Karen Bass (left) and Ilhan Omar meeting at the U.S. Capitol with Namibian President Hage Geingob, seated next to the Namibian Ambassador to the United States, Margaret Mensah-Williams.

Washington, DC  President Hage G. Geingob held today, 27 September 2021, a meeting at the Capitol Hill with members of Congress to discuss ways to further strengthen commercial ties between Namibia and the United States of America, as well as reinforcing US-Africa business relations to unlock opportunities for economic development.

In attendance were Congresswomen and Congressman, Rep. Karen Bass (House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Chair of Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health), Rep. Hank Johnson (House Committee on Oversight and Reform), Rep. Barbara Lee (Budget Committee) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (Higher Education and Career Readiness Committee) who all emphasized the need to do more for the partnership with Africa and Namibia in particular.

President Geingob thanked the Government of the United States of America for donations of Covid-19 vaccines, including Pfizer, which was recently delivered to the Namibian Government. The Head of State outlined the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the efforts of Government to fight the virus, but also lauded in the same vein the unity of purpose, which has been demonstrated by world leaders and humanity at large.

Thanking the Representatives for the crucial role some of them played in the liberation of Namibia, President Geingob informed that the purpose of freedom was to guarantee liberties. The governance architecture of Namibia was grounded on rule of law, including processes, systems and institutions, which protect rights of individuals.

However, notwithstanding guarantees of political liberties and as a country boasting the freest press in Africa, during the second phase of the struggle, it was about providing economic opportunities to the majority of Namibians for them to live normal and dignified lives, the President emphasized.

President Geingob underscored the fact that Namibia would continue to pursue an independent foreign policy, consistent with her national interests and developmental objectives. President Geingob welcomed the possibility of Namibia benefiting from a second Compact under the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

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Following a presentation by Starz, the meeting focussed on opportunities to locate Namibia as a destination for filmmakers and the development of the Namibian film industry in general. The Namibian delegation informed that the filmmaking industry was receiving increasing priority and the Namibian Government was keen to pursue opportunities with Starz.

The Namibian delegation led by the President, included, Hon. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Ambassador Margaret Mensah-Williams, Hon. Tom Alweendo, Hon. Ipumbu Shiimi, Hon. Obeth Kandjoze, Press Secretary Dr. Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari and the Economic Advisor, Mr. James Mnyupe.

Through the 5 pillars of the Harambee Prosperity Plan II, members of the delegation made sector contributions about growing exports to the US, unlocking opportunities for development finance, agriculture, logistics, mining and renewable energy, with an emphasis on green hydrogen. Opportunities identified for the strengthening of a film industry, for deepening a renewable ecosystem and logistics hub will be pursued through the relevant line Ministries.
analysis

A mere three years since opening, FYN in Cape Town has cracked a new place in the World's 50 Best Restaurants 100 to 51 list.

With all the doom and gloom we've endured, we more than deserve a celebratory story, a slap up meal and a fabulous bottle of wine. So let's applaud some very fine achievements in two major global competitions: World's Best Vineyards and World's 50 Best Restaurants.

Of the hundred vineyards, 10 are in the Western Cape; and ahead of The World's 50 Best Restaurants, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, which will be named at a ceremony in Antwerp, Flanders, on Tuesday, October 5, 2021, the 100-51 list was released last week which included La Colombe returning in 81st place, and newcomer FYN at number 92.

Guests don't want overcomplicated food, but they do want exquisitely and expertly cooked food, using exciting ingredients that tell a story - Peter Tempelhoff, FYN. (Photo: Supplied)

Said Karl Lambour, GM at Tokara (number 97, Vineyards): "You know, in South Africa, we all suffer from a little humility when we are put on the world stage and we tend to underestimate our offering. Perhaps this accolade will go a little...
Weak Borders, Weak Govt Makes Sudan a Terror Target - Analyst

The fragile nature of the security situation in Sudan was exposed by a deadly gunfight in Gabra on September 29, 2021. Authorities arrested 11 alleged terror suspects following the battle in which five Sudan General Intelligence Service members were killed.

Sudan's history of terrorism goes back to the 1970s and was amplified during the 1990s, when it harboured A-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. It was also found to have assisted Al-Qaeda in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Only after the ouster of former president Omar al-Bashir and the payment of U.S.$335 million in compensation to the victims of several terror attacks, did Washington remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terror.

Analysts have blamed the current violence on the presence of foreign militants in the country and the transitional nature of the military-civilian government that has governed Sudan since 2019, when al-Bashir was ousted by the military after months of protests.

Khalifa Sidiq, a professor at the International University of Africa in Khartoum who is an expert on Islamist groups, told the Voice of America that Sudan's proximity to other troubled states contributes to the problem.
"En este Gobierno apostamos por la inversion privada, con transparencia y sin corrupcion", presidente @PedroCastilloTe tras la firma de la ultima adjudicacion para la construccion del nuevo terminal de pasajeros del Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chavez.#GobiernoDelBicentenario pic.twitter.com/9AkBalQ9GW
? El presidente @PedroCastilloTe destaco la labor de los periodistas del pais, y expreso su saludo al conmemorarse el dia de las mujeres y hombres del periodismo. Ademas, ratifico el compromiso del Gobierno con la libertad de prensa.

?? https://t.co/GAp32CkB2s #DiaDelPeriodista pic.twitter.com/LxD4FDaCO4
11:07 | Lima, Sep. 30.

Along these lines, the Cabinet member said one of the main elements is the progress of the vaccination process, which in recent weeks has enabled the population vaccinated with both doses to climb from 14% to 36%, and to 51% those inoculated with the first dose.









In this sense, the minister said a decentralized strategy has been implemented to immunize the entire population, taking into account Peru's heterogeneous geography composed of jungle, mountains, and vast deserts.





"Brigades are deployed throughout the country, uniting the message of vaccine with the fight for life and with joy, providing a festive mood (to the vaccination events) ," he stressed.





The government official added that one of the problems facing the vaccination process is the number of doses required.





"We understand that it not only has to do with the fact that many countries have acquired and secured stocks of vaccines, but frankly it seems that laboratories have seen in the shortage of vaccines, in distributing vaccines in a limited manner, a big business," Cevallos indicated.





He also deemed as urgent the need to put an end to the licenses granting exclusivity over the production of vaccines to a group of companies.
El jefe de Estado, @PedroCastilloTe, se comprometio en destrabar los proyectos de desarrollo de los municipios provinciales y distritales, durante el II Congreso Macro Regional de Alcaldes del Bicentenario, en Ilo, region Moquegua. pic.twitter.com/rqn7EgyXlh
Presidente @PedroCastilloTe: Este domingo realizaremos el lanzamiento de la segunda reforma agraria, donde estaremos del lado del campesino y de aquellos que garantizan la alimentacion de los peruanos y de nuestra ninez. pic.twitter.com/dXUyAdcb5T
"On September 28, 2021, the Court certified Peru's request for the extradition of Alejandro Toledo Manrique. () Toledo is currently on bail pursuant to an Order issued by the Court on March 19, 2020," a motion submitted by Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds read.





The document said the Court "shall issue a warrant for the commitment of the person so charged to the proper jail, there to remain until such surrender shall be made."





Likewise, it affirmed that "given the Court's decision on certification, Toledo is no longer eligible for bail because the extradition statute, 18 U.S.C.  3184, expressly requires detention of fugitives following such a decision."





Moroeover, "even if bail were available, Toledo presents a significant risk of flight, and no special circumstances justify his release."





"The Court should revoke its March 19, 2020, order and remand Toledo to the custody of the United States Marshal pending the Secretary of State 's decision on Toledo's surrender to Peru and, if warranted, his transfer to the custody of Peruvian authorities," the document said.





It also indicated that "this case is now in a fundamentally different posture than it was over a year-and-a-half ago when Toledo was released from custody. Not only has the Court certified Toledo for extradition and rejected his arguments in defense thereof, but the circumstances supporting his release have also changed. Accordingly, Toledo should no longer be afforded release on bail."





In July 2019, the Court ordered that Toledo be detained. During the first months of the extradition proceedings he was incarcerated at Santa Rita Jail and Maguire Correctional Facility, considering that there was a risk of flight.

However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was released on March 20, 2020, to serve house arrest wearing an electronic shackle.





In remarks to EFE news agency, Toledo said he would submit a "habeas corpus" following Tuesday's decision. If accepted by U.S. Justice, the "habeas corpus" could temporarily suspend the extradition process, although it is not automatic. The Court would rather have to explicitly order it.





According to the Peruvian Prosecutor's Office, 75-year-old Toledo would have received up to US$35 million from the construction company Odebrecht in exchange for favoring the Brazilian company in its business in Peru, when he was still President of the Republic.
" " The American mink (Neovison vison) is a non-native species in Europe and, due to escapes from fur farms since the 1950s, has become a threat to many animals, especially the European mink (Mustela lutreola). Fotosearch/Getty Images

It's possible you've heard of a mink, and it's also possible that the thing that pops into your head when you hear that word is Marilyn Monroe in a fur coat. But of course a natural fur coat is made of animal skins; in the parlance of our times, a "mink" is a coat  an astronomically expensive one  made of the pelts of a type of weasel called a mink, which is raised in captivity for the purpose of providing rich people with cozy outerwear.

But what makes mink fur such a desirable material for glamorous bolero jackets  and why we've been trapping and wearing mink since at least the 11th century  is also what helps a mink survive in the wild. Two species of mink exist on planet Earth today  one other, the sea mink (Neovision macrodon), is now extinct due to a couple of centuries of persecution by fur trappers. Both surviving species have thick, soft, water-repellant fur (as did the extinct mink).

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Both the American mink (Neovison vison) and the critically endangered European mink (Mustela lutreola) are semi-aquatic, sticking close to waterways  streams, rivers, wetlands, lakes, etc.  where they can find all the foods they like to eat best: frogs, birds, clams, eggs, aquatic insects and small mammals like rabbits and mice. They love slinking around rocky riverbanks in the early morning and evening and, during the heat of the day, repairing to their luxurious multi-chambered burrows lined with grass, fur and feathers. They're extremely tricky to trap because they're smart and suspicious, but we humans are, if nothing else, great at devising ingenious ways of killing stuff, so we've managed to put mink in a precarious existential position.

The American mink is doing pretty well in the wild: They can be found in parts of every state in the U.S. except Arizona, and aren't uncommon throughout their natural range. In fact, they are also not uncommon in other places in the world, including the traditional range of the European mink, which is native to Europe and Eurasia.

How the American Mink Immigrated to Europe

American mink were brought to Europe in the early 20th century in order to satisfy the European passion for fur garments. By the 1950s, at least 400 registered mink fur farms existed in the U.K. alone  all stocked with American mink, the species of choice for the fur industry, since they are larger-bodied than the European species and their coats are a bit longer and denser.

But it's predictably difficult to hold a weasel captive, and the American mink that had spent a few generations on European farms escaped and became naturalized citizens of Europe. And it turns out they were very aggressive towards the locals  feral farm-raised mink and their offspring began killing European mink and their kits.

"It is important to consider that feral American mink is not the same as native American mink in North America," says Dr. Inigo Zuberogoitia, a researcher in the Department of Environmental Studies at Estudios Medioambientales Icarus in Logrono, Spain. "Feral American mink is like a 'new' species created by humans after decades of breeding in captivity  they do not behave in the same way as wild American mink in their native range."

An example of altered behavior in feral American mink in Europe has to do with territory  wild males of both species are normally very territorial and don't put up with other males sharing their area. Feral American mink, on the other hand, don't seem to mind sharing space with each other.

"In this way, in rivers where it once was possible to find one European mink male and between 3 and 4 females, you can now find as many as 30 American mink," says Zuberogoitia. "The predation pressure in the area is extremely strong."

As a result of this ecological debacle, the European mink is one of the most endangered animals in Europe  the population has plummeted by over 50 percent in the past decade, and although competition from the American mink certainly isn't helping matters, European mink are also hunted by humans and have long been the victims of human-driven habitat loss. Activists and researchers are working against the clock to save the species.

Meanwhile, mink farms flourish worldwide. Mink accounts for 85 percent of the global fur trade, and fur is still a popular material in haute couture (in 2016, two thirds of major fall fashion week shows worldwide included fur). The mink fur industry in the United States grosses around $300 million a year (there are farms in 23 states), but a few European countries outstrip America's farmed fur production. Meanwhile, the mink fur business is booming in China, a country with a lot of newly wealthy citizens in the market for luxury items, coupled with very few animal welfare regulations.

Now That's Interesting In 2017, two animal rights activists released between 30,000 - 40,000 mink from a fur farm in Minnesota. Most of the mink died immediately due to heat or killed each other when recollected in different social groupings.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and the Czech Republic are making high-level efforts to develop the bilateral economic and business relations, trying to utilize the great potential in the field of mutual partnership.

On October 1, the Armenian Chamber of Commerce together with the Czech side organized an Armenian-Czech Business Forum in Yerevan.

The official opening ceremony was attended by Armenias Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jakub Kulhanek.

In his welcoming remarks, FM Mirzoyan said the Armenian side encourages the Czech businessmen and investors and will provide them with all necessary conditions for running a business in Armenia.

This is a wonderful occasion to raise the Armenian-Czech economic relations to a qualitatively new level, establish new business ties, as well as for the further productive cooperation. Todays forum is also a good opportunity to talk about the economic diplomacy. The upgrading of economic diplomacy mechanisms and its implementation is one of the key activity directions of Armenias foreign ministry. It would allow to significantly raise the inflow of foreign investments, the external trade turnover volumes, promote advanced technologies and exchange process of experience, increasing tourism volumes, contribute to the intensification of cooperation between Armenian and foreign businesses. Given this, we promote and will provide all conditions for the Czech businessmen and investors to be maximally engaged in Armenia. The favorable business climate, the ongoing economic reforms, the conditions for investments, Armenias security and freedom are wonderful preconditions for foreign investments, Ararat Mirzoyan said.

In this context the FM emphasized that Armenias membership to the Eurasian Economic Union, the GSP+ trade regime with the European Union and the GSP regime with the United States, Japan, Canada, Norway and Switzerland, raise Armenias investment attractiveness and effective cooperation opportunities with the foreign partners.

He stated that even during the COVID-19 pandemic, certain progress was registered in the development of the Armenian-Czech commercial cooperation, however, he noted that there is still a huge potential which is not utilized and for that purpose the sides must carry out a targeted work.

As a prospective cooperation sector with the Czech Republic, Armenia considers the field of high and information technologies. The FM said that certain actions have already been taken on this path with the efforts of the Armath engineering laboratories and the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies.

These two initiatives have become Armenian brands which succeeded all over the world. TUMO Centers opened in Paris, Beirut, Moscow, Berlin and Kiev. In this sense, we can consider the possibility of introducing the Armenian high technological solutions also in the Czech Republic, the Armenian FM said.

According to the minister, other fields of mutual interests are energy, financial sector, tourism, agriculture, healthcare and waste management.

We also attach importance to the opportunity of conducting Yerevan-Prague direct flights, the Armenian FM said.

In his turn the Czech Foreign Minister stated that he has arrived in Yerevan to promote the development of the Czech-Armenian bilateral economic and business ties and for this purpose he has brought with him a business delegation representing more than 13 Czech companies.

According to the minister, those Czech companies are interested in strengthening the business ties and establishing new relationships with Armenia.

Our countries have a long history in trade relations. Armenia and the Czech Republic are famous for their high-quality goods, and the fact that the Czech businessmen visited this business forum shows the interest of the Czech business community to this activity, the Czech FM said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister Suren Papikyan received today UK Ambassador to Armenia John Gallagher, the deputy PMs Office said.

At the meeting the deputy PM said that the development of the relations with the United Kingdom is important for Armenia. He added that there are many opportunities in the bilateral relations which are not used yet, stressing the need for the formation of new agenda with joint efforts. Papikyan expressed the readiness of the government to develop the bilateral cooperation in political, economic, social, cultural and scientific-educational areas.

The UK Ambassador in his turn thanked for the reception and also congratulated Suren Papikyan on assuming office, wishing a productive work. Presenting the results of his meetings with different state and political circles of Armenia, the Ambassador said that the United Kingdom is interested in multilateral partnership.

The officials also discussed the bilateral partnership prospects in various areas, such as entrepreneurship, tourism, new technologies, fight against climate change, effective governance and development of civil society institutes. Deputy PM Papikyan assured that Armenia is committed to the policy of administration system reforms and development of democratic institutions and mechanisms.

During the talk the deputy prime minister specified the possible directions of the Armenian-British cooperation in economic sector. In particular, the necessity for restoring direct flights between Yerevan and London was emphasized.

Commenting on the post-war situation in Armenia, the deputy PM highlighted the necessity for multilateral efforts aimed at establishing peace and stability in the region. He appreciated the UKs position that the OSCE Minsk Group is the platform for solving the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, which will bring stable and lasting peace.

The security and socio-economic situation in Armenias Syunik province were also discussed.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Following the adoption of the Long-Term Strategy for the period of 2021-2030 earlier this year, the Board of Governors of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) at its extraordinary meeting today decided to increase the subscribed capital of BSTDB from the current EUR 2.29 billion to EUR 3.10 billion, the BSTDB said in a press release.

The new subscription follows the increase in the BSTDB authorized capital approved in 2007 and the first round of subscription decided in 2008 and completed in 2018. The subscription covers 70% of the available authorized but unsubscribed capital and leaves unsubscribed 10% of the total authorized BSTDB capital of EUR 3.45 billion, which will remain available, inter alia, for potential new shareholders. The paid-in portion of the newly subscribed capital will be 30%, with 70% callable - in line with the Banks current capital structure. As a result of the new subscription, the Bank will receive an additional capital of EUR 244.96 million, thus raising the paid-in capital held by the Bank to EUR 931.51 million. The subscribed capital increase will enable BSTDB to fulfill the strategic objectives set forth in the Long-Term Strategy for 2021-2030 to promote economic development and regional cooperation of Member States and strengthen the Banks response capacity in crisis situations while increasing its relevance to shareholders. The subscription process will be finalized by the end of September 2022, and the BSTDB shareholders will make the subscribed capital payments in eight installments during the period of 2023-2030.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters are in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. The authorized capital of the Bank is EUR 3.45 billion. BSTDB is rated long-term A- by Standard and Poors, A2 by Moodys and A+ by the Russian credit rating agency ACRA.
Azerbaijan is planning to some requests for additional batches of Russian-designed materiel, President of the country Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with the National Defense (Natsionalnaya Oborona) magazine: "We are working fruitfully with Russia in all areas, including military-industrial cooperation. We are interested in new developments, of course, and technical groups are studying new capabilities. We have already sent several requests, so the cooperation with Russia in this field will also be developing," said Aliyev.

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Azeri army (Picture source: Youtube)

Azerbaijan previously acquired several types of Russian-designed weapon systems. During a military parade held in Baku in December 2020, the Azeri military showcased T-90S main battle tanks (MBTs), BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), and BTR-82A armored personnel carriers. The artillery component comprised Msta-S 152 mm self-propelled howitzers (SPHs), TOS-1A Solntsepyok (Sunburn) 220 mm heavy self-propelled rocket launchers, Smerch (Whirlwind) 300 mm multiple rocket launch systems, and Khrizantema-S (NATO reporting name: AT-15 Springer) self-propelled anti-tank guided missile systems.

The air group, which made a fly-past over Baku, included a number of Soviet/Russian-designed platforms, namely, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 (Fulcrum) fighter jets, Mil Mi-17 (Hip) utility helicopters, Mil Mi-35 (Hind-E) gunships, and Sukhoi Su-25 (Frogfoot-A) close air support aircraft.

It should be mentioned that the Azeri military also showcased a number of Soviet-made weapons, including BMP-2 IFVs, T-72 MBTs, 2S3 Akatsiya 152 mm SPHs, 2S7 Pion 203 mm SPHs, and upgraded S-125 (SA-3 Goa), Osa (SA-8 Gecko), and Buk-MB (SA-11 Gadfly) air defense weapons, and BM-21 Grad 122 MRL systems.

Azerbaijan intensively used the Soviet- and Russian-designed artillery during the recent conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the official YouTube channel of the Azeri Ministry of Defense (MoD), TOS-1A Solntsepyok (Sunburn) heavy rocket launchers were intensively used during the conflict. In particular, the military fired the systems during heavy assaults on field installations and protected manpower.

The TOS-1A self-propelled heavy flamethrower is designed to support manpower and tanks in direct/indirect firing mode during offensive/defensive operations. The combined destruction of targets is done through the medium of a high temperature and an increased pressure. The TOS-1A system incorporates the tank-based BM-1 combat vehicle with and two tank-based TZM-T transport loaders. The system can be supplied with the TZM (563-K) transport-loader vehicle that is based on a cross-country 8x8 wheeled truck. The system fires unguided thermobaric rockets.

The BM-1 combat vehicle is a tank-based MLRS. It is fitted with a fire control system that incorporates a periscopic laser sighting system rangefinder, a digital specialized computing assembly with sensor equipment, electro-hydraulic actuators, and a fire support system. The BM-1 combat vehicle also carries auxiliary systems and pieces of equipment (communication systems, observation devices, a nuclear/biological/chemical protection system, a fire extinguishing system, and self-digging equipment).

The BM-1 combat vehicle has a weight of 44.3 t, the TZM-T transport-loader - weighing 39 t (with rockets), the TZM (563-K) transport loader - a weight of 23.4 t. The BM-1 and TZM-T vehicles are based on the chassis of the T-72A tank, while the TZM-K transport loader - on the KAMAZ-63501 truck. BM-1 is armed with 24 launching tubes. The TZM-T and TZM (563-K) transport loaders carry 24 rockets. The BM-1 combat vehicle has a minimum firing range of 400-600 m, a maximum firing range of 6,000 m, a combat readiness time of 90 seconds, and a full salvo time of 6-12 seconds.

The TZM-T/TZM (563-K) transport loader features racks for unguided rockets, a loader crane with a hydraulic actuator, an applique armor kit to protect the ammunition stowage, and hardware for the loading mechanism.

 Copyright 2021 TASS / Army Recognition Group SPRL. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
North Korea on Thursday said it had tested a new air defense missile, TASS reports citing the Voice of Korea radio broadcaster.

October 1, 2021, 12:00 North Korea tests new air defense missile

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 1, ARTSAKHPRESS: According to the radio broadcaster, the launch was "to confirm the normal operation of the launcher and radar and test the combat parameters of the missile, developed by the DPRK Academy of Military Sciences.

The Academy said the missile's accuracy, speed of response and range had been increased.

Pyongyang on 28 for the first time tested a hypersonic missile, Hwason-8. Earlier this week South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea had launched a short-range missile towards the Sea of Japan. On September 15, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles in the same direction. Both splashed down in Japan's economic zone.
The Varnkatagh community of Artsakhs Martakert has 45 residents.

October 1, 2021, 15:06 Varnkatagh has a great potential for resettlement. Head of Community

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 1, ARTSAKHPRESS: In an interview with "Artsakhpress", the head of the community, Gegham Bedanyan told that the village was founded in the 1790s.

One displaced family has settled in the village after the war.

We have about 77 vacant but in need of repair houses, we can provide them to our compatriots who have lost their settlements. We have a municipality that is in a deplorable state. The ceremony hall need to be renovated.

The school has 5 students. Since the building conditions are deplorable, the grandson of the former principal, Vahram Soghomonyan, temporarily gave his grandfather's house to the school. We do not have a kindergarten building. There are 10 pre-school children in the village. The village is provided with electricity; It is not gasified, but the need is felt. Eight houses were damaged during the war, four of which are being repaired," he said.

The head of the community noted with regret that during the recent battles for the defense of the homeland 1 of their fellow-villagers has fallen.

Referring to the employment of villagers, our interlocutor said that the main directions are agriculture and animal husbandry, despite after the war 57 hectares of agricultural land has remained under enemys control and 38.4 hectares are in the risk zone.
The Taliban has ordered their fighters to leave private homes they had taken over during last month's blitz when the group seized control of Afghanistan, an apparent effort to impose order among Taliban ranks.

Meanwhile, in the capital of Kabul, the Taliban fired shots to disperse a women's rally demanding equal rights while the regional chief for the International Federation of the Red Cross warned that Afghanistan was sliding into a deep "major humanitarian crisis" with the coming winter and severe financial shortfalls.

The order by Taliban Prime Minister Hasan Akhund followed recent public statements by Taliban officials hinting at plans to improve organisation and marshal fighters.

It said Taliban members belonging to the militant group's defence, interior and intelligence agencies who are living in private homes need to "report back to military bases" across the country.

In recent weeks, the Taliban abandoned their traditional civilian dress and donned military fatigues to project an air of authority.

Bilal Karimi, a Taliban security official, confirmed the directive to the Associated Press.

The Afghan army abandoned most of its positions or surrendered to the Taliban during the August blitz, allowing Taliban fighters to take over military bases as well.

In Kabul on Thursday, the Taliban fired shots to disperse a small rally of six women outside a local school, demanding equal rights to education.

They confiscated posters held by the women that read: "Do not burn our books!"

Other women coming to join the protest in the Kart-e-Char neighbourhood were later told to go home, according to a witness who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing Taliban reprisal.

Mawlawi Nasratullah, a Taliban official, later told reporters the women had not asked for permission to rally.

Since their takeover, the Taliban have violently dispersed rallies by women demanding that the rights they had gained in the past 20 years in Afghanistan not be taken away.

Story continues

When they last ruled the country in the 1990s, the Taliban had imposed their harsh interpretation of Islamic law or Sharia, banishing women to their homes and denying them the right to education, work and a public life.

At a press conference in Kabul, Alexander Matheou, IFRC's regional director, predicted "extremely difficult few months" ahead as temperatures drop, compounding food shortages from drought and poverty.

Cuts to health services put many vulnerable Afghans, particularly in rural areas, at risk, he added.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is appealing for 36 million Swiss Francs ($A53 million) to continue funding health clinics, emergency relief and other services across Afghanistan's 16 provinces.

On Wednesday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric asked donors to fast-track funding for a $US606 million ($A839 million) flash appeal that is only 22 per cent funded to help 11 million Afghans for the remainder of the year.

"There needs to be some solution to the financial flows into Afghanistan to ensure that at least salaries can be paid and that essential supplies - power and water being two of them - can be procured," Matheou said.
Cayuga County is participating in a statewide program to encourage more children ages 12-17 to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Beginning Saturday, Oct. 2, any child who receives their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine will get a $25 Amazon gift card. The incentive, part of the state's #VaxtoSchool initiative, runs through Nov. 19.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has been seeking ways to get more children vaccinated. She expressed her displeasure on Thursday that the vaccination rate among the 12-17 age group is lower compared to older residents. A vast majority of adults in New York  83.9%  have received at least one vaccine dose. So far, two-thirds of children ages 12-17 have at least one shot.

Hochul's message to parents: Kids need the vaccine.

"I really am just beseeching parents to do what's right for their kids and not let them be one of those children who end up in serious condition in a hospital or even worse yet," she said.

Another part of the #VaxtoSchool program is a series of pop-up vaccination clinics across the state. There are more than 20 pop-up sites being added to initiative, although none are in central New York.
Auburn firefighters responded to a report of a structure fire at 34 Franklin St. on Wednesday night. The first call came in at about 7 p.m. fo
"We lack the information we need," she added. "There's so much data out there that is conflicting. It's difficult to say one way or the other if the vaccinations are necessity."

Both Vitale and Emerson said they are vaccinated and sided with public health officials who have long championed the vaccines.

"I see the reports every single day that there are less people getting COVID that have the vaccine than the ones not getting the vaccine," he said. "Obviously when it comes to safety, I must have figured it was safe because I got it."

Emerson, a licensed funeral director, said he got the vaccine as soon as it came out. "We deal with every disease there is in the funeral business," he said. "I take the flu shot also, because if you do get sick, it's not as serious as if you didn't have the vaccine."

One area related to vaccines that does concern Emerson are mandates by government. "When you force something on somebody, they immediately start rejecting it," he said. "The vaccine may not work for you, but it's up to you and your primary care physician."
"For myself and so many others, a bill like this is the reason we came to Congress," he said. "We've heard from the mom or dad that hit a pothole and had to pay out-of-pocket to fix the family car. We've seen our children struggle and fall behind in school without reliable internet access. Our communities are the ones where basic access to clean drinking water has been jeopardized by aging pipes. Our workers and businesses are the ones calling for investments that will help them compete on the world's stage."

Katko continued, "So, the question is: What will we, as members of Congress do about it? Will we allow blatant partisanship on both sides of the aisle to stand in the way of legislation that is objectively good for the American people? Will we ignore the very real crisis that is facing infrastructure systems in communities like the one I represent in central New York?"

The criticism is directed at both parties because House Republican leaders want their members to vote against the infrastructure bill. Katko's statement is an indication that he will break with his party to support it  if Pelosi allows it to come to the floor.

As of 7 p.m. Thursday, there is no indication of when  or if  either bill will receive a vote in the House. Talks are continuing between Democratic leaders in hopes of reaching a resolution.

Politics reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

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Republican Sen. Greg Albritton said the funds will go a long way to addressing the states longstanding problems in prisons.

This was the right thing for Alabama to do. Weve got crumbling infrastructure. Weve got people housed in places that are filthy. Weve got individuals working in conditions that are unsafe, Albritton said.

The plan drew opposition from many Democrats in the House of Representatives, but had minimal dissenting votes in the state Senate, where senators approved the use of the pandemic money in a 30-1 vote and the overall construction plan in a 29-2 vote.

Democratic Rep. Juandalynn Givan of Birmingham, who voted against the bills in the House, said she hopes the federal government steps in and tells the state the expenditure is not allowed.

There are many needs here in the state of Alabama and there are many people who need these funds, she said. But they (Republicans) saw an opportunity to take the Biden money, that $400 million, because it was just like liquid water flowing through their hands and say, OK, lets jump on it, Givan said.
But Danielle Skelly, a former foster parent in Suffolk County who now works with the Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition of New York, said there is no mechanism for gathering those complaints and reporting back in a timely, measured way.

She said it's common for her organizations hotline to field several complaints from the same agency over similar issues. But, Skelly says, there is often only so much that they can do as they're not an investigative body.

She hopes the legislation will be able to fill that gap. The state Legislature is not expected back in Albany until January.

But others question the effectiveness of a potential ombudsman office to bring oversight to an area if they are not privy to the full range of complaints held by the state or the local departments of social services.

When theres 100,000 complaints and then theres only 100,001 kids in foster care, well then, yes, they will have a picture of kind of whats going on, said Lawyers For Children policy director Betsy Kramer. Her organization has not taken a stance on the state legislation.

But kind of otherwise the individual information that flows to them may not be representative of whats happening, she added.
Car and motorbike maker Honda Motor Co. is positioning itself for a vertical takeoff.

(Also Read: Hyundai and Urban-Air Port plan flying taxi-hubs across 65 cities worldwide)

The Tokyo-based company is embarking on efforts to field a new electric-hybrid air taxi, a robot with human-like hands that may one day toil on the moon and a reusable rocket to carry small satellites into space more economically.

Similar Cars

Hondas vision of how people will work, travel and spend leisure time in the future will help expand its business beyond cars, lawn mowers and motorcycles. The efforts are a key component of Hondas 2030 Vision" to broaden the definition of mobility and to improve peoples daily lives.

The automaker, which also has a niche business in small planes, is a newcomer to the space industry, dominated today by established defense contractors such as Boeing Co. and well-funded upstarts such as Elon Musks SpaceX and Jeff Bezoss Blue Origin. Its seven- or eight-passenger HondaJet has gained limited traction and accounts for a tiny fraction of the companys revenue.

Honda also has struggled to keep up with the latest technology in its mainstay automotive business, partnering with General Motors Co. to develop electric vehicles using that larger companys next-generation battery-pack technology.

The carmaker says all three areas of the expansive research and development road map overlap with Hondas expertise, including propulsion, electrification, robotics, artificial intelligence and renewable energy, the company said Thursday.

There is no other company that has all of these core technologies," spokesman Marcos Frommer said on a video briefing with reporters.

Air Taxis

Honda says current flying-shuttle designs that rely 100% on battery power will be too limited in range to meet market demand for travel as far as 250 miles (402 kilometers) and not just across large, congested cities, according to its research.

The company plans to begin flight tests in 2023 on a hybrid design that will couple a lithium battery with a gas-turbine generator to serve as a charger and extend the aircrafts range. If management decides to proceed with development, Honda plans to have its craft certified by 2030.

In the 2040s, when Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) craft progress to a fully autonomous stage -- without a pilot on board -- Honda forecasts a market worth $269 billion annually. This would include emergency medical transport and logistics.

This market will need to function within a larger ecosystem of eVTOL ports, ground-based autonomous vehicles and computers that can adjust both passengers schedules and flight plans seamlessly to transport people, Frommer said.

Avatar Robots

Honda Robotics will continue refinements of its Asimo humanoid robot to reduce its size and increase capabilities.

The company expects that avatar robots will be used primarily as a remote surrogate to perform tasks, such as a paramedic controlling the robot to attend to an injured person, which Honda calls 4D, transcending time and space." In another scenario from the company, schoolchildren remotely occupy a fleet of robotic rover avatars on the moons surface, touring craters and other geographic features.

These human-controlled avatars will need sophisticated, multifingered hands powered by artificial intelligence to help provide more delicate and forceful grasping, Honda said. The Honda Avatar Robot will begin technology demonstrations by March 2024 and see practical use" in the 2030s, the company said.

Space

Honda began work in late 2019 on the engineering requirements for a reusable rocket, the industrys new paradigm given the success of SpaceXs Falcon 9. Honda plans to develop a rocket to launch small satellites into low-earth orbit, another evolution that has energized the commercial space economy.

This, in turn, could lead to more connected machines -- everything from autos to appliances to utilities that are online -- and create new service and revenue opportunities.

Further out in space, Honda sees commercial promise in helping lunar explorers unlock the potential of frozen water on the moon. The company is working with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to build a renewable energy system on the moon. This would break down water into its hydrogen and oxygen components, with Hondas fuel-cell technology generating electricity. The oxygen also could used in living quarters and to provide hydrogen for fueling rockets, Honda said.

Honda isnt the only Japanese carmaker imagining a presence on the moon. Toyota Motor Corp. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are working on a six-wheeled driverless lunar rover with the goal of putting it on the surface in 2029.

Honda also sees a role on the moon for robots to minimize the risks astronauts will be exposed to and enable people to virtually enjoy the experience of being on the moon from Earth."

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has informed that the government will make it compulsory for all vehicle manufacturers to make flex-fuel engines after it gets permission from the Supreme Court, as per a PTI report.

In an annual session of industry body PHDCCI, Gadkari shared that the government is putting all efforts to create an ethanol economy.

We are going to make it mandatory for all vehicle manufacturers to make flex-fuel engines (that can run on more than one fuel)," the road transport and highways minister was quoted as saying in the report.

The minister reinstated that this rule will be made compulsory after obtaining permission from the Supreme Court. We have submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court. When we get the permission of the Supreme Court, then we will make it mandatory for all vehicle manufacturers to make flex-fuel engines," he said in the report.

(Also read | Nitin Gadkari wants significant discount for EV buyers who scrap old vehicles)

Flex-fuel or flexible fuel is an alternative fuel that is developed by combining conventional fuels and methanol or ethanol. Gadkari pointed that countries like Brazil, Canada and the United States already have automobile companies that manufacturer flex-fuel engine vehicles. He also pointed out that ethanol is much cheaper than petrol and diesel.

In the report, he suggested that the military should restrict the use of diesel engines and instead start using trucks that are powered by CNG, LNG and ethanol. He also mentioned that the aim to develop an ethanol-based economy has received support as 450 factories have shown interest in producing ethanol.

(Also read | India aims to set up ethanol pump network in 6 months: Gadkari)

Gadkari stressed the need to switch to indigenous fuels and also added that the government is working to make the automobile industry worth 15 lakh crore industry that will also offer additional employment to around one crore people in India.
CHATSWORTH, Calif.Adult industry mental health nonprofit Pineapple Support welcomes DialXS as a supporter-level sponsor. The payment solutions specialist joins over 60 businesses and organizations in committing funds and resources to the organization.



"It is an honor to sponsor an organization which supports the wellbeing of so many," says Chris Visser, CEO of DialXS. "We're thankful to Pineapple Support for their hard work in providing these essential services around the world, and for allowing us to play a part in supporting their work."



Pineapple Support was founded by British performer Leya Tanit in 2018, after a string of losses in the adult industry from depression and other mental illnesses. The organization, which is a qualified 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization in the United States, has so far connected over 5,000 adult performers to mental health services, including free and low-cost therapy, counseling and emotional support.



"I'm so very thankful to DialXS for their continued support and sponsorship," says Tanit. "Every cent of your donation will be spent ensuring that no adult performer ever feels as though they have nowhere to turn."



To find out more about becoming a sponsor of Pineapple Support, visit pineapplesupport.org/ sponsorship.
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
The US, the sole superpower in the world, is also the biggest violator of human rights. The following terms or concepts are associated with Uncle Sam's infamous human rights practice and foreign policy.

American Holocaust: The massacre against Indians conducted by Western colonizers since the 16th century, which dropped the number of the American Indigenous people down from 10 million+ to merely 200,000 at the end of the 19th century. The Indian reservations were the concentration camps of exploitation, squeeze, and slavery.

The Slaughterhouse of Black People: A phrase used by furious South Africans to describe America after the tragic death of Lindani Myeni, an unarmed South African rugby player shot dead by Honolulu police. I CAN'T BREATHE - those were the last few words George Floyd cried and will forever ring in our ears. Floyd's killing is only the tip of the iceberg.

Human White: The term refers to America's political and socioeconomic system where white people enjoy structural advantages and rights that other racial and ethnic groups cannot. The New York Times reported that the term"white supremacy"was used fewer than 75 times in 2010, but nearly 700 times in 2020 alone (as of the article's printing on Oct 17, 2020).

The US Version Unit 731: The US traded with infamous Japanese biological warfare organ Unit 731 for experimentation data on live human bodies after WWII, by covering up Unit 731's ruthless crimes and offering 250,000 yen payment. By obtaining the data and medical papers of Unit 731, the US Army accelerated its development of biological weapons in Fort Detrick, which has long been researching on the virus and still stores a large amount of virus that threatens the safety of human beings.

New Monroe Doctrine: Referring to Washington's endeavor to maintain hegemonic political, military and economic influence in Latin America, long seen by the US as its political backyard. The US is using crippling economic and financial sanctions as means to bend or break "uncooperative" countries and "expel the influence of Moscow and Beijing." In fact, "Monroe Doctrine" never faded away into history, merely the tactics employed have changed over time.

Haiti Syndrome: Referring to the consequences of forceful transplantation of American model of democracy in Haiti. In 1915, the US Marine Corps invaded the Caribbean country, and remained there for almost 20 years. The US controlled Haiti's security and finances, imposed racial segregation, forced labor, and deposed presidents and legislatures that opposed the US presence. Haiti is now the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. Many other developing nations are also suffering from Haiti Syndrome.

Kicking Away the Ladder: Put forward by Ha-Joon Chang, a South Korean economist, the phrase refers to disgraceful deeds of the US and some other developed countries, which are attempting to kick away the ladder with which they have climbed to the top, thereby preventing developing countries from adopting policies and institutions that they themselves have used.

The American Trap: In 2013, French industrial conglomerate Alstom's executive Frederic Pierucci was arrested, and Alstom was then "dismembered" by the US. Any international company targeted by the US Justice Department could not escape the intervention of the US anti-corruption laws. Step by step, the US government is taking control of the core industries and highly competitive companies of other countries.

Digital Colonialism: The use of digital technology to export America's ideology and subjugate Third World and impoverished nations to US political, economic and social domination. It also includes America's crackdown on China's Apps like TikTok and WeChat to maintain its internet hegemony.

Coercive Diplomacy: One of the most popular tools for the US to achieve its policy goals by marrying diplomacy to military muscle, to coerce an opponent into stopping or changing an action already taken. The Pentagon characterized the $30.3 billion of expenses for FY2003 of George W. Bush's administration for "coercive diplomacy" as incurred expenses.

Whip Diplomacy: Washington has a tendency to wave its whip to punish the countries for impediments to its hegemony, such as imposing harsh sanctions (three times per day against other countries during the Trump administration).

Condor Diplomacy: The name is derived from Operation Condor, infamous missions of the CIA in Latin America since the 1960s. The US intervened all over Latin America during the Cold War. It rigged the local elections, assassinated political figures, and even toppled governments in the name of preventing the spread of Communism or protecting their economic interests.

New Cold War Diplomacy: The US antagonistic posture and moves toward other countries, notably China: To build small circles, to reject, threaten or intimate others, to willfully impose decoupling and sanctions, or to create isolation and estrangement. These will only push the world into division and even confrontation.

Lip Service Diplomacy: US foreign policy is hypocritical in various ways, and over-promising and under-delivering is one of them. Promises made, promises broken: from support for global infrastructure to climate actions, from combating COVID-19 to war in Afghanistan.

The Industry Chain of Lies/State Sponsor of Disinformation: The conglomerate of US lying politicians, media, think tanks, forming the industry chain of lies, for example, Colin Powell's "washing powder," video of "the white helmets" in Syria, and, the latest one, COVID-19 origins-tracing by the US intelligence community.

Biggest Warmonger: America has been at war 93 percent of the time since 1776. At least 800 US military bases are located in more than 70 countries and regions. Since 2001, the US "war on terror" has killed, injured and displaced millions across 24 countries, while America's defense spending is nearly 40 percent of the global total.

World's Bully: The true nature of the US administrations, no matter who is in the White House.

Uncle Scam: A new nickname of Uncle Sam because of his nature of lying.

Eye of Sauron: Washington has been unscrupulously wielding its monopolistic technological might to conduct cyber espionage, surveillance and even attacks on a long list of foreign governments, enterprises and individuals, only to shore up its hegemony in global cyber space. One of its infamous cyber spying programs is Project Sauron.

Infamous Betrayer: America's disgraceful role as traitor of France (1798, 2021), Kurds (2019), Afghanistan (2021), and many others. Backers of the so-called independence for Taiwan might be the next victims.

Strategic Narcissism: Referring to America's tendency to view the world only in relation to itself. The US, on the one hand, boasts itself as the "lighthouse of democracy" or a "shinning city upon a hill"; on the other hand, it is seeking scapegoats and tilting at windmills to cover its own systemic deficiencies and governance weaknesses.

Plutocracy: The US government is dominated by an elite group of individuals who hold all of the money, and therefore, all of the power. The total cost of the country's 2020 election reached an unprecedented $14 billion, making it the most expensive election in history. America is moving to a government of the 1 percent, by the 1 percent and for the 1 percent. People are reflecting upon the hypocrisy of US democracy. It is now a "hymocracy" rather than a "democracy."

Liberal Totalitarianism: A phrase first used by Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, to describe the fact that US liberal democracy is converting to a totalitarian system with the development of a domestic police state, a monopoly on the media, and the irremovability of oligarchic elites.

The World's No.1 Anti-pandemic Failure: As of September 30, 2021, the US has reported 43.2 million cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 693,000 deaths. In terms of both numbers, the US ranks first in the world. "It's a slaughter," said William Foege, an American epidemiologist.

Super Coronavirus Spreader: The US was the world's No.1 pandemic spreader based on its lax policies for disease control, travel restrictions and inhuman deportation of immigrants amid the pandemic. The period from November 2020 to January 2021 is the peak of the epidemic in the US, with an average of 186,000 newly diagnosed cases per day. During the same period, the average number of US citizens going abroad was 87,000, making it a veritable "proliferator." The US is also the big Petri dish for COVID-19 variants. A recent study showed evidence of four additional COVID-19 variants in New York City's wastewater.

No.1 Blame-shifting Country: The US has turned a global public health disaster into a major power tussle by politicizing scientific issues, the origins tracing of the virus, and the effectiveness of the vaccine, shifting the blame to the outside world and misleading the international community.
The harbor sprang to life as Norwegian Sun pulled into Port Said at dawn. An endless line of tour buses were waiting along a narrow street by the pier. Perpendicular to the pier was a thoroughfare stretching far into the heart of the city and beyond. A steady stream of people was being disgorged from the starboard side of our humongous ship and inching its way toward the buses as I stood high above on Deck 15 trying desperately to steady my camera against the tremor sent through the ship by its idling engine and snap a few pictures of my first view of Egypt soaked in the shimmering twilight of morning.

Shrouded by the long shadows of moored gargantuan vessels, little boats of all sorts were toiling around on the rippling surface of dark water.

In the dim halo of street lamps flanking the thoroughfare could be seen police vehicles dotting both sides of the road and people standing by those vehicles kept the surrounding areas under their watchful eyes. Such was my first sight of Egypt, ominous, ghostly, evoking the underworld. I didn't realize it then, but looking back, that scene of tight security should have alerted me that this was going to be a tour unlike any I had taken before.

We were in no particular hurry as Blue Nile was supposed to have a minivan waiting down there for us, and as all those countless buses and minivans had to get loaded with tourists first and then organized into a police-guarded convoy for the 3-hour drive to Cairo. Over the years, terrorists have attacked tourists in Egypt on a number of occasions. The most gruesome attack happened on November 17, 1997, when 62 people, mostly tourists, were killed by terrorists in Luxor. The protected convoy arrangement is in response to such threat.

After finishing a leisurely breakfast, we strolled down to Deck 4, with a piece of luggage each, to disembark. It was fully bright by now.

It did not take us long to find Nile Blue's minivan parked on the right hand side of the street; it had Nile Blue painted on its side panels and a cleanly shaven young man standing by its passenger side door. He looked in his late 20s, of a stocky build with a budding beer belly. All smiles, he was sporting a loosely fitting black hoodie and a pair of denim jeans, and was holding up a cardboard sign saying Nile Blue.

My name is Mo'men, the young man was saying to us as we gathered around him. It sounds like moment in English, so you can call me Moment. It'll be a while yet before the convoy can leave. I was just about to tune him out and step away to look around the harbor when he said something that alarmed me: The drive to Cairo will take a bit over three hours, and we won't be able to make stops on the way as the convoy must stay together at all times. More than three hours without stops?! Well, that's going to be a problem, I thought to myself, a big problem, for my bladder! So, what if we need to go to the bathroom? I asked. Well, you'll just have to hold your pee, Mo'men replied matter-of-factly. Here is a bit of hindsight I had after we got to Cairo: if he hadn't told us there were no planned stops on the way, I might probably have been just fine; now that he had put us on notice, however, I couldn't help but start dreading what to do when nature called. As a matter of fact, I immediately felt the need to take a leak upon hearing Mo'men's unpleasant announcement.

Truth be told, I felt a bit put off by Mo'men's reply. We've been to places around the world. No matter where we are, we invariably find people to be accommodating when it comes to tourists' reasonable, expected needs. It is not uncommon either for people to even go out of their way to offer help. I was taken aback by Mo'men's response because, just a moment before I popped the question, he had been saying how happy he was to see us and how his personal living as well as the health of the Egyptian economy both heavily depended on tourism. I can't even chalk it up to inexperience, as Mo'men later revealed that he had been employed in the tourism industry for years, ever since graduation from college. In my urge to rationalize everything, I did manage to find an excuse for Mo'men: our vehicle needed to stay with the convoy at all times for security reasons. But this does not explain why arrangements couldn't have been made for the entire convoy to make at least one stop somewhere along the way.

Long story short, I went to the bathroom three times during the one hour we waited for departure at the harbor just so I wouldn't have to cause some embarrassing international incident because I needed to pee.

I did manage to survey the harbor a bit in between. The street the Nile Blue van was parked on was flanked on one side by an endless row of nondescript one-storey buildings housing what looked like warehouses and waterfront stores and on the other side by apartment buildings of different heights and sizes. At the end of the street stood a glistening mosque topped with light green domes, reminding us unequivocally we were in a land of Muslims.

Indeed, most conspicuous amid an assortment of constructions lining the opposite side of the harbor was another majestic mosque, its twin minarets, meticulously sculptured, towering in sharp contrast next to a crowd of colossal portal cranes of ruthless functional design, a mesmerizing ode to history in symphony with a barbarian shout of modernity, beauty and the beast, the two sides of the same coin called Egypt. All that's there left to do is figure out which is the heads, and which the tails.
Chris Eubank Jr v Sven Elbir

Saturday, 22:00

Live on Sky Sports

Eubank headlines at Wembley

On Saturday, Chris Eubank Jr headlines an intriguing card at Wembley Arena when the Englishman battles Germany's Sven Elbir over 12 rounds. This will be Junior's second outing of the year, and he knows he must score an impressive win if he is to push himself back into contention for the big fights at middleweight.

Despite going in on the back of a strong winning run, Eubank looks no closer to the division's top names than he did when beating James DeGale at the O2 Arena in February 2019. That will be a source of frustration for all connected to Team Eubank, and the Brighton boxer will aim to take it out on his German opponent in front of a big crowd.

Junior boasts a winning run

Eubank enters this weekend's test with a 30-2-0 record, 22 of those victories coming by way of knockout. The 32-year-old's only previous defeats came against long-term rival Billy Joe Saunders on a split decision in 2014 and George Groves in a super middleweight world title fight in 2018. Since losing to Saint George, Eubank has fought four, won four and scored two knockouts. That fine run of includes a famous points win over DeGale, sending Chunky to the canvas on two occasions.

Despite many fighters struggling to get work this year due to the COVID-19 restrictions placed on the sport, this will be the second outing of 2021 for Chris. His previous bout resulted in a 10-round points decision win over Manchester's Marcus Morrison in May. Many pundits had predicted a knockout but the six rounds winning margin on all three cards shows just how comfortable the victor was that night.

The pre-fight betting odds available on the Betfair Exchange throws up no surprises, with Eubank a red-hot favourite. He is 1.011/100 for the win, which means backers are forced to go on the hunt for value. In the method of victory betting, a KO/TKO is 1.031/33 with a points win 1211/1. It may be worth noting two of Eubank's last three wins have come on the judges' scorecards.

Batman descends on London

Elbir - dubbed Batman - arrives in London as a rank outsider to win but is desperate to ruin the party. He knows he is the underdog and will understand why but is also aware of what an upset win would do for his career. Beating Eubank would not only fire him up through the rankings from his current position of 42nd in the world, but it would also secure him a major payday in his next fight, perhaps even before the end of the year.

The Berlin fighter comes to the UK with an 18-1-0 record with 14 knockouts already on his card. The 74% KO average is sure to catch the attention of Eubank's training team and ensure they don't turn up expecting to walk through Sven. If they do, Eubank could be made to pay a painful price with a first stoppage defeat on his record. The visitor's only loss came against Patrick Wojcicki in Wolfsburg over 12 rounds for the IBF Inter-Continental belt three years ago.

Since suffering that narrow points defeat, Batman has won each of his last six, all but one coming inside the distance. He stopped Jose Miguel Torres in four last time with that bout coming in July. Elbir can be backed at 2625/1 for the win with another KO/TKO 3130/1. The points verdict on British soil against one of our most famous fighters is unlikely to attract much attention, even at the 9190/1 offered on the Sportsbook.

Underdog won't be easy to budge

Elbir has limited experience over 12 rounds, is making a step up in class here and is the away fighter, but he has never been stopped and is expected to test Eubank, taking him into the second half of the contest. The underdog's best chance of winning looks to be by knockout, and he's likely to go looking for that in the middle rounds.

Eubank will keep things at his distance, use his speed and boxing ability to pull clear on the scorecards. If things go to plan for the favourite, Elbir may be happy to see out the fight. Back Junior for a third points win in four - it's just too big at the price.
AB InBev Brings People & Data Together to Make Great Marketing Happen

For top global beer company Anheuser-Busch InBev, managing widespread operations for prominent brands is their bread and butter. But navigating strict local regulations on both customer data and alcoholic beverages requires a unified, but privacy-conscious approach to data storage and marketing that they were lacking.

To break down their data silos securely, AB InBev partnered with Treasure Data to implement a Customer Data Platform (CDP) that address their challenges while also enabling smart, real-time marketing insights.

To learn more about how AI powered CDP solutions can support digital transformations, superior CX and global customer data management, explore this case study.
AIDE Guide Todays teams are swamped by increasing complexity and the volume generated data. But by embracing the right forms of and interfaces to AI and ML (especially in operational workflows), these teams can benefit from richer data which can enable better communication, rapid action and faster progress. Read this guide to learn how its done.

Juniper Bringing AI to Enterprise Networks eGuide AIOps, or artificial intelligence for IT operations, is the practice of using AI to augment the capabilities of IT teams. This revolutionary model can help tame network complexity so that your organization can improve network performance, service assurance and user experience. Read this e-book to learn more about AIOps for networking.

5 Ways to Immediately Improve the Networking Experience in Higher Education  Vertical Infographic The quality of a higher educational institutions network can make or break the academic experience, especially as online classes continue to skyrocket in popularity.This infographic highlights 5 ways to immediately improve the networking experience in higher education. Read on to get started.

Simplified AI Driven Enterprise Todays enterprise cloud networks are evolving to become more AI-driven. With abstracted control over diverse networks managed via automated workflows, its become essential to leverage AI to move from reactive to predictive. With Junipers illustrations and simplified information, you should gather a better understanding to key questions.

Packet Pushers (Data Center White Paper) Network engineers approach data center operations and management with caution because even the smallest change can result in unintended outcomes, including performance degradation, security holes, policy violations and downtime.This white paper outlines how IBN aims to resolve 5 persistent data center pain points. Read on to get started.

How to Piece SD-WAN and Security Together Ensuring security in an SD-WAN is often easier said than done, but not impossible. Read this e-guide to learn the basics of building out and implementing a secure SD-WAN, including 4 key security elements to focus on.

Why and How Retailers Can Benefit from Next-Gen SD-WAN in a Post-Pandemic Environment Networking is at the heart of retailers efforts to align their technology infrastructure with new business imperatives  and SD-WAN advancements are playing an increasingly valuable role in supporting these efforts. Access this white paper to learn why next-gen SD-WAN has the potential to take retail even further.

Five Must-Haves for Next-Gen SD-WAN Solutions Today, ensuring network security is more challenging than most experts would have predicted. Access this white paper for an overview of the evolution of software-defined wide-area networks (SD-WANs) and discover the 5 must-have features of a next-gen SD-WAN solution.

Session Smart SD-WAN Accelerates Digital Transformation Download this brief to learn how to take software-defined routing to a new level with Juniper Session Smart SD-WAN.

Connect Thousands of Branch Offices with Session Smart SD-Branch Learn all about the benefits and capabilities of Juniper Session Smart SD-Branch.

Successful Large-Scale SD-WAN Deployments: How to plan ahead and execute Does your organization have a plan to roll out SD-WAN? If so, how many stages until the plan is executed? What will be your keys to success for staging and provisioning? Do you have a plan for software upgrades post-deployment?If you want SD-WAN to optimize your applications, then read this white paper.

Tunnel-Based versus Tunnel-Free SD-WAN SD-WAN enables the kind of connectivity needed in todays cloud era. However, overlay-based SD-WAN comes with one big caveat: dependence on tunnels. Although these tunnels can make the creation of overlays easier, there are issues. In this research report, learn about the benefits and the option of tunnel-free SD-WAN.

Exploring the SD-WAN Business Case With the right product, the basic business case for SD-WAN can be expanded significantly. However, that doesnt mean that making an SD-WAN business case is easy. In this report, explore a cost model of enterprise networking to assess the way SD-WAN deployments have impacted costs at many organizations.

Creating Business-Driven Networks with SD-WAN as a Managed Service According to IDC, 75% of U.S. enterprises plan to adopt an SD-WAN solution in the next two years. Learn how MSPs can take advantage of this opportunity by offering a high-quality, differentiated SD-WAN solution in the marketplace.
Determining the Total Cost of Ownership: Comparing Serverless and Server-based Technologies In this exclusive Deloitte guide, compare the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of serverless and server-based technologies, covering infrastructure, development, and maintenance costs. Make sure to save the guide here for future reference.

Build mobile and web apps faster In this guide, AWS shares 3 tips to accelerate the development of modern mobile and web apps. Explore these 3 proven tips to accelerate modern app development right here.

Application Modernization in the Enterprise: Architectural, Operational, and Delivery Impacts Adopting a new cloud technology paradigm in your day-to-day operations is a high hurdle for IT departments. Luckily, a combination of DevOps, AWS, and cloud tools can help. Access this AWS guide to application modernization here.

Running Windows Workloads on AWS Migrating to AWS has become a vital business strategy as cloud becomes the new normal. AWS boasts that some of the largest enterprises in the worldfrom Expedia to BPrun their Windows workloads on AWS as part of a hybrid architecture. In this guide, see why companies are choosing AWS for Windowsand if an AWS migration can help your team as well.

Get better performance, security, and availability for less When it comes to running workloads in the cloud, the sooner you start, the sooner youll save. In this data sheet, explore what it looks like to run Windows workloads on Amazon Web Services (AWS), and how AWS can deliver 71% faster deployment and a 98% reduction in unplanned downtime. Learn about the benefits of AWS here.

Swiss Post Innovates on Secure Foundation with AWS Swiss Post is a 170-year-old institution delivering 7 million letters and up to more than a million parcels daily. While Swiss Post identified changing customer demands, such as fulfilling international e-commerce, they were burdened by legacy IT. Download this case study to learn how they modernized using AWS secure cloud as a foundation.

Addressing the public sectors digital skills gap: New IDC study reveals the biggest challenges and opportunities A new IDC study, which surveyed health, government, and education organizations across 7 countries, has revealed a clear lack of digital and technology skills slowing down digital transformation. Explore how organizations are working to address this digital skills gap in this guide.

EF Education First Modernizes Infrastructure, Focuses on Innovation Using AWS As the cost of customer acquisition continues to rise, businesses are realizing its time to modernize cloud infrastructure to help. In this case study, discover how EF Education First restructured their cloud strategy with AWS to be compatible with its agile startup culture and support their customer-centric goals.

The future of digital government in the cloud Read this e-book to uncover how AWS customers use the cloud to innovate and transform the way they work in precision medicine and medical research, including innovative responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

Using Cloud to Address the Digital Skills Gap Access this new IDC study to learn the biggest challenges and opportunities for digital transformations.

10 reasons to learn the AWS Cloud Learning cloud skills can grow careers and help drive business transformation. Read for 10 reasons why employees should learn AWS.

AWS Economic Impact Study This report provides an overview of existing and planned AWS infrastructure investments in Spain, and the impact on the Spanish economy. Access the report here.

European Public Sector: Using the Cloud to Address the Digital Skills Gap Access this IDC report to learn about what this means for tech organizations and IT departments, key takeaways on using the cloud to address the digital skills gap, and more.

Remove the Guesswork from Success with Machine Learning-Driven Analytics Read this expert guide to learn how machine learning can help you improve the processes underpinning data analytics, expediting actionable insight and improving your organizations effectiveness.

Simple tips for reducing your organization's cloud costs Organizations need the right strategies in place to avoid cloud cost pitfalls. Stay within your budget with these cost management best practices. Access this free expert guide to learn.

Start Your Machine Learning Initiative the Right Way Machine learning can be one of those oft mentioned, oft misunderstood pieces of technologya shame given its industry-transforming potential. Keep reading this expert guide, to explore the beginning of a machine learning certification program that explains how machine learning models are most appropriately used and how to start training them.

3 Tips for Success: Rethink Your Cloud Data Management While growing data volumes present amazing opportunities to businesses, companies are far too often finding themselves struggling with unmanageable silos and sprawl across their cloud architectures. Keep reading this expert guide to learn 3 strategies you can use to improve your existing data management strategies as well as buoy future efforts.

Building and Refining Machine Learning Success in 7 Steps This expert guide will help you get through some of the difficult steps of creating an ML model. Continue reading to learn, step-by-step, how you can build and fine-tune a high-quality ML model from the earliest stages to completion.

Containers: What You Need to Know Containers are a critical tool for IT organizations to take advantage of innovations spanning cloud services, Agile methodology, DevOps collaboration, and mobile apps. In this E-Guide, explore how to identify ideal container workloads, the best container management tools, and much more. Save the E-Guide here.

3 Key Strategies for AWS Cost Reduction Its time to kick-start AWS cost reduction with the right tools and techniques. Use these exclusive AWS cost reduction strategies to trim your bill and get ahead of runaway costs. Download the E-Guide here for safe-keeping.

Top 5 Cloud Storage Security Issues and How to Contain Them Cloud storage security issues are still common, exposing enterprise data to unauthorized parties. This could potentially lead to angry customers, furious business partners, costly lawsuits and other headaches. Check out this e-guide to learn about 5 cloud storage security risks and how to avoid them.

AWS Data Lakes and Warehouses: Evaluating Cloud Data Repositories This expert guide will help you break down some of the more popular AWS data warehouse and lake options and determine how one compares to the other when it comes to a particular use case. Read on to discover how options like Lake Formation and Redshift differ, compare, and even work together across multiple complex scenarios.

Cloud Databases: The Cornerstone of Future Cloud Data Management Two trends are dominating data management right now: automation and movement to the cloud. In order to master cloud data management, youll need to master cloud databasesparticularly open-source cloud databases. Read this short expert guide to learn how the cloud database market is evolving and growing.

VM Migration Guide: From VMware to AWS Access this free e-guide for the most painless way to migrate virtual machines from VMware to AWS: understanding the VMware to AWS process, pros and cons, how to migrate, and more.
8 advancements designed to accelerate bank and insurance document digitization Now more than ever, banks and insurance companies are focusing on digitizing their extensive document workflows to meet COVID-era customer needs and increase efficiencies. Discover 8 ways Adobe Document Cloud can help your bank or insurance company meet current demands, in this blog post.

How TSB Bank Accelerated Its Digital-First Strategy During the COVID-19 Pandemic Explore this blog post to learn about TSB Bankss journey and discover the role Adobe Sign and Adobe XD played in transforming a significant amount of its offline forms into digital-only interactions, creating an end-to-end journey for its personal and business banking customers that takes place exclusively online.

Banks and insurance companies grow customer connection with digital documents Access this blog post to learn about Adobe Document Cloud and its tools and integrations which can help organizations stay connected with each other and their customers during unprecedented times.

Helping Banks and Insurance Companies Adapt in Challenging Times with Adobe Document Cloud Banks and insurance companies that lack cloud-based infrastructure are struggling to respond to the unprecedented surge in COVID-era customer needs while employees are out-of-office. Discover how Adobe Document Cloud can help your bank or insurance company meet current demands, in this blog post.

BOOST HR AGILITY: SIMPLIFYING AND SPEEDING REMOTE WORKWITH E-SIGNATURES Today, remote work isnt just an option for some employeesits now the reality for the majority of workforces. This means that tools like e-signatures are seeing unprecedented adoption ratesand for good reason. In this report, explore the rise in e-signatures and how theyre helping HR modernize. Save the report here.

Faster, better banking Paperless signing processes are becoming key parts of a better, digital customer experience. On top of the experiential benefits, digital signing can reduce employee workload, eliminate costly errors, and better meet compliance requirements. Read this white paper to learn how banks benefited from Rabobank and their Adobe Sign-powered system.

Driving Exceptional Digital Experiences Financial services institutions are struggling to accommodate the rapid shift to digital processes. Customers expecting completely digital, instant results can be disappointed when paper onboarding processes or in-person transactions are required. Read on to learn the top 10 benefits of converting to electronic and digital signatures.

Contracts at the speed of digital Signing contracts in the digital age is easier than everand expectations are similarly higher, when it comes to speed, compliance, and accessibility. But more than just client contracts can be improved by digital signing. Read on to learn how CXCs partnership with Adobe Sign enabled them to thrive in the midst of COVID lockdowns, and more.

How E-signatures Can Accelerate Workplace Transformation for All Areas of Your Business Download this white paper to see how e-signatures can help you expedite workplace transformation for all areas of your business.

Digital Document Processes In 2020: A Spotlight On Financial Services According to a Forrester Consulting survey, many of your peers are refocusing their attention on digital document processes for better customer experience and employee experience. Open this white paper to learn some of the benefits your organization could also see from digital document processes.

Digital Document Processes In 2020: A Spotlight On APAC Read this Forrester white paper to explore responses from ITDMs on how digital document processes are helping to maintain operations and strengthen business resilience amid uncertainty.

Digital Document Processes In 2020: A Spotlight On E-Signatures The pandemic has re-emphasized the importance of e-signatures and accelerated adoption for businesses. Download this Forrester white paper for a look at how these solutions are supporting business resilience and why organizations are growing their e-signatures capabilities.

HOW IT LEADERS MODERNIZE OPERATIONS WITH E-SIGNATURES Organizations today are modernizing sales practices and operations through the use of e-signatures and other new technologies. In this knowledge brief, Aberdeen explores how IT leaders are tightly integrating these technologies with vital business platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics and Office 365.

DIGITAL DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT AND E-SIGNATURES OPTIMIZE THE NEW HR Download this Aberdeen report that includes research outlining best practices and areas HR teams should invest in for better business process management.
Despite pushback from both left and right, free markets should always be supported, because they free people to live out their potentialeven in despotic regimes like Chinas. []

Doug Irwin in his seminal book Free Trade Under Fire points out that Democrats and Republicans have historically vacillated on free trade. The Democratic Party of the late 19th century up until World War II was the party of trade liberalization when Republicans consistently voted for high tariffs. From the 1950s through the early 90s, there was a bipartisan consensus favoring reduced tariffs.

Since NAFTA, a free trade agreement signed into law by President Bill Clinton, support for free trade among Democrats and Republicans has flip-flopped. Labor unions have generally opposed free trade agreements, which helps us understand the shift among Democrats. Republican president Donald Trump engaged in an all-out trade war with China and ran his presidency largely on an anti-free-trade agenda.

In modern conservative circles, free trade is continually mocked and rejected but not because of labor union objection. The conservative case against free trade stems from a mistake, shared by Democrats, that trade among nations is a zero-sum game. I was recently at a conference of conservatives in which two alarming statements were made: You can either have free trade or free markets but not both, and Comparative advantage doesnt work.

As an economist, these are shocking statements, both because they are coming from conservatives, whom I expect to understand economics, and because they are glaringly wrong. When giving a reasoned economic response, I am sometimes labeled a globalist, which I suppose, reading between the hyperbolic lines, means I must hate America.

Nothing could be further from the truth. You can love your country and unapologetically support free trade at all times and under all circumstances. Free trade is about opening markets, and markets are about people. Ensuring the freedom to sell your ideas, labor, skills, and talents is the best way to love your neighbor by serving them.

Free trade is the worlds most successful anti-poverty program. It opens markets and brings goods and services heretofore both unavailable and unthinkable. Free trade widens the circles of cooperation and allows us both to benefit from and make contributions to human flourishing; this is our Christian duty. Free trade removes the shackles of subsistence farming and the grind of daily survival, and allows the possibility of human innovation and creativity to be shared across the globe. Free trade moves us out of the zero-sum game of survival of the strongest and into the positive-sum game where all parties win, and where we are empowered with new choices and opportunities. These facts are not new; they hark back to the insights of Adam Smith, who in 1776 wrote:

What is prudence in the conduct of every family can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom. If a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can make it, better buy it of them with some part of the produce of our own industry, employed in a way in which we have some advantage.

We are a commercially integrated world, and that makes us all better. Free trade is the prudent course of action because it means that we each produce the things we are relatively better at doing. In this we actualize our temporal comparative advantages, and thus are freed from producing those things for which we would be higher-cost producers. This is the nature of stewardship, and it allows us to widen the circles of cooperation. If you are wearing a suit that you didnt make, you are a living example of comparative advantage working.

Yet free trade and moving from more closed-trade relationships to more open-trade relationships bring great objections. British historian Thomas Babington Macaulay said, Free trade, one of the greatest blessings which a government can confer on a people, is in almost every country unpopular. Most of the conservative objections I hear to free trade focus on our current geopolitical relationship with China. Lets face it, China is no bastion of free markets. Rather, it is a country ruled by authoritarians who hate freedom. Thats not just a bad thing for us; its bad for the citizens of China, all of whom are made in Gods image and likeness and have creative potential but live under the yoke of economic and political authoritarianism.

This is no excuse to abandon free trade with China; we need free trade with China now more than ever. Since 1980, with limited internal reforms, China has raised 800 million people from abject poverty. China has moved from unfree in the Economic Freedom data to mostly unfree. Some progress is better than no progress, and the future remains undetermined.

There is great work to be done in China, and the world watches with bated breath as their government engages in genocide and tyranny. But here is where the economic way of thinking becomes necessary. China needs free trade now more than ever. Our trade policy should be directed at how to trade with entrepreneurs in China while not supporting their government and its state-owned enterprises. We can hold the Chinese government accountable for its cheating and espionage without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Creative regional trade policy can be part of the solution. But denying ordinary Chinese citizens a better life by denying them access to economic opportunity is never the answer.

Not too long ago, skeptics of free trade were worried that Japan was buying up the world and would have a larger economy than ours. What economics teaches us is that anytime a country makes internal changes in the direction of free markets, their economy will grow. That is a good thing, because as individuals in other countries grow richer, they have more money to spend on things we produce, and we have more entrepreneurs from which w, can benefit. I argue that this is what we want in Chinamore trade that allows Chinese citizens to grow richer. This is also the best deterrent to greater restrictions on freedom by the Chinese government.

Some worry that Chinas economy will eclipse ours in size, to which economists respond, I hope so. China has a population that is 4.3 times as big as the United States. We should hope their economy is bigger. In a regime of free markets and political liberalism, this is an indicator of growing wealth and prosperity. Free trade frees people, and that is what China needs. Free trade will unleash human creativity. What we can and should do is support free trade with people wherever and whenever possible. Its always time for free trade.
For years Alex Jones claimed the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting was a hoax and railed against the families of those killed in the 2012 massacre. Sued for defamation in Texas, Jones "routinely" failed to defend himself or produce documents requested by the court, and a judge yesterday issued default verdicts in two cases. Jones is now liable for damages.

The ruling  which is often referred to in Texas as a "death penalty sanction" for a party unwilling to comply with court orders  is a rarity in the legal world. Jones, who is now on his seventh lawyer in these cases, had years to provide documentation requested by the court, including internal company emails.

HuffPost was the first to report the start of Jones' Sandy Hook legal woes in 2018 when parents Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa filed a defamation lawsuit related to Jones' continued lies that the 2012 school shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead was a "false flag" hoax filled with "crisis actors."

Pozner and De La Rosa's 6-year-old son, Noah, was killed in the shooting. In the years since, the parents have dealt with continued harassment from those who followed Jones' lead and claimed the shooting was faked.
Spin magazine asked Rage Against the Machine punk activist Tom Morello to list five albums he "can't live without." His list includes Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz, Jane's Addiction's Nothing's Shocking, Conor Oberst's Ruminations, and Knife Party's Rage Valley. But it's his #1 pick that is surprising and yet makes total sense:

Peter Gabriel's 3 is a spectacular album of ennui and desperation. "Games Without Frontiers" is the track that draws you in with its brilliant, disjointed poetry and equally disjointed, brilliant Robert Fripp guitars. "Family Snapshot" is a quiet and terrifying assassin's novella and "Intruder" is even scarier than that. Phil Collins plays drums on this record and Gabriel forbade him from using any hi-hats or cymbals on the entire record, adding to the suffocating tone. And then there's "Biko," one of the greatest human-rights anthems of all time about the martyred South African dissident Stephen Biko. It is a song that galvanized the global anti-apartheid movement and stirred in me the realization that music really could change the world.
A redacted social media report and the USAS themselves confirm that a sword-wielding person dressed in the 'garb' of a ninja attacked some US soldiers at Inyokern Airport, an airfield in the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles.

Stars and Stripes:

"The person in ninja garb began to slash at (the soldier), striking his phone and his knee and leg,"the record states.

The staff sergeant took off running across the parking lot to escape the attacker, and then he jumped a fence and entered the administrative building, where he and the captain locked doors and called 911.

Meanwhile, the man dressed as a ninja was "kicking and punching doors and windows" before leaving to grab a large block of asphalt, which he heaved through the window of the administration building.

The captain was struck by the chunk of asphalt, said the document on social media.

Thefirst assistance call was recorded about 1:20 a.m., the Ridgecrest Police Department log shows. A man "with a sword" was in a parking lot, and there was at least one victim, the log states.

About 30 minutes later came a second call via 911: "26 spec op military members doing training at the airport," the log states. "Hunkered down in a hangar wondering where help is."

The ninja fled and was arrested elsewhere, according tothe document shared on social media.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said this week that France would support the reform of the EU's divisive asylum system when it takes over the rotating presidency in January, notably on the issue of harmonising asylum applications.

Speaking on Wednesday, Darmanin sais that asylum applications would be at the heart of the "new Pact on Migration and Asylum", which was tabled by the European Commission in September 2020.

"It's a European issue," Darmanin told RMC/BFMTV, saying a single asylum application for all of Europe would top the agenda when France presides over the EU in from January.

Asked whether France would try to get this measure passed through the EU Parliament, the Interior Minister replied: "We are working on it, we will see what the new German government thinks". A German coalition will be formed in the coming weeks following elections on Sunday.

"This has to be the goal we all have to achieve and everybody's energy should be turned towards this. When you arrive in Europe, when you apply in Italy or Spain or Malta or France, this is for everybody. And we share information," Darmanin said.

European solidarity

In its vast reform of the European asylum system, the European Commission wants to put an end to the so-called "Dublin regulation", which entrusts, among other things, the responsibility for processing an asylum seeker's file to the first country of entry into the EU.

However for some years, France has been facing "secondary movements", as the government refers to it. They are people who have already applied for asylum in a first European country, but whose applications have been rejected for the most part, then come to France to try their luck.

It is these movements that have contributed to putting France neck and neck with Germany in terms of the number of asylum seekers since 2019.

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France's position on the new pact under discussion is unchanged: in September 2020  the day Brussels presented its draft reform  Darmanin called for greater "European solidarity" on the processing of asylum applications and on deportations.

This week, he also pleaded for the European visa policy to be "as unified as possible".

"Otherwise, [would-be immigrants] will play on our differences. We must respond absolutely to Europe when others want to respond to nationalism," he added.
GCS Pte. Ltd. and Xtera launch construction of the Galapagos Cable System

Image from the Galapagos Islands

Image from the Galapagos Islands

SINGAPORE and ALLEN, Texas and MANTA, Ecuador, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Galapagos Cable Systems Pte. Ltd. (GCS) and Xtera, Inc., a provider of subsea fiber optic systems, are pleased to announce that the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract has been signed for the turnkey build of the Galapagos Cable System between the west coast of Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. The 1,280km system has been developed to date by GCS, a Singapore based digital infrastructure company working in close cooperation with CNT (Corporacion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones) the national telecommunications operator of Ecuador.



This contract triggers the project execution which starts with the permitting and design phase, and the marine survey which is already scheduled to follow in early 2022. The system will connect Continental Ecuador with Galapagos Islands, enabling the development of scientific research, commerce, tourism and education.

The new cable, which will go live in Q2 2023, will initially boost bandwidth to the Galapagos Islands by over ten times. President Lasso has increased confidence in the Ecuadorean economy, encouraging the international business communitys inbound direct investment. The Minister of Telecommunications, Vianna Maino, and CNTs General Manager, Ralph Suastegui, have cleared all of the obstacles to allow this major infrastructure project to proceed. A key benefit of the system is to provide the Galapagos archipelago with high capacity and high quality national and international telecommunications services, both fixed and mobile, fiber optic broadband internet, and 4G mobile services with 5G in the future. With a design capacity of 20 terabits per second, the state-of-the-art submarine system will ultimately increase the regional bandwidth more than 2,500 times.

Xtera will perform the design and construction works on a turnkey basis utilizing their next generation SDM repeater, with cable supplied by Prysmian/NSW and marine installation activities performed by IT International Telecom. Xteras subsea implementation combines project management and system integration expertise with solid industry partnerships.

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Alexandria Donoghue, Managing Director Galapagos Cable Systems Pte. Ltd., stated that, GCS' decision to invest in this project was based on the company's opportunity to make a strategic investment in Ecuador that would enable the digital connectivity of the Galapagos Islands to the mainland. This new system allows for unique possibilities; connected services and the IoT will be available to the entire community, bringing with them a wealth of new opportunities, increased scientific research capabilities, and a boost of revenues for existing businesses.

John Hibbard, Chairman of Galapagos Cable Systems Pte. Ltd., an industry veteran with extensive experience consulting with Pacific Island Governments, noted, With the wealth of comprehensive research institutions on the Galapagos Islands, this submarine cable system will enable real-time collaboration between the scientists on the islands and their colleagues in their home base.

Keith Henderson, Chief Executive Officer of Xtera, added, It is our privilege to deliver this environmentally important, state-of-the-art undersea system. Xteras agile approach to supply enables GCS to benefit from a turnkey solution which utilizes the best products and services for their requirements. We are living in a time of unprecedented bandwidth demand and Xteras expert team will continue to drive important connectivity projects, such as this one, to successful completion.

About Galapagos Cable Systems Pte. Ltd.

The GCS team has an extensive background in the telecommunications industry and specifically in Subsea Cables. They have successfully implemented remote islands connectivity systems such as the Galapagos Islands in French Polynesia, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomons, PNG, Palau, and FSM, and CNMI. They specialize in providing telecommunications infrastructure that enables exponential bandwidth growth, therefore 'future proofing' internet growth demand.

About Xtera

Xtera is an innovative provider of subsea and telecom technology. The Company supplies both repeatered and unrepeatered systems, using its high-performance optical amplifiers to deliver traffic directly inland to cities and offering flexibility in working with industry partners to provide the optimum solution. For more information, please visit Xtera or contact info@xtera.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7c0a847a-49fb-47ae-8a42-a9a56690fe0f




/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICERS OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/

TORONTO, Sept. 30, 2021 /CNW/ - Halo Collective Inc. ("Halo" or the "Company") (NEO: HALO) (OTCQB: HCANF) (Germany: A9KN) today announces the issuance of 32,244,961 common shares of the Company to certain independent consultants, related parties, and a supplier of the Company, in lieu of cash consideration (the "Compensation Shares") at a price of C$0.035 per Compensation Share, being the closing price of the common shares of the Company on September 24, 2021.

Halo Collective Inc. Logo (CNW Group/Halo Collective Inc.)

On September 30th, 2021 the Company issued 32,244,961 Compensation Shares in satisfaction of approximately C$1,128,573.77 in fees, payables, and other compensation accrued between March 2021 to September 2021 and payable to independent consultants, related parties and a supplier of the Company.

2,488,537 Compensation Shares were issued to related parties (within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101  Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101")) and such issuances are considered "related party transactions" for the purposes of MI 61-101. 2,488,537 Compensation Shares were issued to Kiran Sidhu, a director and the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Such related party transactions are exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 as neither the fair market value of the securities being issued to the related parties nor the consideration being paid by the related parties exceeded 25% of the Company's market capitalization. The recipient of the Compensation Shares and the extent of such participation were not finalized until shortly prior to the completion of the issuance described herein. Accordingly, it was not possible to publicly disclose details of the nature and extent of related party participation in the transactions contemplated hereby pursuant to a material change report filed at least 21 days prior to the completion of such transactions.

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All of the Compensation Shares were issued pursuant to an exemption from the prospectus requirement of applicable securities laws. 27,376,062 of the Compensation Shares issued are subject to a hold period expiring on the date that is four (4) months and one day from the date of issuance.

In addition, Green Times Consulting Ltd. received 12,400,620 Compensation Shares as part of the issuance. Green Times Consulting Ltd. was compensated for investor relations consulting work primarily in Europe.

About Halo Collective Inc.

Halo is a leading, vertically integrated cannabis company that cultivates, extracts, manufactures, and distributes quality cannabis flower, oils, and concentrates and has sold approximately eleven million grams of oils and concentrates since inception. The Company continues to expand its business and scale efficiently, partnering with trustworthy leaders in the industry who value Halo's operational expertise in bringing top-tier products to market.

Halo currently operates in the United States in Oregon and California, Canada, Southern Africa in the Kingdom of Lesotho, and the United Kingdom. The Company sells cannabis products principally to dispensaries in the U.S. under its brands Hush, Mojave, and Exhale, and under license agreements with Papa's Herb, DNA Genetics, Terphogz, and FlowerShop*, a cannabis lifestyle and conceptual wellness brand that includes G-Eazy as a partner and key member.

As part of continued expansion and vertical integration in the U.S., Halo boasts several grow operations throughout Oregon and two planned in California. In Oregon, the Company has a combined 11 acres of owned and contracted outdoor and green house cultivation, including East Evans Creek, a six-acre grow site in Jackson County with four licenses owned and operated by Halo and two third-party licenses under contract to sell all of their product to Halo; Winberry Farms, a one-acre grow site located 30 miles outside of Eugene in Lane County with a license owned and operated by Halo; and William's Wonder Farms, a three-acre grow site in Applegate Valley, under contract to sell all of its product to Halo pending the closing of Halo's acquisition of its licenses and business assets. Halo has recently acquired Food Concepts LLC, a master tenant of a 55,000 sq.ft. indoor cannabis cultivation, processing, and wholesaling facility in Portland, Oregon operated by the Pistil Point entities (the "Pistil Point Acquistion").

In California, the Company is building out Ukiah Ventures, a planned 30,000 sq. ft. indoor cannabis grow and processing facility, which will include up to an additional five acres of industrial land to expand the site. Recently, Halo partnered with Green Matter Holding in California to purchase a property in Lake County, developing up to 63 acres of cultivation, comprising one of the largest licensed single site grows in California. Halo also plans to expand its operations in California by opening three dispensaries in North Hollywood, Hollywood, and Westwood, one of which may serve as the first FlowerShop* branded dispensary.

In Canada, Halo acquired three KushBar retail cannabis stores located in Alberta as a first in its planned entry into the Canadian market, leveraging its Oregon and California brands. With the KushBar retail stores as a foundation, the Company plans to expand its foothold in Canada.

Halo has also acquired a range of software development assets, including CannPOS, Cannalift, and, more recently, CannaFeels. In addition, Halo owns the discrete sublingual dosing technology, Accudab. The Company intends to spin-off these assets and its intellectual property and patent applications into its subsidiary Halo Tek Inc. and expects to complete a distribution to shareholders on a record date to be determined by Halo.

Halo has recently announced its intention to reorganize its non-U.S. operations into a newly formed entity called Akanda Corp., whose mission will be to provide high-quality and ethically sourced medical cannabis products to patients worldwide. Akanda will seek to deliver on this promise while driving positive change in wellness, empowering individuals in Lesotho, and uplifting the quality of the lives of employees and the local communities where it operates, all while limiting its carbon footprint. Akanda will combine the scaled production capabilities of Bophelo Bioscience & Wellness Pty. Ltd., Halo's Lesotho-based cultivation and processing campus located in the world's first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) containing a cannabis cultivation operation, with distribution and route-to-market efficiency of Canmart Ltd., Halo's UK-based fully approved pharmaceutical importer, and distributor that supplies pharmacies and clinics within the U.K. With a potential maximum licensed canopy area of 200 hectares (495 acres), Bophelo has scalability that is arguably unmatched in the world today.

For further information regarding Halo, see Halo's disclosure documents on SEDAR at www.sedar.com

Connect with Halo Collective: Email | Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements

This press release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only Halo's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of Halo's control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". Forward-looking information may relate to anticipated events or results including, but not limited to Halo's planned expansion into the Canadian retail market, the expected size and capabilities of the final facility planned at Ukiah Ventures and the size of Halo's planned cultivation facility in Northern California, the ability of Bophelo and Canmart to serve international markets, Halo's proposed transaction involving Akanda and the proposed activities of Bophelo and Canmart.

By identifying such information and statements in this manner, Halo is alerting the reader that such information and statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such information and statements. In addition, in connection with the forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release, Halo has made certain assumptions. Although Halo believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. Among others, the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information and statements are the following: delays in obtaining required licenses or approvals, delays or unforeseen costs incurred in connection with construction, the ability of competitors to scale operations in Northern California, delays or unforeseen difficulties in connection with the cultivation and harvest of Halo's raw material, changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; and the other risks disclosed in the Company's annual information form dated March 31, 2021 and other disclosure documents available on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information or statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and Halo does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking information and statements attributable to Halo or persons acting on its behalf is expressly qualified in its entirety by this notice.

Non-Solicitation

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell nor the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

SOURCE Halo Collective Inc.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2021/30/c3126.html
FILE PHOTO: Women queue for food parcels during distribution by volunteers of the Lagos food bank initiative in a community in Oworoshoki, Lagos

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria got approval on Friday for $400 million in World Bank financing to procure and deploy COVID-19 vaccinations, the bank said in a statement.

The World Bank board of directors signed off on the financing, provided via the International Development Association, which it said would enable Africa's most populous nation to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for 40 million people, some 18% of its population, and support vaccine deployment to 110 million people.

In a statement, the bank said the money would ensure that the government can vaccinate 51% of its population within two years and "avoid the dreadful consequences of another lockdown that left in its wake an economic toll the country is still grappling with."

The government last month said that around 20% of workers in Nigeria had lost their jobs as a result of COVID-19.

Nigeria has administered some five million vaccine doses to its 200 million citizens, and is in the midst of deploying millions more doses of Moderna and AstraZeneca shots received through the COVAX scheme aimed at providing vaccines to developing countries.

It also has 1.12 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that it purchased through an African Union programme and is also scheduled to receive 7.7 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine via COVAX.

As of Oct. 1, Nigeria had recorded 205,779 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2,721 deaths from the virus.

(Reporting By Libby George in Lagos and Camillus Eboh in Abuja, Editing by Nick Zieminski)
Toronto FC looks to continue its climb out of the nether regions of Major League Soccer and dispatch another team under new management when it hosts Chicago Fire FC on Sunday.

Toronto (5-15-7) rallied mid-week for a 3-2 win over FC Cincinnati, which fired coach Jaap Stam on Monday, to move out of the MLS basement and extend its unbeaten run in all competitions to four games (3-0-1).

Chicago canned coach Raphael Wicky on Thursday with assistant coach Frank Klopas taking over the team on an interim basis. Klopas was the club's head coach from 2011 to 2013 before taking over Montreal, which fired him in August 2015 following a 2-1 loss to Toronto.

"It's professional sports and we all depend on results in the end," Chicago's sporting director Georg Heitz said this week. "And we didn't deliver the results we all want to deliver."

Chicago (7-15-6) arrives five points ahead of Toronto in 12th place in the Eastern Conference. At 1-10-1, it has the league's worst road record (Toronto is second-worst at 2-11-2, not counting the home games it played in Florida when based south of the border due to pandemic-related travel restrictions).

"It's hard to know exactly what to expect. It's still a good team," said Toronto captain Michael Bradley. "It's a team with some interesting pieces in different spots."

Both teams endured nightmarish starts to the season.

Toronto fired first-year coach Chris Armas on July 4, with the team mired in a six-game losing streak at 1-8-2. Chicago stumbled to a 1-7-1 start, scoring just four goals along the way.

With seven games remaining, Toronto is 17 points out of the playoff picture with only 21 points left available on the table. The post-season is officially soon about to slip out of sight.

Sunday's game is followed by an international break, with six TFC players joining their national teams: Richie Laryea, Jonathan Osorio and Jacob Shaffelburg (Canada), Eriq Zavaleta (El Salvador), Kemar Lawrence (Jamaica) and Yeferson Soteldo (Venezuela).

Story continues

Toronto doesn't play again until Oct. 16, at home to Atlanta United.

Shaffelburg was the star Wednesday against Cincinnati, scoring one goal and setting up the other two as Toronto rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit with three goals in 17 minutes. It marked the first time in 18 games (1-14-3) this season that TFC has won after conceding first.

The victory came despite the injury absence of forwards Ayo Akinola, Jozy Altidore, Dom Dwyer and Jordan Perruzza as well as Spanish playmaker Alejandro Pozuelo, midfielders Ralph Priso and Tsubasa Endoh, and defenders Chris Mavinga and Zavaleta.

While Akinola, Endoh and Priso are done for the season after surgery, coach Javier Perez says he expects Altidore to return to action this year after a foot operation in mid-August.

Pozuelo, who has missed the last six games in all competitions with a lower body injury, has been training this week. But Perez said a decision on his availability for Sunday would be made on the eve of the game, saying if he did take part it would be off the bench.

"He's the only one I can confirm that has a realistic possibility to come back into the team (Sunday)," said Perez.

Chicago pulled the coaching trigger Thursday after a 2-0 win over visiting New York City FC that snapped a five-game winless streak (0-4-1).

The Fire became the seventh team this season to changes coaches following Atlanta (Gabriel Heinze), Cincinnati (Jaap Stam), Dallas (Luchi Gonzalez), Real Salt Lake (Freddy Juarez), Toronto (Armas) and Vancouver (Marc Dos Santos).

Heitz said the club decided not to pick up Wicky's 2022 contract option and to sever ties immediately so he could fly home to Switzerland to rejoin his family. Wicky left the club earlier in the season because of a health emergency involving his father.

Wicky compiled a 12-25-14 regular season record in two years at Chicago's helm, finishing one point out of the playoffs in 2020 when the team lost 4-3 loss to NYCFC in the season finale at Soldier Field.

Toronto is undefeated in its last 12 games (9-0-3) against Chicago, dating back to Sept. 26, 2015. The Fires last victory in the series came on April 4, 2015, a 3-2 win in Bridgeview, Ill., that capped a 12-game Fire undefeated streak in the series (6-0-6), dating back to 2010.

TFC won 2-1 when they met earlier this season, July 24 at Soldier Field. Toronto then went on a nine-game winless run (0-7-2) that didn't end until a 2-1 victory over visiting Nashville SC on Sept. 18.

Despite its record, Chicago is a threat to score from set pieces and crosses, according to Perez.

"We need to dictate the tempo of the game from the first minute. Otherwise they will take control of the game and we're going to have difficulties," said Perez.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021

Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
IUCN World Conservation Congress

Authors: Fionn Crombie Angus and Jonathan Angus

A report from Citizen Network Ambassadors Fionn and Jonathan, who also run Fionnathan Productions, following their trip to Marseille, France for the International Union for Conservation Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress 2021.

The IUCN World Conservation Congress is the largest gathering of conservation expertise globally, and the only forum on biodiversity with outcomes decided by governments, civil society and indigenous peoples together.

In attendance were the Presidents of France, Greece and Costa Rica, plus the actor Harrison Ford. We have been to many events of various types over the six years since starting our What do you love about your life?interview project, but never as accredited members of such a large, international press pool.

As well as sitting in on many presentations and press conferences, we recorded 20 interviews (and one in which we were the interviewees) with citizens of 11 countries.

Some highlights:

Cardinal Peter Turkson from Ghana, who participated with representatives from five other world religions on a panel called Conservation and Spirituality

Gregorio Diaz Mirabal, General Coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon (COICA), presenting a proposal to protect 80% of the Amazon basin by 2025.

Margo Traimond, who runs an animal rehabilitation center in French Giuana, rescuing injured or orphaned wild animals

Dr. Krithi Karanth, Chief Conservation Scientist and Director at the Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore

Although we wondered ahead of time whether traveling during a pandemic would be worth the extra worry, we had a wonderfully productive time. (Watch the Citizen Network TV Youtube Channel in the coming weeks, where well post the interviews.)

We should also mention that we had probably the best BnB hosts weve ever had (and weve had a lot of them)!

Excursions away from the conference had us hiking in mountains, swimming and boating in the Mediteranian Sea, and playing traditional Irish fiddle music in the Old Port area of Marseille. We received invitations to visit five African countries, places in Central and South America, and to lecture to new employees at the Living Rainforest in Berkshire.

One aspect of the conference of deep concern to us, however, was the lack of disability representation. While we saw attendees with visible disabilites, it was a very small number. Indicators that the organizers had planned an inclusive event, such as sign language interpretation from the stage, were completely absent, as was the theme of voices of the disabled absent from the agenda. We spoke with the Biodiversity writer for the Guardian newspaper, and she is interested in Conservation/Disability angle, saying that she feels it hasnt really been reported on at all. If you are interested in exploring the intersection of disability and conservation (climate change, biodiversity, and a clean environment) get in touch. We plan to change the world regardless, but we need your help to do it with grace.

Perhaps the most consequential outcome of the Congress was the formal approval by the members of a much anticipated motion to protect at least 30% of land and ocean by 2030, known as 30x30.

Lets make sure that the 15% of the worlds population living with disabilities (who will be more effected by changes than most) have a strong voice in designing the future.
(CNN) -- The days of rent discounts and "pandemic pricing" are over as rents across the US climb back up.

The national median rent rose to $1,302 in September, up 15% from a year ago, according to a report from Apartment List, a rental listing site.

After falling for much of 2020, rents are now rising much faster than before the pandemic. Since January, the national median rent has increased by 16.4%. From 2017 to 2019, a more typical rent increase during those months was 3.4%, according to the report.

In September, rents remained below pre-pandemic levels in just five large cities: San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, California, as well as Minneapolis and Washington, DC.

But the meteoric rise in rents may be starting to show signs of cresting.

Boise, Idaho, which saw the biggest increase in rent during the pandemic -- up nearly 40% since March 2020 -- did not see a monthly increase in September. Instead, according to the report, the median rent in Boise fell by 0.1%.

That's hardly much relief for Boise renters, but, according to Apartment List's report, it may begin to signal that the market is starting to stabilize.

Rents soar in Sun Belt cities

"What is happening now is a massive rebound in rents," said Anthemos Georgiades, CEO of Zumper, a rental listing site. And much of that rebound has come through steady increases throughout 2021, he said.

Several factors contributed to the higher rates, he said, including people coming back to urban cores for in-person work and school, would-be homeowners remaining renters because they are priced out of buying a home and an overall lack of housing.

Rents are climbing fastest in Sun Belt cities like Phoenix, where rent for a one-bedroom apartment was up 22% year-over-year in September, according to Zumper.

Nearby, Scottsdale's one-bedroom median rent rose to $1,850 in September, up 23% from last year, according to Zumper's analysis.

Overall, Sun Belt cities posted the strongest rent gains in the country during the end of the summer, according to a report from CoStar Group, a real estate data company that owns Apartments.com.

Rents in this region were pushed up by robust economic recoveries and newcomers moving to the area, according to the report.

"Sun Belt markets were already seeing good growth pre-pandemic and they are the standouts now," said Jay Lybik, the national director of multifamily analytics at CoStar Group.

Other cities seeing rent increases are those that aren't the major city in their region -- like Fort Lauderdale, Florida, or San Diego, according to Zumper.

"Maybe people don't need to live in Miami or Los Angeles, but they still want to be close," said Georgiades. Nearby cities often offer a lower cost of living, larger square footage and an attractive lifestyle. "Only a minority of people will be fully remote going forward. The proximity is a realistic alternative for many people."

New York and San Francisco rebound

Rents in the two most expensive markets in the country, New York and San Francisco, cratered during the pandemic. Now both are coming back, with San Francisco lagging a bit behind.

The borough of Manhattan is heating up the most in New York City, said Nancy Wu, an economist at StreetEasy. "Manhattan residents were more mobile and had the ability to move. That's where we saw the biggest drops in rents [during the pandemic] and the biggest gains back up in the city."

Prior to the pandemic, rents in San Francisco were more expensive than New York and there was less inventory. San Francisco may not be coming back as fast as New York, Wu said, because the Bay Area's tech industry might not require workers to be in the office to the extent the financial firms in Manhattan do.

Still, she said, New York and San Francisco have more in common than they do with other parts of the country. "They are different than Midwestern and Sun Belt cities that were relatively more affordable and have seen big rent growth."

Rents are not as strong in New York as some analysts thought they'd be at the beginning of the summer due to the ongoing threat of Covid-19.

"That still leaves a lot of good deals for renters," said Wu. "You can still negotiate."

The median rent in Manhattan was $3,255 in August, according to a report from brokerage firm Douglas Elliman and appraisal firm Miller Samuel. That's up 1.5% from July, but still 3.2% below last year.

Demand is bouncing back, however, according to Jonathan Miller, President and CEO of Miller Samuel. Even though leasing activity was strong heading into the fall, said Miller, it was more muted than expected.

"At the start of the summer, there seemed to be consensus among corporate America that in-person work would resume in the fall," said Miller. "That consensus is much more diffused. Start dates are being kicked down the road, often to January and into the new year."

That uncertainty can be seen in the rental activity, he said.

"Instead of having this moment that was going to be a light switch, when things were back to business in a significant way, that has become less of an obvious outcome," said Miller. "Now there is more uncertainty."

This story was first published on CNN.com "So long, pandemic pricing. Rents are skyrocketing".
May titis na nagliyab sa dibdib / Ng bawat isa sa amin, / At ang mga dila ng lagablab / Ay sasanib sa ipo-ipong dumarating, / Hahawanin ang lupaing sasaksi / Sa itatanim naming lipunang / Malaya at hindi na paaapi. (There is ash smoldering inside the chest / Of each one of us, / And the tongues of fire / Will merge with the coming whirlwind, / To clear the land as it stands witness to / The society we will cultivate / Free and no longer oppressed). These are the last lines of Agunyas sa Hacienda Luisita by Bienvenido Lumbera  a poem that the late writer performed on the eve of Nov. 21, 2004 as tribute to the slain workers of the notorious Cojuangco-owned sugar plantation in Tarlac.

Such politically-charged articulations expressed through cultural and artistic practice were not new to the late writer. At the onset of the Philippine martial law in 1972, Lumbera went underground as editor for the revolutionary literary publication, Ulos, prompting his illegal arrest in January 1974. He also wrote a number of plays with thematic preoccupations that were unafraid to arouse and provoke political thought, including Nasa Puso ang Amerika in 1984, a stage adaptation of the Carlos Bulosan novel, America is in the Heart.

In February 2003, over a year before the Hacienda Luisita massacre, Lumbera performed his poem Paanyaya kay Bush during an anti-US war protest in Plaza Miranda. This happened at the height of the Arroyo administration, known for its military allegiance to the Bush administration. Decade after decade, Lumberas work sought some sense of material purpose beyond whatever arbitrary notions of aesthetic suitability. In each attempt, his work took on the form of something political. Uncomfortable. Revolutionary.

How his literary criticism also shaped his own literary work

As a critic, he believed in challenging our age-old concepts of nationhood. In his essay, Harnessing Regional Literature for National Literature, he questioned, Who was it who decided that regional literature ought to consist only of works written in the vernacular? Who was it who relegated regional literature as a mere sub-category of national literature? By tracing the ethnography of Philippine literary production, he argued that the countrys American education system aligned with the bourgeois aspirations of the Filipino ilustrado who endorsed and authorized a literary tradition that privileged discourses concerning the countrys cultural and political center.

A similar argument against bourgeois art is made in his essay, Philippine Theater in Confinement: Breaking Out of Martial Law where he explores the shifts in local theater as spurred by the heightened precarity of the Marcos period. Lending itself into the hands of activists outside the glittering stages of auditoriums, Lumbera explained that Those who directed and acted in these [protest] skits called themselves cultural workers instead of artists and the distinction was significant. As workers, they identified themselves with the common people in the audience, instead of raising themselves as belonging to an elite specializing in art.

Consistent with his beliefs, Lumbera did not allow his American education (Comparative Literature at the University of Indiana as second degree under a Fulbright scholarship) to preclude his ability to connect with the common audiences. He produced work after work written in Filipino  from his poetry collections, including Likhang Dila, Likhang Diwa (Creation of the Mind, Creation of the Tongue) and "Poetika/Politika: Tinipong mga Tula (Poetics/Politics: Collected Poems), to his stage plays, including Bayani (1985) and Sa Sariling Bayan: Apat na Dulang May Musika (2003), among others.

Despite being a sharp critic, Lumbera remained friends with many people in the literary scene, often addressed by peers with much fondness and respect even long before his passing. Sir Bien to his juniors and Ka Bien to those whom he aligned with in the larger political struggle, Lumbera was relentless in the wisdom and clarity of his contemplations. As such, he produced honest scholarly work that continues to inform and embolden the countrys culture of literary criticism.

The national artist award and Bienvenido Lumberas legacy

Upon being proclaimed national artist in 2006, an article by writer Krip Yuson published in The Philippine Star pejoratively labeled the order as the nationalist artist award for having chosen Lumbera over other nominees, especially with his body of work entrenched in anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist movements. These same beer house rhetoricians also predict that it is the extreme Left that will be overjoyed by their champions ascension as National Artist. The communist candidate, it has been said rather bitchily, Yuson wrote.

This was before terms like red-tagging were popularized on social media, which punctuates the late writers enduring relevance to the present day political entanglements of Philippine artistic practice.

Today, the intersections between art and activism have become a hotbed for state-sponsored violence. Cultural organizations like Panday Sining are often subject to harassment both online and offline. Artist-activists are tagged as rebel warriors, their pro-people stance being conflated with the act of taking up arms and receding to the mountains. One cant help but wonder how much of these similar assaults Lumbera had to endure in the last 89 years.

Interestingly, the late writer also helped found and lead many progressive cultural groups including Panulat para sa Kaunlaran ng Samabayanan (PAKSA) and the Concerned Artists of the Philippines.

Spanning his early works in the 60s up to his more recent ones in the 2000s, Lumberas resistance to oppressive institutional forces is embedded so intrinsically in both his critical and literary writing, it only makes sense that he is periodically criticized by those whom he is blatantly opposed. As a consequence, not only did he endure the violent repressions of an authoritarian government, but he also had to contend with elite institutions who undermined the merits and validity of his art.

Lumberas death leaves a void not only in the Philippine arts but also in the political struggle of the masses. More than the national artist award or the various cultural monikers of poet/playwright/essayist/etcetera often ascribed to his personhood, Lumberas true brilliance emanates from his belief in the kind of art that goes beyond the mere pursuit of beauty.

What all of this tells us is that in a country whose artistic sensibilities are often dictated by whats palatable to upper-class, therefore, to colonial preferences, Bienvenido Lumbera dared to write what many werent interested in writing. He dared to write what others wanted to write but were simply too afraid to. Above all else, he dared to write even when it meant advocating against his own safety and personal interests.

Lumberas death leaves a void not only in the Philippine arts but also in the political struggle of the masses. More than the national artist award or the various cultural monikers of poet/playwright/essayist/etcetera often ascribed to his personhood, Lumberas true brilliance emanates from his belief in the kind of art that goes beyond the mere pursuit of beauty.

What he was more interested in was a purer and more rigorous path; a pursuit of truth. Of critical thought. If there is anything that young writers today can learn from Lumberas legacy, its that in deciding what work one churns out in the vast sea of things, one must always ask the question, for whom? Para kanino?
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 1)  Megaworld's real estate investment trust (REIT) arm made a successful market debut performance on Friday as investors bank on the property giant's plans to prop up the unit, coupled with the easing of COVID-19 rules, an analyst said.

Shares of MREIT in the Philippine Stock Exchange finished at 16.70 each, 3.73% higher than its initial public offering (IPO) price of 16.10 per share.

It even reached a high of 17.16 during the intraday, or 6.58% up from its IPO price.

Philstocks Financial equity analyst Claire Alviar said in a mobile message that MREIT Inc. witnessed "the best debut performance" among the REITs.

"We think that its discounted final offer price of 16.10 from its maximum of 22.00 attracts investors to buy shares of MREIT, in addition to its competitive forecasted dividend yield of 5.65% and 6.09% for the fiscal years 2022 and 2023," she added.

"Also, the sponsor's plan of injecting more assets into MREIT spurred positive sentiment since this could increase the distributable income of the company," the analyst said.

During the listing ceremony, Kevin Tan, Megaworld chief strategy officer and MREIT president and CEO, bared the plan to fuel the company's portfolio with additional office and commercial assets from premier township Uptown Bonifacio by 2023.

Currently, Uptown Bonifacio has close to 331,300 sqm of completed office and commercial projects. Another 70,000 sqm of prime office spaces are set to be completed in three years.

"These prime office and commercial assets can be potentially injected into MREIT. With BGC having the highest office rental rates among major business districts in the country, these fresh assets can truly bulk up MREITs portfolio, increase its rental revenues, and of course, grow the distribution yields for our investors," Tan said.

MREITs initial portfolio consists of 10 prime office buildings covering around 224,431 square meters in Eastwood City, McKinley Hill, and Iloilo Business Park.

Alviar also said MREIT's timing to go public was "good" since the national government has started to relax COVID rules, particularly in Metro Manila.

Until October 15, the capital region will be under Alert Level 4, allowing more sectors to operate in a limited capacity.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines)  For many couples, extended confinement and isolation can bring their relationship to a boiling point during the pandemic. Cabin fever, limited interaction with friends, and "constant companionship" can sometimes put a strain on an otherwise loving relationship.

But for young, working couple Carlo and Princess Faustino, the personal and professional lives blended well amid the community quarantine restrictions.

"Our bond as a family really became stronger, the more we spent time together," said Princess.

A test engineer analyst, Princess was used to an office environment. But with the lockdown in March 2020, she retreated to her province in San Antonio, Nueva Ecija, and has worked from home since then.

Carlo, on the other hand, was accustomed to working from home as an online English as a Second Language teacher for the past three years, and with Princess now at home, the pandemic allowed them to rediscover quality time together.

"Time with my wife is spent well due to the fact that we can have our own time with each other. We usually drink, eat, and watch movies while our son sleeps on Friday nights," noted Carlo

"It was a fulfilling time for us as a family," added Princess.

All things considered, the young couple is lucky. Both are in stable jobs that transitioned easily to the online environment, and they were not affected financially.

What made things difficult was the internet connection in their purok (zone). It was weak and faulty, a glaring problem since both are heavy internet users.

"It was a struggle for several months when I started working from home since the internet we used back then was so slow. My job requires running thousands of codes, and it takes so long to get validated. Sometimes, I have to keep re-running them over and over again until the early morning. Back then I usually do it at midnight when it's off-peak," shared Princess.

"The first time I got into the tutoring business, my students would often get disconnected and I would just apologize. My classes run for about 8-9 hours. The spotty connection of course had an impact on their review and scoring of my tutoring business," added Carlo.

Like most kids, three-year-old Auric Faustino streams and plays video games online during the pandemic. Sometimes his parents would join in the fun too. Photo from Converge.

With Converge arriving in the second-class municipality of Jaen in 2020, and venturing even to the far-flung purok of Princess and Carlo, things changed for the better.

"When the connection improved, that's when I got a lot of bookings, and almost every day, my tutoring slots are filled up," said Carlo.

For Princess, running computer codes that would normally take 2-3 days now just takes a day, making her a more efficient worker and freeing up time for much-needed family time.

"The time that we spend with our family cannot be taken back. We spend our time together developing our relationship, our values, and our love for each other. This all paves a bright future for us," said Princess.

Filled slots and continuous work, on the other hand, made Carlo appreciate more his leisure time with his wife and 3-year old son.

"I rest on weekends and do some hobbies with my family like watching movies, watching anime online, or even walking around our area," he said.

Right now when work seems to take up more than its fair share of Filipinos' time, Princess, Carlo, and son Auric make sure to value their rest days and take nothing for granted.

Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions, Inc. is a pure fiber data network and internet service provider in the country. It is the first to run a pure end-to-end fiber internet network, providing Filipinos simple, fast, and reliable internet connection.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 1)  Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. executive Krizle Mago is now in the protective custody of the House of Representatives after days of being out of reach since her bombshell admission that the firm allegedly swindled the government with expired face shields.

House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability chairman Michael Aglipay said Mago has been safely inside the House's chambers since 6:30 p.m. Friday.

In a letter addressed to Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Richard Gordon, Aglipay said Mago informed the House panel on September 30 that she wanted to be in protective custody.

The House committee earlier issued a subpoena requiring Mago to attend its hearing on October 4.

A copy of Mago's letter shared by Aglipay stated that she could not speak freely about the ongoing investigation without "feeling threatened due to undue influence and pressure being exerted from various sources."

"I feel that my life and liberty are in grave danger because of my coming out and my desire to speak the truth," Mago said.

This development runs contrary to the statement issued by Pharmally on Tuesday which Mago allegedly penned. In that letter, Mago denied she was hiding from authorities and that she was being threatened by the company. She also asserted that Pharmally was run by good people.

It was on September 26 when Gordon said his Blue Ribbon Committee could no longer reach Mago. Two days earlier, the panel offered her protection following her testimony in a hearing that Pharmally changed the expiry dates of government-procured face shields.

The National Bureau of Investigation was later instructed to conduct a search for the Pharmally official.

In a statement on Saturday, Gordon said he was relieved that Mago was safe.

"Despite her non-appearance in the recent Blue Ribbon hearing, I am glad that she will be available to answer questions that could be asked of her regarding this PS-DBM Pharmally scandal," he said, referring to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management.

Aglipay earlier said those who want Mago to participate in hearings should inform the House committee's secretariat to make the necessary arrangements.
(CNN)  Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday, October 1 announced plans to reopen the country's borders to fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents, moving from a strict zero-Covid strategy to a model of living with the virus.

The move  expected to take effect in November  comes more than 18 months after Australia closed its borders to the world in response to the pandemic, imposing quotas on arrivals that left thousands of citizens stranded overseas and mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine for those able to make the journey.

Morrison also said that with 55% of the country now fully vaccinated and first dose rates approaching 80%, the government "has been finalizing plans so Australian families can be reunited, Australian workers can travel in and out of our country, and we can work towards welcoming tourists back to our shores."

"Many countries around the world have now safely reopened to international travel and it will shortly be time for Australia to take the next step," he added.

Australia's tough restrictions, combined with localized measures including lockdowns, have helped the country mostly control COVID-19 inside its borders. To date, Australia has reported more than 107,000 confirmed cases of the virus and 1,311 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

But as states and territories have struggled to contain outbreaks of the highly-contagious Delta variant in recent months, the Australian government said it had been forced to reexamine its zero-Covid approach.

Under the plan outlined by Morrison Friday, Australians and permanent residents would be allowed to quarantine at home  which would essentially remove the caps limiting the number of people allowed into the country. Those travelers would also only face seven days of quarantine.

The move was "anticipated" to follow the completion of home quarantine trials in two states, Morrison said.

"To reopen safely and to stay safely open, firstly we need home quarantine pilots in New South Wales and South Australia to conclude and be successful so they can role out at scale."

For those not vaccinated with an approved shot, 14 days' quarantine in a government managed facility will still be in place.

Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration had previously approved four vaccines  made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson. Morrison said Friday that two more had been added to the list as of Friday  China's Sinovac and India's Covishield.

"Australian citizens and permanent residents who cannot be vaccinated -- for example if they are under 12 or have a medical condition -- will be treated as vaccinated for the purposes of their travel," a statement from the government added.

Without naming an exact date, Morrison estimated that an 80% fully vaccinated target set by the government as a condition for the border changes to come into effect was likely to be reached sometime in November.

Thousands of Australians have been stranded overseas for months due to the country's tough border conditions, which has led to huge frustration among citizens who felt their country had abandoned them.

Last Christmas, an estimated 39,000 Australian residents were not able to make it back into the country to celebrate the holiday.

While the new border opening will allow them to return, Morrison was less clear on when people who are not citizens or permanent residents will be able to visit the country.

"We will also work towards completely quarantine-free travel for certain countries, such as New Zealand, when it is safe to do so," Morrison said Friday.

But Jennifer Evans, chief executive officer of the National Association of Testing Authorities, said she was waiting to hear how the government planned to handle Covid-19 testing for incoming travelers, given even vaccinated people can carry the disease.

"Right now there's nothing mandated by the federal government. I'm asking that we follow the UK government's example and require accreditation for all labs and facilities doing pre-travel testing," she said in a statement.

"Let's make testing mean something and give Australians confidence in their results."

This story was first published on CNN.com "Australia reveals plan to reopen international borders to fully vaccinated citizens"
(CNN)  A group of public school teachers in New York asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to block the New York City vaccine mandate that is set to go into effect Friday afternoon.

In court papers, lawyers for the teachers say that New York City, as well as the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, have placed an "unconstitutional burden" on public school teachers.

New York city officials issued an order requiring Department of Education staff who "work in-person" in a school setting or building to submit proof of at least one dose of vaccination of Covid-19. The original deadline was September 27 and it did not permit the employees to undergo weekly testing in lieu of the vaccination.

The lawyers argue that instead of allowing teachers the opportunity to opt out of the vaccine mandate through weekly testing, the city's mandate "forces unvaccinated public-school employees to go on unpaid leave for nearly a year."

The challengers in the case give different reasons for not wanting to get the vaccine including a concern over the long-term effects of the vaccine.

They say the mandate "threatens the education of thousands of children in the largest public-school system in the country and violates the substantive due process and equal protection rights afforded to all public-school employees."

A federal appeals court initially put the mandate on hold, but later lifted the order.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "New York City public school teachers ask Supreme Court to block vaccine mandate."
(CNN)  Princess Beatrice of York, the grandaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, has revealed the name of her baby daughter -- and it includes a touching tribute to the British monarch.

Beatrice and husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi announced on Friday that their first child had been named Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi.

The child was born at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on September 18, weighing 6 pounds and 2 ounces.

Beatrice and Mapelli Mozzi confirmed Sienna's name on social media and shared an image of an imprint of her feet.

On Twitter, Beatrice, who is the 33-year-old elder daughter of Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, wrote: "We are delighted to share that we have named our daughter Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi.

"We are all doing well and Wolfie is the best big brother to Sienna."

Five-year-old Christopher Mapelli Mozzi, known as Wolfie, is Mapelli Mozzi's son from a previous relationship.

Mapelli Mozzi shared the same image on Instagram, adding the caption: "Our life together has just begun, and I can't wait to see all the amazing things that await us.

"Feeling so much love and gratitude for my amazing wife, baby Sienna and Wolfie. These are the days I never want to forget. This week, a friend said to me the sweetest saying....that with every child you grow a whole new heart

"A massive thank you to the Midwife and the amazing team at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital."

He added a love heart, a kiss and a baby emoji to his message.

Sienna Elizabeth is not the only one of the Queen's great-grandchildren to have been born this year with a name that pays tribute to the monarch.

In June, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex welcomed their second child, a daughter. The couple named her Lilibet "Lili" Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, a nod to the Queen's childhood nickname and to Harry's mother, the late Princess Diana.

Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi will be 11th in line to the throne, and is the Queen's 12th great-grandchild.

In February, Beatrice's younger sister, 31-year-old Eugenie, gave birth to a baby boy named August Philip Hawke Brooksbank.

Beatrice and Mapelli Mozzi, who is a real estate manager, married in a secret ceremony at Windsor Castle in July last year attended by the Queen and the late Prince Philip, who died in April.

CNN has launched Royal News, a new weekly dispatch bringing you the inside track on the royal family, what they are up to in public and what's happening behind palace walls. Sign up here.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Princess Beatrice, Queen's granddaughter, pays tribute to monarch with baby's name."
South Korean Regulators Deserting Jobs for Posts in Crypto, Fintech and Finance

Source: Adobe/DZiegler

The regulatory landscape continues to get rockier for crypto companies in South Korea, but an increasing number of regulators in the nation are quitting their jobs to take up roles with fintech, crypto platforms, statistics have revealed.

According to Maeil Kyungjae, landing a role at a regulator used to be seen as a plum role, with offices once called the workplaces of the gods in South Korea. But in recent times, many have been turning their backs on such posts, and are heeding the calls of headhunter agencies who have gone in search of their expertise.

The media outlet said that this year alone, at least 28 individuals have moved away from their jobs at bodies like the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) this year.

Quoting data compiled by the National Assemblys Political Affairs Committee, the newspaper reported that two of the highest-level (executive) workers have quit the FSS for other posts this year, along with three high-level managers, 11 mid-level managers, nine junior managers, and one junior employee.

The committee also revealed that one-third of the 84 people who had quit the service since February 2017 had been employed elsewhere immediately  effectively poached by the private sector.

And the fintech and crypto worlds are proving to be alluring employers for FSS staff: senior members of the services fintech department and financial education department have joined crypto operators and the fintech giant Kakao Pay this year.

A large number of other ex-FSS staff have also joined the conventional financial industry, joining firms operated by conglomerates like Samsung, Hyundai, and the banking behemoth Kookmin. The legal industry has also provided fertile hiring grounds for FSS workers.

MPs criticized an attempt by an FSS deputy bureau director to join the market-leading crypto exchange Upbit in May, stating that such moves risked blunting the edge of the regulatory sword, and warning that strong connections between crypto industry firms and regulatory agencies could cause damage to South Korean society.

The FSS is just one of the bodies tasked with policing the crypto and blockchain sectors, and has been involved in key policy-making decisions.

It is not just the FSS that has suffered staff losses of this kind, however. In April, a high-level prosecutor at the Ministry of Justice was thwarted in an attempt to join an unnamed crypto exchange  eventually ending up without a job.

____

Learn more:

- Crypto Industry's Lobbying Power Grows As Former Officials Change Sides

- Russian Blockchain Experts Are Offered Almost x5 the National Average Salary

- More Crypto Regulation May Be on its Way in South Korea, Japan
The Colorado Freedom Fund is hiring Rebecca Wallace as senior policy counsel, the same role she recently left at the Colorado chapter of the ACLU.

Wallace in an interview indicated she took on the challenge for a pair of reasons: It allowed her to focus on her passion for pretrial detention reform and to work with an organization tied more directly into those affected by Colorado's current pretrial policies.

"That is the work that I came to the Colorado Freedom Fund to do and to do exclusively," she said. "I've never been able to focus in on one subject matter, and even though pretrial is still broad in a sense. That's what I'm excited about."

I am beyond thrilled to join @FreedomFundCO and their daily work to Bring Our Neighbors Home. Its been a beautiful 11 years at the ACLU. Time for a new chapter working even closer with community, and especially people directly impacted by the pretrial system. https://t.co/2ggsuJYuQV  Rebecca Wallace (@RWallaceEsq) September 30, 2021

As the ACLUs senior staff attorney and senior policy counsel, Wallace worked extensively on pretrial reform efforts, leading her to fight side-by-side with CFF on a number of criminal justice issues. Those included House Bill 19-1225, which ended monetary bail for some low-level offenses, and Senate Bill 19-191, which standardized times for posting bail and release after bond is posted.

"Those pretrial gains ... were a direct result of years of work that Rebecca had put in, long before I even met her," Elisabeth Epps, CFFs executive director, said in an email that also noted a number of Wallace's other policy wins.

"Rebeccas experience is unparalleled when it comes to liberatory pretrial policy in Colorado. While she comes to us to lead policy work with an emphasis on community-driven legislative efforts, she has also represented plaintiffs in critical lawsuits to right wrongs of pretrial detention, lawsuits that resulted in pretrial reforms that would not have been gained but for her and her colleagues advocacy."

Wallace's policy wins continued last legislative session with the passage of House Bill 1280, which requires courts to hold a bond setting hearing within 48 hours of an arrestee arriving to jail.

While that bill, which Epps described as a "monumental piece of pretrial legislation," was signed into law in July, another key policy in reforming the pre-trial detention process stumbled before reaching the finish line.

Senate Bills 62 and 273 from Sen. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, represented an initial and subsequently scaled-back effort to clamp down on the use of arrests and cash bail. SB 62, the first of the two measures, died in committee in the Senate before SB 273 was doomed to the same fate in the waning days of session by opposition in committee from a pair of House Democrats.

Sen. Pete Lee scraps jail population reform bill and starts over After three months of fighting with law enforcement over a bill that would limit their ability to arrest those accused of low-level offenses, Sen. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, is trying a do-over that he hopes will tone down the heat.

Lee told Colorado Politics in June he intends to put the policy back in front of lawmakers in the upcoming legislative session and Wallace said she felt a more "modest" version of the bill could clear the General Assembly in the future.

"This is like an education process that is going to, in the long run, lead to positive reform," she said. "Will it be this year? Will it be next? I guess we'll find out."

Both Wallace and Denise Maes, the ACLUs former public policy director who also worked intimately on policies in SB 62 and 273, resigned from the ACLU earlier this month. According to a report from CPR and The Colorado Sun, Maes cited a shift in direction at the ACLU, which was not going to align with where I was hoping things would go.

That report also noted Epps, who was a key player in rallying support around senate bills 62 and 273, also chose to move on from her role as policy contractor with the ACLU but is leaving the ACLU on good terms and is proud of her work there.
Ghanas Minister of Communications and Digitisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has announced that the countrys national SIM card re-registration process will start at the beginning of October. Ghanaians over the age of 15 will have until 31 March 2022 to re-register their SIM cards.

As for why this is necessary, according to the news site Ghanaweb, it seems to be, among other things, down to the increased use of communication services since the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the need to facilitate e-education. The Minister mentioned reduction in criminal activities and accurate data for the National Communications Authority (NCA) as potential benefits of the exercise.

Only an individuals National ID card  the Ghana card  can be used for registration of SIM cards of citizens, foreign residents in Ghana and foreigners staying in Ghana for more than 90 days. Foreigners visiting Ghana can acquire a SIM card using their passport or travel card but they can only use the SIM card for 30 days after which it will be deactivated. Foreigners intending to use the SIM card for more than 30 days will have to obtain a non-citizen Ghana card to do so.

Ghanaians can only register a total of 10 SIM cards across all networks. Foreigners will be limited to three SIM cards across all networks.

A business can register SIM cards in bulk, but to do this a shareholder or a director of the company will have to be linked personally to the registration of the SIM cards. The Minister warned against any misuse of the business registration process to allow multiple registrations.

This isnt Ghana's first attempt to register SIM cards. However, it is hoped that the Ghana card will help to guarantee a successful SIM registration this time around.
At what is an inconvenient time for the beleaguered Vodafone Idea, to say the least, the Indian Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued notices to Vodafone Idea and fellow operator Bharti Airtel telling them to pay massive fines related to the flouting of licence conditions.

To make things even worse the DoT has given the companies three weeks to pay the penalties. Airtel has been told to pay Rs1,050 crore (about $141.7 million). Vodafone Idea has to pay Rs2,000 crore (about $269.9 million). The Idea fine is in fact two fines combined as the alleged offenders are the two units that become Vodafone Idea in 2018.

The fines were recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) after Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel were accused of violating licence conditions over quality of service by not granting adequate points of interconnection (PoIs) to Reliance Jio in 21 circles (administrative sub-districts) each.

PoIs are part of the process of allowing voice calls to go through from one network to another. In this case, the calls were from Reliance Jios network to those of Bharti, Idea and Vodafone.

The DoT accepted the regulators recommendations in June 2019 but had not served the notices until now. According to Indian press reports TRAIs October 2016 ruling argued that the actions of the three operators appeared to be aimed at stifling competition and were anti-consumer and against public interest.

At the time TRAI even suggested that the three operators deserved to have their licences revoked but, to avoid inconveniencing customers, it suggested high financial penalties instead,

Vodafone had taken action in the Supreme Court against TRAIs recommendations, a case that is apparently ongoing.

What that means for the three-week deadline isnt clear but for a company that already owes the Indian government tens of billions of dollars, potential extra outgoings cant be welcome news.

Shareholders seemed to agree. Vodafone Idea shares fall sharply after the DoT penalty news, as did those of Airtel.
Indevin New Zealand has completed the purchase of 100% of the shares of Villa Maria Estate for an undisclosed fee.

The sale includes Villa Marias Marlborough, Hawkes Bay and Auckland wineries, vineyards, supplier agreements, the flagship brand Villa Maria as well as Esk Valley, Vidal, Leftfield and Thornbury.

The coming together of two successful New Zealand wine export businesses supports our vision to become the leading New Zealand global wine business, spearheaded by the Villa Maria brand, said Greg Tomlinson, chairman of Indevin.

This collaboration will be significant for the New Zealand wine industry and we are delighted Villa Maria will remain in New Zealand ownership.

Milla Maria is currently ranked number 15 in Drinks Internationals Worlds Most Admired Wines list while Indevin is an established wine business committed to showcasing New Zealand wines to consumers around the world.

Malcom McDougall, chairman Villa Maria Estate added: Villa Maria is an iconic kiwi brand and Indevin is an established participant in the New Zealand wine industry  together the two businesses are a powerful combination and there are many competitive advantages that both sides bring to the table.

Tomlinson added: Indevins business is built around holding and building value for New Zealand vineyards and growers. Our strong supply chain coupled with the strength and heritage of the Villa Maria brand will create a sustainable business for the future and grow value for the New Zealand wine industry.
The family of the late, great lacquer artist Nguyen Van Ty believes Sotheby's Hong Kong auction house has put up a copy of one of his works for sale.

To prepare for the upcoming Modern Art Day Sale on Oct. 10, the auction house posted on its website a lacquered wooden screen titled 'L'image traditionnelle d'une maison de paysan' along with the name of Ty for an expected price of HKD700,000-1,000,000 ($89,000-128,500).

The site stated that: "This work is comparable to 'L'image traditionnelle d'une maison de paysan' ('Nha Tranh Goc Mit' or rough translation, 'Cottage By Jackfruit Tree') (1958) by Nguyen Van Ty at the Musee des Beaux-Arts (Vietnam Fine Arts Museum) in Hanoi."

The 'L'image traditionnelle d'une maison de paysan' lacquer on Sotherby's Hong Kong website. Photo courtesy of the auction house

Painter Nguyen Binh Minh, Ty's daughter, former deputy director of Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, confirmed the work being auctioned by Sotheby's is not authentic.

"My father didn't make a painting of a jackfruit tree like that. It's not allowed to associate his name to the artwork," she said.

She added her father had only created the jackfruit tree picture of 67x105 centimeters, titled 'Nha Tranh Goc Mit' (rough translation, Cottage By Jackfruit Tree), currently displayed at Vietnam Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi. The family wants the auction house to remove the work or not name Nguyen Van Ty.

Nguyen Anh Minh, director of Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, said the museum bought the artwork in 1960, after the lacquer painting won a prize at National Fine Arts Exhibition. The painting is currently kept and displayed here.

"In art, there are no equivalent concepts. There are only original paintings, fake paintings and imitation paintings. In addition, the original only consists of one plate, not three like Sotheby's posted," Minh said.

The 'Nha Tranh Goc Mit' by Nguyen Van Ty at Vietnam Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi. Photo courtesy of the museum

Art researcher Ngo Kim Khoi commented that the painting has a deep [what?] with sharp lines. The Sotheby's work is relatively new with vibrant colors and poor lacquer work. He said the term "comparable to" the auction house used is vague, ambiguous and deceiving.

Khoi believes the late painter's family has the moral right to ask the for the painters name to be dropped while providing authentic evidence to Sotheby's. The auction house may then remove the work to protect its reputation.

"Many auction houses just ignore the request. There is nothing we can do about it. In Vietnam, there is no organization or strict and clear laws to protect artists' copyright. That's also the reason. There are many faked paintings of the Indochina period. The auction floor is just like a market. If buyers have money, they will just sell it," Khoi said.

Ty's family said they had no intention of contacting Sotheby's, but simply wanted to inform the public about the incident. The representative of Vietnam Fine Arts Museum said it is only responsible for authenticating the original work, not contacting or responding to the auction house.

Sotheby's Hong Kong has not given any official response.

The problem of fake paintings of Vietnamese artists at international auctions has existed for a long time. Recently, while watching a series of works prepared for the auction on Oct. 16 by Linda Trouve, Khoi discovered many fake paintings by artist Bui Xuan Phai.

He sent a letter to the auction house, hoping they take it down.

"Those pictures are ugly. I can't imagine they belong to painter Bui Xuan Phai. I couldn't accept it, so I submitted a request letter to the organizers," he said.

He hopes Vietnam would appoint experts and committees to appraise works and give feedback to gradually eliminate this situation.

Previously, in September 2019, Sotheby's Hong Kong pulled two artworks, 'La Thu' (The Letter) by To Ngoc Van and 'Hai Co Gai' (Resting Ladies) by Tran Van Can, as they were believed to be fake.

In 2016, Christie's in Hong Kong sold To Ngoc Van's 'Thuyen Tren Song Huong' (Boat On The Perfume River) for $57,000 and Lady of Hue by Le Van De for $89,000. However, Hanoi Fine Arts Museum also displays two identical paintings. The museum said they had bought Van's painting in 1965 and the other in 1976.

To Ngoc Thanh, Van's son, said the two paintings were copied many times, making it difficult to determine which picture is genuine.

Ty (1917 - 1992) graduated from the Indochina College of Fine Arts and was part of the generation of Vietnams great lacquer artists. He was the first General Secretary of Vietnam Fine Arts Association.
On Pham Van Dong Street, Go Vap District, dozens of people came to apply for unemployment insurance but were rejected.

"I came here to receive unemployment benefits. I was instructed to bring documents to the post office to receive it. But when I went to the post office, staff said to come totheinsurance center," a disappointed 41-year-old female worker said after many hours of waiting.

Except for some sectors considered to pose a high Covid infection risk, most public and private production and service facilities in HCMC are allowed to reopen from Friday.

HCMC previously went through more than 120 days under many different levels of social distancing.

Since the fourth Covid-19 wave hit Vietnam in late April, the city has recorded over 392,000 infections, accounting for almost half of the national tally, and 14,814 have died.
Representatives of Vietnamese pharmaceutical firm Vimedimex receive a batch of one million doses of the Hayat-Vax Covid-19 vaccine at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport, September 29, 2021. Photo by Vimedimex

One million doses of the Hayat-Vax Covid-19 vaccine manufactured in China and packaged in the UAE arrived in Hanoi on Friday.

The batch belongs to a commercial contract for 30 million doses of the vaccine signed by Vietnamese pharmaceutical firm Vimedimex.

It also marks the first Hayat-Vax doses to reach Vietnam.

Vietnam's Health Ministry approved the vaccine, manufactured by China's Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd and packaged by Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries in the UAE, for emergency use on Sept. 10.

Hayat-Vax is an inactivated vaccine, produced by growing the novel coronavirus in cell culture and then using chemicals to inactivate the virus.

The vaccine had been approved by UAE authorities in March, as it showed an efficacy of over 79 percent.

Vietnam has until now approved for emergency use eight different Covid-19 vaccines: British AstraZeneca, American Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, Russian SputnikV, Chinese Sinopharm, Hayat-Vax from UAE, and Cuban Abdala.

The nation has received almost 60 million vaccine doses via the Covax facility, government aid and commercial contracts signed by local firms or the Health Ministry.

By Friday, 41 million doses had been administered, with almost nine million people getting two shots.
With the pandemic situation deemed under control, the central province plans to welcome fully vaccinated foreign tourists, including Russians, later this year, Nguyen Thi Le Thanh, deputy director of the provincial tourism department, said at a meeting with leaders of Saint Petersburg City.

The province wants to launch a Cam Ranh-Saint Petersburg direct route to facilitate travel and attract more Russian tourists, the Voice of Vietnam newspaper quoted Thanh as saying.

Vyacheslav Kalganov, vice chairman of the Committee for External Relations of Saint Petersburg, said Russian authorities are interested in resuming tourism between the two countries.

He said the city leaders would work closely with relevant agencies in considering a direct flight between Cam Ranh and St. Petersburg.

Before the pandemic, four to six charter flights from over 20 Russian cities landed in Cam Ranh Airport in Khanh Hoa a day.

Russia is one of the biggest feeder markets for Khanh Hoa tourism. More than 460,000 Russian tourists visited the province in 2019.

Khanh Hoa, home to tourist hotspots Nha Trang and Cam Ranh besides other attractions, has basically brought the pandemic under control. It plans to reopen intra-provincial tourism starting mid-October and welcome fully-vaccinated foreign tourists under a trial vaccine passport program from November.

The province has recorded over 7,800 cases in the ongoing fourth Covid-19 wave that has infected over 786,000 people in Vietnam since late April.

Vietnam closed its borders and canceled all international flights in March last year. Only Vietnamese repatriates, foreign experts, diplomats, investors, and highly-skilled workers have been allowed since with stringent quarantine requirements.
Although all beneficiaries of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) receive the same amount from the federal government regardless of where you live, you might or might not receive a top-up to your monthly SSI payments depending on where you live in the US.

Both programs are administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) but some states provide a booster amount on top of the federal portion to SSI beneficiaries who reside in their state. Some provide the extra monthly funds to all recipients in their state, but not all. What you need to know...

Who is eligible for Supplemental Security Income?

People with who are disabled, blind, or age 65 or older could be eligible to receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The programs are also available to blind or disabled children. SSDI beneficiaries have a qualifying work history, either through their own employment or a family member be that a spouse or a parent. Whereas SSI recipients qualify due to limited income and resources, the monthly payments provide minimum basic financial assistance.

If you receive SSI, you may also be entitled to Social Security benefits although they are not the same. When you sing up for SSI, you are essentially signing up for both. The SSA will determine your eligibility and how much you are entitled to, based on your income, living arrangements, married status and other factors but not on your work history like Social Security benefits. Your SSDI benefits are set as if you reached full retirement age, when you reach full retirement age it becomes a retirement benefit.

How much are SSI payments?

Depending on the annual Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) the maximum federal benefit changes yearly. In 2021 the federal SSI benefit rate is $794 for an individual and $1,191 for a couple. The monthly benefit in 2022 could rise dramatically with a historically high COLA projected.

The average SSDI benefit for a disabled-worker is about $1,236 a month according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The majority of beneficiaries receive modest payments, 90 percent get less than $2,000 a month.

What states pay additional Supplemental Security Income?

Supplemental Security Income is available in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Northern Mariana Islands.This goes for SSDI too, but residents of Puerto Rico while they can't receive federal SSI they can receive federal SSDI.

All but four states, Arizona, Mississippi, North Dakota and West Virginia, and the Northern Mariana Islands offer additional funds to residents receiving SSI. The difference between states can range from around $10 a month to several hundred dollars on top of your federal SSI benefit which remains constant no matter where you live.

Depending on the state there may be eligibility requirements to receive the monthly booster such living in a nursing home or another type of residential care facility.

What happens to you SSDI or SSI if you move state?

When you move state, it isnt necessary to reapply for federal SSDI or SSI benefits but you will need to inform the SSA of your move, or if you change residence with in your state. Likewise, any other changes in your personal or financial situation that could affect SSDI, SSI or retirement benefits must be communicated to the SSA.

You have until 10 days after the end of the month to inform the SSA or face a fine of $25 to $100 for each offense. The penalty will be taken out of your monthly benefits payment. You can do so online through a My Social Security account or by calling Social Security at 800-772-1213.

Depending on the state you move to, you may have to inform that states department of human services office to access the booster to monthly SSI benefits.

States that SSA administers some or all of the state supplement

California, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont and the District of Columbia

States that administer all of the state supplement

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming

To find out more about states programs and benefit amounts, call Social Security at 800-772-1213, contact the state's Medicaid agency or Department of Human Services.
More destruction feared in La Palma as lava pours from new vent

Lava flowed from a newly opened crack in the Cumbre Vieja volcano on Spain's La Palma on Friday, carving a different path from previous flows and raising fears of more destruction, while fine ash forced islanders to don masks and goggles.

A river of red-hot lava snaked downhill from the new fissure, which burst open late on Thursday around 400 metres (1,300 ft) to the north of the primary eruption site.

Multiple vents have opened since the volcano began erupting on Sept. 19 but the Canaries Volcanology Institute described the latest opening as a new "focus of eruption".

"There is concern about the path of this new flow towards the sea, although it is expected to join up with the previous one within the next few hours," said the head of La Palma's council, Mariano Hernandez Zapata.

He said more houses had been engulfed by lava overnight. "We have more drama ahead, more people to take care of," he told a news conference.

About 6,000 people have been evacuated since the eruption began and are yet to return home. More than 800 buildings including houses, churches and schools have been destroyed .

The volcano has thrown out 80 million cubic metres of molten rock, regional leader Angel Victor Torres said, doubling the amount expelled during La Palma's last major eruption 50 years ago in half the time.

Residents of Los Llanos de Aridane, one of the worst affected towns, have taken to carrying umbrellas and wearing eye protection as a precaution against the volcanic dust blanketing the streets and floating in the air.

"Last night the ash was irritating my eyes a lot, I had to use eye drops and my skin was stinging," said Matilde Gonzalez Tavarez, a 45-year-old nursing assistant visiting her mother at a care home in Los Llanos.

"It's helplessness, fear, insecurity. You don't know what's going to happen," she said, while street cleaners brushed away the carpet of black ash behind her.

Juan Antonio Perez Gonzalez, 56, who runs a floristry business in the town, fears the worst is yet to come.

"I can't put a good face on it or give you good news because this is a calamity," he told Reuters. He said many of the townspeople were preparing to pack up and leave.

Photo: REUTERS/Borja Suarez
HEFEI, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A conference aimed at promoting the protection and industrial development of ancient architecture kicked off Thursday in Huangshan, a city in east China's Anhui Province, famous for its Hui-style architecture.

Around 450 representatives, including experts and scholars from UNESCO, the Palace Museum, China Construction Industry Association as well as businesspersons from relevant industries, attended the opening ceremony.

The event, first of its kind in Huangshan, includes a keynote conference, a forum on the development of Hui-style ancient architecture and architectural skills, business matchmaking and field trips.

Initiated by Huangshan City, an industry alliance of ancient architectures was established at the conference, including 10 cities such as Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province, Yangzhou of Jiangsu Province and more.

Huangshan has many well-preserved Hui-style buildings dating back to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties that feature black roof tiles and white walls with exquisite wood, stone and brick carvings.

The two popular villages of Xidi and Hongcun were listed as world cultural heritage sites for their ancient Hui-style buildings.

Huangshan is also striving to build a digital database of ancient buildings that includes photos, videos and design papers. More than 56,300 photos covering 8,037 ancient Hui-style architectures have been collected so far, according to local authorities.

The market size of China's ancient architecture industry has increased at an average annual rate of over 15 percent in recent years from approximately 61.6 billion yuan (about 9.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015, according to a report on the investment prospect of China's ancient architecture industry.

Over 4.4 billion yuan has been invested to protect and utilize local ancient architectures in Huangshan since 2014.

"There are more than 200 companies that are involved in the ancient architecture industry in Huangshan, and they are becoming stronger day by day. We will spare no effort to inherit and promote these architectural skills, and achieve integrated development of various fields such as planning, design, research and construction," said Ling Yun, Party chief of Huangshan City.

Editor: WXL
WELLINGTON, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand's red meat exports increased by more than a quarter in August compared to the previous year, with China remaining the largest market, showed the latest data released by the New Zealand Meat Industry Association (MIA) on Thursday.

Overall red meat exports for August 2021 reached 650 million NZ dollars with the 26-percent increase largely driven by a growth in beef exports, which rose by 39 percent to 299 million NZ dollars year on year.

Exports to the top three beef markets all increased, with China up 89 percent to 117 million NZ dollars, the United States by 31 percent to 102 million NZ dollars and Japan by 31 percent to 15 million NZ dollars.

Sirma Karapeeva, MIA chief executive, said volumes of beef exported during August were also historically high.

"A number of factors are contributing to tight global beef supplies. This includes herd rebuilding in Australia and export restrictions in Argentina. New Zealand exported a total of 35,327 tonnes during August, which is 71 percent higher than the average beef export volume for the month over the last 30 years.

"In early September, China halted imports of Brazilian beef, due to detections of atypical BSE in two cattle in Brazil. This did not affect the August imports but it may have an impact on trade over the next few months."

While sheepmeat exports to China and the United States increased, export volumes to most other markets decreased, with the 977 tonnes to Britain representing a drop of 52 percent year on year. This was the first time since detailed Stats NZ data became available in the 1980s that export volumes to Britain dropped below 1,000 tonnes in a single month.

Karapeeva said that while ongoing shipping delays affecting shelf life may have had some impact on chilled sheepmeat exports, the changes was possibly due to the impact of Brexit starting to be felt, with Britain's sheepmeat exports also dropping.

New Zealand's red meat industry, comprising sheep and beef production and meat and co-products processing and exporting, is the country's largest manufacturing industry and the second largest goods exporter. The industry is also a significant employer, taking up nearly 5 percent of total national employment, according to the MIA. (1 New Zealand dollar equals 0.70 U.S. dollar)

Editor: WXL
JAKARTA, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said Wednesday that it has seized an illegal Malaysian-flagged fishing vessel in Indonesian waters in the Malacca Strait.

The captain and all the four crew members on board are Indonesians, it said.

The ministry's Director-General of Marine Resources and Fisheries Supervision, Adin Nurawaluddin, said the vessel was caught on Sunday while poaching with prohibited trawler.

Data showed that since January, the Indonesian ministry has seized 48 foreign-flagged vessels illegally fishing in Indonesian waters.

Editor: WXL
Gazprom's halt of gas transit to Hungary via Ukraine should entail sanctions against the operator of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2 AG, Naftogaz Ukrainy Board Chairman Yuriy Vitrenko says.

"We are waiting for sanctions to be imposed on Gazprom's 100% subsidiary, the Nord Stream 2 operator ... The absence of efficient sanctions has led to Gazprom's expectations that it would actually be allowed to continue using gas as a weapon against Ukraine and other countries and to use Nord Stream 2 in disregard of European rules," Vitrenko said on Facebook on Friday.

The end of gas transit to Hungary via Ukraine is an illustrative demonstration of consequences of the Nord Stream 2 launch, "which creates enormous threats to Europe and Ukraine," he said.

"The Kremlin has been doing that on purpose. It's not even saber rattling, it's an obvious use of gas as a weapon," Vitrenko said, adding that the United States and Germany agreed on appropriate reactions to such Russian actions in their joint statement.

Moscow should unblock access of third parties to gas transit via Ukraine in order to minimize Nord Stream 2 influence, Vitrenko said.

Consistent with European regulations, Ukraine has provided a firm capacity for gas transportation to Hungary from Ukraine, while Hungary has not done so, he said.

"This means that gas supply to Hungary from Ukraine is guaranteed, while gas supply to us from Hungary is not. This is the kind of 'one-sided' European integration with Hungary we have now," Vitrenko said.
Head of the parliamentary faction "Servant of the People" David Arakhamia has requested signature lists to remove Dmytro Razumkov from the post of chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, the speaker himself said.

"As expected, my colleagues came for signature lists to recall me from the post of chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The corresponding proposal was submitted by chairman of the Servant of the People faction David Arakhamia. I immediately copied a document for the Verkhovna Rada Administration. As I promised, I will not hesitate with the process. Today, colleagues will receive signature lists. I wish them Productive Work in Truskavets!" Razumkov wrote on his Facebook page.

He attached a photocopy of the corresponding appeal of Arakhamia to his post on Facebook. It notes that the Chairman of the Rada may be recalled from office in accordance with Article 76 of the Rules of Procedure, in particular, due to his unsatisfactory work or due to other circumstances that exclude the possibility of performing his official duties.

"In accordance with the first part of Article 76 of the Law of Ukraine On the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada may be recalled from office by the Verkhovna Rada at any time at his request, or due to his unsatisfactory work in this position, including in the case of suspension from holding plenary sessions three or more times during one regular session of the Verkhovna Rada, or for other reasons that make it impossible for him to perform his duties. The early termination of parliamentary powers by the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada results in the termination of his powers as chairman of the Verkhovna Rada," the text of the appeal says.

Proposals to recall the speaker may be submitted to parliament by at least one third of the MPs from the constitutional composition of the Rada with their signatures.
Maria Barabash, head of the Office of Simple Solutions and Results established in Ukraine at the initiative of head of the Ukrainian National Reform Council's Executive Committee Mikheil Saakashvili, has confirmed the former Georgian president's departure for his home country.

"Mikheil Saakashvili is now in Georgia. I can confirm that as the office head," Barabash told the Georgian opposition channel Mtavari Arkhi on Friday.

She said Saakashvili left Kyiv last night.

"He gathered the team three days ago and said he was going to Georgia, since this is a pivotal moment for the country (Georgia) that needs to choose between Europe and the past. He told us he had to go because an important referendum was on, and he must be in Georgia," Barabash said.

Saakashvili, who is wanted in Georgia, said on social media on Friday that he had crossed into the Georgian territory. He posted two videos and said he was in Batumi.

Meanwhile, the Georgian Interior Ministry told reporters that Saakashvili had not crossed the border.
G7 Ambassadors reiterate their call on Council of Judges to expedite nomination of candidates to HCJ Ethics Council

The ambassadors of the G7 countries continue to support the process of comprehensive judicial reform in Ukraine and urge the Council of Judges to expedite the nomination of candidates to the Ethics Council of the High Council of Justice (HCJ).

"G7 Ambassadors continue to support comprehensive judicial reform in Ukraine. At yesterday's discussions hosted at OPU, Ambassadors reiterated their call for the Council of Judges to name its candidates for the Ethics Council of the High Council of Justice as soon as possible," the UK Presidency of the G7 Ambassadors' Support Group in Kyiv said on Twitter.

They also propose "capable, honest judges & legal professionals to apply to the Ethics Council & join international experts to work together on this historic reform, which will help deliver the trusted, effective justice system Ukraine deserves."
Mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klitschko fires head of the Institute of the General Plan of Kyiv Serhiy Bronevytsky due to the delay in submitting the draft General Plan for public discussion and consideration by the Kyiv Council, and also instructed to finalize the document as soon as possible and prepare it for public hearings.

"Serhiy Petrovych, this is not the first time I have heard about some problems, obligations. I remember how in 2019 you publicly promised the earliest possible preparation of the draft Master Plan for public hearings and discussions [...] 2021 is already coming to an end. And again we hear promises that here - And again we hear promises that the draft of the General Plan will be presented soon. Therefore, nothing personal, we are talking about the results of the work: I decided to relieve you of your post," Klitschko said at a meeting of the board of the Kyiv City State Administration on Thursday.

The mayor instructed chief architect of Kyiv Oleksandr Svistuno, and deputy chairman of the Kyiv City State Administration, Petro Olenych, to ensure prompt and efficient work on the preparation of the draft General Plan. "And in the near future we must start public hearings and finally adopt the General Plan," he said.

According to Klitschko, today specialists are completing the updating of the project of the General Plan of Kyiv. The section concerning the preservation and protection of the historical and cultural heritage (historical and architectural base plan) has been approved by the Ministry of Culture. Also, the materials of the General Plan project were sent to the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine. Work has begun on the settlement of issues regarding areas of common interest with local governments, which represent the interests of adjacent territorial communities.

Klitschko said that the draft General Plan provides for the termination of the chaotic development of the capital, restrictions on the height of development in the historical center, control over the complexity of development, as well as the construction of metro stations on Vynohradar and the launch of the metro to Troieschyna, the construction of a station on Vydubychi, the construction of intercepting parking lots near transport interchanges - near metro stations and at the entrances to the city.
A memorandum of understanding between the Ministries of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates on mutual recognition and exchange of national driving licenses, signed in Abu Dhabi on February 14, entered into force on Friday, the website of the Ukrainian Internal Ministry reported.

"From now on, every citizen of Ukraine who moves to reside in the UAE will be able to convert their own national driver's license into the UAE's conformity according to a simplified procedure - without the need to re-pass the theoretical and practical exams. This simplification applies only to categories A and B. In addition, thanks to the agreements reached, Ukrainian citizens temporarily staying in the UAE can drive a car with a national driver's license without the need to obtain an additional international license," the message says.

Similar conditions will apply to UAE citizens who stay or reside in Ukraine.

The international agreement is the result of almost three years of well-coordinated work of specialists from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ukrainian Embassy in the UAE, the message says.
Ukraine and Israel are in the final stage of mutual recognition of vaccination certificates approved by the FDA - The Embassy

Ukraine and Israel have reached the final stage of agreements on mutual recognition of passports for vaccination of citizens. These are only the passports of citizens who have chosen FDA-approved vaccines.

During the meeting with the Minister of Tourism of the State of Israel Konstantin Razvozov, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Israel Yevhen Korniychuk stressed the importance of resuming tourist and business tourism.

The topic of resumption of tourist trips and business visits from Ukraine to Israel was the focus of the meeting. The ambassador informed about the epidemiological situation, the course of the vaccination campaign in Ukraine and the measures taken by the authorities in the field of response to the coronavirus pandemic, - the diplomats said.

The Israeli minister, in turn, announced that the Israeli government has developed a plan to resume organized tourist and business trips from the end of October, - the Embassy noted.

It was also stressed the need to hold a Joint Ukrainian-Israeli Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation this year, and was agreed to work on the inclusion of tourism in the agenda of the meeting.
Ukraine and Bulgaria have agreed to expand bilateral cooperation in the field of road transportation.

According to the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, following a meeting of the mixed commission on international road transportation of goods and passengers, the parties agreed that in 2021 Ukrainian carriers will additionally receive 3,000 universal permits, of which 600 will be available at the points of issuance of permits starting next week. For 2022, the quota of permits has been increased by almost 25%, from 20,300 to 25,500. In addition, the universal permit form can be used for bilateral, transit and combined modes of transportation.

"The increase in the number of transport permits with Bulgaria is a good indicator of the development of our trade relations with the EU. We expect similar decisions from our other European partners. When we signed an Association Agreement with the EU in 2015, one of the key foundations for strengthening economic cooperation was that the dynamics of trade should not deteriorate. On the basis of this principle, the further policy of the Ministry of Infrastructure on international transportation will be formed," Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Mustafa Nayyem is quoted as saying.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will take part in an off-site meeting of the Servant of the People faction in Truskavets, Lviv region on Saturday, MP Mykyta Poturayev has said.

Answering a question of Interfax-Ukraine correspondent on Friday, the parliamentarian confirmed the information that the head of state would join the work within this meeting on October 2. However, he could not say for sure whether the information that the president will spend about an hour and a half at the meeting is true.

"I think you have come to this conclusion, as the program for these Q&A, that is, questions and answers, with the president, is given an hour and a half. But this does not mean that he will be present only this time," Poturayev said.

He also said the main load during the meeting of the faction will be on Saturday.

"Tomorrow the main thing is work in groups in strategic directions, this is a kind of project work," the MP said.
On Monday, October 4, at 13.30, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host press conference entitled "Candidates' ratings prior to elections of Kharkiv mayor," where the results of a sociological study by SOCIS to study public opinion of Kharkiv residents, which was conducted from September 20 to September 28, 2021, will be presented. Participants include political expert, head of the Center for Applied Political Research Penta Volodymyr Fesenko; political expert Oleksandr Kochetko (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.
On Thursday, October 7, at 12.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host press conference entitled "Parking tariffs in Kyiv: illegal attempts to 'patch' infrastructure problems at expense of middle class." Participants include lawyer, native of Kyiv, plaintiff in case 640/20721/21, managing partner of BSB Partners JSC Valeriy Buniak; lawyer, native of Kyiv, plaintiff in case 640/20721/21, managing partner of Vitaliy Tytych and Partners JSC Vitaliy Tytych (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. Additional info by phone: (067) 329 8317.
On Thursday, October 7, at 10.30, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host press conference entitled "Presentation of book by Yuriy Shulipa 'How Putin kills abroad.'" Participants include author of the book, lawyer, political expert, director of the Institute of National Policy Yuriy Shulipa; Doctor of Military Sciences, PhD in Law, Professor, Senior Researcher, Retired Lieutenant General, ex-member of the Scientific Council under the Security Council of the Russian Federation Alexei Ivanov; Soviet illegal intelligence officer, retired colonel of the First Main Directorate of the Committee for State Security under the USSR council of ministers (PGU KGB) and Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, writer, TV presenter Sergey Zhyrnov; head of Luhansk human rights group, PhD in Law Natalia Tselovalnychenko; prisoner of conscience of Putin's Russia, writer, publicist, leader of the Russian opposition Boris Stomakhin (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. Details by phone: (063) 663 3532.
The chairman of the Darnitsa Group Board of Directors Dmytro Shymkiv, believes that the state should play a key role in creating its own vaccines in Ukraine by providing the industry with guarantees for the procurement of relevant drugs for 10 years. It cannot be said that the relevant ministry did nothing in this direction at all. Even before the pandemic began there were programs to purchase vaccines for the inoculations included in the national calendar. However, their scale is clearly insufficient, because only 5 million doses of vaccines were purchased that protect against 10 infectious diseases.

The situation in the world changed drastically with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, as many breaches in biosecurity systems became obvious. In particular, we are talking about a shortage of vaccines against COVID-19 and dependence on external suppliers. According to Shymkiv, in the current situation the most rational way would be to take advantage of the possibilities to localize production, in other words, transfer foreign technologies to Ukraine. Simultaneously, it is necessary to ensure a sufficient volume of production of such vaccines, which should be about 40 million doses. Such production could be established within the framework of a consortium, which would include both local and international pharmaceutical companies. This was the proposal made by the Darnitsa Group. The effectiveness of such a model has been proven by the experience of Australia, where a joint consortium was created, and where the state provided guarantees to purchase a certain volume of products. Unfortunately, Ukraine is not providing such guarantees at the moment.

Darnitsa has already considered the possibility of creating vaccines at its facilities. In terms of technology, such a project does not present any difficulties, since the enterprise has both the necessary production base for the production of RNA vaccines, and specialists for the maintenance of such production. Of course, manufacturing of vaccines is far from being simple, because there are very strict GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards in this area, according to which a vaccine cannot be produced in the same premises as medicines, since there is a risk of contamination of raw materials and products made from it. But Darnitsa is up to this difficult task, the company has enough capabilities to separate chemical and biological production. In financial terms, the project will require an investment of USD 10-15 million, which is quite realistic for many players in the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market. However, there comes a problem with the sale of manufactured drugs, since, unlike other drugs, vaccines are used less often, therefore, companies need government support. At the moment, government agencies have not shown due interest in the proposal of domestic pharmacists. The chances of the latter to win tenders from the global giants of the pharmaceutical industry are practically zero, so one should not expect a miracle that Ukrainian vaccines will appear on the market in the near future.

The saddest thing in this whole situation is that Ukraine is losing precious time. As the top manager Dmytro Shymkiv noted, drug manufacturers are now leading in the innovative segment. And the leaders have already clearly defined themselves: in a very short time - less than a year - they have developed innovative vaccines, conducted clinical trials, launched into mass production and ensured product sales. This golden five consists of both the pharmaceutical companies with extensive experience and the innovative startups - Moderna, Pfizer, Novavax, Jonson & Jonson, AstraZeneca. Other pharmaceutical companies that are working hard to achieve success through technological innovation are looking up to this group of leaders. Only constant movement forward and improvement of production processes can ensure the stability of the business.
Igor Kononenko Charitable Foundation has allocated almost a quarter of a million hryvnias to purchase army sights for a sniper unit of one of the units that defend Ukraine in the east of the country  this is stated in the Foundations interim report.

The Foundation donated 248 000 hryvnias to help the sniper unit of the motorized infantry troops of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This money is intended for new optics for two sniper systems.

In 2016, the Foundation donated two sniper complexes, which were successfully used by the soldiers  but recently the rifles and sights were out of order. The military unit was able to replace the barrels of rifles on its own, and the Foundation helped upgrade expensive optics for two sniper systems.

Also during 2021, Igor Kononenko Charitable Foundation, which he runs together with his wife Liliya, sent (donations were made through the All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation Terytoriya Dobra, which helps children and the military in the east of Ukraine):

UAH 51,5 thousand for the purchase of Autel EVO 2 Pro Rugged Bundle quadrocopter and a battery for it for special forces as part of the Special Operations Forces (in February);

UAH 97,7 thousand for three car batteries, two sets of summer tires, a TV set for connecting CCTV cameras, three laptops for the motorized infantry forces of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (in March);

UAH 62,5 thousand for tires, a panoramic camera, ramrods, foam for cleaning barrels for the mechanized infantry forces of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (in July).

Igor Kononenko has been financially supporting the military for many years, so it is not surprising that snipers call him a permanent donor.

Ever since I was a volunteer, the entourage of the 5th President Petro Poroshenko has been very helpful: Maria Ionova, Igor Kononenko and many others who are regular donors of our work.  Each case with a rifle, (and there are dozens of them) costs about half a million hryvnias, and all this is also help from Poroshenkos friends: the rifles were given to us from Igor Kononenko and Roshen. And I know that Petro Oleksiyovych handed over more than a hundred sniper rifles to various special forces, the commander of the sniper unit with the call sign Smile told #Bykvu in an interview.

However, helping the defenders of Ukraine is not the only activity of the Foundation. This year, it sent UAH 40 thousand to support In Childrens Palms NGO, which helps children with Down syndrome, autism, mental retardation and speech disorders.

The money, which was allocated in May and September, was used to support the canistherapy project (one of the methods of zootherapy, psychosocial and physiorehabilitation with the involvement of trained dogs).

In 2020 Igor Kononenko Charitable Foundation donated UAH 5,7 million to help fight Covid-19. The Foundation purchased modern medical equipment for Vasylkivska and Obukhivska district hospitals and outpatient clinics of the Piskivska territorial community.
In his latest letter to the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader, former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls the heads of all three branches of government a gang, and accuses them of abusing their power to imprison his allies.

The letter published January 21 on the pro-Ahmadinejad website Dolat-e Bahar (the Government of the Spring), was sent to the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei December 18.

In the letter Ahmadinejad says the Speaker of Parliament and the head of the judiciary, the Larijani brothers Ali and Sadeq, have joined forces with President Rouhani to attack the former presidents supporters. He also said they are responsible for the recent unrest and protests expressing dissatisfaction with the Islamic Republic establishment.

Ahmadinejad went on to say that an appeals court had upheld a verdict against his close ally and former chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, despite faults in the prosecutions case, and without respect for legal procedures. He said the verdict proves the courts loyalty to Rouhani.

Directly addressing the heads of the three branches of power and their supporters, Ahmadinejad asked Is there any better way to tackle the current challenges than deferring to the popular vote and holding new elections? Or perhaps they believe that they should remain in power at any cost and the people and the country should endure them until their terms are over?

Referring to his still unanswered previous letters, Ahmadinejad urged Khamenei to step in and end the injustice of such "politically motivated verdicts" against the servants and revolutionary children of the nation.

In previous letters to the Supreme Leader Ahmadinejad has lambasted the entire political system of Iran. He further warned that public dissatisfaction with the regimes performance is serious and extremely high. He also demanded structural reforms in institutions such as the conservative-led Guardians Council and the judiciary and called for the establishment of a constitutional court and a ban on the armed forces intervening in political and economic activities.

The former presidents explicit criticism of the ruling system has been widely circulated in social media.

Khamenei has so far not responded directly to any of Ahmadinejads comments and letters, though he has implicitly admonished him in speeches on at least two occasions.

Political analysts inside Iran are unsure how to account for the former president suddenly turning on a system that supported him while he was in power. Two of the letters, dated February 19 and March 13, 2018, were published following the arrest of Mashaei and another close aide, Hamid Baqaei.

Baqaei was sentenced to fifteen years for bribery and illegal possession of public assets. Mashaei was arrested after publicly burning the verdict against Baqaei on March 15, 2018. He was later sentenced to 6.5 years in prison.

Lambasting the judiciary for the sentence, Ahmadinejad writes, "If Mashaei had not burnt the verdict against Baqaei, I would have personally done it."




Texas abortion clinics struggle to survive under restrictive law (Photo : REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

Since Texas enacted the strictest anti-abortion law in the country a month ago, the four Whole Woman's Health abortion clinics across the state have seen patient visits plummet, some staff quit and recruitment efforts falter.



The new law, which bans abortions after about six weeks and empowers private citizens to enforce it, has the clinics "teeter-tottering between financial risk, legal risk and staffing risk," said Marva Sadler, the facilities' director of clinical services.



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As the law is debated in courts - with a key hearing slated for Friday - abortion rights advocates say its impact has been swift and wide-ranging since it took effect on Sept. 1.



Abortion clinics are struggling to survive: The number of patients getting abortions at Whole Woman's Health clinics dropped 70%, Sadler said. Women are seeking other options, including traveling to out-of-state clinics or obtaining abortion-inducing pills via mail.



Abortion rights advocates warn Texas will be a blueprint for other Republican-led states if its law is upheld. They consider it a major blow to Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1973 decision that established the right to abortion access, which will itself be tested by a Mississippi case the court will hear in December.



"Lawmakers from across the country were watching the Texas bill very closely... and when the Supreme Court allowed this unconstitutional ban to go into effect, they said, 'now's our chance,'" said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research and policy organization.



Texas' so-called "heartbeat" law bans abortion after cardiac activity is detected in the embryo, usually around six weeks. That's before most women know they are pregnant and before 85% to 90% of all abortions are carried out, experts say.



The law makes no exception for cases of rape and incest. It lets citizens enforce the ban, rewarding them at least $10,000 if they successfully sue anyone who helped provide an abortion after cardiac activity is detected.



Some of Texas' so-called "crisis pregnancy centers," Christian-based facilities that encourage women to not have abortions, have seen a rise in visits since the law took effect, with more women seeking ultrasounds earlier in their pregnancies.



The Raffa pregnancy clinic in Greenville had a 166% increase in ultrasounds in the first three weeks of September compared to the same period last year, said the facility's executive director Threesa Sadler, who supports the law.



Two clients whose scans revealed a fetal heartbeat were women she thinks might have terminated their pregnancies had that still been an option, she said.



"Beyond helping decrease abortion in Texas, I don't know if it was an intended consequence that the law would also push more women to (crisis) pregnancy centers, but I love that that's what's happening," she said.



On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department will ask a federal judge in Austin to temporarily block the law while its constitutionality is challenged. Under Roe v. Wade, states cannot ban abortion before the fetus is viable outside the womb, which doctors generally view as between 24 and 28 weeks.



Abortion rights advocates worry the law will have lasting damage even if eventually overturned.



"We know that when these laws are passed, part of the strategy is to close clinics while these bills sit in the courts awaiting decisions," said Nikki Madsen, executive director of Abortion Care Network, a national association that includes seven independent abortion clinics in Texas.



Madsen said 23 of Texas' 42 surgical abortion clinics closed after the state passed a law in 2013 requiring clinic physicians to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned that law in 2016, but today there are still only 19 clinics offering surgical abortions in Texas.



ALTERNATE ABORTION ROUTES



Hundreds of women now are seeking abortions outside Texas, lengthening wait times in nearby states such as Oklahoma and Louisiana, according to evidence the Justice Department cited in its lawsuit.



In court documents, an Oklahoma-based Planned Parenthood doctor said Texas patients had traveled long distances to get treatment at his clinic since Sept. 1. One woman drove six hours alone, one way, because she feared any companion could get in trouble under the law.



Others are procuring abortion-inducing medication by mail.



KT Volkova, a graduate student in central Texas who uses the pronoun "they," discovered they were pregnant a few days before the law's effective date.



No appointments for surgical abortions near Volkova were available before Sept. 1, and Volkova was already nearly six weeks pregnant. Volkova, who volunteers with a group that provides financial assistance to abortion seekers, opted against seeking funds to travel out of state for the procedure and instead took an abortion-inducing medication that came by mail.



"I would have preferred to have it in-clinic, with staff holding my hand, but I had to go through the entire process in my apartment alone," Volkova said.



Access to abortion-inducing medication will soon be further restricted in Texas.



A state law taking effect on Dec. 2 will narrow the window for medical abortions from 10 weeks to seven weeks after conception. Providing women with abortion-inducing drugs by mail will be a criminal offense under the law.


An A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft is seen in Hamat Air Base in Lebanon's mountains (Photo : REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim)

The Nigerian military said on Thursday a deadly air strike hit an Islamic State camp and that casualties could not be determined, after witnesses said the attack had killed dozens of civilians in the northeast, where the country is waging a 12-year war against jihadist insurgents.



Two Nigerian Air Force planes bombed and killed dozens of civilians, mostly fishermen, at a fish market in Daban Masara village, a victim and a resident told Reuters on Tuesday.



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"Necessary steps were taken to ensure that the presence of the terrorists was ascertained and the strike was precise and professionally executed," the Nigerian military said in a statement.



The military said the site of the air strike was a well-known enclave of Islamic State's West Africa branch, adding that fishing is banned in the area.



The military has for years banned fishing because of its alleged ties to funding the insurgency.



"Although casualty figures could not be ascertained, the strike was verified to be successful in disrupting (Islamic State) logistics movement and foot soldiers," the statement said.



The air strike comes two months after the U.S. government transferred six A-29 Super Tucano fighter planes to Nigeria to assist in its war against Islamist militants. The sale of the aircraft was condemned by critics, citing the Nigerian military's record of killing civilians.



The killings could be precarious for U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, because it is preparing to overhaul its arms export policy to increase the emphasis on human rights in a departure from former President Donald Trump's prioritisation of economic benefits to U.S. defence contractors.



Sources familiar with the matter said six remaining A-29s should arrive from the United States over the next week or thereabouts. The sources added that mitigating civilian harm is a serious concern and an issue where the United States will continue to engage with its Nigerian partners.


If you are obsessed with traveling, you shouldn't shy away from starting a travel blog. After all, everyone loves to share their travel experiences on the web, so there's no reason to step back. Bear in mind, if you have always been an avid writer and fancy the idea of being a social butterfly, now is the best time to embrace starting a travel blog. The reason why we recommend you to go for this option is that a travel blog enables you to document your memories in words. Once you get to compile the photos and videos, you can enjoy the experience of going through your trip by revisiting the blog. Secondly, all you have to do is grab your camera, open up your laptop and start breathing life into your words. However, if you have still reservations about starting a travel blog, we will sift you through the few compelling reasons to embrace this option:



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Sharing Experiences

With a travel blog, you can create value for the reader by jotting down your experience. Once you have gone through the experience yourself, it will be easy for you to focus on the writing in the best way possible. Secondly, once you infuse the personal touch in your writing, people will find your content relatable. Getting a large number of followers might be a little difficult, but you can always share the content with friends/loved ones. However, once you begin writing the content regularly, it will be easy to attract organic traffic and make the most out of your efforts. Never shy away from sharing your travel experiences, especially when you are obsessed with inspiring others.



Motivation

Once you set up a travel blog, it will become a motivation for you to travel more. This way, you can get to explore places that you have never been to before. For instance, if you intend to visit Hong Kong, your travel blog will compel you to visit this country. This way, you can also write about the Hong Kong travel restrictions during COVID 19. Furthermore, the blog will also have a strong impact on your travel style. It will enable you to focus on even the smallest details of the trip. Once you are motivated enough, you will have a strong reason to keep investing in hard work.



Making Money

Unless you live under the rock, you will know that running a successful blog also allows you to earn money. Once you get several followers, it will be easy to earn monthly income from your blog. For this to happen, you need to jot down catchy content and include media as well. Some of the easiest ways to do this are through advertising, affiliate marketing, and sales. You can even turn it into a full-time business if you want to make the most out of it. So if you're currently working on a certain job, you will eventually leave it once the blog starts reaping incredible benefits.



Free Travel

If you promote a certain travel agency through your blog, they will happily entitle you to a discount or even a free travel trip. Today, most companies are willing to collaborate with travel bloggers to promote their services to the fullest. So when you get to enjoy free travel, you won't have to worry about paying for the plane tickets. While writing the blogs, we recommend you add a personalized touch. Promoting reviews and images is one of the easiest ways to do a favor for a certain company. So while you will be enjoying your free trip from a certain company, you can also get to blog about this experience of yours.



Learn New Skills

If you want to become a better version of yourself after a few years, it is recommended that you do this by starting a travel blog. After all, once you dive full throttle in photography, marketing, editing, and writing, you will eventually get to learn a lot of new stuff. So what are you waiting for? Now is the best time to embrace the importance of starting a travel blog. Make sure to check with a professional who has hands-on experience running a travel blog for years. Bear in mind; once you do it, you will eventually gain the opportunity of working with the big names in the travel world.



Collaborate with fellow Travel Bloggers

Once you start the travel blog, you will garner the opportunity to collaborate with fellow travel bloggers. For instance, if a friend of yours is a pro travel blogger, they will happily give you a shout out through their page. Bear in mind, collaborating with fellow travel bloggers is a stunning opportunity for others to know about your work. On the contrary, if you keep working hard by yourself, it might take you a lot of time to make the most out of your efforts. Today, if you sift through the web, you will find a plethora of travel bloggers writing down their experiences and making the most out of their work. So when you have such an amazing opportunity at your disposal, you can easily make the most out of it.



Enjoy Your Freedom

Who doesn't want to live their life to the fullest? All of us enjoy our freedom, but it is hard to rest assured about it, with the hectic job routine being a major hurdle in accomplishing personal goals. So when you cement the decision to start a travel blog and focus on it, you will eventually have plenty of time to accomplish your personal goals and make the most out of them. Once you enjoy your freedom, you won't have to compromise on any part of your career. In contrast, if you decide to dedicate the rest of your life to a 9-hour shift, it will be hard to achieve ultimate happiness.


Talks on drafting a constitution for Syria will reconvene next month in Geneva, the UN special envoy for the war-ravaged nation told the Security Council Tuesday as he welcomed headway following years of inertia

"It has now been exactly two years" since the committee was created to draft the new constitution as agreed by the government in Damascus and the Syrian Negotiations Commission, but "regrettably, the committee has not yet begun to make steady progress on its mandate," Geir Pedersen said.

After a tour of the region and 18 months of intensive negotiations with the parties, "I am pleased to announce that agreement is in place on methodology," Pedersen said, adding that the drafting committee "will convene in Geneva as of 18 October."

"We should all now expect the Constitutional Committee to begin to work seriously on a process of drafting -- not just preparing -- a constitutional reform," he said.

Building trust among participants, which include the government, opposition groups, and civil society organizations, will be crucial towards creating a "credible constitutional process," Pedersen added.

The envoy also expressed hope that a Wednesday summit between the presidents of Russia and Turkey would help "promote calm" within Syria, particularly the northwestern region of Idlib, which is home to the last major jihadist and rebel stronghold.

Syria's war has killed around half a million people since starting in 2011, spiraling into a complex battlefield involving foreign armies, militias and jihadists.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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Ankara fully supports the interim coalition government of Syria, who are the representatives of the Syrian people, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu declared a couple of weeks ago, but what might that be? Cavusoglu was, in fact, referring to a newly formed coalition among a handful of Syrian opposition figures from some Turkish backed militant factions that control only a very small portion of Syrian territory.

Contrary to the impression the state-run Turkish media tries to give, the ruling Justice and Development Partys (AKPs) policy in Syria has met with continual setbacks. The regime in Damascus, for its part, has recovered most Syrian territory, regained much of its confidence and now seems poised to take back more. It has also announced that the heads of the Syrian and Turkish intelligence agencies will meet soon in Baghdad. According to leaks in Ankara  deliberate, according to some commentators  the Turkish government is keen to talk with its loathed enemy. The purpose, ostensibly, is to propose cooperation to prevent the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish entity in northern Syria on the border.

Damascus has also appealed to the UN Secretary General and General Assembly to take a clear and unequivocal stance against the aggressive practices of the Turkish regime in Syria. Russia is not unsympathetic. The Kremlin has grown increasingly impatient with Turkish behaviour in Syria, and Russian media has notched up criticism of Ankaras failure to live up to its commitments to eliminate the presence of terrorist groups in the designated de-escalation zones in Idlib. Recently, during Syrian President Bashar Al-Assads 14 September visit to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointedly said that the main problem in Syria is the illegitimate presence of foreign forces, referring primarily to Turkish and US troops. Their military presence violates international law, he said, because they were not invited by the Syrian government and they did not have a UN mandate to be there.

For the Kremlin, Syria offers several ways to counter Ankaras machinations in Azerbaijan, the Ukraine and, most recently, Crimea. One purpose of the recent consultations between some Russian officials and their US counterparts would have been to weaken Turkeys already tenuous position in Syria. Russian-US talks might also encourage serious talks between the Syrian regime and the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which the US supports. An accommodation between Damascus and the chief enemy of the Turkish-backed militant Islamist forces in northern Syria would counteract Turkeys military presence east of the Euphrates. It is noteworthy in this context that Washington has effectively relaxed the Caesar Act by turning a blind eye to the entry of Iranian oil through the Syrian port of Tartus and the flow of Egyptian gas and electricity through Syrian territory, via Jordan, to Lebanon.

Turkey has emerged as the weakest foreign player in Syria. Worse, this is obvious to everyone, including public opinion at home. Much to the ruling partys dismay, opposition forces are now in a position to say, I told you so. They had warned repeatedly against the folly of falling deeper into the Syrian quagmire, and can point to the disastrous rebound effects, from dire economic repercussions to mounting violence against Syrian refugees. As the AKP stares at further declines in its popularity ratings, it is not surprising that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned to Putin whom he met on Wednesday. But will Russia offer Turkey a face-saving exit strategy?

There is no doubt Turkey has little room for manoeuvre in Syria. When Turkish military targets in Idlib were struck by the very jihadist forces Ankara has supported, armed and trained for years, the Turkish reaction was not to hit back, but rather to lash out at Syrian Kurds in the north. Turkey claims its strikes are aimed at the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Indeed, so far it appears that the strikes have not extended to the US-backed Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG), despite Erdogans fury at not getting his way during his meeting with Biden on the fringe of the inauguration of the UN General Assembly last week. Erdogan afterwards accused Biden of supporting terrorists because of Washingtons backing of the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), of which the YPG is a main component.

But there was no hiding the fact that Turkish soldiers have fallen. The government vows it will avenge them and Turkish state television has reported that a number of Syrian militants were neutralised. But much of the Turkish public is sceptical and an even greater portion is fed up of their countrys involvement in a conflict that has only wrought enormous attrition at home.

Ankara has tried to use Hayaat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), the dominant jihadist force in Idlib, to overcome smaller jihadist entities. It believed that this would give Russia the impression that it was meeting its end of the bargain in the Idlib ceasefire deal between Ankara and Moscow. Ankara simultaneously reorganised its Syrian allies in the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in order to forestall a renewed Syrian-Russian offensive in Idlib. However, its plans failed because the factions it worked so hard to unite insisted on operating independently and attacking each other, committing human rights abuses against civilians in the process.

Two weeks ago, Turkey had another stab at this tactic. It announced the creation of the Syrian Liberation Front which hammers together five factions affiliated with the FSA. The chances are this will meet the same fate as its predecessor. Most of its members have become war profiteers and, while current exigencies might compel them to unify in form, their internal divisions and mutual antagonisms will resurface at the closest opportunity. The same occurred with the HTS, the former Al-Qaeda affiliate that Turkey had relied on most.

Turkeys Syrian policy is headed for rougher days. The new liberation front is glaringly cosmetic. US-Russian dialogue is likely to pave the way to a compromise on the region controlled by the Syrian Kurds east of the Euphrates. Most importantly, a confrontation in Idlib is looming, with potentially disastrous repercussions.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 30 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday

It was the first in-person meeting for Putin in over two weeks. On Sept. 14, the Russian president went into self-isolation after a staff member he worked in close contact with contracted coronavirus. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to reporters that the two-week self-isolation ended for Putin on Wednesday.

As the two leaders sat down for talks, Putin pointed out that relations between the two countries ``develop positively.''

``Negotiations are sometimes difficult, but with a positive final result. Our (government) bodies have learned to find compromises that are beneficial to both sides,`` Putin said.

Erdogan echoed that sentiment and said he believed ``there is great benefit in continuing our Turkish-Russian relations by strengthening them every day.''

The two leaders are largely expected to concentrate on the situation in Syria during their meeting in Sochi.

Russia is the main ally of the Syrian government while Turkey supports groups that have fought to unseat Syrian President Bashar Assad. However, Russian and Turkish troops have cooperated in Idlib, the final holdout of rebel forces, and in seeking a political solution in the war-torn country.

Erdogan told Putin on Wednesday that ``the steps we take together in relation to Syria are of great importance.``

``Peace (in Syria) depends on the relations between Turkey and Russia,'' the Turkish leader noted.

The talks between the two presidents come amid an increase in airstrikes on Turkey-backed opposition fighters' positions in northern Syria and especially in the province of Idlib.

Last year, Turkey and Russia reached a cease-fire agreement which halted a three-month Syrian government offensive in Idlib and also saw rare direct fighting between Syrian and Turkish troops. That Russia-backed offensive killed hundreds of civilians and displaced nearly 1 million people in Idlib province.

Turkey fears that an escalation of the violence in northern Syria will lead to a new influx of refugees surging across its borders. Turkey already hosts 3.7 million Syrian refugees. For its part, Russia accuses Turkey of failing to take measures to push out radical groups from northern Syria.

Earlier this month, Putin met with Assad in Moscow and criticized the presence of Turkish and U.S. forces in northern Syria, calling their presence illegal and a flagrant violation of international law. The Russian leader was referring to hundreds of U.S. troops stationed in eastern Syria and working with Kurdish-led fighters in battling the militant Islamic State group, as well as Turkish forces in northern Syria.

The war in Syria broke out in March 2011. It has left hundreds of thousands dead and displaced half the country's pre-war population of 23 million people, including more than 5 million refugees outside the war-torn nation.

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Ethiopia said Thursday it is kicking out seven United Nations officials and accused them of ``meddling in the internal affairs of the country,'' as pressure grows on the government over its deadly blockade of its Tigray region

A foreign ministry statement said the officials must leave Ethiopia within 72 hours. They include five people with the U.N. humanitarian agency, one with the U.N. human rights office and the UNICEF representative in the country. The statement did not give details of their alleged interference.

A spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian agency did not immediately comment. The spokeswoman for Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Billene Seyoum, did not immediately respond to a request for details.

The U.N. humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, this week told The Associated Press that the crisis in Ethiopia is a ``stain on our conscience'' as children and others starve to death in the Tigray region under what the U.N. has called a de facto government blockade of food, medical supplies and fuel.

It was one of the most sharply worded criticisms yet of the world's worst hunger crisis in a decade after nearly a year of war in the country. Memories of the 1980s famine in Ethiopia, which killed some 1 million people and whose images shocked the world, are vivid in his mind, ``and we fervently hope is not happening at present,'' Griffiths said.

The U.N. officials declared persona non grata by Ethiopia's government include U.N. deputy humanitarian coordinator in the country Grant Leaity and UNICEF representative Adele Khodr.

Ethiopia's government has accused humanitarian workers of supporting the Tigray forces who have been fighting its soldiers and allied forces since November, which aid workers have denied. Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.

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Sunshine streams through the windows of the Khatamul Anbiya madrassa, where a dozen young boys sit in a circle under the tutelage of their teacher, Ismatullah Mudaqiq.

The students are awake by 4:30 a.m. and start the day with prayers. They spend class time memorizing the Quran, chanting verses until the words are ingrained. At any moment, Mudaqiq might test them by asking that a verse be recited from memory.

Attention is turning to the future of education in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, with calls among urban educated Afghans and the international community for equal access to education for girls and women. The madrassas _ Islamic religious schools for elementary and higher learning, attended only by boys _ represent another segment of Afghan society, poorer and more conservative.

And they too are uncertain what the future will hold under the Taliban.

Most of the students hail from poor families. For them, madrassas are an important institution; it is sometimes the only way for their children to get an education, and the children are also sheltered, fed and clothed. At night they lie on thin mattresses, preferring the ground over rickety bunk-beds, until sleep comes. Like most institutions in Afghanistan, madrassas have struggled in the decline of the country's economy, which has accelerated since the Taliban takeover on Oct. 15.

The Taliban _ which means ``students'' _ originally emerged in the 1990s in part from among the students of hard-line madrassas in neighboring Pakistan. Over the past two decades, madrassas in Afghanistan have steered clear of militant ideologies, under the eye of the U.S.-backed government fighting the Taliban. Now that government is gone.

Staff at Khatamul Anbiya were cautious when asked if they hoped for greater support from the new Taliban rulers.

``Regardless, with or without the Taliban, madrassas are very important,'' explained Mudaqiq. ``Without them, people will forget their religious sources . The madrassa should always be there no matter what government is present. It doesn't matter the cost, it should be kept alive.''

Historically, the Afghan government has lacked the resources to provide education in rural areas, enabling madrassas to grow in influence. The madrassa system has been kept alive largely through community-driven efforts; most of its funding comes from private sources. But with financial shortfalls as a result of U.S. sanctions and freezes from international monetary institutions, public salaries have not been paid. Madrassas are not seeing the same funding they used to.

The young boys who grow up in the madrassa system can qualify to become religious scholars and experts. The schools usually teach a conservative interpretation of Islam and have been criticized for an overreliance on rote-learning over critical thinking.

But for some, the system is just a way to get basic education and stay fed.

Between religious study the young men convene in large seating areas for a meal of bread and hot tea. Before sunset, they play marbles until it's prayer time _ the last before nightfall.

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Egypt reported 741 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the total infection tally officially to 304,524 since the outbreak began in February 2020, the health ministry said in its daily coronavirus update statement.

The health ministry also reported 37 new deaths, causing the total number of deaths from the virus to reach 17,331.

As many as 419 patients have been discharged during the past 24 hours after recovering from the virus, the ministry said, raising the total number of recoveries to 256,886.

A total of 1.6 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine are making its way to Egypt, the US Embassy in Cairo said earlier on Thursday, the first Pfizer shipment to the country.

On Wednesday, a new shipment of some 4.4 million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Cairo.

Egypt also received a shipment of 1 million doses of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine on Tuesday as well as 3,000 litres of the raw material required to produce 4.6 million doses of Sinovac locally.

Egypts campaign has included AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Sputnik V, besides Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines.

As of 27 September, Egypt has inoculated citizens with over 16.2 million vaccine doses, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The ministry also launched a campaign titled Maan Natmaen (Together We are Reassured), sending buses to various governorates to register citizens wanting to be inoculated.

The ministry also announced vaccinating most of the 3.4 million employees working at the states administrative apparatuses.

The cabinet on Sunday ordered forbidding employees from entering government institutions two months from now unless they submit proof of vaccination or a PCR test every three days.

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Egypt received on Thursday 1.6 million doses of Pfizer BioNTech Coronavirus vaccine as a donation from the United States via COVAX initiative, the Egyptian health ministry announced.

This is the first of five shipments of the Pfizer vaccine totaling five million doses that Egypt is to receive from the United States according to the Health Ministry.

Egypt is on the shortlist of partner countries to receive US vaccines against the coronavirus, according to the US Embassy.

Deputy Chief of US diplomatic Mission in Cairo Nicole Shampine reasserted the US administrations constant support of Egypt till the end of the pandemic.

According to the Egyptian health ministry, the Pfizer vaccine received emergency use approval from both the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA).

The ministry added that this shipment will undergo tests and analysis in EDA labs within 14 days before its distribution to the 1,100 vaccination centres across the country.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is administered in two shots 21 days apart, needs special refrigeration to store vials between 2C to 8C. It is undergoing authorization in the US and other countries for use in children aged 12-17.

Last week, Egypts Health Minister Hala Zayed announced preparations for handling and distributing the Pfizer vaccine doses in a number of governorates, explaining that the government has secured a nationwide storage capacity of 4.3 million doses in 600 recently purchased refrigerators.

Egypt has already obtained 40.4 million vaccine doses, including 2.3 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses that were donated by Germany last week.

Egypt launched a mass vaccination campaign in January, expanding it in recent weeks to cover more than 13 million persons.

The country has administered a total of 16,223,309 vaccine doses nationwide, according to the WHO.

Egypt is currently administrating the Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines, the British-Swedish AstraZeneca, the Russian Sputnik V and the American Johnson & Johnson in the inoculation campaign.

Egypt's Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) is currently manufacturing the Sinovac vaccine to serve local and African needs.

The Egyptian government has already set a goal of vaccinating 40 million people by the end of 2021.

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'A colonel and 19 other loyalists were killed in the past 24 hours in fighting with the Houthi insurgents in Al-Bayda district,' a government military official said, adding that 30 rebels also died.

At least 50 rebels and pro-government troops, including a high-ranking officer, have been killed in clashes in Yemen's central province of Al-Bayda, military sources told AFP on Thursday.

"A colonel and 19 other loyalists were killed in the past 24 hours in fighting with the Houthi insurgents in Al-Bayda district," a government military official said, adding that 30 rebels also died.

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Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said it shot down an Israeli drone over south Lebanon on Thursday

The Shia movement's Al-Manar television said members of the group had "downed a drone belonging to the Israeli army... in southern Lebanon".

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee confirmed in an Arabic-language tweet that one of its drones had fallen "inside Lebanese territory during a routine operation".

Lebanon and Israel are technically in a state of war.

On August 12, the Israeli army said it had shot down the previous night a drone from Hezbollah that had crossed into Israeli airspace.

The announcement came nearly a week after Hezbollah fired a volley of rockets at Israeli positions, prompting retaliatory shelling.

It also followed a flare-up along the Lebanon-Israel border in early August that saw Israel carry out its first air strikes on Lebanese territory in seven years, and Hezbollah claim direct rocket attack on Israeli territory for the first time since 2019.

In the summer of 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a 33-day war that killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

It ended with a UN-backed ceasefire on August 14, 2006 that saw the Lebanese army deploy along border areas

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Covid-19 cases have soared to critical levels across Syria in recent weeks, officials told AFP on Friday, with health facilities reaching maximum capacity and unable to cope

In some of the areas most affected by the country's decade of conflict, health infrastructure is insufficient while basic medical supplies and vaccine doses are in short supply.

While the number of cases is spiking across the country, the areas that seem worst hit by the pandemic's latest wave are those in the north that still escape government control.

In the Idlib region, where around half of the more than three million residents were displaced by conflict, the number of recorded daily infections has increased sharply and now often tops 1,000 a day.

"From August to September the confirmed number of coronavirus cases in northwest Syria jumped by 144 percent to 71,715 as of 28 September with 1,151 deaths," Save the Children said.

The charity said only a dozen beds in intensive care units remained for the entire region and called for emergency international assistance to avert an even bigger disaster.

"One death from coronavirus is one too many, but to hear that a baby and a 17-year-old have also been claimed is devastating," said Sonia Khush, the NGO's Syria response director.

"The world must not look away," she said.

Francisco Otero Y Villar, Syria head of mission for the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders - MSF), described the situation in the northwest as an "uncontrolled outbreak".

"Hospitals are saturated, patients are waiting in lines to get a bed in intensive care units," he told AFP.

He explained that the region's limited oxygen production was another impediment and that low vaccination rates could allow the virus to spread more.

Otero Y Villar said the percentage of people in the entire northwestern Syria region who been vaccinated stood at a lowly 2.6.

The Syrian health ministry said last week that hospitals in Damascus and in the main coastal city of Latakia had reached full capacity.

The ministry said that the rise in numbers was at least in part due to increased testing.

But low testing and a lack of transparency by the authorities across Syria mean that deaths and infections have most likely been grossly under-reported since the start of the pandemic.

Covid-19 cases are also increasing in the country's northeast, which is mostly controlled by an autonomous Kurdish administration, and in government areas.

Jawan Mustafa, who heads the Kurdish administration's health department, said only 55,000 vaccine doses had been received by the region.

"The situation will get out of control if the administration does not receive sufficient support. It cannot face this pandemic alone and it is spreading fast," he said

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The Iranian army's ground forces began holding manoeuvres near the country's border with Azerbaijan on Friday, state media reported, despite criticism from its neighbour

The exercises took place in open areas in northwestern Iran, said state television, which showed tanks, howitzers and helicopters firing at targets on the ground.

"We respect good neighbourly relations but we do not tolerate the presence of Zionist regime (Israeli) elements and Islamic State terrorists in the region," ground forces commander Brigadier General Kioumars Heydari told state TV.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had criticised the Iranian war games in an interview published on Monday.

"Every country can carry out any military drill on its own territory. It's their sovereign right. But why now, and why on our border?" he told Turkish news agency Anadolu.

His comments were rebuffed by Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh.

"The drills carried out by our country in the northwest border areas... are a question of sovereignty," Khatibzadeh said in a statement on Tuesday.

Before dawn on Friday, the Iranian embassy compound in Baku came under "attack", ambassador Abbas Mousavi told his country's official news agency IRNA, without giving details.

"The Republic of Azerbaijan identified, arrested and questioned four people who attacked the Iranian embassy in Baku at midnight," he said, adding that Tehran had protested vigorously the incident.

Iran and Azerbaijan share a border of around 700 kilometres (430 miles).

Ethnic Azeris make up around 10 million of Iran's 83 million people.

A major supplier of arms to Azerbaijan, Israel came under diplomatic fire from Armenia during last year's conflict between the Caucasus neighbours

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The Egyptian Tax Authoritys decision to impose taxes on online content-creators is one more way to boost government revenues, reports Nahla Abul-Ezz

The government is seeking to raise its revenues to more than LE2 trillion annually in the coming period, depending mainly on tax collection. Currently it is eyeing the integration of the informal economy into the formal one and regulating e-trade to bring in more revenue.

The Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) this week stated that bloggers and YouTubers will pay value-added tax (VAT) if their revenues exceed LE500,000 per year.

It also demanded content-creators, individuals, and companies that use social media to sell their products to register at its offices and open a file to pay income taxes.

Mohsen Al-Gayar, head of the Financiers Services Department at the ETA, explained that the taxes will be calculated starting in January 2021. The taxes will be calculated based on the revenues stated by the content-creator, he explained, adding that revenues will be reviewed after five years.

Everybody should pay their fair share of taxes as long as they are making a profit, said Erfan Fawzi, head of the ETA.

Bloggers and YouTubers earn money through the ads placed on their videos or pages or by promoting other peoples products.

The ETA is not reinventing the wheel by taxing this group of individuals. Bloggers, influencers, and YouTubers in the US and UK are required to report their income from their activities and pay taxes accordingly.

The ETA decision, Fawzi said, was part of government efforts to integrate the informal sector into the formal economy after the ETA showed that some YouTubers were making hefty sums of money on which they do not pay taxes.

Breaching the tax evasion law is punishable by prison sentences of between three and five years, Al-Gayar pointed out, noting that an e-commerce unit at the ETA has been established to address those in the e-trade business and content-creators on the Internet.

They are currently being invited to join the formal economy.

Yehia Abu Taleb, a professor of public finance, said the ETA was authorised to impose the taxes by decree until it receives parliaments approval. He added that it would be unfair not to collect these taxes as the government has already imposed taxes on online delivery services nationwide.

This was all the more reason to collect taxes from YouTubers who have made huge profits in a short period of time and with frivolous content, he said.

In June this year, the Ministry of Finance decided to levy 14 per cent VAT on companies operating in the Internet economy.

Sayed Sakr, an ETA official, revealed that working with the Ministry of Communications, the ETA has tracked down YouTubers and their profits, adding that it will seek specialists to determine the viewership of uploaded videos and calculate 20 per cent income tax accordingly.

Sakr referred to Law 91/2005 that says that anyone engaging in a commercial activity must open a tax file. Bloggers and YouTubers should make sure they are meeting their legal obligations, he added, saying that revenues are calculated after determining the value of tax for those who practise e-commerce.

He added that the Ministry of Finance wants to collect revenues this year to the tune of around LE1.4 trillion, up from LE1.1 trillion in the previous fiscal year.

Sakr said YouTubers and bloggers must be differentiated from businesses that trade through online webpages. The latter are considered to be small enterprises and their taxes are calculated differently.

In the latter category, profits of LE250,000 will be charged LE1,000 in taxes, and profits between LE250,000 and LE500,000 will be charged LE2,500. Those between LE500,000 and LE1 million will be taxed LE5,000, and between LE1 million and LE2 million they will be charged 0.5 per cent of profits.

YouTuber Hisham Al-Safi, who presents the Do-Gooder Presenter programme, said the ETA decision had two sides. The positive side was that it legalises the status of content-creators, reduces crime, and decreases content that has harmed society. The negative side is that it could impose taxes on people who may be presenting good content but do not garner profits.

The owner of Egypts Presenter YouTube channel Abdel-Rahman Al-Safi insisted that all activities that raise income should be taxed, agreeing that the ETA decision will put the brakes on bad content.

It is difficult to make LE500,000 in profits a year unless you make good content. The decision will limit the number of people who take to YouTube just to make profits. The content online should be monitored, he said.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 30 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The cabinet approved Egypts joining the African Finance Corporation (AFC) earlier this month, making it the 32nd member of an organisation that focuses on infrastructure projects across the African continent.

The membership becomes official when parliament approves it after it convenes next week. The AFC principally funds and develops projects in the power, transportation and logistics, heavy industries, natural resources, and telecommunications sectors.

The multilateral lenders mission is to address Africas pressing infrastructure investment, capacity, and economic development needs, while delivering competitive financial returns and positive social and environmental impacts, AFC CEO Samaila Zubairu told Al-Ahram Weekly.

Egypt will enjoy all the benefits of being a member of the AFC, including increased investment allocation, preferred access to the AFCs structuring and lending solutions, reduced debt costs, and access to advisory and project-development services.

These advantages help AFC member states address critical infrastructure gaps across the corporations core sectors. The AFC has already injected $100 million worth of investments into the Egyptian Petroleum Corporation and the privately owned Carbon Holdings.

The AFC has extended finances in the neighbourhood of $8 billion to its members since it was formed 12 years ago, and now it is planning $1 billion of investments in Egypt starting with the transport and logistics sectors.

It is considering supporting a state-of-the-art terminal to receive petroleum products, financing for a grain and dry product storage and trading business and associated infrastructure, and financing for rail projects.

It is expected to cover the power sector as well through investing in expansion plans for renewables like solar and wind energy. It is a strong lender with assets in Egypt and across Africa, and it works in the acquisition and refurbishment of renewable assets alongside local partners, Zubairu said.

AFCs plans for Egypt will also involve the heavy industries through financing a pipeline of investments in renewables, vaccine manufacturing, and storage, transport and logistics equipment manufacturing and exports to Africa, he added.

It will cover the technology sector by supporting the rollout of an e-customs system in Egypt and expansion to other African markets.

Egypt was one of the few emerging-market countries that experienced a positive growth rate in 2020 despite the severe impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on economies worldwide. This was mainly due to the governments swift and prudent policy response, coupled with broad support from development finance institutions.

On the continental level, Zubairu said that the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) will require a significant scaling up of physical infrastructure within individual countries and regions, in order to support an increase in intra-African trade. It will also require an increase in local manufacturing to meet the local-content requirements of the agreement.

The AFCs mandate responds to the above challenges by developing and financing infrastructure, natural resources, and industrial assets to catalyse sustainable and inclusive growth across Africa and enhance productivity, he said.

On the AFCs efforts to establish cooperation with other international financial institutions to help develop the continents countries, Zubairu said the AFC had established partnerships regionally with other institutions such as the African Development Bank, the African Export-Import Bank, the PTA Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the Banque Ouest Africaine de Development, and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority.

Internationally, it was working with the China Africa Fund, the Infrastructure Development Finance Company of India, the Dutch development bank FMO and the US government through USAID and OPIC, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, he added.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 30 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has conveyed his country's congratulatory message to China on Thursday as it celebrates the 2021 National Day.

National flags of China and the U.S. [File Photo: VCG]

The National Day is celebrated every year on October 1 to commemorate the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

"On behalf of the United States of America, I would like to extend our congratulations to the People's Republic of China (PRC) as the country celebrates its National Day on October 1," Blinken said in a statement.

"As the United States seeks to work cooperatively to solve to solve the challenges we all face, we wish the people of the PRC peace, happiness and prosperity over the coming year."
Murder charges were dismissed Thursday against a man who spent 15 years in prison for the fire-related deaths of five children in suburban Detroit, the climax of an investigation that found misconduct by police and prosecutors.

Juwan Deering gets a hug outside the courthouse in Pontiac, Michigan, on Sept. 30, 2021, after murder charges were dropped in a fire that killed five children in suburban Detroit in 2000. [Photo: AP/Ed White]

Juwan Deering will not face a second trial, Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said. A judge granted her request to close the case a week after Deering's convictions and life sentences were thrown out at her urging.

Wearing a three-piece suit, Deering, 50, walked into court shackled at the waist but departed as a free man with no restraints.

Its been a hard uphill battle. ... The sun couldn't shine on not a brighter day. This is the brightest for me," Deering said moments later as family members clung to him on a cloudless morning and other Detroit-area men exonerated of crimes stood nearby.

Deering praised the new prosecutor for her exceptional work.

I told her it took a lot of strength to step up against the status quo, he said.

McDonald, a former judge who was elected in 2020, took a fresh look at Deering's case at the request of the University of Michigan law school's Innocence Clinic.

Favorable evidence, including statements by a fire survivor, was not shared with his defense lawyer before the 2006 trial, and jurors didn't know that jail informants were given significant benefits for their testimony against Deering, McDonald said.

Deering has insisted he was innocent in a fire that killed children in his neighborhood in Royal Oak Township in 2000. No one could identify him as being at the house. Authorities at the time said the fire was revenge for unpaid drug debts.

The prosecutor said a dozen law enforcement professionals last week unanimously determined there was insufficient evidence to tie Deering to the fire. The investigation between 2000 and 2006 was totally compromised by misconduct, McDonald said.

There is only one ethical and constitutional remedy, she said in dropping the case.

Law students earlier had been trying to get a new trial for Deering, arguing that the fire analysis was based on junk science. Those requests were unsuccessful in Michigans appellate courts.

McDonald said it's possible the fire was not an arson as Deering's legal team has long maintained. She said state police are investigating it again.

Once there was a belief that it was intentionally set, it was solve it at all costs. There was an unchecked culture here, said Imran Syed of the law school. Cutting corners has enormous consequences.

Deering could be eligible for more than $700,000 from the state, under a law that pays $50,000 for every year spent in prison if new evidence is cited in a wrongful conviction.
Martyrs' Day observed across China

From:ChinaDaily | 2021-09-30 16:49

BEIJING - Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Thursday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day.

At 9:30 am, a crowd of around 1,000 people sang the national anthem in front of the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Beijing.

Thereafter they paid a silent tribute to those who devoted their lives to the liberation of the Chinese people and the construction of the People's Republic of China, which was founded in 1949.

"As a veteran, I can better understand the dauntless spirit and loyal revolutionary belief of the martyrs. They sacrificed their lives for the happy life that we enjoy today," said Wang Wei, an official with Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications who attended the event.

"On this occasion, we can recall the spiritual heritage and historical feats left by those fallen heroes," said Dong Lixin, deputy curator of the museum, who also called on the Chinese people to make joint efforts to build a great cause that can stand the test of time.

China's top legislature approved designating Sept 30 as Martyrs' Day in 2014 to commemorate those who sacrificed their lives in the pursuit of national independence and prosperity.
KYODO NEWS - Sep 14, 2021 - 13:09 | All, Japan

The number of people aged 100 or above in Japan is estimated at a record 86,510, with the number of men reaching the milestone topping 10,000 for the first time, health ministry data showed Tuesday.

The number of centenarians as of Sept. 15 represents an increase of 6,060 from a year earlier for the 51th consecutive year of rise, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said prior to the Respect for the Aged Day holiday, which falls next Monday.

Of the 86,510, women accounted for 88.4 percent or 76,450, up 5,475 from a year earlier and men totaled 10,060, up 585, the data showed.

When the survey started in 1963, the number of centenarians in the country stood at 153, but it eclipsed 1,000 in 1981 and surpassed 10,000 in 1998, due mainly to advances in medical technology.

In July, the ministry said average life expectancy in Japan, one of the most rapidly ageing populations in the world, rose to record highs for both genders in 2020 -- 87.74 for women and 81.64 for men.

Kane Tanaka, a 118-year-old resident of Fukuoka, southwestern Japan, is the oldest Japanese woman. She has been recognized as the oldest living person in the world by Guinness World Records.

Tanaka was born in 1903, the year the Wright brothers flew the world's first powered airplane.

Mikizo Ueda, a 111-year-old resident of Nara, western Japan, is the oldest Japanese man.

By prefecture, Shimane in western Japan has the highest number of centenarians per 100,000 people for the ninth straight year at 134.75, followed by Kochi and Kagoshima at 126.29 and 118.74, respectively. The nationwide average stands at 68.54.

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KYODO NEWS - Sep 10, 2021 - 02:36 | All, World, Coronavirus

The European Union said Thursday it has reinstated a travel ban from Japan following recent surges of novel coronavirus infections with the highly contagious Delta variant.

The EU removed Japan from a list of countries that are exempted from its ban on nonessential travel to the economic bloc. Japan was previously removed from the exemption list in January, before being added again in June as the EU eased restrictions ahead of summer vacation season.

With the fresh travel ban, visitors from Japan for nonessential purposes such as tourism will not be allowed to enter EU member countries in principle, though each country has authority over its own border control policy.

Among EU economies, Germany has already said it will restrict travelers from Japan, designating the country a high-risk area for COVID-19 infection.

In addition to Japan, the EU also removed Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brunei and Serbia from the exemption list.

EU authorities remain wary of potential spread of the Delta variant in its economic zone, although about 70 percent of the bloc's adult population has been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The United States was removed from the list in late August.
KYODO NEWS - Oct 1, 2021 - 22:25 | All, Japan

Typhoon Mindulle brought violent winds and heavy rain on Friday to the Izu Islands and the Pacific coast of eastern Japan, disrupting air and train services.

The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that the storm, already causing flooding on some roads, would continue to batter the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan through Saturday morning.

It said the typhoon is expected to weaken into an extratropical depression east of Japan by Saturday evening.

As of 9:45 p.m. Friday, the typhoon, with an atmospheric pressure of 965 hectopascals at its center, was located 260 kilometers east of Choshi in Chiba Prefecture, traveling toward the north-northeast at a speed of around 40 kilometers per hour, according to the agency.

Japan Airlines canceled over 100 flights, mainly those leaving and arriving at Tokyo's Haneda airport, while some train schedules in the prefecture near the capital and other areas were affected.

Four people aged in their 70s to 90s sustained injuries after falling in Fujisawa and Atsugi in Kanagawa Prefecture, according to local authorities.

The Samuro River running through Isumi, Chiba Prefecture, overflowed due to the heavy rain, prompting local authorities to issue the highest level of warning for residents.

In the town of Ichinomiya in the prefecture, the roof of a junior high school was destroyed, they said.

Maximum wind speeds of 150 kph were recorded in Choshi and Miyake Island in the Izu island chain, respectively, according to the agency.

Also in Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture, rainfall of 39 millimeters per hour was registered, with downpours of more than 30 mm per hour on Kozu Island in the island chain and Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture.

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KYODO NEWS - Oct 1, 2021 - 21:21 | All, Japan

Japan's Princess Mako will marry her boyfriend Kei Komuro on Oct. 26 without traditional ceremonies, the Imperial Household Agency said Friday, as a three-year controversy continues to simmer following media reports of a financial dispute involving his mother.

The agency also revealed that Princess Mako, a niece of Emperor Naruhito, has been feeling unwell since around 2018 and had been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder caused by what she described as psychological abuse of the couple and their families.

The agency said the princess and Komuro, both 29, will hold a joint press conference on the day they are married to explain their feelings. The two are expected to register their marriage before relocating to the United States, where Komuro works for a law firm.

In a rare decision, traditional ceremonies associated with imperial family members' weddings, such as the official engagement ceremony called "Nosai no Gi," will not be held in view of the controversy.

Many people remain unconvinced by Komuro's explanations about the money dispute between his mother and her former fiance and feel uncomfortable about negative reports on the Komuro family, believing they are unfit to become relatives of the royals including Prince Hisahito, the princess' younger brother who is second in line to the throne.

Reflecting that attitude, the couple have often been subjected to derogatory comments on social media. Complex PTSD develops in response to prolonged and repeated experience of trauma including verbal abuse and cyberbullying, according to Tsuyoshi Akiyama, a psychiatrist who diagnosed the princess.

While female imperial family members traditionally receive a lump-sum payment of up to around 150 million yen ($1.3 million) in taxpayers' money upon their departure from the household, the agency said it has accepted Princess Mako's unprecedented request not to receive such payment.

Under the current rules, female imperial family members lose their royal status upon marrying commoners. The payments are intended to maintain the dignity of former royal family members.

Princess Mako will be the first female royal in postwar Japan not to receive the payment and to marry a commoner without the traditional rituals.

In lieu of the rites, the princess will meet with Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako and visit the Imperial Palace Sanctuaries, which enshrine the family's ancestors, by herself without Komuro's presence. She also plans to meet with her grandparents -- former Emperor Akihito and former Empress Michiko.

The details of the arrangements for the marriage between the princess, the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito, and Komuro were announced by senior agency official Takaharu Kachi, an aide to the crown prince and his family.

The unprecedented decisions come as the crown prince maintains the view that the marriage is not supported by many Japanese people and therefore the traditional ceremonies cannot be held. A close friend of the crown prince said not allowing the rites to take place is "almost equal to disowning Princess Mako" for him.

The princess' father said in November last year, however, he approves of the couple tying the knot based on the Constitution that states marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes.

Yasuhiko Nishimura, grand steward of the agency, said Friday that Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako "wish that (the couple) will have a happy life in the future."

The empress, who is an aunt of Princess Mako, has long suffered from a stress-induced illness since giving birth in 2001 to the couple's only child Princess Aiko, amid pressure to produce a male heir.

Despite a shrinking number of heirs, the 1947 Imperial House Law limits inheritance of the Chrysanthemum Throne to a male imperial family member who has an emperor on his father's side.

Following the announcement of the princess' marriage arrangements, top government spokesman Katsunobu Kato told a press conference Friday, "I would like to extend my sincere wishes for a long and happy life to the princess and the further prosperity of the imperial family."

Meanwhile, the Japanese public expressed a mixed reaction, with some rejoicing at the news while others expressed concern that the financial dispute involving the Komuro family remains unresolved.

Since Japanese imperial family members do not have passports, the princess needs to first create a family registry with Komuro as an ordinary citizen before applying for her passport.

Faced with intense public scrutiny, Komuro in April issued a statement detailing the dispute involving his mother, who allegedly owed her former fiance over 4 million yen in financial support, including the money she spent on Komuro's education.

Shortly after releasing the statement, Komuro offered to clear the alleged debt in an effort to settle the row, even though he and his mother believe the money they received was a gift. Komuro's lawyer said his client intends to talk with the former fiance and is arranging how to facilitate that.

With his long hair tied back in a ponytail, Komuro arrived at Narita airport, near Tokyo, on Monday for the first time in three years since he left for New York in August 2018 to study at Fordham University's law school, from which he graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in May this year.

His return attracted huge media attention, with his new hairdo and demeanor such as keeping silent with the press hitting headlines. A throng of reporters gathered outside his mother's home in Yokohama near the capital where he has since been self-isolating as required by the country's coronavirus quarantine rules.

Komuro and the princess met in 2012 as students at International Christian University in Tokyo and were unofficially engaged in September 2017.

Their wedding was initially scheduled to take place on Nov. 4, 2018, but the agency announced in February the same year the postponement of ritual ceremonies following reports about the financial dispute.

In November last year, Princess Mako expressed her wish to go ahead with the wedding, saying it is a "necessary choice" for the couple.

The following is a chronology of major events related to the planned marriage between Princess Mako and her commoner boyfriend Kei Komuro.

Sept. 3, 2017 -- Imperial Household Agency announces Princess Mako's planned engagement to Kei Komuro.

December -- Weekly magazines report on a money dispute involving Komuro's family.

Feb. 6, 2018 -- Imperial Household Agency announces wedding will be postponed following reports of a money dispute between Komuro's mother and her former fiance.

Aug. 7 -- Komuro leaves for the United States to study at Fordham University's law school in New York.

November -- Prince Fumihito, father of Princess Mako, says Komuro's family should resolve financial issues for wedding to go ahead.

Jan. 22, 2019 -- Komuro says in a statement his family believes financial issues behind dispute have already been resolved.

Nov. 13, 2020 -- Princess Mako says in a statement she and Komuro think marriage is a "necessary choice" for them.

November -- Crown Prince Fumihito says he "approves" of marriage, but reiterates dispute should be solved.

April 8, 2021 -- Komuro releases a new statement detailing the dispute, expressing his resolve to tie the knot with Princess Mako.

April 12 -- Komuro expresses his intention to pay money to his mother's former fiance to settle dispute.

May -- Komuro graduates from Fordham University's law school in New York with a Juris Doctor degree.

July -- Komuro takes the New York state bar examination.

Sept. 27 -- Komuro returns to Japan to prepare for the marriage registration.

Oct. 1 -- Imperial Household Agency announces Princess Mako, Komuro to register marriage, hold a joint press conference on Oct. 26.

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KYODO NEWS - Oct 1, 2021 - 23:35 | Others

About 30 more Afghan evacuees arrived in Japan on Friday after fleeing the Taliban, who regained control of the war-torn country in August, raising the total number of such evacuees to more than 50.

The new arrivals include local workers for the Japan International Cooperation Agency, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said. The latest group, who will be quarantining after COVID-19 testing, landed after 16 Afghans arrived in Japan on Thursday and 10 last month.

Japan assisted their passage by issuing visas and arranging air tickets after they fled overland to neighboring countries last month as the security situation deteriorated in Afghanistan.

The group of 16 was made up of three families and a student studying at a Japanese university. They are now quarantining after coronavirus testing, according to the ministry.

The 10 other Afghans arrived on two flights in mid-September, also with Japan's help.

Related coverage:

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KYODO NEWS - Oct 1, 2021 - 14:38 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

Major Japanese companies formally offered jobs Friday to students set to graduate from universities and other schools in the country next spring, welcoming them in online ceremonies amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Many firms have selected prospective new recruits online to prevent the spread of COVID-19, with some companies only holding final interviews in person. Some students even said they are not used to face-to-face job interviews.

In the morning, brewer Kirin Holdings Co. held an online ceremony for about 60 students who had received job offers from the company.

Ayami Kondo, 25, a graduate student, said before the ceremony, "I'm looking forward to meeting my future colleagues and seniors even on screen. I want to meet them face-to-face as soon as possible after the coronavirus crisis settles down."

The company had been preparing for both online and face-to-face sessions, but decided to go online in order to offer a sense of relief to the students.

A Kirin official in charge of personnel affairs said the company has "a very strong desire" to meet the prospective graduates and will create opportunities for individual in-person meetings in the future.

West Japan Railway Co. did not hold a ceremony Friday, but delivered a congratulatory message online to about 60 prospective new recruits.

Masatoshi Miwa, head of the company's human resources department, said, "Society is changing rapidly due to the impact of the coronavirus. I hope you will provide new perspectives and flexible thinking to bring momentum for growth to the company."

Yuka Takaya, 21, a senior at Doshisha University, said, "I've got a real sense of starting out in work as a member of society. After joining the company, I want to engage in the development of stations and surrounding areas."

According to a survey by Recruit Co., the operator of a job information website, 90.0 percent of university seniors set to graduate next March had secured job offers as of Sept. 1.

The academic and business year begins in April for most educational institutions and corporations in Japan.

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New Delhi:

A video has recently surfaced that show students performing dangerous stunts without any safety net. The students belong to ITI and were travelling by an electric train from Chennai to Tiruvallur.A

The video shows students standing on the footboard or hanging from the train window, scraping the platform surface on a moving train in spite of having vacant seats inside it.

@GMSRailway

This is video just now uploaded in social media . Take action against those idiots #ChennaiTrains #Avadi pic.twitter.com/2XgSNl0yyR a Selvam Saravanan (@SelvamSaravana3) February 21, 2019

A

The boys appear to enjoy the act without paying any heed to the danger they are putting themselves to.A Onlookers recorded the act on their mobiles and uploaded the video on social media from where it has gone viral.

The video has caught the attention of the police who later launched an investigation and found out that the students are from the Ambattur ITI. The identity of the students is being ascertained. A case has been booked against them under Section 336 Act (endangering life or personal safety of others) of IPC. ITI has also suspended the students.

There have been other incidents of college students carrying sickles and performing stunts by scrapping sickles on the platformas surface from the moving train. These incidents have been reported from Pattravakkam and Ambattur areas. The police have been identifying such miscreants based on CCTV footage and warning the students.A A

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New Delhi:

The Digital Communications Commission (DCC), formerly known as Telecom Commission, Thursday deferred the decision on cumulative penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea to its next meeting, according to an official source. The telecom watchdog Trai in October 2016 recommended imposing total penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea for allegedly denying interconnectivity to newcomer Reliance Jio.

The regulator stopped short of recommending cancellation of their telecom licences saying it may lead to significant consumer inconvenience.



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"The decision on Rs 3,050-crore penalty on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea has been deferred for the next meeting," an official source told PTI on Thursday.

The penalty on Airtel and Vodafone works out to about Rs 1,050 crore each, while in case of Idea Cellular it comes to about Rs 950 crore. The Trai's recommendation came on complaint by Reliance Jio that over 75 per cent of calls on its network were failing as incumbents were not releasing sufficient points of interconnection (PoIs).

In August, Reliance Jio had submitted to Trai that it will need 12,727 PoIs for mobile services and 3,068 PoIs for STD call facility before commercial launch of its services. The company launched commercial services on September 5.
New Delhi:

After Uttar Pradesh, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) combination have extended their Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand for the Lok Sabha Election 2019. Of the total 29 seats of Madhya Pradesh, the SP will contest only on three seats -- Balaghat, Tikamgarh, Khujarao -- while the rest (26) will be contested by the BSP.

Similarly, in Uttarakhand, the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP will contest only on one seat -- Garwahal (Pauri), while the rest four seats would be contested by the BSP. In Uttar Pradesh, the BSP, led by Mayawati, is contesting on 38 seats and the SP on 37 seats, while five seats are left for other parties, including two- Amethi and Raebareli -- for the Congress. While announcing the alliance last month, both parties had said they will contest 38 seats each.

Uttar Pradesh accounts for 80 Lok Sabha seats. Uttarakhand has traditionally been a BJP bastion, with the saffron party winning all five seats in the 2014 general elections.

The voter base in Madhya Pradesh is traditionally inclined to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had won 27 seats out of 29 in the previous Lok Sabha elections. The remaining were won by the Congress party  Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Addressing party workers in Lucknow, Mulayam Singh Yadav had earlier expressed concerns over the alliance and the seat allocation. On what basis have they divided seats? Our party was very strong. We have formed the government on our own. Have been defence minister in the past as well. We are not doing politics, only placing the truth in the open," the party patriarch said.

He said that he had the power to change" any ticket allocation which had been made by his son, party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation in the 53rd edition of his monthly radio show Mann ki Baat at 11 am on Sunday. The years second edition of PM Modis Mann ki Baat will be broadcast on All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan. The monthly radio show, where the prime minister shares his thoughts can also be heard live on the official Narendra Modi App. The programme will also be live-streamed on the Youtube channels of the Prime Ministers Office, AIR and DD News. This will be the prime ministers first Mann ki Baat after the dastardly Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed by the Jaish-e-Mohammed.

In a tweet earlier in the month, Modi had urged people to share their ideas and suggestions on the Narendra Modi App and MyGov Open Forum. People can also dial the toll-free number 1800-11-7800 and record their message for the Prime Minister in either Hindi or English. Some of the recorded messages may become part of the broadcast. People can also give a missed call on 1922 and follow the link received in SMS to directly give their suggestions to the Prime Minister.

In the last edition of Mann Ki Baat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hailed the contribution of the Election Commission of India for continuously working towards strengthening the democracy. He had also urged the youth of the country who have attained the age of 18 to register themselves as voters.

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Lucknow:

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday got emotional while answering a question on Pulwama terror attack that left 40 CRPF jawans dead in Jammu and Kashmir. A While speaking about the attack, CM Yogi said terrorism cannot be tolerated and must be eliminated soon. The Chief Minister also said that it should be noted that our brave soldiers eliminated the mastermind within 48 hours.

aThe Modi government is taking steps to eliminate terrorisma Time has come to take revenge. The way a adeepaka (lamp) glows brightly before it is blown out, similarly Pakistan is close to being wiped out,a Yogi said while responding to a question on the recent attack in Jammu & Kashmir during a program titled aYuvaon ke Mann ki Baat'.

While answering the question, he got emotional and was seen wiping his tears. He also reiterated that Modi government is committed to building a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

A "You take it from me ... Narendra Modi is the name of turning impossible into possible," he said amid cheers from the crowd.

He also pointed out how people are now able to have adarshana of the Akshyavat at a fort near the Sangam in Prayagraj after 450 years. "When this can happen, how can the Ram temple construction be called impossible?" he said with a chuckle.

Earlier, CM Yogi had blamed the Congress' aappeasement policiesa for the agrowth of terrorisma in the country and asserted that the BJP will never compromise the country's security. "The previous Congress government's had sowed the seeds of appeasement which led to the growth of terrorism in the country," he said.

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New Delhi:

US President Donald Trump on Friday described the current situation between India and Pakistan as "very, very bad" and said that his administration was in contact with both sides and hoped hostilities would soon end in the Valley. "Right now, between Pakistan and India, there is a very, very bad situation. A very dangerous situation. We would like to see it (hostilities) stop. A lot of people were just killed. We want to see it just stop. We are very much involved in that (process)," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office.

The US president was responding to questions on last week's terrorist attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. At least 42 CRPF personnel were killed in one of the deadliest terror attacks when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 80 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded. More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir.



ALSO READ | Pakistan takes control of Jaish-e-Mohammed's headquarters in Bahawalpur: Reports

"India is looking at something very strong. India just lost almost 50 people in the attack. I can understand that too," Trump said, adding that his administration was talking to authorities in both countries.

"We're talking. A lot of people are. It's going to be a very, very delicate balance. There is a lot of problems between India and Pakistan because of what just happened," he said.

The president said the US has improved ties with Pakistan and works are on for meetings with Pakistan leaders and officials.

"I stopped paying Pakistan the USD 1.3-billion that we used to pay them. In the meantime, we may set up some meetings with Pakistan. Pakistan was taking very strong advantage of the United States under other presidents. We were paying Pakistan USD 1.3 billion a year. I ended that payment, because they were not helping us in the way they should have," Trump said.

However, United States' relation with Pakistan has developed in the last few months, he said.

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New Delhi:

Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has warned its country that if Pakistan launches a nuclear bomb on India, the neighbouring country could "finish us by attacking with 20 atom bombs", according to Karachi-based newspaper Dawn.

Addressing a press conference in the UAE on Friday, Musharraf said: "Indian and Pakistan relations have again reached a dangerous level. There will be no nuclear attack. If we would attack India with one atomic bomb, then the neighbouring country could finish us by attacking with 20 bombs. Then the only solution is that we should first attack them with 50 atom bombs so that they cannot hit us with 20 bombs. Are you ready to first launch an attack with 50 bombs?"

Musharrafs statement came days after 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a suicide attack by a terrorist of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

The former Pakistan dictator also claimed that Israel wanted to establish ties with Pakistan. The chief of All-Pakistan Muslim League (APML), who is leaving in self-exile in the UAE, said he was ready to return to Pakistan as he sees the political environment in his country favourable.

"In my opinion, the political environment is good and favourable. Half of the ministers are mine. Law minister and the attorney general were my lawyers," said Musharraf.

Musharraf also took pride that half of the ministers in the current government were a part of his cabinet. The law minister is my own and the attorney general is my own lawyer, he added. He, however, dismissed reports of critical illness and said. An impression is being given that I am suffering with an illness owing to which I cannot move. I have no such issue.

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highlights India is looking at something very strong, said US President.

Trump said that US administration was in contact with both sides.

US has improved ties with Pakistan in the last few months.

Washington:

US President Donald Trump has said that the current situation between India and Pakistan is avery, very bada after banned terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber attacked CRPF jawans in Pulwama, killing 40 soldiers and injuring several others. aThereas a terrible thing going on right now between Pakistan and India. It's a very very bad situation and it is a dangerous situation between the two countries,a Trump was quoted as saying by ANI.A A

The US President said that his administration was in contact with both sides and hoped hostilities would soon end in the Valley. "We want to see it just stop. We are very much involved in that (process)," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office.

#WATCH US President Donald Trump says "Thereas a terrible thing going on right now between Pakistan and India. It's a very very bad situation and it is a dangerous situation between the two countries. We would like to see it stop. Lot of people were just killed." #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/oZAi4pRVsU a ANI (@ANI) February 23, 2019

"India is looking at something very strong. India just lost almost 50 people in the attack.A I can understand that too," Trump said when asked to respond on terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmiras Pulwama district. Pakistan-based banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for the attack.

"We're talking. A lot of people are. It's going to be a very, very delicate balance. There is a lot of problems between India and Pakistan because of what just happened," he said.

US Pres: India is looking at something very strong. India just lost almost 50 people. A lot of people are talking. But it's a very very delicate balance going on. Right now there's a lot of problem b/w India&Pakistan because of what just happened in Kashmir. It's very dangerous. https://t.co/03PWXSnSlW a ANI (@ANI) February 23, 2019

The President said the US has improved ties with Pakistan and works are on for meetings with Pakistan leaders and officials.

"I stopped paying Pakistan the USD 1.3-billion that we used to pay them. In the meantime, we may set up some meetings with Pakistan. Pakistan was taking very strong advantage of the United States under other presidents. We were paying Pakistan USD 1.3 billion a year. I ended that payment, because they were not helping us in the way they should have," Trump said.

He said the United States' relation with Pakistan has developed in the last few months.

With Agency Inputs

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New Delhi:

With 2019 Lok Sabha Elections just a few months away, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has intensified its poll campaigns across India. To kick-start the party's poll campaign in Rajasthan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reached the Tonk city, where he addressed the 'Vijay Sankalp rally'. Security has been stepped up at Tonk and at Jaipur airport following certain input from the central agencies. This is Modi's first visit to the state after BJP's defeat in the recently concluded Assembly Elections 2018. On December 11, the Congress thrashed the Vasundha Raje-led BJP government with wins in 100 seats out of the total 200 Assembly constituencies in Rajasthan.

During his visit to Rajasthan, the prime minister has laid the foundation stone of the country's longest LPG pipeline that will cater to growing demand for cooking gas to a large chunk of the population. State-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is laying 1,987-kilometre LPG pipeline from Gujarat coast to Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh via Ahmedabad (in Gujarat), Ujjain, Bhopal (in Madhya Pradesh), Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi and Lucknow (in Uttar Pradesh).

READ | 'Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai': PM gives tagline to take on opponents in 2019 Lok Sabha polls

The line carries 2.5 million tonnes of LPG annually. GAIL also has a 623-km Vizag-Secunderabad pipeline. IOC also has a 274-km pipeline from Panipat in Haryana to Jalandhar. Tonk-Sawai Madhopur is one of the 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Rajasthan, which was created in 2008 as a part of the implementation of delimitation of parliamentary constituencies.

Here are the Highlights from PM Modi's address in Rajasthan's Tonk:

15:12 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The country is confident today and this has been possible only through the many campaigns that have been introduced for the betterment of the country. We have the courage and the power to fight our enemies today: Narendra Modi in Tonk.

15:12 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Our campaign 'beti bachao beti padhao' saw positive results in Rajasthan: PM Narendra Modi.

16:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In It is the result of the government you had chosen 5 years back, that the economically backward classes have got 10 per cent reservation: PM Modi at BJP's Vijay Sankalp rally.

15:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In No one would have ever thought that bank accounts would be opened for the poor, but Modi government did so for the betterment of the country, says the prime minister.

15:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The past governments had been planning to provide houses and accommodation to the poor, but their plans were not implemented. Our government fulfilled that dream of the country: PM Modi.

15:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Did anyone ever think that a government would provide gas connections to those in need?: Modi in Rajasthan's Tonk.

15:09 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Our government does what it promises, we do not step back, says the PM.

15:09 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Their government ruled the country for so many years, yet they still need time to do something for the country: PM Modi.

15:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In There are people in the country who reside in India but speak for Pakistan. They are the ones who visit Pakistan and ask them to remove Modi: The Prime Minister in Rajasthan.

15:07 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Today on this event, I would also like to express gratefulness to those who have come forward to provide financial aid to the families of those martyred in the Pulwama terror attack: PM Narendra Modi.

15:06 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In People of Kashmir are struggling due to growing terrorism in the Valley. The previous governments did not do anything for them in the past, says the prime minister.

15:06 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In No person from my country will support those raising anti-national slogans, or those who speak against the country: Modi.

15:06 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Last year after the Amarnath pilgrims came under the attack of terrorists, the Muslims from Jammu and Kashmir came forward and provided help, donated blood, says Modi.

15:05 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Our fight is against the enemies of humanity, it is for the Kashmiris, not against Kashmiris: Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

15:05 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In We will not tolerate this pain silently. Those responsible for the Pulwama terror attack will be responded in their own tone: Modi in Rajasthan.

15:04 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Following the Pulwama terror attack, we have taken a number of decisions that are working against Pakistan. Their nation is in panicking situation: PM Modi.

15:04 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Peace cannot prevail in the country unless the factory of terrorists is neutralised, says the prime minister.

15:04 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In I would like to ask the people of Rajasthan, should such enemies of humanity be responded in their tone or not?: PM Modi

15:03 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In I am proud of the security forces who gave a befitting response to those responsible for the Pulwama terror attack, says the prime minister.

15:03 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In At the onset, I would like to remember those martyred in the Pulwama terror attack: Modi in Rajasthan's Tonk.
New Delhi:

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday accused Pakistan for the Pulwama terror attack. Owaisi said the JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar was not a "Jaish-e-Mohammed" (The Prophet), but a "Jaish-e-Shaitan" (The Devil). "This attack has links to Pakistan. It was done as per plan of Pakistan government, Pakistan Army and ISI. I would like to tell the outfit that killed our 40 men and claimed its responsibility - you are not Jaish-e-Mohammed, you are Jaish-e-Shayateen, Owaisi said.



A soldier of Mohammed does not kill a person, he is merciful towards humanity. You are Jaish-e-Shayateen, Jaish-e-Iblis. Masood Azhar, you are not a Maulana, you are a disciple of the devil. It is not Laskhar-e-Taiba, it is Lashkar-e-Shayateen, he said.



Asking Pakistan Prime Minister to stop pleading innocence, Owaisi said, We would like to tell Pakistan PM don't give that message to India which you want to, by sitting before a TV camera. You started this, it wasn't the first attack. There was Pathankot, Uri and now Pulwama. We would like to tell Pakistan Prime Minister to drop his mask of innocence.



ALSO READ | Panic grips Kashmir Valley as BSF, ITBP to replace CRPF, locals stock up on essential items



Earlier, PM Imran Khan accused New Delhi of blaming Islamabad without any evidence. In case India wants, we are ready to join any kind of investigation in Pulwama terror attack. Pakistan is the worst victim of terrorism. If military power didn't work till date in Kashmir, how will it work in the future, he said. However, he also said that if India wants a war, Pakistan will have no option but to retaliate, but what will war give us.



At least 42 CRPF personnel were killed in one of the deadliest terror attacks when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 80 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded. More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir.

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Beijing:

China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Friday sought to downplay the scathing statement issued by the powerful organ of the world body naming Jaish-e-Muhammad in the Pulwama terror attack, saying the mention of the Pakistan-based outfit was only in "general terms" and does not represent a judgement.

Forty Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed in a suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14, sparking outrage in the country.

The powerful UN Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday strongly condemned the "heinous and cowardly" terror attack.

"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, which left 40 Indian paramilitary forces dead and dozens wounded on February 14, 2019, for which Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility," it said in a statement.

Asked about the statement highlighting the role of JeM claiming the responsibility of the Pulwama attack, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters that Beijing was closely following the developments related to the terror incident.

"Yesterday, the UN Security Council issued a press statement that mentioned that a particular organisation but only in general terms. It does not represent a judgment on the attack," Geng said.

His remarks were seen as an attempt by China, without whose endorsement the UNSC statement could not have been released, aimed at placating its close ally Pakistan and play down the indictment of the JeM.

China has been repeatedly blocking India and several other countries' efforts to bring about a global ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar in the UN's anti-terror 1267 committee.

While China's endorsement of the UNSC statement was reflection of wariness on the part of Beijing to repeatedly defend JeM in the UN body, which casts a shadow on its relations with India, observers say it is to be seen what stand Beijing would take when France moves its resolution seeking to list Azhar as a global terrorist in the UN.

France, also member of the permanent five of the UNSC, has officially announced that it would move a resolution soon in the 1267 committee seeking Azhar's listing.

Since 2016, China has consistently blocked moves first by India and later by the US, the UK and France to designate Azhar as a global terrorist by putting repeated technical holds.

In his response on Friday Geng said that "China also noted that the Pakistani government showed readiness to cooperate with India on the investigation and that it is also ready to resolve differences with India through dialogue".

"China hopes all parties will work to find the truth about this attack. We hope Pakistan and India will engage in dialogue to jointly safeguard regional peace and stability," he said.

The UN statement also underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these "reprehensible acts of terrorism" accountable and bring them to justice".

The UN condemnation came a day after Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met top UN leaders including with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to brief them about the escalating tensions in the region in the wake of the Pulwama attack.

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New Delhi:

US Democrats on Friday rolled out their measure aimed at blocking President Donald Trump from circumventing Congress to seize federal dollars for construction of his controversial southern border wall. "The chamber will vote next Tuesday on the so-called disapproval resolution to terminate the national emergency that Trump declared last week, an exceptional step that sparked fierce political and legal battles, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The legislation is expected to clear the Democrat-held House of Representatives, then head to the Senate where it is guaranteed a vote under the rules. Its fate, however, is anything but assured in the upper chamber, which is controlled by Trump's Republicans.



ALSO READ | Pakistan takes control of Jaish-e-Mohammed's headquarters in Bahawalpur: Reports



Earlier, a coalition of 16 states in the United States led by California sued President Donald Trumps administration over his decision to declare a national emergency to obtain funds for building a wall along the US-Mexico border. The lawsuit filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California came just days after Trump invoked emergency powers on Friday.



Trump had invoked emergency powers after the Congress declined to fulfill his request for $5.7 billion to help build the wall that was his signature 2016 campaign promise. The declaration of emergency would empower him to fund the construction of a massive wall along the US-Mexico border to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country and curb drug smuggling. The move would help Trump get $5.6 billion for the construction of the wall that, he has asserted, is essential for national security.

"Will I veto it? 100 per cent," Trump said, expressing confidence that Congress would not be able to override his objection.

Overriding a presidential veto requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers, meaning substantial numbers of Republicans would have to break with Trump in order for his emergency declaration to be blocked.

Pelosi meanwhile hammered away at Trump's "lawless" declaration, saying it had no valid rationale.



ALSO READ | Pakistan Army General Qamar Bajwa visits LoC, asks troops to be ready

"There is no evidence to support the president's false claim of a crisis on the border," Pelosi told a conference call Friday from Laredo, Texas, where she and fellow lawmakers were visiting a bridge connecting the US and Mexico.

Trump announced the emergency last week in order to bypass Congress, which did not approve the USD 5.7 billion he wanted for his wall, a longstanding promise from his 2016 presidential campaign.

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New Delhi:

Railway Jobs: Over 1.3 lakh vacancies, check application details here Indian Railways is hiring gain. The Railway Recruitment Board has released the advertisement for recruitment of personnel in Group D posts on February 23 at the Employment newspaper.

Interested candidates can check the same notification on the official RRB website on February 28.

RRB NTPC recruitment 2019: Recruitment Process

Prospective candidates will have to take a computer-based exam followed by physical endurance test, physical measurement test and document verification.

The posts included in the Group D category are Junior Clerk cum Typist, Accounts Clerk cum Typist, Trains Clerk, Commercial cum Ticket Clerk, Traffic Assistant, Goods Guard, Senior Commercial cum Ticket Clerk, Senior Clerk cum Typist, Junior Account Assistant cum Typist, Commercial Apprentice, Station Master etc, mentioned an official release by Ministry of Railways.

RRB NTPC recruitment 2019: Vacancy details

Total vacancies: 1,30,000

Level-1 posts: 1,00,000

Para-medical staff: 30,000

RRB NTPC recruitment: Important dates

Commencement of online registration (NTPC): February 28

Commencement of online registration for para-medical staff: March 4

The candidates for the first time will get the benefits of the governments newly introduced Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) reservation in railway jobs.

Candidates should take note that the applications for all post will be accepted online onlyThe vacancies in the above categories, except Level-1, will be available on Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) websites, after the opening of online registration for the respective category. The vacancies of Level-1 will be available on the website of Railway Recruitment Cell (RRC) the release mentioned.

RB NTPC recruitment 2019: Last year statistics

Last year, the Ministry of Railway advertised for openings in over 1.2 lakh vacant posts in Group C, Group D. Over 2.5 crore candidates applied for the posts.

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New Delhi:

A US-backed force pushing to take the Islamic State group's last speck of territory in eastern Syria on Sunday extradited 280 Iraqi jihadists, Iraq authorities said. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have detained "a large number" of ISIS fighters "of multiple nationalities, including more than 500 Iraqis", the security media office said in a statement. "So far 280 (Iraqis) have been delivered," it added. Iraqi security forces on Thursday received the first batch of 130 Iraqi IS members, a military spokesman said, although a spokesman for the US-backed force denied the claims.

The transfers were set to "continue until they are completed", the statement added. Iraqi security forces had received a list of names to be checked against a database in coordination with the judiciary, which has issued warrants against jihadists.

Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi said at his weekly press conference Tuesday that the country was monitoring the situation in eastern Syria with caution, as security forces fear IS remnants could sneak across the nearby Iraqi border.



ALSO READ | Attempt to hijack Dubai-bound plane in Bangladesh, suspect gunned down by commandos

Iraq declared victory against IS in December 2017 after ousting the jihadists from the swathes of Iraq they took in 2014. Backed by air strikes from a US-led coalition, the SDF have trapped the jihadists in less than half a square kilometre (a fifth of a square mile) in a hamlet in the Syrian desert.



Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that the US is keeping about 200 US troops as part of the planned multinational force that would maintain a safe zone in north-eastern Syria. This force would be in addition to the 200 troops the US is planning to maintain after the withdrawal at its base in at-Tanf, Syria, the official said. "I'm not reversing course," Trump told reporters responding to a question on his decision on keeping some 200 US troops in Syria as against his previous decision on full withdrawal of more than 2,500 troops.



"I have done something that nobody else has been able to do. In another short period of time, like hours, you'll be hearing about the caliphate. It'll 100 per cent defeated. Nobody's been able to say that," Trump said.

"That doesn't mean there aren't some very bad people walking around and strapping on bombs and all of these things. But we've done a job that nobody else has been able to do," he said.

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Pune:

In another incident of assault on Kashmiris after the Pulwama terror attack, a 24-year-old journalist from the northern state was beaten up in Pune, but local police said it was an incident of road rage. The police on Friday said the journalist was thrashed by two men on Thursday night during a squabble at a traffic signal.

Jibran Nazir, who works with a newspaper in Pune, said the assailants told him that they would "send him back to Kashmir" but added that it was not an "organised" attack.

The assailants later apologised to him at the police station, he said. A police official said it was an incident of road rage and not linked with the Pulwama attack.

The incident came a day after students from Kashmir studying in a college in Yavatmal were on Wednesday attacked, allegedly by members of Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena.

Nazir said he was attacked on Tilak Road around 10.45 pm when he was returning home on a motorbike. As he stopped at a traffic signal, two men on a motorbike behind him started honking, asking him to move, which led to a heated exchange.

Noticing that his motorbike had a Himachal Pradesh (HP) registration number, the duo said they would pack him off to Himachal Pradesh.

When Nazir corrected them, saying he was a journalist hailing from Jammu and Kashmir, the duo beat him up, saying "we will send you back to Kashmir, do your journalism there,' he claimed.

They snatched his mobile phone, damaged his bike and fled. After Nazir noted down their bike number and approached the Swargate police station, police located the assailants, in their early 20s, who came to the police station with their parents and apologised to him.

Nazir said he decided not to pursue the matter further and withdrew his police complaint.

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New Delhi:

The 63-year-old senior BJP leader and Goa Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, was admitted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) late Saturday night. He is suffering from a pancreatic ailment since the last one year and recuperating at his private residence at Dona Paula. The condition of ailing Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar is stable and he is under observation of doctors at a hospital here, an official in the chief minister's office (CMO) said on Sunday.

Parrikar, who met state town and country planning minister Vijai Sardesai in the evening to discuss politics and administration, was shifted to GMCH, almost four km from his residence, around 10 pm."The chief minister was under observation during the night. He is stable. Doctors will decide when he will be discharged from GMCH," the CMO official said.

The CMO in a statement released here on Saturday said Parrikar was taken to GMCH for upper GI endoscopy (gastrointestinal examination). "His health condition continues to be stable," it said, adding he would be kept under observation for around 48 hours.



Health minister Vishwajit Rane had gone to GMCH late Saturday night to enquire about Parrikar's health condition. He later said the chief minister was kept in an isolated ward and that his condition was stable and he was doing well.



Parrikar had fallen ill on February 14, 2018 and was shifted to GMCH, from where he was taken to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai the next day.



The chief minister returned to Goa on February 20, 2018 to present the state budget. He left for the US for treatment on March 3, 2018 and returned on June 14, 2018. He then attended monsoon session of the Assembly from July 19 to August 3, and left for the US again on August 10 for a second round of check-up.



He returned to Goa on August 22, 2018 and was later shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at New Delhi on September 15. After almost a month-long treatment, he returned to Goa on October 14, 2018.



Parrikar stunned everyone when he resumed his office on January 2, 2019 after a gap of two-and-a-half months. On January 27, he attended the inauguration of third bridge on the Mandovi river here along with Union minister Nitin Gadkari. He also attended the Budget session on January 29 and presented the state budget next day.

On the last day of the session on January 31, he was taken for treatment to AIIMS in Delhi and he returned to Goa on February 5. Parrikar also addressed Atal Booth Karyakarta Sammelan on February 9 in the presence of BJP chief Amit Shah.

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New Delhi:

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday offered prayers at the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. The Gandhi scion trekked about 10 kilometres up a steep stairway to reach the presiding deity at the ancient temple. Gandhi who was accompanied by senior party leaders Oommen Chandy, T Subbarami Reddy, JD Seelam and his teenage nephew Raihan, took about two hours to reach the sacred hills.

On his arrival at the temple main entrance, the Congress chief was accorded a warm welcome by the hill temple management. After paying obeisance to the presiding deity of Lord Venkateswara, Gandhi made a brief halt at the heavily guarded Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam guest house situated atop the hill before proceeding to the temple. a temple official was quoted by PTI as saying.

Later in the day, while visiting the holy shrine in Tirupati Gandhi was offered sacred silk cloth, prasadam, and a holy memento, the temple official said. He was in the temple for about 20 minutes. Tight security arrangements were put in place on the hills and all through the route leading to the hill shrine.

Congress President @RahulGandhi on a Padyatra to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam during his visit to Andhra Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/RVZZRB4Dgv a Congress (@INCIndia) February 22, 2019

Following his visit to the hilltop shrine in Tirupati, Gandhi left for Sri Venkateswara University Stadium to address a rally where he spoke on the long-awaited Special Category Status for the bifurcated Andhra Pradesh including other important factors.

"You do not have to worry about Special Status for AP, it is our commitment. Today I visited the holiest shrine in the state. It was an honour for me to be given the love and affection by the people of Andhra," the Congress president was quoted as saying.

"The moment the Congress Party comes to power in 2019, it is our commitment to the people of Andhra Pradesh, the first thing we will do is give you special status," Gandhi added.

This was Gandhi's first visit to the holly hills at Tirupati after he became the Congress president in December 2017.A As Lok Sabha Election 2019 is just a few months away, a resurgent Congress seeks to oust the Narendra Modi-led BJP at the Centre and form the government with support from its regional allies.
New Delhi:

In an unusual move, the Delhi government has set the cut-off marks higher for the Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates than that for the general category aspirants in one of its recruitment exams conducted to appoint science teachers in schools. While the qualifying marks for the general category candidates is set at 80.96, the SC candidates will have to score 85.45 to make it through. The cut-off for the OBC category (73.45) is a few marks below than that for the general category and is 12 less than the SC cut-off. The lowest cut-off, 69.31 marks, is for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.

The Delhi Directorate of Education had in September conducted the Delhi Government Teacher Recruitment Exam to fill 222 vacant posts for science teachers in various government school across the national capital. Of the 222 vacant posts, 31 seats are reserved for the SC category candidates.

The qualification mark for general category candidates in such examinations is usually higher than that for the other category candidates such as SC, ST and OBC. However, in some of the government examination such as the Rajasthan Public Service Commission, the cut-off marks for general category candidates is lower than the cut-off set for the backward class candidates.

In 2013, the Rajasthan Public Service Commission set the OBC cut-off at the highest level in the Rajasthan Civil Services exam or the RAS exam.

About the Delhi Directorate of Education:

Delhi Directorate of Education (Del E) is the department under the education ministry of Delhi Government that manages the city's public school system. Directorate of Education divides Delhi region into 12 districts and 28 zones with the hierarchy from district to zones. Each district consists of one or more zones with District Education Officer as the head of education, similarly, each zone has Zonal Education Officer to command the education department of the zonal level.
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to take a holy dip in the Ganga at the Kumbh Mela today He will launch the Kisan Samman Scheme in Prayagraj. He will also visit Gorakhpur. Union minister Smriti Irani will visit Gandhi turf Amethi today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will share his thoughts with the people in India and abroad in his Mann Ki Baat programme. Indis will play Australia in its first T20I in Visakhapatnam today. It is Sridevi's first death anniversary today.

22:44 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Section 144 Imposed in District Poonch after inputs of possible protest and profession in the area which can disturb & create law and order situation.

20:14 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In DIG Tihar Prison Shailendra Parihar on reports of mishap with inmate Shabir Shah(in file pic), separatist arrested in money laundering case: He is absolutely "fit & fine". Other inmates from J&K & Pakistan also fine. Prison authorities appeals all to be cautious against fake news.

14:00 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Amit Shah in Jammu: It's BJP's resolve that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India & nobody can seize it from us.

12:41 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In

Lt Gen PS Rajeshwar, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff: The National War Memorial (in Delhi to be inaugurated by PM tomorrow) will be the place for wreath laying for all designated events in future.



12:41 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Himachal Pradesh: Over 70 tourists including 3 foreign nationals stuck at different locations between Kibber to Kaza on NH 5 after snow avalanches and road blockage on the route. Road clearing operations underway.

11:59 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The car of Westbengal BJP president has been attacked today, says state party unit.

11:59 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam pay tribute to J Jayalalithaa on her birth anniversary in Chennai.



Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami

and Deputy CM O. Panneerselvam pay tribute to J #Jayalalithaa on her birth anniversary pic.twitter.com/ZMRJFM34GQ

 ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2019



11:42 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan on 2 children being abducted from MP's Chitrakoot and later found dead in UP: I pay my homage to the two children. It was an unfortunate incident. We had hoped that the government and administration would take the matter seriously and rescue the children. This incident shook me.

11:40 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Ashish Patel, Apna Dal President: We have been informing BJP national leadership about attitude of UP BJP but no heed paid to our concerns. Our party will meet on February 28 and then decide our future strategy. All options are open for us.

10:57 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PC Sharma,Madhya Pradesh Minister on two children abducted and found dead: Its an unfortunate incident. The bodies were found in Uttar Pradesh and they were abducted from MP-UP border, such elements have been operating in UP. I am sure a joint op will help nab culprits.

09:31 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Ranga Reddy(Telangana): Man commits suicide after being allegedly cheated by relatives to sell his house for cheap. The deceased Jagannadham mentioned in the suicide note that he had received an Income Tax notice with a Rs.15 lakh penalty. Police have registered a case.



Ranga Reddy(Telangana): Man commits suicide after being allegedly cheated by relatives to sell his house for cheap. The deceased Jagannadham mentioned in the suicide note that he had received an Income Tax notice with a Rs.15 lakh penalty. Police have registered a case. pic.twitter.com/T1E9zrKbjZ

 ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2019



09:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Hyderabad: Drunk man kills 5-month pregnant wife after an argument. Case registered against the accused Vijay Kumar and further Police probe is underway.

09:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Bihar: Purshottam Gupta, owner of Pal Sweets on Frazer road in Patna shot dead by bike borne assailants late last night.Police begin investigation.

09:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Two children who were abducted from a school bus in Madhya Pradesh's Chitrakoot on February 12, found dead in a river in Uttar Pradesh's Banda. Post mortem being conducted.

09:04 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Tikamgarh(MP): A farmer tied his buffalo to the vehicle of Tehsildar Sunil Verma alleging the officer demanded a bribe of Rs,100,000 from him in a land mutation case. SDM Vandana Rajput says 'Have asked the farmer to formally lodge a complaint and we will investigate the matter'



Tikamgarh(MP): A farmer tied his buffalo to the vehicle of Tehsildar Sunil Verma alleging the officer demanded a bribe of Rs,100,000 from him in a land mutation case. SDM Vandana Rajput says 'Have asked the farmer to formally lodge a complaint and we will investigate the matter' pic.twitter.com/TmOPaZzBm6

 ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2019



09:03 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Ramesh Kumar Vankwani an MP from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was part of a foreign delegation which was invited to attend the Kumbh Mela by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

07:04 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Karnataka: Fire which had broken out in Bandipur Tiger Reserve And National Park in the area near Chamarajanagar and Mysuru border yesterday, continues to rage.



06:45 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Sachin Tendulkar flagged off New Delhi Marathon at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, this morning.



Sachin Tendulkar flagged off New Delhi Marathon at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, this morning. pic.twitter.com/NXngDh5p7G

 ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2019



06:44 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Authorities say a Boeing 767 cargo jetliner heading to Houston with three people aboard has crashed into a bay just east of the city.

06:44 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro stands firm despite further military defections, violence.

06:42 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In

3009 UP/13010 DN Doon Express rammed into a platform while shunting back at Dehradun railway station on 23 Feb. No injuries reported. Station Superintendent says "The shunter says he couldn't apply breaks. There was no passenger on the train. Action will be taken."















Uttarakhand: 13009 UP/13010 DN Doon Express rammed into a platform while shunting back at Dehradun railway station on 23 Feb. No injuries reported. Station Superintendent says "The shunter says he couldn't apply breaks. There was no passenger on the train. Action will be taken." pic.twitter.com/jgV567lYm4

 ANI (@ANI) February 23, 2019



For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Amritsar: Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Rawat's big statement has surfaced amidst the rebellious fever of Captain Amarinder Singh. Harish Rawat has said that the captain should not be a helper of the anti-farmer BJP. Rawat further said that it is time to stand with Sonia Gandhi. Harish Rawat claimed that Congress made Amarinder Singh CM twice and respected him a lot. Rawat further said that an attempt was also made to persuade Amarinder by calling twice.

Harish Rawat said the Captain's recent statements must have been influenced by someone. Harish Rawat said there is no reality that Congress has insulted Amarinder Singh. In fact, yesterday Amarinder Singh made it clear that he would not go to the BJP but would not remain in the Congress, because he could not tolerate the insult he had suffered. Rawat further said that the things that Captain Amarinder Singh has said should be considered back.

On the other hand, there is speculation that Amarinder Singh may form his own party. According to sources, Amarinder Singh will form a new party within the next 15 days. About a dozen Congress leaders are also in touch with him. Sources also said that the captain's new party will be named Punjab Vikas Party and its main objective will be to defeat Sidhu.

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Bahrain: Foreign Minister Yair Lapid Thursday officially inaugurated Israels embassy in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, a year after the two countries agreed to normalize diplomatic ties. As he arrived in Manama on Thursday, Lapid became the highest Israeli official to visit Bahrain, as per reports.

The visit is a Landmark in the rapid development of the bilateral relations, Zayani told a press conference. The two Ministers signed several cooperation agreements on environmental protection, sports, innovation, and development of water resources.

Also on Thursday, a Gulf Air Airbus A320 arrived at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, which was the first direct commercial flight between Bahrain and Israel. Later in the day, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa received Lapid at the Sakhir Palace, said a statement quoted by the Bahrain News Agency. The flight by Bahrain's national carrier departed from Manama about an hour after Lapid landed.

The flight between Manama and Tel Aviv would be operated twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays, according to a statement issued by the Israeli Transportation Ministry. The trip from Bahrain to Israel will take two hours and 50 minutes, and two hours and 35 minutes for the return trip.

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U.S. males' life expectancy drops by 2.2 years largely due to COVID-19: research

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Former UK police officer handed life sentence for murder
Malaysian regulators have given conditional approval for a COVID-19 vaccine made by China's Sinovac to be used on young people aged between 12 and 17, its health ministry said on Friday. Teenagers younger than 18 began receiving COVID-19 doses last month, after vaccinations of more than 80 percent of adults were completed in one of Southeast Asia's fastest vaccine rollouts that has covered 62 percent of a population of 32 million.

In a statement, the health ministry of Malaysia said its drugs regulator advised priority for Sinovac's product among teenagers without co-morbidities or allergy problems, or otherwise deemed unsuitable for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. In July, Malaysia said it would stop giving the Sinovac shot when supplies ran out, as it had enough of other vaccines for the national campaign.

Meanwhile, Malaysia has continued to receive additional shipments, however. This week, the foreign ministry said China had agreed to donate a million doses of the Sinovac vaccine, following a donation of 500,000 in July.

Mizoram Corona latest updates 30 September: 1741 Reported in last 24 Hours

Joe Biden signs last-minute stopgap funding bill, averting government shutdown

Russia, US hold second round of bilateral strategic stability dialogue
Fatehpur: Fatehpur police have arrested a Nepalese cleric from Ghazipur police station in Uttar Pradesh. The maulvi had been living in India for the past 15 years with fake identities and papers. He is also accused of inciting Muslim youths and converting Hindu girls. The mosque members themselves had complained against him. Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar said that a suspected citizen of Nepal had been living in Mewati Mohalla police station Ghazipur district Fatehpur for many years. While here, he had got a voter ID, Aadhar card, PAN card and a passport in 2016.

Rajesh Kumar said a joint team investigated it and a case has since been registered under related sections. Police are now investigating the matter. Further action will be taken. In police interrogation, Maulana said that he is a resident of Mahotri district of Nepal who came to Fatehpur in 2001 and stayed there for 5 years. He then reached Ghazipur and came in contact with the people of the big mosque there. Members made it a cleric in 2006 by giving it the responsibility of a big mosque. Here he used to offer prayers as well as training to the children. But for two years he had also started sweeping. The mosque members saw his actions, removed him from the post of the imam and a complaint was lodged against him on September 24.

Fatehpur Masjid Committee member Majid Khan says maulana used to train Muslim youth wrongly. He says Feroz astray from somewhere and came here. It was then kept in the mosque. Here he became a cleric and taught the children. 14-15 years have passed. But he was expelled from the mosque two years ago. Because he used to give wrong training to children. He used to say, 'You bring foreign girls, you will get money and you will enjoy it. The maulvi used to say such provocative things.'

Majid Khan says that once a Muslim youth had brought a Brahmin girl away, then Firoz got her converted and married. A complaint was given to the police in this regard. But then no action was taken. According to Majid, all he wants is to remove Firoz so that the unity of the village is not damaged. He says that this man describes himself as a Nepali, but he may be from Bangladesh or maybe from Rohingya.

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Along with Honda Hness CB350, Honda has also launched the CB350RS. It is also a contemporary style bike with a range of advanced features making it one of the bikes to watch along with Hness CB350. This is also the latest addition to the exceptional CB series which has been around for a long time. This bike aims to provide the riders with a convenient and stylish riding experience.

Overall, CB350RS is a fusion of old-school looks with modern-day features. Some of the notable features the bike has are a digital-analogue metre, selectable torque control, an exceptional 350CC engine to name a few. Yet, it will face tough competition in Nepal owing to the popular presence of similar bikes with similar features.

Lets get into the details of the bike and predict how it will perform in Nepal.

Specifications

Engine OHC single-cylinder, air-cooled, 4-stroke Dimensions Length: 2,171mm

Width: 804mm

Height: 1,097mm

Wheelbase: 1,441mm

Ground clearance: 168mm Displacement 348.36cc Starting mechanism Self-starter Max power 15.5 [email protected] 5500rpm Max torque 30 Nm @ 6000rpm Compression ratio 9.5:1 Stroke 90.519mm Bore 70mm Gearbox 5-speed Fuel tank capacity 15 litres Mileage 35-40 kmpl Tire Front: 100/90-19M/C 57H Disc (Dual-channel ABS)

Rear: 150/70-17M/C 69H Disc (Dual-channel ABS) Suspension Front: Telescopic

Rear: Twin-Hydraulic Kerb weight 179 kg

Design

Photo: Honda

The new Honda CB350R has the vintage looks of the Honda CB motorcycle. The clean and elegant design of Honda can be seen in the CB350RS as well. Like the Hness CB350, this bike also has a round LED headlamp and is complemented by the eye-shaped LED winkers, a curvy 15-litre dual-tone fuel tank, and the classic chrome fenders. Providing some modern features on the bike are Bluetooth connectivity, traction control, dual-channel ABS, and a slipper clutch.

This bike also uses a half-duplex cradle frame and has a telescopic suspension at the front and twin-hydraulic suspension at the rear end. The bike weighs around 179 kg. It has a ground clearance of 168mm, which is best in this class segment and even betters 166mm of Hness CB350. The design is captivating and already has succeeded in capturing a mass audience.

Performance

Photo: Honda

Honda CB350RS is powered by a powerful 348.36 cc air-cooled, four-stroke OHC BS6 single-cylinder engine, and the company claims the engine provides smooth acceleration without vibration across the rpm band just like the Hness CB350.

The bike is also paired with a five-speed gearbox, and a newly developed engine that can generate a maximum power of 15.5kW @5500rpm whereas reaches a max torque of [email protected] This makes the riding experience of the bike smooth and effortless. Honda also claims to have taken care of the vibrations produced by the engine by employing balancer shafts in this bike as well.

Photo: Honda

This bike also includes an assist slip clutch, LED lights and a side stand indicator with engine cut-off. The feature that stands out the most in the Honda CB350RS as well is the Honda selectable torque control (HSTC). This is the first-in-segment torque control system that detects the difference between front and rear wheel speeds, calculates the slip ratio, and adjusts engine torque via fuel injection. The HSTC can be turned on or off using a switch on the left side of the metre.

Summarising, some of the noticeable features of Honda CB350RS are:

Powerful BS6 engine

Full LED headlamp

Dual channel ABS

Dual tone fuel tank

Tuck roll seat

Under seat tail lamp

PIN-striping on fuel tank

Assist and slipper clutch

Main shaft coaxial balancer

Honda selectable torque control (HSTC)

Hazard switch

Side stand with engine inhibitor

Gear position indicator

Honda CB350RS has been opened for booking and will cost Rs 798,900 in Nepal, slightly high than the price of the Hness CB350. The Dashain offer of the company includes a sure-shot discount of a minimum Rs 25,000 cash discount.

Verdict

Like the Hness CB350, CB350RS is also a beautiful and great bike from Honda. Both the bikes are almost identical in every segment. The features are identical and so are the power figures of the bike. The design looks extremely similar as well and only the graphics and seating look different. Both of them are powered by the same engine.

Improvements from Honda are visible in these bikes. With the launch of the Hness CB350 and CB350RS, Honda is trying to take over this class segment. In Nepal, this bike gets competition from Italjet, Jawa, and Royal Enfield. All these bikes have a similar powertrain while the Italjet has a slimmer design. With Royal Enfield being the main competition, it will be interesting to see how the new models of Honda will thrive in the market.

The problem for Honda CB350SR is similar to Hness CB350. Royal Enfield has already established itself as a status symbol here and people have associated it as a feeling. Though the features of Hondas new bike may be overwhelming, it will be pretty tough for it to compete against. Honda itself is a brand to reckon with, but in this category, Royal Enfield has already marked a huge presence.
Kathmandu, October 1

The government has decided to lift the bar imposed on the entry of Indian passenger vehicles into Nepal owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The vehicles have been barred from entering Nepal since March 2020 after the risk of coronavirus infection increased in Nepal. But, concerning customs offices at border points say they have lifted the bar from Friday following a cabinet decision in this regard.

Punya Bikram Khadka, the information officer at the Department of Customs, says, On Thursday, we wrote to all customs offices informing them that private passenger vehicles with or without passengers can come to Nepal conditionally.

The government made the decision as the number of active Covid-19 cases is decreasing in the country. Nepali and Indian traders have welcomed the government decision.

Khadka claims the government will make sure that passengers coming to Nepal following the Covid-19 protocols.
Home  Business  Nepal Telecom to give free sim cards to senior citizens for the next 10 days

Kathmandu, October 1

Nepal Telecom, the government-owned telecommunications company in Nepal, says it will give sim cards for free to senior citizens, those above the age of 60 years, for the next 10 days.

The company made the announcement on the occasion of the International Day for Older Persons, being celebrated across the world on Friday.

The free sim card will have Rs 10 in its balance. In addition, the users can also have free calls for up to 40 minutes, send 20 SMS and use 60 MB data for free for one month.

The international theme of this day for this year is Digital Equity for All Ages. Hence, the government-run company decided to give free sim cards to the willing senior citizens.

Senior citizens in Nepal enjoy waivers on medical treatment and public transport fare among others.
Count Franz von Walsegg

Count Franz von Walsegg, a wealthy aristocrat, commissioned the work after the death of his wife. Walsegg was known for commissioning works and passing them off as his own. Salieri, a fellow composer, had nothing to do with this request. Mozart's Requiem Mass in D Minor was completed after Mozart's untimely death in 1791.
Workforce

Vaccine enforcement coming as soon as Nov. 9, OPM says

Cdmr. James Fish receives a COVID-19 vaccine at Naval Station Norfolk in April 2021. (U.S. Navy photo)

Feds who don't comply with the Biden administration's vaccination mandate could start seeing consequences as soon as Nov. 9, according to new guidance on the discipline process sent to agencies from the Office of Personnel Management on Friday.

That's because of the two dose requirements for many vaccines, and the two-week waiting period after for the vaccine to someone to be considered fully vaccinated.

The Biden administration has set a Nov. 22 deadline for feds to comply, and it's already made clear that feds who don't follow this new requirement will face discipline up to removal from their jobs.

For people getting the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, they'd need their first shot by Oct. 18 and second by Nov. 8 to meet that deadline. For Moderna, feds would need the first shot by Oct. 11 and second by Nov. 8. For Johnson and Johnson, a one dose vaccine, feds would have until Nov. 8 to get the shot.

"Given this timeline, agencies may initiate their enforcement process as soon as Nov. 9, 2021 for employees who have not completed their vaccination dose(s) by Nov. 8," says a memo from OPM director Kiran Ahuja to agencies. The new details are also mirrored in updated sections of the website for the Safer Federal Workforce Taskforce, which has been tasked with giving health and safety guidance for the federal workforce.

The recommended discipline approach starts with education and counselling, where the agency should remind the employee of the requirement and potential consequences for not complying, answer any questions they might have and tell them that they have a "short period of time" to show documentation of their vaccination process, an accompanying OPM FAQ states. It offers five days as an example for that time period.

There are exceptions for feds who qualify under religious or medical reasons.

For those with an approved exception, or with a request for one under consideration, the agency should not start discipline. In the counseling period, the fed might also request an exception if applicable, the FAQ states. Agencies should follow their normal reasonable accommodations process for this.

At the end of that counseling and education period, feds that still don't comply will be subject to discipline up to termination from federal service.

The preferred approach is progressive discipline, OPM stated, suggesting suspensions up to 14 days as a shorting point "to encourage an employee to be vaccinated." More discipline for feds that still won't get the jab should then follow.

Agencies will have to follow the normal process and give required procedural rights, and follow any required by collective bargaining agreements, when they the guidance says. Agencies should also give similar penalties to people in similar positions and in the same work unit.

Throughout this discipline process, feds shouldn't be put on administrative leave. Instead, they'll follow safety protocols for unvaccinated people when they're in the office.

The guidance also states that if a federal employee does comply after the disciplinary process starts, that discipline can be suspended, pending the receipt of documentation for the final dose of the vaccine.

For example, if the fed doesn't get the second dose within 5 weeks, they can be suspended again and subject to removal, it says.

About the Author Natalie Alms is a staff writer at FCW covering the federal workforce. She is a recent graduate of Wake Forest University and has written for the Salisbury (N.C.) Post. Connect with Natalie on Twitter at @AlmsNatalie.



The guidance also addresses new hires . Agencies should put the vaccination requirement in their job opportunity announcements, tentative and final employment offers, it says. OPM encouraged agencies to require all new employees to be fully vaccinated before they start, although there can be exceptions.
Angelina Jolie took her 16-year-old daughter Zahara Jolie-Pitt out to Variety's ritzy Power of Women event in Beverly Hills last night, and the two had a stylish red carpet moment together. Zahara and Angelina posed side-by-side, Zahara in a cool white jumpsuit, and her mother in a tan, tiered gown.

Photo credit: Jon Kopaloff - Getty Images

The two held hands at one point and hugged:

Photo credit: ROBYN BECK - Getty Images

Photo credit: Frazer Harrison - Getty Images

Zahara and Angelina also got to meet Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom at the event, along with poet Amanda Gorman.

Photo credit: Stefanie Keenan - Getty Images

Photo credit: Stefanie Keenan - Getty Images

Photo credit: Emma McIntyre - Getty Images

In July 2020, Angelina spoke a little about Zahara's impact on her during a Time 100 conversation with Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate.

The two were discussing the Black Lives Matter movement, and Angelina prefaced her question with a little insight about Zahara, whom Angelina adopted from Ethopia when Zahara was six months old.

Angelina said, One of the things thats also been interesting is the education. I dont know about the schools in Uganda, but I know in the United States theres a very big question particularly about themy daughter is from Ethiopia, one of my children. And I have learned so much from her. She is my family, but she is an extraordinary African woman and her connection to her country, her continent, is veryits her own and its something I only stand back in awe of. But what I see in, for example, American history books and how limited they are, they dontthey really start teaching people who are Black about their lives through the Civil Rights movement, which is such a horrible place to begin. She then asked Nakate what she believes Americans need to change about their education system and how they can further teach people about Africa.

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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / Bernstein Liebhard, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion no later than November 15, 2021 in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of The Boston Beer Company, Inc. ("Boston Beer" or the "Company") (NYSE:SAM) from April 22, 2021 through September 8, 2021 (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alleges violations of the Securities Act of 1934.

If you purchased Boston Beer securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit The Boston Beer Company Inc Shareholder Class Action Lawsuitor contact Rujul Patel toll free at (877) 779-1414 or rpatel@bernlieb.com

According to the complaint, Boston Beer issued materially false and/or misleading statements and failed to disclose adverse facts pertaining to the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Boston Beer specifically failed to disclose to investors: (1) that Boston Beer's hard seltzer sales were decelerating; (2) that, as a result, Boston Beer was reasonably likely to incur inventory write-offs; (3) that the Company was reasonably likely to incur shortfall fees payable to third party brewers; (4) that, as a result of the foregoing, Boston Beer's financial results would be adversely impacted; 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.

On July 22, 2021 after the market closed, the Company reduced its full year 2021 guidance, expecting earnings per share between $18 and $22, down from a prior range of $22 and $26. Boston Beer cited softer-than-expected sales in the hard seltzer category and overall beer industry and also stated that it had "overestimated the growth of the hard seltzer category in the second quarter."

Story continues

On this news, the price of Boston Beer shares fell $246.54, or 26%, to close at $701.00 per share on July 23, 2021, on unusually heavy trading volume.

On September 8, 2021, after the market closed, the Company withdrew its 2021 financial guidance, citing decelerating sales of hard seltzer products. The Company also stated that it "expects to incur hard seltzer-related inventory write-offs, shortfall fees payable to 3rd party brewers, and other costs" for the remainder of fiscal 2021.

On this news, Boston Beer's share price fell $21.09, or 3.7%, to close at $538.31 per share on September 9, 2021, on unusually heavy trading volume.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than November 15, 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 Boston Beer securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit https://www.bernlieb.com/cases/thebostonbeercompanyinc-sam-shareholder-class-action-lawsuit-fraud-stock-438/apply/ or contact Rujul Patel toll free at (877) 779-1414 or rpatel@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:

Rujul Patel

Bernstein Liebhard LLP

https://www.bernlieb.com

(877) 779-1414

rpatel@bernlieb.com

SOURCE: Bernstein Liebhard LLP





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/666516/BOSTON-BEER-COMPANY-INC-NYSESAM-SHAREHOLDER-FILING-DEADLINE-Bernstein-Liebhard-LLP-Reminds-Investors-of-the-Deadline-to-File-a-Lead-Plaintiff-Motion-in-a-Securities-Class-Action-Lawsuit-Against-the-Boston-Beer-Company-Inc




Should you get your car insurance from Costco?

Proving once and for all you can find everything at Costco, the big-box retailer does indeed offer auto insurance exclusive to its loyal members.

The company promises a range of exclusive discounts and benefits, potentially saving drivers hundreds of dollars a year.

But even though Costco can be trusted to provide great deals on everything from printer paper to produce, its fair to ask whether a discount club is the best place to buy such critical protection.

For some club members, Costco car insurance could really be the most affordable option out there  but they may end up paying in other ways.

How Costco car insurance works

antoniodiaz / Shutterstock

Costco members in most states can lock in discounted auto insurance policies through the big-box store. The key word here is through.

Costco doesnt issue insurance policies directly. Instead, the policies are underwritten by American Family Insurance under the brand name CONNECT.

American Family, previously known as Ameriprise Auto & Home Insurance, has been providing Costco members with insurance for nearly 20 years.

In addition to auto insurance coverage, CONNECT offers home, renters, specialty and umbrella insurance.

Quotes are available through Costcos website or over the phone.

And it appears plenty of people are taking the company up on those quotes. Costco says more than 400,000 of its members have switched over their auto insurance to CONNECT.

Whats included in Costco car insurance

Dmitry Kalinovsky / Shutterstock

Although Costco markets the product as a less expensive alternative, CONNECT still offers the standard coverage options drivers would expect from their insurance company.

That includes liability, collision and comprehensive coverage as well as medical coverage and personal injury protection.

Upfront, Costco members get a discount simply for [their] affinity to Costco  though the size of that discount isnt mentioned.

And like other insurers, CONNECT offers a range of discounts for things like safe driving; taking a drivers ed course; installing safety features like anti-theft devices and airbags; parking overnight in a garage; being a good student; insuring multiple cars or bundling with home or umbrella insurance and being a long-term customer.

Story continues

Policies purchased through Costco also unlock a few extra perks, like:

Windshield repair. Policyholders can claim any repairs (but not replacements) for chips without having to pay the deductible.

Roadside assistance for executive members. Up to $75 of coverage, not including the cost of a battery or fluids.

Lifetime renewability for executive members. Outside of Michigan and Maryland, any policyholder who has never had a major traffic violation or failed to pay their premium can rest assured Costco wont cancel their policy for minor accidents or violations.

The pros of Costco car insurance

Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock

The biggest selling point to this insurance product is its affordability.

Costco boasts its members have saved an average of $581.89 in the first year they switched to CONNECT. And a few independent surveys back up the notion that its generally cheaper than the big nationwide insurance companies.

However, its important to note (as Costco does in the fine print on its site) that not everyone will see such savings. Some wont see any savings at all.

When it comes to insurance, how much each policyholder pays depends on a huge assortment of factors, including their credit score, marital status, education level and ZIP code. And each company weighs those factors differently.

That being said, most customers whove stuck with the company seem happy with the coverage and pricing of CONNECT policies. Costco says 89% of policyholders reported being highly satisfied in a 2019 survey.

And you shouldnt have to worry about the companys ability to pay your claim. It has an A rating from the credit agency A.M. Best, meaning its financially strong, stable and its operating performance is sound.

The cons of Costco car insurance

Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock

Even if the price puts a smile on your face, the difficulty of making a claim could leave you snarling.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which helps regulate the industry and protect consumers, maintains a customer service index based on the number of complaints a company receives for its size.

The baseline is 1.0, so a company with a 2.0 rating received double the number of complaints you might expect.

Last year, American Family Insurance got a 6.31 rating from the NAIC, meaning it received more than six times the average number of complaints for an insurer its size.

On top of that, American Family does insurance the old-fashioned way  meaning it doesnt offer users an app to file claims or reach customer support. Although you can report certain losses online, generally youll have to initiate the claims process over the phone.

Even if that sounds like an acceptable trade off, you might not be able to take advantage.

CONNECT says it doesnt do business in Alaska, Louisiana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Maine, Rhode Island or West Virginia. Costco adds that insurance products cannot be obtained through the company in New York. And drivers in Massachusetts must be executive members to get the exclusive Costco discount.

Whats the right choice?

ThirtyPlus / Shutterstock

If youre already a Costco executive member, theres a good chance getting your car insurance through the discount club could provide significant savings.

But if youre worried about customer service  and adding more complaints to the stack at American Family  its worth exploring a few other options. After all, big-box shopping isnt the only way to get a sizable discount.

For example: Many states allow insurers to use your credit information to assess the risk you pose as a driver. If your credit is less than stellar, consider taking some time to boost your score and see whether that unlocks better rates.

One of the easiest ways to improve your credit score is to deal with any troublesome debt youre carrying from month to month.

Finally, the most powerful way to reduce your premiums is to simply shop around for better rates. As mentioned earlier, even though insurers look at the same information to come up with a premium, they all use their own calculations.

Thats why the Insurance Information Institute recommends comparing at least three quotes before settling on the right offer for you. You can use the same trick with home insurance, too, if only to make sure youre not drastically overpaying.

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Castle Peak Mining Ltd. (TSXV: CAP) ("Castle Peak" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement financing of up to 10,000,000 units (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.015 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to $150,000 (the "Offering"). Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (each, a "Common Share").

Closing of the Offering is expected to occur on or about October 29, 2021. All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a statutory hold period of four-months and one day, as well as to any other re-sale restrictions imposed by applicable securities regulatory authorities. Completion of the Offering is subject to a number of conditions, including without limitation, receipt of TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") approval. The Company intends to use the proceeds from the Offering to fund the ongoing exploration program at Castle Peak's Akorade project in Ghana, as well as, working capital.

In addition to other prospectus exemptions commonly relied on in private placements, such as the accredited investor exemption, the Offering is being made available to qualifying existing shareholders of the Company in reliance on BC Instrument 45-534 Exemption from prospectus requirement for certain trades to existing security holders and other provincial equivalents (the "Existing Security Holder Exemption"). To comply with the criteria of the Existing Security Holder Exemption, the ability of existing shareholders to participate in the Offering under the Existing Security Holder Exemption shall be subject to, among other criteria, the following:

September 27, 2021, has been set as the record date (the "Record Date") for the purpose of determining existing security holders entitled to purchase Units pursuant to the Existing Security Holder Exemption;

To participate, a qualified shareholder must deliver an executed subscription agreement in the required form, which will include the requirements of the Existing Security Holder Exemption;

The aggregate acquisition cost to a subscriber under the Existing Security Holder Exemption cannot exceed $15,000 per twelve-month period unless that subscriber has obtained advice from a registered investment dealer regarding the suitability of the investment; and

Subscriptions will be accepted by the Company on a "first come, first served basis"; therefore, if the Offering is oversubscribed it is possible that a shareholder's subscription may not be accepted by the Company.

Further terms and conditions shall be set out in the form of subscription agreement that will be made available to interested shareholders, who are directed to contact the Company as soon as possible in accordance with the contact information provided below.

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Completion of the Offering is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.

Debt Settlement

The Company also reports that its board of directors has approved the settlement of up to $425,000 of debt through the issuance of common shares of the Company (the "Debt Settlement"). Pursuant to the Debt Settlement, the Company will issue up to 30,000,000 common shares of the Company to certain creditors being Allan Green and Candel & Partners SAS (the "Creditors").

The Debt Settlement transactions involving the Creditors will constitute "related party transaction[s]" under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Securityholders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). All of the independent directors of the Company, acting in good faith, considered the transactions and have determined that the fair market value of the securities being issued to insiders and the consideration being paid is reasonable. The Company has determined that it is exempt from the minority approval and formal valuation requirements under MI 61-101 in respect of the Debt Settlement transactions, relying on the exemptions found in sections 5.5(1)(a) and (b) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101.

Completion of the Debt Settlement is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.

For further information, please contact:

"Iyad Jarbou"

Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 604.362.7685

Email: iyadj@castlepeakmining.com

Website: https://castlepeakmining.com/

FORWARD-LOOKING AND OTHER CAUTIONARY INFORMATION

Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain 'forward-looking information' and 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of applicable securities laws. This release may contain statements that are forward looking statements and are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. Such information contained herein represents management's best judgment as of the date hereof based on information currently available. As a result, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this release. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required by law. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States, or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdictions in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Any offering made will be pursuant to available prospectus and registration exemptions and restricted persons to whom the securities may be sold in accordance with the laws of such jurisdictions and by persons permitted to sell the securities in accordance with the laws of such jurisdictions.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98292
New Offering in 2021~ Garlic Peppercorn Prime Rib, Bourbon Pecan Pie and Ala Carte Mac n Cheese

Dickey's Barbecue Pit Has new offerings for Holiday 2021

Traditional prime rib shown here and garlic peppercorn prime rib are part of the 2021 holiday offerings from Dickey's Barbecue Pit. All meals will also come with a delicious Bourbon Pecan Pie. As an additional incentive to get your order in early, all orders of the complete meal placed between October 1st and November 15th will receive a pumpkin pie.

Traditional prime rib shown here and garlic peppercorn prime rib are part of the 2021 holiday offerings from Dickey's Barbecue Pit. All meals will also come with a delicious Bourbon Pecan Pie. As an additional incentive to get your order in early, all orders of the complete meal placed between October 1st and November 15th will receive a pumpkin pie.

Dickey's Barbecue Pit Holiday Offerings

Treat your family to a stress free holiday meal and let Dickey's handle to cooking. Smoked meats, delicious sides and buttery rolls. Order between October 1st and November 15th and receive a free pumpkin pie (complete meals only)

Treat your family to a stress free holiday meal and let Dickey's handle to cooking. Smoked meats, delicious sides and buttery rolls. Order between October 1st and November 15th and receive a free pumpkin pie (complete meals only)

Dallas, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dickeys Barbecue Pit is helping families across the country by handling the cooking this holiday season. Enjoy two Texas sized meals that will feed 10-12 people. The Worlds largest barbecue chain is giving fans even more reasons to place orders early with new offerings including Garlic Peppercorn Prime Rib, Bourbon Pecan Pie and a favorite- Ala Carte Mac n Cheese. An additional incentive is to order between October 1st and November 15th for a free pumpkin pie (Complete Feast only).

Barbecue Fans can choose between two packages, The Complete Feast or Dinner Feast. They select the type of meat, receive sides, gravy buttery rolls and dessert.

Each meal is prepared so all you have to do is heat and eat. Keep it simple. Spend more quality time with your family, keeping everyone out of the kitchen and around the table. The holidays are for making memories, sharing stories and spending quality time together so leave the cooking to us says Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickeys Barbecue Pit.

The Complete Feast (Serves 10 - 12) includes:

A choice of Spiral Cut Ham, Smoked Turkey, Cajun Fried Turkey, Peppercorn Garlic or Traditional Prime Rib

Cornbread Dressing

Gravy

Baked Potato Casserole

Green Beans with Bacon

12 Buttery Rolls

The second option is: Dinner Feast (Serves 8 - 10) includes:

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A choice of Spiral Cut Ham, Smoked Turkey, Cajun Fried Turkey, Peppercorn Garlic or Traditional Prime Rib

Cornbread Dressing

Gravy

12 Buttery Rolls

This year barbecue fans can also take advantage of ordering a ready to eat holiday edition Big Yellow Box.

To learn more, follow Dickeys Barbecue Pit on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Download the Dickeys Barbecue Pit app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.



About Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc.

Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., the worlds largest barbecue concept, was founded in 1941 by Travis Dickey. For the past 80 years, Dickeys Barbecue Pit has served millions of guests Legit. Texas. Barbecue. At Dickeys, all our barbecued meats are smoked onsite in a hickory wood burning pit. Dickeys proudly believes theres no shortcut to true barbecue and its why they never say bbq. The Dallas-based, family-run barbecue franchise offers several slow-smoked meats and wholesome sides with 'No B.S. (Bad Stuff)' included. The fast-casual concept has expanded worldwide with international locations in the UAE and Japan. Dickeys Restaurant brands have over 550 locations nationwide. In 2016, Dickeys won first place on Fast Casuals Top 100 Movers and Shakers list, was named a Top 500 Franchise by Entrepreneur in 2018 and was named to Hospitality Technology Industry Heroes in 2021. Led by CEO Laura Rea Dickey, who was named among the countrys 50 most influential women in foodservice in 2020 by Nations Restaurant News and was recognized as one of the top 25 industry leaders on Fast Casuals 2020 Top 100 Movers and Shakers list, Dickey's Barbecue Pit has also been recognized by Fox News, Forbes Magazine, Franchise Times, The Wall Street Journal and QSR Magazine.

Attachments

CONTACT: Chrissy Bachman Dickey's Barbecue Pit 469-580-0459 cbachman@dickeys.com




NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ultra-premium vodka Elit, now a ten-time platinum award winner of Beverage Testing Institute's (BTI) coveted accolade, has won the esteemed title of Best Vodka of the Year in 2021. This win places Elit in a category of its own.

Elit was also rated 'Superlative 97/100' for the tenth time by BTI, a score unbeaten by any other vodka. Recognized in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, the Superlative Platinum Medal confirms Elit as one of the highest-rated vodkas.

Precious terroir, remarkable provenance and utmost precision are key ingredients in the exceptional quality of Elit. The ultra-premium vodka is created with the finest blend of spring and winter wheat grown exclusively in the renowned fertile black soil of the brand's single estate Kerschinskoye in Russia. The distilled spirit then travels to the famed Latvijas Balzams in Riga (Latvia), where it is blended with artesian well water. Following a quadruple filtration process, the spirit is frozen at -18C. The Elit signature freeze-filtration process, inspired by ancient vodka making techniques, culminates in an extraordinary, award-winning vodka.

BTI's testing process is highly competitive and rigorous. Their revered panel of industry experts use their extensive professional experience, expertise, and palettes to test the aroma, flavour, and structure of the vodka. Their evaluation is compliant with BTI's proprietary blind tasting methodology co-developed with Cornell University, and custom-built software.

This is an esteemed win for Elit, setting a new benchmark for ultra-premium spirits globally. With provenance, precision, and cutting-edge technology, Elit pushes the limits of what it means to be vodka.

About Stoli Group

Stoli Group was established in 2013 and is responsible for the production, management, and distribution of SPI's global spirits portfolio. Mainly known for the Stolichnaya Vodka brand, Stoli Group has expanded its portfolio in recent years to appeal to premium on-premise and more sophisticated global consumers. Signature brands are: Stoli Vodka, Elit Vodka, Bayou Rum, Kentucky Owl, Villa One, Gator Bite Rum Liquers, Cenote Tequila, Kah Tequila and Se Busca Mezcal. With a presence across a network of more than 176 markets, Stoli Group works with a passionate team of 200 distributors around the world. Headquartered in Luxembourg, Stoli Group has production facilities in Russia, Latvia, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Argentina, and the United States, some of which are steeped in history as early as the 1900s. For more information, visit stoli-group.com.

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Contact Information

Kelly Subin

kelly.subin@exposure.net

Lauren Pelosi Barone

Lauren.pelosi@exposure.net

Elit Vodka Ten-Time Best Vodka of the Year

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SOURCE Elit Vodka
Disability Dental (+1-972-296-0101) announces new updates to their suite of dentistry services, offering personalized oral health solutions for special needs patients in Fort Worth, Texas. The dental office is carefully designed to accommodate the unique needs of patients with disabilities.

Grand Prairie, TX, United States, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

The centers latest update includes specialized hygiene and restorative dental care, comprehensive oral exams, sedation dentistry, and an array of other solutions to help patients achieve and maintain healthier, beautiful smiles.

Additional information is available at https://www.disabilitydental.com/

Recent reports show that one in five Americans lives with an intellectual or physical disability. With this announcement, dental patients with special needs, especially those in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, can now access the quality care and affordably priced dental solutions they need conveniently.

Since caring for dental patients with disabilities takes understanding and compassion, the dental practice strives to make each patients visit a positive one. They achieve this by providing friendly, quality care and a cozy, warm waiting lounge that evokes familiar home-away-from-home emotions.

Their state-of-the-art practice is equipped with the latest in dental technology, such as Versatilt wheelchair lifts, allowing patients to sit comfortably in their wheelchair during treatment.

Furthermore, the dentists and staff members are highly skilled in providing compassionate care for individuals with disabilities. They have over 150 years of combined hands-on field experience caring for special needs patients.

Their services are adapted to the unique needs of each patient, including those living with Alzheimers disease, cerebral palsy, developmental disabilities, Parkinsons disease, autism, physical disabilities, Down syndrome, and intellectual disabilities.

Patients whose conditions are not listed above are encouraged to contact the dental office to discuss their options. Interested parties can learn more by visiting https://bostondentalnews.com/disabilities-special-needs-dentist-duncanville-forth-worth-tx-updates-services/

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During the initial consultation, the team of special needs dentists takes the time to understand the patients condition and medical historyand then develops a treatment plan around their needs.

As a leading dental clinic for people with disabilities in the Fort Worth area, the practice offers in-house, monitored IV sedation as part of its effective dental care procedure.

With this update, the special needs oral health practice reaffirms its long-standing commitment to becoming the dental office of choice for those with disabilities.

A satisfied patient said: I have been taking my daughter who has autism here for about 10 years. They take amazing care of her. I highly recommend them.

For more details, visit https://finance.yahoo.com/news/special-needs-dentist-grand-prairie-032400237.html or call their friendly representative at +1-972-296-0101 to schedule a one-on-one consultation.

Website: http://www.disabilitydental.com/

CONTACT: Name: Dr Frank Ford Organization: Disability Dental Address: 923 State Hwy 161, Grand Prairie, TX 75051, United States Phone: +1-972-296-0101




New research among Canadians aged 55+ shows the term is not universally embraced  with only half (52 per cent) positively associating with the word senior

Only 16 per cent feel the word senior best describes them

Women are 43 per cent more likely than men to reject the word senior as a way to describe themselves

Of those who feel it is time to retire the word senior, "skilled," "sage" and "savvy" are the top alternatives posed

TORONTO, Oct. 1, 2021 /CNW/ - In time for National Seniors' Day, HomeEquity Bank, Canada's leading provider of home equity-based retirement solutions, is calling on all Canadians to evolve their thinking around using the term "senior," to describe people aged 55 and up.

Time to retire the word senior. New Ipsos research from HomeEquity Bank among Canadians 55+ shows that the term senior is not universally embraced. (CNW Group/HomeEquity Bank)

HomeEquity Banks calls on Canadians to retire the word "senior"

A recent Ipsos survey of the demographic group commissioned by HomeEquity Bank found that the word doesn't resonate with many Canadians who fall within the age range it represents, with only 16 per cent feeling that the word "senior" best describes them completely.

"Wanting to live an exciting, fulfilling life doesn't stop when you hit a certain age. Canadians 55+ are some of the most vibrant, creative and dynamic members of our communities," said Yvonne Ziomecki, Executive Vice President at HomeEquity Bank. "Today, we're meant to celebrate Canadians known as seniors, so let's use the day as an opportunity to understand how they'd prefer to be addressed so we can take action."

Only 37 per cent of Canadian women aged 55+ feel the term senior accurately represents them. By comparison, over half (53 per cent) of Canadian men aged 55+ think the word senior describes them accurately. Based on these figures, HomeEquity Bank estimates that women are 43 per cent more likely than men to reject the word senior as a way to describe themselves.

Of those who indicated it was time to retire the word senior, research found that the top alternatives focused more on experience, like "sage," "skilled," or "savvy." Although no consensus was reached on a substitute, the findings make it clear that not everyone is comfortable with the status quo and that means it's time to re-examine the term.

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Based on research conducted in 2019 around age bias in the media, HomeEquity Bank made a commitment to stop using the word "senior" in its marketing to the age group.

"Our business is working with Canadians 55+ who want the freedom to enjoy retirement on their terms, so this survey further reinforces what we have known for a long time," said Ziomecki. "The word senior doesn't resonate with everyone in the age group, and it's time for individuals and brands to challenge the term that paints this diverse group of Canadians the same. With disruptive, reimagined language around aging we can embrace a more inclusive and effective way of communicating."

HomeEquity Bank has been helping Canadians 55 and better navigate retirement on their own terms for more than 30 years, so they can retain their freedom while keeping their futures secure. Its flagship CHIP Reverse Mortgage allows for a safe and simple way to do that, by accessing the value of your home for tax-free cash to use how you want.

About HomeEquity Bank

HomeEquity Bank is a Schedule 1 Canadian Bank offering the CHIP Reverse Mortgage solution. The company was founded more than 30 years ago, and introduced a groundbreaking mortgage solution in Canada that has since helped many thousands of Canadians to unlock the value of their top asset - their home. HomeEquity Bank is committed to empowering Canadians aged 55 plus to live the retirement they deserve, in the home they love.

IPSOS Research Details

Ipsos is one of the world's largest independent market research companies. Its commitment to driving the industry with innovative, best in class research techniques that are meaningful in today's connected society is a primary goal. www.ipsos.com/en-ca. For this survey, a sample of n=1001 English-speaking Canadians aged 55+ were interviewed online via the Ipsos I-Say panel. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the age 55+ population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe.

The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/  3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all English-speaking Canadians aged 55+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

HomeEquity Bank Logo (CNW Group/HomeEquity Bank)

SOURCE HomeEquity Bank

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NEW YORK, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The law firm of Kirby McInerney LLP reminds investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of those who acquired The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (Boston Beer or the Company) (NYSE: SAM) securities from April 22, 2021 through September 8, 2021, inclusive (the Class Period). Investors have until November 15, 2021 to apply to the Court to be appointed as lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.



Boston Beer is a high-end alcoholic beverage company that produces hard seltzer, malt beverages (i.e. beers), and hard cider at its cidery and under contractual arrangements at other brewery locations.

On July 22, 2021, after the market closed, Boston Beer reduced its full year 2021 guidance, expecting earnings per share between $18 and $22, down from a prior range of $22 and $26. The Company cited softer-than-expected sales in the hard seltzer category and overall beer industry, and also stated that it had overestimated the growth of the hard seltzer category in the second quarter. On this news, the Companys share price declined by $246.54 per share, or approximately 26%, from $947.54 per share to close at $701.00 per share on July 23, 2021.

On September 8, 2021, after the market closed, Boston Beer withdrew its 2021 financial guidance, citing decelerating sales of hard seltzer products. The Company also stated that it expects to incur hard seltzer-related inventory write-offs, shortfall fees payable to 3rd party brewers, and other costs for the remainder of fiscal 2021. On this news, the Companys share price declined by $21.09 per share, or approximately 3.8%, from $559.40 per share to close at $538.31 per share on September 9, 2021.

The lawsuit alleges throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Companys business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors: (1) that Boston Beers hard seltzer sales were decelerating; (2) that, as a result, Boston Beer was reasonably likely to incur inventory write-offs; (3) that the Company was reasonably likely to incur shortfall fees payable to third-party brewers; (4) that, as a result of the foregoing, Boston Beers financial results would be adversely impacted; and (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants positive statements about the Companys business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

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If you purchased or otherwise acquired Boston Beer securities, have information, or would like to learn more about these claims, please contact Thomas W. Elrod of Kirby McInerney LLP at 212-371-6600, by email at investigations@kmllp.com , or by filling out this contact form, to discuss your rights or interests with respect to these matters without any cost to you.

Kirby McInerney LLP is a New York-based plaintiffs law firm concentrating in securities, antitrust, whistleblower, and consumer litigation. The firms efforts on behalf of shareholders in securities litigation have resulted in recoveries totaling billions of dollars. Additional information about the firm can be found at Kirby McInerney LLPs website: http://www.kmllp.com .

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

Contacts

Kirby McInerney LLP

Thomas W. Elrod, Esq.

212-371-6600

https://www.kmllp.com

investigations@kmllp.com




HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LSINC Corporation is proud to announce that its PeriQ360 quad-spindle, direct-to-object digital printer received a coveted PRINTING United Alliance 2021 Pinnacle Product Award for Direct to Shape Printers (not flatbed). The winning entry can be found online at the Pinnacle Product Awards Gallery here.

Pinnacle Product Award Winner

Open to all PRINTING United Alliance supplier members, the Pinnacle Product Award competition evaluates products that are, or will be, available for sale in 2021. A highly qualified panel of judges from across the printing industry evaluated the annual contest's 160+ entries in more than 58 categories spanning analog, digital, output and non-output technologies.

"Behind the scenes, LSINC has been a key driver in the design and manufacture of digital printers for more than a decade," said Alicia Ryan, CEO of LSINC. "This award demonstrates how we are using our engineering, integration, and manufacturing expertise to take digital, direct-to-object printers to the next level under the LSINC brand."

"One of the things I like best about our competition is that it is juried, and judges are basing their decisions on objective criteria. And with outstanding entries like the PeriQ360, they had their work cut out for them," said Ray Weiss, Director of Digital Print Programs, PRINTING United Alliance.

"The Pinnacle Product Award competition represents the best of the best among commercial hardware, software, consumables, and industrial and screen equipment," Weiss said. "Congratulations to all the winners."

Award winners will receive a digital badge, that will give information on their product embedded into the meta-data of the badge. For more information about the awards and how to participate in future Pinnacle Awards Programs, visit: https://pinnacleawards.printing.org/.

About PRINTING United Alliance

PRINTING United Alliance is the most comprehensive member-based printing and graphic arts association in the United States, comprised of the vast communities which it represents. The Alliance serves industry professionals across market segments with preeminent education, training, workshops, events, research, government and legislative representation, safety, and environmental sustainability guidance, as well as resources from the leading media company in the industry  NAPCO Media. Now a division of PRINTING United Alliance, Idealliance is the global leader in standards training and certification for printing and graphic arts operations across the entire industry supply chain.



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PRINTING United Alliance also produces the PRINTING United Expo, the most influential days in printing. The expansive display of technology and supplies, education, programming, and services are showcased to the industry at large, and represents all market segments in one easily accessed place.

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SOURCE LSINC Corporation
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Next Green Wave Holdings Inc. (CSE: NGW) (OTCQX: NXGWF) ("Next Green Wave", "NGW" or the "Company") the Company is pleased to confirm the appointment of Curtis Floyd to NGW's Board of Directors.

Mr. Floyd joins the Next Green Wave Board of Directors with an outstanding track record in business, entrepreneurship and leadership.

Currently, Mr. Floyd is:

a practicing attorney with The Law Offices of Curtis Floyd, holding an economics degree from UCLA and a law degree from Stanford, and;





a member of the Board of Directors of Mission Bank, a publicly traded community bank, headquartered in Central California. In addition to being a Board Member, Mr. Floyd is also a founder of Mission Bank, where he has served as the Chair of the Audit and Corporate Governance Committees, and as a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions Committee. Since its formation in 1999, Mission Bank has grown from a single branch with approximately US$5 million in assets to a chain that is now located in seven (7) cities around California, with assets in excess of US$1 billion.





Chairman of the Board of Directors of Community Action Partnership of Kern, a community service organization located in Central California, with an annual budget of US$45 million and over 900 employees.

During his legal career, Mr. Floyd has counseled numerous business owners on business formation, structuring, expansion, financing, compliance and litigation. Personally, Curtis has founded or invested in a vast array of diverse private business ventures, including, but not limited to, educational services, restaurants, farming, real estate development and construction. Curtis has invested in both private and public cannabis enterprises and currently owns over 5% of the outstanding shares of Next Green Wave, which places him in alignment with NGW Shareholders.

The Company has granted 850,000 stock options to Mr. Floyd under its stock option plan, exercisable at a price of CDN$0.50 per share, with an expiry date of five years, and will vest 25% every 6 months for a period of two years.

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"Mr. Floyd's diverse experience in business, governance, banking, risk management and California cannabis makes him a perfect addition to the Next Green Wave board to help guide the Company to the next level. We could not be more excited to have him join our team." - Michael Jennings, CEO Next Green Wave

Unrelated to the above, the Company has granted 850,000 stock options under its stock option plan exercisable at a price of CDN$0.50 per share, with an expiry date of five years, to multiple contractors, where the vesting conditions are contingent on internal 2022 sales targets, none of which can vest before Dec 31, 2022.

About Next Green Wave

Next Green Wave is an integrated premium seed-to-shelf craft cannabis producer offering products through its in-house brand portfolio and wholesale flower for other large cannabis manufacturers. The Company owns and operates a 35,000 sq. ft. indoor facility in Coalinga, CA, which is home to our nursery, cultivation, distribution, and packaging business. Marketing, product design, and formulation are produced in-house; please follow along at www.nextgreenwave.com or on Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

For more information regarding Next Green Wave please contact:

Matthew Jewell

CFO

Tel: +1 (604) 684-6844

IR@nextgreenwave.com

Neither Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") nor its Regulation Services Providers (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Next Green Wave Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, are "forward-looking statements" and such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information represent only NGW's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of NGW's control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts" "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein may include, but are not limited to, the Company's expectations for long-term (YE 2021, YE 2022 and YE 2023) revenue and adjusted EBITDA profitability, the ability of the Company to successfully achieve business objectives (including completion of construction and increasing production capacity), and expectations for other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. This forward-looking information reflects NGW's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to NGW and on assumptions NGW believes are reasonable.

Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others: dependence on obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals, including acquiring and renewing state, local or other licenses and any inability to obtain all necessary governmental approvals licenses and permits to complete construction of its proposed facilities in a timely manner; engaging in activities which currently are illegal under US federal law and the uncertainty of existing protection from U.S. federal or other prosecution; regulatory or political change such as changes in applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. state-law legalization, particularly in California, due to inconsistent public opinion, perception of the medical-use and adult-use marijuana industry, bureaucratic delays or inefficiencies or any other reasons; any other factors or developments which may hinder market growth; NGW's limited operating history and lack of historical profits; reliance on management; NGW's requirements for additional financing, and the effect of capital market conditions and other factors on capital availability, competition, including from more established or better financed competitors; the need to secure and maintain corporate alliances and partnerships, including with customers and suppliers; and risks and delays resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Although NGW has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other risk factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. NGW has no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, even if new information becomes available as a result of future events, new information or for any other reason except as required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98166
Moscow, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The DeFinance team is excited to announce the launching of a Five million-dollar NFT airdrop that it intends to give its users. According to the team, a million-dollar worth of NFT MetaMask airdrop will be given to 20,000 MetaMask holders as a reward for their investment in the token and an incentive to prospective participants to join the train.

According to the team, a Non-Fungible Token, commonly referred to as NFT, is a unique cryptocurrency-like digital token like Ethereum or Bitcoin built on the Binance Smart Chain. What is unique about the Definance NFT is it holds a stored value worth 500 DEFIN which can be traded after 45 days of locked period..

Definance Tech team is led by highly skilled team of Blockchain developers in Russia and Poland with over 20 years of combined tech experience and background.

NFTS  Tradable Assets

Thanks to their ability to hold values, NFTs are tradable assets such as the arts. Thus, investors can purchase them at a price and sell them at a higher price for a profit, the same way you can buy a physical art and sell it at a higher price than the cost price.

Through the airdrop, the team expects to give the token maximum publicity that will increase the tokens awareness among cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Investors who hold the token through the airdrop have better chances of making money from their investment when the coin appreciates in the future.

Benefit For Investors

According to the DeFinance team, the earlier investors in the MetaMask will benefit hugely from the $5 Million worth of NFT airdrop it plans to share among 20,000 Metamask Wallet users.

DeFinance NFT is built using the ERC1155 Token Standard which gives the ability to store Fungible tokens in this case is the Native Token of Definance known as $DEFIN. Highlighting the functionality of the ERC1155 that makes it one of the tokens selling points, it said that it is a novel token standard that improves on the previous standard in the cryptocurrency industry to create a gas-efficient and fungibility-agnostic contract.

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Thus, the ERC1155 draws inspiration from the previous standards such as ERC721, ERC20, and ERC777 to make it an improved version of its predecessors.

Safety and Security Ensured

The DeFinance team assures holders of the security of their assets. The team claims that it incorporates the best security technology into the exchange so that investors wont worry about the security of their investment.

Aside from the NFT, DeFinance also offers a governance token that licenses investors to contribute to the tokens future. Thus, as an investor, you are also a stakeholder. That is besides the passive earning opportunity that all interested parties can leverage to boost their earnings.

Golden Opportunity:

The team reiterated its dedication to offering investors a golden opportunity to invest massively in the cryptocurrency market and thus, create an enduring legacy in the cryptocurrency industry while leveraging the power of social media to establish and sustain a good relationship with them.

According to the team, DeFinance is also passionate about building a good relationship with its users. Leveraging the power of the Internet and social media platforms, it keeps the communication line with its users open on its official website and other social media accounts.

You can learn more about the DeFinance exchange and its operations through the following social media accounts and its official website:

Website www.DeFinance.app Join Telegram:definance_community

Follow on Twitter: definanceapp

Media Contact:



Company Name: Definance App

Contact Person: Natalia Nicolaiva

Email: support@definance.app

Website: https://www.definance.app/

Source: Link




DAYTON, Ohio, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dayton Development Coalition will present the Ohio Defense and Aerospace Forum webinar Oct. 5 and 6, 2021, bringing together community and military leaders from across the state to share information on our defense and aerospace installations, industries, academic institutions, and local and state communities are critical to the industrial base and national security and exploration goals of our nation.

This statewide event will highlight Ohio's Defense and Aerospace Pillars:

Preserve and protect our federal installations

Expand our Research capabilities

Attract Industry

Grow talent and Workforce.

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted will speak at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Assistant Secretary of the USAF for Installations, Environment and Energy Jennifer Miller will give the installations keynote earlier that day. Janet Kavandi, President of Sierra Space, will give the aerospace keynote on Wednesday.

Communities home to Department of Defense organizations play an important role in supporting military missions. The Ohio Defense Forum will give community leaders, elected officials, industry and small business leaders, and other defense professionals the opportunity to learn more about the current defense environment and the role they can play in supporting their defense installations.

The discussions will focus on intersections between the defense sector, industry, academia, Panels will focus on helping the audience understand Ohio's federal installations, research and defense, workforce pipeline initiatives, and more.

The forum will also feature a presentation on the results of an economic impact analysis of federal installations across the state. Eline Bryant, JobsOhio Managing Director for the Military and Federal Sector, will present the results at 11 a.m. Oct. 5. The hour-long presentation will be followed by an online media availability.

Speakers and panelists include:

Special guest U.S. Rep. Mike Turner will moderate a panel on the State of National Defense.

U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson

Ohio Rep. Adam Holmes

Military Installation Commanders from across Ohio discussing their future strategies and needs

Major General John Harris, Adjutant General, Ohio National Guard

Joe Zeis, Aerospace and Defense Advisor, Office of Gov Mike DeWine

For additional information, please visit: https://ohiodefenseforum.com/. To view the agenda, visit: https://ohiodefenseforum.com/odaf-agenda/.

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Registration for this event is still open and is $75 for the general public. Register here: https://ohiodefenseforum.com/online-registration/.

Registration is required to attend this Zoom webinar. To register as a member of the news media, please contact Shannon Joyce Neal at sneal@daytonregion.com by Monday, Oct. 4, 2021.

The Dayton Development Coalition (DDC) is the leading economic development organization for the 14-county Dayton region. Working closely with public and private regional partners, its mission is to retain, expand and recruit jobs. The DDC and the Dayton Region ranked as the nation's top metro for its size for economic development in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2019 and runner-up in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2018. With the State's largest single-site employer in its backyard, the DDC also focuses on advocating for the critical missions at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and supporting the work of the United States Air Force. The DDC was ranked as America's top military community, and was presented with the 2015 Community Excellence Award from the Association of Defense Communities. It was designated as one of the ADC's Great American Defense Communities in 2016  a testament to the collaborative efforts in support of Wright-Patt, America's #1 Air Force Base as ranked by the Air Force Times (2014).

Cision

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SOURCE JobsOhio
HOUSTON, October 01, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ranger Energy Services, Inc. (NYSE: RNGR) has closed its previously announced acquisition of certain assets of Basic Energy Services, Inc. and its subsidiaries through its controlled subsidiary Ranger Energy Acquisition, LLC. The assets were sold by Basic as part of its bankruptcy process. The agreement to purchase the assets was approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court on September 23, 2021. The purchase price of approximately $36.65 million was paid with proceeds from the private placement described below.

Stuart Bodden, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ranger stated, "We are pleased with the purchase price of the Basic assets, and we look forward to welcoming a number of Basic personnel into the Ranger family. In addition to assets, this transaction gives Ranger access to many talented field personnel and managers that worked at Basic. I would also like to thank the Ranger team for their tireless work over the last two weeks to lay the groundwork for what I know will be a successful integration as we continue to build value for our stockholders."

As previously announced, in connection with the acquisition, the Companys controlled subsidiary RNGR Energy Services, LLC entered into a credit facility on September 27, 2021 with Eclipse Business Capital LLC as the sole administrator and collateral agent and Eclipse Business Capital SPV, LLC as the sole lender, for a new $77.5 million credit facility consisting of a $50 million revolving credit facility, a $12.5 million M&E term loan facility and a $15 million term loan B facility.

Concurrent with the close of the acquisition, the Company also closed its previously announced private placement of $42 million of shares of its newly issued Series A Convertible Preferred Stock to certain accredited investors.

In addition, concurrent with the close of the acquisition, Ranger LLC and the Company completed the previously announced redemption of the outstanding units of Ranger LLC and of corresponding shares of Class B Common Stock of the Company held by affiliates of CSL Capital Management, L.P. and Bayou Well Holdings Company, LLC for an equivalent number of shares of Class A Common Stock of the Company. Following the redemptions, no shares of Class B Common Stock of the Company are issued and outstanding.

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Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call to discuss the acquisition on October 4 at 10:30 a.m. Central Time (11:30 a.m. Eastern Time). To join the conference call from within the United States, participants may dial 1-833-255-2829. To join the conference call outside of the United States, participants may dial 1-412-902-6710. When instructed, please ask the operator to join the Ranger Energy Services, Inc. call. Participants are encouraged to login to the webcast or dial in to the conference call approximately ten minutes prior to the start time. The Company will make a presentation available before the start of the conference call. To view the presentation or listen via live webcast, please visit the Investor Center section of the Companys website, http://www.rangerenergy.com.

An audio replay of the conference call will be available shortly after the conclusion of the call and will remain available for approximately seven days. It can be accessed by dialing 1-877-344-7529 within the United States or 1-412-317-0088 outside of the United States. The conference call replay access code is 10160762. The replay will also be available in the Investor Center section of the Companys website shortly after the conclusion of the call and will remain available for approximately seven days.

Advisors

Piper Sandler is serving as exclusive financial advisor to the Company with respect to the Basic asset acquisition and sole placement agent with respect to the debt financing and private placement of Preferred Stock. Winston & Strawn LLP is serving as legal counsel to the Company.

About Ranger Energy Services, Inc.

Ranger is an independent provider of well service rigs and associated services in the United States, with a focus on unconventional horizontal well completion and production operations. Ranger also provides services necessary to bring and maintain a well on production. The Processing Solutions segment engages in the rental, installation, commissioning, start-up, operation and maintenance of MRUs, Natural Gas Liquid stabilizer and storage units and related equipment.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements represent Rangers expectations or beliefs concerning future events and it is possible that the results described in this press release will not be achieved. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of Rangers control that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements.

Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and, except as required by law, Ranger does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for Ranger to predict all such factors. When considering these forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The risk factors and other factors noted in Rangers filings with the SEC could cause its actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005742/en/

Contacts

J. Brandon Blossman

Chief Financial Officer

(713) 935-8900

Brandon.Blossman@rangerenergy.com
WINNETKA, Ill., October 01, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Two attorneys, Phil Brewster of Brewster Law Firm, Illinois and Patrick Mincey of Cranfill Sumner, North Carolina, were recently mentioned in a Wall Street Journal article for their representation of a North Carolina whistleblower who exposed an alleged international conspiracy to launder no less than $100 million through major U.S. securities firms, including Morgan Stanley and Interactive Brokers.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005688/en/

The Wall Street Journal reported the alleged conspiracy involved a network of international actors and firms collaborating to steal $2 billion from PDVSA, the state-owned oil company of Venezuela. As part of the investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal agencies are trying to determine why U.S. firms managed more than $100 million in securities for a suspicious Venezuelan businessman when the accounts displayed what authorities have listed as red flags for potential money-laundering activities.

U.S. authorities launched the investigation after attorneys Brewster and Mincey filed their clients whistleblower complaint with the SEC in 2019. "It is one of the greatest privileges of our careers to represent whistleblower Mark Coffey," Brewster and Mincey said in a joint statement. "Our client has made extraordinary sacrifices in his endeavor to shed light on the money laundering crisis in the U.S. securities industry, and there is no doubt he should beand will behailed for his unshakeable courage."

Attorney Phil Brewster is the founding partner of Brewster Law Firm LLC in Winnetka, Illinois, a firm dedicated to whistleblower matters and government investigations.

Attorney Patrick Mincey is Chair of the White Collar, Government Investigations & Special Matters Group at Cranfill Sumner LLP in North Carolina.

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ABOUT BREWSTER LAW FIRM LLC

Brewster Law Firm LLC is dedicated to whistleblower matters and government investigations. For more information, visit www.brewsteradvisory.com.

ABOUT CRANFILL SUMNER LLP

Cranfill Sumner LLP serves clients in 28 practice areas. For more information, visit www.cshlaw.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005688/en/

Contacts

Phil Brewster

847-386-6514
A-Team Home Care

A-Team Home Care

A-Team Home Care

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Inc. magazine revealed that A-Team Home Care has placed No. 710 on its annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. A-Team was selected to the list with a three-year revenue growth of 690%. The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy's most dynamic segmentits independent small businesses. Intuit, Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

"We are privileged to provide essential services to the senior community and are so proud of our amazing staff and caregivers. Through the pandemic, A-Team was often the only lifeline for many seniors who were isolated from family members and medical professionals. We look forward to helping more local families. Thank you for the recognition, Inc. Magazine!" - Irina Rabovetsky, A-Team CEO.

The companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list have proved especially resilient and flexible given 2020's unprecedented challenges. Together, those companies added more than 610,000 jobs over the past three years. "The 2021 Inc. 5000 list feels like one of the most important rosters of companies ever compiled," says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. "Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis we've lived through is just plain amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people."

More about A-Team Home Care

A-Team Home Care is a fully-accredited, award-winning provider of Personal Care Assistance and Skilled Nursing throughout Bucks, Philadelphia, Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania. Services are available 24 hours a day, including holidays. Though the company faced significant difficulties this past year, A-Team maintained its full workforce, provided PPE and offered vaccinations to all employees, and made sure its consumers maintained their lifestyles by continuing with activities of daily living.

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A-Team sets itself apart from competitors with their responsiveness (maintaining 24-hour on-call availability) and personalized efforts to pair clients and caregivers with a great match of personalities and interests. A-Team has a large bi-lingual staff so clients can communicate in their native tongue with office personnel and caregivers. A-Team has become a top local employer by providing very competitive pay and benefits.

A-Team's licensed Nurses & Therapists (Physical, Occupational, and Speech) work around the client's schedule to make visits to their home. This allows a consumer who has recently been discharged from a hospital or rehabilitation facility to continue receiving professional skilled care at a fraction of the cost of a facility. A-Team's Companions and Home Health Aides assist with daily tasks such as meal preparation, light housekeeping, bathing, shopping, medication reminders, escort to appointments, laundry, and running small errands. A-Team has long been a trusted resource for both healthcare professionals and families and works with most large insurance plans. A-Team is Medicare, Medicaid and ACHC certified, indicating a level of service that exceeds the healthcare industry's highest standards.

To learn more about A-Team or to schedule a free in-home consultation, call 215-490-9994 or e-mail service@ateampa.com. You can also visit www.ATeamPA.com.

Contact: Irina Rabovetsky, 215-490-9994, irina@ateampa.com

Complete results of the Inc. 5000 can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.

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SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new market study published by Global Industry Analysts Inc., (GIA) the premier market research company, today released its report titled "Milk - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics". The report presents fresh perspectives on opportunities and challenges in a significantly transformed post COVID-19 marketplace.



Milk

FACTS AT A GLANCE

Edition: 16; Released: April 2021

Executive Pool: 1813

Companies: 527 - Players covered include Almarai Company; Arla Foods Amba; Armor Proteines SAS; Dairy Farmers of America; Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd.; Foremost Farms USA; Glanbia PLC; Groupe Lactalis; Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (AMUL); Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., Ltd.; HP Hood LLC; Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., Ltd.; Kerry Group PLC; Lifeway Foods, Inc.; MILEI GmbH; Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd.; Namyang Dairy Products Co., Ltd.; Nestle SA; Saputo, Inc.; Valio Oy; Want Want China Holdings Ltd.; Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory Company Holdings Ltd.; Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC and Others.

Coverage: All major geographies and key segments

Segments: Milk

Geographies: World; United States; Canada; Japan; China; Europe (France; Germany; Italy; United Kingdom; Spain; Russia; and Rest of Europe); Asia-Pacific (Australia; India; South Korea; and Rest of Asia-Pacific); Latin America (Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; and Rest of Latin America); Middle East (Iran; Israel; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates; and Rest of Middle East); and Africa.



Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry



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ABSTRACT-



Global Milk Market to Reach 916.2 Million Tonnes by 2026

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Milk estimated at 820.9 Million Tonnes in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of 916.2 Million Tonnes by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 1.8% over the analysis period.



The U.S. Market is Estimated at 225.6 Million Tonnes in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach 164.3 Million Tonnes by 2026

The Milk market in the U.S. is estimated at 225.6 Million Tonnes in the year 2021. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of 164.3 Million Tonnes by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 2.8% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 1.3% and 1.5% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 1.5% CAGR. More



MarketGlass Platform

Our MarketGlass Platform is a free full-stack knowledge center that is custom configurable to today`s busy business executive`s intelligence needs! This influencer driven interactive research platform is at the core of our primary research engagements and draws from unique perspectives of participating executives worldwide. Features include - enterprise-wide peer-to-peer collaborations; research program previews relevant to your company; 3.4 million domain expert profiles; competitive company profiles; interactive research modules; bespoke report generation; monitor market trends; competitive brands; create & publish blogs & podcasts using our primary and secondary content; track domain events worldwide; and much more. Client companies will have complete insider access to the project data stacks. Currently in use by 67,000+ domain experts worldwide.



Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android



About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world`s only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years.



CONTACTS:

Zak Ali

Director, Corporate Communications

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

www.StrategyR.com

Email: ZA@StrategyR.com



LINKS

Join Our Expert Panel

https://www.strategyr.com/Panelist.asp



Connect With Us on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-industry-analysts-inc./



Follow Us on Twitter

https://twitter.com/marketbytes



Journalists & Media

Info411@strategyr.com

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SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
The Taliban has imposed wide-ranging restrictions on media and free speech since seizing control of Afghanistan in August, said Human Rights Watch (HRW).

In late September, the Taliban-led government introduced a list of rules for Afghan journalists that critics say opens the door to censorship and persecution.

Despite the Talibans promises to allow media that respected Islamic values to function, the new rules are suffocating media freedom in the country, Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at HRW, said in a statement on October 1.

The Taliban regulations are so sweeping that journalists are self-censoring and fear ending up in prison.

Since seizing power in mid-August, the Taliban said the Afghan media will remain "free and independent," provided they work according to "Islamic principles," and are fair and serve "national interests."

The Taliban announced 11 new journalism rules on September 19 that forbid journalists to broadcast or publish stories that are contrary to Islam, insult national figures, or violate privacy.

Media outlets are also required to prepare detailed reports with the new governmental regulatory body before publication.

Rights groups have said the vaguely worded rules could be used to persecute journalists.

The Taliban has also arbitrarily detained journalists and beaten several, according to HRW.

The head of a journalists advocacy group told HRW that the Taliban has taken at least 32 journalists into custody since they seized power in Kabul on August 15.

Most were released after warnings about their reporting, but some were beaten, HRW said.

HRW said the Talibans intelligence office has also summoned journalists and warned them that their reporting constituted propaganda and needed to stop.

Afghanistan was ranked 122nd out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2021 World Press Freedom Index published in April.
It took Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan a little longer than their neighbors to articulate their stances on a Taliban-led government in Afghanistan.

Distance has its benefits, and since neither Kazakhstan nor Kyrgyzstan directly borders Afghanistan, the governments in Nur-Sultan and Bishkek could react more slowly to events than Afghanistans immediate neighbors to the north: Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.



Representatives of both the Kazakh and Kyrgyz governments have finally met with Taliban officials, and so far, the policies of each of those Central Asian governments seem to be engagement aimed at keeping Afghanistan at arms length.



At the start of September, with nearly all Afghan territory in Taliban hands, Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev warned that Kazakhstan needed to brace for external shocks and a worst-case scenario."



The situation in Afghanistan...presents us with the task of rebooting the military-industrial complex and military doctrine," Toqaev said.



However, on September 9, Toqaev said Kazakhstan was ready for business contacts with Afghanistan."

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe on September 17, Toqaev spoke in favor of initiating an informal dialogue with the new authorities in Afghanistan."



On September 26, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry released a statement saying Ambassador to Afghanistan Alimzhan Esengeldiev had met with the acting foreign minister in the interim government of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi."



According to the Taliban, Esengeldiev and Muttaqi discussed trade with the ambassador, noting that Kazakhstan has been exporting grain, flour, and fuel to Afghanistan and also pledging that Kazakhstan would provide humanitarian aid.

The Kazakh Agriculture Ministry said shipments of flour and grain to Afghanistan had already resumed.



On September 16, members of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) met in Dushanbe.



Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov expressed concern that the situation in Afghanistan could adversely affect the security of CSTO countries, which include Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.



According to a statement from the Kyrgyz presidents office, the formation of a theocratic state in our region will undoubtedly negatively affect the current situation in the member countries of the CSTO.



But on September 23, the Kyrgyz government sent a delegation led by the deputy chairman of Kyrgyzstans Security Council, Taalatbak Masadykov, to Kabul.



Masadykov worked as a translator in Afghanistan when Soviet forces were there in 1987 and was also a specialist in a group of Soviet advisers from the Academy of Sciences who focused on Afghan tribal affairs and borders.



From 2002 to 2014, Masadykov worked for the United Nations in the Afghanistan-Pakistan-Iran region.



Masadykovs delegation brought a shipment of humanitarian aid with it.



On September 23, he met with the Taliban's acting Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and also with Muttaqi.

Commenting on the meetings with the Kazakh and Kyrgyz representatives, Taliban officials stressed that trade relations were the focus and repeated the Taliban's vow not to allow any group to use Afghan territory to plot attacks on neighboring countries.



It is worth noting that Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan differ from their Central Asian neighbors in other key respects, beyond simply not directly bordering Afghanistan.



Although there are likely to be some citizens of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in militant groups in Afghanistan, they are reportedly far fewer in number than the citizens of Uzbekistan or Tajikistan who are there.



Further, groups like Jamaat Ansarullo, mainly comprising Tajik citizens, or the Islamic Jihad Union or the scattered fighters of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which are made up mostly of Uzbek citizens, all aim to overthrow governments back in their homelands.



No group in Afghanistan has publicly stated as its goal the overthrow of the Kazakh or the Kyrgyz government.



Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are also interested in bringing their ethnic kin out of Afghanistan.



Kazakhstan flew 35 ethnic Kazakhs out of Afghanistan on September 9, and Kazakh authorities have already arranged to resettle them in five regions of the country and provided them with stipends for their basic needs.



Sparsely inhabited Kazakhstan has been calling on ethnic Kazakhs around the world to make Kazakhstan their home under its so-called oralman program, which was started shortly after 1991 independence.



There are also reportedly still hundreds of ethnic Kazakhs in Afghanistan who are seeking to leave for Kazakhstan.



No ethnic Kyrgyz from Afghanistan have arrived in Kyrgyzstan since the Taliban took control of nearly all of Afghanistan in August. But a group of 345 ethnic Kyrgyz from Afghanistans Badakhshan Province tried to reach Kyrgyz territory in July, only to be stopped in Tajikistan; they eventually returned to Afghanistan.



Some of the Pamir Kyrgyz from Afghanistan have resettled in Kyrgyzstan over the past two decades.

Immediately after the Taliban entered Kabul in mid-August, Kyrgyz Health and Social Development Minister Japar Mambetov told RFE/RLs Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Azattyk, that Kyrgyzstan was willing to take 1,200 Pamir Kyrgyz from Afghanistan.



Like Kazakhstan's oralman program, Kyrgyzstan has its own scheme to attract ethnic Kyrgyz from abroad, known as the kayrylman program.



On September 26, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov was shown shoveling cement into foundations for new housing for so-called kayrylman in the Chong-Alai district of Osh Province in an apparent signal that Kyrgyzstan was ready to take in more Kyrgyz from Afghanistan.



The Uzbek and, especially, Tajik populations of Afghanistan are far larger. But neither Uzbekistan nor Tajikistan has shown any willingness to offer a new home to their ethnic cousins in Afghanistan.



Kazakhstan's and Kyrgyzstans overtures to the Taliban have been cautious, to say the least.

It is also notable the Kazakh Foreign Ministrys statement on the ambassadors meeting with Muttaqi never used the word Taliban.

But both countries have now established direct contact and seem to hope that gestures like sending humanitarian aid or maintaining trade ties will keep them further shielded from any Afghan spillover.
Russia has urged Tajikistan and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to take mutually acceptable measures to resolve tensions along the Tajik-Afghan border amid reports of an increased military build-up on both sides.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has refused to recognize the Taliban-led government and condemned the militant group for alleged human rights abuses in the Panjshir Valley, which was the last pocket of resistance to the group.

The Taliban has accused Dushanbe of meddling in Afghanistan's internal affairs.

Ethnic Tajiks make up more than a quarter of Afghanistan's 38-million population, but the Taliban is predominately Pashtun, the largest ethnic group in the war-torn country.

Last week, Rahmonreiterated his previous calls for the Taliban to form an inclusive government in Afghanistan with the participation of all political and ethnic groups in order to allay tensions.

Russia is "concerned about the growing tension in Tajik-Afghan relations against the background of the mutually acrimonious statements by the leaders of both countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexey Zaitsev told reporters in Moscow on October 1.

Zaitsev said the Taliban has revealed that tens of thousands of fighters have been deployed in the northeastern province of Takhar, which borders Tajikistan.

Russian RIA news agency cited Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi as denying the movement was building up its forces at the Tajik border.

Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to the comments.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid last week said that members of the Taliban's special forces unit had been deployed to Takhar to beef up security in the region.

Mujahid added that Taliban fighters took over an airport in the neighboring Afghan province of Kunduz, which also borders Tajikistan.

During the Talibans lightning military offensive in July, Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin expressed concern as the militants seized large swaths of territory near the border with the Central Asian nation.

Tajikistan that month also urged the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization's member states to help strengthen security along the Tajik-Afghan border.

Since then, the alliance has staged military drills in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Russia and Uzbekistan, which also borders Afghanistan, have also held joint exercises near the Uzbek-Afghan border.

With reporting by TASS, Interfax, RIA Novosti, and Reuters
As the pandemic isolated us in our homes, many feared intimate partner violence would increase.

Those fears were not unfounded. In Colorado Springs, beginning in April 2020, TESSA, a nonprofit that supports victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, saw increasing numbers of people who needed help. Those numbers have continued to climb, with no drop-off. Before the pandemic, the organization received about 800 calls per month on its safe line. Nowadays, that number is 1,200. And in normal years, the nonprofit touched about 15,000 people. This year, in 2020-2021, that number is 23,000.

Its a problem here. It comes in all shapes and sizes, and knows no bounds, said TESSA CEO Anne Markely. Often people turn a blind eye. They say this cant happen in my community, neighborhood, friend group or family. But you can gather a room of people together, and at least one person, in some way, has been touched or impacted by intimate partner violence.

Chamber Orchestra of the Springs and Art Song Colorado will present Enough: Voices Against Abuse, a concert outside of the orchestras regular season, to help raise awareness about domestic violence during October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The show comes with a warning, as the subject matter might be triggering to some. Its Sunday at First United Methodist Church. The show is free, but donations can be made to TESSA.

IF YOU GO What: "Enough: Voices Against Abuse" by Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, featuring Jennifer DeDominici and Jonathan Hays performing musical theater selections, and Amy Maples and Marcia Ragonetti in Jake Heggie's "To Hell and Back" When: 3 p.m. Sunday Where: First United Methodist Church, 420 N. Nevada Ave. Price: Free, donations benefit TESSA; 633-3649, chamberorchestraofthesprings.org

It gives a temporary place to raise awareness to a different audience they (TESSA) dont normally reach, said orchestra manager Pam Chaddon.

They have their core audience, but this might give them more opportunity. It (domestic violence) happens more often than we think.

The first half of the concert will feature vocalists Jennifer DeDominici and Jonathan Hays performing selections from musicals that shine a light on intimate partner violence, including Six, a modern-day retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII; Waitress, about a baker and waitress married to an abusive husband; and Little Shop of Horrors, where a main character has an abusive boyfriend.

Amy Maples and Marcia Ragonetti will star in Jake Heggies 2006 40-minute, one-act modern opera, To Hell and Back, during the concerts second half. The story revisits the myth of Persephone, set in a contemporary spousal abuse setting with a baroque-style orchestra.

Music director Thomas Wilson will conduct, and Art Song Colorados associate conductor Steven Aguilo-Arbues will play piano.

The issue of domestic violence is ever present, though often invisible to many of us. The Colorado Springs Police Department responds to more than 40 domestic calls every day, Markely said. And it was at the core of the citys last mass shooting in May, when the aggrieved boyfriend of a woman gunned down her and five other people at a birthday party.

Chaddon, whos also a cellist in the orchestra, believed there was an opportunity for the orchestra to give a voice to those who are silenced by intimate partner violence. Art can be a way to explore the messiness of humanity, as well as provide a source of healing.

When the wildfires came through what did our community do? We had a concert, Chaddon said. What did we do when 9/11 happened? Have a concert. We seek solace in music. There is healing in music.
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Pikes Peak region and Colorado Springs-area hikers need not travel far to catch Colorados signature aspen displays in the fall. Here are some favorites:

Seven Bridges

The Seven Bridges trail, a little more than 1 miles one way, follows North Cheyenne Creek through a shady forest. Once youve reached the seventh bridge, you can continue on to reach Jones Park, where youll find aspen-filled meadows.

If you go: Park atop North Cheyenne Canon Park, above Helen Hunt Falls. The trail, marked No. 622, starts a little more than a half-mile west of the parking lot.

The Crags

The beautiful rock formations of The Crags for which this trail is named arent the only reason to bring your camera. The roughly 4-mile round-trip hike offers stunning views of Pikes Peak, distant mountain ranges and colorful foliage aplenty.

If you go: Heading south on Colorado 67 from U.S. 24, be on the lookout for the sign pointing to the dirt track on your left.

Mueller State Park

Check out the parks 55 miles of trails and upward of 5,000 acres of meadows and forests. For the best aspen views, hike the 5-mile Cheesman Ranch Loop.

cheesman 5.JPG Pikes Peak looms in view between the aspen trees on a perfect fall day along the Cheesman Ranch Loop in Mueller State Park.

If you go: Head south on Colorado 67 from U.S. 24 and turn right into the park. Daily admission is $9 per vehicle. No dogs.

Cheyenne Mountain State Park

Another sprawling state park, with a spectacular new destination to behold. Should you take on the 15-mile round-trip trek up Dixon Trail to the top of the mountain, youll be rewarded with a seemingly endless aspen grove. Much gentler options are the Blackmer and Sundance loops.

If you go: Take Colorado 115 south past South Academy Boulevard and turn right into the park. Daily admission is $9 per vehicle. No dogs.

Lovell Gulch

Woodland Park residents are spoiled by this 5-mile loop of Lovell Gulch, starting pretty much right from town. The trail meanders tranquil meadows and rises to spectacular views of Pikes Peak. Aspens accompany you the whole way.

If you go: Going west on U.S. 24 through Woodland Park, turn right on Baldwin Street at the McDonalds. Continue straight until the city maintenance buildings; turn left for the trailhead parking lot.

Catamount Ranch Open Space

This Teller County preserve is a slice of paradise at the end of Edlowe Road, the left turn going west on U.S. 24. Explorers have multiple loop options, including a route to North Catamount Reservoir. At last visit, we leaf-peeped along Elder-Fehn Trail, making it an out-and-back trip of about 6 miles.

If you go: Going west on U.S. 24 through Woodland Park, before reaching Divide, see the left turn for Edlowe Road (also County Road 28). The pavement ends at the open spaces dirt parking lot.

Rainbow Gulch

Reached off Rampart Road, Rainbow Gulch is an easy, 4-mile out-and-back trail high in Pike National Forest  with added mileage if you decide to continue on the shores of Rampart Reservoir.

If you go: In Woodland Park, turn north onto Baldwin Street at McDonalds. After about 3 miles, turn right onto Loy Creek Road. After 1 miles, turn right onto Rampart Range Road. In 2 miles, see the trailhead and parking area to your left.

Lost Creek Wilderness Area

For something more adventurous, set a course to Lost Creek and the Springs nearest wilderness area. The drive alone will leave you breathless. Then there are the trails splashed in aspens. The Goose Creek trailhead is a good launch point.

If you go: On U.S. 24 west, continue through Florissant and Lake George. Turn right onto County Road 77. After about 7 miles, turn right onto Matukat Road, which becomes Forest Road 77, which becomes Forest Road 211. Another 11 miles to trailhead. High-clearance/four-wheel drive vehicle recommended but not required.
Biden to Democrats in Capitol: No rush on infrastructure and reconciliation
Democrats plan to revise President Joe Bidens proposal that all bank transactions of more than $600 be reported to the IRS as banks and privacy advocates come out against the plan.
Drivers on Interstate 25 near Larkspur should expect travel delays when construction crews close the interstates southbound lanes for several nights beginning Monday.

Crews will fully close southbound I-25 from Spruce Mountain to Upper Lake Gulch roads beginning 7 p.m. Monday through 7 a.m. Tuesday. Crews will close the lanes again from 7 p.m. Oct. 11 to 7 a.m. Oct. 12, and 7 p.m. Oct. 13 to 5 a.m. Oct. 14.

Southbound I-25 traffic will funnel into one lane north of Spruce Mountain Road, where it will exit, Colorado Department of Transportation officials said in a release. Drivers will take Spruce Mountain Road south to the Upper Lake Gulch Road onramp to continue onto southbound I-25. The detour should take about five minutes, officials said.

During the closures, construction crews will complete paving operations and shift traffic as part of ongoing work in the widening of I-25 between Monument and Castle Rock, the release said.

Crews will begin setting up traffic control signs 30 minutes before the closures go into effect, which could cause minor traffic delays.
An Afghan girl goes to a school in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 18, 2021. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Associate Justice Samuel Alito poses during a group photo of the Justices at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., April 23, 2021. Erin Schaff/Pool via REUTERS
The Senate passed an emergency funding bill that will keep the federal government operating past a Sept. 30 deadline.
Commander of the Colombian Military Forces, General Luis Fernando Navarro, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Bogota, Colombia September 29, 2021. REUTERS/Camilo Cohecha
A city councilor in the small Colorado mountain town of Woodland Park has lost her job over her employers edict to either get a COVID-19 vacc
City Editor

Tom Roeder is the Gazette's City Editor. In Colorado Springs since 2003, Tom has covered the military at home and overseas and has covered statehouses in Denver and Olympia, Wash. His main job, though, is being dad to two great kids.
Gazette file photo. A CDOT worker jumps into his snowplow as crews wait on the Ouray side of Red Mountain Pass on U.S. 550 to clear the road.
New York testing drones with 5G network

New Yorks drone testing range will be using a 5G network to help advance innovation in unmanned aircraft systems.

The MITRE Engenuity Open Generation 5G Consortium has identified the Syracuse to Rome corridor as a prime location to launch the nation's first 5G UAS testing range, Gov. Kathy Hochu announced.

The consortium is leading UAS-over-5G research for emergency response, infrastructure inspection, package delivery and asset management. The corridor is managed by NUAIR, a New York-based nonprofit and member of the consortium. It works with a number of states on advancing 5G UAS operations.

The 100-square-mile testing range will include an experimentation hub dedicated to 5G beyond-visual-line-of-site testing and long-range flight paths, a capability that will be critical to safe and secure commercial unmanned aircraft, New York officials said in the announcement.

Early-stage testing has already demonstrated the viability of using 5G to pilot drones and has collected meaningful data to help guide standards development and inform use cases.

In 2016, New York invested $30 million in development of the UAS traffic management corridor between Syracuse and Griffiss International Airport in Rome. Over the past five years, the state has put in nearly $70 million to advance the UAS industry in Central New York and the Mohawk Valley, which are now well positioned to conduct advanced 5G testing.

The Air Force has been flying large, unmanned aircraft out of Syracuse Airport since 2015, and the city has already started preparing for 5G, installing smart streetlights capable of supporting a 5G communications network.

Rome is home to the New York State Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site, one of only seven FAA-designated unmanned aircraft systems test sites in the nation.

Many in the telecommunications industry are looking to 5G spectrum for advanced UAS operations and hope to have it approved by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Communications Commission for use in airspace under 400 feet, which is where commercial drone operators typically fly. The 5G testing in New York will help demonstrate that the 5G cellular network meets aviation safety requirements.

"The industry is looking for an FAA and FCC approved communications network that has the capability and reliability needed for safe commercial drone operations, NUAIR CEO Ken Stewart said. 5G holds the promise of unlocking scalable, economically viable drone operations, and we are confident that our work in New York will help determine if 5G is a suitable solution for the UAS industry."

UAS over 5G has many commercial uses, N.Y. Sen. Rachel May said. "This technology has the potential to greatly improve the deployment of drones for infrastructure monitoring, installation of solar technology, faster and more efficient delivery of goods, and many others. It is exciting to see continued investment in our region from innovators."
The pickup truck thats driving climate data monitoring

Climate scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratorys Center for Multiscale Applied Sensing (CMAS) have outfitted a pickup truck with their atmospheric research and monitoring equipment so they can capture precise, local data on wind, temperature, rain, and clouds in different areas of a city.

City neighborhoods  business districts, retail sections, residential areas and parks -- have unique and uneven responses to climate change, said Katia Lamer, a research associate in Brookhavens environmental and climate sciences department. Lamer and her team want to monitor local weather conditions to identify areas vulnerable to climate change and evaluate mitigation strategies.

While scientists have suspected urban microclimates vary between different areas of a city, collecting and measuring localized high-resolution data has been challenging because of cities highly heterogenous nature and high obstacle density, Lamer said in a lab news post.

It is expensive and inefficient to install a sensor network across an entire city  or even a neighborhood -- but the CMAS truck carries a variety of atmospheric measurement instruments, including cameras, lidar radar, a navigation system, generators, computers and routers for accessing high-speed internet. The completely independent platform can relocate its sensing and analysis equipment quickly and easily.

This design allows us to study large-scale changes in temperature and rainfall between the city center and the suburbs and also smaller-scale changes between neighborhoods, Lamer said. Understanding these differences brings us one step closer towards achieving environmental equity for all city dwellers.

In June, researchers drove the CMAS pickup from Brookhaven Lab in central Long Island to Manhattan to collect data to help understand air flows around skyscrapers. On two separate days, they parked on each of the four sides of a single skyscraper, adjusting their position throughout the day as atmospheric conditions changed.

Air flow around buildings is something scientists do not fully understand, yet it has a huge impact on how pollutants and heat travel through the air and, as such, on the conditions experienced by pedestrians at street level, Lamer said.

To monitor wind patterns above ground level, the research team used the mobile observatorys fisheye camera to guide a scanning Doppler lidar measuring the movement of particles in the air.

The use of multiple remote sensors exchanging data in real time through a high-speed internet signal is a new way of operating lidars for improved pointing accuracy, Lamer said. This significantly helps with collecting data between buildings, which otherwise would completely block our instrument signals.

The team also measured local winds and temperatures as they traveled from the Brookhaven campus to lower Manhattan to identify the boundaries and characteristics of the citys heat dome. When theyre done gathering data in Manhattan, the researchers plan to take the truck to cities across the U.S.

Each city has its own unique urban environment, Lamer said. New York City has a subway system, which has air moving in and out of underground tunnels, and the city is coastal, so it feels the effect of the sea breeze. Houston, in contrast, does not have an underground subway system and has smaller buildings. As such, it should have a different urban atmospheric structure.

While the researchers hope to add more monitoring equipment to the CMAS truck, theyre also getting requests from other scientists to put their instruments on the pickup. It feels like this experiment will become a community platform, and we look forward to growing into new research areas, Lamer said.
Maryland outlaws ransomware, calls for statewide security strategy

While state and local governments have been no strangers to cyberattacks, the ransomware attacks in Baltimore pushed the issue to the top of Maryland legislators priority list. In 2019, a ransomware attack on Baltimore City in 2019 made systems unavailable for weeks, disrupting city services. In November 2020, the Baltimore County public schools IT systems were hit.

On Oct. 1 two new laws went into effect:

SB623 prohibits the knowing possession of ransomware with intent to use. It also intentionally interrupting or impairing the functioning of a state agency, electricity or natural gas or other public service company, health care facility or a public school  with the exception of legitimate security researchers. Convicted persons will be subject to fines, jail time and civil suits.

SB049 calls for the secretary of the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) to oversee a consistent cybersecurity strategy for state agencies and public universities and develop security guidance for local governments, school systems and other political subdivisions.

The two measures go hand-in-hand, Sen. Susan Lee, (D-Montgomery), who sponsored both bills, told the Baltimore Sun. A lot of the ransomware attacks have been on localities and on city governments, on hospitals and critical infrastructures. At least we are taking a first step in addressing these cyberattacks against our localities.

DoIT has already posted guidance on response and recovery planning and IT certification policies for state agencies. It also offers security awareness training and a managed firewall service for state as well as county and municipal governments.
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GMAT Tutor in Montreal



If you are looking for online GMAT math tutoring, or if you are interested in buying my advanced Quant books and problem sets, please contact me at ianstewartgmat at gmail.com Signature Read More

This question is from my Word Problems book (one of my least interesting questions, but the GMAT does test this type of thing sometimes). The question illustrates how important it is to correctly interpret the meaning of statements in Venn diagram problems, and any misinterpretation can lead to an incorrect solution, as is the case in the solution posted above. When the question says "55 students take both Music and Art", for example, that doesmean "55 students take Music and Art ONLY" (which is the incorrect assumption in the solution above). Some of those 55 students take Music and Art and do not take Creative Writing, while some of those 55 students take Music, ArtCreative Writing.Here if x students take all three classes, then 55-x, 72-x, and 109-x are the numbers taking exactly two classes, and working through the Venn diagram, using the total number in each class, we find 116+x take only Music, 31+x take only Art, and 31+x take only Creative Writing. These seven quantities sum to 420, so you find 420 = 414 + x and x = 6._________________
For many years, Benjamin Quarles seminal account of the participation of African Americans in the American Revolution has remained the standard work in the field. According to Quarles, the outcome of this conflict was mixed for African American slaves who enlisted in Britains fight against its rebellious American colonies in return for the promise of freedom: the British treacherously resold many into slavery in the West Indies, while others obtained freedom in Canada and Africa. Building on Quarles analysis of the latter group, Sylvia Frey studied the former slaves who emigrated to British colonies in Canada. According to Frey, these refugeesthe most successful of the African American Revolutionary War participantsviewed themselves as the ideological heirs of the American Revolution. Frey sees this inheritances reflected in their demands for the same rights that the American revolutionaries had demanded from the British: land ownership, limits to arbitrary authority and burdensome taxes, and freedom of religion.

1. According to the passage, which of the following is true about the African American Revolutionary War participants who settled in Canada after the American Revolution?

2. Which of the following is most analogous to the relationship between the African American Revolutionary War participants who settled in Canada after the American Revolution and the American revolutionaries, as that relationship is described in the passage?

3. The author of the passage suggests that which of the following is true of Benjamin Quarles work?

4. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage concerning Britains rule in its Canadian colonies after the American Revolution?

(A) Although they were politically unaligned with either side, they identified more with British ideology than with American ideology.(B) While they were not immediately betrayed by the British, they ultimately suffered the same fate as did African American Revolutionary War participants who were resold into slavery in the West Indies.(C) They settled in Canada rather than in Africa because of the greater religious freedom available in Canada.(D) They were more politically active than were African American Revolutionary War participants who settled in Africa.(E) They were more successful than were African American Revolutionary War participants who settled Africa.(A) A brilliant pupil of a great musician rebels against the teacher, but adopts the teachers musical style after the teachers unexpected death.(B) Two warring rulers finally make peace after a lifetime of strife when they realize that they have been duped by a common enemy.(C) A child who has sided with a domineering parent against a defiant sibling later makes demands of the parent similar to those once made by the sibling.(D) A writer spends much of her life popularizing the work of her mentor, only to discover late in life that much of the older writers work is plagiarized from the writings of a foreign contemporary.(E) Two research scientists spend much of their careers working together toward a common goal, but later quarrel over which of them should receive credit for the training of a promising student.(A) It introduced a new and untried research methodology.(B) It contained theories so controversial that they gave rise to an entire generation of scholarship.(C) It was a pioneering work that has not yet been displaced by subsequent scholarship.(D) It launched the career of a scholar who later wrote even more important works.(E) At the time it appeared, its author already enjoyed a well-established reputation in the field.(A) Humiliated by their defeat by the Americans, the British sharply curtailed civil rights in their Canadian colonies.(B) The British largely ignored their Canadian colonies.(C) The British encouraged the colonization of Canada by those African Americans who had served on the American side as well as by those who had served on the British side.(D) Some of Britains policies in its Canadian colonies were similar to its policies in its American colonies before the American Revolution.(E) To reduce the debt incurred during the war, the British imposed even higher taxes on the Canadian colonists than they had on the American colonists.
" " Sometimes we need a helping hand, and sometimes we just take advantage of one. How can you know the right thing to do? PeopleImages/Getty Images

Most people desperately want a friend or relative dealing with addiction to recover, but the sheer complexity of these problems makes it tough to know what behaviors are supportive versus enabling, a lesson that Boca Raton, Florida-based wedding photographer Erica Hartwig learned with her first husband when he became addicted to pain pills.

"We had shared bank accounts, and I should have not let him have any money but, there were times I would give him money for food or gas and he would use it for drugs," she recalls. "He would promise me he wouldn't use [it] for drugs but always did."

Although enabling behaviors are usually done out of love, they can actually backfire for everyone involved. "When you enable someone, you're giving them permission to continue their negative behaviors," says Dr. Sal Raichbach, an addiction psychologist with Ambrosia Treatment Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, in an email. "It might feel like you're helping them through a tough time, but you're actually doing the opposite of helping. Even if your intentions are good, your efforts shouldn't make it easier for them to continue their behavior."

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The Difference Between Enabling and Supporting

It's often tough for a person in the thick of it to realize which type of behavior they're engaged in. "Support means being honest with your loved one even if they do not want to hear what you have to say, researching treatment centers for your loved one, not making excuses for your loved one's behavior, and showing your loved one 'tough love' by not covering up the problem, but rather exposing it," emails Kristen Fuller, M.D., a clinical mental health writer with California-based Center for Discovery.

By contrast, she says, "Enabling usually consists of ignoring the problem, covering up your loved one's mistakes, allowing your loved one to make excuses for their actions, purchasing alcohol or drugs for your loved one because you feel bad and allowing your loved one to spiral out of control because you are afraid of getting in trouble if you speak your mind."

So when many people try to be understanding and not "too hard" on a person in turmoil, it actually delegitimizes the problem because it's not being recognized, addressed and treated.

"This disempowers the one struggling from owning and overcoming their addiction," says Shari Botwin, a licensed clinical social worker. "We're not born with the need to rescue people. [Often enablers] were made in their own families to feel like if there's a problem you have to fix it."

Another reason that enabling behaviors persist is because often it's easier to go along with the problem than trying to fight it. Tony Tan, clinical manager at The Dawn Medical Rehab & Wellness Center in Thailand, notes that enablers are generally afraid to be assertive with the person in question, so they maintain the status quo even as their loved one deteriorates day by day.

"Supporting a person with depression or an addiction means doing what is right and in the best interests of him or her  even when they do not like it," he explains in an email. "This support could involve admission into hospital or rehab to force that person to get the proper help they need."

Some of the more common ways that people enable others is by helping them to avoid consequences, Raichbach explains. This can include lying for them, bailing them out of jail and generally cleaning up their major messes. Painful though it may be to see someone you love fall flat on their face, "When people don't feel the consequences of their own actions, there is no motivation for change," he says.

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Adjusting Expectations

Often, people get so accustomed to the behavior that they have little to no expectations from the person with the problem, therefore allowing them to stop participating in their own life. "We're thinking, 'OK, they're really impaired so we're not going to have any expectation of them getting up at a certain time or engaging in activities or going to school or work,'" says Matt Onorato, a licensed independent social worker and director of social work at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center's Harding Hospital.

But just because your expectations have been lowered doesn't mean they should continue that way. Since depression and addiction are real medical problems, Onorato says that it helps to think of treatment and wellness goals as you would another disease, like diabetes, where the patient makes small changes as she's able and bigger ones as she progresses.

You should support with words, rather taking action on behalf of the addict, says Botwin. "Instead of going over and getting rid of alcohol when the person calls and says I'm drinking again ... say, 'I'll come over and be there while you throw out the alcohol.' It doesn't sound that much different, but it's hugely different because the person is taking ownership of saying 'I don't want this alcohol in the house' by putting it in the trash [himself]."

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Setting Boundaries

Although it might seem cruel, setting boundaries is crucial to the well-being of everyone involved. Boundaries can include limits on how much you see each other or how much the affected person is allowed to complain or talk about their problems to you. If the loved one has an expectation that you are their "fallback" for housing or finances, it's perfectly fine to draw the line.

"People become dependent on parents or partners for money, but it keeps them from being self-sufficient," Botwin explains. "It's really about understanding too that just because somebody says that they need money or a place to live that's not the only option."

For instance, halfway houses or residential facilities can be good alternatives. "Places like that can teach people how to get upon their feet and how to function in the world we live in," Botwin says, noting such setups are helpful because "the family can support [the person] without rescuing them."

Of course, if it's a dire situation (such as if the addict has been evicted and has no place else to go), it's OK to temporarily allow the person to stay with you, says Botwin, but there should be boundaries around how long they stay. "Not just open-ended. People get comfortable and end up not wanting to leave."

Wedding photographer Erica Hartwig calls stopping the cycle of enabling "emotionally one of the hardest things you can do. You don't know if your choices are the right ones. You need to step away, so they can hit rock bottom and pray they make it."

Unfortunately, her ex-husband ended up dying from an overdose. But still she says, "You have to cut someone off. If they don't want to help themselves you aren't going to force them to stop. It's hard to cut someone off. You want to help but, they need to want it too ... Stop enabling. [The addict] needs to figure it out for themselves."

Now That's Important Support groups for the relatives and friends of addicts (like Al-Anon) can be helpful to people who might be enablers. The website DrugAbuse.com has a lot of resources for people looking for treatment options for loved ones, as does the U.S.-government-run SAMHSA.gov.
" " OPI Man Repeller nail polish is just one example of the nail polish brand's fantastic naming practice. Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for ELLE Magazine

Names matter. Anyone who has purchased nail polish knows there's way more to choosing the perfect peach than just a quick glance at a few different shades. It's impossible to pick that little bottle without turning it over to read the name.

"Size Doesn't Matter," "Turquoise and Caicos" and "Ballet Pink," have general connotations, add individual life experiences (who can forget being the sugarplum fairy who danced her way into the orchestra pit?) into the mix and the right name can mean something different to everyone.

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Cosmetic company executives say that not only do names impact nail polish sales, but they also can determine the overall success of a color, proving that nail polish naming is not something they take lightly.

So where do nail polishes get their names? Can you major in nail polish naming (asking for a friend, of course)? Are there boardroom brawls over "Mean Green" or "Grinch Green"? Have names like "Dryer Lint," "Fish Tank Fungus" and "Dental Floss" ever made the short list?

Essie is one of the best known and bestselling brands of nail polish on the market. Essie Weingarten founded the brand in 1981 and used to have the final say on every shade moniker. The brand is owned by L'Oreal now, so Weingarten serves as the global brand consultant.

But she always believed names should be witty, fun and memorable like "Jamaican Me Crazy" and "Trophy Wife." Her inspiration included destinations, fashion trends and pop culture. The most famous of all Essie colors is, "Ballet Slippers." It's reportedly the only color Queen Elizabeth wears or approves of, and it's the color both Princess Eugenie and Meghan Markle wore as brides.

The brand OPI is practically synonymous with nail polish. Oddly, though, the popular polish company started as a dental supplier (OPI stands for Odontorium Products, Inc., and didn't start carrying nail care products until 1981 and nail polish in 1989). Current Executive Vice President and Creative Director Suzi Weiss-Fischman decided to make things interesting by using fun names instead of boring ones like mauve #6, red #3 and pink #12.

Weiss-Fischman told The Times of Israel the OPI color names are a huge part of the brand's DNA, and that names are always based on a geographic locations, food and some fun unmentionables.

The results are some of the funniest and cleverest nail polish names out there. How can you not love a polish with the name "I Cannoli Wear OPI," and "Teal the Cows Come Home"? The first shade Weiss-Fischmann named is her favorite, as well as a reviewer and fan favorite. "I'm Really Not a Waitress" is an award-winning red that will exist for eternity in The Allure Beauty Hall of Fame.

Perhaps the best thing about a great nail polish color with a quirky name is when others admire and inquire about the shade. If you have the right color on you will be able to say, "None of Your Risky Business," "Leaf Me Alone" or "Stop It, I'm Blushing."

So the next time you choose a nail polish, remember to focus on names and don't just judge a polish by its color.

Now That's Awesome Deborah Lippmann lets her passion for music guide the naming of all Deborah Lippmann colors after song titles. The songs are chosen by a small group of people who spend an evening with a little wine and a lot of iTunes perusing. The festive gatherings have yielded such unforgettable names as "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Single Ladies."

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Originally Published: Apr 20, 2020
" " Istanbul, Turkey, celebrated its 97th anniversary of the Independence on Oct. 6, 2020. Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

In his 1915 travelogue, "Constantinople and Istanbul Old and New," H.G. Dwight writes, "Constantinople is a compromise, therefore, and not always a successful one, between north and south." In this instance, Dwight speaks of the jarring weather in the city, which blends the climate of regions to the north and south.

Yet, his statement also serves as an apt representation of the history of Constantinople (presently known as Istanbul), which is a city that stands as a centuries-long compromise  a melting pot  of peoples, religions and cultures.

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From the Greeks to the Romans

Way back in the time before the common era (C.E.), Constantinople was the ancient capital of the Byzantine empire, though it was known at the time as Byzantium. Byzas the Megarian gave the region its name in 700 B.C.E., and a small settlement of Greeks lived there until 300 B.C.E.

In 330 C.E., Roman emperor Constantine I declared Byzantium to be the 'New Rome.' The settlement transformed into the major center of Constantinople, named after its new Roman conqueror. The ancient Byzantium thrived under Roman rule for more than 1,000 years, even as other parts of the Roman Empire collapsed.

"Constantinople was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. It moved from Rome in the 4th-5th centuries of the Common Era (C.E.). That was the formal foundation of the city [under] Emperor Constantine," says Cornell Fleischer. Fleischer is the Kanuni Suleyman professor of Ottoman and modern Turkish studies in Near Eastern languages and civilizations at The University of Chicago.

According to Fleischer, Venetian rulers attempted to conquer the city through a Christian crusade, and were briefly successful, ruling over the area from 1204-1260 C.E. But, otherwise, the empire remained in the hands of the Romans, serving as the empire's central seat of power until the Ottoman conquest in 1453.

The Ottoman Conquest

But how did Constantinople fall into the hands of the Ottoman Empire? According to Fleischer, the Ottoman "polity" was one of many principalities in the Balkans and northwestern Anatolia (also known as Asia Minor, in what is modern-day Turkey).

"The Ottoman principality was the one that was the closest  the closest in a number of senses  to Constantinople, to the center of empire. And conquest of the city had been a dream of sorts for a very long time," says Fleischer. "Indeed, there are traditions of the Prophet Muhammad that referred to the conquest of the city  the conquest of Rome  as one of the events that will usher in the culmination of the end of history or the end of times, whatever that might be."

" " A movie, made with 3D mapping, beams and lasers, is displayed during a program marking 566th anniversary of Ottoman conquest of Istanbul in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 29, 2019. Serhat Cagdas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

There had been numerous attempted sieges of Constantinople starting in the late 1300s, but none had succeeded. But, finally, Sultan Mehmed II toppled the city after a 55-day siege. His army bombarded the city's defenses by both land and sea until the seat of the Byzantine Empire crumbled May 29, 1453.

Beyond Constantinople, the Ottomans had been steadily expanding their empire for decades, becoming a major world player in the process. "And the Ottomans had been pressing for several decades, and they had taken imperial territories in what had been the Balkans in particular  former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece. These areas were the cradle of what became the Ottoman empire."

Recent docudramas, such as "Rise of the Empires: Ottoman" on Netflix, have popularized this period of conquest for modern audiences.
" " Outlaw con man Jeff "Soapy" Smith stands at a bar in the frontier town of Skagway, Alaska, where he would be killed in a shootout on July 8, 1898. Wikimedia Commons/Library of Congress

Jefferson "Soapy" Smith, so named because of his legendary Prize Package Soap Sell scam, was a well-known confidence man and swindler, a heavy drinker with a bad temper, a penchant for violence and an iron fist. After moving around the mining camps of the old West, surviving off a series of spectacularly successful swindles, he and his gang eventually moved into and took control of the frontier town of Skagway, Alaska. Soapy was killed in a shootout on July 8, 1898, before a meeting of the citizen group that had been organized to shut him down and run him out of town.

Yes, a violent end for a man who lived his life behind the barrel of a gun.

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During their lifetimes, most of the worst outlaws of the Wild West were considered criminals and desperadoes, law breaking enemies of the state, every one. Today they are known as larger-than-life heroes with cooler-than-cool nicknames, the subjects of countless books, movies and outrageous tales, all chock full of blown-up details of their lives and criminal exploits. In popular folklore the stories of all famous outlaws pretty much share the same three qualities:

They were mostly Robin Hoods , stealing from the rich for the sole purpose of giving to the poor.

Although they "officially" died violent deaths, most somehow escaped at the last second, changed their names and survived into old age.

They all, invariably, stuck it to The Man.

Folklore has its own truths, but we'll leave those alone to focus on what historians tell us. When we do that, the following commonalities emerge: thievery, guns, more guns, violence and early death.

Here are the stories of how six of the most famous outlaws of the wild, wild west  five men and one woman  lived and died.
For 7-year-old Maple Fudge Of 12 Oak and her leadswoman, Ashley Brandel, an invite to the Supreme Champion selection is nothing new, but it is just as rewarding. In 2016, Fudge made her first appearance at World Dairy Expo and as a junior 2-year-old, won Intermediate Champion and Grand Champion of the Junior Show.

The next year, the duo of Fudge and Brandel returned to the Expo grounds to reclaim the same titles. In 2018, they took their success a step further, receiving not only Senior Champion and Grand Champion of the Junior Show but also of the International Milking Shorthorn Show.

Three years later, they did it again at the 2021 World Dairy Expo. Fudge, owned by siblings Colton and Ashley Brandel of Lake Mills, Wis., won the Lifetime Merit Cow Class, Senior Champion, and Grand Champion of both shows.

When selecting the Grand Champion of the International Milking Shorthorn Show, Judge Dean Dohle of Pleasant Hope, Mo., and associate judge Keith Fisher of New Enterprise, Pa., did not hide their emotion.

When selecting the winner, Dohle couldnt contain his excitement and marched directly to shake Brandels hand. Theres just no denying this cow, Dohle said.

The Reserve Grand Champion title went to Corstar Presto Lulu-ET. The Aged Cow is bred and owned by Cory and Kristen Salzl of Litchfield, Minn., and was also named Reserve Senior Champion of the Milking Shorthorn Show.

The winning senior 3-year-old, Gin-Val Logic Lauretta-EXP, bred and owned by Johnathon Clark of Cornish, N.H., won Intermediate Champion of the Open and Junior Show. The Reserve Intermediate Champion of the Junior Show, Gin-Val Princeton Leanna-EXP, is owned by the same exhibitor. Clark was also presented with the Keith King Showmanship Award.

The Reserve Intermediate Champion of the international show was Hard Core KY-Blue Abigail-EXP, a junior 3-year-old owned by Taylor Graves of Danville, Ky.

The Junior Champion and Reserve Junior Champion hail from the Summer Yearling Heifer class. Valley View Fires Ash-EXP, owned by M. and C. Gregory, M. Upchurch, and S. Wolf of Illinois won Junior Champion. The Reserve Junior Champion, Bagley Bog TC Miss Merica, is owned by Misty Meadow Dairy of Tillamook, Ore.

In the Junior Show, Heavenly Hominy-EXP won Reserve Senior Champion. The 4-year-old is owned by Brett Ritschard of Heavenly Show Cattle of Monroe, Wis.

The Junior Champion of the Junior Show was Ashley Brandels Winter Yearling Heifer, Maunesha Creek Easy On The Eyes-EXP. The reserve was Lazy M Jekyll Zella-EXP. The Fall Yearling Heifer is bred and owned by Britton and Cameron Allen of Stitzer, Wis.

The International Milking Shorthorn Show had 208 entries. The Premier Breeder Award went to Wisconsins Herman and Michael Maier of Lazy M Farm. Peter Vail of Englewood, Fla., was the Premier Exhibitor, and North Stars Presto-ET-EXP was the Premier Sire.

Hoards at Expo is sponsored by Agri-Plastics Group of Companies

Jessica Schmitt

Jessica Schmitt grew up working on her familys dairy farm near Fort Atkinson, Iowa. She recently completed her junior year at Iowa State University where she is triple majoring in dairy science, international agriculture, and agricultural and life sciences education with a communications option. Schmitt served as the 2021 Hoards Dairyman editorial intern this summer.
Image from askanews web site

Roma, 1 ott. (askanews) - Si e tenuto ieri giovedi 30 settembre presso Fiera di Roma, nell'ambito di Romics - Festival Internazionale del Fumetto, Animazione, Cinema e Games - la premiazione del Contest "Roma Raccontala! 150 anni da Capitale", promosso dalla Struttura di Missione per la valorizzazione degli anniversari nazionali e della dimensione partecipativa delle nuove generazioni della Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, in collaborazione con Agenzia Nazionale Giovani, in occasione dei 150 anni dalla proclamazione di Roma Capitale d'Italia, avvenuta il 3 febbraio del 1871.

La Giuria che ha selezionato, valutato e premiato i lavori dei giovani autori, si legge in una nota, era formata da Riccardo Corbo - in qualita di Presidente di Giuria - giornalista Rai, curatore di mostre sul fumetto, docente di Storia della Stampa ed Editoria presso l'Accademia Rufa; Stanislao Cantono di Ceva, architetto, videomaker e progettista multimediale; Patrizia Penzo, montatrice di documentari presso Luce Cinecitta; Rita Petruccioli; illustratrice, fumettista e curatrice di progetti ed eventi legati al fumetto e Anna Villari, museologa, autrice di programmi e documentari, docente universitario di Arti visuali e tecnologie, curatrice di mostre e allestimenti museali.

I giovani vincitori sono stasti: per la categoria graphic novel Alessandro Ravera; per il cortometraggio Sofia Elena Allegro; per la categoria verde pubblico Stella Caldarelli. I ragazzi verranno premiati dal Ministro per le Politiche Giovanili, Fabiana Dadone, e riceveranno il premio di settemila euro ciascuno, come incentivo a credere nel proprio talento e a investire nella propria formazione.

"Memoria, innovazione, creativita e talento: sono questi gli elementi che hanno arricchito il contest. Un'idea nata per celebrare l'anniversario dei 150 anni di Roma Capitale, ma al contempo capace di intercettare, attraverso i linguaggi di oggi, la curiosita dei ragazzi tra i 18 e i 26 anni. Dopo un anno davvero difficile per loro, chiusi in casa, disorientati e privati di una visione del futuro, si sono messi in gioco. Una bella sfida che hanno saputo vincere, a conferma che servono progetti per risvegliare e attrarre le nuove generazioni. E' tempo di dar loro fiducia, affidare responsabilita e fornire tutti gli strumenti necessari per essere i protagonisti di oggi" ha commentato il ministro per le Politiche Giovanili, Fabiana Dadone.

Al termine della premiazione, e seguita una tavola rotonda sul tema "Uso consapevole e responsabile delle piattaforme digitali e dei videogames", moderata dalla blogger e tech influencer, Fjona Cakalli. Presenti il giornalista Emilio Cozzi, Agostino Santoni, Vice Presidente Cisco Sud Europa e Adriana Versino, Consigliere Delegato di Fondazione Vodafone Italia.

"Virtuale e reale e per questo dobbiamo diffondere, con particolare verso i nostri ragazzi, una matura e consapevole responsabilita dello stare online. Gli studenti di oggi sono una generazione letteralmente immersa nelle tecnologie digitali, strumenti preziosi di conoscenza e di apprendimento, ma non possono essere lasciati soli nella gestione dei profondi cambiamenti offerti dalle tecnologie di informazione e comunicazione. L'educazione civica digitale e proprio questo: una nuova dimensione che aggiorna ed integra l'educazione civica, finalizzata a consolidare ulteriormente il ruolo della scuola nella formazione di cittadini in grado di partecipare attivamente alla vita democratica. Due parole chiave: responsabilita e consapevolezza" ha concluso il Ministro.
New Do Not Call register subscription fees will apply from tomorrow - 1 October - following completion of a public consultation process by the telecommunications industry regulator ACMA.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority last raised Do Not Call Register subscription fees in 2017 and the Authority says the new fees represent. an increase of about 11%.

The new fees are set out in the Do Not Call Register (Access Fees) Amendment Determination 2021 (No.1) .

The Do Not Call Register Act 2006 prohibits an entity from making an unsolicited telemarketing call or sending an unsolicited marketing fax to a number on the Do Not Call Register (DNCR) - and to avoid contravening the regulatory obligations, a telemarketer or fax marketer can check, or wash, its contact lists against the numbers on the DNCR.

The ACMA sets the fees to access the Do Not Call Register in accordance with the Australian Government Cost Recovery Guidelines and publishes an annual Do Not Call Register Cost Recovery Implementation Statement, which details the process of recovering costs.

The ACMA says its 202021 cost recovery review anticipates an estimated:

under-recovery of $0.19 million in 202122

under-recovery of $0.33 million in 202223

over-recovery of $0.16 million in 202324.

According to the ACMA, this will lead to a cumulative under-recovery of $0.30 million at the end of the current DNCR contract in September 2023.

The primary reason for the under-recovery of direct costs is decreased industry demand for DNCR services and an associated decline in revenue from subscription fees, the ACMA notes.

An increase in fees is therefore required to align expenses and revenue to achieve cost-recovery at September 2023.

We are consulting on the proposal to amend the Do Not Call Register (Access Fees) Determination 2017 to increase subscription fees by 11% from 1 October 2021.
Google is pleading what could be characterised as the "nice-guy defence" in its bid to reduce a 4.34 billion (US$5.02 billion, A$6.94 billion) fine imposed on it by the European Union in 2018 for allegedly breaching anti-trust rules relevant to Android, by saying it never intended to harm its rivals.

Bloomberg quoted the search giant's lawyer Genevra Forwood as telling the European Union's General Court in Luxembourg on Thursday that the company "could not have known its conduct was an abuse" when it cut deals for the use of Android.

At the time the fine was imposed, the EU said the company would have to end its alleged breach of antitrust rules within 90 days or pay a penalty of up to 5% of the average daily turnover of its parent company, Alphabet.

Google has now racked up more 8.2 billion in fines from the EU, with a 2.4 billion fine being levied in 2017 for allegedly abusing its search engine dominance to give illegal advantage to its own comparison shopping service. The company has appealed the decision.

It also facesof 1.49 billion for alleged abusive practices in online advertising.

Forwood gave the court another option: reduce the record fine because it was calculated based on ad revenue from Google's home page, a website that not directly linked to Android phones.

But the European Commission's lawyer Anthony Dawes was scornful of this approach, saying the fine was just 4.5% of Google's revenue in 2017 and much lower than a 10% cap.

Forwood's argument was similar to that of a driver who kills a pedestrian and then claims in court that there should be no penalty because he/she did not intend to kill anyone.

She said Google had no anti-competitive intent and it could not have known its conduct was an abuse, as there was no judicial precedent.

"So it was wrong for the Commission to impose any fine at all, let alone turn up the dials to reach its biggest fine ever," Forwood said.

In a detailed statement at the time the fine was imposed, the EC, the executive arm of the EU, said Google:

had required manufacturers to pre-install the Google Search app and browser app (Chrome), as a condition for licensing Google's app store (the Play Store);

made payments to certain large manufacturers and mobile network operators on condition that they exclusively pre-installed the Google Search app on their devices; and

had prevented manufacturers wishing to pre-install Google apps from selling even a single smart mobile device running on alternative versions of Android that were not approved by Google (so-called "Android forks").

The hearings began on Monday and the court is expected to issue a decision next year. Google has been contacted for comment.
A joint parliamentary committee has proposed that an amendment to the laws governing critical infrastructure be split up into two, in order to pass what it says are "urgent reforms".

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security said in a statement on Wednesday that emergency powers which were part of the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2020 should be passed immediately.

The bill expands greatly the sectors that are covered to include communications, financial services, data storage and processing, defence industry, higher education and space technology.

Companies from these sectors would have to compulsorily report to the government if they suffered cyber attacks. They would also have to allow government security experts to step in and do what whatever was deemed necessary to stop an attack progressing.

This power is similar to what the FBI exercised in April this year, when itto clean up the mess left by attacks on on-premise Microsoft Exchange Server installations.

This was done after obtaining court orders to access hundreds of vulnerable machines in the US and remove Web shells.

But the Australian powers do not require any court order for intelligence agencies to act in this manner. The Opposition Labor Party expressed concern about the lack of any independent permission for, or judicial review of, such actions. But it agreed with the government on everything else.

Technology firms have pointed out that government intervention of this kind could often make matters worse. But that has fallen on deaf ears.

The PJCIS said it had made 14 recommendations about the bill, including a split into two bills:

"Bill One for rapid passage  to expand the critical infrastructure sectors covered by the Act, introduce government assistance measures to be used as a last resort in crisis scenarios as well as mandatory reporting obligations; and

"Bill Two for further consultation  including declarations of systems of national significance, enhanced cyber-security obligations and positive security obligations which are to be defined in delegated legislation."

Under the so-called last resort provision, the Australian Signals Directorate or Australian Cyber Security Centre would be able to gain access to corporate servers and tell the company what to do, or not to do, in the event of an attack.

The head of the PJCIS, Liberal Senator James Paterson, said: The Committee received compelling evidence that the complexity and frequency of cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure is increasing globally. Australia is not immune and there is clear recognition from government and industry that we need to do more to protect our nation against sophisticated cyber threats, particularly against our critical infrastructure.

However, as the regulatory framework is still undergoing co-design with each of the eleven sectors and will not be finalised until after passage of the bill, many businesses have expressed concern about this uncertainty and asked for the entire bill to be paused in the current economic climate.

While sympathetic to the concerns of industry leaders, the Committee does not believe that pausing the entire bill is in Australias national interests given the immediate cyber threats that our nation faces.

The Committees recommended solution allows for the urgent measures to pass now to equip the government with the emergency powers it needs while allowing additional time for co-design to overcome the concerns of industry about the regulatory impact.

The passage of both bills is essential because cyber-security is not just the governments job. Industry has a role to play too and the second bill which imposes obligations on businesses is an important part of a comprehensive response to the serious challenges we face."
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1. Yes. There should be absolute certainty that the election was free and fair.

2. Yes. The audit could and should lead to stronger laws governing elections in the state.

3. No. Former President Trump wants the audit to further cast doubt on the 2020 vote.

4. No. Its a waste of money, an attempt by Abbott to gain favor among Trump backers.

5. Unsure. It seems unnecessary but it may provide some worthwhile findings.

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A museum in Denmark gave an artist over $80,000 (Danish kroner) to create a piece of art for an exhibition about work and money.

The Kunsten Museum of Modern Art was surprised when Jens Haaning sent two empty canvases. He said it was art.

He called the work Take the Money and Run.

The museum paid Haaning about $3,900 to make the art. It was supposed to be created from thousands of dollars of bank notes attached to the canvases. The museum also gave him the bank notes.

The work was supposed to be similar to his past works that used the bank notes to show the average yearly wage in Denmark and Austria.

Haaning told a Danish radio broadcaster: The artwork is that I have taken the money.

He did not say where it was, or if he planned to give it back.

Haaning is known to create art that makes people think.

He said the art, or lack of art, depending on how you view it, shows his current work status.

I encourage others, who have just as miserable working conditions as I, to do the same, Haaning said. If they are being asked to give money to go to work, then take the money and run.

The Kunsten Museum says the artist broke an agreement that he would make a piece of art. However, it has not reported Haaning to the police. The exhibition closes in January. If he returns the money at that point, it may not.

Haaning says he did not commit a crime, and what he gave the museum is art.

Im Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English based on a report by The Associated Press. Susan Shand was the editor.

What would you do about the missing money? Tell us in the Comments Section and visit our Facebook page.

___________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

exhibition  n. an event at which objects (such as works of art) are put out in a public space for people to look at : a public show of something

canvas  n. a specially prepared piece of cloth on which a picture can be painted by an artist

encourage  v. to tell or advise (someone) to do something

miserable  adj. very poor in condition or quality
Ecuadors president has declared a state of emergency in the prison system after rioting killed 116 people earlier this week.

The order was issued by President Guillermo Lasso. It will give the government powers that include deploying police and soldiers inside prisons.

The action came after a deadly battle Tuesday night between gang members at the Litoral prison in the port city of Guayaquil. The riot killed 116 people and injured 80 more. Officials said at least five of the dead had been decapitated.

The prison has experienced a series of bloody clashes in recent months. But the latest fighting was the deadliest act of violence ever reported in Ecuadors prison system. Officials blame the clashes on gangs linked to international drug organizations who are fighting for control.

Lasso told reporters what had happened at the prison was bad and sad. He said he could not guarantee that officials had been able to regain control of the prison. "I ask God to bless Ecuador that we can avoid more loss of human life," Lasso added.

It is regrettable that the prisons are being turned into territories for power disputes by criminal gangs, Lasso said. He promised to act with "absolute firmness to regain control of Litoral and to prevent the violence from spreading to other prisons.

Images shared on social media showed many bodies inside the prison in battle-like settings. Officials said rioters had used guns, knives and bombs during the fighting.

Family members of the victims arrived at the prison to seek information about relatives and demand accountability from officials responsible for safety. The government increased the military presence outside the area. Lasso said the state would assist the families of dead and injured prisoners.

Similar clashes took place in February and July of this year in different prisons throughout the country. At least 79 people died in the February violence, while 22 were killed in July.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has condemned similar violence in the past. Human Rights Watch urged Ecuador's government to fully investigate the latest prison violence and bring those responsible to justice.

In August, Lasso said the government would provide more money to help deal with overcrowding issues and for new equipment to improve security.

Im Bryan Lynn.

The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. Susan Sshand 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

gang  n. a group of young people who do illegal things together and who often fight against other gangs

decapitate  v. to cut off a persons head

bless  v. to ask for Gods help and protection for someone or something

regret  v. a feeling of sadness about something sad or wrong or a mistake

absolute  adj. very great or to the largest degree possible

accountability  n. the fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility


For over 50 years, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) has worked to protect media rights. But now the organization says it is under intense pressure from city officials.

Hong Kongs government, police and one newspaper recently accused the HKJA of being biased toward pro-democracy newspapers. They also say the HKJA has recruited students as journalists and failed to admit that it blocked police during protests.

Ronson Chan is the head of HKJA. He believes the criticism is part of an effort to force the association to close.

I would say they are trying to add some pressure to us, maybe they hope to see we may disband as well as other community groups. We wont, Chan said.

The HKJA has more than 500 members. It is run by working journalists in Hong Kong. The groups goals are to improve freedom for journalists and raise professional standards.

But since Hong Kongs national security law was passed in 2020, the citys media freedom has come into question.

In its July annual report, the association found that freedoms have seriously worsened in Hong Kong. The report mentioned media arrests and the closure of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily. There were also changes at public media station Radio Television Hong Kong, which led to the canceling of some shows and accusations of bias.

Now, Chan says, the HKJA is in a thunderstorm of pressure itself.

Chris Tang is Hong Kongs Secretary for Security. He spoke with reporters at Ta Kung Pao, a newspaper that supports the government in Beijing. He accused the HKJA of having biased views and favoring pro-democracy news organizations.

Tang said the associations membership includes many student journalists. He accused HKJA of influencing young reporters and telling young people that everybody can be a journalist, even 13-year-olds. Tang was likely talking about a 13-year-old volunteering with a news organization who was arrested during anti-government protests in Hong Kong.

HKJAs Chan told VOA that the accusations are not new. He called Tangs comments illogical.

He denied that the arrested 13-year-old was a member of the association. He also said journalism students make up less than 60 of its members.

Tang was not the only official to make claims against the group this month.

Hong Kongs police chief Raymond Siu Chak-yee said at a police event that the HKJA is biased against the government.

And in an interview with VOA, lawmaker Holden Chow said the HKJA aided protesters during 2019 anti-government rallies.

There were so-called journalists on the spot assisting the illegal protests, blocking police operations, and some even harassed female police officers, Chow said.

We wonder whether HKJA is still a professional group, Chow told VOA.

Chan, who is an editor at the pro-democracy news site Stand News, said there is no evidence to support the accusations.

Hong Kong is in 80th place in the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom ranking. The group says the new national security law is especially dangerous for journalists.

Freedom of the press is guaranteed under Hong Kongs Basic Law. But the recent national security law is able to overrule the citys local laws.

The international group Human Rights Watch has said the national security law is badly harming Hong Kong's press freedoms.

Im Dan Novak.

Tommy Walker reported this story of Voice of America. Dan Novak adapted it for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

______________________________________________

Words in This Story

journalism  n. the activity or job of collecting, writing, and editing news stories for newspapers, magazines, television, or radio

biased  adj. having or showing a bias : having or showing an unfair tendency to believe that some people, ideas, etc., are better than others

recruit  v. to find suitable people and get them to join a company, an organization, the armed forces, etc.

disband  v. to end an organization or group (such as a club)

illogical  adj. not showing good judgment : not thinking about things in a reasonable or sensible way : not logical

harass  v. to annoy or bother (someone) in a constant or repeated way

overrule  v. to decide that (something or someone) is wrong : to rule against (something or someone)
(HealthDay)Despite a 44.4 percent decrease in opioid prescribing nationwide in the past decade, there has been an increase in drug-related overdoses and deaths, according to a report released Sept. 21 by the American Medical Association (AMA).

The AMA convened two task forces (2014 to 2019) that provided actionable and measurable recommendations and principles for physicians, state and federal policymakers, and other stakeholders to combat the nation's drug overdose and death epidemic.

The new report shows that opioid prescriptions decreased by 44.4 percent between 2011 and 2020, including a 6.9 percent decrease from 2019 to 2020. Physicians and other health care professionals used the state prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) more than 910 million times in 2020. More than 104,000 physicians and other health care professionals have an "X-waiver" to allow them to prescribe buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder, an increase of 70,000 providers since 2017. Yet, 80 to 90 percent of people with a substance use disorder receive no treatment. In the report, the AMA listed a number of policy recommendations, including stopping prior authorization for medications to treat opioid use disorder, supporting harm reduction services, and improving data collection.

"Physicians have become more cautious about prescribing opioids, are trained to treat opioid use disorder, and support evidence-based harm reduction strategies. We use PDMPs as a tool, but they are not a panacea," Gerald E. Harmon, M.D., president of the AMA, said in a statement. "Patients need policymakers, health insurance plans, national pharmacy chains, and other stakeholders to change their focus and help us remove barriers to evidence-based care."

Explore further Limited access to buprenorphine restricts resident physicians treating opioid abusers

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Jessica Lingor remembers the crisp December day nearly six years ago when doctors diagnosed her yet-to-be-born daughter, Kaylie, with spina bifidaa type of birth defect in which a baby's spinal cord fails to develop or close properly while in the womb.

"At that point, we didn't know if she would live through birth," said Jessica, who was 20 weeks pregnant at the time. "It was a very hard Christmas."

Today, however, Kaylie is a bubbly 5-year-old who loves playing with Barbie dolls, getting homemade manicures, and playing house in the adaptive kitchen that her parents, Jessica and Matt, made for her. The kitchencustomized for Kaylie's small statureis just one of many ways the Lingors aim to give their daughter a normal life.

"We try to adapt as much as we can, especially when it comes to accessibility and Kaylie's mobility," Jessica Lingor said, noting Kaylie crawls when she isn't in her wheelchair. "But what we've learned is that kids with spina bifida are like snowflakes: everybody is different, and everyone's symptoms are different."

About 1,427 babies are born with the condition each year across the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They often suffer from physical and intellectual disabilities that range from mild to severe, depending on the size and location of the defect and whether part of the spinal cord and nerves are affected.

Kaylie's case is particularly severe. She suffers from hydrocephalus, meaning there is excess fluid in and around her brain; craniosynostosis, or a misshapen skull; scoliosis; and chronic hip dysplasia, making her unable to walk. She also only has one kidney and is prone to seizures.

These issues require regular medical attention, which the Lingors realized the day Kaylie was born. By the same token, she has brought together multiple doctors at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) who are united in their mission to help Kaylie lead a happy life.

Within hours of her birth, Kaylie was whisked away to an operating room, where pediatric neurosurgeon Manish Shah, MD, carefully repaired the exposed part of her spinal cord by reconstructing a spinal sac around the spinal cord and placing the neural tissues back in the spinal canal. Shah then called upon pediatric plastic surgeon Matthew Greives, MD, to help him close the muscle and the skin and complete the procedure.

"We always do our best to repair the spinal cord within a day or two of birth," said Shah, an associate professor of pediatric neurosurgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, where Greives is an associate professor and director of plastic and reconstructive surgery. "The plastic surgery team helps us fashion skin over these defects and close them correctly in order to prevent meningitis."

Shortly thereafter, Shah placed a small, hollow tubeknown as a shuntinto Kaylie's brain to help drain the extra fluid. The procedure, which is done to prevent brain injury associated with hydrocephalus, generally remains effective for about 10 years.

However, the procedure wasn't the first time Shah and Greives had joined forces to help a patient, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. The two, who are just six days apart in age, both joined McGovern Medical School and its faculty practice UT Physicians in August 2014, with Shah joking that the clinical practice recruited a best friend for him.

Multispecialty collaborations like these are common for physicians who see patients with spina bifida. Shah and Greives teamed up again four years ago to perform a cranial vault remodeling procedure on Kaylie.

During the procedure, they remodeled the bones of Kaylie's skull, creating a more normal head shape while giving her brain more room to grow.

"The goal with any of our surgeries for patients with multiple medical problems tied to spina bifida is to focus on improving their quality of life," Greives said. "Everything we do with Kaylie is in a step-by-step fashion: How much do we need to do, and how will it benefit her right now? Kaylie isn't a one-and-done situation; she requires a whole team of people looking at her and seeing how she's progressing. There have been some complications along the way, but it's one of the reasons everybody here knows Kaylie."

Over the years, Kaylie's presence has also become a highlight for pediatric orthopedic surgeon Lindsay Crawford, MD, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at McGovern Medical School, who continues to treat issues surrounding the 5-year-old's spine, hip dysplasia, and feet. Kaylie is among many patients shared by Crawford and Shah, who work together in the spina bifida program within the UT Physicians Pediatric SurgeryTexas Medical Center clinic.

Already, Crawford has made casts of both of Kaylie's feetone is a club foot, and the other is affected by congenital vertical talus (CVT), a rare disorder that presents itself as an extreme case of flatfoot. On the left club foot, Crawford performed two surgeries designed to release Kaylie's Achilles tendon, with a posterior medial release scheduled for later. On the right foot with CVT, Crawford performed a minor bone realignment procedure and is slated to perform a tenotomy, or tendon release, in the future.

"Even though spina bifida starts in the back, it affects the nerves that go all the way down to the legs, so without these surgeries and the utilization of braces, Kaylie would not be able to wear shoes or work on skills like standing up," Crawford said. "We're trying to get Kaylie's feet into normal positions so that she can fit into her shoes, since she's starting school."

Although Kaylie has already endured numerous obstacles in her short life, Crawford said her extroverted patient always comes into the clinic with a smile. She's also done more than her fair share of advocacy work, including serving as grand marshal for a Christmas parade that brings awareness to spina bifida, appearing in promotional materials for the spina bifida clinic, and continuing to educate the general public about the condition in children, in between her appointments with UT Physicians.

"Those doctors have taken care of Kaylie from the beginning, and they're the most consistent thing we have in her medical care," Jessica Lingor said. "If we need anything, we'll call them. They've been a godsend, for sure."

Explore further Research finds spina bifida surgery before birth restores brain structure
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With new COVID-19 cases remaining at high levels across the U.S., new drug therapies that may help people who contract the respiratory disease evade serious illness are starting to garner more attention.

The World Health Organization recently endorsed an antibody drug cocktail made by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a combination drug that has been used widely to bolster sick patients by infusing them with antibodies designed to combat COVID. And a new antiviral pill that could be taken daily, called molnupiravir, is being studied as a way of halting COVID illness early in its course.

While these treatments for COVID have helped to shore up hospital resources by preventing severe illness in many patients, they are far from a silver bullet, and face numerous production and efficacy challenges, say several Northeastern experts.

"That's the challenge with respiratory virusesit's difficult to develop a good antiviral for them," says Brandon Dionne, associate clinical professor of pharmacy and health systems sciences at Northeastern. "And there's not as much incentive in the market" to pursue these therapies.

Treatments for COVID are classified into several categories: antibody therapies, which use lab-produced antibodies to help stop viral replication; antivirals, which specifically target and kill viral particles; and corticosteroids, which can help reduce the body's inflammatory response to the infection.

Antibody treatments like Regeneron's, which combines casirivimab and imdevimab into a "monoclonal antibody cocktail" have been shown to be effective in reducing COVID-19 hospitalization, though it must be used early in the course of illness, Dionne says. The drug cocktail was also shown to have helped resolve COVID symptoms and reduced the viral load in patients, according to data published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

And some Massachusetts hospitals have touted the therapy, saying it's helped to save lives during the summer surge. But states are starting to limit its use only to high-risk patients, particularly the unvaccinated, amid an ongoing supply shortage. About 70 percent of the national supply of the antibody treatments have gone to states hardest hit in recent months, including Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

Additionally, the timing of treatment is crucially linked to outcomes, in both the use of monoclonal antibody therapies and in antivirals. There is also concern about how effective these treatments will fare against an ever-evolving virus, says Mansoor Amiji, university distinguished professor of pharmaceutical sciences and chemical engineering at Northeastern.

As with the vaccines, the drug therapies "have some affinities to the viral strain against which they were originally tested," Amiji says.

"The virus is evolving," Amiji adds. "It's trying to resist, both on the vaccine side and the drug side. So there is potentially a concern that both the antibodies and these [antiviral] drugs would not be so effective in the long run."

Amiji says research and development into new drug therapies is happening, but only at the pace of investment, which is lagging behind because of the focus on vaccines. Amiji hopes that starts to change, noting that new treatments may also help to mitigate or prevent symptoms in so-called "long haulers," a condition marked by prolonged COVID symptoms that could impact as many as one-third of those who become infected.

"The financial incentives are not there," he says. "New research is needed to develop these novel antivirals."

The only Food and Drug Administration approved antiviral for COVID, and the only fully approved treatment, is Remdesivir, which has also been shown to reduce hospitalization by up to 87 percent in high risk patients if administered early. But there is no evidence to suggest Remdesivir reduces COVID mortality, according to the World Health Organization.

Remdesivir is not a new drug. Originally developed to treat Hepatitis C, Amiji says the treatment had been shelved for years before it was repurposed to fight COVID. The drug is not intended for widespread use, and can only be given intravenously, further limiting who can use it.

Monoclonal antibody therapies are also administered intravenously. Both treatment forms appear to have little to no effect on patients during the latter stages of disease progression, experts say.

That's when various steroid drugs would be used, which Dionne says do have a mortality benefit.

The prospect of the pill-form of molnupiravir is a promising development in that it could be used outside hospital settings, increasing treatment options for many people. But Dionne says all drug therapies have so far proved to be only "modestly effective" compared to the overwhelming efficacy of the vaccines.

"They do play a role," Dionne says, "but vaccination is by the far the most important thing here."

More information: David M. Weinreich et al, REGEN-COV Antibody Combination and Outcomes in Outpatients with Covid-19, New England Journal of Medicine (2021). Journal information: New England Journal of Medicine David M. Weinreich et al, REGEN-COV Antibody Combination and Outcomes in Outpatients with Covid-19,(2021). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2108163
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Introducing patients to an unfamiliar clinical intervention begins with providing the clinical evidence, standardized education and clear protocols for their healthcare team.

That idea was one of the key drivers behind development of evidence-based guidelines for the implementation of awake self-prone positioning (ASPP) for patients with COVID-19 at ChristianaCare, a three-hospital health system in the Delaware region that has 1,500 beds.

Prone positioning has become a common intervention in COVID-19 units for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), with a bedside team carefully repositioning an intubated patient onto their abdomen to improve oxygenation.

ASPP, on the other hand, involves nonintubated patients turning themselves with minimal assistance, while they receive supplemental oxygen through a high-flow nasal cannula or noninvasive ventilation. As the pandemic progressed, ASPP was increasingly used for COVID-19 patients with early signs of respiratory failure as a therapeutic modality that could potentially improve outcomes, would do no harm and could be provided safely in ICUs and other units.

"Awake Self-Prone Positioning: Implementation During the COVID-19 Pandemic" details how ChristianaCare developed evidence-based guidelines for ASPP, with accompanying clinician and patient education materials, during the early days of the pandemic. The article, in the October issue of Critical Care Nurse (CCN), includes key findings of the research related to prone positioning and ASPP, as well as a sample of the ASPP education materials.

Co-author Erin Hare, MSN, CCRN, is a nursing professional development specialist for the medical intensive care unit (MICU) and rapid response teams (RRTs) at ChristianaCare's Christiana Hospital.

"At ChristianaCare, we seek new knowledge, and we continually look for ways to innovate," Hare said. "As the COVID-19 pandemic spread, we recognized how we could adapt awake self-prone positioning to help improve the outcomes of our patients. We also quickly developed policies, procedures and education to advance this treatment to our entire health system, so more patients could benefit."

From March 18, 2020, when the first patient with COVID-19 was admitted to ChristianaCare, through Aug. 5, 2020, the hospital had 1,000 COVID-19-related patients admitted. Of these, 272 patients received a high-flow nasal cannula, with 111 having documentation of ASPP.

Initially, RRT nurses in the MICU were the first to start implementing the ASPP intervention in patients with COVID-19, during RRT calls and proactive patient rounds. As the number of patients with COVID-19 grew between March and June, the rate of RRT calls from the COVID-19 units increased approximately 40%.

The RRT nurses worked closely with unit charge nurses and intermediate-care nurses to introduce ASPP and help them implement the new process with patients. But as the number of patients with COVID-19 increased in ICUs and non-ICU areas, ASPP recommendations and implementation began to vary, and more questions about the procedure arose.

Nursing professional development specialists and clinical nurse specialists moved quickly to expedite the development of standardized clinical education and clear, concise evidence-based instructions and considerations that team members could easily apply at the bedside.

The clinical education plan included didactic learning followed by hands-on demonstration of ASPP, as well as where and how to document the patient's position in the electronic medical record.

Patient education is a crucial component of ASPP, and patients who are generally asymptomatic early during the course of the disease may not understand how quickly respiratory distress can arise and become serious. The urgency and importance of protecting their lung function can seem excessive while their symptoms are seemingly minor.

Nurses use multiple educational methods to meet the learning needs of each patient. These include video conversations via tablets that are provided to each patient, as well as written materials with instructions. Interpreters are also available via the tablets, and all printed materials were made available in English and Spanish.

Outcome data specific to this intervention is limited for now, but initial findings are positive. The ASPP guideline has become an established part of caring for patients with COVID-19 and is fully integrated into practice in units caring for them.

Explore further How awake prone positioning can prevent intubation in COVID-19 patients

More information: Karen A. Allicock et al, Awake SelfProne Positioning: Implementation During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Critical Care Nurse (2021). Karen A. Allicock et al, Awake SelfProne Positioning: Implementation During the COVID-19 Pandemic,(2021). DOI: 10.4037/ccn2021153

Provided by American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN)
(HealthDay)Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. said Friday that it will seek federal approval for emergency use of its new antiviral pill molnupiravir, after a clinical trial showed the drug halved the risk of hospitalization or death when given to high-risk people shortly after infection with COVID-19.

The new medication is just one of several antiviral pills now being tested in studies, and experts say these medications could give doctors a powerful new weapon to battle the virus.

"More tools and treatments are urgently needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, which has become a leading cause of death and continues to profoundly affect patients, families and societies, and strain health care systems all around the world," Merck CEO and President Robert Davis said in a company statement. "With these compelling results, we are optimistic that molnupiravir can become an important medicine as part of the global effort to fight the pandemic."

And, he added, "We will continue to work with regulatory agencies on our applications and do everything we can to bring molnupiravir to patients as quickly as possible."

Daria Hazuda, vice president of infectious diseases and vaccine discovery at Merck, told the Washington Post, "We always believed antivirals, especially an oral antiviral, would be an important contribution to the pandemic. Keeping people out of the hospital is incredibly important, given the emergence of variants and the continued evolution of the virus."

Infectious disease experts embraced the news.

"I think it will translate into many thousands of lives being saved worldwide, where there's less access to monoclonal antibodies, and in this country, too," Dr. Robert Shafer, an infectious disease specialist and expert on antiviral therapy at Stanford University, told The New York Times.

Angela Rasmussen, a virologist and research scientist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, agreed that antiviral pills can reach more people than cumbersome antibody treatments.

"If that holds up at the population scale, that is going to translate to an objectively larger number of lives saved potentially with this drug," she told the Times. "Maybe it isn't doing the same [efficacy] numbers as the monoclonal antibodies, but it's still going to be huge."

Other antiviral pills in the works

Late-stage study results of two other antiviral pills, one developed by Pfizer and the other by Atea Pharmaceuticals and Roche, are expected within the next few months, the Times reported.

In the Merck trial, which has not been peer-reviewed or published, molnupiravir was taken twice a day for five days.

Merck said that an independent board of experts monitoring its study data recommended that the trial be halted early because the drug's benefits to patients were so convincing. The company added that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had agreed with that decision.

By early August, the study had enrolled 775 volunteers in the United States and overseas. They had to take the pills within five days of infection. For volunteers who were given the drug, their risk of being hospitalized or dying fell by 50%, without any concerning side effects, compared with those who received placebo pills, Merck said.

Just 7% of volunteers in the group that received the antiviral pills were hospitalized and none of those patients died, compared with a 14% rate of hospitalization and eight deaths in the placebo group.

Lab and animal experiments suggest the pill may also work against the Delta variant, the Post reported. Unlike vaccines or antibodies that target specific proteins on the surface of the virus, molnupiravir introduces nonsense mutations that scramble the coronavirus's genetic code so it can't replicate. That means it might even work on other coronaviruses or RNA viruses.

Merck's pill may fight other coronaviruses

"As a virologist, that's one of the things I find particularly exciting," Hazuda told the Post. "Now, we've demonstrated the potential to have a drug that could work across multiple coronaviruses. I don't think this is the last pandemic in our lifetime, and having something readily available that is active would be amazing."

The Merck pill's efficacy was lower than that of monoclonal antibody treatments, which mimic antibodies that the immune system generates naturally when needed, the Times reported.

Those drugs have been in high demand recently, but they are expensive and are time-consuming to administer because they are delivered intravenously. But studies have shown that they reduce hospitalizations and deaths by 70% to 85% in high-risk patients, the Times reported.

The federal government has already placed advance orders for 1.7 million courses of Merck's antiviral pill, at a price of about $700 per patient, which is one-third of the current cost of a monoclonal antibody treatment, the Times reported.

Merckwhich is developing the pill with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics of Miamidid not say which patients it would ask the FDA to approve for the treatment.

Initially, that group may be limited to patients who are eligible to receive monoclonal antibody treatments, possibly older people and those with medical conditions that put them at high risk for bad outcomes from COVID-19 infection. But experts noted that they expected that the drug might eventually be used in many people who test positive for the virus, the Times reported.

If authorized, Merck's drug would be the second COVID-19 antiviral treatment. The first, remdesivir, must be infused and has lost favor among doctors as studies have suggested it only offers a modest benefit, the Times reported.

More information: Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on COVID antivirals

Copyright  2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
(HealthDay)One-quarter of U.S. parents report that their child has had to quarantine because of possible COVID-19 exposure since school started, a new poll finds.

The nationally representative survey of 1,519 people conducted between Sept. 13 and Sept. 22 included 414 people who identified themselves as parents of children aged 17 and younger. Still, about two-thirds of parents said they thought schools are taking appropriate measures to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The vaccine landscape has changed some since the survey happened, with Pfizer announcing recently that its vaccine is safe and effective for children aged 5 to 11, though it has not yet applied for emergency use authorization. No vaccine has been approved yet for this age group.

Meanwhile, children aged 12 and older have been eligible to receive a Pfizer vaccine since May.

The Kaiser Family Foundation report suggests that, over time, parents of older children have slowly become more comfortable with the vaccine. About 48% of parents said that their children between the ages of 12 and 17 had received at least one dose of the vaccine by September, an increase from the 41% reported in July. Federal data suggests that 57% of children of those ages have received at least one dose of vaccine.

The report also found parents of younger children were more likely now to say they would vaccinate their children.

In July, the number who said they would get their kids a shot as soon as they could was 26%, compared to 34% now. Hesitation is also dropping, with 32% still saying they would "wait and see," compared to 40% in July.

The highly contagious Delta variant, which has been causing more children to become ill and hospitalized, may be fueling the changing attitudes, The New York Times said.

What hasn't changed much are the parents who firmly say they will "definitely not" vaccinate their kids. For kids aged 12 to 17, this was 21% in September and just slightly more, 22%, in April. For kids aged 5 to 11, this was 25% in July and 24% in September.

Parents also had differing views on mask wearing. About 18% of parents who had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine did not think schools should require all staff and students to wear masks, whereas 63% of unvaccinated parents felt that way, the findings showed.

Among all parents, 58% said schools should have comprehensive mask mandates, 35% said there should be no mandates, and 4% felt that only unvaccinated students and staff should wear masks.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended since summer that all vaccinated and unvaccinated students, teachers and staff in elementary and secondary schools wear masks to keep kids safe in the classroom.

Explore further Pfizer sends first data to FDA on COVID vaccines for younger kids

More information: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on COVID-19 prevention in schools

Copyright  2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in worsening diabetes care and management across the USA in those with and without COVID-19 infections, according to the first-of-its kind survey looking at the impact of the pandemic on socioeconomic, clinical, and lifestyle aspects of diabetes management.

The researchers say the findings, being presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), held online this year (27 Sept-1 Oct), indicate an urgent need to increase support for people with diabetes, and offer valuable lessons for diabetes management during the current and future public health crises.

"Our findings help us to understand the hidden toll the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on those with chronic diseases like diabetes", says lead author Alexandria Ratzki-Leewing from Western University, London, Canada. "Community containment measureswhile designed to keep people safeseverely disrupted routine care and service delivery. Individuals with diabetes experienced difficulties accessing care providers, medications, and testing supplies. The pandemic has also led to psychosocial stress, such as feelings of powerlessness and a lack of social support. All of these disruptions can compromise optimal diabetes management and, consequently, increase the risk of negative short- and long-term outcomes."

Over 34 million Americansjust over 1 in 10have type 1 (T1D) or type 2 diabetes (T2D), with treatment costing more $US230 billion a year [1]. All people with diabetes need to test their glucose (sugar) levels several times a day and every few months have their haemoglobin A1c (a measure of their sugar levels over the previous three months) tested. Uncontrolled diabetes can cause damage to various organs and lead to disabling and life-threatening conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease and foot problems that can lead to amputations.

COVID-19 has killed more than 670,000 people in the USA, and has had an especially devastating impact on the millions of Americans with diabetes. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that at least 40% of those who died with COVID-19 also had diabetes. However, these figures don't reflect the disruption the pandemic has caused to diabetes care and management in the community.

To find out more about how and to what extent the pandemic has impacted diabetes management in Americans, researchers analysed data from the real-world iNPHORM studya 12-month panel survey of over 1,200 US adults (aged 18 to 90 years old) with T1D or T2D who had taken insulin and/or secretagogues (diabetes medications) within the last year. Participants were recruited from a representative online panel, and were asked to complete monthly surveys about their hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) and hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) experiences, various aspects of blood sugar management and overall health.

For this descriptive analysis, researchers used survey findings from a sample of 772 participants (average age 52 years; of whom 19% had T1D; and just over half [51%] were female) collected in January 2021, nearly a year after the first US case was detected. Between March 2020 and January 2021, 9% of participants had medically confirmed COVID-19.

The analysis found that 1 in 4 (T1D 25%, T2D 23%) people with diabetes reported that the pandemic had made affording rent or living expenses somewhat or much harder, while around 1 in 5 (T1D 21%, T2D 18%) struggled to make sure they had enough food to avoid hypoglycemia.

Another alarming finding was that around 1 in 6 had difficulty paying for their diabetes medications (T1D 20%, T2D 17%) or test strips/sensors needed to manage daily insulin injections (T1D 17%, T2D 16%), while more than 1 in 5 reported issues picking up their medications (T1D 24%, T2D 22%). More than 10% also said they rationed their diabetes medications to extend supplies (T1D 16%, T2D 11%) or to avoid hypoglycemia (T1D 17%, T2D 9%).

Some respondents also reported finding it difficult to remember to take their diabetes medication(s) as prescribed (T1D 8%, T2D 12%), test their blood glucose (T1D 10%, T2D 13%), or monitor their risk of hypoglycemia (T1D 10%, T2D 13%). Overall, around 1 in 10 felt less in control of their hypoglycemia (T1D 16%, T2D 10%) with 1 in 6 saying that they didn't have enough social support to help them manage a so called 'hypo' incident (T1D 16%, T2D 16%).

The analysis also found that 1 in 4 thought that the pandemic had impeded their ability to consult with diabetes care providers (T1D 26%, T2D 25%). And more than 1 in 3 struggled to stay as physically active as usual (T1D 38%, T2D 37%).

According to Ratzki-Leewing, "COVID-19 has caused devastating ripple effects that extend well-beyond infection alone. Not least are the impacts it has had on Americans with diabetes, of whom many are now struggling to maintain control of their disease. This is the first real-world study to quantify these diverse impacts in a general US population with T1D and T2D, and highlights the pressing care gaps caused by the pandemic. We hope our findings provide a roadmap for necessary remedial action that ensures undisrupted diabetes management moving forward. We mustn't let these patients fall through the cracks."

The authors note several limitations of the study, including that selection and volunteer bias may have influenced study results, and that. self-reported responses could have been subject to social desirability bias and/or recall error.

Explore further The huge and growing primary care needs of people with diabetes who have survived COVID-19
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Telemedicine has become immensely popular during the COVID-19 pandemic as a safe and convenient way to see a medical provider without leaving home.

Doctors and analysts say telemedicine is here to stay, but the price patients pay for the convenience of seeing a health care provider from their living room could change.

Out of necessity during the pandemic, insurers agreed to pay for virtual visits like they would an in-person appointment, doctors who had been reluctant to try new technology embraced it as a way to limit patient exposure, and lawmakers loosened federal regulations that for years had restricted telemedicine's use.

But more than 18 months into a public health emergency, some private insurance companies have begun to roll back their pandemic-era coverage policies or fallen into a pattern of extending coverage for only a few months at a time.

Independence Blue Cross, the largest insurer in the Philadelphia area, is covering telemedicine appointments as they would in-person visits through the end of October. The deadline has already been extended several times, and may be pushed back further.

Uncertain how they will be compensated for virtual visits in the future, some health systems have resorted to charging for telemedicine servicesregardless of insurance coverage.

"The continuous kicking the can down the road and paying for another few months doesn't give health systems any confidence," said Judd Hollander, senior vice president for health-care delivery innovation at Jefferson Health.

Jefferson's virtual medicine platform, JeffConnect, launched prior to the pandemic, but grew exponentially in spring 2020 when the system saw about 3,000 patients virtually every day.

The platform provides on-demand visits with a medical provider, and currently handles about 1,000 patients a day. That kind of immediate service has been popular with patients, but has created a challenge for administrators: Providing on-demand insurance coverage verification would require new technology that connects to leading insurers' member databases.

"The one biggest problem is uncertainty about what reimbursement will be in the future," Hollander said. "If I knew [insurers] were never going to pay we'd go back to in-person, but everyone believes they have to pay because patients love telemedicine."

In the meantime, people who use JeffConnect for an on-demand visit must pay $59 up front. If they know their health plan covers telemedicine visits, they can submit a claim to their insurer or schedule a non-urgent visit through their doctor's office, he said.

The price is comparable to what other on-demand telehealth providers charge, Hollander said. People with private insurance may pay a similar fee as a copay to be seen at an urgent care clinic.

Hollander sees promise in virtual health as a way to reach patients for whom a lack of childcare, transportation or time off from work have been barriers to seeing doctors regularly. But the pandemic has also drawn attention to how the digital divide and lack of access to the Internet can become a new barrier, deepening health inequities.

Jefferson recently launched the Center for Connected Care to study and address those challenges.

"The pandemic accelerated the trend to virtual care at home, and it showed us how many people are at risk of being left behind as the digital gap grows," Kristin Rising, an emergency medicine physician and head of the new center, said in a statement.

At Rothman Orthopedic Institute, telemedicine shored up business during the pandemic, making up for a loss of in-person appointments. Now that many patients have returned in-person, telehealth remains popular and has helped Rothman grow its patient base.

Rothman bills insurers for telemedicine visits, and patients are responsible for cost-sharing, such as copays, required by their plan.

Rothman President Alexander Vaccaro said he isn't concerned about how much insurers pay him for telehealth visits in the future, so long as it remains an option for patients.

"It's giving me access to peopleaccess is what we care about," he said.

Surgeons make money in the operating room, not in office visits, he said. Making office visits accessible to more people has led to a growth in surgery patientshalf of whom Vaccaro now meets in person for the first time just before heading in for surgery.

Lawmakers loosened key regulations to make telehealth more accessible during the pandemic. For instance, patients previously had to travel to a medical facility for their virtual appointment, which was done through a secured, HIPAA-compliant video platform. Now, they can call in from their living room couch using familiar applications, like Zoom, Skype and Facetime.

Earlier this week, Pennsylvania's General Assembly voted to extend to March 2022 waivers that expand telehealth access and make other pandemic-related accommodations, such as allowing hospitals to repurpose units for emergencies and suspended medical license limitations to enable physician assistants, nurses and other medical professionals to assist with COVID-19 care. The waivers were set to expire at the end of September.

"One of the main drivers that telemedicine was able to be so helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic were these regulatory waivers," said Kate Slatt, a vice president at the hospital association.

A Medicare rule that allowed coverage for audio-only telemedicine visits was especially helpful for seniors who lacked video access or know-how, she said.

Proposed Medicare rule changes for 2022 continue the popular audio-only telehealth coverage, as well as telemedicine coverage for behavioral health without site restrictions, said Lori Uscher-Pines, a senior policy researcher at RAND Corp. who has been tracking telemedicine policies. Previously, Medicare only covered virtual visits for mental health in rural areas, where services were often lacking, but eliminated that restriction during the pandemic.

New Medicare policies could be a bellwether of what's to come in private insurance.

"Medicare often sets the tone," she said. "What happens with Medicare will be very influential in telemedicine services" in the private sector.

Explore further Disparities in older adults' access to primary care during the pandemic

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- International agreement on protecting North-East Atlantic secured under Irelands chairmanship of the OSPAR Commission

- Ministers take action in critical areas like climate change, biodiversity loss

Friday 01 October 2021

The Government today joined 14 other countries and the European Union in making a legally binding decision to establish the North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Sea basin Marine Protected Area (NACES MPA). The MPA covers 595,196 km (over eight times the size of Irelands land area) and comprises a vitally important area for seabirds in the North Atlantic.

OSPAR Commission members also approved a new North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy to 2030. The OSPAR Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, an international organisation, has been chaired by Ireland since 2018.

Irelands commitment to the NACES MPA and the Strategy was announced by Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan TD, at the OSPAR Ministerial meeting in Cascais, Portugal, this afternoon.

The designation of the new MPA takes place amidst a worrying decline in seabird numbers. Located in the High Seas, in the west of the OSPAR maritime area, the designated area is home to up to five million seabirds across 22 different species, including five  such as the Atlantic Puffin  that are globally threatened. Other threatened species, like the wide-ranging Basking Shark and Leatherback Turtle, also use this area.

The North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy contains 12 strategic objectives and over 50 practical, operational objectives to tackle the triple challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution (including marine litter) facing the oceans. Its implementation will be part of OSPARs contribution to the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.

The cooperation of the OSPAR contracting parties will act as a cost-effective and efficient multilateral driver to tackle transboundary issues facing the ocean. Among the outcomes announced by the Ministers and high-level representatives from all contracting parties today at the Ministerial meeting were:

a legally binding OSPAR Decision to establish the North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Sea basin Marine Protected Area (NACES MPA)

an agreement to expand OSPARs protection listing to kelp forests, habitats created by tube-dwelling Haploops crustaceans, to the Azorean barnacle which is endemic to Macaronesia, and to the rare Houting  a coastal fish species. Protecting wide-ranging habitats such as kelp forests will help to ensure that the oceans capacity to naturally sequester and store carbon remains intact. Protecting rare species that only occur in the North-East Atlantic will help to ensure that the global biodiversity crisis is halted and populations of threatened species have the chance to recover.

a commitment to minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification, including through enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels.

approval of a Recommendation to reduce the loss of plastic pellets into the marine environment. This will be done through the timely development and implementation of effective and consistent pellet loss prevention standards and certification schemes. This Recommendation will make a significant contribution to marine environmental protection by tackling pellet loss across the plastics supply chain in collaboration with industry.

agreement that the OSPAR Commission will join the High Ambition Alliance on chemicals and waste. Inspired by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, its objective is to enhance awareness, ensure commitments and to promote ambitious, sound management of chemicals, and to take action on waste at all levels. Its membership comprises committed national ministries, as well as senior representatives from intergovernmental organisations, industry and civil society.

Speaking in Cascais this afternoon after signing the Ministerial Declaration, and signalling Irelands support of the new MPA and 2030 Strategy, Minister Noonan said: The designation today of the North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Sea basin Marine Protected Area, covering an area over eight times the size of Ireland, is a really positive development in the future protection of seabirds and biodiversity. Ireland will play a lead role in protecting this area, at the same time as we work towards creating a network of Marine Protected Areas to 30% of our maritime area by 2030.

The decisions made here today are crucial in dealing with the global challenges of protecting our climate, our biodiversity and our marine environment. Today, the actions we need to take are clear. Taking action together in an equitable and just way is our shared challenge. In taking action, and in safeguarding our societies and our environment for generations to come, we need to bring people with us. OSPAR, as the global leader for regional ocean protection, allows us to work with each other and with other organisations to design new, innovative solutions that will work for people.

Minister OBrien also welcomed todays agreement on a North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy 2030. Todays agreement supports the ambition Ireland is showing domestically to have clean, healthy, biologically diverse and sustainably used seas and oceans. Our recent publication of the National Marine Planning Framework and the Marine Area Planning Bill shows the steps we are taking to implement integrated marine spatial planning in a way that will facilitate the Sustainable Blue Economy, support new and existing sectoral activities, while also protecting our precious marine environment.

Minister OBrien also paid tribute to Richard Cronin, Principal Adviser of the Marine Environment Section in the Department of Housing, Local Government for his work as Chair of the OSPAR Commission and in brokering todays agreement. I am very proud that through this very important multilateral organisation Ireland has again shown its ability to act as an honest broker. In this case Richard Cronin, an official in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, has demonstrated great dedication to progressing OSPARs objectives and delivering international agreement at OSPARs annual meetings. I am very pleased that Richard has been unanimously re-elected as Commission Chair. I have no doubt he will continue to help Ireland play a pivotal role in our global work to protect our oceans and seas.

[ENDS]

Note to editors

Photos of Minister Noonan and Irish delegation available upon request to Press Office

The North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Sea basin Marine Protected Area (NACES MPA)

Today, OSPAR Ministers and high-level representatives took a legally binding OSPAR Decision to establish the North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Sea basin Marine Protected Area (NACES MPA), covering 595,196 km (over eight times the size of Irelands land area) and comprising a vitally important area for seabirds in the North Atlantic.

Located in the High Seas, to the west of the OSPAR region, the designated area is home to up to five million seabirds across 21 different species, including five  such as the Atlantic Puffin  that are globally threatened. Other threatened species, like the wide-ranging Basking Shark and Leatherback Turtle, also use this area.

The NACES MPA encompasses an important feeding and foraging area for more than 20 species of seabird, and is used both by birds breeding on the coasts of the North-East Atlantic and by those migrating across the globe or nesting in other parts of the world.

Worrying declines in seabird numbers shown in OSPARs 2017 Intermediate Assessment were stark enough for OSPAR to conclude that seabirds are in trouble. Declines were detected in many species and vulnerabilities to pressures in their environment were shown in all life stages.

By establishing this Marine Protected Area, OSPAR has achieved the United Nations Convention for Biological Diversity 2020 Aichi target of designating 10% of its maritime area as MPAs.

OSPAR Ministerial Declaration

On key issues contained in the Ministerial Declaration signed by Ministers and the European Commission today:

Protection of the North-East Atlantic : members aim to achieve zero pollution by 2050 and commit to single-use plastic items and maritime-related plastic items on our beaches by 50% by 2025 and 75% by 2030.

: members aim to achieve zero pollution by 2050 and commit to single-use plastic items and maritime-related plastic items on our beaches by 50% by 2025 and 75% by 2030. Climate change: the Declaration says parties will take action to make the ocean more resilient to the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification and safeguard the marine environments role as a natural carbon sink.

Parties also recognise that nature-based solutions and effective protection and restoration of marine habitats each play a role in preventing biodiversity loss and supporting adaptation, resilience and mitigation to climate change, while providing benefits to people and livelihoods.

On offshore renewable energies: the Declaration acknowledges that offshore renewable energy will play a key role in decarbonising our economies in the coming decades but knowledge gaps still exist about its impact on the marine environment. Parties will take action to promote and facilitate the sustainable expansion of renewable energy developments while respecting our commitments to a healthy and biologically diverse marine environment.

North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy

For more information on the new strategy and todays OSPAR Ministerial Declaration visit: www.ospar.org

OSPAR Regional Sea Convention for the Protection of the North Eastern Atlantic Environment and Marine Protected Areas

The OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, of which Ireland is one of 16 Contracting Parties, requires Parties individually and jointly to take measures to protect and conserve the ecosystems and biological diversity. Ireland currently holds the Chair of the OSPAR Commission.

The contracting parties (members) are Belgium, Denmark, the European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Todays Ministerial Declaration states: We commit to halting and reversing the decline in biodiversity by 2030. As an immediate step on this journey, today we designate the North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Sea basin marine protected area, covering 595,196 km, to protect seabirds. This designation takes our OSPAR network of MPAs to 1,460,000 km which equates to 10.8% of our maritime area. Mindful that this MPA has conservation objectives directed towards the protection of seabirds, we affirm that we will also exercise due diligence with regard to any activities pertaining to the seabed below the waters covered by the MPA. Furthermore, we intend to enhance the protection by including additional OSPAR listed features and the seabed, ocean floor and subsoil thereof in the scope of the NACES MPA as supported by an evidence review process. We request the relevant competent international organisations to take note of these actions. We further commit to expand our network of effectively managed, well connected and representative marine protected areas and other effective conservation measures across OSPAR regions to cover at least 30%, which is over 4 million km, of our maritime area by 2030, with a view to achieving a high level of protection over time.

By 1 October 2018, the OSPAR Network of MPAs comprised 496 MPAs, including seven MPAs collectively designated in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. Together the sites have a total surface area of 864,337 km covering 6.4 % of the OSPAR Maritime Area.

To date, the majority of designated OSPAR MPAs are located in territorial waters, with an overall coverage of 19.6%. OSPAR Region II, the Greater North Sea has an MPA coverage of 18.6 %. The Celtic Seas (Region III) and the Wider Atlantic (Region V), both of which contain parts of Irelands maritime area, have 15.3 % and 8.3 % of their area designated as OSPAR MPAs, respectively. While coverage of the Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast (Region IV) is at 5.9 %, the Arctic Waters (Region I) show the lowest coverage with 1.9% of the region designated as OSPAR MPAs.

MINISTER OF STATE FOR HERITAGE MALCOLM NOONANS ADDRESS ON OSPAR MINISTERIAL DECLARATION

On invitation to speak on the Declaration of the Ministers:

Thank you Minister for the opportunity to provide the comments of Ireland regarding this very significant statement  the Cascais Declaration.

Firstly let me say that Ireland warmly welcomes the Declaration and, like other Parties, we strongly endorse it and the commitments it makes, that Im confident will deliver real results for our shared North-East Atlantic environment.

The crises we face

We recognise in the Declaration the triple crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and marine pollution facing our societies. And we acknowledge the strong need for immediate action to turn the tide, to change the dynamic, to systematically and cooperatively create the positive reaction and outcomes that these crises demand of us.

Actions not words

In this spirit of action, we are energised to deliver on our shared commitments in the Declaration. We welcome our agreement here today to designate an outstanding Marine Protected Area in the High Seas, to reach our UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 14  Life Below Water, to implement an impressive and far-reaching Strategy for the North-East Atlantic environment.

The time for talking has passed. Through OSPAR, through our Convention, real action is happening.

How we work

Ireland is especially glad to be part of this unique, world-leading gathering of Parties, where all have an equal voice, regardless of size or affiliation or culture; where we work proactively together within OSPAR and also with outside organisations, delivering not just for the marine environment but also for our people and our communities.

The Cascais Declaration is also an expression of their voices.

Thank you.
Daryl Baldwin, executive director of the Myaamia Center, talks to Miami Tribe students during a recent ecological perspectives class on campus. Photo: Scott Kissell

By Margo Kissell, university news and communications

The U.S. Senate has confirmed the nomination of Myaamia Center Executive Director Daryl Baldwin to the National Council on the Humanities.

It will become official once President Joe Biden signs the commission, according to the director of congressional affairs for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), who alerted Baldwin of the confirmation Friday. Biden nominated Baldwin in April.

Baldwin is a leader in Native American language and cultural revitalization. He will continue to serve in his role at Miami.

Daryl Baldwin

A citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, Baldwin is an adjunct assistant professor in educational leadership at Miami University. He also serves as co-director of the National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages, which is based in the Myaamia Center on Miamis Oxford campus.

"Many of the branches within the humanities lie at the heart of our work supporting language and cultural revitalization, Baldwin said. I hope that my position on the National Council on the Humanities will increase awareness of the important role the humanities play in the preservation and promotion of Indigenous knowledge, language, culture, and values."

Miami University President Gregory Crawford said this is a well-deserved honor for Baldwin and a great day for the nation and Miami.

Daryl is truly a thought leader in his field. I am confident that he will provide invaluable insight to this council of inspiring leaders and help to further its mission of celebrating culture, advancing the humanities, and shaping a truly great society, he said.

The Council is the NEHs advisory board. It is made up of 26 distinguished private citizens appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Members serve staggered six-year terms.

An "impact that will be felt for generations"

President Crawford has said Baldwins work on Native American language and cultural revitalization projects for the National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages  and his work with the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma through the Myaamia Center  are having a tremendous impact that will be felt for generations to come.

The Myaamia Center, a research-focused collaboration between the Miami Tribe and university, has been leading a language and cultural revitalization effort that has resulted in the first generation in nearly 100 years learning to speak the Myaamia language.

Baldwin credits the nearly 50-year relationship between the two Miamis  the sovereign tribal nation and the public educational institution  with playing a key role.

At Miami, tribe students have the unique experience of learning together and expanding their knowledge about their own heritage and culture by taking classes through the Myaamia Heritage Award Program.

Baldwin stands with Miami President Gregory Crawford, center, and Miami Tribe of Oklahoma Chief Douglas Lankford (photo by Scott Kissell.)

The program, which began in 1991, is a four-year undergraduate college experience for Miami Tribe students enrolled at the Oxford campus. It provides a tuition waiver and the additional coursework relative to their heritage.

The Myaamia word neepwaantiinki, which means learning from each other, embodies the core understanding of this relationship. It captures the desire to mutually engage with each other by creating opportunities for learning and sharing.

Kara Strass, director of Miami Tribe Relations for the Myaamia Center, said Baldwin has been a visionary in the Miami Tribes language and cultural revitalization.

His experience and ongoing commitment to community-based work make him a perfect nominee for this position, said Strass (Miami MS 18). As someone who has experienced his leadership and innovative thinking, I know that Daryl could bring a new and unique voice that will be invaluable to the National Council on the Humanities."

In 2016, Baldwin was named a MacArthur Fellow. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation made the selections based primarily on exceptional creativity, as demonstrated through a track record of significant achievement, and manifest promise for important future advances.

The White House news release included background from Baldwins biographical page on the Myaamia Center site, which says his forefathers were active in the political affairs of the Miami Nation dating back to the 18th century, and he continues this dedication to tribal self-determination through his efforts in language and cultural revitalization today.
Los drones iluminados forman figuras inspiradas en el logotipo de bitcoin en una recepcion organizada por el desarrollador estadounidense de criptomonedas y multimillonario Brock Pierce en el primer dia de implementacion de bitcoin como moneda en El Salvador, en la playa de El Sunzal el 7 de septiembre de 2021. (AFP via Getty Images)

El Salvador, which last month adopted bitcoin as legal tender, has mined some of the cryptocurrency using the heat from a volcano.

President Nayib Bukele tweeted that 0.00599179 bitcoin, or about $269, was mined.

Were still testing and installing, but this is officially the first #Bitcoin mining from the #volcanode, he said.

Were still testing and installing, but this is officially the first #Bitcoin mining from the #volcanode   Nayib Bukele  (@nayibbukele) October 1, 2021

On Tuesday, the president also tweeted a 25-second video that showed government-branded shipping containers of bitcoin rigs, and technicians installing the miners. In El Salvador, nearly a quarter of its domestic energy production comes from geothermal energy.

This is not the first time that volcanos have been used for bitcoin mining; Iceland has used geothermal energy to mine the crypto currency for years. There, as well as in Norway, nearly 100 per cent of all energy production is renewable, and cryptocurrency miners are taking advantage of cheap hydro-electric and geothermal energy to power their machines.

The low temperatures in the countries also help reduce costs by cooling the computer servers naturally.

President Bukele had instructed state-owned geothermal electric company, LaGeo SA de CV to make facilities for bitcoin mining cheap, tweeting in June that it would be 100% clean, 100% renewable, 0 emissions energy from our volcanos and that this was going to evolve fast.

LaGeo SA de CV to put up a plan to offer facilities for #Bitcoin mining with very cheap, 100% clean, 100% renewable, 0 emissions energy from our volcanos.

Our engineers just informed me that they dug a new well, that will provide approximately 95MW of 100% clean, 0 emissions geothermal energy from our volcanos 



Starting to design a full #Bitcoin mining hub around it.



What you see coming out of the well is pure water vapor  pic.twitter.com/SVph4BEW1L  Nayib Bukele  (@nayibbukele) June 9, 2021

The political state of El Salvador is not smooth, however. President Bukele recently declared himself a dictator as protests broke out against him. Many protesters said they were marching to defend democracy and stop violations of the constitution, amid allegations that the president has too much power and has weakened El Salvadors courts independence.

Story continues

Chivo cash machines, which are linked to bitcoin transactions, were set ablaze in the country on 15 September.

Prior to that they also suffered numerous glitches, unable to send money to relatives abroad or buy a cup of coffee in the country.

While El Salvador is keen to adopt the cryptocurrency, an analysis by the Science, Technology and Innovation Institute at Francisco Gavidia University said that the investment the government made in buying 550 bitcoins had already lost money.
New Adapt IT CEO Tiffany Dunsdon runs the JSE listed IT company from Perth, Australia, and she said residing overseas posed no problems getting the work done.

Dunsdon was appointed as Adapt IT following the resignation of Sbu Shabalala after a three-month leave of absence to attend to personal matters.

Before this appointment, she served as Adapt ITs commercial director and managed its international portfolio.

She is no stranger to leading a company. Dunsdon was the CEO of Infowave Holdings, which became Adapt IT, between 2004 and 2007.

Dunsdon was also part of Adapt IT from the start. Her relationship with Shabalala actually started when he worked for Infowave Holdings before he founded Adapt IT in 2003.

She served on the Adapt IT board in the early years and was involved in its enterprise development initiative.

In 2007 Infowave acquired a 100% equity interest in Microzone, which held a 67% interest in Adapt IT. Shortly afterwards, in January 2008, Infowave announced it was changing its name to Adapt IT.

It was also announced that Adapt IT MD, Sbu Shabalala, has been appointed as CEO, while Infowave CEO Tiffany Dunsdon would become the commercial director.

It has now gone full circle, and Dunsdon is once again in charge of the company she ran before the Adapt IT merger.

There is one major difference this time. She moved a Perth, Australia, over a decade ago and is now running the company from there.

Commenting on running the business from Australia, Dunsdon said technology made it possible for her to lead Adapt IT from overseas.

Companies have relied upon their digital platforms to continue with their business, Dunsdon told Biznews.

So, in fact, spending less time on aeroplanes and travelling, and more time connecting has actually been quite effective.

She said most multinational companies now transact business electronically.

We have spent hundreds of hours on meetings with colleagues and the Volaris group, and [being in Australia] is no impediment to getting the work done, she said.

Listen to the full interview on Biznews.

Now read: These are the most valuable tech skills in South Africa
This article was produced in partnership with the Bay City News Foundation, which is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.

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.
To help encourage the students, Napa graduate Arleene Correa Valencia, a Mexican-born artist, joined the class via Zoom from her current home in New York. She gave the students advice and talked to them about her artistic inspiration and work with textiles.

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Her artworks are cultural representations of myself and my family, said Correa Valencia.

I see art as a way to have a voice myself, as way to write history, so that nobody gets to tell my story for me. I get to tell it for myself.

These kinds of projects are really important for me because it allows us to reflect on our family and history and understand how we came here, Correa Valencia said.

Danushka Rodriguez, a sophomore at New Tech, jumped right into the Hilos Visibles project.

My grandmother taught me to embroider since I was little, she said. Thats how I would connect with her. I love dinosaurs so I decided to do a dinosaur.

Rodriguez had sketched the outline of her creature in white pencil on her 10-inch square fabric base and was starting to fill in the outline.
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Mission Meals extends this service  which they call their Patitas (Spanish for little paws) program  across the different communities they work with, but have found that farmworkers have a particular affinity for pets. Historically speaking, Aleman says this would often result in people giving their limited food resources to their pets, so the group wanted to make sure that all family members  furry or not  could be fed.

Gonzalez said that pretty much all of his GVM employees sign up for these monthly food boxes, and he has seen the gratitude firsthand from employees. Having started the company with his father in 2016, Gonzalez is proud to be able to give back to the people who helped them get there.

With this partnership with Mission Meals Coalition, this is not only a great way for him to see how the company has been able to provide this kind of help, but at the end of the day we do this to help the farmworker community, he said. We come from farmworker communities, weve worked in the field, we have had our fair share, and so it is very important for us to give back.

Aleman has been organizing in the Bay Area since age 14, with particular interests in housing security, immigration rights, and now, hunger relief, so this partnership is an exciting opportunity to expand Mission Meals services out to Napa more permanently.
One more drive-thru in the city of Napa is one too many, an environmental group is saying.

An appeal of the Soscol Square Shopping Center project filed by Napa Climate NOW!, which cites an increase in greenhouse gas emissions as the result of a proposed restaurant drive-thru, will bring that aspect of the project to the Napa City Council for a vote Tuesday evening.

The shopping center, approved by the citys planning commission in August, is planned to be built on a 7-acre site at the intersection of Soscol Avenue and Gasser Drive. Development plans include a Kohls Department store, a retail building and an undetermined restaurant with a drive-thru  which was originally proposed as a Chick-fil-A until Canadian applicant Ronmor Developers Inc. dropped the restaurant from the project in July.

Napa Climate NOW! filed an appeal of the use permit for the drive-thru because of its impact on greenhouse gas emissions. In the appeal letter, written by co-chair David Kearney-Brown, the group states it doesnt oppose any elements of the plan except the drive-thru.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Special offer: $1 for your first 6 months!
So far, abortion providers trying to block the Texas law have been rejected at every turn. That makes the lawsuit filed by the Justice Department their best chance yet to deliver the first legal blow to the GOP-engineered restrictions, which were signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May and took effect Sept. 1.

Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Whole Woman's Health, said some of the 17 physicians at her four clinics are ready to resume normal abortion services if the law is put on hold. Preparations began this week when some doctors gave patients found to have cardiac activity information to comply with another restriction  requiring a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion  so that they would be ready to be called back.

Its not the hundreds of people weve had to turn away," Hagstrom Miller said in an interview. But there is a significant group of people who have said, Please, let me do whatever I can. Keep me on a list, and call me if you get an injunction.'"

But the majority of her physicians, Hagstrom Miller said, remain wary and fear lawsuits absent a permanent court ruling. Clinic staff are also worried. Of course, we understand that," she said.
Earnest killed 60-year-old Lori Gilbert-Kaye, who was hit twice in the foyer, and wounded an 8-year-old girl, her uncle and Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who was leading a service on the major Jewish holiday.

Dr. Howard Kaye, Loris husband of 32 years, said he has continued his rheumatology practice to help people heal regardless of their backgrounds in keeping with his faith but that it was difficult for him and their daughter to carry on at times. Lori was active in charities and sacrificed a banking career to raise their daughter, he said.

This is a superior person and a wonderful woman, Howard Kaye said.

Hannah Kaye said her mother was victim of an ancient hatred of Jews. She recounted their last day together on a visit home from college in exquisite detail: their deep and humorous conversation" in the car, a final hug as her mother dressed for services and how she held her mother's head and said she loved her as she lay dying.

As she entered her seventh decade, Lori Gilbert-Kaye had lots of desires, Hannah said, including wanting to attend law school, ride a hot air balloon and own a restaurant that served her father's barbecue.

She wanted to live another day, she wanted to survive, Hannah said of her mother's last moments.
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (AP)  Nearly a century ago, white leaders of a Southern California city robbed a Black family of their prime beachfront land and legacy.

Descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce  including the couples great-great grandson  returned to the scene of the crime in Manhattan Beach on Thursday to watch Gov. Gavin Newsom sign the law that allows ownership of the property to be transferred back to the family.

The move was hailed as a major milestone in the fight for reparations and the return of lands stolen from people of color.

There are other families waiting for this very day, to have their land returned to them, Patricia Bruce, a cousin of Willa and Charles Bruce, told The Associated Press.

Amid rampant forced segregation in 1912, the Bruces built the first West Coast resort for Black people. Situated along what became one of Southern Californias signature beaches fronted by rows of multimillion-dollar homes, it included a lodge, cafe, dance hall and dressing tents.

The Bruces and their patrons faced constant racism and harassment. There even was an attempt to burn the resort down. The Manhattan Beach City Council eventually used eminent domain to take the land from the Bruces in the 1920s, purportedly for use as a park.
MARIPOSA, Calif. (AP)  Authorities say they are still investigating the mysterious deaths of a Northern California family and their dog who were found in a remote hiking area, but have so far determined their deaths were not caused by a gun or any other weapon, a lightning strike, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, cyanide exposure, illegal drugs, alcohol or suicide.

The bodies of John Gerrish, his wife, Ellen Chung, their 1-year-old daughter, Miju, and their dog were found on Aug. 17 on a hiking trail close to the Merced River in the Sierra National Forest. A family friend had reported them missing.

The Mariposa County Sheriff's Office said Thursday that officials are working with toxicologists, environmental specialists, the FBI and other experts, but the cause of death remains undetermined."

ALL other potential causes of death remain, the sheriffs office said, without elaborating.

While many toxicology reports have been completed, authorities are still waiting for a few key results, but there is no timeline for those, the department said.

One early theory that has not been ruled out is whether high levels of toxic algae detected played a role.
I sent him a heartfelt thank-you letter and referred him to our book (and website) which he helped inspire. I could see by his website that he must be extremely busy and I did not expect a reply.

Several days ago, I was shocked beyond belief to see the following e-mail.

Its been far too long since you sent your lovely e-mail to me. I set it aside to be answered in-depth and you know what happened? Life got in the way.

I reread your letter about a month ago and decided I would read the book before answering.

It took Amazon one month to get the book to me here in Hawaii. But it did arrive and I have been wandering through it delighting in the stories, mysteries and epiphanies. What an accomplishment.

I am delighted to be considered part of the inspiration for all of this. My love for Nature and the wilderness runs deep and I too have spent my life sharing its spiritual aspect with others.
San Rafael  The Roger Trinchero Family Foundation has made a a five-year $100,000 annual grant to 10,000 Degrees to support the organizations college success program in Napa County.

10,000 Degrees is an organization dedicated to empowering students to enter and graduate college in seven Bay Area counties

The Trinchero grant will allow two 10,000 Degrees fellows to work with Napa Valley Community College students and community college-bound students from the Napa region to engage high school students from across the valley.

According to the California Student Aid Commission, 56.7% of Napa County high school students are Latinx, and of those students, 74% are from financially disadvantaged households, 36% are English language learners, and only 41% meet A-G requirements. Nearly 60% of Latinx Napa County students graduate from high school without meeting the academic requirements to attend a four-year college.

According to the California Department of Education, more than 80% of students entering community college nationwide indicate a desire to earn a four-year degree, but less than 14% do so.

By comparison, students participating in the 10,000 Degrees college success program transfer to and graduate from four-year colleges at three times the national average.
By Aram Achemyan

The government plans to increase Armenias revenues in next year's state budget by almost 30 percent, and the expendituresby more than 18 percent, which, however, according to economists, is unrealistic.

The draft state budget for 2022 was approved at Thursdays Cabinet session and submitted to the National Assembly.

But taking into account the dynamics of the previous years, the 2022 budget has set a high target whose foundations were not laid during 2020-2021.

Nonetheless, according to the government, 2.18 trillion drams will be spent next year, which is 18.2 percent more than the planned expenditure budget for 2020; and this is in the case when the current authorities have not been able to fulfill the expenditure indicators of the 2020 state budget.

It is noteworthy that in 2022, the authorities plan to increase state budget revenues by 28.9 percent; this will be implemented mainly through tax revenues and collection of state duties. In fact, the government will tighten tax administration, and may also increase the tax burden in some domains, as such a flow of tax revenues cannot be expected in the conditions of only 7-percent economic activity.

At the same time, in 2022 it is planned to reduce the state budget deficit by 29 percent, and this will allow curbing the national debt which has been progressively growing in recent months.

In conclusion, it should be noted that Armenias state budget for 2022 is not realistic taking into account the dynamics of recent years and the existing internal and external risks.
Greeces prime minister said Thursday that he has no intention of competing against Turkey in an arms race and hopes to resolve differences with the neighboring country through dialogue, but that Greece must defend its territory and sovereignty, AP reported.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis comments Thursday came two days after Greece signed a defense deal with France worth around 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion), including the purchase of three French frigates for the Greek navy.

We cannot ignore the fact that we live in a very complicated neighborhood. It is a reality of geography which we cannot ignore, Mitsotakis said during a Democracy Forum conference in Athens.

I do not intend to enter into an arms race with Turkey, and Im always reaching out a hand of friendship to Turkey. We have big differences on many issues, but there should be a way to solve these differences through dialogue, the prime minister said. At the same time, we will defend our territory, our territorial integrity, our sovereignty, our sovereign rights. And in order to do so, we need a strong deterrence.

The agreement Greece signed with France includes a deal for mutual assistance in the case of an attack by a third country.

That clause essentially says that if any of the countries is attacked, if its territory is challenged, its sovereignty is challenged, then there is an obligation by the other party to assist it, Mitsotakis said. And this is a strategic partnership which in my mind goes above and beyond the mutual assistance clauses that are currently included in the European treaties.

The deal, he said, wasnt in competition to NATO or any other alliances.

We have a strategic partnership with the United States that is going from strength to strength. Were about to sign ... a new five year mutual defense and cooperation agreement with the United States, he said, adding that Greece, France and the United States are NATO members. So there is no real competition here. Were talking about complementary initiatives.

Greece has already bought 18 French Rafale fighter jets and plans to purchase another six under a program to modernize its armed forces.
Armenia opposition MP: Yerevan, Baku are synchronously working to destroy Armenian statehood

Slovenia Ambassador to Armenia: Armenian-Slovenian economic relations not adequate to existing potential

Cavusoglu: Ukraine has applied to obtain observer status in Turkic Council

Turkey building a wall on border with Iran

Basque Country Parliament, affirming European Parliament's stance, adopts resolution on Armenian POWs

Turkish FM touches upon Armenia-Azerbaijan relations

Armenia FM receives Apostolic Nuncio of Holy See Jose Avelino Bettencourt

Saakashvili's father calls on son to stop hunger strike

Armenian and Belarusian MFAs hold political consultations

Digest: Russia offers 3+3 Caucasus regional platform, more on COVID-19 vaccination in Armenia

Armenia MOD receives Diaspora Armenian benefactors

Armenia Ambassador presents credentials to Turkmenistan President

Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker and Russia Ambassador: We are interested in expansion of cooperation

Armenia finance ministry-European Investment Bank cooperation development directions discussed

One dollar drops below AMD 480 in Armenia

Hague court announces dates for considering petition for Armenian captives return, urgent measures against Azerbaijan

Armenia minister, Rosatom representative discuss cooperation in new sectors for infrastructure development

Armenia PM underscores need for effective investigation of criminal cases on 44-day war circumstances

Armenia MFA: Servants, followers of Armenian Church should have unimpeded access to cathedral in Artsakhs Shushi

Armenia opposition With Honor Faction lawmaker: MPs can be part of any parliamentary delegation

Turkish Armed Forces' 3rd army corps commander visits Nakhchivan

Sergey Markedonov: Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not over

Opposition 'Armenia' faction: There is always a threat of war, but it is less likely in the near future

Armenian and Greek competition protection authorities sign Memorandum of Cooperation

Georgia FM comments on possibility of his country joining 3 + 3 format proposal including Armenia

Ruling power MP: Armenia needs to consider, grasp opportunities of 3 + 3 negotiation format

12 new cases of coronavirus reported in Karabakh

FM meets with Sweden ambassador, stresses need for return of all Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan

Ukraine MP who penned Armenian Genocide recognition draft decision dies

Azerbaijan organizes another visit to occupied Shushi of Artsakh

Ombudsman in Rome, presents Armenian captives issue to international media

ANCA calls on US Congress to investigate State Department failures related to Armenia, Artsakh

Armenia opposition MP: Tatev bypass road will not resolve all our problems in current situation (PHOTOS)

1,202 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Opposition Armenia bloc challenges, at Constitutional Court, community enlargement law package

Armenia Central Bank chief in Rome, meets with Italy PM

Russia peacekeepers, philanthropists hand warm clothes to Artsakh families

State Department: US, Russia do not want to allow Iran to have nuclear weapons

Newspaper: Armenia state to no longer cover treatment expenses of patients not vaccinated against coronavirus?

Newspaper: Armenia judicial system to be in volatile situation in short time

UN Human Rights Council agrees to appoint special rapporteur on Afghanistan

Russia citizen driver, 52, dies on the spot after his car crashes into truck in Armenia

Launch of Armenian Studies Program announced during Armenia President's visit to Sapienza University

Will Turks be able to enter 26 countries of Schengen Area without visas?

Dinner served in honor of Armenia President and his wife in Italy

Armenian parliamentary standing committee chairman meets with Russia Ambassador

Armenia Ombudsman submits to Pope Francis reports on tortures of Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan

Customs Attache: There hasn't been and there is no bias against Armenian drivers at Upper Lars checkpoint

Greece-France defense agreement will allow them to help each other in case of third country's attack

Treatment of coronavirus-infected but unvaccinated people to become paid service in Armenia as of December?

Turkish FM: Turkey's position on supporting Ukraine's "integrity and sovereignty" remains unchanged

Russian peacekeeping forces, charitable organizations provide assistance to boarding school in Karabakh

Zakharova: Moscow proceeds from priority to ensure geopolitical stability in South Caucasus

Armenia President pays tribute at Altar of the Homeland monument at Venice Square in Rome

Turkey, Iran to hold political consultations

Karabakh FM expresses condolences over death of Vigen Chitechyan

Armenia territorial administration and infrastructure minister has new deputy

Armenia Deputy PM Mher Grigoryan receives US Ambassador

Armenia Security Council Secretary, Netherlands Ambassador attach importance to fight against corruption

Digest: Armenian POW returned from Azerbaijan, PACE speaks on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination risks

Armenia and Italy are deepening cooperation in justice sector

Apprehended ARF-D members are released

Armenia high-tech industry minister receives Russia Ambassador

Armenia Embassy in Russia hosts delegation led by Armenian parliamentary speaker

Decisions to arrest Armenia ex-defense minister, arms supplier are appealed

Dollar continues going down in Armenia

Artsakh President to Putin: Your role in process of peaceful, final settlement of Karabakh conflict is invaluable

Amir-Abdollahian: We consider inadmissible Zionist regime provocative movement in our region from Azerbaijan territory

Iran FM announces readiness to visit Armenia, Azerbaijan

US ambassador to Armenia attends unveiling of new x-ray machine donated to Ashtarak city hospital (PHOTOS)

Putin: Russia attaches great importance to close cooperation with strategic ally Armenia

Police disrupt ARF youths protest outside Armenia government building

Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople meets with the Pope, in the Vatican

UK envoy to Armenia does not comment on Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, Karabakh situation

Iran Supreme Leaders representative leaves Azerbaijan

Armenias Pashinyan to Russias Putin: We are grateful for your efforts to establish peace in South Caucasus

Putin, Aliyev confer on situation in South Caucasus

Putin, Erdogan discuss regional issues

4 new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

PACE new resolution urges to ensure that COVID-19 vaccination is not mandatory
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that the 18-month travel ban for Australians will be lifted from November, Reuters reported.

Opening the international border to citizens and permanent residents will involve home quarantines in eight Australian states and territories, Morrison said, meaning some parts of the country will open earlier than others.

It's time to bring Australians back to their lives. We saved lives, Morrison noted.

Morrison closed the international border in March 2020. Since then, only a limited number of people have been granted permission to leave the country for critical business or humanitarian reasons.

Morrison said he expects the first home quarantine systems to launch in November, but the timetable will be set by individual states and territories.
Any status within Azerbaijan is unacceptable for Artsakh. Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Foreign Minister David Babayan stated this to Armenian News-NEWS.am commenting on the recent statement by the president of Azerbaijan.

Question: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev recently said that the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh used to strive for independence, but now they talk about autonomy within Azerbaijan, which is unacceptable for him. In this context, they are also actively trying to introduce into circulation the terms cooperation between the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Karabakh and establishing ties between them. What can you say about this? Babayan: Any status within Azerbaijan is unacceptable for Artsakh. This is the firm opinion of the entire population of Artsakh, which has been and will remain unchanged. In this context, it should be noted that we do not recognize the so-called "Azerbaijani community of Karabakh", which is nothing more than an artificial structure created by official Baku to undermine the status of Artsakh's statehood. The Republic of Artsakh is ready to negotiate with Azerbaijan on an equal footing, to discuss everything, even the most difficult issues, and ways to resolve them.
Lilit Makunts, the Ambassador of Armenia to the US, on Thursday held a virtual meeting with Congressman David Valadao (R  California), the Embassy of Armenia in Washington D.C. informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The interlocutors discussed a number of issues aimed at strengthening bilateral relations, and in this context emphasized the role of the US Congress.

Also Ambassador Makunts briefed on the challenges and humanitarian crises followed by the Azerbaijani military aggression against the people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

In that regard, Makunts thanked Congressman Valadao for raising the above-mentioned issues, as well as coming up with respective legislative initiatives.
Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev has begun the process of "holding accountable the foreign companies that operate in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). He wrote about this in his article published in the Azerbaijani press.

"Operative-investigative measures are being taken to hold accountable the foreign companies engaged in illegal business in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan," Aliyev wrote, in particular.

The article added that the Prosecutor Generals Office of Azerbaijan "is working to assess the damage to the settlements, historical, religious and cultural monuments, and other property caused by Armenian vandalism, and to petition to international courts [in this regard]."
YEREVAN.  The foreign ministers of Armenia and the Czech Republic have exchanged views on regional developments. The statement came from Czech FM Jakub Kulhanek at Fridays joint news briefing with his Armenian counterpart, Ararat Mirzoyan, on the results of their meeting in Yerevan.

To note, the Czech official is in Armenia on a working visit.

Extending condolences to the families of the casualties of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war last fall, Kulhanek noted that the Czech Republic is ready to provide psychological assistance to those affected by this war and its resultant refugee.

In his words, the Czech Republic will continue to assist in the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijanand in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group. In this regard, the Czech official welcomed the New York meeting between the FMs of the two countriesand under the auspices of the Minsk Group.

To note, before coming to Armenia, Jakub Kulhanek had been in Azerbaijan.
YEREVAN.  The peaceful political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict remains on the agenda. Armenias Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated about this during Fridays joint news briefing after his meeting with Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek, who is in Yerevan on a working visit.

Mirzoyan noted that Armenia lauds the Czech Republics position, which is in line with the position of the EU and supports the OSCE Minsk Group efforts aimed at the continuation of the Karabakh peace talks and the search for a long-term settlement to this conflict. In this regard, the Armenian FM noted that his meetings in New York with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and his Azerbaijani counterpart confirm that a peaceful political settlement remains on the agenda.

Also, Mirzoyan reaffirmed Armenia's readiness to resume the full format of the peace talks, based on the well-known principles and elements, and under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The Armenian FM added that he and his Czech colleague have discussed humanitarian issues, too, and the need for the immediate release of the Armenian detainees in Azerbaijan.
Minister of High-Tech Industry of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan on Wednesday received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Armenia Masanori Fukushima.

As reported the Ministry of High-Tech Industry, Khachaturyan touched upon Japans economic achievements in which high technologies play a special role and stated that Japans experience can be exemplary for Armenia in the context of development of the high-tech industry. Talking about the opportunities for cooperation in the field of technology, Khachaturyan particularly set aside the processes targeted at digitization. He stressed that Japan is one of the leaders in the world in terms of effectiveness of digitization and that there are realistic preconditions for effective cooperation in this sector.

Ambassador Masanori congratulated Khachaturyan on assuming office and attached importance to the strengthening of economic ties, including cooperation in the field of technology. He added that there are many resources for development of technology in Armenia and that Japan sees several opportunities for cooperation in the country.

During the meeting, the parties also touched upon the already reached agreements according to which Japanese experts will work with their Armenian colleagues in 2022.
Azerbaijan has declared some Armenians wanted on charges of committing crimes during its own large-scale military aggression against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Armenia.

The prosecutor general of Azerbaijan, Kamran Aliyev, has announced that 24 Armenians are wanted, Azerbaijani media report.

Also, 79 criminal cases have been initiated.

The Azerbaijani prosecutor general added that about 300 people who "committed crimes against Azerbaijani servicemen during the First Karabakh War and the ceasefire regime" were declared wanted.

To note, an extensive report by the Human Rights Defender of Armenia on the atrocities committed by Azerbaijanis against Armenians is being disseminated in international organizations.
Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 01.10.21:

CHARGES

https://news.am/eng/news/665442.html

Azerbaijan has declared some Armenians wanted on charges of committing crimes during its large-scale military aggression against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Armenia.

The prosecutor general of Azerbaijan, Kamran Aliyev, has announced that 24 Armenians are wanted, Azerbaijani media report.

Also, 79 criminal cases have been initiated.

The Azerbaijani prosecutor-general added that about 300 people who "committed crimes against Azerbaijani servicemen during the First Karabakh War and the ceasefire regime" were declared wanted.

GRAPE HARVEST

https://news.am/eng/news/665383.html

The grape harvest continues in the Amaras valley of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

A video report by Artsakh Public Television notes, however, that this work was carried out with interruptions due to the provocations by the adversary.

"In recent days, the Azerbaijani soldiers had advanced and positioned themselves in this direction, a few hundred meters away from the vineyard. [But] with the intervention of Russian peacekeepers, the adversary vacated its position, and the harvest has resumed again in the orchards," the video report informs.

GRECO

https://news.am/eng/news/665347.html

The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) has released an Interim Compliance Report (Fourth Evaluation Round) which assesses the actions taken by the Armenian authorities for implementation of the recommendations included in the report on the Fourth Evaluation Round.

The Interim Compliance Report on the Fourth Evaluation Round is devoted to corruption prevention in respect of members of parliament, judges, and prosecutors.

GRECO, in its Fourth Round Evaluation Report, addressed 18 recommendations to Armenia. In the Second Compliance Report, GRECO concluded that seven recommendations had been dealt with satisfactorily and eleven recommendations had been partly implemented.

ARMS SUPPLIER

https://news.am/eng/news/665363.html

A Yerevan court on Thursday granted the National Security Services (NSS) petition to remand arms supplier Davit Galstyan in custody for two months, his lawyer Armen Harutyunyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The attorney added that they consider this decision unfounded, and therefore will appeal it at the Criminal Court of Appeal.

Former Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan and Davit Galstyan, who supplied weapons to Armenia, are charged with embezzling 2,277,323,840 drams (approx. US$4,624,380) from the state, as well as committing falsifications and publicly dangerous actions.

FM

https://news.am/eng/news/665409.html

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev recently said that the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh used to strive for independence, but now they talk about autonomy within Azerbaijan, which is unacceptable for him. In this context, they are also actively trying to introduce into circulation the terms cooperation between the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Karabakh and establishing ties between them.

According to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Foreign Minister David Babayan, Artsakh is ready to negotiate with Azerbaijan on equal footing.

"We do not recognize the so-called "Azerbaijani community of Karabakh", which is nothing more than an artificial structure created by official Baku to undermine the status of Artsakh's statehood. The Republic of Artsakh is ready to negotiate with Azerbaijan on an equal footing, to discuss everything, even the most difficult issues, and ways to resolve them."

COVID-19

https://news.am/eng/news/665406.html

As of Friday morning, 934 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 262,631 in the country.

Also, 20 more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 5,339 cases.

IRAN ARMY

https://news.am/eng/news/665403.html

Entitled as Fatehan (Conquerors) of Kheibar, a military drill of Irans Army Ground Forces started in northwestern parts of the country on Friday morning, Mehr reported.

These military exercises are conducted with the participation of armored units, artillery, and UAVs, and with the support of Air Force helicopters.

These exercises are held in line with detailed planning and based on a scheduled program aimed at testing weapons, military equipment, and assessing the combat-readiness of the Armed Forces in the bordering areas of the country.
His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians today received newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden to Armenia Patrik Svensson at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

During the meeting, the Supreme Patriarch touched upon the internal and external challenges facing the Armenian people and expressed his gratitude to Sweden and international diplomatic missions for supporting and standing with Armenia and the Armenian people during the difficult days of the war and the post-war period.

His Holiness also expressed his appreciation to the Swedish authorities for their generosity towards the Armenian community and mentioned that the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin is willing to work with the Embassy of Sweden in various sectors.

In his turn, Ambassador Svensson extended thanks for the cordial reception, voiced hope that the Armenian people will be able to overcome all the difficulties caused by the war and emphasized that he is very impressed with Armenia and the hospitality of the Armenian people. Svensson assured His Holiness that the Swedish embassy will make efforts to further deepen and enhance the Armenian-Swedish relations in different fields through the implementation of several programs.
"Industrial Company" and the Government of Armenia (GOA) are happy to announce that the Company has granted Armenia and the GOA has accepted a 25% share of the Company, Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned from the Prime Minister's Office.

Industrial Company holds 60% of the shares of the Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC). The granted 25% shares constitute 15% of the equity of ZCMC that will consequently belong to the Armenia.

"Industrial Company" is a fully owned subsidiary of Georpromining Armenia. The company has acquired 60% of ZCMC on 30 September 2021.

Roman Trotsenko, Geopromining Board of Directors Member, commented on the transaction. "Geopromining has been operating in Armenia for many years, and we have been a reliable partner for the Republic of Armenia and Armenians for almost 2 decades. We have gladly embraced the opportunity to further expand our business in Armenia and acquire majority share at ZCMC, while offering the Republic of Armenia 15% equity participation. We intend to expand cooperation with the Government of Armenia and this is the first step in a broader investment vision. The Republic of Armenia, the people and our shareholders will benefit from all this, as well as new opportunities will open up for the Armenian economy. We also have a goal to start the construction of a new copper smelter in Armenia in the coming years." Suren Papikyan, Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia commented: "We would like to thank Industrial Company for offering the people of Armenia an opportunity to own a share in one of the largest industrial assets of the country. This practice that is common in mining worldwide can be a demonstration for the people of Armenia of how the notion of stakeholder capitalism and shared values work in practice. We are confident that this joint project will be a start for a better governed, more inclusive and sustainable mining sector in Armenia, that will benefit the country and its investors."
In regard to the justice crisis, I would like to stress that there is a justice crisis in both domestic politics and in the region. This is what third President of Armenia, President of the Republican Party of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan stated during a forum entitled Republicans, Ongoing Reforms today.

Its not fair when the capitulator who heralded the war and became the reason for defeat still hasnt been punished for his venture and devastating policy, hasnt been punished by law and hasnt been damned by the people who still havent recovered from the post-war shock.

Its not fair when they are trying to dictate the so-called peace-loving agenda after taking thousands of lives and depriving thousands of Armenians of their homeland after the aggression.

Taking the opportunity, I would also like to touch upon the recent statements by the leader of Azerbaijan that were devoted to me and Armenia. Not only I, but also the co-chairs [of the OSCE Minsk Group] and the leaders of the respective co-chairing countries remember very well how Aliyev would act in my presence.

Certain forces have served you a gift on a platter, and both you and your father were defeated by the previous three presidents of Armenia on the battlefield and in diplomacy.

You of all people should know well that if there was no shift of power in Armenia with the great support of outside forces, you would never see Shushi and Hadrut.

The issue of Artsakh remains unresolved so long as the status of Artsakh is not clarified and so long as the security of the Armenians of Artsakh is under threat every day and every hour.

I would like to hope that the Armenian people havent forgotten about their dignity and rights and the bittersweet lessons of the past millennia and will draw conclusions before its too late, he said.
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received the delegation led by Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic Jakub Kulhanek, who are in Armenia on a working visit, the press service of the Government of Armenia reports.

The Prime Minister highlighted the continuous development of relations with the Czech Republic, noting that there is great unexploited potential for expanding cooperation.

Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope that as a result of Mr. Kulhaneks visit, part of that unexploited potential will be realized. The Prime Minister thanked the Czech executive body for its support to the democratic reforms being implemented in Armenia within the framework of the European Union.

Jakub Kulhanek noted that the Czech Republic attaches great importance to the expansion of multilateral relations with Armenia, including in the trade and economic sphere. The Czech Foreign Minister noted that Czech businessmen are also included in his delegation, which will contribute to the deepening of bilateral business ties and the discussion and implementation of joint investment programs.

Nikol Pashinyan stressed the importance of the  2.6 billion investment package to be provided to Armenia by the European Union and expressed confidence that the Governments of Armenia and the Czech Republic could closely cooperate in the programs envisaged within its framework.

The interlocutors also discussed the developments in the South Caucasus region. The Prime Minister referred to the trilateral statements signed by the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan after the 44-day war and the implementation of their points, noting that the Azerbaijani side has not returned Armenian prisoners of war, hostages or other detainees despite its obligations to do so. At the same time, Nikol Pashinyan stressed the need to withdraw the Azerbaijani armed forces from the sovereign territory of Armenia, reminding that the Armenian side had made a relevant proposal for a peaceful solution to that issue.

The Prime Minister added that the Armenian side supports the peace process within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs format for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and welcomed the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the sidelines of the Minsk Group Co-chairs format in New York.

The Prime Minister highlighted the comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the clarification of the status of Artsakh based on the principle of self-determination of nations.

Jakub Kulhanek expressed the Czech Republic's support for the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, noting the need for an exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

At the end of the meeting, the Czech Foreign Minister conveyed to Prime Minister Pashinyan the invitation of his country's Prime Minister Andrej Babis to visit the Czech Republic. Nikol Pashinyan gladly accepted the invitation and conveyed his warm greetings to Andrej Babis.
As we speak, members of United National Movement political party, the largest opposition party in Georgia, are gathering at the political partys headquarters to consider the actions that they will take following the arrest of their leader and third President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili.

The Prime Minister of Georgia on Friday announced the apprehension of Mikheil Saakashvili, who had informed that he was returning to the homeland on social networks on Friday morning. The details about the apprehension havent been reported. The presses say Saakashvili was apprehended in Tbilisi, Sputnik Georgia reports.

Saakashvili did his best. I want to call on you, the public, now its your turn. Tomorrow you need to go to the elections and affirm your stance. We dont have other plans. Tomorrow we will liberate the country, and on Sunday we invite everyone to celebrate our victory, said Levan Khabeishvili, one of the political partys leaders.

On Friday morning, Saakashvili disseminated a video message in which he stated that he was allegedly in Batumi. Members of United National Movement political party confirmed the news. The Georgian authorities declared that it was fake and that Saakashvili wasnt in Georgia, and the Georgian Internal Affairs Ministry reported that the ex-president hadnt officially crossed the Georgian border and hadnt left Ukraine.

Earlier, Saakashvili had announced his intention to return to Georgia before the local self-government elections set to be held in October. Georgia declared a search against him within the scope of a few criminal cases, and the Georgian authorities declared that they would apprehend him as soon as he crossed the border.

Mikheil Saakashvili served two consecutive terms as President of Georgia. He left Georgia in November 2013 and hadnt returned to the country until today, even though he had promised to do so. In 2015, he was deprived of Georgian citizenship and has been considered a citizen of Ukraine for over six years.
Earlier, the Russian authorities declared that the statements by President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Crimea pertaining to Turkey wont have an impact on the strategic cooperation between Ankara and Moscow and the future course of negotiations. In particular, the Kremlin declared that Turkeys position will be considered, but right after Erdogans speech in Idlib (Syria), the armies of the Russian Federation and Syria launched joint large-scale offensive operations targeted against the soldiers of armed pro-Turkish formations. This is what Turkologist Andranik Ispiryan said during Armenian News-NEWS.ams show TALK TIME.

The analyst also recalled that the Turkish president had previously visited the US and intended to meet with the US President, but the meeting wasnt held.

To take revenge over Washington, Erdogan tried to organize a meeting with President of Russia Vladimir Putin as soon as possible in order to show US President Biden the possible risk of Turkey taking Russias side, Ispiryan clarified.

Putin and Erdogan discussed the points in the peace treaty that Armenia and Azerbaijan might sign. In this case, Erdogan was most concerned about the corridor issue, Ispiryan said, adding that Erdogan knows very well that Russia is the guarantor of Armenias security and that his position cant be overlooked.

The Turkologist said that, by analyzing the statements of Moscow and Ankara, he got the impression that Turkey failed to defend its positions in regard to Syria and Armenia.

Yes, it was stated that the status-quo will be maintained and nothing more. Basically, this meeting was ineffective for Ankara, Ispiryan said.

Nevertheless, according to the analyst, Russia and Turkey are simply compelled to cooperate in order to maintain their influence in the region and the whole world. In addition, through this cooperation, Russia is succeeding in splitting NATO.

Moscow managed to divide Turkey and the West, which, in essence, is Turkeys ally. Russia needs to continue to maintain Turkey in its sphere of influence, the Turkologist emphasized.
On Sept. 26, Germans went to the polls for an election unprecedented in recent history. For the first time since the founding of the Federal Republic, an incumbent chancellor was not campaigning for reelection. Current Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to step down after serving 16 years in office.

Merkel left a wide-open field of parties with competing visions for Germany.

Her Christian Democratic Party (CDU/CSU) selected Armin Laschet as its lead candidate to succeed her. While Laschet promised stability, he undermined his own chances this summer when he was caught on camera laughing during a speech that honored victims of a terrible flood. Merkels vice chancellor and finance minister, Olaf Scholz, from the Social Democratic Party (SPD), also endeavored to portray himself as her logical and competent successor.

The Green Party, led by Annalena Baerbock, called for a new, more climate-friendly direction in German politics while the libertarian Free Democratic Party (FDP), led by Christian Lindner, pledged to modernize the Federal Republics digital infrastructure and promote innovation. In addition, the far-left party Die Linke promoted better pay for care workers and a higher minimum wage. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD, under observation by the Germany Office of Constitutional Protection for antidemocratic tendencies) called for a return to a "normal," ethnically homogeneous, patriarchal Germany. Dozens of other much smaller parties appealed to voters with a host of other plans.

The results of the election represent a sea change in German politics. Merkels Christian Democratic party achieved its worst-ever showing, earning only 24 percent of the vote. Vice Chancellor Scholz was able to raise the Social Democratic Partys vote share to 26 percent. Together, however, these two peoples partiesthat jointly earned more than 70 percent of the vote between the 1950s and 1980sobtained support from only half the population.

Instead, the Greens experienced their best result ever, capturing 15 percent of the vote and winning seats in urban areas previously held by the peoples parties. The Free Democrats increased their vote share to 11 percent. Both the Greens and the FDP performed even better among younger, first-time voterstogether they won half the votes. Die Linke received a paltry 4 percent of the vote, down from 9 percent in 2017, and the AfD also dropped 2 percent to 10 percent. The remaining 9 percent of the vote divided among the multiple other parties not passing the 5 percent threshold for parliamentary representation.

The fragmented election results will make coalition formation quite difficult. The CDU/CSU and SPD have pledged not to continue their current government and no party will coalesce with the extremist AfD. As a result, only two possible coalitions remain, each requiring three parties. A traffic light coalition would involve the Greens, FDP (signature color yellow), and the SPD (colored red), while a Jamaica coalition would share the colors indicative of this countrys flag: Green, FDP (yellow), and CDU/CSU (black).

The Greens and FDPs are currently in negotiations to see if they can find common ground before approaching the larger parties to settle on a final coalition partner. Green/FDP negotiations will require considerable compromise; while both parties favor aggressive steps to combat climate change, they disagree on methods. The Greens campaigned on a platform of large-scale public investment in climate policy whereas the FDP has called for tax cuts to stimulate climate-friendly economic innovation.

If they can agree on how to proceed together, their next step will be to approach the former peoples parties to obtain a majority. The traffic-light option is preferred by the German public, who by large margins favor SPDs Scholz as chancellor over the CDU/CSUs Laschet.

Louise K. Davidson-Schmich is a professor of political science at the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences and the author of Gender Quotas and Democratic Participation: Selecting Candidates for Elective Offices in Germany.
Submarine row scuppers Australia-EU talks for now

A European Union official says trade talks with Australia have been postponed. Image: Shutterstock

A long-planned round of Australia-EU free trade talks have been postponed, a European official confirmed on Friday, after fury over Canberra's decision to cancel a major French submarine contract.



"The FTA trade round has been postponed for a month until November," an EU official in Canberra told AFP, throwing the future of the far-reaching pact into doubt.



Australia last month abruptly cancelled a multibillion-dollar contract for 12 French submarines, opting to buy nuclear-powered US-designed vessels instead.



The decision prompted a major diplomatic spat with one of the European Union's largest members and now appears to have hit ties with the entire bloc.



France has publicly said it can no longer trust Australia's government, accusing officials of lying and questioning whether the trade agreement can go ahead.



Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan, who was scheduled to travel to Europe for the talks, played down the decision.



"We understand the French reaction to our submarine decision but ultimately any nation must act in its national interest -- which is what Australia has done," he said in a statement.



Tehan indicated he plans to meet EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis -- the body that negotiates trade deals on behalf of its member governments -- next week to discuss what would be the 12th round of negotiations.



"We will continue preparing for the 12th round of negotiations and working towards concluding a free trade agreement that is in the interests of both Australia and the EU."



The European Union is Australia's third-biggest trading partner, with trade in goods between the two economies valued at 36 billion euros and at 26 billion euros in services last year.



The next round of talks was due to cover areas including trade, services, investment and intellectual property rights.



Negotiations began in 2018 and officials had hoped to reach a final agreement by the end of the year.



With both Australia and France heading to elections in early 2022, that timeline now appears optimistic.



The submarine dispute has made front-page news in both countries.



In response to the decision the French government recalled its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington, a rare move to protest allies' behaviour.



France's ambassador returned to the United States on Wednesday but as yet there is no such indication that ambassador to Australia Jean-Pierre Thebault will return.



Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull this week said his successor and former party colleague "deliberately deceived" France in scrapping the deal.



"(Prime Minister Scott) Morrison has not acted in good faith. He deliberately deceived France. He makes no defence of his conduct other than to say it was in Australia's national interest," Turnbull told the National Press Club in Canberra.



"France believes it has been deceived and humiliated, and she was. This betrayal of trust will dog our relations with Europe for years," he added. (AFP)
Hugs for everyone. Peter Bischoff/Getty Images

Disney parks are the most magical places on Earth, and random acts of kindness happen there a lot.

These 10 instances went viral, making us all believe in the magic.

A Disney World visitor wore a shirt asking for a kidney transplant - within days, over 100 people contacted him.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Sadly, Disney parks don't always exactly live up to the hype. But every so often, a story of exceptional kindness will unfold and go viral, showing us all that magic still exists in the world, and people are still good at heart.

From Captain America learning sign language to two college students fundraising enough money for an entire family to visit Disney, these stories will have you weeping at your desk.

Here are nine viral acts of kindness that have taken place at Disney parks.

A very polite little boy stole the hearts of all the princesses in Disney World

Vanessa Guedert's TikTok video of her son Bernardo tipping his cap to all the characters as they walked by has been viewed over 43 million times since it was uploaded in September 2021.

Multiple comments called the 4-year-old "a true gentleman" and many admitted the video made them cry. Chivalry's not dead, after all.

A man seeking a kidney transplant wore a shirt to Disney World asking for help - 5 months later, he received a new kidney

Robert Leibovitz spent $35 screen-printing a custom T-shirt that read, "In Need Of Kidney" with his blood type and phone number. Did he get a return on his investment? If you consider successfully finding a match and receiving a new kidney a good return - then yes.

According to the Washington Post, Leibovitz wore the shirt to Disney World in August 2017 in the hopes another visitor would see it and potentially contact him. He thought, "maybe I'd get a little pixie dust."

Instead, a photo of his shirt was posted to Facebook and shared 33,000 times in a single day, and over 90,000 times in a week. Best of all: A man contacted him who ended up being a match. The transplant successfully took place in January 2018.

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"I had no clue that this thing would be so viral, so successful," said Leibovitz.

A Disneyland visitor was visibly overjoyed when he realized that Captain America could communicate with him via sign language

An Instagram video uploaded in June 2016 made the internet smile. The video, which has over 27,000 views, shows a park visitor having a conversation with Captain America in American Sign Language. According to UpWorthy, the guest signed he's from Boston, and the superhero responded by telling him he's working on his ASL, but "he's a bit of a slow learner."

Making parks more accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing community has been part of their mission since 2010, according to Disney Parks.

After a 6-year-old boy donated his 'vacation savings' to help victims of Hurricane Dorian, Disney organized a free trip for his 7th birthday

Jermaine Bell went viral in September 2019 for using his savings - which he had been planning to use on a trip to Disney World - to buy hot dogs, chips, and water for people displaced by Hurricane Dorian.

"I wanted to be generous and live to give," the 6-year-old boy told local TV station WJBF. "When people were hungry, I wanted them to have something to eat."

This sweet story got even better a few days later, when Disney surprised him with a free trip to the park for his seventh birthday. Mickey Mouse and other Disney favorites rolled up to his house in a charter bus decked out with Disney decorations and whisked him away on a special VIP trip to Disney World.

"Be strong, and if you do good things, you will be rewarded," Bell said after receiving his surprise.

When a hardworking barista told 2 customers about her dream of taking her family to Disney World, they set out to raise enough money for the vacation

This beautiful story happened back in 2016. Kathryn Thomson has been an employee at Acorn, a coffee shop beloved by the students of Elon University, for 10 years. One evening, she happened to tell two customers and Elon students, Taylor Zisholtz and Lucy Smith-Williams, that she dreamed of taking her son, his wife, and her two grandchildren to Disney World.

The two students were so moved by Thomson's story that they put the call out on social media to donate money for Thomson's vacation. Within weeks, they had successfully raised enough money for Thomson and her family to go.

According to Disney Parks, the family "experienced all four theme parks, a special meet and greet with Mickey Mouse and with a little Disney magic, a surprise reunion with the two college students who worked to make this happen."

A little girl visiting Disney World was given a heartbreaking gift by a couple commemorating their late daughter's Make-a-Wish trip

In November 2019, Kara and Kyle Geiselman were prepared to apologize when their 4-year-old daughter Belle ran into two strangers - but instead, the strangers offered Belle a gift. The couple explained they were in Disney celebrating the anniversary of their late daughter's Make-a-Wish trip.

The couple told the Geiselmans they had bought two golden Mickey Mouse rings on their trip: one for their daughter and one for another child who was "adorable like their little girl."

As Kara explained in a Facebook post, it was all the more meaningful for the family because it was Belle's first trip to the park "without needing a feeding tube for nourishment or an oxygen mask on the flight." Belle was born prematurely, and she needed a feeding tube for the first 18 months of her life.

Instead of clamoring for an autograph from a Disney character, a 6-year-old boy only wanted the signature of an Orange County deputy

Disneyland Paris. Michel Euler/AP

In November 2015, 6-year-old Shayne Welch, his brothers, and their parents visited Disney World. On the last day of their trip, Shayne's mom, Jennie, told Today, they decided to let their sons pick out autograph books to get some autographs from the Disney characters who wander the park.

However, Shayne decided he wanted an autograph from a real life hero: Orange County Master Deputy Keith Rogers.

"As soon as he saw Deputy Rogers, he asked if he could get his autograph. We walked over to Deputy Rogers, who immediately bent down to Shayne's level and began a conversation with him," Welch told Today. "When we were leaving, Shayne insisted on going out the exit near Deputy Rogers. When the deputy saw him, he yelled out, 'Bye, Shayne!' Shayne looked at me with a huge smile and said, 'Mom, I'm gonna miss him.'"

After a mom was almost too claustrophobic to get on a ride with her daughter, a helpful Disney employee rode with her - and held her hand the whole time

In September 2019, a Facebook post by Jessica D. Thomas, which garnered over 73,000 likes, detailed the story of her first trip to Disney World with her 1-year-old and her 3-year-old.

Thomas wrote how she's been claustrophobic for her entire life and experiences panic attacks if she is triggered - it happened right before she boarded a ride in Disney's Animal Kingdom based on "Avatar."

So, she got off with her 1-year-old - but before she could exit, a friendly Disney cast member named Samantha took it upon herself to ask what was going on. After Thomas explained, Samantha offered to ride with her.

"She not only held my hand the entire time but she also pointed out every single exit to me, told me about all the ways I was safe and how the cast members could come get me out if any of my worst fears came true. *Here is where she is an out right Godsend* [sic] While she was helping me through this, she simultaneously pointed out every detail of fun for my little girl and didn't miss a beat," wrote Thomas. "Today, I didn't feel like less of a mom or less than at all. She made me feel...well.. just magical at Disney today."

When an autistic little boy was overwhelmed by the crowds at Disney World, Snow White went above and beyond to help soothe him

In August 2019, Lauren Bergner and her family traveled to Disney World. Her son Brody has autism and is nonverbal, so he became overwhelmed by all the sights and sounds of the park and crowds when meeting Snow White. In Bergner's words, he was "having [an] autism meltdown."

But in response, Snow White "was amazing with him!! She kissed, hugged, and cuddled him," and "held his hand, danced with him, took him over to a bench and sat with him. She went above and beyond," Bergner wrote on Facebook. "She was a pure angel ! She was magical and my family is forever thankful and touched!"

Bergner's heartwarming story quickly earned over 181,000 shares and 50,000 comments from well-wishers, but it's since been deleted.

This Disneyland Cinderella took the time to greet this service dog, and now we're all crying

In January 2019, a video capturing the moment a service dog met Cinderella at Disneyland went viral. Who among us hasn't wanted to give our favorite Disney princess a giant hug, just like Elijah the service dog-in-training did?

Read the original article on Insider
Virus Outbreak Anchorage Masks ( Anchorage Daily News)

Anchorages vaccine-critic mayor has apologised after suggesting that those protesting mask mandates by wearing Star of David symbols were doing so as a credit to Jewish people.

Speaking at a meeting to discuss mask mandate AO2021-91, Dave Bronson had attempted to fend off criticism of a group of local people who had donned the Star of David to protest coronavirus vaccine mandates.

Thats what the star really means: We will not forget, this will never happen again, Mr Bronson said at the Wednesday meeting. And I think us borrowing that from [Jewish people] is actually a credit to them.

The tone-deaf comparison of vaccine mandates to the Shoah, in which six million Jewish people were murdered by the Nazis, saw a swift rebuttal from one Jewish assembly member, who requested that people protest without invoking the horrors inflicted on Jewish people.

Reading aloud a letter from his rabbi, Forrest Dunbar said: For myself and most Jews, seeing the yellow Star of David on someones chest elicits the same feeling as seeing a swastika on a flag or the SS insignia on a uniform.

I believe it is a constitutional right to protest for your values. But I request that you do not use symbols that diminish the 6 million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust, the Associated Press reported.

Following a backlash over his comments, Mr Bronson apologised, saying: I understand that we should not trivialise or compare what happened during the Holocaust to a mask mandate, and I want to apologise for any perception that my statements support or compare what happened to the Jewish people in Nazi Germany.

As well as people protesting wearing Star of David symbols, the meeting also saw jeers and insults thrown from the crowd, and several arrests  including one person who was in possession of a firearm, the Alaska Landmine reported.

The debate causing such uproar is a proposed citywide mask mandate.

The law, proposed by Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel, states that all individuals must wear masks or face coverings over their noses and mouths when they are indoors in public settings or communal spaces outside the home; or outdoors at large crowded public events. Unvaccinated individuals are additionally encouraged to wear masks at all outdoor public gatherings regardless of size, MustRead Alaska reported.

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It has been opposed by some citizens as well as Mr Bronson, who said at an earlier meeting on Tuesday: I oppose this ordinance because it is based on inconclusive science, because it is bad policy, and because it is an unconstitutional infringement on the freedom guaranteed to every Anchorage citizen by our federal and state constitutions.

But most of all, I oppose this ordinance because it pits neighbor against neighbor, shop owner against customer and friend against friend.

Read More

GOP congressman Thomas Massie deletes tweet comparing vaccine passports to Holocaust

US, Germany confront rising antisemitism, Holocaust denial

Hospital worker fired for likening vaccine mandate to Holocaust in TikTok video

'Neglected danger': Nukes not in forefront in speeches at UN

EXPLAINER: What's behind all the drama in Congress?

EU chief prosecutor accuses Slovenia of justice interference
Justice Samuel Alito rebutted Thursday what he called unfair and damaging attacks on the Supreme Court over its emergency adjudication of politically-charged cases, such as the Texas heartbeat law, which recently went into effect after the bench declined to block it.

Responding to criticisms that the conservative-dominated court has been strategically rushing into hasty decisions to advance a secret political agenda, Alito objected to the medias use of the term shadow docket as a misnomer, and claimed such an accusation erodes the legitimacy of the federal judiciary.

The catchy and sinister term shadow docket has been used to portray the court as having been captured by a dangerous cabal that resorts to sneaky and improper methods to get its ways, Alito remarked during an address at the University of Notre Dame. This portrayal feeds unprecedented efforts to intimidate the court or damage it as an independent institution.

In the wake of the courts emergency rulings in the cases of the Texas heartbeat law, CDC eviction moratorium, and the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy, all of which favored conservatives, the Senate Judiciary Committee called a hearing Thursday to examine the shadow docket complaints.

The media and political talk about the shadow docket is not serious criticism, Alito commented, noting that emergency application is a standard procedure that is only invoked when the plaintiffs ask for it, which abortion providers did in the recent Texas heartbeat law situation. The legislation prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, long believed to be around six weeks of gestation.

Journalists may think we can dash off an opinion the way they dash off articles, he chided.

Since the Supreme Court rejected the opportunity to assess the Texas heartbeat measure, given the small time window afforded by the complainants, the pro-abortion lobby has reacted with apocalyptic protestations that Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion at the national level, has been all but reversed.

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Alito called these false and inflammatory claims, adding, We did no such thing and we said that expressly.

He clarified that the Supreme Court issued emergency application for the Texas case because abortion proponents objecting to the law sought relief just over a day before it was scheduled to be implemented. They asked us to rule within hours on the papers, he said.

However, the Supreme Court will hear a potential challenge to the 1973 landmark case in December with Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, a case on the docket concerning a Mississippi law that bans abortions after fifteen weeks. The law was escalated to the High Court after a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals barred its enforcement, arguing it violated the precedent of Roe v. Wade and subsequent rulings.

In addressing emergency appeals, the Supreme Court is not conniving with ulterior motives but is rather simply following protocol, Alito confirmed.

This picture is very sinister and threatening, but it is also very misleading, he said. Theres nothing  absolutely nothing new about emergency applications There is nothing new or shadowy about the procedure we followed in those cases.

Alito said that while the court has received many more emergency requests that require fast decision turnaround this cycle, the justices are not to blame.

Its like complaining about the emergency room for treating too many accident victims who come in, he said. What are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to decline to adjudicate them? Are we supposed to impose a quota?  Its a silly criticism.

More from National Review
By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Leika Kihara

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's next Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may have little choice but to sell more government bonds to fund his pandemic-relief package worth hundreds of billions of dollars, even if it scrapes together money left over from previous stimulus programmes.

A former foreign minister known as a proponent of fiscal reform, Kishida won the ruling party's leadership race on Wednesday, assuring him of being chosen as prime minister next week due to the party's majority in parliament.

Keen to give the pandemic-hit economy a quick boost, Kishida pledged to compile a stimulus package worth several tens of trillion yen - at one point flagging a size of around 30 trillion yen ($270 billion).

Some of the package could be funded by shifting nearly 20 trillion yen left over from past stimulus programmes, though that alone likely won't be enough, analysts say.

"If Kishida wants a 30-trillion-yen package, he needs to issue about 9-12 trillion yen worth of new bonds," said Chotaro Morita, chief bond strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities.

Noriatsu Tanji, chief bond strategist at Mizuho Securities, predicted fresh bond issuance of less than 10 trillion yen.

That would add to a record 221 trillion yen in bonds scheduled to be issued in the current fiscal year to March 2022, straining Japan's already tattered finances and casting doubt on Kishida's image as a fiscal conservative who has long called for the need to reign in the country's massive public debt.

Mindful of the need to lure votes in a general election later this year, Kishida has also called for distributing more wealth to low and middle-income households via payouts.

But he is short on details on how to fund the steps. Kishida has ruled out raising Japan's sales tax for about a decade.

While he proposed raising the financial income tax rate, a hike to 30% from the current 20% only increases tax revenues by around 400 billion yen, according to private estimates.

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The finance ministry, in charge of crafting debt issuance plans and the state budget, is bracing for the possibility of having to issue more bonds to fund Kishida's spending wish-list.

While much will depend on the size of the relief package, actual spending to meet immediate needs to help pandemic-hit households and firms could be around 5-6 trillion yen, a senior government source told Reuters.

The remainder could consist of non-spending items such as loan programmes, government credit guarantees and a pool of funds that can be tapped for several years.

"Extra spending would be funded by additional bond issuance," the government source said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

"It's possible to issue more bonds" without triggering a spike in yields thanks to the Bank of Japan's ultra-easy monetary policy, he said.

The bond market, too, remains sanguine over the risk of a spike in bond yields due to the presence of the BOJ, which has pledged to cap long-term borrowing costs at zero under its yield curve control (YCC) policy.

BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Thursday a combination of big fiscal spending and ultra-low interest rates has resulted in a "positive synergy" for the economy.

"Whatever fiscal, regulatory or any other policies the new government pursues, the BOJ will continue to maintain extremely accommodative monetary policy in order to achieve its 2% price stability target as soon as possible," he said.

($1 = 111.3000 yen)

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto and Leika Kihara; Editing by Kim Coghill)
Russia on Friday held its first royal wedding since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution toppled the Romanov monarchy, with aristocrats travelling from across Europe for the lavish ceremony.

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov, 40, and his Italian fiance Rebecca Virginia Bettarini, 39, were wed at Saint Isaac's cathedral in the former imperial capital Saint Petersburg.

Hundreds of foreign guests travelled to Russia's second city for the Orthodox Christian ceremony, including royals from 20 countries such as the last king of Bulgaria, Simeon II, the last king of Egypt and the Sudan, Fuad II, and Princess Lea of Belgium.

The guest list of around 1,500 people included other prominent names like Konstantin Malofeyev, a monarchist and billionaire close to the Kremlin, and Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Bettarini converted to the Orthodox faith last year.

Young bridesmaids dressed in orange carried the bride's train that featured the coat of arms of the Russian Empire, embroidered in gold.

Bettarini also wore a diamond-encrusted tiara made by high-end jewellers Chaumet.

Surrounded by priests in golden robes, Romanov and Bettarini beamed as Metropolitan Varsofony of Saint-Petersburg and Ladoga performed the blessing.

Metropolitan Varsofony praised the couple for their desire to serve Russia.

"We are happy that you love Russia, and take part in charity projects," he said.

The ceremony included the exchange of wedding rings made by Faberge.

The House of Faberge said it was the first time it had created wedding rings for members of the Romanov family "since before the Russian revolution".

- 'My heart rejoices' -

Some women sported designer hats and furs, and men wearing Cossack uniforms decorated with medals could also be seen.

Natalya Grigorovich, a descendant of Ivan Grigorovich, Tsarist Russia's last naval minister, described the ceremony as "touching".

"My heart rejoices," she added.

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Passing by Saint Isaac's cathedral, Saint Petersburg resident Galina Bobrova said she wished the couple "happiness".

"For us the monarchy is something from a past life, of course, but it's interesting," the 50-year-old told AFP.

After the ceremony the sword-bearing honour guard saluted the newlyweds as they kissed outside the cathedral.

More than 500 guests were invited to attend the wedding dinner at the city's Museum of Ethnography later Friday.

The last wedding in Russia of an heir to the Romanovs was that of Nicholas II and Alexandra, 127 years ago.

Ahead of the ceremony, Romanov said the couple chose to tie the knot in Saint Petersburg because it was the first place in the country where the family returned in the early 1990s.

"It is very, very close to our family," he told Saint Petersburg-based news website Fontanka ahead of the wedding.

Saint Petersburg is "the history of Russia," he added, "the history of the House of Romanov".

- 'Ambassadors of goodwill' -

Born in Madrid, Romanov is the son of Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna Romanova, the self-proclaimed heir to Russia's imperial throne.

She is the granddaughter of Grand Duke Kirill, a cousin of Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar who was executed along with his wife Alexandra and five children by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

Buried after their execution in a place long kept secret by the Soviet authorities, their bodies and those of their children were transferred in 1998 to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg.

The family was canonised by the Orthodox Church in 2000 as martyrs.

After the wedding the newlyweds laid flowers at the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Romanov, who spent much of his life in France, graduated from Oxford and worked in the European Parliament. He also held jobs at Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel.

The couple moved to Russia three years ago, settling first in the Moscow suburbs before relocating to the city centre next to the Kremlin.

Romanov now works on several charity projects.

He said he believes European and Russian royals could help Moscow and the West mend fraying ties.

"I think that we can be ambassadors of goodwill."

Vladimir Putin's spokesman told reporters that the Kremlin always wished all newlyweds happinesses but the president did not plan to congratulate the couple.

"This marriage does not belong on our agenda in any way," said Dmitry Peskov.

mak-emg-as/har
The Virginia Attorney Generals Office is suing a Newport News landlord  accusing him of an alarming and egregious pattern of discriminating against his Black and female tenants.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Newport News Circuit Court, asks that David Lee Merryman be ordered to pay $8 million to compensate tenants for the willful, wanton and blatant pattern and practice of discriminatory behavior.

The lawsuits complaint contends that Merryman often promises his tenants that he will fix up the properties once they move in.

But after they sign the lease, the complaint maintains, Merryman often refuses to make the promised repairs, leaving the tenants  typically Black women with children and on government assistance  living in substandard conditions.

Moreover, the complaint says, Merryman routinely refuses to return the security deposit the tenants already paid out.

Tenant requests for repairs are often met with threats of violence, insults and other forms of retaliation, the complaint asserts, adding that city officials and police reports corroborate Merrymans abusive conduct toward his Black and female tenants.

Merryman conducts this pattern and practice of housing discrimination by using racial and gender-based epithets against his tenants in a campaign to demean them, all while holding over them the fact that he controls whether they have a roof over their head, the lawsuit says.

The racially charged language, the complaint maintains, has included the N-word and telling tenants they should go back to Africa. Other language has included telling tenants thats just how Black people act, or that they wont amount to anything, just like every other Black person, the suit adds.

The issues with Merrymans homes, the complaint says, include electrical problems that have resulted in fires, plumbing leaks, sewage problems, a lack of basic kitchen elements and structural issues.

In some cases, the complaint says, tenants paid for the needed fixes out of their own pockets. Other times, it says, renters have been forced to move out because they cant live in such conditions.

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Everyone deserves to live in safe, healthy housing without the fear of being harassed or discriminated against by their landlord, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said in a news release, saying Merryman preyed on the vulnerable.

I will never tolerate discriminatory landlords in Virginia, and my heart goes out to the renters who had to endure this alleged disgusting behavior.

Merryman, 56, of Hampton, owns at least 36 properties in Newport News and dozens more in the local area, according to the lawsuit.

He declined to respond immediately to the lawsuits central allegations of race and sex discrimination, saying he would have his lawyer formally respond.

But Merryman said that on Monday morning, he has dozens of eviction hearings scheduled in Newport News General District Court for tenants who havent paid their rent in months, and in some cases, years.

Merryman said hes owed more than $1 million in back rent from his tenants  most of that accumulating over the past 18 months.

It seems mighty strange that an Attorney Generals Office lawsuit is coming four days before dozens of people are being legally evicted, he said. Of course the tenants are going to be mad.

In late 2019, Merryman and Newport News top building codes official almost came to blows in a racially charged confrontation at Newport News City Hall.

Merryman was recording with his cellphone when he walked up to codes compliance director Harold Lee Roach Jr. following an argument during a phone call between the men over the condemnation of one of Merrymans properties.

As he approached on the City Hall steps, Merryman taunted Roach for using the logo of Black Lives Matter as the profile picture on his personal Facebook page.

Whats up, Merryman asked. What you gonna do about it, Black Lives Matter?

Over the next several minutes, Merryman repeatedly taunted Roach, while the codes director repeatedly tried to goad Merryman into hitting him.

All you have to do is lay your hands on me, Roach warned Merryman. You talked a whole lot of stuff on the phone about what youre going to do to this n*****. This n***** is here. What do you want to do to this n***** now?

No punches were exchanged in the five minute verbal altercation.

Roach was disciplined over the videotaped confrontation, with city records indicating his pay was docked for about a month beginning in January 2020.

According to the AGs complaint Thursday, Merrymans continued refusal to make repairs to his properties has resulted in numerous violations from city officials over the past several years.

Tenants have called police dozens of times ... asking for protection from Merryman, the complaint contends.

It adds that Merryman assaulted a female tenant who was requesting repairs, and he had to be held back by others as he said, Let me at that b****.

When that tenant was getting a protective order against Merryman, the complaint says, he removed all her possessions from the property.

Other times, the complaint contends, Merryman had tenants cars towed or went into their homes in violation of established landlord-tenant law.

The complaint contends that city employees sometimes called police to accompany them to his properties to be safe from Merrymans harassment.

The lawsuit asks a judge to block Merryman from race and sex discrimination, to bar him from threatening his tenants, and to order him to hire a third party property manager to run his properties for a reasonable period of time.

The complaint also asks that the victims of Merrymans unlawful discriminatory housing practices be reimbursed financially.

The lawsuit calls for Merryman to pay $6 million to reimburse tenants for the discrimination, and another $2 million for compensatory damages.

Moreover, it asks that Merryman pay another $50,000 for each proven allegation of housing discrimination.

Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, pdujardin@dailypress.com
BRUSSELS (AP)  A round of free trade talks between the European Union and Australia has been postponed by one month in the wake of a dispute over the Australian government's decision to cancel a multibillion-euro French submarine deal, EU and Australian officials said Friday.

EU commission chief spokesman Eric Mamer said the decision to delay the meeting was taken by the EU's executive arm. Asked whether it was a retaliation measure, Mamer said the EU is not in the business of punishing anybody.

Miriam Garcia Ferrer, the EU commission spokesperson in charge of trade, insisted the delay does not mean the end of discussions while Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan said he would continue planning to meet with his EU counterpart Valdis Dombrovskis next week to discuss the negotiations now set for November.

A free trade agreement is in the interests of Australia and the European Union and will strengthen our relationship that is built on a shared commitment to democracy, human rights, the rule of law and economic openness, Tehan said in a statement.

We understand the French reaction to our submarine decision, but ultimately any nation must act in its national interest  which is what Australia has done, he added.

The EU launched negotiations for a trade agreement with Australia in 2018. The 12th round of talks was scheduled to take place later this month via videoconference.

Australia signed the 90 billion Australian dollar ($66 billion) deal with French majority state-owned Naval Group in 2016 to build 12 conventional diesel-electric submarines. But Prime Minister Scott Morrison canceled the deal last month as part of an alliance with the United States and Britain that will give Australia at least eight nuclear-powered submarines.

The move infuriated France, and prompted criticism from European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

An EU official directly aware of the matter said the submarine row played a role in the decision to delay this month's talks but insisted a deal was not ready to be sealed in any case. The person spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

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France has accused the United States and Australia of betrayal over the canceled contract and the replacement trilateral alliance negotiated in secret. France briefly recalled its ambassador from Washington in protest; there is no word of when a French ambassador might return to Australia.

According to EU data, the 27-nation EU represented Australias third-largest trading partner in 2020, after China and Japan, ahead of the United States.

After the previous round of talks in June, the EU said discussions were held in a good and constructive atmosphere and showed a shared commitment to negotiate an ambitious and comprehensive agreement."

Garcia Ferrer said the monthlong delay would allow both sides to prepare better for the next round.

___

Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, contributed to this story.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australia has outlined plans to lift a pandemic ban on its vaccinated citizens traveling overseas from November. But no date has yet been set for welcoming international tourists back.

Travel restrictions that have trapped most Australians and permanent residents at home over the past 18 months would be removed when 80% of the population aged 16 and older were fully vaccinated, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.

Australia introduced some of the toughest travel restrictions of any democracy in the world on people entering and leaving the island nation on March 20 last year.

Most Australians have had to argue for rare exemptions from the travel ban to leave the country. There are a few exceptions from the ban including government employees and essential workers. Tourism is never accepted as a reason to cross the border.

Hundreds of thousands have failed to reach relatives death beads, missed funerals or weddings and have yet to be introduced to grandchildren because of restrictions aimed at keeping COVID-19 out of Australia.

New South Wales would likely become the first state to reach the 80% vaccination benchmark and Sydneys airport the first to open to international travel, Morrison said.

Weve saved lives. Weve saved livelihoods, but we must work together to ensure that Australians can reclaim the lives that they once had in this country, Morrison said.

Sydney-based Qantas Airways announced international flights would resume from Nov. 14 to London and Los Angeles.

Morrison offered no clue to when other nationalities would be welcome to visit Australia.

Well be working towards complete quarantine-free travel for certain countries, such as New Zealand, when it is safe to do so, he said.

Australia has its closest relationship with New Zealand, whose citizens are considered Australian permanent residents. The neighbors allowed quarantine-free travel across the Tasman Sea before the delta variant outbreak began in Sydney in June.

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The Australian Tourism Export Council, which represents a sector that made 45 billion Australian dollars ($33 billion) a year from international tourists before the pandemic, said the end of the travel ban paved the way for visitors from around the world returning by March.

"It marks a shift in thinking within both the government and community sentiment to reengaging with the world, the council's managing director Peter Shelley said in a statement.

A cap on the number of Australian citizens and permanent residents allowed to return each week has left 45,000 people stranded overseas. It's aimed at reducing pressure on hotel quarantine, which the more contagious delta variant had made more difficult to manage.

The cap would only apply to the unvaccinated under the new regime. Fully vaccinated Australians would be able to quarantine at home and for only a week instead of the current two weeks in a hotel.

Australia on Friday added Chinas Sinovac and Indian-made AstraZeneca shots known as Covishield to a list of vaccines that Australians can take and be recognized as fully vaccinated.

Travel restrictions would not be lifted for Australians who chose not to be vaccinated. People who could not be vaccinated for medical reasons or children too young to get the jab would have the same privileges as those inoculated.
A preliminary autopsy report for the 17-year-old foster child who died Sunday two days after corrections staffers restrained him at a juvenile facility in Kansas revealed only minor injuries, officials said Thursday.

The young man, Cedric "CJ" Lofton, of Wichita, had "some scratches and a bruise" after a struggle with corrections employees at the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center on Friday, Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter said at a news conference with Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett. "It is absolutely a tragic case. I want to assure the public we'll be thoroughly investigating it. ... We won't leave any stone unturned trying to find out exactly what happened to Mr. Lofton."

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, or KBI, is leading the investigation and will turn its findings over to Bennett.

The cause and manner of death have not been determined, and a toxicology report is pending, Bennett said.

"There were no life-threatening injuries," Bennett said, "which is why toxicology is going to be ... that important."

Easter said Wichita police were called to Lofton's home about 1 a.m. Friday because he was said to be in crisis and "felt that people were out to kill him." His foster parent wanted a mental health evaluation, Easter said.

The KBI has said that Lofton was involved in a struggle with officers and that he was arrested on four counts of battery of a law enforcement officer.

He was handcuffed and placed in a wrap restraint, a device used to prevent people from hurting themselves or others, officials said.

Neither his foster parent nor relatives could be reached for comment Thursday.

Lofton was Black. Black, white and Hispanic staff members were at the juvenile facility, said Lt. Benjamin Blick, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office.

Officials released more details Thursday about the timeline after Lofton's arrest. He was transported to the juvenile facility by Wichita police shortly after 2:30 a.m., and about three hours later, he became unresponsive after fighting with facility employees, officials said Thursday.

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Workers at the juvenile facility began CPR at 5:18 a.m., Easter said. A few minutes later, emergency medical personnel arrived and continued CPR.

"At that point, they are able to get his heart started again," Easter said.

Lofton died at a hospital just before 2 a.m. Sunday, officials said.

Officials have said Lofton attacked an employee at the juvenile facility as he was being escorted back to his cell from the restroom.

"Multiple corrections staff engaged in a lengthy physical struggle to get him into the holding cell and place him into handcuffs," the KBI said.

Bennett declined to release more details about the struggle.

Melissa Underwood, a spokesperson for the KBI, said in an email Wednesday that five county corrections employees "were potentially involved" in his restraint. They had been not been placed on administrative leave, she said Wednesday.

Authorities also said Thursday that there is video of Lofton's encounters with Wichita police and corrections employees at the youth facility. Easter said state law dictates that his office can authorize certain parties to view bodycam and dashboard video, including the subject of the video, some family members or a lawyer, but not the public.

Bennett cited state law barring pretrial publicity when he discussed the video. He said he expects the KBI to present a preliminary report late next week. The report will help him determine whether to file charges, decide that none are warranted or continue the investigation, he said.
By Sarah N. Lynch and Jan Wolfe

(Reuters) -President Joe Biden's administration on Friday urged a judge to block a near-total ban on abortion imposed by Texas - the strictest such law in the nation - in a key moment in the ferocious legal fight over abortion access in the United States.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 1 https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/texas-six-week-abortion-ban-takes-effect-2021-09-01 allowed the Republican-backed law to take effect even as litigation over its legality continues in lower courts. The U.S. Justice Department eight days later sued in federal court https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-justice-dept-announce-civil-rights-case-after-texas-abortion-ban-takes-effect-2021-09-09 to try to invalidate it.

During a hearing in the Texas capital of Austin, Justice Department lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman to block the law temporarily, saying the state's Republican legislature and governor enacted it in an open defiance of the Constitution.

"There is no doubt under binding constitutional precedents that a state may not ban abortions at six weeks," said Brian Netter, the lead Justice Department attorney on the case.

"Texas knew this but, it wanted a 6-week ban anyway. So this state resorted to an unprecedented scheme of vigilante justice."

The Texas law bans abortions starting at six weeks of pregnancy, a point when many women may not realize they are pregnant. About 85% to 90% of abortions are performed after six weeks. Texas makes no exception for cases of rape and incest.

It also lets ordinary citizens enforce the ban, rewarding them at least $10,000 if they successfully sue anyone who helped provide an abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected.

Will Thompson, an attorney in the Texas Attorney General's Office, countered the Justice Department's arguments, saying there were plenty of opportunities for people in Texas to challenge the law on their own, and claiming the Department's arguments were filled with "hyperbole and inflammatory rhetoric."

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"This is not some kind of vigilante scheme, as opposing counsel suggests," said Thompson. "This is a scheme that uses lawful process of justice in Texas."

Pitman, who was appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama in 2014, at one point seemed skeptical of Thompson's arguments, telling him Texas seems to have "gone to great lengths" to make its abortion ban difficult to challenge in court.

The judge said: "My obvious question to you is: If the state is so confident in the constitutionality of the limitations on woman's access to abortion, then why did it go to such great lengths to create this private cause of action rather than do it directly?"

Thompson responded that laws providing for enforcement are not as unusual as the Justice Department has claimed.

In the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, the Supreme Court recognized a woman's constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.

The high court in December is due to hear arguments over the legality of a Mississippi abortion law in a case in which officials from that state are asking the justices to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

The Mississippi and Texas laws are among a series of Republican-backed measures passed by various states restricting abortion.

Since the Texas law went into effect, the four Whole Woman's Health abortion clinics across the state have reported that https://www.reuters.com/world/us/texas-abortion-clinics-struggle-survive-under-restrictive-law-2021-09-30 patient visits have plummeted and some staff have quit.

In addition to infringing on women's constitutional rights to seek an abortion, the Justice Department argued that the law also impedes the federal government's own ability to offer abortion-related services.

In an effort to counter those claims, attorneys for the state on Friday played clips from depositions of various senior U.S. government officials.

In one clip, lawyers interrogated Alix McLearen, a senior official at the Bureau of Prisons who, in response to questions, testified that there were currently no pregnant inmates being held at certain detention facilities in Texas.

In another clip, Laurie Bodenheimer of the Office of Personnel Management was asked whether any insurance carriers had raised concerns about the impact or effect of the Texas law.

"To my knowledge no carrier has raised concerns about SB8," she said.

The Justice Department's Netter told the judge that Texas had cherry-picked some of the sound bites in the videos and edited out the portions in which Department attorneys had objected during the depositions.

Netter noted, for instance, that Texas conveniently omitted a portion of McLearen's testimony in which she said the prisons bureau has pregnant inmates incarcerated currently at FMC Carswell, which he noted is "the only secure medical facility for women" in the entire country.

"It is irreparable injury for there to be a violation of the Supremacy Clause," Netter said, referring to the Constitutional principle that establishes that federal laws have supremacy over state laws.

More than 600 marches are planned around the United States on Saturday to protest the Texas law.

In Washington, D.C., protesters will march to the U.S. Supreme Court to decry the court's 5-4 decision in September that denied a request from abortion and women's health providers to enjoin enforcement of the ban.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham, Alistair Bell and Dan Grebler)
BEIJING (AP)  Chinas ruling Communist Party has expelled a former vice minister of public security amid a raft of accusations from corruption to abandoning his post amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Sun Lijun was fired from his position after an investigation was opened last year and he will now face prosecution and what is likely to be a lengthy prison sentence.

He is the latest high-ranking official to fall in president and party leader Xi Jinping's sweeping decadelong crackdown on graft that has ensnared numerous serving and retired officials in what some see as politically motivated prosecutions.

An announcement from the partys Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said Sun displayed extremely inflated political ambition and very poor political integrity, issued groundless criticisms of the Partys policies, and spread political rumors.

The leading police official also engaged in superstitious activities, sold official posts, displayed extreme greed, accepted large amounts of money and property and led a decadent lifestyle, the announcement said.

The circumstances were particularly serious, the nature was particularly pernicious, the impact was extremely bad and the case must be handled with extreme seriousness," it said.
Reuters

A former SS guard, now 100 years old, hobbled into a German courtroom on a walking frame on Thursday to face charges of helping to send more than 3,000 people to their deaths in a Nazi concentration camp during World War Two. Prosecutors say Josef S., a member of the Nazi party's paramilitary SS, contributed to the deaths of 3,518 people at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp by regularly standing guard in the watchtower between 1942 and 1945. Some people interned in Sachsenhausen were murdered with Zyklon-B, the poison gas also used in other extermination camps where millions of Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
By Foo Yun Chee

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Billions of people use Google because it's the best, not because of deals the company made to stay competitive, Google's lawyer said on Friday, wrapping up a week of testimony as the U.S. tech giant fights a record $5 billion antitrust fine.

The European Commission hit Alphabet's Google with a 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) fine in 2018 for using its Android mobile operating system to thwart rivals and cement its dominance in general internet searching from 2011.

At issue are deals requiring phone makers to pre-install the Google Search app and the Chrome browser app together with Google Play, as well deals blocking some variants of Android.

"The reason why billions of people choose Google as their search tool every day is not because of an abuse of dominance. It's because it's the best," lawyer Meredith Pickford told the EU's General Court, the bloc's second highest.

Pickford said the deals were far from being anti-competitive tools, rather they were to ensure Google stayed competitive.

"You can still compete hard and compete on the merits. Consumers aren't stupid. If Bing or another search engine were better than Google, people would turn to it," he said, referring to a rival Microsoft Corp search engine.

"Successful companies don't stay successful by resting on their laurels and failing to compete," Pickford told the court.

The European Commission's lawyer, Nicholas Khan, said the deals showed that Google had stacked the odds in its favour and urged judges to uphold the Commission's decision and fine.

"Google gives itself the laurel wreath even before the race has started," Khan said. "The scale of the practices entirely justify the fine that was imposed."

It was not clear when there will be a verdict in the case, which is T-604/18 Google vs European Commission.

($1 = 0.8637 euros)

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by David Clarke)
Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ted Cruz of Texas slammed President Bidens nominee for U.S. attorney for Massachusetts for failing to prosecute drug dealers.

The two Republican senators tore into Bidens controversial nominee Rachael Rollins, pointing to the list of non-prosecutable offenses that she implemented while Bostons district attorney.

"Even before she became a district attorney in Boston, she put out a list of 15 crimes that, by default, she will not allow her prosecutors to pursue without supervisor approval," Cotton said during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday.

SAN FRANCISCO DA FACES SECOND RECALL EFFORT AS RESIDENTS FED UP WITH PROGRESSIVE ZERO CONSEQUENCE POLICIES

Cotton noted that Rollins list includes crimes varying in severity, ranging from "trespassing" and "disorderly conduct" to "malicious destruction of property, threats, resisting arrest and even drug trafficking."

"She has issued that list as the do-not-prosecute directive once she took office," Cotton said. "Thats right, in the midst of a national drug crisis with more than 90,000 of our fellow Americans killed by a drug overdose in the last year alone, Joe Bidens nominee for U.S. attorney openly says that she does not believe that we should prosecute drug possession with intent to distribute substances like fentanyl and heroin."

Cruz also went after Rollins non-prosecutable list, following through on a committee room pledge to tweet out the documents he ran through during the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"Today, in the Judiciary Committee, I walked through a document showing that Rachael Rollins, Joe Bidens extreme nominee to be U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, will refuse to prosecute crimes," Cruz tweeted, including pictures of the document in question.

"Democrats will try to deny this, but here is the evidence," he continued.

Rollins nomination is the next in a line of controversial nominees, including the presidents eco-terrorist-linked nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management, Tracy Stone-Manning.

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Rollins list of crimes not to prosecute could prove problematic for the nominee as her confirmation process moves forward.

The White House touted Rollins' resume during her nomination on July 26.

"These individualsmany of whom are historic firstswere chosen for their devotion to enforcing the law, their professionalism, their experience and credentials in this field, their dedication to pursuing equal justice for all, and their commitment to the independence of the Department of Justice," said the White House about Rollins and the other U.S. attorney nominees.
Oct. 1The man accused of shooting and killing Dayton Police Detective and DEA Task Force Officer Jorge DelRio will not face the death penalty in his federal criminal case, according to court documents filed Friday.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote in a letter filed in the case that prosecutors "are authorized and directed not to seek the death penalty against Nathan Goddard."

"The United States hereby notifies the court and defendant Nathan Goddard that the United States will not seek a sentence of death against Nathan Goddard for the charges contained in the indictment," the court document says.

The decision not to seek the death penalty wasn't explained in the court records. Goddard's defense attorney, Donald Malarcik, released a statement Friday afternoon.

"We are grateful that the attorney general decided not to pursue death. Mr. Goddard believed he was the victim of a home invasion and never intended to harm Detective DelRio," Malarcik told the Dayton Daily News.

Goddard, Cahke Cortner and Lionel Combs III are charged in connection with the death of DelRio. The three are accused of participating in a drug conspiracy that led to DelRio's shooting death in a raid in November 2019.

Prosecutors previously said they will not seek the death penalty against Cortner nor Combs.

DelRio was shot twice while serving a drug-related warrant at a home on Ruskin Avenue on Nov. 4, 2019, as part of Drug Enforcement Administration ask force in Dayton. Police said DelRio was walking down steps when he was shot twice in the face.

DelRio died on Nov. 7, 2019.

The decision was supposed to be made earlier this year, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was pushed back. Defense attorneys noted they needed more time to gather mitigating evidence to present to the government as to why they should not seek the death penalty.

That was finished and submitted in May, court records say. Friday was the court-ordered deadline for the government to decide whether to pursue the punishment.

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The decision not to seek the death penalty also was made on the same week that DelRio was honored for the first time at the Montgomery County annual Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony. The ceremony was held Monday and DelRio's name was read among 39 other Montgomery County Law Enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty.

Also on Friday, the Ohio Narcotics Association Regional Coordinating Officers named its Valor Award after DelRio. DelRio was posthumously given the 2021 Valor Award.

A next court date in Goddard's, Combs' and Cortner's case wasn't listed on the docket Friday afternoon. The three remain in custody.
WASHINGTON  House Democratic leaders appeared to have failed to wrangle enough support Friday to pass the $550 billion infrastructure package after intraparty fighting delayed a planned vote  further stalling one of President Joe Biden's top legislative priorities.

House Democrats huddled behind closed doors at the Capitol in caucus meeting since Thursday morning to haggle over the $550 billion infrastructure deal and the $3.5 trillion social spending plan but emerged without a resolution.

Both measures have the support of Democrats and remain likely to pass in some form. But the size of the social safety net bill remains a sticking point among Democrats, with moderates pushing for a pared-down version while progressives insist that the bill's price tag will boost an economy upended by the pandemic.

Late Friday, Democratic House leadership conceded they would not hold an infrastructure vote before heading home for the weekend. Instead, lawmakers voted on a short-term extension of existing road projects.

Biden attempted to soothe tensions among the moderate and progressive wings of the party and make a case for his legislative agenda by attending the caucus meeting Friday afternoon. But he sided with progressives, and lawmakers left without a deal.

Image: President Joe Biden walks with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as he departs the Capitol after a caucus meeting in Washington on Oct. 1, 2021. (Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images)

Biden, however, told reporters when exiting the meeting his agenda will pass, including his desire to have both measures approved together.

"It doesnt matter when," he said. "Doesnt matter whether its in six minutes, six days, or six weeks. Were going to get it done."

Biden's decision to go to the Capitol signaled his increasing pressure to get members of his party on the same page. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been confident that the infrastructure measure could pass earlier this week, but failed to do so by her self-imposed Sept. 27 deadline.

The White House tried to downplay expectations about Biden's meeting with lawmakers, suggesting that passage of the infrastructure bill shouldn't be expected afterward. A senior administration official told NBC News that the president will say there is more work to do and will make his case for his agenda.

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to predict when a vote on the infrastructure bill would be held, saying it is up to Pelosi. But, she said, the president is adamant about getting the legislation passed.

He is going over there to make the case for his legislative agenda, Psaki said. He wants to speak directly to members, answer their questions and make the case for why we should all work together to give the American people more breathing room.

The House, however, will vote on a short-term extension of a transportation bill to keep highway funds flowing for existing projects that expired on Thursday.

Despite no immediate vote on the infrastructure package, applause could be heard by those standing outside in the hallway. As lawmakers exited, several said the president's message was party unity and tried to make a persuasive case to link the infrastructure bill and the social spending bill.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, told reporters after the meeting that "the president has not wavered" from his desire to pass both bills in tandem.

"He's ready to work with the Senate, he's ready to work with a range of members," she said. "We are still working and pushing."

The president's remarks, however, were a signal to lawmakers that they would not vote on the infrastructure legislation on Friday.

The House did vote 365-51 on the transportation bill extension to keep highway funds flowing for existing projects that expired on Thursday. The Senate had failed to pass the bill by voice vote Friday evening and plans to return Saturday to try again.

In a letter to Democrats, Pelosi said more time is needed" to come to a compromise on passing both bills. She lauded Biden and said that the party will continue to negotiate to pass the president's agenda.

While great progress has been made in the negotiations to develop a House, Senate and White House agreement on the Build Back Better Act, more time is needed to complete the task, Pelosi wrote.

She added, "Clearly, the bipartisan infrastructure bill will pass once we have agreement on the [social safety net] bill."

The infrastructure bill, while wildly popular among Democrats, has stalled because of fighting between factions of the Democratically controlled Congress, pitting progressives against moderates and the House against the Senate.

House leaders have been trying to broker a deal that will get all Democrats on board and move the Senate-passed infrastructure bill to Biden for his signature. The package is one of his top legislative priorities.

But those efforts keep running into roadblocks.

Two moderate Senate Democrats  Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema, of Arizona  have made clear, however, that the price tag is too expensive. Progressives have grown frustrated with the two senators.

Biden told Democratic lawmakers during the afternoon meeting that negotiations on the social safety bill have lower the price tag, ranging between $1.9 and $2.3 trillion, according to multiple sources who attended the meeting. The president emphasized that a topline number would have to be within that range, sources told NBC News.

This range, however, would significantly slash the $3.5 trillion in spending that the White House and progressives desired. In addition, Manchin has said he would not be inclined to support anything over $1.5 trillion for the social spending bill.

Biden admitted in the meeting that he does not have the votes to get the infrastructure bill across the finish line, and therefore cannot pass the social spending bill.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has promised that more than half of her groups 95 members would vote against the infrastructure bill if it comes up before the safety net bill.

Progressives want the two pieces of legislation to move in tandem in the House, while moderates have demanded a vote on the infrastructure bill before talks on the reconciliation bill are finalized.

After an hourlong meeting with the progressive caucus, Jayapal told reporters that a vote on the infrastructure bill would not happen on Friday. She also said her members are not ready to commit to any range of the overall price tag of the safety net bill but are instead focusing on the policy priorities that must be included in any pared-down bill.

We will take as long as it takes, she said. If it takes a couple of days, that's great. If it takes a couple of weeks, that's great. We will get this done."

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., a co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, was seen entering Pelosis office late Thursday and exiting about 35 minutes later with White House adviser Brian Deese.

It aint over yet! This is just one long legislative day  we literally arent adjourning. Negotiations are still ongoing, and were continuing to work. As I said earlier: grabbing some Gatorade and Red Bull, Gottheimer tweeted once it became clear that a vote on the infrastructure bill was delayed.

When the Senate passed the infrastructure bill in early August, 19 Republicans joined all Democrats in favor of the measure.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who was one of the 19 in favor, criticized House Democrats on Friday for delaying the vote on the infrastructure bill, calling it a "purely political decision."

It is unacceptable that a major piece of bipartisan legislation, which is vital to our economy and necessary to keep important transportation programs going, is being held hostage by the most extreme House Democrats for a completely unrelated and still unwritten piece of legislation," he said in a statement. "What a profound disappointment, and how unfortunate to put politics over what is good for our country.
Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) is among the Democratic legislators who wrote to a group of major Hollywood producers, urging them to negotiate a contract with crews. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Now the politicians are wading into Hollywood's biggest labor fight.

A group of 120 U.S. senators and representatives including Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) has called on the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to resume bargaining with the union representing Hollywood crews.

In a letter to AMPTP President Carol Lombardini released late Thursday, the legislators urged the producers to negotiate with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents about 60,000 film and TV workers.

"Failure to reach an agreement would threaten not only the livelihoods of these workers, but also their family members who rely upon work in your industry, sending shockwaves throughout the U.S. economy and the industry," they wrote.

The move comes as Hollywood technical workers prepare to vote on whether to allow union leaders to call a strike if they cannot reach a new contract with producers. Crews are pushing for better working conditions, including improved pay, benefits, rest periods and a greater slice of the profits from streaming productions.

The basic agreement between IATSE and the AMPTP ended July 31 but was extended to Sept. 10. This month, IATSE said the AMPTP would not counter its latest proposal and so was pursuing a strike authorization from its members.

A vote will start electronically Friday, lasting until Sunday, and results are expected Monday. Matthew Loeb, president of IATSE, told The Times on Thursday that he expects the vote to pass.

A representative of the AMPTP was not immediately available for comment.

So far the producers association has said that it has offered to make improvements to pay and other terms as well as cover an expected $400-million shortfall in the workers' health and pension plan.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Over 100 Democratic lawmakers came out in support of entertainment industry production workers preparing to go on a strike that would affect an estimated 60,000 workers across the country, which would be the largest strike since World War II.

The lawmakers, led by Rep. Adam Schiff and Sen. Alex Padilla, urged the group to negotiate a fair agreement with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, reminding them of the important role the workers played during the pandemic and warning that a strike could have unintended consequences.

"A strike would dramatically disrupt the industry, the economy, and the communities we represent," read the Thursday letter to the president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. "We are hopeful that both sides can negotiate in good faith and reach a consensus agreement, which necessitates both parties continuing to participate in ongoing negotiations. We ask that the AMPTP negotiate collaboratively with these workers to reach a fair contract and address the basic human needs that will allow them to do their jobs safely and with dignity."

SCARLETT JOHANSSON AND DISNEY SETTLE BLACK WIDOW LAWSUIT

Sens. Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, Dianne Feinstein, and Elizabeth Warren were among the signers of the letter that warned that "failure to reach an agreement would threaten not only the livelihoods of these workers, but also their family members who rely upon work in your industry, sending shockwaves throughout the U.S. economy and the industry."

"The entertainment you jointly produce is helping to heal our nation," the members of Congress told the film industry executives of workers, later adding they were "hopeful that both sides can negotiate in good faith and reach a consensus agreement."

The IATSE is demanding better pay, fewer hours with longer turnarounds and breaks, and equitable pay on productions from streaming services. The current deal allows streaming services with fewer than 20 million subscribers to pay workers less. If the strike passes, it would affect movies, network TV shows, and streaming services Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix. HBO, Starz, and Showtime workers are under a different contract.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

A vote on the strike could happen as early as Friday. Seventy-five percent of the members need to vote "yes" on a strike in order for it to pass. If it does pass, a strike could be ordered as soon as Monday.

Some of the Democrats who signed the letter have expressed support for similar strikes in the past, with Warren applauding UNITE HERE Local 11 for "fighting for better wages and benefits" in December 2019, when labor disputes prompted a venue change ahead of the sixth Democratic presidential primary debate.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Hollywood, Strike, Media, Congress, Labor, Business, Unions, Adam Schiff, Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer

Original Author: Misty Severi

Original Location: Democrats back workers readying for historic strike that would shut down Hollywood
Oct. 1EAST HARTFORD  Democrats called for Republican Town Council candidate Dean Chamberland to withdraw from the race on Thursday after circulation of a now-deleted Facebook post that mocked the annual holiday celebrating the end of slavery known as Juneteenth.

The post, made on Chamberland's personal Facebook page, asked if there would be "a pamphlet on what the official juneteenth [sic] activities are."

The post made references to celebrating gang culture, car jacking, watching the BET television station, and finding "the nearest footlocker and (looting) it," as possible activities for the day, and asked if Snoop Dogg would serve as the "Grand Marshall" of a parade.

EAST HARTFORD CANDIDATES

DEAN CHAMBERLAND: Republican running for Town Council alongside five other GOP candidates, with only one being an incumbent. At least two Republican seats are up for grabs as the nine-member Town Council in the heavily leaning Democratic town has nine seats, and according to the Town Charter, the minority party must fill at least three.

MIKE WALSH: Democrat running for mayor. The current mayor is not running for re-election, so Walsh is facing Republican candidate Matt Harper.

RICHARD KEHOE: Longtime chairman of the Town Council Democrat running for re-election alongside five other incumbent Democratic council members.

Celebrated each year on June 19, Juneteenth represents the day in 1865 that slaves in Galveston, Texas, were told by Union soldiers that they were free  more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring an end to slavery during the Civil War.

It was designated a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, and while the Black community has celebrated it annually, the holiday has become more mainstream in recent years with area municipalities hosting celebrations and activities to commemorate the day.

Chamberland said the post was copy-pasted from another Facebook user, and he didn't realize the impact it would have on the East Hartford community, whose population includes a high number of minorities.

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"When I went back that day and reread what I posted I immediately took it down," Chamberland said today, adding: "I regret posting it that day."

In response to the post, Democrat mayoral candidate Mike Walsh said he was calling for Chamberland's withdrawal from the race.

"These posts are too damning for him to continue and are not a reflection of our community," Walsh said.

Town Council Chairman Richard Kehoe, a Democrat who is running for re-election to the Town Council, said he joined Walsh in calling for Chamberland's withdrawal.

"The comments are racist and reprehensible, and not reflective of East Hartford," Kehoe said.

Chamberland said he regrets the post and would like to move past it, continuing along with the election campaign.

"I still want to see this town move forward and I will be a part of that process when I get elected," Chamberland said.

Joseph covers East Hartford and South Windsor. He joined the JI in July 2021. Joseph graduated from the University of Connecticut and he is an avid guitarist and coffee enthusiast.
The Stutthof concentration camp in Sztutowo, Poland. AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, file

A 96-year-old German woman who once served as the secretary to a Nazi concentration camp commander was detained on Thursday after she skipped the start of her trial.

The woman, who worked at the Stutthof concentration camp, has been accused of aiding and abetting the leaders in the "systematic killing of those imprisoned there between June 1943 and April 1945 in her function as a stenographer and typist in the camp commandant's office." Because she was under 21 at the time, the woman  who has not been publicly identified by the court  is being tried as a juvenile, and is charged with more than 11,000 counts of accessory to murder.

Court spokeswoman Frederike Milhoffer said the woman left her home near Hamburg on Thursday morning, a few hours before she was due in court. When she didn't appear, an arrest warrant was issued. Police tracked the woman down Thursday afternoon, and after a stop at the court, the woman was taken to a detention center.

The woman previously "announced that she didn't want to come" to the courthouse, Milhoffer said, but because of her advanced age and poor health, she wasn't expected to "actively ... evade the trial." Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff with the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem told The Associated Press if the woman is "healthy enough to flee, she is healthy enough to be incarcerated." He also said he believes her escape attempt should "affect the punishment."

There is now legal precedent in Germany that a person who helped in the operation of Nazi camps can be prosecuted as an accessory to murders that took place there, even if there is no direct evidence the person was part of a specific crime. More than 60,000 people were killed at the Stutthof camp.

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The claim: Video clip shows Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot encouraging 'allegiance to the new world order'

An out-of-context clip published by the Charlie Kirk Show has led some Facebook users to connect Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to a centuries-old conspiracy theory about the "new world order."

Viewed about 80,000 times on Rumble from Sept. 28 to 30, the 40-second clip features Lightfoot talking about choosing agency and department heads who are "pledging allegiance to the new world order and good governance."

Many commenters took the quote as a sign of her support for the "new world order," a phrase connected to the conspiracy theory that global elites will take over the world and create a single totalitarian government, currency and religion.

"This is in the Bible in Revelations," one user commented. "We can see prophecy coming true before our very eyes. Some still don't believe it."

Another user wrote, "We need to have her and other radical politicians who are trying to force our country into the 'New World Order' and send them all to GITMO to have their world order there."

Fact check: Hillary Clinton was not hanged at Guantanamo Bay

In total, over 4,400 users commented in two days on the clip , which was titled, "Lori Lightfoot on the Importance of Submitting to the 'New World Order.'"

But Lightfoot isn't talking about world domination in the clip, she's simply using an idiom.

The full transcript and video of her April 2019 interview with the Chicago Tribune show she's talking about how to eliminate aldermanic prerogative, an old, informal rule that allowed one City Council member out of 50 to block a proposal during a vote.

USA TODAY reached out for comment from Kirk, who is also the president of conservative youth activist group Turning Point USA and was the chairman of Students for Trump.

Lightfoot was discussing changes to City Council voting conventions

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Some viewers of the clip posted by the Charlie Kirk Show assumed Lightfoot is talking about an international conspiracy when she says "new world order," but she's actually using an idiom to refer to the much more local issue of aldermanic prerogative.

Under the practice, Chicago City Council members could veto city government or City Council actions that would affect their ward, even if they were the only person objecting. Lightfoot ran her campaign on the promise that she'd eliminate the practice, which stretches back to the mid-19th century, according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago.

Where the clip picks up, she explains that to execute that promise, she'll appoint administrators and deputies to city licensing departments who won't adhere to aldermanic privilege, the Chicago Tribune's transcript and video clips show.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot presides over a Chicago City Council meeting at City Hall, Wednesday, July 21, 2021.

"The way that aldermanic prerogative works is there's got to be compliance with the executive branch, because otherwise it doesn't work," her sentence in the full interview begins. "So, you've got to eliminate that compliance, and you make it a mandate. And then you do training, particularly in the city licensing departments whether it's zoning, buildings, housing, planning, and you pick the people who run those agencies and the deputies that are pledging allegiance to the new world order and good governance."

The viral clip cuts off the word "aldermanic" at the beginning and doesn't link back to the original interview or transcript.

In the same interview, Lightfoot told the Tribune that she wanted to eliminate the privilege because "if I've got to go and kiss the ring of the alderman for everything, for a license to have a block club party or whatever it is ... that is fundamentally a problem."

Lightfoot issued an executive order banning aldermanic prerogative on May 20, 2019, her first day as mayor, but according to the Chicago Sun-Times, the mayor has still faced challenges with eliminating it.

The same clip of Lightfoot circulated among conspiracy theorists in May 2020, according to the Associated Press.

Fact check: U.N. Agenda 21/2030 'New World Order' is not a real document

Our rating: Missing context

We rate a video clip showing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot encouraging "allegiance to the new world order" MISSING CONTEXT, because it can be misleading without additional information. The video cuts out the word "aldermanic prerogative," making it unclear that Lightfoot was discussing a Chicago practice allowing City Council members to veto proposals. She used the phrase "new world order" as an idiom and not in line with the world domination conspiracy theory.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Clip wrongly suggests Chicago mayor backs new world order
The FBI joined the search for a teenager attending Valencia College who disappeared last Friday, according to Orange County law enforcement.

Miya Marcano, 19, was last seen last Friday just before 5 p.m. when her family noticed she disappeared after she missed a flight home to South Florida. Armando Caballero, a 27-year-old maintenance worker at Marcano's apartment complex who improperly used a master key to enter her apartment on the same day Marcano disappeared, is the "prime suspect" in the case, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said on Thursday. Caballero was found dead Monday morning of an apparent suicide, and there are no other suspects, he added.

"I know that Miyas family and her loved ones are going through unimaginable anguish as they try and find out what happened to Miya," Mina said.

FBI CONFIRMS MISSING REMAINS BELONG TO HIKER GABBY PETITO

The search for Marcano spans three counties with over 170 personnel, including 60 deputies, searching for her, the sheriff said. A reward of up to $15,000 is being offered for information.

Marcano "rebuffed" romantic advances by Caballero prior to her disappearance, according to Mina, who said detectives spoke to Caballero after Marcano's disappearance but did not have evidence to arrest him, though that changed when they found out he entered her apartment before she disappeared.



Chris Daly, a spokesman for the apartment complex Arden Villas where Caballero worked, told the Orlando Sentinel that they run background checks on everyone and defended the hiring of Caballero.

Regarding our hiring process, all potential employees are vetted through a national background check services provider, he said. Concerning Mr. Caballero specifically, no records of either burglary or sexual assault were found, and rumors to the contrary appear to be based on online documents referencing someone else with the same name.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

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Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show Caballero had been arrested in 2013 on charges of using a destructive device resulting in property damage and discharging a weapon on school property at a private Christian college in Polk County. An arrest report said Caballero admitted to using the improvised explosive as a "prank," and it noted no one was injured.

He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to probation, although Caballero failed to complete court-ordered community service and was placed on two years of house arrest, records show.

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Tags: News, Florida, FBI, Missing Person, College, Crime, Suicide

Original Author: Misty Severi

Original Location: FBI joins search for missing Florida college student
BUCHAREST (Reuters) -Seven people died on Friday when a fire broke out in a Romanian intensive care unit treating COVID-19 patients, officials said, the country's third deadly hospital fire in less than a year.

Video footage showed patients jumping out of windows from the hospital's lower levels and firefighters carrying people out.

The country's emergency response unit had initially said nine people had died, but Transport Minister Lucian Bode later said there had been a miscommunication between firefighters and hospital staff.

Firefighters extinguished the fire at the hospital in the eastern city of Constanta at around 0755 GMT, having brought in additional teams from nearby counties.

Enraged relatives of the patients gathered outside the hospital in protest and prosecutors have opened an investigation into the causes of the fire.

In February, a fire killed four patients at a COVID-19 hospital in the capital Bucharest. Last November 10 people died in an intensive care unit at the Piatra Neamt county hospital.

"I am appalled at the tragedy," President Klaus Iohannis said in a statement. "It is a new terrible drama which confirms the lacking infrastructure of Romania's healthcare system, placed under unimaginable pressure by the fourth wave of the pandemic."

There were more than 12,500 COVID-19 patients, including 373 children, being treated in Romanian hospitals on Friday, including 1,391 in intensive care units.

The number of new COVID-19 infections in Romania reached 10,887 on Friday, and intensive care units across the country were running out of space. Romania has the second-lowest vaccination rate in the 27-nation European Union.

Even before the pandemic, Romania's health care system had been under pressure, dogged by corruption, inefficiencies and politicised management. The country has one of the EU's least developed healthcare infrastructures.

The state has built one hospital in the last three decades, spends the least on healthcare in the EU and tens of thousands of doctors and nurses have emigrated.

(Reporting by Luiza IlieEditing by Gareth Jones and Toby Chopra)
Photo shows beachgoers on Bruce's beach resort. Courtesy of Chief Duane Yellow Feather Shepard

CA Gov. Newsom signed a bill which transfers historic "Bruce's Beach" land back to a Black family.

The Bruce family owned a successful resort for Black visitors until city officials seized the land.

Senate Bill 796 acknowledged the racist history and returned the land to living descendants.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on Thursday that returned an area of beachfront property known as "Bruce's Beach," to descendants of a Black family who owned the property and were run out by white residents and city officials almost a century ago.

Newsom signed Senate Bill 796 at the location in the City of Manhattan Beach, alongside family members of Willa and Charles Bruce, who originally owned a popular beachside hotel frequented by Black beachgoers, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The bill coasted through the state legislature in June and included a provision that will allow Los Angeles County to begin an immediate land transfer back to the family. Officials are still valuing the land, which is estimated to be between $35 million and $75 million dollars.

"The land in the City of Manhattan Beach, which was wrongfully taken from Willa and Charles Bruce, should be returned to their living descendants," the bill says, "and it is in the public interest of the State of California, the County of Los Angeles, the City of Manhattan Beach, and the People of the State of California to do so."

According to the LA Times, in 1912, Willa and Charles Bruce purchased two lots of beachside land for $1,225, where Willa ran a resort while Charles worked as a train dining car chef. The resort included a cafe and dance hall and was a mainstay for Black beachgoers and a growing Black community.

White residents, however, threatened Willa and her guests from the outset, according to the LA Times, and the Ku Klux Klan also reportedly destroyed property as well as houses of nearby Black families to intimidate the community.

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Many white residents in Manhattan Beach pushed back against the move this year as well.

By 1924, city officials stepped in and seized the land, claiming it needed to be used for a public park. The properties sat empty for two decades and in 1948, the land was transferred back to the state.

"As Governor of California, let me do what apparently Manhattan Beach is unwilling to do: I want to apologize to the Bruce family," Newsom said at the ceremony, handing a pen to Anthony Bruce, a descendant of the Bruces. "What we're doing here today can be done and replicated anywhere else. There's an old adage: Once a mind is stretched it never goes back to it's original form," he added.

"We do thank God, because this is something that we've been praying for, for decades," Anthony Bruce said. "Hopefully this is the start of a new beginning for us."

State Sen. Steven Bradford, an author of the bill, said that the signing could create momentum for other reparation and restitution efforts.

"I'm honored for this governor to have the courage to do the right thing," Bradford said at the ceremony. "If you can inherit generational wealth, you can inherit generational debt. The city of Manhattan Beach owes a debt to the Bruce family. The state of California owes a debt to the Bruce family, and the county of Los Angeles owes a debt to the Bruce family - and our governor today is here to fix his signature to this bill to pay that debt to the Bruce family."

Read the original article on Insider
Associated Press

Donald Trump intends to assert executive privilege in a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, a move that could prevent the testimony of onetime aides, according to a letter on behalf of the former president. The letter went to at least some witnesses who were subpoenaed by the House committee and it makes clear that Trump plans to invoke privileges meant to protect presidential communications from being shared with Congress. The substance of the letter from a lawyer for Trump was described Thursday by a person familiar with it who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the letter was not yet public.
President Conde asked Col Mamady Doumbouya (above) to return to Guinea in 2018

A young charismatic soldier, Col Mamady Doumbouya has become Guinea's interim president just under a month after leading a coup against President Alpha Conde.

The deposed leader once put his faith in Col Doumbouya to help him keep his grip on power in the turbulent West African state.

Announcing the coup on 5 September, the 41-year-old former French legionnaire said the army had little choice but to seize power because of the rampant corruption, disregard for human rights and economic mismanagement under the 83-year-old President Conde.

Col Doumbouya's takeover means that he is currently the second-youngest leader of an African state. Only Mali's Col Assimi Goita, who has been in power since staging a coup in May, is younger, having been born in 1983.

"The president is with us, he's in a safe place," Col Doumbouya told French media after staging the dramatic coup, as a video of Mr Conde - barefooted, with shirt buttons open, vest showing and slouched on a sofa - circulated on social media.

President Alpha Conde 11-year rule came to an end abrupt end

In contrast, Col Doumbouya - dressed in a red beret, sunglasses and army fatigues - appeared on state TV to announce that "the Guinean personalisation of political life is over. We will no longer entrust politics to one man, we will entrust it to the people".

President Conde remains in detention while the UN, African Union and regional body Ecowas all condemned the military junta that replaced him.

Ecowas and the AU have both suspended Guinea's membership.

The junta has announced plans to move the country towards civilian rule but did not specify how long the transition would be.

Anyone taking part in the interim government, including Col Doumbouya, will be barred from standing in the following elections .

Low profile to president

Married to a French national, Col Doumbouya is from the Malinke community, like the deposed president, and hails from Guinea's eastern Kankan region.

Until the coup, he kept a low public profile, with the BBC's Guinea reporter, Alhassan Sillah, saying he saw him at an event only once - three years ago, when the former French colony celebrated 60 years of independence.

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"He was the stand-out man because of his physique, height, and dark shades. He led the parade, saluting heads of state and the crowd. Everyone was taking photographs of him, and cheering him - just as they have been cheering him now," our reporter says, referring to the fact that the coup has been widely welcomed in Guinea.

People took to the streets of the capital, Conakry, to celebrate the overthrow of President Conde

By some accounts Col Doumbouya is a brilliant commander, while others say his credentials are dubious.

Notably, Col Doumbouya is among 25 Guinean officials the EU has been threatening to sanction for alleged human rights abuses committed in recent years under President Conde.

Yet after the takeover, he told the nation "we will learn from all the mistakes we have committed and all Guineans".

Col Doumbouya also quoted the late Jerry Rawlings - another charismatic soldier who seized power in a coup in Ghana in 1979 - saying: "If the people are crushed by their elites, it is up to the army to give the people their freedom."

Served in Afghanistan

West Africa political analyst Paul Melly says that Col Doumbouya is just the latest of many middle-ranking officers to lead a putsch in the region, with a promise to bring about political reforms.

"But what differentiates him from many predecessors is his international experience, having not only trained in France but actually served in the French military and also in peacekeeping missions or international interventions in a range of crisis-afflicted countries," he adds.

During his 15-year military career, Col Doumbouya served in missions in Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Central African Republic and close protection in Israel, Cyprus, the UK and Guinea.

He is said to have "brilliantly completed" the operational protection specialist training at the International Security Academy in Israel, as well as elite military training in Senegal, Gabon, and France.

After serving in the French foreign legion for several years, Col Doumbouya was asked by Mr Conde to return to Guinea to lead the newly established elite Special Forces Group (GFS) in 2018.

He was then based in Forecariah, western Guinea, where he served under the bureau of territorial surveillance (DST) and the general intelligence services.

In recalling Col Doumbouya to set up the GFS, Mr Conde will have had no idea that he was hastening his own political demise.

"I think he [Conde] wanted a security instrument at his disposal for specific repressive missions," Guinean political analyst Mamadou Aliou Barry told Radio France International.

"Unfortunately for him, when he wanted to get his hands on it, the command of the special forces turned against him."

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Henry Golding would be a great choice for the next 007 as Daniel Craig steps back. Warner Bros. Pictures/Sony Pictures Releasing

Daniel Craig is stepping down as 007 after his final outing as James Bond in "No Time to Die."

Actors like Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill, and Idris Elba have all been touted for the role.

With movies like "The Gentlemen" and "Crazy Rich Asians," Golding has the charm and physicality needed.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

With Daniel Craig taking his final bow as 007 in "No Time to Die," the tireless question of who should be the next James Bond has reared its head again.

Hardy, Tom Hiddleston, Henry Cavill, and Idris Elba are all names that have been tossed around in connection with Bond. While they'd all surely do a great job, the right choice for the next 007 is Henry Golding.

He proved he can be smooth and charming in 'Crazy Rich Asians'

"Crazy Rich Asians" was one of the biggest successes of 2018, pulling in $238.5 million worldwide and earning a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film follows Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) as she flies to Singapore to meet her boyfriend Nick Young (Golding)'s family, who turn out to be incredibly famous and wealthy.

Constance Wu and Henry Golding played Rachel Chu and Nick Young in "Crazy Rich Asians." Warner Bros. Pictures

As rich Nick, Golding is the essence of gentlemanly charm every moment he's on-screen. Decked out in the finest clothes in the fanciest places, he looks the part - he'd fit right in at one of the swanky casinos featured in Bond. He also displays that quintessential British charm and refinement needed to make lines like "shaken, not stirred" sing.

In fact, the scene where Golding's Nick wears a white suit to greet Rachel in front of his outrageous mansion plays out like the most expensive audition for James Bond the world has ever seen.

He's cool, sophisticated, debonair, and an absolute catch.

The thing that sets him apart, though, is that he's romantic, which could be a good move for the next incarnation of Bond - Golding could offer a more sensitive, respectful character, since the way the secret agent treats women is increasingly under the spotlight.

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He showed he can be rough and tough in 'The Gentlemen'

While the ability to look decent in a nice suit is important, Bond gets his hands dirty, too. Daniel Craig was a departure from the uber-suave Pierce Brosnan, and was seen as more of a rough and ready Bond as soon as he made his debut with 2006's "Casino Royale."

It's crucial for an audience to believe that Bond could hold his own in any fistfight, or chase scene, or shoot out, and Craig had that in spades.

Golding has that, too, thanks to his role in 2021's "Snake Eyes" and Guy Ritchie's 2019 movie "The Gentlemen" as Dry Eye. In fact, Hugh Grant's character (Fletcher) even refers to Dry Eye as James Bond.

Henry Golding played Dry Eye in Guy Ritchie's crime comedy. STXfilms/Entertainment Film Distributors

As the gangster, he's involved in fights, scraps, and more than one scene of a savage nature, proving that he can marry the physical and suave sides of Bond, like Craig's Bond did in the "Skyfall" casino scene:

He demonstrates his acting skills in 'Monsoon'

Golding's filmography may be notably shorter than his competitors, but it is still filled with high-quality movies displaying his fine acting talent - none more so than the 2019 drama "Monsoon."

In Hong Khaou's "Monsoon," Golding plays a gay Vietnamese man who returns to his home country for the first time in over 30 years to scatter his parents' ashes. The movie is all about the unsaid and is therefore powerful and moving in its restrained silence, exemplified by Golding's understated, thoughtful performance where all of his emotions are tightly simmering beneath his stoic veneer.

This is pretty perfect for Bond, who isn't exactly the most demonstrative of characters, but still requires an actor to be intelligent and thoughtful enough to give a layered performance full of depth and class.

He's the right age to bring longevity to the role

While Idris Elba is many fans' number one choice for Bond, his age does work against him. At 49, Elba would be the oldest actor to be cast as Bond. While Roger Moore was 45 when he was cast, and went on to star as Bond until he was 57, the average age of new actors cast as James Bond is 38 and a half.

Hardy is 44, Hiddleston is 40, and Cavill is 38, making all of them slightly more favorable than Elba. Golding is the youngest at 34, which could be a clever choice for producers.

Both George Lazenby and Sean Connery were younger than Golding is now, so Golding's youth shouldn't be a drawback to his potential Bond candidacy. United Artists/United Artists

He'd be the third youngest Bond ever after George Lazenby (30) and Sean Connery (32). This could offer a change of pace for the franchise - Golding could play a younger, brasher, more modern-day Bond than Craig, who is depicted as aging and out of touch with the new world in recent Bond movies.

Golding's casting would also offer longevity to the role. The option to star in four, five, or six Bond movies would be there with Golding, something that may not be possible with an older actor.

Golding's lack of franchise experience could actually help him

Golding is lacking in experience compared to other rumored candidates. Elba has the most seniority of any potential Bond, while Hardy, Hiddleston, and Cavill have all starred in huge tent-pole franchises and know-how to carry that weight.

While Golding hasn't been part of a franchise, neither had Brosnan or Craig before they were cast. The producers may actually like that he isn't already attached to another character in the same way that Hardy and Hiddleston are and Cavill and Elba have been. He would come completely free of any potential baggage this may bring, and would solely be the new face of the Bond franchise.

Read the original article on Insider
Afghanistan. Illustrated | iStock, Library of Congress

The United States will continue "over the horizon" strikes against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Thursday, a month after the U.S. war in Afghanistan theoretically came to a close. The statement raises an important question: Just how completely did the war end?

When President Biden first announced his withdrawal timeline in May, his administration sent decidedly mixed messages. Biden himself had long favored keeping a residual American force on the ground indefinitely. Reports at the time indicated U.S. airstrikes would continue, a sizable presence of "clandestine Special Operations forces, Pentagon contractors, and covert intelligence operatives" would remain, and many recently exited U.S. forces would set up shop in nearby nations and waters so they could continue training Afghan allies and conducting airstrikes.

Clearly some of that plan has changed following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal and Taliban takeover of Kabul. In recent weeks, Biden has rejected the residual force idea. Hopefully, we're no longer training the military of an Afghan government that no longer exists. But the status of clandestine troops, contractors, and spies is more uncertain. In early September, the Biden administration said only 100 to 200 Americans remained in Afghanistan. But some U.S. contractors aren't American, and if the Special Ops forces and spies were still present, they might not be included in that count. Admitting covert operatives are still in the country kind of ruins the whole "covert" thing.

Then there are these "over the horizon" strikes, which Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby clarified aren't exclusively drone hits, like the recent U.S. strike that killed seven children and no terrorists. "It doesn't even always have to mean aviation," Kirby said. "'Over the horizon,' as [Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin] defined it, means that the strike, assets, and the target analysis comes from outside the country in which the operation occurs."

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In other words, plans to restation U.S. forces just outside Afghan borders may be significantly unchanged. (Strangely, those forces may set up shop on Russian military bases.) Some of these strikes  if they're not airstrikes  may even have U.S. boots once again on Afghan ground. And the strikes will fall under the aegis of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). That's the very authorization that launched the war in Afghanistan, the war that's supposed to be done.

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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Huawei said on Friday it had filed an appeal against a ruling by a Swedish court in June that upheld a ban on the Chinese company for selling 5G equipment in the country.

The company said it had requested an oral hearing in the case, but the Court of Appeal could decide if such a hearing should be held or a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice should be requested.

Huawei had earlier said it would consider all options, including an appeal.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; editing by Niklas Pollard)
Washington Post

After Alexis Haug got the last raspy-voiced call from her unvaccinated, covid-stricken 51-year-old father, after he was intubated, after she had driven eight hours, alone, to Jasper, Ala., to say her final goodbye to him in the hospital, after she had him cremated and split his ashes between her stepmother and three distraught sisters - that was when she found out what people were saying about him on the internet. "Anti-vax - STUPID hill to die on. He died for nothing," wrote one commenter. Subs
How is it mutual combat when my son didnt have anything to combat with? asks Manuel Porties of the states attorneys office decision.

An Illinois family mourning the death of their 18-year-old son is outraged that no murder charges will be filed in conjunction with his death due to what prosecutors are calling mutual combat.

Manuel Porties, Jr. was killed Tuesday after being stabbed to death during a recorded, planned fight in Schaumburg, a town located 30 miles east of Chicago.

The family of 18-year-old Manuel Porties, Jr. is outraged that no murder charges will be filed in conjunction with his death because of what prosecutors are calling mutual combat. (Photo: Screenshot/WGN 9)

According to WGN 9, video of the fight shows Porties Jr. being punched in the face by a 17-year-old, who then stabs him in the neck as he lies on the ground.

The younger teenager has not been identified but has been charged with misdemeanor unlawful use of a weapon.

Theyre saying that its mutual combat, said the slain mans father, Manuel Porties. How is it mutual combat when my son didnt have anything to combat with? The only thing he had was his two hands.

He stood over my son and finished him, he added, and thats not murder?

A Minneapolis Police officers unrolls caution tape at a crime scene on June 16, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

In a statement, the Cook County States Attorneys Office said, After an extensive review of the available information presented to us, including a discussion with the Schaumburg Police Department, we determined that the evidence was insufficient to meet our burden of proof to file murder charges.

As prosecutors, we have both an ethical and legal obligation to make charging decisions based on the evidence, facts and the law. they maintain. The CCSAO is committed to the work of justice, and we are currently meeting with the victims family, during this difficult time, to ensure that they are aware of our decision and why the evidence did not support the filing of criminal charges.

According to the blog post of Illinois attorney David L. Freidberg, who is not involved in the case, The term mutual combat is defined as two individuals engaged in a physical confrontation with each other, usually because of an instantaneous quarrel where tempers are at their heights.

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Mutual combat can be seen as another version of self-defense used in most cases when the alleged victim is proven to be the actual aggressor in the confrontation, Freidberg contended.

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The post Illinois family outraged at no murder charge in teens death due to mutual combat appeared first on TheGrio.
CHICAGO  An Illinois state trooper has died after a shooting on the inbound Dan Ryan Expressway on Friday on the citys South Side.

The death was confirmed by the Cook County medical examiners office, which had no further information immediately.

It happened in the local lanes near 43rd Street about 1:45 p.m. Central time, according to a District Chicago state trooper.

Earlier, his condition was critical, but it was then downgraded to grave after being taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center by Chicago police officers, who arrived first on the scene, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said.

As of 3 p.m. a handful of troopers and Chicago police officers could be seen standing outside the hospitals emergency room, as police and Fire Department vehicles blocked the street in front.

The inbound lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway were still closed at 3:30 p.m. Friday as investigators combed the scene of the shooting.

Investigators went in and out of a state police SUV car that hugged the westbound barrier of the local inbound lanes.

One trooper sat on the barrier and entered the drivers window of the SUV, his legs dangling in the air as he looked inside. A Honda SUV with civilian plates sat at the scene, parked in front of the police SUV.

Pedestrians pulled over along Wentworth and walked to the fence of the expressway to see what was happening. Others drove along, stopped and asked what was going on.

Just Thursday, state police released a statement about gun violence, saying that on Friday they were going to be beefing up patrols during peak criminal activity times, in the evening and overnight hours.

The Illinois State Police Division of Patrol for the District Chicago area will increase preventive patrol presence by 157% during peak criminal activity times on Chicago area expressways during District Chicagos Safe Drive Detail, according to the statement.

As part of the Safe Drive Detail, the ISP will reallocate officers from around the state specifically to District Chicago to prevent roadway violence and provide ISP Patrol District Chicago maximum staffing for high violence shifts throughout each month, the statement said.

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For more than 30 years, patrol of Chicago area expressways has been a unique duty of this agency and in that time, we have not previously confronted the concentrated levels of gun violence we have faced in 2020 and 2021, ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly said in the statement. We are a statewide agency with statewide missions and responsibilities, but we must dedicate the greatest resources to the greatest need, and right now the greatest need is here, on Chicagos expressways.

District Chicago has a total of 185 reported expressway shootings in 2021, compared to 83 at this time last year, the statement said. There were 128 reported shootings total in 2020.

And in 2020 there had been more than twice the number of shootings than the 52 expressway shootings in 2019. There were 43 in 2018, according to the state police.

The Tamara Clayton Expressway Act, which went into effect in January 2020, allocated $12.5 million for Illinois State Police to place high-resolution cameras along area roadways to deter and detect these sharply increasing shootings. Installation of the high-speed, license plate-reading cameras began more than a month ago.

As recently as Tuesday, two 21-year-old men were fatally shot on the outbound Stevenson Expressway, where it splits with Interstate Highway 94, according to the Cook County medical examiners office. The men, whose identities were not released, were shot about 11:30 p.m. and autopsies determined they died of multiple gunshot wounds, the medical examiners office said.


Some rides are not worth it at Disney World. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

I've been going to Disney World since I was a child - there are rides I love and others I avoid.

Personally, I hate rides where you sit in a vehicle and move through scenes, like Na'Vi River Journey.

The carousel and teacup rides in Magic Kingdom belong at local carnivals, not Disney World.

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My love for Disney World goes back to when I was a child.

Walt Disney World in Florida. Olga Thompson/Walt Disney World Resort via Getty Images

When I was a kid, my family would head down to Orlando, Florida, for a summer vacation, and we would always visit one or two parks at Disney World. As an adult, I've been back to the parks at least five times, and they still hold a special place in my life.

Every time I go, there are rides I would never miss, like Passage of Flight and Pirates of the Caribbean, but there are also some attractions that I avoid completely, especially to save time.

There are 50 rides at Disney World  here are the nine I skip.

It's a Small World is a classic ride, but it has lost its spark for me.

It's a Small World. Kim Renfro/INSIDER

It's a Small World is quintessential Disney World. Located in Magic Kingdom, this ride opened in 1971 and was the most popular ride of its time thanks to Walt Disney who oversaw the creation of the ride himself.

Everyone still knows It's A Small World and its famous song, but in my opinion, the ride is more than tired these days. To me, the puppets look dated, the once catchy song is now irritating, and now that I'm older, the slow ride feels like a time-waster. It's 10 minutes long, and I'm always itching to get off after five.

The attraction did undergo a three-day renovation this summer, following a refurbishment of its exterior last December, so maybe it's since recaptured some of its early magic. Still, there are other, more exciting rides I'd much rather spend my time on.

I think Journey into Imagination with Figment is too strange and lackluster to be enjoyable.

Figment at Epcot. Gerardo Mora/Getty Images

Journey into Imagination with Figment is located in Epcot and has gone through several iterations over the decades. Today, it features a purple dragon named Figment who loves to wreak havoc. Riders hop in giant red cars and enter various rooms where animatronics play with the five senses.

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It's a slow ride suitable for all ages and heights, so it might be for some Disney fans, especially families, but unfortunately, it's not one for me. As someone who doesn't love dark ride attractions (rides where people sit in a vehicle that moves through specially lit scenes), Journey into Imagination with Figment leaves a lot to be desired.

Not only is the climax of the ride a total letdown, but Disney lovers agree that the ride is one of the worst at Disney World.

Tomorrowland Speedway is way too slow for it to be interesting.

Tomorrowland Speedway. David Roark/Disney via Getty Images

Tomorrowland Speedway in Magic Kingdom lets parkgoers drive vintage cars along a track.

Despite its name, there is nothing speedy about this ride. Instead of being a racetrack or even bumper cars, this attraction moves at a measly 7.5 mph. Even as a child this ride was too slow for me. It's also loud and makes the park smell like gasoline.

Sure, some kids may love it  and Disney points out on its website that it's "designed for smaller racers"  but I think it takes up too much precious real estate in Magic Kingdom.

Mission Space is unnecessarily one of the most intense rides in the park.

Mission Space. Gerardo Mora/Getty Images

Mission Space in Epcot has two missions you can take: The first is the Green Mission, in which riders find themselves in a tight rocketship that simulates orbiting the Earth. The second, the Orange Mission, puts you in a similarly tight rocketship and spins you around to reach G-Forces.

Suffice it to say, the Orange Mission is the toughest ride to sit through at Disney. Not only does the tight space make you feel claustrophobic, it also makes you feel like you're actually blasting off into space. That may be awesome for some, but I can't help but feel like astronauts train for years to experience this type of situation for a reason.

I tried the ride once and am still scarred from the experience.

Na'Vi River Journey is a newer ride but somehow still feels dated.

Na'vi River Journey. Kim Renfro/Insider

Na'Vi River Journey opened in 2017 as one of two newer rides inspired by the blockbuster movie "Avatar" located in Animal Kingdom. This attraction puts riders in a boat and lets them slowly sail through some landscapes seen in "Avatar."

When I rode this, I loved some of the imagery, but ultimately, it felt like a letdown. It was just another ride that puts people in vehicles and takes them through scenes. I've seen this type of ride before, and I expected more from a newer attraction.

Additionally, the other "Avatar" ride in Animal Kingdom, Flight of Passage, puts Na'Vi River Journey to shame. They truly are not comparable.

The Mad Tea Party belongs at a local carnival, not at Disney World.

The Mad Tea Party. MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images

For me, Disney World is a special place where you can experience attractions that you can't anywhere else. It blows my mind that people will go on mind-bending, state-of-the-art rides like Flight of Passage, and then head over to the teacups just to spin around in Magic Kingdom.

It may be a ride for younger visitors, but I didn't even like it as a child  a ride whose only purpose is to get me dizzy isn't that exciting. In my opinion, you should save the teacups for your local carnival because they don't have any purpose in Disney World.

In the same vein, Prince Charming Regal Carrousel doesn't fit with the rest of the park.

Prince Charming Regal Carrousel. Roberto Machado Noa/Getty Images

Magic Kingdom's Prince Charming Regal Carrousel is simply a carousel that is Disney-themed. Every time I walk past it and see people waiting to get on, I wonder why they felt the need to ride a Carrousel when they can do so at a local fair back home.

Disney World has so much more to offer than a Carrousel, which is why I would encourage visitors  both big and small  to skip it.

Sorry, but Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin just plain grosses me out.

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Orlando Sentinel/Getty Images

This ride in Magic Kingdom is set up like a video game. You're put in a vehicle and given a laser gun to shoot targets in an attempt to beat the person sitting next to you.

Although it's another dark ride attraction, I will let it go because there's a gamified aspect to it, which makes it more entertaining. However, my gripe with this ride is that everyone touches these lasers. I had a problem with this before the pandemic, but now I have even more concerns.

In August 2020, a Disney Food Blog writer noted they didn't see the guns being cleaned between guests during a visit to the ride, but cast members told them they were cleaned every two hours.

The Astro Orbiter is another ride that just spins, but for me, the height is also a problem.

The Astro Orbiter. Handout/Getty Images

The Astro Orbiter sits atop a tall platform above the People Mover in Magic Kingdom. Riders take their seat in small jets, and they spin in circles ... 80 feet above the ground.

As someone who doesn't love rides that just spin and hates heights, this ride is a lethal combination for me. I always skip, and I'd recommend anyone else who hates heights does the same.

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Immigration protesters stopped traffic on San Franciscos Golden Gate Bridge for more than 30 minutes Thursday morning, urging Congress to pass a citizenship bill through the budget reconciliation process.

"Immigrant communities cannot wait another 20 years of failed promises. An inclusive pathway to citizenship would boost the U.S. economy. As the Center for American Progress reports, a pathway to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants would increase U.S. gross domestic product by a cumulative total of $1.7 trillion over 10 years, create 438,800 new jobs, and increase wages for undocumented and American workers. The time to deliver economic justice, climate justice, and citizenship for all is now," organizers of the protest said in a statement, the SFist reported.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 30: Protesters block northbound traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA. Thursday, September 30, 2021 during a demonstration demanding Congress grant a pathway to citizenship for the country's 11 million undocumented people. (Jessica Christian/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) essica Christian/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 30: Protesters block northbound traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA. Thursday, September 30, 2021 during a demonstration demanding Congress grant a pathway to citizenship for the country's 11 million undocumented people. (Jessica Christian/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) essica Christian/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

"For these reasons, we demand that Vice President Harris and top Democrats in Congress override the decision by the unelected Senate parliamentarian which excludes undocumented immigrants from the budget reconciliation process."

TOM COTTON: DEMOCRATS ARE REALIZING HOW UNPOPULAR THEIR AGENDA IS

About 25 cars stopped traffic at around 7 a.m. on the bridge, and protesters delivered speeches from a bed of a truck and held banners reading, "Pass the $3.5 trillion spending bill," "Override the Parliamentarian," "Kamala: Override the Parliamentarian," and "Citizenship for All."

AOC'S CIVILIAN CLIMATE CORPS, DRUG PRICE CONTROLS, TOBACCO TAXES IN DEMS' $3.5T 'INFRASTRUCTURE' BILL

The protest came before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pulled a Senate-passed $1 trillion infrastructure bill from being voted on in the House late Thursday. Progressives in the Democratic Party flexed their power over the bill, sticking to their months-long vows to not vote on it without a simultaneous vote on a $3.5 trillion social spending bill.

PELOSI DELAYS VOTE ON INFRASTRUCTURE BILL AS DEMS FAIL TO REACH DEAL

Southbound traffic began moving on the bridge at about 7:30, while northbound traffic started moving at about 7:45.
Reuters

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Two Indian drugmakers have requested permission to end late-stage trials of their generic versions of Merck & Co's oral antiviral drug molnupiravir for moderate COVID-19, raising questions about how effective the experimental medicine is for that group of patients. The Indian drug regulator's internal expert committee disclosed on its website that Aurobindo Pharma Ltd and MSN Laboratories had presented interim clinical trial data for this group of patients and asked to end the trials. Merck and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics last week said molnupiravir had nearly halved the risk of hospitalization https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/mercks-covid-19-pill-cuts-risk-death-hospitalization-by-50-study-2021-10-01 or death in patients at risk of severe disease who had mild-to-moderate COVID-19, results hailed by experts as potentially a major advance in fight against the illness.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Irans national army began exercises on Friday near its border with Azerbaijan, state TV reported, putting on a display of military capabilities near a neighbor it is increasingly skeptical of for its ties to the West and Israel.

Artillery, drones and helicopters will participate in the drills, the report said, without elaborating on how long they would last or where exactly they would be held. Iran occasionally holds such events, saying it wants to assesses combat readiness and demonstrate capabilities.

The exercises come amid escalating tensions along the border. Iran is wary of Azerbaijan in particular for its deep military cooperation with the Islamic Republics archrival, Israel, and on Thursday voiced its concerns to Azerbaijani ambassador in Tehran Ali Alizadeh.

We do not tolerate the presence and activity against our national security of the Zionist regime, or Israel, next to our borders," Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said. "And we will carry out any necessary action in this regard.

Amirabdollahian described relations between Iran and Azerbaijan as important, but insisted Iran had the right to hold the exercises.

Earlier this week, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said he was stunned by the planned exercises, in an interview with Turkeys state-run Anadolu Agency.

Azerbaijan and Israel have strengthened their military alliance in recent months, with Israeli-supplied high-tech drones helping Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region last year.

The tensions with Azerbaijan have also complicated a vital border passage that trucks use to ferry fuel and other goods from Iran to Armenia. Azerbaijani authorities have detained two Iranian truck drivers in recent weeks for trying to take the route, angering Iran.

Ground forces chief Gen. Kioumars Heidari described the presence of Israel in Azerbaijan as disrupting security in the region, the official IRNA news agency reported on Friday. Our sensitivity toward the border has increased and (Israels) activities here in under our surveillance completely, he said at the exercises.

The military drills come after Azerbaijan hosted joint military exercises in September with Turkish and Pakistani special forces for the first time.

The region remains on edge over Irans escalating nuclear program. Talks in Vienna to revive Tehrans now-tattered 2015 accord with world powers have stalled since June, with no date set for their resumption.
Jason Aldean is "unapologetic."

Just days after defending his wife, Brittany Aldean, on social media, the country singer took to Instagram early Friday to share another message with his 3.4 million followers.

"I will never apologize for my beliefs or my love for my family and country," Aldean captioned a new post.

"This is the greatest country in the world and I want to keep it that way," the crooner added with the hashtag #unapologetic.

JASON ALDEAN DEFENDS HIS WIFE, CRITICIZES JOE BIDEN AFTER CRITICS SLAM HER INSTAGRAM POST

Aldean included a photo of himself performing on stage in front of a giant screen illuminated with the American flag. It was a shot from his Thursday night performance in Phoenix, Ariz. performance as he continues his "Back in the Saddle Tour." His special guests were Hardy and Lainey Wilson.

Jason Aldean defended his wife amid negative comments to her anti-Joe Biden photos. Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Aldean's unashamed stance was supported by his followers and some fellow musicians, with Hardy writing in a comment, "You're d--- right."

One fan also thanked him, writing, "I'm so happy someone is standing up for America!"

"USA keep our freedoms," another commented.

"nothing but respect for you. we need more people like you to stand up for what we believe in," reads a separate comment.

JASON ALDEAN AND BRITTANY KERR 5-YEAR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Aldean's post comes just days after he spoke out in support of his wife, Brittany Aldean, who came under fire after she shared photos of herself and their young children wearing anti- Joe Biden clothing.

Jason Aldean took to social media early Friday to share he'll never apologize for his beliefs. Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/ACMA2019/Getty Images for ACM

Brittany's series of photos were posted online over the weekend. The first showed her posing next to her husband while wearing a shirt that reads "Anti Biden Social Club." Other photos she shared in the post showed her kids, Memphis, 3, and Navy, 2, wearing shirts that read "Hidin from Biden."

The clothes are sold at a website called DaddyT45, an obvious reference to former President Donald Trump . The clothing brand boasts several pro-Trump and anti-Biden pieces of clothing as well as an entire line dedicated to those who want to show that they are unvaccinated against the coronavirus .

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Jason was not wearing any politically charged clothing in the snap. However, not only did he give a thumbs up to a photo of his young son in the t-shirt, when someone took to the comments of Brittanys post to criticize her for using her children as "political props," Jason sounded off.

"Watch ur mouth lady! We will teach our kids what we think is right and what we think is best for their future," he said (via The Washington Post ). "If you think what is happening right now is great for the future of our kids and grandkids, u are delusional!"

He added: "Definitely better than what we got now! Please tell me one thing that the current administration has done that is positive? Just 1!!!"

Brittany previously caught backlash around the time of the 2020 election when Trump was erroneously questioning the results. At the time, she took to Instagram to sport a sweatshirt reading "... STILL MY PRESIDENT," prompting backlash from those on the left who believed she was promoting misinformation about the results.

She followed that up with a note explaining that the backlash on her page led many to privately message her their support for Trump. She elaborated on that further in a social media Q&A in which she noted that her political social media presence gets a lot of public backlash, but shes spurred on by the private messages of support she gets from people too afraid to profess their right-leaning beliefs publicly.

"I personally don't give a d--- if people don't agree with me. I think it's important now more than ever to stand for what you believe, even if it 'goes against the grain.' Do your research, and form your own opinion - speak out if you wish. But most importantly, don't bully people who feel differently than you," she shared at the time.

Fox News' Tyler McCarthy contributed to this report.
Oct. 1Leaders of the Jewish community in Alaska and beyond on Thursday condemned the wearing of yellow Stars of David by people protesting a proposed mask ordinance at Anchorage Assembly meetings this week.

The Holocaust has no place in a debate over pandemic restrictions, said Rabbi Yosef Greenberg of the Alaska Jewish Campus.

"This is a direct disrespect to victims, survivors, the Jewish community and the community as a whole," he said.

Mayor Dave Bronson on Wednesday night affirmed the protesters' choice to evoke painful symbolism from the Holocaust to express their disagreement with pandemic restrictions.

"We've referenced the Star of David quite a bit here tonight, but there was a formal message that came out within Jewish culture about that and the message was, 'never again.' That's an ethos. And that's what that star really means is, 'We will not forget, this will never happen again.' And I think us borrowing that from them is actually a credit to them," Bronson said.

The next day, Bronson released a statement saying he should have "chosen his words more carefully."

The Anti-Defamation League called Bronson's initial remarks "disturbing and offensive."

"Last night, Anchorage Mayor Bronson defended the misappropriation of the Yellow Star of David to advance a political point of 'freedom' and said that the imagery is 'actually a credit to' Jews," the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement Thursday.

"During these challenging times of rising antisemitism, elected officials continue to deepen the pain through ignorant Holocaust analogies to COVID-19 health guidelines," said Miri Cypers, the Pacific Northwest regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.

Bronson in Thursday's statement said "if I offended anyone, I am truly sorry."

"I understand that we should not trivialize or compare what happened during the Holocaust to a mask mandate and I want to apologize for any perception that my statements support or compare what happened to the Jewish people in Nazi Germany," Bronson said. "That was one of the most evil and darkest times in our world's history."

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The Star of David has been appropriated by people protesting pandemic restrictions across the country. "Not only is it an inaccurate historical comparison, it undermines the memory of people who actually died at the hands of the Nazis," Cypers in an interview Thursday.

Jewish people were forced to wear yellow Star of David badges that were used by Nazi authorities during the Holocaust as a "key element of their larger plan to persecute and eventually to annihilate the Jewish population of Europe," according to the United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum. "They used the badge not only to stigmatize and humiliate Jews but also to segregate them, to watch and control their movements, and to prepare for deportation."

More than 6 million people died in the Holocaust.

In addition to mask opponents wearing the yellow Stars of David, Wednesday night's meeting was marked by frequent outbursts from the audience, and mask opponents shouted in frustration and anger at Assembly members. At one point in the meeting, a man was escorted out after he called Assembly Vice Chair Chris Constant, who is gay, an obscene word often used in homophobic contexts. Much of the crowd in the chambers cheered at the insult. The man was arrested and charged with trespassing at the meeting after trying to return to the chambers, according to APD. Three other people were also arrested and charged at a meeting, including a man who had a handgun and was charged with disorderly conduct and misconduct involving a weapon.

On Thursday, Bronson also asked people at the Assembly meetings to use "decorum and respect."

"Members of the Assembly, you have my full support in asking for calm tonight, and my pledge to work with you to ensure all voices are heard in a way that respects everyone as equals," his statement said.

Later during Thursday's Assembly meeting, Bronson repeated his apology, asking people not to wear the Stars of David.

"I understand the anger about this proposed mask mandate, and I agree with that anger," Bronson said. "But I asked our citizens to be sensitive and understanding about the impact that the wearing of the yellow star of David has on many members of our Jewish community. I encourage you to find some other symbols to show your opposition to this ordinance."

On Thursday evening, the yellow stars had largely disappeared from view  a significant change from the previous night, when they were affixed to the shirts of many of the people testifying against the mask ordinance.

[Video above: Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson apologizes Thursday for "any perception that my statements support or compare what happened to the Jewish people in Nazi Germany to this mandate." Bronson also apologized for not speaking up in defense of Assembly member Chris Constant when a testifier directed a homophobic slur at him in a previous meeting. (Marc Lester / ADN)]

Bronson also apologized to Constant for failing to stand up and speak in his defense when the testifier called Constant a slur.

Constant on Thursday said he wasn't surprised that the man insulted him, but the fact that much of the crowd applauded the insult "really took my breath away for a minute." Constant added that while hatred "continues now, clearly, to be a threat in this room," hundreds of people had reached out to him in support after the incident.

At the beginning of Thursday's meeting, several Assembly members and the mayor implored the crowd to be civil and respectful. The atmosphere of the first hour of the meeting was changed from the heated exchanges of the previous two nights. The crowd stayed largely quiet.

The coronavirus is "challenging our humanity," Greenberg said. "And instead of coming together in our Alaskan tradition in tough times, it could bring out the worst in us."

Greenberg said the Alaska Jewish Museum was vandalized with a swastika sticker again two weeks ago, after a similar incident in May. This time, the vandal  who has not been identified  etched the sticker into a pane of glass. The center has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person responsible.

Greenberg said he believes the world has been shaken by the pandemic and by political polarization.

"There is nothing more dangerous to Alaskans, Americans and the world than political division," he said. "Especially when we combine it with the coronavirus."

Debate is healthy, he said. But "it is the responsibility of the leadership to have real, civil conversation."

Outside of the Loussac Library on Thursday, a group of about 15 labor union workers staged a small demonstration, holding up a large banner that read, "Assembly: Thank you for protecting jobs, health."

One person in the group held a flag of Israel.

"There was a lot of antisemitism and homophobia on display last night," said Bronson Fry, the business representative for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. "And so we're here protesting hatred in our city."
Kenya's veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga has dismissed widespread rumours of a power-sharing deal between him and President Uhuru Kenyatta ahead of elections next year as he leaves the door open for a fifth presidential bid.

A mainstay of Kenyan politics, the former prime minister remains hugely popular despite losing four shots at the presidency in 1997, 2007, 2013 and 2017.

But his image as an anti-establishment firebrand has taken a knock since he stunned the country with a headline-grabbing handshake with former foe Kenyatta in March 2018, following deadly post-election clashes the year before.

The truce, known universally as "the handshake", sparked feverish speculation the two men had made a pact that would see Odinga succeed Kenyatta, a two-term president who cannot run a third time.

In an interview with AFP however, the 76-year-old Odinga brushed off the rumours, saying he had nothing to gain from the rapprochement, which saw the pair vow to work together to defuse months of violence and political turmoil.

"It is propaganda peddled by busybodies," Odinga said in his Nairobi office.

"The situation was highly polarised in the country, there were demonstrations, extensive use of force, people were dying and there was need for a resolution," he said.

"As a result of the handshake, peace returned to the country."

Critics argue that the truce has effectively left the East African country without an opposition and taken the shine off what many expect to be Odinga's last stab at the presidency.

The two leaders' push to amend the constitution and expand the executive has also left them open to the charge that their handshake was designed to ensure that Kenyatta could stay in power as a prime minister.

The government intends to file an appeal with the country's top court after a panel of judges in Nairobi rejected the wide-ranging constitutional changes.

- New friends, new foes -

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Odinga called the allegations unfounded.

"I have no foothold in the government. I have no dealings with the government. There is not a single member of my party who is holding a position in the executive," he said.

But the usually vociferous politician, who has been seen at official government functions with Kenyatta, refused to be drawn on whether he would run for the presidency next August.

"I will talk about that subject at the appropriate time," he said, in a nod to his nickname "Agwambo" ("the mysterious").

His new rival, deputy president William Ruto, may leave him with little option but to reveal his cards.

Ruto was promised Kenyatta's backing for the top job in 2022 in exchange for his support. "The handshake" has since consigned him to the sidelines, revealing new fissures as his bitter feud with the president plays out in public.

- 'Self-made' -

As the man who has gained the most from the pair's fractured ties, Odinga now faces a threat to the anti-establishment brand he has spent years cultivating.

Ruto has positioned himself as a leader looking to upend the status quo and stand up for the "hustlers" trying to make ends meet in a country ruled by "dynasties".

The Kenyatta and Odinga families have dominated Kenyan politics since independence in 1963.

But Odinga, who was jailed for eight years under the autocratic regime of Daniel arap Moi, insists he is "a self-made person".

"I have not inherited anything from anybody. What I have I have worked for."

Yet Ruto, who is 22 years younger than Odinga, is hoping that his rags-to-riches journey from street hawker to top-ranked politician will resonate with Kenya's overwhelmingly youthful population.

Odinga, a grandfather of five, said he would "be very happy to hand over (the reins) to a younger person".

But not just yet.

"I have a track record which Kenyans understand very well," he said in a parting shot.

"They know that given an opportunity as the head of government, I can introduce a lot of changes."

ho/amu/txw/mbx
Kirstie Allsopp sparked fury with a tweet suggesting that the coronavirus lockdown was to blame for Sarah Everard's murder. (Getty)

TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp has come under fire for a tweet in which she appeared to blame Sarah Everard's murder on the coronavirus lockdown.

In a now-deleted tweet, Allsopp said that in any other circumstance the marketing executive's murder "could not have happened", sparking fury from people online.

The Location, Location, Location presenter's tweet came on the day Wayne Couzens was handed a whole life term for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard.

Details of the case have prompted concerns on how women will react to male police officers in the future, as well as criticism of the Met Police itself.

Kirstie Allsopp

Allsopp's tweet came in response to a tweet from Jeremy Vine, in which he admitted to struggling how to advise his own teenage daughters on how to deal with police officers following revelations around Sarah Everard's death, asking: "What do I say to help keep them safe  avoid the police?"

Allsopp responded: "No, you ensure that lockdowns are never, ever imposed again. In any other circumstance this could not have happened."

Read more: Wayne Couzens: The monster that lurked behind the trusted police officers family man facade

The tweet was later deleted but screenshots of it were shared online as people reacted angrily to Allsopp's link between the horrific crime and the coronavirus lockdown.

One person wrote: "It's so sad that someone thinks it's okay to hijack such a horrific circumstance to talk such nonsense."

Another said: "Kirstie Allsopp implying Sarah Everard was only murdered because we were in lockdown. As if women weren't murdered every single day before the pandemic."

Someone else added: "Kirstie Allsopp thinks it was because of lockdown. There are no words....." while someone else said: "What a take, using it for your own agenda lockdown might not have given him that reason to stop Sarah, but hed have chosen another one, or another woman."

Allsopp's comments came as Piers Corbyn interrupted Couzens' sentencing with an anti-lockdown rant outside the Old Bailey, sparking further criticism.

Watch: MP calls out government for 'lazy response' on violence against women
Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Steven Donziger, the US indigenous rights campaigner and lawyer who spent decades battling the energy firm Chevron over pollution in the Ecuadorian rainforest, was sentenced to six months imprisonment on Friday for criminal contempt charges arising from a lawsuit brought by the oil giant.

Donziger, who was disbarred from practicing law in New York last year, was found guilty in May of defying court orders, including by failing to turn over his computer and other electronic devices.

Related: The lawyer who took on Chevron  and now marks his 600th day under house arrest

Fridays sentence, handed down by federal judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan, came a day after he asked the court to consider an opinion by independent United Nations experts that found his court-ordered home confinement of more than two years was a violation of international human rights law.

The UN experts opinion said the US breached international law by putting Donziger under house arrest for about four times the maximum sentence of six months that he has now received in his contempt case.

The experts, appointed by the Geneva-based UN human rights council, said that the appropriate remedy would be to accord [Donziger] an enforceable right to compensation.

Amnesty International also petitioned US authorities to promptly implement the decision by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention calling for the immediate release of Steven Donziger.

While Preska was not bound to consider the UN experts testimony that Donziger had been unlawfully confined, she imposed an unexpectedly tough sentence. It seems that only the proverbial two-by-four between the eyes will instill in him any respect for the law, she said from the bench.

Donziger was charged in August 2019 with criminal contempt and placed under home detention to address concerns of flight risk. Five months ago, the judge found him guilty for repeatedly and willfully defying court orders.

The criminal case turns on a ruling from an earlier, 2014 civil case in which a Manhattan judge barred US enforcement of a $9.5bn judgment against Chevron Corp that Donziger had won in the Ecuadorian courts in 2011.

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Chevron has never paid up, claiming shocking levels of misconduct and fraud by Donziger and the Ecuadorian judiciary. In the US, a judge agreed and said the Ecuadorian decision had been secured through bribery, fraud and extortion.

Donziger was ordered to turn over his computer, phones and other electronic devices. That later escalated into a criminal case when he failed to do so.

In an interview with the Guardian in March, Donziger described how his crusade against Chevron on behalf of indigenous people affected by oil pollution in the Amazon rainforest had turned and that he had become the victim of a planned targeting by a corporation to destroy my life.

Fridays decision is likely to raise condemnation of Donzigers treatment by US authorities. In March, he claimed he was being tried by a Chevron-connected judge and prosecuted by a Chevron-connected lawyer? Its just wrong, Donziger said.

This is all part of a plan concocted by Chevron to dismantle my life. They want to do this to avoid paying up and to turn me into a weapon of intimidation against the whole legal profession.
A Lime bike with a missing QR code

Lime, the e-bike and scooter-hire company, is modifying its vehicles to stop people peeling off the QR codes.

To hire a vehicle, customers must scan the QR code using the Lime app.

However, customers in London and New York City have complained that many bikes have had the codes removed, leaving them unusable.

Lime said vandals had been peeling the stickers off. It has now started sealing the QR codes behind a plastic layer to thwart trouble-makers.

It told the BBC its data showed the codes were not typically being removed by Lime users hoping to keep a bike to themselves, but by antisocial non-riders.

In a statement it said: "We have clear steps in place to prevent QR code vandalism, including deploying protective covers on all vehicle codes.

"By creating a safe and reliable service in London, we are ensuring we have a long-term impact on improving congestion and air pollution in the city we love."

The QR codes will be protected with a clear screen

The company says use of its e-scooters in Manchester has increased during the fuel shortage by 40%, while e-scooter and e-bike use in London rose by 20%.

E-scooter and e-bike hire companies are often a target for vandals who damage the vehicles or throw them into rivers and canals.

In 2018, Mobike withdrew from Manchester after losing 10% of its fleet every month to vandalism and theft.

Lime said a vast majority of damage was caused by non-riders rather than its customers.
Liverpool and Manchester City resume their rivalry for top spot when they go head to head in the Premier League this weekend, while Chelsea and Manchester United aim to get their title challenges back on track.

Under Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, City and Liverpool have become the dominant forces in English football, sharing the past four Premier League titles between them.

City, who have won three of those, delivered a warning shot to the pretenders to their crown with a hugely impressive 1-0 win at Chelsea last weekend.

But it is Liverpool who boast the only unbeaten record after six games and find themselves a point clear of City, Chelsea and United, even though they dropped two points at Brentford last week.

City ended their long wait for a win away to Liverpool in emphatic fashion with a 4-1 victory in February but they have not won in front of a crowd at Anfield since 2003.

Fatigue could take its toll on Guardiola's men after a draining week. Three days after their statement win at Stamford Bridge, the English champions were beaten 2-0 by Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital.

Liverpool, by contrast, were able to ease off the gas long before the end of a 5-1 Champions League win over Porto.

However, the Reds will be without right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was left out of Gareth Southgate's England squad announced Thursday with a groin problem.

"Obviously when you have something with your muscle, it's not likely for Sunday," said Klopp. "No muscle injury heals that quick."

- Everton threat to United -

United needed all 95 minutes to edge past Villarreal in their midweek Champions League game, emerging as victors thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo's dramatic stoppage-time winner.

The late intervention from the Portuguese superstar stopped the rot for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men after a run of three defeats in four games.

But in truth United were lacklustre again, relying on goalkeeper David de Gea, who produced a string of vital saves.

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Everton head to Old Trafford level on points with Solskjaer's men after an impressive start to life under Rafael Benitez.

The Toffees are more than capable of following the example set by West Ham and Aston Villa, who have both won at the Theatre of Dreams in recent weeks, unless United show significant improvement.

Chelsea made a brilliant start to the season under Thomas Tuchel, picking up where they left off after beating Manchester City in the Champions League final in May.

City exacted a measure of revenge at Stamford Bridge last week and Chelsea slipped up again in the Champions League in midweek, losing 1-0 to Juventus.

But Tuchel's men appear to have a relatively straightforward task as they seek to return to winning ways against winless Southampton at home.

- Nuno needs response from Spurs -

Just three weeks after topping the Premier League table, Nuno Espirito Santo's position as Tottenham manager has been questioned by fans following three dismal league defeats on the spin.

Spurs have lost to Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Arsenal by a combined score of 9-1 to fall back into the bottom half of the table.

Nuno is yet to conjure the best from star forward Harry Kane, who failed to force a move away from his boyhood club during the transfer window.

And he has so far failed to instill the defensive organisation that was his calling card in three seasons at Wolves.

Another defeat when in-form Villa visit the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday would leave the Spurs faithful restless over the international break.

Fixtures (all times GMT)

Saturday

Manchester United v Everton (1130), Burnley v Norwich, Chelsea v Southampton, Leeds v Watford, Wolves v Newcastle, (all 1400), Brighton v Arsenal (1630)

Sunday

Crystal Palace v Leicester, Tottenham v Aston Villa, West Ham v Brentford (all 1300), Liverpool v Manchester City (1530)

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BAMAKO (Reuters) - A cargo plane delivered four helicopters, weapons and ammunition from Russia to Mali late on Thursday, Malian interim defence minister Sadio Camara said.

He said Mali had bought the helicopters in a contract agreed in December 2020 to support its armed forces in their battle alongside French, European and U.N. troops with insurgents linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda.

"Mali bought these helicopters from the Russia Federation, a friendly country with which Mali has always maintained a very fruitful partnership," he told local media on the tarmac after the plane landed in the capital Bamako, adding that the weapons and ammunition were given by Russia.

The delivery comes at a moment of tense relations between Mali and its key military partner France over reports Bamako could recruit Russian mercenaries as Paris reshapes its 5,000-strong counter-terrorism mission in the region.

Diplomatic and security sources have told Reuters that Mali's year-old military junta is close to recruiting the Russian Wagner Group, and France has launched a diplomatic drive to thwart it, saying such an arrangement is incompatible with a continued French presence.

Meanwhile Mali's prime minister on Saturday accused Paris of abandoning Bamako in a speech at the United Nations.

Responding to this charge for the first time, President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday questioned the legitimacy of the Malian authorities overseeing a transition to elections after two coups in just over a year.

"What the Malian prime minister said is unacceptable. It's a shame. And that dishonours what isn't even a government," he told Radio France International.

Reuters has been unable to reach the Wagner Group for comment.

(Reporting by Paul Lorgerie; Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Mexico plans to move towards a state monopoly in the exploration and mining of lithium, a vital material in the production of electric car batteries, the government said Friday.

The proposal is included in a constitutional reform bill submitted by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to the lower house of Congress.

If approved, future concessions to extract minerals considered strategic, such as lithium, will not be awarded to private firms, interior minister Adan Lopez told reporters.

"The state will control the exploration and production of these minerals," he said.

Eight concessions already granted for lithium exploration would remain valid as long as the companies make the necessary progress towards starting production, the government said.

Lithium is mined mostly in Australia and South America, while China dominates the supply chain.

Mexico's deposits of the metal are mainly found in the northern state of Sonora, where drug traffickers and other organized crime gangs operate.

The British-based Faraday Institution, which specializes in researching electric batteries, has called the scramble for lithium and other metals used to make them a 21st century "gold rush."

Although Mexico has not set a date for banning sales of new gasoline and diesel cars, it is home to assembly plants for major brands including Ford, General Motors and Audi.

Lopez Obrador's reform bill also seeks to strengthen the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), rolling back the effects of liberalization that the leftist president says favored private companies.

The reforms would ensure that CFE has 54 percent of the Mexican electricity market, compared to 46 percent for the private sector.

Lopez Obrador said the move was not aimed at nationalization, but rather to protect CFE's place in the market and prevent soaring power prices.

His efforts to boost the state's role in the energy sector have caused concern among investors and foreign governments, including in the United States.

Electricity reforms passed by lawmakers in March were blocked by a judge to the relief of environmentalists, who saw them as a major setback to efforts to switch to renewable energy.

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By Adriana Barrera

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico's leftist government on Friday pitched a constitutional reform to boost state control of the electricity market, in a move to reverse business-friendly energy legislation enacted by the previous administration.

The reform announced by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador foresees giving the Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) over half of the power market and putting it in charge of setting terms for private generators.

According to a copy seen by Reuters, the bill Lopez Obrador sent to Congress on Thursday would also reserve future lithium extraction for the state and do away with energy regulators, grouping their functions under the Energy Ministry and the CFE.

Though Lopez Obrador had hinted at much of the bill's content, its elimination of nominally independent regulators even drew criticism from some of his erstwhile loyalists.

"The disappearance of the National Hydrocarbons Commission is a step back for the regulation of the energy sector," said Martha Barcena, Lopez Obrador's former ambassador to the United States, referring to the oil industry regulator.

Lopez Obrador said giving the CFE 54% of the power market would keep prices low for consumers and end preferential treatment for private firms, which he argues has been excessive.

"We are trying to compensate for the damage caused by the so-called energy reform," he told a news conference, referring to the previous administration's 2013-14 opening of the energy market to private capital.

The law currently gives preference to dispatching the lowest-cost power onto the grid, which is often produced by private companies. Lopez Obrador has spent much of his term trying to overhaul the energy sector in favor of the CFE and state oil and gas company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex).

Doing so has helped Pemex unload fuel oil it produces onto the CFE, which it can use for burning in power stations. But tighter sulfur content rules has restricted the market for fuel oil, posing a problem for the heavily-indebted Pemex.

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Aside from eliminating the CNH, the law also foresees getting rid of the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE). The two were created years ago to be impartial market regulators.

LITHIUM

Although Mexico does not yet produce lithium, Lopez Obrador said eight existing concessions for extracting the metal would remain in private hands if companies can develop the industry.

Bacanora Lithium, which holds concessions in northern Mexico, says it is getting close https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-mining-lithium-exclusive-idUSKCN2E52FN.

"They must prove they have done exploration work and have the capacity to invest and extract lithium," Lopez Obrador said.

The company has said it aims to begin production in 2023 and ramp up to 35,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate annually.

Lopez Obrador's ruling National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) and its allies lack the two-thirds majority in Congress required to pass constitutional changes, and some analysts are skeptical that he can achieve it.

The president has talked about getting votes in Congress from the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), a group which pushed through some of the very legislation he wants to undo and which he has relentlessly attacked as corrupt.

Some party insiders say that at least some PRI lawmakers may prove amenable.

Gabriela Siller, a Banco Base analyst, said the bill's provision giving CFE the power to cancel contracts with electricity providers could amount to a "self-inflicted wound" as power demand rises in tandem with economic recovery.

The bill could also raise costs for users, put pressure on public finances and squeeze investment, she said.

Mexico's main business lobby said approval of the reform would "mark a point of no return," generating irreversible damage to the rule of law, the environment and to the competitiveness of the country.

"The imposition of this reform would imply that the most modern, clean and efficient plants of the private sector stop operating, violating the international treaties of which Mexico is part," the Business Coordinating Council said in statement.

The American Petroleum Institute, a top U.S. oil lobby, had already raised concerns about Lopez Obrador's energy policies, arguing they undermined investor confidence and violated Mexico's trade commitments.

(Reporting by Raul Cortes, Ana Isabel Martinez and Daina Beth SolomonEditing by Dave Graham, Aurora Ellis and Sonya Hepinstall)
A militant group accused of killing a popular Rohingya leader in a Bangladesh refugee camp said on Friday it was "shocked and saddened" by his death, pointing the finger at "unidentified criminals".

Mohib Ullah was gunned down late Wednesday in one of the camps in east Bangladesh which are home to over 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar.

He had received death threats from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), who were enraged by his growing popularity in the camps, activists told AFP. His brother has openly accused ARSA of his murder.

But in a Twitter statement on Friday, ARSA said Mohib Ullah was "reportedly assassinated by unidentified transnational border-based criminals".

"It is time for bringing the criminals to their accountability instead of finger-pointing with baseless and heavy accusations," the statement added.

AFP has contacted the group for comment.

On Friday UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for a "prompt, thorough, and independent investigation" into the killing.

A 28-year-old Rohingya man has been arrested over the murder, Bangladesh police said Friday.

"I don't know if he is a member of ARSA," commanding officer Naimul Haque told AFP.

"More information will be known after interrogation."

ARSA were behind a spate of attacks on Myanmar security posts in 2017 and are also blamed for attacks on Hindus living in Rohingya villages in the country's western Rakhine province.

Mohib Ullah had set up the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, a rights group that documented atrocities allegedly committed against the Rohingya by the Myanmar military during its 2017 offensive.

The military crackdown prompted hundreds of thousands of the long-oppressed mostly Muslim minority to flee into Bangladesh, where they remain four years later in squalid refugee camps.

The former schoolteacher rose to prominence after his group held a grand rally on the second anniversary of the crackdown in 2019, which an estimated 200,000 Rohingya attended.

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That year, Mohib Ullah also met then US president Donald Trump at the White House during a meeting on religious freedom, and spoke at a UN Human Rights meeting in Geneva.

Up to 25,000 people attended his funeral prayers at the main Kutupalong camp on Thursday, police said. Nazir Hossain, a Rohingya leader, said there were 200,000.

bur-rma/reb
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is allocating $1.8 million in grant assistance to investigate crimes that victimized children during the pandemic, restoring funding for an initiative included in the broader 2021 bill that he vetoed in July for technical reasons.

Criminals who victimize children must be investigated, prosecuted and brought to justice, no matter when they commit these heinous crimes, Parson said in a statement. The rise in crimes reported against children during the COVID-19 pandemic and the strains on agencies that detect, investigate and prosecute those criminals made it clear that local agencies could use additional assistance.

Parson vetoed four bills adopted by lawmakers during their 2021 legislative session, including House Bill 362, filed by Rep. Bruce DeGroot, R-Chesterfield, which would have required the state's Office of Child Advocate to create a program investigating safety complaints by Children's Division employees.

The bill was adopted in the Senate on May 3 in a 32-1 vote and in the House on May 5 in a 154-1 tally.

In his July 9 veto letter, Parson said HB 362s Children's Division language creates redundancy in state law and cited a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that prohibits government officials and agencies from adding such disclosure provisions to Sunshine Laws.

HB 362 also included $2 million in salary boosts for division workers, an amendment to state Sunshine Laws requiring agencies to file annual credit-and-lending reports, and $300,000 specifically for Lincoln County to investigate crimes against children.

On July 20, however, Parson announced Missouri would make up to $2 million in federal pandemic assistance money available in the form of competitive grants to better detect, investigate and prosecute crimes against children during the pandemic.

We are pleased to make these funds available to help protect our children and remove criminals from the streets, Parson said Wednesday.

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Nineteen agencies applied for the Missouri Crimes Against Children/Sex Crimes COVID-19 Funding Opportunity grants and were approved to collectively receive $1,8 million.

Eligible expenses include hiring additional investigators and prosecutors, training and purchasing upgraded computer software and equipment needed to investigate crimes against children.

The grants are issued by the U.S. Department of Justice and administered by the Missouri Department of Public Safety. They will be distributed between Oct. 1  which is Friday  and Sept. 30, 2022.

The three largest grant recipients are the Nodaway County Sheriffs Office ($191,905), the Christian County Prosecutors Office ($215,286) and Lincoln County Prosecutors Office ($300,000).

The $300,000 grant that is going to Lincoln County will allow the Prosecutors Office to direct the funds to best meet the specific, local needs to help safeguard our children, Sen. Jean Riddle, R-Fulton, said in a statement. I am thankful the governor heard my calls for funding and followed through on his promise to help the children of my community.

According to the states Department of Social Services (DSS), Lincoln County experienced 681 reported incidents of child abuse and neglect in 2019, a 9.3% increase from 2011.

Between July 2019 to June 2020, however, Riddle said that Lincoln County Childrens Division saw an additional 10% increase in similar investigations involving children.

The grant received by the Lincoln County Prosecutors Office was the largest issued as a part of this program in the state, showing the true need for help in our community. I truly believe these dollars will help those who have suffered at the hands of sick and twisted individuals for far too long, Riddle said.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Missouri, State

Original Author: John Haughey, The Center Square

Original Location: Missouri issues grants to investigate crimes against children committed during pandemic
Morocco has agreed to the nomination of former United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura as the Secretary-General's representative on the disputed Western Sahara, Rabat's UN ambassador said in comments published Wednesday.

"Morocco has been consulted beforehand about this appointment and has already notified (UN chief) Antonio Guterres of its approval," Omar Hilale said in an interview carried by state news agency MAP.

He said consultations were still underway but the Italian-Swedish diplomat's appointment would be made public "in the upcoming days, after the endorsement of Security Council members".

Several diplomatic sources at the UN said the Moroccan turnaround was due to "strong pressure" from the United States and France. It came after Morocco's arch-rival Algeria, the main backer of the separatist Polisario Front, had cut diplomatic ties with Morocco.

The Western Sahara dispute pits Morocco, which sees the former Spanish colony as an integral part of its territory, against the armed Polisario independence movement.

The sparsely-populated desert territory boasts significant phosphate resources and a long Atlantic coastline with access to rich fishing waters.

UN-led talks between the three parties plus Mauritania have been stalled since the 2019 resignation of the previous UN envoy, German diplomat Horst Kohler, for health reasons.

Guterres has put forward a dozen names for the role but been unable to reach a consensus with all sides.

But the Polisario previously said it would accept the nomination of de Mistura, who has decades of diplomatic experience including as a UN envoy in Syria.

It did however question Morocco's willingness to cooperate with the UN in the search for a lasting solution.

"No genuine, credible and viable peace process will ever be possible as long as the Moroccan occupation persists, with impunity, in its illegal actions and its attempts to impose by force a fait accompli in the occupied territories," it said in a statement Wednesday.

Story continues

Hilale said the diplomat would "be able to count on Morocco's unfailing cooperation and support, to implement his mediation for the settlement of this regional dispute".

Last year the administration of then-US president Donald Trump recognised Rabat's sovereignty over Western Sahara as a quid pro quo for Morocco normalising ties with Israel.

Since a ceasefire with the Polisario in 1991, Morocco has controlled around 80 percent of the Western Sahara, where it has poured investment into development projects.

The Polisario continues to call for a referendum on self-determination, according to the 1991 UN-backed ceasefire deal.

Tensions rose sharply in November when Morocco sent troops into a buffer zone to reopen the only road leading from Morocco to Mauritania and the rest of West Africa, after the separatists had blocked it the previous month.

The Polisario responded by declaring the 1991 UN-backed ceasefire null and void.

The two sides have since exchanged regular fire along the demarcation line, though claims are difficult to independently verify in the hard-to-access area.

ko-agr/ezz/par/it/har
Myanmar's junta has said it was unlikely an ASEAN special envoy tasked with facilitating dialogue in the coup-hit country would be allowed to meet ousted pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has been under global pressure to help resolve the crisis in member state Myanmar, where more than 1,100 people have been killed in post-coup violence according to a monitoring group.

Brunei Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof, who was selected as the bloc's envoy in August after lengthy wrangling, has called for full access to all parties when he visits.

But a junta spokesman told AFP on Thursday it would be "difficult to allow for meetings with those who are facing trial."

"We will allow for meeting with official organisations," added spokesman Zaw Min Tun, without giving further details on when Myanmar would give permission for the envoy to visit.

Suu Kyi, 76, is currently on trial for a raft of charges, flouting coronavirus restrictions during polls her party won in a landslide last year, illegally importing walkie talkies and sedition.

She faces decades in prison if convicted on all charges.

Her lawyers said last week that the Nobel laureate has not received any meeting request yet from local and foreign organisations.

"Without meeting [Suu Kyi] there will be no result," political analyst Mg Mg Soe told AFP.

"They can move another step to proceed how they can negotiate only after listening from both sides."

Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has promised to hold elections and lift a state of emergency by August 2023, extending a timeline given shortly after the coup.

bur-rma/jfx
An Olathe Proud Boy charged with conspiracy in the Capitol riot case learned on Friday that he might remain in jail until at least early January.

That news came at a hearing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for four Kansas City-area Proud Boys and two Arizona siblings who prosecutors say conspired to breach the Capitol on Jan. 6.

After learning that the government was still working on processing all the discovery materials to provide to the defendants and that some defendants were working on potential plea negotiations, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly set the next court hearing for Jan. 5  one day shy of the anniversary of the insurrection.

While the other defendants, who all have been free on personal recognizance bonds, had no objection to the three-month wait, William Chrestmans attorney, Peter Cooper, raised concerns. Chrestman has been in custody since federal agents arrested him on Feb. 11.

I certainly understand why you would have a different view, Kelly told Cooper. Part of the reason for the delay, Kelly said, is unfortunately because of the COVID situation were in here.

The courthouse has a limited ability to accommodate trials during the pandemic, he said.

Based on my review of the matters that have been scheduled so far, we would not be able to host a jury trial with this many defendants and a case this complex... between now and Jan. 6, Kelly said.

Cooper said he would file a motion for the court to revisit Chrestmans detention status and bond conditions. Kelly told him he was free to do so at any time.

Whether you will be successful at that, I dont know, Kelly said.

Chrestman was indicted Feb. 26 along with Christopher Kuehne of Olathe, Louis Enrique Colon of Blue Springs, Ryan Keith Ashlock of Gardner and siblings Cory and Felicia Konold of Arizona on conspiracy charges and other offenses related to the riot.

Chrestman, an unemployed union sheet metal worker, also was charged with threatening to assault a federal law enforcement officer and carrying a wooden ax handle while in the Capitol building and on the grounds. Prosecutors have alleged that Chrestman was a key player in the riot.

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In July, Kelly denied Chrestmans request to be released from custody, upholding a previous judges ruling that he was a danger to the community.

Kelly went through a laundry list of Chrestmans alleged actions on the day of the riot that the judge said were captured by dozens of photos and videos. The actions, Kelly said, included Chrestman wielding an ax handle, encouraging the crowd to storm the Capitol and confronting law enforcement, telling an officer that You shoot and Ill take your f------ ass out!

Mr. Chrestman was much more  much, much more  than someone who merely cheered on the violence or who entered the Capitol after others cleared the way, Kelly said.

The Proud Boys have been at the forefront of the federal investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection. Authorities have arrested more than 30 Proud Boys from around the country, including several in leadership positions, on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to conspiracy to assaulting a federal officer.

Also at Fridays hearing, the judge heard a motion filed by Colon that would allow him to stop wearing an ankle bracelet for monitoring.

Mr. Colon is an electrician gainfully employed as an outside lineman, the motion said. As the fall and winter months are fast approaching, Mr. Colon will be required to wear appropriate approved work boots to comply with union and employer rules. These boots will simply not comfortably allow for the Stand Alone Monitoring ankle device.

Kelly told Colons attorney, J.R. Hobbs, to consult with prosecutors and provide him with more specifics on what other kind of monitoring would be used before he issued his ruling.

Kelly also considered a motion filed Tuesday by Felicia Konold  who is pregnant and nearing her delivery date  that asked the court to suspend her GPS monitoring and ankle bracelet requirements until six weeks after her baby is born.

According to the motion, Konolds physician told her on Sept. 20 that she had the potential to spontaneously deliver anywhere from now until forty-one (41) weeks. She delivered her first baby six weeks early, it said.

In addition, Ms. Konold is planning to have a water-birth and the continued restriction that is imposed, even with the governments addendum to removing the device two (2) weeks before her due-date, will prevent Ms. Konold from delivering in this manner.

Kelly had already modified her conditions of release to allow her to be on home curfew from 9 p.m to 6 a.m. and suspend her electronic monitoring two weeks before and after her due date. He told both parties to discuss the new request and get back to him by next week so he could make a prompt decision.

Last month, Cory Konold filed a motion asking that he be allowed to stop wearing an ankle bracelet and discontinue the GPS monitoring, saying the devices interfered with his work and physical fitness activities.

Konold is a digger and line installer who lays internet fiber along roadways, homes and businesses, the motion said.

Mr. Konold has had to leave work unexpectedly because of malfunctions with the Stand Alone Monitoring with GPS, it said. This has caused him to lose full days of work because once returning home to rectify the problem, the device then locks. These multiple occurrences have jeopardized his employment.

They also have prohibited Konold from hiking, performing mechanic work on vehicles, and effected his ability to maintain physical fitness, the motion said.

Kelly ruled that Konold would be allowed to discontinue the monitoring during the day but would be on home curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. with electronic monitoring.
The entrance to Orchard Towers. (FILE PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)

SINGAPORE  The man charged with murder over the 2019 Orchard Towers death was handed 10 fresh charges on Friday (1 October), two of which are related to the same incident.

Tan Sen Yang, now 30, was handed one charge for waving a kerambit knife and cutting the right index finger of another individual, B Barathkrishnan, while at the entrance of Naughty Girl Club at Orchard Towers between 6.21am and 6.24am on 2 July 2019. He is said to have done a rash act endangering human life over this alleged act.

At around the same time and venue, Tan is also alleged to have slashed the face of a Muhammad Fairus Muhammad Ali with the kerambit knife, causing permanent disfiguration. This charge constitutes voluntarily causing grievous hurt.

He appeared in the State Courts via video link to receive his fresh charges. His case is fixed for a pre-trial conference and will return to court on 22 November for a further mention.

Tan is already facing a capital charge before the High Court for the death of Satheesh Noel Gobidass, whom he is said to have allegedly murdered at the entrance of Orchard Towers at about 6.25am on the same day.

Dispute between groups led to injuries and death

Six others - Joel Tan Yun Sheng, Ang Da Yuan, Natalie Siow, Chan Jia Xing, and Loo Boon Chong, and Tan Hong Sheng - were initially charged with murder alongside Tan Sen Yang over the incident. All had their charges downgraded and have since been sentenced.

During their plead guilty mentions, it emerged that Tan Sen Yang had been drinking at the Naughty Girl Club and left at around 6.20am. While at the entrance, a dispute arose between his group - which included several of his co-accused persons - and another group of patrons, and he was seen waving his kerambit knife above his head.

In the resulting fray, two were injured - a security officer and a patron.

As the group made their way to the ground floor entrance, they were confronted by Satheesh, who was later attacked. The group then fled, leaving Satheesh to walk towards and entrance of Orchard Towers, before collapsing face first to the ground.

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Photos of the incident went viral.

Eight more unrelated charges, most involving violence

Apart from the Orchard Towers incident, Tan Sen Yang also faces eight unrelated charges spanning 2015 to 2019, most of them involving violence.

He is accused of punching a man at ComfortDelGro Driving Centre in Ubi on 2 November 2015; punching a woman's face at St James Power Station on 23 February 2017; criminally intimidating another woman on 2 June 2019; stabbing a man at a void deck in Compassvale Walk on 23 August 2016; and attacking someone with a cleaver on 22 March 2017 outside of Orchard Towers.

On 1 July 2019, a day before the alleged murder, He is also alleged to have punched a parking enforcement officer and then kicked his motorcycle, toppling it.

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Ozy Media cofounder Carlos Watson Noam Galai/Getty Images

Ozy is shutting down after a New York Times report shed light on its business practices.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

Ozy Media, the digital media company under fire after a bombshell New York Times report about its workplace culture and business practices, announced it was shutting down on Friday.

"At Ozy, we have been blessed with a remarkable team of dedicated staff," Ozy's board of directors wrote in a statement. "Many of them are world-class journalists and experienced professionals to whom we owe tremendous gratitude and who are wonderful colleagues. It is therefore with the heaviest of hearts that we must announce today that we are closing Ozy's doors."

Carlos Watson and Samir Rao founded Ozy in 2013 on the promise of building a new kind of media company aimed at millennials, and garnered $83 million in funding and backing from many high-profile investors and celebrities.

The unraveling started when the Times reported that Rao, Ozy's chief operating officer, was caught impersonating a YouTube executive during a fundraising call, along with raising questions about Ozy's audience metrics.

Meanwhile, Ozy alumni told Insider about the company's grueling work practices and raised doubts about the company's audience claims.

The fallout from the Times story came fast. The company was facing an FBI probe over the phone call incident. Advertisers and investors started demanding answers. Board chair and hedge fund billionaire Marc Lasry stepped down from the board.

And the world's biggest advertising company WPP just advised all its clients, which include Ford, Google, Facebook, IBM, Unilever, and Mondelez, to pause their ad buys on Ozy until further notice, said a person with direct knowledge.

The shutdown also leaves Ozy's many investors holding the bag. Its backers have included Marc Lasry, Laurene Powell Jobs, Ron Conway, and LionTree. Axel Springer, parent of Insider, also invested.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Ozy Media, a troubled media startup recently accused of highly questionable business practices, is shutting down.

The embattled company faced harsh scrutiny following a startling New York Times story this week.

The story recalled a meeting earlier this year in which Ozy co-founder Samir Rao impersonated a YouTube executive on a conference call with prospective investors and painted a glowing profile of the companys content on the video platform.

Ozys other co-founder, Carlos Watson, blamed the incident on a mental health crisis. The companys board declined to investigate, casting it as an unfortunate, one-time event.

Watson did not immediately respond to calls for comment. He dismissed the initial Times story as a ridiculous hitjob in a response on social media.

News of the incident prompted renewed examination of the company, which has faced accusations of inflating its web traffic. Major advertisers proceeded to pause their campaigns with the company, and high-profile staff, including Ozy chairman Marc Lasry and ex-BBC journalist Katty Kay, quit.

At Ozy, we have been blessed with a remarkable team of dedicated staff, the company said in a statement to Ben Smith, who authored the Times piece. Many of them are world-class journalists and experienced professionals to whom we owe tremendous gratitude, and who are wonderful colleagues. It is therefore with the heaviest of hearts that we must announce today that we are closing Ozys doors.

Smith previously worked as editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News, which is owned by BuzzFeed, HuffPosts parent company.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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Panama's foreign minister sounded the alarm to warn the United States once again of a wave of Haitians coming toward the U.S.-Mexico border.

Erika Mouynes warned in an interview with Axios Wednesday that there were roughly 60,000 migrants, most of whom are Haitians, making their way toward the U.S. southern border, a surge roughly four times as large as the number of migrants reported in Del Rio, Texas.

Mouynes expressed frustration with the U.S. government's response to the Haitian migrant crisis at the border, explaining, "We sounded the alarm when we should have."

"We've engaged with every single authority that we can think of, that we can come across, to say, 'Please, let's pay attention to this,'" she added.

BIDEN DELIBERATELY CREATED THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRISIS

In the past month, Del Rio was overwhelmed with more than 15,000 Haitian migrants who had been living underneath an international bridge in a makeshift camp after crossing the Rio Grande, many of whom were seeking asylum.

The U.S. initially sent around 2,276 Haitians back to their home country. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas later admitted that more than 12,000 migrants had been released into the U.S. after previously stating that the migrant camp had been cleared out.

The Panamanian government called on the U.S. to work with other countries in the region to address the situation, saying that they need to "recognize that they all are heading towards the U.S."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Panama is expecting around 27,000 migrants to cross the Darien Gap this month, more than in 2019, according to Public Radio International.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 208,887 people illegally crossing the border in August, four times more than the 50,014 people encountered in August 2020.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Panama, Haiti, Immigration, Border Crisis, Border Security, Foreign Policy, Central America

Original Author: Elizabeth Faddis

Original Location: Panama foreign minister warns 60,000 Haitians are heading to US border
By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) -Four large pharmacy chains are set to face their first trial over the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic, creating new pressure to reach settlements with state and local governments who accuse them of contributing to the public health crisis.

The Ohio counties of Lake and Trumbull allege that oversight failures at pharmacies run by Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, CVS Health Corp, Walmart Inc and Giant Eagle Inc led to excessive amounts of opioid pills in their communities.

Lawyers for the counties and companies are set to deliver opening statements on Monday to a federal jury in Cleveland, where thousands of similar lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, drug distributors and pharmacies are pending.

More than 3,300 cases have been brought largely by state and local governments seeking to hold the companies responsible for an opioid abuse epidemic that U.S. government data shows led to nearly 500,000 overdose deaths from 1999 to 2019.

Should a jury find the companies liable, U.S. District Judge Dan Polster will later determine how much they must pay to abate, or address, the epidemic in the communities.

Lawyers for the local governments have said the pharmacy chains are among their next targets for settlement.

Polster, who oversees most of the opioid lawsuits, on Tuesday renewed his long-running push https://www.reuters.com/article/us-opioids-litigation-judge/judges-unorthodox-approach-has-huge-opioid-settlement-within-reach-idUSKBN1WX1AT for a global settlement by the companies. "Use this trial as an opportunity to engage in the kind of meaningful discussions that have not happened over the last couple of years, all right?" he said.

At trial, the two counties are expected to argue the pharmacies created a public nuisance by failing to identify red flags and ensure prescriptions were valid, causing an oversupply of pills, overdoses and deaths.

"The national chain pharmacies in our case refused to give their pharmacists the necessary tools and opportunities to follow the law and stop the diversion and improper sale of opiates," said Mark Lanier, the counties' lawyer.

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The companies deny wrongdoing, saying criminals were more likely to obtain opioids illegally from other sources, including pill mills, crooked doctors and drug traffickers.

"Opioid prescriptions are written by doctors, not pharmacists," CVS said in a statement. "Our pharmacies fill legitimate prescriptions written by licensed doctors."

Walgreens said it took "great pride in the judgment of our pharmacy professionals," and Giant Eagle said regulators who inspected its pharmacies in the two counties found it complied with the law. Walmart did not respond to requests for comment.

The trial comes after the three largest U.S. distributors that supply pharmacies - McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and AmerisourceBergen Corp - and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson in July proposed paying up to $26 billion to settle cases against them.

A bankruptcy judge in August approved a settlement by OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP and its wealthy Sackler family owners that the company values at more than $10 billion.

The pharmacy chains in the Ohio case have only settled one case nationally. Ahead of a trial in New York, they and Rite Aid Corp agreed pay $26 million to settle with two counties.

Rite Aid settled pre-trial in Ohio and agreed to pay Trumbull at least $1.5 million. Lake County has not disclosed its recovery.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston;Editing by Noeleen Walder and Bill Berkrot)
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Qantas Airways Ltd said on Friday it would restart some international flights a month earlier than planned after the Australian government said fully vaccinated Australians could enter and leave the country freely from November.

Qantas will operate three weekly return flights between Sydney and London and three weekly return flights between Sydney and Los Angeles starting Nov. 14 and add more flights if there is enough demand, the airline said.

Passengers will be required to quarantine at home for seven days upon arrival in Australia. The Australian government on Friday indicated that some of its eight states and territories would open earlier than others.

"We welcome the federal government's decision and the work by the New South Wales government to facilitate the home quarantine approach that makes this feasible," Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said. "We look forward to other states and territories getting on board."

New South Wales is home to Australia's most populous city, Sydney.

Qantas said it had already sold out some of its international flights for December and it had seen strong demand for London and Los Angeles.

The airline grounded its international fleet in March 2020 and has operated only freight and repatriation flights since, with the exception of a short-lived quarantine-free travel bubble with New Zealand.

Rival Virgin Australia, which does far less international flying, did not announce any schedule changes but said it would continue to add flights as travel demand increased and restrictions eased.

(Reporting by Jamie Freed. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
It is usually uneventful when a single insider buys stock. However, When quite a few insiders buy shares, as it happened in Sanderson Design Group plc's (LON:SDG) case, it's fantastic news for shareholders.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

Check out our latest analysis for Sanderson Design Group

Sanderson Design Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Independent Non-Executive Director Christopher Rogers bought UK59k worth of shares at a price of UK1.67 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of UK1.99. Because the shares were purchased at a lower price, this particular buy doesn't tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price.

Sanderson Design Group insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Sanderson Design Group Insiders Bought Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider buying at Sanderson Design Group. We can see that Independent Non-Executive Director Christopher Rogers paid UK59k for shares in the company. No-one sold. That shows some optimism about the company's future.

Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Our data isn't picking up on much insider ownership at Sanderson Design Group, though insiders do hold about UK478k worth of shares. This level of insider ownership is notably low, and not very encouraging.

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So What Do The Sanderson Design Group Insider Transactions Indicate?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. While the overall levels of insider ownership are below what we'd like to see, the history of transactions imply that Sanderson Design Group insiders are reasonably well aligned, and optimistic for the future. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. In terms of investment risks, we've identified 1 warning sign with Sanderson Design Group and understanding it should be part of your investment process.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.



Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
If the $3.5 trillion Democratic reconciliation bill becomes law in anything close to current form  including paid parental and sick leave, universal preschool, some free college, and an annual check to households with younger children  it would be a big step toward turning the United States into a European-style comprehensive welfare state. Many progressive Democrats speak highly of the Scandinavian social democracies, in particular. As Bernie Sanders has put it: I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway and learn what they have accomplished for their working people.

But those loving glances toward Team Nordic often produce fuzzy vision. They typically miss something really important: how those countries pay for those massive welfare states. As Wall Street Journal columnist Greg Ip notes:

"Yet if other countries welfare states are a template for American progressives, their taxes arent. In Germany, the typical worker pays 49% of her labor compensation in income and payroll taxes (including the employers contribution); in France, the proportion is 47%, in Sweden, 43%. In the U.S., it is just 30%. The U.S. alone, among major advanced economies, doesnt impose a value added tax on consumers of goods and services."

On that last point: Denmark, Sweden and Norway all have VAT rates of 25 percent, according to the Tax Foundation, with each collecting close to 10 percent of GDP through the levy. Yet Democrats have made a big deal about not raising taxes on households earning less than $400,000 a year. (There are some exceptions as Ip notes: Smokers, for example, will pay a higher cigarette tax, and middle-class stockholders will indirectly bear some of the higher corporate tax rate.)

One could argue that theres still plenty of room to fund more social spending through higher corporate taxes and higher top income-tax rates before talking about an economy-wide VAT. That, especially given higher income inequality in the US. But clearly creating Nordic America is going to require lots of additional revenue, whether through a VAT, carbon taxes, or a combination of both. Again the Tax Foundation: In 2019, Denmarks tax-to-GDP ratio was at 46.3 percent, Norways at 39.9 percent, and Swedens at 42.8 percent. This compares to a ratio of 24.5 percent in the United States. And these WSJ charts highlight the current gap in social spending and spending commitments between the US and Europe:

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Its hard to avoid the reality  unless youre a progressive politician, perhaps  of a fundamental mismatch between the lefts spending dreams and the economics of taxation. One caveat, which I point out in a recent The Week column:

"Unless of course, Democrats adopt novel theories of macroeconomic policy that suggest significantly less need to pay for government spending. But theres little evidence that anyone outside deeply left progressive politics or EconTwitter takes such ideas seriously. Certainly theres no evidence that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell does, and hes likely to be renominated for another term as boss of the central bank. If the far left really wants a transformational presidency  whether Bidens or someone elses  the lives of all Americans would need to fundamentally change."

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: Think Tanks

Original Author: James Pethokoukis

Original Location: The real tax gap is the one between progressive spending dreams and economic reality
As fans prepare to watch Daniel Craig make his final appearance as James Bond in No Time to Die, many will be wondering who could ever replace him.

Speculation has been rife ever since Craig confirmed he would bow out of the spy franchise after his fifth film, which is released on 30 September.

A number of stars have been put forward by film fans or the actors themselves, from Tom Hardy to Bridgertons Rege-Jean Page.

Here are some of the most popular contenders:

Tom Hardy

The Venom star has been named bookmaker William Hill's favourite to play the British spy with odds of 5/2.

Hardy received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination in 2015 for his performance in The Revenant. The British actor, 44, has also starred in a several Hollywood blockbusters directed by Christopher Nolan, including Inception, The Dark Knight Rises and Dunkirk.

He previously told the Daily Beast of the rumours: If I mention it, its gone. You know, theres a saying amongst us in the fraternity of acting, that if you talk about it youre automatically out of the race. So I cant possibly comment on that one.

Rege-Jean Page

Rege-Jean Page with Phoebe Dynevor in Bridgerton (Netflix)

The Bridgerton star shot to fame thanks to his role as the dashing Duke of Hastings in Netflix's raunchy period drama.

Page is now a free agent, having left the show after one season, and is joint-second favourite at William Hill with odds of 3-1.

When the 31-year-old Bridgerton star was asked by Jimmy Fallon about the Bond rumours, he said: I think the internet thinks a lot of things, thats one of the more pleasant ones, so Im pleased as far as that goes.

But there might be an element of cultural translation here. If youre a Brit and you do something of any kind of renown, that people regard well, then people start saying the B word. Its like a merit badge. You get a B word merit badge.

James Norton

James Norton has shied away from the idea of playing Bond (Getty/Chopard)

Norton is the second actor to be placed at 3-1 odds.

He stars in the crime drama McMafia as Alex Godman, the son of a Russian mafia boss living in London.

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The actor, 36, was also nominated for a Bafta award for his role in Happy Valley in 2015.

However, the star of War and Peace recently told The Independentthat if playing Bond meant sacrificing roles in indie films, it would be a hard thing for me to swallow.

Sam Heughan

Outlander star Sam Heughan (Getty Images)

The Scottish star, 41, was more enthusiastic at the prospect of taking on the beacon of the classic role, admitting he would jump at the chance.

Heughan previously starred as special forces operator Tom Buckingham in SAS: Red Notice, an adaptation of former SAS soldier Andy McNab's novel of the same name.

He is arguably best known for his role as Jamie Fraser in the historical drama series Outlander, based on the books by Diana Gabaldon.

In an interview with the PA news agency earlier this year, he said: I don't know if there is a conversation being had apart from in the media, but I think it's an incredible franchise and a great character, so of course I would jump at it.

But I feel like Tom Buckingham is equally as interesting and, who knows, maybe this could be the new franchise.

Idris Elba

Idris Elba is one of the favourites to play Bond (Getty Images)

The Luther star is also amongst the favourites by bookmakers, with William Hill placing him at 8/1.

He previously won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film for his role as DCI John Luther in the BBC psychological crime drama.

Elba, 49, has also starred in the crime drama series The Wire, sci-fi movie Pacific Rim and 2021 supervillain film The Suicide Squad. He has already featured in a global franchise after joining Marvel's Thor in 2011 as Heimdall, and proceeding to play him in sequels, as well as Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Avengers: Infinity War.

Despite Elba being one of the most popular contenders among fans, he has attempted to quash the rumours, telling Event: Bond is one of the biggest franchises in the world, and for that reason, whoever ends up playing it, lives it. Youre THAT character, and known as that character for many, many years.

Im creating characters now that can still live alongside Idris. Not ones that take over me and solely define me.

Henry Golding

Henry Golding at the Special NY Screening of 'The Gentlemen' at the Alamo Drafthouse on 11 January, 2020 (Getty Images for STXfilms)

Golding has previously suggested it was his sharp-suited role as Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians that first sparked the Bond rumours.

The Malaysian-British actor, 34, told Attitude magazine in 2020: It was definitely from Crazy Rich, maybe (the scene with) the white suit coming out of the park. (And) because I'm Asian and everybody's fighting for a diverse Bond  sorry, white guys.

I don't know, he continued. It's an honour to even be in the conversation. It's one of the greatest film roles ever, you'd be stupid to be like, I don't want to do that.

Isn't it great that people are like, 'OK, now's the time, why the hell can't we have a black Bond, an Asian Bond, a mixed-race Bond, a non-distinct Bond?

Suranne Jones

Producer Barbara Broccoli has repeatedly nixed the idea of a female Bond, saying she believes women should be offered interesting and diverse roles of their own, and that she believes Bond will always be male.

However, Jones is currently one of the favourites to star as the first female Bond, with William Hill placing her at number seven on its list and offering up odds of 9/1.

She plays DCI Amy Silva in the new BBC drama Vigil, made by the production company behind Line Of Duty and Bodyguard.

The 43-year-old actor is also known for her role as Karen McDonald in Coronation Street, and her critically acclaimed performance as Gemma Foster in the hit BBC One drama series, Doctor Foster.

Richard Madden

Richard Madden in 'Bodyguard' (BBC)

Often, it seems that simply playing a British spy, detective or any kind of action-based character is enough to convince people that theyre watching a future Bond star. This happened to Scottish actor Richard Madden after fans saw him racing around London in the BBCs Bodyguard.

Im more than flattered to be mentioned, for people to consider putting me in that role, he told GQ. Im very flattered and thankful. Its a really brilliant thing to be in.

Henry Cavill

Henry Cavill currently stars in Netflixs hit series The Witcher (Getty Images)

The Witcher star has actually already auditioned for Bond, when he was in his twenties, but seems very keen to have a second chance. If Barbara [Bond producer Barbara Broccoli] and Mike [co-producer Michael G Wilson] were interested in that, I would absolutely jump at the opportunity, he said in an interview last year.

At this stage, its all up in the air. Well see what happens. But yes, I would love to play Bond, it would be very, very exciting.

Cillian Murphy

Cillian Murphy sounds less keen on the idea of playing Bond (AFP via Getty Images)

The Peaky Blinders star is one of the few actors who seem dead against the idea of taking on the 007 mantle. While he has said he is flattered by speculation that he could be Bond, he told GQ that he believes a woman should get the part next.

Additional reporting by Press Association

Read More

Barbara Broccoli says James Bond will always be a man: I would love Daniel Craig to continue forever

Is Another Way to Die by Jack White and Alicia Keys the weirdest Bond theme ever?

James Bond films: Every 007 movie ranked in order of worst to best

Suranne Jones: How the punky soap star became one of Britains greatest actors
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's main domestic spy agency has listed dozens of types of information for which Russians who disclose them abroad can be branded as "foreign agents", a move critics say creates risks for journalists who cover the army or space.

Russia broadened its legislation against "foreign agents" last year so that people can be designated if they deliberately gather military or military-technical information seen as used in the interests of a foreign government or organisation.

The Federal Security Service published a list of 60 non-classified topics on a government website late on Thursday, many of them related to the military, that it said could be used by foreign governments against Russia's security.

The list includes topics like military procurement, troop morale, the whereabouts of soldiers, troop numbers, their personal data and problems hindering the development of Russia's space agency, Roscosmos.

Both Russians and non-Russians can be labelled as foreign agents under the legislation.

Designated people can be fined and even jailed for up to five years for failing to meet requirements, such as presenting documents to be formally added to Russia's state registry of foreign agents.

Russia has in recent months named several media outlets and dozens of journalists as "foreign agents". It is a designation with Cold War-era connotations that requires outlets to prominently indicate in all their content that they are "foreign agents", which reduces their advertising revenue.

Russia says that the legislation is needed to protect against foreign meddling and that designated journalists and outlets are still able to operate.

Ivan Pavlov, a human rights lawyer who left Russia last month, said that the categories were broad and would make it risky for journalists who cover the military and Russian space corporation to work.

"...It creates a huge risk for journalists who are specialised on this subject. Because the list essentially criminalises collecting any information about the activity of Roscosmos and soldiers," he said.

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Anton Zverev; editing by Mark Heinrich)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday it was concerned that the AUKUS defence agreement between Australia, Britain and the United States would allow Australia to enter the select group of nations that operate nuclear-powered submarines.

The three-way pact, under which Australia will obtain nuclear submarine technology from the United States, has angered France and concerned China since it was announced by Washington, London and Canberra last month.

Moscow said earlier this week it was seeking more information about the pact and on Friday Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said he saw it as a challenge to global nuclear non-proliferation.

"We are also concerned about the ... partnership that will allow Australia, after 18 months of consultations and several years of attempts, to obtain nuclear-powered submarines in sufficient numbers to become one of the top five countries for this type of armaments," Ryabkov said, the TASS news agency reported.

"This is a great challenge to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime," he was quoted as saying.

Ryabkov was speaking in Geneva.

The United States, Russia, Britain, France and China all operate nuclear-propelled submarines.

(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Andrew Osborn)
The Senate narrowly confirmed President Joe Biden's pick to lead the Bureau of Land Management over fierce Republican opposition spurring from accusations of past affiliation with an "ecoterrorist" organization.

Tracy Stone-Manning was confirmed 50-45 on Thursday, with all Democrats voting to confirm and all present Republicans voting in opposition.

The confirmation comes after Biden nominated Stone-Manning, a senior adviser for the National Wildlife Federation, in April. GOP members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee accused her of being linked to an "ecoterrorist" organization years ago and deceiving the committee about it.

BIDEN NOMINEE ACCUSED BY GOP OF DECEPTION ABOUT INVOLVEMENT IN 'ECOTERRORIST' TREE SPIKING INCIDENT

Court documents from 1993 reveal Stone-Manning testified to mailing a letter to the U.S. Forest Service after an acquaintance committed "tree spiking," the placement of metal rods, nails, or other materials into trees to sabotage logging operations. The letter threatened the agency not to sell the timber.

Stone-Manning denied having prior knowledge of the spiking but said she mailed the letter because she "wanted people to know those trees were spiked" to avoid injury.

Energy Committee ranking member John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, accused Stone-Manning of failing to disclose her involvement in criminal proceedings in the early 1990s over the tree spiking incident. He criticized her in particular for not disclosing that she received immunity to testify in the spiking case.

All 10 committee Republicans voted to oppose Stone-Manning in July, but the 10 Democrats voted to advance her nomination, setting her up for a vote by the full Senate.

It is hard to imagine a nominee more unqualified than Tracy Stone-Manning, Barrasso said at the time. Her actions and her lies should cost her this nomination.

Republicans rehashed their case against Stone-Manning in speeches Thursday ahead of the confirmation vote, with several bringing large nails like those used for tree spiking onto the Senate floor.

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"The BLM director in Alaska is our landlord, and I don't want an ecoterrorist as my state's landlord," Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan said.

Democrats fired back at the Republicans' tactics, with Sen. John Tester, a Democrat of Montana, accusing the GOP of engaging in "character assassination like I've never seen before" against Stone-Manning.

"This is about Republicans in the Senate trying to make Joe Biden look bad," Tester said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Stone-Manning is set to take the BLM reins at a pivotal time for the Biden administration. The agency, which oversees approval for oil and gas leasing applications on federal lands, has a key role in administering Biden's climate change agenda.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Bureau of Land Management, Interior, Senate, Nominations, Biden Administration

Original Author: Jeremy Beaman

Original Location: Senate confirms Biden public lands nominee accused of affiliation with 'ecoterrorist' group
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said more than 500 detainees are awaiting transfer to state prison creating a powder keg in his jail and forcing him to ask the Illinois Supreme Court to intercede.

The Illinois Department of Corrections stopped the transfer of detainees in March 2020 because of the pandemic and after resuming five months later, the process has since slowed to crawl.

Costs to cover extra food and provisions for the detainees and overtime for jail guards has reached $62 million, Dart said, and continues to leave ripple effects across the county jail, from overworked guards to angry detainees trapped in limbo.

It would be no different than, when COVID hit, (if) I told Chicago police or Oak Lawn police that for the next 18 months youre going to have to hold people in your lockups in your departments because Im shutting the jail down to keep it secure from COVID, Dart told the Tribune, days after filing a petition with the state Supreme Court asking it to force IDOC to take the overdue detainees. You cant do that!

The state Supreme Court denied Darts petition Thursday.

IDOC officials said Cook County transports are brought to its Northern Reception Center, the systems intake and processing unit, as space becomes available. They said they would continue to adhere to aggressive guidelines to protect the prison population.

The more individuals in county jail custody who accept the vaccine, the greater the number of admissions IDOC can accept, IDOC spokeswoman Lindsey Hess said in a statement. Unvaccinated individuals put other people housed in IDOC facilities at risk.

However, when Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a vaccination requirement for state workers at prisons and other congregate living facilities in early August, just 44% of corrections workers were fully vaccinated, compared with about 69% of detainees. Pritzker recently extended the vaccination deadline to Nov. 18 after union pushback.

Statewide, nearly 64% of the eligible population of residents 12 and over is fully vaccinated, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

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Some detainees with parole holds have the money to be released on bail but are forced to remain in custody until they are transferred to IDOC and can see the parole board. Other detainees cant start their prison sentences, possibly lengthening the amount of time they will be incarcerated.

If youre involved in certain programs down at IDOC, that will reduce your prison sentence. You cant get in those programs if theyre sitting with me, Dart explained.

Though the holdovers make up about 10% of the jails population, Dart said theyre responsible for a 40% spike in jail fights. Why? Because they dont care, Dart said.

Theyre not supposed to be there. They dont want to be here with me anymore and they dont care if they pick up a battery case he said.

Dart said he cannot force a detainee to be vaccinated and said the law compels IDOC to take them, regardless of their vaccination status.

The sheriffs suit cites state law that outlines transfer policies between county jails and prison facilities, as well as a new law that mandates house arrest for nonviolent offenders with less than four months on their sentence.

Researchers with Northwestern University and the World Bank recently found that jails across the country were infectious disease incubators and encouraged alternatives for incarceration during the pandemic.

Prison reform groups have advocated reducing the prison population for minor crimes in an effort to keep down virus transmissions. Incarcerated people have died at a rate unparalleled in the general public, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit. Another group found more than 500,000 COVID cases in American prisons over a 15-month period.

Legally, Im not supposed to hold any of them, Dart said. With vaccination, without vaccination, with a test, without a test, with quarantine, without quarantine, no, no no. The law clearly says when you have a sentence or a parole violation, you go down to IDOC. They havent been doing that.

Dart said his office has followed the states intake instructions to the letter, including testing and quarantining transfers. He called IDOCs focus on vaccinations a smoke screen meant to keep their facilities clear of COVID-19 at the expense of county jails.

Theres a reason they dont have a 100% vaccination rate. They know you cant force it on people. I cant either, Dart said.

Filed along with Darts petition were more than 150 supporting documents to show the states transfer requirements and proof that the county jail has been in compliance.

The prison watchdog, John Howard Association, said it is awaiting details from both agencies before it can assess the root cause but said Darts suit raises important questions.

It is deeply concerning that there are people at the Cook County Jail who have been sentenced to state custody and may be held past their release date or miss opportunities to earn sentencing credits to shorten their lengths of stay, this must be remedied immediately, the group said in a statement.

While the number of holdovers has decreased from about 1,000 to about 540, Dart said the costs continue to mount, the number of people awaiting transfers is bubbling back up, and overtime has become a problem.

Over the course of the 18 months, Ive had to tell an individual to stay beyond their shift. I talk to my folks and they told me originally that it was fine because they were making a lot of money on overtime, he said. But for the last year, theyre just burnt out.

A representative for Teamsters Local 100, which represents the jails guards, did not respond to a request for comment.

Suing (the prison system) was not high on my list of things to do, Dart said. The final straw came in mid-September, when state officials took their largest group of detainees in months.

A week before filing the suit, Dart said he had second thoughts after a transfer of about 400 people, the most since the pandemic started.

I said guys, hold off on the lawsuit. If theyre making a good-faith effort, then we dont need to complicate anyones lives with lawsuits.  Dart said. And then they just stopped and the jail (population) numbers are growing again and they told us they wouldnt be taking another big group of people. You cannot do this. This is wrong!

wlee@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @MidNoirCowboy
Marriage cake visual: Getty Images

SINGAPORE  A man whose marriage to a Malaysian woman in Mauritius was discovered by his Singaporean wife was sentenced to 24 weeks jail for bigamy on Friday (1 October).

Yeo Sick Kong, a 55-year-old Singaporean, was still married to Mdm Tan, a 44-year-old Singaporean, when the latter filed a police report in October 2018 that she found a marriage certificate issued in Mauritius on 23 September 2011 inside her husbands bag.

The names of Yeo and a 47-year-old Malaysian woman, Mdm Ooi, were printed on the marriage certificate. Tan stated that she did not file a police report immediately in order to give her marriage with Yeo a chance at reconciliation.

Yeo was married to Tan in 2005 and they have a 15-year-old daughter. He was previously married to another woman, Mdm Quah, and they later divorced.

Sometime in December 2018, Yeo filed for divorce from Tan. On 14 October 2019, the Family Justice Court issued an interim judgment on the application. Proceedings for the divorce are ongoing and as at 22 September 2021, a final judgment has not been granted.

In 2006, Yeo befriended Ooi in the course of his work and they began a sexual relationship sometime in 2007. Yeo told Ooi that he was divorced, but showed her the divorce certificate from his union with Quah.

Yeo did not at any point disclose his marriage with Tan to Ooi. He also did not reveal to Tan that he was having an affair with Ooi.

Sometime in early 2011, Yeo proposed marriage to Ooi, who agreed. They registered their marriage in Mauritius on 23 September 2011 despite Yeo knowing he was still married to Tan in Singapore. The authenticity of his marriage certificate issued in Mauritius was confirmed by the Mauritian authorities.

From 2011 to 2018, Yeo shuttled between Tans and Oois places of residence. When questioned by either woman, Yeo lied that he had an offshore project that required him to be physically present to supervise the works.

Yeo could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined for his offence under the Penal Code read with the Womens Charter.

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STATE DEPARTMENT AND WHITE HOUSE CAUSED THIS CATASTROPHE: When Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his generals went before Congress this week, they didnt have a specific plan to blame the State Department for the fall of the Afghan government and the chaotic evacuation of American citizens and Afghan allies from Kabul. But they didnt have to. They had a staunch defender in the form of ranking Republican Rep. Mike Rogers.

The collapse of the government and the collapse of the military was solely the responsibility of this administration, Rogers said at Wednesdays House Armed Services Committee hearing. It was the speed with which they done it ... that's what caused the chaos that we had.

If they had allowed the DOD to be in a command situation, we wouldn't have had this problem, Rogers said. We just have to admit this was the State Department and the White House that caused this catastrophe, not the Defense Department.

THE SINGLE FLAWED ASSUMPTION THAT SUNK BIDENS AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL PLAN

WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEEN IT GO FASTER, SOONER: Over two days of questioning, Austin and his combatant commander Gen. Frank McKenzie admitted they were frustrated that the State Department waited until Aug. 14, the day before Kabul fell, to order the noncombatant evacuation operation, or NEO, the Pentagon had been planning for weeks.

They were being cautioned by the Ghani administration that if they withdrew American citizens and SIV applicants at a pace that was too fast, it would cause a collapse of the government that we were trying to prevent, Austin testified. Add into the calculus that the SIV [special immigrant visa] process was very, at that point, very slow, deliberate, and not very responsive.

We provided our input, and we certainly would have liked to seen it go faster, or sooner, Austin said. We had the elements to begin to operate a bit sooner. But that's State Departments call.

I go back to could have gotten more people out earlier in the process. By that, I mean US citizens, and I know the embassy put out at least a dozen notices to US citizens to leave, McKenzie testified. I would have liked to maybe have seen ... more done in that regard.

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By nature, the Department of Defense can move very fast on issues like this. I felt that we were not completely aligned with State on that, said Mckenzie, referring to the slow vetting process for SIV applicants. There were still some things they could do faster.

AUSTIN SAYS IT WAS STATE DEPARTMENT'S 'CALL' NOT TO EVACUATE US CITIZENS FROM AFGHANISTAN SOONER

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: During the classified closed portion of Tuesdays Senate Armed Services hearing, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley reportedly was more direct in blaming the State Department for "waiting too long" to order the NEO, according to Axios, which cited two sources with direct knowledge of the briefing.

During the public portion of the hearing, Milley said, Should that have been called earlier? I think that's an open question that needs further exploration based on a series of meetings.

But Axios reports Milley was more blunt in response to a question from Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth about lessons learned. Milley jumped in to say that the evacuation of civilians, which Duckworth had not specifically asked about, needed to happen earlier, the report says.

In response to the report, a senior administration official told Axios: "Senior leaders from the National Security Council, State, DoD, CENTCOM and the intelligence community discussed the planning during a table-top exercise on August 6. During that exercise, no DOD official, civilian or military, argued for triggering a NEO. If DOD had been pushing for an earlier NEO, we would have expected to have heard those calls during the discussion."

WE DID IT TOGETHER: BLINKEN REJECTS PENTAGON BLAME FOR AFGHANISTAN CHAOS

Good Friday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyres Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Victor I. Nava. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesnt work, shoot us an email and well add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.

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ANOTHER CR FOR DOD: President Joe Biden has signed a continuing resolution to keep the Pentagon and the rest of the government funded through Dec. 3, staving off a shutdown that would have happened at midnight.

The bill basically freezes spending at this years levels but does include additional funding for resettled, newly arrived Afghan refugees and hurricane relief. The stopgap bill gives Congress two months to pass a dozen appropriations bills or face the prospect of another continuing resolution.

The vote was 65-35 in the Senate and 254-175 in the House.

COTTON AMENDMENT FAILS: A Republican amendment to the Senate version of the CR that would have limited assistance to Afghans admitted to the U.S. failed by a single vote, with no Democrats voting in favor.

The amendment, introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, would have cut off housing, food, and medical assistance after March of 2023 and would have removed a provision that allows Afghans to get drivers license without the usual documentation.

The amendment was prompted by concerns that Afghans evacuated to the U.S., in some cases, havent been adequately vetted.

AFGHAN GUESTS GRATEFUL: At a Pentagon briefing yesterday, the general in charge of the housing for some 53,000 Afghan civilians at eight U.S. military installations insisted the problems have been minimal and that for the most part, the Afghan guests are grateful for the accommodations.

U.S. Northern Commander Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck downplayed reports of assaults and other crimes committed by the new arrivals.

What we're seeing is law enforcement violations that are on par, and in most cases, significantly lower than the rates that we're seeing in similar-sized populations across the United States," VanHerck said.

VanHerck confirmed that two Afghan evacuees are currently in federal custody, including one who allegedly assaulted a female soldier last month at Fort Bliss in Texas. In addition, there have been eight reported cases of robbery and theft.

While we have seen a small number of incidents reported, you may not realize the reports are often coming from Afghan guests, VanHerck told reporters. Afghans reporting incidents is a good indicator of their commitment to keeping the community safe, as well as their confidence in our people.

MILITARY SUICIDES IN 2020 'TROUBLING,' THOUGH NOT A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE: REPORT

HYPERSONIC OR JUST HYPE? At the same briefing, VanHerck said the U.S. is still making an assessment of North Koreas claim it tested a hypersonic missile Tuesday.

The intelligence community is still making an assessment of the North Korean claim, VanHerck told reporters. We'll just have to see.

Right now, it would be my assessment that the homeland would be safe and secure from a hypersonic capability as North Korea claims they have tested, he added.

North Korea called its missile, the Hwasong-8, a strategic weapon.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: We did it together: Blinken rejects Pentagon blame for Afghanistan chaos

Washington Examiner: The single flawed assumption that sunk Bidens Afghanistan withdrawal plan

Washington Examiner: Six takeaways from military brass's Capitol Hill showdown

Washington Examiner: US reliance on Taliban security was original sin that led to suicide bombing, GOP Rep. says

Washington Examiner: Nearly 94% of active-duty airmen are partially vaccinated

Washington Examiner: Troops file lawsuit for COVID-19 vaccination exemption for those who already had virus

Washington Examiner: Turkey interested in Russian fighter jets and submarines, despite NATO ties

Washington Examiner: Military suicides in 2020 'troubling,' though not a significant increase: Report

Washington Examiner: GOP lawmakers call for Marine who criticized Afghanistan withdrawal to be taken out of the brig

Washington Examiner: Louie Gohmert shares reassuring update on jailed Marine after visit

Washington Examiner: Opinion: Turkey's Erdogan bows to Russia and demands billions from US

Military Times: Heres How The New Continuing Resolution Will Frustrate The Pentagon

AP: China, U.S. In Talks On Military Relations Amid Strained Ties

Defense News: Chinese Airshow Offers Glimpse At Militarys New Drones

Washington Post: South Korea to Biden administration: North Korea is strengthening its missile program

Washington Post: Suit seeks to halt Bidens vaccination mandates for federal workers, troops

Air Force Magazine: GAO Expects Space Command Findings by Spring; Colo. Lawmakers Want Basing Work Stopped

Air Force Magazine: Space Force Selects 670 More Soldiers, Sailors, Marines for Transfer

USNI News: U.S. Marine F-35Bs To Embark On Japans Largest Warship In October

Time: Americas War In Afghanistan Is Over. But In The Horn Of Africa, Its War On Terror Rages On

19fortyfive.com: China's New Aircraft Carriers Will Soon Have Stealth Fighters

19fortyfive.com: The Navy's Constellation-Class Frigate: Built To Sink Anything?

19fortyfive.com: Barrett M82A1: The Sniper Rifle That Kills from 2,515 Yards Away

Calendar

FRIDAY | OCTOBER 1

10 a.m.  Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual event,  A Conversation with Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr. Kathleen H. Hicks, with Nina Easton, CSIS senior associate; and Beverly Kirk, fellow and director for outreach, International Security Program, and director, CSIS Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative. https://www.csis.org/events/conversation

WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 6

12 p.m.  Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security virtual event: Women in Uniform: Does Participation Shift U.S. Military Culture and Operations? with Amb. Christian Wenaweser, permanent representative of Liechtenstein to the U.N.; Robert Nagel, postdoctoral research fellow, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security; Retired Marine Col. Kyleanne Hunter, director, Strategy and Warfare Center, assistant professor Department of Military and Strategic Studies at the U.S. Air Force Academy; Charity Borg, women, peace & security planner, USINDOPACOM Office of Women, Peace and Security; and Amb. Melanne Vervee, executive director, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-in-uniform

2:30 p.m.  George Washington University Project for Media and National Security oversees the Defense Writers Group conversation with Maj. Gen. Corey Martin, director of operations, U.S. Transportation Command. https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu/



QUOTE OF THE DAY

Surely Pakistan is not to blame for the fact that 300,000-plus well-trained and well-equipped Afghan security forces saw no reason to fight the lightly armed Taliban. The underlying problem was an Afghan government structure lacking legitimacy in the eyes of the average Afghan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, in an op-ed in the Washington Post headlined, Dont blame Pakistan.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: National Security, Daily on Defense

Original Author: Jamie McIntyre

Original Location: State Department faulted for waiting too long to pull the trigger on Afghanistan evacuation
The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has only burnished the allure of The Sea Ranch, the quietly radical planned community that sprang up in the 1960s along 10 miles of breathtaking Northern California coastline. The landmark developmentconceived by a group of pioneering Bay Area architects and designers as a progressive haven centered on harmony with the natural environmentcontinues to issue its siren call, promising refuge from the hurly-burly of contemporary life.

This fall marks the much-anticipated reopening of The Sea Ranch Lodge, an original structure that had been shuttered for the past three years after decades of unfortunate design interventions and deferred maintenance. Containing a variety of drinking, dining, and lounge spaces, all open to the public, The Lodge also houses the local post office and a small general store. Phase two of the rehabilitation project will involve the renovation of the guest rooms adjacent to the main building.

The Lodge is the heart of the community, so its closure left a serious void, says Akemi Tamaribuchi, a representative for the buildings new owners, a group of investors dedicated to the preservation of the architectural treasure. The job of spearheading the projects creative direction, and managing the myriad complexities of working with the Sea Ranch Design Committee and the California Coastal Commission, could not have fallen into better hands. Before assembling her team of collaboratorsincluding the architecture firm Mithun, AD100 interior designer Charles de Lisle, and AD100 landscape architects TerremotoTamaribuchi camped out in a corner of the decrepit building. I wanted to feel the history and soul of the place, so I walked the trails, smelled the air, sat in every room, she recalls. I thought a lot about the gumption and ambition of Al Boeke, Lawrence Halprin, William Turnbull, Joseph Esherick, Charles Moore, and all the other architects and visionaries who brought this place to life.

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In Donlyn Lyndon and Jim Alinders 2013 book, The Sea Ranch: Fifty Years of Architecture, Landscape, Place, and Community on the Northern California Coast, the scheme for The Lodge was said to be initiated by Eshericks office, but completed and executed by others, with Al Boeke leading the design team. The spirit of those forebears clearly guided the work of renovation architect Sade Borghei of Mithun. Our goal was to simplify and reduceto remake this building from the ground up, with entirely new systems and greater accessibility, while remaining true to the original vision, he explains.

Charles de Lisle and Terremoto Join Mithun Architects to Resurrect A Treasured California Ranch

De Lisle seconds the notion: We tried to maintain the romance of this incredible spot, so we referenced all the original details, followed the same construction methods, and kept the materials humble. The spaces had to be simple and approachable. The designer outfitted the building with a mix of classic 20th-century furnishings leavened with contemporary designs that possess a sympathetic, unpretentious vibe. The Lodge is all about the space, the vistas, and the crazy energy of the bluffs. Its not about interior design per se. The furniture is secondary, transient, he notes.

Story Wiggins, the lead landscape designer from Terremoto, similarly places her offices contributions to the project in the context of the sites rich history. Sea Ranch was built around visionary landscape principles, so we had big shoes to fill. Every move we made was designed to nurture a more intimate connection between the building and the land, she says, describing the firms transformation of the formerly grim asphalt parking lot, the replanting of the surrounding meadows, and the subtle insertion of a deck at the back of the structure.

Everyone on this team was working with the single, shared purpose of securing the future of The Lodge, de Lisle says. If no one notices we did anything, that would make me the happiest. thesearanchlodge.com Mayer Rus

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
Servite receiver Tetairoa McMillan, right, shakes hands with quarterback Noah Fifita before game with Orange Lutheran on Thursday night. He made a one-handed interception later. (Eric Sondheimer Los Angeles Times)

Many have come to shake their head in astonishment or roll their eyes in disbelief at the latest feat pulled off by Servite receiver/defensive back Tetairoa McMillan.

On Thursday night at Orange Coast College in a Trinity League opener against Orange Lutheran, McMillan did something that will make anyone's highlight film.

In the second quarter, deep in the end zone, he leaped and used his right arm to come away with the coolest one-handed interception you could imagine. Yes, Odell Beckham Jr. would have been impressed. It was an extraordinary display of athleticism, and he made it look easy.

Noah Fifita to Tetairoa McMillan. 72 yards. 28-0 Servite. pic.twitter.com/PKWxuyWj3f  eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) October 1, 2021

"I have never done that in my life," said McMillan, who just started playing defense this season.

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Earlier he caught a 72-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Noah Fifita, and before that he pulled down a 14-yard touchdown pass. He also had a 48-yard touchdown catch, all in the first half. The 6-foot-4 McMillan, also a star in volleyball, has committed to Oregon, and you have to wonder what the Ducks might do with his two-way talents.

Noah Fifita to Tetairoa McMillan. 48 yards. McMillan has seven catches, 187 yards, three TDs. Fifita is 14-16, 321 yards, 4 TDs. Servite 42, Orange Lutheran 6. Close to halftime. pic.twitter.com/1rq56fMiYp  eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) October 1, 2021

As for the game itself, Servite opened a 35-0 lead, led 42-6 at halftime and cruised to its sixth consecutive victory, winning 56-12. Orange Lutheran dropped to 5-1. Yes, the Mater Dei vs. St. John Bosco game Friday night might decide the Trinity League title, but don't count out Servite. The Friars end the regular season with consecutive games against Mater Dei and St. John Bosco.

Noah Fifita passes for his fifth touchdown. Keyan Burnett 31 yards. Servite 49, Orange Lutheran 6. Fifita is 19 of 21 for 403 yards. pic.twitter.com/9MEFuBk2Yb  eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) October 1, 2021

Fifita was 15-of-17 passing for 348 yards and four touchdowns in the first half. He also ran for a touchdown. McMillan caught seven passes for 187 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. His hands, size, coordination, agility and instincts have separated McMillan and made him a major headache for defensive coordinators.

Fifita finished the game 19-of-21 passing for 403 yards and five touchdowns. His future college coach, Arizona's Jedd Fisch, was at the game. McMillan caught nine passes for 218 yards and four touchdowns.

"It was wow," Servite coach Troy Thomas said of the interception.

"Regular," was the comment of Fifita, who sees McMillan working on one-handed catches every day in practice.

Thomas, who played defensive back at Crespi and CSUN, said, "He's actually becoming a real good defensive player. I couldn't make that play. There are few guys that can do that. He's one of them."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Daily Beast

La Plata County Sheriff/HandoutA Colorado dad convicted of murdering his son after the 13-year-old discovered photos of him in womens underwear eating feces from a diaper has been sentenced to 48 years in prison.Mark Redwine, 59, was found guilty of second-degree murder and child abuse in July after he killed his son, Dylan, inside his Durango, Colorado, home on Nov. 18, 2012. The teen was on a court-ordered visit for Thanksgiving when Redwine snapped after him and his older brother for confron
By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A senior aide to President Joe Biden raised the issue of oil prices in conversations this week with the leadership of top crude producer Saudi Arabia, according to the White House.

Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met in Saudi Arabia with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday to discuss the war https://www.reuters.com/world/white-house-aide-discusses-yemen-with-saudi-crown-prince-2021-09-28 in Yemen. But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said oil was also "of concern" and on the agenda.

"The national security adviser and his team reiterated the imperative of creating conditions to support global economic recovery in his meetings earlier this week," said another White House spokesperson on Thursday.

The Biden administration has previously said such conditions include having more oil on the market to stop rising energy prices and help the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The United States continues to speak to international partners, including OPEC, on the importance of competitive markets in setting prices and doing more to support the recovery," the spokesperson said.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, are expected https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/opec-seen-sticking-november-output-plans-despite-80-oil-2021-09-29 next week to hold to a pact to add 400,000 barrels per day to their output for November.

But four sources also told Reuters that the group, which is strongly influenced by Riyadh, is considering https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/opec-considers-options-releasing-more-oil-market-sources-2021-09-30 a scenario in which they could up production as soon as November to meet significant demand.

Benchmark international Brent oil prices traded https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-falls-after-us-inventories-post-surprise-gain-2021-09-30 at $78.52 a barrel on Thursday, just shy of a three-year high, with average gasoline prices in the United States roughly a dollar higher per gallon than a year ago.

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The push from the White House comes even as the administration has emphasized fighting the effects of climate change, which is caused by burning fossil fuels.

Yet rising prices on scores of goods and services have threatened to undermine an economic rebound that has been a primary focus of Biden's presidency.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Sandra Maler, Peter Cooney and Leslie Adler)
Tracy Stone-Manning is sworn in during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in Washington on June 8. The longtime environmental policy expert was narrowly confirmed as the next director of the Bureau of Land Management. (Photo: Caroline Brehman via Getty Images)

Tracy Stone-Manning was confirmed to lead the federal Bureau of Land Management on Thursday following a contentious confirmation process in which Republicans and conservative media labeled her an eco-terrorist and violent extremist for her connection to a tree-spiking incident in the late-1980s.

Stone-Manning, a senior adviser for conservation policy at the nonprofit National Wildlife Federation and a former aide to Montana Democrats, will become the first confirmed director since Neil Kornze led the bureau under President Barack Obama. Shell be charged with overseeing 245 million acres of federal land  more than 10% of the entire U.S. landmass and 700 million subsurface mineral acres.

The Senate confirmed Stone-Manning with a 50-45 vote, along party lines, with several Republicans absent.

Republicans vehemently opposed Stone-Mannings nomination, accusing her of not only playing a key role in a radical environmental groups plot to hammer metal spikes into trees in Idahos Clearwater National Forest in 1989 to prevent them from being logged, but lying to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee about her involvement.

As a graduate student at the University of Montana, Stone-Manning acted as a spokesperson for Earth First!, a group that had vandalized ski resorts and occupied forests to prevent timber from being harvested. In 1989, she retyped a letter that an organization member gave to her and sent it to the U.S. Forest Service. It warned that trees slated to be cut down had been spiked and contained threatening language, including You bastards go in there anyway and a lot of people could get hurt.

Tree-spiking is an act of sabotage meant to deter loggers from harvesting trees, and there have been incidents of forest and mill workers being severely injured when saw blades come in contact with the hidden spikes.

Stone-Manning has maintained for decades that she only sent the letter to prevent people from getting hurt and was never a target of the federal investigation. In the early 1990s, Stone-Manning testified against two people who ultimately went to prison for the crime.

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But an investigator in the case and one of the convicted tree-spikers recently challenged her account. In a letter to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee after her confirmation hearing, retired U.S. Forest Service Special Agent Michael Merkley wrote that Stone-Manning was in fact a target of the investigation, was not an innocent bystander and came forward only after her attorney struck an immunity deal with prosecutors. John Blount, one of two men convicted in the case, told E&E News that Stone-Manning did not participate in planning the spiking but knew about it far in advance.

The other convicted tree-spiker, Jeff Fairchild, told The Washington Post that aside from mailing the letter, Stone-Manning knew nothing and was not involved. He described her as a bridge builder and a moderating voice in every discussion.

Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.), the ranking Republican on the Senate energy committee, led the effort to sink her nomination.

Ms. Stone-Manning helped plan the tree-spiking. She knew about it in advance. She sent the threatening letter to the Forest Service. She was investigated. She collaborated with eco-terrorists. She lied to the Senate, he said in a speech on the Senate floor in July. Lying to the United States Senate has consequences. In this case, her actions and her lies should cost her this nomination.

Sen. John Barrasso holds up a tree spike during a July 28 speech on the Senate floor in which he condemned Stone-Manning's nomination to lead the Bureau of Land Management. (Photo: Screenshot/Senate.gov)

Dozens of Republican lawmakers called on Biden to withdraw her nomination, and in the end, not one Republican supported her for the role. But the administration stood behind her, and Senate Democrats slammed their GOP colleagues for running a political smear campaign.

They have dragged a good persons name through the muck, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), whom Stone-Manning worked for for six years in Montana, said in a July floor speech. The Republican campaign against her, he added, was particularly galling considering many of those involved supported William Perry Pendley, an anti-public lands extremist who illegally led the bureau as its acting director under President Donald Trump. Pendley, a conservative lawyer, has a long record of arguing that public lands should not even exist and has ridiculed Native Americans over their religious beliefs.

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) called Republican colleagues treatment of Stone-Manning the worst example of character assassination hed witnessed during his time on the committee. He reminded them of their own actions following the January insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

We know a lot more about domestic terrorism than any of us would like because we had a front-row seat to it on Jan. 6 of this year, he said during a hearing. And more than a few members of this committee refused to hold the instigator of that responsible, and yet theyre hellbent on dragging Ms. Stone-Mannings name through the mud.

Stone-Manning will take the helm of the bureau as the Biden administration works to finalize a major review of the federal oil and gas leasing program. The Interior Department, the parent agency of the BLM, paused new federal leases in January pending the outcome of that review, but a federal judge in Louisiana blocked the moratorium in June. Interior officials have said the oil and gas leasing program currently is not serving the American public well.

Stone-Manning has called the current system broken and advocated for major reforms to better protect public lands and wildlife.

At the BLM, she will bring nonpartisan stewardship to our nations greatest treasures, Tester said in July. Tracy is dedicated to smart management of our public lands. She is dedicated to the habitat and to the outdoors.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photo by Denton County Jail

A fitness instructor who made his name training Victorias Secret models and at least one Miss USA winner exhibited less than model behavior when he recorded his clients in the locker room, police in North Texas say.

John Benton, 41, was arrested and jailed Wednesday on a charge of invasive recording. He posted a $20,000 bond at the Denton County Jail. Benton allegedly recorded clients in August 2020, according to court documents viewed by The Dallas Morning News.

In addition to advertising his size-zero client list, Benton hawked his online fitness classes as a way to avoid that gym creeper guy. Police allege thats exactly who he was.

All my clients can do my workouts from home if they want so they can avoid that gym creeper guy that is in every gym, he said in an interview with The Bridal Journey.

On his website, Benton calls himself the hips whisperer and a highly sought after Personal Trainer in the fashion, film, and pageant industries in Dallas who is known for making amazing strides in hip and waist reduction. He documented his clients success by posting the number of inches they trimmed from their waists. He says hes the official trainer for contestants in the Miss Dallas and Miss Dallas Teen pageants. Harpers Bazaar reported in 2017 that models were flying to Dallas to train with him.

The Instagram account for John Benton Model Fitness frequently posted pictures of its clients, who range from Miss USA 2018 to Miss Dallas 2020 to Victorias Secret models to everyday women recording their progress with weight loss in their underwear.

Benton likely wont refer to himself that way for much longer, though. His eponymous business issued a statement Thursday saying he was stepping away, effective immediately.

Our clients, their respect and their safety are of the utmost importance to us at JB Model Fitness, the statement reads. With that, given the recent allegations and this ongoing legal matter, the founder is stepping away from the business effectively immediately. We take this matter very seriously.

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The business in-person classes have been suspended, according to the statement. The online classes, however, are still available.

John Benton Model Fitness did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Turkish Red Crescent is sending aid to Afghanistan to feed internally displaced people in need amid turmoil following the Taliban's takeover, the organisation's head said on Friday.

Half a million people have been displaced in Afghanistan in recent months, according to U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, a number which would grow if health services, schools and the economy break down.

Turkish Red Crescent President Kerem Kinik said the shipment of food would be sent from Pakistan towards Kabul on Saturday and provide for 16,000 people for a month.

"There is a serious food crisis right now. Public order needs to be provided for local production," he told Reuters by telephone, citing a halt in international trade, drought and a decline in international aid as reasons for the problem.

He said the Turkish Red Crescent had provided support to areas under Taliban control before U.S. troops pulled out and there had been no problem in providing aid after the withdrawal.

"The Taliban appointed an authority to the head of the Afghan Red Crescent for the transition process," he said, adding that they were cooperating to bring humanitarian aid to Afghans.

The Turkish Red Crescent had provided some $250,000 since 2018 to Afghans who established their own businesses after returning to the country and would increase the amount, he said.

Turkey hosts some 300,000 Afghans as well as 3.6 million Syrian refugees - the largest refugee population in the world.

Bordering Iran, Iraq and Syria on its eastern and southern flanks and Greece and Bulgaria to the west, Turkey is a transit route for migrants trying to reach the European Union.

Erdogan's political support has taken a hit over the large refugee presence in Turkey and he has said he will not allow Afghanistan's turmoil to be an excuse to turn his country into a "migrant storage unit" for the European Union.

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Turkish authorities are building a wall along the eastern border and stepping up patrols to intercept migrants.

NATO member Turkey has been working with Qatar to operate Kabul airport and open it for international travel after the Taliban took power and foreign countries withdrew.

Erdogan said last week the Taliban's current approach and their interim government were not inclusive but Turkey was willing to work with them if they formed a more encompassing government, broadcaster Haberturk reported.

(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Daren Butler, William Maclean)
A top US official called Friday for Pakistan to take action against all extremist groups ahead of a visit to Islamabad, which has sought reconciliation with militants both at home and in Afghanistan.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will meet on October 7-8 with officials in Pakistan, which has long faced US accusations of playing a double game in Afghanistan where the Taliban swept back to power in August.

"We seek a strong partnership with Pakistan on counterterrorism and we expect sustained action against all militant and terrorist groups without distinction," Sherman told reporters.

"Both of our countries have suffered terribly from the scourge of terrorism and we look forward to cooperative efforts to eliminate all regional and global terrorist threats," she said from Switzerland, her first stop on a trip that will also take her to India and Uzbekistan.

Pakistan points to its efforts against militants and the thousands who have died in attacks at home, but it has also faced criticism for not doing more to curb Islamist radicals that target neighbor and arch-rival India.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, a longtime critic of US military campaigns, said in an interview aired Friday that his government had opened talks with Pakistani Taliban about laying down their arms.

"Some of the Pakistani Taliban groups actually want to talk to our government for some peace, for some reconciliation," he told Turkey's TRT World television.

He said the discussions were taking place in Afghanistan with sections of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has waged years of deadly attacks.

"I repeat, I do not believe in military solutions," Khan said.

Khan has encouraged the world to engage Afghanistan's Taliban and provide economic support, although he has stopped short of backing recognition -- a step opposed by the United States.

Sherman praised Pakistan's calls for an inclusive government in Afghanistan.

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"We look to Pakistan to play a critical role in enabling that outcome," she said.

Pakistan, a Cold War ally of the United States, was one of only three nations to recognize the Taliban's hardline 1996-2001 regime but quickly backed the US-led war to oust them after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

US officials say segments of Pakistan's powerful intelligence service maintained backing for the Taliban, in part due to the former Western-backed Afghan government's close ties with India.

sct/bgs
Washington states ban on single-use plastic bags goes into effect Friday, almost a year and a half after the law was passed.

The ban applies to retailers, markets, grocery stores and restaurant take-out orders.

When the ban starts, business owners will be able to charge customers eight cents for a paper bag or a reusable plastic bag. The website of the state Department of Ecology, which is overseeing the program, explains that the extra charge is not a tax as businesses will keep the entire amount. The additional charge is meant to help businesses recoup money for buying the more expensive alternatives and also as an incentive for customers to bring their own reusable bags.

The law was originally passed in March of 2020 and was intended to go into effect on Jan. 1 of this year. Supply chain issues related to the coronavirus, however, caused Gov. Jay Inslee to issue a proclamation delaying its start until Oct. 1, 2021.

The bill did include several exemptions, including food banks and other food assistance programs. Other exemptions include plastics used to wrap meat or produce, bags for prescriptions and newspaper and dry cleaning bags.

Some 39 municipalities across the state already have similar bans in place.

Todd Myers, director of the Center for the Environment at the Washington Policy Center, has pointed out several shortcomings with the law.

The first is that reusable bags can be a source for spreading COVID-19, as evidenced by the many grocery stores that have banned them during the pandemic.

Writing on the Washington Policy Centers blog, Myers noted that a study by the UK Environment Agency found that reusable bags containing cotton have 173 times more global warming potential compared to single-use plastic bags. The cotton bags also generate 300 times as much water pollution due to fertilizer runoff.

Plastic bags are better at reducing resource use  requiring less energy and causing less water pollution  and are reused at higher rates, he said. Supporters of a ban focus on low recycling rates because it is the only argument they can make, ignoring other environmental costs.

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On its website, Seattle Public Utilities explains why the city put a similar ban in place in 2012, saying that residents were using 292 million plastic bags each year and that only 13% got recycled.

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Tags: News, State, Washington

Original Author: Ted O'Neil, The Center Square contributor

Original Location: Washington state ban on plastic bags starts Friday
White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested that President Joe Biden might back Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's endorsement of eliminating the debt ceiling entirely to avoid future credit crises.

When asked at her Friday briefing if Biden agreed with Yellen's comments, Psaki said the administration's current focus "for the next 17 days" is "getting the debt limit raised in the Senate."

"That's what we're working toward," she continued. "There's plenty of time after that to discuss what the path forward looks like."

DEMOCRATS: DON'T CALL IT 'DISARRAY'

Congress introduced a bill in May that would eliminate the debt ceiling, but the White House has not issued a Statement of Administration Policy endorsing it.

Yellen, testifying on the Hill on Thursday, supported that action.

"Yes, I would," she said in response to a question from Rep. Sean Casten, an Illinois Democrat, on the subject. "If, to finance those spending and tax decisions its necessary to issue additional debt, I believe its very disruptive to put the president and myself, the treasury secretary, in a situation where we might be unable to pay the bills that result from those past decisions."

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett also endorsed eliminating the debt ceiling during negotiations on the topic in 2011. He stated on an investor call that allowing a U.S. credit default "would probably be the most asinine act that Congress has ever performed" and added that "having a debt ceiling to start with is a mistake."

"It just seems such a waste of time for a country thats got a lot of things to do," he added. "Id love to see them eliminate the idea because it results in these periodic stalemate operations where everybody uses it for posturing purposes."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

You can watch Psaki's briefing below.

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Original Author: Christian Datoc

Original Location: White House leaves door open for full elimination of the debt ceiling
Pop quiz: Which U.S. state has vaccinated the largest share of its eligible population against COVID-19  and has Americas lowest rate of new coronavirus cases as a result?

Sorry, that was a trick question. The answer isnt a state at all. Its Puerto Rico.

While the press gives places such as California and Connecticut glowing reviews for containing the hypercontagious Delta variant, the unincorporated island territory is actually now doing a better job than either of them  not to mention every single other U.S. state  at inoculating its residents and keeping its COVID infection rate low.

What accounts for this striking gap between Puerto Rico and the mainland? According to experts, the U.S. has fallen behind the Caribbean commonwealth for the same reason it has plummeted to 41st in the world for vaccinations: because politics and polarization continue to warp U.S. COVID policy in ways that other societies simply havent had to contend with.

A man takes a selfie as he receives the COVID-19 vaccine at a mass vaccination event in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 31. (Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images)

And the fact that this effect is still showing up in Puerto Rico  one of the few places that are part of America but not part of its political vortex  only underscores how dramatic it is.

Consider the numbers. For every 100,000 residents, Puerto Rico is currently reporting just six new COVID cases per day. Thats less than half as many as the lowest U.S. state on that list, Connecticut (which is reporting 14/100,000), and nearly a sixth of the nationwide average (34/100,000).

Vaccinations are a similar story. Several Northeastern states have administered at least one vaccine dose to more than 85 percent of their eligible populations: Vermont (88 percent), Massachusetts (88 percent), Connecticut (87 percent) and Rhode Island (86 percent).

Puerto Rico is about to hit 90 percent  15 points higher than the national average.

To be sure, Puerto Rico has endured COVID waves just like every other corner of the country. But the biggest of them  which occurred this spring  peaked at 34 cases per 100,000 residents per day. In comparison, the Delta wave that just slammed Florida  the state thats closest to Puerto Rico in terms of latitude, climate and seasonality  hit 138 cases per 100,000 residents per day. As for daily deaths, Puerto Rico topped out at a rate of 0.47/100,000, while Florida, where just 77 percent of the population has received at least one dose of a vaccine, soared to nearly four times that level (1.75/100,000).

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The first mass COVID vaccination event at the Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan on March 31. (Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images)

Throughout the pandemic, Puerto Rico has reported 6,337 COVID cases and 93 COVID deaths per 100,000 residents. In Florida, the corresponding numbers  16,603 and 252, respectively  are more than two and a half times as high.

Puerto Ricos relative remoteness has also probably helped to keep its surges in check. The six U.S. states or territories with smaller or similar cumulative caseloads (per capita) are all geographically isolated: American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Vermont, Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Maine. Meanwhile, Alaska, Oregon and Utah have also recorded slightly fewer deaths per capita than Puerto Rico, suggesting that it doesnt hurt to be a little off the beaten path.

Yet now that vaccines are widely available, new daily COVID cases in several of these farther-flung places have surged much higher than in Puerto Rico: nearly twice as high in Oregon and Hawaii; more than five times as high in Alaska. Daily deaths have been higher in Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska too. This means theres more than just geography at work.

Vaccination rates are probably the biggest difference. The full vaccination rate for Puerto Rico (66 percent of the total population) is significantly higher than Hawaiis (58 percent), Oregons (61 percent) or Alaskas (51 percent). Its also significantly higher than the national average (56 percent).

A woman arrives to be inoculated at a vaccination center in Vieques, Puerto Rico, on March 10. (Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images)

By nearly every metric that correlates with vaccine uptake  at least on the mainland  this shouldnt be the case. Puerto Ricos poverty rate is 43.5 percent, or more than twice as high as the rate in the poorest U.S. state, Mississippi  where just 43 percent of residents have been fully vaccinated. Likewise, nearly 99 percent of Puerto Ricos population is Hispanic; nationwide, the vaccination rate among Hispanic Americans is just 49 percent.

And unlike every highly vaccinated U.S. state, Puerto Rico isnt really a progressive haven. One of the two major islandwide elected officials is a registered Republican; the governor belongs to the territorys more conservative party; and the legislature has enacted restrictions on abortion and expressions of gender identity in recent years.

But thats the difference: Because Puerto Rican politics doesnt map neatly onto that in the U.S., the island has largely avoided politicizing and polarizing the pandemic the way the U.S. has. Puerto Ricans cant vote in U.S. presidential elections, so they dont tend to identify with Democrats or Republicans (or let that identity define who they are). Politics there revolves more around the islands status, and the possibility of statehood, than around the latest U.S. culture war. And right-wing media  with its skeptical attitude toward vaccines, masks, public health officials and even the seriousness of the coronavirus itself  doesnt hold nearly as much sway in Puerto Rico as it does in the states.

Not everybody [in Puerto Rico] is aware of political issues between Republicans and Democrats in the continental U.S., David Capo Ramos, former senior epidemiologist in Puerto Ricos Health Department, told the Miami Herald.

Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Pierluisi at a press conference in 2019. (Alejandro Granadillo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

As a result, there has been less vaccine resistance in Puerto Rico than in even the wealthiest, bluest U.S. states, and Gov. Pedro Pierluisi has had more leeway than most U.S. governors to implement public health policy  including widespread vaccine mandates that have further boosted the inoculation rate. In July, Puerto Rico became one of the first places in the U.S. to reinstate its indoor mask requirements regardless of vaccination status. In August, Pierluisi ordered businesses such as restaurants, nail salons, barbershops, casinos and gyms to operate at half capacity unless they require proof of vaccination (or a negative test) from customers; the same requirements apply to employees as well. First responders, school personnel, health care workers and government workers must all be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. And after midnight, alcohol sales and social activities such as concerts, weddings, and birthday and anniversary parties must stop, and businesses such as restaurants and theaters must close.

I believe the mandates work, Pierluisi recently explained. I want to be very careful because I dont want to revert.

For now, at least, Pierluisis strategy seems to be serving Puerto Rico well  and Puerto Ricans seem to be on board. If only the rest of America could follow their lead.

____

Read more from Yahoo News:
Japan's Imperial Household Agency has announced that Princess Mako and her former college classmate Komuro Kei will get married this month.

The top official in charge of Crown Prince Akishino's family, Kachi Takaharu, announced the plan at a news conference on Friday.

He said the couple will submit the registration of their marriage with a municipality on October 26. The date is considered the luckiest on the Japanese calendar.

The official said the couple will hold a news conference on the day of the registration.

Komuro is currently self-isolating at his home in Yokohama City, near Tokyo, as part of coronavirus precautions after returning from the United States on Monday.

After the quarantine period ends on October 11, Komuro is expected to meet the princess for the first time in about three years.

Princess Mako and Komuro are expected to move to the US to start their new life after the princess leaves the Imperial family and obtains a passport and visa.

At the news conference, the agency disclosed that no traditional ceremonies for Imperial family members' weddings will be held.

It also revealed that Princess Mako declined to receive a lump-sum payment to which female Imperial family members are entitled upon marriage.

The agency indicated that she declined due to criticism of her and the couple's families.

The agency added that the princess has been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, after being criticized repeatedly for a long time.
Theme parks in Japan will ease the limit on the number of visitors from Friday, as the coronavirus state of emergency in 19 prefectures across Japan ends on Thursday.

The operator of Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea says it will double the maximum number of visitors at each facility from 5,000 to 10,000.

Oriental Land says it will maintain shortened operating hours from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the time being.

The company plans to resume selling alcohol in the parks as soon as it obtains a certificate as a facility where sufficient anti-virus measures are taken.

Universal Studios Japan in Osaka will also double the cap on the number of visitors to 10,000.

It has not decided whether to restart serving alcohol.

The theme park says it will carry on with thorough anti-virus measures because the risk of infection still remains.
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This article was featured in One Great Story, New Yorks reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly. Progressive attendees of the Met gala unite! Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

The Democratic coalition has never been wealthier than it is today. And the Democratic Party is more economically progressive than its been in decades.

In every presidential election from 1948 to 2012, white voters in the top 5 percent of Americas income distribution were more Republican than those in the bottom 95 percent.

Now, the opposite is true: Among white Americans, the rich voted to the left of the middle class and the poor in 2016 and 2020, while the poor voted to the right of the middle class and the rich.

This inversion in white Americas voting patterns was the culmination of a long-term trend. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Americans without college degrees were more likely to vote blue than university graduates. But that class gap began narrowing in the late 1960s, before finally flipping in 2004. As the French economist Thomas Piketty illustrated in a 2018 paper:

Photo: World Inequaity Lab

The erosion of traditional class allegiances in voting  a phenomenon some have dubbed class dealignment  has been most stark among white voters. But in 2020, the phenomenon crossed racial lines. According to the Pew Research Center, Joe Biden won college-educated Hispanic voters by 25 points more than he did non-college-educated ones.

In recent years, as red America grew more working class  and blue America more bourgeois  many pundits predicted that the major parties economic platforms would become less distinct. Increasingly reliant on affluent voters, the Democrats would lose enthusiasm for progressive redistribution, while the GOPs deepening dependence on working-class voters would force it to adopt less-plutocratic priorities.

That prophecy has yet to be fulfilled.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton assembled the most working-class Democratic coalition of the past four decades. Yet his platform was one of the most economically conservative in the partys modern history, including a celebration of welfare cuts and promises to rein in big government and slash burdensome regulations. A quarter-century later, the leadership of a much more bourgeois Democratic Party is presently fighting to take money away from capitalists and invest it in a giant expansion of unconditional welfare benefits. The Democratic president, for his part, is singing paeans to the public sector, declaring, No matter how challenging or how complex the problems were going to face, government by and for the people is still the best way to deliver for all of our people.

Across the aisle, Donald Trumps workers party unanimously opposes Bidens proposed expansion of the welfare state, insisting that the government must reduce spending and concentrate relief on the truly needy, such as the long-suffering heirs of $12 million estates.

To be sure, some congressional Democrats are currently threatening to kill Bidens redistributive agenda. And this contingent includes a few lawmakers who represent high-income constituencies. Yet there is no tight correlation between the median income of a congressional Democrats district and the economic progressivism of their voting record. Anna Eshoo represents the wealthiest House district in the United States, and shes been a reliable supporter of Bidens program in general and his push for price controls on pharmaceuticals in particular (a cause of much Democratic infighting). Ro Khanna represents the countrys second-richest district and is among the most economically left-wing members of Congress. Joe Manchin, meanwhile, hails from one of Americas poorest states and is nevertheless the Senates most conservative Democrat.

In truth, Bidens redistributive agenda isnt stalling because his party is beholden to affluent voters but because it holds too few Senate seats. The presidents white-collar coalition has not stopped him from assembling the most pro-labor executive-branch policies of any modern president. And in states where the Democrats boast large legislative majorities, the partys reliance on high-income voters has not prevented it from moving left on economic policy over the past decade. This year, New York enacted a millionaires tax to sustain its exceptionally high level of social-welfare spending, and several other blue states are mulling similar plans to soak the rich.

From one angle, the fact that the Democratic Party has simultaneously grown more affluent and more economically progressive is no paradox. Contrary to conventional wisdom, recent survey data suggests that professional-class voters are, in the aggregate, more left wing than working-class ones on many economic questions. In an analysis of the 2020 electorate, political scientist Alan I. Abramowitz found that college-educated white voters espoused more progressive views on issues of social welfare than did non-college-educated whites.

That finding is buttressed by the results of Maines 2017 referendum on Medicaid expansion. Given the opportunity to expand the availability of socialized health insurance, the most highly educated parts of the Pine Tree State voted in favor of the provision, while the least affluent regions, which stood to derive greater material benefit from the policy, voted against it. Illinoiss 2020 vote on establishing a progressive state-income tax yielded similarly anti-materialist results. Although the initiative attracted relatively little support outside major urban centers, it still fared better in affluent inner-ring suburbs than it did in the states poorest rural counties.

If such data points make the Democratic Partys ideological trajectory less mysterious, they make Americas political divisions even more so. What explains working-class voters counterintuitive economic conservatism or the relative progressivism of the professional class?

One explanation is that these ideological tendencies are mere consequences of voters partisanship. If you control for party identification, voters with lower incomes tend to be more economically progressive but less socially liberal than those with high incomes. Thus its plausible that the typical, white working-class ex-Democrat defected to red America for cultural reasons and then, over time, began to absorb their new political communitys economic orthodoxy. And one could tell a parallel story about affluent Democrats: After arriving in blue America as culture-war refugees, upper-middle-class voters gradually converted to their new lands welfarist gospel.

What neither of these narratives explain, however, is why cultural values displaced material interests as the key determinant of partisanship. Which is to say: They dont explain why socially conservative, working-class voters once tended to back parties of the center left but now lean toward those of the right, nor why socially liberal professionals have made the opposite political journey.

Happily, a recent study from political scientists at Harvard and Vanderbilt tackles this question.

In Morals As Luxury Goods and Political Polarization, Benjamin Enke, Mattias Polborn, and Alex A. Wu provide an elegantly simple explanation for class dealignment: As people get richer, they give more weight to moral considerations  and less to material ones  when formulating their ideological beliefs and partisan preferences.

This theory is somewhat intuitive. If you are a socially liberal billionaire in 2021, the material costs of supporting a party that affirms your cultural values but wishes to raise your marginal tax rate are all but negligible. Even Elizabeth Warrens wealth tax would scarcely make a dent in your net worth. For a socially conservative coal miner in the Great Depression era, however, the potential cost of supporting a party that owned the libs  but spurned the unemployed  was malnourishment. Thus it makes some sense that the more materially secure voters are, the more likely theyll be to cast their ballots on the basis of their cultural values.

Beyond its logical soundness, the papers foundational premise enjoys a great deal of empirical support. This is in part because it is not very original. The political scientist Ronald Inglehart put forward a similar theory of why voters had started to prioritize postmaterialist values decades ago. And the World Values Survey has consistently substantiated Ingleharts theory: In any given year, rich survey respondents tend to report greater concern with values and rights than with material security, while poor respondents evince the opposite preference. Further, as average incomes have increased over time, the American population as a whole has grown more post-material in its concerns.

The Morals As Luxury Goods papers original contribution is to show that post-materialism can explain a wide variety of oddities in contemporary politics. From Ingleharts basic insight, the researchers derive several corollaries:

 Over the course of industrial development, as entire societies grow wealthier, voters across the income spectrum will become more inclined to prioritize moral concerns over material ones.

 Rich social liberals will be more likely to vote against their material interests than poor social conservatives, since the former pay a lower cost for prioritizing cultural concerns.

 Over time, voters will become more likely to hold uniformly conservative or uniformly liberal views. This is because, in a society with economic growth, working-class social conservatives become more materially secure over time (working-class Americans have higher living standards today than they did in the 1930s) and therefore find it more affordable to apply their inegalitarian moral convictions to economic matters. By the same token, upper-middle-class social liberals find it increasingly painless to embrace the material implications of a progressive moral outlook.

 The Democratic Party will have more internal diversity than the GOP, in terms of both its cultural views and its income levels (because poor moral conservatives have a stronger incentive to vote with their pocketbooks than rich moral liberals do).

 Over time, political parties will likely polarize over social issues. This is because, as rich social liberals move left and working-class social conservatives move right, the major parties will adjust their platforms to reflect their greater internal consensus about cultural matters. As a result, the parties will become more distinct on social issues, which will further increase the incentive of culturally conservative Democrats to become Republicans and socially liberal Republicans to become Democrats  ideological sorting that will encourage the parties to become even more distinct on social issues, in a self-reinforcing cycle. Culture-war politics ensues.

All of these claims are consistent with recent history. As weve already seen, materialist voting declined as the U.S. got wealthier. Using data from the American National Election Studies (ANES), the researchers show that affluent social liberals are indeed about 35 percent more likely to vote for Democrats than poor social conservatives are to vote Republican.

Graphic: Benjamin Enke

Polls also show that voters have become more ideologically consistent over time. Today, Americans with conservative social views are much more likely to also espouse conservative economic views than they were two decades ago. Notably, this increase in ideological coherence has been far larger among the richest third of Americans than it has been among the bottom two-thirds. That disparity is also consistent with the papers hypothesis: Owing to income inequality, the top third of Americans enjoyed a much larger increase in living standards over the past two decades than the bottom third did.

Graphic: Benjamin Enke

Survey data demonstrates that the Democratic coalition is more internally divided on social issues  and more socioeconomically diverse  than the Republican one.

Graphic: Benjamin Enke

The notion that the two major parties have grown more distinct on social issues over time is both readily apparent to a lay observer of U.S. politics and supported by a wealth of political-science literature. That voters have both responded to this ideological polarization  and fueled it  by sorting themselves according to their moral convictions is also in keeping with survey data: Over the past three decades, rich moral liberals and poor moral conservatives were exceptionally likely to switch parties.

Graphic: Benjamin Enke

This empirical data establishes post-materialisms plausibility. But it cant prove the theorys validity. Yes, Americans grew wealthier over the past half-century. And yes, social issues became increasingly salient to our politics over that period. But a lot of other stuff has been happening over time too. And its impossible to control for all of historys variables.

Theres no way to fully overcome that problem. But Morals As a Luxury Good makes an effort to account for it: To help establish causality, the researchers built a mathematical model that internalizes their theorys assumptions. They then used that model to run simulations of voter behavior over time and show that these simulations resemble real-life voting patterns.

Graphic: Benjamin Enke

As a grand theory of political development, post-materialism has its virtues. It offers a coherent explanation for why the Democratic base has grown more affluent and why this has not (yet) caused the party to move right on economic policy. Unlike some popular theories of the New Deal coalitions demise, post-materialism also makes sense of the fact that center-left parties throughout the West have seen remarkably similar coalitional changes. The Democratic Partys strategic decisions probably cant explain why British Labour and the French Socialists also saw their voting bases grow more college-educated over the past quarter-century. Western countries did not all elect Bill Clinton, but they did all experience economic growth over the past 25 years.

Graphic: Thomas Piketty/EHESS and Paris S

On the other hand, post-materialisms detachment from history is a bit disconcerting. In Morals As a Luxury Good, voters and political parties look like ants or automata, their actions shaped not by social movements, personal reflections, or contingent events but by a simple utility function thats sensitive to changes in GDP.

Its plausible that, all else being equal, getting richer makes human beings less materialistic in their voting behavior. But its difficult to believe that this was the driving force behind the rise of the culture wars during an epoch that also witnessed the upending of centuries-old gender roles, the advance of LGBTQ+ rights, the democratization of higher education, the fall of Americas racial caste system, and the collapse of Western Europes colonial empires. All of these developments seem like they would, by themselves, increase the salience of conflicts that political scientists code as social or moral (even as they all have profound material consequences). And much the same can be said of recent changes in the global media landscape.

Perhaps people are so inclined to vote on the basis of cultural affinity that working-class voters were bound to cease concentrating under the banner of left-wing parties as soon as the welfare state insulated them from absolute poverty. But its hard to accept such Newtonian political theorems in the face of historys myriad contingencies. Can anyone say with confidence what class politics in the West would look like today if the October Revolution never happened? Or if center-left parties had never embraced neoliberal globalization and austerity? Modernization did not happen in a laboratory. We cant tweak a few variables and then run it again.

All this said, post-materialism is too consistent with available data  and too influential among political scientists and practitioners  for its skeptics to ignore. It might not offer a wholly satisfying explanation for the culture wars supersession of class politics. But any such explanation will need to account for the correlations it illuminates.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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Has any political figure in recent years fallen farther and harder than Rudy Giuliani? On the eve of September 11  the 20th anniversary of the day that catapulted him into national renown  Fox News told him that he had been banned from appearing on the network, likely because Giuliani had helped land Fox in hot water for claiming that two election-technology companies had helped rig the election in favor of Joe Biden. Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic have since filed separate billion-dollar defamation lawsuits against both Fox and Giuliani, who is embroiled in so many costly legal shenanigans these days that he has apparently resorted to selling personalized video greetings over the service Cameo for a few hundred dollars a pop.

On top of that, his law license was suspended in New York and Washington, D.C., after he repeatedly lied to courts and in public statements to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election results with baseless charges of widespread fraud. He is reportedly aghast that Trump has declined to help him out financially, despite the fact that Giuliani, as Trumps onetime personal lawyer, had been his fiercest henchman. Giuliani has gotten so desperate that his allies launched a Rudy Giuliani Freedom Fund, replete with an endorsement from tarnished lawyer Alan Dershowitz, that blasts deep state forces for Giulianis legal morass.

Giuliani is being treated, by all appearances, as a dead man walking. Americas Mayor, as he was once known, has been abandoned by his most powerful friend. He has lost his megaphone at Fox News and is now going around with a begging bowl for money. And at the center of Giulianis legal troubles is a web of overlapping federal investigations, including a criminal probe focusing on him personally, which some experts say could force him to yield to prosecutors in a case that may implicate the former president.

Giuliani is facing a set of challenges unlike anything hes dealt with before, Michael Bromwich, a former inspector general at the Justice Department, told me. The extremely serious criminal investigation that could send him to jail, the civil suits that could bankrupt him, the disbarment proceedings that may well end any opportunity to practice law ever again  its a tidal wave of problems with potentially devastating personal and professional consequences.

Bromwich added, Its hard to think of any analogous case where a person who once rode so high  as a prosecutor, a New York mayor, a serious presidential candidate, and an international figure  has been brought so low in so many ways and where the damage has been entirely self-inflicted.

If Trumps conspiratorial crusade against the phantom of election fraud ensnared Giuliani in potentially ruinous civil lawsuits, it was Trumps unscrupulous campaign against Joe Biden and his son Hunter that goaded Giuliani into consorting with the shady operators who are now in the crosshairs of American criminal prosecutors. One of those men, Ukrainian-born Lev Parnas, is due to be tried on October 12 on charges of making illegal campaign donations from a foreign source. Another Soviet-born operator, Igor Fruman, pleaded guilty in September to the same offense. Parnas and Fruman, who have lived in Florida for some time, were key allies in helping Giuiani dig up dirt on the Bidens in Ukraine in the run-up to the 2020 election.

Giuliani has not yet been charged with any crimes. Nor has he been implicated in the illegal-donation schemes that led authorities to nab Parnas and Fruman. Rather, the criminal inquiry into Giulani is focused on whether Trumps former lawyer, during his sprawling fishing expedition with Parnas, Fruman, and others in Ukraine, violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a decades-old law that requires people who lobby the U.S. government on behalf of foreign officials or entities to disclose their activities to the Justice Department. Giuliani may also have legal headaches stemming from separate federal fraud charges against Parnas and a federal investigation into a Ukrainian politician suspected of meddling in the 2020 election.

As Giuliani looks over the landscape he faces, it appears there are legal storm clouds in three separate matters, all of which could have potentially serious consequences for him, said Michael Zeldin, a former federal prosecutor.

While we have grown accustomed to members of Trumpworld being mired in lawsuits, it is worth underscoring that Giuliani is confronting extreme levels of legal and financial risk  and he has few, if any, good options. The emotional and financial pressure of a single long-term federal white-collar investigation can take a crippling toll on any target of such an investigation, said Paul Pelletier, a former acting chief of the Justice Departments fraud section. Enduring multiple investigations, in addition to bar disciplinary actions and financial pressures, creates an enormous incentive to alleviate that pressure in some way. The only logical ways I know of are to plead guilty, cooperate, or both.

The budding criminal case against Giuliani seems to have been jump-started by his extensive dealings with Parnas and Fruman, who were arrested at Dulles airport in October 2019 before they could hop on a flight to Vienna. Giuliani had tapped the two men to arrange contacts in Ukraine, including current and former prosecutors, who could help him develop and push conspiracy theories about Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of a Ukraine gas company. Trumpworlds attempt to use a foreign power to damage the former presidents political opponent, as you may remember, was the basis for his first impeachment, in December 2019.

It was also, apparently, a major catalyst behind FBI agents raid of Giulianis New York office and apartment in April of this year, in which they seized 18 cell phones and computers. The raid signaled that Giuliani could face charges of illegal foreign lobbying  and perhaps more  from the same Manhattan U.S. Attorneys office he once led.

The fact that a judge issued the warrant, despite the high bar for obtaining one, would seem to indicate that Giuliani is at least a subject of what appears to include violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Zeldin said, noting that the warrant lists a whos who of Ukrainian officials with whom Giuliani is believed to have been working in 201920.

If past is prologue, the search warrants conducted on the phones and electronic devices of Giuliani and his associates should soon begin bearing a cornucopia of fruit, Pelletier told me. That type of electronic evidence typically reveals compelling evidence of the criminal scheme outlined in the search-warrant affidavit. If and when that happens, the walls should close in pretty quickly on Mr. Giuliani and any identified criminal cohorts.

The FBI also seized other electronic devices from the Washington, D.C., residence of conservative lawyer Victoria Toensing. A Giuliani ally, Toensing had a $1 million contract in tandem with her lawyer husband, Joe diGenova, to represent a billionaire Ukrainian oligarch, Dmytro Firtash, who had aided Giulianis Ukraine gambit, according to news reports. (Firtash denies having any communications with Giuliani or any involvement in efforts to dirty up the Bidens.) After the raid, Toensing said she was told she herself was not a target in the federal inquiry.

Giuliani and his attorney Robert Costello have vociferously denounced the FBIs raid. Giuliani issued a statement boasting that his conduct as a lawyer and a citizen was absolutely legal and ethical and told Fox News, back when he was still in the networks good graces, that prosecutors were trying to frame him. Giuliani has repeatedly denied lobbying for any foreign officials or entities.

Costello blasted the raids as legal thuggery. A former federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Costello stressed that his client agreed twice to answer prosecutors questions  with the exception of ones touching on privileged talks with Trump  and was turned down. Costello has said that Giulianis defense will rest in part on attorney-client privilege. (Costello did not return requests for comment.)

After the raid, a special master was appointed by a New York court to review whether the material seized by the FBI was protected from government scrutiny by attorney-client privilege. In September, a federal judge in New York nixed Giulianis request to have some of that material returned to him or destroyed, but a subsequent ruling limited what prosecutors could use to those materials dating from 2018 onward. Justice Department officials had likely anticipated such challenges. Mary McCord, a former prosecutor who used to lead the the departments national security division, told me that approval for the raid would not have been given absent very solid grounds.

Judging from Parnass past public statements, too, the probe of Giuliani is serious. During Trumps impeachment, Parnas made no secret in interviews that he took his cues from Giuliani and Trump as they tried zealously to find current and former officials in Ukraine to blemish Biden, linking his actions as vice-president under Barack Obama to Hunters Ukraine gig.

Parnas told Rachel Maddow in early 2020, I wouldnt do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani or the president. Parnas stressed that high-level officials in Ukraine would have ignored him unless it was clear that he was their emissary. Thats the secret Trump administration officials were trying to keep, he said. I was on the ground doing their work.

During Trumps impeachment, Parnas and his lawyer gave House investigators a trove of potentially incriminating materials, including a video of Parnas and Fruman dining with Trump at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser in April 2018 and a photo of the two Giuliani pals dining with Donald Trump Jr. and a top Republican National Committee official at a swanky Beverly Hills hotel in 2019. Parnas has suggested the photos and other documents support his claim that Trump knew exactly what was going on. In response, Trump has said that he barely knew him.

Parnas and Fruman have been accused by the feds of making several illegal donations, including a $325,000 check to a pro-Trump Super PAC that was written not long after the two men attended a small dinner at Trumps Washington, D.C., hotel on April 30, 2018, for PAC donors. There, they chatted with Trump, an encounter that Fruman recorded. Parnas raised dark concerns about the loyalty of the U.S. ambassador in Kiev, Marie Yovanovitch, that quickly prompted Trump to ask a nearby White House aide to take her out  which Trump did about a year later when he yanked her from the Kiev post. Her ouster was a key focus of Trumps first impeachment and has reportedly figured in the Giuliani probe. Giuliani told The New Yorker in 2019, I believed that I needed Yovanovitch out of the way. She was going to make the investigations difficult for everybody by frustrating his attempts to get help from Ukrainian sources.

Former Justice Department officials see more trouble ahead. Gerry Hebert, who spent more than two decades as a senior lawyer in the voting-rights section at the department, said, Parnass likely conviction may lead to his cooperation before hes sentenced to prison  With his personal freedom at stake, the walls are closing in on more than just Giulianis legal career.

Theres much, much more, though no other ongoing case appears to threaten Giuliani, criminally speaking, quite as directly as his dealings with Parnas and Fruman. Here is a summary of Giulianis other potential legal headaches:

(1) The New York Times has reported that federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are investigating election meddling involving a Ukrainian politician, Andrii Derkach, whom U.S. officials sanctioned in September 2020 and accused of having been an active Russian agent for more than a decade. Giuliani met at least twice with Derkach, in Kiev and New York, and appeared with Derkach on the far-right One America News Network in 2019 and a podcast in 2020 to peddle dubious claims to damage Biden. Although Giuliani initially called Derkachs unsubstantiated claims about the Bidens very helpful, he switched to damage control after the news broke that the White House had received warnings that Giuliani was being targeted by a Russian influence campaign involving Derkach.

(2) Parnas faces a second trial for allegedly defrauding investors in a scam company he helped set up that funneled Giuliani $500,000 in consulting fees for his legal and technical services in what could have been a ploy to lure investors using Giulianis name. The company, named Fraud Guarantee of all things, was billed as a venture to protect its investors against corporate fraud, but it bilked those same investors of some $2 million, according to the indictment. Parnass business partner David Correia pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in late 2020, but he declined to cooperate with prosecutors and was sentenced to one year in jail. Parnas has pleaded not guilty and is slated to be tried separately on fraud charges after his first trial in October.

(3) According to Bloomberg, Giuliani faces a separate foreign-lobbying inquiry by federal prosecutors in his old office, who are looking into whether he may have been lobbying for Turkey in prodding the Trump administration in 2017 to drop charges against his law client Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-born gold trader based in Turkey who was accused of plotting to illegally funnel $10 billion to Iran despite sanctions against the country. Zarrab wound up copping a guilty plea and implicating Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the scheme. The investigation, which reportedly is a civil and not a criminal one, is also looking into whether Giuliani lobbied Trump to deport Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, a move the Washington Post has reported was a top priority of Erdogans.

It is the federal inquiry into Derkach that touches most closely the developing FARA probe of Giuliani, though its not publicly known how much attention is focused on their dealings and the Times says Giuliani himself is not a subject of the investigation. Still, ex-prosecutors tell me that Giuliani must be feeling the squeeze. Giuliani last year hurriedly distanced himself from past comments praising Derkachs help by saying that Derkach had only provided him with secondary information. He also told the Washington Post that he was never informed that Derkach had ties to Russian intelligence.

On top of the ongoing probes, Giulianis two law license suspensions could have severe repercussions, particularly as they relate to the defamation suits that have been filed against him by Dominion and Smartmatic.

In late June, a New York appeals court suspended Giuliani from practicing law in the state on account of the serial false comments he made during his obsessive campaign to get courts to block Trumps loss in the election. In its ruling, the court said Giulianis misconduct cannot be overstated. This country is being torn apart by continued attacks on the legitimacy of the 2020 election and of our current president, Joseph R. Biden. A Washington, D.C., court followed New Yorks actions with its own suspension order, and permanent disbarment in New York seems a real possibility.

The decision by the New York court to suspend Giulianis law license could be a very bad omen for Giuliani in the Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic defamation lawsuits, Zeldin, the former prosecutor, told me. The court found that there is uncontroverted evidence that Giuliani communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trumps failed effort at reelection in 2020. As Zeldin noted, These are the issues at the heart of the defamation actions.

In August, a federal judge ruled against Giulianis attempt to dismiss the Dominion lawsuit. A lawyer for Giuliani last month said that he still believes some of his claims about fraud remain substantially true.

As the legal screws have tightened, Giuliani has remained defiant. In an August interview with NBC, Giuliani proclaimed that he was 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. Im not. I didnt do anything wrong.

While some experts say Giuliani, if he faces charges, will likely fold before going to jail, others are not so sure. Bromwich, the former inspector general, cautioned, We dont know the strength of the case prosecutors are building against Giuliani or when they will reach a decision on whether to bring charges. And if Giuliani is charged, Bromwich said, even in his current, diminished state, its hard to imagine him crying uncle. I would expect him to fight any criminal charges to the bitter end.

One problem for Giuliani is that prosecutors have extra motivation in pursuing him, given the zealous lengths he has gone to undermine the democratic system that the Justice Department is supposed to protect. Giuliani has made himself a very attractive target for prosecutors, because of who he is and what hes done, said Stephen Gillers, a New York University law professor. Prosecutors may view taking down Giuliani as a significant career achievement.

Gillers added, Giuliani has more than embarrassed the department. Hes betrayed what they hold dear, and thats a motivating factor for going after him, if the proof is there.

But there is no one that Giuliani has embarrassed more than himself. It appears that Rudy Giulianis world is collapsing around him, veteran GOP operative Charlie Black told me. That is really sad. He was a national hero after his service to New York City, but getting tangled up with Donald Trump has brought a lot of trouble to Rudy.
Made In America: Green Lambert for OS X





Mahalo for sharing Runa!  This guest blog post, was written by Runa Sandvik , a noted security researcher who works on digital security for journalists and other high-risk people.

Background

In March 2017, WikiLeaks began publishing thousands of files detailing the CIAs spying operations and hacking tools. The leak, known as Vault 7, was the largest disclosure of classified information in the agencys history. In April, Symantec publicly linked Vault 7 to an advanced threat actor named Longhorn. Kaspersky then announced it tracks the same actor as The Lamberts, and revealed the existence of an OS X implant called Green Lambert.

Kasperskys research showed that The Lamberts toolkit includes network-driven backdoors, several generations of modular backdoors, harvesting tools, and wipers. A timeline of actvitiy for tools used by The Lamberts shows that Green Lambert is the oldest and longest-running in the family. Green Lambert is described as an active implant and the only one where non-Windows variants have been found.

This blog post, along with the [Made in America](https://objectivebythesea.com/v4/talks.html#Made In America) talk at Objective By The Sea v.4.0, provides a comprehensive analysis of Green Lambert for OS X. Ill share how I approached the research, the tools I used, the things I figured out, and the things I didnt. Ill also look at whether the developers followed the agencys guidelines for development tradecraft. Some might ask why Id look at an implant this old? Doing so helps us better understand the capabilities of its sophisticated creator, past and present. And, if were being honest: I could, so I did.

Victimology

We dont know how this implant makes it into a target system; the type of system its used on; or the geographical location of a typical target. Symantec said that the actor has infiltrated governments, in addition to targets in the financial, telecoms, energy, aerospace, information technology, education, and natural resources sectors. QI-ANXIN said the actor has previously targeted personnel and institutions in China.

A version of Green Lambert for OS X was first uploaded to VirusTotal, from Russia, in September 2014. Kaspersky marked it as malicious in October 2016. AegisLab, a security firm based in Taiwan, followed a couple of weeks later. VirusTotal identified that the implant calls itself GrowlHelper, possibly referencing the popular Growl notification system for OS X from 2004.

Triage

Using static analysis methods, we can triage the implant without running it. For example, we can determine that GrowlHelper is a small, unsigned Mach-O executable.

$ file GrowlHelper GrowlHelper: Mach-O executable i386 $ codesign -dvv GrowlHelper GrowlHelper: code object is not signed at all $ du -h GrowlHelper 208K

We can use otool -L to print a list of linked libraries. This can sometimes provide insight into the capabilities of the malware, but doesnt appear to be particularly helpful here. Note the few dependencies in the list below.

$ otool -L GrowlHelper /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/CoreServices /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security /System/Library/Frameworks/SystemConfiguration.framework/Versions/A/SystemConfiguration /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib /usr/lib/libgcc_s.1.dylib

Whats more interesting is the output of strings - . This tool can also provide insight into the capabilities of the malware.

$ strings - GrowlHelper LoginItem LaunchAgent /Library/LaunchDaemons www.google.com Error from libevent when adding event for DNS server 1.3a _SecKeychainFindInternetPassword _SecKeychainItemCopyAttributesAndData _kSCPropNetProxiesHTTPProxy _kSCPropNetProxiesProxyAutoConfigEnable _kSCPropNetProxiesProxyAutoConfigURLString

The references to LoginItem , LaunchAgent and LaunchDaemons suggest this implant has different options for gaining persistence on a system. In other words: how the implant ensures its executed again if the system is rebooted. Check out this post by Phil Stokes at SentinelOne for an overview of malware persistence techniques seen in the wild.

The following three lines appear to be related to libevent, the same event notification library that is used by Tor. The open-source library is very popular now, but was perhaps less known back when this implant was created. The reference to 1.3a may shed some light on the development timeline for this implant: version 1.3a of libevent was released in February 2007.

The references to Keychain , Proxies and AutoConfig suggest this implant determines proxy settings on the target system. According to this post, kSCPropNetProxiesProxyAutoConfigEnable and kSCPropNetProxiesProxyAutoConfigURLString were added in Xcode version 2.2. This version was released in November 2005. Could be another clue about the development timeline.

OS X Version

The static analysis methods we used were helpful, but were going to want to see how the implant behaves on a system. For that, well turn to dynamic analysis in a virtual machine. But which version of OS X does the implant need? We know that its a 32-bit executable, and the latest macOS is 64-bit only. We can narrow this down further by looking at symbols using nm .

$ nm GrowlHelper U _CFArrayAppendValue U _CFArrayCreateMutable U _CFArrayCreateMutableCopy U _CFArrayGetCount U _CFArrayGetValueAtIndex U _CFArrayRemoveValueAtIndex U _CFDictionaryCreate U _CFDictionaryGetValue U _CFGetTypeID U _CFNumberGetTypeID ...

The next step is a bit tedious, but does provide helpful information. To better understand what these symbols represent, we can look them up in Apples Developer Documentation. Not only will we be able to learn how and where a given symbol is used, but we can also see when it was deprecated. With that information, we can determine which version of OS X the implant will run on.

FSGetCatalogInfo is available in macOS 10.0 - 10.8

FSPathMakeRef is available in macOS 10.0 - 10.8

FSSetCatalogInfo is available in macOS 10.0 - 10.8

SecKeychainSearchCopyNext is available in macOS 10.0 - 10.7

SecKeychainSearchCreateFromAttributes is available in macOS 10.0 - 10.7

SecKeychainSetUserInteractionAllowed is available in macOS 10.2 - 12.0

This means that the implant will run on (at least) 10.7: OS X Lion.

Note: I confirmed the implant runs on 10.8. It probably runs on any OS X that supports 32-bit executables.

Development / Use Timeline

Lets look at a potential timeline for the development and use of this implant.

Growl was released in 2004 and retired in 2020. Xcode version 2.2 was released in November 2005, while libevent 1.3a was released in February 2007. OS X 10.7 was released in 2011, and 10.8 in 2012. The implant first appeared on VirusTotal in late 2014. Court records show Vault 7 was stolen sometime in early 2016 and published by WikiLeaks a year later. Based on these datapoints, its likely the implant was created and used between 2007 and (at least) 2013.

Setting Up a Virtual Machine

As of June 2021, OS X 10.7 is available for free from Apple. You can also do what I did: buy an old MacBook on eBay for $95.

You may have to unpack the .dmg you get from Apple to get a file thatll work with your virtual machine software. If so, try:

$ hdiutil attach InstallMacOSX.dmg

Click on Install Mac OS X on the Desktop and use The Unarchiver (or another tool) to extract InstallMacOSX.pkg to a temporary folder. Go into this folder, click on the new copy of InstallMacOSX.pkg and select Show Package Contents. Copy InstallESD.dmg to where you keep your virtual machine images, and use that instead.

Were going to use lldb, the default debugger, to execute the implant, modify registers, and examine memory contents. OS X 10.7 doesnt include Xcode by default, but a quick Google search suggests we need version 4.6.3 and can get it from Apples Developer Downloads page. After installing Xcode and confirming that lldb is working, we isolate the machine and create a clean snapshot.

Persistence

Phil Stokes at SentinelOne wrote that the most common way malware persists on macOS is via a LaunchAgent. Each user on a Mac can have a LaunchAgents folder in their own Library folder to specify code that should be run every time that user logs in. We can confirm this is the case with Green Lambert by running the implant, then checking the users LaunchAgents folder.

$ ls ~/Library/LaunchAgents com.apple.GrowlHelper.plist

Once installed, itll delete the original GrowlHelper file from the system. This is where our VM snapshot comes in handy.

From Phils post, we know that LaunchAgents take the form of property list files, which can either specify a file to execute or can contain their own commands to execute directly. We can confirm this by looking at com.apple.GrowlHelper.plist .

$ cat ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.GrowlHelper.plist <?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8" ?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd" > <plist version = "1.0" > <dict> <key>Label</key> <string>com.apple.GrowlHelper</string> <key>ProgramArguments</key> <array> <string>/Users/user/Library/Caches/com.apple.Growl.GrowlHelper/5d0d/GrowlHelper</string> <string>-f</string> </array> <key>RunAtLoad</key> <true/> <key>OnDemand</key> <false/> </dict> </plist>

The ProgramArguments tell us where GrowlHelper is installed and that it takes at least one command line argument ( -f ). The RunAtLoad key confirms the implant will run every time the user logs in. To get an overview of the installation process, we can monitor file system activity for GrowlHelper events.

$ sudo fs_usage -w -f filesys > filesys.out $ sudo grep GrowlHelper filesys.out execve /Users/user/GrowlHelper 0.015273 W bash.2848 execve /Users/user/GrowlHelper 0.000383 GrowlHelper.2851 open /Users/user/.profile 0.000018 GrowlHelper.2851 open /Users/user/.bash_profile 0.000015 GrowlHelper.2851 open /Users/user/.bash_login 0.000015 GrowlHelper.2851 open /Users/user/.bashrc 0.000014 GrowlHelper.2851 open /Users/user/.cshrc 0.000014 GrowlHelper.2851 open /Users/user/.login 0.000014 GrowlHelper.2851 open /Users/user/.tcshrc 0.000014 GrowlHelper.2851 open /Users/user/.xsession 0.000007 GrowlHelper.2851 open /Users/user/.xinitrc 0.000006 GrowlHelper.2851

We see that GrowlHelper has a handful of options for maintaining persistence, in case the LaunchAgent is removed. In one case, the implant uses a .profile file to ensure its launched whenever the user opens the Terminal. (Path to GrowlHelper was lightly edited due to space constraints.)

$ cat ~/.profile GrowlHelper = ` /path/to/com.apple.Growl.GrowlHelper/5d0d/GrowlHelper 2>&1 ` # Automatic GrowlHelper. Do not remove

We can compare how GrowlHelper behaves when the system is offline v. online. Here are the files it created in an isolated VM.

$ file /Users/offline/Library/Caches/com.apple.Growl.GrowlHelper/5d0d/* GrowlHelper: Mach-O executable i386 db: Berkeley DB 1.85 ( Hash, version 2, native byte-order ) fifo: socket queue: directory

And here are the files GrowlHelper created on that old MacBook I got from eBay.

$ file /Users/online/Library/Caches/com.apple.Growl.GrowlHelper/5d0d/* GrowlHelper: Mach-O executable i386 Software Update Check: Mach-O executable i386 db: Berkeley DB 1.85 ( Hash, version 2, native byte-order ) fifo: socket queue: directory

It looks like GrowlHelper creates an executable named Software Update Check when it thinks its online. I was pretty excited when I first found this, but quickly realized it just drops a copy of itself with a different name.

3fcdbd3c5fa34fb8e8d58038fa1d1f13d37e8a4b GrowlHelper 3fcdbd3c5fa34fb8e8d58038fa1d1f13d37e8a4b Software Update Check

Its possible that Software Update Check is used to update GrowlHelper .

Command Line Arguments

We know where GrowlHelper is installed and that it takes at least one command line argument ( -f ). With this information, we can identify other arguments by manually looping through options a - z and A - Z on the command line. The output below is the result of doing this try/fail experiment in a VM.

Args Meaning Action c ?? Prints: ** Commands will be processed immediately ** d ?? If GrowlHelper is installed, drops Software Update Check f Default Persists as LaunchAgent, creates: GrowlHelper, db, fifo, queue p: ?? Prints: GrowlHelper: option requires an argument  p s ?? Runs without persisting, creates: db, fifo, queue L ?? Runs without persisting, does not create files N ?? Persists as LaunchAgent, creates: GrowlHelper, Software Update Check, db

Hopper Disassembler is a tool that helps you disassemble, decompile and debug malware. Theres a free version, and you can get a personal license for $99. Using Hopper, we can confirm the arguments we found by looking for argc , argv , and getopt .

By using Hoppers pseudo-code mode, we can see the full set of possible command line arguments.

Entry Points

When you open GrowlHelper in Hopper, youll see that it has multiple entry points: EntryPoint_1 through EntryPoint_21 . These entry points are called when GrowlHelper starts executing, before the main entry point at 0x2cd8. GrowlHelper will use these entry points to initialize certain functionality. QI-ANXIN detailed these entry points in this post / this screenshot below.

It appears GrowlHelper has a preflight checklist of sorts: it initializes functionality, figures out what it needs, deletes the rest.

$ sudo grep GrowlHelper filesys.out mkdir /Users/user/.DS_Info 0.000083 GrowlHelper.2851 mkdir /Users/user/.DS_Info/5d0d 0.000044 GrowlHelper.2851 mkdir /Users/User/Library/Caches/com.apple.advanced 0.000066 GrowlHelper.2851 rmdir /Users/user/.DS_Info/5d0d 0.000109 W GrowlHelper.2851 rmdir /Users/user/.DS_Info 0.000240 W GrowlHelper.2851 rmdir /Users/User/Library/Caches/com.apple.advanced 0.000068 GrowlHelper.2851

Decrypting a String

Given the author, its no surprise that most strings in this implant are encrypted. The implant appears to handle encrypted strings in a bunch of different ways, which makes it challenging to automate decryption. Hopper has done some of the analysis work for us, allowing us to at least manually decrypt strings with lldb . Heres one example.

In the screenshot above, we have:

The address for the program counter / call to the decryption routine (0x1549b)

The values for ecx (0x01), edx (0x31e80), eax (0x2d487)

The address after the decryption routine, which well use as a breakpoint for lldb (0x154a0)

We load the implant into the debugger using lldb GrowlHelper , and decrypt the string:

Decrypting More Strings

Manually decrypting strings turned into a rabbit hole for me, but thats OK. Im sure there are ways to do this faster, but I have to admit I really enjoyed the process of learning to do this manually. Here are the strings Ive decrypted so far, minus duplicates.

pc String 0xe8a0 /tmp 0xe9ba upload_dir 0xe9e2 upload_key 0xea23 upload_header 0xed50 52 0x185ef download 0x187d7 ? 0x18eae InternetOpen 0x19121 ** Commands will be processed immediately ** 0x191f6 login.php 0x19216 getconf.php 0x19236 s|%s|%s|%s upload.gethostname 0x195be show.php 0xa2f6 ConfigInitdFile 0x2ce6f /etc/init.d 0xa762 /etc/rc.d.File 0xaccc .xinitrc 0xae0b ConfigPersistXsessionFile 0xae23 ConfigPersistXSession 0xaec9 .xsession 0xaf39 ConfigPersistXinitRCFile 0xaf51 ConfigPersistXInitRC 0xc8f0 proxy_type 0xc916 proxy_url 0xc948 Could not set proxy 0xca62 http://www.google.com 0xce05 no proxy_url 0x11309 index.html 0x11816 hps.txt 0x11d35 NODELETE 0x11d64 DELETE 0x11d93 SECDELETE 0x1218d NOWAIT 0x121c0 WAIT 0x121f1 WAIT_FOREVER 0x1225a /bin/sh -c 0x132b1 Version 0x13c1e Service 0x147f8 Proxy 0x14b1e ProxyUser 0x1549b hversion.txt 0x15c12 HHLogEntry 0x15c5b HHLogHead 0x15e2d HHLogTail 0x1a427 hh_last_attempt 0x1a530 localhost_sock_create(pipe) 0x1a8ab hh_last_attempt 0x649e No LP configured 0x6a66 16

Listening Post

One of the decrypted strings is No LP configured . LP likely stands for Listening Post, a military term used in the context of signals intelligence and reconnaissance. Where other types of malware would likely use the terms C2 or Command & Control, the CIA and the NSA use LP. One Vault 7 document is titled Listening Post (LP) Creation, and another details requirements for a Listening Post.

Configuration Files

Some of the decrypted strings refer to .html , .php , and .txt files, but Im unable to access them. But we know that Kaspersky found a hostname and an IP address hardcoded in the implant. And researchers at QI-ANXIN determined the implant talks to the Listening Post through login.php and getconf.php , and downloads follow-up code through getfile.php .

Configuration? Survey?

If you dig around in Hopper and use pseudo-code mode from time to time, youll likely find some interesting bits of information. When I stumbled upon the string Version=1.2.0 , I decided to see where else = was referenced. To do that, highlight 0x132b8 as shown below and hit x .

The list of references looks like this, with the current one selected.

We can then go through all these references, decrypt the strings, and get an output that looks like this.

uname = Time = %Y \% m \% d %H:%M:%S Z Uptime = Version = 1.2.0 PID =

The output lists information from the target system (e.g. uname ) and information from the implant (e.g. Version ). This could be a combination of a configuration file and system survey.

Network Traffic

We can monitor the network traffic on our OS X 10.7 system using tcpdump and then view the output in Wireshark.

This gives us the hardcoded hostname notify[.]growlupdate[.]com . Very clever given the name of the executable.

And the hardcoded IP address: 94[.]242[.]252[.]68 .

Hostname

Google and the Wayback Machine dont have any results for the domain name. If we look it up on VirusTotal, we see that it was first submitted in October 2016. But if we look up the domain on crt.sh, we see that an SSL certificate was created on October 29, 2013. The domain may have been purchased earlier, but this at least suggests the domain was active in late 2013. This matches the timeline we created earlier, as well as Kasperskys timeline of activity by The Lamberts.

Note: Kaspersky sinkholed the domain to 95[.]211[.]172[.]143 between October 1, 2016 and October 2, 2017.

Development Tradecraft DOs and DONTs

As part of Vault 7, WikiLeaks published 52 revisions of the CIAs development tradecraft guidelines. I mapped the revisions in a public spreadsheet to see how the guidance changed over time. Studying the development choices made by sophisticated actors may help us track them over time. For example, when Kaspersky identified a code overlap between Sunburst and Kazuar, it was because of unusual, shared features such as the UID generation algorithm, the sleeping algorithm, and use of the FNV-1a hash.

As Costin Raiu of Kaspersky pointed out on Twitter, C2 jitter, secure erase / uninstall, SSL/TLS+extra crypto, size below 150K, encrypt logs and local collection, decrypt strings on the fly in mem simply following these guidelines immediately makes the malware (tools) more interesting and, recognizable by a skilled analyst. While most of these are true here as well, there are a few things that stand out.

File size is a bit over the ideal binary file size for a fully featured tool (208K v. 150K)

The references to Listening Post / LP may be CIA and USG specific terminology

Use of English abbreviations for days of the week (mtwhfsu / MTWHFSU)

Use of the libevent library back when it was perhaps less well-known

Conclusion

Ive really enjoyed working on this project and certainly learned a lot along the way. Im confident theres more to find here, and Id love to collaborate with anyone interested in taking a closer look. As for The Lamberts? Malware from this actor keeps turning up, along with new insights. In fact, Kasperskys APT trends report for Q1 2021 mentions Purple Lambert, a malware capable of providing an attacker with basic information about the infected system and executing a received payload.

Indicators of Compromise

notify[.]growlupdate[.]com

94[.]242[.]252[.]68

3fcdbd3c5fa34fb8e8d58038fa1d1f13d37e8a4b

References

Patricks free and open-source book on Mac malware analysis was incredibly helpful during this project. If you havent already done so, I highly recommend checking out The Art of Mac Malware.
I love salt, but not like that.

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I fry bread in a little bit of clarified butter and sprinkle some salt on them. So I guess she ain't the only one.

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When I was little my dad - who was English - used to fry bread in leftover roast drippings and sprinkle salt on it and we thought it was the greatest thing ever, though the thought of eating that now makes me queasy.

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i just got hungry

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I do this too, it's a great snack. Sometimes I also fry an egg with it.

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I think the butter makes all the difference in the world though. When she says toast I'm thinking just straight dry toast with salt sprinkled on it and that sounds... dry.

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But from this same post...



She added: "I'm a very fussy eater. I like things to be cooked in a very simple way. I don't like oils or butters or sauces." Beckham said she does not eat dairy products and hasn't eaten red meat since childhood.





So I'm assuming it's literally just toast and salt sprinkled on. No butter!



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Same. It's hilarious to me that ppl are even confused by this lmao



Like... Salty, toasted bread? It's common from diners (that toasted, fried & salty bread served with your eggs and bacon) to hospitality traditions (bread and salt is a thing in a massive amount of cultures).



Sometimes I think ppl feign confusion about mundane shit like this just because it's a celebrity they dislike saying they like it. There's no fucking way ppl are truly confused about something so common lmao

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Sounds sad...

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I have to have strawberry jam on my toast. No other kind of jam works!

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Strawberry or Boysenberry. Soooo good.

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For me its raspberry

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I'll take almost any jam as long as it's Bonne Maman

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I just got a jar of their pineapple-passionfruit preserves and its so. Good. I highly recommend it if you've never tried it before.

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Same, and it has to be seedless!!!

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I like peanut butter toast



Or I use dry toast as a vessel for scrambled eggs



I actually dont like butter on my toast, if Im getting breakfast at a diner or something I ask for dry toast

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there was a time i was legit addicted to peanut butter toast lol id wake up excited to make some 

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Saaaame lmao

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yeah i do the vessel thing with dry toast too

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My breakfast this morning was two eggs cooked over easy and placed on top of dry toast. The toast soaks up the yolk... so good.

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My kid begs for peanut butter toast as soon as he wakes up in the morning. He's two and it's so cute hearing him say, "peeepee buttah"

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Honestly Im surprised the salt isnt too spicy for her

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she uses sodium-free salt

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Good lord you kill me....

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Speaking of salt, I know Im not a natural chef because never once have I thought to myself this needs more salt



Like back when I watched the bon appetite videos I was baffled by the amount of salt they used, looking at you Molly

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Theres nothing professional about that. Takes more skill to taste and develop the flavours of good ingredients without salting imo. As soon as someone starts going hard on salt I mistrust their skill level, and Molly's book was bland af.

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that used to be me until my late 20s, but now I can totally tell and can even detect what spices are usually in foods i'm eating. just comes from trying more stuff and tasting different things and cooking more I guess.

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Definitely agree. I will rarely season my food at the table with extra salt. (I do still sometimes still under salt mashed potatoes though)

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idk if it was Tom Colicchio but I remember one of the cooking shows I watch someone said, salt is the engine of flavor and its stuck with me ever since.



Some food definitely benefits from some finishing salt, but otherwise, if food is seasoned properly table salt shouldnt be a thing.



EDIT: To clarify, I mean that seasoning with salt is a skill in and of itselfmost people dont salt their pasta water and it should be briny af like sea water. Totally changed my pasta game!



Edited at 2021-10-01 08:00 am (UTC)

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I have such a shit sense of taste (or is it smell?) so I can detect salty easily, but flavor not so much so I'll usually add more salt over anything else since I can't always taste spices. I don't usually salt food more though.

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this is me too. like i cook with a ton of spices but it doesn't hit unless i salt it too

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People have different senses, too. Like, I need little salt to feel it. My mom needs more. (We're both non-smokers). Men I know usually like 2x more.



Sometimes I think to myself "this would prolly be better with more salt" but then I'm like nah, I don't need it, the dish tastes fine as is.

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I'm a pretty good cook but I HATE when a recipe just says, "salt to taste." For the love of god, at least give me a starting point to work with.

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They use some different kind of salt, so if you follow their recipes, and use table salt or sea salt, you'd halve the amount of salt (I make BA best choc chip cookies all the time, they live up to their name, and you really have to halve the salt)



But as it was pointed out, some of their cooks did use way too much salt, especially when they salted water for pasta (which DOES need to be extremely salty) and then literally used up all the remaining pasta water for the sauce. Like, I get it when you're discarding the pasta water, but in one pasta recipe they reused almost all of it. I was sick just looking at the video.

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For me I like making a smashed chickpea salad on some Daves Killer Bread, slices of avocado and sprinkle everything but the bagel season on top. Im also a savory over sweet person.

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Daves Killer Bread is 

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Sounds about white (bread)

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Classic ONTD doesn't read. She said whole grain.

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Toast

Crunchy peanut butter (JIF) with some fun preserves or jam (mango, raspberry, tangerine, blueberry, etc.)

Eggs sunny side up

Butter and cinnamon sugar mix but I dont indulge in that too often

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I recently made my own mango jam bc I had so much frozen and omgggg why isnt this in stores

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Goya has a mango jam, but it can be hard to find if you don't have access to a Latin market or a good international foods section at your grocery store.

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Is this a bullet list of different toast pairings or do you put ALL of these on a single piece of toast cuz, ngl, kinda sounds amazing lol

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Sea salt butter on toast is the best.

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I understand dietary restrictions but to ask the restaurant to season the food yourselfall I can say is I hope she tips good

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i know pp where they dont enjoy food, they basically eat blah food to survive  which is so sad. one of life simplest pleasure is enjoying a good meal.

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mte. it honestly actually really bugs me lol I'm like you have the privilege to eat whatever, and you don't?

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right  like she have access the best food and she only steamed vege at restaurants lol

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Im sadly increasingly getting like that. I just have a lot dietary restrictions and digestive issues, so its no fun.

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yeah, i love eating. my family are all great cooks and food is my main love language, i only cook and bake for people i love.



the last time i was depressed in late 2019/early 2020, i lost all interest in food and was only eating to live. it was such a low point

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I envy those people tbh I always use food as comfort/reward/medicine and it fucking blows (my cholesterol would agree). My roomate's week meals are the dullest ever and he's perfectly okay eating tastier things only on weekends, meanwhile a great meal works like prozac to me (while not getting one can often make me feel like shit). I'm constantly trying to find a balanced medium and failing miserably lol

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I am exactly this way too. Eating is a very social thing to me as well so if we can't share meals, it becomes an added wedge between us. I actually met a nice guy once and then opted to end things when I found out he had the "food is just for calories" mentality. I also come from a very food focused culture where we can't express our emotions normally so we have to show it through food.

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this is sad. she eating some dry ass toast like that? its like yeah imma cheat my diet but imma hate it every step of the way. like she could put some kind of condiment on it so she'd be less likely to choke on it.

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She prob puts olive oil margin on it...

She is English this is def a comfort food.



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"I'm a very fussy eater. I like things to be cooked in a very simple way. I don't like oils or butters or sauces."



I don't know if she's putting margarine on it. It really does sound like toast + salt.

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lol dry bread and various rolls (but not what americans call white bread which is just untoasted toast) is like my kryptonite I could eat it all day every day tbh it's been the hardest thing to give up/restrict trying to lose weight

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Good for them. I hope they get all their demands.

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and productions for HBO, Showtime, BET, and Starz would continue as they all fall under different contracts that haven't expired.



I hope they have fairer working conditions....but I doubt it

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No, I think they're worse because they're lower budget.

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HBO is lower budget?

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i really hope they get what they need!

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I think the biggest lesson people need to learn from the @IATSE strike is that when you make it in Hollywood, you dont get servants. You get people who also have dreams that want to help make yours happen, so treat them with kindness and respect.  Camille Corbett (@TheWittyGirl) September 28, 2021 It's disgusting that there is so much money in Hollywood and studios won't spend the money to let people have lunch or bathroom breaks. I hope they get everything they ask for.

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I get the sentiment but would argue that even servants deserve decent work places, rights, wages, kindess and respect. In general, labour laws are generous to the top and harsh to the bottom.

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I'm so excited for them!

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AMAZING! I hope they get everything they ask for.

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Good luck IATSE!!

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Woo hoo! Best of luck to them!

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NEW: Hollywood production workers who make content for Netflix, Amazon, Disney & other studios are working 12-hour days for poverty wages while streaming giants make billions.



Now 60,000 crew workers represented by @IATSE are gearing up for their first nationwide strike. pic.twitter.com/YVF03daE1y  More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) September 27, 2021

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I'm expecting good things. They know the time is now or never to make changes, and Hollywood has the money-it just has to get over it's distaste of paying people it has always been able to exploit.

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They're voting to authorize the strike, but the strike isn't actually being called yet. So we'll have to see if seeing the union members authorizing a strike scares the producers into negotiating more seriously.

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Get it IATSE  I hope they dont have to strike because it would be such a hardship for so many members already struggling but Im jaded and I think the only way to get change is to withhold labor. Apparently some productions are overworking crew now in preparation for a strike which is beyond fucked up.



There hasnt been so much as a peep from so many people about this 

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i wish IATSE all the best and for their demands to finally be met

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from what I know conditions for most of the workers in the industry are BEYOND appalling so I hope they get everything they want/need



on a less important note this is triggering memories from the writers strike from 10 years or so ago and how it seemed to cripple entire tv shows forever. someone interested in doing an ONTD history post on that?

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I obviously stand with the writers 100% but I will be forever bitter that the writers strike derailed Gossip Girl. Post-writers strike GG was never the same and on a personal note it derailed Dan and Blair because apparently there were a bunch of DB storylines that got canned because of the strike sad times

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The strike absolutely killed Heroes too.



Although I don't know how it derailed Dair since the strike happened season 1 and Dair was like season 4.

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my biggest memory from the writers strike was that jon stewart & stephen colbert were still hosting the daily show/colbert report and were contractually obligated to produce X number of episodes a year, so they had to go back to making shows before the strike ended. and they basically had to improv most of their episodes during that time because they couldn't use writers.

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On Route to Safe Material Handling

Letting people rush around as fast as they want seemed like a recipe for an increase in both the number and severity of car crashes.

Periodically, someone will float a proposal to remove speed limits from American highways. The critical response is predictably skeptical, with pundits suggesting that a highway without speed limits is a disaster waiting to happen, and the proposal is effectively squashed. In many ways, the skepticism makes sense. We know that drivers have limited reaction times, and the faster people drive, the longer it will take them to stop. Letting people rush around as fast as they want seemed like a recipe for an increase in both the number and severity of car crashes.

But take a look at a highway without speed limits, and you will be surprised to see that the predicted rise in road incidents may not be as much of a certainty as some may think. Perhaps the most famous example is the autobahn, Germanys superhighway and one of the worlds few motorways without a universal speed limit. When you peek under the hood, the autobahn highway reveals some fundamental truths about the dangers of rushing and the structural nature of safety, especially when it comes to material handling. The

Start of the Autobahn

The autobahn is a system of highways not dissimilar to interstate highways in the United States. It is almost as old too, with the construction planning on the German highway system beginning in the 1920s. Despite a common misperception, the autobahn does have speed limits but that was not always the case.

In the early 1950s, the West German government removed speed limits on all roads, including: highways, city streets and everything in between. This was a short-lived experiment and, after five years, the sharp increase in traffic collisions led to a return of speed limits in urban areas. As any safety expert will tell you, let people do what they want with no restrictions and incidents are bound to pile up. Still, while speed limits were reintroduced in many areas, the autobahn remained free of speed limits. Well, almost free of speed limits. These days, nearly one third of the autobahn has some sort of restriction on how fast you can drive. In some cases, it is because a stretch of highway passes by a city or a construction zone. In other instances, speed limits may temporarily take effect because of inclement weather and other poor driving conditions.

This article originally appeared in the October 2021 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.
OPEC+ is considering a production boost by more than the 400,000 bpd monthly the extended oil cartel agreed to earlier this year, Reuters has reported, citing unnamed sources in the know.

OPEC+ has been under growing pressure to boost production more generously as Brent moved closer to $80 a barrel and even briefly topped this level last month.

According to the report, most sources were reluctant to go into detail about the possible size of a greater production increase, but one suggested it is possible to boost production by 800,000 bpd for one month and then add no further barrels the next month.

In September, the cartel boosted its combined production by more than 400,000 bpd, adding 20,000 bpd to the agreed amount as Nigerias production rebounded more strongly than expected, by 170,000 bpd.

Meanwhile, this week the White House said it was in contact with OPEC on the issue of prices. National security adviser Jake Sullivan has, according to the White House, discussed oil prices with the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, earlier this week during a visit to the Kingdom.

We cannot exclude any option, one of the Reuters sources said, while another noted that OPEC had considered a scenario where demand rebounded more strongly than supply. These sources comments come on the heels of other anonymous remarks that said OPEC+ was most likely to stick to its original agreement.

Naturally, the Reuters report immediately moved prices in Asian trading today, with both Brent and West Texas Intermediate down slightly at the time of writing.

The upcoming OPEC+ meeting on Monday will be crucial for oil price direction next week. A production increase beyond 400,000 bpd would see some short-term relief, ANZ said in a note earlier today, as quoted by Reuters.

Demand is meanwhile seen to continue growing strongly, not least because record natural gas prices are forcing power utilities to switch to fuel oil and diesel, which will add further upward pressure to oil prices.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Perus oil industry has been under considerable pressure for some time. A combination of long-running political turmoil, community dissent and the pandemic are weighing heavily on the outlook for the Andean countrys hydrocarbon sector. Socialist Pedro Castillos victory in Perus controversial 2021 presidential election, where he defeated contentious hard-right opponent Keiko Fujimori, daughter of jailed former president Alberto Fujimori, sparked considerable fear about the oil industrys future.



Castillo during his campaign made many statements about resource nationalism, sparking fears that his administration would consider seizing privately owned mining and petroleum assets. That, along with the Marxist leanings of Castillos Free Peru party rattled the Andean countrys urban business elite and the resources sector.

Nonetheless as the likelihood of victory grew, Castillo sought to clarify his proposed policies indicating that there was no need to fear the nationalization of mining or oil assets. Prior to officially entering office Castillo stated that his administration will respect private investment and property with the state only seeking a greater share of profits from the exploitation of natural resources. That additional revenue he intends to use to increase investment in those communities in the regions where the oil industry operates to address structural economic inequality in those remote regions, thereby hopefully reducing conflict. It was the lack of funding for basic public goods and social programs in Perus Amazon Basin which caused the petroleum industrys social license to deteriorate, leading to community blockades and violent protests.

By early August 2020 demonstrators had seized a pumping station for PetroPerus 100,000 barrel per day capacity northern oil pipeline forcing operations to cease. That along with violent blockades of Block 95 forced the operator, Canadian oil junior PetroTal, to shut-in its Bretana oilfield.

During early September 2020 PetroTal was able to re-open the field after the national government in Lima reached an agreement with local communities to invest $1.7 billion in public infrastructure over a six-year period. As part of his plan to reduce conflict between communities and the petroleum industry, Castillo announced that private investment in hydrocarbon exploitation must not only be economically profitable but also benefit local communities.

PetroTal has offered to participate in a pilot program (Spanish) that will benefit the communities located near Block 95 by increasing the oil fees payable to the local provinces and municipalities where the oil industry operates. That along with additional investment in public infrastructure Castillo hopes will reduce conflict between local communities and the oil industry. PetroTals Block 95 is an ideal test case having suffered 193 incidents relating to community conflict.

Despite those positive developments, Perus oil industry, especially in the Amazon, remains in jeopardy because of a weak social license which has the potential to cause further operational disruptions due to community conflict. Ongoing maintenance and reliability issues make the northern pipeline, the primary means of shipping the crude oil produced in Perus Amazon to the coast, a key bottleneck which is preventing the Andean country from boosting oil production. Illegal valves, sabotage, poor maintenance and leaks have plagued the pipeline for years, leading to regular outages which have forced drillers in Perus Amazon to shutter operations. It is estimated by industry experts that it will take at least $250 million to upgrade and modernize the crucial pipeline.

As a result of those hazards, notably a sustained community blockade, Canadian intermediate oil producer Frontera Energy declared force majeure for Block 192 during March 2020. Prior to operations being shuttered Block 192, which contains 13 producing oilfields, was one of Perus most important oil assets pumping around 10,000 barrels per day. PetroPeru intends to recommence operations at Block 192, three decades after the national oil company under the direction of then President Alberto Fujimori sold its upstream oil assets to privately owned energy companies. Reportedly PetroPeru, which holds exploration Block 64, is considering taking over operatorship of Block 8 where Argentina's Pluspetrol shuttered operations in April 2020.

The considerable uncertainty surrounding the outlook for Perus petroleum industry makes it extremely difficult for Lima to attract foreign energy investors, making PetroPeru the only realistic option for restarting production at those blocks. The considerable headwinds facing Perus oil industry are weighing on production causing growth to remain weak. For July 2021, data from Perus Ministry of Energy and Mines shows that the Andean country pumped on average 38,888 barrels of crude oil per day. While that was 12% greater than for the same time during 2020, when oil output fell sharply because of pandemic-induced shut-ins, it is still 11.5% lower than July 2019 when Peru pumped on average 43,917 barrels per day.

Source: Peru Ministry of Energy and Mines.

The Baker Hughes monthly rig count is a dependable de-facto measure of oil industry activity. By the end of July there were only two operational drill rigs in Peru compared to four a month earlier, although this was a significant improvement over the same period during 2020 when there were no active rigs.

Source: Baker Hughes.

Nevertheless, at the end of July 2019 there were five active rigs counted by Baker Hughes, which aside from being more than double July 2021 indicates that the tempo of operations in Perus petroleum industry has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Regardless of Castillos statements indicating that he will respect private property and investment, there are considerable concerns that his administration may embark on more radical policies regarding Perus resource sector. That, along with fears of tax hikes and further protests, is acting as a considerable deterrent to investment by foreign energy companies, explaining why the Andean countrys crude oil output and rig count have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Perus petroleum industry has the potential to be a key driver of the countrys post-pandemic economic recovery, particularly after gross domestic product contracted by a worrying 11% during 2020.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
In the ongoing conflict over who will control Libyas oil that in part has played out as a battle between the head of the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) and the Oil Ministry, the latest development has been the resignation letter of deputy minister Refat Al-Abbar. Al-Abbar had opposed the Oil Ministers decision to suspend long-time NOC head Sanalla, whose suspension was revoked by Prime

Hungary has signed a 15-year natural gas supply deal with Russian Gazprom, sparking the ire of Ukraine and other members of the European Union. The deal bypasses Ukraine, guaranteeing Hungary half of its consumption needs piped through Serbia and Austria, and thus depriving Ukraine of much-needed revenues. This comes as members of the European Parliament have urged the European Commission to investigate whether Gazprom has breached abuse of dominance rules thereby contributing to the rising cost of natural gas in the region. EU investigations and decisions on matters such as this largely lack teeth.

This week has seen major clashes between Houthi rebels and Yemeni government forces over control of Marib city, the last significant stronghold of the government in the oil-rich province of the same name. In two days of clashes, more than 130 fighters have been killed, according to government officials. Yemeni government forces are being supported by Saudi-led airstrikes on rebel positions in a battle that could be pivotal in the Yemen war.

Geopolitics

This week has seen major clashes between Houthi rebels and Yemeni government forces over control of Marib city, the last significant stronghold of the government in the oil-rich province of the same name. In two days of clashes, more than 130 fighters have been killed, according to government officials. Yemeni government forces are being supported by Saudi-led airstrikes on rebel positions in a battle that could be pivotal in the Yemen war.

Hungary has signed a 15-year natural gas supply deal with Russian Gazprom, sparking the ire of Ukraine and other members of the European Union. The deal bypasses Ukraine, guaranteeing Hungary half of its consumption needs piped through Serbia and Austria, and thus depriving Ukraine of much-needed revenues. This comes as members of the European Parliament have urged the European Commission to investigate whether Gazprom has breached abuse of dominance rules thereby contributing to the rising cost of natural gas in the region. EU investigations and decisions on matters such as this largely lack teeth.

In the ongoing conflict over who will control Libyas oil that in part has played out as a battle between the head of the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) and the Oil Ministry, the latest development has been the resignation letter of deputy minister Refat Al-Abbar. Al-Abbar had opposed the Oil Ministers decision to suspend long-time NOC head Sanalla, whose suspension was revoked by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh. There is speculation that Al-Abbar was a supporter of General Haftar. Al-Abbar submitted his resignation on September 28th, and two days later, Oil Minister Mohamed Oun rejected that resignation in the name of stability.

Deals & Discoveries

While Apache Oil Corp and Total Energies have racked up the offshore discoveries in Suriname (in the prolific Guyana-Suriname basin), this week, Apache said it has plugged and abandoned the Keskesi South-1 well after encountering non-commercial quantities of hydrocarbons.

Azerbaijan and Turkey have finally reached a new gas deal after a year of haggling. The previous 20-year contract expired in April. The previous contract had Turkey importing 6.6 billion cubic meters of gas each year from Azerbaijan. But rumors surfaced over the summer that Azerbaijan may not have enough gas to fulfill its domestic needs. Other rumors suggested that the negotiations were being tripped up over price. The agreement was never really in jeopardy. Azerbaijan relies on TANAP - which passes through Turkey - to send its gas to Europe, although those terms are negotiated under a separate contract. And Turkey enjoys having Azerbaijan as another supplier for the sake of diversity. BP operates the Shah Deniz gas field, where the gas that is sold to Turkey originates. The flow of gas stopped sometime in May while the two continued negotiations. Turkey found enough gas this year to supply a third of its domestic needs once it reaches peak output by 2027, with hopes of pumping gas from its largest-ever natural gas find, Sakarya, in 2023.

Indias BPCL will sink $13.5B into petrochemicals, biofuels, gas, consumer retail, electric mobility, and digital transformation across the next five years. Of that, $4B will be set aside to expand petrochemical capacity and to improve refining efficiencies. Another $2.4B will be allocated to upstream oil and gas exploration and production.

The ADNOC Drilling Companys public offering of $1.1 billion received orders to the tune of $34 billion from eager investors, shining a light on the enthusiasm for equity deals, particularly in the energy industry. ADNOC pumps almost 100% of the UAEs oil and gas, but its desire to diversify its economy away from oil and gas has triggered asset sales. Baker Hughes holds a 5% stake, which it will keep.

The PennEast Pipeline has been scrapped after the project failed to obtain its essential water quality certification amid green pushback from New Jersey. This, even after the project won a case in the Supreme Court earlier this year over eminent domain issues.

CNOOC has discovered 730 million barrels of heavy oil reserves at Bohai Bay in the Kenli 10-2 oilfield. The appraisal well was tested to produce 569 barrels per day. Bohai already has 1.44 billion boe as of last year, accounting for one-third of CNOOCs total production.

Saudi Arabia took another giant step toward the consolidation of its large-scale industrial firms in a deal that will merge the Saudi Industrial Investment Group (SIIG) and the National Petrochemical Co for a combined market cap of over $11 billion. The merger will create a petrochemicals behemoth.

Regulation

Canadas second-largest pension fund, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, announced this week that it will exit its $3B in oil production assets by the end of next year. It will also reduce its carbon intensity by 60% by the end of this decade. It is the first institutional investor in Canada to exit oil production assets.

A campaign group, Uplift, has reviewed HMRC data regarding government payments to oil companies operating in the North Sea. The analysis of the payouts showed that many oil companies, including Exxon, Shell, and Repsol, received more money from the government than they paid in taxes. The argument of the campaign is that the North Sea oil industry is not fiscally beneficial to the UK.

The gasoline shortage in the UK, created by a tanker truck driver shortage, reached epic proportions earlier in the week, with up to 90% of some gas stations in some metro areas out of gasoline. The government pleaded with consumers to stop panic buying, which has exacerbated the shortage. On Tuesday, the UK put its army on standby to deliver gasoline to stations.

Enbridges Line 3 pipeline - after intense pushback - is now complete. The pipeline will be in service on October 1, doubling the capacity of the line to 760,000 bpd, and carrying Canadian crude to the U.S. midwest. Line 3 will operate at partial capacity in October (620,000 bpd), but will be fully utilized in the 4th quarter.

Renewables

Vineyard Wind has plans to build another massive wind port in Salem, Massachusetts, to be operated by Crowley Maritime Corp. Vineyard must first win a procurement bid from Massachusetts. The port would encompass 42 acres, which it purchased from a local power company, and would be used to assemble turbines and stage them to prepare them for installation offshore.

Iberdrola has completed its first hybrid wind/solar farm in Port Augusta. The project includes 250,000 solar panels and 50 wind turbines, generating 210 MW of wind power and 107 MW of solar power capable of supplying energy to 180,000 homes when it comes online.

GM said it plans on having all its U.S. sites powered by renewable energy by 2025--five years ahead of schedule. GM is also teaming up with PJM Interconnection and TimerRock to track carbon emissions from electricity use at its U.S. sites.
After charging to $80 per barrel on Tuesday, oil prices fell back on news of inventory builds and extra supply, and now markets are nervously waiting for the OPEC+ meeting

Oil Prices Today, Friday, October 1st, 2021

As OPEC+ meets once again next Monday, speculation has been rife regarding the oil groups intentions to bring more crude into the market. Whilst prices are still close to the $80 per barrel mark, with Brent trading around $78 per barrel and WTI trending around $74.5 per barrel, the first US inventory stock build since late July and news of OPEC+ laggards (Russia and Kazakhstan) ramping up supply has provided some downside for prices. At the same time, exorbitantly high gas prices driving gas-to-oil switching in Asia and the US dollar weakening are largely offsetting those factors.

Spot LNG Price Surge Continues.

Increasing purchasing activity in East Asia amid Chinas power demand crunch and continuing supply tightness have pushed spot LNG prices to $34.5 per mmBtu in Asia, the highest on record.

Germany Merges Gas Trading Hubs.

Germany launched a nationwide gas trading hub called THE (Trading Hub Europe), having merged two of its hubs - Gaspool and NetConnect - to be able to compete with the Dutch TTF and British NBP.

Embattled and indebted, PEMEX Raises Oilmen Salaries.

Following a series of negotiations with its oil workers union (to which most PEMEX employees belong), the Mexican national oil company indicated it agreed to increase oil workers wages by 3.4% and their benefits by 1.76%, despite its debt spiraling out of control.

Albemarle Buys into Chinas Processing.

US-based lithium producer Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) agreed to buy Chinas Guangxi Tianyuan New Energy Materials for $200 million, a lithium converter that is on the verge of launching its 25,000 tons per annum processing plant, in a bid to increase its foothold in the worlds largest demand center.

Russias LUKOIL Wants More Azerbaijan.

Longtime interested in expanding within Azerbaijan, Russias largest private oil producer LUKOIL (MCX:LKOH) agreed to buy a 25% stake in the Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula (SWAP) project from BP, only several weeks after the UK-based firm spudded its first exploration well at North Khali.

Wind Blows Again in the North Sea.

Despite European gas prices hitting several consecutive all-time highs and nearing 100 per MWh, coal-fired generation has decreased w-o-w in Germany as wind generation moved back into its normal range, averaging 11 GWh so far this week, a 10% increase year-on-year.

CNOOC to Boost Ownership of Buzios Field.

Brazils national oil companyPetrobras (NYSE:PBR) is in talks with Chinas CNOOC (HK:0883) for a deal that would see the Chinese firm buy another 5% stake in the Latin American countrys second-largest Buzios field for $2.08 billion.

Guyana Court Sets Exxon Hearing Date.

Guyanas High court has scheduled a June 2022 hearing dealing with the environmental impact of ExxonMobils (NYSE:XOM) production offshore Guyana, with local NGOs claiming the oil industry threatens the rights of locals to a clean environment.

Saudi Aramco Gets Footing in Indias Largest Private Refiner.

Reliance Industries (NSE:RELIANCE), operator of the worlds largest refinery in Jamnagar, India, stated the candidature of Yasir Al-Rumayyan, chairman of Saudi Aramco, meets all regulatory criteria to become independent director, in a move that is seen as a harbinger of Aramcos buying-in into the Indian firms oil-to-chemicals business.

Malaysian LNG Disrupted Again by Fire.

Malaysias LNG terminal in Bintulu, wielding 30 million tons of LNG per annum capacity, caught fire this week however the operator Petronas claimed operations were unaffected.

China Asks for More Russian Electricity.

Attesting to Chinas ongoing issues with nationwide power cuts, Russian state-owned power company Inter RAO (MCX:IRAO) claimed it had received a request from Chinese authorities to ramp up electricity exports. The current transmission lines could be delivering up to 7 billion KWh.

Rio Tinto Still Not Progressing with Resolution Copper.

The controversial Resolution Project, a prospective copper mine in Arizona to be operated by Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) that could meet 25% of the United States total demand for the red metal, has still seen no progress after the companys CEO failed to meet the head of the San Carlos Apache tribe that opposes it. Related: The Energy Crisis Is Sending Oil, Gas, And Coal Prices Soaring

BP and ENI Seek $2 Billion for Angola JV.

UK major BP (NYSE:BP) and Italian firm ENI (ETS:ENI) are seeking to raise $2 billion for their oil and gas joint venture in Angola, as both companies seek to spin off carbon-emitting subsidiaries into separate entities.

China Wants More Term LNG Deals with Qatar.

CNOOC (HKG:0883) signed a new supply deal with Qatars QP for a period of 15 years starting from January 2022, adding 3.5mtpa LNG to the countrys aggregate contracted volumes

Jamaica Alumina Refinery Out For At Least One Year.

The Jamalco alumina refinery, operated by Noble Group with a production capacity of 1.4 million tons per annum, will not be back until September 2022 on the back of a fire last month, putting additional pressure on aluminum prices.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

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Benchmark natural gas prices in Europe set a new record today reaching $1,200 per 1,000 cu m, or over $100 per MWh.

TASS reports that one of the reasons for the latest jump in prices could be a new decline in flows along the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline from Russia. According to the report, the flow of gas dropped threefold this morning but later accelerated, averaging 500,000 cu m per day, even though it remained much lower than the rate gas flowed on Thursday, which was 2.2 million cu m per day.

This is the second time this week that the flow along the Yamal-Europe pipeline has declined. On Tuesday, gas flows fell by more than half, Reuters reported, citing Gazprom as saying the decline was the result of a client request and it would be temporary. The report noted that Gazprom had booked capacity of 1.5 million cu m daily via the Polish stretch of the pipeline for October.

A contributing factor for the price of gas may well have been Chinas government order from yesterday to power utilities to do whatever it takes to secure enough supply of gas, oil, and coal for the winter. The news immediately sent LNG prices on the spot market flying, but it is likely to have caused reverberations in the European gas market.

The gas crunch that hit Europe last month is now forcing utilities to turn to oil and even coal after years of shunning the dirtiest fossil fuel. However, these are running expensive, too. In fact, as Bloomberg reported on Thursday, some European power utilities had reached out to Russian coal suppliers for help, but the latter have signaled that any sizeable increase in coal exports was unlikely due to capacity constraints.

If all the European utilities switch to coal, it will result in a huge spike in coal demand that Russia alone cannot provide for on such a short notice, Natasha Tyrina, a principal research analyst at Wood Mackenzie, told Bloomberg. That would need supply from other countries as well, from the U.S. for example, but the situation there is similar to everywhere else.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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German utility Steag halted its coal-fired power plant Bergkamen-A after it ran out of hard coal supplies amid an energy crunch globally and logistics challenges domestically, the company told Bloomberg on Friday.

We are short of hard coal, Steag spokesman Daniel Muhlenfeld told Bloomberg via email.

There is a strong demand for coal per se and secondly, there is a strong demand for transport by barge. And since Bergkamen has no rail connection, there are no logistical alternatives available here, Muhlenfeld said.

Lignite and hard coal accounted for around 26 percent of Germanys power generation in the first half of 2021, according to data from the German Association of Energy and Water Industries, BDEW.

In recent weeks, utilities across Europe have fired up more coal-powered generation as natural gas prices continue to surge.

Even the UK, which has pledged to phase out coal-fired power generation by October 2024, had to fire up earlier this month an old coal plant that was on standby in order to meet its electricity demand. The share of coal in Britains electricity mix during some periods in Septemberalbeit below 3 percentwas more than double compared to the below-1-percent share in September 2020.

Gas and power prices in Europe are at all-time highs, as Europe is low not only on natural gas supply as the heating season begins on October 1. Coal is also in short supply as some utilities are forced to switch to coal from gas due to the surging gas prices. Coal prices are also surging amid a tight global market supply with Chinese demand booming and with high EU carbon prices.

Officials at Russian companies tell Bloomberg that European utilities are asking for coal. But Europe may not get much incremental coal supply anytime soon, as Russian coal exports are constrained just as gas deliveries are.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Libya is looking for U.S. oil companies to return to the oil-rich nation, according to Bloomberg.

Libyas oil minister Mohamed Aoun has said that he hopes U.S. companies will return to Libya, although Libyas oil infrastructure is in dire need of repairs and upgrades, the minister added.

Libya is home to Africas greatest oil reserves.

In March, Libya announced its intention to increase oil production to 1.45 million bpd by the end of this year, 1.6 million bpd within two years, and 2.1 million bpd within four years.

But as of August, production has remained mostly flat this year, sitting at 1.163 million bpd after numerous setbacks along its path toward a production ramp up.

Those setbacks include protests and other security-related issuesincluding faction infighting--and corroded pipelines that caused leaks. But budget constraints also have cut into production, derailing Libyas ambitious plans to increase production.

The budget gapswhich could be filled in part by U.S. oil companies coming on the scenecould go a long way to spurring on their oil production plans.

For Libya, oil revenues are its almost exclusive foreign revenue stream. And in order to make ends meet, Libya would need to increase its oil production by 40% next year, with its central bank calling this increase imperative.

Its no wonder, then, that it is looking to U.S. oil companies as a way to increase its own production and pad its bottom line.

Libyas goal now is to convince foreign oil companies that it is stable enough to make Libyas vast oil riches worth their while, adding that there is still much territory to be explored.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Thanks to higher natural gas prices, U.S. oil producers are generating a larger share of their revenues from natural gas.

The share of natural gas in revenues jumped to 14 percent in the first quarter of 2021the highest since at least 2018, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) says.

Excluding the integrated majors, a total of 54 listed producers primarily engaged in crude oil production have seen their revenues from natural gas at a double-digit share of total revenues so far this year, as benchmark U.S. natural gas prices jumped during the Texas Freeze and rallied at the end of the summer on the back of record U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and flattish overall gas production in America.

As per EIA estimates, the share of natural gas in the revenues of the 54 U.S. oil producers stood at 10 percent in the second quarter of 2021.

Considering the current rally in natural gas prices around the world, including in the U.S., with Henry Hub prices at over $5 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) since mid-September, revenues from gas for the U.S. oil producers are expected to remain at high levels throughout the rest of the year, the EIA said.

The administration's analysis does not include the integrated oil majors or companies that produce natural gas as their primary business, so these trends cannot be considered as reflecting behavior in the industry as a whole, the EIA noted.

The benchmark U.S. natural gas price has doubled over the past year, and prices have rallied despite the fact that the biggest gas-producing basin, Appalachia, saw in the first half of 2021 its highest average output since natural gas production in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations started in 2008.

Overall American dry natural gas production is rising. But it's not increasing so quickly as to offset surging U.S. gas exports via pipelines and LNG cargoes, which have been setting all-time high records this year. Scorching summer heatwaves and low natural gas inventories have also driven natural gas prices higher over the past few months.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Sunset Cooperative Nursery School

Founded: 1940



Current building constructed: 1951, at Lawton Street and Great Highway.

Sunset Cooperative Nursery School started as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in 1940. Initially known as the Parkside Play Center, the school paid a small fee for the use of a church on Ulloa and 24th Avenue. A nearby vacant lot was donated to act as a play yard.

The WPA covered the salaries of the two teachers, while each mother paid three dollars a month and worked one morning each week. Most of the equipment was made by the parents with some help from the WPA workers. A Mothers' Club was organized, and its first meeting was held on October 15, 1940.

Following the sale of the lot which had been used as a play yard, the school moved to the Boy Scout Hall at 1365 24th Avenue and became the Sunset Pre-School Play Center. In 1945, the name became the now-familiar Sunset Nursery School.

Faced with the withdrawl of WPA funds in 1942, the parents filed Articles of Incorporation, hired a teacher, devoted more of their time to the school, adjusting the tuition to meet the expenses.

In April 1947, the school was approved by the Coordinator of Adult Education of the San Francisco Unified School District. Provision for the school district funds to supply a teacher was added in 1949. The Building Project launched on January 18, 1949, and in April 1951 the school moved into its present quarters.

Joe Rusk designed and landscaped bare sand into the current play yard. Bill Barrington, another parent, designed and built the distinctive tower house. Over the years, several structures such as the room adjoining the covered yard and the deck around the sandbox, were donated or built by different parents.

Sunset Nursery School was one of the first buildings in the region painted with an abstract design, first done by Barry Deutsch in 1967. Barbara and Roland Pitschell modified and carried the design inside that same year. Henry and Jenny Sultan created the current murals that adorn the north and west sides.

In 1994 the school separated from the Parent Education program of San Francisco Community College and became a private, non-profit institution.

The parents did a major reconstruction of the playground, including the famous "red tower" in June 2002.

Images: 1) Sunset Nursery School, August 2000 (WNP photo); 2) San Francisco News, April 6, 1951 (Courtesy of the San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library); 3) Helen Hatchett, teacher, 1960.

Sources: 1) Sunset Coop Parent Handbook , 2000; 2) San Francisco News, April 6, 1951.

Contribute your own stories about western neighborhoods places!
The Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor Mrs Rita Akosua Dickson, has advocated an overhaul of the national education curriculum at all level to be science technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-led.



If the focus is to churn out graduates with the requisite skills to respond to the demands of national transformation, then the curriculum, which serves as a guide for training, and formation of our manpower needs, must reflect same, she said.



Prof. Dickson said there must be a conscious effort on the part of all stakeholders in education to ensure that STEM education was hinged on critical thinking and hands-on experience.



Speaking on the second day of this years National Education Week programme in Accra on the topic, Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) Education and National Development, she said there was the need to encourage the youth to study STEM-related programmes in the various universities in the country.





On the theme, Reimagining education for national transformation, the four-day event focuses on promoting STEM education in the country, especially among girls.



The event brought together stakeholders to review the performance of the sector in the previous year and to chart a new course for the sector for the overall improvement of education in the country.



Teachers



Prof. Dickson added that in developing a good curriculum, it must go hand-in-hand with training the teachers and technicians charged with the responsibility of administering the curriculum.





Additionally, making available the necessary resources such as classrooms, laboratories, libraries and online resources increase the chances of developing that all-round graduate.



I am, therefore, of the opinion that for the nation to succeed in training the necessary manpower to respond to the demands of national transformation, the teachers, lecturers, technicians and supporting staff should not be left out, she further added.



Scholarship



Prof. Mrs Dickson suggested that the National Scholarship Secretariat could support the course for the study of STEM by devoting a portion of its scholarships to the study of STEM-related programmes at all levels for both male and female students.





We must continue to work at ensuring that the teaching and study of STEM related courses is done in an abreast manner; and begin to make the learning of STEM more practical.



That will enhance learning by our students and pupils, and inculcate into them a sense of appreciation of the potential of STEM. There should be conscious effort to demystify the study of STEM-related programmes, especially for the girl child, Prof. Mrs Dickson proposed.



The Deputy Minister in charge of General Education, Rev. Joseph Ntim Fodjour, in a welcome address, said even though there had been significant achievement in the education sector, there was still lots of work to be done.



Education Strategic Plan



He said the Education Strategic Plan (ESP) expanding from 2018 to 2030 had key targets for education outcomes expected to be achieved.





For instance, proficiency in literacy among Primary Two pupils is expected to reach at least 40 per cent by the year 2030 from a low of two per cent in 2016.



At Primary Four, 65 per cent of students are expected to reach proficiency in English and 50 per cent are expected to reach proficiency in Mathematics, while in Primary Six, at least 65 per cent of students are expected to reach proficiency in English and 55 per cent in Mathematics, he said.





Source: graphiconline.com









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A high-ranking former Malawian MP, Clement Chiwaya, has shot himself dead in an office in parliament.



Mr Chiwaya, who was a wheelchair user after he contracted polio at the age of two, served as deputy speaker between 2014 and 2019.



In a note he left shortly before the shooting, he wrote about the dispute he had with parliamentary officials over the ownership of a specially adapted vehicle.



After stepping down as deputy speaker he began a process to allow him to buy the car provided by parliament that enabled him to drive despite his disability.



He paid for the vehicle but he accused parliament of failing to transfer ownership. In a statement released after the ex-MP's death, parliament said that the matter was still in court.



Local media are reporting that Mr Chiwaya entered the office of the clerk of parliament on Thursday and shot himself with the clerk watching.



In his note, he said he was tired of begging for what belonged to him and said he took his own life for fear of "hurting others".



Mr Chiwaya, born in 1971, became a disability rights activist and successfully ran as an MP three times.



Police are now investigating how he was able to enter parliament, which is usually under heavy security, with a loaded pistol. In its statement parliament said that security officials thought that it was his wheelchair that triggered the metal detectors.

Source: BBC









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The Nigerian government has approved a two-week paternity leave for civil servants.



This signifies a major shift in the countrys civil service rules and comes after years of debate around the issue.



Nigerias Head of Civil Service Folasade Yemi-Esan said that the 14-day paternity leave is to enable fathers and their newborns to "bond well together".



She says the leave is applicable to men whose spouses have given birth and those who have adopted a baby who is less than four months old.



Prior to this policy, only women were entitled to maternity leave.



The introduction of paternity leave in Nigeria comes as campaigners continue to advocate for men to be more involved in childcare and to support mothers.



This is an attempt to shift from the tradition of leaving childcare responsibility solely with the mothers.

Source: BBC









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Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has debunked and described as false and unfounded an allegation made by The Inquisitor newspaper against one of its subsidiaries, the Cocoa Marketing Company (Gh.) Ltd (CMC).



The newspaper claimed in a story in its recent publication that the shipment of Ghanas cocoa to the global market was under threat, as companies involved in the exercise were crying foul over maltreatment by CMC.



But in a press statement issued by COCOBOD in response to the story, its management said the allegation is ill-considered, false and malicious.



CMC, the statement read, has over sixty (60) years of experience in the shipment of cocoa and performs that role exceptionally with highly skilled and competent staff.



All of its operations, including the determination and allocation of shipments, are well defined and structured to prevent any individual or group of individuals from having undue leverage in determining which shipping lines get freight allocations, the press statement further read.



It added that neither COCOBOD nor CMCs attention had been drawn to any threat(s) and/or intimidation from its staff or have by themselves issued any threat to any shipping line in the determination and allocations of shipments as falsely alleged by the newspaper.



Hence, COCOBOD has asked the newspaper to retract the false story and render an apology.



We would, therefore, advise that the paper retracts the publication and offer an unqualified apology to the regulator of Ghanas cocoa industry, COCOBOD, and its subsidiary, since such unfounded publications tarnish the hard-earned reputation of Ghanas cocoa industry in the international business arena.



The management of COCOBOD also advised the general public to disregard the inaccurate information put out by the newspaper, which it said, is aimed at undermining the progress made by the Board in recent years.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana









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A former Nazi concentration camp secretary, 96, is "on the run" on the day her trial was due to start, a court said on Thursday.



Irmgard Furchner, who was between 18 and 19 years old at the time of the events and lives in a home for the elderly near Hamburg, was to be tried by a special youth court for "complicity in murder in more than 10,000 cases", according to the prosecution.



She is accused of participating in the murder of inmates in the Stutthof concentration camp in present-day Poland, where she worked as a typist and secretary to the camp commander, Paul Werner Hoppe, between June 1943 and April 1945.



But the president of the court in Itzehoe said on Thursday morning "the accused is on the run", adding an arrest warrant has been issued.



"She left her (elderly) home this morning. She took a taxi," said a spokeswoman for the Itzehoe court, Frederike Milhoffer.



Her lawyer, Wolf Molkentin, was present in court but did not make any statement to journalists.



The presiding judge asked for "a little patience" as the opening of the trial on Thursday appeared to be in doubt.



Even if the accused is arrested, a medical examination will still have to be carried out to determine whether she is able to follow a hearing.



She is the only woman to be tried in Germany for involvement with the Nazis in decades.



Irmgard Furchner, who was between 18 and 19 years old at the time of the events and lives in a home for the elderly near Hamburg, is to be tried by a special youth court for "complicity in murder in more than 10,000 cases", according to the prosecution.



The prosecution accuses her of participating in the murder of inmates in the Stutthof concentration camp in present-day Poland, where she worked as a typist and secretary to the camp commander, Paul Werner Hoppe, between June 1943 and April 1945.



In this camp near the city of Gdansk, where 65,000 people perished, "Jewish inmates, Polish partisans and Soviet prisoners of war" were systematically murdered, according to the prosecution.



The trial at a court in Itzehoe, northern Germany, will be followed a week later by the trial of a 100-year-old former Nazi camp guard at Sachsenhausen, near Berlin.



According to lawyer Christoph Ruckel, who has represented Holocaust survivors for years, Irmgard Furchner "kept all the correspondence of the camp commander".



"She also typed up the execution and deportation orders and initialled them," he said on the regional public broadcaster NDR.









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The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Dr. Awal Mohammed paid a visit to the home of late Highlife legend, Nana Kwame Ampadu to commiserate with the family following his demise.



You would recall that the Obra hitmaker kicked the bucket on Tuesday, September 28, at the Legon Hospital in Accra where he was receiving treatment for an illness, according to several media reports. He passed on aged 76.



His death came as a shock to many industry people and fans.



On this heartbreaking development the Hon. Awal Mohammed and his deputy, Hon. Mark Okraku Mantey stormed the residence of the fallen hero and console them with words of comfort.



With a heavy heart, Hon. Awal Mohammed made an undisclosed cash donation to the bereaved family and pledged to support in giving late Nana Kwame Ampadu a befitting burial. The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts we accompanied by some industry stakeholders including music executive Akwasi Ernest, Frankie 5, Socrates Safo and many others.



The Minister and his deputy also signed the book of condolence to formalize and conclude their visit.



Watch the full video below:



Source: Eugene Osafo-Nkansah/Peacefmonline.com









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" " President Joe Biden joined Amtrak executives April 30 for a ceremony to pay homage to the past and share Amtrak's bold vision for the future. Amtrak

At one time in American history, trains were the future. They brought prosperity, allowed for a new kind of freedom, and caused not a small deal of disruption, to a vast continent, helping to stitch together the pieces of a far-flung and fledgling nation.

People still use the train these days. In 2019, Amtrak, America's long-distance train service, hosted more than 32 million trips, a record for the quasi-public company. But outside of some crowded corridors on the East Coast and some localized commuter services in scattered big cities, train travel to most people in the United States now generally seems an anachronism.

The American Jobs Plan, President Joe Biden's audacious and wide-ranging infrastructure push, offers up a multi-billion-dollar infusion of cash that aims to change that. In short, Biden's plan is designed to bring train travel back to the future.

Amtrak, for one, says it's about time.

"We were created for the country to have a national rail network," says Amtrak representative Kimberly Woods. "We want to continue to build and grow on what we have and offer the country more. That's why we have this vision that we're talking about now."

" " Amtrak released its map of what the rail system might look like in 2035 with the right kind of investment. Included are routes connecting Southern cities like Atlanta, Nashville, Savannah, and Montgomery, Alabama  services that at this point do not exist. Amtrak

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The New Plan for Trains

When Biden made his announcement of the American Jobs Plan late in March 2021, it included $80 billion "to address Amtrak's repair backlog; modernize the high traffic Northeast Corridor; improve existing corridors and connect new city pairs; and enhance grant and loan programs that support passenger and freight rail safety, efficiency and electrification."

Also new to the plan that Amtrak says could boost ridership by 20 million trips by 2035: Routes from Phoenix to Los Angeles; from Los Angeles to Las Vegas; and Houston to Dallas. More than 30 extra routes could be added. Many existing ones would be expanded. Every state but South Dakota would have at least one stop.

The $80 billion figure, just part of the $2.7 trillion Jobs Plan, was eye-popping. It's also far from guaranteed. Biden's plan is just that; a plan. It's up to Congress to settle on the final figures.

As bold as the $80 billion, though, was what Amtrak says it can do with that kind of financial boost. The company  it's celebrating its 50th anniversary, created by Congress when other railroads abandoned the passenger side of the business for more lucrative freight trains  this year released a map of what the rail system might look like in 2035 with the right kind of investment. Included were routes connecting Southern cities like Atlanta, Nashville, Savannah and Montgomery, Alabama,  services that at this point do not exist.

Adding routes and improving the ones already in existence, both the Biden administration and Amtrak claim, will provide more Americans with more opportunity for travel, especially many who are shut out of more expensive means of transportation. The plan also checks off two more of Biden's campaign promises: to create more jobs and to attack the climate crisis. Traveling on Amtrak, the company claims, means some 83 percent fewer greenhouse gases emitted than driving and up to 73 percent fewer than flying.

"We believe it will address the global climate crisis, it will get people out of their vehicles and onto the trains for more travel, whether it's for work, a weekend trip or a vacation trip," Woods says. "We just believe that better rail service means cleaner air, less traffic and happier people."

" " The first of Amtrak's 28 new Acela trains is seen here testing out of the Northeast Corridor. The Acela trains are the country's fastest, all-electric intercity trains. Marc Glucksman/Amtrak

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The Challenges Ahead

Ahh, but the cost. For years, Amtrak, which already is heavily subsidized by federal and state governments, has struggled to get the funding it says it needs to carry out its mandate to connect America. Building out train service in a country as huge as the United States  laying down rail, buying equipment like the new high-speed trainsets that run on the popular Boston-New York Acela route, maintaining the system, making sure it's safe  is expensive. Some think prohibitively so.

Even the $80 billion, many say, is not nearly enough to do what Biden and others envision.

The libertarian Cato Institute  a group opposed to big government spending  compared a desire for America to be among the leaders in high-speed rail to "wanting to be the world leader in electric typewriters, rotary telephones or steam locomotives, all technologies that were once revolutionary but are functionally obsolete today." According to Cato, investing in rail is much more expensive than airlines or highways with much less chance of making that money back.

As it is, the $80 billion money earmarked for Amtrak will be hard to push through Congress, even though both the House and the Senate are currently controlled by Democrats who are behind Biden's plan. Many politicians agree with the need to improve infrastructure. Many agree on the rail system's potential to fight the climate crisis, and to provide transportation solutions to some of the neediest people in the country.

But that cost ...

For Amtrak's part, the money  whatever figure Congress finally lands on  would be money well-invested, in America and its future.

"Our vision is to connect new city pairs across America," Woods says. "We believe that our vision rises to the urgent challenges of our times."

NOW THAT'S INTERESTING Amtrak has the right to use any and all of America's rail infrastructure. Many of those rails, of course, are being used now by private, freight railroads. But the relationship between freight and passenger trains is not always a symbiotic one. In 2019, freight trains caused more than 1 million minutes in passenger delays  all illegal. By law, passenger trains are supposed to be given preference over freight trains.
" " In the future, spacefaring countries will have to come together to work out new international agreements on how to handle crimes in space. HowStuffWorks

Maybe it will be a jealous astronaut who decides to eliminate a rival in an orbital love triangle. Or maybe being cooped up in a spacecraft on an interplanetary flight will cause one crew member to flip out and finally lose it at a colleague's annoying nose blowing. Or maybe it will be a killing made to look like an accident, in order for a co-conspirator to collect an insurance policy back on Earth.

But sooner or later, it seems likely to happen, given humans' propensity for committing homicidal violence against one another all over the world. Somebody is going to commit a murder in space or on another planet or moon, and, when it happens, authorities will have to figure out how to catch the perpetrator and bring him or her to justice.

But it's not going to be easy. Investigating a murder in space would be vastly more complicated and difficult than probing a crime on Earth. And law enforcement agencies and courts may have to deal with tricky, complex jurisdictional issues that end up requiring negotiations among spacefaring companies. And until the laws are rewritten, judges will have to take statutes and legal standards that were developed to deal with murder allegations on Earth and figure out how to apply them to accusations of lethal violence in space.

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Legal Jurisdiction Extends Into Space

You might be surprised to learn that nations already have legal jurisdiction that stretches outside the confines of this planet. That's covered by Article VIII of the 1967 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. It specifies that whenever one of the nations that's a party to the treaty launches an object  i.e., a spacecraft, satellite or space station  into space, or builds one on a celestial body, that nation retains jurisdiction and control over it.

Thus, according to legal experts, if a U.S. astronaut is accused of killing another American while traveling in a NASA spacecraft or a commercial space vehicle launched from the U.S., the FBI and federal prosecutors would be within their authority to arrest the alleged killer and bring him or her back to Earth for a trial in federal court.

Things might get a little more complicated if the murder occurs on the International Space Station, and the alleged killer and the victim are citizens of different countries.

"Article 22 of the 1998 Intergovernmental Agreement concluded between the parties deviates from the aforementioned international treaty clauses and by contrast concedes jurisdiction to the state of nationality of the offender," writes Frans G. von der Dunk, the Othmer Professor of Space Law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Law, in an email. However that comes "with the caveat that if the life or safety of persons with other nationalities and/or the safety of the space station is at stake, consultation should take place with these other countries concerned on which country should actually initiate prosecution, which may result in the country of nationality of the victim doing that."

However, "that agreement only covers the International Space Station," Michelle Hanlon, associate director of the Air and Space Law Program at the University of Mississippi School of Law, explains in an email.

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What About Citizen-astronaut Crime?

Things could get even more complicated jurisdictionally, Hanlon says, if there's a killing on a future private-sector orbital hotel, the sort of place where she thinks it is more likely to occur. "If you have 400 civilians in space, you know crime inevitably is going to happen. We send the most disciplined and fit people, the best of humanity, to the ISS. With a hotel, you're not going to be able to impose the same standards. You need to make money. You're going to get a lot greater variety of people, and you know there is going to be crime, possibly from stealing a watch all the way to murder."

Who actually qualifies as the hotel's "launching state" with jurisdiction under the 1967 treaty could be murky, too, Hanlon continues. It could be nation A, which is home to the company that operates the hotel, or it could be the nation B, where the installation's components were manufactured  or nation C, where the launch pad for the rocket that transported the parts into space was located. Or nation D, home to the company that rented the launch pad. "Arguably, any of these states could have jurisdiction," she says.

As a result, crimes in space  particularly incidents involving nationals from different countries  most likely would lead to diplomatic negotiations to see who gets to take charge, Hanlon says.

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Where Does National Sovereignty End?

And what if an astronaut on a spacewalk decides to, say, cut another astronaut's tether? The victim could spin off and possibly be drawn back into the Earth's atmosphere, where he or she would be burned to death, a fate described in this 2013 Popsci.com article. Who would have jurisdiction then, since the act would have occurred outside of an object controlled by a nation?

"Although there is no sovereignty outside a spacecraft, there are analogies to the law on ships in international waters and also to issues that might occur in Antarctica; both places with no national sovereignty," Henry R. Hertzfeld, a research professor and director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, explains via email.

"So, although this is not a settled issue, my reading is that being in space and technically outside of any nation's sovereignty or jurisdiction is not sufficient to avoid being charged with a crime," Hertzfeld says. "As above, any person in space has a national citizenship, is the responsibility of the launching state or the person's state of citizenship for their activities in space and would be tried for a violation of the law in the appropriate state. Within a nation such as the U.S., different laws might apply depending on the nature of the crime and the ownership of the vehicle or place where the crime took place."

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We're Gonna Need Space Cops

But let's assume that the U.S. takes jurisdiction over a space murder. Investigating the crime and building a case is going to be tricky, considering that the crime scene and potential witnesses are outside the Earth. "You may have to add a whole new profession  space cop," Hanlon says. "There's going to be a tremendous cost to send somebody into space just to investigate a murder." In fact, it may drain resources that would go to other things that we want astronauts to be doing, such as performing research and exploring the cosmos.

And gathering evidence in space or on another planet or moon might be especially difficult. As this 2018 Atlantic article explains, DNA  increasingly, a key means of identifying perpetrators  would age differently on Mars than on Earth, because of the increased exposure to solar radiation due to the red planet's thinner atmosphere. Additionally, lower gravity would lead to such things as different splatter patterns from stab wounds. On the plus side, the ubiquitous Martian dust clinging to the exteriors of space suits and other surfaces might provide a valuable new sort of evidence.

"It creates incredible complexities," Hanlon says. But even so, she figures that investigators and prosecutors will find a way to deal with it. "Our law developed before fingerprints and DNA. When you prosecute a criminal case, you do what you can with what you're given."

Space murder may also require the courts to grapple with Fourth Amendment issues, since astronauts are continually being monitored in myriad ways, including on video. "There's a value to having cameras in every room of a spacecraft," Hanlon says. "But do you have an expectation of privacy?" Hanlon expects that many of these questions will be resolved by wise judges and lawyers.

But she'd also like to see spacefaring countries come together and work out a new international agreement on how to work together on handling future crimes in space. "What we don't want is an international space regime that has very different concepts from jurisdiction to jurisdiction," she says. "Hopefully, we can explore space together as a species and have common understandings."

Now That's Interesting Another potentially complicating factor for prosecuting an American for murder in space is that in the U.S., murder typically is charged as a crime under state rather than federal law. Committing murder on a ship or on an aircraft as part of a hijacking are federal crimes.
" " Conservations that deal with matters of race can be sticky, but also very rewarding and productive. Purestock/Getty Images

The fallout from the recent deaths of Black people like Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and Breonna Taylor has sparked an increase in discussions about race in the U.S.  or at least an interest in doing so. But this topic can be a minefield when discussed between people of different ethnic backgrounds.

Jennifer Johnson of Americus, Georgia, who is white, remembers a conversation she had with a Black friend after Trayvon Martin died. "We were in complete disagreement," she recalls. "The one part I just couldn't get out of my head was her explaining the fear that Black people have when they encounter police. I had a gun pulled on me once by a cop and I didn't much care for the feeling but for her it is more than fear, it is panic."

Johnson reached out to her friend after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis to apologize for being slow to come around, which her friend accepted with joy. "She has really taught me a lot about racial and cultural differences," she says. "I know now that racism is alive and well in the South; it has just taken an event like this to show me how many racist people surround me," Johnson says. "My friend has been the most instrumental in making me think and empathize, and imagine how things would be different if I had been born in different skin."

That conversation ended positively. But often people are afraid to even begin to have the talk. "I have been avoiding the topic in fear of saying the wrong thing. I don't want to offend anyone," says Holly (name changed) in Atlanta, who is white. Her worries are compounded, she says, by the fact that some people call out others on social media for not speaking up about racial injustice. "I feel like I am being weak and a scapegoat after reading people's posts about people like me," she explains.

But Amisha Harding, an Atlanta-based activist and founder of Courageous Conversations for the Collective, finds her concern actually heartwarming. "She cares enough to be thoughtful and mindful, that her voice as a white person could be misconstrued," says Harding, who is African American. "She doesn't want to add more wood to the fire."

That said, it would be beneficial to the racial justice movement if Holly and others like her could find the will to engage in conversations to learn and make change. "For many many years these conversations haven't taken place. It's been the elephant in the room," explains Dr. Courtland Lee, a professor in the Counselor Education Program at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, and an expert on multicultural counseling. "It's a very very complicated and challenging subject to talk about."

Harding understands the fear of speaking up in the current climate. "But if people don't take time to sit down and talk and create space for mutual understanding and respect then nothing changes," she says. But for that to work, people on both ends of the conversation need to be open, receptive and patient. "We need people to feel built up and empowered. We need them to show up and lift their voices."

No matter who's involved in the conversation, here are some helpful guidelines for keeping charged conversations constructive.

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1. Keep It Kind

Racial issues have always been hot-button, but there's an added edge right now. "People are fearful, confused, angry and enraged," Harding says. "It's important to understand with those heightened emotions that we have to remember to be kind and thoughtful."

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2. Think Through Your Intentions

What are you hoping to gain from such a conversation? Are your intentions helpful? Harmful? Productive, or just the opposite? If you go into a conversation, social media post, text thread with an agenda that isn't positive or open-minded, chances are good that the resulting dialogue won't be that way, either.

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3. Be Open, Honest and Unafraid

"Somebody has to be courageous to say, 'Hey, let's talk about it,'" Lee says. "I think the best way to start it is to speak your truth. Basically, say what's on your mind." For example, if you are a person of color and you hear something that strikes you as racist, don't be afraid to speak up and spark a discussion, he says.

White people shouldn't hesitate to ask for insight to issues they don't understand, either. "Say, 'I am white. I've never experienced this. I don't freak out when I get pulled over by a police officer for speeding, I don't understand the fear that Black people have. Can you tell me why you're so afraid?'" says Lee.

He notes that white people are often afraid to refer to people as "Black," even though it's not a negative or condescending descriptor. "One of the things that I find with white friends and colleagues is when they're talking about a person they'll describe their height, weight, clothes. They can't say the word 'Black.' They're stumbling, they're embarrassed," Lee says.

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3. Sympathize, Don't Empathize

No matter how good the intentions, a white person is never going to fully understand what it's like to be a person of color. So, don't try to normalize the other person's experiences or apply your own situation.

"One of the things that I don't want people to say is 'I understand where you're coming from.' No you don't. This really pisses people off," Lee says. "That becomes a conversation stopper right there." He also cautions against the use of trite, tired phrases like "I hear you."

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4. Legitimately Listen

This might be the most important point. "So often, people are so bent on voicing their position that they don't listen," Harding says. But don't just half-listen while planning your rebuttal. "Listen to listen, not to respond. If you listen you'll find that you can actually have a real conversation. With your ears, but with your heart, too."

Even if you can't fully comprehend the other person's situation, it is important to validate them. "You're trying to listen and be educated about this person's context and reality. Accept it for what it is," Lee says, adding that you can't interpret it or apply it to your own worldview. "Try to understand that this is their reality."

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5. Don't Get Defensive

We've all seen people counter "Black Lives Matter" with "All Lives Matter." Many people who do this don't understand the context of the slogan, so the resulting defensiveness is undeserved. "For example, when Black people talk about oppression and racism and you hear white people say, 'My people didn't have it easy either,'" Dr. Lee says. "That may be true, but you're not trying to understand this person's context and where they're coming from. Don't right away become defensive and defend your culture."

That's why a lot of these conversations don't go anywhere, Lee notes. Rather than listening, people shut down and adopt a defensive posture. "I think, and this goes for both sides, you have to listen for understanding."

Harding recalls being at a protest march for racial justice and seeing a white woman holding a sign that said we should all be colorblind. "I knew her intention was good," she says. "She didn't know how to support us but she wanted to be down there. I said, 'Thank you for being out here and being an ally I want to commit to you as a Black woman, that I'm happy to talk to you about your experience and help you to develop understanding.' [You could see] a weight lifted off of her. I could have said, 'That sign is offensive.' But that would have shut her down and shut her out."

Few complex issues are thoroughly understood or resolved after one conversation, but each one is a step in the right direction. If done correctly and with respect, at the end of the talk both people might not totally get each other's positions, but they'll be in a better place to continue the talk later.

If it does deteriorate on the opposite end, don't be too distraught over the loss of friendship, Lee advises. "If a frank, honest and open discussion about race destroys a friendship it wasn't a friendship to begin with."

Now That's Cool It's important for white people to learn from people of color, but that's not the only place to turn. "Learn about white privilege and white fragility," Harding says. She suggests seeking out the website of diversity expert and educator Jane Elliott, known for her "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise. Lectures and videos can be accessed there.
Africas leopards, like this one in Botswana, are increasingly under threat. Credit: Shutterstock

In recent years, ecologists have been able to confirm the existence of species previously thought to be lost from former parts of their range.

For example, in 2020, lowland gorillas were confirmed to persist in central mainland Equatorial Guinea by University of the West of England researchers. This year, Babirusa, a southeast Asian wild pig species, were documented for the first time in 26 years on Buru Island, Indonesia.

Collecting this evidence is possible due to the increasing use of remotely triggered cameras, commonly known as camera traps. Camera traps are triggered by motion and take photos of an animal that passes in front of the camera's detection zone.

By deploying cameras in wildlife habitat, we can gather valuable information about the animals that live there and how many may be left. This is especially important in areas subject to intense human pressure, which has increasingly left species under threat.

In 2019, our research team deployed 19 camera traps in southern Cameroon in Central Africa. A sighting of an adult leopard was captured by one of our camera traps in the Campo-Ma'an area. This was the first sighting of a leopard in 20 years.

Photos showed only one individual, but its presence provided real evidence that leopards still occur in this conservation area. This would make leopards the apex predator in this area.

The leopard has the widest range of any big cat species in Africa, and can persist in a range of habitat types including savanna and rainforest environments. Population estimates are not known, though numbers in Africa are thought to be declining. A 2016 study estimated that the African leopard's range has reduced to 67%.

There is little information about leopard populations in Central Africa but in sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, prey loss within protected areas as well as habitat loss and illegal hunting are expected to have played an important role in leopard declines in this region.

Although the Congo Basin was previously thought to be a stronghold for leopards, they are now believed to be absent in many parts of this region, so our recent sighting of a leopard in Campo-Ma'an shows the importance of conservation efforts to protect leopard habitat and their prey.

In light of increasing habitat loss and fragmentation in the region, further research in our study area is urgently needed.

Campo-Ma'an

The region is part of the Congo Basin which, besides Cameroon, spans parts of Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo and Gabon.

The Congo Basin is a biodiversity hotspot that is home to thousands of species and is the second largest tropical rainforest on the planet after the Amazon. This forest system is also home to several endangered species, including the western lowland gorilla, forest elephant, chimpanzee, mandrill and giant pangolin.

Campo-Ma'an National Park is a 2,680 square km protected area in southern Cameroon. Campo-Ma'an was thought to have one of the last remaining leopard populations in the region. But after decades of hunting and forest loss, there had been no indisputable evidence that leopards were still there.

An unexpected find

In 2019, one of our camera traps photographed a leopard, as an unexpected byproduct of a study on the ecology of endangered forest elephants in Campo-Ma'an.

Cameras were deployed in areas thought to be used by elephants so we were surprised to see an adult leopard in one of the photos.

Knowing that leopards still exist in Campo-Ma'an helped us secure research funds to expand our camera trapping efforts in the area in 2022. Working with local communities and the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife in Cameroon will help us collect data to better understand what leopards need to be able to live in this area and importantly, prevent human-leopard conflict.

Our team will carry out an extensive camera trap survey throughout the Campo-Ma'an conservation area to gather more information about leopard habitat use there. This will help us get a better idea of how many leopards there are, and in turn, encourage strategies to protect the species.

This is urgently needed as human disturbance and encroachment is a major threat to wildlife in the area. Campo-Ma'an National Park is surrounded by more than 100 human settlements, as well as palm oil plantations and logging concessions.

Our findings were valuable in confirming the presence of leopards in the area but a great deal more work needs to be done. Our work will form the basis of a long-term wildlife monitoring program in the region which we hope will contribute to conservation efforts in Campo-Ma'an, for leopards as well as the many other endangered species that live there.

Explore further Researchers confirm the presence of the African leopard in southwestern Cameroon

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Most Australians want concrete action to tackle climate change, with calls intensifying following a string of climate-worsened bushfires and other disasters.

Australia's powerful mining sector has backed a 2050 net-zero carbon target, heaping pressure on the country's coal-championing government to follow suit.

The Minerals Council of Australiawhich represents mining heavy hitters like BHP and Rio Tintosaid a 2050 target was achievable through "significant investment in technology".

"A more sustainable minerals sector is not only important for Australia's post-Covid recovery, it is also helping to sustain and improve the lives of millions around the world," chief executive Tania Constable said.

Australia is currently one of the world's leading exporters of fossil fuels, particularly coal and natural gas.

Its conservative government continues to fund new coal projects despite the global climate crisis and mounting questions about whether new mines make economic sense.

Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison has so far shied away from setting a net-zero target carbon emissions target, despite pressure from the United States, Britain and other allies ahead of climate talks in Glasgow.

Morrison has threatened to boycott the landmark UN climate summit, which begins late this month.

At the same time, his government has slowly shifted focus away from a 2030 carbon-neutral target to a less ambitious 2050 targetwhich critics say is too little, too late.

A series of senior figures within Morrison's government, and now closely tied industry groups, have backed the 2050 target publicly.

But there is still division within Morrison's ruling coalition.

He faces reelection before May next year and will almost certainly need the stridently pro-coal and climate-sceptic National Party to form a government.

Polls show most Australians favour concrete action to tackle climate change, with those calls only intensifying following a string of climate-worsened bushfires and other natural disasters.

Explore further Australia rejects climate targets despite damning UN report

 2021 AFP
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Large-scale deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, combined with climate change, will increase the number of people in northern Brazil who are exposed to extreme heatwith potentially deadly results and devastating economic impacts, according to a groundbreaking study released today by Brazilian researchers in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

Extreme heat levels, which are physiologically intolerable to the human body, will profoundly affect regions where highly vulnerable populations, including Indigenous Peoples, reside. This is the first study to quantify the combined impacts of rampant forest losswhich would eventually transform the Amazon into a savannaand climate change on human health and productivity.

According to the study, Deforestation and climate change project increased risk of heat stress in the Brazilian Amazon, there is a deforestation threshold in the Amazon, beyond which human survival is threatened. Crossing this threshold causes an "extreme health effect," which by 2100 could expose approximately 12 million people living in the northern states of Para and Amazonas in Brazil to extreme risk of heat stress.

"Extreme heat conditions induced by deforestation may have significant and long-lasting adverse effects on human health. If deforestation continues at its current rate, the effects for our civilization will be dramatic," said report co-author Paulo Nobre, senior researcher at Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). "In addition to impacts on human health and survival, these findings have serious economic implications far beyond crop damage." Paulo Nobre wrote the report with Beatriz Alves de Oliveira, Marcus Bottino, and Carlos Nobre.

High temperatures and humidity weaken the body's cooling capabilities, resulting in increased body temperature. Sustained exposure to such conditions results in dehydration and exhaustion, and, in more severe cases, tension and collapse of vital functions, which can lead to death. In addition, heat stress affects mood and mental illness, and reduces physical and psychological performance.

Scientists already have a well-established understanding of how tropical deforestation contributes to global climate change through emitting carbon and reducing the ability of the world's forests to take more carbon out of the atmosphere. A new body of research is emerging, showing how tropical deforestation has climate impacts beyond carbon: Deforestation immediately increases extreme heat locally and decreases regional and local rainfall.

In Brazil, this phenomenon is already apparent. Recent research has shown the combined effects of deforestation and climate change are being felt in the Amazon region, with the most extreme heat increases reported in large, deforested areas between 2003 and 2018. The agriculture industry is already feeling the impacts of this extreme heat and low rainfall.

The new study released today is the first to closely examine how increases in extreme heat will impact people. The study researchers found that the combination of deforestation and global warming could increase heat risks outdoor workers, who are already exposed to increased temperatures.

Added to that, the study found that human activities responsible for large-scale forest loss in the Amazon, which include forest fires and the expansion of agricultural and mining lead to unplanned urbanization, lack of basic sanitary infrastructure, and more frequent informal workall of which further impact vulnerable people

When all these factors are combined, deforestation and its impacts lead to increased inequality and vulnerability, which interact with climate change to increase the urgent need for health and social protection services in the Brazilian Amazon region.

The study shows that effects play out regionally, and the most severe direct impacts likely will take place in northern Brazil. Of Brazil's 5,565 municipalities, 16% of them (equivalent to 30 million inhabitants) might be impacted by thermal stress due to the savannization of the Amazon. Of the impacted population, 42% reside in municipalities in Brazil's northern region, which includes areas with high social vulnerability.

In this region, approximately 12 million people could be exposed to extreme risk of heat stress by 2100. The authors claim that, with the savannization of the Amazon and limited adaptation capabilities in northern Brazil, residents could face precarious survival conditions, intensifying such effects as mass migration.

Additionally, increased exposure to thermal stress could reduce labor productivity in several areas of the economy, if workers are exposed to fatal heat conditions. In Brazil, outdoor workers are already exposed to heat stress, and projections indicate increasingly high-risk exposure over the next decades.

By 2030, a projected 1.5 C increase in global average temperatures could reduce working hours in Brazil by the equivalent of 850,000 full-time jobs, especially in the agricultural and construction sectors. In agriculture, high risk associated with intense work and heat overload has already been observed among sugarcane cutters.

The researchers emphasize the urgent need for coordinated measures to avoid harmful effects on vulnerable populations. "The local effects of land use changes are directly linked to forest sustainability policies and strategies, but changes are within society's reach. For example, the health sector could be an important source of policy solutions to mitigate risk and vulnerability," argues Beatriz Oliveira, researcher at the Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz).

The researchers' estimates did not consider population growth or changes in demographic structure or life expectancy. Thus, the results shown in the study reflect the isolated effects of climate change and savannization, and maybe interpreted to represent the effects observed if the current population were exposed to projected heat stress distributions.

Explore further New study exposes big differences amongst Amazonian countries in their rates of forest recovery as well as deforestation

More information: Beatriz Fatima Alves de Oliveira et al, Deforestation and climate change are projected to increase heat stress risk in the Brazilian Amazon, Communications Earth & Environment (2021). Journal information: Communications Earth & Environment Beatriz Fatima Alves de Oliveira et al, Deforestation and climate change are projected to increase heat stress risk in the Brazilian Amazon,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-021-00275-8

Provided by Fiocruz Piaui
University of Montana research suggests climate change could complicate a plan to conserve 30% of the Earth by 2030. Credit: NASA

In a new study published in the journal Communications, Earth & Environment, University of Montana researchers and colleagues explore how climate change could challenge efforts to protect biodiversity within the network of protected areas around the globe.

The team examined how potential shifts in ecoregions and biomes caused by climate change might change their representation within the global protected area network. They also considered the implications for conservation targets that call for 30% of Earth's habitats to be formally protected by 2030.

"At its most basic level, this study attempts to understand what shifts in the distribution of the Earth's ecoregions and biomes will mean for the capacity to conserve and protect biological diversity using protected areas," said Solomon Dobrowski, the paper's lead author and a professor of forest landscape ecology in the University's W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation.

Scientists have divided Earth's terrestrial areas into roughly 800 ecoregions. An ecoregion is an ecosystem defined by distinctive geography and biota. These combinations of plants and animals act as surrogates for the planet's biodiversity and provide a means for scientists, international organizations and countries to track whether protected areas represent the planet's biodiversity.

Countries around the world use protected-area designations to conserve biodiversity. Protected areas come in lots of flavors, Dobrowski said, like national parks in the U.S. But one thing they all have in common are fixed boundaries that delineate a place on the ground.

Climate change will likely affect what ecosystems are represented in protected areas, Dobrowski and his co-authors contend in the new study, but how remains unclear. It's also unclear how that could affect the effectiveness of conservation strategies that rely on protected areaslike the United Nations's draft of the Post-2020 Global Diversity Framework, better known as 30 by 30, which calls for permanently protecting 30% of the Earth by 2030 through expanding the protected area network, among other initiatives. (In the U.S., there also is the America the Beautiful initiative, which aims to conserve 30% of America's lands and waters by 2030.)

The 30 by 30 framework will be addressed at the UN Biodiversity Conference COP-15, which kicks off online in October.

"The UN, in coordination with many countries and international conservation organizations, is promoting the expansion of the protected area network so that 30% of all ecoregions are protected by 2030," Dobrowski said. "But what happens when plants and animals, and therefore ecoregions, move over time to track their optimal climate but the protected area boundaries stay fixed in place?

"Even if 30% of a given ecoregion may be protected now, as the ecoregions shift in response to climate change, that protection and representation within the protected area network will change," he said.

To address these questions, the scientists used spatial climate analogspresent day locations that share similar climates to those projected for a location in the futureto examine how a 2-degree Celsius rise in global temperatures could alter the distribution of ecoregions. Then the scientists analyzed what that those changes could mean for achieving 30 by 30.

They found that roughly half of the Earth's land area will experience climate conditions that correspond with different ecoregions.

"Climate change has the potential to dramatically shift the ecosystems of the planet," Dobrowski said. "We project by mid-century that over 50% of ecoregions globally will have a climate associated with a totally different ecoregion. We look at the world around us, and we see ecosystems that we are used to seeing. We think they're stable, but they're not. And those kinds of changes are going to challenge our ability to conserve biodiversity globally."

The authors recommend that efforts to protect biodiversity will need to explicitly consider how climate change will drive changes in the patterns of biodiversity.

"We're dealing with a moving target in terms of trying to capture the planet's biodiversity in protected areas," said co-author Caitlin Littlefield, formerly a UM postdoc and now with Conservation Science Partners. "In this work, we provide a model for how people can anticipate dynamic and shifting patterns of biodiversity and respond with strategic conservation investments."

To extend their results more broadly, the group also created an online tool, Analog Atlas, to inform the public of the ways climate change could alter the ecosystems where they live and play. Climate analogs contextualize climate change by asking a simple question: "Where can I find the climate of my future, today?" Dobrowski said.

Users can select any land area on the globe and see another location where the current climate matches future predicted conditions for that selected location.

"We are really excited about the Analog Atlas," said co-author Sean Parks of the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute. "It allows users to conceptualize climate change through maps, street views and statistics such as expected changes in the number of hot days, freezing nights and fire conducive days,"

Explore further Climate change forces rethinking of conservation biology planning

More information: Solomon Z. Dobrowski et al, Protected-area targets could be undermined by climate change-driven shifts in ecoregions and biomes, Communications Earth & Environment (2021). Solomon Z. Dobrowski et al, Protected-area targets could be undermined by climate change-driven shifts in ecoregions and biomes,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-021-00270-z Analog Atlas: plus2c.org/ Journal information: Communications Earth & Environment
The FReE tool is a practical application that allows companies to monitor and improve their resilience. Credit: Fraunhofer EMI

Companies today face a variety of increasingly complex risks. Not least the pandemic has shown how crises can pose an existential threat to companies. The FReE tool of the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-Institut, EMI, allows companies to measure their resilience and subsequently be prepared for upcoming crisis scenarios.

Our world is highly complex and prone to disruption: Natural disasters, cyberattacks, power outages, terrorist attacks, pandemics and other crisis scenarios can threaten companies existentially. The corona pandemic has shown us how vulnerable the German economy really is: According to the Federal Statistical Office, in 2020 the economy fell into a deep recession after ten years of growth; especially in the second quarter of 2020, economic output saw a historic slump. There will be other crises after this pandemic. The classic methods of risk analysis and risk management, which only take into account expected risks, do not adequately protect companies against major losses. "Companies often only consider the most likely scenarios rather than focusing on possible crisis events," says Daniel Hiller, Head of business unit Security and Resilience at Fraunhofer EMI in Freiburg. Teams at Fraunhofer are establishing resilience as a new security concept to help prepare organizations and companies for crises. The results of their research work include the online tool Fraunhofer Resilience Evaluator FReE and the KMU-Lagebild software, both designed to enable companies to measure and evaluate their resilience and to carry out a resilience analysis before, during and after a disruptive event.

The five-stage concept: 'Prepare, Prevent, Protect, Respond and Recover'

The online tool FReE allows companies to plan resilience strategically, to implement the abstract concept in their company and to put it into practice on management level. FReE is based on the five-stage concept "Prepare, Prevent, Protect, Respond and Recover." The software comes with a list of 68 questions related to the five resilience stages. The answers provide the company with some initial information needed to assess resilience. The five stages are ordered chronologically, starting with a what-if scenario. During this Prepare stage companies prepare for disruptive situations, which helps avert damage using preventive measures during the Prevent stage. "An aluminum processing plant, for example, might want to protect its premises with security fences and cameras, because thieves usually break in at night to steal aluminum," says Hiller, illustrating the first two stages using a classic example. The Protect stage, as the name suggests, aims to protect; this might include safeguarding important infrastructures or buildings with additional concrete layers or walls. If it was not possible to stave off the disaster, the Respond stage comes into play. It is now important to quickly identify the cause and extent of the damage and to preserve critical supply functions. After the incident, companies should systematically draw lessons from the crisis in order to be better able to avert future risks and to boost their resilience in a cyclical iterative processresearchers call this stage Learn and Adapt.

The FReE tool takes the user through the list of questions, which are ordered chronologically into the sections before, during and after a disruption and cover all company divisions. These including personnel, finance, infrastructure and technology. The tool allows you to filter by division during the evaluation process. "For example, a controller can set the filter such that only results related to finance are shown," says Hiller. Possible questions include: "Is there a disaster manager in the event of a disruption?", "What are their qualifications and powers?" or "What are the financial reserves for emergencies?" The evaluation is shown in the radar chart, with the worst result being at zero percent in the graticule.

FReE is available in three versions: The free web-based quick version includes 15 questions. The full version, which includes the complete list of 68 questions, is available on a project basis. The accompanying consulting project is based on the paid version. As part of the consulting project, Hiller and his team work together with the companies to develop appropriate measures to boost resilience and eliminate weak spots. Furthermore, additional questions can be added to the FReE tool to adapt it to the needs of specific industries. Many SMEs are already using the quick version and are planning to update it to the full version.

While FReE enables companies to assess their resilience on their own, the KMU-Lagebild project supports them in carrying out a comprehensive resilience assessment. The researchers model all procedures and processes on the computer using the available data. By inputting hypothetical disruption scenarios you can see how the system reacts to them and which countermeasures have to be taken. "By asking yourself not only what the most likely disruptions are, but also what potential incidents there are, you broaden your view of the risks. What's more, resilient companies exhibit a high level of adaptability and flexibility," says Hiller in summary.
An atomic-level rendering of sodium chloride (left), the primary ingredient in table salt, and lithium chloride (right). New research from Nebraskas Xiao Cheng Zeng and others has suggested that, when confined to a nanoscopic space, sodium (dark blue) and chlorine (light blue) atoms can reassemble after being dissolved. Lithium (pink) and chlorine atoms can do the same, according to the teams simulations. Credit: Scott Schrage | University Communication

Any cook worth their salt knows that a dash of the stuffwhich consists mostly of the compound sodium chloridewill dissolve when dropped into a pot of even room-temperature water.

But as a chemist who has spent decades researching how substances behave when confined to infinitesimal spaces, Nebraska's Xiao Cheng Zeng also knows that what happens at the macroscale does not necessarily hold at the nanoscale.

Zeng and his colleagues recently ran computer simulations to determine how sodium chloride and its salty cousin, lithium chloride, might respond when submerged in a nanoscopic stream of water bordered by two smooth, water-repellent walls.

Those simulations predicted something wildly counterintuitive. After initially dissolving in the water, the charged, randomly dispersed atoms of both sodium and lithium chloride would spontaneously reassemble into 2D layers, according to the simulations. In the case of sodium chloride, that layer would be identical to its solid, pre-dissolved state: a crystalline pattern of squares, with each sodium atom surrounded by four chlorine atoms, or vice versa. For lithium chloride, the layer would comprise hexagonal ringsthree lithium atoms, three chlorineor zigzagging chains of the atoms, or both.

Based on the team's calculations, the unexpected behavior emerges partly because nanoscale confinement reduces the interaction strength between a charged atomsodium, lithium or chlorineand the water molecules that typically form a shell around it. That hydration shell normally keeps oppositely charged particles, such as sodium and chlorine, from reassembling after dissolvingbut not when confined to a nanoscopic space, the researchers found.

Zeng and his fellow computational chemists hope their predictions will encourage other researchers to conduct experiments that validate or challenge their simulations.

Those predictions might eventually inform the design of nanofluidic devices that transport charged atoms to recreate neuronal activity, Zeng said.

Explore further Researchers make rechargeable batteries that store six times more charge

More information: Wenhui Zhao et al, Two-dimensional monolayer salt nanostructures can spontaneously aggregate rather than dissolve in dilute aqueous solutions, Nature Communications (2021). Journal information: Nature Communications Wenhui Zhao et al, Two-dimensional monolayer salt nanostructures can spontaneously aggregate rather than dissolve in dilute aqueous solutions,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25938-0
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

For humans and animals, many aspects of normal behavior and physiology rely on the proper functioning of the body's circadian clocks.

Here's how it's supposed to work: Your brain sends signals to your body to release different hormones at certain times of the day. For example, you get a boost of the hormone cortisolnature's built-in alarm systemright before you usually wake up.

But hormone release actually relies on the interconnected activity of clocks in more than one part of the brain. New research from Washington University in St. Louis shows how daily release of glucocorticoids depends on coordinated clock-gene and neuronal activity rhythms in neurons found in two parts of the hypothalamus, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and paraventricular nucleus (PVN).

The new study, conducted with freely behaving mice, is published Oct. 1 in Nature Communications.

"Normal behavior and physiology depends on a near 24-hour circadian release of various hormones," said Jeff Jones, who led the study as a postdoctoral research scholar in biology in Arts & Sciences and recently started work as an assistant professor of biology at Texas A&M University. "When hormone release is disrupted, it can lead to numerous pathologies, including affective disorders like anxiety and depression and metabolic disorders like diabetes and obesity.

"We wanted to understand how signals from the central biological clocka tiny brain area called the SCNare decoded by the rest of the brain to generate these diverse circadian rhythms in hormone release," said Jones, who worked with Erik Herzog, the Viktor Hamburger Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University and senior author of the new study.

The daily timing of hormone release is controlled by the SCN. Located in the hypothalamus, just above where the optic nerves cross, neurons in the SCN send daily signals that are decoded in other parts of the brain that talk to the adrenal glands and the body's endocrine system.

"Cortisol in humans (corticosterone in mice) is more typically known as a stress hormone involved in the 'fight or flight' response," Jones said. "But the stress of waking up and preparing for the day is one of the biggest regular stressors to the body. Having a huge amount of this glucocorticoid released right as you wake up seems to help you gear up for the day."

Or for the night, if you're a mouse.

The same hormones that help humans prepare for dealing with the morning commute or a challenging work day also help mice meet their nightly step goals on the running wheel.

Using a novel neuronal recording approach, Jones and Herzog recorded brain activity in individual mice for up to two weeks at a time.

"Recording activity from identified types of neurons for such a long period of time is difficult and data intensive," Herzog said. "Jeff pioneered these methods for long-term, real-time observations in behaving animals."

Using information about each mouse's daily rest-activity and corticosterone secretion, along with gene expression and electrical activity of targeted neurons in their brains, the scientists discovered a critical circuit between the SCN and neurons in the PVN that produce the hormone that triggers release of glucocorticoids.

Turns out, it's not enough for the neurons in the SCN to send out daily signals; the 'local' clock in the PVN neurons also has to be working properly in order to produce coordinated daily rhythms in hormone release.

Experiments that eliminated a clock gene in the circadian-signal-receiving area of the brain broke the regular daily cycle.

"There's certain groups of neurons in the SCN that communicate timing information to groups of neurons in the PVN that regulate daily hormone release," Jones said. "And for a normal hormone rhythm to proceed, you need clocks in both the central pacemaker and this downstream region to work in tandem."

The findings in mice could have implications for humans down the road, Jones said. Future therapies for cortisol-related diseases and genetic conditions in humans will need to take into account the importance of a second internal clock.

Explore further How behavioral rhythms are fine-tuned in the brain

More information: Circadian neurons in the paraventricular nucleus entrain and sustain daily rhythms in glucocorticoids, Nature Communications (2021). Journal information: Nature Communications Circadian neurons in the paraventricular nucleus entrain and sustain daily rhythms in glucocorticoids,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25959-9
Credit: CSIRO, Author provided

As the climate crisis threatens millions of species worldwide, biodiversity conservation is now an all-hands-on-deck operation. Natural history collections play a critical role in this effort as repositories holding records of historical biodiversity shifts, like libraries made of biological specimens.

In response to the extinction crisis, the call is out to scour Australia's collections for data to fill knowledge gaps.

For many species, however, recovering historical genetic data has been severely impeded, not by a lack of specimens but by the methods used to preserve them. This is where my new research comes in.

Our paper shows how natural history collections around the world can squeeze every last drop of historical genetic data out of their specimens, from dried iridescent wings of butterflies to platypus bills floating in alcohol.

Opening the vaults

With over half a million native species, Australia is a global biodiversity hotspotbut we are also a world leader in extinctions.

To have a chance at combating biodiversity loss, we must use every last resource to learn about our unique corner of the globe.

Long before the discovery of DNA, museums collected biological specimens to create a picture of where species live and how they are related. Today, the Atlas of Living Australia, which serves as a national database for Australia's museums, contains approximately 2 million vertebrate specimen records.

Dried specimens, such as these rainbow lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus) collected in Papua New Guinea by the Australian National Wildlife Collection, often yield high-quality DNA. Credit: Martin Ollman, Author provided

Armed with modern techniques, we can now recover genetic data from specimens collected over the last 200 to 300 years. These data can then improve conservation outcomes for species struggling to cope with current environmental change.

For example, I recently used museum specimens to determine the historical native range of endangered Sonoran pronghorn in North America. This guided its reintroduction to the wild.

Biodiversity time capsules

When you visit natural history museums, most specimens on display will have been dried to beautifully preserve their physical appearance. Plant and insect specimens are dried and pressed or pinned, while birds and mammals are stuffed and dried.

Research-focused collections don't prepare and pose specimens for public display. When drying doesn't sufficiently preserve physical features, large collections of murky jars containing specimens are commonly found behind the scenes.

This is called "liquid fixation," where we use chemicals such as formaldehyde to preserve fish, amphibians and reptiles. It's used for birds and mammals, too, when scientists want to preserve their internal organs.

The majority of bird specimens are prepared dry to preserve their plumage. Credit: Martin Ollman, Author provided

Nearly one-third of the 2 million specimens in our national database are preserved in liquid. Each of these specimens has a story to tell about how that species has coped (or didn't) with our changing environment.

Together, dried and liquid-preserved specimens housed in collections around the world represent an irreplaceable record of biodiversity shifts in this period of rapid environmental change.

The problem with formaldehyde

Although drying and liquid fixation methods (such as with the chemical formaldehyde) both help preserve biological tissues, neither method was developed with modern genomic sequencing in mind.

Still, drying has the effect of slowing DNA degradation and a treasure trove of historical genetic data has been recovered from dried specimens in recent decades.

Recent examples include the use of egg shell DNA to solve mysteries surrounding extinct paradise parrots, and dried tissue DNA to examine the rapid extinction of native Australian rodents following European colonization.

Thanks to old specimens of Sonoran pronghorn, we can now try to reintroduce this endangered species back into the wild. Credit: Shutterstock

On the other hand, formaldehyde preserves tissues by stopping decay in its tracks by cross-linking the molecules within the tissue. Frustratingly, these cross-links turn DNA extraction into an exercise akin to chiseling strands of delicate thread out of a block of cement.

But in recent decades, museums have begun sampling fresh tissue from newly collected specimens and storing it specifically for DNA extraction.

This marks a pivot in preservation practices. Coupled with advances in extracting DNA from older dried tissues and those preserved in ethanol, it has ushered in an entire new field of museum genetics.

Meanwhile, extracting DNA from specimens preserved with formaldehyde has largely been left in the "too hard" bucket. This has left a gaping hole in the availability of older historical DNA for most fish, amphibians and reptiles.

Through advances in research, scientists have managed to find a way to successfully sequence a handful of formaldehyde-fixed museum specimenslizards, snakes, salamanders and fishthat would have otherwise been lost to history.

But to collect at a greater scale, an important hurdle remains: community confidence.

Fish specimens are preserved using formaldehyde at the Australian National Fish Collection. Credit: CSIRO, Author provided

These are liquid-preserved tree skinks (Egernia striolata) collected in the 1960s. Credit: Martin Ollman, Author provided

Improving the confidence of curators

Until now, getting useable genetic information from specimens preserved in formaldehyde has been largely hit or miss with an emphasis on the miss. Despite the declining costs of DNA sequencing, many scientists are unwilling to hitch their limited research budgets to the pursuit of risky specimens.

DNA extraction requires the destruction of at least part of a specimen, such as removing a small section of liver or muscle tissue. So museum curators hesitate to grant precious tissues for studies with low expected success rates.

In our recent study, we set out to find ways to minimize this risk. We found that, essentially, a quick inspection of the preserved animal's gut and a measurement of the formaldehyde in the jar can empower researchers and curators to identify which precious specimens are worth damaging to recover genomic data.

We also showcase a single DNA extraction method that works surprisingly well on both formaldehyde-fixed specimens and those preserved in ethanol.

This is useful because the preservation history of a specimen, especially older ones, is often unknown. While all of our wet specimens at the Australian National Wildlife Collection are currently in ethanol, like most collections, our records generally don't indicate if they've come into contact with formaldehyde.

By reducing the need for specimen-specific methods, we can more quickly gather high quality historical dataeven from long-ago disregarded jars of goopy specimens.

Explore further Scientists discover a way to sequence DNA of rare animals

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
In this Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018, file photo, residences leveled by the Camp Fire line a neighborhood in Paradise, Calif. Wildfires have destroyed nearly 50,000 homes in California alone in the last five years, and scientists say global warming is only making things worse. While much attention is focused on managing overgrown forests, fire managers say it's equally crucial to increase the fire resistance of homes and the area immediately around them, known as "defensible space." Credit: AP Photo/Noah Berger, File

Wildfires have destroyed nearly 50,000 homes in California alone in the last five years, and scientists say global warming is only making things worse.

While much attention is focused on managing overgrown forests, fire managers say it's equally crucial to increase the fire resistance of homes and the area immediately around them, known as "defensible space."

"It really allows firefighters to have a better chance of defending a home," said Jessica Morse, the California Natural Resources Agency's deputy secretary for forest resources management.

California fires have burned more than 3,075 square miles (7,964 square kilometers) so far in 2021, destroying more than 3,000 homes, commercial properties and other structures. Some large fires have also threatened communities, including Lake Tahoe, a major vacation destination. The latest destructive blaze to send residents fleeing this year, the Fawn Fire, has charred more than 13.4 square miles (34.7 square kilometers) of heavy timber and destroyed 185 homes and other buildings.

A California legislative analysis on Thursday called defensible space a key way to limit wildfires' destructiveness, but said there should be better enforcement to make sure homeowners in fire-prone areas comply.

Defensible space "not only helps to protect that home, it also reduces the risk that the wildfire will spread to neighboring homes, thereby helping to protect communities," analysts said.

In California, homeowners are required to maintain defensible space, but analysts said enforcement efforts "are complicated by the fragmented and overlapping nature of state and local responsibilities," along with scarce data and research; homeowners' lack of resources and motivation; and agencies' lack of funding and staffing.

Hotter and drier weather coupled with decades of fire suppression have contributed to an increase in the number of acres burned by wildfires, fire scientists say. And the problem is exacerbated by a more than 20-year Western megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change.

In this Aug. 21, 2019, file photo, burned trees and vegetation surround the burned-out remains of a home destroyed by the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif. Wildfires have destroyed nearly 50,000 homes in California alone in the last five years, and scientists say global warming is only making things worse. While much attention is focused on managing overgrown forests, fire managers say it's equally crucial to increase the fire resistance of homes and the area immediately around them, known as "defensible space." Credit: AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File

"All of these things are contributing to these large and damaging firesand they're also contributing to communities and structures being part of the fuel," said Thom Porter, director of California's firefighting agency.

WHAT IS DEFENSIBLE SPACE?

California requires property owners to reduce flammable materials within 100 feet (30.5 meters) of rural homes and those in what are defined as very high fire hazard areas, even within towns and suburbs.

That's an increase from the 30 feet (9 meters) of clearance that was required until 2005, but experts say that the area on and around each house is still the most important to tackle. Start by removing dead leaves and pine needles from rain gutters and work outward to the areas that are farther from the house.

WHAT'S NEW?

A 2020 California law creates a new "ember-resistant" zone that bars flammable materials, including things like wooden fencing and mulch, within 5 feet (1.5 meters) of vulnerable homes.

The requirement won't take effect until the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection develops regulations by Jan. 1, 2023, but officials are urging homeowners to voluntarily comply now.

Since July 1, 2021, California requires those who sell property located in a high or very high fire hazard severity zone to have documentation that the property passed an official defensible space inspection.

In this Aug. 17, 2021, file photo, seen in a long exposure photograph, embers light up hillsides as the Dixie Fire burns near Milford in Lassen County, Calif. Wildfires have destroyed nearly 50,000 homes in California alone in the last five years, and scientists say global warming is only making things worse. While much attention is focused on managing overgrown forests, fire managers say it's equally crucial to increase the fire resistance of homes and the area immediately around them, known as "defensible space." Credit: AP Photo/Noah Berger, File

It also has grant programs to help homeowners and mobile trailers with equipment like chain saws and weed trimmers to clear defensible space.

WHAT ARE OTHER STATES DOING?

California has the most stringent defensible space law in the West, said Daniel Berlant, California's chief of wildfire planning.

But Oregon Gov. Kate Brown in July signed a wildfire bill that includes setting standards for defensible space around homes. California officials are helping their northern neighbors develop the regulations.

Nevada urges 100 feet (30 meters) of defensible space, while Reno and Lake Tahoe are among communities that offer help for homeowners.

Critics of the Oregon legislation fear it will force too many homeowners to remove too much vegetation from around their homes. But "what we're looking for are park-like settings," said Berlant. "It's well manicured, it's green."

WHO SHOULD WORRY?

"The severity of wildfires that we are experiencing today is off the charts from where it was just 10 years ago," said Berlant.

In this Aug. 4, 2021, file photo flames consume a home surrounded by trees on Highway 89 as the Dixie Fire tears through the community of Greenville in Plumas County, Calif. Wildfires have destroyed nearly 50,000 homes in California alone in the last five years, and scientists say global warming is only making things worse. While much attention is focused on managing overgrown forests, fire managers say it's equally crucial to increase the fire resistance of homes and the area immediately around them, known as "defensible space." Credit: AP Photo/Noah Berger, File

Defensible space has always been important in rural areas. But California is remapping its fire severity areas and with changing conditions is likely to move more urban areas into higher risk zones that require defensible space.

"Even homes in subdivisions that may be half a mile or a mile away from the forest really have to be thinking about these type of preparations," he said. "We have seen, fire siege after fire siege, homes that are in the middle of urban areas be destroyed because embers are being carried by the wind under extreme conditions way ahead of the fire itself."

WHAT ABOUT MY HOUSE?

Along with defensible space around homes, experts say there are simple ways to protect houses themselves from flying sparks.

They include things like installing tight screens on attic vents under the eaves and using caulk to fill holes in siding.

The goal is "increasing the home's armor against embers," said Berlant. "A lot of these are very low cost, easy to do."

California created a homeowner's checklist and an online assessment to help guide homeowners on what they can do.

Explore further California winds shifting as wildfire battles go on

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The authors combined proprietary (GSK) and published (CCDC) datasets to better train machine learning (ML) models for drug discovery. Credit: Alex Moldovan.

Polymorphs are molecules that have different molecular packing arrangements despite identical chemical compositions. In a recent paper, researchers at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) combined their proprietary (GSK) and published (CCDC) datasets to better train machine learning (ML) models to predict stable polymorphs to use in new drug candidates.

What are the key differences between the CCDC and GSK datasets?

CCDC curates and maintains the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD). For the past century, scientists all over the world have contributed published, experimental crystal structures to the CSD, which now has over 1.1 million structures. The paper's authors used a drug subset from the CSD combined with structures from GSK. The GSK structures were collected at different stages of the pharmaceutical pipeline and are not limited to marketed products. Co-author Dr. Jason Cole, senior research fellow on CCDC's research and development team, explained why structures gathered at different stages of the drug discovery pipeline are so important.

"In early-stage drug discovery, a crystal structure can help to rationalize conformational effects, for example, or characterize the chemistry of a new chemical entity where other techniques have led to ambiguity," Cole said. "Later in the process, when a new chemical entity is studied as a candidate molecule, crystal structures are critical as they inform form selection and can later aid in overcoming formulation and tabletting issues."

This information can help researchers prioritize their effortssaving time and potentially lives down the road.

"By understanding a range of crystal structures, scientists can also assess the risk of a given form being long-term unstable," Cole said. "A full characterization of the structural landscape leads to confidence in taking a form forward."

How do ML models in pharmaceutical science benefit from multiple datasets?

Industrial data sets reflect more than just science; they reflect cultural choices within a given organization.

"You will only find co-crystals if you look for co-crystals," Cole said, as an example. "Most companies prefer to formulate a free, or unbound, drug. One can assume that the types of structures in an industrial set reflect conscious decisions to search for forms of given types, whereas fewer bounds are placed on the researchers who contribute to the CSD."

ML models benefit from two key things: data volume and data specificity. That's why coupling the volume and variety of data in the CSD with proprietary data sets is so helpful.

"Large amounts of data lead to more confident predictions," Cole said. "Data that are most directly relevant to the problem lead to more accurate predictions. In the predictions that use CCDC software, we select a subset of the most relevant entries that is large enough to give confidence. The GSK set is bound to have highly relevant compounds to other compounds in their commercial portfolio. So the model-building software can use these."

Industrial researchers working with highly relevant data can run into issues when they don't have enough to generate confident models.

"Consider that CSD software typically picks around two thousand structures from the 1.1 million in the CSD," Cole said. "The industrial set is tiny by comparison, but you could pick, say, 40 or 50 highly relevant structures. You'd have insufficient data to build a good model with that alone, but the added compounds from the CSD supplement the data set. In essence, by including the GSK and CSD sets we get the best of both worlds: all the highly relevant industrial structures and a set of quite relevant CSD structures together to build a high-quality model."

Why do polymorphs present a risk to the pharmaceutical industry?

The different packing arrangements mean that one polymorph might be more suited for therapeutic delivery, while another form of the same compound might not. Researchers use crystal structure databases to make knowledge-based predictions about whether a potential new drug is comprised of a good, stable form that manufacturers can make, store, and deliver in a therapeutic manner. The authors at GSK and CCDC completed a robust analysis of the small molecule crystal structures containing X-ray diffraction results from GSK and its heritage companies for the past 40 years. They then combined those results with a drug subset of structures from CCDC's CSD, which contains over 1.1 million small-molecule organic and metal-organic crystal structures from researchers all over the world.

Explore further Microcrystal electron diffraction supports a new drug development pipeline

More information: Leen N. Kalash et al, First global analysis of the GSK database of small molecule crystal structures, CrystEngComm (2021). Leen N. Kalash et al, First global analysis of the GSK database of small molecule crystal structures,(2021). DOI: 10.1039/D1CE00665G

Provided by CCDC - Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre
Marine heatwaves could wipe out an extra six per cent of a countrys fish catches, costing millions their jobs. Credit: Cassiano Psomas on Unsplash

Extremely hot years will wipe out hundreds of thousands of tonnes of fish available for catch in a country's waters in this century, on top of projected decreases to fish stocks from long-term climate change, a new UBC study projects.

Researchers from the UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF) used a complex model incorporating extreme annual ocean temperatures in Exclusive Economic Zones, where the majority of global fish catches occur, into climate-related projections for fish, fisheries and their dependent human communities.

Modelling a worst-case scenario where no action is taken to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions they projected a six percent drop in the amount of potential catches per year and 77 percent of exploited species are projected to decrease in biomass, or the amount of fish by weight in a given area, due to extremely hot years. These decreases are on top of those projected due to long-term decadal-scale climate change.

The numbers

In Pacific Canada, Sockeye salmon catches are projected to decrease by 26 percent on average during a high temperature event between 2000 and 2050, an annual loss of 260 to 520 tonnes of fish. With losses due to climate change, when a temperature extreme occurs in the 2050s, the total decrease in annual catch would be more than 50 percent or 530 to 1060 tonnes of fish.

Peruvian anchoveta catches are projected to decline by 34 percent during an extreme high temperature event between 2000 and 2050, or more than 900,000 tonnes per year. With climate change, a temperature extreme is projected to cost Peruvian anchoveta fisheries more than 1.5 million tonnes of their potential catch.

Overall, a high temperature extreme event is projected to cause a 25 percent drop in annual revenue for Peruvian anchoveta fisheries, or a loss of around US$600 million

Nearly three million jobs in the Indonesian fisheries-related sector are projected to be lost when a high temperature extreme occurs in their waters between 2000 and 2050.

Some stocks are projected to increase due to these extreme events, and climate change, but not enough to mitigate the losses

During extreme ocean temperature events and on top of projected temperature changes each decade, researchers projected that fisheries' revenues would be cut by an average of three percent globally, and employment by two percent; a potential loss of millions of jobs.

"These extreme annual temperatures will be an additional shock to an overloaded system," said lead author Dr. William Cheung, professor and director of UBC's Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF). "We see that in the countries where fisheries are already weakened by long-term changes, like ocean warming and deoxygenation, adding the shock of temperature extremes will exacerbate the impacts to a point that will likely exceed the capacity for these fisheries to adapt. It's not unlike how COVID-19 stresses the healthcare system by adding an extra burden."

Extreme temperature events are projected to occur more frequently in the future, says co-author Dr. Thomas Frolicher, professor at the climate and environmental physics division of the University of Bern. "Today's marine heatwaves and their severe impacts on fisheries are bellwethers of the future as these events are generating environmental conditions that long-term global warming will not create for decades."

Some areas will be worse hit than others, the researchers found, including EEZs in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly waters around South and Southeast Asia, and Pacific Islands; the Eastern Tropical Pacific, and area which runs along the Pacific coast of the Americas; and some countries in the West African region.

In Bangladesh, where fisheries-related sectors employ one-third of the country's workforce, an extreme marine heat event is expected to cut two percentabout one millionof the country's fisheries jobs, in addition to the more than six million jobs that will be lost by 2050 due to long-term climate change.

The situation is similarly grim for Ecuador, where extreme high temperature events are projected to adversely impact an additional 10 percent, or around US$100 million, of the country's fisheries revenue on top of the 25 percent reduction expected by the mid-21st century.

"This study really highlights the need to develop ways to deal with marine temperature extremes, and soon," Cheung said. "These temperature extremes are often difficult to predict in terms of when and where they occur, particularly in the hot spots with limited capacity to provide robust scientific predictions for their fisheries. We need to consider that unpredictability when we plan for adaptations to long-term climate change."

Cheung said that active fisheries management is vital. Potential adaptations include adjusting catch quotas in years when fish stocks are suffering from extreme temperature events, or, in severe cases, shuttering fisheries so that stocks can rebuild. "We need to have mechanisms in place to deal with it," said Cheung.

It will be important to work with those affected by such adaptation options when developing them, as some decisions could exacerbate impacts on communities' livelihoods, as well as food and nutrition security, said co-author Dr. Colette Wabnitz, an IOF research associate and lead scientist at the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions. "Stakeholders are diverse, and include not only industry, but also Indigenous communities, small-scale fisheries and others. They should be involved in discussions about the effects of climate change and marine heatwaves as well as the design and implementation of solutions."

More information: William W. L. Cheung et al, Marine high temperature extremes amplify the impacts of climate change on fish and fisheries, Science Advances (2021). Journal information: Science Advances William W. L. Cheung et al, Marine high temperature extremes amplify the impacts of climate change on fish and fisheries,(2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abh0895
The quantum yield of the reaction, which is how researchers measure the efficiency of a light-activated reaction. Credit: Anna Zieleniewska.

Drawing on inspiration from photosynthesis and the way it can achieve high efficiency in plants, Regents Professors Tom Moore and Ana Moore in Arizona State University's School of Molecular Sciences and their groups, together with colleagues from the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University (including Professors Gregory Scholes and Robert Knowles), have introduced a bioinspired catalyst that lengthens the productive state of some chemical reactions.

"Working with the Princeton groups of Knowles and Scholes has given us new perspectives and applications for our bioinspired, artificial photosynthetic systems," Ana Moore said. Regents Professors Ana and Thomas Moore from the School of Molecular Sciences at ASU. Image credit: Mary Zhu Download Full Image

"In this case, we have reengineered a photocatalyst important in the chemical industry using the principle of proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) to provide improved catalytic efficiency.

"PCET is widely used in nature's catalysts where low energy reaction pathways yielding a single product are essential. It is rewarding to find a practical application for the PCET constructs that we have recently developed. Improving the catalytic efficiency of reactions that result in compounds with specific pharmacological activity could contribute to more sustainable development of a greener chemical industry."

The team employed PCET to manipulate the photocatalyst in order to slow charge recombination, essentially mimicking the process that keeps photosynthesis humming along.

Their mechanism stalls one elementary step in the process by a factor of 24 relative to a reference compound. PCET is a class of reactions involving the transfer of an electron and a proton.

At the core of this collaborative research is a chemical model, a PCET substructure, developed by the researchers here at ASU. The model is linked with an iridium complex that effectively lessens the driving force of charge recombination, thus prolonging the active state in which chemistry can take place.

The model is based on the oxygen-evolving complex in photosynthesis that is in every plant, the enzyme that makes oxygen for the whole world. There are two amino acids nearby the oxygen evolving complexhydrogen-bonded tyrosine and histidineand these two amino acids shuttle electrons away from the oxygen-evolving complex, by a PCET mechanism, so that the enzyme is able to produce oxygen.

The Moores and colleagues have made this model, benzimidazole-phenol (BIP), that is chemically very similar to those two amino acids in photosynthesis. This is then used to control the direction of electron transfer in catalysis.

The paper, "PCET-based Ligand Limits Charge Recombination with an Ir(III) Photoredox Catalyst," was just published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The research combines contributions to the mechanisms of photocatalysis from the Knowles lab, ultra-fast time resolved spectroscopy from the Scholes lab, and the BIP model from the labs of Thomas Moore and Ana Moore.

Energy Frontier Research Center

The research fulfills one of the top priorities for the Princeton-based Bioinspired Light-Escalated Chemistry (BioLEC) group, an Energy Frontier Research Center established in 2018 and funded by the Department of Energy. BioLEC is directed by Scholes, Princeton's William S. Todd Professor of Chemistry and chair of the department.

"This absolutely came about because of the center. Rob, Tom and Ana were the intellectual drivers of this idea," Scholes said. "Here, we added an additional 'circuit' to the molecular photocatalyst that suppressed the deactivation pathway. Our circuit serves as a kind of buffer, holding the high energy species in place until the catalyst can initiate the chemical reaction. I think it's a great success story."

"Working with Rob and Greg and the center students and postdocs has proven to be even more exciting and rewarding than we hoped for when the idea was first formulated for the BioLEC proposal," the Moores said.

In nature, photosynthesis occurs when a plant absorbs light that generates a charge separation in its "reaction center." That reaction drives both the oxidation of water and the fixation of carbon dioxide into fuels used by the plant. Charge recombination essentially short circuits the photosynthetic process. So, nature has evolved ways to sustain that separation using so-called redox relays.

Researchers used these very redox relays in their investigation as the essential components of a series of short-distance, fast redox-equivalent transfer steps that effectively compete against charge recombination.

Evolutionary processes selected these redox relays where through the transfer of an electron and a proton between two hydrogen-bonded amino acids, it can do really fast transfers that further separate the charges.

By moving the charges further apart quickly, you prevent that charge recombination. That leads to the efficiency of photosynthesis. The researchers made use of that idea.

The structure of the BIP model developed by the Moores is similar to those two amino acids.

"Sure enough, studies in the Scholes' lab of the reengineered catalyst with the BIP showed longer lifetime for the reactive radical intermediate andhere's the proof in the puddingthe yield of the reaction was more than doubled," Tom Moore said. "Nature uses PCET in catalysis, and Mother Nature knows a thing or two about efficient, sustainable chemistry."

Explore further New chemistry makes strong bonds weak

More information: Hannah Sayre et al, PCET-Based Ligand Limits Charge Recombination with an Ir(III) Photoredox Catalyst, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2021). Journal information: Journal of the American Chemical Society Hannah Sayre et al, PCET-Based Ligand Limits Charge Recombination with an Ir(III) Photoredox Catalyst,(2021). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c01701
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Radical extremism has increased by 320% in the last five years and cost the world an estimated US$14.1 trillion as of 2018. It's a worldwide problem. From the agitations of separatist movements and Boko Haram militia in Africa to an apocalypse of neo-Nazi and far-right groups in America, Europe, and Australia, the surge is harming societies in unprecedented ways.

People adopt radical behaviors for many reasons. Most popular among them are socio-cultural and political triggers such as territorial control, politics, and the display of weaponry.

Research often isolates the underlying psychological processes and developmental issues that make people susceptible to adopting radical behaviors. One of such issues is the disruption of the bond of attachment in people's everyday relationships.

Research shows that adults seek and maintain relationships with corporeal objects such as places and people as well as non-corporeal objects such as religious entities. But it's still not clear what happens when the relationships with any of these objects are disrupted by sudden life events. This process is referred to as attachment disruption.

For over half a decade, I have been studying the effects of different profiles of adult attachment on mental health and psychological wellbeing. And have also paid close attention to the broader implications of adult attachment on contemporary issues such as radicalisation, human-environment interactions, migration, religion/spirituality, and more recently, the global COVID-19 pandemic.

I explored, in more depth, the relationship between attachment and radicalisation in my recently published book, The Roots of Radicalization: Disrupted Attachment Systems and Displacement.

In it I argue that the risk of radicalisation may in fact be rooted in the connections people have with places, people and religious figures.

The insights are pertinent right now because of debates in Africa and around the world about deradicalisation.

What we know

Research in environmental psychology shows that people develop relationships with places, such as their country of origin, place of residence, or where they spent their childhood. But these relationships can be disrupted by war, conflicts or political tensions.

Similarly, empirical evidence in the psychology of religion shows that people develop an attachment relationship with their religious figures or objects. Examples include the Quran, Bible, Allah, Jesus and Buddha. This bond makes them devote themselves to their religious faith. But these relationships can be shattered or threatened by mere slurs or remarks that could potentially diminish the significance of the religious figures or objects in a person's life.

In developmental psychology, this phenomenon is referred to as attachment disruption. The term is used to explain when people no longer have a bond or connection with their attachment object or are at the risk of losing it. It is a perceived threat to an ongoing relationship experience. For instance, infants exhibit extreme behavior when their attachment with caretakers is disturbed. This can include acting out, clinging or poor eye contact.

The disruption of attachment and disturbances in relationships can have a whole different meaning for adults.

In my book I analyzed many radical behaviors to show how they are shaped by experiences of attachment disruption. I explored many contemporary cases. All had one thing in common: they showed how the risk of radicalisation may be linked to fractured relationships.

I was interested in three things in the book. First was the form of language used by people to express their radical behaviors. Second was how language was used by the parties involved to communicate anxieties about their attachment disruption. Third was how the environment or context of those affected influenced their radical behaviors. Several cases were analyzed in the book.

A case in point: Boko Haram

The Boko Haram group is responsible for abducting young girls as sex slaves, recruiting young boys as fighters, and orchestrating coordinated attacks in the Northern parts of Nigeria. The group came to notoriety after abducting 200 Chibok girls from their school in April 2014.

Boko Haram jihadists identify themselves as the 'defenders' of the Islamic identity in their protest of the "system of government {that is apart} from the one stipulated by Islam".

The fear of losing the religious values that bind them to Islam may have created a sense of religious attachment disruption. The late Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, is quoted as having said: "Our land was an Islamic state before the colonial masters turned it to a kafir (infidel) land. The current system is contrary to true Islamic beliefs."

The mishandling of the relationship with the Yusuf by the administrations of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, may have stoked the radical responses of the group.

At the earlier stages, Boko Haram was just a political group led by Yusuf, with a relatively small membership, who spoke against the legacies of democracy and colonialism. They mostly protested against Western education and democracy, and how they have endangered their Islamic sanctities.

Yusuf was arrested and later killed by the Nigerian security forces in 2009. Shortly after this, Boko Haram began to grow spontaneously with, an increased following of young Hausa-Fulani jihadists that looked up to Yusuf as a religious leader. His death led his followers into despair.

Yusuf is not a quintessential example of a religious figure. Nevertheless, his killing made him a martyr to his followers. This was mostly the case for impoverished and alienated members of the Boko Haram group, who were animated by the political grievances and deep-rooted religious ideologies that stoke them.

There was a perceived threat to their attachment, whether it was the connections they had with sacred objects (such as the Quran, Sharia Law), the need for safeguarding their ancestral lands over Western influence, or their religious and or political figure (in the person of Mohammed Yusuf), to whom they had forged their sense of identity and found a haven of safety.

The Boko Haram jihadists need to be motivated to detach from the attachments that no longer serve them.

Defeating the war on radicalisation

In West Africa, radical Biafran separatists with a strong stance against the control of their homelands are seeking to protect their local communities. A disruption of the attachment to their homeland, due to a perceived invasion of the Fulani herdsmen, may have triggered a radicalized response from people like Nnamdi Kanu and the indigenous people of Biafra.

Similarly, the influx of migrants and normalization of Islam in Western Europe, Australia, and the US has elicited a radical response from conservative nationalists with a strong sense of attachment to their country.

Religious cults and militant groups (examples include QAnon and al-Qaeda) are also susceptible to experiences of attachment disruption. This may be triggered through media sensationalism that caricatures the religious figures they are attached to.

Recent efforts by colleagues at the Harvard University's Human Flourishing Program to measure global well-being has shown that people's close social relationship is a determinant of human flourishing. Attachment literature shows that such relationships can be found in people, places, and religious objects.

In scenarios where an attachment bond has been threatened, a detachment intervention may be needed to promote deradicalisation as the opposite of radicalisation. This would enable those at risk of radical behaviors to explore new forms of meanings and relationship experiences, so as to disentangle themselves from the ties that impair their sense of self and others.

But, such an effort would need to be supported by programs that help radicalized people to safely explore alternative relationships outside the bonds that have been disrupted.

Explore further Attachment style secures your love during lockdowns

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Beginning last March, most states enacted business restrictions due to the pandemic. But when states started lifting those restrictions depended on politics, according to new University of Washington research. Credit: University of Washington

In the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly all 50 states announced restrictions on gatherings and businesses, and most issued stay-at-home orders, aiming to curb disease transmission and avoid overburdening health systems.

States eased those policies based on politics as much as COVID-19 death rates or case counts, according to new research from the University of Washington. The researchers also found that states with large Black communities, despite those communities being hit hardest by the pandemic, also lifted restrictions earlier.

In general, the study published Oct. 1 in Perspectives on Politics found that states with Republican governors and a larger vote share for Donald Trump in 2016 eased their restrictions two weeks earlier than states with Democratic governors and smaller Trump vote shares, all else equal.

"The push by Trump to politicize social distancing policy came at a critical time: In April 2020, cases were still very high in many states. Many Republican governors pulled the trigger on easing too early," said lead author Christopher Adolph, a professor of political science at the UW.

The study is the latest from the UW COVID-19 State Policy Project, led by Adolph. Last year, the team published papers on the influence of politics on social distancing policies and mask mandates and, like the latest research, found that a governor's political party was a key driver in what are ostensibly public health decisions. There was a "near-immediate politicization of this public health crisis," the authors wrote in their new paper, exacerbated when then-President Trump declared that statewide lockdowns and business closures were a greater threat to the economy than the virus.

The new study looked at when states eased five policies, beginning in mid-April 2020: stay-at-home orders; limits on gatherings; closures of nonessential businesses such as gyms and movie theaters; and restrictions on the operation of restaurants and bars. In all five categories, researchers found that Republican-led states eased restrictions on indoor activity earlier than Democratic-led ones, but by early July 2020, all states had eased at least one social distancing policy.

The team analyzed those moves taking into account other factorshealth indicators such as COVID-19 deaths, confirmed cases and test positivity rates, along with other variables such as governor's political party, Trump's share of the vote in 2016, state population density and some demographic characteristics.

Public health indicators did play a role, the researchers point out, as states with better trends in epidemiological indicators could be expected to ease restrictions two weeks (an average of 14.1 days) ahead of states where trends in case counts and deaths were worsening or improving more slowly. But the influence of COVID-19 trajectories was slightly less than that of the governor's political party and the share of Trump voters. All else equal, states with a Republican governor and a majority of Trump voters could be expected to begin easing restrictions just over two weeks (an average of 14.5 days) ahead of Democratic-led states.

"Since March 2020, state-level decisions on the response to COVID-19 have been influenced by politics as much asand sometimes more thanpublic health data and evidence on evolving pandemic needs. In the U.S., this has happened for social distancing measures, mask policies, vaccination and testing requirements, travel restrictionseverything," said Bree Bang-Jensen, a study co-author and doctoral candidate in political science at the UW.

The authors warn that polarized politics could further hinder how future public health emergencies are handled in the United States. For instance, following the initial loosening of social distancing restrictions, COVID-19 cases and deaths rose in many states. Yet a fragmented approach toward COVID-19 continued through the summer and fall of 2020, culminating in a devastating winter surge and deepening partisan divisions.

"Public health inherently involves political considerations and trade-offs, so completely divorcing politics from public health decision-making and policy implementation isn't really an option. Instead, we should recognize how public health policy and practice occur within existing political environments, and actively work within those systems to ensure strong science and timely data can inform decisions," said Nancy Fullman, a study co-author and doctoral student in global health at the UW.

The team also analyzed the association between the loosening of restrictions and a state's Black population, given the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black communities and other communities of color. Indeed, states with larger percentages of their population identifying as Black saw COVID-19 social distancing policies eased nearly a week (an average of 6.7 days) earlier than states with a smaller Black populationa finding that may mirror patterns of systemic racism and enduring neglect toward Black communities in the U.S.

"The COVID-19 pandemic continues to exact an uneven toll for individuals and communities, especially people of color and frontline workers who face higher exposure to the virus. Each decision to reduce COVID-related protections places already marginalized groups at risk, and needs to be made very carefully. This was true in 2020, and it remains true today," Adolph said.

More information: Christopher Adolph et al, The Pandemic Policy U-Turn: Partisanship, Public Health, and Race in Decisions to Ease COVID-19 Social Distancing Policies in the United States, Perspectives on Politics (2021). Christopher Adolph et al, The Pandemic Policy U-Turn: Partisanship, Public Health, and Race in Decisions to Ease COVID-19 Social Distancing Policies in the United States,(2021). DOI: 10.1017/S1537592721002036
The aim of the new by Tatu (left) and Vesa Puttonen is to raise discussion on responsibility and the roles each of us plays in the fight against climate change. Credit: Tatu Puttonen and Evelyn Kask/Aalto University

In their new book on responsible investment, Professor Vesa Puttonen and Bachelor of Science Tatu Puttonen state that politicians cannot outsource their responsibility for combating climate change to asset managers and investors. The book has been published as part of the Aalto University publication series.

The popularity of responsible investment has increased dramatically, and the issue of climate change has further increased its popularity. According to Professor of Finance Vesa Puttonen and Bachelor of Science Tatu Puttonen, people's expectations of responsible investment have become excessive; the reality is that the financial sector is not able to save the world from climate change. A book on this topic written together by this father-and-son duo has just been published as part of Aalto University's Business + Economy publication series.

"New indicators have been developed for corporate responsibility, and the end result is a seemingly precise ESG score (Environment, Social and Governance). However, the score depends on the classifying agency, and different rating agencies can give a different ESG value to one and the same company. There is no single right way to determine a company's level of responsibility, and it is well worth asking which indicators an investor should use to make their investment decisions if they want to invest responsibly," Vesa Puttonen explains.

Many practical examples

Responsible investment has traditionally been marketed as a high-yield and low-risk investment alternative, but as its popularity saw strong growth, the share values of companies with high ESG scores have increased. At the same time, the expected return has decreased, so it is no longer justified to invest in companies with a high ESG score based on an expectation of a higher return.

"In our book we present a number of practical examples that show how difficult and contradictory it can be to take responsibility into account in investment activities," explains Vesa Puttonen.

The book also takes a stand on the role of investors, asset managers and politicians in combating climate change. It asserts that politicians cannot outsource their responsibility for combating climate change to asset managers and investors. In addition, politicians must not expect companies to make investments to combat climate change unless they are economically viable; the role of politicians is instead to create the kinds of common rules that will motivate companies to make environmentally sustainable investments.

"Responsible investment is not enough in the fight against climate change. The investor community is indeed creating its own taxonomy of responsibility, but this does not necessarily produce an optimal environmental outcome. Politicians must make polluting the environment so expensive that companies will do all they can to make their activities low-carbon."

Aimed at stimulating discussion

The idea of writing a book on responsible investment took shape when Vesa and Tatu Puttonen were discussing a topic that connects them professionally. They wrote the book especially for investors and asset managers interested in responsibility, but because of the importance of the topic they wanted to publish it in the Aalto University publication series, where it can be read openly by anyone interested in the topic.

"Climate change is a genuine challenge for everyone. The financial world is happy to give the impression that it has the tools for solving these problems, and this message has strengthened in recent years. A more detailed analysis shows, however, that the tools are inadequate and even misleading. We understand that our message is not necessarily one that the financial world wants to hear. Despite this, we hope that our book will stimulate discussion about responsibility and topics such as the role that we can each play in fighting climate change," Vesa Puttonen concludes.
In September, Anne Schukraft looks up to the electrically isolating support hangers that suspend the weight of the cathode and connecting components from above on the Short-Baseline Near Detector. Credit: Ryan Postel, Fermilab

With a directive to look for physics beyond the standard model and study the behavior of the universe's most elusive particles, the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory's Short-Baseline Neutrino Program has a full plate.

Consisting of three detectorsthe Short-Baseline Near Detector, MicroBooNE and ICARUSthe program will expand on Fermilab's internationally acclaimed neutrino research activities. By studying neutrino properties with these detectors, scientists will learn more about the role these tiny particles play in the universe.

On the Fermilab campus, the three detectors will sit staggered along a straight line, each probing an intense neutrino beam. SBND, under construction, will be closest to the neutrino beam source, just 110 meters away from the area where protons smash into a target and create a beam of muon neutrinos. MicroBooNE, which began taking data in 2015, sits 360 meters from SBND, and ICARUS, which will begin its physics run this fall, sits 130 meters beyond MicroBooNE.

Together, these detectors will study neutrino oscillations in unprecedented detail. In this process, a single neutrino can shift between the three known neutrino types as it travels through space. If there is a fourth type of neutrino or if neutrinos behave differently than current theory predicts, scientists expect to find evidence for this new physics in the neutrino oscillation patterns observed by the three detectors.

When completed, the SBND's detector will be suspended in a chamber full of liquid argon. When a neutrino enters the chamber and collides with an argon atom, it will send out a spray of charged particles and light, which the detector will record. These signals will provide scientists with the information to reconstruct a precise 3D image of the trajectories of all the particles that emerged from a neutrino-argon collision.

"You'll see an image that shows you so much detail, and at such a small scale," said scientist Anne Schukraft, technical coordinator for the project. "If you compare it to previous generation experiments, it really opens a new world of what you can learn."

Getting charged up

In battery-powered circuits, electrons flow between the negative and the positive terminals. In SBND, the electrons produced following neutrino collisions will follow the electric field created inside the detector: two anode planes and one negatively charged cathode plane. This is no tiny circuit, however. Each plane measures 5 by 4 meters, and the electric field between the cathode and each anode will be 500 volts per centimeter, with the cathode conducting a whopping 100,000 volts.

The two anode planes, each made of delicate wires spaced 3 millimeters apart, will cover two opposite-side walls of the cube-shaped detector. They will collect the electrons created by particles emerging from collisions inside the detector, while light sensors behind them will record the photons, or particles of light.

In September, the SBND cathode plane with bottom field cage modules installed in the assembly transport frame. The cathode frame tube structure holds 16 double-sided wavelength-shifting reflective panels, here covered with black plastic to protect from light exposure. Credit: Ryan Postel, Fermilab

In the middle of the detector, an upright plane covered with reflective foil will act as the cathode. The assembly team lowered the heavy cathode plane into place in the detector's steel frame in late July and expects to install the first anode plane in early October. Until installation, each of the light-sensitive layers are kept in a special controlled clean area.

When fully assembled, the detector will weigh more than 100 tons and be filled with argon kept at minus 190 degrees Celsius. The entire apparatus will sit in a cryostat, made of thick steel and insulation panels that keep everything cold. A complicated piping system will circulate and filter the liquid argon to keep it clean.

Neutrino scientists, assemble

Different groups around the worldprimarily based in the United States, the U.K., Brazil and Switzerlandbuilt the detector parts and shipped them to Fermilab. But the warehouse-like building where the detector frame is being assembled isn't the detector's forever home.

Once the components are situated in the steel frame, the team will transport the detector several miles across the Fermilab site to the SBND building, where crews are constructing the cryostat and where the detector will actually collect its data. Schukraft estimates SBND will make its data debut in early 2023.

"The good thing about SBND is that we are building it from scratch," said Monica Nunes, a postdoctoral researcher at Syracuse University. "So everything that we are learning about this process is going to be really useful for the next generation of neutrino experiments."

SBND will complement MicroBooNE and ICARUS as the trio probes for physics beyond the Standard Model. In particular, researchers are searching for the sterile neutrino, a type of neutrino that doesn't interact with the weak force. Two prior experiments, the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector at Los Alamos National Lab and MiniBooNE at Fermilab, discovered anomalies that hint at the existence of these elusive particles. By measuring how neutrinos oscillate and shift types, the SBN Program aims to confirm or dispute these anomalies and add more evidence for or against the existence of sterile neutrinos.

"The idea is to rig a detector really close to the source of neutrinos in hopes of catching this kind of neutrino," said Roberto Acciarri, co-manager of the detector assembly. "Then, we have one far detector and one in the middle, to see if we can see sterile neutrinos when they're produced and when they're oscillating away."

SBND researchers will also examine with high precision how neutrinos interact with the argon atoms that fill the detector. Because SBND sits so close to the origin of the neutrino beam, it will record more than a million neutrino-argon interactions per year. The physics of these interactions is an important element of future neutrino experiments that will employ liquid-argon detectors, such as the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.

"It's great to see progress on almost a daily basis," said Schukraft. "We're all eagerly waiting to see this experiment start to take data."

Explore further Fermilab scientists lead quest to find elusive fourth kind of neutrino
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

In 2018, a Montana border patrol agent asked two U.S. citizens in a grocery store parking lot for their government IDs. "I saw that you guys were speaking Spanish, which is very unheard of up here," he reportedly told them. A week later in New York, a white lawyer threatened to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on restaurant staff who were speaking Spanish with one another.

Verbal and physical attacks on people speaking Spanish in the U.S., which grew in the wake of Donald Trump's 2016 anti-immigrant campaign, have spurred UC Berkeley linguist Jhonni Carr and literary scholar Roman Lujan to campaign for linguistic solidarity.

Specifically, they want non-native Spanish speakers to speak more Spanish in publicthough not in a mocking wayand combat an English-only nativist movement.

"If you know some Spanish, you are ready. You should start speaking the language, even if it's your second or third language. It doesn't matter, as long as you start doing it," Lujan told an audience of more than 50 students globally at a talk this week hosted by Rhode Island College's Department of Modern Languages.

"You can visualize our proposal as a force field that works to create a barrier against discrimination and contributes to the normalization of Spanish as a safer language to speak," added Lujan, a lecturer in UC Berkeley's Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

Added Carr, a UC Berkeley lecturer in Spanish linguistics: "This is not a proposal directed at those experiencing racial and linguistic types of discrimination. This is for linguistic allies who want to actively contribute to preventing it, rather than just reacting after the fact."

A constitutional right

In their talk, Carr and Lujan presented data to put the Spanish language in global and national context. After Mandarin, Spanish is the most spoken language in the world, with more than 470 million native Spanish speakers. It ranks as the official or national language in more than 20 different countries.

Spanish is also the second most spoken language in the U.S., with 56 million native Spanish speakers, Carr said.

Notably, she added, while English is the dominant language in the U.S., it is not the official language. The country's founding fathers didn't find it necessary to declare it so in the Constitution, and several proposed amendments to make it official have thus far failed.

"Freedom of speech includes freedom of language choice. So, we are actually protected by the Constitution in speaking the language of our choice," Carr said. "And yet, we hear about violent verbal attacks, threats of deportation and assaults for speaking Spanish while brown, Black or Indigenous."

Carr and Lujan argued that moves to suppress Spanish speech in public places are not only unlawful, but examples of social and racial injustice. They propose that one way to combat the stigma of speaking Spanish is to speak more Spanish.

Avoid 'mock Spanish'

That said, by Spanish they don't mean phrases commonly used by English speakers in a ridiculing manner.

"We're talking about real Spanish, not mock Spanish, such as, "No problemo," or "No bueno," or "Hasta la vista,'" Carr said. "These phrases actually serve to produce a cartoonish version of Spanish."

But code-switching, or speaking Spanglish, a combination of Spanish and English, is also an option, Lujan said.

"If that is the way that you are going to include more Spanish in your conversation, by all means, mix languages within your discourse," he said. "The ultimate goal is to create a cultural shift by speaking more Spanish in public."

Carr, whose second language is Spanish, acknowledged the discomfort people feel when they're not fluent in a language, but said that shouldn't stop them from trying.

"Spanish is not my first language, and so I also have experienced shyness or linguistic anxiety or insecurity in public," she said.

Ultimately, Carr said, "We are proposing the greater use of Spanish by allies. So, in order to make a visible change, we encourage you to predominantly focus on challenging yourself and other second-language speakers of Spanish to use the language in public in order to protect others with your words."

Explore further Spanish language increasingly more relevant to presidential elections
Created by the UN Universitys Institute for Water, Environment and Health in Hamilton, Canada, with support from Google, MapBox and other partners, the new World Flood Mapping Tool lets users adjust variables to help locate gaps in flood defences and responses, and to plan future development of all kinds -- for example, where to build or upgrade infrastructure, or develop agriculture. Credit: UNU-INWEH

UN University-led experts have debuted a new tool that generates instant, accurate street-level resolution maps of floods worldwide since 1985. The free online World Flood Mapping Tool will help all countries but especially those in the Global South, where flood risk maps are rare and often badly out of date.

Created by the UN University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health in Hamilton, Canada, with support from Google, MapBox and other partners listed below, the tool lets users adjust variables to help locate gaps in flood defenses and responses, and to plan future development of all kindsfor example, where to build or upgrade infrastructure, or develop agriculture.

Simple to use, the tool requires only Internet access to obtain a flood map at 30-meter resolutionstreet by street level. An upcoming version for more commercial uses, for example by insurance firms, will offer even more precise building-level resolution.

The tool allows users to adjust variables to help locate gaps in flood defenses and responses, and to plan future development of all kindsfor example, where to build or upgrade infrastructure, or develop agriculture.

Says UNU-INWEH Director Vladimir Smakhtin: "Floods in the past decade have impacted the lives of more than half a billion people, mainly in low and middle income countries, and resulted in damages of nearly US $500 billionroughly equal to the GDP of Singapore. More recent floods worldwide have added to a fast growing toll of upended lives, damage and deaths."

"An estimated 1.5 billion peoplegreater than the population of Europelive at risk of exposure to intense flooding," adds Dr. Smakhtin. "We need to prepare now for more intense and more frequent floods due to climate change and hope this tool will help developing nations in particular to see and mitigate the risks more clearly."

Hamid Mehmood, a GIS and remote sensing specialist at UNU-INWEH who led the tool's development, says that a UNU-INWEH survey showed a majority of flood forecasting centers in flood-prone countries lack the ability to run complex flood forecasting models.

He adds that floods like those this year in Europe that killed more than 200 people and caused billions of dollars in damages are now up to nine times more likely because of climate change.

"As temperatures continue to rise the number of flood events will increase along with their severity," he said. "No place is immune. And yet remarkably few regions, even in wealthy countries, have useful, up-to-date flood maps because of the cost and difficulty of creating them."

The World Flood Mapping Tool uses the Google Earth Engine combined with decades of Landsat data since 1985a vast catalog of geospatial data enabling planet-scale analysis capabilities.

Layers of Landsat information for a selected region and specified timeframe identifies temporary and permanent water bodies while integrating site-specific elevation and land-use data.

This produces a detailed map of flood inundation in recent decades, with available overlays of population, buildings and land use, which can be used for community planning, building zoning, insurance assessments and more.

To validate the technology, maps generated in less than a minute using the new tool were compared to documented flooding events in Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Cambodia, India, Mozambique, Sri Lanka and Thailand (detailed below), with 82% accuracy achieved.

Wikipedia's list of history's deadliest floods shows 211 events, 103 of which occurred from 1985, the first year covered by the new tool's data.

The new tool will also reflect new floods soon after they occur to provide the most up-to-date maps to help assess overall flood impacts and plan for the future.

"Painting a detailed picture of the historical and potential flood risk areas will be invaluable for any urban and regional planning department," says project collaborator Dr. Duminda Perera of UNU-INWEH.

The more detailed version of the tool in development for commercial use will provide resolution at a building-by-building level and incorporate building occupancy data.

And a free flood risk prediction tool for release next year will use artificial intelligence to generate current and future flood risk maps for three climate change scenarios at the city, district, and river basin levels.

Maximizing the effectiveness of investments in public infrastructure and reducing costs

Reliable up-to-date information about areas at risk of flooding is especially valuable in Africa and Southeast Asia, where urban areas are expected to grow 80% by 2030. The tool can show the flood-safe locations for housing and industry as well as improving overall urban planning.

The new World Flood Mapping Tool enables governments, funding agencies, and disaster management authorities to hone in on the highest potential risk locations of flooding in the future. Knowing exactly where flooding will occur can maximize the effectiveness of investments in public infrastructure and reduce costs.

It differs from previously available systems in a number of ways, including:

Improved resolution of inundation maps to 30 meter resolution, enabling analysis at a citywide level

Focus on the Global South, where data and information gaps are prominent and annual losses due to floods are high

Improved accuracy of inundation maps using data from multiple satellite sensors

Improved accuracy and shorter development time of flood risk maps by using AI models

Dr. Mehmood adds that natural disaster-related insurance rates (where such insurance exists for homes and livelihoods impacted by flooding), flood-related human and economic losses, etc., can be estimated using the new tool.

Potential supply chain vulnerabilities can be revealed. And during disasters, the tool can be used to help determine emergency relief routes.

The World Flood Mapping Tool could also potentially guide development of agriculture insurance support for persons living and farming at the subsistence level. Creating this safety net would have far-reaching implications for global development goals and promoting more secure economies and nations.

The flood inundation maps generated by the tool can be merged with other open datasetspopulation density or land use / land cover changes, for exampleenabling a variety of ways to peer into the future.

Adding other remote-sensing datasets will also improve the tool and offer new ways to employ it, all of which strengthens the ability of countries in the Global South and elsewhere to better plan for and respond to disasters.

Explore further Flood risk uncertainties assessed at the global scale

More information: The tool: The tool: floodmapping.inweh.unu.edu
X-ray analysis provided a complete 3D image of an individual catalyst nanoparticle nd revealed changes in its surface tension and surface chemical composition during different modes of operation. Credit: Science Communication Lab for DESY

A DESY-led research team has been using high-intensity X-rays to observe a single catalyst nanoparticle at work. The experiment has revealed for the first time how the chemical composition of the surface of an individual nanoparticle changes under reaction conditions, making it more active. The team led by DESY's Andreas Stierle is presenting its findings in the journal Science Advances. This study marks an important step towards a better understanding of real, industrial catalytic materials.

Catalysts are materials that promote chemical reactions without being consumed themselves. Today, catalysts are used in numerous industrial processes, from fertilizer production to manufacturing plastics. Because of this, catalysts are of huge economic importance. A very well-known example is the catalytic converter installed in the exhaust systems of cars. These contain precious metals such as platinum, rhodium and palladium, which allow highly toxic carbon monoxide (CO) to be converted into carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and reduce the amount of harmful nitrogen oxides (NO x ).

"In spite of their widespread use and great importance, we are still ignorant of many important details of just how the various catalysts work," explains Stierle, head of the DESY NanoLab. "That's why we have long wanted to study real catalysts while in operation." This is not easy, because in order to make the active surface as large as possible, catalysts are typically used in the form of tiny nanoparticles, and the changes that affect their activity occur on their surface.

Close-up view (artist's impression) of the nanoparticle under investigation: Carbon monoxide oxidises to carbon dioxide on the surface of the nanoparticle. Credit: Science Communication Lab for DESY

Surface strain relates to chemical composition

In the framework of the EU project Nanoscience Foundries and Fine Analysis (NFFA), the team from DESY NanoLab has developed a technique for labeling individual nanoparticles and thereby identifying them in a sample. "For the study, we grew nanoparticles of a platinum-rhodium alloy on a substrate in the lab and labeled one specific particle," says co-author Thomas Keller from DESY NanoLab and in charge of the project at DESY. "The diameter of the labeled particle is around 100 nanometres, and it is similar to the particles used in a car's catalytic converter." A nanometre is a millionth of a millimeter.

Using X-rays from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility ESRF in Grenoble, France, the team was not only able to create a detailed image of the nanoparticle; it also measured the mechanical strain within its surface. "The surface strain is related to the surface composition, in particular the ratio of platinum to rhodium atoms," explains co-author Philipp Pleow from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), whose group computed strain as a function of surface composition. By comparing the observed and computed facet-dependent strain, conclusions can be drawn concerning the chemical composition at the particle surface. The different surfaces of a nanoparticle are called facets, just like the facets of a cut gemstone.

When the nanoparticle is grown, its surface consists mainly of platinum atoms, as this configuration is energetically favored. However, the scientists studied the shape of the particle and its surface strain under different conditions, including the operating conditions of an automotive catalytic converter. To do this, they heated the particle to around 430 degrees Celsius and allowed carbon monoxide and oxygen molecules to pass over it. "Under these reaction conditions, the rhodium inside the particle becomes mobile and migrates to the surface because it interacts more strongly with oxygen than the platinum," explains Pleow. This is also predicted by theory.

"As a result, the surface strain and the shape of the particle change," reports co-author Ivan Vartaniants, from DESY, whose team converted the X-ray diffraction data into three-dimensional spatial images. "A facet-dependent rhodium enrichment takes place, whereby additional corners and edges are formed." The chemical composition of the surface, and the shape and size of the particles have a significant effect on their function and efficiency. However, scientists are only just beginning to understand exactly how these are connected and how to control the structure and composition of the nanoparticles. The X-rays allow researchers to detect changes of as little as 0.1 in a thousand in the strain, which in this experiment corresponds to a precision of about 0.0003 nanometres (0.3 picometres).

Animation: In operation, (diatomic) carbon monoxide molecules oxidise to (triatomic) carbon dioxide molecules on the examined particle. The X-ray light produces a characteristic diffraction pattern from which changes in the surface tension and thus in the chemical composition of the surface during operation can be read. Credit: Science Communication Lab for DESY

Crucial step towards analyzing industrial catalyst maerials

"We can now, for the first time, observe the details of the structural changes in such catalyst nanoparticles while in operation," says Stierle, Lead Scientist at DESY and professor for nanoscience at the University of Hamburg. "This is a major step forward and is helping us to understand an entire class of reactions that make use of alloy nanoparticles." Scientists at KIT and DESY now want to explore this systematically at the new Collaborative Research Centre 1441, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and entitled "Tracking the Active Sites in Heterogeneous Catalysis for Emission Control (TrackAct)".

"Our investigation is an important step towards analyzing industrial catalytic materials," Stierle points out. Until now, scientists have had to grow model systems in the laboratory in order to conduct such investigations. "In this study, we have gone to the limit of what can be done. With DESY's planned X-ray microscope PETRA IV, we will be able to look at ten times smaller individual particles in real catalysts, and under reaction conditions." DESY is one of the world's leading particle accelerator centers and investigates the structure and function of matterfrom the interaction of tiny elementary particles and the behavior of novel nanomaterials and vital biomolecules to the great mysteries of the universe. The particle accelerators and detectors that DESY develops and builds at its locations in Hamburg and Zeuthen are unique research tools. They generate the most intense X-ray radiation in the world, accelerate particles to record energies and open up new windows onto the universe. DESY is a member of the Helmholtz Association, Germany's largest scientific association, and receives its funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (90 percent) and the German federal states of Hamburg and Brandenburg (10 percent).

Explore further Edges and corners increase efficiency of catalytic converters

More information: Single Alloy Nanoparticle X-Ray Imaging during a Catalytic Reaction; Young Yong Kim, Thomas F. Keller, Tiago J. Goncalves, Manuel Abuin, Henning Runge, Luca Gelisio, Jerome Carnis, Vedran Vonk, Philipp N. Plessow, Ivan A. Vartanyants, Andreas Stierle; Science Advances, 2021; 10.1126/sciadv.abh0757 Journal information: Science Advances Single Alloy Nanoparticle X-Ray Imaging during a Catalytic Reaction; Young Yong Kim, Thomas F. Keller, Tiago J. Goncalves, Manuel Abuin, Henning Runge, Luca Gelisio, Jerome Carnis, Vedran Vonk, Philipp N. Plessow, Ivan A. Vartanyants, Andreas Stierle;, 2021; 10.1126/sciadv.abh0757
" " Espresso is undoubtedly Italian and is the base of many other coffee drinks that boast Italian names. skaman306/Getty Images

If you can't start your morning without a cup of joe, you're not alone. American's consumption of coffee is up  it's the highest it's been since 2012  and global exports are too. According to the International Coffee Organization, world coffee exports increased by 2.2 percent between October 2020 and July 2021 compared with the same period in 2019 and 2020.

Clearly coffee has become an important daily ritual for many Americans, which begs the question: Why are so many coffee lovers ordering those drinks in Italian? From lattes to macchiatos, Americans are rolling Italian words off their tongues. How did this happen? After all, coffee doesn't have roots in Italy.

Legend has it that the great bean originated in the Ethiopian plateau and was discovered by Kaldi the goat herder. It spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula and adjacent areas before Europeans encountered coffee in the 17th century. The Dutch are to thank for much of its global spread. Nevertheless, many of the coffee drinks we know today and popularized by Starbucks (more on that later) do originate in Italy, and it has everything to do with the invention of the espresso machine.

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Espresso Base

If you think espresso refers to a type of coffee bean, think again. It's actually a coffee preparation method, and it was first developed in Italy in the 19th century. Because brewed coffee could take up to five minutes to make, coffee lovers sought a way to shorten the time between ordering and drinking. The first espresso machines were bulky and difficult, but by the early 20th century, Milanese manufacturer Luigi Bezzera had developed a single-shot espresso that produced one cup of coffee in seconds. It took a while for the machines to improve in ease of use and flavor of the coffee produced.

"The espresso machine kind of revolutionized coffee to some extent," says Paul Bassett, former World Barista Champion. With the espresso machine, coffee could be made on the spur of the moment and was intended to be drunk immediately after being served, typically standing at a bar. "Everything was centered around the way espresso was made, the way it was consumed as well."

Italian coffee culture grew, and espresso as we know it today became popular in Italy and France in the 1930s, according to Mark Pendergrast, author of "Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World." He writes that the 1950s beatnik movement and its coffeehouse culture launched an "espresso craze" in the U.S.

"Early in the specialty coffee movement, authenticity meant Italian," explains Mike Ferguson with Olam Specialty Coffee. The trend continued. "In the 1980s, many if not most coffeehouses had Italian names and adopted as much Italian as possible into their cafe and menu."

The coffee drinks they served also retained their Italian nomenclature because they were specifically made with espresso. The names refer to what is added to the espresso. For example, put the word "macchiato" into Google Translate, and you'll get "stained" or "spotted," so the drink name refers to the spot of milk that stains the espresso.

"I think fundamentally, espresso is directly linked to Italy as a beverage and the way it's part of their culture," Bassett says. "It's been transported all around the world and reinterpreted."

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It's All in a Name

Despite reinterpretation, the drinks with Italian names have an espresso base and typically some type of milk added. For example, a caffe latte  usually just a latte in the United States  consists of espresso, milk and foam. Although caffe latte literally translates to "milk coffee," it is not brewed coffee with milk, and ordering an espresso with milk and milk foam doesn't sound as catchy.

The distinction between espresso and brewed coffee is important. Consider the Americano, which was named for Americans in Italy who sought a drink similar to the brewed or filtered coffee they drank at home. Because it emerged in Italy and is made by adding water to espresso, it retains its Italian title.

This answers the question about coffee drink names, but what about Starbucks' use of sizes like grande and venti, which are also Italian words? "Short, Tall and Grande sizes were introduced when Il Giornale opened its doors in 1986, followed by Venti hot cup size in the early 1990s," a Starbucks representative said via email. Il Giornale was the name of the coffeehouses launched by Starbucks Chairman Emeritus Howard Schultz during his mid-80s hiatus from the company.

The company's website states that Schultz had been "captivated with Italian coffee bars and the romance of the coffee experience," a tradition he wanted to bring to the United States. He returned to Starbucks and purchased the company in 1987. The Italophilia continued when the company named its blended beverage Frappuccino, which is a trademarked name and not actually an Italian word.

If you feel you simply must avoid a coffee with an Italian name, tomorrow morning try ordering a flat white. It's an Australian espresso drink with milk, minus the foam. But in general, if you don't like using Italian terms, you might also consider calling your spaghetti "noodles."

Now That's Interesting Caffeine (an ingredient in coffee) is considered the most commonly used drug in the world. Low to moderate doses is generally safe, though some clinical studies show that some caffeine users become dependent on it.

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Originally Published: Jan 7, 2019
The Peoples Bank of China, the country's central bank, has announced that all transactions of crypto-currencies are illegal, effectively banning digital coins.

"Virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities," the bank said. It added that cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Tether, are not fiat currencies and cannot be circulated.

Just a few months back, China imposed rules barring banks from offering crypto-related services, pushing traders to over-the-counter platforms and offshore exchanges. However, the new ban goes much further, targeting services provided by offshore exchanges.

In May, the Peoples Bank of China announced that financial services companies and payment services would be banned from pricing or conducting business in virtual currencies.

In order to curb money laundering, cryptocurrency trading has been illegal in China since 2019 with similar bans issued in 2013 and 2017.

This doesnt mean that China is completely giving up on crypto, though. Its just a question of control.

The crypto ban comes at the same time as the Chinese governments roll-out of the Digital Yuan, its sovereign digital currency now either years in development. In the last few months, the Peoples Bank of China has been launching trial projects in large cities to develop a digital yuan payments system.

The digital yuan was envisioned back in 2014 and already has distributed some $30 million in digital currency.

Its a clear rival to unregulated cryptocurrencies. It also is the governments way of challenging WeChat and Alipay, the two private giants dominating the mobile payments market.

China is not the only major economy eyeing a central bank digital currency, even if Chinas plans are far ahead of others.

Some 80 countries are exploring the idea and five nations have so far implemented a digital currency--all of them in the Caribbean.

A dozen European countries are currently participating in developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), D-Euro. European Central Bank aims of D-Euro to complement the existing monetary system rather than replacing physical cash.

In the US, the digital dollar is still under research. In June, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services held a hearing on the benefits and drawbacks of digital currencies.

The opponents of the digital dollar point out a few disadvantages, including lack of privacy and access. On the other side of the digital divide, proponents claim that the US has to implement it and take a leadership role in this or get left behind.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has spoken in favor of the digital dollar when comparing a central bank-issued digital currency with cryptocurrencies.

Legitimate digital public money could help drive out bogus digital private money. It could help improve financial inclusion, efficiency, and the safety of our financial system, Senator Warren said.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is still skeptical about the efficacy of central bank digital currencies.

Chris Waller, a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, recently wrote that the U.S. government should only intervene with a potential digital solution in the event of significant market failures.

I am not convinced as of yet that a CBDC would solve any existing problem that is not being addressed more promptly and efficiently by other initiatives, said Waller.

However, President of the Dallas Federal Reserve Robert Kaplan said a few months back that it is critical that the Fed focuses on developing a digital currency.

According to the Bank for International Settlements, 80% of central banks are engaging with CBDC work in some way, with 50 percent already in the experimental or pilot phase.

Consulting group Accenture estimates that a quarter of G-20 countries will have some sort of digital currency in circulation by 2024.
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Being a flagship university campus dedicated to learning, discovery and growth requires valuing all members of our university community. Whether for students or faculty and staff, the many opportunities of a South Carolina education or career shouldnt just be within reach. The members of our learning community  and their teaching, education, research and work  are only stronger when supported by an inclusive culture.
" " EMI engineer Godfrey Hounsfield stands beside his CT scanner in 1972. PA Images via Getty Images

The possibility of precious objects hidden in secret chambers can really ignite the imagination. In the mid-1960s, British engineer Godfrey Hounsfield pondered whether one could detect hidden areas in Egyptian pyramids by capturing cosmic rays that passed through unseen voids.

He held on to this idea over the years, which can be paraphrased as "looking inside a box without opening it." Ultimately Hounsfield did figure how to use high-energy rays to reveal what's invisible to the naked eye. He invented a way to see inside the hard skull and get a picture of the soft brain inside.

The first computed tomography image  a CT scan  of the human brain was made 50 years ago, on Oct. 1, 1971. Hounsfield never made it to Egypt, but his invention did take him to Stockholm and Buckingham Palace.

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An Engineer's Innovation

Godfrey Hounsfield's early life did not suggest that he would accomplish much at all. He was not a particularly good student. As a young boy his teachers described him as "thick."

He joined the British Royal Air Force at the start of the Second World War, but he wasn't much of a soldier. He was, however, a wizard with electrical machinery  especially the newly invented radar that he would jury-rig to help pilots better find their way home on dark, cloudy nights.

After the war, Hounsfield followed his commander's advice and got a degree in engineering. He practiced his trade at EMI  the company would become better known for selling Beatles albums, but started out as Electric and Music Industries, with a focus on electronics and electrical engineering.

Hounsfield's natural talents propelled him to lead the team building the most advanced mainframe computer available in Britain. But by the '60s, EMI wanted out of the competitive computer market and wasn't sure what to do with the brilliant, eccentric engineer.

While on a forced holiday to ponder his future and what he might do for the company, Hounsfield met a physician who complained about the poor quality of X-rays of the brain. Plain X-rays show marvelous details of bones, but the brain is an amorphous blob of tissue  on an X-ray it all looks like fog. This got Hounsfield thinking about his old idea of finding hidden structures without opening the box.

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A New Approach Reveals the Previously Unseen

Hounsfield formulated a new way to approach the problem of imaging what's inside the skull.

First, he would conceptually divide the brain into consecutive slices  like a loaf of bread. Then he planned to beam a series of X-rays through each layer, repeating this for each degree of a half-circle. The strength of each beam would be captured on the opposite side of the brain  with stronger beams indicating they'd traveled through less dense material.

" " This graphic shows how X-rays beam slice through layers of of brain, oriented at each degree from 1 to 180 in a semicircle. Edmund S. Higgins (CC BY-ND 4.0)

Finally, in possibly his most ingenious invention, Hounsfield created an algorithm to reconstruct an image of the brain based on all these layers. By working backward and using one of the era's fastest new computers, he could calculate the value for each little box of each brain layer. Eureka!

" " Calculating the strength of each X-ray once its passed through the object, and working backward with an impressive algorithm, it is possible to construct an image. Edward S. Higgins (CC BY-ND 4.0)

But there was a problem: EMI wasn't involved in the medical market and had no desire to jump in. The company allowed Hounsfield to work on his product, but with scant funding. He was forced to scrounge through the scrap bin of the research facilities and cobbled together a primitive scanning machine small enough to rest atop a dining table.

Even with successful scans of inanimate objects and, later, kosher cow brains, the powers that be at EMI remained underwhelmed. Hounsfield needed to find outside funding if he wanted to proceed with a human scanner.

Hounsfield was a brilliant, intuitive inventor, but not an effective communicator. Luckily he had a sympathetic boss, Bill Ingham, who saw the value in Hounsfield's proposal and struggled with EMI to keep the project afloat.

He knew there were no grants they could obtain quickly, but reasoned the U.K. Department of Health and Social Security could purchase equipment for hospitals. Miraculously, Ingham sold them four scanners before they were even built. So, Hounsfield organized a team, and they raced to build a safe and effective human scanner.

Meanwhile, Hounsfield needed patients to try out his machine on. He found a somewhat reluctant neurologist who agreed to help. The team installed a full-sized scanner at the Atkinson Morley Hospital in London, and on Oct. 1, 1971, they scanned their first patient: a middle-aged woman who showed signs of a brain tumor.

It was not a fast process  30 minutes for the scan, a drive across town with the magnetic tapes, 2.5 hours processing the data on an EMI mainframe computer and capturing the image with a Polaroid camera before racing back to the hospital.

And there it was  in her left frontal lobe  a cystic mass about the size of a plum. With that, every other method of imaging the brain was obsolete.

" " The first clinical CT scan shows a plum-sized brain tumor visible in the patient's left front lobe. It shows up on the scan as a dark blob. Medical Imaging Systems: An Introductory Guide (CC BY 4.0)

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Millions of CT Scans Every Year

EMI, with no experience in the medical market, suddenly held a monopoly for a machine in high demand. It jumped into production and was initially very successful at selling the scanners. But within five years, bigger, more experienced companies with more research capacity such as General Electric Co. and Siemens were producing better scanners and gobbling up sales. EMI eventually exited the medical market  and became a case study in why it can be better to partner with one of the big guys instead of trying to go it alone.

Hounsfield's innovation transformed medicine. He shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1979 and was knighted by the Queen in 1981. He continued to putter around with inventions until his final days in 2004, when he died at 84.

In 1973, American Robert Ledley developed a whole-body scanner that could image other organs, blood vessels and, of course, bones. Modern scanners are faster, provide better resolution and most importantly, do it with less radiation exposure. There are even mobile scanners.

By 2020, technicians were performing more than 80 million scans annually in the U.S. Some physicians argue that number is excessive and maybe a third are unnecessary. While that may be true, the CT scan has benefited the health of many patients around the world, helping identify tumors and determine if surgery is needed. They're particularly useful in the emergency room for a quick search for internal injuries after accidents.

And remember Hounsfield's idea about the pyramids? In 1970 scientists placed cosmic ray detectors in the lowest chamber in the Pyramid of Khafre. They concluded that no hidden chamber was present within the pyramid. In 2017, another team placed cosmic ray detectors in the Great Pyramid of Giza and found a hidden, but inaccessible, chamber. It's unlikely it will be explored anytime soon.

" " Modern CT scans provide much higher resolution images of the "slices" of the brain than Hounsfield's original scan in 1971. The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. You can find the original article here.

Edmund S. Higgins is an affiliate associate professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina.
 TRAC releases intriguing new report on "Equal Justice and Sentencing Practices Among Federal District Court Judges" | Main | After an overwhelming majority of GOP House delegation voted for EQUAL Act, can the Senate move quickly to finally right a 35-year wrong? 

This lengthy new CNN article, Headlined "Compassionate release became a life-or-death lottery for thousands of federal inmates during the pandemic," takes a deep dive into the realities of compassionate release processes and outcomes. Here are excerpts:

But elsewhere in the country, compassionate release is a different story: Nearly 50% of compassionate release motions decided by the federal court in Massachusetts and more than 60% decided by the court in Oregon were approved during the same time period -- including some for inmates with far less serious medical conditions.... [The image shows darker colors based on percentage of motions for compassionate release that were granted, by judicial district.]

Federal judges in all of these districts are applying the same laws, which allow compassionate release in "extraordinary and compelling" cases. But those wide disparities show that whether defendants get released early during the pandemic has had almost as much to do with which courts are hearing their motion as it does with the facts of their cases, legal advocates and researchers say.

The compassionate release process, expanded by Congress in a landmark 2018 criminal justice reform bill, has acted as a safety valve for the federal prison system during the pandemic, with more than 3,600 inmates being released in 2020 and the first half of 2021. But it has given judges broad discretion to interpret which sentences should be reduced, leading to a national patchwork of jarringly different approval rates between federal courts.

The reasons behind the disparities have to do with variations in sentence length and legal representation for inmates, as well as differing approaches between more liberal and conservative judges, according to interviews with more than a dozen lawyers, advocates and experts studying compassionate release.

More broadly, the percentage of motions granted nationwide has fallen this year, as judges and Department of Justice lawyers have been pointing to inmates' vaccination status as a reason to oppose their release. "Judges are looking at the same law and policy but interpreting it differently," said Hope Johnson, a researcher with the UCLA School of Law who's studied compassionate release cases. "There's an arbitrariness in the way these decisions are being made."...

Overall, 17.5% of compassionate release motions were granted in 2020 and the first six months of 2021, newly released sentencing commission statistics show. But that rate ranged from a low of 1.7% in the Southern District of Georgia, where all but four of 230 motions were denied, to a high of 77.3% in the District of Puerto Rico, where 17 of 22 motions were granted.

Judge Charles Breyer, the only current member of the sentencing commission, said in an interview that he thought the lack of updated compassionate release guidelines was exacerbating the wide disparities between districts. He said he would like the commission to pass a new standard urging judges to take "the pernicious effect of Covid" into account in deciding compassionate release cases. "You need a national standard," Breyer told CNN, adding that without one, "it creates a vacuum and it creates uncertainty, and most importantly it creates disparity."
Representative image

Vienna [Austria], October 1 (ANI): At least 15 Afghan-Austrian women have visited the Austrian Parliament and put forward various demands including opening borders of neighbouring countries of the war-ravaged country.

The Afghan women demanded not to recognise the Taliban and their regime, not to legitimise the Taliban and their regime and called on countries neighbouring Afghanistan to keep their borders open in light of the intensifying crisis in Afghanistan

They also demanded continuous help to evacuate the vulnerable Afghans.

Journalists, artists, human rights activists must have the opportunity to leave the country. Protect the minority and women of Afghanistan. Send humanitarian aid and medical supplies and making sure that this help resonates with the population and does not fall into the hands of the Taliban, they demanded.

Green National Council member and human rights spokeswoman Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic and Faika El-Nagashi, who is a spokesperson for the Greens were also present at the event.

Several countries have already opened their doors for Afghan refugees. However, most of these countries have put a quota on maximum permissible limits for refugees who are allowed to enter these countries.

As Taliban came into power in Afghanistan, women in the country will experience violence not just in its physical form; it will also be structural, cultural and institutional, The News International said.

So far, the Taliban are not allowing women to work with men in workplaces. The women who worked in past with men were called "prostitutes" by a Talib leader on Afghan national TV. The Taliban recently introduced an antiquated version of modesty for all women (including young girls), banned them from sports and others.

Such gender apartheid emanating from the Taliban controlled Afghanistan can't lead to peace. The Taliban's ideology involves gender apartheid at their core and it shows the future of Afghan women not much except regression and complete lack of empowerment, education, and access to healthcare facilities, according to The News International. (ANI)
Infowars host Alex Jones has lost two of several lawsuits filed against him by relatives of Sandy Hook victims after he routinely failed to comply with requests to produce documents related to his involvement in spreading lies about the deadly shooting.

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble on Monday issued her ruling for default judgments against Jones in two different cases, which means he and the conspiracy-theory-spewing outlet Infowars have been found liable for all damages and a jury will now be convened to determine how much he will owe the plaintiffs. The new rulings became public Thursday.

In the filings, Gamble eviscerated Jones and reasoned that default judgments should be ordered because an escalating series of judicial admonishments, monetary penalties, and non-dispositive sanctions have all been ineffective at deterring the abuse, caused by Jones unwillingness to turn over documents related to the cases, the Texas judge ruled.

The ruling  which is often referred to in Texas as a death penalty sanction for a party unwilling to comply with court orders  is a rarity in the legal world. Jones, who is now on his seventh lawyer in these cases, had years to provide documentation requested by the court, including internal company emails.

HuffPost was the first to report the start of Jones Sandy Hook legal woes in 2018 when parents Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa filed a defamation lawsuit related to Jones continued lies that the 2012 school shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead was a false flag hoax filled with crisis actors.

Pozner and De La Rosas 6-year-old son, Noah, was killed in the shooting. In the years since, the parents have dealt with continued harassment from those who followed Jones lead and claimed the shooting was faked.

Alex Jones has lost two court cases against Sandy Hook parents. (Photo: HuffPost Illustration/Reuters)

Theyre not the only ones. In total, nine families who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook shooting have leveled lawsuits against Jones and Infowars for the damage he and his outlet caused. Since then, Jones has lost multiple legal battles in his many lawsuits and was ordered to pay nearly $150,000 in legal fees in 2020 for failing to provide discovery documents for the plaintiffs.

Story continues

It was Jones continued refusal to hand over discovery documents that led to Mondays rulings against him in a lawsuit brought on by Pozner and a separate lawsuit by parent Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse, was also killed in the shooting. Pozner, De La Rosa, and Lewis are being represented by Texas law firm Farrar & Ball, who told HuffPost that they are not surprised by the Courts decision.

Jones most recent lawyer, Brad Reeves, told the Austin-American Statesman earlier this month that a default judgment against Jones would be a hugely excessive response to his discovery failures. Judge Gamble felt otherwise:

Furthermore, in considering whether lesser remedies would be effective, this Court has also considered Defendants general bad faith approach to litigation, Mr. Jones public threats, and Mr. Jones professed belief that these proceedings are show trials, the court rulings read.

Lawyer Bill Ogden with Farrar & Ball told HuffPost that Gambles default judgment ruling is a bit of a myth in the legal world.

We learn about death penalty sanctions in law school as more of a theory, and its almost unheard of to have them handed down in a case like this, Ogden said in an emailed statement. However, the Sandy Hook cases are unique. It is extremely rare that a party (Alex Jones and Infowars) is ordered by the Court to comply with discovery, is sanctioned for failing to obey with the Courts multiple Order(s), and then continues to blatantly disregard the Courts authority by continuously refusing to comply.

While Jones has now claimed he no longer believes the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, the damage had already been done. In 2017, Florida woman Lucy Richards was sentenced to five months in prison for sending threats to Pozner.

You gonna die, Richards told Pozner in one recorded voicemail message. Death is coming to you real soon.

As part of her sentence, Richards was ordered not to access Infowars.

Jones cataclysmic court losses are unsurprising to those who have followed his cases. In a 2019 deposition, Jones was unable to recall basic facts about the school shooting, including the date that it happened.

I talk four hours a day, and I cant remember what I talked about sometimes a week ago, Jones said in the deposition.

Reached by phone Thursday, Jones lawyer, Reeves, told HuffPost he had no comment regarding the decision.

I havent really analyzed [the rulings], so I dont know exactly what is going to happen, Reeves said.

Alex Jones hit with default judgments in Sandy Hook case by Sebastian Murdock on Scribd

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
First the tourists stayed away. Then the coronavirus pandemic dragged on and on. In desperate times, the owners of one Hong Kong hotel decided drastic changes were needed.

Veteran hotel general manager Rain Yim could not believe her ears when her bosses announced earlier this year that they were opening a new establishment despite the dire situation.

In August, the Muse X Hotel opened in the heart of the Causeway Bay shopping hub, offering a love nest for Hong Kong couples seeking privacy. The owners rented a former hotel which catered to tourists and transformed it into themed rooms for locals.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

We are quite sure we are the first standalone, fully themed love hotel in Hong Kong. We wont be shy to stand up and tell people we are a love hotel, an hourly rate hotel, said Yim, who is in her 40s and has been in the hotel business for more than 20 years.

The camping room at Muse X Hotel in Causeway Bay. Photo: Jonathan Wong

In switching their attention from tourists to locals, the hotel owners have been unabashed about the patrons they want.

If the name of the establishment, Muse X, is not enough of a hint, the themes, decor and trappings of the 54 rooms reveal more.

Some rooms come with relatively staid four-poster or king-size beds. Then there is the forest-themed room complete with a tent in a mock campsite.

More unusual rooms have circular beds fitted within giant bird cages or even hanging from the ceiling. Guests are assured they are secure.

In some rooms guests will find chairs of the sort usually seen in gynaecologists clinics. Elsewhere, curious contraptions and twisty sofas cater to couples with a penchant for more gymnastic bedroom romps.

Yim insists the hotel is a cut above the countless other businesses offering hourly rate rooms in the city, many with fancy to outlandish decor, and usually occupying a few floors or several tiny flats in residential or commercial buildings.

Story continues

And unlike those establishments that prefer to be coy about their purpose, Yim says Muse X aims to present itself as a positive and healthy hotel for baau fong, common Cantonese slang which means going to a love hotel.

We are also not like those old villa-style love hotels in Kowloon Tong and two chains which young people consider too old-school, she said, referring to the Hotel Victoria and Park Excellent Hotel chains.

Kit Lau, general manager at Sober Hotel in Mong Kok. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Industry veterans believe the 23-storey hotel on Hennessy Road is the first of its kind in Hong Kong, dedicated entirely to couples who lack privacy at home for sex.

If we can build an image that this is not a place just for secret affairs or perversion, but a clean love hotel which serves customers just like a traditional hotel, once the pandemic is gone, we may actually draw different kinds of customers to come for a try, Yim said.

Heading in the same direction, a 15-storey establishment in Mong Kok rebranded itself as the Sober Hotel after converting 20 of its 50 rooms into love nests for short-staying guests.

General manager Kit Lau said ongoing renovations would turn the premises into a full love hotel in a years time.

We are telling people openly that were an hourly hotel. There is nothing embarrassing to hide, she said.

The owner, a low-profile local businessman, tried to advertise his new initiative on television but gave up after failing to secure good time slots. Local television stations might not be ready for their message, Lau added.

A themed room in Sober costs HK$270 (US$35) or HK$380 for four hours on weekdays, and HK$30 more on weekends.

Muse X charges HK$280 for two hours or HK$380 for three hours seven days a week.

Tourism lawmaker Yiu Si-wing said the two hotels new business direction showed the sector adjusting to new realities.

The London room at Muse X Hotel. Photo: Jonathan Wong

He said many hotels which previously took in tourists had begun having guests on an hourly basis and were letting out their rooms on monthly terms, neither of which they would have considered before the pandemic.

The whole hotel sector has been pushed to find different sources of guests, he said.

Frequent love hotel user Steven* said themed rooms and special features were attractive, but what mattered more were the price and quality of services such as the helpfulness of staff, user-friendliness of the reservation process and catering.

As for the novelties, people might just give it one try only if the overall quality is not good, he said.

Another user, Michelle*, said what mattered most to her was cleanliness in the hotel rooms.

Themed love hotels appealed to couples seeking excitement and new experiences, so the features in the rooms would have to be changed regularly to keep attracting guests, she added.

*Names have been changed at interviewees request.

This article Love shack: new Hong Kong hotel woos in-the-mood couples looking for some alone time, promising to cater to all tastes first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
Doha-based spokesperson of Taliban Suhail Shaheen (Photo Credit: Twitter)

Kabul [Afghanistan], October 1 (ANI): The Taliban-nominated envoy to the United Nations Suhail Shaheen once again called on the organisation to allow him to represent Afghanistan at the international forum.

Shaheen urged that the former government of Afghanistan has collapsed and hence its envoy cannot represent the country, Tolo News reported.

"The Kabul Administration exists no more and has no components of a government while IEA (Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan), having all components of a government, is the only and real representative of the people of Afghanistan," Shaheen said in a tweet.

This is the second time when the Taliban have urged to represent the taken over country at the international forum.

Shaheen had said that they have the right to participate in the UN and criticised the decision of excluding them in this year's United Nations General Assembly.

He also added that the Taliban are being supported by the people of Afghanistan and they (the Taliban) have the capability to defend them, thus the UN must recognize the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, reported The Khaama Press.

Despite the Taliban announcing a general amnesty in Afghanistan, the country is witnessing intense violence against the minorities and people who worked for the democratically elected Afghan government.

Meanwhile, the Taliban is also hunting for women journalists and activists in the country.

Moreover, the international communities have expressed that the trajectory of their relationship with the Taliban and support to the group will depend entirely on what it does, not just on what it says. (ANI)
Having inspired a huge subgenre of political comedy, Jon Stewart, who walked away from The Daily Show in 2015, has returned to television in a determined but defensive crouch. That hes both worried about and preemptively rebelling against criticism is evident in the extremely 90s credit sequence that introduces his new weekly AppleTV+ show, The Problem With Jon Stewart. Over grinding, Rage Against the Machinestyle guitars, the credits cycle through unflattering potential titles like The Money Grab With Jon Stewart before landing on a title that both sets up the shows formateach weekly episode deals with a central problem, like War or Freedomand preempts the title of skeptical think pieces. Stewart plays defense as host too, alluding early and often to how old he looks and to how little his audience is laughing. Concerns that The Problems writing staff might be too white and male, like The Daily Shows, are staved off by literally showing us Stewart bantering with his staff, which is admirably diverse. That behind-the-scenes footage also seems to announce an intention to be less polished, messier, and more meta. In one of these brainstorming sessions, Stewart openly addresses what he sees as the shows basic challenge, namely, that a comedy hybrid show about stuff he actually takes seriously is tricky to reconcile with the fact that one idea on the writers room whiteboard is snake penis.

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Hes not wrong. That is a problem for any such show, and The Problem With Jon Stewart hasnt figured it outwhich is weird, honestly, because while this could and would trip up many a TV personality, it shouldnt be an issue for him! Stewart famously perfected an Emmy-winning formula that married comedy and serious political news. He was huge. His influence, for all that he insisted in interviews that he was a joke and a clown, is hard to overstate and of course helped bring about a flock of conceptually similar shows that differ somewhat in approach and execution, including Wyatt Cenacs Problem Areas, Last Week Tonight With Jon Oliver, Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, and even Seth Meyers segment A Closer Look.

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Its true that the formula may, in hindsight, have had some flaws. A generation or more of Comedy Central viewers came to consciousness about current events by watching Stewart lethally and expertly skewering political actors. He did this so successfully, with such precise and well-chosen juxtapositions, that he sometimes in retrospectat least according to his criticsovershot the mark, transmogrifying the outrageous into the merely grotesque or absurd. Back in 2012, Steve Almond argued in the Baffler that Stewart modeled a form of political engagement that neutered political anger by creating a communal space where the bad guys were so self-evidently ridiculous that there was no real need for civic activism; complacent chuckles would suffice. He took particular issue with Stewarts habit of emphasizing civility as a fundamental value and the facile centrism with which he insistedand still insiststhat both sides have their way of shutting down debate.

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By way of example, Almond describes a 2010 exchange between Stewart and Rachel Maddow in which he took issue with her referring to George W. Bush as a war criminal. Now that may be technically true, Stewart said. In my world, a war criminal is Pol Pot or the Nuremberg trials.  But I think thats such an incendiary charge that when you put it into conversation as, well, technically he is, that may be right, but it feels like a conversation stopper, not a conversation starter. This is the Stewart credo distilled, Almond wrote. Civility at any cost, even in the face of moral atrocity.

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I wasnt convinced by this at the timeI liked Stewart and was pretty pro-civility myselfbut I think subsequent events have proved Almond right. Stewart was an artist, but his medium demanded round edges. He could channel his outrage hilariously and powerfully in his monologues, which were never less than crisp and perfectly timed, and pivot with ease to the interview. The effect was smooth, digestible. Even when the guest was an adversary, there was bouncy good humor to the whole enterprise; after a little sparring, Stewart would wrap up with a Bill OReilly, everyone! that genially defanged any preceding confrontation. Each half-hour was rigorously structured: The commentary had an arc; the interview had a shape. However distressing the news imparted therein might have been, a Daily Show episode felt like a fully digested thought. You could let it go.

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However distressing the news imparted therein might have been, a Daily Show episode felt like a fully digested thought. You could let it go.

This is not true of The Problem With Jon Stewart. The two episodes made available to reviewers are fascinatingly unpolished. Stewarts monologue in the first episode, War, gets few laughs for good reason: Its not punchy or precise, and it lacks that Stewart rhythm weve all come to expect. A behind-the-scenes discussion between the writers of how the show will be structured feels necessary, if only to orient the audience, but turns out not to really hold for the second episode, Freedom. Whereas a typical correspondents interview in The Daily Show was skillfully edited to make politicians look like absolute idiotsin a way that could feel mildly comforting, if only because the segments were so definitive and irrefutablethe interviews in The Problem With Jon Stewart are sort of upsetting and shapeless.

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This isnt exactly bad. In the first episode, Stewart interviews a number of veterans who were exposed to burn pits in Afghanistanliteral trash fires that can cover a base in toxic smokebut were ignored by the Department of Veterans Affairs when they got sick. The episode explores how military spending, which goes almost unaudited when it comes to waging war, gets bureaucratic and slow when it comes to veterans health, refusing to tie the robust science that exists on how toxic substances like dioxin and benzene make people sick to the illnesses these veterans are dying from. That said, the story is messily told. (Its hard, frankly, not to think about how much more skillfully John Oliver would have done it.) Its also an issue Stewart has famously cared about for a long time, and the episode suffers a little bit from his overfamiliarity. The veterans and spouses he interviews speak well, but some are naturally nervous, and Stewart doesnt direct the conversation as much as he could.

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Its an interesting departure from the kind of aggressively architected segment that packs a point. It could almost be a podcast, were it not for the fact that Stewart is plainly conscious that the formata panel in front of an audienceis at odds with the execution. More than once, he tries to explain away the audiences silence as them being stunned by what the vets are saying. Thats possible, but they might also just be mildly confused by the toneor trying to grasp just how badly off the assembled guests are. When Stewart says that one of them, retired Staff Sgt. Wesley Black, has Stage 4 colon cancer, for instance, I was jolted by big questionswait, Stage 4? My god, were hearing from a man whos dying? How is he now? How long does he have? The brutal stakes of his case arent clearly explained up front, and Black doesnt get to speak until almost everyone else has. Stewart is so deferential and euphemistic about his condition that it falls to the man himself, at the end of the segment, to make the situation clear: It is too late for me, he says, twice, before talking about how his family will have to live without him, and with the memory of how much hes suffered for five years because his symptoms were misdiagnosed.

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After that segment, in which a deeply pained Stewart tries to interject a little levity when he remembers that this is a comedy hybrid show, theres another interview. This one is with Denis McDonough, the secretary of veterans affairs, and its awkward for a whole different set of reasons.* The interview doesnt seem to be edited much at all and features Stewartwho points out that he never once went out and interviewed someone like this when he was at The Daily Showdoggedly asking McDonough what it will take to get these vets health care. Its uncomfortable watching precisely because Stewart does not let civility prevent him from repeating the question, over and over, until the viewer begins to cringe. Were used to a journalist asking a question once or maybe twice and moving on. Stewart just keeps asking, and the segment only ends when Stewart is told he can ask just one more, and does. This is not cathartic. It is frustrating and weird to watch in a possibly productive way. One comes to share Stewarts frustration that the question doesnt seem answerable. No laugh comes to relieve that anxiety, and Stewarts concluding remarks dont do much to offer any sense of resolution or closure.

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In the end, this is the same Stewart from the early 2000s. His orientation toward current events still feels rooted in a post-9/11 moment right down to his mode of argumentation, whichthough Stewart is clearly liberalis clearly pitched to a reasonable bipartisan audience he still seems to believe exists. He starts off his monologue in War talking about how both parties talk a good game about supporting the troops but dont, having apparently failed to notice that neither right nor left these days talks much about the troops at all. Has Stewart noticed that the Support the Troops version of 9/11 patriotism has given way to other, more divisive mottos, like Back the Blue? His political commentary, in short, feels a tad Rip Van Winkleish. Hes still showing clips of Reagan saying something Republican anti-vaxxers contradict, as if hypocrisy charges worked or mattered. Has he noticed that those gotchas presume a sense of shame that the Republican Party has long since obliterated?

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But there is a difference even if Stewarts outlook feels trapped in amber, and its both the reason the show might be having trouble finding its footing and the reason I hope it does: Stewarts guests now arent polished politicians and charismatic stars and authors. Theyre people in real peril. In the second episode, Freedom, Stewart interviews people who have been persecuted by their governments. One of them, Maria Ressa, is speaking from the Philippines, which she cannot leave, and where she faces a possible sentence of life in prison. Thats hard to joke about.

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The Problem With Jon Stewart isnt very funny. As one of my colleagues put it, reflecting on how Stewarts descendants are doing his schtick better than he is, Its like the master became the student. But Stewart might be attempting something messier and more serious than his former work. Hes trying to grow up. Stewart used to insist he was just a comedian whenever he was holding otherslike Tucker Carlson in that famous Crossfire interviewto higher standards. For better and worse, hes not using that excuse anymore.
The federal government is about to breach its legal borrowing limit. Republicans in Congress acknowledge that this would be catastrophic: It would crash the economy and force a default from which the United States would never fully recover. Congress could avert this crisis by raising the debt ceiling, but Republicans refuse to do so. Theyre pledging to vote in lockstep against the debt ceiling increase, and theyre claiming that this behavior on their partin effect, voting to sabotage the government and the economydoesnt matter, because they dont have enough votes to win.

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Its an odd message. In a normal democracy, each party tells voters that if its elected, good things will happen, and bad things will be prevented. Republicans are saying the opposite: that America will be spared a terrible fate because the other party controls Congress. The Republican message is that the country will survive because Republicans dont hold power.

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Mitch McConnell, the GOP leader in the Senate, agrees that a debt ceiling breach is unthinkable. America must never default. The debt ceiling will need to be raised, he affirmed last week at a press conference. Dont play Russian roulette with our economy, McConnell told Democrats. Step up and raise the debt ceiling. Yet he vowed that his party would do the opposite. We will not provide Republican votes for raising the debt limit, he declared on Monday. John Thune, the GOPs second-ranking senator, pledged that not a single Republican would vote to raise the limit.

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At the same time, Senate Republicans promised that nothing bad would happen, because Democrats would save the day. The debt ceiling will be raised, as it always should be, but it will be raised by the Democrats, said McConnell. In a CNN interview, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey delivered the same message. There is no calamity thats going to happen, Toomey assured viewers, because after Republicans vote no, Democrats would pass the debt ceiling all by themselves.

Republicans think that by voting against the debt ceiling hike, theyre showing that Democrats are responsible for the debt. But theyre really demonstrating that the security of the United States depends on Democratic control of Congress. In press briefings, Republican leaders in the House and Senate have argued that the country is safe because, in the words of Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, Democrats can keep the government operating, not default on the debt, and do it without a single Republican vote.

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That margin of safetya single Republican voteis hardly comforting. Republicans are one seat away from controlling the Senate. Theyre six seats away from controlling the House. If anything were to happen to 81-year old Sen. Patrick Leahy or 80-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermonts Republican governor would appoint their temporary replacement. The economy-wrecking Republican minority in the Senate could instantly become a majority. In fact, this could happen between the passage of new spending legislationapproved by 50 Democrats and Vice President Kamala Harrisand a subsequent vote on the debt ceiling, with Republicans suddenly controlling 51 seats.

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Congressional Republicans say theyre being fiscally responsible, not hypocritical. They insist that the debt limit hike applies only to future spending, not to spending that has already occurred. That claim is preposterous. If it were true, there would be no need to raise the debt limit until Congress passes a new spending bill. In reality, as Republicans have acknowledged, the government is on track to hit the debt limit in mid-October because it has to cover expenses and revenue losses that were previously approved by Congress, including President Donald Trumps tax cuts.

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Toomey concedes that a new debt limit hike would cover spending we have already committed to in the form of the big entitlement programs. Nineteen Republicans, including McConnell, also voted for a $1 trillion infrastructure bill in August. Fifteen, including McConnell, voted on Thursday to spend billions more to fund the government through December. Yet they insisted on excluding any debt limit increase from the new spending package. Theyre willing to run up the governments credit card. Theyre just not willing to pay the credit-card bill.

Its bad enough that Republicans are threatening to throw the country into default. But theyre also trying to destroy the whole culture of collective responsibility. There is no tradition of doing this on a bipartisan basis, McConnell said on Tuesday, referring to raising the debt ceiling. Thats completely false. Democrats repeatedly helped Trump and a Republican Congress raise the debt limit just a few years ago. Democrats were furious that Republicans, on a party-line vote, had passed enormous deficit-financed tax cuts. Nevertheless, Democrats voted to raise the debt limit, in part to help pay for the tax cuts. Thats how congressional responsibility works: Even when the other party wins a vote on how to allocate money, all members have a duty to ensure that the government makes good on its financial commitments.

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Republicans are shredding that principle. Theyre reducing Congress to a pit of partisan anarchy in which members who lose a vote on legislation feel no responsibility to pay for that legislation. In fact, theyre claiming a moral right to undercut the legislation by sabotaging the financial arrangements to pay for it. A vote to raise the debt ceiling is, in their words, a vote to aid and abet spending they oppose. From this nihilistic perspective, voting no on the debt ceiling is just another weapon of obstruction. Its one of the tools available to us, says Republican Sen. John Cornyn.

This level of ruthlessness is unsustainable. In a showdown over the debt ceiling, it threatens to trigger a federal heart attack, crashing the global economy and destroying the governments credit rating. Beyond that, Republicans are threatening to unravel Congress as an institution and to dissolve the United States as a polity to which all citizenseven those who lost the last election or the last vote in Congressare committed.

Fortunately, theres a simple way to avert this nightmare. Preserve the safeguard that, according to Republicans, is shielding our country from disaster: a Democratic majority in Congress.
This week, in response to the FBIs latest release of crime data showing that murders spiked across the country last year, many national news outlets published articles and opinion pieces suggesting the uptick was due, in part, to backlash over last summers protests against police violence.

Theres a name for this line of thinking: the Ferguson effect. Its a criminological theory with a nasty half-life. After Michael Brown was killed by the Ferguson Police Department in 2014, law enforcement and criminologists falsely claimed that homicide rate increases could be attributed to police withdrawing from their duties after receiving public criticism and policy pushback for their brutal violence. Years after the theory was debunked, the idea persists under different names: de-policing or police pullback. Apply some light scrutiny to this widely cited theory, and it quickly falls apart.

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The Ferguson effect and its successor theories consist of two main claims. First, protests against police brutality cause police to stop doing their jobs, either because police are afraid of even the smallest forms of accountability for their violence or because they are simply thin-skinned and mercurial. (The latter is probably true. More on this later.) The second part of the theory says that when police stop doing their jobs, crime immediately begins to increase. This is where the theory goes off the rails.

It would be easy to prove that police pullback led to crime spikesif it were true. But study after study has disproved the notion. After Eric Garner was killed by the New York Police Department in 2014, the NYPD responded to a wave of police brutality protests with a work slowdown. But unfortunately for the de-policing theory, reported crime actually decreased during the slowdown and shortly afterward. New York City is no outlier, either. Criminologist Richard Rosenfeld published a definitive nationwide study debunking the theory in 2019 and has written op-eds undermining it, signaling that he recognizes just how out of control the de-policing narrative has become.

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Another major problem with the de-policing narrative, aside from being wrong, is that it can easily turn into victim-blaming. A recent Washington Post column highlighting the rise in murders sanctimoniously noted that attacking the police in the name of racial justice  ends up harming the same people that police reform efforts intend to help. In other words: Look what happens when you tell cops to stop killing you! More people die!

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But once again, this narrative doesnt hold water. Research shows that Black Lives Matter protests successfully reduced police violencethe very thing the protests aimed to prevent.

There is, however, a tiny kernel of truth buried inside the concern over de-policing. Its likely that one of the largest protest movements in U.S. history led to increased distrust of the police. Liberal social scientists refer to this dynamic as police legitimacy or lack thereof, which in turn can lead to decreased crime reporting and decreased willingness to serve as witnesses in homicide investigations. (This theory was instrumental in the Obama administrations ineffective procedural justice reforms, which drew justified criticism. Merely changing perceptions of police without changing policing itself is more like counterinsurgency than meaningful change.)

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Regardless, the police legitimacy theory has some empirical support: A recent working paper found that George Floyds killing caused serious declines in crime reporting across eight cities. But that paper doesnt claim that protests caused crime reporting declines. The truth of the matter is that policing makes people distrust police. And if its true that lower levels of trust in police cause crime (its certainly an open question), then police themselves would be to blame for the homicide spikenot defund advocates.

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One thing is true: The protests in reaction to George Floyds murder made police officers all over America throw tantrums in unison. In 2020, police went beyond work slowdowns and acted out their retaliatory rage in the streets. Philadelphia cops tear-gassed a crowd of protesters trapped on a highway; New York City cops arrested hundreds of protesters and even targeted legal observers. At least eight people were blinded by nonlethal police projectiles in May 2020. (Is it surprising that people dont trust cops after this?)

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How is it possible that people who watched these tantrums on the news could still come away thinking that police should receive an enormous share of local public funds, wield weapons, enjoy legal immunity for their violence, and be (ostensibly) entrusted with maintaining public safety? What other profession could behave like this and come away unscathed? (Prosecutors, maybe?)

Police perceive calls to reduce their funding and the related protests as genuine threats to their power. This helps to explain why the de-policing theory gained traction in the first place. Linking rising crime to police pullbacks provides a justification to maintain or increase police power and resources; its designed to redirect the blame for gun violence from cops onto people protesting police violence. Notably, the term Ferguson effect was itself invented by the St. Louis police chief in 2014effectively a police public relations ploy.

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The theory also neatly reinforces the dominant narrative that police are the main cause of crime declines. De facto mayor-elect Eric Adams pushed this narrative in the New York Times Metro section during his campaign last year. It is politically useful for pro-police advocates when the public safety conversation is reduced to defund protests harm police morale, which makes us less safe. The de-policing frame allows police preservationists to cast any criticism of policeeven the most milquetoast reform effortsas an inherently dangerous project that will inevitably backfire and harm the marginalized communities who suffer most from both police and interpersonal violence.

Heres the problem with this line of thinking: It draws attention away from important truths about interpersonal harm, like the fact that investing in low-income communities can reduce homicides, or the fact that gun violence is concentrated in deeply segregated neighborhoods. (Consider: Could segregation persist without policing?) Much of this violence is a result of policy choices; its structural. The continued neglect of communities that now suffer from high rates of gun violencewhat abolitionist scholar Ruth Wilson Gilmore terms organized abandonmentis the very same political process that sent hundreds of thousands of Americans to prison and diverted public funds away from welfare in favor of policing.

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In other words, the gun violence that Black communities experience today is a result of conscious political decisionsa decades- or even centuries-long effort to expose Black people to premature death.

It is no coincidence that the Ferguson effect returned to the national spotlight right as police abolition enjoyed what might have been its first moment in the sunlight over its generations-long history. In response to disciplined organizing against police power, police preservationists weaponized a pseudoscientific form of victim-blaming that portrays all interpersonal violence as a necessary result of police inaction or lack of capacity. Meanwhile, police enjoy the highest level of financial support, staffing, and technology in American history, which tells us that 2020s homicide spike is unequivocally a result of the status quo.

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The saddest part of this story is how quickly the de-policing narrative strategy succeeded. For a brief moment, national news media showed Americans a disturbing truth about the routine function of violence in police work. But before long, mainstream news outlets across the political spectrum drew attention away from the horrors of police violence by claiming that resistance to police brutality caused de-policing and the homicide spike along with it.

It will take years for researchers to understand the many causes of last years uptick in homicides: an unprecedented pandemic that shattered American society for months, a breakdown in the social safety net, an increase in gun purchases, public alienation following police brutality, and so on.

But in the meantime, we should all feel confident in calling the Ferguson effect and its newer iterations what they are: propaganda.
What search term was used to find this in Getty?

joe manchin

What were you hoping to find?

A photo of the senator from West Virginia, whos no stranger to this column.

What did you find instead?

Manchin, standing in a hallway in the Capitol, holding a phone to each ear. He looks relaxed and cheerful. The two phones are a solid, if slightly cliched, visual gag: Hes a busy guy in the Capitolhes got to multitask!

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Manchins two phones remind me of a similar situation from 2016, when artist and writer Kenny Keil highlighted several unnerving photos that seemed to show Sen. Ted Cruz wearing two watches. There was a mundane explanation in that caseone of the watches was a Fitbitbut Manchins centrality to any congressional talks makes this improvised conference call more intriguing.

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Whats the actual backstory here?

This July 13 photo was taken after a bipartisan infrastructure meeting on the Hill. Manchin, who wields an ungodly amount of power over the fate of Bidens legislative agenda, is perhaps one of the few people who could look this laid-back after a Senate negotiation these days.

In a significant win for Biden, the Senate did pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill in August, which was negotiated in part by Manchin and his fellow centrist rabble-rouser Kyrsten Sinema.

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All eyes are on Manchin again this week, after he threw a wrench in the works by expressing his unwillingness to support Democrats $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. This impasse threatens the Senate-passed infrastructure bill, which some House Democrats feel is insufficient without also passing the larger reconciliation package. Needless to say, its a big mess.

But whom is he talking to on the phones? What is he talking about?

Joe Biden in one ear and Nancy Pelosi in the other? Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell? The editors of the Wall Street Journal and the Charleston Gazette-Mail? Your guess is as good as mine.

As for the content of the calls, were also limited to speculation. A recent report from Seung Min Kim, a White House reporter for the Washington Post, does offer some clues on Manchins recent talking points.

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Manchin says in his recent convos w Biden, say they are just talking in general basically where we are as a society and what we're  where we're going as a country.  Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 27, 2021

Why is this the weird photo of the week?

Taking two phone calls at once is quite the power move on Manchins part. Its his world, and the rest of us are just living in it.
There are two good reasons to run for president of the United States. The first is that you want to be, and could reasonably expect to be, elected president. The second is that you think you might run for some lower political office in the near future, and running for president is a good way to up your name recognition and create some fundraising momentum.

Its a little tacky, but its a time-honored practice and often gets the job done. See: former nonentity Andrew Yang, whose long shot campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination got enough buzz to make him the front-runner for most of the Democratic primary for New York City mayor.

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This week, amid reports that Beto ORourke is getting ready to announce a bid for governor of Texas, that strategy looks less reliable. The former three-term congressman from El Paso built up a lot of goodwill in his impressive 2018 run for Ted Cruzs Senate seat. He squandered much of it in an ill-fated campaign for president the very next year. Now that hes seemingly right-sized his ambitions to challenge Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022, the question remains: Did he screw himself out of a real shot at the governors mansion by making a long shot run at the White House first?

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When ORourke decided to run for president in 2019, he was on a roll. Though hed recently lost his Senate campaign, hed come within 3 percentage points of victory in the closest Texas Senate race in decades. Hed set a new Senate fundraising record, too, pulling in $38 million in a single quarter. Liberals were gaga over him, and moderates were happy to claim him as their own. So his campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination started out strong-ish in March 2019, with a few polls placing him above a 10 percent vote share. But his buzz didnt last. Within two months, ORourkes polling averages dipped below 5 percent and never recovered. He spent five months grasping for a toehold before suspending his campaign in November 2019. His final debate, in October 2019, was a bloodbath: In its post-debate poll, FiveThirtyEight found that ORourkes net favorability fell more than that of any other candidate.

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There were two main reasons for the rapid unpopularizing of ORourke on his journey from beloved almost-senator to clearly-out-of-his-depth presidential candidate. One was political. Loosed from the constraints of appealing to the entire (still-red!) state of Texas, ORourke seemed relieved to be in a Democratic primary with a bona fide progressive flank. When his polls tanked, his attempt to stand out from the other white moderates in the race led him to get a little wild, which is to say that he veered left. He said things that would never fly back home in Texas. He argued that churches and nonprofits that oppose gay marriage should lose their tax-exempt statusa truly radical and likely unconstitutional position that no mainstream politicians, let alone the entire Democratic Party, are rushing to take. (ORourke later claimed that he only meant to implicate churches that would fire an employee for being gay-married, but the initial sound bite remains.)

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ORourke also trumpeted his idea for a mandatory assault rifle buyback program by saying, Hell yes, were going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. His campaign printed shirts with the statement on it. The right-wing bogeyman of a liberal president seizing the contents of American gun safes suddenly became real. As my Slate colleague Jordan Weissmann wrote at the time, ORourke turned himself into a human straw man for conservatives, making the other candidates look reasonable and moderate by comparison.

The other reason for ORourkes depletion of personal capital over the course of his presidential campaign had more to do with his image. Without the foil of Ted Cruz, Betos brooding good looks and personality traitshis Obama-lite speaking style, his earnestness, his love of standing on top of thingsfelt less endearing and more hollow, even a bit cheesy. He took a road trip, posting melancholy missives on Medium about the slices of America he observed along the way (while leaving his wife at home to care for his kids). He appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair in a photo by Annie Leibovitz, styled in a belabored country-boy aesthetic with the following pull quote: Man, Im just born to be in it. Later, he insinuated that those words had been taken out of context: that hed meant he was born for public service, not the presidency. Either way, through a mix of his own campaigns decisions and the way he was framed in the salivating media, ORourkes premature treatment as a rising star seemed to backfire. In November 2019, when he finally faced facts and suspended his presidential campaign, the New York Times declared it the end of Betomania.

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But ORourke has spent the ensuing two years rebuilding whatever goodwill hed lost. He founded Powered By People, an organization that has gotten more than 200,000 Texans registered to vote and recently launched a program that will send volunteers directly to unregistered voters homes to get them on the rolls. During the vast power outages that left Texans freezing and without basic necessities in February, while Cruz jetted to Cancun and other Texas elected officials stayed quiet, ORourke ran a phone banking session that made nearly 800,000 calls to senior citizens, helping connect them with resources for transportation and food. He also raised more than $700,000 to help support the state legislators who fled to D.C. in an ultimately futile attempt to forestall a crackdown on voting rights in Texas. After his unsuccessful attempt to ride fame straight to the presidency, ORourke is trying to strike a better balance: embracing the fame that continues to make him a strong fundraiser and down-ballot turnout machine in Texas, while taking care to deemphasize any of the ego-related desire for celebrity and acclaim. In other words, ORourke is trying to get that national money without the accusations of disconnected elitism that come with a national profile.

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Would ORourke stand a better chance against Abbott if hed been doing all this stuff for the past four years, instead of spending one of them running for president? What if hed used the political capital he accumulated in his run against Cruz in a long ramp-up to the 2022 governors race? Or what if hed stayed in Texas and tried to unseat Sen. John Cornyn instead? Who can say! As it stands, poll respondents are saying they prefer Abbott to ORourke, even though the governors approval rating stands at 45 percent, with 44 percent disapproving of his job performance. Meanwhile, Matthew McConaughey, a possible contender in this race if you can believe it, is crushing Abbott in the polls. Clearly, celebrity isnt a political liability for everyone.

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Independent voters, who went for ORourke in 2018, and a substantial number of whom ORourke must win over in 2022, seem to be souring on him: In a recent poll, 41 percent of independents registered a very or somewhat unfavorable opinion of ORourke33 percent of those were very unfavorablewhile only 27 percent fell into the very or somewhat favorable camp. There was always a certain fuzziness about what ORourke stood for, and what kind of leader hed be, wrote Christopher Hooks in Texas Monthly last week, of ORourkes advantage in his Senate campaign. That was a big asset in a state that has never had a cohesive Democratic opposition. But Texas moderates who were simply sick of Cruz in 2018 got a much better taste of ORourke during his presidential run. Some of them decided they didnt like the flavor.

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Then again, theres a lot of time left for ORourke to win over Texans before the next election. Theres also a lot of time for Texans to forget why theyre currently displeased with Abbott. By next November, voters who lost power for a week last winter will find their toes have thawed. The COVID-19 pandemic, a major reason for Abbotts sinking popularity, will probably (??) have subsided a bit. And the current outrage over the states extreme abortion ban may have simmered down too. It doesnt seem to have affected Abbotts approval rating, anywaymaybe because nearly half of voters like the idea of restricting abortion care to the first six weeks of pregnancy, and more voters support the bounty hunter aspect than oppose it.

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Wanting a Democrat to win a statewide office in Texas has long been a recipe for disappointment, despite the cyclical surges of hope that accompany each election cycle. If ORourke has a chance to win next year, it will be by distinguishing his campaign strategy from those that came before him. He knows it: In an interview with the New York Times Kara Swisher last week, ORourke said the good stuff that came out of the 2018 electionDems picking up 12 seats in the Texas House, for instancewasnt because of the Democratic Party, but because of campaign volunteers. He accused Democrats of committing a great sin by taking Black and Latino voters for granted and talking to them in the language of victimhood or grievance instead of discussing the aspirational things that matter most to us, like getting a better job. When asked what hes been doing since the demise of his presidential campaign, ORourke leaned into humility: Just trying to be helpful.

Last week, ORourke published an op-ed criticizing the Biden administration for its cruel treatment and forced repatriation of Haitian migrants. He exhibited the most concern for the refugees, but because its Texas, he spared a thought for the Border Patrol agents who were [left]  to their own devices. Its clear that ORourke is trying to distance himself from Democrats in Washington. It remains to be seen whether itll help voters forget the time he spent jockeying for a place among them.
This story was originally published by the Guardian and has been republished here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

President Xi Jinpings announcement that China will stop funding overseas coal projects could buy the world about three more months in the race to keep global heating to a relatively safe level of 1.5 degrees Celsius, experts say.

Although the impact will depend on implementation, Chinas declaration should also help to kill off coal, which has been humanitys primary power source for most of the last 200 years.

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Ending Chinese coal financing has long been near the top of climate activists wish lists. For more than a decade, China has been the lender of last resort for overseas governments seeking finance for thermal power plants. That role has accelerated since the 2013 start of the countrys Belt and Road Initiative.

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Xis declaration is likely to affect at least 54 gigawatts of China-backed coal power projects, which are in active development but not yet under construction, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

The immediate impact is likely to be felt in the countries that rely most heavily on Chinese funding for new coal projects.

Lauri Myllyvirta, the centers lead analyst, said this was equivalent to about three months of global emissions. These plants, if built and operated, would have emitted around 250 to 280 megatons of CO 2 a year, which is roughly equal to the total emissions of Spain. Assuming an operating life of 35 years, the cumulative emissions would amount to 10 gigatons, or a year of Chinas emissions, or three months of global emissions, he calculated.

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These figures are based on several assumptions. China provides scant information about the scale of its overseas coal financing. At the very least, there is evidence that 40 percent of the heavy equipment at new coal plants outside China and India comes from China.

It is also not clear yet whether Chinese banks and power firms will only pull out of projects that are at the planning stage, or also pull out of those projects under negotiation or at an early stage of construction. This year alone, Chinese companies have facilitated an additional 10 new coal-fired power plant projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Indonesia, Turkey, Vietnam, and the United Arab Emirates, according to Just Finance International, which monitors Belt and Road coal projects in Europe and internationally. China does not publicly disclose whether these contracts have reached financial closure.

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While we welcome Chinas pledge, we are waiting to see how much weight this announcement will hold, said Wawa Wang, program director of Just Finance International. Whether Beijing will deliver on this exit from building coal-fired power plants depends on whether it introduces a time-bound exit which reins in all forms of supportfinance and construction combinedfor all its overseas coal and associated projects.

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The immediate impact is likely to be felt in the countries that rely most heavily on Chinese funding for new coal projects: Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. In Vietnam, for example, the government recently announced plans for an additional 20 gigawatts of thermal power. Those countries will need a rethink, said Myllyvirta. This announcement leaves several projects up in the air. The governments in these nations will now have to decide whether to find alternative funding from the private sector, where the borrowing costs can be highas Pakistan has recently found outor to shift to renewables, which Xi has promised to support.

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Despite the uncertainties over implementation, Myllyvirta said Chinas announcement would accelerate decarbonization: Countries now know that going forward, there is no financing on the table for coal. That should clarify things a lot. Chinese delegates are going to visit Indonesia or Vietnam or Pakistan and they will be saying, We dont do coal any more, but we can help with clean energy. That will make a difference.

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Depending on implementation, other possible beneficiaries of this announcement could be the rhinos, giraffes, cheetahs and other endangered species at Zimbabwes Hwange National Park, where two Chinese companies had hoped to extract the fossil fuel.

Another positive knock-on effect would be to push Japan to follow suit. The government in Tokyo has already taken steps in this direction but left a door open for financing by its private-sector institutions. Its geopolitical reason had been that it did not want to leave China as the only option for regional energy projects. With Xis announcement, the Japanese government now has no excuse not to slam the door shut for good. Likewise for South Korea, formerly one of the worlds biggest coal backers, which has recently moved toward decarbonization.

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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Chinas promise was not just welcome but essential. Accelerating the global phase-out of coal is the single most important step to keep the 1.5-degree goal of the Paris Agreement within reach, he said. But he stressed this was not enough. At the forthcoming COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, he said, all nations, especially the rich, need to be more ambitious in cutting carbon pollution. Let us be reminded that based on the present emissions-reduction commitments of member states the world is on a catastrophic pathway to 2.7 degrees Celsius of heating. We need decisive action by all countries, especially the G-20, to go the extra mile and effectively contribute to emission reductions.

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Pressure will now increase on other countries and financial institutions to accelerate the shift. At the OECD, the U.S., the EU, and other countries including South Korea now support a proposal to end official export-financing support for unabated coal power and associated facilities by 2021. However, several leading institutions, including Vanguard, BlackRock, Capital Group, and Barclays, remain substantial funders of this fossil fuel.

With coal now seemingly in terminal decline, climate activists are turning their sights toward oil, gas, and domestic coal power in China and India. Since 2010, China has been the biggest consumer of energy in the world, overtaking the U.S.

Close to 58 percent of Chinas power comes from the countrys 1,058 coal plants, almost half the total in the entire the world. This makes China far the biggest carbon emitter, pumping more than 1 out of every 4 gigatons that enters the atmosphere. Many regions of China have staked their future on coal, but roughly half the countrys plants will have to close if the government 2060 net-zero target is to be achieved.
This week has delivered a barge of news about garbage behavior among Donald Trumps circle of associates, and it practically begs for a Friday afternoon recap on the internet. Youve seen headlines about South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, perpetually disgraced Trump 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, affairs, groping, resignations, and, most disturbingly, real estate appraisals; youve got questions. Weve got answers.

Whats the deal?

This week, Noemwho has been discussed as a potential running mate for Trump in 2024, or as a potential candidate if he doesnt rundenied a report published on the website American Greatness that claimed she has been having an extramarital affair with Lewandowski. She also denied an AP report that shed intervened inappropriately when her daughters application for a real estate appraisal license was rejected. Lewandowski was, additionally, the subject of a Politico report that quotes at length from a statement provided by an attorney for Trump donor named Trashelle Odom; according to the statement, Lewandowski repeatedly touched and verbally harassed Odom over an extended period of time during a Sunday, Sept. 26, charity event in Las Vegas. Politico says Odoms account is backed up by other eyewitness accounts and that Lewandowski appeared to be intoxicated during the events described.

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What is American Greatness?

It is a website founded five years ago with the almost admirably ambitious goal of arguing that the things Donald Trump does and says are actually deeply grounded in a centuries-old conservative intellectual tradition.

Can you imagine? Donald Trump reading, like, a book?

NoI cant imagine it.

So whats the story about Noem and Lewandowski?

First of all, its titled Kristi Noem Shows Why Republicans Cant Have Nice Things, which, as a reference to adolescent pop culture phrasing that was pretty worn out by the halfway point of the last decade, is a funny thing to call a post on a website whose ostensible purpose is to restore, like, muscular authoritarian seriousness to American public life. But the story, citing multiple sources, says that Lewandowski has been having an affair with Noem, for whom hes been acting as an informal adviser in his capacity as the chairman of a pro-Trump super PAC. The piece includes stellar, really-straining-to-sound-like-normal-journalism word combinations like the alleged fling reportedly has continued for months, sources say, and Lewandowski  still has the former presidents ear, which he reportedly uses to Noems advantage. Nothing gets an alleged fling reportedly continuing, sources say, like reportedly using an ear to someones advantage.

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Pro-Trump media is against reckless and destructive personal behavior now? And why would a MAGA site want to take down Kristi Noem, anyway?

The apparent turnabout regarding extramarital relationships goes unaddressed, but the rest of the article explains why parts of the MAGAsphere are upset with Noem, who made her national reputation by rejecting COVID precautions and held a fundraiser with Trump earlier this year. Since then, shes killed two billsone involving transgender athletes and one that would have prohibited private employers from requiring that their employees be vaccinatedthat were proposed by right-wing state legislators. In both cases, it appears Noem believed that passing the bills could alienate major corporate employers.

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American Greatness also mentions the apparent incident of corruption outlined by the Associated Press. According to the AP, after the South Dakota real estate appraisers certification office rejected the application of Noems then26-year-old daughter in July 2020, the woman who ran the office was called to a meeting with Noem and then, shortly afterward, told to retire by the states labor secretary. Noems daughter was subsequently issued the license. (The AP says that by regulation, applicants are denied if examples of their work dont meet minimum compliance with national standards.) Noem has denied having an affair with Lewandowski or intervening inappropriately in her daughters case.

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Pro-Trump media is against advancing the careers of your incompetent children now?

Ha-ha! Good one.

Back to Lewandowski.

Yes. Odom, the Trump donor, says that during a Sunday night dinner Lewandowski touched her repeatedly, made sexual comments to her, followed her from one room to another, threw a drink at her, called her stupid, and then followed her again to a party at another location, at which he had to be kept away from her by other guests.

Where was the initial dinner held, incidentally?

At a Benihana.

This behavior is not out of character for Lewandowski, right?

Allegedly. In 2016, he was charged with battery for grabbing and pulling the arm of a female Breitbart.com reporter who was trying to ask Trump a question at a campaign event. The charges were later dropped. In 2017, a woman filed a police report accusing him of touching her buttocks twice during a party at the Trump Hotel in D.C., though he does not appear to have ever been charged in that case.

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Will he face any consequences for this latest incident?

Amazingly, its possible. After the Politico story was published, a Trump spokeswoman said Lewandowski would be replaced as head of the Make America Great PAC. Per Politico, word of the incident at Benihana has shaken the former presidents inner circle, several people familiar with the discussions said.

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Yeah, Im sure Donald Trump was shocked by this sort of thing happening. Was there anything reported this week, perhaps regarding former White House press aide Stephanie Grishams tell-all book, which would serve as a particularly pointed reminder that crude and potentially illegal sexual inappropriateness is not just tolerated but actively welcomed in the former presidents inner circle?

Why yes, Grisham apparently wrote that Trump asked her then-boyfriend, in her presence, whether he enjoyed having sex with her, and that she was told Trump once asked to have a junior press aide brought into his presence so he could look at her ass.

Thats great stuff. Its quite a stable of leaders and role models the Republican Party is developing!

Indeed, at some point in the next few decades there will be multiple Cabinet members who have been arrested at a Ruby Tuesdays.
Catholic Church in Spain condemns gay conversion therapy for first time



However, the biggest proponent of gay therapy, the ex-bishop who shacked up with a Satanist, is still being paid a salary

At the Spanish Bishops Conference 2021, Church leaders stated, we do not approve of any conversion therapy we have no authority to speak of therapies. This is the first condemnation of its type, and comes in the same week the Pope was lambasted by rightwing Spanish politicians for apologising for the Churchs role in violently evangelising and conquering Mexico.

The reason behind the sudden resignation of Novell, who was reportedly offered an exorcism by the Pope himself but turned it down, are still shrouded in mystery but Church spokesman Luis Arguello suggested at the conference that it may have had something to do with some crisis of faith, affection or exercise of the ministry with regards to gay conversion therapies. At the same time, he confirmed that since Novell is still bishop emeritus and has not yet been granted secularisation, the Church continues to send him his salary.

The Catholic Church on abortion and child abuse

Meanwhile, the Church took the opportunity to address other issues such as abortion and sexual abuse scandals. Reiterating their opposition to abortion in the wake of new plans to make abortions available to 16- and 17-year-olds and calls to make it illegal to pray in front of abortion clinics, Father Arguello said it was worrying that the interruption of a life is considered progress, and that it is considered not conservative, but ultra-conservative, to oppose abortion, and that it is super-progressive to defend the wolf, or the green hoopoe, or storks eggs, whose nests cannot be dismantled because they are a protected species. How can human life not be considered a protected species?

Finally, questioned about the case of the late hymnwriter Father Cesareo Gabarain, who has been accused of child molestation, and the possibility of banning his songs at mass, Father Arguello called it a condemnation typical of medieval times It would be good if we could make a distinction: to say that this persons musical work is tainted by what he may have said or done seems to me to be an exaggeration. His songs will have to be valued for their musical quality, for what they may say or mean.

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https://sputniknews.com/20210930/digital-vibes-report-reveals-corruption-behind-south-african-health-ministrys-covid-19-media-deal-1089564405.html

Digital Vibes Report Reveals Corruption Behind South African Health Ministrys COVID-19 Media Deal

Digital Vibes Report Reveals Corruption Behind South African Health Ministrys COVID-19 Media Deal

After months of pressure, the administration of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has released the results of a government probe into a contract for a... 30.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-30T23:43+0000

2021-09-30T23:43+0000

2021-09-30T23:43+0000

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When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020, private firm Digital Vibes was already handling the South African National Department of Healths (NDoH) National Health Insurance (NHI) communication campaign. However, the firm was soon tapped to head up government communications on COVID-19, as well.According to a report released on Wednesday, there was extensive corruption underpinning the deal, and former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize got extensive kickbacks for granting the contract to his friends.The report was given to Ramaphosa by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) in July, but delayed publication until all third parties had been given a chance to object to its publication, his office said on Twitter.The report notes that the owners of Digital Vibes, Tahera Mather and Naadhira Mitha, are close associates of Mkhize. Indeed, Mather was Mkhize's strategic communications adviser in 2019, according to News24.Mather and Mitha committed fraud in that they held out to the NDoH that Digital Vibes was tendering for the NHI media campaign contract, whereas in fact, Ms. Mather and Ms. Mitha used Digital Vibes as a front in order to hide ... that they were tendering for the contract and 'disguised' this due to the fact that they were close associates of the Minister, who was the executive authority of the NDoH, which was awarding the NHI media campaign contract," the report goes on to state.It also notes that after taking the contract, Digital Vibes failed to declare and pay company tax and failed to pay the required VAT to the South African Revenue Service."Mkhize resigned as health minister in August after being given special leave in June by Rampahosa to attend to allegations and investigations. His replacement, Joe Phaahla, said Thursday he had no connection to the contract or the case.However, one of those suspended is Anban Pillay, then-acting director-general of the health department, who was implicated for contravening sections of the Public Finance Management Act. The SIU recommended he be criminally prosecuted for financial misconduct.

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https://sputniknews.com/20211001/alito-criticizing-anti-abortion-shadow-docket-ruling-an-attempt-to-intimidate-supreme-court-1089589572.html

Alito: Criticizing Anti-Abortion Shadow Docket Ruling an Attempt to Intimidate Supreme Court

Alito: Criticizing Anti-Abortion Shadow Docket Ruling an Attempt to Intimidate Supreme Court

US Associate Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has fired back at the wave of criticism of the nations top court, saying its use of the shadow docket to... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

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The conservative justice unleashed his fusillade during a speech at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana on Thursday.The catchy and sinister term shadow docket has been used to portray the court as having been captured by a dangerous cabal that resorts to sneaky and improper methods to get its ways, Alito said. And this portrayal feeds unprecedented efforts to intimidate the court or damage it as an independent institution.The George W. Bush-appointed justice rejected claims that the court is deciding important issues in a novel, secretive, improper way in the middle of the night, hidden from public view, without waiting for the lower courts to consider the issues, without proper briefing or oral argument and without issuing full opinions.As Sputnik has reported, the Supreme Court has dramatically increased its use of the shadow docket in recent years, transforming it from a tool for delivering quick rulings on smaller cases that couldnt wait into one allowing them to make major decisions with little deliberation beforehand or jurisprudential explanation after.Over the summer, some of its more controversial uses of the shadow docket have included striking down the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eviction moratorium; forcing the Department of Homeland Security to reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols; and allowing a Texas law to take effect that banned abortions after six weeks. All were defeats for the Biden administration and all were made by majorities composed solely of conservative justices, who outnumber the liberal justices six to three.After the rulings, liberal justices criticized their conservative colleagues decision to issue the abbreviated rulings, with Justice Stephen Breyer saying the court should be careful about how often it does so.In her September 1 dissenting opinion on allowing the Texas heartbeat law to stand, Justice Elena Kagan said it illustrates just how far the Court's 'shadow-docket' decisions may depart from the usual principles of appellate process  In all these ways, the majority's decision is emblematic of too much of this Court's shadow-docket decision-making - which every day becomes more un-reasoned, inconsistent, and impossible to defend.As a consequence, the Senate Judiciary Committee has opened an inquiry into the courts use of the shadow docket - its second such probe this year. An analysis of shadow docket rulings over the previous 12 months conducted by Reuters in July found that the courts use of them heavily favored religion and [then-US President Donald] Trump.Alito fired back at these critics on Thursday.If they want to criticize us on those grounds, fine, let them make their case. But attempting to disguise their real complaint with a lot of talk about the sinister, secretive shadow docket is unworthy.Put aside the false and inflammatory claim that we nullified Roe v Wade, he said, referring to the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion and created a legal framework for its regulation, which many liberal critics have said the Supreme Court violated last month. We did no such thing. And we said that expressly in our order. The application was filed about 36 hours before the law was scheduled to take effect. It was impossible to have oral arguments during that period of time.However, polls conducted in the last month show public confidence in the Supreme Court has sharply declined. Gallup found that between July and late September, public approval of the court declined by 9% from 49% to 40% of those surveyed - its lowest rating ever recorded for the high court - and confidence in the US judicial system overall was approaching its lowest-ever number at 54%. Marquette University Law School reported similar numbers during the same time frame.

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https://sputniknews.com/20211001/anarchy-in-the-us-what-wouldve-happened-if-the-us-government-had-shut-down-1089565449.html

Anarchy in the US? What Would've Happened if the US Government Had Shut Down

Anarchy in the US? What Would've Happened if the US Government Had Shut Down

The US Congress narrowly avoided a shutdown of the federal government on Thursday by passing a temporary funding bill. But what if they hadnt? Was the US on... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

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So, What Happened?The US federal government was about to run out of money appropriated to fund it. According to the US Constitution, only Congress has the power to create funding for federal agencies. Democrats tried to leverage the situation to get Republicans to agree to raise the debt ceiling, but the gamble failed.The federal government now has enough money to continue paying its bills until December 3.Its Not Everything, But Its A Lot.If the spending bill hadnt been passed, it wouldnt have meant a universal halt of all federal government functions.Federal agencies would begin locking their doors on Friday, and would furlough many of their employees deemed nonessential, meaning they wouldnt get fired, but they would neither do work nor be paid. Each federal agency and department has its own shutdown plans, outlining who stays and who gets furloughed.During the COVID-19 pandemic, weve become accustomed to essential workers meaning something different. But in this case, it would include fire and rescue workers, police officers, military service members, air traffic controllers, Transportation Security Administration employees, and postal workers. All would work without pay, but would receive back pay for the hours worked once the government gets new funding.However, many other functions we might consider essential, such as safety inspections, would likely cease. According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, other functions that would stop include payment of Medicare checks and Supplemental Assistance for Needy Persons (SNAP) payments, operation of the national parks, and many of the functions of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the National Institutes for Health (NIH).Immigration court proceedings, passport applications, the processing of home or small business loans by government financiers, and road repairs would all stop.What About COVID-19?The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the NIH, has said it would furlough about 43% of its employees. This would create delays, especially in vaccine distribution, testing, and certification processes, but they wouldnt cease.However, we really dont know how a shutdown would affect government efforts to fight the pandemic, as a shutdown has never happened during one before.Has It Ever Happened Before?Yes! The federal government has lacked appropriated funds to continue functioning in years that include 1995, 2013, 2018, and 2019, the last and longest of which lasted for 35 days. It only ended once hundreds of air traffic controllers mounted an ersatz strike by calling in sick for days on end, forcing then-US President Donald Trump to relent.So We Could Find Ourselves Back Here in 2 Months?Yes.

2007harleydavidsonsg That's hardly the half of it. State federal subsidies off setting revenue shortfalls including grants would all cease. Social welfare programs would also be unfunded...creating a domino effect in housing sector, etc 2

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us, federal governmnet, government shutdown
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/archbishop-invites-catholics-to-pray-for-pelosi-to-convert-her-heart-over-abortion-controversy-1089567609.html

Archbishop Invites Catholics to Pray For Pelosi to Convert Her Heart Over Abortion Controversy

Archbishop Invites Catholics to Pray For Pelosi to Convert Her Heart Over Abortion Controversy

Archbishop Invites Catholics to Pray For Pelosi To Converse Her Heart Over Abortions Controversy

2021-10-01T03:57+0000

2021-10-01T03:57+0000

2021-10-01T03:57+0000

us

abortion rights

nancy pelosi

archbishop

catholic church

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Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone has called for a "massive and visible campaign of prayer and fasting" for the conversion of Nancy Pelosi's heart, as she supports abortion and has attacked Texas ban on termination after 12 weeks of pregnancy.The archbishop invited all Catholics to join in a massive and visible campaign of prayer and fasting for Speaker Pelosi: commit to praying one rosary a week and fasting on Fridays for her conversion of heart.Cordileone denounced HR 3755 as "child sacrifice," as the bill would permit health care providers to provide abortion and provide abortion services without limitations or requirements that single out the provision of abortion services.The draft law was also referred to by Pope Francis as one of the most radical attacks on life we have ever seen.Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court declined to block the controversial Texas anti-abortion law that has sparked heated debates all over the country.Pelosi claimed that the recent decision on the Texas Heartbeat Act brought "shame to the United States Supreme Court." President Joe Biden has also characterized the Supreme Court's ruling as an unprecedented assault on a woman's constitutional rights.

Thomas Turk Let's try and sort this. So Nancy belongs to a cult that worships a human, who allegedly was procreated by an invisible, non-human, silent deity and a virgin. This guy was deaded for 3 days, then goes for a stroll, says hi to his buddies, than decides to ascend to heaven. Right, gotcha. Now we hear that a cult leader wants to invoke even more mumbo jumbo to cure/change some stone age concepts in Nancy's head/heart. FYI cult leader/Nancy et al, the human spirit form enters the cluster of fertilized, dividing cells at 3 weeks. That is precisely when, as human physiology tells us, that differentiation in that cluster starts. There sure is not enough data in DNA to arrange the precise connection of the 2 quadrillion nerve endings in the brain, & 2 quadrillion in the body. If a fetus is aborted after 3 weeks it's spirit form will within hours re-incarnate in a new fetus. Say The Laws of The Creation. Data from theyfly dot com, under Billy's Contacts, just 20K pages of data from et. 1

Nevi'im Abortion is part of the 'Cancel Culture' being politically enforced with Gender Neutral and LGBTI+ politics in the US Western States.

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us, abortion rights, nancy pelosi, archbishop, catholic church
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/canadian-fashion-designer-nygard-consents-to-extradition-to-us-over-sex-trafficking-charges---1089580176.html

Canadian Fashion Designer Nygard Consents to Extradition to US Over Sex Trafficking Charges - Report

Canadian Fashion Designer Nygard Consents to Extradition to US Over Sex Trafficking Charges - Report

Nygard was indicted in December 2020 by the US Justice Department over accusations of numerous sexual assaults, racketeering, and other related crimes, which... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T13:10+0000

2021-10-01T13:10+0000

2021-10-02T06:55+0000

us

canada

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Former Canadian fashion executive Peter Nygard will be extradited to the US, where he is set to face racketeering, sex trafficking, and other counts of sexual assault, local media reported, citing Nygard's lawyers.Nygard is believed to have consented to extradition. None of the allegations against the Canadian have been proven in court. Nygard has yet to enter a plea in response to the charges he's facing in the US.Toronto police later said in a statement that a warrant has been issued for Nygard. He will be charged with sexual assault and forcible confinement, officials added.Peter Nygard is a Finnish-Canadian former fashion executive who founded Nygard International, a company that makes women's clothing, in 1967. In 2014, his net worth was estimated by the magazine Canadian Business to be about $850 million. On 15 December 2020, federal prosecutors in Manhattan indicted Nygard on nine counts, including racketeering and sex-trafficking, which allegedly involved dozens of women, some of who were underage. He was arrested in the Canadian city of Winnipeg at the request of the US under the terms of the extradition treaty between the countries.In February 2020, the FBI and NYPD raided Nygard's New York offices after sex trafficking allegations were made against him. At the time, The New York Times reported that the investigation against Nygard had been underway for at least five months after authorities interviewed at least four women who said that Nygard raped them in the Bahamas when they were teenagers. Following the allegations made against him in February, many retailers, including Dillard's, announced that they would no longer be carrying Nygard's fashion line.

https://sputniknews.com/20210128/videos-show-spicy-plane-life-of-peter-nygard-as-fashion-mogul-faces-sex-abuse-charges-1081911746.html

Cundee Funs over pal, you will die soon in some US prison.. too bad eh!!! If only the others like you Bill Clinton, Prince? Andrew could be jailed for their vast crimes and abuse.

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us, canada
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/caring-professor-advises-his-female-students-to-learn-how-to-cook-to-avoid-getting-beaten-by-men-1089589790.html

Caring Professor Advises His Female Students to Learn How to Cook to Avoid Getting Beaten by Men

Caring Professor Advises His Female Students to Learn How to Cook to Avoid Getting Beaten by Men

Carrying Professor Advices His Female Students to Learn Cooking to Avoid Punches Form Man

2021-10-01T20:53+0000

2021-10-01T20:53+0000

2021-10-01T20:53+0000

latin america

cooking

abuse

professor

mexico

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Dr. Gerardo de Leon from Mexico's Autonomous University of Aguascalientes (UAA) was suspended from teaching earlier this week after he suggested that women should learn how to cook so as to avoid getting beaten or assaulted by men.The students, who attended the class remotely due to the pandemic, were outraged by the statement, saying that the main problem with the woman being killed is definitely not the fact the food was burnt. Doctor, wouldn't it be better if we learned not to lose our sanity so as not to stab our wives'?" one of the women said.Let's see, I don't understand," the professor responded. When the student repeated question, he said that is your recommendation, mine is that they learn to cook.The universitys authorities said that de Leon would be suspended immediately while they investigate the incident.The Autonomous University of Aguascalientes repudiates all sexist manifestations, as well as any act of harassment, discrimination or violence ... (there) will not be any tolerance for any form of violence, the statement from UAA says.

RayDonaldPratt This reminds me of the Taliban numb-nuts story of women being killed for bad cooking. If the only way that a Taliban member can get a wife is to physically make an example of women who would rather study something else than to spend their time studying some bearded goat's mood swings, then the women should find a way to leave and let the goats work it out amongst themselves. Stabbing a woman for burnt toast, etc., should earn our hero a grant of citizenship and deportation to Afghanistan. 1

NthrnNYker59 I must say, I have to agree with the man ---- I stopped slapping my wife around as soon as she learned when it was time to make me a sammich. 1

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https://sputniknews.com/20211001/cbp-officer-seize-65-million-in-fake-currency-from-russia--1089590560.html

CBP Officer Seize $6.5 Million in Fake Currency From Russia

CBP Officer Seize $6.5 Million in Fake Currency From Russia

Over $6.5 million dollars in counterfeit money were seized on Tuesday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at Philadelphia International... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T20:52+0000

2021-10-01T20:52+0000

2021-10-01T20:52+0000

russia

us

counterfeit

us customs and border protection (cbp)

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The counterfeit currency arrived in five parcels in international cargo from Russia, according to the agency, and has since been turned over to Secret Service agents. According to the CBP, the bogus money was expected to arrive at a destination near Chicago on Thursday.The seized notes were labeled as prop money, which is considered counterfeit currency under federal law, despite the fact that notes resembled authentic US currency, according to the CBP.The CBPs acting area port director in Philadelphia, Edward Moriarty, said in a statement this is an outstanding interception by Customs and Border Protection officers of an alarming amount of restricted currency that may be altered to look authentic and potentially used to harm our nations most vulnerable citizens.

Preterist-ADSeventy Maybe the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers planted the $funny money$ themselves in order to falsely accuse Russia, give the dumbed down sheeple more reason to deal with suspect Russia. 2

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russia, us, counterfeit, us customs and border protection (cbp)
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/democrats-and-republicans-agree-on-resolution-to-keep-the-government-funded-until-december-1089564030.html

Democrats and Republicans Agree on Resolution to Keep the Government Funded Until December

Democrats and Republicans Agree on Resolution to Keep the Government Funded Until December

On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan and co-host John Kiriakou discussed current events, including the CDC imploring pregnant people to... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T10:15+0000

2021-10-01T10:15+0000

2021-10-01T10:15+0000

twitter

radio

us

virginia

library

fairfax

9/11

vk

the backstory

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Democrats and Republicans Agree on Resolution to Keep the Government Funded Until December On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan and co-host John Kiriakou discussed current events, including the CDC imploring pregnant people to receive a COVID19 vaccine, and the Department of Homeland Security has allegedly threatened to fire Border Patrol agents who decline to get the COVID19 vaccine.

GUESTAsra Q Nomani - Author and Former University Professor | Daniel Pearl Murder, Islamists in Public School Boards, and Sexual Explicit Books in Children SchoolsShane Stranahan - Co-Host of Fault Lines | Unschooling, California Fires, and CensorshipIn the first hour, Lee and John spoke with Asra Q Nomani about the Fairfax County school board, the Virginia Governor debates, and books in Fairfax school libraries. Asra discussed the viral school board meeting in Virginia and the woke movement in school boards. Asra spoke about the 9/11 events are being distorted in schools and Islamist extremism in public schools.In the second hour, Lee and John spoke with Shane Stranahan about homeschooling, the Google search engine, and alternative social media outlets. Shane spoke about his experience being homeschooled and the movement in America to homeschool children. Shane talked about the censorship of COVID-19 discussions and how alternative social media platforms have become more popular.Also, President Biden signed the stopgap funding bill that will provide funding for the government through December 3rd and avoid shutdown, which would have taken effect this Friday.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

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twitter, radio, us, virginia, library, fairfax, 9/11, vk, the backstory, 
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/durham-reportedly-subpoenas-files-from-clinton-linked-firm-as-he-probes-fbi-investigation-into-1089579045.html

Durham Reportedly Subpoenas Files From Clinton-Linked Firm as He Probes FBI Investigation Into Trump

Durham Reportedly Subpoenas Files From Clinton-Linked Firm as He Probes FBI Investigation Into Trump

Durham Reportedly Subpoenas Files From Clinton-Linked Firm as He Probes FBI Investigation Into Trump

2021-10-01T13:12+0000

2021-10-01T13:12+0000

2021-10-01T13:12+0000

us

donald trump

hillary clinton

dnc

fbi

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US Special Counsel John Durham, tapped by then-Attorney General William Barr to review the FBI investigation into alleged ties between Donald Trump and Russia, has subpoenaed new files from the Clinton- and Democratic Party-linked law firm, Perkins Coie, CNN has reported citing anonymous sources.According to the broadcaster, Durham could be attempting to build a broader criminal case using these new files, some of which are protected by attorney-client privilege. This is not the first time Durham has requested privilege-protected files from the law firm, but the company has not commented on whether it will fight the newly reported subpoenas.Operation Crossfire Hurricane and Law Firm's Role in ItPerkins Coie drew Durham's attention when one of its lawyers, Michael Sussmann, brought since discarded "evidence" of Donald Trump's ties to Russia's Alfa Nank to the FBI in 2016, purportedly prompting the error-ridden probe into the GOP candidate's campaign. Trump slammed the probe as politically charged. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz reviewed the probe, ruling that the FBI committed numerous mistakes in obtaining orders for surveillance on campaign members, but found no political bias.So far, Durham's independent two-year probe into the FBI's investigation, dubbed "Operation Crossfire Hurricane", has resulted in him charging Michael Sussmann with lying to General Counsel James Baker. The lawyer failed to clearly state whether he was representing Hillary Clinton's interests when he handed over findings about the purported ties between Trump and Alfa Bank, Baker claims.Durham believes the fact that the lawyer represented Clinton's interests might have affected the way the FBI handled the investigation into Trump. While Sussmann pleaded not guilty to lying, Durham pointed out that the lawyer billed Clinton for his meeting with the FBI general counsel. His company, Perkins Coie, also worked for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) at the time.Notably, Perkins Coie not only looked into the alleged ties between Trump and the Russian bank, but also between the GOP candidate and the Kremlin  hiring former MI6 agent Christopher Steele for that purpose (and allegedly on Hillary Clinton and the DNC's dime). Steele produced a so-called dossier, which claimed that Moscow compromised Trump. The dossier was also handed over to the FBI in 2016, but it is unclear how much it affected the bureau's readiness to probe Trump and his campaign. The Steele Dossier's findings were later found to be unsubstantiated and the former British spy's sources  unreliable.

https://sputniknews.com/20210916/special-counsel-durham-allegedly-seeking-to-indict-lawyer-at-firm-with-ties-to-2016-clinton-1089137641.html

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us, donald trump, hillary clinton, dnc, fbi
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/farewell-your-majesty-barbados-to-end-its-association-with-the-british-crown-1089569446.html

Farewell Your Majesty: Barbados to End Its Association With the British Crown

Farewell Your Majesty: Barbados to End Its Association With the British Crown

Although the island country in the southeastern Caribbean Sea gained independence from the United Kingdom in the 1960s, it has remained a member of the... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T06:50+0000

2021-10-01T06:50+0000

2021-10-01T09:11+0000

queen elizabeth ii

world

independence

british empire

commonwealth of nations

barbados

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Barbados is on the verge of ending its colonial past as Prime Minister Mia Mottley has proposed the candidacy of Dame Sandra Mason for the post of the country's president.Ms Mottley's statement came hours after the parliament of Barbados voted unanimously to amend the country's Constitution in order to make the nation a republic. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mottley revealed that the debate on the country's association with the British Crown has been going on in Barbados for two decades and the island nation has finally decided to become "independent".Currently, Dame Sandra Mason holds the post of governor-general of Barbados, a representative of Queen Elizabeth II. If parliament approves her candidacy, Ms Mason will become the country's first president on 30 November 2021, on the same date the country gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1966.Barbados' decision to become a republic will not affect its membership in the Commonwealth. Buckingham Palace released a short statement commenting on the nation's decision, saying it is a "matter for the government and people" of Barbados.If all goes as planned the move will reduce Queen Elizabeth's reign to 15 countries. Jamaica is another nation that has expressed a desire to remove the British monarch as its nominal head of state. Mark Golding, who heads the People's National Party said the measure is of vital importance.

itchyvet Hoorah, about time too, can't wait for my country Australia to do the same thing. 7

Conan_The_Barbarian Canada is next! 4

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Max Gorbachev

Max Gorbachev

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queen elizabeth ii, world, independence, british empire, commonwealth of nations, barbados
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/finland-first-in-eu-to-vaccinate-fur-farm-animals-against-covid-19-1089571102.html

Finland First in EU to Vaccinate Fur Farm Animals Against COVID-19

Finland First in EU to Vaccinate Fur Farm Animals Against COVID-19

Last year, Russia became the world's first nation to register a COVID-19 vaccine for fur animals, cats, and dogs. Subsequently, mink vaccinated with... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T07:40+0000

2021-10-01T07:40+0000

2021-10-01T07:40+0000

news

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Finland is set to vaccinate fur farm animals against COVID-19. The Finnish Breeders' Association (FIFUR) will start vaccinating mink against coronavirus in the coming weeks, after receiving a conditional license by the Finnish Food Authority.FurcoVac, the vaccine in question, was developed by a research team at the University of Helsinki and tested at a fur farm in Kannus, Central Ostrobothnia. It has been classed as an experimental vaccine and has been granted a conditional license, but not a trade permit.According to FIFUR research director Jussi Peura, FurcoVac utilises the same raw materials needed to produce the vaccines used in humans, which resulted in challenges in the manufacturing process.Per the research director, skinning on the Kannus fur farm is due to begin in the next few weeks, after which they can begin vaccinating the remaining breeder animals. So far, half a million doses of vaccine have been set aside for the process.Unlike its Nordic peers, Finland has seen no recorded cases of coronavirus infections in mink at its farms. By contrast, farms in other EU countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands, and Spain, slaughtered millions of mink to prevent the infection from spreading to humans and contributing to the mutation process. Denmark in particular culled 15 million mink and recently prolonged its ban on mink farming, angering an industry that used to be one of the world's major producers.Mink farms were previously labelled a big risk more difficult to manage than the epidemic and were described as "big reservoirs of susceptible hosts" by University College London geneticist Francois Balloux.Last year, Russia registered the world's first COVID-19 vaccine for animals. Carnivac-Cov is geared toward fur animals, cats, and dogs. Mink vaccinated with Carnivac-Cov at the beginning of this year successfully transferred immunity to their cubs, the Russian Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance said earlier this year.

https://sputniknews.com/20210922/danish-pm-facing-minkgate-probe-over-covid-19-blanket-cull-of-farmed-animals-1089290354.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20211001/indian-army-chief-reaches-ladakh-as-new-delhi-makes-appropriate-counter-deployments-against-china-1089570588.html

Indian Army Chief Reaches Ladakh as New Delhi Makes 'Appropriate Counter Deployments' Against China

Indian Army Chief Reaches Ladakh as New Delhi Makes 'Appropriate Counter Deployments' Against China

The Indian Army had sealed a disengagement agreement with the People's Liberation Army at several friction points. Yet, since August of this year, border... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T13:00+0000

2021-10-01T13:00+0000

2021-10-01T13:00+0000

s-400

pla

ladakh region

china

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s-400

indian army

border tensions

m777 howitzers

people's liberation army (pla) navy

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Indian Army Chief Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane has reached Ladakh to review the security situation and operational preparedness of forces. His arrival is part of a two-day visit. The Indian Army chief's visit to eastern Ladakh comes just ahead of winter when the eastern Ladakh region becomes cut off from the rest of the country due to heavy snowfall and avalanches.Naravane is expected to visit forward areas and, according to a spokesperson for the Indian Army, "will also interact with troops deployed in the harshest terrain and weather conditions".The Indian Army chief last visited Ladakh in April of this year.India and China have been stationing their troops in the forward areas of the LAC since last year, in the first violent clash between the two armies since 1975.On 29 September, China accused India of pursuing a "forward policy" and said that the "Indian Army illegally crossed the LAC to encroach on China's territory, which is the root cause of tension in the China-India border situation", accusing New Delhi of violating the bilateral agreements of 1993, 1996, and 2013 that have been central to maintaining peace and tranquility on the loosely demarcated LAC.The Indian Foreign Ministry responded to the allegations, accusing China of deploying "a large number of troops and armaments in the border areas", while noting that "it was in response to Chinese actions, that our armed forces had to make appropriate counter deployments"."It is our expectation that the Chinese side will work towards [the] early resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in eastern Ladakh while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols", the ministry underlined.After 12 rounds of military commander-level talks between June 2020 and August 2021, the disengagement of troops and machines have been completed both north and south of Pangong Tso and the Gogra heights. However, talks are yet to be held on the Hot Springs, Demchok, and Depsang Plains.The two sides have started deploying military assets along the LAC in recent weeks. China has reportedly deployed S-400 air missile defence systems at the Hotan Airbase in Xinjiang and Nyingchi Airbase in Tibet. The Indian Army, for its part, has reportedly deployed an unknown number of additional troops and tanks, including three regiments of M-777 howitzers along the LAC.

https://sputniknews.com/20210625/navy-deploying-warships-in-indian-ocean-amid-peak-in-tensions-with-china-indian-defence-minister-1083238876.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20211001/indian-fm-dealing-with-rise-of-china-in-many-ways-a-matter-of-bilateral-choices-1089574730.html

Indian FM: Dealing With Rise of China 'in Many Ways' a Matter of 'Bilateral Choices'

Indian FM: Dealing With Rise of China 'in Many Ways' a Matter of 'Bilateral Choices'

The Pentagon has said that Chinas aggressiveness and coercive nature has become a frequent topic of discussion with all our allies and partners, and... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T15:40+0000

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us

china

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asia-pacific

subrahmanyam jaishankar

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On Thursday, at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) Annual Leadership Summit, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told his American host Frank Wisner, former secretary of state, who had asked him if New Delhi and Washington, DC are on the same track in dealing with the complex issue of the rise of Chinese power", that the issue of dealing with "the rise of China" is largely a matter of bilateral relations.While the Indian foreign minister called for resolving issues with China in a bilateral manner, the US, in turn, views its partnership with New Delhi as a means to prevent China from being a leading power in the Asia-Pacific region as well as globally.In fact, the US Indo-Pacific Strategy Framework is pretty clear about Washingtons primary goal of maintaining strategic primacy in the Asia-Pacific region by accelerating Indias rise and blocking China from creating illegal spheres of influence.The framework was declassified by the Donald Trump administration last year.The Indian minister also refused to categorise the Quad as being against somebody, reiterating New Delhis policy line about the four-nation grouping. He warned his American host against falling for the narrative of dubbing the grouping as directed against Beijing. The Quad, or the "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue", comprises Australia, the US, Japan, and India. On 24 September, the heads of Quad countries convened in the White House for the first-ever in person leaders' summit.The Chinese foreign minister this week also cautioned India, Japan, Australia, and the US against forming an exclusive clique and to refrain from undermining the interests of the third party. Beijings reaction, in line with its stance on the Quad and the US policy towards it, came in response to a question on the recent Quad leaders summit. A journalist had sought Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying's reaction to the summit, as they pointed out that the discussions at the multilateral meeting "focussed on China".The US has long been accused by China of trying to create an "Asian NATO" to counter the economic and political rise of Beijing. Doesnt Matter if India is Central to US Indo-Pacific Strategy, Says Ex-DiplomatFormer Indian diplomat Preet Malik tells Sputnik that India is no way obligated to toe the US line, regardless of the American policy in the region.Malik says that regardless of the fact that the US views New Delhi as being central in its Indo-Pacific strategy and containing the rise of China, New Delhi has and should always maintain its strategic autonomy.Referring to the enhanced defence cooperation and intelligence sharing between the US and India amid the ongoing military standoff between Delhi and Beijing, Malik argues that in no way does it bind New Delhi to act in a manner the Americans want us to.Malik also rejects the characterisation of the Quad as a security grouping catering to US bias against China, as he points to a joint statement issued after the White House summit last week.The Quad is a grouping calling for an inclusive approach to maritime security, following a rules-based order, he said.

https://sputniknews.com/20210406/india-russia-believe-military-alliance-like-asian-nato-will-be-counterproductive-fm-lavrov-1082554961.html

https://sputniknews.com/20210925/us-australia-japan-india-agree-to-coordinate-afghanistan-policy-1089401703.html

WhatTheFishIsThis The border issues between India and China are Miniscule compared to the much greater economic benefits of Peaceful Coexistence and Trade. Troublemakers (with their selfish agendas) will always play on these issues, which are common to ALL neighbors. 1

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https://sputniknews.com/20211001/indias-top-carmaker-maruti-suzuki-sees-decline-in-production-due-to-global-chip-shortage-1089576753.html

India's Top Carmaker Maruti Suzuki Sees Decline in Production Due to Global Chip Shortage

India's Top Carmaker Maruti Suzuki Sees Decline in Production Due to Global Chip Shortage

The acute shortage of chips has badly affected the automotive sector across the globe. In India, companies have been forced to slash production to secure... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T12:59+0000

2021-10-01T12:59+0000

2021-10-01T12:59+0000

auto industry

semi-conductors

auto market

india

taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company (tsmc)

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The Indian car manufacturing company, Maruti Suzuki, on Thursday announced that it is expecting a decline in total vehicle production in October due to a shortage of semiconductors. According to the carmaker, the production volume at two of its plants - Haryana and Gujarat - is expected to be around 60 percent of normal levels. Meanwhile, Maruti's competitor, Mahindra and Mahindra, has also warned of reduced production in September due to the chip shortage. On Friday, Maruti reported a 46.16 percent decline in sales at 86,380 units in September. As per the company's statement, it sold 160,442 units in September 2020. According to reports, the COVID-induced crisis in the Indian automotive sector has forced carmakers to focus on high-margin models and the majority of Indian manufacturers including Maruti, Tata Motors, and Mahindra to increase the prices multiple times this year. Reportedly, Maruti Suzuki is the worst affected due to the chip shortage as the company has scaled down its production activity due to the scarcity of components in the last two months. The chip shortage has not just affected India but the whole world. After a sudden surge in demand for electronic items like laptops and phones, the shortage of chips increased. Meanwhile, international players like Ford Motor Co, Honda Motor Co Ltd, General Motors Co, and Volkswagen AG have also been hit by the chip crunch and forced to curtail production. Sputnik reached out to the spokespersons from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) for comments but hadn't received a response by the time of publication.

https://sputniknews.com/20210927/india-may-sideline-china-as-talks-underway-with-taiwan-to-overcome-domestic-chip-shortage-1089436107.html

FeEisi The chip crisis can be alleviated by banning cryptomining. Cryptomining takes up lots chips in order to make fake currency.

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https://sputniknews.com/20211001/iran-and-venezuela-reach-oil-deal-sarkozy-sentenced-to-one-year-1089567080.html

Iran and Venezuela Reach Oil Deal; Sarkozy Sentenced to One Year

Iran and Venezuela Reach Oil Deal; Sarkozy Sentenced to One Year

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to one-year house arrest for campaign violations during his 2012 re-election bid. 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T10:12+0000

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2021-10-01T10:12+0000

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Iran and Venezuela Reach Oil Deal; Sarkozy Sentenced to One Year Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to one-year house arrest for campaign violations during his 2012 re-election bid.

Teresa Lundy, principal and founder of TML Communications, a leading public relations, communications, and advocacy firm in Pennsylvania and business columnist at Metro Philly, joins us to discuss domestic politics. There is a major battle taking place on Capitol Hill as progressives look to maintain earlier agreements with Democratic leadership regarding major spending bills. Also, Congress looks to have avoided a shutdown, but is locked up on other issues.Professor Ken Hammond, professor of East Asian and global history at New Mexico State University and activist with Pivot to Peace, joins us to discuss China. US military defense leaders are said to be holding talks with their Chinese counterparts in hopes of avoiding an accidental dust-up. Also, North Korean leaders argue that US aggressions and hostile policies give them a right to test their latest military technologies.Martin Sieff, senior fellow at the American University in Moscow, joins us to discuss Eastern Europe. Hungary has decided to purchase gas from Russia, bypassing Ukraine, which has upset the status quo in NATO. Also, the Balkans are heating up, and observers are looking at pre-World War II dynamics for a comparable moment in time.Robert Fantina, journalist and Palestine activist, joins us to discuss Israel. President Biden rejected a meeting with the Palestinian president during the recent UN meeting in New York. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett refused to mention the Palestinians in his UN speech.Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, joins us to discuss Julian Assange. Former CIA Director Mike Pompeo tacitly admitted that the recent allegations regarding his threats to the life of Julian Assange are correct. Pompeo remarked that those who are spreading the story are releasing classified information indicating that the rumors are true.Teri Matson, Latin American coordinator for CodePink, joins us to discuss the Global South. We discuss the Mexican negotiations between various political factions in Venezuela. Also, Iran and Venezuela have worked out a deal in which the Islamic Republic will assist them in getting their oil production going.Niko House, political activist, independent journalist and podcaster, joins us to discuss propaganda and censorship. YouTube continues its newest worldwide censorship move after permanently shutting down Russia Today's German-speaking channels on Tuesday.Ted Rall, political cartoonist and syndicated columnist, joins us to discuss France. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to one-year house arrest for campaign violations during his 2012 reelection bid.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

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https://sputniknews.com/20211001/joe-rogan-claims-biden-faked-getting-a-booster-dose-of-covid-19-vaccine-1089583540.html

Joe Rogan Claims Biden Faked Getting a Booster Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine

Joe Rogan Claims Biden Faked Getting a Booster Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine

The podcast host has recently been slammed by health experts for spreading misinformation about COVID-19. Rogan, who tested positive for the disease at the... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

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2021-10-01T16:08+0000

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Joe Rogan has suggested that US President Joe Biden lied about getting a booster jab of COVID-19 vaccine. On Tuesday, the Democrat president posted a statement on social media calling on Americans to receive an additional dose of the inoculation in order to guarantee better protection against the disease. The politician also posted a photo of himself getting the jab.The event was also broadcast live on television, but Rogan claims it was staged as inoculations against the coronavirus can cause side effects, including serious ones.His guest on the podcast, former CIA officer Mike Baker, seemed to share Rogans opinion."I agree because every other step of the way with any president, they're so careful, so careful about the messaging, the optics, the security issues related to it. It would be not unheard of, let's put it that way", Baker said.According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the countrys public health agency, like any other vaccine, inoculations against COVID-19 cause mild side effects, such as headache, fever, muscle pain, and nausea. Serious side effects are rare, but may occur, the CDC said. A recent report showed that side effects after a booster shot mirror those people feel after getting a second dose of a vaccine.Booster shots, given to individuals at least six months after being fully vaccinated, are aimed at prolonging peoples immunity by maintaining higher levels of antibodies against COVID-19. Last month, the US Food and Drug administration (FDA) approved a booster dose of the inoculation made by Pfizer and BioNTech for people aged over 65, as well as for those who are at risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19.Prior to the FDAs authorisation, a panel of experts published an article in peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet, in which they said that vaccine boosters are not widely needed. The panel, which included two departing officials from the FDA as well as several experts from the World Health Organisation, argued that any decision on booster shots must be based "on careful analyses of adequately controlled clinical or epidemiological data, or both, indicating a persistent and meaningful reduction in severe disease.The scientists stressed that two doses of vaccine remain highly effective against preventing hospitalisations.

Nonyank And this clowns opinion matters because? 5

SteveR It was all staged. The media are in on it. There are pictures. It was a set. 3

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https://sputniknews.com/20211001/norway-digs-out-sensational-bronze-age-military-monument-near-modern-f-35-air-base-1089569666.html

Norway Digs Out Sensational Bronze Age Military Monument Near Modern F-35 Air Base

Norway Digs Out Sensational Bronze Age Military Monument Near Modern F-35 Air Base

According to historians, the purpose of the giant 3,000-year-old Bronze Age burial mound over 40 metres in diameter was deterrence and reassurance, much like... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

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2021-10-01T06:58+0000

2021-10-01T06:58+0000

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A large Bronze Age burial mound has been excavated from peat and moss in Trndelag County in central Norway, which houses the country's largest fighter base.The burial mound was hidden under a lot of trees and other vegetation. Now, all of the moss and scrub must be removed to bring out the true dimensions of the burial mound.The burial mound is strategically located at the mouth of the Trondheim Fjord, overseeing its entrance and exit point, and was a key point on the coastal path. It was clearly visible from the sea so that any potential attackers would think twice.Some 3,000 years ago, Norway had just passed from the Stone Age into the Bronze Age. No written sources exist from this era, and who exactly erected the monument is up for debate."It must have been people with quite a lot of power and authority. It takes a lot of work to build something like this. There were probably several dozen people who were doing this for several months", Trndelag County archaeologist Knut Stomsvik said.Johansen suggested that the find made the known history of the locality, otherwise known for its connections with historic Viking-Age figures such as Olav Tryggvason and Olav the Holy, both kings of Norway who played an important part in the nation's conversion to Christianity, is 1,500 years older than previously thought."The Bronze Age was a bloody age. This was the art of notifying enemies that they mustn't even try. It was a deterrent tactic, just like today", Johansen concluded.Today, rland Main Air Station at the mouth of the Trondheim Fjord is an important air base not only for Norway, but also for NATO as it hosts numerous drills. It is also where Norway's fleet of F-35s is based.

vot tak Using archaeology to promote rightwing militarism and nato. The report is thin on real archaeology and mainly speculation. The sort of nonsense one reads in the zio-media. Thumbs down.

Thomas Turk ''...Some 3,000 years ago, Norway had just passed from the Stone Age into the Bronze Age''. And before that, they had migrated from Ethiopia, trekked for 10s of 1000s of KMs over burning deserts, circumnavigated seas, crossed icy wastes and mountain ranges. Instead of the lush tropical Ethiopian highlands, they decided to settle in the icy North.. and of course change color to pink, change body proportions and tribal customs. Before Ethiopia, them Norwegians, just 4M years ago, were great apes in Tanganyika. What a load of Smithsonian/Yank baloney/lies. We know humankind was created in the Sirius Star region, in this sector of the Dern Universe 12+ billion years ago, and that humankind on Earth came from the 4 corners of this Universe. Orientals. 1st from Sirius, settled on the far side of the Galaxy's Central Sun, in the Nissen System, Planet Kudra, arriving 20K years ago, our newest settlers. Data from theyfly dot com, for the open minded..

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https://sputniknews.com/20211001/ousted-israeli-pm-netanyahu-reportedly-penning-book-on-his-premiership-1089563276.html

Ousted Israeli PM Netanyahu Reportedly Penning Book on His Premiership

Ousted Israeli PM Netanyahu Reportedly Penning Book on His Premiership

The recent year has been tough for Bibi, who has been battling corruption charges brought against him and faced regular protests over his handling of the... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T00:46+0000

2021-10-01T00:46+0000

2021-10-01T00:46+0000

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prime minister

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Ex-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is writing an autobiography, Israeli media reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.The book will reportedly detail the memories and "milestones" of his premiership, including the battle against the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the Pfizer vaccine deal, and, undoubtedly, the normalization agreements reached with the Arab States.Netanyahu is said to have been working tirelessly on the memoir since returning from his holiday in Hawaii. Neither the expected date of publication nor the official name of the memoir is known so far. If the reports are true, it would be just another book authored by the ex-premier and the first one since 2000.Back in the 1980s and 1990s, Netanyahu, who is now in the opposition, authored several books, including 'A Place Under the Sun', 'War on Terror', and 'Terror: How the West Can Win', which, according to The Times of Israel, "made him an international expert" on the infamous war on terror.The anticipated memoir will reportedly be written in English, targeting the American public, given that Israel has traditionally enjoyed close ties with Washington, and Netanyahu himself had developed a rather warm relationship with the previous US administration.It was during Donald Trump's tenure at the White House that the historic rapprochement between several Arab countries and the Jewish State was achieved, just a year ago when the UAE and Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords to establish relations with Israel. Later, Sudan and Morocco followed suit.The Trump administration also drafted what the former US president dubbed the "deal of the century"  a peace plan for the Middle East, said to be authored mainly by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, which favored Israel over the Palestinians. In particular, the deal envisages the Jewish State annexing settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley and saw Jerusalem as the "undivided capital" of Israel, prompting a harsh backlash from Palestinians and a number of other states.Netanyahu's successor, Naftali Bennett, despite all the criticism he has faced from Bibi, is not likely to dramatically change the political path of Israel, especially when it comes to the Palestinians and the rivalry with Iran.Palestinian ambassador to France Salman El Herfi told Sputnik earlier that Bennett "would be even worse" in terms of his policy towards the Palestinians. Right after assuming power, Bennett outlined his determination to proceed with settlement expansion in the West Bank. The issue of Israels settlements in the West Bank, considered to be an occupied territory by the United Nations, is one of the main stumbling blocks in the peace process to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.After Biden entered the White House, then-Prime Minister Netanyahu called on the newly elected US president to join together to counter what he called "common challenges, chief among them the threat posed by Iran."However, Netanyahu's personal stance on the relationship between the United States and Israel may be deemed controversial. Back in 2001, Netanyahu was recorded on video speaking with Israeli settlers who lost family members in Palestinian attacks during the second Intifada. In the tape, Netanyahu, who apparently was not aware he was on camera, speaks about how the US was easily manipulated, reportedly saying, "America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They wont get in the way."

https://sputniknews.com/20210923/separate-bill-introduced-in-us-congress-pushes-1-bln-funding-for-israels-iron-dome-defence-system-1089330269.html

https://sputniknews.com/20210928/israeli-pm-reportedly-proposed-biden-reopen-consulate-in-palestinian-ramallah-but-us-refused-1089485393.html

Terranian The 1st Like all those other Massmurdering War-Criminals such Obama or HRC as well a work of "Pure Fiction" spinning all the lies and leaving all their deceiptions and crimes out. The usual BS. 4

TruePatriot Why is this zio-idiot not in jail for his war crimes, genocide, and ethnic cleansing? 3

2

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israel, benjamin netanyahu, book, donald trump, naftali bennett, us, palestine, prime minister
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/police-responding-to-school-shooting-in-houston-texas-1089587336.html

Houston Police Say School Shooting Suspect Was a Former Student, Now in Custody

Houston Police Say School Shooting Suspect Was a Former Student, Now in Custody

A school administrator was shot but no students were injured. A 25-year-old former student is in police custody. 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T18:07+0000

2021-10-01T18:07+0000

2021-10-01T19:39+0000

houston

news

us

texas

school

shooting

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The police were able to make it to the scene quickly and apprehend the suspect. Students were evacuated from the school without any reported injuries. The scene is still considered active.Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said the suspect, a 25-year-old former student, had one rifle on him and surrendered without incident. The suspect allegedly shot through a glass barrier to gain entry and injured one school employee. The employee was shot in the back and is currently in surgery. He is expected to survive.Police received a call about an active shooting around 11:45 a.m. at YES Prep Southwest Secondary school. The school The public charter school is part of a network of 21 charter schools in the Houston area. October 1st was a scheduled early release day.

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houston, news, us, texas, school, shooting
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/russia-to-not-repeat-its-offer-to-us-to-freeze-nuclear-assets-1089575679.html

Russia to Not Repeat Its Offer to US to Freeze Nuclear Assets

Russia to Not Repeat Its Offer to US to Freeze Nuclear Assets

GENEVA (Sputnik) - Moscow will not repeat its proposal to Washington to freeze nuclear warheads for a year, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T10:25+0000

2021-10-01T10:25+0000

2021-10-01T10:41+0000

sergei ryabkov

russia

us

nuclear warhead

nuclear arms

new start

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The proposal was announced in October 2020, when Moscow and Washington were engaged in talks regarding the prolongation of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which aimed at halving the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers and was set to expire in February 2021.Back then, President Putin stated that Russia was ready to "extend the current agreement without any pre-conditions at least for one year", however, the US authorities rejected it at the time.After the administration change, however, Moscow and Washington managed to find common ground on the issue, and in January 2021, the two nations agreed to extend the accord for five years.

koursk koursk russia must maintain its defense system in all sectors to face the mobster billionaires who command the nato zone, and who would also like to reign over russia and china 7

FeEisi The Daughter of Babylon will be destroyed in one hour. So it will make decisions that will make that happen. 1

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sergei ryabkov, russia, us, nuclear warhead, nuclear arms, new start
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/sen-tom-cotton-demands-explanation-from-blinken-who-reportedly-ditched-afghanistan-planning-meeting-1089591550.html

Sen. Tom Cotton Demands Explanation From Blinken Who Reportedly Ditched Afghanistan Planning Meeting

Sen. Tom Cotton Demands Explanation From Blinken Who Reportedly Ditched Afghanistan Planning Meeting

Senator Demands Explanation From Blinken Who Reportedly Missed Afghanistan Planning Meeting

2021-10-01T22:52+0000

2021-10-01T22:52+0000

2021-10-01T22:52+0000

us

antony blinken

us troop withdrawal

tom cotton

afghan war

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Republican Sen. Tom Cotton believes the American people have a right to know why US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to reports, was not present at a meeting for the discussion of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan."Given the disaster that played out in Kabul, the American people deserve to know why [Blinken] skipped the Afghanistan withdrawal rehearsal in May," the senator later tweeted.It was reported earlier that the secretary of state was also absent the day the Taliban* seized power in Kabul, as White House staff usually vacation during that time of the year.Earlier in the month, Blinken appeared before the congressional Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to testify on the chaotic US evacuation, which was carried out from 15 to 31 August and saw a terrorist attack that killed 13 American servicemen and several hundreds of Afghans.During the same hearings, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley reportedly blamed the State Department for the unreasonably long delay in evacuating Afghan citizens.The US was said to have failed to remove 2,000 local residents from Afghanistan who worked for the American embassy in Kabul and their family members. Among those who were left in the country were also students and graduates, applicants for American immigration visas, as well as hundreds of former soldiers of the republic's special forces who fought on the side of the US.*A terrorist organization banned in Russia

fluttershield mlp Blinken had to go to Israel to renew his passport. 1

Preterist-ADSeventy Hi hunee.  0

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Alexandra Kashirina

us, antony blinken, us troop withdrawal, tom cotton, afghan war
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/sullivan-meets-french-ambassador-to-discuss-confidence-building-measures-1089566697.html

Sullivan Meets French Ambassador to Discuss Confidence-Building Measures

Sullivan Meets French Ambassador to Discuss Confidence-Building Measures

Sullivan Meets French Ambassador to Discuss Confidence-Building Measures

2021-10-01T02:41+0000

2021-10-01T02:41+0000

2021-10-01T02:41+0000

jake sullivan

europe

us

philippe etienne

aukus

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On Thursday, Etienne returned to Washington after almost two weeks of absence following the French decision to recall him over the dispute. The decision to send the ambassador back to the United States was announced by French President Emmanuel Macron on September 22 after his phone conversation with the US counterpart, Joe Biden."Mr. Sullivan welcomed Ambassador Etiennes plan to engage with officials across the U.S. government to continue advancing our shared agenda, in advance of President Biden and President Macron meeting in Europe at the end of October," the statement added.In mid-September, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia declared the formation of AUKUS as a platform for defense and security cooperation. The announcement came as Canberra unilaterally withdrew from the $66 billion agreement on submarines with Paris in favor of the supply of vehicles within the framework of the alliance.

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jake sullivan, europe, us, philippe etienne, aukus
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/taliban-say-they-have-raided-daesh-hideout-north-of-kabul---report-1089592170.html

Taliban Say They Have Raided Daesh Hideout North of Kabul - Report

Taliban Say They Have Raided Daesh Hideout North of Kabul - Report

Since the Taliban* seized power in Afghanistan, much of the country has seen an increase in attacks by Daesh* militants targeting Taliban members. The hidden... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T22:58+0000

2021-10-01T22:58+0000

2021-10-01T22:58+0000

afghanistan

kabul

us

afghanistan

war

war in afghanistan

afghanistan war

daesh militants

daesh

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According to a report, a Taliban spokesman claimed that the movement's fighters raided a hideout of Daesh north of Kabul on Friday, killing and arresting an unspecified number of militants.Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi told the Associated Press that Fridays raid took place in the city of Charikar in Parwan province.No further details were provided and his statement could not be independently verified.The two were questioned and the information they provided helped the Taliban identify the hideout, he added.Since the Taliban takeover, the group has carried out crackdowns in Nangarhar  the Eastern province that Daesh is based from  in response to the ramped-up attacks across Afghanistan being made by the Daesh.Daesh-Khorasan is said to be responsible for the suicide bomber attack that targeted US evacuation efforts outside Kabul international airport in late August. The blast killed 169 Afghans and 13 US service members.* The Taliban and Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) are banned as terrorist organizations in a number of countries including Russia.

TruePatriot And there they found all sorts of CIA contractors and US weapons. Well done mujahideen. 5

Thomas Turk Not good, Murika, Tally Buns well knew that ISIS was armed, trained, controlled and heli evacced out of hot spots by Murikans and 'allies'. Heck the nasty Rushans and See-Rjans even captured an embedded Chozenite intel guy in an ISIS HQ. 3

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kabul, us, afghanistan, war, war in afghanistan, afghanistan war, daesh militants, daesh
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/text-of-35-tn-bill-replaces-the-word-mothers-with-pregnant-lactating-postpartum-individuals-1089566437.html

Text of $3.5 Tn Bill Replaces the Word 'Mothers' With Pregnant, Lactating, Postpartum Individuals

Text of $3.5 Tn Bill Replaces the Word 'Mothers' With Pregnant, Lactating, Postpartum Individuals

Recently, some politicians could be heard replacing gender-defining lexis with a number of peculiar collocations as to respect inclusiveness. The trend... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T02:55+0000

2021-10-01T02:55+0000

2021-10-01T02:55+0000

mother

gender neutrality

viral

us bill

lgbt rights

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It appears that the text of the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill package has been brought in line with modern woke concepts, as it refers to mothers with gender-neutral language. The word "mother" is mentioned in the bill just three times, while the word maternal comes up 50 times in the portion devoted to maternal health conditions or concerns.Attempts to form a more inclusive language have raised intense controversy, as what was supposed to make non-binary and cis-gender people feel more comfortable has ended up insulting a large number of women.One of the most respectable medical journals, "The Lancet," previously published an article whose headline referred to females as bodies with vaginas. Social media users around the world expressed their outrage, saying the term dehumanizes women, while including conventional references to men. While acknowledging the need to respect the transgender community, it has been noted that this particular term views women in the same terms as the Taliban and even serial killers.Recently, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had to apologize for correcting a quote of the late US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, replacing the words woman and her with gender-neutral words. Some women accused the ACLU of "erasing women." Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also created confusion when she used the term menstruating persons in one of her interviews.

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Alexandra Kashirina

mother, gender neutrality, viral, us bill, lgbt rights
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/trouble-in-paradise-democrats-still-squabbling-over-biden-agenda-1089579883.html

Trouble in Paradise? Democrats Still Squabbling Over Biden Agenda

Trouble in Paradise? Democrats Still Squabbling Over Biden Agenda

Despite managing to continue funding of the US government through early December by the skin of its teeth, the US Congress is yet to make up its mind on two... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T15:38+0000

2021-10-01T15:38+0000

2021-10-01T15:38+0000

us

infrastructure bill

us congress

democrats

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Congressional Democrats are struggling to find common ground on President Joe Biden's agenda as the party's moderate and progressive factions failed to reach an agreement on 30 September. Leaving the US Capitol on Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters that "We'll vote today" - a promise very similar to those she made earlier in the month and failed to fulfil.Stumbling blocks on the path to what the Democrats see as a cornerstone of the Biden agenda have arisen the moderates push for a House vote this week to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, while progressives are reluctant to unify with their fellow lawmakers, insisting that a larger $3.5 billion reconciliation bill should be passed first.Manchin, who appears to be one of the most outstanding opponents of the infrastructure bill, said that he would not support a package over $1.5 trillion. He received support from another moderate, Senator Kirsten Sinema, who in her Thursday statement reiterated her refusal to support a bill costing $3.5 billion, but noted that she remains in negotiations with President Biden and the progressive Democrats in order to find common ground.Now that the Democratic Party is split over Biden's agenda, the president and his aides are struggling to find what kind of a narrower proposal could unite it, according to a report by Reuters, citing people familiar with the situation.White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, however, remains optimistic: despite conceding that "we are not there yet", she assured that the Democrats are "closer to an agreement than ever". According to Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, there is a total of four percent of Democrats in the House and Senate who refuse to back the infrastructure bill unless the larger proposal - that also includes climate action and social welfare - goes forward.In situations like this - when there are not enough votes for legislation to be passed - House Speaker Pelosi said last month that she never brings a bill to the floor. But progressives do not seem like they are ready to give up, since many of them celebrated the delay of the infrastructure bill vote, launching a social media hashtag #HoldTheLine, insisting that the bill will be passed, but it needs to be done "right".Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez even expressed her position in a video, adamant in her stance to reject the notion that "something is better than nothing". In an apparent reference to Manchin's position, she told ABC News on Thursday that "some of our Senate colleagues are all over the place".Confidence in the bill getting passed is there, according to some lawmakers, but it all appears to be about timing.In a bid to push the Biden agenda through the House and the Senate, Democrats can predictably only count on themselves, with Republican lawmakers, unlike the Dems, unified in their opposition to Biden's spending proposals.The Congress is not enjoying the best of times now, having barely prevented a government shutdown. A resolution to fund the government until early December was signed by Biden earlier on Thursday, also providing money for states to recover from natural disasters and to resettle Afghan refugees. However, the bill did not envisage raising the US debt ceiling - something that was also proposed by the Democrats, but received strong opposition from their GOP counterparts.

Nonyank Come election time the Democrats will loose again due to this in party backstabbing, just like the have done before,

LINDADREW AdChoices Daily Mail Taliban leaders tell fighters to give back private homes they seized Stephen Wynn-davies For Mailonline 22 hrs ago- i like this post!!!! why did they do it because they dont want to be like the americans who stole homes from uk since 1831

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Daria Bedenko

us, infrastructure bill, us congress, democrats
https://sputniknews.com/20211001/uk-government-seeks-to-return-to-pre-brexit-energy-trade-with-eu-as-domestic-prices-soar-1089576027.html

UK Government Seeks to Return to Pre-Brexit Energy Trade With EU As Domestic Prices Soar

UK Government Seeks to Return to Pre-Brexit Energy Trade With EU As Domestic Prices Soar

UK Government Seeks to Return to Pre-Brexit Energy Trade With EU Amid Spiking Domestic Prices

2021-10-01T11:40+0000

2021-10-01T11:40+0000

2021-10-01T11:40+0000

europe

power

european union

uk

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British authorities are examining how to realign the country's domestic energy market with that of the EU, after they got separated as a result of Brexit. The UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has stated that it is consulting on how to improve domestic trade with foreign countries - namely the EU - and enhance the country's energy system flexibility.The BEIS itself expects future trade with the EU to be closer than it was before Brexit: energy sold on a uniform day-ahead price. Right now, UK companies buy power at the European energy exchanges at different and independent prices.The BEIS, however, believes that the two major EU exchanges, Nord Pool and EPEX SPOT, can make "operational arrangements" to couple British energy auctions. As a result, UK-EU energy trade should be cleared at a single price instead of every transaction being priced differently. The department believes this will alleviate the discrepancies that have caused such chaos in the British energy market for the past month and possibly contributed to the recent bankruptcy of three energy suppliers, leaving hundreds of thousands of customers without energy.UK energy market prices rose sharply with an annual power bill recently rising by 139 ($193). That spike was caused by a shortage of power generation as a result of a number of adverse factors, such as reduced wind activity in the country's north where wind turbines are installed, one of the English Channel power lines to France getting damaged, and reduction in coal energy generation. However, the toughest blow to the Brits' wallets was caused by underfilled gas reservoirs and a shortage of global LNG. On 30 September, futures for natural gas at European exchanges hit an all-time high, exceeding the previous high of $1,050 per 1,000 cubic metres and at the markets' opening on 1 October, prices soared even higher, quickly reaching $1,200 per 1,000 cubic metres.

https://sputniknews.com/20211001/at-dire-risk-of-premature-death-15-million-uk-households-hit-by-record-high-rise-in-energy-bills--1089573837.html

General_Genius The EU should tell the UK to shove it up their Brexit.

1

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https://sputniknews.com/20211001/us-vps-office-rushes-to-soothe-criticism-after-her-praise-of-israeli-ethnic-genocide-comment-1089583686.html

US VP's Office Rushes to Soothe Criticism After Her Praise of Israeli 'Ethnic Genocide' Comment

US VP's Office Rushes to Soothe Criticism After Her Praise of Israeli 'Ethnic Genocide' Comment

US VP's Office Rushes to Soothe Criticism After Her Praise of Israeli 'Ethnic Genocide' Comment

2021-10-01T15:58+0000

2021-10-01T15:58+0000

2021-10-01T15:58+0000

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The office of Vice President Kamala Harris has been in damage control mode ever since she faced criticism over her response to an "ethnic genocide" remark by a student at George Mason University, where the VP was marking National Voter Registration Day. Following the event, where Harris praised the comment by the student, who condemned the recent passing of $1 billion in defence funding for Israel in the US House of Representatives, the vice president faced criticism from US pro-Israeli groups and lawmakers, as well as Israeli media.Former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman called Harris' failure to reject the claims of the student regarding Tel Aviv purportedly committing "ethnic genocide" against Palestinians "shameful". Friedman added that in his opinion, the vice president should have called out the "lie" and "attack on Israel".As a part of its efforts to contain a potential PR disaster, Harris' office reached out to the Democratic Majority for Israel group. Its president, Mark Mellman, confirmed that Harris staffers had assured the group of the vice president's support for Israel.The vice president's office reached out to other groups as well, Politico reports, citing anonymous sources. Namely, they called the Anti-Defamation League's chair, Jonathan Greenblatt, as well as Florida Democrat Ted Deutch, who heads the Bipartisan AntiSemitism Taskforce in Congress. According to Politico's source, "the group of House Democrats that super care about" the issue has noticed Harris' efforts to smooth over the incident.What Happened at George Mason University?The incident in question happened as Kamala Harris was discussing the importance of elections and public demonstrations for democracy on 28 September at George Mason University. After she offered attendees to ask some questions, a self-described "part-Yemeni, part-Iranian" female student raised the issue of people in the US protesting en masse in support of the Palestinians this summer and Congress ignoring them. The student namely recalled the US House passing a bill to channel $1 billion in US taxpayer money to the Israeli Iron Dome missile defence system on 23 September, despite some taxpayers opposing it.Kamala Harris did not confront the student over her statements, praising her instead for raising the issue and stressing that her "perspective and truth" can't be suppressed and must be heard.

https://sputniknews.com/20210918/trump-jokes-jared-kushner-more-loyal-to-israel-than-us--1089175922.html

Dang! Don't forget that the USA used SETTLER COLONIALISM, exactly what the Israelis are using, when committing GENOCUDE ON the Native Americans 3

truthtold The apartheid right wing regime called Israel will soon face worldwide condemnation for their crimes of murdering thousands of men, women and children in Palestine. Jews are using Hitler's tactics! 2

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https://sputniknews.com/20211001/will-liverpools-defence-cost-them-the-title-1089561961.html

Will Liverpool's Defence Cost Them the Title?

Will Liverpool's Defence Cost Them the Title?

Liverpool sit atop the Premier League on the strength of their attack. Through six games they lead the league in goals scored at 15 and expected goals at 16.9... 01.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-01T07:00+0000

2021-10-01T07:00+0000

2021-10-01T07:00+0000

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Through six games, Liverpool have conceded four goals, but 7.0 expected goals against. Having an elite keeper like Alisson in goal can help a team outperform their expected metrics, but having the 8th best defence is not a recipe for titles.Manchester City and Liverpool are neck and neck in goal differential and expected goal differential. In a season where the title race looks incredibly tight, Liverpool's defence could be the deciding factor.It's not entirely clear what is plaguing Liverpool's defence. They have an impressive stable of centre backs in Virgil Van Dijk, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, and Ibrahim Konate, and Fabinho has cemented his place as one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. The main difference in this season's side is the absence of Georginio Wijnaldum.The industrious midfielder was an integral part of Liverpool's midfield. Wijnaldum excelled in two crucial areas that could explain Liverpool's defensive decline.The first is that he was nearly impossible to dispossess. With the near-universal adoption of the high press, having a press-resistant midfielder has become incredibly important to stifle opponents' attacks. The second area was his ability to cover ground. Defending is about being in the right position and few players covered as much ground as Wijnaldum.Liverpool have the depth in the midfield to right these wrongs. However, it would have been a lot easier to replace Wijnaldum by simply giving him a contract extension. If Liverpool's defence doesn't improve, they'll have a hard time reclaiming the Premier League title.

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Two $10,000 divisions of trotters went to post tonight prior to the betting card getting at Yonkers Raceway and when the judges posted the official signs Scott Keppler and Alan Schwartz each reined a winner; Keppler with Judge Ken in 2:00.2 and Schwartz with Ladys Big Stormont in 1:59.3.

After two consecutive breaks Judge Ken was all business tonight. Keppler eased him cautiously away at the start and settled in third as the field passed the first stanza. Once settled at his work Keppler moved the altered son of Justice Hall to the outside and they overtook Stealing (Matt Zuccarello) as the two trotters passed the third stanza. But when they headed for paydirt Judge Ken showed the way to the wire. Stealing was second while Joe Faraldo rallied Gemeni Eddie up for the show dough.

Keppler owns the winner who is trained by Steve Moore.

The second split was barn-burner with three horses rushing to the finish line noses apart. Ladys Big Stormont zoomed to the lead and cut all the fractions and still had enough left to rebuff the hard charging All Night Credit (Matt Zuccarello) and Cimeronken in rein to David Glasser.

Schwartz owns and trains Ladys Big Stormont who notched his 41st career victory But it was the 10-year-old's first seasonal win

(NAADA)
When Nicole Oliveira was just learning to walk, she would throw up her arms to reach for the stars in the sky. Today, at just eight years of age, the Brazilian girl is known as the world's youngest astronomer, looking for asteroids as part of a NASA-affiliated program, attending international seminars and meeting with her country's top space and science figures.

In Oliveira's room, filled with posters of the solar system, miniature rockets and Star Wars figures, Nicolinha, as she is affectionately known, works on her computer studying images of the sky on two large screens.

The project, called Asteroid Hunters, is meant to introduce young people to science by giving them a chance to make space discoveries of their own.

It is run by the International Astronomical Search Collaboration, a citizen science program affiliated with NASA, in partnership with Brazil's ministry of science.

Beaming with pride, Nicolinha told AFP she has already found 18 asteroids.

"I will give them the names of Brazilian scientists, or members of my family, like my mom or my dad," said the lively girl with dark brown hair and a high-pitched voice.

If her findings are certified, which may take several years, Oliveira will become the youngest person in the world to officially discover an asteroid, breaking the record of 18-year-old Italian Luigi Sannino.

"She really has an eye. She immediately spots points in the images that look like asteroids and often advises her classmates when they are not sure they have really found any", said Heliomarzio Rodrigues Moreira, Oliveira's astronomy teacher at a private school in the city of Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil, which she is attending thanks to a scholarship.

"The most important thing is that she shares her knowledge with other children. She contributes to the dissemination of science," added Rodrigues Moreira.

'Passion for astronomy'

Nicolinha's family relocated to Fortaleza from their hometown of Maceio, about 1,000 kilometers away, at the beginning of this year, after Nicolinha received a scholarship to attend the prestigious school. Her father, a computer scientist, was allowed to keep his job and telework.

"When she was two, she would raise her arms to the sky and ask me, 'Mom, give me a star,' said her mother, Zilma Janaca, 43, who works in the craft industry.

"We understood that this passion for astronomy was serious when she asked us for a telescope as a birthday present when she turned four. I didn't even really know what a telescope was," Janaca added.

Nicolinha was so set on getting a telescope that she told her parents she would swap it for all her future birthday parties. Still, such a gift was too expensive for the family and the girl got it only when she turned 7 and all her friends pooled money for the purchase, her mother said.

As she continued her studies, Nicolinha enrolled in an astronomy course that had to lower its age limit for students down from 12.

On her YouTube channel, Nicolinha has interviewed influential figures like the Brazilian astronomer Duilia de Mello, who took part in the discovery of a supernova called SN 1997D.

Last year, Oliveira traveled to Brasilia to meet with the minister of science as well as with the astronaut Marcos Pontes, the only Brazilian to date to have been to space.

As for her own ambitions, Nicolinha wants to become an aerospace engineer.

"I want to build rockets. I would love to go to the Kennedy Space Center at NASA in Florida to see their rockets," she said.

"I would also like all children in Brazil to have access to science," she says.
Google is honouring one of Indian cinemas finest actor on the Google homepage today. The Google doodle on todays Google Search pays tribute to Sivaji Ganesan, a legendary actor from the south Indian film industry. Ganesan won appreciation at the highest levels, with the Government of India honouring him with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1997.

Todays Google doodle honours the actor on his 93rd birthday. Originally known as Ganesamoorthy, he was born on October 1, 1928 and got into acting from a very young age. He eventually got the title Sivaji after playing the 17th century king of the same name in theatres in 1945.

Ganesan eventually ascended to Tamil movies in the early 1950s and has been a part of 300 films in his career spanning five decades. His first one was called Parasakthi that debuted in 1952. Some of his other popular movies include Pasamalar (1961) and Navarthri (1964), the latter where he had nine roles to play.

Soon after, Ganesan started getting acclaims on an international level. He won the Best Actor at an international film festival for Veerapandiya Kattabomman, which was a historical war film released in 1960.

Towards the later part of his career, France awarded him Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour in 1995.

Ganesan passed away in 2001 and is currently succeeded by his grandson Vikram Prabhi, who put a tweet thanking Google and the artist responsible for creating the artwork on Google doodle.
The worlds most prestigious political accolade will be unveiled on Oct. 8. While the winner often seems a total surprise, those who follow it closely say the best way to guess is to look at the global issues most likely to be on the minds of the five committee members who choose.

With the COP26 climate summit set for the start of November in Scotland, that issue could be global warming. Scientists paint this summit as the last chance to set binding targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for the next decade, vital if the world is to have hope of keeping temperature change below the 1.5 degree Celsius target to avert catastrophe.

That could point to Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist, who at 18 would be the second youngest winner in history by a few months, after Pakistans Malala Yousafzai.

The committee often wants to send a message. And this will be a strong message to send to COP26, which will be happening between the announcement of the award and the ceremony, Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told Reuters.

Another big issue the committee may want to address is democracy and free speech. That could mean an award for a press freedom group, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists or Reporters Without Borders, or for a prominent political dissident, such as exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya or jailed Russian activist Alexei Navalny.

A win for a journalism advocacy group would resonate with the large debate about the importance of independent reporting and the fighting of fake news for democratic governance, said Henrik Urdal, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo.

A Nobel for either Navalny or Tsikhanouskaya would be an echo of the Cold War, when peace and literature prizes were bestowed on prominent Soviet dissidents such as Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Oddsmakers also tip groups such as the World Health Organization or the vaccine sharing body COVAX, which are directly involved in the global battle against COVID-19. But prize watchers say this could be less likely than might be assumed: the committee already cited the pandemic response last year, when it chose the U.N. World Food Programme.

While parliamentarians from any country can nominate candidates for the prize, in recent years the winner has tended to be a nominee proposed by lawmakers from Norway, whose parliament appoints the prize committee.

Norwegian lawmakers surveyed by Reuters have included Thunberg, Navalny, Tsikhanouskaya and the WHO on their lists.
An energy crunch in China has led some banks to lower their growth forecasts for the economy this year.

China's top state-owned energy companies have been ordered to ensure there are adequate fuel supplies for the approaching winter at all costs, a report said Friday, as the country battles a power crisis that threatens to hit growth in the world's number two economy.

The country has been hit by widespread power cuts that have closed or partially closed factories, hitting production and global supply chains.

The crisis has been caused by a confluence of factors including rising overseas demand as economies reopen, record coal prices, state electricity price controls and tough emissions targets.

More than a dozen provinces and regions have been forced to impose curbs on energy usage in recent months.

Bloomberg News, citing people familiar with the matter who did not want to be named, reported that Vice Premier Han Zheng had told energy companies to make sure there is enough fuel to keep the country running and that Beijing would not tolerate blackouts.

Han, who supervises the nation's energy sector and industrial production, was speaking at an emergency meeting this week with officials from Beijing's state-owned assets regulator and economic planning agency, the people said.

"It is probably a strong signal about how concerned China is regarding keeping industry going, and more importantly, the winter that is just around the corner," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.

Nearly 60 percent of the Chinese economy is powered by coal, but supply in the world's largest coal importer has been disrupted by the pandemic and squeezed by falling imports amid a trade tiff with Australia.

As demand for power from factories in China soared utilities were unable to buy enough fuel after prices surged.

The country's environmental agenda is further adding to the crisis, with pressure to dampen down coal burning and cap the growth of coal mining after President Xi Jinping pledged his country would become carbon neutral by 2060.

Data released on Thursday showed China's factory activity contracted last month for the first time since February 2020, when the country was essentially closed by lockdowns as authorities battled the first coronavirus outbreak.

Han's statement raised concerns that already-high commodity prices could surge further.

The order "to me implies that we are in no way on the verge of a cool-off. Rather it looks like it is going to get even more crazy", Bjarne Schieldrop, an analyst at SEB said.

"They will bid whatever it takes to win a bidding war for a cargo of coal" or liquefied natural gas.

The power crunch prompted banks Nomura and Goldman Sachs to cut their growth forecasts for China this year, expecting more disruptions to production.

Factories that supply multinationals such as Apple and carmaker Tesla are among those told to temporarily halt production.

"If Chinese steel and aluminium smelters are going to be shutting down for extended periods, you can be sure that will reverberate through global supply chains," added Halley.

One factory worker in the industrial hub of Dongguan told AFP this week they were working overnight after being forced to cease daytime production.

"Of course we're unhappy... but we're going along with the hours that the power curbs take place," he said.

Chinese coal futures on Thursday surged to a record as the country grapples with shortages of the fuel ahead of a national holiday, with many factories shut for the week-long break.

Explore further China restarts coal mines to meet surging power demand

 2021 AFP
In this Feb. 4, 2016 file photo a Daimler logo is fixed at the front of a concept car on the occasion of the company's annual press conference in Stuttgart, Germany. Shareholders in Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars, have an extraordinary online meeting Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, on the spinoff of the company's truck business. Credit: AP Photo/Michael Probst, file

Shareholders in Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars, on Friday approved the spinoff of the company's truck division, a move intended to let the world's largest maker of trucks react faster to change and focus on the new low-emission technologies transforming the automotive industry.

The voting at an online shareholder meeting also means that Stuttgart-based Daimler will rename itself as Mercedes-Benz Group AG as of Feb. 1, 2022.

Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius said that "by unlocking the full potential of both companies, we are establishing two undisputed innovation leaders who will set the pace in the transformation of their industries."

One reason for the spinoff is that the luxury cars and trucks are pursuing different technological approaches to developing zero local emission vehicles, with Mercedes-Benz focusing on battery-powered cars while the truck business is developing hydrogen powered vehicles for long-haul transport. The move is intended to let the separate companies make faster, more independent decisions in a rapidly shifting environment and serve distinct customer bases.

The company says luxury cars and big trucks are fundamentally different businesses. The Mercedes-Benz car division sells a luxury product to well-heeled consumers, while the truck division sells big-ticket goods to businesses focused on the return on their investment. Splitting the two businesses will, Daimler hopes, reduce what it calls a conglomerate discountmeaning the two companies would be worth more separately than they are together.

Daimler AG's corporate headquarters reflected in a window in Stuttgart, Germany, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. Shareholders in Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars, have an extraordinary online meeting Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, on the spinoff of the company's truck business. Credit: Marijan Murat/dpa via AP

Trucks stand around of the Mercedes-Benz truck plant of Daimler AG in Worth, Germany, on Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021. Shareholders in Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars, have an extraordinary online meeting Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, on the spinoff of the company's truck business. Credit: Uli Deck/dpa via AP

Daimler Truck is testing the GenH2 long-haul truck which uses liquid hydrogen to generate electric power from a fuel cell; the vehicle could be ready for use by 2027 if the hydrogen fuel infrastructure is ready. Hydrogen trucks will be needed because increasing numbers of electric vehicles put more pressure on the electricity grid as tougher emission standards in Europe aimed at fighting climate change mandate larger numbers of electric cars. "Europe needs a hydrogen economy," said Daimler Truck CEO Martin Daum.

Daimler Truck includes Freightliner trucks made in Cleveland, North Carolina, Mt. Holly, North Carolina and Santiago Tianguistenco, Mexico, as well as its North American headquarters and styling and test centers in Portland, Oregon.

The spinoff was approved by 99.9% of represented capital, and the renaming by 99.9%, with 56.4% of share capital represented at the meeting.

Shareholders in Daimler are to get one share in Daimler Truck Holding AG for every two shares they hold, giving them 65% of the new company. Daimler will keep a minority interest of 35%. The company expects that the listing will take place later this year on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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The rising price of gas has caused widespread concern across the country over how many consumers will afford to heat their homes this winter. The hike in costs has also seen many providers go under as the costs of supplying fuel becomes overbearing.

Professor Michael Tamvakis, professor of commodity economics and finance at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), comments on the causes of this rise and what can be done to alleviate the situation to return to a sustainable model for both companies and customers.

"The UK generates between 35 and 40 percent of its energy demand from wind turbines," Professor Tamvakis said.

"Despite this, gas (CCGT) still accounts for a large proportion of electrical generation, and has had to fill a void left by the effective shutdown of coal and the slow progress in replacing or expanding nuclear.

"As such, it is very useful at mitigating wind generation volatility but it can also be expensive, particularly since the UK is a net gas importer. Recent months have not seen the usual levels of wind, which have increased dependence on other, costlier, energy sources.

"The price also isn't helped by Russia refilling stocks 'less energetically," possibly with a view to leveraging a dominant position in opening up gas flow through the controversial Nord Stream 2. This squeeze in supply, as well as increased demand in Asian economies both in terms of electricity generation and industrial processes has contributed to the rises in gas prices.

"Furthermore, high oil prices in the Far East have led to higher gas prices because gas is priced on an oil-indexed basis in that market.

"The UK largely relies on Norway for its gas imports via pipeline, but in 2020 15 percent of UK imports were from Russia, 17 percent from Qatar and 11 percent from the Americas. There is no shortage of gas import options, especially as the UK is open to more flexible imports in the form of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), but it still can't avoid world market prices."

With gas providers struggling for supply amidst the need to provide competitive pricing, there are fears that it could be left to just a handful of suppliers to power the UK's homes and businesses this winter. Professor Tamvakis says companies should be looking at financial instruments to protect themselves against the worst-case scenario, but there are limits on what the Government can provide.

"The gas pricing system in the UK and most of the EU is determined by market forces, so it is difficult to provide a concrete long-term solution to the problem," Professor Tamvakis continued.

"The Government could impose a cap on how much gas companies can raise customer bills, but this would ultimately be detrimental to the profitability of the gas industry and is not sustainable. If the Government chooses to protect consumers in the short run, it may be forced to bail out gas companies in the longer run.

"Companies can protect themselves using market instruments such as derivativesmost already do. For the next three to six months and possibly up to two years, I expect most gas companies will have done this and are already offering fixed price contracts to consumers.

"With the petrol supply shortage, we have seen the Government suspend competition laws to allow coordination in deliverywe might see the same sort of thing with gas before too long.

"Overall, I do not foresee a new era of permanently higher prices although the situation could become worse before it gets better. More gas will be required to heat homes during colder and darker months, resulting in higher costs for industries which use gas as a fuel for chemicals and electricity generation.

"In the longer term we also need to seriously consider our use of nuclear. If we want to reduce emissions and still have reliable baseload capacity, we need nuclear energy.

"Oil prices are driven by rather different demand and supply fundamentals and it is really oil prices which drive gas prices, at least in some parts of the world. The more expensive gas is, the more likely electricity generators are to switch from gas to coal-fired generation to control costs. The more coal is then in demand, the higher its own price will rise. Coal burning is by far the 'dirtiest' generation of electricity, so this is not a desirable outcome."

Professor Tamvakis also has a word of advice for consumers.

"People need to be sensible and time their use of energy," he said.

"Insulate your house if you can, and use daylight as much as possible. Also look carefully at and consider fixed price electricity and gas contractsbut enter these cautiously at this time as prices could be higher in the current situation and you will end up paying more over the long term."

Explore further Britain runs coal power stations amid energy crisis
In this June 22, 2021, file photo, a mural is displayed on the wall outside the Lordstown Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio. Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest electronics maker, has a deal to buy a huge auto assembly plant in Ohio from startup electric truck maker Lordstown Motors, the companies announced Thursday, Sept. 30. Credit: AP Photo/David Dermer, File

Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest electronics maker, has a deal to buy a huge auto assembly plant in Ohio from startup electric truck maker Lordstown Motors, the companies announced Thursday.

The agreement stands to give Taiwan-based Foxconn, best known for making Apple iPhones, an entry into the growing electric vehicle market, a move it has been looking at for months.

It also brings much-needed funding to struggling Lordstown Motors, which has been under increasing scrutiny over its lack of orders and said last month that it couldn't guarantee that it will last through the year.

The two companies announced a nonbinding agreement to negotiate a deal under which Lordstown would sell the former General Motors plant in Ohio near Youngstown, excluding some assets, for $230 million.

Foxconn will also buy about $50 million of Lordstown Motors' stock, which rose more than 8% in Thursday's regular-session trading but is still down 60% for the year. It rose another 7% after hours.

Foxconn in March said it was considering making electric vehicles in either Mexico or at its highly anticipated Wisconsin plant, which was first announced in 2017 and has since been scaled back.

Company Chairman Young Liu said at the time that Foxconn wants to take 10% of the market share of electric vehicles by making entire vehicles or components.

Then in May, Foxconn and Stellantis, the world's 4th-largest automaker formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Peugeot, announced they're developing a jointly operated automotive supplier focusing on technology to make vehicles more connected.

The agreement with Lordstown gives Foxconn a sprawling manufacturing site where GM built cars for more than 50 years before closing the plant in 2019. At its peak, the factory was home to roughly 10,000 workers.

Lordstown promised to revive the plant after acquiring it in 2019 and had planned to begin production of its marquee Endurance pickup truck in September. Its investors include GM, which took a 5% stake.

But Lordstown has struggled to raise money, gone through management shakeups and faced increasing scrutiny from federal regulators.

The fledging automaker's top two executives stepped down in June amid doubts over the number of orders placed for the Endurance. In July, the company acknowledged receiving two subpoenas from federal regulators and also that prosecutors in New York have opened an investigation into the company.

The Securities and Exchange Commission asked in a pair of subpoenas for documents related to the company's merger with DiamondPeak, a special purpose acquisition company.

After the company acknowledged that it had no firm orders for its vehicles, it said that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York was "investigating these matters."

Explore further Hedge fund may invest up to $400M in Lordstown Motors

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Google on Thursday pushed urgent security fixes for its Chrome browser, including a pair of new security weaknesses that the company said are being exploited in the wild, making them the fourth and fifth actively zero-days plugged this month alone.

The issues, designated as CVE-2021-37975 and CVE-2021-37976, are part of a total of four patches, and concern a use-after-free flaw in V8 JavaScript and WebAssembly engine as well as an information leak in core.

As is usually the case, the tech giant has refrained from sharing any additional details regarding how these zero-day vulnerabilities were used in attacks so as to allow a majority of users to be updated with the patches, but noted that it's aware that "exploits for CVE-2021-37975 and CVE-2021-37976 exist in the wild."

An anonymous researcher has been credited with reporting CVE-2021-37975. The discovery of CVE-2021-37976, on the other hand, involves Clement Lecigne from Google Threat Analysis Group, who was also credited with CVE-2021-37973, another actively exploited use-after-free vulnerability in Chrome's Portals API that was reported last week, raising the possibility that the two flaws may have been stringed together as part of an exploit chain to execute arbitrary code.

With the latest update, Google has addressed a record 14 zero-days in the web browser since the start of the year.

CVE-2021-21148 - Heap buffer overflow in V8

CVE-2021-21166 - Object recycle issue in audio

CVE-2021-21193 - Use-after-free in Blink

CVE-2021-21206 - Use-after-free in Blink

CVE-2021-21220 - Insufficient validation of untrusted input in V8 for x86_64

CVE-2021-21224 - Type confusion in V8

CVE-2021-30551 - Type confusion in V8

CVE-2021-30554 - Use-after-free in WebGL

CVE-2021-30563 - Type confusion in V8

CVE-2021-30632 - Out of bounds write in V8

CVE-2021-30633 - Use-after-free in Indexed DB API

CVE-2021-37973 - Use-after-free in Portals

Chrome users are advised to update to the latest version (94.0.4606.71) for Windows, Mac, and Linux by heading to Settings > Help > 'About Google Chrome' to mitigate any potential risk of active exploitation.
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insensitive post: The Port of Spain to Chaguanas Taxi Association has described as insensitive an advertisement by PTSC highlighting its $4 bus tickets, with the social media hashtag #taxinothing.
Export prices of rice from Vietnam climbed to a two-and-a-half-month high on Thursday as rising domestic demand drove up procurement costs, while heavy rainfall in key Indian paddy-growing states raised concerns of a hit to crops in the country.

Vietnam's 5% broken rice rose to a range of $425-$430 per tonne, its highest since mid July, from $415-$420 a week earlier.

Domestic demand is picking up as the government is buying rice from farmers to top up national reserves, translating into higher domestic rates, traders said.

Export activity, however, remains subdued, they added.

Rice exports from Vietnam in the first nine months of this year fell 9.5% from a year earlier to 4.5 million tonnes, according to government data. Exports in September are forecast to be at 530,000 tonnes.

Indian rice export prices edged lower weighed by a weaker rupee, although heavy rainfall in the country raised concerns over the production of the staple crop.

Top exporter India's 5% broken parboiled variety eased to a $358 to $363 per tonne range from $360 to $365 last week.

"The eastern and southern states have been receiving heavy rainfall for the past few days. This could damage early sown paddy crop," said an exporter based at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Thailand's 5% broken rice variety was quoted at $385 to $386 per tonne, compared to $380 to $386 last week.

Traders said demand has slightly improved but the expensive cost of shipping remains an obstacle for exports.

"Many deals have been put off due to the high cost of shipping," one trader said.

In Bangladesh, domestic prices of rice stayed high despite record summer crops and hefty imports.

Bangladesh, which is traditionally the world's third-biggest rice producer, has emerged as a big importer of rice due to depleted stocks and record local prices after repeated flooding ravaged its crop last year.
HANOI -- Vietnam will stick to its plan to end its offer of a fixed wind power feed-in tariff (FiT) in November, the government said on Thursday, despite calls from developers to extend it due to coronavirus-induced delays on their projects.

Vietnam was looking to more than double its power generation capacity over the next decade with a focus on renewable energy. In 2018 it set the FiT at 8.5 cents/kWh for wind energy projects that could become operational before Nov. 1 this year.

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), which represents developers, in a statement earlier this month asked the government to postpone the FiT deadline by six months to April next year due to pandemic-related delays.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade will switch to a new mechanism to set the wind power prices through bidding processes.

"Shifting from a mechanism of a fixed price to a bidding mechanism is the global trend and is in line with Vietnam's legal system," Hoang Tien Dung, head of the ministry's Department of Electricity and Renewable Energy, said in the statement.

In an email interview with Reuters earlier this month, William Gaillard, Asia Pacific sales vice-president of wind turbine provider Vestas, said that without the FiT, projects face huge uncertainty over their future revenue, if not a risk of default under their project finance terms.

"Facing sizable risk on investment and renewable jobs, future investors will shy away from the market and Vietnam will not have the booming wind energy sector we have seen in recent years," Gaillard said in the interview.
Vietnam received last month 300 vaccine refrigerators funded by Japan and procured through UNICEF, the UN body said in a press release on Friday.

One hundred refrigerators arrived at Ho Chi Minh City Port and another 200 at Hai Phong Port in September, UNICEF said without providing a specific date.

The refrigerators will be delivered to 300 provincial and district health facilities in Vietnam, where they will be used to store COVID-19 vaccines for vaccination days.

The delivery is a part of UNICEFs ongoing support to improve cold chain systems for Vietnams COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Japan, a longtime partner to UNICEF Vietnam, has been assisting the Souteast Asian coutry in realizing childrens rights, especially during emergency situations and crises.

This support is aimed at delivering vaccines to each and every person in all corners of Vietnam, which will complement efforts of the COVAX Facility, Takio Yamada, Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam, said while referring to a vaccine-sharing scheme co-led by the World Health Organization.

Japan will continue to extend support to the Vietnamese efforts to deploy vaccines to every person in the country with a view to containing COVID-19 as quickly as possible.

As part of the assistance to improve the capacity of health and immunization systems to efficiently and effectively administer COVID-19 vaccines, UNICEF has worked with the Vietnamese Ministry of Health to assess cold chain capability identifying the needs for fridges, freezers, refrigerator trucks, and cold boxes for the safe transportation and storage of the jabs.

Support from the government of Japan will help to ensure the cold chain capacity, which is crucial for the safe rollout of COVID 19 vaccination and for routine immunization, said Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative.

We are delighted to work with the government of Japan in this important activity.

This shipment brings the specially produced vaccine refrigerator TCW 80 AC, manufactured by B Medical in Luxembourg with green technology for very low power consumption and environmentally sustainability, which can maintain cold conditions for vaccines that must be stored at a temperature range of two to eight degrees Celsius, even when power failure occurs for up to 72 hours.

All of the current COVID-19 vaccines administered in Vietnam require this temperature range at the vaccination sites.

With a storage capacity of 80.5 L, the refrigerators will be able to store vaccine doses for inoculation days.

This model is supplied with an integrated remote temperature monitoring device with real-time alert for the continuous monitoring of sensitive jabs.

In case of a temperature deviation, it immediately sends a notification to the predefined person in charge.

The temperature status can also be monitored from a distance through an online web portal.

The delivery came with one set of spare parts for every ten refrigerators.

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The Peoples Committee of Ho Chi Minh City has announced a plan to bring disadvantaged foreigners to a centralized facility where they will be provided with food and medical care.

The beneficiaries of this policy include foreign citizens who are studying, working, or visiting the southern Vietnamese city and struggling to afford accommodation and necessities due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Those foreigners will be accommodated in a centralized facility with 100 beds at the headquarters of the 10th Infantry Division at 25 Pham Thi Quy Street in Phu Xuan Commune of Nha Be District until city authorities declare the control over the COVID-19 pandemic.

The municipal Peoples Committee also requested that departments, agencies, and units ensure that these foreigners needs are met during their stay at the centralized facility and that the facility is managed in a secure, orderly, and sanitary manner.

Once the pandemic subsides, authorities will help coordinate stable accommodation and food for these foreigners.

Currently, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with foreign representative agencies, and the Peoples Committees of all districts and Thu Duc City are reviewing the number of needy foreigners residing in their jurisditions.

The districts authorities shall encourage them to go to the centralized facility to receive aid.

The foreign affairs department shall assume the prime responsibility for ensuring humanity and timeliness during the implementation of the aid and act as a communication bridge between foreign representative agencies and the foreigners.

Ho Chi Minh City, whose population is roughly nine million, has been the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis that has hit Vietnam since late April, with more than 388,000 local infections and over 14,700 deaths.

Those figures account for half of the countrys total 790,755 patients and about 77 percent of its 19,301 fatalities, as recorded since the COVID-19 pandemic first appeared early last year.

So far, health workers have administered over 6.8 million first vaccine doses and more than 3.5 million second shots to residents aged from 18 years old in the city, according to the national COVID-19 vaccination portal.

The corresponding figures for the country are some 32.6 million and nearly 9.4 million.

Vietnam has closed its borders to international arrivals since March last year but it still grants entry to foreign experts, skilled workers, diplomats, and Vietnamese repatriates.

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News of Ho Chi Minh City relaxing social distancing measures prompted hundreds of domestic migrant workers to pull up at an exit from the city in Binh Chanh District in the hope of leaving on Thursday evening, though many were not allowed through.

Earlier this week, Ho Chi Minh City announced a new social distancing directive that allows many businesses and social activities to resume after four months of lockdown, creating a new normal for the city.

Functional forces began removing COVID-19 barricades from hundreds of alleys across the southern city on Monday, but the 12 checkpoints at the citys entrances and 39 others in areas bordering nearby provinces will remain active in order to ensure safety for the key southern economic region in general.

Following reports of the new rules, many internal migrant workers from the Mekong Delta set out to leave Ho Chi Minh City on motorbikes after they had been stuck there for months, facing job losses and struggling to pay bills and rent.

On Thursday evening, hundreds of them showed up at a city gateway in Binh Chanh Districts Tan Tuc Town in an attempt to head home, only to find out that the entrance was still closed.

A police officer guards a COVID-19 checkpoint in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, September 30, 2021. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

Police distribute 'banh mi' as breakfasts for waiting domestic migrants who seek to leave Ho Chi Minh City through a checkpoint in Binh Chanh District, October 1, 2021. Photo: Dan Thuan / Tuoi Tre

After meeting little success in spending hours attempting to persuade migrant workers to disperse, local police called for five representatives from the crowd, who got a chance to plead their case at the next checkpoint in Long An Province.

Once Long An authorities allowed these five to pass, others waiting at the Ho Chi Minh City checkpoint would also be able to go through, the officers promised.

However, the congestion remained in several more hours, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper journalists reported from the scene.

Domestic migrants give up after waiting for hours to get through a checkpoint in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, September 30, 2021. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

Domestic migrants wait to get through a checkpoint in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, October 1, 2021. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

Internal migrants wait to get through a checkpoint in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, October 1, 2021. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

Speaking with Tuoi Tre, Colonel Tran Thanh Giang of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Public Security said the city police will work with the municipal Department of Transport to bring internal migrants from checkpoints to their home provinces in the Mekong Delta.

According to Giang, police officers have listed 600 people at the Tan Tuc gateway who wished to leave the city and will transport them, along with their motorbikes, to their desired destinations.

On Friday morning, officers were mobilized to the gateway to divide the migrants into groups based on their destinations, as well as to distribute breakfast and bottled water.

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Air, railway, and sea passengers in Vietnam are not required to undergo COVID-19 testing if they have got one dose of coronavirus vaccine or have recovered from the respiratory disease within the required periods before departure, transport authorities have announced.

The regulation is included in a guideline issued by the Ministry of Transport on Thursday providing temporary instructions on passenger transport by road, railway, waterway, and aviation, which comes into effect on Friday.

All local transport authorities must set up their passenger transport plans based on actual conditions and epidemic developments, the ministry said.

In localities at very high risk of COVID-19, public transport will stay suspended, except taxis and app-based vehicles with less than nine seats subject to required epidemic prevention measures.

Means of passenger transport in transit must not stop or park in such localities, while airports and railway stations are allowed to receive passengers provided they strictly comply with specific requirements.

In high-risk areas, public transport by road, railway, and waterway is allowed to operate at 50 percent of its capacity at most.

For medium- to low-risk localities, passenger carriers can operate normally, the guidance said.

Travelers by air, railway, and sea, except routes from shores to islands and vice versa, are required to make medical declaration and present a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours before departure.

Passengers who have received the first vaccine dose more than three weeks before their travel, or those who have fully vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 within six months before departure, are not required to undergo testing.

This image shows inland waterway vessels in a locality in Vietnam. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre

The ministry has also set forth four phases for resumption of air transport services.

In phase 1, which lasts for 10 days after the issue of the guideline, airlines are permitted to operate at no more than 50 percent of their average frequencies from April 1 to 10.

In phases 2 and 3, each of which lasts 10 days, the rates of frequency are increased to 70 and 100 percent at maximum, respectively.

In phase 4, air carriers are allowed to operate under 'new normal conditions,' a phrase the Vietnamese government uses to describe its new strategy of living safely with the coronavirus.

The ministry also requires drivers and other staff working on road, inland waterway and shore-to-island passenger transport means to be subject to weekly testing or fully vaccinated, depending on specific COVID-19 risk levels.

The new guidance came in the context the country is loosening strict COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, which have been applied for several months, to resume its socio-economic activities under 'new normal conditions.'

By Thursday, some 33 million first COVID-19 vaccine shots and nearly 9.5 million second jabs had been administered to people nationwide, the Ministry of Health reported.

Since the pandemic erupted in Vietnam in early 2020, the Southeast Asian nation has documented 790,755 COVID-19 cases, including 608,831 recoveries and 19,301 fatalities.

Except Cao Bang, the coronavirus has spread to 62 out of the countrys 63 cities and provinces, with Ho Chi Minh City suffering the most with 385,762 infection cases and 14,850 deaths.

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The Ministry of Health reported 6,957 additional COVID-19 cases across Vietnam on Friday, together with 27,250 discharged patients and 136 deaths.

The new cases, including 6,941 local and 16 imported infections, were recorded in 37 provinces and cities, the health ministry said, adding a total of 3,897 patients were detected in the community.

Ho Chi Minh City logged 3,670 of the latest cases, Binh Duong Province 1,787, Dong Nai Province 735, An Giang Province 116, Long An Province 107, Can Tho 30, Hanoi eight, and Da Nang two.

Vietnam has confirmed 793,149 community transmissions in 62 out of its 63 provinces and cities since the fourth  and worst  virus wave emerged in the country on April 27.

Ho Chi Minh City is most impacted with 392,329 patients, followed by Binh Duong Province with 212,843, Dong Nai Province with 49,330, Long An Province with 32,502, Tien Giang Province with 14,071, Dong Thap Province with 8,255, Khanh Hoa Province with 7,821, Da Nang with 4,918, Hanoi with 4,221, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with 4,149.

By comparison, Vietnam detected a combined 1,570 locally-transmitted infections in the previous three waves.

The health ministry announced 27,250 recoveries on Friday, taking the total to 636,081.

The toll has jumped to 19,437 deaths after the ministry documented 136 fatalities on the same day, including 96 in Ho Chi Minh City and 19 in Binh Duong Province.

Vietnam has registered 797,712 patients since the COVID-19 pandemic first struck it early last year.

Health workers have administered nearly 43 million vaccine doses, including 707,132 shots on Thursday, since vaccination was rolled out on March 8.

Over 9.8 million people have been fully vaccinated.

Health authorities aim to immunize at least two-thirds of a population of nearly 98 million people against COVID-19 by the first quarter of next year.

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ABC has a new local crime thriller in the pipeline, Savage River.

The show is directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (The Dressmaker, Stateless) and stars Katherine Langford (13 Reasons Why, Cursed).

The story involves a woman who returns to her hometown after eight years in prison. But the close-knit community of Savage River is not about to let her forget the past and when a murder occurs the woman is immediately suspected. As she sets out to prove her innocence, she uncovers long-buried secrets.

The 6 part series is co-created by writers Belinda Bradley, Franz Docherty and lead writer Giula Sandler (Murders at White House Farm, Glitch), produced by Aquarius Films (The Unusual Suspects).

Filming will take place in Melbourne and regional Victoria with backing from Screen Australia and Film Victoria.

A top-notch crew includes Don McAlpine as cinematographer plus production designer Jo Ford, costume designer Maria Pattison and composer David Hirschfelder.

The scripts have the timeless, universal appeal of the crime TV genre coupled with very distinctive, original characters and the unique specificity of the Australian rural and social landscape, said producers Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford. Jocelyn, at the helm of all six episodes, is one of the most talented Australian directors working today and her previous work is a testament to her unique artistic vision.

Savage River is a compelling and suspenseful mystery and I look forward to working with the extremely talented Katherine Langford in the lead role, said Moorhouse.

While ABC is yet to formally announce the project, U.S. TV distributor Dynamic Television has picked up worldwide distribution rights.

Source: Variety
New regulations virtually mandating that all employees in Armenia have a COVID shot are aimed at boosting the countrys extremely low vaccination rate: When the new rule was announced at the end of August, fewer than 5 percent of Armenians were fully vaccinated, Eurasianet reports. But the law, which comes into effect on October 1, has sparked fierce political resistance and a new wave of anti-vaccine campaigns. And while vaccination rates have risen following the announcement, it appears that hundreds of thousands of employees will still be unvaccinated come the start of the month.

According to the new regulations, virtually all workers in the country will have to either present their employers with a certificate proving they were vaccinated, or take a PCR test every 14 days. With tests costing the equivalent of a substantial portion of most Armenians monthly salaries, it effectively amounts to a vaccine mandate.

The largest opposition force in parliament, the Armenia Alliance led by former president Robert Kocharyan, issued a statement on September 10 opposing the regulation. It said vaccines should be a result of everyones conscious decision, not a mandate. The alliance also argued that the government should subsidize the cost of PCR tests for workers. On September 24, the alliance applied to the Constitutional Court asking for the suspension of the new regulation.

Robert Hayrapetyan, a lawyer who was one of the Armenia Alliances candidates in this summers elections, was one of many who posted instructions on Facebook for people who wanted to break the new rules. If you come to work without a vaccination or a negative PCR test, the employer has no right to fire you, Hayrapetyan wrote. Remember that no one has the right to force you to be vaccinated, especially by the order of the Minister . You can be vaccinated only according to your free will."

In another post he offered similar guidelines for employers, warning that in case of an illegal dismissal employers could be sued and subject to substantial fines. The backlash was exacerbated by the governments clarification that the rules would not apply to high-ranking officials like the prime minister, president, or members of parliament. The Ministry of Justice explained the exceptions by the legal difficulty of applying them to officials who do not have a supervisor; there is no one, for example, who could deny the president his job because he wasnt vaccinated.

That news nevertheless was met with a negative reaction among Armenians who saw a double standard. Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan attempted to explain it away by saying that most high-ranked officials are already vaccinated anyway.

Meanwhile, far-right movements have seized on the mandate to launch a new wave of attacks on the vaccination process. One activist group calling itself The Army of Light announced that it would organize regular street rallies to protest what it called mandatory vaccination and mandatory clinical trials forced upon the Armenian population. Since then the group has organized several protests in Yerevan, generally attracting dozens of participants and wide media coverage.

Right-wing politicians also established groups and initiatives aimed at combating government vaccination efforts. One such initiative, Free Will, led by the head of the Chamber of Advocates, a non-profit organization, has encouraged Armenians to send information about cases of serious complications and deaths related to vaccines for their member doctors to investigate.

The group also applied to the parliaments opposition-led Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs and managed to get a meeting with Health Minister Avanesyan. During the meeting Avanesyan argued that the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant made it necessary to yet again wear masks even if one is vaccinated. Many news outlets, particularly opposition-affiliated ones, latched onto vaccine-skeptical angles with headlines like, Vaccination does not exclude the fact of getting the infection: Anahit Avanesyan.

This resistance is likely to intensify in the upcoming weeks as the restrictions begin to be implemented.

Legally, the regulations are weak and the government failed to make the necessary changes in the labor law to make them enforceable, said the head of the Republican Union of Employers, Gagik Makaryan, in an interview with public television. It is now the second year that we are in the coronavirus chaos, but the respective [government] agencies do not address these issues; there have been no substantial changes in the labor law.

As a result, Makaryan argued, the regulations pose significant risks for employers: On the one hand, they could be fined by the government for not implementing the restriction. On the other hand, they could be sued by workers and fined by the courts for implementing it. I spoke to around 30 employers. Except for one employer who said they support vaccination, [...] 29, including major taxpayers, employers with hundreds of workers, are simply in a state of uncertainty, they dont know what is possible, Makaryan said.

The authorities insist that employers have the right to dismiss employees who dont obey the rules. The Health and Labor Inspection Body declared it has the right to conduct checks in enterprises twice a day if necessary and can fine businesses up to 120,000 drams (around $240) for a violation.

The looming requirement has influenced vaccination rates. The number of daily vaccinations recorded has been rising, from around 5,500 on July 7 to almost 10,000 on September 22. But the country has a long way to go.

According to official data, 408,000 people in Armenia have received at least the first dose of the vaccine. But that includes everyone, including the unemployed, retired, and an unknown number of foreigners who flocked to Armenia to get vaccinated when the country was offering them to anyone. There are more than 600,000 employed people in the country. (The population is just shy of 3 million.)

Meanwhile, there are widespread rumors of large-scale traffic in fake vaccine certificates. Armenias National Security Service (NSS) told Eurasianet that two cases of producing fake vaccine certificates are currently being investigated. If found guilty, suspects face a fine of up to 800,000 (around $1,600) or up to four years in prison.

The number of fake certificates is likely far higher than what the NSS has uncovered. There are widespread discussions online about doctors issuing fake certificates, and some social media users have been advising how to get a fake certificate rather than a jab. Under one post about the new restrictions in a private, woman-only Facebook group with 110,000 members  Womens Corner  one user advised people to find a way to get a certificate but not vaccinate When another user responded that that can be risky, the first replied: In Russia, 50 percent have done that, and vaccination is risky, too.
While it is true that the security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the Unites States (AUKUS) does not directly interfere with the purpose and the geographical sphere of influence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO); now has it caused major disagreements among European NATO members, it does have the potential to push unwanted changes at European and global level in terms of issues of security and potential alliances, Modern Diplomacy reports.

For Europe the consequences may not be immediate. However, it cannot be ignored that 2 of the most militarily important NATO members, the US, and the UK, have decided to join this pact. France is, so far, the country that has been affected the most when Australia ditched the 38.6-billion-euro agreement to build 12 diesel-fuelled submarines to procure American-built nuclear propelled ones instead. The US is alienating France, forgetting that it is one of the US oldest allies, and one of the most militarily capable NATO members in the European continent. France is also an important actor in the Indo-Pacific region, the area of influence of AUKUS, as there are approximately 1.6 million French citizens living in that region.

AUKUS starts with a serious diplomatic failure: not including France in the deal. Although it is not too late to rectify, as the promised equipment to the Australians will take almost a decade or more to build, there are little prospects the US would consider adding France, and there are also little incentives for the French to join 3 countries that have stabbed it on its back.

This pact could also worsen the already fractured relationship between the US and Europe, the UK and Europe. Prospects for cooperation now seem dim after this agreement. This is a double-edged sword. It benefits China as it is sowing discord among powers; and it is also an incentive for France, and possibly the European Union (EU) as a whole. Although there are robust agreements in place between the UK and France, such as the Lancaster House Treaties, the way both countries proceed in the pursue of their foreign policy individually and at continental level, will determine how hard or soft the blow is for both the EU and NATO. The fracture can open the door for the idea for greater European autonomy. Germany is preoccupied with its general election, allowing France to make use of this to take a more protagonistic role to advance further EU independence.

AUKUS militarily speaking does not pose any real threat to China or the region. It does, however, signals a very strategic game among all actors involved. The pact has positively impacted the UK, who after Brexit, has seen this agreement as a small victory over Europe. The United Kingdom has finally set itself free from the subjugating practiced of the EU. AUKUS has also come to strengthen the Global Britain policy it pursued since its exit from the EU and its reclaiming its place in international affairs. Secondly, for the UK, the support given by the Biden administration also means the US has decided to side with the UK and not with Europe when it comes to Chinas rise.

A more overlooked downsize of this pact is the danger of nuclear proliferation. Although it is unlikely that Australia will start developing the idea of nuclear weapons any time soon. So far, the rule is that any country with nuclear powered submarines are also holders of nuclear weapons. Allowing Australia, a non-nuclear state, to own such submarines is a serious loophole that would leave the door open for countries such as Iran to buy nuclear-powered equipment from China or Russia; or other countries with a history of nuclear weapons development such as India, Pakistan or North Korea to decide to build such equipment.
Rostecs press service on Wednesday announced the completion of factory tests for a transport parachute system by the Technodinamika Holding (part of the Rostec state corporation), which can, with the aid of a navigation system, automatically deliver about 250 kg of cargo as accurately as possible.

"The holdings invention demonstrated its reliability during factory trials that lasted six months. During that time, the system was used in the Moscow and Ryazan Regions, as well as in Crimea. Now we are moving on to the stage of flight testing, which we are planning to complete in the first quarter of 2022. In addition, our designers have already upgraded their own development, increasing its load capacity to 500 kg. This system is currently undergoing research tests," the press service cites CEO Igor Nasenkov as saying.

The transport system consists of a landing platform, a parachute with a controllable wing-type dome, as well as equipment for automatic flight and guidance. The system is guided by the coordinates of GLONASS or GPS, it can be controlled from the ground or descend in a "managed" mode. In this case, the cargo follows the "leading" parachutist.

"The main advantage of the system is its accuracy. The tests confirmed that a landing error doesnt exceed 100 meters when dropped from an altitude of 4,000 m. This makes it possible to cut the deployment time and plan its delivery at a qualitatively new level. The parachute capacities enable it to drop various weapons, equipment, and ammunition," the Rostec aviation cluster stressed.

The system was created at the initiative of specialists from the Polyot Ivanovo Parachute Plant within the Technodinamika Group.
Exactly a year ago, on September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan's Patriotic War began. On that day, Armenia's occupying forces subjected the positions of the armed forces of Azerbaijan along the front line and the adjacent populated areas in Azerbaijan to intensive fire with the use of large-calibre weapons, artillery and mortars. Baku decided to launch a counter-offensive operation to ensure the safety of the civilian population. Vestnik Kavkaza offers its readers to follow the events of the 44 days of Azerbaijan's Patriotic War as they were covered a year ago.

On the fifth day of the war, October 1, the occupying forces tried to lead the columns of reservists to the front under cover of night, but they were destroyed from the air. The liberation Azerbaijani army's counter-offensive and the elimination of the military equipment of the invaders continued throughout the night.

By this time, 97 buildings, including houses and schools, were destroyed in Azerbaijan's Aghdam region by artillery shelling by the Armenian Armed Forces. In Terter, a civilian was killed under the same shelling, the total number of victims of Yerevan's aggression among the civilian population of Azerbaijan reached 16 people by the morning of the fifth day, at about 13:00 two more were killed in the village of Hajimamedli.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that the Armenian invaders are fighting international terrorism in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The Armenian Ministry of Defense continued to circulate fake news about allegedly downed Azerbaijani planes and the use of Syrian mercenaries by Baku. Turkey, meanwhile, drew the attention of the Armenian authorities to the benefits for Yerevan from ending the occupation of Azerbaijani land.



The rear services of the Armenian occupation forces began to refuse to supply the front positions with ammunition, and the invaders on the battlefield had a shortage of weapons. Instead of logisticians, foreign journalists were sent closer to the front from the Armenian side in the hope that they would fall under bullets and die. The Armenian Armed Forces launched medium-range missiles from the Syunik region at the previously liberated Azerbaijani lands in the south, and after 13:00 the occupying forces of Armenia began shelling the Azerbaijani city of Horadiz.

At about 14:00, the Kremlin announced a joint statement by the presidents of Russia, the United States and France on the Karabakh war was being prepared. At the same time, the Armenian Defense Ministry's fake news appeared about the alleged firing by the Azerbaijani army against the civilian population of the occupied Hadrut and Khojavend. The statement by the three presidents was released at 15:00, Putin, Trump and Macron called on Yerevan and Baku to end hostilities. The Russian and Turkish Foreign Ministers once again discussed the situation in the South Caucasus.



In the first five days of the war, Armenia's only appeal to the CSTO was a demand to deprive Afghanistan of the observer status at the Organization for supporting the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The Armenian ambassador was recalled from Israel due to the use of Israeli weapons by Azerbaijan in the battles. By this time, the occupying forces had lost 200 tanks and 228 artillery installations at the front. At about 18:00, Horadiz was shelled again.

Iran reiterated that Azerbaijan's actions to liberate its land from the invaders are completely legitimate, a rally in support of the Azerbaijani army was held in Tabriz. Pakistan expressed its readiness to provide any assistance to Azerbaijan.



Thus, on the war's fifth day, the Azerbaijani army focused on depleting the fortified positions of the occupiers: supply columns with reservists and ammunition were eliminated, a shortage of weapons was created due to the massive destruction of military equipment. In response, Armenia continued its aggression against the Azerbaijani front-line cities and villages, gradually expanding the number of shelled settlements.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Azerbaijan in the coming weeks.

At the opening of the autumn session of the Turkish Parliament of the 27th convocation, Erdogan announced that he will visit Azerbaijan.

The Turkish president recalled that Azerbaijan liberated its lands from the Armenian occupation, which lasted for about 30 years.
The Georgian government will spare no effort to ensure a free and safe environment for transparent elections, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said at the meeting with the representatives of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI).

Garibashvili noted that since 2012, six elections have been held in the country, which have been assessed by the international community as free and democratic.

Irakli Garibashvili also said that the Georgian government appreciates the interest and support of partners and their engagement in the further consolidation of Georgias democratic institutions.

PM Garibashvili thanked the NDI and IRI representatives for delegating their experts for the upcoming self-government elections despite the ongoing pandemic, Agenda.ge reported.

The NDI and IRI will publish their electoral assessment reports several weeks after the October 2 self-government elections.

Georgia will elect mayors and city council members on October 2.
Iran said on Friday that a visit by Israel's foreign minister to Bahrain this week to mark the establishment of relations left a stain on the Gulf Arab state's rulers that "will not be erased".

Bahrain and Gulf neighbour United Arab Emirates normalised ties with Israel last year in a U.S.-brokered deal known as the Abraham Accords that built on common commercial interests and worries about Iran. Sudan and Morocco followed suit.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid met Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa on Thursday. To signal cause against Iran, Lapid toured Bahrain's headquarters of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, which has faced off with Iranian vessels in recent years.

We condemn any scheme that bolsters Israels destructive presence in the region, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.

It is unfortunate that Bahrains rulers ignore the Zionist regimes daily crimes against the oppressed but resilient people of Palestine, Khatibzadeh said, referring to Israel. This stain will not be erased from the reputation of Bahrains rulers. The people of the region will continue to oppose the process of normalisation of ties with the Zionist regime.
The Russian and Turkish presidents, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at a meeting in Sochi, addressed the possible construction of two more nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the republic with Russias assistance, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

"Indeed, [this topic] has been discussed," the Kremlin spokesman noted.

Peskov stated that the leaders touched upon "the development of a virtually new branch of the economy" in Turkey. "The construction of new power units has been discussed [at the meeting]. [The leaders] mentioned some specific locations where Turkey would plan to build them," the spokesman went on to say.

Furthermore, Peskov said that the presidents addressed the possibility of continuing such cooperation.

The talks between Putin and Erdogan took place on Wednesday in Sochi, lasting about three hours. Among other things, the leaders discussed economics and international relations, while energy issues were also on the agenda.
The issue of Belarus accession to Russia is not on the agenda whatsoever; the two countries leaders are wise enough to establish a union that would be stronger than a unitary state, BelTA agency quoted Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as saying in an interview with CNN on Thursday.

"I answered this question not long ago. We [with Russian President Vladimir] Putin, Russias and Belarus authorities in general, are wise enough to establish a union of two independent and sovereign states that would be stronger than a unitary entity," he said. "Such an issue is outside the agenda whatsoever. It is an invention of the collective West."

According to Lukashenko, Belarus is the Union States outpost and Russias armed forces deployed in Russias western regions would support Belarus in case of a conflict. "We actually have a common army in the western direction, a common armed unit formed around the Belarusian army," he said. And in case of a conflict, and we make no secret of it, the entire western part of the Russian armed forces will support us. I dont mean to intimidate you. I just want to recall what we say all the time."

So, in his words, any talk that Belarus is running the risk of losing its independence through close cooperation with Russia is groundless.
Russia has expressed its concern over the creation of an alliance between Australia, the UK and the U.S. (AUKUS) during consultations with the U.S. in Geneva, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told journalists on Thursday.

"We also took advantage of the meeting today in order to rather directly convey our concerns to the Americans with regards to them creating together with the UK and Australia a new high-technology AUKUS partnership with the technology transfer of a nuclear propulsion system to Australia expected within its framework in the context of the expected construction of eight nuclear submarines of this countrys navy," the senior diplomat said.

He noted that the transfer of military nuclear technologies to Australia within the AUKUS framework does not comply with the non-proliferation regime and Russia will pose questions related to the creation of the alliance along the lines of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "We noted that the actions of this kind poorly aligned with the non-proliferation regime, including its aspect related to ensuring the guarantees of not shifting the nuclear material and nuclear activity from peaceful to military needs," he said. "According to the charter, these guarantees are in the sphere of the IAEA. We will pose these questions in Vienna along the IAEA lines. Earlier, we have already conveyed them to the Americans via U.S. Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan and recently we have been conducting similar work in Canberra and London," the senior diplomat said.

The Russian deputy foreign minister also emphasized that Londons intentions to follow the course of building up its nuclear potential cannot be ignored. "It is common knowledge that for the Russian side in this context what is going on with nuclear arsenals of the US closest allies - European allies, the UK and France - is of paramount importance," he added. "We are aware of Londons intentions to follow the course of increasing its capabilities in this sphere. Even if not now, but over time - this is a serious moment which cannot be ignored," the senior diplomat said.

On September 15, Australia, the UK and the US announced the establishment of a new security partnership in the Indo-Pacific region - AUKUS. Under the agreement, Canberra plans to build at least eight US-designed nuclear-powered submarines with the first ones among them coming into service in 2036 as well as to reequip its armed forces with US-produced cruise missiles. Due to this, Australia terminated a defense contract with France, the largest in its history.
Russia and the United States are making "slow progress" in cybersecurity talks, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday.

"As far as I know, it can be put in a couple of words: slow progress," he said, commenting on the situation. "But it is good because there was no special formalized channel on this topic before the meeting of the presidents [Vladimir Putin of Russia and Joe Biden of the United States] in Geneva."

"The United States kept on piling up claims and the US-fanned situations happened quite regularly. These were aggravating factors," he added.

The Russian diplomat recalled that after the two countries presidents had agreed that cybersecurity issues required serious attention the countries set up corresponding teams, which maintained direct contacts.

"We used to say and keep on saying that this dialogue should cover a wide range of topics and not be reduced to the topic of ransomware attacks the Americans keep on speaking about. We dont underestimate this topic and address it too. But specialists should have the possibility to speak about other serious, alarming issues, including, for example, such things as the use of the internet and information and communications technologies to impair systems used in Russia to back the elections. But in general, there are a lot of questions on critical infrastructure as well," Ryabkov added.
A year ago, on September 27, the occupying forces of Armenia fired at the positions of the Azerbaijani army and peaceful settlements. The armed forces of Azerbaijan launched a counter-offensive operation that lasted 44 days. As a result, the Azerbaijani territories that had been under Armenian occupation for 30 years were libarated. In accordance with the order of President Ilham Aliyev, as a sign of respect for the memory of the soldiers and officers who gave their lives for the territorial integrity of the country, September 27 is celebrated in Azerbaijan as Memorial Day.
In 1995, Nestle Group officially returned to Vietnam when Nestle Vietnam Co., Ltd was established. Nestle's total investment in the country has reached 730 million USD.

Vietnam is rated as one of the most efficient and flexible markets among all markets where Nestle is present, said Nestle Vietnam General Director Binu Jacob.

Nestle will invest 132 million USD in Vietnam in two years to double its production capacity of instant coffee for export and turn Vietnam into a production center for liquid food products to export to Asia and Australia.

For Korean conglomerate Samsung, since 2008 this group has poured 17.7 billion USD into Vietnam and has repeatedly expressed its ambition to bring Vietnam beyond its role as a key global production base to become a research and development center.

This group has decided to build the Samsung Research and Development Center in Hanoi at a cost of 220 million USD, in order to improve its research and development capacity in the medium and long term.

General Director of Samsung Vietnam Choi Joo Ho said that not only for Samsung but also for all foreign investors Vietnam is providing an attractive investment environment, with abundant labor force, stable socio-political situation, production and circulation infrastructure and investment incentives.

Despite negative effects arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Choi still assessed that "in the long run, Vietnam remains an attractive investment destination for foreign investors".

He said: Based on the confidence accumulated after overcoming the crises and the trust in the Vietnamese Government, we are expanding our investment. So far, Samsung has disbursed all the approved investment capital and every year, we still add additional investment worth of hundreds of millions of USD.

In fact, the amount of newly registered foreign investment capital in Vietnam in the past nine months decreased, but the amount of additional registered capital rose sharply.

Data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment shows that in this period, the number of newly-licenced foreign investment projects decreased by 37.8% with 1,212 projects. However, the registered capital of these projects reached nearly 12.5 billion USD, up 20.6% over the same period of 2020.

Vice Chairman of Bac Ninh Province Vuong Quoc Tuan said that the province lured over 650 million USD in the past nine months, an increase of 1.5 times compared to 2020. We expect that if the situation stabilizes, Bac Ninh would attract more than 2 billion USD of foreign capital for the whole year.

Dorsati Mandani, Senior Economist of the World Bank (WB) in Vietnam assessed: Despite the challenges in the third quarter of 2021, when looking at FDI inflows in August, the WB still saw the strong commitment of investors. In January-August 2021, the total committed FDI capital reached 14 billion USD, only 2% lower than the same period in 2020 while the disbursed investment capital reached 11.7 billion USD, up 2% year on year.

"It's a sign that international investors still expect to develop their businesses in Vietnam," the WB expert said, adding that a global food producer disclosing that they were investing another 180 million USD in Vietnam.

New strategy to strengthen trust

Bac Ninh is the pioneer in giving initiatives to maintain production when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out with the "3-on-site" model.

Bac Ninh's model was then applied in many provinces and cities across the country, contributing to maintaining production in the context of the epidemic.

According to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, the Ministry coordinated with the Vietnam Business Forum Alliance (VBF) and business associations to survey over 500 foreign-invested enterprises.

Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on these businesses.

According to the survey results, 67% of European companies had positive assessment of the prospect of Vietnam's business environment. Japanese businesses expressed optimism about the possibility of early recovery of the Vietnamese economy in 2021, of which 47% planned to expand production and business in Vietnam.

Korean enterprises all had new investment plans in Vietnam. Most American businesses appreciated the Vietnamese Government's efforts in responding to the epidemic, and they believed that Vietnam would soon control the epidemic.

However, Ngoc said, Vietnam still has to continue making efforts to quickly control the epidemic and resume normal production and business activities to avoid disruptions to the supply chain.

Nestle Vietnam General Director Binu Jacob expressed his support for the Vietnamese Government's strategic policy of "safe adaptation to the virus", reopening the economy and removing social distancing measures in according to Directives 15 or 16 or similar restrictive measures in the future.

According to him, reopening should be implemented right now to establish a "new normal" with a clear plan and specific time.

A national policy and coordination among provinces and cities are very important. The fact that each province has its own regulations has caused production and supply chain disruptions.

General Director of Samsung Vietnam Choi Joo Ho also expressed his full support for the Vietnamese Government's policy in pursuing the dual goals of "effective prevention of pandemic" and "economic development". In particular, Samsung understood the force majeure of recent strong epidemic prevention measures to control the 4th wave of COVID-19 epidemic in Vietnam.

However, Mr. Choi Joo Ho said that if strong epidemic prevention measures continue for a long time, it may cause economic losses.

Accordingly, maintaining the global supply network of industrial parks is an essential and extremely important factor for businesses operating manufacturing plants. It is very urgent to build a regime to ensure "uninterrupted production" in any circumstance, he said.

Luong Bang
The Higher Education Innovation Cooperation Project will be implemented in five years, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with a budget of 14.2 million USD for three major universities in Vietnam.

During her official visit to Vietnam in late August 2021, US Vice President Kamala Harris emphasized the US commitment to Vietnam's future and the long-term prospects of the Vietnam-US partnership.

She also announced a new project called the Higher Education Innovation Cooperation that would be implemented over five years, funded by USAID with a budget of 14.2 million USD to improve teaching, research, innovation and institutional administration at the three largest universities in Vietnam.

Ann Marie Yastishock, Director of the USAID in Vietnam, said that USAID's goal in supporting Vietnam's higher education is to help modernize the higher education system to train a highly skilled workforce to meet the needs of a rapidly modernizing economy and increasingly competitive global market.

USAID's higher education support programs focus on three areas of priority in Vietnam: science and engineering, medicine, and liberal education.

The USAID focuses on these three areas to support technology-driven economic development, enhance health resilience and security, and promote important educational practices that include learning based on self-discovery, research, and critical analysis.

The three Vietnamese universities to receive support from this project are Vietnam National University - Hanoi, Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City and the University of Da Nang.

According to Ann Marie Yastishock, the Higher Education Innovation Cooperation Project will support these universities to become world-class higher education institutions.

The project will implement activities to achieve three mutual goals, namely enhancing sustainability and self-reliance; improving the quality of academic training; and strengthening research and innovation capacity at these three universities.

The project's strategy focuses on four main programs: Excellence in Facility Administration, Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Excellence in Research and University-Enterprise Linkages.

Integrated in these four programs are reform and advocacy activities on higher education, digital transformation and technology application, gender empowerment, the factors that are considered to be key to ensuring the long-term success and sustainability in project outcomes.

Phuong Chi

Three busy days of US Vice President Kamala Harris in Vietnam US Vice President Kamala Harris, the first US Vice President to visit Vietnam, had three busy days in Hanoi, with a packed schedule.
Traditional blacksmithing in Phuc Sen commune in Quang Uyen district in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang has existed for more than 1,000 years.

Forging products of the Nung ethnic people have been famous throughout the country for a long time and are mainly exported to China.

Phuc Sen commune currently has about 150 family-sized workshops, evenly distributed in six hamlets: upper and lower Phia Chang, Dau Co, Pac Rang, Tinh Dong and Lung Vai.

Local craftsmen still work manually, mainly based on long-term experience from choosing raw materials, how to forge steel to apply their own know-how to create products such as knives, scissors, hoe, sickle... of premium quality.

Phuc Sen village is located 30km from Cao Bang city, Cao Bang province. The village is filled with the sounds of workers beating and hammering steel as they forge knives using traditional techniques and recycled materials. Currently, the village has 420 households with about 2,000 people.

It is said that this village was established in the 11 th century. In the early days, the villagers produced weapons for the soldiers of Nung Ton Phuc and Nung Tri Cao to fight against the Song army. After the war, they made farm and domestic tools such as ploughs, hoes, knives and scissors. It is also said that the villagers used to cast cannons and grenade casings, especially during the resistance war against French colonialism. Thus, this craft village has a long tradition of forging.

There is also another tale explaining the origin of this craft village. It says that from ancient times, there was an old, strange-looking man walking through the village. He noticed that the local Nung An people lived only by hunting, hence they were always poor.

However, the old man found that the local people were very kind, and they had extraordinary bright eyes because they could walk in the forest at night without any lighting equipment. Therefore, he decided to train the Nung An people how to forge tools. Following that, the old man left Phuc Sen without saying goodbye to anyone, and no one ever knew his name or address.

Today, the Nung An people in Phuc Sen have established a temple to commemorate their ancestor. Every family has its own incense bowl to express their gratitude to the ancestor, who brought the craft to the village and improved their lives.

A shop selling agricultural tools made by Phuc Sen people.

What makes Phuc Sen knives special is the manual forging process. However, some steps done manually previously are now assisted with machineries.

Heating iron in the kiln

Creating a knife handle.

What makes Phuc Sen knives special is the manual forging process. However, some steps done manually previously are now assisted with machineries.

Checking the sharpness of a bush-cutter

These products are indispensable utensils in the daily life of ethnic people living in mountainous areas

Le Anh Dung
According to misinformation on Lindell's website, Biden received only 130 votes; however, with Democratic and Republican witnesses present, which was captured on video, showed the Democratic candidate received the expected 188 votes. If it sounds like Lindell and smells like Lindell, it must be misinformation.

Conspiracy theorists disseminating false information about the 2020 elections found their way to Idaho, where state officials retaliated with vigor.

Top election officials in Secretary of State Lawrence Wasden's (R) office announced late Wednesday that they had traveled to two counties in the Gem State to conduct a hand recount of last year's presidential election after receiving information from readers of a website linked to MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has been widely discredited for spreading easily disproven misinformation.

Wasden's office stated in a statement that it had received allegations, in the form of screenshots from a report published on Lindell's website, that vote counts in all 44 counties in Idaho had been electronically altered.

However, at least seven of Idaho's 44 counties do not use automated phases in the voting process, making the accusations impossible to verify.

These counties, all small rural areas, continue to tally ballots by hand, refusing to utilize any technological equipment or machinery.

Because of the limited amount of votes cast, this method is feasible.

In an interview on Thursday, Chad Houck, Chief Deputy Secretary of State, said the gaps are known as "Flintstone gaps," after the cartoon Stone Age family with a pet dinosaur.

"That isn't necessarily a bad thing. It was a defensive choice, one that could be justified."

According to Houck, Idaho county clerks have reported getting threats after conspiracy theorists disseminated incorrect information regarding vote counts and claimed proof of voting machine hacking.

In the 2020 election, former President Trump defeated incumbent President Biden by a roughly 2-to-1 margin.

According to Mr. McKinney, the county clerk's office and poll workers in certain counties have received threats of violence.

Some of the allegations included alleged geolocations of IP addresses and latitudes and longitudes, which would have put servers on mountain peaks, however improbable that may have been.

According to Houck, Wasden's office is ready to combat misleading information in the hopes of producing objective evidence that would either corroborate or disprove the allegations.

"Anytime you have charges of any crime, regardless of what they are, and in this case enormous fraud," Houck says, "those allegations don't always see or recognize boundaries."

Step one leads you to the conclusion that this is just unlikely.

We did, however, state that if we were given facts, we would "run that information into the ground."

Houck and his Wasden's office colleagues chose to do a hand recount of ballots cast in Butte and Camas counties, which had not utilized voting machines in the previous election.

They were the ones that contacted us. Butte County Clerk Shelly Blackner said that the county contacted her on Tuesday to address the issue.

"When they initially came, Chad Houck did a great job of explaining what they were doing and how they intended to accomplish it. He told us that they were videotaping the events and that they had only just started."

According to the initial results published in Butte County, Trump got 1,193 votes, while Biden received 188 ballots.

Misinformation on Lindell's website stated that Biden received just 130 votes; however, with Democratic and Republican witnesses present, Houck's count of the ballots captured on video showed that the Democratic candidate received the expected 188 votes.

Trump's vote total rose to 1,202, a nine-ballot difference or a 0.63 percent margin of error owing to human error.

"I got the sense that we were very well organized," Blackner said. "We made sure everything was in working order for them."

When it came to Camas County, the official count was inaccurate by one vote: Trump's total rose from 507 to 508, while the 149 ballots cast for Biden were all present and proper.

The results were wrong by 0.14 percent, based on one vote out of 674 casted votes.

It is the latest in a long series of allegations made by Lindell or his supporters about the 2020 elections that have collapsed under even the most basic scrutiny.

Lindell visited Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (R) earlier this month and instantly claimed that unidentified hackers had altered 100,000 ballots in the state, which Trump easily won.

Merrill rejected Lindell's allegations, for which he offered no supporting proof.

According to Houck, who talked with the Associated Press in an interview, the misinformation continues to spread nearly 11 months after Election Day, even in regions where the results were never in doubt.

"Somewhere along with the line, people need to draw a line in the sand and say this is irrational," he said. "It doesn't justify the expense of wholesale going out and looking for what you think may possibly be a needle in what you think may possibly be a haystack."
COMPANIES

CACI opens new Reston headquarters

CACI International has moved its corporate headquarters for the third time in the companys 58-year-history, shifting to Reston, Virginia, from the former longtime home of Arlington for the last 49 years.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday there made the move official after nearly two months of work to renovate the 135,000-square-foot, six-story building that will house nearly 450 employees.

The company was founded in 1962 as California Analysis Center Inc. and renamed to Consolidated Analysis Center Inc. five years later. CACI was headquartered in Santa Monica, California, for its first 10 years, after which it then switched coasts to Arlington.

Move number one to Virginia allowed us to work directly where most of our customers operated, CEO John Mengucci said in remarks Thursday. After just a few years in business, our leadership recognized the emerging federal contracting market as key to CACIs future growth.

One element in move number two within Virginia that helps illustrate how different CACI is today as a company is the CRADLE -- a collaboration facility in the new Reston campus focused on innovation and engagement.

The Center for Research, Application, Development, Learning and Engagement is designed for CACI employees, government customers, and partners in industry and academia to work together in an interactive setting on technology demonstrations and other similar exercises.

CRADLE will allow our customers to experience first-hand the superior technologies our teams develop and serve as a space for concept design and prototyping for innovative new capabilities, Mengucci said.

Back to the 1972 reference point from earlier: that happens to be the same year CACIs iconic leader, in the late Jack London, joined the company as a program manager. London, who passed away in January, of course is the architect of CACI as the government market knows it today.

When Mengucci joined CACI in 2012, his first question to London was what CACI stands for. London responded with a question of his own: who wanted to know? Mengucci said it was shareholders who wanted to know.

Londons response as recounted by Mengucci: It stands for value. For customers, London said the acronym stands for excellence.

I knew that day I was never going to get the answer I was looking for, Mengucci added.

Today, CACI is making forward-looking investments ahead of need for our customers, President and CEO John Mengucci says at the ribbon cutting of CACIs new HQ in Reston, Va. These investments are already producing new high-value national security technologies. #CUAS #AI pic.twitter.com/ncclTleuAe  CACI International Inc (@CACIIntl) May 27, 2021

CACI displays technological innovations at the grand opening of its new HQ in Reston, Va. They include the SkyTracker Technology Suite, an end-to-end portfolio of #CUAS capabilities. SkyTracker helps protect personnel, secure borders, and defend customer bases (1/2) pic.twitter.com/u5pDNiFnX3  CACI International Inc (@CACIIntl) May 27, 2021
Father Pavel the head of the monastery at our Tiny Russian Village is working on the issue and is in contact daily with the head of the local electric company. Two men, whom said they are specialists, came yesterday and looked at the situation.they said, Yup, the pole is dangerous and we cannot even climb it to cut the wires off it!

Better yet, Yup its broken!

I just stand there and look around inside my head and wonder about life at that point.for the pole has been bad for many years and the home falling has been rotted more years than that. Yet, you have to smile and thank the experts at their wisdom. For they have all the power (no pun intended) as to whether the pole gets done sooner than later

So now, since the pole is so bad, cutting wires and doing maintenance is out of the question, now we are in reactive mode, not proactive mode. The electric company has to allocate resources, gather those resources and bring out heavy equipment to replace the pole

This is that moment that you want to scream, I have been trying to get you all going for almost two years on this subject! Yet, that would just make things worse and they would go home and act like that crazy American is well, That crazy American and what does he know?

So now I wait again to see how and when and at what speed the gears of the electric company turn as they allocate resources to fix what is an issue that should have been fixed many years ago

Yet the realization is that it has taken a well connected Father Pavel and his interest to help us get this done, to get it to this point. Then as I was thinking about how slow Russians are. Hell, a snail can out run a Russian trying to decide if they want to work or not

I remembered years ago in America:

I called the electric company to connect my home to electricity in the USA. I had jumped all hoops and mole hills. I installed the entrance pole myself, the power box myself and buried the cable to the home myself and dealt with all the permits and met all the requirements.everything approved and this was no small feat for the home was in ten buck two and getting someone to come out took weeks at a time

Finally the power company after a month delay, they had to gather resources you know, came out and found that my pole was one foot to far from the main power pole. They only allow resources for so many feet of main cable. No variance and no leeway!

I stood there and watched these guys pack it all up and they said, Call when you get it correct!

So, I started all over and had to get all the same inspectors back, move the pole that I installed and no one could explain why the inspectors had different rules and regulations than the electric company.yet I did it.I was lucky for I had left two feet of excess cable for the entrance at the pole, because I was lazy actually and had only to move the entrance pole closer to the main pole. Yet again, my pole was embedded in a huge concrete base that as per inspectors had to be done. So, moving the pole was not a small feat in itself

I was done finally and the inspectors were happy. The pole was two feet closer, all approved, the power box was approved, the connections approved and everyone got paid again for permits that had already been paid for once

This time it took only a week for the power company to come out and they strung the wires to my pole.except they said that a new change had come through and the power box I had installed was not up to the new county codes. Rule number blah blah blah and all that

Yes you got it:

I called the county inspectors and bought a new entrance power box that met the new since I started this year long project codes, paid the permit fees again and installed the box according to regulations again.and less than a week later the power company came out to finish installing the lines, after one last visit by the county inspector

Four men came to connect the line that was already to go and they sat for four hours after connecting the line, in their truck and sipped whiskey and blasted the local music station as they enjoyed life.they told me that I did a good job and all looks good

I went to the home and flipped the breakers in the home box and everything worked perfect. I sat on my porch and listened to the music blasting from the electric truck and said to myself, What doesnt kill us makes us better!

I guess that stupidity and laziness is a world wide thing, better yet a human thing and I just have to smile and thank all the people helping me try to get this issue done

Thanks Sweetpea and Father Pavel of the monastery, for my Russian command of the language is not near good enough to help me get this done

I have a porch and maybe soon I can sit on it and listen to the Russian electric guys blast music and sip their vodka for a job well done.better yet, maybe I should buy a case of vodka and entice them to Get Er Done

WtR
The Michelin Guide has announced its highest honors this week, bestowing stars upon 90 restaurants across California. As always, San Francisco and Wine Country have the brightest constellationssee who took top awards in 2021.

Plus, the LGBTQI+ community is coming together to save the Grubstake, and more local stories to give you all the feels.

All the Michelin Star Restaurants in the Bay Area in 2021, Mapped, Eater SF

The coveted stars have been assigned for 2021 and, as always, Bay Area restaurants are shining bright. Read more.



San Francisco loves It's-It ice cream sandwiches. Just don't eat them like this person on Reddit., SFGate



Believe it or not, some even dissect the components of their It's-It sandos before eating them. And yes, there is a whole Reddit thread dedicated to the nearly century-old Bay Area staple. Read more.





A California park's name, rooted in racist history, is permanently changed, SFGate

Originally named after an Irish homesteader who murdered Native Americans to steal the coastal land, Patrick's Point will officially be renamed Sue-meg State Park. The vote follows a request from the Yurok Tribe, as California State Parks seek to reexamine their names and monuments through the Reexamining Our Past Initiative. Read more.





The Disco Ball Is How You Know She Won't Give You a Parking Ticket, The New York Times

Go for a drive around SF and you just might see a Go-4 or Cushman parking enforcement vehicle decked out in all pinkor even one serving up cobblerinstead of dishing out street cleaning tickets. Read more.

S.F. composer revives festival bringing music and circus arts to displaced children in Turkey, Datebook

Sahba Aminikia's Flying Carpet Festival moves around southeastern Turkey with a focus on areas most impacted by Covid. The goal is to bring joy to kids, through live performances by artists from around the globe. Read more.

SF's Queer Community Rallies to Save Grubstake Diner  and Make a Case for Affordable Housing, Bold Italic



If Grubstake Diner regulars and members of the LGBTQI+ community have their way, the diner will be rebuilt with 21 affordable housing units. Read more.





Sonoma County Bans Disposable Foam Food Containers, Funcheap

Just in time for the new year, eateries will replace their styrofoam takeout containers with more environmentally friendly varieties. Read more.
For instance, volatile organic chemicals emitted by trees and exposure to the diverse microorganisms in nature may aid in cognition and mental well-being, research shows. Try moving your lunchtime walk to a nearby nature preserve, or get outside for just 20 minutes before the workday begins  consider it your new commute. And keep in mind that regular exercise is part of every doctor's prescription for burnout of any kind.



As people get vaccinated and more parts of society open up, reconnecting with a spiritual practice in the community can be another balm, whether you spend time in a place of worship or a yoga class. Spirituality was challenged during COVID because we were separated from our groups, Wehrenberg notes.

However, Weiss points out, burnout can't always be entirely addressed by personal shifts. It's created as part of a system, she says. And you may not be able to yoga and meditate your way out of it. Sometimes, she adds, you have to address the issue head-on in the workplace itself.

If you're a manager, try to be sensitive to workloads, and be conscientious about tracking them, so you're not adding assignments that go beyond employees job descriptions. It's also hugely helpful to establish weekly check-ins with your team.

"One of the most powerful things individuals can do is raise conversations, Weiss says. Say, Can we carve out 15 minutes to do a quick go-around? How is everyone doing? What's distracting you? That can build community, and from there can come compassion and support."

Communication is also critical on the employee side. If you're already overwhelmed with the amount of work you have, and you're continuing to get more and more piled on, have some phrases at the ready, such as This sounds important. So what is the priority? Is it this or the other five things on my plate?  Weiss advises. That can change everything. You can also simply ask for help prioritizing your workload; you may be surprised by how helpful your boss can be.

And with warmer days approaching, by all means take a vacation  even if it winds up being a staycation. While some people are afraid of the stress they'll experience when they return from vacation and have to catch up on all the work missed while lounging by the pool, others are hoarding vacation days for use post-pandemic, Weiss notes.

Bad idea. Just as scheduling regular time-outs throughout the day is key to battling work-from-home burnout, so, too, is marking some larger breaks on your calendar. Get a vacation on the books. Or, if you truly can't find a coworker to cover for you, at least plan a couple of long weekends so you'll have something to look forward to.

Finally, give yourself grace. It may not be possible to do your best work from a house full of family members or if your obligations to kids and parents don't let up. We need to lighten up on ourselves about not fulfilling our highest expectations of ourselves, Wehrenberg says.

Weiss agrees. Having some self-compassion is going to help us more in the long run than self-criticism, she says.
Not only is keeping your mouth in tip-top shape important for holding onto your teeth; research shows that oral health is strongly connected to overall health. Untreated gum disease, for instance, is linked to conditions including heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, dementia and type 2 diabetes. Almost every systematic disease has a correlation with oral health, Melrose says. Thats why having good oral health habits is so critical.



Here, dentists and hygienists answer your top questions about how to get the most out of your brushing and flossing routine  from the bottom line on flossing time to when an electric toothbrush (or water flosser) will be worth the investment.



Fine-tune your flossing



Q. Which should I do first: floss or brush?



Floss first. A 2018 study published in the Journal of Periodontology found that flossing before brushing was more effective at reducing plaque compared to brushing first. The study also found that more fluoride remained in the mouths of those who flossed first.

When you floss, you get large debris out from between your teeth, and then when you brush you remove it from the mouth, says Leonardo Marchini, a dentist who teaches geriatric and special needs dentistry at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics. If you do other way around, some debris may stay in your mouth after you floss.



Q. Do I really have to floss if I do a good job brushing?



Yes, the American Dental Association (ADA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other health agencies all recommend cleaning between teeth with floss or another interdental device at least once a day in addition to brushing. Its a critical step to remove bacteria-filled plaque from areas your toothbrush cant reach.

Most periodontal disease starts in between the teeth, Melrose says. The bacteria are what cause disease and infection. In order to prevent that, we need to get that bacteria out.



Q. Which type of floss is best?



Dentists and hygienists say the type of floss is less important than using it regularly and with the right technique. Whether its waxed, unwaxed, flavored or not, pick what you like best, Melrose says. It has to feel comfortable, go in between your teeth easily and not break.

A thicker floss makes it easier to pick up plaque and bacteria, but thinner ones are easier to get into tight spaces. If you choose a thin, slick floss because your teeth are close together, Melrose recommends using a few extra strokes to make sure you catch everything.



If you have dental bridges or implants, look for special floss that comes with a firm end, because its easier to guide through and under dental work.



Q. Whats the best technique?



Slide it gently between two teeth, form a C-shape around one tooth, and then slide it up and down five times, applying more pressure on the upward stroke. Repeat on the other side. Try to do an up-and-down motion; dont shoeshine the tooth, Melrose says.

Q. What if flossing is difficult for me?



Many dentists like the way traditional string floss wraps around each tooth, but it can be tough to manipulate for people with limited hand and finger dexterity. If thats the case, you can try a device such as a floss stick or floss holder, an interdental brush or a water flosser.

Interdental brushes, which have small bristled heads, are a great option if you have some space between your teeth  which is often the case with older adults because of gum recession, Melrose explains. The brushes are much easier to manipulate than floss, and they work well, she says.



Most people need a set of different-sized brushes because the gaps between their teeth are different widths. To figure out which brush to use, start with the smallest and work your way up until you find one that fills the gap between two teeth, Melrose says. Or ask your dental hygienist or dentist for help.



Q. Can I use a water flosser instead?



Water flossers, also called oral irrigators, spray a stream of water to remove plaque between teeth. Some studies show they remove plaque as well as or better than floss. However, a Cochrane systematic review of 35 different studies in 2019 found most evidence to be of very low-certainty.

Michael Reed, a clinical dentist in Dallas and director of Mobile Dental Care, says an oral irrigator can be a good choice for patients who simply dont like to floss or find it too hard to do. Really, what is important is doing something to clean between your teeth daily, he says.

Reed recommends choosing a device by Waterpik or Philips Sonicare because they are the only two water flosser brands that have earned the ADA Seal of Approval. That means theyve undergone rigorous testing and meet the associations guidelines for safety and efficacy.



Q. What if my gums bleed?



If youve just started a new flossing routine, its normal for your gums to bleed at first. Usually the bleeding stops after a week once your gums get used to your new routine. If the bleeding continues, thats cause for a visit to your dentist. You may be flossing incorrectly, you could have a gum infection called gingivitis or you may have some tartar that needs to be professionally removed.

Brush up on your brushing



Q. Which is better: a manual or an electric toothbrush?



You can do a great job cleaning your teeth with a manual toothbrush, but a powered toothbrush has a few advantages, dentists and hygienists say. First, youre less likely to hurt your gums by brushing too hard. In addition, electric toothbrushes are easier to use for those who have trouble with grip or manual dexterity.

Finally, research shows powered toothbrushes generally work better. A Cochrane review of 56 studies found that electric toothbrushes reduce plaque 21 percent more effectively than manual brushes after three months. They were also better at reducing gingivitis.



Q. Which powered toothbrush works the best?



Dentists and hygienists recommend looking for an electric toothbrush with the ADA Seal of Approval. Some studies indicate those that have a round, oscillating head reduce gingivitis and plaque more effectively than the ones with a vibrating head.

Q. What type of manual toothbrush is best?



If you use a manual toothbrush, choose one with soft or extra-soft bristles that are angled or at different levels, which are likely to remove plaque better than flat-trimmed bristles. The medium and hard [bristles] can cause recession and trauma to your gums, Melrose says.

Q. How long should I spend at this?



No matter what type of toothbrush you use, you wont be able to do a good job removing plaque and preventing gum disease if you brush for only 30 to 45 seconds  the average time that most Americans spend at the task. For a good clean, the ADA recommends spending a full two minutes, twice a day, taking care to reach all surfaces of your teeth, including molars in the way back. If you have less manual dexterity, it may take a little longer.
This is something Stefanie Russell, a New York City-based periodontist and associate professor at the New York University College of Dentistry, has seen firsthand. Ive had patients who kind of disappeared for a while and have deteriorated, she says. Disease that had been controlled is now back, and they need to go through the periodontal treatment again.

Broken and fractured teeth are another consequence of the pandemic, according to Clark Stanford, dean of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry. Theres also a feeling of isolation thats only increased stress and tension, and some people take it out on their teeth, he notes, resulting in things like clenched jaws and bruxism, or teeth grinding.

Teeth change as we age

With age, oral hygiene becomes even more crucial because older adults are vulnerable to a slew of dental issues. Adults over 65, for instance, have a higher rate of tooth decay than candy-chomping schoolkids. One reason is related to the greater occurrence of dry mouth in older adults. Less saliva production means teeth are left more vulnerable to the decay-causing acids in our mouths. Daily chomping and grinding over a period of decades also wears away the outer layer of enamel. What's more, nerves inside the tooth lose sensitivity, which means you may have problems and not know it.

You may also not realize you have gum disease, the most common culprit for adult tooth loss. The condition tends not to be very painful and very gradually worsens, meaning it can go undetected for years if you aren't visiting the dentist. Thats part of the reason that 70 percent of adults over 65 have some form of gum disease, as a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found.

Finally, fillings collected over the years also create risk. The more dentistry you accumulate in your lifetime, the more potential problems youll have later on, says Allen Samuelson, associate professor at the Adams School of Dentistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who explains that fillings can weaken and fracture along the edges, allowing bacteria to seep into the tiny crevices, also leading to decay. Theres an expression: Theres no dentistry like no dentistry. Its particularly important to take care of your mouth after 50 if youve had tons of work done before 50. The more restoration youve had, in a way, the more of a predictor it is for future problems.



Mandatory maintenance



Tooth decay can be stopped in its tracks  or even reversed  if detected early enough. If not, a cavity will eventually work its way through the dentin layer of your tooth, just below the enamel. Left untreated, such decay may reach the nerve, and a cavity that could have been treated with a filling will require a more involved (and painful) procedure, such as a root canal and crown  or possibly an extraction and dental implant.



The American Dental Association (ADA) recommends regular professional cleanings to do away with cavity-causing plaque and tartar buildup that brushing alone cannot eliminate. Once-a-year dental cleanings may be enough for patients with no risk factors (such as smoking or diabetes), according to a study in the Journal of Dental Research. Proper oral health should be individualized, says Alice Boghosian, DDS, a spokesperson for the ADA.

Some patients build up tartar faster than others and need to come more often. A patient without a single filling in their mouth does not need X-rays as often as somebody who has had several crowns in their mouth, because that person is more prone to decay and needs more dental treatment, she says.

What to know as you schedule your appointment



While understandable fears of COVID-19 transmission kept many from the dentists chair, a recent study led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that dental offices (along with banks and colleges) have one of the best risk-benefit profiles of businesses providing everyday services during the pandemic.



Basic infection control we were already doing was good, but weve upgraded beyond that, says Stephen Shuman, professor and director of the Oral Health Services for Older Adults Program at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. To address the fact that research shows the virus causing COVID-19 can be spread through aerosols in the air (creating concern about airborne saliva during dental procedures), many dentists have adopted extra safety precautions such as the use of face shields and impenetrable masks, as well as the installation of air purifiers and upgraded suction systems to whisk away such aerosols from procedures. Some hygienists have set aside aerosol-spewing power equipment and are relying on traditional hand tools to remove built-up plaque.
MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images

En espanol

Your mail may take longer to arrive and your holiday packages will cost more to send as the U.S. Postal Service implements a comprehensive 10-year overhaul plan for the agency.



Under the Delivering for America plan, starting Oct. 1 a first-class letter may take up to five days to arrive, compared with the current two or three days. The longer schedule will affect first-class mail that travels the longest distances, such as from Boston to Los Angeles. The USPS will use trucks to move most long-distance mail, which, it says, are more reliable and cheaper than airplanes. The longer delivery time will affect 39 percent of first-class letters and just 7 percent of periodicals.

Long-distance first-class packages will take longer, too, with delivery times rising to four or five days on about 32 percent of packages. The rest will be delivered in two to three days. The USPS says it delivered 88.5 percent of first-class mail on time from July 1 through Sept. 10.

The USPS will also temporarily raise prices on package delivery  from Oct. 3 to Dec. 26. The price increases will be 25 cents to $5 per package delivered by priority mail, priority mail express and first class, depending on weight and where the packages are going. International mail charges will not be increased.
Julien McRoberts/Getty Images

If you love dogs, youll love Denver. At the citys Watering Bowl tavern, you can drink beer and eat pizza while your pooch scampers in a 7,000-square-foot fenced dog park. Staying overnight? Rooms at the Crawford Hotel provide a dog bed, food and water bowls, chew toys and treats for four-legged guests. At the Curtis hotel, dogs photos are posted in the lobby.



Denver was named Americas top city for dogs in an April 2021 survey by dog-walker search site Rover.com and real estate site Zillow, but plenty of other cities, parks and hotels nationwide are eager for your poochs business (and yours, too). Here are some of the nations most tail-waggingly fun destinations.

Canine-Loving Cities

Some towns have particularly good reputations among pet owners.

Portland, Oregon, for example, has many pet-friendly trails and 34 dog parks, the second most per capita in the United States, according to the Trust for Public Land (Boise, Idaho, is number one). If you go, check out the dog park at Mt. Tabor Park: After your dog plays in the off-leash area, you can walk to the top of a dormant cinder cone volcano, gaze upon the city's downtown or have a picnic near the reservoir.

Many of Portlands restaurants and more than 70 breweries have outdoor patios that welcome pets. The Lucky Labrador Brew Pub even hosts an annual Dogtoberfest that claims to be Portlands biggest dog wash (try the Black Lab Stout before scrubbing your dog).

New York City has more dog parks across its five boroughs than any city in the country. Not only can you walk your dog through most of Central Park (some locations, such as ballfields and bodies of water, are off-limits), but from 6:009:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.1:00 a.m., your dog can be off-leash in certain areas. To give your canine a Big Apple culinary experience, head to Madison Square Park, home to the first-ever Shake Shack. While you gorge on a burger and fries, your dog can eat a Bag O Bones (five dog biscuits made by the citys Bocce Bakery).

Louisville, Kentucky, was ranked number one on a 2021 Orvis list of 100 dog-friendly cities due to its plentiful dog parks and numerous restaurants with pup-friendly patios (the Old Louisville Brewery even has a fenced-in dog area). In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Shooters Waterfront restaurant hired a veterinarian nutritionist to develop a pet menu (doggie diners can select from turkey, chicken or beef dishes). Youll also find many parks, including the city's Bark Park at Snyder Park, with canine swimming holes.

Other options: Chicago has the most dog-friendly restaurants in America (558, followed by San Diego, with 555), and Austin, Texas, has the most dog-friendly shopping malls (28), according to a 2020 study by SmartAsset.com.

To find fun dog-welcoming locations nationwide  from restaurants to beaches and stores  check out the app Bark Happy and BringFido.com.


Executes Supply Agreement with Tesla for Bouldercombe

Sydney, Oct 1, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Genex Power Limited ( ASX:GNX ) is pleased to announce that it has executed a Supply Agreement (Supply Agreement) with Tesla Motors Australia Pty Ltd (Tesla) for the Bouldercombe Battery Project (BBP or the Project). Execution of the Supply Agreement with Tesla represents a major milestone for the BBP which will support the Company in rapidly progressing the Project to financial close.TESLA SUPPLY CONTRACTFollowing the completion of a tender process, in August 2020 the Company selected Tesla as its preferred battery supplier and integrator on the basis of their strong technical and commercial offering, their extensive experience in the Australian energy storage market and the market leading Autobidder market dispatch technology.Following today's announcement, the Project is confirmed to be developed using Tesla's Megapack lithium-ion battery technology which has a product lifespan and warranty of 20 years. Megapack is an all-in-one utility-scale energy storage system optimised for cost and performance, with each Megapack fully assembled, factory tested and shipped from Tesla's Gigafactory in Nevada, USA.The 50MW/100MWh battery will comprise of 40 Megapacks and will be fully operational in the first half of CY2023.TIMELINEGenex is working closely with its stakeholders to conclude the outstanding workstreams to take the BBP to a Final Investment Decision (FID) and financial close in the coming months. These include:- Grid Connection: Genex and its grid connection consultants have been working closely with Tesla in recent months to complete the grid connection process with Powerlink Queensland. The grid modelling pack was finalised and submitted to Powerlink in Q3 CY2021, and Genex expects to receive the Offer to Connect in Q4 CY2021.Offtake: Genex is in advanced negotiations with an offtake partner and is looking to conclude its offtake arrangements, concurrent with project financing activities, in the coming months; and- Project Financing: Genex is working with its preferred lenders to the Project to finalise due diligence and loan facility documentation in line with the timeline for financial close.On the basis of the above, financial close is expected to occur in Q4 CY2021 or early Q1 CY2022.Commenting on the announcement, Genex CEO, James Harding stated:"Genex is pleased to have executed the supply agreement with Tesla for the Bouldercombe Battery Project. This is a key milestone in the Project's development and one the Company has been working towards since Tesla's appointment as the preferred supplier and integrator in 2020. The Project is Genex's first large-scale Battery Energy Storage System and is part of our Como strategy to broaden our footprint in energy storage.The Bouldercombe Battery Project is set to be one of the first standalone large-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems in Queensland. The Project is to be constructed adjacent to Powerlink's Bouldercombe substation, having received development approval from Rockhampton Regional Council in May 2021. Negotiations with Powerlink on the connection terms are well advanced, and we expect to receive an Offer to Connect within the next couple of months, which should enable us to proceed to FID and financial close in Q4 CY2021/Q1 CY2022.The development of our Battery Storage strategy in conjunction with our pumped hydro project and operating solar energy assets further positions Genex as the leading Australian renewable energy and storage company."To view figures, please visit:About Genex Power Ltd

Genex Power Limited (ASX:GNX) is focused on developing a portfolio of renewable energy generation and storage projects across Australia. The Company's flagship Kidston Clean Energy Hub, located in north Queensland, will integrate large-scale solar generation with pumped storage hydro. The Kidston Clean Energy Hub is comprised of the operating 50MW stage 1 Solar Project (KS1) and the 250MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project (K2-Hydro) with potential for further multi-stage wind and solar projects. The 50MW Jemalong Solar Project (JSP) is located in NSW and provides geographical diversification to the Genex Power Limited portfolio. JSP was energised in early December 2020 and commissioning is now underway. Genex is further developing its energy storage portfolio via the early stage development of a 50MW/75MWh standalone battery energy storage system at Bouldercombe in Queensland. With over 400MW of renewable energy and storage projects in development, Genex is well placed as Australia's leading renewable energy and storage company.


Investee Cortical lodges FDA

Perth, Oct 1, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Investee Cortical Dynamics Limited is pleased to announce that it has filed a 510(K) submission with the FDA in the USA for its medical device, the Brain Anaesthesia Response Monitor.BARM(TM) takes a physiological approach to measuring the effects of anaesthetic drugs on brain electrical activity for surgical operations under General anaesthetic. The BARM(TM) algorithm is derived from a model of how human EEG (electrical activity of the brain) is generated. BARM(TM) describes the electrical activity of populations of excitatory and inhibitory neurons within the cerebral cortex, and uses established physiological parameters such as the number of connections between neuronal populations, conduction velocities, and firing rates and thresholds. The model can produce the main features of spontaneous human EEG and the effects general anaesthetics have on the EEG providing anaesthetists with valuable feedback as to the depth of anaesthesia experienced by patients.Cortical Dynamics Limited was assisted in the FDA submission by MCRA, the leading U.S. Regulatory Advisor for the Medical Device and Biologics industries.BARM(TM) is already CE, TGA and Korea MFDS regulated.About BPH Energy Limited

BPH Energy Limited (ASX:BPH) is an Australian Securities Exchange listed company developing biomedical research and technologies within Australian Universities and Hospital Institutes.

The company provides early stage funding, project management and commercialisation strategies for a direct collaboration, a spin out company or to secure a license.

BPH provides funding for commercial strategies for proof of concept, research and product development, whilst the institutional partner provides infrastructure and the core scientific expertise.

BPH currently partners with several academic institutions including The Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research and Swinburne University of Technology (SUT).
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

A homicide suspects flight from New York City was undone by a flat tire on Interstate 40 near Edgewood.

New Mexico State Police arrested Haiyan Deng, 31, who was booked into the Torrance County Detention Center and charged with resisting, evading or obstructing an officer in the Sept. 23 incident.

Court records show Deng tried to escape after the State Police officer attempted to detain her and police found a revolver inside a plastic bag in Dengs SUV.

State Police said Deng is the suspect in a New York homicide and a fugitive complaint said she is currently charged in the state with burglary, assault, criminal mischief and harassment.

State Police officer Ray Wilson said Deng will be extradited to New York.

The individual has not been extradited or officially charged at this time, a spokesperson for New York City police said. They did not respond to additional questions.

According to a statement of probable cause filed in Magistrate Court:

A State Police officer was notified around 6:30 p.m. of a stranded driver along westbound I-40 near Edgewood. The officer found Deng in a silver SUV with a blown tire on the side of the highway.

I checked on her, she had people coming from Albuquerque to help her and I left the area, the officer wrote.

Then, about an hour later, a State Police sergeant told the officer Deng was wanted by New York police in a homicide and may have a gun.

The sergeant told the officer not to let Deng into the SUV and to watch her hands at all times.

Deng told the officer she wanted a sweater from her SUV and tried to open the door, but the officer stopped her and put a handcuff on her wrist. Deng resisted and wrestled with the officer before they both fell to the ground.

The officer was able to restrain Deng and handcuff her completely, placing her in the back of a police vehicle. The officer searched Dengs SUV before it was towed, and found a silver and black revolver in a plastic bag in a backpack on the front passenger floorboard.
Have you ever heard the old story Acres of Diamonds?

Its about a farmer who is told a tale by a wise old man that there is a place that contains riches beyond the imagination. A field full of diamonds, containing all the wealth anyone would ever desire and, if found, that person would never have to work again. The farmer, so captivated by the story, sold his farm and all of his belongings to go in search of this diamond mine. After having spent all of his money and unable to locate the mine, the farmers life ends tragically. Meanwhile, the person that bought the farmers land noticed a rock sparkling at the bottom of a creek located on the farm. Turns out, the rock was a diamond and the farm contained acres of diamonds. The moral of the story is pretty easy to see, the treasure we all seek may be right under our feet  or at least within our control.

While this is just a story, it is true that when considering solutions we often overlook that which is most obvious. For example, there are many landlords and tenants in our state that have had to undergo tremendous amounts of stress and financial difficulties due to the economic instabilities caused by COVID restrictions. Landlords may be unable to pay mortgages, and tenants may be unable to pay rent. The obvious solution to this predicament would be to have enough money to make all payments due.

It is surprising, therefore, that when there are millions of dollars available for just such a purpose, that so few people in this quandary have applied for and are making use of the available funds. One would think that if you needed the help, and you could go to a website, like RenthelpNM.org and apply for rental assistance, you would do so. Also, if you were a landlord and needed your tenants to pay the rent, so that you could pay your mortgage, that you would be willing to assist your tenants in applying for rental assistance at RenthelpNM.org. These funds provided by federal government subsidies can pay up to 15 months of rent and utility services. With these funds and the cooperation of all involved, the solution may be readily available.

In this regard, we have established a program at Metropolitan Court where representatives from the city of Albuquerque are available to assist in the rental assistance application process. If a landlord has filed a petition to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent, and if both parties appear in court, either in person or via Zoom, the court will place the parties into a private chat room and allow them to meet with a representative from the city of Albuquerque. Through this method, the parties are often able to resolve the payment issue and ultimately solve the dispute. We have also established a mediation program at Metropolitan Court where landlords and tenants can meet with trained mediators to help settle their disagreements.

There are people and Acres of Diamonds available to help provide a solution to this impasse; you just have to look around, show up and ask or apply at RenthelpNM.org.

Judge Frank Sedillo presides over the civil division of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the judge individually and not those of the court.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Bernalillo County Sheriffs Deputy Keith Curry was working the graveyard shift on June 4, 2017, when he noticed the silhouette of someone in the center turn lane of south Coors Boulevard  a dark stretch of highway described by one safety expert as a walking death trap.

Curry, who had been driving north on Coors shortly after 1 a.m., made a U-turn in his patrol car and stopped to warn Brendan McClure that walking in the turn lane in the dark was dangerous. McClure, who was headed home with a shopping cart full of groceries, explained that walking down the center lane was actually safer than trying to push his cart in the dirt alongside the road.

McClure, 28, said he only had a short distance to go before the shoulder of the road widened and he could get off the road, the deputy later recalled.

Thank you for stopping, McClure said before the deputy drove away into the night.

Within minutes, McClure was dead, after a second BCSO deputy traveling more than 50 mph in the center turn lane hit and killed him, county records show.

That deputy, Leroy Chavez, said in deposition he never saw McClure. At the time he was looking for a late night taco truck where he planned to meet Curry on their lunch break.

Chavez, who had two prior crashes in his patrol car, was cleared of any wrongdoing by an Albuquerque Police Department investigation and a BCSO internal affairs inquiry.

But the county paid $500,000  the maximum recoverable under state liability damage caps  to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by McClures parents. The lawsuit named the two deputies, Sheriff Manuel Gonzales III and Bernalillo County as defendants.

A BCSO spokeswoman didnt respond to Journal inquiries last week and the attorney representing the county and other defendants declined comment. In state court records, the defendants denied wrongdoing and stated their conduct was reasonable under the circumstances.

McClures mother, Barbara Kirk, said the lawsuit wasnt ever about the money.

I would have preferred going to court, she said. We really wanted to hold people accountable and take some action to help prevent further incidents, so nobody else would have to deal with the loss of a loved one, much less a child. 

She scored a victory last month in her yearslong effort to make the stretch of South Coors between Rio Bravo and Gun Club safer.

The state Department of Transportation, at the urging of Bernalillo County officials, asked a private contractor to assess the stretch of road and recommend improvements. Officials say they hope to begin phasing in street lighting within the year, to be followed by other fixes over the next 18 months or so.

The stretch of Coors where McClure died has long been a hazard for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists alike, said Scot Key, an Albuquerque traffic safety advocate who once described it as a walking death trap.

News reports and court records show that before his death, McClure had been shopping at the sprawling 80-acre commercial development to the north. The Las Estancias Shopping Center is anchored by a Walmart Superstore, which was built on farmland about 2005 and was open 24 hours a day in 2017.

Now with a movie theater, retail shops and restaurants, the shopping center has been touted as a major boost for the underserved community of the South Valley.

This (the safety on south Coors) has been a very long-term problem that has been exacerbated by the commercial development, said Key, who lives about a mile away. The shopping center, he added, has given people a reason to try and cross the busy road, which has no crosswalks.

From 2016 to 2019, the state DOT recorded five pedestrian deaths, including McClures, along the half mile stretch from Las Estancias shopping center to Gun Club Road. At least two motorists on that section were killed in crashes during that same time. More recent data wasnt available this week.

On his website in 2019, Key lamented that three layers of bureaucracy have mucked up Coors at/near Rio Bravo.

South Coors itself is a state highway, N.M. 45, but the adjacent land is the responsibility of the county and, in some places, the city.

The inability and unwillingness of city, county and state Department of Transportation to modernize and safeguard this stretch of Coors needs to change. Now, Key wrote on his website BetterBurque.org after a pedestrian was killed trying to cross the roadway in 2016.

Key wrote that it was wrong for governmental entities not to have improved pedestrian access on Coors when the surrounding area has gone from farmland to a major retail destination.

Bernalillo County Deputy Director for Public Works Elias Archuleta told the Journal recently that McClures death was a factor in requesting the engineering traffic audit from the state.

It was already on our radar, Archuleta said, but that (accident) started us to draw our attention to that section of roadway. It seems to be an area thats had a lot of crashes. Theres a lack of sidewalks and pedestrian facilities. Its a busy high speed road, with a bus route. The speed limit on that stretch of road ranges from 45 to 55 mph.

Pedestrians walking south of the shopping center often use a bike path that runs adjacent to Coors on the east side. But the path dead ends at an electrical station, forcing pedestrians to walk either onto Coors or through a rugged small dirt arroyo, Kirks lawsuit stated.

It isnt much better on the west side of the highway. There the dirt shoulder slopes down and guardrails, electric poles and metal fences give pedestrians little room to walk, much less push a shopping cart. Lighting in the area is minimal.

Near the spot where McClure was killed is a 151-unit mobile home park. And southwest of the mobile home park off Gun Club is a residential area, where McClure lived with his mother and grandmother.

In meetings with county officials in recent years, Kirk has proposed extending sidewalks and paths, reducing the speed limit on that section of Coors and installing a pedestrian bridge or a raised median.

Archuleta said the traffic audit, which could take up to nine months, is an important first step. Part of the process will entail a meeting to get input from first responders and community members.

Were trying to get the best impact in the quickest amount of time, Archuleta said. We obviously dont want any more injuries or fatalities out there. But we also dont want to rush out and make improvements that were going to have to tear out in six months or a year.

Levi Monagle, an Albuquerque attorney who represented Kirk, said hes glad county and state officials are working toward a solution, but added, Time is of the essence when it comes to a known hazard.

Just weeks after depositions in the wrongful death lawsuit, the sheriffs department Facebook page showed that Chavez had received a lifesaving award from the sheriff. Last summer, Curry also received a BCSO lifesaving award, along with another deputy, for helping a distraught man who was parked on the railroad tracks.

Kirk said Brendan, who had been attending Central New Mexico Community College, was a humanitarian who always wanted to help others.

Since her sons death, Kirk has tried to protect people she sees walking in the center median of south Coors.

I would go really slow and put my hazard lights on (in her car) to make sure they got to where they wanted to be, she said.

Kirk still lives in the South Valley home where her only son was headed when he lost his life.

I feel like I have to be there, she said. I feel like I cant leave him behind. I cant leave until I know certain things have been done. I have to do right by him. And its not done yet.
SANTA FE  New Mexico education officials are asking for public comment on their overhaul of the social studies curriculum.

Its the first major revision of what children are meant to learn in history, geography and civics since 2001.

The new standards add historical events since the last update, including the 9/11 attacks and the coronavirus pandemic.

It is beyond time for this update, said acting New Mexico Public Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus. In social studies, that includes a fuller understanding of the many cultures that together make New Mexico unique.

The current curriculum requires an understanding of a group broadly defined as Native Americans, almost always in comparison to Anglo and Spanish settlers. The new curriculum would require students to understand more about Navajo, Pueblo and other tribes.

The proposed curriculum would also require high school students to study the history of the LGBTQ rights movement and the AIDS epidemic, which are not mentioned in the current curriculum.

New Mexicans have 46 days to comment on the new curriculum.

The Republican Party of New Mexico issued a written statement Thursday urging school boards and the public to oppose the proposed curriculum. Without citing specific examples, the statement contends the changes contain critical race theory teaching and a bias toward progressive/liberal themes.

After the comment period, the state will have the chance to incorporate feedback before its implemented in the 2022-2023 school year.

Journal staff contributed to this report.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

The New Mexico State University Fire Department is celebrating an important milestone this year.

The department, which protects the campus, and provides on-the-job mentorship and training for students, turns 100 years old.

Willie N. Preciado, a physical plant employee with the university, founded the department in 1921 and became its first fire chief. The department started as an all-volunteer venture, but today has 20 paid positions, 14 of which are students.

What it comes down to is there was a hodgepodge of fire departments, said deputy chief Louis Huber. They felt we needed to be able to protect the buildings that were here.

Captain John Guerin said its rare for a university to have its own fire department as most rely on municipal services. The NMSU fire department aids the city and county fire departments. Guerin said 70% of the calls they respond to are off campus.

The department is not only responsible for battling fires. Guerin said 75% of their calls are medical. They are called for vehicle extractions, respond to reported gas leaks and alarms, and handle fire prevention on campus, which includes inspecting sprinkler and alarm systems.

Fire Chief Johnny Carrillo said one of the departments most recent accomplishments was improving its Insurance Services Office score from a 4 to 2, with a 1 being the best. He said insurance companies often rely on the scores to determine home-insurance rates.

The department became an educational arm of the university when it started hiring and training NMSU students in 1964. Students get training and real-life experience working along seasoned veterans.

Carrillo said fire-fighting is a competitive field and the NMSU program gives students a leg-up on applicants who usually have no experience.

The program allows them to explore a career in fire-fighting, Carrillo said.  It makes them well qualified to be a firefighter after they leave.

For Huber, one of the greatest things about reaching the 100-year milestone is looking back on the legacy and impact the department has had on students. He said its amazing to see what happens to the students after they leave the program.

Weve had a brigadier general, a surgeon, engineers, Huber said. All of them are high achievers and very dedicated. This department makes a difference in these young mens and womens lives, and in the community.

The department has immediate openings for student firefighters. Applicants must be enrolled at either NMSUs main campus or Dona Ana Community College in Las Cruces. Visit fire.nmsu.edu to apply.

If you have a story you would like to suggest for this series, please send your tip to ebriseno@ abqjournal.com.
SANTA FE  New Mexico election regulators are delaying the initial nomination process for congressional and state legislative candidates for as long as three months to allows more time for the political redistricting process.

The first step toward running for public office is to gather signatures on petition forms from registered voters.

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver announced Tuesday that petition forms will be available for candidates aspiring to statewide office on Oct. 1. Other candidates seeking district offices, such as legislative seats, are likely to wait until January 2022 for the forms to begin gathering signatures to run for office next year.

Pandemic delays to the 2020 census have spilled over into the political redistricting process. The Legislature is tentatively scheduled to convene in December to approve new political districts for Congress, 112 legislative seats and a Public Education Commission that oversees charter schools.

A Citizens Redistricting Committee authorized by lawmakers is collecting public comment on several redistricting concepts, including proposals from 20 federally recognized Native American communities across New Mexico.

The committees recommendation is due to the Legislature at the end of October. The Legislature can adopt the recommendation or start from scratch.

Proposed adjustments to a congressional swing district in southern New Mexico are under scrutiny.

Last year, Republican U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell ousted a first-term Democrat from the 2nd Congressional District seat. The districts boundaries are likely to shift and contract to offset population gains in a oil-producing region in the southeastern corner of New Mexico.
If you have a child, the odds are pretty good that you already know about the federal Child Tax Credit.

But its been a busy year, so you may have missed the news that the tax credit was expanded this year to cover more Americans, and to provide more money to those already covered.

The federal American Rescue Plan Act increased the tax credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 for children over the age of 6, and from $2,000 to $3,600 for children under the age of 6. Additionally, it raised the age limit of a qualifying child from 16 to 17. All working families will get the full credit if they make up to $150,000 for a couple or $112,500 for a family with a single parent, according to the White Houses fact sheet on the expansion. The federal American Rescue Plan Act increased the tax credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 for children over the age of 6, and from $2,000 to $3,600 for children under the age of 6. Additionally, it raised the age limit of a qualifying child from 16 to 17. All working families will get the full credit if they make up to $150,000 for a couple or $112,500 for a family with a single parent, according to the White Houses fact sheet on the expansion.

Both the White House and the Internal Revenue Service have a lot of information about the newly expanded program. But there are so many different family situations that we still had questions. Thats why we hopped on the phone with Amber Wallin, deputy director for New Mexico Voices for Children, to get answers to a few specifics on the program.

How does this expansion stand to impact New Mexicans?

Quite a bit! Wallin said the expansion should touch 95% of New Mexico children, with more than 450,000 children in the state eligible for the credit in some form or fashion. She said her organization projects the expansion will bring about $700 million into the state and help lift around 32,000 children above the poverty line.

Which is huge, because were year after year ranked near-worst in the nation in childhood poverty, Wallin said.

Does the credit come as a lump sum or in payments?

Thats up to you. The federal expansion allows people to receive the Child Tax Credit in monthly payments for the first time, according to the White Houses fact sheet. For every child 6 to 17 years old, families will get $250 each month, and for every child under 6 years old, families will get $300 each month. The 80% who get their refunds from the IRS through direct deposit will get these payments in their bank account on the 15th of every month until the end of 2021, with others receiving it in the mail around the same time, according to the White House fact sheet.

Wallin said recipients can opt to receive the credit as a lump sum, but she advised that monthly payments may work best for many families in need.

Will the benefit be taxable by the state or federal government?

This ones easy: Nope, its not taxable by either entity.

Who gets the credit when parents live apart?

Wallin said it all depends on which parent filed the tax return in 2020 (or 2019, if theres no return on file in 2020). If two parents live apart and share custody of a child, the parent who claims the child as a dependant gets the money. Wallin said that if custody has changed since the filing date, parents must go to www.irs.gov to update their information.

Otherwise, its just based on whatever the tax return showed in the most recent year  when a family filed, she said.

Are there strings attached to how you spend the money?

Someone call NSYNC, because there are no strings attached. Wallin said the U.S. Census Bureau is collecting data on how families are spending their monthly payments, so we know that the majority of the spending is going toward food. Wallin said thats a good sign for a state thats long struggled with childhood food insecurity.

Were just glad to see that this relief is helping the families most basic needs, she said.

What if youve never filed state or federal taxes?

In that case, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that parents can still be eligible even if theyve never filed taxes if their children meet the age requirements and they meet the income requirements, Wallin said. The bad news is that the IRS doesnt have your information, so you have to give it to them. Wallin said parents who havent filed taxes should go to the IRS website  IRS.gov  and apply for the credit by putting in their household income, their childs age and other required information.

What if youre a parent whos under age 18, or a dependent living with extended family?

Parents who are under 18 are automatically eligible just like other parents, provided they filed taxes in 2019 or 2020. If not, the same rules apply as above. However, the credit can only be claimed by the head of the household, so parents listed as dependents wont be eligible, and the credit would flow to whichever extended family member files as head of household. Wallin said its a way to ensure that kids arent double-counted.

Are recent immigrants and refugees eligible for the credit?

Wallin said children must have a Social Security number to be eligible for the credit. Parents dont, but they do need an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, a tax processing number that the IRS will issue to immigrants and other people who arent eligible for a Social Security number. More information about ITIN is available at www.irs.gov/individuals/individual-taxpayer-identification-number.

Can you receive the credit if youre currently pregnant?

It depends. Wallin said parents may claim the tax credit for children born in 2021, so if your due date is after Dec. 31, you wont be eligible for the credit this year. Parents must go to the IRS portal and sign their child up when theyre born, Wallin said.

How many years is the expanded credit in place for?

Currently, the expanded credit is only available for the 2021 tax year. However, some Congressional Democrats are working to make the expansion continue into future years. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Democrats are still debating the duration and other details of the program.

Reach Stephen Hamway at shamway@abqjournal.com.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

An Albuquerque architect who is married to a state judge said his business lease was terminated last week in response to a legal ruling made by his wife.

Stephen Leos, the husband of 2nd Judicial District Judge Cindy Leos, said Thursday that he received a Sept. 23 email saying his lease was terminated and he needed to be out of his Downtown office by Oct. 31.

When he sought an explanation, property owner Doug Peterson told him, I am terminating your lease because your wife lets out murderers and rapists, Leos said, recalling a Sept. 24 phone conversation.

The comment was a reference to the Sept. 22 ruling by Judge Leos to release a man awaiting trial for allegedly sexually assaulting two girls at his home.

At the end of the call, Peterson said, I have over a million square feet of rental space in the city of Albuquerque, and I dont need your kind in my building, Leos recalled.

Peterson, the president of Peterson Properties LLC, acknowledged that he had terminated the lease but declined to explain why or to confirm any details about his conversation with Leos.

Stephen was on a month-to-month lease, so we could terminate it at any time, Peterson said Thursday in a phone interview. We gave him the proper notice, and he needs to be out by Halloween.

The termination of the lease coincided with a Sept. 23 post on the Facebook page of the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office that identified Judge Cindy Leos by name.

Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales will face off Nov. 2 in the Albuquerque mayoral race against Mayor Tim Keller and Eddy Aragon.

The BCSO Facebook post described the Sept. 16 arrest of Arthur Ruiz, 39, who is accused of sexually assaulting two of his daughters friends, ages 12 and 13, and giving them alcohol during a June 6 sleepover at his South Broadway home, court records show.

Since then, a motion for preventative detention was denied by Judge Cindy Leos, the Facebook post notes.

Peterson was among 573 people who shared the post.

Judge Cindy Leos did it again! Peterson wrote in the post he shared on his Facebook page. They should put her picture on the little Get Out of Jail Free card in the Monopoly game.

The BCSO post prompted hundreds of disparaging comments about judges in general, and Judge Leos in particular.

Another idiotic liberal judge in New Mexico, say it is not so, one person commented.

This judge needs to have a psych evaluation. She doesnt need to be on the bench as a judge, another wrote.

Stephen Leos said he has operated his architectural firm from the ninth floor of the Simms Building for five years.

I was intending to be in this office for as long as I could until I had enough capital to purchase my own building, he said.

The termination of his lease is a major disruption and expense to his business at a time when his workload is picking up.

Leos said he spent $30,000 remodeling the office to serve as the law office for his wife when she was in private practice. Stephen Leos has used the office for his architectural firm since his wife was elected to the state bench in 2016.

When his lease expired last year, Leos said, he tried to secure a new four-year lease and was never told why he couldnt obtain one. He has leased the office month to month for more than a year.

The issue of releasing people accused of violent crimes while awaiting trial has become a point of friction between the courts and law enforcement that is likely to spill into next years legislative session.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced her support in August for a change to the states bail reform law that would require people charged with violent offenses to show that they can be safely released.

Second Judicial District Attorney Raul Torrez also said he plans to push for legislation that would require judges to lock up people awaiting trial for certain violent crimes, including murder and criminal sexual penetration.

In the recent case, Ruiz is charged with one count of criminal sexual penetration of a minor, two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor, and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

After a Sept. 22 hearing, Judge Leos rejected a prosecutors request to hold Ruiz in jail pending trial.

Defendant has some criminal history and appears he has successfully completed probation both instances in which he was ordered to probation, the judge wrote in her order.

Although the allegations are concerning, the evidence was not clear and convincing evidence that there are no conditions of release that could be implemented to protect the safety of others or the community, she wrote.

Editors note: An earlier version of this article misspelled Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales name.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  The board overseeing New Mexicos $18 billion pension fund for state employees has hired Greg Trujillo to serve as the funds new executive director, putting an end to a lengthy search.

Trujillo had been working as the acting director for the Public Employees Retirement Association for several months and the retirement funds board voted 8-1 on Thursday to elevate him to the position on a permanent basis.

I think it gives PERA the footing in needs to move forward, said PERA board member Lawrence Davis, a city of Albuquerque budget official.

However, the boards vote to halt its search and hire Trujillo comes more than eight months after former PERA executive director Wayne Propst stepped down from his job amid increasing legislative scrutiny of the pension fund.

Earlier this month, the PERA board had voted to relaunch its executive director search instead of selecting one of three selected finalists for the position, one of whom was Trujillo.

But state Treasurer Tim Eichenberg, an ex-officio board member who was part of the internal search committee, said it became clear the board could not meet a goal of hiring a new executive director by Dec. 1 by using an outside firm to help with the search.

We just couldnt meet the timeline, Eichenberg said.

One of Trujillos first obligations as PERAs executive director will be filling several top staff positions at the pension fund. In addition to PERAs previous director stepping down, both its chief investment officer and general counsel have also resigned in recent months.

Meanwhile, Trujillos salary as the retirement systems executive director has not yet been finalized.

Acting PERA board chairman Francis Page said Friday the board will discuss salary levels during a meeting this month.

He also said the pension funds board had requested the pay range for the executive director job be raised to around $230,000 annually, but the request was denied by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams office.

The states other large retirement system, the Educational Retirement Board, has also filed a lawsuit against the Lujan Grisham administration for squashing proposed salary increases for top pension fund officials.

The Public Employees Retirement Association covers police officers, judges and legislators, in addition to state workers. It had more than 47,000 active members and paid retirement benefits to roughly 42,700 retirees during the budget year that ended in June.

Some lawmakers have proposed overhauling the PERA board due to a pattern of infighting and divisiveness, but a bill filed during this years 60-day session failed to gain traction at the Roundhouse.
BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - On Thursday, a Chico man was sentenced in Butte County Superior Court to 32 years in state prison for the molestation of two young girls for nine years.

Kiante Turner, 31, was sentenced to the maximum term by Superior Court Judge Kristen Lucena following his plea to two counts of continuous sexual molestation.

The judge further ordered Turner to pay $450,000 in restitution for mental anguish damages to each victim for the years of abuse endured, Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey said.

Ramsey said Turner began molesting the two girls when they were approximately six and nine years old.

The girls were molested for nine years until one of the girls told her mother about the abuse. The mother immediately informed the Butte County Sheriffs Office who opened an investigation leading to Turners arrest and confession.

RELATED: Arrest made in ongoing child sex abuse investigation

In court, Turners attorney asked the judge to give his client probation and not to order any restitution to the victims.

Supervising Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Bennett objected, pointing to the extreme anguish suffered by the victims at Turners hand.

Both of Turner's victims spoke to the judge. One of the victims spoke of the anguish caused by Turner in a statement while the other victim had her similar statement read by a District Attorney victim advocate.

In addition to the sentence, Turner will be required to register as a sex offender for life.

He will also face a mental evaluation at the end of his prison sentence to determine if he should continue to be held in a state hospital as a sexually violent predator.
CHICO, Calif. - An event full of music, fashion, food and giving back is coming to Chico on Oct. 10.

The Concert at The Palms will be on Oct. 10 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at The Palms, located at 2947 Nord Ave.

Tickets are $50 and are on sale now. Children under the age of 12 are free.

There will be classical Pakistani music, fashion and food at the event.

"We want to make sure that the system doesn't fail them, that the community doesn't fail them, that we are here and we do our part," said Rahat Khan with the Palms Benefit for Refugees. "We donate as much as we can, we continue to have these events to build awareness to help in any way we can."

All of the proceeds will be donated to the International Rescue Committees Soft Landing Fund for Afgan refugees arriving in Northern California.

Refugees get a one-time payment once they arrive in the United States to cover the basic costs.

Due to the coronavirus, people who attend must show proof of vaccination before entering.

For more information on the event, click here.
SHASTA COUNTY, Calif. - A Local Assistance Center (LAC) will be opening Friday in Shasta County for Fawn Fire survivors, the Shasta County Emergency Operation Center.

The LAC will open through Monday at the Shasta Lake Community Center at 4499 Main St. in the City of Shasta Lake.

It will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day.

It will be to assist the community by providing a centralized location for services and resource referrals following the Fawn Fire.

People attending should bring a photo ID, household income and insurance documents. The DMV will be there to issue duplicates of a Photo ID and drivers license.

The following providers will be there:
REDDING, Calif. - Mercy Medical Center Redding has brought in help from the National Guard in response to COVID-19 surges and impacts caused by the Fawn Fire.

Two, seven-person teams are currently in town, according to Mercy Medical Center Public Information Office Chris McMurry. The teams each consist of six medics and one supervisor. The teams arrived last weekend.

McMurry says the hospital has requested assistance two times during the pandemic. One of these requests was made on Sept. 24 to the Medical Health Operational Area Coordination Program.

Much of the medical staff at the hospital are working 18-hour shifts or picking up extra shifts to help with shortages.

McMurry called the request a "plea for help" due to a rising volume of COVID-19 patients and a decrease in staff impacted by the Fawn Fire which broke out two days prior to the request, on Sept. 22. The fire impacted 30 employees at the hospital.

Members of the National Guard will be in town for two weeks with the possibility of an extension depending on COVID-19 numbers in the area.
ORLAND, Calif. - Students at Orland High had a moment of silence and joined together to take a stance about the sexual assault that they say they are experiencing on the campus.

"You are the cause of this, student Bella Roe said. This is your fault, and we are not going to stop until you realize that."

A powerful message from Orland High students. Strong words to those who they say have hurt them.

"We get sexualized, student Marisol Cisneros said. "Girls get sexualized in so many things that we do. We get no support back because it is our fault, we wore that or it is our fault we did that."

Students were emotional and leaned on each other as they cried out for help.

Around 30 students gathered with signs and painted faces in order to promote speaking out about sexual harassment and assault.

"This isn't okay no matter who you are or how old you are or how much power you have in your community, student Lily Flournoy said. I am sick of it."

"I just want those who want to speak out, I just want them to have all of the support and everybody to not joke about this because it is not a thing to joke about, Cisneros said. Real people go through this and it is a big subject in the world and it is not spoken about as much as it should be."

The principal did not want to speak with Action News Now, but he was reaching out to students trying to address their needs.

He told the students he was there for them, and the school is doing everything they can.

"I think that there should be more support offered and consequences should be taken to the people who do that kind of stuff," Ariana Garcia said.

Students gathered for the silent protest for about 45 minutes.
CHICO, Calif. - Time is up for healthcare workers in California to be fully vaccinated or undergo COVID-19 testing at least once a week.

The majority of health care workers at local facilities are fully vaccinated, but some nurses told Action News Now they still think it should be a choice, not a mandate.

"I was your hero when you absolutely needed me and now you want to force your agenda and I'm expendable? a local healthcare worker that has been in the business for 18 years and did not want to identify where she worked said.

The local nurse is having a hard time seeing some workers walk out because of the vaccine mandate.

"It's really rough because I love them. I love all my coworkers, but I work so many extra shifts because I don't want to leave my residents without a nurse, the local nurse said.

She said she knows many that are trading out the scrubs for office jobs.

"It's really sad because they are good nurses. They are nurses that have been on the front lines and at the battle fields, the nurse said. Yesterdays heroes are today's unemployed."

Action News Now also spoke with another local nurse who did not want to be identified. She is using a religious exemption to not lose her job.

"I just don't want those aborted babies injected into me, she told Action News Now.

UCLA Health and LA County Health both say the COVID-19 vaccines do not contain aborted fetal cells, but in various stages of vaccine development and manufacturing, they did use fetal cells.

"I have felt the support, but I have also felt the hate, the nurse said. It's really sad to see relationships that you build in hospital settings have been completely stripped because you have a difference of opinion."

Some healthcare workers that had been on the fence about getting the vaccine waited until the last day to get the shot.

"I respect anyone who decides to get this jab, but then you are turned into an evil monster if you deny it, the nurse using the religious exemption said.

Local healthcare providers told Action News Now they do not see the mandate causing any major impact on the staffing numbers.

Enloe Medical Center did not terminate anyone today. They said 82% of the their staff is vaccinated, including 96% of active Enloe physicians.

They are still actively engaged with a number of people working through this process but they do have adequate staff to care for the people in the hospital.

St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Red Bluff also has the majority of staff vaccinated, at 60%.

"Im just urging people if they want to stay just get vaccinated and stay with me so I am not by myself, said the local vaccinated nurse.

For religious exemptions, employees do not need any type of signature from a pastor. They just need to sincerely state that the vaccine conflicts with their religious beliefs.
Flipkart, Indias homegrown e-commerce marketplace, continues to strengthen ecosystem partnerships and prioritise the interests of a large group of stakeholders, including customers, sellers, MSMEs, kiranas and offline retail stores. As the country starts preparing for the upcoming festive season and much-awaited Big Billion Days, Flipkart is connecting more than 5,000 offline branded retail stores from 300+ cities across the country on its platform. This includes small and large format brand stores offering products from fashion, large appliances, mobiles and consumer electronics as part of this programme. Piloted in 2020, when the pandemic impacted these stores, this programme helps offline sellers to leverage Flipkarts expertise and customer reach to help stores grow their business through technology support.

This holds importance for hundreds of local brands that will be able to showcase their selection and products to lakhs of customers beyond their local catchment area and grow their reach during an important festive period. Piloted in late-2020 for the fashion category, Flipkarts programme has witnessed very encouraging growth this past year, which has led to the addition of the 3 new categories - large appliances, mobiles and consumer electronics. Flipkart is leveraging technology and advanced inventory management systems to enable these trusted retail stores with the goodness of e-commerce. It covers both metros and T2+ regions, solving the needs of both consumers and brands. Some of these include trusted branded retail chains such as Poorvika in the South region and CMM Arena in the state of Goa. The programme addresses the metro customers needs for faster delivery of the latest products and also enables aspirational consumers in Tier-2+ regions to get access to a much wider and latest branded selection.

Speaking about this important initiative, Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Flipkart Group, said, At Flipkart, our priority lies in creating a meaningful ecosystem of partners that can reap the benefits of e-commerce, especially during the festive season. Today, we are proud to facilitate PAN-India consumer market access for over 5,000 branded retail stores, which enables them to embrace opportunities driven by the best technology. We look forward to scaling this programme over the next few months and making products from branded retail partners that may be available to a much larger audience across India.

Speaking about the partnership with Flipkart, Uvaraj Natarajan, Founder & CEO - Poorvika, said, Poorvika has garnered remarkable loyalty across 425+ stores in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Pondicherry, Mumbai, Pune and Trivandrum. Being a trusted offline retail chain and with an aim to grow our footprint across the country, we have partnered with Flipkart. This partnership will help customers to conveniently access all products available at a Poorvika retail store, on Flipkart. We believe our customers will benefit immensely courtesy of technology integration. We look forward to a good festive season with Flipkart.

Sharing his views on the partnership with Flipkart this festive season, Hari Kaul, General Manager CMM Arena, said, CMM Arena is proud to bring a range of large appliances on Flipkart, with an aim to extend our digital presence and engage with customers across a larger geographical reach. This will enable a new phase of growth for CMM Arena as we grow our reach across the length and breadth of Goa through Flipkart.

Through this programme, Flipkart is creating opportunities for branded retail stores to connect with consumers across the country to deliver the best products. This will continue to elevate the customers online shopping experience seamlessly, as people get access to larger selections through a safe and sanitised delivery process. This strategy further strengthens Flipkarts product portfolio for the much-awaited festive season - especially the 2021 edition of The Big Billion Days.
Today, GSK Consumer Healthcare, one of the leading consumer healthcare companies, announced the Sensodyne Sensitivity & Gum portfolio launch in India. Backed by superior science, Sensodyne Sensitivity & Gum portfolio offers a reliable solution to people to manage their overall Oral Health hygiene and reinforces the company vision of bringing products that help people do more, feel better and live longer.

One of the leading causes of tooth sensitivity is poor gum health. As gums recede, the underlying dentine gets exposed over time, and external triggers (like cold water, tea etc.) can stimulate nerves inside the tooth to cause a short, sharp sensation of tooth sensitivity. One in every two people in India with sensitive teeth also have gum problem that they may be unaware of. Sensodyne Sensitivity & Gum, with its dual benefit proposition provides daily Sensitivity protection & helps improve Gum health. The toothpaste helps to soothe exposed sensitive nerves inside the tooth and simultaneously also targets & removes plaque bacteria to maintain clean, healthy gums.

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For the first time, Sensodyne is also launching a toothbrush simultaneously with paste. Sensodyne Sensitivity & Gum toothbrush comes with a unique design that uses soft bristles to clean teeth gently and effectively, with three times better reach along the gumline vs flat trim toothbrushes. The handle of this brush is different too and comes with a ball joint neck that absorbs pressure to protect against overbrushing.

Anurita Chopra, Area Marketing Director, GSK Consumer Healthcare, said, Sensodyne is one of the leading brand in the country and always endeavours to bring science-backed innovative products which address relevant consumer needs. We understood that millions of people in India have sensitive teeth and also have gum problems. We realize that this can lead to compromises in their daily lives. Sensodyne Sensitivity & Gum, with its dual benefit proposition, is a simple solution that can help them manage the issue, thereby helping them enjoy everyday life without worrying about tooth sensitivity and gum problems. We are confident that the portfolio will be well received by consumers and help strengthen Sensodyne brand across the country.

Sensodyne Sensitivity & Gum portfolio will be available pan India across groceries, pharmacies, retail chains and e-commerce players. The launch awareness will be done through TV & digital media as well as shelf visibility in retail stores. The company will continue to seek the support of dental experts and chemists to generate awareness of the dual benefit proposition.

Sensodyne Sensitivity & Gum toothpaste will be available in a pack size of 70 g with an MRP of INR 185. The toothbrush will be available in 2 SKUs  Singles pack with MRP of INR 100 & Multipack (Pack of 3) with MRP of INR 200.

Sensodyne is Worlds No. 1 Sensitivity toothpaste and is recommended by dentists worldwide for sensitive teeth. Since its launch in 2011, Sensodyne has become one of the leading players in the Oral Health category in India by launching relevant innovations. The Sensitivity & Gum portfolio launch further strengthens the Sensodyne brand in India  which has a range of toothpaste and toothbrush specially designed for people with sensitive teeth. In the last year, GSK has also introduced Polident Denture adhesive for Denture wearers and Parodontax for better gum health to strengthen its position in Oral health category.
To mark World Smile Day, Himalaya Wellness Company, launched its campaign, Ek Naveen Muskaan, in Maharashtra. The initiative, in partnership with Smile Train  the worlds largest cleft focused NGO, aims at increasing awareness about cleft lip and palate  a facial birth anomaly. The campaign will also fund free life-saving cleft surgeries for children in need.

In India, an estimated 35,000+ infants are born with a cleft palate, and a vast majority do not have access to treatment due to a lack of awareness and stigma related to cleft. Despite the life-threatening risks it poses to children and their development, nutrition, and speech, some children dont receive any care. Himalaya along with NGO Smile Train has been spreading smiles across India, with previous campaigns focused on Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, MP and Chhattisgarh.

At Himalaya, we continue to work hard to make an impact on people's lives, and our Ek Naveen Muskaan campaign perfectly embodies our mission of sharing happiness through wellness. The treatment of cleft is hampered more due to economic and perception constraints, and hence, the need to provide access to free surgeries and spread awareness becomes important. Through our partnership with Smile Train India, we've helped families across the country by providing free cleft surgeries for their children in need for the past six years. While it is only the beginning, our goal is to ensure that infants in need of cleft surgery receive treatment as soon as possible and make a difference in their lives, says Mr. Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Business Director-Consumer Products Division, Himalaya Wellness Company.

As part of the initiative, a toll-free Cleft Helpline number, 1800-103-8301, has been made available for people to enquire about cleft and avail free cleft treatment.

Stressing on the importance of early medical intervention and raising awareness about cleft lip and palate, Ms. Mamta Carroll, Smile Trains Senior Vice President & Regional Director for Asia, said, Untreated clefts can have a significant impact on a childs health and well-being. Through our partnership with Himalaya Lip Cares campaign Muskaan, we have been able to create awareness and break the stigma around cleft lip/palate in different parts of the country every year, while bringing smiles to many children since 2016. In Maharashtra, we are positive that the Muskaan campaign will create renewed awareness about cleft, the importance of early treatment and help us reach many children in need through our network of treatment partners across the state.

Supporting the initiative, Atul Kulkarni, a renowned and seasoned actor, says,  Ek Naveen Muskaan is a powerful initiative designed to bring smiles to thousands of children born with a cleft lip/palate and leading a life that can be altered with a simple surgery. I feel fortunate to be a part of this mission of spreading smiles. Children are the future of the country and should be treasured and valued. There should be nothing that deprives them of becoming the best of versions of themselves to feel valued and confident.

Himalaya is one of the leading brands in the Lip Care category and has been consistently spearheading cleft care awareness and making efforts towards bringing many more smiles to children across India through Muskaan. In addition to raising awareness, Rs. 3 is contributed towards Muskaan with the sale of every Himalaya Lip Care product.
Continuing ahead with its brand promise of Milkar Life Aage Badhaein, that aims at fulfilling customer needs at different stages of life, PNB MetLife has collaborated with its agency partner L&K Saatchi & Saatchi to launch its latest integrated ad campaign titled Karo Bade Sapno Ki Tayyari.

The campaign features PNB Metlifes celebrated brand ambassador PV Sindhu advocating people to focus on their big dreams and aspirations and positions PNB MetLife as the enabler to take bold decisions by offering them products and services that guarantee financial security of their loved ones while also securing their own life goals.

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The integrated campaign comprises a series of three films that focus on three distinct offerings from PNB Metlife  Savings, Education & Retirement plans. Each of these films urges viewers to build on their dreams and make them bolder and bigger, knowing that PNB Metlife will help partner them in delivering these bigger aspirations.

Emphasising on the brand idea and thought process behind the new campaign, Charles Victor, Executive Director, L&K | Saatchi & Saatchi commented: If ever there was a time to live big and not postpone the things we want to do, its in todays VUCA world. And consumers today are looking for financial partners that not only enable them to achieve their personal goals but also allow them to take bolder decisions. PNB MetLife decided to answer that need, urging consumers to dream bigger and work towards those dreams today. On the execution, this campaign is a continuation of a series of films weve been doing for a couple of years now that are a humorous respite in an otherwise serious category.

In the ad film on education goals, a mother and daughter are seen engaging in a funny dialogue over her future education goals. While the daughter is happy discussing her routine with her friend in a language of her choice, her mother interjects by repeating the same statements in English. The mother tells the daughter she is preparing her for future education prospectsin an international college.

In the ad film on Long Term Savings, a man is seen practicing and sharpening his vocal chords in front of a mirror. On being confronted by his wife for the strange ritual, he informs her that he is getting used to calling out her name in a loud voice once they move into a bigger abode than their planned smaller own home, much to the surprise of the wife.

In the ad film on retirement, a senior citizen justifies his rowing practice saying hes preparing for their holidaynot somewhere local but to an international destination.

The pan India campaign will be rolled out across regional GEC channels across North East, leading print publications, digital media across OTT platforms and financial websites, outdoors and popular radio channels.

TEAM CREDITS:

Client: PNB Metlife

Team: Nipun Kaushal, Amit Sinha, Kanchan Phookan

Agency: L&K | Saatchi & Saatchi

Executive Director: Charles Victor

Creative: Smita Misra, Anand Vyas

Account Management: Shailendra Shyamsukha, Bradon DSouza, Arnav Javeri

Planning: Snehasis Bose, Namit Prasad

Production House: Prodigious / Content Factory

Director: Ashish Biswas
Set to take place between October 9th and 17th, ALT EFF is back in 2021 with a compelling and entertaining line up of environmental films overseen by a distinguished jury and advisory team of the festival. The program holds 44 films, carefully divided into ten film bundles: Drive Thru Shorts, Activision, Midnight Tails, Whats On Your Plate?, Sapling Stories (Kids Friendly), Flux & Form, A Chasm of Hope, New Voices, Deep Dive Features and Programmers Choice, representing a total of 31 countries and showcasing 33 India premieres. This years edition has a new film submission category, a 'Youth Category, along with International Feature Films, International Short Films, Indian Feature Films, and Indian Short Films. Originally, ALT EFF was conceived as a physical festival, but this year, in order to ensure safety for all festival goers, ALT EFF remains virtual.

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Sophy Vsivaraman joins the advisory team of the festival alongside the legendary Mike Pandey, who has spent over 35 years in the environmental and filmmaking space, and Pooja Jauhari, the CEO of Glitch. The jury includes Michael Snyder, heavily awarded photojournalist and filmmaker together with Amin Hajee, Anand Patwardhan, and Sourav Sarangi. The ambassadors representing the festival include Jackie Shroff and Mrunmayee Deshpande amongst other leading figures in the industry. The founding team comprises Kunal Khanna, Neha Shreshta, and Rudransh Mathur.



Founding member and the festival director, Kunal Khanna says, "Humans are in an existential crisis and it is as a result of how we are treating all other species and ecosystems apart from ourselves, we need a fundamental and systemic shift in the way we operate. Using film as its core medium, ALT EFF is a platform and a confluence that will nurture and inspire critical thinking to address the climate emergency we are in."



Actor Jackie Shroff added, "Let there be more such films from the whole globe, everyone is concerned about the environment, let us educate through films. And hence its important to wish luck and congratulate the team of ALT EFF for such a great initiative. It's a great medium of education for survival and sustainability. Let's educate ourselves and our kids through such fine films at such a festival that talks about the basics of the forest, the water, the air, the food and the soil.



The wildlife filmmaker, Mike Pandey says, Environmental festivals like ALT EFF, bring environmental issues to the forefront and offer viable solutions. They motivate and empower us to take the right step and attempt to make a difference to restore the beauty and sustainability of our only home, this planet we call Earth. He adds Festivals like ALT EFF, play a crucial role in communicating and sensitizing people, helping them develop a sense of respect for the environment through films. It is what you respect, that you love and protect.



The co-founder Neha Shreshta says, "Humans who are just one of all the living things on this planet actually control the fate of every living thing and the planet itself - what we do with this power, can make or break our collective future. ALT EFF is our way of bringing awareness via the powerful medium of film- no matter how much information or research there is in the world, it has no meaning unless it is presented such that people can understand it. Film does that."



Marie Luise Schega, another co-founder says, ALT EFF is as much a call to action as it is a celebration. We are motivated by a grand vision - to co-create a sustainable future - and this desire for collaboration, for diversity, for having the courage to dream big has shaped our festival program. Many of the stories told in the films we chose seem complex, some polarising, which is reflective of the environmental crises at large. Yet, as the credits roll and the screen turns black, we wish for viewers to simply look up, explore their own environments and ask themselves: Where can I make a difference in my community?



Rudransh Mathur says, "Through ALT EFF, we hope to make Panchgani a hub for eco awareness and move the town in the direction of sustainable tourism while retaining and promoting it's natural beauty and unique geography."



ALT EFF is dedicated to supporting filmmakers, creators, and artists who are eager to connect audiences with environmental themes through impactful storytelling. It was established based on a need to bring people together through the arts and to raise awareness about issues that surround the climate justice movement.

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Vijay Varma is one of those artists of the industry who has made a space for himself with the phenomenal work he has been doing, be it in a series like Mirzapur or his coming to fame film Gully Boy. He has proved his mettle on screen by essaying characters with nuance and ease.

The actor among many other brand endorsements is also endorsing State Bank of India. The bank is a credible brand with a widespread customer base, and has chosen Vijay Varma to be the endorser. The reason is most definitely Vijay and the credibility he brings to the table.

He is a performer filmmakers, audiences can trust completely, the actor holds on to the attention of viewers, keeping them invested in his character. Vijay is a credible name in the industry and it only makes sense for him to be the endorser of the credible bank brand like SBI.

Vijay, on the work front will be seen in films like 'Darlings' opposite Alia Bhatt, 'Hurdang' opposite Nushrratt Bharuccha and Sunny Kaushal and also a web-series helmed by Reema Kagti alongside Sonakshi Sinha and Gulshan Devaiah.
The Federal Council

Bern, 01.10.2021 - On 1 October 2021, the Federal Council initiated the consultation on amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance and other ordinances. The proposed amendments provide more detail on the measures in the revised Anti-Money Laundering Act and improve the integrity of the Swiss financial centre.

Parliament approved the revision of the Anti-Money Laundering Act on 19 March 2021. This strengthens Switzerland's toolkit to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, and includes the most important recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) mutual evaluation report on Switzerland of 2016. The measures require implementing provisions, specifically in the area of the reporting system for money laundering, the introduction of a licencing requirement for purchasing precious metal scrap, the appointment of the Central Office for Precious Metal Control as the new money laundering oversight authority, and the transparency of associations that carry a greater risk of terrorist financing.

The proposed ordinance amendments serve mainly to provide more detail on the adopted measures. In addition, it is planned to use this opportunity to transpose relevant disclosure provisions from the money laundering ordinances of the supervisory authorities and the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) into the Federal Council's money laundering ordinance.

The Federal Council is proposing amendments not just to the Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance, but also to the Ordinance on the Money Laundering Report Office Switzerland, the Commercial Register Ordinance, the Precious Metals Control Ordinance and the Ordinance on Fees for Precious Metal Control. At the same time, the Federal Customs Administration (FCA) has launched the consultation on its new Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance, which likewise provides more detail on the measures in the revised Anti-Money Laundering Act. The consultation will last until 17 January 2022.

Address for enquiries

Communications

State Secretariat for International Finance SIF

Tel. +41 58 462 46 16, info@sif.admin.ch

Publisher

The Federal Council

https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start.html



Federal Department of Finance

https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home.html




The Federal Council

Bern, 01.10.2021 - On 1st October 2021, the Federal Council approved Switzerland's combined report on implementation of the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In recent years there have been some positive developments for people belonging to national minorities and the preservation of regional or minority languages. It is essential that the authorities continue this important work.

The federal government has demonstrated its commitment to promoting Switzerland's national languages and understanding between language communities by increasing the funding available once again for the 202124 period. Special emphasis has been placed on educational exchanges and support for Italian and Romansh outside the areas where they are traditionally spoken. The report also indicates that there is a better understanding of the traveller way of life of Swiss Yenish and Sinti/Manouche communities. Efforts to raise awareness of the culture and traditions of Yenish and Sinti/Manouche communities have been successful. The report also notes that demand for traveller sites remains high despite the efforts of many cantons to set up new sites.

Moreover, in 2019 the Ordinance on Measures to Support the Safety of Minorities in Particular Need of Protection came into force. It provides that federal funding may be allocated to protecting Swiss Jewish, Yenish and Sinti/Manouche communities. Finally, the report sets out the measures taken to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various national minorities.

A Council of Europe delegation of experts is due to visit Switzerland in 2022. The delegation will meet officials at various levels and representatives of national minorities and regional or minority languages in order to gain a better understanding of their situation. The Swiss authorities are required to submit progress reports on measures taken to implement the Framework Convention and Minority Languages Charter. For the first time Switzerland submitted a combined report, with a view to exploiting synergies between the conventions, which overlap to some extent. This has also allowed the cantons, which are largely competent in this area, to be consulted only once on similar issues.



Contributions from the cantons

The combined report was prepared with contributions from the cantons and after consultation with representatives of the national minorities and regional or minority languages. It has been produced in French, German and Italian, and will be translated into Romansh at a later date.



Switzerland ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in 1998. Members of Switzerland's linguistic minorities are recognised as national minorities, i.e. Italian, Romansh and French speakers at national level, French speakers in the canton of Bern, and German speakers in the cantons of Fribourg and Valais. The Swiss Yenish and Sinti/Manouche communities, whether travelling or settled, and members of the Swiss Jewish community, are also recognised as national minorities. The Framework Convention aims to protect the rights of persons belonging to national minorities.



On ratifying the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 1997 Switzerland declared Romansh and Italian to be regional or minority languages and recognised Yenish and Yiddish as languages with no territorial base. More recently, Franco-Provencal, spoken in the cantons of Fribourg, Jura, Valais and Vaud, and Franc-Comtois spoken in the canton of Jura, have also been recognised as minority languages. The Charter is intended to protect and promote regional and minority languages as a threatened aspect of Europe's cultural heritage.

Address for enquiries

For further information:

FDFA Communication

Tel. +41 58 462 31 53

Tel. Press service +41 460 55 55

kommunikation@eda.admin.ch

Publisher

The Federal Council

https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start.html



Federal Office of Cultural Affairs

http://www.bak.admin.ch



General Secretariat FDHA

http://www.edi.admin.ch



Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html




The Federal Council

Bern, 01.10.2021 - At its meeting on 1 October 2021, the Federal Council decided to establish an embassy to the Holy See in Rome, so as to respond to the increase  noted for several years  in diplomatic tasks. The embassy, also to manage diplomatic relations with Malta and San Marino, will focus on better realising the potential for bilateral cooperation in Switzerland's priority foreign policy areas. Parliament's foreign affairs committees will be consulted shortly.

Since 2014, the Swiss ambassador in Slovenia has also been accredited to the Holy See. This arrangement no longer allows all the work entailed by Switzerland's diplomatic relations with the Holy See to be accomplished efficiently. Indeed, the number of high-level official visits from Switzerland has risen sharply in recent years. They require continuous on-site diplomatic preparation, support and follow-up.

Deepening bilateral cooperation

Opening this new Swiss embassy in Rome will expand the potential for bilateral cooperation on joint foreign policy priorities and define this collaboration's contours more clearly for the future. Priorities include peacebuilding and sustainable development, themes central to the Federal Council's Foreign Policy Strategy 202023. Having a diplomatic representation on site will also make it possible to pursue more regular dialogue with the Holy See on domestic political issues important for bilateral relations.

The culmination of a historical process

Diplomatic relations between Switzerland and the Holy See are rich and complex. While the Holy See has maintained a diplomatic representation in Switzerland since 1586, with an interruption between 1873 and 1920, Switzerland has only been represented in the Holy See since 1991. The post of ambassador was held successively by diplomats based in Bern, Prague, Geneva, Bern again and finally Ljubljana. Today's decision thus aims to strengthen the Swiss Confederation's diplomatic presence in the Holy See, furthering a consistent policy stretching back 30 years. Establishing a Swiss embassy to the Holy See in Rome does not change the Confederation's relations with the Catholic Church and the Reformed Church. The embassy will be established in accordance with the respective powers of the Confederation and the cantons.

Multiple accreditation to Malta and San Marino

The Federal Council has also planned for multiple accreditation to not only the Holy See, but also to Malta and San Marino. Concerning Malta, this accreditation will help to deepen bilateral relations within the framework of Switzerland's European policy. It will also allow Switzerland to monitor developments in the central Mediterranean closely, particularly with regard to migration flows.

As a next step, the Federal Council will consult Parliament's foreign affairs committees, as stipulated by the Parliament Act as regards changes to the external network.

Address for enquiries

For further information:

FDFA Communication

Tel. +41 58 462 31 53

Tel. Press service +41 460 55 55

kommunikation@eda.admin.ch

Publisher

The Federal Council

https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start.html



Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html




Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

Bern, 01.10.2021 - FDFA State Secretary Livia Leu welcomed her US counterpart Wendy R. Sherman to Bern today for the first strategic partnership dialogue between Switzerland and the United States. The discussions focused on the prospects for the two countries' bilateral relations in a changing world, and covered scientific and economic cooperation, Switzerland's good offices and various topical international issues.

Through this high-level meeting, Switzerland and the United States are consolidating a profound and wide-ranging bilateral dialogue. Such strategic partnership dialogue meetings are to be pursued each year between the State Secretary of the FDFA and the Deputy Secretary of State of the US. Their goal is to strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation within international forums, in search of solutions to global problems and ways to mitigate regional crises. The dialogue process builds on and bolsters the two existing political and economic working groups.

Today's discussions focused on the close economic relations between the two countries. The United States is Switzerland's largest trading partner outside Europe, and Switzerland is no less than the third largest investor in research and development in the US. Exchanges also covered cooperation in cybersecurity, digitalisation, the fight against corruption, and climate change. Sanctions policy as well as strengthening cooperation in human rights work were discussed as well.

Ms Leu and Ms Sherman also exchanged views on the latest developments in various regions of the world, such as in Afghanistan. Another topic was Switzerland's protecting power mandate in Iran on behalf of the United States. The parties used this meeting as an opportunity to underscore their excellent bilateral relations and identify ways to consolidate them. During her stay in Bern U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman will also be received by Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis for a courtesy visit.

Address for enquiries

FDFA Communication

Federal Palace West Wing

CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland

Tel. Communication service: +41 58 462 31 53

Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55

E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch

Twitter: @SwissMFA

Publisher

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html




The Senate is split 50-50 between the two parties. However, if a vote were now held to eliminate the filibuster, this split morphs to 48 yeas and 52 nays.

Such a tally allows the filibuster to survive. And it allows the sometimes despised but always wily Mitch McConnell to keep foiling the radical (and rabid) Democrat agenda. Only a simple majority is needed to eliminate the filibuster, but if the filibuster is in play, sixty votes are required to pass legislation.

The Democrats agenda includes HR-1 and HR-4, which would end legitimate elections in the United States. It includes HR-5, which would turn the country into a sexual dystopia. The agenda would also rezone the suburbs, pack the Federal judiciary, grab guns, grant statehood to DC and Puerto Rico, fully implement the Green New Deal, and probably keep the borders open forever.

At the moment, two Democrat Senators stand in the way of all this lunacy becoming law. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are playing Horatius at the Bridge. The fate of this Grand Republic hangs on these two (so far) stalwarts.

Enormous pressure will be brought against the recalcitrant senators. Yet how far can Chuck Schumer push without the two switching party affiliation? Joe is from a very red state and Kyrsten is from a purple state which Biden is likely returning to red.

If Manchin and Sinema remain firm, what are the Democrats options? One thing is for sure, the Dems aren't going to give up.

Their last chance to wrench America towards their socialist paradise is slipping away. The clock ticks ever louder. In 2023 a Republican House is very likely and a Republican Senate is within reach.

Before 2022 expires, Schumer and his crew must reduce the filibuster elimination nays from 52 to 50. Fifty yeas, fifty nays, and Vice President Harris gives the Democrats the win.

Where to get the two votes? Chuck will certainly give it a go with Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). A grandstander Mitt might be, but he leans conservative and is a patriot. Lisa could be tempted, but one Republican turncoat won't do the trick (Chuck needs to flip two votes). Plus, Mitch is extraordinarily good at holding together his caucus.

Outside the Senate chamber currently hangs a No Vacancy sign. Vacancies are created when a senator resigns (think Al Franken, 2018), is expelled (no one since the Civil War), or dies (John McCain, 2018).

From 2001 forward, twenty-six senatorial vacancies have occurred, or roughly twice each Congress. Two vacancies opening up before the end of 2022 is well within the law of averages. For the Dems, though, the right vacancies must happen.

Let us examine the Senate lay of the land (here, here, and here).

There are seven states (KS, KY, LA, ME, NC, PA, WI) that have a Democratic governor and one or two Republican senators. A vacancy in Kentucky or North Carolina is useless to the Democrats, as state law requires the governor to appoint a replacement from the same party. However, in Kansas (2 Republican senators) or in Pennsylvania and Maine (1 Republican senator) the governor can appoint any replacement he/she wants. (Red states should think twice about electing Democrat governors).

Louisiana and Wisconsin require a special election to fill a vacancy. In neither state could Schumer be guaranteed the election would produce a Democrat. However, in Louisiana, the governor can appoint an interim replacement. This replacement would hold office until an election is held (which could take place up to ten months later).

In their desperation would the Democrats try to engineer vacancies?

Expulsion is out, as it requires a two-thirds majority of senators.

Death is the most direct route to creating a vacancy, but even the Democrats would shrink from that. Morality and law aside, no matter how cleverly the Dems tried to disguise an assassination, everyone would know what happened. The backlash at such foul play would be enormous. The Dems would pay terribly at the next election, and even worse, they would surely fear tit for tat retaliation against their own senators.

That leaves resignations, which can be induced by blackmail or bribery.

Blackmail faces the problem that senators have already undergone opposition vetting, both at the primary and general election levels. Unless a senator has committed serious transgressions since being elected  not unheard of  blackmail has nowhere to go.

But money talks.

Would an offer of ten million dollars in an offshore account do the trick? How about 100 million? What about one billion?

Funding such bribes is hardly beyond the ability of the Democrats. The Dems do have plenty of multi-billionaire supporters (we won't name names).

Stay tuned.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
A recent Fox News poll reported that 59% of Democrats have a favorable view of socialism compared with 49% who have a favorable view of capitalism. A few weeks ago, Nancy Pelosi, while speaking at an event in London, commented that capitalism has not served our country as well as it should.

Why all the ill will for capitalism? Conventional wisdom seems to be that the widening gap between the haves and have-nots is driving the shift away from capitalism and toward socialism. The gap is wide and getting wider, but the problem is not with capitalism itself; it is that we no longer have a capitalist economy. We have faux capitalism or a watered-down version.

Capitalism is typically defined by the following characteristics.

Private ownership of the means of production

Profit motive

Minimal government intervention

Competition

Two classes (owners and worker)

Free markets where prices are set by supply and demand, rather than monopolies where prices are set by the seller

But how many of these key characteristics are alive and well within our economic system?

Private owners continue to control the means of production within our economy for the most part. There are exceptions, however, where government has an ownership or a quasi-ownership interest, including Amtrak, USPS, and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac  hardly shining examples that you would want to imitate in the private sector.

Most businesses are still driven by the profit motive, but in the past two years, there has been a push to replace the importance of profits with other objectives. In August 2019, the Business Roundtable, a group of CEOs from the country's largest businesses, issued a revised statement on the purpose of corporations. The group decided that profits were not enough and that corporations must serve all stakeholders  customers, employees, suppliers, communities in which they operate, and shareholders. Interestingly, they did not use the word "profit" when defining their purpose for shareholders. Instead, they said their objective was to create long-term value. There have also been proxy campaigns to elect corporate directors who advocate an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) agenda. These directors view corporate responsibility as including things like climate change, social unrest, and racial inequality, rather than simply making a profit.

Minimal government intervention is almost a laughing point, with government tentacles reaching into most market segments through direct regulation. What is not directly controlled can be manipulated using the federal purse strings or punitive actions. Obviously, some industries are more regulated than others (health care and financial institutions come to mind), but can you name one industry that enjoys freedom from government oversight in all its forms? The risk of non-compliance with government dictates is fines and regulatory enforcement actions that are costly to combat and all but impossible to beat.

Two of the characteristics of capitalism  competition and free markets  are deceptive in that they appear to be alive and well, but on close inspection, they are just as diluted as some of the more obvious. Dr. Jeffrey Miron, head of undergraduate economics at Harvard University, points out in his video, "3 Myths of Capitalism," that competition is good for consumers because it requires owners to work hard to capture market share at a price reasonable to all parties. But what if owners could gain a competitive advantage by buying out their competition or making a political contribution in exchange for favorable legislation that would cripple the competition? The U.S. federal code is chock-full of tax breaks, regulatory advantages, price controls, supply controls, and costly entrance requirements for particular industries and businesses that can reduce or eliminate competition.

Our economy has few monopolies, but it does have an abundance of oligopolies, which are almost as harmful to consumers. We have the illusion of choice when making a purchase or hiring a service, but, in fact, the choices are limited. The four largest airlines control 65% of air travel, and because one of the four usually dominates a regional hub, there is even less competition within a region. Two corporations control 90% of the American beer market, and the four largest banks have 44% of the market. Four companies control about 80% of the meat-packing market, and they also control large portions of the supply chain. Carnival Corporation owns nine cruise lines, including Carnival, Holland America, Cunard, Seaborn, and Princess. Royal Caribbean owns six lines, and Norwegian owns three. About the only line that is not owned by one of these three companies is Disney. So while it may seem as though there is a lot of competition in the cruise market, it just ain't so. Avis, Enterprise, and Hertz account for 95% of the car rental business, although they operate under ten different brand names. Ever notice how Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty often share a location close to an airport? They are all owned by Hertz, so they can reduce overhead with one shared facility and staff.

Consolidation in most industries began in the 1980s when mergers and acquisitions were allowed to sail through. The conservative legal theorist Robert Bork argued that any merger making businesses more efficient must be approved and that a larger scale generally increases efficiency. Sounds reasonable, but with every merger and acquisition, the market becomes more concentrated with few choices. Not only is competition decreased, but by acquiring so many resources, companies also acquire power that can be used to protect their resources. Think about how Mark Zuckerberg used his power and resources during the 2020 election cycle. Surely those campaign contributions, investments in election drop boxes, and grants to Democratic groups were worth a few favorable votes in Congress to keep Facebook in one piece.

Unfortunately, I have no solution to offer, but recognizing the problem is half the battle. Although there has been plenty of criticism, at least we can reasonably argue that the income gap is not due to capitalism. It is because we no longer have a capitalist economy that the gap is becoming as wide as the Grand Canyon.

Image: PublicDomainPictures via Pixabay, Pixabay License.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
In comments made in 2018 and leaked in September 2021, Kemi Badenoch, now British minister for equalities, remarked, "I don't care about colonialism because I know what we were doing before colonialism got there. They came in and just made a different bunch of winners and losers." It is not exactly clear how to interpret this message by a politician, born in 1980 in London of Nigerian parents, who grew up in Nigeria and has been a Conservative member of the British parliament since 2017. However, it suggests a view of "colonialism" different from the woke version, or from the vision of those who have criticized her.

Badenoch had already entered the partisan controversy over the report of the British Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, BCRED, published on March 31, 2021. She defended the report and pointed out the complex picture it presented which differed from the way that issues of race in Britain, as in the U.S., are often presented. The report indicated that racism and discrimination remain a factor in Britain, but also that factors other than racism may account for disparities among ethnic groups. What is important in this analysis is that it does not deny that institutional racism exists in the U.K., but it holds that the term should be used more carefully, and always based on evidence.

Conclusions of the BCRED report challenge general views and imply that there is room for legitimate disagreement and debate on issues of racism and discrimination. And Badenoch's remark recalls that colonialism was not confined to Europeans  and, even with them, lasted only a relatively short time. Colonialism was not invented as a result of the consequences of voyages of Columbus to the Americas, which involved Portugal, Spain, Britain, and the Dutch. Long before Europeans arrived in areas outside Europe, Africans were enslaving other Africans, capturing them by war and raids, and selling them.

Colonization, and racism, which is associated with it in a logical way, go back at least 2,000 years among all manner of peoples. The Passover service commemorates the biblical story of Exodus, which relates the freeing of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Greece colonized Cyrenaica and part of Egypt. Phoenicians established colonies along the coast of North Africa. Carthaginians set up colonies along the Atlantic coast of Africa. Goths, Vandals, Romans, Byzantines, and Ottomans were also involved in colonial activities, some in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf Coast areas. Muhammad, the self-proclaimed "messenger of god," conquered the Arabism peninsula, which led to the invasion of Africa and the Levant, creating a dominant colonial power that extended from the Iberian Peninsula to Pakistan until the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258.

Bernard Lewis in his 1994 book, Race and Slavery in the Middle East, makes clear that in the ancient Middle East, slavery was present among the Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, and other ancient peoples. The Koran assumed the existence of slavery, and Arabs practiced a form of slavery similar to that in other parts of the world. Lewis points out that slaves under Islamic rule could rise, gaining places in the military and even government.

African societies had forms of government that kept and sold slaves. For example, in the early 18th century, Dahomey, on the west coast of Africa, now called Benin, was a colonial power, grown rich by conquest, war, trading prisoners for goods, and slave labor. In the Islamic world, most slaves came from whites from Europe and the Eurasian steppes and blacks from sub-Saharan Africa. The Ottoman Empire obtained its slaves by conquest and capture, mainly from Africa. Slavery existed for centuries in Ethiopia. The abolition of slavery was put into law only in 19356 by the Italian occupiers of the country.

On this controversial and emotional subject of colonialism, three things may be said, perhaps to lower the temperature.

First, the European colonial ventures varied considerably. Probably the worst was Leopold II of Belgium, who ruled the Belgian Congo as his personal property, 18851908, and used forced labor, resulting in 8 million of the 16 million-strong population killed.

One can be amused at but reject the jibe of Sir John Seeley said, that the British Empire was acquired in a fit of absence of mind. The Crusaders sought to reclaim Christian lands. The Conquistadors set up commercial colonies in Mexico and Peru and trade routes but also wanted to convert the natives to Catholicism. Reformers and those with a "civilizing mission" wanted to bring progress and economic modernization to backward people. Portugal created trading posts that lasted as in Macau, in the south coast of China, the Las Vegas of Asia, until 1999 when the area was transferred to China. A number of European countries sought land not only to settle but to produce single-crop products by using slaves or to obtain raw materials. Sugar was a major part of the economy of Caribbean islands, and the plantations produced about 90% of the sugar consumed in Western Europe.

Secondly, Western European countries, if some belatedly, did abolish slavery and the slave trade, or argue against it, as in Britain from the late 18th century, starting with the Dissenters, the Quakers, John Wesley, the evangelist wing of the Church of England: "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." Britain, particularly the Royal Navy, was active around the world from 1807 in suppressing the slave trade.

Thirdly, it is disquieting that non-European colonialism and slavery are rarely mentioned or subject to criticism. The reality is that Africans were involved in slavery, centuries before Europeans were present in Africa. The Barbary Coast slave trade, on the coast of north Africa, was associated with slave markets in Ottoman states, Algeria, Tunisia, Tripolitania, and Morocco. The best-known person captured by the pirates was Miguel Cervantes, in 1575, who was a slave in Algiers for five years. His interest in the question of madness in his Don Quixote probably stems from his experiences as a captive.

The pirate slave traders enslaved more than one million Europeans in North Africa in the 16th to the 18th centuries. The U.S. and other countries paid tribute to prevent raids  until President Thomas Jefferson refused to do so. It is memorable and symbolic for American foreign policy today that the U.S. navy expedition fought gunboats and fortifications in the Tripolitan War, 18011805, and ended the tribute payment.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.

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A US Marine officer, Lt. Colonel Stuart Scheller, publicly criticized the Biden Administrations chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan which left 13 servicemen and women dead at Kabul Airport.

He particularly targeted the top brass of the military, a military to which he devoted his energy and his life to serve, for their abysmal performance in the closing days of the Afghan withdrawal.

Scheller was relieved of his command shortly after he posted a video on Facebook demanding senior officers be held to account for their actions. In the video, Scheller said that he intended to resign his commission.

Facebook video screengrab

In the video, he is heard saying, I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders: I demand accountability.

On September 27, Lt. Colonel Sheller was suddenly arrested and placed in solitary confinement in the military jail at Camp Lejeune, N.C., according to Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Sam Stephenson.

He is held incommunicado, under a gag order, unable even to speak with his parents.

Throwing people into solitary confinement has become, it seems, a repeatable tactic to the current Democrat enforcers.

Under a previous Administration, and under the close, informed, and watchful eye of the current president, political opponents were arrested in the middle of the night or had false charges brought against them and their reputations tarnished. People like Roger Stone, General Michael Flynn, Carter Page, George Papadopoulos.

The Democrats arrested hundreds of citizens who participated in protests at the Capitol Building and placed them in solitary confinement. Hundreds are still held in solitary confinement nine months later. The government demanded that some must plead guilty to charges beyond trespassing even if they had not committed violence or property damage. Released footage, which House Democrats deliberately removed from the evidence presented, shows several of the charged January 6 protesters doing nothing more serious than taking selfies and videos as they toured the Rotunda and hallways. Yet they remain jailed for three-quarters of a year without trial. They have become fodder for a Democrat political fallacy looking for scapegoats in a politically charged prosecution.

Such behavior, whether conducted in military or in political spheres, is deeply corrosive to a democracy, particularly to the one that once promoted itself as a shining city on a hill.

The fate imposed on Scheller is eerily similar to the fate of Colonel Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish French officer who was scapegoated for the crimes of their military establishment and elite officer class.

Dreyfus, despite his rank, was an outsider, as is Scheller.

Dreyfuss case was built around a traitor who was covertly feeding intelligence to the German enemy. The French military refused to believe that one of their favored officers, one with close access to the elites, would do such a thing. So, they went in search of a sacrificial goat. They found it in Dreyfus.

In Americas case, the hullabaloo about Scheller distracts attention away from General Milley who, without authority, contacted the Chinese enemy to assure them that he would give them prior notice should his Commander in Chief, the President of the United States, give an order to attack them.

In Dreyfuss case, the guilty party was a treasonous officer named Esterhazy and it took an incoming head of the French military intelligence, a diligent officer named Georges Piquart, to reveal the real culprit as Esterhazy.

By that time, the Jew Dreyfus has been publicly demoted, shamed, and shipped off to Devils Island, a penal colony off the shores of distant French Guiana in South America.

When the military ruling class was given overwhelming evidence of the guilt of Esterhazy, and their incompetence and cover-up, they shipped Piquart off to a North African battlefront in the hope that he would be killed. When he wasnt, he was imprisoned.

When Marine Colonel Scheller spoke out publicly to demand accountability after thirteen American military personnel had been murdered in Kabul, the top Pentagon officials did what the French did: they relieved him of his duty and confined him to solitary confinement as the French did with Georges Piquart 123 years ago.

When rumors began to circle implicating Esterhazy in the treasonous incident, the French military court hastily held a show trial that acquitted Esterhazy of all wrongdoing.

Despite the banishment of both Dreyfus and Piquart, news circulated about a miscarriage of justice and the evidence of a national cover-up in the top ranks of the French military establishment.

I took a courageous journalist, Emile Zola, to write an article in a leading French newspaper titled J-Accuse! in which he defended Dreyfus and accused the hierarchy of a cover-up.

As a result, Zola was accused and convicted of libel, but he escaped to Britain to continue his righteous campaign for justice for Dreyfus and Piquart.

Dreyfus was shipped back to France to face yet another trial by the same establishment. In 1899, he was again court-martialed and found guilty.

By this time the mood had changed in France and, days after the trial, Dreyfus was pardoned by the French president on all charges. However, it took another seven years before Dreyfus was exonerated and reinstated into the French army, fully twelve years since he was publicly shamed.

It took individual men of courage to face down the political and military establishment in France to change the public mood and restore justice for both Dreyfus and Piquart.

How many courageous individuals, how many years will it take, to bring justice to Lt. Colonel Stuart Scheller and expose the rotten hypocrisy in the top ranks of the Pentagon and the White House?

Let us hope that Scheller will not have to wait for a future president to pardon him.

Barry Shaw publishes The View from Israel.

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Joe Biden (or his puppet master) has a knack for choosing singularly inappropriate people for important government positions. He put a woman with a long history of anti-Semitism into the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and nominated as his preferred ATF head a man so fanatically anti-gun that even Democrats couldn't support him. But with his nomination for comptroller of the currency, a position that involves overseeing banks, Biden has outdone himself. Saule Omarova, who got her B.A. in the Soviet Union, is a Cornell law professor (i.e., an academic, which is already a problem) who hates banks, wants a Soviet-style financial system, and has a friend in Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a very powerful position. As the Wall Street Journal explains:

The OCC is an independent bureau of the Treasury Department. It oversees about 1,200 banks with total assets of $14 trillion, some two-thirds of the total in the U.S. banking system, making it one of the most powerful regulators alongside the Fed and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The powerful Comptroller of the Currency has a seat on the board of the FDIC as well as on the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a panel of senior regulators charged with detecting risks to the financial system. The bulk of the job revolves around supervising the day-to-day operations of the world's largest banks.

Omarova is an...um...interesting choice for this position. She was born and raised in Kazakhstan, in the former Soviet Union. She received her B.A. from Moscow State University  not Moscow in Idaho, but Moscow in the former Soviet Union. She came to American in 1991, but, unlike many expatriates from a communist country, she doesn't seem to have a visceral animus toward a totalitarian social system or a command-and-control economy.

Omarova, who now teaches at Cornell Law School, wrote a wordy, jargon-filled law review article last October, "The People's Ledger: How to Democratize Money and Finance the Economy," in which she proposes doing away with private banking and putting everyone's money into the Federal Reserve system. The goal is to "effectively end banking as we know it." I am no friend of large banks, which are greedy and have obscenely embraced the openly racist Critical Race Theory. Nevertheless, the thought of consolidating every American's money in an entirely federal banking system makes my blood run cold.

The whole idea of a managed money system appeals to Omarova. In 2019, she gave a big cheer for the Soviet economy:

Omarova has been slammed in the past for appearing to praise and support Soviet Union ideals. In 2019, she posted to Twitter in support of the "old USSR" where there was "no gender pay gap." She attempted to do damage control after being criticized for it, but failed to fully condemn the Soviet Union. "I never claimed women and men were treated absolutely equally in every facet of Soviet life. But people's salaries were set (by the state) in a gender-blind manner. And all women got very generous maternity benefits. Both things are still a pipe dream in our society!" she wrote.

Strike one in her comments is that there was no "gender pay gap," a term meaning that men and women receive different salaries for the same work, in the USSR. That doesn't happen in America because it's illegal. Women tend to earn less because they want lower-paying jobs, either because they prefer childcare work (low-paying) to garbage collection (physically hard, often disgusting, sometimes dangerous, and higher pay) or because they actually have children and choose jobs that offer them part- or flex-time work, or that take them off the high-paying career track. That Omarova believes the "gender pay gap" nonsense says she's dumb, ill-informed, or too fanatical to understand facts.

[Monica Showalter adds: The gender pay gap in the old Soviet Union was significant, and that's against a backdrop of likely false, non-transparent, or under-reported statistics, meaning the disparity was likely even higher than what was reported, according to this entry in Wikipedia.]

And then there's that praise for having the state set wages. That ensures, as Winston Churchill understood, that all will share equally in the misery of a state-controlled economy, one heavy on favoritism and low on intelligence, initiative, hard work, creativity, or market forces. Again, this is a dangerous type of ignorance that has no place in the American economy.

No wonder Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a hypocritical millionaire who wants government control over the economy, is so enthused:

"She is an excellent choice to oversee and regulate the activities of our nation's largest banks and I have no doubt she'll be a fearless champion for consumers," Warren said in a Facebook statement.

While I doubt Omarova will be a "fearless champion for consumers," you can bet that Biden's latest nominee will be a fearless champion for government's continued expansion at the expense of individual liberty and the free market.

Image: Saule Omarova (edited in BeFunky). YouTube screen grab.

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I for one am shocked that Tucker Carlson is still alive. I cannot believe that Tucker Carlson has not "committed suicide" with three bullets to the back of the head. I'm stunned that a drunk hit-and-run driver (who was never found) did not kill Tucker Carlson in a car crash near Carlson's home. And I'm a little startled that child porn wasn't "just found" on Carlson's laptop.

In other words, I am very, very surprised that the Deep State has not taken Tucker Carlson out. Maybe the angels are busy protecting him. Maybe it's through God's grace because Tucker is taking on the Deep State in a big and ferocious way.

YouTube screengrab (cropped)

Let's look at some very recent history. How about Seth Rich, Vince Foster, and Jeffrey Epstein? How about the five-year coup against President Trump, from his candidacy through his last days in office? How about treasonous General Milley telling China he would give them a heads-up if an attack were coming? How about the bugging and wire-tapping of Trump Tower when Trump was president-elect? How about the Supreme Court's refusal to hear any 2020 election cases  just plain refused to hear anything? How about the J-6 MAGA protesters still in jail, in solitary confinement, for trespassing? What of a China COVID virus that Washington, D.C. unexplainably refuses to say came from China? What of a vaccine, which really isn't a vaccine, but more of a therapeutic? How about vaccine mandates that are clearly unconstitutional? What about the Biden cabal completely leaving open our borders, which violates the U.S. Constitution? What of patriots (conservatives/Christians/constitutionalists) being removed from the military? What of the Russia Collusion lie? And more and more and more. So a discussion of Tucker Carlson having an early demise seems appropriate and reasonable.

It appears that there really are very few individuals who have the internal strength to lead the patriots with their opposition to Biden and the Deep State cabal. Obviously, President Trump and Governor DeSantis of Florida are fighting the good fight and running the good race. President Trump and Governor DeSantis are the people with whom patriots want to share a foxhole while we are at war. But Tucker Carlson is for sure in the same league in fighting the opposition. We must put Carlson along with President Trump and Governor DeSantis in fighting for America and Americans and putting America first. Trump, DeSantis, and Carlson are the troika of leadership in the opposition to the Biden Deep State cabal.

Patriots remember how Fox treated President Trump on Election Night and then the next day. Patriots still do not trust Fox and thus have not returned to Fox. But the exception on Fox is Tucker. Without Tucker Carlson, Fox would look a lot like CNN lite. But Carlson gives the network "street cred" with the patriots who want to hear the unvarnished truth. More than any other, Tucker Carlson speaks truth to power. And that is a very dangerous position to be in today.

Tucker Carlson is bold, aggressive, and smart. His 20-minute monologues are as if he reads our minds and understands our fears on a nightly basis. Carlson appears not to care about the physical dangers and threats to life that are almost assuredly happening. One must wonder if Carlson has his own bodyguards and also if his family does. One must also wonder if he has to pay for his own security detail or if Fox pays for it. With what Biden, the Deep State, leaders of the military, and leaders of the FBI, CIA, and NSA did to President Trump, Trump's family, General Flynn, Roger Stone, and Rudy Giuliani, you would think Tucker Carlson is indeed in huge danger. Carlson calls out all of these rogues, criminals, and traitors as if they were in fact rogues, criminals, and traitors. And he does it with brilliance, passion, and wit. He is unashamed and unwavering. He's a warrior.

In other countries, at other times, Tucker Carlson would have been poisoned, duped with prostitutes, canceled, blackmailed, physically threatened, or cowed. Oh, wait a minute  that does appear to be what our present political leadership is doing today to the opposition in America. You really cannot make up just how far America has fallen since the 2020 election, the placement of Biden, and up to today. We look more like China, Venezuela, and Russia than the America of just a few years ago.

Tucker Carlson is fighting the good fight against the political leadership of America, which looks an awful lot like 1984 or Animal Farm rather than Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. He is taking on the most powerful, unethical, and brutal, the least religious, the most secular Washingtonians who have ever existed in our countries history. Ever. Yet Carlson still breathes today. Somehow.

Not sure what life and the future hold for Tucker Carlson. Again, one only needs to look at Epstein, Rich, Trump, and the others to realize that it is a scary and dangerous position to be in. Being the unofficial spokesperson for the opposition is indeed perilous. It is an awesome responsibility when you are leading the opposition against one of the most evil administrations in American history. Yet Carlson still lives. Here's to praying that the angels abound around Tucker and his family.

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As a conservative bordering on a libertarian, I hate to admit it President Obama was right about anything, but the fact is that he was right when, in 2020, he voiced his concerns about Joe Biden's presidential candidacy and warned allies not to underestimate Biden's ability to "f--- things up." Yes, President Obama, even though I vehemently disagreed with your politics, as a judge of character, you were spot on. We should have listened.

If anything, the two days of congressional hearings by the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs have proven that there is either extreme cognitive dissonance between our nation's most senior military leadership and the Executive Branch or one or the other is misrepresenting the facts.

As we know, President Biden, in a recent television interview, when asked about military advice to keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, insisted, "No one said that to me that I can recall." Yet during this week's testimony, both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commander of U.S. Central Command stated that at least 2,500 troops were required to guard against a rapid collapse of the Kabul government and a return to a cruel Taliban rule.

I suspect that somewhere in between lies the truth, but, ultimately, the commander-in-chief bears the responsibility for our "strategic failure" in Afghanistan. He alone should be held accountable.

Not only have we lost face among some of our closest allies, such as Great Britain, but we have also essentially returned Afghanistan into a staging base for further, and perhaps more sophisticated, terrorist attacks on our homeland. The Taliban are stronger now than they were pre-9/11 thanks to our leaving behind millions of dollars of state-of-the-art technology and weaponry that will ultimately be used against us.

As a member of the armed forces for over thirty years, I can assure you that the administration's strategy of conducting "over the horizon" counter-terrorism strikes is doomed to failure. We saw the results of such a strategy gone bad when we incorrectly targeted a car loaded with children, believing that it had members of ISIS-K. Let's not kid ourselves about our capabilities to do targeted anti-terrorism strikes: Afghanistan is a landlocked country where overflight rights must be obtained first by her neighbors in order to launch airstrikes or reinsert boots on the ground.

Under Obama, in a similar strategic situation, thenvice president Biden advocated our early withdrawal from Iraq, a move that gave rise to the ISIS caliphate and the needless expenditure of human life and capital. Do I see a pattern here? In both instances, the date of our withdrawal was clearly "telegraphed" to our respective adversary which goes against the grain of all principles of war.

A safe, timely non-combatant evacuation or NEO of American Citizens in-country could have been conducted. This is one of the primary missions of the 82nd Airborne Division and our afloat Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs). Evidently, though, the State Department did not want to raise undue concern.

Yes, President Obama, though I doubted you while in office, we should have listened to you. In the past few weeks, we have witnessed a preventable debacle in which we squandered the lives of young American service members and set the stage for our eventual return to right a bad yet preventable wrong. I suspect your advice will continue to be prescient. Perhaps we should now take heed and do what we can to insulate ourselves from Joe's ability to "f--- things up."

Image: Joe Biden (modified in BeFunky). Rumble screen grab.

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Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller sits jailed at the moment, a political prisoner of the Biden administration. He had the audacity to open his mouth, tell the truth, and demand accountability over the Afghanistan debacle. Instead of accepting his resignation, Biden's minions orchestrated a situation whereby the Marine Corps refused his resignation and threw him in jail for the truth he had told.

Lt. Col. Scheller was just doing his job as a Marine. He's a hero.

Do not worry  being thrown into the brig is something that happens to "real Marines" from time to time. As the most famous Devil Dog of them all once said:

"Take me to the Brig. I want to see the real Marines." Chesty Puller

Never heard of Chesty Puller? Doesn't take much to understand why he's the Devil Dog favorite. He said a litany of brilliant, hilarious, and motivating things, right there in the middle of real-life combat. For example, while surrounded in Korea, he famously stated:

"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us ... they can't get away this time." Chesty Puller

We need to make sure Lt. Col. Scheller is set free as soon as possible.

But do not fear for him. He's made of the strongest stuff there is. He will make it out alive  and then he will be an unstoppable force and endless headache to the nefarious. Mark my words.

Jarrad Winter is a dad, U.S. Marine, developer, engineer, white-hat hacker, and slayer of tyranny.

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Public school students have been subjected to school shutdowns, online learning at home, social distancing, Plexiglas cubicles, all-day mask-wearing, and now vaccinations with an experimental drug that is causing myocarditis and other serious reactions in healthy children.

At the university level, at least 78 students at LSU who have refused vaccination have been unenrolled from the university, with 50 percent of their tuition forfeited. The University of Virginia unenrolled 238 students for not complying with its vaccine mandate. Penn State has suspended students who failed to get their weekly COVID test. Hundreds of other universities have mandated the vaccine for this fall, with some even reimposing mask mandates on fully vaccinated students due to the rise in delta variant cases.

Yet illegal aliens cross the southern border without being asked to show proof of vaccination. They're not required to wear masks or to distance themselves even though they're bringing in communicable diseases.

With the resettlement of thousands of Afghans in 46 states, there is the frightening chance of an epidemic of diseases that have been all but wiped out in America.

According to the CDC, there have already been outbreaks of viruses such as varicella, mumps, tuberculosis, malaria, leishmaniasis, hepatitis A, and the coronavirus. Most frightening of all is the possibility of an outbreak of polio, which can lead to paralysis and even death. Afghans also are expected to bring in gastrointestinal infections, including shigellosis, giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis, hepatitis A, rotavirus, and viral diarrheal diseases.

These migrants are flooding our already packed classrooms for a free education at the expense of the American taxpayer.

To further complicate matters, numerous foreign languages are spoken within a classroom, and the children are unaccustomed to our culture  in some cases, they don't know how to use a toilet. These children require an enormous amount of a teacher's time at the expense of American students.

Trying to maintain some semblance of order in a room filled with non-English-speaking children from widely different backgrounds and academic levels is overwhelming for a teacher who is already under high stress. We're going to see an exodus of teachers from public education, leaving schools badly understaffed.

The solution will be to seat an entire classroom in front of computers all day, supervised by a tech monitor. It's impossible for the vast majority of children to learn in this fashion.

Our government school students were already significantly behind their international peers academically with the unconstitutional federal change in the primary purpose of education from academic to workforce learning and Marxist indoctrination.

American taxpayers are spending billions of dollars to educate our children, but this is what they're getting. It's time for parents to remove their children from government schools and provide them an academic education with free-market solutions.

Carole Hornsby Haynes is an education policy analyst, historian, and editor of the Haynes Report. www.drcarolehhaynes.com; chaynes@drcarolehhaynes.com

Image: Tim Suess.

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Many Biden watchers have long observed Jill Bidens grasping obsession with becoming the First Lady. Throughout the campaign as Joe Bidens failing mental abilities became more and more obvious, did she love him enough to end it? Oh no, not Jill. She continued on with her elder abuse.

One explanation may be her long fascination with Edith Wilson. She admired and apparently coveted the role that Mrs. Wilson filled after President Woodrow had a stroke in October 1919. Edith Wilson hid the seriousness of her husbands condition and took over the job of running the country until the end of his term in March 1921. While Edith claimed only to be a steward of her husbands presidency and that she took over with the full approval of his doctors, in truth she was quite a bit more controlling than she said. Consider this passage from the Edith Wilson Wikipedia page:

Edith took her role very seriously, even successfully pushing for the removal of Secretary of State Robert Lansing after he conducted a series of Cabinet meetings without the President (or Edith herself) present. She also refused to allow the British ambassador, Edward Grey, an opportunity to present his credentials to the president unless Grey dismissed an aide who was known to have made demeaning comments about her. She assisted President Wilson in filling out paperwork, and would often add new notes or suggestions. She was made privy to classified information, and was entrusted with the responsibility of encoding and decoding encrypted messages.

Woodrow Wilson had his first stroke at age 39 in 1895 which left him with weakness in his right arm and hand. He had several more minor strokes but recovered, though it took a year before he was able to use his hand to write. In 1912 he suffered from several more Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs). A month after his inauguration he experienced yet another neurological episode which left his left arm and hand weakened. His brain was being damaged by cerebral vascular disease. He continued to suffer from painful headaches and high blood pressure. This was all hidden from the public who elected him to a second term in 1916.

Perhaps this medical history explains Wilsons overt racism, a form of mental illness. Edward Weinstein, a professor of neurology wrote a book about Wilson: Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography. He noted Wilsons increased paranoid and suspicious nature; after the strokes, he became more secretive, more egocentric. Sound familiar?

Joe Biden had two aneurysms when he was 45. He underwent two surgeries, one in February, one in May of 1988. He has also undergone plastic surgery on his face and a hair transplant on his scalp. Thats a lot of anesthesia and invasive procedures above the neck for one man. Is it any wonder he is losing his grip on reality? And if anyone has been painfully aware of his decline it is Jill Biden.

Why on earth did she not put an end to his campaign? Perhaps because she planned or hoped to reprise Edith Wilsons role when the time came. Nothing else explains her stubborn and cruel dedication to Joes presidential aspirations. Did she look forward to following in the footsteps of Edith Wilson?

What if it was Jill who urged Joe to overrule the military brass about fleeing Afghanistan in the middle of the night and insisted that he give the order that even Joe would not have given if he had been sentient? The Dunning-Kreuger effect is a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area. This tends to occur because a lack of self-awareness prevents them from accurately assessing their own skills. Is not that a perfect analysis of not-a-doctor Dr. Jill?

If the Biden presidency were a TV movie-of-the-week, couldnt we all see her pushing her poor husband who is slipping into dementia to be her placeholder until she can effectively take over his job? This would explain Bidens repudiation of the advice given by Milley, Austin, and McKenzie, if what they have testified is true, that they each advised leaving at least 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. Dr. Jill, like Joe, wanted a big, heroic speech for the 20th-anniversary memorial for 9/11, and Jill, having exactly zero military expertise but believing in her own superior intelligence, might have either insisted Joe order the thoroughly untimely withdrawal or she conveyed it to them herself in his name as the Edith Wilson of this administration.

In July 2020 Stephen Kruiser wrote a column titled Jill Biden Wants to Trash Her Husbands Dignity to be Edith Wilson 2.0 positing the notion that it was Jill running for President. He followed up in June 2021, reiterating his belief that Jill Bidens Edith Wilson moment had arrived. Given the tragedies that have accompanied the abandonment of Afghanistan, Generals Milley, Austin and McKenzie cannot be excused for following orders the consequences of which they knew would be grievous.

Is not one of them familiar with the Nuremberg Defense? Following order does not confer innocence but may lessen punishment. These three generals should all be forced to resign, no matter who gave the order to abandon Bagram and Afghanistan to the Taliban. Instead, as we saw in two days of testimony in the Senate and House, not one of the three will accept responsibility for the tragic outcome of their actions.

Did they suspect those orders might have come from Jill given Joes impairment? Would they, under those possible circumstances, carry out such a catastrophic plan doomed to failure and death? Just speculating here but given Jills aggressive ambition to live in the White House and her admiration for Edith Wilson, especially given her carefully planned photo-op at the Presidential desk on Air Force One awhile back, one has to wonder.

Jill Biden must be well aware of how her family has achieved their massive wealth. She must feel some level of gratitude to China for much of it thanks to her husbands and stepsons many illicit deals made with that country. Then there are the millions given to the Biden Center at the University of Pennsylvania. See Miranda Devines book, Laptop from Hell. With the withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden has handed China potentially trillions of dollars of mineral wealth. Joe and Jills grifter ways of saying thank you?

We wont know the answers to what precipitated the most ruinous foreign policy blunder in US history for years to come, but one day the truth will become known. Chances are though that Jill had much to do with making it happen for it is she who controls Joe. It is likely that he would listen to her over anyone else. It will be decades before there is full knowledge of the horrific damage done by this administration both domestically and on the world stage.

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As of this week, ten states and the District of Columbia require all students and teachers to wear face masks in the public schools. Not surprisingly, these are mostly blue states  California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington. Eight states prohibit school districts from forcing students to mask up. These are Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Florida, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah. The remaining thirty-two states leave the decision up to the local school district.

The drawbacks of wearing facial masks are well known. The ones that are typically used have been shown in numerous studies to be ineffective in preventing the spread of a virus. How could it be otherwise? The viral droplets are many times smaller than the mesh openings in the masks. Are we to believe that the masks are somehow magical when it comes to the COVID virus? It defies not just science, but common sense to think the masks can prevent a respiratory viral infection, no matter what the CDC says.

And if that's not bad enough, prolonged wearing of a mask has been shown to be unhealthy. It has caused an uptick in bacterial pneumonia, fungal infections, and facial rashes and, in some cases, CO2 poisoning. Again, how can it be otherwise when the wearer is constantly re-breathing what he just exhaled, including CO2 and bacteria?

Then there's the lasting psychological damage done to kids by forcing them to wear a mask throughout the school day, including their bus rides to and from school. This is nothing short of child abuse.

So why do so many K12 districts (like mine), which aren't forced by the state to require masks in the schools, do it anyway? Look at reality to find the answer.

In the public education system, the elected school boards are supposed to be the voice of the people. They have the authority to say how schools are run...if they use it. As to masks, board members can't be oblivious to the fact that they are ineffective and unhealthy. So why mandate them? They do it because, more often than not, the districts have become impotent in the face of the teachers' unions. These boards are nothing but sock puppets for the education establishment. When you get right down to it, the actual role the school board plays is to give a veneer of citizen control over the schools while rubber-stamping what the school administration and union want. Simply put, the unions, which are jointed at the hip with the Democrat party, want masks. And no doubt union pressure for masks in schools was a major factor in getting ten states to mandate them across the board.

The teacher unions have had a pernicious effect on all aspects of the K12 system. The unions helped in lowering academic standards, enforcing political correctness in the classroom, teaching anti-Americanism, bloating the cost structure, cutting parents out of the loop, and now supporting absurdities like Critical Race Theory and mask mandates. Public education is too large and too corrupt to expect it to be reformed. The answer is for more and more parents to choose either homeschooling or private schools for the education of their kids.

Image via Pexels.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
Nationwide, we are experiencing increasingly promoted racial division. Ironically, this is transpiring when so many advances and improvements in racial equality have been legalized and the majority of Americans willingly accept them.

Unfortunately, however, some cannot accept the greater realization of Dr. Martin Luther King's dream that his children (and all) be judged by the content of their character and not their skin color. Instead, past history is pushed as if it is current history.

If that isn't enough to promote division, we're seeing a series of hoaxes trying to create racist scenarios where none exist. Hoaxers plaster racist slurs against Black people in public places to create the impression of a racial attack by a White person, only to learn they were created by a Black person. Statistically, there are hundreds of such actions nationwide. Remember Jussie Smollett?

Then there are crimes or homicides involving two different races  but they are considered hate crimes only if the criminal and the victim check off specific racial boxes. If the victim and the perpetrator don't check those boxes, there's a disturbing lack of equality of outrage. There are several indications of this "hate crime inequality" in my city, St. Louis, Missouri.

Most recently an Asian man, Chen-Hsyong Yang, 72 years old, was carjacked by a Black man and, subsequently, run over by the perpetrator, thus getting killed. Carmain Milton was arrested. Although the victim and suspect were of different races, not a hint was raised that it could have been a hate crime.

Several years ago, Black youths attacked and murdered an elderly Vietnamese man. Not long after that crime, a Myanmar refugee, working as a clerk in a convenience store, was robbed and murdered by a Black man. Once again, not a hint of a hate crime was raised.

These are just several out of perhaps hundreds or even thousands of crimes where hate crimes are not equally considered, evoked, or charged.

Most recently, a high school here experienced vandalism of racist graffiti against Blacks in several rooms. Both staff and students protested loudly, often obscenely, with staff and students walking out of class and school. It was assumed by a majority that the perpetrator had to be White. However, later it was discovered that the vandal was Black.

The staff and students were silent. No outrage, no protest, no evident anger. Four years previously, the same school experienced a similar scenario of racist graffiti vandalism against Blacks. However, one sign stated, "White lives matter"  and that too was considered racist, which is incomprehensible if one genuinely believes that "all lives do matter." Indicating that any other race's lives matter should not be a threat to one's own race.

These are just several instances in only one locality where guilt or guilty parties are not treated equally. How great is the number nationally? If attacking, harming, or murdering someone of one race by a person of another race results in a hate crime charge, it should be justly applied to all. If writing racist graffiti and vandalizing buildings is considered offensive, outrageous, and a crime, it should be considered equally and justly with the same measure of outrage, regardless of the race of the person committing the vandalism.

America's Constitution and Bill of Rights promise justice and equality  particularly equality, which is understood as equal treatment under the law. However, both legally and socially, the trend appears to pursue distinctively unequal treatment and inequality. The Civil Rights struggle worked long and hard for equal treatment and legal action. It did not struggle for dissimilar or privileged treatment or legal action.

Will Americans ever be equal? That's a valid question. The answer is "no" if laws divide and segregate by race, a pernicious behavior we thought was over in America. Americans will be equal only if every law includes all people, and if society is encouraged to treat perpetrators of racist actions and crimes absolutely and entirely the same regardless of race  that is, equally.

Surely, St. Louis is not alone in experiencing unequal treatment and legal actions. "Content of character," not "skin color," remains the ideal to guide just and equal laws and social responses and ensure that all Americans are equal. Let pursue this aim without delay and with all due diligence.

Image: Black and White hands by Aaron Blanco Tejedor.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
Not many smartphones out there have a 4K display, and theres a good reason for it. 4K displays are a huge battery drain, and many would argue theres no benefit from having one on a display. Well, Sony disagrees, obviously, but so does Xiaomi, it seems. Xiaomi is planning to announce its first smartphone with a 4K display, based on a new listing.

First Xiaomi smartphone with 4K display popped up in China

Such a device popped up on TENAA, Chinas equivalent to the FCC. Not only does the listing include some specs of the phone, but it shows the device as well, in images.

If you take a look at the gallery below, youll get to see this phone. I had to zoom in quite a bit to notice it, but the phone does have a display camera hole, and its centered. This handset also includes a curved display.

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There seems to be quite a large camera included on the back, which is accompanied by two additional camera sensors. The camera system is not detailed in this listing, though.

The phone is said to measure 158.34 x 71.5 x 6.98mm, and weigh 166 grams. That suggests it will be quite compact, well, considering the competition. This phone may actually be usable with one hand, without causing serious hand fatigue.

A 4,400mAh battery will be included, along with 16GB of RAM

A 4,400mAh battery is also mentioned here, and the device will be equipped with 16GB of RAM, and up to 512GB of storage. That sure does suggest this will be a high-end phone, even though its SoC isnt detailed. Well, the listing does say that the SoC will be clocked at 2.4GHz.

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Android 11 will come pre-installed, says the listing, though by the time it gets announced, that may change. Android 12 is right around the corner, and it all depends on when Xiaomi plans to launch this thing.

Its OLED display will measure 6.55 inches, by the way, that is also mentioned in the listing. Thats quite interesting, as youd guess the display will be larger considering its a 4K panel.

Now, even though TENAA is usually spot on with its information, theres a small chance theres an error here, and that 4K resolution got listed by mistake. Well have to wait and see.
HONOR is allegedly still planning to launch its first foldable before the end of this year. The device will have a familiar design, a tipster says.

This information comes from a Chinese tipster, who shared the info via Weibo. He says that the phone will be called the HONOR Magic X, and that it will have a rather familiar design.

The first foldable from HONOR may still launch in Q4 this year

The HONOR Magic X will allegedly resemble the Huawei Mate X2 when it comes to the design. That also means that it will resemble the Galaxy Z Fold 2 and 3, as the Mate X2 got inspired by those devices.

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So, what can we expect? Well, if the tip is accurate, the phone will include a foldable main display, and a secondary display on the outside. The device will fold and unfold like youd open and close a book.

The Magic X is also tipped to use foldable panels provided by BOE and Visionox. Previous rumors suggested that the phone will include an 8-inch foldable display, and a 6.5-inch cover panel.

The device will ship with Google services pre-installed

Now, the HONOR Magic X, if it gets announced soon, will ship with Google services pre-installed. HONOR is no longer banned by the US, as it split from Huawei. The US is considering whether to ban HONOR again, but that hasnt happened just yet, and its possible it wont at all.

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HONOR will soon bring its X50 series to the global market, and this foldable, if it gets announced, is also expected to make it to global markets. Its likely HONOR will first announce it in China, though.

When it comes to its specs, we dont have any information, other than the display information weve mentioned. The phone will likely offer high-end specifications, though, and be made out of premium materials.

Lets hope HONOR will share more information soon, as it will be interesting to see what can the company make when it comes to foldable phones.
(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 1 - Italy's COVID-19 incidence has continued on a downward trend while the Rt transmission number is steady, according to a draft of the latest coronavirus monitoring report of the health ministry and the Higher Health Institute (ISS).

The report said Italy registered 37 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants in the period from September 24 to 30, compared to 45 in last week's report.

Experts say it is possible to trace and track cases if the incidence is below 50.

It said the Rt number was 0.83 in the period of September 8 to 21, while it was 0.82 in last week's report.

A Rt over 1 indicates that the epidemic is in a phase of expansion.

The report said the pressure the coronavirus is exerting on Italy's health service was down slightly. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 1 - Carlo Fidanza, an MEP for the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, said Friday that he was suspending himself after an investigative report by the Fanpage online newspaper into alleged attempts to gain off-the-books funding.

Fanpage's investigative journalist, who posed as a businessman interested in funding the party in exchange for benefits for his firm, also took footage of meetings via a hidden camera in which participants made racist, sexist and anti-Semitic comments.

A report published on Fanpage's website and broadcast by La7 television even included footage of people expressing admiration for Hitler.

"After last night's packaged report by Fanpage and broadcast by (La7 show) Piazzapulita, I want to reiterate to my friends, voters and all of my party that I have never received illegal funding," Fidanza said in a statement.

"I have never had any extremist, racist or anti-Semitic attitudes.

"I consider it appropriate to suspend myself from all party roles and activities in order to protect Brothers of Italy from attacks that seek to take advantage of the situation".

During one meeting, the undercover reporter was allegedly asked to make a contribution to a FdI candidate running for the Milan city council and told he could make the payment off-the-books at a bar.

A person convicted of apology of Fascism who allegedly organized such operations allegedly told the reporter that he had a series of "washing machines" that he used to launder campaign contributions.

FdI leader Giorgia Meloni said there was no space for racism or anti-Semitism in her nationalist party.

She added that she would not judge anyone on the basis of an edited video report and asked Fanpage to turn over all the footage it had recorded.

Ruth Dureghello, the president of Rome's Jewish Community, expressed dismay.

"There can be no space in parties within the realm of the Constitution for those who do Fascist salutes, pay homage to Hitler and insult Jews and black people," Dureghello said via Twitter.

FdI Milan council candidate Chiara Valcepina said she had issued a writ warning Fanpage and La7 against re-transmitting the report. (ANSA).


MADRID - An "unprecedented' exhibition on the Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini was inaugurated Thursday evening in Barcelona.



The show bills itself as enabling visitors to "discover new aspects of the personality and work" of Fellini, such as "scripts, contracts, letters, drawings, photos of scenes and his private life, posters, objects from his sets and costumes, accompanied by rare and previously unseen videos including some interviews with the director", organizers said.



The exhibition is entitled "The Centenary. Fellini in the World" and will be open to the public from Friday to January 9, 2022 in the Catalan capital at the Center for Culture and Memory of Born.



It was organized by the Italian Institute for Culture and was sponsored by the Italian embassy in Madrid and the Barcelona town council.



The project for its exhibition was curated by Vincenzo Mollica, Alessandro Nicosia, and Francesca Fabbri Fellini, and was sponsored by the Italian foreign ministry to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the director's birth (1920).



Prior to arriving in Barcelona, the exhibition had been on display in eight other cities: Moscow, San Paolo, Vilnius, Tirana, Ljubljana, St Petersburg, Buenos Aires, and Kiev.



The exhibition was inaugurated on Thursday evening in the presence of Italian Consul to Barcelona Emanuele Manzitti, Italian Institute of Culture director Lucio Izzo, and representatives of local institutions.



"The Maestro," Manzitti said, "for his creativity, is considered a true citizen of Barcelona, a member of the Italian community living here." Ambassador to Spain Riccardo Guariglia said that the exhibition is a "tangible sign" of the "will and ability of Italian culture to be ever more aline and active in the most critical of periods".
Lebanon sets up team to negotiate with IMF To get out of prolonged crisis

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, OCT 1 -The Lebanese government under Prime Minister Najib Miqati has officially set up a team to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the country to get access to long-awaited aid to get out of the worst financial crisis it has experienced in decades.



On Friday morning, Lebanese media reported that the team had been set up after talks between Miqati and President Michel Aoun, at the head of one of the parties of the government coalition and the parliamentary majority.



The team includes Deputy Prime Minister Saade Shami, Finance Minister Yussef Khalil, Economy Minister Amin Salam, Central Bank governor Riad Salame, and two advisors close to the Lebanese presidency.



It is not clear when and how the much-awaited talks will begin between the Lebanese government and the IMF.



They had begun under the previous government under Hassan Diab but were soon interrupted due to political disaccord between Lebanese parties.



Lebanese declared bankruptcy in March 2020.(ANSAmed). (ANSAMed).




WASHINGTON DC - An al-Qaeda commander, Salim Abu-Ahmad, was killed Sept. 20 by a US airstrike, CENTCOM confirmed Thursday. Abu-Ahmad was in a vehicle in a rural area in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib and had been in charge of planning, financing, and approving attacks at an "trans-regional" level for al-Qaeda, CENTCOM said, underscoring that there had been no reports of civilian victims caused by the airstrike.
TUNIS - Tunisian president Kais Saied on Friday in Carthage received the newly designated prime minister, Najla Bouden, for talks on government formation.



A statement issued by the president's office noted that this meeting is part of several talks underway for this purpose and that they must be based on "criteria of patriotism and implementation possibilities" for Tunisia to move in a new direction and comply with the population's legitimate demands.



In addressing Bouden, Saied said that he was "certain that you will succeed in this mission that you have accepted".



On the new government team, Saied stressed that "we will not accept any interference in our decisions. The choices will be based on patriotism and the ability to succeed, far from those who act as vampires towards Tunisians".



He added that "we will not give in to any intimidation or blackmail and those wanting to sabotage us will come up against a thick wall that will fall on top of them".



A sticking point remains the fact that the government is not expected to be put to a vote of confidence in the parliament, which opponents and MPs say is unconstitutional.



According to Decree 117 of Sept. 22, "the executive power is exercised by the President of the Republic assisted by a government under a head of government".



About 80 MPs said that they planned on Friday to go to parliament to resume work and draw up a timeline with a date for early elections.



The assembly has been closed since July 25, when Saied decided to remove Prime Minister Mechichi and suspend work in the parliament.



He also revoked immunity for MPs, invoking Article 80 of the country's constitution.


A new public health body with a focus on prevention to help reduce the pressure on overstretched NHS services has been launched.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) will work to tackle unacceptable health inequalities across the country and combat the top preventable risk factors for poor health, including obesity, smoking and alcohol consumption, the Government said.

It comes as Public Health England (PHE) is replaced, with the OHID taking on responsibility for health improvement and the new UK Health Security Agency focusing on health protection.

The Government said the OHID would be the driving force to level up the nations health, adding that men in the most deprived areas are expected to die nearly 10 years younger  seven for women  than those in affluent areas.

Smoking is also more prevalent in deprived areas and one of the leading causes of inequalities in life expectancy, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said, while obesity is almost 8% more prevalent in the most deprived areas.

The new body aims to prevent illness before it develops and save significant money and resource, the DHSC said.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: The pandemic has laid bare the health disparities we face not only as a country, but as communities and individuals.

This must change and this body marks a new era of preventative healthcare to help people live healthier, happier and longer lives.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities will be the driving force across government, supported by communities, academics, industry and employers, to level up the health of our nation, which will reduce the pressure on our NHS and care services.

Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, will provide professional leadership to the OHID.

He said: Health inequalities in England are stark and they are challenging to address but it is important we do so.

People across the country can live in better health for longer. OHID will support people to do so with an evidence-based approach.

Reducing health inequalities and keeping people in better health for longer is in everyones interest  it is good for the individual, families, society, the economy and NHS.

Thats why OHID will work collaboratively across the national, regional and local levels as well as with the NHS, academia, the third sector, scientists, researchers and industry.

PHE was formed in 2013 under the Governments NHS reforms laid out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
Chart-topping rapper Nines has been jailed for 28 months for importing 28kg of cannabis into the UK from Spain and Poland.

The musician, real name Courtney Freckleton, 31, was known as Big Boss by his fellow conspirators in the large-scale cannabis importing operation.

The father of two used the encrypted messaging service Encrochat to message an unknown exporter who used the handle MicroBird to arrange shipments of cannabis, which they referred to as Cali.

Some of the cannabis was imported inside boilers brought into the UK from Poland, the court heard.

Nines, who last year topped the UK album chart with his third studio release Crabs In A Bucket, appeared at Harrow Crown Court in north-west London on Friday alongside Jason Thompson, 35.

Nines, of Barbican, central London, and Thompson, of Barnet, north London, admitted conspiracy to import the class B drug cannabis into the UK from Poland and Spain and conspiracy to transfer criminal cash between March 10 and July 3 last year.

Judge Rosa Dean sentenced each to 28 months in prison, saying: What a waste of all of that talent, to be sat in Wormwood Scrubs.

The plot involved one successful importation and a second attempted one, with a total amount of 28kg, the court heard.

Prosecutor Genevieve Reed said the money laundering charge related to a 98,000 debt, the value of the drugs, and the use of Bitcoin to buy the cannabis.

The men were arrested in June in police raids across London and Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, in an operation following on from the infiltration of Encrochat.

Jason Thompson (Metropolitan Police/PA)

The network, used by thousands of criminals internationally, was brought down by law enforcement last year after being hacked by French investigators.

Nines has previously been imprisoned for 18 months for possession of cannabis with intent to supply.

Nines, originally from Harlesden, north-west London, was named best hip-hop act at the Mobo Awards last year.

His chart-topping third album, which beat heritage metal band Metallica to number one on its release, secured album of the year, seeing off competition from Stormzy, J Hus, Lianne La Havas and Mahalia.
A High Court judge has questioned the wisdom of a BBC science programme experiment which left a presenter with brain and spine injuries.

Mrs Justice Yip said she found it astonishing that anyone thought that the exercise, in which presenter Jeremy Stansfield simulated a road traffic collision, was a sensible idea.

The judge said there was evidence that the BBC had been warned of the danger, yet allowed the experiment to proceed.

She has aired her thoughts in a ruling after Mr Stansfield, who is known as Jem, claimed damages from the BBC.

The judge, who had overseen a trial at the High Court in London earlier this year, on Friday awarded Mr Stansfield 1.6 million.

She said Mr Stansfield had been presenting an episode of Bang Goes The Theory in 2013 and had assumed the role of a human crash test dummy for a feature about the relative safety of forward and rearward facing child car seats.

Mr Stansfield, now 50, was hurt while conducting a series of crash tests, then aged 42.

He was strapped into a rig like a go-cart which was propelled along a track into a post, said Mrs Justice Yip in a written ruling.

In the introduction to the piece, the claimant explains that he had calculated the experiment to give a similar crash profile to hitting a lamppost in a real car in an urban environment.

The crashes were performed forwards and backwards twice each.

It is not in dispute, and perhaps not surprising, that the claimant suffered some injury.

She added: I must say that I find it astonishing that anyone thought that this exercise was a sensible idea.

Jeremy Stansfield leaving the Royal Courts of Justice, London (Yui Mok/PA)

On his own account to camera, the claimant was simulating a road traffic collision of the sort that commonly causes injury.

It might be thought that someone of his intelligence and scientific background might have appreciated the risk.

Indeed, in the finished piece, he rather prosaically observes: I wouldnt recommend this.

Equally, there was evidence that the BBC had actively sought advice, been warned of the danger, yet allowed the experiment to proceed.

The judge said she had not been required to determine liability for the injuries sustained by Mr Stansfield.

That aspect of the case was resolved by agreement between the parties, she said.

They have agreed to share responsibility for the injuries and resultant losses flowing from the crash tests to the extent that the BBC will meet two thirds of the claim.

BBC Maida Vale Studios in London (Ian West/PA)

She said her task had been to make findings as to the nature and extent of the claimants injuries and to assess the resultant damages.

The judge said the parties had agreed that Mr Stansfield should recover two thirds of the damages assessed as being caused by injuries he sustained when carrying out the crash tests.

Mr Stansfield said he had been left with with a constellation of symptoms producing a significant decline in his health, which and impaired all aspects of his life, particularly his ability to work.

He said he had lost more than 3 million in potential future earnings.

The BBC argued that little more than a moderate whiplash injury with depressive symptoms could properly be attributed to the crash tests.

BBC bosses argued that Mr Stansfield should get only modest damages.

I have found that the claimant was caused injury to his brain, spine and audio-vestibular system in the crash tests, she Mrs Justice Yip in her ruling.

While none of the physical injuries were particularly severe, the combined effect together with a psychiatric reaction have caused a constellation of symptoms and problems which have produced a significant impairment in the claimants functioning.

The effect has been to derail the claimants successful career in television as well as to restrict his enjoyment of life more generally.

She said there would be judgment for Mr Stansfield in the sum of 1,617,286.20.

A BBC spokesman said after the ruling: We take the health and wellbeing of everyone who works for the BBC extremely seriously.

We keep safety measures on set under constant review and we made adjustments following the incident in 2013.

We acknowledge the courts judgment in this complex case and wish Mr Stansfield the best for the future.
The Lathums have topped the UK albums chart with their debut release How Beautiful Life Can Be.

The Wigan indie bands album came straight in at number one in the Official Charts Company rankings.

They saw off competition from Public Service Broadcasting and Drake to land the top spot.

The Lathums frontman Alex Moore said: Were four friends from Wigan who just love making music and are at number one with our debut album, itll take a while for this one to sink in.

It proves whats possible for young, British artists with a pure-at-heart ambition to reach people with songs like ours, making friends every step along the way and finding that dreams can come true.

How Beautiful Life Can Be is about seeing the good in things, holding on and coming through difficult times with a smile at the end.

Today our smiles couldnt be any wider. Thank you.

Public Service Broadcasting, another indie band, came in at number two with Bright Magic.

Rapper Drakes album Certified Lover Boy, which topped last weeks chart, now sits third.

Drake (Ian West/PA)

Sour by Olivia Rodrigo is fourth followed by Lil Nas Xs Montero in fifth.

In the singles chart, Ed Sheerans track Shivers has held on to the top spot from last week.

Cold Heart by Sir Elton John and Dua Lipa is second, while My Universe by Coldplay and BTS is third.

Love Nwantiti by CKay is fourth, followed by Central Cee track Obsessed With You in fifth.
A television presenter hurt while playing the role of a crash test dummy during a science programme has been awarded 1.6 million in damages after a High Court fight with the BBC.

Mrs Justice Yip heard how Jeremy Stansfield was injured while carrying out crash tests in a specially designed rig during the BBC programme Bang Goes The Theory in February 2013.

Mr Stansfield said he suffered spine and brain injuries and lost more than 3 million in potential future earnings.

The BBC disputed Mr Stansfields damages claim.

Mrs Justice Yip oversaw a trial at the High Court in London earlier this year and delivered a ruling on Friday.

I have found that the claimant was caused injury to his brain, spine and audio-vestibular system in the crash tests, she said in her ruling.

While none of the physical injuries were particularly severe, the combined effect together with a psychiatric reaction have caused a constellation of symptoms and problems which have produced a significant impairment in the claimants functioning.

The effect has been to derail the claimants successful career in television as well as to restrict his enjoyment of life more generally.

She said there would be judgment for Mr Stansfield in the sum of 1,617,286.20.

Mrs Justice Yip said the parties had agreed that Mr Stansfield should recover two-thirds of the damages assessed as being caused by injuries he sustained when carrying out the crash tests.

She said Mr Stansfield was now 50, and was 42 at the time of the crash tests.

There is strong evidence that prior to the crash tests he was an exceptionally fit man, she said.

Video footage from the time shows that he was slim but with strong musculature.

There are clips of him balancing and walking on his hands and scaling a building using vacuum gloves he created.

In 2012, the BBC required him to undergo a physical assessment before undertaking a project involving a human powered aircraft, which he had designed.

The results suggested he was performing at the level of a competitive athlete.

Mrs Justice Yip said Mr Stansfield, who is known as Jem, was a presenter on the popular Bang Goes The Theory show.

She said he was an engineer by background.

This claim arises out of the making of an episode of Bang Goes The Theory in which the claimant assumed the role of a human crash test dummy for a feature about the relative safety of forward and rearward-facing child car seats.

During filming on February 8 2013, the claimant conducted a series of crash tests.

He was strapped into a rig like a go-cart which was propelled along a track into a post.

Mrs Justice Yip oversaw a trial on the matter at the High Court in London earlier this year (PA)

In the introduction to the piece, the claimant explains that he had calculated the experiment to give a similar crash profile to hitting a lamppost in a real car in an urban environment.

The crashes were performed forwards and backwards twice each.

It is not in dispute, and perhaps not surprising, that the claimant suffered some injury.

What is contentious is the extent of that injury and the consequences for the claimant.

Mr Stansfield said he had been left with a constellation of symptoms which had produced a significant decline in his health.

Mrs Justice Yip said the BBC contended that little more than a moderate whiplash injury with depressive symptoms could properly be attributed to the crash tests, such as would give rise to only modest damages.

Mrs Justice Yip added: I must say that I find it astonishing that anyone thought that this exercise was a sensible idea.

On his own account to camera, the claimant was simulating a road traffic collision of the sort that commonly causes injury.

It might be thought that someone of his intelligence and scientific background might have appreciated the risk.

Indeed, in the finished piece, he rather prosaically observes, I wouldnt recommend this.

Equally, there was evidence that the BBC had actively sought advice, been warned of the danger, yet allowed the experiment to proceed.

The judge said she had not been required to determine liability for the injuries sustained by Mr Stansfield.

That aspect of the case was resolved by agreement between the parties, she said.

They have agreed to share responsibility for the injuries and resultant losses flowing from the crash tests to the extent that the BBC will meet two-thirds of the claim.

She said her task had been to make findings as to the nature and extent of the claimants injuries and to assess the resultant damages.
A newly developed anti-aircraft missile is seen during a test conducted by the Academy of Defence Science

SEOUL (Reuters) North Korea fired a newly developed anti-aircraft missile on Thursday, state media KCNA reported, the latest in a recent series of weapons tests that has come as denuclearisation talks with the United States have been in deadlock.

It was North Korea's second known weapons test this week after the launch of a previously unseen hypersonic missile on Tuesday. It has also fired ballistic missiles and a cruise missile with potential nuclear capabilities in recent weeks.

The tests highlighted how North Korea has been steadily developing increasingly sophisticated weapons, raising the stakes for efforts to press it to give up its nuclear and missile programmes in return for U.S. sanctions relief.

The Academy of Defence Science, a military weapons developer, said the test was aimed at confirming the practical functionality of the missile's launcher, radar, comprehensive battle command vehicle and combat performance, the official KCNA news agency reported on Friday.

The missile has new key technologies such as twin rudder control and double impulse flight engine, it said.

South Korea's military said detailed analysis was needed to verify the KCNA report.

FILE PHOTO: A North Korean flag flies on a mast at the Permanent Mission of North Korea in Geneva

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not appear to have attended the test, which was instead overseen by Pak Jong Chon, a member of the ruling Workers' Party's powerful politburo and Central Committee.

"The remarkable combat performance of the new-type anti-aircraft missile with features of rapid responsiveness and guidance accuracy of missile control system as well as the substantial increase in the distance of downing air targets has been verified," KCNA said, citing the academy.

North Korea has said in recent weeks that its weapons tests are aimed at boosting its defence capabilities just as other countries do, accusing the United States and South Korea of "double standards" and "hostile policy" toward it.

On Wednesday, Kim said he has no reasons to attack South Korea and was willing to reopen severed inter-Korean hotlines. But it criticised U.S. President Joe Biden's administration for using "more cunning ways and methods" in pursuing hostile policy while proposing dialogue.

South Korea's Unification Ministry, which is in charge of North Korean affairs, said the North did not answer the lines on Friday but it vowed to continue efforts to restore the channels and resume talks.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, in a speech celebrating the 73rd Armed Forces Day on Friday, did not refer to North Korea but said he was committed to fostering lasting peace while sternly responding to any life-threatening action.

Analysts say the North's carrot-and-stick approach is aimed at securing international recognition as a nuclear weapons state and driving a wedge between the United States and South Korea, with an eye on Moon's desire for a diplomatic legacy before his term ends in May.

The Biden administration has said it has no hostile intent toward North Korea and has called on it to accept its offers of talks to break the impasse over denuclearisation negotiations.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. North Korea on Thursday said it had tested a new air defense missile, TASS reports citing the Voice of Korea radio broadcaster.

According to the radio broadcaster, the launch was "to confirm the normal operation of the launcher and radar and test the combat parameters of the missile, developed by the DPRK Academy of Military Sciences.

The Academy said the missile's accuracy, speed of response and range had been increased.

Pyongyang on 28 for the first time tested a hypersonic missile, Hwason-8. Earlier this week South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea had launched a short-range missile towards the Sea of Japan. On September 15, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles in the same direction. Both splashed down in Japan's economic zone.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The Czech Republic continues supporting the peace process to achieve the negotiated peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Czech foreign minister Jakub Kulhanek said during his joint press conference with Armenian foreign minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Yerevan.

During our meeting we exchanged views on the developments in the region. Of course, we discussed also the latest clashes in Nagorno Karabakh. I want to express my deep condolences to the families who have lost loved ones, the minister said.

Taking into account the humanitarian consequences of the conflict, the Czech Republic considers providing psychological support to those affected by the clash, including the refugees, he said.

The Czech Republic continues supporting the peace process to achieve the negotiated peaceful settlement. In this sense its worth noting that the Czech Republic supports the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. We welcome the recent meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the Czech FM said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian visited today the Embassy of China to congratulate on the 72nd anniversary of the proclamation of the Peoples Republic of China, the Presidents Office said.

The President congratulated Ambassador Fan Yong and the Embassy staff, as well as the whole Chinese people on the national day of China.

I am here to express my respect and friendship to the people of China. Armenia highly values the relations with China, President Armen Sarkissian said.

In turn the Chinese Ambassador thanked the President for the visit.

We highly appreciate that you have come here to congratulate on our national day. This is one of the examples proving our friendship and shows that you attach importance to the efforts on building firm bilateral relations, the Chinese Ambassador said.

During their talks the Armenian President and the Chinese Ambassador touched upon the agenda of the bilateral relations, talked about the cooperation deepening opportunities, as well as highlighted the intensification of contacts and ties between the two nations.

President Sarkissian said that China with its development path has shown that each country, each nation, based on its national characteristics, culture, heritage and traditions, must find its own path to development and try to achieve success with a hard and organized work.

At this difficult stage for our country, its also important for us to find our own path to development and success, by using our advantages, for example, the potential of the Diaspora and the technology development opportunities, the President said, adding that there is a big partnership potential with China in technology sector.

In this context Armen Sarkissian introduced the presidential initiative ATOM (Advanced Tomorrow), expecting cooperation also with the Chinese technological companies within the frames of this program. He said he would be glad to see more Chinese companies in the events being organized in Armenia, in particular at the upcoming Armenian Summit of Minds in the town of Dilijan.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory message to the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades on the occasion of the National Day of the Republic - Independence Day. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, the message runs as follows,

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Armenia and on my own behalf, I heartily congratulate and I send best wishes to you and the friendly people of Cyprus on the occasion of the National Day of the Republic - Independence Day.

I record with satisfaction that the Armenian-Cypriot relations based on our centuries-old ties and strong friendship continue to develop in the spirit of brotherhood and mutual understanding.

Dear friend, I express my deep gratitude to you, the highest authorities of Cyprus, the fraternal people of Cyprus, for standing with the Armenian people again at this difficult time, for reaffirming the unconditional support of Cyprus in condemning the Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression against Armenia. Your sincere and unwavering position once again testifies to the unshakable friendship of the Armenian and Cypriot peoples.

Honorable Mr. President, I wish you good health and fruitful activity, and prosperity and peace to the brotherly people of Cyprus.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan held a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

As ARMENPRESS was ifnormed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan congratulated Sergey Lavrov on the occasion of the State Duma elections.

The interlocutors discussed in detail issues related to the Armenian-Russian relations, as well as issues on the international and regional agenda. The importance of regular contacts at the high and top levels was emphasized.

The Armenian and Russian FMs referred to the results of the meeting between Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs in New York on September 23, as well as the meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs with the participation of the Co-chairs on September 24. Minister Mirzoyan reaffirms Armenia's readiness to resume the full process of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict under the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs based on the known principles and elements.

The foreign ministers of the two countries highlighted the implementation of the agreements reached on November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021. In the context of addressing humanitarian issues, Ararat Mirzoyan stressed the need for repatriation of Armenian prisoners of war and civilian hostages held in Azerbaijan.

In the context of the coordination of steps in the foreign policy sphere, the parties discussed cooperation within the UN, OSCE, CIS and CSTO, particularly with the consideration of Armenia's current chairmanship in the CSTO.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian received the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jakub Kulhanek, who is on a working visit in Armenia, and the delegation led by him.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press servic eof the Presidents Office, greeting the high level guest, President Sarkissian said that high level political dialogue exists between the two countries, which is a good basis for developing mutually beneficial cooperation in various spheres. According to the President, the two countries have a lot in common, they can do a lot together, learn a lot from each other. "It is necessary to discuss future-oriented programs that will take into account the existing potential and contribute to the deepening of bilateral relations, the President said.

Noting that this is his first visit to Armenia, the Czech Foreign Minister said that the purpose of the visit is to give a new impetus to bilateral relations, especially to boost business ties. For this purpose, a delegation of businessmen from the Czech Republic has arrived in Armenia, and a business forum is being held in parallel with his visit.

Sharing the opinion that there is a great potential for cooperation in various fields, which needs to be realized effectively, the interlocutors noted that there are wide opportunities for cooperation particularly in the fields of information technology, education, science, tourism, healthcare.

The sides also referred to the prospects of deepening and developing the cooperation between Armenia and the EU in different directions.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received the delegation led by Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic Jakub Kulhanek, who are in Armenia on a working visit.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the continuous development of relations with the Czech Republic, noting that there is great unexploited potential for expanding cooperation.

Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope that as a result of Mr. Kulhaneks visit, part of that unexploited potential will be realized. The Prime Minister thanked the Czech executive body for its support to the democratic reforms being implemented in Armenia within the framework of the European Union.

Jakub Kulhanek noted that the Czech Republic attaches great importance to the expansion of multilateral relations with Armenia, including in the trade and economic sphere. The Czech Foreign Minister noted that Czech businessmen are also included in his delegation, which will contribute to the deepening of bilateral business ties and the discussion and implementation of joint investment programs.

Nikol Pashinyan stressed the importance of the  2.6 billion investment package to be provided to Armenia by the European Union and expressed confidence that the Governments of Armenia and the Czech Republic could closely cooperate in the programs envisaged within its framework.

The interlocutors also discussed the developments in the South Caucasus region. The Prime Minister referred to the trilateral statements signed by the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan after the 44-day war and the implementation of their points, noting that the Azerbaijani side has not returned Armenian prisoners of war, hostages or other detainees despite its obligations to do so. At the same time, Nikol Pashinyan stressed the need to withdraw the Azerbaijani armed forces from the sovereign territory of Armenia, reminding that the Armenian side had made a relevant proposal for a peaceful solution to that issue.

The Prime Minister added that the Armenian side supports the peace process within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs format for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and welcomed the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the sidelines of the Minsk Group Co-chairs format in New York.
During Angela Merkels 16 years in office, the worlds most powerful woman leader faced one crisis after another

A smile and a girlish grimace at parrots perched on her arms and head.

Moist eyes at a farewell gathering, when the applause wouldnt stop.

Other than when she had famously rolled her eyes at something Russian President Vladimir Putin muttered, never in 16 years did the world ever see outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel come as close to a public display of emotion, as in recent weeks, which she hoped were her last, before stepping down as Germanys second-longest serving head of government.

However, the results of last Sundays German elections mean that Ms Merkel must wait to head for her country home. Her conservative CDU-CSU has been beaten by its coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), by 10 seats. As the SPD has expressed reluctance to enter another alliance with the CDU-CSU, both parties will seek the support of the third and fourth largest winners: the Greens, who saw their best ever tally of 118 seats, and the Free Democratic Party (92 seats). The Greens are ideologically closer to the SPD, while the FDP is better aligned to Ms Merkels CDU-CSU. Negotiations are in full swing but could drag on for months. If all fails, a grand coalition may emerge the only solution again.

One thing, however, seems certain. Since the Chancellor is always drawn from the winning party, the SPDs Olaf Scholz will, in all likelihood, head Germanys next government.

During Angela Merkels 16 years in office, the worlds most powerful woman leader faced one crisis after another. There were the Euro/Greek crises, Libyan and Syrian conflicts, the face-off between Russia and Ukraine. Ms Merkel made unpopular moves like admitting nearly a million Syrian refugees into Germany. Right-wing intolerance grew across Europe. Berlins relations with Donald Trump grew frosty. Then came Covid-19 and, most recently, the ignominious withdrawal of American as well as of German Nato troops from Afghanistan.

But Ms Merkels acumen lay in backing up unpopular moves with populist ones which ensured her political longevity. Her likeability across party lines can be attributed to humility. She may have been the worlds most powerful woman leader, but Ms Merkels approachability and complete lack of arrogance won her admirers around the world.

The Merkel era has certainly seen shortcomings too. Digitisation and telecom connectivity in Germany leave much to be desired. Ms Merkels critics say she paid little attention to infrastructure, and fault her for going slow on climate reforms. It will be up to her successors to address those lacunae. But will they work on intensifying bilateral ties with India too?

Ms Merkel visited India several times and bilateral ties are very good. But unlike the UK and France, Germans and Indians remain quite alien to each other. There are several reasons. Both the UK and France have deep colonial roots across the world, including in India. They left their languages behind and are well-versed with the Indian/South Asian way of doing things. Thats not so with Germany.

Berlin often refers to Indo-German ties as one based on the common values and principles of democracy, free and fair trade and rules-based international order. But the truth is, that as far as this region goes, Germanys gaze remains steadfastly focused on the Peoples Republic of China, where those lauded values dont hold good.

Germany and China are each others largest trading partners. In 2020, the trade volume exceeded $100 billion. (It is barely $11 billion with India). Many German companies make huge profits by cheaply manufacturing in China. Consequently, their CEO have pressured Berlin to not speak out against China, whenever inconvenient reports of child labour, sweat shops and human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet crop up. It was only in 2016, when Chinese companies bought out several large German firms, that worry set in. This was compounded by the rapid arrival of cheap Chinese goods via rail links to Germanys doorstep. Even France has called for a tougher stand against China, but Germany has not played ball so far, afraid of the economic price it may have to pay. While protests were going on in Hong Kong and Uighurs were being brutally suppressed, Ms Merkel made her 12th trip to China along with a business delegation.

German diplomats say their countrys foreign policy is unlikely to see too many changes, even under a new government. This means that while Berlin may send the odd frigate to the South China Sea as a token gesture of solidarity with its Western allies and even invest in the odd development project in the Indo-Pacific region, it will steer clear of military groupings like AUKUS which clearly target China.

In Afghanistan too, Germany saw a rerun of an old Western dream: of establishing democracy. It was only after the disastrous withdrawal of the United States and Nato that German diplomats privately admit it was a mistake.

For decades, German Chancellors always clubbed the rare trip to India with one to Pakistan and spoke of Kashmir as a disputed territory. Its only since the late 1990s that visitors from Berlin began to book separate tickets to India, acknowledge Indias state of Jammu and Kashmir, and Pakistan as the source of cross-border terrorism directed at India.

Public knowledge of India remains scanty or deeply flawed. There is little or no interest in India in German newsrooms (many owned by conglomerates with business interests across the globe, including in China) and freelancers cover India remotely from Singapore or Bangkok. Consequently, orientalist exotica persists. A small item on a single violator of Indias child marriage or dowry laws in a local paper is enough to prompt an entire page on Indias evils in a German publication. A meeting set up by a local stringer with one devadasi in a dimly-lit room leads to a headline reading many Indian women become temple prostitutes.

While foreign policy may not change to any great extent, one aspect of last Sundays election may have repercussions for both India and China.

Most young Germans voted  not for Mr Scholzs SPD or Ms Merkels CDU-CSU, but for the Greens and the FDP. This can be both good and bad news. On the one hand, there may be increased and unrealistic pressure on energy-hungry India to meet its emissions targets. But both Germanys Greens as well as the election winning SPD have criticised human rights violations in China and called for a serious dialogue on the subject with Beijing.

This means that Berlin may stop deluding itself at last and acknowledge the looming threat that China poses to the world.
The visa facilitation will depend on the applicant's home country's policy for the Indian tourists

Before the suspension of tourist visas, around 7-8 lakh tourists used to come to India every month. (Photo: PTI/File)

New Delhi: With India set to open up its border for international tourists, the government has decided on 'reciprocal treatment' to the applicants under new visa conditions. The visa facilitation will depend on the applicant's home country's policy for the Indian tourists.

A senior official of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed that to iron out all the issues emerging from such a situation, a meeting was held last week which was attended by representatives from all concerned agencies which was chaired by the Union Home Secretary

"In the meeting, it was decided to provide reciprocal treatment to tourists visiting India. Many countries have opened for tourists from foreign countries but have posed several restrictions for Indian travellers. The issues have been raised with the diplomats of concerned countries to get issues resolved," the official said.

So, an incoming foreign tourist might have to show their vaccination certificate or undergo a quarantine period or face rejection, which will depend on how they treat Indian tourists visiting their country.

Hence, the officials concerned will have to scrutinize each application based on the latest rules, instead of a standard one that was applicable 18 months ago when the tourist visas were first withdrawn due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Separately, the MHA has also held discussions with the tour operators association, ministry of tourism, ministry of aviation, and other stakeholders to chalk out the framework.

The final decision over the matter will be decided in the next meeting that will be chaired by the Cabinet Secretary scheduled for next week. Crucial breakthroughs during this period or ongoing diplomatic negotiations may also feature in the meeting.

However, in a move to boost tourism, the government had already announced to provide free-of-cost visas to the first five lakh foreign tourists who hit the Indian shores before March 31, 2022.

Kenya, Srilanka, UAE, Mauritius, Egypt, Russia, Iceland, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Italy and several other countries have opened up their border for Indian tourists but with conditions like quarantine period, fully vaccinated, compulsory RT-PCR report or Covid test on arrival.

Before the suspension of tourist visas, around 7-8 lakh tourists used to come to India every month.
Punjab CM on Thursday had urged the Centre to withdraw its letter on postponing the paddy procurement in the state from October 1

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and is expected to urge him that the Centre withdraws its letter on postponing the paddy procurement in the state from October 1.

This will be Channi's first meeting with Modi after the senior Congress leader took oath as Punjab chief minister recently.

Channi is also likely to meet senior Congress leaders during his visit to the national capital amid the ongoing tumult in the party's Punjab unit, sources said.

According to a senior Punjab government official, Chief Minister Channi will meet Prime Minister Modi. Sources said in his meeting with Modi, Channi is likely to urge the Centre to immediately start paddy procurement in the state.

The Punjab chief minister on Thursday had urged the Centre to withdraw its letter on postponing the paddy procurement in the state from October 1. Paddy procurement usually commences from October 1.

Channi had sought the prime minister's personal intervention in advising the ministry concerned to withdraw its letter forthwith, allowing the state to start paddy procurement from October 1 instead of October 11, according to an official statement here on Thursday.

The Centre on Thursday postponed procurement of Kharif paddy in Punjab and Haryana till October 11 as the crop maturity is delayed owing to recent heavy rains.

Crop procurement is undertaken by the central government's nodal agency Food Corporation of India along with state agencies.

Channi is also expected to meet his party's senior leadership in Delhi. Notably, a coordination panel will be set up, which is expected to be consulted before any major decisions by the Punjab government in future.

The decision to form the panel was reached earlier on Thursday after an over two-hour meeting at the Punjab Congress Bhavan between Channi and Navjot Singh Sidhu, who had tendered his resignation from the post of the state party chief on Tuesday.

The panel would comprise the chief minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu and a representative of the All India Congress Committee, sources said.

A miffed Sidhu on Wednesday had raised questions over the appointments of the DGP, the state's advocate general and "tainted" leaders. Sources said that Sidhu has been backing senior IPS officer Siddharth Chattopadhyay to be appointed as the DGP.

Meanwhile, the Channi government has suggested the names of 10 officials to the Union Public Service Commission for the appointment of a regular director general of police. The names include Chattopadhyay, present DGP Dinkar Gupta and Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota, V K Bhawra, sources said.

Sahota was a week ago given the additional charge of the Punjab DGP after incumbent DGP Dinkar Gupta proceeded on leave.

On Thursday, Sidhu had reached Chandigarh from Patiala to meet Channi. The meeting came a day after Channi reached out to him and offered to resolve issues through talks.

Just before his meeting with Channi, Sidhu attacked Sahota, alleging that the new DGP had wrongly indicted two Sikh youths in a desecration case and gave a clean chit to the Badals.

The desecration of a religious text allegedly took place in Punjab's Faridkot district in 2015, whose investigation was handed over by the then Parkash Singh Badal-led government to an SIT led by the current DGP Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota.
Apple aims to have its entire business carbon neutral by 2030

Apple CEO Tim Cook with the iPhone 13 Pro Max and Apple Watch Series 7 during a special event at Apple Park. (Photo: AFP/File)

New Delhi: Tech giant Apple has redesigned packaging across its iPhone 13 lineup and by eliminating the outer plastic wrap, it has been able to avoid 600 metric tonnes of plastic over the lifetime of the products.

Apple - which has replaced the iPhone 13 box plastic wrap with a paper tab with a tear-off strip to ensure that any tampering is visible - aims to have its entire business carbon neutral by 2030.

"By 2030, Apple's entire business will be carbon neutral, from supply chain to the power customers use in every device we make. This year, we've made significant advances in minimising our impact on the environment by redesigning the packaging across the iPhone 13 lineup," the firm said.

By eliminating the outer plastic wrap, the company is avoiding 600 metric tonnes of plastic over the lifetime of the products, which brings it closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from all packaging by 2025, the tech firm added.

Last July, Apple had unveiled its plan to become carbon neutral across its entire business, manufacturing supply chain, and product life cycle by 2030.

The Cupertino-based company has been working to eliminate plastics, increase recycled content, and reduce volume as part of its sustainability efforts.

Earlier this month, Apple had launched the iPhone 13 range with prices starting at Rs 69,900 in India.

The entire iPhone 13 lineup uses 100 per cent recycled rare earth elements and magnets, and 100 per cent recycled tin in the solder of the main logic board.

Interestingly, the antenna lines in the iPhone 13 lineup use up-cycled plastic water bottles.

Apple has two robotic disassembly lines called 'Daisy' in the US and the Netherlands that help in the recovery of materials like rare earth elements from its products.

Earlier this year, Apple had said that over 110 of its manufacturing partners around the world, including Wistron and Flex in India, are moving towards 100 per cent renewable energy for the production of Apple devices - which would see nearly eight gigawatts of planned clean energy come online.

Apple, which competes with players like Samsung and OnePlus in the premium smartphone segment, is aggressively ramping up its presence in the Indian market.

According to Counterpoint, the premium smartphone market in India grew 122 per cent year-on-year in June 2021 quarter and captured 7 per cent of the total smartphone market.

The overall smartphone shipment in India grew by 82 per cent to over 33 million units in the June 2021 quarter.

Apple had witnessed 144 per cent year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2021, leading the ultra-premium segment (over Rs 45,000 or USD 650) with over 49 per cent share, as per the research firm.
As per the regulations, journalists are required to 'ensure that their reporting is balanced'

A member of the Taliban special forces pushes a journalist (L) covering a demonstration by women protestors outside a school in Kabul. (Photo: AFP)

Kabul: The imposition of a range of regulatory measures to tighten media freedom in the country by the Taliban are a cause of concern to the rights groups.

The Taliban-formed 'Ministry of Information and Culture' has imposed a set of regulations in a bid to prohibit virtually any critical reporting about the Taliban, Human Rights Watch informed.

A copy of these regulations seen by Human Rights Watch directs the media groups that they are prohibited from printing or broadcasting reports that "are contrary to Islam," "insult national figures," or "distort news content."

Associate Asia Director at Human Rights Watch Patricia Gossman has expressed concerns over these regulations and said "despite the Taliban's promises to allow media that 'respected Islamic values' to function, the new rules are suffocating media freedom in the country."

As per the regulations, journalists are required to "ensure that their reporting is balanced" and are not allowed to report on "matters that have not been confirmed by officials" or issues that "could have a negative impact on the public's attitude," Human Rights Watch reported.

Last month, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) had expressed concern over the safety of journalists in Afghanistan and slammed the Taliban for suppressing freedom of the media in the country.

Since Taliban rule solidified in the country, at least 153 media outlets have had to shut down over increasing threats towards journalists while female media employees have been barred from work entirely.

Additionally, over 7,000 journalists have been detained by the Taliban.

Several Afghan journalists have fled the country or have gone into hiding after the outfit's takeover of the country.

Meanwhile, Gossman said that the rules are proof that the Taliban do not want to face public scrutiny.

Gossman also urged the international community to take urgent actions to safeguard the condition of journalists in the country.

"Foreign governments should send the message that the Taliban's treatment of the media will remain a core concern of future relations."
The Munich-based automaker defends the design of the iX with provocative statements such as the OK Boomer ad from January 2021, which is petty for the same company that gave us the bite-the-back-of-your-hand beautiful E9. Even the first-generation X5 is attractive for a sport utility vehicle, but the iX leaves much to be desired. However, the criticism doesnt end here.Pixel artist Marouane Bembli, a.k.a. The Sketch Monkey, is very tough on this car: The iX is the most complicated and unemotional, sterile design of BMW Ive ever seen. And in this video, Im going to try and change that.The unnecessarily large kidney grille and overly complex intakes on the sides of the front bumper have been swapped for the fascia of the i4, a liftback based on the 4 Series Gran Coupe. The headlights make the biggest difference over the original units, but Marouane isnt content with his makeover. Toward the end of the video, the Photoshop wizard also works his magic on the side skirts, contrasting blue trim, wheels, and the rear end.It may not be the nicest BMWs on sale today, but the iX could surely use a few styling updates in order to make amends for the atrocious design of the current model. One can only wonder how the iX will change with the mid-cycle refresh, which is most likely going to roll out in 2024.In the meantime, those who dont mind the way the iX looks can get one for 77,300 euros ($89,660 at current exchange rates). That's 10 grand more than the iX3, which is only RWD and comes from China rather than Germany.
And more and more features just keep coming to Android Auto , with a recent Google announcement revealing that the app would soon get support for gas payments.In other words, if you use Android Auto in your car and you stop at a gas station, you can easily make the payment from the comfort of the screen in the cabin.Needless to say, the whole thing is powered by Google Pay, and it works with either Android Auto or the Android phone. And the process is as straightforward as it can be.When youre ready to pay, you can just use Google Assistant to do it, as a command like Hey, Google, pay for gas initiates the transaction and lets you complete the process.Android Auto will then require you to select the pump number, so overall, the payment shouldnt take more than a few seconds, as long as Google Pay is fully configured on your phone.What you need to know is this new feature isnt available globally but only in the United States. And of course, it would only be offered through a series of participating gas stations, with Google saying it expects the Android Auto payments to be live in 32,500 locations belonging to Exxon and Mobil, Conoco, Phillips 66, and 76.But of course, the long-term goal is to further expand its availability, so expect more information in this regard in the coming months.In the meantime, just make sure you are always running the latest Android Auto update on your phone and that you already configured Google Pay to be able to pay for gas right from the display in your car.
And this week, the company announced another such feature, this time specifically supposed to keep an eye on the active wildfires in a specific region.More specifically, Google Maps is being updated with a dedicated fire layer that will show up in the app alongside the existing ones for traffic, satellite, and transit.Using information from other organizations, such as the National Interagency Fire Center in the United States, Google wants to show the active wildfires in a specific region and also provide users with critical information, including evacuation information.The new layer will display all kinds of useful data, such as emergency phone numbers and websites, but also how many acres have burned following a wildfire. At the same time, Google Maps will provide access to more resources, including news articles and road closures caused by a specific wildfire in a region.Users will be allowed to send their reports as well, and therefore contribute to providing more accurate data to other people relying on Google Maps for such information.At first, this feature will be available on Android devices exclusively, with Google explaining that users of its mobile platform should already see the new feature, while those on iOS and the desktop would get it as soon as this month.The good news is that Google doesnt want to limit this new layer to the United States, so the company says its already working with organizations in other countries to make it happen. Australia is one of the regions where the fire layer will go live, and Google says it hopes the whole thing will take place in the coming months.
Do you think they turned him or her down? Why of course they didnt, because almost everything is possible for the right sum. Thus, Lamborghinis Polo Storico Division set out to create a reconstruction of the Countach LP 500, the car presented at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show that would serve as the foundation stone for the Miuras successor.The real Countach LP 500 was sacrificed in crash tests, three years after its grand unveiling, and then disappeared, only to be revived in spirit in 2021. The whole process actually commenced at the end of 2017 with the collector expressing their interest in it, and from there, the Raging Bulls designers and technicians had to track down all the material available, such as photos, documents, meeting reports, original drawings, and even the memories of some who witnessed it in person.This was the starting point of an extremely elaborate process, because the actual car did not only have to look identical to the LP 500, but also behave the same as it. They set off to create the platform chassis, which was actually different than the tubular frame of the production Countachs, using traditional methods. The bodywork then followed, and came to life by hand, and a similar process was used for the cockpit that otherwise stays true to the classic show car. As for the components used, these included either spare parts that Lamborghini still had, restored, and new ones built from scratch.Lamborghini has collaborated with Pirelli since 1963, and for the tires, they turned to their partner, who still had images and materials of the original rubber in their archives. The 245/60R14 front and 265/60R14 rear Cinturato CN12 tires equipping the Countach LP 500 for its Geneva debut were recreated by combining a "vintage image with modern technology".Finally, they tracked down the exact composition for the yellow paint, identified as the Giallo Fly Speciale, applying it to the body. In total, Polo Storico spent over 25,000 hours of work on this exact recreation, which can be admired on video down below and in our image gallery, or in person at the 2021 Concorso dEleganza Villa dEstate that has opened its gates today.The Countach reinvented high-performance cars and it became an icon in terms of stylistic language that even today, after decades, still inspires contemporary Lamborghinis, said CEO Stephan Winkelmann. Bringing the reconstruction of the first Countach to the concept class of the Concorso dEleganza Villa dEste, in the year we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of this model, is something extraordinary because it allows us to admire the legendary 1971 LP 500 in person for the first time in so many years.The LP 500 Idea Car, as Lamborghini refers to the study, may have started it all as far as the Countach is concerned, but the first prototype actually debuted at Geneva, in 1973, with different everything, for the most part, from the suspension to the brakes, chassis, and even the engine. It was known as the LP 400 , and was followed five years later by the LP 400 S, and in 1982 by the LP 5000 S.The Countach story continued in 1985, with the LP 5000 Quattrovalvole, which was the first one approved for sale in the United States. Subsequently, they presented the Countach 25th Anniversary in 1988, and two years later, the final one was built, on July 4, 1990.Production ceased altogether after 1,999 units, and the Diablo entered the scene, which was eventually replaced by the Murcielago. In 2010, the Aventador succeeded it as the brands flagship supercar, which is the last of its kind to use a V12
So far, weve only been able to admire the car in photos. Weve seen it when it was officially unveiled, and countless times after that, also in pics, as rumors about who the buyers of the first example are intensified.The most powerful of those rumors point to Beyonce and Jay-Z as being one of the lucky and rich customers with which Rolls-Royce worked for four years to have these things made. That was not confirmed, of course, but still made people crave seeing the first of the batch (all three cars will share the same body, but other than that they would then be individually, highly personalised) even more.And this weekend, some people will get to experience exactly that: the first ever Boat Tail , on display in front of random, curious human eyes, at the Concorso dEleganza Villa dEste. It will be the cars first public outing, probably with no Beyonce and Jay-Z around (then again, who knows?).Allegedly the most expensive car in the world (estimates are it costs over $28 million), this first example of the Boat Tail is also a unique four-wheeler, one the likes of which will never be again. It measures 5.8 meters (over 228 inches) long, is inspired by J-Class yachts, and it is so luxurious that all the other aspects of it, like performance and the mechanical bits, were never officially mentioned by its maker up to this point.But, at least, well finally get to see the thing out in the open, with the Sun shining over it. Stay tuned for info and possibly even some images from the public unveiling.
The organization has in place something called Electric Powertrain Flight Demonstration. EPFD for short, it is a program meant to give birth to Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP) technologies needed for commercial aircraft.On the last day of September, NASA announced it had awarded contracts for the research of EAP to two companies, namely GE Aviation and MagniX USA. The contracts are worth $179 million and $74.3 million, respectively.Each of the two companies now has five years at its disposal to conduct ground and flight test demonstrations of their EAP technologies applicable to commercial aircraft transports. NASA will help with development, flight test instrumentation, and data analysis.Despite the efforts being made to make these technologies a reality, the world does not yet have a functional electric passenger commercial aircraft. The latest development in the larger field of electrified aviation is the Rolls-Royce.In mid-September, the company flew for the first time the Spirit , an electric single seater meant to set the speed record for this kind of machine. The airplane uses a battery with 6,000 cells, the most power-dense battery pack ever assembled for an aircraft, and it should be capable of flying at speeds of 300 mph (483 kph). The date for the record-setting flight has not yet been set.Separately, Rolls-Royce is also working with an undisclosed Scandinavian airline for the development of an all-electric passenger aircraft for the commuter market. This one should be able to enter service in 2026.
Rolls-Royce is determined to help reach sustainability goals in the maritime industry, by launching hybrid propulsion systems , innovative engines that are compatible with biofuels, and developing future fuel cell-based systems. Most recently, the previous mtu units that we powering a giant Spanish catamaran, Avemar Dos, were replaced with four new generation mtu 20V1163 M84 units. While delivering the same power output, this innovative engine managed to reduce fuel consumption.The result was an 8% cut in CO2 emissions and a 33% cut in nitrogen oxide emissions, for the Avemar Dos. This is a significant reduction, considering the fact that this vessel is a giant, 270-foot (82 meters) long ferry that can carry 855 passengers and 174 cars. Whats also interesting is that this catamaran has been in service since 1997, which proves that even some of the oldest vessels can be turned into sustainable versions, with the right technology.Rolls-Royce also modernized the ferrys automation system, which helps monitor and control most of the ships systems, from engines and gearboxes, to fuel tanks and generators. The new mtu ship automation system replaced the previous technology with optimized software, new screens, and additional interfaces.Now equipped to meet the IMO Tier II emissions standard, and with an updated automation system on board, the Avemar Dos ferry is also going digital. Rolls-Royce added the mtu Go! Digital platform, which allows the operator to access the ferrys data anytime, monitor it remotely, and even plan maintenance based on the predictive information.Operated by the Spanish company Balearia, the Avemar Dos is a high-speed ferry that travels at 34 knots, circulating between the mainland port of Denia and the Ibiza and Mallorca islands.
kW

The 2022 Frontier is gearing up for October's grueling Rebelle Rally, the longest off-road rally in the United States. The event lasts eight days and challenges teams to cross more than 1,500 miles (2,414 km) of Nevada, Arizona, and California desert.Nissan's Team Wild Grace co-captains Sedona Blinson and Lyn Woodward will stay behind the wheel of a 2022 Frontier Pro-4X dressed in special livery that pays tribute to the brand's Hardbody off-road race trucks from the 1980s.From November 1985 until 1997, the iconic Hardbody was produced for the U.S. market and was a direct competitor to the Toyota compact pickup. But that wasn't just any basic work truck, no. The Hardbody showed its off-road skills in competitions such as the Mint 400 and the Baja 500.The iconic Hardbody paved the way for the Frontier back in the '80s and '90s and inspired what today is a beautiful truck that looks both elegant and aggressive. To this, some retro style was added with the red, white, and blue wrap inspired by the limited-production Hardbody Desert Runner.Under its hood, the truck comes with a 3.8-liter V6 that delivers 310 hp (231) and 281 lb-ft (296 Nm), an engine that Nissan introduced in the 2020 Frontier (the second-generation model). It is mated to a nine-speed automatic with a longer input shaft and a wide gear range compared to its five-speed predecessor.For the rally, the 2022 Frontier Pro-4X will get some extra help from the new NISMO off-road parts . These will include 4-inch lights, Off-Road Performance Exhaust, and Off-Road AXIS Wheels.This year's Rebelle Rally starts on October 7 at the Hoover Dam in Nevada and ends on October 16 in California's Imperial Sand Dunes.
One day you might go vacation in Hawaii or Idaho and walk on some paths, thinking about the meaning of life or how much an electric bicycle on three wheels with an off-road pedigree costs. Then, with all those in mind, you stumble across an abandoned vehicle, partially hidden in the forest, the car you dreamt of your entire teenage life. So the next question should be,Read on to see if you can get it in any of these two scenic, beautiful states.Hawaii is known for its abandoned cars , given its remote location and the cost of getting cars on and off site. Thus, its beautiful scenery is often littered with abandoned vehicles, which the authorities can barely handle. For example, in November 2020, they had to move almost 400 cars and 700 tires from Makuu, in Puna District. Yet, despite all these problems, the Hawaii government won't issue a title on your name for an abandoned car, boat, motorcycle, or plane, even if it's on your property.The local authorities will come and remove the vehicle only after posting a sign on it and waiting for more than 24 hours for someone to claim it. This is the reason why you don't see that many abandoned vehicles on the Hawaiian roads.While Hawaii might seem like the Paradise on Earth , that does not apply to abandoned vehicles' laws. A vehicle (or a boat) is considered abandoned if it sits unattended in a public place for more than 48 hours, or 24 hours on private property without the owner's consent. These can be reported to the authorities at 935-3311, and they will come, inspect, and tow that vehicle. Since the penalty for abandoning a vehicle is between $150 and $500, which is less than half of shipping costs to California, it is understandable why they just leave them there to rust.The authorities are selling those relics to auctions, but it looks like they have very little success with that. Usually, they only find old, beaten-up vehicles that barely run, if even. So, if you find a nice '67 Camaro rotting around in Hawaii, bear in mind that even if it is free, you'll still have to pay a lot to get it to the mainland.While half of the potatoes fried in McDonald's are coming from Idaho , that's not the only pleasant thing that is coming from the state. It also has permissive rules regarding the abandoned cars, either found on the side of the road, on public or private properties. If the vehicle was abandoned on your property, you might wish to contact an attorney to file an action in court. It is possible to get a quiet title, where the judge can award the vehicle directly to you.If that doesn't work, there is the lien sale possibility. You have to send an application to conduct the lien sale to the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), and they'll send notifications to any registered/titled owner or lienholder of record. Owners than have ten days to oppose to that. Also, you have to post an announcement in the local newspaper where the vehicle is located at least once, ten days in advance, and allow visits for at least an hour for public inspection in an easily accessible location. After all of these, you can proceed to a lien sale, and the highest bidder will take the vehicle. Worth mentioning that sealed bids are not acceptable.Sometimes it's better to just arrange with an authorized towing company to remove the vehicle, and they will do all the paperwork since it's easier for them. But beware, don't buy a vehicle without a title from them or a mechanic shop, since you might end up struggling to get the right papers. Meanwhile, the moist air will chew the vehicle's remains. Fortunately, you don't have to wait for a yea r or so, so the rust might be just a scar on the body's surface.You shouldn't proceed to a lien sale if the vehicle has a lien on it and belongs to a person ten-year-old or younger. If you do, your vehicle will be marked "ISSUED UPPON STATEMENT OF THE APPLICANT," and within three years, the lien holder can take it from you. Only after that you'll have that marking removed.
Most states are trying to get rid of the abandoned vehicles . Either they represent a risk for other drivers. If they are stopped on the side of the roads or litter the scenery, people want them out of sight. So while some governments grab and send them to the crushers, others allow their citizens to take cars into custody, and issue a title for them.While it might take longer than in Alaska and might cost you more, it might be easier than you think to title an abandoned car in Florida. Basically, there are several common-sense steps to follow. For short, if you find a relic that you crave, it can be yours if you try to track down the owner, but you cant. Pay attention, though, because you have to do more than just ask neighbors if they know the owner.First things first. If the vehicle is in a public place, the boys in blue will remove it and store it. Only after that can you claim it if nobody else wants it. They will give you a form to fill, and file it with the police department. From there on, its mostly your job. The DMV will help you find the owner, according to the vehicles license plates or VIN. Youll have to send a certified letter with a return receipt request. Then, try to locate the owner in the phone book, and publish a small notice in the local newspaper describing the car and asking for information.If you still have no sign from the owner after all of the above, in 90 days you can proceed to getting a finders title through the Florida DMV. Keep all the records about how you tried to find the owner, since there will be some questions. Also, you will have to pay the towing and storage fees, so beware of that.Worth mentioning is that if you find the vehicle on your property, then you can have a lien on that vehicle. You can claim it after at least 45 days if the lien remains unpaid, after you've tried to get in touch with the owner by the means described above.In the Peach State, some cars dont even need a title, especially those produced between 1963 and 1985, so most of the muscle car era is completely covered. Yet, you should check for that with local authorities since there are exceptions. Also, very important: Georgia will not issue a title for an abandoned vehicle on the base of a surety bond. Considering these, the only way to get a title there is by buying the car at an auction. But look for a local lawyer, they might find some other way.There is a form, MV-603, which applies for several types of claiming an abandoned vehicle. But you must bear in mind that if a vehicle is on your property, you cant just have it and call it a day. A towing company must take the vehicle, and they will put it up at an auction. Also, if the police take a vehicle into custody, they will arrange an auction where youll have to bid against other potential buyers.Another important notice is that things are more complicated if you want to buy a vehicle intended for registration in metro Atlanta. The seller must provide a valid emission certificate before the sale is completed. Not even the towing companies or mechanics that are selling abandoned vehicles can avoid that. These tests are not required for vehicles classified asAnd, remember, folks, even if you lost an auction in Marietta, GA, dont spit on the windows. Its not only disgusting; its illegal. But, at least, you can drive without shoes on.
Federal law enforcement agencies are purchasing surveillance drones from a Chinese company the Pentagon has deemed a potential national security threat, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Efforts to purge military and law enforcement agencies of potentially compromised Chinese technology have stalled amid bureaucratic red tape, and experts worry the federal government is needlessly exposing itself to snooping by malicious foreign actors.

Driving the news: The U.S. Secret Service is the latest to purchase surveillance drones from the Shenzhen-based company DJI, which dominates the commercial drone market in the U.S. and abroad.

The Secret Service bought eight DJI drones on July 26, according to procurement records obtained by the industry publication IPVM and shared with Axios.

That was three days after the Defense Department released a statement saying DJI products "pose potential threats to national security."

The FBI bought 19 DJI drones a few days earlier, records show.

The context: DJI makes an array of consumer products that are tremendously popular, including the Phantom and Mavic drone series, as well as the Osmo image-stabilization handle.

While the products are used for personal and commercial purposes, they also require the user to download proprietary DJI software, and to fly using mapping databases that have the potential to be monitored remotely.

Security concerns surrounding these products are longstanding, but DJI insists all such concerns are unfounded and based on misunderstanding or misrepresentation of its technology.

In 2017, the Department of Homeland Security  the Secret Service's parent agency  stated with "moderate confidence" that DJI was "providing U.S. critical infrastructure and law enforcement data to the Chinese government."

In 2019, the Interior Department, which also uses DJI products, grounded its entire non-emergency drone fleet because of concerns about Chinese government intrusions.

The Commerce Department added DJI to an export blacklist last year after Bloomberg reported it had supplied surveillance technology to Chinese security forces in Xinjiang, where millions of Uighur Muslims have been forced into internment camps.

What they're saying: "DJIs cyber security vulnerabilities are well documented," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has pressed for greater scrutiny of contractors with Chinese government ties, told Axios.

"Given everything we know about the Chinese Communist Party and its companies, there is absolutely no excuse for any government agency to use DJI drones, or any other drones manufactured in countries identified as national security threats, Rubio wrote in an emailed statement.

DJI spokesman Adam Lisberg disputed all allegations that the company's data in not secure or has been passed on to Chinese authorities.

"Claims that somehow DJI products are transmitting customer data back to China, or to DJI, or anywhere they're not supposed to be ... are just false," he told Axios. "No one has ever found a deliberate attempt to steal data, or any of the other fantasies promoted by some of our critics. It simply isn't true," he said.

The Secret Service declined to comment, citing operational security. The FBI also declined to comment.

The big picture: Lawmakers have cracked down in recent years on federal procurement of Chinese-made telecommunications and surveillance equipment. The most prominent case has involved telecom and consumer electronics giant Huawei Technologies.

Efforts to phase out Chinese-made technology have been slow due to bureaucratic constraints and the cost and complexity of replacing the systems.

DJI has implemented privacy and data protection measures as concerns have grown about potential Chinese access to U.S. government data.

In June, a DOD report cleared a pair of DJI drones for federal use, saying its analysis found no malicious code or intent. A Pentagon statement in July disavowed that finding, calling it "inaccurate" and its release "unauthorized."

Between the lines: Some experts who spoke with Axios noted the possibility that the agencies purchased DJI drones to study the devices or develop countermeasures.

A ban on Pentagon purchases of off-the-shelf Chinese drones provides exceptions for purchases designed to hone such countermeasures.

Language in the FBI and Secret Service contracts casts doubt on that explanation, though.

The Secret Service wrote its DJI drones will "supplement the agencys existing fleet of small unmanned aircraft and improved [sic] mission support through the use of the most up-to-date equipment nd [sic] software."

The FBI said DJI's Phantom 4 Pro model was "the only commercially available consumer [drone] to combine all [its required] capabilities at an acceptable cost."

The bottom line: If the federal government is purchasing DJI drones for counter-drone or other security research  fine," Klon Kitchen, a defense and cybersecurity expert at the American Enterprise Institute, told Axios in an email.

"But otherwise, in a world where you have plenty of alternatives  including some U.S. alternatives that are very good  why would federal agencies assume the inherent risks of Chinese-made systems?

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from a DJI spokesperson.
Kentucky is in a "dire" situation because of a surge in new coronavirus cases driven by the Delta variant, Gov. Andy Beshear said on NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday.

Why it matters: The number of new cases and hospitalizations in the state are increasing at the fastest growth rates since the start of the pandemic, and deaths are also beginning to surge since plateauing over the summer.

By the numbers: Kentucky recorded a seven-day average of 4,423 new daily cases on Saturday, according to a database maintained by the New York Times.

The state on Saturday had reported an average of 2,385 hospitalizations and 24 deaths from the virus over the last seven days.

Around 69% of the state's population that is 18 years or older has been vaccinated against the virus, according to state data.

What they're saying: If I had the ability to do it right now, we would have a masking order when you are in public and indoors, the Democratic governor told NBC. We know thats a proven way to slow the spread of the virus and ultimately help our health care capacity.

Our situation is dire, he added.

What's next: The emergency legislative session Beshear called for on Sunday to respond to surging COVID-19 cases begins Tuesday.

He has asked the legislation to extend the state of emergency declaration until Jan. 15, 2022, and to define his authority to enact restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus.

The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled last month that a lower court had incorrectly blocked state Republicans from limiting his executive authority to impose emergency health measures during the pandemic.

Go deeper: Fauci: Pfizer booster likely ready by Sept. 20, Moderna may need longer
After 13 years of living with mental illness and three years battling in court, Mikese Morse is finally getting mental health treatment. The cost: another mans life.

Why it matters: Mikeses saga illustrates how Florida treats those in need of involuntary mental health care  as criminals, relying on cops and courts to solve problems that need medical intervention  with potentially tragic results.

What happened: Mikese, 33, once dreamed of representing Tampa in the Olympics as a track and field star out of USF before his mental illness derailed that plan.

His parents say they tried to get him permanent assistance but failed, as seen in a 2017 encounter with police where they were told "being mentally ill isnt a crime."

But one day Mikese did commit a crime, killing 42-year-old Pedro Aguerreberry when he drove into the father and his two young sons as they rode their bicycles in 2018.

After that, his parents say, he was treated like a criminal instead of a person with mental illness.

The big picture: About 10% to 25% of people in U.S. prisons have been diagnosed with serious mental illnesses, according to a 2014 National Research Council report. Compare that to a rate of 5% among all Americans.

Across Florida, a Sun Sentinel investigation found people with mental illness killed or brutally assaulted at least 500 loved ones in Florida from 2000 to 2016  while the states funding for mental health care declined.

Mental Health America ranked Florida 48th nationally for access to mental health care in 2021.

Missed opportunities

Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Mikese spent a decade in and out of the mental health system and had several run-ins with law enforcement before the crash. But after each incident, the Morses say they were told no one could help them get him long-term treatment.

The latest: A judge ordered Mikese to be moved from prison to a mental health hospital last month, after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Mikese was diagnosed after the crash with bipolar schizoaffective disorder.

The backdrop: Mikese was Baker Acted  a temporary and often involuntary commitment to a mental health facility if one is deemed a threat to themselves or others  multiple times before the crash, according to his parents.

In the fall of 2007, during his freshman year at USF, he was Baker Acted at St. Josephs Hospital by his father, Michael. He was held for 72 hours.

In 2009, he spent two weeks at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami while attending the University of Miami.

In 2010, he spent 72 hours at Gracepoint, a Tampa behavioral health clinic, for his third Baker Act.

On Aug. 13, 2017, the Morses say police followed Mikese after he didnt stop for a traffic violation when police tried to pull him over.

Mikese's mother, Khadeeja, says she asked if the police could once again help get him Baker Acted for treatment, but was ultimately told that there was nothing they could do because "being mentally ill isnt a crime."

"She can see it. She hears it," Khadeeja says of the interaction with police. "She can acknowledge it, and she just acknowledged every failure of the system, so that means were on our own."

Neither the Tampa Police Department nor the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office have records of this interaction, but its not likely they would if no tickets or warnings were written.

Less than three weeks before the crash: Mikese's parents say officers came to their home to ask about threats to then-President Trump he had made on social media on June 6, 2018.

Less than two weeks before the crash: On June 12, 2018, Mikese walked into a Tampa police station and told officers he was worried he might hurt someone. He was Baker Acted and once again taken to Gracepoint.

The facility serves as a sort of mental health ER. When people are Baker Acted, theyre usually kept for a few days. After that, it's up to them to continue suggested follow-up treatment.

One of the documents his mother says was included in Mikese's Gracepoint discharge packet. Photo courtesy of Khadeeja Morse

Gracepoint held Mikese for a week and released him five days before the crash with what his mother calls "a bus pass and a good luck."

His discharge packet contained a resource guide dated 2014 and practically illegible scans of documents. Many of the places listed for housing were unreadable. Most of the others Khadeeja called were either full or listed under the wrong number.

The facility does not share who has or has not received treatment and representatives could only speak generally.

Gracepoint spokesperson Susan Morgan says the photos are not reflective of their discharge packets and that patients aren't discharged until they are seen by a psychiatrist and receive a follow-up appointment and any medications.

Five days after his release, Mikese ran down the Aguerreberry family.

"They really wanted to create a villain"

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

When TPD officers showed up at their home after the crash to arrest Mikese, the family was horrified and devastated.

Their only hope was that this would finally be a catalyst for real long-term help  but it turned into their worst nightmare.

The final straw: Khadeeja and Michael say they talked for hours to investigators about their sons mental health history and felt confident the police understood he had a severe mental illness, especially given that the same department had just Baker Acted him.

But when they turned on the TV the next day, they watched then-Chief Brian Dugan say their son intentionally hit the Aguerreberry family  with no mention of his mental illness.

Khadeeja took to the internet and did every interview she could to correct the record. "They really wanted to create a villain. If we didnt speak, they were going to put our son in jail and not tell the truth," she tells Axios.

The other side: The TPD stands by Dugans initial statements after the crash. The department wouldnt let Axios speak to Dugan, but sent a statement...

"Its the police departments responsibility to arrest individuals for crimes committed. Based on the evidence, Morse intentionally ran over a father and two children at the time of his arrest."

"The determination of the subjects competency and placement is not the role of the investigator on scene. It is up to the justice system to determine the outcome."

A court battle

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

In the three years after the crash, the Morse and Aguerreberry families suffered constant delays in the case. Determining Mikeses competency to stand trial and start getting treatment took months  and then COVID hit.

Watching her son sit in jail was like "death by a thousand paper cuts," Khadeeja says.

"He was decompensating in front of our eyes, and in front of their eyes and they all knew it and saw it. ... And they still wouldnt let us get him to a hospital," she adds.

The Aguerreberry family did not respond to Axios' requests for comment for this story.

Between the lines: Thats how the system works, State Attorney Andrew Warren tells Axios.

Because Mikese committed a felony, his case couldnt be moved to a mental health court.

In order to move the case forward, Mikese needed to be deemed competent to stand trial. Then, he needed to be evaluated by experts so the court could determine whether he had an insanity defense.

Warren blames part of the delay on Mikeses attorney for fighting over whether he could be placed into private care instead of a state hospital.

But Warren puts the biggest share of the blame on what he calls a broken system.

"Here youre seeing an example of the worst type of tragedy that occurs when someone who is in dire need of mental health treatment fails to get it. This was preventable. This is an example of the failure of the mental health system in our community," he says.

Fixing a broken system

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

Everyone involved in Mikese's story points to a different villain.

The police points a finger at him. Prosecutors points to the mental health system. The Morses direct their anger toward one specific place: Gracepoint.

The other side: Gracepoint CEO Joe Rutherford couldnt comment directly on Mikese's case, but he did have a response for those who say the system is broken.

"It absolutely isn't broken. The parts that are in place work miraculously well," he tells Axios.

The problem in Florida, Rutherford explains, is that there are gaps of care in the mental health system that arent funded. And people often slip through those gaps.

"All those components are there for successful discharge and post-treatment but once a person walks out of the unit, theyre on their own to follow up with our recommended after care," Rutherford says.

His solutions: Rutherford says Florida needs to follow the example of other states who have funded short-term residential programs. He says Gracepoint alone processes more than a thousand people a month, in addition to more than 25,000 people in its outpatient programs.

People who are released from a Baker Act that need more than just a pre-scheduled outpatient appointment would be able to spend two to three months in supportive housing.

Its a program that exists in limited quantities in Florida, but hasnt received more funding in about a decade, Rutherford says.

"The fact of the matter is it would pay for itself. It would save the state money and take pressure off the state hospital system. It would give us that missing component that we have right now in our current acute care system," he adds.

Continuity is also a problem. Hospitals with Baker Act beds have no connected records system, so facilities can only access their own records about a patient.

"When we have someone come through our front door, if we could see a snapshot of their history throughout the state of Florida, we would certainly be able to improve that patients care," Rutherford says.

The fight continues

Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo courtesy of Khadeeja Morse

There have been a number of recent developments around Tampa Bay aimed at improving care for those with mental illness.

Police departments have been adding mental health resources to aid officers, a measure to help keep those in crisis out of the criminal justice system.

TPD formed a behavioral health unit over the summer, per Creative Loafing.

Gracepoint's no-show rates for follow-up appointments dropped significantly over the last few years, Rutherford says, after it started new outpatient orientation groups.

Whats next: Weeks after the court's order, Mikese is still waiting to be transferred to a state hospital. Khadeeja continues waiting for word from the jail, trying to understand when that'll finally take place.

In the meantime, she says hes well enough to be in the jails general population, but she wont stop fighting until he gets treatment.

She doesnt plan on being quiet about his case any time soon. She wont stop talking to reporters, posting on TikTok or speaking out in whatever way she can until her sons name is associated with lasting change.

Her bottom line: "With every breath in my body, I'm going to keep talking about this and sharing this and exposing this. Literally theres not a better example of the failures of the mental health system than with Mikese."
Good people quit good jobs to join Ozy Media. They believed in its mission, its leadership and its potential for wealth creation. Investors cut big checks in good faith. They were all betrayed.

The big picture: A horde of sources described a pattern of bad behavior, well beyond the failed fraud that was first reported Sunday by the N.Y. Times.

What happened yesterday: Do you have a minute?

Marc Lasry stepped down from Ozy Media's board, saying: "I believe that going forward Ozy requires experience in areas like crisis management and investigations, where I do not have particular expertise."

This is just weeks after Lasry became chairman, and just days after initially saying that an investigation wasn't needed.

Axios learned that Lasry only invested $1 million of his own money in what we were told was a $35 million Series C round in 2019. At the time, CEO Carlos Watson referred to Lasry as that round's lead investor.

Watson in 2019 also told CNBC that Sharon and Ozzy Osborne had invested in his company. Sharon now says that never happened, adding: "This guy is the biggest shyster I have ever seen in my life."

Stories published Thursday by Bloomberg and CNN portray Watson as an erratic leader who used unprofessional practices to micromanage his staff. Oh, and some advertisers are fleeing.

But wait, there's more, per new reporting by Axios:

Just months after that $35 million funding round (for which there is no SEC filing), Ozy implemented 19% pay cuts, citing the pandemic, per multiple sources, although the specific percentage could vary based on pay level.

The company quietly laid off around 20% of its staff in early 2020, per multiple sources.

Eugene Robinson, Ozy's editor-at-large and one of its original hires, says he was fired for posting a story on his personal Substack, even though he had approval to do so from a senior editor (as verified via a screenshot shared with Axios). Watson allegedly told Robinson: "You were wrong for doing it and they were wrong for telling you to do it."

Robinson says he's free to speak with reporters because his severance negotiations, which would have included an NDA, broke down after Ozy insisted he remove a negative Glassdoor review that the company believed he had posted (Robinson denies it's his).

Other ex-employees tell Axios that management encouraged them to write positive Glassdoor reviews.

German publisher Axel Springer, an early Ozy investor, tells Axios that it gave up its right to a board seat and voting rights after only investing $300,000 in the Series C round. But Ozy continued to list Axel Springer's rep as an active director in a July 2021 filing with the state of Florida.

Several sources note Watson's penchant for Sunday meetings, and say he often strung employees for hours on Sunday. Some say Watson made it very hard to leave the company, and would continue to call after their departures.

People can be prone to badmouthing their ex-employers, but what we're getting here is a consistent story.

Axios reached out to a current member of Ozy's accounting department for clarification on revenue numbers that the company originally shared with us, but she hung up.

The bottom line: All we know for sure about Ozy is that there's bad news to come.

Go deeper: Ozy loses an early investor
The Iranian military reportedly began massing troops there after Baku set up on September 12 a roadblock on the main highway connecting Armenia with Iran. The Armenian government controversially ceded a 21-kilometer section of the road to Azerbaijan following last years war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijani police and customs have since been collecting a hefty road tax from Iranian trucks and other vehicles passing through it, causing significant disruptions in cargo traffic between Armenia and Iran.

Aliyev said on Monday that Baku set up the roadblock because Tehran ignored repeated its warnings to stop Iranian trucks from shipping cargo to Karabakh. He described the Iranian military buildup as very surprising.

Every country can carry out any military drill on its own territory. It's their sovereign right  But why now and why on our border? Aliyev told Turkeys Anadolu news agency.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry dismissed the criticism on Tuesday. A ministry spokesman effectively linked the drills to Azerbaijans military ties with Israel, saying that Iran will not tolerate Israeli presence near its borders.

Irans Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian likewise told Azerbaijans new ambassador in Tehran on Thursday that the Islamic Republic is taking measures against the Zionist regimes activities against its national security.

The Iranian army did not specify the number of soldiers involved in the exercises. The commander of its ground forces, Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari, was quoted by Iranian news agencies as saying only that they will be backed up by tanks, artillery, combat helicopters and drones.

Heidari also said the war games are aimed at assessing the armys combat readiness and testing its weapons.

The Armenian government has reacted to cautiously to Bakus decision to tax Iranian vehicles entering Armenia. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian suggested on September 15 the move is aimed at pressuring Armenia to open a transport corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave. But he stopped short of demanding an end to the serious hurdle to Armenias transport links with Iran.

Pashinians deputy, Suren Papikian, told the Iranian ambassador in Yerevan on Wednesday that Armenia will complete by the end of this year work on an alternative road that will allow Iranian trucks to bypass the Azerbaijani roadblock.
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 66F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low around 50F. Winds light and variable.
You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @idesai98 on Twitter.
PARIS (AP)  Before Notre Dame cathedral and with the Seine River lapping near their designer heels, actresses Gillian Anderson and Demi Moore stepped out in style to attend Chloes eco-minded outdoors runway show on the Parisian Left Bank.

A far cry from the huddled, indoor seating of many Paris Fashion Week shows so far, Chloes open air venue -- on the rivers edge -- gave virus-conscious fashion editors a breath of fresh air.

But the shows message also touted positivity: Being good to the environment can also be chic.

Here are some highlights of the Spring 2022 collection:

CHLOE GOES ECO

The craft-forward approach of Chloes new designer, Gabriela Hearst, was apparent in the runway display  if you looked very, very closely.

The house said it had increased the number of garments handmade by artisans, denoted by a sewn-on spiral symbol.

Stylish metal talismans were made from dead-stock jewelry, while multicolored fabrics on slim-fitting patchwork jackets or multicolored scale-like dresses were upcycled from previous Chloe collections. Shredded, knotted and macramed by hand into new garments, the house said.

A flappy poncho-type gown in cashmere sported blue stripes hand-painted with vegetable-based blue dye. Nearly 60% of the collection was made from low impact materials.

RICK OWENS REFLECTS

The normally boisterous Rick Owens was in a philosophical mood on Thursday -- reflecting on his return to the Paris catwalk after four COVID-era shows livestreamed from my home and the humbling experience that the pandemic represented.

Thursday's catwalk went back to the American designer's roots -- his personal definition of beauty. The collection began with the signature aggressive aesthetic: A model in alien makeup, an abstract black amorphous girdle and giant black platform waders.

Yet, Owens cleverly varied between hard and light. Diaphanous nylon floated in the air, mixing with sheer black fabric that exposed the flesh. That contrasted with structured detailing, his typical sharp shoulders, and thick jewelry that gave the show a stylish, otherworldly air.

COPERNIS BEACH

At the Coperni display, designers Arnaud Vaillant and Sebastien Meyer got out the tropical undergrowth on Thursday morning for a fresh and colorful ray of fashion sunshine.

Beach-ready items, swimwear and big shades, which featured throughout the show, nicely contrasted with couture-infused jackets and a variety of touches.

Foulard print bikinis  sheeny and silken  that opened the collection set the tone. They were matched with low-slung baggy pants with utilitarian detailing and platform sandals.

The bikini style was then transposed onto a white dress, with hoops making up the bust and straps. The garments clean lines - repeated with a black number  gave it, like many looks in the show, a crisp and sporty feel.

ISABEL MARANT

On one of the day's last shows, Isabel Marant continued the on-trend beach musing as she infused her typically feminine designs with a bikini silhouette.

A bikini top was placed off-kilter on a colored shirt, while bikini bottoms contrasted with a loose orange top with ruffled sleeves. It was fun, if not groundbreaking.

There were prints and colors galore in a collection that screamed summer. Toggles, straps, flaps, buttons and pockets provided a streetwise, utilitarian edge to the sometimes unisex looks.

What this show lacked in focus, it certainly made up for in energy.

___

Thomas Adamson can be followed at Twitter.com/ThomasAdamson_K
No, Texas Roadhouse is not offering a free meal for two with drinks.

On Tuesday, September 28, the Louisville-based restaurant chain warned its guests about a fake meal voucher circulating on Facebook. Texas Roadhouse posted about the scam on its Facebook page that has a blue checkmark.
Kim Brent / Beaumont Enterprise

The Kirbyville Consolidated Independent School District called a special business meeting on Labor Day to accept the resignation of Superintendent Georgia Sayers. Sayers will be leaving the district to pursue an opportunity at the Region 5 Education Service Center in Beaumont.

In a press release, the KCISD School Board acknowledged that they are immensely grateful for all the contributions Ms. Sayers has made to the district during her tenure in the district. Sayers was the assistant superintendent and testing coordinator prior to becoming the superintendent in March of 2020 once Thomas Wallis departed from the position.
Civil Rights activists are no longer asking for the video showing the events that led to the paralysis of Christopher Shaw while in custody of the Jefferson County Sheriff.

They are demanding it.

And theyre bringing in some of the biggest names in Civil Rights activism to help.

Thursday, Candice Matthews and Darnella Wilkerson, with the Texas Rainbow PUSH Coalition, stood in solidarity with Texas Coalition of Black Democrats Angela Johnson and LaDonna Sherwood, of the local NAACP chapter, outside Sheriff Zena Stephens office for a second news conference in several days regarding Shaws case after getting no response following last weeks press conference and community march.

Matthews asked Stephens to be the change agent for the community of Jefferson County who voted for you.

We need transparency. We need to hold the people responsible accountable, Matthews said, adding that, not being transparent, hiding evidence, keeping things from the public eye erodes public trust.

Were not asking, were demanding you release this video, she said, adding that people deserve to know what happened.

Sherwood said they are seeking transparency for all the police agencies involved in Shaws case  Beaumont Police as well as the Sheriffs Department.

If theres nothing to hide, then why not release the video? A lot of time has lapsed, and if theres no issue with your officers conduct and everyone is happy with how they did their job in regards to Shaw, there should be no issue with releasing the video, she said.

Sherwood added, It does more harm to conceal it.

Reached after the gathering, Stephens said shes in favor of transparency, but she has to follow the law.

The video I have is evidence in a pending criminal case, and theres a law that forbids me from releasing evidence until that case is disposed, she said.

She added that Shaws attorneys and family have seen the video, which she says is evidence of the departments transparency.

If the law would allow me to release the video (to the public), it would be released, she said. But the law doesnt allow me to do that.

Although Matthews said they have not spoken with Sheriff Stephens, Shaws civil attorneys  Harry Daniels and Chance Lynch  have, and they advised Stephens that the group would be at her office Thursday.

They were there not only to make the demand, but also to deliver a letter on behalf of national Rainbow PUSH Coalition leaders The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Bishop Tavis Grant.

That letter also called for the release of the video and for Stephens to take appropriate action. The women had to leave the letter with a member of the staff after being told Stephens was out of the office in a meeting. They also asked the staff member to relay the message that Jesse Jackson would be calling soon.

By her not being here, thats a problem, Matthews said. She knew that I was coming, but when people see me coming, they scatter. They dont want the heat, but do right by the people and you wont get that heat.

Matthews noted that particularly as the first female African American sheriff in Texas, expectations are higher.

You have a duty to draw a line in the sand and be on the right side of history, Matthews said.

Stephens told The Enterprise that race and gender arent relevant in this instance.

Everyones expectations should be that we dont jeopardize justice for Mr. Shaw and for the officer involved, she said. For me, its about everyone getting justice and equitable justice.

If there is no response to the letter, Matthews and others are ready to take it to the next level and put the issue on a national platform.

This is just the beginning, she said, adding, Its not just Beaumont anymore, and all the Civil Rights heavy hitters - Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and others - will be here.

Stephens said she thinks protest is healthy, but reiterated that she has a duty to make sure the criminal justice system operates as its supposed to.

kbrent@beaumontenterprise.com
The Texas Legislature has started releasing redrawn political maps based on the 2020 census.

While Southeast Texas isnt expected to get any new districts based on population, proposed maps for the U.S. House would spell one of the greatest changes to the area.

Currently, the entirety of Jefferson County is in a district currently-led by U.S. Rep. Randy Weber, R-Pearland, and Orange County is in a district led by U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, R-Woodville.

However, the newly-proposed map would split Beaumont in half, giving the northern section instead to Babins district, while Orange County would be absorbed by Webers district.

Texas State Rep. Joe Deshotel, R-Beaumont, says he already sees an issue with just that proposal alone.

Theres a rule in redistricting that they do not want you to break a county line, he said.

He underscored the big battle brewing between Republicans and Democrats across the state as they work to draw the lines that will decide who votes where in elections over the next decade.

Whatever party is in power tends to try to draw lines to keep them in power, he said. So, the Republican Party  which is the dominant party, has all the statewide elected officials, and a majority of the Senate and a majority of the Texas House of Representatives - is going to be attempting, to the extent that law allows them, to increase the number of Republican districts in the state of Texas, and then to certainly maintain control of districts that they have.

Texas House Speaker and Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, could not be reached for comment.

But Jefferson County Republican Party Chair Judy Nichols says the maps are simply an exercise in math.

They represent change, she said. Change can sometimes be disconcerting for people. So, I've heard from some people that they're not comfortable with the change. Personally, Im ambivalent. I dont know if its a better-or-worse question.

Texas has seen a population growth of about 16% over the last decade, increasing the states population base to 29.1 million  up from 25.1 million.

People get upset by the change, and they perceive it to be inequitable or some way not representative, even though they base it off population numbers, Nichols said. Its mathematical. Growth makes people uncomfortable. They dont call it growing pains for nothing.

But the states demographics also changed. The number of Hispanic people in Texas grew from 9.5 million to 11.5 million, while Asian people are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center. In fact, only the white population saw a decrease  17.5%.

Jefferson County is a microcosm of the state overall. Over the past decade, only the number of white and Black residents decreased in Jefferson County.

Thats in part why Jefferson County Democratic Party Chair Joseph Trahan says the proposed district lines are more than math. Its sociology, its culture, its history, its tradition, its worldview. Its diluting the voices of minority voters, he said.

But he says the way the new maps have been drawn is no surprise.

Republicans will do whatever they have to to hang onto power, he said. I took immediate notice, for example, of our congressional map that proposed the inclusion of Orange County into our congressional district, while removing large portions of Beaumont north end, which are predominantly Democratic voters, and seating those votes in our neighboring congressional districts, which is currently held by Brian Babin. And so this, in essence, allows for Randy Weber, or anyone in his ilk, that hopes to run for office in the next decade to all but be guaranteed a victory.

The maps will go through different iterations, but with a Republican-controlled legislature, he said the maps likely will always be in Republicans favor, which he says is disheartening for him, Democratic and independent voters and Republicans who have been rubbed the wrong way by the way their party has aligned itself with Donald Trump.

Nichols did acknowledge that redistricting does depend on the way people are looking at population numbers that come in.

People feel that the math does not favor them. They want the numbers to be in their favor, she said. They want the math to work in their favor. Its human nature.

Ultimately, Trahan encourages individuals to look at the bigger picture. There are several offices in which district lines wont ensure a Republican victory, because they rely on the statewide popular vote. These include the governor and lieutenant governor, who set the priorities for the legislature, as well as Texas Attorney General and the President of the United States.

We still have control over the people that we elect countywide, and we can still send the message by not supporting Republican candidates for state and national office, regardless of what everyone else does around us in neighboring counties, Trahan said. That's how best I think we can really push people to stay motivated and engaged and hopeful.

Nichols said shes sympathetic to those who may not be happy with the changes, but she says thats sometimes the way life and the United States works sometimes.

Every time there is redistricting, the party in the majority would likely want to draw the maps in a way that protects the majority, she said. That goes back to the beginning of our country. And it's the way that it is designed. Some people don't like the way that it's designed. But that's the design of the country.

rachel.kersey@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/ontheREKord
Enterprise

Jefferson County Assistant District Attorney Cornelius Williams, Jr. has been selected as the director for the Southern Region of the National Black Prosecutors Association.

The National Black Prosecutors Association (NBPA) is the only professional membership organization dedicated to the advancement of Black prosecutors. and was founded in 1983. The Southern Region consists of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Every Wisconsin county had a high rate of COVID-19 infections on Thursday and intensive care units were at or near capacity in almost every hospital in the state, even though cases had been steadily dropping over the previous nine days.

Although the decline in cases is encouraging, it's too early to say that Wisconsin has seen the worst of the latest surge caused by the highly contagious delta variant, said Dr. Ryan Westergaard, the state's chief medical officer.

I don't think theres enough data to say we reached a peak or weve hit the downslide," Westergaard said. We need to remain vigilant.

Westergaard stressed the importance of getting vaccinated and for those who got the Pfizer vaccine and are eligible for a newly approved booster to receive that as well.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services recommends a booster dose of Pfizer at least six months after receiving their second dose for people ages 65 and over; residents in long-term care and people ages 50-64 with certain underlying medical conditions including cancer and chronic lung disease.

Others who may get a booster include people ages 1849 years with certain underlying medical conditions; people ages 1864 years who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of their jobs, including teachers, grocery store workers and public transit employees.

For now, only those who received the Pfizer vaccine are eligible for booster shots. People who received the Johnson & Johnson or Moderna vaccines are not supposed to get them.

Westergaard also urged people to get their annual flu shot to help prevent even more patients requiring stays at hospitals that are near capacity because of COVID-19 cases.

As of Wednesday, the seven-day average of new cases was 2,416. That was down from the Sept. 20 high of 2,932 for the current surge but was still 745 more than the seven-day average of a month ago. Case rates among children, meanwhile, were at the same level as they were during the height of the pandemic last fall, Westergaard said.

Twenty-one Wisconsin counties were seeing critically high levels of new cases, with all other counties at high levels. At hospitals, 96% of ICU beds were in use and 97% of intermediate care beds were full, Westergaard said. That means many hospitals are at or near capacity or will be there soon, he said.
A Republican redistricting operative whose clandestine work helped drag Wisconsin into a legal morass last decade appears to now be on the payroll of the Texas Legislature as lawmakers work to redraw maps that will determine the distribution of political power for years to come.

The operative, Adam Foltz, was part of the team that helped craft Wisconsins legislative maps after Republicans took control of that state Legislature in 2010. Foltz played a key role in a tight-lipped and questionable redrawing process that shut out Democrats and drew the condemnation of federal judges who described it as needlessly secret, according to court records.

Foltz may now be playing a behind-the-scenes role in Texas. The Capitols internal staff directory, to which The Texas Tribune obtained access, shows Foltz is working for the House Redistricting Committee. His office and phone number in that directory match those of the committees staff office in the Capitol basement, but at least one Democrat on the committee said they had not been advised of his involvement. Foltz has not been a visible part of the committee's public facing work.

Though Foltz is assigned to the House Redistricting Committee, state employment records show that Foltz is actually on the payroll of the Texas Legislative Council, a nonpartisan state agency that supports the Legislature in drafting and analyzing proposed legislation  and manages the internal mapping tool lawmakers use to redraw political maps. During the redistricting process, the council also plays a crucial role in providing demographic and election results for lawmakers proposed maps.

Records show Foltz was hired by the agency under the title of legislative professional on May 17 at a $120,000 annual salary. But Kimberley Shields, the council's assistant executive director, said in an email that Foltz reports to state Rep. Todd Hunter, the Corpus Christi Republican who chairs the redistricting committee.

"While Mr. Foltz is on the legislative council payroll, he is considered an employee of the House Redistricting Committee, and his hiring and duties are entirely within the purview of Chairman Hunter," Shields said in an email. "The council provides support on request to the house and senate in many situations, including occasionally covering the salary of a staff member. We don't have any other committee employees on our payroll."

Hunter did not respond to questions about Foltzs involvement in the mapping process.

The work of redistricting is never easy, but I am fully committed to a fair process and I look forward to working with my fellow members of this committee on the task at hand, Hunter said in a February statement when he was first appointed to chair the committee by House Speaker Dade Phelan.

A request for comment to the staff email assigned to Foltz also went unanswered. A spokesman for Phelan declined to comment and referred questions to Hunter.

Texas lawmakers are currently in session in Austin to redraw the states legislative and congressional maps to reflect a decades worth of population growth. The census showed people of color were behind 95% of the state's growth since 2010  about 4 million new residents  with Hispanics Texans responsible for half of that growth.

The redistricting process has always been complex and contentious in Texas, requiring repeated federal intervention to protect Hispanic and Black voters. In each of the last four redistricting cycles, either a federal court or the U.S. Department of Justice determined that Texas did not comply with federal protections for those voters. This years effort will mark the first time in decades that Texas lawmakers  Republicans are again in full control of the process  will be allowed to redraw maps without the federal supervision that prevented states with discriminatory track records from enacting new maps until they were reviewed to ensure they didnt pull back on the voting rights of people of color.

Foltzs involvement in Wisconsins 2011 redistricting was shrouded in controversy. He was hired as a staff member for the Speaker of the Assembly to help redraw the states maps following the 2010 census. Though he was an aide to the speaker, Foltz and another staffer worked out of a law firm that was also brought on to help with the process.

He held meetings there under what a federal court called a cloak of secrecy with every Republican member of the State Assembly  but no Democrats  who were each required to sign confidentiality agreements that bound them from discussing what was said. Despite Republican efforts to keep them secret, documents released during the litigation over the maps Foltz helped draw showed that he was also asked to help witnesses prepare their public testimony in support of them.

A federal court that considered the states maps eventually found violations of the Voting Rights Act in two assembly districts where map drawers improperly diluted the vote of Latinos. In that ruling, the court said the drafting of the maps was needlessly secret, regrettably excluding input from the overwhelming majority of Wisconsin citizens.

As the case dragged on over legal squabbles over emails Republicans had not initially turned over, the court criticized the secretive process in which Foltz was involved while he worked on the maps from the offices of the private law firm.

"Without a doubt, the Legislature made a conscious choice to involve private lawyers in what gives every appearance of an attempt  albeit poorly disguised  to cloak the private machinations of Wisconsin's Republican legislators in the shroud of attorney-client privilege, the court said in a 2012 ruling. What could have  indeed should have  been accomplished publicly instead took place in private, in an all but shameful attempt to hide the redistricting process from public scrutiny."
Having tried just about everything else over the past decade to fix the child foster care system run by the Department of Family and Protective Services, Gov. Greg Abbott is proposing a summit next week of all the major parties to try to hammer out a solution. Its an unconventional approach to a lingering state problem, but its worth a try.

State officials have been kicking this can down the road for years, and the result has been real harm to countless children and teenagers in foster care. These vulnerable people must receive the greatest state protection, not half-hearted efforts and bureaucratic doubletalk. At long last, all the players in this drama must get together and produce a lasting solution to something that should have been resolved years ago.

The summit marks yet another new phase in six years of legal wrangling since federal Judge Janis Jack ruled that the states foster care system placed children in jeopardy and violated their rights. Instead of accepting criticism of obvious problems, state lawyers have repeatedly fought Judge Jack  and usually lost. She ordered numerous changes to the states system, threatened fines and criticizes state officials  almost all of it justified.

Abbott is now proposing good faith negotiations to discuss possible solutions to the problems described by court-appointed monitors about foster children who are staying in unlicensed facilities. As many as 400 Texas children each month are housed in unsafe, temporary sites like motels or state office buildings.

Its hardly a satisfactory response to children who need much better oversight. Monitors appointed by Judge Jack found cases of child-on-child sexual abuse, over-medication, not receiving prescribed medication and unnecessary physical restraints. There was even a report of a foster girl arranging to meet a sex trafficker and being taken away from the state building where she was staying.

Thats outrageous, and no Texan can be satisfied with anything close to that.

Foster child care is not easy. Its one of the most challenging things a state government does. Its expensive and requires constant effort by well-trained staffers. Its also emotionally draining for case workers who see so much abuse and have so many families to monitor. In turn, that leads to high turnover in a state agency that needs experienced workers, leading to a new cycle of problems.

As difficult as it is to run a foster care system, howeve,r other states manage to do it effectively. Texas officials should check with them to see what works in their state and how those practices can be copied in Texas.

This is the kind of real-world problem state officials should be focusing on, not election integrity bills in a state with secure elections, and now an election audit demanded by former President Trump in a state he won. An abused or neglected child goes into foster care to receive protection he or she was not getting at home. The state must provide that protection, not continue the problems.

At long last, this summit needs to lead to real and lasting solutions.
The 'Vada Chennai' actress, who is super active on her social media handles, had a blast, vacationing in Maldives. She also shares pictures every now and then about her trips, upcoming projects, singing and modelling. The latest photo posted by Andrea has her flaunting a butterfly tattoo on her waist. The photo had garnered thousands of likes and comments.

While many took to the comments section to share love emojis, a few others said she looked like Hollywood actress Gal Gadot. "Gal Gadot nu nenachitten", "A second I thought it was gal gadot," read some of the comments. The world-famous actress, who has a massive fan following in India, won the hearts of fans with her performance as the 'Wonder Woman'. A section of fans also called Andrea 'Thalaivi', a name which fans address the Israeli actress as well.

Andrea is also awaiting the release of Mysskin's much-awaited 'Pisasu 2'. She has played an extremely important role in the horror-thriller film which is the sequel to the 2014 movie of the same name. She also has 'Maaligai', 'Kaa' and an untitled film with Vetrimaaran in the pipeline.
This magical tale set in Latin America includes new music from Lin-Manuel Miranda and gorgeous animation.

Disney/Pixar has been celebrating diverse cultures with their animated movies in recent years  Moana, Raya and the Last Dragon, Coco, Luca, Soul. Encanto continues that trend. Its about a family filled with folks with amazing powers that live in a hidden city in the mountains of Colombia. Meet the Madrigals

Disney has very much taken advantage of ownership of Pixar over the years. Theyve developed a lush, colorful style that works perfectly for the rainforest and mountains of Colombia where this story of the magical Madrigal family is set; and for all of the creatures that live there. It is beautiful. And its got a great beat.

The new trailer reveals the danger facing the Madrigals  the magic thats been woven into their lives for years is disappearing, and theres only one person who can save it.

Walt Disney Animation Studios upcoming feature film Encanto tells the tale of the Madrigals, an extraordinary family who live in a wondrous, charmed place called an Encanto. Each child has been blessed with a magic gift unique to themeach child except Mirabel. But when the familys home is threatened, Mirabel may be their only hope.

The voice cast includes Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn 99, The Lego Movie) as Mirabel, John Leguizamo, Diane Guerrero, Wilmer Valderrama, Angie Cepeda, Rhenzy Feliz, Carolina Gaitan, and Maria Cecilia Botero. The directing team also had a hand in Moana, Zootopia, and Raya the Last Dragon; and new music from Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Encanto arrives in theaters this November 24th.
Muslim men carry the body of Rohingya leader Muhib Ullah during his funeral at Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh, Sept. 30, 2021.

Updated at 11:50 a.m. ET on 2021-10-04

Bangladesh police said Friday they had arrested a Rohingya man in connection with the killing of a prominent refugee leader this week, even as a Rohingya rebel group rejected allegations that it was behind the murder.

A suspect identified as Mohammad Selim, 27, (alias Lomba Selim), was arrested from a refugee camp in Coxs Bazar district on Friday morning, police said.

Rohingya leader Md. Muhib Ullah was shot dead in his office at the Kutupalong camp in Coxs Bazar by at least five unidentified gunmen Wednesday night. He was buried at the camp on Thursday evening amid tight security as thousands of Rohingya attended his funeral.

Based on preliminary investigation, we think Selim might have involvement with the murder, Ukhia police chief Sanjur Morshed told BenarNews, without providing details.

Police will produce the accused in court on Saturday and seek permission for his interrogation in police custody.

Also on Friday, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) rebel group said that Muhib Ullah was reportedly assassinated by unidentified transnational border-based criminals.

It is time for to hold the criminals accountable instead of finger pointing with baseless and hearsay accusations, ARSA said in a statement via Twitter.

ARSA issued its statement a day after Muhib Ullahs brother, Habib Ullah, accused the rebels of killing the Rohingya refugee leader.

All the killers of my brother and great Rohingya leader are members of ARSA, Habib Ullah, who was outside the office when the killing took place and saw men fleeing the scene, told BenarNews.

I recognized only a few of them [the killers] as the others were wearing masks. They had been working in the camp against repatriation while my brother was in favor of it, he said.

Habib Ullah said he would not name the suspects because he was concerned for his own security.

However, Naimul Haque, commanding officer of the Armed Police Battalion Unit-14, said the rebel group was not present in Bangladesh.

ARSA does not exist in Bangladesh. Rival refugee groups sometimes use the name of ARSA to spread panic, Haque told BenarNews.

Muhib Ullah, 50, who served as chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, a Rohingya rights advocacy group, was among about 740,000 stateless Rohingya Muslims who crossed into the southeastern Bangladeshi district four years ago as they fled a brutal offensive launched by Myanmars military in their home state of Rakhine in August 2017.

Myanmar conducted the crackdown after deadly raids on police and military outposts in Rakhine state that authorities blamed on ARSA rebels. Myanmar declared ARSA a terrorist group on Aug. 25, 2017.

Also on Thursday, Habib Ullah filed a murder case with the Ukhia police accusing unnamed people of the killing. In his complaint, he said his brother had disputes with extremist Rohingya groups and that he never compromised.

Thats why my brother became a target of the extremist group, he said in a statement that was part of his police complaint.

Police question a motorcyclist at the Kutupalong refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh as part of increased security after the fatal shooting there of Rohingya leader Muhib Ullah, Oct. 1, 2021. [Sunil Barua/BenarNews]

Brave and fierce advocate

Meanwhile, an independent media organization in Myanmar, posted a video dated Friday purportedly showing Muhib Ullahs widow complaining about insufficient security for her husband.

He needed security. The police should have been guarding him, a woman who Mizzima TV identified as Muhib Ullahs wife, Nasima Khatun, said in the video posted on YouTube.

They didnt even come after he was shot, she alleged.

Habib Ullah said his brother was killed because of his popularity among Rohingya and his global standing.

Muhib Ullah represented the Rohingya community before the United Nations and at the White House in Washington, where he expressed concerns about his fellow refugees to then-President Donald Trump in 2019.

Among those who paid tribute to Muhib Ullah were United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and an international group of 27 Rohingya organizations.

Muhib Ullah was a brave and fierce advocate for the human rights of Rohingya Muslims around the world, Blinken said in a statement issued Thursday.

We urge a full and transparent investigation into his death with the goal of holding the perpetrators of this heinous crime accountable. We will honor his work by continuing to advocate for Rohingya and lift up the voices of members of the community in decisions about their future.

Bachelet and the Rohingya organizations echoed the call for a thorough investigation into the killing.

It is heartbreaking that a person who spent his life fighting to ensure that the violations committed against the Rohingya people were known world-wide has been murdered in this way, Bachelet said in a statement issued Friday.

In their statement, the Rohingya organizations also expressed concern for the around 1 million refugees who and live in camps in and around Coxs Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh.

The camp situation remains particularly precarious, said the organizations with members in the U.S., United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Norway and Sweden.

Refugees live in cramped quarters with limited freedom of movement, access to education or health service, they said.

While tributes to Muhib Ullah have poured in from abroad in the two days since he was gunned down, Bangladeshs government has yet to issue a statement offering condolences to his family or condemning the murder of the high-profile refugee on its territory.

This story has been updated to clarify that Habib Ullah, the victim's brother, was outside the office when the shooting took place.
A Malaysian Red Crescent Society officer prepares to administer a COVID-19 vaccine to an undocumented migrant during an inoculation drive in Selangor, Sept. 26, 2021

Nisa, a pregnant, undocumented Indonesian woman living in Malaysia, was afraid to be vaccinated against COVID-19 because she feared being arrested for not renewing her visa if she went to a government clinic.

The countrys health minister sought to assure undocumented migrants that they wouldnt be taken into custody. But his cabinet colleague, the home minister, noted otherwise  health care workers must notify authorities if they came in contact with such migrants, according to a 2001 policy, he said.

So in September, when the rights NGO Red Crescent Society decided to start a vaccination drive for undocumented people and refugees, assuring them they would be safe, Nisa decided to put aside her fears.

I was afraid if I were to go to government clinic or walk into a vaccination center as advised by some, I would be arrested, Nisa, who is in her mid-20s, told BenarNews.

She said also was concerned about her unborn child.

I worried something bad could happen to the baby, but in my neighborhood many people have been infected with COVID-19 and some have died, Nisa said.

I have received my first dose [now]. My husband got his second dose previously and I am happy that we are vaccinated.

Because of Red Crescents drive, more than 6,000 undocumented migrants have received jabs since September. The inoculation drive is supported by the Malaysian government and embassy officials from neighboring countries, said Malaysia Red Crescent Society Director General Hakim Hamzah.

Selangor state Assemblywoman Jamaliah Jamaluddin said that during previous drives she organized, she realized it was important to make the migrants feel safe.

They were afraid that they would be arrested and they were unsure if it is safe for them to come out to get vaccinated as they were undocumented, Jamaliah told BenarNews.

Around 1.7 million documented foreign workers live in Malaysia, in addition to between 2 million and 4 million undocumented laborers, according to the International Organization for Migration.

When the pandemic began, thousands of these migrants as well as refugees were rounded up during lockdowns, and many were sent to immigration detention centers which later became COVID-19 hotspots.

Those who managed to avoid being arrested went into hiding, but that also meant they lost their means of livelihood. Now, with around 86 percent of Malaysias adult population vaccinated, more employers are requiring those who work to be inoculated.

Ari, an Indonesian who has overstayed his visa, is well aware of the importance of getting vaccinated.

I need the vaccine to work or else I dont feel safe and others dont feel safe, he told BenarNews.

He is now vaccinated through Red Crescents program.

I can work and I am glad that there is such program to help the undocumented like me, he said.

Since early September, the Red Crescent has vaccinated Indonesians, Somalis, Rohingya, Bangladeshis, Myanmar refugees (Chin, Kachin, Karen, Mon, Zomi, Falam, Shan, Kachin), Nepalis and Vietnamese.

Cambodias ambassador to Malaysia, Cheuy Vitchet, welcomed Red Crescents program.

This is the first time the embassy has cooperated with Red Crescent  105 were registered during the first day of the vaccination. They were undocumented, he told BenarNews.

Cambodian community representative in Malaysia Abdul Rahman Mohd Noor was also happy about this inoculation drive.

I helped the embassy to collect names and they arranged everything else, he said.

Malaysia, home to 32.7 million people, recorded 12,735 new COVID-19 infections and 192 deaths on Friday, health officials said, bringing the pandemic totals to 2.2 million infections and more than 26,000 deaths.

Since the government immunization campaign began on Feb. 24, millions of Malaysians received Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines. Officials have set a goal to vaccinate at least 90 percent of adults by the end of the month.
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At least 92% of Denvers municipal employees were vaccinated against COVID-19 Friday, a day after the citys vaccine mandate took effect in a bid to slow the spread of the virus during the fall and winter, according to a review of city compliance data
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.
Gov. Daniel McKee says his administration would try to find new assignments for health care workers employed by Rhode Island who are refusing a coronavirus vaccination
Theater Review What: A Crossing  A Dance Musical. Choreographed by Joshua Bergasse and Alberto Lopez. Directed by Joshua Bergasse. Story by Mark St. Germain. Original songs by Zoe Sarnak. Traditional Mexican folk song arrangements and additional score by George Saenz. Musical supervisor, Rick Hip-Flores. Musical director, Jeffrey Campos. Story consultant/dramaturg, Alberto Lopez. With: Carlos L. Encinias, Ashley Perez Flanagan, Justin Gregory Lopez, Aline Mayagoitia, Omar Nieves, Andres Quintero, Monica Tulia Ramirez Who: Barrington Stage Company. Created in association with Calpulli Mexican Dance Company Where: Boyd-Quinson Stage, 30 Union St., Pittsfield When: Through Oct. 17. 7:30 p.m.. Wednesday through Saturday; 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays (no matinee Oct. 2) Running time: 1 hour, 29 minutes (no intermission) Tickets: $25-$79 Reservations and information: 413-236-8888; barringtonstageco.org COVID safety protocols: All patrons must provide proof of vaccination or proof of a negative COVID test (PCR test within 72 hours or an antigen test within six hours) and a form of identification before entering the theater. All parties will be required to sign a waiver in order to enter the venue. Complete COVID protocol information is available at barringtonstageco.org

PITTSFIELD  It has taken six years for A Crossing: A Dance Musical to make its way from inception to Barrington Stage Companys Boyd-Quinson Stage. Every ounce of the imaginative work and thought director-choreographer Joshua Bergasse and co-choreographer Alberto Lopez have put into this highly theatrical piece shows in the solidly crafted, expertly performed production that is having its world premiere at BSCs theater on Union Street.

A Crossing: A Dance Musical is about nothing less than the American dream, even if it has turned nightmarish, a point A Crossing doesnt ignore. This dialogue-less dance musical asks about the nature of home and homeland; where do you go when what you once thought of as home and homeland are no longer viable; no longer safe; no longer secure.

A Crossing also is about hope, faith, determination. And while that might sound familiar and trite, it is much to Bergasse and Lopezs credit that A Crossing neither condescends nor gives in to cloying sentiment.

A Crossing begins at what once was the beginning for millions of immigrants and refugees who were ushered into America and processed at the immigration center on Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, its torch held high, looking on from its own nearby island across New York Harbor.

It is 1919 as the members of the A Crossing ensemble of immigrants make their way cautiously, onto the stage; onto a new world. Three of them, as they dance, swoop down to touch the earth. It is a sequence that will be repeated near the end of A Crossing  only then as a gesture of bitter, hard irony. Clearly the times have changed. Change also comes as And then, the company members shed their 1919 Eastern European style garments to reveal simple contemporary clothing  shirts, blouses, jeans, pants  underneath and we are moved into the now. Instead of Ellis Island, we are in a village square in a small Mexican town near the border with the United States.

Led by The Coyote (a tall, virile, commanding Omar Nieves), the migrants gather what belongings they have as they get ready for an arduous, perilous trek through rugged mountain, parched desert, across a river that will claim the life of one of them; through an unforgiving rainstorm from which they find refuge in a cave under the protection of the Aztec god of sun, wind and air, Quetzalcoatl (Caleb Marshall-Villarreal, in a truly commanding dance turn) and finally to their final stop  a barn in Texas from which they will disperse and find their own way, but not before an act of violence claims one more life. The incident casts a pall on the survivors. At the same time, the death revives their determination to make a safe, secure life in this America.

Watching over this group  as they do repeatedly with each migrant group  are two spirits, Sol (Andres Quintero) and Luna (Monica Tulia Ramirez), who frame the story meaningfully and powerfully. Quintero and Ramirez are perfectly suited to one another. Their voices are strong, resonant, lyrical. They harmonize perfectly when they are called upon to do so. At times, Quintero conveys a subtle playfulness, a quality that is rare to find within the storys hard, sober context.

A Crossing is very much an ensemble piece. There is talk in one of the early musical numbers about all being one. Its a matter of survival. Nevertheless, the shows storyline features four migrants in particular  Giselle (Ashley Perez Flanagan), a fiery, angry, strong-willed 17-year-old who wants revenge against the cartel that disappeared her anti-cartel activist parents and is being taken against her will to America for her own safety by her grandfather, Arturo (Carlos L. Encinias), who has lost his daughter and son to the cartel and is determined that his granddaughter not meet the same fate; Karina (Aline Mayagoitia), a young pregnant woman who is fleeing an abusive husband; and Martin (Justin Gregory Lopez), who had crossed the border 15 years earlier, was eventually found by ICE and deported, leaving behind a now 15-year-old son, Ernesto, whom he had been raising alone after his wife died in childbirth. Martin is returning to reunite with Ernesto.

As played by Lopez and Encinias, there is a kind of sweetness and ingenuousness around these two men, especially the good-hearted Martin who keeps with him a harmonica he had been teaching Ernesto to play.

The two women are hard, tough, frustrated, anxious, vulnerable. Mayagoitias Karina is distrustful of most people around her, particularly men. For good reasons, she does not like to be touched. She becomes an object of lust to The Coyote who, in one dance sequence, tries to lure her, seduce her with his proud male strutting and prancing until, almost inevitably, this seemingly playful display turns threatening.

The choreography by Bergasse and Lopez is, by turns, dramatic and lyrical; expressive in its influences of classical ballet, Mexican folk dance and contemporary dance. The dancing throughout is muscular and full out. Nothing is held back.

The same can be said of the singing, individually and collectively. These 12 voices blend effectively. The singing is strong, bold, insistent, so much so that at times that power overwhelms the very emotions the music seeks to summon. Indeed, one of the shows most effective and affecting moments is one of its gentlest  an absolutely lovely duet, La Patria, between Martin and Giselle.

All of this is played out within a stunning scenic concept by Beowulf Boritt that involves a series of large, mobile sculpted pieces that look like massive shards of hardened clay, and an equally stunning series of projections by Jeff Sugg that includes a remarkable rainstorm effect and a signature series of spinning wheels within wheels upon which is a stunning array of Aztec glyphs.

The true accomplishment in A Crossing is Bergasse, Lopez and the entire companys commitment to treat all the plays characters with the humanity and dimension they deserve. Bergasse and Lopez are content to let A Crossings characters speak for themselves simply by virtue of who they are as human beings  no soap boxes, no speech-making, no debates; just a cleanly, creatively told story about a group of people who want nothing more than a shot at the American dream  the way it once was.
SHEFFIELD  The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans wants you to know their story. And they want to be the ones telling it to you.

Their latest effort, "The Mohican Journey: Homelands, History and Hope," an outdoor exhibit on display through Monday, Oct. 11, is the result of a nearly yearllong collaboration of the Stockbridge-Munsee community, the Sheffield Historical Society and the art department at Mount Everett Regional School.

If You Go "The Mohican Journey: Homelands, History and Hope" What: An interactive, multimedia exhibit that breaks down the history of the Muh-he-con-ne-ok, the "people of the waters that neve stand still." When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Oct. 2, 3, 9, 10 and 11 Where: Sheffield Historical Society, 159 Main St., Sheffield Information: 413-229-2694, sheffieldhistory.weebly.com

"Exhibits like [Sheffield's] allow us to be able to tell our history our way and in truth. There is no sugar-coating history in Indigenous history. Removal happened. Genocide happened. Loss of language, tradition and culture happened," said Heather Bruegl, former director of Cultural Affairs for the Stockbridge-Munsees, in an email to The Eagle.

"The Mohican Journey," is one of four Berkshire exhibits on display regarding the Stockbridge Mohicans. Three other exhibits about the Stockbridge-Munsees include: The Berkshire Museum's Muh-he-con-ne-ok: The People of the Waters That Are Never Still, an exhibit curated by the Stockbridge-Munsee community; "Deeds of our Past: Stockbridge Indian Lands and Colonial Bonds," an exhibit of biographies and translations of deeds at the Stockbridge Library; and "Mohican Miles," at the Mission House Museum.

The reliance on local organizations with an open mind is the kind of partnership that ensures, "the outcome accurately reflects Stockbridge-Munsees' voice," said Bonney Hartley, historical preservation manager for the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans.

"The Sheffield Historical Society and [Mount Everett art teacher Stephanie Graham] listened to our stories, learned from works we had already created, and took the initiative to generate the new exhibit, making sure that our Cultural Affairs Department vetted the drafts along the way," said Hartley, who works in the tribal council's Berkshires-based office at Williams College, said in an email to The Eagle.

The Sheffield exhibit, which uses photographs, displays and video interviews, tells the history of Stockbridge-Munsees from the arrival of the first Mohicans in the Hudson and Housatonic river basins thousands of years ago, to their first interaction with European colonists and through the forced removal and relocation of their people from the Berkshires to Wisconsin.

"As a society, we need to learn the history of the land and its first inhabitants which goes all the way back to [the Mohicans,]" said Paul O'Brien, president of the Sheffield Historical Society.

O'Brien and Graham are co-curators of the exhibit, with Graham assembling the 11 panels with information and photos provided by tribal officials.

The display also includes a look at the present day Stockbridge-Munsees, which includes a section on how the forced relocation has affected their community for generations; a focus of Graham's two-week, privately funded trip in June to the Stockbridge-Munsee Community.

"I am grateful for all of the members of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community who took the time to share their knowledge and personal stories. Their words and emotions communicated the essence of their culture. Their voices will be elevated through both the Sheffield Historical Society and the curriculum resources to which they will contribute," Graham said, referring to her plans to infuse the Stockbridge-Munsee story into the teachings at Mount Everett.

Nadia Makuc, a senior at Mount Everett and project intern says past, present and future generations need to know the truth about how the regions first settlers thousands of years ago have been treated the past 400 years.

"We need to learn how they were pushed out, but we need to learn who [the Mohicans] are today," she said.

Despite only running for three weekends, the Sheffield exhibit will likely be updated and seen for years to come, according to O'Brien.

He said most of the exhibit will travel well and can be reassembled for any venue that wants to host it, including schools, libraries and other spaces open to the public.

Salisbury School, an all-boys boarding school in Salisbury, Conn., has expressed interest in hosting the exhibit, O'Brien said.

The exhibit, he says, has been "extremely fulfilling."

"This has changed me. It has brought a whole new perspective of the people who originally settled this area," O'Brien said.

And that's part of the push to partner with Berkshire-based historical and cultural institutions.

"There is a real hunger to understand our homelands ... [and] the displacement of our peoples," Hartley said. "I hope people get a broader view of us as there is a commitment from many to get our story straight."
Community News Editor / Librarian

Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989.
Danny Jin, a Report for America corps member, is The Eagles Statehouse news reporter. He can be reached at djin@berkshireeagle.com, @djinreports on Twitter and 413-496-6221.
A Sandisfield man with a long criminal history, including nearly four dozen arraignments in the Berkshires on sexual assault charges over two decades, faces new charges of sexually exploiting children.

Brian Hohman, 57, was indicted Thursday on four counts of sexual exploitation of children, the acting Massachusetts U.S. attorney said.

Quote According to court documents, Brian Hohman has faced 47 arraignments in the Berkshires on sexual assault charges, including the rape of a child. He was convicted in 1993 of assaulting eight minors in the Berkshires and served a six-year prison sentence.

Hohman, a Level 3 sex offender who once lived in Great Barrington, remains held on unrelated charges in New Haven, Conn. In February, he was indicted on one count of receipt and possession of an unregistered firearm.

The new allegations claim that from October 2018 to July 2020, Hohman employed, used, persuaded, induced, enticed and coerced minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of that conduct, the U.S. Attorneys Office said in a statement.

Judge issues protective order against Sandisfield man accused of stalking Conn. teen TORRINGTON, Conn.  A Sandisfield man charged with stalking a Connecticut teen in August was the subject of a protective order on Friday to pr

The case against Hohman was supported by Project Safe Childhood, created by the U.S. Justice Department in May 2006 to address what federal officials term the growing epidemic of child exploitation and abuse.

Hohman will be ordered to appear in U.S. District Court on the new charges at a time to be determined, officials said.

According to federal sentencing guidelines, Hohman could face a prison term of up to 50 years  as well as supervised release for the remainder of his life and a fine of $250,000.

One of the charges alone, that of the commission of a felony offense involving a minor when required to register as a sex offender, carries a mandatory prison sentence of 10 years. If Hohman is convicted, that penalty would be added to any sentence resulting from the charges of sexual exploitation of children, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Great Barrington man accused of plying teen with pot, offering cash for pictures PITTSFIELD  A Great Barrington sex offender with a history of child rape and sexual assault convictions is being held on $5,000 bail amid new accusations of assaulting an 18-year-old man in 

The gun charges from February stemmed from an investigation into a possible sexual assault in September 2020 at his Sandisfield home. The alleged victim in that case told police Hohman had a sawed-off shotgun and ammunition in the house. If convicted on the gun charges, Hohman faces up to 10 years in prison.

He had been arrested in October 2020 for allegedly stalking a teen in Winsted, Conn., just over the state line from Berkshire County, and has been held at the New Haven Correctional Center on $250,000 bond.

According to court documents, Hohman has faced 47 arraignments in the Berkshires on sexual assault charges, including rape of a child. He was convicted in 1993 of assaulting eight minors in the Berkshires and served a six-year prison sentence.
By Bob Cunningham 18

Elaine Bryant 19 recently became the first Black woman to be named chief of police for the City of Columbus.

Bryant, who previously was the deputy chief of police for the City of Detroit, was selected this summer after an extensive national search and community engagement process. She earned a Master of Science in criminal justice (MSCJ) from Bowling Green State University, which is ranked No. 1 in Ohio and No. 12 in the nation by the U.S. News & World Report Best Online Programs rankings.

I know this job is an enormous responsibility and Im up for the task, she said. I'm honored to have been chosen to be the one to take on this responsibility. I have a great team around me, and the Columbus community has been extremely welcoming. I am deeply honored to serve as Columbus next police chief.

This is a pivotal moment to be stepping into this role, and I am firmly committed to embracing change, diversity and clear and open communication to improve safety, enhance accountability and rebuild trust between officers and the community.

Bryant is a 21-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department, where she served in multiple capacities, including patrol, investigations and administration. During that time, she ascended through the ranks  having been promoted five times from patrol officer to deputy chief  and coordinated Detroits response to several high-profile events, including Super Bowl XL in 2006.

It is with great pride and enthusiasm that I announce Elaine Bryant as our city's next chief of police, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said. She is a transformational leader with sound judgment and considerable experience, an effective advocate for change whose actions are rooted in compassion, empathy and engagement with those whom she serves and leads. I am confident that she is the right leader at the right time for the City of Columbus.

A strong proponent for inclusion and reform, Bryant supported efforts to completely overhaul investigations in compliance with a Department of Justice decree, led the Domestic Violence Unit, worked in the Equal Employment Opportunity Office and Internal Affairs Unit, collaborated with Detroits civilian oversight board, and created and expanded numerous community relations projects to strengthen ties between police and residents.

Master of Science in Criminal Justice served as preparation

When Bryant first entered the BGSU Master of Science program, her goal was to equip herself with knowledge and the skills to be the best leader, manager and mentor she could be in the department.

I didn't necessarily have any professional aspirations at that time, she said. I was just simply trying to be the best version of myself that I could believe in. I just wanted to make sure that I was giving my all to the position that I held at that time.

Right after Bryant graduated in May 2019, she was promoted to deputy chief, managing the east side precincts and specialized units in the metropolitan division of Detroit.

I was like, apparently, I'm doing something right, Bryant said. Again, I was just very happy to be in the role that I was in, learning in and performing in that role. My masters degree definitely helped me look at things from a different perspective and use that knowledge to perform my job in a more efficient manner.

Every MSCJ course at BGSU was relevant to her promotion and eventual appointment in Columbus.

The courses increased my knowledge of emerging and relevant topics that were going on at the time, she said. My masters education assisted me in having meaningful conversations with my community, my leaders and my elected officials. It gave me the knowledge to be able to create different programs and process things differently and be able to be more efficient in my position. I was able to do things like enhance our case management and create different disciplinary processes that were more efficient.

All of my classes actually helped me achieve my goal, I believe, because it made me more of a law enforcement officer and gave me that ability and knowledge to be able to look at things from a different perspective and be able to analyze the situation.

Bryant said all the faculty and staff at BGSU were knowledgeable and helpful.

They challenged us in ways that we weren't used to being challenged  in law courses anyway, especially being at a management level, she said. Getting the perspective of other classmates who aren't necessarily working in that field gave us a broader look at things.

A lot of the schoolwork was solutions-based, so if I ran across the problem in the field, I was able to use some of the techniques I learned. I definitely think that BGSU prepared me to be able to figure out the solution to the problems I face on a daily basis. I think my decision to continue my education at Bowling Green State University was a great one because it prepared me to be a leader in the Columbus community.

Breaking barriers in Columbus

Being the first Black female police chief in Columbus, Bryant is aware that she is in the spotlight as she assumes the role of community healer.

I think that being a police chief or the head of an organization is not about power; it's about being a public servant, she said. You have to be transparent, and you have to be open to dialogue. It's a partnership with your community  we can't do our job without them. I think it's important, with me being the head of this agency, to have that open dialogue and encourage those relationships and make sure that the community is a part of any of the transformations that we do in this department.

With all the civil unrest the United States has experienced recently, Bryant believed she needed to step up and do her part, especially with her diverse background within the Detroit Police Department.

I felt like with all the things that I've accomplished, it was an opportunity to become involved in the things that were going on in our nation and in the community, Bryant said. It was time for people to step up and become a part of that solution. I felt that I had the skill set and the ability to do that. I wanted to venture out and take a chance.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the worlds number one killer, resulting in 18.6 million deaths a year. The global focus on the pandemic, neglecting the real numbers of patients dying due to heart disease, among other life-threatening disorders, is illogical and staggering, to say the least. Harnessing the power of technology to improve awareness, prevention and management of CVDs, globally, is the goal for World Heart Day 2021, observed on September 29 every year. Moreover, the increasing cases of CVDs within the APAC region have, in turn, pushed the growth of the cardiovascular devices market as it currently offers a range of stents, catheters, cardiac rhythm management devices, pacemakers etc. An increasing number of startups and medical innovations in the APAC countries are projected to take the medtech ecosystem to the next level in cardiac care.

The burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as ischaemic heart disease, coronary artery disease, angina, stroke, rheumatic heart disease, congenital heart disease, peripheral arterial disease, aortic aneurysm and dissection, deep vein thrombosis, across Asia Pacific (APAC) varies by country, but is nonetheless substantial. Collectively CVD is the leading or second-leading cause of death across the region and the prevalence continues to rise. Further, shifting demographics in the region, with both an increase in younger people experiencing CVD and ageing populations with multiple comorbidities, are putting health systems under increasing pressure.

Age is arguably the most important non-modifiable risk factor for CVD. According to UN Population Division data, between 2020 and 2030, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand will become the fastest ageing societies in the world. Japan already has the worlds oldest population and will continue to age faster than the global pace.

In Japan, where the worlds oldest population has seen the largest increase in the incidence of ischaemic heart disease and stroke, medical experts are speaking openly of an impending cardiovascular disease pandemic. The estimated annual direct costs of ischaemic heart disease and stroke in Japan accounts to $5.7 billion and $6.5 billion, respectively.

As for Mainland China, CVD has, in just two decades, moved from a relatively uncommon condition to an epidemic in the country. It is estimated that 4 million deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases each year in China, closely followed by India.

Adding on, numerous studies have repeatedly shown that individuals experiencing CVD events have a significantly elevated risk of further events. For instance, a Singapore-based study estimates that around 7 per cent of those with a heart attack suffer another one within a year. Meanwhile, another study from Australia shows that of those discharged from hospitals with acute cardiac syndrome, which includes both infarctions and unstable angina, 57 per cent are readmitted within a year.

Dr Tee Joo Yeo, Director, Cardiac rehabilitation unit, National University Heart Centre Singapore explains, Simply put, there are more people who are now survivors of heart attacks and strokes. The more survivors there are, the more likely it is that there will be recurrence.

In short, an ever-growing part of the population is known to have a CVD and may well survive a heart attack or stroke. This demands urgent attention but also represents an eminently realisable opportunity to ensure these individuals receive appropriate care.

Medtech market dispensing better care

CVDs have in turn pushed the growth of the cardiovascular devices market over the years within the APAC region. The rising healthcare expenditure of the countries along with the huge R&D investment by major medical devices companies of the region are anticipated to further promote the growth of the APAC cardiovascular devices market by 2026.

China contributed the major share in APAC cardiovascular devices market in 2019 and is expected to retain its position in the coming years. The dominance of China is mainly due to the presence of a substantial CVD workforce in the country, followed by India.

Some of the global players dominating the APAC cardiovascular devices market are Abbott Laboratories, Biotronik, Boston Scientific Corporation, GE Healthcare, Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc., Medtronic PLC, MicroPort Scientific, Schiller AG, to name a few. Moreover, new product launches, mergers, acquisitions, public-private partnerships, startup funding, and technological advancements such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep technology, 3D-printing etc. are making a considerable difference in this space.

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As per the latest Clinical Research Organisation (CLRO) Market Report by Frost & Sullivan (India), India is becoming an attractive destination for clinical and preclinical research outsourcing supported by quality scientific capability, the emergence of the biosimilars industry, increased demand for complex generics and availability of a large number of patient volunteers. A key player of the Indian CLRO market, Ahmedabad-based Veeda Clinical Research is all set to capitalise on the growing R&D budget of the global pharmaceutical firms. In conversation with BioSpectrum, Ajay Tandon, Managing Director, Veeda Clinical Research, Ahmedabad reveals the companys future plans.

What strategies have been carved out for the companys growth in the CLRO market?

We continue to see strong growth year-on-year as we execute our strategic plan. While operations in the last quarter were impacted by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, this has begun to normalise now. We recently raised $16 million from Sabre Partners and a group of eminent HNI investors, including Pranab Mody of JB Chemicals, Havells India Family Office, Nikhil Vora of Sixth Sense Ventures and Arjun Bhartia of Jubilant. These distinguished investors chose to partner with Veeda in realising the companys vision of becoming the preferred research partner for innovative pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies globally. The funds raised in this last round were deployed primarily for the acquisition of Bioneeds India, a leading preclinical research organisation, besides ongoing investment in capability enhancement in our clinical and biopharma research services. Veedas investment in Bioneeds has been driven by our mission to offer a comprehensive portfolio of drug development services spanning clinical, preclinical and analytical services to innovative pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies globally. Our capabilities are distinct with multiple adjacencies and we see significant synergies across our clients and geographical markets to cross leverage our capabilities and offer customised integrated research solutions for our clients. We are working towards further aligning our capabilities, systems, processes and people to realise the full potential of our combination.

What are the recent clinical research activities undertaken by the company?

The clinical research industry is a highly competitive landscape where the key factors for success are time, experience, efficiency and high-quality science. We answer these needs by executing an iterative, interdisciplinary approach that is robust, agile and efficient. As a reliable and trustworthy partner to pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, we believe in delivering quality services, positive outcomes and experiences to its customers. We plan, execute and work towards delivering value to our customers through customised research services, solutions and support. We maintain a close relationship with our customers and work in partnership with them. As a team, working collaboratively and strategically responding to change, as it arises, allows us to explore multiple pathways to market.

Veedas clinical research facilities, resources and scientific expertise offer the fastest turnaround time with end-to-end clinical research support. Engaging in partnership enhances operational success and our ability to deliver quality research data as efficiently and quickly as possible. We believe in supporting clients throughout their development journey, responding to challenges with agility focused on a successful outcome.

Together with clients, we build solution-driven partnerships based on mutual trust and reliability. Veeda partners and supports the drug development process of leading pharmaceutical MNCs across Europe, North America, India and China, Asia. Veedas portfolio of services includes a set of clinical research studies and ongoing trials for different therapeutic areas and segments which include: Oncology (Injectables & Oral Formulations); Ophthalmology; Psychiatry; NCE Molecules; Biosimilar Molecules; and COVID-19 (Vaccines, Oral Capsule & Tablets).

Are you conducting any trials for COVID-19 vaccines right now?

We are at different stages of the design and execution of clinical trials involving vaccines and other drug therapies targeted at COVID-19.

What safety measures are you following while conducting the clinical trials?

Veeda has a skilled team of scientists, investigators, research associates, quality assurance and other support staff who are experienced in conducting diverse trials of varying complexities over the years. They are critical to ensuring the rights, safety and wellbeing of the volunteers and the integrity of the data generated in the trials we conduct.

Ensuring safety begins with the initial feasibility of the proposed trial when we do thorough literature research of the drug to understand its safety profile including the reported side effects. This enables us to establish appropriate study protocols and screening criteria, with the support of the sponsors, and be prepared for the management of possible adverse events. Our clinical staff assigned for the studies are duly qualified and fully trained in these study-specific requirements.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented further screening criteria and safety procedures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the subjects during the trial period.

What are your growth plans for the next five years?

We will continue to invest, organically and inorganically, in broadening and deepening our service capabilities to support the development of complex and novel generics and innovative drug products globally. We continue to see significant growth potential in generics with the long pipeline of products scheduled to go off-patent in the near to medium term. There is a significant development pipeline in biosimilars as well given scheduled patent expiries and we have been strengthening our capabilities to fully service this segment, including the development of dedicated laboratories under Ingenuity Biosciences and Bioneeds. We also see increasing potential for conducting late phase clinical trials in India across a spectrum of drug products and therapeutic areas, as discussed earlier, and have been investing in our team, processes and technology to support our global clientele in these.

We believe that cross leveraging the capabilities and clientele across Veeda and Bioneeds will augment our growth potential in the coming years. In terms of clients and markets, we continue to see significant potential in deepening our engagement with our existing clients through a broader offering of services as well as enhancing our penetration in some of the key global markets to service more clients. In particular, we are relatively underweighted in the US in the context of the market potential for our services and we would focus on addressing this.

What is India's position in clinical research when compared to its global counterparts?

Over the years, India has established itself as one of the leading pharmaceutical hubs and a preferred destination for outsourcing research, leveraging our strong industry ecosystem that includes scientifically skilled human resources, global quality infrastructure and compliances, and cost competitiveness. Within clinical research, India is a leading service provider supporting the global generic industry but we currently lag in global clinical trials for new and novel drug products.

As per recent reports published by market research firm GlobalData, in 2020, the Indian CLROs accounted for around 8.3 per cent of the global clinical trials. For a country that accounts for 16 per cent of the global population and 20 per cent of the global disease incidences, there is a case for furthering global clinical trials in India.

The New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules of 2019 in India have created a more robust regulatory framework for conducting clinical trials in the country and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have demonstrated the ability to conduct large scale clinical trials in the country on accelerated timelines to generate dependable data to support approvals of the required drugs and vaccines. There is further scope for developing the clinical research ecosystem, including regulatory pathways, to support more global clinical trials in India.

Sanjiv Das

(sanjiv.das@mmactiv.com)
How Academic-Industry Synergy Assuages Rising Brain Disorders

With an ageing population globally, the burden of neurological disorders is rapidly increasing, posing a challenge to the sustainability of health systems. The burden of neurological disorders such as stroke, headache disorders, epilepsy, Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, multiple sclerosis, encephalitis, meningitis, traumatic brain injuries, among others, is also expected to increase in India due to the rapid demographic and epidemiological transition occurring in the country. To add to it, factors such as shortages in the neurology workforce, inadequate research funding, limited supply of drugs, and scarcity of basic healthcare amenities, are making the situation worse. Lets try to unearth the practicable solutions and innovations stemming from the industry and academia.
With a change in people's sentiment and armed with tech advancements, the home-based diagnostics sector is likely to sail through smoothly. The recent great leaps in AI and IoT in healthcare, not to mention the need to maintain social distancing and lack of workforce in the healthcare sector, as in others as well, has become a driving force to reckon with. Lets explore this exciting new phase in healthcare.

Gone are the days when one has to visit a diagnostic centre, wait in a queue, and get tested for any ailment. Offering freebies, many diagnostics players are in the fray to grab the market share. The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the home diagnostics market more lucrative with players in the sector going the extra mile to offer the best services they can.

The global at-home diagnostics market will register to value over $6 billion by the end of 2026 and a CAGR of over 3 per cent during the forecast period of 2019-2026. According to a report from

FutureWise Research, North America and Europe dominated the global market due to high awareness among the general population. North America accounts for a 90 per cent market share due to high adoption. Europe, the UK, Germany and France dominated the global market due to high penetration among the general population.

The Asia Pacific and Latin America portrays the most opportunistic market for manufacturers due to the large patient population. Both the zones were expected to witness a high growth rate during the forecast period. The Rest of the World accounts for a small fraction of the market and it is expected to account for more share during the later phase of the forecast period. India with a high population base offers a lot of opportunities for the home diagnostics market.

Current trends

The introduction of home-based diabetes testing kits was the first to be introduced as a viable solution. Since then a lot of innovation has been made in home-based diagnostics.

Gurugram-based Healthians has launched health testing at home in 100 new cities in the country. For the expansion, Healthians is in the process to recruit 1,500 support staff, including pathologists, phlebotomists, lab technicians and runners, over the coming six months. According to Deepak Sahni, CEO and Founder, Healthians, the second wave of COVID has made the entire nation understand the importance of diagnostics at home.

Mumbai-headquartered Abbott launched its Panbio COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test for the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Panbio COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test. The kit contains all the materials required including nasal swabs, test devices and reagent ampules. No additional instrumentation is required to conduct the test. Sanjeev Johar, Divisional VP, Abbotts rapid diagnostics business in the Asia Pacific, Singapore says, Self-testing is a proven tool that provides an added layer of defence along with public health protocols and the vaccine rollout.

Lonavala, Maharashtra-based Mylab Discovery Solutions COVID-19 self-test kit, CoviSelf is designed as the mid-nasal swab test and can detect positive results in just 15 mins, according to Hasmukh Rawal, Managing Director, Mylab Discovery Solutions. Each unit contains a testing kit, instructions to use (IFU) leaflet and a bag to safely dispose of after testing.

Gujarat-based Merils self-use Rapid Antigen Test for COVID-19, CoviFind, provides accurate results in just 15 minutes.

Redcliffe Life Diagnostics, headquartered out of Noida, recently launched four new labs in Patna, Indore, Raipur and Noida to respond to the new rise in home comfort diagnostics prompted by post-Covid care.

Bengaluru-based startup MyDiagnostics allows to book lab tests and offers health checkup packages online. Partnering with NABL, ISO, CAP certified labs across the country, MyDiagnostics aims to provide testing and diagnosis services at home.

These are some of the examples of home-based diagnostics. The future of diagnostics will include the use of new technology such as medical implants that send data to a smartphone and smartwatch to actively monitor vital signs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Technological innovations

Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning have transformed the healthcare delivery system. The diagnostics sector is no exception to this and with the aid of technology has evolved to suit the need. Discoveries like genomics and genetic testing will make diagnostic services more personalised to the needs of customers. Companies are investing heavily in upgrading the technologies so that customers can get their tests done from the comfort of home.

Aishwarya Vasudevan, Group COO, Neuberg Diagnostics from Bengaluru says, In the US, for instance, the need for diabetes testing kits peaked during the surge in annual mortality rates from diabetes. During the pandemic, the demand has shifted from a treatment-based healthcare system to that of preventive healthcare, largely due to public awareness on health and prevention.

Says Mumbai-based Sushant Kinra, COO, Suburban Diagnostics, Technological advancements and investments in a digital platform for in-vitro tests will make the Indian IVD industry more accessible to clinicians and patients globally.

Just like in Amazon, where a very large portion of technology and investment is done to power the Amazon experience, Metropolis is similarly approaching at-home diagnostics.

Vijender Singh, CEO, Metropolis Healthcare based out of Delhi opines, In terms of innovation, this means re-imagining the entire value-chain of diagnostics very differently. We are now solving processes like routing and scheduling of our collection agents, chat-bot based ordering systems for WhatsApp and integration of external health data like IoT devices. Its an exciting space to be in, and we see a huge potential for growth with advanced technological offerings."

Dheeraj Jain, Founder, Redcliffe Life Diagnostics says, Monitoring and care are shifting from diagnostic and healthcare facilities to the home, leveraging technologies such as connected devices, IoT and wearables. Especially with the advent of easy-to-use medical equipment for self-diagnosis like sugar, BP monitor, oximeter, and AI technologies, has drastically widened and enhanced the role of diagnosis.

COVID-19 impact

India saw an unprecedented demand for home-based tests with the start of COVID-19. The epidemic exposed the flaws in the health systems and was an eye-opener. People had to queue for hours to get the tests done at the diagnostic centre and getting the report took another three to four days. Many were reluctant to move out of the house which resulted in a delay in starting the treatment.

A joint statement by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Ernst and Young (EY) states that the diagnostics sector saw a steep fall in volumes due to COVID-19. On the other hand, the sale of home monitoring devices and services such as sample collection from home, online availability of reports and doorstep delivery of medicines saw a rise.

According to US federal data, the number of lab tests increased by 6X in the last two months. In mid-August 2021, the number of tests per day rose to 1.5 million, from 250,000 tests per day in July 2021. With plans to reopen schools across the world, the demand for home-based diagnostics services is going to see a surge with rapid test kits for COVID-19 being the main vehicle for detection. The availability of kits has encouraged more people to test themselves at home, increasing the demand for rapid test kits.

Aishwarya opines, "The COVID-19 pandemic made ease of getting tested important, around the world. With RT PCR testing becoming mandatory for travel, more people are getting tested, repeatedly. Intercity lockdown restrictions have decreased visits to hospitals and clinics, in turn increasing the demand for diagnostic tests, in general."

Says Jain, Diagnostics is back in the spotlight, thanks to a three-fold increase in testing, emphasising the urgent need for more well-equipped facilities with qualitative testing capabilities.

Tech steps

Tests done from the comfort of home are likely to make a change in attitude in the common mans mind. With a highly populated country like India, the healthcare need is going to rise and providers need to find innovative ways to tackle the ever-growing need.

Metropolis has been making all tests as a part of home-collection and inching towards the goal. In parallel, the diagnostics major wants to redefine the home-diagnostics experience at par or even ahead of what people get from Zomato, Flipkart etc.

The future of at-home diagnostics is now largely dependent on the supply chain, which has been stressed throughout the pandemic. With new government initiatives towards healthcare and the foray of strong private healthcare providers, many operational challenges can be circumvented with the right synergies, says Aishwarya.

Kinra adds, "Leveraging technology to consolidate lab and testing services and improving the logistics and supply chain will help to harness those opportunities. Investments for maintaining quality standards and upgrading the skills and knowledge of staff will also heighten activity and enhance skill sets to match the technological advances."

A greater emphasis on drive-through testing stations, mobile vans for COVID sample collection, home collection, telemedicine, and telehealth services will aid in the growth of the home diagnostics sector.

Promising future

Experts believe that the future of diagnostic laboratories will favour more testing at the point of care (or near to the patient). This depends on the supply chain, which was stressed throughout the pandemic. With the help of government initiatives, good technology, AI and machine learning, the future of the home diagnostic segment looks promising.

Sanjiv Das

(sanjiv.das@mmactiv.com)
Businesses in Mauritius will now be able to benefit from a comprehensive and cross-platform media monitoring service that includes the provision of key insights and timeous delivery of reports.

Aradhna Boodhoo-Laumond, communications director at Eclipse Communications Mauritius

Benefits

Eclipse Communications Mauritius will be launching an innovative media monitoring service for its Mauritian clients from 1 October 2021, drawing on the expertise of Novus Group  a South African media monitoring company. Aradhna Boodhoo-Laumond, communications director at Eclipse Communications Mauritius, and Joe Hamman, founder and director of Novus Group, outline the merits of this offering and the many benefits to Mauritian businesses.The new 24/7 media monitoring service offered by Eclipse Communications, in partnership with Novus Group, will provide public and private organisations with a comprehensive service tracking print, online, broadcast (tv and radio) and social media, as well as media intelligence. With a view to personalise client experience, three packages will be available, namely Bronze, Silver and Gold, to cater to various strategic and budget needs.The innovative and value-added aspects of this offering in all three packages are supported by a comprehensive media intelligence report with clients benefiting from key insights, through in-depth analysis, to better manage competitor insights and company reputation. Clients will also have the opportunity to personalise their experience by accessing an online dashboard which includes built-in features like exporting and downloading of clippings/audio/video in adapted formats, charting, advanced search, archiving of all news, transcriptions of audiovisual material, among others.This is a service that capitalises on combining local market experience, knowledge and presence with state-of-the-art technology via the use of best-in-class tools, thanks to the partnership with Novus Group, which provides industry-leading media monitoring services across the globe.The main purpose of this service is to provide strategic support to our clients by equipping them to think ahead and adjust to an ever-evolving competitive environment. In addition to fostering sound reputation and brand image management by tracking media presence, sentiment, share of voice and online conversations, this service will significantly empower brands by giving them access to insights and qualitative data about the ecosystem in which they operate, identifying new commercial opportunities and anticipating crisis situations, among others, says Boodhoo-Laumond.She adds, The way we crafted the solution highlights the data-driven approach of Eclipse Communications when it comes to guiding the growth of our clients. Through the partnership with Novus, we are confident about the accuracy, cost-effectiveness and reliability of this new media monitoring and intelligence service offer. By seamlessly combining the best of both worlds, technology and the human element, this offering will greatly benefit businesses in making informed strategic, operational and communications decisions. It will allow strategists to tap into vital information across all media platforms to nurture brands and target specific niche markets.Hamman, of Novus Group, concludes, We have been exploring the Mauritian market for quite some time, due to increasing demand for comprehensive media monitoring and intelligence/analysis over the island. The launch of Eclipse Communications Mauritius office comes at the right time  through our collaboration, we will strive to provide Mauritian businesses with the highest level of support and deliver personalised solutions to meet even the most complex information requirements.
Mint Group achieves 3 accolades at the Microsoft South Africa 2021 Partner Awards

Microsoft Gold IT consultancy and systems integrator, Mint Group, has been honored the Modern Work Partner of the Year Award, the Business Applications Power Platform Partner of the Year Award and the Microsoft Consulting Services Partner of the Year Award, at the esteemed Microsoft South Africa Partner Awards, held virtually, on 28 September 2021.
Newzroom Afrika will report live from Expo 2020 Dubai. The channel will focus on the South African activities at the Expo, broadcasting directly from the state-of-the-art TV studio located at the South African pavilion.

South Africa will participate in the Expo from October 2021 to March 2022, to promote the country as an investment destination.They will give investors and visitors a true experience of what the country has to offer - from showcasing South Africas talent, diverse cultures and beautiful landscapes to displaying creative arts and tourism services and highlighting innovative technologies and unique investment opportunities.Newzroom Afrika will also follow the journey of 20 South African SMEs and start-ups that were selected to participate in the MultiChoice Accelerator programme. This programme will develop these businesses and the skills of the entrepreneurs who built them, to empower them to present at the Expo to unlock business opportunities.This coverage will be turned into a docuseries that will be broadcast on DStv Channel 405 from November 2021 until January 2022.Were proud to shine a spotlight on all that South Africa has to offer and support our local entrepreneurs in their quest for global success. The Dubai Expo is a landmark event in the international trade calendar and a golden opportunity for South African businesses to establish new ties and grow beyond our borders, says Newzroom Afrikas chief executive officer Thabile Ngwato.This World Expo has been held in some form since 1851, making it one of the longest-running and biggest global events. Representatives from countries around the world gather to share progress and innovation on the technology, social and economic fronts, and to find solutions to universal challenges.Expo 2020 Dubai will see representatives from almost 200 nations gather to showcase what their countries have to offer.Team South Africa will focus the conversation on job creation and economic growth to revive South Africas economy. MultiChoice is the Official Broadcast Partner for South Africa at the Expo and will tell the countrys story through its various platforms.
Working closely with the North West Department of Health (NWDoH), Impala Rustenburg (Impala) has administered more than 30,000 vaccines to their employees and contractors as well as 11,000 vaccines within its mining communities.

Source: supplied by agency. Thandi Modise, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Gwede Mantashe, Minister of Mineral Resources, and other VIP delegates visit the Impala mobile vaccination site with Dr Jon Andrews, Implats Group Executive for Health and Safety

Impala activated its first mobile vaccination site in Rustenburgs Freedom Park community on 9 September, marking the start of a campaign to host vaccination days in other areas of the mining community.The fully operational, mobile vaccination site is a successful collaboration between the NWDoH, the Department of Home Affairs, local NGOs, ward councillors, and Impala.Impala has been working closely with the NWDoH to assist their vaccine rollout since the beginning, and we were the first accredited mining site to start vaccinations in May 2021, says Dr Jon Andrews, Implats group executive for Health and Safety.To recognise the value of this initiative to South Africas efforts to ensure widespread vaccination, the mobile Impala facility, which was located within the Bojanala outreach area for the day, was visited by several dignitaries.These included the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe and the Minister of Defence as well as other VIP guests, government officials local MECs and councillors.The Impala mobile facility was one of four vaccination points in Bojanala on the day, and it achieved the highest number of vaccines administered among the district stations.
Hundreds of Brandonites gathered for the Orange Shirt Day walk on Thursday to show support for those impacted by the residential school system.

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CHELSEA KEMP/THE BRANDON SUN Hundreds gathered for the Orange Shirt Day walk to trek from the Riverbank Discovery Centre to the site of the former Brandon Residential School Thursday.

Hundreds of Brandonites gathered for the Orange Shirt Day walk on Thursday to show support for those impacted by the residential school system.

Brandon Urban Aboriginal Peoples Council vice-chair Jeanine Pelletier said she was honoured and amazed at the phenomenal turnout that saw hundreds walk from the Riverbank Discovery Centre to the site of the former Brandon Indian Residential School.

Each step on their journey was taken in honour of children who died at residential schools and served as a time to remember families who were left broken by the institutions.

"The babies were the ultimate sacrifice. They didnt make it home. Thats what today is about  Every Child Matters," Pelletier said. "So many of us have had so many family members not come home."

Pelletier said she has always appreciated the citys powerful community.

She moved to Brandon from the North. Pelletier came to the community knowing no one but her future husband. However, the transition to the Wheat City allowed her to learn so much about her culture, she said.

"Why its so important to me is because my mom was in residential school since she was four years old until she was of age. So many of us have been impacted," Pelletier said. "Im part of the 60s Scoop as well, being taken away and growing up in foster care."

She added she appreciates Sept. 30 was made a national holiday because it allowed community members to gather together in harmony and healing.

"Were so proud that were being acknowledged and people are listening," Pelletier said. "People that give back and help others, thats how we heal ... Theyre all pulling together and helping each other."

Hard work remains to continue healing, but seeing the community gather for the Orange Shirt Day walk was inspiring, she said, as people from all generations made the trek to the former residential school.

She hopes those who participated in the Orange Shirt Day walk continue talking about what they learned, fostering partnerships, attending different events and supporting each other.

It was a different experience sharing stories about the impact of residential schools during the walk, she added, because while talking with others she could feel their love and acknowledgment.

"The biggest part here is to really, really listen when people are sharing their stories because its very, very difficult. A lot of hardships have happened over the years. But I think its building, and the aura today has been amazing," Pelletier said.

Kerri Malazdrewicz took part in the Orange Shirt Day walk to reflect on the institutions impact on Canadian history. She was glad to see Brandonites engage in the subject and taking time to reflect and listen to stories about the schools.

"It was powerful," Malazdrewicz said, adding its critical to foster discussions about residential schools because they are a part of Canadas history that continues to affect the nation.

"Its not just Indigenous history, its all of our histories. Were finally as a society, as a country, waking up to realize what that history is and the impact that that history had for hundreds of years on a specific group of people," Malazdrewicz said.

Jillian Creasor said as a Metis-Anishinaabe educator, she was compelled to show the community that while people may look different, they all belong to the same community.

Creasor said she was holding back tears during the walk and was overwhelmed when they laid eyes on the orange hearts at the former residential school site honouring children who have died.

Every Canadian has been affected by residential schools, and as a nation, there is a need to stand together to move forward in truth and reconciliation, she said.

"Its humbling to see so many people out supporting, its really amazing to know all these people are walking for people that they might not even know," Creasor said.

"They dont know my ancestors who went, they dont know a lot of these peoples ancestors who went, but theyre here to support. Theyre amazing allies."

She added residential schools are recent history in Canada; the last institution closed when she was 15 years old.

At times, she said, it can feel insurmountable to truly comprehend the impact the schools have had in the country and the untold deaths resulting from the trauma students experienced.

The impact affects all generations that participated in the walk, she said, both those forced to attend residential schools and those affected by intergenerational trauma.

"Were talking about people who are alive now," Creasor said. "Its nice to see that so many people are willing to heal and learn together. It fills my heart."

 ckemp@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp
A man who allegedly bear-sprayed his ex-partner out of jealousy was given a shot at bail Thursday morning.

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A man who allegedly bear-sprayed his ex-partner out of jealousy was given a shot at bail Thursday morning.

The Sun is not naming the accused to protect the identity of the complainant. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

On Sept. 22 at approximately 2:30 a.m., police responded to a report someone was bear-sprayed on Percy Street, Crown attorney Yaso Mathu told the court.

When officers arrived, they found the alleged victim, who appeared to have just been bear-sprayed. His face was red and skin irritated, mucous and saliva was coming from his face and he appeared "to be in a considerable amount of pain," Mathu said, adding officers could also smell bear spray in the air.

One of the witnesses said the victims ex-boyfriend came into their backyard where three people were sitting. He allegedly sprayed the victim in the face before chasing another man out of the yard, Mathu said.

The witness told police she followed the accused and tackled him to the ground to stop him, the Crown said.

Police found the accused in the 1100 block of Southern Avenue a few hours later, she said.

At the time, he was allegedly on orders banning him from possessing any kind of weapon.

Mathu said she was concerned by what appeared to be a domestic violence situation.

"This accused is the ex of the victim  they were sitting around a fire when the accused came flying from a side gate with a bottle of bear mace, spraying it in [the victims] face," she said.

Mathu opposed the man being released on bail, saying the incident was completely unprovoked and she doesnt have confidence he would follow any order the court imposes.

Defence lawyer Jennifer Janssens said the accused denies any involvement in the alleged incident.

"There is a short written statement from one of the witnesses here, but the other two witnesses were so highly intoxicated they cant even give a statement at the time," she said.

"[The accused] is not found with a weapon, hes not found near the place this occurred."

The man also has Gladue factors and has no involvement with his culture, Janssens told the court. While he has a criminal record, it is largely for property crimes.

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta said the alleged crime appears to be motivated by jealousy and the context of domestic violence makes it more serious. He was also banned from owning weapons at the time, she noted.

Despite this, she said there are potential issues about how intoxicated the witnesses were.

Hewitt-Michta released the man on bail but banned him from communicating with the complainant or witnesses. She also banned him from owning weapons and put him on a curfew.

The man is next scheduled to appear in court in late October.

 dmay@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @DrewMay_
Gathering together in support of residential school survivors, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation hosted a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event Thursday at Grand Valley Provincial Park.

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CHELSEA KEMP/THE BRANDON SUN Sioux Valley Dakota Nation Coun. Elton Taylor, left, and Sioux Valley National Day for Truth and Reconciliation emcee Bill Taylor hold a memorial sign listing the names of children who died at residential school at Grand Valley Provincial Park Thursday.

Gathering together in support of residential school survivors, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation hosted a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event Thursday at Grand Valley Provincial Park.

Sioux Valley Coun. Elton Taylor said it was a positive and informative day for nation members looking to learn more about the Brandon Residential School Project  an initiative that has been underway in the nation for almost a decade uncovering information about potential unmarked graves at the former Brandon Indian Residential School.

More hard work remains, Taylor said. A major portion of the ongoing work will now involve working with other communities, where they are just beginning their search for unmarked graves at former residential school sites.

"Not only is it beneficial to us, but its beneficial to them because they get a head start on some of the hurdles that we have already faced. For us, its an opportunity to reach out and hear from other survivors that went to school," Taylor said.

It has been a bittersweet project, but one that is essential to the community.

To honour those who never returned home from residential school, the names of children who died at residential school were read to mark The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. He added the list remains incomplete and more names are needed.

"It was emotional knowing that some of them could potentially be your own ancestors without ever having known them," Taylor said. "Its difficult to sit back and read that list knowing that list isnt complete."

Taylor did not have to go to residential school, but the last names read during the ceremony demonstrate the lingering impacts of the institution. Many of the names are shared by his friends and family, and he cannot help but wonder how they are connected.

Taylor said there are many unanswered questions in Sioux Valley, and it is difficult to process because they will likely never have the answers they seek.

"Its our job to investigate, do the research and to see what we can find out," Taylor said.

He added he appreciated how generations, both young and old, were in attendance for the Sioux Valley National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event.

It was essential to include youth in the day, because for many years, the history of residential schools was not traditionally taught in schools. Taylor said with all the stories coming up, there is an opportunity to learn about parents and grandparents and their experiences.

Given the sensitive topics and discussions that went on during the event, the day concluded with a round dance to leave on a happy note. He said they did not want to see people leaving with a heavy heart experiencing pain and sorrow. They wanted people to feel thankful that the community is moving forward with a sense of progression and unity.

"Its a lot to take in, but once again it goes back to Truth and Reconciliation," Taylor said.

The emcee of the event, Bill Taylor, said for many, it was a day of supporting survivors and giving them the space and courage to speak out about their experiences.

"I admire them for how strong they really are. I cant picture and I cant imagine going through something like that," he said. "It was a pretty emotional day."

He added it essential to ensure survivors were able to give guidance and share how they would like to see Truth and Reconciliation take place.

He added being able to attend in-person added to the beauty of the day, as it marks one of the first major community events that have allowed Nation members to unite in a meaningful way.

Bills parents attended the Brandon Residential School, and he thought of them during the days proceedings.

Marking a start to the day with sacred fire with the Sioux Valley Unity Riders at the former Brandon residential school site set the tone of healing and remembrance, he said. It was a sacred moment aiding in healing, riding in memories of those who are no longer with them, and the survivors who remain.

He praised the work of Katherine Nichols, who has been diligently working for almost a decade to bring unmarked graves in the area to life.

"Im just hoping that we helped in some way too for everyone thats non-native, that may not understand, to bring understanding to whats going on," Bill said. "I know it would be considered a very dark day in the history of Canada, but it happened. Acknowledgment needs to be there. Hopefully the work that we do today will continue and hopefully will help others to understand ... We can heal together as a country."

 ckemp@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp
British Columbia is subsidizing oil and gas well drilling on the same land it has promised to protect for caribou, new research has found.

Wild caribou roam the tundra near The Meadowbank Gold Mine located in the Nunavut Territory of Canada on March 25, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

British Columbia is subsidizing oil and gas well drilling on the same land it has promised to protect for caribou, new research has found.

"The B.C. government has made a lot of commitments to caribou habitat restoration and it's not really working," said Adriana DiSilvestro, a University of British Columbia graduate student and lead author on the project.

"The fact there are oil and gas operations being subsidized in areas the federal government has deemed critical habitat is a piece to this puzzle."

DiSilvestro and her colleagues first identified wells in northeastern B.C. and located them on federal maps showing critical habitat for woodland caribou, a threatened species for which the province has promised the federal government to develop a recovery plan.

The team then used government and industry data to determine which of those wells had benefited from a government subsidy. Those subsidies include programs such as the Deep Well Royalty Program, which covers part of the drilling and completion costs for these wells up to $2.8 million per well and can be used to reduce royalties by half.

DiSilvestro said the research shows 3,114 active oil and gas wells within critical caribou habitat in B.C. Of these, 1,678 wells -- just over half -- are run by companies that have received assistance from one of three provincial subsidy programs over the past three years.

Previous research has identified industrial use as a major driver of caribou habitat loss and herd declines. Energy and logging both damage the old-growth forest caribou rely on and create easy pathways for predators to reach formerly safe hideouts.

"We conclude that public funds are subsidizing caribou extinction," the report says.

Of B.C.'s 53 caribou herds, 14 are stable or increasing while 25 herds are either shrinking or have disappeared. No data exists for the rest. Some First Nations have been forced to step in with extreme conservation measures, such as penning up pregnant caribou cows until they can safely calve.

In February 2020, B.C. signed a so-called Section 11 conservation agreement with Ottawa that promised "commitments related to habitat protection and restoration." That agreement, under the Species At Risk Act, was seen as an alternative to the federal government stepping in to impose protections under an emergency protection order.

In an emailed response, Meghan McRae of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation pointed to a series of programs the province funds to remediate old wells, including $27 million from industry to clean up wells for which no owner currently exists.

"The province is working with First Nations, local governments, industry, and stakeholders to identify acceptable outcomes for caribou recovery as well as continued resource development in B.C.," she said.

"We continue to work with the federal government on our efforts of conservation and recovery of caribou herds."

DiSilvestro said the findings suggest that conservation agreements made with one handbe undercut by programs from the other.

"We can say pretty clearly that (Section 11) agreement isn't working. The continued subsidization of industry in these areas is a major factor in (caribou) decline."

Alberta and Saskatchewan also have Section 11 agreements with Ottawa, promising caribou recovery efforts and habitat protection.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development and Environmental Defence has calculated that Alberta spent about $1.6 billion a year in fossil fuel subsidies between 2016 and 2019. Its work does not detail where that money has been spent.

It doesn't have equivalent data for Saskatchewan.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.

-- Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960
HALIFAX - The surge in COVID-19 cases is continuing in Atlantic Canada, led by an outbreak in New Brunswick where health officials reported 85 new infections and one virus-related death Friday.

HALIFAX - The surge in COVID-19 cases is continuing in Atlantic Canada, led by an outbreak in New Brunswick where health officials reported 85 new infections and one virus-related death Friday.

Officials confirmed that a person aged over 90 had died in the Moncton area, bringing the total number of deaths in the province due to novel coronavirus to 60 since the beginning of the pandemic.

This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the virus that causes COVID-19. The surge in COVID-19 cases is continuing in Atlantic Canada with Newfoundland and Labrador reporting 41 new cases and two new deaths since the province's last update on Wednesday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/NIAID-RML via AP

"On behalf of all New Brunswickers ... I extend heartfelt condolences to those mourning the loss of their loved one, Premier Blaine Higgs said in a news release. "Hearing of these losses never gets easier, nor should it."

The new cases on Friday followed the province's single-day high of 99 reported on Thursday. New Brunswick currently has 677 active cases with 41 people in hospital due to the virus, including 15 patients in intensive care.

In Nova Scotia, officials reported 77 new cases of COVID-19 since the province's last update on Wednesday.

The majority of the cases, 51, were in the Halifax area, where officials have identified community spread, primarily among people aged between 20 and 40 who are unvaccinated and go out to socialize.

Of the 4,953 cases identified in Nova Scotia between March 15 and Sept. 29, officials said 90 per cent involved people who were unvaccinated. The province currently has 240 active cases of novel coronavirus with 11 people in hospital, including four in intensive care.

On Friday, the professional association representing Nova Scotia physicians said it supports the Canadian Medical Association's call for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all health workers. Doctors Nova Scotia said its stance is in line with the province's decision this week to mandate vaccination for health workers.

"Doctors and all others who work in a health-care setting have an obligation to keep our patients safe and set an example for the public, showing that vaccines are safe and effective," association president Dr. Heather Johnson said in a news release.

Newfoundland and Labrador reported 41 new cases and two more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus since the province's last update on Wednesday.

The deaths, the province's ninth and 10th, involved a man in the central health region and a woman in the eastern health region who were both 70 years of age or older.

The new cases included 31 in the central health region, where a third cluster was confirmed in the Bishop's Falls-Botwood area in addition to clusters in the Baie Verte and Twillingate areas. The remaining 10 cases were identified in the eastern region, which includes St. John's.

Newfoundland and Labrador has 180 active reported cases of COVID-19 and seven people in hospital with the disease, including four in critical care.

Meanwhile, officials in Prince Edward Island said the province is set to implement its proof of COVID-19 vaccination pass on Tuesday. They said the Island's pass is aligned for use with similar vaccination passes in Canada, particularly in neighbouring Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

People can print a paper record of their vaccination status or download a screen capture for use on their phone. Beginning Oct. 15, they will be able to access a QR code online that will be suitable for international travel.

The province reported three new COVID-19 cases Friday involving one person in their 20s, one in their 60s and one in their 70s. All three had recently travelled outside of P.E.I. The province has 11 active cases of COVID-19 and has had 302 positive cases since the pandemic began.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.
WASHINGTON - The Canadian architect of the controversial Line 5 cross-border pipeline expansion project said Friday it remains committed to a negotiated solution to its impasse with the state of Michigan, even though the government has effectively walked away from the table.

In this June 8, 2017, file photo, fresh nuts, bolts and fittings are ready to be added to the east leg of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline near St. Ignace, Mich. Enbridge Inc. says it remains committed to a mediated settlement of its Line 5 dispute, even though the state of Michigan has given up on the talks.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP - (Dale G. Young/Detroit News via AP, File

WASHINGTON - The Canadian architect of the controversial Line 5 cross-border pipeline expansion project said Friday it remains committed to a negotiated solution to its impasse with the state of Michigan, even though the government has effectively walked away from the table.

Both sides are obliged by court order to engage in a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute, and Enbridge Inc. "remains ready to do just that," the Calgary-based pipeline giant said in a statement.

"Our goal from the beginning has been to work co-operatively to reconcile interests, resolve disputes and move forward in the best interest of people throughout the region," the company said.

"We believe in the process and participated in mediation in good faith. We are committed to continuing to seek resolution, whether through mediation or by asserting our rights in the courts if necessary."

Line 5 ferries upwards of 540,000 barrels per day of crude oil and natural gas liquids across the Canada-U.S. border and the Great Lakes by way of a twin line that runs along the lake bed beneath the ecologically sensitive Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

Proponents call it a vital and indispensible source of energy  particularly propane  for several midwestern states, including Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and a key source of feedstock for critical refineries on the northern side of the border, including those that supply jet fuel to some of Canada's busiest airports.

Critics, however, among them Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, want the line shut down, arguing it's only a matter of time before an anchor strike or technical failure triggers a catastrophic environmental disaster in one of the area's most important watersheds.

That's why last November, Whitmer abruptly revoked the easement that had allowed the pipeline to operate since 1953, giving the company until May to voluntarily cease operations and triggering a court case that has only dragged on since then.

Enbridge has insisted from the outset that it has no plans to voluntarily shut down the pipeline.

"We understand the stakes in this matter are important not only for Enbridge and the state, but for many others on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border who have a strong interest in its outcome," the company said.

"Meanwhile, we will continue to safely and responsibly deliver the energy the region relies upon from the Line 5 system."

A court-sanctioned voluntary mediation process, which began in April, has failed to yield any agreement and appears to have fallen apart, although the official status of those talks is difficult to divine.

Following the last meeting Sept. 9, Michigan's emissaries "unambiguously communicated to the mediator that any further continuation of the mediation process would be unproductive for them, and they have no 'desire to continue with the mediation process,'" court documents show.

Michigan District Court Judge Janet Neff, however, appears reluctant to call a halt to the process.

"Voluntary facilitative mediation necessarily requires voluntary participation by both parties," Neff said in a decision last week that dismissed as moot one of the state's motions aimed at short-circuiting the talks.

The process, Neff wrote, "is at least at a standstill, although the parties remain under a continuing obligation to engage in good faith to resolve this case."

Where that leaves matters is unclear. The attorney general's office in Michigan refused to comment Friday, referring media inquiries back to the court documents.

Enbridge has also pointed to a possible "diplomatic solution" under a 1977 U.S.-Canada treaty covering cross-border pipelines, which the Canadian government has argued applies in this case and obliges the court to step aside in favour of a negotiated bilateral settlement.

Environmental groups, meanwhile, have been unequivocal in their opposition to the pipeline and a potential replacement project.

Cathy Collentine, associate director of the Sierra Club's "Beyond Dirty Fuels" campaign, said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the process of an environmental impact assessment on the Line 5 project. It would then be up to the White House to decide whether to take action based on the findings, she said.

If President Joe Biden's administration is serious about confronting climate change, the most contentious cross-border pipeline projects of the last 15 years  Keystone XL, Line 5 and also Line 3, another Enbridge upgrade, this one in Minnesota  are the ones they should be blocking, Collentine said.

Such projects, with their capacity to increase fossil fuel production and consumption, are already affecting communities on the front lines of climate change, she said.

"Those are the exact projects that we have long said we cannot continue to build, we cannot continue to approve," Collentine said.

"It's a moment where the Biden administration, through these analyses, we believe should and hopefully will see that that is also true and not allow these projects to move forward or to continue operating."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.
WINNIPEG - On the same day former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard agreed to be extradited to the United States to face a charge of sex trafficking, police in Toronto announced their own charges.

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The Nygard headquarters is shown in Winnipeg on Feb. 26, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

WINNIPEG - On the same day former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard agreed to be extradited to the United States to face a charge of sex trafficking, police in Toronto announced their own charges.

Police said Nygard, 80, is to be charged with six counts of sexual assault and three counts of forcible confinement. They said the pending charges relate to alleged assaults in the late 1980s and mid-2000s.

Peter Nygard arrives at the 24th Night of 100 Stars Oscars Viewing Gala at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., on March 2, 2014. Toronto police say they will charge the former Canadian fashion mogul with multiple counts of sexual assault. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Invision - Annie I. Bang

The charges were announced Friday as Nygard was in a Winnipeg court for an extradition hearing related to the U.S. charges.

"Mr. Nygard denies any allegations of criminal conduct," defence lawyer Brian Greenspan said outside the courthouse.

Earlier, Nygard appeared via videolink and consented to his extradition.

He was arrested in Winnipeg last year under the Extradition Act and faces nine counts in the Southern District of New York.

Authorities there accuse Nygard of using his influence in the fashion industry to lure women and girls with the promise of modelling and other financial opportunities.

The extradition request from the U.S. details accounts from seven alleged victims who are expected to testify in a criminal trial in that country that their livelihoods and movements became dependent on having sex with Nygard.

Nygard has denied all allegations. He consented only to be extradited on the charge of sex trafficking.

His lawyers said Nygard is looking forward to addressing the allegations against him in the U.S.

"The only place you can be vindicated is in a trial," said Greenspan.

The justice minister will have to choose whether Nygard faces charges in Canada first, or if a condition of the extradition is that he will be returned after the U.S. trial, Greenspan said.

Nygard's lawyers said they expect the extradition to be completed by the end of the year.

They said they will argue to the federal minister that the extradition should include assurances Nygard not be held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York. Greenspan said it has horrible conditions that could threaten the life of his client, whose health the lawyer said is already in decline.

Court has heard that Nygard is kept alone in a cell meant for three prisoners at Headingley Correction Centre outside Winnipeg. There is a television and phone in the cell and he has access to a diet for diabetics.

Nygard applied for bail in January, but it was denied by a judge who cited concerns that Nygard would contact witnesses if released. Nygard appealed that decision and was again denied release in March.

Justice Jennifer Pfuetzner of the Manitoba Court of Appeal said at that time that Nygards detention was necessary to maintain confidence in the justice system, given the enormity of the allegations. She said the allegations "paint a picture of criminal conduct that was planned, financed and executed on a staggering scale."

The Supreme Court of Canada denied Nygards request to challenge the two lower court decisions.

He is also the subject of a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. involving 57 women with similar allegations.

Nygard founded his fashion company in Winnipeg in 1967. It grew from a partial stake in a womens garment manufacturer to a brand name sold in stores around the world.

He stepped down as chairman of his company after the FBI and police raided his offices in New York City in February 2020.

Nygard International has since filed for bankruptcy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said Nygard is facing sexual assault charges in New York.
EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says help is on the way from the Canadian Armed Forces and elsewhere to battle a COVID-19 wave that continues to overwhelm hospitals.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney takes off his mask before giving a COVID-19 update in Edmonton on Sept. 21, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says help is on the way from the Canadian Armed Forces and elsewhere to battle a COVID-19 wave that continues to overwhelm hospitals.

Kenney said the province is finalizing a deal to provide eight to 10 intensive care ward specialists, likely to be based in Edmonton.

Up to 20 trained Red Cross medical workers, some with intensive care experience, are to be deployed in central Alberta.

And Newfoundland and Labrador is set to send a medical team, including five or six intensive care staff, to work in the northern oil hub city of Fort McMurray.

I know that Alberta health-care workers will be grateful for the helping hand and that all Albertans are thankful for any assistance at this challenging time, Kenney said Thursday in Calgary.

Kenney also announced that 25,000 public sector workers will soon be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

The employees must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 30 and, if not vaccinated after that date, will have to show negative tests paid for at their own expense.

Tim Grant, the head of the public service, estimated that 15 to 20 per cent of public service workers are not fully vaccinated. He said those who dont comply will be placed on unpaid leave.

Were not going to fire anyone, said Grant. Our aim is to encourage and educate all the members of the public service to get vaccinated.

Alberta is dealing with a COVID-19 crisis that has seen well over 1,000 new cases a day for weeks while filling intensive care wards to almost twice normal capacity.

There are more than 20,000 active cases and more than 1,000 people in hospital with the virus. On Thursday, there were 307 people in intensive care  263 with COVID-19.

Alberta Health Services has had to scramble and reassign staff to handle the surge of intensive care patients far above the normal capacity of 173 beds.

The result has been mass cancellation of non-urgent surgeries and doctors being briefed on criteria to use if they must make instant decisions on who gets life-saving care and who doesn't.

In recent days, doctors have called for a swift lockdown or a firebreak to immediately reverse the tide of COVID-19 patients.

That would mean a mass shutdown of schools, non-essential businesses and mass gatherings.

Intensive care physicians, emergency ward doctors, the executive of the Alberta Medical Association and the Canadian Medical Association have issued such pleas in recent days.

Kenney, however, reiterated he wants to see if recent new health measures  such as a provincewide mask mandate, gathering restrictions and a form of a vaccine passport  boost vaccination rates.

Kenney said case rates seem to be reaching a plateau but acknowledged there is a fine line to walk with intensive care wards, even with the extra beds, at 83 per cent capacity.

A cold snap that forces everybody indoors, upcoming Thanksgiving holidays and family gatherings  a lot of different things could suddenly increase transmission, said Kenney.

So, were watching all of the trends very carefully.

Dr. Verna Yiu, the head of Alberta Health Services, also reported the death of an intensive care nurse, noting that all staff are under severe stress.

Emergency room physician Dr. Joe Vipond, an outspoken opponent of the United Conservative governments approach to the crisis, said Kenney failed again by putting too much emphasis on vaccines rather than immediate action.

We really need to have schools closed for a short-term period  and we need to really shut down large swaths of society while we can reset our health-care system, said Vipond.

I'm not sure how many more deaths it's going to take before Premier Kenney decides that he can do the right thing, but it looks like there's more deaths, more long-COVID and more illness in the future.

Opposition NDP health critic David Shepherd said its time for Kenney to pass rules to ensure that all legislature members and political staffers are fully vaccinated. The NDP said all its members and staff have complied.

Its time for leadership, said Shepherd. We need to lead by example.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2021.

 With files from Alanna Smith in Calgary.
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Krista Balsom said she couldn't help but smile when she heard there were health-care workers heading to help Alberta battle COVID-19 from the military, the Canadian Red Cross  and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Premier Andrew Furey poses for a picture outside Woodward Aviation Hangar at the St. John's Airport awaiting the departure of the second team of medical professionals who left St. John's, Tuesday, May 4, 2021, en route to Brampton Ont. to assist with caring for COVID-19 patients. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Krista Balsom said she couldn't help but smile when she heard there were health-care workers heading to help Alberta battle COVID-19 from the military, the Canadian Red Cross  and Newfoundland and Labrador.

"Newfoundland always punches above its weight," Balsom said in interview Friday. She's from Random Island, near the central Newfoundland community of Clarenville. Like thousands of others from the East Coast province, she now lives in Fort McMurray, the northern Alberta oilsands town, after her family was lured there for work.

Balsom owns a publishing business and sits as a councillor with the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray. In what is perhaps an indicator of just how many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians live in the region, she's one of three people on council from the province.

"There's such a strong connection between the people of Newfoundland and the people of Alberta, that goes back a long time," she said, noting that when fires ravaged Fort McMurray in 2016, people in her home province held concerts, raffles and bake sales to raise funds for their affected family and friends.

"I'm not surprised in the least that (Newfoundlanders and Labradorians) are stepping up again, right now, to help in this time of crisis," Balsom said.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced Thursday that a small team from Newfoundland and Labrador would be heading west to help out in Fort McMurray. The fourth wave of COVID-19 threatens to overwhelm Alberta's hospitals, and the teams from Newfoundland and Labrador, the Canadian Armed Forces and the Red Cross will help expand the province's intensive care capacity, he said.

There were 247 COVID-19 patients in intensive care, Kenney said Thursday, adding that about 83 per cent of the province's intensive care capacity was in use. Alberta health officials reported 1,706 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, for a total of 20,255 active infections across the province. Twenty more people died, officials said.

By contrast, Newfoundland and Labrador reported 41 new cases on Friday, for a total of 180 active cases  alarming numbers for a province used to near-zero daily case counts, but nowhere near the tallies in Alberta.

There were 306 active cases in Fort McMurray as of Thursday, local officials said in a news release.

"It's a scary situation," Balsom said.

On Friday morning, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey tweeted his thanks to the health-care workers who volunteered to head out to Fort McMurray. "Our provinces are tightly knit, and we are happy to help," Furey wrote. He said his province will send five or six workers, adding that the government was still working out the details of the trip.

As Kenney announced Thursday that Newfoundland and Labrador would be pitching in, he repeated the popular joke that Fort McMurray is Newfoundland and Labrador's second-largest city.

"I really want to thank my colleague Premier Andrew Furey for reaching out to us earlier in September to offer the same kind of assistance that Newfoundland and Labrador provided to Ontario in the spring," Kenney said, referring to the team of health-care workers from the province  including Furey's wife, Dr. Allison Furey  that went to Ontario last spring to help the province tackle its third wave of COVID-19.

Back in Fort McMurray, Balsom said when the pandemic first hit, she was worried Newfoundland and Labrador would be one of the first to buckle. The small province has towering health-care issues, including an aging population with high rates of disease and a large proportion of residents who don't have a family doctor.

"And now look," she said. "I see Newfoundland helping other provinces in their times of need during COVID  and really that is because of the sacrifice of every single person in Newfoundland who has been taking COVID as seriously as they have."

Sure, the team is small, she said, but they'll provide much-needed relief for the doctors working in the hospital to beat back the disease.

"That team of five will have an exceptional impact on our hospital," Balsom said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.
KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Indigenous people have had enough apologies and want action from the Catholic Church and federal government, says the chief of the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia.

Tk'emlups te Secwepemc Kukpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir speaks during a news conference ahead of a ceremony to honour residential school survivors and mark the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, in Kamloops, B.C., on Thursday, September 30, 2021. The remains of more than 200 children were discovered buried near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School earlier this year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Indigenous people have had enough apologies and want action from the Catholic Church and federal government, says the chief of the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia.

As the country marked its first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Chief Rosanne Casimir called for the disclosure of all relevant records from the church and government to help identify missing Indigenous children at former residential school sites, including those in unmarked graves.

"Reconciliation requires truth," Casimir said. "And this is but one milestone along with the restitution and potentially retribution, and a path toward reconciliation. At the very least, steps toward reconciliation demands honesty and transparency."

Tk'emlups te Secwepemc announced in May it used ground-penetrating radar to locate the remains of more than 200 children long believed missing from the residential school that operated there between 1890 and 1969. Since then, other Indigenous nations have announced finding unmarked graves using similar search methods.

Records show that about 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis children were forced to attend 140 schools that operated across the country beginning in 1831. The last residential school in Canada closed in 1996.

Casimir said less than a hectare of land was searched around the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School and another 65 hectares still need to be explored.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a national apology on Sept. 24, acknowledging "the suffering experienced in Canadas Indian Residential Schools."

"Many Catholic religious communities and dioceses participated in this system, which led to the suppression of Indigenous languages, culture and spirituality, failing to respect the rich history, traditions and wisdom of Indigenous Peoples," it said in a statement.

Casimir said the apology brought a "disturbing sense of deja vu," with no acts of contrition or promises to disclose documents.

On Monday, the conference pledged a $30-million national fund to support healing and reconciliation initiatives for residential school survivors, their families and their communities.

Casimir said the nation is asking for the implementation of the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report about missing children and unmarked burials, including maintaining a registry of residential school cemeteries and allowing for the review of relevant documents.

"If this apology is truly a commitment, then the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc insists on the complete and full production of all relevant documents and records in a manner and form that is useful and accessible to Indian residential school survivors to help identify those missing, and those unmarked graves and repatriating those lost," she said.

The Canadian Conference of the Catholic Bishops did not reply to a request for comment.

Megan MacLean, spokeswoman for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, said in a statement that advancing meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples is paramount in moving forward.

The parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, including churches, were responsible for handing over the records for the schools they administered, she said

Over four million documents have been disclosed by various departments and are housed at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, her statement said.

The government is committed to working with all partners to implement the commission's Calls to Action, MacLean said.

"The prime minister formally requested an apology when he met Pope Francis at the Vatican and the government of Canada continues to call upon the Pope to apologize," she said.

Murray Rankin, B.C.'s minister of Indigenous relations and reconciliation, said the province is providing access to records to First Nation groups investigating residential schools.

"So, there's going to be in our case, at least in the province of British Columbia, as much transparency as possible," he said.

B.C. has worked with Indigenous leaders to develop a draft action plan to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the province, one of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he added.

There's much more work to be done, and the province acknowledges that, said Rankin, who was in Kamloops attending a gathering to mark the day of reconciliation.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald said this day should honour the survivors and victims of residential schools.

"I've always said that truth must come before reconciliation," said Archibald, who also attended the ceremony in Kamloops.

"True reconciliation is about learning, sharing and growing as a country. The more we know about where we've come from, and our shared history and our responsibilities, the better we can address current challenges and find our healing path forward together."

Echoing Casimir's call, she said First Nations need to see proof that there will be action going forward.

"Empty promises and hollow apologies will no longer be accepted."

Casimir said they want a "meaningful apology" from the Pope for the trauma experienced by Indigenous children and intergenerational suffering that resulted.

In June, Pope Francis expressed his pain over the finding of the remains of children in Kamloops and pressed religious and political authorities to shed light on "this sad affair,'' but didn't offer an apology.

The Pope is scheduled to meet in Rome with a delegation of residential school survivors, elders and Indigenous youth in December.

Casimir said an apology from the Pope would be more meaningful if he came to Canada to express the sentiment.

 With files from Hina Alam in Vancouver and The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2021.
Awaken Worship Globally Releases Lionheart (Deluxe) Album Via The Fuel Music

San Diego-based collective Awaken Worship, the musical expression from the 10,000 members of the multi-campus Awaken Church, releases its national debut album, Lionheart (Deluxe), today (Oct. 1) via The Fuel Music. Available at all major digital and streaming outlets now, the album was inspired by Awaken Churchs fierce stance on the importance of gathering together as believers to encourage and support one another. One of the first churches to open its doors in California after pandemic lockdowns, the eight-track recording is meant to give the suffering a voice and the persecuted a battle cry.

Produced by GRAMMY Award-nominated Stephen Blake Kanicka (Kanye West, for KING & COUNTRY, Danny Gokey) and mixed by David Cook (Chris Tomlin, Zach Williams, Shawn Mendes), Lionheart (Deluxe) tracks were born in the heat of 2020, a year fraught with conflicting opinions, increased hostility and even threats coming toward the church.

After closing its doors at the start of the pandemic, Awaken Church reopened August 2020 in order to support and minister to their community that was wrestling with rising cases of drug abuse, suicide and a host of other mental and physical ailments. Growing from 8,000 to 10,000 members during this time, and ministering to 25,000 people online, the church faced some backlash for the decision to open, but safety protocols were utilized and COVID-19 outbreaks were minimal.

We were one of very few churches in America that really said, hey wait a minute, the church is the most essential institution on the planet, we cant shut down, our community needs it too badly, remembers Mike Yeager, who leads Awaken Worship, is the Eastlake Campus Pastor and wrote or co-wrote all but one of the new songs.

Along with the courage and strength found in the lines and melodies of the new album, there is also a sense of peace and simplicity, with an overarching proclamatory power.

Our church is really big on the power of actually physically speaking out the precepts, promises and principles of God, says Yeager. Lionheart is about taking the DNA of Awaken Church and putting it out in the world, far beyond the physical borders of our church. We want to make music that people will listen to who dont even listen to Christian music. The goal of our music program is really a missions effort.

As the new melodies from this season are carried out into the world, Awaken Worship hopes people will find encouragement to join in the outworking of Gods plan, being active and hopeful in their mission and purpose as Christians.

This hope is carried forward by Lionheart (Deluxe) songs like the CCM Magazine-premiered Fearless, which is meant to remind listeners that the Kingdom of God is unshakeable, regardless of the shaking we see in the world around us, and Authority, a rallying cry for the Church with lyrics declaring: Let Your authority rise in me, Break every stronghold, No weapon formed could wage war against Your throne.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Theres only one way to begin a piece on paintings inspired by music  with a famous line by the Victorian aesthete, Walter Pater. In an essay of 1873, Pater wrote: All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music. Its an idea that took on added significance with the development of abstract painting, particularly the work of Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), a trained musician who experienced the condition called synaesthesia (literally joined perception), which allowed him to see colours when listening to music. For some reason the Russians were especially prone to synaesthesia  composers, Rimsky-Korsakov and Scriabin had the same tendencies. For the titles of his paintings Kandinsky often used musical terminology. In 1909 he created an experimental theatre piece called The Yellow Sound, although it would not be performed until 1972. He also enjoyed a long, lively correspondence with the composer, Arnold Schoenberg, who aspired to be a painter. Kandinskys Impression III (Concert), 1911. Credit:Getty Once again, Im biting off a forbiddingly unchewable topic. To make matters easier Im not going to speak about music inspired by paintings, although that might be a subject for another day. Neither am I going to discuss artists set designs for operas. Finally, Im not including portraits of composers and musicians, or pictures of people listening to music. By limiting the discussion to painting, Im taking out contemporary video works by artists such as Anri Sala, Pipilotti Rist or Angelica Mesiti. This eliminates a few million options but there are plenty more. Plato argued that music was the most perfect of the arts because it seemed to have the power of cutting through the senses and reaching the inmost soul. This idea found support at the dawn of the Romantic era from thinkers such as Goethe, Schopenhauer, and E.T.A. Hoffmann, who championed absolute music, which spoke directly to the emotions and the spirit, as opposed to program music, which drew upon stories and images.

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It wasnt a simple dichotomy because Beethoven, the supreme hero of the Romantics, had always worked from stories, even if he rarely revealed his sources. The composer was hugely surprised to read a review of his Fifth Symphony in 1810, in which Hoffmann claimed him as an apostle of the Absolute. Beethoven, pictured in an engraving, rarely revealed his sources. Credit:Istock Beethovens music moves the lever controlling horror, fear, dread, pain, Hoffmann wrote, and awakens the infinite longing that is the essence of Romanticism. This was news to Beethoven, but it made a nice change from critics complaining he was trying too hard to be original. Ironically, his next symphony, the Pastoral, would have five movements, each given a programmatic title, beginning with: Awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside. Loading There was no absolute painting for Romantic artists such as Delacroix or Turner, who saw themselves as visual storytellers. When Turner veered close to abstraction in his late works of the 1840s, it was thought he had fallen into decline and madness. The critic, William Hazlitt, had already complained, as early as 1816, that Turners works were pictures of nothing, and very like. Turner had a keen appreciation of music but as far as I know, did not paint anything based on an identifiable musical composition. There are, however, parallels with Beethoven in the way he felt compelled to push his chosen medium towards the absolute in opposition to the conventions of the time.

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Tannhauser painting by Henri Fantin-Latour, based on Act 1 of Wagners opera. Credit:Getty Lacking the visual language of abstraction, 19th century artists expressed their love of music in programmatic terms  in atmospheric landscapes and seascapes, images of people listening to concerts, or portraits of musicians. One musical enthusiast was Henri Fantin-Latour, known today for his flower paintings. A fan of Robert Schumann, and a dedicated Wagnerian, Fantin-Latour produced fantasies based on the music he loved. His Rhine maidens, after Wagners opera, Das Rheingold, float through water and light in a way that could not have been reproduced on the Paris stage. For Fantin-Latour these musically inspired works were far more important than the flower studies that paid his bills. His Rhine maidens, after Wagners opera, float through water and light in a way that could not have been reproduced on the Paris stage. Fantin-Latours musical paintings draw him into the territory inhabited by the Symbolists, who reacted against the sensory fixations of the Impressionists with a demand for an art of ideas. The problem was that figuration was Fantin-Latours only vehicle for conveying musical ideas. Some might say the same applies to Wagner, whose music was saturated with literary associations. The most extreme example of a symbolist response to a piece of music is The Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt, made for the Vienna Secession exhibition of 1902 that showcased Max Klingers statue of the revered composer. Klimts response to Beethovens Ninth Symphony is frankly bizarre: floating genii, suffering humanity, snake-haired gorgons, a knight in shining armour, embracing lovers, and a giant gorilla intended to represent the mythical monster, Typhoeus, but irresistibly reminiscent of King Kong. The connections with Beethoven are not exactly obvious, but as an imaginative artistic response to a stirring piece of music, its unbeatable.

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The connections with Beethoven are not exactly obvious, but as an imaginative response to a stirring piece of music, its unbeatable. James Abbott McNeill Whistler had taken a more subdued approach with his wistful, moody Nocturnes of the 1870s. The artist orginally called these dimly lit views of the Thames moonlights but adopted the suggestion of a friend who was reminded of Chopins Nocturnes. As the most prominent representative of the Aesthetic movement, Whistler was already in the habit of giving his paintings musical titles. Three of his best-known portraits, featuring languid young women in flowing white dresses, are called Symphony in White (1862-67). Symphony in White No 3, painted by James Whistler (1834-1903) Credit:Getty One finds a transition point between programmatic and absolute responses to music in Luigi Russolos Futurist painting, La Musica (a pianist playing for his audience) (1911-12). A shadowy pianist with more arms than a Hindu deity, is unleashing a long, curving serpent of sound that touches the red, yellow and green faces of listeners, arranged in concentric rows. Russolo, who would become known for his performances of Futurist music, and a 1913 manifesto, The Art of Noise, has one foot in the past, one in the future. The pianist is solid enough, but the faces are masks and the music itself an abstract design. Detail of Gustav Klimts Beethoven Frieze Credit:Getty By now Kandinsky had opened the door to so-called pure abstraction. Georges Braque went half-way there in two Cubist paintings: Hommage a Bach (1911-12) and Aria de Bach (1913). Braque was an accomplished violinist who loved music no less than painting, and Bach was his idol. He saw the angles and planes of the Cubist canvas as a good match for the geometric rigor of the composer of The Art of Fugue and The Well-Tempered Clavier.

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Another artist-musician was Paul Klee (1879-1940), who had played violin in the Berne Municipal Orchestra. Music was never far from Klees thoughts and paintings. One of his more obvious forays is In the Style of Bach (1919), in which each motif on the canvas is treated as a musical notation, and the overall picture as a kind of score. It could be argued that the logical nature of Bachs music is reflected in the cerebral methods of Braque and Klee, but with the Surrealists, logic went out the window. Dorothea Tannings Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1943) shows two girls standing at the top of a staircase in what looks like a dilapidated hotel. A massive sunflower lies on the landing in front of them. Its anybodys guess what this has to do with Mozarts famously cheerful serenade, although night music suggests a vision from the painters dreams. Arthur Doves Sentimental Music, ca 1913 Credit:Getty During the 20th century artists became increasingly enamoured with jazz, leading to works such as Arthur Doves 1927 variations on Gershwins jazz-influenced Rhapsody in Blue; Mondrians Broadway Boogie-Woogie (1943); and the dancing, rhythmic canvases of the Abstract Expressionists. Willem De Kooning claimed that he bent the paint in the same way Miles Davis bent the notes in a piece of music. As abstract art became the acceptable face of the avant-garde in the 1960s paintings were frequently described in musical terms, yet the distaste for program music felt by so many composers was echoed by artists rejection of figuration. What seemed almost inconceivable to Beethoven or Turner had come to pass. The Absolute was the new orthodoxy, with any hint of narrative or recognisable imagery viewed as a throwback to the past. The destiny of both music and art was abstract  or so it was believed. Loading This changed when modernist art ground to a halt in the late 1970s and composers grew bored with the aridity of atonal music. Imagery, narrative, rhythm and melody came flooding back. In reality these things had never gone away, they had simply slipped out of the limelight. The ties between art and music remained as strong as ever, with just as many composers inspired by paintings, and painters with a passion for music.

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Neither Fisher nor the dealer  a moonlighting 19-year-old trainee beauty therapist from Merrylands who was convicted after appearing in court via video and pleading guilty  could explain why she was in the car or how they knew each other. It girls: Nadia Fairfax, Olivia Bond, Kristin Fisher, Kate Bond, Jordana Sexton and Montarna Pitt. Credit:Chloe Paul Fisher is a member of Sydneys crop of social pages It girls, reaching her social  ahem  zenith as one of the bridesmaids at fashion darling Nadia Fairfaxs lavish wedding at Darling Point mansion Swifts this year and counting among her circle of besties the likes of popular social media influencers Rey Vakili, PR dynamo Montarna Pitt and wealthy heiresses Deborah Symond and Nicky Oatley. But in recent months cracks have started to appear within the Instafamous tribe of privileged beauties. Relations had already cooled between Fairfax and Fisher well before she made news over the cocaine conviction. The pair apparently fell out over a social media product endorsement deal Fisher had inked against Fairfaxs wishes. However, the darling of Double Bay eyebrows, who was the one who called PS this week after I inadvertently liked one of her Instagram photos, remains adamant: I am not a bad person ... for Gods sake I raised $250,000 for the bushfire victims, but no one wants to write about that.

While her old girlfriends are distancing themselves, Fisher says her latest scandal  which has parallels to Melbournes Nadia Bartel and her recent run-in with a Kmart plate  has had little negative impact on her popularity: she was still taking PR deliveries (or product freebies showered on social media influencers) from admirers during our chat, in which she also revealed her product sponsors were sticking by her, though she declined to name them. She also claimed the notoriety had resulted in new offers coming in fast. But Fisher, who has been dating 27-year-old Jack Mann, said her life beyond the glamorous and confected image portrayed on social media was not easy. Im just a small businessperson and its been bloody tough with no income in lockdown ... and the bills keep coming in, rent is $30,000 a month which I still owe from last year, my general manager died this year, Im a single mum ... its a lot, she told PS. Fisher, who has been receiving emergency relief payments from the government, has also been venting her frustration over the lockdown and criticising government policies vociferously on social media. She has posted about the pressure of having mouths to feed, only to then share photos of lockdown gourmet luxuries such as truffled spaghetti.

So how could she afford bags of cocaine? But I didnt buy it, she flatly responded, refusing to go into details as to why she was in the dial-a-dealers Kia or why there were bags of cocaine at her feet. Fisher, who was last in this column just over a year ago when she was named as the mystery woman having liaisons with hunky Double Bay hairdresser Tom Cole  revelations which resulted in the end of both of their marriages  says hers is far from an isolated case. Im not going to get all holier than thou, or throw anyone else under the bus, but I am far from being the only one, she said. Indeed, some of Sydneys social set were joking that the thing they found most surprising was the revelation Fisher had been found in Kia rather than a Bentley. Lost some gloss?

After barely a week on the newsstands the relaunch of Harpers Bazaar Australia under new management has not gone quite as smoothly as the magazines global bosses in New York would probably have hoped. Vindictive: Harpers Bazaar Australia publisher Maureen Jordan has defended the magazines relaunch. PS has heard stories that would make even the Devil Wears Pradas Miranda Priestly cringe, from senior executives alleged inability to pronounce the brand names of top luxury advertisers to heated personality clashes among staff amid a flurry of toxic email exchanges and resignations. Ive been known to throw my coat on the desk like Miranda, but Ive only ever done it as a joke! assured Harpers new publisher Maureen Jordan when quizzed about why the fledgling magazine had already lost its editor, lead writer and designer. I am so proud that our little team was able to get such a beautiful magazine out in the midst of a global pandemic ... but no one wants to focus on that, they just want to talk about paper stock? Which, by the way, is almost identical to our key competitors [Vogue Australia].

Poached: Jillian Davison jumped ship from Vogue Australia to relaunch Harpers Bazaar Australia and has now been installed as editor. Three weeks ago PS revealed the magazines long-term editor-in-chief Eugenie Kelly had quit on the eve of the relaunch featuring playwright Nakkiah Lui on the cover. Kellys departure was downplayed by Jordan, who this week announced fashion editor Jillian Davison had been elevated to the editors role. As for reports Hearst bosses never saw the magazine before it was published and that Jordan had pitched an unlikely cover girl for the luxury fashion magazine in the form of Macquarie Bank CEO Shemara Wikramanayake, Jordan maintains neither were quite correct. I never said Shemara should go on the cover, just that she would be an inspiring person to profile in the magazine ... she is a successful businesswoman in Australia, women like her also read Harpers, but that was twisted into something entirely different. Yes, we sent the cover and the pages that were ready to New York before we published ... all this just feels so vindictive, says Jordan, who added she had received overwhelmingly positive feedback from readers and advertisers. So how have sales been? Jordan said it was too early to tell but some 20,000 copies had been printed, though retail closures and the fact she is yet to strike a supermarket retail deal means there is still work to do on the distribution front.

She also confirmed whispers the next issue had been delayed, but only by a few days, denying rumours it was due to the lack of a cover. We have two contenders, both are very striking covers, and we are just working through which one to go with, Jordan said. And let me assure you, I am so proud to be associated with this masthead, Harpers Bazaar Australia will be around for a very long time to come, that is my absolute commitment. Hacienda la vista for Packer in Mexico Hell soon be boatless, but troubled billionaire James Packer is already planning to drop anchor in the new year at his flash new digs in Mexico, which as PSs images reveal are finally nearing completion after three years of construction.

Sprawling: James Packers vast new Mexican holiday home is almost complete. Credit:Backgrid And what a whopper it is. The $50 million hacienda takes up one of the largest beachfront blocks in Cabo San Lucas, with tonnes of stone now wrapping around the new build occupying the sprawling, brutalist-looking compound located in a dress-circle position within the ultra-exclusive Palmilla Cove community. Packer bought the site in 2018, reportedly paying nearly $10 million not long after leaving a Boston rehabilitation clinic where he sought treatment for mental health issues. No doubt his giant new swimming pool, complete with its own island and sunken lounge, will provide respite from the pressures of the world. He had been introduced to the delights of the location at the bottom of the Baja California peninsula during his relationship with former fiancee Mariah Carey and has been a regular in the resort town ever since.

Packers slice of paradise has direct beach access and unimpeded views over the Sea of Cortez  though this week they were shielded by huge privacy screens which encase the new bunker as workers tended to his rolling lawns. Meanwhile its a toss-up between the Jules Verne-style nightclub, complete with digital underwater fish movies screened on the portholes, or a beauty parlour that would make Joh Bailey green with envy when it comes to PSs favourite part of Packers soon-to-be sold superyacht. The Jules Verne style nightclub aboard IJE. Credit:Burgess The huge IJE was by far the biggest vessel on display at last weeks Monaco Boat Show, heralding the start of the second-hand cruise ships marketing campaign after the embattled casino mogul put it up for sale last month. Packers floating beauty parlour.

And for many keel-kicking plebs it was the first time to gain an up close and personal experience on board one of the worlds most luxurious and expensive gin palaces, which yacht brokers Burgess has slapped a whopping $280 million price tag on  about $80 million more than Packer paid Italian ship builders Benetti. Rebel with a get-out clause What travel ban? While families remain divided by closed borders, unable to visit dying relatives and hug loved ones, Rebel Wilsons no expense spared globe-trotting 40th birthday celebrations have left some of her Sydney-based mothers friends a little underwhelmed. Family affair: Rebel Wilson (second from right) with her family. From left: Sister Liberty, mother Sue Bownds, sister Annarchi, and niece Liberty at front. Credit:Facebook/Sue Bownds Sue Bownds posted a volley of images from the Tahiti and Californian escapades on her Facebook page shortly after touching back down in Sydney, saying the only downside was the 14 days quarantine she endured with her daughter Liberty and granddaughter Sovereign.

Rebels dream finally became our reality. We all have special times but this has been a long time coming. Cancelled 4 times over the past two years, due to the pandemic, it finally happened, she wrote, before basking in sweet memories including Rebels costume Mermaid party and a family VIP trip to Disneyland. Sadly PS received no response to queries about the compelling reason Bownds gave to be rewarded with a travel exemption, but the photos she shared were certainly succour for sore eyes amid the gloom of the pandemic. Flee? Fly? Not so fast, FLOM PSs favourite Despot Housewife, the former First Lady Of Malaysia Rosmah Mansor, is back in the news as her corruption trial approaches. Rosmah Mansor arrives at court in Kuala Lumpur in February. Credit:EPA
Rumour: Vaccines cause infertility by attacking the placenta. Late last year, Michael Yeadon, a former vice president of Pfizer who lost his job in 2011, co-authored a petition suggesting that the vaccines might cause infertility. Specifically, Yeadon (who also predicted there would be no second wave of the virus and who announced, in November, that the pandemic was over) claimed that a piece of the coronavirus protein (called a spike protein) used to make the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines was similar to a protein (called syncytin-1), involved in placental development. The unsubstantiated theory was that, following vaccination, the antibodies we form to attack the spike proteins might mistakenly go after syncytin-1 (and the placenta) instead thereby causing infertility. Reality: That is just nonsensical, says Dr Alex Polyakov, an obstetrician and senior lecturer at the University of Melbournes medical school. There are literally millions of vaccinated pregnant women now and placental dysfunction is easy to diagnose as the babies dont grow well and it translates into a lot of babies being born prematurely or being born small for their gestational age, and that doesnt exist, he explains. The reality is that the spike protein and syncytin-1 have different structures and rates of miscarriage or placental abnormalities are similar for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

Dr Daryl Cheng, a paediatrician and the medical lead at the Melbourne Vaccine Education Centre, says it simply isnt true that the bodys antibodies would naturally attack the placenta following COVID-19 illness or vaccination. He adds that some people may report experiencing issues such as miscarriage or infertility after becoming sick with COVID-19, but this is because the disease can cause other problems, like organ failure and blood clots. This has nothing to do with anything attacking the placenta, he says. Rumour: Vaccines may cause infertility by accumulating in the ovaries. In a small study submitted to the Japanese equivalent of the TGA, rats were given about 1300 times the Pfizer dose they would give to humans. After 48 hours about 0.1 per cent of the total dose was found in the rats ovaries, leading some to suggest that it could cause infertility. Reality: People spreading that rumour left out several significant details. No one is getting the dose 1300 times higher than prescribed and, Cheng says, to find 0.1 per cent in the ovaries is a minute amount even at those high doses.

Even if we dug down into that 0.1 per cent, it was not the genetic material of the spike protein that was accumulating but the fat cell that the vaccine was delivered in, and given ovaries uptake fats and use them to make hormones, this is not a surprise. On all levels the claims that people have made about that study are not accurate, Cheng says, adding that vaccines do not affect sperm count or quality in men either. Its one of the big myths out there. Rumour: Vaccines could mess with your menstrual cycle and cause endometriosis flare-ups. Anecdotes abound of women experiencing heavier than normal or irregular periods following their vaccination. Similarly, some women with endometriosis have said they have experienced painful flare-ups of the disorder after their jab. Reality: This is an active area of research but, according to the experts it is plausible that there is a short-term effect on the menstrual cycle and, possibly, endometriosis symptoms.

There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that the menstrual cycle is mediated primarily by hormones but also by the immune system. Given that the vaccines cause an immune response, its theoretically possible that it affects the complex interplay between immune cells and signals in the uterus. As endometriosis also has an immune component, there may be a change in symptoms after the vaccine, Polyakov says: I would have thought it would be a very short-term issue which would happen during the immune response and then come back to normal. The second reason may be related to the stress about the vaccine, which can temporarily affect symptoms and the cycle, but should not be confused with any reduction of fertility. Rumour: You shouldnt have a vaccination near a mammogram or IVF procedure. Vaccinations can cause lymph nodes under the arms to swell for several weeks which may affect mammogram results while vaccination side effects like fever may mask post-IVF procedure infections. For these reasons, it has been suggested people avoid having their vaccinations close to their mammogram appointment or IVF treatments.

Reality: IVF is an invasive procedure that has its own risks and it is true that any potential infection could be mistaken for side effects from the vaccine, Polyakov says. But, he stresses, there is no suggestion that vaccination either before, during or after an IVF cycle impacts its effectiveness. In fact, research published in May found no difference between the outcomes from the cycles of IVF before and after the vaccine in terms of number of eggs, quality of embryos or pregnancy rates. Loading So for the sake of clarity around symptoms, it may be smart to separate the timing of the vaccination and any IVF procedure or mammogram (unless you have a suspicious lump or are being treated for breast cancer). Otherwise, there is no need to delay. My advice to patients is to get whatever vaccination is available as soon as possible, Polyakov says, pointing out that women who get COVID-19 in pregnancy are much more likely to end up in ICU, have a miscarriage or a stillborn baby. Vaccination to me seems like a no-brainer.
Im bullet ... bullet ... bullet ... bullet proof. Noth-ing-ing-ing to lose. Fire away. Fire a-w-a-y. Its a little slow and a little staccato, but you can recognise the strains of David Guettas pop ballad, Titanium  featuring Sia. Steven Godbee, 55, has been learning to play the song on his electric piano for some time, inspired by a vision of staging spur-of-the-moment singalongs at parties.

Good, his piano teacher Zuzana Lenartova now tells Godbee in their weekly class, which has migrated to Zoom during the Sydney lockdown. But before you play, you have to take a breath  just wait, take a breath, so you can be in it  otherwise you wont be in it.

Zuzana Lenartova prefers teaching adults, even though theres more self-consciousness. Credit:Joshua Morris

Lenartova often gives life advice under the guise of music tutelage. Her students come to her to learn the piano, but leave with far more than the right note. My god, Im intense. I feel sorry for them. Im scared of myself, Lenartova, who specialises in teaching adults, says later. Her approach reveals the truth about those cliched teachers in 90s Hollywood films: intense, perhaps, but passionate, warm and funny with aphorisms rolling off her tongue (musicians are magicians! ).

Now 48, Lenartova was born in Slovakia (then Czechoslovakia), and moved to Australia in 2000 on her own with nothing but a few hundred dollars. She was far more fluent in the language of music than English, and paid a music shop owner to allow her to play on a spare piano in the garage. While cleaning, babysitting and studying English, Lenartova also taught.
The Queensland government admits its hospitals would struggle to cope with a wave of COVID-19 patients without an injection of federal funding.

The admission comes as the state waits nervously to see whether multiple clusters of virus cases which have cropped up in Queensland over the last few days will result in a wider outbreak.

The Queensland government admits it needs federal funds to bolster its hospitals in the face of a potential surge of COVID-19 cases.

Queensland recorded three new cases of the virus on Friday, one in hotel quarantine and two in the community, with a total of five separate clusters now active.

Of the two local cases, one was a delivery driver who acquired the virus interstate and was infectious in Queensland for a day, while the other was a man linked to the aviation cluster who stayed at a resort on the southern end of the Gold Coast for four days with his family.
Queensland has avoided lockdowns for another day as concern shifts to the Gold Coast after an infectious person spent four days at a resort there.

The man was linked to the aviation cluster, who stayed at the Kirra Beach Resort from September 20 to 24, with his wife and two children.

Anyone who has been to the North Kirra Surf Lifesaving Club, the Kirra surf club, to Timezone and local cafes and Woolworths at The Strand, well put out the specific times, Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said.

She said the case was worrying, and anyone in that region of the southern Gold Coast should be on alert for any symptoms of COVID-19.
BHP has fired up its $140 million-plus nickel sulphate plant in Kwinana that will make enough of the crucial battery ingredient for 700,000 electric vehicles a year.

The plant, located on the site of BHPs 50-year-old nickel refinery, is being commissioned after extended times for design and construction saw the cost soar from $US43 million ($60 million) to more than $US100 million ($139 million).

BHPs new Nickel Sulphate plant in Kwinana, WA.

BHP Nickel West asset president Jessica Farrell on Friday said the plant that will support 80 jobs was a first for Australia and BHP.

Elon Musks Tesla, the worlds largest EV manufacturer, is a foundation customer after a supply agreement was signed in July. When the nickel sulphate plant reaches full capacity, it will be the second-biggest in the world and use 85 per cent of the nickel BHP produces in WA.
Western Australian nurse Renee Freeman feels a part of herself died last September when she caught COVID-19 at a Melbourne aged care home.

Its like I am a completely different person, the 45-year-old said.

Ms Freeman was part of a team of seven volunteer healthcare workers from WA who raced across the Nullarbor to help Victorian nurses battle one of Australias worst coronavirus outbreaks last August.

Perth nurse Renee Freeman is suffering from long COVID after catching the virus while volunteering in Victoria in 2020. Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola

She was caring for elderly patients at the Royal Freemasons Gregory Lodge in Flemington when she contracted a severe bout of coronavirus, despite wearing full personal protective equipment and following infection protocols.
On Sunday, this years NRL season will come to a head when the Penrith Panthers face the South Sydney Rabbitohs in an epic grand final clash.

The all-Sydney affair will be played in front of a Queensland crowd, the first time the grand final has been held outside NSW.

This year there is no Melbourne Storm or Sydney Roosters, the two teams who have dominated the competition for a decade.

For the Panthers its a chance to better their runner-up performance in last years decider. The Bunnies are after their first trophy since 2014, the last time they made it this far in the competition.
The nations peak health advisers have called for mandatory vaccinations for health workers in a new push for uniform rules to protect patients in hospitals and surgeries, as Victoria sets an October deadline for authorised workers to have their first jabs.

National cabinet will consider the call on Friday to address a growing gulf between states and territories over whether to mandate the jabs, with no compulsory vaccination for health workers in South Australia, the ACT and the Northern Territory.

The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee has recommended vaccines be mandatory for all health workers. Credit:Jason South

The peak group advising national cabinet, the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, recommended the uniform approach on Thursday to cover public hospitals, public health clinics, ambulances, private hospitals, outpatient services, general practitioners and pharmacies.

The detail of the plan is yet to be released but Prime Minister Scott Morrison is seeking support from premiers and chief ministers to move toward compulsory vaccination for all health workers.
Hospitals are being told to seek more cash from state and territory governments to handle a surge in coronavirus infections as Prime Minister Scott Morrison declares he will not give in to shakedown politics by spending more federal money.

Doctors fear hospitals could be overwhelmed by rising COVID-19 admissions and a growing load of elective surgery that must be delayed until the case numbers ease, ensuring the pressure lasts well into next year.

Doctors fear hospitals will be overwhelmed with COVID-19 admissions and a growing load of delayed elective surgeries. Credit:Paul Jeffers

But with federal funding on public hospitals on track to reach $25.5 billion this year, Mr Morrison said it was up to states and territories to spend the extra money needed to deal with a problem they knew would come.

Mr Morrison said there had been a lot of talk about the responsibilities of the states and one of them was to run your public hospitals and get them ready to deal with any surge that would come from rising coronavirus case numbers.
His family doesnt own a smartphone and didnt know how to help him study at home. Instead, he has been working as a labourer drying fish and, pleased to have the extra money while his school wasnt open, his parents have no plans for him to go back. While nearly half a million schools across Indonesia have finally been permitted to reopen in a modified form in the past month as infection numbers have eased, there are many children like Dini and Yanto who havent returned. Students wearing face masks as an elementary school in Jakarta, Indonesia re-opens in late August. Credit:AP In North Sumatra, the head of the provincial education office said last week about 800 students hadnt gone back to school because they were lazy, they had to work or because they were now married.

It is an alarming trend reflected across the archipelago and around south-east Asia, where schools have been closed for as long as 18 months. A study of 112,000 poor families by the United Nations childrens agency (UNICEF) in Indonesia reveals 12,000 of their children had left school even before the global health crisis and three out of four who remained studying had at least one risk factor for dropping out. They include having to work, which 53 per cent of the children now had to do as parents lost jobs during the pandemic, as well as caring for siblings, having a disability and child marriage. The virus is still a real threat in Indonesia, with less than 20 per cent of its 270 million people fully vaccinated, but Indonesian Education Minister Nadien Makarim is more concerned about the permanent impact of distance learning than children catching COVID-19 at school. Research from various institutions shows how scary learning loss is, he said.

Im more worried that only 40 per cent of schools do offline [in-person] classes, so there are 60 per cent of schools who are actually allowed to do offline classes but they do not do it, he said. Childrens advocates also highlight the drawbacks of home learning on the nutrition of children, particularly those from disadvantaged areas, and of the consequences of missing the socialisation of school. [Young] children learn from mimicking and absorbing direct experiences, said Alexandra Silitonga, an Indonesian education expert. If the educators cannot translate the direct experiences into virtual learning, it is deeply felt. In the early days of the pandemic, during the transition [to online learning] we saw that the children of these groups of ages struggled the most. How do you expect a three-year-old kid to learn from Zoom? In the Philippines, where face-to-face tuition has been on hold since schools closed their doors in March 2020, UNICEF education specialist Tess Felipe warns the mental and psycho-social effect is going to be tremendous.

President Rodrigo Duterte has been urged to green light a pilot program to shift the countrys 26.3 million school students back into classrooms. Syaiful, 12, who cant freely move his lower body or right hand, studies at home with his mother Nurhidayah in Banyumas, Central Java. Credit:UNICEF But as the Philippines grapples with a new COVID case spike, another school year began remotely on September 13, with enrolment numbers down 2 per cent on pre-pandemic figures. A further surge of secondary school drop-outs is expected this school year, particularly in Muslim-majority Bangsamoro on Mindanao, the poorest region of the country, according to a recent report on the effect of COVID-19 on child poverty in the Philippines. There [have been] drop-outs and many were related to the difficulties of the lessons ... the children gave up because they dont want to have difficulties and parents have challenges on helping, Felipe said.

And for some of the older kids in senior high school, aged maybe 17 or 18, they have to help earning money so that the family can survive. Students attend a socially distanced class at a high school in Phnom Penh as schools began re-opening in Cambodia last month. Credit:Getty Images With south-east Asias largest nations facing monumental tasks to vaccinate their populations, UNICEF is trying to raise funds for jabs with its Give the World a Shot campaign. But even in countries where vaccine access has been easier to come by, there are problems.

Quality of education shapes as another debilitating factor in Cambodia because of a decision by the Hun Sen government not to recruit new teachers in the next year and instead direct resources towards fighting the virus. Cambodia has not been crushed as badly as Indonesia and the Philippines by COVID-19 but a seven-month freeze in physical schooling will have long-lasting ramifications, according to ChildFund country director Prashant Verma.

Schools began re-opening in Phnom Penh and beyond in September but Prashant fears 10 to 12 per cent of children wont go back because only half of all students had access to online lessons. Loading There was such great momentum created in the past four or five years with education reform in Cambodia, he said. But this whole seven-month gap has literally shut down everything. It will take some time to re-energise and re-organise the whole process of helping teachers, parents and young children to come back to school.
A UK-Ukraine team will implement a low-cost environmental and aerosol monitoring provision inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone for fire monitoring and risk management.

Funding has been awarded by the Cabot Institute Innovation Fund 2021, aimed at supporting bold, ambitious and impactful ideas that transcend disciplinary boundaries.

It will see Dr Peter Martin from the School of Physics collaborate with the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukrainian Central Enterprise for Management of Radioactive Waste, State Specialized Enterprise EcoCentre, and the Joint Support Office in Ukraine, as well as the Met Office and Amazon Web Services.

The challenge and solution

The accident at Reactor 4 of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) is to this day the most significant radiological release event to have ever occurred, and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) is still regarded as one of the most radiologically contaminated and hazardous locations on Earth. Unlike Fukushima, where considerable time and financial investment has been directed to the remediation and management of the contaminated environment, no such decontamination has occurred in the CEZ. As a result, large land areas have been left unmanaged and consequently become a significant fire hazard from the fuel accumulations.

The extreme hazard that had been left unchecked, when in April 2020 extensive forest fires (believed on this occasion to be the result of arson) ravaged the Red Forest region. This extensive burn remobilised a large inventory of the contamination contained within the various surface organic reservoirs - comprising aerosols, volatile species and particulates.

This event highlighted the absence of a comprehensive aerosol, particulate and air quality monitoring provision within the CEZ when Bristol scientists were called upon by the UK Government SAGE and Zone authorities.

To better inform the future real-time fire response, and more importantly the airborne/plume modelling scenarios by governments as part of their national radiological protection measures, there is a critical need for a step-change in the existing monitoring provision.

In response to this capability vacuum and enabled by advances in miniaturised integrated sensor components, Bristol researchers have developed advanced, low-cost, rugged, and self-powered networked sensor systems to provide real-time information on the air quality and other meteorological conditions across large spatial extents.

The project will deploy the proven hardware alongside a cloud-based portal through which users can access, explore and interrogate results. Not only will this provide a powerful tool to those managing and monitoring the zone, but also to:
A global supply chain shortage of semiconductors has adversely impacted the passenger vehicle segment ahead of festival season, with automobile companies showing a steep decline in the September sales volumes.

The country's largest carmaker, India (MSI), on Friday reported a 46.16 per cent decline in sales at 86,380 units in September. It had sold 1,60,442 units in the same period last year. The second largest carmaker, Hyundai, too reported a 23.6 per cent decline in total sales at 45,791 units in September. Hyundai had sold 59,913 units in the same month last year.

However, domestic sales of Tata Motors showed 26 per cent growth at 55,988 units compared with 44,410 units in September 2020. Its numbers were pushed by the surge in commercial vehicle segment where the company sold 30,258 units in the domestic market, marking a 30 per cent growth from 23,211 units sold last September.

Chips, which play a critical part in the production of internal combustion engines, are used in a variety of functions in feature-rich cars. Among other things, they are an integral part of sensors and controls in a vehicle.

Marutis domestic sales slipped 54.9 per cent to 68,815 units last month against 1,52,608 units in September 2020, the company added. Sales volume of the company in September 2021 was adversely impacted due to shortage of electronic components. The company took all possible measures to limit the adverse impact," the auto major stated.

The shortage in chips has forced several OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to slow down production, extending the waiting periods of popular, feature-rich and high-end models.





For Maruti, sales of mini cars, comprising Alto and S-Presso, fell 45.18 per cent to 14,936 units against 27,246 units in the same month last year. Similarly, sales of compact segment, including models such as Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire, slumped 75.19 per cent to 20,891 units against 84,213 cars last September. Sales of mid-sized sedan Ciaz declined 36.04 per cent to 981 units, compared to 1,534 units in September 2020.

As for Hyundai, its domestic sales were down 34.2 per cent to 33,087 units against 50,313 units in September 2020, the company said. Exports increased 34.3 per cent to 12,704 units against 9,600 units last September.

Industry executives and analysts tracking the sector said the shortage of chips could continue for some time to come.

Looking ahead, the demand for cars and SUVs is expected to remain strong in the forthcoming festive season; however, the supply situation for electronic components may continue to witness challenging times, said Shailesh Chandra, president, passenger vehicles business unit at Tata Motors.

Brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher said most dealers could be stocked out before Diwali if production issues were not resolved. For passenger vehicles, shortage still remains a concern and is dampening dealers hopes, as inventory days will be down to 10-15 days by September 2021-end, analysts at the firm said in a recent note to investors.
Causis E-Mobility, a UK-based electric vehicle startup, will invest Rs 2800 crore in Talegaon near in a new zero-emission EV manufacturing facility in the state.

The company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Maharashtra on Friday for the project. It is the first big-ticket investment under the recently announced Maharashtra EV Policy 2021, according to a press statement released by the Maharashtra Government.

It is set to transform Maharashtra into a leading state in terms of adoption of in the country, said the statement.The state had unveiled a comprehensive EV policy in July 2021, to stimulate manufacturing of battery

Taking our commitment to make Maharashtra the lead state in Electric Mobility in India, Government of Maharashtra MIDC have signed an MoU with Causis E-Mobility to set up an EV production unit in Talegaon, Aaditya Thackeray, Minister for Environment, Tourism and Protocol,Government of Maharashtra said. The aforementioned investment will generate employment opportunities for 1,250 people and will help in climate action, he claimed.

In Phase two, Causis E-Mobility will set up its own battery Gigafactory in Maharashtra to manufacture and supply EV batteries.

Under the Maharashtra EV Policy 2021, the State has drawn up a roadmap to bring in a transition in the transportation ecosystem of Maharashtra that is aimed at attracting investments, facilitating the establishment of manufacturing units, and encouraging the production of electric vehicles, electric vehicle components including Advance Chemistry Cell (ACC) batteries and electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE).

In order to stimulate manufacturing of in the State, the new EV Policy provides elaborate incentives that are spread across three broad categories  supply side, demand side and special incentives for EV charging infrastructure.
Tech giant has redesigned packaging across its 13 lineup and by eliminating the outer wrap, it has been able to avoid 600 metric tonnes of over the lifetime of the products.

- which has replaced the 13 box wrap with a paper tab with a tear-off strip to ensure that any tampering is visible - aims to have its entire business carbon neutral by 2030.

"By 2030, Apple's entire business will be carbon neutral, from supply chain to the power customers use in every device we make. This year, we've made significant advances in minimising our impact on the environment by redesigning the packaging across the 13 lineup," the firm said.

By eliminating the outer plastic wrap, the company is avoiding 600 metric tonnes of plastic over the lifetime of the products, which brings it closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from all packaging by 2025, the tech firm added.

Last July, had unveiled its plan to become carbon neutral across its entire business, manufacturing supply chain, and product life cycle by 2030.

The Cupertino-based company has been working to eliminate plastics, increase recycled content, and reduce volume as part of its sustainability efforts.

Earlier this month, Apple had launched the iPhone 13 range with prices starting at Rs 69,900 in India.

The entire iPhone 13 lineup uses 100 per cent recycled rare earth elements and magnets, and 100 per cent recycled tin in the solder of the main logic board. Interestingly, the antenna lines in the iPhone 13 lineup use up-cycled plastic water bottles.

Apple has two robotic disassembly lines called 'Daisy' in the US and the Netherlands that help in the recovery of materials like rare earth elements from its products.

Earlier this year, Apple had said that over 110 of its manufacturing partners around the world, including Wistron and Flex in India, are moving towards 100 per cent renewable energy for the production of Apple devices - which would see nearly eight gigawatts of planned clean energy come online.

Apple, which competes with players like Samsung and OnePlus in the premium smartphone segment, is aggressively ramping up its presence in the Indian market.

According to Counterpoint, the premium smartphone market in India grew 122 per cent year-on-year in June 2021 quarter and captured 7 per cent of the total smartphone market. The overall smartphone shipment in India grew by 82 per cent to over 33 million units in the June 2021 quarter.

Apple had witnessed 144 per cent year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2021, leading the ultra-premium segment (over Rs 45,000 or USD 650) with over 49 per cent share, as per the research firm.

(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.)
Ltd., one of Indias largest drugmakers, has built up a war chest and is on the prowl for deals that can boost growth beyond the Covid-19 windfall it garnered this year.

With its extensive arsenal of Covid treatments, the Mumbai-based firms cash and cash equivalents swelled 33% to Rs 4,900 crore ($660 million) from March to June as a delta-fueled tsunami ripped across India. is on the lookout for targets in India and the U.S., its two largest markets, and may partner with smaller firms working on mRNA platforms after the technology came to the fore during the pandemic.

We are completely open to M&A, Samina Hamied, the companys 45-year-old vice chairperson, said in an interview. Theres lots of opportunity in India to build brands. We would over-index in therapies that are a complement to our business -- in the U.S., we would also look at certain therapy areas, certain complex generic pieces. We would definitely look at expanding our portfolio.

Founded in 1935 by Hamieds grandfather in then-colonial Bombay, made its name globally by pioneering the sale of cheap, generic HIV drugs across Africa at the turn of the millennium. Since then the Hamied family has sought to build Cipla into a major global pharmaceutical player, with a current focus on expanding in North America. It currently makes up about a fifth of the firms sales.

Funding Frenzy

Yet with a funding frenzy currently underway in India, Cipla may struggle to find attractive targets. The 20% rise of the companys share price this year is indicative of the wider gains across Indian stocks.

Getting something cheap at this point of time is difficult, said Vishal Manchanda, a pharma analyst at Mumbai brokerage Nirmal Bang. Theyll not go aggressive in terms of overpaying for deals.

Cipla needs to ensure its growth after the intense demand for Covid medicines started to wane following the brutal wave in the South Asian nation earlier this year, Hamied said. Official case rates have fallen below 30,000-a-day, a steep decline since Mays peak of more than 400,000.

Hamied said she hoped the worst is over as the countrys vaccination drive ramps up and antibody surveys show the majority of Indians have a natural wall of immunity. Yet she warned the second wave came from nowhere and said the company has stocked up on treatments following widespread shortages earlier this year.

The unprecedented demand caused prices for some Covid treatments to rocket on the black market. Many Indian families fell into crippling debt after scraping together enough money to buy medicine for their loved ones. Hamied defended the drugs, including Gilead Sciences Inc.s remdesivir, which it has a license to manufacture and market in 127 countries including India and South Africa.

While the medicine remains on Indias Covid treatment guidelines, the World Health Organization last year recommended against its use. A controlled trial involving 562 patients showed early treatment kept high-risk Covid patients out of hospital, Gilead said last month.

Post Pandemic

Wed never push a drug that a patient doesnt need, Hamied said.

Still, she acknowledged that there wasnt a wealth of information available. Anecdotal evidence suggests it does offer life-saving benefits when used early enough, she said.

Beyond the pandemic, Cipla is focused on expanding in the U.S. with generic versions of complex medicines, including GlaxoSmithKline Plcs asthma drug Advair and the cancer treatment Abraxane from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. It will have to overcome regulatory hurdles as the company awaits pandemic-delayed inspections of its factories.

While the U.S. regulators havent indicated when those may take place, in the last couple of weeks a couple of our competitors have gotten investigated, Hamied said. We are hoping that we can be next and were in audit readiness. Cipla is also working to augment its pipeline in Brazil and in China, where its building a factory to produce respiratory products. That plant may open in about 18 months, once regulatory approval is granted, Hamied said.

Brazil and China, she said, will be big markets for the future.
Pune-based Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solutions CEO Sulajja Firodia Motwani met Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy here on Friday and discussed her company's plans to invest Rs 1,750 crore for setting up new facilities in the state.

Motwani and Kinetic co-founder Ritesh Mantri discussed their plans with the Chief Minister, a CMO release said.

The release said Kinetic came forward to setup electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, advanced technology battery manufacturing and battery swapping stations in AP at an estimated cost of Rs 1,750 crore.

It has expressed interest to set up branded premium manufacturing unit in Visakhapatnam. The company would also setup a skill development and research centre, the release 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.)
AlphaSense, one of the leading market intelligence and search platform, on Friday announced its $180 million Series C financing round led by Viking Global Investors and the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs), joined by Morgan Stanley, Citi, Bank of America, Barclays, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, Cowen Inc., and AllianceBernstein, as well as existing investors.

The capital infusion will be used to further invest in product development, content expansion, and customer support, and to drive organic growth as well as acquisitions. The company previously closed a $50 million Series B round in July 2019, which included prominent investors such as Innovation Endeavors, Jim Simons Euclidean Capital, Soros Fund Management and Tribeca Venture Partners.

The company headquartered in New York has innovation hubs in Pune and Mumbai. Raj Neervannan, co-founder and chief technology officer of AlphaSense, said, AlphaSense has emerged as the market intelligence platform and business search engine of choice for global brands such as 3M, SAP, and Siemens. With investment from the worlds leading financial institutions, we are aggressively working towards expanding our India operations. In the next two years, we intend to scale the research and development of our platform, and a huge contributor to this will be the doubling of our innovation hub in Pune and Mumbai.

AlphaSenses technology leverages AI and NLP to extract relevant insights from an extensive universe of public and private content, including over 10,000 premium business sources. This enables professionals to make critical decisions with confidence and speed, thus improving business performance and outcomes.

The Series C funding announcement closely follows AlphaSenses recent expansion of Wall Street Insights (WSI), which provides content from the worlds top analyst teams and brings together a collection of research and proprietary technology under one platform.

AlphaSenses recent growth has been driven by strong adoption in the corporate market, alongside continued penetration across financial services. The companys customer base now includes the majority of S&P 500 companies, over 75% of the S&P 100, 70% of the top asset management firms, 76% of the top consultancies, all of the largest 20 pharmaceutical companies, and leading in wide-ranging industries such as energy, industrials, consumer goods, and technology.

In addition to growth across industries, user adoption per customer has increased nearly 20x, with the platform appealing to knowledge workers across a wide range of roles including strategy, competitive intelligence, investor relations, corporate development, and financial analysis, in addition to investment analysts and portfolio managers.

AlphaSense provides relevant market intelligence to many of the worlds leading companies, helping them to make impactful decisions more effectively, said Holger Staude, a Managing Director within the Growth Equity business at Goldman Sachs. Just like search engines have become large businesses on the consumer side, we believe AlphaSense has an opportunity to help the business world extract key insights from the vast volumes of unstructured business information.

This funding round will be used to invest in product development, and expand content offeringstoday covering both public and private and including company filings, event transcripts, news, trade journals, regulatory content, equity research, and moreto deliver ever more relevant and accurate search results for users around the world. As it expands internationally, AlphaSense will continue investing in global and foreign-language content, as well as grow its customer service teams in North America and Europe, and its engineering teams in Finland, India, and New York.
has been selected as the winning bidder for the debt-laden state-run airline Air India, Bloomberg reported.

A panel of ministers accepted a proposal from officials recommending the salt-to-software conglomerate ahead of an offer from Ajay Singh, promoter of India's airline operator Spicejet Ltd, the report said.

A spokesperson for declined to comment. A finance ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to a Reuters message seeking comment, while declined to comment.





However, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), the government department responsible for privatisation, in a tweet said the government has so far not approved the financial bids for

"Media reports indicating approval of financial bids by Government of India in the AI disinvestment case are incorrect. Media will be informed of the Government's decision as and when it is taken," he tweeted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been pushing to sell its entire interest in the loss-making airline, kept aloft by a bailout since 2012.

The government loses nearly 200 million rupees every day to run the national carrier, which has accumulated losses of over 700 billion rupees ($9.53 billion), officials have said.

An effort to auction a majority stake almost three years ago drew no bids, forcing the government to ease the terms. It had also extended the deadline multiple times due to the pandemic.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
British nationals arriving in India, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to undergo 10 days of mandatory quarantine from October 4 as part of the reciprocal actions initiated by the government following the vaccine certification row between the two countries, reported PTI on Friday.

India has decided to impose reciprocal actions on British nationals arriving in India, official sources said as the issue relating to the UK not recognising Indian vaccine certificates could not be resolved.

They said India's new regulations will come into effect from October 4 and they will be applicable to all British nationals arriving in India from the UK.

Under the norms, all British nationals arriving in India from the UK, irrespective of their vaccination status, will also have to undertake the pre-departure COVID-19 RT-PRC test within 72 hours before travel, the sources said.

They will also have to undertake COVID-19 RT-PCR test on arrival.

The British nationals, irrespective of their vaccination status, will again have to undertake RT-PCR test on Day 8 of their arrival in India, the sources said.

The British nationals will also have to undergo mandatory quarantine at home or in destination address for 10 days after arrival, they said.

These measures will come in the back of the UK government recently issuing an updated international travel advisory to include AstraZeneca Covishield among the eligible COVID-19 vaccine formulations but kept India out of the 18 countries on an approved vaccinations list, requiring Indians to follow rules set out for "non-vaccinated" travellers.

Despite the inclusion of Covishield, Indian travellers are not exempt from the quarantine rules under the UK's new international travel norms that will come into force from October 4, with the British officials in New Delhi maintaining that the main issue is vaccine certification and not the vaccine and that both India and the UK are holding talks to mutually resolve the matter.

According to the UK rules, Indian travellers who have received both doses of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) will be considered unvaccinated and will have to undergo self-isolation for 10 days.

Developed by researchers at the University of Oxford and pharma giant AstraZeneca, Covishield is one of the two anti-COVID vaccines used by India -- Bharat Biotech's Covaxin being the other --in its vaccination drive across the country.

There was widespread condemnation of the UK's decision in India to not cover Covishield under the reviewed international travel norms and the government on Tuesday warned of "reciprocal measures" if its concerns relating to the vaccine certification are not addressed by October 4 when these norms come into effect.

The new travel advisory came amid much confusion over the process for Indian travellers as the advisory states: Formulations of the 4 listed vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines. However, UK government officials have indicated that Indian travellers to the UK must follow the non-vaccinated rules, which means Indian passengers must take a COVID test three days before departure and book in advance for two COVID tests to be taken upon arrival in England.

On arrival in England, the passengers must self-isolate in the place they have confirmed on their passenger locator form for 10 days. A privately paid-for "Test to Release" option does exist at day five, which allows an early end to the 10-day quarantine with a negative PCR test.

The upcoming rules are effectively not going to change India's current amber list status, even though from October 4 England's traffic light system of red, amber and green countries based on levels of COVID-19 risk is to be officially scrapped. Despite Covishield being one of the main vaccines being administered in India and falling within the UK's eligible formulations, it would not offer any advantage to Indian travellers planning a UK visit.

Covishield and other Indian vaccines being covered as eligible would mean that self-isolation and a pre-departure PCR test is no longer required as long as vaccinated travellers pre-book a day two test post-arrival in England and complete the compulsory passenger locator form in advance.

From October 4, travellers from 18 additional countries with eligible vaccines, including Australia, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia, will fall under the UK's list of recognised jabs of Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines. The UK's Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has said this list is reviewed fortnightly.

The Indian government had said it is working with several countries to recognise India's vaccine certification on a mutual reciprocal basis.
The union health ministry has introduced a ten day home quarantine for all arriving nationals and asked the states to strictly monitor them in that period.

The revised guidelines which mirror those of the government were issued today following its decision to treat fully vaccinated Indians as non vaccinated as a part of its new rules. The new guidelines come into effect from October 4. For other travellers arriving from the the earlier guidelines issued in February will apply.

As per the earlier health ministry guidelines passengers arriving from the UK have to undergo seven day home quarantine (Delhi and Mumbai require 14 day quarantine as per their airport websites). Passengers are released from the quarantine after testing negative and have to monitor their health for another seven days.



This has now been replaced with a ten day home quarantine for all UK nationals arriving from UK irrespective of their vaccination status. Also surveillance is being intensified to ensure the implementation of the rules.

All such passengers under isolation/quarantine shall be regularly monitored by state/district authorities. The state wise passenger manifest of the flights originating from the United Kingdom shall be conveyed by the Bureau of Immigration to the state government/Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme for such follow-up, joint secretary (ministry of health and family welfare) Lav Agarwal wrote to the civil aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal today.

Agarwal wrote that the guidelines have been modified considering the trajectory of Covid-19 cases in the UK and presence of all four variants of concern.

Like earlier passengers coming from the UK will have to take a RT-PCR test 72 hours before departure and also take a test after arrival at Indian airport at their own cost.

The UK is continuing to work on expanding the policy to countries and territories across the globe in a phased approach. We are continuing to engage with the government of India on technical co-operation to expand UK recognition of vaccine certification to people vaccinated by relevant public health body in India, the British High Commission said in a statement.

Last month the United Kingdom introduced a new system for international removing the home isolation requirement for vaccinated individuals from certain countries. The benefit has been extended to an extra seventeen countries including those in Asia and the Caribbean. India however has not been included in the list and passengers from here (even those with two doses of Covishield) would have to self isolate for ten days upon arrival in the UK as per existing norms. This sparked an outcry from politicians and ordinary public and forced the government to raise the issue with the UK government. Following this protest UK government has recognised Covishield vaccine but is yet to accept Indian vaccination certificates.
recognized Chinas Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Covid-19 shot and India-made Plc jabs, paving the way for overseas travelers and fee-paying who have received those vaccinations to enter the country.



The nations top drugs regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, said the shots should be recognized vaccines in determining incoming travelers as being inoculated, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday.



is starting to unwind some of the worlds most intense pandemic border restrictions as rates across the country approach as key threshold of 80%. Recognition of Beijing-based Sinovacs shot, which has been approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use, contrasts with the U.K. and neighboring New Zealand, which are yet to endorse it.



A number of European countries have said they will accept the vaccine, known as Coronavac, as part of programs for vaccinated entry. The U.S. indicated similar when it announced plans to open entry to most vaccinated foreigners last week.



Fridays announcement potentially opens the door to thousands of that have been shut out of during the pandemic. International education is a lucrative source of revenue for the country, worth A$14.6 billion ($11 billion) to the state of New South Wales alone in 2019.





ALSO READ: Coronavirus LIVE: India records 26,727 new cases; death toll at 448,339

Very soon, well be able to open those international borders again, Morrison told reporters. This will start happening from next month.



Vaccines made by Sinovac and the state-owned Sinopharm are among the most used in China, and have efficacy rates ranging from around 50% to 80% in preventing symptomatic Covid, lower than the mRNA vaccines developed out of the U.S. Sinovac is also one of the most-deployed Covid shots globally, used from Indonesia to Brazil and Turkey. Chile said earlier this week it would start administering it to children age six to 11.



Covishield, also recognized Friday, is the name of the Plc shot made by Indias Serum Institute, the worlds biggest vaccine maker.



More than 57,000 students are estimated to be overseas, according to the government of New South Wales. Chinese nationals are Australias biggest source of international students followed by those in India, Nepal and Vietnam, according to the Australian Trade Department.



The decision Friday could also be seen as a potential olive branch from Australia, which has been on the receiving end of criticism and trade blockages from China since it asked for a global inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus.


Colombian Vice President and Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez arrived in New Delhi today to hold bilateral discussions.

"Colombian Vice President and Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez arrive in Delhi with an accompanying business delegation, for extensive engagements covering all aspects of bilateral relations. Special focus on science and technology, vaccine development and biotechnology," tweeted the Ministry of External Affairs.

"We arrived in India to seal an important alliance that will allow us to produce vaccines in Colombia, thanks to the Mission that we carry out with @MinSaludCol,@MincienciasCo,@PROCOLOMBIACO,@ANDI_Colombia,@IndiaEmbCol,@vaxthera,@UNALOficial, @UdeA, @icesi, @GrupoProcaps and @AlteaFarma," tweeted Ramirez.

Both nations have signed alliances with pharmaceutical laboratories to produce COVID-19 vaccines and continue our exploration and use of space.

"#BuenasNoticias On #MisionAIndia,@MinSaludCol and @MincienciasCo have signed alliances with pharmaceutical laboratories, research centers and the #AgenciaEspacialIndia, to ensure cooperation between and India, and thus produce vaccines and continue our exploration and use of space #CCE," tweeted the Colombian Vice President.

(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.)
Samajwadi Party President on Friday lashed out at the government over the Kanpur businessman death case, and charged that "someone" is saving himself and there is an extortion racket linked to the matter.

Businessman Manish Gupta died in a Gorakhpur hotel during a police raid late on Monday night, prompting the authorities to suspend six policemen and book them on the charge of murder.Gupta was staying along with two friends in the hotel.

"No policeman has been arrested in the Manish Gupta murder case. This shows that they did not escaped themselves but they were made to escape. Actually, someone is not saving the accused but saving himself as its strings are linked to the 'vasooli tantra' (extortion racket)," Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.

"Zero tolerance' is also a BJP jumla (rhetoric)," he said, in an apparent reference to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's assertion that the state has zero tolerance towards crime and corruption.

A case of murder has been lodged in the case against six policemen who are absconding.

A top Police official on Thursday claimed that Gupta died from a head injury caused by a fall as he tried to escape during a police raid at a hotel where he was staying in Gorakhpur.

He also said Gupta died at a hospital during treatment.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chief of Defence Staff General on Thursday met his US counterpart General Mark Milley and the two leaders discussed a range of issues, including ways to ensure regional security and their respective roles as principal military advisors to civilian leadership, the Pentagon said.

The two leaders agreed to continued cooperation in training exercises and creating more opportunities to increase interoperability between the two militaries, Joint Staff Spokesperson Col. Dave Butler said.

During a meeting at the Pentagon, Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Rawat discussed a range of issues, including ways to ensure regional security and their respective roles as principal military advisors to civilian leadership, Joint Staff Butler said.

Earlier, General and Mrs. Milley welcomed General Rawat during an Armed Forces full honour arrival ceremony on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.

There, General Milley thanked General Rawat for his meritorious service and leadership, which has contributed greatly to the strength of the US and India partnership.

Also, General Rawat laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as part of his official visit.

The US and India share a strong military-to-military relationship under the US-India Major Defence Partnership, which supports a free and open Indo-Pacific, Butler said.

Having concluded four major defence enabling agreements since 2016, the and India have made significant progress as Major Defence Partners and America looks forward to further increasing information sharing, bilateral and multilateral exercises, maritime security cooperation, liaison officer exchanges, and logistical cooperation, according to the White House fact sheet.

In furtherance of the US-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI), the and India agreed in July to a USD 22 million project to co-develop air-launched unmanned aerial vehicles. DTTI currently encompasses four working groups, and the next senior officials' meeting later this year would further expand defence industrial collaboration, it said.

The stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the Indian military, having offered state-of-the-art capabilities, such as the F/A-18, F-15EX, and F-21 fighter aircraft; MQ-9B unmanned aerial systems; the IADWS missile system; and additional P-8I maritime patrol aircraft, it said.

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The has been deployed in the flood-affected areas in including Asansol, Durgapur, Howrah, Hooghly districts, informed the Eastern Command on Friday.

The Eastern Command further informed that the has rescued at least 91 people since yesterday.

Some districts are experiencing heavy rainfall for the past 48 hours. Several areas are inundated with rainwater reaching about six to eight feet.

Earlier on Thursday, The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted heavy rainfall at isolated places over Odisha, Gangetic and Gujarat region.

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Chief Minister will meet Prime Minister on Friday and is expected to urge him that the Centre withdraws its letter on postponing the paddy procurement in the state from October 1.

This will be Channi's first meeting with Modi after the senior Congress leader took oath as chief minister recently.

Channi is also likely to meet senior Congress leaders during his visit to the capital amid the ongoing tumult in the party's unit, sources said.

According to a senior Punjab government official, Chief Minister Channi will meet Prime Minister Modi. Sources said in his meeting with Modi, Channi is likely to urge the Centre to immediately start paddy procurement in the state.

The Punjab chief minister on Thursday had urged the Centre to withdraw its letter on postponing the paddy procurement in the state from October 1. Paddy procurement usually commences from October 1.

Channi had sought the prime minister's personal intervention in advising the ministry concerned to withdraw its letter forthwith, allowing the state to start paddy procurement from October 1 instead of October 11, according to an official statement here on Thursday.

The Centre on Thursday postponed procurement of Kharif paddy in Punjab and Haryana till October 11 as the crop maturity is delayed owing to recent heavy rains.

Crop procurement is undertaken by the central government's nodal agency Food Corporation of India along with state agencies.

Channi is also expected to meet his party's senior leadership in Delhi. Notably, a coordination panel will be set up, which is expected to be consulted before any major decisions by the Punjab government in future.

The decision to form the panel was reached earlier on Thursday after an over two-hour meeting at the Punjab Congress Bhavan between Channi and Navjot Singh Sidhu, who had tendered his resignation from the post of the state party chief on Tuesday.

The panel would comprise the chief minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu and a representative of the All India Congress Committee, sources said.

A miffed Sidhu on Wednesday had raised questions over the appointments of the DGP, the state's advocate general and "tainted" leaders. Sources said that Sidhu has been backing senior IPS officer Siddharth Chattopadhyay to be appointed as the DGP.

Meanwhile, the Channi government has suggested the names of 10 officials to the Union Public Service Commission for the appointment of a regular director general of police. The names include Chattopadhyay, present DGP Dinkar Gupta and Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota, V K Bhawra, sources said.

Sahota was a week ago given the additional charge of the Punjab DGP after incumbent DGP Dinkar Gupta proceeded on leave.

On Thursday, Sidhu had reached Chandigarh from Patiala to meet Channi. The meeting came a day after Channi reached out to him and offered to resolve issues through talks.

Just before his meeting with Channi, Sidhu attacked Sahota, alleging that the new DGP had wrongly indicted two Sikh youths in a desecration case and gave a clean chit to the Badals.

The desecration of a religious text allegedly took place in Punjab's Faridkot district in 2015, whose investigation was handed over by the then Parkash Singh Badal-led government to an SIT led by the current DGP Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota.

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The (ED) on Friday informed a special court here that the role of MP Bhavana Gawali in the pertaining to alleged financial irregularities in certain trusts is emerging.

The ED made the claim during the remand hearing of Gawli's aide Saeed Khan, whose custody with the probe agency has been extended further till October 5.

"A case of theft was filed by Bhavana Gawali in July 2020 for an offence that took place a year before. Her role is emerging in the money laundering case, which needs to be investigated," the ED told the court.

The ED was referring to an FIR registered at Risod police station in Washim district for cheating and criminal breach of trust.

The ED's case is based on the said FIR for alleged fraud worth Rs 18 crore and some linked irregularities.

Under the garb of filing the FIR, the accused were trying shield themselves, the probe agency claimed.

The probe agency further submitted that not one person, but several people are involved in the matter.

There are certain people who can be categorised as accused in the case and are coming to record their statement on Monday, and some witnesses have also been summoned, it said.

The ED further claimed that Khan was avoiding its questions and trying to divert it.

Khan was produced before a special PMLA court at the end of his initial remand on Friday, and his custody was extended by another five days for further probe into the matter.

Opposing the remand application, Khan's lawyer Inderpal Singh said the entire investigation was illegal and motivated to create incorrect record to save the accused named in the FIR.

The ED was protecting Ashok Gandole -- the trustees and accused named in the police FIR -- and his family, he alleged.

"Through their conduct, colour and character they are using powerful machinery. They are challenging the probe done by the police, who are going to file a chargesheet against 12 accused, whom the ED is trying to protect," Singh said.

On the ED's arguments about forged documents, Singh said when there is no complaint of forgery, how can the ED investigate the case.

After hearing both sides, the special PMLA judge M G Deshpande said the statements of the accused indicates that remarkable progress has been made.

It discloses names of persons who were initially not found concerned with the case, the judge noted.

There is substance in the ED's contention that some persons revealed by Khan in his previous statements needs to be confronted, the court said.

Khan was arrested under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on September 28 in a case of money laundering related to the alleged financial irregularities in certain trusts linked to Gawali, an MP from the Yavatmal-Washim Lok Sabha seat.

The probe agency had last month conducted searches at multiple premises in Yavatmal, Washim and Mumbai in this case.

The case is based on an FIR against some accused persons for alleged fraud worth Rs 18 crore and some linked irregularities.

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With Reserve Bank of India's new norms on recurring payments set to kick in today, there are fears that the day might see 50-60 per cent of such transactions failing.



More on this and other top headlines of the day:

Industry players across payments, merchants and banking ecosystem fear that 50 to 60 per cent recurring transactions may fail on October 1 as the Reserve Bank of India's changes on recurring payments kick in. Even as several banks sent out messages to customers announcing the new rules, industry sources indicated that extension of the timeline could prevent a likely disruption in business. Read more

Eight core sectors' output accelerates to 11.6% in August

The output of Indias eight core industries grew by 11.6 per cent in August compared with 9.9 per cent in the previous month even as the base effect was less beneficial.The core sector, comprising coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement, and electricity, had contracted 6.9 per cent in August last year, as against 7.6 per cent in July. Read more





rally shows in some ministers' portfolios

The stellar gains made by the stock markets during the financial year 2020-21 boosted the net worth of some of the top ministers.

The latest declaration submitted to the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) revealed that the net worth of Home Affairs and Cooperative Minister Amit Shah grew 32 per cent to Rs 37.91 crore, mainly due to 80 per cent appreciation in the market value of securities held by him. Read more



Monsoon to withdraw from Oct 6

The southwest monsoon is expected to officially start withdrawing from the county on October 6, in one of the most delayed exits, as the late surge helped the country record a normal rainfall in the June to September period.

Rainfall during the four-month long southwest monsoon season that culminated today was 874.6 millimeters--just one per cent below normal. Read more





Adani seals deal to develop Western Container Terminal at Colombo Port

India's Adani Group on Thursday sealed a deal with the state-owned Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) to develop and run the strategic Colombo Port's Western Container Terminal.

As the first-ever Indian port operator in Sri Lanka, Adani Group will have a 51 per cent stake at the port's Western Container Terminal (WCT), a statement said. Read more




Women whose economic status equals or exceeds that of their husbands are more likely to face domestic violence, a recent study has found. The study also finds causal evidence that such women have a more assertive role in decision-making and men use violence to re-establish the patriarchal power balance.

Married women are 14% more likely to face if they go against the convention of hypergamy--the idea that women seek to marry men of higher social stature--when compared to women in hypergamous marriages, says a working paper by researchers from the University of Nottingham, UK and the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad. The results hold for married couples across socioeconomic backgrounds--caste, class, age, area of residence, and so on--and geographical factors.

The percentage of women in non-hypergamous marriages is 22%, according to the authors' analysis of data from the Family Health Survey 2015-16 (NFHS-4).

has become the most common form of abuse inflicted on women--it affects one in three women globally, according to the (WHO). The current study analysed the NFHS-4 data and responses of 65,806 women aged 15-49 to queries regarding violence. It found that 27% had dealt with physical violence in the 12 months preceding the survey, 5% with sexual violence, 11% with emotional violence and 25% with "any" violence.





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This implies that various programmes that aim at empowering women economically are not necessarily ensuring their well-being, said experts. Policies on gender equality must be accompanied by enforceable legislation and interventions, the study said.

Across populations, geography

In the last four decades in India, the percentage of men with a better education than their wives has dipped from over 90% to around 60%; and the percentage of women with a better education than their husbands has risen from under 10% to over 30%.

"This [the data from the study] showed that while it might appear that women are more empowered in marriages because they are violating hypergamy and being more educated, they are [actually] still exposed heavily to domestic violence," said Punarjit Roychowdhury, assistant professor at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi, and the lead author of the study. (Earlier, he was an assistant professor at the University of Nottingham).

The authors analysed NFHS-4 data across parameters, comparing subpopulations, such as area of residence (rural vs urban), presence of children, household type (one/two-generation vs three-generation households), household wealth (poorest, poorer, middle, rich and richest), caste factors (spouses of same or different castes), average age of couples and the span of the (over or under five years).

They found that the violation of hypergamy norms was consistently linked to across subpopulations. This correlation is not restricted to India: Studies conducted in Tanzania, United Kingdom, and Australia reiterate the finding.

"This is an extremely important finding because it shows that the scale on which any domestic violence policy needs to be implemented is massive," said Roychowdhury.

Independent decision-making

Patriarchal norms dictate that all primary decisions in households should be taken by men, with women's actions largely dependent on male approval. The study examined what happens when traditional gender roles are reversed over taking family decisions--on the purchase of large household goods, visits to relatives, and how women's earnings are spent.

The study found that non-hypergamous marriages upend patriarchal gender beliefs and norms. For example, they increase the likelihood of women making decisions on the purchase of large household goods by at least 3%, on family visits by at least 9%, and on spending of women's earnings by at least 7%.

Husbands tend then to use domestic violence to "sabotage" their wives' employment and work prospects, said the study. It is also common for such husbands to be jealous about their wives interacting with other men, accusing them of infidelity or insisting on knowing their whereabouts.

Gendered violence is holding back India's economy, and achieving gender equality may increase the country's gross domestic product by $700 billion, a 2015 McKinsey report had noted.

Socio-economic uplift not enough

"You can look at this [domestic violence] as the male backlash that occurs when women try to break away from existing rules as not much effort has been made to address masculine notions of men," said Pranita Achyut, director, research and programmes, International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) Asia, a global research institute.

The current study comes after a 2021 study by Roychowdhury, which concluded that raising the age of by even a year could empower women against domestic violence. But even that research pointed out that while late marriages allowed women to acquire a better education and bargaining power in the household, it led to "stronger backlash" from partners, as IndiaSpend reported in November 2018.

"Female guilt" is a critical factor in how this violence is treated, said Sowmya Dhanaraj of the Madras School of Economics, who has co-authored a forthcoming study in Feminist Economics with Vidya Mahambare that suggests that working women tend to face more domestic violence.



ALSO READ: After Covid-19, more women are considering scaling back at work: US survey

"Our research has shown that working women are more likely to justify violence than non-working women. They feel guilty about spending time at work, away from their prescribed duties towards the husband and family. So even if women are economically empowered, norms that are very hardwired in us take longer to change," Sowmya Dhanaraj said.

A slew of women empowerment programmes have been launched over the last decade on and state levels--Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, Aapki Beti, Humari Beti, Ladli scheme focussed on the girl child for instance, Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra for rural women, and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna for pregnant women.

But these campaigns have to be accompanied by those that target changes in the social value system that normalises domestic violence, said experts. This means implementing policies that aim at changing social norms, preventing gender violence and empowering communities to address it, and providing community and legal support against domestic violence.

How policy interventions can help

State interventions that protect women from violence are not effective, IndiaSpend had reported in August 2017. While the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act was passed in 2005, the Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) only started collecting data under the Act in 2014. An analysis of the NCRB data shows that domestic violence as defined by the Act, and in general, is severely underreported.

But policies aimed at reducing gender discrimination can have unintended negative impacts on those they seek to empower, especially in the light of cultural norms, IndiaSpend reported in March.

To reduce an act of violence this common and complex, we need to act on multiple levels, said Pranita Achyut of ICRW. "We need to work on primary prevention, secondary prevention, and tertiary care. In addition, we need to engage with different stakeholders to mitigate the possible points of backlash." Primary prevention seeks to change social conditions, such as gender inequality, that enable violence, and it requires a broader change in underlying attitudes and practices of communities and organisations. Secondary prevention works to stop repeated acts of violence through the provision of counselling and shelters. Tertiary prevention focuses on supporting victims and holding abusers accountable through support groups and legal interventions.

Organisations such as the Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action (SNEHA) work towards the early prevention of domestic violence in communities. "We do campaigns in communities--we form groups for men and women, and educate men against the use of violence and try to make them allies," said Nayreen Daruwalla, programme director for prevention of violence against women and children at SNEHA. "We set up womens' collectives which provide a space for women to come together."

Pandemic-related surge

The Covid-19 pandemic and related lockdowns saw a surge in the instances of domestic violence. As United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for a domestic violence "ceasefire", governments, along with civil society in India, implemented secondary prevention support systems. The National Council for Women launched a WhatsApp number to report domestic violence during the lockdown; the Kerala government started a tele-counselling facility; and Akshara Centre, a Mumbai-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), along with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and the government of Maharashtra, launched a web app called 'Stand Up Against Violence'.

In addition, NGOs started providing emergency counselling, legal aid, mental health support and shelter. Public initiatives such as the Red Dot Initiative gained momentum, allowing women to report distress by sporting a dot on their palm.

However, these programmes need to be implemented at a much larger scale, said experts. "The common belief is that we still don't have a system which can provide the necessary support to women," said Daruwalla from SNEHA. "But it is not as there is lack of evidence of effective approaches that seek to reduce violence. What we really need right now is the political willingness and investment to act on this, and to work on both prevention and response."
The government on Friday told the Bombay High Court that it will not take any "coercive action" against former commissioner Param Bir Singh till October 21 in a case registered against him under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

In a separate case, the state government gave a similar assurance to the court about not taking action against Rashmi Shukla, another IPS officer. The government was extending its assurance given on May 24, 2021 about not taking any coercive action (such as arrest) against Param Bir Singh, said its lawyer Y P Yagnik. He made the statement after a bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar adjourned till October 20 the hearing on a petition filed by Singh seeking the quashing of an FIR lodged against him by Thane police. A First Information Report was registered against Singh under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in April in Thane on a complaint made by inspector B R Ghadge, attached to Akola city police.

Ghadge, who belongs to a Scheduled Caste community, claimed he had refused to follow Singh's 'illegal orders' to favour certain accused persons, and the IPS officer then conspired with other officers and falsely implicated him in extortion cases. Incidentally, a lookout notice has been issued against Singh following inputs that he might have left the country, Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil told reporters on Thursday.

Singh was shunted out from the post of commissioner following the case of an SUV with explosives found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's house here. Singh later accused then state home minister Anil Deshmukh of corruption. The bench, meanwhile, also adjourned till October 20 the hearing on a petition filed by IPS officer Rashmi Shukla seeking the quashing of an FIR in a case of alleged illegal phone tapping and leak of her 2020 report about alleged corruption in police transfers and postings in Shukla was heading the state intelligence department when she prepared the report. It is alleged that phones of politicians and officials were tapped illegally and the report was deliberately leaked to opposition leaders. The HC adjourned the hearing due to lack of time and the state government assured that it will not take any coercive action against Shukla till October 21.

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Amid the buzz of the Centre approving sale to Tata Sons, two government officials said the highest decision-making body constituted for the national carriers divestment was yet to meet to approve the transaction.

The government is looking to complete the sale of as early as this month.

The Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM), headed by Home Minister Amit Shah, is yet to meet to approve the sale of Air India, an official said. The panel is expected to meet soon to grant a final nod to the sale of the national carrier. The members of the panel include Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, and Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The Core Group of Secretaries, headed by the cabinet secretary, has held several rounds of consultations and is learnt to have suggested as the suitable candidate for taking over the national carrier. However, Ajay Singh had placed a competitive bid for the airline, the second official said.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), on Friday tweeted: Media reports indicating approval of financial bids by Government of India in the AI (Air India) disinvestment case are incorrect.



The government has considered the future cash flow projection of Air India, its brand value, and intangible assets like bilateral rights and slots in foreign airports to set the reserve price for the airline. The indicative reserve price for Air India would be in the range of Rs 15,000-20,000 crore, Business Standard reported earlier.

The government expects the final bid to at least match the reserve price. But it may still go ahead with the disinvestment process even if the bid quoted is lower than the reserve price.
India's imports in September more than doubled from a year ago to a record 1.4 million tonnes as buyers increased purchases of refined ahead of key festivals and to take advantage of newly lowered duties, brokers and dealers said.

Higher purchases by India, the world's biggest buyer of vegetable oils, could support prices that are trading near a record high hit earlier this week.

The country's total vegetable oil imports in September jumped 72% from a year ago to a record 1.8 million tonnes, including more than 400,000 tonnes of refined palm oil, Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil broker, said.

"Imports jumped because of government decision to lower import tax and festive season demand," said Bajoria.

India lifted restrictions on imports of refined palm oil and slashed base import taxes on palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil in recent months as New Delhi tries to cool near-record price rises.

Edible oil consumption usually jumps in the December quarter with the start of the wedding season as well as festivals like Dhanteras and Diwali.

Top palm oil producer Indonesia supplied a big chunk of India's in September as it was offering refined palm oil at a discount to number two supplier Malaysia, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.

Usually soybean oil expands its share of India's edible oil market from October as freshly harvest soybean supplies get processed, the dealer said.

"This year, excessive rainfall in September has delayed soybean harvesting. Besides, demand for local soymeal is weak since imported soymeal is available at lower prices," he said.

New Delhi in August allowed imports of 1.2 million tonnes of genetically modified (GM) soymeal for the first time to help the poultry industry after soymeal prices tripled in a year to a record high.

Sunflower oil imports in September surged 154% from a year ago 170,000 tonnes, while soyoil imports fell to 250,000 tonnes from 316,232 tonnes a year ago, dealers said.

The Solvent Extractors' Association of India, a Mumbai-based trade body, is likely to publish import number for September in mid-October.

India could import 1.2 to 1.3 million tonnes of vegetable oil in October and from November imports could moderate to 1 to 1.1 million tonnes, said another Mumbai-based dealer.

Demand from hotels, restaurants have been improving as people are stepping out with a drop in new coronavirus infections, the dealer said.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Michael Perry)

(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.)
Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) secretary on Friday termed media report indicating approval of financial bids by government in the case as 'incorrect'.

"Media reports indicating approval of financial bids by Government of India in the AI case are incorrect. Media will be informed of the Government decision as and when it is taken," said secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey in a tweet.

The clarification came in the wake of Bloomberg reporting that Tata Sons has been selected as the winning bidder for the debt-laden state-run airline

A panel of ministers accepted a proposal from officials recommending the salt-to-software conglomerate ahead of an offer from Ajay Singh, promoter of India's airline operator Spicejet Ltd, the report said.

Meanwhile, two government officials told Business Standard that the highest decision-making body constituted for the national carrier's divestment is yet to meet to grant its nod for the transaction.

The Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) headed by Home Minister Amit Shah is yet to meet to approve the sale of Air India, an official said. The panel is expected to meet soon to grant a final nod to the sale of national carrier. The panel has Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia as members.

The Core Group of Secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary has held several round of consultations, and is learnt to have suggested Tata Sons as the suitable candidate for taking over the national carrier.

The stake sale process, which begun in January 2020, faced delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2021, the government asked potential bidders to put in financial bids. The last day for placing financial bids was September 15.

Tata Group was among the multiple entities that had put in an initial expression of interest (EoI) in December 2020 for buying the Maharaja.

With previous attempts since 2017 failing to get any significant interest and after receiving feedback from potential investors, the government in October last year sweetened the EoI clause relating to the transfer of Air India's debt to the new investor, giving bidders flexibility to decide on the quantum of humongous debt they want to absorb.

As per the Air India EoI floated by in January 2020, of the airline's total debt of Rs 60,074 crore as of March 31, 2019, the buyer would be required to absorb Rs 23,286.5 crore. The rest would be transferred to Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL), a special purpose vehicle.

Air India has been in losses ever since its merger with domestic operator Indian Airlines in 2007.

The airline, which was formed by the Tatas as a mail carrier in 1932, will give the successful bidder control of 4,400 domestic and 1,800 international landing and parking slots at domestic airports, as well as 900 slots at airports overseas.

Besides, the bidder would get 100 per cent of the low-cost arm Air India Express and 50 per cent of AISATS, which provides cargo and ground handling services at major Indian airports.
Google on Friday paid tribute to the legendary thespian Sivaji Ganesan to mark his 93rd birth anniversary, with a Doodle, created by a Bengaluru-based artist Noopur Rajesh Choksi. Sivaji Ganesan is considered one of the best Indian actors of all time.

Actor Vikram Prabhu, the actor's grandson shared the Doodle on Twitter. Here is the #Googledoodle honouring the Legendary #SivajiGanesan on his 93rd birthday. Appreciate the people from Google India and their guest artist Noopur Rajesh Choksi for the doodle art. Another proud moment! Love him and miss him more every year, Prabhu said in his post.

Who was Sivaji Ganesan (Ganesamoorthy)

Born on October 1, 1928, in Villupuram in Madras Presidency (present-day Tamil Nadu), Ganesan left his home at the age of seven to join a theatre group. In December 1945, Ganesamoorthy portrayed Maratha ruler Shivaji in a play titled Shivaji Kanda Hindu Rajyam. His iconic performance earned him the name 'Sivaji'.

Sivaji Ganesan as an actor

Ganesan was described by the Los Angeles Times as the Marlon Brando of south India's film industry.

Though he was mainly active in Tamil cinema, where he made his debut in 1952's Parasakthi, Ganesan appeared in nearly 300 films, including those in languages such as Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. In a career that spanned nearly five decades, he won several awards, and was the first Indian actor to win a Best Actor award at an international film festival (Afro-Asian Film Festival in Cairo, Egypt), winning for his performance in 1960's Veerapandiya Kattabomman.

M Karunanidhi recommended him for the lead role in Parasakthi to the producer, which was supposed to be portrayed by K R Ramasamy. The script was written by later Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi.

Ganesan went on to become one of the popular actors in Tamil cinema in the 1950s.

Ganesan played a supporting role to Rajendra Kumar in the Hindi film Dharti in 1970, which was a remake of his 1969 Tamil film Sivandha Mann, in which he played the lead role.

In the 1960s and 1970s, his films have been well received and he was able to deliver constant hits. Some of his famous hits during this period are Vasantha Maligai, Gauravam, Thanga Pathakkam and Sathyam.

Sivaji Ganesan's political journey

Ganesan also dabbled in politics. Until 1956, Ganesan was a staunch supporter of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). In 1962, he worked for the Congress party. He was made the Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. After 1988, he floated his own political party (Thamizhaga Munnetra Munnani). However, unlike his highly successful acting career, his political career was rather unsuccessful.

Sivaji Ganesan's death

He passed away on July 21, 2001, at the age of 72. A documentary, Parasakthi Muthal Padayappa Varai, was made to commemorate Sivaji Ganesan's legacy.
The country's declined by USD 997 million to reach USD 638.646 billion in the week ended September 24, data showed on Friday.

In the previous week ended September 17, 2021, the reserves had tumbled by USD 1.47 billion to USD 639.642 billion. The forex kitty had surged by USD 8.895 billion to a lifetime high of USD 642.453 billion in the week ended September 3, 2021.

During the reporting week ended September 24, 2021, the dip in reserves was on account of a fall in the foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves, as per weekly data by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

FCAs declined by USD 1.255 billion to USD 576.731 billion, the data showed.

Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the

Gold reserves were up by USD 327 million to USD 37.43 billion in the reporting week.

The special drawing rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) declined by USD 55 million to USD 19.379 billion.

The country's reserve position with the IMF also decreased by USD 13 million to USD 5.106 billion, as per the data.

(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 Friday said it has picked up 13.27 per cent stake in the proposed bad bank National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL).

The lender has subscribed to 1,98,00,000 equity shares of NARCL for cash consideration of Rs 19.80 crore, it said in a regulatory filing.

The investment of equity stake of 13.27 per cent would be reduced to 9.90 per cent by December 31, 2021, added.

Three state-owned lenders -- SBI, Union Bank of India and PNB -- had picked up over 12 per cent stake each in NARCL on Thursday.

NARCL, which is yet to become operational, will take over the bad assets of in its own account for speedy resolution of sour loans.

Last month, the Cabinet cleared a proposal to provide government guarantee worth Rs 30,600 crore to security receipts issued by NARCL.

NARCL will pay up to 15 per cent of the agreed value for the bad loans in cash and the remaining 85 per cent would be government-guaranteed security receipts.

It will be 51 per cent owned by PSBs and the remaining by private sector lenders. State-owned Canara Bank has expressed its intent to be the lead sponsor of NARCL with a 12 per cent stake.

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Two doses of the vaccine can potentially protect children from thousands of cases of long Covid, suggests a new study.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to be administered to children ages 12 through 15, 21 days apart.

However, the chief medical officers in the UK, have approved only one dose of a Covid vaccine, to healthy children aged 12 to 15, over fears of the risk of myocarditis -- inflammation of the heart muscle.

Children with health conditions and those living with clinically vulnerable people are being offered two doses.

The new study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, suggests that the benefits of getting a second jab outweigh the risks "unless case rates are sustainably low", The Telegraph reported.

A team of researchers from the Queen Mary University of London, University College London and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, conducted a risk/benefit analysis of teenagers aged 12 to 17 getting both doses of the vaccine.

They used historic rates of hospital admission, intensive care support and death among children in England who had Covid-19.

The research estimates that hospital and ICU admissions, deaths and cases of long Covid averted over a 16-week period by vaccinating all 12-17 year olds in England.

"This analysis shows that, on clinical risks alone, vaccination is warranted for 12 to 17-year-olds in England," lead author Deepti Gurdasani, of Queen Mary University of London, was quoted as saying.

"While we wait to understand the long-term effects of Covid-19 on children, the precautionary principle advocates for protecting all children from exposure to this virus and vaccination is a crucial part of that protection," she added.

As of September 15, about 680 out of every 100,000 10-19-year-olds were contracting every week, Sky News reported.

The study said if this rose to 1000 per week then full vaccination of 12-17-year-olds could "avert 4,430 hospital admissions and 36 deaths over 16 weeks".

However, if cases fell to 50 per 100,000, then an estimated 70 admissions and two deaths could be avoided over the same period.

"The benefit of vaccination in terms of hospitalisations in adolescents outweighs risks unless case rates are sustainably very low (below 30/100,000 teenagers/week)," said the study.

"Given the current high case rates in England, our findings support vaccination of adolescents against SARS-CoV-2," it added.

Further, the researchers said that double vaccination would avert 56,000, 16,000, or 8,000 cases (based on long Covid rates among 12-17-year-olds of 14 per cent, 4 per cent, and 2 per cent), the report said.

--IANS

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Outsiders have long profited from Africa's riches of gold, diamonds, and even people. Digital resources have proven no different.

Millions of addresses assigned to have been waylaid, some fraudulently, including through insider machinations linked to a former top employee of the nonprofit that assigns the continent's addresses. Instead of serving Africa's development, many have benefited spammers and scammers, while satiate Chinese appetites for pornography and gambling.

New leadership at the nonprofit, AFRINIC, is working to reclaim the lost addresses. But a legal challenge by a deep-pocketed Chinese businessman is threatening the body's very existence.

The businessman is Lu Heng, a Hong Kong-based arbitrage specialist. Under contested circumstances, he obtained 6.2 million African addresses from 2013 to 2016. That's about 5% of the continent's total more than Kenya has.

The service providers and to whom AFRINIC assigns IP address blocks aren't purchasing them. They pay membership fees to cover administrative costs that are intentionally kept low. That left lots of room, though, for graft.

When AFRINIC revoked Lu's addresses, now worth about $150 million, he fought back. His lawyers in late July persuaded a judge in Mauritius, where AFRINIC is based, to freeze its bank accounts. His company also filed a $80 million defamation claim against AFRINIC and its new CEO.

It's a shock to the global networking community, which has long considered the internet as technological scaffolding for advancing society. Some worry it could undermine the entire numerical address system that makes the internet work.

There was never really any thought, particularly in the AFRINIC region, that someone would just directly attack a foundational element of internet governance and just try and shut it down, try and make it go away. said Bill Woodcock, executive director of Packet Clearing House, a global nonprofit that has helped build out Africa's internet.

Lu told The Associated Press that he's an honest businessman who broke no rules in obtaining the African address blocks. And, rejecting the consensus of the internet's stewards, he says its five regional registries have no business deciding where IP addresses are used.

AFRINIC is supposed to serve the internet, it's not supposed to serve Africa, Lu said. They're just bookkeepers.

In revoking Lu's address blocks, AFRINIC is trying to reclaim internet real estate critical for a continent that lags the rest in leveraging internet resources to raise living standards and boost health and education. has been allocated just 3% of the world's first-generation IP addresses.

Making things worse: the alleged theft of millions of AFRINIC IP addresses, involving the organization's former No. 2 official, Ernest Byaruhanga, who was fired in December 2019. It's unclear whether he was acting alone.

The registry's new CEO, Eddy Kayihura, said at the time that he'd filed a criminal complaint with the Mauritius police. He shook up management and began trying to reclaim wayward IP address blocks.

Lu's legal gains in the case have stunned and dismayed the global internet-governance community. Network activists worry they could help facilitate further internet resource grabs by China, for starters. Some of Lu's major clients include the Chinese state-owned telecommunication firms Telecom and Mobile.

It doesn't seem like he's running the show. It seems like he's the face of the show. I expect that he has got quite a significant backing that's actually pulling the strings, said Mark Tinka, a Ugandan who heads engineering at SEACOM, a South Africa-based internet backbone and services provider. Tinka worries Lu has access to an endless pile of resources.

Lu said allegations he's working for the Chinese government are wild conspiracy theories. He said he's the victim of ongoing character assassination.

While billions use the internet daily, its inner workings are little understood and rarely subject to scrutiny. Globally, five fully autonomous?regional bodies, operating as nonprofit public trusts, decide who owns?and runs?the internet's?limited store of?first-generation IP address blocks. Founded in 2003, AFRINIC was the last of the five registries to be created.

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Chinas central government officials ordered the countrys top state-owned energy  from coal to electricity and oil  to secure supplies for this winter at all costs, according to people familiar with the matter.

The order came directly from Vice Premier Han Zheng, who supervises the nations and industrial production, and was delivered during an emergency meeting earlier this week with officials from Beijings state-owned assets regulator and economic planning agency, the people said, asking not to be named discussing a private matter. Blackouts wont be tolerated, the people said.

Chinese coal futures on Thursday surged to a record as the country grapples with shortages of the fuel ahead of a week-long holiday. Prices have more than doubled this year amid soaring electricity demand from factories and slow output growth from mines.

The emergency meeting underscores the critical situation in A severe energy crisis has gripped the country, and several regions have had to curtail power to the industrial sector, while some residential areas have even faced sudden blackouts. Chinas power crunch is unleashing turmoil in the global commodities markets, fueling rallies in everything from fertilizer to silicon.

Calls to the state council went unanswered outside business hours.

Government-owned power giants State Power Investment Corp. and Energy Investment Corp. echoed Hans words in WeChat statements Thursday night, promising to do all they can to ensure coal and electricity supply for the winter. We will go all-out to fight the tough battle of energy supply, the nations top coal miner CEIC said in its statement.

Volatility in the energy markets is poised to intensify on the order from the central government, said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB.

Chinas statement to me implies that we are in no way on a verge of a cool-off. Rather it looks like it is going get even more crazy, he said. They will bid whatever it takes to win a bidding war for a cargo of coal or liquefied natural gas.

Russia doubles electricity exports to to help ease power crunch



Russia's electricity exports monopoly Inter RAO said on Friday that it would double its October supplies to China after a request from the world's No.2 economy as it grapples with power cuts.

China is scrambling to deliver more coal to utilities to restore supply, as nearly two-thirds of Chinese provinces struggle with power rationing. The three northeast provinces of Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Jilin - home to nearly 100 million people - have been particularly hard hit.

Official tells grid firms to prioritise residential users amid power crunch



A top official of China's state-asset regulator said on Friday the county's power supply situation remains challenging and urged grid firms to prioritise residential use and ensure safe operation as winter approaches, said the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC).
A descendant of Russias former imperial family married his Italian bride on Friday in the first royal wedding to take place on Russian soil since tsarist times more than a century ago. Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov tied the knot with Victoria Romanovna Bettarini, an Italian, at St. Isaacs Cathedral in Russias former imperial capital, St Petersburg.

Russian Orthodox clergy conducted the elaborate ceremony, watched by hundreds of guests who included the grooms mother, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of  the self-proclaimed heir to Russias imperial throne  and more than a dozen minor European royals.

George Mikhailovichs great-grandfather, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, fled during the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, escaping first to Finland and later relocating with his family to Western Europe.

Russias last tsar, Nicholas II, his wife and five children were murdered by a revolutionary firing squad in July 1918, in the cellar of a merchants house in Yekaterinburg, a city 1,450 km (900 miles) east of Moscow.

George Mikhailovich, 40, was born in Madrid and has lived most of his life in Spain and France.

Bettarini, 39, who converted to the Russian Orthodox faith last year and took the name Victoria Romanovna, was led to the altar by her father, Roberto Bettarini, who has served in the Italian diplomatic service.

George Mikhailovich visited for the first time in 1992 and moved to Moscow in 2019, where he works on a number of charity projects.

The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia for over 300 years before Nicholas II abdicated in early 1917, setting the country on course for the Bolshevik Revolution in November of that year, civil war and 70 years of Communist rule.

Russias Orthodox Church in 2000 canonised Nicholas II, who had been portrayed as a weak leader by Soviet authorities.

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Former and current employees at Blue Origin, the rocket company started by Jeff Bezos, the founder of and one of the richest people in the world, say the company is rife with sexism, intolerant of employees who dare to contradict their bosses and lax on safety.

The claims, including charges of sexual harassment by company executives, were put forward in an essay written by 21 employees and former employees and published Thursday on the website Lioness. Only one former employee identified herself. The essay also suggested that there were safety concerns about New Shepard, the vehicle that flew Mr. Bezos and three other passengers to the edge of space in July.

In the opinion of an engineer who has signed on to this essay, Blue Origin has been lucky that nothing has happened so far, the essay writers said. Many of this essays authors say they would not fly on a Blue Origin vehicle.

The next New Shepard flight is scheduled for Oct. 12, and one of its four paying passengers said his plans had not changed.

I am confident in Blue Origins safety program, spacecraft, and track record, and certainly wouldnt be flying with them if I wasnt, Glen de Vries, vice chair of life sciences and health care at the French software company Dassault Systemes, said in a message via Twitter. Ive been to the launch site, met people at every level of the company, and everything Ive seen was indicative of a great team and culture.

The other announced passenger, Chris Boshuizen, a co-founder of Planet Labs, a satellite operator, did not respond to a request for comment.





Mural displaying and his brother Mark in Van Horn, Texas, ahead of the scheduled launch of Blue Origin's inaugural flight to the edge of space. Photo: Reuters

Alexandra Abrams, the essay writer who spoke publicly, is a former head of employee communications at Blue Origin. She was fired from the company in 2019. She also appeared on CBS Mornings on Thursday.

You cannot create a culture of safety and a culture of fear at the same time, Ms. Abrams told CBS. They are incompatible.

A statement from a Blue Origin spokesman said Ms. Abrams had been fired for cause in 2019 after repeated warnings for issues involving federal export control regulations. Ms. Abrams said she had never received any warnings, verbal or written.

The company also disputed the culture and safety allegations.

Blue Origin has no tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind, the spokesman said. We provide numerous avenues for employees, including a 24/7 anonymous hotline, and will promptly investigate any new claims of misconduct. We stand by our safety record and believe that New Shepard is the safest space vehicle ever designed or built.

Mr. Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000. The company is part of a wave of businesses, along with Elon Musks SpaceX and Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic, that aim to lower the cost of launching rockets and opening space to private enterprise as well as space tourists.

It had its greatest achievement to date in July: a successful first flight of the New Shepard vehicle with people aboard. That spacecraft is too small to enter orbit around Earth; instead, it reaches more than 60 miles off the ground, offering a few minutes of weightlessness, and then falls back to Earth, slowed by parachutes. In addition to the July flight, it has conducted 16 successful launches without people aboard.

But outside of Mr. Bezos launch, Blue Origin has been mired in unflattering news for much of the rest of this year. In the spring, the company failed to win a contract from NASA to build a lander to take astronauts back to the surface of the moon. Blue Origin appealed the decision to the federal Government Accountability Office and lost. It is now suing NASA in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

The website The Verge reported on Wednesday that NASAs lawyers had dismissed Blue Origins complaints.

Realizing now that it gambled and lost, Blue Origin seeks to use GAOs procurement oversight function to improperly compel NASA to suffer the consequences of Blue Origins ill-conceived choices, the lawyers wrote in an internal report on May 26.

The Lioness essay describes a toxic, sexist culture at Blue Origin. Former and current employees have had experiences they could only describe as dehumanizing, and are terrified of the potential consequences for speaking out against the wealthiest man on the planet, the essay says.

The essay also says that company officials are now pushing to launch New Shepard at a breakneck rate of more than 40 flights per year and that certain operations are understaffed, posing safety risks.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates rocket launches to ensure the safety of the public, released a statement saying that it was reviewing the information in the essay, as it does with all safety allegations.
Sri Lankas central bank governor unveiled on Friday a six-month roadmap for putting the back on track and assured global investors and lenders of timely debt repayments while maintaining macroeconomic stability.

Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, while announcing a range of measures, also reiterated that the island nation would not seek any bailout from the Monetary Fund.

Cabraal, making his first major policy address since his re-appointment as governor last month, sought to assure investors that was aware of the gravity of its economic problems and would work fast to address them.

He said fears of a default were misplaced and the government was working towards increasing inflows to replenish reserves through measures including loans from other countries, currency swaps and monetising non-strategic assets.

The rationale for this short-term focus is that given the forex challenge and debt service concerns, the proper management of this period will result in clarity and certainty being restored which will enable the to rebound, he told reporters.

The government would unveil an investor friendly budget next month that will have simpler taxes and provisions to contain the deficit, Cabraal said.

In July, Sri Lankas fiscal deficit was at 3.2% of gross domestic product (GDP), higher than its revenues, which are at 2.9%, Finance Ministry data showed.

The central bank would also explore the possibility of buying back the entire lot of sovereign bonds maturing in January and July 2022, which amounts to about $1.5 billion, if high discounts are prevalent in the market, he said.

These will be replaced with foreign government loans until the sovereign bond ratio declines to about 10% of GDP from the current 16%.

 has no intention to do any deferment of its debt repayments in the future. A credible debt management strategy will be worked out and it will be done in such a way that will not face any difficulties, Cabraal said.

Sri Lanka has no intention of seeking support from any external party. We have enough expertise to deal with our challenges but we are open to external advice.

The central bank would also intervene in forex markets to finance its energy bills and use monetary tools to unwind pandemic moratoriums given to businesses while trying to maintain the rupee between 199-203 per dollar over the next three months.

Sri Lanka is back in business and ready for investment, Cabraal said.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday (local time) met French Ambassador Philippe Etienne at the following the envoy's return to Washington.

This meeting was in line with the shared commitment by President Biden and President Macron in their September 22 phone call to begin a process of in-depth consultations on a range of strategic matters, in order to create the conditions for ensuring confidence and propose concrete measures toward common objectives, a statement from the National Security Council informed.

"Sullivan welcomed Ambassador Etienne's plan to engage with officials across the US government to continue advancing our [US-France] shared agenda, in advance of President Biden and President Macron meeting in Europe at the end of October," NSC Spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement.

Days ago, AUKUS trilateral security partnership was announced by the three countries (the US, UK Australia) and under this new pact, the US will develop nuclear submarines for Australia.

Following the pact, reacted sharply to the cancellation of a multiple billion-dollar agreement with Australia for 12 conventionally-powered submarines and recalled French envoys from the US and Australia for 'consultations'.

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The US has been very honest about its concerns with for a long time about the terrorist safe havens along with the border areas of Afghanistan, the Pentagon has said.

Afghanistan and the US have criticised in the past for allowing Taliban fighters to cross into where they are provided safe havens and also receive medical treatment.

We've been very honest about our concerns with Pakistan for a long time, about the safe havens that exist on their side of the border along that spine. And those concerns are still valid today, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters on Thursday at a news conference.

As Afghanistan's neighbour, Pakistan certainly has equities and responsibilities with respect to terrorism in that part of the world, Kirby said.

We continue to have candid conversations with Pakistani leaders about our concerns, he said in response to a question.

I think it's important to continue to remind that the Pakistani people, likewise, have been rendered victim by terrorist threats that emanate from those groups and along that same border, he said.

While Kabul claims that Islamabad is sending thousands of militants to fight in the war-ravaged country and providing safe haven for the Taliban, Pakistan alleges that Afghanistan harbours the anti-Pakistani group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan -- the Pakistani Taliban -- and also the secessionist Balochistan Liberation Army.

Kirby also told reporters that the is within its rights to continue drone strikes inside Afghanistan.

We believe we have the authorities that we need to continue to protect the nation, he said.

The Taliban has accused the US of violating the withdrawal agreement by continuing to fly drones over Afghanistan and warned Americans against doing that in the future.

We have the authorities that we need to continue to defend our interests and the security of the American people there and around the world, and we're going to do that, Kirby said.

Over-the-horizon operations don't always have to include unmanned aerial assets, and they don't. That we use unmanned aerial assets clearly is true, and the Secretary (of Defence) cited one that was just a week or two ago in Syria. But over-the-horizon doesn't have to mean unmanned. It doesn't even always have to mean aviation, he said.

Over-the-horizon, as the Secretary defined it, means that the strike assets and the target analysis come from outside the country in which the operation occurs, and we can do that in a variety of means, he said.

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Adar Poonawalla backed chain Wellness Forever Medicare is planning to go for an initial public offering (IPO) to raise between Rs 1,500-1,600 crore.

The omni-channel retail chain has already filed a draft red herring prospectus with the market regulator. The chains revenue for the financial year ended March 31, 2021, grew to Rs 924.02 crore, from Rs 863.25 crore in the previous fiscal year.

This will be the second pharmacy chain to file for an after Hyderabad-based MedPlus, which filed its DRHP with in August.

The consists of a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating to Rs 400 crore and an offer for sale up to 1.60 crore equity shares, according to DRHP.

The company proposes to utilise net proceeds from the fresh issue to the tune of Rs 70.20 crore for funding capital expenditure for setting up new outlets, repayment or prepayment in part or full of certain borrowings amounting to Rs 100 crore, funding its working capital requirements to the extent of Rs 121.90 crore besides general corporate purposes

The Mumbai-based brand Wellness Forever founded by Ashraf Biran, Gulshan Bakhtiani and Mohan Chavan in 2008, has 236 stores across 23 cities in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka.

As of June 30, 2021, it serves a registered customer base of 6.7 million customers. It now intends to deepen its penetration in tier 2 and 3 besides participating actively in the growing pharmacy e-commerce segment which is expected to grow at a 45 percent CAGR.

IIFL Securities Limited, Ambit Private Limited, DAM Capital Advisors Limited, and HDFC Bank Limited are book running lead managers to the issue.
After approval for listing of state-owned (ECGC) Ltd through the initial public offer (IPO) on the stock exchanges, M Senthilnathan, the Chairman and Managing Director of ECGC on Thursday said that the corporation hopes that the listing process would be completed by the last quarter of the financial year 2023.

"We do hope that the listing process (launch of the initial public offering--IPO) will be done by the last quarter of the financial year 2023," Senthilnathan said.

He also thanked the Centre government for capital infusion of Rs 4,400 crore to ECGC over 5 years and said that in terms of efficiency, the corporation would operate like a private company.

"We thank Centre for supporting us. Though we're a government company, we'll operate like a private company in terms of efficiency parameters not in terms of withdrawing support when the exporters face tough times," Senthilnathan said.

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that the Union Cabinet has approved the listing of state-owned (ECGC) Ltd through the initial public offer (IPO) on the stock exchanges.

While addressing the press conference, Goyal said, "The Union Cabinet has approved the listing of Ltd. through the IPO on the stock exchange."

"The cabinet also approved Rs 4,400 crore investment in ECGC Ltd in 5 years to provide support to exporters as well as banks," the Union minister added further.

The minister stated that the approved amount will be infused in instalments, thereby, increasing the capacity to underwrite risks up to Rs 88,000 crores and this will enable ECGC to issue covers that can support additional exports of Rs 5.28 lakh crore over the five-year period in line with the existing pattern.

Goyal also said that this move will help in creating 59 lakh new jobs including 2.6 lakh in the formal sector and ECGC could be listed on the stock exchanges by the next fiscal year.

ECGC was established by the Government of India under the Companies Act in 1957 to promote exports by providing credit insurance services to exporters against non-payment risks by the overseas buyers due to commercial and political reasons.

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Shares of GTPL Highway hit a record high of Rs 305 as it rallied 19 per cent on the BSE in Fridays intra-day trade on the back of heavy volumes. At 11:10 am, the stock was trading 17 per cent higher at Rs 299.95, as compared to a 0.61 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. Trading volumes on the counter jumped 9-fold with a combined 2.66 million equity shares having changed hands on the NSE and BSE. In the past one week, it has gained 35 per cent as against a 2 per cent fall in the benchmark index.

is engaged in distribution of television channels through digital cable distribution network. The company is also appointed as project implementation agency for Package B of Bharat Net Phase-II project in which the company has to implement end-to-end optic fibre cable and digital infrastructure. The company achieved net debt free status during the financial year 2020-21 (FY21).

The work order of Rs 1,246 crore for implementation of Bharat Net Phase II project in Gujarat (Package B, Saurashtra), by Gujarat Fibre Grid Network Limited (GFGNL) under Digital India Initiative, which was bagged by GTPL in FY19, has been nearly completed (97 per cent completed as of March 31, 2021) and the Operation & Maintenance (O&M) of the project has begun. Under this project, the Company has already connected 3,667 GPs (Gram Panchayats) by implementing end-to-end Optic Fibre Cable and connecting the digital infrastructure at Centralized network operations centre at Gandhinagar.

GTPLs resilient operating performance has been a result of solid traction in broadband segment. Analysts remain constructive on the company given the superior financial metric with stronghold in Gujarat provides growth opportunities.

During April-June quarter (Q1FY22), GTPL had added 55,000 new broadband subscribers. Total subscribers as on Q1FY22 were 690,000 of which 250,000 are FTTX subscribers. The broadband average revenue per user (ARPU) for Q1FY22 stood at Rs 440; up 4 per cent year on year (y-o-y).

The highlight of the quarter was robust subscriber additions & subscription revenues for Broadband business, strong profitability and debt repayment. GTPL will continue to march forward on its stated strategic roadmap by coming up with interesting new products and services, enhancing customer experience, strengthening its digital infrastructure capabilities, and accelerating its footprint in the existing & new markets, GTPLs management said while announcing Q1 results on July 19, 2021.

In the past six months, the stock has zoomed 142 per cent, as against a 17 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.
Shares of Company continued to climb higher, hitting a new high at Rs 165 after 13 years, up 4 per cent on the BSE in Fridays intra-day trade, on improved outlook. The stock of Tata Group electric utilities company was trading higher for the fourth straight day and has rallied 19 per cent during the period. The previous record high was Rs 158 recorded on January 4, 2008.

In the process, Tata Powers market capitalisation (market-cap) has crossed Rs 50,000 crore mark. At 02:40 pm; was trading 3.5 per cent higher at Rs 164.35, with a market-cap of Rs 52,515.41 crore on the BSE, the exchange data shows.

is one of Indias largest integrated power companies and together with its subsidiaries and jointly controlled entities, has an installed / managed capacity of 13,061 MW. The company has presence across the entire power value chain - generation of renewable as well as conventional power including hydro and thermal energy, transmission & distribution, coal & freight, logistics and trading.

Tata Power is steering the transformation as an integrated solutions provider by looking at new business growth in distributed generation through rooftop solar and micro grids, storage solutions, electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, energy service company (ESCO), home automation & smart meters.

Last month, Tata Power Solar Systems (Tata Power Solar), Indias largest solar energy company, and Tata Powers wholly-owned subsidiary had received a Notice of Award (NoA) to build 50MWp Solar PV Plant with 50MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project at Phyang village in Leh, Ladakh. The order value of the project was Rs 386 crore. The commercial operation date for this project is set for March 2023.

While, Tata Power Renewable Energy (TPREL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Power has successfully commissioned 100 MW Solar Power project at Raghanesda Solar Park, Gujarat and in village Loharki, Rajasthan, the company had said in a press release.

Tata Powers management said the company aims to scale up our renewable portfolio from the current 4GW to 15GW by 2025 and to 25GW by 2030 thereby achieving 80 per cent clean generation capacity, up from the current 31 per cent. We will continue to expand and promote the mass adoption of rooftop solar & solar pumps, microgrids, home automation and focus on developing the EV charging infrastructure in the country, Dr. Praveer Sinha, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Power had said while announcing June quarter (Q1) results on August 6, 2021.

Tata Powers transition into the green segment is gaining strong momentum with nearly 40 per cent /10 per cent market share enjoyed by its EV charging/solar EPC segments. Its solar pump/ solar rooftop business witnessed 8x/4x growth during Q1FY22 with the highest-ever order book of Rs 1,100 crore across solar pumps. Also, with the de-licensing drive across the UTs and selective states, the opportunity across the discom privatisation space is getting mammoth, analyst at HDFC Securities had said in June quarter result update.
Auto stocks will be in focus as auto companies will start announcing monthly sales numbers for September starting from today, 1 October 2021.

Maruti Suzuki India said that owing to a supply constraint of electronic components due to the semiconductor shortage situation, the company is expecting an adverse impact on vehicle production in the month of October 2021 in both Haryana and its contract manufacturing company, Suzuki Motor Gujarat Private Limited (SMG) in Gujarat. Though the situation is quite dynamic, it is currently estimated that the total vehicle production volume across both locations could be around 60% of normal production.

Shares of Paras Defence and Space Technologies will debut on the bourses today. The IPO was subscribed by over 304 times. The issue price is fixed at Rs 175 per share.

Jubilant Foodworks Netherlands B.V. (JFN), a wholly owned subsidiary of Jubilant Foodworks, proposes to acquire upto 17.18% ordinary shares of DP Eurasia N.V. (DP Eurasia) through a reverse bookbuild process from certain professional investors of DP Eurasia.

Adani Green Energy said that Adani Renewable Energy (MH) Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company has completed acquisition of 100% of the share capital and all the securities of Vento Energy Infra from Essel Green Energy.

Phillips Carbon Black launched its QIP issue on Thursday and approved the floor price of Rs 255.85 per share.

IIFL Asset Management stated that its asset base has crossed Rs. 50,000 crore-mark. The fund house's aggregate Asset Under Management (AUM) comprising Alternative Assets and Mutual Fund (MF) rose to Rs. 50,019 crore from Rs.37,372 on March 31, FY21. While the one-year absolute growth in AUM was 87%, the three-year absolute growth was 212%.

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Bajaj Auto's total auto sales in September 2021 stood at 4,02,021 units, down by 9% from 441,306 units sold in September 2020.

The total auto sales are higher by 7.7% as compared with 3,73,270 units sold in August 2021.

While the company's domestic sales contracted by 16% to 192,348 units, export sales fell by 1% to 209,673 units in September 2021 as compared with the same period last year.

The company's total 2-wheeler sales declined by 11% YoY to 361,036 units during the month of September. The sale of 2-wheelers in the domestic market fell by 21% YoY to 173,945 units during the period under review.

Total commercial vehicle (CV) sales, however, recorded a growth of 12% YoY as it stood at 40,985 units in September 2021. Domestic CV sales almost doubled to 18,403 units in September 2021 as compared with same period last year.

Bajaj Auto is the world's third largest manufacturer of motorcycles and the largest manufacturer of three wheelers. It has its manufacturing facilities located at Chakan near Pune, Waluj near Aurangabad, and at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand.

The company's standalone net profit jumped 101% to Rs 1,061.18 crore in Q1 FY22 from Rs 528.04 crore in Q1 FY21. Net sales soared 144.8% Y-o-Y to Rs 7,216.57 crore during the quarter.

The scrip was down 0.25% to Rs 3823 on the BSE.

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Shares of gas producers and distributors were in action after the government raised the price of the locally produced gas for the period October 2021 to March 2022.

The Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC) said that the price of domestic natural gas for the period from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022, is fixed at $2.90 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) on gross calorific value (GCV) basis.

The prices have increased 62% compared with $1.79 per mmBtu set for the period of April-September 2021.

The gas price ceiling for the period from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 is set at $6.13 per mmBtu on GCV basis. The ceiling has been set for the marketing including pricing freedom for gas being produced from discoveries in deepwater, ultra-deepwater and high pressure-high temperature areas.

The gas price ceiling is hiked by 69% compared with the ceiling of $3.62 per mmBtu set for the period of April-September 2021.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 341.49 points or 0.58% to 58,784.87.

Gail (India) (up 2.23%), Adani Total Gas, (up 0.41%), and Indraprastha Gas (up 0.03%) advanced while Gujarat Gas (down 1.88%) and Mahanagar Gas (down 0.07%) declined.

Meanwhile, ONGC (up 0.93%) and Reliance Industries (up 0.48%) advanced while Oil India (down 0.69%) declined.

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October 08, 2021, Friday

MSSL will acquire 55% stake from the promoters of CIM Tools (CIM). CIM in turn will hold 83% in Aero Treatment (ATPL) and ...
Chief Minister on Friday met Prime Minister and discussed farmers issues. The meeting was held at the Prime Minister's official residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg here.

Channi, in his first meeting with the Prime Minister, after becoming chief minister of requested that the Centre take back its decision to postpone paddy procurement by 10 days. The Centre has postponed the procurement of paddy by 10 days due to rain in and Haryana. Earlier the procurement was supposed to start from October 1 but now it will start from October 11.

"I asked the PM to resolve the matter of farmers' protest and resume dialogue with the protesting farmers. I demanded that the three laws should be withdrawn. I also requested to the PM that the Kartarpur Corridor, which was closed due to COVID-19 pandemic, should be reopened at the earliest," said Channi after meeting Modi.

Last month, the Congress high command made Channi the chief minister of Punjab replacing Amarinder Singh. Channi reached the national capital on Friday afternoon around 3 p.m. and later went to meet the Prime Minister.

There is speculation that Channi will meet former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other senior party leaders before returning to Punjab. Channi is likely to discuss the ongoing crisis in the Punjab Congress unit with the party central leadership after the resignation of Navjot Singh Sidhu from the post of state unit chief. Before coming to the national capital, Channi met Sidhu on Thursday.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chief Minister on Friday met Prime Minister at his residence here.

This is Channi's first meeting with Modi after becoming chief minister.

Sources said that the farmers issue is learnt to have been discussed during the meeting.

Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at Delhi's borders against three farm laws since November last year and have been demanding the legislations be repealed.

The delay in the paddy procurement was also on the agenda, the sources said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Economic Regulatory Authority has allowed International Airport that manages Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here to gradually increase User Development Fee on embarking domestic as well as international passengers from April 1, 2022.

In an order on the tariff revision for the third control period (April 2021 to March 26) based on a proposal by the GHIAL, the has issued orders which were recently uploaded in its website.

As per the orders of the regulator, the airport operator was allowed to increase UDF from the existing Rs 281 to Rs 480 and Rs 393 to Rs 700 for domestic and international passengers respectively from April 1, 2022.

Similarly, the charges will be enhanced up to Rs 750 for domestic and Rs 1500 for international passengers by December 31, 2025. However, the charges will be reduced to Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for domestic and international passengers for the last three months of the Control period, said in its order.

"The Authority has agreed for tariff increases and additional charges in the form of UDF, but at the same time it believes that the subsequent control period would be better in the context of lesser capital requirements and larger passenger base owing to the recovery in aviation sector and revival of the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic," said.

The tariff rates for the subsequent control period are expected to be lower. In view of this, the Authority has reduced the tariff rates in the last quarter of the final year of the Third Control Period, FY 2026, which may also continue till tariff determination for the Fourth Control Period, it further said.

The airport sought an increase of UDF from Rs 281 to a whopping Rs 608 from October 1, a jump of 116 per cent for departing domestic passengers. Similarly, the airport operator sought a 231 per cent hike on international passengers to Rs 1,300 from the current Rs 393.

The GHIAL, during the third control period proposed to gradually increase the UDF up to Rs 728 and Rs 2,200 by the end of 2025-26 for domestic and international passengers respectively.

The Authority decided to not allow the capital expenditure of Rs 519 crore towards metro connectivity during the Third Control Period due to lack of more and specific details.

The GMR group earlier said it will be investing over Rs 500 crore in a Rs 5,000 crore metro rail link project being proposed by the Telangana government for connectivity to the aerodrome from various parts of the city.

(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 cancelled the recognition of a top private school in Pitampura on Friday over an arbitrary fee hike aimed at profiteering and commercialisation of education by exploiting parents.

The government has also barred Bal Bharti School from taking any admissions from the new academic session in 2022 and maintained that the school will be allowed to complete the ongoing session.

From the next session, the current students will be shifted to nearby recognised schools with consent of parents and the fee already paid will be adjusted.

Calls and text messages to the school principal seeking response on the issue went unanswered.

"The continued violation of the legal directions of Directorate of Education on the part of Bal Bharati Public School, Pitampura, Delhi establishes that the school has not been functioning in accordance with the provisions of DSEAR, 1973, directions and guidelines of the department issued from time to time, the DoE said in an official order.

"This gross failure in complying with the condition of recognition has resulted in continued harassment and exploitation of the parents of the school and its indulgence in profiteering and commercialisation of education by exploiting the parents by charging unwarranted and illegally increased fees. Thus the school should not continue as to be recognised hence is liable for withdrawal of recognition," the order added.

Noting the conditions of withdrawing the recognition, the DoE said the school will be allowed to complete the session 2021-22 with recognition.

"After the completion of the session, all students of the school shall be shifted to the nearby recognised schools run by the Child Education Society (Regd) or to nearby government schools with the consent of the parents. Fees already paid shall, accordingly, be adjusted, the order said.

"The school shall not take any admissions from the 2022-23 session. All staff of the school (teaching, non-teaching and other) shall be adjusted by the Child Education Society in its other recognized schools within the jurisdiction of the NCT of Delhi," it added.

The department said the society shall, henceforth, be the custodian of all records of the Bal Bharati Public School, for all purposes and will be bound to produce the same before DoE or any other authority as and when asked for.

Deputy Chief Minister in July had announced that the would take over the management of a private school in Rohini over alleged arbitrary fee hike and received the required approvals from the lieutenant government's office.

(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.)
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], October 1 (ANI/SRV Media): (https://mitwpu.edu.in) MIT - World Peace University (MIT-WPU, Pune) one of the top-ranked private institutes in India has commenced the admission process for their (https://ug-management.mitwpu.edu.in/programs/bba-research) BBA (Hons) with Research program.

The university ensures a holistic learning experience for students backed by value-based learning and industry collaboration. MIT-WPU is founded on the basis of three fundamental principles: first, providing a social context for education; second, providing students freedom for choosing a career path; and lastly, promoting active learning.

BBA (Hons) with Research Program Overview: - (https://ug-management.mitwpu.edu.in/programs/bba-research" rel="noopener" target="_blank">BBA (Hons) with Research is a four-year management degree programme that includes an academic internship, international summer school, and online courses from Harvard Business School (HBS). The programme focuses on business research and preparing graduates for their careers in the industry. The course includes internships that are designed in such a way that they will provide students with hands-on experience in organizations and businesses.

The BBA (Hons) with Research program focuses on business research and preparing graduates for careers in the industry. AI and MI for business, production and operation, SPSS, legal aspects of business, strategic management, fintech, and other management aspects are covered in the curriculum.

(https://ug-management.mitwpu.edu.in/programs/bba-research) BBA (Hons) with Research program consists of a 12 trimesters course where students can study 8 trimesters at the MIT-WPU campus and intern for 3 full trimesters across various industries to garner practical experience. Aspirants will receive a degree in BBA (Hons) with Research as per the National Education Policy (NEP). Additionally, students who complete the course are eligible to join directly for an MBA second year in MIT-WPU.

Career Prospects: Founded in the year 1983, the university has produced some of the country's best industry leaders and experts. The BBA (Hons) with Research program at MIT-WPU gives exposure to students and higher chances of employability with a range of internship experience in a wide variety of sectors.

Placements and recruiters: Apart from instilling knowledge, the university has several programs to help build ties with industry partners. Ranked as the 3rd Best Private Institute by India Today in 2018, MIT-WPU focuses not only on placement opportunities but also believes in providing their students with Career Services. Over the years, MIT-WPU has successfully provided 100% placement with the highest package of 10 LPA and an average package of 3.5LPA. Some of the recruiters are Amazon, Byjus, KPMG, Deloitte, Infosys, Cognizant, Accenture, ICICI Prudential, Wipro and many more.

Eligibility Criteria: To be eligible for the BBA (Hons) with Research program at MIT-WPU, students have passed 10+2 from any statutory board with a minimum of 50% marks in total. Additionally, Students from other boards are welcome to apply at MIT-WPU as well.

Covid Policies: MIT-WPU prioritizes students' safety and has moved the entire admission process online. In accordance with government directives and to ensure that students do not miss out on critical academic time this year, all study programs at MIT-WPU are being conducted online and through a blended mode of learning. As a precaution, MIT-WPU will not reopen its campus to students until it is completely safe, as per Government Guidelines.

Online Admission Process: MIT-WPU is currently accepting online applications for all the programs. Adhering to the strict guidelines during the Covid-19 pandemic, students can apply and appear for the required tests online from the comfort of their homes to be considered for provisional admission offers to the program followed by the induction and commencement of classwork.

To apply for the BBA(Hons) program at MIT-WPU, click here: (https://bit.ly/3oieFJN)

To know more, please visit:(https://mitwpu.edu.in) MIT-WPU

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New Delhi [India], October 1 (ANI/ThePRTree): Informa Markets in India (formerly UBM India), India's leading B2B event's organiser is all set to bring in the 9th edition of North India's biggest International Jewellery trade show - The Delhi Jewellery & Gem Fair (DJGF) & 13th edition of India's most premium jewellery show - Hyderabad Jewellery Pearl & Gem Fair (HJF).

Delhi Jewellery & Gem Fair (DJGF) is organised at Pragati Maidan, Hall Number 5, New Delhi between 2nd - 4th October 2021. The venue's established infrastructure along with Informa's international health & safety standards ensure the focus to be on the business. Show has strong Association support from TBJA, GJTCI, AIJGF, Maliwada, Karol Bagh, Meerut & Delhi Jewellers Association etc. The three-day expo will see participation from 200 + exhibitors, 850 + traditional, modern & innovative designer brands and 15000+ unique designs.

Pallavi Mehra, Group Director - Informa Markets in India said, "We at Informa Markets in India are really glad to be associated with Gems & Jewellery Trade Council of India and excited to launch Shakti - Women Achiever's Awards at our signature jewellery show - DJGF. This initiative of ours will not only foster the economy and jewellery industry but will also encourage the women leaders we have in this industry to grow more and achieve more success. Being a woman, I am really looking forward to host this first of its kind awards ceremony. See you in DJGF."

Hyderabad Jewellery Pearl & Gem Fair is organized at HICC Novotel between 18th 19th 20th October 2021.

HJF, a gateway to the Indian Jewellery Market, has a special focus on South India's repertoire, and will provide an excellent platform for buyers and suppliers to connect, network, exchange ideas, discover upcoming trends and generate business opportunities. HJF is destined to give requisite momentum to reviving the Indian economy at this crucial juncture and will be a showcase of India's progressive vision in doing so. Show has strong Association support from Hitech City Jewellery Manufacturers Association (HJMA), Telangana Bullion Gems & Jewellers Federation and many more.

Informa Markets in India has partnered with Sarafa Bazar India as Technology Partner for both Delhi Jewellery and Gem Fair (DJGF) and Hyderabad Jewellery Pearl and Gem Fair (HJF).

'Sarafa Bazar India', is the leading and fastest growing online B2B Platform. To adapt to the fast-changing business pattern, '(https://sarafabazar.in) SARAFA BAZAR INDIA' has been developed to help the manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to come together online on a single platform.

Archit Jain, who is the third generation jeweller from a small town of Saharanpur, has developed it as an alternative to the existing traditional methods of trading. This online portal enables the jewellery manufacturers and wholesalers to showcase their products virtually and make new connections with the retailers across India.

The marketing takes place on digital space while buying and selling is done in offline mode. It is trying to change and give a new face to the jewellery industry by reaching out to the potential customers and serving them in the best possible way. Since its launch, Sarafa Bazar India has grown into a community of 55,000+ website users and 8,500+ app installers which clearly shows the willingness of the industry to adapt to the technology implementation in this market. And it will definitely help development of various new brands in near future.

Both DJGF 2021 & HJF 2021 are amply supported by its AllSecure & Travel Safety Guidelines - a safety standard initiative by Informa for its exhibitors, attendees, visitors, speakers or sponsors, customers who will be coming to the event. AllSecure provides attendees the reassurance and confidence that they are participating in a safe and controlled environment.

This story is provided by ThePRTree. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/ThePRTree)

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Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 1 (ANI/BusinessWire India): In celebration of 50 years of coffee and connections globally, Starbucks India is gifting customers a limited-edition reusable cup on purchase of any handcrafted beverage on October 2nd.

Coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti, this initiative is in alignment with the company's goal to reduce waste to landfills by 50% by 2030. Starbucks is encouraging customers to shift away from single use product consumption, championing the use of recycled content and promoting reusability.

In a first for the company globally, Starbucks India will offer promotions to motivate customers to reduce single use cup waste and adopt long-term sustainable behavior. With many customers keen to enjoy their favorite Starbucks beverages while on the go, Starbucks wants customers to adopt positive change by endorsing reusables as a part of their daily Starbucks ritual.

Commenting on the initiative, Sushant Dash, CEO, Tata Starbucks Pvt Ltd. said, "The global reusable cup initiative conceived in celebration of our milestone anniversary, reinforces our aspiration to be people and planet positive. Through this effort we invite our customers across the country to contribute their bit towards creating a better future for people and the planet we all share. We remain grounded in our mission to create and implement innovative solutions which positively impact the environment while maintaining a strong connection with our customers and giving back to the communities we serve."

"As we mark our anniversary milestone, this reusable cup is our gift to customers and our invitation to join Starbucks on our journey to becoming a resource-positive-company," said Sara Trilling, president, Starbucks Asia Pacific. "This step is only one part of many more to come. Together with our customers, we're constantly innovating new ways to scale more sustainable solutions across the region."

Starbucks has always been committed to doing business in ways that are beneficial to the people and planet. In their constant endeavor to adopt greener options, Starbucks has implemented sustainable initiatives like the use of compostable straws, wooden cutlery only on request, eliminating single-use plastic and shifting from single-use to recyclable packaging. Along with investing in innovative agricultural, reforestation and water conservation practices; better waste management in stores and in communities, the Bring Your Own Tumbler program; developing more eco-friendly operations and expanding plant-based and environmentally friendly menu options.

How it works:

1. On October 2, every customer who buys a tall and above sized beverage will get a limited-edition reusable cup worth Rs. 300, Free!

2. The offer will be available in all Starbucks outlets across the country and is applicable on delivery and Mobile Order and Pay as per conditions specified in the offer

3. Customers who visit the store or order on 2nd October, will get 25% off on their next beverage between 3rd and 17th October as per conditions specified in the offer

4. Customers are encouraged to bring back their cup when they next visit Starbucks to benefit from the BYO discount

October 2 not only represents a historical annual landmark for the country but also for Starbucks as the company aspires by this day alone to reach out to 2 million customers across the Asia Pacific region. With one cup replacing up to 30 single-use cups, the company aspires to create a culture of reuse amongst customers, partners (employees) and communities, bringing them together around a shared desire to do more for the planet. To build excitement ahead of October 2, Starbucks India partners have taken part in training and team activities, empowering them to promote sustainability in stores.

For more on how Starbucks is marking 50 years of inspiring and nurturing the human spirit - one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time - visit (https://stories.starbucks.com/fifty) Starbucks Stories.

This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)

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Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], October 1 (ANI/NewsVoir): Celebrating the spirit of Khadi, Taneira, the women's ethnic wear brand from the house of TATA is launching an exclusive Khadi collection on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

Revered as a symbol of our nation's heritage and pride, Khadi is known to be one of the earliest forms of fabrics woven in the ancient age which went on to become the symbol of independence in the Swadeshi movement.

This collection is a unique amalgam of various indigenous crafts integrating together from different parts of the country to present essence of best of India under one roof. Each saree from the collection has been handcrafted keeping in mind that it carries the legacy of the cluster they represent while blending with the comfortable, breathable fabric that is Khadi.

From Kalamkari from Andhra Pradesh, Ajrakh from Gujarat and Sanganeri block print from Rajasthan to Jamdani from the Bengal, this collection presents a new vocabulary of Khadi. Each of the meticulously handcrafted saree narrates a story of its own, a concoction of a multitude of cultures, traditions, landscapes and history integrated into one entity.

This Khadi range is crafted in earthy and pastel tones with innovative layouts making it a perfect choice for everyday work wear and special occasions. Glam up this classic collection with your favourite accessories for an elegant evening soiree. This exclusive collection comprises 75 hand-spun & hand-woven sarees, each with a unique design sensibility and subtle detailing making it a contemporary piece of wearable art.

Speaking on the Khadi collection launch, Ms. Anindita Sardar, Design Head shares, "Through our continuous initiatives, our endeavour has been to revive the traditional age-old crafts while providing a contemporary range to serve today's rooted yet progressive women. A delicate and languishing craft like Farad print from Rajasthan, Bagru region was revived in view of designing a modernized range in Khadi. The core idea behind launching this collection is to reach out to a wider set of audience who love to embrace and express their individuality with purity, pride and grace while cherishing our heritage of the craft."

Resonating with the spirit of Khadi, Taneira's products are simple, natural & indigenous in every aspect. The collection ranges from INR 4,000 to INR 18,000 and will be showcased across select Taneira stories starting 1st October 2021 onwards. Customers can also browse through this exclusive Khadi range online at (https://www.taneira.com).

This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)

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Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the chairman of Saudi oil producer Aramco and the Governor of that countrys sovereign wealth fund, was appointed an independent director on the board of on July 19 for a period of three years. The appointment has now come up for shareholder vote and the voting process will end on October 19.

Based on the recommendations of influential American proxy advisory company Glass Lewis, the California State Teachers Retirement System (CALSTRS) has decided to vote against Al-Rumayyans appointment.

CalSTRS is the largest educator-only pension fund in the world, and the second-largest pension fund in the US, with about $318.4 billion worth of assets under management.

As of June last year, CALSTRS held 5.3 million fully and partly paid shares of Reliance. This holding is valued at $179 million today.

The fund has cited potential conflict of interest, as Reliance plans to sell a 20% stake in its oil-to-chemicals business for $15 billion to Aramco, where Al-Rumayyan is the chairman. The deal was supposed to close by March 2020 but it got delayed. It is in its final stages at present. Given his connection with the Saudi government and the proposed business relationship with Reliance, proxy advisors Glass Lewis said it did not consider Al-Rumayyan as being independent at this time.

In fact, it is not just CALSTRS which is opposed to the appointment. The Florida State Board of Administration, which manages $245 billion, is also against it.

Further, Saudi sovereign wealth fund headed by Al-Rumayyan has already invested $1.3 billion in Reliance Retail Ventures and $1.49 billion in Jio Platforms. Reliance Retail Ventures is a subsidiary that owns the groups retail businesses, while Jio Platforms is Reliances digital services unit.

In a communication to proxy advisory firms, Reliance strongly defended its move, saying Al-Rumayyans appointment had no connection with its proposed deal with Aramco. Further, the O2C business was being spun off into a subsidiary which might have nominees from Aramco. Reliance also said its Human Resources Nomination and Remuneration Committee, which had four independent directors in its total strength of five, unanimously recommended his appointment, given his versatile experience.

The Mukesh Ambani-led company has so far not addressed the concerns around Al-Rumayyans connection with the Public Investment Fund, which has investments in Reliances subsidiaries.

Now the question that remains is whether the investors will be satisfied with Reliances justification, or will they force Indias most valuable company to reverse the appointment of Al-Rumayyan. Lets wait and see.
Starting today, every customer who makes use of recurring transactions using debit cards, credit cards and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) must undertake a one-time additional factor authentication (AFA) for smooth auto-debit transactions starting today. Failing this, payments to streaming services like and Premium and music apps like Spotify will get cancelled. And, if the recurring payment is above Rs 5,000, the cardholder must approve it with OTP-based authentication every time it is due for payment.

Banks have been informing customers for some time now that their standing instructions on recurring payments will not be honoured as comply with the guidelines.

Now, how do you register for e-mandate before your first transaction?

If you want to opt for an e-mandate facility on a merchant website, you must authenticate the registration via OTP. The registration will be completed only after you furnish requisite information, including the validity period of the e-mandate and value of the recurring transaction.

The new rules have been mandated by while keeping in mind the customers convenience and safety during such recurring transactions. Banks are required to send a notification via SMS or email with details of the upcoming charge at least 24 hours before the transaction is set to take place, and another one after the transaction has taken place. You also get to change the mode of receiving these notifications. You will have the freedom to opt out of a transaction or an e-mandate using a link that is provided in the SMS or email. All recurring transactions above Rs 5,000 will have to be approved separately every time.

The had originally set March 2021 as the deadline for complying with the new framework. After extending it by six months, it had warned of stringent supervisory action against banks and other players in the ecosystem for any further delay.

There are some recurring transactions that wont be impacted by the new rules. Standing instruction for auto-debit from a bank account and not a card for mutual fund SIPs, EMIs and insurance premiums will see no change from today.

Some lenders who are yet to comply with the new rules have advised customers to make direct payments for their standing instructions as the old facility has been scrapped. While most major banks and card networks have complied or are in the process of complying, some disruptions can be expected as the new framework kicks in.
As a business manufacturer, it is often important to know where the best place to set up shop can be. While it can be tempting to outsource to another country entirely, it might actually be your best bet to set up a manufacturing hub in Ireland. This guide has been specifically created to help you understand why, no matter whether you are a manufacturing manager or simply just interested in this industry. To learn more, take a look at the guide that has been created for your reading pleasure below.

Hub for Pharmaceuticals and MedTech

Ireland is a global hub and world leader when it comes to pharma and MedTech. This means that if you are looking to start a manufacturing business that helps create these types of supplies, you are definitely in the right place. It is worth seeing which demand there might be within these industries and then identifying a way to meet that demand.

Strong Economy

The days of the so-called "Celtic Tiger" might be long gone, but relatively speaking, Ireland still has one of the strongest economies not only in Europe but across the entire world. This means that your manufacturing business will definitely be among good company and have the financing and infrastructure it needs when you decide to finally set it up in Ireland.

Role Within The EU

Ireland is in a unique position in that it shares a border with the UK but is also part of the EU, meaning that it has a frictionless trade deal with 26 other countries, spanning from Portugal to Estonia. This means that if you have a manufacturing hub within Ireland, you can export within one of the world's biggest financial markets without very much red tape.

High Immigrant Population

Another byproduct of Ireland's EU membership is a continuous flow of migrants from lower-income countries like Poland, Lithuania, and Croatia. These workers usually want to take part in manual labor, meaning that you have a keen and willing force to pick from. This means that you are unlikely to have any staffing shortages when you start a manufacturing hub in Ireland. When you do start your factory, make sure that you have the right automation tools, such as an autonomous pallet truck or drones, to help these workers before you get started.

Proximity to The UK

Unsurprisingly to anyone who has ever looked on Google Maps, but Ireland  which shares a border with Britain to the north  has its biggest trading partner in the UK. This means that if you are looking to export to the UK and make a lot of money in the process, setting up in Ireland is one of the best ways to do it with the least amount of friction. Given the increased demand that is currently rising in the UK due to the many different effects of Brexit, there is good reason to set up in Ireland today for a steady start and strong outlook in the future.
Hannover Re, the third-largest reinsurer in the world, today announced plans to invest over 6 million in Dublin Digital  a research and development (R&D) programme aimed at delivering a competitive edge through the realisation of next generation digital innovation in the underwriting space. To facilitate this, the company plans to create up to 16 positions in Dublin over the next 3 to 4 years. The programme is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.



Under the Dublin Digital programme, Hannover Re (Ireland) DAC will leverage the most advanced techniques in text analytics, predictive analytics and computational linguistics in order to accelerate the development of intelligent underwriting technologies capable of replicating human intellect. To deliver this ambitious plan, the company has already commenced recruiting a number of positions in Dublin, primarily in the areas of data science and software engineering.



Welcoming the news, Minister of State with special responsibility for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance, Sean Fleming said, "I am delighted to welcome this investment by Hannover Re. It once again demonstrates Irelands potential to be a leading hub for InsurTech technologies. This rapidly growing sector offers exciting opportunities for graduates across the country and an environment in which innovation can thrive. InsurTech will provide Irish customers with better value-for-money and broaden the range of products that are available in the market."



General Manager at Hannover Re (Ireland) DAC, Niall Mulvey added, "This investment provides Hannover Re with an exciting platform from which we can leverage Irelands world-class talent pool to deliver local innovation on a global scale, said The addition of highly skilled individuals in the areas of data science and software engineering will accelerate our strategic R&D activities and, ultimately, our adoption of intelligent underwriting technologies."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Heavy rainfall hit North Chinas Shanxi province, causing floods and landslides that damaged railways and devastated villages. The rain started on Saturday and continued through the National Day holiday. In Puxian county of Linfen, a landslide killed four and injured one on Tuesday; in Qixian county of Jinzhong, train services were interrupted after a railway bridge was damaged Wednesday; and in the ancient town of Pingyao, a 25-meter section of a city wall was damaged on Thursday

Oct 08, 2021 05:36 PM
CAMEROUN :: Request of the Ambazonia Governing council to the Southern Cameroons parlementarians

Honourable Parliamentarians of Southern Cameroons extraction, Parliament of La Republique du Cameroun

Dear Brethren,

A Formal Request for your withdrawal from the Parliament of La Republique du Cameroun in support of our Liberation Endeavour

Accept very warm greetings from the Ambazonia Governing Council (AGovC), which has assumed the position of vanguard organization in the defence of our homeland, and pursuit of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

On October 1st, 2021, Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) will celebrate its 60th independence anniversary. We remind you that this independence was gained on 1st October 1961, based on the United Nations General Assembly vote of 21st April 1961. The vote statistics recorded an overwhelming majority of 64 countries for, 23 against, and 10 Abstentions. Unfortunately, during an illegal federal union with La Republic du Cameroon (LRC), Ambazonia has been systematically annexed and its people completely enslaved.

You are aware of the war declared on us by Paul Biya, president of LRC, on 30th November 2017. we want to quickly draw your attention to the research, Human Rights Abuses in the Cameroon Anglophone Crisis, A Submission of Evidence to UK Parliament, by a team of researchers at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. It was funded by the John Fell Fund (0007222-BAD00180), the Global Challenges Research Fund (KCD00141-BA02.01), a Knowledge Exchange Grant (KCD00042), and a University College Visiting Fellowship. The research emphasises a variety of pressing concerns including the continued escalation of the conflict between The Republic of Cameroun and Ambazonia.

In line with the US Congress S.RES. 684, the research result summarises as follows:

That numerous reports from human rights organisations and the international press, such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International and BBC News Africa, emphasise that Cameroun security forces, particularly, the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), are engaged in a systematic campaign of terror and atrocious crimes against Ambazonians, including tactics of targeted property destruction involving mass arson on over 400 villages, extra-judicial killings and summary executions of our citizens, including pregnant mothers, children, physically and mentally challenged persons, the elderly, nurses, and diverse acts of sexual assault.

Besides, the US Congress S.RES. 684 illustrates and emphasises the following:

-That the official actions and policies of Cameroon have repressed Ambazonians politically and economically since 1961, and throughout his tenure as president of Cameroun, Paul Biya has openly mistreated Ambazonians through government policies, and has crippled many parastatals and private enterprises in Ambazonia;

- Affirms as bogus, the 1996 Decentralization Law of Cameroon, and the December 2019 Law (from its Major National Dialogue) adopted to enable it;

- Affirms that approximately 3,000,000 Ambazonians are in need of humanitarian assistance, approximately 60,000 are refugees in Nigeria, and approximately 700,000 internally displaced (estimates of the United Nations Agencies);

- Affirms that Cameroon is noted for recruiting child soldiers in governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces, or government-supported armed groups, and is listed on the Child Soldiers Prevention Act List in the 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report;

- Affirms that France maintains considerable interests in Cameroon, significant economic and security cooperation, but has failed to stem atrocities committed in Ambazonia and is not willing to support a stronger international action to seek resolution to the conflict;

- Affirms the January 24, 2019, declaration of the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Cameroon, and of a group of former world leaders and 5 Nobel Peace Laureates on June 22, 2020, respectively, that Cameroon can no longer be a forgotten crisis; it needs to be high on US agenda, and on the agenda of the UN Security Council meeting and all UNOCA sessions before the UNSC.

We are equally drawing your attention to the fact that shortly after Genocide Watch on August 10, 2020 published and categorised the alarming genocidal situation in Ambazonia as Stage 9: Extermination and Stage 10: Denial, Cameroun on December 8, 2020, unilaterally suspended the activities of Doctors Without Borders in the Northern Zone (Bamenda region) of Ambazonia, and has since then prevented humanitarian assistance services such as inflow of necessary medical supplies, as well as essential aid to the suffering Ambazonian people, resulting from continued violence and destruction of critical infrastructure as indicated in section 32, and corroborated by declarations in sections 41 and 86 of the December 1, 2020 UNOCA Report- S/2020/1154.

In the past 4 years and counting, Ambazonia nationalists and their defence forces have faced tribulations from your likes (bootlickers, enablers, infiltrators, and sympathizers) of the Biya regime of LRC. However, we have remained strong and resilient thanks to our firm strategies that are informed by the triad approach of internationalization, targeted diplomacy, and self-defences, and contingent on prevailing circumstance. Within our defence framework is the plan to arm every block, spread the enemy thin and increase the cost of the occupation. Despite our shortcomings, we have achieved over 80% of our plan. We are reading the scripts very carefully and understand exactly where La Republique du Cameroun now stands in terms of her survival. It is just a matter of little time for it to crumble like a pack of cards.

This assessment is meant to let you know that there is no way La Republique du Cameroun can be salvaged. We have advised that instead of trying to safe a regime/system that is very intransigent to change, and would only maintain its nepotistic status quo, the option is to accelerate its demise to safe its people from an already foreseeable calamity, and in favor of a free Ambazonia. Otherwise, we still have the capacity to resist it until its allies and sympathizers will back out and leave it in a far worse situation than America and its NATO allies have left its Afghan-backed government.

Therefore, we entreat you to urge your colleagues of the elite class to come abreast with these realities and return home. We advise you to renounce the La Republique du Cameroun parliament as long advised by the United Nations (UN) in 1990 through the intervention of Fon Fongum Gorji Dinka. We note that it is the only option of three yet to be achieved in relation to the UN advice of 1990. A proclamation formalizing the restoration of our countrys independence with geographical identity as Ambazonia was long attained. A formal request for a seat at the United Nations, including a request for the UN to put La Republique out of Ambazonia was long submitted. However, the admissibility of this request remains contingent on our supposed elected representatives renouncing the Parliament of La Republique du Cameroun. Also remember that in 1992, President Biya acknowledged Ambazonia as an independent nation through the decision of the Bamenda High Court Case HCB/28/92, whose proceedings appeared in Cameroun Newspaper, Le Messager - English Edition of 10 February 1993.

In the interest of the vulnerable, who constitute the majority of our people, this moment necessitates that we all take a public stance for history to record how we contributed in the freedom of homeland and intervened in the greatest moment of the peril of our people.

While we hope to maintain good relations in this endeavour, you can be rest assured that the AGovC/ADF will continue to arm our people in self-defence, protect the vulnerable, and resist the occupation until our freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity is achieved.

Accept from us, sir, the expression of our finest salutation.
Combo Treatment with New Breast Cancer Drugs Is Promising



When my mothers breast cancer recurred shortly after she finished treatment, we were both shocked. We wanted to know why the chemotherapy she endured didnt work for her when it had worked for so many other women. This question has led me on a career path focused on identifying differences in the genome between patients tumors and on understanding how these differences affect response to treatment.

I work with a wonderful team of scientists in my lab to compare the genomes of hundreds of breast tumors. We have discovered drivers of tumor-cell growth that are unique to a subset of breast cancer patients and that can be targeted with new combinations of existing drugs. Weve also identified genomic differences between patients who respond to treatment and those whose cancers recur.

I think my mother would appreciate that her struggle with cancer recurrence has inspired our work to identify new therapies to stop tumor-cell growth and determine which treatment is best for each patient.Katherine Varley, PhD

See the highlight about Dr. Varley's published study.


Photo: Contributed Kelowna-Lake Country MP Tracy Gray

I want to start by saying that its an honour to have been re-elected to serve once again as the Member of Parliament for Kelowna-Lake Country.

My promise to you is that I will continue to work hard on your behalf through our local constituency office and to stand-up for the priorities of Kelowna-Lake Country in Ottawa. Im committed to ensuring that the priorities of our community are heard in Ottawa and that the government works to address our needs.

As I stated on election night, I want to take a moment to thank my family, all the volunteers and donors who supported me and also thank the other candidates and to their volunteers. I believe that it is important that our community comes together with compassion for each other following a divisive federal election.

My last column was in August, prior to the election, and there has certainly been a lot thats happened since then.

Prime Minister (Justin) Trudeau called a $600+ million snap election during the height of the Okanagans wildfire season, and we had enhanced health measures put in place in the Central Okanagan to respond to the rise in COVID-19 cases. At the same time, in Afghanistan, the Taliban forcibly took control of the country, with Afghan citizens who helped Canadians during the war, such as interpreters, seeking help to escape from the Taliban.

Even with all this, it was clear that the Liberals felt the time was right for them to call an election in an attempted power-grab.

Thankfully, Canadians did not fall for it and held them to a minority government once again.

Its important to note that this election was the second time in less than two years that the Liberals shut down Parliament, with the first being when they prorogued Parliament in 2020. What doesnt get enough attention when Parliament is shut down is that it causes all committees to cease to exist and stops all ongoing work in Parliament. This includes any legislation that could be at various stages of the process which have yet to be passed. Government departments function, but activity slows down and many initiatives and programs are put on hold until after the election.

I was sitting on the International Trade Committee which was undertaking critical studies on clean technology exports and getting Covid-19 vaccines to developing countries. Unfortunately, reports and recommendations that were going to be made to the government simply will not happen because the election was called.

Since the Sept. 20 election, many people have been reaching out to me to ask: What happens now?

Locally, being re-elected means I have our experienced team already in place and we can immediately get back to work in responding to constituent requests and we can get back to work immediately.

Ive also already been making calls and attending meetings on important local issues, like the labour shortage and the need to re-open Kelowna International Airport to international flights.

In Ottawa, the prime minister will announce his cabinet soon and opposition parties will be announce their shadow ministers (critics) soon as well. The government will recall Parliament on a date of its choosing, which the prime minister has indicated will be before the end of fall.

Once Parliament is recalled, we will be back up and running as we were before the election was called.

Ill be working hard in Ottawa to hold the government to account and put our priorities forward to the government. While in Kelowna-Lake Country, I will continue to meet with you and work on your requests and better understand your priorities for the upcoming Parliament.

Im off to Ottawa next week and will have more updates in my next report.

As always, please be sure to reach out if you have any thoughts, ideas or concerns and if you need any assistance with federal services.

I also encourage you to sign up for my regular emails through my website to stay up to date on my work in both Ottawa and Kelowna-Lake Countrytracygraymp.ca and [email protected].
Photo: The Canadian Press Alberta Premier Jason Kenney takes off his mask before giving a COVID-19 update in Edmonton on Sept. 21, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Alberta says its 25,000 public sector workers will soon be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or regular negative tests.

The employees must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 30 and, if not vaccinated after that date, will have to show negative tests paid for at their own expense.

Tim Grant, the head of the public service, says staff who refuse to comply won't be fired and will be placed on unpaid leave.

School boards will also be asked to implement a vaccine mandate for workers, including teachers.

Alberta is dealing with a COVID-19 crisis that has seen well over 1,000 new cases a day for weeks while filling intensive care wards to almost twice their normal capacity.

Premier Jason Kenney says the province is finalizing an agreement to receive up to 10 medical staff from the Canadian Armed Forces, along with more from the Red Cross and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Doctors have called for a swift lockdown to stem the tide of COVID-19 patients, but Kenney says the government is waiting to see if recently implemented health restrictions work before taking further action.
Photo: The Canadian Press Steven Ward, an addictions counsellor who was a lifelong friend of Rodney Levi.

Video evidence and witness testimony at the inquest into the police shooting of Rodney Levi revealed Thursday that in the span of 37 seconds the New Brunswick man was Tasered three times and shot twice in the chest.

Daniel Bell of Renous, N.B., testified that on June, 12, 2020 he was visiting the home of a pastor when he was told someone had knives and police had been called. Bell said he was inside the kitchen of the house in Sunny Corner, N.B., when two RCMP officers arrived.

The witness told the inquest into the Indigenous man's death that he was not able to hear what was being said outside the closed window, but at one point he did hear an officer say, Drop the knives. Bell said he took out his phone to shoot video when he saw an officer pull out a stun gun.

The 37-second video shows Levi being jolted by the stun gun and dropping the knives. He then picks them up, and as he stands is shot twice, falling to the ground. There is a distinctive pop-pop sound.

Before the video was played for the inquest, many of Levis family members  including his 72-year-old mother Mary Ann Francis  left the room. Those who remained gasped as the video played, and some bolted from the room crying.

The shooting occurred outside the home of Brodie MacLeod, next to the Boom Road Pentecostal Church where he was pastor.

MacLeod told the inquiry that Levi, a member of his congregation, showed up at around 5 p.m. that day asking to talk. "He was erratic, pacing, not his typical self," MacLeod said. The pastor said he had seen such behaviour before and concluded Levi was under the influence of something.

He said Levi, who was from the Metepenagiag First Nation, talked about wanting to move out west but said if that wasnt successful, hed want to "end things." MacLeod said he invited Levi to stay for supper. He said Levi later went inside, and then he heard someone say "Knife, knife, hes got a knife."

MacLeod's wife called police and two officers arrived a short time later and began talking with Levi, who was on the back deck. MacLeod said Levi became agitated and refused to put down the weapons, and that's when an officer fired a stun gun at Levi.

"The first Taser bounced off of him and he laughed and said, 'Youre going to have to put a bullet in me,' " MacLeod testified.

He said the second jolt had some impact, and on the third Levi dropped a knife, picked it up and lunged towards the second officer who had his gun pulled. "Thats when he was shot," MacLeod said.

Earlier Thursday, an addictions counsellor and lifelong friend of Levi testified that Levi didn't get the mental health help he needed before the incident that led to his death.

Steven Ward told the inquest that he had spoken with Levi a number of times the day he died. Ward had been working as a fisheries officer at the time because the treatment centre in nearby Eel Ground, N.B., where he was also employed, was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said Levi seemed upbeat about plans to move to Western Canada for work and to get away from the influence of drugs. An autopsy confirmed Levi, 48, had amphetamine and methamphetamine in his body at the time of the shooting.

Ward told the five-member coroner's jury he is a former addict, and he said there is a need for community-based services to help people with mental health and addiction issues.

"It's got to start with the community healing itself," he told the inquest. He said Levi was reaching out for help but had not been able to get it.

He said he believes Levi's death could have been avoided. "I don't believe Rodney should be dead," Ward said. "I believe those officers should be taught in de-escalating."

Dr. Syed Ahmed, an emergency room physician, described for the inquest efforts made to save Levi's life. He testified that paramedics reported no signs of life for 41 minutes, adding that advanced CPR was done for another 30 minutes before Levi was declared dead. He had been shot twice in the chest.

The shooting was investigated by Quebec's police watchdog, the Bureau des enquetes independantes, which submitted a report to New Brunswick prosecutors in December. It determined the officers on the scene believed Levi was using force against them. Levi had been wielding two knives, and officers shot him to protect themselves and others, the probe concluded.
Photo: The Canadian Press

A fire at a hospital in the Romanian port city of Constanta killed at least seven COVID-19 patients, authorities said Friday.

All the victims were in the intensive care unit of Constantas Hospital for Infectious Diseases, said Constantin Amarandei, head of the city's emergency inspectorate.

Interior minister Lucian Bode said Friday that the early official figure of nine dead was wrongly reported. We are talking about seven people  five in hospital and two after being transferred to other hospitals, he said.

The health ministry said in a statement that 113 patients were in the medical unit of the hospital and all the survivors have now been evacuated. The fire was extinguished by mid-morning but its cause is not yet known.

President Klaus Iohannis said in a statement Friday that the Romanian state has failed in its fundamental mission to protect its citizens.

I am horrified by the tragedy that took place this morning at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Constanta, he said. It is a terrible new drama that confirms the deficient infrastructure of the Romanian health system.

Iohannis said that Romanias outdated health care system has been put under an unimaginable pressure by the pandemic.

Romanias hospitals are facing an onslaught of hospitalizations due to a rapid surge of COVID-19 infections, which is stretching the countrys hospitals to maximum capacity.

Romania on Thursday recorded its highest number of infections since the pandemic started  12,032 new cases.

Romania has the lowest spending on health care in the EU relative to GDP at 5.2%, compared with an EU average of 10%.

The country of 19 million has had two other deadly hospital fires within the past year, which have raised concerns about the countrys aging hospital infrastructure.
Photo: The Canadian Press Michael Spavor, director of Paektu Cultural Exchange, talks during a Skype interview in Yanji, China.

Michael Spavor is thanking Canadians and the world for their support one week after his 1,020-day ordeal in Chinese prison came to an end.

Spavor, along with Michael Kovrig, were released a week ago after the United States dropped its prosecution of Chinese high-tech executive Meng Wanzhou.

The two men had been arrested and convicted of spying by China in what is widely seen as retaliation for the RCMP's Dec. 1, 2018, arrest of Meng at the Vancouver airport on an American extradition warrant.

The saga came to an end when the U.S. entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with Meng that resulted in charges against her being dropped and the extradition request withdrawn in a Vancouver court.

Meng, who was under house arrest in Vancouver in a luxury mansion, was set free and was on a chartered airliner back to China at the same moment as Kovrig and Spavor departed on a plane out of China accompanied by Dominic Barton, Canada's ambassador to the country.

Spavor arrived in his hometown of Calgary early Saturday morning aboard a Canadian Forces Challenger jet, along with Kovrig, and the pair were greeted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before Kovrig made the final leg of his journey to Toronto.

I'm overjoyed to be finally reunited with my family. It's humbling as I begin to understand the continued support that we've received from Canadians and those around the world, thank you," Spavor said in a statement that was released Friday by Global Affairs Canada.

"I'm appreciating being outside and the simple things around me."

Spavor and Kovrig spent almost all of their time in captivity in separate prisons, much of it in solitary confinement.

The message included an attached photo of a smiling Spavor and a large grey dog.

A statement from Global Affairs accompanying the photo and statement said: "At this time, the family requests that you continue to respect their privacy  no further comment will be provided."
He called himself the "little brother of Jesus," and he became a saint by bringing the presence of Christ's love to the poorest of the poor on the margins of the Sahara Desert.

Blessed Father Charles de Foucauld

1858-1916

During his troubled youth, however, it seemed hardly likely that sanctity  or even faith and love  would be associated with the dissipated life of the Viscount Charles Eugene de Foucauld. Losing his childhood faith, Charles spent a dozen wayward years as a profligate, soldier, and explorer-adventurer, but was deeply afflicted by the inadequacy of it all. In this time, he tasted the bitterness of a godless life.

Charles was born in 1858 to a distinguished French noble family, and as heir to great material wealth. Both his parents died when he was six years old, and he was raised by his maternal grandfather, with the intermittent company of other relatives. Still, the absence of his parents affected him deeply, and he became an unruly adolescent: intellectually gifted but lazy, rendered agnostic by careless reading and his own indifference, undisciplined and apparently resentful of all authority.

In 1878, Charles reluctantly joined the French cavalry to please his grandfather. He soon became famous for his lavish parties, extravagant spending, and improper liaisons, none of which could assuage what he later acknowledged was an overwhelming loneliness. A listless, insubordinate soldier, he was temporarily invigorated by martial zeal when his regiment was called to fight in Algeria. But something more long-lasting also began at that time: Charles' small role in France's colonial misadventures was the occasion for God to stir up his soul. He watched the Muslims in their fidelity to prayer, and it seemed to open up in him a sense of wonder at the Mystery greater than himself and the whole world. After his military service, Charles determined to pursue this fascination into the desert, spending a whole year exploring Morocco disguised as a rabbi, and eventually writing an authoritative, award-winning book on this region.

Charles returned to Paris in 1886, with his extended family still much concerned about his erratic behavior. They hardly could imagine that he secretly visited churches, his heart crying out, "O God, if you exist, let me come to know you!" Yet his older cousin, Marie de Bondy, had known Charles since his childhood. She intuited the pain and the questions and the troubles of his soul. Rather than argue with him, she offered him love and friendship. Her tenderness and goodness penetrated beyond his perplexity, and led him to seek out her great friend and spiritual guide, Father Henri Huvelin. This learned and holy priest knew well how Christ's grace opens doors for many restless minds. When Charles made his acquaintance and requested to "discuss" Catholicism, Father Huvelin knew that what Marie de Bondy's wandering, weary cousin really needed was sacramental confession.

In October 1886, Charles de Foucauld confessed and received Holy Communion like a child, and his thirsty soul was filled with the certainty of faith and the ardor of a great love. "As soon as I believed in God, I understood that I could not do otherwise than to live for him alone." Thus, also, was his vocation born, which is an even better story than all that led up to it. And these two great friends who led Charles to Christ  Marie de Bondy and Henri Huvelin  remained in communication with him and supported his unique vocational path for the rest of their lives.
Argentina's market resurgence

01 October 2021

Argentina's economy posted growth of 17.9 per cent YoY in the second quarter of 2021, recovering strongly after the contraction in the same period of 2020. One of the areas driving this pick-up is the construction sector, which has been seeing a resurgence in demand after the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.



The country is also set to go to the polls for a mid-term election on 14 November, but the government, led by Alberto Fernandez, has already weathered a blow as opposition parties won several important races in a congressional primary vote held last month. If this carries through to the election, the government could lose its majority in the Senate. The decline in the presidents popularity has been attributed to Argentina's economic recession and strict lockdown restrictions, which exacerbated the countrys economic struggle even further.



However, the government announced the lifting of almost all COVID-related restrictions last week, citing the falling rates of cases and deaths in the country. This move could unshackle the economy and the construction sector, giving way to further improvement in demand.



As for cement consumption, it climbed 18.2 per cent YoY to 1.084Mt in August this year, according to the Asociacion de Fabricantes de Cemento Portland (AFCP). Pent-up demand has seen volumes rise since restrictions were eased and they have the potential to keep increasing on the back of the positive signs shown by the residential market and construction sector.



Loma Negra, the largest cement producer in the domestic market, saw its 2Q21 net revenue advance 46.6 per cent YoY to ARS14,269m (US$147m). The company noted that this was mainly driven by its core cement segment, with bagged cement sales soaring on account of household and retail demand rising above pre-pandemic levels. The company is also due to commission its 2.7Mta LAmali expansion project, which represents an investment of around US$350m.



Earlier this year, Holcim Argentina also inaugurated a new clinker production and grinding line at its Malagueno unit, increasing capacity to 4.7Mta from around 2.2Mta. The new production line is a great bet on the domestic market; and responds to the growing national demand for materials for residential construction, private investment and infrastructure works necessary to sustain the growth potential of Argentina, said Christian Dedeu, CEO of Holcim Argentina.



Outlook

Looking ahead, it is key that the country maintains the economic recovery that is expected to be seen in 2021. However, with uncertainty high in the run-up to the mid-term elections, it remains to be seen what the outcome will be and whether the resulting policies from those in power are enough to avert another economic crisis for the country.



Meanwhile, cement producers are investing in expansions which would take the country to around 23Mta of capacity on a consumption which is expected to reach 11-11.5Mta in 2022. It is clear that cement manufacturers are keen to invest to support the countrys booming residential and infrastructure segments over the coming years. As consumption climbs 36 per cent YoY in the 8M21, producers will be hoping that, whatever the economic outcome is on the larger scale, Argentinas residential and construction sector can maintain the pace generated over the past few months.

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A woman told police that her son was driving down the road around the 4000 block of Hixson

Pike when his vehicle was vandalized. She said her son told her that he was in the far left lane when a man walked across the street. The son said that three men on motorcycles surrounded his vehicle. He said one motorcyclist went on the driver's side and the other two went to his passenger's side. According to the son, one of the motorcyclists on the passenger side then hit his passenger side mirror and they all drove off. The woman said that the passenger side mirror is completely turned the wrong way and the glass is shattered, causing about $500 worth of damage. She said the mirror is the only part of the vehicle that is damaged.

* * *

A car was reportedly smoking and possibly on fire at the Murphy USA gas station, 463 Signal Mountain Road. Police found the vehicle to be overheated with smoke coming from the engine compartment. Fire crews arrived and were not needed.

* * *

A woman on Benton Avenue told police that a black male was in the middle of the street yelling while allegedly wielding a gun. Police spoke with the man, who said that he and a neighbor got into an argument. He said the neighbor told him that he needs to keep his dog in his own yard. During the argument, the man said he thought he saw the neighbor with a handgun. Police located the neighbor and detained him, The neighbor gave the same story regarding the man's dog. The neighbor said that they were yelling at each other, but he never displayed a firearm during the argument. He said he does not want the man's dog urinating and defecating on his property. The neighbor said he also has a large dog that could potentially hurt the man's dog.

* * *

An anonymous caller told police there was a vehicle in the parking lot at 1309 Appling St. Police found a white Jeep Cherokee backed into a spot with the seat belts buckled. Police ran the VIN through info channel and found that the Jeep was confirmed as stolen from Murfreesboro. There was damage on the vehicle's driver side door, passenger side mirror and passenger side doors. Police were able to get four sets of prints off the vehicle and turned them in. The vehicle was towed by White's Auto, 4165 Bonny Oaks Dr. Vehicle was taken out of NCIC.

* * *

While on a disorder with a weapon call on Benton Avenue, police found a single 9mm shell casing on the side of the roadway. No property damage was found. The casing was taken to Property.

* * *



Police responded to a stuck vehicle at a residence on Runyan Drive. Officers spoke with a man who was attempting to drive a U-Haul truck (AZ tag) with a trailer up his driveway, and had become stuck. Officers assisted him in getting the trailer off the truck and called for Cain's Wrecker to get the truck unstuck from the driveway.

* * *

While on routine patrol on Rossville Boulevard, an officer observed a white SUV with temp tags run a stop sign at Fagan and W. 38th. Police attempted to catch up to the vehicle, but it sped away at speeds of over 80 mph. The vehicle was last seen turning right on Rossville Boulevard.

* * *

A woman on E. 47th Street reported a person walking into a trailer that is parked in a lot across the street from her. She told police she was sitting outside her house when she saw the person go into the camper, at least five minutes prior to making the call to police. She said that the son of the camper's owner asked her if she would watch out for people going inside of the camper. Officers walked over to the camper and observed the door to be open. As soon as officers shone a light into the open door, a black male stepped out. The man, later identified, told police that he had permission from "Corey" who was the son of the camper's owner, to be there. Police checked with the woman and she confirmed that he was allowed inside of the camper.

* * *

While on routine patrol, police observed a black Jeep Wrangler leaving the Motel 6, 2440 Williams St. The TN tag came back to a VW. Police initiated a stop at W. 25th and Broad. On approach, the vehicle sped off, turning on the on ramp to I-24, then crossing the grass and exiting off the off ramp back to Williams Street. Police did not pursue. The driver appeared to be a white male.

* * *

A suspicious person was reported in the parking lot of the Workout Anytime, 5922 Hixson Pike. Officers found a man sleeping in the passenger seat of a silver Mercedes-Benz in front of the business and spoke with him. He said that he was a member of the gym and that he came to the facility around 2-3 a.m. daily. He said he was waiting on the young people in the store to leave

before he went inside, and had fallen asleep. The man showed no warrants.

* * *

A man told police that while on his way to visit his sister on E. 25th Street, he stopped at the Exxon, 702 Central Ave., to see if the gas station was open. He said he left his vehicle, a 2016 Lincoln MKZ (TN tag), running, but had the key fob in his pocket. He said that while he was out of the vehicle, a brown skinned female with long hair wearing black and white clothing got into his

vehicle and drove off. He said the vehicle had his work supplies, a bag with the phrase "Men of Valor" on it, which contained books for work, and a Hewlett Packard laptop computer. The man's LG smart phone was also in the vehicle. The man did not have the serial numbers for the computer or the cell phone. He said the vehicle left heading towards the East Lake area. Officers checked the area for the vehicle, but to no avail. Police had the vehicle entered into NCIC. Another officer gave the man a ride to his sister's house.



* * *



A suspicious vehicle was reported parked in an alleyway behind 1712 Tunnel Blvd. Police confirmed the vehicle to be stolen out of Rhea County. The Rhea County Sheriff's Office was unable to contact the owner. The vehicle was towed by Les's Wrecker and was removed from NCIC.

* * *

A man on Hickory Valley Road told police he was contacted by a "Mr. Justin Kalabin." He said that Mr. Kalabin was offering to send him a check in order to fraudulently get money from him. The man showed police the virtual check that was sent to him. He also gave police the phone number of "Mr. Kalabin." He said he has not lost or gained any money from this occurrence.

* * *

Police were called to the homeless camp next to the Wellness Center on report of a brush fire. Grass next to the Wellness Center and the Norfolk Southern Railroad was on fire, called in by Norfolk Southern police. The officer used the fire extinguisher in his patrol car to put out some of the fire in the grass. A homeless man had a tent near the fire where trash had been burned and spread. He was trying to get items out of his tent and also was walking through where the fire was. He was directed away from the fire by police. He said he didn't start it and didn't know who did. Chattanooga Fire Station 1 arrived on scene and put the rest out.

* * *

A woman on Cuscowilla Trail told police she had received a call from a man who said he was her nephew. He then said he was in an accident and was arrested and needed her to bring him bail money to get him out. She said she recognized that it was not her nephew's voice and questioned the man and he hung up the phone. No further information was available other than the caller ID of "Linda Brown." The woman's house was placed on the Watch List for two weeks since the man knew her address.

* * *



A theft was reported from Market City Center, 728 Market St. The man reporting the theft said he did not want to prosecute, he only wanted the person trespassed from the property. The thief was not on scene when police arrived.

* * *

Police noticed a suspicious vehicle at Vandergriff Park, 1415 Gadd Road. The black Oldsmobile Aurora suddenly pulled into a parking lot. The driver exited the vehicle and quickly entered the passenger side door. When officers pulled up, the driver immediately exited the vehicle and offered to explain what had just happened. He said he was returning home from the Waffle House and had spilled his drink in his lap. He said he had pulled in to clean it up from both himself and his passenger seat. He was checked for warrants; none found. The vehicle was not stolen.
Authorities said Friday afternoon that a coordinated, multi-agency law enforcement search operation for a man wanted in a Chattanooga murder had been initiated in the vicinity of the 1000 block of Sequoyah Access Road.

Earlier the search at Soddy Daisy for fugitive James Michael Farris had been suspended.

Authorities said there would be extra security at five Soddy Daisy schools on Friday.

The Sheriff's Office said late Thursday, "Earlier this afternoon, a multi-agency search operation occurred in the vicinity of the 1000 block of Sequoyah Access Road for wanted fugitive James Michael Farris.

"Throughout the afternoon and evening, law enforcement personnel from the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, Chattanooga Police Department, Soddy Daisy Police Department, U.S. Marshals Office, Tennessee Highway Patrol, 911 Communications District, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation searched for Farris.





"Several technological assets were used in todays search efforts including aircraft from the THP and TBI aviation units and drones from the HCSO unmanned aerial vehicle unit (UAV).





"At this time, after an exhaustive search, Farris has not been located and this multi-agency search operation has ended. However HCSO personnel will continue to work with the Chattanooga Police Department and our law enforcement partners to actively investigate Farris whereabouts.





"As an added precaution, the HCSO will station additional law enforcement personnel at the following schools in the vicinity of the 1000 block of Sequoyah Access Road on Friday.





- Soddy Daisy High School

- Soddy Daisy Middle School

- Soddy Daisy Elementary

- John Allen Elementary

- Sequoyah High School





"The HCSO would like to thank the citizens of Soddy Daisy for their support and cooperation during todays search as well as the Hamilton County Rescue Service and the various businesses who donated food and drinks for officers."





Anyone who has any information as to the whereabouts of Farris should contact 911 immediately.

County School officials said, "Hamilton County Schools prioritizes the safety and well-being of our students and staff above all else. "The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office provided an update around midnight that after an exhaustive search, wanted fugitive James Farris has not been located and the multi-agency search operation has ended. "Although the multi-agency search has ended, local law enforcement will continue to actively investigate Farris whereabouts and asks anyone with information to contact 911 immediately. "Hamilton County Schools will continue normal school operations today at your students school with increased security, out of an abundance of caution. "We appreciate local law enforcement for their efforts to resolve this situation and for their support of our schools as we operate with increased security today. "Thank you for your continued patience, flexibility, and support of our school safety protocols."

Farris is wanted in connection to a shooting investigation being conducted by the Chattanooga Police Department.




Missions Week at Lee University will take place Oct. 4-8, featuring several special services and events. This years theme, Light It Up, is based on Ephesians 5:14.

Since 2019, Missions Week has moved from a student support model to a student activation model. The focus has changed from supporting a particular project to helping with financial support for students to live on mission.

Missions Week is so new to so many students because we have not been able to have it for two years, said Rob Fultz, Lees campus pastor. The goal of Missions Week is to activate our student body to live on mission, both here and abroad. To help with that, we sell shirts, and 100% of the money raised goes into a missions fund to help student go on missions trips.

Missions Week will include special chapel services that will take place on Tuesday and Thursday at 10:45 a.m. Brad Jones, pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta and executive director of the Passion conferences, will speak in chapel on Thursday.

A special offering will be taken for missions in each chapel service.

Missions Week will also feature an event of baptism on Friday, Oct. ,8 in Pangle Hall at 7 p.m. According to Mr. Fultz, the events purpose is to encourage students to live on mission where they are and wherever God leads them beyond Lee. Additionally, there will be opportunities to hear from and meet other missions organizations on campus.

The Oct. 8 event is one of the most enriching and powerful experiences I have had at Lee, said Mr. Fultz. It is amazing to watch students baptize their peers and inspire each other to live on mission.

Missions Week has been carried out in honor of Lee University student Dee Lavender, who died on a summer mission trip to Panama just before her 21st birthday. Missions Week projects have been in place for more than 20 years, and a week devoted to missions has been part of Lee programming since the 1940s.

All money raised from T-shirt sales, individual donations, and offerings in chapel during Missions Week will go directly to putting students on the mission field through a Lee University missions scholarship fund for students by students. Students will be able to apply directly through Campus Ministries starting in the spring 2021.

Missions Week T-shirts are available in Lees Campus Ministries office for a $15 donation to the project.

Chapel services begin at 10:45 a.m. and are open to the public.

For more information or to make a donation, visit leeuniversity.edu/missions-week or contact Campus Ministries at 614-8420.




Senator Bill Hagerty, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, joined Ranking Member Jim Risch and 21 other GOP colleagues in introducing the Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act.

He said, We have seen no accountability from this Administration after Bidens disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistana poorly planned and poorly executed withdrawal that was driven by a public relations calendar rather than actual conditions on the ground. When I traveled abroad to meet with our Allies in Britain and NATO, it was evident that the United States has lost credibility among our allies. The Taliban, who now control Afghanistan, are conducting new atrocities each day and suppressing the rights of women and young girls throughout the country. This legislation is imperative to bring accountability to the Administration, to repair our countrys credibility, and to prevent the Taliban from being recognized as a legitimate government. I am pleased to join my colleagues in this effort, and will continue to press for answers and accountability because thats what the citizens of Tennessee and those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces deserve.

This legislation:



 Establishes a State Department task force to focus on the evacuation of American citizens, legal permanent residents, and Afghan Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) who are still stuck in Afghanistan.



 Imposes oversight mechanisms on the processing of SIVs and refugees.

 Requires strategies for counterterrorism and for the disposition of Taliban-captured U.S. equipment.

 Sanctions the Taliban and others in Afghanistan for terrorism, drug-trafficking, and human rights abuses.

 Authorizes sanctions on those providing support to the Taliban, including foreign governments supporting the Taliban.

 States that the United States should not recognize any member of the Taliban as the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States or as the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Nations.

 Calls for a comprehensive review of foreign assistance to entities that support the Taliban.

 Places restrictions on non-humanitarian foreign assistance to Afghanistan.

Text of the legislation can be found here.
I was saddened to learn of the recent passing of my good friend, Army Colonel Tom McConnell. I first met Tom in the early 80s working on the Armed Forces Week Committee. He directed the Hamilton County Schools ROTC units for nearly 25 years. As the parade announcer, Colonel McConnell was most helpful in gathering information about the schools' ROTC parade participation. He even connected me with high school band directors whose units would march in the parade. When there were threats of rain on parade day, Colonel McConnell would respond, Earl, dont you know it doesnt rain in the military.

I can say firsthand this man loved the Lord Jesus Christ. He was Roman Catholic and I am a Presbyterian. We shared many conversations about Jesus and his death, burial and resurrection. I would meet him at Karls Restaurant in Hixson for both breakfast and lunch. He was one of the most upbeat individuals Ive ever had conversation with.

We shared verses like Phil. 4:13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me." He told me several times how much he was looking forward to seeing his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and thank him for dying for him. The colonel also liked John 3:30, He must increase, but I must decrease. As we approached Sept. 11, I asked the Colonel for a verse. He responded Psalm 91:1. Then added, Get It.

He also was a Southern gospel music fan and told me of listening to my programs down through the years. He enjoyed Gerald Wolfes Hymn Sings. I asked his favorite, the Colonel said, All of them. I do know he liked the Cathedrals and I Know Who Holds Tomorrow."

Colonel McConnells accomplishments were many. He was very proud of graduating from the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. He didnt want to dwell on those earthly accolades.

He started the Deacons Table to nourish spirituality and discipleship among its membership with scripture, prayer and a right relationship with Christ. He said his Spanish wasnt every good but he enjoyed participating in selected Spanish masses.

He worked tirelessly in the Freedoms Foundation Chattanooga Chapter. Past President Gene Pike said, There will never be another Tom McConnell."

Retired LTC Army Colonel Ray Adkins served on several committees with Mr. McConnell. Mr. Adkins said he could always depend on the Colonel to follow through with whatever he was assigned to do and complete the task on time.

I enjoyed sitting next to the Colonel at the Friday luncheons with retired General Carl Levi at Wallys. He would often mention students he was very proud of. The Colonel was just a positive person in a world filled with a lot of confusion. Retired Hamilton County School Superintendent Dr. Don Loftis said one time, Colonel McConnell was always prepared and ready." Loftis called the Colonel a model soldier. The late Hamilton County Commissioner Curtis Adams was a good friend of the Colonel. Commissioner Adams said he received a lot of good advice about the schools from Mr. McConnell.

The last time I saw the Colonel was with Senator Bill Hagerty Sept. 8, 2021 at the Charles H. Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center. He thanked me for taking his picture with Senator Hagerty. His last words to me, I sure miss you on the radio."

The annual Armed Forces Day Parade just wont be the same without seeing Colonel Tom McConnell and his beautiful smile. Hell be buried with full military honors at Chattanoogas National Cemetery.

Earl Freudenberg






Senator Marsha Blackburn along with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) sent a letter to President Biden urging him to tell the migrant caravan approaching the southern border, You must turn around.

Their letter said, "We write today to again express grave concerns about the escalating humanitarian and public safety crisis at our southern border.

Despite your administrations insistence that the United States does not have open borders, each month hundreds of thousands of migrants are emboldened by your policies to make the journey north. And now a caravan of over 15,000 migrants led by smugglers is making its way through Mexico towards our border.

"For the sake of the vulnerable migrants preyed upon by smugglers, the brave men and women of your U.S. Border Patrol currently under siege, and those state and local law enforcement who work tirelessly in border communities to keep Americans safe, we call on you to immediately send a clear and concise signal to the massive caravan en route that they must turn around. Smuggling and trafficking should not be tolerated by the United States.

"We cannot continue to surrender our southern border to drug cartels and coyotes. An open border like ours is a green light to those who see human life as a commodity. These traffickers, smugglers, and other terrorist groups wish only to line their pockets and cause harm, no matter the cost. The continued capitulation constitutes an unconscionable threat to our national security. Terrorist and other transnational criminal syndicates will keep exploiting our weakness if you do not act. President Biden, you can still prevent further human suffering by sending a clear message to the caravan  'You Must Turn Around.' Failure to do so would be patently reckless."
A United Methodist bishop can sometimes draw solemnity from those around him or her due to the dignified position as a leader of the large Christian denomination and the seriousness of peoples faith.

However, Bishop Richard C. Looney has also been known over the years for drawing a few laughs. Quick witted, he has shown a skill for putting a listener at ease with a funny story, often with a tale from his long ministerial career or childhood as the son of a preacher.

Now, the former area pastors stories have gone from the pulpit to paper with the recent publication of his humor-focused book, The Fun of Being Looney. The book tells his life story through small anecdotes rippled with humor and features a key theme  that being a Christian is supposed to be a joyous experience.

He even uses Jesus as an example, saying in his description of the book, People flocked to Jesus to share in the joy He exhibited. In sharing joy and the promise of abundant life, Jesus exhibited a delicious sense of humor.

Remember the man with a log in his eye trying to remove a speck from the eye of a neighbor?

Bishop Looney  who began his ministerial career at Rising Fawn, Ga., in the late 1950s and later served at White Oak UMC from 1968-72 and as Chattanooga District superintendent in the late 1970s  said he had the book in mind for several years.

People who were used to hearing him tell jokes said he should do a humor book, but through conversations with others decided to expand it into an autobiographical book and later one around the theme of joy in the Christian faith.

It grew into the humor of Jesus and how our faith is supposed to be joyous, he said.

With support from the Rev. Charles Maynard, a fellow United Methodist minister and well-known East Tennessee storyteller, who grew up on Signal Mountain, the book was published by Market Square Publishing and is available online for $14.95.

All proceeds benefit the United Methodist Churchs Foundation for Evangelism at Lake Junaluska, N.C., where Bishop Looney has also served, he said.

For Rev. Looney -- whose 6-foot, 6-inch frame and deep and scratchy voice also emit an image of a 1950s or 60s Western TV or movie star  his humorous outlook on life started with his name.

He jokingly wrote that his friends told him that several looneys had been elected bishop previously, but he was the only one with the name to match it.

Bishop Looney said that he is not necessarily a natural storyteller of the long variety, despite still preaching sermons well into his 80s with little-to-no notes due to training learned from his preacher father and being blessed with a semi-photographic memory.

Also, nothing often comes to mind for him when people ask him directly to tell a joke, he added.

But he said that during a conversation, some related anecdote will usually pop into his mind, and he will share it. And that is how he got his reputation as a joke teller.

During his sermons, he is also known for his easy-to-understand-but-thoughtful delivery after opening them with a quick story of humor.

As Rev. Looney talked during the interview, he literally began practicing what he preaches and shared a couple of stories. In one, he said that he and some other young preachers were at a chicken restaurant while attending a Methodist gathering in Western North Carolina years ago.

We were having a rollicking time, he quipped. In fact, someone saw them laughing so much that the person, according to Bishop Looney, said, They are so drunk, they think they are Methodist preachers.

He also told the story of when he was serving as the bishop of the South Georgia Conference after being elected in 1988, and the people there were known for spoiling a bishop. He found out that was true when one person dumped 50 pounds of pecans into his car trunk.

His reply to the kind gesture was: Ive already gone to heaven.

In the book are countless other stories both humorous and heartfelt, including some related to his time in the Chattanooga area.

His first pastorate after seminary was the three-point circuit of Byrds Chapel, Cave Springs and Rising Fawn in Dade County, Ga., which had about 160 members in the three churches combined.

He jokingly said young preachers given multiple churches used to say that the number of churches you were given was representative of the number of talents you had.

Although Bishop Looney remembered being told by one member that he was among a long line of greenhorn preachers right out of seminary those churches kept getting, they warmly embraced him, and he appreciated that.

I am sure there will be a special place in heaven for small churches that loved and encouraged greenhorn preachers like myself, he wrote.

Elsewhere in the book, he tells of another young preacher who came back to his home church and delivered with confidence a sermon. Afterward, he asked an older minister what he thought of the sermon, and he surprisingly received an honest appraisal that the young pastor just read it, he did not read it very well and that it was not worth reading.

Of his time as Chattanooga district superintendent from 1976-79, he said the local area then was a great mix of urban and rural, and small and large, churches with varying styles of worship. I was inspired and challenged by the new understanding of the greatness of the Church, he wrote.

He also praised the longtime district office administrative assistant Ethel Starnes and her work. He wrote that one time he was to be gone for three weeks on a mission trip, and someone asked him who would look after the district while he was away. Referencing Ms. Starnes, he quipped, The same person who looks after it while Im here.

Bishop Looneys career has also included serving as the senior pastor at the large downtown churches in both Johnson City and Knoxville: Munsey Memorial UMC and Church Street UMC, respectively.

He currently has the honorary title of bishop in residence at First-Centenary UMC in downtown Chattanooga. He occasionally still preaches there when filling in for one of the ministers or by invitation, and he had followed his lifelong involvement in music by singing in the First-Centenary choir until not long before the COVID-19 outbreak of early 2020.

In summing up the book, Bishop Looney added that he hopes it is worthwhile to any person of the faith, including pastors who often deal with the sadness of their church members regarding family deaths and personal illnesses.

Laughter is renewing and healing, he said after telling yet another story of some advice he once received: that preachers should enjoy preaching because people dont want to go and watch the minister suffer.

* * * * *

Jcshearer2@comcast.net




Walker County Schools honored Mrs. Juanita Foster on Friday at Rossville Middle School.

Mrs. Foster is one of the only active teachers in the state of Georgia with a life-time teaching certificate, and has been teaching for 65 years.

Superintendent Damon Raines, Board Members, and other state officials were at the event to help celebrate Mrs. Foster.

The celebration was one day before her 88th birthday.
John Kerry, career office-holder for a half century, was appointed Climate Czar by Joe Biden. A czar historically was a Russian emperor. So in his role of Climate Emperor, Lord Kerry visited 14 nations over the last nine months. His jaunt was described as a sales pitch to save the planet (Lisa Freidman, NY Times, Sept 21, 2021).

So what impressive message did Kerry share guaranteeing a future for posterity? What hidden wisdom did he reveal to stop climate change in its tracks? According to Ms. Friedman of the Times, Kerry said, do what the science tells us!

Thats it? With a law degree from Yale University and 50 years in government and thats the sum total of his message? Could he not have done something more impressive?

Maybe he could have worn a Wizard suit while Greta Thunberg sang  Let it Snow, Let it Snow. Perhaps someone in a polar bear costume could have joined her in a rendition of Buster Poindexters Hot! Hot! Hot! Even the medicine shows offered more than do what the science tells us.

Before his investiture, Kerry used his Gulfstream GIVSP. In 2019, he jetted up to Iceland to receive the coveted Arctic Circle Award for leadership against Climate Change. When questioned about his private jet, he said it was the only choice for people like me (NY Post, Feb 3, 2021). People like Kerry couldnt be expected to have delays or canceled flights like ordinary folk now could they?

Apparently wishing to avoid controversy, Kerry now flies commercial according to the Times story. Imagine seeing the Climate Emperor descending from a private jet to then lecture the rest of us on the evils of fossil fuels, CO2 and melting ice caps.

What sacrifices the great man must now make, but alas, thats the life of a Climate Czar or rather Climate Emperor.

Ralph Miller

* * *

Ralph Miller, John Kerry, the climate Czar, did exactly what his job called for him to do; nothing. The Obama administration is the first in my lifetime to use Czars as a loyalty award system for supporting the Democrat Party. Im surprised Biden hasnt appointed a paper towel and toilet paper Czar who could travel around the world and expound on the virtues of only using one square a day.

Honestly, I would apply for that job and I would even be willing to make you my Concierge Czar and you could arrange for our sightseeing adventures. We could even give lavish gifts to the leaders of these countries and get rich with their thank you gifts to us.

Lets not despair too much as help for Tennessee and Hamilton County is on the way. Greg Vital was absolutely the best choice to fill the position Mike Carter handled so well. Mike will be missed as a friend to many and a champion for all. Greg is cut from the same cloth. Coty Wamp should be our next district attorney general. Talk about a rock star, this lady is dynamite and in my many years I have yet to see anyone as sharp and dedicated as Coty is. The antics of our current general speak for themselves. As it gets closer to election time it will all be fleshed out as well as flushed out. She will work wisely with the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office and if we are wise citizens, it will be with Sheriff Austin Garrett. Sheriff Jim Hammond will be hard to replace but Chief Deputy Garrett is up for that task.

On the national front, the Democrats in Washington have done all they could to insure that 2022 elections will give control back to the Republican Party. Communism will be forced to wait for a few more election cycles for we the people to get over the stupidity they have foist on us. Happy days will be here again.

J. Pat Williams

* * *

Now don't you two, Ralp and J Pat, go gettin' all knotted up over the word czar. The term has been used by presidents dating far back. Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Ford on up to and including Trump have used the term. It's a term often used for high level officials appointed to oversee particular policies, both foreign and domestic, and has nothing to do with Russia.





There's been an AIDS czar dating back to Clinton, Bush and Obama. And anti-poverty czar dating back to President Johnson. There's been everything from the auto czar to the bank bailout czar. There's even been a bird flu czar and birth control czar appointments under President Bush.





So stop spreading the childish, immature, misleading, misinformation and start acting like responsible adults.





Good Day

Brenda Washington
The City of Dalton will kick off its celebration of Georgia Cities Week on Monday night at the meeting of the Mayor and Council, and the public is invited to attend. The annual celebration is an initiative of the Georgia Municipal Association to highlight the role of city services in the lives of residents and to highlight successes in the community. This years theme is Georgia Cities: Shaping The Future.Monday nights regularly scheduled meeting of the Dalton Mayor and Council will begin at 6 p.m.and residents are encouraged to attend. Afterwards, the public will be invited to tour a display in the City Hall parking lot of different vehicles and machinery from the Dalton Police Department, Dalton Fire Department, Public Works and other departments as well as meet city employees to learn about the work they do."To continue the celebration throughout the week, the City of Dalton will be highlighting on its social media channels the work that various city departments are doing to make Dalton a great place to live, work and play, and also a number of upcoming projects which will be shaping Daltons future for years to come," officials said.
U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) along with Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) introduced the Treatment Restoration for Emergency Antibody Therapeutics Act. This legislation would prohibit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from implementing policies that restrict hospitals and other appropriate healthcare providers from ordering and receiving COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatments directly from manufacturers and distributors. The TREAT Act would nullify the Biden Administrations recent policy requiring hospitals and other facilities to work through states to receive mAb supplies as well as cease the administrations ability to throttle the states supply of this lifesaving treatment, said officials.

The Biden administration is playing politics with the lives of Tennesseans, said Senator Blackburn. This is a prime example of how government-run healthcare interferes with the doctor-patient relationship and blocks access to lifesaving treatments. This is rationing, and it is wrong.

This abrupt change in policy from the Biden Administration is nothing but an attempt to punish Florida," said Senator Rubio. "We cannot let vindictive, politically motivated actions by this Administration jeopardize the health and safety of Floridians and others. My bill would bring back fairness by allowing hospitals and other appropriate healthcare facilities to directly access this life-saving treatment from manufacturers.

As our nation works to fully recover from and end the coronavirus pandemic, we must ensure that Americans have access to all options for treatment and prevention, including the COVID-19 vaccine and proven monoclonal antibody treatments, said Senator Scott. The Biden administrations recent decision to implement restrictions on monoclonal antibody doses  making it harder for Floridians to receive this life-saving treatment  is unacceptable and unethical. When lives are at stake, no resources should be intentionally held back by the Biden administration through dangerous political games. Im proud to join Senator Rubio in introducing the TREAT Act to make sure Florida receives effective COVID-19 treatments. I wont accept anything less.

The Biden Administrations rule is misguided and threatens the efforts of providers seeking to administer this life-saving COVID-19 treatment to patients who need it most, said Senator Marshall. Rather than forcing states to create a distribution network that will cause unnecessary bureaucratic delays, we should leverage industrys well-established networks through public-private partnerships that will ensure all patients have timely access to care.

The Biden Administration is changing how COVID-19 antibody treatments are distributed to states in a way that does not reflect actual need across the country, said Senator Cramer. Our bill would prohibit the implementation of these policies that would restrict hospitals and other providers from receiving life-saving treatments where the need is greatest, regardless of partisan politics.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee called for the Tennessee General Assembly to convene on Monday, Oct. 18, for a special session to address funding, buildout and oversight of Ford Motor Companys historic $5.6 billion investment at the Memphis Regional Megasite.

Our partnership with Ford and SK Innovation will transform West Tennessee, and its important we ensure this project has the structure, funding and accountability needed to be successful, said Governor Lee. I am calling a special session to secure a lasting impact for Tennesseans, and I thank the legislature for their partnership in an efficient, productive assembly.

During the special session, lawmakers will address funding to support and benefit the Memphis Regional Megasite, including site development, education and workforce preparation.

The full special session call may be viewed here.

The Ford megasite deal is transformational for Tennessee, and we look forward to working with Governor Lee to finalize this project as part of his special session call for Ford Motor Company," said Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge). "At the same time, we have heard from many Tennesseans seeking relief from burdensome COVID-19 mandates being imposed upon them. We are working together per our state constitution to call an additional special session upon the completion of the megasite session to address issues surrounding COVID-19.
English actor Daniel Radcliffe made his mark with his natural British accent in the Harry Potter film franchise. Today, few doubt where hes from. But since he left the iconic character behind, Radcliffes branched out into roles that require an American accent. And the regional one he picked up might surprise you.

Daniel Radcliffe made his mark in the Harry Potter films

Daniel Radcliffe attends the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows  Part 1 on November 15, 2010, in New York City. | Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Radcliffe decided he wanted to act as a child after his mother took him to a play. Hoping to save her son from the less-than-pleasant experience she had with acting, she attempted to discourage him from pursuing it. But Radcliffes chance came when he appeared in the BBC program David Copperfield. He got the part and ended up working with Dame Maggie Smith, who would later recommend him for his best-known role.

The two went on to co-star in the Harry Potter films as Harry Potter and his Head of House, Professor Minerva McGonagall. After playing the role for eight films, Radcliffe isnt chomping at the bit to step into it again. During an interview with Variety, he explained that he doesnt want to be committed to a project too far out in the future, saying Im not saying that Ill never go back into any franchise, but I like the flexibility that I have with my career now.

Radcliffes American accent comes from 1 person

[Artigo] A importancia de Chris Columbus na escalacao de Daniel Radcliffe em Harry Potter https://t.co/FMUwu7Ylvu #ChrisColumbusNaCCXP pic.twitter.com/aBIjKVYJkg  omelete (@omelete) May 25, 2018

The way we speak can say a lot about where weve been. If youve had to learn a foreign language or even a different dialect of your native tongue, you know the power of an accent. In his second WIRED Autocomplete interview, Radcliffe describes his British English accent as boring, middle-of-the-road English. But hes a lot more specific about his American accent.

Ive been told I sound like Im from Ohio quite consistently, the actor said. I dont even really know what that means. But I do know that Chris Columbus, who directed the first two Potters, I think hes also from Ohio. Columbus is indeed from Champion, Ohio. Maybe, in some way, I am just kind of mirroring the American accent I heard the most growing up, Daniel Radcliffe continued.

Radcliffe definitely has an ear for accents. Another question in the interview was whether he voices the Geiko Gecko. He doesnt. But he vented about one of the ads in the campaign. Theres a thing in the ad that always really annoys me. When [the gecko is] like, People dont know if Im English or Australian. Its like, no, youre obviously English. You sound very English. You would know that.

What movies has Radcliffe had an American accent in?

Since leaving the Harry Potter franchise, the star has continued to act. While some of his projects have allowed him to use his natural accent and speech patterns, a few have required that American accent Daniel Radcliffe picked up from his Hogwarts days.

In 2011, he debuted it on the Broadway stage for the revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. In 2013, we saw him use an American accent for two different projects. First, as poet Allen Ginsburg in 2013s Kill Your Darlings and then as Ignatius Perrish in Horns. More recently, he played the main character Miles in 2020s Guns Akimbo.

RELATED: Daniel Radcliffe Isnt Ruling Out the Possibility of a 20-Year Harry Potter Reunion
Darcey & Stacey Season 2 has focused largely on Darcey and Georgis relationship. The two have been engaged since June 2020, but there have been some serious communication problems in their relationship. Now, with the two seemingly split on a recent episode of the show, fans may be wondering: Is Darcey Silva married? Heres what we know so far.

Is Darcey Silva married?

Darcey Silva and Stacey Silva of Darcey & Stacey | Brad Barket/Getty Images for Discovery, Inc.

Darcey & Stacey stars Darcey and Georgi were engaged during June of 2020. At the time, Darcey Silva seemed very happy with the prospect of marrying Georgi Rusev.

I still feel newly engaged. I havent been able to really celebrate it yet with everybody. I want to be able to shout it to the world. It was definitely a total surprise for me. Georgi and I have a very deep connection, and I feel like in that moment I was not expecting it at all, Darcey told People at the time.

So is Darcey Silva married? It does not currently seem like she is. In fact, Darcey and Georgi recently had a massive fight on Darcey & Stacey that led to them breaking up. However, there have been signs that they could still be together. All of that being said, it seems likely that if Darcey and Georgi did tie the knot, they would have to keep it quiet for their NDA with TLC.

Darcey Silva was married in the past, however. Her ex-husband is named Frank Bollok, and is the father of her two children, Aniko and Aspen. Darcey says she and Frank have a respectful, healthy relationship.

My relationship with my daughters father is good and respectful. Im grateful for my daughters Aniko and Aspen and always will be. We are blessed to have them, she told Heavy.

So why did Darcey and her ex-husband divorce?

We just felt we grew apart and [were] searching for our soulmates, Darcy said.

Why she told Georgi to pack his bags

Darcey Silva and Georgi Rusev of Darcey & Stacey | TLC via YouTube

With Darcey and Georgi at odds, it seems clearer than ever that Darcey Silva is not married  in fact, she may be altogether single again, depending on how she and Georgi manage their relationship moving forward.

Darcey Silva decided to break things off with Georgi Rusev during an episode of Darcey & Stacey. She called Georgi from Turkey, and the two got into it about their relationship. Both expressed feelings of hurt, and said they felt as if the other did not truly listen to their problems.

OK, you know what, Im gonna say my piece right now because I think I deserve much better than what Im getting, said Darcey Silva. I dont want a relationship like this, I deserve more. I dont think you treat me like how a fiance should. And you have plenty of time in the apartment before I get back to figure things out, but I cant do this anymore.

Georgia, meanwhile, said he felt that Darcey was only ever concerned about her own feelings and her own problems, and never considered how her actions, like reaching out to Octavia, might affect his feelings.

Darcey and Georgi spotted together on social media

Despite the fact that they seemingly split on Darcey & Stacey, there are indications that Darcey and Georgi are still together. The two have been spotted together on social media, and still follow one another on Instagram.

Notably, Georgi shared a photo of himself and Darcey together in August, after the show had ceased filming. He shared the photo on both Facebook and his private Instagram, and captioned it, The power of love is stronger than everything else.

Additionally, Darcey liked a photo of Georgi on Instagram, shirtless and showing off his physique after a workout toward the end of August. Georgi commented two hearts and two crowns on a video Darcey shared on October 1, 2021 on Instagram.

RELATED: Darcey & Stacey: The Twins Were Bullied for Their Looks in School
Emily in Paris actor Lily Collins was married to director Charlie McDowell at Colorados Dunton Hot Springs on September 4, 2021. The wedding was a lavish outdoorsy affair with stunning waterfall vistas. Both the bride and the groom come from Hollywood royalty. Lets take a brief look at the couples families and the venue where they tied the knot.

Lily Collins | Dominique Charriau/Getty Images

The bride and grooms families

Lily Collins is the daughter of famed musician Phil Collins. A former member and lead man of the band Genesis, Collins has had a stellar solo career.

In total, his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career, had more US top 40 singles than any other artist during the 1980s. Recently, Collins reunited with his old bandmates from Genesis to tour and he has written an autobiography titled Not Dead Yet.

Charlie McDowell is the son of Mary Steenbergen and Malcolm McDowell. Steenbergen and McDowell met on the set of the movie Time After Time, in which they both starred, and were married soon after. The couple shares two children together but divorced in 1990.

McDowell is most famous for his role as Alex DeLarge in Stanley Kubricks A Clockwork Orange. He has also done some voiceover work over the years, most of it being animated shows and movies.

One noteworthy role was his work as Reeses II in the animated series Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys, a show that includes references to his own role in A Clockwork Orange.

How much did the wedding cost

The cost of a wedding at the venue is not a bargain by any stretch of the imagination. For starters, there is a three-night minimum and a 17.9% service charge. The package for a small wedding add-on includes the choice of the ceremony location, officiant, bouquet and boutonniere, a bride kit, a rustic wedding cake.

Also included is a private dinner setting for wedding guests following the ceremony, a bottle of champagne with two glasses, a wedding gift of linen handkerchiefs, and a wedding photography session. What is not included in the price of the package are bridesmaid dresses, decorations for the venue, and also the wedding party attire.

The price for a larger wedding, like the one in question, can start at $26,500 per night for up to 44 guests. This price is also seasonal, so the starting price for this wedding would have been somewhere in the ballpark of $45,000 per night for up to 60 guests. For a 3-day event, it would likely add up to more than $118,000.

Social Media was filled with photos of the event

The couples Instagram accounts as well as McDowells mothers account were filled to the brim with beautiful pictures of the event. The weather was absolutely perfect and the lighting was magical. The wedding photography chosen to cover the event was Cedar and Pines.

Collins posted to her Instagram Ive never wanted to be someones someone more than I do yours, and now I get to be your wife. On September 4th, 2021 we officially became each others forever.

The happy couple has been married now for just a few weeks, but no doubt they are already planning the next steps they will take as husband and wife. Perhaps there will be a few babies to add to the McDowell/Collins dynasty in the next few years.

Whatever happens to the happy couple, they have certainly received a classy start with the unique nuptials set in a wilderness setting. The lovely venue and the beautiful couple are undoubtedly the envy of every soon-to-be-married Hollywood couple. We will surely see more like it in the future.

RELATED: Emily in Paris: Whoops, Lily Collins Admits She Was Wrong About Her Characters Age
J.R.R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were incredible fantasies that became some of the most outstanding books in literary history. Their big-screen adaptations were just as impressive. Peter Jackson delivered epic films that would be remembered forever, receiving unparalleled praise and winning numerous awards.

Fans were thrilled to learn that they could delve into a new adventure in Middle Earth soon. Amazon Prime has undertaken the colossal project of bringing Middle Earth to the small-screen. The much-anticipated series has reportedly finished filming its first season and is moving sets to the U.K. from New Zealand for its second season.

Middle Earth is coming to Amazon Prime

Bilbo Baggins house | Alex Livesey  FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images

Amazon Prime is bringing the world of hobbits, elves, dwarves, and wizards to homes across the globe. The much-anticipated The Lord of the Rings series will give fans an in-depth look at Middle Earth and its incredible characters.

According to IndieWire, the series will take place long before the events of The Hobbit. The story is set during Tolkiens Second Age era, and fans will see familiar settings like Numenor, the Misty Mountains, and Lindon (the breathtaking capital city of the elves).

Details about the series have been kept under lock and key, but several pieces of information have slowly been leaking out to the public. We imagine the cast will be sizable, with at least 20 new cast members recently joining the project. We also know that the series comes with a hefty price tag, boasting a budget somewhere in the neighborhood of $450 million. The series has to do well with numbers like that to stay in production and bring us multiple seasons.

Peter Jacksons The Lord of the Rings films were sweeping fantasies

Peter Jacksons The Lord of the Rings trilogy was absolute cinematic magic. He brought the novels to life on the big screen, captivating audiences with sweeping landscapes in far-off lands. The cast was superb, making each character shine and leaving an unforgettable impression with fans across the globe.

The films were a distinctive combination of darkness and light, allowing the epic story of Frodo Baggins to capture and completely immerse the audience in the world of Middle Earth. As we watched the films, we ran the gamut of emotionshappiness, sadness, terror, anxiety, and excitement. The action sequences had us on the edges of our seats, making us feel like we were right out on the battlefield with our heroes.

The Hobbit Law kept the filmmakers in New Zealand

Heres to another year of adventures. Happy Birthday to our Bilbo Baggins, Martin Freeman! pic.twitter.com/0q3T1AsLJy  The Hobbit (@TheHobbitMovie) September 8, 2021

In 2012, Jackson attempted to recreate the magic he created years before with a big-screen adaptation of Tolkiens The Hobbit. Although Jacksons new trilogy was big, bold, and action-packed, it still felt like something was missing. Some fans are torn on which trilogy is better, although most will agree that The Hobbit doesnt measure up to The Lord of the Rings.

There are several reasons why fans enjoyed The Lord of the Rings more, but there is one reason that most people will agree onThe Hobbit was far too long. Lets think about itThe Lord of the Rings had three separate novels adapted into three films. The Hobbit was one book, and it was pretty short (310 pages). Why in the world would anyone try to stretch 310 pages into three films?

Its still unclear why Jackson felt The Hobbit needed to be a trilogy, but he went to great lengths to get it there. In fact, the crews return to film in New Zealand in 2010 created quite a stir. Equal Times recalled the bad memories that The Hobbits opening brought back for some New Zealanders.

In 2010, an actors union (New Zealand Actors Equity) created a do not sign order to attempt to prevent actors from signing on to work as a part of The Hobbit case until negotiations were complete. The dispute was eventually resolved, but Jackson brought the matter to the public before the union could announce the resolution.

He created a media stir, saying that Warner Bros. executives were on their way to New Zealand to talk about moving production out of the country. The public was enraged and turned their anger toward the union. Union leaders were assaulted and even received death threats.

The New Zealand government pleaded with Warner Bros. to keep production going and ended up passing a controversial order that would become known as the Hobbit Law. The law made it impossible for actors to unionize because it categorized them as independent contractors rather than studio employees.

The Lord of the Rings series will film in a new location

On September 2, 2022, a new journey begins. pic.twitter.com/9tnR7WqDoA  The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) August 2, 2021

Ironically, the Hobbit Law that caused so much grief for actors in New Zealand couldnt keep Middle Earth in New Zealand forever. Although Jackson finished production on all of his films in New Zealand, Amazons The Lord of the Rings series is being moved. Season one of the series was filmed in New Zealand, but season two will be produced in the U.K.

The exact location of production has not been released, but The Hollywood Reporter says reports have indicated Scotland as the new home of the series. According to The Verge, New Zealands strict coronavirus (COVID-19) rules were a major reason for the move. Since most of the cast is British, it was challenging for them to go home during filming due to strict travel restrictions. The move to the U.K. will make it easier on the cast, not requiring them to stay away from home for years at a time.

The series is expected to air on Amazon Prime around September 2022.

RELATED: Lord of the Rings: Elijah Wood Has One Big Problem With the Amazon Prime Series
Hunter Tylos death on September 30, 2021, rocked the television world. Tylo was a lauded performer, perhaps best known for his role as Guiding Lights Quinton Chamberlain. However, Tylo had a jam-packed career when it came to television, having appeared in or starred on a variety of other shows. What was Michael Tylos net worth at the time of his death? The question is actually up to some degree of debate.

Michael Tylo died on September 30, 2021

Our deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of Michael Tylo who graced #YR with his talents as Blade and Rick. https://t.co/sttd5qwodD pic.twitter.com/cEGTEqW2Ae  Young & The Restless (@YRInsider) September 30, 2021

Michael Tylo died on September 30, 2021 at Henderson Hospital in Henderson, NV, at the age of 73. Tylo, who acted in Guiding Light, General Hospital, and The Young and the Restless, among other shows, was also a professor of film at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

Nancy Uscher, the dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Nevada Las Vegas wrote about Tylo following his death.

Michael Tylo was a beautiful and caring human being  he was so special. He was an exemplary friend, colleague, teacher, and artist. He had such a distinguished and rich career, but he was humble about his accomplishments, wrote Uscher.

He loved his family dearly and lived a joyous life, but he left us way too soon. We will miss him greatly, but feel deep gratitude about all that Michael contributed to the College of Fine Arts, UNLV, and the world.

Our deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of Michael Tylo who graced #YR with his talents as Blade and Rick, tweeted the Young and the Restless Twitter account.

What was Michael Tylos net worth?

Hunter Tylo and then-husband Michael Tylo | Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage

Theres no debating that Michael Tylo had a huge impact on daytime television and the soap opera world. Naturally, his appearance on such a wide variety of shows and his lengthy career means he accrued a sizable net worth.

However, there is some variety when it comes to Michael Tylos net worth, depending on who you ask. It seems Michael Tylos net worth has not been officially disclosed, but estimations place him somewhere between $3 million and $13 million. TV Guide Time estimates Michael Tylos net worth at $3 million, and Idol Net Worth puts him at $13 million. Quite a wide range. Net Worth Post suggests he had assets valuing up to $11 million.

He originally didnt want to act

Prince Albert of Monaco in the company of Hunter Tylo and her then-husband Michael Tylo | Eric Robert/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images

Michael Tylos career is certainly distinguished, but fans will be amused to learn that Tylo didnt originally want to become an actor.

I never wanted to become an actor. In the sixties, I worked with Sir Tyrone Guthrie and was then a directing student. I always wanted to direct, but I had one of those faces that at 35 years old, I could still play an 18-year-old, he told TV Scene.

For example at that age, I played Lesley in The Hostage, and when you look like that, no-one wants to trust their budget to someone who looks like they just walked out of public school. But I decided to act anyway.

RELATED: The Bold and the Beautiful Star Hunter Tylo Once Sued TV Tycoon Aaron Spelling For A Totally Valid Reason
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Under the UWT motto "Solutions", the expert level measurement technology team at UWT GmbH is passionate about designing tailor-made solutions for customers. It is our goal to provide sustainable growth that will continue to add value for our customers.
Writers Workshop

The Gates of Hell Opened and Mary Ann Stepped Through the Portal

A True Story of life in the Alaskan Bureaucracy

After a two-year stint as Associate Director of the Alaskas child abuse agency, I was more than ready to step down to a less stressful job as a Clinician at the Division of Behavioral Health. My position reviewed the professional services of Southeast Alaskas Behavioral Health grantees to ensure they were meeting grant requirements, state regulations and professional standards.

That might seem like a challenging job, and it certainly was for my counterparts who managed grants for other regions of the state, but the grant funded agencies in Southeast Alaska were well run by seasoned directors who were all, yes, all - every single one, - ethical, affable, overachievers. This turned out to be the single greatest stressor in my new job. - Because these grantees were so knowledgeable, agreeable and professional, my job was too easy and occasionally all was humming along so perfectly in Southeast Alaska that I had blocks of idle time. As the job progressed, I took on more and more projects and soon would again be working 45-50 hours per week, so my period of having slack times was short lived.

The office next to mine was occupied by Marry Ann, who was in charge of managing grants for the states substance abuse grantees. Mary Ann had worked for the state for decades so she took on the self-appointed role of historian and keeper of traditional values. She and had no qualms about telling anyone, Thats not the way we do things around here.

Mary Ann looked exactly like how Janis Joplin would have looked had she survived to her early 60s. Her frizzy hair stood out and her wardrobe consisted of clothing that was a throwback to the 70s. Like Janis, she vibrated with intensity and her voice had the same creaky quality aged to perfection.

Coming from the old school of substance abuse treatment specialist, Mary Ann had no tolerance for political correctness, excuses, self-aggrandizing narratives or just plain lies. In staff meetings she called out coworkers and supervisors if they delivered long winded, spin doctored and self-aggrandizing monologues by openly calling their utterances, Crap This frankness combined, with her role of upholder of the divisions rituals and values, made her a feared and grudgingly respected member of the management team.

One Friday, afternoon a few weeks into my new position, I was totally bored. I had read all of the quarterly reports submitted by my perfect agencies, written all of my agency reviews, read professional literature, thoroughly cleaned my office and prepared as best I could for my next upcoming agency site review. I had worked in bureaucracies long enough to realize the cardinal rule is, Thou shall not stir things up when youre bored. So, what to do from 3:00 to 4:30?

I realized that my cell phone plan at the time included unlimited data. Driven by boredom, I plugged in my head phones, opened the Netflix app on my phone and began searching for a movie to watch. I found a sequel to the movie Poltergeist . Based on the previews the movie looked awful but I was in the mood to watch a poorly made movie with bad acting, over the top directing and cheesy special effects - I find these types of movies funny and viewing the bad helps me to appreciate the good.

As predicted by the films trailer, the film started out rather slow with the overused theme of found footage from cameras the family had put up around the house in order to find out why furniture was moving around at night. But forty minutes into the film all hell broke loose:

Demons were howling,

Overly dramatic actors were screaming,

There was the loud, whooshing sound of wind as people were flung across their living room,

Klaxons were blaring,

Sirens were wailing.

And just when demons emerged from the open gates of hell and the mayhem reached a crescendo, I heard a legion of devils call out my name.

Richard,Richard, the creaky, eerie voice intoned. Richard, get out - get out the building is on fire!

This hellish sound was behind me! After shaking my initial impression of being surrounded by evil fiends, I swiveled my chair and saw May Ann standing in the doorway to my office.

Get out the building is on fire! Coming back to reality, I saw co-workers running down the hall so I grabbed my iPhone and coat and joined the fleeing evacuees.

After a half hour or so of standing around outside we were allowed back into our offices. Someone had let a bag of popcorn cook too long in the microwave and the bag had caught fire filling the building with smoke and setting off the fire alarm. Damages were limited to the popcorn.

Back in my office, Mary Ann came in and simply made a private comment to me that, perhaps, I shouldnt turn up the volume of my headphones up so high that I could not respond to the world around me.

As I picked up more projects and assignments, my easy job became more complex and I never had gaps of time to fill at work. Throughout my 5 years stay at the Division of Behavioral Health Mary Ann and I often laughed about how I would have potentially remained in the burning building, if not for Mary Ann having saved me. My misstep facilitated our bonding as co-workers. I think she realized I wasnt the uptight and officious bureaucrat that I seemed to be and I felt gratitude that she did not rat me out by telling everyone the story of my cinematic journey to hell.
I have a memory of being five or six years old and helping my mom prepare for a party with Amy Grants album Heart in Motion playing in the background. I knew (and still know) all the words to Baby, Baby and Good for Me. When I got married, my three sisters sang a parody of her song, Lucky One at the reception.

I know every song on Steven Curtis Chapmans Speechless by heart. I saw DC Talk in concert at eight, tagging along with a friend whose parents led youth group. In high school, I worked in the music department of a Christian book store.

In other words, I grew up on Christian Contemporary Music (CCM).

The Jesus Music, a new film directed by Jon and Andrew Erwin about the rise of the genre, was made for me and for people like mewhose musical and spiritual worlds were formed and influenced by the music, musicians, and subculture of CCM. I enjoyed revisiting the music my parents and I played on repeat during the 80s and 90s, and I suspect that many viewers like me will as well. Viewers like me.

This music, musician Joel Smallbone (of the band For King & Country) says in the opening line of the trailer, offers people a sense of hope and a sense of togetherness and a sense of joy, maybe that theyve not experienced.

Thats a sweeping claim, one echoed on the films website, which refers to the universal power of music from these artists.

Is this music really for anyone and everyone? Can everyone find in it a sense of hope, joy, or togetherness? No. Music isnt a universal language, and the music featured in The Jesus Music comes from a brief fifty-year window and a small group of artists in a very niche music market.

For many American evangelicals, this music has been an important part of our lives. It is a mistake, however, to think that our tastes, preferences, and the music we have loved and worshiped with are somehow universal.

Evangelicals (particularly white evangelicals) and our subcultures are more insular than we like to admit. This is one reason why we so quickly attach ourselves to crossover celebrities like Amy Grant or Lauren Daigle. We tell ourselves that the music produced by our darlings is appreciated outside of our Christian spheres. But the reality is that most of the music produced by the Christian music industry in the US thrives within its own silo.

Ethnomusicologist Andrew Mall observes that the Christian music industry has always been a niche market that grew in part to offer a Christian alternative to mainstream popular music.

Christian music remained marginal to the general market, writes Mall, its artists explicit identities endeared them to the Christian market but segregated them from the general market, establishing boundaries more clearly than did their music.

The film makes much of moments when a Christian band like Stryper showed up on MTV and topped charts, beating out hits by bands like Motley Crue. But those anecdotes are exceptions to the general rule that Christian popular music has its own fandom and its own subculture.

Despite references to CCMs power and broad appeal among Christians, the directors acknowledge that they made The Jesus Music for a specific population. Its a love letter to the fans, says director Jon Erwin, who also directed I Can Only Imagine (2018) and I Still Believe (2020). Its a love letter to the artists. And if you love the music, I think its going to be a very nostalgic soundtrack to your faith journey.

If you are expecting a documentary that plumbs the complexities of the Christian music industry, this isnt it. It isnt a project that seeks to critique the world of CCM and the subcultures that spawned and have grown out of it. It certainly isnt a documentary that seeks to expose secrets or salacious biographical details of the lives of CCM artists. It isnt a documentary at all.

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The goal of the film is to tell a curated, entertaining story about the rise of CCM. Our job is to entertain, says Erwin. Were entertainers, and I love to entertain an audience.

And the story the Erwins tell is entertaining. Like this years Netflix movie, A Week Away (a High School Musical- inspired teen drama featuring CCM hits), The Jesus Music is a sugary, light-hearted package of American contemporary Christian nostalgia. Those of us who are cultural insiders can bask in the pleasure of rehearing old favorites and watching artists reminisce about the glory days of CCM and their paths to success in the industry.

The film briefly acknowledges some of the scandals and personal trials of CCM stars, like Amy Grants divorce or the relational drama within DC Talk, but these reflective moments are short and vague. There is no attempt to dig deeply into the reasons why the industry and its fandom would turn so quickly on artists.

I watched The Jesus Music with my husband, who did not grow up with any exposure to CCM, and there were some important differences in our viewing experiences. He didnt have parents who purchased CDs from Christian bookstores; he didnt listen to Christian radio. For him, there is nothing nostalgic about the music of Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, DC Talk, or Steven Curtis Chapman, aside from the general aesthetic of the 80s and 90s.

For people like my husband, outsiders, the reverent footage of CCM royalty Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith may be confusing. The film presents these two artists (also executive producers of the film) as CCMs two figureheads, icons of the industry whose careers become the frame for the entire film. The storytellers assume a certain amount of knowledge of the CCM canon and its major players that, to those on the outside, may be exclusionary.

The Jesus Music does try to acknowledge one troubling aspect of CCMs exclusivity: its whiteness and the barriers that have long existed for people of color, specifically black artists, in the Christian music industry. Through interviews with Kirk Franklin, Lecrae, and Michael Tait, the film gives a passing nod to the role of black artists (also briefly discussing Andrae Crouch) in the growth of CCM.

Among the photos and footage used in the film are images of Kirk Franklin with Kanye West and footage of CeCe Winans singing with Whitney Houston. These CCM powerhouses have been bridge-builders between Christian music and the mainstream for decades, but are pushed to the periphery of the documentary, much like the place of gospel music in the industry.

Mall notes the segregation in both the general markets and the Christian markets, with separate record labels to distribute and promote gospel artists.

While the film is truly entertaining for CCM fans, the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves matter. Stories that entertain us and simply make us feel good about our cultural silo let us avoid grappling with the failures of our icons, leaders, institutions, and industries. The stories we tell about our music matter too.

White evangelicals in particular need to be circumspect in how we talk about the power, appeal, and reach of our music. Our music is not a universal language; what we perceive as a universal appeal is not universal at all. If CCM and the contemporary worship music produced seems universally appealing, maybe our circles are not as reflective of the diverse body of Christ as we think.

Kelsey Kramer McGinnis is a musicologist, educator, and writer. She holds a PhD from the University of Iowa and researches music in Christian communities and music as propaganda.
Fans of Joel Rosenbergs Middle East apocalyptic fiction can now read his real-time account of real-world peace.

Through behind-the-scenes meetings with kings, princes, and presidents, the Jewish evangelical and New York Times bestselling author had an inside scoop on the Abraham Accords.

For two years, he sat on it.

His new nonfiction book, Enemies and Allies: An Unforgettable Journey inside the Fast-Moving & Immensely Turbulent Modern Middle East, released one year after the signing of the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), finally tells the story.

During an evangelical delegation of dialogue to the Gulf nation in 2018, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ), told Rosenberg of his groundbreaking and controversial plansand trusted the author to keep the secret.

Named after the biblical patriarch, the accords were Israels first peace deal in 20 years. In the five months that followed, similar agreements were signed with Bahrain, Sudan, Kosovo, and Morocco.

Might Saudi Arabia be next? Mohammed bin Salmans (MBS) comments to Rosenberg remain off the record. But asked if his reforms might include building the kingdoms first church, the crown prince described where religious freedom falls in his order of priorities.

Enemies and Allies provides never-before-published accounts of Rosenbergs interactions with these leaders, in addition to Egypts President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordans King Abdullah. Included also are exchanges with former president Donald Trump and vice president Mike Pence.

CT interviewed Rosenberg about navigating politics and praying in palaces and about whether he would be willing to lead similar evangelical delegations to Turkey or Iran:

Image: Courtesy of Joel Rosenberg

You describe your relationships, especially with the UAEs MBZ, as ones of trust. How did you nurture that? Did you sense it was different than their official diplomatic connections?

Im not sure I have a good answer for that. Why would Arab Muslim leaders trust a Jewish evangelical US-Israeli citizen?

In the case of King Abdullah, he had read my novel and decided to invite me to his palace rather than ban me from his kingdom forever. The book was about ISIS trying to kill him and blow up his palace. In our first meeting, we spent five days together, and it was not on the record. We were building trust.

I didnt have that with any of the others. In every case, we were invited rather than us going and knocking on the door. With the case of [MBZ], his ambassador Yousef Al Oteiba had seen the coverage of our Egypt and Jordan trips. He has very good relations with these countries and was able to get the backstory, asking, Who is this guy Rosenberg? How did it go? Should we do the same?

I think it has much more to do with being a follower of Jesus Christ. They didnt know me, but they seemed to trust that followers of Christ who call themselves evangelicals would be trustworthy. That we are genuinely interested in peace, in security in the region, and in a US alliance with the Arab world. And in terms of the expansion of religious freedom, all of them wanted to talk about these things.

They were making a bet that the evangelical community in the United States, while being deeplythough not uniformlypro-Israel, still has a deep interest in peace and assessing their countries and their reforms fairly. It was the sincerity of our faith that led to trust.

But you still had to nurture trust. How?

Im sure they vetted me, and in reading my work, they saw I have a deep respect for Muslims. Im not infected with Islamophobia. Ive traveled from Morocco to Afghanistan. And Ive done what I can to strengthen Christian communities in the Arab and Muslim worlds.

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Im not your classic high-profile Christian Zionist who tends to speak of Israel almost exclusively. But in the end, it is sitting there and the type of questions we ask and the tone of our conversation. In John 12:49, Jesus says that the Father commands him what to say and how to say it. Substance is important, but so is style.

You speak of opportunities to pray with different Muslim leaders and even how your delegation explained the gospel to MBS of Saudi Arabia. How do you measure the spiritual impact your efforts had in their lives and nations?

I dont think it is possible to assess this. We were there to be witnesses for Christ.

In the case of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, if you were accused of proselytizing the future king, it might be a capital offense. But in asking him if the term evangelical is used much in the kingdom, he laughed. We told him we had an ordained pastor in our delegation and asked if we could take a moment to explain what we believe. This was having a respectful conversation, not proselytizing. But it was beautiful.

You could argue theres not a church built yet in Saudi Arabia, so it wasnt a huge success. But the fact that he invited us back for a second, longer trip, completely off the record, suggested that we were building trust and that he wanted to go deeper.

Each of these leaders, including MBS, told us some very sensitive things about what they think about peacemaking with Israel. And in the case of MBZ, the biggest fruit is nothing that we take credit for, but the decision of the UAE to make peace with Israel is an answer to decades of people praying for the peace of Jerusalem.

He told us he would do it, and we didnt leak that. He took a big risk. Why? I think he was trying to build trust with us.

But trust goes both ways. By not leaking it, it created a sense of safety. He could judge that these people are sitting on a massive headline but they have self-restraint to care more about the relationship.

Image: Courtesy of Joel Rosenberg

In Egypt and Jordan, you involved the local Coptic and evangelical communities in your meetings. Have your visits resulted in any tangible gains?

I would defer this to their local leadership. The Christian leaders in some of these countries were rather anxious when they learned this evangelical delegation would be led by a Jewish Israeli American. I was not the poster child for whom they might expect to help them expand relations with their governments. Ironically, the Muslim leaders of their countries were far more secure in reaching out to me than they wereunderstandably, as they are in charge.

In Egypt, President Sisi, a devout Muslim, met with me five times and invited us to a second visit. This may have provided more confidence for Coptic and evangelical leadership to say this is okay. And in the protocol photo, it was Andrea Zaki who was next to Sisi, while I was out on the edge.

Later, Zaki told me that this was the first meeting he had with Sisi and evangelicals only. This was Sisi honoring them.

I dont want to overstate this, but it was part of our core values to ask how we could strengthen the local Christian community rather than work around them.

So there may not have been tangible gains, but there were intangible.

To have a photo on the front page of every newspaper in Cairo with the president next to the head of the Protestant communityin his distinctive purple shirtsent a positive message that our voice is being listened to.

Egypt has a lot of systemic and institutional problems in its relations with Christians. The fact that Sisi honors them and sees them as part of the Egyptian family is importantbut it is not sufficient. The question is: How deep will it go? Will every judge, mayor, and policeman also treat Christians respectfully? This is going to take time. Our meetings are not going to solve 1,400 years of troubles.

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Your book contains many references to foreign intelligence. A retired CIA station chief helped set up your first meetings with MBZ. How did you navigate such waters? Did you ever feel you were being used for political purposes?

We navigate by being willing to speak with whoever wants to talk to us. Lets be crystal clear: These Arab leaders have objectives. Their prime objective with us was for their leadership and reforms to be seen positively by the American peoplenot just in the White House, the National Security Council, the State Department, or the Pentagon.

They realize that Israel has a deep cultural connection to America, such that even amid disagreements the relationship will not break. I think these Arab leaders are concerned20 years after 9/11that they have built strong relationships with Washington on the executive level but sometimes not so strong with Congress and almost not at all with the culture or the people.

So how would they do this? [They reasoned:] If there are 60 million evangelicals in the US, maybe we should start meeting some of their leaders. They seem to be peacefully minded and fair. If we get to know them, maybe they will be impressed by our reforms and start thinking about us differently.

I dont mind this objective. I dont feel like were being used, because we have our own objectives, and they are being mutually achieved. Our objective is to sit in the room with the people who make decisions that affect Christians on the ground in their countries.

And in every case, we were told we were coming off the record, very quietly, just to build a relationship. We said, Thats good; thats what we want. Were not here to get on the front page of your newspapers. And in every case, at the last moment, they changed that.

Had they always intended that? Maybe, but our motive was to have the relationship and be able to talk not just once but over time.

Were you also a backchannel, expected to take off-the-record comments to American officials?

I dont think there was any expectation; they have direct channels already. No one asked me to bring a specific type of leader in these delegations. I chose a range, some of whom had close ties with Trump and some who did notmyself included. Some who had good relationships with Congress and some who stayed clear of politics at every level.

I would say we briefed US leaders (and I briefed Israeli leaders) at very senior levels, even about things that were off the recordjust so they were aware. I figured in terms of the American and Israeli intelligence services, they probably already knew anyway, but I never got the sense that what I told them they hadnt heard before.

I did get the sense that they were intrigued how things they knew had been told to us. It suggested not only a level of trust but also a desire to have a more public posture. They werent aware the Emiratis or Saudis were willing to do this.

I dont think they needed a backchannel. They needed a channel to the American evangelical communityto make their case that they are working very hard on sweeping social, economic, and even religious freedom reforms.

Your goal was to build long-term friendships. Since the election of President Joe Biden, have Arab leaders continued to reach out to you even as evangelicals are no longer central to the administration?

Yes. Bahrains king has invited me to bring a delegation early next year. We will probably also go to the UAE on this trip. I am keeping very close relations with these leaders and their inner circles.

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You make a sympathetic case for why we should support these regional leaders, but you also deal with criticisms of their human rights records. How do you keep the balance or decide what to speak about privately as opposed to reporting about on your websites?

The baseline for religious freedom in most of these countries is miserable. I think Jordan is the best; Bahrain is probably second best. The UAE is actually pretty good. If you go back 1,400 years, its bad for Christians, and in the last 100 years, its been very challenging. But there has been a lot of positive movement. In the UAE, there are 700 freely operating churches, compared to none in Saudi Arabia.

But lets go to Egypt. They have had a terrible human rights record for centuries, and during [the presidency of former President Hosni] Mubarak, it was terrible. Is it getting better at all? But my baseline is not Mubarak; it is [former President] Mohamed Morsi.

The question is not whether Sisi is doing better than King Abdullah or MBZ. It is: Has Sisi liberated 100 million Muslims from the reign of terror of the Muslim Brotherhood? Yes. Has he rebuilt all the churches burned down or damaged during their era? Yes. Did he build the largest church in the Middle East and give it to Christians on Christmas Eve as a gift? Yes.

He is encouraging religious pluralism and moderation. These are human rights issues, all of them. I think he gets very high marks compared to Morsi and Mubarak.

That being said, is it enough? No. Is he jailing human rights activists and journalists unfairly? Yes, and I say that in the book. There is an overreaction in the Sisi government to ever letting the Muslim Brotherhood emerge again. They have to dial it back.

But I would compare it to Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. If you dont have a state, there are no human rights. And the very existence of the state of Egypt was very much in doubt over the last decade. Lincoln arrested journalists and suspended habeas corpus. But we have to understand the context in which he did it. And a lot of my Coptic Orthodox friends are not giving the Egyptian government enough credit.

You spoke to leaders of your theological commitment to the state of Israel that goes beyond politics. Is there a distinction between your efforts of seeking peace with Israel specifically and regional peace in general?

Religious freedom was far and away our No. 1 objective. Certainly, advancing Arab-Israeli peacemaking was a high objective for us all. Whether a reader of Christianity Today sees current Israel as the beginning of the fulfillment of Bible prophecies or not, I think every reader would want to see it as a secure country living in peace with the other countries of the region, just as they would for Brazil or Ghana.

In a post-Holocaust, post multiple Arab-Israeli war era, advancing peace is a good thing, biblical, and certainly one of our important objectives. Helping advance it is a very important human rights objectiveand a Christian virtue.

What about peace with Iran? Several evangelicals took hope in the nuclear deal, but in your book you are critical and clear about the threat. You also mention frequently the challenges posed by Turkeys President Erdogan. Would you make yourself available to these leaders also to bring an evangelical delegation?

I picture a ticket to Tehran as one-way. I see no scenario where I can picture me personally sitting down with the supreme leader of Iran. If there are other Christian leaders who get an invitation and get to go and be a witness for Christ and talk about these issues, I would strongly support it. But as an Israeli Jewish evangelical, there are certain roles in the body of Christ that I can play and certain ones I cant.

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In terms of Erdogan, I probably would go and meet with him, and I am encouraged that leaders in the Jewish community have met with him. But youre right; I am very critical and am very concerned. I love the nation of Turkey, and I think he is leading it to the dark side. When I look at Andrew Brunson, basically I see Erdogan as someone who took a hostage. It took two years of the president of the United States imposing sanctions to get him out. This is telling us something diabolical about Erdogan.

Im grateful for the doors that have opened, but I dont believe Im the one to lead every delegation to every country. There are real risks. But the apostle Paul believed he was supposed to go to Rome and meet with Nero. He was in chains, and he knew he probably wasnt going to get out. And he was right. But he wanted to do it, the Holy Spirit wanted him to do it, and it happened.

We need to be willing as followers of Christ to meet with any leader God tells us to and be a witness for him regardless of the consequencebecause we serve a King higher than these leaders.

Your conclusion states, I cannot fully explain why doors to such intriguing leaders have opened for me. From your first invitation by King Abdullah through the signing of the Abraham Accords, how do you interpret the role God has given you in the Middle East?

Psalm 119:46 says that we will be Gods witness to kings. Most of Christianity is about day-to-day life, ministering to ordinary people in their struggles. And so much of the Scriptures is about showing particular concern for the poor, vulnerable, and powerless. But sometimes we forget that kings and governors also have to have a friend who knows Jesus and speaks of him with love and respect. Paul was given a mission to speak to leaders, not just to the lost.

A lot of it is checking your own motive. Am I there for a photo op or to be a witness? Or did God open a door, and now it would be sinful not to go through it? Im not saying it is easy, but these leaders need to be engaged. Weve met with senior Muslim clerics and spoken about our faith. These are very rare moments.

Yes, people will ask how we could sit down with MBS, a man accused of such a heinous murder [of journalist Jamal Khashoggi]. Ill say: How could Paul meet with Nero? Even if MBS isnt Nerobut especially if he iswhy shouldnt I meet with him? Interacting with the government is not verboten in the Christian world.

Justice [Louis] Brandeis used to say that sunlight is the best disinfectant. This book will allow people to look at what were doing, why were doing it, and maybe some people will have constructive criticism. And maybe God will raise up someone to learn from it and speak with the supreme leader of Iran. Or Turkey. Or China. There are a lot of countries that are not going in the right direction.

[But] I find in some Christian circles a resistance, sometimes even a revulsion, to spend time with high officials out of a feeling that it is courting power and ingratiating yourself for your own ambition or vanity. That we should avoid such contact and remain devoutly nonpolitical. But this runs the risk of missing the mission: Everybody in the world needs a friend who loves Jesus. And God changes the hearts of leaders.
As a schoolmaster at an English prep school in 1933, the poet W. H. Auden was sitting with three fellow teachers when, out of nowhere, he found himself overwhelmed by the sense that their existence somehow had infinite value.

In a dramatic way, Auden was recognizing a truth that even most non-Christians affirm: Human beings possess an inherent dignity that cant be reduced to dollars and cents. In a Christian understanding, human life has a pricelessness. People are made in the image of a God who loves them infinitely.

Yet to say that we have intrinsic moral worth is not to say that we are morally good. Malcolm Muggeridge once observed that human depravity is at once the most empirically verifiable and intellectually resisted reality. The Christian apologist Clay Jones has written that all of us, in the right circumstances, are Auschwitz-enabled. We feel guilty for our wrongdoing, and objectively speaking we are guilty, all of us being sinners who habitually fall short of Gods glory.

The history of moral apologetics includes many analyses of human guiltthis feeling of transgressing a moral standard or law, something each of us does with disappointing regularity. Closely related to guilt is its often-neglected sibling shame, whose dynamics Biola University philosopher Gregg Ten Elshof explores in his latest book, For Shame: Rediscovering the Virtues of a Maligned Emotion.

While guilt arises from what we have done, shame arises from who we are (or who we perceive ourselves to be). Guilt can fuel a sense of shame, but so can any number of things unrelated to moral failure, like physical incapacities, social disadvantages, or mistreatment by others. Wherever shame comes from, it can pose a serious ...

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Taylor S. Schumann says shes always been a writer, but on a spring day in 2013 she became an activist, too. It was an otherwise ordinary afternoon at New River Community College in Christiansburg, Virginia, when a gunmans bullet tore through her left hand, and she became a victim of yet another mass shooting in America. In the split-second moment of the shooting, and the long work of healing and trauma recovery that followed, her beliefs about gun reform, thoughts and prayers, and the role of the church in our nations relentless trend of gun violence were irreversibly altered.

In this episode, Heather and Taylor discuss life in the aftermath of gun violence. Through her story, Taylor invites us to meet the suffering around us with our whole-hearted attention. May we all resist the impulse to look away from an uncomfortable subject and instead listen intently to Taylors bold message. Find her at taylorschumann.com and on Twitter @taylorsschumann.

Also, in our #GrowingViral segment, meet Clifford Stumme, also known as the Pop Song Professor. Clifford loves poetry and has decided to engage with culture by analyzing songs that top the charts and looking for their deeper meaning. Find Clifford on Twitter @CliffordStumme. Hes also the host of the podcast Obsessed.

Reach out to Heather at heatherthompsonday.com, on Twitter @HeatherTDay, and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday.

Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today

Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day

Producer: Loren Joseph

Executive Producer: Ed Gilbreath

Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper
Democrats' $3.5T spending bill creates 'harmful penalties for marriage,' Republicans argue

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Republican senators warned this week that the U.S. House of Representatives' $3.5 trillion budget bill championed by congressional Democrats creates "harmful penalties for marriage" that will make families more dependent on the federal government.

In a Thursday letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, 35 Republican senators, led by Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, expressed their concerns about the package.

"We were disappointed to learn that in some instances the House of Representatives' reconciliation bill creates harmful penalties for marriage," they wrote. "Discouraging marriage is not in our country's best interest and sends the wrong message to our families."

In August, the House passed a $3.5 trillion budget resolution that expands social safety net programs, including childcare, free community college, paid leave and programs that combat climate change. Meanwhile, the Senate passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package.

On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., delayed voting on the Senate's $1.2 trillion even though moderates sought a vote. President Joe Biden signed a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown and give Congress nine more weeks to negotiate 2022 appropriations bills.

The Republican senators defined a marriage penalty as "when a household's overall tax bill increases due to a couple marrying and filing taxes jointly." They also mentioned that federal programs such as Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Section 8 housing reduce or eliminate benefits when a couple gets married.

"Federal policy should be designed to foster strong marriages, which are the foundation of strong families and strong communities," the letter added. "Unfortunately, despite its original rollout as part of the 'American Families Plan,' the current draft of the reconciliation bill takes an existing marriage penalty in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and makes it significantly worse."

The senators provided an example of how the reconciliation bill penalizes married couples.

"For example, a couple in 2019 with two children where one parent earns $12,000 and the other $30,000 could pay $1,578 more in taxes  or nearly 4% of their yearly earnings," the senators argued.

"The reconciliation bill could make the same family significantly worse off. It could nearly double the marriage penalty, costing the same parents $2,713 if they choose to marry."

The lawmakers concluded that because "marriage is a vital social good," it is "misguided and unfair for the government to build bigger barriers for couples to marry."

The letter comes as the marriage rate in the United States has hit a new low. According to the Institute for Family Studies, 33 out of every 1,000 unmarried adults in 2019 got married. By contrast, that figure stood at 35 out of 1,000 in 2010 and a much higher 86 per 1,000 in 1970.

Republicans have consistently argued that federal programs have had an impact on the marriage rate. Last year, Republicans on the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee published a report titled "The Demise of the Happy Two-Parent Home," which attributes the decline in marriages to the increased availability and use of federal welfare programs.

"Public 'anti-poverty' programs often exacerbated the problem of family instability by making single parenthood a more viable option and by discouraging marriage among those receiving benefits," the report stated. "A safety net marginally reduces the costs of single parenthood, nonmarital childbearing, and divorce. It also can create a significant tax on marriage because the addition of a spouse with income typically reduces safety net benefits, and if he has only modest earnings or unsteady employment, the trade-off may not be worthwhile."

The report argued that through the safety net, "a single mother can achieve about two-thirds of the standard of living she could get from marrying a sole breadwinner at that compensation level."

"The safety net would put her about one-third higher, with no additional income, than the 10th percentile of male compensation," the report reads.

Additionally, the report explained that "children raised by married parents do better on an array of outcomes." Specifically, they have "stronger relationships with their parents, particularly with their fathers," are "much less likely to experience physical, emotional, or sexual abuse" or "engage in delinquent behavior," have "better health  and exhibit less aggression."

Increased educational attainment and higher wages as adults, and a lower likelihood of living in poverty were also cited as benefits enjoyed by children of married couples.

The report provided empirical evidence attempting to demonstrate that the expansion of the social safety net in the 1960s led to a drop in the number of married people and the number of children born to unwed parents. Data found that the share of married American women dropped from 71% in 1962 to 42% in 2019. The percentage of children born to unmarried mothers rose from 5% in 1960 to 40% in 2019.

While the share of American children living in two-parent households has declined dramatically since the 1960s, one recent study from the Institute for Family Studies showed that the phenomenon of increased illegitimacy may have begun to reverse itself. The study found that in 2020, 70.4% of children under 18 lived with both parents, a slight increase from 69.1% in 2000 and 69.4% in 2010. At the same time, the percentage of American children residing in two-parent households remains far below the 87.7% recorded in 1960.
Higher share of unintended pregnancies are aborted in blue states than red, data suggests

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A scholar at the Catholic University of America reports that data released in a recent report from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute has found that the share of unintended pregnancies carried to term is much higher in red states than blue states.

Dr. Michael New, a Catholic University research associate in Washington, D.C., and an associate scholar at the pro-life research nonprofit Charlotte Lozier Institute, published an op-ed in National Review Wednesday titled "New Guttmacher Report Downplays Pro-Life Progress."

New analyzed data collected by the Guttmacher Institute in a report released earlier this month that details the estimated number of unintended pregnancies in each U.S. state and the share of unintended pregnancies that ended in birth, abortion and fetal loss in 2017.

"In the 15 states that voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in the past six elections, approximately 45 percent of unintended pregnancies resulted in an abortion," New wrote. "In the 20 states that voted for the Republican presidential nominee in the past six elections, meanwhile, only about 23 percent of women with unintended pregnancies had an abortion."

In an interview with The Christian Post, New told CP that based on the data provided in the report, he "was able  to do an average comparing the Democratic states to the Republican states."

"The ideology of the states doesn't seem to have a strong impact on the unintended pregnancy rate," he said. "The reason why we see lower abortion rates in conservative states is that when unintended pregnancies do happen, women are a lot more likely to carry those pregnancies to term."

New attributed the lower share of pregnancies ending in abortion in red states to "certain kinds of pro-life laws" in effect, including "informed consent laws and parental involvement laws."

Additionally, he noted that "there are no situations really where a state Medicaid program pays for  abortions" in red states. By contrast, he said that the Medicaid program does cover abortion in a lot of Democratic and liberal states.

"That does make a difference," he said.

"I don't think it's just legislation," he added. "Right-of-center states do have more pregnancy help centers. They're also more likely to make pregnancy help centers available for different kinds of government grants. I think that makes a difference, and I just think also public sentiment plays a role as well."

New predicted that the divide in the rate of unintended pregnancies ending in abortion between the blue states and the red states will grow even larger in the future.

"I think  you're going to see in red states a higher percentage being carried to term and a lower percentage being aborted, and that's just because you see  red states having  been a lot more active passing pro-life laws," he said.

The pro-life scholar also indicated that depending on the outcome of court challenges surrounding Texas Senate Bill 8 banning abortion as early as six weeks of gestation and Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban, more red states will pass similar laws. He believes that could cause the rate of unintended pregnancies ending in abortion to decrease even further.

"And I also think in liberal, Democratic states, they're tragically repealing a lot of the pro-life laws that are on the books," New said.

New stressed that "Illinois and Maine in the past few years have started covering abortions in their Medicaid program" and "Massachusetts weakened its pro-life parental involvement law a year or so ago." He also said several states have enacted laws allowing late-term abortions, including New York and Rhode Island.

Although New did not examine the share of unintended pregnancies that resulted in abortion in the 15 states that supported presidential nominees from both political parties in at least one of the past six elections, he suggested that "the figures would be in the middle" between 23% and 45%.

Digging into the data even further, New calculated that "44 percent of all unintended pregnancies ended in abortion" nationwide in 2017. Guttmacher did not provide that information on a national level. But New said the report "did provide data for each state" and he was "able to weigh the state by the number of pregnancies so ... the California numbers count more than the ... South Dakota numbers." From there, he obtained the 44% figure.

He assured that research shows a "durable reduction in the percentage of unintended pregnancies that are aborted" over the decades.

During the 1980s and 1990s, New said that "over half of unintended pregnancies were aborted." But he said that figure has dropped into the low 40%-range starting around 2008.

"I think that if more and more unintended pregnancies are being carried to term, it all treads back to the activities of pro-lifers," he added. "We're either changing hearts and minds, helping women in pregnancy centers or passing pro-life laws or moving some combination of those things."
Israeli mom killed by her son for converting from Islam to Christianity, prosecutors say

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A 46-year-old woman was found dead in a section of the Jordan River in Northern Israel the day after her son, in his late 20s, murdered her because she converted from Islam to Orthodox Christianity, prosecutors say.

The suspect, Muad Hib, 27, reportedly used a rope or his hands to strangle his mother, Rasha Muklasha, until she died, police reports and court documents allege of the Aug. 5 incident.

According to The Times of Israel, the indictment alleges that Hib dug a pit, buried the body and covered the spot with rocks and dry leaves "all to obscure the body's location and make it harder to locate."

Hib was charged on Monday for premeditated murder.

In 2006, the victim was reportedly estranged from her husband and five children after she moved from Zarzir to Nof HaGalil, where she converted to Christianity.

After nearly 15 years, she reconnected with her children after her ex-husband died. However, her conversion to Christianity allegedly provoked and angered Hib, which prosecutors surmised could be the reasoning behind his intent for the killing.

Prosecutors contend the murder was planned by Hib, who met his mother near Nazareth and picked her up in his vehicle with the intent to kill her and dispose of her remains.

Authorities charge that after the son suffocated his mother to death, he searched for a place to hide her body.

While searching, Hib reportedly rammed into a police roadblock and fled from the scene. The indictment alleges that he proceeded to the Jordan River, where he hid the deceased.

The police said that Hib bumped into a second roadblock and arrested him after a short chase near Nahalal.

Both of Hib's brothers, 23 and 20, were arrested separately.

According to The Jerusalem Post, all three men were held until enough evidence could be compiled to charge the middle brother as the main perpetrator. After that, the others were released.

The police said they conducted an intensive search for Muklasha's remains using helicopters, a canine unit, cavalry and tracker units.

"The rapid work of investigators in locating the suspect, and the suspicion of a murder case, led to the launch of all Northern District forces for a rapid and extensive operation to locate the victim's body," said Northern District chief, Shimon Lavi, as quoted in a Times of Israel article in August. "[This shows] the police's full commitment to solving crime in the Arab community, using all means at our disposal."

News of the indictment comes as there has been rising crime and violence throughout Israel's Arab community. According to Haaretz, there have been 90 killings in Israel's Arab community since the start of 2021, and the vast majority of perpetrators haven't been brought to justice.

The outlet further calculates that only 23% of murders in Israel's Arab community have been solved. Some of the victims have been unlucky bystanders, known criminals or female victims of domestic violence.

The police have been accused of not doing enough to protect Israel's Arab society.

"The situation has only gotten worse," Thabet Abu Rass, co-executive director of an organization called Abraham Initiatives, which advocates for equality between Jews and Arabs, told Haaretz.

"Yes, we have seen more awareness of crime and violence, from the top down; everyone is talking about it. However, at the same time, on the ground, violent crime is accelerating and Arab society has completely lost its sense of security."

In July, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stated that the rate of violence and crime in Arab Israeli communities is a "national calamity that has been neglected for many years."

"The crime occurs on a daily basis and fear rules the streets. It is the responsibility of the government to fight and deal with the phenomenon and it is a national mission."

In September, Israeli authorities reportedly began recruiting hundreds of new police officers and work with a domestic security agency to combat violence in the Arab community. The move came after several people were killed days prior.
Clergy won't be forced to perform gay weddings if UMC changes its stance, pastors panel says

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United Methodist clergy who oppose same-sex marriage won't be required to officiate gay wedding ceremonies if the denomination changes its stance on LGBT issues, according to a clergy panel.

The Church of the Resurrection, a UMC megachurch based in Kansas and headed by the Rev. Adam Hamilton, held a clergy panel at its Leadership Institute event on Thursday evening.

Hamilton, who's theological progressive and wants the UMC to change its biblically-based opposition to homosexuality that's cited in its Book of Discipline, moderated a church leaders panel to discuss the hotly debated issue within the mainline Protestant denomination.

He asked the panel if they believed that all pastors should be required to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies, should the UMC remove its official opposition to gay marriage.

Stan Copeland, the senior pastor of Lovers Lane United Methodist Church of Dallas, Texas, remarked that right now, pastors can already refuse to perform any wedding under their own convictions.

I think, going forward, that that should be the same way in approaching same-sex marriages, said Copeland. It should be a prerogative of the pastor.

Michael Bowie, national director of the group Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century, said that right now, a pastor should not have to be forced to perform a same-sex marriage.

I believe, as Stan said, that its based on conviction. Right now, according to the Book of Discipline, we cant do it, said Bowie. I think its all about context, right now.

Hamilton asked Bowie if the right now meant that he would be open to compelling pastors to perform same-sex weddings sometime in the future, possibly after the UMC changes its stance.

Speaking for me, right now, I support same-sex gender relationships, Bowie responded. Right now, I am not convicted to do a same-sex marriage.

Katie Dawson, the pastor of Immanuel United Methodist Church of Des Moines, Iowa, said, we dont force any pastor to marry anybody currently.

Ive done weddings for folks and their pastors said no, I wont do your wedding, she added. We dont require pastors to do any of these weddings, and I dont think that would change. I would love to be in a church where everyone would want to, but I cant make anyone do anything. I can choose what I do.

Hamilton had the audience vote on the issue using their phones. Shortly thereafter, as votes were coming in, Hamilton pulled up a graphic that showed around 90% of the attendees said pastors should be allowed to officiate gay weddings, but not be required to.

The panel and Hamilton also denounced what they described as the fear-mongering often found in the homosexuality debate, taking issue with claims from both liberals and conservatives.

Copeland rejected the claim by some that progressives were trying to have the UMC abandon fundamentals of the faith, such as belief in the resurrection or the Holy Trinity.

Every time I hear that accusation, it causes me to wonder who folks are talking to, said Copeland, adding: Ive heard other criticism that is just as unfair about the traditionalists.

Were not going to change our tenets of faith, said Bowie. I believe there has been a lot of fearmongering, a lot of misinformation thats been projected on this movement that has created a lot of division.

Tom Berlin, author and senior pastor at Floris United Methodist Church of Herndon, Virginia, added that he often meets with progressives in the UMC, and he doesn't hear this conversation anywhere I go.

Berlin also took issue with the claims of some progressives that UMC traditionalists plan to end female ordination if they found a new denomination, stating, I dont know any traditional people I know who would take away the ordination of women.

The panel was part of a multiday gathering at the Church of the Resurrection known as the Leadership Institute.

Other speakers at the event included Jasmine Smothers, lead pastor of First United Methodist Church of Atlanta, Georgia; Bob Goff, an attorney and bestselling author; Savannah Kimberlin, director of research solutions at Barna Group; and Kevin Murriel, senior pastor of Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

Over the past several years, the UMC has been embroiled in a debate over its Book of Discipline, which labels homosexuality incompatible with Christian teaching and prohibits clergy from officiating same-sex marriages.

Although the UMC General Conference has repeatedly voted down efforts to change the language, large numbers of progressives in the UMC have openly resisted the denomination's official stance.

In January 2020, a theologically diverse group of church leaders expressed support for a document titled Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation.

The goal of the protocol was to finally end the theological debate between conservatives and progressives by giving conservative churches opposed to changing the UMC Book of Discipline an easier means of leaving the denomination.

If approved, the protocol would allocate $25 million for theologically conservative Methodists to create their own denomination. It would also allow congregations and conferences to vote on whether to join the new denomination.

Earlier this year, a group of UMC conservatives announced plans to form the Global Methodist Church as that new denomination, holding off further implementation pending approval of the protocol.

Legislation aimed at approving the protocol measures are scheduled to be voted at the next UMC General Conference, presently scheduled for 2022 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Originally, the global church legislative meeting was to take place in May 2020. However, the coronavirus pandemic prompted the UMC to postpone the gathering.
Max Lucado urges Christians to live courageously amid cultural upheaval: 'God is working in our story'

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Bestselling author Max Lucado understands that the Christian community is emotionally weary following a contentious presidential election, deep divisions within the Church and a pandemic.

The challenges weve faced have the potential to undo us, Lucado, leader of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, told The Christian Post. Lets not underestimate the fact that we're all suffering from a mild case of PTSD. We've just been beaten up. We've sustained some trauma from all the experiences that we've gone through, and it's come at us from all angles.

But its in times like this, the 66-year-old author contended, that Gods quiet providence is most at work.

Relief and rescue will come, deliverance will come, he stressed. God gets His people through things. He always does. The question is not, 'Will God rescue His people.' The question is, 'Will you be a part of it?'

In his latest book, You Were Made for This Moment: Courage for Today, Hope for Tomorrow, Lucado details how the biblical story of Esther highlights how God is still on the throne, God still has His people, God will still glorify Himself amid cultural upheaval.

This book was born in a season of winter, he said. Were all searching for springtime. Everything about Esthers story is a reminder that God is working in our story, and He's gradually protecting His people working things toward His desired outcome.

In his book, Lucado shares how Esthers story parallels that of many Christians today. Its ultimately a story about people trying to maintain faith in a foreign land, Lucado said, adding: We all can relate to that. We feel like we're on the outside looking in, many times, in our culture.

Its an odd time in which we live, he added. The irony is not lost on me. They are all about pluralism. Accept everything  except those of us who are not about pluralism. Its just the oddest thing.

Initially, the pastor pointed out, Esther and Mordecai kind of blew it. Both, problematically, found success in a foreign land by hiding their Jewish identity.

I think that's just pretty remarkable how they blended in, he said. They were so Persian in appearance, language, accent and culture. They had completely assimilated, so much so that nobody knew that they were Jewish. Now, there's a picture of people today. We can assimilate so much into the culture around us that people don't know about our faith.

But ultimately, both Mordecai and Esther resurrected their faith and revealed they were Jewish  and because of their courage, they saved a nation.

It could have been a massive Holocaust, Lucado said. But God reversed what was certain death and turned it into certain life. The villain ends up being impaled on the very tool of torture and execution that he created for Mordecai and Queen Esther. The Jews, who were about to be destroyed, end up going to battle against those who are going to destroy them and they come out victorious. Now, we have one of the greatest stories in the Bible.

Just when things seem to be terrible, Gods people come out victorious, he said.

Though His fingerprints are on every page of the story, the name of God is never mentioned in the book of Esther  something Lucado believes is significant.

If you're going through a tough season, if you're going through a hard stretch, you don't hear God's name in your story, either, he said. I think that's one of the messages here, that God speaks loudest when He whispers in our lives.

Lucado, who has been married to his wife, Denayn, for 40 years, is no stranger to trials. In September, the pastor announced he was diagnosed with an ascending aortic aneurysm, something he acknowledged in a message to supporters is a serious condition. In July, the grandfather tested positive for COVID-19 despite being vaccinated.

More broadly, the pastor told CP that hes chagrined by the recent, public downfall of his ministry peers, most publicly Ravi Zacharias.

Nobody is more chagrined than I am over the fall of many of my colleagues, men of my age. We should be setting the example for the Church, and yet we've seen many stumble, he said. I do believe that for everyone that stumbles there are three hundred that are faithful. But we tend to focus on the ones that stumble, and rightly so because they bring embarrassment upon the Church.

Hes also dismayed by the racial divides seen across the U.S.  we cant just dismiss these deep wounds that exist, he said  as well as the apathetic attitude many professing Christians have toward Church attendance in the aftermath of a pandemic.

I think there are a thousand reasons for us to meet in person, he said. Now, if somebody has health concerns, if their body or health is compromised, it's not time. God bless you, I understand. But I am wanting to give a godly kick in the rump to those who might just be a little bit lethargic, Lucado said.

It's evident, he said, that sin and secularization are increasingly permeating culture. Yet, the pastor emphasized that the Bible was written for times like these.

We forget that the Bible was written by and for people who were a minority in their culture, he said. God is already doing a great work through you. You're the salt of the Earth. You're the light of the world. Instead of getting mad, Im just going to get focused on loving people and trying to encourage the Church and trusting God to walk us through.

In uncertain times, Lucado challenged believers to read the book of Esther and be arrested by the presence of Gods quiet providence. Her story, Lucado said, is a reminder that God is working in our story even when its not evident.

His fingerprints are on every page of your story, he said. Let's just stay focused on the big story. The big story is God's grace, His defeat of death, the Easter celebration, the return of Christ. Keep these big things the big things. Let them change you. Just trust Him.

You Were Made for This Moment is now available.
John Piper denounces bedroom role-playing: Fantasized sin is sin

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Noted theologian and Bible teacher John Piper recently denounced the practice of some married couples to engage in role-playing in the bedroom, stating that fantasized sin is sin.

On an episode of the podcast Ask Pastor John posted to the website Desiring God on Monday, Piper addressed multiple questions sent in by listeners whose spouses were interested in various types of sensual role-play.

My husband likes to use role-playing in the bedroom, and various levels of bondage and dominance. He wants me to say things like I am your slave. He wants me to wear certain collars around my neck. To the far extreme, he likes to fantasize that he is raping me, said one unnamed listener.

But hes a very nice person outside of the bedroom. He only asks if he can play out the fantasy in bed. What should I do?

Another anonymous listener explained that a counselor had told her and her husband that role-playing was okay in the marriage bed with mutual consent.

Piper, an author and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, responded by stating that fantasized sin is sin, no matter how many people agree on it." He added that playacted sin is sin, citing Jesus words in Matthew 5:2729 to justify this conclusion.

You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell, reads the biblical passage.

With the passage in mind, Piper said that Jesuss standard of holiness is not merely a standard of bodily deeds, but also of mental delights.

If you need ever more kinky sex  ever more bizarre, unconventional sexual acts at the expense of your spouses enjoyment  you are elevating your appetite above his or her delights. Thats not the way of Christ, Piper continued.

If you pursue a sexual act or an imagined sexual situation because it is more stimulating, scintillating, pleasurable, because it is forbidden, then you are living out the way of the fool, and you are embodying the principle of bondage.

Piper went on to warn that if a sexual desire has become so prominent in the way you pursue satisfaction in life that you must push the limits of sexual conventions in order to be a joyful and contented person, your God and your purpose for living have become too small.

In other words, we need a big, beautiful, glorious, transcendent, majestic vision of God and his purpose for our lives if sex is to stay in its pleasurable, small place, he added.

Rather, you will have it by devoting 99 percent of your effort to love your wife well outside the bedroom, so that she finds you somebody she really desires.

In 2016, University of Nebraska-Lincoln sociologist Kelsy Burke published a book analyzing the sexual practices of married evangelicals, as seen in studying the content of 36 websites where large numbers of Christians have sought sexual advice.

In online blog comments and message boards, website users sometimes debate whether or not a particular sex act is 'OK, explained Burke in a 2016 interview with The Christian Post.

But the prevailing attitude is that if a believer is in open communication with God and a spouse about his or her desires, then those desires are permissible.

This is not the first time Piper has shared his thoughts on sensitive issues surrounding sexuality.

In 2020, the theologian said God sometimes sends unwanted sexual dreams to terrify us with warnings in order to humble our pride and keep us back from sin.

God really does use dreams to terrify us with warnings in order to humble our pride and keep us back from sin, Piper said. But if thats true, one way to look at sexually illicit dreams  dreams when youre doing illicit things in the dream  is that God is terrifying us in our dreams of the horror of this prospect in real life, so that we wont do it.

He also previously explained that sexual attraction doesnt belong to the essence of marriage and sexual pleasure is not essential to marriage.

The essence of marriage is the making and keeping of a covenant between a man and a woman to be husband and wife to each other as long as they both shall live, he said. That is the essence of a marriage: covenant making, covenant keeping  to be a husband and a wife.

And to be sure, that covenant includes the promise to give ones self to the other in sexual relations (1 Corinthians 7:3), he added. The husband should give his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife her husband. But there is nothing in the Bible that mandates any particular degree of physical pleasure in that relationship.
Christian flag should be allowed at city hall, law group argues

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A conservative law firm argued in federal court that a Christian nonprofit should be allowed to fly the Christian flag at Boston, Massachusetts city hall.

The Liberty Counsel presented oral arguments in the case on Wednesday, arguing that local resident Hal Shurtleff and his group Camp Constitution should be able to fly the Christian flag at the city hall, just like other civic organizations are allowed to.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Liberty Counsel said, The undisputed facts reveal that Boston has allowed more than 300 flag raisings by private organizations on the City Hall flagpoles, including the Turkish flag (which depicts the Islamic star and crescent) and the Portuguese flag (which uses religious imagery).

City officials have also never denied the messages communicated by the Chinese Progressive Association, the LGBT rainbow flag of Boston Pride, and a transgender pink and blue flag. The flags from other countries such as Albania, Brazil, Ethiopia, Italy, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, as well as of Communist China and Cuba have all been approved to fly on the citys flagpoles.

At issue in the lawsuit was a denied request by Camp Constitution to fly the flag during a Constitution Day and Citizenship Day event in 2017.

Camp Constitution sued the City of Boston over the rejection, in the hopes of being allowed to fly the flag at the City Hall Plaza for future events.

In late August 2018, however, U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper ruled against the Christian group, concluding that Boston had not unlawfully restricted Plaintiffs' ability to speak publicly.

The City has only denied Plaintiffs permission to compel the City to endorse a particular religion by raising the Christian flag, ruled Judge Casper.

Given the range of options available to Plaintiffs for their event on City-owned property, the Court concludes Plaintiffs are unlikely to suffer irreparable harm without an injunction.

Casper also wrote that the flags that had been approved to fly at city hall all passed the "Lemon test" since their "primary effort is not to advance or inhibit religion."

"The names of the flags alone are enough to reveal their primary purposes," continued the judge. "The Christian flag primarily represents a specific religion, while the other cited flags represent a sovereign nation, a city government and a group committed to remembering a military victory."
Long overdue: Christian prison ministry celebrates passage of EQUAL Act

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A Christian prison ministry has commended the United States House of Representatives for passing a bill that seeks to eliminate a disparity regarding drug possession penalties.

Known as the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law (EQUAL) Act, or H.R. 1693, the bill passed the House on Tuesday by a bipartisan vote of 361 to 66.

If enacted, the EQUAL Act would lower the criminal penalties for federal crack cocaine offenses to the same level as penalties for powder cocaine offenses, ending a major disparity in the law.

Prison Fellowship, a national Christian ministry, has expressed their support for the passage of the bill, having lobbied for the proposed legislation for the past several months.

Heather Rice-Minus, senior vice president of advocacy and church mobilization at Prison Fellowship, told The Christian Post in an interview on Thursday that she believed the House passing the bill was long overdue.

We are prioritizing the EQUAL Act as a federal piece of legislation we want to see passed because we believe that the disparity in how we punish crack versus powdered cocaine is disproportional for all Americans, explained Rice-Minus.

In addition to that, we know that historically it has had a really devastating effect on black communities in particular. So we want to see that changed and remedied and we believe that now the time in fact is long overdue.

In January, Prison Fellowship joined FAMM (which formerly went by the spelled out name Families Against Mandatory Minimums) to launch a social media campaign on behalf of H.R. 1693 with #endthedisparity on Twitter.

They, along with us, have been lobbying members of Congress, our staff has been going out, Rice-Minus told CP. Weve been doing lots of outreach to educate members of Congress and their staff about why this is so important and weve been getting constituents involved to share why they care about this for their own community.

Rice-Minus was optimistic about the fate of the legislation in the Senate, telling CP that she viewed this vote we just had in the House as a mandate that really does send a message to the Senate.

I think whether as a standalone bill or as part of a criminal justice package, one way or another, were going to get this across the finish line and I think that members realize, as was evident in the House, that this is long overdue, she added.

As part of their continued efforts to advance the EQUAL Act, Prison Fellowship plans to hold a congressional briefing on Friday, focused on the Senate side.
New documentary tells true story of pilots who take extreme risks to fly missionaries to 'Ends of the Earth'

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The documentary film "Ends of the Earth" tells the true stories of Mission Aviation Fellowship pilots who fly missionaries to some of the most remote regions of the world under high-risk conditions so they can share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Moody Bible Institute partnered with Change Media and Mission Aviation Fellowship on the new film, which focuses on the work and faith of MAF pilots who help missionaries, churches and Christian organizations fulfill Jesus' Great Commission.

The documentary, which will premiere in select theaters nationwide for two nights only at 7 p.m. on Oct. 18 and Oct. 21, features interviews with Christian leaders, staff from Moody Bible Institute and MAF employees.

These Christian leaders include Mark Jobe, president of Moody Bible Institute, and David Holsten, MAF president. It also features Pastor David Platt of McLean Bible Church, who's also the founder of Radical, an organization that seeks to help train and equip Christians and churches to spread the Gospel among nations.

The film culminates with a discussion from Jobe and Holsten about the Great Commission and the calling of every Christian, regardless of their profession.

We believe that every follower of Christ should have a passion for missions, Holsten said, according to the Moody Bible Institute. Some will be called to go, others will be called to use their gifts to support, and all are called to pray that people will accept the life-changing salvation that comes through Jesus Christ.

According to MAF, millions of people worldwide don't have access to the Gospel. Some who live in remote regions of the world face geographic barriers. Others are isolated by social, political or religious barriers.

For 75 years, MAF has been on a mission to reach isolated people with the message of Christ and to bring help, hope and healing through aviation. MAF operates a global fleet of aircrafts to help medical professionals, churches, missionaries and other humanitarian organizations deliver necessary supplies and spiritual support to isolated people.

"Ends of The Earth" gives viewers an in-depth look at remote villages and breathtaking landscapes as it shares the stories of MAF pilots who accept the challenge of flying to remote and sometimes high-risk areas of the world so that missionaries can share the Gospel.

In a statement, Jobe expressed hope that the documentary will inspire Moody Bible Institute students to become missionary pilots.

We are excited about the next generation of men and women at Moody ready to fulfill their purpose and calling, he said. And we are praying fervently that the Lord uses this powerful film to inspire some of them as mission aviators to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Moody looks forward to building our strong partnership with MAF in our efforts to make the Gospel available to every person.

Fathom Events has partnered with Collide Media Group to show the film in theaters nationwide.

Fathom is thrilled to be partnering with Collide to expand our inspirational and documentary offerings to cinema audiences, Ray Nutt, Fathom Events CEO, said. This is an important film that will challenge and inspire audiences.
Greg Laurie at SoCal Harvest: 3 common questions people ask when they're close to death

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Pastor Greg Laurie centered his message on the words of Jesus in John 14 and the three common questions people ask when they're near death for the third night of the 30th annual SoCal Harvest.

The three most common questions that people who know they're near the end of their life ask, Laurie said Sunday night at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, are: 1. What's going to happen to me after I die? 2. Is there really a God? 3. Am I going to Heaven?

"Heaven is a real place," Laurie said, and "deep down inside" everyone feels "the tug of heaven."

"What is Heaven like?" Laurie said, in one word, "Amazing ... beyond your wildest dreams."

Unlike popular conceptions of Heaven as boring, where people are just floating on clouds, "Heaven is a real place for real people to do real things."

Jesus spoke about Heaven in John 14, the evangelist pointed out.

Jesus said, "My Fathers house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going" (2-4).

Then Thomas asked, Lord, we dont know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" (5)

To which Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him" (6-7).

After you die, Laurie said, your "soul will enter the afterlife," and whether you enter Heaven is up to you.

First, you must "confess you're a sinner," he said, and "understand, Jesus died on the cross for you."

"Jesus was God with a face ... He died in your place." And God is faithful and will forgive you.

Second, Laurie said, "you must repent of your sin," which is like an "about-face," where you stop moving away from God and start moving toward God.

Then you must invite Christ into your heart, which is like "a word picture" that means "old things pass away" and "everything becomes fresh in you."

The pastor then asked those in the audience who were not already believers to "do it publicly" and "do it now ... tonight is the night. ... What if you never had another opportunity? How sad it would be if you entered into eternity without knowing Jesus."

He asked those who wanted to make that decision to come forward and a large crowd formed near the stage.

During his Saturday night message, Laurie said America is in need of spiritual revival, and Harvest is preparing for revival by launching a series of crusades in Southern California, Boise, Idaho, and Los Angeles over the next 20 months. Harvest has a goal to reach over one million people and see 100,000 professions of faith through the crusades.

This year marked 30 straight years of the Harvest event in Southern California, which is described by Laurie as the longest-running, large-scale evangelism event in American history. Over 100,000 attended the event this past weekend and 8,670 people made professions of faith.

Lecrae, for KING & COUNTRY, Jeremy Camp, Phil Wickham, Newsboys and Chris Tomlin were among the music groups featured this year.
Greg Laurie on SoCal Harvest, why he's optimistic about Gen Z: 'We need a spiritual solution'

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Greg Laurie, founder and lead pastor of Harvest Churches and Harvest Crusades, is excited about Generation Z.

Though theyre dubbed the first truly post-Christian generation, with moral relativism behind the majority opinion of the group, Laurie believes Gen Zers are defined by their desire for significance and meaning  making them ripe for the Gospel.

We have a generation that hasnt heard the Gospel. Most of Gen Z doesnt come from any kind of a spiritual or religious background whatsoever. I would rather have a blank slate to work with, where they know nothing, and then tell them the truth than people with all kinds of prejudices, the 68-year-old pastor told The Christian Post.

The Bible says, How will they hear unless someone tells them? Young people are looking for significance. They want their life to matter. They want to be noticed. And what I'm saying to them is, Your life does matter, you are noticed, God loves you, and God has a special plan for your life. I want to tell them how they can discover that plan for this life and the afterlife.

With the goal of reaching thousands with the hope of Christ, Lauries Southern California Harvest Crusade will return to Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, for one night only on Oct. 3.

The ministrys first stadium outreach event in over a year, SoCal Harvest is free and will feature worship by Christian music artists Phil Wickham and for King & Country, as well as a message from Laurie.

The pastor described the event as a "celebration," defined by "joy, worship and a powerful message."

It means a lot to everybody to just get together again, Laurie said. With this pandemic, all the wrong things are up. Drug use is, up alcohol use is, up self-harm is up, suicides are up, divorce is up, and it's because people feel down. And Jesus said, Look up, because your redemption is drawing near. I think it's important for us to get together in person because we're better together.

Laurie, along with Chuck Smith, pastor and founder of Calvary Chapel, founded SoCal Harvest in 1990, making the event the longest-running evangelistic outreach event in the U.S. Over the decades, SoCal Harvest has seen thousands of young people embrace Christianity  a phenomenon Laurie hopes happens again this year.

We're going to be together in one place at one time, worshiping the Lord, and then proclaiming the Gospel, he said. Its just so exciting to see thousands of people go down on the field and make a profession of faith to follow Christ. God willing, we're going to see that this Sunday night.

The pastor is encouraging young people to bring their non-Christian friends to SoCal Harvest, stressing it's a "different kind of event than just bringing someone to a church."

"It's great to take people to church, but you always have that fear  what if this is the Sunday the pastor preaches on tithing? This event is designed from beginning to end, for a non-believer. We're trying to anticipate their questions and answer them. I'm speaking in a very understandable way, not assuming they know what the logical terms mean."

Due to the pandemic, the in-person event was replaced last year by A Rush of Hope, a cinematic crusade that reached over 4 million people and yielded over 50,000 professions of faith. And though Lauries message hasnt changed since the '90s, SoCal Harvest will this year employ cutting-edge technology to further the Gospel.

We're bringing some cinematic elements into the live event, Laurie shared. We have more screens, we have more tech, we have more everything. Its not to put on a show, but to enhance the experience and make it more immersive and actually draw the audience in closer to what we're saying.

During the event, Laurie revealed he will share footage from Jesus Revolution, the forthcoming Erwin Brothers film that highlights the spiritual awakening in Southern California in the early 1970s known as the Jesus movement.

Its an amazing thing to think that the last great spiritual awakening in America happened right here in California, and I would love to see another one, Laurie said. We're just praying that this could be a spark that could set something much larger into motion. Only the Lord can bring that about, but with God, all things are possible.

God wants to send a spiritual awakening to America, he added. And we know we're really needing one right now. I think it's pretty clear at this point that this is not something that will be solved with a political solution, or a technological solution or a mere moral solution. We need a spiritual solution, and only God can bring that about.

Click here to stay up to date on the latest information about SoCal Harvest. A livestream option will be available for those who are not comfortable or able to attend in-person. For those who attend in-person, the event will follow protocols employed by Angel Stadium.
Hardcore porn: The mortal enemy of humanity  women and men

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Seldom, if ever, have I been more dejected at having been proven right about my prediction for over three decades now about the catastrophic impact the spiritual and emotional cancer of hardcore internet pornography would have on all levels of our culture.

Imagine my surprise when I began to read my copy of The New York Times on Sept. 25 (I should confess I have been reading The New York Times every day since age 18. Considering how far the former paper of record for the country has fallen from its former glory, it is more of an addiction than a search for knowledge).

There, on the top fold of the editorial page was a column by Michelle Goldberg, Sex Positive Feminism is Falling Out of Fashion.

Ms. Goldberg reports what I suspect was a very surprising development to her. She reports on philosopher Amia Srinivasans experience while teaching students at the University of Oxford about second-wave anti-porn activism. Ms. Srinivasan assumed that her Oxford students (late millennials and early Gen Zers), who have been immersed in a porn-saturated culture, as were their parents, would find the anti-porn position prudish and passe.

On the contrary, they seemed to be channeling the spirit of Andrea Dworkin in their responses. Responding to the massive and impassioned response of her students, Ms. Srinivasan said, The warnings of the anti-porn feminists seem to have been belatedly realized. Somewhere Ms. Dworkin and her supporters are saying, I told you so.

The responses of the Oxford students are revelatory. They overwhelmingly affirmed the belief that porn bears responsibility for the objectification of women, the marginalization of women, and sex and violence against women. One young man in the Oxford class expressed doubt about whether sex that was loving and mutual was even possible.

How indescribably sad, and yet how predictable. When one looks at descriptions of the content of online porn (I would not advise anyone to view the actual product  you dont want those images burned into your consciousness), it is impossible not to see it as grotesquely anti-woman.

Real feminists who understand what hardcore porn really is would picket every adult bookstore and porn outlet in the country if they had the courage of their convictions. And women are not the only victims.

The average age of first exposure to hardcore porn for American males has dropped from 17 to 11 with the advent of the internet. Now, every home in America is just one of two clicks way away from having material that was previously confined to the worst areas of the worst cities in America ooze up into their hearts and minds through the internet.

Hardcore internet pornography is analogous to an electronic river of malignant and toxic emotional slime running just under the surface waiting to be uploaded into the hearts and minds of Americans, young and old alike.

While pornography does exploit and objectify women, it also victimizes young men. Millions of these boys and young men are receiving their sex miseducation from internet porn. Having been exposed and too often addicted to this twisted view of human sexuality, they are daily having their ability to become the husbands and fathers they desire to be stunted, twisted and destroyed.

Hardcore internet pornography has poisoned the basic building block of human relationships, the man-woman interaction that produces marriage and families. When I hear the responses of Ms. Srinivasans Oxford students, my heart breaks for both the male and female students as they testify to how pornography has shaped their interaction with each other.

Those of us who came of age before the tsunami of hardcore internet porn engulfed us have a difficult time understanding the world which this has created for millennials and Gen Zers. I continue to be haunted by a story related to me by a womens dean at a prominent liberal arts college. She expressed to me how painful it was to have a steady stream of young women come for counseling with the lament that they felt extremely pressured to have casual sex and that they just wanted sex to mean something! How unspeakably sad.

I believe that internet porn is the Madison Avenue ad campaign that promotes sexual immorality and creates the market for sexual slavery. I believe that Satan has figured out that the most powerful weapon in his arsenal in his incessant attempts to degrade and defile humanity is hardcore internet pornography.

One measure of the level of his success is that vulgar and leud terms for sexual intercourse are now routinely used to describe acts of hostility and aggression and exploitation. The devil has taken the relationship that God intended to be the most giving and loving relationship between husband and wife and has deformed it into synonyms for the exact opposite.

It is well past time for Christians of all denominational persuasions to covenant together to seek to reclaim Gods gift of gender and sex and to redeem them for the purpose for which God gifted them  to make of the two one flesh, a knowing and a being known beyond the human capacity of speed to describe.

Let us be about our Heavenly Fathers business.
Colorado medical school sued for denying religious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccine mandate

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A medical school in Colorado has been sued by a student and a faculty member who allege that they were wrongfully punished for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds.

The two plaintiffs, one Catholic and one Buddhist, have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on Wednesday against the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine.

According to the lawsuit, the university rejected their requests for an exemption to a schoolwide mandate even though the two unnamed plaintiffs hold religious objections to getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to the lawsuit, the university would only grant religious exemptions to individuals whose religious beliefs involved opposing "all immunizations," as opposed to just objections to the COVID-19 vaccine.

As a result, the Catholic staff member is facing a possible termination while the Buddhist student has already been compelled to take a "leave of absence" from his coursework.

"Plaintiffs are aware that hospitals and medical schools across the country, and within the University of Colorado's own health care system, have offered religious accommodations to similarly situated individuals who work directly with and around COVID vulnerable patients," argued the lawsuit.

"Their experience, which is consistent with national media reports, confirms that there can be no compelling interest in categorically forbidding similar accommodations for Plaintiffs here simply on the basis of the nature of their religious beliefs and the University's view of the veracity of those beliefs."

Thomas More Society Vice President and Senior Counsel Peter Breen, whose organization is representing the plaintiffs, claimed in a statement that the university had "enacted a policy dividing its staff and students into two categories based on their religious beliefs."

"The 'sheep' whose religions teach the approved orthodoxy receive exemptions to the university's Covid vaccine mandate, but the 'goats' who hold non-approved religious beliefs are refused exemptions, and then fired or expelled," Breen stated.

Breen believes the university was "rendering value judgments on believers in an inquisition that further violates the First Amendment."

According to the Anschutz School of Medicine's website, all students, faculty and other personnel must be vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they successfully apply for an exemption based on medical or religious objections.

"Unvaccinated individuals are required to follow alternative procedures on campus, which include completing the daily health questionnaire, wearing masks and distancing and complying with mandatory weekly COVID-19 testing," the school's website explains.

As more schools and businesses require COVID-19 vaccinations for their personnel, some have objected for religious reasons. Some object over how cell lines from aborted fetuses were used in the vaccine research.

In July, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York issued a memorandum saying that priests can't grant religious exemptions for getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Pope Francis has made it very clear that it is morally acceptable to take any of the vaccines and said we have the moral responsibility to get vaccinated," a memo from New York Archdiocese Chancellor John P. Cahill reads.

"By doing so [a priest] is acting in contradiction to the directives of the Pope and is participating in an act that could have serious consequences to others."

In New York, 17 healthcare workers filed a lawsuit seeking religious exemptions to a vaccine mandate that required more than 600,000 workers in public and private hospitals and nursing homes to receive their first dose of the vaccine by Monday.

They were also represented by the Thomas More Society. On Sept. 14, a federal judge issued an order temporarily preventing the New York health department from rejecting employer-approved religious exemptions. The order was extended last week and will last until Oct. 12. Their lawsuit pushes back on the memo from Catholic leadership in New York.

"They do not accept the opinion  expressed by certain other Catholic bishops, the Pope included  that there is a therapeutically proportional reason to resort to abortion-connected vaccines which can justify 'remote' cooperation in abortion," the lawsuit argues. "They reject as a matter of religious conviction any medical cooperation in abortion, no matter how 'remote.'"

In July, two students at a dental school in Missouri were granted religious exemptions to a vaccine mandate after a Christian conservative legal group sent a demand letter.
NY gov. unfairly invoked God to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations, lawyer tells 2nd Circuit

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An attorney for a conservative group argued in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan Wednesday that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has unfairly used God to encourage people to take COVID-19 vaccines as she argues there are no legitimate religious reasons to avoid taking them.

On Thursday, a three-judge panel partly granted a motion by We The Patriots USA attorney Cameron Lee Atkinson on behalf of three clients who stated religious objections to taking the COVID-19 vaccine to block the state from enforcing its vaccine mandate against them until their case is adjudicated.

"This case is at least the second time in two years that a New York governor has made sincerely held religious beliefs the specific target of a pandemic," We The Patriots USA Atkinson argued in the court session.

On Aug. 26, New York implemented a COVID-19 vaccine mandate requiring some 600,000 healthcare workers to receive their first dose of an approved vaccine by this past Monday unless a medical exemption is granted.

On Sept. 13, 17 Christian healthcare workers, including several doctors, filed a lawsuit seeking religious exemptions from the mandate. A day later, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against New York's health department from rejecting employer-approved religious exemptions to the vaccine mandate. A week later, the order was extended until Oct. 12, when a hearing is scheduled for the case.

While he did not provide any specific instances of the state violating the order, Atkinson argued that Gov. Hochul's recent public comments at the Brooklyn-based Christian Cultural Center on Sunday were encouraging some healthcare facilities to ignore the order.

"We are not through this pandemic. I wished we were, but I prayed a lot to God during this time, and you know what, God did answer our prayers," Hochul told congregants. "He made the smartest men and women, the scientists, the doctors, the researchers  He made them come up with a vaccine. That is from God to us, and we must say, thank you, God. Thank you."

She praised the congregants attending the church in person for being "the smart ones" and getting vaccinated but added that there were those "who aren't listening to God and what God wants," and she needed their help to reach the vaccine-hesitant population.

"Gov. Hochul has made public comments, public announcements that she would deploy the National Guard upon the termination of healthcare workers [who don't take the vaccines]," Atkinson argued in Wednesday's hearing, seeking a temporary order for his own clients.

He explained that while his clients still had their jobs, two of them had already been told that they would be fired on a "rolling basis." He urged the court to issue another temporary order that would give him the "ability to go back to those employers and say, I have an order from the Second Circuit staying this regulation until they hear the appeal on the merits. Do not fire my clients."

The panel of three judges who heard the appeal said there were already three orders against the vaccine mandate and did not appear convinced that they needed to issue another one 12 days before the October 12 hearing.

Steven Wu, New York's deputy solicitor general, told the appeals court judges that the New York Department of Health "is in full compliance with the northern district's temporary restraining order."

When asked about the merits of the vaccine mandate allowing a medical exemption but not a religious one, Wu contended that the medical exemption was allowed because its scope is a lot narrower than a religious exemption and wasn't permanent.

"The scope of the medical exemptions is limited to those who have very serious contraindications to COVID-19 or to its components which are severe allergic reactions of a certain type. So just the sheer numbers of it ... are quite different than it would be for a religious exemption," Wu said.

While the judges appeared to accept that as a valid argument, they asked if there was empirical evidence to back up the claim, and Wu said that data would be presented on Oct. 12 in defense of the mandate.

He further pointed out that while religious exemptions are permanent, medical exemptions are only allowed for a limited period.

In his rebuttal, Atkinson insisted that his clients needed their own temporary restraining order against the mandate.

"The reason this court should issue such an injunction is my clients shouldn't be dependent on the outcome of other proceedings. They've gone to court, they've litigated their claims fairly," he argued. "They're on a ticking clock. As soon as that clock swings in the direction of the orders being lifted or being denied  my clients are left hung out to dry."

The 2nd Circuit granted Atkinson's motion in part on Thursday, issuing a temporary restraining order blocking the state from enforcing the "mandate against persons claiming religious exemptions." A hearing date is set for Oct. 14.
Pastor Greg Laurie shares how to overcome the devil in sermon on Revelation 11-12

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Greg Laurie, senior pastor and founder of the multi-campus Harvest Christian Fellowship in California, explained in a sermon how Christians can overcome the devil as all are in an invisible war, a spiritual battle.

In the recent sermon based on Chapters 11 and 12 of the book of Revelation, Laurie asked the listeners, Are you overcoming the devil, or are you being overcome by the devil?

Being overcome by the devil means when you find yourself captive to a sin and it gets you again and again and again.

Referring to Ephesians Chapter 6, Laurie said we're not wrestling against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this age, a spiritual host of wickedness in heavenly places.

Its a very real battle, the megachurch pastor stressed.

To describe the battle, the pastor shared that in the Last Days, Jerusalem will be the center of End Times events. And for that to happen, Jerusalem must be in Jewish hands and the Third Temple must be rebuilt, he said, adding that the Antichrist will help the Jews rebuild their Temple, and then desecrate it.

Here we are now, in 2021, and, as usual, the Middle East, Israel  and specifically Jerusalem is in the news. Jerusalem ironically means the City of Peace, yet more wars have been fought at her doorstep than in any other city in the entire world.

Laurie then shared two points that can help a Christian overcome the devil.

One, the devil knows his days are numbered, he said.

Hes working through his network of demon powers and  we find this battle in Heaven, Laurie said.

This is a heavenly battle between the angels of God under the direction of Michael the Archangel and Lucifer, the son of the morning, the powerful fallen angel, and his demon forces. So the devil and his angels cannot defeat these powerful angels from God, he added.

Point No. 2, he said, is that the devil does not want Christians to know that his primary attack comes through accusation.

He tempts you and, by the way, its not a sin to be tempted because temptation comes at the worst time, like maybe youre listening to a message like right now and all of a sudden an evil thought comes into your mind and then the devil condemns you for having an evil thought. Its not a sin to be tempted; its only a sin if you give in to the temptation. Its not the bait that constitutes sin; its the bite, he explained.

The pastor continued, Hell say, No one will ever know. No one will ever be aware of what youve done. Go for it. Youll have fun. And, so, you go for it and then the devil comes back to you and says, You miserable hypocrite, you call yourself a Christian?

The devil also tells us, Dont even pray. Dont even read your Bible; that would be the ultimate act of hypocrisy. Dont you dare show your ugly face in church.

Laurie cautioned that Christians need to know the difference between Satans accusations and the Holy Spirits conviction.

See, when a Christian sins  and yes we will sin  the Holy Spirit will convict or convince you of your sin. Why? To drive you into shame? No. To bring you back to Jesus, he explained.

Laurie further said, God doesnt hear your prayers based on what youve done. He hears your prayers based on what Hes done  sending the Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross in your place. So theres nothing I need to do to earn the favor of God.

To conclude, Laurie encouraged the congregants not to listen to Satan.

Hes a liar and the father of lies. God hears your prayers. God loves you and if youve sinned against Him, He will forgive you no matter what you have done. Satan does not want you to know that there is forgiveness through Jesus Christ. But heres what God says if you will confess your sin. Hes faithful and just, [and He will] forgive you your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
Supreme Court to hear case over Boston's refusal to fly Christian flag at City Hall

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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal regarding whether city officials in Boston, Massachusetts, can reject a request to fly a Christian flag at its City Hall.

In a miscellaneous orders list released Thursday, the Supreme Court granted a petition without comment in the case of Harold Shurtleff, et al. v. Boston, MA, et al.

The lawsuit was filed against the city of Boston by Shurtleff of the Christian civic organization Camp Constitution after the city refused to allow him to fly a "Christian flag" on one of the flag poles outside City Hall on Constitution Day 2017 while allowing other organizations to raise flags on one of the poles to celebrate their occasions.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver, whose organization is representing Shurtleff, said in a statement that he is optimistic about the appeal and hopes the case will set a "precedent."

"We look forward to the U.S. Supreme Court hearing Boston's unconstitutional discrimination against Camp Constitution's Christian viewpoint. The city cannot deny the Christian flag because it is 'Christian' and allow every other flag to fly on its flagpoles," stated Staver.

"Censoring religious viewpoints in a public forum where secular viewpoints are permitted is unconstitutional and this case will set national precedent."

City officials denied Shurtlett's request to fly the flag, even though the public property had agreed to fly numerous other flags showcasing diverse religious and political opinions.

For example, Boston City Hall had approved the flying of a Turkish flag, which includes Islamic imagery, the gay pride rainbow flag and a transgender pride flag.

Lower courts have consistently ruled against Shurtlett thus far.

In February 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper argued that the City Hall flagpoles constituted "government speech" and not private expression, which made flying a Christian flag an unlawful government endorsement of religion in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

"There are no additional facts in the record that would suggest any improper preference for non-religion over religion or selective treatment of any person or group based on religion," ruled Casper, an Obama appointee.

"The City did not alter its procedures for review of flag applications because of Camp Constitution's request, instead, Camp Constitution's request presented a novel issue for the City's consideration, which the City considered consistent with its practice and policy."

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit unanimously upheld the lower court ruling in January, with Judge Bruce Selya writing the panel opinion.

Selya, a Reagan appointee, argued that the flag display would constitute government speech since it would be flown alongside two other flags representing the U.S. and Massachusetts. He alleged that the display of "three flags flying in close proximity communicates the symbolic unity of the three flags."

"It therefore strains credulity to believe that an observer would partition such a coordinated three-flag display  into a series of separate yet simultaneous messages (two that the government endorses and another as to which the government disclaims any relation)."

In the past, the Supreme Court has allowed the placement of religious symbols on public property.

In 2019, the Court ruled that a 40-foot tall cross commemorating World War I veterans on public property in Bladensburg, Maryland, did not violate the Constitution's Establishment Clause.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case of Shurtleff v. Boston in its upcoming October term, which will begin Monday. Liberty Counsel predicts that oral arguments in the case will occur early next year, with a decision issued by the end of June.
Supreme Court asked to rule if Boston can legally refuse to fly Christian flag at city hall

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A conservative Christian legal nonprofit has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh whether the city of Boston violated the rights of a Christian organization by refusing to allow a Christian flag to fly on public property.

In 2017, an association called Camp Constitution sought to fly the Christian flag during a Constitution Day and Citizenship Day event at Bostons City Hall. But the city denied the request.

This rejection came even though numerous other private groups had successfully applied to wave flags representing sovereigns countries and nonreligious causes.

The Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based organization that engages in litigation related to evangelical values, filed the petition with the nation's high court on Monday after a federal appeals court ruled against Camp Constitution in January. The legal group argues that other forms of religious imagery have been allowed at city hall in the past.

There are three 83-foot-tall flagpoles outside Boston City Hall, two of which always fly the U.S. flag and the state flag. The third usually flies the city flag, but citizens can petition to raise other flags temporarily. The appeal claims that between 2005 and 2007, the city has approved hundreds of requests to fly other flags with "no record of denial."

One example the petition cites is the City of Boston's flag, which is usually raised on one of the Flag Poles and depicts the City Seal. The seal contains the inscription "SICUT PATRIBUS, SIT DEUS NOBIS," which means "God be with us as he was with our fathers."

The Turkish flag, which the City has approved at least thirteen times, in 2005, 2006, and 20092019, depicts the star and crescent of the Islamic Ottoman Empire," the filing explains.

The petition contends that Bostons denial of Camp Constitutions flag-raising request violated Camp Constitutions right to free speech under the First Amendment, as well as the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said in a statement that he hopes that the Supreme Court will acknowledge the citys obvious and unconstitutional discrimination against Camp Constitutions Christian viewpoint.

There is a crucial difference between government endorsement of religion and private speech, which government is bound to respect, Staver said.

Censoring religious viewpoints in a public forum where secular viewpoints are permitted is unconstitutional and this must stop.

In February 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper, an Obama nominee, issued an order against Camp Constitution and its leader, Harold Shurtleff. The judge reasoned that the city hall flagpoles constituted government speech and not private expression, thus making a Christian flag an unlawful government endorsement of religion.

There are no additional facts in the record that would suggest any improper preference for non-religion over religion or selective treatment of any person or group based on religion, concluded Casper.

The City did not alter its procedures for review of flag applications because of Camp Constitutions request, instead, Camp Constitutions request presented a novel issue for the Citys consideration, which the City considered consistent with its practice and policy.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the lower court ruling in January. Judge Bruce Selya, a Reagan nominee, authored the unanimous opinion.

Selya argued that the flag display would constitute government speech since it would be flown alongside two other flags representing the United States and Massachusetts.

In deciding which flags could be on the third flag pole of the city hall display, the court found that the city is not bound to treat the third flagpole as private speech protected by the First Amendment.

Here, the three flags are meant to be  and in fact are  viewed together. The sky-high City Hall display of three flags flying in close proximity communicates the symbolic unity of the three flags, wrote Selya.

It therefore strains credulity to believe that an observer would partition such a coordinated three flag display  into a series of separate yet simultaneous messages (two that the government endorses and another as to which the government disclaims any relation).
Supreme Court to decide if parents in Maine can use state funds to send kids to religious schools

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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in a case about whether parents in Maine can receive state tuition assistance to enroll their children in private religious schools.

In an order list released Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in the case of David Carson et al. v. A. Pender Makin, the latter being sued in her capacity as commissioner of the Maine Department of Education.

At issue is a group of parents who oppose a state regulation that allows for tuition assistance only if a private school is "nonsectarian in accordance with the First Amendment of the United States Constitution."

Scott Bullock, president of The Institute for Justice, which is representing the parents, said in a statement Friday that it was time to expand educational opportunity for all families.

Parents should have access to a wide array of educational options  public and private, religious and non-religious  so that they can access the school that best meets their childs unique, individual needs, stated Bullock. The Supreme Court now has the chance to help make that a reality.

In 2018, the parents sued Maine over the ban on state tuition assistance for parents who want to send their children to a private school that includes sectarian aspects in its curriculum.

The plaintiffs included the Carsons and the Gillises, who enrolled their children at Bangor Christian School, and the Nelsons, who wanted to transfer their daughter from a nonsectarian private school to Temple Academy, where their son was already enrolled.

Over time, the Gillises were removed from the litigation when their daughter graduated from high school and was thus no longer potentially eligible for the state tuition assistance.

In June 2019, U.S. District Judge Brock Hornby ruled against the families, concluding in his decision that Maines educational funding program is constitutional.

Last October, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit unanimously upheld the Hornby decision, with Circuit Judge David Barron authoring the opinion.

In conditioning the availability of that assistance on the requirement that recipients use it for educational instruction that is as nonsectarian in content as the free public education that is not directly available to them, Maine transgresses neither the Free Exercise Clause nor the Establishment Clause, wrote Barron.

Rather, it permissibly satisfies a commitment, rooted in its own founding charter, to pursue the wholly legitimate end of ensuring the distribution of the benefits of a free public education even to those who happen to live in places that cannot provide it of their own accord.

In February, the Institute for Justice, along with the First Liberty Institute and others, filed an appeal to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to take up the case.

By singling out religion  and only religion  for exclusion from its tuition assistance program, Maine violates the U.S. Constitution, said Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Michael Bindas in a statement.

By allowing nominally religious schools to participate but excluding schools that actually provide a religious curriculum, Maine is making governmental decisions about how religious is too religious. Government should not have that power.
California bans travel to Ohio over law protecting religious freedom of healthcare professionals

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California's Attorney General has barred state employees from traveling to Ohio using taxpayer dollars over its enactment of a law that he characterized as "anti-LBGTQ+."

California's Democrat Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Friday that beginning on Sept. 30, "California will restrict state-funded travel to Ohio as a result of new anti-LGBTQ+ legislation recently enacted in the state."

In a statement, Bonta's office alleged that provisions in Ohio House Bill 110 "will allow medical providers in the state to deny care to LGBTQ+ Americans, including Californians traveling in Ohio."

House Bill 110, the state's budget for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, contains the Medical Ethics and Diversity Act.

The legislation, which Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law earlier this year, includes a provision declaring that "a medical practitioner, health care institution, or health care payer has the freedom to decline to perform, participate in, or pay for any health care service which violates the practitioner's, institution's, or payer's conscience as informed by the moral, ethical, or religious beliefs or principles held by the practitioner, institution, or payer."

The bill noted that the "exercise of the right of conscience is limited to conscience-based objections to a particular health care service."

While House Bill 110 did not give specific examples of a "health care service" that might violate a medical practitioner's conscience, the Center for Christian Virtue, a socially conservative advocacy organization that supported the legislation, elaborated on its implications.

In a blog post, the advocacy group contends that the law "ensures doctors and medical professionals cannot be forced to perform medical procedures that violate their conscience or religious beliefs."

"This means, for instance, that doctors cannot be forced to perform abortions or prescribe dangerous puberty-blocking drugs to children for 'gender transitioning' if doing so goes against their conscience," the blog post states.

"It also allows insurance companies to create insurance plans for organizations and businesses in line with their religious beliefs, resolving the issue an order of nuns called The Little Sisters of the Poor have faced for writing a plan that didn't include abortion coverage."

While the Center for Christian Virtue praised the MED Act for protecting the "religious freedom of medical professionals," the law's approval did not sit well with California's top law enforcement official.

"Blocking access to life-saving care is wrong. Period," Bonta said. "Whether it's denying a prescription for medication that prevents the spread of HIV, refusing to provide gender-affirming care, or undermining a woman's right to choose, HB 110 unnecessarily puts the health of Americans at risk."

Bonta argues that House Bill 110 "runs afoul of Assembly Bill 1887," a California state law requiring the California Department of Justice to take action against states that "discriminate against LGBTQ+ Americans" by placing them on a "state-funded travel restrictions list."

With Ohio as its latest addition, the Golden State has banned state-funded travel to 18 states because of "anti-LGBTQ+" legislation.

The other states are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

In a statement, the Center for Christian Virtue described Bonta's ban on state-funded travel to Ohio as "great news" because the bill "is keeping California bureaucrats from coming to our great state!"

The organization accused Bonta of "lying and fear-mongering about the bill" and concluded that "no matter the reason, I think most Ohioans would agree it's a net gain for our state for California bureaucrats to stay put."

In some cases, healthcare providers have been forced to participate in procedures that violate their deeply held beliefs.

A hospital in Vermont forced a Catholic nurse to participate in an abortion despite her opposition to the procedure and the availability of other nurses without such objections to assist with the abortion. The Trump administration filed a lawsuit against the hospital, which the Biden administration dropped.

The Biden administration has interpreted the Affordable Care Act to require medical practitioners to perform gender-transition procedures regardless of any objections they may have. Several lawsuits soon followed, including one filed against the Department of Health and Human Services from two associations representing 3,000 medical professionals and an individual doctor. HHS is currently led by Xavier Becerra, who preceded Bonta as California Attorney General.

In August, a federal judge appointed to the bench by former President George W. Bush struck down the so-called "transgender mandate" as unconstitutional, siding with a network of Catholic hospitals in Texas that filed a separate lawsuit.

Ohio is not the only state to pass legislation designed to prevent medical practitioners from participating in procedures that violate their conscience. Arkansas passed similar legislation earlier this year.
PolitiFact debunks claim that taxing churches would lower rates for individuals

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Removing religious tax exemptions from churches would not lower the tax rate for individuals in the United States, according to a recent analysis from the prominent fact-checking website PolitiFact.

In August, a Facebook post went viral claiming that the annual cost of religious tax exemption was $71 billion and that "if the church paid taxes, everyone would only have to pay 3% taxes."

However, Tom Kertscher of PolitiFact posted a fact-check on Tuesday that rated the claim "false."

Noting that the post ignores multiple aspects about churches and taxation, Kertscher explained that "the post was flagged as part of Facebook's efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed."

"Tax-exempt organizations are still subject to some taxes. For example, the exemption doesn't apply to the payroll taxes that cover the costs of Medicare and Social Security for their paid employees," Kertscher wrote.

"Tax-exempt organizations that have paid employees are required to pay their share of these payroll taxes and withhold their employees' share, too."

Jared Walczak of the Tax Foundation told the outlet that churches' actual federal tax exemption cost was $2.4 billion, not $71 billion. Additionally, Walczak maintained that stripping churches of their tax-exempt status would only add 0.06% to the federal revenue.

"Even if governments went all-in on the taxation of churches, tossing out all the ordinary rules of taxation, they could only generate a few billion dollars, a drop in the bucket in a system with $3.8 trillion in federal tax collections and about $1.8 trillion in state and local tax collections," Walczak added.

"Even if we bent logic to treat churches as for-profit entities, and assumed an ordinary rate of profit for them, the tiny amount of additional revenue this would generate wouldn't budge individuals' effective tax rate at all."

The idea of eliminating tax-exempt status from churches has gained traction among Democrats in recent years.

In 2019, then-Democratic presidential primary candidate Beto O'Rourke declared at a CNN town hall that, if elected, he would end the tax exemption of churches, schools and charities that oppose same-sex marriage.

"There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone or any institution, any organization in America that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us," stated O'Rourke at the time.

While O'Rourke received much applause for his stance, his remarks also garnered backlash from liberals and conservatives.

O'Rourke's openly gay primary opponent, Pete Buttigieg, alleged that O'Rourke did not understand "the implications of what he was saying." Buttigieg warned about the potential consequences of enacting such a policy.

"That means going to war, not only with churches, but I would think with mosques and a lot of organizations that may not have the same view of various religious principles that I do," Buttigieg said.

"If we want to talk about anti-discrimination law for a school or an organization, absolutely, they should not be able to discriminate," he added. "But going after the tax exemption of churches, Islamic centers or other religious facilities in this country, I think that's just going to deepen the divisions that we're already experiencing."

More recently, the debate about eliminating the tax-exempt status has resurfaced as the Catholic Church continues to ponder withholding communion from pro-abortion Catholic politicians.

In response to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' approval of a document "on the meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the Church" at its general assembly earlier this year, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., suggested withholding the tax-exempt status from the church over such a policy.

"If they're going to politically weaponize religion by 'rebuking' Democrats who support women's reproductive choice, then a 'rebuke' of their tax-exempt status may be in order," Huffman wrote on Twitter.

While the document approved by the bishops will provide guidelines for the reception of communion, it leaves "decisions on withholding Communion up to individual bishops."

Following criticism, the USCCB published a statement stressing that "the question of whether or not to deny any individual or groups Holy Communion was not on the ballot." Stressing that "the document being drafted is not meant to be disciplinary in nature, nor is it targeted at any one individual or class of persons," the statement clarified that "bishops made no decision about barring anyone from receiving Communion."
Father batters pastor for allegedly touching son inappropriately

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Shocked leaders at an Oklahoma church are expected to hold a prayer vigil for a local pastor Tuesday after he was battered by a father who accused him of inappropriately touching his son, arrested and charged by police with lewd/indecent acts to a child.

The boy's parents told police they caught Michael Coghill, 33, the recently fired discipleship minister at Lakehoma Church of Christ in Mustang, preying on their child as he waited for his school bus at a bus stop last Wednesday, according to News 9.

"There's hardly any words that are camera appropriate," Lisa Ward, who witnessed the commotion, told the news outlet. "It's just sickening."

The boy told his parents that Coghill, who lives in another community near the bus stop, had run by him several times and touched him in an uncomfortable way.

"He knew the time he would be there every day," Ward explained. "That was the hardest part, the most disgusting part."

On the day the pastor got beat up, the boy's father waited in his car to see if Coghill would return, and he did.

"While he was watching the school bus stop, our suspect ran by him, ran past the bus stop where the children were waiting. Turned around, came back and stopped where he touched the child," Sgt. Dillon Quirk of the Oklahoma City Police Department said.

And that's when the father jumped into action and tackled the pastor to the ground. When police arrived, the minister had visible injuries to his face.

"He was in the cop car all bloody," Ward told News 9.

After news of Coghill's arrest was made public, elders from Lakehoma Church of Christ revealed in a statement on Facebook that he was fired.

"We were heartbroken to learn of the incident that occurred yesterday morning involving Mike Coghill, our discipleship minister," the statement said. "And we were shocked to learn this news through social media today. Mike has a clean background check, and we have received no reports or claims against him during his tenure at Lakehoma. We will be fully cooperating with law enforcement as needed."

The church elders noted that they also determined "it was in the best interest of all parties for Mike to be relieved from all duties."

"He will no longer be on staff at Lakehoma," the statement assured.

Lakehoma Church of Christ leaders also urged prayers for the family of the victim.

At Choctaw Church of Christ, where Coghill worked for five years before moving to Lakehoma Church of Christ, a shocked Pastor Marti Kessler and his team will be holding a prayer vigil for the battered minister at 9 p.m. on Tuesday.

"Knowing his character and his work here, no way, how could this happen?" Kessler told News 9. "Like it was a sick joke of some kind. I couldn't believe it, thought somebody had doctored the picture."

Police said the parent got video evidence of Coghill's alleged crime, but Kessler will be praying that there might be some evidence that can clear him.

"We're having a prayer vigil, we'll call it, starting at 9 p.m. tonight going through 7 a.m. in the morning," Kessler said. "My hope is there's something, some kind of evidence that in the end will prove Mike's innocence."
Trans patient claims discrimination after hospital requires pregnancy test before surgery Hospital says care was 'medically appropriate and compassionate'

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A trans-identified biological female alleges that a hospital in New York discriminated by requiring a pregnancy test even though the patient identifies as a male and says the nurses did not use preferred pronouns.

Trey Lowery, who identifies as a male and underwent bariatric sleeve surgery at Highland Hospital in Rochester in July, is threatening to file a lawsuit after experiencing "discrimination" at the healthcare facility.

Lowery expressed outrage after being asked to take a pregnancy test. As an affiliate of the University of Rochester Medical Center, Highland Hospital requires all biological females with female reproductive organs to undergo pregnancy testing before any surgery involving anesthesia regardless of whether they identify as female.

Speaking with the local ABC affiliate WHAM, Lowery recalled that a nurse asked for a pregnancy test to be taken before surgery.

"I told her why am I taking a pregnancy test when you guys know that I am a male and I'm fully trans?" Lowery said, adding that the nurse responded by saying, "I'm just doing my job."

Lowery first went public in an interview with Rochester's City Newspaper, which was published Sept. 1. Maintaining that "they took my pride away," Lowery told the news outlet that "I felt like I didn't want to be here anymore, I wanted to kill myself because I worked so hard to be here like this, and I'm not getting appreciated for who I am."

Additionally, Lowery complained about consistently hearing "she, she, she, she throughout the whole stay of me being there." The day after the surgery, Lowery received a phone call from Highland Hospital's chief executive officer.

In addition to apologizing for the previous day's events, the Highland CEO reportedly offered Lowery the position of "spokesperson" for trans-identified people at the hospital. Lowery declined the offer and set up a Twitter account at the time of the City Newspaper's article publication. Lowery's Twitter profile reads, "I am a hard-working man and a loving husband who have been hurting in the worst way from Highland Hospital a Rochester New York."

In a statement issued in response to Lowery's criticism, Highland Hospital asserted that it is "committed to providing the highest quality, compassionate, and safe care to all of our patients." Additionally, the hospital vowed that "when issues are brought to our attention, we conduct a thorough review to determine whether staff members took all appropriate steps to care for the patient."

"Upon completion of our review of this patient's case, we believe that his care was medically appropriate and compassionate. However, we will continue to reflect on this individual's experience to see if there is anything we can do better."

Another trans-identified biological female, Cori Smith, shared similar concerns about Highland Hospital with City Newspaper. Smith was admitted to Highland Hospital in 2014 to treat complications from an egg retrieval procedure. The hospital staff provided Smith with a female wristband.

"I was like, 'You're not giving me a female wristband,'" Smith said. "They literally rolled their eyes, laughed it off, and responded, 'We're not doing that.'"

The Rochester-based LGBT advocacy group Out Alliance's monthly magazine "Empty Closet" reported in 2018 that an ultrasound showed that Smith had severely swollen ovaries covered in cysts. When Smith requested the removal of the ovaries, the doctor treating the trans-identified female refused to perform the surgery.

Describing the doctor as "outwardly transphobic," Smith filed a lawsuit against the hospital in 2017, seeking $750,000 in damages. While the lawsuit and subsequent appeals were dismissed, Smith maintains that "they just didn't treat me right."

Smith also alleged that hospital staff used the pronouns "it," "she" and "they" as opposed to the preferred pronoun of "he."

Smith accused the doctor of performing an "unnecessary and inappropriate" transvaginal ultrasound in front of eight nurses and hospital staff members. Because the doctor did not cover Smith with a gown during the procedure, nurses were allegedly "gawking and laughing."

"It made me want to die. I couldn't figure out why they were all in there like it was some freak show and I was completely exposed," Smith said, according to Out Alliance. "They looked at me like I was disgusting  and I felt disgusting."

Smith expressed hope that "a hospital never allows for this to go on again," adding, "No medical provider should abuse you, neglect you, embarrass you, or refuse to call you by your correct gender."

"I hope this situation can help stop some of the issues trans people face in healthcare facilities as well," Smith added. "From smaller missteps of gender pronouns, to much larger discrimination situations like mine  these medical facilities should be aware of the seriousness of the situations at hand. Misgendering can lead to depression, increased anxiety, and can push someone to suicide."

In 2018, the hospital responded to Smith's claims, stating that "appropriate medical treatment" was provided.

"UR Medicine believes that Mr. Smith received appropriate medical treatment at Highland Hospital in response to his need for emergency care in November 2014," the statement reads. "This is based on a thorough review of the medical record by clinical professionals on Highland's patient safety team, a review which included interviews with Mr. Smith's attending physicians and other caregivers."

The Biden Department of Health and Human Services announced this year that it would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in healthcare settings.

In August, associations representing 3,000 healthcare workers sued the Biden administration over an HHS mandate that fear will force them to perform elective gender-transition procedures.

The lawsuit focuses on HHS' interpretation of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act barring sex discrimination. The Biden administration interprets sex discrimination to include gender identity and sexual orientation even though neither term is expressly included in federal civil rights law.
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Editor's Note: This is part one of a 3-part series about COVID-19 and its vaccine. You can read part 2 here.



Only weeks ago, at Covenant Church in Texas, we lost our Senior pastor Ricky Texada to COVID-19. This pandemic is hitting close to home among people who are strong believers and integral to the church.

Today, our nation continues to be in a critical situation with COVID-19. Last year, more than 300,000 people in the U.S. died of COVID  the number three cause of death. People say, Oh, its like the flu. No, the influenza virus on average kills about 20 to 50,000 people a year, so this is far more than that.

This present crisis has tested our nation, especially Christians. Scientific knowledge about this novel coronavirus has evolved over the past year, and there are still many unknowns. That void of knowledge has made way for fear  including doubts about medical scienceto direct some peoples outlook. Pew Research recently reported that evangelical Christians are among the least likely to say they have received a COVID-19 vaccine.

Because many scientists are not people of faith, certain doubts seem reasonable. Some believers feel that science is attacking faith, but we dont see it that way. When guided by a moral compass, we see science and faith working hand in hand.

As a pastor (Mike Hayes) who has founded a Bible-believing church that has planted dozens of other churches, and a medical doctor (Tim Shepherd) who has since 1981 served thousands of patients in North Texas, we have come to this collective conclusion:

All humans are born into a war zone. In this world, there are lots of ways to be hurt and lots of ways to die. We believe God sends us into this world to be agents of redemption. Before the time that we return to Heaven, were soldiers redeeming the time. Every day, we have the opportunity to battle for redemption and peoples lives  to be agents of help and healing.

We all have to make our own best decisions. People should have the right to choose. Where there are fears and doubts about this COVID vaccine, the way of wisdom is to find an experienced medical professional who can discuss with you about facts.

After now four waves of COVID-19 across America, the loss of life has been significant. Weve all dealt with trauma, and front-line medical workers are coping with severe burnout. No one knows exactly how this is going to play out. We anticipate thatthanks in part to effective COVID vaccineswe will start to see this virus decline as an ever-present top threat.

During this crisis, weve also seen a resilient church. For over a year, many believers couldnt attend in-person worship services. Many of them have lost family or loved ones to this virus, and have been afraid of the lasting impacts of this pandemic. Yet millions have supported their churches and lived out their faith in practical ways. Truly, our ultimate hope is in Jesus.

Sometimes the darkest times may be the churchs brightest hour.
3D scans show boat-like formation matching 'biblical' description of Noahs Ark, archaelogists say

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Biblical archaeologists say they have discovered a boat-like formation matching the biblical description of Noah's Ark as they used a ground-penetrating radar at a rocky spot in eastern Turkey that some speculated to be the location of the original vessel.

Archaeologists associated with a project named Noah's Ark Scans say they have discovered a "boat formation" on Mount Tendurek matching the "exact length" of the ark given in the Bible  around 150 meters or 300 cubits in biblical terms  The U.S. Sun reported Sunday.

The Durupinar boat-shaped formation was discovered in 1959 by a Turkish army captain. The research interest in the site began in the 1970s through the mid-1990s due to the work of American explorer Ron Wyatt and others. According to the project's website, independent private geophysical surveys were conducted in 2014 and 2019 "showing layers and interesting angular structures below the ground."

"The new GPR data shows parallel lines and angular structures 8 to 20 feet down," the project explains on its website. "These parallel lines and right angles below the surface are something you would not expect to see in a natural, geologic formation. Interestingly, the boat formation has also been confirmed to be the exact length of the ark given in the Bible (Genesis 6:15)."

This year, a consortium of Turkish scientists and other supporters plan to do "the most complete geophysical survey and scientific study of this site to date using as many modern scientific methods as possible."

"We have the support of key locals, we have interested scientists who have the permit to work in this area, and we have the media contacts to document the work," the website explains.

Andrew Jones, who leads the project, told The Sun that the GPR data is "not what you would expect to see if this site is just a solid block of rock or an accumulation of random debris from a mudflow."

"But these results are what you would expect to see if this is a man-made boat matching the Biblical requirements of Noah's Ark," he said.

Some geologists, however, say the mountainous lump is an unusual rock formation.

"I knew that the scientific consensus was that the Durupinar site is a geological oddity," Ryan Mauro, president of the Doubting Thomas Research Foundation, which is part of the project, told The Sun. "Before learning about these scans, it seemed like those who continued to argue in favor of the Durupinar site just couldn't accept the truth and let it go."

"It's a whole new ballgame now," he continued. "Those judgments dismissing the site were made decades ago and based on limited data compared to what we have now. As I learned more, I became convinced that the project was worth my support and that it is vital that we determine the truth about the Durupinar site."

In August, Jones and his team spent four days in the region surveying the ark site and meeting with archaeology professors who are also doing work in the area, such as Dr. Fethi Yuksel from Istanbul University.

"With 4 days on the ground, the team was able to meet daily and see the different sites associated with the Noah's ark research project and meet key archaeologists doing other work in the region. One good news out of the trip was that Dr. Yuksel announced that a permit with his name on it as one of the team members was issued that covered the area of the Noah's ark site," Jones announced in an update last month. "This would speed up the process of doing the work. Once the funding comes in we can start the on-the-ground research with the professors and their assistants from the 3 Turkish universities!"

He stated that there will be no excavation of the site until the "geophysical surveys, core drilling and geological studies are complete."

"This summer's work is a necessary step and the most important one to reach our goal," he wrote.

Jones said the goal "has always been to uncover as much evidence as possible for Noah's ark and to present it to the world."
American Christians help raise funds to restore Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

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Correction Appended

American Christians have helped in the raising of funds used to restore an ancient church in the West Bank believed to be the birth site of Jesus Christ that was once on a United Nations list for world heritage sites in danger.

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is not only a popular tourist destination for Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land but was named a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in 2012. It was previously listed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger due to a "poor state of conservation" before its removal in 2019.

Completed around the year 565, the church has not been majorly renovated since 1480 and was in danger of collapsing. But in recent years, the church has undergone several restoration projects to its roof, facades, mosaics and doors thanks to contributions from donors worldwide.

"The Church of the Nativity is a treasure of history and of faith," said Mazen Karam, managing director and CEO of the Bethlehem Development Foundation, in a statement sent to The Christian Post. "We've made great progress and look forward to completing the work to return this treasure back to the world."

The BDF launched a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization called the American Friends of the Bethlehem Foundation (AFBDF) in 2018. Together, the groups have raised approximately $30 million that has been spent in the Bethlehem region. Restoration work on the church so far has cost $15 million, of which AFBDF and BDF raised $2.6 million, split equally.



"Christians in the United States have an enthusiastic love for the Holy City of Bethlehem," said AFBDF President George Salem. "We are thrilled by the outpouring of support from our American friends and their commitment to help revitalize the Church of the Nativity."

BDF and the AFBDF have helped fund restoration of the external facades, a wall mosaic, basilica doors, internal plaster, the last 11 columns of the central nave, the narthex, wooden architraves and installed lighting and smoke detection systems.

The organizations have other plans to further the project, which include consolidating the church walls against seismic activity, tiling the floor with stone and marble, restoring the stone tiles in the front yard and installing firefighting and microclimatic systems.



"We are committed to restoring the Nativity Church to its former glory," said Samer Khoury, chairman of BDF's board of trustees.



"But our commitment to Bethlehem is so much more; we're targeting sustainable initiatives and community projects, hoping to restore some peace, love and joy to the people of Bethlehem."



The continued restoration of the historic sacred space comes after a straining year for tourism in 2020.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions that ensued, the tourism-dependent region suffered economically as both the church and Manger Square  arguably the most popular attractions in Bethlehem  saw zero international visitors during the Christmas season. In a normal year, approximately 1 million tourists come to Bethlehem to spend the holiday there.

The ancient church was commissioned by Constantine the Great shortly after his mother Helena visited both Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

The original building was likely constructed in the 330s and was formally dedicated in 339 A.D. Approximately 200 years later, it was destroyed by fire during the Samaritan revolts and subsequently rebuilt and built new additions by Byzantine Emperor Justinian.

The site also features Latin, Greek Orthodox, Franciscan and Armenian convents and churches and a pilgrimage route.

The main basilica of the church is maintained by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Situated underneath the main altar in the church is an underground space called the Grotto of the Nativity and is believed to be the place of Jesus' birth. The precise spot where Jesus is said to have been born is encircled with a silver star set in the marble flooring.

Correction: Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021

A previous version of this article stated that BDF and AFBDF had combined to raise $30 million toward the restoration of the Church of the Nativity. The restoration work on the church so far has cost $15 million, of which AFBDF and BDF raised $2.6 million, split equally. The $30 million was spent on the whole Bethlehem region.
Instagram pauses plans for kids app amid criticism from Democrat, Republican lawmakers

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Instagram has paused the development of a kid version of the app amid criticism from lawmakers and others after a report this month detailed how the Facebook-owned platform can exacerbate body-image issues among teen users.

As Instagram doesnt allow users below the age of 13, the hope for the Instagram Kids platform was to create a social media app for children that would be free of advertisements and allow parents to be aware of their childrens activity.

I still firmly believe that its a good thing to build a version of Instagram thats safe for tweens, but we want to take the time to talk to parents and researchers and safety experts and get to more consensus about how to move forward, said Instagram head Adam Mosseri in an appearance on NBCs Today show on Monday.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Facebook researchers conducted studies that confirm that 32% of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse because comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves.

Multiple news outlets reported on Facebooks internal research findings in September. However, Facebooks Head of Research Pratiti Raychoudhury clarified the companys research findings in a blog posted on Sept. 26.

Using Instagram helps [teens] when they are struggling with the kinds of hard moments and issues teenagers have always faced, she wrote.

Even with the head of Facebook and Instagram pushing for a childrens rendition of the app, attorneys general from 44 states and territories pushed for Facebook to permanently halt plans to create the childrens Instagram app in May.

The pushback, however, has not budged Mosseri from his stance that the app would do more helping than harming young people.

[Its] the right thing to do, Mosseri wrote in a statement.

Critics of Instagram Kids will see this as an acknowledgment that the project is a bad idea. Thats not the case, he added.

Together, Mosseri and Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg have been outspoken about their viewpoints that if the childrens social-media app were created, youth could connect and bond in more ways while having adult supervision.

Parents of kids of all ages are looking for more ways to supervise and control their kids experiences online, Mosseri rationalized. The controls could give parents the ability to approve whom their teenage children can message and follow.

For various critics of the project, they said there are better ways for children to form connections with loved ones.

Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Connecticuts Richard Blumenthal have spoken out against the app idea.

Facebook is heeding our calls to stop plowing ahead with plans to launch a version of Instagram for kids, Markey wrote on Twitter Monday. But a pause is insufficient. Facebook must completely abandon this project.

This month, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., the chair and ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security, launched a bipartisan investigation into the social media platforms impact on children.

According to Raychoudhury, Facebooks Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis will appear before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Thursday.
Laura Knights portrait of a young Black hospital patient is as tender as it is powerful

Painted during a visit to Baltimore with her husband, the work reflects the artists connection to marginalised communities, as well as the citys complex history of racial struggle

Dame Laura Knight is among Britains most preeminent female painters and printmakers, celebrated for her depictions of circus and theatre performers, as well as her emotionally charged portraits of women and children. One of her most significant series during her long career, however, was set in Baltimore, where she controversially gave face to another marginalised sector: Black Americans. In 1926, Knight accompanied her husband Harold, also an artist, on a visit to Baltimore where he had been commissioned to paint portraits of the Johns Hopkins faculty. During their stay, Laura focused her attention on the patients and staff in the racially segregated wards of two hospitals, where she produced powerful and timeless works, such as A Child at the Baltimore Childrens Hospital, which will be offered in Christies European Art Part I on 13 October in New York.

All of Laura Knights paintings offer a unique way of looking into the past, but few feel quite as immediate to a contemporary viewer as this portrait. You see the sitter reflected so clearly, and her personality really comes through. She feels like someone you could see walking down the street today, says Laura H. Mathis, head of the 19th Century European Art sale. Often there is this veil of time between you and the sitter, whereas, I dont feel like that exists in this work. While many portraits are easily datable due to the wearers clothing, here, the child is depicted up close, obscuring most of her surroundings, and yet her white gown reflects how universally recognisable hospital attire has remained. The contrast between her monochromatic clothing and cushioned background with her dark complexion further heightens her intense gaze and innocent, youthful features. Raised by a single mother in challenging financial circumstances at the end of the 19th century, Knight did not have any children of her own, yet clearly took great interest in them. As illustrated here, her portraits of youths demonstrate a particularly sensitive, empathetic approach to capturing the rawness of their emotions with the same degree of seriousness as her adult subjects.

Laura Knights paintings offer a unique way of looking into the past, but few feel quite as immediate to a contemporary viewer as this portrait  Laura H. Mathis

Knights innate understanding of the complexity of the human mind, coupled with her fearlessness to tackle subjects outside the norm (including a self-portrait of herself painting a nude model) are why she earned history-making accolades. She became a dame in 1929, and in 1936, she was the first female artist elected as a full member of the Royal Academy, nearly two centuries after the institutions founding. Knight also served as an official war artist during the Second World War. The artists trailblazing oeuvre was examined in a 2013 exhibition titled Laura Knight: Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, London, where A Child at the Baltimore Childrens Hospital was featured. Behind the portraits warmth and beauty, however, are problematic contexts, both inherent in Knights preconceived notions about Black Americans, and in Baltimore, which was and remains one of Americas most segregated cities. Knights initial interest in painting Black sitters was likely driven by a wider fascination with Black culture in the UK during the late 1910s and 1920s that was largely a result of the burgeoning Jazz Age. When visiting America from London, she was surprised to not find African masks or religious figures (prolific, yet reductive and exoticised tropes) in secondhand shops around Baltimore, for example.

Dame Laura Knight, R.A., R.W.S. (1877-1970), Pearl Johnson, 1926. Estate of Dame Laura Knight/ Bridgeman Images

Knight became more aware of the realities of Black-American life as she formed a friendship with Pearl Zelma Johnson, a Black physicians assistant who worked for Dr. William Baer, a doctor her husband had been commissioned to paint and the Knights host during their stay in Baltimore. Pearl, along with her sister Irene Johnson Dodson, both of whom Laura painted, were members of the Interracial Fellowship Group, which fought against segregation in Baltimore businesses, and Knight attended several local events with them. Baltimores Johns Hopkins Hospital opened in 1889 through the then-largest philanthropic bequest in American history with a mandate to serve the citys residents without regard to sex, age or color. While it was one of the few leading hospitals in America that treated African Americans, the hospital was still segregated, and racist attitudes were undeniably a part of the relationship between the hospital and its patients. This was similarly the case at the Childrens Hospital, where Knight painted young orthopedic patients. Her permission to paint in the segregated wards came from the hospital administration, rather than the patients themselves, who understandably questioned her presence.

Dame Laura Knight, 1923. Photograph by PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo. Artwork: Estate of Dame Laura Knight / Bridgeman Images
Crucibles of art: Rome in the 1950s and 1960s

How the Italian capital rose from the ashes of the Second World War to become a global centre of creativity in design, cinema and the visual arts. Illustrated with works offered in the 20th/21st Century: Evening Sale in London

Just as it had been 1,500 years earlier, when it was sacked by Alaric and his Goths, Rome in 1945 stood devastated. The city had suffered the twin ordeals of occupation by the Nazis and aerial bombardment by the Allies in the Second World War. One need only watch a few minutes of the Italian Neorealist films from the time, by directors such as Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica, to get a sense of the poverty and struggle. What happened next, however, was remarkable: namely, an economic, cultural and political renewal  known in Italian as Il Boom  that turned Rome into the coolest city on Earth. A crucial factor was Marshall Plan aid from the United States, which  in a bid to save Italy from the clutches of Communism  poured billions of dollars into the countrys economy. Industrial production grew at eye-popping speed. Where Italy manufactured 18,500 fridges in 1951, for example, that figure reached 3.2 million in 1967. Production of washing machines (such as Zanussi), cars (such as Fiat), motor scooters (such as Vespa), shoes (such as Salvatore Ferragamo) and typewriters (such as Olivetti) increased at a similar rate. These goods catered to a newly developed consumer society at home  as well as myriad customers abroad, attracted by the sleekly elegant design of Italian brands.

Domenico Gnoli (1933-1970), Sous la Chaussure (Under the Shoe), 1967. Oil and sand on canvas. 72 x 55 in (184.7 x 140 cm). Estimate: 1,500,000-2,500,000. Offered in 20/21st Century: Evening Sale Including Thinking Italian on 15 October at Christies in London

According to the historian Paul Ginsborg, in his book A History of Contemporary Italy, income per capita grew faster in Italy between 1950 and 1970 than in any other European nation. In politics, meanwhile, both the monarchy and the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini were consigned to the past. Italy declared itself a republic in 1946. In the ensuing years, it became a founding member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). And then there was culture. Unlike Paris, Berlin or Moscow, the Italian capital had seen little that was artistically daring in the first half of the 20th century. That was now to change, most notably with a boom in movie production that saw Rome nicknamed Hollywood on the Tiber. (American film companies were lured there by low costs and stunning locations.)

Rome, May 1958. Charlton Heston takes a spin in a four-horse chariot, while training for the big chariot racing scene in the film Ben-Hur. Photo: Bettmann / Getty Images

International movie stars who flocked to work at Romes Cinecitta Studios included Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Humphrey Bogart and Elizabeth Taylor  producing smash-hit pictures such as Quo Vadis (1951), Roman Holiday (1953), Ben-Hur (1959) and Cleopatra (1963). The title of a much-loved Italian film shot at Cinecitta  Federico Fellinis La Dolce Vita  has come to be used as a shorthand for the whole era. It translates as the sweet life. In short, Rome was once more living up to Goethes description of it in the late 18th century as the First City of the World. As a sign of its rediscovered stature, it was invited to host the 1960 Olympic Games.

Jannis Kounellis (1936-2017), Untitled, 1960. Oil on canvas. 59 x 79 in (151 x 202 cm). Estimate: 1,000,000-1,500,000. Offered in 20/21st Century: Evening Sale Including Thinking Italian on 15 October at Christies in London

It was in this context that several first-rate visual artists made careers in the city. A few, such as the American Cy Twombly and Jannis Kounellis from Greece, came from abroad; others, among them Piero Dorazio, Domenico Gnoli and Tano Festa, were born-and-bred Romans; while many, such as Alberto Burri, were attracted from elsewhere in Italy  as Raphael and Michelangelo had been centuries earlier. Some of these figures started movements  the abstractionists of the Forma 1 group in the late 1940s and early 1950s, for example. However, in the main, what really united Romes artists in the post-war years was their individuality and personal vision. A selection of their works is being offered in the 20/21st Century: Evening Sale Including Thinking Italian on 15 October at Christies in London. These include Kounelliss Untitled (1960), above, a large-scale painting from his breakthrough Alfabeti series. Upon a blank ground some two metres wide, a cryptic array of letters and numbers unfolds. Loosely organised in two horizontal rows, they read: S Z Z E / 4 X 4 S. Stripped of context, they become floating shapes of mysterious, untold meaning. Kounellis was exploring the way we use numbers and letters to try to impose order upon the chaos of human existence.

Alberto Burri (1915-1995), Ferro (Iron), 1959. Welded iron on wood. 13 x 13 in (33.3 x 35 cm). Estimate: 250,000-350,000. Offered in 20/21st Century: Evening Sale Including Thinking Italian on 15 October at Christies in London

Another standout lot is Alberto Burris Ferro (1959), above. The artist was a pioneer of what is often called the deconstruction of painting. Which is to say, he rejected traditional oil on canvas and used unorthodox materials and techniques instead. In the case of his celebrated Ferri series (of which Ferro forms part), Burri scorched, cut and welded sheets of cold-rolled steel before mounting them on a support and hanging them on the wall. (He achieved variations in colour by adjusting the heat of his flame.) The end-result is a captivating patchwork of jagged, soldered metal.

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978), Le Muse Inquietanti (The Disquieting Muses), 1959. Oil on canvas. 38 x 26 in (97 x 66 cm). Estimate: 400,000-600,000. Offered in 20/21st Century: Evening Sale Including Thinking Italian on 15 October at Christies in London

In Rome at the same time as Kounellis and Burri was Giorgio de Chirico, whose painting Le Muse Inquietanti (1959) also comes to auction. Its a reworking of his masterpiece of the same name from more than four decades earlier. Throughout his career, de Chirico liked revisiting work from his early days, believing that the idea behind a picture was more important than the artefact itself. The original version was a significant influence on the nascent Surrealist movement, and one can easily see why. It features a group of mannequins inspired by classical statues, standing in a shadowy, sharply perspectival town square thats covered in floorboards.

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In the latest trading session, Sunrun (RUN) closed at $44.55, marking a +1.25% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.15%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the solar energy products distributor had lost 7.15% over the past month. This has lagged the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 7.06% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.67% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from RUN as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, RUN is projected to report earnings of $0.01 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 96.43%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $406.48 million, up 93.78% from the year-ago period.

RUN's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of -$0.08 per share and revenue of $1.52 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +80.95% and +64.91%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for RUN. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. RUN is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

The Solar industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 234, which puts it in the bottom 8% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

Zacks Names "Single Best Pick to Double"

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American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue are joining United Airlines in requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, as the Biden administration steps up pressure on major U.S. carriers to require the shots.

The airlines provide special flights, cargo hauling and other services for the government. The companies say that makes them government contractors who are covered by President Joe Biden's order directing contractors to require that employees be vaccinated.

American Airlines CEO Doug Parker told employees late Friday that the airline is still working on details, but it is clear that team members who choose to remain unvaccinated will not be able to work at American Airlines.

The pilot union at American recently estimated that 4,200  or 30%  of the airline's pilots are not vaccinated.

Earlier, White House coronavirus adviser Jeffrey Zients talked to the CEOs of American, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines about vaccine mandates, according to three people familiar with the situation. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the calls were private.

Airlines are large employers that fall under Biden's sweeping order that companies with more than 100 workers require employees to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing for the virus.

However, they are also government contractors, who face a Dec. 8 deadline to enforce vaccination requirements  without the testing option.

Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airways said Friday they will require employees to be vaccinated as soon as Dec. 8 because they will be treated as federal contractors.

This means employees may no longer opt-in for regular testing and masking in lieu of getting the vaccine, Alaska Airlines said in a memo to employees.

Delta said it was still evaluating Biden's order. The airline previously said it will require vaccination or weekly testing and impose surcharges on unvaccinated employees. That would meet the Biden test for large employers but not the stricter rules for federal contractors.

United Airlines took an early and tough stance to require vaccination. United said Thursday that 320 of its 67,000 U.S. employees face termination for not getting vaccinated or seeking a medical or religious exemption by a deadline earlier this week.

Employees can seek waivers from the vaccines on medical or religious grounds. United is placing most of those workers on unpaid leave until COVID-19 rates come down.

Southwest says it is studying Biden's order. Both Southwest and American are under pressure from their pilot groups not to require vaccinations but to instead offer options, including testing.

The White House advisers calls with airline CEOs were reported earlier by Reuters.

At least two members of Congress  Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va.  have proposed requiring that passengers on domestic flights be vaccinated or show proof of a negative test for COVID-19 before they fly.

Anthony Fauci, the government's top expert on infectious disease, supports that approach for domestic flights, and travelers entering the country must present a negative test before boarding. The Biden administration has not ruled out the idea, which the airlines oppose strongly.
For those of us who don't work in tech, the idea of the "cloud" can be hard to comprehend. The idea of something in the "cloud" being worth nearly $2 billion can be mind-boggling.

But it is, and now one San Antonio company is experiencing a windfall thanks to this week's blockbuster deal.

On Thursday, September 30, San Antonio-based Pathwire, a cloud-based email delivery platform, was acquired by Swedish tech firm Sinch in a deal valued at $1.9 billion. In addition to $925 million (U.S.) in cash, the transaction also includes 51 million new shares in Sinch, according to a press release.

Pathwire provides an email deliverability platform for transactional and marketing email, an industry that is worth $16 billion a year, according to numbers from Techvinio. Pathwire manages more than 100,000 clients (including big names like Lyft, Microsoft, and DHL, among others) and primarily works in transactional email.

"[This deal] also points to just how significant email is as a key part of the communications landscape, with services you may never even think twice about but use all the time  booking confirmations, receipts and password resets  falling under this umbrella," notes TechCrunch in a story about the acquisition.

TechCrunch also notes that it now gives the Swedish-based Sinch a major foothold in the U.S. market.

"The transaction is expected to generate significant revenue synergies from the cross-selling of Sinch and Pathwire products to each others customer base. Upon closing of the transaction, Pathwire will also be able to leverage Sinchs established sales presence in 47 international markets to drive further growth with net new enterprise customers," notes a press release.

In addition to its San Antonio headquarters, Pathwire already had offices Europe and the UK. It employs 290 people, according to the release.

Every form of digital communications has its unique benefits, and delivering high quality at scale requires both extensive technical capabilities and deep subject matter expertise," says Sinch CEO Oscar Werne. Together with Pathwire, we will be able to offer a best-of-breed product set, across messaging, voice and email, that empowers businesses and developers to craft an unmatched, digital, customer experience.
What does it feel like to be in space? To lift off from the planet and launch into the galaxy? To put on a space suit and see Earth from afar?

Up until now, only a select few got to experience those sensations. Starting Dec. 20, that will change. The Infinite, an immersive installation inspired by NASA missions, is set to touch down at Sawyer Yards in Houston for its U.S. premiere.

Those who visit the 12,500-square-foot installation will step into a life-sized three-dimensional replica of the International Space Station (ISS), according to a press release. Theyll experience a multisensory reproduction of a liftoff and then get to explore the station and even take space walks.

Courtesy of The Infinite

The experience debuted in Montreal, Canada in July and was created by Infinity Experiences, a joint production of PHI Studio and Felix & Paul Studios. It is based on a three-year filming project on the ISS that collected more than 200 hours of footage, resulting in Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, a virtual reality series which recently took home an Emmy. The studios partnered with TIME Studios, NASA, the ISS U.S. National Lab and the Canadian Space Agency.

The exploration of space and the unknown is an endless source of fascination to us, said Felix Lajeunesse, co-founder of Felix & Paul Studios and creative director of The Infinite, in the release. We are thrilled to bring The Infinite to Houston  the global epicenter of human space exploration  to share this massive, fully immersive exhibition, and we look forward to virtually transporting thousands of people off the Earth to enjoy the joy and wonder of space with audiences in the U.S.

Courtesy of The Infinite

The installation focuses not on space artifacts, but on the exclusive content shot in virtual reality from the ISS. There are some extra elements you wont find on the actual space station that you will in The Infinite. The subtle scents of a forest waft through the exhibition, intended to call forth the visceral memory of lying on the grass while star gazing.

This U.S. debut of this immersive experience contains exclusive new footage that was shot just weeks ago  outside the ISS on Sept. 12.

Courtesy of The Infinite

Visitors get to take a 60-minute self-directed journey through an experience that involves interactivity between physical objects, virtual reality, multimedia art, soundscapes and light design. Theyll explore the space station and get to take a space walk.

The experience's designers also brought on Japanese visual and sound artist Ryoji Ikeda to create an installation for the show. The piece involves an LED ceiling and mirrored floor intended to inspire a sense of weightlessness in viewers, according to the experience website.

Courtesy of The Infinite

Houston was the natural destination as the first U.S. city to host The Infinite, not only because of the citys deep ties to NASA, but also because of its richly diverse population that supports a wide range of cultural offerings from world-class art museums to unique traveling experiences such as ours, said Julie Tremblay, producer of The Infinite, in a release.

Tickets start at $29 for the soft opening Dec. 20. Prices increase to start at $36 as of Jan. 13 when the primary, full-scale limited engagement begins. Guests must wear masks, and children under the age of 8 are not allowed.
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More than half of all police killings since 1980 do not appear in official government data, according to an explosive new study in The Lancet, a top medical journal. The researchers reveal how systemic misclassification in the federal database that tracks the causes of death in America has produced, over four decades, an undercount of more than 17,000 deaths at the hands of police. The proportion of undercounted police killings of Black Americans is even more extreme, the research shows, rising to 60 percent.

The Lancet study casts American police, unequivocally, as a threat to public health. The risk of death-by-cop for an American man in 2019, according to the paper, was higher than the risk of death by testicular cancer, appendicitis, or sexually transmitted disease. These dangers weigh disproportionately on the Black community, as the study emphasizes: The police have disproportionately killed Black people at a rate of 3.5 times higher than white people.

The research for The Lancet paper was conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which is housed at the University of Washington Medical School, and which catalogs global disease and injury, studying more than 200 leading causes of death.

In an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone, IMHE researchers said they were motivated to resolve inconsistencies in public counts of deadly encounters with police. Independent groups like Mapping Police Violence  which rely on open-source data including news reports of police shootings  have long tallied higher numbers of killings by police than those recorded in the federally funded National Vital Statistics System. NVSS includes an exhaustive database of American causes of death, compiled from death certificates filled out by doctors, medical examiners and coroners. It has tracked deaths from law enforcement since 1949.

Last year, after the murder of George Floyd, we reviewed our police-violence data, and we found other literature that supported that NVSS was undercounting, says Eve Wool, a co-lead author of the study. And we went and sought other sources to correct it. The IHME researchers selected high-quality open-source datasets on police violence, including Fatal Encounters and The Counted, and compared those studies to the federal record, building a statistical model of killings by police over time. This effort yielded  as The Lancet touts in an accompanying editorial  the most accurate and comprehensive assessment of deaths attributable to police violence in the USA to date.

The results of the study are staggering: Over the last four decades, nearly 31,000 Americans died at the hands of police, while fewer than 14,000 of those killings were properly recorded by the government  meaning the federal data did not report 55.5 percent of all deaths attributable to police violence. For police killings of Black Americans, the undercounting was greater still, with 5,670 deaths missing from official federal statistics, out of an estimated 9,540 total deaths.

Despite recent scrutiny of police violence, federal underreporting of killings by police remains acute. In 2018, the most recent year of federal data studied, more than half of police killings were not accounted for, with 642 deaths missing out of 1,240 total estimated deaths. The Lancet study also reveals that the prevalence of police killings has increased sharply during the timeframe of the study, jumping by more than 38 percent between the 1980s and 2010s, on a per capita basis.

The undercounted killings are not missing; the NVSS keeps a remarkably accurate tally of American deaths. Rather, they are miscategorized in the system. Some under-reporting may be unintentional, the result of poor training or ambiguous instructions. Critically, the study notes, medical examiners filling out death reports are prompted in their documentation to, Describe how the injury occurred. If the involvement of law enforcement is not recorded in this text field, the paper says, then the death will not be accurately coded into the system. The multistep process and open-ended question makes capturing a death by police in the federal database more complicated than [capturing a death by] cirrhosis or lung cancer, says Mohsen Naghavi, the papers senior author.

But the researchers also sound the alarm over substantial conflicts of interest that could disincentivise accurate recording. Medical examiners often work for their local police departments, and in some rural areas sheriffs serve double duty as coroners. Currently, the same government responsible for this violence is also responsible for reporting on it, warns co-lead author Fablina Sharara.

In a call for reform, the study authors advise that forensic pathologists should work independently from law enforcement and be awarded whistleblower protections under the law, to liberate them from pressure to downplay police violence.

The Lancet study finds wide state-by-state variation in the accuracy of reported killings by police. The states with the highest under-reporting rates are red and predominantly rural: Oklahoma leads the pack with 83.7 percent undercounted, followed by Wyoming (79.1 percent), Alabama (76.9 percent), Louisiana (75.7 percent), and Nebraska (72.9 percent).

Karin Martin is a professor of public policy at the University of Washington who studies the criminal justice system and its racial disparities, and has reviewed the Lancet findings. The paper is groundbreaking, she says, because it reveals that the problem of killings by police is twice as high as the government has officially acknowledged.

Martin emphasizes that communities of color have long been aware of the police threat to public health. But this authoritative study, in one of the worlds top medical journals, demonstrating that cops kill more American men than Hodgkins Lymphoma, could move the needle, she says. The Lancet, offers a stamp of approval and research rigor that is required to get these statistics to the places they need to be, Martin says, meaning in front of policymakers and in front of voters.

Yet the Lancet study has been published at a moment when momentum for systemic police reform, which seemed unstoppable in the wake of the Floyd murder, has stalled. As murder rates have spiked during the pandemic, politicians who once promised to overhaul and rethink systems of public safety are showing little courage in curtailing police budgets. On the federal level, bipartisan talks on police reform collapsed ignominiously this month, with no results.

Wool, the study co-author, says the research proves the point of protesters who took to the street: The results of this paper are not going to be surprising to a lot of folks, to other academics, to activists in the space, she says. We do hope theyre affirming to those groups. She believes the most important takeaway from the study is the degree to which official undercounting has been masking the scope of racially disparate police violence, insisting: Its always important to underline the systemic racism thats driving police violence in the United States.

The Lancet is a London-based journal, and the study authors took license to close their scientific paper with a withering critique of American law enforcement: Although it might seem drastic to many in the USA to defund, disarm, or abolish militarised police, there are many places where living without militarised police is already a reality, the authors write, citing the experience of disarmed police in the U.K. and Norway, which have killed fewer people than you can count on one hand in recent years. The USA, the paper exhorts, must replace militarised policing with evidenced-based support for communities, prioritise the safety of the public, and value Black lives.
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The early days of awards season bring buzz and promise, but they also mean its time for studios to develop strategy and brainstorm opportunities to strike.

With the Toronto International Film Festival handing out its prestigious Peoples Choice prize to Kenneth Branaghs Belfast, the Focus Features drama has the authority to declare itself the best picture front-runner for this awards season  but holding on to the throne wont be easy.

Speaking of thrones, Joel Coens adaptation of The Tragedy of Macbeth, his first solo directorial helm without his brother Ethan in years, played like gangbusters at the Sept. 24 opening night of the New York Film Festival.

Taking on William Shakespeare is always a daunting task, with some films finding success (such as Branaghs 1996 Hamlet or Baz Luhrmanns 1996 version of Romeo + Juliet) and others not so much (e.g., Michael Almereydas 2014 take on Cymbeline).

Set as a black-and-white period piece, The Tragedy of Macbeth from A24 and Apple Original Films, can easily find love in artisan categories such as production design (Stefan Dechant and set decoration by Nancy Haigh), cinematography (Bruno Delbonnel), sound (to be determined) and original score (Carter Burwell). Consumer audiences may not be flocking to the cinemas on Christmas Day, but the film doesnt need that type of narrative to translate to voters.

Denzel Washington as Macbeth will be a formidable challenger to Will Smiths Richard Williams in the crowd-pleaser King Richard. This marks a possible Oscar rematch, 20 years after Washingtons performance in Training Day claimed victory over Smiths turn in Ali. It should also be noted that there are many leading men already in the mix with Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog), Clifton Collins, Jr (Jockey), Peter Dinklage (Cyrano), Joaquin Phoenix (Cmon Cmon) and Simon Rex (Red Rocket) already making noise  with other possibilities waiting in the wings (Javier Bardem, Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio, Adam Driver, Andrew Garfield and Cooper Hoffman).

The supporting players are the brightest spot of the film, which arent typical with Macbeth adaptations. Corey Hawkins Macduff is passionately entrenched within his limited scenes, and he has vengeful words flowing through his veins throughout. If Washington is a true contender for his third Oscar, someone like Hawkins could come along for the ride.

With only 10 movie credits over the last 30 years, Kathryn Hunters Witch (and Old Man) is inventively complex and beautifully orchestrated through contortions and soul-piercing dialogue offering. She could become a critical darling this season (NYFCC future winner perhaps?), which could lead to some traction in supporting actress. In a one-scene wonder, recent Emmy nominee Moses Ingram (Netflixs The Queens Gambit) declares to Hollywood that she is not going anywhere, and every producer should be lining up to hand her roles. Itll likely be one of those that people like myself will bang the drum for, but most likely will come up short. But we can pray.

Frances McDormand, who stars as Lady Macbeth, made history last year as the first woman to be nominated for producing and acting in the same year for Nomadland, winning her third and fourth Oscars respectively. She could take two awards for Macbeth as well.

Ive heard murmurs that the studio is considering her for a supporting run this time, even though the part of Lady Macbeth has always been thought of as a lead role. A source close to the studio has shared that the decision for supporting is very unlikely and shell end up competing for lead actress once again. But when voters hear McDormands delivery of Out, damned spot, theyll probably do whatever she wants.

2022 Academy Awards Predictions

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)  An academic and LGBT activist in Hungary is among the word's 100 most influential people, according to Time magazine, for her work on a children's book that set in motion a debate over human rights in the Central European country.

Its an honor. Obviously, it feels really rewarding to be one of these amazing 100 people, Dorottya Redai, a researcher at the CEU Democracy Institute in Budapest and activist with the Labrisz Lesbian Association, told The Associated Press.

The magazine included Redai on its annual TIME100 list last month to honor her efforts to advance LGBT rights in Hungary, where recent moves by the country's right-wing government have been blasted as an attack on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

At the center of Redai's recent work was her spearheading the publication of Meseorszag Mindenkie ("Fairyland is for Everyone"), a children's book that retells classic fairytales. The book features disabled children, Roma people, LGBT protagonists and members of other minority groups as characters.

According to Redai, who helped coordinate and recruit the 17 authors who contributed tales, the book was intended to address social issues in ways that are digestible for younger children, and to provide parents and teachers with a tool for discussing difficult topics like child neglect, the death of a parent, adoption and poverty.

But its publication sparked a backlash in Hungary. A week after Fairyland is for Everyone" came out, a politician from a far-right party tore pages out of a copy and put them through a paper shredder, calling the book homosexual propaganda.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said of the book in a radio interview that Hungary is a tolerant and patient country concerning LGBT people, but that there is a red line: leave our children alone.

It was really like a tsunami of media and politicians saying really unimaginable things about how we corrupt children, Redai said. The book became immediately branded as an LGBT book, which it really isnt.

The uproar also made the book a bestseller in Hungary, Redai said, and led to international publishers seeking to release editions in numerous other languages.

Still, the travails in Hungary were not over. In January, a government office in Budapest ordered the book's publisher to place a disclaimer on titles that display patterns of behavior that differ from traditional gender roles.

Then in June, Hungary's parliament passed a law that prohibits the depiction or promotion of homosexuality and sex reassignment in materials accessible to minors under 18.

That law  along with newer regulations passed in August  means that Fairyland is for Everyone must appear on store shelves in opaque packaging and can't be sold within 200 meters (650 feet) of a school or church.

Last month, a mayor in a small town near Budapest ordered the book's removal from a local library, citing the controversial regulations.

Redai's efforts to publish and defend the collection of tales make her a symbol of courage in a hostile societal environment, Terry Reintke, a German member of the European Union parliament and a co-president of its LGBTI Intergroup, wrote in the TIME100 issue.

This work shows so beautifully how colorful life is. It makes young people believe that - no matter who you are - there is a fairy tale waiting for you that is your life, Reintke wrote.

Redai said she hopes her placement on the magazine's list "gives encouragement to LGBT people who are not necessarily activists, to say, You are not alone, the whole world is watching you, so you should hold on.
NEW YORK (AP)  Michael Gandolfini's face is thinner. His hair is thicker. His presence gentler. But there's no mistaking it. He looks like his dad.

It's something he's heard many times in his 22 years, especially recently. In The Many Saints of Newark, the Sopranos prequel, Michael plays a teenage Tony Soprano, inhabiting the indelible mob boss played by his father, James Gandolfini.

Like many, Gandolfini has mixed feelings about hearing that he looks like his dad. But mostly he feels proud.

It makes me feel really good because I love my dad, Gandolfini says, smiling softly. Sometimes I get insecure. I hope I dont just get cast as my dad lookalike. Sometimes I think: Am I only good because I look my dad? Or am I good because I did all the work?

In The Many Saints of Newark, which debuted in theaters and on HBO Max on Friday, Gandolfini put in a kind of work that went beyond playing the part  which, considering Tony Soprano is arguably the greatest protagonist in television history, was already a tall order. Stepping into his father's shoes meant getting to know his dad in a new way, just as Gandolfini was  and still is  finding his own direction as a performer.

Being in this world, playing this character, it connected me to my dad as an actor  actor to actor  guessing what he went through, and understanding a little more what he went through for nine years and being really proud of him for that, Gandolfini said in an interview the day after the New York premiere of The Many Saints of Newark.

Gandolfini was just 4 months old when The Sopranos debuted on HBO and 8 years old when the final episode aired. Before embarking on The Many Saints of Newark, he had never seen the series. After his father died of a heart attack in 2013 at age 51, he never found the right time to sit down and watch it.

I knew nothing about Tony. I had never seen the show, says Gandolfini. If my dad was a contractor, I wouldnt want to see the house he built. I kind of was like: Ill watch it one day. When he passed, it was going to become a thing to watch it. It was going to be painful.

Gandolfini acted in high-school musicals growing up in Los Angeles. (He lived there with his mother, Marcy Wudarski; she and James Gandolfini divorced in 2002.) He briefly studied acting at New York University. But much of Gandolfini's acting education has come on sets. He played a busboy in Ocean's Eight (2018) and appeared in 10 episodes of HBO's The Deuce.

Meanwhile, David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos and co-writer of The Many Saints of Newark, had been struggling to cast young Tony. It's a supporting role in the 60s-70s-set film; the protagonist is Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), father to Christopher and father figure to Tony. The Sopranos director Tim Van Patten mentioned to Chase that Gandolfini might be a natural fit. They met.

He seemed totally different than his father to me that day, says Chase. Totally different.

I got it into my head that it was going to work, period," Chase explains. "He auditioned three times, none of which I remember, and I think the reason I dont remember is because I had already made my mind up. It had to be him.

The audition process, though, was a relief to Gandolfini. Instead of suddenly being faced with the intimidating prospect of playing his father's defining role, he spent three months mulling it over and getting more familiar with the character.

I was hesitant. But I thought: Im not in a position  and am still not in a position  to turn down auditions, says Gandolfini, who has a part in Hereditary" director Ari Aster's next film.

It also meant Gandolfini finally caught up to The Sopranos," and saw his dad in a whole new light. His father, who had a tortured relationship with the character, had shielded his son from Tony Soprano.

That was one of the greatest parts of this. I got to become a fan of The Sopranos. I got to watch it for the first time. I got to learn that it was funny. I had no idea, says Gandolfini. Tony Soprano to me was my dad in a robe, eating lunch on his break."

Once production started, Gandolfini's focus was on finding Tony Soprano, not trying to play his father.

Most of the time, if I was doing anything with him, it was to pull him back a little bit from his father and remind him that this character isnt him yet, hes still got some of that softness and sensitivity, says director Alan Taylor.

In the film, Tony's mafioso future isn't yet a foregone conclusion. He's a good, sweet kid into rock n roll, partly a victim to the life he's born into. Destiny weighs heavily.

The striking thing about Michael when you meet him is how gentle he is and how warm and generous and gracious he is, says Taylor, who directed a number of Sopranos episodes. Thats not the first thing that radiated off Jimmy. He is those things, but theres a powerful, brutish thing that comes with that. Meeting Michael, I realized this guy is this way because he must have been loved to pieces by his parents.

James Gandolfini, who grew up in New Jersey the son of a bricklayer and school lunch lady, often spoke self-deprecatingly about acting. He was fond of saying it was his job to wear someone else's pants. Michael Gandolfini's motivation comes from somewhere different. His fascination with the craft, he says, came from sitting in the audience, not standing on the stage.

I remember sitting in the audience in my first acting class thinking: How do you do that? How do you get up on stage and become another person? I think thats what Im still chasing, says Gandolfini.

I mean, I think part of that is because of my dad. What was he doing? Where was he on set when I was young? adds Gandolfini. "The thing that drives me forward is I keep wanting to learn and figure out how to be a good actor. Thats the hunger I have."

___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
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West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin just cooked the planet. I dont mean that in a metaphorical sense. I mean that literally. Unless Manchin changes his negotiating position dramatically in the near future, he will be remembered as the man who, when the moment of decision came, chose to condemn virtually every living creature on Earth to a hellish future of suffering, hardship, and death.

Quite a legacy. But he has earned it.

Last night, during the insane and at times comical negotiations over President Bidens infrastructure bill and his $3.5 trillion Build Back Better agenda (aka the reconciliation bill), Manchin let it be known that he was not going to vote for any measure above $1.5 trillion. And because Democrats cant afford to lose a single vote in the Senate, if Manchin wont vote for it, the reconciliation bill wont pass.

The $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill includes a long list of programs and tax reforms that will help reduce poverty and improve the social safety net, such as universal child tax credit, universal pre-K, free community college, and an expansion of Medicare. But it is also the primary vehicle for President Bidens ambitious climate action agenda, including cuts in subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, and, most importantly, the Clean Energy Performance Package (CEPP), which is a clean energy standard that incentivizes power companies to shift away from fossil fuels.

From a climate point of view, the importance of these climate policy measures is impossible to overstate. In order to have a decent chance at maintaining a habitable planet, scientists agree that the world needs to zero out carbon pollution by 2050. And to have any shot at that, we have to start moving now. Every year, every month, every hour of delay makes that goal more difficult to achieve, and increases the risks of accelerated climate chaos that will make this past summer of hellish wildfires, storms, and droughts look like the good old days.

The zero carbon by 2050 goal is not a political slogan or environmentalists dream. It is what the best scientists in the world are telling us we need to do to avert climate catastrophe. It is also the basis for Bidens goal of a 100 percent clean energy grid by 2035, and a 50 percent reduction in CO2 pollution by 2030. For Biden, taking strong action on climate is not just important in itself. It is also key to giving the U.S. climate negotiators something to bring to the table at the upcoming Glasgow climate talks, which begin on October 31st. After President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate deal, the rest of the world has looked at the U.S. with distrust. Passage of strong climate measures in Congress before the Glasgow meeting would not only rehabilitate Americas standing as a nation that takes its contribution to solving the climate crisis seriously, but give U.S. negotiators leverage to push other nations to take action.

For Biden, and for the world, it all rests on the ability to get the reconciliation bill through Congress. With Republicans not willing to do anything, this was the only chance they had to get climate policy through. It was a gamble, but it was a gamble they had to take.

But Manchin is fucking it all up. To him, climate is a tomorrow problem. As he said recently on CNNs State of the Union: Whats the urgency?

Manchin is one of a small group of centrist Democrats who pretend to be motivated by fiscal restraint. They have pitched themselves as the sober adults in the room full of crazy Socialist progressives who are spending like drunken sailors on government programs. Manchin says he can only support $1.5 trillion, that is the number that he believes is responsible, and he wont go beyond that. Im at $1.5 trillion  I think $1.5 trillion does exactly the necessary things we need to do, he said.

Yes, $1.5 trillion is a big number. And yeah, this is politics, you take the best deal you can get and move on. Half a loaf is better than no loaf.

But the problem is, its not close to what we need on climate. The policy specifics of the reconciliation bill are not yet clear, but what is clear is that Manchin wont go along with anything that hurts the coal industry, including a reduction of the massive fossil fuel subsidies lavished on Big Oil and Big Coal. And if the clean energy standard is included (which is not at all clear at this point), Manchin will be sure it is weakened to the point of being ineffectual.

All in all, at a time when the world is looking to the U.S. to take bold action on climate and show some leadership, Manchin will be sure that what emerged from all this is, at best, some weak tea of climate policy that might not look like outright denial or dismissal but will do little to solve the problem. And, more importantly, that will do nothing to hasten the end of fossil fuels. As he put it in this memo outlining his negotiating position on the reconciliation bill, he made clear he wants assurances that nothing in the bill would get in the way of the production and burning of fossil fuels.

For anyone who cares about the future of life on this planet, Manchins moves are willfully destructive for a number of reasons.

First, his pretense toward fiscal sanity is absurd posturing. In a statement, he decried the brutal fiscal reality the nation faces as reason for his opposition. The $3.5 trillion, which is spread out over 10 years, is about 1.2 percent of GDP. How brutal is that? Especially when you consider that Manchin voted for every military budget in the last decade, which cost $9.1 trillion, without ever once whining about any brutal fiscal reality. As MSNBCs Chis Hayes tweeted: THERE IS NO BRUTAL FISCAL REALITY THE NATION FACES; IT IS ENTIRELY MADE UP.

And the price of inaction on climate is a lot more than the price of action. Its not just the tens of billions of dollars or so spent every year recovering from natural disasters. Its also the price of the priceless: How do you put a dollar value on the extinction of monarch butterflies? How do you put a price tag on the 600 Americans who died during the heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest last summer? How do you run the numbers for a vanishing Arctic? As climate journalist Amy Westervelt put it with characteristic aplomb: The change these motherfuckers are signing us up for is so many times more radical than any climate policy ever proposed.

You can argue that the real action on climate happens at the local level. Or that the astounding decline in clean energy prices will drive the revolution. But without a big push from government, it wont happen fast enough, nor will the deep injustices of climate chaos be addressed in any meaningful way.

Second, Manchin is obviously a tool of the fossil fuel industry, which has poured millions of dollars into lobbying and ads to kill the reconciliation bill. The American Petroleum Institute, the industrys biggest trade group, is running ads that celebrate Manchin for his opposition to the plan. Manchin has received more campaign donations from the oil, coal and gas industries than any other senator. Help us thank Senator Joe Manchin, reads one recent ad, for being a champion of American made energy. In fact, Manchin is, as journalist Mark Hertsgaard points out, a modern day coal baron himself, earning roughly half a million dollars a year in dividends from millions of dollars of coal stock he owns.

Third, the coal industry that Manchin is working so hard to protect is already a dead man walking. Coal is in freefall. In 2020, 543 million tons of coal were mined in the U.S., about half as much as a decade earlier. In 2012, 90,000 people were employed in coal mines; today, its only 40,000. There are more florists in America than coal miners today.

Coal mining put food on the table for generations of workers. But it mostly funneled money to the coal barons who owned and controlled the mines. In the past 150 years or so, billions of tons of coal have been mined and blasted out of West Virginia. If fossil fuels brought wealth and justice and prosperity, West Virginia would have streets paved with gold. Instead, it is a landscape of heartbreak and toil. According to data from the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, the states poverty rate of 16 percent is the sixth highest among the 50 states. It has the second lowest median household income in the nation. And nearly a third of all children in West Virginia live in a family that is either not getting enough to eat or is behind on housing payments. The state leads the nation in population decline, with young West Virginians fleeing to build lives elsewhere. You hear jokes about how people have overtaken coal as West Virginias top export.

The environmental legacy of Big Coal in West Virginia is equally toxic. Abandoned mines and thousands of uncapped oil and gas wells pollute local air and water. Mountaintop removal, a mining practice that involves deforesting mountain peaks and then blasting them apart to get at coal underneath, has turned large parts of the state into a moonscape.

Many West Virginians are done with coal and want a different future. A June poll by Data for Progress and the Chesapeake Climate Action Fund found that a clear majority of West Virginians, 56 percent, support a clean electricity transition by 2035, while only 36 percent oppose such a transition.

But Manchin himself is a man from the past. One of the tragedies here, not just for the people of West Virginia, but for the future of life on this planet, is that Manchin could have played this moment differently. With the leverage he has in the negotiations, he could have demanded massive investments in clean energy and social programs for West Virginia. He could have used it as a moment to ensure prosperity for his state and stability for our climate. He could have been a hero. Instead, he is a man out of time, selfish and sentimental and determined to take everyone down with him.
NEW YORK (AP)  In the fall of 2018, art historian John Richardson fell critically ill and died the following March, at age 95. He left behind a distinguished record as a critic, curator and biographer and questions about the fate of one of the art world's longest awaited volumes, his fourth and final book on Pablo Picasso.

Shelley Wanger, his editor at Alfred A. Knopf, explained during a recent interview that she and Richardson had been working on a typed manuscript that they would review together when she came to see him each week. By the time he was hospitalized, they had what she calls essentially a finished manuscript, save for end notes, illustrations and some additional research.

Richardson's A Life of Picasso: The Minotaur Years, which comes out Nov. 16, completes a project he began more than 30 years ago with The Prodigy and continued with The Cubist Rebel and The Triumphant Years.

Like Robert Caro's Lyndon Johnson series, Richardson's books have been a story of testing and rewarding the patience of readers and critics. Each volume took years to complete  The Triumphant Years came out in 2007. Each was praised in every way a biographer could ask for  for his prose and for his knowledge, for his singular appreciation of Picasso's achievements and, despite a personal friendship with Picasso and family members, for his willingness to document the artist's most troubling flaws.

I think his are the most important of the Picasso biographies," says Picasso's grandson, Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, co-president of the art foundation FABA, which includes some of his grandfather's works. He noted that Richardson benefited from knowing not just the artist but Jean Cocteau and other friends and peers.

He had a much larger, wider picture (than other biographers) of what everyone was doing. It wasn't only facts, because facts can be kind of boring. What you have is accuracy and insight."

The Minotaur Years covers 1933-43, when the Spanish artist was in his 50s and confronting the spread of fascism and Nazi Germany in Europe. He was ever impatient and in transition, exploring new styles and art forms, whether surrealistic poetry, the mythological drawings that give the book its title, or the epic anti-war painting Guernica, his famous response to the 1937 Italian and German bombing of the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Picasso was also, as ever, in transition in his private life. He was estranged from his wife, the Russian dancer Olga Khokhlova, and spending much of his time with other women, notably the poet-photographer Dora Maar, who met the artist in 1935 and became his lover and inspiration for numerous paintings.

Wanger says the book will be the most comprehensive treatment of Picassos life and work in the 1930s and early 40s." It will include previously unpublished correspondence with, among others, his wife and with the poet (and Picasso lover) Alice Rahon. Richardson also drew upon his conversations with Maar and with the son of Pablo and Olga Picasso, Paolo Picasso.

The narrative will reflect an an insider point of view that very few if any other writers on Picasso had, according to Wanger.

One of the researchers for The Minotaur Years, Ross Finocchio, said Richardson was satisfied with the ending of the book." But it does reflect Richardson's declining physical powers. The fourth volume is around 300 pages, by far the shortest of his Picasso biographies, and his failing eyesight made writing and reviewing documents an increasingly slow process.

Delays in The Minotaur Years" were also caused by Richardson's otherwise ageless energy. Starting in 2008, as a consultant to the Gagosian gallery, he helped present six Picasso exhibitions praised by The New York Times' Roberta Smith as among the best art shows of the 21st century. Richardson was able not only to present rarely seen Picasso works, but to gather art from museums and private collectors worldwide.

John was so much fun, says Gagosian curator Michael Cary, who worked with Richardson on the Picasso shows. And while he took everything he did very seriously, he was funny and playful and a storyteller. Everything had a story. He could look at one of Picasso's works and he could narrate and narrate and narrate.

For those assisting him on his book, work was an event in its own right. Researchers Finocchio and Delphine Huisinga speak with fresh amazement about his 5,400-square-foot Manhattan loft, filled with art by Picasso, Warhol and Lucien Freud among others. Huisinga remembers the nonagenarian author practically running to them in anticipation of what they learned through their latest research.

"He would ask me, What goodies do you have for me today?" she says.

Richardson drew upon materials from Paris, Barcelona, London, New York and elsewhere, but his mind was his greatest resource: He seemed to have tracked Picasso's life more closely than even the artist could have managed. Huisinga remembers debating the origins of a circus painting Picasso completed in February 1933. Richardson speculated that Picasso had attended the circus to help celebrate the 12th birthday of Paolo, whom Richardson recalled was born on Feb. 4.

It sounded like a great idea, but I didn't have anything factual to base it on, Huisinga says. But a few weeks after that, I went to the Musee Picasso (in Paris) and found a stub for the circus with that exact date. He had a hunch, and it was verified. He had that date in the back of his mind. Who else but John Richardson would have something like that in the back of his mind?

Richardson apparently intended all along to end his work in 1943, 30 years before Picasso's death and before he befriended the artist in the 1950s, when both were living in France. But Finocchio and Huisinga remember occasional conversations about a fifth book. At times, he would speak wistfully, as if aware that he would never live to finish it. Other times, he would sound more excited.

I think we felt that as long as he was working, he was going to stay alive, that it was such a strong motivation to keep going, Huisinga says, adding that she worried about a post-partum depression" once the fourth book was done.

I was almost encouraging him to think about volume five, she said. I don't think he expected to write another book, but he would joke once in a while that he had made a pact with the devil that he wouldn't die before he was 100.
LONDON (AP)  The adventures of the honey-loving bear "Winnie the Pooh have captivated children  and their parents  for nigh-on 100 years. Fans now have a chance to own a central piece of Pooh's history, when a countryside bridge from southern England goes up for auction next week.

The author of the hugely popular Pooh series of books, A. A. Milne, often played with his son, Christopher Robin, at the bridge in the 1920s. It became a regular setting for the adventures of Pooh and his friends in the series that launched in 1926.

Offering it at auction is probably the biggest opportunity globally for people to reach out and be able to buy it and put it in a museum," said James Rylands of Summer Place Auctions, which has previously auctioned items including 20 tons of the Berlin Wall.

Rylands described the bridge as one of the most important iconic literary objects there is," and laid out hope that it could go for 250,000 pounds, way beyond the 40,000 to 60,000-pound estimate placed on Tuesday's auction.

When you actually talk about history and add in the emotion and the happiness that Winnie the Pooh has brought to generations as children and adults over the years, it is very difficult to price it, Rylands said. If it fetches a quarter of a million pounds, then I wont be surprised.

The bridge, originally called Posingford Bridge, was built around 1907 and officially renamed Poohsticks Bridge in 1997 by the late authors son, whose toy animals were the basis of the Pooh series.

It was then taken down in 1999 after being worn out by visitors and was replaced by a newer structure funded largely by the Disney corporation.

The original bridge was dismantled and stored in Ashdown Forest Centre in the southern county of East Sussex, until the local Parish Council recently gave permission for it to be restored and rescued. The bridge, which measures 8.87 meters long by 4.5 meters wide (29 feet by 15 feet), has now been fully restored using local oak for any missing elements.

The auction coincides with the centenary of Poohs arrival in the world when Christopher Robin received a fluffy teddy bear from the luxury department store Harrods on his first birthday.

Rylands said there's been interest from around the world, but hoped that the bridge stays local.

I do hope it stays in Sussex because it obviously has great relevance to the locality," he said. "But if it does end up in the United States or indeed Japan, I have no doubt it will be a little bit loved over there as well.
HOUSTON (AP)  A former student of a Houston public charter school shot and wounded the campus principal Friday before quickly surrendering to police, authorities said.

The 25-year-old man shot through a locked, glass door at YES Prep Southwest Secondary, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said. No students were hurt.

Police initially identified the wounded as a school employee, but a statement from the YES Prep charter system later identified him as Principal Eric Espinoza.

In a letter to students and families, YES Prep CEO Mark DiBella said Espinoza was grazed by a bullet from behind. He was taken to a hospital and was expected to be released Friday.

We had an incredibly frightening day and are immensely grateful there were no life-threatening injuries, DiBella said in the letter.

Police did not release the name of the shooter but said they were able to quickly identify him because he was a former student. Police also did not release a motive, but Finner said authorities were investigating whether the shooter and wounded man had any past interactions.

The shooting happened at about 11:45 a.m.

A line of students in masks streamed out of the school just before 1 p.m., holding their hands up to show officers they were not carrying a weapon. Multiple students told reporters in Spanish and English what they witnessed. Some said they saw blood while leaving the building, and others said they hid and blocked doorways with furniture like they had practiced in drills to survive a shooting.

Parents could be seen having tearful reunions as they met their children in a parking lot near the school.

You dont want anything like this to happen, Finner said, but I want to commend those students. Every student Ive seen coming out, they were calm. The administrators, the teachers, outstanding job. I want to commend them. ... They train for it.

YES Prep Southwest Secondary serves students in sixth through 12th grades.

The shooting Friday happened about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the site of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. A then-17-year-old armed with a shotgun and a pistol opened fire at Santa Fe High School in May 2018, killing 10 people, most of whom were students. The suspect has been receiving mental health treatment at a state hospital since December 2019. Doctors say he remains incompetent to stand trial on state capital murder charges. He also faces federal charges in a sealed criminal case.
Outside of the Mid City Inn in Euless, Texas, Jason Alan Thornburg was often seen reading his Bible, talking about God and expressing a desire to help people. He would pass out religious fliers and invite people into his room, denizens of the inn told local news stations.

But now police allege Thornburg's room is where, in a matter of days, he killed three people, dismembered their bodies and stored their remains in plastic containers. Police also said Thornburg, 41, is believed to have transported the remains to a dumpster 25 miles away from the inn where he set them on fire, according to an arrest affidavit. He described the killings to police as "sacrifices," the affidavit states.

"This was shocking, it's unsettling, and we knew that bringing someone to justice in this case was paramount," Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes said at a news conference this week.

Thornburg has been charged in the killings of the three people - a 42-year-old man named David Lueras and two women police have not publicly identified. But the killings were not Thornburg's first, he told police in an interview before his arrest on Monday, according to the affidavit. Thornburg said that, in May, he sacrificed his roommate by slicing his throat in Fort Worth and setting their home ablaze, the affidavit states. Police had been investigating the death of the roommate, 61-year-old Mark Jewell.

When police asked if he had committed more sacrifices, Thornburg said he had also sacrificed the body of his girlfriend in Arizona, according to the affidavit.

Fort Worth police said charges will soon be filed against Thornburg in the killing of his roommate. It was not immediately clear Thursday morning if Thornburg had an attorney to speak on his behalf.

Around Sept. 17, Lueras showed up at Thornburg's room, No. 113 at the Mid City Inn, and stayed with him, according to the affidavit. But Thornburg told investigators that he believed Lueras needed to be sacrificed. So Thornburg cut his throat and dismembered his body using a straight blade in the room's bathtub, Thornburg told police, the affidavit states. Thornburg allegedly kept the remains in plastic storage bins.

About two days later, a female acquaintance of Thornburg's stopped by, and Thornburg told police he believed she, too, needed to be sacrificed, according to court records. So he cut her throat, dismembered her body and stored her remains in storage tubs, according to the affidavit.

Two days later, another woman showed up. Thornburg told police he strangled her after initially trying to stab her, according to the affidavit. Like the others, he dismembered her body and placed the remains in storage tubs, the affidavit states.

Neighbors began noticing a strong odor wafting up from Thornburg's room, WFAA reported.

On Sept. 21, late at night, police believe Thornburg transported the remains of all three victims to a dumpster and set it on fire.

The next morning, police found the mutilated bodies. They were able to identify Lueras because of a tattoo on his back and a medical implant discovered on his body. Fort Worth police said on Tuesday the other two motel victims have been identified, but investigators declined to name them.

In May, Thornburg was considered a person of interest after the house he shared with Jewell exploded, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. But the medical examiner did not rule Jewell's death a homicide, saying the cause was inconclusive, and police did not seek Thornburg's arrest.

Thornburg spoke at Jewell's funeral, the Star-Telegram reported. He called his roommate, and fellow student of scripture, a "good friend."
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Brad R. Fulton, Indiana University

(THE CONVERSATION) Centuries of systemic racism and everyday discrimination in the U.S. have left a major mental health burden on African American communities, and the past few years have dealt especially heavy blows.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that Black Americans are twice as likely to die of COVID-19, compared with white Americans. Their communities have also been hit disproportionately by job losses, food insecurity and homelessness as a result of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, racial injustice and high-profile police killings of Black men have amplified stress. During the summer of 2020, amid both the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests, a CDC survey found that 15% of Black respondents had seriously considered suicide in the past 30 days, compared with 8% of white respondents.

For a variety of reasons, many African Americans face barriers to mental health care. But as a sociologist who focuses on community-based organizations, I find that strengthening relationships between churches and mental health providers can be one way to increase access to needed services. In research with my collaborators Eunice Wong and Kathryn Derose, I analyzed data on the prevalence of mental health care provision among religious congregations and found that many African American congregations offer such programs.

Need versus access

Roughly 1 in 5 Americans experience mental illness in a given year. Yet fewer than half of adults with a mental health condition receive mental health services.

African Americans utilize mental health services at about one-half the rate of white Americans. In part, this underuse may stem from African Americans often fraught relationship with medical establishments in the U.S., given their histories of racial bias and malpractice against people of color. Part of the reason may also derive from stigma among some African Americans perceiving mental illness and seeking help as signs of weakness. Treatment deserts where mental health providers are scarce may also be a factor.

Care at church

One often overlooked resource for mental health care, however, are churches. For the past decade, the National Congregations Study has documented the prevalence of mental health care provision among places of worship in the U.S. Based on data from the NCS 2018 survey, 26% of congregations provide mental health programming, and 37% of people who attend religious services attend one of these congregations. Such programming can include support groups, meetings and classes focused on addressing mental health concerns.

Previously, my co-researchers and I analyzed 2012 NCS data to better understand mental health resources within religious congregations. One of our goals was to identify factors that contribute to a congregation offering mental health care. These factors include having more members, employing staff for social service programs and providing health-focused programs. Other significant predictors include conducting community needs assessments, hosting speakers from social service organizations and being located in a predominantly African American community.

Based on the new 2018 survey, 45% percent of African American congregations offer some form of mental health service and nearly half of all African American churchgoers attend a congregation with such programs. These rates show an increase since 2012, and are roughly 50% greater than those among predominantly white congregations.

This research supports longstanding observations about African American congregations as critical sources of spiritual, emotional and social support for their communities. Many religious people see their spiritual health and mental health as intertwined, and research indicates that spiritual practices, such as prayer and meditation, can also support mental health.

Strengthening support

Our research suggests that building collaborations between African American congregations and the mental health sector is a promising strategy to increase access to needed services. Given that 61% of African Americans say they attend worship services at least a few times a year, congregations may provide an accessible resource.

At times, pairing religion and mental health may prove harmful. Some congregations see mental health problems as a product of personal sin, for example, and stigmatize people suffering from mental illness.

[This week in religion, a global roundup each Thursday. Sign up.]

But congregations can also be helpful environments. When clinical treatment is supplemented with social support, the likelihood of successful outcomes is greater, and houses of worship often provide built-in social networks. People participating in a congregation-led grief recovery group, for example, can be involved in the congregation beyond their weekly meeting. In addition, some mental health professionals provide pro bono services for congregation-based programs.

Social worker Victor Armstrong, the director of North Carolinas Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services, asserts that African American faith leaders can play a pivotal role in mental wellness. He suggests shifting language to focus on wellness rather than illness in order to decrease stigma, among other recommendations.

Greater collaboration between congregations and mental health providers could help stem the growing mental health crisis, particularly within African American communities.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/americans-are-in-a-mental-health-crisis-especially-african-americans-can-churches-help-167871.
Connecticut officials announced a settlement Friday with Eversource over the electric utility's response to Tropical Storm Isaias in 2020, which left thousands of people without power for days.

Under the deal, Eversource has agreed to return $103.4 million to consumers and provide more accountability during future storms, Gov. Ned Lamont and Attorney General William Tong announced. Eversource also has agreed not to apply for a rate increase until at least January 2023, for rates that would not go into effect until at least January 2024, the governor's office said.

With this settlement, ratepayers get some well-deserved relief in the short-term, and in the long-term they get more security that something like this wont happen again," Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement.

The storm hit Connecticut on Aug. 4, 2020, with rain and high winds, leaving roughly 800,000 utility customers without power at its peak.

Local officials complained that an inability to contact the utility made it difficult to tell residents when or where crews would be coming to restore power. Many towns did not see a utility truck for more than two days and some people were in the dark for over a week.

Under the agreement, $65 million in Eversource funds are to be immediately returned to customers in the form of credits on their December and January electric bills. The company said $10 million will be used to assist customers who are having difficulty paying their utility bills.

The average customer will see a total credit of $35, the governor's office said.

The agreement also will require Eversource to create a new Connecticut-based president of its state operation, Connecticut Light & Power, to improve local control and to add new seats to its governance board for representatives from Connecticut.

Eversource officials, who had defended their storm response and said power was restored as quickly as possible, also have agreed not to appeal a $28.4 million penalty levied by Connecticut regulators, who found the response to Isaias inadequate.

Eversource spokesperson Tricia Modifica said the deal is a reflection of the company's deep commitment to Connecticut, and will provide tangible relief as customers continue to deal with COVID-19 and prepare for the winter.

We learned valuable lessons as a result of Tropical Storm Isaias and weve carried forward numerous improvements that have changed how we communicate during storms," she said. "We are intent on winning over hearts and minds in Connecticut by demonstrating our commitment to both customers and Connecticut leadership, at a time when we must work together to deliver a new clean energy future.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  New Mexico's Democratic governor is balancing competing pressures from environmental activists and the fossil fuel industry as she seeks reelection in 2022 in a major region for oil production.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham returns to the podium for a scheduled annual gathering of oil industry executives next week, two years after she vowed that her administration would work on behalf of the fossil fuel industry and help New Mexico become the nation's No. 2 oil producer.

At the same time, the first-term governor has indicated an interest in attending next month's United Nations Climate Conference in Scotland, where world leaders will talk about accelerating action toward the goals of the Paris Agreement to slow global warming.

An email exchange among top administration officials outlines the opportunity to travel to Scotland in cooperation with the Energy Futures Initiative, a project led by Ernest Moniz, former secretary of energy under President Barack Obama. Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett said the event would certainly be an exciting opportunity," though travel plans are not final.

The two forums highlight Lujan Grisham's challenges in overseeing a state government that is increasingly dependent on income from oil and natural gas production  while attempting to chart a course toward cleaner energy sources.

At least seven Republicans are exploring a run for their party's nomination for governor, including failed prior candidates for Congress and Senate. Early contenders run the gamut from education services entrepreneur and state Rep. Rebecca Dow of Truth or Consequences, to military veteran-turned-Sandoval County Commissioner Jay Block and Albuquerque shooting range owner Louie Sanchez.

New Mexico state and local governments  and public schools, in particular  rely heavily on income from the oil and natural gas industry. That dependence has grown since Lujan Grisham won election in 2018, according to the Legislature's budget and accountability office.

As economic activity has rebounded from early pandemic restrictions, New Mexico oil production has reached record levels, recently exceeding 1.2 million barrels a day.

Lujan Grisham has cautioned President Joe Biden against efforts to curb oil production on public lands because it would affect her ability to achieve goals like universal access to early childhood education. A federal judge has blocked the Biden administrations suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water.

The governor's stance has been disheartening among advocates for a faster transition to clean energy sources such as solar and wind power, amid natural disasters and extreme weather linked to climate change.

They include Seneca Johnson of Santa Fe, a recent high school graduate and registered Democrat who voted for the first time in 2020. She says the clamor for oil income to support public education holds a bitter irony for youths in a state where academic proficiency among K-12 students trails most or all states.

Growing up, I had heard that oil and gas is paying for our education, said Johnson, who joined an anti-fracking protest of about 200 people outside the governor's office in the state Capitol in late September. This system doesn't really seem to work in the first place."

Political science professor Lonna Atkeson said the governor is among politicians who are accountable to constituents who work in the oil fields of southeastern New Mexico.

That's really important in the south, those interests, she said. You live with your constituents here. You're supposed to be sensitive to their needs.

Lujan Grisham has set herself apart from a Republican predecessor in supporting new restrictions on local oilfield pollution and establishing future quotas in state statue for renewable energy production.

State oil and gas regulators adopted rules earlier this year to limit venting and flaring as a way to reduce local releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Newly proposed rules are aimed at reducing oil industry contributions to ground-level ozone.

Reelection would give Lujan Grisham unprecedented influence over the future of renewable energy in New Mexico by allowing her to appoint the next Public Regulation Commission that oversees electrical utilities in 2023. A state constitutional amendment, approved by voters in 2020, ended direct election of the commission.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  As North Korea goes back to its pattern of pressuring South Korea to get what it wants from the United States, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un has emerged as the face of its campaign of mixing weapons demonstrations and peace offers.

If long-stalled negotiations resume, U.S. and South Korean officials will likely find themselves dealing with Kim Yo Jong, whose promotion to a key government post this week formalized her status as her brothers top foreign policy official.

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RISING STAR?

Amid a freeze in nuclear diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington, Kim Yo Jong shocked South Korea in June last year when she ordered the destruction of an empty, South Korean-built liaison office inside North Korea. Weeks later, she said North Korea would never reengage with Washington unless it takes irreversible steps to abandon its hostile policy  mainly referring to economic sanctions against the North and U.S.-South Korea joint military drills.

The North has maintained its position until now, while rejecting the Biden administration's offer to resume talks without preconditions.

Recently however, Kim has taken center stage again, issuing two separate statements offering conditional talks with South Korea. At the same time, the North carried out its first known missile tests in six months.

This week, she was named a member of the State Affairs Commission, a high-level decision-making body led by her brother.

Kim Yo Jongs promotion likely reflects her brothers assessment that she is effectively performing her role as international spokesperson for the regime," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Seouls Ewha University.

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NORTH KOREA'S NO. 2?

Believed to be in her early 30s, she suffered brief setbacks in January when she lost her position as an alternative member of the ruling Workers Partys powerful Politburo and was demoted to vice department director of the party from her previous title of first vice department director. Experts speculated Kim Jong Un held her responsible for policy failures or he worried about her too rapid rise.

Kim Yo Jongs entrance to the commission, an executive branch office that her brother created in 2016 after spending years consolidating his power, could further solidify her political standing, which South Koreas spy agency described as North Koreas No. 2.

Her inclusion in the State Affairs Commission will lend further official weight to her statements as she will now be speaking as a foreign policy official formally put in charge to deal with Washington and Seoul, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seouls Korea Institute for National Unification.

In a shakeup announced Thursday, First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Sun Hui, a veteran diplomat who has been deeply involved in the nuclear diplomacy with the U.S., was excluded from the commission. That shows Kim Yo Jong has her brothers full support in assuming a more decisive role in managing relations with Seoul and Washington, Hong said.

In her new job, Kim Yo Jong will likely lead future North Korean delegations in talks with Seoul or Washington, said Kim Yeol Soo, an expert at South Koreas Korea Institute for Military Affairs.

She could also be a special envoy to Washington, playing a role similar to her brothers top intelligence official who in 2018 helped set up a summit with then-President Donald Trump, the analyst said.

In 2018, she became the first member of the Kim dynasty to travel to South Korea after the 1950-53 Korean War, attending the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics and meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to convey her brothers desire for the two to meet.

__

OLD PLAYBOOK?

Analysts say North Korea is reviving its familiar playbook of combining missile tests and peace overtures to win outside concessions from the Biden administration, which has shown no willingness to ease sanctions unless Pyongyang makes progress on denuclearization.

Starting Sept. 11, North Korea has tested a new cruise missile that could potentially carry nuclear warheads, launched a ballistic missile from a train as well as a hypersonic missile still being developed. On Friday, the North said it tested a new anti-aircraft missile, which some experts say was in response to South Koreas acquisition of advanced U.S. fighter jets.

While offering talks, including an inter-Korean summit and the reconstruction of the destroyed liaison office, Kim Yo Jong said South Korea must first abandon double-dealing standards and hostile polices. Some observers say she wants South Korea to persuade Washington to relax the sanctions. She also wants South Korea to stop criticizing the Norths weapons development as part of efforts to get an international recognition as a nuclear power.

North Korea has maintained a suspension on the testing of nuclear bombs and long-range missiles targeting the American homeland for more than three years, indicating it wants to keep its diplomatic options with Washington alive.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is cutting ties with political adviser Corey Lewandowski after the longtime confidant to former President Donald Trump was accused of making unwanted sexual advances toward a GOP donor.

Lewandowski had been key to the Republican governor's political rise over the last year, joining her at political events across the country and helping her gain access to the former president's political orbit. But his time as her adviser was also marked by frequent staff departures from the governor's office.

Noem's spokesman Ian Fury said in a statement that Lewandowski will not be advising the Governor in regard to the campaign or official office."

He added that Lewandowski's role was as a volunteer and he was never paid a dime from Noem's campaign or the South Dakota government. Fury did not immediately respond to a question about whether Noem saw any of Lewandowski's behavior at a Las Vegas fundraising event, where he was accused of the harassment.

A former top aide to Noem, Maggie Seidel, said in a Wednesday statement to The Associated Press that she thought it would be outrageous for her to continue to associate with Corey Lewandowski.

Politico reported Wednesday that Trashelle Odom alleges Lewandowski repeatedly touched her without her permission, made lewd comments and stalked her throughout the evening.

He repeatedly touched me inappropriately, said vile and disgusting things to me, stalked me, and made me feel violated and fearful, she said in a statement to the outlet. I am coming forward because he needs to be held accountable. Trashelle Odom is the wife of Idaho construction executive John Odom.

Politico also said it had spoken to four first-hand witnesses who corroborated Odoms accusation as well as two people who had spoken with her about the alleged incidents.

Lewandowski was removed on Wednesday from his role running a Trump-supporting super PAC after Odom's accusation.

Corey Lewandowski will be going on to other endeavors and we very much want to thank him for his service. He will no longer be associated with Trump World, Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich wrote in a statement.

He said Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida and longtime Trump supporter who had been assisting with the group, has our complete faith and confidence in taking over MAGA Action."

Lewandowski did not immediately respond to requests for comment. His attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, said in a statement that: Accusations and rumors appear to be morphing by the minute and we will not dignify them with a further response.

The political operative was the former presidents first campaign manager in 2016 and remained one of his most vocal supporters and trusted outside advisers during his time at the White House, with Trump frequently turning to him at moments of crisis.

In March 2016, Lewandowski was accused by Michelle Fields, then a reporter for the right-wing Breitbart website, of roughly yanking her arm after a Trump news conference. But Lewandowski denied any wrongdoing and Trump repeatedly defended him, even after video emerged of the incident. Lewandowski was charged with battery, but it was later dropped.

Lewandowski was later fired from his job as Trumps first campaign manager after clashing with Trumps adult children, but the separation was only temporary.

He also advised Trumps 2020 campaign, has served as a CNN political commentator, and has written three books on the former president.

In New Hampshire, Democrats have also been calling on Matt Mowers, a GOP congressional candidate who worked for Trumps administration, to disavow Lewandowski after he endorsed the candidate. The Mowers campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

And in Nebraska, GOP gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster said Thursday he was cutting ties with Lewandowski, who had served as a senior adviser. Lewandowski recorded an endorsement video for the Falls City businessman three weeks ago where he praised him for always maintaining his support of Trump.

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Associated Press writers Michael Casey in Concord, N.H., and Josh Funk in Omaha, Neb., contributed. Colvin reported from New York.
CONAKRY, Guinea (AP)  Coup leader Col. Mamady Doumbouya gave no timeline for holding new elections in Guinea as the junta swore him in as president on Friday, though he pledged not to run as a candidate once the vote is organized.

Doumbouya's inauguration ceremony comes nearly a month after his junta overthrew President Alpha Conde, whose popularity had plummeted after he pursued a third term saying term limits didn't apply to him.

The West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS then suspended Guinea's membership and called for the junta to release the 83-year-old Conde, whose exact whereabouts remain unknown.

While the junta has pledged to organize democratic elections, it has yet to outline a timeframe for doing so. Earlier this week, junta members outlined their plans for the political transition, saying Doumbouya would serve as president and a civilian prime minister also would be chosen.

Neither I, nor any member of the (junta) and the transitional bodies will be a candidate in the upcoming elections," Doumbouya said. I ask the people of Guinea to re-establish our nation during this transition period.

On Friday, he also told Guineans that the country needs a new constitution and an overhaul of its electoral files, both time-consuming endeavors that observers say could be used to delay a future vote.

I remain unsatisfied because I expected the colonel to give the duration of the transition," said civil society activist Tafsir Balde. He did not do so. This makes me a little anxious.

Conde, Guinea's former president, had sparked violent street demonstrations last year after he pushed for a constitutional referendum that he used to justify running for a third term, saying term limits no longer applied to him. He ultimately won another five years in office last October, only to be toppled by the coup 10 months later.

At the time he came to power in 2010, he was Guineas first democratically elected leader since independence from France in 1958.

____

Associated Press writer Krista Larson in Banjul, Gambia contributed.
CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP)  A helicopter and a single-engine plane collided in midair Friday near a suburban Phoenix airport, sending the helicopter crashing into a field and killing both people on board. The plane landed safely, and the flight instructor and a student inside were not hurt.

The collision happened in the city of Chandler near its municipal airport, said police Sgt. Jason McClimans. He said no one on the ground was hurt but the airport would remain closed for several hours.

The Chandler Fire Department received reports of a fire in a brush field next to the airport shortly before 8 a.m. Crews found a large plume of smoke and the wreckage of the helicopter on fire but were able to extinguish it relatively quickly, fire officials said.

They inspected the helicopter and found the bodies of the two people on board. The Maricopa County medical examiner's office will determine their identities.

The chopper was operated by Quantum Helicopters and the plane by Flight Operations Academy. Both are flight schools, according to McClimans, of Chandler Police.

Richard Bengoa, owner of Flight Operations Academy, told The Associated Press the four-seat plane is used mostly for flight training. The only people aboard were the flight instructor and the student pilot.

Though officials did not allow Bengoa to get close to the plane, he said it appeared from a distance that its landing gear had been damaged. He said he had no information about how the collision happened and was not allowed to speak with the instructor or student.

Bengoa described his operation as more of a family business to kind of promote aviation and help people get their licenses.

A statement from the Federal Aviation Administration also indicated evidence of damage on the Piper PA-28 aircraft's landing gear. The agency listed the helicopter as a Robinson R22.

The airport's control tower was operating at the time of the collision. But FAA officials declined to say how many of the staff were there, noting that detail will be part of the overall investigation.

The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into the cause of the collision and crash.

Police are seeking any witnesses or people who may have filmed the ordeal.

Chandler Municipal Airport does not provide commercial airline service. Most of the flights there are for chartered trips, private excursions and training. It's considered one of the nations 50 busiest general aviation airports with more than 200,000 flight operations a year, according to Chandler's tourism office.

Dodge City Community College in Kansas operates its DC3 Flight Instructor Program out of the Chandler airport. The school said in a statement on its Facebook page that officials are working to notify the appropriate families of those involved in the incident. Authorities have not mentioned any ties to a specific training program.

____

Davenport reported from Phoenix.
BAGHDAD (AP)  Hundreds of Iraqis marched in the center of Baghdad on Friday to mark two years since mass anti-government protests erupted in the Iraqi capital and southern provinces calling for reforms.

Around 1,000 protesters took part in the event, including a significant number of women, many carrying photos of loved ones who were killed by security forces during the protests. The commemoration comes a week before Iraq plans to hold early elections, which had been a key demand of tens of thousands of protesters who thronged the streets and public squares from October 2019 until early 2020.

Demonstrators, mostly young people, had camped out in the capitals Tahrir Square for months, decrying endemic corruption, poor services and unemployment.

The movement petered out owing to the governments heavy-handed response and the coronavirus pandemic. Over 600 people died as security forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse crowds.

Now, many among the protest movement are calling for a boycott of the elections scheduled for Oct. 10, convinced that nothing will change. They are protesting, in particular, a string of targeted killings against civil society groups and outspoken activists for which no one has been held accountable. The killings have created a climate of fear and widespread reluctance to take part in the voting, particularly among young Iraqis who constitute the largest group of voters in Iraq.

I am against participating in these elections because they are meaningless. It's the same parties in power and nothing will change, said Walid al-Madani, a 39-year-old civil servant taking part in Friday's protest.

Hundreds of riot police and federal policemen fanned out in Baghdad ahead of the planned march.

We dont want a paradise, we want a nation, read one of the banners carried by protesters who gathered Friday at Fardous Square and marched toward Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the October 2019 protests.

Another banner read: You will not silence the voice of Tishreen, Arabic for October, as Iraqis refer to the protests after the month they broke out.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Iowas largest public school system will offer drive-through COVID-19 tests starting next week, in an effort to counter rising virus infections since the governor discontinued a statewide testing program.

Des Moines Public Schools officials said Thursday that they have entered an agreement with Nomi Health to offer testing from Monday at two city locations. It's the same Utah-based company that the state contracted with in April 2020 to provide Test Iowa services  widely available free tests at accessible drive-through locations.

Gov. Kim Reynolds discontinued that program on July 16, saying demand for testing was at its lowest in more than a year, vaccines were widely available and virus activity had decreased. The state instead made at-home test kits available; users must send samples to a laboratory and wait sometimes several days for results. COVID-19 tests also can be conducted by health care providers, pharmacies and other retail testing site. Iowans have since complained that testing is not convenient and results are slow.

Cases began climbing again in mid-July and continued to surge as the delta variant gained a foothold and vaccination hesitancy slowed efforts to stop high-level spread. COVID-19 cases climbed rapidly through August and September.

Iowa continues to see more than 1,500 cases a day and more than 600 people are currently in hospitals with COVID-19. The state has recorded more than 370 deaths since broad statewide testing stopped with a total death toll of 6,563.

Just 53.9% of the state's population is fully vaccinated.

Iowa House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst said shes heard from constituents and experienced herself the difficulty in finding testing facilities and long wait times for results.

She said its frustrating that Reynolds rejected $95 million in federal funding that could have been used for school tests so that parents would not have to have health insurance pay for them.

Frankly, this is another example of the governors failed leadership on this issue. We should not still be struggling to find tests in September of 2021, Konfrst said.

The Iowa Department of Public Health and Reynolds office did not immediately respond to messages.

Des Moines schools spokesman Phil Roeder said the district will incur only minimal costs related to the testing program; Nomi Health will either be reimbursed by an individual's insurance or will submit a claim for federal health program grant funds for the uninsured.

Since the beginning of the school year, increasing numbers of schools have had coronavirus outbreaks. State data indicates that 24% of positive cases in the past week were children age 17 and younger, which would be more than 2,000 children infected in the past seven days.

Since the school year started, the Des Moines district has recorded 149 positive cases among staff and 654 among students.

The district will provide a priority access line for students, their families and staff, and a line for the general public.

"Our priority at DMPS throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has been to meet the educational needs of our students while doing everything we can to keep them and our staff healthy and safe, said Superintendent Thomas Ahart,

The Sioux City school board voted Monday to purchase more than 7,000 rapid COVID-19 tests using $40,000 of federal emergency education funds.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP)  Ahmaud Arberys mental health records cant be used as trial evidence by the white men who chased and killed the 25-year-old Black man as he was running in their neighborhood, a Georgia judge ruled Friday.

The decision by Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley further limits defense attorneys efforts to portray Arbery as an aggressive young man with a troubled past when the case goes to trial soon, with jury selection scheduled to start Oct. 18.

The judge ruled that Arbery's medical privacy, even in death, trumped the rights of the men standing trial to a robust defense. And he concluded that a registered nurse's "highly questionable diagnosis that Arbery suffered from mental illness during his first and only visit to a mental health services provider in 2018 could unfairly prejudice a trial jury.

There is no evidence that the victim was suffering from any mental health issue, or had otherwise decompensated, on February 23, 2020, the date Arbery was killed, the judge's ruling said.

Prosecutors say Arbery was merely jogging on that date when father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael armed themselves and chased Arbery in a pickup truck in their neighborhood just outside the port city of Brunswick, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Savannah.

A neighbor who joined the chase, William Roddie Bryan, took cellphone video that showed Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery as he threw punches and grabbed for McMichael's shotgun. Arbery was unarmed when he was killed by three shotgun blasts at close range.

The McMichaels and Bryan were arrested and charged with murder after the video was leaked online more than two months later, on May 5. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case the next day and swiftly arrested all three men.

Defense attorneys argue the McMichaels and Bryan committed no crimes. They say the McMichaels suspected Arbery was a burglar after he was recorded by video cameras inside a home under construction. Travis McMichaels lawyers say he shot Arbery in self-defense.

Jason Sheffield, an attorney for Travis McMichael, said by email that despite the judge's ruling Friday, he's confident that the full truth will come out over the course of trial and that the jury will see this case is simply about protecting ones neighbors and oneself.

One of Bryan's lawyers, Kevin Gough, said he appreciated the care and research that went into the judge's decision, but disagreed with the result.

However, we anticipate that the court will reconsider its ruling in whole or in part in the weeks to come, Gough said by email.

A month ago, the judge dealt another setback to the defendants when he ruled that evidence of Arberys past run-ins with law enforcement, including two arrests, was also off-limits.

Defense attorneys hoped to cast doubt on prosecutors contention that Arbery was an innocent jogger and to bolster their argument that the white men reasonably suspected Arbery had committed a crime when they chased him.

Prosecutors argued that defense lawyers were seeking to put Arbery on trial by making his criminal record and mental health part of the case. None of the three defendants knew Arbery, or anything about his past, prior to the shooting.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP)  A South Carolina man was found guilty Friday of second-degree murder for stabbing his mother to death last year at his sister's apartment in Iowa.

Paul Belk, 32, of Beaufort, South Carolina, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Lisa Belk, 55, on April 14, 2020.
OAKLAND CITY, Ind. (AP)  A western Indiana man faces intimidation and gun charges after threatening a homeowner and firefighters responding to an illegal burn on the homeowners property.

Oakland City firefighters were discussing the citys burn ordinance Thursday evening with the 37-year-old homeowner when a 59-year-old neighbor began to argue with the man, state police said Friday.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  A man has been sentenced to prison for a string of arsons over a number of years in Indianapolis.

David Bradshaw will serve 32 years in the Indiana Department of Correction as part of a 40-year total sentence, the Marion County prosecutors office said.
Their family vacation quickly turned into their worst nightmare.

Ken Early, of Oklahoma City, and his family were in Taos, New Mexico, for vacation when he had a heart attack in the middle of a supermarket.

"I saw my mother kind of flagging me down, and my father, I could see, on the floor," Elizabeth Kolliopoulos said.

Kolliopoulos rushed over to her father.

"I immediately went in and did CPR," Kolliopoulos said.

The ambulance arrived and rushed Early to the local hospital, but they quickly realized that the rural hospital didn't have the capabilities to care for Earlys dire condition.

"The idea was, 'Let's get him Medevaced to Oklahoma City.' That's what we had to do. No hospital rooms. Not one ICU bed that could take my dad," Kolliopoulos said.

They tried other states.

"They looked in New Mexico, not a single hospital bed, ICU, that could take my father. In Kansas, nothing. In Arizona, nothing. In Texas, nothing," Kolliopoulos said.

His condition started to worsen as he started getting a fever.

"The doctor just came into the room with that look on her face where you just know, you know. That it's bad news," Kolliopoulos said.

Early, a beloved husband and father, a retired CPA who loved to travel and wear funny socks, died in Taos, New Mexico.

"It's heartbreaking to me. I just feel like we're in some sort of human crisis," Kolliopoulos said. "Because people will not get vaccinated and because people will not wear their masks this happened to our family."

In the past month, according to the state health department, more than 90% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients were not fully vaccinated.

"My father was vaccinated. My mother was vaccinated. My husband and I, we're all vaccinated," Kolliopoulos said.

Kolliopoulos said taking COVID-19 precautions could also be freeing up a hospital bed for someone else like her dad.

"If you care about your neighbor, if you care about your parents, your grandparents, please just get vaccinated," Kolliopoulos said. "Maybe my father would have died anyway. Maybe he would've died in Oklahoma, but he would have died in Oklahoma."

Watch the video above for more on this story.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Mexico said Friday it wants to declare lithium a strategic mineral and reserve any future exploration and mining for the government.

The move is likely to leave Mexico's only privately exploited mine, expected to start production in 2023, in the hands of a Chinese lithium company.

The changes are contained in a bill that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has sent to congress. The bill also changes the Constitution to strengthen government control over electricity production and distribution.

The bill would eliminate much of the framework of private sector openings in Mexico's electrical power market, giving the state-owned utility a guarantee majority market share and allowing it to buy power from private plants if it so chooses.

Because it changes the Constitution, the bill requires a two-thirds majority and approval from a majority of state legislatures.

This bill establishes that only the government will be able to mine lithium, Lopez Obrador said. That is, all the lithium in the nation's soils, in our territory, belongs to Mexicans, the nation.

However, Secretary of the Interior Adan Lopez Hernandez said that the eight concessions for mining lithium that have already been granted in Mexico would be respected, as long as they are well on the way to producing the metal, which is used in batteries.

Lopez Hernandez said it appears only one private mining company meets those criteria.

That appears to be a reference to Bacanora Lithium, a project in the northern border state of Sonora that hopes to produce 35,000 tons of lithium annually starting in 2023. That company recently accepted a buyout offer from Chinese lithium giant Ganfeng International.

Still, he left out some hope for other companies. Up to now, there is information that only one of these eight concession holders, these eight companies, meets these standards, but if the eight manage to meet them, the concessions will remain valid, Lopez Hernandez said.

Lopez Obrador's previous efforts to strengthen Mexico's state-owned utility, the Federal Electricity Commission, have been blocked in courts because they appeared to violate a constitutional requirement for free competition in the sector.

Lopez Obrador is a firm proponent of fossil fuels and large, state-run projects in the energy sector, and has made building new oil refineries a priority. He has never liked a 2013 market reform instituted by his predecessor that created a regulated electrical power market in which private power generators could sell into the national grid on an equal basis.

Lopez Obrador claims the private companies were given an unfair advantage over the state-run utility because they were guaranteed higher prices or did not have to pay for the cost of transmission.

But the new private plants are cleaner, more modern and more aimed at renewable power sources, while the federal utility relies heavily on older, more polluting plants that burn coal, diesel or excess fuel oil from state-owned refineries. The Federal Electricity Commission has also been plagued by corruption, high costs, an unwieldy bureaucracy and insufficient capacity.

Earlier this year, Lopez Obrador managed to pass a law that didn't change the Constitution, but mandated that electricity must first be bought from government-owned generating plants, and if any demand remains, power was to be purchased from renewable and private natural gas-fired plants.

Courts blocked that law, saying it violated the Constitution. So the new bill grants the Commission a guaranteed 54% share of the market. It simply dissolves the old regulatory agencies aimed at guaranteeing competition in energy markets, and gives their responsibilities to the Commission.

The former policy strengthened private, for-profit companies, mainly foreign ones, that were taking over the whole market, Lopez Obrador said. He referred to winter storms in Texas temporarily cut off supplies of imported natural gas early this year as an argument for his position.

Do you remember when there were frosts and blackouts and Texas lost power? he said. We re-established service in a week because we still had a state-run company like the Federal Electricity Commission which controls all the transmission lines, something that doesnt happen in Texas, where all the lines are privatized.

Lopez Obrador's moves have drawn complaints from investors, many of them foreign, who say it violates the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade pact and Mexicos commitments to cut carbon emissions. Many wind, solar and gas-fired power stations were built in Mexico by foreign companies following the previous administrations 2013 energy reform.

The companies claim the president's plan creates a de facto government monopoly, hurts competition and will make Mexicans buy dirtier, more expensive electricity.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  Minnesota families who get their health insurance through the state-run MNsure exchange will save an average of $684 per year and will have more plans to choose from in 2022, officials said Friday.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce and MNsure released information on rates and options for 2022 in advance of open enrollment, which begins Nov. 1.
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP)  The Navajo Nation on Thursday reported 88 more COVID-19 cases, but no additional deaths.

The latest numbers pushed the tribes totals to 33,995 confirmed COVID-19 cases from the virus since the pandemic began more than a year ago. The known death toll remains at 1,447.

Based on cases from Sept. 10-23, the Navajo Department of Health issued an advisory for 40 communities due to an uncontrolled spread of COVID-19.

The tribes reservation is the countrys largest at 27,000 square miles (70,000 square kilometers) and it covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Navajo officials are urging people to get vaccinated, wear masks while in public and minimize their travel.

Officials said all Navajo Nation executive branch employees had to be fully vaccinated against the virus by the end of September or submit to regular testing.

The new rules apply to full, part-time and temporary employees, including those working for tribal enterprises like utilities, shopping centers and casinos.

Any worker who did not show proof of vaccination by the end of September must be tested every two weeks or face discipline.
LONDON (AP)  Police in Northern Ireland arrested two more men Friday over the death of journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot and killed while covering a 2019 riot in the city of Londonderry.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the men, ages 44 and 53, were arrested in the city area under the Terrorism Act.
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  A major manufacturer of synthetic rubber, Firestone Polymers LLC, has agreed to pay $4 million in fines and an environmental project and make numerous improvements to settle a long list of state and federal air pollution complaints at its plant in southwest Louisiana.

The plant in Sulphur was "Louisianas highest emitter of three types of hazardous air pollutants, violating the Clean Air Act, David Gray, regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said in a news release Thursday.

The plant illegally emitted thousands of tons of pollutants including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and more than a dozen other substances and chemicals, according to the 127-page federal complaint against the plant near Lake Charles.

Findings of a yearslong federal investigation were made public Thursday in the complaint and the proposed settlement, which is now subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.

The company also was recently accused of polluting nearby waterways. Firestone and eight other companies agreed in April to pay $5.5 million in Superfund cleanup costs for the Calcasieu Estuary, covering more than 19 square miles (49 square kilometers) that include bayous, lakes and a stretch of the Calcasieu River.

Neither consent decree admits any violations or liability.

The new agreement calls for Firestone to pay $3.35 million in fines  nearly $2.1 million to the U.S. government and more than $1.25 million to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. The company also will pay the department $654,125 to improve and replace air monitoring equipment at sites around southwest Louisiana or to buy field monitoring equipment for the department's southwest region as a beneficial environmental project.

Firestone is dedicated to creating a safe working environment for our employees and working toward a sustainable society for the communities we serve, said a statement sent Friday by Steve Kinkade, a spokesman at Firestone's parent company, Bridgestone Americas Inc., of Nashville, Tennessee.

Although the documents were filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Lake Charles, the agreement notes that some improvements were made as far back as 2019. That was after Firestone was notified of violations but before the agreement was reached, the news release said.

One piece of equipment to reduce emissions was operating in March 2019, Kinkade said.

The company also reduced concentrations of a solvent and increased inspections and tests of heat exchangers during negotiations, the Justice Department said.

Since 2017, Firestone Polymers has reduced facility-wide volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions by approximately 98% and hazardous air pollutants by approximately 97%, Kinkade said.

The Justice Department said Firestone must still meet emissions limits and operating and maintenance requirements, install equipment controls, limit hazardous air pollutants from facility dryers, inspect heat exchangers, install controls and monitors on covered flares, and install flaring instrumentation and monitoring systems.

Businesses such as Firestone Polymers have a sacred obligation to protect Louisianas environment and to use our natural resources wisely, Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook said Thursday. This settlement sends a clear message that those who dont honor this obligation will be held accountable.

The earlier consent decree did not say how the nine companies  including two Bridgestone companies related to Firestone Polymers  are to divide the $5.5 million Superfund payment. The federal complaint said the government spent more than $13 million to clean up the area.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  The mayor and city council of Providence sued the state Department of Education on Tuesday over a disagreement about the amount of money the city should put toward its schools this year.

The lawsuit argues the state is wrong in its calculations that Providence needs to allocate an additional $5 million to its schools in accordance with annual aid increases required by law, the Providence Journal reported.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee said Friday that the administration would try to find new assignments for health care workers employed by the state who are refusing a coronavirus vaccination.

The state's health care worker vaccine mandate took effect Friday, the day after a federal judge tossed a constitutional challenge to the requirement filed by four people who work in the health care field. Workers who don't comply are at risk of losing their state licenses and jobs.

McKee said during an appearance on WPRO radio that there are a "small amount" of holdouts, but he doesn't want to put people out of work.

"We might be able to put them in another department," he said. We don't want people to be without pay or without health care coverage and we're going to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen."

He said he would also encourage hospitals and other health care organizations to take the same approach.

He stood by the mandate.

We've made a policy that we feel as though is in the best interest of the safety of the people in the state of Rhode Island, he told the station.

Some unvaccinated workers will be allowed to work an extra 30 days beyond Fridays deadline if their absence would compromise patient care.

The president of Care New England, the state's second largest hospital group, said Friday that a nominal percentage" of its workforce chose not to be vaccinated and the organization has plans in place to accommodate any temporary staffing shortages.

We understand that receiving a vaccination is a personal choice, which we respect," President and CEO Dr. James Fanale said in a statement. Health care workers who were not vaccinated before today are not being allowed to work at any Care New England hospital, in order to preserve our commitment to world class care for our patients, and to protect staff."

Care New England, which operates Women and Infants, Butler, and Kent hospitals, has about 8,000 employees.

Officials with Lifespan, the state's largest hospital system, said this week that 97% of its workers are vaccinated and it has plans in place to address any staffing issues. A company official told The Providence Journal on Friday that Lifespan is in the process of terminating the employment of about 400 workers who have not been vaccinated, including nurses, physicians, environmental services workers, housekeepers and office staff.

Lifespan operates Rhode Island, Miriam, Hasbro Childrens, Newport and Bradley hospitals and has nearly 16,000 employees.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP)  Police in Bangladesh said Friday they arrested a suspect in the killing of a key Rohingya leader, who was a prominent voice for the repatriation of the refugees to Myanmar.

Mohibullah, who was known by one name, had been an international advocate for Rohingya rights, including traveling to the White House for a meeting on religious freedom in 2019.

He was fatally shot late Wednesday at the Kutupalong refugee camp at Ukhiya in Coxs Bazar district in southern Bangladesh, where about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims had fled persecution in Myanmar. No group has claimed responsibility.

The man arrested Friday also was a Rohingya, said Naimul Haque, a senior official of the Armed Police Battalion. He gave no other details and said he was being questioned.

Mohibullahs brother Habibullah told reporters that the assailants covered their faces during the attack but that he recognized some of them. He was with Mohibullah during the attack.

Another witness, Mohammed Sharif, a co-worker in the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights that Mohibullah chaired, said a group of eight to 10 people had entered the office and three of them surrounded Mohibullah.

One pointed the gun between his eyes, the other on his chest and another one here on the arm and they all fired, he said. "Then they fired two more shots in the air and hurriedly fled. No one even realized as all this happened so fast.

Fear and frustration gripped the sprawling camps after the killing.

We Rohingya have now become like cattle ready for slaughter, what else can I say. I am still in shock," said Sayed Alam, an uncle of Mohibullah. The people who had targeted my nephew are the same people who killed him and made him a martyr.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was saddened by the killing and praised Mohibullah as a brave and fierce advocate for Rohingya rights.

We urge a full and transparent investigation into his death with the goal of holding the perpetrators of this heinous crime accountable. We will honor his work by continuing to advocate for Rohingya and lift up the voices of members of the community in decisions about their future, Blinken said in a statement.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees also condemned the killing and called for the government to do its best to protect the refugees.

On Thursday evening, thousands of refugees attended funeral prayers before Mohibullah was buried in a graveyard inside the camp.

Mohibullah, a former teacher who was in his 40s, had served as a spokesman representing the Muslim ethnic group in international meetings. He visited the White House in 2019 for a meeting on religious freedom with then-President Donald Trump and spoke about the suffering and persecution faced by Rohingya in Myanmar.

That same year, he was bitterly criticized by Bangladeshi media after he led a massive rally of 200,000 refugees to mark the second anniversary of the crackdown by Myanmars military.

Human Rights Watch called Mohibullah a vital voice for the Rohingya community. He always defended the rights of the Rohingya to safe and dignified returns and to have a say in the decisions concerning their lives and future," Meenakshi Ganguly, the group's South Asia director, said in a statement.

Violence in the refugee camps has been a growing problem, said Saad Hammadi, Amnesty Internationals South Asia campaigner. Armed groups operating drug cartels have killed people and held hostages," he said, urging authorities to take immediate action to prevent more bloodshed.

Overall, Bangladesh has been sheltering more than 1.1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar after previous waves of persecution. While Bangladesh and Myanmar have sought to arrange repatriations, the Rohingya are too fearful to return.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP)  The state dropped its objection to ending a lawsuit over Madison County's removal of a Confederate monument after officials clarified the source of the $25,000 that was used to pay a fine for taking down the rebel memorial.

Attorney General Steve Marshall's office sued to make the county pay a $25,000 state fine for removing the memorial last year, and then it balked when the county tried to pay the penalty this summer. The state said the money came from an anonymous source, and that the county itself had to pay.
AP

LEAGUE CITY, Texas (AP)  Police in Texas have arrested a man who was accused of stabbing a restaurant manager with a pocketknife after being told he needed to wear a mask.

The stabbing happened in March at a Jack in the Box restaurant in League City, just southeast of Houston. Authorities had issued an arrest warrant for James Schulz Jr. shortly after the stabbing occurred but he wasn't taken into custody until this week, police said.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP)  An Arizona grand jury has indicted a Tucson man accused of illegally registering to vote and casting a vote while he was an inmate at the Pima County jail, authorities said Thursday.

The indictment alleges 45-year-old Kenneth Russell Nelson falsely completed a voter registration form in 2018 indicating that he had not been convicted of a felony or that his rights had been restored.
A Plainview man who has been driving for Walmart for just more than three decades celebrated a significant milestone this week. Robert Biles joined an elite group of just 14 others across the company to reach 4 million miles of travel for the company.

Joined by family members, colleagues and supervisors, Biles was treated to a special reception that included sweet treats, balloons and a $15,000 check on Wednesday.

Four million safe miles is a significant milestone. Its no easy feat. Only 14 drivers company-wide have ever reached it (theres currently one known driver thats racked 5 million).

That took him (Biles) 30 years, said Troy Valdivia, safety operations manager for Plainviews Walmart Distribution Center.

To date, Plainviews DC location has had at least three truckers (including Biles) reach the 4 million safe mile mark. The company has celebrated every one and theyve each been featured in The Herald. Celebrated drivers include Dwight Watson, who reached the milestone in 2017 and John Hanna, who was celebrated in 2019.

Biles, a West Texas native, said he reached 4 million miles back in May.

When drivers reach this milestone, theyre given the option of a new truck or cash. During Wednesdays celebration, Biles posed for photos with a giant check.

He got his start working for Plainviews Walmart Distribution Center location back in 1991. It was April 22, to be exact, he said. Prior to his hire with the corporation, hed been driving for a smaller company that had a relative handful of drivers compared to Walmarts fleet.

Back then, he said, Walmart hired some outside carriers. A man he worked with was one.

So we would come over here, Biles said.

As Biles joined in to help pull Walmart freight, he got to know other company drivers and learned more about the pay and benefits packages offered by the corporation. He had a wife and two kids and besides the medical benefits, Walmart offered a retirement program that appealed to him.

I decided it was a good place to go to work, he said. It paid more too.

He started a 90-day training period in which he worked as part of a team of two running routes to Arizona, which was common for new drivers looking to jump in for an eventual independent route.

He started running his own routes after his official hire and hes never looked back.

Biles was born in Amherst and grew up in Springlake. His career experience began with hauling hay on a farm and some oil field work in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

He was living in Tulia when he switched over to Walmart. He later moved to Plainview where he still resides today.
Immediately after harassing and running over six cyclists near Houston this past weekend, the teenager behind the wheel of the black truck had one thing on his mind, according to a witness: "Do you think I'm going to jail?"

The answer, as it turned out, was no.

The 16-year-old driver appeared to have been trying to "roll coal" on a group of eight cyclists training for the Ironman Triathlon, according to fellow cyclist Chase Ferrell. Ferrell was a few paces behind the group when the driver blew thick, black smoke on him as he pedaled along Old Highway 290 on Saturday morning. Moments later, the driver caught up to the larger group up ahead and tried doing the same thing.

Chase Ferrell

Only, the second time was different. The driver, instead of blowing smoke on the group, accelerated and slammed into six of the eight cyclists, Ferrell and police say. He stopped, got out and surveyed the wreckage before Ferrell caught up to the scene.

"Yeah, you did something really freaking stupid," Ferrell recalled telling the teen. "You should go to jail."

It is not clear why the teenager was not immediately arrested. Representatives at the Waller County District Attorney's Office did not answer questions about the case but instead referred to a Facebook post saying it is still under investigation by police.

Chase Ferrell

In all, four of the six cyclists who were hit were hospitalized. Two of those had to be airlifted because of the severity of their injuries. Photos shared by Ferrell show a scene from a movie: Heavy damage to the front end of the pickup from its impact with the cyclists. Mangled bicycles strewn about the grassy right of way adjacent to the road. A helicopter ambulance readying for departure.

Within minutes, Ferrell said, the teen's parents showed up. When the police arrived, he was questioned but ultimately released from the scene without charges. That sparked a onslaught of criticism from the biking community and beyond:

Authorities are tight-lipped about whether or not the teenager would face any charges after the fact.

"That this driver has yet to face any consequences certainly has many wondering if it's open season on cyclists in Waller County," Joe Cutrufo, BikeHouston's executive director, said.

Chase Ferrell

Waller County and the Houston region is no stranger to drivers hitting cyclists, sometimes with nefarious intent. In 2017, two cyclists were killed in Waller County when Army veteran Victor Tome intentionally drove into a small group. Tome was eventually convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Those deaths contributed to a total of four deadly collisions that have happened since 2011 in Waller County alone, according to Dug Begley at the Houston Chronicle.

"The irony here is this prevailing attitude in Waller County that bicyclists from Houston are a menace," Cutrufo said. "That's a tough position to defend when you see a 16-year-old running them down with a truck."

The teenager's identity has not been released and will likely remain confidential since he's a minor.

What do you think of the case? Let me know on Twitter: @jayrjordan
Rep. Dan Crenshaw is facing a $5,000 fine for dodging the metal detectors inside the U.S. Capitol this week, joining the ranks of six other lawmakers who have also chosen to bypass the security screening.

Crenshaw refused to walk through the checkpoint to enter the House floors, according to a House Committee on Ethics statement released Thursday. A police memo identified Crenshaw as one of two men to enter the House Representatives Republican Cloakroom in a 10-minute period on Thursday, September 23 without proper processing. The Houston-based Republican will have the aforementioned fine deducted from his pay if he doesnt appeal within 30 days.

"The Committee notes that the mandatory publication of a fine notification does not itself reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee," the statement said. "Pursuant to Section 1(b)(1) of House Resolution 73, Representative Crenshaw may appeal the fine to the Committee. Upon a determination regarding any appeal or if no appeal is received within 30 days of the Members notification of the fine, the Committee will make a further public statement regarding this matter."

Added security measures were installed at the seat of the legislative branch following the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 during which five people were killed. House Resolution 73, adopted in February, authorizes the Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives to impose a $5,000 fee for a first-time offense in failing to comply with official protocols and $10,000 for subsequent offenses.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Since their installation, metal detectors at the Capitol Rotunda have been a point of contention among conservatives, with some in the senate and congress demanding they be allowed to carry firearms to the House floor. A number of Texas lawmakers, including Rep. Louie Gohmert, Randy Weber, Van Taylor and now Crenshaw, have been recorded and fined for walking around the machines, according to the Washington Post's Katie Shepherd. Gohmert subsequently joined Georgia congressman Andrew Clyde in filing a federal lawsuit against House Sergeant of Arms William Walker and House Chief Administrative Officer Catherin Szpindor over the fines, claiming the metal detectors are unconstitutional and "unfairly" target Republican representatives.

Crenshaw has previously called the new machines a virtue signal for liberals, despite being among lawmakers who called out U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for bypassing the metal detector in February without paying a fine, according to Fox News' Jon Brown.

When youre a liberal theres a propensity for action, even if that action is not effective, Crenshaw told Fox News. Theres a propensity for virtue-signaling even when that signaling is not effective.
With more than a dozen lawsuits challenging Texas near-total abortion ban stalled in state court, Planned Parenthood has asked the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court to step in and allow the cases to proceed.

Last week, the Texas Multidistrict Litigation Panel, which is made up of five judges, indefinitely paused 14 lawsuits filed in Travis County district court at the request of Texas Right to Life, a prominent anti-abortion organization that helped draft Texas abortion restriction. The panel of judges typically steps in to take action on a group of similar cases. The judges didnt list a reason for the stay, and said the cases will remain paused until the panel makes another order.

One of the suits was filed by Planned Parenthood. It asked the court to declare the abortion law, which bans the procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, unconstitutional. A hearing was scheduled for Oct. 8, the organization said, before the panel of judges paused proceedings.

In that case, the court temporarily blocked Texas Right to Life from being able to sue Planned Parenthood for potential violations of the abortion law.

Texas Right to Life championed this blatantly unconstitutional law, but now it is doing everything it can to prevent those challenging S.B. 8 from having their day in court because TRTL knows it will lose, Helene Krasnoff, vice president for public policy litigation and law at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. Were urging the Texas Supreme Court to step in and move this critical case along so we can restore access to abortion across the state.

Texas Right To Life has not yet filed a response to Planned Parenthoods emergency request to the Texas Supreme Court.

Planned Parenthood's effort is a perverse attack on Texas Right to Lifes First Amendment rights, a spokesperson for the organization said in a statement. This ultimately is a campaign to block activists from enforcing the Pro-Life law.

Texas abortion law has been in effect for nearly a month, even as abortion providers, doctors, womens rights groups and the U.S. government have sought to block its enforcement. The statute bars abortions after approximately six weeks of pregnancy, a period before many know theyre pregnant. Meanwhile, most abortions in the state  experts estimate more than 85%  have ceased and some abortion clinics have stopped offering the procedure altogether.

The laws unique structure makes it difficult to block in court. Despite abortion remaining a constitutional right under Supreme Court precedent, Texas was able to skirt precedent by offloading the enforcement of the statute from government and law officials to private citizens.

The Biden administration will argue against the laws constitutionality in a federal court hearing Friday in a U.S. District Court.

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
In the early morning hours of September 29, a male suspect threw a crudely made Molotov cocktail into the headquarters of the Travis County Democratic Party in East Austin, igniting a small fire. Along with the incendiary device was a still-unreleased note, described as threatening and political in nature.

Immediately denounced as an act of terror by TCDP and some local politicians, it is also being treated as a "credible threat" by the FBI, according to the Rachel Maddow Show. Hours after the fire at the TCDP headquarters, a person matching the suspect appeared on surveillance footage vandalizing a downtown Austin building that houses the Travis County Attorney's Office.

"Now, we can tell you tonight that the party has been told the FBI is treating this as a credible threat. We can also tell you this attack was accompanied by a written threat to Texas Democrats," the MSNBC host said during her Wednesday broadcast.

Joining Maddow during the show was TCDP chair Katie Naranjo, who elaborated on the investigation.

"The lieutenants who we met with this morning as well as the captain of the arson unit for Austin Fire Department, as well as the FBI and Travis County Sheriff's Office who [are] also investigating another incident nearby, as well as Austin Police Department, have all let us know that they are open active investigations, that they are following leads, and that they do feel confident that some of those leads are going to get them to the perpetrator," Naranjo said.

"We may not always agree about what comprehensive safety looks like in our community," she added, "but there are good people and public servants who serve our community and we have to lift them up."

Maddow goes on to detail the violence perpetrated against democrats, highlighting the attack on a Biden campaign bus driving on I-35 just north of Austin during the 2020 campaign, and the January 6th insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.

"You can't blame them for doing it, but physical violence and intimidation worked in that instance," Maddow said of the Biden bus attack. "Physical violence and intimidation works unless it's punished and when it isn't punished when people get away with it, they do it more."
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said Thursday it would consider Sen. Ted Cruz's challenge to a law limiting post-election political contributions to repay a candidate's loan to his campaign.

The Federal Election Commission asked the court to take the case, after a three-judge panel sided with the Texas Republican and said the law unconstitutionally restricts a candidate's political expression.

The case is among five the justices accepted as they began to fill out their docket for the term that begins Monday. The court will be meeting in person to hear arguments for the first time since March 2020. It will be the first time Justice Amy Coney Barrett takes the bench with her colleagues.

The provision Cruz challenged is part of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. It limits the amount of money that federal candidates can raise and use after an election to repay personal loans. The government defends the law as necessary to prevent the appearance of quid pro quo corruption.

The limit is $250,000. Cruz, as part of his 2018 Senate reelection campaign against Democrat Beto O'Rourke, lent his campaign $260,000 the day before the general election.

The point was to challenge the law, as only $250,000 of that could be repaid with money raised after the election.

The government tried to have the lawsuit thrown out, saying that Cruz's injury was "self-inflicted." Cruz chose the amount in order to exceed the limits for a test case. And his campaign had on hand $2.2 million raised before the election that could have been used to fully repay the loan.

But the judges unanimously disagreed. The flaw in the government's argument, they said, is that "it would require Senator Cruz to avoid an injury by subjecting himself to the very framework he alleges is unconstitutional."

On the larger question, the panel said the restriction could not be justified.

The FEC failed to demonstrate "that quid pro quo corruption or its appearance arises from post-election contributions to retire a candidate's personal debt."

It added that the government has not identified "a single case of actual quid pro quo corruption in this context" and that "many states impose no restriction on using post-election contributions to repay candidate loans."

The Supreme Court has been increasingly supportive of the argument that campaign contributions are a form of political speech, and suspicious of the government's ability to restrict it.

The case is FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate. Like the others accepted Thursday, it will be heard early next year.

Among them is a free-speech case from Boston, where the city refused a group's request fly a "Christian flag" from one of three flagpoles by City Hall.

The city occasionally allows groups to fly a flag from one of the poles to commemorate certain events, and had extended the courtesy to organizations celebrating gay pride and a visiting foreign delegation. In a 12-year period ending in 2017, it approved 284 flag-raisings and did not deny any, according to briefs in the case.

But it did turn down one from Camp Constitution, a group that says it aims to promote the country's "Judeo-Christian moral heritage." It wanted to raise a flag featuring a large Christian cross.

The group sued, arguing that the flagpole was a city-created public forum, and it was a violation of the group's free speech to deny it the opportunity extended to others.

But lower courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, ruled for the city, saying it has the right to choose which messages it endorses. The opinion said the city cannot be forced to express a religious message.

The case is Shurtleff v. City of Boston.

The court also agreed to hear a case brought by the heirs of a German Jewish woman who was forced to give the Nazis a valuable painting by Camille Pissarro in order to secure passage for her family out of Germany. Lower courts have ruled for a foundation that bought the painting years later. It hangs in a Madrid museum.

The case is Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation.
This is the most fabulous piece of real estate Ive seen in Western New York, says Kathleen Jones, the listing agent for a midcentury modern home in Hamburg, NY.

This midcentury marvel's fabulousness is rooted in the fact that's it been in the same family since it was built in 1953. And because it hasn't passed through a number of owners, the home is packed with "Mad Men"-worthy interiors that vintage-loving buyers spend years trying to replicate.

A savvy buyer can snap up this time capsule with the period decor already in place. Avocado-green and harvest-gold carpet, check. Box-molded, wood-paneled walls, check. Theres even that classic staple of all midcentury modern homes: a brick fireplace set on an angle in the living room. And check out the gold-chain pendant lighting in one bathroom, even snazzier when juxtaposed against the fern-motif gold wallpaper. Two of the other bathrooms are completely wrapped in baby-blue and petal-pink tile.

On the market for $695,000, this is the fifth-most pricey home for sale in this town of around 60,000 people15 miles south of Buffalowhere the median list price is $244,950. It was built in the early 1950s by Nelson Keem Sr. (of Lexington Homes) for himself and his wife, Marie. Their only son, Nelson Keem Jr., is now letting it go, because he lives out of state.

Nelson updated some of the lighting, but everything else is original, says Jones. When you walk into that house, you feel such strength and sturdiness. It could withstand a hurricane.

Among the materials used to construct the 3,479-square-foot homes interior were concrete and steel, brass railings for the staircase, as well as marble imported from Italy for the kitchen flooring.

Three-inch-thick cherry kitchen cabinets were culled from trees harvested on the property. Baseboard heaters were imported from Germany. The home spans four levels and offers a total of four bedrooms, four bathrooms, and three fireplaces. One of those bedrooms is currently used as a den.

The design is heavily influenced by the residences of Frank Lloyd Wright, and built-in storage is abundant, crafted from bleached mahogany.

The home also has flagstone flooring, cypress in the lower level (a Wright wood of choice), and walls of windows allow you to feel like youre taken to another place, says Jones.

Just inside sliding-glass doors on the back of the house is a bar, perfect for entertaining.

Exterior Realtor.com

Staircase Realtor.com

Fireplace in living room Realtor.com

Kitchen and dining area Realtor.com

Bathroom realtor.com

Another bathroom realtor.com

One of the bathrooms realtor.com

Den realtor.com

Garage realtor.com

Private lake realtor.com

Prepping the home for sale meant hosting a three-day estate sale to find lucky buyers for Maries jewelry, matching purses, hats, furs, shoes, and gowns. The Cadillac in the listing photos belonged to the Keems, and their son now owns it.

They became very prominent people in the community, says Jones of the Keems, who hosted numerous parties.

Nelson died in 1998 and Marie in 2019.

The home and surrounding acreage is extremely private, thanks to its 3.34-acre perch. Apple and magnolia trees flourish on the property, which also features a 1.6-acre private lake with a dock.

Based on interest thus far, Jones is sure the next occupant will be as much in love with the homes design as the Keems were.

Weve got architects, realtors, and attorneys interested in the property, she says.

It may be a younger buyer, given the upkeep of the land necessary and the homes many stairs.

Youre going to have to love midcentury modern and want some peace and quiet, she says.

The post Who Will Unlock This Midcentury Modern Time Capsule in Western NY? appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
Google Cloud Next and VMworld 2021 are less than two weeks away, and the partnership between Google Cloud and VMware is entering a new chapter. Over the past year, our close partnership with VMware and mutual dedication to customer success has inspired us to deliver several innovative capabilities, including expanding the service to 12 regions worldwide along with our industry-leading 99.99% availability, multi-region networking, and improved scalability to make it easy for customers to rapidly migrate to the cloud.

"Our collaboration with Google is noteworthy because of the value it brings to our joint customers. The mutual success we have had partnering with Google on solutions that enable VMware workloads to run natively in the cloud with Google Cloud VMware Engine and digital workspace with Android and Chrome Enterprise is a testament to the quality of our joint offerings, said Gregory Lehrer, VP Strategic Technology Partnerships, VMware. As a result of our ongoing collaboration, we continue to see customers adopting our joint solution, indicating a strong and effective partnership. Our joint roadmap for the future points to an upward trajectory as we scale to meet anticipated demand.

Across industries, customers are increasingly looking to accelerate their digital transformation due to the need for app modernization, aging infrastructure on-premises, and the need to meet customer needs in an always-on, digital environment. Customers such as Carrefour, a global retailer across 30 countries, quickly moved their on-premises environment to Google Cloud VMware Engine, while reducing operating costs by 40% and energy consumption by 45%. Furthermore, they were able to simultaneously improve the experience for shoppers and employees, and bolstered sales and shopper engagement with personalized offers.

Companies are also looking to migrate and modernize their business with Google Cloud VMware Engine. LIQ, a CRM software company, migrated 80% of business applications and 50% of databases in just three months, and now plan to modernize their applications with microservices to lower maintenance time and costs. Looking forward, were focused on helping customers derive greater ROI from their investments in three ways:

Flexibility - Single node Private Cloud SDDC to enable trials or proof-of-concept validations at a much lower cost.

- Single node Private Cloud SDDC to enable trials or proof-of-concept validations at a much lower cost. Availability - New geographic zones and expanded capacity within zones to better serve local business needs and continue to maintain data sovereignty within local regions.

- New geographic zones and expanded capacity within zones to better serve local business needs and continue to maintain data sovereignty within local regions. Ecosystem integrations - Building on our leading open platform, weve developed even more integrations with solutions across the ecosystem. VMware has validated its Disaster Recovery tool (Site Recovery Manager), Virtualization management tool (vRealize Cloud Management), as well as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure tool (Horizon Desktop) to ensure you can bring your mission critical applications to the cloud without disruption.

We continue to focus on making migrations simpler as well. The recently announced Catalyst Program now provides even greater financial flexibility as eligible customers can get one-time Google Cloud credits to help offset existing VMware license investments. The program is consumption-based and designed to provide even more value as you accelerate your migration to the cloud. Furthermore, programs such as our Rapid Assessment and Migration Program (RAMP) provide free assessment and planning tools to reduce complexity, enable choice, and increase flexibility throughout the migration process.

Theres much more to come from VMware and Google Cloud. Were proud to be a Platinum Sponsor at VMworld 2021 and invite you to join us to learn more about our commitment to enabling digital transformation. Be sure to catch the fireside chat with Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian and VMware CEO Raghu Raghuram as they discuss industry trends and customer success. Youll also hear more from our joint-customers and our product leaders about whats to come. We cant wait to connect with you virtually at the event.
A federal appellate court reversed a rare policyholder win in a COVID-19 related business-interruption claim, once again holding that government orders that restrict the use of a property do not constitute a direct physical loss or damage that requires coverage.

A panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday vacated a decision by the Northern District of Ohio that granted summary judgment in Henderson Road Restaurant Systems Inc. et al. v Zurich American Insurance Co.

The two-page opinion notes that on Sept. 22, the appellate court had ruled in a lawsuit filed by Santos Italian Cafe that a pandemic-triggered government order that barred in-person dining did not qualify as a direct physical loss or damage under Ohio law.

The 6th Circuits latest decision was reported Thursday by the University of Pennsylvanias COVID-19 litigation tracker. Law professor Tom Baker, who maintains the tracker, penned a blog questioning why the appellate court decided to rule on the case before the Ohio Supreme Court issued an opinion.

The Ohio Supreme Court has been asked to decide whether government shutdowns can cause a direct physical loss in a lawsuit filed by Neuro Communication Services and has received briefs from advocates for both sides. Any ruling by a federal court on the question is essentially a guess about how the states highest court will rule, Baker said.

In fact, the term Erie guess is derived from a 1938 U.S. Supreme Court decision that federal courts must apply state law when deciding issues that dont involve federal questions by guessing how state supreme courts would rule on questions of law.

Why the 6th Circuit didnt wait for that decision (or certify to the Ohio Supreme Court the closely related question in Santos and Henderson) is a mystery, Baker wrote.

The owners of Henderson Road and several other restaurants based in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida sued Zurich after the carrier denied their business interruption claims. U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster granted summary judgment in favor of the restaurants breach-of-contract claims, but dismissed a complaint that the carrier had acted in bad faith.

The judges Jan. 19 opinion says a virus exclusion in the policy did not apply because government orders caused the loss of income, and that those orders caused a physical loss of property.

Polsters order also allowed Zurich to file an immediate appeal, before the question of damages was resolved.

An interlocutory appeal of this dispositive issue will enable the parties to appeal the legal issue before spending additional time and money on the issue of damages, the case docket states.

The 8th and 11th Circuit Courts have also issued opinions ruling against policyholders seeking coverage for income lost because of government public health orders.

About the photo: The Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse in Columbus, Ohio  one of several plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Zurich American Insurance  is shown in a photo taken from the companys website.
NEW YORK  A federal judge on Thursday rejected Wells Fargo & Cos bid to dismiss a lawsuit claiming it defrauded shareholders about its ability to rebound from five years of scandals over its treatment of customers.

The fourth-largest U.S. bank has operated since 2018 under consent orders from the Federal Reserve and two other U.S. financial regulators to improve governance and oversight, with the Fed also capping Wells Fargos assets.

Shareholders said bank officials falsely claimed in TV interviews, analyst calls and congressional testimony that the bank was mending its ways, when regulators actually viewed its progress as deficient and unacceptable.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan said the shareholders plausibly alleged that some statements by various bank officials, including former Chief Executive Tim Sloan, were deliberately or recklessly false or misleading.

According to shareholders, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo lost more than $54 billion of market value as the truth was gradually revealed over a two-year period ending in March 2020.

Woods also dismissed claims against current Chief Executive Charles Scharf, saying he was not culpable for the challenged claims.

The scandals prompted Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc to shed nearly all of its 10% stake in the bank.

We will continue to vigorously defend the litigation and strongly disagree with the claims, Wells Fargo said in an emailed statement.

Lawyers for Sloan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The decision is a setback for Wells Fargos rebound from revelations including that it opened about 3.5 million accounts without customer permission, and charged hundreds of thousands of borrowers for auto insurance they did not need.

Wells Fargo has paid more than $5 billion in fines, and the Feds $1.95 trillion asset cap restricts the banks growth.

Sloan stepped down abruptly as chief executive after 2-1/2 years in March 2019. One year later, Wells Fargo canceled a $15 million bonus for him.

In his 61-page decision, Woods did not decide whether bank officials intended to defraud shareholders.

But he said it would have been nearly impossible for Sloan to be unaware of the regulators criticisms.

Based on the facts on the ground, Mr. Sloan knew or, more importantly, should have known that he was misrepresenting material facts related to the corporation, Woods wrote.

The shareholders are led by the state of Rhode Island, and pension funds in Louisiana, Mississippi and Sweden.

Their lawyer Steven Toll said he was pleased they can sue over the vast majority of the alleged fraudulent statements.

The case is In re Wells Fargo & Co Securities Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-04494.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  More than a year after U.S. health care workers on the front lines against COVID-19 were saluted as heroes with nightly clapping from windows and balconies, some are being issued panic buttons in case of assault and ditching their scrubs before going out in public for fear of harassment.

Across the country, doctors and nurses are dealing with hostility, threats and violence from patients angry over safety rules designed to keep the scourge from spreading.

A year ago, were health care heroes and everybodys clapping for us, said Dr. Stu Coffman, a Dallas-based emergency room physician. And now were being in some areas harassed and disbelieved and ridiculed for what were trying to do, which is just depressing and frustrating.

Cox Medical Center Branson in Missouri started giving panic buttons to up to 400 nurses and other employees after assaults per year tripled between 2019 and 2020 to 123, a spokeswoman said. One nurse had to get her shoulder X-rayed after an attack.

Hospital spokeswoman Brandei Clifton said the pandemic has driven at least some of the increase.

So many nurses say, `Its just part of the job, Clifton said. Its not part of the job.

Some hospitals have limited the number of public entrances. In Idaho, nurses said they are scared to go to the grocery store unless they have changed out of their scrubs so they arent accosted by angry residents.

Doctors and nurses at a Coeur dAlene, Idaho, hospital have been accused of killing patients by grieving family members who dont believe COVID-19 is real, said hospital spokeswoman Caiti Bobbitt. Others have been the subject of hurtful rumors spread by people angry about the pandemic.

Our health care workers are almost feeling like Vietnam veterans, scared to go into the community after a shift, Bobbitt said.

Over Labor Day weekend in Colorado, a passerby threw an unidentified liquid at a nurse working at a mobile vaccine clinic in suburban Denver. Another person in a pickup truck ran over and destroyed signs put up around the clinics tent.

About 3 in 10 nurses who took part in a survey this month by an umbrella organization of nurses unions across the U.S. reported an increase in violence where they work stemming from factors including staff shortages and fewer visitor restrictions. That was up from 2 in 10 in March, according to the National Nurses United survey of 5,000 nurses.

Michelle Jones, a nurse at a COVID-19 ICU unit in Wichita, Kansas, said patients are coming in scared, sometimes several from the same family, and often near death. Their relatives are angry, thinking the nurses and doctors are letting them die.

They cry, they yell, they sit outside our ICU in little groups and pray, Jones said. Lots of people think they are going to get miracles and God is not passing those out this year. If you come into my ICU, there is a good chance you are going to die.

She said the powerful steroids that have shown promise often make patients angrier.

It is like `roid rage on people, she said. Ive worked in health care for 26 years. and Ive seen anything like this. Ive never seen the public act like this.

Across the U.S., the COVID-19 crisis has caused people to behave badly toward one another in a multitude of ways.

Several people have been shot to death in disputes over masks in stores and other public places. Shouting matches and scuffles have broken out at school board meetings. A brawl erupted earlier this month at a New York City restaurant over its requirement that customers show proof of vaccination.

Dr. Chris Sampson, an emergency room physician in Columbia, Missouri, said violence has always been a problem in the emergency department, but the situation has gotten worse in recent months. Sampson said he has been pushed up against a wall and seen nurses kicked.

Dr. Ashley Coggins of St. Peters Health Regional Medical Center in Helena, Montana, said she recently asked a patient whether he wanted to be vaccinated.

He said, `F, no, and I didnt ask further because I personally dont want to get yelled at, Coggins said. You know, this is a weird time in our world, and the respect that we used to have for each other, the respect that people used to have for caregivers and physicians and nurses  its not always there, and it makes this job way harder.

Coggins said the patient told her that he wanted to strangle President Biden for pushing for vaccinations, prompting her to change the subject. She said security guards are now in charge of enforcing mask rules for hospital visitors so that nurses no longer have to be the ones to tell people to leave.

The hostility is making an already stressful job harder. Many places are suffering severe staffing shortages, in part because nurses have become burned out and quit.

I think one thing that we have seen and heard from many of our people is that it is just really hard to come to work every day when people treat each other poorly, said Dr. Kencee Graves, a physician at the University of Utah hospital in Salt Lake City.

If you have to fight with somebody about wearing a mask, or if you arent allowed to visit and we have to argue about that, that is stressful.

About the photo: Keith Mathis holds a panic button he helped create as part of CoxHealths Innovation Accelerators program. Nurses and hundreds of other staff members will soon begin wearing panic buttons at a Missouri hospital where assaults on workers tripled after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Sara Karnes/The Springfield News-Leader via AP)

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 1)  The LGBTQIA+ community is celebrating the win of newly-crowned Miss Universe Philippines 2021 Beatrice Luigi Gomez, the first openly gay candidate to win the title.

During the coronation night, Gomez said she was confident that the Philippines is ready for a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community to be sent to Miss Universe pageant.

The 26-year-old Cebuana beauty has shared during preliminary interviews that she is in a long-term same-sex relationship.

Netizens hailed her win, saying she is breaking barriers as the country's first LGBT queen.

"She is a proud LGBT member," one said. "And the very first openly gay MUPH in history. What a representation! The community is winning!"

"Stop the homophobic and open your eyes that being gay is not a definition of who you are. You can be gay but you can be that beauty queen too and Beatrice Gomez is that woman. What's important is her advocacies & purpose," another one remarked.

Some expressed hopes that her win will pave the way for the Miss Universe Philippines Organization to accept transgender candidates.

"The victory of Beatrice Gomez, an openly gay candidate, is a major win for the LGBTQIA Community! I hope this will finally open the door for our transgender women to join Miss Universe PH! After all, they are all women," another netizen stated.

Gomez, who was one of the dark horses in the competition, bested 27 other candidates to win the much-coveted crown. She also won the evening gown and swimsuit competitions.

She will represent the country in the 70th Miss Universe pageant in Eilat, Israel in December in the hopes of bringing home the Philippines' fifth crown.
Cebu (CNN Philippines, October 1)  Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia announced that swab test results are no longer required for anyone to enter the province.

In a memorandum issued Friday, Garcia said incoming travelers will only need to present a medical certificate showing that they do not exhibit symptoms of COVID-19 at the point of origin.

The medical certificate should be issued within twenty-four hours immediately before arrival in Cebu, Garcia said in her memorandum sent to all mayors, coast guard personnel, police, airline operators, and airport authorities.

In the past few months, the local government had required a negative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or antigen test result due to a surge in COVID-19 infections.

But now Cebu and its component cities are under the most relaxed General Community Quarantine status as cases continue to decline in the island province.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 1)  The first day of the filing of certificates of candidacy for national positions will not be complete without aspirants with colorful backgrounds they believe will catapult them to their desired post.

Security guard Phil Delos Reyes, one of 14 senatorial aspirants, proposed that all Filipinos especially the marginalized be provided with free housing and enrolled in Pag-IBIG to address shelter lack.

Lahat sana ay magkaroon ng bahay para maiwasan ang mga naninirahan sa daan at tabing ilog (Every one of us should have a home so that we cannot see a person living outside the streets and near rivers), he said.

Delos Reyes also pushed for streamlining government procedures and the mandatory enrollment of working Filipinos in basic social benefits in Pag-IBIG, Social Security System, and Philippine Health Insurance Corporation so they will be worry-free upon retirement.

The security guard also said electricity and internet costs must be discounted for the marginalized.

Hanggat maari, P500 ang maging discount nila except sa may mga business (As much as possible, their electricity and Internet costs must have a P500 discount except for those who have businesses), he said.

Delos Reyes said child beggars should be placed in a school where they will hone their skills and shape their future career.

Hindi lang kung sino ang mayaman at kung sino ang magaling, yun ang makakapasok sa ganung ambisyon (Everyone have the right to follow their ambition, not only those who are rich and smart), the security guard said.

Presidential aspirant Laurencio Yulaga, who claimed to be a graduate of the prestigious Harvard University, proposed climate friendly solutions that will help the country get out of poverty.

Yulaga, who is running under the Philippine Green Republican Party, said he tied up with several corporations in first-world countries to lower the cost of electricity through a modernized nanotechnology that he claims will give everlasting power to the Philippines.

Pinautang ako ng Russian consortium ng 740 billion euros, ite-trade ng 200% per month, wala ng Pilipino maghirap. Piso na lang ang power kasi walang fuel, said Yulaga.

[Translation: The Russian consortium lent me 740 billion euros, then we will trade it 200% per month, which means no Filipino will be poor anymore. Our power will only cost P1 because our electricity will not be based on fuel.]

To solve the COVID-19 pandemic, Yulaga said his group will use a frequency design that will ensure each Filipino is protected against the virus.

Uupo ka sa kuryente, 12,000 volts, automatic wala ka ng COVID-19 (If you sit on 12,000 volts of electricity, automatic your COVID-19 infection will be gone), Yulaga said.

Alex Lague, Yulagas running mate, proposed that every barangay in the country have restrooms for all genders.

Lague added these restrooms will help convert male urine into perfume, female urine into fertilizer, and human waste into organic fertilizer.

Meanwhile, Leysander Ordenas said he will run for president due to his background as pandemic mitigator in Africa. He also proudly shared he held several occupations in his life such as a former military officer, teacher, and migrant worker.

Bumalik ako (I came back) to help our country to recover faster from this pandemic, said Ordenas.

On the other hand, senatorial aspirant Norman Marquez said his venture into politics will give representation to animal lovers, animal enthusiasts, hog raisers, and other people who value animals.

Marquez explained their sector is important because it is bigger than the marginalized sector, prominent religious denominations, and genders.

It will be first time in history we will be representing those who (don't) have the voice, but they have a voting power which is the heart of their owners, said Marquez.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said a nuisance candidate is a person who doesnt have a bonafide intention to run for public office, makes a mockery in the election system, and has intention to mislead the public.

CNN Philippines correspondent Melissa Luz Lopez contributed to this report.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 1)  President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a bill extending voter registration for the 2022 national and local elections for 30 days.

The President signed Republic Act No. 11591, which states the last day of registration shall be thirty (30) days after the effectivity of this Act.

It also takes effect immediately after its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

The law was signed on Sept. 30 and was published on the Gazette today.

Earlier, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said voter registration will reopen from Oct. 11 to 30 after initially rejecting calls to extend the original deadline of Sept. 30.

Both houses of Congress passed their versions of a bill to extend the registration period.

The Senate version proposed an extension until Oct. 31 while the House bill did not specify a date and only said the last day of registration shall be 30 days after the measure is enacted.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 1)  House Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda and Sorsogon Governor Francis "Chiz" Escudero again officially threw their hats into the ring for the senatorial race.

Legarda and Escudero on Friday filed their certificate of candidacy (COC) for senator in the May 2022 elections.

Legarda, who is running under the banner of the Nationalist People's Coalition, was the first to file her COC at the Harbor Garden Tent of Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila in Pasay City. She arrived there at around 8 a.m.

"I believe that with my vast experience as a former majority leader and a senator for three terms, I have been able to craft laws that are helping our people right now. And there is much more I can give our people right now especially during this pandemic," she said in a speech after filing her COC.

Legarda, a former broadcast journalist, is no stranger to holding a Senate seat, as she has been a three-term senator before being elected as Antique representative in 2019.

The Senate aspirant graduated cum laude from the University of the Philippines with a degree in broadcast communications. She also obtained a degree in National Security Administration. graduating from the National Defense College of the Philippines at the top of her class.

Escudero, meanwhile, filed his COC through a representative. Prior to becoming governor, he served as a senator and a representative of Sorsogons first district.

After passing the Bar examinations in 1994, Escudero taught at the University of the Philippines College of Law, his alma mater. In 1996, he obtained a master's degree in International and Comparative Law at Georgetown Law Center in Washington, D.C.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 1)  While effective in helping slow the spread of coronavirus, granular lockdowns under the new alert level system do come with a downside, Pateros Mayor Miguel Ponce admitted Friday.

Under the scheme, local governments provide food packs for the first week of localized lockdown, while the Department of Social Welfare and Development gives the supply for the remaining seven days. Under the previous system, the government distributed cash assistance to residents affected by the strictest enhanced community quarantine.

Kahit effective ito, ay talagang hirap na hirap kaming local government unit na mapagpatupad nito dahil nga doon sa cost-sharing, Ponce said in a Laging Handa briefing.

[Translation: Even if this is effective, the local government unit is having a hard time implementing the granular lockdown because of cost-sharing.]

Dati malaki ang nagiging partisipasyon ng ating national government. Ngayon ay naghahati kami, he added.

[Translation: The government used to have bigger participation. Now, we split the expenses.]

The upside, though, is the number of cases in Pateros decreased to 400, from 800 two weeks ago, the mayor said.

The alert level system was implemented in Metro Manila on September 16. Its pilot run, which was initially set to end on Thursday, was extended until October 15.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 1) Over three million more COVID-19 vaccine doses arrived in the country on Friday, with fresh shipments of Pfizer and Sinovac added to the stockpile.

The plane carrying a total of 883,350 Pfizer shots from the global COVAX facility landed in Manila in the afternoon, according to state media.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, World Health Organization country representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, and US Embassy Charge d'Affaires Heather Variava were among the officials who welcomed the shipment.

Variava said the Philippines is set to receive around 5.5 million more Pfizer doses over the next few days.

An additional 2.5 million government-procured Sinovac doses were also delivered in the evening.

The country has so far received more than 74 million coronavirus shots, according to latest data from the National Task Force Against COVID-19.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 1)  Digital political advertising will be increasingly popular for next year's national elections as the country's COVID situation may still bar bigger crowds during face-to-face campaigns, a media research firm said Friday.

"We will see an increasing share of digital as a go-to platform for the candidates. Digital is an important part now," Kantar Philippines Media division managing director Jay Bautista told CNN Philippines' The Exchange.

"Because of the change in the number of players on television, we will probably see lesser amounts being spent on traditional TV, traditional printed newspapers. The money that's decreasing there will shift to their online counterparts," he said.

According to Bautista, aspirants for government positions will continue to shell out a sizeable amount of investment for political advertising given COVID-19 restrictions.

"Advertising will be an important and efficient tool for reaching voters... to create awareness about the candidates platform because face-to-face campaigning in the old normal of reaching out is no longer feasible," he said.

This was echoed by Alan German, campaign strategist and Agents International, Inc. president and CEO.

"The biggest difference is the pandemic... The face-to-face campaigning will change muscle-flexing initiatives," he also told CNN Philippines. "The shift will go to social media, and even digital mobile media to engage the voters."

The Commission on Elections earlier said it is not possible to ban in-person campaigning as mass media, television broadcast in particular, may not be the most accessible to local candidates since this will require a huge amount of money for just a 30-second slot.

Under the "new normal" guidelines, the poll body will require that attendees in physical gatherings should be limited to 10% of a venue's capacity.

But if the pandemic situation improves, the Comelec may raise the capacity limitations.

READ: Comelec may raise 10% limit for physical campaign rallies if pandemic situation improves
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 1)  Senator Risa Hontiveros on Friday filed her certificate of candidacy in next years polls, formalizing her reelection bid.

She won a Senate seat in 2016 after two failed attempts. She was a two-term Akbayan Party-list representative before becoming a senator.

Hontiveros is running under the banner of Akbayan, but also has the backing of the Liberal Party.

Other personalities, most of whom are not affiliated with any political party, also submitted their COCs for national posts at the Harbor Garden Tent of Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila in Pasay City on the first day of filing.

RELATED: Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero seek Senate comeback

COC filing will run until October 8.
Colorado Politics is published both in print and online. Our website features subscriber-only news stories daily, designed for public policy arena professionals. Member subscribers also receive the weekly print edition of our award-winning newspaper, containing outstanding features and news stories, in their mailboxes every Saturday.
Types of obituaries

The Missourian publishes two types of obituaries  family obituaries and life stories.

A family obituary is the version submitted by a funeral home or family. Please see the submission form for details on cost and deadlines. Family obituaries

A life story is a closer look at a person's life and involves a reporter contacting family and friends. Life stories are based on newsworthiness and consent of the family. Life stories.
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Kindness is in vogue. Recently, I learned about caremongering, which according to BBC News was initiated by a cohort of Canadian Facebook groups. The collective made headlines at the beginning of the pandemic when more than 35 joined together to offer each other help in various forms; especially for those at high risk of contracting COVID-19. Group co-founder Valentina Harper described this idea as creating a contagion of kindness.1 This spurred a wave of altruism throughout social media around the world. Assistance ranged from proxy shopping and cooking meals, to deliveries and back-and-forth messages about supply availability at local stores. There was even one report from Spain of an exercise class for quarantined residents being held on their balconies.1

Kindness should be internalized as well, and is reflected by the self-care movement.2 During our relative isolation, we have learned the importance of maintaining our own health and wellnessespecially in the face of unprecedented stress. This includes taking measures to ensure safety, re-evaluating priorities, letting go of non-essentials and seeking ways to relax. In relation, as Global Cosmetic Industry reported, from May 2020 to 2021, scent-centric wellness products to relieve stress saw major increases.3

This issue of C&T embraces several facets of the wellness space, starting on Page 42 with an novel approach to design fragrance that elicit happiness, a sense of energy or relaxation in consumers. In terms of safety, on Page 54, sultaines are presented as a safe, effective and sustainable surfactant option.

Well aging is also a major focus. On Page 20, we take a deep dive into internal and external mechanisms of aging and present nutricosmetic solutions to address them. A Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)-inspired extract of Ganoderma lucidum (reishi mushroom) is explored on Page 32 to reset skins epigenetic clock. The sensation of touch to promote well aging is examined on Page 14. And, experts weigh in on holistic approaches to anti-aging on Page 18. We hope this months collection supports the wellness of your cosmetic R&D projectsand inspires kindness.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51915723 https://bit.ly/3E0jigW 3. https://bit.ly/3A2ZvLi

Rachel L. Grabenhofer, Managing Scientific Editor

rgrabenhofer@allured.com
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Pictured (right to left): His Airness, His Barely-Thereness.

After that, he became the then-highest paid player in Detroit Pistons history with a five-year, $50 million contract and turned in two All-Star-level years before ... walking away from the game to walk the earth.

What You Don't Know About Him:

He was a prototype for the most interesting man in the world. He stumbled onto basketball because of his 6'9" (ni'ce'') height, not passion, and used his NBA career to fund adventures. His list of alleged actions reads like Hemingway fan-fic: dating Madonna, running with bulls (in Spain this time), biking from Salt Lake City to Phoenix with no water, getting a pilot's license. His best friend was the guy who started Overstock.com. Essentially, he got a high-paying job and then treated it with open indifference while he did cool stuff.

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Eventually, he bought a catamaran and sailed the Pacific. Isn't that the best life? Sorry, but there's a super sad twist: his estranged brother, Miles Dabord (born Kevin Williams, man, this family had a thing for name changes) showed up one day. Miles had a number of problems, including the substance abuse and financial kind, and all signs point to Miles kinda messing up the vibe for Bison and his girlfriend, Serena Karlan. Sorry, did we say "messing up the vibe?" We meant "probably murdering Bison and Serena and the boat's captain at sea and dumping their bodies in the ocean." We'll never know the facts of the case, though, because Miles intentionally overdosed on insulin on a beach in Mexico a few months after. But not before forging Bison's signature to try to buy $152,000 worth of gold in Phoenix, which remains the only NBA related gold to involve Phoenix to this day.
This triggers not only the character's repressed sadness and blatant anger issues but also his personal entanglement around (and mental unraveling with) the case. So he's the guilty, you see. It's a perfectly fine twist, to be sure, although wait 'til you hear of the one at the end of Spoiler Territory 2: Spoiler Alert.

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In the movie's defense, this information is delivered with a bit more depth, and it is also one of the main twists of the original Danish version. But the problem is that Denmark has a quite different history of police brutality when compared to the US, and so the original protagonist's tortured pain at his own unjustified killing of a young man in the American version becomes the white-washing, redeeming focus of the suffering victimizerand this at the expense of any true reflection on institutional violence or on what it creates in its enforcers, not to even mention focus on the victims.

Netflix Spoiler Territory 3: Why Doesnt Anyone Care About Derek Chauvins Feelings?

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The tone-deafness of doing an American remake of such an intimate-yet-debate-opening story, then, lies in that the emotional gut-punch of the concept's third act becomes lost  or rather, in that it becomes a physical gut-punch, you know, in front of your children, then justified by an entire ideology of law and order refusing to even acknowledge its complicity with the structural violence that police forces, uh, enforce.

Hence, The Guilty: The Sad Story of a Little Police Man Who's So So Sad You Guys but He's Trying indeed takes a concept that invites complex, nuanced, critical discussions on the mental toll of enforcing state violence and turns it into, well, copaganda. Classy copaganda, of course, it's Jake Gyllenhaal. But copaganda nonetheless. For even if Denmark's own record of police behavior is obviously not perfect, a story humanizing a cop for murdering someone not in self-defense, just for mysterious psychological reasons he himself can't understand, and then swapping the obvious reference to systemic, structural causes into a redeeming hero-arc about personal responsibility? Yeah, I don't know, sounds like pure ideology.

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Context matters is what we're trying to say, and this also applies to the context and message of your quasi-artsy remake. In the end, and considering the ongoing unmasking of police brutality, cop ideology, and the economic interests that sustain the need for them, it just feels super tacky.

Like doing a movie on the institutional and psychological dimensions of police brutality... and then pushing the real issues under the rug because cops should just be able to get in touch with their feelings, you know.

Top Image: Netflix
What Was Dagon in the Bible?

Dagon in the Bible was a Philistine god of fertility and its representation consisted of having the face and hands of a man and the tail of a fish. Dagon in the Bible is noted in mythology as the father of Baal, another ancient god whose conjured presence wreaked havoc within the nations surrounding the Jewish habitats and within the Israelites themselves (because of the worship of false gods).

A god is an idola representation of a liesomething specifically forbidden by the Lord God in the first and second commandments (Exodus 20:3-4). Nations and individuals who did not call the Lord their God instead worshiped man-made gods fashioned from earthen materials (wood, stone, etc.). We can with surety say the creation and worship of these false gods were instituted by the father of liesthe devil (John 8:44).

In Exodus 34:14, God (through Moses) warned the people about what they would do. He said they would go after the other nations gods and sacrifice to them even after He told them not to do such a thing, ...for the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God. To say He is jealous means He demands exclusive service and worship.

The Bible introduces the worship of a physical object as a god in the account of Jacob and Rachel in Genesis 31:9, Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her fathers household gods (teraphim). According to cultural tradition, the gods Rachel stole were those of a family setting alone. Relatives often carried on legacies due to many influences, including cultural norms, family values, and most heinously, lack of faith in God (Romans 1:18-32).

Each new household (the union of a newlywed husband and wife) formed house-god images. Rachel may have performed such an act to take an icon of family associations with her, as the fertility and good fortune of each family fell within the responsibility of these family gods. The Bible does give us further details, except it was not right for Rachel to bow to them nor to steal.

What Dagon in the Bible represents instead is a more organized, religious setting. By the time of the Exodus (after the Israelites exposure to the Egyptian culture), Gods people were influenced by the belief systems of that country. In turn, they adopted their idols and gods as well.

Where Is Dagon in the Bible?

The first mention of Dagon in the Bible is in the book of Joshua (15:41 and 19:27). In each context, Dagon is used with a town name (Beth-dagon), which identifies the locale as housing a temple (or house) of Dagon.

We gain further knowledge of Dagon in Judges 16:23 during the account of Samson. Samson, called to be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death (Judges 13:7), was, when young, stirred by the Spirit of God (Judges 13:25). Samson, however, fell slave to his lustful desires and wanted an uncircumcised Philistine woman. He dictated to his parents Get her for me for she is right in my eyes. But God, in His mighty power, used even that for what led to His glory through Samsons life (Judges 14:4). At various times during his life, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him (see Judges 15:14). Gods power is evident, not Samsons.

Throughout parries with the Philistines, Samson is led toward his finale after judging Israel for 20 years (Judges 15:20).

The main part of the story takes place in the area around Gaza, where a temple of Dagon was located. This location eventually trapped him into the arms of Delilah, whose love for the Philistines and their way of life eclipsed her love for Samson. Samson, formerly unable to be defeated by his foes, falls to her deception and is placed in slavery, where he ground mill for the Philistines. While there, they gouged out his eyes (Judges 16:23).

The Philistines decided to have a celebration to Dagon their god for having secured and subdued Samson. They called for him to entertain them and, Samson, bound between the two pillars on which their temple foundation lay, prayed to the Lord, Oh, Lord God, please remember me and strengthen me only this onceLet me die with the Philistines (Judges 16:23-30). God answered His prayer with a show of His strength as Samson pushed the pillars apart, allowing the temple to fall on and kill all the spectators and him.

What Happened between Dagon and the Ark of the Covenant?

Have you ever thought about God having a sense of humor? When reading the story of Dagon in the Bible, we can sense a bit of sarcasmperfect sarcasm. Twice at least, here and in Isaiah when God spoke of a man who cuts wood for a fire and then bows down to worship it (Isaiah 44:9-20), we see how God deals with false worship. In the Isaiah passage, God said, He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

The Philistines, ever it seemed at war with Israel, took the Ark of God from Ebenezer to Ashdod, where they set it up beside an idol made to represent Dagon. The next morning, the people of Ashdod rose only to find Dagon had fallen on its face on the ground before the Ark. Twice the people put Dagon back in his place and both times they found the same thingDagon on its face before the Ark. But the second time the hands and head of the idol were cut off and on the threshold of the heathen temple. Only the trunk (stump) of Dagon was left to him (1 Samuel 5:4).

Afterward, the hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and He terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory (1 Samuel 5:6). They decided the Ark could not remain with them, but everywhere they took it, the same curse fell on the inhabitants with whom the Ark stayed, and those who were not afflicted with tumors died. In each instance, the Philistines referenced the ark as The Ark of the God of the Israelites (1 Samuel 5:7-12).

Finally, their priests and diviners told the leaders to return the Ark to Israel along with a guilt offering of tumors and images of their mice that ravaged the land and give glory to the God of Israel. They said perhaps He would lighten His hand off them, their gods, and their land (1 Samuel 6:5).

The ark is finally settled in Israel in the town of Kiriath-jearim under the charge of Eleazar. A lesson begun with the plunder of a holy vessel by the Philistines reaches into the nation of Israel, whom Samuel admonished to put away their Baals and Ashtaroth and serve the Lord only (1 Samuel 7:4).

What Can We Learn from This Story?

Nothing having to do with the holiness of God is to be taken for granted nor treated with anything but reverence. The Philistines learned this the hard way and are no longer in existence as a people.

How now shall we learn to reverence the things of God and bow to His omnipotence? God is God, period, and He will not be mocked (Galatians 6:7).

Addressing the nations in Psalm 2:4, the psalmist says, He who sits in heaven laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.

Psalm 37:13 speaks of nations who hold idols above the Lord. He laughs at the wicked for He knows His day is coming.

No nation can rise above the power of God. Psalm 59:8 states the LORD laughs at them and holds all the nations in derision.

As we ponder how the image of Dagon fell over, thats how God pushes all lies asidelies created that exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal men and birds and animals and creeping things (Romans 1:23). With a breath God created the heavens and the earth, and with a breath He will vanquish His foes.

If we remain unmoved and unwilling to surrender all to Him, God will give us up to dishonorable passions (authors paraphrase of Romans 1:24, 26, 28). Idols, whatever they be (a spouse, wealth, status, a false god, etc.) will never, can never sustain us. Its only in surrender to Jesus, the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6) that we will live a life free from lies.

Photo credit: GettyImages/mel-nik

Lisa Loraine Baker is a rock & roll girl who loves Jesus. She and her husband, Stephen, inhabit their home as the Newlyweds of Minerva with crazy cat, Lewis. Lisa is co-author of the non-fiction narrative, Someplace to be Somebody (End Game Press, spring 2022). She has also written for Lighthouse Bible Studies, and CBN.com,

This article is part of our People from the Bible Series featuring the most well-known historical names and figures from Scripture. We have compiled these articles to help you study those whom God chose to set before us as examples in His Word. May their lives and walks with God strengthen your faith and encourage your soul.

4 Things You May Not Know About Abraham in the Bible

20 Facts You May Not Know About Moses from the Bible

Who Was Mary Magdalene in the Bible?

Who Were the 12 Disciples of Jesus?

Who Was Isaiah & Why Was He Important?
As a security professional, you may be tasked with achieving SOC2 compliance for your organization, adopting a NIST framework, or complying with new security laws. These are just a few examples; you likely face many requirements!

Compliance with multiple policy, regulatory, and legal security frameworks and standards is challenging and time consuming. Most regulatory bodies or institutions tell you what's required, but don't clearly explain how to do it or where to begin. So where should you start? With proven, prioritized security best practices that map to or are referenced by other frameworks and standards.

Security Best Practices for Security Compliance

Although requirements vary, there is often overlap in the facets of security they're focusing on. These are generally security best practices you can use as a starting point in your plan.

The CIS Critical Security Controls (CIS Controls) are a prioritized set of actions to protect your organization and data from known cyber-attack vectors. They're developed through a unique community consensus process and they not only tell you how to be more secure, they also prioritize the actions you should take to get there. This prioritization helps your organization work toward achieving effective cyber hygiene, rather than working through a list in order and hoping to recognize some benefits along the way.

Another reason to start with the CIS Controls? They work. The CIS Community Defense Model (CDM) v2.0 reveals that organizations that apply all CIS Safeguards in Implementation Group 1 (IG1) can defend against at least 77% of ATT&CK (sub-)techniques used across the top five attack types (Malware, Ransomware, Web Application Hacking, Insider Privilege and Misuse, and Targeted Intrusions).

For a more granular take on security configuration, the CIS Benchmarks provide consensus-based guidance for specific technologies. Implementing these configuration recommendations helps you meet some of the CIS Controls; each Benchmark maps to the Controls.

Achieving Compliance with CIS Controls

The CIS Controls are mapped to the following frameworks:

AICPA Trust Services Criteria (SOC2)

Cloud Security Alliance Cloud Control Matrix (CSA CCM)

Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) v1.0

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)

National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF)

NIST Special Publication 800-53 Rev.5

NIST Special Publication 800-171 Rev.2Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard v3.2.1

The mappings are available in a variety of formats to assist you on your security journey. The mappings themselves are available in both Microsoft Excel format and in the interactive CIS Controls Navigator. The Navigator offers you the ability to view several mappings at the same time and export them to Excel. Want to track your implementation of the Controls and your compliance with those mapped frameworks? The CIS Controls Self Assessment Tool (CIS CSAT) can help with that.

In addition to mapping the CIS Controls to security frameworks that have been created with the help of our community, there are a number of entities that reference the Controls directly. For example, the National Governors Association, NIST, and legislation from the states of Ohio, California, Nevada, Idaho, and Connecticut all mention the Controls.

CIS Benchmarks

The CIS Benchmarks are recognized as industry standards for cyber protection around the world. Some references include:

PCI's recommendation of CIS standards for hardening

The DoD Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide mentions CIS Benchmarks as an acceptable alternative to the STIGs and SRGs (Section 5.5.1)

FedRAMP's suggested use of CIS Benchmarks if U.S. government configuration guidelines arent available for a specific platform

Complement to the HIPAA security rule and overlap of the same provisions

A configuration assessment tool helps determine if your systems are securely configured. CIS-CAT Pro allows you to assess for conformance to the CIS Benchmarks, both remotely and at scale. You can also use the Dashboard to track conformance (and thus, compliance) over time.

An "On-ramp" to Compliance: CIS SecureSuite Membership

The CIS Controls and CIS Benchmarks provide an "on-ramp" toward compliance with a wide range of security frameworks. That's because theyre a good starting point for securing your organization while moving you toward compliance.

A CIS SecureSuite Membership offers the tools and resources to help you implement and track compliance and protection of your organization's data and assets.

If you join by October 31, you can save up to 20% on a new Membership!

Sign up for a CIS SecureSuite Membership
STAVANGER, Norway (AP)  The annual Nobel Peace Prize shines the brightest of lights on the person or group thought to have done most to promote peace. But guessing who it will be is just a stab in the dark.

Thats because the secretive Norwegian Nobel Committee never drops any advance hints. In the past decade, winners have included diplomats, doctors, dissidents and presidents. Who were the other candidates? We cant know for sure  the panel keeps their ruminations in a vault for 50 years.

Bookmakers have the World Health Organization as the most likely winner for 2021, for its work during the pandemic.

But Rupert Adams at William Hill, one of Britains biggest bookies, jokes that picking a winner is the worlds most difficult job, adding he cant think of a harder market to price. The company has nailed it only once this century  Malala Yousafzai in 2014.

Still, people like to make guesses.

Henrik Urdal, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, says the pandemic is an important backdrop to this years prize. But he scrapped plans to make COVAX, the United Nations-sponsored vaccine equity organization, his top pick. Rollout of COVID-19 jabs to poor countries has been too slow, he says.

Instead, the Nobel tipster says the problems of public disinformation might be recognized by the panel. He picks Reporters Without Borders as his favorite, saying the committee could recognize an organization focused on the importance of independent reporting and press freedom in the face of the dire risks.

As much as the winner always makes the headlines, the delayed nomination process means the judging panel are often sifting through candidates from yesterdays news. Nominations close at the end of February, meaning the longlist is dominated by movers and shakers from the previous year.

Black Lives Matter protests after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 pushed the pandemic off the front pages, and may impress the awards panel. Norwegian lawmaker Petter Eide has said he nominated the group for raising the issue of racial justice around the world.

Headline maker Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya led peaceful protests in Belarus in 2020, as President Alexander Lukashenko won what many saw as a rigged election. She is the bookmakers individual favorite. Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, could also be a winner.

Less likely, thinks Urdal, is the selection of former foes who have come to the negotiating table, like 2016 winner Juan Manuel Santos, the Colombian president who cut a deal with rebels to end 50 years of civil war.

The main reason we dont have these kinds of conventional candidates is that there are no peace processes that are sufficiently mature, Urdal said.

He also noted that the panel burnt its fingers in 2019, when it awarded the prize to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation. Abiys image is today marred by a war that erupted in Ethiopias Tigray region in November, triggering a hunger crisis.

They are wary of engaging too early with any process that could backfire, says Urdal.

Perhaps that is why winners are often named a year after they are most hotly tipped.

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who continued to campaign for girls and womens rights after being shot in the head by the Taliban, was a favorite in 2013. But she only received the prize  alongside Indian childrens rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi  in 2014.

Likewise, Dennis Mukwege, the Congolese doctor treating victims of wartime sexual violence, was tipped for several years before finally getting the award, alongside another longtime favorite, campaigner Nadia Murad, in 2018.

A similar cooling-off period might pave the way for climate activist Greta Thunberg in 2021. The Swedish teenager was hotly tipped in 2020 after dominating the news agenda for much of the previous year.

A report in August from a former Nobel winner, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which predicted fires and floods, helped force the climate back on the news agenda.

In this atmosphere, a prize for Thunberg would electrify the world, said Urdal, even if he believes the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change would be a more worthy winner.

Unlike the other Nobels, which are handed out in Sweden, the Peace Prize is an all-Norwegian affair.

Though the government has no say in the matter, this quirk put the whole country in hot water in 2010, when the independent panel enraged Beijing by awarding the prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

China suspended a bilateral trade deal and restricted imports of Norwegian salmon. Relations were only fully normalized in 2017.

If the five-person panel feels like stoking controversy in 2021, it could award the prize to Uyghur activist Ilham Tohti, who was jailed for life in 2014 on charges of promoting separatism. A prize to Nathan Law Kwun-chung would also likely upset Beijing. He is a leading figure in the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded on Friday, Oct. 8.

A week of Nobel Prizes kicks off on Oct. 4 with Physiology or Medicine. Physics is on Oct. 5, Chemistry Oct. 6, Literature Oct. 7, and Economics Oct. 11.
TBILISI, Georgia (AP)  Former President Mikheil Saakashvili was arrested after returning to Georgia, the government said Friday, a move that came as the ex-leader sought to mobilize supporters ahead of national municipal elections seen as critical to the country's political makeup.

The announcement by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili came hours after Saakashvili, who was convicted in absentia on abuse of power charges and has lived in Ukraine in recent years, posted on Facebook that he was back in the country.

Details of the arrest were not immediately clear, but Georgian TV on Friday evening broadcast video of Saakashvili in handcuffs, with a wide smile on his face, being taken into custody by police.

In earlier Facebook video, Saakashvili said he was in Batumi, the Black Sea port and resort that is Georgia's second-largest city. Georgian officials earlier in the day had denied he was in the country.

In the posts, Saakashvili said Saturday's elections were crucial" for Georgia and had called for a rally in Tbilisi on Sunday, promising to join it.

Saakashvilis attempts to rally Georgians could upend the ruling partys plans to secure dominance in the balloting for mayors and local assemblies that is widely regarded as a vote of confidence in the national government and could trigger early elections next year.

The European Union brokered a deal in April to ease a political crisis between the ruling Georgian Dream party and opposition groups, including Saakashvili's United National Movement, the second-biggest political force in the country.

The agreement stipulated that snap parliamentary elections should be called in 2022 if Georgian Dream receives less than 43% of all proportional votes in the local elections in the countrys 64 municipalities.

It is unclear whether the EU deal will be followed, however. In July, Georgian Dream withdrew from the agreement because United National Movement hadnt signed onto it by then. The opposition party finally signed this month, and Saakashvili has urged supporters to turn out in force at the polls.

Saakashvili's intense grin in police custody underlined his penchant for public drama, particularly his bold entrances into unwelcoming places.

He first gained international attention in the 2003 Rose Revolution protests when he led a crowd of demonstrators that broke into a parliament session, forcing then-President Eduard Shevardnadze to flee; Shevardnadze, a former Soviet foreign minister, resigned a day later.

In 2017, he forced his way with a crowd of supporters into Ukraine from Poland, after his Ukrainian citizenship was rescinded.

By going back to Georgia even though he faced certain arrest, Saakashvili also echoed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who returned to Moscow from Germany in January, was arrested on arrival and later sent to prison.

Hours after his arrest on Friday, a video was posted on his Facebook page in which he and Ukrainian parliament member Yelizaveta Yasko declared they were in love and together. They said the video was recorded ahead of his departure for Georgia.

Saakashvili was president in 2004-13 and was renowned for his energetic efforts against Georgias endemic corruption, but Georgians became increasingly uneasy with what they saw as his authoritarian inclinations and his sometimes-mercurial behavior.

Saakashvilii left the country soon after the 2013 election, in which he could not run, was won by the candidate from Georgian Dream.

In 2018, Georgian courts convicted and sentenced him to up to six years in prison.

Saakashvili moved to Ukraine, where he became governor of the corruption-plagued Odesa region, and obtained Ukrainian citizenship, which nullified his Georgian citizenship. However, he fell out with then-President Petro Poroshenko, resigned his post and was stripped of Ukrainian citizenship.

He forced his way back into Ukraine in 2017, but was eventually deported to Poland. After Poroshenko's successor Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to power, Saakashvili returned to Ukraine and was named to a top corruption-fighting position.

Zelenskyy is concerned by this news, his spokesman Serhiy Nikiforov said. Ukraine is appealing to Georgia for explanations of all circumstances and the reasons for this move in regards to this Ukrainian citizen.

The Georgian prosecutor's office said a case had been opened against Saakashvili for illegally crossing the border, although the basis for such a charge is unclear because Ukrainian citizens do not need visas to enter Georgia.

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Associated Press writer Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed.
A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

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Vaccinated people do not carry more coronavirus than the unvaccinated

CLAIM: People who are vaccinated against COVID-19 carry a heavier viral load if infected with the disease than those who are unvaccinated.

THE FACTS: Scientists have found that vaccinated people who get so-called breakthrough infections can carry about the same amount of coronavirus as those who did not receive the shots, not more. Social media users are misrepresenting comments made by Dr. Leana Wen, former Baltimore health commissioner, to make the false claim. One widely circulating post falsely states, Dr. Leana Wen, one of the MSMs biggest lap dogs, is confirming what has been said by us all along. The vaccinated carry a heavier viral load. In the image, a syringe is used rather than the word vaccinated. The post supports the false claim using a short clip from a 25-minute interview Wen did with the news program Democracy Now! In the segment, she discusses the delta variant and the new issues surrounding it. We know that a person infected with the delta variant carries a thousand times the viral load than someone infected with the previous variant, Wen said in the full clip. What that means is the person can transmit a lot more virus. But the post leaves that information out, using only a portion of the video where Wen discusses how the vaccinated can also spread the disease. Those who are vaccinated, we now know based on the CDC, are now able with the delta variant, because they carry so much more virus, they could transmit it to their unvaccinated family members, Wen said in the edited clip. I, for example, even though Im fully vaccinated, my children are not because theyre too young to be vaccinated. So I need to be careful for my children because of all the unvaccinated people around us. Previously, vaccinated people who got infected were thought to have low levels of virus and to be unlikely to pass it to others. But, according to AP reporting, more recent data shows that is not the case with the delta variant. In July, after the delta variant began spreading more widely, the CDC highlighted a study that found that the vaccinated can carry as much of the coronavirus as the unvaccinated. According to the CDC, the greatest risk of coronavirus transmission is among the unvaccinated, who are much more likely to get infected, and therefore transmit the virus.

 Associated Press writer Terrence Fraser in New York contributed this report.

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No truth to claims that 86K voters dont appear to exist in Arizona

CLAIM: A cybersecurity firm hired by Arizonas Republican-controlled Senate to review 2020 election results in the states largest county was unable to identify 86,391 voters, showing that these voters dont appear to exist.

THE FACTS: A Sept. 24 report that spun falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County reverberated online this week, as social media users took the reports claims out of context to spread false claims of their own. In one section of the report, Cyber Ninjas explained that it checked voter information in the countys Final Voted File against a private commercial identity database called Personator, by the company Melissa. It said reviewers could not find the identity records of 86,391 voters in Personator, but acknowledged that this didnt prove any of the voters were not real. It is expected that most if not all of these individuals are in fact real people with a limited public record and commercial presence, the report said. Conservative websites stretched the claim further, holding up that report section to suggest thousands of votes were cast by fake people. AZ Audit Could Not Find the Identity of 86,391 Voters  They Dont Appear to Exist, read one widely shared headline. The claim misrepresents the information in the Personator data tool, which is private, doesnt belong to the government and does not include all voters, according to Greg Brown, Melissas vice president of global marketing. Brown said the company estimates its database includes about 80% of U.S. adults. It is continually edited with opt-out requests from law enforcement officials and others, he said. Being absent from the Personator data tool is not an indicator that an individual does not exist, Brown said. The AP has debunked several other erroneous claims relating to the review that spread on social media, including the false claim that the verified and approved stamp that is supposed to be used after signatures are verified on mailed ballot envelopes was actually pre-printed on the envelopes. County election officials and an election services firm that works with the county explained that the scans of the envelopes being referenced were captured in binary format to prevent the file from being too large, which makes it appear that the stamp is behind an arrow pointing to the signature box in the scanned image, when it is not.

 Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed this report, with additional reporting from Associated Press writer Angelo Fichera in Philadelphia.

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Mileage tax study, not actual mileage tax, proposed in infrastructure bill

CLAIM: President Joe Biden has called for a driving tax that is estimated to be 8 cents per mile.

THE FACTS: Biden has not proposed that tax. As members of Congress mull a bipartisan, $1 trillion infrastructure bill that was approved by the Senate in August, social media users are misrepresenting one aspect of the massive legislation. An image repeatedly shared on Facebook shows a screenshot of a Newsmax report on Biden tax increases that refers to a driving tax. The screenshot shows bullets saying per-mile user fee, estimated to be 8 cents per mile, and amounts vary depending on vehicles. Text above the screenshot reads: Just to put this in perspective, if you drive 26,000 miles X 0.08 per mile = $2,080.00. (now get mad). But the Biden administration has not proposed such a mileage tax, as the image falsely suggests. What has been proposed is a pilot program that would study the mechanics of such a tax, said Andy Winkler, director of infrastructure projects at the Bipartisan Policy Center. That program  a National motor vehicle per-mile user fee pilot  is included in the infrastructure package still before Congress. It is not a tax, it is not on everybody and it is voluntary, Winkler said. The idea, he said, is that volunteers with passenger and commercial vehicles across the country would participate in the program that would provide insights into how such a per-mile fee could be collected. Such a tax has been weighed as a potential replacement for the gas tax, he said. Likewise, Ulrik Boesen, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, said in an email the purpose of this program is to study (vehicle miles traveled) taxes to understand how they could work. The proposal for the pilot program also does not include an 8 cents per mile rate, or any rate for that matter, Boesen said. Its unclear why that specific rate was referenced. An inquiry to Newsmax about its report was not returned.

 Associated Press writer Angelo Fichera in Philadelphia contributed this report.

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Walmart is not requiring customers to be vaccinated

CLAIM: Walmart recently announced it will require customers in its stores to be vaccinated for COVID-19 starting Nov. 1.

THE FACTS: TikTok videos and a fake press release image circulated online this week with the false claim that Walmart was planning a vaccine requirement for its in-store customers. So Walmart came out and said the other day that by November 1, anybody who is not vaccinated will not be allowed to shop in a Walmart supermarket, a man told the camera in one widely shared TikTok video. Social media users across platforms also shared a fake press release from Walmart of Canada, which featured the Walmart logo alongside the message Proof of Vaccination Required. Walmart spokesperson Charles Crowson told the AP, That claim is false. Walmart Canada also confirmed the claims are false with a statement posted in multiple social media comments. This information is not true, the statement read. Customers do not have to show proof of vaccination to shop at our stores. We continue to work with governments across the country and are following required restrictions. A search of Walmarts public social media accounts and news releases found the company has not announced any requirement for customers to get vaccinated.

 Ali Swenson

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Michael Baden did not perform Gabby Petito autopsy

CLAIM: Dr. Michael Baden was the medical examiner for Gabby Petitos autopsy and also served in the same role for President John F. Kennedy, George Floyd, Jeffrey Epstein, Martin Luther King Jr. and Phil Spector.

THE FACTS: Baden, a former New York City chief medical examiner and forensic pathologist known for investigating prominent and controversial cases, did not perform the autopsy of Petito, a 22-year-old woman who was killed while on a cross-country road trip with her boyfriend, nor did he serve as the medical examiner for the other cases. In the weeks since Petito was reported missing, a number of theories surrounding her disappearance and death have circulated online. Social media posts falsely alleging her autopsy was performed by Baden gained popularity after he spoke about Petitos case on Fox News on Sept. 21. Some social media users sharing the claim have baselessly suggested Baden has been involved in coverup schemes, including in the deaths of Kennedy, King and Epstein. However, Baden did not perform those autopsies, nor did he perform Petitos. In his Fox News appearance, Baden described how autopsies are performed and explained that insects present on Petitos body could help investigators determine her time and place of death. Baden did not suggest he was involved with the proceedings. Brent Blue, the coroner in Teton County, Wyoming, identified Petitos remains and determined she was a homicide victim. Blue has not disclosed a cause of death pending final autopsy results. Petitos body was found Sept. 18 near an undeveloped camping area in remote northern Wyoming along the border of Grand Teton National Park. Authorities are still searching for her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, who has been named a person of interest in the case and charged with unauthorized use of a debit card. The incorrect assertion that Baden performed Epsteins autopsy has been circulating since 2019, but he just attended it as an independent observer at the request of Epsteins lawyers. Early in his career, Baden was top pathologist for a congressional committee probing the Kennedy and King killings, though he didnt perform those autopsies either. He made a name for himself testifying in high-profile cases, including for the defense in O.J. Simpsons 1995 murder trial, and for record producer Phil Spector in his first murder trial in the 2003 death of actress Lana Clarkson. But different medical examiners were tasked with performing the official autopsies for the murder victims in those cases. More recently, Baden performed private autopsies in the police killings of Michael Brown and George Floyd.

 Associated Press writer Sophia Tulp in Atlanta contributed this report.

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Canadian health officials remarks about COVID-19 misrepresented online

CLAIM: Albertas top doctor said that if youre feeling unwell and you dont have a COVID-19 test, youre still counted as a positive case.

THE FACTS: Posts online are misrepresenting comments made by Alberta's chief medical officer for health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw. During a Sept. 23 news conference, Hinshaw was answering questions around how to manage outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools. Hinshaw was asked by a reporter to explain why parents dont have the right to know if there are COVID cases in their childs school. Hinshaw responded that because the current framework in schools does not require mandatory quarantine or close contact tracing for respiratory illnesses, disclosure of a students positive COVID-19 test would violate privacy rules. She said schools are using the same outbreak protocols for all cases of respiratory illnesses, regardless of whether there is a known COVID-19 diagnosis. If individuals choose to not get tested for COVID but are home with an illness, they are now counted in the list as now being part of that outbreak. It is less dependent on needing a test to be a part of identifying where there is an issue, she said in the clip being shared online. We are working with education to determine if there are any adjustments that need to be made to this framework. Some social media users shared the brief clip without making it clear that she was referring to school protocols for tracking respiratory illness in general, not official COVID-19 case counts. Posts online falsely claimed the clip showed Alberta would now count anyone who feels unwell as a positive COVID-19 case. That report is false, Tom McMillan, assistant director of communications for Alberta Health, said in an email. Dr. Hinshaw was simply referring to outbreak management protocols in school settings, where all respiratory viruses are treated similarly by the current protocols in place, which helps reduce the chance of onward spread. McMillan said those staying home from school are not counted automatically as positive COVID-19 cases. All cases reported in the province are those that are confirmed COVID-19 cases or those whove been tested and are awaiting results, he said. The posts online are a part of a broader conspiracy theory that claims that COVID-19 case numbers are being inflated around the globe, which experts have repeatedly debunked.

 Associated Press writer Beatrice Dupuy in New York contributed this report.

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DENVER  At least 92% of Denvers municipal employees were vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Friday, a day after the citys vaccine mandate took effect in a bid to slow the spread of the virus during the fall and winter, according to a review of city compliance data.

The employee vaccination rate is higher than Denvers latest overall vaccination rate of 76% and the statewide rate of 70%.

Employees were required to either prove they were vaccinated or obtain an exemption to the mandate by the end of Thursday or face possible termination.

According to city data, 98.6% of its current 10,869 full-time employees complied with the mandate, either by being vaccinated or receiving an exemption. So far, 652 workers have been exempted, about 6% of the workforce, while another 14 exemption requests were still pending.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

 California to require school children get vaccines, once age approved

 Merck says experimental pill cuts effects of COVID-19 hospitalizations, deaths

 Justice Kavanaugh tests positive for virus, has no symptoms

 Foundations aim to persuade Americans to get vaccinated

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See all of AP's pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

HARTFORD, Conn. - A retired Connecticut physician and surgeon voluntarily surrendered her license to practice medicine on Friday to the Department of Public Health after being accused of providing fraudulent medical exemption forms through the mail.

Dr. Sue Mcintosh had her license suspended last week by the Connecticut Medical Examining Board during an emergency hearing. A full hearing on the merits of the case was scheduled for Oct. 5.

State officials, who had received an anonymous complaint about the doctor, allege Mcintosh provided an unknown number of blank, signed forms exempting people from the COVID-19 and other vaccines, as well as mandatory mask-wearing and routine COVID testing to people who sent her a self-addressed envelope. Mcintosh, who hadnt treated the patients, signed a letter included in the packet of bogus forms with the phrase Let freedom ring!

Mcintosh did not respond to a request for comment.

Christopher Boyle, a spokesperson for DPH, said agency officials are considering whether to refer the case to state and federal law enforcement entities.

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MINNEAPOLIS  A decline in COVID-19 cases across the United States over the past several weeks has given overwhelmed hospitals some relief, but administrators are bracing for yet another possible surge as cold weather drives people indoors.

Health experts say the fourth wave of the pandemic has peaked overall in the U.S., particularly in the Deep South, where hospitals were stretched to the limit weeks ago. But many Northern states are still struggling with rising cases, and whats ahead for winter is far less clear.

Unknowns include how flu season may strain already depleted hospital staffs and whether those who have refused to get vaccinated will change their minds.

An estimated 70 million eligible Americans remain unvaccinated, providing kindling for the highly contagious delta variant.

If youre not vaccinated or have protection from natural infection, this virus will find you, warned Mike Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesotas Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

Nationwide, the number of people now in the hospital with COVID-19 has fallen to somewhere around 75,000 from over 93,000 in early September. New cases are on the downswing at about 112,000 per day on average, a drop of about one-third over the past 2 1/2 weeks.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala.  Amid a national debate over the use of pandemic relief funds, Alabama lawmakers swiftly approved a plan Friday to tap $400 million from the American Rescue Plan to help build two super-size prisons, brushing off criticism from congressional Democrats that the money was not intended for such projects.

In a bipartisan vote that brought few dissents, the Alabama Senate voted 29-2 to approve the $1.3 billion prison construction plan, and 30-1 to steer $400 million of the states $2.1 billion from the rescue funds to pay for it.

With legislative leaders standing behind her, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bills into law. Republican Sen. Greg Albritton said state officials are confident they can legally use the pandemic funds, and said the construction to replace many existing prisons will go a long way to addressing the states longstanding problems in prisons.

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PHOENIX  Arizonas reported COVID-19 death toll has passed the grim milestone of 20,000 amid the states third virus surge.

The latest surge has started easing but continues to strain hospitals. The state reported 55 additional deaths as well as over 3,600 additional confirmed cases Friday. That increases the pandemic totals to 20,039 deaths and nearly 1.1 million cases.

Arizona currently is 11th highest among states in the number of COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began, and sixth in the number of deaths per 100,000 population.

The current surge has seen the states hospital system burdened again with large numbers of patients. More than 1,750 COVID-19 patients occupied hospital beds as of Thursday.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska  A highly contentious debate over a proposed mask mandate for Alaskas largest city that has included Holocaust imagery and a gay slur will continue next week on Monday.

Mayor David Bronson opposes the mask mandate and apologized Thursday for his comments supporting some residents use of Holocaust imagery, like wearing yellow Stars of David, to liken the proposed mandate to the oppression of Jewish people in Nazi Germany.

The Anchorage Daily News reports Bronson also called for people on both sides of the issue to be more civil. Four people at Wednesdays meeting were arrested, including a man who called the assemblys vice chair, Chris Constant, a homophobic slur.

I didnt stand up and speak in your defense. And I apologize for doing that. Quite frankly, I was caught off guard. And then he was gone before I gathered my thoughts, and I apologize for not speaking up. What was said was intolerable. Bronson said.

Constant said he wasnt surprised with the slur.

The part that in fact shocked me to silence was when roughly 200 people cheered zealously. That was the part that zinged me and really took my breath away for a minute, he said.

Constant added: What we have to do is figure out how together, we can be better. And that is not a that-tribe-versus-that-tribe issue. That is a community issue in Anchorage, and this moment is an opportunity for us to move through this to a better place.

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HONOLULU  Hawaii authorities arrested two people from California for submitting fake COVID-19 test results to avoid a mandatory traveler quarantine meant to curb the virus spread in the islands.

A 34-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman uploaded falsified negative test results into the Hawaii Safe Travels portal and arrived in Lihue on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles earlier this week, Kauai police said.

After they were arrested, they were released pending investigation and caught a flight back to Los Angeles.

They couldnt immediately be reached for comment Friday.

Travelers entering Hawaii must quarantine for 10 days unless they have been fully vaccinated in the United States or test negative for COVID-19 before departing for the islands.

Hawaii authorities have been arresting people who violate travel rules, including a woman from Illinois investigators said uploaded a fake vaccination card that misspelled Moderna as Maderna.

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WASHINGTON  U.S. health officials are preparing to consider more COVID-19 vaccine boosters for adults and the first vaccine shots for children younger than 12.

The Food and Drug Administration said its panel of outside vaccine experts will meet Oct. 14 and 15 to consider whether to recommend booster doses for adults who received the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The FDA is not required to follow the panels advice, though it often does.

If the FDA authorizes third doses of the vaccines a separate panel of advisers to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make specific recommendations on who should get them.

The FDA and CDC signed off on booster shots of Pfizers vaccine last month for key Americans who face higher risks from COVID-19.

Additionally, the panel will hear presentations on the safety and effectiveness of mixing different vaccine brands when giving booster shots.

The FDA also set an Oct. 26 panel meeting to consider Pfizers COVID-19 vaccines for children 5 to 11 years old. Currently the vaccine is authorized for children 12 and older.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill.  Gov. J.B. Pritzkers office says more than $443 million in emergency rental assistance has been paid on behalf of 49,100 state households through the Illinois Rental Payment Program.

It provides up to $25,000 in emergency rental assistance to cover up to 12 months of past due rent and up to three months of future rent payments for tenants suffering a financial hardship related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Payments are made directly to the landlord on behalf of the tenant, but only if the landlord doesnt pursue eviction.

Having a roof over your head is the foundation of a thriving life, Pritzker said Friday in a release, and Illinois is fiercely combatting the pandemics destabilizing effects on that foundation by keeping our residents on their feet.

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SAN FRANCISCO  California has announced the nations first coronavirus vaccine mandate for school children.

Gov. Gavin Newsom says the mandate wont take effect until the COVID-19 vaccine has received final approval from the U.S. government for various grade levels.

The government has given final approval for the vaccine for anyone 16 and older. Once final approval comes for anyone 12 and older, the state will mandate vaccines for students in seventh through 12th grades.

The state will mandate the vaccine in kindergarten through sixth grades once the federal government gives final approval for anyone 5 and older.

The states vaccine mandate would take effect the semester after the federal government grants final approval. If it comes in January, then the mandate would take effect in July.

Students would be granted religious and medical exemptions, but the rules for how the state would apply those exemptions have not been written yet.

In August, California became the first state in the U.S. to require all teachers and staff in K-12 public and private schools to get vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. Newsom also issued a school mask mandate this summer for indoor classes that applies to all teachers and students.

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NEW ORLEANS  Louisianas largest health system is ratcheting up pressure to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate reports Ochsner Health told employees it will charge a monthly premium of $200 if a spouse or domestic partner covered under an Ochsner health plan is not vaccinated. Ochsner has previously set an Oct. 29 deadline for all employees to be vaccinated.

President and CEO Warner Thomas says the surcharge is part of an effort to keep health premiums low for employees. As a self-insured organization, Ochsner bears the cost of COVID-19 treatment for patients who are on its insurance plan.

We spent more than $9 million on COVID care for those who are covered on our health plans over the last year, Thomas told The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate in an emailed statement, which included intensive patient care.

Thomas says the surcharge doesnt amount to a mandate because employees spouses and partners can choose other insurance coverage. The spouses and partners can also apply for an exemption on medical or religious grounds.

More than 2.1 million people in Louisiana are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, about 45% of the states population, according to health department data.

The state reported 872 coronavirus cases and 49 confirmed deaths on Thursday. Louisiana has registered a total of 740,533 cases and 13,949 deaths.

(This item has been corrected to show Louisiana has fully vaccinated 45% of population, not 56%.)

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ROME  Some 1,100 doctors and dentists in Italy are currently suspended because they havent been vaccinated against COVID-19.

The National Federation of Doctors President Filippo Anelli stressed Friday that those who arent vaccinated are a minority of the federations 460,000 members (less than 1%) and indicated many are currently correcting their status through vaccination.

The federation says some 290 others had their suspension lifted because they got vaccinated. Anelli said in a statement about 500 doctors who appealed their suspensions are still allowed to practice until a final decision is reached.

The federations web site lists the names of 363 doctors or dentists who have died of COVID-19.

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WASHINGTON  Biden administration officials say a new pill that could provide an easier, effective way to treat COVID 19 is good news, while adding vaccination remains the key to controlling the pandemic.

Officials at drugmaker Merck say theyll soon seek regulatory approval for the experimental pill, which reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus.

Dr. Anthony Fauci calls it very good news and Mercks data on its medicine impressive.

White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients says vaccination will remain the governments main strategy for controlling the pandemic.

We want to prevent infections, not just wait to treat them when they happen, says Zients at the briefing on Friday.

If its approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the government has contracted to buy 1.7 million doses of Mercks medication.

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NEW DELHI  India says arrivals from Britain will be subjected to COVID-19 tests and a 10-day quarantine, in response to the same measures imposed on Indians visiting the U.K.

India has been demanding that Britain revoke what it calls a discriminatory advisory that includes Indians, even if they are fully vaccinated with the Indian-made AstraZeneca shots.

Indias external affairs minister S. Jaishankar discussed the issue with the British foreign secretary Liz Truss in New York this week. India was irked that while the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been recognized by Britain, its version produced by Serum Institute of India has been excluded.

Starting Monday, all British arrivals, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to undertake PRC tests within 72 hours before travel and again after travel.

India, the worlds largest vaccine producer, said this week it will resume exports and donations of surplus coronavirus vaccines in October after a long freeze because of the massive surge in domestic infections last spring.
Jeff Bezos, who is the inventor of Amazon and the original rocket man who spent $5.5 billion to fly four minutes in space, has a new and exciting mission. He wants to turn back the hands of time.

He isnt investing in H.G. Wells time machine; hes pumping money into a start-up company thats developing technology to reverse the aging process and prolong life.

According to the MIT Tech Review, which I usually read after I finish the National Enquirer, Bezos is pouring cash into the anti-aging company Altos Labs. Not to be confused with Altoids, which are those curiously strong peppermint breath mints that dont prolong your life, but could mess up your stomach if you eat too many.

Altos is reportedly looking for scientists committed to research that will reverse the process of aging cells, and they plan to open institutes in California and Cambridge. They should also consider one on Sunset Boulevard because theyd get a lot of walk-in traffic.

The company is said to be developing biological reprogramming technology. I generally associate reprogramming with places such as North Korea and the Planet of the Apes, so it doesnt sound like something Id spend my Social Security check on. Better to squander it at Mohegan Sun.

Would you like to have technology plugged into your nervous system the way they did in Blade Runner and I, Robot? Were all familiar with the Six Million Dollar Man. Pretty soon, well have the Six Billion Dollar Human. Real science, it seems, is crazier than science fiction.

Bezos, as you know, revolutionized the retail industry when he gave us Amazon, which is the largest online retailer in the universe. With the success of Amazon came neighborhood gridlock. I used to live on a quiet suburban street, but now its like Grand Central Terminal the day before Thanksgiving. Delivery trucks constantly drive up and down the street, and the neighborhood dogs snarl and bark like theyre possessed.

Because of Amazon, theyre tearing down shopping malls and putting up apartments, casinos and cannabis distribution centers. I suppose I should look on the positive side. Amazon can use its drones to start shipping weed, which will keep people who are high off the road.

What troubles me is that even though Bezos built a space ship to take us to Pluto, hes wasting his money on scary technologies when there are much more urgent matters to consider.

Sure, I understand that celebrities are committed to eternal life on Earth because they dont believe in eternal life in heaven. Larry King, along with many others, wanted to be frozen so he could come back in 100 years. In addition to the celebrities, there are probably hundreds of politicians who crave this sort of stuff because it would let them raise taxes into the third millennium and no term limits could stop them.

Jeff Bezos and I share one thing in common. No, I didnt go to Princeton. No, I dont have a space ship, although I may start building one if things keep getting worse. And no, Im not a trillionarie although Im still trying to make my first billion. What we have in common is were both bald.

So heres some free advice from one bald guy to another. Use your hard-earned cash to solve the baldness pandemic. There are an estimated 35 million bald men in America, and about 21 million women who suffer hair loss.

For decades, weve been told that a cure for person pattern baldness is just around the corner, but we still havent reached that corner. Im pleading with Bezos to tackle the baldness crisis first ... and then he can unearth the secrets to eternal life.

Anti-aging technology will only mean that Joe Biden and Donald Trump can keep fighting for decades instead of becoming roomies in a federally funded assisted living facility. It will also mean Nancy Pelosi may become the first member of Congress to serve for a century.

Lets put quality before quantity. When that fateful day of reckoning comes, we wont be judged by how long we lived or how popular we were or how many galas we attended. Well be judged on the good that we did or didnt do.

And quite honestly, a full head of hair will make me want to do a lot more good than I do now.

Former Stamford Advocate and Greenwich Time Editor Joe Pisani can be reached at joefpisani@yahoo.com.
Businesses need a new strategy.

If your business doesnt continue to create new strategies to improve your niche during the pandemic, you wont succeed.

As the global pandemic recedes in Connecticut, companies large and small must reevaluate and adapt their internal and external communications plans. The business climate changes and is in constant flux as dictated by our COVID numbers, state and national directives and the overall economy.

Image matters.

Successful businesses, those that have survived and flourished during the challenge, know that a strong brand identity and image help existing and potential customers. A unique and positive public image now includes instilling trust and valuing loyalty in your target markets. Reinventing your image and brand to set you apart can recharge your bottom line.

All the messages you convey to the public and your employees must be carefully crafted and part of an overall strategic course of action to jump-start business in pandemic times.

Safety is absolutely the primary concern for employees and customers. As such, this must become a primary concern and message. Develop policies, protocols and responses for various scenarios that may occur. Communicate widely, specifically and honestly. Communicate frequently as the landscape changes.

This is a real opportunity to push the reset button and bring attention to your business. Remind existing and potential customers of your services, product lines and any new discounts while announcing your innovative stance on safety measurements. Solicit feedback. Internal and external.

Creativity counts. Broaden the level of input you receive. Utilize social media wisely. Advertise on radio or television. With the COVID slowdown, there also are good, new deals to be had for companies to advertise in print or online. These can target the specific geographic and demographic consumer you wish to attract.

Internally, become your workers primary source of information. Avert rumor and quickly dispel any false information you perceive. A bulletin board just isnt enough anymore. Email your employees and explain the companys safety policies and procedures. Solicit feedback. Virtual or in-person group meetings can reinforce your genuine concern for employee welfare  both physical and emotional. Serve food. Offer counseling resources. And, if your employees interface with the public, it is crucial that they deliver the consistent messages you wish to convey, and see themselves as an emissary for your companys stand on COVID practices.

Externally, the public needs to hear more about and from you than the fact that you are open. How are you contributing to the needy? Taking care of your own? Offering innovative solutions for individuals?

Privately, you face noncompliance on safety by both workers and customers. Get ahead of it with a firm position on procedure and consequence. Will an unmasked worker be suspended? Will a customer be asked to leave the store?

The bottom line: prepare and share. Your carefully crafted, fully transparent and well communicated plan of action will lead to smoother operation, better morale, and clarity. You are ensuring all concerned that you value folks welfare as much as the bottom line.

Michael J. London has run the strategic communications firm, Michael J. London & Associates, for more than 30 years. He can be reached at michael@mjlondon.com or 203-261-1549.
BRIDGEPORT  School officials asked Bridgeport this week to imagine a city where all children can read at a young age.

Thats the promise of Footsteps2Brilliance, a bilingual early literacy program that puts thousands of e-books in the hands of families and educators. After a company preview last month, the Bridgeport school board voted on Monday to purchase the new education technology.

Superintendent Michael Testani said the platform can help close achievement gaps for students who may not have access to books or read-alouds with an adult outside school.

They dont have folks reading to them at home, he told the boards Teaching and Learning committee. This will even the playing field.

Footsteps2Brilliance provides the e-books and offers games and activities that teach reading and writing skills like phonics, vocabulary, comprehension and grammar.

The program is available in English and Spanish, and open to all Bridgeport residents  not just current district students  to better prepare them for entrance into local schools. It will first roll out to pre-kindergarten and then expand a grade each year.

The platform can be accessed on most devices and does not require internet connectivity. Company executives said that was central to development, so that families can access the platform from whatever technology they have at home  be that phone, tablet or computer of any brand.

Testani said he learned of the program from Middletown schools, which implemented the program in the fall of 2018. That citys students increased their literacy skills by 175 percent throughout the 2020-21 pandemic-era school year, with notable gains among historically marginalized students.

Still, the school districts have their differences that could impact the uses and results of the bilingual, offline program.

More than 20 percent of Bridgeport students were English learners in 2019-20, compared to less than 4 percent of Middletown students, according to the most recent state data. And close to three quarters of Bridgeport students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator of socioeconomic need, compared to less than half of Middletown children.

But Bridgeport has reason to believe the platform could be impactful in the Park City, too. The school district operated a pilot program this summer at Geraldine Claytor Magnet Academy, which local administrators and company executives said was a success.

Ilene Rosenthal, the CEO of Footsteps2Brilliance, told Hearst Connecticut the students in the pilot really took to the platform.

They were using it not just at school, but on their phones, offline after school as well, she said.

Rosenthal credited the widespread use to the applications format.

We use game-based methodology, she said. Were very research-based and rigorous, but we make it fun.

Representatives for Footsteps2Brilliance described the program to the school board as parent-centered. Though children can work independently, they encouraged them to work with family, who can help them learn and be tuned into their progress.

The platform offers Family Friday activities, read-aloud models for parents, and a bilingual help desk. Parents can also develop English skills alongside their child, representatives said.

Rosenthal described their resources as trans-adapted, and not translated  the elements in Spanish are central to the program, not an afterthought.

Rosenthal said the goal is for children to be prepared for kindergarten and on track to read proficiently in third grade.

Oft-cited research has shown that students who are not reading proficiently by third grade are significantly less likely to graduate from high school by age 19 than those who are proficient readers by that grade.

The disparities that happen even before a child gets to school affects the trajectory of their life, she said.
STRATFORD  The school district ended its last fiscal year in the black to the tune of nearly $1 million, an administrator reported this week.

At the same time, school officials are already anticipating deficits in certain areas of the current years budget.

School district Chief Operating Officer Pam Mangini briefed school board members on the numbers during a meeting of the boards finance committee this week.

With the caveat that the figures have not yet been fully audited, Mangini said the school district ended its 2020-21 budget with a balance of $875,531.

She said the leftover money was mainly the result of school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and resulting savings in the areas of salaries, substitute teachers and transportation.

Any money the school district doesnt spend by the end of the year goes to the towns general fund, but some of the savings could ultimately come back to the school district.

Last year the Town Council created an education reserve fund for annual contributions of up to 2 percent of the school districts budget to be put toward non-recurring expenses such as capital, technology and/or unanticipated special education expenditure funding needs.

The $875,531 is less than 1 percent of the school districts $117.5 million budget for last year.

But the Town Council hasnt voted to actually put any money into the account yet, Mangini noted in a memorandum to school board members.

She said action could be needed sooner rather than later because the school districts 2021-22 budget is already projecting a deficit in tuition accounts related to increased enrollment and more special education outplacements than anticipated.

There has been a tremendous influx of new registrations, particularly over the past month, Mangini said Monday. Weve also had an increase in our number of outplaced special education students. We are carefully monitoring that area of the budget because we do anticipate a deficit in the tuition accounts.

The school district anticipated 106 special education students would need to be sent to programs outside the school district. Instead, Mangini said the figure was 113 as of Monday, with another two pending.

The school district budgeted roughly $9 million in special education tuition costs for the year, $4.4 million of which has already been encumbered, according to numbers she gave the school board.

Enrollment figures continue in flux, Mangini said.

Every single day there seems to be a half dozen or more, she said. I anticipate it will start to level off a bit, but it hasnt yet.

Also up in the air is approval from the state for spending related to millions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funds which the school district sought an OK for in August.

Mangini said the state has asked for more information school officials would be sending by the end of the week.

Kevin Klemme, the school districts grants administrator, said the nature of the grants has (the state) being very careful about what they approve.

Theyre asking for a level of detail thats more than they ever ask for in other grants and so were just putting that together, he said.

Mangini said state officials expressed some concern about the school districts plan to use some of the money to offset general operating expenses for some salaries  and what will happen when the grants run out.

Were well aware of that fiscal cliff thats coming and were doing our best to work with the town to address it as it comes up in the next couple of years, she said.
ANSONIA  Strawberry Field was an orphanage near his home in Liverpool that inspired John Lennon to write the song Strawberry Fields Forever. Billy Joel came up with the lyrics to New York State of Mind while riding a bus near the Hudson River.

And local songwriter Richard Demko was struck by the flowers blooming near Ansonias downtown to write Ansonia Recharged.

The city premiered its own theme song  named after the citys economic development slogan  on Wednesday. The soft rock song boasts guitar riffs, soulful vocals from Ansonia native Heather Joseph and even a music video featuring Mayor David Cassetti walking around town.

It has gotten the attention of locals as the city continues to push for increased commercial development in its downtown.

Demko, a local songwriter, was approached by John Marini, the citys corporation counsel, who knew him for years, to write a song celebrating the citys sights. Demko, who got his start in the music industry at 18, had recorded songs for various local artists over the years. But because the client this time around was a city, he had to find a different source of inspiration.

So he took a stroll downtown to get his creative juices flowing when he saw flowers in bloom during late June.

Wow this city is looking pretty. I'm like Oh thats a cool lyric, throw that in there, Demko said he thought.

The song and video cost the city around $3,000 to record.

Part of the appeal to the song, Demko said, was that it also highlighted the mayors fun side. Marini asked Demko to record a song in the soft rock vein with elements of yacht rock, which Marini and Sheila OMalley, economic development director, said Cassetti is enormously fond of.

Demko was open to recording the song in a different genre, but his musical tastes also aligned well with Cassetti, ensuring a smooth songwriting process.

The mayor is known to play his music in City Hall, gracing all with his musical tastes.

He's got a CD collection Time Life Soft Rock Hits of the 70s that plays on the city speakers just about all day every day, Marini said.

The songs basic structure took a day to finish, according to Demko, but it took around a week to record the song and additional time was needed to shoot the video. Overall, the project took a month and a half.

The guitar is played by a former state senator, George Logan, who also lives in Ansonia.

When OMalley finally heard the completed song, she was floored.

We loved it; it sounded like Ansonia, OMalley said.

The upbeat songs lyrics urge the listener to take a walk downtown, fitting into the citys overall strategy to boost local businesses. The city has made efforts at attracting businesses, from renovating old industrial sites to building a new police station downtown. OMalley also said that the city has been through a lot of upheaval over the decades, so this also acts as a morale booster for residents.

But theres another objective, according to Marini.

We want to show that Ansonia is a city that not only has a lot to offer, but it's welcoming to creative talent, he said.

Marini, a guitar player, said that the city is considering releasing the song on CD and while he along with OMalley, who plays the banjo, arent leaving their positions anytime soon, they hinted at putting their hidden talents to use recording their own song.
BIALYSTOK, Poland (AP)  After enduring a decade of war in Syria, Boshra al-Moallem and her two sisters seized their chance to flee. Her brother, who escaped years earlier to Belgium, had saved enough money for their trip, and word was spreading online that a new migration route into Europe had opened through Belarus.

But the journey proved terrifying and nearly deadly. Al-Moallem became trapped at the border of Belarus and Poland for 20 days and was pushed back and forth between armed guards from each side in an area of swamps. She endured cold nights, mosquitoes, hunger and terrible thirst. Only after she collapsed from exhaustion and dehydration did Polish guards finally take her to a hospital.

I didnt expect this to happen to us. They told us its really easy to go to Europe, to find your life, to run (from) war, the 48-year-old said as she recovered this week in a refugee center in eastern Poland. I didnt imagine I would live another war between the borders."

Al-Moallem is one of thousands of people who traveled to Belarus in recent weeks and were then pushed across the border by Belarusian guards. The European Union has condemned the Belarusian actions as a form of hybrid war against the bloc.

Originally from Homs, Al-Moallem was displaced to Damascus by the war. She said Belarusian officials tricked her into believing the journey into the EU would be easy and then used her as a weapon in a political fight against Poland. But she also says the Polish border guards were excessively harsh, denying her water and using dogs to frighten her and other migrants as the guards pushed them back across to Belarus, over and over again.

For years, people fleeing war in the Middle East have made dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, seeking safety in Western Europe. But after the arrival of more than a million people in 2015, European Union nations put up concrete and razor-wire walls, installed drone surveillance and cut deals with Turkey and Libya to keep migrants away.

The far less protected path into the EU through the forests and swamps of Eastern Europe emerged as a route only after the EU imposed sanctions on the regime of the authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, following a flawed election and a harsh crackdown on protesters.

Suddenly people from Iraq, Syria and elsewhere were flying to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on tourist visas and then traveling by car  many apparently aided by smugglers  to the border.

The three EU countries that border Belarus  Poland, Lithuanian and Latvia  accuse Lukashenko of acting to destabilize their societies.

If that is indeed the aim, it is working. Poland denied entry to thousands of migrants and refused to let them apply for asylum, violating international human rights conventions. The country has had its behavior criticized by human rights groups at home and abroad.

Stanislaw Zaryn, a spokesman for Poland's special services, told The Associated Press that Polish forces always provide help to migrants if their lives are endangered. In other cases, while it might pain them not to help, Zaryn insisted that Poland must hold its ground and defend its border because it is being targeted in a high-stakes standoff with Belarus, which is backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Poland is of the opinion that only by thoroughly securing our border with Belarus are we able to stop this migration route, which is a route artificially created by Lukashenko with Putins support. It was artificially created in order to take revenge on the entire European Union," Zaryn said.

With six migrants found dead along the border so far and small children returned to Belarus this week, human rights workers are appalled. They insist Poland must respect its obligations under international law to allow the migrants to apply for asylum, and not push them back across the border.

The fact that these are Lukashenkos political actions directed against Poland and directed against the European Union is obvious to us," said Marianna Wartecka with the refugee rights group Fundacja Ocalenie. "But this does not justify the actions of the Polish state.

Archbishop Wojciech Polak, the head of Polands Roman Catholic Church, also weighed in, giving his support to medics seeking access to the border to help. We should not allow our brethren to suffer and die on our borders, he said.

Lukashenko denies that his forces are pushing people into Poland, but his state media have seized on Polands response to depict the EU as a place where human rights are not respected.

After traveling from Syria to Lebanon, al-Moallem, who was an English teacher in Syria, flew to Minsk, and from there took a taxi with her sisters and a brother-in-law to the border. Belarusian forces then guided the group to a spot to cross into Poland.

Crying as she told her story in English, Al-Moallem said that Belarusian forces told them: Its a really easy way to get to Poland. Its a swamp. Just go through the swamp and up the hill, and you will be in Poland."

And when we were trying to get up the hill, Polish border guards pushed us back. Families, women, men, children. The children were screaming and crying, she recalled. I was asking Polish border guards, Please just a drop of water. Im so thirsty. Ive been here without a drop of water.

But all they would do is snap back: Go to Belarus. We are not responsible for you.

That happened repeatedly, with the Belarusian forces taking them back, sometimes giving them nothing more than some bread, and then returning them the next night.

During her ordeal, she took videos of the desperate migrants with her phone and posted some to Facebook. Her videos and her account to the AP provide rare eyewitness evidence of the crisis at the border.

Such scenes unfold largely out of public view because Poland, following Lithuania and Latvia, declared a state of emergency along the border, which prevents journalists and human rights workers from going there.

The Polish government's measures, which also involve bolstering border defenses with soldiers, are popular with many Poles. The conservative ruling party, which won power in 2015 on a strong anti-migrant platform, has seen its popularity strengthen in opinion polls amid the new crisis.

Despite Poland's efforts, there are reports that some asylum-seekers have managed to cross into the EU undetected and headed farther west, often to reunite with relatives in Germany.

Al-Moallem says she and her relatives plan to leave the center where they are staying now and travel across the EU's open borders to their brother in Belgium. They plan to seek asylum there. All she wants, she said, is for her family to be reunited after years of trauma and "to feel safe.

___

Follow AP's coverage of migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
BRIDGEPORT  Police recovered a stolen vehicle that crashed Thursday night in the North End, a city spokesman said.

Around 8:30 p.m., a member of the Bridgeport police auto task force spotted a vehicle that had been reported stolen driving recklessly down Boston Avenue toward North Avenue, said Scott Appleby, the citys director of emergency management.

Authorities then received a call for a motor vehicle accident. The caller said the driver fled the scene, and may have been injured, Appleby said.

Police searched the area, and found the stolen vehicle idling at the corner of Beardsley Park Terrace and East Main Street, Appleby said.

A search for the driver was unsuccessful, and its unknown if the person was injured.
Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media

BRIDGEPORT  A city man pleaded guilty Friday to a racketeering offense stemming from a gang-related shooting in front of the state courthouse last year, according to Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut Leonard Boyles office.

Destine Calderon, 26, admitted Friday that he participated in drug trafficking for the Greene Homes Boyz, or GHB/Hotz, a gang based in the Charles F. Greene Homes housing complex in Bridgeports North End. The gang is known for distributing heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and Percocet pills, according to the U.S. Attorneys office.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP)  Federal prosecutors in Maryland are recommending 25-year prison sentences for two neo-Nazi group members, calling them domestic terrorists who prepared for a civil war, discussed how to break racist mass killer Dylann Roof out of death row and talked about assassinating a Virginia lawmaker.

Former Canadian Armed Forces reservist Patrik Jordan Mathews and U.S. Army veteran Brian Mark Lemley Jr. are scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 28 after pleading guilty to gun charges in June. They have been jailed since their January 2020 arrest at a Delaware apartment where the FBI had installed a closed-circuit television camera and microphone.

The surveillance equipment captured them talking about planning an attack during a gun rights rally at Virginias Capitol in Richmond, destroying rail lines and power lines, and how Mathews briefly considered trying to assassinate a Virginia lawmaker, prosecutors wrote in a court filing Thursday.

After Mathews found a home address for the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates on the internet, he and Lemley pondered an attack on the speaker's route to work because they concluded that there probably wasn't a good sniper location near the lawmaker's home, prosecutors said.

"In Mathewss view, the Speakers murder would probably accelerate their gun control agenda, which in turn Mathews hoped would spur a violent reaction," prosecutors wrote.

But they ultimately set aside the idea, waiting to see if Virginia lawmakers would pass gun-control legislation, prosecutors said. Eileen Filler-Corn, who is Jewish, was sworn in as speaker on Jan. 8, 2020, but prosecutors dont name her in their court filing.

Hoping for a civil war that would decimate racial and ethnic minorities and subjugate women, the defendants joined forces with each other and others, studied violence, tested their weapons skills, stockpiled munitions and supplies, and planned to kill on a large scale in pursuit of their goals, prosecutors wrote.

Filler-Corn said in a statement that she was told Thursday that the two men had discussed targeting her.

This is extremely disturbing, and it should disturb all Americans, she said. This pattern of using violence to intimidate the leaders and symbols of our democracy undermines the core values of our democracy itself.

Defense attorney Ned Smock said Lemley, who served in Iraq during his time in the Army, lost his way during a difficult time in his life and has taken responsibility for the nonviolent crimes he has committed. Smock said prosecutors have focused on things that Lemley and Mathews privately discussed instead of the crimes for which they were charged.

But these are only words. Mr. Lemley has never engaged in violence, he did not plan to initiate violent action, and he took no steps toward carrying out any of the acts mentioned in these recordings," Smock said Friday in a statement to The Associated Press.

Smock said he is asking for a prison sentence of two years and nine months for Lemley. That would be at the low end of the sentencing guidelines range calculated by the courts probation department. The high end of the calculation for Lemley is three years and five months, according to Smock.

Mathews and Lemley Jr. were charged along with a third member of The Base. The group has been a leading proponent of accelerationism, a fringe philosophy that advocates using mass violence to hasten societys collapse.

The third co-defendant, William Garfield Bilbrough IV, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty in December to helping Mathews illegally enter the U.S. from Canada in 2019.

The FBI also heard Lemley and Mathews talk about trying to free Roof, who was sentenced to death for killing nine members of a Black church congregation in South Carolina in 2015. They discussed how many people it would take to break into the maximum-security prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, where Roof is an inmate, how many guards would be there and how a shootout would happen, prosecutors said.

Can you imagine Dylann Roof broked out of jail? Mathews said, according to prosecutors. The Base would be known as the guys who broke out Dylann Roof.

Defense attorneys filed their sentencing memos under seal on Thursday. A lawyer for Mathews, Joseph Balter, said the memo for his case contains confidential personal information, including health records. Balter didnt immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Friday.

Mathews and Lemley pleaded guilty to charges including illegally transporting a firearm and obstruction of justice, for destroying cellphones when FBI agents raided their apartment.

Mathews pleaded guilty to four counts that carry a combined total of 50 years in prison. Lemley pleaded guilty to seven counts punishable by a maximum of 70 years.

None of the defendants faced terrorism-related charges, but prosecutors are seeking a so-called terrorism enhancement at sentencing that could lead to a significant increase in a prison term if U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang agrees to apply it.

The case against the three men charged in Maryland was part of a broader investigation of The Base. In January 2020, authorities in Georgia and Wisconsin arrested four other men linked to the group.
The hostile-attack headache keeps getting worse.

The successful ransomware attack on Kaseya, which reportedly has credit union clients, over the July 4 holiday raises new concerns, says Heath Stanley, director of virtual advisory services at Vala Secure, Plano, Texas.

It was an attack on a vendor linked to payment systems, he says, and thats a scarier vulnerability than an attack on a credit union, which is just an attack on an end point. The tech community is still trying to figure out how to deal with supply-chain breaches that occur when business suppliers are hit.

The bad guys are getting more sophisticated, picking more lucrative targets and investing in deeper reconnaissance, reports security consultant Jim Benlein, owner of KGS Consulting, Silverdale, Washington. The Kaseya attack is evidence of that strategy, he notes.
This is a monstrously ungrateful thing to say, but it was only 90 minutes into the new Bond movie when I started looking surreptitiously at my watch and asking myself: 'How much longer will this drivel go on?'

I say it's ungrateful because I'd been privileged to be asked to Tuesday night's media preview of No Time To Die, which made me one of the first people in the world to see the most eagerly awaited film of the millennium.

Indeed, there are countless fans all over the globe who would have given their eye teeth for my free ticket. Looking back, I only wish it had been bestowed on someone more appreciative.

Let me make it clear, right from the start, that what follows is most emphatically not a reflection on the quality of the film. In fact, I feel safe to say that those who like Bond movies will absolutely love this one.

I feel safe to say that those who like Bond movies will absolutely love No Time to Die. Pictured: Lashana Lynch, Daniel Craig and Lea Seydoux at the premiere on September 28

As the many rave reviews suggest, it has all the familiar ingredients of the classics  the thrilling car chases, gorgeous girls, sinister villains and wizard gadgetry  and quite a bit extra besides.

No, this column is simply a lament about a great sadness of growing older: at the age of 67, fast going on 68, I find that all too many experiences, which would once have thrilled and delighted me, are losing their power to move me. With a heavy heart, I discovered this week that Bond movies are among them.

Quite why I was invited to the preview, I don't know. I can only guess that it was because more than three decades ago, I served briefly as a film critic on a national Sunday newspaper.

Though I don't recall having written a word about a movie since then, I suppose my name must have remained on a list used by the PR people who act for the big distributors.

Anyway, for whatever reason, I have continued to receive occasional invitations to previews. But I've refused them all  until this week.

I made an exception for No Time To Die partly because this was more than a mere film release.

As the many rave reviews suggest, it has all the familiar ingredients of the classics and quite a bit extra besides. Pictured: Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas in a scene from No Time To Die

With the hopes of an entire industry riding on its success, after the devastation caused by lockdowns worldwide, this was a huge national and international news story. Not just a movie, but an Event with a capital E.

But my main reason for leaping at the chance to see it was that for most of my life I'd been a passionate devotee of everything Bond-related.

In my childhood, I read Ian Fleming's books with a special thrill, since they'd been banned by the headmaster of my boarding preparatory school, who deemed them too racy to be suitable reading for boys aged eight to 13.

We had to keep them hidden under the floorboards in the dorm, along with war mags and copies of Health and Efficiency, passing them around to be read by torchlight under the bedclothes after lights out. (My advice to teachers or parents who want to encourage their pupils to read a particular book is to tell them they mustn't.)

After the film franchise began, with Dr No in 1962, I looked forward to each new release with eager anticipation.

And though I always thought Sean Connery was by far the best Bond, just as William Hartnell was my definitive Doctor Who (how that dates me!), I hugely enjoyed every one of them.

I was such an avid fan that the possession I treasured most as a 12-year-old was the Corgi model of James Bond's Aston Martin DB5, complete with a working ejector seat, machine guns in the headlights and a set of instructions hidden in a secret compartment.

And so it was that on Tuesday evening, I arrived for the media viewing in Leicester Square (I wasn't asked to the A-list premiere at the Albert Hall, shown at the same time), expecting a real treat.

And, no, I didn't feel guilty that Mrs U wasn't asked. She has long found my love of Bond films utterly baffling, a clear case of arrested development.

Heightening the sense of occasion, I was instructed to put my mobile phone into a sealed plastic bag, presumably to prevent me from making a pirate copy of the film or breaking the midnight embargo on reviews.

I was then ushered towards a free bar, dispensing cocktails, wine and beer to my fellow thirsty hacks.

In years gone by, I would have helped myself liberally to the hospitality on offer.

But since I'd been warned that No Time To Die would last a full two hours and 43 minutes without a comfort break, as they say at Wimbledon, I avoided my preferred tipple of beer and accepted only a small glass of red to wash down my complimentary bag of 'James Bond Dry Martini gourmet popcorn'.

Ah, such are the indignities of ageing!

But my disappointment in the film had nothing to do with my bladder. So why was it that barely halfway through it, I was thinking 'this is just bloody silly' and longing for it to end?

After all, haven't 007 films always been bloody silly, with totally implausible, convoluted plots? Haven't Bond's enemies always been lousy shots, firing thousands of bullets at him without ever doing him serious harm? Haven't the jokes always been corny, and the villains ludicrously camp?

At the age of 67, I find too many experiences, which would once have thrilled and delighted me, are losing their power to move me, including Bond movies (pictured: Lashana Lynch)

Yet none of this ever bothered me before. Indeed, I lapped it all up, relishing every moment of nonsense from beginning to end.

Nor can I complain that the action sequences aren't up to scratch. Indeed, they surpass most of those in earlier Bond films (though in my book, nobody has ever filmed a car chase to compare with the famous stomach-heaving sequence in Bullitt, in which Steve McQueen's Ford Mustang hurtles up and down the hills of San Francisco).

No. Since I can find no exceptional fault with the acting, the direction, the script, the special effects or the superb cinematography, I am forced to reach the unhappy conclusion that the blame for my failure to enjoy No Time To Die rests entirely at my own door. Reader, I am simply too old for this sort of thing.

Of course, we all know that our tastes change as we grow older. In my early childhood, for example, I thought nothing in this world could be funnier than a whoopee cushion placed on the chair of a parent, grandmother or aunt.

As an undergraduate, I would laugh until my sides hurt and tears streamed down my cheeks with each new instalment of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

As a cub reporter in the late 1970s, I thought nothing more delicious than a Big Mac, except perhaps for a butterscotch Instant Whip.

These days, whoopee cushions and the Pythons leave me cold, while I find both Big Macs and Instant Whip a touch on the disgusting side.

And now, much to my grief, I suppose I must add Bond movies to the ever-lengthening list of experiences that once filled me with joy, but no longer hit the spot.

All I can say is that I appear to be in good company.

For if I have one quibble about No Time To Die, it is that throughout his performance, Daniel Craig gave the impression that he would much rather be in a weightier production.

Indeed, I found his much-praised efforts to bring depth and psychological realism to his character were merely incongruous in what was otherwise a confection of escapism for adolescent boys of all ages.

As he looks ahead to his next big performance, playing Macbeth on Broadway, I suspect that, like me, he has simply grown out of James Bond.
More thrilling news from space this week. As I write, a British-built spacecraft is about to start sending back pictures from Mercury, the closest planet to our Sun.

An impressive achievement but hard to see any immediate benefit to us.

Unlike the other big space news this week: the Government has announced that we now have a National Space Strategy.

For the first time, our civil and defence interests in space are being brought together.

The Government has recognised, in the words of Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, that space is now 'fundamental to the success of our Armed Forces'.

Indeed, he went further. It is also fundamental to our 'civilian, commercial and economic activity'.

In other words, everything we do.

Boris Johnson, never short of a boosterish boast, wants us to be a 'scientific superpower'.

You can see the logic. Without all those satellites competing with the stars in the night sky  almost 7,000 and counting  life as we've come to know it would simply be impossible.

And it's more than just satnavs replacing maps or the ludicrous Alexa telling us how to run our lives. Our defence system would be more vulnerable than a rabbit in a lion's cage.

Forget about tanks on the enemy's borders. The new frontier of defence is in space.

John Humphrys: Boris Johnson (pictured), never short of a boosterish boast, wants us to be a 'scientific superpower'

The Cold War ended nearly 30 years ago. The cyberwar is in its infancy. And the enemy has changed, too.

President Putin is more concerned with rigging elections to stay in power and adding a few more stolen billions to his vast fortune than he is with Russia running the world.

The new threat is China. And it's a very different threat from the one posed by nuclear missiles aimed at London or tanks crossing borders in Eastern Europe.

Not that China has held back from invading countries it regards as its own territory. Ask the people of Tibet.

Or the citizens of Taiwan, who watch the increasing level of Chinese military, political and economic pressure with growing fear.

But China has no interest in attacking the West. Nor does it fear an attack from the West.

In this new conflict, victory will not come from the barrel of a gun. It will come from influence. And influence is power.

China wants a free hand to use non-military means to expand its influence wherever it chooses in the world.

That will ensure its own survival and growing prosperity and enable it to spread its anti-democratic message.

That's why the Government is right to say our ability to compete in space is fundamental  it will protect us from being vulnerable to hideous blackmail.

The nuclear threat has been managed with that dreadful acronym MAD: mutually assured destruction. Cyberwarfare is the next threat.

Try picturing a nation without electricity because its digital network has been crippled. Unimaginable.

So now let's come down to earth.

We can confidently assume that Boris Johnson will make his usual overblown promises at the Tory party conference starting tomorrow.

John Humphrys: You can see the logic. Without all those satellites competing with the stars in the night sky  almost 7,000 and counting  life as we've come to know it would simply be impossible (file photo)

But surely this nation is more than capable of resisting any blackmail threats from the Chinese? Don't we have some of the finest scientists and engineers in the world?

Of course we do.

Don't we have some great factories more than capable of exploiting the latest technology and delivering the goods?

Of course we do.

What we lack is competence at the highest levels in the defence department.

Year after year, the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee have published report after report lacerating the department for failing to get a grip on procurement  and wasting endless billions of taxpayers' money in the process.

The most recent competitor in this hotly contested field of the worst procurement failures in the department's history is the new Ajax light tank (cost: 3.5 billion).

It is such a disaster that soldiers have not even been able to test it properly to see how it works.

Or if it works at all. Last month the defence ministry was forced to admit that 310 soldiers who'd tried it out had to get medical help for hearing loss, back spasms and joint pains.

And even if they could drive it safely it would be next to useless. Tanks have to fire at things while they are racing along, right? Not the Ajax. It has trouble firing even at very slow speeds.

Oh, and it can't reverse over obstacles more than 20cm high. So at least it will confuse the enemy, even if it can't actually attack them.

But the grotesque waste of money spent on the Ajax is modest compared with the vast sums spent on our two new aircraft carriers, one of which has yet to be deployed (cost: 6 billion).

Perhaps if we had actually needed aircraft carriers it might have been money well spent. Or if we'd had the planes to fly from them. Or if they'd been able to protect themselves from enemy attack.

But none of those 'perhaps' conditions applied.

No serious defence analysts thought we needed them  even if we'd had the planes to fly from them.

We had to spend another fortune buying F35s from the States. But they themselves turned out to be a flop. In the words of the most senior U.S. Air Force officer, they 'failed to achieve their goals'.

And if, God forbid, we were ever to send the Queen Elizabeth carrier into action against the Chinese, they'd be able to sink it with a missile long before the useless F35s had managed to take off.

John Humphrys: One of the worst procurement failures in the department's history is the new Ajax light tank (cost: 3.5 billion). It is such a disaster that soldiers have not even been able to test it properly to see how it works (Pictured: Ajax tank)

If the phrase 'couldn't run a whelk stall' comes to your mind, you are not alone.

Maybe what this shameful catalogue of procurement failures tells us is that we shouldn't bother.

According to our Nato allies across the channel, we are merely a 'fifth wheel' when it comes to the defence of the democratic West.

Of course we need space defences, but why not face reality and franchise off our space defences to the Americans?

There are already nearly 3,500 active satellites up there and the U.S. has nearly 2,000 of them. We have seven. Until three years ago we didn't have a single spy satellite.

That might deprive Boris Johnson of his 'scientific superpower' boast, but it would save the nation an awful lot of money.

And it's not as if we don't have plenty of things to spend it on.

Half a million? Well that IS a high roller...

Readers of a certain age may (just) remember the poster. It showed a Tommy in full battle kit in 1940, one hand holding his rifle, the other raised in a 'stop' sign.

The caption: 'Is your journey really necessary?'

We could have used a few of those posters outside our petrol stations this past week.

We're not at war but it's starting to feel like it. Then again, maybe we are at war.

That's what the well-meaning idiots who are trying to stop us going places would argue. A war to save the planet. Or at least make a contribution.

And now yet another outfit has piled in with its own contribution  and you'll definitely remember them.

They're called Rolls-Royce and they have unveiled plans to launch their first electric car. It's named the Spectre (shades of James Bond  how timely).

The company's chief executive says it is the 'most significant' announcement since Mr Rolls met Mr Royce in a Manchester hotel almost 120 years ago and they decided to make a car.

Mr Rolls had already given some thought as to whether it should be electric. He'd seen one in America. But the two decided it would not be 'very serviceable  at least for many years to come'. Well now, it seems, it is very serviceable.

Indeed, it's already trundling around our roads, heavily disguised of course, before its launch. Though maybe 'trundling' is a shade disrespectful. They say it's so quiet you can hear its clock tick.

You'd hope so, for the price. A cool half a million. Mind you, you'll be able to pick up a more humble version for a mere 300,000.

A small price to pay to save the planet. Then again, we could simply stay at home more. Perhaps the journey really isn't necessary.
Celebrities share the stories behind their favourite photos. This week it's Have I Got News For You's Ian Hislop, 61.

Ian Hislop, 61, (pictured) shared the stories behind a selection of his favourite photographs

1968: This was taken as I set off for boarding school at Ardingly College in West Sussex, aged eight. I was thinking, 'This jacket is enormous. Presumably I'm meant to grow into it.' By then, because of my father's work as a civil engineer, I'd lived in Kuwait, Hong Kong, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, where I went to the same school as Osama Bin Laden. For Easter holidays I'd fly out to Hong Kong. It was quite glamorous

1977: Here I am in the sixth form  look at my hair! I was head boy, which a lot of people find remarkable, it's not very rebellious but they mistake the nature of school life. I think learning what you can get away with and navigating the system is a great life skill. I had a brilliant teacher, Colin Temblett-Wood, who encouraged us to edit the school magazine and put on shows

1986: While I was at Oxford I interviewed the editor of Private Eye, Richard Ingrams, for the student magazine. I started sending stuff in to Private Eye and, just before my finals, I got a piece in and then I just hung around, became a regular contributor and when I was 26, extraordinarily, Richard [pictured] decided to hand me the magazine to edit. He was an absolutely brilliant editor and set the template for the magazine. I'm incredibly grateful to him

1989: Peter Cook was a dream proprietor at Private Eye. During cases against us, Peter would come along and if it was going badly, we'd go out for a liquid lunch. I regularly said to him, 'I'm terribly sorry, Peter. I think I've bankrupted the magazine,' and he'd go, 'Great. What's next?' This photo was taken after the appeal court reduced from 600,000 to 60,000 the damages that had been awarded against us in the infamous case of serial killer Peter Sutcliffe's wife Sonia suing us for libel

1992: I love this photo, which epitomises the nature of Have I Got News For You; I'm seriously reading the paper while Paul Merton [above right, with then host Angus Deayton] is sticking up two fingers behind my head. My mother watched us film the pilot. Afterwards, I said, 'What did you think?' She said, 'Oh, well, never mind.' I had no idea it would be the success it has been, going for 31 years so far

1999: Harry Enfield is terrific. Nick Newman and I have written a huge amount with him over the years, and we created the character Tim Nice But Dim for him. We also got him to play Tony Blair, as if he was a vicar [above], which I think along with Prince Charles in The Windsors are his defining impersonations. Off screen Harry's very modest and quiet. He came on HIGNFY once, but said he wouldn't return  he didn't like being himself

2006: I met comic actor John Sessions and wrote sketches for him in my first years in London  here we are at an event together. He was the funniest person I've ever met, along with Peter Cook, and was always the star attraction of the annual Private Eye live shows. At my 50th birthday he gave a speech about how I was recruited by the Chinese Secret Service when I lived in Hong Kong, and had spent my entire life as a sleeper. It was nuts, one of the funniest things I've heard

2007: My wife Victoria and I met at Oxford, where we both did English, and have been married for 33 years now which people say is an extraordinary length of time. But nearly everything I do tends to be long term  I've been at the Eye for 35 years and with Have I Got News For You for 31 years. This was taken at the British Book Awards where she won Newcomer of the Year for her global bestselling first novel The Island

As told to Nick McGrath. Private Eye: The 60 Yearbook is out now. The Private Eye Annual 2021 will be published on 21 October, 9.99.
Emma Weymouth looked sensational last night in a black slip dress as she joined her husband for a glamorous night out in London.

The Marchioness of Bath, 35, donned an elegant slip dress featuring a thigh high slit and bejewelled layering as she stepped out in Soho with Ceawlin, Viscount Weymouth, 8th Marquess of Bath.

The pair attended the Annabel's For The Amazon fundraiser, an event held at the private members club which sees the Mayfair venue don a tropical make-over to raise awareness of the deforestation crisis.

She was joined at the event,held in partnership with The Caring Family Foundation for One Tree Planted, by a host of A-list celebrities including British rapper Tinie Tempah.

Emma Weymouth looked sensational last night in a black slip dress as she joined her husband for a glamorous night out in London

The Marchioness of Bath, 35, donned an elegant slip dress featuring a thigh high slit and bejewelled layering as she stepped out in Soho with Ceawlin, Viscount Weymouth, 8th Marquess of Bath

As part of the green-carpet fundraiser, organisers at the Soho private members club have made a commitment to plant one million trees in the Amazon by the end of March 2023.

Keeping her look simple, Emma teamed her stylish look with a pair of killer silver glittery heels and a pair of geometric silver earrings.

She donned a red manicure while her brown tresses were styled in a sophisticated slicked back fashion.

The mother-of-two opted for a light make-up look with a light dab of foundation and highlighter to emphasise her dewy skin, layering dark and glittery shadow on her eyes.

She was joined at the event,held in partnership with The Caring Family Foundation for One Tree Planted, by a host of A-list celebrities including British rapper Tinie Tempah

She was pictured sharing a sweet moment with her husband of eight years in the taxi as the pair left the swanky event yesterday evening

Ceawlin looked sharp, opting for a smart casual look in a black suit with an open collar white shirt and no tie.

At the high-profile event she posed with rapper Tinie, real name Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu, who donned a pink velvet blazer paired with a white shirt and no tie.

She was pictured sharing a sweet moment with her husband of eight years in the taxi as the pair left the swanky event yesterday evening.

Emma's appearance comes after the Strictly Come Dancing star returned to the UK after attending the nuptials of her friend Lady Kitty Spencer in Italy followed by a short break in France with her children.

Keeping her look simple, Emma teamed her stylish look with a pair of killer silver glittery heels and a pair of geometric silver earrings

The mother-of-two opted for a light make-up look with a light dab of foundation and highlighter to emphasise her dewy skin, layering dark and glittery shadow on her eyes

The pair are pictured leaving the Annabel's For The Amazon fundraiser, an event held at the private members club which sees the Mayfair venue don a tropical make-over to raise awareness of the deforestation crisis

She jetted to Italy to attend a slew of events hosted by Dolce & Gabbana last month and appeared to be making the most of the idyllic city as she went exploring with her good friend Alessandro Egger.

The hunk, 29, who is in a relationship with Italian model Madalina Doroftei, shared a snap on Instagram showing himself and Emma posing up a storm by the water.

Of their time together, a source told The Sun: 'Alessandro is a hot property on the fashion scene and has a stunning girlfriend in Italy and, of course, Emma is married.

'But while she's been in Venice, they have been stepping out with each other and enjoying the city together.'

Ceawlin looked sharp, opting for a smart casual look in a black suit with an open collar white shirt and no tie

The pair are pictured leaving the green-carpet fundraiser, which saw organisers at the Soho private members club have made a commitment to plant one million trees in the Amazon by the end of March 2023

There is no suggestion Emma and Alessandro are romantically involved, with fashion insiders telling the publication the pair are just 'good friends'.

MailOnline contacted Emma and Alessandro's representatives for comment at the time.

Emma's father-in-law Alexander Thynn died from Covid-19 in April, making her husband the Marquess of Bath in April, and inheriting the estate Longleat, which is famous for being the first drive-through safari park outside of Africa.

Emma has been married to Viscount Weymouth since June 2013, with the couple sharing sons John, five, and Henry, three.

On her wedding day Emma became the first black marchioness in British history.

The mum-of-two, pictured leaving the swanky event in a taxi, donned a red manicure while her brown tresses were styled in a sophisticated slicked back fashion

Emma's appearance comes after the Strictly Come Dancing star returned to the UK after attending the nuptials of her friend Lady Kitty Spencer in Italy

Yet in Novemeber Emma said she doesn't want her skin colour to be a 'defining characteristic' and is a reluctant role model after becoming Britain's first black marchioness.

Emma starred on the cover of Tatler's January 2021 issue and opened up about her family's wildly ambitious plans for Longleat, their Wiltshire estate.

While Emma, the daughter of a Nigerian oil tycoon, is deeply respectful of her new title, she is a reluctant role model, according to the society magazine.

'Where I have been discussed in a positive light, as positive change, I'm grateful for being included in the conversation,' she said.

'I see my role as a practical thing: as a wife, mother and someone with a responsibility to maintain this incredible estate. I aspire to a future where [my skin colour] is not a defining characteristic.'
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Russia today held its first royal wedding since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution toppled the Romanov monarchy, with royals from across Europe attending the lavish ceremony.

The Russian Grand Duke George Romanov, 40, announced his engagement to his long term Italian girlfriend Rebecca Bettarini, 39, after a Christmas proposal and today, the couple said their vows at the Saint Isaac's cathedral in the former imperial capital Saint Petersburg in the presence of dozens of royals.

The bride donned a stunning white satin gown which featured a high neck, long sleeves and a billowing skirt, as well as a glittering diamond tiara, which was designed by Chaumet, official jeweller to Empress Josephine and Napoleon.

A tribute to the St Petersburg naval base, the piece was created to evoke the volume of a sail blown by the wind.

Hundreds of foreign guests travelled to the second city for the religious ceremony, including Queen Sofia of Spain, Prince Rudolph and Princess Tilsim of Liechtenstein, and the former king and queen of Bulgaria, while mother-of-the groom Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna was resplendent in a blue fur-trimmed ensemble as she proudly watched her son tie the knot.

After the religious ceremony, the bride changed into a fairytale-inspired second wedding dress embellished with crystals to continue the celebrations at an evening gala, held at the Russian Museum of Ethnography.

Grand Duke George Romanov, 40, has tied the knot with his long term Italian girlfriend Rebecca Bettarini, 39, in Saint Petersburg today

The bride later changed into a second stunning gown, a fairytale crystal embellished gown, with a satin coat featuring statement puffed sleeves over the top, as she arrived for the evening gala at the Russian Museum of Ethnography on the arm of her diplomat father Roberto Bettarini

Victoria Romanovna Bettarini accompanied by her father, Roberto Bettarini, arrives to attend a dinner after her wedding with Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov in Saint Petersburg

The bride donned a stunning white satin gown which featured a high neck, long sleeves and a billowing skirt, as well as a glittering diamond tiara

Glowing with pride! Mother-of-the-groom Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia cut a resplendent figure in a blue jacet and headpiece with fur trim

Quick change! After wearing a blue skirt and coat to the religious ceremony, the mother of the groom Duchess Maria Vladimirovna changed into a golden gown with rich floral embroidery and wrapped up in a fur stole for the evening festivities

he wedding of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia, a descendant of the Romanov dynasty, and Rebecca (Victoria) Bettarini of Italy at St Isaac's Cathedral

The bride donned a stunning white satin gown which featured a high neck, long sleeves and a billowing skirt, as well as a glittering diamond tiara, which was designed by Chaumet, official jeweller to Empress Josephine and Napoleon

After the religious ceremony, the bride changed into a fairytale-inspired second wedding dress (pictured with her father Roberto) embellished with crystals to continue the celebrations at an evening gala at the Russian Museum of Ethnography

A cake mockup is delivered at the Russian Museum of Ethnography for a reception marking the wedding of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia, a descendant of the Romanov dynasty, and Rebecca (Victoria) Bettarini of Italy

Romanov said that the couple chose the city as the venue for tying the knot because it was the first place in the country where the family returned in the early 1990s

Rebecca Bettarini and father Roberto Bettarini Gala for the imperial wedding of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov of Russia and Rebecca Bettarini

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia, a descendant of the Romanov dynasty, is seen prior to a reception at the Russian Museum of Ethnography marking his wedding

Rebecca Bettarini of Italy is accompanied by her father, diplomat Roberto Bettarini prior to a reception at the Russian Museum of Ethnography

Hundreds of foreign guests travelled to the second city for the religious ceremony, including Queen Sofia of Spain , Prince Rudolph and Princess Tilsim of Liechtenstein, and the former king and queen of Bulgaria

Couple said their vows at the Saint Isaac's cathedral in the former imperial capital Saint Petersburg in the presence of dozens of royals

Tense moment: The groom couldn't completely hide his nerves as he stood with clenched fists at the top of the aisle, awaiting his bride (left). Glowing with pride: The groom's mother Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna (right) beamied with happiness as she arrived for the ceremony in a fur-trimmed ensemble

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov Gala for the imperial wedding of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov of Russia and Rebecca Bettarini

Russia Federation Council member Lyudmila Narusova arrives for a reception marking the wedding of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia, a descendant of the Romanov dynasty, and Rebecca Bettarini of Italy

Rebecca Bettarini and father Roberto Bettarini Gala for the imperial wedding of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov of Russia and Rebecca Bettarini

Joachim Murat, Prince of Pontecorvo, a member of the Bonaparte-Murat family, and his wife Yasmine Lorraine Briki arrive for a reception at the Russian Museum of Ethnography

Democrat Youth Community of Europe (DEMYC) Chairman Javier Hurtado Mira and his date arrive for the reception at the Russian Museum of Ethnography

Meanwhile bridesmaids at the event opted for a velvet green dress with medieval style puff sleeves (pictured together)

Meanwhile bridesmaids at the event opted for a velvet green dress with medieval style puff sleeves.

Romanov said that the couple chose the city as the venue for tying the knot because it was the first place in the country where the family returned in the early 1990s.

'It is very, very close to our family,' he told the Saint Petersburg-based news website Fontanka ahead of the wedding.

Saint Petersburg is 'the history of Russia,' he added, 'the history of the House of Romanov.'

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov Gala for the imperial wedding of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov of Russia and Rebecca Bettarini (left). All that glitters! The groom's mother donned a diamond tiara for the evening festivities as she arrived on the arm of a male companion (right)

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia, a descendant of the Romanov dynasty, is seen prior to a reception at the Russian Museum of Ethnography marking his wedding

RebeccaBettarini of Italy is accompanied by her father, diplomat Roberto Bettarini to a reception at the Russian Museum of Ethnography marking her wedding with Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia,

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia, a descendant of the Romanov dynasty, is seen prior to a reception at the Russian Museum of Ethnography marking his wedding in Saint Petersburg, on October 1

Russia held its first royal wedding on October 1 since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution toppled the Romanov monarchy, with royals coming to attend the wedding of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov and Rebecca Virginia Bettarini

A cake mockup is delivered at the Russian Museum of Ethnography for a reception marking the wedding of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia, a descendant of the Romanov dynasty, and Rebecca (Victoria) Bettarini of Italy

Viktoria Shelyagova is seen prior to a reception at the Russian Museum of Ethnography on October 1

Rebecca (Victoria) Bettarini of Italy is accompanied by her father, diplomat Roberto Bettarini prior to a reception at the Russian Museum of Ethnography marking her wedding

Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza and Isabel de Heredia Gala for the imperial wedding of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov of Russia and Rebecca Bettarini at St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg

Count of Ampudia, Borja Casans y Castillejo de Arteaga, and his wife Alejandra Castellanos Tassara arrive for the reception at the Russian Museum of Ethnography

Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia is accompanied by her Chancellery Advisor Kirill Nemirovich-Danchenko for the reception

Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza and Isabel de Heredia Gala attend the imperial wedding of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov of Russia and Rebecca Bettarini

Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza and Isabel de Heredia Gala attend the imperial wedding of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov of Russia and Rebecca Bettarini

Albania's pretender to the throne, Crown Prince Leka Zogu II, the grandson of self-proclaimed King Zog and his wife Elia Zaharia arrive to attend the evening gala dinner (left). The beaming bride: Rebecca Bettarini looked stunning in an embellished bridal gown with a tulle skirt as she made her way into the evening reception (right)

Ready to party! The Grand Duchess cut a striking figure in a green and blue gown, accessorising with a fur stole, a glittering tiara and a sparkling clutch bag

Proud papa! The bride looked glamorous in a second wedding dress and puff sleeved jacket as her father led her into the evening reception, while passers-by stopped to admire her look

Former Bulgarian King Simeon II and his wife Margarita arrive to attend a dinner during the wedding of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov, and Victoria Romanovna Bettarin

Here comes the bride! Rebecca donned another glittering tiara for the evening celebrations

It was no wonder that the wedding was a star-studded affair, with George related to royal families from across the world.

Born in Madrid, Romanov is the son of Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna Romanova, the self-proclaimed heir to Russia's imperial throne.

She is the granddaughter of Grand Duke Kirill, a cousin of Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar who was executed along with his wife and five children by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

And the mother-of-the groom certainly looked bursting with pride today as she attended the nuptials, sweeping into the church in a blue coat trimmed with rich brown fur, with a matching hat perched on top of her brown hair.

The Metropolitan Varsonofy of St Petersburg and Ladoga during the wedding of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia

Family ties: The father-of-the bride (left) took his place near the groom's mother Grand Duchess Maria after walking his daughter down the aisle

After the ceremony, the couple shared an intimate moment in their wedding car as the Duke kissed Rebecca's hand (left and right)

The Grand Duke could be seen waving to the crowds as he held hands with his new bride and drove away from the wedding venue

The couple were greeted by a crowd and media who snapped pictures of the newlyweds moments after they tied the knot

The newlyweds shared a kiss as they walked down the steps of St Isaac's Cathedral in the city after the ceremony today

Rebecca beamed widely as she waved to crowds waiting outside the cathedral shortly after the wedding with Grand Duke George

Rebecca and Grand Duke George Romanov beamed as they walked out of the cathedral arm-in-arm after tying the knot

Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia, mother of Grand Duke George congratulated Rebecca moments after the pair married

Romanov said that the couple chose the city as the venue for tying the knot because it was the first place in the country where the family returned in the early 1990s

Helping hand! Guests fixed the bride's elaborate train while she posed for photos with her new husband after the wedding ceremony

Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia arrives at St Isaac's Cathedral for her son's wedding. The mother-of-the groom carried a small box clutch to complement her fur trimmed outfit

A modern revisiting of the form of the traditional Russian kokoshnik, the Lacis tiara The Lacis tiara, recently created by Chaumet, rises to evoke the volume of a sail blown by the wind. It was designed as a tribute to the St Petersburg naval base, where Grand Duke George Mikhailovich, Romanov heir, serves. This High Jewellery creation is set with two diamonds of exceptional clarity: an oval diamond of 5.02 carats and a pear-shaped diamond of 2.21 carats, enhanced by 438 pave diamonds (totalling 27.03 carats). The visual effect is one of lightness, the result of the white gold mesh mounting made using the fil couteau technique, a virtuosity emblematic of the Maison, which appears to make the metal vanish in order to let the stones shine. It was crafted by Chaumet, the official jeweller to Empress Josephine and Napoleon. The brand has distinguished itself in the art of the tiara, a sovereign jewel par excellence, and counted several members of the House of Romanov among its historical clientele. Grand Duchess Vladimir, great-great-grandmother of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich, was a loyal Chaumet client. Her spectacular waterfall tiara from 1911 is a standout, as is the sunburst tiara created in 1914 for the wedding of Princess Irina Yusupova, niece of Tsar Nicholas II. Advertisement

The Romanovs enjoyed a life of seemingly endless prosperity and ruled of a sixth of the surface of the Earth in the early 20th century.

Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until he was forced to abdicate after the February Revolution of 1917.

He and his family were imprisoned by the Bolsheviks and executed the next year.

It was a time of social upheaval, war and brewing discontent that would ultimately lead to the fall of the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty.

The family was canonised by the Orthodox Church in 2000 as martyrs.

His ancestors also include Emperor Alexander II of Russia, and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.

He is also distantly related to the British royal family, and is the great-great-great-great grandson of Nicholas II of Russia, who was cousins with Britain's George V, and Alexandra Fedorovna, who was Queen Victorias granddaughter.

Meanwhile he is also the godson of Don Juan Carlos and Dona Sofia , King Constantine of Greece, and King Simeon of Bulgaria - his christening was held in May 1981 in Madrid.

Romanov, who graduated from Oxford and spent much of his life in France, met Bettarini in Brussels, where he worked in the European Parliament.

Bettarini converted to the Orthodox faith last year and changed her name to Victoria Romanovna.

Romanov also held jobs at Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel before moving to Russia three years ago.

The couple met as youngsters, with Rebecca often accompanying her father to official receptions where they crossed paths.

Later, they both started working in international companies and met again at a reception at the French embassy in Brussels.

After living in Belgium for six years, the couple moved to Russia, where he works as a lawyer, and she works as a writer.

The couple first lived in the Moscow suburbs before relocating to the city centre next to the Kremlin.

Now Romanov works on several charity projects.

Romanov said he believes European and Russian royals could help Moscow and the West mend fraying ties.

'I think that we can be ambassadors of goodwill.'

Rebecca, who is the daughter of Italian Ambassador Roberto Bettarini, shared the news of the couple's engagement on her own Instagram page, writing: 'A new chapter of our life book together is starting. As a writer I hope that the journey ahead will be full of love, suspense and adventure as the first part of our life book was.'

Russian politician Lyudmila Narusova was among the guests at the wedding (left). Many seemed wowed by their surroundings as they waited for the ceremony to begin (right)

Foreign royals in attendance at the event in Russia today included former Queen Margarita and Duke Duarte of Braganza (pictured left and right)

Rebecca waved to crowds as she and her father arrived at the venue (left). Later she joined her husband at the altar for the ceremony (right)

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov and Victoria Romanovna Bettarini attend their wedding ceremony at the Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, on October 1

Victoria and Grand Duke George looked overjoyed after exchanging vows in the ceremony earlier today (pictured)

The pair were surrounded by friends and family as they walked down the aisle at the wedding at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg

The bridal party, dressed in velvet green and orange gowns, could be seen carrying the lengthy train and veil of the gown (pictured)

Crowds gathered outside the venue to wish the bride well as she arrived at the event with her father Roberto (pictured)

Victoria Romanovna Bettarini arrives accompanied by her father, Roberto, or her wedding ceremony with Grand Duke George Mikhailovich

Russian lawyer and politician Pavel Astakhov and wife Svetlana were among the guests who attended the big event in the city today (left, and right, guests await the ceremony with excitement)

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov could be seen smiling as he arrived for his wedding ceremony to Victoria Romanovna Bettarini at St. Isaac's Cathedral

Guests opted for extravagant velvet gowns and over-the-top fascinators and headpieces as they arrived at the ceremony in the city earlier today

The couple said their vows at the Saint Isaac's cathedral in the former imperial capital Saint Petersburg in the presence of dozens of royals

Posting another snap alongside her beloved, Rebecca shared: 'We are thrilled to finally share the news of our engagement with you! Thank you for your loving words.'

He proposed with a diamond and ruby ring, inspired by the rings formerly worn by the tsars in the colors of the Russian flag, which had been given to him by his mother at the age of 18.

In the statement from the Chancellery of the head of the Russian House of Imperia, it was explained that the future wife of the Tsarevich - title of crown prince, hereditary pretender to the throne - has converted to the Orthodox faith with the name of Victoria Romanova.

The Russian Grand Duke George Romanov married his long term girlfriend Rebecca in a lavish ceremony later today after a Christmas proposal

The couple met as youngsters, with Rebecca often accompanying her father to official receptions where they crossed paths. Later, they both started working in international companies and met again at a reception at the French embassy in Brussels (pictured together)

The 39-year-old son of Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia proposed to Italian lobbyist and writer Rebecca in December, after asking her parents for their blessing

Rebecca shared snaps alongside the Grand Duke on her Instagram page, and said she was looking forward to a life of 'love, suspense and adventure'
The owner of the Hyde Park Stables, where royalty and Hollywood A-listers went to ride and socialise, has died of Covid-19 complications aged 76.

Richard 'Dick' Briggs, a property developer, and his wife of 30 years Basia, owned Hyde Park Stables, the equestrian haunt of royals and the beau monde, for years before selling it off in 2018.

But Dick had a humble beginning in life - he was left in an London orphanage as an 18-month-old, and later abandoned by his adoptive parents when they moved to New Zealand without him.

He worked as a window cleaner and bouncer before returning to hsi love of horses, renting, and later buying, Hyde Park Stables.

His clients ranged from celebrities like Jean-Claude Van Damme and Kate Moss to Pierce Brosnan and Martina Navratilova, while the couple were also close to several royals - including Princess Michael of Kent and Sarah Ferguson.

Dick, who was awarded an OBE for his work, died earlier this month from complications of Covid-19.

Richard 'Dick' Briggs, a property developer, and his wife of 30 years Basia, owned Hyde Park Stables, the equestrian haunt of royals and the beau monde, for years before selling it off in 2018

His clients ranged from celebrities like Jean-Claude Van Damme and Kate Moss to Pierce Brosnan and Martina Navratilova, while the couple were also close to several royals - including Princess Michael of Kent and Sarah Ferguson (pictured, with the Queen Mother)

Born James Whiteley in Lincolnshire in 1944, Dick was the son of James and his married lover Doris Green.

However after Doris' husband returned from war service, the couple reconciled and Dick was abandoned.

Doria tried to resist, with Dick living with the couple until he was 18-months-old. It was then she placed him in an orphanage in Bethnal Green, east London.

His wife later was able to locate Doris, but Dick never wanted to know.

He was adopted from the orphanage at the age of four by Harriet and Leonard Briggs, a middle-aged couple from Barkingside.

The couple worked in domestic service: she was a cook and he a handyman and renamed their son Richard.

His wife Basia has recalled how he was a 'beefy, dangerous-looking man' and 'dressed like a spiv in a bomber jacket and a half-undone shirt' with a scorpion necklace

But it wasn't long before the situation soured, with Dick proving to be a wild child and difficult teenager.

His adoptive parents eventually abandoned him as well, leaving him behind as they emigrated to New Zealand.

Dick moved away from London, spending his childhood at school in Somerset, where he first learnt to ride.

After leaving school, he became a window cleaner and moved to Stoke-on-Trent.

There he set up an industrial cleaning company, before settling in London.

It was then he returned to his love of horses, working as a bouncer to make ends meet while he rented Hyde Park Stables.

London's famous Hyde Park Stables has been bought by equestrian Mandy Hall

It has long been described as the equestrian equivalent of the Ivy restaurant.

The stables, which opened in 1835, is situated on the north side of Hyde Park on the site of a former brothel.

He told the Evening Standard: ''We have all kinds of people coming here to ride.

'Groups of London schoolchildren whose parents think they're being deprived of the experience of country life by bringing them up in London, genuine hunting people who need a bit of a ride to keep in trim, and occasional riders and tourists who enjoy the contrast with city life.'

He married briefly, welcoming two children from which he is now estranged, before meeting Basia.

She was the daughter of a Polish-born aristocrat and had fled to the UK after escaping an abusive marriage in Australia.

The property developer began running the stables in 1974, with some comparing it to the Ivy restaurant in terms of high end clientle

According to The Times, she said the pair were introduced through a mutual friend, revealing: 'Olga was doing her make-up when the doorbell rang, and I opened the door to find a beefy, dangerous-looking man leaning against the frame.

'He was dressed like a spiv in a bomber jacket and a half-undone shirt.

'Nestling in his chest hair was a large scorpion medallion. As I listened to him talking about how to control fights, I thought, 'Golly, this alarming man is just what I need'.'

Dick invited Basia for lunch at his flat, and three days later, the couple moved in with each other.

They were married in 1981, with Basia encouraging her husband to buy Hyde Park Stables instead of renting it.

She also worked to improve Dick's appearance, helping him eat well and dressing in suits.

Dick invited Basia for lunch at his flat, and three days later, the couple moved in with each other (pictured, together in 2014)

Over the years, his clients included a multitude of celebrities and royals, including Kevin Kline, who learnt to ride for the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely in 2004, and Paul Nicholls, who trained for the TV series Gunpower, Treason and Plot.

Others included Kate Moss and Courtney Love, who enjoyed the experience so much that she tipped every member of staff.

He maintained a close relationship with several members of the royal family, including the Queen's Mother.

So much so in fact, he said he refused to employ James Hewitt, because he had talked about his relationship with Princess Diana.

Basia once told Daily Mail it was 'raining royals' in London.

She is a good friend of The Duchess of York, who, despite her divorce 21 years ago from Prince Andrew, amicably shares a home  Royal Lodge, Windsor  with the Queens second son.

But clearly the Queen Mother was a favourite, with Basia revealing in a 2017 interview: She was going to the races in heels at 100, and she never let anyone see her in her glasses.

They were married in 1981, with Basia encouraging her husband to buy Hyde Park Stables instead of renting it. She also worked to improve Dick's appearance, helping him eat well and dressing in suits (pictured)

She also recalled a pleasant afternoon more than 20 years ago with Donald Trump. He was over-effusive  he told me I was great and terrific. He rode perfectly well  in the British style.

'You can go riding surrounded by all these trees and the Serpentine,' Dick told TheMail on Sunday. 'Some people come back from a ride almost stoned by the experience.'

Meanwhile he was thoroughly involved with the goings-on of the park, leading calls for the restorations of Rotten Row and helping to create the Queen Elizabeth Gate in 1993.

He also helped Liberty Drives, an initiative to provide volunteer-driven electric buggies for touring the park.

He told the Evening Standard: 'Horses are great big furry stress relievers. You should have horses in every school in the country - think about them as tools for rehabilitation.'

He sold Hyde Park Stables in 2018 after a furious bidding war.

Dick sold the London landmark in 2018 after a furious bidding war and the couple retired from work (pictured in 2018)

The London landmark, which was on the market for 1.75 million, now has a new owner, following the conclusion of a bidding war involving the Duke of Beaufort's eldest son, the Marquess of Worcester, and a prospective overseas buyer.

The winning bid came not from 30-year-old Bobby Worcester, who was recruited to work for ebullient hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey two years ago, or from any Gulf state potentate, but from equestrian Mandy Hall.

Her daughter, Jodie Hall-McAteer, 19, is one of Team GB's most promising young show-jumpers.

Basia, whose memoir, Mother Anguish, recounted how her first marriage ended when her husband was seduced by her Polish mother, is thrilled that the stables will still be used for sporting purposes.

'I am just delighted to have sold to someone who loves horses,' she told Richard Eden, though perfectly aware that she and Dick could have pocketed three times as much if the building had been sold for development.

Sadly, Dick caught Covid-19 earlier this year. Having been discharged from hospital into a care home, he broke out during the night and demanded to be taken home to Chelsea.
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Princess Beatrice's husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi has announced their baby daughter is called Sienna Elizabeth, in a touching tribute to the Queen.

Beatrice, 33, the oldest daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, gave birth to a baby girl weighing 6lbs 2oz at 11.42pm on Saturday 18 September at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, in London.

Posting an image of the baby's footprints on Instagram today, Edoardo wrote: 'Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi. Our life together has just begun, and I can't wait to see all the amazing things that await us.

'Feeling so much love and gratitude for my amazing wife, baby Sienna and Wolfie. These are the days I never want to forget. This week, a friend said to me the sweetest saying.that with every child you grow a whole new heart.'

'A massive thank you to the Midwife and the amazing team at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.'

Later, the official royal family social media page posted the same image, with the caption reading: 'The couple have said, 'We are all doing well and Wolfie is the best big brother to Sienna.'

Sienna is an Italian name, likely to have been chosen because of Edo's roots, but Elizabeth is a touching tribute to Beatrice's grandmother the Queen.

Although her mother is a princess, Sienna, who is the Queen's 12th great-grandchild, will not have a royal title. Only grandchildren of the monarch through the male line are automatically entitled to the styling of HRH. This means she will be plain Miss Mapelli Mozzi. The Queen could bestow a title on her great-grandchild if desired, but it is unlikely to be asked for.

While Beatrice tends to keep a low profile, she has been seen several times out and about in London over the summer, including attending Wimbledon with Edo in July.

The new arrival has brought joy to the royal family amid the legal wranglings over the US civil sexual assault lawsuit faced by Beatrice's father, Prince Andrew.





The name announcement came after Prince Andrew swept into Windsor Castle last night to meet the baby for the first time with the legal row over whether he had sex with one of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein's young slaves rumbling on today.





Princess Beatrice 's husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi has announced their baby daughter is called Sienna Elizabeth (pictured, the image he shared on Instagram earlier today)

Beatrice, 33, the oldest daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, gave birth to a baby girl weighing 6lbs 2oz at 11.42pm on Saturday 18 September at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, in London, Buckingham Palace announced. Pictured, the couple at Wimbledon in July

Chelsea and Westminster is an NHS hospital but houses the private Kensington maternity wing, which charges a starting price of 7,450 for a 'platinum vaginal delivery package' and 9,050 for a 'platinum elective or emergency section package'. The price includes meals and accommodation for the partner and a private room for the first night post delivery.

Buckingham Palace refused to comment on whether Beatrice was admitted to the Kensington Wing. It is understood she has since been discharged and returned to the St James's Palace apartment she shares with Edo, 38.

The baby is the Queen's 12th great-grandchild and 11th in line to the throne. Her Majesty was said to be 'delighted with the news', the palace announced in a statement.

Meanwhile Eugenie said she was over the moon for the couple, writing: 'Beabea and Edo, congratulations on your new angel. I can't wait to meet her and I'm so proud of you. We're going to have so much fun watching our children grow up. Love Euge.'

Princess Eugenie led the royal family in congratulating her sister Princess Beatrice after she welcomed her first child with husband Edoardo

Posting on Instagram, Eugenie wrote a gushing message to her sister, brother-in-law and their new daughter, calling the newborn 'an angel'

A fashionable Beatrice enjoyed two evenings out in a row in Mayfair, (pictured left, on Tuesday, and right on Wednesday), shortly before the birth of her baby girl on Saturday

The baby is the Queen's 12th great-grandchild and 11th in line to the throne. Her Majesty is 'delighted with the news', the palace announced in a statement (pictured)

Princess Beatrice names her daughter Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli-Mozzi Sienna is an Italian given name and is still a flourishing city in Tuscany. It is currently popular in Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia, where it was among the top ten names given to baby girls in 2006 and 2007 in several states. The original usage of the name is derived from the Italian city and may also refer to the orange-red colour of its clay rooftops burnt orange. UK royal names are normally chosen from a relatively restricted pool of those used by past kings and queens. Elizabeth is a given name and one of many variants derived from a form of the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning 'My God is an oath' or 'My God is abundance', as rendered in the Septuagint and popularised by Europe's embracement of the Bible. The couple no doubt chose the name as a nod to the Queen, Princess Beatrice's grandmother. Others have also selected the name in recent years, with Prince William calling his daughter Princess Charlotte Elizabeth, while Zara Tindall called her daughter Lena Elizabeth. Advertisement

She went on to pen a meaningful note to her newborn niece, writing: 'To my new niece, I love you already and think you're just awesome from the photos.. we're going to have so much fun together. Love your Auntie Euge.'

A friend of the family said the Duchess of York returned from Balmoral on Friday and met her new grandchild over the weekend, adding: 'She is absolutely over the moon.'

Beatrice's announcement comes hours after Prince Andrew now arrived back in Windsor after he brazenly waved as he was pictured leaving Balmoral - just days after he officially recognised a sexual assault lawsuit served to him by Virginia Roberts.

Andrew has also beefed up his legal team with a Princeton-educated female attorney as he prepares to fight the sexual assault lawsuit brought by a Jeffrey Epstein accuser who claims she was raped by the royal as a teen.

Court documents, filed yesterday and obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, reveal the Duke of York, who denies the claims made against him, has asked Melissa Lerner to join his team. Lerner is from Los Angeles-based Lavley Singer - a top law firm known for making celebrities' legal problems disappear.

Prince Andrew returned to Windsor after spending the Summer at Balmoral with his mother and ex-wife as he is understood to be meeting his new grandchild for the first time

Prince Andrew, 61, was all smiles as he left Balmoral today, three weeks after fleeing to the Scottish estate

The same day, an attorney for Andrew's accuser Virginia Roberts said Epstein's estate had agreed to disclose the details of a secret settlement between her and Epstein - which the duke is arguing could protect him from liability.

The Duke of York, 61, had been hiding out at the Queen's Scottish estate for three weeks to escape the legal row but was all smiles as he left Balmoral today.

In a tweet from her official Twitter account on September 18, Beatrice said she was delighted' to 'share the news of the safe arrival' of the couple's daughter, adding: 'Thank you to the midwife team and everyone at the hospital for their wonderful care.'

Buckingham Palace said in a statement: 'Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice and Mr Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi are delighted to announce the safe arrival of their daughter on Saturday 18th September 2021, at 23.42, at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London.

'The baby weighs six pounds and two ounces. The new baby's grandparents and great-grandparents have all been informed and are delighted with the news.

Princess Eugenie's baby will be the second grandchild for Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson and is 11th in line to the throne (pictured, the order of succession). The baby is the fourth great-grandchild of the Queen to be born this year, following the arrival of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's son August in February, Zara and Mike Tindall's son Lucas in March and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's daughter Lilibet in June

It was reported Prince Andrew could be leaving Balmoral to see Beatrice after she was apparently admitted to a London hospital on Friday

'The family would like to thank all the staff at the hospital for their wonderful care. Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well, and the couple are looking forward to introducing their daughter to her big brother Christopher Woolf.'

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall congratulated Beatrice and Edo on Twitter. The tweet said: 'Congratulations to Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi on the happy news of the birth of their daughter.'

The baby is the fourth great-grandchild of the Queen to be born this year, following the arrival of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's son August in February, Zara and Mike Tindall's son Lucas in March and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's daughter Lilibet in June.

Princess Beatrice has been seen several times in London throughout the summer as she enjoyed the lifting of restrictions ahead of the birth of her first child.

Just last week she was spotted out and about in Mayfair as she dined out with friends in the city.

Princess Beatrice enjoys a close relationship with the Queen and wore her grandmother's dress on her wedding to Edoardo in July last year. Pictured, the newlyweds with the Queen and Prince Philip at their Windsor Castle nuptials

Days ago, her mother Fergie fawned over her children, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, in a letter praising their 'courage, strength and integrity' and said she finds it 'extraordinary' that they're both mothers.

In the letter, published in Good Housekeeping, Fergie, 61, said that she 'smiles from her heart' everyday knowing she's a grandmother, and praised her two sons-in-law Edo and Jack.

'Being 61 makes me a young grandma, and I love it,' she wrote. 'I smile from my heart every day, because that is how it feels to be a granny.'

The Duchess of York has previously said she counts Edo's son Wolfie as her grandchild. His mother is Edo's ex, Dara Huang.

American architect Dara remains on good terms with her ex and his new wife and Beatrice is a hands on stepmother.

In a tweet from her official Twitter account, Beatrice said she was delighted' to 'share the news of the safe arrival' of the couple's daughter, adding: 'Thank you to the midwife team and everyone at the hospital for their wonderful care'

Beatrice, who is not a full-time working royal, is vice president of partnerships and strategy at Afiniti, an artificial intelligence software firm.

She has a number of royal patronages including the Forget Me Not Children's Hospice, the Teenage Cancer Trust and the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre.

Sources previously claimed 'doting stepmother' Princess Beatrice had put up 'loads of pictures' of Edo's son in their home so he 'feels like he has two families'.

The royal baby who will also be an Italian Nobile Donna Edoardo is the son of former Olympic skier Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi and Nikki Shale. The count previously told MailOnline: 'Edoardo is the only male descendant taking the family into the next generation. He is a count  his wife will be a countess automatically and any of their children will be counts or nobile donna.' The title translates to 'noble woman'. Advertisement

Insiders told The Telegraph's Camilla Tominey that the royal has been embracing her new role, saying: 'Beatrice ensured there are loads of pictures of him up in their house, so he feels like he has two families, and they do get on well. She has instigated a lot of that, rather than Dara.'

Edo is said to enjoy an amicable relationship with Dara and prides himself on still being an active part of his son's life. Friends of the royal said she talks about the youngster 'all the time' and has warmly embraced him into her life.

They added that he is 'super little' and 'extremely cute', adding that Beatrice will always make Wolfie's happiness 'her number one priority' even when she and Edo decide to have children themselves.

Previously speaking about her step-son, Beatrice said: 'Homeschooling, that was definitely not my forte! Not going to lie. Sadly, I can't blame that on dyslexia.

'But I've felt very lucky to have had the chance to work with my bonus son (Wolfie) over the course of the school closures. It was a huge learning curve for all of us.'

Edoardo is the son of former Olympic skier Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi and Nikki Shale. He is a count himself, and had been a friend of the York children for some time before getting engaged to Beatrice.

Known as Edo to friends, he helped mend Beatrice's broken heart following her split from Dave Clark in 2016 after 10 years together.

He was educated at the prestigious Radley school in Oxfordshire before studying for a Master's in politics at Edinburgh.

Beatrice has long enjoyed a close relationship with her property developer husband's father.

The count is keen for the Italian lineage to continue, it seems. He told MailOnline last year: 'Edoardo is the only male descendant taking the family into the next generation.

'He is a count  his wife will be a countess automatically and any of their children will be counts or nobile donna.'

Edo stands to inherit his father's glamorous palazzo, Villa Mapelli Mozzi, which is a stone's throw from Milan in Northern Italy.

Nikki's second husband, Edo's step-father, was Christopher Shale, a senior Tory and a close friend of former prime minister David Cameron.

He collapsed and died in 2011 at Glasonbury Festival, after going missing for about 18 hours before he was found in a cubicle in the VIP area.

An inquest subsequently found he had been suffering from undiagnosed heart disease resulting from high blood pressure.

So devoted was Edo to his stepfather that he named his son Christopher after him.

Beatrice and the rest of her family attended the funeral, with Nikki eventually becoming engaged for the third time to sculptor David Williams-Ellis.
Dear Bel

Although I have always read your column, I have never felt the need to write until I read Rosalyns recent letter about her desire to return to her Irish birthplace. It touched my heart.

Thought of the day October is marigold, and yet A glass half full of wine left out To the dark heaven all night, by dawn Has dreamed a premonition Of ice across its eye . . . From October Dawn by Ted Hughes (1930  1998) Advertisement

I was born in the West Indies. My parents later travelled to the UK, leaving me with my grandparents. I was ten years old when they sent for me in 1960.

I was very happy living with family and protested. I didnt want to go. Just a holiday, they said.

From the day I stepped out of the BOAC plane until this day, I have never regarded the UK as my home. I was removed from a loving, happy, friendly, warm community and brought to a cold, unfriendly place. I had no bond with my siblings whod been born here. I cried for a year.

Then I realised I was not going back to my grandparents.

I trained as a nurse and met a man I thought was the love of my life, who said he understood my longing to return to live in the West Indies. We had a son, but my husband decided hed never go back.

My need to go home to my birthplace was stronger than my love for him. We divorced but I decided I must see my son through school before returning home. He has become a brilliant young man and married a few years ago.

I got more qualifications, ready for my return home. On holiday there it felt like being in heaven.

I feel such peace of mind there, and the love of my family around me could not be better.

Displaced people who long to return to their birthplace have a stronger need than any passion.

During my 40 years in nursing I listened to so many Caribbean people talk of their strong desire to return to their homeland.

Sadly some never return, but die broken-hearted.

As I approached retirement, the pull to return to my birthplace was stronger than ever.

I met a man also approaching retirement, who was adamant that he wanted to return to live in the West Indies, too.

This time around I was well aware that people can say whatever they reckon you want them to say, but thank goodness, this man meant it.

We both want to spend our twilight years in the West Indies, so we married and are planning to return to the Caribbean. I hope Rosalyn clings on to her dream. Can you understand that it can be even stronger than human love?

BEVERLY

This week, Bel replies to a reader who has written about her deep longing to return to the West Indies, insisting that the desire to go home to your birthplace can be a stronger passion than romantic love

When I answered the letter from Rosalyn, who lives in a state of permanent longing for Ireland, many readers wrote to say how much they identified with that particular kind of homesickness.

For example, Valerie told me she married a New Zealander and lived there for more than 40 years before coming back home.

She wrote: I gave myself two years to see if it would work or if it was a nostalgic dream. Now Im 75 and have never been happier, with a home, a job, and a daughter and two grandchildren three minutes away. I think for some people its in the DNA or the genes.

I used to walk around and feel my whole being resonating with something in the soil, in the atmosphere. It was like coming alive and aligned again.

I think for some of us there is a deep, almost spiritual, connection. Theres a lot wrong with my homeland and I get upset at many things. But that connection is still there.

Valerie expresses how I myself feel about my country; in fact, back in those far-off days when my husband and I could holiday elsewhere, I felt almost ashamed to be so absurdly glad to return home.

So I do understand, Beverly, how passionately you feel about the place of your birth. Ive never been to the Caribbean (although my husband once worked all over the region as a photographer), but watching the blue skies and sea of the TV series Death In Paradise is totally seductive.

England must have seemed grey and cold to the Windrush generation so needed here.

Your letter is timely because it reminds us that those who come to Britain as migrants, or refugees, or for family reasons are all individuals who are bound to have complex feelings towards what we might call being transplanted.

Recent events made me reflect that although refugees from Afghanistan will feel relieved to escape the Taliban regime, that wont stop them longing for the sounds and aromas of their homeland for ever. A safe haven is not necessarily a happy one.

But that, in turn, need not mean they lack thankfulness. There are more facets to the human soul than are dreamt of in knee-jerk responses (pro or con) to migration.

You make the point that, for you, the lure of home has always been stronger than human love. But Id guess thats not true for most people. That Irish lady, Rosalyn, had a beloved husband who didnt want to move from Scotland, so her situation cannot be easily compared with yours.

But none of this matters to you and your soulmate who also wishes to return to the West Indies. I wish you joy and peace in that life.

Why can't I mourn lying husband?

Dear Bel,

My husband of 45 years died three months ago, and I still havent shed a tear. Ours had been a marriage in name only for the past five years, after treatment for prostate cancer put him off intimacy.

One morning, I woke to find him naked in bed, masturbating. He continued with this inappropriate behaviour, as the hospital called it, and tried to sexually assault me.

When I defended myself with my walking stick, he attacked me with it. I called the police and he was taken into hospital.

Despite tests they could not find any cause for his sudden deterioration. He was kept in a side ward on 24/7 medication, with a permanent carer for his and the other patients safety.

Recovering from my own major operation, I visited him a few times, but he didnt know me. Unbearable. I hadnt seen him for ten days when he eventually died. I didnt cry.

When people offer me their condolences I feel like admitting I am happier now than I have been for several years, but they would be appalled. Am I hard-hearted or just honest?

I cried when my mother, brother and a good friend died, but I dont seem able to cry for the husband I no longer loved. Yet we were friends. Maybe part of the problem is that three years ago, I discovered he had lied to me and our daughters over a minor thing.

Hed always said he served abroad doing National Service, but when we applied for visas for a holiday he admitted hed never done National Service.

Hed been ashamed because his widowed mother got him deferred from serving and all the stories hed told us were his friends. I began to doubt everything hed ever told me.

Now Im wondering if others have to disguise their feelings because it wouldnt be acceptable to be honest. Can you give me some advice or reassurance that I am not stony-hearted?

LINDA

Both of the letters Ive chosen this week are admirably honest and cause me to reflect that absolute honesty is quite rare. It seems to me that (perhaps because of the internet) too many people adopt the views of others in order to look good.

Whats more, our feelings about family members can be complicated, yet a sentimental consensus shies away from honest statements such as: My brother was awful and I felt glad when he died.

Of course, if we are skirting the truth to spare the feelings of others, then Id say such tact trumps frankness every time.

Reading your story I feel great pity for your sick husband and Im glad that you can still describe him as your friend  even after everything youre able to cherish that thought.

When you are feeling negative, it might be good for you to remember happy times when that friendship (a version of love, after all) was formed. Never mind tears, or the lack of them  its vital not to let the last horrible months or that memory of disillusionment spoil the whole, long story of your marriage.

Why did he tell that silly, pathetic fib about National Service? Shame, yes. His friends went off and did their bit and had great times; he stayed at home because his mother got him out of it, probably because, a widow, she needed him at home. And he felt inadequate.

So when he met you, he decided to big himself up with anecdotes of jolly japes in Army camps and so on. Its sad, but I wish you hadnt judged him so harshly. Many people tell tall tales about their past simply because they want to impress  and honestly, its far from the worst example of wrongdoing.

I do not think you stony-hearted, but I do suspect you are still very tired. You have been ill yourself, you had to deal with the shock of a terribly changed husband who then deteriorated and became a stranger, you had to deal with everything surrounding his death (even organising a funeral can be really draining)  and now you are picking up your life again.

You are free to be yourself and to be happy. Please relax into that feeling and view this new stage in life with positivity.

A pilgrimage, prayers and a pool of tears

You may have noticed I was away last week, and it was the strangest holiday I can remember. Wed booked two nights in St Davids, on the Pembrokeshire coast, but it didnt turn out as we expected  mostly for family reasons.

Eagerly anticipating choral evensong in the magnificent cathedral, I ended up crying quietly on my husbands shoulder outside, as the sun shone and the rooks cawed. That was no mood for sacred beauty  so we didnt go.

A quick dash home, and then we set off for Liverpool, carrying half of my fathers ashes in a cardboard canister with a moon on it, ready to inter them in a family grave. This was a pilgrimage, and so we also visited the council house and the flat we lived in before moving south. Then we met my dear cousin Gina and her husband Mike for a dinner full of childhood reminiscences.

Contact Bel Bel answers readers' questions on emotional and relationship problems each week. Write to Bel Mooney, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT, or email bel.mooney@dailymail.co.uk. A pseudonym will be used if you wish. Bel reads all letters but regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Advertisement

Gina had arranged for a stone to be laid immediately below that of her parents, and when we met in Holy Trinity churchyard, Wavertree, I was overcome to see the family names, including those of my great-grandparents and great-uncle, who was killed in North Africa in 1943.

It felt so right to be taking Dad back to the Liverpool soil he loved, and to utter a prayer for his soul right there. Oh, but the tears . . . I felt like an over-flowing infinity pool. Thats when you understand the real meaning of the term wrung out.

We left Liverpool for Coventry, where I was to take part in a recording of the 500th edition of Ernies Reas marvellous BBC Radio 4 programme, Beyond Belief. The subject was poetry and religion  both of which I find absorbing.

Before the recording in the Belgrade Theatre, Robin and I revisited Coventry Cathedral  that glorious hymn to faith, art, light, rebirth and grief. My eyes filled up. Why wouldnt they?

So the sun shone all week, but my holiday was awash with painful emotion. It will stay with me for a long time.
Steve Jobs' youngest daughter Eve has cemented her status as a rising model after making her runway debut at Coperni's show during Paris Fashion Week.

The 23-year-old, who is the daughter of the late Apple founder and billionaire investor Laurene Powell-Jobs, joined the likes of Gigi Hadid, Paloma Elsesser, and Adut Akech on the catwalk on Thursday.

Eve strutted her stuff modeling a neon green mock-turtleneck, an embellished mini skirt, platform flip-flops, oversize white sunglasses, and a white handbag at the Spring/Summer 2022 show.

Rising star: Eve Job, who is the daughter of late Apple founder Steve Jobs and Laurene Powell-Jobs, made her runway debut at Coperni's show on Thursday during Paris Fashion Week

She's a natural! The Apple heiress modeled a neon green mock-turtleneck, an embellished mini skirt, platform flip-flops, oversize white sunglasses, and a white handbag

Coming full circle: Audience members snapped Eve's photo using their iPhones as she strut down the runway

Coperni's collection included a new bag that was aptly inspired by the iPhone photos app icon  the 'Origami'  according to Vogue.

The Apple heiress shared behind-the-scenes photos from the show on Instagram while thanking Sebastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant, the designers behind the womenswear label.

One snapshot shows her getting her makeup done backstage while another captures the moment an audience member photographed her on the runway using an iPhone.

'I cant put into words how extraordinary this collection is. It was an honor to be apart of the vision @coperni,' she wrote. 'Congratulations to my loves @arnaud_vaillant, @sebastienmeyer, and the entire team!!'

Looking chic: Eve wrapped herself in gold foil backstage to keep warm as she prepared for the show

Fashion fixture: Eve has cemented her status as a rising model with her runway debut

In good company! Eve joined the likes of Gigi Hadid (left) and Paloma Elsesser (right) on the catwalk

Proud: The Stanford University graduate shared behind-the-scenes photos from the show on Instagram

Check it out! She included a close-up of her outfit and accessories while thanking the brand's designers

Grateful: 'I cant put into words how extraordinary this collection is. It was an honor to be apart of the vision @coperni,' she captioned the images

Eve received plenty of support in the comments, including a sweet message from her friend Jennifer K. Gates, the 25-year-old daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates, who wrote: 'A vision!! Congrats love.'

Eve's runway appearance comes nearly two years after she made her modeling debut in Glossier's playful holiday beauty ads in December 2020.

She starred alongside Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney and RuPaul's Drag Race runner-up Naomi Smalls in the socially-distanced campaign, which was self-shot, according to Glossier founder Emily Weiss.

And while the youngest of Jobs' four kids is a natural in front of the camera and on the runway, she is more than a pretty face.

Euro trip: Eve was seen shopping with her mom in Rome, Italy, a few weeks ago

Strike a pose: The runway show comes nearly two years after Eve made her modeling debut in Glossier's holiday campaign in December 2020

Talented: The youngest Jobs is also an accomplished equestrian and is ranked the fifth-best showjumper under the age of 25

The accomplished equestrian is ranked the fifth-best showjumper under the age of 25 and has competed alongside the likes of Mary-Kate Olsen, Jessica Springsteen, and Georgina Bloomberg in the Hamptons Classic.

Eve is known mostly for her equestrian pursuits, but she has more than 229,000 Instagram followers. If her recent foray into modeling is any indicator, she's can easily parlay into being an influencer if she desires.

She is also a recent graduate of Stanford University, where her parents met in 1989. Jobs gave a lecture at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where Powell-Jobs was studying.

After they wed, they had their son, Reed, 30, and daughter, Erin, 26, followed by Eve. Jobs also had an older daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, 43, from a previous relationship.

Ends with her: Powell-Jobs inherited the majority of Jobs' billions when he died in 2011. The couple is pictured in 2010

Nope: Powell-Jobs, who is now worth $35.4 billion, revealed last year that her children Reed, Erin, and Eve (pictured as children) will not be inheriting her fortune

Family: Jobs also had a daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs (second from left) from a previous relationship. She received an inheritance after he died, though the majority went to his wife

Jobs was worth $10.2 billion when he died in October 2011, though the bulk of his money actually came from his stake in The Walt Disney Co.  not Apple.

His oldest daughter Lisa received an inheritance after his death, but the majority of his fortune went to his wife, who does not plan on passing it down to her three kids.

Powell-Jobs, who has a net worth of $22 billion, told The New York Times last year that the family's fortune will end with her, saying there is 'nothing fair' about inherited wealth.

'I inherited my wealth from my husband, who didnt care about the accumulation of wealth,' she said. 'I am doing this in honor of his work, and Ive dedicated my life to doing the very best I can to distribute it effectively, in ways that lift up individuals and communities in a sustainable way.

'Im not interested in legacy wealth buildings, and my children know that,' she added. 'Steve wasnt interested in that. If I live long enough, it ends with me.'
Meanwhile, 96.4 per cent were immunised in County Durham, showing disparities between parts of England

But just six in 10 children, around a third less, have received both MMR vaccines by age five in parts of London

Nine in 10 two-year-olds in England have had their first MMR vaccine by March, data from NHS Digital shows

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Just six in 10 children have received both MMR vaccines in parts of London, according to official figures that lay bare the huge geographical divide in uptake.

NHS data analysed by MailOnline show rates among five-year-olds are as high as 96.4 per cent in County Durham, which leads the way in England. But they dip to just 59.8 per cent in Camden.

Statistics show the proportion of children getting their first MMR jab by the time they turn two has fallen over the past eight years, after hitting a record high in 2013.

Experts have blamed the rise of anti-vaxx sentiments, fuelled by bogus claims that the vaccine  which protects against measles, mumps and rubella  can cause autism and bowel disease.

One virologist warned uptake has to be 90 per cent to thwart measles, one of the most infectious viruses known to exist. More than half of the local authorities in England (57 per cent) fall below the threshold.

It has led to pockets of England having much lower uptake of the jab, mirroring trends seen in the Covid vaccine roll-out, which has lagged behind in BAME communities.

The MMR vaccine is given in two doses, the first when a child is one-year-old and the second when they are three years and four months old.

Measles, mumps and rubella can spread easily between unvaccinated people. The infections can lead to serious problems, such as meningitis, hearing loss and problems during pregnancy.

Two doses of the jab protects around 99 per cent of people from getting measles and rubella, while around 88 per cent of people are protected against mumps.

The graph shows the proportion of children in England who received their first dose of the MMR vaccines by their second birthday from 1988 to 2021. Figures began dropping dramatically in 1998 when a now-discredited study wrongly linked the jabs with autism. Rates began climbing again in 2004 after hitting an uptake level of just 79.9 per cent in 2003/2004. But they began to fall again in 2014. In 2020, the uptake rose to 90.6 per cent, but in the last year it has dropped to 90.3 per cent

The 10 areas with lowest MMR vaccine uptake among five-year-olds are all in London, which overall has a rate of 75.1 per cent. Just 59.8 per cent of youngsters in Camden have received the jab, while 63.7 have in nearby borough Hackney and 64.1 per cent have in Westminster

Areas with the highest uptake are Country Durham (96.4 per cent), West Berkshire (94.1 per cent), Sunderland (95.4 per cent) and Dorset (95.3 per cent). Four of the areas with the highest uptake are in the North East, which is the region with the most children protected against the measles, mumps and rubella (92.5 per cent)

Between April and June this year, Public Health England confirmed there was one measles case and two mumps cases. There have been no confirmed cases of rubella reported in the UK since 2019

Official data released yesterday showed just 59.8 per cent of children in Camden had received both doses of the MMR vaccine by their fifth birthday by March.

All of the 10 areas with the worst uptake are in London, with Hackney (63.7 per cent), Westminster (64.1 per cent), Kensington and Chelsea (65.9 per cent) and Haringey (67.7 per cent) rounding out the top five.

Meanwhile, boroughs with the highest uptake are Country Durham (96.4 per cent), West Berkshire (94.1 per cent), Sunderland (95.4 per cent), Dorset (95.3 per cent) and Cumbria (also 95.3 per cent).

And more than 19 in 20 youngsters aged five are double-jabbed in North Tyneside and Leicestershire, the NHS Digital statistics also revealed.

Overall, the figure for uptake of both doses by the time children turn five is 86.6 per cent.

And the national figure for the proportion of two-year-olds having had their first dose is one of the lowest figures for the last decade, which included record-high uptake of 92.7 per cent in 2013.

The proportion of children receiving the MMR vaccine had been falling since 2015, but last year increased for the first time in six years to 90.6 per cent. However, the figure has now dropped again to just 90.3 per cent of children across the UK.

How do the MMR vaccines work? The MMR vaccine is a safe and effective combined vaccine. It protects against three illnesses: measles, mumps and rubella. The highly infectious conditions can easily spread between unvaccinated people. The conditions can lead to serious problems including meningitis, hearing loss and problems during pregnancy. Two doses of the MMR vaccine provide the best protection against measles, mumps and rubella. The NHS advises anyone who has not had two doses of the MMR vaccine to ask their GP for a vaccination appointment. Two doses of the jab protects around 99 per cent of people against measles and rubella, while around 88 per cent of people are protected against mumps. Source: NHS Advertisement

The NHS began dishing out the vaccine as a single dose in 1988, before administering two doses from 1996.

Before MMR vaccines were available, there were hundreds of thousands of measles cases in epidemic years. But the disease was effectively eradicated in the UK after the vaccine was introduced.

However, a now-discredited study by London doctor Andrew Wakefield in 1998 wrongly linked the MMR jab to autism, causing vaccine uptake rates decline and recent outbreaks in 10 to 16 year olds who missed the jabs in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Mr Wakefield conducted a study of just 12 children to support the link, but many much larger studies have found no difference in risk of developing autism from the jab.

He was later struck off by the General Medical Council, which ruled that he had been dishonest, irresponsible and showed callous disregard for the distress and pain of children.

But his retracted study is inaccurately referred to by the anti-vax movement to spread misinformation and is used as a reason not to vaccinate children.

Between April and June this year, Public Health England confirmed there was one measles case and two mumps cases. There have been no confirmed cases of rubella reported in the UK since 2019.

However, these are only the cases that have been confirmed via lab tests, so there may have been many more that went undetected.

Professor Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham, told MailOnline the MMR vaccine has 'performed so well over the decades that we have forgotten just how serious these viruses can be, and that has led to some complacency'.

He said: 'Measles is one of, if not the most infectious viruses, and this high infectiousness means that vaccine uptake has to be high - greater than 90 per cent - to limit the likelihood of outbreaks.

'Any place where vaccine uptake drops below this level will see future outbreaks of disease.

'Whilst anti-vaxx sentiment is no doubt affecting uptake in some places, that isn't the entire picture. We need to understand what the barriers are and introduce measures to break these down.

'It might need better education to overcome misinformation, but it will also likely need better community health services and more flexible ways to get vaccines out to patients.'

Professor Helen Bedford, an expert in children's health at University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, told MailOnline that the disparities in MMR vaccine uptake in different parts of the country is 'a real concern because it means that many children are not protected against these diseases'.

She said: 'Measles in particular is not only highly infectious but can be very serious. At this level of vaccine uptake there is a very real risk of us seeing outbreaks of disease.

'We know that some parents had difficulty getting their children vaccinated during the lockdown periods in the pandemic.

'It is never too late to have most vaccines, so it is important that parents are encouraged to take their children to catch up with any missed vaccines. If in doubt speak to your GP, practice nurse or health visitor.'
E-cigarette use among U.S. teenagers plummeted as many students were forced to learn from home during the pandemic, according to a new government report.

In the national survey, about 11 percent of high school students and three percent of middle school students said they were recent users of e-cigarettes and other vaping products, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found.

That's a more than 40 percent drop from last year, when nearly 20 percent of high school students and five percent of middle schoolers said they had recently vaped.

U.S. health officials urged caution in interpreting the numbers, which were collected using an online questionnaire for the first time.

But outside experts said the big decrease in electronic cigarettes use is likely real and makes sense given that young people often vape socially.

A new report found 11.3% or 1.72 million, of high school students and 2.8%, or 320,000, of middle schooler said they were recent users of e-cigarettes. This is a 43% decline from the 19.6% of high schoolers and 4.7% of middle school students who reported being users in 2020

Experts say one reason for the large decline in 2021 is that schools closures forced teens to stay home, making them less likely to try vaping (file image)

'They found a dramatic drop from last year and it's hard to imagine that doesn't represent a real decrease in use among high school and middle school students,' Dr Nancy Rigotti, a professor of medicine at Harvard University and tobacco use expert, who was not involved in the research, told the Associated Press.

The new report, published on Thursday, looked at data from the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) from middle-school students, grades six through eight, and high school students, grades nine through 12.

The survey, conducted between January 18, 2021 and May 21, 2021, asked teens about their e-cigarette use in the past 30 days as well as frequency of use, type of device used, flavors and brands.

Results showed that 2.04 millions tweens and teens reported being current e-cigarette users.

Specifically, 11.3 percent, or 1.72 million, of high school students were users as were 2.8 percent, or 320,000, of middle schoolers.

That represents a 43 percent decline from teenagers who reported similar use in 2020 with 19.6 percent of high school students (3.02 million) and 4.7 percent of middle school students (550,000) being users.

If this year's numbers - which are preliminary - hold up, it would be the second big drop in a row, from a peak of 28for high schoolers in 2019.

Number of US teens who have tried e-cigarettes by age 14 TRIPLED in five years The number of U.S. teenagers who begin vaping at age 14 or younger has tripled in the last five years, a study says. Researchers found that 28% of e-cigarette users in 2018 said they started vaping no later than 14 years old. That's more than a three-fold spike from the 9% who reported the same thing in 2014. The team, from the University of Michigan School of Nursing, says the findings are worrying and that health campaigns targeted towards pre-teens explaining the dangers of vaping are urgently needed to reverse the trend. Lead author Dr Rebecca Evans-Polce, an assistant research scientist at the U-M School of Nursing, told DailyMail.com that, with the increasing in vaping as a whole in recent years, the team wanted to see if there was a difference in starting ages. More than 26,600 participants, ages 16 and 17, were asked how old they were when they first tried e-cigarettes, traditional cigarettes, cigars and/or chewing tobacco. In 2014, 63% said they first tried e-cigarettes at age 16 or 17. By 2018, that number fell to nearly 43%. Conversely, the number of e-cigarette users who began at age 14 tripled over the same time period. 'I expected to see some increase in kids vaping because of the increase of vaping overall, but the change in five short years was a surprise,' said Dr Evans-Polce. 'This really suggests we kind of need to work on strategies to prevent vaping among kids, and tailor it towards even younger kids.' Advertisement

Even before the pandemic, a number of new restrictions were curtailing underage use of e-cigarettes.

In late 2019, a new federal law raised the purchase age for all tobacco and vaping products from 18 to 21.

Shortly afterward, the FDA banned nearly all flavors from small, cartridge-based e-cigarettes, which first sparked the teen vaping craze.

For months, tobacco experts have speculated about the potential effect of school closures on vaping, given most teens vape with their friends and get e-cigarettes from their peers.

Rigotti said the decline will have to be confirmed by other surveys due out later this year.

It's also hard to predict whether vaping could rebound now that most schools have returned to in-person classes.

'I'm sure schools are working hard to ensure that doesn't happen,' she said.

Previously, the survey was always conducted in classrooms. This year's was done online from January through May to accommodate students both at home and in school.

Anti-tobacco advocates point out that students who completed the survey in school reported higher rates of vaping - 16 percent compared to eight percent for students learning at home.

Among students who used e-cigarettes, the survey found 27.6 percent of high schoolers - more than one in four - and 8.3 percent of middle schoolers - one in 12 - use them daily.

The overwhelming majority - 84.7 percent of middle and high schoolers - said they use flavored cigarettes.

The most commonly used flavors were fruit; candy, desserts, or other sweets; mint; and menthol.

'These data highlight the fact that flavored e-cigarettes are still extremely popular with kid,' said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, in a statement.

'And we are equally disturbed by the quarter of high school students who use e-cigarettes and say they vape every single day.

'The FDA continues to take action against those who sell or target e-cigarettes and e-liquids to kids, as seen just this year by the denial of more than one million premarket

The agency is in the midst of a sweeping federal review to decide which e-cigarette brands and products can stay on the market, after years of regulatory delays.

Earlier this month, the agency announced a ban on thousands of products, but it has not yet ruled on a handful of major manufacturers that account for most sales, including Juul and Vuse.

The new government numbers show teen vaping habits are shifting away from those brands.

The top brand cited by high schools students is a disposable e-cigarette called Puff Bar that comes in flavors like pink lemonade, strawberry and mango.

Disposable e-cigarettes are not subject to the tight flavor restrictions of products like Juul, which is only available in menthol and tobacco.

Only six percent of students who vape said they prefer Juul.
Red Bull have for decades claimed its energy drink will give you 'wings'. And now a new study suggests there may be some truth to the idea.

For researchers have found people who consume energy drinks are twice as likely to speed when behind the wheel.

But Estonian academics don't believe the energy drinks, which can be packed full of sugar and caffeine, encourage people to speed.

Instead, they say a genetic need for excitement could be driving force behind both habits.

Drinking energy drinks at least once a week could mean you're twice as likely to break the speed limit when driving, a new study suggests.

The researchers, from the University of Tartu, found a host of 'risky' behaviours could be associated with a genetic variation on how people generate serotonin, a mood-stabilising chemical.

Scientists combined psychological, genetic, and biochemical data from 817 Estonian drivers with the country's police and car insurance records.

According to lead researcher Tonis Tokko, the team found a pattern of behaviours connecting 'everyday risk taking' and risky driving.

'For example, we found subjects who drink energy drinks at least once a week were twice as likely to speed as those who didnt drink energy drinks as often,' he said.

'We think the energy drink consumption may be a related to a need for excitement, rather than the drinks themselves being a direct cause of traffic violations.

'The drivers underlying psychological makeup may lead them both to speed, and to want to consume more energy drinks or junk food.'

The researchers also looked at genetic traits among the volunteer drivers.

They found some drivers who had variants of a gene involved in the production of serotonin were more likely to engage in these 'risky behaviours', be it breaking the speed limit or knocking back cans of energy drinks.

Serotonin is a chemical that helps carry signals in the brain, and is thought to influence people's moods, emotions and sleep patterns.

However Mr Tokko added that this aspect of the study's findings need to be explored further.

'We found certain gene variants are associated with risk-taking behaviour in both driving and in other areas of life; but this is an early finding and still needs to be confirmed,' he said.

Responding to the study, Professor Oliver Howes, a molecular psychiatrist at King's College London, welcomed the findings.

'This study adds to other work showing that psychological and biological traits are linked to how people behave in the world,' he said.

'It's important to recognise that the associations don't mean that one leads to the other.'

The study will be presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Conference in Lisbon on October 2.
British Covid patients won't yet get a 'game-changing' pill which halves the risk of being hospitalised or dying from the illness, it was revealed today.

US drug giant Merck today announced the landmark results of a trial of its antiviral molnupiravir.

Hospitalisation and death rates were twice as high among infected patients given a placebo, compared to those given the actual pill.

But there are no plans to make it immediately available in the UK, though Merck said it is committed to getting approval for its use in Britain. The US has already agreed to purchase 1.7million courses of the drug.

Merck's chief science officer Daria Hazuda told a press briefing of health and science reporters that the results were an exciting step in the global fight against Covid. She described it as 'game-changing'.

Molnupiravir works by disrupting the Covid virus's ability to reproduce in the human body.

'It gets incorporated into the genetic material of the virus and introduces errors,' she said. Over time, the errors make the virus less able to replicate.

Covid patients who took molnupiravir were half as likely to die or need hospitalisation compared to the placebo group, according to the results of the Merck's latest trial of the experimental pill. Only 7.3% of the patients who took the molnupiravir pill either died or required hospitalisation, compared to 14.1% of patients either dying or requiring hospitalisation among the patients who took the placebo pill. This means that Covid patients who took molnupiravir halved their chance of dying

American company Merck & Co today announced the results of a trial on Covid patients of its antiviral pill molnupiravir

In comparison to other anti-Covid drugs which need to be administered by medics, molnupiravir could be taken by patients at home.

Dr Hazuda also said molnupiravir could also have potential in fighting other viruses, similar to Covid, and the inevitable next pandemic.

Drugs proven to work in the fight against Covid Budesonide Brand name: Pulmicort Manufactured by: AstraZeneca, Orion Pharma and Mylan Who it is given to: over-65s or at risk over-50s What studies showed it could do: Experts at the University of Oxford found that in two weeks, 32 per cent of people recovered from Covid when taking the drug through an inhaler, compared to 22 per cent without it. Budesonide is a corticosteroid, which means it reduces swelling inside the body and helps control immune reactions What it costs: around 15 for one inhaler Dexamethasone Brand name: Ozurdex and Baycadron Manufactured by: Companies including Aspen and Hikma Pharmaceuticals Who it is given to: Some patients hospitalised with the virus What studies showed it could do: A trial by the RECOVERY group found that the cheap steroid can prevent death in one in eight ventilated coronavirus patients and one in 25 on breathing support. The steroid prevents substances in the body from being released that cause inflammation, which makes breathing difficult in Covid patients. It is given as either an injection or a daily tablet What it costs: around 5 per patient Tocilizumab Brand name: RoActemra and Actemra Manufactured by: Companies including Roche Who it is given to: some hospitalised Covid patients What studies showed it could do: A RECOVERY trial found that arthritis drug cut the risk of death by an extra four per cent, on top of the 20 to 35 per cent reduction given by dexamethasone. This means one extra life could be saved for every 25 people given the drug. It was also found to cut the time spent in hospital by five days. It prevents a reaction in the lungs and airways that leads to respiratory issues. It is given to patients through an injection into the veins and lasts four weeks at a time What it costs: A typical 480mg dose costs 614.40 Advertisement

'It's active across multiple coronaviruses, influenza and several other RNA viruses,' she said.

'We're truly excited about the results, not just because of the potential for this to play a role in the current pandemic.

'Even potentially for preventing future pandemics and future outbreaks from other coronaviruses, which I'm sure will happen.'

If approved, it will be added to the arsenal of drugs already available to NHS doctors.

Dexamethasone was the first to be given the green light last June, but it is only given to patients already ill in hospital.

And tocilizumab, which is given through an injection, is also only given to hospitalised patients.

But budesonide, a drug taken as an inhaler, can be prescribed to infected over-65s or over-50s who are at risk of the virus.

UK doctors hailed the results of the trial as a breakthrough in the fight against Covid, though some have also urged caution until more detail is revealed.

UK Bioindustry Association chair Ruth McKernan said preventing Covid infection in the first place through vaccination was the priority. But she added an oral anti-Covid pill would be a valuable weapon.

'In order to protect people and the NHS to the maximum level possible we need all the tools at out disposable and it's great to have the first oral drug with really high quality data,' she said.

'We need a full set of treatments from preventative vaccines, oral treatments for those infected and additional drugs for hospital use.

Dr Simon Clarke, a cellular microbiologist at the University of Reading, described the trial results as promising.

'Although the trials data are yet to be peer-reviewed, the claimed 50 per cent reduction in hospitalisation and death in early-stage infections would be impressive,' he said.

However, Dr Clarke said more detail on the potential side affects of the experimental drug was needed.

The head of the Britain's antivirals taskforce, Eddie Gray, declined to comment on talks to get the drug rolled out in the UK.

It is unclear how much the drug would cost the NHS if it is approved in the UK, but the US Government has bought millions of couses of the drug for $706 (520) per patient.

'We are involved in looking closely at all of the options available, but we're really not in a position to give out the details around specific conversations at this moment in time,' he told reporters today.

Pressed for more details Mr Gray said: 'The emergence of phase three data tends to accelerate all processes of this type, but I couldn't give you a specific date.'

'I have chosen to turn up today to be here, read into that what you will,' he added coyly.

Merck's chief science officer Daria Hazuda said she though the results of the latest molnupiravir trial were 'game-changing'

The head of the No.10's antivirals taskforce Eddie Gray refused to be drawn on if the UK was in talks to the molnupiravir drug to Britain

The trial tracked 775 adults with mild-to-moderate Covid who were considered higher risk for severe illness due to health problems such as obesity, diabetes or heart disease.

Among patients taking molnupiravir, 7.3 per cent were either hospitalised or died at the end of 30 days, compared with 14.1 per cent of those getting the dummy pill.

There were no deaths in the drug group after that time period compared with eight deaths in the placebo group.

The results were released by the company and have not been peer-reviewed, but Merck says it plans to present them at a future medical meeting.

An independent group of medical experts monitoring the trial recommended stopping it early because the interim results were so strong.

'It exceeded what I thought the drug might be able to do in this clinical trial,' Dr Dean Li, vice president of Merck research, said.

'When you see a 50 per cent reduction in hospitalization or death, that's a substantial clinical impact.'

Side effects were reported by both groups in the Merck trial, but they were slightly more common among the group that received a dummy pill. The company did not specify the problems.

Earlier study results showed the drug did not benefit patients who were already hospitalized with severe disease.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in April that he was assembling a team of scientists to find ways for people to recover from the virus without going into hospital because the UK must 'learn to live with this disease, as we live with other diseases'.

Antivirals were one treatment touted by the PM, with Mr Johnson at the time stating the drugs could 'provide another vital defence against any future increase in infections and save more lives'.

And there are hopes they will help stop the new variants making people seriously ill  mutated strains make it more likely that someone will get ill even after vaccination.
The nation's top infectious diseases expert said Americans who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are several times more likely to be hospitalized or die.

During a White House COVID-19 Response Team press briefing on Friday, Dr Anthony Fauci shared data on virus outcomes by vaccination status from Public Health - Seattle & King County in Washington state.

The data found individuals who had not started or completed their vaccine series were eight times more likely to test positive for Covid.

These people were also 41 times more likely to be hospitalized due to the virus and 57 times more likely to die than those were fully vaccinated.

Fauci said that because these figures are from the past month, this shows how highly transmissible the Delta variant is and how protective vaccines are against the most severe effects of Covid.

'This is COVID-19 data over the past 30 days - essentially Delta data,' he said.

'COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective, convenient and free. They protect you, your loves ones, and your community.'

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Dr Anthony Fauci shared COVID-19 data during a White House COVID-19 Response Team press briefing on Friday (above) from King County in Washington state comparing not fully vaccinated people to fully vaccinated people over the last 30 days

People who hadn't started or completed vaccination were 57 times more likely to die with a daily rate of 2.28 deaths per 100,000 compared to 0.04 deaths per 100,000 for the fully vaccinated. Chart shows data only as of September 22

The data compared King County residents with 'breakthrough cases,' which occur when people test positive for Covid at least 14 days after receiving their final dose, to unvaccinated people who contract the virus.

Officials have previously stated that no vaccine provides 100 percent protection, which means there will be more breakthrough cases as more people get vaccinated.

However, studies have shown that less than one percent of people who are fully vaccinated contract the virus, and even fewer have severe complications.

As of September 20, the most recent date for which Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data is available, 14,643 out of more than 181 million fully vaccinated people were hospitalized.

An even smaller number - 4,493 - died.

The new data, compiled by King County officials, show just how uncommon breakthrough infections are and how protective COVID-19 vaccines are against critical illness.

Fully vaccinated residents were compared to 'not fully vaccinated' people - meaning the unvaccinated, people who just started their vaccine series and those who completed vaccination within the last 14 days.

Results showed that, over the last 30 days, 11,868 not fully vaccinated people tested positive for Covid compared to 5,640 fully vaccinated residents.

The daily case rate for fully vaccinated people was 10.7 new cases per 100,000 people compared to 82.4 per 100,000 among the not fully vaccinated.

This means that people not fully vaccinated were 7.7 times more likely to contract the virus.

Hospitalization rate for not fully vaccinated people was 41 times higher at 8.72 per 100,000 per day in comparison with 0.21 per 100,000 per day for the fully vaccinated. Chart shows data only as of September 22

Not fully vaccinated people were eight times more likely to test positive at 82.4 cases per 100,000 compared to 10.7 new cases per 100,000 for the vaccinated over the last 30 days. Chart shows data only as of September 22

When it came to hospitalizations and deaths, the risk was even higher among not fully vaccinated individuals.

Over the last month, 543 not fully vaccinated residents were hospitalized with a rate of 8.72 per 100,00 per day.

Comparatively, 131 people who completed their immunization series were hospitalized with a daily rate of 0.21 per 100,000 per day - meaning the fully vaccinated were 41.4 times less likely to need inpatient care.

During the same time period, 90 not fully vaccinated individuals died as did 26 fully vaccinated people.

With a daily case rate of 2.28 deaths per 100,000 for the not fully vaccinated compared to 0.04 per 100,000 for the fully vaccinated, it means those who have not started or completed their vaccine series are 56.7 times more likely to die of Covid.

All coronavirus samples that undergo genetic sequencing are confirmed to be Delta, meaning the variant is responsible for 100% of cases (above)

Because these cases, hospitalizations and deaths occurred over the last month, Fauci said these are linked to the Delta fueled-surge.

A report last week from the state Department of Health showed that, as of September 11, all virus samples that underwent genetic sequencing were confirmed to be Delta, meaning the variant is essentially responsible for 100 percent of all infections.

The variant is at least twice as contagious as previous dominant strains including the Alpha variant, which originated in the UK.

'We are extremely concerned by this increased spike in cases, driven by the delta variant, spreading like wildfire amongst men, women, and children,' Washington's Secretary of Health Dr Umair Shah said last month.

'Vaccination the best tool we have in this pandemic, but we also recommend that individuals mask indoors, and avoid large, crowded settings vaccinated or not.'
A 10-year-old boy had a sewing needle the same length as a Twix removed through his penis after it got stuck in his urethra.

The unnamed child, from Iran, was taken to hospital after he shoved the 9cm-long object inside and struggled to get it out for more than three hours.

Doctors who treated the boy said he had pushed the needle into his urethra, which carries urine and semen, with the blunt end first.

It's unclear why he did so but the medics noted a number of possible reasons including curiosity, pleasure or a brief psychological episode.

But they said he had no history of mental health issues. The details of the circumstances around the incident, revealed in the journal Urology Case Reports, are scarce.

X-rays revealed the sharp object was in a position which made it difficult to extract using normal methods, such as pushing it out of the penis.

After giving the boy anaesthetic to numb the area, they manually pushed the blunt end of the needle until the sharp tip penetrated the skin.

Serajoddin Vahidi, the lead urologist from Shahid Sadoughi University who treated him, said it was the first time the method had ever been successfully carried out.

A X-Ray revealed that the 87mm sewing needle was positioned in the 10-year-old Iranian boy's urethra in such a way that trying to pull it out could have caused further damage.

When objects become stuck in the urethra, they can sometimes be milked out the tip of the penis physically.

But medics who treated the boy feared removing the needle using this method carried a high risk of damaging his genitals.

Six months after the procedure the boy was able to urinate without issue, suggesting there was no lasting damage from the procedure.

The doctors added that paediatric psychiatrics were consulted before the patient was discharged after ruling out child abuse and psychiatric disorders.

The case report authors said their new method represents an alternative technique to entering the opening of the penis and pulling out similar objects.

The unnamed child, from Iran , was taken to hospital after he shoved the 9cm-long object inside and struggled to get it out for more than three hours

Sometimes if objects inserted into penises are unable to extracted by either their size or positioning the patient has to undergo surgery to remove the object.

In China a 14-year-old boy had to undergo a two-hour surgery to remove a 11cm acupuncture needle he had inserted into his penis to help him stay awake while he was studying.

Children are known to put foreign objects into their mouths, ears, noses and eyes out of curiosity.

Experts say they're experimenting with the world around them and learning what happens when they try different things.

In adult patients presenting with foreign objects lodged in their body, it can often be the result of sexual experimentation.
Wind the clock back 110 years and automotive history was made when a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost drove from London to Edinburgh and helped cement the motor car's future.

Designed as an 'Experimental Speed Car', the Silver Ghost won the 1911 trial of speed, reliability and endurance locked in top gear for the entire 799-mile return trip.

Last month the same car repeated half that feat over two days from the Royal Automobile Club in London's Pall Mall (which oversaw the original trial) to Edinburgh, replicating as much of the original route as possible.

Historic racer: A Rolls Royce Silver Ghost was driven from Edinburgh to London last month repeating a trip from 110 years ago when the same car won the 1911 trial of speed

And this week Rolls-Royce is making history again. On Wednesday, the company unveiled a sleek coupe-like limousine  called 'Spectre' in a cheeky nod to the release of the new 007 film  that will launch at the end of 2023 as the first fully-electric Rolls-Royce.

Spectre will cost between 400,000 and 500,000, and the company has said all its cars will be electric by 2030.

Bosses believe it's the most significant moment in Rolls-Royce's history since the Honourable Charles Rolls and engineer Sir Henry Royce were introduced.

The Rolls-Royce partnership began in 1904  but can trace its origins back to the business founded by Sir Henry Royce in 1884 (one of the first electrical engineers).

Rolls-Royce's first electric car the Spectre will cost between 400,000 and 500,000, and the company has said all its cars will be electric by 2030

Place in history

Royce built his first motor car in 1904 and in May of that year met his new partner. They reached a deal for Rolls to sell the Royce cars exclusively under the name of Rolls-Royce.

Rolls championed and owned an early electric car. He also had a charging station at his showroom in Fulham for Brougham electric cars.

In 1904, he even agreed to become an agent for the Contal Electromobile electric car but, on seeing Royce's motor car, he cancelled the agreement. And so the internal combustion engine went on to dominate motoring.

Lawrence of Arabia, the British Army and the Maharajas of India were all fans of Rolls-Royce's off-road prowess, as demonstrated in the Reliability Trials of 1907.

Also in 1907, businessman Frank Norbury brought the brand into India by driving a Silver Ghost 620 miles to Kolhapur in Maharashtra, through mountainous terrain.

In World War I, British commanders armoured Rolls-Royces to drive across crater-marked landscapes. They were also taken to China, Russia and the Middle East.

A Tank Corps Journal from October 1922 noted: 'The most outstanding incident since the war has been the trip of three Rolls-Royce armoured cars from Jerusalem to Baghdad.'

Beatle John Lennon owned a yellow psychedelic patterned Rolls-Royce.

And Russian revolutionary communist leader Vladimir Lenin couldn't help but be seduced  enjoying a specially-adapted half-track Silver Ghost with skis for winters.

Five landmark Rolls-Royces Rolls-Royce 10 Henry Royce produced his two-cylinder Royce 10 hp just before concluding a deal with Charles Rolls in 1904. The model, costing 395, was the first with the new Rolls-Royce name Silver Ghost In 1906 the most famous Rolls-Royce launched. The Silver Ghost was crowned 'the best car in the world' in 1907 and spawned successors Armoured Rolls-Royce Loved by Lawrence of Arabia and Vladimir Lenin, armoured Rolls-Royces saw military action around the globe during World War I Goodwood Phantom Designed in secret and launched in 2003 after five years' work, the 21st century Phantom marked the start of the 'Goodwood era' under BMW Cullinan SUV Named after the Cullinan diamond, the largest ever gem-quality rough diamond, the first Rolls-Royce SUV raised eyebrows in 2018, but continued the tradition of off-road quality

Driving-on

Rolls-Royce has been under the stewardship of BMW since 1998 after a battle with Volkswagen.

The result was that BMW secured the brand and built a factory at Goodwood, where the first car to be built and launched, in 2003, was a modern Phantom.

Over the past decade Rolls-Royce has produced two experimental electric prototypes.

In 2011, I road-tested the Phantom EE (codenamed 102EX) based on an existing Phantom, replacing its 6.75 litre V12 petrol engine and gear-box with a lithium ion battery pack and two electric motors that propelled it up to 60 mph in 8 seconds with top speed restricted to 100 mph.

Ahead of its time: The Phantom EE was based on an existing Phantom, replacing its 6.75 litre V12 petrol engine and gear-box with a lithium ion battery pack and two electric motors

It won plaudits for near-silent performance and innovation, including inductive or 'wireless' charging, but the 125-mile range and 20 hours' charging time remained 'significant hurdles', Rolls-Royce conceded.

The second electric Royce was the 2016 Vision Next 100 (103EX), which undertook a three-year world tour.

And now we have what Rolls-Royce chief executive Torsten Muller-Otvos calls 'the real thing'  not a prototype, but a production car.

'Spectre' may echo James Bond's nemesis crime syndicate but for Rolls-Royce it continues the ethereal naming pattern joining Phantom, Wraith and Ghost.

Mr Muller-Otvos said: 'Electric motors are not new for Rolls-Royce. Sir Henry Royce's first venture created dynamos and patented the bayonet-style light bulb.

'We haven't been satisfied that available technology could support the Rolls-Royce experience. Until now.

'Electric drive is uniquely and perfectly suited to Rolls-Royce. It is silent, refined and creates torque almost instantly, generating tremendous power.'

The second electric Royce was the 2016 Vision Next 100 (103EX), which undertook a three-year world tour

Rolls-Royce says electric power is a propulsion system whose time has come. In the 1900s the internal combustion engine was not the only option  steam and electricity were also around.

Steam proved impractical. While electric 'lost the battle' for two reasons: limited range and the absence of charging stations  challenges which to a lesser extent still remain.

'But the characteristics that first drew engineers to electric power  instant torque, tremendous power and the absence of exhaust fumes  remain highly alluring,' Mr Muller-Otvos continued

'Some have speculated that, had he solved the range and charging issues, Sir Henry Royce may have chosen electric power alone for his cars.'

Now there's a thought.
Spiralling energy prices have plunged the steel industry deeper into crisis.

Companies are battling to stay afloat as they grapple with power prices four times higher than average.

Firms were previously paying around 50 per megawatt hour  but are now routinely being slapped with bills of 200.

Feeling the heat: Soaring power prices are making it difficult for companies to make steel profitably during certain hours of the day

The most dramatic spikes have seen prices skyrocket as much as 50 times higher, with quotes of 2,500.

The soaring rates are making it difficult for companies to make steel profitably during certain hours of the day, and they are curbing production.

Fears are rising that this could become more widespread and shake the already-stricken sector, which has seen a succession of companies pushed to the brink over the last few years.

UK Steel said: 'Record electricity prices are hobbling the UK's steel sector and widening the already damaging gulf between prices paid by steelmakers in the UK and those in Europe  an issue UK Steel has been warning about for almost a decade.'

Alasdair McDiarmid, operations director at the trade union Community, said: 'The spikes in electricity prices are incredibly concerning and a threat to UK steelworkers.

'We need urgent action to combat the UK's sky-high prices.

'There is currently a huge price inequality when it comes to electricity prices, with the UK paying twice as much for electricity as our EU competitors.

'This puts us at a major competitive disadvantage as well as being a barrier to delivering the Government's climate objectives,' he said.

Another factor that could hit companies that make recycled steel  rather than fresh steel from blast furnaces  is that after months of rising steel and raw materials prices, these have now started to level off and even fall.

Higher energy costs and falling steel prices could be debilitating for these firms.

Matthew Watkins, principal steel analyst at CRU, said: 'One other moving part of the jigsaw is that steel prices are now falling globally, having been through an incredible run higher over the past year or so.

'We expect those falls to continue and so that can also increase the threat that steel mills become unprofitable due to high power costs.'
America's financial watchdog has accused a former Goldman Sachs analyst of making hundreds of thousands of dollars from insider trading.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Jose Luis Casero Sanchez, 35, had used his role at the Wall Street titan to learn confidential information about Goldman's clients.

He then made illegal trades, according to the SEC, using brokerage accounts opened in his parents' names.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission said Jose Luis Casero Sanchez, 35, had used his role at Goldman Sachs to learn confidential information about its clients

He traded at least 45 times from September 2020 until his resignation in May this year, reaping nearly 351,000.

Sanchez worked for Goldman in Poland, as a senior compliance analyst. Part of his job involved being in a 'control room' that tracked pending mergers and other deals, where he mined the confidential information.

Goldman said: 'We condemn this egregious behaviour. We are fully cooperating with the SEC.'

The regulator is also looking to freeze the assets of Sanchez and his parents, who are believed to be living in Spain. Goldman interviewed him in late May about suspicious activity, the SEC's filing said.
More bank branches are disappearing from the High Street with Virgin Money shutting 31 of its locations.

The challenger bank, which bought Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank three years ago for 1.7billion, said it will close the branches early next year, with 112 staff losing their jobs.

Lenders have now announced 4,525 branch closures since the start of 2015, including 748 this year.

Branching out: Virgin founder Richard Branson led an initial expansion of Virgin Money branches but 31 are now to be closed early next year - costing 112 staff their jobs

Virgin said that the number of customers using branches 'has been on a downward trajectory across the UK banking industry for a number of years, and this has been further accelerated by the pandemic'.

It added that one of the branches was only for staff, and that 28 of the remaining 30 were less than a third of a mile from the nearest Post Office.

But the latest round of closures has outraged consumer rights groups, who claim the paucity of branches is making it difficult for elderly and vulnerable customers to access basic banking services.

Gareth Shaw, head of money at consumer group Which?, said: 'It is vital that consumers who are not yet ready or able to bank digitally are protected against the domino effect of branch closures that have taken place across the UK, particularly if they are vulnerable.

'This announcement from Virgin Money also demonstrates the risk of the Government delaying its desperately needed legislation to protect cash and the industry's failure to come up with solutions to the rapid decline of cash access.

'This should serve as a wake-up call to the Government. Legislation safeguarding access to cash must be introduced as soon as possible, which gives the Financial Conduct Authority powers to hold industry accountable for providing local cash services.'

Lenders have been shuttering branches in their droves over the last decade, in an attempt to cut costs as they invest in online banking.

Virgin Money alone has axed 64 branches since 2015  not counting the 101 Yorkshire and 72 Clydesdale locations which have gone over the same time  and will have 131 remaining across the UK.

The bank said it was 'accelerating its digital strategy', and would book an extra 45million of 'restructuring charges' in the last quarter of its financial year  taking the annual total to 145million  as it ploughed more money into online technology.

The bank said it will send letters to all affected customers at least 12 weeks before the branches close.

Fergus Murphy, group customer experience director at Virgin Money, said: 'As our customers change the way they want to bank with us and conduct fewer transactions in-store, we must continue to evolve the role of our stores into places where we showcase our products and bring our digital services to life.'

But union Unite slammed Virgin Money for 'disproportionately' affecting Scotland, where 12 of the branches earmarked for closure are based.

Debbie Hutchings, Unite industrial officer, said: 'The announcement will disproportionately impact workers and communities across Scotland, and it is here where the Virgin Group axe will fall the hardest.

'Island communities from Portree to rural towns such as Wick are going to be left behind by Virgin Money.

'Our nation's town centres from Cumbernauld to Musselburgh will be further hollowed out as fewer people will come into town if there is no bank branch.'

She added: 'This will directly hit the businesses that remain on the High Street.'
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Coronavirus cases are plummeting in Israel for the first time in months and hospital admissions are now firmly in retreat  in a sign of the booster jab programme taking effect.

The country is recording on average fewer than 4,000 Covid infections each day now compared to 11,000-plus at the peak of its third wave on September 14, which was more than at any other point in the pandemic.

Cases have been in freefall now for weeks despite Israeli schools returning from the summer break this month and record numbers of tests being deployed in classrooms.

It puts an end to a meteoric rise in infections in recent months that was believed to be due to waning immunity and the rise of the exceptionally infectious Delta variant.

Israel launched its trailblazing booster jab programme in July in response to the rising wave, which initially targeted over-60s before expanding to everyone aged 12 and above who had been double-dosed.

The number of people being admitted to hospital with the virus each week has been falling for the past month, in what Israeli scientists believe is the result of heightened immunity from the third dose.

Stats compiled by Oxford University-based research team Our World in Data shows there were 110 admission per million people in the week up to September 26, the most recent date, compared to about 165 per million on August 29.

Britain last week launched its own booster vaccine programme, with more than 30million people aged 50 and over, frontline medics and carers and patients with weak immune systems in line for a third jab.

Data from Israel suggests a booster shot slashes the risk of infection by 11 times less and makes people up to 20 times less likely to need hospital care.

Israel is recording on average fewer than 4,000 Covid infections each day now compared to 11,000-plus at the peak of its third wave on September 14, which was more than at any other point in the pandemic. The above Our World in Data chart shows the drop as a rate per million, peaking at 1,200 per million cases on September 14 and falling to around 450 per million yesterday

The number of people being admitted to hospital with the virus each week has been falling for the past month, in what Israeli scientists believe is the result of heightened immunity from the third dose. Stats compiled by Oxford University-based research team Our World in Data shows there were 110 admission per million people in the week up to September 26, the most recent date, compared to about 165 per million on August 29

The percentage vaccinated by dose in each age group in Israel. Older groups, who are most vulnerable to the disease, have been most likely to accept a jab

Latest data from the country's health ministry suggests that the booster programme is creating strong protection in the elderly. The rate of severe Covid illness in over-60s is currently nine times higher among those who have had two vaccine doses compared to the triple-jabbed  on September 25 it was 36 per 100,000 in the two dose group compared to just four per 100,000 in the booster group. Among those who are completely unvaccinated, the rate was 170

A major study published New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) on September 15 found that over-60s given a third dose were 11.3 times less likely to become infected with Delta two weeks after the booster.

The research looked at more than 1.1million Israelis. It also found that people given a booster were 19.5 times less likely to be hospitalised with Covid than those who were still relying on protection from two doses.

Covid cases are DOWN (but only just): UK's daily infections dip by 0.6% in a week Britain's Covid outbreak has shrunk for the first time in nearly two weeks, while hospital admissions and deaths continue to drop. Another 36,480 positive tests were recorded across the UK on Thursday, down 0.6 per cent on the 36,710 infections spotted last week. Week-on-week cases had been rising steadily for the previous 12 days. Despite the fall in official numbers, it could be a blip because other surveillance measures today revealed cases are still rising. King's College London data today showed the number of Britons catching Covid every day rose almost 30 per cent last week. Cases have soared in children ever since millions of youngsters returned to classrooms following the summer holidays. But now infections appear to be spilling over into their parents, a trend MailOnline revealed earlier this week. Meanwhile, Covid hospitalisations and deaths continued to fall, with 657 people infected with the virus requiring NHS care (down by 12 per cent on last week) and 137 fatalities recorded (down by a quarter). Both figures lag several weeks behind infections because of how long it can take for infected patients to become seriously ill. Advertisement

Latest data from the country's health ministry suggests that the booster programme is creating strong protection in the elderly.

The rate of severe Covid illness in over-60s is currently nine times higher among those who have had two vaccine doses compared to the triple-jabbed  on September 25 it was 36 per 100,000 in the two dose group compared to just four per 100,000 in the booster group. Among those who are completely unvaccinated, the rate was 170.

The results in Israel have not yet convinced the UK's health officials to recommend a mass booster campaign for younger age groups.

No10's vaccine advisory panel, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), believes younger people had higher immunity from two doses because of the UK's unique dosing strategy.

While Israel, the US and many other nations spaced the two doses three weeks apart, Britain extended this to three months.

At the time that decision was made, at the height of the second wave, it was to get more jabs in more arms in the hope that partial protection for many rather than full protection for some would drive down the epidemic.

Studies later showed that the wider gap generated stronger and longer lasting immunity.

Britons are only being invited to come forward for a booster if they had their second jab at least six months ago, which officials said was the 'sweet spot' for boosters.

Third doses will be rolled out to the top nine priority groups during the initial drive, with the elderly, medics and carers first in line again.

Doses of the Pfizer jab, or a half dose of Moderna, will be administered as boosters, regardless of which jab they initially received, because studies showed they were the most effective at topping up immunity.

For those who cannot get either of those two mRNA jabs, such as due to an allergy, they will be given a dose of AstraZeneca's vaccine. A half dose of Moderna has been chosen because it was found to have fewer side effects but similar efficacy.

The UK also started vaccinating healthy 12 to 15-year-olds for the first time last week with the hope of keeping the epidemic at bay and preventing school closures this winter. They are being offered a single dose of Pfizer for now.

Officials have not yet released data on how many Britons have received third doses of the vaccine or how many 12 to 15-year-olds have received their first injection, despite both programmes beginning earlier this month.

It comes after Britain's Covid outbreak shrunk for the first time in nearly two weeks yesterday.

Another 36,480 infections were recorded across the UK, down 0.6 per cent on the number last Thursday. Week-on-week cases had been rising steadily for the previous 12 days.

Cases have soared in children ever since millions of youngsters returned to classrooms following the summer holidays. But now infections appear to be spilling over into their parents, a trend MailOnline revealed earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Covid hospitalisations and deaths continued to fall, with 657 people infected with the virus requiring NHS care (down by 12 per cent on last week) and 137 fatalities recorded (down by a quarter).

Both figures lag several weeks behind infections because of how long it can take for infected patients to become seriously ill.
For the past 18 months Australians have endured onerous government restrictions imposed on their lives in the name of fighting Covid.

Basic activities once considered the birthright of every Australian such as going to work or school and spending time with family have been banned during the pandemic as governments pursued the ultimately impossible goal of stamping out the virus.

Australia was alone among democratic nations in preventing people from leaving the country and imposed caps and mandatory (and expensive) quarantine for returning citizens - while states have used public health laws to impose intrusive QR codes, mask wearing, psychologically devastating isolation and business-crippling lockdowns.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews even proposed letting ordinary residents arrest fellow citizens if they suspected they may breach public health orders - but that extraordinary power was rejected by the state parliament.

Now, as the nation's initially sluggish vaccine rollout heads toward 80 per cent of the population double-jabbed, the two most populous states - NSW and Victoria - have released roadmaps to freedom; tacitly acknowledging that using the force of the state to hold back a virus is futile, and instead putting the onus on individuals to protect themselves.

But with no likelihood of Covid being eliminated, and with borders being re-opened to potential carriers, public health experts believe governments could - and perhaps should - retain some restrictions indefinitely.

So which of our freedoms will still be curtailed and which rights will we get back in 2022?

Drinking in packed pubs

In a paper published earlier this month titled 2022 Will Be Better, experts at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health said density requirements for indoor venues will be needed for years to come.

Once 80 per cent of adults are double vaccinated, Victorian pubs, restaurants and cafes can finally open but only for seated service and with no standing around the bar.

There will be caps of 150 people inside and 500 outdoors - and non-vaccinated residents will still be banned.

Celebrations for Anzac Day in The Rocks, Sydney in April this year. Pubs were packed because there was no Covid outbreak

In NSW, hospitality venues will have to follow strict rules which require four square metres of space per person and a 20-person cap on bookings - but standing up to drink will be allowed.

Density rules will still be in place even after December 1 when NSW enters the third stage of its roadmap, although the requirement will be reduced to two square metres except for nightclubs where the four square metre rule will still apply.

Professor Tony Blakely, who co-authored the 2022 Will Be Better report, told Daily Mail Australia that density rules and other restrictions will be needed for years.

'There's no way that we can stop all our public health and social measures - things like going to into the office less often, using masks on public transport and having density limits indoors,' he said.

'Things like that take the heat out of the virus so it doesn't spread like crazy and we don't have to throw our whole society back into lockdown.'

Wearing masks

In Victoria masks will still be required indoors in public venues such as shopping malls, even after the 80 per cent vaccination threshold is passed.

The same rule will apply in NSW until December 1 when masks will only be needed while travelling on public transport, on planes and at airports, and for front-of-house hospitality workers.

The 2022 Will Be Better report recommends not just retaining mask use next year but increasing it as a way to prevent a return to lockdowns.

'One simple policy innovation is to more widely mandate widespread mask wearing,' the report says.

Professor Blakely said masks would be an important part of the 'mix' of restrictions required into the future.

In NSW after December 1 masks will be needed while travelling on public transport, on planes (pictured) and at airports, and for front-of-house hospitality workers

'The trick now is not to think about one thing at a time - such as restaurants, masks and schools - but to think about everything together.

'It's total mix that makes the difference because each little thing changes the reproductive rate of the virus,' he said.

'The trick is to make our toolkit as expansive as possible, with as many tools in it so we can pick and choose to make life as good as we can for us, for whatever vaccination coverage we're at.'

Professor Blakely said the need for extra restrictions will be shown around Easter time in 2022 when the vaccine protection instilled in those who got the jab in winter this year is beginning to decline.

'In Easter next year we're going to really notice waning vaccine immunity and we're not going to be able to boost all our population by then,' he said.

'So we're going to need extra tools to pull out around Easter next year.'

Bans for the unvaccinated

Both Victoria and NSW have mandated vaccines for workers in jobs such as construction, teaching and aged care.

Qantas has declared that not only will its staff need to be vaccinated but also passengers travelling internationally will have to prove they've had two doses.

In NSW only fully vaccinated people will be released from lockdown on October 11 but the non-vaccinated will be able to enter pubs, restaurants and shops and enjoy home gatherings from December 1.

But in Victoria Mr Andrews has vowed to keep vaccine mandates in place for hospitality venues, personal care services, weddings and funerals for long as [he] possibly can'.

Those bans are likely to be effective in pushing up vaccination rates, but ignored the fact that the jabbed and unjabbed alike can both still contract and spread the virus.

Opposition frontbencher James Newbury said concern was growing that unvaccinated people would have their rights severely curtailed for a long time.

'Within weeks, you can only get married in Victoria if you have been vaccinated.

'And, alarmingly, you can only commemorate a loved one at a funeral if you have got the jab,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Newbury described the roadmap as 'more of a roadblock' and said: 'It's utter lunacy' to keep tough restrictions in place for so long.

Mandatory isolation

Under state public health orders, governments have the power to require an infected person or a close contact to self-isolate for 14 days.

Neither NSW or Victoria have formally announced any plans to scale back their test, trace and isolate regimes - although NSW is poised to remove or reduce isolation requirements for close contacts.

A relaxation of that requirement for contacts to undergo long spells in isolation even if they test negative would prevent huge staff shortages in hospitals and other workplaces.

Under state public health orders, governments have the power to require an infected person or a close contact to self-isolate for 14 days. Pictured: A locked-down apartment block in Blacktown, south-western Sydney in July

From November 1 the testing regime around Australia will be boosted by the widespread rollout of rapid antigen tests which can be done at home.

The 20-minute tests involve putting a bodily sample such as a throat swab onto a treated strip which shows whether Covid is present with a marker or colour - a bit like a pregnancy test.

The 2022 Will Be Better report says mass rapid antigen testing - which has been used in the UK and US since last year - can significantly boost Covid surveillance and reduce community infections.

There is no likelihood of any change to the requirement for a positive case to isolate.

Privacy

Before she resigned, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian declared the QR code check-in system - which tracks people's visits to every commercial premises - will remain 'as long as Covid's around', so it could effectively become permanent.

That defied the advice of even her own Customer Services Minister Victor Dominello, who said 'notwithstanding that these are my babies, I will be the first to turn them off'.

State governments will also be granted access to people's immunisation records which are held by the Federal Government.

Ms Berejiklian has said Mr Dominello is 'busily working with the Commonwealth' to access the data so it can be integrated into the Service NSW app.

This would allow businesses to see a customer's vaccination status when they check in to a venue.

Home quarantine will also impinge on residents' privacy because it uses an app that requires a traveller to send the government a selfie when prompted to prove they are at home.

Ms Berejiklian admitted: 'It might come down to if you're prepared to give up a little bit of privacy, you can then quarantine at home.'

Travel

Australians have been banned from going overseas since March 18, 2020 due to repeated extensions of the human biosecurity emergency period under the Biosecurity Act 2015.

Scott Morrison has announced Aussies will be able to travel overseas next month once their states surpass 80 per cent double dose vaccination coverage - with NSW on track to be the first to hit that milestone.

Vaccinated travellers will be able to quarantine at home for seven days upon their return while quarantine-free travel may also be set up for certain countries such as New Zealand.

Unvaccinated Australians will still have to complete the mandatory 14-day quarantine stint in hotels or designated facilities upon their return.

But there will still be restrictions in place including mandatory quarantine for people entering Australia from areas deemed 'high risk' and mandatory testing for unvaccinated arrivals.

Australians have been banned from going overseas since March 18, 2020 due to repeated extensions of the human biosecurity emergency period under the Biosecurity Act 2015. Pictured: Travellers arriving in Sydney in July

The national plan - which was agreed to by all states and territories in August - says that fully vaccinated travellers will be exempt from all state border restrictions once the 80 per cent jab rate is reached.

But ultra-cautious premiers in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania have threatened to ignore that plan as they attempt to keep up their elimination strategy.

WA leader Mark McGowan has even said his border may not open until Easter.

Restrictions required for 'at least two years'

Asked if Australia will ever get back to life before Covid again, Professor Blakely told Daily Mail Australia: 'I can confidently say the next two years will not be back to normal.'

He said the UK approach of simply removing almost all restrictions was not plausible in Australia for two reasons.

Firstly, Australians would not be willing to accept the level of illness and death that would bring. The UK - which has roughly 2.5 times Australia's population - had 3,887 Covid deaths in the four weeks to September 29 whereas Australia had 267 in the same period.

'We haven't quite got the stomach for it yet,' he said.

Secondly, removing restrictions would be more risky in Australia because an estimated 95 per cent of the UK adult population has boosted immunity either through antibodies from having had the virus or from vaccination.

Australia, in a downside from its relatively low exposure to the virus, has a far lower percentage of people who have immunity due to previously having had Covid.

'They've got a head start on us because they let the virus wash through so they're natural infection gives them extra immunity. We don't have that yet.

'For the level of hospitalisation and death Australia will tolerate in the next year we're not going to get to herd immunity.'

Asked if Australia will ever get back to life before Covid again, Professor Blakely told Daily Mail Australia: 'I can confidently say the next two years will not be back to normal.' Pictured: Police and health workers at a locked-down apartment in Blacktown, south-western Sydney in July

Professor Blakely said herd immunity - the point at which the disease stops spreading - could be reached if more people are infected or better vaccines are produced.

Pfizer's vaccine reduces the chance of infection by 80 per cent but that's not enough when so few people have got natural immunity from catching the virus, he said.

If herd immunity is not achievable then Covid-19 will become endemic, meaning it would be a constant among the population like flu.

The power of chief health officers

The Covid-19 pandemic has put extraordinary power in the hands of chief health officers around the country - and there is no sign of this changing soon.

Once a role of low public visibility, state CHOs like Victoria's Brett Sutton, NSW's Kerry Chant, Queensland's Jeannette Young and South Australia's Nicola Spurrier have become household names after appearing in daily press conferences broadcast nationwide.

These unelected officials have wielded unprecedented amounts of power through the pandemic, as state premiers enacted almost all their recommendations - unleavened by concerns for the economy or personal liberties - and passed the buck onto 'health advice'.

A stark example emerged in September last year when a 26-year-old woman was blocked from entering Queensland to say goodbye to her dying father and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: 'Let me make it very clear, I don't make these decisions.'

Victoria's Brett Sutton, NSW's Kerry Chant and Queensland's Jeannette Young (pictured) have become household names after appearing in daily press conferences broadcast on national television

The CHOs were even more visible after Victoria and NSW suspended Parliament during lockdowns, meaning press conferences became the only way to scrutinise governments.

They even ranked fourth in the AFR Magazine's annual Power issue - the first time any chief health officers had made the cut. Tellingly, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was beaten to top spot by the state premiers.

Daniel Wild, Director of Research at the pro-free markets think-tank the Institute of Public Affairs, told Daily Mail Australia that now we are shifting toward living with the virus, power must be restored to the people via elected officials, and the vast powers of bureaucrats like the CHOs must be curtailed.

'All governments must commit to fully restoring the freedoms of all Australians and to return to the normal operation of parliament and democracy.

'The mandates must end. The lockdowns must end. And the social and economic recovery must begin,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'I am confident that all of our freedoms, which we enjoy by our birthright, will be restored because Australians have had enough of living in an authoritarian police-state and want their lives back.

'While I would never encourage any Australian to ever break the law, each of us must ask ourselves how much longer we are going to go along with these brutal and dehumanising restrictions on our lives.'
To jab or not to jab  that is the question on the lips of most young people right now.

Since the announcement that first 16- to 17-year-olds were to receive the coronavirus vaccine, then 12- to 15-year-olds, theres been hot debate online and in homes across the country.

The Government and Chief Medical Officers are clear  vaccinating young people means theyre far less likely to catch serious Covid-19, suffer from serious illness or pass it on to others.

And it doesnt just protect them physically but mentally, too. Because if they catch coronavirus this winter, youngsters will miss out on going to school and college, seeing friends, going to parties and enjoying all the things they are being allowed to do again.

To jab or not to jab  that is the question on the lips of most young people right now.

And chances are they will catch it  last week, Englands Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, warned that it was inevitable for the unvaccinated.

So far, the vaccines have done an incredible job  theyve saved more than 100,000 lives in England alone. Not only are they safe and effective, theyre also quick, easy and free to receive. And theres nothing in them to cause concern to any religious groups or vegans.

Other countries are also vaccinating their young citizens. Eleven million young people in the US have received the vaccine, as well as those in New Zealand, Canada, Spain and Israel.

However, some parents, guardians and carers  as well as young people themselves  still have concerns about the jab.

Here, medical experts answer their most common questions:

WHY SHOULD YOUNG PEOPLE BE VACCINATED?

Dr Farzana Hussain, a London GP

While its true that younger people are less likely to be very sick with the virus, they can still get ill  one in 20 of those aged 16 to 29 who had Covid-19 went on to report long Covid, so prevention is important.

Vaccination is also vital for young peoples mental health  being healthy will help them stay happy, keep going to school and college, seeing friends and enjoying all the things they should be doing at their age.

Dr Farzana Hussain, a London GP, explains: The past 20 months have had a disproportionate effect on the mental health of young people. They have missed out on so much already. Having the vaccine allows for a lot more mixing.

ARE THE VACCINES SAFE?

The UKs independent medical regulator, the MHRA, rigorously reviewed and confirmed the safety, quality and effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in young people before the programme was rolled out.

Dr Hussain says: The vaccines protect us against death and serious illness from Covid. It is about balancing risks. It is so much safer to take it than risk death or serious illness. Millions of people have now received the vaccine, it is very safe.

HOW COULD THE VACCINE BE DEVELOPED SO QUICKLY?

Dr Bob Phillips, honorary consultant in paediatrics at University of York

When the Covid pandemic began, scientists already knew how to develop a vaccine so, once the viruss genome (or genetic sequence) was cracked in January last year, they could get started.

Dr Bob Phillips, honorary consultant in paediatrics at University of York, explains: There was unprecedented scientific collaboration on a global scale. And putting all of these brains, all of this effort, together meant that they could produce the vaccines more quickly.

The paperwork needed was prioritised by regulators (to cut down the time it spent sitting in someones inbox doing nothing, says Dr Phillips), and thousands of people had already volunteered to be guinea pigs, which speeded up the process.

However, no part of the medical trials was skipped  instead, all were run in parallel.

WHAT ABOUT SIDE EFFECTS?

The side effects you get from the vaccine are, essentially, a sore arm, says Dr Phillips. Maybe you might feel a bit shivery-shaky. There are some very rare systemic side effects as well, but the common ones are just that.

WHAT IF MY CHILD IS SCARED OF NEEDLES?

TV doctor, Dawn Harper

Injections are a common phobia in young people but adults can help, says TV doctor Dawn Harper.

For the 12 to 15 age group, school and college nurses are thoroughly experienced in managing this, she says. If youre nervous or worried, you can ask to lie down.

You can also buy over-the-counter anaesthetic cream that you can rub into the top of your arm 20 minutes before if you really dont like needles.

HOW SHOULD I TALK ABOUT THE VACCINE WITH MY YOUNGSTER? Its vital that young people understand how important it is to have the vaccine, but its not always easy to talk to them. Dr Elaine Lockhart, Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Child and Adolescent Faculty, gives her advice: Dr Elaine Lockhart, Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Child and Adolescent Faculty Start the chat at the right time  when you have their attention and when the phones are down. Sometimes its easier to do this when youre either driving or walking. Maybe start by asking them what theyve been hearing and what their thoughts are about it. Then tell them your thoughts. Be calm and positive. Talk in everyday terms  dont use jargon  and explain how effective the vaccines have been and that its in their best interests. Work out the practical aspects with them  where theyre going to get it and who will be with them. Talk to them about any worries and let them ask plenty of questions. The first one might be: Will it hurt? Be honest  it does, but it doesnt last long. Be prepared for questions about things theyve read on social media. If you dont know the answer or you need to prove something isnt true, I would say: Why dont we look up what the experts are saying? Go to NHS.uk or a trusted organisation such as YoungMinds or the Centre For Mental Health. If its really going badly, leave it and pick it up again at the weekend. It doesnt have to be done in one go  taking your time may be much better. Finally, if theyre worried about the vaccine making them ill, talk about what is likely  a sore arm or feeling youve got a bit of a virus for a few hours. Its important their fears arent dismissed. Help 16- and 17-year-olds book their jab by clicking HERE If you have a question about the vaccine for your 12- to 15-year-old, speak to the School Age Immunisation Service  youll be given contact details with the consent form.

I DONT WANT TO MISS ANY COOL EVENTS

Teen influencer Amazing Arabella and her younger brother JD the Kid

With Halloween and Christmas just around the corner, teen influencer Amazing Arabella and her younger brother JD the Kid cant wait to get vaccinated so they dont miss any parties.

Its a great thing for everyone to have, and its keeping everyone safe, which is good as well, says Arabella, 17. I think people want to get back to normality, just like I do.

There are loads of cool events coming up, such as Halloween, Christmas, and we all want to go to them. We dont want to miss them. We want to spend time with our families, too.

I have my birthday coming up in December. I hope well be vaccinated in time for that so we can have a bit of a party.

Arabella has done her research on the jab. On my digital platforms Ive interviewed a few of the doctors who have actually worked on the vaccine. We talk about how safe it is, and why its important for everyone to get it.

Her 16-year-old brother agrees. Its important young people get vaccinated very soon, because it will make the world a safer place, says JD. And everyone will be all good in the hood.

I want to be ready for Halloween, Christmas and bonfire night  and Arabellas birthday, too.

COVID VACCINATIONS AND YOUNG PEOPLE  WHATS HAPPENING?  12- TO 15-YEAR-OLDS Letters are currently being sent out to parents, guardians and carers offering 12- to 15-year-olds a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. This is being organised by the School Age Immunisation Service, and will be given at schools and colleges in the same way as other jabs such as MMR and HPV. If they miss it, theyll have another chance later. Consent from parents, guardians and carers will be asked for, and young people are being given advice and information on the vaccine to help everyone decide. If the 12- to 15-year-old wants the jab against their parents wishes, the School Age Immunisation Service will mediate and decide if they can be vaccinated.  16- AND 17-YEAR-OLDS More than 50 per cent of this age group have already received the recommended single dose of the vaccine. Now the remainder can book online as well as going to walk-in centres with their friends or to their GP, to make it even easier. Parents are being urged to remind and encourage them to have the injection, and help them book an appointment so they dont get left behind. Help 16- and 17-year-olds book their jab by clicking HERE

 This article is part of a paid-for partnership with the UK Government
Mail delivery could slow down to rates not seen since the 1970s starting Friday, as the U.S. Postal Service begins cutting costs while Congress considers a financial relief package.

The changes come after Postmaster Louis DeJoy in March proposed cutting $160 billion in predicted losses over the next decade with the changes in service standards a key part.

Almost four out of every 10 pieces of first-class mail will see slower delivery, Lexington Institute senior fellow Paul Steidler told CBS News. That 'means mail delivery will be slower than in the 1970s,' he said, adding that DeJoy's plan is 'disastrous.' Lexington is a think tank that believes in limiting the role of the federal government.

The new standards, finalized in August, revise existing one-to-three-day service standards to one to five days and will impact about 40 percent of first-class mail.

Steidler said those who live in rural areas, the disabled and the elderly will be hurt most by these changes.

Mail delivery could slow down to rates not seen since the 1970s starting Friday, as the U.S. Postal Service begins to cut costs while Congress considers a financial relief package

The changes come after Postmaster Louis DeJoy in March proposed cutting $160 billion in predicted losses over the next decade with the changes in service standards a key part

'It's the least fortunate who will be hurt hardest by this,' he said. 'Everything in American society is getting faster, it seems, except for the mail delivery  which is now going to get slower.'

Some could face late fees if they pay bills by mail, and others who need tax forms or passports quickly could be delayed.

The postal service also plans starting on October 3 to again temporarily hike prices for some package shipments for the 2021 peak holiday season.

Delivery standards will be slower for about 7% of periodicals. Some major U.S. businesses are sending notices telling customers to account for additional time when mailing bills.

USPS recommends that 'if it would take you more than a day to drive your mail to its destination, make sure to give your long-distance mail some extra time to travel with USPS.'

The service will maintain a two-day delivery standard for single-piece first-class mail traveling within a local area, a spokeswoman said, adding that the postal service improved delivery standards in 2021.

'The postal service has shown steady improvements for all first-class mail, marketing and periodical mail categories over the last seven months,' the spokeswoman said. 'We have worked tirelessly to overcome challenges from recent storms and continue to recruit thousands of employees for the upcoming holiday peak season.'

But the USPS has struggled with poor delivery performance over the past year, facing increased volume and staffing issues due to COVID-19.

In late August, USPS raised prices of first-class stamps to 58 cents from 55 cents.

USPS has reported net losses of more than $90 billion since 2007

Congress is considering a plan to provide USPS with $46 billion in financial relief over 10 years

DeJoy, a Trump administration appointee, has become a figure of controversy among Democrats

USPS has reported net losses of more than $90 billion since 2007. One reason is 2006 legislation mandating it pre-fund more than $120 billion in retiree health care and pension liabilities, a requirement labor unions have called an unfair burden not shared by other businesses.

Congress is considering a plan to provide USPS with $46 billion in financial relief over 10 years, including eliminating the requirement that USPS pre-fund retiree health benefits for 75 years.

DeJoy, a Trump administration appointee, has become a figure of controversy among Democrats. Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Wisconsin and Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey have both called on DeJoy to be fired by President Biden.

Federal law bars the president from terminating the postmaster general under any circumstances
A senior Westpac manager was fired for allegedly putting his hand between the legs of a female staffer before calling another woman a 'wh*re' and a 'b**ch'.

John Keron, who was employed with the bank in Fremantle for 35 years, strenuously denies the allegations, arguing he would 'never use those words' and there was no sexual intent when he admittedly brushed a woman's backside with his hand.

The alleged incidents occurred on a night out with colleagues for after-work drinks at The Camfield pub in Perth in March this year.

At an unfair dismissal hearing before the Fair Work Commission, Mr Keron initially denied ever touching the accuser, but after watching CCTV footage that appeared to show his hand on her buttocks, he said he saw 'nothing sexual in [the action] whatsoever', and argued it did not constitute sexual touching.

The Commission heard that on the day in question, Westpac had provided staff a tab for free drinks and food from about 4.30pm to 7pm following an all-day workshop in Perth.

At an unfair dismissal hearing before the Fair Work Commission, Mr Keron (pictured with his daughter) initially denied ever touching the accuser

John Keron, who was employed with the bank for 35 years, strenuously denies the allegations, arguing he would 'never use those words' and there was no sexual intent when he admittedly brushed a woman's backside with his hand

A small group of employees stayed on drinking until 10pm and it was in this window of time the alleged offending occurred.

The CCTV footage appeared to show Mr Keron touching the woman's buttock briefly before moving to the dance floor about 9.30pm, according to the Australian Financial Review.

When the alleged victim made a complaint to management the next morning, she claimed he moved his hand toward her vagina for two to three seconds.

She also made a complaint to the local police department.

Mr Keron has told the Commission that his dismissal was unfair on the basis that the alleged incident occurred outside of work hours.

He did not agree that his 35-year tenure with the bank should be ended so swiftly for what his lawyer described as 'one second of drunken behaviour'.

The father-of-two was employed as a Senior Relationship Manager at the Fremantle branch, where an average base salary starts at $145,000-per-annum.

Mr Keron is this week arguing in the Fair Work Commission that his dismissal was unfair on the basis that the alleged incident occurred outside of work hours

The Commission also heard on the same night, after eating a McDonald's meal, Mr Keron ran into a male colleague and the pair attempted to visit the Crown casino.

They were allegedly denied entry after a female Westpac employee informed security they had been asked to leave earlier in the evening.

Pictured: John Keron

The father-of-two allegedly responded by calling the woman a 'wh**e' and a 'b**ch', before accusing her of lying.

He has since denied using the slurs, insisting he would never speak that way to another person.

Westpac investigated the allegations and dismissed him altogether when Mr Keron reported he was facing potential criminal charges four weeks later.

Within a week, he had been fired.

During Wednesday's unfair dismissal hearing, Mr Keron said he was 'rocked' by the allegations.

'I understand the gravity of what it is, it rocked me. I was devastated [and] my immediate response was to fight back,' he said.

Mr Keron also noted he 'couldn't believe' the situation he found himself in. He has no recollection of the actions captured in the CCTV footage but did not think that what he saw amounted to sexual touching.

'I don't see that as sexual harassment because I don't see anything sexual in it whatsoever,' he said.

Mr Keron also noted he 'couldn't believe' the situation he found himself in. He has no recollection of the actions captured in the CCTV footage but does not think that what he saw amounts to sexual touching

His lawyer argued there was a relaxed vibe at the pub and that the complainant had earlier been rubbing Mr Keron's back and shoulder, as well as leaning into him'.

Regardless, Mr Keron told the hearing: 'In hindsight, it wasn't my best day'.

Both female employees who were involved in the alleged incidents that night have since left their posts with the bank.

Mr Keron's barrister Maria Saraceni argued any events that night did not warrant Mr Keron's dismissal and that vision showed 'whatever touching occurred' was limited to 'one second'.

The father-of-two has since revealed after a six-month 'career break', he is on the lookout for a job, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The hearing continues before the Commission on Friday.
A millionaire meat mogul ran naked onto his porch and fired a warning shot into the air after his luxury car collection was targeted by thieves for the 18th time - and was outraged to find himself on the wrong side of the law as a result.

Evan Wexler, 56, was filmed by his own surveillance cameras in the buff and brandishing his AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle outside his huge mansion in Fort Lee, New Jersey, in July 2020.

He did so after thieves targeted his valuable car collection, which includes a Lamborghini worth $500,000, Ferrari, Range Rover and Mercedes G-Wagon.

The thief, who had gotten into the Mercedes after vaulting a high fence fled, but Wexler was stunned to find himself being arrested as a result. Cops found another rifle - an Israeli IWI Tavor Sar at his home - whose magazine size fell foul of the law.

He told DailyMail.com: 'An incident happens where a guy gets my car started, I came out of the house with a rifle, the guy puts the car into drive, drives forward, and my gun discharges,' he said. 'At that point, Fort Lee police show up, there's no victim of a shooting, but they come and turn the tables on me.'

'I came out, the guy got the car started and when the car moved or jump forward my gun discharged. My wife called the police like we did every other time.'

This is the moment Evan Wexler ran onto the porch of his property to confront a thief trying to steal his Mercedes G-Wagon, only to find himself arrested and charged instead

A camera set up at another position captured the moment the thief fled after being confronted by Wexler

Wexler, who made a fortune as a meat wholesaler, was charged after cops found a gun whose magazine size fell foul of local laws in his home

Wexler was put on probation for two years, and can no longer own a gun, leaving him at the mercy of thieves who continue to target his luxury car collection

'The cop comes and he sees a bullet hole in the side of this car and the next thing I know the sheriff is showing up, police and detectives are showing up.

'They get a subpoena to search my house, they take my guns, they take my gun license, they put me in jail for 48 hours. I've never been arrested in my life! Cops that I thought were friendly, that had my cell number and we would text back and forth.'

Wexler, who says he owns his guns legally, was charged with aggravated assault and possession of weapons for unlawful purposes, according to the New York Post.

Wexler pleaded guilty to a lesser charge to 'make the case go away.' None of the thieves who have targeted his property over the last two years have ever been caught.

He was relaxed about footage of his naked confrontation being shared, saying: ''I got a butt, you got a butt, people mostly just see my bald head and tattoos.'

But Wexler was far less impressed with how he ended up being treated as a criminal.

Wexler was forced to sell his guns and was slapped with probation for two years, which requires him to seek permission from the courts every time he wants to travel.

And to add insult to injury, his car collection is still regularly targeted by thieves - and he now no longer has his arsenal of weapons to scare them off.

A month after Wexler's arrest, his $500,000 Lamborghini Aventador, pictured, was stolen and found 10 days later, having suffered $80,000 of damage

Wexler's Mercedes is pictured. Thieves have previously broken into that car to try and find keys for the other luxury vehicles inside

Wexler also owns a Ferrari, pictured, at the garage of his home

A bright yellow Hummer also forms part of the meat wholesaler's collection

The most infuriating theft saw thieves steal his Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Coupe - one of only ten in the United States - in August 2020, the month after his arrest.

The half-million dollar supercar was recovered 10 days later, having sustained $80,000 of damage. It was pilfered after thieves managed to find the keys inside Wexler's unlocked Mercedes, which was parked behind his gates.

Explaining how he'd react to the attempted thefts when he was allowed to keep his guns, Wexler said: 'Now that the door's ringing, I'm keeping a 9mm on the nightable, a shotgun in the basement, a shotgun downstairs. It has me thinking outside the box. I have to start feeling like I might have to protect myself.'

'I would wake up, I tend to sleep not with clothes. This thing has me frantic where I jump out of bed butt naked and run down the stairs because they're here, knowing that the cops are not going to get here on time. They show up too late. It got to the point where I came out and they had come four straight nights.'

The businessman says his ordeal has made him more fearful while at home in the upmarket New Jersey enclave than when he is working in the notoriously-crime ridden Bronx.

This image shows the thief fleeing Wexler's Mercedes after targeting the mogul's Fort Lee Mansion in July 2020

He said: 'I work in the Bronx and I would get anxiety going from the Bronx to fort Lee rather than the other way around. I feel like I'm being terrorized over and over again.'

Wexler insisted he wasn't 'a gun nut' and says he only bought his first weapon after a house break-in in 2003.

He followed firearms etiquette to the letter, visiting a gun range semi-regularly to let off steam, and will likely be able to reapply for his gun license when his probation ends in January.

Wexler, pictured, is on probation until January, and says the continued attempts on his home have left him a nervous wreck

He has installed multiple security features, including gates and security camera

Wexler also has a Rottweiler dog to try and protect his property, but says thieves continue to target it

But he says the current absence of his weapons - and continued attempts to steal his car collection, with the most recent attempt made Sunday night - has left him 'tired and anxious.'

Wexler explained: 'I have had too many sleepless nights because I'm helpless. At least when I had guns in the house, I knew if they came into my house I had some protection, but now all I have is a dog.

'I'm dealing with the consequences but the thieves are still out there.

'Police every time they come they make it seem like I'm the only one that this happens to, but my neighbors have the same problem. '

'I'm paying close to $60,000 in taxes. The police and just the way the deal with things I understand that the big things are that New Jersey laws need to change, because their hands are tied and they can't do their jobs. I want this to turn into Evan's Law, where if you get caught trying to steal vehicles more than once, you need to do some time. I willing, for my tax money, to pay for that.'

The businessman says he refuses to sell any of his car collection on point of principle.

Police officials say they have increased patrols and man power in the areas that are seeing a rise in attempted thefts.

'The department has assigned officers and detectives who have walked neighborhoods affected to educate residents to please lock your door and take your fobs,' said Captain Edward Young.
Boris Johnson is facing more disquiet from voters over his treatment of the Tories' Blue Wall heartlands as he woos former Labour supporters in the north, MailOnline can reveal today.

More than half (52 per cent) of people who voted for the Conservative in 2019 believe he is taking these supposedly safe seats 'for granted' as he makes 'levelling up' working class areas a priority of his first term.

And just six per cent of those who backed him in the election two years ago did not feel that the Tory shires were being ignored by the party.

The polling, obtained by MailOnline, was carried out for the Liberal Democrats, who believe they can steal seats in the Blue Wall at the next election.

In June they inflicted a brutal by-election defeat, overturning a 16,000 majority to win in the Chesham & Amersham constituency, which had been an ultra-safe Tory since being created in 1974.

Some 61 per cent of those who voted Remain in the Brexit referendum in 2016 and Tory in 2019 felt the Blue Wall was being taken for granted.

The sentiment was also shared by 54 per cent of graduates, another key group of voters the Lib Dems can be persuaded to go yellow at the next election.

More than half (52 per cent) of people who voted for the Conservative in 2019 believe he is taking these supposedly safe seats 'for granted' as he makes 'levelling up' working class areas a priority of his first term (figures may be affected by rounding)

In June the Lib Dems inflicted a brutal by-election defeat, overturning a 16,000 majority to win in the Chesham & Amersham constituency, which had been an ultra-safe Tory since being created in 1974.

In the by-election Liberal Democrat Sarah Green won with a majority of 8,028 over Conservative David Fleet, gaining 21,517 votes - nearly 57 per cent of the total - to his 13,489, 35.5 per cent, on a turnout of just over 52 per cent.

Even half of Tory Brexiteers shared the sentiment, in figures that might cause some alarm at Conservative HQ.

Chesham & Amersham, in Buckinghamshire on the outskirts of London, voted strongly for Remain at the 2016 referendum. Opposition to the overhaul of planning rules and HS2 are also thought to have been a major factor - with Lib Dem candidate Sarah Green against the rail project even though the national party supports it.

In the by-election Liberal Democrat Sarah Green won with a majority of 8,028 over Conservative David Fleet, gaining 21,517 votes - nearly 57 per cent of the total - to his 13,489, 35.5 per cent, on a turnout of just over 52 per cent.

Dame Cheryl Gillan held a 16,000 majority from the 2019 General Election when she died in April.

Even half of Tory Brexiteers shared the sentiment, in figures that might cause some alarm at Conservative HQ.

The poll, conducted by Savanta ComRes using a sample of 2,092 people, asked: 'The phrase ''Blue Wall'' has been used to refer to constituencies, mostly in the South and South East of England, which have traditionally voted for a Conservative MP in Westminster elections. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement: ''Conservative MPs take voters in 'Blue Wall' constituencies for granted''?'

The findings are the latest warning sign that Mr Johnson's Red Wall focus could cost him seat elsewhere.

It June a poll found that the Conservatives could lose more than a dozen seats in their southern and eastern heartlands.

Support for the Tories had plunged by eight points since the 2019 landslide, a YouGov survey found.

It suggests that if a general election were held immediately, the party would lose 12 seats they have always held, with nine going to Labour and the other three to the Liberal Democrats.

A further five constituencies would be on a knife-edge including Esher and Walton, represented by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
The Taliban have ordered their fighters to give back the private homes they seized when sweeping to power last month in an apparent effort to impose order in the group's ranks.

Taliban Prime Minister Hasan Akhund's order followed recent public statements by Taliban officials hinting at plans to improve organization and marshal fighters.

It said Taliban members belonging to the militant group's defense, interior and intelligence agencies who are living in private homes need to 'report back to military bases' across the country.

Meanwhile, the regional chief for the International Federation of the Red Cross warned that Afghanistan was sliding into a deep 'major humanitarian crisis' with the coming winter and severe financial shortfalls.

And in Kabul, the Taliban fired shots to disperse a women's rally demanding equal rights.

Members of the Taliban patrol on a pickup truck in Kabul on September 30. The Taliban fired shots in the capital to disperse a women's rally demanding equal rights

In recent weeks, the Taliban abandoned their traditional, civilian dress and donned military fatigues to project an air of authority.

Bilal Karimi, a Taliban security official, confirmed the directive to The Associated Press.

The Afghan army abandoned most of its positions or surrendered to the Taliban during the August blitz, allowing Taliban fighters to take over military bases as well.

In Kabul on Thursday, the Taliban fired shots to disperse a small rally of six women outside a local school, demanding equal rights to education.

They confiscated posters held by the women that read: 'Do not burn our books!'

A man (second from the left) accused of robbery sits next to Taliban members while in custody at a police station in Kabul on September 30

Other women coming to join the protest in the Kart-e-Char neighborhood were later told to go home, according to a witness who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing Taliban reprisal.

Mawlawi Nasratullah, a Taliban official, later told reporters women had not asked for permission to rally.

Since their takeover, the Taliban have violently dispersed rallies by women demanding that the rights they had gained in the past 20 years in Afghanistan not be taken away.

When they last ruled the country in the 1990s, the Taliban had imposed their harsh interpretation of Islamic law or Sharia, banishing women to their homes and denying them the right to education, work and a public life.

At a press conference in Kabul, Alexander Matheou, IFRC's regional director, predicted an 'extremely difficult few months' ahead as temperatures drop, compounding food shortages from drought and poverty.

Cuts to health services put many vulnerable Afghans, particularly in rural areas, at risk, he added.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is appealing for 36 million Swiss Francs ($38 million) to continue funding health clinics, emergency relief, and other services across Afghanistan's 16 provinces

On Wednesday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric asked donors to fast-track funding for a $606 million flash appeal that is only 22 per cent funded to help 11 million Afghans for the remainder of the year.

'There needs to be some solution to the financial flows into Afghanistan to ensure that at least salaries can be paid, and that essential supplies, power and water being two of them, can be procured,' Matheou said.

A member of Taliban stands guard along a road in Kabul. The regional chief for the International Federation of the Red Cross today warned that Afghanistan was sliding into a deep 'major humanitarian crisis' with the coming winter and severe financial shortfalls

Since the Taliban takeover in mid-August, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have paused disbursements to Kabul, while the U.S. froze billons of dollars in assets held in American accounts by the Afghan Central Bank.

Foreign aid previously accounted for nearly 75 per cent of Afghanistans public expenditure, according to a World Bank report.

Cuts to healthcare have resulted in 2,500 health facilities no longer working, and over 20,000 health staff, 7,000 of them women, no longer being paid, said Matheou, as he concluded a five-day visit to the country.

The international community is divided over the issue of resuming aid to Afghanistan as the world waits to see whether they will again impose their harsh rule.

China, however, has delivered winter supplies to Afghanistan and will soon start flying in food and other supplies as a 'friendly neighbor', the Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Thursday.

The shipment arrived on Wednesday night.

China, which shares a narrow border with Afghanistan, has mocked the chaotic end to the U.S. presence in the country, and said Washington was to blame for the intensified hardships now facing the impoverished country under Taliban rule.

Beijing has kept its embassy in Kabul open and established diplomatic ties with the Taliban.

Matheou said the diplomatic missions that have remained in Kabul after the Taliban takeover have taken a pragmatic approach 'to the reality as it stands now' on a Taliban-run Afghanistan.

The IFRC envoy also met with representatives from Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey and Russia in Kabul.
An $11,600-a-year Kansas City private school has been embroiled in a racism storm after a student issued a racist homecoming date invite.

It saw the unnamed boy ask his prospective date - both of whom are white - 'If I were black, I would be picking cotton, but I'm white so I'm picking you for Hoco?'

The girl, who has not been named, crossed off the 'Yes,' box, and was filmed smiling next to her date on camera.

One of the students attends the private St James' Catholic Academy in the city, with the other at Olathe South High School, although it remains unclear which teen attends which school, and where the homecoming dance was being held

Rhonda Windholz, the mother of the girl, claimed that the sign was made with the help of a white girl and a black boy.

A pair of high school students from St James Academy and Olathe South High School in Kansas City were slammed after their high school homecoming proposal sign was seen as racist

Windholz said that her daughter was caught up in the excitement of homecoming and did not intend to cause any harm.

'Caught up in the excitement of being asked to her first ever homecoming, our daughter held the sign that was given to her,' Windholz told KSHB 11.

'It was only after actually comprehending the situation, that she realized what was happening. She blatantly said no!! By then, it was too late.'

She also revealed that her daughter has received death threats and was told to 'kill herself' after the homecoming proposal was posted.

'Please know that we have diversity in our own family and believe that all lives matter. We have received many death threats and numerous people have told our daughter to kill herself,' Windholz said.

'The response to this misunderstanding has caused much confusion and pain for many. We sincerely apologize to all who are offended.'

The schools of the potential homecoming pair issued public apologies for the sign and are investigating the post, although it is unclear what, if any, disciplinary action has been taken against them.

Olathe South High School issued an apology for the offensive post and are investigating the issue

St James' Catholic Academy, pictured, also issued a statement condemning the racist proposal

'We wanted to let you know that we are aware of an offensive post on social media that included an SJA student," the letter from St James Academy read.

'We are currently investigating the situation to determine the appropriate next steps.'

Olathe South Principal Dale Longenecker also issued a statement to apologize for the students' behavior.

'The type of behavior displayed in the social media post does not meet the expectations of our core values, Longenecker said.

'Any behavior like this will be immediately addressed in accordance with our Student Code of Conduct.'

Twitter users slammed the potential homecoming couple as 'racist' and 'disgusting'

Twitter users responded to the incident slamming it as 'racist' and 'disgusting'.

'Beyond disgusting, but most certainly a mere taste of the racism going on in that young person's home,' @Brian_in_Tulsa tweeted.

'If this is what they believe is acceptable public behavior, I cringe to think about what they do and say at home behind closed doors.'

Others sympathized with the young pair who said that the experience should come as a teaching moment.

'Let's not forget they are kids and they are learning as they go,' @TheFlorist4U tweeted.

'Don't make things worse by sending them messages of hate. For goodness sake, would you like to be judged by the behavior of a 15 year old you? Make it a learning moment.'

Other Twitter users sympathized with the teens who saw the outcome as a learning opportunity

The NAACP chapter of Olathe also agreed with claims that the students involved should use the opportunity as a learning moment.

'Thats a time to educate, not to criticize or crucify,' the NAACP chapter president, Henry Lyons told the Daily Beast.

'(Its) just an educational opportunity, not a time to fix blame.'
The former SAS sharpshooter who gunned down a Rebels bikie boss boasted while in high school that he was the most likely to become 'Australia's most wanted man'.

The 35-year-old made the warning two decades before he shot dead Nick Martin, 51, at Kwinana Motorplex, in Perth, on December 12, 2020.

'Australias (sic) most wanted/in jail by the age of 20,' he wrote in his high school year book.

The gunman fulfilled his prophecy of becoming a wanted man after evading police for three months following the shooting. He was then arrested in March.

Detectives believe the sharpshooter was hired by an underworld figure who is codenamed 'The Baker'.

The former SAS sharpshooter who gunned down a Rebels bikie boss boasted while in high school that he was the most likely to become 'Australia's most wanted man'

Detectives believe the sharpshooter was hired by an underworld figure who is codenamed 'The Baker'

Nick Martin (pictured) was shot in the back at the Perth Motorplex on December 12 in front of horrified families who were trying to watch the nitro cars high-octane drag racing

They believe the man wanted Martin killed before he organised the hit. They are yet to release details of his identity over fears of gang retaliation.

Police have not yet charged the man in relation to the public shooting, 7 News reported.

The former SAS mercenary sharpshooter who was hired to carry out the hit pleaded guilty to the assassination in Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

The assassin, whose name is suppressed, also pleaded guilty to injuring Ricky Chapman, the boyfriend of Martin's stepdaughter, who was wounded by bullet fragments.

The ex-SAS trooper is yet to enter a plea on other charges, including possessing a silencer, inadequately storing firearms, and drug possession.

The 35-year-old appeared via video link in his prison greens and in handcuffs and only spoke to confirm his name and to plead guilty.

During the shooting, a five-year-old boy was injured from bullet fragments but the charge relating to injuring the child was discontinued.

The shooter was arrested at his Perth home and charged with Martin's murder in March and will face court again in December to be sentenced.

'Australias (sic) most wanted/in jail by the age of 20,' he wrote in his year book while he was in high school

Martin (pictured) died in the arms of his wife Amanda as she tried to give him CPR. His last words were: 'babe, I've been shot'

After court, the man's lawyer David Manera said he was handling life in prison 'well', 'all things considered'.

'Despite the nature of the charge, he's quite a thoughtful person, he's quite an intelligent person and he's actually quite a sensitive person,' he said.

'I know that flies in the face of what he's charged with but that's how he appears to me.'

Mr Manera said he expected his client would receive a lengthy sentence, and hoped the outcome would provide some comfort to Martin's family.

Martin was assassinated in front of hundreds of onlookers including his wife Amanda and stepdaughter.

After being hit, Martin told his wife 'babe, I've been shot', as she tried to give him CPR while he died in her arms.

Rebels bikie Nick Martin was ridden in to Pinnaroo Cemetery in a coffin covered in pictures of $100 bills (pictured) at his extravagant bikie funeral on December 23

A $1 million reward was offered for information leading to the arrest of the shooter who killed Nick Martin, 51, (pictured with wife Amanda)

The chaos at the racetrack on December 12 in Perth after Martin was executed is pictured

Police spent months on the investigation with 100 officers on the job, while the WA Government offered a $1 million reward to anyone who had information on the shooter.

His death also sparked a crackdown on bikies by police who conducted raids and ended up charging more than 100 people.

Martin's funeral was held on December 23 with 200 police officers keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings.

A police sniper also watched on from a helicopter as the patched gang members headed south to say their final farewells.

Martin's coffin was covered in pictures of $100 bills and Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower played as bikies took turns to walk up and touch it as it was brought in under a marquee for the service.

More than 200 bikies from the Rebels and other clubs attended Martin's funeral on December 23
A nationwide change to vaping laws has been introduced in a bid to crackdown on the illegal use and sale of nicotine vape products around Australia.

From October 1, e-cigarettes, pods and liquid containing nicotine will be illegal to import from overseas and purchase within Australia without a prescription.

Until now, importing nicotine vaping products from overseas without a valid prescription had not been criminalised.

But possession of one without a prescription is still illegal in states across the country except for in South Australia.

Vaping products containing nicotine will be illegal to purchase from overseas and locally without a valid prescription (pictured, stock image)

The new laws are set to curb the risk of nicotine vaping uptake in young adults, while also allowing current smokers to access the products for smoking cessation, according to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

There are still two ways prescription holders can obtain nicotine vaping products in Australia; from a pharmacy or importing from overseas websites.

Prescriptions can only be written by one of 80 authorised prescribers, or by a doctor with approval under the TGA's Special Access Scheme B.

An authorised prescriber of nicotine vaping products must be a GP who is registered with the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Otherwise a prescription can be accessed from one of more than 30,000 general practitioners, and then ordered from an overseas website, under the Personal Importation Scheme.

Legalise Vaping Campaign Director Brian Marlow says the prescription model is a 'massive step backwards', fearing it will only accelerate black market distribution of nicotine products.

'I have vapers contacting me in a panic asking me where they can get a prescription from because they'll run out of product soon,' Mr Marlow told Daily Mail Australia.

'There's about half a million vapers in the country.'

'The TGA and department of health have abandoned them,' he added.

He also believes the new laws will make it harder for adults to access nicotine vaping products forcing people who are currently addicted to vaping to turn to 'dodgy retailers'.

'Illegal operators import these small disposable nicotine vapes under the counter, they don't care who they sell to,' he said.

The new laws are set to curb the risk of nicotine vaping uptake in young adults, while also allowing current smokers to access the products for smoking cessation (pictured, stock image)

Despite disapproval from vaping advocates, the new laws are being supported by The Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH).

'ACOSH strongly supports any measure that will effectively stem the flow of illegal disposable e-cigarettes into Australia that are being used by an increasing number of children and teenagers,' said Chief Executive Maurice Swanson.

'There is growing concern about the use of e-cigarettes among children and teenagers.'

Mr Swanson said there was a 10-fold increase in seizures of illicit vaping products in NSW including a rise in media reports on the e-cigarette use in Australian schools.

'Over the last 40 years, Australia has led the world in reducing smoking, including among school children but the use of addictive e-cigarettes could undermine this important achievement,' he added.

The TGA and Australian border force will now play a crucial role in monitoring the illegal importation of e-cigarettes and vaping liquid containing nicotine.

Stores will still be able to sell nicotine-free flavoured liquid and vape devices with the sale of nicotine replacement therapies such as lozenges, sprays and patches unaffected.
Former The Daily Show host Jon Stewart has launched a new Apple+ show, which critics have blasted as dull and stuck in the past.

Critics across the political spectrum said The Problem With Jon Stewart is that hes just not funny anymore, and lacks the humor that once drew millions of late-night viewers to his former Comedy Channel series.

The Washington Posts TV critic Inkoo Kang called the show was a bore.

In the media run-up to the shows release, Stewart has described The Problem With half-jokingly as The Daily Show, but less entertaining, Kang wrote.

That still oversells its humor; I didnt laugh once during the two 45-minute episodes screened for review.

Jon Stewart's new show 'The Problem With John Stewart' debuted today on Apple+ TV

Stewart previously hosted The Daily Show on Comedy Central, but stepped down in 2015

The weekly series touts itself into taking a deep-dive into important issues through interviews and discussion.

During the first episode Stewart, who is worth an estimated $120 million, discussed health problems veterans are experiencing due to the nature of their job.

Rolling Stone magazine didnt take it any easier on the 58-year-old comedian  its critic roasted Stewart for being stuck in the past.

That Stewart keeps invoking The Daily Show, both explicitly and with many of his creative choices, will be a feature rather than a bug to those who missed his sardonic voice while he sat out the Trump years as a public voice, wrote its TV critic Alan Sepinwall.

But the problem with Jon Stewart is that he hasnt changed since we last saw him rocking out to Bruce Springsteen in his Daily Show finale, while the world has  both on television and outside of it.

'The problem with Jon Stewart is that he hasnt changed since we last saw him,' said one critic

Stewart made the left-leaning masses laugh for 16 years on The Daily Show with his impersonations of George W. Bush and comedic exchanges with correspondents Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, and Samantha Bee.

His satiric take on the days events often provided more insight into reality than some mainstream news stations.

He left the show in 2015, handing it over to Trevor Noah. It is unclear how much Stewart's deal with Apple is worth, but the tech giant is likely to have paid him tens of millions to try and boost its foray into streaming.

Under Stewart's leadership the show won more than 20 Primetime Emmy awards.

The Daily Show won more than 20 Primetime Emmy awards under Stewart's leadership

Stewart was on the comedic sidelines for the past six years, but even his diehard fans were reluctant to rave about his new undertaking.

As a longtime fan of The Daily Show, I'll say this: Any time former host Jon Stewart pops up on TV to joke about society's problems is a good day, wrote NPRs Eric Deggans.

 But his biggest problem right now is finding a new way to communicate which doesn't feel like a nod to his old life.

Stewart is shown during a Daily Show episode featuring Rob Riggle and Olivia Munn

The New York Times said the comedic legends new show was lacking in the laughter department.

In its first two episodes, his show is The Daily Show but longer (around 45 minutes), more sustained and passionate in its attention and less funny - often intentionally, sometimes not," the Times,' opined James Poniewozik.

Stewarts efforts did not go unappreciated by everyday viewers such as Frank Conniff.

The new Jon Stewart show is more journalism than comedy, Coniff tweeted. Personally, I don't mind seeing a comedian doing journalism because most of the journalists on TV aren't doing it.

Some everyday viewers say they enjoyed watching Stewart's small-screen return
Loved-up selfies show a nurse and her partner of two years in the throes of romance - before she allegedly knifed him in the stomach following a heated argument.

Kristy Wild, 44, is accused of stabbing her partner Jamie Blewitt, 50, inside their home on Kendall Street in Cabarita in Sydney's inner-west about 3am on Thursday.

Police allege Wild picked up a 30cm kitchen knife and stabbed Mr Blewitt - who was rushed to hospital with an injury to his abdomen - after the dispute escalated.

Her son was allegedly forced to run and get help from a neighbour, who used towels to apply pressure to the 50-year-old's wound.

Kristy Wild has been accused of stabbing her partner Jamie Blewitt at their home and will appear at Burwood Local Court today. The pair are pictured in a happy Instagram selfie earlier this year

Pictures of the couple on Mr Blewitt's Instagram account showed them enjoying trips, facial treatments and nights out together in the months before the alleged stabbing

Wild has been charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and is due to face court on Friday

Photos of the couple featured pm Mr Blewitt's Instagram account showed them enjoying trips, facial treatments and nights out together in the months before the alleged stabbing.

In December, he shared an image of the registered nurse with her arms around his chest alongside a gushing caption that read 'love this girl'.

Ten months later, Wild was pictured in handcuffs and being escorted into the back of a police paddy wagon.

She was later charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

She has been refused bail and is set to face Burwood Local Court on Friday.

Traumatised neighbours have recalled racing to the home to help after the alleged domestic violence incident.

'The doorbell rang and there was someone there saying "I need your help, I need your help",' neighbour Mark Salem told the Daily Telegraph.

The accused was pictured in handcuffs and being escorted into the back of a police paddy wagon on Thursday

Emergency services arrived to a home Kendall Street in Cabarita, in Sydney's Inner West, (pictured) at around 3am on Thursday following reports a man had been stabbed

Frantic neighbours who rushed to the scene to help recall seeing Wild (pictured) sitting on the floor and sobbing a few metres away from her injured partner

A neighbour recalled seeing Wild sitting on the floor and sobbing just metres away from her partner after rushing to the home

The concerned homeowner said he quickly put his shoes on and ran to the residence to try to help.

'It was more adrenaline than anything, so I didnt really think of what I was getting into, so it was pretty scary once I started to realise what I got into,' he said.

Mr Salem recalled seeing Wild sitting on the floor and sobbing just a few metres away from her injured partner.

A colleague of Mr Blewitt's said he had undergone surgery for his stomach wound, with doctors positive he would make a full recovery.
Working from home is about to become permanent option for 40,000 client services employees at accounting and consulting firm PwC.

The company will become one of the biggest employers in America to embrace permanent remote work.

PwC employees who choose to work virtually would have to come into the office a maximum of three days a month for in-person appointments such as critical team meetings, client visits and learning sessions, PwC's deputy people leader, Yolanda Seals-Coffield, said.

'We have learned a ton through the pandemic, and working virtually, as we think about the evolution of flexibility, is a natural next step,' she said. 'If you are an employee in good standing, are in client services, and want to work virtually, you can, full stop.'

Client services employees who are eligible to work from home include consultants, auditors and tax professionals. The company has 55,000 total US employees.

Work from home is about to become a permanent fixture in the lives of 40,000 client services employees at accounting and consulting firm PwC

The policy is a departure from the accounting industry's rigid attitudes, known for encouraging people to put in late nights at the office.

Location does factor, however, into PwC employees' pay, Seals-Coffield said.

Employees who opt to work virtually full-time from a lower-cost location would see their pay decrease, she added.

Other major accounting firms, such as Deloitte and KPMG, also have given employees the choice of working remotely in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rivals like CitiGroup have promoted flexibility in an attempt to attract better talent.

On the other hand, firms like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase have been rigid, expanding the number of people mandated to work in the office five days a week in New York City - even at the risk of losing talent.

Seals-Coffield said the firm was the first in its industry to make full-time virtual work available to client services employees.

The company's support staff and employees in human resources and legal operations, who do not face clients, already have the option to work virtually full-time.

The policy is a departure from the accounting industry's rigid attitudes, known for encouraging people to put in late nights at the office

Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase have been rigid, expanding in-person staff for five days a week in New York City at the risk of losing talent

Rivals like CitiGroup have promoted their flexibility in an attempt to attract better talent

Alphabet Inc's Google also bases employees' pay on their location, with those who work from home potentially earning less.

Most U.S. white-collar workers have been working from home since the pandemic took hold in March 2020. Chief executives have grappled with bringing employees back, weighing their management style and preferences against risks such as more contagious COVID-19 variants and workers rejecting vaccines.

PwC said in a memo to employees this week that it is offering the new policy to attract and retain talent and become more diverse. Partners at PwC whose team members choose to be in the office regularly will not be allowed to work completely remotely.

'We're confident we can manage hybrid teams,' Seals-Coffield said. She added that PwC's research suggests that 30% to 35% of its eligible workers will take the firm up on the offer. PwC has 55,000 U.S. employees in total, and with its new policy, the majority will be able to work virtually if they want.

Seals-Coffield said PwC is not planning to make any significant changes to its real estate footprint due to the new policy. The firm plans to use its office space differently, she said, without elaborating. PwC is globally headquartered in London, with its main U.S. office in New York.

In addition to providing auditing and accounting services, PwC consults with companies on issues such as return to the office. Asked about how PwC's new policy would inform its advice to clients on the topic, Seals-Coffield said it depends on other organizations' needs.

In June, PwC said it would hire 100,000 people over the next five years in jobs that would help clients report on diversity and climate. The firm currently employs 284,000 globally.
Carrie Johnson will give an LGBT rights speech at the Conservative Party conference next week, it has been revealed.

The prime minister's wife, 33, has been named guest of honour at the party's Pride reception in Manchester.

Mrs Johnson, who is currently pregnant with her second child, is 'a longstanding ally', according to Elena Bunbury, chairwoman of the LGBT+ Conservatives.

She told The Times: 'Carrie has always been a good sport to LGBT+ Conservatives.

'She even judged our virtual lip-sync last conference. Were thrilled shell be joining us in person this year in Manchester.'

The LGBT+ event will be held in partnership with Stonewall, a charity that sparked controversy over a scheme for 'diversity champions' in Government.

The speech is a rare appearance for Mrs Johnson, who rarely involves herself directly in politics despite being a former director of communications for the Tory party.

The director of communications at the Aspinall Foundation, a wildlife charity, has previously lobbied on environmentalism.

Carrie Johnson (pictured), 33, has been named guest of honour at the party's Pride reception in Manchester

It comes after the PM last week finally admitted that he is the father of six children after years of speculation about the number of children he had.

He told US TV it is 'a lot of hard work' being a parent before insisting that he 'changes a lot of nappies'.

Mr Johnson is notoriously reluctant to discuss his often colourful private life but let down his guard on American television last week,.

In an interview with NBC on his trip to New York, he admitted for the first time that he has six children - from three different relationships - although there has been some suggestion that there may actually be a seventh.

The PM has a son, Wilfred, with third wife Carrie and four with his second wife Marina Wheeler. He also has a daughter from an affair in 2009 with journalist and art critic Helen Macintyre - although a court case in 2013 hinted that there may be a second.

Boris has never previously put a figure on the size of his family. Speaking to the Today show, he was asked if he was a father of six, replying, 'yes'. Asked what it was like being a father to a young child while in power he added: 'It's fantastic. It's a lot of work, I'll tell you that much. But I love it, I absolutely love it. I change a lot of nappies.'

Mrs Johnson (pictured), who is currently pregnant with her second child, is 'a longstanding ally', according to Elena Bunbury, chairwoman of the LGBT+ Conservatives

The PM  who once dismissed reports of his cheating as 'an inverted pyramid of piffle'  married Oxford University sweetheart Allegra Mostyn-Owen in 1987, but they divorced in 1993 after he cheated on her with Wheeler.

In 2004, his four-year affair with journalist and society author Petronella Wyatt, the daughter of Labour grandee Lord Wyatt, became public. She later told how she had an abortion and suffered a miscarriage.

Mr Johnson was sacked from his role as shadow arts minister by then-Tory leader Michael Howard for lying about the relationship.

The following year he fathered a child with art consultant Helen Macintyre but again was reconciled with his then wife. They finally announced plans to divorce in 2019 year after his relationship with Carrie came to light.

Boris Johnson's second wife Marina was reportedly 'crushed' and their four children 'furious' about news he was having his first child with Carrie in March 2020.

Ms Wheeler divorced Mr Johnson after throwing him out in 2018 amid claims he was having an affair with Ms Symonds.

She is also said to be aggrieved that Boris became engaged and tried for a baby while they were divorcing.

Mr Johnson is thought to have tried to tell their four children Lara Lettice, 26, Milo Arthur, 24, Cassia Peaches, 22, and Theodore Apollo, 20, in person that he and Carrie were having a baby, born later that year.

The PM has a son, Wilfred (pictured), with third wife Carrie Johnson and four with his second wife Marina Wheeler. He also has a daughter from an affair in 2009 with journalist and art critic Helen Macintyre - although a court case in 2013 hinted that there may be a second

But not all of his children reportedly turned up for their father's announcement and are said to be 'furious' because they believe Carrie and Boris got together after an affair.

On discovering his relationship with Carrie, who is 24 years Boris' junior, Lara told friends he was a 'selfish b*****d' and all the children are said to have been supporting their mother through the divorce.

Boris had a fifth child from an affair with art consultant Helen Macintyre.

At first he denied he was the father and even sought a High Court injunction in 2013 to prevent her existence becoming public. He lost, and also the case led to claims there was another secret love child.

The confusion sprang from the judgment that suggested he may have fathered two children as a result of the affair with Ms Macintyre.

It read: 'What was material was that the father's infidelities resulted in the conception of children on two occasions.'

Boris and Carrie's announcement they were getting engaged was made just 11 days after his divorce settlement with Marina Wheeler was agreed in court.

The couple had been married for 27 years and have four children, with Ms Wheeler - a successful barrister - reportedly in line to receive 4million from her husband.
Victoria has recorded 1,143 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths overnight with the surge in cases raising fears that the reopening of the state could be delayed.

The new cases come after the state reported a pandemic record 1,438 infections on Thursday - the largest one-day jump ever recorded in Victoria.

The grim figures has residents concerned that premier Daniel Andrews will have to revise his roadmap to freedom and even extend lockdown until numbers fall.

The spike in cases prompted Mr Andrews to announce every authorised worker will be required to receive the first dose of the vaccine by October 15 - as he remains determined to begin reopening the state as soon as October 26.

'Yesterday's cases took a lot of people by surprise,' Mr Andrews said during a press conference on Friday.

Victoria has recorded 1,143 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths overnight with the surge in cases raising fears that the reopening of the state could be delayed

Victoria's Covid-19 outbreak continues to surge (pictured, healthcare workers at a vaccination centre in Melbourne)

'Many people would have been quite concerned, scared to even see a number as high as that.

'Today obviously is less than that and we are pleased, although we shouldn't underestimate the challenge that 1,143 Covid patients presents.'

There were 34,935 vaccines administered and 62,883 Covid-19 tests conducted in the last 24 hours.

Authorised workers will be required to receive the first dose of their vaccine by October 15. They will then need to have received their second dose by November 26.

'This is critically important to keep the case numbers down so that we can open up on October 16, get our freedom back, get the economy going again, and deliver the national plan,' Mr Andrews said.

'By law they will need to be vaccinated with at least one dose.'

The mandate does not impact education and aged care workers.

Moorabool, in regional Victoria, will also be placed back into lockdown for seven days.

'These lockdowns have been effective in first, bringing us stability to case numbers and then driving those case numbers down,' Mr Andrews said.

'But on advice, and very careful analysis has been done of the number of cases in that local government area, it is unavoidable that a lockdown must be applied to that community.'

Victoria's record number of cases was nearly equal to the NSW peak, which was 1,599 new Covid-19 cases on September 11.

The steep rise in case numbers - a 51 per cent increase in one day - is in line with forecasts that the state could reach 3,000 cases a day by late October.

Almost 79 per cent of Victorians have received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while more than 48 per cent are fully vaccinated.

The astronomical spike in cases has been blamed on illegal AFL gatherings over the weekend with warnings from one doctor that case numbers could spike up to 6,000 a day.

Melbourne GP Mukesh Haikerwal warned case numbers would 'double and double again'.

The steep rise in case numbers - a 51 per cent increase in one day - is in line with forecasts that the state could reach 3,000 cases a day by late October

Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said it would be 'devastating' if the plans to reopen the state were delayed

'I'll say it again,' he told The Today Show on Friday. 'They will probably double and double again.'

Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said it would be 'devastating' if the plans to reopen the state were delayed.

'For the rules to change at this stage would be devastating for so many people,' Ms Capp said.

'They really want to know that if we do the right thing and hit the restrictions, if we get vaccinated, that we can still open.'

The announcement comes amid warnings Victoria's overcrowded hospitals are turning into 'apocalyptic war zones' as the Delta outbreak threatens to overwhelm its healthcare system.

An anonymous official said the state's health watchdog Safer Care Victoria had urged the state government to brace for a Covid-related surge in its hospitals when lockdown measures are relaxed.

'They basically told us to prepare psychologically because most of Victoria's going to think 'this is great'... as a healthcare worker, it'll feel like a war zone,' the official told The Age.

The announcement comes amid warnings Victoria's overcrowded hospitals are turning into 'apocalyptic war zones' as the Delta outbreak threatens to overwhelm its healthcare system (pictured, ambulances queued outside a Melbourne hospital)

Almost 79 per cent of Victorians have received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while more than 48 per cent are fully vaccinated

'I just can't fathom it. Some of the hospitals in Melbourne are already apocalyptic.'

The Australian Medical Association's Victorian President Dr Roderick McRae on Thursday morning said the state's hospitals were now in crisis mode.

As of Wednesday, there are 371 Covid-19 patients in hospitals across Victoria, of which 81 are in the ICU.

'Everybody at every stage of the Victorian healthcare system is using the word 'crisis',' he told the Today show.

'The system is under extreme strain and it's on the back of decades of under-investment.'

He said the already long ambulance and emergency room waiting times in Victoria would be made even worse by rising Covid-19 admissions when the state starts to open up at a 70 per cent double-dose vaccination rate.

'Think of your bathtub - the pipe is blocked and we still are adding more water and as we open up, it's like we are looking to jump in as well and expect the floor to stay dry,' Dr McRae said.

People are seen exercising along the Tan walking track in Melbourne on Sunday, September 19. Victoria recorded 950 new locally-acquired Covid-19 cases on Wednesday

Ambulance ramping Northern Hospital Melbourne. pic.twitter.com/IkydGq0PKw  dramynicho (@DrAmyNicho) September 27, 2021

'We knew that this was going to happen when we did eventually open up. Why wasn't the system better prepared? We've had time.'

Deakin University epidemiology chair Professor Catherine Bennett on Wednesday predicted the outbreak was still a month away from peaking before infections start to drop in late October.

Professor Peter Collignon told the Herald Sun that predictions of 3,000 cases per day in the coming weeks is a 'a bit too pessimistic'.

The Australian Medical Association's Victorian President Dr Roderick McRae on Thursday morning said the state's hospitals were now in crisis mode

He said the forecast didn't take into account that Australia was heading into warmer weather - when respiratory illnesses abate - and that vaccination rates were steadily climbing.

He said the forecast didn't take into account that Australia was heading into warmer weather - when respiratory illnesses abate - and that vaccination rates were steadily climbing.

Victorian acting chief health officer Ben Cowie said on Wednesday the state's outbreak was likely still some time away from reaching its peak.

'We know from both modelling and experience in NSW our case numbers will continue to climb,' he said.

'But it is absolutely with in our power to slow the spread and to prevent thousands of cases and hundreds of people from becoming seriously ill and some people losing their lives.'

Victoria meanwhile has opened the door for residents stranded in Sydney to come home after the state's construction union headquarters were officially listed as a top-level Covid-19 exposure site.

From Thursday, Victorian residents in extreme risk zones such as Greater Sydney can apply for a permit if they are fully vaccinated, test negative within 72 hours of departure and isolate at home for 14 days.

A healthcare worker speaks to a patient before administering a Covid-19 test at a facility in Ballarat in regional Victoria.

Those who have been to an exposure site, are close contacts of a COVID-19 case or with symptoms will be knocked back, while non-Victorians are not eligible.

It comes as the CFMEU's Melbourne headquarters were listed as a COVID-19 exposure site on Wednesday, a week after it was the scene of anti-vaccination protests.

The Elizabeth Street office was named by the Department of Health as a tier-one site for September 20, forcing union staff and officials into isolation for two weeks.

The outside of the building has also been classed as a tier-two venue, with protesters asked to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Four positive cases have been linked to the office so far, and CFMEU state secretary John Setka blamed the 'disgusting behaviour of selfish and reckless' protesters for the outbreak.

Some of about 500 demonstrators threw bottles at Mr Setka and smashed the office's door down on September 20, igniting days of protests that culminated in mobs taking over the West Gate Bridge and Shrine of Remembrance.
A mother-of-two has been given a devastating terminal cancer battle diagnosis after being misdiagnosed for nearly two years.

Gold Coast-based single mum Marlis Dendy was diagnosed with bowel cancer six weeks ago. She has since discovered she also has cancer in her liver and lungs.

The heartbreaking news came 18 months after she first went to a GP with concerning symptoms.

Close friend Jennifer Neech said Ms Dendy is remaining positive for the sake of her children.

'The odds aren't good,' she told 7 News.

'She had been misdiagnosed for quite some time.'

Gold Coast mother of two Marlis Dendy (pictured) was recently diagnosed with three terminal cancers - in her bowel, liver and lungs

'Marlis had been seeing a doctor and became quite ill, and went to see another doctor and that's when it became obvious she had bowel cancer.'

With confirmation the stage four cancer is terminal, Ms Dendy's focus is her kids, who are aware their mum is gravely sick.

The graphic designer, who leads a healthy lifestyle, also doesn't fit the stereotype of a woman with terminal cancer.

She doesn't look remotely ill and has been humbled by the level of community support on the Gold Coast.

Ms Dendy remains determined to life her best life and had a powerful message - always get a second opinion from another doctor

Almost $20,000 has been raised for the family on a GoFundMe page as Ms Dendy braces for tough days ahead.

'She has lots of wonderful friends, a great network of people,' Ms Neech added.

'They are really getting behind her to do what they can to help. Everyone is touched by her situation.'
One million fewer face-to-face GP appointments took place last month  in a rate similar to the winter lockdown, figures showed yesterday.

Just 13.7million of the 23.9million GP consultations in August were in person, according to NHS England.

This is down from 14.6million the month before and 18.1million in August 2019, before the pandemic.

The proportion of face-to-face appointments in August  57.7 per cent  is not much higher than Januarys 54 per cent, even though all legal restrictions have now been scrapped.

Just 13.7million of the 23.9million GP consultations in August were in person, according to NHS England (stock image)

More than ten million GP appointments are held remotely each month  three times as many as before the pandemic when 80 per cent were face-to-face.

The Mail is campaigning for GPs to get back to seeing patients, amid fears the rise in phone and video consultations has led to serious illnesses such as cancer being missed. Our campaign has been backed by Health Secretary Sajid Javid, and Boris Johnson  who said people were entitled to see a GP in person. But yesterdays data shows that family doctors are yet to resume normal service.

Dennis Reed of Silver Voices, a campaign group for the over-60s which is pressing for a legal right to see doctors in person, said firm action was needed.

He added: My general reaction is one of frustration, it is shocking and disturbing that levels of face-to-face appointments have not increased since lockdown ended.

There has been so much public concern and statements from politicians in recent weeks, but it appears none of that is making a great deal of difference.

Doctors cannot use Covid as an excuse any more. There was a good reason why face-to-face apppointments shut down during the pandemic. But the whole economy and society is now moving back to life before Covid, yet the pattern of GP appointments has not changed.

Weve heard statements from Sajid Javid saying he will take firm action on this, but we need to see bold action not just words. There should be incentives if practices improve face-to-face ratios and penalties if they dont.

During the first wave, between April and July last year, the proportion of face-to-face appointments dropped below 50 per cent.

Last night, it emerged GPs will receive additional funding to help them resume pre-pandemic levels of face-to-face care this winter.

A planning document from NHS England said the extra investment covering October to March aimed to ensure all practices are delivering appropriate pre-pandemic appointment levels, including face-to-face care.

So far this year, the proportion of in-person appointments has been between 50 per cent and 60 per cent. Mr Javid has warned doctors that those who continue to provide an unacceptably low level of face-to-face access will be held to account.

He has said he will slash red tape to give family doctors time to undertake more appointments in person.

Yesterdays data also revealed there is a huge postcode lottery in face-to-face appointments.

Dennis Reed of Silver Voices, a campaign group for the over-60s which is pressing for a legal right to see doctors in person, said firm action was needed (stock image)

In some areas, including North Tyneside, close to three quarters of consultations were in person.

But in south-east London, East Staffordshire and parts of Merseyside, less than half of consultations are face-to-face.

A key point in the Mails campaign is that patients should be able to get in-person appointments regardless of where they live.

GP leaders have warned that face-to-face appointments will never return to pre-pandemic levels, highlighting a lack of funding and staff.

Professor Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said the latest figures show it is a misconception that GPs are not seeing patients face-to-face.

He added: Remote consulting will not always be appropriate.

This is why in-person appointments are being made  making up almost six in ten consultations in August  and have been throughout the pandemic when theyve been necessary. Face-to-face consulting will always be an essential part of general practice.

An NHS spokesman said: Every GP practice must provide face-to-face as well as telephone and online appointments as part of making primary care as accessible as possible for patients.
Serial sex offenders Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith would have been stripped of their knighthoods had their predatory behaviour been exposed in their lifetimes, the Honours Forfeiture Committee has said.

The committee said on Thursday it will now issue a statement saying forfeiture proceedings would have been initiated against an honours recipient if credible allegations are made against them within 10 years of their deaths.

Savile and Smith are the first subjects of the new policy.

A statement regarding Savile issued in the London Gazette, the official record of Government business, referred to the Director of Public Prosecution's finding that he should have been prosecuted in his lifetime.

Serial sex offenders Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith would have been stripped of their knighthoods had their predatory behaviour been exposed in their lifetimes, the Honours Forfeiture Committee has said

It said: 'The Forfeiture Committee can confirm that had James Wilson Vincent Savile been convicted of the crimes of which he is accused, forfeiture proceedings would have commenced.'

In a statement about Smith, the Forfeiture Committee noted Greater Manchester Police's conclusion that there was 'overwhelming evidence' the politician had sexually and physically abused young boys.

'The Forfeiture Committee can confirm that had Cyril Smith been convicted of the crimes of which he is accused, forfeiture proceedings would have commenced,' it said.

Orders of chivalry are a 'living order', meaning the honour falls away upon a person's death and therefore cannot be removed posthumously.

But the scale of the abuse by both Smith and Savile prompted the Forfeiture Committee to change its policy to make it clear deceased recipients would have lost their honours if they had been exposed in their lifetime.

Former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara even gave evidence to the long-running Independent Child Sexual Abuse Inquiry in March 2019 about orders of chivalry given to abusers.

The committee said on Thursday it will now issue a statement saying forfeiture proceedings would have been initiated against an honours recipient if credible allegations are made against them within 10 years of their deaths

Her evidence covered calls from the public to have some mechanism of removing honours from deceased individuals.

Under the change of policy, the Forfeiture Committee will issue a statement when the allegation of criminal behaviour is made within a decade of a person's death.

The crime must also be reported to the police and the police must make the decision that the allegation is so serious it warrants taking a full witness statement must be taken from the accuser.

Further updates to the policy also introduce new 'hard triggers' for the committee to automatically consider forfeiture proceedings against living individuals.

Anyone convicted of a sexual offence now risks being stripped of their honour, regardless of the sentence they receive.

Honourees unfit to stand trial but who are found to have committed such an offence in a 'trial of the facts' could also be kicked out of an order of chivalry.
A Texas boogaloo member has admitted firing 13 rounds from a semi-automatic assault rifle on a Minneapolis police station while people were inside during George Floyd riots last year.

Ivan Harrison Hunter, 27, a self-proclaimed member of the anti-government 'boogaloo bois' from Boerne, Texas, pleaded guilty to a federal riot charge of crossing state lines with the intention of participating in a riot in court on Thursday.

He opened fire on the Third Precinct station on May 28 as protesters torched the building and later posted online that he had 'helped the community burn down that police station'.

Prosecutors said video showed Hunter, who travelled from Texas to Minneapolis to take part in the protests, shouting 'Justice for George Floyd' as he opened fire.

It came amid national, and international, civil unrest over the death of Floyd, a black man who was killed on May 25 when white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on his neck for nearly eight minutes.

In June, Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter charges and sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.

Texas boogaloo member Ivan Harrison Hunter (left, in custody, and right, on the night of the shooting) has admitted firing 13 rounds from a semi-automatic assault rifle on a Minneapolis police station while people were inside during George Floyd riots last year

Hunter opened fire on the Third Precinct station during protests out Minneapolis police's third precinct over the death of George Floyd who was killed by an officer on May 25, 2020

Hunter was arrested October after video emerged of him firing a AK-47-style semi-automatic rifle on the station, prosecutors said.

He opened fire while other individuals, believed to be looters, were inside the building and bullet casings were later found at the scene.

Hunter, who was wearing a skull mask and tactical gear at the time, allegedly screamed 'Justice for Floyd', looted and helped set the building ablaze, according to a criminal complaint.

Prosecutors said days later, after returning to Texas, he made several statements on social media describing what he had done in Minneapolis.

Prosecutors say he traveled from Texas to Minneapolis to join in protests in the wake of George Floyd's death on May 25.

Hunter, who allegedly made statements on social media (above) describing what he had done in Minneapolis, says he is part of the Boogaloo Bois - an anti-government extremist group

Hunter was arrested October after video emerged of him firing a AK-47-style semi-automatic rifle on the station, prosecutors said. This image of his weapon were included in the criminal complaint

Prosecutors said video shows Hunter firing 13 rounds from a semiautomatic assault-style rifle on the Minneapolis Third Precinct police station while people believed to be looters were inside. These images of his weapons were included in the criminal complaint

What is the boogaloo movement? Boogaloo is a far-right, anti-government extremist movement. The heavily armed participants linked to the group say they're preparing for a second Civil War. It got its name from the panned 1984 movie 'Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo' and uses the title as a code word for a second Civil War. Other derivations of 'boogaloo' are 'big igloo' or 'big luau.' Followers are easy to spot with their trademark Hawaiian shirts and high-powered rifles and tactical gear. The movement is made up of pro-gun and anti-government groups. Participants mostly organize on Facebook but have attended recent events like the COVID-19 lockdown protests and demonstrations of George Floyd's death. Facebook earlier this month moved to limit the movements exposure on its platform by no longer recommending user groups associated with the term 'boogaloo' to members of similar associations. Advertisement

Hunter and other Boogaloo Bois allegedly members started to discuss in private Facebook messages their plans to travel to Minneapolis when the unrest first started to unfold.

Two hours after shooting up the police precinct, prosecutors say Hunter messaged another Boogaloo member in California named Steven Carrillo.

'Go for police buildings,' Hunter told Carrillo, according to the complaint.

'I did better lol,' Carrillo replied.

Carrillo was subsequently charged with killing a Federal Protective Services Officer in Oakland, California, that same night.

Police in Austin, Texas stopped a pickup truck on June 3 in which Hunter was a passenger for multiple traffic violations.

Hunter had six loaded magazines for a semiautomatic rifle in a tactical vest he was wearing. Officers also found multiple firearms in the truck.

Several days after the stop, federal agents learned of Hunters' online affiliation with Carrillo.

They subsequently found Facebook posts in which Hunter had bragged about his involvement in burning down the Minneapolis police precinct.

He wrote: 'I helped the community burn down that police station' and 'I didn't' protest peacefully Dude... Want something to change? Start risking felonies for what is good.'

Hunter was taken into custody without incident by San Antonio police this week and made his initial court appearance on Thursday.

He was the third member of the Boogaloo Bois to be arrested over the violent George Floyd protests in Minneapolis.

Boogaloo supporters, who use the loose movement's name as a slang term for a second civil war or collapse of civilization, frequently show up at protests armed with rifles and wearing Hawaiian shirts under body armor.

A judge on Thursday ordered an investigation before Hunter is sentenced.

A police precinct in Minneapolis went up in flames late on May 28 as protests were underway following George Floyd's death
California Governor Gavin Newsom has returned prime beachfront land worth an estimated $72 million to the descendants of a black family it was seized from in 1924.

Newsom signed a law transferring the ownership of Bruce's Beach, a small park now worth an estimated $72 million, back to the Bruce family. Original owners Willa and Charles Bruce's great-great-grandson Anthony Bruce was there for the signing ceremony.

He will now take ownership of the plot, alongside his dad Derrick and brother Michael.

The plot currently serves as a grassy park and lifeguard training facility. The Bruces have the option to sell it, lease it back to the local authority for the market rate, or develop it as they wish, with the land parcel exempt from local zoning laws. Average property prices in Manhattan Beach run to $2.9 million, with the area sitting south of Santa Monica Bay.

Gavin Newsom is seen on Thursday handing over the pen with which he signed the new law to Anthony Bruce (far right), whose great-great-grandparents had once owned Bruce's Beach

The land, in Manhattan Beach, was bought by Willa and Charles Bruce in 1912 for $1,225 and taken from them by the local council in 1924, following Ku Klux Klan protests against the thriving beach resort operating on the site.

For decades the family campaigned to have it returned to them, and in April the city council agreed to hand the land back.

They will be able to do what they wish with the plot, and are exempt from zoning laws that require beachfront property in the city to be 'used for public recreation and beach purposes in perpetuity.'

On Thursday Newsom signed into law legislation unanimously approved by state politicians earlier this month, and rebuked the local council for failing to apologize for the seizure of the land.

Anthony Bruce, the great great grandson of Willa and Charles Bruce is all smiles as Governor Gavin Newsom signs SB 796, a bill to return Manhattan Beach land to descendants of its original owners

Willa and Charles Bruce brought the property in 1912 during the early 20th century after moving from New Mexico with their son Harvey

The Los Angeles beachfront property 'Bruce's Beach's is being returned to the descendants of resort owners after it was taken from them due to racist policies

The city of Manhattan Beach issued a statement acknowledging and condemning its city's actions from the early 20th century - but the statement stopped short of a formal apology.

'We offer this Acknowledgement and Condemnation as a foundational act for Manhattan Beach's next one hundred years,' a document approved by the council says.

'And the actions we will take together, to the best of our abilities, in deeds and in words, to reject prejudice and hate and promote respect and inclusion.'

Newsom shared his anger at that earlier statement Thursday, and told the crowd: 'As governor of California, let me do what apparently Manhattan Beach is unwilling to do: I want to apologize to the Bruce family.'

He signed the bill before dozens of cameras and handed the pen to Anthony Bruce, whose great-great-grandparents had once owned the land.

'I really believe this can be catalytic,' Newsom said.

Newsom on Thursday apologized for the generations of harm done to the Bruce family

Anthony Bruce is seen in an old photo by the sign declaring the name Bruce's Beach

Derrick Bruce, the great-grandson of the original Bruce Beach owners (second from left) and his sons Anthony (right) and Michael (left) will take ownership of the Manhattan Beach property after Newsom signed the legislation

'What we're doing here today can be done and replicated anywhere else. There's an old adage: Once a mind is stretched, it never goes back to its original form.'

Anthony Bruce, a security supervisor who lives in Florida, said his family had been tormented by the seizure of their rightful property for generations.

Charles and Willa contested the eminent domain order and lost; the city paid them $14,500, and they left their beach and lost their business.

Instead of continuing to run a thriving resort on prime beachfront land, they ended up as chefs serving other business owners for the remainder of their lives.

Bruce's grandfather Bernard, born a few years after his family had been run out of town, was obsessed with what happened and lived his life 'extremely angry at the world,' he said.

Bruce's father was unable to bear living in California and moved away from the state.

'I was five years old when my father told me that my great-great-grandparents' business on a beautiful stretch of Manhattan Beach had been taken away from them decades earlier,' wrote Bruce, in an op ed in The Los Angeles Times, published on Thursday.

'It was a shocking and disturbing revelation for me as a young boy.'

Michael Bruce (pictured left) and his brother Anthony (pictured right) are the great-great grandchildren of Willa and Charles Bruce, who stand to finally inherit their family's property after it was taken via eminent domain in 1924

Bruce's Beach was a popular destination for black families in the early 20th century who were looking to go on a vacation without the stress of racial tensions

The resort featured a lodge, cafe, dance hall and dressing tents with bathing suits for rent

'We do thank God, because this is something that we've been praying for, for decades,' he said.

'Hopefully this is the start of a new beginning for us.'

The land was handed over to Anthony Bruce and Michael Bruce, the great-great grandchildren of the original resort owners, and their father Derrick Bruce.

'When I was growing up, my father took us to Bruce's beach,' Anthony said in an April interview with BNC News.

'It wasn't called that back then, it was called another name and he said 'all this land is yours. I want you to know that this is your inheritance and you're going to have to fight for it. As it stands its not ours, but as it is its our legacy.''

The case was championed by Kavon Ward, an activist who learnt about the land's history and founded Justice for Bruce's Beach.

'This country always likes to say: 'You can make it. Just pull yourself up by your bootstraps,'' she said.

'These people were doing that, and they were building community and spreading the wealth within the community and enhancing other black people, and it was all stripped away.'

Anthony Bruce said in the op ed: 'I'll never know if my family's business would have grown to rival that of Hilton or Marriott, both of which were founded around the same time as Bruce's Beach and grew from equally humble beginnings.

'I have plans to one day soon return to my family's land. When I go back to that stretch of Manhattan Beach, I won't think only of the injustice done to my ancestors. I'll also think of the progress our country has made.'

County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who led a government push to transfer the land, said the heirs would almost certainly be millionaires now if the property had not been taken.

'The law was used to steal this property 100 years ago, and the law today will give it back,' Hahn said.

Kavon Ward stands to the right of Gavin Newsom on Thursday, during a ceremony to sign the bill into law. Janice Hahm is far right, in yellow dress

Los Angeles Supervisor Janice Hahn, pictured in April announcing the return of the beach, was a major advocate for the return of the property to descendants of the Bruce family

The property along the south shore of Santa Monica Bay encompasses two parcels purchased in 1912 by Willa and Charles Bruce, who built the first West Coast resort for black people at a time when segregation barred them from many beaches.

It included a lodge, cafe, dance hall and dressing tents.

The land lay unused for years, however, and was transferred to the state in 1948.

In 1995, it was transferred to Los Angeles County for beach operations. It came with restrictions limiting the ability to sell or transfer the property, which could only be lifted through a new state law.

The county's lifeguard training headquarters building sits there now, along a scenic beach walkway called The Strand that is lined with luxury homes overlooking the beach.

In Manhattan Beach, an upscale Los Angeles seaside suburb, the population of 35,000 is more than 84 per cent white and 0.8 per cent black, the city website says.

This year, the City Council formally condemned the efforts of their early 20th century predecessors to displace the Bruces and several other Black families.

The county, meanwhile, has outlined steps needed to move forward with the transfer, including assessing the value of the parcels and trying to find a means to lessen the tax burden on the heirs.

The county also needs to vet the legal heirs of the Bruces and possibly find a new site for the lifeguard training headquarters.

One option would have the heirs lease the land back to the county for continued use.

The family has not yet specified what they will do with the land.

Should the Bruce family decide to sell the property, the bill's new wording would exempt them from a documentary transfer tax, and would shield profits made from the land's scale from taxation.

'Plans for the property... [are] personal and between us, the attorneys, and the County of Los Angeles,' said Duane Shepard, a cousin of the direct descendants of the property and a long-standing spokesman for the reacquisition of the beach.
The Metropolitan Police said last night that there would be no more patrols by lone plain-clothed officers in light of the methods used by Wayne Couzens to abduct Sarah Everard.

Sir Stephen House, the Met's deputy commissioner, added that warrant cards may not be enough for officers to prove their identity in future.

The force also announced that 650 new officers will be deployed in public places to better protect women and girls in the wake of Miss Everard's murder.

After stinging criticism over its handling of the case, the force vowed to increase patrols and publish a new strategy for tackling violence against women.

The strategy will outline how the Met will prioritise action against sexual and violent predatory offenders.

The force said it had also set up 'predatory offender units', which have arrested more than 2,000 suspects for domestic abuse, sex offences, and child abuse since November.

The Met Police also announced that 650 new officers will be deployed in public places to better protect women and girls in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder (Pictured: Ms Everard)

The 650 new officers will be sent into busy public places, including areas where women and girls 'lack confidence that they are safe', the Met said.

The force will 'step up' patrols and provide an increased police presence in areas identified as hotspot locations for violence and harassment.

A Met Police spokesman said: 'The full horrific details of [Wayne Couzens'] crimes are deeply concerning and raise entirely legitimate questions.

'This is the most horrific of crimes, but we recognise this is part of a much bigger and troubling picture.'

The spokesman said other recent murders 'bring into sharp focus our urgent duty to do more to protect women and girls'.
The boss of NatWest said the trading of cryptocurrency should come with the warning slogan 'Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here'.

Sir Howard Davies, the chairman of the NatWest Group, applauded China for their 'instinct' of banning 'the damned stuff'.

Referencing the inscription over hell's gates, as told by Dante, Sir Howard said he was 'very hostile' towards the practice of trading crypto.

Sir Howard Davies said crypto trading should come with slogan 'Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here' and called it 'gambling'

'Its gambling as far as I can see, with a sort of libertarian veneer on top of it. You should put a big sign on the door saying, Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here,' Sir Howard told The Times.

Last week, China's central bank said all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies were illegal, sounding the death knell for the digital trade in China.

Sir Howard, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England and former head of the independent Airports Commission, said revelations that more Britons own crypto assets than shares was also 'quite a worry'.

According to the Financial Conduct Authority, 2.3million people in the UK owned crypto assets as of June this year.

There is no outright ban in the UK but investors have been warned they could lose all their money.

The global values of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin massively fluctuated over the past year partly due to Chinese regulations, which sought to prevent speculation and money laundering.

The notice banned all related financial activities involving cryptocurrencies, such as trading crypto, selling tokens, transactions involving virtual currency derivatives and 'illegal fundraising'.

Sir Howard said he did not agree with everything from Beijing but admired their 'instinct' to ban crypto.

Last week, China's central bank said all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies were illegal, sounding the death knell for the digital trade in China. Pictured: A worker adjusts crypto mining rigs in Sichuan province

After China announced its ban, Bitcoin, which had already been falling before the announcement, sank by as much as 8.9 percent to $41,019 in European afternoon trading before recovering slightly later on Friday.

The People's Bank of China said that in recent years trading of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies had become 'widespread, disrupting economic and financial order, giving rise to money laundering, illegal fund-raising, fraud, pyramid schemes and other illegal and criminal activities'.

This was 'seriously endangering the safety of people's assets,' the PBOC said.
The energy regulator has hired a City firm to act as a special administrator in case a major supplier collapses.

Ofgem asked Teneo, a public relations and restructuring group, to step in if any big companies need to be rescued. Its clients have included Fifa and McDonalds.

Fears are mounting that another five suppliers could go under in the next week, sources told the Mail, after months of spiralling natural gas prices have thrown the industry into turmoil.

Energy regulator Ofgem has hired City firm Teneo to step in if any major energy supplier collapses after nine energy suppliers serving 1.7million customers went bust in September

Nine energy suppliers serving 1.7million customers went bust in September.

On Wednesday, Enstroga, Igloo Energy and Symbio Energy ceased trading  leaving around 233,000 facing the prospect of seeing their bills rocket overnight as Ofgem transfers them to another supplier.

But the failure of one of the biggest suppliers  British Gas, Ovo, EDF, Eon, Npower and Scottish Power  would send shockwaves throughout the energy industry and raise questions about whether the Government should step in.

So far ministers have refused to bail out struggling firms.

An Ofgem spokesman said: Our number one priority is protecting customers and, as companies exit the market, it is right that as the regulator we remind suppliers of their legal obligation and avoid unnecessary additional costs to the sector and ultimately consumers.

'We stand ready to take action where suppliers fail to oblige.
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Incredible images of a $360million Covid quarantine facility in China have given Australians a window into the future of the country's battle against the virus.

The 5,000-room Guangzhou International Health Station in southern China has been built in only three months in an attempt to keep returned travellers away from the densely-populated cities where the coronavirus pandemic first took hold in early 2020.

The thousands of guests who will call the sprawling complex home for 14 days will check in and out remotely and have their meals delivered to them by robots.

China plans to welcome the first overseas arrivals to the site in a matter of days, giving the Australian government a window into what international travel could like when its own bespoke quarantine hubs are in use next year.

Incredible images of a $360million Covid quarantine facility in Guangzhou, southern China have given a window into what Australia's own purpose-built versions could look like

The 5,000-room Guangzhou International Health Station in the Asian country's south has been built in only three months

The thousands of guests who will call the sprawling complex home for 14 days will check in and out remotely and have their meals delivered to them by robots

Travellers at the new Chinese facility will be ferried to and from Guangzhou airport by bus and have access to Wi-Fi, a built-in video chat camera and an artificial intelligence-powered thermometer to monitor their symptoms.

An isolation centre with 1,000 temporary quarantine rooms is also under construction in the south-eastern Fujian province as the Communist power goes to great lengths to stop the virus from infecting its citizens.

The Queensland Government is still laying the foundations of a 1,000-bed facility outside Toowoomba it hopes will be operational by the end of 2021.

A purpose-built quarantine facility is also being constructed along a similar timeline in Mickleham in Melbourne's north.

Epidemiologists and health officials in Australia have long promoted stand-alone facilities as the answer to repeated hotel quarantine leaks.

Both Victorian and Western Australian state leaders have fired shots at the federal government in recent months over how long it has taken to construct purpose-built quarantine sites.

'This would have been ideal 12 months ago - quarantining is a constitutional responsibility of the Commonwealth,' Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said in June.

Pictured is the interior view of a guest room at the Guangzhou International Health Station. China plans to welcome the first overseas arrivals to the site in a matter of days

Staff members move equipment at the Guangzhou International Health Station in Baiyun District, Guangzhou City

Pictured: An artist's impression of the planned Mickleham quarantine facility to house returned travellers in Melbourne's north

'We all know the history - the only solution to that is for the Victorian risks to be minimised by high-risk groups having dedicated, stand-alone facilities,' he said.

'We are sure it will be be infinitely safer than the hotel quarantining efforts.'

WA Premier Mark McGowan in April meanwhile slammed the national hotel quarantine system as 'not fit for purpose' and demanded the Commonwealth use defence bases and migration facilities instead.

An isolation center with 1,000 temporary quarantine rooms is also under construction in Putian, Fujian Province of China

Pictured: The Victorian plans for the Mickleham hub. Queensland is also laying the foundations of a 1,000-bed facility outside Toowoomba it hopes will be operational by the end of 2021

Mr McGowan said he was 'at the end of his tether' with the prime minister over the issue.

'I think it's becoming more urgent and I suspect all the states are getting pretty heartily sick of it that they have these facilities that are available and they refuse to use them, so we're saying to the Commonwealth it's time they step up,' Mr McGowan said.

'I'm getting to the end of my tether with the Commonwealth handing responsibility to the states and not helping with this responsibility.'
A police force has been accused of wasting taxpayers money by spending almost 50,000 on commemorative coins.

Thames Valley Police handed out the Covid-themed coins thanking workers for their service during the pandemic.

The mementoes, pictured, came with signed letters from Chief Constable John Campbell, who wrote that they symbolise the value of your work in keeping the Thames Valley safe through such adversity.

Thames Valley Police handed out Covid-themed coins thanking workers for their service during the pandemic, with an FOI request revealing the coins cost 44,840 (stock image)

A freedom of information request revealed the coins cost 44,840, with 3,076 spent on envelopes and stamps, a total of 47,916.

A spokesman for the force said the coins had gone to all our officers, staff, volunteers and contractors, including our cleaning staff.

This type of recognition is widespread with many other companies and other public sector organisations, he added.

But some staff have labelled them a waste of money - and said theyd rather have a pay rise.

Recipients of the coins appeared divided on social media as one praised the services leadership for sending out the coins.

An anonymous Reddit user who received the coin posted: '[It was] a nice gesture. It was a bit c*** out there dealing with some [things].

Recipients of the coins appeared divided as some staff labelled them a waste of money - and said they'd rather have a pay rise (stock image)

'Think of it this way, [the] price of a[n] expensive coffee to say thanks for our service.

'Im happy with the coin. A nice random gesture from our employer.'

However, another anonymous Reddit user who claims to be a police officer, commenting on a thread about the coins, said: 'I dont mean to come across as grumpy or ungrateful - and I recognise there are plenty who like all this stuff and are motivated by it - but it doesnt really do anything for me.

'Id rather have no praise, no warm words on an email, no framed bits of paper - no snazzy coins Ill put in a drawer and forget about - Id rather just get the pay rise - I feel thats worth more.'
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This is the dramatic moment flames burst out of a Boeing 747 cargo plane as it landed in Britain with a loud bang.

Flames erupted from the back of one of the Kalitta Air jet's engines as it touched down at East Midlands Airport yesterday afternoon after flying in from the German city of Leipzig.

The aircraft was said to have made a huge noise as it landed, and flashes of orange could be seen reflecting off its side as it came to a halt on the runway - but nobody was injured in the incident.

Flames erupted from the back of one of the Kalitta Air jet's engines as it touched down at East Midlands Airport yesterday

The aircraft was said to have made a huge noise as it landed, and flashes of orange could be seen reflecting off its side

With the flames eventually under control, plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the back of the jet's engine as it stood on the Tarmac at the airport, which is near Castle Donington in Leicestershire.

It is not yet known what caused the fire and explosion, but one witness claimed the engine 'ingested something' as it hit the ground - with others speculating that a bird may have got caught in the engine.

Sources told MailOnline that reports of a tyre bursting were untrue, and that the photographs showed a 'flash' - similar to that which is seen coming out of the exhaust of a Formula One car.

The plane is now being inspected by the American cargo airline's engineers at the airport after what was described as a 'technical issue'. The airport confirmed its staff were not required to assist.

The aircraft was said to have made a huge noise as it landed yesterday following a flight from the German city of Leipzig

Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the back of the jet's engine yesterday as it stood on the Tarmac at the airport

An East Midlands Airport spokesman said: 'A 747 cargo aircraft belonging to Kalitta Air is currently being inspected by the airlines engineers following reports that it developed a technical issue upon landing at East Midlands Airport yesterday afternoon. The flight operated safely into EMA and no action was required from airport staff.'

Kalitta Air is a US cargo airline based at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The carrier has six main global hubs at Leipzig, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, Cincinnati in Ohio and Anchorage in Alaska.

Airlines including Aer Lingus, Jet2 and Ryanair all use East Midlands Airport, along with holiday operators such as Tui, Newmarket and P&O. The airport was originally an RAF base before being turned into a civilian airport in 1965.
Annastacia Palaszczuk has blasted Scott Morrison for not telling her about plans to open the international border as early as November for states that hit the 80 per cent vaccination rate.

Daily Mail Australia understands Prime Minister Scott Morrison will hold a press conference at about 1pm on Friday to announce plans to let Australians finally go on an overseas holiday.

The announcement will take place an hour before a national cabinet meeting at 2pm where Mr Morrison will discuss the plan with state and territory leaders.

Annastacia Palaszczuk (pictured) has blasted Scott Morrison for not telling her about plans to open the international border as early as November for states that hit the 80 per cent vaccination rate

But Ms Palaszczuk is furious the Prime Minster did not give her a heads up.

'It has not been distributed in any papers to national cabinet prior to national cabinet's meeting,' she said in her press conference on Friday morning.

She refused to support the idea because she hasn't seen any paperwork.

'I'm not going to agree to anything when I haven't seen any formal paperwork,' she said.

'It would be irresponsible and I think that Queenslanders would expect me to see some paperwork, to understand the issues before an announcement is made.

'So it's a bit disappointing that we haven't been given that due courtesy before national cabinet.'

Asked if Queenslanders will be allowed to go on holiday overseas when 80 per cent are fully vaccinated, Ms Palaszczuk said she wanted to see everyone eligible - which is all overs 12s - be offered a vaccine first.

'We need to be in a situation where every eligible person, so every eligible person in that cohort is offered a vaccine,' she said.

'It would be great to see the Federal Government focusing on a national campaign to really drive those vaccination rates up.

'We've got to make sure that we're getting out to the Indigenous communities. That the people with a disability are getting vaccinated, and of course, I've said previously - we need to have a plan for those children who will be unvaccinated.'

Children under 12 are not eligible for Covid-19 vaccination because trials are still ongoing.

Australia is in talks to set up quarantine-free travel bubbles with the UK, US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Pacific islands such as Fiji for the fully vaccinated. Pictured: London's Big Ben

Mr Morrison is not expected to announce a framework for how the international border will open.

Travellers may be allowed to quarantine at home for seven days instead of in a hotel for two weeks when they return.

The Prime Minister will not set a date when international travel will restart but government sources say the borders could open in November for some states.

Australians have been banned from leaving the country since March 18, 2020 under strict biosecurity laws to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

The biosecurity laws are currently in place until December 17 but can be tweaked or removed at any time.

On current projections NSW will hit the 80 per cent vaccination rate on October 16. Victoria will reach the mark on November 23, Queensland on December 8 and Western Australia on December 15.

The re-opening of the international border would mean that NSW and Victoria residents will be able to fly to London or New York before Brisbane or Perth due to state border closures.

Meanwhile, Australia is in talks to set up quarantine-free travel bubbles with the UK, US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Pacific islands such as Fiji for the fully vaccinated.



Japan is one of the countries in discussions with Australia over a travel bubble. Pictured: Osaka

Eventually, the Covid-19 arrival caps for Australian citizens will be removed and hotel quarantine will be scrapped in favour of home quarantine in states that sign up, with New South Wales and South Australia currently running trials.

But there may be no quarantine at all for fully vaccinated people arriving from countries where a travel bubble has been agreed.

Such arrangements would mirror the New Zealand travel bubble that was in place between April and July before New South Wales suffered its Covid outbreak.

Earlier this month Tourism Minister Dan Tehan said discussions were ongoing with several countries with high vaccination rates to determine what kind of quarantine arrangements would be needed.

'Obviously with New Zealand we were able to do that quarantine-free. It would be great if we could get that up and running again,' he told Nine's Today show.

'Then we're in discussion with the Pacific islands, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the US, the UK on what those travel arrangements will look like.

'Hopefully we'll be able to have home quarantine, we'll be able to limit the time of quarantine and, ultimately, quarantine-free travel. It could require some testing. All those discussions are in place,' he said.

A travel bubble could be set up with Fiji (pictured) so Australians can finally go on holiday

Trade Minister Dan Tehan wants a travel bubble with the US. Pictured: The Grand Canyon

Asked if the quarantine requirements could differ from state to state, Mr Tehan said: 'We'll work that through with the states and territories. We have a very important trial taking place in South Australia at the moment on home quarantine.

'NSW have indicated that they want to move to home quarantining as well. As we keep rolling out these trials, the hope is also we can look at, perhaps, seven days in home quarantine with testing either side because the more we can limit that time in quarantine, obviously the better, the better for bringing returning Australians home, the better for international students to be able to return.

'So all that will be worked through with the states and territories.'

Mr Tehan said Tourism Australia was 'sending those positive messages out there, that our borders are going to be open before Christmas and we want to make sure that we're welcoming people.'

NSW is conducting a four-week trial of seven-day home quarantine for returning Australians with the aim of stamping out hotel quarantine by the time the borders open late this year.

We can't live in a hermit kingdom, we have to rejoin the world NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet

Qantas is preparing to restart international flights on December 18 for the fully vaccinated.

In an interview with Daily Mail Australia earlier this month, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said NSW residents will be able to fly to London and New York before Perth or Brisbane because Western Australia and Queensland are still pursuing a Covid elimination strategy and keeping their borders closed.

Asked if that was an absurd situation, he said: 'That's just the reality.

'We're talking about returning international students, we're talking about returning Australians. We're opening up businesses and the next step is opening up borders,' he said.

'If we can lead the way on international travel that's going to be a great thing for the state.

'And hopefully that will then lead to other states following us. It might be ironic that you can get to Bali before you can get to Broome but that's where we're heading.'

The Treasurer said premiers in other states who are nervous about opening up will be eventually pushed into action by their voters who will want to travel once more.

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet with his budget papers

'What I want to see in the other states is that as we move through this period and as we rejoin the world, that other states and the Australian people will say well ''we want to have that too'' and that means living alongside the virus,' he said.

'There is no evidence of Covid going away and we can't hide from it indefinitely.

'We can't live in a hermit kingdom, we have to rejoin the world.

'I think it's pretty clear that NSW and Victoria will be the two states that move together on achieving that,' he added.

Mr Perrottet said international travel was crucial to Australia's success, with tourism bringing in $42billion a year to the NSW economy.

'Over time our role as a government is to lead our people into great opportunity and prosperity and it's not just for us, it's for our kids as well and that's our focus and I think overtime that's where Australians will want to be,' he said.

Mr Perrottet said hotel quarantine will be replaced by home isolation this year and then removed altogether for the fully vaccinated next year.

'My expectation is that we will get through this trial and if it's successful we will shift from hotel quarantine to home quarantine and the next step after that is just logical,' he said.

'If somebody is fully vaccinated, coming from overseas, they shouldn't be treated any differently from people who are vaccinated who are living here. As we rejoin the world, it will make no sense for people [to quarantine].

'And Australians as well, if we're going to be travelling overseas we don't want to do seven days or 14 days quarantine either. That's just not going to work.

'Ultimately we're going to end up in a situation where right across the world the majority of people have been vaccinated and we move on and enjoy the opportunities we had before this virus came to be.'

Australians will be allowed on overseas holidays even if some state borders are still closed when 80 per cent are vaccinated. Pictured: Sydney passengers before lockdown
Julie Bishop has lifted the lid on Australia's most powerful politicians while showing off a stunning pink ombre ruffled gown to support research into ovarian cancer.

The former foreign minister revealed what she truly thought about the premiers, labelling Western Australia's Mark McGowan a 'king' and Queensland's Annastacia Palaszczuk as a state leader who is 'playing the political cards cleverly'.

Ms Bishop made the comments around the same time she marked the beginning of Frocktober - a national campaign to promote ovarian cancer research - by donning an elegant and frilly frock on Friday.

Julie Bishop has lifted the lid on Australia's most powerful politicians while showing off a stunning pink ombre ruffled gown to support research into ovarian cancer

Ms Bishop made the comments around the same time she marked the beginning of Frocktober - a national campaign to promote ovarian cancer research - by donning an elegant and frilly frock on Friday

Ms Bishop said Mr McGowan, and other state premiers - had been given unprecedented powers by the federal government during the Covid-19 pandemic.

'This year the whole focus is Covid and the premiers are very much running their own show,' she told Australian Financial Review.

'National cabinet has given them an opportunity to exercise power in a way we've never seen before. Mark McGowan is unassailable in Western Australia  governing almost like a king.'

Mr McGowan's hard border closures and Covid-zero stance has allowed residents to live a relatively normal life in Western Australia.

The state hosted the AFL Grand Final with a staggering 61,118 spectators watching from the stands at Optus Stadium over the weekend.

The massive crowd was a sight unlike any other in Australia with several states, including New South Wales and Victoria, plunged in hard lockdown and residents enduring caps on outdoor gatherings.

'Mark McGowan has been a standout premier for getting attention at a national level beyond his state borders,' Ms Bishop said.

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was also observed by Ms Bishop over her resolute leadership and unbending Covid-19 policies.

'She is playing the political cards cleverly by taking the lead on the pandemic response and sidelining the federal government in recent times,' Ms Bishop said.

Ms Palaszczuk has previously clashed with prime minister Scott Morrison and NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian over state border closures.

Ms Palaszczuk has not yet revealed whether she intends to reopen state borders when 80 per cent of the country has been vaccinated.

Her innermost thoughts on politicians weren't the only things turning heads with Ms Bishop showing off her custom-made frock at Mt Marion Lithium project in outback Western Australia

'With no early detection test, ovarian cancer is an insidious and dangerous condition. It is a great privilege to support the work of OCRF in developing a test that will give women hope in fighting ovarian cancer,' Ms Bishop said

The outfit was made especially poignant with survivors of ovarian cancer and those who lost their lives to the illness stitched onto the fabric

The figure was set by national cabinet, but Ms Palaszczuk is concerned that reopening too soon could be catastrophic, especially when children under 12 are not likely to be vaccinated by then.

Ms Bishop turned her attention to Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.

She noted the Covid-19 pandemic had forced the premiers to make quick and big decisions for their state, meaning they were frequently in contact with industry leaders more so than the prime minister.

'Big employers are on the phone to the premiers to a much greater degree than in the past, with the PM out of the loop on many discussions,' she said.

On Thursday, Mr Andrews' wife Catherine took to Twitter to retweet a photo of her husband hard at work.

'This man does not stop. Thank you to everyone who is doing the right thing. We are in this together. #istandwithdan,' reads the tweet, originally sent more than a year ago.

On deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, Ms Bishop she said: 'You never know on what he's going to pop up and what he's going to say'.

Julie Bishop marked Frocktober by donning an elegant outfit and visiting Mt Marion Lithium project on Friday

Julie Bishop dressed in the pink ombre ruffled gown poses at Mt Marion Lithium project

Mr Joyce's marriage to previous wife Natalia - who he shares four daughters with - broke down in November 2017 after 24 years, and two months later it was revealed he had been having an affair with his former media advisor Ms Campion.

The politician was forced to stand down three years ago after the affair became public and he denied sexually harassing a woman after an event in Canberra.

In a surprise twist, Mr Joyce made a return to office as Australia's deputy prime minister.

Ms Bishop's thoughts on politicians weren't the only things turning heads with Ms Bishop showing off her custom-made frock at Mt Marion Lithium project in outback Western Australia.

The outfit was made especially poignant with survivors of ovarian cancer and those who lost their lives to the illness stitched onto the fabric.

'With no early detection test, ovarian cancer is an insidious and dangerous condition. It is a great privilege to support the work of OCRF in developing a test that will give women hope in fighting ovarian cancer,' Ms Bishop said.

Ms Bishop praised Mr McGowan over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic with his state all but eliminating the virus
Labour-run Wales will become the first UK nation to make it compulsory for every child to learn about ethnic minority history.

Welsh ministers said the move would help pupils understand 'the many cultures which have built Wales's past and present'.

Statistics released by the Welsh government last year suggest 5.2 per cent of residents are from ethnic minorities.

The move, which is subject to a final sign-off by politicians this month, follows campaigns for a similar policy in England by teaching unions and Left-wingers.

The new curriculum framework is due to be introduced from September 2022.

Wales will become first UK nation to make it compulsory for children to learn about ethnic minority history with new curriculum framework due to be introduced from September 2022

The Welsh Government has added learning about the diversity of communities, in particular the stories of black, Asian and minority ethnic people, into the new Curriculum for Wales guidance.

The guidance is subject to a final sign-off by the Senedd next month, but the announcement coincides with the start of Black History Month.

The curriculum will include six areas of learning, which involves mandatory elements known as 'Statements of What Matters'.

Last year, a working group led by Professor Charlotte Williams was formed to improve teaching on black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

The group's work is being supported through 500,000 from the Welsh Government.

Welsh ministers said the move would help pupils understand 'the many cultures which have built Wales's past and present' (file image)

Education minister Jeremy Miles said: 'It is vitally important that our education system equips our young people to understand and respect their own and each other's histories, cultures and traditions.

'Today's announcement will help enrich the new curriculum, and therefore teaching in Wales, for years to come.

'The new Curriculum for Wales will empower teachers and education settings to design lessons to inspire their learners to become ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world.

'If we are to progress as a society, we must create an education system which
Katie Couric claims that she got under the skin of Diane Sawyer so much when they were competing for big interviews that Sawyer said: That woman must be stopped.

Sawyer, who was co-host of Good Morning America, was supposedly taking a break while on set and watching Couric on TODAY when she fired off the missive.

In her memoir, Couric, 64, writes that she loved that she was getting under Dianes skin during the Booking Wars of the late 1990s between GMA and TODAY.

But Sawyer, 75, was formidable and after losing out on one exclusive Couric quipped: I wonder who she had to blow to get that, a comment that was leaked to the tabloids.

Couric also said that she couldnt get over how cool Sawyer was when she watched the decade-older newswoman when Couric was growing up.

Katie Couric (left) claims that she wound up Diane Sawyer (right) so much when they were competing for big interviews that Sawyer said: That woman must be stopped

That gave way to ruthless competition and, Couric claims, Sawyer was so desperate to win that her producers would cry on the phone to people if they didnt agree to talk to her.

Couric details the rivalry in Going There, her memoir which is out in late October but DailyMail.com has seen the manuscript. The Sawyer passage has also been reported by the New York Post.

Going There will be published in late October by Little, Brown and Company

Our revelations have already sparked a storm as Couric admitted she didnt help female co-stars such as a young Ashleigh Banfield because she wanted to protect my turf.

In the book, Couric maligns ex-boyfriends, former colleagues and mocks Prince Harry for stinking of alcohol and cigarettes when she interviewed him in 2012 during his party years.

Couric and Sawyer joined TODAY and GMA respectively in 1999, setting up a rivalry between two women who would go on to become TV legends.

In Going There, Couric writes that she was still a local reporter in Miami when Sawyer became a star and she was envious watching her breaking the glass ceiling in a male-dominated industry.

Couric scrutinized Sawyers interviews on 60 Minutes and couldnt get over how cool she was.

The rivalry pitted two women of different styles against each other, Couric writes.

She was fun and feisty while Sawyer was sleek and sophisticated but they were both at the top of our games and both very competitive.

Sawyer is seen during the Booking Wars of the 1990s. Couric writes that she loved that I was getting under Dianes skin - not that she wasnt getting under mine

Couric claims that she and Sawyer were not mortal enemies as the press made out but we definitely kept tabs on each other.

The book suggests otherwise.

For example, it got back to Couric that on the GMA set Sawyer was watching a monitor showing TODAY and said: That woman must be stopped.

A TODAY show producer thought it was so funny they printed up a pillow for Couric with the words on it signed D.S. as if it were a gift from Sawyer.

Couric writes that she loved that I was getting under Dianes skin - not that she wasnt getting under mine.

Couric made her comment about Sawyer giving somebody fellatio after losing out on an interview with a woman who gave birth to twins at the age of 57.

In the book Couric claims it was a wisecrack but when it was reported in the tabloids it didnt exactly sound that way.

Couric details the extraordinary extent the bookers - on the ground producers - went to get the big scoops using methods that were often absurd, hilarious and flat-out shameless.

Sawyers bookers regularly used cry down the phone if an interview was starting to fall through to guilt trip the subject into going along with them.

TODAY would put up guests at a hotel in New York and if GMA found out where it was they would pretend to be from the TODAY show, say the interview was canceled and make their own pitch.

Or they would send a car to pick the person up and take them off to GMA instead of TODAY.

If a guest was doing GMA and TODAY next then a GMA producer would stall them in the green room after their piece with endless cups of coffee so they would never make it to the rival studio on time.

Couric writes that the stakes were so high that she and Sawyer often became involved by making phone calls or sending hand-written notes to interviewees.

Couric, seen in the 90s, writes that she was fun and feisty while Sawyer was sleek and sophisticated but they were both at the top of our games and both very competitive

Couric calls her producer Lori Beecher her secret weapon who helped her to get an interview with Lucille Bloch, whose diplomat husband Felix was suspected of being a spy.

Shortly after Beecher arrived at Blochs home the phone rang and Beecher answered.

A sultry voice asked to speak to Ms Bloch and Beecher asked who it was. The voice said: Diane Sawyer.

Beecher said Bloch wasnt available and that she would pass on a message - which she somehow forgot to do.

Beecher hid a letter that Sawyer sent the next day so that Bloch would only find it long after her interview with TODAY had aired.

Another tactic used by Sawyer was to portray herself as a devoted family woman to gain the trust of somebody they were looking to interview.

One of Courics bookers countered this by pointing out that Sawyer had never actually raised any children - while the booker was a mother of two.

Courics booker won the woman over and Sawyer must have had steam coming out of her ears, Going There says.

But as the booker was driving to the hotel with the woman they noticed a GMA car behind them which suddenly gunned it and tried to run the bookers car off the road, forcing them to call 911.

Reflecting back on those days, Couric says that the rush to get the story often obscured the human suffering they were reporting on.

She wonders if she was a journalistic voyeur selling our souls for bragging rights and ratings.

Couric says she cannot defend the media mentality at the time and says that it was the last lurid gasp of tabloid excess.

EXCLUSIVE: 'I love you and care about you deeply.' Katie Couric's sympathetic texts to Matt Lauer after he was fired from NBC for sexual misconduct, as she admits it felt 'heartless to abandon him' in new memoir

Katie Couric wrote sympathetic texts to Matt Lauer after he had been fired for sexual misconduct including one that read: 'I love you and care about you deeply'.

Just as it was revealed that Lauer had preyed on multiple female producers at NBC, Couric texted him 'I am crushed', in one of several messages she reproduces in her new memoir.

In Going There, Couric explains that hosting Today with Lauer for nine years left her feeling sorry for him in spite of the appalling allegations.

She writes that Lauer was a 'decent' man, worries how he will break the news to his kids and she says it felt 'heartless to abandon him.'

Lauer was fired by NBC in November 2017 after reports he had crossed the line with numerous women at the network over many years.

In her new memoir, Katie Couric reveals she sent messages of support to former colleague Matt Lauer after he was fired from NBC for sexual misconduct in 2017

Reports said that he gave one woman a sex toy and an explicit note saying how he wanted to use it on her. He was also accused of showing another woman his penis in his office and played 'f***, marry or kill' in the office.

Lauer's wife Annette divorced him in a stunning fall from grace for somebody who was once the highest paid TV host in the country earning $25million a year.

Since then, journalist Ronan Farrow made the even more serious allegation in his book, Catch and Kill, that Lauer raped Brooke Nevils, a former NBC News employee, at the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.

According to Nevils, she was in Lauer's hotel room when he pushed her onto the bed and asked if she liked anal sex, which she 'declined several times.'

Despite this, Lauer 'just did it' to her, without using lubricant making it 'excruciatingly painful.'

Lauer denied Nevils claims but said he was 'truly sorry' for the wider allegations, saying there was 'enough truth in these stories to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed'.'

In Going There, written long after all the allegations came out, Couric spends pages equivocating about Lauer's behavior.

She writes that 'my heart sank' when she heard that Lauer had been fired and says that she 'couldn't imagine' what it was like to be him.

Couric says there was still a part of her that wondered if the allegations were just wild rumors.

On November 28, 2017, the day Lauer was fired, Couric had a brief text exchange with Lauer which she reproduces in the book.

'I am crushed. I love you and care about you deeply. I am here. Please let me know if you want to talk. There will be better days ahead,' she wrote.

Lauer responded with a blowing kiss emoji.

Couric admits she read about all the 'awful things' Lauer had done but was worried for him and feared he was 'sleepless, haggard, depressed, maybe worse.'

Lauer had served as a co-host of NBC's Today Show from 1997 until his contract was terminated in November 2017 following allegations he sexually harassed an employee

Wife Annette Roque divorced Lauer following the scandal - a stunning fall from grace for one of the highest-paid TV hosts in the country earning $25million a year

Couric claims that it felt 'heartless to abandon him, someone who'd been by my side, literally, for so many years.'

Eventually she came to realize that he could be an 'excellent professional partner, a good friend, and a predator.'

Earlier in the book, Couric writes about her time at Today - where she served as a co-anchor from 1991 to 2006 - and admits that she 'heard the whispers' about Lauer.

She describes how Lauer's wife once calling the control room on a Saturday morning asking for the phone number of a woman she thought was having sex with him.

Another time, Lauer mistakenly sent a Today producer a lewd email suggesting she 'spread butter on her thighs' and invited her to his office and 'wear that skirt that came off so easily'.

Couric realized Lauer had a fling with a production assistant with the same surname as the woman he emailed and had written to her by accident.

Couric's take was that it was 'gross' and that Lauer was cheating on his wife and 'taking advantage' of a young woman on the show.

But she writes: 'The general rule at that time was: it's none of your business'.

Couric, 64, has previously spoken about how difficult the whole Lauer episode was.

Couric admits it felt 'heartless' to abandon someone who had 'been by my side, literally, for so many years'

In November 2019 at the annual Women Who Inspire event, she said that Lauer's firing was 'painful for me on many levels.'

Couric said that was 'especially when it comes to understanding what was going on with Matt, who I think ultimately turned out to be two very different people, in terms of my relationship with him versus some of the other things that were going on.'

Couric, who began her career in 1979, said she came of age in a media culture where 'fraternization existed and was going on unabated, where people were having relationships with other people within the business.'

She said: 'Now, I hope these big broadcast organizations are also having a reckoning and realizing there are certain standards, certain behaviors.'

Going There will be released in late October and will be accompanied by an 11-city book tour and a comprehensive media rollout.

DailyMail.com has already revealed how the book is far less flattering than Lauer about former colleagues, ex-boyfriends and even A-list celebrities.

In Going There, Couric says that she gave Ashleigh Banfield, the NewsNation Prime presenter, the cold shoulder because helping her would be 'self sabotage'.

Couric rips Deborah Norville, who she replaced on Today, for having a 'relentless perfection' which turned off breakfast show viewers.

When Couric switched from Today to host the Evening News on CBS, staffers fought back with an 'insurgency' which left her feeling like Hillary Clinton because she was so under siege

Couric is just as blunt about her love life and says ex-boyfriend Brooks Perlin, who was 17 years her junior, was a 'mid-life crisis' while TV producer Tom Werner was a 'textbook narcissist'.

She also puts down Martha Stewart, saying it took a 'some healthy humbling (prison will do that . . .) to develop a sense of humor.'

Even the Royal family end up in Couric's sights and she describes how Prince Harry stank of cigarettes and alcohol when they met, and how Prince Andrew cozied up to Jeffrey Epstein at a bizarre dinner at his New York mansion.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been accused of avoiding a new lockdown in her state just so the NRL Grand Final can go ahead this weekend, but the real reason is not that cynical.

Ms Palaszczuk knows that there is no such thing as a short and sharp lockdown when dealing with the Delta variant and fears that imposing one now will mean weeks if not months of severe restrictions.

Her NSW and Victorian counterparts thought they could nip Delta in the bud, but months after imposing what were intended to be short lockdowns to eliminate the virus, the two states are still labouring under the same restrictions albeit with roadmaps to exit.

Those exits are predicated on vaccination rates in those states imminently reaching 80 per cent double-jabbed, whereas Queensland's rate is far behind that and any lockdown announced now would likely linger well into November at least.

At present 65.72 per cent of Queenslanders had received at least one dose of vaccine, and only 46.74 per cent are double vaccinated.

'Everyone has been seeing what's been happening in other parts of the world. It is going to happen right throughout Australia when this Delta virus spreads,' Ms Palaszczuk said on Friday.

So instead of instituting a broad-based lockdown, the Queensland Premier is trying to do what NSW and Victoria could not - use contact tracing to quickly isolate all cases in the state and drive the infection numbers back to zero.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is wary of entering a new lockdown and ending up like NSW and Victoria, given the lagging vaccination rate in her state

At present 65.72 per cent of Queenslanders had received at least one dose of vaccine, with only 46.74 per cent fully vaccinated. Picture: Masked Brisbane residents in the CBD on Friday

Critics have pointed out that Ms Palaszczuk's government had imposed local lockdowns earlier this year on fewer numbers than the current four separate clusters that have emerged in the state this week.

That had prompted accusations that she wanted a big crowd for this weekend's NRL grand final in Brisbane before imposing any lockdown.

South-east Queensland has had four short lockdowns this year in response to clusters of the Delta variant, while NSW has been in lockdown for three months as it battles what was the largest Delta outbreak in Australia but which had now been surpassed by Victoria.

The Queensland premier had been criticised by the NSW and federal governments for strict border policies but said exclusion was needed while the state built up both vaccination rates and hospital capacity to deal with a potential Delta explosion once borders were relaxed.

'There's another big part to this story and that is to make sure that the hospitals can deal with the capacity because when Delta comes in, it will spread like wildfire,' Ms Palaszczuk said at Friday's Covid-19 update.

'There needs to be a lot of work that needs to happen and we've got to get this right. There is no use rushing. We need to make sure that we get the people vaccinated and the hospitals prepared.

'Until you do both of those, it would be irresponsible to put the whole country at risk. And I'm not going to put Queenslanders at risk until both of those issues are sorted out.'

Ms Palaszczuk has regularly urged Queenslanders to get vaccinated while the state's Covid caseload remained low to avoid further lockdowns.

'We won't keep Delta out of our community forever,' she said on Thursday. 'Thanks to the way we've responded to the pandemic, we have a great window of opportunity to vaccinate as many Queenslanders as possible.'

The comments reflect the recognition by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and, belatedly, the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, that the Delta variant cannot be contained by lockdown, only widespread vaccination.

Ms Palaszczuk's understanding of the NSW and Victorian situation had not stopped her trying to 'one up' interstate rival Ms Berejiklian.

In a speech to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) in Brisbane on Wednesday night, Ms Palaszczuk took a clear potshot at Ms Berejiklian's handing of the current outbreak in NSW by reminding the audience Queensland's last lockdown was short and sharp.

'Our last lockdown lasted eight days,' Ms Palaszczuk told the audience.

'Eight days after the start of its current outbreak, NSW was yet to enter lockdown.'

She then claimed the ongoing lockdown in NSW was costing businesses in the state $100million a day.

'Our neighbours fight to regain their freedoms,' she said. 'We fight to retain ours.'

On Friday Ms Palaszczuk nevertheless wouldn't rule out the need for another lockdown in south-east Queensland if this week's new cases caused spread throughout the community.

'If the advice is to go into lockdown, we will go into lockdown, OK,' Ms Palaszczuk said.

'There's no ifs and buts here, people. This is serious. So it's going to depend whether we see any unlinked community transmission over the next 24-48 hours.'

Penrith Panthers star Nathan Cleary poses with a young fan at Sunshine Coast Stadium in the lead-up to this weekend's NRL Grand Final in Brisbane

A new lockdown would force the postponement of the NRL Grand Final scheduled for Sunday evening at Suncorp Stadium

Covid testing at a Brisbane clinic as four south-east Queensland LGAs experience Stage 2 restrictions as a result of four new Covid-19 clusters

A lockdown would force the postponement of the NRL Grand Final scheduled for Sunday evening at Suncorp Stadium, which the Queensland government reportedly paid close to $5million to host for the first time ever.

It's likely the match would be moved to Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville if a lockdown in the south-east was called this weekend. Capacity for the match had already been reduced to 75 per cent as a result of Stage 2 restrictions introduced on Thursday.

On Friday Federal Defence Minister Peter Dutton had said Ms Palaszczuk was treating Queenslanders 'like mugs' over the decision to avoid lockdown and allow Sunday's NRL Grand Final to continue.

Mr Dutton said there was 'cynicism' about the Queensland Premier's motives as the state battled new Covid-19 clusters.

'Everyone wishes the Premier well in her decision-making but there have been a lot of decisions at odds with common sense,' Mr Dutton told the Today show.

'When they're turning people away from funerals and not allowing kids to repatriate with their parents across the border, and we have businesses going broke, people starved from seeing families and loved ones, and then we see the Premier holding on because of the NRL grand final on Sunday, I think that rubs people up the wrong way.

'All of us are NRL fans and want to see it go ahead, but the health of people in Queensland is paramount and I don't think the Premier should be treating us like mugs.'

Ms Palaszczuk said she didn't have 'a crystal ball' to predict whether people would be able to travel to and from Queensland by Christmas.

'I would love people to be able to travel but we will do so when it is safe. If it is unsafe, it will not happen,' she said.

'Every eligible person needs to be offered the vaccine.'
Students from an American university have been left shocked after watching vision of Australians being arrested across the country for breaching Covid-19 health orders.

A video uploaded to the YouTube channel Vegan Bros shows various students from Arizona State University reacting to a 60 second clip containing a series arrests for alleged Covid health breaches in Australia.

American students were shocked by the use of heavy force from Australian police attempting to apprehend Covid rule breakers.

'This is because of Covid restrictions?' Asked one confused student.

YouTubers Vegan Bros (pictured) show sixty second clip of Australian arrested during Covid lockdowns to American university students

'And this is all for not staying inside?' Another male student asked.

While most clips were filmed during various incidents in Melbourne and Sydney, a handful of the pictures included in the clip show people who were injured by rubber bullets in the US and Argentina.

In one of the most confronting clips, which was filmed last week in Melbourne, an man appears to be calmly talking to a group of officers when another policeman approached from behind, grabbed the man by the shoulders before throwing him against the hard tile floor, sending his headphones flying across the concourse.

An acting sergeant has been stood down pending further action.

Many students appeared shocked by the vision, which appeared to show arrests made for Covid-19 breaches across Australia

One student agreed it appeared to be 'brutal behaviour' but pointed out the clips only showed a fraction of what had happened.

'The clip was very limited with what I saw...you don't know what happened before or after.'

The same student also acknowledged that while the country endured strict lockdowns, Australia had one of the lowest numbers of Covid-19 cases.

'I feel like there should be a balance...it's a bit intense,' she added.

One student pointed out the country had low case numbers, but agreed there needed to be 'balance'

'I don't feel like violence in that way is ever the answer,' said the student's friend when asked if she agreed with Australia's police enforcement to Covid-19.

Many agreed police tactics from the 60 second clip appeared 'over the top' with one student saying she was saddened by the vision.

'It's awful obviously...it's bad, it's sad, it's way too brutal,' she said.

Most of the students seemed unaware the protests had occurred in Australia with some speculating US media 'blacked out' the footage.
Podcast heavyweight Joe Rogan questioned whether President Joe Biden got a real booster shot of the Covid-19 vaccine on live TV or whether it was a publicity stunt, saying that Biden could have risked blacking out or fainting due to an adverse reaction to the shot.

'Do you think that was a real booster?' Rogan asked his guest host, former CIA officer Mike Baker, on Thursday.

'I hadn't thought about it before,' Baker replied. 'But you know what, when I watched it on TV, when I watched him getting his shot, his mask on all I could think of, was this was performance art. So the next step of performance art would be like not giving him the booster but just giving him a shot.'

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains that serious side effects from any of the three Covid-19 vaccines is extremely rare, and the most common immediate ones include redness, swelling and pain at the injection site.

Podcast host Joe Rogan on Thursday suggested that Joe Biden's televised Covid-19 booster shot was faked

Rogan's guest, former CIA officer Mike Baker seemed to agree with the suggestion, saying that medical workers at vaccine sites do ask those who get a shot to wait around for a few minutes in case of a serious adverse reaction

Biden, 78, received his third dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Monday after the FDA approved boosters of the shot for people aged over 65 in an attempt to encourage others to do so. Boosters for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have yet to receive approval.

'I know it doesn't look like it, but I am over 65 - way over. And that's why I'm getting my booster shot today,' the president said speaking from a podium in the South Court Auditorium, before he rolled up his sleeve.

Rogan was skeptical, however.

'I think if they were going to give him a booster shot, the last thing they would do is give it to him live on television,' he said. 'What if he dies? What if he blacks out? What if he like gets it and faints? Like, because people have had very bad reactions like in the moment for whatever reason.'

The CDC reports that among test groups, .6 percent of people over 18 experienced a serious reaction to any of the vaccines that required hospitalization.

Joe Biden, 78, televised receiving his third Covid-19 vaccine shot on Monday after FDA approval for boosters in people over 65

'I think they still tell you, they give you the shot, and then they'll say stick around for 10 or 15 minutes. They want to make sure you don't, you know, fall down,' Baker said. 'So, I agree because every other step of the way with any president, they're so careful, so careful about the messaging, the optics, the security issues related to it.'

'It would be not unheard of, let's put it that way,' he said.

Rogan has not characterized himself as being against vaccines, saying in April: 'I'm not an anti-vax person. I believe they're safe and encourage many people to take them.'

But he has told his audience that taking the anti-parasite medicine Ivermectin helped in his recovery from the coronavirus, despite the CDC saying that it is unsafe if used improperly, and that there is no evidence it can treat Covid-19.

The president joked about being 'way older' than 65, which makes him eligible to get a Pfizer booster

He has also suggested that teenagers do not need to get vaccinated, despite advisories from top disease experts that younger people can at least continue the spread of the virus.

The conversation then shifted to Vice President Kamala Harris.

'Unless Kamala Harris talked him into it,' Rogan said. 'Shes like go, take it  take a double, give him a double. Fill him up.'

'I dont know, I dont think she wants the job anymore,' Baker replied. 'She seems very quiet. Im not sure, she may have left the country.'

Biden, during his remarks on Monday, again shamed Americans who refused to get vaccinated, saying they accounted for about 23 per cent of the eligible population.

'And that distinct minority is causing an awful lot of damage for the rest of the country,' he said. 'This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,' he repeated.

The president said he didn't have any side effects when he received his first and second doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

'And I don't anticipate one now,' he said of his booster, seated and ready to receive his jab.
The Victorian government has imposed unprecedented mandatory vaccine rules for hundreds of thousands of the state's workers, saying it will stem the spread of the Delta strain of Covid.

From October 15, every authorised worker in Victoria will need to have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose and two doses by November 26 or they will lose their job.

Workers who will now be forced to get jabbed to stay in a job include cleaners, farmers, retail workers, personal trainers, spa workers and priests.

Premier Daniel Andrews announced the mass vaccination order on Friday as Victoria recorded 1,143 Covid cases - a fall from Thursday's 1,438 but still double the number from 10 days earlier.

'I would not be making this announcement if we didnt believe that this was absolutely critical to having less days like yesterday, and to making sure that days like yesterday dont become 3000 (case) days or 4000 days - we cant have that,' Mr Andrews said.

He dismissed suggestions that the mandate infringed on people's freedom to make their own decision on their healthcare.

'Im not taking lectures on freedom from people who will hold all of us back,' Mr Andrews said.

'Theres too much at stake. Were not making this decision for fun; were not making it lightly or flippantly.

'This is what has to be done to get us open.'

Unprecedented mandatory vaccine rules have been brought in for hundreds of thousands of the state's essential workers including farmers, personal trainers and cleaners to stem the spread of its Delta outbreak. Pictured is a Covid-19 vaccine being administered on August 25 in Melbourne

Construction workers take their lunch break on a busy street to protest against the closing of worksite tea rooms on September 17. Dozens more essential professions will join tradesmen in needing a Covid-19 vaccine to keep their job

Retail workers employed in Victoria's supermarkets and stores operating click and collect services will need a Covid-19 jab to stay in a job

Mr Andrews said it was hoped the new order would accelerate vaccine numbers and push Victoria past the 80 per cent double-vaccinated threshold which will usher in the restoration of many pre-lockdown freedoms.

'This is about making sure that we go that extra mile to protect the road to opening [on October 26] or even a few days earlier,' he said.

'It will also make sure we can open, be free, and not have a health system overwhelmed with patients whose cases are completely avoidable.'

Of the new cases, more than 400 were recorded in Melbourne's north - including 243 in Hume, 83 in Whittlesea, 49 in Moreland, 21 in Darebin and 24 in Yarra.

Other hotspots include western parts of Melbourne such as Melton with 55 cases Wyndham with 54 and Brimbank with 70.

The surging case figures had residents fearing Mr Andrews will have to revise his roadmap to freedom and even extend lockdown until numbers fall.

'Yesterday's cases took a lot of people by surprise,' Mr Andrews said, referring to the 1438 cases recorded on Thursday.

'Many people would have been quite concerned, scared to even see a number as high as that.

THE VICTORIAN WORKERS COVERED BY THE NEW COVID VACCINE MANDATE From October 15, anyone leaving home to work in the following professions and industries in Victoria will need to have received at least their first Covid-19 vaccine dose: Spa workers Interpreters and cultural workers Funeral or mortuary services Personal trainers Faith leaders Retail goods workers supporting click and collect Members of parliament and their electorate staff Commonwealth agency services, including the Australian Border Force Journalists Film, television and documentary workers already in production Thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing Freight services Blood banks Commercial cleaners For the full list visit https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/authorised-provider-and-authorised-worker-list Personal trainers will need to have received their first Covid-19 vaccine dose by November 9 to leave their home as an authorised worker Advertisement

'Today obviously is less than that and we are pleased, although we shouldn't underestimate the challenge that 1,143 Covid patients presents.'

There were 34,935 vaccines administered and 62,883 Covid-19 tests conducted in the last 24 hours.

The 1,143 cases from 62,883 tests represented a positive rate of 1.8 per cent, compared to 2.2 per cent a day earlier. By comparison, NSW rate on Friday was 0.8 per cent.

Victoria's Covid-19 outbreak continues to surge (pictured, healthcare workers at a vaccination centre in Melbourne)

Thursday's 51 per cent spike in cases in a single day was blamed on illegal gatherings on AFL grand final day last weekend, and had triggered some forecasts that case numbers could eventually reach 6,000 a day.

Melbourne GP Mukesh Haikerwal told the Today show on Friday. 'They will probably double and double again.'

Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said it would be 'devastating' if the plans to reopen the state were delayed.

'They really want to know that if we do the right thing and hit the restrictions, if we get vaccinated, that we can still open,' she said.

The announcement comes amid warnings Victoria's overcrowded hospitals are turning into 'apocalyptic war zones' as the Delta outbreak threatens to overwhelm its healthcare system (pictured, ambulances queued outside a Melbourne hospital)

The warning cames amid warnings Victoria's overcrowded hospitals are turning into 'apocalyptic war zones' as the Delta outbreak threatens to overwhelm its healthcare system.

An anonymous official said the state's health watchdog Safer Care Victoria had urged the state government to brace for a Covid-related surge in its hospitals when lockdown measures are relaxed.

'They basically told us to prepare psychologically because most of Victoria's going to think 'this is great'... as a healthcare worker, it'll feel like a war zone,' the official told The Age.

'I just can't fathom it. Some of the hospitals in Melbourne are already apocalyptic.'

The Australian Medical Association's Victorian President Dr Roderick McRae on Thursday morning described the state's hospitals as being in 'crisis' despite the 395 Covid cases on Friday representing only 58 per cent of the peak number experienced in August 2020 when the hospital system did cope.

Almost 79 per cent of Victorians have received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while more than 48 per cent are fully vaccinated

'Everybody at every stage of the Victorian healthcare system is using the word 'crisis',' he told the Today show.

'The system is under extreme strain and it's on the back of decades of under-investment.'

He said the already long ambulance and emergency room waiting times in Victoria would be made even worse by rising Covid-19 admissions when the state starts to open up at a 70 per cent double-dose vaccination rate.

'Think of your bathtub - the pipe is blocked and we still are adding more water and as we open up, it's like we are looking to jump in as well and expect the floor to stay dry,' Dr McRae said.

People are seen exercising along the Tan walking track in Melbourne on Sunday, September 19. Victoria recorded 950 new locally-acquired Covid-19 cases on Wednesday

Ambulance ramping Northern Hospital Melbourne. pic.twitter.com/IkydGq0PKw  dramynicho (@DrAmyNicho) September 27, 2021

'We knew that this was going to happen when we did eventually open up. Why wasn't the system better prepared? We've had time.'

Deakin University epidemiology chair Professor Catherine Bennett on Wednesday predicted the outbreak was still a month away from peaking before infections start to drop in late October.

However Professor Peter Collignon told the Herald Sun that predictions of 3,000 cases per day in the coming weeks is a 'a bit too pessimistic'.

The Australian Medical Association's Victorian President Dr Roderick McRae on Thursday morning said the state's hospitals were now in crisis mode

He said the forecast didn't take into account that Australia was heading into warmer weather - when respiratory illnesses abate - and that vaccination rates were steadily climbing.

Victorian acting chief health officer Ben Cowie said on Wednesday the state's outbreak was likely still some time away from reaching its peak.

'We know from both modelling and experience in NSW our case numbers will continue to climb,' he said.

'But it is absolutely with in our power to slow the spread and to prevent thousands of cases and hundreds of people from becoming seriously ill and some people losing their lives.'
A tearful Gladys Berejiklian has resigned as NSW premier and slammed the state's corruption watchdog after it announced it was investigating her about her secret relationship with disgraced MP Daryl Maguire.

The 51-year-old leader will also step down as Willoughby MP and leave politics for good as soon as a byelection can take place after Sydney's Covid lockdown.

'I've had to make a difficult decision overnight,' Ms Berejiklian said today as she hastily read a prepared statement in front of the cameras before refusing to take questions.

'It pains me to announce that I have no option but to resign from the Office of Premier'.

The NSW Liberals will now elect a new leader, with frontrunner Treasurer Dominic Perrottet saying he will talk to his family and colleagues over the weekend before deciding whether to put his hand up.

Planning Minister Rob Stokes - who has always wanted the top job - has declared he will run and Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres is also being talked about.

'I am extremely confident that whoever succeeds me will be more than capable to continue this job. Please give them your trust and confidence,' Ms Berejiklian said.

A tearful Gladys Berejiklian (pictured today) has resigned as NSW premier and slammed the state's corruption watchdog for investigating her

The NSW corruption watchdog ICAC is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian encouraged or allowed corrupt conduct by her ex-boyfriend and former MP Daryl Maguire (pictured together)

The Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian encouraged or allowed corrupt conduct by her secret ex-boyfriend and former Wagga Wagga MP Mr Maguire between 2012 and 2018.

It will also probe whether she breached public trust by not reporting any suspicion of corrupt conduct and what role she had to play in two government grants handed out in Mr Maguire's electorate.

An ICAC public inquiry on the matter will be held for about 10 days from October 18, overseen by Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl SC.

Mr Maguire is accused of abusing his public office after admitting being involved in a cash-for-visa scheme and seeking secret commissions for brokering property deals. He was forced to resign in 2018.

ICAC has chosen to take this action during the most challenging weeks of the most challenging times in the state's history Gladys Berejiklian slams watchdog

Ms Berejiklian - who appeared to have been crying - denied any wrongdoing and slammed the watchdog for announcing its investigation into her as the state emerges from a four-month Covid lockdown.

'Given the Covid restrictions, my resignation as premier could not occur at a worse time, but the timing is completely outside of my control as the ICAC has chosen to take this action during the most challenging weeks of the most challenging times in the state's history.

'Resigning at this time is against every instinct in my being and something which I do not want to do,' she said.

Ms Berejiklian, who became premier in 2017, made history in March 2019 as the first conservative female premier to win a state election in Australia and is the Liberal Party's second-longest serving NSW premier since Robert Askin's decade in power from 1965 to 1975.

She is now the third Liberal premier ICAC has claimed since it was established in 1988 with Barry O'Farrell resigning in 2014 and Nick Greiner quitting in 1992.

Mike Baird is now the only living former Liberal premier ICAC hasn't destroyed.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison described her as a 'dear friend' and said: 'She has displayed heroic qualities, heroic qualities as the premier of NSW.'

Ms Berejiklian said she had no option but to resign in her emotional 10-minute speech

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet (pictured), a conservative and devout Catholic with six children, is next in line to lead the NSW Liberal Party

Reaction to the premier's shock resignation Prime Minister Scott Morrison: 'Gladys is a dear friend of mine. We've known each other for a long time. She has displayed heroic qualities, heroic qualities as the premier of NSW.' Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews: 'I find her to be a person of integrity, a person that works hard for her state and has been a very important partner with us.' Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk: 'I wish Gladys Berejiklian the best for the future. Contrary to some public commentary, I have always respected Gladys and found her to be good company'. NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro: 'I have served as the Deputy Premier to Gladys Berejiklian for almost five years and in that time she has led this State through some of its darkest days. Everyone has the right to defend their name and I wish Gladys all the best for her future.' Former federal treasurer and NSW MP Joe Hockey: 'She has been the best political leader Australia has seen in years taking the state through drought, bushfires and COVID. ICAC again pulls down a fine premier for something other than corruption.' NSW Labor leader Chris Minns: 'For all our disagreements I have never doubted Gladys' dedication to NSW, or her work in the service of it. I thank her for her service.'; NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet: 'I want to again pay tribute to one of the most outstanding leaders our state has ever had. Gladys is both a colleague and a friend and her decision is a loss to public life in NSW.' Advertisement

The premier, who was flanked by her key supporters Brad Hazzard, Matt Kean and Victor Dominello during the 10-minute presser, said she had no choice but to resign.

'I have made it clear on numerous occasions that if any of my ministers were the subject of allegations being investigated by an integrity agency or law enforcement, then he or she should stand aside during the course of the investigation until their name was cleared,' she said.

'That same standard must always apply to me also as the premier however standing aside is not an option for me as the premier of New South Wales. The people of this state need certainty as to who the leader is during the challenging times of the pandemic.'

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian (right) with ex-boyfriend with Daryl Maguire (left)

Who is Gladys Berejiklian? Daughter of Armenian migrants

Born in Manly Hospital and went to North Ryde High School

Became an MP in 2003 and Treasurer in 2015

First female centre-right or conservative premier in Australia to win a state election

Second longest serving NSW Liberal premier after Robert Askin who led from 1965 to 1975.

Third Liberal premier to resign over ICAC investigation Advertisement

Ms Berejiklian - who has enjoyed record popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic - thanked residents for supporting her.

'I hope you know that you will remain foremost in my thoughts, the courage that you display in your lives every day has inspired me every step of the way, the courage and the support you've shown me has humbled me and made me a better leader and a better person.

'Serving you has been the greatest privilege of my life. Please know that every day I gave it my all and worked as hard as I could to create a better future for our state and its people.

'I truly believe that New South Wales is a place where every person, irrespective of their background and circumstances has the opportunity to be their best to make a difference.'

Ms Berejiklian also delivered a message of hope for the future in her final address to the state.

'So as I address you for the final time as your premier. Please stay the course and stay safe. We will be shortly out of this lockdown and be able to get on with our lives,' she said.

'New South Wales and its people will come out of this lockdown stronger, and together we will build a future full of optimism and hope. Finally, thank you again for giving me the honour of being your premier.'

Deputy Premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro said he would stay in government with whoever leads the Liberals.

'Everyone has the right to defend their name and I wish Gladys all the best for her future.

'Any speculation regarding Liberal Party leadership remains an issue for the Liberal Party.

'The NSW Nationals remain committed to a strong and stable NSW Coalition Government,' he said.

Mr Perrottet said Ms Berejiklian has shown 'an unstinting dedication to public service and a great love for her community.

'The interests of the people of NSW must always come first, and the priority for the Government is to ensure we continue to keep people safe, and that we re-open the economy and get people back to work, kids back to school, and life back to normal as fast as possible,' he said.

'Over the coming days I will be talking to my family and colleagues about how I can best serve the people of NSW to continue to achieve these aims.'

NSW Liberal premiers ICAC has brought down NICK GREINER: The Independent Commission Against Corruption was established by the Greiner Government in 1988 only for the Terry Metherell affair to force his resignation in June 1992 Mr Metherell, a former Liberal education minister, was now an independent in a hung parliament and he was offered a job running the new Environment Protection Agency, within the department, so the government could win back his Sydney North Shore seat of Davidson BARRY O'FARRELL: A month after winning a landslide election victory, Mr O'Farrell in April 2011 was gifted a $3,000 bottle of Grange Hermitage which he didn't declare He resigned after this was revealed at an ICAC hearing in April 2014 Advertisement

Ms Berejiklian revealed to an ICAC hearing in October 2020 that she had been in a secret 'close personal relationship' with Mr Maguire for five years.

She revealed she had a 'personal attachment' to Mr Maguire after working together for more than 15 years and said their relationship began in 2015.

'I would like to state at the outset Mr Maguire was a colleague of 15 years, he was someone that I trusted,' she said.

'That developed into a close personal relationship.'

An intercepted phone call between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire was played to the commission, revealing their close relationship.

The private conversation was about Mr Maguire's first trip to China.

Ms Berejiklian could be heard saying former chief-of-staff Sarah Cruickshank had concerns about his travel.

'Alright babe, what do you think?' Mr Maguire said.

Ms Berejiklian replied: 'I just got home, did Sarah ring you from my office?'

Mr Maguire was concerned.

'No why?' he replied.

'She sent me a text, when she has to ring a member of Parliament she lets me know.'

'They seem to think it's in your electorate. I didn't say anything, It's none of my business, I'm just letting you know.'

Mr Maguire went on to use 'offensive language' to explain why he was going to China.

'I will [interfere]... these bureaucrats don't care... they're shaking hands, they are sucking people's d***s and they are turning up to everything and they do nothing,' he said.

The ICAC is also investigating whether Ms Berejiklian had a conflict of interest in connection with grant funding to the Australian Clay Target Association in 2017 and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music in Wagga Wagga in 2018.

In August it emerged that Ms Berejiklian showed 'interest' in a proposed $5.5million grant for a shooting association clubhouse and conference facility in former partner Daryl Maguire's electorate, documents show.

But the premier insisted she's done nothing wrong.

The ICAC is also investigating whether Ms Berejiklian had a conflict of interest in connection with grant funding to the Australian Clay Target Association in Wagga Wagga (pictured)

Documents obtained by NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge show the Australian Clay Target Association sought grant funding for the clubhouse and conference facility in Wagga Wagga.

Its initial business case was knocked back but a revised version was in 2017 reconsidered, according to the documents, after Ms Berejiklian made inquiries on the matter. It was subsequently approved.

Mr Maguire had initially in 2016 written to Ms Berejiklian about the project - at a time when the pair were in a secret relationship. Ms Berejiklian was NSW treasurer at the time.

She thanked him for 'bringing (the) request to the government's attention' and referred him to the then-minister for sport, Stuart Ayres.

Gladys Berejiklian's resignation statement in full I have had to make an extremely difficult decision overnight, but one which I feel obliged to do because of the love and respect that I have for the people of New South Wales and the high regard which I have for the office of Premier. I was advised late yesterday afternoon the Independent Commission Against Corruption would today release a public statement in which it will state it is investigating allegations made about me concerning matters relating to the former member for Wagga Wagga. As it will be clear from the ICAC statement, the issues which it is investigating are historic matters that have already been the subject of numerous attacks on me by political opponents during the last 12 months. Many of the matters were the subject of questions I was asked by the opposition while appearing before an estimates committee hearing earlier this year. I want to be very clear, in all the decisions I have ever made as a Minister or as Premier for New South Wales, my first consideration has always been the well-being and welfare of the people of this state. I state categorically, I have always acted with the highest level of integrity. History will demonstrate that I have always executed my duties with the highest degree of integrity for the benefit of the people of NSW who I have had the privilege to serve. As the leader of the New South Wales Government, I have expected the highest of standards of myself and my colleagues. I have made it clear on numerous occasions that if any of my ministers were the subject of allegations being investigated by an integrity agency or law-enforcement, then he or she should stand aside during the course of the investigation until their name was cleared. The reason for my stance was not to have made any presumptions as to their conduct, but rather to maintain the integrity of the public office which was held whilst an investigation was completed. That same standard must apply to me as Premier. However, standing aside is not an option for me as the Premier of New South Wales. The people of New South Wales need certainty as to who their leader is during these challenging times of the pandemic. I cannot predict how long it will take the ICAC to complete this investigation, let alone deliver a report, in circumstances where I was first called to give evidence at a public hearing nearly 12 months ago. Therefore, it pains me to announce that I have no option but to resign the office of Premier. My resignation will take effect as soon as the New South Wales liberal party can elect a new Parliamentary leader. In order to allow the new leader and government a fresh start, I will also resign from the New South Wales Parliament once I have consulted the electoral commission on appropriate timing for a by-election given the COVID restrictions. My resignation as Premier could not happen at a worse time, but the timing is completely outside of my control as the ICAC has chosen to take this action during the most challenging weeks of the most challenging times in the history of NSW. That is the ICAC's prerogative. Resigning at this time is against every instinct in my being and something which I do not want to do, I love my job, and serving the community, but I have been given no option following the statement issued. To continue as Premier would disrupt the State Government during a time when our entire attention should be focused on the challenges confronting New South Wales. I do not want to be a distraction from what should be the focus of the state government during this pandemic, which is the well-being of our citizens. Notwithstanding the challenges of the last few years and few months in particular, I have never felt stronger, nor more confident in my leadership. I have absolutely no regrets during my time in public life. At times we all stumble, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start again stronger and wiser than before. I have done this many times, as we all have. My only regret will be not to be able to finish the job to ensure the people of New South Wales transition to living freely with COVID. However, I am extremely confident that whoever succeeds me will be more than capable of continuing this job. Please give them your trust and confidence. We will come through this period stronger, more resilient, and appreciating what really matters in life. I feel strong, energised and optimistic about the future of this great state. I want to thank the thousands of our frontline heroes who have kept us safe and kept us going during the darkest days in our state history. I owe you a debt of gratitude. Nothing that we can say or do will be able to demonstrate the significance of what you have done. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Liberal Party to whom I owe my career, the people of the electorate of Willoughby who have elected me five times to be their member of Parliament, my Parliamentary colleagues for their support and hard work, my outstanding and loyal staff past and present, and all the professional public servants with whom I have worked. I also want to thank my family and friends who have provided me with unconditional support and understanding when I have not been as present due to my responsibilities. Most importantly I want to thank you, the people of New South Wales. When the chips were down in the past years, in particular during the drought, bushfires and then COVID, we stood alongside each other. We have grieved and supported each other during these tragedies. I hope you know that you will remain foremost in my thoughts. The courage that you display in your lives every day has inspired me every step of the way. The courage and the support you have shown me has humbled me and made me a better leader and a better person. Serving you has been the greatest privilege of my life. Please know that every day I gave it my all and worked as hard as I could to create a better future for our state and its people. I truly believe that New South Wales is a place where every person, irrespective of their background and circumstances has the opportunity to be their best, to make a difference. So as I address you for the final time as your Premier, please stay the course and stay safe. We will be shortly out of this lockdown and be able to get on with our lives. NSW and its people will come out of this lockdown stronger, and together we will build a future full of optimism and hope. Finally, thank you again for giving me the honour of being your Premier. Advertisement

The Australian Clay Target Association project in 2017 failed a cost-benefit analysis, recording a score of 0.88 - lower than the minimum score of above 1.00.

It was reassessed later in 2017 after a new business case was put forward by consultants engaged by the Department of Industry, with more details on anticipated interstate and international visitors.

The documents suggest Ms Berejiklian made a 'request' to the department's Investment Appraisal Unit to carry out that business case reassessment.

That second business case received a score of 1.10 over the 25-year assessment period, and was approved.

Another document - an email written by then Regional NSW deputy secretary Gary Barnes - notes Ms Berejiklian's 'interest' in the project.

'If you want proof this $5.5million grant was about politics not merit, then you can always check out the initial business case assessment. It showed the project was a no-go,' Mr Shoebridge said.

Ms Berejiklian denied all wrongdoing, saying processes were followed.

'The proposition you are putting is absolutely ridiculous and all proper processes were followed,' Ms Berejiklian told reporters in August.

With AAP

ICAC's statement on its investigation into Gladys Berejiklian The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) will hold a further public inquiry in Operation Keppel from 10:00 am on Monday 18 October 2021. The Commission is investigating whether, between 2012 and 2018, the Hon Gladys Berejiklian MP engaged in conduct that: Constituted or involved a breach of public trust by exercising public functions in circumstances where she was in a position of conflict between her public duties and her private interest as a person who was in a personal relationship with the then NSW Member of Parliament, Mr Daryl Maguire, in connection with: grant funding promised and/or awarded to the Australian Clay Target Association Inc in 2016/2017; and grant funding promised and/or awarded to the Riverina Conservatorium of Music in Wagga Wagga in 2018; and/or

constituted or involved the partial exercise of any of her official functions, in connection with: grant funding promised and/or awarded to the Australian Clay Target Association Inc in 2016/2017; grant funding promised and/or awarded to the Riverina Conservatorium of Music in Wagga Wagga in 2018; and/or

constituted or involved the dishonest or partial exercise of any of her official functions and/or a breach of public trust by refusing to exercise her duty pursuant to section 11 of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988 to report any matter that she suspected on reasonable grounds concerned or may concern corrupt conduct in relation to the conduct of Mr Daryl Maguire; and/or

was liable to allow or encourage the occurrence of corrupt conduct by Mr Maguire. The Commission is also investigating whether, between 2012 and August 2018, Mr Maguire engaged in conduct that involved a breach of public trust by using his public office, involving his duties as a member of the NSW Parliament, and the use of parliamentary resources, to improperly gain a benefit for himself, G8wayInternational/G8wayInternational Pty Ltd and associated persons. Advertisement

The heir apparent: Frontrunner to replace Gladys Berejiklian as NSW Premier is a 39-year-old father of SIX who is a devout Catholic - but he faces a fight with senior ministers

By Stephen Johnson

Father-of-six Dominic Perrottet is shaping as the favourite to replace Gladys Berejiklian as the Premier of New South Wales.

But the conservative faces a tough fight for the Liberal Party leadership from leading moderates with Planning Minister Rob Stokes and Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres, the partner of Foreign Minister Marise Payne, shaping up as contenders.

At 39, Mr Perrottet would be the youngest leader in the history of Australia's' most populated state, making him a year younger than Nick Greiner, Nathan Rees and Kristina Keneally when they rose to power.

He would also be Australia's youngest state premier since Labor's Wayne Goss first led Queensland aged 38 in December 1989.

Mr Perrottet, who became Treasurer in January 2017 when Ms Berejiklian replaced Mike Baird as Premier, is also a devout Catholic.

At 1pm, Ms Berejiklian announced she would become the third Liberal premier in NSW to be brought down by the anti-corruption body her side of politics created more than three decades ago.

But he faces a leadership contest with Sydney Northern Beaches-based Planning Minister Rob Stokes declaring he will run

Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres, a moderate holding the marginal seat of Penrith in Sydney's west, is another possible contender. He is the partner of Foreign Minister Marise Payne

Hailing from the Liberal Party's Right faction Mr Perrottet, a former lawyer, would most likely have a moderate as his deputy, with Environment Minister Matt Kean and Attorney-General Mark Speakman among the possibilities.

But he faces a leadership contest with Sydney Northern Beaches-based Planning Minister Rob Stokes declaring he will run.

Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres, a moderate holding the marginal seat of Penrith in Sydney's west, is another possible contender.

Mr Perrottet, the Member for Epping in Sydney's north, became NSW Young Liberals president in 2005, three years after future Immigration Minister Alex Hawke spear-headed the right-wing takeover of the party's youth wing.

His studied law at the University of Sydney with future Labor senator Sam Dastyari and the two were friends when they respectively led the youth wings of their parties as right-wing leaders.

Now resigning from Parliament, sparking a by-election in her Sydney Lower North Shore seat of Willoughby as Sydney prepares to end its three-month lockdown on October 11.

Mr Perrottet's elevation would occur as a result of Ms Berejiklian becoming the third Liberal premier to resign because of a corruption investigation.

Hailing from the Liberal Party's Right faction Mr Perrottet, a former lawyer, would most likely have a moderate as his deputy, with Matt Kean, Mark Speakman and Rob Stokes among the possibilities (he is pictured with his wife Helen in March 2021)

He called her 'Hawkiss', she called him 'Numero Uno': Inside the love scandal that brought down Gladys Berejiklian and aired 'goody goody' Premier's dirty laundry

By Kevin Airs for Daily Mail Australia

She battled Covid, she battled the bushfires, floods, political rivals - and usually won - but Gladys Berejiklian has ultimately been defeated by the same affairs of the heart that have doomed so many leaders before.

The lure of an affair with ex-MP Daryl Maguire, 62, has proved to be the downfall of the now former NSW premier who stunningly resigned on Friday.

The 51-year-old paid the ultimate political price for her 'close personal relationship' with a man she called 'numero uno' but who was soon to exit parliament as a result of anti-corruption probes into payments associated with property deals.

The defiant state Premier felt her position was untenable after the corruption watchdog ICAC announced it was investigating her relationship with Mr Maguire and the extent to which she knew about payments he received.

Ironically, Ms Berejiklian is now dating the barrister Arthur Moses who represented her at the ICAC hearing into Mr Maguire, finding a new romance out of the very scandal that ended her previous one.

Former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian could stop almost anything - but she couldn't stop falling in love with her 'Numero Uno' wrong man Daryl Maguire (pictured)

Ms Berejiklian sowed the seeds of her own destruction when she began her relationship with Mr Maguire around the time of the 2015 NSW state election.

Ms Berejiklian was then transport minister - soon to be Treasurer after re-election - and Parliamentary Secretary Mr Maguire had recently separated from his wife.

Mr Maguire nicknamed Armenian-heritage Ms Berejiklian 'Hawkiss', an Armenian term of endearment and she called him 'Numero Uno' in their love chats.

Within months though, Ms Berejiklian - once hailed as 'the woman who saved Australia' as she initially found a way to manage Covid outbreaks without recourse to heavy-handed lockdowns - was being compromised by Mr Maguire.

In January 2016, he wrote to her begging for grant funding for the Australian Clay Target Association in Wagga Wagga.

An affair with sketchy ex-MP Daryl Maguire, 62, (pictured) has proved Gladys Berejiklian's downfall despite triumphing over Covid and political rivals of every colour.

It was eventually was given $5.5million, after an apparent intervention by Ms Berejiklian to re-assess the cost-benefit of the project which had initially been rejected.

By the time Ms Berejiklian became Premier in 2017, the pair were firmly in love - but the affair was still a state secret.

Seven months later, she says she tried to persuade Mr Maguire to quit Parliament so the couple could finally go public, but they instead continued to keep their love under wraps until it was revealed at the ICAC hearings years later.

Soon after though, ICAC began listening in on their calls as Mr Maguire bragged about his deals.

In September 2017, he texted her to say, 'We clinched the land deal'. He phoned the next day to boast about the massive windfall he was in line to receive.

The deal involved the new Badgery's Creek Airport, but she shut him down the call as he bragged about his riches, telling him she 'didn't need to know about that bit'.

She later told ICAC she might have been 'bored' by the conversation rather than trying to maintain a distance from a possibly dodgy deal.

'I deny the proposition that I turned a blind eye. Perhaps I was bored and busy and wanted to move on,' she said.

Two months later the premier was being emailed by a local landowner in Sydney's west asking for land rezoning around the new airport to boost the land value. She was said to have been given the premier's private address by Maguire.

In July 2018, Mr Maguire was called before ICAC to answer claims he sought payments from property developers to help broker deals.

ICAC heard he texted Ms Berejiklian once to celebrate:' One of my contacts sold a motel for 5.8 million. I had put her in contact so I should make 5k'

She replied: 'Congrats!!! Great news!!! Woohoo'

Ironically, Ms Berejiklian has moved from the fated love affair and is now dating the barrister Arthur Moses (pictured) who represented her at the ICAC hearing into Maguire

Despite still not revealing their relationship, Ms Berejiklian told Maguire to resign from Parliament the following month - but the two stayed a secret couple.

The pair finally called it quits after more than five years together in September 2020, and the following month, Ms Berejiklian admitted to the relationship at a ICAC hearing.

She said she had been 'shocked and disturbed' by the allegations against her former lover and insisted it had 'never ever' been a conflict of interest.

'I can't tell you what I felt,' she said. 'Beyond shocked. Shocked, disgusted, let down. All of the above.

One of Daryl Maguire's deals involved the new Badgery's Creek Airport (pictured), but she shut him down in the call as he bragged about it, telling him she 'didn't need to know about that bit'

When I was asked to support this inquiry it became apparent to me that I should have absolutely no contact anymore and I ceased all contact.'

She insisted she was not worried about his financial situation and had not relied on him in any way, but admitted he was obsessed with his own wealth.

'Looking back, I'm not sure whether he was truthful about that, if I can be frank. I don't know if anything that said to me was truthful,' she said.

'He raised it with me  I can't confirm that what he told me was truthful. But I did not care about his financial position. That was his business.'

With ICAC's revelation on Friday that she was now part of their investigation, her position was simply untenable. Love had torn Gladys apart

The embarrassing relationship has stalked her for the last year, hanging over her even as she grappled with the Covid crisis.

But some Covid daily briefings were disrupted with new questions about her personal conduct, her relationship with Maguire and the ICAC hearings.

With ICAC's revelation on Friday that she was now part of their investigation, her position was simply untenable.

Love had torn Gladys apart.
Newly-released bodycam footage has revealed Gabby Petito told cops Brian Laundrie had hit her and cut her face by grabbing her 'with his nail' during a domestic incident less than two weeks before she was last seen alive.

The never-before-seen footage from a second officer's body camera shows the cop pointing out 'new' marks on Petito's face and arm after pulling the couple's van over in Moab, Utah, on August 12. Asked if Laundrie had hit her, Petito answers: 'I guess.'

'He like grabbed me with his nail, and I guess that's why it looks, I definitely have a cut right here. I can feel it, when I touch it it burns,' she tells the officer.

The 22-year-old, whose body was found on September 19, quickly backtracks and defends her fiance saying she 'hit him first' when he locked her out of their van and refused to let her in.

Body camera video from one Moab officer was released two weeks ago, while Petito was still a missing person, and in it portions of the conversation between the cop and the van-life couple were inaudible. This new footage from a second officer's body-worn camera offers a fresh look at the altercation that preceded Petito's disappearance and death.

Meanwhile, the manhunt for Laundrie, who is currently on the run and is a person of interest in Petito's homicide, entered its 12th day, with the FBI and Dog the Bounty Hunter scouring separate areas in Florida.

FBI agents on Thursday visited the home of Laundrie's parents in North Port and collected personal items belonging to Brian to help in the search.

The focus of the search has now shifted to the Fort De Soto National Park, where Laundrie stayed with his parents after returning home from the campervan trip without Petito.

In the newly released Utah police video, Laundrie is seen defending himself and pushing the blame onto Petito as soon as the cop arrives on the scene.

He claims Petito was 'really worked up' and that he 'was just trying to push her away' when asked about allegations he had hit her.

Newly-released bodycam footage has revealed Gabby Petito told cops Brian Laundrie had hit her and cut her face by grabbing her 'with his nail' during the August 12 domestic incident

The never-before-seen footage from a second officer's body camera shows the cop pointing out 'new' marks on Petito's face and arm and her admitting that he cut her face with his nail

Police in Moab, Utah, responded to a 911 call from a bystander who said they had seen a man slapping a woman outside the Mayflower grocery store before driving off in a white van.

Bodycam footage from one Moab police officer was released on September 16.

It comes as:

Scaled-down FBI-led operation to find Brian Laundrie enters day 12

FBI agents searched home and camper at Laundrie's parents' house

Laundries' attorney said FBI collected personal items to help K9s in their search

Dog the Bounty Hunter discovered makeshift campsite at Shell Island

Laundrie, 23, is charged with fraudulently using Petito's bank card

Cops got two 911 calls lined to Laundrie home day before Petito went missing

That footage shows Petito telling the officer she slapped Laundrie, while he is seen showing the cop scratches on his face and arm, which he claims were caused when she 'hit me with her phone'.

The cops determined Petito was 'the primary aggressor' and separated them for the night.

Now, the release of the bodycam from the second officer casts new light on the incident and what the couple told cops. Key moments of the cops' chat with the couple was inaudible in the previously-released clip.

The two Moab police officers were also joined on the scene by two US Park Rangers, whose bodycam videos remain under wraps.

Meanwhile, FBI agents arrived at the Laundrie home in North Port, Florida, Thursday afternoon to collect personal items belonging to the 23-year-old to help in the hunt.

Last week, a probe was launched into the police handling of the August 12 incident and Moab City Police Department Chief Bret Edge has since taken a leave of absence pending the investigation.

In the newly-released footage, Petit tells the officer Laundrie got 'frustrated' with her over her OCD and 'locked me out of the car.'

'I was just really stressed this morning trying to get a lot of work done and I was apologizing to him,' she says.

She tells the cop she was saying 'sorry' to her fiance because of her OCD which meant she was 'organizing stuff'.

'I get so stressed out. I have OCD and I was like organizing stuff and sometimes I get this mean attitude when I'm not trying to be mean and I was trying to straighten things out,' she says.

Police pulled over the couple's van in Moab, Utah, on August 12 following reports of a man hitting a woman

The new bodycam shows Petito telling the cop the cut on her face 'burns' before defending her fiance saying she 'hit him first' when he locked her out of their van and refused to let her in

Meanwhile, Laundrie is seen instantly defending himself and pushing the blame onto Petito as soon as the cop arrives on the scene

He claims Petito was 'really worked up' and that he 'was just trying to push her away' when asked about allegations he had hit her

Timeline of missing Gabby Petito's case July 2: Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie left Blue Point, New York for a cross-country road trip

Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie left Blue Point, New York for a cross-country road trip August 12: Police in Moab, Utah respond to a domestic incident involving the couple. Petito tells an officer Laundrie hit her but cops decide she is the primary aggressor

Police in Moab, Utah respond to a domestic incident involving the couple. Petito tells an officer Laundrie hit her but cops decide she is the primary aggressor Aug. 21: Petito's father, Joseph Petito, has his last FaceTime video call with his daughter who was in Salt Lake City, Utah

Petito's father, Joseph Petito, has his last FaceTime video call with his daughter who was in Salt Lake City, Utah Aug. 24: Petito is last seen at a hotel in Salt Lake City with Laundrie

Petito is last seen at a hotel in Salt Lake City with Laundrie Aug. 25: Petito makes final call to her mother, Nicole Schmidt, saying she was in Grand Teton National Park

Petito makes final call to her mother, Nicole Schmidt, saying she was in Grand Teton National Park Aug. 25 or 26: The couple chats with the owner of a shop called 'Rustic Row' in Victor, Utah for about 20 minutes

The couple chats with the owner of a shop called 'Rustic Row' in Victor, Utah for about 20 minutes Aug. 27: Video of Petito's van was taken by blogger Jenn Bethune, of Red White & Bethune, around 6.30 pm at the Spread Creek Campground; Petito's mom receives an 'odd text' from her phone

Video of Petito's van was taken by blogger Jenn Bethune, of Red White & Bethune, around 6.30 pm at the Spread Creek Campground; Petito's mom receives an 'odd text' from her phone Aug. 29: The day that Wisconsin TikToker Miranda Baker claimed that she and her boyfriend were approached by Laundrie at Grand Teton National Park and asked them for a ride at 5.30pm

The day that Wisconsin TikToker Miranda Baker claimed that she and her boyfriend were approached by Laundrie at Grand Teton National Park and asked them for a ride at 5.30pm Aug. 30: Petito's mom receives the last text from her phone: 'No service in Yosemite'

receives the last text from her phone: 'No service in Yosemite' Aug. 31: Laundrie's mother Roberta cancels a camping trip for 2 to Fort De Soto campsite for Sept. 1-3

Laundrie's mother Roberta cancels a camping trip for 2 to Fort De Soto campsite for Sept. 1-3 Sept. 1: Laundrie returns to his parents' home in North Port, Florida in the van without Petito; Laundrie visits sister Cassie at her home

Laundrie returns to his parents' home in North Port, Florida in the van without Petito; Laundrie visits sister Cassie at her home Sept. 4: According to his attorney, Laundrie purchases a new cell phone from a North Port AT&T store which he leaves at his home September 14 and is seized by the FBI

Sept. 6-8: Laundrie and his parents visit Fort De Soto campsite in Florida, records show. The family's lawyer says they stayed only from Sept. 6-7. Brian's sister Cassie joins them - reportedly for the day on Sept. 6

Laundrie and his parents visit Fort De Soto campsite in Florida, records show. The family's lawyer says they stayed only from Sept. 6-7. Brian's sister Cassie joins them - reportedly for the day on Sept. 6 Sept. 10: The Laundries' neighbor Karyn Roberts says she saw Laundrie at the family home

The Laundries' neighbor Karyn Roberts says she saw Laundrie at the family home Sept. 11: Petito's mom reports Petito missing to authorities in New York; Petito and Laundrie's van is impounded by police in Florida that same day but authorities are denied entry to their home to speak with Laundrie

Petito's mom reports Petito missing to authorities in New York; Petito and Laundrie's van is impounded by police in Florida that same day but authorities are denied entry to their home to speak with Laundrie Sept. 12: Grand Teton National Park rangers search for Petito

Grand Teton National Park rangers search for Petito Sept. 14: Laundrie issues a statement about Petito's disappearance through his lawyer; Laundrie reportedly buys a burner phone from an AT&T store in his hometown of North Port, Florida, with an 'older woman'; Laundrie is reportedly last seen by his parents leaving to go to the Carlton Reserve carrying a backpack

Laundrie issues a statement about Petito's disappearance through his lawyer; Laundrie reportedly buys a burner phone from an AT&T store in his hometown of North Port, Florida, with an 'older woman'; Laundrie is reportedly last seen by his parents leaving to go to the Carlton Reserve carrying a backpack Sept. 15: Laundrie is officially named a person of interest in Petito's case

Laundrie is officially named a person of interest in Petito's case Sept. 16: The August 12 domestic comes to light with bodycam from one officer released

The August 12 domestic comes to light with bodycam from one officer released Sept. 17: Laundrie family attorney confirms his whereabouts are unknown and that his parents last saw him Sept. 14; Cassie tells GMA she last saw him Sept. 1 and describes Petito as 'like a sister' to her

Laundrie family attorney confirms his whereabouts are unknown and that his parents last saw him Sept. 14; Cassie tells GMA she last saw him Sept. 1 and describes Petito as 'like a sister' to her Sept. 18: North Port police and the FBI start searching the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County for missing Brian Laundrie

North Port police and the FBI start searching the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County for missing Brian Laundrie Sept. 19: Bethune realizes she has video of Petito's van around 12am and submits the FBI with the footage 10 minutes later; Officials find a body near Grand Teton National Park that matches Petitos description

Bethune realizes she has video of Petito's van around 12am and submits the FBI with the footage 10 minutes later; Officials find a body near Grand Teton National Park that matches Petitos description Sept. 21: Coroner confirms remains found in Grand Tetons belong to Petito. Her death is ruled a homicide but her cause of death is still under investigation

Coroner confirms remains found in Grand Tetons belong to Petito. Her death is ruled a homicide but her cause of death is still under investigation Sept. 20 - 22: FBI and North Port police continue search for Laundrie in Carton Reserve

FBI and North Port police continue search for Laundrie in Carton Reserve Sept. 22 : Neighbors say they saw the Laundrie family pack up their detached camper on the day Gabby was reported missing. DailyMail.com photos show the camper was back in the driveway two days later, on September 13

: Neighbors say they saw the Laundrie family pack up their detached camper on the day Gabby was reported missing. DailyMail.com photos show the camper was back in the driveway two days later, on September 13 Sept. 23: FBI issues an arrest warrant for Laundrie for 'use of unauthorized access device' for fraudulently using a Capitol One Bank debit card that was not his between August 30 and September 1 to spend $1,000; A probe is launched into the police handling of the Utah police incident on Aug. 12; Laundrie's parents visit their attorney in Orlando

FBI issues an arrest warrant for Laundrie for 'use of unauthorized access device' for fraudulently using a Capitol One Bank debit card that was not his between August 30 and September 1 to spend $1,000; A probe is launched into the police handling of the Utah police incident on Aug. 12; Laundrie's parents visit their attorney in Orlando Sept. 25: Dog the Bounty Hunter joins the search for Laundrie

Dog the Bounty Hunter joins the search for Laundrie Sept. 26: A funeral is held for Petito in Holbrook, New York, and her family launch a charity to help parents find missing children

A funeral is held for Petito in Holbrook, New York, and her family launch a charity to help parents find missing children Sept. 27: Manhunt for Laundrie in the Carlton Reserve is scaled back after 10 day search doesn't find him. Dog the Bounty Hunter says Laundrie and his parents stayed at Fort De Soto Park from September 1-3 and September 6-8 - and that on the latter visit only the parents left

Manhunt for Laundrie in the Carlton Reserve is scaled back after 10 day search doesn't find him. Dog the Bounty Hunter says Laundrie and his parents stayed at Fort De Soto Park from September 1-3 and September 6-8 - and that on the latter visit only the parents left Sept. 28: Laundrie's mom is accused of using a burner phone to contact her son

Laundrie's mom is accused of using a burner phone to contact her son Sept. 29: Documents reveal Laundrie's mom canceled a reservation for the Fort De Soto Park campsite for two from September 1 to 3 and booked for three from September 6 to 8; FBI seizes surveillance footage from site; FBI investigates lead Laundrie bought a burner phone on September 14; Dog the Bounty Hunter searches the area near Fort De Soto finding a recently drunk can of Monster Energy at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods

Documents reveal Laundrie's mom canceled a reservation for the Fort De Soto Park campsite for two from September 1 to 3 and booked for three from September 6 to 8; FBI seizes surveillance footage from site; FBI investigates lead Laundrie bought a burner phone on September 14; Dog the Bounty Hunter searches the area near Fort De Soto finding a recently drunk can of Monster Energy at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods Sept. 30: Bodycam footage from a second officer at the August 12 incident is released showing a distressed Petito admitting Laundrie hit her; FBI agents collect more evidence from the Laundrie home

Bodycam footage from a second officer at the August 12 incident is released showing a distressed Petito admitting Laundrie hit her; FBI agents collect more evidence from the Laundrie home Oct. 1: It emerges Laundrie's sister had contact with him after she said she did. The Laundrie family said they believe he is alive somewhere in Florida

It emerges Laundrie's sister had contact with him after she said she did. The Laundrie family said they believe he is alive somewhere in Florida Oct. 2: Petito's mother creates a new Twitter account and calls for Laundrie to turn himself into authorities in an 'angry' tweet. It is revealed that Petito's family tried to report her missing to North Port Police Department on September 10 but were told to file a report in her last known location Advertisement

'And I was just apologizing but I guess I said it in like a mean tone and he got really frustrated with me, and he locked me out of the car and told me to go take a breather, but I didn't want to take a breather.'

'And I wanted to get going. We're out of water.'

Petito tells the cop Laundrie wouldn't let her back in their van which made her 'really mad.'

The officer questions Petito about marks on her face and arm, which he says 'looks like someone might have hit you in the face.'

'Is there something on your cheek here?' he says. 'Did you get hit in the face?'

Petito is seen lifting her hand up to her face and replying: 'Erm.'

'It kinda looks like someone might have hit you in the face?' the cop asks again.

'And then over on your arm - your shoulder right here that's new huh? You have a new mark.'

Petito looks at her arm and then back at the cop, replying: 'Yeah I don't know.'

The officer asks to see the other side of her face and asks her what happened.

Petito claims at first that Laundrie's backpack struck her before finally admitting her grabbed her face and cut her with his nail.

'I'm not sure,' she says.

'It was happening really fast. I was trying to get back in the car and his backpack got me.'

The cop presses Petito questioning her backpack theory and telling her two witnesses reported seeing Laundrie 'hit' or 'punch' her.

Petito tells the officer she 'hit him first.'

'Well to be honest I definitely hit him first,' she says, telling the cop she 'slapped him a couple times.'

The cop asks what Laundrie's reaction was to that, to which she replies 'to grab my arm.'

'Did he hit you though?' the officer asks, telling Petito they are trying to get to the truth.

'I guess,' she says, becoming more tearful as she makes the admission.

'I guess, yea. But I hit him first.'

'Where did he hit you?' the officer replies. 'Don't worry, just be honest.'

Petito tries to defend Laundrie insisting: 'He didn't like hit me in the face.

'He didn't like punch me in the face or anything.'

The cop replies: 'Did he slap your face, or what?'

At this point, Petito says Laundrie 'grabbed me with his nail' and makes a grabbing motion on her face.

'Well he like, grabbed me with his nail, and I guess that's why it looks, I definitely have a cut right here,' she says.

'I can feel it, when I touch it, it burns.'

In the footage, the cop also calls the witness to run through what he had seen at the Mayflower.

The witness says he saw the couple 'sort of arguing a bit' and it seemed they were 'squabbling over a phone.'

'I want to say that he was trying to take her phone,' he says.

Petito's cellphone has never been found since her disappearance and death.

Laundrie, meanwhile, is now suspected of buying a burner phone on September 14 - the day he was reportedly last seen by his parents before he took off.

The witness tells the cop Laundrie 'wasn't letting her' in the van so she 'hit him a few times', he says.

The witness says it 'wasn't like a punch to the face' but more like 'children fighting.'

However, he adds that 'it seemed like something was off - a weird vibe.'

'Did you ever see the male strike the female?' the cop asks.

'I think I saw maybe a push or a shove, but not a full on punch to a face or anything,' the witness says.

'You did see her slapping him though it sounds like?' the cop asks.

'Yes,' the witness replies.

The very beginning of the footage reveals the moment the cop arrived on the scene and approached the driver's side of the door.

Laundrie is seen inside while Petito is no longer in the passenger seat after the officer's colleague asked her to step out.

The 23-year-old is seen instantly defending himself to the officer.

The cop is heard telling Laundrie that police had received a 911 call about 'a male hitting a female' and then taking off in their white van.

Laundrie looks toward the passenger sear and stumbles over his words holding his hands up.

'I - I - I don't want to try to defend myself by saying anything here but I pushed her away,' he tells the officer.

'She gets really worked up, and when she does she swings and she had her cell phone in her hand. So I was just trying to push her away.'

He then looks through the passenger door window and asks if the officers 'are talking to my fiancee.'

The first bodycam video of the incident revealed that the cops agreed Petito was 'the primary aggressor' and it was Laundrie who said he didn't want to pursue charges against her.

Petito's body was discovered around one month later after Laundrie returned home from their campervan trip alone.

...........................................................................................................................................

Cops were called to Florida home of Brian Laundrie's parents TWICE on the day BEFORE Gabby Petito was reported missing and three more 911 calls were made over the next 24 hours

Police in North Port, Florida received two 911 calls connected to the home of fugitive Brian Laundrie's parents on September 10  the day before his fiancee, Gabby Petito, 22, was reported missing.

The were both 'public service' calls, with the first placed just before 4pm and the second around 6.30pm, according to police logs provided to DailyMail.com.

It is unclear who called 911 or what those calls entailed as the logs have been partially redacted. However, both calls have been given the brief description of 'problem settled'.

Officers also received three calls connected to the residence on September 11, the day Petito's mother filed a missing persons' report for the 22-year-old.

Those incidents were listed as 'follow up/investigation' and 'agency assist.'

Response to the calls was described as 'problem settled,' 'no police action needed' and 'report submitted'.

Police received two 'public service' 911 calls connected to Brian Laundrie's parents' North Port, Florida home the day before Gabby Petito was reported missing (Pictured: Police at the Laundrie family home on September 24)

Police tape is seen outside the Laundrie family home on September 22

At least 46 emergency calls were made in connection to the residence for various reasons between September 10 and September 27 including 'missing person,' 'disturbance,' 'follow up/investigation,' 'agency assist,' 'special detail,' 'patrol check' and 'public service'.

The provided records indicate that officers most recently received a call connected to the home on Monday at 5.10pm, with calls placed earlier in the day at 8.06am, 8.28am, 1.29pm, 2.45pm and 4.13pm.

North Port police visited the home on September 14, 15 and 16, as well as twice on September 17.

Laundrie's parents reported him missing on September 17, saying they hadn't seen him since the 14.

FBI agents arrived at the Laundrie home in North Port, Florida, Thursday afternoon to collect personal items belonging to the 23-year-old to help in the hunt.

DailyMail.com saw the agents arrive in a black Chevrolet Tahoe SUV and walk purposefully to the front door, where they were let in. One of the agents was carrying a large paper bag and an evidence receipt as he walked inside the home.

The Laundries' attorney Steve Bertolino told DailyMail.com: 'The FBI is at the Laundrie home today to collect some personal items belonging to Brian that will assist the canines in their search for Brian. There is nothing more to this.'

Two FBI agents arrived at the Laundrie home in North Port, Florida, this afternoon to collect missing Brian Laundrie's things for their investigation into his disappearance and the murder of Gabby Petito

DailyMail.com saw the agents arrive in a black Chevrolet Tahoe SUV and walk purposefully to the front door, where they were let in

In recent days, the search has turned to the Fort De Soto National Park, 75 miles from the Laundrie home in Florida, after it emerged Laundrie stayed there with his parents after returning home from the campervan trip without Petito.

New details emerged Wednesday about the camping trip which took place days before Petito was reported missing and around one week before he went on the run.

Documents obtained by Fox News reveal Brian's mom changed her reservation for the campsite to three people from September 6 to September 8, after Brian returned home early from his and Gabby's campervan trip early and alone.

On August 31, she also reportedly canceled a stay for two people from September 1 to 3, suggestion she may have known Brian was heading home the next day.

The FBI is now examining surveillance footage from the Fort De Soto Park campsite where the family's attorney admitted the trio visited and Dog the Bounty Hunter believes Brian could be hiding out.

During a ground search on Wednesday, Dog  real name Duane Chapman, 68  discovered a fresh campsite on Florida's Shell Island as a plane flew a sign taunting the 23-year-old fugitive.

Dog the Bounty Hunter and his team recovered a can of Monster Energy Ultra Gold which appeared to have been freshly drunk at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods at Shell Island along the coastline Wednesday

The TV reality star flew a banner with a message for Gabby Petito's boyfriend: 'Aloha Brian Laundrie'. The banner flown over the islands off the western coast of Florida

The banner, which Dog said he was not responsible for, read: 'Aloha Brian Laundrie - Dog.'

'Frankly, I wish I had thought of that, but it wasn't our team,' Dog wrote on his Instagram page. 'I'd love to shake the hand of whoever is behind the banner, I'll tell you that.'

Dog and his team recovered a can of Monster Energy Ultra Gold which appeared to have been freshly drunk at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods at Shell Island along the coastline Wednesday, Fox News reported.

However, the team did not find solid evidence suggesting that Laundrie is in the woods on Egmont Key, which is located southwest of Fort De Soto Park.

Federal investigators are also following a lead that Brian bought a burner phone from an AT&T store in North Port on the day he went missing in an outing where he was joined by 'an older woman'.

Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie are pictured together during their doomed cross-country trip. He is now on the run

Laundrie and Petito set off on a cross-country trip back on July 2 and were documenting their travels on YouTube.

Petito was last seen alive on August 24 leaving a motel in Salt Lake City, Utah, with Laundrie and last spoke to her mom by phone the following day.

Her family said they believe texts from her phone after then were 'suspicious.'

Brian returned to his home in North Port alone on September 1 driving the couple's campervan.

Petito was reported missing on September 11 by her family and her body was discovered in a campsite near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on September 19.

Her death has been ruled a homicide but the cause of death is not yet clear.

Brian refused to speak to authorities during a week-long search for his missing girlfriend.

On September 17, his parents told police they hadn't seen him in three days when he headed for a hike at the nearby Carlton Reserve.

He has been missing ever since and was named a person of interest in Petito's homicide.

A warrant is out for his arrest for allegedly fraudulently spending $1,000 on Petito's Capitol One Bank debit card between August 30 and September 1.

A manhunt for him has so far proved unsuccessful.

The Fort De Soto campsite in Florida is seen in exclusive DailyMail.com photos. New details have emerged about a camping trip Brian took with his parents there days before Petito was reported missing

The campsite (pictured) is located in Fort De Soto in Pinellas County, Florida, close to St Petersburg and was visited by the Laundries days before Gabby was reported missing
Father-of-six Dominic Perrottet was once the hot favourite to replace Gladys Berejiklian as the Premier of New South Wales.

But the Catholic conservative Treasurer faces a tough fight for the Liberal Party leadership from leading moderates with Planning Minister Rob Stokes and Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres, the partner of Foreign Minister Marise Payne, shaping up as contenders with better odds.

At 39, Mr Perrottet would be the youngest leader in the history of Australia's most populated state, making him a year younger than Nick Greiner, Nathan Rees and Kristina Keneally when they rose to power.

He would also be Australia's youngest state premier since Labor's Lara Giddings governed Tasmania aged 38 in January 2011.

Mr Perrottet, who became Treasurer in January 2017 when Ms Berejiklian replaced Mike Baird as Premier, is also a devout Catholic and hails from the Liberal Party's Right faction.

At 1pm, Ms Berejiklian announced she would become the third Liberal premier in NSW to be brought down by the anti-corruption body her side of politics created more than three decades ago.

Less than two hours later Mr Perrottet, the NSW Liberal Party's deputy leader, issued a statement paying tribute to his outgoing boss and confirmed he was considering a tilt at the top job.

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Father-of-six Dominic Perrottet is shaping as the favourite to replace Gladys Berejiklian as the Premier of New South Wales (he is pictured with his wife Helen and four of their children)

Mr Perrottet was first elected to Parliament in March 2011, when Barry O'Farrell's Coalition swept to power in a landslide ending Labor's 16 years in office. During that decade, he has held three different electorates, Castle Hill, Hawkesbury and now Epping in Sydney's north-west, switching seats at each election in 2015 and 2019 to the dismay of his Liberal colleagues

Dominic Perrottet statement Today is an incredibly sad day for NSW. I would like to offer my gratitude and thanks to Gladys Berejiklian for the leadership and strength she has shown throughout her career and especially during one of the most challenging periods any leader could ever encounter. Gladys has worked tirelessly before and through the pandemic to protect the people of NSW from COVID-19 and to ensure our great State remains strong and resilient. The Premier has always placed the wellbeing and welfare of NSW first, showing an unstinting dedication to public service and a great love for her community. The interests of the people of NSW must always come first, and the priority for the Government is to ensure we continue to keep people safe, and that we re-open the economy and get people back to work, kids back to school, and life back to normal as fast as possible. Over the coming days I will be talking to my family and colleagues about how I can best serve the people of NSW to continue to achieve these aims. Finally, I want to again pay tribute to one of the most outstanding leaders our state has ever had. Gladys is both a colleague and a friend and her decision is a loss to public life in NSW. Advertisement

'Today is an incredibly sad day for NSW,' he said.

'I would like to offer my gratitude and thanks to Gladys Berejiklian for the leadership and strength she has shown throughout her career and especially during one of the most challenging periods any leader could ever encounter.'

He said reopening the economy was a priority as he considered running for the Liberal leadership, which in NSW has traditionally been held by moderates instead of social conservatives.

'Over the coming days I will be talking to my family and colleagues about how I can best serve the people of NSW to continue to achieve these aims,' he said.

Being from the Liberal Party's Right Mr Perrottet, a former lawyer, would most likely have a moderate as his deputy, with Environment Minister Matt Kean and Attorney-General Mark Speakman among the possibilities.

But he faces a leadership contest with Sydney Northern Beaches-based Planning Minister Rob Stokes declaring he will run.

Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres, another moderate holding the marginal seat of Penrith in Sydney's west, is another possible contender who is expected to make an announcement soon.

As Treasurer, Mr Perrottet was reportedly more opposed to lockdowns within the NSW crisis cabinet.

He was first elected to Parliament in March 2011, when Barry O'Farrell's Coalition swept to power in a landslide ending Labor's 16 years in office.

During that decade, he has held three different electorates, Castle Hill, Hawkesbury and now Epping in Sydney's north-west, switching seats at each election in 2015 and 2019 to the dismay of his Liberal colleagues.

Mr Perrottet became NSW Young Liberals president in 2005, three years after future Immigration Minister Alex Hawke spear-headed the right-wing takeover of the party's youth wing.

He studied law at the University of Sydney with future Labor senator Sam Dastyari and the two were friends when they respectively led the youth wings of their parties.

But he faces a leadership contest with Sydney Northern Beaches-based Planning Minister Rob Stokes declaring he will run

Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres, a moderate holding the marginal seat of Penrith in Sydney's west, is another possible contender. He is the partner of Foreign Minister Marise Payne

Ms Berejiklian, the daughter Armenian migrants, was herself a former leader of the NSW Young Liberals from the moderate faction.

She made history in March 2019 as the first female centre-right premier to win a state election in Australia and is the Liberal Party's second-longest serving NSW premier since Robert Askin's decade in power from 1965 to 1975.

The outgoing Premier is now resigning from Parliament, sparking a by-election in her Sydney Lower North Shore seat of Willoughby as Sydney prepares to end its three-month lockdown on October 11.

She savaged the Independent Commission Against Corruption on the way out, a year after it aired a private conversation she had with her former boyfriend Daryl Magurie, who had to resign from Parliament as a Liberal MP.

'My resignation as Premier could not happen at a worse time, but the timing is completely outside of my control as the ICAC has chosen to take this action during the most challenging weeks of the most challenging times in the history of NSW,' she said in a tearful media conference without taking questions.

Mr Perrottet's elevation would occur as a result of Ms Berejiklian becoming the third Liberal premier to resign because of a corruption investigation.

Hailing from the Liberal Party's Right faction Mr Perrottet, a former lawyer, would most likely have a moderate as his deputy, with Matt Kean, Mark Speakman and Rob Stokes among the possibilities (he is pictured with his wife Helen in March 2021)

Nick Greiner became ICAC's first victim in June 1992 - just four years after he established the Independent Commission Against Corruption in a bid to uncover Labor scandals during Neville Wran's decade in power.

While the Supreme Court later cleared him of scandalously offering a public service job to former education minister Terry Metherell, the damage was done and the late John Fahey replaced him as premier.

Mr Metherell had quit the Liberal Party and was an influential independent crossbencher who was offered a job in the Department of Environment in a bid to entice him to quit a hung Parliament, so the government could win back his seat of Davidson on Sydney's North Shore.

Little more than two decades later, in April 2014, Barry O'Farrell resigned over an undeclared $3,000 bottle of Grange Hermitage, bottled in the year of his birth - 1959.

His elevation would occur as a result of Gladys Berejiklian becoming the third Liberal premier to resign because of a corruption investigation

At 1pm, Ms Berejiklian could become the third Liberal premier in NSW to be brought down by the anti-corruption body her side of politics created three decades ago (pictured are former premiers Barry O'Farrell and Nick Greiner in 2017 who resigned, respectively, in 2014 and 1992, but were cleared of any corruption)

Liberal premiers ICAC brought down NICK GREINER: The Independent Commission Against Corruption was established by the Greiner Government in 1988 only for the Terry Metherell affair to force his resignation in June 1992 Mr Metherell, a former Liberal education minister, was now an independent in a hung parliament and he was offered a job running the new Environment Protection Agency, within the department, so the government could win back his Sydney North Shore seat of Davidson BARRY O'FARRELL: A month after winning a landslide election victory, Mr O'Farrell in April 2011 was gifted a $3,000 bottle of Grange Hermitage which he didn't declare He resigned after this was revealed at an ICAC hearing in April 2014 Advertisement

He had received the gift in April 2011 - a month after he won a landslide Coalition election victory that ended 16 years of Labor rule, following a series of scandals in Kristina Keneally's short-lived government.

Mr O'Farrell's father-in-law Bruce Cowan, a former state and federal National Party MP, also died that month.

Former Australian Water Holdings chief executive Nick Di Girolamo, whose company had been a Liberal Party donor, had given Mr O'Farrell that infamous bottle of wine.

Now Ms Berejiklian is the next victim after ICAC in October last year played recordings of her telephone conversations with disgraced former country Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.

The embattled NSW Premier made the stunning admission about her relationship with a former political colleague, who has property interests, while giving evidence at the ICAC inquiry into corruption allegations against Mr Maguire on Monday.

Ms Berejiklian said she had a 'personal attachment' to Mr Maguire after working together for more than 15 years. She said their relationship began in 2015.

They had last spoken on September 13, 2020 - less than a month before that ICAC hearing - and Ms Berejiklian ceased communication only after agreeing to attend the inquiry.

Mr Maguire - the Liberal member for Wagga Wagga - was forced to quit the Berejiklian Government in 2018 after a separate ICAC inquiry heard evidence he sought payments to help broker deals for property developers.

An intercepted phone call between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire was played to the commission, revealing their close relationship.

Now Ms Berejiklian could be next after ICAC played recordings of her telephone conversations with disgraced former country Liberal MP Daryl Maguire

The private conversation was about Mr Maguire's first trip to China.

Ms Berejiklian can be heard saying former chief-of-staff Sarah Cruickshank had concerns about his travel.

'Alright babe, what do you think?' Mr Maguire said.

Ms Berejiklian replied:

'I just got home, did Sarah ring you from my office?'

Mr Maguire was concerned.

'No why?' he replied.

'She sent me a text, when she has to ring a member of Parliament she lets me know.'

The Institute of Public Affairs, a libertarian think tank that has produced federal Liberal MPs Tim Wilson and James Paterson, said ICAC had 'demonstrated again that it is little more than a star chamber, accountable only to its own whims'.

'It defines what corrupt conduct is, then uses extraordinary powers to launch investigations and make damaging findings of corruption,' the IPA's director of legal rights Morgan Begg said.

'In the process ICAC overturns fundamental principles of the rule of law, such as the presumption of innocence, rights to natural justice and the right to silence.

'The federal government would be mistaken to think that it can establish an ICAC at the national level without any of the dangers that have been proven again and again in NSW.'
Gladys Berejiklian's shock decision to resign as NSW Premier makes her the third Liberal premier of New South Wales to be brought down by the state's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

Former NSW Liberal premiers Nick Greiner (1998-1992) and Barry O'Farrell (2011-2014) also had their spells in the state's top job prematurely ended by the body.

Ms Berejiklian has been under a cloud since revelations that she had been in a personal relationship with former NSW MP Daryl Maguire, after recordings of her telephone conversations with Mr Maguire were played at an ICAC hearing late last year.

Mr Maguire - the Liberal member for Wagga Wagga - was forced to quit the Berejiklian Government in 2018 after a separate ICAC inquiry heard evidence he sought payments to help broker deals for property developers.

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Gladys Berejiklian's decision to resign as NSW Premier means she is the third Liberal premier in New South Wales to be brought down by the state's anti-corruption body ICAC

Ms Berejiklian said on Friday she felt she must resign as a result of ICAC pursuing an investigation into historic claims about her conduct relating to both her public role and her relationship with Mr Maguire.

'It pains me to announce that I have no option but to resign from the Office of Premier,' a tearful Ms Berejiklian said.

ICAC was first established by the NSW Liberals under then-Premier Nick Greiner in 1988 and was initially tasked with uncovering scandals of the former Neville Wran Labor government that had a decade in power.

However it was Mr Greiner who became the first high-profile scalp for ICAC in June 1992 as he was shunted aside over the scandalous offer of a public service job to former education minister Terry Metherell.

Mr Greiner was later cleared of wrongdoing in the matter by the NSW Court of Appeal. He was succeeded by John Fahey.

Gladys Berejiklian could become the third Liberal premier in New South Wales to be brought down by the anti-corruption her side of politics created. She is pictured in the Independent Commission Against Corruption witness box on Monday

Mr Metherell had quit the Liberal Party and was an influential independent crossbencher who was offered a job in the Department of Environment in a bid to entice him to quit a hung Parliament, so the government could win back his seat of Davidson on Sydney's North Shore.

NSW Liberal premiers ICAC has brought down NICK GREINER: The Independent Commission Against Corruption was established by the Greiner Government in 1988 only for the Terry Metherell affair to force his resignation in June 1992 Mr Metherell, a former Liberal education minister, was now an independent in a hung parliament and he was offered a job running the new Environment Protection Agency, within the department, so the government could win back his Sydney North Shore seat of Davidson BARRY O'FARRELL: A month after winning a landslide election victory, Mr O'Farrell in April 2011 was gifted a $3,000 bottle of Grange Hermitage which he didn't declare He resigned after this was revealed at an ICAC hearing in April 2014 Advertisement

Little more than two decades later, in April 2014, then Liberal premier Barry O'Farrell resigned over an undeclared $3,000 bottle of 1959 Grange Hermitage.

He had received the gift in April 2011 - a month after he won a landslide Coalition election victory that ended 16 years of Labor rule, following a series of scandals in Kristina Keneally's short-lived government.

Mr O'Farrell's father-in-law Bruce Cowan, a former state and federal National Party MP, also died that month.

Former Australian Water Holdings chief executive Nick Di Girolamo, whose company had been a Liberal Party donor, had given Mr O'Farrell that infamous bottle of wine.

Ms Berejiklian made the stunning admission about her relationship with a former political colleague, who has property interests, while giving evidence at the ICAC inquiry into corruption allegations against Mr Maguire last year.

Ms Berejiklian revealed she had a 'personal attachment' to Mr Maguire after working together for more than 15 years. She said their relationship began in 2015.

'I would like to state at the outset Mr Maguire was a colleague of 15 years, he was someone that I trusted,' she said.

'That developed into a close personal relationship.'

An intercepted phone call between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire was played to the commission, revealing their close relationship.

Now Ms Berejiklian could be next after ICAC played recordings of her telephone conversation with disgraced former country MP Daryl Maguire

The private conversation was about Mr Maguire's first trip to China.

Ms Berejiklian can be heard saying former chief-of-staff Sarah Cruickshank had concerns about his travel.

'Alright babe, what do you think?' Mr Maguire said.

Ms Berejiklian replied:

'I just got home, did Sarah ring you from my office?'

Mr Maguire was concerned.

'No why?' he replied.

'She sent me a text, when she has to ring a member of Parliament she lets me know.'

Nick Greiner became its first victim in 1992 - just four years after he established the Independent Commission Against Corruption in a bid to uncover Labor scandals during Neville Wran's decade in power. He is pictured in 2018

'They seem to think it's in your electorate. I didn't say anything, It's none of my business, I'm just letting you know.'

Mr Maguire went on to use 'offensive language' to explain why he was going to China.

'I will [interfere]... these bureaucrats don't care... they're shaking hands, they are sucking people's d***s and they are turning up to everything and they do nothing,' he said.

In September 2018, the Liberal Party lost the previously safe southern NSW seat of Wagga Wagga, with a 28 per cent swing against it, after Mr Maguire was asked to quit Parliament, sparking a by-election just six months before the state election.

The Liberal Party had previously held the seat uninterrupted since 1957.

Little more than two decades later, in 2014, Barry O'Farrell resigned over an undeclared $3,000 bottle of Grange Hermitage, bottled in the year of his birth - 1959

Nonetheless, Ms Berejiklian won the March 2019 state election, securing the Coalition a third consecutive term in NSW - a feat last achieved in 1971 on her side of politics - without winning back Wagga Wagga.

Mr Greiner's successor Mr Fahey narrowly lost the 1995 election to Labor's Bob Carr, but Mr O'Farrell's Liberal replacement Mike Baird comfortably won the 2015 state election.

Mr Baird is now the only living former NSW Liberal premier untainted by ICAC.

ICAC's victims didn't fade from public life with Mr O'Farrell in May appointed as Australia's High Commissioner to India.

A month later, in June, Mr Greiner was appointed as Australia's consul-general in New York, a post he took up in August.

Nick Greiner (pictured in July 1990 with new cabinet ministers) went to become chairman of tobacco company WD & HO Wills and is now Australia's consul-general in New York

Bob Carr in 1988 had threatened to resign as Labor leader after sections of his party, including Right-faction powerbroker Graham Richardson, opposed ICAC on the grounds it would be a witch hunt body that would be going after former Labor ministers. He is pictured in September 2020 at his Liberal predecessor John Fahey's funeral

This followed a stint as the Liberal Party's NSW president and a post-politics career as a company director including a role as chairman of tobacco company WD & Ho Wills.

Mr Carr in 1988 had threatened to resign as Labor leader after sections of his party, including Right-faction powerbroker Graham Richardson, opposed ICAC on the grounds it would be a witch hunt body that would be going after former Labor ministers.

Mr Carr's former chief-of-staff Bruce Hawker, a founder of the Hawker Britton government relations firm, said Mr Carr had made the right decision to back ICAC, despite misgivings from his side of politics at the time

His former chief-of-staff Bruce Hawker, a founder of the Hawker Britton government relations firm, said Mr Carr had made the right decision, despite misgivings from his side of politics at the time.

'Bob Carr was absolutely resolute, Bob said - "I'm sorry, but this is the right thing to do",' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'It was intended to get the Labor Party and the first real victim to be caught by it was Nick Greiner himself.

'A lot of politicians have gone down as a result of ICAC but I think that shows it works, in a way.'

While ICAC hasn't yet brought down any NSW Labor premiers, its evidence led to the jailing of former Carr Government ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald, in 2016 and 2017.

Mr Hawker said the latest revelations about Ms Berejiklian showed all MPs had to be on guard at all times.

'It just goes to show that when you live and breath politics, you're always going to have to make sure that everything you say and do is above reproach, otherwise you are going to get caught up in corruption inquiries at some stage,' he said.
She battled Covid, she battled the bushfires, floods, political rivals - and usually won - but Gladys Berejiklian has ultimately been defeated by the same affairs of the heart that have doomed so many leaders before.

The lure of an affair with ex-MP Daryl Maguire, 62, has proved to be the downfall of the now former NSW premier who stunningly resigned on Friday.

The 51-year-old paid the ultimate political price for her 'close personal relationship' with a man she called 'numero uno' but who was soon to exit parliament as a result of anti-corruption probes into payments associated with property deals.

The defiant state Premier felt her position was untenable after the corruption watchdog ICAC announced it was investigating her relationship with Mr Maguire and the extent to which she knew about payments he received.

Ironically, Ms Berejiklian is now dating the barrister Arthur Moses who represented her at the ICAC hearing into Mr Maguire, finding a new romance out of the very scandal that ended her previous one.

Former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian could stop almost anything - but she couldn't stop falling in love with her 'Numero Uno' wrong man Daryl Maguire (pictured)

Ms Berejiklian sowed the seeds of her own destruction when she began her relationship with Mr Maguire around the time of the 2015 NSW state election.

Ms Berejiklian was then transport minister - soon to be Treasurer after re-election - and Parliamentary Secretary Mr Maguire had recently separated from his wife.

Mr Maguire nicknamed Armenian-heritage Ms Berejiklian 'Hawkiss', an Armenian term of endearment and she called him 'Numero Uno' in their love chats.

Within months though, Ms Berejiklian - once hailed as 'the woman who saved Australia' as she initially found a way to manage Covid outbreaks without recourse to heavy-handed lockdowns - was being compromised by Mr Maguire.

In January 2016, he wrote to her begging for grant funding for the Australian Clay Target Association in Wagga Wagga.

An affair with sketchy ex-MP Daryl Maguire, 62, (pictured) has proved Gladys Berejiklian's downfall despite triumphing over Covid and political rivals of every colour.

It was eventually was given $5.5million, after an apparent intervention by Ms Berejiklian to re-assess the cost-benefit of the project which had initially been rejected.

By the time Ms Berejiklian became Premier in 2017, the pair were firmly in love - but the affair was still a state secret.

Seven months later, she says she tried to persuade Mr Maguire to quit Parliament so the couple could finally go public, but they instead continued to keep their love under wraps until it was revealed at the ICAC hearings years later.

Soon after though, ICAC began listening in on their calls as Mr Maguire bragged about his deals.

Gladys Berejiklian, 51, (pcitured) couldn't beat her own heart, and now she's paid the highest political price, caught up in a corruption probe not of her own making

In September 2017, he texted her to say, 'We clinched the land deal'. He phoned the next day to boast about the massive windfall he was in line to receive.

The deal involved the new Badgery's Creek Airport, but she shut him down the call as he bragged about his riches, telling him she 'didn't need to know about that bit'.

She later told ICAC she might have been 'bored' by the conversation rather than trying to maintain a distance from a possibly dodgy deal.

'I deny the proposition that I turned a blind eye. Perhaps I was bored and busy and wanted to move on,' she said.

Two months later the premier was being emailed by a local landowner in Sydney's west asking for land rezoning around the new airport to boost the land value. She was said to have been given the premier's private address by Maguire.

In July 2018, Mr Maguire was called before ICAC to answer claims he sought payments from property developers to help broker deals.

ICAC heard he texted Ms Berejiklian once to celebrate:' One of my contacts sold a motel for 5.8 million. I had put her in contact so I should make 5k'

She replied: 'Congrats!!! Great news!!! Woohoo'

Ironically, Ms Berejiklian has moved from the fated love affair and is now dating the barrister Arthur Moses (pictured) who represented her at the ICAC hearing into Maguire

Despite still not revealing their relationship, Ms Berejiklian told Maguire to resign from Parliament the following month - but the two stayed a secret couple.

The pair finally called it quits after more than five years together in September 2020, and the following month, Ms Berejiklian admitted to the relationship at a ICAC hearing.

She said she had been 'shocked and disturbed' by the allegations against her former lover and insisted it had 'never ever' been a conflict of interest.

'I can't tell you what I felt,' she said. 'Beyond shocked. Shocked, disgusted, let down. All of the above.

One of Daryl Maguire's deals involved the new Badgery's Creek Airport (pictured), but she shut him down in the call as he bragged about it, telling him she 'didn't need to know about that bit'

When I was asked to support this inquiry it became apparent to me that I should have absolutely no contact anymore and I ceased all contact.'

She insisted she was not worried about his financial situation and had not relied on him in any way, but admitted he was obsessed with his own wealth.

'Looking back, I'm not sure whether he was truthful about that, if I can be frank. I don't know if anything that said to me was truthful,' she said.

'He raised it with me  I can't confirm that what he told me was truthful. But I did not care about his financial position. That was his business.'

With ICAC's revelation on Friday that she was now part of their investigation, her position was simply untenable. Love had torn Gladys apart

The embarrassing relationship has stalked her for the last year, hanging over her even as she grappled with the Covid crisis.

But some Covid daily briefings were disrupted with new questions about her personal conduct, her relationship with Maguire and the ICAC hearings.

With ICAC's revelation on Friday that she was now part of their investigation, her position was simply untenable.

Love had torn Gladys apart.
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New footage obtained by DailyMail.com shows the scale of the problem facing the United States' supply chains, with more than a dozen cargo ships and oil tankers anchored outside New York's harbor, waiting to unload their goods.

The huge ships are loaded with products that cannot be offloaded because of a shortage of port workers and truck drivers to transport them to their final destinations.

Concern has been mounting for several weeks about supply chains worldwide, and the U.S. is beginning to be hit, with the latest clip showing the ongoing bottlenecks of cargo building up outside America's most populous city.

Shipping bosses said it was 'extraordinary' to have such a large number of vessels anchored outside New York City awaiting unloading at freight facilities in New York and New Jersey.

But Los Angeles on the United States' west coast is facing an even more serious backlog.

Helicopter footage shot by DailyMail.com showed container ships and oil tankers in the Atlantic waiting to dock in New York and New Jersey

A flotilla of the ships were pictured in the Atlantic, as the US faces ongoing supply chain shortages

Americans are already beginning to experience shortages of common everyday products

Two oil tankers were filmed off the coast of New York Wednesday, with a shortage of port workers and truck drivers making it harder for them to offload their products

A container ship makes its way towards the Bayonne Terminal in New Jersey

Its port saw as many as 73 vessels waiting to unload earlier in September, and 66 container ships this week, according to Marine Exchange of Southern California data cited by The Wall Street Journal.

Aerial images for DailyMail.com, shot on Wednesday, show rows of giant cargo ships waiting to unload in the Atlantic.

Many shoppers across the United States and the rest of the world have noticed shortages of everyday products in recent weeks, with Costco recently limiting the amount of toilet paper and cleaning products its customers can buy amid the supply crunch.

This cargo ship was pictured off the coast of Long Island, laden with metal containers filled with goods

Around nine such ships are currently waiting to offload their goods - double the average number usually forced to wait

This Northern Magnitude ship traveled from Brazil to New York and is currently awaiting unloading

A tanker is seen unloading on Wednesday, with the Manhattan skyline in the distance

An oil tanker is seen off Long Island on Wednesday. The issues at the ports - with shortages of dock workers and truck drivers - is causing a ripple effect along the supply chain

A container ship is pictured waiting to unload its containers on Wednesday at Port Jersey terminal

Plastic products are also becoming scarce. Production of a wide range of electronic devices and cars has slowed down because of microchip shortages.

Consumer experts have warned Americans to begin doing their Christmas shopping now, to ensure goods arrive on time, and to ensure there's time to try and find an alternative if a desired gift is one of the products that is currently scarce.

John Nardi, president of the New York Shipping Association, told The Journal of Commerce Online that extended hours were being discussed at the port to deal with the backlog.

Bethann Rooney, deputy port director of Port of New York and New Jersey, told the site that there were more than double the usual number of ships waiting to unload, with nine on September 27, compared to the average of four.

The delays are already sparking concern that, with only 85 days to go until Christmas, there could be shortages marring the festivities.

A coalition of unions that represent shipping workers around the world warned of an imminent 'global transport systems collapse'.

In an open letter on Wednesday, the workers groups warned that fragmented and inconsistent pandemic restrictions around the world have thrown global shipping into chaos.

The letter was signed by the union bosses of IRU, the world road transport organization; IATA, the International Air Transport Association; ICS, the International Chamber of Shipping; and ITF, the International Transport Workers Federation.

'We are witnessing unprecedented disruptions and global delays and shortages on essential goods including electronics, food, fuel and medical supplies,' the shipping workers warned.

'The impact of nearly two years worth of strain, placed particularly upon maritime and road transport workers, but also impacting air crews, is now being seen,' the group said. 'Their continued mistreatment is adding pressure on an already crumbling global supply chain.'

'At the peak of the crew change crisis 400,000 seafarers were unable to leave their ships, with some seafarers working for as long as 18 months over their initial contracts,' the letter said.

'Flights have been restricted and aviation workers have faced the inconsistency of border, travel, restrictions, and vaccine restrictions/requirements,' it added.

'Additional and systemic stopping at road borders has meant truck drivers have been forced to wait, sometimes weeks, before being able to complete their journeys and return home,' the workers said.

The groups called on governments to grant freedom of movement for transport workers and prioritize them for vaccinations.

Container ships are pictured off Los Angeles on Thursday, as an estimated 500,000 containers are reportedly still sitting on docked container ships and waiting to be dealt with

The reasons for the backlog are complex.

The pandemic has reduced the workforce, as workers are forced to quarantine due to the Delta variant or else are reluctant to return to work.

A shortage of truck drivers means that the cargo is left sitting longer on the docks, preventing the unloading of newly-arrived vessels.

The worker shortage is coupled with a surge in demand, as people worldwide emerge from 18 months of lockdowns and resume buying goods.

Demand for shipping has soared to levels cargo bosses did not expect to see until 2025.

And the delays with unloading cargo means that some vessels are having to sail back before their loads can be fully restocked, leading to further delays down the line when essential components are missing.

'As long as cargo doesn't move off terminals, it does impede the amount that can come off the ship,' Rooney said.

'Since terminals are at or near capacity, they can't turn over the ship as quickly because there's no room at the inn.'

And she said the problem was likely to worsen, because the increasing backlogs and resulting delays at other ports will mean ships arriving at New York and New Jersey will miss their 'berthing windows', according to JOC - resulting in the potential for more delays.
The maintenance worker suspected in the disappearance of 19-year-old Miya Marcano asked her family about her whereabouts while they were looking for her before it was made public that she had gone missing from her Orlando apartment complex last week, the vanished woman's distraught relatives said.

When the family arrived at the Arden Villas apartments, where Marcano lived, on Saturday morning to look for her, they said they encountered Armando Caballero outside.

'He was trying to leave. His lights were off. He said, "Are you looking for Miya?" I said, "Who are you?" He said, "Im the maintenance guy. I heard youre looking for me,"' Marcano's aunt Semone Westmaas told The Sun.

Marcano's father, Marlon, then asked Caballero if he had been in contact with her, and her cousin Callie Sue said he appeared 'quite nervous.'

Sue told the outlet that the interactions had seemed 'weird' because they had not yet announced Marcano had disappeared.

Authorities are continuing to search for missing Florida woman Miya Marcano, 19, and believe now-deceased suspect Armando Manuel Caballero, 27, was responsible for her disappearance

Marcano's cousin Caili Sue (pictured) says Caballero was 'infatuated' with Marcano, and described an awkward encounter with him as she and her family arrived to look for Marcano the day after she disappeared

Police said Caballero was the sole suspect in Marcano's disappearance. He was found dead by an apparent suicide on Monday

Caballero, 27, was found dead Monday from and apparent suicide.

The maintenance worker at the complex is the sole suspect in her disappearance, police said Thursday, as more than 60 Florida detectives, with assistance from the FBI, searched for the missing woman.

He was reportedly 'infatuated' with Marcano but she had let him know she wasnt interested in him, family members said.

Sue confirmed that he had an intense obsession with her cousin.

He was infatuated with her, he was in love with her. I dont know the very specifics of it, but he was constantly texting her and then had left her alone and then went back to texting her again,' Sue told Fox 32 Orlando.

Marcano's aunt Semone Westmaas (pictured) said Caballero had asked her if she had seen Marcano Saturday morning, the day after the girl went missing

Detectives first interviewed Cabellero for tips as he worked in the same apartment complex as Marcano after she was scheduled to catch a flight to Fort Lauderdale that night but never made it to the airport, her family said.

On Thursday, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said investigators are deploying all possible resources in an effort to locate Marcano, noting that they are working to obtain mobile phone data that may aid in the search.

They include 30 searches  some of which utilized helicopters, K9 units and dive teams  spanning across three counties to look for the girl.

Meanwhile, family members told WESH 2 on Thursday that Caballero's cellphone pinged in New Smyrna, Florida  located about 60 miles from Orlando  shortly after Marcano went missing.

A man matching Caballero's description was seen exiting a silver car and carrying the carrying gloves, a blanket, and a bag into a different apartment building hours after she vanished, according to the TV station.

Authorities, Mina said, believe Caballero is responsible for the disappearance, and had questioned him before his death. He told them he had last seen Marcano at 3pm on Friday, about two hours before she was last seen.

Footage obtained by WESH shows a man who fits Caballero's description unloading a blanket, gloves, and a bag from a car the same morning Sue and Westmaas said Marcano's family ran into him

The license plate on the car in the video matches that of the silver Ford Fusion, belonging to Caballero which was found outside his apartment in Seminole County and has been taken by police as part of their investigation

'We don't know all the circumstances involved in what happened there, but he is - was obviously - the prime suspect,' he said.

Sue said the family believes Caballero took the 'cowardly way out' by killing himself.

'We are angry because he's left us with some many questions, questions that may go forever unanswered because there may be things that only he was only present and only he'll ever know,' she told The Sun.

'I just feel really angry and frustrated because I felt like we had him and then he was gone.'

She said they still hope to find Marcanao alive.

'We're still very hopeful and determined to find Miya,' she told the outlet. 'We know we're going to find her and that she's going to be okay.'

Marcano, pictured on the day of her high school graduation last year, is 5 feet tall and weighing 130lbs, with brown hair and green eyes

Mina on Thursday said that the main focus of the ongoing investigation is to find Marcano.

'Hundreds of sworn and civilian personnel here at the sheriff's office and beyond have been working around the clock to deploy all the resources at our disposal to Miya,' he said.

The sheriff's department has established a central operations center in Orange County where investigators are processing all tips and leads, as well as communicating with detectives in the field.

Law enforcement officers searched all occupied garage units and storage units at the complex on Thursday morning  six days after investigators began looking for the missing woman.

She was last seen near the garages and storage units at the apartment complex.

A trained search and rescue dog and his handler even drove to Florida from North Carolina to help find Miya.

On Monday, during a press conference, Mina said of Marcano: Her disappearance is suspicious and our detectives and the family members suspect foul play.'

Local authorities, along with assistance from the FBI, have conducted 30 searches spanning across three different Florida counties in an effort to locate Marcano

On Thursday morning law enforcement officers searched all occupied garage units and storage units at the complex

Signs of a violent struggle, including bloodstains on a pillow, were found at her apartment.

Sue said she believes Caballero abducted Marcano, and that she remains somewhere nearby.

'She's alive, but I think it's possible that she could be tied up or something like that,' she told The Sun. 'But I know that she knows we're nearby and out looking for her. I feel like she can probably feel our presence in the area.'

The case, which has gained national attention, prompted local Congressman Darren Soto to take to Twitter Thursday morning to call on the FBI to join in on the investigation.

'She could have been brought across state lines, so it's key to have their support,' he wrote.

Hours later he tweeted an update: 'FBI has informed us they are reaching out to our local field office regarding the Miya Marcano case today.'

Mina has since confirmed the bureau's involvement in the case.

Congressman Darren Soto took to Twitter Thursday morning to call on the FBI to join in on the investigation. By the afternoon, Sheriff Mina had confirmed the investigative bureau was assisting with the case

Police said Caballero had a maintenance-issued master key fob, which was used to enter her apartment at 4.30pm  a half hour before her shift ended and she disappeared.

His body was found by a 911 caller and deputies released the audio recording of the call.

'We found a suicide on property,' said the woman, whose name was redacted from the recording.

'Someone hung themselves from a garage. They're in our paint garage. It's a male,' the caller added.

'I mean, he's deceased beyond any help?' the 911 operator asked.

The caller responded: 'Um, I believe so.'

According to Law & Crime, court documents stated that his body could have been in the garage since the day Marcano vanished, based on its state of decomposition.

Speaking to Marcano, Sue told the Sun: 'We're coming for you, and if you could send us a sign or anything, or if you hear us in the area, you need to make as much noise as possible.

'Because we're listening and we're here in large numbers, searching for her everywhere - high, low, and in the bushes.

'Just keep fighting and know that we're here to get you.'
If Gladys Berejiklian had lasted as Premier of NSW until January 23, she would have served five years in the job and been eligible for substantial perks for the rest of her life.

But life - in the form of an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigation - intervened and she has fallen on her sword and resigned, just 16 weeks shy of getting a lifetime of benefits.

Former NSW Premiers who have served at least five years in the position get a car, a driver, an office and staff.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will miss out on a lifetime of chauffeur driven cars as she didn't last five years in the job

In recent years, former Liberal Premier Nick Greiner and former Labor Premier Bob Carr have each cost NSW taxpayers up to $400,000 a year.

PM and Premiers' pay Gladys Berejiklians salary as NSW Premier is $407,980 - lower than some Prime Minister Scott Morrison has an annual salary of $549,250 Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews earns $441,439 a year South Australian Premier Steven Marshall is on $418,000

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk gets $407,954 WA Premier Mark McGowan is paid $355,000 Advertisement

Though Mr Carr served 10 years as Premier from 1995 to 2005, Mr Greiner served just over four years in the job before resigning in 1992 under the same circumstances as Ms Berejiklian - an ICAC investigation.

A finding of corruption against Mr Greiner was later overturned in the New South Wales Court of Appeal.

At that time, former Premiers did not have to have spend five years in the job to get their post-politics benefits.

This changed in 2011 when then Premier Barry O'Farrell tried to get rid of the program entirely due to spiralling costs - in 2011-2012 the total was $1.6m - but was threatened with legal opposition by Mr Carr and Mr Greiner.

Mr O'Farrell instead announced only Premiers who had served five years or more could access the scheme.

It meant Mr O'Farrell himself does not get the benefits, nor do his successors Mike Baird and Gladys Berejiklian.

As Ms Berejiklian was elected to the NSW Parliament in 2003, she is on the old pension plan under which MPs were paid up to 80 per cent of their salary for life after retiring.

NSW MPs elected for the first time in 2004 or after, however, get a far less generous pension, with 15.4 per cent of their salary being put into their choice of superannuation fund.

Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) has often been seen using public transport around Sydney

The change was prompted by then federal Labor leader Mark Latham promising to make such a change in the run-up to the 2004 Australian election.

Having been an MP since 1994, Mr Latham would not have been subject to the changes he sought. He gets a pension as a former leader of the Labor Party and also earns a substantial salary of around $170,000 in his current job - he is a One Nation MP in the NSW Parliament's Legislative Council and state leader of the party.
Australians will finally be able to travel overseas from next month with fully vaccinated residents allowed to quarantine at home for seven days.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday announced the changes which will apply to states and territories that hit 80 per cent double dose vaccination coverage - with NSW on track to be the first to reach that milestone.

Mr Morrison said quarantine-free travel may also be set up for certain countries such as New Zealand.

'It's time to give Australians their lives back. We've saved lives. We've saved livelihoods, but we must work together to ensure that Australians can reclaim the lives that they once had in this country,' Mr Morrison said.

Australians will finally be able to travel overseas from next month with fully vaccinated residents allowed to quarantine at home for seven days, Scott Morrison announced on Friday

Australians looking for an overseas holiday will be able to access an internationally recognised proof of vaccination document in the coming weeks to prove their status.

Unvaccinated Australians will still have to complete the mandatory 14-day quarantine stint in hotels or designated facilities upon their return.

Aussies who cannot be vaccinated including those under 12 or with a medical condition will be treated as vaccinated for the purposes of their travel.

Australians have been banned from leaving the country since March 18, 2020 under strict biosecurity laws to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Australia is in talks to set up quarantine-free travel bubbles with the UK, US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Pacific islands such as Fiji for the fully vaccinated. Pictured: London's Big Ben

States and territories will resume international travel at different times given varying vaccination rates.

On current projections NSW will hit the 80 per cent vaccination rate on October 16. Victoria will reach the mark on November 23, Queensland on December 8 and Western Australia on December 15.

The re-opening of the international border would mean that NSW and Victoria residents will be able to fly to London or New York before Brisbane or Perth due to state border closures.

Qantas has also announced they will resume flights from November 14 with services flying between Sydney and Los Angeles and Sydney and London.

All other flights will resume on December 18 as previously planned.

Australia remains in long-held talks to set up quarantine-free travel bubbles with the UK, US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Pacific islands such as Fiji for the double-vaccinated.

Mr Morrison also announced the TGA is reviewing two new vaccines, Sinovac and Covishield, which are expected to be approved.

A travel bubble could be set up with Fiji (pictured) so Australians can finally go on holiday

'They will be particularly important for those coming from countries where those vaccines are being used. India is an obvious one of those, as is China and other countries throughout South-East Asia,' Mr Morrison said.

The government will also work with states and territories to remove travel caps on returning travellers who are vaccinated only.

Quarantine may be scrapped entirely for double-vaccinated people coming from travel bubble countries, provided they test negative on arrival.

Such arrangements would mirror the New Zealand travel bubble that was in place between April and July before New South Wales suffered its Covid outbreak.

NSW is conducting a four-week trial of seven-day home quarantine for returning Australians with the aim of stamping out hotel quarantine by the time the borders open late this year.
The wrath of Hurricane Sam - the most powerful storm currently on Earth - was on full display Thursday after an unmanned 'saildrone' recorded winds of 145mph and 50-foot-tall waves as it churned in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

It's the first time such footage has been captured by a water-based drone from the ocean surface in the middle of such a ferocious weather system, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which operated the device.

The drone is equipped with a specially designed 'hurricane wing,' enabling it to operate in extreme wind conditions.

Saildrone's vessels are 23 feet long and have four cameras on them. They are able to measure wind as well as the temperature of the ocean and the air.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released footage from the inside of Hurricane Sam, a Category 4 storm barreling across the Atlantic

A Saildrone Explorer SD 1045, an uncrewed surface vehicle, was able to get into the center of the storm with 145mph winds and 50 foot waves

The footage offers an unprecedented sight of a hurricane in the ocean

The current track for Sam shows it is expected to stay far away from land out in open ocean

The tracks of all this season's Atlantic named storms are displayed on this map

Hurricane Sam was located about 350 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands, traveling northwest at 9 mph, the Miami-based hurricane center said late Thursday night.

It is not supposed to threaten the East Coast but could brush up against Bermuda.

Hurricane-force winds were extending outward 40 miles from its center, with top winds expected to grow to 140 mph in the coming days. The storm is expected to turn to the north by Friday.

The Saildrone also captured weather-related data which can be used by forecasters and scientist as they better try to understand how such ferocious storms form and continue to evolve.

Scientists are particularly interested in finding out more about the exchange of heat between the sea and atmosphere as a way of better predicting the intensity of hurricanes.

Using data collected by saildrones, we expect to improve forecast models that predict rapid intensification of hurricanes,' said Greg Foltz, an NOAA scientist.

Saildrone collects data to help forecasters form models and give meteorologists insights into how large and destructive cyclones grow and intensify

'Rapid intensification, when hurricane winds strengthen in a matter of hours, is a serious threat to coastal communities. New data from saildrones and other uncrewed systems that NOAA is using will help us better predict the forces that drive hurricanes and be able to warn communities earlier.'

The autonomous unmanned vessels are staying out in the ocean for a total of three months and 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.

The program offers a completely different level of data because it is measuring readings at the surface, compared to 'hurricane hunters' who normally fly aircraft directly into the eye of the storm.

It's the first time such footage has been captured by a water-based drone from the ocean surface in the middle of such a weather system

Despite being thrashed about by the elements, the drone manages to stay upright throughout

'The Saildrone battled Hurricane Sam's 50-foot waves and 120+ mph winds to collect critical scientific data and give us a brand new view of one of earth's most destructive forces,' the NOAA revealed in a tweet.

Saildrone launched two 23-foot Explorer drones that will travel corridors of the Atlantic Ocean through October.

The drones 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.

NOAA officials said a three-month window from August until October was chosen to get the best results within their $1.1 million contract with Saildrone

Between the Explorer Drones' everyday readings and data collected in the storm, boosters expect the drones to give hurricane researchers new insights that can't be gathered from hurricane-hunting surveillance planes.

'All we can measure from planes is pressure,' said Saildrone founder and CEO Richard Jenkins.

'Saildrone is going where no research vessel has ever ventured, sailing right into the eye of the hurricane, gathering data that will transform our understanding of these powerful storms. After conquering the Arctic and Southern Ocean, hurricanes were the last frontier for Saildrone survivability. We are proud to have engineered a vehicle capable of operating in the most extreme weather conditions on earth,' Jenkins said to the NOAA.

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 a three-month window from August until October was chosen to get the best results within their $1.1 million contract with Saildrone.
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Panama's foreign minister has warned that another wave of some 60,000 migrants, mostly Haitian nationals, is now headed toward the southern US border.

Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes expressed exasperation during a visit to Washington DC this week, saying that Panama has been warning the Biden administration for months about the recent surge in irregular migration.

'We sounded the alarm when we should have,' Mouynes told Axios. 'We've engaged with every single authority that we can think of, that we can come across, to say, "Please, let's pay attention to this."'

In recent weeks, shocking scenes of human misery emerged from a squalid migrant camp near the border in Texas, which swelled to 15,000 at the height of the crisis, as the unprepared Border Patrol scrambled to stem the flow of illegal crossings.

Most of the Haitian migrants had been living in South American countries like Chile for years, but headed toward the US when they learned that President Joe Biden was halting deportations of Haitian nationals already in the country.

Traveling by land from South America, they must pass through the isthmus country of Panama, with many making the trek through the treacherous jungles of the Darien Gap.

Panama Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes expressed exasperation during a visit to Washington DC this week, saying that Panama has been warning the Biden administration for months about the recent surge in irregular migration

Haitian migrants rest as they cross the jungle of the Darien Gap, near Acandi, Choco department, Colombia, heading to Panama on Monday, on their way trying to reach the US

Haitian migrants cross the Guati River during their transfer to a camp where they will sleep to start their journey to the Darien Gap, in Acandi, Colombia, on Tuesday

Most of the Haitian migrants headed for the US are actually coming from Chile and Brazil, where they have been living for years as refugees following the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti. They must pass through the Darien Gap in Panama

Panama is expecting 27,000 more migrants to cross through the Darien Gap this month, more than were encountered in all of 2019.

'Let's recognize that they all are heading toward the US,' said Mouynes, calling on the Biden administration to help enforce a coordinated strategy with countries across the region.

Mouynes said that more than 85,000 migrants have passed through Panama since January, most of them Haitians.

Roughly 20,000 to 25,000 Haitians have already reached the U.S.-Mexico border, with most being allowed to enter the United States. That leaves another 60,000 are most likely still on their way north, the minister said.

Panama is usually the first country to provide migrants humanitarian and medical assistance as they make their way north, Mouynes said.

'When we receive them on the Panamanian side, they're malnourished. The children are in terrible condition, so even getting them up to a healthy state takes time,' the minister said.

Meanwhile, some 16,000 migrants are stuck in the northern Colombian beach town of Necocli, awaiting their turn on limited boat transport toward the Darien Gap, where smugglers guide groups through one of the most dangerous and impassable regions of Latin America.

The journey can be deadly. On Thursday, Panamanian officials buried a group of migrants who perished in the jungle, using a bulldozer to cover the mass grave.

A priest attends the burial of a group of migrants who died trying to cross the Darien gap, at the Guayabillo cemetery in Agua Fria, Panama on Thursday, highlighting the deadly dangers of the treacherous jungle trek

A bulldozer dumps dirt a group of migrants who died trying to cross the Darien gap, at the Guayabillo cemetery in Panama

Haitian migrants are sprayed with a disinfectant as they leave the pier and then move to a camp where they will sleep to start their journey to the Darien Gap in Colombia on Wednesday

Haitian migrants cross the Guati River during their transfer to a camp where they will launch their trek into the Darien Gap

Colombia and Panama agreed last month that 500 migrants could cross per day, but local officials have repeatedly urged them to raise the quota, saying it is far too low to keep pace with the up to 1,500 migrants who arrive in town daily.

Panama's President Laurentino Cortizo told the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday that more than 80,000 irregular migrants have traveled through Panama this year. He called for international assistance, saying his country is spending its limited budget on migrant care.

So far this year, 88,514 migrants have entered Panama through the Darien jungle, according to figures from the National Migration Service, and Panama went from receiving an average of 800 migrants in January to 30,000 in August.

US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reportedly asked his officials whether the department was ready to handle the possibility of up to 400,000 migrants, nearly double the 21-year high seen in July, crossing the southern border in October.

Despite public attempts to appear in control of the situation at the southwest border, a phone call between Mayorkas and senior officials earlier this week shows a Biden administration scrambling to contain a growing crisis.

Mayorkas asked on the call if the border was ready for a worst-case scenario of 350,000 to 400,000 migrants crossing the border next month, two DHS officials told NBC.

Even the lower estimate would be record breaking, but 400,000 border crossings is nearly double the 21-year high hit in July of 210,000. August saw more than 208,000 encounters at the southwestern border.

Haitian migrants arrive at a jetty in Colombia as they prepare to start their journey to the Darien Gap on Wednesday

October's border surge could potentially shatter records already set for border crossings this year

The officials said the estimates weren't based on internal intelligence. Instead Mayorkas and others within DHS are worried about a spike in migrants crossing the border if a court-ordered repeal of the Title 42 expulsion policy takes effect today.

Title 42 is a Trump-era Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) order that enables any border officer to immediately turn asylum-seekers away during the pandemic regardless of their status.

The Biden administration has rolled back its enforcement of the policy somewhat to allow exceptions for unaccompanied minors and some families with young children.

But immigrant advocacy groups and some of Biden's fellow Democrats are outraged at the White House's continued enforcement and defense of the rule.

DHS is concerned that with Title 42 gone, however, migrants may misinterpret the shift to mean the border is wide open even as Mayorkas himself insisted last week 'our borders are closed' during a contentious Senate hearing.

US District Judge Emmet Sullivan gave the White House 14 days to comply with a September 16 ruling that decided the Trump administration's policy didn't give Biden the authority to block migrants seeking asylum.

Sullivan issued the order after advocacy groups sued the White House.

The administration appealed the ruling but so far the US Court of Appeals has not moved to stop it from expiring.

Biden considered lifting Title 42 in July but officials issued a dire warning: 'We could have a rush at the border. It would be catastrophic.'

The officials who revealed the Mayorkas call said Customs and Border Protection has been given no guidance on what to do when Title 42 ends.

Meanwhile a new caravan of more than '15,000 migrants led by smugglers' is in Mexico and headed for the US border, according to a letter sent to President Biden from Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Marsha Blackburn on Thursday.

The GOP lawmakers say they and thousands of other migrants who have crossed the border this year 'are emboldened' by Biden's more relaxed policies compared to his predecessor.

'We call on you to immediately send a clear and concise signal to the massive caravan en route that they must turn around. Smuggling and trafficking should not be tolerated by the United States,' Graham and Blackburn write.

Senators Lindsey Graham and Marsha Blackburn sounded the alarm on the worsening border crisis, urging President Biden in a Thursday letter to 'send a clear message' to a caravan of 15,000 migrants reportedly headed toward the border

'We cannot continue to surrender our southern border to drug cartels and coyotes. An open border like ours is a green light to those who see human life as a commodity.'

Biden's 'continued capitulation constitutes an unconscionable threat to our national security,' they claim.

They end the impassioned letter with another direct appeal to the president to tell the caravan to 'turn around,' adding that 'failure to do so would be patently reckless.'

It comes the same day Mayorkas issued extensive new guidelines on deportations to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In a seven-page memo, the DHS chief instructs ICE officers to use discretion and determine whether an undocumented immigrant 'poses a current threat to public safety' in deciding whether to deport them.

Mayorkas privately expressed concern over whether the Department of Homeland Security could handle the border surge

'The fact that an individual is a removable noncitizen should not alone be the basis of an enforcement action against them. We focus our resources because they are limited, and because of our dedication to doing justice,' Mayorkas wrote.

It comes after a week that saw more than 25,000 Haitian migrants arrive in the border city of Del Rio, Texas, quickly overwhelming local officials there.

Border officials worked to quickly clear them out from an encampment under a bridge where many of the thousands had settled.

Mayorkas told the Washington Post that removing a farmworker 'breaking his or her back to pick fruit that we all put on our tables' would undoubtedly take resources away from apprehending someone who poses a public threat.

Others he instructed ICE to pass over are the elderly and migrants who speak out at public demonstrations, according to the memo obtained by the same outlet.

'It instead requires an assessment of the individual and the totality of the facts and circumstances,' the memo reads.

It leaves little room for ICE to deport anyone other than violent criminals.

For migrants who've been apprehended by ICE and have committed crimes, Mayorkas said agents should consider a broad range of factors: How serious their offense was, whether they used a weapon, past criminal history and even when they arrived in the US or have a mental condition.

He also wants them to look at how the deportation would affect the person's family.

However, Mayorkas is also giving them more room to weigh all the information for themselves. He's overwritten temporary guidance issued in February that requires ICE supervisors to approve of some deportation cases to ensure agency compliance.

On Wednesday, Mayorkas' department tried to put an end to former President Donald Trump 's so-called 'Remain in Mexico ' policy combatting illegal immigration after a federal judge ruled last month that the move to end the program was unlawful.

DHS released a statement Wednesday announcing its intent to issue a memorandum terminating the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the 'Remain in Mexico' program.

The order, according to the statement, will come in the next few weeks.

'A new memorandum terminating MPP will not take effect until the current injunction is lifted by court order,' the DHS press release reads. 'In issuing a new memorandum terminating MPP, the Department intends to address the concerns raised by the courts with respect to the prior memorandum.'

In June 2021, DHS issued a memorandum terminating the MPP that a Texas district court ruled in August violated the law and issued an order requiring the agency to restart the Trump-era program.

In another blow to the Biden administration's attempt to shut down the program, the Supreme Court in August rejected the Justice Department's request to put the policy on hold while litigation over Biden's efforts to rescind the policy was resolved in the courts.
'I have had to make an extremely difficult decision overnight, but one which I feel obliged to do because of the love and respect that I have for the people of New South Wales and the high regard which I have for the office of Premier.

I was advised late yesterday afternoon the Independent Commission Against Corruption would today release a public statement in which it will state it is investigating allegations made about me concerning matters relating to the former member for Wagga Wagga.

As it will be clear from the ICAC statement, the issues which it is investigating are historic matters that have already been the subject of numerous attacks on me by political opponents during the last 12 months.

Many of the matters were the subject of questions I was asked by the opposition while appearing before an estimates committee hearing earlier this year.

I want to be very clear, in all the decisions I have ever made as a Minister or as Premier for New South Wales, my first consideration has always been the well-being and welfare of the people of this state.

Gladys Berejiklian resigned as New South Wales Premier on Friday after the state's anti-corruption watchdog announced it would investigate her over her relationship with ex-MP Daryl Maguire

I state categorically, I have always acted with the highest level of integrity. History will demonstrate that I have always executed my duties with the highest degree of integrity for the benefit of the people of NSW who I have had the privilege to serve.

As the leader of the New South Wales Government, I have expected the highest of standards of myself and my colleagues.

I have made it clear on numerous occasions that if any of my ministers were the subject of allegations being investigated by an integrity agency or law-enforcement, then he or she should stand aside during the course of the investigation until their name was cleared.

The reason for my stance was not to have made any presumptions as to their conduct, but rather to maintain the integrity of the public office which was held whilst an investigation was completed.

That same standard must apply to me as Premier.

However, standing aside is not an option for me as the Premier of New South Wales. The people of New South Wales need certainty as to who their leader is during these challenging times of the pandemic.

I cannot predict how long it will take the ICAC to complete this investigation, let alone deliver a report, in circumstances where I was first called to give evidence at a public hearing nearly 12 months ago.

Therefore, it pains me to announce that I have no option but to resign the office of Premier. My resignation will take effect as soon as the New South Wales liberal party can elect a new Parliamentary leader.

In order to allow the new leader and government a fresh start, I will also resign from the New South Wales Parliament once I have consulted the electoral commission on appropriate timing for a by-election given the COVID restrictions.

My resignation as Premier could not happen at a worse time, but the timing is completely outside of my control as the ICAC has chosen to take this action during the most challenging weeks of the most challenging times in the history of NSW.

That is the ICACs prerogative. Resigning at this time is against every instinct in my being and something which I do not want to do, I love my job, and serving the community, but I have been given no option following the statement issued.

To continue as Premier would disrupt the State Government during a time when our entire attention should be focused on the challenges confronting New South Wales.

I do not want to be a distraction from what should be the focus of the state government during this pandemic, which is the well-being of our citizens.

Notwithstanding the challenges of the last few years and few months in particular, I have never felt stronger, nor more confident in my leadership.

I have absolutely no regrets during my time in public life. At times we all stumble, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start again stronger and wiser than before. I have done this many times, as we all have.

My only regret will be not to be able to finish the job to ensure the people of New South Wales transition to living freely with COVID.

However, I am extremely confident that whoever succeeds me will be more than capable of continuing this job. Please give them your trust and confidence. We will come through this period stronger, more resilient, and appreciating what really matters in life.

I feel strong, energised and optimistic about the future of this great state.

I want to thank the thousands of our frontline heroes who have kept us safe and kept us going during the darkest days in our state history. I owe you a debt of gratitude. Nothing that we can say or do will be able to demonstrate the significance of what you have done.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Liberal Party to whom I owe my career, the people of the electorate of Willoughby who have elected me five times to be their member of Parliament, my Parliamentary colleagues for their support and hard work, my outstanding and loyal staff past and present, and all the professional public servants with whom I have worked.

I also want to thank my family and friends who have provided me with unconditional support and understanding when I have not been as present due to my responsibilities.

Most importantly I want to thank you, the people of New South Wales. When the chips were down in the past years, in particular during the drought, bushfires and then COVID, we stood alongside each other.

We have grieved and supported each other during these tragedies. I hope you know that you will remain foremost in my thoughts. The courage that you display in your lives every day has inspired me every step of the way.

The courage and the support you have shown me has humbled me and made me a better leader and a better person.

Serving you has been the greatest privilege of my life. Please know that every day I gave it my all and worked as hard as I could to create a better future for our state and its people.

I truly believe that New South Wales is a place where every person, irrespective of their background and circumstances has the opportunity to be their best, to make a difference.

So as I address you for the final time as your Premier, please stay the course and stay safe.

We will be shortly out of this lockdown and be able to get on with our lives. NSW and its people will come out of this lockdown stronger, and together we will build a future full of optimism and hope.

Finally, thank you again for giving me the honour of being your Premier.
Scott Morrison has lauded 'heroic' qualities of former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian who has resigned after a corruption investigation into her was launched.

The prime minister paid tribute to Ms Berejiklian on Friday as the pair gave simultaneous news conferences.

'Gladys is a dear friend of mine. We've known each other for a long time,' Mr Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

The prime minister paid tribute to Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) on Friday, who resigned from her role as NSW Premier pending an investigation by ICAC

'She has displayed heroic qualities, heroic qualities as the premier of New South Wales.'

He said she had been trusted and respected by the people of NSW.

'We have been working closely together as governments,' Mr Morrison said.

'I would expect nothing other than an absolute continuity of the pace and the leadership that we've seen from New South Wales.'

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has also paid tribute, describing Ms Berejiklian as a 'person of integrity' who has worked hard for her state.

During the state's daily Covid press conference Mr Andrews said he would not be 'running a commentary' on Ms Berejiklian but praised their partnership.

Scott Morrison described the outgoing premier (pictured) as having 'heroic qualities'

'[I will] state the absolute fact that I've always worked very closely with her, and I find her to be a person of integrity, and a person that works hard for her state,'

He said Ms Berejiklian had been 'a very important partner' with Victoria.

Ms Berejiklian has resigned as NSW Liberal leader and will leave parliament when a by-election can be held.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian breached public trust when she awarded grants to several community organisations between 2012 and 2018.

It relates to her relationship with disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire.
Gladys Berejiklian has gone from 'the woman who saved Australia' to the premier who couldn't save her job in less than six months.

The popular New South Wales Liberal leader who was widely lauded for the way she handled the Covid-19 pandemic has ultimately been brought down by a poor choice in men.

Berejiklian had become a truly national figure through her reluctance to completely shut down her state amid coronavirus and will now go down in history as having to suddenly leave that job unfinished.

For much of the past 18 months she had been credited as the premier who had done more than any other to help hold the nation together and keep business running during the pandemic.

Gladys Berejiklian has gone from 'the woman who saved Australia' to the premier who couldn't save her job in barely six months. She is pictured on the cover of The Australian Financial Review Magazine in May

The popular New South Wales Liberal leader who was widely hailed for the way she handled the Covid-19 pandemic was ultimately brought down by a poor choice in men. She is pictured at her resignation press conference on Friday

She was stopped for selfies, received spontaneous applause in public and was hailed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison as having come up with the 'gold standard' of Covid measures.

Her decision to resign came after Berejiklian became the subject of an Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation related to her onetime secret boyfriend Daryl Maguire, the former Wagga Wagga MP.

ICAC is investigating whether Berejiklian encouraged or allowed corrupt conduct by Maguire, or breached public trust by not reporting any suspicion of corruption.

Even as the 51-year-old announced her retirement from Parliament on Friday she maintained her usual dignity, saying she was putting the citizens of NSW before a job she loved.

Berejiklian is famous for her work ethic, micromanaging issues and a goody two-shoes image. Kind colleagues described her as methodical, others as a control freak.

She has never married and is now in a relationship with Sydney silk Arthur Moses, who is currently appearing in a defamation trial for war hero Ben Roberts-Smith.

Moses represented Berejiklian at an earlier ICAC inquiry into Maguire's conduct.

A defiant Berejiklian described her relationship with Daryl Maguire as a mistake in October last year, saying she had kept it secret from all her friends and family. Its exposure was a 'personal nightmare', she said. 'I can't tell you what it's done to me personally'

Ms Berejiklian said she had a 'personal attachment' to Mr Maguire and their relationship - which began in 2015 - had been kept under wraps as she was a 'very private person'. Mr Maguire is pictured outside ICAC on July 13, 2018

Unlike some NSW leaders including her predecessor Mike Baird there was no razzle-dazzle about Berejiklian but she was nonetheless supremely confident in her considerable abilities.

'I have a steely, quiet reserve, and I'm always very confident on the path I'm on,' she told the Australian Financial Review in April. 'I don't really worry about what others say.'

Mr Morrison described Berejiklian as a 'dear friend' and said: 'She has displayed heroic qualities, heroic qualities as the premier of NSW.'

Deputy Premier John Barilaro was among colleagues to praise the retiring premier for her service as she led the state through Covid and the devastating bushfires of 2019-2020.

'I have served as the Deputy Premier to Gladys Berejiklian for almost five years and in that time she has led this State through some of its darkest days,' Barilaro said.

'Everyone has the right to defend their name and I wish Gladys all the best for her future.'

ICAC will investigate whether Berejiklian encouraged or allowed corrupt conduct by her former boyfriend Daryl Maguire. She is pictured with Maguire (right) and former premier Barry O'Farrell

The Member for Willoughby entered Parliament in 2003 and had been premier since January 2017 after a term as treasurer in Baird's government.

Berejiklian is the eldest of three daughters born to Armenian immigrant parents in Manly. She spoke only Armenian until she was five years old.

A career politician, she went to North Ryde Public High School, was a member of the Girl Guides, and was elected president of the NSW Young Liberals while still at university.

Berejiklian became premier upon Baird's resignation and was just the third woman in Australia to lead a party to a state election victory.

In October last year Berejiklian was called to give evidence before ICAC where she admitted having been in a 'close personal relationship' with Maguire from 2015 until August 2020.

It seemed an unlikely coupling.

She was one of the most powerful women in Australia, leading the most populous state in the country through the worst pandemic the world had faced in a century.

He was a big-talking divorced former shopkeeper and father-of-two forced to resign from parliament in 2018 after seeking payment from a property deal.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has admitted she shared a private relationship with disgraced former colleague Daryl Maguire while he was in office. Secretly recorded phone conversations the pair had have been played at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (pictured)

A defiant Berejiklian described the relationship as a mistake at the time, saying she had kept it secret from all her friends and family.

Its exposure was a 'personal nightmare', she said. 'I can't tell you what it's done to me personally.'

'It's been devastating, and I've had to bear this on top of everything else,' Berejiklian added, referring to her leadership during the pandemic.

Ms Berejiklian had not spoken about her personal relationship with Maguire before it was revealed at ICAC because she was a 'very private person.'

Following her disclosure of that relationship Berejiklian survived a vote of no-confidence in parliament 47-38 in the lower house and in the upper house by 21-20.

Berejiklian has been widely praised for the way NSW has handled the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly the early outbreaks last year.

She resisted the border closures and hard lockdowns adopted by some other states, including Victoria and Queensland.

Berejiklian's relationship with high-profile barrister Arthur Moses was confirmed in June through an Instagram post shared by her sister

This year she has been under scrutiny for not enacting an early lockdown in Sydney before the Delta variant of Covid spread to other parts of the country.

She faced some criticism when she stopped attending daily press conferences about the time Covid cases, hospitalisations and deaths were expected to peak.

An ICAC public inquiry into Berejiklian and Maguire will run for about 10 days from October 18, overseen by Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl SC.

Berejiklian has denied any wrongdoing and slammed the watchdog for announcing its investigation into her as the state emerges from a four-month Covid lockdown.

'Given the Covid restrictions, my resignation as premier could not occur at a worse time,' she said.

'But the timing is completely outside of my control as the ICAC has chosen to take this action during the most challenging weeks of the most challenging times in the state's history.'

Arthur Moses, who is currently appearing in a defamation trial for war hero Ben Roberts-Smith, represented Berejiklian at an earlier ICAC inquiry into Daryl Maguire's conduct

Berejiklian used her last press conference as premier to thank the state's citizens.

'I hope you know that you will remain foremost in my thoughts, the courage that you display in your lives every day has inspired me every step of the way, the courage and the support you've shown me has humbled me and made me a better leader and a better person,' she said.

'Serving you has been the greatest privilege of my life. Please know that every day I gave it my all and worked as hard as I could to create a better future for our state and its people.

'I truly believe that New South Wales is a place where every person, irrespective of their background and circumstances has the opportunity to be their best to make a difference.'





The frontrunners to replace Gladys: Devout Catholic father of SIX has long been seen as NSW Premier's heir apparent - but he's no shoo-in for the job

By STEPHEN JOHNSON, ECONOMICS REPORTER FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Father-of-six Dominic Perrottet was once the hot favourite to replace Gladys Berejiklian as the Premier of New South Wales.

But the Catholic conservative Treasurer faces a tough fight for the Liberal Party leadership from leading moderates with Planning Minister Rob Stokes and Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres, the partner of Foreign Minister Marise Payne, shaping up as contenders with better odds.

At 39, Mr Perrottet would be the youngest leader in the history of Australia's most populated state, making him a year younger than Nick Greiner, Nathan Rees and Kristina Keneally when they rose to power.

He would also be Australia's youngest state premier since Labor's Wayne Goss first led Queensland aged 38 in December 1989.

Mr Perrottet, who became Treasurer in January 2017 when Ms Berejiklian replaced Mike Baird as Premier, is also a devout Catholic and hails from the Liberal Party's Right faction.

At 1pm, Ms Berejiklian announced she would become the third Liberal premier in NSW to be brought down by the anti-corruption body her side of politics created more than three decades ago.

Less than two hours later Mr Perrottet, the NSW Liberal Party's deputy leader, issued a statement paying tribute to his outgoing boss and confirmed he was considering a tilt at the top job.

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Father-of-six Dominic Perrottet is shaping as the favourite to replace Gladys Berejiklian as the Premier of New South Wales (he is pictured with his wife Helen and four of their children)

Mr Perrottet was first elected to Parliament in March 2011, when Barry O'Farrell's Coalition swept to power in a landslide ending Labor's 16 years in office. During that decade, he has held three different electorates, Castle Hill, Hawkesbury and now Epping in Sydney's north-west, switching seats at each election in 2015 and 2019 to the dismay of his Liberal colleagues

Dominic Perrottet statement Today is an incredibly sad day for NSW. I would like to offer my gratitude and thanks to Gladys Berejiklian for the leadership and strength she has shown throughout her career and especially during one of the most challenging periods any leader could ever encounter. Gladys has worked tirelessly before and through the pandemic to protect the people of NSW from COVID-19 and to ensure our great State remains strong and resilient. The Premier has always placed the wellbeing and welfare of NSW first, showing an unstinting dedication to public service and a great love for her community. The interests of the people of NSW must always come first, and the priority for the Government is to ensure we continue to keep people safe, and that we re-open the economy and get people back to work, kids back to school, and life back to normal as fast as possible. Over the coming days I will be talking to my family and colleagues about how I can best serve the people of NSW to continue to achieve these aims. Finally, I want to again pay tribute to one of the most outstanding leaders our state has ever had. Gladys is both a colleague and a friend and her decision is a loss to public life in NSW. Advertisement

'Today is an incredibly sad day for NSW,' he said.

'I would like to offer my gratitude and thanks to Gladys Berejiklian for the leadership and strength she has shown throughout her career and especially during one of the most challenging periods any leader could ever encounter.'

He said reopening the economy was a priority as he considered running for the Liberal leadership, which in NSW has traditionally been held by moderates instead of social conservatives.

'Over the coming days I will be talking to my family and colleagues about how I can best serve the people of NSW to continue to achieve these aims,' he said.

Being from the Liberal Party's Right Mr Perrottet, a former lawyer, would most likely have a moderate as his deputy, with Environment Minister Matt Kean and Attorney-General Mark Speakman among the possibilities.

But he faces a leadership contest with Sydney Northern Beaches-based Planning Minister Rob Stokes declaring he will run.

Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres, another moderate holding the marginal seat of Penrith in Sydney's west, is another possible contender who is expected to make an announcement soon.

As Treasurer, Mr Perrottet was reportedly more opposed to lockdowns within the NSW crisis cabinet.

He was first elected to Parliament in March 2011, when Barry O'Farrell's Coalition swept to power in a landslide ending Labor's 16 years in office.

During that decade, he has held three different electorates, Castle Hill, Hawkesbury and now Epping in Sydney's north-west, switching seats at each election in 2015 and 2019 to the dismay of his Liberal colleagues.

Mr Perrottet became NSW Young Liberals president in 2005, three years after future Immigration Minister Alex Hawke spear-headed the right-wing takeover of the party's youth wing.

He studied law at the University of Sydney with future Labor senator Sam Dastyari and the two were friends when they respectively led the youth wings of their parties.

But he faces a leadership contest with Sydney Northern Beaches-based Planning Minister Rob Stokes declaring he will run

Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres, a moderate holding the marginal seat of Penrith in Sydney's west, is another possible contender. He is the partner of Foreign Minister Marise Payne

Ms Berejiklian, the daughter Armenian migrants, was herself a former leader of the NSW Young Liberals from the moderate faction.

She made history in March 2019 as the first female centre-right premier to win a state election in Australia and is the Liberal Party's second-longest serving NSW premier since Robert Askin's decade in power from 1965 to 1975.

The outgoing Premier is now resigning from Parliament, sparking a by-election in her Sydney Lower North Shore seat of Willoughby as Sydney prepares to end its three-month lockdown on October 11.

She savaged the Independent Commission Against Corruption on the way out, a year after it aired a private conversation she had with her former boyfriend Daryl Magurie, who had to resign from Parliament as a Liberal MP.

'My resignation as Premier could not happen at a worse time, but the timing is completely outside of my control as the ICAC has chosen to take this action during the most challenging weeks of the most challenging times in the history of NSW,' she said in a tearful media conference without taking questions.

Mr Perrottet's elevation would occur as a result of Ms Berejiklian becoming the third Liberal premier to resign because of a corruption investigation.

Hailing from the Liberal Party's Right faction Mr Perrottet, a former lawyer, would most likely have a moderate as his deputy, with Matt Kean, Mark Speakman and Rob Stokes among the possibilities (he is pictured with his wife Helen in March 2021)

Nick Greiner became ICAC's first victim in June 1992 - just four years after he established the Independent Commission Against Corruption in a bid to uncover Labor scandals during Neville Wran's decade in power.

While the Supreme Court later cleared him of scandalously offering a public service job to former education minister Terry Metherell, the damage was done and the late John Fahey replaced him as premier.

Mr Metherell had quit the Liberal Party and was an influential independent crossbencher who was offered a job in the Department of Environment in a bid to entice him to quit a hung Parliament, so the government could win back his seat of Davidson on Sydney's North Shore.

Little more than two decades later, in April 2014, Barry O'Farrell resigned over an undeclared $3,000 bottle of Grange Hermitage, bottled in the year of his birth - 1959.

His elevation would occur as a result of Gladys Berejiklian becoming the third Liberal premier to resign because of a corruption investigation

At 1pm, Ms Berejiklian could become the third Liberal premier in NSW to be brought down by the anti-corruption body her side of politics created three decades ago (pictured are former premiers Barry O'Farrell and Nick Greiner in 2017 who resigned, respectively, in 2014 and 1992, but were cleared of any corruption)

Liberal premiers ICAC brought down NICK GREINER: The Independent Commission Against Corruption was established by the Greiner Government in 1988 only for the Terry Metherell affair to force his resignation in June 1992 Mr Metherell, a former Liberal education minister, was now an independent in a hung parliament and he was offered a job running the new Environment Protection Agency, within the department, so the government could win back his Sydney North Shore seat of Davidson BARRY O'FARRELL: A month after winning a landslide election victory, Mr O'Farrell in April 2011 was gifted a $3,000 bottle of Grange Hermitage which he didn't declare He resigned after this was revealed at an ICAC hearing in April 2014 Advertisement

He had received the gift in April 2011 - a month after he won a landslide Coalition election victory that ended 16 years of Labor rule, following a series of scandals in Kristina Keneally's short-lived government.

Mr Barry O'Farrell's father-in-law Bruce Cowan, a former state and federal National Party MP, also died that month.

Former Australian Water Holdings chief executive Nick Di Girolamo, whose company had been a Liberal Party donor, had given Mr O'Farrell that infamous bottle of wine.

Now Ms Berejiklian is the next victim after ICAC in October last year played recordings of her telephone conversations with disgraced former country Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.

The embattled NSW Premier made the stunning admission about her relationship with a former political colleague, who has property interests, while giving evidence at the ICAC inquiry into corruption allegations against Mr Maguire on Monday.

Ms Berejiklian said she had a 'personal attachment' to Mr Maguire after working together for more than 15 years. She said their relationship began in 2015.

They had last spoken on September 13, 2020 - less than a month before that ICAC hearing - and Ms Berejiklian ceased communication only after agreeing to attend the inquiry.

Mr Maguire - the Liberal member for Wagga Wagga - was forced to quit the Berejiklian Government in 2018 after a separate ICAC inquiry heard evidence he sought payments to help broker deals for property developers.

An intercepted phone call between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire was played to the commission, revealing their close relationship.

Now Ms Berejiklian could be next after ICAC played recordings of her telephone conversations with disgraced former country Liberal MP Daryl Maguire

The private conversation was about Mr Maguire's first trip to China.

Ms Berejiklian can be heard saying former chief-of-staff Sarah Cruickshank had concerns about his travel.

'Alright babe, what do you think?' Mr Maguire said.

Ms Berejiklian replied:

'I just got home, did Sarah ring you from my office?'

Mr Maguire was concerned.

'No why?' he replied.

'She sent me a text, when she has to ring a member of Parliament she lets me know.'

The Institute of Public Affairs, a libertarian think tank that has produced federal Liberal MPs Tim Wilson and James Paterson, said ICAC had 'demonstrated again that it is little more than a star chamber, accountable only to its own whims'.

'It defines what corrupt conduct is, then uses extraordinary powers to launch investigations and make damaging findings of corruption,' the IPA's director of legal rights Morgan Begg said.

'In the process ICAC overturns fundamental principles of the rule of law, such as the presumption of innocence, rights to natural justice and the right to silence.

'The federal government would be mistaken to think that it can establish an ICAC at the national level without any of the dangers that have been proven again and again in NSW.'
I have had to make an extremely difficult decision overnight, but one which I feel obliged to do because of the love and respect that I have for the people of New South Wales and the high regard which I have for the office of Premier.

I was advised late yesterday afternoon the Independent Commission Against Corruption would today release a public statement in which it will state it is investigating allegations made about me concerning matters relating to the former member for Wagga Wagga.

As it will be clear from the ICAC statement, the issues which it is investigating are historic matters that have already been the subject of numerous attacks on me by political opponents during the last 12 months.

Many of the matters were the subject of questions I was asked by the opposition while appearing before an estimates committee hearing earlier this year. I want to be very clear, in all the decisions I have ever made as a Minister or as Premier for New South Wales, my first consideration has always been the well-being and welfare of the people of this state.

I state categorically, I have always acted with the highest level of integrity. History will demonstrate that I have always executed my duties with the highest degree of integrity for the benefit of the people of NSW who I have had the privilege to serve.

As the leader of the New South Wales Government, I have expected the highest of standards of myself and my colleagues. I have made it clear on numerous occasions that if any of my ministers were the subject of allegations being investigated by an integrity agency or law-enforcement, then he or she should stand aside during the course of the investigation until their name was cleared. The reason for my stance was not to have made any presumptions as to their conduct, but rather to maintain the integrity of the public office which was held whilst an investigation was completed. That same standard must apply to me as Premier.

However, standing aside is not an option for me as the Premier of New South Wales. The people of New South Wales need certainty as to who their leader is during these challenging times of the pandemic. I cannot predict how long it will take the ICAC to complete this investigation, let alone deliver a report, in circumstances where I was first called to give evidence at a public hearing nearly 12 months ago. Therefore, it pains me to announce that I have no option but to resign the office of Premier. My resignation will take effect as soon as the New South Wales liberal party can elect a new Parliamentary leader.

In order to allow the new leader and government a fresh start, I will also resign from the New South Wales Parliament once I have consulted the electoral commission on appropriate timing for a by-election given the COVID restrictions.

My resignation as Premier could not happen at a worse time, but the timing is completely outside of my control as the ICAC has chosen to take this action during the most challenging weeks of the most challenging times in the history of NSW.

That is the ICAC's prerogative. Resigning at this time is against every instinct in my being and something which I do not want to do, I love my job, and serving the community, but I have been given no option following the statement issued.

To continue as Premier would disrupt the State Government during a time when our entire attention should be focused on the challenges confronting New South Wales. I do not want to be a distraction from what should be the focus of the state government during this pandemic, which is the well-being of our citizens.

Notwithstanding the challenges of the last few years and few months in particular, I have never felt stronger, nor more confident in my leadership. I have absolutely no regrets during my time in public life. At times we all stumble, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start again stronger and wiser than before. I have done this many times, as we all have.

My only regret will be not to be able to finish the job to ensure the people of New South Wales transition to living freely with COVID.

However, I am extremely confident that whoever succeeds me will be more than capable of continuing this job. Please give them your trust and confidence. We will come through this period stronger, more resilient, and appreciating what really matters in life.

I feel strong, energised and optimistic about the future of this great state.

I want to thank the thousands of our frontline heroes who have kept us safe and kept us going during the darkest days in our state history. I owe you a debt of gratitude. Nothing that we can say or do will be able to demonstrate the significance of what you have done.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Liberal Party to whom I owe my career, the people of the electorate of Willoughby who have elected me five times to be their member of Parliament, my Parliamentary colleagues for their support and hard work, my outstanding and loyal staff past and present, and all the professional public servants with whom I have worked.

I also want to thank my family and friends who have provided me with unconditional support and understanding when I have not been as present due to my responsibilities.

Most importantly I want to thank you, the people of New South Wales. When the chips were down in the past years, in particular during the drought, bushfires and then COVID, we stood alongside each other. We have grieved and supported each other during these tragedies. I hope you know that you will remain foremost in my thoughts. The courage that you display in your lives every day has inspired me every step of the way. The courage and the support you have shown me has humbled me and made me a better leader and a better person. Serving you has been the greatest privilege of my life. Please know that every day I gave it my all and worked as hard as I could to create a better future for our state and its people.

I truly believe that New South Wales is a place where every person, irrespective of their background and circumstances has the opportunity to be their best, to make a difference.

So as I address you for the final time as your Premier, please stay the course and stay safe. We will be shortly out of this lockdown and be able to get on with our lives. NSW and its people will come out of this lockdown stronger, and together we will build a future full of optimism and hope.

Finally, thank you again for giving me the honour of being your Premier.
The sudden end of Gladys Berejiklian's premiership means NSW's 'roadmap to freedom' may look radically different once her successor takes power.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet is the frontrunner to take over from Ms Berejiklian with Planning Minister Rob Stokes and Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres also considered contenders when the NSW Liberal parliamentary party meets to choose a new leader on Tuesday.

While Ms Berejiklian has stuck closely to the plan endorsed by the national cabinet for a path out of Covid-19 restrictions, Mr Perrotet's public statements reveal a less patient approach to re-opening the NSW economy.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet is the frontrunner to take over from Ms Berejiklian as premier when the NSW Liberal parliamentary party meets to choose a new leader

Mr Perrottet is understood to have stridently opposed extending Greater Sydney's lockdown during a crisis cabinet meeting in July

Planning Minister Rob Stokes (pictured) has already put his hand up and will face off against Dominic Perrottet and Stuart Ayres for the coveted position

While he has been careful not to publicly disagree with the plan to restore many freedoms to the state's residents as the 70 and 80 per cent full vaccination thresholds are passed, Mr Perrottet had previously expressed frustration at the prospect of Australia becoming 'a hermit kingdom'.

After the state was plunged into lockdown, there were claims Mr Perrottet had stridently opposed extending restrictions during a crisis cabinet meeting.

In response, Mr Perrottet told 2GB's Ben Fordham: 'My job is to advocate for businesses and keeping people in jobs and that's what I do, what I don't do is speak about the individual positions that ministers take in relation to those discussions.'

In a recent interview with Daily Mail Australia, Mr Perrottet predicted a 'glorious summer' ahead for NSW as life began to return to normal.

'Now as Australians, and particularly in NSW, we've got restrictions in place and you look overseas and we see the US Open packed, the Premier League with packed crowds and we go ''we want to have that'', and that's what we're going to have here in NSW as we open up in a safe way,' he said.

He was particularly keen for nightclubs to re-open and community sport to resume.

'Your early years at university and college are the best years of your life and we want to get the pubs and clubs open again and we want to bring fun back to our state,' he said.

Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres (right, pictured with Marise Payne) has also reportedly put his hat in the ring to become NSW's next premier

The sudden end of Gladys Berejiklian's premiership means NSW's 'roadmap to freedom' may look radically different once a successor takes power

'Your early years at university and college are the best years of your life and we want to get the pubs and clubs open again and we want to bring fun back to our state,' Mr Perrottet told Daily Mail Australia

Mr Perrottet had also talked up the resumption of international travel. When Australia will open up to the rest of the world was only confirmed today by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who said Australians would be able to access an internationally recognised proof of vaccination document in the coming weeks and quarantine at home on return from next month.

'We're talking about returning international students, we're talking about returning Australians. We're opening up businesses and the next step is opening up borders,' Mr Perrottet told Daily Mail Australia..

'If we can lead the way on international travel that's going to be a great thing for the state.

'And hopefully that will then lead to other states following us. It might be ironic that you can get to Bali before you can get to Broome but that's where we're heading.'

Following Ms Berejiklian's resignation, Mr Perrottet released a statement offering his 'gratitude and thanks' to the outgoing premier and saying he would take time in coming days to talk to family and colleagues about how he could best serve NSW.

'The interests of the people of NSW must always come first, and the priority for the Government is to ensure we continue to keep people safe, and that we re-open the economy and get people back to work, kids back to school, and life back to normal as fast as possible.'

The NSW government has identified October 11 as the date the state would open up after hitting 70 per cent double vaccination of the eligible population, with 80 per cent to be reached two weeks later and 90 per cent by December 1.

Ms Berejiklian had indicated that once the 80 per cent target is hit, people will be allowed to travel freely throughout NSW, stand up for a drink at the pub, resume community sport and consider international travel.

Fully vaccinated people would be free to once again attend weddings, funerals and hairdressers.

At 90 per cent full vaccination, it's expected masks and density rules will be dispensed with.

Yesterday, Ms Berejiklian announced that NSW school students will begin a staggered return to face-to-face learning a week earlier than planned on Monday, October 18.

At 80 per cent full vaccination, people will be allowed to travel freely throughout NSW, stand up for a drink at the pub, resume community sport and consider international travel, the NSW government had said

Mr Perrottet said while suburb-specific lockdowns may still be required, he expected state-wide shutdowns to be over for good once the 70 per cent threshold was reached, including in LGAs with higher active case numbers.

'Simply because certain local government areas at the moment have higher case numbers than others does not mean at a 70 per cent mark, when we hit that double dose level, that those people whove received the vaccination are not able to participate in society like everyone else.,' he told Sky News.

At 39, Mr Perrottet would be the youngest leader in the history of Australia's most populated state.

He became Treasurer in January 2017 when Ms Berejiklian replaced Mike Baird as Premier, is also a devout Catholic and hails from the Liberal Party's Right faction.

On Friday, 87.2 per cent of people aged 16 and older had received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while 64 per cent are fully vaccinated.

The current NSW outbreak had resulted in 352 deaths to date.
Hundreds of unmasked anti-vaxxer protesters have staged a demonstration on the NSW-Queensland border.

The large crowd gathered at the Coolangatta-Tweed border on Friday, hosting a barbeque to protest against mandatory vaccines.

There were multiple police officers at the scene 'keeping a low profile'.

Former Qantas pilot Graham Hood stepped forward as the protest leader, claiming he left the company after 32 years of service due to the vaccine mandate.

A number of speakers also addressed the crowds including former firefighter Kade Pride and teacher Tashi Lhamo.

Over 500 un-masked protesters have turned up at the NSW-QLD border protesting against border closures and mandatory vaccines

They are planning to march on Friday afternoon with police saying the demonstration (pictured) has been non-violent so far

'I don't believe that a mandated injection for me at this time is right for me,' Ms Lhamo said.

'This is an industrial action strike right now.'

On Thursday, protesters gathered at a Tweed Head institution after it announced only vaccinated people would be allowed on the premises after October 11.

A number of speakers also addressed the crowds including former pilot Graham Hood, former firefighter Kade Pride and teacher Tashi Lhamo.

Twin Towns Clubs & Resorts remarked 'unvaccinated people would have the opportunity to enjoy the same freedoms as those who have received their double vaccination' from December 1 and their announcement was in line with the NSW road map.

The club came under fire from anti-vax groups such as Freedom of Speech, No Lockdowns in Australia and Australia Exposed, accusing Twin Towns of 'medical apartheid.'

This follows 2 Covid cases recorded in QLD on Friday, with six LGAs entering stage 2 restrictions on Thursday.

These LGAs include Brisbane, Gold Coast, Logan City, Moreton Bay, Palm Island, and Townsville including Magnetic Island.

Comes after anti-vaxxers came after Tweed Head club Twin Town Clubs and Resort after they announced only those who had been vaccinated would be allowed on their premises after October 11 (pictured anti-vax protesters at NSW-QLD border on August 29)
Annastacia Palaszczuk has wished her arch-rival Gladys Berejiklian well - and set the record straight about their famously frosty relationship.

Ms Berejiklian resigned on Friday afternoon after almost five years as New South Wales Premier.

'I wish Gladys Berejiklian the best for the future,' the Queensland Premier said in a statement.

'Contrary to some public commentary, I have always respected Gladys and found her to be good company'.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has wished her arch-rival Gladys Berejiklian well - and set the record straight about their famously frosty relationship

Ms Palaszczuk went on to say Ms Berejiklian's ascension to the top job in 2017 was a 'significant achievement for women everywhere.'

Ms Berejiklian resigned after NSW corruption watchdog announced it was investigating her about her secret relationship with disgraced MP Daryl Maguire.

The watchdog known as ICAC is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian encouraged or allowed corrupt conduct by her ex-boyfriend and former Wagga Wagga MP Mr Maguire between 2012 and 2018.

It will also probe whether she breached public trust by not reporting any suspicion of corrupt conduct. Ms Berejiklian denies all wrongdoing.

Mr Maguire is accused of abusing his public office after admitting being involved in a cash-for-visa scheme and seeking secret commissions for brokering property deals. He was forced to resign in 2018.

The frosty relationship between Ms Palaszczuk and Ms Berejiklian was laid bare when a series of icy text messages were released in June.

The conversations were released under a Right To Information request and appear to show the breakdown in civil communication between the two leaders.

What started out as warm and friendly texts between the pair in January 2020 after the devastating bushfires have since descended into single-word 'thx' responses.

The two leaders have been at loggerheads over the response to Covid since the first the pandemic started, with a series of border closures between NSW and Queensland causing havoc for residents of both states.

Text messages between state premiers Gladys Berejiklian and Annastacia Palaszczuk started out warmly , as seen in this exchange from April 2020 (left). But tensions over the border closures between New South Wales and Queensland saw communications break down in increasingly terse texts, like this exchange, pictured on the right, on November 5, 2020

Ms Berejiklian has been vocal in her frustration at Queensland repeatedly shutting out its southern neighbour - but Ms Palaszczuk has been equally resolute in defending her cautious approach.

The text messages - some of which were censored before release because they contained personal or irrelevant information - reveal Ms Berejikian repeatedly mis-spelled Ms Palaszczuk's first name, using only one N instead of two, and two Ss.

The pair exchanged 20 messages between January 2020 and March 18 2021, with nine of them redacted, according to the Daily Telegraph.

They start on January 3 2020, when Ms Palaszczuk texted her NSW counterpart to offer help in the response to the bushfires hitting the NSW south coast.

'Anything more we can do to help please let me know. Cheers annastacia' she texted.

Ms Berejiklian replied: 'Thanks Anastasia[sic]. Much appreciated. We are as well prepared for tomorrow as we can be. Victoria also I'm [sic] very bad shape. Take care and stay in touch.'

As the Covid crisis began to spread out across the world from Wuhan in China's Hubei province, the pair swapped notes on January 31.

'I have written to the PM about more info on arrivals from Hubei province FYI,' texted Ms Palaszczuk 'Hope you are going OK. Tough year for bushfires. Kind regards annastacia.'

Ms Berejiklian replied: 'Thanks for letting me know Anastacia [sic]. We are hoping worst of season is behind us....'

When the nation went into lockdown mode in March, and Australia began holding national cabinet meetings with all the state leaders, Ms Palaszczuk again reached out to Ms Berejiklian as the pair shared their concerns over the impact of the pandemic.

'Hi, I just wanted to touch base and hope you are going ok. I think everyone is working well together. I agree with you it's tough not seeing our families. Cheers annastacia,' she wrote on April 7, 2020.

Gladys Berejiklian (left) has been vocal in her frustration at Queensland repeatedly shutting out its southern neighbour - but Annastacia Palaszczuk (right) has been equally resolute in defending her cautious approach

The NSW premier replied, spelling her name correctly for the one and only time during the exchanges: 'Thanks Annastacia. Kind of you to send the message. There is some comfort in knowing we are all going through this together.'

Over the winter though, the tensions began to show. As NSW dealt with localised cluster outbreaks without going into lockdown, Queensland responded by closing its border to NSW residents.

Ms Berejiklian snapped in one text: 'All I have had are questions from the media about statements you and you colleagues have made on the border.'

And on September 22, 2020, Ms Berejiklian sent another terse message: 'Hi Anastasia [sic] [redacted] My health Minister has already been in touch with yours. Thanks again.'

The NSW premier was warmer in November though after Ms Palaszczuk was returned to power in the Queensland state elections - but the border closures still rankled.

'Hi Anastasia [sic]' she wrote on November 1. 'Congratulations on your election election [sic] win. I can imagine how difficult that was during a pandemic! Hope we can work together to get our border open, Regards Gladys.'

But she was ghosted by her counterpart and the message got no response until four days later after Queensland snatched the NRL State of Origin opener 18-14 at Adelaide Oval.

Ms Palaszczuk gloated simply in a message: 'Queenslander. Great game.'

The NSW Premier fumed to the press at the time: 'She didn't mention borders or thanks for the congratulations. I didn't know whether to be shocked or bemused frankly.'

It would be three months of bitter battle between the two states before the border would re-open, with the NSW Premier given just 30 minutes notice of the decision.

'We are happy to reopen to all of nsw [sic] on feb1 [sic]. I will be doing a press conference in 30 mins,' the Queensland Premier texted on January 28.

The NSW premier had a one word response: 'Thx'.

Despite the chilly texts, Ms Palaszczuk insists the pair are still friendly in real-life.

'She'll always stand up for her state, I'll stand up for my state,' the Queensland premier said in February.

'Everyone tries to portray it as some sort of fight and it's simply not. It is simply not. I think it is over-reporting, we get on incredibly well behind the scenes.'

On Tuesday, her office told Daily Mail Australia: 'The Premier has a good working relationship with all Premiers. They are all focused on the serious COVID situation and keeping their states safe.

Daily Mail Australia has also contacted the NSW Premier for comment.
Despite the gun violence afflicting New York City, including another 16-year-old who was chased down a Brooklyn street before being shot dead Wednesday evening, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $5.7million new NYPD initiative Thursday that focuses on 'customer service.'

He described the new initiative, which would involve stationing a community guide at each precinct stationhouse to greet visitors at the door, as 'revolutionary' and a 'paradigm shift' at his daily press conference.

'Customer service has to be what the NYPD is about,' he said, noting that, 'Its never existed previously,' in the agency.

'It is simple, it is basic, it is powerful,' he said.

He said the program was in response to years of complaints about officers who were 'gruff and dismissive.'

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new customer service initiative for the NYPD Thursday that would involve posting community guides at each precinct

'So many people who just were trying to exercise their rights to get information or file a concern or complaint, find out what's happening with a case, they were treated in a way that doesn't have anything to do with customer service or respect,' he said.

The community guide would be a dedicated customer service representative - and an NYPD employee - responsible for greeting visitors and answering their questions.

Noting the difference between the guide and a precinct desk sergeant, de Blasio said the guide would be solely responsible for answering visitors' questions.

Desk sergeants, meanwhile, are responsible for dealing with any interactions with the command, NYPD Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes said during the press conference.

City Hall said the program would cost $5.7million a year to hire 180 greeters, the New York Post reported.

The announcement came after 16-year-old Cahlil Pennington was seen as he was shot dead in the head during a running gun battle in East New York Tuesday

After the teen with the gun turns around and fires a shot behind him, Cahlil is seen dropping to the ground and tripping one his friends

A teen in a blood-soaked hoodie is seen hiding around the corner on Miller Avenue hovering over Cahlil's body strewn on the sidewalk

The announcement came as shootings have nearly doubled in the city since the same period in 2019, according to the latest NYPD statistics.

Hours prior to announcement, 16-year-old Jaden Turnage was chased down a street in Bedford Stuyvesant and shot in the chest at around 6.15pm, the Post also reported.

He was taken to Brooklyn Hospital where he was pronounced dead, and no suspects have been identified.

A day before, 16-year-old Cahil Pennington was caught on surveillance as he was accidentally shot in the head by his friend during a daylight gun battle in East New York.

Pennington was shot as he and two other teens in white hoodies ran down Pitkin Avenue, according to police and the footage.

In the video, one of the teens turns around to shoot at another gunman after being shot in the stomach during a shootout around 1:30 pm, police said.

In the commotion, the bullet missed its intended target and hit Cahlil in the head at the corner of Pitkin and Miller Avenues, according to police and video footage.

Cahlil pictured with his father Cornell (rightr), was taken to Brookdale University Hospital where he was pronounced dead

Cahlil, a student at Brooklyn's New Visions AIM Charter High School II, was taken to Brookdale Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Several of the teens fled the scene and no arrests have been made.

According to police, the gunfire began when a gunman walked up and shot one of the teens in the torso at 1:34 pm near the Fiorentino Plaza Houses.

Cahlil reportedly suffered two gunshot wounds. Police believe that he was also shot by the gunman, who first opened fire on the teens.

'My son was shot twice in the back,' the slain boy's father, Cornell Pennington, 45, told the New York Daily News. 'I never thought we would be going through this. My kid's supposed to bury me, not me bury them.'

'My son wasn't perfect. We thought my son left these streets behind. He was in the 10th grade. ... He didn't deserve this. Nobody does,' Cornell said.

The announcement came as the number of violent crimes in the continue to top those recorded the previous year

The grieving father said that 'Cahlil was picking up his girlfriend to bring her home. Her living situation wasn't the best so he asked if she could live with us.'

The incidents come as year-to-date violent crimes continue to top those recorded in 2020.

As of September 26, shooting incidents were up 2.8 percent over the previous year, and shooting victims were up .5 percent. Felony assaults were up 6.7 percent, and misdemeanor assaults up 5 percent. Rapes were up 2.8 percent.

Murders, however, were down 2.5 percent, and overall crime was down .38 percent.

Holmes said Thursday that addressing violent crimes would always be the NYPD's priority, but that it also needed to build better relationships.

'If we dont have a relationship with the community,' she said, 'its never going to be a success for New York City.'
Human remains found by a farmer who was working in an Iowa cornfield match the description of a boy who vanished in May - three days before his 11th birthday, investigators said.

The remains were discovered in a field a few miles outside of Montezuma, where 10-year-old Xavior Harrelson was reported missing May 27 from the trailer park where he lived.

The farmer called the Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office, which responded to the scene, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation assistant director Mitch Mortvedt told KCCI-TV.

The remains of a child, thought to be that of 10-year-old Xavior Harrelson, who vanished in May, have been discovered by an Iowa farmer

The field where the remains were found had not been previously searched by investigators on foot

Authorities gave few details about the condition of the body that was found

Crime Scene Investigators were on scene on Thursday in rural Powesheik County

Xavior Harrelson was last seen on the morning of May 27 in Montezuma when he left his house to go on a bike ride. Pictured, Missing person signs for Harrelson hang outside his home

State agents, Iowa medical examiner and the state anthropologist also responded and confirmed that they were remains, he said.

'It appears to be that of an adolescent and at this time, the clothing that we see on scene, even though it's obviously soiled and stuff, is consistent with what we knew Xavior to last be wearing,' Mortvedt told the station.

He said authorities were not ready to identify the body as belonging to Xavior, adding that the state medical examiner and anthropologist have 'a lot of work left ahead of them in the days and weeks even to come.'

Authorities said they had relayed the news to Xavior's mother.

The field where Harrelson's remains were found had not been previously searched by investigators

Volunteers gathered to search for Xavior Harrelson, at Montezuma High School, in May

Volunteers gather to search for Xavior Harrelson, a 10-year-old missing boy, at Diamond Lake Park in rural Montezuma, Iowa on Sunday May 30, 2021

It was another blow to a rural area that had been mourning the 2018 abduction and killing of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts, pictured, who vanished about 15 miles away in July 2018 while out for a run in her hometown of Brooklyn

The boy's disappearance from Montezuma, a town of 1,300 people that is 70 miles east of Des Moines, had baffled investigators and saddened residents for months.

It was another blow to a rural area that had been mourning the 2018 abduction and killing of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts, who vanished about 15 miles away in July 2018 while out for a run in her hometown of Brooklyn.

In fact, the boy's disappearance came as prosecutors delivered closing arguments in the first-degree murder case against Cristhian Bahena-Rivera, a farmhand who allegedly stabbed Tibbetts to death and dumped her body in a nearby cornfield.

Some investigators who had worked the Tibbetts case for years left the trial to search for the boy, before jurors returned a guilty verdict.

After the trial, Bahena-Rivera's lawyers tried to raise suspicions about whether the two apparent kidnappings were connected, but law enforcement officials have rejected that scenario.

the boy's disappearance came as prosecutors delivered closing arguments in the first-degree murder case against Cristhian Bahena-Rivera, 27, a farmhand who allegedly stabbed Tibbetts to death and dumped her body in a nearby cornfield

'Xavior is a happy kid who gets along well with his peers and wants to please his teachers,' one of his teachers, Marie Boulton, said in June. 'Hes always willing to help you out, engage in a conversation, and offers a smile to everyone he sees.'

So far, no suspects or persons of interest have been named in Xavior's disappearance.

A 50-year-old man who was a boyfriend of Xavior's mother has come under scrutiny and been jailed on a federal weapons charge, but authorities have not alleged he was involved.

County, state and federal investigators had been examining whether the boy was abducted, ran away or had some kind of accident, and had searched several areas in the region in recent months.

Xavior lived with his mother in the Spruce Village trailer park. He was gone by the morning of May 27, and a friend's mother called authorities later that day to report the boy missing after speaking with Xavior's worried mother.

On what would have been his 11th birthday on May 30, hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials searched the nearby Diamond Lake County Park and other areas for him.

Xavior had completed fourth grade at Montezuma Elementary School on May 21 and was off for summer break. He was known for riding his bike around the trailer park.

'Xavior is a happy kid who gets along well with his peers and wants to please his teachers,' one of his teachers, Marie Boulton, said in June. 'Hes always willing to help you out, engage in a conversation, and offers a smile to everyone he sees.'
Her resignation as NSW Premier on Friday is the darkest day of Gladys Berejiklian's political life, but she has endured far worse tragedies.

Ms Berejiklian's 'secret' twin sister died at birth, and she hails from a family who fled a genocide where more than 40 of her relatives died, before her parents sought a better life in Australia.

A doomed love affair with dodgy Daryl Maguire has now ended her reign as one of the most popular leaders in Australian history.

In the near-five years since taking the reins at Macquarie Street, Ms Berejiklian successfully steered the state through bushfires, floods and the Covid pandemic.

But just as the intensely private politician managed to keep a lid on her secret affair with Maguire, few know much about her own personal backstory.

Gladys Berejiklian (centre) with her sisters Rita (left) and Mary (right). The latter made headlines at the last election for telling a troll to 'grow some pubes'

Berejiklian (back row) is the oldest of three sisters. The NSW Premier only revealed last year that she had a twin sister who was stillborn, who she learned of as a child

Surprisingly for a politician, Berejiklian rarely speaks about herself, with details about her family's past dragged, begrudgingly, out of her over several years.

It was only through her sister that the ex-Premier's new love was revealed, ironically with lawyer Arthur Moses who represented her at the ICAC hearings into her former lover.

An Instagram post in June showed the pair looking into each other's eyes as they sit beside each other on a lounge.

'After work Friday feels with these two. Glad and her boo,' Ms Berejiklian's sister Mary captioned the shot.

The New South Wales Premier's relationship with high-profile barrister Arthur Moses was confirmed on Friday night through an Instagram post shared by her sister

Beyond that, the two biggest insights into the Premier's personal life emerged in a 2018 speech where she was instructed to talk about herself, and in a lengthy newspaper interview prior to the last state election.

Escaping genocide

As the Ottoman Empire massacred its Armenian subjects during World War I, Berejiklian's grandparents fled the tiny, landlocked Caucasus nation for the Middle East.

'More than 40 of my relatives were among the 1.5 million Armenians massacred in what became the first genocide of the 20th century,' Berejiklian said in a landmark address to The Sydney Institute.

'All four of my grandparents were orphaned and witnessed untold atrocities.'

Her mother, Arsha, was born in Jerusalem, Israel, and her father, Krikor, in Aleppo, Syria - a city now known for a more recent humanitarian crisis.

A historical photograph of Armenians killed in the genocide of 1915, more than a century ago

Men stand by skulls and bones of victims of the massacre in this undated historical image

Berejiklian's mother and father migrated, separately, to Sydney in the late 1960s, met and later married at an Armenian Orthodox church in Chatswood, in the city's north.

They worked as a nurse and a boiler-maker/welder - her father working on the Opera House during its construction - and settled in suburban North Ryde.

Gladys, the oldest of three sisters Rita and Mary, was born on September 22, 1970.

She spoke Armenian at home, attended public schools, was her high school captain and carried the burden of being the first-born to parents 'obsessed' with her attending university.

'I was extremely competitive and wanted good marks but from the talk of the kids I hung out with in our neighbourhood, I was doomed,' Berejiklian said in her speech.

Berejiklian (bottom right) with her parents Arsha and Krikor and sisters Rita and Mary

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Berejiklian was the school captain of Peter Board High School

'Based on what the local kids told me, every kid who went to North Ryde High got bashed up and was forced to take drugs.

'This petrified me. I didn't even know what drugs were but I was pretty sure they were bad.'

But she went on to study at university and became the president of the state's Young Liberals.

In 1996, she wrote a letter to newly elected Prime Minister John Howard, demanding a meeting - and was shocked when he said 'yes, sure.'

She then worked as an executive for the Commonwealth Bank and was elected to the NSW Lower House for the seat of Willoughby in 2003, before becoming transport minister in the O'Farrell and Baird governments.

Driven by the loss of her secret twin

Berejiklian (pictured this week) told a reporter last year: 'I had a twin sister and she didn't make it... I feel like I've got to justify my existence by sacrificing'

In that landmark speech, Berejiklian admitted that sharing her personal story was 'not something that comes easily to me'.

Indeed, news reports at the time said fellow party members saw her reluctance to share a bit of her personal life as a weakness.

'In public life, part of my M.O. has been to not stray from core business - after all, I have been elected to do a job, and to do it well,' she said.

But even then her remarks were quite reserved compared to the deeply personal admission she later made to a reporter.

Berejiklian, who is not married and is extremely close with her siblings, told The Weekend Australian magazine last year that there was something else that drives her - the loss of her twin sister.

'I'm very lucky for me every day in life is a bonus,' Berejiklian was quoted saying. 'I had a twin sister and she didn't make it. It was just luck that I came out first.

'Imagine if you had a twin; you came out first, they didn't make it, I feel like I've got to justify my existence by sacrificing. So I don't care if I'm not happy all the time. I feel like I've got to work hard.'

Berejiklian said she only learned she had a twin when an acquaintance came over when she was a child and asked: 'Where's the other one?' A birth certificate describing her as the 'elder' of twins later confirmed the truth.

Arsha Berejiklian told The Weekend Australian that she didn't tell Gladys about her sister, as she didn't want to upset her.

Her five years leading New South Wales have revealed little upsets Ms Berejiklian. Even as she signed off from the job she loved, she kept the tears at bay.

'Serving you has been the greatest privilege of my life,' she said on Friday as she quit. 'NSW will come out of this lockdown stronger.'

It now remains to be seen if Ms Berejiklian will come out of her ICAC probe stronger.
Former Today Show host Katie Couric admits she 'heard the whispers' about Matt Lauer's alleged sex pest behavior with female colleagues in her new tell-all memoir.

The book Going There details her experiences in the office with Lauer, who was fired from the show in November 2017 over allegations of sexual misconduct.

The women who were left 'damaged' by Lauer's actions spoke with Couric as she was writing her book, she revealed, although the former anchor didn't name them.

'I suspect they'll be dealing with this for the rest of their lives,' Couric writes, according to The New York Post.

In one story involving Lauer, it is said that he would deal with women behind closed doors in his office, which was equipped with a desk button to lock the door.

Couric writes that one unnamed producer was told by Lauer to come to the now-infamous office wearing a 'skirt that came off easily'.

She also claims that Lauer complained to her that he felt uncomfortable putting his arm around a female colleague to comfort her when she cried, over fears he could subsequently face an allegation of inappropriate behavior.

Even before these allegations were made, Couric said her former co-anchor Lauer told her he thought that feminist movements such as The Me Too were becoming too powerful.

Former Today Show host Katie Couric admits that she 'heard the whispers' abut Matt Lauer's inappropriate office behavior in her new book

Pictured: NBC's Katie Couric and Matt Lauer together on screen for NBC's 'Today' show during the show's 9/11 coverage in 2001

Brooke Nevils was named in Ronan Farrow's book where she told of how Matt Lauer 'anally raped' her in 2014 while they were working for NBC to cover the Sochi Winter Olympics. Lauer is shown, right, at the Games

In 2013, an alleged settlement was made over Lauer with Today producer, Melissa Lonner (pictured that year) who told anchor Ann Curry in 2010 that Lauer had exposed himself and propositioned her

'This MeToo stuff feels like it's getting kind of out of control,' Lauer reportedly told Couric. 'It feels like a witch hunt.'

She added that Lauer was 'worried about a lack of due process, people's livelihoods and reputations being destroyed.'

Couric told Lauer to stop putting his arm around the women as it was making them uncomfortable, she writes.

She said that she tried to 'imagine such a scene taking place' and told Lauer that 'he cannot do that - you cannot put your arm around them,' The Post reported.

Couric also writes in the book, out Oct. 26, that she also heard 'rumors' that her co-star's wife Annette Lauer had called the control room one morning looking for her husband and demanding the phone number of a TV anchor he had been linked with.

They divorced after news of Lauer's misconduct exploded.

She also spoke of a secret office known as 'bunker' where an unnamed anchor went for trysts at NBC HQ, saying it was all part of a culture where sex and affairs were rife in the workplace.

Couric alleged that only an unnamed 'male anchor' had the key to open the office to use it for 'one-on-one encounters, and I don't mean interviews,' she is said to have writen.

Couric had served as a co-anchor for The Today show between 1991 and 2006 and worked closely with Lauer for nine years.

Her book also revealed an incident that involved an unnamed female producer who received inappropriate emails from Lauer in 2004.

In response to a congratulatory email she sent following a segment with biographer Kitty Kelley for her tell-all book on the Bush Family, Lauer asked her if she was trying to 'butter him up' and then asked her to show him by 'spreading it between her thighs'.

He also reportedly asked her to wear 'a skirt that comes off easily' into the office, Couric said the producer told her.

Couric writes that the producer told her a 'flustered' Lauer visited her office after he sent the email with a book option for the show, but didn't address the incident. Couric said: 'They never spoke about the incident.'

DailyMail.com previously saw a manuscript for Couric's book which also revealed that she had previously left Lauer sympathetic texts after he was fired.

In Couric's Going There, she details her experiences working for The Today Show and with Matt Lauer who she reportedly sent sympathetic texts to after he was fired in 2017

'But he betrayed me, too, by how he behaved behind closed doors at the show we both cared about so much,' Couric said.

Behind these closed doors, women were reportedly crying and going into Lauer's office, which came supplied with a desk button to lock the door.

Reports said that he gave one woman a sex toy and an explicit note saying how he wanted to use it on her. He was also accused of showing another woman his penis in his office and played 'f***, marry or kill' in the office.

Other anonymous women are reported to have complained to NBC about Lauer's sexual impropriety, with one saying she was summoned into his office in 2001 for sex. He would also sometimes quiz female producers about who they had slept with, it has been alleged.

Couric claimed that women reported instances of sexual misconduct with her that included inappropriate emails being sent to an unnamed female producer in 2004

Lauer was also accused of rape while he was in Sochi during the 2014 Olympics by former NBC producer Brooke Nevils.

The allegation was made in Ronan Farrows book Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators. A number of other women also came forward to make similar complaints.

According to Nevils, she was in Lauer's hotel room when he pushed her onto the bed and asked if she liked anal sex, which she 'declined several times.'

Nevils made the accusation in 2018 but Lauer has refuted them, saying all sexual activity was consensual.

'We performed oral sex on each other, we had vaginal sex, and we had anal sex,' Lauer said. 'Each act was mutual and completely consensual.'

'It is categorically false, ignores the facts, and defies common sense,' he said of the rape allegation.

He then issued another public statement about the allegations in an op-ed for Mediate where he slammed Nevils for 'false' claims and labeled Farrow, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who covered her story, as 'manipulative'.

Lauer angrily questioned Farrow's reporting abilities and accused him of 'shoddy journalism' for the way he described Nevils' story in his book Catch and Kill.

Farrow's book also published a claim that Lauer exposed himself to a female producer - Melissa Lonner - who then confided in his co-host Ann Curry.

Lonner was working as an entertainment booker for the NBC show at the time, and according to Farrow's book, Lauer invited her into his office and exposed himself in front of her in 2010.

She then confided in Ann Curry, Lauer's old co-host who left the network controversially not long after he joined her on Today, who says she spoke to senior executives about Lauer's behavior without specifically naming the woman.

Couric said that Lauer was a 'decent' man and it 'felt heartless to abandon him'

Wife Annette Roque divorced Lauer following the scandal - a stunning fall from grace for one of the highest-paid TV hosts in the country earning $25million a year

Despite the string of salacious revelations about her former colleague, Couric also described Lauer in her book as a 'decent' man and it 'felt heartless to abandon him.'

She writes that 'my heart sank' when she heard that Lauer had been fired and says that she 'couldn't imagine' what it was like to be him.

Couric says there was still a part of her that wondered if the allegations were just wild rumors.

On November 28, 2017, the day Lauer was fired, Couric had a brief text exchange with Lauer which she reproduces in the book.

'I am crushed. I love you and care about you deeply. I am here. Please let me know if you want to talk. There will be better days ahead,' she wrote in a text to Lauer after he was fired. He responded with a blowing kiss emoji.

Lauer's wife Annette divorced him in a stunning fall from grace for somebody who was once the highest paid TV host in the country, earning $25million a year.

Annette had allegedly called the control room once in search of her husband and also wanted the number of an anchor who he was rumored to have been involved with, according to Couric's book.

Couric admitted that she initially thought it was 'gross' that Lauer was cheating on Annette, and allegedly taking advantage of younger staffers, 'The general rule at the time was, Its none of your business. A dont-ask-dont-tell culture where anything goes, and everything did,' she said.

She writes in her book that she thought it was a 'consensual fling' and didn't consider talking to the unnamed employee out of fear of embarrassing her.

Going There will be released on October 26.

EXCLUSIVE: 'I love getting under her skin': Katie Couric reveals how toxic competition with Diane Sawyer escalated to all-out morning show war - and the truth behind infamous 'who did she have to b***' quip

Katie Couric claims that she got under the skin of Diane Sawyer so much when they were competing for big interviews that Sawyer said: 'That woman must be stopped'.

Sawyer, who was co-host of Good Morning America, was supposedly taking a break while on set and watching Couric on TODAY when she fired off the missive.

In her memoir, Couric, 64, writes that she 'loved that she was getting under Diane's skin' during the 'Booking Wars' of the late 1990s between GMA and TODAY.

But Sawyer, 75, was formidable and after losing out on one exclusive Couric quipped: 'I wonder who she had to blow to get that', a comment that was leaked to the tabloids.

Couric also said that she couldn't 'get over how cool' Sawyer was when she watched the decade-older newswoman when Couric was growing up.

Katie Couric (left) claims that she wound up Diane Sawyer (right) so much when they were competing for big interviews that Sawyer said: 'That woman must be stopped'

That gave way to ruthless competition and, Couric claims, Sawyer was so desperate to win that her producers would cry on the phone to people if they didn't agree to talk to her.

Couric details the rivalry in 'Going There', her memoir which is out in late October but DailyMail.com has seen the manuscript. The Sawyer passage has also been reported by the New York Post.

Our revelations have already sparked a storm as Couric admitted she didn't help female co-stars such as a young Ashleigh Banfield because she wanted to 'protect my turf'.

In the book, Couric maligns ex-boyfriends, former colleagues and mocks Prince Harry for stinking of alcohol and cigarettes when she interviewed him in 2012 during his party years.

Couric and Sawyer joined TODAY and GMA respectively in 1999, setting up a rivalry between two women who would go on to become TV legends.

In 'Going There', Couric writes that she was still a local reporter in Miami when Sawyer became a star and she was 'envious' watching her breaking the glass ceiling in a male-dominated industry.

Couric 'scrutinized' Sawyer's interviews on 60 Minutes and 'couldn't get over how cool' she was.

The rivalry pitted two women of different styles against each other, Couric writes.

She was 'fun and feisty' while Sawyer was 'sleek and sophisticated' but they were both 'at the top of our games and both very competitive'.

Sawyer is seen during the Booking Wars of the 1990s. Couric writes that she 'loved that I was getting under Diane's skin - not that she wasn't getting under mine'

Couric claims that she and Sawyer were not mortal enemies as the press made out but 'we definitely kept tabs on each other'.

The book suggests otherwise.

For example, it got back to Couric that on the GMA set Sawyer was watching a monitor showing TODAY and said: 'That woman must be stopped'.

A TODAY show producer thought it was so funny they printed up a pillow for Couric with the words on it signed 'D.S.' as if it were a gift from Sawyer.

Couric writes that she 'loved that I was getting under Diane's skin - not that she wasn't getting under mine'.

Couric made her comment about Sawyer giving somebody fellatio after losing out on an interview with a woman who gave birth to twins at the age of 57.

In the book Couric claims it was a 'wisecrack' but when it was reported in the tabloids it 'didn't exactly sound that way'.

Couric details the extraordinary extent the bookers - on the ground producers - went to get the big scoops using methods that were 'often absurd, hilarious and flat-out shameless'.

Sawyer's bookers regularly used cry down the phone if an interview was starting to fall through to guilt trip the subject into going along with them.

TODAY would put up guests at a hotel in New York and if GMA found out where it was they would pretend to be from the TODAY show, say the interview was canceled and make their own pitch.

Or they would send a car to pick the person up and take them off to GMA instead of TODAY.

If a guest was doing GMA and TODAY next then a GMA producer would stall them in the green room after their piece with endless cups of coffee so they would never make it to the rival studio on time.

Couric writes that the 'stakes were so high' that she and Sawyer often became involved by making phone calls or sending hand-written notes to interviewees.

Couric, seen in the 90s, writes that she was 'fun and feisty' while Sawyer was 'sleek and sophisticated' but they were both 'at the top of our games and both very competitive'

Couric calls her producer Lori Beecher her 'secret weapon' who helped her to get an interview with Lucille Bloch, whose diplomat husband Felix was suspected of being a spy.

Shortly after Beecher arrived at Bloch's home the phone rang and Beecher answered.

A 'sultry' voice asked to speak to Ms Bloch and Beecher asked who it was. The voice said: 'Diane Sawyer'.

Beecher said Bloch wasn't available and that she would pass on a message - which she 'somehow forgot to do'.

Beecher hid a letter that Sawyer sent the next day so that Bloch would only find it long after her interview with TODAY had aired.

Another tactic used by Sawyer was to portray herself as a devoted family woman to gain the trust of somebody they were looking to interview.

One of Couric's bookers countered this by pointing out that Sawyer had never actually raised any children - while the booker was a mother of two.

Couric's booker won the woman over and Sawyer 'must have had steam coming out of her ears', 'Going There' says.

But as the booker was driving to the hotel with the woman they noticed a GMA car behind them which suddenly gunned it and tried to run the booker's car off the road, forcing them to call 911.

Reflecting back on those days, Couric says that the rush to get the story 'often obscured the human suffering' they were reporting on.

She wonders if she was a 'journalistic voyeur selling our souls for bragging rights and ratings'.

Couric says she 'cannot defend' the media mentality at the time and says that it was the 'last lurid gasp' of tabloid excess.
Students have blasted St Andrews University for enforcing diversity modules before they are accepted on courses.

The institution in Fife, Scotland, which topped the Good University Guide this year, said prospective students had to accept 'personal guilt'.

They 'pass' by giving certain answers to compulsory questions on sustainability, consent and good academic practice.

But the university said the modules had been requested by students, were put in place years ago and denied reports on them being introduced recently.

It comes as a raft of schools, universities and companies bow to pressure to run the controversial training programmes.

Britons are being forced to take courses on anti-bullying, anti-racism and climate change despite questions over whether they work.

Academics and politicians have hit out at the schemes, warning they are a form of indoctrination and stifle free speech.

St Andrews University has enforced diversity modules for new students (pictured during the traditional Pier Walk in 2017) before they are accepted on a course

The institution in Fife, Scotland, which topped the Good University Guide this year, said prospective pupils had to accept 'personal guilt'

What IS 'unconscious bias'? 'Unconscious bias' is a term used to describe when people make assumptions about others without realising they are doing so. It is mostly associated with the 'woke' movement - while critics dismiss it. The University of California, San Francisco, claims 'everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups'. Edinburgh University says it can result in people being treated unfairly because of their gender, ethnicity or disability. 'Workplace relationships experts' Acas say unconscious bias sometimes stems from stereotypes. They give the example of assuming someone with tattoos is unlikely to follow rules. The term has only recently entered common discourse, but is already prompting corporations to implement specialist training for staff. MPs were also invited to undergo unconscious bias training - although some refused. Critics argue the training is nothing more than a corporate box-ticking exercise. Dr Frank Dobbin, Harvard University social sciences professor, argues that compulsory diversity training simply doesn't work and can often make things worse. Advertisement

St Andrews' modules ask students to agree with sentences such as: 'Acknowledging your personal guilt is a useful start point in overcoming unconscious bias.'

If a pupil tick that they 'disagree' they are 'incorrect' and are forced to redo the course if they get too many 'wrong'.

Another question in the tests reportedly says: 'Does equality mean treating everyone the same?'

But students who put yes are sent the message: 'That's not right, in fact equality may mean treating people differently and in a way that is appropriate to their needs so that they have fair outcomes and equal opportunity.'

Another part of the test says: 'It is important to think about and understand our own prejudices and stereotypes so we don't treat someone else unfairly or inappropriately.'

Meanwhile further questions ask what year St Andrews approve its biodiversity strategy and the time it takes to get to Dundee on a bus.

One student blasted the move, saying it forces them to agree with claims that contradict academic free speech.

She told the Times: 'I wasn't happy with it, effectively you had to agree with what they're saying and these statements weren't factual things, these were opinions.'

She said it was putting freshers between a rock and a hard place because they did not want to start at the university by complaining.

She added: 'It seems like they [the university] are pushing an agenda and it appears performative and contrary to academic freedom and freedom of thought.'

The Scottish University is not the first to move towards these courses, with Kent also making students complete bizarre induction training.

St Andrews' modules ask students to agree with sentences such as: 'Acknowledging your personal guilt is a useful start point in overcoming unconscious bias.' Pictured: Vice Chancellor Professor Sally Mapstone

It gets pupils to take a module which suggests wearing second-hand clothes and using swear words are 'white privilege'.

But it was slammed by the institution's emeritus professor of sociology Frank Furedi, who said it was 'a corrosive form of indoctrination'.

Meanwhile Professor of Education at Derby University Dennis Hayes said such courses are 'reducing universities to training institutions in woke ideology'.

A spokesmen for St Andrews University said: 'The Times report is inaccurate and misleading. These modules have been in place at St Andrews for several years.

'With exception of the good academic practice training, all of these modules were introduced at St Andrews in response to clearly expressed student demand.

'Our students pushed for the mandatory consent module, wrote the sustainability module, and were central members of the EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion) group which brought in the mandatory diversity module.

'The modules were developed to align with St Andrews' strategic priorities (diversity, inclusion, social responsibility, good academic practice, and zero tolerance for GBV) and help develop skills and awareness valuable to life at university, and beyond.

'In our experience, students recognise the value of these courses, and we have encountered only one complainer in the past five years.'
Daylight saving is about to begin for Australians in NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT as clocks go forward this weekend.

Residents will gain an hour of evening sunlight as daylight saving starts in the early hours on Sunday, October 3 when clocks move forward one hour.

They will also lose an hour of morning sunshine when it begins from 2am AEDT.

Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory do not observe daylight saving.

Daylight saving starts from 2am on Sunday, October 3 2021 for NSW, TAS, ACT, SA and VIC

During this six month daylight saving period, the country is split into five time zones.

Daylight saving is observed from the first Sunday in October when clocks turn forward and hour and end on the first Sunday in April when clocks go backwards an hour.

Most smartphones and computers automatically update the time but other devices such as analog clocks, alarm clocks, cars and microwaves will need to be updated manually.

Some experts warn that the one hour time change can impact sleep and circadian rhythm longer than just the hour lost overnight.

'Experimental data suggests a cumulative effect of sleep loss lasting for at least the following week and sometimes longer,' University of Sydney's School of Physics Dr Sveta Postnova said to 7 News.

A recent survey from ResMed Sleep Health says one in four Australians already do not get enough sleep and nearly half of the adult population have difficulty with sleep three or more nights a week.

Clocks will move forward an hour from 2pm, with most smartphones and devices automatically changing the time difference. Other analog clocks and appliances may need to be changed manually

'The spring forward can actually present significant sleep health issues for some of us,' ResMed's Dr Carmel Harrington said.

'We may gain another hour of daylight, but our body clock is not so quick in its adjustment and we will find it harder to go to sleep that hour earlier and find it difficult to wake up that hour earlier.'

She recommends waking up and going to bed earlier on Saturday to help adjust your body to the time difference and to make the bedroom bright to help wake up.

Being called the world's foremost authority on Daylight Saving Time (DST), Dr David Prerau believes it can promote better physical health as well as help to reduce street crime.

Residents in the areas that observe daylight saving will gain an hour of evening sunlight but will lose an hour of sunlight in the morning

'(It will) reduce energy usage, increase economic activity and provide most people a better quality of life,' Dr Prerau told AAP last year.

Despite these benefits, some medical experts have been calling for daylight saving to be scrapped with concerns turning the clocks forward could have a negative impact on health.

Paul Zimmet, a Melbourne professor at the Monash University Department of Diabetes, raised concerns that health risks linked with losing an hour of sleep when the clocks go forward could be made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.

'In terms of the scientific evidence, which we will want to stick with at the moment, there are more heart attacks just after daylight saving, more road accidents, and then you've got workplace accidents, car accidents and their implications,' he told 3AW last year.

Daylight saving was first introduced into some parts of the world during World War I under the idea it would save fuel through using less electricity.

Research has shown that any impact daylight saving has on energy consumption is insignificant.
Qantas has announced international flights will resume on November 14 after Scott Morrison gave the green light for Australia's borders to finally reopen.

The Prime Minister on Friday announced Aussies will be able to travel overseas next month once their states surpass 80 per cent double dose vaccination coverage - with NSW on track to be the first to hit that milestone.

The major airline had planned for international flights to resume on December 18, but said on Friday this would now be moved a month forward.

Qantas will start flying three weekly Sydney to London services and the same number of Sydney to Los Angeles return flights from November 14.

Vaccinated travellers will be able to quarantine at home for seven days upon their return while quarantine-free travel may also be set up for certain countries such as New Zealand.

'It's time to give Australians their lives back. We've saved lives. We've saved livelihoods, but we must work together to ensure that Australians can reclaim the lives that they once had in this country,' Mr Morrison said on Friday.

Qantas will start flying three weekly Sydney to London services and the same number of Sydney to Los Angeles return flights from November 14

Australians will finally be able to travel overseas from next month with fully vaccinated residents allowed to quarantine at home for seven days, Scott Morrison announced on Friday

Qantas will require all passengers to be fully vaccinated and to provide a negative Covid test before departure

Australians looking for an overseas holiday will be able to access an internationally recognised proof of vaccination document in the coming weeks to prove their status.

Unvaccinated Australians will still have to complete the mandatory 14-day quarantine stint in hotels or designated facilities upon their return.

Aussies who cannot be vaccinated including those under 12 or with a medical condition will be treated as vaccinated for the purposes of their travel.

Australians have been banned from leaving the country since March 18, 2020 under strict biosecurity laws to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Australia is in talks to set up quarantine-free travel bubbles with the UK, US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Pacific islands such as Fiji for the fully vaccinated. Pictured: London's Big Ben

States and territories will resume international travel at different times given varying vaccination rates.

On current projections NSW will hit the 80 per cent vaccination rate on October 16. Victoria will reach the mark on November 23, Queensland on December 8 and Western Australia on December 15.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said said he was confident there'd be a lot of customers itching to book one of the first flights which are already on sale.

Fares start from $1662 return for Sydney to Los Angeles and $1869 return for Sydney to London.

'We'd already sold out some of our international flights for December and seen strong demand on flights to and from London and Los Angeles, so we're confident there will be a lot of interest in these earlier services,' he said.

Next month's flights could be pushed back or forward as there is no set date for the borders to reopen currently.

Qantas will require all passengers to be fully vaccinated while they must also provide a negative PCR Covid test 72 hours before departure.

All other routes scheduled for December 18 will remain as planned.

The re-opening of the international border would mean that NSW and Victoria residents will be able to fly to London or New York before Brisbane or Perth due to state border closures.

Australia remains in long-held talks to set up quarantine-free travel bubbles with the UK, US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Pacific islands such as Fiji for the double-vaccinated.

Mr Morrison also announced the TGA is reviewing two new vaccines, Sinovac and Covishield, which are expected to be approved.

A travel bubble could be set up with Fiji (pictured) so Australians can finally go on holiday

'They will be particularly important for those coming from countries where those vaccines are being used. India is an obvious one of those, as is China and other countries throughout South-East Asia,' Mr Morrison said.

The government will work with states and territories to remove travel caps on returning travellers who are vaccinated only.

Quarantine may be scrapped entirely for double-vaccinated people coming from travel bubble countries, provided they test negative on arrival.

Such arrangements would mirror the New Zealand travel bubble that was in place between April and July before New South Wales suffered its Covid outbreak.

NSW is conducting a four-week trial of seven-day home quarantine for returning Australians with the aim of stamping out hotel quarantine by the time the borders open late this year.
North Korea has successfully fired a new anti-aircraft missile, state media said Friday, the latest in a flurry of weapons tests by the nuclear-armed nation.

The anti-aircraft missile had a 'remarkable combat performance' and included twin rudder controls and other new technologies, the official Korean Central News Agency said.

A picture in the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed the missile ascending at an angle into the sky from a launch vehicle on Thursday.

It is the fourth weapon that Kim Jong Un's regime has tested in a month, even as the despotic leader tees up the possibility of renewed peace talks with the South.

North Korea has test-fired a new kind of anti-aircraft missile (pictured) as the Hermit Kingdom continues updating its military arsenal

Until recently, Kim had held off from testing weapons - apparently biding his time since the change in US administrations in January.

In September, the North launched what it said was a long-range cruise missile, and earlier this week tested what it described as a hypersonic gliding vehicle, which South Korea's military said appeared to be in the early stages of development.

And on Wednesday, the North's leader Kim Jong Un decried Washington's repeated offers of talks without preconditions as a 'petty trick', accusing the Biden administration of continuing the 'hostile policy' of its predecessors.

South Korea's defence ministry told AFP it was unable to immediately confirm the latest launch.

Anti-aircraft missiles are much smaller than the ballistic missiles the North is banned from developing under United Nations Security Council resolutions, and harder to detect from afar.

Pyongyang is under multiple international sanctions over its weapons programmes, which have made rapid progress under Kim, including missiles capable of reaching the whole of the US mainland and by far its most powerful nuclear test to date.

The latest tests have sparked international condemnation, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying they created 'greater prospects for instability and insecurity'.

The North has now tested four weapons in a month even as Kim Jong Un opens up the prospect of further peace talks with the South

The United States, Britain and France have called a UN Security Council meeting on North Korea set to take place Friday.

It was originally due on Thursday but was delayed by Russia and China, who asked for more time to study the situation, a diplomatic source said.

Beijing is Pyongyang's key ally and in normal times its biggest provider of trade and aid, although the North has since early last year been under a self-imposed blockade after it shut its borders to defend itself against the coronavirus pandemic.

The North has a long history of using weapons tests to ramp up tensions, in a carefully calibrated process to try to forward its objectives.

With its latest actions, Kim was looking to 'test the waters with Washington' and its 'threshold for weapons provocations', Soo Kim of the RAND Corporation told AFP.

'He may wish to see how much he can get away with until the Biden administration starts to flinch,' she added.

The South's President Moon Jae-in has recently reiterated his calls for a formal declaration that the Korean War is over - hostilities ceased in 1953 with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Moon has only a few months left in office and Soo Kim pointed out he could be looking to secure an 'accomplishment' with the North before his term runs out.

'Kim may be playing to his strengths - and the Moon administration's weaknesses - by taking things up a notch on the provocation ladder.'

The anti-aircraft missile launch comes just days after Kim test-fired a new kind of nuclear missile with what the North said is a 'hypersonic' warhead

Talks between Pyongyang and Washington have been effectively at a standstill since the collapse of a 2019 Hanoi summit between Kim and then-president Donald Trump over sanctions relief and what North Korea would be willing to give up in return.

Washington and Seoul are security allies, and the United States stations around 28,500 troops in the South to protect it from its neighbour.

In August, the two held joint military drills that always infuriate Pyongyang.

Under President Joe Biden, the United States has repeatedly declared its willingness to meet North Korean representatives anywhere, at any time, without preconditions, while saying it will seek denuclearisation.

But in a speech to the Supreme People's Assembly, the North's rubber-stamp parliament, Kim condemned the offers as 'no more than a petty trick for deceiving the international community and hiding its hostile acts', according to KCNA.

The new administration was pursuing the same 'military threats' and 'hostile policy' as the past, but in 'more cunning ways and methods', he said.

Nonetheless, he expressed a willingness to restore North-South communication lines in early October.

North Korea has not shown any willingness to give up its arsenal, which it says it needs to defend itself against an invasion by the United States.
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Police in Ecuador have finally regained full control over a prison where 118 inmates were killed - six of them decapitated - in the deadliest jail riot that the country has ever seen, the government has said.

Nine hundred heavily armed police officers were required to subdue rioting gang members at Litroal prison, in the port city of Guayaquil, after three days of violence as soldiers and armoured vehicles stood guard outside.

The riot broke out on Tuesday morning when members of the Los Choneros, Los Tiguerones and Los Lobos gangs attacked one-another using grenades, guns, knives, and any other weapon they could lay their hands on.

Partial order was restored Tuesday evening, but violence erupted again on Wednesday, continued overnight into Thursday, and was only stopped last night.

Police were forced to re-take the building wing-by-wing, using angle grinders to cut through barricaded doors into prison blocks were the floors were littered with dozens of bodies and awash with blood.

As well as the 118 dead, another 86 were wounded - six of them critically. The government has blamed the influence of notorious Mexican drug cartels - El Chapo's notorious Sinaloa Cartel and their biggest rivals the Jalisco New Generation Cartel - for instigating the violence after infiltrating local outfits.

Police regained control over Ecuador's Litoral prison late Thursday after 900 riot officers were sent in to recapture the jail after three days of rioting that left 118 people dead

Officers were forced to recapture the jail wing-by-wing after it was overrun by warring gang members who fought using grenades, guns, knives and any other weapons they could lay their hands on

Riot police use an angle grinder to hack open a reinforced door that had been barricaded by rioting prisoners during three days of extreme violence that saw six people decapitated

Ecuador has declared a state of emergency throughout its entire prison system, granting powers that will allow soldiers to be deployed inside jails (pictured, troops on guard outside Litoral prison)

The Litoral prison massacre is the wrost-ever inside an Ecuadorian prison, and has been blamed on the influence of notorious Mexican drug cartels (pictured, soldiers stand guard outside the jail)

Ecuadorian Armed Forces, in conjunction with members of the Police, carry out an operation to recapture the coastal penitentiary of Litoral, in the port city of Guayaquil

Guayaquil, which is located on Ecuador's west coast with easy access to the Pacific Ocean, is well-known as a cocaine smuggling hub.

Police commander General Tannya Varela told reporters late Thursday that inmates 'no longer have control of the cell blocks,' adding that the prisoners were now back in their cells and 'everything is calm.'

On Wednesday at least two officers were injured when rioting inmates, armed with guns, attacked police sent in to retake control of the facility.

Soldiers and tanks were also stationed outside the jail, where hundreds of worried family members have gathered, desperate for news from the men locked up inside.

'It is a very painful thing.... They say people have had their heads taken off,' said Juana Pinto, who was seeking news about her inmate son.

Ermes Duarte, 71, who came from the nearby rural town of Salitre, said his son 'was only 15 days away from being released. I came because I saw a video, sent to me by cell phone, where I recognized his head.'

According to local news site Primicias, the violence erupted when prisoners from one gang celebrated the birthday of one of their leaders and bragged about their control of the prison, sparking the fury of rival groups elsewhere in the facility.

Tuesday's violence was the latest in a series of bloody prison clashes that have claimed the lives of more than 230 inmates in Ecuador so far this year.

At least six victims were beheaded, according to the national prosecutor's office.

In response to the riot, the government decreed a state of emergency allowing it to suspend prisoners' civil rights and to use public force - including the military - to restore order. President Guillermo Lasso visited Guayaquil on Wednesday.

Coffins are displayed for sale in the back of a pickup truck outside of a morgue after a deadly riot broke out at the Penitenciaria del Litoral prison, in Guayaquil

Relatives of deceased inmates wait outside the morgue, to recieve the bodies of the inmates murdered at the Litoral penitentiary in Guayaquil

Family members of inmates react while waiting outside a morgue for identification of the dead after a riot broke out at the Penitenciaria del Litoral prison

A family member of an inmate reacts while waiting outside a morgue for identification of the dead after a riot broke out at the Penitenciaria del Litoral prison

Family members of inmates react while waiting outside a morgue for identification of the dead after a riot broke out at the Penitenciaria del Litoral prison

Family members of inmates wait outside a morgue for identification of the dead after a riot broke out at the Penitenciaria del Litoral prison in Guayaquil

Ecuador's prison system has 65 facilities designed for about 30,000 inmates but actually houses 39,000, watched over by 1,500 guards - a shortfall of about 3,000, according to experts.

Corruption is rife and inmates are able to acquire arms and ammunition.

On February 23, simultaneous riots at four jails including Guayaquil left 79 inmates dead, several of them also beheaded.

Last week police confiscated two pistols, a revolver, some 500 rounds of ammunition, a hand grenade, several knives, two sticks of dynamite and homemade explosives at one of the city's prisons.

Two weeks ago, Guayaquil's Prison Number 4 was attacked by drones, part of 'a war between international cartels,' prison authorities said. There were no casualties in that attack.

The country's human rights ombudsman said there were 103 prison killings in 2020.

Criminal groups 'have taken over the country's prisons and are trying to send a message to the state that they are stronger than the rule of law,' said Itania Villarreal, a former director of the agency in charge of prisoner rehabilitation.

'The prison system has collapsed,' she said.

Security expert Freddy Rivera of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Quito said many prisoners had ties not only to Mexican cartels, but to gangs in neighboring Colombia.

Ecuador's prisons have become 'criminal central command centers' from which illicit activities are planned and ordered, he told AFP, adding that the country's prison massacres in recent years have exceeded those of Brazil and Venezuela.

Located between Colombia and Peru, the world's leading cocaine producers, Ecuador is a key transit for drug shipments to the United States and Europe.

Guayaquil is Ecuador's most populous city and its main port.

Soldiers stand guard on armoured vehicles outside the Guayas 1 prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador

Members of the military stand guard outside the Penitenciaria del Litoral prison, where a deadly riot broke out

Handout picture released by Ecuador's National Police of policemen taking part in an operation at the Guayas 1 prison

Soldiers are deployed outside the Guayas 1 prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador
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Prince Andrew was swept into Windsor Castle last night as he prepares to meet his new grandchild for the first time with the legal row over whether he had sex with one of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein's young slaves rumbling on today.

The Duke of York spent the summer at Balmoral with his mother the Queen and his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, despite the arrival of his first grandchild earlier this month.

Princess Beatrice gave birth to her first child on September 18 - but it appears he has waited until 12 days after she entered the world, arriving at his Royal Lodge home yesterday evening.

His arrival at Windsor came after he brazenly waved as he was pictured leaving Balmoral - just days after he officially recognised a sexual assault lawsuit served to him by Virginia Roberts.

Andrew has also beefed up his legal team with a Princeton-educated female attorney as he prepares to fight the sexual assault lawsuit brought by a Jeffrey Epstein accuser who claims she was raped by the royal as a teen.

Court documents, filed yesterday and obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, reveal the Duke of York, who denies the claims made against him, has asked Melissa Lerner to join his team. Lerner is from Los Angeles-based Lavley Singer - a top law firm known for making celebrities' legal problems disappear.

The same day, an attorney for Andrew's accuser Virginia Roberts said Epstein's estate had agreed to disclose the details of a secret settlement between her and Epstein - which the duke is arguing could protect him from liability.

Prince Andrew returns to Windsor after spending the Summer at Balmoral with his mother and ex-wife as he is understood to be meeting his new grandchild for the first time

Prince Andrew, 61, was all smiles as he left Balmoral today, three weeks after fleeing to the Scottish estate

He was pictured leaving Balmoral just days after he officially recognised a sexual assault lawsuit served to him by Virgina Giuffre.

Pictured: The Duke of York with Virginia Roberts, then 17, and Ghislaine Maxwell in London

The Duke of York, 61, had been hiding out at the Queen's Scottish estate for three weeks to escape the legal row but was all smiles as he left Balmoral today.

Court documents reveal the Duke of York has asked hotshot lawyer Melissa Lerner (above) to join his team

The royal earlier acknowledged the lawsuit against him by Ms Roberts, who now uses the surname Giuffre, who claims Andrew abused her on multiple occasions in 2001 when she was under 18. His lawyer has called the allegations 'baseless' and he has always denied any wrongdoing.

The acknowledgment was confirmed in a joint agreement signed by a lawyer for Prince Andrew, approved by a Manhattan federal judge and entered into the public court record on Tuesday.

The court papers said Andrew had been challenging acceptance of the lawsuit until lawyers spoke by phone on September 21. An agreement was signed three days later, according to the order signed by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.

MailOnline had previously reported that Andrew's legal team accepted that he had been correctly served with legal papers by his sex accuser. This has now been entered in the official public record.

Ms Giuffre's lawyer, David Boies, had previously said he expected the prince's US lawyer, Andrew B Brettler, to apply for a 'reasonable' extension to respond to the complaint  and indicated they would likely agree to it.

The prince must now file responses to the lawsuit's claims by October 29. A conference has been scheduled for November 3.

Delivering a lawsuit to a defendant is usually a routine matter but can be more complicated when a defendant resides outside the United States.

A judge must be satisfied that a defendant has been properly notified of the allegations and has a reasonable period of time to respond to them.

Lawyers for Giuffre had told the judge that they'd delivered the lawsuit to Andrew in numerous ways, though never directly into his hands.

At one point, Britain's high court accepted a request from Giuffre's lawyers to formally contact Andrew about the lawsuit.

Los Angeles attorney Andrew Brettler, who signed the papers on Andrew's behalf acknowledging the prince was aware of the lawsuit, had argued at a hearing this month that Giuffre's claim was 'baseless, nonviable and potentially unlawful.'

In late 2019, Andrew told the BBC 'Newsnight' program that he never had sex with Giuffre, saying, 'It didn't happen.'

Brettler has said that Andrew cannot be sued because an earlier lawsuit in the United States that was settled 'absolves our client from any and all liability.' That 2009 settlement document, however, remains sealed.

Prince Andrew walking with Jeffrey Epstein in Central Park, New York City in 2011 after the friends left Epstein's home in Manhattan

Virginia Roberts (pictured) claims she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions when she was just 17 - under the age of consent in the US. He denies the allegations

The court papers said Andrew had been challenging acceptance of the lawsuit until lawyers spoke by phone on September 21. An agreement was signed three days later, according to the order signed by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan

Ms Giuffre is suing the Queen's son for allegedly sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions.

Ms Giuffre claims she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with Andrew when she was aged 17 and a minor under US law.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 while he awaited a sex trafficking trial.

The death was ruled to be suicide.

Ms Giuffre is seeking unspecified damages, but there is speculation the sum could be in the millions of dollars.

Court documents show that lawyers for both sides spoke on September 21 and the time for the duke to respond was extended.

This latest point in the legal process is so a judge can be satisfied that proper notification of the allegations has been delivered to the defendant and they have enough time to respond.

In a previous legal hearing Mr Brettler said that Ms Giuffre had previously entered into a 'settlement agreement' with Epstein in 2009 that would nullify her case.

The 2009 settlement is currently sealed.
Australia is set to allow travellers who have received the Chinese Sinovac and Indian Covishield into the country without doing 14 days of hotel quarantine from next month as the nation prepares to open the international border.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday that the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) advised the two vaccines should be considered as 'recognised vaccines' for incoming international travellers.

States and territories that hit 80 per cent double dose vaccination coverage will begin to roll out seven day home quarantine for Australian citizens and permanent residents fully vaccinated with a vaccine approved for use in Australia or those 'recognised' by the TGA.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday that the TGA advised the Chinese Sinovac and Indian Covishield vaccines should be considered as 'recognised vaccines' (pictured: Women receive the Covishield dose in Mumbai, India)

In the past 12 months to July, students from China made up 29% of the share of international students in Australia with 160,061 students (Pictured: a child receives a dose of Sinovac vaccine)

This significant move will boost the university sector by allowing international students from countries such as China and India to re-enter the country.

Data released by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment showed in the past 12 months to July students from China made up 29 per cent of the share of international students in Australia with 160,061 students.

The second highest intake was students from India, which made up 18 per cent, with 96,334 Indian students.

In a statement on Friday Scott Morrison said: 'The recognition of these two additional vaccines is a major milestone towards more Australians vaccinated overseas getting home sooner.'

While the two vaccines have been approved to allow international travellers to be deemed fully vaccinated, the prime minister made it clear that the vaccines had not been authorised to be used for vaccinating Australians.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the two vaccines being 'recognised' by the TGA for incoming international travellers was a 'major milestone'

'Declaring certain Covid-19 vaccines as "recognised vaccines" is separate to a regulatory decision on whether they are approved for use for vaccination in Australia, which has not been made clear by the TGA,' Mr Morrison said.

The TGA is expected to continue to assess other vaccines and whether they will be recognised based on the available data and data that is given to the regulatory agency.

Mr Morrison also noted that the Health Minister, Greg Hunt, will consider updates to the Biosecurity Act Emergency determinations to facilitate some of the changes made for fully vaccinated Australian travellers as the government continues to move forward on its National Plan to reopen Australia safely.

Australians looking for an overseas holiday will be able to access an internationally recognised proof of vaccination document in the coming weeks to prove their status.

Unvaccinated Australians will still have to complete the mandatory 14-day quarantine stint in hotels or designated facilities upon their return.

Aussies who cannot be vaccinated including those under 12 or with a medical condition will be treated as vaccinated for the purposes of their travel.

Australians have been banned from leaving the country since March 18, 2020 under strict biosecurity laws to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Prime Minister also noted the two vaccines had not been authorised to be used for vaccinating Australians (An Indonesian health worker shows a vial containing Sinovac vaccine)
Australia has announced plans to rejoin the rest of the world by easing its strict Covid border quarantine next month, ending 18 months under some of the toughest restrictions on the planet.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that, from November 1, fully vaccinated Australians from states where more than 80 per cent of people are double-jabbed will be allowed to travel abroad freely - having been banned from leaving without a valid excuse since March 2020.

Fully jabbed Australians and permanent residents returning from abroad will also be allowed to quarantine for just seven days at home rather than being locked up for 14 days in quarantine hotels at a cost of 1,600 each under current rules.

That means the cap on how many Australians can enter the country each week - currently limited by hotel capacity - will effectively be lifted, allowing some 30,000 people who have been stranded abroad since the pandemic began to go home.

The rule-change comes just in time for Christmas, meaning thousands of families kept apart by Covid can now reunite in what are sure to be emotional scenes.

But barrier to travel still remain. Qantas, the country's biggest airline, has said it will only resume international travel on November 14 - two weeks after borders open - and will only be flying to London and Lost Angeles, three times per week.

The cheapest available return from Sydney to London the week of the 14th is currently more than 1,000, with prices over 2,000 on some days even for a basic 'saver' ticket. Saver tickets for sale in November 2019 cost around 700.

Other airlines have not-yet announced plans for when flights might return.

The plans have also upset some 1.6million temporary visa holders in Australia - including large numbers of overseas students - who appear to have been left out of the new regime.

'The time has come to give Australians their life back. We're getting ready for that, and Australia will be ready for takeoff, very soon,' Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. The PM announced the nation's border restrictions will be relaxed next month as the country approaches an 80 percent vaccination rate

Why fly home if state borders are shut? Aussie stranded in the UK still can't get home While Mr Morrison's announcement will bring joy to tens of thousands of people kept apart by Australia's ultra-strict border controls, others are feeling less-than overjoyed. The Prime Minister has linked the reopening of borders to state vaccination rates, meaning some of the country's eight territories will open sooner than others. For the likes of New South Wales and Victoria, it means reopening on or around November 1 - when the new rules kick in - because they are close to the 80 per cent full vaccination target needed to qualify. But for others, like Queensland and Western Australia, the wait is likely to drag on - possibly beyond Christmas. Amy Hayes, a Queenslander living in Reading, in the UK, voiced her frustration at the rule change today. 'All my family and friends are in Brisbane and so although I might be able to fly to Sydney or Melbourne, what would be the point when the Queensland border is still closed with no indication of when it'll open,' she asked. 'I'm just one of thousands of stranded Aussies. I'm fortunate in that I have not been subjected to the cruelty of having to grieve for a loved one overseas or in quarantine, or had any emergency to travel back for. I'm grateful every day for that. 'For me, and many like me it's the everyday moments we are missing out on, having extended time away from friends and family and grappling with the erosion of our Australian identity.' Advertisement

As things stand, it appears temporary visa holders hoping to be allowed out of the country for the festive season before returning to Australia will still need a valid excuse to go - such as the death of a loved one.

Steph, originally from the UK and who is currently a graduate researcher in Australia, told MailOnline: 'I thought the announcement would include everyone double-vaxxed and currently living in Australia. It's devastating that this doesnt seem to be the case.

'I havent seen my family in the UK for two years and I am so upset that I wont be able to travel back for Christmas to be with them.

'My life and work is in Australia. I pay taxes, I contribute to the economy, I followed the COVID rules, I got vaccinated and yet it seems Im not able to benefit from the border reopening.

'My Australian friends can freely go and see my family in London but I cant. It doesnt make any sense.'

The rules will also upset un-jabbed Australians, who will be allowed to go abroad freely but must still undergo 14-day hotel quarantine upon return.

Those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons and children aged under 12 will be exempt from the system.

And those living in states which are lagging behind in the national vaccination drive will also be left waiting longer to travel, as Mr Morrison linked the reopening of borders to hitting an 80 per cent fully-jabbed target.

One of those who fears missing out is Amy Hayes, and Australian living in Reading in the UK, who wants to fly home to her native Queensland to see her grandfather.

But just 45 per cent of Queenslanders have been fully jabbed, compared to 65 per cent in neighbouring New South Wales, meaning it is unlikely that travel to the state will be allowed before Christmas.

Speaking to the BBC, Miss Hayes said: 'All my family and friends are in Brisbane and so although I might be able to fly to Sydney or Melbourne, what would be the point when the Queensland border is still closed with no indication of when it'll open?

'I'm just one of thousands of stranded Aussies. I'm fortunate in that I have not been subjected to the cruelty of having to grieve for a loved one overseas or in quarantine, or had any emergency to travel back for. I'm grateful every day for that.

'For me, and many like me it's the everyday moments we are missing out on, having extended time away from friends and family and grappling with the erosion of our Australian identity.'

Mr Morrison said the plans will eventually be expanded to include foreigners - teeing up the return of tourism on which large sectors of Australia's economy relies - but did not give a date for when those rules will be announced.

'The time has come to give Australians their life back. We're getting ready for that, and Australia will be ready for takeoff, very soon,' MR Morrison said.

'We've saved lives. We've saved livelihoods, but we must work together to ensure that Australians can reclaim the lives that they once had in this country.'

On March 20 last year Australia introduced some of the world's toughest border restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

For the last 560 days countless international flights have been grounded, and overseas travel has slowed to a trickle as only those in 'exceptional circumstances' such as essential work or visiting a dying relative could travel.

Families have been split across continents, an estimated 30,000 nationals were stranded overseas and foreign residents were stuck in the country unable to see friends or relatives.

More than 100,000 requests to enter or leave the country were denied in the first five months of this year alone, according to Department of Home Affairs data.

Anti-lockdown protests have been held across the country, but Melbourne has been one of the main epicentres of discontent and anti-lockdown sentiment

Recent months have seen a wave of anti-lockdown protests in Australia as citizens rebel against the harsh lockdown rules (Pictured: protester arrested by Melbourne police on September 25)

Melbourne's citywide lockdown will remain in place until 70 per cent of Victorians aged over 16 are double-vaccinated, which is forecast for October 26

Friday's announcements could mean that within a month it is easier for those in Sydney or Melbourne to travel to London or New York than to go to Perth or Brisbane.

Australian flag carrier Qantas welcomed the decision, announcing it would restart flights to London and Los Angeles on November 14.

Expats and foreign residents gave the news a cautious welcome on social media forums. But experts say many Australians will remain cautious about booking travel for fear of snap lockdowns or other disruptions.

And the impact of the unprecedented period in the country's history could be felt for years to come.

'Australia has been a fortress nation with the drawbridge pulled up to the rest of the world,' Tim Soutphommasane, an academic and former Australian race discrimination commissioner told AFP.

Protestors take part in a Reclaim The Line rally at Parramatta, in Sydney, Friday, October 1, 2021. Protestors are rallying against mandatory Covid vaccinations in the workplace

Demonstrators gather during an anti-lockdown protest and police officers stand guard in Melbourne last week. Hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters clashed with police in Melbourne, leaving at least four people injured and more than five dozen in custody. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse more than 2,000

'What we're seeing now with this announcement of borders being reopened is akin to Australia re-entering the world, and it's long overdue,' he said.

A Lowy Institute poll in May showed that a plurality of Australians backed the tough border measures, with 41 percent of those in support.

Only 18 percent said fellow nationals should be free to leave.

'Australia in recent decades has been an emphatically open and multicultural and cosmopolitan country.

'It has been a trading nation. But Covid has seen the nation turn the clock back,' said Soutphommasane.

He added: 'There has been a sense of parochialism and insularity that has shaped the nation's response to Covid-19. The rest of the world may well be looking at this thinking that Australia has changed fundamentally as a country.'
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When Peter Somogyi arrived at Auschwitz in July 1944, his mother made an unlikely choice that would save his life.

Peter and his twin brother, Thomas, had spent three miserable days in a cattle car with their mother, Erzsebet, and their sister, Alice, riding the rails to the death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Whilst children were normally sent straight to the gas chambers  as part of the Nazis' campaign of mass murder which led to the deaths of six million Jews in the Holocaust  the Hungarian twins were spared by their mother's actions.

When the infamous 'Angel of Death' Dr Josef Mengele - known for the horrendous experiments he carried out on inmates - came around to examine the new arrivals, he asked if there were any twins.

Knowing that her choice might be her sons' only hope of survival, Erzsebet reluctantly stepped forward. She and her daughter were murdered soon after being separated from her sons.

Peter, who is now 88, recalled: 'They threw us out of the cattle car, I saw a lot of German soldiers with guns drawn, and I saw the prisoners and guards already.

'And that's when we lined up, along came Mengele asking for twins, behind him were two other soldiers.

'Three times Mengele came around; the first time my mother didn't say anything, the second time she didn't say anything, but the third time she said she had twins.'

Mengele was intrigued by the Somogyi twins because they were so young but so big. He also appreciated that they spoke German  a language they had learnt from their nanny.

Incredibly, both Peter and Thomas escaped death having any brutal experiments performed on them, but instead had their bodies meticulously measured.

'I was a very lucky one,' said Peter. 'We didn't have the bad experiments that Mengele did at the beginning, but measuring the face, measuring our size, blood-taking, and mostly measuring every part of the body.'

When Peter and Thomas Somogyi (pictured with their sister Alice and mother and father ) arrived at Auschwitz in July 1944, his mother made an unlikely choice that would save his life. When the infamous 'Angel of Death' Dr Josef Mengele came around to examine the new arrivals, he asked if there were any twins  in the hope that he could carry out horrendous experiments on them. Knowing that her choice might be her sons' only hope of survival, Erzsebet reluctantly said she had twins

Peter and his twin brother, Thomas, had spent three miserable days in a cattle car with their mother, Erzsebet, and their sister, Alice, riding the rails to the death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland

Mengele was nicknamed the Angel of Death because of his role at Auschwitz deciding which new arrivals would be killed immediately and which would be kept alive to work. But he's perhaps most notorious for his deadly experiments on prisoners  unnecessarily amputating their limbs and injecting them with disease. He was especially interested in twins

Born into a Jewish family in Pecs, Hungary, Peter and Thomas spent the early war years safe from the Nazis' worst excesses, thanks to an uneasy alliance between Germany's dictator Adolf Hitler and Hungarian regent Miklos Horthy.

THE HORRIFIC EXPERIMENTS OF THE NAZI 'ANGEL OF DEATH' Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele Immaculately dressed, it was Josef Mengele who greeted doomed arrivals at the Nazi death camp, Auschwitz, in occupied Poland. With a flick of his gloved hands, the supreme arbiter of life and death would consign terrified prisoners either to work or to death in the gas chambers. But many were condemned to an altogether more diabolical fate; they became guinea pigs upon his operating table. Most of his victims died in terrible pain without anaesthetic. Captivated by oddities, victims of Mengele's medical experiments were chosen based on different eye colours, growth anomalies such as a clubfoot or a hunchback, giantism or dwarfism, twins and gypsies. A choice 'specimen' he sent to his lab for study was the head of a 12-year-old boy he was going to dissect. Twins held a particular fascination for him and it's estimated that he examined around 3,000 - but only 100 pairs survived. Mengele once impregnated one twin with the sperm from a different twin to see if she would produce twins. When there was only one baby, one survivor claimed he tore the baby out of the mother's uterus and threw the child into an oven and walked away. Mengele had a doctorate in medicine from Frankfurt University, but used his knowledge in a sickening manner at the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he performed experiments as an SS physician from 1943 to 1945. Although prisoners transferred to his wing to be studied escaped the gas chambers and were well fed, they often ultimately met an even more painful death. Mengele regularly performed surgery without anaesthetic and would obtain bodies to work on simply by injecting chloroform into inmates' hearts while they slept, which would kill them in seconds. He was most interested in heredity and once tried to change the colour of children's eyes by injecting chemicals directly into them. Pregnant women were also singled out. He was known to have performed vivisections on them before consigning them to the death chambers. The so-called Angel of Death was on the Allied commanders' most-wanted list from 1944, but he escaped to South America and was never found, despite the best efforts of private investigators and the Israeli secret service, Mossad. He died in 1979 after suffering a stroke while swimming and thirteen years later, DNA tests proved his identity beyond doubt. Advertisement

The ten-year-old twins were even protected from tidings of war by their parents.

'The only thing I knew about it was from reading a little bit of the newspaper,' said Peter.

'It was a little bit beyond my comprehension.'

But life changed overnight when the alliance collapsed and the Nazis occupied Hungary in March 1944.

'First of all, my father, Josef, was immediately taken away,' Peter said.

'Within a month we had to go into a ghetto, and within two or three months we were put into cattle cars and sent to Auschwitz.'

Less than an hour after the boys were separated from their mother, Peter learned that they had seen her  and their sister  for the last time.

'The two soldiers behind Mengele grabbed us, put us into an ambulance and drove us into F-Lager in Birkenau,' said Peter.

'Mengele put one of the older twins, Zvi Spiegel, in charge of the twins.

'And the first thing I asked him was, "When can I see my mother?"

'And he said, "Look outside over there at the chimneys," and he said, "That's where your mother is."

'Immediately I knew, I would never see her again.'

Mengele was nicknamed the Angel of Death because of his role at Auschwitz deciding which new arrivals would be killed immediately and which would be kept alive to work.

But he's perhaps most notorious for his deadly experiments on prisoners  unnecessarily amputating their limbs and injecting them with disease.

Some witnesses described him performing vivisection without anaesthesia and even sewing people together. Twins were his favourite test subjects.

Peter and Thomas were lucky, however.

They arrived at Auschwitz late in the war and were mostly subject to blood tests and having their measurements taken.

Before they were parted, Erzsebet had advised the boys, then 11, to pretend they were only nine, hoping that their younger age would see the family kept together.

Although they escaped having any horrendous experiments conducted on them, they were far from safe.

'Every night I went hungry,' said Peter.

'It was just enough food to keep us alive. We were not starving but I was constantly hungry.'

He continued: 'One day, I think it was mid-October, another Nazi officer came around and they did a selection.

'They selected us, and we were locked into another room, and waited for a truck to take us to the gas chamber.

'Except Mengele got wind of it and says, "No, I will decide when these people will die." '

Mr Somogyi heard the other officer was sent to the Russian front as punishment.

Today, Peter is certain he wouldn't have survived if he wasn't a twin.

'Definitely not,' he said.

'I would have been with my mother and my sister, together we would have been in the gas chambers within five minutes after arrival.

'My mother, my sister, my grandmother, all my cousins  they were all in the same cattle car. They all perished within an hour. I would have also if I wouldn't have been a twin.'

But he's emphatic that Mengele isn't the reason for his survival.

'He was extremely polite. But you know, behind his politeness was the murders,' said Peter.

'He didn't save my life. He just kept me alive for his own purpose.'

When Auschwitz was liberated, the twins began their long journey home.

Mr Somogyi recalled: 'We started walking first, sometimes we got trucks, sometimes we got railroad cars, but it was months until we got somewhere.

'I don't know how I survived, really I don't remember.

'After liberation we went to Krakow, and every day we walked from house to house, knocked on the door and asked for a slice of bread.'

It took three days to reach Auschwitz from Pecs, but the return journey took two-and-a-half months.

Peter estimates that there were once a thousand Jewish children in the town, yet only themselves and one other returned.

Born into a Jewish family in Pecs, Hungary, Peter (right) and Thomas spent the early war years safe from the Nazis' worst excesses, thanks to an uneasy alliance between Germany's dictator Adolf Hitler and Hungarian regent Miklos Horthy

Peter Somogyi, left, and his brother, Thomas, right, with their sister, Alice, who was murdered at Auschwitz along with their mother

Peter's prisoner tattoo from his time at Auschwitz is still visible on his arm but is now very faded. Today, Peter lives in Westchester County, New York, while Thomas lives in Toronto, Canada. They still see each other when they can

However, they were not the only survivors in their family.

Peter said: 'My father survived Dachau and, at first, he didn't want to come back because he thought that everybody was dead.

'Somehow he found out that his twin boys survived.'

The twins never spoke with their father about their experiences, nor he with them about his.

But none of them were beaten by their ordeal.

Each of them made new lives for themselves, escaping communist Hungary in 1949 with the help of a Zionist organisation and settling in Israel.

From there, they moved to Surrey, England, staying for two years before moving to north America.

Peter and Thomas, sitting centre-left and centre-right respectively, with their children, grandchildren and other members of their family

The wider Somogyi family. Of those pictured, the only survivors were Peter and Thomas (in black, centre), their father (standing behind them) and their uncle (standing, far left)

Less than an hour after the boys were separated from their mother, Peter learned that they had seen her  and their sister  for the last time. Pictured: The Somogyi twins' names in a German document from Auschwitz

Josef Somogyi remarried in 1947 and lived to be 105, dying in 2003.

Peter married a fellow Holocaust survivor, Anna, and today the couple have a son and a daughter, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Thomas also married and has three children and five grandchildren.

Today, Peter lives in Westchester County, New York, while Thomas lives in Toronto, Canada.

They still see each other when they can.

Both continue to tell their story, hoping that the memory of the past can prevent history repeating itself.

'I hope it never happens again, that's all I have to say,' said Peter.

'It should never happen again.'

Mengele escaped to Argentina in 1949 and lived out his days in South America.

He drowned aged 67 in 1979. He was never prosecuted for his crimes.
Detectives investigating the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in 2019 have arrested two men.

The men, aged 44 and 53, were arrested in the Londonderry area on Friday morning under the Terrorism Act.

They have been taken to the Serious Crime Suite at Musgrave police station in Belfast for interview.

Ms McKee, 29, was shot dead in Londonderry in April 2019 as she observed rioting in the Creggan.

Ms McKee was shot dead by dissident republicans in Londonderry in April 2019 as she observed rioting in the Creggan area of the city

The extremist group that styles itself the New IRA was responsible for the killing. Pictured: Ms McKee's funeral

Three men have already been charged with her murder, while another two men have been charged with rioting and associated offences.

The extremist group that styles itself the New IRA previously claimed responsibility for the killing.

Last month, Geroid Cavanagh, 33, and Jordan Devine, 21, both from Londonderry appeared by videolink at the city's magistrates' court where they were charged with her murder.

The 29-year-old was shot dead by dissident republicans in Londonderry in April 2019 as she observed rioting in the Creggan area of the city. Pictured: A mural for her in Belfast

They were both also charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life, riot, possession of petrol bombs, throwing petrol bombs and arson. Cavanagh was further charged with robbery.

The two defendants were granted bail by district judge Barney McElholm and will appear in court again on October 7.

A third man, Joe Campbell, 20, from Derry, was charged with riot, possession of petrol bombs and throwing petrol bombs on the night that Ms McKee was killed.

He was also granted bail and will appear in court again on October 7.
This is the 96-year-old death camp secretary who was caught after going on the run in Germany ahead of her trial for aiding and abetting in mass murder for the Nazis.

Irmgard Furchner, who has been dubbed the 'secretary of evil', had been due to stand trial in Itzehoe Regional Court yesterday on charges of assisting in the deaths of 11,412 prisoners at the Stutthof death camp between 1943 and 1945.

She was just 18 when she started work at Stutthof camp on the Baltic coast in Nazi-occupied Poland, and is the first woman to stand trial in decades over crimes connected to the Third Reich.

Irmgard Furchner (left and right, in 1944), 96, was supposed to appear before the Juvenile Chamber of the Itzehoe Regional Court on Thursday, to face charges of assisting in the murder of 11,000 prisoners at Stutthof concentration camp, 33 miles east of Danzig in Poland. She was just 18 when she started work at Stutthof camp on the Baltic coast in Nazi-occupied Poland, and is the first woman to stand trial in decades over crimes connected to the Third Reich

But Judge Dominik Gross was forced to suspend the case at 10.10am and launch a manhunt for the nonagenarian after she failed to appear.

The court heard that she was last seen leaving her nursing home in a taxi before 7.30am and heading towards a local train station.

At 1.50pm, police tracked Furchner to a street in northern Hamburg, roughly five miles from where she was last seen. It is thought that she caught a train into the city, before setting out on foot.

She is now being held at a police station close to where she was found and is being questioned by officers, Bild reported.

The court will now decide whether to remand her in custody, while Furchner's original hearing on the murder charges has been suspended until October 19.

Shortly after she went missing, it emerged that she had written a handwritten letter to the court on September 8 saying she would not attend her trial while asking to be tried in absentia - something that is not permitted under German law.

She wrote: 'Due to my age and physical limitations I will not attend the court dates and ask the defense attorney to represent me.

'I would like to spare myself these embarrassments and not make myself the mockery of humanity.'

However, it appears no one believed she would actually attempt to flee the trial.

Christoph Heubner, vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee, said the escape attempt showed 'contempt for the survivors and also for the rule of law'.

It also highlighted potential shortcomings in the justice system, he said. 'Even if the woman is very old, could not precautions have been taken (to prevent her from fleeing)? Where did she go? Who helped her?' he told AFP.

Thomas Walther, an assistant prosecutor in the trial, accused the court of failing in its duty to ensure Furchner would stand trial.

Speaking to German newspaper Tagesspiegel about Furcher's letter, he said: 'The court did not react in any way. You just waited.'

Efraim Zuroff, an American-Israeli 'Nazi hunter' who has played a key role in bringing former Nazi war criminals to trial, said Furchner must now stand trial.

'Healthy enough to flee, healthy enough to go to jail!,' he tweeted.

Prosecutors accuse Furchner of having assisted in the systematic murder of detainees at Stutthof, where she worked in the office of the camp commander, Paul Werner Hoppe, between June 1943 and April 1945.

According to Christoph Rueckel, a lawyer representing Holocaust survivors, Furchner 'handled all the correspondence' for the commander.

'She typed out the deportation and execution commands' at his dictation and initialled each message herself, Rueckel told public broadcaster NDR.

The trial is taking place in a youth court because she was aged between 18 and 19 at the time.

A judicial officer looks at his watch at the court room in Itzehoe, Germany, after 96-year-old Irmgard Furchner failed to show for her trial Thursday morning

Irmgard Furchner, the 'Secretary of Evil', faces charges of assisting in the murder of 11,000 prisoners at Stutthof concentration camp (pictured), 33 miles east of Danzig in Poland

Stutthof, which was located near the Polish city of Gdansk, was the first death camp to be built outside Germany and was constructed in 1939.

Over the six years it operated - until it was liberated by the Allies in May 1945, it is thought some 110,000 people were sent there, of which up to 65,000 died.

Originally built to house Polish intelligence officers and intellectuals, the camp later expanded to include significant numbers of Jews - many of whom were transferred there from Auschwitz or camps in the Baltics - and Soviet prisoners.

The camp had gas chambers where many of the inmates were put to death, but tens of thousands also died due to starvation, disease epidemics, over-work and forced 'death marches'. Of those who died, around 28,000 were Jews.

Furchner was first questioned by police over her involvement in the camp in February 2017, when officers also searched her apartment.

It took four years and eight months to bring the case to trial, which included a medical assessment to decide whether Furcher was fit to stand.

In February this year a doctor ruled the 96-year-old was fit enough, and her hearing was scheduled.

The planned opening of the trial came one day before the 75th anniversary of the sentencing of 12 senior members of the Nazi establishment to death by hanging at the first Nuremberg trial.

Speaking about Furcher's escape bid this morning, Frederike Milhoffer said: 'I have received information that at some time before 7.30am this morning, the accused took a taxi to the underground station at Norderstedt.

'She is therefore officially missing and a warrant has been issued for her arrest.'

Speaking to MailOnline, lawyer Rajmund Niwinski, who is representing seven plaintiffs, said: 'You just have to reckon with things like this happening now and again.

The secretary worked for Nazi commandant Paul Werner Hoppe (pictured left), who was convicted by a West German court in 1957 and died in 1974. The Nazis murdered around 65,000 people in Stutthof (pictured right) and its subcamps, which were operational from September 2, 1939 until May, 9, 1945

'After all this is not just a mere history lesson, this is a murder trial so obviously some people just don't want to turn up to trial.'

Furchner was aged between 18 and 19 when she worked as a former secretary for the SS commander of the Stutthof concentration camp.

She was set to go on trial Thursday on charges of more than 11,000 counts of accessory to murder.

Prosecutors argue that she was part of the apparatus that helped the Nazi camp function more than 75 years ago.

In a previous interview with NDR, she claimed she had never actually set foot in the camp itself and insisted she had only learned about the atrocities after the war.

'Torture shows, gas chambers and mass hangings': Horrors of Nazi camp where Jews were sent to die The Stutthof camp was established in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, and enlarged in 1943 with a new camp surrounded by electrified barbed-wire fences. The camp underwent several iterations, initially being used as the main collection point for Jews and non-Jewish Poles removed from the nearby city of Danzig on the Baltic Sea coast. From about 1940 onward, it was used as a so-called 'work education camp' where forced laborers, primarily Polish and Soviet citizens who had run afoul of their Nazi oppressors, were sent to serve sentences and often died. Others incarcerated there included criminals, political prisoners, homosexuals and Jehovah's Witnesses. From mid-1944, it was filled with tens of thousands of Jews from ghettos being cleared by the Nazis in the Baltics as well as from Auschwitz, which was overflowing, and thousands of Polish civilians swept up in the brutal suppression of the Warsaw uprising. As many as 100,000 people would eventually be deported there, some of them moved from other camps abandoned by the Nazis in the later stages of the war. In addition to gas chambers and lethal injections, many prisoners died of disease in the camp's horrific conditions under the supervision of the SS. Around 60,000 people are thought to have died in the camp, while another 25,000 perished while evacuating in the chaotic final weeks of the Third Reich. Finally liberated by Soviet forces in May 1945, the camp is now once again within Poland's borders, with the town going by the Polish name of Sztutowo. Historian Janina Grabowska-Chalka, long-time director of the Stutthof Museum, described everyday life in the camp as brutal. 'In the Stutthof concentration camp, all prisoners, men, women and children, were obliged to work. Hard work that exceeded human strength determined the rhythm of life and death in the camp. 'Stutthof belonged to the camps where very hard living conditions prevailed,' she said. Holocaust survivor Abraham Koryski gave evidence in 2019 in which he detailed the horrors he endured at the Stutthoff concentration camp in World War II. 'We were beaten constantly, the whole time, even while working,' Koryski told the Hamburg District Court, according to DW. He added that SS guards would put on sadistic 'torture shows' including one in which a son was forced to beat his father to death in front of other inmates. Koryski said: 'You didn't know if the officers were acting on orders or if they did it on their breaks.' Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg told the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2017: 'Jewish lives just did not count. We had to assemble in a square. They had erected an enormous gallows with eight nooses hanging down, then one by one we had to watch these innocent men being hanged.' Advertisement

Lawyers say she was 'shielded' from the camp's true purpose by her superiors, while prosecutors say that is impossible given her role as the commander's secretary.

Furcher said she was aware that executions were taking place at the camp, but believed they were punishments for specific crimes - rather than genocidal mass-murder.

Her boss, SS officer Paul Werner Hoppe, was convicted for his role at the camp and sentenced to nine years in prison by a West German court in 1957. He died in 1974.

In evidence during that investigation, given nearly 70 years ago, Furcher acknowledged working for Hoppe but said she knew nothing of the gas chambers.

The state court in Itzehoe in northern Germany said in a statement that the suspect allegedly 'aided and abetted those in charge of the camp in the systematic killing of those imprisoned there between June 1943 and April 1945 in her function as a stenographer and typist in the camp commandant's office.'

Despite her advanced age, she was set to be tried in juvenile court because she was under 21 at the time of the alleged crimes.

The case against Furchner will rely on German legal precedent established in cases over the past decade that anyone who helped Nazi death camps and concentration camps function can be prosecuted as an accessory to the murders committed there, even without evidence of participation in a specific crime.

A lawyer for the defendant told Der Spiegel magazine that the trial would centre on whether the 96-year-old had knowledge of the atrocities that happened at the camp.

'My client worked in the midst of SS men who were experienced in violence - however, does that mean she shared their state of knowledge? That is not necessarily obvious,' Wolf Molkentin said.

According to other media reports, the defendant was questioned as a witness during past Nazi trials and said at the time that the former SS commandant of Stutthof, Paul Werner Hoppe, dictated daily letters and radio messages to her.

Still, Furchner testified she was not aware of the killings that occurred at the camp while she worked there, the German news agency dpa reported.

Initially a collection point for Jews and non-Jewish Poles removed from Danzig - now the Polish city of Gdansk - from about 1940 Stutthof was used as a so-called 'work education camp' where forced laborers, primarily Polish and Soviet citizens, were sent to serve sentences and often died.

From mid-1944, tens of thousands of Jews from ghettos in the Baltics and from Auschwitz filled the camp, along with thousands of Polish civilians swept up in the brutal Nazi suppression of the Warsaw uprising.

Others incarcerated there included political prisoners, accused criminals, people suspected of homosexual activity and Jehovah's Witnesses.

More than 60,000 people were killed there by being given lethal injections of gasoline or phenol directly to their hearts, or being shot or starved. Others were forced outside in winter without clothing until they died of exposure, or were put to death in a gas chamber.

Furchner is the only woman to stand trial in recent years for crimes dating to the Nazi era, as the role of women in the Third Reich has long been overlooked.

But since John Demjanjuk, a guard at a concentration camp, was convicted for serving as part of the Nazi killing machine in 2011, prosecutors have broadened the scope of their investigations beyond those directly responsible for atrocities.

According to Christoph Rueckel, a lawyer representing survivors of the Shoah who are party to the case, Furchner 'handled all the correspondence' for camp commander Hoppe.

'She typed out the deportation and execution commands' at his dictation and initialled each message herself, Rueckel told public broadcaster NDR.

However, Furchner's lawyer told the German weekly Spiegel ahead of the trial that it was possible the secretary had been 'screened off' from what was going on at Stutthof.

At least three other women have been investigated for their roles in Nazi camps, including another secretary at Stutthof, who died last year before charges could be brought.

The prosecutor's office in Neuruppin is currently looking into the case of a woman employed at the Ravensbrueck camp, according to officials at the Central Office in Ludwigsburg.

Among the women to be held to account for their actions during the Nazi era was Maria Mandl, a guard at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, who was hanged in 1948 after being sentenced to death in Krakow, Poland.

Between 1946 and 1948, in Hamburg, 21 women went on trial before a British military tribunal for their role at the Ravensbrueck concentration camp for women.

Prosecutors are currently handling a further eight cases, including former employees at the Buchenwald and Ravensbrueck camps, according to the Central Office for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes.

In recent years, several cases have been abandoned as the accused died or were physically unable to stand trial.

The last guilty verdict was issued to former SS guard Bruno Dey, who was handed a two-year suspended sentence in July at the age of 93.

In a separate case, a 100-year-old man is going on trial next week in Brandenburg for allegedly serving as a Nazi SS guard at a concentration camp just outside Berlin during World War II.

The man, whose name wasn't released in line with German privacy laws, is charged with 3,518 counts of accessory to murder. The suspect is alleged to have worked at the Sachsenhausen camp between 1942 and 1945 as an enlisted member of the Nazi Party's paramilitary wing.
A French serial killer has been found dead after 35 years on the run, just as police were closing in on identifying him.

The 59-year-old armed forces officer  nicknamed 'Le Grele' or 'pockmarked'  had been wanted by police since the 1980s for the murder and rape of young girls.

But the man, named as Francois Verove, committed suicide in a rented apartment on the Mediterranean coast leaving a written confession. He was found dead three days after his wife reported him missing.

In his most notorious case, he was suspected of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl named Cecile, who was found dead in the basement of the Paris building where she lived.

He was also believed to have strangled a couple to death in the central Marais district of the capital in 1987.

A 59-year-old French serial killer has been found dead after 35 years on the run. The man had been wanted by police since the 1980s. He was nicknamed 'Le Grele' or 'pockmarked'

In his most notorious case, Verove was suspected of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl named Cecile (pictured in an old photograph hugging a dog), who was found dead in the basement of the Paris building where she lived

Over the years, investigators came to believe that the suspect may have been part of the Gendarmerie  armed forces in charge of internal security  at the time of the crimes, and established a DNA profile of him.

In recent months, an investigating magistrate had begun questioning around 750 gendarmes who had been deployed in the Paris region at the time.

One of them was Verove, a 59-year-old man living in the south of France, who was sent a summons on September 24 to report for questioning on September 29, but then was reported missing by his wife three days after the summons.

He was found dead on Wednesday in Grau-du-Roi, a fishing village on the Mediterranean coast, a prosecutors statement said.

Pictured: 11-year-old French murder victim Cecile Bloch

He was a former gendarme, who later became a police officer and then retired, the statement said.

Police took a DNA sample from the body and found that it matched the genetic profile found at several of the crime scenes.

According to local media, Verove mentioned 'past impulses' in a letter he left behind, which he had since brought 'under control'.

He admitted murders without detailing the victims or circumstances, and said he had committed no crimes after 1997.

The murder confession contained no specifics, they said.

In 1986, police had published a police sketch based on witness statements that showed a man of around 25 years old, six feet tall with light-brown hair, and with visible traces of acne on his face.

A lawyer for Cecile's family, Didier Seban, thanked police for their work but also told AFP that it was 'painful to know that the criminal took his secrets with him'.

His nickname dates back to the murder of Cecile.

Her half-brother, Luc Richard, was among residents who recalled seeing a man with an acne-scarred face on the day of the crime in their Paris apartment building.

Verove had worked as an armed officer in the Gendarmerie. Police were closing in on his identity before he committed suicide

The then youngster, who helped police draw a sketch of the suspect, said he shared a lift with the man who seemed 'very sure of himself'.

He recalled during an interview in 2015: 'He said something to me like, "Have a very, very good day".'

According to the Parisien newspaper, Verove is also the suspect in another murder near Paris, of 19-year-old Karine Leroy, in 1994 in the city of Meaux.
A conservative American television host has claimed Australia is becoming 'like China' over the nation's policing, lockdown and vaccination policies as he stoked wild conspiracy theories on air.

Tucker Carlson devoted a segment of his eponymous Fox News program to blasting Australia's pandemic response and exit strategy, claiming that the country's slide into 'Chinese authoritarianism' was a lesson for the United States.

Mr Carlson's monologue suggested the government Down Under had 'disarmed' the locked-down public so 'they couldn't rebel', despite violent outbursts from those belonging to the 'Freedom Rally' movement recorded in Melbourne throughout September.

Popular American television host Tucker Carlson has bizarrely claimed Australia is becoming 'like China' over our policing, lockdown and vaccination policies as he stoked wild conspiracy theories

The popular news anchor began his spray by taking aim at the Australian Federal Police raids on the ABC in 2019, which he said 'seemed a lot like Chinese authoritarianism'.

He said after countries like the United States were left horrified by images of Wuhan citizens at the start of the pandemic being 'welded into the apartments to starve' and taken away to 'unknown locations', he claimed the same things were now happening in Australia.

'Two years later what does Australia look like? Well it looks a lot like China did at the beginning of the pandemic that's the sad truth.'

The top-rating political commentator turned much of his attention to Victorian police for 'beating... peaceful protesters' and 'hunting down' people for minor lockdown indiscretions.

The top-rating political commentator turned much of his attention to Victorian police for 'beating... peaceful protesters' and 'hunting down' people for minor lockdown indiscretions

Australia has been branded a 'fascist state' on US TV after footage aired on Fox News of the brutal arrest of a Melbourne man for smoking a cigarette (pictured)

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant sent conspiracy theorists wild with an innocent comment about life after lockdown when pubs reopen a month ago

'In just two years the Australian police went from raiding news rooms to beating people in the streets, so maybe the lesson is things can change very quickly,' Mr Carlson said.

'One moment the English-speaking world is mocking China for being dystopian and autocratic the next moment they're aping China and hunting people down who are two blocks from their own home.'

He made reference to a clip from Australian television of a man wrestled to the ground by Victorian police for not wearing a mask while smoking a cigarette a block from his home.

He also defended Anthony Karam, who became a fugitive from NSW Police after refusing to self-isolate after a Covid test as 'sparking a national manhunt because he sneezed in an elevator'.

'Not all Australians are on board with this,' Carlson said, in an apparent reference to anti-lockdown protesters.

'But because Australians were disarmed by their government a few years ago there's precisely nothing they can do about it.'

The 'disarming' comment appears to be in reference to Prime Minister John Howard's decision in 1996 to reform Australia's gun laws in response to the country's worst-ever massacre.

On April 28, 1996, Martin Bryant, then 28, killed 35 people and injured 23 more at a historic site in Port Arthur, Tasmania.

The laws banned rapid-fire guns from civilian ownership except under certain, restricted licences and tightened requirements for firearms licensing, registration and safe storage.

Multiple social media accounts accused the state's most senior health bureaucrat of having a secret agenda after she hinted QR codes were likely to stay so people could be contacted if they had visited a Covid exposure site

The very term New World Order has long been associated with the idea of globalists having an agenda but the evidence, so far, indicating Covid originated in Wuhan has sparked new conspiracy theories about Communist China spreading a virus to destroy liberal democracies in the West

'Look at what's happening now, they're being crushed,' Carlson said, as Fox played a video of violent clashes between Victorian police and protesters.

He finished by returning to the seemingly innocent 'new world order' comment made by NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant Health three weeks ago.

He appeared to claim news outlets worldwide were deliberately ignoring Australia's decline because it was driven by a move to a new world order.

Just over a month ago Mr Carlson also slammed Australia's ongoing Covid lockdowns likening the 'totalitarian' country's draconian restrictions to a 'science-fiction' film.

At the time he compared Australia to North Korea.
China's population could halve within 45 years, researchers have warned, after new census data showed the country's birth rate has fallen to a lower-than-expected 1.3.

It means that each woman is giving birth to an average of only 1.3 children in their lifetimes, well below the average of 2 that is needed to maintain a stable population.

If the trend continues, analysts warn the country's current 1.4billion population could halve before the end of 2055.

For decades, China has tried to keep a lid on its rapidly expanding population by strictly limiting the number of children couples could have - but it is now racing to un-do those policies as the pendulum swings back in the other direction.

China could have 700million fewer citizens by 2055, researchers have warned, after the latest census data showed its birth rate declining much faster than expected (file image)

Beijing adopted its notorious one-child policy in 1979 after the country's population near-doubled in just three decades, putting a huge strain on resources.

Brutal enforcement methods led to a rapid drop in births, with the policy only eased in 2013 to allow single-child households to have another baby.

The policy was further eased in 2015 to allow all households to have two children, and in August this year the policy was relaxed further to allow three children.

Just this week, Beijing said it was planning to limit abortions for 'non-medical reasons' in a further sign of the growing alarm about China's shrinking workforce.

Now, a new research paper by academics at X'ian Jiaotong University has laid bare the scale of the problem - warning the rate of decline may have been seriously under-estimated.

In 2019, the United Nations noted China's declining population and said the country could expect to have 100million fewer people by 2065.

But Professor Jiang Quanbao now believes there could actually be 700million fewer people in the country by the end of 2055.

If the birth rate drops further, then the rate of decline could be even more dramatic, his latest research paper warns.

A birth rate of 1 would see China's population halve by 2029, he wrote.

Chinese authorities 'need to pay close attention to the potential negative inertia of population growth and make a plan with countermeasures in advance', he wrote according to an account in the South China Morning Post.

Xi Jinping is now scrambling to undo strict birth-control policies adopted by his predecessors, loosening the one-child policy to allow up to three and tightening the rules around abortions

China's population decline has been caused by a number of factors, Quanbao said.

First, the country now has more people over the age of 60 - 18 per cent of the population - compared to those aged under 17 - 17 per cent of the total.

That means the death-rate is likely to exceed the birth-rate for years to come, unless younger people start having particularly large families.

There is little sign of that, SCMP points out, because China's economic boom has driven the cost of having families up - making it unaffordable even for those who do want lots of children.

The country's rapid advancement has lifted large numbers of people out of poverty while providing better-quality schooling and career options - factors that are well-known for driving birth rates down.

Instead of settling down early and having children over the course of decades, young people in developed economies are more-likely to hold off on having kids so they can get educated and advance their career.

China's one-child policy has also skewed the population gender balance.

Male children are seen as more-desirable in China, so families that were limited to having only one child often opted to have a boy - with pregnancies often terminated if the parents found out they were having a girl.

While a natural population should have a roughly even male-female split, China has an average of 105 men for every 100 women.

That also works to decrease the birth rate, because there are not enough female partners for China's male population.

Declining populations can cause economic issues as large numbers of people retire from the workforce with not enough people to replace them.

China's ageing population, skewed gender demographics, and rapidly expanding economy are all being blamed for a dramatic decline in the birth rate (file image)

It also increases the tax burden on younger generations, because they are typically required to pay for old-age care for the generations above them.

Provided the population is growing, then tax revenue is in plentiful supply to pay for that care. But if it shrinks, then each person in the younger generation is forced to contribute more to maintain the same standard of care.

Throughout the 20th century, rapid population growth - spurred on by the advent of modern medicine, an abundance of cheap food, and mass-manufacturing which rapidly reduced the cost of living - was seen as a major issue.

But in the 21st century, scientists are now warning that populations are starting to rapidly decline - with potentially 'jaw-dropping' consequences.

Researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation warned in July last year that global fertility rates halved from an average of 4.7 children per woman in 1950 to 2.4 children per woman in 2017.

Based on current trends, it could fall below 2 by 2050 - meaning global population will start to decline - and could be below 1.7 by 2100.

Some countries - including the likes of Japan, Spain, Portugal, Thailand and South Korea - could see their populations cut in half by the start of the 22nd century.

'I think it's incredibly hard to think this through and recognise how big a thing this is,' Professor Christopher Murray told the BBC at the time.

'We'll have to reorganise societies.'
Sadiq Khan has been urged to reopen the Night Tube in London to 'give women and girls a safer way home' after a spate of high profile attacks in the city.

The Mayor was warned the service needs to resume and to be fitted with onboard CCTV to 'tackle sexual assaults'.

The GLA Conservatives and women in the Capital led calls for it to reopen in full following the brutal deaths of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa this year.

The killings have left women in the Capital terrified and seen a sharp fall in trust in the Metropolitan Police after it was revealed Ms Everard's attacker was a policeman.

It also comes amid a rise in taxi fares, with cabs harder to find, as the country remains in the grip of a fuel crisis with a shortage of petrol in forecourts.

The Night Tube was suspended at the start of the pandemic as Britain went into lockdown and amid fury at the scrapping of the train drivers' pay grade.

But Mr Khan and Transport for London have given no fixed date for when it will resume, only saying they 'hope' to reopen one or two lines this year.

Before the pandemic the Night Tube - introduced in 2016 - was running on five lines on Fridays and Saturdays - Victoria, Central, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly.

The London Overground was operating a 24-hour service on Fridays and Saturdays between New Cross Gate and Highbury and Islington.

As well as being suspended due to the pandemic, there were also Night Tube issues due to staff pay.

The Mayor (pictured earlier this week) was warned the service needs to resume and also be fitted with onboard CCTV to 'tackle sexual assaults'

The GLA Conservatives led calls for it to reopen in full following the brutal deaths of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa this year (file photo)

Tory GLA Transport spokesman Keith Prince told MailOnline: 'As London's nightlife returns, it's essential the Mayor reopens the Night Tube to give women and girls a safer way home.

'The service not only provides Londoners with more choice on how to travel at night, it provides a better lit transport option instead of waiting for a bus on dark streets.

'But, the Mayor must do more to make women and girls feel safe on public transport. All Tube lines need to be fitted with onboard CCTV to tackle sexual assaults.

'The Mayor should also provide free advertising space to the 'report it to stop it' campaign to tackle the 90 per cent of unwanted sexual behaviour that goes unreported.

'It's not good enough for the Mayor to say London's streets are not safe for women and girls.

'He's responsible for policing and transport in our city. Londoners want to see action, not press statements.'

A petition was launched yesterday to bring back the Night Tube, with the creator saying it was because 'London is such a dangerous place for women'.

She added in a tweet to Mr Khan and TfL: 'Do something about it before even more lives are lost.'

Another person posted: 'Bring back the night tube. It is outrageous and downright negligent that a city like London does not have 24h transport.'

One woman wrote: 'London is now dangerous at night. After attempting to leave central at 1am last night I have never felt more stranded.

'No night tubes & night buses half an hour, uber & bolt unavailable, how are women supposed to get home safely? And you wonder why people are getting hurt?'

Another said: 'Why is the night tube not running yet? If everything else is open like normal then they should have travel options operating like normal as well.

'Had to wait 30 mins for my bus to arrive last night after finishing my 9 hour shift, because one bus was just a complete no show.'

And one more added: 'No night tube. 30 Ubers which take an hour to arrive. Nights getting darker.

'CLEARLY London is not safe for women alone at night - although it shouldn't be down to us to protect ourselves - HOW CAN WE WHEN WE HAVE TO WALK HOME ALONE?'

Sajid Javid renews calls for Londoners to wear face coverings on Tube Sajid Javid has renewed calls for Londoners to keep wearing face coverings on the Underground. The Health Secretary said passengers need to use their 'common sense'. He told the Evening Standard: 'If the policy of Transport for London is wear a mask, which it is, people should respect that and absolutely wear a mask, I certainly would on the Tube.' He said: 'It's actually common sense. The pandemic has not ended. 'We are in a much, much better place than we were before, the vaccines are working. 'But there is still Covid around and if you are in a crowded place like the Tube, rush hour, it's absolutely sensible to wear a mask.' Advertisement

Since the country came out of lockdown in the summer, the number of people using public transport in London has surged.

And the reopening of pubs, bars and nightclubs has brought on the need for services such as the Night Tube.

Buses still weave across the capital throughout the night, but stops are often poorly lit and have minimal CCTV coverage.

Meanwhile London Underground stations have cameras, TfL workers on shift and are always lit.

But the Mayor admitted there was no fixed for the return of the Night Tube, only saying he wanted it open 'as quickly as possible'.

A spokesman for Mr Khan said: 'Sadiq is committed to taking action to improve safety for women in the capital and has been clear he wants to open the night tube as quickly as possible.

'He has urged TfL to look into the feasibility of getting one or two lines reopened this year, which we hope will be possible.

'TfL continue to run as close to a full service as possible across all their services and the Tube continues to serve central London with last trains leaving around 01:00 and starting again at 05:30. There extensive night bus network continues to operate throughout the city.'

Andy Lord, Managing Director of London Underground said: 'All women and girls must feel safe and be safe when travelling around London at all times.

'Ensuring women and girls can travel safely on London's public transport networks is an absolute priority for us.

'We are running as close to a full service as possible across all our services and the Tube continues to serve central London with last trains leaving around 01:00 and starting again at 05:30.

'We want to reopen the Night Tube as quickly as possible but the pandemic limited our ability to train drivers and we have had to deploy available drivers to maintain a reliable service during the daytime across the week.

'We are continuing to review how we might be able to reintroduce the full Friday and Saturday Night Tube in a safe and viable way as soon as possible.

'We are exploring the feasibility of reintroducing some services on one or two lines more quickly.

'Our extensive night bus network continues to operate, and our licensed and regulated taxis and private hire vehicles provide door to door transport around the clock.'

The British Transport Police has more than 100 officers patrolling the 144 stations served by the Night Tube.

In the summer workers planned to go on strike over plans to scrap Night Tube train drivers' pay grade after talks between the union and London Underground failed.

The changes would mean instead of having a separate role for Night Tube train drivers all drivers would be expected to work a combination of shifts.

Strike action was proposed by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, which represents tube drivers, but called off at the last minute.

The union asked all drivers not to book into work after midday for 24 hours on August 3, 5, 24 and 26.

The union said London Underground proposed to axe the grade in 'a cash-led move' which threatened the loss of 200 jobs and the work life balance of 3,000 drivers.

The Night Tube usually runs on five lines on Fridays and Saturdays - Victoria, Central, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly (file photo)

The fear around travelling at night in the city was sparked by the recent killings of Ms Everard and Ms Nessa.

Policing minister Kit Malthouse said the Ms Everard's case had struck a 'devastating blow to the confidence people have in police officers'.

Wayne Couzens was handed a whole life sentence on Thursday for the kidnap, rape and murder of the 33-year-old marketing executive.

Mr Malthouse told Sky: 'They recognise that this has struck a devastating blow to the confidence that people have in police officers but also in the Met Police in particular.

'For those thousands and thousands of police officers out there who will have to work harder - much harder - to win public trust, it is a very, very difficult time.'

Mr Malthouse said there are important lessons to learn from what happened.

He said: 'My job is effectively to help the Home Secretary hold the police to account about what went wrong, how this monster slipped through the net to become a police officer, how we can make sure it doesn't happen again.'

But he joined several other politicians and policing figures in rejecting mounting calls for Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick to resign.

He added: 'She is a dedicated and talented and committed police officer who is driving the Metropolitan Police to ever greater standards of care and improvement and fighting crime.'

Wayne Couzens (left) exchanged misogynistic, racist and homophobic texts with his police colleagues who are now facing a criminal investigation, it has been reported, as Dame Cressida Dick (right) faces calls to resign

The police watchdog is investigating the conduct of 15 officers and one former officer linked to the Sarah Everard (pictured) case

Sabina Nessa, 28, originally from Bedfordshire. Ms Nessa was killed as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, on her way to meet a friend on September 17. A man has been charged with murder and awaits trial

The Met is facing questions as to how Couzens was able to get a job with the force despite allegations made against him earlier in his career - prompting a wider debate over whether police vetting rules are strict enough.

Mr Malthouse told BBC Breakfast: 'One of the lessons that we will need to learn is the allegations that were made against him - where those investigations led to, why they did not pop up on his vetting or have any impact in his employment with the Metropolitan Police. That is currently under investigation.'

Jess Phillips, Labour's shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, said trust in police is 'not going to be built back overnight', telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It is going to be built up if we see the Government and police forces starting to actually take violence against women and girls, and the complaints that women make day in, day out, seriously.'

While a lack of trust in police by women who do not feel that violence and crime against them is prioritised was a concern even before Ms Everard's killing, Ms Phillips said she feels for the 'really brilliant' police officers all across the country.

Helen King, a former assistant chief constable at Merseyside Police, told the radio programme it is important to ensure 'good, morally and physically courageous people with high levels of integrity' want to join the police and see it as an attractive career.

She said 'hundreds and thousands' of women have benefited from the 'professional and sensitive support' of police officers in cases of domestic abuse and sexual offences.

She added: 'I think we need to recognise that there isn't a magic simple answer to this.

'We all want it to stop, but there isn't just one action which is going to make that difference.'
Former Vice President Mike Pence has said that he has spoken with Trump on a number of occasions since they left the White House in January.

Speaking to the conservative podcast Ruthless on Thursday, Pence said of his communication with Trump: 'We've spoken probably a dozen times since the inauguration' of President Joe Biden.

He also referred to the events of January 6 insurrection, that saw thousands of Trump's supporters storm the U.S. Capitol building, as 'difficult' and a 'dark' day.

Pence insisted that 'We moved past it. We finished the work,' emphasising that his focus in now 'entirely' on the future.

His appearance on the podcast came as Pence was promoting his conservative group Advancing American Freedom, which says it advocates 'for Conservative values and policy proposals'.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has said that he has spoken with Donald Trump on a number of occasions since leaving office in January. Pictured: Trump (left) and Pence (right) together during the 2016 election campaign in Ohio

'I believe that future is bright because I think what we've got to do is tell the story of what we did the last four years, Smug, and not be smug about it,' Pence joked to the podcast's co-host Comfortably Smug.

'We also have to articulate a positive conservative agenda that will draw the American people to us, that would show how we would govern differently and based that on how we did govern differently during our administration and facing the challenges going forward.'

In January, Pence was publicly scolded by Trump when he certified President Biden's election victory in the face of false claims of electoral fraud from Trump and his supporters.

Trump has continued to challenge the results of the 2020 election despite his numerous failures to have them overturned.

Despite this, the 45th president's former VP spoke highly of Trump on the podcast while reflecting on his fond memories of their time in the White House, sharing anecdote about a phone call he received from Trump when landing at LaGuardia Airport during the 2016 election.

'By the time everybody was secured, everybody was off, I got into the car and I started to head downtown and I got a phone call immediately as soon as I got into car. And I answered the phone and he said, 'Hey Mike! This is Donald. You guys okay? Everybody okay?'

Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi preside over a Joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 Electoral College results after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol earlier in the day on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on January 6, 2020

'And I said, 'Yeah. No, we're fine. It was just a little bumpy ride at the end, but we're good.' And he said- he said, 'Oh, that's great. Because it'd be a real hassle to get a new running mate,'' Pence said, receiving laughs from the Ruthless co-hosts.

'And I said, 'Well, thank you for your concern. I appreciate that very much.' That was a moment of his sense of humor that I got quite used to over the years.'

On his political future, Pence said he is not a 'long-term planner' and suggested that he would have to find a 'calling' for him to run to office, rather than actively 'seeking' one out.

When pressed on whether he would be Trump's running mate should he run for a second term in 2024, Pence said 'wherever my wife and I feel called, we'll go.'

"I can honestly tell you at age 62, the last 20 years of our lives have been a privilege. And so whatever the future holds, we'll just take it to prayer, we'll examine our hearts, but I love this country,' Pence added.

'This is the greatest nation on Earth and I think it has fallen to us as conservatives and Republicans to defend and advance the freedom that's made this the greatest nation the world has ever known.'

During the podcast, Pence referred to the events of January 6 insurrection, that saw thousands of Trump's supporters storm the U.S. Capitol building, as 'difficult' and a 'dark' day

Despite drawing criticism from Trump and his supporters, Pence has previously spoken of how he is 'proud' of his actions on January 6, and his decision to approve the certification of Joe Biden as the 46th U.S. president.

Pence was in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 when pro-Trump rioters launched a deadly assault on the building in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to stop Congress from formally accepting Biden's victory over Trump in the November presidential election.

"I will always be proud that we did our part on that tragic day to reconvene the Congress and fulfilled our duty under the Constitution and the laws of the United States," Pence said earlier this year.

Some of the rioters on Jan. 6 chanted threats including 'hang Mike Pence,' who had refused Trump's request that he block certification of Biden's win, an authority the vice president did not have.

Pence, who went into hiding amid the melee, later attended Biden's inauguration. Trump did not attend the ceremony and has lashed out at Pence, saying that he lacked courage.

The violence left five people dead. Over 500 people have now been arrested on charges of joining the assault.
A man and woman have been arrested after an alleged robbery at a petrol station in Essex in the early hours of this morning.

Essex Police were called to a 'serious incident' at the Texaco garage at the Galleys Corner roundabout on the A120 near Braintree at 1.22am.

Upon arrival, a woman, 36, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of robbery, while a 36-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of burglary.

Police cordoned off the Texaco petrol station at Galleys Corner on the A120 in Braintree

The incident took place at the Texaco garage on the A1200 at Galleys Corner roundabout near Braintree

The woman and man were taken into custody for questioning and the petrol station was cordoned off until this morning.

A guest staying at the nearby Premier Inn said: 'I could just hear a lot of shouting, sounded like police were there.

'Whatever happened sounded serious,' they told the East Anglian Daily Times.

Essex Police's control room tweeted at 2.35am that officers were attending a 'serious incident' at the petrol station.

A spokesman for the force said: 'We were called at around 1:22am today (Friday 1 October) to the Texaco garage at Galleys Corner roundabout on the A120 following reports of a robbery.

'Officers arrived on scene and quickly made two arrests.

'A 36-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of robbery and a 36-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of burglary. Both remain in custody. No-one was injured during the incident.

A 36-year-old woman was arrested at the scene on suspicion of robbery and a man, 35, for burglary

'Anyone with information should submit a report online or use the 'Live Chat' button to speak to an online operator between 7am-11pm.

'You can also call us on 101 quoting crime reference 42/214123/21.'
A dangerous 'supercell' storm has swept over Sydney blanketing the Harbour City in ominous black skies and hailstones on Friday.

Australia's largest city was smashed by the dramatic storm which blew over the CBD from the western suburbs of NSW in mere minutes, with thunderstorms expected to continue for the remainder of the evening.

Elsewhere severe weather warnings remain in place for several parts of New South Wales after severe thunderstorms pummelled the state and headed north for Queensland.

The storms marked another day of wild weather after tornadoes wreaked havoc across western NSW on Thursday.

A dangerous 'supercell' storm preceded by ominous black skies battered millions of Australians with heavy rain and hail smashing Sydney

Sydney was smashed by the storm on Friday evening and severe weather warnings remain in place for several parts of New South Wales after severe thunderstorms hit several regions

The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed at least two tornadoes hit NSW, one in Bathurst, where three people were injured, and the other at Narrabri.

There were other unconfirmed reports or tornadoes in western NSW.

Severe storms lashed parts of NSW's east coast and southeast Queensland on Friday as a low pressure system barrels in from the west.

Conditions were due to clear for a warm and sunny long weekend in both states.

Meanwhile, other parts of the country - including Melbourne, the ACT, Hobart, and Perth - can expect downpours for days as wet weather lingers into next week.

Earlier the Bureau of Meteorology issued warnings for damaging winds, heavy rain and large hail for parts of inland NSW on Friday, as the huge weather system continues to thrash the eastern states.

Storm clouds rolled across Sydney in the early evening with torrential rain following quickly

Sydney's storm descended in minutes dumping heavy rain and hail on the city

A tornado (pictured) surged through central west NSW on Thursday, injuring three people, ripping down powerlines and damaging houses and trees

On Thursday, a tornado ripped through central west NSW, injuring three people, tearing down powerlines and destroying buildings and trees in its path.

The violent storm travelled up to 30km on Thursday afternoon and demolished a house at Meadow Flat in the Bathurst region, while at least one other home along with sheds and other structures were also destroyed in the area.

BOM meteorologist Hugh McDowell said widespread rainfall and thunderstorms in inland parts of the state had peaked on Wednesday and Thursday and the weather front was now moving towards the coast.

Giant hailstones up to five centimetres in diameter were recorded in Bourke, in the state's far west, with wind gusts reaching 85km/h.

Walgett in northern NSW saw 60mm of rain - double its monthly average for September - in one day, while Canberra recorded 38mm, or half its September average.

While most communities will only experience showers or rain over the next couple of days, some will see more thunderstorms between now and the weekend, he said.

The BOM said people should monitor for changes in their areas over coming days, with warnings remaining for storms, damaging winds, heavy rain and hail.

Giant hailstones (pictured) measuring up to 5cm wide were recorded in Bourke, in NSW's far west

Queensland and NSW will enjoy balmy temperatures on Sunday and Monday when the storm clears (pictured, Sydneysiders enjoying the sun at Bondi)

Conditions should ease as the trough moves offshore, making for a largely nice long weekend.

'We're looking at dryer and cooler conditions starting to improve from Saturday.

'Sunday looks mostly dry with temperatures above average - even into the 30s - with quite warm conditions developing and that's going to continue until Monday and potentially Tuesday,' Mr McDowell said.

Parts of northern NSW will experience increased bushfire risk, as low humidity combines with westerly winds. Residents in those areas are urged to remain alert for warnings from fire services.

As the weather system charges towards the coast, Sydneysiders can expect a wet Friday with the chance of a possibly severe thunderstorm in the late morning and afternoon.

The wet weather will continue into the start of the weekend, with a few showers on Saturday, before skies clear for a warm Sunday with a top of 27C.

A woman takes a photo of the city skyline as storm clouds gather over Sydney on Thursday

Brisbane can expect similar conditions with severe storms forecast to drench the city on Friday night, with a risk of damaging winds, large hail, and flash flooding.

But the wild weather will ease overnight to make way for a sunny and hot weekend with a max of 28C on Saturday and 30C on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Melbournians will need umbrellas leading into next week with showers forecast until Wednesday.

Despite the wet weather, temperatures will remain moderate - hovering between the low teens to 21C before dipping below 10C for a cooler week from Tuesday.

Darwin will also see some showers on Friday and Saturday, with the mercury basking between mid20Cs lows and climbing into the low 30Cs.

Dreary weather will dominate the weekend in Canberra, Perth, and Hobart, with showers to linger in all three cities leading into mid-next week.

Canberrans can expect cooler temperatures in coming days with minimums sitting below 10C and highs topping at 20C.

It will be slightly warmer in Perth, with maximums sitting around 20C, while Hobart will remain chillier with tops in the mid teens.

Adelaide will see sporadic showers into next week - but there will be a slight reprieve over the weekend. Showers will ease on Sunday for a max of 19C and low of 12C before dropping to a cool 9C on Tuesday.
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A McDonald's worker who was flashed by Wayne Couzens today blasted police for 'not acting quickly enough' after they were handed CCTV of him at the drive-thru three days before Sarah Everard's murder - as it emerged officers knew his name but failed to identify him as one of their officers until after the tragedy.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said that two incidents of Couzens exposing himself took place in February as he arrived in his car late at night at a drive-thru on the A20 near Swanley in Kent with his trousers down. Police were told of the allegations on February 28 although the incidents took place earlier that month.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, she fumed: 'The police took our statements and took away CCTV. If they had taken this more seriously, they could easily have figured out that he was a policeman who had committed these crimes. The police had three days to stop him but didn't. It could have stopped him from doing a lot worse.'

Previously it was known the incidents had been reported to police, but the fact officers knew his name but did not realise he was a serving Met policeman - which MailOnline can reveal today - will be seen as fresh evidence he could have been exposed as a sexual predator before he went on to kidnap, rape and strangle the 33-year-old.

Address searches show there are very few people sharing the killer's name in the country, and even fewer in London and the South East - meaning a basic investigation would have identified the Diplomatic Protection Officer as the suspect.

Had detectives understood the full picture at the time, it is likely Couzens would have been suspended. Officers are then usually put on restricted duties, which means they must hand in their warrant card and cannot have any contact with the public.

To carry out his horrific crime, the fiend showed Miss Everard his warrant card to force her into his car as part of a fake Covid arrest. He then used his Met-issued equipment to handcuff the marketing executive before strangling her with his police belt.

The Met said the McDonald's allegations were 'allocated for investigation' but 'by the time of Sarah's abduction it was not concluded'. It referred itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct, which is investigating the force's alleged failure to investigate.

Today's revelation will heap yet more pressure on beleaguered Met commissioner Cressida Dick - who has been facing demands to resign over the multiple missed chances to expose Couzens as a threat to women before he was able to finally fulfill his sick fantasy.

As the Met and its Commissioner faced yet another crisis, it also emerged today -

Furious MPs are demanding an independent inquiry into Miss Everard's murder amid anger at 'deeply insulting' Met Police guidance telling women to 'wave down a bus' if they don't trust a male officer;

Met detectives are actively investigating if killer cop Wayne Couzens is connected to any further historic crimes;

Couzens exchanged misogynistic, racist and homophobic texts with his police colleagues who are now facing a criminal investigation. 16 officers are being probed;

Met chief Cressida Dick still faces a clamour to resign after she admitted Sarah Everard's murder had corroded trust in the police and brought 'shame' on her force'.

Police knew a Wayne Couzens (left, in his uniform with his police belt circled; and right, in a court sketch) was accused of flashing two women at a McDonald's, with police hearing about the allegation three days before he raped and murdered Sarah Everard. However, officers failed to make the link with him being a police officer

To carry out his horrific crime, Couzens showed Miss Everard his warrant card to force her into his car as part of a fake Covid arrest

Staff at the Swanley McDonald's told police on February 28 that two female members of staff had been flashed by a motorist who exposed himself on February 7 and again on February 27.

Last night, an official statement said the crimes had been 'allocated for investigation' by the time of Miss Everard's abduction but it was not concluded. It added that the case remained a 'live criminal inquiry'.

The Met is being investigated by the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) over how it handled the case. In last night's statement, it said officers' approach to indecent exposure reports was being 're-evaluated'.

The female McDonald's worker said the first incident occurred when Couzens bought a coffee and a Big Mac with fries at the drive-thru. When she looked down from the serving hatch, the woman saw that he was not wearing any trousers.

The woman revealed that she informed management immediately that night but was left so disturbed that she did not take down any details of his vehicle and was only able to provide a brief description of him, as he was wearing a mask.

The next time Couzens allegedly exposed himself to another female McDonald's worker who was aged around 18. She managed to note down the registration number of the killer cop's car and the make and model, prompting management to inform police shortly afterwards, it is claimed.

Multiple chances police missed to identify Couzens as sexual predator 1 - On February 28, two McDonald's staff told police they were flashed by a male motorist at a branch in Swanley, Kent. Officers are then believed to have identified Couzens' car via CCTV of his number plate. However, officers did not realise the suspect was their own officer until afterwards. 2 - Couzens' car number plate was linked to the 2015 indecent exposure but Met Police blamed the Kent force, claiming 'Kent Police investigated this allegation and decided to take no further action. Our review found that the record of this allegation and outcome may not have been found during the vetting checks.' HOW DID COP NICKNAMED 'THE RAPIST' PASS VETTING FOR ELITE MET ARMED UNIT? The Met is also facing questions about how its vetting process failed to pick up concerns around Couzens before he was made an armed officer in its elite Diplomatic Protection Group, which involved him guarding embassies, VIPs and members of the Royal Family. There were numerous clues about Couzens' bad character, including: Couzens used to work at his father's garage in Dover before joining the Kent Special Constabulary at some point after 2002. The court heard a colleague in that year spoke of 'his attraction to brutal sexual pornography' but Jim Sturman QC, defending, said it related to a single incident 'which is almost impossible to examine now';

He allegedly nicknamed 'The Rapist' by colleagues in the Civil Nuclear Constabulary - where he was involved in protecting nuclear power stations - because of his inappropriate behaviour around women;

He used prostitutes and had a fake Match.com dating profile despite being married with two children, his trial heard;

In 2018, it has been claimed that he was reported to bosses for slapping a female police officer's bottom at Bromley police station but it appears no action was taken, a source claimed;

While at Bromley, it is also alleged he became the subject of gossip for only stopping female motorists - before taking their details so he could watch their homes - and parking outside schools to leer at mothers and sixth formers;

The Met said: 'Couzens was a serving and vetted police officer when he joined the Met. He had no criminal convictions or cautions and he was not subject to any misconduct proceedings during his time at the Met. We are not aware of any other concerns raised by his colleagues, or anyone else, regarding his behaviour prior to him joining the Met or since.' Advertisement

Couzens is said to have visited the McDonald's in his blue Seat car, which he used to carry Everard to her death in Kent.

She was initially abducted in south London on March 3 in another car he hired for the crime before transferring her to the Seat, which he had deliberately left in an isolated location in Dover.

After being informed of the two indecent exposure incidents by McDonald's management, officers arrived at the Swanley branch on February 28, where they interviewed both women, some of their colleagues and were also provided with CCTV footage.

The woman added: 'The officers came to the MacDonald's sat us down and we gave them all the details about what happened. They went away with a lot of evidence and CCTV.

'If you ask me, they had good information to go on. But I don't think any of us expected the case would escalate so quickly and that Sarah would be murdered just a few days later.'

The woman said she only realised that it was Couzens who had exposed himself to her following his arrest when she saw a picture of his blue Seat car in the media and another of him holding a drink.

She recalled: 'I saw the blue car and there was a picture of him with a drink. He had very specific hands and I joined the dots and realised that it was him. It sent a cold shiver through me.

'He had very distinctive, heavy hands, they were like clubs. I noticed them when I handed him the coffee at the drive thru and when I saw them in the picture, I knew it was the same man who had exposed himself to me.'

Recalling the moment Couzens allegedly exposed himself to her, the woman said: 'The whole thing left me quite disturbed. He casually pulled up to the serving hatch having ordered his food and I could clearly see that he was naked from below the waist.

'I'm glad that I reported him. I wanted to show my younger female colleagues that this behaviour is not acceptable, and women should not have to put up with it.'

The woman, who is a devout Christian, revealed that following Couzens arrest, she had been told that he had exposed himself to other women working at businesses in the Kent area.

She added: 'It was not the first time that he had done this when he came to McDonald's and I've since heard that he'd done it at other places too.

'I'm glad I took a stand and alerted the authorities because it was the right thing do. But I never imagined that he would go on to murder a woman, it's tragic.'

The woman claimed that since providing a statement to police on February 28 and Couzens subsequent arrest, she has not been contacted by officers.

The IOPC is also looking into Kent Police - where Couzens used to work as a volunteer - after it was accused of not investigating reports in 2015 that a man had been spotted driving down a road with no trousers on.

Met Police admitted 'one of a range of checks' when Couzens applied to join the force 'may not have been undertaken correctly'.

ouzens' car number plate was linked to the 2015 indecent exposure but Met Police blamed the Kent force, claiming 'Kent Police investigated this allegation and decided to take no further action. Our review found that the record of this allegation and outcome may not have been found during the vetting checks.'

Couzens has been linked to two reports of incident exposure at this McDonald's drive-thru in Swanley, Kent

It came as fresh details of Couzens' sexual perversion continued to emerge today  as the Met revealed a new strategy to counter violence against women.

Reports said Couzens exchanged misogynistic, racist and homophobic texts with police colleagues who are now facing a criminal investigation.

Five serving officers, three of whom work for the Metropolitan Police, and one former officer, allegedly shared horrific content with Sarah Everard's killer on a WhatsApp group in the months before the murder.

After his arrest in March, detectives found the 'vile' texts on his phone which the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IOPC) said were of a 'discriminatory and/or inappropriate nature'.

Aside from the three serving officers working for the Met, one under investigation is from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and another works for Norfolk Constabulary, according to The Times.

The former officer in the group also previously worked for the Met, prompting yet more calls for Dame Cressida to go.

And when Sue Fish, a former chief constable of Nottinghamshire, was asked on Times Radio if she believed the police force was institutionally misogynistic, she replied: 'Yes, I do. And that's not just the Metropolitan Police, that's policing, structurally, across the country.'

This is the moment Couzens staged his fake arrest to lure Miss Everard into being handcuffed and put in the back of his car. Women are now being urged to 'hail a bus' or 'run'

Furious MPs demand independent inquiry into murder of Sarah Everard amid anger at 'deeply insulting' Met Police guidance telling women to 'wave down a BUS' if they don't trust a male officer - as ex-commissioner slams 'extraordinary blunders'

By Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter for MailOnline

The Met has vowed to make women safer after Miss Everard's (pictured) by a serving officer - but women say the new strategy is 'deeply insulting'

MPs today called for an independent inquiry into the murder of Sarah Everard and how the Metropolitan Police failed to root out Wayne Couzens - a serving armed officer who would go on to abduct and kill the marketing executive using his warrant card and cuffs.

Scotland Yard was today accused of pouring scorn on frightened women in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder after the force's new 'deeply insulting' and 'derisory' strategy urged them to 'wave down a bus' if they fear being abducted by police.

Its 'tone deaf' advice also urges women to 'run into a house', 'shout out to a passer-by' or call 999 if they don't trust a policeman who has stopped them.

The Met's advise to flag down a bus has caused particular anger - with Labour calling on Priti Patel to call an independent Home Office inquiry into violence against women and girls by Met Police officers and staff.

The inquiry would look at Sarah's murder and Couzens use of his powers to kidnap her - but also cases involving police officers and staff who attacked women as well as the 10 murders of women in capital in the past year including Sabina Nessa in Kidbrooke a fortnight ago and sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry in last year. Officers guarding the crime scene shared selfies with their bodies.

Today former Met Commissioner Lord Stevens said there had been 'extraordinary blunders' in the run up to Sarah's murder and the forces' vetting system is not 'fit for purpose' because he slipped through the net and went go on to commit the appalling crimes.

He said: 'The fact that this individual in 2015 was seen to be driving around without any clothes on from his waist downwards, the fact he was called a rapist, the fact that he was a really strange individual, I mean there is no way that that man should have been given a gun. A proper vetting process, the vetting process is obviously not fit for the purpose and this needs all to be changed, it's an extraordinary story of blunders and of that there's no doubt'.

Jess Phillips, Labour's shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, said the advice is 'tone deaf', adding she 'would have got in the car and almost anybody would have got in the car' and 'the onus is on the Metropolitan Police to do better'.

Shadow cabinet member Wes Streeting said: 'Apparently bus drivers should stop if someone is waving them down in the street away from a bus stop, just in case, because that's a better answer than the Met getting their act together?! Utterly woeful'.

Prison Service will 'have a hard time' protecting Wayne Couzens who is 'going to wish they hanged him' with 'every prisoner in Britain queueing up to make a name for themselves' The Prison Service will 'have a hard time' protecting Sarah Everard's killer Wayne Couzens who will soon wish he had been hanged instead, it was claimed today. Couzens will die behind bars after he was sentenced yesterday for kidnapping, raping and murdering the marketing executive from South London in March. Insiders said 'every prisoner in the country is going to want to a pop at' Couzens, who has initially been sent to HMP Belmarsh in Thamesmead, South East London. He will undergo an assessment at the Category A jail before joining the 'dispersal system' of five top-security jails from which inmates are moved without warning. These are Frankland in County Durham, Full Sutton in North Yorkshire, Long Lartin in Worcestershire, Wakefield in West Yorkshire and Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire. A Prison Service source told The Times: 'They are going to have a hard time protecting him. Every prisoner in the country is going to want to a pop at him.' Advertisement

As another crisis engulfed the Met, Policing minister Kit Malthouse admitted the case had struck a 'devastating blow to the confidence that people have in police officers', and he warned thousands of officers will need to do more so trust can be rebuilt.

Women in London have said that they would now run away if faced with a lone officer after Wayne Couzens staged an arrest using lockdown laws to abduct, rape and murder Sarah on March 3.

One said she would be 'scared, frightened and try to get away from them because I wouldn't trust any policeman again after what happened to Sarah'. Another said: 'If it happened to me I'd be so worried I'd just get into my car and drive'.

It came as Dame Cressida Dick came under more pressure to resign over the scandal - and to fix the force's toxic culture - after it emerged Couzens exchanged misogynistic, racist and homophobic texts with his police colleagues. Former Commissioner Lord Stevens said today there had been 'extraordinary blunders' before Couzens struck and the case showed the Met's vetting system is not 'fit for purpose'.

Dame Cressida said yesterday she was 'sorry' and 'sickened' at how Couzens was able to abuse his position but refused to quit as female officers claimed they were afraid to report their male colleagues for misconduct because they 'close ranks' and could abandon them on calls where they would have their 'heads kicked in' while waiting for backup.

Since March 2020 when Sarah Everard, 33, was murdered by Met Police officer Wayne Couzens, 48, some 77 women have been killed, according to Rape Crisis. Two weeks ago, primary school teacher Sabina Nessa, 28, was found dead in a park also in south London, described in court as a 'predatory' murder.

Legal experts have predicted that bus drivers stopping for women could get arrested themselves.

Lawyer and commentator David Green said: 'Imagine the scenes of a person challenging what may be a lawful arrest by stopping a bus and getting the bus driver involved.

'It would probably end up with the hapless bus driver being arrested as well.

'One gets the sense that the writer of this police statement had, by the end of it, ran out of ideas and was winging it like an unprepared student in the last half-hour of an examination.

'But even the other advice in the statement is unrealistic and misconceived.

'Anyone challenging arrest can say hello to the offence of resisting or wilfully obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty. They may also say hello to Mr Taser.'

As part if its new strategy, the Met has pledged to deploy 650 new officers and increase patrols to do more to protect women and girls in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder by Couzens - but critics questioned why they weren't doing that already.

And anyone stopped on the street is encouraged to call 999 or use the officer's radio to confirm their warrant card is genuine - but many have pointed out that many not have stopped Couzens kidnapping Sarah because his warrant card and number was genuine.

Even Sir Stephen House, the Met's deputy commissioner, admitted yesterday that warrant cards may not be enough for officers to prove their identity in future.

Couzens lapped West and South-West London looking for a woman to snatch, rape and murder before finding Miss Everard

'Hail a bus, shout for help or run away': The Met's advice to women if they don't trust a police officer The under-fire Met Police has revealed a new 'strategy' to protect women after Sarah Everard's horrific killing, including banning lone plain-clothed officers from operating alone, increasing patrols in 'hotspot' areas, and reviewing how they investigate reports of indecent exposure. Last night, the Met revealed steps it believes will help reassure the public, as it admitted Miss Everard's killing was part of a 'much bigger and troubling picture' of women being killed in the streets. The new strategy includes: Plain-clothed officers banned from going out on their own and public are told to challenge them Plain clothes officers will not be deployed on their own and will be 'in pairs', Deputy Commissioner Sir Stephen House said, but he warned there will be occasions where that is not possible given that off-duty officers not in uniform 'put themselves on duty' when they come across an incident. As Couzens kidnapped Ms Everard by carrying out a false arrest with his warrant card, the Met have also issued advice to anyone who is concerned a police officer is not acting legitimately during an interaction. They recommend people ask where the officer's colleagues are, where they have come from, why they are there, and exactly why they are stopping or talking to them. They also suggest verifying the police officer by asking to hear their radio operator or asking to speak to the radio operator themselves. 'All officers will, of course, know about this case and will be expecting in an interaction like that - rare as it may be - that members of the public may be understandably concerned and more distrusting than they previously would have been, and should and will expect to be asked more questions,' the force said in a statement. Other 'searching questions' the force recommended include, 'Where are your colleagues?', 'Where have you come from?', 'Why are you here?' and 'Exactly why are you stopping or talking to me?' Finally, the Met Police are advising people to shout out to a passer-by, run into a house, knock on a door, wave a bus down, or call 999. 650 extra officers in busy public places and more patrols in 'hotspots' where women feel unsafe The force announced that 650 new officers will be deployed in public places to better protect women and girls in the wake of Miss Everard's murder. After stinging criticism over its handling of the case, the force vowed to increase patrols and publish a new strategy for tackling violence against women. The strategy will outline how the Met will prioritise action against sexual and violent predatory offenders. The force said it had also set up 'predatory offender units', which have arrested more than 2,000 suspects for domestic abuse, sex offences, and child abuse since November. The 650 new officers will be sent into busy public places, including areas where women and girls 'lack confidence that they are safe', the Met said. The force will 'step up' patrols and provide an increased police presence in areas identified as hotspot locations for violence and harassment. It said: 'The full horrific details of [Wayne Couzens'] crimes are deeply concerning and raise entirely legitimate questions. 'This is the most horrific of crimes, but we recognise this is part of a much bigger and troubling picture.' The spokesman said other recent murders 'bring into sharp focus our urgent duty to do more to protect women and girls'. More attention for reports of indecent exposure after missed chances to stop Couzens Some 72 hours before the murder, staff at a drive-through McDonald's restaurant in Swanley told police that two female staff members had been flashed by a motorist who exposed himself on February 7 and again on February 27. But despite being given CCTV evidence and the number plate of Couzens' car, detectives did not link the two incidents to the killer officer. Had he been identified as a suspected sex offender, Couzens is likely to have been suspended and had his warrant card removed. Last night, the Met said the report was allocated for investigation but 'it was not concluded' by the time Miss Everard was abducted. The force vowed to 're-evaluate' its approach to indecent exposure, which criminologists say is often an early sign of sexual deviancy that can manifest itself later in violence. The Met said: 'We are reviewing our crime screening process in respect of indecent exposure. We want to better understand the information we have as part of our approach to the identification and policing of crime hotspots. 'We believe this is an under-reported crime. 'We do not underestimate how difficult it can be for people to talk about these offences but we would urge anyone who is the victim of this sort of offending to report it to us quickly so we can respond. 'We are also focused on improving detections both for indecent exposure but for a broader range of offences committed mainly against women.' Review of vetting procedures after killer cop 'slipped through the net' The Met said a vetting check 'may not have been carried out correctly' on Couzens when he joined the force in 2018, linking him to another indecent exposure allegation in Kent in 2015. The vetting did not flag up that a vehicle associated with Couzens had been identified in the Kent Police investigation. The Met said: 'Our review found that the record of this allegation and outcome may not have been found during the vetting checks.' Despite this, the force still maintained that it had 'no information available at the time' that would have changed its decision to allow Couzens to serve. Last night, it said it had written to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), which is currently carrying out an inspection of the Met, to ask it to pay 'particular attention' to how officers are vetted. Sir Stephen House accepted the case has raised questions on recruitment and vetting, adding: 'We know we have to work to rebuild trust and confidence, and we will do all we can to achieve that.' Couzens transferred into the Met from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) in September 2018. His first posting was to South Area, serving initially in a Safer Neighbourhood Team, before joining a response team covering the Bromley area in February 2019. He then moved to the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in February 2020 where his primary role was to patrol diplomatic premises, mainly embassies. ... But off-duty officers will still be allowed to carry around police equipment Before the attack members of the public had noticed Couzens wearing his police belt when not on duty, with a pair of handcuffs and black pepper spray holder. During the kidnap, he flashed his police ID to carry out a fake Covid arrest before cuffing Miss Everard in his car and strangling her with his police belt. Nonetheless, the force suggested banning officers from carrying any of their equipment while not on duty would be impractical. The force said: 'The fact that he used equipment given to him by the Met is reprehensible and it compounds the dreadful nature of his crimes. 'Nevertheless, it has to be the case that officers are able, on occasion, to take some or all of their equipment with them, between places of duty and where needed, travelling to and from work. 'They do not require explicit permission. It is a personal decision that has to be done for legitimate reasons and that they will have to justify if challenged. Advertisement

Patsy Stevenson, who was arrested at the vigil for Sarah Everard in March, said the Metropolitan Police's suggestions of knocking on a door or waving a bus down were 'almost laughable if it wasn't so disgusting'.

The force advised anyone who is concerned a police officer is not acting legitimately during an interaction to ask where the officer's colleagues are; where they have come from; why they are there; and exactly why they are stopping or talking to them.

Anyone could verify the police officer by asking to hear their radio operator or asking to speak to the radio operator themselves, the force said, also suggesting that people who are concerned can shout out to a passer-by, run into a house, knock on a door, wave a bus down, or call 999.

Ms Stevenson told the PA news agency: 'I feel like they are just clutching at straws, because the advice isn't relevant. It's like a distraction because, number one, in that situation, you can't just stop and hail down a bus or a taxi or something.

'Can you imagine the distrust that people have right now where they have to protect themselves from the police in that manner? That is shocking.'

She said if someone had done something illegal it is the police giving them permission to run off, adding: 'It doesn't make any sense. It's like an irrelevant piece of advice. So I feel like it reads more like a distraction for them to seem like they're dealing with the issue, because they could have been enacting change for ages now, but they haven't, and they're still not doing it, they're just putting out a statement to quieten people down.'

The chairman of the Commons Justice Committee has said the Government should consider making misogyny a hate crime in the way that racism was following the Macpherson Inquiry into the killing of Stephen Lawrence.

Tory MP Sir Bob Neill told BBC Radio 4's The World At One: 'One of the things that was good after Macpherson was that it was recognised in due course that racism ought to be regarded as a particularly aggravating feature.

'We have made racially motivated offences a hate crime. I think there is a case now for looking at misogyny.'

Women have said that the new advice piles more pressure on them - rather than tackling violent men - with some saying that it 'grossly insulting' with the Met accused of releasing a guide to 'what they believe Sarah should have done'.

Comedian Sooz Kempner said: 'It's deeply insulting to Sarah's memory, her family and to women everywhere to now have 'in future, ladies, here's what you can do that Sarah failed to do to' spouted at us when taking some form of action against the man nicknamed 'the rapist' by colleagues was always an option'.

She added: 'Waving down a bus when you're not even at a bus stop is a complete impossibility anyway, they don't stop, you'd be lucky to get a second glance from the driver. And I dunno if you've heard but buses aren't just constantly driving down every single road 24/7'.

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said: 'We want to know what the Met are doing to address the deeply rooted problems with violence against women within the force. This completely derisory advice shows they're still not taking it seriously. And they wonder why trust is at an all-time low?'

Left-wing commentator Ash Sarkar said: 'Wayne Couzens was nicknamed 'The Rapist', shared racist and misogynistic messages with colleagues, and committed indecent in a car registered to him 72 hours before murdering someone. But it's Sarah Everard who should've waved down a bus'.

Writer Oriane Messina said: 'Don't go out alone at night. Don't wear short dresses. Don't trust an officer on his own. Don't talk to strangers. Don't draw attention to yourself. Don't drink too much. Don't be flashy. Don't be too weak looking. HANG ON.... How about telling men don't rape and murder women'.

Lord Justice Fulford said his decision to hand Couzens, 48, a whole-life tariff was significantly influenced by the way he had exploited his role as a police officer, a fact he said made the offence equal in seriousness to a murder carried out by a terrorist.

The force has announced that 650 new officers will be deployed in public places to better protect women and girls in the wake of Miss Everard's murder.

After stinging criticism over its handling of the case, the force vowed to increase patrols and publish a new strategy for tackling violence against women.

The strategy will outline how the Met will prioritise action against sexual and violent predatory offenders.

The force said it had also set up 'predatory offender units', which have arrested more than 2,000 suspects for domestic abuse, sex offences, and child abuse since November.

The 650 new officers will be sent into busy public places, including areas where women and girls 'lack confidence that they are safe', the Met said. The force will 'step up' patrols and provide an increased police presence in areas identified as hotspot locations for violence and harassment.

A Met Police spokesman said: 'The full horrific details of [Wayne Couzens'] crimes are deeply concerning and raise entirely legitimate questions. This is the most horrific of crimes, but we recognise this is part of a much bigger and troubling picture.'

The spokesman said other recent murders 'bring into sharp focus our urgent duty to do more to protect women and girls'.

Charity Rape Crisis warned 'women cannot keep themselves safe' and blasted 'a culture that trivialises and condones rape and sexual violence' as well as saying the justice system was 'systematically flawed'.

And it said women who 'do not stick to the arbitary and ineffective rulebook' deserved to be treated with respect as victims of crime and to enjoy the same freedoms as men - such as walking in a park at night.

It pointed to rape jokes going unchallenged, the expectation that men in the workplace behave decisively, the 'entitled' attitude of men who expect sexual interactions, and it suggested the murders of white women are given preferential treatment in the press.

Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, wrote: 'The visceral grief so many of us felt after the murder of Sarah Everard in March was real.

'The horrific details that have emerged this week at the sentencing of her murderer - not even two weeks after the tragic death of Sabina Nessa - have compounded this pain and brought into sharp reality that the fear we are raised to feel, though far from healthy, is legitimate.

'From an early age, we teach girls and women that our safety in public spaces is not something that we can or should count on, and it is our responsibility to keep ourselves safe from an ever-present threat.

'We are spoon-fed 'solutions' of holding keys between our fingers and sticking to the lit side of the path.

'We rarely stop to consider that, in telling girls and women we can prevent violence, what we are really doing is falsely telling those who experience such harm that they could or should have done something differently'.

Wayne Couzens exchanged misogynistic, racist and homophobic texts with his police colleagues who are now facing a criminal investigation, it has been claimed.

Five serving officers, three of whom work for the Metropolitan Police, and one former officer, allegedly shared horrific content with Sarah Everard's killer on a WhatsApp group in the months before the murder.

After his arrest in March, detectives found the 'vile' texts on his phone which the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IOPC) said were of a 'discriminatory and/or inappropriate nature'.

Aside from the three serving officers working for the Met, one under investigation is from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and another works for Norfolk Constabulary, according to The Times.

The former officer in the group also previously worked for the Met, whose chief Dame Cressida Dick is yet again facing calls to resign.

When Sue Fish, a former chief constable of Nottinghamshire, was asked on Times Radio if she believed the police force was institutionally misogynistic, she replied: 'Yes, I do. And that's not just the Metropolitan Police, that's policing, structurally, across the country.'

The IOPC said in a statement: 'They are being investigated for gross misconduct for allegedly sending messages of a discriminatory and/or inappropriate nature, and for allegedly failing to challenge the messages sent by the others.

What ARE your rights if a cop stops you on the street? Ex-police chief explains key questions and actions you can take if an undercover officer tries to arrest you Can you ever be stopped by a lone police officer in plain clothes? Scotland Yard said in a statement that it is 'unusual for a single plain clothes police officer to engage with anyone in London', although it can happen. They said that an lone officer could be seeking to arrest you, but if they do then you should 'expect to see other officers arrive shortly afterwards'. As of yesterday the Metropolitan Police announced they would not deploy plain clothes officers on their own. Deputy Commissioner Sir Stephen House said: 'We will not operate plain clothes officers on their own. If we do use them, they will be in pairs.' However he said there will be 'occasions' where that is not possible - such as when a pair of officers are split up - and noted that off-duty officers not in uniform. Why would you be stopped by a lone police officer? Police only have the power to stop someone if they have reasonable grounds that you have committed a crime. The only other time they can is if they think you might be carrying a weapon or doing anti-social behaviour. If they do think this and they ask for your address and details, you have to answer and if you fail to do this, it could be considered a criminal offence in itself. What should you do if no police backup arrives? You would expect a lone police officer who is arresting you to soon be joined by backup, although it is possible that this might not happen and you are still alone. Scotland Yard said in this case that it was 'entirely reasonable for you to seek further reassurance of that officer's identity and intentions'. The Met said it advises people to 'ask some very searching questions of that officer', including: 'Where are your colleagues?'

'Where have you come from?'

'Why are you here?'

'Exactly why are you stopping or talking to me?' Former Scotland Yard senior officer Parm Sandhu told ITV's Good Morning Britain that there were things people could do if they were concerned about an arrest. She said that people should not get into the vehicle unless it's a marked police vehicle and ask to see the radio, or ask the arresting officer to call their colleagues and make sure they are on duty. She added: 'If you're really concerned dial 999.' What if you are still suspicious of the officer after questioning them? Scotland Yard urges people to 'seek some independent verification of what they say'. They advise that if the police officer has a radio, 'ask to hear the voice of the operator, even ask to speak through the radio to the operator to say who you are and for them to verify you are with a genuine officer, acting legitimately'. Won't officers become annoyed if you keep asking them questions? Scotland Yard said: 'All officers will, of course, know about this case and will be expecting in an interaction like that - rare as it may be - that members of the public may be understandably concerned and more distrusting than they previously would have been, and should and will expect to be asked more questions.' What if you still feel in danger? The Metropolitan Police said gave a series of tips for people who feel in 'real and imminent danger and you do not believe the officer is who they say they are'. They said it was important to 'seek assistance', giving the examples of 'shouting out to a passer-by, running into a house, knocking on a door, waving a bus down or if you are in the position to do so calling 999'. What is a 'stop' and how is it different to a 'stop and search'? A 'stop' occurs when an officer stops and asks you questions, but this is not an official stop and search and you can leave at any moment. An individual is free to ask whether they are being detained to ascertain if it is a stop and search rather than a 'stop and account'. If you are not being detained, you are free to leave and are not required to give your name and address. On what grounds can an officer search you? If an officer has reasonable ground to believe you were involve in a crime or possess a prohibited item, they can search you. This can only be carried out by an officer and they can only search your outer clothing. If they are not in uniform, they should show their identity card and you are not required to give your name and address. If you try to resist the search, an officer can use 'reasonable force' and can also arrest you. Before the search, police should tell you their name, their police station, what they are searching for and the fact you are entitled to a copy of the search record. What about if you are suspected of carrying drugs? If an officer believes you are in possession of a controlled drug, they must tell you the law they are searching you under and the reasons for the search. The smell of cannabis does not meet the requirements for a stop, according to the College of Policing's authorised professional practice, but it is not legislated. When can police search you without suspecting criminality? Police can carry out a search without suspicion of criminality when they are carried out under 'non reasonable suspicion' powers granted to an officer of at least superintendent rank. These give police the power to carry out stop and searches without suspicion because of an increased fear of violence in an area. These are known as Section 60 searches and can only be applied for a maximum of 48 hours. During a search, an officer can only ask you to remove outer clothing when in public, such as a jacket, coat or gloves. They can also put their hand in your shoes, socks and headgear and ask you to turn out your pockets. When can an officer perform a strip search? A strip search can take place inside a van or somewhere not in public such as a police tent. It must be carried out by an officer of the same sex without an officer of the opposite sex in view, and for those aged under 17, it can only take place in the presence of an appropriate adult. The officer must give an extra reason for the additional search, and that cannot be that nothing was found in the prior search. Police must fill out a form giving the reasons for a stop and search and give you a copy unless it is not possible. If you believe it is an unlawful search or the officer was inappropriate, you should let them continue and obtain a copy of the search form, before making a complaint. Advertisement

'Two of the MPS officers and the former MPS officer have also been notified that they are being criminally investigated for improper use of the public electronic communications network under Section 127 of the Communications Act.

'Criminal or gross misconduct investigations do not necessarily mean that charges or disciplinary proceedings will follow.'

The police watchdog is investigating the conduct of a total of 15 officers and a former officer linked to the Ms Everard case.

Asked earlier whether Couzens was a 'bad apple' in the police or an extreme example of an institutional problem, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said: 'I'm wrestling with that myself.'

Others under investigation by the IOPC include a Scotland Yard probationer on the cordon at the scene where her body was discovered.

He is alleged to have sent a shocking WhatsApp message showing how a policeman could abduct and kill a woman as a joke.

Two other constables on probation are also being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct over allegations they shared the graphic and failed to challenge it.

Another inquiry is underway separately into Police Federation members accused of breaching standards of professional behaviour by sharing information linked to the case on a secure messaging app.

The IOPC has said it will seek to conclude the investigations 'as swiftly as possible'.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that 771 Met officers and staff have faced sexual misconduct allegations since 2010, with at least 44 convicted of sexual offences.

Freedom of Information figures reveal that 163 were arrested and 83 were sacked without notice.

Of those arrested, 78 were charged and 44 convicted.

At least 18 were jailed and nine were given suspended jail sentences.

The allegations included rape, sexual harassment, sexual assault and abusing a position of power for sex.

Some 89 per cent of officers and staff members who faced an internal investigation over complaints were male. Formal action was taken in 156 cases.

As well as the sackings, 46 people retired or resigned once the complaint against them was upheld.

Of the sexual misconduct claims, it was found that there was no case to answer or the allegation was unsubstantiated on 446 occasions.

The force is Britain's largest, with 43,000 officers and staff.

It has 25 per cent of the total police budget for England and Wales.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said last night: 'We take any police-perpetrated abuse incidents extremely seriously and they are regularly scrutinised at a senior level.

'Any allegation, disclosure or conviction of sexual harassment or abuse perpetrated by an officer or member of staff is robustly investigated.'

He stressed: 'Tackling sexual offences is a priority for the Met  and that includes when our own officers or staff are accused of offences.

'The Met will not hesitate to bring forward prosecutions and disciplinary procedures where there is evidence to do so.'

Police forces across the country will have to work 'much harder' to win back public trust after the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met officer, a minister has said.

Policing minister Kit Malthouse said the case had struck a 'devastating blow to the confidence that people have in police officers', and he warned thousands of officers will need to do more so trust can be rebuilt.

Wayne Couzens was handed a whole life sentence on Thursday for the kidnap, rape and murder of the 33-year-old marketing executive, meaning he will never be freed from jail.

The Met has vowed to make the streets safer for women and girls as it said it is investigating whether Couzens committed more crimes before killing Ms Everard.

The force said it will no longer deploy plain clothes officers on their own after the Old Bailey heard Couzens had used lockdown rules and shown his warrant card to falsely arrest Ms Everard during the abduction.

The force advised anyone who is concerned a police officer is not acting legitimately during an interaction to ask where the officer's colleagues are; where they have come from; why they are there; and exactly why they are stopping or talking to them.

Anyone could verify the police officer by asking to hear their radio operator or asking to speak to the radio operator themselves, the force said, also suggesting suggested people who are concerned can shout out to a passer-by, run into a house, knock on a door, wave a bus down, or call 999.

It plans to send 650 new officers into busy public places and promised to 'step up' patrols in areas identified as 'hotspot' locations for violence and harassment.

Speaking on Sky News on Friday, Mr Malthouse said: 'They recognise that this has struck a devastating blow to the confidence that people have in police officers but also in the Met Police in particular.

'For those thousands and thousands of police officers out there who will have to work harder - much harder - to win public trust, it is a very, very difficult time.'

Mr Malthouse said there are important lessons to learn from what happened.

'My job is effectively to help the Home Secretary hold the police to account about what went wrong, how this monster slipped through the net to become a police officer, how we can make sure it doesn't happen again,' he said.

But he joined several other politicians and policing figures in rejecting mounting calls for Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick to resign, adding: 'She is a dedicated and talented and committed police officer who is driving the Metropolitan Police to ever greater standards of care and improvement and fighting crime.'

The Met is facing questions as to how Couzens was able to get a job with the force despite allegations made against him earlier in his career - prompting a wider debate over whether police vetting rules are strict enough.

Mr Malthouse told BBC Breakfast: 'One of the lessons that we will need to learn is the allegations that were made against him - where those investigations led to, why they did not pop up on his vetting or have any impact in his employment with the Metropolitan Police.

'That is currently under investigation.'

Jess Phillips, Labour's shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, said trust in police is 'not going to be built back overnight', telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It is going to be built up if we see the Government and police forces starting to actually take violence against women and girls, and the complaints that women make day in, day out, seriously.'

It comes as Met chief Cressida Dick faces a clamour to resign after she admitted Sarah Everard's murder had corroded trust in the police and brought 'shame' on her force.

In what was described as Scotland Yard's 'darkest day', a string of MPs, including the chairman of the women and equalities select committee, said Dame Cressida should go.

They said it was clear she could not restore faith in Britain's biggest police force after one of her officers, Wayne Couzens, was sentenced to a whole-life term for Miss Everard's murder.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said the force had 'serious questions to answer'  and refused to give the beleaguered Met Commissioner her public backing.

Following women too closely in the street should be a CRIMINAL offence, says MP Harriet Harman Ex-Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman has called for kerb crawlers to lose their driving licences and said following women too closely in the street should become a crime. In an interview with Good Morning Britain, the MP said that even girls walking home from school were being 'hassled' by drivers and called on Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick to 'bring in new criminal offences so that if a man kerb crawls a girl walking home in the dark in his car - that's a criminal offence and he gets his license taken away.' Speaking to GMB this morning, Ms Harman said: 'if he [a man] follows a woman walking too closely behind her in the street, asking her out, asking for her number, asking why she is not answering him, that that is harassment and it's a criminal offence.' She added: 'Even schoolgirls walking home at night get followed and hassled. It ought to be a criminal offence. If you kerb crawl a woman in the street, you should get your driving licence taken away. 'Men would pretty soon not do that, if they knew that they would lose their driving licence.' Advertisement

As it was revealed police may have had enough information to identify Couzens as a sexual deviant before he raped and killed Miss Everard, Dame Cressida gave a humbled apology on the steps of the Old Bailey.

But as she apologised on behalf of the force, the Yard chief was heckled by protesters shouting 'resign'.

Miss Everard's family said the world was a 'safer place' after 48-year-old Couzens was sentenced to die in prison, with the judge saying his 'warped, selfish and brutal offending' had 'eroded' confidence in British policing.

The case has triggered immense public and political outrage after it emerged Couzens abused police powers to 'arrest' and abduct the 33-year-old marketing executive.

Officers did not check his vehicle records, which would have revealed a link to an indecent exposure in Kent in 2015 when Couzens was reported by a male motorist for driving around naked from the waist down.

Despite this failure, Met Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave provoked astonishment when he said Couzens would still have got into the force even if vetting officers had known, because Kent Police failed to identify Couzens  then one of their own special constables  as the driver and decided it did not merit any further action.

In another missed opportunity, 72 hours before the murder, staff at a drive-through McDonald's restaurant in Swanley told police that two female staff members had been flashed by a motorist who exposed himself on February 7 and again on February 27.

But despite being given CCTV evidence and the number plate of Couzens' car, detectives did not link the two incidents to the killer officer.

Had he been identified as a suspected sex offender, Couzens is likely to have been suspended and had his warrant card removed.

Mr Ephgrave said he didn't know whether Miss Everard's murder could have been prevented if vetting checks had been carried out properly , saying: 'If any of those things had been in a different order, would the outcome have been different? Well maybe.'

The deaths of Sarah and Sabina Nessa has led to an outpouring of grief and anger in Britain

Mr Ephgrave admitted trust in the police had been seriously damaged, adding: 'One of my daughters said to me, 'Dad, what am I supposed to do if I get stopped (by a policeman) coming home?'

It is understood that Dame Cressida will be called in by the Home Secretary following next week's Tory party conference to discuss the issue.

Meanwhile, detectives from the Met Police are actively investigating if Couzens is connected to any further historic crimes.

Officers this evening appealed for any so-far unknown victims of the sexual predator to contact them if they were targeted by him.

The Met action emerged hours after criminologists told MailOnline his crime suggested 'he had done this before'.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'As you would expect we continue to make enquiries to establish whether he has been involved in other criminal offences. As these investigations are ongoing we are unable to go into further detail although, at this time, we have not identified anything that is of the same level of seriousness as the crimes he has been sentenced for.

'We are keen to hear from anyone who may have information about any criminality they believe Couzens was involved in.'

Criminologists Professor David Wilson and Dr David Holmes both say it is unlikely that this is Couzens first major crime

CCTV footage (pictured) captured by a passing bus showed Miss Everard in the back seat of Couzens' hire car after she was falsely 'arrested'

The deranged Met Protection Officer, who was wearing his police belt containing handcuffs, can be seen producing his warrant card as he claimed Miss Everard had breached Covid restrictions

The killer rapist, 48, who staged a fake arrest as a ploy to trap Ms Everard in the back of his car, was this morning sentenced to a whole life order for his barbaric crimes.

But experts say the confidence in which he carried out the abduction shows he had done it before. And the way he disposed of Miss Everard's body by burning her remains signalled 'experienced behaviour'.

The killer cop was nicknamed The Rapist because of his inappropriate behaviour around women, had an obsession with 'brutal porn' and flashed McDonald's workers before murdering Sarah Everard on March 3.

But he still passed a vetting process that saw him put in charge of a gun as he stood guard at embassies in London for Met Police.

The IOPC is also looking into Kent Police - where Couzens used to work as a volunteer - after it was accused of not investigating reports in 2015 that a man had been spotted driving down a road with no trousers on.

Met Police admitted 'one of a range of checks' when Couzens applied to join the force 'may not have been undertaken correctly'.

Couzens' car numberplate was linked to the 2015 indecent exposure but Met Police blamed the Kent force, claiming 'Kent Police investigated this allegation and decided to take no further action. Our review found that the record of this allegation and outcome may not have been found during the vetting checks.'

It comes as a list of eight blunders that left Couzens free to kill were revealed.

Couzens' car is seen driving along Cavendish Road at 9.32pm, just minutes before he pulled over and stopped Miss Everard

Miss Everard was taken out of the hire car and forced into Couzens' own car (pictured) in a switch made at 11.30pm on North Military Road in Dover, Kent
Greater Shepparton and Moorabool Shire, to the west and north of Melbourne, will both enter snap, seven-day lockdowns from 11.59pm on Friday to contain growing outbreaks.

Twelve new cases were reported in Greater Shepparton and six in Moorabool on Friday, and health authorities are concerned about possible onward transmission.

Lockdown restrictions will mirror those in metropolitan Melbourne, with the exception of the nightly curfew.

Residents of both regions are being urged to come forward for testing, with two pop-up sites to be opened in Melton.

Twelve new cases were reported in Greater Shepparton and six in Moorabool on Friday, and health authorities are concerned about possible onward transmission

On Friday Premier Daniel Andrews announced a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for all Victorian authorised workers, while the construction sector will reopen with safeguards.

A million Victorians have two weeks to get their first Covid-19 vaccination to keep working on site, as the state's construction industry prepares to reopen with strict safeguards.

Premier Daniel Andrews says all Melbourne and regional Victoria residents on the state's authorised worker list must have a first dose by October 15 and a second by November 26.

Without meeting the state-wide mandate, retail workers, personal trainers, MPs, journalists, faith leaders, judges, police, lawyers, actors and professional sportspeople will not be able to continue working on site.

The October 15 deadline will not replace Victoria's separate vaccine mandate timelines for aged care, healthcare, freight, construction and education workers.

THE VICTORIAN WORKERS COVERED BY THE NEW COVID VACCINE MANDATE From October 15, anyone leaving home to work in the following professions and industries in Victoria will need to have received at least their first Covid-19 vaccine dose: Spa workers Interpreters and cultural workers Funeral or mortuary services Personal trainers Faith leaders Retail goods workers supporting click and collect Members of parliament and their electorate staff Commonwealth agency services, including the Australian Border Force Journalists Film, television and documentary workers already in production Thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing Freight services Blood banks Commercial cleaners For the full list visit https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/authorised-provider-and-authorised-worker-list Personal trainers will need to have received their first Covid-19 vaccine dose by November 9 to leave their home as an authorised worker Advertisement

Mr Andrews said the decision, based on health advice, would encompass one to 1.25 million authorised workers in Victoria, many of whom have already had their first dose.

'This is critically important to keep the case numbers down so that we can open up on October 26, get our freedom back, get the economy going again and deliver the national plan,' he told reporters on Friday.

The state government also unveiled its plan to restart the construction industry after a two-week shutdown in Melbourne and other locked-down regions.

Under the plan, constructions sites can reopen from Tuesday for workers who have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. They must be fully vaccinated by November 13.

All operators will need to formally attest their site complies with the industry-wide health directions.

Workforce caps remain for some building sites, except for outdoor state government projects, and single-dose workers can set up ahead of Tuesday's reopening.

Fully vaccinated workers can move between regional Victoria and Melbourne, while tearooms will reopen with enhanced cleaning, density limits and additional ventilation.

People are seen exercising along the Tan walking track in Melbourne on Sunday, September 19. Victoria recorded 950 new locally-acquired Covid-19 cases on Wednesday

'The preference is for these meal breaks to be taken outside wherever possible,' Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said.

Widespread transmission of the virus within the industry and poor site compliance were cited as reasons for the shutdown on September 21, the same day Melbourne's CFMEU headquarters was damaged by angry protesters.

The protests began in opposition to mandatory vaccinations for the construction sector and the closure of building site tearooms, before morphing into a wider anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine movement.

Treasurer Tim Pallas defended the shutdown, noting 73 per cent of building sites visited by inspectors on September 16 were found to be non-compliant with health directions.

A fully trained Covid marshal will now be required to watch over every construction site in the state.

'We're deadly serious about this,' Mr Pallas said, adding there will be hefty fines for sites caught in breach.

Construction workforce caps will be removed when Victoria hits its 80 per cent double-dose vaccination target.

The broadened vaccination mandate comes as Victoria recorded 1143 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases and three deaths on Friday, taking the death toll from the current outbreak to 44.

Meanwhile, Mr Andrews flagged an announcement on the Victoria-NSW border next week, declaring it would 'basically open'.
A man who crawled into an Arizona storm drain 'because he was having a bad day' ended up trapped underground for two days before a passer-by saw him waving for help.

The unnamed man, said to be in his 30s, flagged down pedestrians and asked them to call 911 after spending two days in the drain system in Phoenix.

Footage shows the man, wearing a pair of black shorts, being helped up a ladder out of the drain by firefighters near 51st Avenue and Thunderbird Road on Thursday.

Glendale Fire Department spokeswoman Ashley Losch said he appeared to be fine despite the two-day ordeal but that he was taken to hospital for a thorough examination.

He told rescuers he entered the drains from a park about a mile (1.6km) from where he was found, but authorities could not confirm his account, Losch said.

A man who was stuck in a storm drain in Arizona for two days has been rescued after he waved down help. Footage shows the man being helped out of the drain by firefighters on Thursday

Video showed the tired looking man being helped onto a stretcher by medics after coming out of the manhole.

The name of the man was not made public.

Losch said some sections of storm drains are particularly dangerous because they have low oxygen levels.

Firefighters used meters to check whether oxygen levels in the drain were life-threatening before devising a plane to rescue the man, Glendale Fire Department said.

The statement added: 'Please do not enter storm drains for any reason, they can be extremely dangerous.'

Lindsey Kennedy, 43, who was rescued from a storm drain in Florida in March

Earlier this year a naked woman was rescued from a storm drain in Florida after allegedly getting trapped underground for 20 days.

Lyndsey Kennedy, 43, told rescuers she became stuck in the eight-foot-deep drain in Delray Beach on March 3 after deciding to explore a tunnel when she went for swim in a canal.

She was rescued in late March after a pedestrian heard cries for help. Delray Beach Fire and Rescue posted photos of firefighters lifting Kennedy out of the drain using a harness and ladder.

The photos showed Kennedy, who was mostly covered by white sheets due to her lack of clothing, was dirty, had leaves in her hair and was too weak to stand up.

She was taken to Delray Medical Center for treatment of minor cuts and bruises.

Kennedy also underwent a mental health evaluation after her mother told police t her daughter had a history of mental illness and drug use.

The police report - which described Kennedy as 'very lucid' when she was found - said she was not taken into protective custody because she did not meet the criteria under Florida's Baker Act.

Firefighters are seen pulling Kennedy out of the eight-foot-deep drain under a sidewalk in Delray Beach in March after a pedestrian heard cries for help
Police are appealing for help as they search for a schoolgirl who has gone missing from Edgware.

Tamzyne was last seen at 5:20pm in Edgeware, in the London Borough of Barnet, on Tuesday 28 September.

The Met Police shared a picture on Twitter of the Year 11 student, wearing a Mill Hill County High School blazer.

Tamzyne, aged 15, is at the centre of a tense missing person enquiry. After four nights away from home, fears are growing for the Year 11 Mill Hill County High School student

Detectives in Barnet shared a picture of Tamzyne on Twitter at 6:30am on Thursday 30 September, urging members of the public to come forward with information about the missing 15 year old

Fears are growing for the missing schoolgirl, who vanished three nights ago.

Police are urging anyone with information to call 101 and quote the code CAD6309/28Sep.
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Ministers are bracing for the 'EFFing crisis' of energy chaos, fuel shortages and empty food shelves to last for months as they admitted lengthy queues at petrol stations are likely to continue for at least another week.

Government insiders are said to have given the ongoing nationwide disruption the 'EFFing' label in reference to problems in the energy, fuel and food sectors.

Policing Minister Kit Malthouse said this morning that the fuel situation should be resolved in a 'week or so'.

Mr Malthouse said there needs to be an 'improvement' in the situation in the coming days and that Boris Johnson stands ready to review matters if there is any deterioration.

But even if the fuel debacle is resolved, ministers expect problems in other areas to continue in the months ahead.

A massive increase in the wholesale cost of gas has prompted a handful of energy firms to collapse, with consumers facing skyrocketing bills this winter.

A huge shortfall in HGV driver numbers is already hitting supply chains, with empty shelves in some supermarkets, as industry chiefs predict there will be further food and potentially even toy shortages this Christmas.

A shortage of food processing workers and butchers is adding to the disruption, with farmers warning they are running out of room because of growing animal numbers and they could soon be forced to start a 'mass cull'.

Business leaders have called on the Government to issue visas to allow foreign workers to come to the UK to plug the gaps in the workforce.

Ministers have announced 5,000 temporary visas for HGV drivers amid an estimated shortage of 100,000 but the Government is resisting pressure to go further, insisting that UK firms should focus on training British workers to do the jobs.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng accused those firms demanding visas of trying to keep wages down, telling the Conservative Home website that British voters had 'rejected the low-wage, high-immigration model' at the Brexit referendum.

He said the UK is currently in a 'transition' phase, explaining: 'What were seeing now is part of that transition. Youre quite right to say people are resisting that, particularly employers that were benefiting from an influx of labour that could keep wages low.'

It came as pictures showed that approximately 40 reserve petrol tankers continued to sit in storage in Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire this morning despite the ongoing fuel crisis.

Pictures taken in Kent, Reading and London showed panic buying continuing, while bus routes were subject to delays in the early hours of the morning as huge queues continued to form at forecourts across much of the country.

Policing minister Kit Malthouse said the fuel situation was stabilising and that motorists could see a return to normality within a 'week or so'

Government insiders are said to have given the ongoing disruption the 'EFFing' label in reference to problems in the energy, fuel and food sectors. A supermarket in north London is pictured today

A huge shortfall in HGV driver numbers is hitting supply chains, with industry chiefs predicting some food and even toy shortages this Christmas

READING, BERKSHIRE - A Hoyer fuel delivery refills the pumps at an Esso in Emmer Green, Reading as motorists continue to queue on Friday

RICHMOND, SOUTH WEST LONDON - Motorists are seen in huge queues at a Sainsbury's-run petrol station in the capital on Friday

ASHFORD, KENT - Motorists queue for fuel at an Esso petrol station on Friday, October 1

CLAPHAM, SOUTH LONDON - Motorists line the streets in front of a petrol station in the early hours of Friday morning as the eighth day of fuel chaos continued

FERRING, WEST SUSSEX - An Asda petrol station is closed off to the public over fuel shortages

Traffic chaos continues in Ashford, Kent as motorists block roads and junctions in their desperate bid for fuel

Bus routes were subject to delays in the early hours of Friday morning as huge queues continue to form at forecourts across much of the country

Farmer is forced to slaughter hundreds of healthy piglets because shortages of butchers and abattoir workers mean adult pigs are not being killed fast enough A farmer has been forced to slaughter hundreds of piglets due to staff shortages at the local abattoir leaving too many stacked up on his farm. The Yorkshire stockman, who has not been named, took the drastic measure because slaughterhouses were not killing them fast enough. A friend said he had been 'destroyed' by having to 'kill perfectly healthy, viable piglets' due to the backlog. It comes as the National Pig Association warned the UK is heading into an 'acute welfare disaster very quickly' with the country facing a 'mass cull of animals'. Chairman Rob Mutimer said the country is just weeks away from farmers having to shoot pigs when they run out of space. Meanwhile the National Farmers' Union warned 150,000 animals are under threat of being culled in the next ten days. A shortage of butchers means farmers are having to 'throw pigs in a skip' because they can't be slaughtered and carved. The meat crisis is compounding woes caused by a lack of HGV drivers and fuel as well as labour shortages that will lead to a 'distinct lack of choice' this Christmas. Advertisement

The latest developments in the 'EFFing crisis' came as:

A farmer was forced to slaughter hundreds of piglets due to staff shortages at the local abattoir leaving too many stacked up on his farm.

The National Pig Association warned the UK is heading into an 'acute welfare disaster very quickly' because of the backlog of animals, with warnings of a potential 'mass cull'.

Ocado customers have been left furious after Christmas delivery slots were all booked up just hours after they went up online.

Experts warned that supply chain problems could see shortages of pigs in blankets, hams and party foods this Christmas.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told Boris Johnson to deploy the military to get petrol to stations in areas most in need.

Sir Keir also said Parliament should be recalled from its conference recess so MPs can discuss how to solve supply chain problems.

Average fuel levels at UK petrol stations yesterday were at 20 per cent for the third day running - less than half the normal figure of 43 per cent  but Whitehall analysis showed a drastically varying picture by region.

Mr Malthouse's downbeat assessment contrasted sharply with comments by other ministers in recent days that the situation would swiftly return to normal as drivers resumed their usual buying patterns.

It follows a warning by the Petrol Retailers Association that filling stations were running out of fuel faster than they could be resupplied, with one in four forecourts having run dry.

Writing in The Times, The Spectator's political editor James Forsyth said ministers believe the so-called 'EFFing crisis' will continue throughout the autumn months.

Mr Malthouse told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: 'We are still seeing strong demand in parts of the country around fuel. The distribution mechanism is trying to respond to this unprecedented demand.

'My latest briefing is that the situation is stabilising, that we are seeing more forecourts with a greater supply of fuel and hopefully that, as demand and supply come better into balance over the next few days, week or so, that we will see a return to normality.

'I think if things started to deteriorate further, obviously the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Energy, whose responsibility this is, will have to review the situation.'

Revelations over the regional variations came as the Government was yesterday accused of 'gaslighting' Britain over the fuel crisis, with ministers admitting more than a quarter of petrol stations still remain without supplies.

London and Bristol were among the worst hit areas yesterday as UK roads were gridlocked for the seventh day in a row while motorists hunted for stations with fuel, carrying petrol cans, plastic jugs and water bottles to stock up.

The Petrol Retailers Association said that while the situation at filling stations is improving it is happening 'far too slowly'.

Chief executive Gordon Balmer said not enough fuel was getting through to independent stations.

'In a PRA member survey today of 1,100 sites across the UK including motorway service areas, 47% of sites have reported having both petrol and diesel in stock, 27% have either one grade in stock and 26% are dry,' he said.

'Whilst the situation is similar to recent days, there are signs that it is improving, but far too slowly. Independents which total 65% of the entire network are not receiving enough deliveries of fuel compared with other sectors.

'Until independents start getting frequent supplies, we will continue to see long queues at forecourts. It is vital now to ensure we get fuel to all parts of the country in order to reduce queues and reassure the public again.'

Sir Keir today demanded Mr Johnson take 'emergency action' to fix the fuel crisis as he called for the PM to deploy soldiers to get petrol to those areas most in need.

He called for Parliament to be recalled and for fuel stations with supplies to extend their opening hours to help NHS and other key workers fill up.

He said: 'Every day wasted is prolonging this crisis. The Government has been talking about issuing visas but still hasn't done anything. Meanwhile our essential workers are struggling to get to work and families face a cost of living crisis.

'The Prime Minister should be taking emergency action today but yet again he's failed to grasp the seriousness of the crisis. If it needs legislation, then let's recall Parliament to get these emergency measures through urgently.

'The Prime Minister promised to save Christmas last year and we all know that went disastrously wrong. Now he's making the same empty promises again. Boris Johnson was warned about this crisis and he did nothing about it. He had the chance to make a plan but ignored it. The Prime Minister needs to get a grip.'

Reserve petrol tankers sit in storage in Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire on Friday, October 1 despite the ongoing fuel crisis

Hundreds of petrol stations across the country have been forced to put up signs warning of temporary shortages

BERMONDSEY, LONDON - A Shell petrol station with signage warning motorists they are experiencing fuel shortages

SOUTHFIELDS, LONDON - Desperate motorists continue to fill up their cars at a Shell petrol forecourt in the capital on Friday

Furious Ocado customers say deliveries for Christmas are ALREADY booked up just hours after slots went online Ocado customers have been left furious after Christmas delivery slots were all booked up just hours after they went up online. Angry shoppers have taken to social media to slam the grocery delivery firm, which normally gives priority to customers who pay a monthly fee for its festive delivery dates. One person compared the ordeal 'to trying to get tickets to Glastonbury', as complaints flooded Twitter this morning. The 'Anytime Smart Pass' customers told how they received an email advising them to re-book their Christmas slot from tomorrow. However, no specific time was specified and when people woke up this morning to book their deliveries, most dates over the festive period were not available. Ocado blamed 'high demand' in a response to the complaints. Advertisement

London, the South East, the North West, the West Midlands and East Midlands all have fuel levels of below 20 per cent and are labelled 'red' under a traffic light system that is reminiscent of the Government's travel lists.

But fuel levels are improving in the North East, Yorkshire and Wales which have all moved from red to amber, while Scotland is moving from amber to green - and Northern Ireland is already green, reported The Times.

Mr Malthouse also insisted there was no 'shortage of fuel in the UK', rather 'only so many tankers, only so many drivers' to distribute supplies across the country.

His comments came just 24 hours after another minister - Treasury Chief Secretary Simon Clarke - claimed the situation was 'absolutely back under control'.

Around 40 reserve petrol tankers, worth an estimated 4 million, are parked in the storage depot in Fenstanton, whilst forecourts across the UK remain closed due to a shortage of truck drivers.

Just a handful of the white tankers, which are stored at the depot in case of a national emergency, have been seen leaving so far.

Panic buying was sparked last week by concerns a lack of lorry drivers would prevent supplies reaching fuel pumps, and has brought long queues around the UK and pockets of aggression at petrol station forecourts.

Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association, yesterday explained: 'There's been no easing off of the pressure from drivers wanting to refuel whenever they can, wherever they can.

'Trying to calm this down appears to be a monumental task at the moment.'

Government ministers began briefing on Monday that they believed the crisis would begin easing from Thursday as drivers who needed petrol or diesel would then have been able to fill up.

CLAPHAM, SOUTH LONDON - Vehicles queue for hours on Friday morning amid fears of a regional fuel shortage

BERMONDSEY, SOUTH EAST LONDON - An empty Shell petrol station can be seen as shortages continue

ASHFORD, KENT - Motorists continue to wait in huge queues amid fears of a nationwide fuelling crisis

The Prime Minister then gave a statement insisting the crisis was 'stabilising' and told drivers to 'go about their business in the normal way and fill up in the normal way, when you really need it'.

Earlier this week Mr Johnson ruled out granting priority access to fuel to healthcare staff on the grounds that it was unnecessary as the situation was 'stabilising'.

However Mr Malthouse said there were 'pockets' of the country where there were still problems - with London and the South East reported to be among the hardest hit.

He said efforts were being made to balance out the situation with areas where supplies were strong, but he indicated they were being constrained by the numbers of tankers available.

'What we need to see is a stabilisation and improvement over the next few days,' he said.

'Obviously there only so many tankers that can be used to get this fuel around. They are trying their best to get around as fast as possible.

'There is co-ordination now across the country looking at where there are pockets of supply problems and demand strength and trying to bring the two into balance.'

New data from home insurer MORE THAN reveals that two in five (40%) drivers are storing fuel in or around the home, with one in six (16%) storing fuel inside the home, despite warnings that it puts homeowners and their families at serious risk.

It is illegal for homeowners to store more than 30litres of fuel.

RICHMOND, SOUTH WEST LONDON - Long queues were pictured at a Sainsbury's fuel station on Friday

MANCHESTER - A sign jokingly offering customers free petrol with every purchase is seen at a bar

On Wednesday, Business Secretary Kwasi announced the Government was sending out its reserve tanker fleet - driven by civilian drivers - to support the distribution efforts.

However it is yet to deploy the 150 military drivers who have been on standby since the start of the week to assist with the operation.

Figures from the Department for Transport have shown there is a backlog of more than 56,000 applications for vocational driving licences, including HGV and bus permits, waiting to be processed.

Ministers have blamed the pandemic, which led to the cancellation last year of tens of thousands of tests.

Mr Malthouse's comments raise the prospect that Mr Johnson will go into the Conservatives' annual party conference - which begins in Manchester at the weekend - with the issue still hanging over the Government.

The crisis began after reports that a shortage of tanker drivers had led a number of BP stations to close, which triggered a wave of panic buying which has yet to fully subside.
An Iranian spokesman has declared that 'war has already begun' with Israel as tensions between the two nations reach a boiling point.

Saeed Khatibzadeh, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, made the statement to the Maariv newspaper before going on to place the blame for the crisis in the Middle East squarely at the feet of Israel.

Khatibzadeh claimed that Israel 'has murdered nuclear scientists and harmed the Iranian people'.

'Iran is blamed for terrorism, but there is no good or bad terrorist. The entire crisis in the region is the fault of Israel,' he said.

His comments come just days after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett appealed to the international community for support in confronting Iran over their nuclear programme.

In his maiden speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Bennett said Iran had breached all the 'red lines' aimed at curbing its nuclear weapons programme but that Israel 'will not allow' Tehran to get the bomb.

Saeed Khatibzadeh, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry blamed Israel for the tensions in the region (pictured: Khatibzadeh in October 2020)

The spokesman's comments came just days after Israel's prime minister Naftali Bennett (pictured) addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Monday and asked for international support in confronting Iran over their nuclear programme

After claiming that an Iran-Israel war was already underway, the Iranian spokesman added that Israel 'had done everything' in an attempt to scupper nuclear talks with the UN in Vienna, and sought to drive a wedge between Iran and world powers.

Khatibzadeh continued: 'Israel severely harmed our civilians and research system.

'They speak about the Iranian nuclear threat, but Israel has hundreds of bombs, and it never signed the non-proliferation treaty for nuclear weapons.'

Meanwhile, Bennett has openly condemned Iran's perceived plans for the region and stands steadfastly against Iran's development of their nuclear programme, which Israel believes is gearing towards the development of warheads.

'Irans great goal is crystal clear to anybody who cares to open their eyes: Iran seeks to dominate the region - and seeks to do so under a nuclear umbrella,' Bennett said on Monday.

He called Irans new president, Ebrahim Raisi, the 'butcher of Tehran' for his past role in suppressing political dissent and accused Iran of arming, funding and training Israels enemies across the region.

He also suggested that Iranian meddling had brought disaster to countries like Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

An Iranian couple walk next to short-range missiles in a street exhibition by Iran's army in Tehran on September 25 2021. Iran and the US are reportedly trying to re-establish the Iran nuclear deal from 2015, but Israeli PM Naftali Bennett has called for support in confronting Iran over its nuclear programme

'Every place Iran touches fails,' he said, claiming that Iranian activities threatened the entire world. He pointed to Irans development of attack drones, which have been blamed for a string of attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf.

In a reply later Monday on the assembly floor, Iranian diplomat Payman Ghadirkhomi accused Bennett of making baseless allegations and using 'threatening language' toward Iran.

'His regime must avoid any miscalculation and adventuristic move in the region,' added Ghadirkhomi, who is assigned to Iran's U.N. mission.

Israel believes that Iran aims to develop nuclear weapons - a charge Iran denies - and says the international nuclear accord reached with Iran in 2015 did not include enough safeguards to keep Iran from reaching a weapons capability.

'There are those in the world who seem to see Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons as an inevitable reality, as a done deal, or they have just become tired of hearing about it,' Bennett declared to the UN.

'Israel doesn't have that privilege. We cannot tire. We will not tire.

'Israel will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.'

Iran, which says its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes and denies the development of nuclear weapons, said Friday that it expected talks to resume soon on reviving the 2015 agreement scaling back its programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

Speaking with Iran's national news agency on Friday, Khatibzadeh also condemned a visit by Israel's foreign minister to Bahrain this week to mark the establishment of relations between the two Gulf Arab states.

Khatibzadeh said the visit, which took place as Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid inaugurated the new Israeli embassy in Bahrain, left a stain on Bahrain's rulers that 'will not be erased'.

Tehran sees the development of relations between the states as unacceptable for the region.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (centre left) inaugurated the new Israeli embassy in Bahrain with Foreign Minister of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani (centre right) in Manama, Bahrain on September 30.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid met Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa (pictured) and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa on Thursday, signifying the development of positive relations between the two countries which has angered Iran

Lapid met Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa on Thursday, before cutting the ribbon at the Israeli embassy in Manama, Bahrain with the nation's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani.

Lapid reportedly toured Bahrain's headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, which has faced off with Iranian vessels in recent years.

'We condemn any scheme that bolsters Israels destructive presence in the region,' Khatibzadeh said in a statement to the IRNA news agency.

'It is unfortunate that Bahrain's rulers ignore the Zionist regime's daily crimes against the oppressed but resilient people of Palestine,' Khatibzadeh said, referring to Israel.

'This stain will not be erased from the reputation of Bahrains rulers. The people of the region will continue to oppose the process of normalisation of ties with the Zionist regime.'

Khatibzadeh made the Friday statement as Iranian forces kicked off a large-scale display of military power near the nation's border with Azerbaijan, another country that Iran perceives as having worryingly close ties with Israel.

Artillery, drones and helicopters will participate in the drills, an IRNA news agency report said, without elaborating on how long they would last or where exactly they would be held.

Iran is wary of Azerbaijan in particular for its deep military cooperation with Israel, and on Thursday voiced its concerns to Azerbaijani ambassador in Tehran Ali Alizadeh.

'We do not tolerate the presence and activity against our national security of the Zionist regime, or Israel, next to our borders,' Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said. 'And we will carry out any necessary action in this regard.'
Japan's Princess Mako is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to negative coverage of her marriage to commoner Kei Komuro, royal aides have revealed.

Mako, the 29-year-old niece of Emperor Naruhito, is receiving treatment for 'complex' psychological issues related to 'abusive commentary' in the media about her engagement to law-student Kei, aide Takaharu Kachi said.

He revealed the diagnosis at a press conference announcing that Mako and her university sweetheart will privately wed on October 26 without a ceremony, banquet, or other rituals.

Instead, the couple, who have been engaged since 2013, will marry in a registrar's office and then hold a press conference afterwards.

Japan's imperial law requires a princess to leave the royal family after marrying a commoner but they are given a substantial wedding sum of 150 million (1million) 'to preserve the dignity of a person who was once a member of the imperial family'.

But in an unprecedented break from country's tradition Mako is set to turn down the one-off million-dollar payment, clearing the way for a marriage delayed for years by financial controversy surrounding her fiance.

Japan's Princess Mako (right) is suffering from PTSD over 'abusive commentary' in the media over her marriage to commoner Kei Komuro (left), aides have said

Mako's condition was revealed as aides announced she will wed Komuro (pictured arriving in Tokyo this week) on October 26 without pomp or ceremony

According to reports in the Japanese media, the couple will also skip two formal Shinto betrothal ceremonies: the Nosai-no-Gi betrothal ceremony and the Choken-no-Gi, in which the bride offers a thank you and a farewell to Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako.

They are expected to start a new life together in New York later this year, where Kei had been studying law.

Mako, the daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito, met Kei when they were students at the International Christian University in Tokyo and went public with their proposal in 2017.

Kei had proposed over dinner in December 2013, and the pair kept their long-distance relationship under wraps while Mako studied for her master's degree in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester in the UK.

Shortly after announcing their engagement, financial controversy around her fiance and his mother arose, with the couple later announcing they were postponing their wedding.

According to reports, Mr Komuro's mother had borrowed 4 million, or about 27,300, from an ex-boyfriend and then failed to repay it.

But she hit back, saying the man had made it clear when the relationship broke down in 2012 that he did not want to be repaid - before later demanding the money.

In a statement issued in January 2019, Mr Komuro explained his mother had offered to repay the sum, however her ex had 'clearly stated that he did not expect the money to be repaid'.

But the man reportedly sent a letter to his mother in 2013 asking to be reimbursed. After consulting with an expert, Mr Komuro's mother then met her ex and rejected his request.

Princess Mako is the niece of Japan's Emperor Naruhito (left, with wife Empress Masako). Her father, Prince Fumihito, is likely to inherit the throne when he dies

Mako (pictured in 2019) will forego a 1million payment to which she is entitled when she marries Komuro and will lose her royal rank, aides added

In the statement, Mr Komoru expressed his gratitude to his mother's former fiance for providing financial assistance over the years and added that he hoped the pair could come to a mutual understanding.

Amid the furor, Mako and Kei announced that their wedding would be postponed until at least 2020 - ostensibly to 'give us more time to plan'.

Kei then went back to study law in the US while the couple waited for the outcry to subside and for his mother to work out the situation with her ex-fiance.

But any hopes of a 2020 wedding were put on ice when Mako gave an interview saying she could not be certain when the nuptials would take place.

In November 2020, Princess Mako told how, while the couple are 'irreplaceable to each other', there are still no 'concrete plans' of when they will eventually tie the knot, and that it's difficult to tell 'anything about the future' at the moment.

'For us, a marriage is a necessary choice to live and honour our hearts,' said Mako in a statement released by the Imperial Household Agency last year.

'We are irreplaceable to each other, and we can lean on each other in happy times and in unhappy times.

'[But] it is difficult to tell anything concrete regarding our future plans and others at the moment.'

But all eyes turned back to Tokyo earlier this week when Kei suddenly returned to the city, prompted speculation that a marriage announcement was imminent.

As he stepped off the plane at an airport near Tokyo on Monday, Komuro was met by camera flashes, video crews and a gaggle of eager reporters.

Dressed in a dark suit with his long hair tied back, he bowed deeply to the journalists and did not speak.

He is quarantining for two weeks, as required by Japan's border restrictions.

Mako is said to be planning to move to the United States after her wedding, drawing inevitable comparisons with another controversial royal couple - Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

The couple are expected to start a new life together in New York later this year, where Kei (left) had been studying law.

Mr Komuro was working as a paralegal at a law firm in Tokyo prior to starting his studies at Fordham University in New York in August 2018.

Earlier this month, Japanese media said the pair had decided to wed without some traditional ceremonies, rejecting a payout that usually goes to female royals marrying out of the family.

The size of the payment is unknown, though reports put it at 137 million yen ($1.3million) or more.

Mako is sister to Prince Hisahito, 15, currently the only eligible male heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne other than his father.

Mako, who turns 30 three days before the wedding, is a niece of Emperor Naruhito.

Her father, Prince Fumihito, is the younger brother of the Emperor and is currently the heir in line to the throne because Naruhito has only one child - a 19-year-old daughter named Aiko, Princess Toshi.

Japan's strict succession rules dictate that only men can inherit the throne, with a government advisory panel backing the tradition in a July vote despite public opinion in favour of allowing Empresses.

It is unlikely that Naruhito will have another child, because his wife - Empress Masako - is now aged 57 and has suffered long-standing mental health issues.

That means Fumihito is likely to inherit, which could have put Mako's children in the line of succession. She is is eldest daughter.

Princess Mako's aunt, Princess Sayako, became the last royal to be stripped of her status when she wed a Tokyo city official in 2005.
Nine patients have died after a fire broke out on a Covid ward at a Romanian hospital today.

Flames engulfed the intensive care unit this morning, with footage showing smoke billowing from the ward windows.

Emergency services said the fire was extinguished within hours, with some 100 patients evacuated from the hospital in Constanta, on the Black Sea coast.

It was treating 113 patients at the time, 10 of which were in intensive care, the country's health ministry has said.

The fire is the third to engulf Romania's dilapidated healthcare system in a year.

Some five patients died in January after a hospital caught fire in Bucharest, the capital.

And two months before 15 patients were killed in another blaze at a hospital in Piatra Neamt, in the country's north east.

Nine patients have died after a fire broke out at a Romanian hospital in Constanta, on the country's Black Sea coast

Flames engulfed the intensive care unit that was treating Covid patients this morning. Firefighters quickly arrived on the scene and extinguished the blaze in hours

Patients were pictured outside the hospital shrouded in blankets to keep warm

One patient was seen propped up against a tree near the hospital wearing a face mask

Emergency services said 100 patients were evacuated from the hospital after the blaze began

A group of patients is pictured above wearing face masks and shrouded in blankets after being evacuated from the hospital

Footage shows smoke billowing from the hospital's windows as fire fighters entered to rescue patients.

There are also reports on social media that some patients had to jump from the hospital windows to escape the blaze.

Pictures show patients, some likely suffering from Covid, sitting on the lawn near the hospital wearing face masks and shrouded in blankets to keep warm.

One patient was photographed propped up against a tree talking to rescue services workers wearing hazmat suits.

Romania's healthcare system has long been under intense pressure, amid underfunding, corruption  and then the pandemic.

Only one hospital has been built in the country in the last three decades.

Romania also has the lowest health budget in the EU in terms of proportion of GDP (5 per cent compared to a bloc-wide average 9.8 per cent).

After the last fire in January the country's president Klaus Iohannis said the tragedy 'must not happen again'.

He had called for urgent and 'profound' reform.

The fire took place at the Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Constanta, on the Black Sea coast.

The blaze is the third to engulf the country's dilapidated healthcare system in a year

Pictured above is a firefighter heading into the hospital to check whether the flames were spreading

Above are firefighters climbing the ladder to enter the hospital after extinguishing the blaze

Patients are pictured below alongside emergency services workers clad in hazmat suits
The Prison Service will 'have a hard time' protecting Sarah Everard's killer Wayne Couzens who will soon wish he had been hanged instead, it was claimed today.

Couzens will die behind bars after he was sentenced yesterday for kidnapping, raping and murdering the marketing executive from South London in March.

Insiders said 'every prisoner in the country is going to want to a pop at' Couzens, who has initially been sent to HMP Belmarsh in Thamesmead, South East London.

He will undergo an assessment at the Category A jail before joining the 'dispersal system' of five top-security jails from which inmates are moved without warning.

These are Frankland in County Durham, Full Sutton in North Yorkshire, Long Lartin in Worcestershire, Wakefield in West Yorkshire and Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire.

Wayne Couzens has initially been sent to HMP Belmarsh in Thamesmead, South East London

Couzens will undergo an assessment at the Category A jail HMP Belmarsh in South East London

An inmate is seen inside a typical cell at HMP Belmarsh which is where Couzens has been sent

A Prison Service source told The Times: 'They are going to have a hard time protecting him. Every prisoner in the country is going to want to a pop at him.'

Noel Smith, commissioning editor of the prison magazine Inside Time and a reformed armed robber who spent 11 year in jail, revealed what life would be like.

Wayne Couzens, 48, tricked Sarah Everard into his car after staging a fake arrest on her

He told the Times that the former police officer would be living under constant threat of being stabbed or scalded with boiled with water by inmates.

Mr Smith said: 'He's going to wish in four or five years that they had hanged him.

'This guy is a bit of a unique case because most police officers don't get done for murder and when they do time, they do two or three years then go to open prison where no one's going to touch them because they're all looking to get out.'

'When you're doing life, you never move down a category so you're always [with] the worst offenders. People will be queuing up to get at him, right down to the petty thief who wants to make a name for himself.'

Couzens is likely to need to be in a segregation wing with other vulnerable prisoners  and HMP Wakefield is a possible location for him because it has a number of these.

Prisoner searches take place at HMP Belmarsh which will house Couzens for the moment

An aerial view of HMP Belmarsh in Thamesmead which is where Couzens has been sent

The chapel at HMP Belmarsh, the prison where Couzens was sent after his sentencing

He had already been on suicide watch after being taken to hospital with head wounds - and also charged at the walls of his cell while being held for questioning.

What is the 'dispersal system' and where might Couzens end up? Wayne Couzens will die behind bars after murdering Sarah Everard - and he has initially gone to HMP Belmarsh in Thamesmead, South East London. He will be assessed at the Category A jail before joining the 'dispersal system' of five top-security prisons. Inmates are moved around these prisons without warning to help ensure the safety of guards and other inmates, or disrupt groups of prisons. The five jails are: Frankland in County Durham

Full Sutton in North Yorkshire

Long Lartin in Worcestershire

Wakefield in West Yorkshire

Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire Advertisement

Lord Justice Fulford yesterday sentenced Couzens to a whole life order - the most severe punishment available in the UK criminal justice system for those who commit the most serious crimes.

He joins a string of some of the country's most dangerous offenders who are expected to die behind bars.

There are 60 criminals still alive who are serving whole life orders, according to government figures to the end of June. In total, 73 criminals have been sentenced to whole life terms.

As a former police officer convicted of kidnap, rape and murder, Couzens is likely to see out his sentence in a Vulnerable Prisoner Unit (VPU) for his own protection.

In VPUs, prisoners are segregated from mainstream inmates, since they may be considered possible targets for violence from other prisoners given the brutality of their crimes.

In an Evening Standard article, ex-Tory MP turned convict, Jonathan Aitken, wrote: 'VPs are mainly sex offenders or nonces although other rare beasts of the prison jungle such as jailed police officers, grasses and inmates with special worries about their personal safety also apply for the special protection of Rule 43.'

While VPUs may offer stricter protection, Jonathan Aitken described them as 'claustrophobic'.

Safety precautions in VPUs have been breached in the past. In 2019, paedophile Richard Huckle, 33, was found stabbed to death in his VPU cell at HMP Full Sutton. Huckle had been serving 22 life sentences for molesting up to 200 children.

Levi Bellfield is said to be the only person in UK history to be serving two whole-life orders

Other notorious criminals serving whole-life orders include Gloucester serial killer Rose West

Prisoners serving whole life sentences will never be considered for release, unless there are exceptional compassionate grounds to warrant it.

Whole-life orders: The sentence that sees criminals likely to die behind bars Whole-life orders are the most severe punishment available in the UK criminal justice system for those who commit the most serious crimes. In being handed such a sentence, Wayne Couzens joins a string of some of the country's most dangerous offenders, who are expected to die behind bars. But it is the first time the tariff has been imposed for a single murder of an adult not committed in the course of a terror attack. There are 60 criminals serving whole-life orders, according to Government figures to the end of June. They will never be considered for release, unless there are exceptional compassionate grounds to warrant it. Milly Dowler's killer, Levi Bellfield, is thought to be the only criminal in UK legal history to be serving two whole-life orders - for her murder, the killings of Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange as well as the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy. Other notorious criminals serving whole-life orders include: Gloucester serial killer Rose West; Michael Adebolajo, one of Fusilier Lee Rigby's killers; Mark Bridger, who murdered five-year-old April Jones in Wales; neo-Nazi Thomas Mair, who killed MP Jo Cox; Grindr serial killer Stephen Port; and most recently the Reading terror attacker Khairi Saadallah, who murdered three men in a park. Under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, the Government is trying to expand the use of whole-life orders for premeditated murder of a child. The reforms would also allow judges to hand out the maximum sentence to 18- to 20-year-olds in exceptional cases, such as for acts of terrorism leading to mass loss of life. Advertisement

Milly Dowler's killer Levi Bellfield is thought to be the only criminal in UK legal history to be serving two whole life orders - for her murder, the killings of Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange as well as the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy.

Other notorious criminals serving whole life orders include Gloucester serial killer Rose West, who is responsible for the deaths of ten women - many of them tortured and murdered with her husband Fred West, now dead, as an accomplice.

Rose West was transferred to HMP New Hall in West Yorkshire in 2019, as rumours circulated about ill health and death threats.

Myra Hindley, who died aged 60 in 2002, was never released from prison despite her long campaign for parole, which was backed by prominent supporters including Francis Pakenham, Earl of Longford.

Her partner in crime, Ian Brady, spent 19 years in mainstream prisons before he was diagnosed as a psychopath in 1985 and moved to the high-security Park Lane Hospital, now Ashworth Hospital, in Maghull, Merseyside.

Brady vowed to starve himself in 2012 and unsuccessfully applied to return to prison. He finally died at Ashworth Hospital in 2017 aged 79, after spending 52 years incarcerated.

Michael Adebolajo, one of Fusilier Lee Rigby's killers, is also serving a life term without parole.

Other notorious lifers are Mark Bridger, 55, who abducted and murdered five-year-old April Jones in Powys, Wales, in 2012; neo-Nazi Thomas Mair who killed MP Jo Cox; Grindr serial killer Stephen Port; and most recently terror attacker Khairi Saadallah - who murdered three men in a park in Reading.

Before they died, Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and doctor Harold Shipman - thought to be one of Britain's most prolific serial killers - were also among those serving whole life orders.

In the past, home secretaries could issue whole life tariffs and these are now determined by judges.

Under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, the Government is trying to expand the use of whole life orders for premeditated murder of a child.

The reforms would also allow judges to hand out the maximum sentence to 18 to 20-year-olds in exceptional cases, such as for acts of terrorism leading to mass loss of life.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman declined to comment to MailOnline today.
Sky News host Alan Jones has lashed out at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle over their high-profile trip to New York, labelling the pair 'insufferable' for wanting to meet with influential leaders in the city.

The Australian commentator discussed the couple's three-day trip on Tuesday night, claiming that he wished they had the courtesy to offer 'an eye mask and earplugs' to those who had to witness their public appearances.

'These two are truly...insufferable,' the 80-year-old said.

Australian commentator Alan Jones has lashed out at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle over their recent high-profile visit to New York, labelling the pair 'insufferable'

Mr Jones believed that the couple's trip to New York was for 'a bunch of do-gooder activities' and argued the pair shouldn't need to arrange meetings with those in powerful positions.

'Honestly, on what basis are these two non-working members of the royal family meeting any politician or world leader?'

He further added that everyone was sick of Meghan and Harry's messages on climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and famine.

'I mean, the whole world is fed up with these two and their preaching,' he continued.

'I thought they wanted to live a quiet life out of the limelight. I think we wish they did.'

Mr Jones believed that the couple's trip to New York was for 'a bunch of do-gooder activities' and argued the pair shouldn't need to arrange meetings with influential leaders (pictured: Meghan Markle being hugged by a student at a school in Harlem, New York)

Harry and Meghan's whirlwind three-day tour began on September 23, where they met governing officials at the One World Observatory, and then visited the United Nations to discuss Covid-19, racial justice and mental health with the US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

The couple also attended the World Health Organisation offices to talk about global vaccine equity and attended a primary school in the neighbourhood of Harlem where Ms Markle read her children's book The Bench to students.

They then met with the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed before appearing at the Global Citizen Live event in Central Park to urge leaders to fight for vaccine equity and continue taking action on climate change.
A schoolgirl has been raped after being attacked in a playing field next to a school and nursery.

The 15-year-old girl was targeted on King George V Playing Field in Queensborough on the Isle of Sheppey.

Officers received a report of the incident at around 7:30pm on Wednesday September 29 that the girl had been raped in a field next to Queenborough School & Nursery.

Kent Police believe the victim and suspect are known to each other and are treating the incident as isolated.

The 15-year-old girl was targeted on King George V Playing Field in Queensborough on the Isle of Sheppey

Officers received a report of the incident at around 7:30pm on Wednesday September 29 that the girl had been raped in a field next to Queenborough School & Nursery

Police at the scene at the King George V Playing Field (pictured) in Queenborough, Kent

Two police cars and a forensics van were observed at the scene on Thursday afternoon. Dogs were also seen in the back of one of the police cars, according to Kent Online.

A Kent Police statement read: 'Kent Police officers received a report that at around 7.30pm on Wednesday 29 September 2021 a 15-year-old girl had been raped in a field near Edwards Road, Queenborough.

'Officers believe the victim and suspect are known to each other and are treating the incident as isolated.

'No arrests have yet been made and enquiries are ongoing.'

Following the incident, Queenborough School & Nursery, put out a tweet on Thursday saying that they would not be opening their gates that lead to the park where the girl was attacked.

They said: 'The park next to the school has been cordoned off by police. This is not related to the school but we have been asked not to open the park gates this afternoon. Only the front gates will be open.'

Enquiries are still ongoing.
Sajid Javid has urged tens of thousands of Tube passengers to 'put your masks back on', as almost a quarter of passengers admitted they no longer use face coverings.

The Health Secretary, 51, insisted he would follow Transport for London's 'common sense' guidelines if he were travelling through the capital, after official figures showed a drop in the use of face masks on the Underground.

Mr Javid urged caution for travellers for the upcoming winter months and warned the 'pandemic has not ended', in an interview with the Evening Standard.

Mr Javid said: 'If the policy of Transport for London is wear a mask, which it is, people should respect that and absolutely wear a mask, I certainly would on the Tube.

'Its actually common sense. The pandemic has not ended.

'We are in a much, much better place than we were before, the vaccines are working.

'But there is still Covid around and if you are in a crowded place like the Tube, rush hour, its absolutely sensible to wear a mask.'

Mr Javid, 51, urged caution for Tube travellers for the upcoming winter months and warned the 'pandemic has not ended'

Tens of thousands of Tube passengers have been told to 'put your masks back on', as Mr Javid backed the 'common sense' move with the UK about to enter the winter months

The Health Secretary's latest comments come as TfL data shows a five per cent drop in the number of passengers who said they wear a mask on every journey in recent weeks

The Health Secretary's latest comments come as TfL data shows a five per cent drop in the number of passengers who said they wear a mask on every journey in recent weeks.

77 per cent of Tube users claimed they wore a protective face covering on journeys between August 22 to September 18, down from 82 per cent figure between July 25 and August 21.

The use of face coverings in public places was mandatory, unless exempt for health reasons, for Brits until 'Freedom Day' on July 19, 2021.

But TfL bus, train, tube and tram services have all issued guidelines warning passengers could be 'refused entry, denied travel or told to leave stations' if they refuse to wear a face mask without valid reason.

Although not a legal requirement, wearing a face covering is now a 'condition of carriage' - meaning you can't be fined for not wearing one but could be forced to leave.

Since July 19, TfL enforcement officers have refused entry to 223 passengers and asked 53 people to leave services, reports the BBC.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has faced a public backlash from women over the decision to stop TfL's Night Tube services in the wake of the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa

TfL bus, train, tube and tram services have all issued guidelines warning passengers could be 'refused entry, denied travel or told to leave stations' if they refuse to wear a face mask without valid reason

Mr Javid has promised widespread reforms within the NHS, following a public backlash over the announcement of a Government-backed 12billion National Insurance raid last month.

Ahead of the annual Conservative conference at the weekend, he promised to focus on touted improvements within the health service following the 'tough decision' to hike National Insurance rates.

'I think there is very, very strong support in the party for the general direction, particular for the Prime Minister, and also in terms of our recent decisions around for example the health and care levy.

MPs backed a controversial 12 billion National Insurance tax raid to pay for health and social care in September

'I think there is also a very strong understanding that it is the right thing to do.

'It's important that that money is spent incredibly carefully, it's taxpayers' money.

'Ill be very focused on what kind of reforms we need to make to ensure that.

Mr Javid's first major move as Health Secretary will see the formation of a new government body, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, which aims to curb growing regional health inequalities across the UK.

With guidance from Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, people will be encouraged to lead healthier lives in areas where public health is at its lowest, in order to provide greater life expectancy and alleviate pressure on health and social care systems.

Mr Javid told the Standard of the widening disparity between life expectancy in London boroughs: 'It's deeply concerning.

'When it comes to health outcomes, take life expectancy for example, within England between the different regions, there is a big difference, if you look at say Blackpool versus London, generally Blackpool a lot lower life expectancy.

'But even within the same regions, so in our great city, the example Barking and Dagenham and Westminster...and you are losing life expectancy rapidly.

'That is something that has been around for many years and its one of the key reasons that I want a much bigger focus on these health disparities and improvement of them.

'Its not going to happen overnight, people understand that, but its why I have set up the new Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.'

'He's responsible for policing and transport in our city. Londoners want action': Women demand Sadiq Khan reopens the Night Tube so they can get home safely after murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa

By James Gant for MailOnline

Sadiq Khan has been urged to reopen the Night Tube in London to 'give women and girls a safer way home' after a spate of high profile attacks in the city.

The Mayor was warned the service needs to resume and also be fitted with onboard CCTV to 'tackle sexual assaults'.

The GLA Conservatives and women in the capital led calls for it to reopen in full following the brutal deaths of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa this year.

The killings have left women in the capital terrified and seen a sharp fall in trust in the Metropolitan Police after it was revealed Ms Everard's attacker was a policeman.

It also comes at a time when taxi fares are high and harder to find due to a shortage of fuel in petrol stations across the country.

The Night Tube was suspended at the start of the pandemic as Britain went into lockdown and amid fury at the scrapping of the train drivers' pay grade.

But Mr Khan and Transport for London have given no fixed date for when it will resume, only saying they 'hope' to reopen one or two lines this year.

The Mayor (pictured earlier this week) was warned the service needs to resume and also be fitted with onboard CCTV to 'tackle sexual assaults'

The GLA Conservatives led calls for it to reopen in full following the brutal deaths of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa this year (file photo)

Tory GLA Transport spokesman Keith Prince told MailOnline: 'As London's nightlife returns, it's essential the Mayor reopens the Night Tube to give women and girls a safer way home.

'The service not only provides Londoners with more choice on how to travel at night, it provides a better lit transport option instead of waiting for a bus on dark streets.

'But, the Mayor must do more to make women and girls feel safe on public transport. All Tube lines need to be fitted with onboard CCTV to tackle sexual assaults.

'The Mayor should also provide free advertising space to the 'report it to stop it' campaign to tackle the 90 per cent of unwanted sexual behaviour that goes unreported.

'It's not good enough for the Mayor to say London's streets are not safe for women and girls.

'He's responsible for policing and transport in our city. Londoners want to see action, not press statements.'

A petition was launched yesterday to bring back the Night Tube, with the creator saying it was because 'London is such a dangerous place for women'.

She added in a tweet to Mr Khan and TfL: 'Do something about it before even more lives are lost.'

Another person posted: 'Bring back the night tube. It is outrageous and downright negligent that a city like London does not have 24h transport.'

One woman wrote: 'London is now dangerous at night. After attempting to leave central at 1am last night I have never felt more stranded.

'No night tubes & night buses half an hour, uber & bolt unavailable, how are women supposed to get home safely? And you wonder why people are getting hurt?'

Another said: 'Why is the night tube not running yet? If everything else is open like normal then they should have travel options operating like normal as well.

'Had to wait 30 mins for my bus to arrive last night after finishing my 9 hour shift, because one bus was just a complete no show.'

And one more added: 'No night tube. 30 Ubers which take an hour to arrive. Nights getting darker.

'CLEARLY London is not safe for women alone at night - although it shouldn't be down to us to protect ourselves - HOW CAN WE WHEN WE HAVE TO WALK HOME ALONE?'

Since the country came out of lockdown in the summer, the number of people using public transport in London has surged.

And the reopening of pubs, bars and nightclubs has brought on the need for services such as the Night Tube.

Buses still weave across the capital throughout the night, but stops are often poorly lit and have minimal CCTV coverage.

Meanwhile London Underground stations have cameras, TfL workers on shift and are always lit.

But the Mayor admitted there was no fixed for the return of the Night Tube, only saying he wanted it open 'as quickly as possible'.

A spokesman for Mr Khan said: 'Sadiq is committed to taking action to improve safety for women in the capital and has been clear he wants to open the night tube as quickly as possible.

'He has urged TfL to look into the feasibility of getting one or two lines reopened this year, which we hope will be possible.

'TfL continue to run as close to a full service as possible across all their services and the Tube continues to serve central London with last trains leaving around 01:00 and starting again at 05:30. There extensive night bus network continues to operate throughout the city.'

The Night Tube usually runs on five lines on Fridays and Saturdays - Victoria, Central, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly.

Meanwhile the London Overground would normally operate a 24-hour service on Fridays and Saturdays between New Cross Gate and Highbury and Islington.

The British Transport Police has more than 100 officers patrolling the 144 stations served by the Night Tube.

As well as being suspended due to the pandemic, there were also Night Tube issues due to staff pay.

In the summer workers planned to go on strike over plans to scrap Night Tube train drivers' pay grade after talks between the union and London Underground failed.

The changes would mean instead of having a separate role for Night Tube train drivers all drivers would be expected to work a combination of shifts.

Strike action was proposed by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, which represents tube drivers, but called off at the last minute.

The union asked all drivers not to book into work after midday for 24 hours on August 3, 5, 24 and 26.

The union said London Underground proposed to axe the grade in 'a cash-led move' which threatened the loss of 200 jobs and the work life balance of 3,000 drivers.

The Night Tube usually runs on five lines on Fridays and Saturdays - Victoria, Central, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly (file photo)

The fear around travelling at night in the city was sparked by the recent killings of Ms Everard and Ms Nessa.

Policing minister Kit Malthouse said the Ms Everard's case had struck a 'devastating blow to the confidence people have in police officers'.

Wayne Couzens was handed a whole life sentence on Thursday for the kidnap, rape and murder of the 33-year-old marketing executive.

Mr Malthouse told Sky: 'They recognise that this has struck a devastating blow to the confidence that people have in police officers but also in the Met Police in particular.

'For those thousands and thousands of police officers out there who will have to work harder - much harder - to win public trust, it is a very, very difficult time.'

Mr Malthouse said there are important lessons to learn from what happened.

He said: 'My job is effectively to help the Home Secretary hold the police to account about what went wrong, how this monster slipped through the net to become a police officer, how we can make sure it doesn't happen again.'

But he joined several other politicians and policing figures in rejecting mounting calls for Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick to resign.

He added: 'She is a dedicated and talented and committed police officer who is driving the Metropolitan Police to ever greater standards of care and improvement and fighting crime.'

Wayne Couzens (left) exchanged misogynistic, racist and homophobic texts with his police colleagues who are now facing a criminal investigation, it has been reported, as Dame Cressida Dick (right) faces calls to resign

The police watchdog is investigating the conduct of 15 officers and one former officer linked to the Sarah Everard (pictured) case

Sabina Nessa, 28, originally from Bedfordshire. Ms Nessa was killed as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, on her way to meet a friend on September 17. A man has been charged with murder and awaits trial

The Met is facing questions as to how Couzens was able to get a job with the force despite allegations made against him earlier in his career - prompting a wider debate over whether police vetting rules are strict enough.

Mr Malthouse told BBC Breakfast: 'One of the lessons that we will need to learn is the allegations that were made against him - where those investigations led to, why they did not pop up on his vetting or have any impact in his employment with the Metropolitan Police. That is currently under investigation.'

Jess Phillips, Labour's shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, said trust in police is 'not going to be built back overnight', telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It is going to be built up if we see the Government and police forces starting to actually take violence against women and girls, and the complaints that women make day in, day out, seriously.'

While a lack of trust in police by women who do not feel that violence and crime against them is prioritised was a concern even before Ms Everard's killing, Ms Phillips said she feels for the 'really brilliant' police officers all across the country.

Helen King, a former assistant chief constable at Merseyside Police, told the radio programme it is important to ensure 'good, morally and physically courageous people with high levels of integrity' want to join the police and see it as an attractive career.

She said 'hundreds and thousands' of women have benefited from the 'professional and sensitive support' of police officers in cases of domestic abuse and sexual offences.

She added: 'I think we need to recognise that there isn't a magic simple answer to this.

'We all want it to stop, but there isn't just one action which is going to make that difference.'
A British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Dubrovnik, Croatia was forced to turn back mid-flight after a technical issue.

Flight BA 2678 departed at 9:09am before squawking a 7700 General Emergency while 17,225ft off the ground.

Just 11 minutes after taking off, the plane was back on London Heathrow's tarmac.

Images from Flightradar24, a global flight-tracking service, show BA 2678's sudden U-turn motion, circling back on itself after reaching France

BA 2678 exited continental Europe, flying past Brussels and back over the English Channel for safety on the rainy runways of London Heathrow after suffering a technical glitch

Images from Flightradar24, a global flight-tracking service, show the BA 2678's sudden U-turn motion, circling back on itself after reaching France.

A spokesperson for British Airways said: 'The safety of our customers and crew is always our priority and the flight returned to Heathrow as a precaution due to a minor technical issue.

'The aircraft landed safely.'

The BA 2678 flight from Heathrow to Dubrovnik takes 2 hours and 51 minutes on average, taking passengers 1072 miles across southern Europe and landing near the coast of the Adriatic sea in the south of Croatia.
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One in 20 children in England were infected with Covid on any given day last week, official data revealed today amid fears a fourth wave may be just around the corner.

The Office for National Statistics today estimated 658,800 people in England had the virus on September 25, up 6.2 per cent on the previous weekly figure. And separate data from the UK Health Security Agency today showed the upper-end estimate of the R rate has increased for the first time in six weeks.

Analysis showed the virus was most prevalent among children aged 11 to 16, with 4.6 per cent of them estimated to have been infected  the equivalent of around one infected pupil in every classroom.

With the outbreak having exploded among pupils since they went back at the start of September, some scientists have urged secondary schools to reintroduce face masks immediately to prevent infections tricking into the rest of the population.

Meanwhile, bosses at Staffordshire County Council today urged 500 schools to be 'proactive' and reimplement infection control measures that were scrapped by No10 in mid-May, including bubbles and contact-tracing.

MailOnline's analysis of official figures today suggested vaccine uptake rates have stalled at about 55 per cent in older teenagers. Experts said it wasn't a surprise because so many teens had already caught Covid that they didn't think they needed a jab.

The ONS data, which is closely watched by ministers, barely changed in any other age groups last week, despite a flurry of other official statistics suggesting the outbreak has already started to spill over to adults in their thirties, forties and fifties.

One scientist behind one of the country's largest Covid surveillance studies yesterday warned infections were now spreading up the 'generational ladder'.

The graphs show the Office for National Statistics estimates for the percentage of people testing positive in England for different age groups from August 15 to September 25. The virus was most prevalent among children aged 11 to 16, with 4.6 per cent of them estimated to have been infected  the equivalent of around one infected pupil in every classroom

The graphs show the percentage of people testing positive in the UK's four nations each week from August 15 to September 25. Infections are thought to be on the rise in England and Wales, but falling in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Only around 55 per cent of 16 and 17-year-olds have had their first dose by September 26 (titled week 38), a number which had barely risen in the previous three weeks. Data from the new UK Health Security Agency shows that uptake in the age group was sitting at about 20 per cent at the start of August

The estimated infection rates among 11 to 16-year-olds in England marks a rise from the 2.8 per cent who were thought to be infected one week earlier.

Vaccine uptake has stalled at 55% in 16 to 18-year-olds, official data suggests Uptake of the coronavirus vaccines in older teenagers appears to have stalled already, according to UK Government figures. Only around 55 per cent of 16 and 17-year-olds in England had their first dose by September 26, latest data shows, a number which had barely risen in the previous three weeks. The analysis was revealed in a weekly report by the new UK Health Security Agency, which took over axed Public Health England's pandemic duties today. It showed that uptake in the age group was sitting at about 20 per cent at the start of August. This shot up to 50 per cent in the three weeks after the vaccine rollout was expanded to all older teenagers on August 19. But the progress appears to have stalled in recent weeks, rising just five or so per cent in September. Experts said they were not necessarily surprised by the plateau because many teenagers 'dont feel they need to get vaccinated' or 'they aren't convinced it's safe'. All age groups have seen a natural stagnation in uptake, with this threshold being much higher in older age groups who are most susceptible to getting severe Covid. For example, the ceiling was about 90 per cent in the over-70s, 80 per cent in people over the age of 50 and around 60 per cent in people in their forties, although these numbers are still very slowly rising. Advertisement

Children aged two to 10 have the next highest positivity rate with around one in 40 (2.6 per cent) thought to have the virus on any given day last week, up from 2.3 per cent one week earlier.

Cases are also rising, albeit slowly, among over-70s, with an estimated 0.5 per cent of them infected, compared to 0.4 per cent last week.

But cases are falling or flat in all other age groups, the ONS estimates.

Among 17 to 24-year-olds, 1.1 per cent are thought to have Covid, down from 1.5 per cent last week, while 0.6 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds had the virus last week, a drop from 0.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, 0.8 per cent of people aged 35 to 49 had the coronavirus and 0.7 per cent of those aged 50 to 69 - the same as the previous week.

The uptake in cases among younger groups led Staffordshire County Council to tell schools to bring back wide-ranging measures to control the outbreak in the area, which has seen infections surge by 28.8 per cent in a week.

The council said pupils should wear face coverings, while staff should stay 2m away from students. And there should not be any all-staff meetings or all-school events, such as assemblies, it advised.

It also told pupils living with someone who tests positive to stay at home until they receive a negative PCR test, despite not being able to legally enforce this measure.

Professor Christina Pagel, a mathematician at University College London, yesterday called for infection control measures to be brought back at a national level.

She said: 'I think we need to put mitigations back in schools, particularly masks in secondary schools, now and roll out the vaccine a bit more rapidly.'

Professor Pagel warned the spiralling infection rates in children, risks of them suffering 'long Covid' and a slow vaccine roll out meant action should be taken to limit the spread of the virus.

It comes as the ONS data shows infections across the UK are a mixed picture. Cases are rising in England and Wales, where one in 85 (1.21 per cent) and one in 55 (1.76 per cent) people were estimated to have Covid last week, respectively.

Meanwhile, cases are dropping in Scotland, where one in 65 people (1.85 per cent) were infected last week, down from one in 45 (2.28 per cent) in the seven days up to September 18.

And one in 65 people in Northern Ireland (1.53 per cent) had the virus last week, a drop from one in 60 one week earlier, according to the official estimates.

The ONS said the proportion of people testing positive in England continued to fluctuate across all regions in the week ending September 25. The percentage of people testing positive increased in the North West, where 1.5 per cent of people tested positive and Yorkshire and The Humber (1.8 per cent). Cases were also trending upwards in the East Midlands (1.5 per cent) and the South West (1.2 per cent). But it decreased in the North East, from 1.7 to 1.2 per cent, and in London, from 0.9 to 0.8 per cent

The graph shows the percentage of people testing positive for Covid based on their age up to September 25. It shows that cases are highest among young people in England, while there is more uncertainty in the figures for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland due to the comparatively smaller sample sizes (indicated by wider black lines)

Hundreds of schools are told to bring back suite of Covid curbs Schools have been instructed by councils to bring in a suite of stricter Covid curbs in response to rising infections among pupils. Hundreds of primaries and secondaries in Staffordshire were urged to be 'proactive' and not wait on official guidance from the Government. The county's council has encouraged bringing back face masks and year group bubbles and scrapping assemblies and staff meetings. It also recommended schools stagger starting and break times to limit mixing in corridors and the playground. Staffordshire County Council, which covers more than 500 schools, is believed to be the first to promote reintroducing such a comprehensive set of measures. Other local authorities have brought back light measures like mask-wearing, including Cumbria and parts of Northamptonshire. Pupils whose family member tests positive are advised to 'stay at home pending PCR test result', despite the fact schools can't legally make them isolate. Ministers scrapped the requirement for all contacts of Covid cases to self-isolate in August. Advertisement

The ONS said the proportion of people testing positive in England continued to fluctuate across all regions in the week ending September 25.

The ONS, which bases its estimates on a random testing from a sample of people across the UK, said more than 99 per cent of all positive Covid swabs sequenced in the four weeks to August 30 were the Delta variant.

Meanwhile, No10's top scientists estimated the R rate  which measures the spread of the virus  may now be below one at between 0.8 and 1.1.

This suggests that for every ten people who have the virus, they are passing it on to between eight and 11 others.

The East, Midlands, North East and Yorkshire, North West, South East and South West were all predicted to have an R rate at this level. But in London it had dropped to between 0.8 and 1.

Experts say the R rate and growth rate should be interpreted with huge caution because it is a lagging indicator and only shows the situation on the ground from around three weeks ago.

It comes as Department for Health data yesterday revealed Britain's Covid outbreak shrunk for the first time in nearly two weeks, while hospital admissions and deaths continue to drop.

Another 36,480 positive tests were recorded across the UK, down 0.6 per cent on the 36,710 infections spotted last Thursday. Week-on-week cases had been rising steadily for the previous 12 days.

Despite the fall in official numbers, it could be a blip because other surveillance measures today revealed cases are still rising.

King's College London data yesterday showed the number of Britons catching Covid every day rose almost 30 per cent last week.

Meanwhile, Covid hospitalisations and deaths continued to fall, with 657 people infected with the virus requiring NHS care (down by 12 per cent on last week) and 137 fatalities recorded (down by a quarter).

Both figures lag several weeks behind infections because of how long it can take for infected patients to become seriously ill.
China has flown 25 aircraft into Taiwan's airspace in the largest incursion for months as tensions in the region continue to build.

Taipei said 22 fighters including 18 J-16 jets and four Su-30s accompanied two nuclear-capable H-6 bombers and one Y-8 recon plane on a mission Friday.

Fighters were scrambled in response while radio warnings were broadcast and missile defences activated to monitor the situation, Taiwan's military said.

It is the largest number of aircraft to enter Taiwan's 'air defence identification zone' since June 15, when 28 aircraft approached the island.

The mission comes amid mounting tensions in the region, following the AUKUS submarine pact which has enraged Beijing.

China has flown 25 planes, including 22 jets along with two nuclear-capable bombers and one spy plane, into Taiwan's 'air defence identification zone'

Two nuclear-capable H-6 bombers took part in the sortie, flying south of Taiwan island before turning around and heading back to China (file image)

China frequently flies such missions, but they have taken on new significance in the wake of the AUKUS deal.

Taiwan is a close ally of the US, which may go to war to protect the island in the event of an invasion by China - which Xi Jinping has warned he is considering.

The pact means the UK and Australia could now be dragged into the conflict.

Flight tracking data published by Taiwan showed the J-16 and Russian-made Su-30 fighters flew a short distance into the ADIZ before turning back.

Two H-6 bombers briefly skirted the edge of the ADIZ. The Y-8 plane flew a slightly longer route along the south of the island before also turning back.

The island's government has complained for a year of repeated missions by China's air force near its borders, often in the southwestern part of its air defense zone close to Taiwan-controlled Pratas Island.

China flew at least one aircraft into Taiwan's defence zone almost every day last month, defence ministry data shows.

Most missions only involve a handful of aircraft, making Friday's sortie exceptional for its size.

Only three comparable missions have taken place in recent months, with one on September 23 that included 19 aircraft, one on September 5 that also included 19 aircraft, and one on June 15 that included 28.

Eighteen J-16 (pictured) fighters and four Russian-made Su-30 jets also took part in the mission, which was one of the largest to be flown in recent months

Self-governing Taiwan, which is home to the Republic of China which fought against the Communist Party when it first emerged, views itself as an independent state but Beijing views it as a breakaway province.

It has long-standing ties with the US, which historically recognised it as the legitimate government of China.

Tensions around the island have been mounting since President Xi Jinping vowed in 2019 to 'reunify' Taiwan with the Chinese mainland, using force if necessary.

The standoff entered a new phase last week when Australia, the UK and US announced a new defence pact to share military technology that will include giving Australia its first fleet of nuclear submarines.

Beijing reacted angrily to the deal, denouncing the allies' 'Cold War mentality' while warning it risks stability in the region and could make Australia the target of a nuclear strike.

Shortly after the alliance was announced, Australian defence minister Peter Dutton admitted that war with China is possible - with Taiwan likely to be the flashpoint.

The deal is about securing 'peace' in the region, Mr Dutton insisted, but added that the odds of a conflict with China 'shouldn't be discounted'.

'The Chinese.. are very clear of their intent with regard to Taiwan [and] the United States has been very clear of their intention toward Taiwan,' he said.

'Nobody wants to see conflict but that really is a question for the Chinese.'
A gang who plotted the 'chilling' abduction of a child who they claimed was at risk of Satanic abuse have been jailed for a combined total of 63 years.

Gang leaders Anke Hill, 51, and Wilfred Wong, 56, snatched the child from their foster carer as they arrived home from school on November 4 last year, Caernarfon Crown Court heard.

Hill wrestled the child from their car seat and put them in a waiting vehicle, while Wong held a knife to the foster carer's throat before slashing one of the carer's car tyres to prevent them from following.

They then met Janet Stevenson and Edward Stevenson, a married couple who had hired a car to take the child away from Anglesey, north Wales.

Two others, Jane Going-Hill and Kristine Petley, acted as lookouts on bridges to mainland Wales to spot any police activity, facilitating the car's escape route.

Wilfred Wong, pictured being taken from Caernarfon Crown Court, was a leading member of a gang involved in the abduction of a child in north Wales

Members of the gang, including Edward and Janet Stevenson, pictured, wrongly claimed the child was at risk. Detectives scoured CCTV footage to discover those involved in the crime

The youngster had to travel for 'hundreds of miles in the footwell' of a Ford Galaxy as their captors sought to evade detection.

The child was safely recovered when the hire car was stopped on the M1 between Milton Keynes and Northampton.

Wong, 51, of in Bloomsbury, central London, denied conspiracy to kidnap and possession of a bladed article but was convicted after a trial in August.

He was jailed for 17 years for conspiracy to kidnap between July and November 2020. He received two years and six months for possessing a bladed article in a public place, to run concurrently.

The gang plotted to abduct the child after school, threatening the foster carer with a knife, pictured here, Jane Going-Hill and Wilfred Wong, left, captured on CCTV outside Bangor station in North Wales

Janet Stevenson, 57, and husband Edward Stevenson, 69, both of Crawley, West Sussex, also denied conspiracy to kidnap but were convicted after a trial.

They were jailed for 15 years and eight years respectively.

They kissed and hugged in the glass-fronted dock before being led away by dock officers.

Three women pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap.

Anke Hill, 53, from Holyhead, was jailed for 14 years and five months.

Jane Going-Hill, 60,of Holyhead, was jailed for four years and eight months.

Members of the gang were jailed for a total of 63 years following the kidnapping. Wong left, was jailed for 17 years

Kristine Ellis-Petley, 58, of Holyhead, was jailed for four years.

Karren Natasha Sawford, 48, was cleared of conspiracy to kidnap.

Robert Frith, 65, of Holyhead, was found dead in his cell at HMP Berwyn in Wrexham on November 14 last year while on remand for conspiracy to kidnap. An inquest opening heard the medical cause of death was suffocation.

Nicholas Williams, mitigating for Wong, said his client had been on a 'rescue mission'.

Wong had worked in human rights for 30 years and received a reference from Sir Edward Leigh, Conservative MP for Gainsborough, which stated he had done 'good work' writing letters from victims to be sent to ambassadors.

Mr Williams said: 'Mr Wong's motivation was not to cause harm to this child but to prevent harm.

'Mr Wong's motives were good albeit misguided and misplaced. But his actions were not good because they crossed that line into criminality.'

The defence barrister said Wong had been fed 'misinformation' by Hill about alleged abuse

Mr Williams said: 'This fed into Mr Wong's already established beliefs of the prolific nature of SRA (Satanic Ritual Abuse).'

The court heard Wong thought a kidnap plot using a knife 'was the lesser of two evils'.

Mr Williams said: 'But he realises he should never have accepted everything she (Anke Hill) was telling him.'

Justin Hugheston-Roberts, mitigating for Janet Stevenson, said his client was also convinced she was doing the right thing.

Married for 48 years, she has five grandchildren and has never even had a parking ticket, the court heard.

Duncan Bould, mitigating for Edward Stevenson, said his client wrongly believed he was rescuing a child from an abusive parent.

He is 'not a director but a follower', the court heard.

Richard Edwards, mitigating for Going-Hill, said his client similarly had an 'unfounded concern' for the child's welfare.

She was 'truly remorseful', Mr Edwards said.

Elen Owen, mitigating for Ellis-Petley, said her client thought she was doing the right thing too.

Ellis-Petley, a grandmother who worked in charity shop, was 'groomed' by being shown 'harrowing' pictures of sexual abuse, purportedly drawn by Child A, and still has nightmares about them, the court heard.

Her Honour Judge Nicola Jones said: 'I am satisfied Anke Hill and Wilfred Wong were the leaders of the conspiracy and recruited others.

'But all six of you were acting as vigilantes, taking the law into your own hands.

'Your motivation was to rescue Child A to prevent harm. But you all had sufficient intellects to realise that kidnap might cause harm to a child.

'You knew the family courts were involved but you thought you knew better.'

In a victim impact statement, the child's father, who was not charged with any crime, said: 'I have been portrayed as a Satanist and a paedophile - all of which is untrue.'

The father said had a 'terrible realisation' that he may never see his child again when he received a phone call from a social worker to say his child had been kidnapped.

He has since suffered 'malicious online trolling by friends of Wilfred Wong and his Satanic ritual abuse agenda'.

The kidnap itself had a 'catastrophic impact' on him and his child, he told the court.

He said the episode had derailed his relationship with his child and the kidnappers had shown a 'complete lack of empathy for their horrific crime'.

He added: 'Where it not for my faith in God I do not believe I would be here today.'

The father also read a separate victim statement for his child in which he said the youngster had been left terrified during the abduction.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: 'The group had made a remarkable amount of planning to carry out this crime, including sourcing a passport with a view to take the child abroad.

'The facts of the case are chilling, and it must have been a terrifying experience for the child and carer.

'Through detailed analysis of the material provided by the police, the CPS built a strong case which resulted in these convictions.'

Speaking after sentencing, a North Wales Police spokesperson said: 'This was a complex and carefully orchestrated conspiracy, perpetrated with chilling ruthlessness.

'This was a harrowing ordeal for both the child and foster carer. The impact of this incident cannot be understated, and we would like to acknowledge their strength and courage throughout this investigation.

'Through the dedication of detectives, and meticulous investigation, we presented a strong case which resulted in these convictions.

'This would not have been possible without the close partnership work between ourselves, the Crown Prosecution Service and the local authority, to whom we are very grateful.'
Double jabbed Britons are not expected to be allowed into the US until November 8, a travel expert revealed today.

Paul Charles of the PC Agency said airlines were being told to expect the American border to reopen any time from then to November 13.

The White House had officially announced 'early November' as the time when the US will lift its 18-month ban on foreign nationals - raising hopes it could happen in the first week.

Paul Charles of the PC Agency said bosses were being told to expect the American border to reopen any time from then to November 13

Qantas to restart flights to London Qantas has announced it will restart some international flights to destinations including London a month earlier than planned after the Australian government said fully vaccinated Australians could enter and leave the country freely from November. The airline will operate three weekly return flights between Sydney and London and three weekly return flights between Sydney and Los Angeles starting Nov. 14 and add more flights if there is enough demand, the airline said. Passengers will be required to quarantine at home for seven days upon arrival in Australia. The Australian government on Friday indicated that some of its eight states and territories would open earlier than others. 'We welcome the federal government's decision and the work by the New South Wales government to facilitate the home quarantine approach that makes this feasible,' Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said. 'We look forward to other states and territories getting on board.' Advertisement

Passengers with at least two shots of the vaccine, or one shot in the case of Johnson & Johnson, will need to have a Covid test within three days of departure and will not be required to quarantine upon arrival.

Speaking in September, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) will determine which vaccines qualify for travel.

The new rules affect 33 countries whose nationals are currently banned from traveling to the states.

The news comes as the Biden administration looks to repair is relationships across Europe. It came out of the blue after the US-UK-Australia submarine trade deal that enraged France last week and prompted it to recall its ambassador to the US.

Asked if the move was politically motivated due to current tensions with France, Zients said it was 'based on public health.' He added it was also based on 'individuals rather than on a country-based approach.'

The news coincides with the UN General Assembly in NYC - where both President Biden and British PM Boris Johnson will speak. Johnson was expected to press Biden to lift the restrictions on Tuesday, and praised the lift of restrictions in a tweet Tuesday.

'I am delighted that from November, @POTUS is reinstating transatlantic travel so fully vaccinated UK nationals can visit the USA. It's a fantastic boost for business and trade, and great that family and friends on both sides of the pond can be reunited once again.'

The US travel ban, which has been slammed as 'absurd' by critics, also deprived the beleaguered aviation sector of one of its most important and lucrative markets.

The White House had officially announced 'early November' as the time when the US will lift its 18-month ban on foreign nationals - raising hopes it could happen in the first week. Pictured is Joe Biden with Boris Johnson

At the time, Boris Johnson expressed his delight at the news, saying the easing of US restrictions had happened 'faster than we expected'.

He said families will be able to be reunited 'by Thanksgiving' on November 25 which he described as a 'great thing'.

'I thank everybody in the US-UK joint working group who have been hard at it,' he said.

'And I thank the president for the progress that we've been able to make.

'Yes we have done it faster than we expected but that's thanks to the hard work of our teams.'

The move will mark the end of intense negotiation between London and Washington after the UK and EU lifted their bans on American visitors - but this was not reciprocated by DC.

Under current travel policy, only American citizens, their immediate families, green card holders and those with national interest exemptions are allowed to travel to the US, though other nations have higher vaccination rates and lower Covid-19 case counts.
The US Marine Corps has denied that the soldier under investigation for appearing at a Trump rally last weekend is the same troop who lifted a baby over the wall to safety at Kabul airport.

Lance Corporal Hunter Clark 'was not the individual who lifted the child over a wall in the viral image' at Hamid Karzai International Airport in August, the US Marine Corps spokesperson told DailyMail.com.

Clark, who did not appear on stage in uniform, is now under investigation after breaking US Defense Department rule which bans active-duty troops from 'speaking before a partisan political gathering, including any gathering that promotes a partisan political party, candidate, or cause.'

Trump had invited Clark to his rally in Georgia last Saturday, where the former president and Marine both boasted about his supposed heroic actions captured on camera.

'You saw him. He did a great job,' Trump said, referring to the viral video and photo.

An emotional Clark even introduced himself as the 'guy who pulled the baby over the wall' and teared up as the crowd chanted 'USA'.

The US Marine Corps would not comment on whether Clark appeared anywhere in the video of the baby being lifted over the fence, and it is not clear whether Clark was involved in hoisting any other babies over the wall at the Kabul airport during the chaotic US withdrawal.

While many Marines were seen helping desperate Afghans to safety during the airlift, Clark has yet to provide specific details of when he helped the child.

Marine Lance Corporal Hunter Clark (right) is under investigation after he appeared on stage with former President Donald Trump (left) at a rally in Perry, Georgia on Saturday

Clark introduced himself as 'the guy that pulled the baby over the wall' in the images that went viral from the Kabul airport during the Afghanistan withdrawal last month. There were multiple Marines pictured helping desperate Afghans to safety during the airlift

The US Marine Corps would not reveal the extent of the investigation Clark now faces for appearing at the rally.

'The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) has initiated a command investigation regarding LCpl Hunter Clark's attendance at the event last weekend to determine if any DoD policies were violated,' Captain Kelton Cochran, a spokesman for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit said in a statement.

'Any details pertaining to this incident are not releasable while the investigation is being conducted,' Cochran added.

Clark did not wear his Marine uniform while on stage with Trump and he did not campaign for any political candidate  even though the former president was there to rally for three different Republican candidates in Georgia.

The marine's mother, Peggy Clark, told CNN that Clark would not be commenting on the ongoing investigation.

'He's asked that I not give out any information right now,' she said. 'He can't do any interviews or speak with anybody right now. I'm sorry.'

It is against Defense Department rules for active duty troops to 'speak before a partisan political gathering, including any gathering that promotes a partisan political party, candidate, or cause.'

The appearance, however, comes as the military is increasingly cracking down on servicemembers' behavior.

Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller was relieved of command after he posted a video to Facebook critical of higher up military leadership and demanding they take responsibility for Kabul falling to the Taliban in the withdrawal.

He is currently being held at the Brig on Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base in North Carolina.

At the event on Saturday, Trump kept 13 front row seats empty with flags on them in honor of the 13 U.S. service members who died in an ISIS-K suicide bombing near the airport last month  11 Marines, a Navy corpsman, and an Army special operations soldier were among the casualties at the airport's Abbey Gate.

At the rally on September 25, Trump left 13 front-row seats empty with flags on them to honor the 13 U.S. service members who died in the ISIS-K suicide bombing near the Kabul airport in August

A Marine in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit holds a baby during the evacuation of Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 20
Schools have been instructed by councils to bring in a suite of stricter Covid curbs in response to rising infections among pupils.

Hundreds of primaries and secondaries in Staffordshire were urged to be 'proactive' and not wait on official guidance from the Government.

The county's council has encouraged bringing back face masks and year group bubbles and scrapping assemblies and staff meetings. It also recommended schools stagger starting and break times to limit mixing in corridors and the playground.

Staffordshire County Council, which covers more than 400 schools, is believed to be the first to promote reintroducing such a comprehensive set of measures.

Other local authorities have brought back light measures like mask-wearing, including Cumbria and parts of Northamptonshire.

Pupils whose family member tests positive are advised to 'stay at home pending PCR test result', despite the fact schools can't legally make them isolate.

Ministers scrapped the requirement for all contacts of Covid cases to self-isolate in August.

Schools have been instructed by councils to bring in a suite of stricter Covid curbs in response to rising infections among pupils. Pictured: Schoolchildren look on during a lesson at Willows High School last year

Hundreds of primaries and secondaries in Staffordshire were urged to be 'proactive' and roll back Covid restrictions in schools

Latest official figures show that within 28 days of testing positive for the virus, 0.5 girls aged 10 to 14 will die from the virus per 100,000. The figure for boys of the same age is 0.3 per 100,000

The Government, keen not to take a backward step after releasing restrictions in July, says schools can only roll back curbs if school infection levels get too high.

It's unclear how many pupils or staff have tested positive in Staffordshire but the council claims it has the backing of cabinet ministers.

The Department for Education says schools can take action into their own hands if five pupils or staff linked to each other test positive for Covid within a 10-day period.

They have also been given the power to do it if 10 per cent of pupils or staff in a school test positive within 10 days.

Covid's now in every classroom, figures suggest One in 20 children in England were infected with Covid on any given day last week, official data revealed today amid fears a fourth wave may be just around the corner. The Office for National Statistics today estimated 658,800 people in England had the virus on September 25, up 6.2 per cent on the previous weekly figure. Analysis showed the virus was most prevalent among children aged 11 to 16, with 4.6 per cent of them estimated to have been infected  the equivalent of around one infected pupil in every classroom. With the outbreak having exploded among pupils since they went back at the start of September, some scientists have urged secondary schools to reintroduce face masks immediately to prevent infections tricking into the rest of the population. Meanwhile, bosses at Staffordshire County Council today urged 500 schools to be 'proactive' and reimplement infection control measures that were scrapped by No10 in mid-May, including bubbles and contact-tracing. The ONS data, which is closely watched by ministers, barely changed in any other age groups last week, despite a flurry of other official statistics suggesting the outbreak has already started to spill over. Advertisement

A document circulated by the council in Staffordshire says it has the backing of the local director for public health and Government ministers.

The Tory county's infections surged rose by more than a quarter last week, but more than 30 places had higher infection rates in the UK.

Jonathan Price, Staffordshire County Council's cabinet member, said cases were concentrated in secondary and college outbreaks.

He added: 'Like other parts of the country, Staffordshire has seen a significant increase in cases linked to schools. Cases of Covid-19 continue to be high in Staffordshire, largely due to outbreaks in schools and colleges among the 11-to-18 year age group.

'In order bring down the case rates, reduce the risk to the wider community and minimise the disruption to education we are deploying a Mobile Testing Unit at Staffordshire schools to offer PCR tests to students. This will help identify more pupils who may unknowingly have the virus and in turn help prevent the spread of infection.

'We want to keep schools open and children in school, so like other authorities we have outlined some measures schools may potentially want to consider on a case-by-case basis. This could include enhanced cleaning or trying to keep pupils in bubbles. This would be to limit contact and not for isolation purposes.

'Our schools and children have shown tremendous resilience throughout the pandemic, and we will continue to support them to reduce cases of Covid-19.'

It comes as official statistics showed one in 20 children in England were infected with Covid on any given day last week.

The Office for National Statistics today estimated 658,800 people in England had the virus on September 25, up 6.2 per cent on the previous weekly figure.

Analysis showed the virus was most prevalent among children aged 11 to 16, with 4.6 per cent of them estimated to have been infected  the equivalent of around one infected pupil in every classroom.

With the outbreak having exploded among pupils since they went back at the start of September, some scientists have urged secondary schools to reintroduce face masks immediately to prevent infections tricking into the rest of the population.

Meanwhile, bosses at Staffordshire County Council today urged 500 schools to be 'proactive' and reimplement infection control measures that were scrapped by No10 in mid-May, including bubbles and contact-tracing.

The ONS data, which is closely watched by ministers, barely changed in any other age groups last week, despite a flurry of other official statistics suggesting the outbreak has already started to spill over.

One scientist behind one of the country's largest Covid surveillance studies yesterday warned infections were now spreading up the 'generational ladder'.

The estimated infection rates among 11 to 16-year-olds in England marks a rise from the 2.8 per cent who were thought to be infected one week earlier.

Children aged two to 10 have the next-highest infection rate, with around one in 40 (2.6 per cent) of them thought to have the virus on any given day last week, up from 2.3 per cent one week earlier.

Cases are also rising among the over-70s, with an estimated 0.5 per cent of them infected, compared to 0.4 per cent last week.

But cases are falling or flat in all other age groups.

The graphs show the Office for National Statistics estimates for the percentage of people testing positive in England for different age groups from August 15 to September 25. The virus was most prevalent among children aged 11 to 16, with 4.6 per cent of them estimated to have been infected  the equivalent of around one infected pupil in every classroom

Among 17 to 24-year-olds, 1.1 per cent are thought to have Covid, down from 1.5 per cent last week, while 0.6 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds had the virus last week, a drop from 0.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, 0.8 per cent of people aged 35 to 49 had the coronavirus and 0.7 per cent of those aged 50 to 69 - the same as the previous week.

The uptake in cases among younger groups led Staffordshire County Council to tell schools to bring back wide-ranging measures to control the outbreak in the area, which has seen infections surged by 28.8 per cent in a week.

The council said pupils should wear face coverings, while staff should stay 2m away from students. And there should not be any all-staff meetings or all-school events, such as assemblies, it advised.

It also told pupils living with someone who tests positive to stay at home until they receive a negative PCR test, despite not being able to legally enforce this measure.

Professor Christina Pagel, a mathematician at University College London, this week called for infection control measures to be brought back at a national level.

She said: 'I think we need to put mitigations back in schools, particularly masks in secondary schools, now and roll out the vaccine a bit more rapidly.'

Professor Pagel warned the spiralling infection rates in children, risks of them suffering 'long Covid' and a slow vaccine roll out meant action should be taken to limit the spread of the virus.

It comes as the ONS data shows infections across the UK are a mixed picture. Cases are rising in England and Wales, where one in 85 (1.21 per cent) and one in 55 (1.76 per cent) people were estimated to have Covid last week, respectively.

Meanwhile, cases are dropping in Scotland, where one in 65 people (1.85 per cent) were infected last week, down from one in 45 (2.28 per cent) in the seven days up to September 18.

And one in 65 people in Northern Ireland (1.53 per cent) had the virus last week, a drop from one in 60 one week earlier, according to the official estimates.
A television presenter who suffered brain damage whilst working as a 'crash test dummy' has been awarded 1.6 million in damages, following a High Court battle with the BBC.

Jem Stansfield, 50, sustained life-changing injuries while filming an episode of BBC popular science show Bang Goes the Theory, during which he was strapped into a specially designed rig and catapulted along a track and into a metal pole to mimic the effect of hitting a lamp-post in a car.

The inventor, who has a degree in aeronautics from Bristol University, said he suffered spine and brain injuries and lost more than 3 million in potential future earnings.

The BBC disputed Mr Stansfield's damages claim.

Mrs Justice Yip who oversaw a trial at the High Court in London earlier this year and after she delivered the ruling on Friday said that it was astonishing the BBC, who had been warned of the dangers, allowed the experiment to proceed.

Jem Stansfield (pictured) leaving the Royal Courts of Justice, London, during his High Court damages fight with the BBC after getting hurt while working on Bang Goes the Theory

Mr Stansfield (above), who has a degree in aeronautics from Bristol University, said he suffered spine and brain injuries and lost more than 3 million in potential future earnings

While filming an episode of BBC popular science show Bang Goes the Theory, Mr Stansfield (above) was strapped into a specially designed rig and catapulted along a track and into a metal pole to mimic the effect of hitting a lamp-post in a car

Mr Stansfield (above), on set of the popular BBC show that caused him the life-changing injuries

'I have found that the claimant was caused injury to his brain, spine and audio-vestibular system in the crash tests,' she said in her ruling.

'While none of the physical injuries were particularly severe, the combined effect together with a psychiatric reaction have caused a constellation of symptoms and problems which have produced a significant impairment in the claimant's functioning.

'The effect has been to derail the claimant's successful career in television as well as to restrict his enjoyment of life more generally.'

She said there would be judgment for Mr Stansfield in the sum of 1,617,286.20.

Mrs Justice Yip said the parties had agreed that Mr Stansfield should recover 'two-thirds of the damages assessed as being caused by injuries he sustained when carrying out the crash tests'.

She said Mr Stansfield was now 50, and was 42 at the time of the crash tests.

'There is strong evidence that prior to the crash tests he was an exceptionally fit man,' she said.

'Video footage from the time shows that he was slim but with strong musculature.

'There are clips of him balancing and walking on his hands and scaling a building using vacuum gloves he created.

'In 2012, the BBC required him to undergo a physical assessment before undertaking a project involving a human powered aircraft, which he had designed.

'The results suggested he was performing at the level of a competitive athlete.'

Mrs Justice Yip said Mr Stansfield, who is known as 'Jem', was a presenter on the 'popular' Bang Goes The Theory show.

She said he was an engineer by background.

'This claim arises out of the making of an episode of Bang Goes The Theory in which the claimant assumed the role of a human 'crash test dummy' for a feature about the relative safety of forward and rearward-facing child car seats.

Mr Stansfield (pictured) is now 50, and was 42 at the time of the crash tests, and Mrs Justice Yip said, 'there is strong evidence that prior to the crash tests he was an exceptionally fit man'

Mr Stansfield (above) said he had been left with a constellation of symptoms which had produced a significant decline in his health

'During filming on February 8 2013, the claimant conducted a series of crash tests.

'He was strapped into a rig like a go-cart which was propelled along a track into a post.

'In the introduction to the piece, the claimant explains that he had calculated the experiment to give a similar crash profile to hitting a lamppost in a real car in an urban environment.

'The crashes were performed forwards and backwards twice each.

'It is not in dispute, and perhaps not surprising, that the claimant suffered some injury.

'What is contentious is the extent of that injury and the consequences for the claimant.'

Mr Stansfield said he had been left with a constellation of symptoms which had produced a significant decline in his health.

Mrs Justice Yip said the BBC contended that 'little more than a moderate whiplash injury with depressive symptoms could properly be attributed to the crash tests, such as would give rise to only modest damages'.

Mrs Justice Yip added: 'I must say that I find it astonishing that anyone thought that this exercise was a sensible idea.

The judge said she had 'not been required to determine liability' for the injuries sustained by Mr Stansfield (above)

Following the ruling, the BBC said they have made 'safety adjustments' following the 2013 incident.

'On his own account to camera, the claimant was simulating a road traffic collision of the sort that commonly causes injury.

'It might be thought that someone of his intelligence and scientific background might have appreciated the risk.

'Indeed, in the finished piece, he rather prosaically observes, 'I wouldn't recommend this'.

'Equally, there was evidence that the BBC had actively sought advice, been warned of the danger, yet allowed the experiment to proceed.'

The judge said she had 'not been required to determine liability' for the injuries sustained by Mr Stansfield.

'That aspect of the case was resolved by agreement between the parties,' she said.

'They have agreed to share responsibility for the injuries and resultant losses flowing from the crash tests to the extent that the BBC will meet two-thirds of the claim.'

She said her task had been to make findings 'as to the nature and extent of the claimant's injuries and to assess the resultant damages'.

Following the ruling, the BBC said they have made 'safety adjustments' following the 2013 incident.

A BBC spokesman said after the ruling: 'We take the health and wellbeing of everyone who works for the BBC extremely seriously.

'We keep safety measures on set under constant review and we made adjustments following the incident in 2013.

'We acknowledge the court's judgment in this complex case and wish Mr Stansfield the best for the future.'
A Manhattan doorman at an upscale apartment building on the Upper East Side is suing a former resident's estate, claiming the man promised him a third of his savings in thanks for the doorman's care over 28 years.

According to a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Jose Rafael Padilla, the morning doorman at Midtown Easts tony 14 Sutton Place, said he was promised a portion of James Clayton Larmett's estate after caring for him for 28 years. The allocation was not made in Larmett's will, however.

The 62-year-old met Larmett, 69, and his wife, Linda, after helping them move into the building in 1993, and claims the three 'became close' throughout the last three decades.

Padilla often cared for Larmett's pet cats, 'which had been the prime object of (Larmetts) affection,' the suit states.

The longtime Manhattan doorman alleges that Larmett loved his pets so much that he 'provided for pet focused charities in his will.'

Jose Rafael Padilla, the morning doorman at Midtown Easts tony 14 Sutton Place (pictured) says he was promised a portion of James Larmett's estate after caring for him for 28 years

Larmett died in February, while his wife died in 2016.

However, before Linda Larmett, 69, died, Padilla claims he promised her he would continue caring for her husband, according to court filings.

'Sometime before [Linda] died she had expressed concern regarding the care of her husband and she asked me to look after him once she [was] no longer there,' the suit alleges.

'I promised her I would and, indeed, Mr. Larmett entrusted me with his health care proxy and with a power of attorney to enable me to further help him with his needs.'

After her death, Larmett's own health began to fail, and Padilla claims that he provided daily care for the man, even sleeping at Larmett's apartment until a home health aide was hired.

According to Padilla's lawsuit, Larmett told Padilla on May 1, 2020 'that in consideration for all the help I had given him over the past twenty-eight years he would leave me one-fourth of his estate.'

'I would spend more of my time off from work assisting him' as Larmett's health continued to deteriorate, the lawsuit states

Then, on January 15, just weeks before his passing, Larmett offered to increase the amount, allegedly telling Padilla that he would adjust the will to leave the doorman a third of his estate.

'Larmett promised to change his will and leave me one-third of his estate in consideration of all the years I spent helping him during my off hours from work,' the suit claims.

Pictured: Court filings by Padilla requesting a judge to determine the amount of Larmett's estate and award him the portion he claims Larmett had promised him

Following Larmett's death on February 15, Padilla filed a claim July 26 requesting the portion of his estate.

The estate's executor, listed in court filings as Charles A. Yamarone of Sherman Oaks, California, rejected Padilla's claim just weeks after he filed it, the lawsuit claims.

Padilla's lawsuit is requesting a judge assess the value of Larmett's estate before awarding him the amount he claims Larmett promised him.

A lawyer for the estate's executor, Richard J. Miller, told the New York Post that Larmett had no children and ultimately left his assets to three animal charities.

Larmett and his wife had been involved with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, according to online records.

'The will speaks for itself,' Miller told the Post.

'And while we cannot know for certain the private conversations that Mr. Larmett may have had during his lifetime, we know for certain what his last wishes were that were conveyed in his will  which directs the entirety of his estate to three animal rescue centers.'

'We are confident that the court is going to see through this frivolous claim and honor Mr. Larmetts wishes.'
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Incredible satellite images have shown how a river of lava weaving its way across the island of La Palma has formed a 550 yard-wide pyramid in the ocean after it erupted last month.

Meanwhile, a new fissure opened in the Cumbre Vieja volcano on Thursday, carving a different path from previous flows and raising fears of more destruction, while fine ash forced islanders to don masks and goggles.

As the lava from the volcano hardens when it comes into contact with water, the Spanish Canary Island found to the north-west of Africa is continuing to expand, scientists said earlier.

Since erupting on September 19, lava flowing from the volcano has destroyed more than 800 buildings, as well as banana plantations, roads and other infrastructure.

After meandering downhill to the coast for nearly 10 days, the lava reached the ocean just before midnight on Tuesday, less than a mile west of Tazacorte.

On reaching the water, the lava cools rapidly, binding to the cliffside and enlarging the island's territory and has created a rocky outcrop more than 546 yards wide.

Satellite picture of lava flow following the eruption of a volcano on the island of La Palma, Spain September 30, 2021. The lava has created a 550 yard-wide pyramid as it has come into contact with the ocean and cooled. Fears were raised on Friday about more damage after a new fissure opened in the volcano on Thursday, around 1,300 feet north of the initial eruption site

The Spanish Canary Island island to the north-west of Africa is continuing to expand (pictured in a satellite image) as the lava from the volcano hardens when it comes into contact with water, scientists have said

Lava from a volcano reaches the sea on the Canary island of La Palma, Spain, pictured on Wednesday September 29, 2021

Copernicus, the European Union's Earth observation programme, said on Thursday that its satellite imagery showed a D-shaped tongue of molten rock building up on the island's western shore measured 338 hectares (835 acres) by the end of Wednesday.

Release of the satellite images came as lava flowed from a newly opened vent on Friday, carving a different path down the side of the island, and raising fears of even greater damage than that already caused.

A river of red-hot lava snaked downhill from the new fissure, which burst open late on Thursday around 1,300 ft to the north of the primary eruption site.

Multiple vents have opened since the volcano began erupting on Sept. 19 but the Canaries Volcanology Institute described the latest opening as a new 'focus of eruption'.

'There is concern about the path of this new flow towards the sea, although it is expected to join up with the previous one within the next few hours,' said the head of La Palma's council, Mariano Hernandez Zapata.

He said more houses had been engulfed by lava overnight.

'We have more drama ahead, more people to take care of,' he told a news conference.

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies, shows a general view of lava flowing from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on Spain's La Palma island, Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Lava flowing from a volcano that devastated the Spanish island of La Palma continue to flow to the Atlantic Ocean as Mount Cumbre Vieja continues to erupt on the Canary island of La Palma in El Paso on September 30, 2021

People walk with an umbrella to protect themselves from ask that covers the floor as smoke rises in the background following the eruption of a volcano on the Canary Island of La Palma, in Tazacorte, Spain, October 1, 2021

View of Cumbre Vieja volcano as seen from Tajuya, La Palma, Canary Islads, Spain, 01 October 2021. The sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions by the volcano have increased, although they do not seem to be a risk for the population for now, according to the Spanish National Security Department

About 6,000 people have been evacuated since the eruption began and are yet to return home. More than 800 buildings including houses, churches and schools have been destroyed.

The volcano has thrown out 80 million cubic metres of molten rock, regional leader Angel Victor Torres said, doubling the amount expelled during La Palma's last major eruption 50 years ago in half the time.

Residents of Los Llanos de Aridane, one of the worst affected towns, have taken to carrying umbrellas and wearing eye protection as a precaution against the volcanic dust blanketing the streets and floating in the air.

'Last night the ash was irritating my eyes a lot, I had to use eye drops and my skin was stinging,' said Matilde Gonzalez Tavarez, a 45-year-old nursing assistant visiting her mother at a care home in Los Llanos.

'It's helplessness, fear, insecurity. You don't know what's going to happen,' she said, while street cleaners brushed away the carpet of black ash behind her.

Juan Antonio Perez Gonzalez, 56, who runs a floristry business in the town, fears the worst is yet to come.

'I can't put a good face on it or give you good news because this is a calamity,' he told Reuters. He said many of the townspeople were preparing to pack up and leave.

Trade winds typical of Spain's Canary Islands were helping dispel the plumes of water vapour and toxic gases that result when the lava, with a temperature of over 1,000C (1,800F), meets the ocean, where the water is 22C (71.6F).

But authorities were on alert as Spain's weather forecaster, AEMET, indicated that the wind's direction could change later on Thursday and bring the toxic plumes towards the shore and further inland.

The hydrochloric acid and tiny particles of volcanic glass released into the air can cause skin, eye and respiratory tract irritation.

Satellite imagery show the path of the lava flow as it meandered downhill to the coast for nearly 10 days before it reached the sea, a kilometre west of Tazacorte

Since first erupting on September 19 the volcano has destroyed more than 800 buildings on the island (shown by satellite images, right, before the lava flow reached them)

The direction the lava flow could take was also a source of concern.

Molten fluid emanating from the volcano that first erupted on September 19 was still running downhill like a river and tumbling over a cliff into the Atlantic.

But uneven terrain could make the lava overflow its current path, spread to other areas, and destroy more houses and farmland.

At least 855 buildings and 19 miles (30km) of roads, as well as other key infrastructure, have been wiped out so far.

Banana plantations that are the source of income for many islanders have also been either destroyed or damaged by volcanic ash.

As the lava reaches the ocean it cools rapidly, binding to the cliffside and enlarging the island's territory and has created a rocky outcrop more than 546 yards wide

Trade winds typical of Spain's Canary Islands were helping dispel the plumes of water vapour and toxic gases (pictured on September 30) that result when the lava, with a temperature of over 1,000C, meets the ocean, where the water is 22C

Residents of Spain's La Palma were struggling on Thursday to come to terms with the devastation wrought by the Cumbre Vieja volcano, which has been ejecting a destructive cocktail of ash, smoke and lava for more than 10 days.

La Palma resident Carmen Rodriguez, who lost her home in the village of Todoque, was caught off guard by the advancing column of molten rock and was struggling on Thursday to come to terms with the devastation.

'We never thought that the volcano was going to reach our house, never,' she said, recalling how she rushed to salvage belongings during a last-minute evacuation before the lava engulfed her home.

'There were so many people and difficulties, there was a queue. Thankfully we were able to take the washing machine, the fridge and a cooker that I recently bought.'

'I only ask that they give us a place to live, that they give us a habitable house, nothing more,' she said.

No casualties or injuries have been reported among La Palma residents since the eruption began.

La Palma, home to about 85,000 people, is part of the volcanic Canary Islands, an archipelago off northwest Africa. The island is roughly 22 miles (35km) long and 12 miles (20km) wide at its broadest point.
A leading Australian finance journalist has slammed Woolworths for giving his family just 60 cents in compensation after his wife slipped on olive oil that had spilled from a smashed bottle left on the family's porch after an online delivery.

Alan Kohler, who lives in Melbourne, took to Twitter on Friday night to share his frustrations about a torn supermarket bag and the mess that was left.

'Woolworths. We just had an online delivery. A bag was torn and olive oil smashed all over the porch,' Mr Kohler wrote.

'My wife slipped on it and narrowly missed landing on glass, clothes ruined.'

Financial expert Alan Kohler (pictured) slammed Woolworths for its 'joke' compensation offer after his wife slipped on olive oil 'smashed all over the porch' from an online delivery

Mr Kohler, who describes himself as the 'finance guy' who presents on ABC News, claimed Woolworths offered 60 cents for the shopping bag in compensation after he complained online about how he received his delivery.

'What a joke,' he concluded.

The finance commentator was met with differing opinions on the situation, with many not expressing sympathy and pointing out Mr Kohler's 'first world problem'.

One social media user wrote: 'Love Boomers venting on Twitter. What do you want us to do about it?'

Mr Kohler claimed Woolworths offered 60 cents for the shopping bag in compensation after he complained online about how he received his delivery (stock image)

'First world problem?' wrote another.

Another added sarcastically: 'Sending thoughts and prayers in this time of tragedy.'

While a fourth said: 'Rich boomers with online grocery delivery complaining a bag broke? What do you want? A $200 gift card? Good grief.'

Some social media users even joked about the situation by using finance terminology.

'Is this market-sensitive?' One user wrote.

Another said: 'There's a graph for that right?'

Other individuals stated they have never had a bad experience with online delivery orders.

'I've had a lot of Woolies deliveries and most are great, no issue,' one said.

Another wrote: 'Sorry you had this experience Alan, I've never had any bad experiences with my online Woolworths home delivery. Always slick, respectful, communicative and on time!'

While many individuals fired shots at Mr Kohler over his complaint, other Twitter users were worried about his wife's health.

'Everyone is under pressure in the supermarket sector. I hope your wife is okay, I suspect a few complaints will be met with a similar "cannot".'

'That's terrible Alan. I hope she has recovered ok. Must have been a shock,' another user added.

Many social media users weren't sympathetic to Mr Kohler, while others were concerned for his wife's health

A third wrote: 'Ouch. Hope your wife is ok'.

One person even believed the finance commentator was in the right for calling out the supermarket.

'Many having a crack at Alan complaining when surely the real issue regardless of Alan's profile is Woolworths shoddy service delivery. Have I missed something? Woolies offer home delivery to attract customers. Poor service needs to be called out.'

Mr Kohler concluded in a follow-up tweet that it was Woolworths' responsibility to double bag heavier items to avoid breakage.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Woolworths for further comment.
A Chinese whistleblower who helped expose the Wuhan Covid outbreak has reappeared 18 months after he was feared abducted.

Chen Qiushi, in his mid-30s, vanished in early February last year as the virus spread around the world.

He had not been heard from since, although reports suggested he was allowed to return to his parents in Qingdao, northern China, by September last year.

But the citizen journalist and former human rights lawyer has now resurfaced in a YouTube livestream with martial artist Xu Xiaodong.

During the 30-minute clip Mr Qiushi said, according to the Wall Street Journal: 'Over the past year and eight months, I have experienced a lot of things. Some of it can be talked about, some of it can't. I believe you understand.'

He is one of three whistleblowers who disappeared in the early days of the pandemic after trying to warn the world about the outbreak in Wuhan.

Li Zehua, in his mid-20s, was chased and then abducted in Wuhan on February 6 after posting videos claiming the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the source of the virus outbreak. But the former Chinese TV anchor reappeared two months later.

Fang Bin, a Wuhan resident, went missing on February 9 after publishing videos sowing piles of bodies being loaded onto buses at hospitals in the city. He has not been seen since.

Former human rights lawyer and citizen journalist Chen Qiushi (left) has resurfaced for the first time in 18 months. He was seen in a YouTube livestream with martial artist Xu Xiaodong

Mr Qiushi spent roughly two weeks on the ground in Wuhan, the epicentre of the pandemic, trying to expose the scale of the crisis

He has also posted to his Twitter account saying that he hopes to organise a charity martial arts competition

During the YouTube Livestream Mr Qiushi said little about his disappearance.

He mostly talked about the health benefits of martial arts, and said he hoped to organise a charity competition involving the sport.

Mr Xiaodong, a Chinese martial artist nicknamed 'mad dog', and Mr Qiushi appear to be long-standing friends.

Where is Chen Qiushi? A timeline of his disappearance February 6 2020  Chen Qiushi disappears after reporting on the Covid outbreak in Wuhan. Chinese authorities are alleged to have informed his family that he was detained for a Covid quarantine. February 7 2020  His mother posts a video on his Twitter account calling for her son to be allowed to come home. September 24 2020  Mr Qiushi is reported to be living with his parents in Qingdao, a city on the Chinese coast near Korea. They added that he was in 'good health' but under state supervision. March 31 2021  Long-time friend and martial artist Xu Xiaodong says that Mr Qiushi is living with his parents. But in the video posted online he adds that the authorities are closely watching both Mr Qiushi and his parents. September 30 2021  A livestream posted to Mr Xiaodong's YouTube account shows him with Mr Qiushi. The citizen journalist and former human rights lawyer says in the clip: 'Over the past year and eight months, I have experienced a lot of things. Some of it can be talked about, some of it can't. I believe you understand.' Advertisement

In March this year Mr Xiaodong posted a video saying Mr Qiushi was with his parents, but being watched closely by Chinese state security.

Mr Qiushi has also posted on his old Twitter account, which had been counting every day since his disappearance.

His latest tweet was posted on what would have been day 602 of his disappearance.

It read: 'Hello, I am Qiushi! Long time no see!

'I plan to organise a charity fight competition on New Year's Eve on December 31, 2021. Contact: Douyin quanjishou999.'

Douyin is the Chinese name for social media company TikTok. The Douyin account Mr Qiushi advertised has already been blocked.

Mr Qiushi spent roughly two weeks at the epicentre of the pandemic in Wuhan, arriving just before the city went into lockdown in the hopes of providing the worth with the truth.

His reports detailed horrific scenes including a woman frantically calling family on her phone as she sits next to a relative lying dead in a wheelchair and the helpless situation of patients in the overstretched hospitals.

He had been planning to visit a 'fang cang' makeshift hospital before evaporating.

His disappearance was revealed by a post on his Twitter account, which has been managed by a friend authorised to speak on his behalf.

His mother posted a video calling for his safe return days later.

In a post about a week before his disappearance he said: 'I'm not even scared of death. You think I'm scared of you, Communist Party?'

A police officer asked about Mr Qiushi's disappearance at the Wuhan Municipal Public Security Bureau said he did not have permission to comment, the Wall Street Journal reports.

US Congressman Jim Banks called for an investigation into the disappearance of the three citizen journalists in March last year.

China's then-ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai, said in an interview last year he had not heard of Mr Qiushi and urged the US to 'respect the judiciary procedures (of China)'.

Fang Bin (pictured), a Wuhan resident, went missing on February 9 after releasing a series of videos, including one showing piles of bodies being loaded into a bus. He has not been heard from since

Li Zehua (pictured) is a former reporter of CCTV and vanished on February 26. He reappeared with his family in April last year

Chinese authorities faced an explosion of public anger following the death of local doctor Li Wenliang, who was punished for warning a friend about the new virus.

In response, they deployed hundreds of journalists to Wuhan and stepped up censorship efforts online.

Mr Zehua, who has now resurfaced, was a former broadcaster on CCTV but reported from Wuhan independently.

He visited a series of sensitive venues in Wuhan, such as the community that held a huge banquet despite the epidemic and the crematorium which was hiring extra staff to help carry corpses, RFA added.

The news outlet said Li was likely targeted by secret police after visiting the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The beleagured institute has been at the centre of allegations of a potential lab leak, which it is feared sparked the pandemic.

An American report looking into whether the outbreak was due to a lab leak or natural origins said it could not rule out the theory.

Mr Bin, a Wuhan resident, went missing on February 9 after releasing a series of videos, including one showing piles of bodies being loaded into a bus.

He had been arrested arrested briefly before disappearing, it is alleged.

His last video showed hazmat-donning officers knocking on his door to measure his body temperature.

Fang is seen in the video trying to fend off the officers by telling them his temperature is normal, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA).
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Midsomer Murders actor John Nettles is battling plans for one of Britain's biggest solar farms covering 28 fields near his country home.

The Berjerac star, 77, has presented a video detailing his opposition to the proposal to see almost 76,000 solar panels installed at a mega-farm in Holsworthy, Devon.

The proposal for the 42MW structure would cover 28 fields and span 66 hectacres, becoming the largest solar farm in the county.

Currently, those fields offer both primeval 'culm' grassland  which provides grazing for sheep  and good-quality pasture for beef and dairy cattle.

But under the proposals for the giant solar farm, there are suggestions the cattle would have to be relocated as grass cannot grow in the permanent shadows cast by the large panels.

Mr Nettles is backing calls by the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England which has been running a campaign called 'Save Our Fields From Solar Farms.'

The actor, who keeps donkeys and horses on a smallholding near Holsworthy, said: 'Enough is enough. People need to understand the enormous scale and visual impact.

'The giant new project at Derril Water would desecrate the pastoral vista in this part of Devon, turning it into an industrialised landscape of solar panels and security fencing.

'It would ruin 164 acres of pasture for at least 40 years. Decision-makers have failed to take into account the carbon footprint of manufacturing 76,000 solar panels on the other side of the world, transported and installed here. They are simply not low-carbon.'

Midsomer Murders actor John Nettles, 77, is trying to kill plans for one of Britain's biggest solar farms covering 28 fields near his country home in Pyworthy, Devon

BEFORE: The land near the village of Pyworthy, Devon, where there are plans for the new solar farm

The applicant, RES Energy Ltd, wants permission for 40 years for the 66.33 hectare site, equal to just under 164 acres. Pictured: Concept images show the wide-spanning solar farm plans

Nettles says there are already six solar farms in the area and 'local residents feel enough is enough.'

The Devon branch of the CPRE (formerly known as the Campaign to Protect Rural England) says that nearly 4,300 acres of Devon farmland have already been lost to solar development.

CPRE Devon is standing against the plans for the solar farm which would be the biggest yet in the county.

Campaigners say the installations are not as green as their supporters claim and they are determined to stop the loss of more farmland to the rows of dark panels already filling hundreds of acres.

Among the objections is one from Pyworthy Parish Council, which opposes the loss of agricultural land in area famous for farming.

It said: 'The Parish Council feels that Pyworthy has already made a major contribution to renewable energy in the area, and that this proposal, which will span over a mile from end to end, is a step too far.'

The applicant, RES Energy Ltd, wants permission for 40 years for the 66.33 hectare site, equal to just under 164 acres.

The application was submitted to Torridge District Council in March, and the planning committee will soon have to wrestle with a final decision.

Renewable Energy Systems, which has put forward the Pyworthy scheme, works in 10 countries, and made an operating profit of 38.7million in the year to October 2020.

A statement on behalf of the company with the planning application says the proposals include measures to enhance the landscape and increase biodiversity.

The statement says the development would be able to generate enough electricity to supply around 12,100 homes, displacing 18,608 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year and 'contributing to the UKs target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050

The proposal for the 42MW structure with nearly 76,000 panels would span 66 hectacres, becoming the largest solar farm in the county. Above: An existing solar farm in Pyworthy, Devon

The statement says the development would be able to generate enough electricity to supply around 12,100 homes, displacing 18,608 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year and 'contributing to the UKs target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.'

It says the site is mostly on lower grade agricultural land, which would be taken out of crop use but could still be used for light grazing, and it would be returned at the end of the life of the solar farm.

It says the development would be screened from the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, around 9.4km to the northwest, and would be unlikely to harm the nearby Upper Tamar Area of Great Landscape Value.

The scheme would see 75,920 panels installed across 2,920 racks, supported by 29,200 poles, with one grid substation and 14 inverter substations, surrounded by 8.7km of 2.4m high fencing, with 85 CCTV posts.
Former President Donald Trump told an audience of 100 business leaders that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a 'failed geek' but her outsized influence within the Democratic party makes 'old men shiver in fear' in the halls of Congress, according to a new book excerpt exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com on Friday.

He told the powerful crowd at the closed-door meeting in 2019 that re-electing him would keep Democrats' progressive policies like Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal at bay.

But Trump appeared to express admiration for the firebrand's meteoric rise and media-savvy style.

'Let me tell you something about AOC. Let me tell you something about her. Ive watched her walk down the halls of Congress, and I see these old men shiver in fearthey shiver in fear whenever they see her,' Trump said.

'You want to know why? Because AOC has a base, just like me.'

He was speaking during a a Business Roundtable conference, making the case to the CEOs of Amazon, JP Morgan, Boeing, Blackrock and others that re-electing him would be better for their companies.

Trump's comments reportedly earned nervous laughter from the room, according to 'In Trump's Shadow: The Battle for 2024 and the Future of the GOP' by Washington Examiner journalist David Drucker.

Former President Donald Trump told business leaders in 2019 that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal would 'shut down American energy' if he wasn't re-elected in 202

The book will be published on October 19.

The event was after a 2018 midterm election cycle where Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives, but Republicans gained two seats in the Senate.

'You denitely want to see me reelected if you want to keep being in business,' Trump said. 'Youve got this Green New Deal. Its completely crazy. Itll completely shut down American energy. And its from this failed geek, Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez. They call her AOC.'

He reportedly attended the event alongside Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, economic adviser Larry Kudlow, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and his daughter Ivanka Trump.

At the time, Ocasio-Cortez had gained national attention for unseating longtime establishment Democrat Rep. Joe Crowley, who was considered a protege of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Trump respected Ocasio-Cortez for 'establishing herself as a leading progressive with national reach,' the author writes.

The comments were reported in a book by Washington Examiner journalist David M. Drucker

They also both traced their roots to New York City - Trump to Queens and Ocasio-Cortez in the Bronx.

The ex-president has expressed a similar mix of respect and dismissiveness toward the young Democrat in the past.

During a presidential debate in October he said 'she's got a good line of stuff' with her Green New Deal climate plan but added 'she knows nothing about the climate.'

At other points, he was less flattering, like last January when he shared on his now-defunct Twitter account an attack ad that called Ocasio-Cortez 'an embarrassing, barely literate moron.'

It was in response to an interview in which the New York lawmaker said billionaires are a product of 'modern day slave wages.'

Democrats' Green New Deal plan ascended to nationwide recognition along with Ocasio-Cortez in 2018.

An original 14-page resolution was first introduced by Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey in 2019 and involved broad goals for the government to combat climate change.

It called for ensuring future infrastructure bills in Congress address climate change and meeting 100 percent of the US's power demands with 'clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources.'

Ocasio-Cortez re-introduced the measure in the current Congress this past April.
The bizarre moment a Russian thief sprinted down the street with a five-foot panda toy stolen from a nearby shop has been caught on CCTV.

The incident, which saw the man steal the toy from an unsuspecting florist, was filmed in the city of Bratsk in the southern Russian region of Irkutsk Oblast.

The man thought he had cheated the shop owner out of the panda by grabbing it from near the door, before leaving and shooting off down the road on foot with his arms wrapped around the comically large bear.

Pictured: An unnamed man is shown running down a street with a giant panda cuddly toy that he stole from a nearby florist in the southern Russian region of Irkutsk Oblast

However, he was unable to escape the authorities, with the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Irkutsk Oblast announcing they arrested the 33-year-old suspect - a resident of Bratsk City - shortly after he allegedly stole the cuddly toy.

The Ministry shared images from two CCTV cameras at the scene, one from inside the flower shop and one outside.

The first video, the man cannot be seen, but the panda - shown to the right of the frame near the florist door - is seen being lifted up off the wall and whisked away out the door by the thief.

A woman, presumed to be a shopkeeper, is then shown walking towards the door the thief left by, after watching the panda disappear.

In the second clip, the suspect is shown sprinting down the pavement while carrying the huge panda bear toy in front of him, after snatching it from the shop.

CCTV footage from inside the florist captured the moment the panda was lifted off the wall near the entrance to the shop and taken by the thief before the florist could stop him

The thief was then captured on CCTV running down the road nearby with the panda in his grasp

But the man was unable to cheat the law, with officers finding the soft toy during a search of his apartment and the police said that it will be returned to the florist soon

The florist, whose name was not disclosed, called the police after the incident, reporting losses amounting to RUB 9,000, around 91.

The police said they detained the suspect, who has a previous conviction for an unspecified crime, shortly afterwards.

Officers found the soft toy during a search of his apartment and the police said that it will be returned to the florist soon.

The suspect, whose name was also not reported, faces up to four years in prison if convicted.
A medical professor in Mexico was suspended Wednesday after he suggested that women learn to cook to avoid being beaten or attacked by men.

Dr. Gerardo de Leon, who teaches at the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes, was reviewing a case study of a 43-year-old woman who had been stabbed in the stomach by her husband because she had reportedly burned his meal.

'I don't know, if they don't know how to cook, why are they getting married?' he said. 'One arrives hungry and it's upsetting there is no dinner because she burned it. That is the recommendation of the day, learn to cook before getting married.'

Dr. Gerardo de Leon was suspended from the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on Wednesday after he suggested that women should learn how to cook in order to avoid becoming victims of domestic violence incidents.

The Autonomous University of Aguascalientes said 'there is and will not be any tolerance for any form of violence' after it announced it had suspended Dr. Gerardo de Leon on Wednesday

The misogynistic comment drew the ire of female students who were taking class from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

'Doctor, wouldn't it be better if we learned not to lose our sanity so as not to stab our wives'?' one of the women said.

'Let's see, I don't understand,' Dr. de Leon responded.

'I mean the recommendation, wouldn't it be better not to stab our wives?' she asked again.

The professor then replied, 'that is your recommendation, mine is that they learn to cook.'

Dr. Gerardo de Leon of the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes in Aguascalientes, drew the ire of his students when he told them: 'I don't know, if they don't know how to cook, why are they getting married. One arrives hungry and it's upsetting there is no dinner because she burned it. That is the recommendation of the day, learn to cook before getting married'

In a statement regarding the suspension of Dr. Gerardo de Leon, a medical professor, the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes said it 'repudiates all sexist manifestations, as well as any act of harassment, discrimination or violence'

The Autonomous University of Aguascalientes announced that de Leon would remained sidelined while it investigates.

'The Autonomous University of Aguascalientes repudiates all sexist manifestations, as well as any act of harassment, discrimination or violence ... (there) will not be any tolerance for any form of violence,' the school said in a statement.

While the institution was quick to act, a female student who had accused another university professor of harassment doubts de Leon will be banned from teaching.

'Hopefully they will also publish all the cases that do not solve,' Diana Cervantes wrote on the university's Facebook account.

'It is very difficult to make the decision to expose the situation for fear of reprisals, I did it even with fear and the only thing I got was to look stupid and the teacher is still there harassing students.'
A Politico reporter has been criticized after she took to Twitter to point out that family members of a US Marine killed in the Kabul suicide bombings were not wearing masks as they toured the Capitol in Washington.

Heather Caygle, the co-congressional bureau chief of Politico, tweeted a picture of fallen US Marine Nicole Gee's family on Thursday with the caption: 'Masks requirement in the House. Tours not allowed. Yet here we are - group of nine, only two in masks.'

Six of the Gold Star family members were photographed facing California Rep Tom McClintock (R), who served as the group's tour guide, in Statuary Hall.

Caygle, 32, was immediately slammed by other journalists and Twitter users alike who called her a 'tattletale' and said her remarks should be deleted.

She responded: 'How does that exempt them from wearing a mask?'

Politico reporter Heather Caygle took to Twitter to point out that the Gold Star family of one of the US Marines killed in the Kabul suicide bombings was not wearing masks as they toured the Capitol Building in Washington, DC (above)

Sgt Nicole Gee was one of the 13 US troops slain in the Kabul airport blast on August 26. She became nationally known after her death because of a photo she posted to social media that showed her holding an Afghan baby (above)

'This may be the most pitiful tweet I've seen on this app,' a user replied, while another noted that a tour of the Capitol Building 'is just about the least the government can do' for the grieving family.

One user crowed: 'The irony that this Marine family [sic] gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect your rights to being able to freely post this.'

'A reporter using their position to publicly shame a family that has been through so much is in poor taste,' another added.

Other replies noted that 'this tweet isn't going to age well' and commented that it was 'very distasteful'.

Gee, 23, was a maintenance technician with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit when she was deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan.

Commenters on the social media site called her a 'tattletale' and said her remarks should be deleted. She responded: 'How does that exempt them from wearing a mask?'

Heather Caygle (pictured), the co-congressional bureau chief of Politico, tweeted the photo and received immediate backlash from fellow reporters and Twitter users alike

Gee, from Roseville, California, was killed on August 26 in a suicide bombing during the chaotic evacuation at Kabul airport.

A week before the blast she was pictured cradling a baby in her arms. She posted the photo, which later became nationally known, on Instagram and wrote: 'I love my job.'

Sgt. Mallory Harrison, who lived with Gee for three years and called her a 'sister forever' and best friend, wrote about the magnitude of her loss.

'I can't quite describe the feeling I get when I force myself to come back to reality & think about how Im never going to see her again,' Harrison wrote on Facebook.

'How her last breath was taken doing what she loved - helping people. ... Then there was an explosion. And just like that, she's gone.'

Gee was honored by loved ones in her hometown of Sacramento, California, last month. People from the fallen soldier's community lined the streets holding American flags as Gee was remembered as a 'hometown hero'

Harrison said her generation of Marines hears war stories from veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan, conflicts but they seem distant amid boring deployments until 'the peaceful float you were on turns into ... your friends never coming home'.

Gee's car was still parked in a lot at Camp Lejeune when she died and Harrison mused about all the Marines who walked past it while she was overseas.

'Some of them knew her. Some of them didn't,' she penned. 'They all walked past it. The war stories, the losses, the flag-draped coffins, the KIA bracelets & the heartbreak. It's not so distant anymore.'

Last month Gee was honored by her community. A large crowd lined the streets of her hometown of Sacramento with American flags in hand as the body of the fallen Gold Star Marine processed.

The procession allowed her community to pay their respects to Gee and her family ahead of her funeral, which took place the day after.

Gee, who was one of the 13 US troops slain in the Kabul suicide bombings, is remembered as a 'hometown hero'.

Like the others killed in the attack, Gee has been posthumously awarded a Purple Heart, which is the oldest US military award still given to American service members.
In the latest sign of liberal frustration with Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema over the budget impasse, Rep. Mark Pocan is saying she has brought nothing 'but a designer purse' to leadership negotiations.

Pocan, a Wisconsin member of the substantial House progressive faction, tore into Sinema as the Arizona Democrat once again held a key role in Capitol negotiations, after shuttling repeatedly to the White House this week.

Some progressives are boiling over at the first-term senator, even as the cut more slack to West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who has put a number on what he is willing to support in a major reconciliation bill, and called for rolling back some of the Trump tax cuts.

The frustration even as Democrats appear to have made at least some progress in narrowing differences and moving toward agreement on an overall price tag for the president's $3.5 trillion reconciliation plan being renegotiated.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., leaves a private meeting with Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice, Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese, and other White House officials on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) says she has brought nothing 'but a designer purse' to leadership negotiations.

'I think those negotiations have started now, so this has probably helped some things move loose,' Pocan told Forbes, in reference to Manchin's printed proposal, which emerged Thursday.

Then he dug into Sinema, who got four White House meetings over two days.

'Half of Manchinema has now shown us something. Waiting for the other half to show us something other than a designer purse,' he quipped.

His comment came after fellow progressive Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) ripped Sinema this week.

'The president has already won me over. I'm on his side, as by the way is 99 per cent of the Democratic party,' the lawmaker fumed on CNN. 'We're willing to negotiate,' he said. 'Literally one senator  one Senator, Kyrsten Sinema  is holding up the will of the entire Democratic Party,' he said.

'Half of Manchinema has now shown us something. Waiting for the other half to show us something other than a designer purse,' said Pocan, in reference to Sens. Manchin and Sinema

Progressive lawmakers have been boiling over at Sinema for failing to state precise objections to the reconciliation bill or a top number she can live with. 'Claims that the Senator has not detailed her views to President Biden and Senator Schumer are false,' she finally responded Thursday

Democratic Senator from West Virginia Joe Manchin tells reporters that his spending limit for the Democrat's budget reconciliation package is 1.5 trillion US dollars outside the US Capitol Washington, DC, USA, 30 September 2021

Fellow Democrats are frustrated with Manchin's demands, but at least give him credit for listing them

Said Khanna: 'The President keeps begging her: tell us what you want. Put a proposal forward,' Khsanna said. He noted that progressive lawmakers had come down from an earlier push for $6 trillion in the 'human infrastructure' bill.

'How do you compromise ... when Sinema is not saying anything?' he asked. 'This is not progressives versus moderates. This is the entire Democratic Party and Joe Biden versus Kyrsten Sinema,' he added. 'I have no idea what she wants. I don't htink her colleagues know what she wants. I don't think the president knows what she wants. We don't know what she wants. it's really odd.

Sinema defended herself against the criticism in a statement tweeted out by her office Thurdsay.

'Senator Sinema said publicly more than two months ago, before Senate passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, that she would not support a bill costing $3.5 trillion,' her office said. 'In August, she shared detailed concerns and priorities, including dollar figures, directly with Senate Majority Leader [Chuck] Schumer and the White House. Claims that the Senator has not detailed her views to President Biden and Senator Schumer are false.'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday praised Manchin, even as the White House and fellow Democrats struggled to win him over. She called him a 'great member of the Senate.'

'Were friends. Italian-Americans. Catholic,' she said.

Sinema, who is the first openly bisexual women to serve in the Senate, is known in the Capitol corridors for wearing bright outfits and sometimes donning colorful wigs. But she is not known to regularly sport high-end fashion brands

Pocan, whose district includes Madison, is openly gay.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Sinema for comment.
A crime commissioner been called to resign for saying women 'need to be streetwise' about being arrested, following the death of Sarah Everard.

Conservative Phillip Allot, commissioner for North Yorkshire Police, said that Miss Everard never should have 'submitted' to the arrest which led to her death on March 3 by former Met officer Wayne Couzens.

The comments, made during an interview on BBC Radio York, were branded 'horrifically offensive' by one campaigner.

North Yorkshire crime commissioner Philip Allot said Miss Everard 'never should have been arrested and submitted to that'

Mr Allot faced calls to resign on Twitter after making the comments, which were branded 'horrifically offensive' by a campaigner

During the interview, host Georgey Spanswick asked: 'How on earth do my stepdaughters, me, my friends, how do we protect ourselves now?

Mr Allot said: 'So women, first of all, need to be streetwise about when they can be arrested and when they can't be arrested.

'She should never have been arrested and submitted to that.

'Perhaps women need to consider in terms of the legal process, to just learn a bit about that legal process.'

His comments were challenged by host Spanswick, who said: 'Why is it down to me Philip? Why is it down to women because actually, this is down to one man in the police force and there are serious doubts about this man's conduct?'

Mr Allot later wrote on Twitter that his comments were not meant to imply 'victim blaming' but the tweet has since been removed.

He has received angry feedback on social media, with some users even calling for him to resign.

Janemortsdrizz posted on Twitter: 'No Philip. You told us that Sarah Everard is to blame for her own murder because she didnt question her false arrest by a serving police officer. DISGUSTING. RESIGN!'

Victoria Wilkie tweeted: 'I'm disgusted by your comments. It's victim blaming... the only person to blame is him.'

Another user, FedUpandBack, added: 'Nice victim blaming, you should be ashamed.'

Before moving to London, 33-year-old Sarah Everard was originally from York, the area covered by Mr Allot's force, and her family still lives there.

Lucy Arnold, of campaign group Reclaim the Streets, who organised a vigil for Ms Everard outside York Minster, was among those angered by Mr Allott's comments.

Sarah Everard, 33, was kidnapped, raped and murdered after a false arrest by former Met officer Wayne Couzens on March 3

Conservative Mr Allot was elected as North Yorkshire crime commissioner in May 2021, replacing the previous incumbent, Julia Mulligan

She said: 'I think frankly that was a horrifically offensive thing to say.

'Does anyone really feel like they can stand up to a police officer?

'I am very confident I know my rights, I know the law, but no I wouldn't feel confident at all.'

In his earlier interview, Mr Allot was critical of the Met Police's handling of reports about Couzen's behaviour leading up to the murder.

He said: A murderer typically commits seven crimes before going on to murder, that man we know committed at least two crimes.

'The police knew, so what should have happened is that it should have been picked up straight away.'

The North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner's office has been approached for comment.
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Uptake of coronavirus vaccines in older teenagers appears to have stalled already, according to UK Government figures.

Only around 55 per cent of 16 and 17-year-olds in England had their first dose by September 26, latest data shows, a number which had barely risen in the previous three weeks.

Meanwhile, fewer than 10 per cent of 12 to 15-year-olds have come forward for their vaccine. But it only includes one week of data from the point when the majority of teens were eligible.

The analysis was revealed in a weekly report by the new UK Health Security Agency, which took over axed Public Health England's pandemic duties today.

It showed that uptake in the age group was sitting at about 20 per cent at the start of August. This shot up to 50 per cent in the three weeks after the roll-out was expanded to all older teenagers on August 19. But the progress appears to have stalled in recent weeks, rising just five or so per cent in September.

All age groups have seen a natural stagnation in uptake, with the threshold being much higher in older age groups who are most susceptible to getting severe Covid. For example, the ceiling was about 90 per cent in the over-70s and 80 per cent in people over the age of 50.

Experts said they were not necessarily surprised by the plateau. Cambridge University epidemiologist Dr Raghib Ali told MailOnline the enthusiasm for jabs in older teenagers was lower because so many have already had Covid 'so dont feel they need to get vaccinated'.

Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, revealed earlier this month that about half of children had caught the virus at some point already and therefore developed some immunity. Official figures today also suggested one in 20 children were carrying the virus on any given day last week.

'There is no doubt that all vaccines in current use are very good at protecting a vaccinated person from getting infected and getting severe disease but a prior infection does that just as well,' according to Professor Paul Hunter, a medical expert at the University of East Anglia.

He told MailOnline: 'So ultimately I am not particularly concerned about the current low uptake of the vaccine in this age group.'

Only around 55 per cent of 16 and 17-year-olds have had their first dose by September 26 (titled week 38), a number which had barely risen in the previous three weeks. Data from the new UK Health Security Agency shows that uptake in the age group was sitting at about 20 per cent at the start of August

Second doses are running at about half the rate of first doses in older teens. but this is because of the eight-week delay between doses

Fifteen-year-old Lauren McLean became one of the first under-16s to receive a Covid vaccine at the Excelsior Academy in Newcastle-upon-Tyne last week

Dr Simon Clarke, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Reading, echoed Professor Hunter's comments, saying he too was 'not surprised'.

'We already knew that younger adults were more difficult to reach than their parents and grandparents,' he told MailOnline. 'You'll always find that there's a part of any age group that are the keenest to get vaccinated, and they'll take it first.

Hundreds of schools told to be 'proactive' and roll back suite of Covid curbs including masks and bubbles Schools have been instructed by councils to bring in a suite of stricter Covid curbs in response to rising infections among pupils. Hundreds of primaries and secondaries in Staffordshire were urged to be 'proactive' and not wait on official guidance from the Government. The county's council has encouraged bringing back face masks and year group bubbles and scrapping assemblies and staff meetings. It also recommended schools stagger starting and break times to limit mixing in corridors and the playground. Staffordshire County Council, which covers more than 400 schools, is believed to be the first to promote reintroducing such a comprehensive set of measures. Other local authorities have brought back light measures like mask-wearing, including Cumbria and parts of Northamptonshire. Pupils whose family member tests positive are advised to 'stay at home pending PCR test result', despite the fact schools can't legally make them isolate. Ministers scrapped the requirement for all contacts of Covid cases to self-isolate in August. The Government, keen not to take a backward step after releasing restrictions in July, says schools can only roll back curbs if school infection levels get too high. It's unclear how many pupils or staff have tested positive in Staffordshire but the council claims it has the backing of cabinet ministers. The Department for Education says schools can take action into their own hands if five pupils or staff linked to each other test positive for Covid within a 10-day period. They have also been given the power to do it if 10 per cent of pupils or staff in a school test positive within 10 days. A document circulated by the council in Staffordshire says it has the backing of the local director for public health and Government ministers. The Tory county's infections surged rose by more than a quarter last week, but more than 30 places had higher infection rates in the UK. Jonathan Price, Staffordshire County Council's cabinet member, said cases were concentrated in secondary and college outbreaks. Advertisement

'Next will be the people who are less worried about their health, they will take more persuading and some of them just won't have got around to it.

'And then there are the people who don't want it, either because they genuinely don't see the need or they are hostile to the idea of vaccinating this age group because they think it's unsafe.

'It seems that the younger the age group, the less enthusiastic they are for the vaccine, either because they think it's unnecessary or they aren't convinced it's safe for their age group.'

The rollout was officially opened to healthy 12-15 year olds last week after months of deliberation about the risks and benefits.

Vulnerable children in this age group were first invited for their vaccine in July when health chiefs concluded that the benefits of vaccine clearly outweighed the small risk of heart inflammation associated with the jabs in kids.

But the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised against routinely vaccinating healthy 12 to 15-year-olds, who it estimates have just a one in 2million chance of dying from Covid.

The JCVI urged ministers to seek advice from Professor Whitty and his fellow chief medical officers in the devolved nations about the wider benefits vaccination could provide.

They ultimately ruled in favour of the move to prevent school closures.

Children under 16 are only being given a single dose of Pfizer's vaccine but older teens will get both.

Health chiefs are still weighing up whether it's worth giving younger ages both doses because the second injection slightly increases the risk of health inflammation, called myocarditis.

But the side effect is still very rare, affecting one in 10,000. In most cases it's mild, but scientists don't know the long-term implications.

In total, there are thought to be around 3.5million 12 to 15-year-olds in the UK, including both vulnerable and fit and healthy children.

The UKHSA data only goes up to September 26 and the rollout only began in healthy under-16s on September 20.

It comes official statistics showed one in 20 children in England were infected with Covid on any given day last week.

The Office for National Statistics today estimated 658,800 people in England had the virus on September 25, up 6.2 per cent on the previous weekly figure.

Analysis showed the virus was most prevalent among children aged 11 to 16, with 4.6 per cent of them estimated to have been infected  the equivalent of around one infected pupil in every classroom.

With the outbreak having exploded among pupils since they went back at the start of September, some scientists have urged secondary schools to reintroduce face masks immediately to prevent infections tricking into the rest of the population.

Meanwhile, bosses at Staffordshire County Council today urged 500 schools to be 'proactive' and reimplement infection control measures that were scrapped by No10 in mid-May, including bubbles and contact-tracing.

The ONS data, which is closely watched by ministers, barely changed in any other age groups last week, despite a flurry of other official statistics suggesting the outbreak has already started to spill over.

One scientist behind one of the country's largest Covid surveillance studies yesterday warned infections were now spreading up the 'generational ladder'.

The estimated infection rates among 11 to 16-year-olds in England marks a rise from the 2.8 per cent who were thought to be infected one week earlier.

Children aged two to 10 have the next-highest infection rate, with around one in 40 (2.6 per cent) of them thought to have the virus on any given day last week, up from 2.3 per cent one week earlier.

The graphs show the Office for National Statistics estimates for the percentage of people testing positive in England for different age groups from August 15 to September 25. The virus was most prevalent among children aged 11 to 16, with 4.6 per cent of them estimated to have been infected  the equivalent of around one infected pupil in every classroom

Latest official figures show that within 28 days of testing positive for the virus, 0.5 girls aged 10 to 14 will die from the virus per 100,000. The figure for boys of the same age is 0.3 per 100,000

Public Health England's report showed unvaccinated people were up to five times more likely to be hospitalised with Covid in August compared to those who had got both doses. The above graph shows the Covid hospitalisation rate among the unvaccinated (grey) compared to the vaccinated (black). The rate for Covid hospitalisation was worked out by dividing the total number of vaccinated and unvaccinated people who were admitted to hospital with the virus by the total number of people in each category in the population in England

Covid is now in every classroom, figures suggest One in 20 children in England were infected with Covid on any given day last week, official data revealed today amid fears a fourth wave may be just around the corner. The Office for National Statistics today estimated 658,800 people in England had the virus on September 25, up 6.2 per cent on the previous weekly figure. Analysis showed the virus was most prevalent among children aged 11 to 16, with 4.6 per cent of them estimated to have been infected  the equivalent of around one infected pupil in every classroom. With the outbreak having exploded among pupils since they went back at the start of September, some scientists have urged secondary schools to reintroduce face masks immediately to prevent infections tricking into the rest of the population. Meanwhile, bosses at Staffordshire County Council today urged 500 schools to be 'proactive' and reimplement infection control measures that were scrapped by No10 in mid-May, including bubbles and contact-tracing. The ONS data, which is closely watched by ministers, barely changed in any other age groups last week, despite a flurry of other official statistics suggesting the outbreak has already started to spill over. Advertisement

Cases are also rising among the over-70s, with an estimated 0.5 per cent of them infected, compared to 0.4 per cent last week.

But cases are falling or flat in all other age groups. Among 17 to 24-year-olds, 1.1 per cent are thought to have Covid, down from 1.5 per cent last week, while 0.6 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds had the virus last week, a drop from 0.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, 0.8 per cent of people aged 35 to 49 had the coronavirus and 0.7 per cent of those aged 50 to 69 - the same as the previous week.

The uptake in cases among younger groups led Staffordshire County Council to tell schools to bring back wide-ranging measures to control the outbreak in the area, which has seen infections surged by 28.8 per cent in a week.

The council said pupils should wear face coverings, while staff should stay 2m away from students. And there should not be any all-staff meetings or all-school events, such as assemblies, it advised.

It also told pupils living with someone who tests positive to stay at home until they receive a negative PCR test, despite not being able to legally enforce this measure.

Professor Christina Pagel, a mathematician at University College London, this week called for infection control measures to be brought back at a national level.

She said: 'I think we need to put mitigations back in schools, particularly masks in secondary schools, now and roll out the vaccine a bit more rapidly.'

Professor Pagel warned the spiralling infection rates in children, risks of them suffering 'long Covid' and a slow vaccine roll out meant action should be taken to limit the spread of the virus.

It comes as the ONS data shows infections across the UK are a mixed picture. Cases are rising in England and Wales, where one in 85 (1.21 per cent) and one in 55 (1.76 per cent) people were estimated to have Covid last week, respectively.

Meanwhile, cases are dropping in Scotland, where one in 65 people (1.85 per cent) were infected last week, down from one in 45 (2.28 per cent) in the seven days up to September 18.

And one in 65 people in Northern Ireland (1.53 per cent) had the virus last week, a drop from one in 60 one week earlier, according to the official estimates.
Attempts in China to meet strict energy quotas have caused a shortage of silicon - throwing the already overstretched production of computer chips into chaos.

It was previously reported that businesses are struggling to get back to the office due to a mass shortage of microchips and that firms are desperately trying to source electronic equipment but face having to wait up until December.

And the problem is now seemingly being exacerbated by a drastic cut in China's production of silicon - the second most abundant element on Earth.

The substance is essential in the production of a host of everyday technologies used around the world, including smartphones, cars and laptops.

Attempts in China to meet strict energy quotas have caused a shortage of silicon - throwing the already overstretched production of computer chips into chaos (stock image)

China's efforts to meet strict new energy quotas aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions amid rising overseas demand for production has meant that many plants have stopped refining the material, and its price has ballooned by 300% in less than two months according to the China Nonferrous Metals Association.

This startling lack of the typically abundant material has caused companies around the world to suspend sales of silicon-based goods, and left companies like car manufacturers and smartphone makers scrambling to secure their production lines.

Given silicon's use in building semi-conductors for computer and smartphone chips, the technology and automobile industry is likely to be among the hardest hit by the shortage.

Seda Memik, professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science, at Northwestern University, told the BBC: 'It will take multiple years to accomplish a better balance,' and said that rising demands amid a global pandemic and energy crises meant a shortage of silicon was always going to be 'inevitable'.

According to Asian news outlet Nikkei, Apple's main chip supplier TSMC is reportedly in the process of upping its fabrication prices amid the silicon shortage, meaning the production of a wide range of Apple products will be delayed into 2022 and potentially forcing Apple to pass the costs onto customers.

A drastic cut in China's production of silicon has triggered a skyrocketing of prices and has seriously exacerbated the global shortage of the vital material (stock image)

Industrial manufacturers and customers alike will likely have to face significant delays for their products - or pay a huge premium to secure them (stock image)

Glenn O'Donnell, vice president and research director at research organisation Forrester, said that the shortage of chips could remain for years to come, and is already being felt in the car industry.

'Thousands of 2021 vehicles are sitting idle awaiting chips,' he said.

'The 2022 models should now be arriving. Will the 2021 models now be rebranded as 2022 models?

'I am trying to find the answer to that question, but the car companies are largely mum on that subject.'

Meanwhile, Porsche boss Oliver Blume told CNBC: 'We have the situation of the semiconductors and therefore the waiting time is longer than normal.'

There have been growing concerns over the global shortage of silicon for several months as factors such as the pandemic and the ever-rising increase in demand for tech that relies on silicon semi-conductors to function has put intolerable pressure on global production lines.

Silicon is one of the world's most diverse materials and is used in the production of everything from smartphones and cars to breast implants (stock image)

Nearly 60 percent of the Chinese economy is powered by coal, but supply in the world's largest coal importer has been disrupted by the pandemic and many factories have closed in an attempt to cut carbon emissions (stock image)

But China, the world's biggest producer of silicon, has recently been forced to close down several of its huge production plants and factories in a desperate attempt to meet harsh new energy quotas amid record coal prices, severely exacerbating the shortage.

The country has been hit by widespread power cuts that have crippled both industrial production lines and residential energy supplies, and more than a dozen Chinese provinces and regions have been forced to impose curbs on energy usage in recent months.

Nearly 60 percent of the Chinese economy is powered by coal, but supply in the world's largest coal importer has been disrupted by the pandemic.

Meanwhile country's environmental agenda is further adding to the crisis, after President Xi Jinping pledged his country would become carbon neutral by 2060 and has since enforced extreme energy restrictions.

Blume said that some customers are waiting half a year or more, while Herbet Deiss, CEO of Volkswagen - Europe's largest car manufacturer, said: 'We are relatively weak because of semiconductor shortages.'
Pornography website Pornhub has launched an investigation after three fake 'casting cars' bearing their logo were spotted in West Yorkshire.

The bright pink vehicles, carrying a Pornhub logo, were spotted in several locations around Ilkley.

Locals expressed outrage after spotting the cars, while the company itself has launched its own investigation claiming the vehicles were not associated with them.

Three cars carrying the Porn Hub logo were spotted in the Ilkley area of West Yorkshire, causing outrage among local residents

The cars were seen parked on Golden Butts Road and North Parade and near the local Wetherspoons.

All three vehicles had 'Porn Hub Casting Car' emblazoned on the back.

One local said she was 'disgusted' that such cars were parked in her local area. She said she even considered leaving a Post It note on the windscreen of one of the vehicles to express her disgust.

The company claimed the three cars were not associated with their company, suggesting they do not use 'casting cars'

The note said: 'Please park somewhere else - its highly inappropriate as there are children walking along the road.'

One local woman wondered if the cars were part of a stag do as she had seen one outside a Wetherspoon pub in the town.

Others assumed the cars were part of a promotion by the firm.

A spokesman for Porn Hub said: 'This has nothing to do with PornHub.

'We do not have casting cars. We are investigating who may be behind this.'
Top U.S. diplomats will fly to Paris next week in the latest effort to repair relations with France which were upended when Australia ditched a French submarine contract in favor of a deal with Washington.

Paris withdrew its ambassador last month in a full-blown diplomatic row as ministers accused President Biden of stabbing them in the back.

But Ambassador Philippe Etienne announced he had returned on Thursday and issued a photograph of himself meeting Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan at the White House.

Now Secretary of State Antony Blinken and John Kerry, the special presidential envoy for climate, head to Paris on Monday for a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

'Secretary Blinken will also meet with French counterparts to continue discussions on further strengthening the vital U.S.-France relationship on a range of issues including security in the Indo-Pacific region, the climate crisis, economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Transatlantic relationship, and working with our Allies and partners to address global challenges and opportunities,' said spokesman Ned Price announcing the trip.

French Ambassador to the U.S. Philippe Etienne announced on Thursday that he was back in the U.S. after having been recalled amid the furor over the nuclear submarine agreement the U.S. had made with Australia that nixed France's own submarine deal. He tweeted a photograph of himself at the White House during a meeting with President Biden's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and climate czar John Kerry fly to Paris on Monday for a visit that will include talks to try to rebuild trust with France

America and the UK are to help Australia build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines as part of an unprecedented alliance known as the AUKUS pact to combat China's naval dominance and will likely be the similar design as this Astute class submarine HMS Ambush (pictured)

France's diplomatic sulk was triggered when the United States, Australia and Britain on Sept. 15 announced a security partnership for the Indo-Pacific region that would help Australia acquire U.S. nuclear-powered submarines.

The A.U.K.U.S. pact scuppered Australia's $90 billion deal to buy French-designed submarines.

The French huff was immediate.

Diplomats cancelled a gala dinner to commemorate the 240th anniversary of the Battle of the Capes, when the French Navy fought the British Royal Navy during the Revolutionary War.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described the deal as a 'unilateral, brutal, unpredictable decision' like those of former President Trump.

U.S. officials defended the pact, saying the French government had been forewarned and that it was up to Australia to explain its decision to switch suppliers.

But that only enflamed tensions.

'We heard about it yesterday,' Florence Parly, the minister of French Armed Services, told RFI radio a day after the deal was announced.

A diplomatic source said the deal was a very closely guarded secret. Officials feared China would launch a 'counter messaging' offensive if Beijing found out.

Last week, Etienne said he was sad he had been recalled to France but explained that his country's deal with Australia was about more than the submarines.

It was 'was not only a contract; it was a cornerstone of our Indo-Pacific strategy presented by our president in Sydney  in Australia in 2018. So there is a lack of transparency,' he told NPR.

'There is a breach of trust. There is unpredictability.'

At the time, Le Drian said: 'This exceptional decision is justified by the exceptional gravity of the announcements made on 15th September by Australia and the United States.'

Signs of a thaw emerged last week after a phone call between Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, as the White House admitted its mistake.

'The two leaders agreed that the situation would have benefitted from open consultations among allies on matters of strategic interest to France and our European partners,' said the White House.

'President Biden conveyed his ongoing commitment in that regard.'

On Thursday, the White House confirmed that Biden's national security adviser met Etienne after his return.

'This meeting was in line with the shared commitment by President Biden and President Macron in their September 22 phone call to begin a process of in-depth consultations on a range of strategic matters, in order to create the conditions for ensuring confidence and propose concrete measures toward common objectives,' said National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne.
A police officer has been sacked after having a sexual relationship with a vulnerable woman.

PC Sean Ford began the relationship with the woman after taking a statement from her in connection with a police investigation.

He had known the woman for several years before the incident.

The officer, who served with Dorset Police, was found guilty of gross misconduct and dismissed following a disciplinary hearing.

PC Sean Ford has been dismissed from his job at Dorset Police, after a disciplinary hearing found he had breached standards of professional behaviour by sleeping with a woman he interviewed in connection with a domestic abuse case

The disciplinary hearing coincided with the sentencing of PC Wayne Couzens for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in London.

Policing minister Kit Malthouse said the Everard case had struck a 'devastating blow to the confidence that people have in police officers'.

Dorset Police said PC Ford had breached the standards of professional behaviour of honesty and integrity, authority, respect and courtesy and discreditable conduct.

A public hearing heard he had accepted he had committed misconduct and breached the standards of professional behaviour of authority, respect and courtesy, but denied gross misconduct.

The panel found he was guilty of gross misconduct and he was dismissed from the force.

PC Ford will also be placed on the national policing barred list.

PC Ford had known the woman for several years prior to interviewing her. After taking a statement, she invited him on Facebook messenger to have a coffee at her house when he was off duty

Deputy Chief Constable Sam de Reya said: 'Our officers are duty-bound to adhere to the highest standards of professionalism and integrity at all times and it is very disappointing that an officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct.

'The public expect and deserve to have trust and confidence in their police force, so I hope the outcome of this case sends out a clear message to our officers, staff and to the public that we take misconduct very seriously and we will fully and robustly investigate anyone who is suspected of not conducting themselves in accordance with the standards expected.

'If you have any concerns in respect of any member of the organisation who is alleged to have failed to maintain the highest of standards and behaviour, we would encourage you to please report your concerns to Dorset Police so they can be thoroughly investigated.'
Peter Nygard, 80, appeared in a Canadian court via video link for his extradition hearing

Fashion executive Peter Nygard agreed in a Canadian court on Friday to be extradited to the United States where he faces nine charges of raping dozens of women and girls, racketeering and sex trafficking.

He has been in prison since his arrest in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, last December. The 80-year-old Finnish-Canadian millionaire made a brief court appearance via video link.

Scott Farlinger, a lawyer representing the Canadian government in the case, explained that Nygard, who'd been denied bail on the grounds he might tamper with witnesses or his accusers, had opted not to fight the extradition.

Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal said Nygard can't be extradited for at least 30 days. However, the disgraced fashion designer can apply for judicial interim release, also known as bail, while the new justice minister confirms or denies his extradition.

Nygard's lawyer Brian Greenspan confirmed to the court that the designer consented to the extradition application and understood the significance.

'He wants to face these charges,' Greenspan told reporters afterward.

Nygard faces nine charges in the United States involving dozens of victims.

Known for his flamboyant style and floppy, gray hair, he will go to the US to face nine sex trafficking and racketeering charges

If confirmed, his extradition will allow him to answer to the US charges and raise a defense.

Greenspan also told reporters outside the court room that the U.S. can only bring one charge against him, but could bring multiple counts, due to the Law of Specialty that defends international law.

The Law of Specialty prohibits the U.S. from adding charges. He can only be charged for offenses pre-extradition.

'This process can now move forward in order for him to face trial in the United States,' defense lawyer Brian Greenspan confirmed.

That, he said will provide Nygard 'the opportunity to raise his defense and to challenge the truthfulness of the evidence which has been brought against him.'

Canada's attorney general must still approve the extradition.

Appearing via video link (right), Nygard faces charges from dozens of victims. He was denied bail on grounds he might tamper with witnesses or accusers

Nygard's lawyer Brian Greenspan (pictured) spoke at the hearing

Crown prosecutor Scott Farlinger oversaw the hearing where Nygard agreed to be extradited. The Toronto police also announced an arrest warrant has been issued for the fashion designer involving an alleged six sexual assaults

His alleged crimes, according to the US indictment, took place between 1990 and 2020. Nygard and his alleged accomplices, including employees of his group, 'used force, fraud, and coercion to cause women and minors to have sex' with them, it said.

The perma-tanned Nygard, known for his long, flowing gray hair and flamboyant clothes, has denied the allegations.

Also on Friday, Toronto police announced that an arrest warrant had been issued for Nygard for six alleged sexual assaults and three charges of forcible confinement, between 1987 and 2006. Although there are claims that complaints against Nygard in Canada go back to the 70s.

Greenspan told reporters that he is not sure if his client will face the Canadian charges before the US ones and that it will be up to the newly appointed federal justice minister to decide.

He also made it clear they will ensure Nygard does not end up in a prison with 'sewage in the cells,' like New York City's Rikers Island jail - which will be closing by 2026 - or the jail in Brooklyn.

Nygard has been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering after women came forward accusing him of using his business to lure them in from the United States and the Bahamas for his own sexual gratification.

He was arrested by Canadian authorities on December 14 - on an extradition warrant at the US government's request from the FBI and New York City police - on charges of assaulting dozens of women in a decades-long sex trafficking scheme.

He is accused of using his prominence in the fashion industry to lure women and girls in with the promise of modeling or other job opportunities before he and his associates sexually assaulted them.

The allegations span a 25-year period and involve more than 80 women in the US, the Bahamas and Canada, among other locations.

His lawyer denies the number of women, saying on seven woman in the US and six in Toronto have been chronicled, he told reporters today.

Former videographer Stephen Feralio released video of Nygard watching a 17-year-old girl dance on a stripper pole on his private jet.

Feralio accompanied Nygard on his private Boeing 727, including a trip in 2012 that included one of the Canadian's 17-year-old 'girlfriends.'

'[They are] all dancing on the stripper pole on the plane,' Feralio said to CBC of the video of the teen at the party.

'So, life on the plane, there's food and then there's poker and then there is karaoke and then there is maybe a movie. And then there's drinking and dancing.

'And, you know, Nygard had a bed on the plane, and so he would have sex with the girls up in the front of the plane.'
The Afghan father of a newborn baby pulled to safety by a Marine over a wall lined with barbed wire at Kabul airport says he met her for the first time that day, and the family have now settled in Arizona.

Hameed, whose full name has not been revealed, said he was inside the perimeter of Hamid Karzai International Airport when he saw his wife and newborn in the human crush, and begged the Marine to lift the baby over.

The first-time father said he was living at Kabul airport throughout August, serving as a linguist to assist US Marines with the evacuation effort and had missed the birth of his daughter 16 days earlier.

'The only thing I trusted is that he was a Marine and that my daughter would be fine,' Hameed, who'd worked with American troops for five years, told CBS.

He added that he now plans to give Liya, who is eight weeks old, the middle-name 'Marine' in honor of the troops who rescued her.

Hameed, pictured with wife Sadia and 8-week-old Liya, are now living in Phoenix, Arizona

Hameed said he planned to give his daughter the middle-name 'Marine'

Hameed said he helped a Marine, pictured, pull his daughter, Liya, over a fence on August 19 in order to secure his daughter's safety during the chaotic evacuation effort at Kabul airport

Hameed said while he was living at the airport, he unable to leave to meet his newborn daughter and could only talk to his wife, Sadia, over the phone as she explained that she had gone through a difficult delivery.

On August 19, he said he instructed Sadia to flee to the airport as reports came in about collogues and other American allies going missing as the Taliban completed its take over of Afghanistan.

'We got intel that people were getting killed, or going missing. By my affiliation [with the military], I knew my home would be next. It wasn't a matter of 'if,' but 'when,'' Hameed told CBS.

Sadia and Liya rushed to Kabul airport with all their belongings, but Hameed claimed that by the time they made it to the checkpoint near the airport, the Taliban had stolen all their identification and cash, leaving them with hundreds of others trying to get through the airport gate.

Hameed said that the Taliban had been brutal in its security around the airport, beating evacuees and using water cannons and flashbangs to control the crowd.

He said held his daughter for two minutes before handing her off to the Marine for safety as he turned his attention to getting his wife to safety. She had collapsed from exhaustion before reaching the airport gate. Hours later, Sadia was able to get though the gate and the family was reunited as they prepared for their evacuation flight

Hameed, his wife Sadia and their daughter Liya were evacuated from Kabul on a US flight in August

He said he spotted his daughter in the chaos from the other side of the fence and watched for hours as his family tried to make through the gate.

'I knew she'd never make it through. She'd be crushed to death, God forbid, or severely injured.'

Desperate, Hameed said he pleaded with a Marine standing on a vehicle along the barbed-wired fence to help get his baby through.

'He told me the only thing he could do was lift her over the barbed wire, but he said she'd be hurt. I told him I'll take the chance. I'd rather her get hurt than die,' he said.

He said the Marine agreed, and with Hameed holding onto the soldier's legs to steady him, they were able to lift Liya over the barrier, allowing Hameed to hold her for the first time.

He said held his daughter for two minutes before handing her off to the Marine for safety as he turned his attention to getting his wife to safety. She had collapsed from exhaustion before reaching the airport gate.

Hours late, Sadia was able to get though the gate and the family was reunited as they prepared for their evacuation flight.

'What was heartbreaking is, I was inside and had somebody to pull my daughter over the wire. There were thousands of others who didn't have that opportunity,' Hameed said.

Hundreds of evacuees crowded the entrance to Kabul airport. Hameed claimed the Taliban used water canons, flash bangs and beating to keep the crowd in order

The family was quickly reunited after the dramatic hand-off, and they did not learn of their viral video fame until they landed in America

Hameed said he learned about the now iconic video when the family landed in America, agreeing that it served as a symbol about the reality in Afghanistan.

'I think it was very captivating to see what was actually happening. It's one thing for politicians to go on TV and say how fine things are. It's totally something else on the ground, and when you can see it with your own eyes.'

While the family is safe in Phoenix, they have found new struggles. Hameed said his wife and daughter have no identification and are in need of medical care. s family's medical expenses. The page has raised more than $12,000 as of Friday.

Hameed added that he hopes to be able to meet the man who carried his baby to safety.

'Oh my God. I'd give him a hug. He literally saved my daughter's life,' Hameed said.

A Marine in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit holds a baby during the evacuation of Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 20. Several solders rescued infants during evacuation
Police in Wisconsin have released dramatic body and dashboard camera footage of a recent shooting, in which they say an armed felon was killed after opening fire and critically injuring an officer following a chase.

The Greenfield Police Department on Thursday released edited footage stemming from the August 22 incident that resulted in the death of 31-year-old Tyran Lamb.

In the video, Lamb, who was an ex-convict, is seen fleeing from police after running a red light, crashing into another vehicle, ignoring multiple commands to show his hands and then shooting a male officer through the windshield.

The Greenfield Police Department in Wisconsin on Thursday released edited body and dashboard camera footage from a deadly officer-involved shooting that took place in August

Police surrounded this silver Hyundai operated by Tyran Lamb after he fled a traffic stop, led cops on a chase and crashed into another vehicle

During the standoff, a bystander tried to intervene, causing police to became distracted

This is the moment Lamb shot a 36-year-old police officer through the windshield

Lamb, a father-of-three, attempted to flee on foot but was fatally shot by police.

The wounded officer survived, thanks in part to his colleague's lifesaving efforts, as seen in the graphic body camera footage.

Lamb, 31, was on active community supervision and was not allowed to be in possession of a gun because he was a convicted felon

According to the police, shortly after 1.30am on August 22, a Greenfield police officer saw Lamb run a red light. The officer, labeled as 'Officer 1' in the video, pulled the car over at South 35th Street and West Oklahoma Avenue.

But Lamb sped away, triggering a police pursuit involving Officer 1 and two backup cops.

Police deployed spike strips to stop Lamb, but he continued fleeing until he crashed into another driver at South 27th Street and West Becher Street, leaving her with fractured vertebra.

The newly released body camera and dashboard camera footage shows Officer 1 run up to Lamb's mangled car with his gun drawn yelling: 'Show me your hands right f***ing now!'

According to Greenfield Chief of Police Jay Johnson, the suspect refused to show officers his hands, despite being ordered to do so 18 times.

In the midst of the tense standoff, a bystander shows up and seemingly tries to intervene, causing police officers to momentarily divert their attention from Lamb to her.

Lamb is seen shooting at the injured officer lying on the ground while fleeing on foot

Lamb collapsed a short distance away and died on the scene after being shot by police

Officer 1 gets right up to the windshield to try and see both the suspects hands, at which point Lamb shoots, striking the cop.

The officer falls backwards and takes cover behind a police car. He calls out: 'Shot fired! I'm hit!'

A backup officer fires on Lamb as he emerges from his car and flees on foot. He jumps over the wounded cop and shoots at him at a point-blank range.

Lamb collapsed a short distance away and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Body camera footage shows the wounded officer bleeding on the ground and the backup officer rushing to his side to administer first aid.

'Please don't let me die, I'm begging you,' the injured cop pleads with his colleague as she applies a tourniquet to his blood-soaked leg.

The injured officer says he has been hit in the leg, in the chest and in the hand. He complains that he is having trouble breathing.

Chief Johnson praised the young backup officer for saving her badly injured co-worker's life.

A young officer is seen applying a tourniquet to her injured colleague's blood-soaked leg as he begs her: 'please don't let me die'

The 36-year-old officer with three years of experience was hospitalized in critical but stable condition. He has since been released home and is expected to make a full recovery.

At the time of the shootout, Lamb was out on community supervision stemming from two prior convictions for fleeing officers. As a felon, he was not allowed to have a gun, reported Wisconsin Right Now.

'The suspect was an armed felon who made the decision to flee from the police,' Johnson said. 'He put our community, our citizens, and our officers in danger.'

Court records indicate that Lamb, from Milwaukee, in 2014 was convicted of armed robbery, and sentenced to three years in prison.

Shortly upon his release, Lamb reoffended and was convicted of fleeing a police officer, earning him a year in prison.

Lamb's loved ones said he was a family man who lived for his two children. His girlfriend is currently pregnant with their third

Lamb was back behind bars in 2019, after he again was found guilty of eluding an officer and sentenced to a year in state prison, followed by a year of community supervision.

In the wake of the fatal officer-involved shooting, Lamb's family called on the police department to tell them what led to the shooting.

Prior to the release of the body camera video, Lamb's mother, Tahnisha Lamb, argued in an interview with WISN that her son did not shoot at an officer.

She acknowledged that her son had prior run-ins with the law, but insisted that he was turning his life around for the sake of his two children. His girlfriend is currently pregnant with their third.

'He loved his family,' Lamb's mother said. 'He loved his kids and me and his grandmama. We was [sic] his world, his life, and they took him. They took his life.'

The Greenfield police said the incident is still being investigated.
Criminologist Dr David Holmes believes Wayne Couzens could have killed sex workers before he raped and murdered Sarah Everard

Wayne Couzens could have killed sex workers before he raped and murdered Sarah Everard, a leading criminologist has said.

Dr David Holmes believes the monster cop could have used his police status to manipulate the women and lure them for his sadistic fantasies.

He told MailOnline: 'It is possible he has killed one or two sex workers that may not have been noticed.

'These women are picked because often nobody notices they are missing for a while, or at all.

'This is why they are targeted by serial killers - they are easily found and approached and also they are accepting of people, especially those that others would be suspicious of'.

Dr Holmes added that Couzens, who was 'attracted to brutal pornography' and used escorts, could have played out his fantasies before the horrific murder of Ms Everard in March.

He said: 'As man in authority he could make life or difficult for them  or easy - but clearly not all police officers have contact with sex workers. It indicates Couzens was a dodgy guy all the way through.

'It's not something that switches on and off. He would approach most relationships with that intent and expect that in return - like pressing a button he can't switch off'.

He added: 'Police already know he treated women in a bullying manner, and would be like treating them through his life. It's his personality and dyed in the wool'.

Dr David Holmes believes the monster cop could have used his police status to manipulate the women and lure them for his sadistic fantasies

Dr Holmes added that Couzens, who was 'attracted to brutal pornography', could have played out his fantasies before the horrific murder of Ms Everard

The expert said a police appeal is necessary.

'A public appeal to women to come forward would possibly filter through to prostitutes, without alienating all women'.

It comes as it was revealed today that the Met knew a 'Wayne Couzens' was suspected of flashing two women at McDonald's three days before Miss Everard's murder - but failed to identify him as one of their own officers until afterwards.

Previously it was known the incidents had been reported to police, who identified Couzens' car via CCTV, but the fact officers knew his name but did not realise he was a serving Met policeman will be seen as fresh evidence he could have been exposed as a sexual predator before he went on to kidnap, rape and strangle the 33-year-old.

Police knew a Wayne Couzens (left, in his uniform with his police belt circled; and right, in a court sketch) was accused of flashing two women at a McDonald's, with police hearing about the allegation three days before he raped and murdered Sarah Everard. However, officers failed to make the link with him being a police officer

Couzens lapped West and South-West London looking for a woman to snatch, rape and murder before finding Miss Everard

Police first heard about the indecent exposure allegations on February 28, although the actual incidents happened earlier that month.

Address searches show there are very few people sharing the killer's name in the country, and even fewer in London and the South East - meaning a basic investigation would have identified the Diplomatic Protection Officer as the suspect.

Had detectives understood the full picture at the time, it is likely Couzens would have been suspended. Officers are then usually put on restricted duties, which means they must hand in their warrant card and cannot have any contact with the public.

Couzens initially claimed to the detectives that he did not know Miss Everard

To carry out his horrific crime, the fiend showed Miss Everard his warrant card to force her into his car as part of a fake Covid arrest. He then used his Met-issued equipment to handcuff the marketing executive before strangling her with his police belt.

The Met said the McDonald's allegations were 'allocated for investigation' but 'by the time of Sarah's abduction it was not concluded'. It referred itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct, which is investigating the force's alleged failure to investigate.

Today's revelation will heap yet more pressure on beleaguered Met commissioner Cressida Dick - who has been facing demands to resign over the multiple missed chances to expose Couzens as a threat to women before he was able to finally fulfill his sick fantasy.

Couzens initially claimed to the detectives that he did not know Miss Everard, before backtracking moments later in his police interview.

He then concocted a ridiculous fantasy story involving an Eastern European gang who had pressured him after he attempted to 'rip off' one of their call girls.

Couzens was later taken to Wandsworth Police Station where he repeatedly tried to self-harm by banging his head on a sink and running into a wall, and was put under constant watch before appearing in court.
Nearly 40 per cent of all Britons think under-fire Metropolitan Police chief Cressida Dick should resign just days into her new term over her handling of the Sarah Everard case, a survey has revealed.

Cressida Dick, 60, has faced a wave of calls for her to step down amid anger at the multiple missed chances to identify officer Wayne Couzens as a sexual predator.

And a YouGov poll has revealed that 38 per cent of Britons are supporting the calls for her resignation, compared to a mere 27 per cent who think she should remain in her post.

Some 35 per cent of Britons are unsure about whether the commissioner should step down, as Dame Cressida has been left fighting for her job just days into her new term.

It comes after Dame Cressida said 'sorry' as she ordered a shake-up of police rules which will see plain clothed officers banned from working alone after Couzens flashed his police ID to carry out a fake Covid arrest and cuff Sarah Everard, before strangling her with his police belt.

A YouGov poll has revealed that 38 per cent of Britons are supporting the calls for Cressida Dick's (pictured) resignation as the Metropolitan Police chief

The YouGov survey found that two in five men and 32 per cent of women think Dame Cressida should resign just days into her new term

The commissioner has faced widespread calls to step down, including from the senior Labour MP Harriet Harman, and the survey found that two in five men and 32 per cent of women think Dame Cressida should resign.

In London, where Sarah Everard, 33, was raped and murdered by Couzens on March 3 while she was walking home from a friend's house, a staggering 40 per cent of people think she should step down.

In the rest of the South, 39 per cent of people think she should resign, while 38 per cent of people in the North and 35 per cent of people in Scotland agree.

Just 10 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 were among those who thought Dame Cressida should stay in her role, with 31 per cent thought she should resign and 59 per cent were unsure.

The age group with the highest amount of people calling for the commissioner to resign was those 65+, with a massive 46 per cent supporting the calls for her to step down.

The poll comes after Dame Cressida apologised and said Couzens had 'brought shame on the Met', adding that she was 'absolutely horrified' at the atrocity.

The commissioner said she recognised 'the precious bond of trust has been damaged' - as the force announced it will not deploy plain clothes police officers on their own in an effort to reassure the public.

Dame Cressida said: 'As Commissioner I will do everything in my power to ensure we learn any lessons. I know that what happened to Sarah, and what has happened to other women in London and beyond in recent times, has raised important questions about women's safety.

Dame Cressida, 60, has faced a wave of calls for her to step down amid anger at the multiple missed chances to identify officer Wayne Couzens (pictured) as a sexual predator

'Here in the Met I commit to keep working with others to improve women's safety and reduce the fear of violence. There are no words that can express the fury and overwhelming sadness that we all feel about what happened to Sarah. I am so sorry.'

Meanwhile, Priti Patel today said the Met Police had 'serious questions' to answer over the case - but stood by Cressida Dick following calls for her to resign amid fury at how the officer was able to 'slip the net'.

The Home Secretary said Britain's biggest force should be 'held to account' but batted away a question about whether she should now step down.

She said: 'I think first of all there are important questions and questions that I've been asking and challenges, we have to be honest about this, in particular to this case, but also the conduct of that serving officer and conduct of policing more broadly.

'So, I will continue to work with the Metropolitan Police and the Commissioner to hold them to account as everybody would expect me to do, and I will continue to do that.'

The Met is being investigated by the police watchdog for its alleged failure to investigate two flashings which have since been linked to Couzens at a McDonald's in Swanley, Kent. The force received reports of these three days before he kidnapped, raped and murdered Miss Everard.

There are also questions how the sexual deviant, 48, passed vetting to become an armed parliamentary and diplomatic protection officer despite numerous rumours of his bad character, including claims he was addicted to violent pornography and had mistreated women.

Couzens was handed a full life term at the Old Bailey - as activists with 'Met Police: Blood on their hands' banners protested outside. Lord Justice Fulford said he was a 'warped' and 'self-pitying' killer who used his position and knowledge of Covid-19 lockdown laws to carry out one of the most shocking crimes in recent history.

Harriet Harman demanded scandal-ravaged Dame Cressida step down over the Met's failure to stop Couzens, tweeting: 'Sarah Everard was simply walking home. Women must be able to trust the police not fear them. Women's confidence in police will have been shattered. Urgent action needed. Met Commissioner must resign.'

Diane Abbott said: 'Harriet Harman is right. Women should be able to trust the police. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick must resign.'

The Met Police commissioner (pictured) has faced widespread calls to step down, including from the senior Labour MP Harriet Harman, following the Sarah Everard case

Rupa Huq, MP for Ealing Central and Acton, has also called on Dame Cressida to go.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Keir Starmer told LBC: 'There were obviously warning signs, so how did he get through get the net? That is the crucial question that the Met must now answer.'

The comments that heap fresh pressure on Dame Cressida after a raft of scandals, from the disastrous Operation Midland probe into fantasy claims of VIP paedophiles to claims of a 'cover-up' over the murder of private detective Daniel Morgan and allegations of excessive force at a vigil for Miss Everard.

Couzens - who is being temporarily held at HMP Belmarsh and will die behind bars - has been linked to reports the Met received on February 28 that two members of staff were flashed at a McDonald's in Swanley. This happened three days before Miss Everard was murdered. Both incidents happened at the same branch on the same day.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IOPC) is investigating the Met for allegedly failing to probe these two incidents, despite apparently being provided with CCTV. He was not identified as a suspect at the time.

The IOPC is also looking into Kent Police - where Couzens used to work as a volunteer - after it was accused of not investigating reports in 2015 that a man had been spotted driving down a road with no trousers on.

The Met is also facing questions about how its vetting process failed to pick up concerns around Couzens before he was made an armed officer in its elite Diplomatic Protection Group, which saw him guarding embassies, VIPs and members of the Royal Family.

Couzens used to work at his father's garage in Dover before joining the Kent Special Constabulary at some point after 2002. The Old Bailey heard a colleague in that year spoke of 'his attraction to brutal sexual pornography' but Jim Sturman QC, defending, said it related to a single incident 'which is almost impossible to examine now';

He was allegedly nicknamed 'The Rapist' by colleagues in the Civil Nuclear Constabulary - where he was involved in protecting nuclear power stations - because he behaved inappropriately around women. However, a Met spokesman today said this claim had been investigated and there was no evidence it was true.

His trial heard that he used prostitutes, had a fake Match.com dating profile despite being married with two children.

In London, where Sarah Everard (pictured) was raped and murdered by Couzens on March 3 while she was walking home, 40 per cent of people think Dame Cressida should step down

In 2018, it has been claimed that he was reported to bosses for slapping a female police officer's bottom at Bromley police station but it appears no action was taken, a source told The Sun.

While at Bromley, it is also claimed he became the subject of gossip for only stopping female motorists - before taking their details so he could watch their homes - and parking outside schools to leer at mothers and sixth formers.

The Met said: 'Couzens was a serving and vetted police officer when he joined the Met. He had no criminal convictions or cautions and he was not subject to any misconduct proceedings during his time at the MPS. We are aware of no other concerns raised by his colleagues or anyone regarding his behaviour.'

There has been widespread anger over the failure of police to hold Couzens to account for his sick behaviour before he went on to abduct, rape and murder Miss Everard.

Patsy Stevenson, a women's rights campaigner who was famously arrested at the vigil for Miss Everard on Clapham Common, called on Dame Cressida to resign

She told Sky News: 'There's a complete lack of accountability within the police. I'm disappointed in Cressida Dick. I don't know how she can still have the job when so many things have happened.

'Why was he allowed to remain a police officer when he indecently exposed himself a few days before? I'm shocked she got a two year contract extension.'

The scandal heaps more pressure on Dame Cressida, who this month had her contract at Met commissioner extended by two months despite a huge outcry.

The officer has been at the centre of a series of scandals before and after being appointed as the Met's first female commissioner in 2017.

In July 2005, she was in overall charge of the operation which saw electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, shot dead on a Tube train in south London.

Couzens was handed a full life term at the Old Bailey - as activists (pictured on September 29) with 'Met Police: Blood on their hands' banners protested outside

Mr de Menezes, a Brazilian working in the capital, was blasted in the head seven times by police at Stockwell station after being followed by officers from his home nearby.

In 2014, Dame Cressida sanctioned the creation of Operation Midland  the Met's investigation into spurious VIP child sex abuse allegations.

Innocent men, including the late Lord Brittan and former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, were pursued by the force.

The Met's star witness 'Nick' was later revealed to be serial liar Carl Beech.

In 2017, Dame Cressida was criticised for her choice of words after she said the victims of the London Bridge terror attack demonstrated London's 'diversity'.

The officer added: 'We believe, of course, that that's what makes our city so great. It's a place where the vast majority of time it's incredibly integrated and that diversity gives us strength.'

Critics said the remarks were ill-considered.

In 2019, the Met under Dame Cressida's leadership was widely criticised for its 'light-touch' policing of Extinction Rebellion protests.

The environmental demonstrators were allowed to blockade key areas of the capital for days, including Westminster Bridge and Oxford Circus.

In total a dozen officers from across the constabularies are under investigation by the IOPC over offences related to the Couzens case.
A man from Northern Ireland has been arrested as part of a people smuggling probe, which saw ten migrants rescued from the back of a lorry in Belgium.

The 32-year-old was detained in Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, on Friday in an operation that was supported by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

He will be questioned on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration, as part of an international investigation involving law enforcement in Belgium.

A 32-year-old man was detained in Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, on Friday after ten migrants were rescued from a lorry in Belgium in March last year. Pictured: NCA officers

It comes after ten migrants were found in a lorry carrying a load of tyres near Ghent in Belgium in March 2020. Belgian authorities made the discovery while acting on information from the NCA.

Two Irish nationals were arrested in Dover following the incident and were later charged with alleged conspiracy to facilitate illegal immigration, with one pleading guilty and the other awaiting trial.

Two properties in England and Northern Ireland were also searched by NCA officers soon after the incident, with two suspected firearms seized in the Kent raid.

A man arrested in Co Antrim shortly afterwards was released pending a report to prosecutors.

He will be questioned on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration, as part of an international investigation involving law enforcement in Belgium. Pictured: PSNI officer in Belfast

NCA Belfast branch commander David Cunningham said: 'This arrest is a significant development in what has been a long and complex investigation involving international partners.

'Tackling people smugglers is a priority for the NCA, and we are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved in this type of exploitative crime.'

In March last year, the NCA's Gerry McLean said: 'Our close working with our Belgian partners in this instance has led to the safeguarding of a number of migrants who had been put in a very dangerous situation, and we are grateful for their support.'
A businesswoman and her fiances friend are in a Brazilian jail after prosecutors formally charged them with attempting to smuggle almost half a kilo of cocaine onto a flight to Dubai.

Social media influencer Lais Crisostomo Aguiar, 27, and Peterson de Souza Fontes, 44, each were charged with one count of international drug trafficking, Brazilian online news outlet G1 reported Friday.

On August 5, the two were passing through airport security at Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo and were moments from boarding a Dubai-bound flight.

Brazilian social media figure and businesswoman Lais Crisostomo Aguiar is facing international drug trafficking charges brought in Sao Paulo. She and her fiance's friend were set to board a flight to Dubai August 5 when they were stopped by the police at Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo

Lais Crisostomo Aguiar is accused of attempting to smuggle almost half a kilo of cocaine in luggage on a flight from Sao Paulo to Dubai on August 5

Authorities discovered that the 461 grams of cocaine hidden inside capsules that were spread throughout several bottles of supplements

Federal police agents stopped them for a secondary inspection after screeners detected an abnormality in de Souza Fontes luggage.

Police found and seized 461 grams of cocaine in capsules concealed inside multiple food supplement bottles. They were arrested and have been in prison since.

Judge Valdeci dos Santos denied a petition from Crisostomo Aguiar to be released because saying, 'she was unaware of the contents of the suitcase is not credible, given that the seized cocaine was hidden in a suitcase with the (suspects) personal effects.'

Peterson Fontes admitted in court that the massive quantity of cocaine was his, and that like him, Crisostomo Aguiar and her fiance, Henrique Catoriello, were users.

However, Crisostomo Aguiar rejected his claims as lies.

A judge refused to release Lais Crisostomo Aguiar from prison because the amount of cocaine found in (Crisostomo Aguiars) possession cannot be classified as being a user' meaning it was meeant for sale.

Pictured are some of the bottles seized by federal police that were filled with capsules amounting to 461 grams of cocaine

Lais Crisostomo Aguiar is facing international drug trafficking charges in Brazil after she and her fiance's friend were busted with 461 grams of cocaine at Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo on August 5

But the court maintained that 'the amount of cocaine found in (Crisostomo Aguiars) possession cannot be classified as being a user, making it clear that the drug would be the object of circulation in society'.

Crisostomo Aguiar told the court that she had been living in Dubai since 2020 and that Catoriello owned a currency exchange business there.

She had returned to Brazil on July 23 to celebrate her goddaughters birthday and was going to open an aesthetics business in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais.

With more than 400,000 followers on Instagram, Crisostomo Aguiar frequently shared images of glamorous trips to places like the Maldives Islands and Monaco before she deleted all of her photos from her account.

Crisostomo Aguiar also flaunted her massive collection of Dior, Saint Laurent and Chanel handbags on the account.
A mother has lost a High Court bid to suspend the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine to those under 18, including her two children.

A judge dismissed the woman's request for an injunction pausing the distribution of jabs as part of her legal challenge over vaccines being offered to those aged 12 to 17.

The mother-of-two, acting on behalf of her children who cannot be named, brought her case against the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

The mother, who does not intend to allow her children to be vaccinated, claimed she faces 'pressure from teachers, victimisation and bullying if her children do not take the vaccine'.

Lawyers for the mother argued it would 'irrational' for the Government to say there was a 'public health crisis for children' and to 'implement a mass vaccination campaign for healthy children'.

But Mr Justice Jay refused her bid to suspend the vaccine rollout to under 18s and her request to seek a judicial review of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's authorisation of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for teenagers.

A judge dismissed the a mother's request for an injunction pausing the distribution of jabs as part of her legal challenge over vaccines being offered to those aged 12 to 17 (stock image)

Giving judgment in London on Friday afternoon, the judge also adjourned a decision on the woman's challenge over the Government's decision to offer jabs to 12 to 17-year-olds to a later date.

Lawyers for the mother claimed Covid poses an 'exceptionally low risk' to those aged 12 to 17, which are the focus of the legal challenge, and 'healthy children have no need' of the jabs.

In previous arguments, they claimed that available evidence mean 'no reasonable decision maker' could have authorised the vaccines or their rollout for under-18s.

A vaccination programme for 16 and 17-year-olds has been running since August 5 following advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

Last month, the UK's four chief medical officers (CMOs) announced that children aged 12 to 15 should be offered a first dose of the vaccine.

Ewan West, the DHSC's barrister, said in written arguments it is 'clear' the MHRA, the JCVI and the CMOs 'have taken a wide range of data into account, have carefully weighed it, and reached a balanced view'.

He added: 'The claimants do not agree that the balance has been correctly placed; but that disagreement does not render it unlawful.'

Mr West argued the ongoing vaccine programme is 'entirely voluntary' and 'there is no question of mandatory vaccination for the two children on whose behalf the claim is brought, or any other children'.

The mother, who does not intend to allow her children to be vaccinated, claimed she faces 'victimisation and bullying if her children do not take the vaccine' (stock image)

He also warned an injunction would mean public health benefits 'will be delayed, and in some instances lost'.

Last month, Covid vaccines were being given to healthy 12 to 15-year-olds in schools across Britain for the first time.

A single dose of Pfizer's jab is being used in the hope that the roll-out will prevent further disruptions to their education.

Parental consent is being sought but children can overrule parents who do not want them to get the jab if deemed 'competent', in a move that has caused controversy.

More than 3million under-16s are eligible for the vaccines and ministers expect at least 60 per cent to take up the offer.

The scientific community has been split over vaccinating healthy children against Covid because the virus poses such a low risk to them.

No10's own advisory panel said earlier this month that immunising them would only provide 'marginal' benefit to their health, and not enough to advise a mass rollout.

But Professor Chris Whitty and the chief medical officers in the devolved nations came down in favour of expanding the inoculation drive after weighing up the wider benefits to children.

They said hundreds of thousands of school absences could be prevented and school closures averted if there was good uptake of the vaccines.

The roll-out in England will primarily be done in schools through the in-school vaccination service teams that already carry out routine vaccine programmes for illnesses like flu.

Schools will be used as a site for administering the vaccines and distributing consent and information forms to pupils and guardians.

Teachers have been told not to hesitate in phoning police to deal with anti-Covid vaccine campaigners amid fears of protests at school gates over the rollout.

Acontroversial study has suggested that giving 12 to 17 year olds two doses of a Covid vaccine would prevent thousands from being hospitalised with the virus this autumn. The study said that the benefit of double-dosing outweighed the risks (shown here)

The latest study estimated that if Covid cases in secondary schools continue at their current rate, then a two-dose regimen could prevent 4,430 admissions and 36 deaths in teens compared to a single injection

Meanwhile, a controversial study has suggested that giving 12 to 17 year olds two doses of a Covid vaccine would prevent thousands from being hospitalised with the virus this autumn.

Experts behind the research have called for the UK to reconsider its current roll-out, which will see youngsters only given a single Pfizer jab.

Health officials have held back on recommending the full course because of the very rare risk of heart inflammation associated with the second shot.

The study looked at rates of Covid infection, hospital admission and death among teenagers in previous waves of the pandemic in the UK.

It estimated that if Covid cases in secondary schools continue at their current rate, then a two-dose regimen could prevent 4,430 admissions and 36 deaths in teens compared to a single injection.

The team of researchers, led by Queen Mary University, insisted this benefit 'clearly' outweighed the small risk of myocarditis, which affects about one in 10,000 and is usually mild.

They claimed the risk would only outweigh the benefit of vaccination if infection rates in teens were to suddenly drop to tiny levels.

While most patients who develop myocarditis after their jab suffer only a mild bout of the disease, scientists are still unsure about the long term consequences of the inflammation of the heart.

Academics today hit back at the 'questionable' findings of the study, which failed to differentiate between the Covid risk to healthy and vulnerable children.

The analysis was carried out by several members of Independent SAGE and is published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
A University of Bristol academic who received a barrage of criticism for comments he allegedly made about Israel has been dismissed.

David Miller, professor of political sociology, is no longer employed by the institution after a disciplinary hearing found he 'did not meet the standards of behaviour' expected by university staff.

The decision comes after Bristol University launched an investigation in March following his alleged comments about Israel.

Peers heard that the university lecturer's behaviour had led to Jewish students 'being subjected to weeks of harassment and abuse'.

University of Bristol academic David Miller (pictured), who received a barrage of criticism for comments he allegedly made about Israel, has been dismissed

But supporters of Prof Miller have previously warned of 'an attack on academic freedom' and the academic has said he will challenge the decision.

In a statement, the University of Bristol said: 'We have a duty of care to all students and the wider university community, in addition to a need to apply our own codes of conduct consistently and with integrity.

'Balancing those important considerations, and after careful deliberation, a disciplinary hearing found Prof Miller did not meet the standards of behaviour we expect from our staff and the university has concluded that Prof Miller's employment should be terminated with immediate effect.

'The university regards the principle of academic freedom as fundamental and would like to reiterate that we take any risk to stifle that freedom seriously.'

A joint statement from the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) and the Bristol Jewish Society said: 'This announcement concludes months and years of tireless campaigns and actions by students to try and get the university and authorities to listen, and we are pleased that action has finally been taken'

A report into academic freedom of expression concluded that Prof Miller's comments 'did not constitute unlawful speech', the university added.

It comes after senior Tory MP Robert Halfon urged ministers not to 'wash their hands' of concerns from Jewish students at the University of Bristol.

In March, Prof Miller also faced criticism in the House of Lords when a Tory frontbencher branded his views 'ill-founded and reprehensible'.

A joint statement from the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) and the Bristol Jewish Society said: 'It has been over two years since UJS, CST (Community Security Trust) and the Jewish community raised their heads and their voices in protest at the harassment, targeting and vicious diatribe shared by Prof Miller with his students.

'It has been seven months since complaints were made about Miller's statements targeting the Jewish society, its president and UJS.

Pictured: The statement put out by the Community Security Trust about Miller's dismissal

'This announcement concludes months and years of tireless campaigns and actions by students to try and get the university and authorities to listen, and we are pleased that action has finally been taken.'

But the academic has said he will be challenging the university's decision.

Prof Miller said: 'The University of Bristol has embarrassed itself and the entire British academic sector by capitulating to a pressure campaign against me overseen and directed by a hostile foreign government. It has run a shambolic process that seems to have been vetted by external actors.

'Israel's assets in the UK have been emboldened by the university collaborating with them to shut down teaching about Islamophobia. The University of Bristol is no longer safe for Muslim, Arab or Palestinian students.

'I stand by my evidence-based comments and I will be challenging this decision, all the way to an employment tribunal if necessary.'
Women have shared their disgust at the Metropolitan Police's new measures to help them feel safer, saying they do not trust officers anymore in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder at the hands of a serving cop.

Today, women in Clapham Common where Wayne Couzens abducted Miss Everard during a 'fake arrest' slammed the new strategy which suggested those in fear of an officer should wave down a bus, run into a house or shout out to a passer by.

The guidance has been described as 'insulting and derisory' with critics saying it puts the onus on women rather than tackling violent men.

But speaking today, women in south London say they are now more fearful and less trustworthy of the police and believe the new measures won't make any difference.

Lawyer and commentator David Green also warned the 'unrealistic and misconceived' new guidance by the Met Police could cause chaos and in extreme cases see women Tasered for resisting arrest.

The Met's advise to flag down a bus has caused particular anger and MPs today called for an independent inquiry into the murder of Miss Everard and how the Metropolitan Police failed to root out Wayne Couzens.

Jess Phillips, Labour's shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, said the advice is 'tone deaf', adding she 'would have got in the car and almost anybody would have got in the car' and 'the onus is on the Metropolitan Police to do better'.

Shadow cabinet member Wes Streeting said: 'Apparently bus drivers should stop if someone is waving them down in the street away from a bus stop, just in case, because that's a better answer than the Met getting their act together?! Utterly woeful'.

Meanwhile Met Commissioner Lord Stevens said there had been 'extraordinary blunders' in the run up to Sarah's murder and the forces' vetting system is not 'fit for purpose' because he slipped through the net and went go on to commit the appalling crimes.

Here, women who live near the spot where Miss Everard was stopped by Couzens in March give their thoughts on the new guidance.

Jenny Putt, 30, a nurse from Belfast who is visiting a friend in Clapham Common

'It's hard to say whether the government's advice works because it hasn't been put to the test yet.

'Every scenario is going to be very difference and so you can't come up with a single solution.

'I'm from Belfast and where I'm from the police say things and then don't necessarily do them all the time.

'So even with this advice, it won't stop this from happening again.

'I think educating children when they're young is more important. Teaching kids first aid and self-defence would be better, I think.

'If I've got my headphones in and am walking home at late at night, I'll sometimes hold my keys between my fingers.

'But I think if someone wants to attack someone they'll figure a way to do so.'

Gabriella Rose, 27, a web developer who lives in Clapham

'I feel you get told a lot of that stuff anyways - it's basic parental or school guidance.

'But for the problem they're trying to fix, I don't think the advice is going to make a difference.

'It doesn't make women or anyone else walking around London for that matter feel any safer.

'There needs to be actual physical measures put in place, like making sure streets are well lit at night.

'Sarah Everard's case is really difficult because he was a police officer.

'I would have probably trusted him myself and most of my friends would have too.

'It's not only the system though, there are just some people out there who are dangerous.

'I still trust the police because in general - 99.9 per cent of cases, they are here to help.

'That's why Sarah Everard put her trust in him, but then all it takes is one sick individual.

'It's made me wary of the police, especially if a single officer approached me in normal clothes.

'It's all good the police giving out this advice, but it's common sense.

'I think the problem is a much bigger thing. It's a complex situation and there's no easy answer.

'Saying men beware and girls stop acting like this or that isn't going to solve anything.'

Funda Gunduzalp, 31, a nursery teacher from Wandsworth

'It's hard because he was a police officer, so she must have trusted him.

'Then when she realised something was wrong it was too late.

'I think the government should limit what officers can do when they're on their own.

'I don't think you will necessarily be able to follow the advice because you're probably going to be feeling scared and worried.

'You're probably asking yourself what have you done wrong - especially if it's during lockdown.

'You could be paralysed with fear and your body just shuts down, you know.

'So I don't think it's fair to put everything on women.

'The system needs to pick up on officers who are showing early signs violence.

'I used to trust the police, but now I feel scared.

'I used to walk and run around the Common and Battersea park on my own. But I wouldn't do that now.'

Megan James, 24, a civil servant who lives on Clapham Common

'I think it's good in theory, but it needs to be communicated more widely, otherwise it won't work in practice.

'I don't know if I would feel comfortable approaching a stranger or bus driver and asking them for help.

'Plus by the time you think of triggering those solutions - the government's advice, it's probably too late.

'In the Sarah Everard case, which I've been followed quite closely, the officer wasn't even in uniform.

'I think more needs to be done - the fact she was literally arrested shows the system doesn't work.

'It shows some people are clearly going to abuse their position of power. I used to think of the police safety net, but now I've realised they are just like everyone else.

'If I was in that position, I think I would have bowed down to that police officer quite easily - so definitely, more needs to be done to make us comfortable on the streets

'I live in a house with three other girls and we've taken matters into our own hands, because you're constantly looking over your shoulder.

'We always carry our keys in our hand and share our locations in a WhatsApp group whenever we go out.'

Ningi Chambers, 37, a support worker from Brixton

'I don't think the government's advice to wave down a bus and things like that are enough.

'I think they should put more police officers on the streets in uniform and women should carry a rape alarm.

'I still trust the police, they are still doing their job and at they are not all the same.

'If they weren't wearing their uniform and don't have a badge you know something is wrong.'

Josie Rachell, 23, who lives in Clapham and works in green finance

'Me and my friends were really freaked out after hearing what happened to Sarah Everard.

'Especially because she did everything we do and it still happened.

'I guess it's good to have more ideas about what women can do in that situation.

'But it's still putting the burden on us [women] rather than men and cops.

'If you can't trust the police to keep you safe, then why are they even here?

'These are all temporary things, because a much bigger cultural shift needs to happen.

'It's an intimidating situation and you want to trust a person who says they're a cop.

'It's easy for the government to give advice but not necessarily easy for women to follow it.

'My friends and I all share locations with each other.

'We all bought little key chain alarms after hearing what happened to Sarah.

'But I accidentally set mine off in the middle of the night once and nobody woke up.'

Natasha Bush, 45, who works in banking and lives in Clapham

'Just because they've got a strategy doesn't make me feel any safer.

'I'm not going to refer to a handbook if I feel threatened - it's ridiculous.

'It's obviously a step in the right direction, but what we really need is more police presence.

'I give my five year old son the same advice, if you ever don't feel safe you need to run to someone.

'The problem is, it only works if you can do that, because at night there isn't a lot of traffic or people around.

'It almost fills me with more fear that they need to have a policy about officers being on their own.

'Surely a better way of dealing with this would be to make sure they are always in pairs.

'I still trust the police because you can't villainise them based on the action of a single officer.

'Statistics show women are more susceptible to attacks than men.

'If I get into a cab or something, I'll get my phone and take a photo or something.

'If I'm walking home at night, I'll let my husband know that I'm on the way.'

Speaking to FEMAIL women of various ages across their country revealed their safety fears in the wake of Sarah's murder and how they can 'no longer put their trust in someone with a uniform'.

Emma Kay, 32, London - Founder of WalkSafe app and daughter of a police officer

Emma started to experience harassment from the age of 14 as a schoolgirl and says it escalated in 20s - experiencing being 'groped and manhandled' despite travelling in large groups of women.

'Ive also been flashed at and I think its something as women we tend to normalise weirdly and it shouldnt be', she said. 'What we have to remember with both Sabina and Sarah is that they were only walking home.'

Emma Kay, 32, London, is the co-founder of WalkSafe, an app she says 'shouldnt have to exist' which helps keep women safe while walking alone

The mother, whose dad was a Met police officer, had a very positive view of the police, but was shocked to discover the news that Couzens had been a member of the force.

'I think its a wake-up call to everyone, including the police, that we need to challenge attitudes,' she said. 'The case shows how quickly harassment can escalate and we need to take misogyny seriously on all fronts.

'Its also shown up what a postcode lottery it is, in that not all the police forces are aligned in their behaviour, which is a real issue. People do need consistency and to be able to tell when something is not right.

'But mostly, I guess like all of us, I feel let down. It is even more wounding in this horrible case that there is such a breach of trust.'

She has since launched WalkSafe, an app she says 'shouldnt have to exist' which tells you the most recent crimes where you live and any route youre taking so you can avoid them.

Another feature lets you alert your safety contacts if youre late home and a tap feature where you can alert people if your feel unsafe and gives your precise location.

'Its an app myself and my family came up with to protect and empower our own families, so please use it and at least your friends and family will know if you feel in danger and exactly where you are', she said.

Toni Hargis, 60, Surrey - Author of How to Stand Up to Sexism

Toni, who wrote How to Stand Up to Sexism, says that her opinion on the police hasn't changed after the news, and that 'nothing shocks her' after researching the subject for the last three years

Toni, who wrote How to Stand Up to Sexism, says that her opinion on the police hasn't changed after the news, and that 'nothing shocks her' after researching the subject for the last three years.

'From physical horrors to what's done at work, women are still experiencing too much and there is still a lot of improvement to be made. I think the biggest eye opener for me this morning has been how much of a bubble those at the top are in.

'Apart from continuing to put the onus on women to deal with this problem (flag down a bus???) to even thinking that buses are that frequent, is alarming and depressing.

'It also makes it sound like the Met don't care; they've had six months to figure out what to say and this sounds like it was written on the back of the proverbial fag packet.

She went on: 'The bigger problem is the lad culture that allows men to call each other The Rapist, as a joke. Clearly Couzens must have been a sketchy character around women, but I'm willing to bet not one of his colleagues bothered to find out what had happened, how these women were or any other details.

'We've all worked with someone who's a little too handsy, and yet if women complain, we're told "He does that with everyone" as if it's all okay. It's not okay.'

Saffron Rizzo, 28, west London - Runner who no longer feels safe on the streets

Saffron feels that while the Sarah Everard case has brought to light male awareness of women's safety on the street, it's 'horrific' that women now feel unable to trust police officers

Saffron feels that while the Sarah Everard case has helped men become more aware of women's safety concerns on the street, it's 'horrific' that women now feel unable to trust police officers.

'Would I choose to walk home in the dark, no I wouldn't? I do think there's a sense of women being more alert, there's things on your phone you instal and sirens and alarms and women are becoming a bit more aware.

'I used to run at night at ten at night and I wouldn't do that now, I used to always go for late night runs.

'I did it a few weeks ago it was completely quiet, I wasn't far from my house, I knew the route but I didn't feel like I should be out running this late. You think people are looking at you like "Whats that idiot doing running out at night, she's putting herself in danger?" which is sad.

'It's come out that he arrested her, it's horrific. If you can't trust [police officers] well then who can you trust? I'd be scared of a normal guy on a street, but would never think twice of someone in the police force or in a uniform.

'Who do you trust? If someone arrests you, you're going to go. You're not going to resist. What do you say? Can you prove you're an officer? How are we meant to question someone? How are we meant to trust them. What is in place for us to be able to say "Are you who you say you are"?'

Faye Dickinson, 28, London - Content creator who no longer trusts the police

Content creator Faye says she doesn't feel safe walking the streets at the moment, appalled that 'people who are in uniform who we put our trust in to protect us, they can't even keep us safe'

Content creator Faye says she doesn't feel safe walking the streets at the moment, appalled that 'people who are in uniform who we put our trust in to protect us, they can't even keep us safe'.

'How are you likely to trust someone after this, not even a police officer, because it could be someone who could literally murder you like they did it Sarah. How can you trust people in this position?'

Faye says that she wouldn't feel confident approaching a police officer late at night because of the situation, adding that she 'would have felt confident before.'

'I used to walk home at night but since the Sarah thing happened it just doesn't agree with me to walk home I just always get a taxi from the station or something to make sure I get home safe.'

What are your rights if you are stopped by the police? Hannah Costley, solicitor in the Crime and Regulatory team at Slater Heelis tells FEMAIL the information you're entitled to know Stop and search The Officers name and police station they are attached to.

They must show you their warrant card if they are in plain clothes

Why you have been stopped

Why they want to search you

What they expect to find as a result of the stop and search

The law under which they are allowed to stop and search you

That you have the right to a written record of the search. This record must include the following information:

Ethnicity

Grounds for search

Object of search

Police officer details

Date

Time

Place Stop and account The Officers name and police station they are attached to. They must show you their warrant card if they are in plain clothes

Reason for the encounter

Inform you that you are entitled to a copy of the record of the encounter

What is the difference between stop-and-search and stop-and-account?

A stop and search takes place when a Police Officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that you may be carrying the following: illegal drugs, a weapon, stolen property or something that could be used to facilitate the commission of a crime.

Reasonable grounds include the suspicion that serious violence could take place, youre in a specific location or you are carrying a weapon or have used one. A stop and search cannot be based on a persons physical appearance, previous convictions generalisations or stereotypes. A search must be carried out in a public place.

You may be arrested following a stop and search and if so the Police must tell you that you are being arrested, what you are being arrested for, caution you, explain the necessity for arrest and tell you that you are not free to leave. (Note that S.60 Criminal Justice Act and S47A Terrorism Act searches do not require suspicion)

The Police have no legal power to detain a person for a stop and account. A stop and account usually involves the Police asking what you are doing, why you are in the area, where you have been and where you are going. You have no obligation to co-operate and can walk away. Can I refuse to answer police questions? You do not have to answer any questions during either a stop and search or stop and account. Anything you do say could be later used against you. The right to silence extends to an interview under caution as stated in the first line of the Police caution you do not have to say anything. Can I walk away from the police if they stop me? Stop and search No, if you walk away from an Officer that wishes to conduct a stop and search can detain you. Stop and account Yes and you cannot be searched or arrested just because you refused to engage with them. Do I have to give my name and address to the police? You do not have to give your name and address for either stop. Can I film someone being arrested? Yes. Footage of an arrest can sometimes be paramount to winning a case or evidencing a complaint against the Police. As recent as last week we made an application to dismiss the case against one of our clients on the basis that the Polices entry into their home and subsequent arrest was unlawful. If our client had not filmed the arrest, there would have been no evidence of the Polices actions as their body worn camera was turned off. Advertisement

'I don't trust the cameras on the street, let alone the police anymore. I've seen a lot of stuff recently, there are cameras they don't even work. With Sabina - why didn't these cameras work? It's scary. Why are we paying council tax, why are we paying so much money when we're not safe in our own borough?'

She feels as though councils and police are 'failing women': 'Why do they have all these cameras? They'll send penalty charges for speeding but can't protect women on the street.

'I have to do it myself, just not walk on my own at night time. I make sure I get a taxi and just get home safe because I could not put my trust in to someone with a uniform after what happened to Sarah, you just can't put your trust in those people anymore.

'What happened with Sarah was so scary, he was in a uniform he stopped her and arrested her, it could be me it could be any one of us you never know.

'Before the murder I was absolutely fine. I thought, "I'm safe, there's cameras on the street the police officers are walking the streets". But since the Sarah thing happened,you just do not feel safe.

She feels there should be 'proof' an officer is working for an arrest to be made, adding that 'Sarah was vulnerable to fall in his trap it could be any one of us.'

'I personally don't know why he was walking around. Clearly there is not enough education within the MET, this should have been handled. '

Brenda Gabriel, 39, London - Former Crown Prosecution Service employee

Brenda used to work in admin in the CPS, and says that the thing that riles her the most is that Sarah was deceived under the use of Covid laws.

'I think we're most upset about the fact he was able to deceive her under the use of the Covid act, which is total abuse of power,' she explained.

'I also used to work for the CPS so I feel these things a bit deeper, i've seen both sides of it.

'If she'd have known her rights - which is that nobody could stop her from walking home - she may have had an opportunity to kick up stink or for the witnesses who drove past, because they presumed she did something wrong.

'If she'd have known that she didn't have to stop for him, and certainly didn't have to be arrested by him, things may have been different and that's really upsetting.

'Generally as a woman I don't know any woman who feels safe alone walking home at night. You're always kind of looking behind you and making sure someone isn't walking behind you especially after what has happened to Sarah and Sabina.'

She believes police are exploiting the fact women don't know their rights to abuse their power.

'I would be worried to be anywhere were there are not a lot of witnesses, any time of day.

'I definitely wouldn't be stopping for any police officers, regardless of what the situation is. I would sooner continue walking if I knew there wasn't any reason to be stopped.

'The fact he was able to use it as an excuse when it's not illegal and has never been illegal for anybody to walk home from anywhere or to go for exercise it wasn't illegal to be out on the street, but the fact she thought she had done something wrong really angers me.

'The majority of officers are there to do a good job, however there are rouge ones within it - but there is a culture of covering up the rogue ones rather and just shrugging things off.'

Becky, 39, Gloucestershire

Blogger who is too afraid to go on early morning walks or get a taxi alone

Full time blogger Becky used to love going for early morning walks alone - but now is too scared to even get in a cab by herself.

'I loved the peace and quiet and stillness of the world before it awoke', she said. 'These days however, I see it very differently and haven't been on an early morning walk alone since.

'I live in quite a remote area in a small town so my walks would often include being in very secluded spots like woodland or unlit pavements.

'I still go out on my bike at the same time, however this doesn't seem as scary as in my head - I can cycle quickly away from anyone and have two front lights and a back light to keep myself as well lit as possible.

I have also downloaded an (tracking) app which I have linked to my husband so when i'm out he can see exactly where I am and it alerts him when I get home so he know's i'm safe. I hate that I feel I need to do this but it's just to stressful going out alone

'How I would feel if I was stopped by a lone policeman when I was alone myself.

Before getting in to their car I would ask them to put on their body cam and get someone else to accompany us in the car. If that wasn't possible I would want to phone someone I knew to let them know where I was going and what would be happening.

'I'd even want to take a photo of the police officer and send it to my husband - just incase. These days I wouldn't even get in to a taxi alone, especially at night.'

Karen Whybro, 42, Chelmsford - Campaigner who feels she was silenced by the police

Karen Whybro, 42, Chelmsford began campaigning in her local area with Chelmsford Council, Essex University and local police since Sara's murder

Karen began campaigning in her local area with Chelmsford Council, Essex University and local police since Sara's murder.

The campaigner, who runs her own business, attempted to hold a vigil for Sarah in September, which was ultimately shut down, an is working with her local council to create a Women's Night Safety Charter similar to the London model.

'I think in the days she was missing it really triggered something in all of us', she said. 'We knew what was going to happen and it felt like our worst nightmare coming true - especially with the details coming out now, it's like something out of a horror film.

'It's a really extreme case of violence against women but also - we do all those things all the time to keep ourselves safe and it felt like she did all those things, actually none of it was enough to keep her safe, that's why it triggered such a large outcry and anger in women, we're sick of being told what to do and it not protecting us.

'It's about time we look at the causes of what's happening rather than carrying alarms and improved street lighting it's all part of it but it's not tackling male violence.'

As someone who 'never had problems with the police', she says her attitude towards the police changed after her dealings with them following Sarah's vigil in Clapham Common.

While her original dealings with the police were positive, she finds it worrying Covid rules were used to cancel the vigil.

'It was the whole lockdown laws that were used which ironically we're seeing as what he used to lure Sarah into his car', she said, 'What happened the next day was more worrying for me.

'I sat at home and watched Clapham unfold which was really awful to watch as someone who tried to organise an event locally. That was horrific to watch that unfold, I really did feel sitting there watching it that I'd been silenced.

'Because I was listed as the organiser of the event if I turned up anywhere, i'd get that 10,000 fine, it really did feel like we were being silenced. Women are being silenced again and we can't have this say as to how angry we are.'

'Frankly, this week I am disgusted with the Met I felt they were completely tone deaf back in March not allowing the vigil, considering it was a Met officer who had been arrested.'

Brocarde, 38, Oxfordshire - Singer who walks home with her phone hidden in her hand

Singer/songwriter Brocarde says while she's never felt safe on the streets, Sarah's murder has heightened her fears

Singer/songwriter Brocarde says while she's never felt safe on the streets, Sarah's murder has heightened her fears.

'The Sarah Everard case really struck a chord with me as its so relatable and weve all been that woman walking home', she said.

'I find myself always looking over my shoulder with a heightened sense of unrest, my walking pace is insanely fast, almost a possessed power walk, as I just want to get where Im going as quickly as humanly possible. I always have my phone hidden in my hand ready to dial incase something happens.

'I know I shouldnt have to feel like this but I dont know what the answer is and how we help women feel safe and more importantly make them safe. Sadly there will be always someone with bad intensions and its impossible to protect yourself against someone who has evil intent.

'It wouldnt have been an option for Sarah to do anything differently in her situation, it wouldnt have been an option for her to resist arrest or get away from this man as he clearly had a disturbing agenda, the suggestion that she should have or could have really irritates me as its victim blaming.'

She stressed that while it's important not to judge all police officers based on the actions of one individual, there are issues that needed addressing in relation to blatant abuses of power.

'In this case there were huge red flags against this officers character which should have been investigated thoroughly, that said we will never be able to detect every act of evil before it happens as psychopaths are experts at hiding their intentions.'
A massive hungry alligator munched on a smaller gator as a snack in South Carolina - and a Twitter user caught it on film.

The footage shows an alligator in what appears to be a lake with a six-foot gator hanging out of its mouth.

The mighty alligator then whips its head back and forth as it devours the fellow reptile in an act of cannibalism.

Within seconds, all that can be seen is the alligator's back left claw as the predator, full from its midday snack, slithers back into the water.

A massive hungry alligator munched on a smaller gator as a snack in South Carolina - and a Twitter user caught it on film

The footage shows an alligator in what appears to be a lake with a six-foot gator hanging out of its mouth. The mighty alligator then whips its head back and forth as it devours the fellow reptile in an act of cannibalism. Within seconds, all that can be seen is the alligator's back left claw as the predator, full from its midday snack, slithers back into the water

The video, which was posted by father-of-two Taylor Soper, from Pawleys Island, South Carolina, has been viewed more than 1.6million times since it was posted just yesterday.

Soper, who goes by @Soper_TandC on the social media site, captioned the clip: 'This happened in my parents' backyard today... The snack is a six-foot gator. #LowCountryLivin.'

According to Live Science it's not unusual for alligators to take part in cannibalism. In fact, the reptiles will eat just about anything from fish to dogs to deer and birds.

The site also found that between six and seven per cent of young alligators fall victim to the ritual, which they also noted keeps their population stable.

However, this hasn't been the only trouble an alligator has gotten itself into this week.

The video was posted by father-of-two Taylor Soper (pictured) from Pawleys Island, South Carolina, and has been viewed more than 1.6million times since it was posted just yesterday

HOW DO CROCODILES AND ALLIGATORS DIFFER? Snout: Alligators have wider, U-shaped snouts, while crocodile are more pointed and V-shaped. Smile: Crocodiles look like they're flashing a toothy grin when their snouts are shut. Alligators teeth are hidden as their upper jaw is wider than their lower. Home: Crocodiles live in saltwater habitats, while alligators prowl freshwater marshes and lakes. Advertisement

On Wednesday Abdul Gene Malik, a brave Army veteran, fought off a hissing alligator outside his home using just a trash can.

A video showed him in the front yard of his Mount Dora, Florida, home using the trash can as a trap.

'Let me know when the head goes inside, let me know' he asked people watching him, and someone responded: 'I got you.'

Malik, who is originally from Philadelphia, suddenly sped up and was able to trap the predator's head in the lid, causing it to panic and go further in on its own.

As the gator wildly wagged its tail the crowd encouraged Malik, saying: 'Go, go go!'

He tilted the trashcan upwards while the lids slowly closed, fully trapping the alligator inside.

Malik was applauded by a group of onlookers and he put his hand on the lid in an attempt to not let the gator escape.

The Army veteran said he stepped up because he's 'got kids to protect' and even set up a humorous GoFundMe where he claims he is launching a gator catching business to get him and his family through 'difficult times' although it is not clear if he is kidding or not.

'On September 29th, 2021 I was faced with a life or death task that made me decide whether its me & my family or the Gator,' he wrote.

'I am a Combat Veteran that struggle to make ends month to month. Fortunately enough everything happens for a reason. I will be using this support to help my family & numerous other families to remain Gator FREE,' he added.

On Wednesday Abdul Gene Malik, a brave Army veteran, fought off a hissing alligator outside his Mount Dora, Florida, home using just a trash can

Malik, who is originally from Philadelphia, was able to trap the predator's head in the lid, causing it to panic and go further in on its own. He then tilted the trashcan upwards while the lids slowly closed, fully trapping the alligator inside.

But while Malik was fortunate to survive his encounter, earlier this month a 71-year-old Louisiana man was killed by a gator during Hurricane Ida as his wife tried desperately to save him.

Timothy Satterlee was attacked by an alligator in a flooded shed at his Slidell, Louisiana home as his horrified wife looked on helplessly.

Satterlee's spouse, who has not been named, tried to save him but the creature had torn off Satterlee's arm and she was unable to do so.

The couple lived in a home near Lake Pontchartrain in the New Orleans suburb of Slidell and according to neighbors alligators are common in the area. They are known to approach people because some feed them.
The Biden administration accused Texas of 'vigilante justice' on Friday as lawyers urged a federal judge to block a near total ban on abortion in the state.

The challenge marks a key moment in the bitter legal fight over access to abortion across the nation.

And it comes a month after the Supreme Court allowed the Republican-backed law to go into effect despite arguments about its legality in lower courts.

During a hearing in the Texas capital of Austin, Justice Department lawyers argued the law was unconstitutional and urged U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman to impose a temporary block.

'There is no doubt under binding constitutional precedents that a state may not ban abortions at six weeks,' said Brian Netter, lead attorney on the case.

'Texas knew this but, it wanted a six-week ban anyway. So this state resorted to an unprecedented scheme of vigilante justice.'

Justice Department lawyers on Friday told U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman that the new abortion law in Texas amounted to 'vigilante justice' and urged him to issue a temporary stay

Women protest outside Texas' capitol on September 1, on day the new law went into force despite legal challengers in lower courts

Brian Netter, Justice Department attorney, accused Texas of resorting 'to an unprecedented scheme of vigilante justice.' Will Thompson, an attorney in the Texas Attorney General's Office, hit back accusing him of 'hyperbole and inflammatory rhetoric'

The new law bans abortion after six weeks - when the vast majority of termination take place - and makes no exceptions for rape or incest.

Its architects adopted a novel enforcement tool in an effort to avoid legal challenge. It allows private citizens to bring civil suits of up to $10,000 against anyone helping a woman obtain an abortion.

But the Justice Department argued the mechanism represented an unconstitutional effort to sidestep judicial review.

It said the law had already had 'devastating effects,' adding it had 'gravely and irreparably' impaired women's constitutional right to an abortion.

Will Thompson, an attorney in the Texas Attorney General's Office, countered the Justice Department's arguments, saying there were plenty of opportunities for people in Texas to challenge the law on their own, and claiming the Department's arguments were filled with 'hyperbole and inflammatory rhetoric.'

'This is not some kind of vigilante scheme, as opposing counsel suggests,' said Thompson. 'This is a scheme that uses lawful process of justice in Texas.'

Pitman, who was appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama in 2014, at one point seemed skeptical of Thompson's arguments, telling him Texas seems to have 'gone to great lengths' to make its abortion ban difficult to challenge in court.

The judge said: 'My obvious question to you is: If the state is so confident in the constitutionality of the limitations on woman's access to abortion, then why did it go to such great lengths to create this private cause of action rather than do it directly?'

Thompson responded that laws providing for enforcement are not as unusual as the Justice Department has claimed.

Just 20 percent of 1,411 respondents to a recent Marquette poll favored overturning Roe v. Wade, with 50 percent opposed and 29 percent reporting that they had no opinion. Two other polls also wanted to keep the status quo

Just three in ten polled by Marquette agreed with the Texas law, with 46 percent opposed. Quinnipiac found that 51 percent of those 1,210 polled felt abortion should be legal even after a fetal heartbeat has been detected at six weeks

Pitman offered no timeframe for his decision.

In the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, the Supreme Court recognized a woman's constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.

The high court in December is due to hear arguments over the legality of a Mississippi abortion law in a case in which officials from that state are asking the justices to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

The Mississippi and Texas laws are among a series of Republican-backed measures passed by various states restricting abortion.

Since the Texas law went into effect, the four Whole Woman's Health abortion clinics across the state have reported that https://http://www.reuters.com/world/us/texas-abortion-clinics-struggle-survive-under-restrictive-law-2021-09-30 patient visits have plummeted and some staff have quit.

In addition to infringing on women's constitutional rights to seek an abortion, the Justice Department argued that the law also impedes the federal government's own ability to offer abortion-related services.

In an effort to counter those claims, attorneys for the state on Friday played clips from depositions of various senior U.S. government officials.

In one clip, lawyers interrogated Alix McLearen, a senior official at the Bureau of Prisons who, in response to questions, testified that there were currently no pregnant inmates being held at various detention facilities in Texas.

In another clip, Laurie Bodenheimer of the Office of Personnel Management was asked whether any insurance carriers had raised concerns about the impact or effect of the Texas law.

'To my knowledge no carrier has raised concerns about SB8,' she said.

The Justice Department's Netter told the judge that Texas had cherry-picked some of the sound bites in the videos and edited out the portions in which Department attorneys had objected during the depositions.

The law has excited opinion on both sides of the political aisle.

This week Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas accused opponents of demonizing his state even as its population was growing with arrivals from blue states.

'Look, what this is really about is trying to demonize Texas and trying to demagogue on the question of life,' he said during a the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

And last week former Vice President Mike Pence said he hoped that the Supreme Court's conservative majority - secured under the Trump administration - would soon move to restrict abortion and restore the 'sanctity of life.'

Pence was speaking in Hungary at the Budapest Democratic Summit, where he praised the nation's right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban for reducing abortion numbers in his country.

Under current laws, abortions are allowed up to 12 weeks gestation in Hungary.

'We may well have a fresh start in the cause of life in America,' Pence said, according to the Associated Press.

'It is our hope and our prayer that in the coming days, a new conservative majority on the Supreme Court of the United States will take action to restore the sanctity of life at the center of American law.'
An Uber passenger who took a five-mile trip across London claimed he has been charged more than 800 after the app allegedly showed he had travelled 200 miles to Manchester.

Matthew Cook, 32, of New Cross, London, claimed he was given a shock on Friday morning when he woke up to an 830 bill from Uber after he apparently booked a trip to Manchester.

The recruiter booked an Uber from Liverpool Street to his house in Lewisham Way in London at 1.11am on Friday, but said he believes he accidentally clicked an address in Manchester, where he had been staying the weekend before for a charity cycle.

Mr Cook claimed that the driver asked him where he was going after he got in the car, so he confirmed his London address, and he was then dropped off at his home a mere five miles away in New Cross.

But Mr Cook claimed he woke up early on Friday to a 830.91 bill from Uber after the app allegedly showed he had travelled 227 miles to Manchester and was apparently dropped off in the city at 6.57am.

Matthew Cook (pictured), 32, of New Cross, London, claimed he woke up on Friday morning when he woke up to an 830 bill from Uber after he apparently booked a trip to Manchester

The recruiter booked an Uber from Liverpool Street to his house in Lewisham Way in London at 1.11am on Friday, but said he believes he accidentally clicked an address in Manchester (left) and was charged 830.91 (right)

He explained: 'My most recent trip was an Uber in Manchester but underneath that is my home. I must have obviously clicked the Manchester one.'

He said he called Uber at around 7.45am and sent the company screenshots of his Google Maps, showing he was in London so could not possibly have been dropped in Manchester just under an hour earlier.

But he claimed Uber told him that he would have to pay for the journey as that was what he had booked, despite his claims that he had not travelled to Manchester.

Mr Cook said: 'I sent my location this morning, which was an hour after I was meant to be dropped in Manchester, and I'm in London.

'It's impossible, nobody could get back from Manchester that quickly.

'If I'd have fallen asleep and I'd been dropped off in Manchester, I would have been like 'OK I've f**ked up here, but there's no reasoning from them and no budge. It's been like banging my head against a brick wall.'

Mr Cook said there had clearly been an error, claiming that the driver '100 per cent' did not drive all the way to Manchester after dropping him in New Cross, London.

He added: 'I'm 830 down, which is more than my rent! It's outrageous.'

He said he sent Uber screenshots of his Google Maps, showing he was in London at 7.45am so he could not possibly have been dropped in Manchester just under an hour earlier

Mr Cook claimed that he was told by Uber that they could not get in touch with the driver or track him, and he said he was told it was a 'legitimate trip'

Mr Cook claimed that he has 'flown to Australia' for less than 830, claiming that it is 'frustrating' that he has been told to pay for a trip he did not take.

He continued: 'The service I got was a lift six miles to my home, not 227 miles to Manchester.

'I hold my hands up, I was there last weekend, but you only get two options on the Uber app - your most recent trip and the one before that, which was my home - I've obviously hit the wrong one.

'I'll hold my hands up, but there's been an obvious error here. They should be able to give the money back.'

Mr Cook claimed that he was told by Uber that they could not get in touch with the driver or track him, and he said he was told it was a 'legitimate trip'.

A message from Uber to Mr Cook on Friday read: 'We're sorry to hear about the trouble with the trip. We understand this has been frustrating.

'This trip was requested from a device previously associated with your account, and the pickup/drop off locations are consistent with your trip history.

'We are considering this a legitimate trip, and are unable to make any adjustments to the fare at this time.

'Please, let us know if you have any details regarding this trip that you would like to share with us, and we'll be happy to take another look.'

An Uber spokeswoman said: 'We are currently investigating what happened here.'
More than 700 Afghan refugees currently in the United States have left the military bases they've been evacuated to without intent to return, it was revealed Friday.

The number of 'independent departures,' or refugees leaving to start a new life, is more than 300 at Fort Bliss, Texas alone, sources familiar with the data told Reuters.

Roughly 53,000 Afghans were brought to eight different bases across the US after being rescued from Kabul.

When the Taliban took Afghanistan in mid-August, the US military ramped up its evacuation operation and successfully pulled out 123,000 people - mostly vulnerable Afghans.

US officials insist that the refugees leaving now have been thoroughly screened before getting into the country.

But there have been questions from Republican lawmakers over how well people are being vetted after scandals primarily at Fort Bliss and Fort McCoy, Wisconsin.

Donald Trump released a statement on Thursday blasting Democrats' government funding bill and claiming it would give 'unlimited money to random, unscreened, unvetted Afghan nationals.'

A man walks with a child through Fort Bliss, Texas, where a group of Afghan refugees were accused of assaulting a female soldier

An Afghan refugee stands outside temporary housing at Fort McCoy, which has also grappled with troubling reports

'We've already seen some of the horrible assaults and sex crimes that have taken place. But these terrible assaults will just be the tip of the iceberg of what's coming if this isn't shut down,' he said.

Last week Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) wrote a letter to President Joe Biden concerning 'credible reports' of child brides being brought to US military bases.

'These reports about trafficking and the horrific treatment of Afghan girls are in addition to reports that an Afghan male convicted of rape who had previously been deported was brought back during the evacuation,' they wrote.

'Such failures are why a group of Senators are demanding answers about what steps are being taken to vet individuals evacuated from Afghanistan.'

It's not illegal for Afghans who have been brought to US bases to head to other parts of the country, according to immigration experts, and military officials don't have any authority to keep them there.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declined to comment on the 700 figure but said those who've left 'generally' have family members or friends within the US.

Senators Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz were part of a group of Republican lawmakers who wrote to President Biden urging more transparency in the Afghan refugee vetting process

But immigration officials worry leaving before completing the US resettlement pipeline could cause issues for the Afghans themselves.

'This could lead to years and years of terrible immigration status problems,' a US Citizenship and Immigration Services official told Reuters.

It's costing them benefits such as expedited work permits and could create legal problems.

On base they can get their immigration paperwork processed also get cash to help pay for travel to their next destination.

A document titled 'Departee Information' warns Afghan refugees to think about those perks before leaving military bases.

'Once you leave this base, you forfeit these advantages and may not return,' it states.

Senator Cruz said as early as August that refugees at Fort Bliss take Ubers to downtown El Paso.

'The leadership at Fort Bliss told me about one of the refugees who called an Uber and took an Uber to downtown El Paso and they are not detaining anyone there so if 10,000 refugees arrive there, every one of those 10,000 can choose to leave tomorrow,' Cruz said after an aerial tour of the base.

Fort Bliss came under scrutiny earlier this month after a female soldier was allegedly assaulted by several male Afghan refugees.

Military Police walk past Afghan refugees at the Village at Fort McCoy on September 30

The FBI is investigating the incident. Lt. Col. Allie Payne, a military spokeswoman, told Military Times the soldier received medical care and counseling after the attack.

Last week, two Afghan men residing at Fort McCoy were charged with violent crimes.

A 20-year-old man was charged with three counts of engaging in sexual acts with a minor. A 32-year-old man was charged with assaulting his wife.

Senator Johnson, who represents the state Fort McCoy is in, called the charges 'the latest consequence of the Biden administration's incompetence.'

A troubling account in Yahoo News from early in September notes reports of 'purported child brides' being brought to Fort McCoy.

'The reality is, overseas the vetting process sucks,' an official familiar with the reports said. 'There's minimal vetting.'

'So now we have a 60-year-old guy with a 12-year-old girl saying, 'That's my wife.''

Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted in a Senate hearing while being grilled by Cruz that there have been a 'handful' of cases in which young girls were separated from older men by US officials concerned for the child's welfare.

In addition to Fort Bliss and Fort McCoy, Afghan refugees are at: Fort Dix, New Jersey; Fort Lee, Virginia; Fort Pickett, Virginia; Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico; Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia; Camp Atterbury, Indiana.

Friday's report notes that the number of refugees who have left each base varies.

But US Northern Command chief General Glen VanHerck pushed back against the claim that some bases have a crime problem.

He told Pentagon reporters on Thursday that the numbers of incidents involving robbery and theft were substantially lower than in the general US population, with only eight cases in six weeks.

Asked what was the limiting factor in getting Afghans processed for resettlement, VanHerck said it was not vaccinations against measles or the coronavirus or security checks.

Instead, it was efforts by U.S. officials to ensure 'each of the Afghan guests have a great place to land and have assurances for where they're going to relocate to.'

'So I understand that, right now, is the limiting factor on output,' he said.
Governor Gavin Newsom has been condemned for his 'wrong and cowardly' mandate which demands all California students from 7th to 12th grade get the COVID-19 vaccine but does not require their teachers to get the shot.

Social media erupted in outrage Friday night as people pointed out the alarming difference between the rules for children and staff, with many accusing the governor of being influenced by the powerful teachers' unions.

'Kids must get vaccine, but teacher don't have to. The lesson? Kids need a better union,' one person tweeted.

Newsom announced Friday that all elementary through high school students will be required to get the shot once the vaccine is given final approval from the US government for different age groups.

'We want to end this pandemic. We are all exhausted by it,' he said.

Governor Gavin Newsom has been condemned for his 'wrong and cowardly' mandate which demands all California students from 7th to 12th grade get the COVID-19 vaccine but does not require their teachers to get the shot

The government has fully approved the COVID-19 vaccine for those 16 and over but only granted an emergency authorization for anyone 12 to 15. It is expected to grant full approval to the younger age group during the winter.

Once federal regulators fully approve it for that group, the state will require students in seventh through 12th grades to get vaccinated in both public and private schools. Newsom said he expects that requirement to be in place by July 1.

California will require the COVID-19 vaccine for students in kindergarten through sixth grades after it gets final federal approval for children 5 to 11.

This makes California the first state to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for students and comes after it was first in the nation to roll out a vaccine mandate for teachers back on August 12.

However, school staff currently have the freedom to either show proof of full vaccination or be tested at least once a week for the virus.

Newsom's new mandate for students doesn't give children the option to undergo weekly testing instead of getting the vaccine.

Several people took to social media to question why students and not teachers are being forced to be vaccinated and blasting the new rules as being caused by 'political union influence.'

Social media erupted in outrage Friday night as people pointed out the alarming difference between the rules for children and staff

'Any Democrat want to explain the logic and science behind mandating vaccines for all California school children before mandating them for the teachers and staff?' questioned one person.

'I'm fine with vaccine mandates, but I feel it is wrong and cowardly to mandate COVID vaccines for kids but not teachers as California has done,' added another.

'Smacks of political union influence. Is there any reasonable justification for this policy?'

Another person agreed that Newsom was targeting children because teachers are protected by unions.

'California just mandated vaccines for children in school when it's approved..where children have the lowest percentage to contract and spread the virus. Yet no mandates for the teachers. The politics of this entire situation is infuriating,' they tweeted.

'Let's make this absolutely clear: California students will be mandated to take a the COVID-19 vaccine to attend school in-person,' one person tweeted.

Many people accused the governor of being influenced by the power of teachers' unions

'California teachers have the option to test weekly if they don't want to get vaccinated. Which group donated more to the governor's campaign?'

Another person chimed in: 'So if we want to keep kids safe why are the teachers not required to get vaccines in California?'

Others questioned what will happen to children - and their education - if they remain unvaccinated after the deadline.

'So my California just mandated vaccines for kids. If I decide to not get my kids vaccinated will they send in the national guard to take their classes for them?' one person tweeted.

Another person raged on Twitter: 'Typical #democrats !!! requiring #students to get the #vaccine but NOT the #teachers in #California Typical #Democra!!, requiring #VaccinePassports to eat in a restaurant but not an #ID to #Vote #VaccinesSaveLives Should I keep going?????????????'

Some parents have vowed they would move out-of-state before allowing their child to get the jab.

One mother called the move 'infuriating' and said it's not necessary to mandate it for kids that aren't severely affected by the virus.

Newsom pictured at a San Francisco elementary school Friday where he announced that all elementary through high school students will be required to get the shot once the vaccine is given final approval from the US government for different age groups

Robbie Dowie, the father of a nine-year-old boy, said he was staunchly against the mandate since those younger than 18 aren't likely to become severely ill with the virus and can develop stronger antibodies naturally.

'My understanding is that children are at less danger from the coronavirus than they are from influenza,' Dowie told DailyMail.com.

'And it doesn't make sense to me to vaccinate them, because even though it might get approved, we don't have years of history in using it. It's not the same thing as, as the MMR vaccine for kids - or polio or smallpox - because we don't have decades of history.'

Dowie, who lives in Southern California, said his family would be more likely to move out-of-state than to comply with Newsom's vaccine mandate.

'For them to expel your kids from school or require them to get a vaccine - where we don't know what the long-term risks are - is just insane.

'If they require it, we would move to another state. And I don't think we're alone, I think there's a lot of people in California feel the same way.'

Earlier this month the JCVI said it could not recommend Covid jabs for healthy 12 to 15-year-olds because the direct benefit to their health was only marginal. It also looked at the risk of health inflammation - known as myocarditis - in young people given the Pfizer vaccine, which was still very small but slightly more common after a second dose

The graph shows the relative impact on different age groups and appears negative among those aged under 15 because so few deaths have been recorded in the group

Just one in 300,000 children who test positive for Covid die and even youngsters who haven't been vaccinated face a tiny risk of succumbing to the illness, according to UK Government data.

Figures published by the Department of Health highlight the tiny risk children face from coronavirus, which becomes deadlier the older a person is.

They show around one in 330,000 boys aged between 10 and 14 and one in 200,000 girls of the same age who test positive for Covid end up dying. The rates include both healthy children and those with underlying health conditions which put them at a much higher risk of death.

Southern California mom Carmen Estel said the new mandate is 'confusing, terrifying and a violation in more ways than one.'

''My body my choice,' is a well-known phrase we hear in this state,' Estel told DailyMail.com. 'Why doesn't that apply to pharmaceuticals?

'As parents, it's confusing to be able to have the choice to kill a child in the womb, legally, but once they're out of the womb, the state has control over their health? I disagree, and we all should.'

Some California parents say they'd rather move out-of-state than comply with the mandate

Estel added that many religious people take issue with vaccines due to their practice of using aborted fetal tissue, and questioned whether Newsom will stick to his promise of religious exemptions.

'With all the factors considered, should parents not be able to choose if their child takes a new biologic?' she said.

'Should our governor force parents to choose between a new biologic and going to school? This seems like a very questionable move.'

California Assemblymember James Gallagher, who is a parent, questioned why the governor used his executive powers to issue the mandate rather than going through the legislature.

He said he doesn't agree with the new rules.

'All the data suggests that our kids are safe from this virus and don't need to be vaccinated, ' he said on Twitter, adding: 'Our vaccine schedule in schools has been for vaccines which have decades (not months) of review and proven efficacy.'

Newsom previously joined the prison guards' union in pushing against mandating vaccines for California's prison workers, but a federal judge ruled Monday that jail employees must get the jab.

The Democratic governor's school vaccine mandate came weeks after he handily survived a recall effort.

California Assemblymember Kevin Kiley, who ran in the recall, took a swipe at the governor Friday.

'Gavin Newsom just announced a vaccine mandate for K-12 students, days after opposing one for prison guards,' Kiley tweeted. 'California kids made the mistake of not giving millions to his campaigns.'

California has its share of anti-vaxxers who've spoken out against mandatory jabs for children

Anti-vaccine protesters stage a protest outside of the San Diego Unified School District office to protest a forced vaccination mandate for students on September 28, 2021 in San Diego, California.

Fox News talking head Tomi Lahren also took the opportunity to criticize the governor.

'You allowed him to survive the recall and now he is forcing your children to inject an experimental vaccine as a condition to attend school,' Lahren tweeted.

'California, hope you're happy with your greasy Governor.'

As in other parts of the world, mandated vaccines have been a source of contention in California.

Last month, about 200 anti-vaxxers gathered in Los Angeles for the 'World Wide Rally for Freedom,' The Los Angeles Times reported.

Some attendees carried signs saying, 'I'm not a lab rat,' and 'Forced penetrations are always wrong.'

The issue gets even thornier when it comes to mandated jabs for kids.

After the San Diego Unified School District held a meeting to discuss implementing a vaccine mandate last week, anti-vaccine protesters staged a protest outside of district headquarters.

Nonetheless, the district voted in favor of requiring them for eligible students.

After unfounded rumors of vaccine mandates in Orange County, California, classrooms took hold earlier this year, dozens of parents stormed a board of education meeting in protest.

At least 64.6% of Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19

Some claimed their parental rights were being stripped away, while others likened the jab to medical experiments during the Holocaust, The Orange County Register reported.

'You want an absolute mutiny? Remove informed consent. Make schools vaccine centers,' said one mother. ' You will see an exodus of families faster than you can say the word 'resign'.'

The announcement comes as infections in most of California have dropped markedly in the last month.

Newsom has been emboldened after easily defeating a recall effort last month following a campaign where he emphasized his commitment to vaccine mandates to end the pandemic.

In Los Angeles County - the nations largest, with more than 10 million residents - just 1.7% of people tested for the virus have it and daily infections are down by half in the last month, when most kids went back to school.

'These numbers are amazingly low given that 3,000-plus schools are now open countywide,' county Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday.

She noted that though the number of outbreaks in schools has increased slightly in recent weeks, the overall number is small and largely related to youth sports.

The state's vaccine mandate for schoolchildren would take effect the semester after the federal government grants final approval. If it comes in January, then the mandate would take effect in July.

Students would be granted religious and medical exemptions, but the rules for how the state would apply them have not been written yet. Any student who refuses to take the vaccine would be forced to complete an independent study course at home.

Until now, Newsom had left the decision on student vaccine mandates to local school districts, leading to a variety of different orders across some of the state's largest districts.

Five districts in California have imposed their own requirements, including Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest school district, which is set to take effect in January.

Newsom's plan does not override those districts' plans, saying school districts can 'accelerate' the requirements.

Dr. Peter N. Bretan, president of the California Medical Association, said the organization 'strongly supports' the governor's decision.

'This is not a new idea. We already require vaccines against several known deadly diseases before students can enroll in schools,' he said. 'The Newsom administration is simply extending existing public health protections to cover this new disease, which has caused so much pain and suffering across our state, our nation and the entire globe over the last 18 months.

Newsom has made it a point of pride to be the first in the nation to issue a variety of pandemic-related school mandates.

In August, California became the first state to require all teachers and staff in K-12 public and private schools to get vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. Newsom also issued a school mask mandate earlier in the summer for indoor classes that applies to all teachers and students.
Dexter Kelsey, 25, has arrested after he opened fire at his former school, YES Prep Southwest Secondary, on Friday

A former student at a Houston secondary school has been arrested after allegedly opening fire on students and injuring the school principal on Friday.

Former student Dexter Kelsey, 25, was named as the suspect by police and his own family.

Police say he entered YES Prep Southwest Secondary School armed with a rifle and shot through a glass door at the entrance.

Once inside, Kelsey shot at principal Eric Espinoza, hitting him in the back, Houston Police Department Chief Troy Finner said.

None of the 1,000 children inside the school were injured in the attack.

Kesey later surrendered to police and is currently in custody, officials said. His Facebook page has since been taken down.

Espinoza was listed in serious condition after the bullet grazed his spine. He was released from the hospital Friday evening and is recovering from his wound.

Kelsey's adoptive mother, Doris Kelsey, released a statement naming him as the shooter, and revealing he had previously lived a few blocks away from his former Secondary school.

The distraught mother claimed that Kelsey had some mental issues.

'I apologize to the school community because I didn't know Dexter was in this state of mind that he was in,' the mother said according to Click 2 Houston.

'I didn't know he had the issues that he was going through and I apologize to everybody and I hope they accept my apology.'

The incident took place at 11:45 am on Friday at the school's campus in Houston, Texas. Authorities cleared the scene after 2 pm when parents arrived to pick up their children.

Principal Eric Espinoza was shot in the back while warning classrooms to lockdown after Kelsey broke into the school after shooting the locks

Espinoza has been released from the hospital and is recovering at home

Officers were guiding students and residents away from the site of the shooting

The shooting took place at the Yes Prep Southwest Secondary 6-12 school at 11:45 am

Police were at the scene guiding students and parents away from the area as they searched for other possible shooters, which they did not find. Parents were directed to a nearby grocery store parking lot for pick up.

The Houston Fire Department added that they were on the scene, 'treating and transporting' Espinoza.

Live TV footage from the scene showed students and parents crying and holding each other as ambulances and police cars drove to the school.

Yes Prep Southwest Secondary is a charter school that serves students in grades six through 12. The campus has about 1,000 students, ABC 13 reports.

The school posted the news to Facebook alerting parents to the shooting.

'ATTENTION FAMILIES: Police are on campus with a suspect in custody who opened fire inside the school,' the school wrote. 'No students have been injured. Students have been transported to W. Fuqua and Hiram Clarke, where they can be picked up.'

'Please do not drive to the school; roads are blocked by Houston Police Department. We are gathering information and will pass along as soon as we can.'

The school has announced that it will meet with students and families before classes resume next Wednesday.

No students were injured during the shooting. Classes have been canceled until Wednesday

Police informed parents of the of the investigation as directed them to a nearby grocery store to be reunited with their children

'We cannot imagine the terror you must have felt as the events unfolded. [Friday's] shocking incident is one that no student, parent or educator should ever have to go through or cope with on their own. We have counselors standing by to help anyone needing support over the weekend, next week, and through the school year,' the school wrote.

Espinoza's heroic actions have been lauded by students, teachers, and parents.

'I really can say Mr. Espinoza is really brave for what he did. I really do thank him for trying to save us, because he really did save us. He actually took a shot for all of us and I really do thank that from him,' student Alondra Villafuerte told ABC 13.

Teacher Heather Sportsman posted on her Facebook to share the news and lauded Espinoza's bravery. 'An active shooter on campus is nothing I'd ever thought I'd experience as a teacher. But today I did. But I am SAFE. My students are SAFE.'

'My coworkers are amazing people and my principal Eric Espinoza deserves an award for his quick action.'

Yes Prep Southwest parent LaShaela Williams wrote on Facebook that her children had just completed an active shooter drill two days before Friday's shooting.

Zoey Torres, 17, a junior, is hugged by her mother, Janette Torres, as they walk from YES Prep Academy Southwest

Miguel Granados embraces YES Prep Southwest Secondary school senior student Miguel Granados, 17, as they reunite Friday afternoon

Homero Duque, 38, holds on to his daughter, Melissa Duque, 11, after the shooting at YES Prep Southwest Secondary

She said,'The principle the real mvp!!! I promise I thank god for him!' Williams said that Espinoza had gone to her daughter's classroom to tell them to lock down. He was allegedly shot near the classroom.

'He was saving kids even when he was shot in the back,' Williams posted.

Houston police said that the bullet that struck Espinoza remains in his back as it did not impact any vital organs.

Espinoza's father told ABC13, 'we're just glad that he's doing okay.'

Espinoza has served as the school's principal for five years. Before being promoted to principal, he taught Spanish I and II and served as a Grade Level Chair. Espinoza graduated from Yes Prep Southeast Secondary himself in 2003.
Dog the Bounty Hunter has been joined by a law enforcement officer on his own manhunt for fugitive Brian Laundrie, one of his representatives said Friday.

However, they did not say which agency was involved in Dog's personal quest which has been focused on Fort De Soto Park, Florida while the FBI-led hunt has been in swampland near Laundrie's home 75 miles away in North Port.

'As an example of Dog's cooperation with law enforcement, a plain clothed officer is embedded with the search team today. No other details are available,' said a statement from his PR firm.

When asked by DailyMail.com which agency is allegedly involved, they replied: 'We have no other details to provide on the embedded officer.'

North Port Police told DailyMail.com any officer working with Dog is not one of their team. The FBI did not respond respond to requests for comment.

Law enforcement have reportedly joined Dog the Bounty Hunter on Friday in his hunt for missing person of interest Brian Laundrie, DailyMail.com has learned

Pictured: Police and coast guard bots trawling the waters around Fort de Soto Park. The former bail bondsman's rep said 'a plain clothed officer is embedded with the search team today' but did not name the agency involved

Reps for the reality TV star  real name Duane Chapman  revealed he and his family have also added $10,000 to any reward money currently on offer for information leading to Brian Laundrie's arrest.

A number of supporters of Gabby Petito's family have contributed large sums towards the reward offer, which was up to $170,000 prior to Dog's donation.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Department - which covers Fort De Soto Park where the Laundries camped with Brian on September 6 to 8 - has not responded to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

It previously said it was not searching in that area despite Dog continuing to push his claims that Laundrie is in the vicinity.

The former bail bondsman's rep also claimed it was a tip to Dog that revealed Brian's sister Cassie joined him and their parents Christopher, 62, and Roberta, 55, at the campsite on September 6.

Cassie Laundrie spoke to ABC during the early stages of the investigation, claiming she hadn't spoken to Brian since he returned to Florida without Gabby on September 1.

The rep said: 'Dog received a tip that placed Brian's sister, Cassie in Fort DeSoto on September 6, which seemingly contradicts her previous statement.

The beauty spot has large waterways where people were kayaking on Thursday, as law enforcement took to the waters. The Pinellas County Sheriff's Department previously said it was not searching the area despite Dog continuing to push his claims that Laundrie is in the vicinity

The Fort De Soto campsite in Florida is seen in exclusive DailyMail.com photos. New details have emerged about a camping trip Brian took with his parents there days before Petito was reported missing

A map shows the Fort de Soto Park campsite's location, the Laundrie family home and the Carlton Reserve where authorities have focused their search and Laundrie's parents say he was headed

'That information was immediately given to law enforcement this morning. It has been corroborated. No further details available.'

Cassie Laundrie told ABC last month that she had not spoken to her brother about Gabby Petito's disappearance

The Laundries lawyer Steve Bertolino told Dailymail.com: 'Cassie saw her brother Brian on September 1 when he stopped by her home and again on September 6 at Fort De Soto Park.

'Law enforcement agencies are well aware of these dates. Any prior communication by Cassie that does not reflect these dates is simply a difference of relating an answer to a question misrepresented by Cassie or poorly posed by the inquirer.'

On Wednesday, Dog discovered a fresh campsite on Florida's Shell Island during the search, as he flew a sign taunting the 23-year-old fugitive.

The banner, which was flown over the islands off the western coast of Florida, according to Outsider, read 'Aloha Brian Laundrie' and was signed 'Dog'.

He shared a photo of the banner on his Instagram account, but said he was not responsible for the sign.

'Frankly, I wish I had thought of that, but it wasn't our team,' Dog wrote. 'I'd love to shake the hand of whoever is behind the banner, I'll tell you that.'

On Monday night, the reality star (pictured) revealed that Laundrie's parents spent the night in the campsite from September 1 to 3, staying in spot number 1. They returned again with Laundrie to stay on spot 15 from September 6 to 8, and left without him

The TV reality star flew a banner with a message for Gabby Petito's boyfriend: 'Aloha Brian Laundrie'. The banner flown over the islands off the western coast of Florida

During a ground search Wednesday, Dog and his team recovered a can of Monster Energy Ultra Gold which appeared to have been freshly drunk at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods at Shell Island along the coastline Wednesday, Fox News reported.

However, the team did not find solid evidence suggesting that Laundrie, who is a person of interest in the homicide of his fiancee, Gabby Petito, 22, is in the woods on Egmont Key - located southwest of Florida's Fort De Soto Park.

Dog is likely not searching on Thursday, but will be following up with leads from his temporary headquarters in the Sarasota area, according to a statement from his spokesperson.

'This has been a very different search,' Dog said. 'Social media has enabled us to do this alongside everyone out there. America is along for the journey with us and I'm ready to do more!'

Dog, who announced he was launching a search for Laundrie at the weekend, has focused his attention on the coastline and creeks surrounding Fort De Soto park.

The TV star used boats and K9 units top search the area Wednesday.

His spokesperson said he has been 'working on very strong leads' and that it 'could very well be the last day of the hunt to apprehend Brian Laundrie'.

Dog the Bounty Hunter and his team recovered a can of Monster Energy Ultra Gold which appeared to have been freshly drunk at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods at Shell Island along the coastline Wednesday

During Wednesday's search, the team did not find solid evidence suggesting that Laundrie is in the woods on Egmont Key. They are likely not searching on Thursday

Brian Laundrie hunt: Fox News Digital follows Dog the Bounty Hunter the moment he comes across a campsite on Shell Islandhttps://t.co/keVNUzVqSK pic.twitter.com/nCovosLO5t  Fox News (@FoxNews) September 29, 2021 Twitter Privacy Policy

Gabby (right) and Brian (left) are pictured at the campsite during the young couple's visit together two months ago

Documents reveal Brian's mom changed her reservation for the campsite to three people from September 6 to September 8 after Brian returned home from his and Gabby's campervan trip early and alone

Timeline of missing Gabby Petito's case July 2: Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie left Blue Point, New York for a cross-country road trip

Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie left Blue Point, New York for a cross-country road trip August 12: Police in Moab, Utah respond to a domestic incident involving the couple. Petito tells an officer Laundrie hit her but cops decide she is the primary aggressor

Police in Moab, Utah respond to a domestic incident involving the couple. Petito tells an officer Laundrie hit her but cops decide she is the primary aggressor Aug. 21: Petito's father, Joseph Petito, has his last FaceTime video call with his daughter who was in Salt Lake City, Utah

Petito's father, Joseph Petito, has his last FaceTime video call with his daughter who was in Salt Lake City, Utah Aug. 24: Petito is last seen at a hotel in Salt Lake City with Laundrie

Petito is last seen at a hotel in Salt Lake City with Laundrie Aug. 25: Petito makes final call to her mother, Nicole Schmidt, saying she was in Grand Teton National Park

Petito makes final call to her mother, Nicole Schmidt, saying she was in Grand Teton National Park Aug. 25 or 26: The couple chats with the owner of a shop called 'Rustic Row' in Victor, Utah for about 20 minutes

The couple chats with the owner of a shop called 'Rustic Row' in Victor, Utah for about 20 minutes Aug. 27: Video of Petito's van was taken by blogger Jenn Bethune, of Red White & Bethune, around 6.30 pm at the Spread Creek Campground; Petito's mom receives an 'odd text' from her phone

Video of Petito's van was taken by blogger Jenn Bethune, of Red White & Bethune, around 6.30 pm at the Spread Creek Campground; Petito's mom receives an 'odd text' from her phone Aug. 29: The day that Wisconsin TikToker Miranda Baker claimed that she and her boyfriend were approached by Laundrie at Grand Teton National Park and asked them for a ride at 5.30pm

The day that Wisconsin TikToker Miranda Baker claimed that she and her boyfriend were approached by Laundrie at Grand Teton National Park and asked them for a ride at 5.30pm Aug. 30: Petito's mom receives the last text from her phone: 'No service in Yosemite'

receives the last text from her phone: 'No service in Yosemite' Aug. 31: Laundrie's mother Roberta cancels a camping trip for 2 to Fort De Soto campsite for Sept. 1-3

Laundrie's mother Roberta cancels a camping trip for 2 to Fort De Soto campsite for Sept. 1-3 Sept. 1: Laundrie returns to his parents' home in North Port, Florida in the van without Petito; Laundrie visits sister Cassie at her home

Laundrie returns to his parents' home in North Port, Florida in the van without Petito; Laundrie visits sister Cassie at her home Sept. 4: According to his attorney, Laundrie purchases a new cell phone from a North Port AT&T store which he leaves at his home September 14 and is seized by the FBI

Sept. 6-8: Laundrie and his parents visit Fort De Soto campsite in Florida, records show. The family's lawyer says they stayed only from Sept. 6-7. Brian's sister Cassie joins them - reportedly for the day on Sept. 6

Laundrie and his parents visit Fort De Soto campsite in Florida, records show. The family's lawyer says they stayed only from Sept. 6-7. Brian's sister Cassie joins them - reportedly for the day on Sept. 6 Sept. 10: The Laundries' neighbor Karyn Roberts says she saw Laundrie at the family home

The Laundries' neighbor Karyn Roberts says she saw Laundrie at the family home Sept. 11: Petito's mom reports Petito missing to authorities in New York; Petito and Laundrie's van is impounded by police in Florida that same day but authorities are denied entry to their home to speak with Laundrie

Petito's mom reports Petito missing to authorities in New York; Petito and Laundrie's van is impounded by police in Florida that same day but authorities are denied entry to their home to speak with Laundrie Sept. 12: Grand Teton National Park rangers search for Petito

Grand Teton National Park rangers search for Petito Sept. 14: Laundrie issues a statement about Petito's disappearance through his lawyer; Laundrie reportedly buys a burner phone from an AT&T store in his hometown of North Port, Florida, with an 'older woman'; Laundrie is reportedly last seen by his parents leaving to go to the Carlton Reserve carrying a backpack

Laundrie issues a statement about Petito's disappearance through his lawyer; Laundrie reportedly buys a burner phone from an AT&T store in his hometown of North Port, Florida, with an 'older woman'; Laundrie is reportedly last seen by his parents leaving to go to the Carlton Reserve carrying a backpack Sept. 15: Laundrie is officially named a person of interest in Petito's case

Laundrie is officially named a person of interest in Petito's case Sept. 16: The August 12 domestic comes to light with bodycam from one officer released

The August 12 domestic comes to light with bodycam from one officer released Sept. 17: Laundrie family attorney confirms his whereabouts are unknown and that his parents last saw him Sept. 14; Cassie tells GMA she last saw him Sept. 1 and describes Petito as 'like a sister' to her

Laundrie family attorney confirms his whereabouts are unknown and that his parents last saw him Sept. 14; Cassie tells GMA she last saw him Sept. 1 and describes Petito as 'like a sister' to her Sept. 18: North Port police and the FBI start searching the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County for missing Brian Laundrie

North Port police and the FBI start searching the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County for missing Brian Laundrie Sept. 19: Bethune realizes she has video of Petito's van around 12am and submits the FBI with the footage 10 minutes later; Officials find a body near Grand Teton National Park that matches Petitos description

Bethune realizes she has video of Petito's van around 12am and submits the FBI with the footage 10 minutes later; Officials find a body near Grand Teton National Park that matches Petitos description Sept. 21: Coroner confirms remains found in Grand Tetons belong to Petito. Her death is ruled a homicide but her cause of death is still under investigation

Coroner confirms remains found in Grand Tetons belong to Petito. Her death is ruled a homicide but her cause of death is still under investigation Sept. 20 - 22: FBI and North Port police continue search for Laundrie in Carton Reserve

FBI and North Port police continue search for Laundrie in Carton Reserve Sept. 22 : Neighbors say they saw the Laundrie family pack up their detached camper on the day Gabby was reported missing. DailyMail.com photos show the camper was back in the driveway two days later, on September 13

: Neighbors say they saw the Laundrie family pack up their detached camper on the day Gabby was reported missing. DailyMail.com photos show the camper was back in the driveway two days later, on September 13 Sept. 23: FBI issues an arrest warrant for Laundrie for 'use of unauthorized access device' for fraudulently using a Capitol One Bank debit card that was not his between August 30 and September 1 to spend $1,000; A probe is launched into the police handling of the Utah police incident on Aug. 12; Laundrie's parents visit their attorney in Orlando

FBI issues an arrest warrant for Laundrie for 'use of unauthorized access device' for fraudulently using a Capitol One Bank debit card that was not his between August 30 and September 1 to spend $1,000; A probe is launched into the police handling of the Utah police incident on Aug. 12; Laundrie's parents visit their attorney in Orlando Sept. 25: Dog the Bounty Hunter joins the search for Laundrie

Dog the Bounty Hunter joins the search for Laundrie Sept. 26: A funeral is held for Petito in Holbrook, New York, and her family launch a charity to help parents find missing children

A funeral is held for Petito in Holbrook, New York, and her family launch a charity to help parents find missing children Sept. 27: Manhunt for Laundrie in the Carlton Reserve is scaled back after 10 day search doesn't find him. Dog the Bounty Hunter says Laundrie and his parents stayed at Fort De Soto Park from September 1-3 and September 6-8 - and that on the latter visit only the parents left

Manhunt for Laundrie in the Carlton Reserve is scaled back after 10 day search doesn't find him. Dog the Bounty Hunter says Laundrie and his parents stayed at Fort De Soto Park from September 1-3 and September 6-8 - and that on the latter visit only the parents left Sept. 28: Laundrie's mom is accused of using a burner phone to contact her son

Laundrie's mom is accused of using a burner phone to contact her son Sept. 29: Documents reveal Laundrie's mom canceled a reservation for the Fort De Soto Park campsite for two from September 1 to 3 and booked for three from September 6 to 8; FBI seizes surveillance footage from site; FBI investigates lead Laundrie bought a burner phone on September 14; Dog the Bounty Hunter searches the area near Fort De Soto finding a recently drunk can of Monster Energy at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods

Documents reveal Laundrie's mom canceled a reservation for the Fort De Soto Park campsite for two from September 1 to 3 and booked for three from September 6 to 8; FBI seizes surveillance footage from site; FBI investigates lead Laundrie bought a burner phone on September 14; Dog the Bounty Hunter searches the area near Fort De Soto finding a recently drunk can of Monster Energy at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods Sept. 30: Bodycam footage from a second officer at the August 12 incident is released showing a distressed Petito admitting Laundrie hit her; FBI agents collect more evidence from the Laundrie home

Bodycam footage from a second officer at the August 12 incident is released showing a distressed Petito admitting Laundrie hit her; FBI agents collect more evidence from the Laundrie home Oct. 1: It emerges Laundrie's sister had contact with him after she said she did. The Laundrie family said they believe he is alive somewhere in Florida

It emerges Laundrie's sister had contact with him after she said she did. The Laundrie family said they believe he is alive somewhere in Florida Oct. 2: Petito's mother creates a new Twitter account and calls for Laundrie to turn himself into authorities in an 'angry' tweet. It is revealed that Petito's family tried to report her missing to North Port Police Department on September 10 but were told to file a report in her last known location Advertisement

Dog believes it is probable that Laundrie is hiding somewhere in the 1,136 acre Fort De Soto Park area  which is made up of five interconnected islands.

'This would be and could be a perfect spot for him to hide, not too many people out here, but there's a lot of environmental things that we're gonna fight,' he said in a video posted to Twitter.

It was also revealed Thursday, according to North Port police logs provided to DailyMail.com, that officers received two 911 calls connected to the Laundrie family home on September 10  the day before Petito was reported missing.

The were both 'public service' calls, with the first placed just before 4pm and the second around 6.30pm.

It is unclear who called 911 or what those calls entailed as the logs have been partially redacted. However, both calls have been given the brief description of 'problem settled'.

Officers also received three calls connected to the residence on September 11, the day Petito's mother filed a missing persons' report for the 22-year-old.

Those incidents were listed as 'follow up/investigation' and 'agency assist.'

Response to the calls was described as 'problem settled,' 'no police action needed' and 'report submitted'.

On Wednesday, Brian Laundrie's father, Christopher, was spotted breaking cover at the family home Wednesday to pick up a Dunkin' Donuts delivery and a bunch of flowers that were left on their doorstep in North Port, Florida, as the hunt for his fugitive son continued.

Photos obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com show Christopher Laundrie inching outside momentarily to collect the supplies before he ducked back inside the property that his family used to share with their son's dead girlfriend Gabby Petito.

Laundrie's mother, Roberta, was also seen in the doorway helping her husband with the goods but stayed inside away from the crowd of protesters who continued to make their presence known to the couple.

It is not clear who sent the Laundries the bunch of flowers but dozens of bunches have been left at a makeshift memorial to Gabby on their lawn as questions continue to mount over the whereabouts of Brian and what his parents know.

Earlier this week new details have emerged about a camping trip that Brian took with his parents days before Petito was reported missing and around one week before he went on the run.

Documents obtained by Fox News reveal Brian's mom changed her reservation for the campsite to three people from September 6 to September 8, after Brian returned home early from his and Gabby's campervan trip early and alone.

On August 31, she also reportedly canceled a stay for two people from September 1 to 3, suggestion she may have known Brian was heading home the next day.

The FBI is now examining surveillance footage from the Fort De Soto Park campsite where the family's attorney admitted the trio visited and Dog the Bounty Hunter believes Brian could be hiding out.

Monday night, the reality star revealed that Laundrie's parents spent the night in the campsite from September 1 to 3, staying in spot number 1.

They returned again with Laundrie to stay on spot 15 from September 6 to 8, and left without him, Dog claimed. Records did not show the Laundrie family staying at the park from September 1 to 3.

The family's attorney, Steven Bertolino, confirmed all three Laundrie family members went camping at the park from September 6, leaving together the next day - September 7.

'They all left the park,' Bertolino said, according to Fox 13.

Bertolino gave the confirmation after initially saying of Dog's allegations: 'I will no longer give that dog credibility or dignify his false claims with the time of my reply.'

If Dog's claims that Laundrie's parents left without him are accurate, the 23-year-old could have had a nine-day head-start on law enforcement before his dad, Christopher, and mom, Roberta, told police he had vanished.

This would also mean that the Laundries hid from authorities for almost a week that he was not at the family home as cops were denied access to enter the property due to Brian's first amendment rights.

Federal investigators are also following a lead that Laudrie bought a burner phone from an AT&T store in North Port before he disappeared. He was said to be accompanied by an 'older woman'.

Bertolino confirmed to ABC News that Laundrie did purchase a new cellphone  which he left behind at his parent's residence before embarking on a hike in the Carlton Reserve on September 14  on September 4, three days after returning home from his cross-country roadtrip.

The lawyer says Laundrie opened a new account at AT&T and the phone, which is currently in the possession of the FBI, was not a burner.
Eco-warrior Greta Thunberg was seen cozying up to a mystery man as he put his arm around her and she fed him chips after the Fridays for Future march in Italy.

Photographs taken after the school climate change strike in Cairoli, Milan, on Friday showed Greta, 18, hand-feeding chips to a mystery man as they took a break from the march.

The mystery man, who was wearing a white T-shirt and a blue and white checkered bucket hat, pulled down his white face mask to his chin while Greta gave him chips.

Greta, who donned a black T-shirt and a green frog bucket hat, appeared in excellent spirits as she spent time with her seemingly close friend at the Fridays for Future march.

The mystery man was also seen warmly putting his arm around Greta's shoulders and the eco-warrior appeared to be leaning into him as they stood in the crowds.

Pictures showed Greta, 18, hand-feeding chips to a mystery man after taking part school climate change strike in Cairoli, Milan, on Friday

The mystery man was also seen warmly putting his arm around Greta's shoulders and the eco-warrior appeared to be leaning into him as they stood in the crowds

The intimate moment came after the Friday for Future march, referring to the youth-led and organised global climate strike movement. Pictured: Greta during the strike

Other photographs showed Greta wearing the mystery man's blue checkered bucket hat as she marched in the crowds and held up a cardboard 'Fridays for Future' sign, referring to the youth-led and organised global climate strike movement.

Earlier in the day, Greta, who kept herself protected with a white face mask amid the Covid crisis, joined crowds of young activists and gave an impassioned speech at the Fridays for Future strike.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Greta said that she is 'best friends' with some of her fellow activists within the climate movement.

She explained: 'We have daily contact. We don't just campaign together, we are also friends. My best friends are within the climate movement.'

She added: 'Since we are spread all over the world it's hard to do that, but we have Zoom calls and movie nights online and lots of chats where we just spam each other.'

It comes after Greta mocked Boris Johnson today as she opened a youth climate summit in Italy - accusing the Prime Minister and other world leaders of making 'empty promises' over global warming.

The teenage campaigner poked fun at a speech by Mr Johnson in April in which he referred to 'bunny hugging', and also criticised eco-friendly buzzwords used by politicians in recent weeks such as 'no Planet B', 'green economy', 'Net Zero' and 'climate neutral'.

Miss Thunberg, 18, told delegates: 'There is no Planet B, there is no planet blah - blah, blah, blah; blah, blah, blah. This is not about some expensive politically- correct green act, bunny hugging, or blah blah blah.

Greta, who kept herself protected with a white face mask amid the Covid crisis, hand-fed the mystery man chips as they took a break during the students' strike

Greta, who donned a black T-shirt and a green frog bucket hat, appeared in good spirits as she spent time with her apparent close friend following the Fridays for Future march

Greta's mystery man pulled down his white face mask as the eco-warrior hand-fed him snacks as they continued the march on Friday

'Build back better, blah blah blah; green economy, blah blah blah; Net Zero by 25... 2050, blah blah blah. Net Zero by 2050, blah blah blah. Net Zero, blah blah blah. Climate neutral, blah blah blah.'

The activist, who rose to fame thanks to her 'school strike for climate' protests in her native Sweden, added: 'This is all we hear from our so-called leaders: words, words that sound great but so far has led to no action.

'Our hopes and dreams drowned in their empty words and promises. Of course we need constructive dialogue, but they have now had 30 years of blah, blah blah. And where has that led us?

Speaking at the Youth4Climate pre-COP26 conference in Milan, she attacked governments for 'shamelessly congratulating themselves' while making insufficient pledges to cut emissions, and claimed politicians 'invite cherry-picked young people to meetings like this to pretend that they are listening to us, but they are not'.

But Conservative MP Steve Baker was unimpressed by her comments, telling MailOnline: 'I would encourage Greta Thunberg to stand for election in Wycombe and explain to the public in Wycombe, many of whom are hard pressed working people, what it would actually mean to implement her policies.

'It is increasingly clear that the cost of Net Zero includes dramatically unaffordable changes to all our lives. It is thanks to environmental extremism that we are not using the shale resources in our own country and as a result our gas prices are soaring.'

Meanwhile, Tory MP, Craig Mackinlay, told MailOnline that he was not prepared to 'cast life back to the stone-age to reduce the UK's carbon footprint, claiming Greta's family would not 'struggle to make ends meet' under her demands.

Greta Thunberg speaks during the climate strike march on October 1, 2021 in Milan, Italy

Other photographs showed Greta wearing the mystery man's blue checkered bucket hat as marched in the crowds

Demonstration in Milan in defense of the climate and the environment with Vanessa Nakate and Greta Thunberg

On the sidelines of various pre-COP26 summits on the topic of climate finance, students, young activists, including Greta, and civil society march for action against climate change

Greta appeared to be in good spirits as she joined other young activists at the march in Milan on Friday

He continued: 'I always admire activism and Ms Thunberg never fails to impress on that score. However, if the new world order were to go ahead under her manifesto I doubt it would be her or her family struggling to make ends meet.

'The real world of life for many in my South Thanet constituency is somewhat different where fuel poverty is real.

'Additional costs added to the basic needs of heating and travel will make life colder and poorer for many.

'There are many sensible ways of reducing the UK's carbon footprint but I'm not prepared to cast life back to the stone-age to achieve it.'

Mr Johnson made the 'bunny hugger' remark during a virtual climate summit in April this year, when he also used the phrase 'build back better'.

He said at the time: 'What I'm driving at is this is about growth and jobs... 'We can build back better from this pandemic by building back greener.'

It is not the first time that Miss Thunberg has picked up on the remark, changing her Twitter status to 'bunny hugger' just a day later in response.

Her remarks were made at the summit in Milan - a three-day event attended by 400 young representatives from 190 nations which will be used to develop climate policies.
The body of Alex Binyam Abraha was discovered on the homeowner's front porch after being mauled to death by pitbulls

An intruder was mauled to death by a pair of dogs after breaking into a Georgia home last week, according to local authorities.

The homeowner, who was not named, discovered the body of 21-year-old Alex Binyam Abraha on his front porch around 10:30 am on September 24.

Authorities said Abraha successfully entered the two-bedroom house in a rural area of Newnan the night before, and was immediately greeted by two pit bulls inside the home.

The sheriffs department initially called in homicide investigators from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation thinking that Abraha's death was a murder.

However, the medical examiner eventually determined he died from injuries sustained during the dog attack.

Pictured: one of the two pitbulls responsible for mauling an intruder to death last week

The second of two pitbulls who mauled 21-year-old Alex Binyam Abraha after he broke into the dogs' owner's Georgia home

Fox News reports that the homeowner told authorities he did not know Abraha nor did he know how he got in, adding the man had no reason to be inside the house.

Both dogs were seized as a part of the investigation by the county's Department of Corrections. As of Friday afternoon, it was not immediately clear what will happen to them.

Pictures of both dogs were tweeted by Doug Evans, a journalist with local Fox affiliate WAGA-TV.

Abraha, who grew up in Worthington, Minnesota, had several active warrants in Fulton County at the time of his death, Fox News reports.

Abraha, who grew up in Worthington, Minnesota, had several active warrants in Fulton County at the time of his death

Abraha, 21, had attended high school in Worthington, Minnesota

Meanwhile the homeowner will not face charges related to Abraha's death, according to Fox News.

A GoFundMe was started for Abraha following his death, and has raised nearly $1,000 with a goal of $25,000.

'As horrible as dealing with death is, his family has to deal with confusing and unclear details from the police, with no concrete evidence or story,' organizer Sara Abraha wrote.

Abraha's family claimed they were notified 'days' after his death, adding that they have received conflicting and confusing information from investigators.

'The family was told by an investigator on the case that they would be working on the autopsy, yet there was an article posted stating an autopsy was already finished and concluded,' the GoFundMe page says.

'As the family searches for a sense of closure, we want to come together and support them financially with funeral expenses and planning his final resting place.'
Google is dumping plans for its highly anticipated 'Plex' banking service, a digital checking account service, amid changing leadership at the tech giant and missed deadlines.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that plans were dropped just two years after Google announced users of the digital wallet Google Pay could sign up for bank accounts with 11 partners, including banking giants CityGroup and Stanford Federal Credit Union.

Set to debut in 2020, the continually delayed 'Plex' banking service would have synced with Google Pay, and would have allowed users to avoid monthly fees, overdraft charges and minimum balance requirements.

'Plex' would have synced with Google Pay, and allowed users to avoid monthly fees, overdraft charges or minimum balance requirements

Plans for the service were abandoned due to missed deadlines and the April departure of Google vice president Caesar Sengupta

Plans for the service were abandoned due to missed deadlines and the April departure of Google vice president and 'architect' of the Plex project, Caesar Sengupta.

The WSJ reported that Sengupta's successor Bill Ready was 'concerned that Plex could make other banks think that Google was out to compete with them since it played a lead role in building the product.'

A Google spokeswoman told the WSJ that the company planned to redirect its efforts to helping banks with its technology 'rather than us serving as the provider of these services.'

But excitement for this service was apparently high despite behind-the-scenes drama.

A CitiGroup spokesperson told WSJ that nearly 10,000 people a week were joining a 'Plex' waiting list, which grew to more than 400,000 people.

Despite the abandoned plans, Citigroup said they will 'look for other ways to work with Google in the future'

Despite the abandoned plans, Citigroup said it will 'look for other ways to work with Google in the future,' WSJ reported.

But some partners did not get the memo and WSJ reported that as of late last week some banks, including BM Technologies Inc, were not aware 'Plex' was dead.

On Monday, BMTX, which provides digital banking platforms, proudly proclaimed Plex accounts were on their way late this year or in early 2022.

'Google and BMTX are excited about this opportunity and are committed to this partnership,' the bank told WSJ before their Friday report.

Google is not the only tech giant whose plans to expand into the banking world have flopped.

Amazon's plans for checking accounts never materialized and Facebook's move to create cryptocurrency remains on hold after pushback from regulators, WSJ reported.

Google Pay launched in 2018 after Android Pay and Google Wallet merged.

The service allows for users to make payments online, in stores and to other people.
Students at a Minnesota school will no longer be seeing an 'F' on test papers - no matter how badly they do - and they could be allowed to retake tests.

Sunrise Park Middle School in White Bear Lake released a YouTube video this week detailing its new grading system which it says, in part, helps fight systemic racism.

The scale goes from an A (any score above 92.5 percent) to an I (50 percent to 59.49 percent) but below that, a letter grade will not be used, including an F.

Associate Principal Norman Bell expanded, saying that students are encouraged to retake/revise tests, quizzes, papers, projects and have a 10-day window to do so after the date the grade is posted.

Grades also will not be increased or decreased over behaviors, attitude, tardiness, and whether the assignment was turned in late or on time.

'There's other ways that we can communicate those things to parents,' said Principal Christina Pierre, who emphasized that not every kid gets things right the first time.

Sunrise Park Middle School in White Bear Lake released a YouTube video this week detailing their new grading system which they say, in part, helps fight systemic racism

The scale goes from an A (any score above 92.5 percent) to an I (50 percent to 59.49 percent) but below that, a letter will no longer be used for the grade, including for the letter F

Associate Principal Norman Bell expanded on the new scale, saying that students are encouraged to retake/revise tests, quizzes, papers, projects and have a 10-day window to do so from the date the grade is posted

Pierre adds that there will be procedures for students to attempt to actually learn and study for the retakes so that they can show progress.

Sunrise Park Middle School serves students in grades sixth through eighth in a suburb of the Twin Cities.

The district's superintendent, Wayne Kazmierczak, was awarded Minnesota Association of School Administrators 2021 Superintendent of the Year. It is not clear whether the grading scale will be used in all districts.

He expanded on how grades can perpetuate systemic racism when discussing his award, revealing that the district performed an 'equity audit' that showed disparities in grades among students of color.

'Grading can be one of the largest areas in which systemic racism and inequities are perpetuated. Dr. Kazmierczak and [the school district] believe grades should be a measure of what a student knows and has mastered in a given course. Grading should not be a behavior punishment and should not be a measure of how well a student can survive stress at home,' the website reads.

In the past, the school has made headlines for allowing students to choose how much privilege different social groups have.

According to the website Niche, which connects people to their future schools, neighborhoods and workplaces, White Bear Lake schools rank 99th in the state. Sunrise Park ranks 128th among nearly 400 Minnesota middle schools.
A New York mother-of-two died 48 hours after being rushed to a hospital in Queens for treatment for postpartum depression - but her family found out only after receiving a call from the hospital that doctors were performing an autopsy.

Denise Williams, 29, the mother of a three-year-old and a now-two-month-old was suffering from postpartum depression - not eating, acting strangely and refusing to get out of bed. In August, her mother, Linda Magee, decided to call 911.

But just two days after Williams checked in to NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens, Magee received a dreadful call that an autopsy was being performed on her daughter - who she had not known was dead, according to Pix 11.

New York mother-of-two Denise Williams (pictured) died 48 hours after being rushed to a hospital in Queens to receive treatment for postpartum depression. But her family only found out after receiving a call from the hospital that doctors were performing an autopsy

Williams' mother, Linda Magee (pictured), called 911 back in August when she noticed her daughter was not eating, acting strangely and refused to get out of bed. Just two days after checking into NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens, Magee received a dreadful call that an autopsy was being performed on her daughter, who she had not known was dead, she told Pix 11

'They said, "Do you have a daughter named Denise Williams?" I said, "Yes, do you want me to come pick her up?" And they said, "No, I'm just calling to let you know she's dead."'

The call was the first information Magee had received about her daughter since she was put in the hospital's care.

'I need answers, I need answers,' the grieving mother told the news station.

Nearly two months after her death August 30, surviving family members still don't have answers.

Pix 11 reported that the family also has yet to receive the autopsy report, or learn a cause of death.

Williams' aunt Charlene Magee described being left in the dark: 'I feel emotional. I feel hopeless. I feel anger.'

During the day, Charlene Magee takes care of Williams' two young daughters. At night, Williams' sister Belinda watches them.

Williams was a mother of two and her younger daughter was just eight weeks old when she died. The girls are now in the care of Williams' aunt Charlene Magee (right, with Williams's two-month-old daughter) and sister Belinda (left, with Williams's three-year-old daughter)

Williams's aunt Charlene Magee (right) described being left in the dark: 'I feel emotional. I feel hopeless. I feel anger.' Her sister Belinda (left) added: 'We need answers. My nieces deserve answers'

Williams' younger daughter was just eight weeks old when her mother died. 'We need answers. My nieces deserve answers,' Belinda told Pix 11.

Williams' mysterious death has taken a toll on the family and Belinda said: 'Honestly, this is hard,' adding that she was 'trying to hold back tears'.

A spokesperson from the hospital said in a statement: 'We are committed to providing quality, compassionate and safe care to all our patients and we will continue to communicate with the family as appropriate.'

The spokesperson allegedly told Pix 11 that the hospital has been communicating with Williams' family.

Williams was rushed to NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens (pictured). Just two days later Magee received a dreadful call that an autopsy was being performed on her daughter, who she had not known was dead

Charlene and Williams' three-year-old daughter were spotted with other family members while protesting Williams' mysterious death outside of the Queens hospital

As news of Williams' death spread through the community dozens of people gathered outside of the city-run hospital to protest the case, which drew attention to a larger issue of Black maternal mortality, postpartum depression and the unequal treatment of Black women in health care

Williams' daughter was pictured holding a poster filled with photos of her late mother

As news of Williams' death spread through the community, dozens of people gathered outside of the city-run hospital to protest. The case drew attention to a larger issue of black maternal mortality, postpartum depression and the unequal treatment of black women in health care.

Charlene Magee and Williams' three-year-old daughter were spotted, wearing shirts with pictures of the girl's late mother and holding a poster with more photos of Williams.

Another poster read: 'Justice 4 Denise.'

According to Pix 11, in the U.S. black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related cause than white women. In New York City, that figure is four times greater.

Charlene Magee even told the news station that Magee and her daughter requested that Williams be brought to another local hospital, where she felt safer, but paramedics denied her request.

The family is planning to host another justice rally next month as they continue waiting to receive the autopsy report, which will state Williams's cause of death.

Charlene Magee told The City her family won't stop fighting for black women who have died in NYC hospitals or their families.

'We don't want Denise to be ignored,' she said. 'We are going to be out here every day. You're going to hear from our family.'
French police have shot migrants with potentially lethal rubber bullets to stop their illegal boat crossing the Channel to the UK.

An investigation by French national police authorities was under way last night into the first known case of gun tactics to halt a migrant boat launch.

It marks a major escalation of tension on the beaches as gendarmerie night patrols struggle to control the armada of boats heading for Britain.

The shooting happened in darkness at Dunkirk as eight Iranian Kurds carried a dinghy towards the sea. It was destined to bring 40 migrants from France.

French police have shot migrants with potentially lethal rubber bullets to stop their illegal boat crossing the Channel to the UK

Two Iranian Kurds hit by the bullets were taken to hospital, one with a fractured leg and the other with a broken hand. Those carrying the boat claim that the group of gun-toting police laughed at them as their injured comrades fell to the ground.

One of the shot migrants, 24-year-old Juanro Rasuli, was last night still in Dunkirk central hospital with a fractured left leg, which was wrapped in bandages. He did not want to speak out because of the fear of reprisals.

The second man, who was shot in the hand, is undergoing medical treatment as an outpatient.

The beach shooting is believed to have followed a noisy altercation between the Iranian Kurds intent on launching the boat and the French patrol unit determined to stop them.

One of the shot migrants, 24-year-old Juanro Rasuli (pictured), was last night still in Dunkirk central hospital with a fractured left leg, which was wrapped in bandages. He did not want to speak out because of the fear of reprisals

Pictured: French paramedics treat Juanro Rasuli on the floor at the scene of the rubber bullet shooting

Home Secretary Priti Patel has threatened to withhold 54million in payments by Britain to the French government for beach patrols in northern France if officials do not reduce the stream of migrant boats.

This year more than 17,000 migrants of multiple nationalities have reached the UK after making the 21-mile Channel crossing.

Those involved in the incident were asked by the Daily Mail if they were people traffickers or assisting the trafficking gangs for money. They have denied it, insisting they are would-be asylum seekers hoping to reach Britain.

Last night an Iranian Kurd calling himself Mohammed recalled what he saw of the shooting in the early morning of September 22.

At a coffee bar in a migrant camp in Dunkirk, he said: 'There were eight of us holding the boat near the beach. We were getting ready to launch it for 40 people who wanted to cross to your country.

'Then three or four police arrived in one vehicle. One policeman shot Juanro Rasuli at point blank range. I can't remember how many times they fired the rubber bullets.

It marks a major escalation of tension on the beaches as gendarmerie night patrols struggle to control the armada of boats heading for Britain (stock image)

'When the police saw us, they shouted stop, We stopped and they still shot us. Then we ran away as best we could.' A video of the aftermath of the shooting, taken by the migrants, shows Mr Rasuli lying on the ground with his leg bleeding.

The other shot man shows his injured hand to the camera. A voice says in Kurdish: 'You can see the police laughing at us.'

Rubber bullets are potentially lethal and have also caused blindness and permanent disabilities in those struck in the past. Typically, they have a metal core with a rubber coating and are often used in France in riot control.

The bullets were considered so dangerous that they were banned from use by the police in mainland Britain until 2001.

The shooting happened in darkness at Dunkirk as eight Iranian Kurds carried a dinghy towards the sea. It was destined to bring 40 migrants from France (file image)

They were invented by the Ministry of Defence for security services to combat protesters in Northern Ireland and are said to have killed 17 people during the Troubles.

The migrants' shooting took place five miles from Grande Synthe, a suburb of Dunkirk where hundreds of migrants live in squalid camps in woods awaiting a boat to Britain.

French judicial sources insist their beach patrols only use such a show of force when it is 'proportionate' and if the officers are placed in danger by a 'seriously hostile situation'.

The camp has been infiltrated by people smuggling gangs who the French say thwart their efforts to stop boats leaving.
A bevy of wine connoisseurs will have to look elsewhere in coming days for their favorite vino after Brazilian authorities intercepted a 20-year-old man hauling a massive load of bottles in the back of his car.

Federal highway police agents on Route 470 in Rio do Sul became suspicious of the driver due to his vehicle's tinted windows and low-slung car, and pulled him over Thursday, according to digital news outlet O Municipio Blumenau.

Upon inspection, cops found a large shipment of wine crammed over the rear seat area and into the trunk.

The driver admitted to the police that the bottles were intended to be sold on the coast of the southern state of Santa Catarina.

The suspect, whose name was withheld, was taken into custody and faces embezzlement charges.

The bottles and car were seized by the Federal Revenue Service.

Authorities in Rio do Sul, Brazil, stopped a vehicle driven by a 20-year-old man and discovered 400 bottles of wine imported from Argentina - illegal due to shutdown of the countries' land border because of COVID-19. The driver is facing embezzlement charges

The driver confessed to the police that the 400 bottles of wine were to be sold on the coast of the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brazil's land border with Argentina has remained closed, making importing products from there illegal. Typically anyone arriving from Argentina is limited to 12 liters of alcohol.

The bust comes a day before the government of Argentina agreed to lift restrictions on air travelers from Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Chile.

All visitors must provide proof they received their coronavirus vaccine.

Travelers visiting Argentina will be require to submit proof of a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of their flight and will have to take an antigen test once they deplane at the airport. Visitors must also take a PCR test between the fifth and seventh day of their stay.
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have written DC's mayor Muriel Bowser to complain about violent crime and homeless encampments in the nation's Capitol.

The letter accuses Bowser of contributing to the 'decline' of the city, which has been experiencing an economic boom in recent years  but has seen a spike in homelessness and shootings, as part of a nationwide trend.

'As violent crime and homelessness have increased at an unchecked rate throughout the city, your administration seems to have given up trying to prevent the District from falling into a state of chaos,' the lawmakers wrote.

House Republicans on the Oversight Committee have written Mayor Muriel Bowser about homelessness and crime in the city

The letter points to the September shooting of Tarshaqua Chappell, 37, of Temple Hills, Md., who was shot inside her car with a small child in the back seat.

DC has a long and contentious history with Congress, which used to exert more direct control over city affairs. The panel is run by Democrats, but is certain to clash more with the city over 'home rule' issues if Republicans take over the House.

The lawmakers also reference tent encampments in parks around the city that are visible to visitors and locals alike, Fox News reported.

'The message coming from your office regarding the future role of, and funding for, the citys police is contributing to the decline,' the lawmakers wrote. 'As the committee of jurisdiction for all matters involving the District of Columbia, House Committee on Oversight and Reform Republicans request information regarding this dangerous trend in the nations capital.'

The swats at DC come months after the House passed a bill to grant DC statehood in April, although the measure faces long odds in the Senate. The city is heavily Democratic in registration, and residents have long clamored for representation for its nearly 700,000 citizens.

'Tent cities are scattered throughout the District for any tourist or commuter to see,' they wrote. Many lawmakers fall into the commuter variety, visiting Washington during the work week before returning to their districts

House Democrats passed a DC statehood bill in April

Tents for the homeless line the median along Connecticut Avenue at Dupont Circle in Northwest, during the coronavirus pandemic, Wednesday, April 29, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the US Capitol Police, Officer Michael Fanone of the DC Metropolitan Police, Officer Daniel Hodges of the DC Metropolitan Police and Private First Class Harry Dunn of the US Capitol Police are sworn in to testify before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on US Capitol on July 27, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC

The letter also mentioned a homeless encampment downtown.

'Earlier this year, residents of Mount Vernon Square wrote to the U.S. Park Police requesting homeless encampments be removed, pointing to various criminal and sanitary violations from the inhabitants,' they wrote, noting that it was denied, 'and the Districts homeless population grows.'

Tarshaqua Chappell

'Tent cities are scattered throughout the District for any tourist or commuter to see,' it says.

The city embraced the themes of protesters after George Floyd protests broke out in 2020, painting 'Black Lives Matter' on a street near the White House.

A more permanent Black Lives Matter Plaza is now under construction just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, with the slogan spelled out in brick and concrete.

DC police testified in a congressional probe of the Jan. 6th Capitol riot, after its members rushed to relieve overwhelmed Capitol Police.

According to DC government data, homicides were up 9 per cent in 2021 compared to last year, after jumping 19 per cent the year before.
A female getaway driver for a gunman who killed an innocent law student in a 'senseless and shocking' drive-by shooting has been jailed for 15 years.

Judy Chapman, 27, has become the eighth person to be jailed for their role in the murder of Aya Hachem, 19, as she shopped for groceries near her home last May.

Aya was shot in the chest by hired hitman Zamir Raja, 33, in Blackburn, Lancashire.

She was not the intended target of the shooting, which came after a long-running feud between rival tyre firm owners Feroz Suleman and Pachah Khan.

Seven people were jailed in August to a total of more than 200 years for their involvement in the killing of Aya and the attempted murder of Mr Khan.

Female getaway driver Judy Chapman, 27, was jailed for 15 years today for her role in the murder of innocent law student in a botched drive-by shooting in Blackburn last May

The gunman, Zamir Raja, 33, of Stretford, was jailed for a minimum of 34 years and his driver, Anthony Ennis, 31, of Partington, must serve at least 33 years.

Fellow accomplices Ayaz Hussain, 36, Abubakr Satia, 32, both of Blackburn; his brother, Uthman Satia, 29, of Great Harwood, and Kashif Manzoor, 26, of Blackburn were handed minimum terms of 32 years, 28 years, 28 years, and 27 years, respectively.

Judy Chapman, of Great Harwood, the girlfriend of Uthman Satia, drove the gunman and driver from Bolton to the Toyota Avensis which was used to carry out the shooting and collected them afterwards.

She was found guilty of Aya's manslaughter but not guilty of the attempted murder of Khan following a trial at Preston Crown Court.

Aya Hachem, 19, (pictured) was hit by a stray bullet from a hired hitman Zamir Raja, 33, who intended to kill a tyre-boss' rival as she shopped for groceries near her home

Aya, 19, had left home to go to the local shop to buy food, ready for her family to eat when they broke their Ramadan fast that evening. Tragically, she never made it home.

As she walked by Quick Shine Car Wash, she was struck by a bullet shot from the passing Avensis.

The bullet travelled right through her body and out the other side and came to a stop in a nearby telegraph pole.

Despite the best efforts of passers-by, police and paramedics Aya sadly died after being taken to hospital.

Senior investigating officer Zoe Russo from Lancashire Police said: 'Today's sentence brings to a conclusion the trial of the eight defendants which is one of the largest and most complex investigations in the history of Lancashire Constabulary.

Lancashire Police released footage showing the moments leading up to Aya's death. One of the bullets hit near a workman (pictured)

Seven people were jailed in August to a total of more than 200 years for their involvement in the killing of Aya and the attempted murder of Mr Khan. Pictured: Anthony Ennis, 31, (left) Zamir Raja, 33 (right)

All seven men were also convicted of the attempted murder of Pachah Khan while Chapman was acquitted of the attempted murder of Mr Khan. Left: Kashif Manzoor. Right: Feroz Suleman

Preston Crown Court heard the drive-by shooting was organised by Suleman, who had been embroiled in a bitter feud with his neighbour and business rival Mr Khan. Pictured left: Ayaz Hussain. Right: Uthman Satia

Judy Chapman, of Great Harwood, the girlfriend of Uthman Satia, drove the gunman and driver from Bolton to the Toyota Avensis which was used to carry out the shooting and collected them afterwards. Left: Abubakr Satia. Right: Judy Chapman

'I would like to once again thank the public, particularly the community of Blackburn, for their support during this investigation, and the many officers and staff who worked incredibly hard to get to the truth to secure justice for Aya.

'My thoughts today are with her family and all of those who loved her.'

During the trial, the court heard Aya, an aspiring solicitor, was walking along King Street in Blackburn at 3pm on May 17, 2020, when she was hit.

Aya, a second-year student at the University of Salford, died in hospital from a single gunshot wound a short time later.

Her distraught parents said she was the 'most loyal, devoted daughter' who enjoyed spending time with her family.

Aya (pictured) had left home to go to the local shop to buy food, ready for her family to eat when they broke their Ramadan fast that evening but was struck by a bullet shot from the passing Avensis as she walked by Quick Shine Car Wash

Aya (left and right), a second-year student at the University of Salford, died in hospital from a single gunshot wound a short time later of an 'irreversible' cardiac arrest

Aya and her family were also known to be heavily involved with Blackburn's asylum seeker and refugee community.

Her family had fled war-torn Lebanon for a new life in the UK when she was a youngster and she had passed her second year exams shortly before her tragic death.

She was a trustee with the Children's Society and won Student of the Year at Blackburn Central High School in 2016.

In a touching tribute online at the time of Aya's death, Noreen Hussain said: 'Aya Hachem was exactly the type of young woman I'd love for her to aspire to be like.'

Aya's heartbroken family previously said: 'To our dear beautiful angel in heaven we know you are in a better and more beautiful place.

'We are so proud of you and we miss you so much - our lives are difficult without you.

'You will remain in our hearts forever.

'You loved life and despite all the struggles and barriers that we faced in this country, it did not stop you contributing to your community and charites including the Children's Society and fundraising at Salford University where you were studying to become a barrister.

'God chose you as an angel in his heaven. Heaven is yours and may God give us the patience after your murder. We love you.'
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Brian Laundrie's sister saw her brother twice between the time he returned to Florida without girlfriend Gabby Petito and when he went missing around two weeks later - despite her public statements to the contrary.

A lawyer representing the Laundrie family confirmed on Friday that Cassie Laundrie saw her brother on September 1 when he came by her house - the same day he arrived back from the couple's cross-country van trip alone.

Cassie saw him again on September 6 during a family camping trip to Fort De Soto Park, where authorities are now focusing their manhunt for her fugitive brother.

Attorney Steve Bertolino told WFLA that 'law enforcement agencies are well aware of these dates.'

Cassie is to date the only member of the Laundrie family - including Laundrie himself - who has spoken publicly about Petito's disappearance and death.

She claimed in an interview with ABC's Good Morning America on September 17 - two days before Petito's body was found in Wyoming - that she had not spoken to her brother since September 1 and that she 'wish[ed] I had more information' to give investigators.

'I haven't been able to talk to him. I wish I could talk to him,' Cassie said at the time. 'I've cooperated in every way that I can. I wish I had information or I would give more.'

Cassie also described Petito as 'like a sister' to her and said she and her family 'want Gabby to be found safe.'

'Obviously me and my family want Gabby to be found safe,' she said. 'She's like a sister and my children love her, and all I want is for her to come home safe and found and this to be just a big misunderstanding.'

But her version of events unraveled Friday, when Dog the Bounty Hunter - who joined the manhunt for Laundrie Saturday - revealed he had received a tip about Cassie joining her brother and parents at the Fort De Soto Park campsite five days after she claimed they had their last alleged encounter.

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Brian Laundrie's sister, Cassie, told ABC News on September 17 that she had not talked to her brother since his return to Florida, but now the family's attorney says she saw him twice - on September 1 and September 6

Cassie and Brian joined their parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie (pictured), on a camping trip over the Labor Day weekend

The Laundries stayed at the Fort De Soto Park between September 6-7. Their lawyer said they all left at the same time

It comes as:

Scaled-down FBI-led op eration to find Brian Laundrie enters day 12

FBI agents searched home and camper at Laundrie's parents' house

Laundries' attorney said FBI collected personal items to help K9s in their search

Dog the Bounty Hunter discovered makeshift campsite at Shell Island

Laundrie, 23, is charged with fraudulently using Petito's bank card

Cops got two 911 calls lined to Laundrie home day before Petito went missing

Bertolino claimed the apparent discrepancy in Cassie's version of events was a simple misunderstanding.

'Any prior communication by Cassie that does not reflect these dates is simply a difference of relating an answer to a question misinterpreted by Cassie or poorly posed by the inquirer,' he said.

'Law enforcement agencies are well aware of these dates.'

It is not clear when authorities learned of Cassie's meeting with her brother - or of the family's trip to the campsite.

Bertolino added: 'To my knowledge, Cassie went for a day' to the campsite.

Records from Pinellas County indicate that Brian and Cassie's mom Roberta Laundrie registered for a waterfront campground site at Fort De Soto Park between September 6 and 8.

The family's attorney confirmed Brian and his parents stayed at the park - 75 miles from the Laundrie home in Florida - for one night leaving on September 7.

Documents obtained by Fox News reveal Laundrie's mom changed her reservation for the campsite as Brian returned home.

On August 31, she reportedly canceled a stay for two people from September 1 to 3, suggestion she may have known her son was heading home the next day.

She then rebooked for three people from September 6 to September 8.

The FBI is now examining surveillance footage from the Fort De Soto Park campsite.

During a ground search on Wednesday, Dog the Bounty Hunter - who joined the search for Laundrie Saturday discovered a fresh campsite on Florida's Shell Island.

Brian also visited the park with Petito just two months ago with photos showing the young couple at the beach and campsite. In one photo, Laundrie and Gabby are seen peering through the bars of a jail cell at an old fort.

Questions have been mounting over when Laundrie's family last saw him and what they knew of his fiancee's disappearance.

From the day Petito was reported missing, Laundrie's parents denied investigators access to their home to speak to their son.

They then waited three days to tell authorities he was missing on September 17 - saying they last saw him heading for a hike on September 14.

The Fort De Soto campsite in Florida is seen in exclusive DailyMail.com photos. New details have emerged about a camping trip Brian took with his parents there days before Petito was reported missing

The campsite (pictured) is located in Fort De Soto in Pinellas County, Florida, close to St Petersburg and was visited by the Laundries days before Gabby was reported missing

Two months ago Laundrie and Gabby Petitio visited the same spot and posted photos hiking and showing them relaxing on the beach. They also posted this photo behind bars

Gabby (right) and Brian (left) are pictured at the campsite during the young couple's visit together two months ago

Now, speculation has swirled that both Laundrie and his mom are using burner phones.

The FBI is investigating a line of inquiry that Brian bought a burner from an AT&T store in North Port on September 14 - the day his parents claim they last saw him. Brian is said to have visited the store to purchase the phone accompanied by an older woman.

Federal agents have seized surveillance footage from the store.

This comes as Dog the Bounty Hunter's daughter Lyssa Chapman claimed the FBI believes Roberta is using a burner phone.

The Laundrie family attorney said he had 'no comment' about her alleged use of a burner phone but told TMZ the family purchased a new phone but he 'believes it's the one Brian left behind at home' and notes that the 'FBI is already in possession of it'.

Petito's phone, meanwhile, has never been found.

Laundrie, 23, and his fiancee Petito, 22, set off in their white campervan on a once-in-a-lifetime cross-country trip from New York on July 2.

The young couple were supposed to travel across America for four months.

But, Laundrie returned to the North Port home the couple shared with his parents Roberta and Christopher early and alone on September 1.

Petito's mom reported her missing September 11 after not hearing from her daughter for multiple days and coming up a wall of silence from Laundrie. Petito last spoke to her family on August 25 by phone and subsequent 'odd' texts from her phone sent alarm bells ringing.

Laundrie lawyered up and refused to speak to cops about his fiancee's whereabouts before going on the run.

His parents reported him as missing on September 17, telling authorities they had not seen him since September 14 when he went on a hike in the alligator-infested Carlton Reserve in North Port.

Local police and the FBI have been searching for Laundrie, who has been named a person of interest in Petito's death, for the past 12 days.

Newly-released bodycam footage has revealed Gabby Petito told cops Brian Laundrie had hit her and cut her face by grabbing her 'with his nail' during the August 12 domestic incident

The never-before-seen footage from a second officer's body camera shows the cop pointing out 'new' marks on Petito's face and arm and her admitting that he cut her face with his nail

On Thursday, newly-released bodycam footage revealed that Petito told cops Laundrie had hit her and cut her face by grabbing her 'with his nail' during a domestic incident less than two weeks before she was last seen alive.

The never-before-seen footage from a second officer's body camera shows the cop pointing out 'new' marks on Petito's face and arm after pulling the couple's van over in Moab, Utah, on August 12. Asked if Laundrie had hit her, Petito answers: 'I guess.'

'He like grabbed me with his nail, and I guess that's why it looks, I definitely have a cut right here. I can feel it, when I touch it it burns,' she tells the officer.

The 22-year-old, whose body was found on September 19, quickly backtracks and defends her fiance saying she 'hit him first' when he locked her out of their van and refused to let her in.

Laundrie is also seen in the footage defending himself and pushing the blame onto Petito as soon as the cop arrives on the scene.

He claims Petito was 'really worked up' and that he 'was just trying to push her away' when asked about allegations he had hit her.

Body camera video from one Moab officer was released two weeks ago, while Petito was still a missing person, and in it portions of the conversation between the cop and the van-life couple were inaudible.

This new footage from a second officer's body-worn camera offers a fresh look at the altercation that preceded Petito's disappearance and death.

Last week, a probe was launched into the police handling of the August 12 incident and Moab City Police Department Chief Bret Edge has since taken a leave of absence pending the investigation.

Meanwhile, the manhunt for Laundrie, who is a person of interest in Petito's homicide, entered its 12th day with the FBI and Dog the Bounty Hunter scouring separate areas in Florida.

FBI agents on Thursday visited the home of Laundrie's parents in North Port and collected personal items belonging to Brian to help in the search.

The focus of the search has now shifted to the Fort De Soto National Park, where Laundrie stayed with his parents after returning home from the campervan trip without Petito.

Roberta Laundrie (right) has been accused of using a burner phone to keep in contact with her son, Brian, who is currently wanted by the police. Christopher (left) and Roberta (right) Laundrie visited their attorney in Orlando on Thursday

The FBI is examining surveillance footage from the Fort De Soto Park campsite. A map shows the campsite's location to the Laundrie family home and the Carlton Reserve where authorities have focused their search and Laundrie's parents say he was headed

Police in Moab, Utah, responded to a 911 call from a bystander who said they had seen a man slapping a woman outside the Mayflower grocery store before driving off in a white van.

Bodycam footage from one Moab police officer was released on September 16.

That footage shows Petito telling the officer she slapped Laundrie, while he is seen showing the cop scratches on his face and arm, which he claims were caused when she 'hit me with her phone'.

The cops determined Petito was 'the primary aggressor' and separated them for the night.

Now, the release of the bodycam from the second officer casts new light on the incident and what the couple told cops. Key moments of the cops' chat with the couple was inaudible in the previously-released clip.

The two Moab police officers were also joined on the scene by two US Park Rangers, whose bodycam videos remain under wraps.

Meanwhile, FBI agents arrived at the Laundrie home in North Port, Florida, Thursday afternoon to collect personal items belonging to the 23-year-old to help in the hunt.

In the newly-released footage, Petit tells the officer Laundrie got 'frustrated' with her over her OCD and 'locked me out of the car.'

'I was just really stressed this morning trying to get a lot of work done and I was apologizing to him,' she says.

She tells the cop she was saying 'sorry' to her fiance because of her OCD which meant she was 'organizing stuff'.

'I get so stressed out. I have OCD and I was like organizing stuff and sometimes I get this mean attitude when I'm not trying to be mean and I was trying to straighten things out,' she says.

Police pulled over the couple's van in Moab, Utah, on August 12 following reports of a man hitting a woman

The new bodycam shows Petito telling the cop the cut on her face 'burns' before defending her fiance saying she 'hit him first' when he locked her out of their van and refused to let her in

Meanwhile, Laundrie is seen instantly defending himself and pushing the blame onto Petito as soon as the cop arrives on the scene

He claims Petito was 'really worked up' and that he 'was just trying to push her away' when asked about allegations he had hit her

Timeline of missing Gabby Petito's case July 2: Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie left Blue Point, New York for a cross-country road trip

Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie left Blue Point, New York for a cross-country road trip August 12: Police in Moab, Utah respond to a domestic incident involving the couple. Petito tells an officer Laundrie hit her but cops decide she is the primary aggressor

Police in Moab, Utah respond to a domestic incident involving the couple. Petito tells an officer Laundrie hit her but cops decide she is the primary aggressor Aug. 21: Petito's father, Joseph Petito, has his last FaceTime video call with his daughter who was in Salt Lake City, Utah

Petito's father, Joseph Petito, has his last FaceTime video call with his daughter who was in Salt Lake City, Utah Aug. 24: Petito is last seen at a hotel in Salt Lake City with Laundrie

Petito is last seen at a hotel in Salt Lake City with Laundrie Aug. 25: Petito makes final call to her mother, Nicole Schmidt, saying she was in Grand Teton National Park

Petito makes final call to her mother, Nicole Schmidt, saying she was in Grand Teton National Park Aug. 25 or 26: The couple chats with the owner of a shop called 'Rustic Row' in Victor, Utah for about 20 minutes

The couple chats with the owner of a shop called 'Rustic Row' in Victor, Utah for about 20 minutes Aug. 27: Video of Petito's van was taken by blogger Jenn Bethune, of Red White & Bethune, around 6.30 pm at the Spread Creek Campground; Petito's mom receives an 'odd text' from her phone

Video of Petito's van was taken by blogger Jenn Bethune, of Red White & Bethune, around 6.30 pm at the Spread Creek Campground; Petito's mom receives an 'odd text' from her phone Aug. 29: The day that Wisconsin TikToker Miranda Baker claimed that she and her boyfriend were approached by Laundrie at Grand Teton National Park and asked them for a ride at 5.30pm

The day that Wisconsin TikToker Miranda Baker claimed that she and her boyfriend were approached by Laundrie at Grand Teton National Park and asked them for a ride at 5.30pm Aug. 30: Petito's mom receives the last text from her phone: 'No service in Yosemite'

receives the last text from her phone: 'No service in Yosemite' Aug. 31: Laundrie's mother Roberta cancels a camping trip for 2 to Fort De Soto campsite for Sept. 1-3

Laundrie's mother Roberta cancels a camping trip for 2 to Fort De Soto campsite for Sept. 1-3 Sept. 1: Laundrie returns to his parents' home in North Port, Florida in the van without Petito; Laundrie visits sister Cassie at her home

Laundrie returns to his parents' home in North Port, Florida in the van without Petito; Laundrie visits sister Cassie at her home Sept. 4: According to his attorney, Laundrie purchases a new cell phone from a North Port AT&T store which he leaves at his home September 14 and is seized by the FBI

Sept. 6-8: Laundrie and his parents visit Fort De Soto campsite in Florida, records show. The family's lawyer says they stayed only from Sept. 6-7. Brian's sister Cassie joins them - reportedly for the day on Sept. 6

Laundrie and his parents visit Fort De Soto campsite in Florida, records show. The family's lawyer says they stayed only from Sept. 6-7. Brian's sister Cassie joins them - reportedly for the day on Sept. 6 Sept. 10: The Laundries' neighbor Karyn Roberts says she saw Laundrie at the family home

The Laundries' neighbor Karyn Roberts says she saw Laundrie at the family home Sept. 11: Petito's mom reports Petito missing to authorities in New York; Petito and Laundrie's van is impounded by police in Florida that same day but authorities are denied entry to their home to speak with Laundrie

Petito's mom reports Petito missing to authorities in New York; Petito and Laundrie's van is impounded by police in Florida that same day but authorities are denied entry to their home to speak with Laundrie Sept. 12: Grand Teton National Park rangers search for Petito

Grand Teton National Park rangers search for Petito Sept. 14: Laundrie issues a statement about Petito's disappearance through his lawyer; Laundrie reportedly buys a burner phone from an AT&T store in his hometown of North Port, Florida, with an 'older woman'; Laundrie is reportedly last seen by his parents leaving to go to the Carlton Reserve carrying a backpack

Laundrie issues a statement about Petito's disappearance through his lawyer; Laundrie reportedly buys a burner phone from an AT&T store in his hometown of North Port, Florida, with an 'older woman'; Laundrie is reportedly last seen by his parents leaving to go to the Carlton Reserve carrying a backpack Sept. 15: Laundrie is officially named a person of interest in Petito's case

Laundrie is officially named a person of interest in Petito's case Sept. 16: The August 12 domestic comes to light with bodycam from one officer released

The August 12 domestic comes to light with bodycam from one officer released Sept. 17: Laundrie family attorney confirms his whereabouts are unknown and that his parents last saw him Sept. 14; Cassie tells GMA she last saw him Sept. 1 and describes Petito as 'like a sister' to her

Laundrie family attorney confirms his whereabouts are unknown and that his parents last saw him Sept. 14; Cassie tells GMA she last saw him Sept. 1 and describes Petito as 'like a sister' to her Sept. 18: North Port police and the FBI start searching the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County for missing Brian Laundrie

North Port police and the FBI start searching the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County for missing Brian Laundrie Sept. 19: Bethune realizes she has video of Petito's van around 12am and submits the FBI with the footage 10 minutes later; Officials find a body near Grand Teton National Park that matches Petitos description

Bethune realizes she has video of Petito's van around 12am and submits the FBI with the footage 10 minutes later; Officials find a body near Grand Teton National Park that matches Petitos description Sept. 21: Coroner confirms remains found in Grand Tetons belong to Petito. Her death is ruled a homicide but her cause of death is still under investigation

Coroner confirms remains found in Grand Tetons belong to Petito. Her death is ruled a homicide but her cause of death is still under investigation Sept. 20 - 22: FBI and North Port police continue search for Laundrie in Carton Reserve

FBI and North Port police continue search for Laundrie in Carton Reserve Sept. 22 : Neighbors say they saw the Laundrie family pack up their detached camper on the day Gabby was reported missing. DailyMail.com photos show the camper was back in the driveway two days later, on September 13

: Neighbors say they saw the Laundrie family pack up their detached camper on the day Gabby was reported missing. DailyMail.com photos show the camper was back in the driveway two days later, on September 13 Sept. 23: FBI issues an arrest warrant for Laundrie for 'use of unauthorized access device' for fraudulently using a Capitol One Bank debit card that was not his between August 30 and September 1 to spend $1,000; A probe is launched into the police handling of the Utah police incident on Aug. 12; Laundrie's parents visit their attorney in Orlando

FBI issues an arrest warrant for Laundrie for 'use of unauthorized access device' for fraudulently using a Capitol One Bank debit card that was not his between August 30 and September 1 to spend $1,000; A probe is launched into the police handling of the Utah police incident on Aug. 12; Laundrie's parents visit their attorney in Orlando Sept. 25: Dog the Bounty Hunter joins the search for Laundrie

Dog the Bounty Hunter joins the search for Laundrie Sept. 26: A funeral is held for Petito in Holbrook, New York, and her family launch a charity to help parents find missing children

A funeral is held for Petito in Holbrook, New York, and her family launch a charity to help parents find missing children Sept. 27: Manhunt for Laundrie in the Carlton Reserve is scaled back after 10 day search doesn't find him. Dog the Bounty Hunter says Laundrie and his parents stayed at Fort De Soto Park from September 1-3 and September 6-8 - and that on the latter visit only the parents left

Manhunt for Laundrie in the Carlton Reserve is scaled back after 10 day search doesn't find him. Dog the Bounty Hunter says Laundrie and his parents stayed at Fort De Soto Park from September 1-3 and September 6-8 - and that on the latter visit only the parents left Sept. 28: Laundrie's mom is accused of using a burner phone to contact her son

Laundrie's mom is accused of using a burner phone to contact her son Sept. 29: Documents reveal Laundrie's mom canceled a reservation for the Fort De Soto Park campsite for two from September 1 to 3 and booked for three from September 6 to 8; FBI seizes surveillance footage from site; FBI investigates lead Laundrie bought a burner phone on September 14; Dog the Bounty Hunter searches the area near Fort De Soto finding a recently drunk can of Monster Energy at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods

Documents reveal Laundrie's mom canceled a reservation for the Fort De Soto Park campsite for two from September 1 to 3 and booked for three from September 6 to 8; FBI seizes surveillance footage from site; FBI investigates lead Laundrie bought a burner phone on September 14; Dog the Bounty Hunter searches the area near Fort De Soto finding a recently drunk can of Monster Energy at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods Sept. 30: Bodycam footage from a second officer at the August 12 incident is released showing a distressed Petito admitting Laundrie hit her; FBI agents collect more evidence from the Laundrie home

Bodycam footage from a second officer at the August 12 incident is released showing a distressed Petito admitting Laundrie hit her; FBI agents collect more evidence from the Laundrie home Oct. 1: It emerges Laundrie's sister had contact with him after she said she did. The Laundrie family said they believe he is alive somewhere in Florida

It emerges Laundrie's sister had contact with him after she said she did. The Laundrie family said they believe he is alive somewhere in Florida Oct. 2: Petito's mother creates a new Twitter account and calls for Laundrie to turn himself into authorities in an 'angry' tweet. It is revealed that Petito's family tried to report her missing to North Port Police Department on September 10 but were told to file a report in her last known location Advertisement

'And I was just apologizing but I guess I said it in like a mean tone and he got really frustrated with me, and he locked me out of the car and told me to go take a breather, but I didn't want to take a breather.'

'And I wanted to get going. We're out of water.'

Petito tells the cop Laundrie wouldn't let her back in their van which made her 'really mad.'

The officer questions Petito about marks on her face and arm, which he says 'looks like someone might have hit you in the face.'

'Is there something on your cheek here?' he says. 'Did you get hit in the face?'

Petito is seen lifting her hand up to her face and replying: 'Erm.'

'It kinda looks like someone might have hit you in the face?' the cop asks again.

'And then over on your arm - your shoulder right here that's new huh? You have a new mark.'

Petito looks at her arm and then back at the cop, replying: 'Yeah I don't know.'

The officer asks to see the other side of her face and asks her what happened.

Petito claims at first that Laundrie's backpack struck her before finally admitting her grabbed her face and cut her with his nail.

'I'm not sure,' she says.

'It was happening really fast. I was trying to get back in the car and his backpack got me.'

The cop presses Petito questioning her backpack theory and telling her two witnesses reported seeing Laundrie 'hit' or 'punch' her.

Petito tells the officer she 'hit him first.'

'Well to be honest I definitely hit him first,' she says, telling the cop she 'slapped him a couple times.'

The cop asks what Laundrie's reaction was to that, to which she replies 'to grab my arm.'

'Did he hit you though?' the officer asks, telling Petito they are trying to get to the truth.

'I guess,' she says, becoming more tearful as she makes the admission.

'I guess, yea. But I hit him first.'

'Where did he hit you?' the officer replies. 'Don't worry, just be honest.'

Petito tries to defend Laundrie insisting: 'He didn't like hit me in the face.

'He didn't like punch me in the face or anything.'

The cop replies: 'Did he slap your face, or what?'

At this point, Petito says Laundrie 'grabbed me with his nail' and makes a grabbing motion on her face.

'Well he like, grabbed me with his nail, and I guess that's why it looks, I definitely have a cut right here,' she says.

'I can feel it, when I touch it, it burns.'

In the footage, the cop also calls the witness to run through what he had seen at the Mayflower.

The witness says he saw the couple 'sort of arguing a bit' and it seemed they were 'squabbling over a phone.'

'I want to say that he was trying to take her phone,' he says.

Petito's cellphone has never been found since her disappearance and death.

Laundrie, meanwhile, is now suspected of buying a burner phone on September 14 - the day he was reportedly last seen by his parents before he took off.

The witness tells the cop Laundrie 'wasn't letting her' in the van so she 'hit him a few times', he says.

The witness says it 'wasn't like a punch to the face' but more like 'children fighting.'

However, he adds that 'it seemed like something was off - a weird vibe.'

'Did you ever see the male strike the female?' the cop asks.

'I think I saw maybe a push or a shove, but not a full on punch to a face or anything,' the witness says.

'You did see her slapping him though it sounds like?' the cop asks.

'Yes,' the witness replies.

The very beginning of the footage reveals the moment the cop arrived on the scene and approached the driver's side of the door.

Laundrie is seen inside while Petito is no longer in the passenger seat after the officer's colleague asked her to step out.

The 23-year-old is seen instantly defending himself to the officer.

The cop is heard telling Laundrie that police had received a 911 call about 'a male hitting a female' and then taking off in their white van.

Laundrie looks toward the passenger sear and stumbles over his words holding his hands up.

'I - I - I don't want to try to defend myself by saying anything here but I pushed her away,' he tells the officer.

'She gets really worked up, and when she does she swings and she had her cell phone in her hand. So I was just trying to push her away.'

He then looks through the passenger door window and asks if the officers 'are talking to my fiancee.'

The first bodycam video of the incident revealed that the cops agreed Petito was 'the primary aggressor' and it was Laundrie who said he didn't want to pursue charges against her.

Petito's body was discovered around one month later after Laundrie returned home from their campervan trip alone.

Cops were called to Florida home of Brian Laundrie's parents TWICE on the day BEFORE Gabby Petito was reported missing and three more 911 calls were made over the next 24 hours

Police in North Port, Florida received two 911 calls connected to the home of fugitive Brian Laundrie's parents on September 10  the day before his fiancee, Gabby Petito, 22, was reported missing.

The were both 'public service' calls, with the first placed just before 4pm and the second around 6.30pm, according to police logs provided to DailyMail.com.

It is unclear who called 911 or what those calls entailed as the logs have been partially redacted. However, both calls have been given the brief description of 'problem settled'.

Officers also received three calls connected to the residence on September 11, the day Petito's mother filed a missing persons' report for the 22-year-old.

Those incidents were listed as 'follow up/investigation' and 'agency assist.'

Response to the calls was described as 'problem settled,' 'no police action needed' and 'report submitted'.

Police received two 'public service' 911 calls connected to Brian Laundrie's parents' North Port, Florida home the day before Gabby Petito was reported missing (Pictured: Police at the Laundrie family home on September 24)

Police tape is seen outside the Laundrie family home on September 22

At least 46 emergency calls were made in connection to the residence for various reasons between September 10 and September 27 including 'missing person,' 'disturbance,' 'follow up/investigation,' 'agency assist,' 'special detail,' 'patrol check' and 'public service'.

The provided records indicate that officers most recently received a call connected to the home on Monday at 5.10pm, with calls placed earlier in the day at 8.06am, 8.28am, 1.29pm, 2.45pm and 4.13pm.

North Port police visited the home on September 14, 15 and 16, as well as twice on September 17.

Laundrie's parents reported him missing on September 17, saying they hadn't seen him since the 14.

FBI agents arrived at the Laundrie home in North Port, Florida, Thursday afternoon to collect personal items belonging to the 23-year-old to help in the hunt.

DailyMail.com saw the agents arrive in a black Chevrolet Tahoe SUV and walk purposefully to the front door, where they were let in. One of the agents was carrying a large paper bag and an evidence receipt as he walked inside the home.

The Laundries' attorney Steve Bertolino told DailyMail.com: 'The FBI is at the Laundrie home today to collect some personal items belonging to Brian that will assist the canines in their search for Brian. There is nothing more to this.'

Two FBI agents arrived at the Laundrie home in North Port, Florida, this afternoon to collect missing Brian Laundrie's things for their investigation into his disappearance and the murder of Gabby Petito

DailyMail.com saw the agents arrive in a black Chevrolet Tahoe SUV and walk purposefully to the front door, where they were let in

In recent days, the search has turned to the Fort De Soto National Park, 75 miles from the Laundrie home in Florida, after it emerged Laundrie stayed there with his parents after returning home from the campervan trip without Petito.

New details emerged Wednesday about the camping trip which took place days before Petito was reported missing and around one week before he went on the run.

Documents obtained by Fox News reveal Brian's mom changed her reservation for the campsite to three people from September 6 to September 8, after Brian returned home early from his and Gabby's campervan trip early and alone.

On August 31, she also reportedly canceled a stay for two people from September 1 to 3, suggestion she may have known Brian was heading home the next day.

The FBI is now examining surveillance footage from the Fort De Soto Park campsite where the family's attorney admitted the trio visited and Dog the Bounty Hunter believes Brian could be hiding out.

During a ground search on Wednesday, Dog  real name Duane Chapman, 68  discovered a fresh campsite on Florida's Shell Island as a plane flew a sign taunting the 23-year-old fugitive.

Dog the Bounty Hunter and his team recovered a can of Monster Energy Ultra Gold which appeared to have been freshly drunk at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods at Shell Island along the coastline Wednesday

The TV reality star flew a banner with a message for Gabby Petito's boyfriend: 'Aloha Brian Laundrie'. The banner flown over the islands off the western coast of Florida

The banner, which Dog said he was not responsible for, read: 'Aloha Brian Laundrie - Dog.'

'Frankly, I wish I had thought of that, but it wasn't our team,' Dog wrote on his Instagram page. 'I'd love to shake the hand of whoever is behind the banner, I'll tell you that.'

Dog and his team recovered a can of Monster Energy Ultra Gold which appeared to have been freshly drunk at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods at Shell Island along the coastline Wednesday, Fox News reported.

However, the team did not find solid evidence suggesting that Laundrie is in the woods on Egmont Key, which is located southwest of Fort De Soto Park.

Federal investigators are also following a lead that Brian bought a burner phone from an AT&T store in North Port on the day he went missing in an outing where he was joined by 'an older woman'.

Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie are pictured together during their doomed cross-country trip. He is now on the run

Laundrie and Petito set off on a cross-country trip back on July 2 and were documenting their travels on YouTube.

Petito was last seen alive on August 24 leaving a motel in Salt Lake City, Utah, with Laundrie and last spoke to her mom by phone the following day.

Her family said they believe texts from her phone after then were 'suspicious.'

Brian returned to his home in North Port alone on September 1 driving the couple's campervan.

Petito was reported missing on September 11 by her family and her body was discovered in a campsite near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on September 19.

Her death has been ruled a homicide but the cause of death is not yet clear.

Brian refused to speak to authorities during a week-long search for his missing girlfriend.

On September 17, his parents told police they hadn't seen him in three days when he headed for a hike at the nearby Carlton Reserve.

He has been missing ever since and was named a person of interest in Petito's homicide.

A warrant is out for his arrest for allegedly fraudulently spending $1,000 on Petito's Capitol One Bank debit card between August 30 and September 1.

A manhunt for him has so far proved unsuccessful.
You could blame the madness of crowds. But a more appropriate explanation for the petrol crisis that has gripped Britain this week is, perhaps, the butterfly effect.

This scientific concept holds that something insignificant can, in certain circumstances, spark an unfortunate series of events that will eventually lead to major disaster. So an insect flapping its wings in Brazil could, in theory, end up causing a deadly tornado in the American Midwest.

A very similar phenomenon has played out across Britain in recent days, after a single TV news report suggesting that a handful of BP outlets were running low on fuel went viral on social media. It led to UK motorists being unable to buy petrol or diesel, despite a perfectly normal amount of the stuff being in the country.

So what really triggered this bizarre mess? And, perhaps more importantly, who is to blame?

You could blame the madness of crowds. But a more appropriate explanation for the petrol crisis that has gripped Britain this week is, perhaps, the butterfly effect

That question is being mulled over at the highest level of government. I can reveal that ministers have ordered a full-scale inquiry into what they regard as the reckless leak at the centre of the aforementioned TV news report.

Carried out by the Cabinet Office, it will investigate claims (which, it must be said, are vigorously disputed) that the fuel crisis came about because opponents of Brexit decided to share a partial and somewhat misleading account of events at a supposedly secret meeting between civil servants and industry. The leak has caused tremendous anger in government, including at prime ministerial level, says a senior government source. It led to serious disruption which damaged the British economy and endangered public health in a way that was reckless and entirely unjustified, so we need to find who was responsible and ensure something like this never happens again.

The probe, to be carried out by civil servants, will see every person who attended the aforementioned meeting called to give evidence.

They will be formally asked whether they divulged information, who they might have spoken to or contacted, and whether they have any idea how this became public, adds the source. Its a sort of interrogation, in that there will be a couple of people cross-examining them, and their job will be to find out exactly why so many people have suffered this week.

At the centre of the inquiry are suspicions that the leak was politically motivated and, by extension, that the crisis (which, in addition to inconveniencing millions of motorists, saw NHS operations cancelled and left ambulances unable to operate) was deliberately engineered to further a political agenda.

Pictured: A brawl breaking out at a fuel station as people flocked to garage's to fill up their vehicles

Whatever it concludes, a good portion of the associated dispute will  like so much that is toxic about todays public discourse  revolve around Brexit.

To understand why, we must wind the clock back to September 16, when civil servants hosted the meeting with several major employers who are struggling to recruit sufficient HGV drivers. Industry bodies have claimed that the UK is between 75,000 and 100,000 drivers short, while the Government puts the figure at around 35,000.

To blame are a multitude of factors, including a global shortage (Poland needs 120,000 more and Germany 60,000), Covid (which saw 40,000 HGV driving tests cancelled last year), and changes to tax laws that make it harder for drivers to be paid via service companies, causing some older employees to take early retirement.

Brexit is also to blame, though perhaps not as squarely as some have suggested. According to the Office for National Statistics, around 12,000 EU drivers have left the UK since 2016. That equates to roughly 4 per cent of the countrys total HGV workforce, where numbers stand at 275,000, down from 320,000 in the past five years.

Tesco, McDonalds and Amazon were invited to send a representative to the September 16 Cabinet Office talks, which took place via Zoom, to discuss their concerns. Also on the call, which lasted 90 minutes, were senior executives from Unilever, BP and trucking giant Eddie Stobart, plus trade groups representing the trucking industry: Logistics UK and the Road Haulage Association (RHA).

It was held under the Chatham House Rule: a convention designed to allow participants to speak freely on the understanding that their remarks will be regarded as off the record and will under no circumstances be made public. Yet at some point in the ensuing six days, at least one participant decided blithely to ignore those rules by leaking a relatively detailed account of proceedings to ITV.

A very similar phenomenon has played out across Britain in recent days, after a single TV news report suggesting that a handful of BP outlets were running low on fuel went viral on social media. It led to UK motorists being unable to buy petrol or diesel, despite a perfectly normal amount of the stuff being in the country

On Wednesday last week, the television network carried a report claiming that Tescos representative at the meeting, Andrew Woolfenden, had revealed that the supermarket chain has a shortfall of 800 HGV drivers. He allegedly said this could lead to empty shelves and panic-buying.

Also quoted in the dispatch was Katherine Mercer of Amazon (predicting that the festive season will be a real challenge) and Beth Hart of McDonalds, saying that shortages of some ingredients are impacting on menus.

The following nights ITV report alleged that BP was preparing to ration fuel deliveries as some petrol stations close over supply problems. It focused on remarks made by the oil firms head of retail, Hanna Hofer, at the supposedly secret Zoom meeting.

It accurately claimed she had described the situation on forecourts as bad, very bad, saying that fuel stocks were at two-thirds of normal and declining rapidly, and adding that BP was preparing to restrict deliveries very soon.

The ITV report failed to quote remarks by Ms Hofer later in the meeting clarifying the relatively minor nature of the shortages that BP was facing.

A source with knowledge of her full contribution says she stressed that the firm had been successfully managing a shortage of roughly 40 drivers (equating to around 10 per cent of its workforce) for several months. She added that it was having a barely noticeable effect at the pumps, with just five of BPs roughly 1,200 garages actually running out of fuel each day.

Pictured: A long line of cars sit queuing in Richmond as they wait their turn to fill up on fuel

Its unclear whether ITVs reporter Joel Hills was aware of these particular caveats when he produced his dispatch. He does not appear to have been passed a full transcript or recording of the meeting, and it is of course entirely possible that his source failed to mention them.

But while he may not be remotely to blame  it is, after all, every journalists duty to obtain and report information that is clearly in the public interest  it remains an important fact that the figures did not feature in the version of events presented to viewers.

The audience was told that BP was experiencing tens of outages. Some might have wrongly assumed that the thick end of 100 stations were running dry. All of which may go some way to explaining why the report gained traction  and began to panic motorists in the process.

Another significant factor in sending the BP report viral was the energetic contribution of prominent anti-Brexit campaigners. They began gleefully sharing ITVs report within minutes of publication. Inevitably, and almost entirely wrongly, they sought to claim that BPs driver shortage had been largely caused by Britains departure from the EU.

Brexit is now leading to fuel rationing, claimed Lord Adonis, the Labour peer, on Twitter.

One of the hundreds of people who shared tweets by Mr Hills promoting the report remarked: Well done to everyone who voted Brexit, Muppets. And so on.

Pictured: A forecourt at a petrol station in Richmond is packed with cars as drivers flocked to refill their motors

On the night of September 23, as queues started to form on forecourts, Rod McKenzie, a spokesman for the RHA, appeared on Sky News and the BBCs Newsnight to discuss the revelation.

As BP closes sites due to a lack of drivers, the Road Haulage Associations Rod McKenzie says issues are down to Brexit, the pandemic and a historic shortage of drivers, claimed the BBC. McKenzies contribution raised eyebrows in government, where the RHA  which represents haulage firms rather than lorry drivers  is seen as being ideologically opposed to Brexit.

The association says it has been warning the Government for years that the long-running driver shortage risked causing a crisis, especially in the aftermath of Brexit.

Whoever is in the right in this row, the RHA was suspected of leaking details of the meeting to ITV in order to pressure the Government into allowing members to recruit from overseas.

We believed that it was them, says a government source. Firstly, its about motive. No one else round that table stood to benefit from making that information public, aside from the RHA who want EU drivers back in force because they are addicted to cheap European labour and find it painful having to contemplate increasing wages. In fact, one of the things that makes it so reprehensible is that other participants in the meeting stood to be severely damaged by their remarks getting out.

Secondly, we know the RHA have form for leaking other meetings with government. Theyve done it before when they were the only ones in the room!

Grant Shapps [Transport Secretary] has had one-on-one briefings with them in the past where things that were said ended up being made public almost straight away, angering the Speaker of the House because it meant information appeared in the Press before it was shared at the despatch box. You dont have to be Sherlock Holmes to work out how that happened.

Five more energy firms may go bust By Francesca Washtell City Correspondent for the Daily Mail Five more small energy suppliers may be on the brink as industry regulator Ofgem chases them for 7million in missing payments. It came as the energy price cap was raised by 139 a year yesterday in a blow to millions of households, with the winter heating season beginning. The crisis in the energy market has seen 12 suppliers go bust so far this year, nine of them last month. The payments Ofgem is seeking from the five firms are for the renewables obligation programme, and falling behind on these can be a sign that a company is in trouble. The scheme is designed to support green power projects and requires suppliers to demonstrate they have sourced enough of their electricity from renewable resources. Ofgem said the firms had missed the initial deadline of September 1 and none had made any guarantees that they would make the necessary payments by the new cut-off date of October 31. If they do not pay, the regulator said it could start the process of revoking their licences to supply energy. It added: In all instances Ofgem will seek to secure the best outcomes for consumers and the wider energy market. Ampoweruk owes the most, according to Ofgem, with an outstanding bill of 3.6million. Goto Energy owes 2.5million, while Colorado Energy owes 883,000. Business-only provider Whoop Energy owes 56,300 and Home Energy Trading 2,500. Advertisement

Im told that suspicions were heightened by the fact Duncan Buchanan, the RHA executive who was on the fateful Zoom call, made almost identical remarks during that discussion as the lines that were briefed to ITV. Both he and Mr McKenzie, a former BBC journalist, have therefore found themselves thrown into the firing line.

Grant Shapps, in an interview with Sky News last weekend, made the allegation in person: There was a meeting which took place about ten days ago, a private meeting in which one of the haulage associations decided to leak the details to media, he said.

In response to the claims, the RHA has issued a vigorous denial that McKenzie was responsible. Insiders there believe they are being scapegoated in order to shift public blame away from incompetent ministers and civil servants.

Firstly, Rod McKenzie was not in the meeting where the BP issue was discussed, the RHA says. Secondly, he is not the source of the leak. The first he heard of the comments was when journalists rang him asking for comment after the ITV News story had been broadcast.

He was not, as the government source claimed, aware of the comments and certainly did not weaponise them in subsequent TV interviews. Indeed, he repeatedly stressed the need not to panic-buy and that there were adequate fuel stocks.

It is also completely untrue to say that the RHA leaks every meeting we have with them. The RHA believes this disgraceful attack on a member of its staff is an attempt to divert attention away from their recent handling of the driver shortage crisis.

Buchanan has also denied responsibility for the leak.

We have a huge degree of confidence that the RHA is to blame, says a senior government source. Because the investigation is for now a Cabinet Office thing rather than a full public inquiry, we cant at this stage compel them to come and give evidence, and we also cant get the suspects to hand over their phones. But we arent ruling that out, so we assume they will co-operate fully.

Doubtless, they will. For a nation of motorists who bore the brunt of this weeks surreal and entirely unnecessary fuel crisis surely deserve a proper explanation.

A spokesperson for ITV News said: 'The ITV News story was verified by multiple sources and is entirely accurate.

'Rights of reply were sent to both BP and the Cabinet outlining everything that would be included in the final article.

'Both parties responded, expressing no concern about accuracy or it being misleading. ITV News robustly defends its journalism.'
Morales began hosting Today Show West Coast in 2016 and joined Dateline as an official correspondent last year

She is set to replace Sharon Osbourne on The Talk after Osbourne left the show earlier this year due to a racial heated episode that left her 'cancelled'

'I'm eternally grateful for the support and deep friendships that will remain no matter where our paths lead,' Morales said

She will continue to appear on Dateline's 30th season for the rest of year

Natalie Morales will be stepping down from NBC's Today Show and Dateline after a 22-year career on the network

Natalie Morales is off to save 'The Talk' after Sharon Osbourne's disastrous exit from the show, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The West Coast host of NBC's Today Show and Dateline correspondent announced on Friday that she would be stepping down from NBC News after a 22 year career.

Morales, 49, said she would be pursuing a new opportunity as she steps down from the Today show and will wrap up her work on Dateline in the coming weeks.

She will continue to appear on Dateline's 30th season throughout the rest of year.

DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal that Morales is heading to The Talk.

'We need to save the show after the disastrous exit of Sharon Osbourne,' a CBS source told DailyMail.com.

'Natalie is a beloved star of news and her gravitas can help us turn The Talk around.

Another CBS source said: 'With Natalie joining Jerry, we believe we have the opportunity to float and fix a sinking ship.'

NBC declined to comment. DailyMail.com has reached out to CBS for comment.

Natalie Morales announced she would be stepping down from NBC after 22 years

Morales will be replacing Sharon Osbourne on The Talk after the co-host stepped down earlier this year amid controversy of alleged racism

Morales, center, pictured with her Today Show family, served as the shows West Coast host

Morales interviewed a plethora of guests during her run, including Jay Leno, pictured in 2019

Morales said in a statement on Friday: 'To my Dateline and Today show families, it's very hard to say goodbye and we all know in this business it's never goodbye but see you later. I'm eternally grateful for the support and deep friendships that will remain no matter where our paths lead,' Morales said in statement.

'I struggle to find the right words and there are way too many people I need to thank for a wonderful career at NBC News.'

Morales will be moving on to The Talk to replace Osbourne who was ousted from the show earlier this year after a racially charged discussion with fellow co-host Sheryl Underwood.

Osbourne claimed the incident was orchestrated to make her look like a racist for defending long-time friend Pierce Morgan, who had himself been called a racist for criticizing Duchess Meghan Markle.

Osbourne lost her job on The Talk and was effectively 'canceled' by social media, leading to a series of death threats against her and her family.

She told DailyMail.com that she was forced to hire 24 hour security and underwent months of ketamine therapy to deal with the trauma.

Telling her side: Sharon Osbourne sat down exclusively with DailyMailTV for her first in-depth interview since her shock exit from The Talk this year amid controversy over purported racist comments

Morales began working for NBC at their WVIT affiliate station in Hartford, Connecticut before moving on to serve as an anchor and correspondent for MSNBC from 2002 to 2006.

Through the early half of her career, Morales covered the 2000 Presidential election, the September 11 terrorists attacks, Operation Iraqi Freedom, the 2003 Northeast Blackout.

Morales joined the Today show in 2006 as a national correspondent before being named a co-anchor in 2008. She eventually replaced Ann Curry as the official news anchor for Today in 2011.

In 2016, Morales made the move to the West Coast to host Access and became the Today Show West Anchor.

Although she stepped away from hosting Access in 2019, Morales remained as the West Coast host and in 2020, it was announced that she would join Dateline as an official correspondent.

Morales joined friends and colleges Lester Holt, Andrea Canning, Dennis Murphy, Josh Mankiewicz and Keith Morrison on Dateline.

Morales, left, and Today Show colleague Jenna Bush Hager interviewed chef John Fraser in 2019 during one of Today's many segments

Morales, pictured with Al Roker, left, and Craig Melvin, led Today West Coast for five years

During her time as one of the biggest names in NBC, Morales covered the 2011 royal wedding between the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the 2012 Boston Marathon bombing and the 2017 Las Vegas massacre.

Morales, who speaks both Spanish and Portuguese fluently, also translated the 2010 Chilean miner rescue to Americans glued to their TVs, which helped NBC earn the 2010 National Headliner Award.

Morales herself has won three Daytime Emmy Awards as part of the Today team, as well as a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and three Gracie Awards for outstanding reporting.

Morales said, 'This first half of my life has been one full of adventure, challenges, travel, way too many early wake up calls, and yes opportunities to witness history unfold and to tell inspiring and impactful stories that will always be in my mind's highlight reel.

'Speaking of that reel: I watched my family grow up along with so many of your own children, and as my oldest son gets ready to spread his wings and head to college soon, so too do I feel the time is right, (before the second half of my life) to spread my own wings and to pursue a new adventure. '

'I'm eternally grateful for the support and deep friendships that will remain no matter where our paths lead. I have so much to be thankful for and for every one of you who helped me get here muchisimas gracias mis amigos.'
Wayne Couzens was named as a suspect in a sex offence 72 hours before he killed Sarah Everard, it emerged for the first time last night.

The revelation came as former Met Commissioner Lord Stevens heaped pressure on Cressida Dick, saying she must ask herself if she bears any responsibility for the failures in the case.

CCTV evidence of a car involved in an alleged flashing incident at a drive-thru McDonald's in February this year generated the name 'Wayne Couzens' as a suspect on Metropolitan Police systems  and provided his address.

Wayne Couzens was named as a suspect in a sex offence 72 hours before he killed Sarah Everard

But officers failed to realise that he was a serving officer and further inquiries were not made until after Miss Everard's disappearance on March 3.

And last night, a former head of Scotland Yard said police chief Dame Cressida must be held accountable for an 'appalling series of blunders' in the case.

In a stinging rebuke Lord Stevens, who served as Met Commissioner between 2000 and 2005, said: 'You have to look at yourself and say can I continue? Can I continue with confidence?

'Can I continue in way that brings around the change that's necessary to make the public feel safe  and in this particular instance, women safe. And further, have we got people in the police service who should not be there?'

It came as damning new claims emerged about Met police blunders.

It had been known that Couzens' car was reported by staff at a McDonald's restaurant in Swanley, Kent, after two female workers said they had been flashed by a motorist there on February 7 and again on February 27. The complaint was made on February 28.

A former head of Scotland Yard said police chief Dame Cressida must be held accountable for an 'appalling series of blunders'

But last night it emerged the CCTV evidence showing his number plate had actually brought up Couzens' name as a suspect on Met police systems.

Yesterday a McDonald's worker who was flashed by the sexual predator blasted officers for 'not acting quickly enough'. The worker, who did not want to be named, said: 'The police took our statements and took away CCTV. If they had taken this more seriously, they could easily have figured out that he was a policeman who had committed these crimes.

'The police had three days to stop him but didn't. It could have stopped him from doing a lot worse.'

Lord Stevens stopped short of calling for Dame Cressida's resignation, but suggested she could not restore faith in Britain's biggest police force after Couzens, one of her officers, was sentenced to a whole life term for the murder of Miss Everard  a 33-year-old marketing executive.

Former Met Commissioner Lord Stevens heaped pressure on Cressida Dick, saying she must ask herself if she bears any responsibility

He also criticised the force's vetting procedures describing them as 'not fit for purpose' following an 'extraordinary story of blunders' that allowed a man nicknamed 'the rapist' to join the force. Vetting officers failed to check Couzens' vehicle record, which would have revealed a link to an indecent exposure in Kent in 2015 when Couzens was reported by a male motorist driving around naked from the waist down.

Met Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave has said Couzens would still have got into the force even if vetting officers had known because Kent Police failed to identify Couzens  then one of their own special constables  as the driver and decided it did not merit any further action.

Lord Stevens told LBC: 'The fact that [Couzens] in 2015 was seen to be driving around without any clothes on from his waist downwards, the fact he was called a rapist, the fact that he was a really strange individual, I mean there is no way that that man should have been given a gun... the vetting process is obviously not fit for the purpose.'

It has emerged that Couzens allegedly shared highly offensive sexual messages abusing women on a WhatsApp group with five serving officers, including three from the Met, just months after he joined the force.

Policing Minister Kit Malthouse warned the police faced a long road to regaining public trust. He said the murder had 'struck a devastating blow to the confidence that people have in police officers but also in the Met police in particular.'

A Met spokesman said: 'The Met received an allegation of indecent exposure some 72 hours before Sarah was abducted. That crime was allocated for investigation but by the time of Sarah's abduction it was not concluded.'

Metropolitan Police officers who traded sick Whatsapp messages with Sarah Everard's murderer Wayne Couzens are still on duty

Two Metropolitan Police officers who swapped highly offensive messages with murderer Wayne Couzens are still on duty, it emerged last night.

The constables are alleged to have been part of a WhatsApp group involving officers from three forces who fell under investigation after Couzens's phone was seized following his arrest.

It is claimed they have been left on duty even after being placed under criminal investigation for allegedly exchanging sexist and racist messages with the sexual predator.

Two Metropolitan Police officers who swapped highly offensive messages with murderer Wayne Couzens are still on duty

The revelation will raise fresh concerns about a culture of misogyny in the force and the adequacy of officer vetting procedures.

It also raises questions about further missed opportunities to investigate Couzens earlier.

Yesterday Sue Fish, a former chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police, criticised the Met's decision not to suspend the officers under investigation. 'That beggars belief. That clearly demonstrates the Met does not get it... does not get the seriousness,' she told the Guardian.

The Met's decision contrasts with the actions of other forces who have suspended officers while the investigation continues.

According to the police watchdog, the alleged 'vile' messages denigrating women started in March 2019, just months after Couzens joined Scotland Yard in September 2018.

Met Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave has admitted that vetting procedures were not followed properly when Couzens joined.

Officers failing to carry out a check on his vehicle which would have linked the killer to an indecent exposure report in 2015.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is looking at dozens of messages exchanged between the group of officers including constables from the Civil Nuclear and Norfolk constabularies between March and October 2019.

Sue Fish, a former chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police, criticised the Met's decision not to suspend the officers under investigation

At the time, Couzens was working in Bromley, south-east London, for Safer Neighbourhood Teams before he transferred to the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in 2020.

Yesterday it emerged the IOPC has decided not to investigate Couzens, instead concentrating on serving officers accused of sending discriminatory and inappropriate messages and failing to challenge Couzens.

A spokesman for the IOPC said: 'Due to the criminal charges being faced and subsequent guilty pleas by Wayne Couzens for the murder, kidnap and rape of Sarah Everard, it was not thought to be appropriate to investigate him as a subject in a conduct investigation.'

Yesterday the Met said two constables had been placed on restricted duties. A third former Met officer is also under investigation.

Yesterday Lord Paddick, a former Met deputy assistant commissioner and now the Lib Dems' home affairs spokesman in the House of Lords, said there needs to be a 'cultural change' in the Met.

'I wouldn't go so far as to call it institutional misogyny, but I would describe it as widespread sexism within the force, and we need police leaders to acknowledge prejudice within the police service,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Norfolk Constabulary said: 'We can confirm the officer has been suspended from duty while the allegations are under investigation.'

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary said: 'The officer in question was suspended from duty in August as soon as we were informed of the IOPC investigation.'
Dinner with my son Sacha at The Ivy. Supposed to be joined by [producer] Gary Pudney, but he doesnt call or show. Thats Hollywood, folks.

At the next table is Jennifer Aniston, the current creme de la creme heartthrob of Friends. Ive never seen such slender arms. Also at the next table is an unrecognisable Cheryl Tiegs. Why do women over 40 think they can go around wearing no make-up?

I am wearing my new simple look. Since Hollywood has embraced this in a big way, you leave the pearls and the glitz and the diamonds and the big hair at home. This is a bit difficult for me as I rather like it.

Joan Collins, 88, (pictured) dishes tales from her new memoir My Unapologetic Diaries as she documents dinners and events with her celebrity friends in London and Hollywood in the 90s

November 25, 1996

The British Consul General, Mr Merrick Baker-Bates called with a message for me: Mr Major would like to know how you would feel about accepting an OBE  Order of the British Empire. My mouth dropped open.

I mean, this does not exactly happen to a girl every day. Considering that Im not having the greatest success with my career right now, it gave me a very optimistic feeling.

December 3

Off with the old, and on with the new. Thats two agents Ive fired in as many weeks.

December 24

Huge party at Aaron Spellings. I like Aaron, but one cannot take anything he says seriously. Neither can one take anything any television executives say seriously. They are as fickle as amoeba, constantly changing and moving with the tide.

The Spelling house was so gorgeously decorated that it seemed strange the food was just chicken sandwiches and cold cuts from Nate N Als. Cant they afford a chef?

Afterwards went to Stefanie Powers party and bumped into David Niven Jnr, Judy Quine and darling Sydney Guilaroff, the famous hairdresser from MGM. He was very sweet, and he is nearly blind. He even did Garbo.

We reminisced about The Opposite Sex, when I sat in the hair and make-up room with Liz Taylor, Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner. I was so shy I couldnt speak.

January 12, 1997

A lot has happened on the Aaron Spelling front. Dined with Aaron and [Dynasty clothes designer] Nolan Miller, Candy Spelling and Joanne Carson [ex-wife of television host Johnny Carson] at Spago [Beverly Hills restaurant].

Aaron said that he wanted me very much to be in Pacific Palisades and that my agent Tom Chasin was an idiot. He said I must fire my agent and go to CAA.

Instead of giving me $40,000 an episode, he would give me $45,000!

I said, OK, why not!

Aaron was terribly excited and made this toast: My babys back with me again.

I think he was a little drunk, but nevertheless he can be very sweet. But I also think that moneys the only thing that matters to people in La La Land.

January 13

Today the goalposts have been moved a bit. Its only three episodes. Plus my agent informs me that when reminded hed agreed to the 45 thou an episode, Aaron said, Absolutely not, I only agreed on 40.

Im completely stunned by this turnaround since Aaron did say he would pay 45 in front of a whole group at Spago. Thats Hollywood, folks. I guess Ill bite the bullet, although Im quite shattered by the fact Aaron can lie so blatantly.

Movie queen: She writes that in December 1996, she fired two agents in two weeks. Pictured: Joan and Lucky Vanous in Pacific Palisades (1997)

January 25  New York

Bumped into Gert-Rudolf (Muck) Flick, a scion like his younger brother Friedrich Christian (Mick) of the Flick family of German industrialists. Tall, good-looking and very sure of himself. He asked me out and I said maybe!

January 26

Jeffrey [Lane] and I went to Muck Flicks apartment for drinks. Lo and behold, when we went into his library every bookshelf was filled only with copies of my memoir Second Act. There must have been at least 1,000. I was very flattered, and slightly embarrassed. I signed a couple of copies. Then Muck asked me if he could throw a dinner party for me in London to celebrate receiving my OBE, as hes a fan. I said yes, and he told me to put together a guest-list. Sounds great.

February 8

The last three weeks have been a total whirl. True to his word, Aaron Spelling called and told me to contact Steve Tellez from CAA. Which I duly did. CAA is the top agency in town and I had been told previously they were not interested in little old me. However, a word from Aaron and suddenly things change.

February 28  London

Lunch with Muck Flick at Harrys Bar. He still wants to give a party for me on March 11 to celebrate my OBE, but wants to uninvite Adrian Gill and his girlfriend Nicola Formby.

This is because Adrian, who is the Sunday Times restaurant critic under the name A.A. Gill, has written a very unflattering piece about Anouska Weinberg, or Hempel as she was known.

Adrian wrote: Shes a 1960s model, actress, whatever, frock maker and innkeeper, and a knights wife who has pushed and elbowed her way into the AZ without even having the decency to wait until shes dead. If you can think of a more embarrassing and crass piece of nouveau riche, arriviste social climbing, I cant.

I was vaguely aware of the article, but since I have ghastly things written about me all the time, I didnt take much notice. However, Muck seems to think this is a cause celebre, and wants to disinvite Adrian and Nicola. I tell him I dont know how I could possibly do that  its the rudest thing.

During lunch, Donatella Flick, the fiery Italian soon-to-be ex-wife of Muck, arrived and gave me the chilliest greeting of all time.

March 2  Los Angeles

Receive a call from Muck Flick, sounding military. He says that he has sorted out Gill and disinvited him. I am utterly appalled.

How can you do this? Wouldnt it be better for Anouska not to come if its going to be so embarrassing for her?

Muck seems to think not. I call Adrian, profusely apologising. Adrian thinks its all a hoot and doesnt take much notice, but I am mortified. What an outrageous thing to do. I think Ill disinvite myself.

Went to the party at Greville House after the premiere of The English Patient. Ive seen it twice already and couldnt stomach it again. I bump into Francesca Annis on the stairs, looking rather pleased with herself as she has just snared Ralph Fiennes.

Many friends come over, including Bianca Jagger; we have our usual chat about why we hardly ever see each other. This could be because she lives in New York and I live in London, LA or on a plane.

March 3

Seriously investigating the clothes situation for my OBE investiture. David Emanuel and Co. come over with very pretty lilac fabric and we discuss the suit.

I tell him I will have lost seven or eight pounds by next Monday, but he is doubtful.

You dont know what I can do when I put my mind to it, I say.

March 6

Muck Flick is certainly behaving extremely strangely. A fax arrives from his secretary Philippa saying, Mr Flick would like to have John Reids telephone number so that he can disinvite him and his friend. Utterly appalled, I call Muck, only to be told he is unavailable.

Philippa says Muck thought that, since Elton John was not coming, neither should [his manager] John Reid. How can he disinvite two of the people on the list that I actually know? I ask. After all, isnt it supposed to be a party for me?

I tell her that I wont give her John Reids telephone number because I think its too unutterably rude. Half an hour later, another fax from Philippa: Mr Flick says that if he doesnt have John Reids telephone number by 5 oclock, he will pull the trigger.

I dont know what he means. We have ways of making you talk? I call Philippa and say if he wants to pull the trigger, whatever that means, go ahead. Im disgusted. Within half an hour another fax, this time from Muck: Dear Joan, heres the situation. [Joans then partner] Robin Hurlstone, John Reid and his friend, Sue St John, Stella Wilson, Paul Raben, Roger Moore, Kristina Tholstrup and yourself are disinvited. Best regards, Muck.

To say that I am stunned is putting it mildly  Im extremely upset.

While Im out, John Reid speaks to Christopher Biggins, who has spoken to Louise Fennell [wife of jewellery designer Theo], and by the time I get back its a done deal. John Reid is going to give the party on the Flick night.

The Fennells say they have never heard of such disgusting social behaviour and are cancelling going to Mucks, as is Christopher Biggins.

All in all, a hell of a day.

March 7

Receive a flurry of phone calls from everybody who has heard about the party cancellation.

All of my friends have disinvited themselves, among them Andrew and Madeleine Lloyd Webber, Tim and Virginia Bell, Charles and Pandora Delevingne.

Call Roger Moore and tell him about the Anouska Hempel/ A.A. Gill situation and ask him if he still wants to come, as it is now only going to be a party for 20 rather than 40.

He says, I dont want to see f***ing Muck Flick, I want to see you and congratulate you.

I order a dozen T-shirts with The Uninvited  12 March 1997 printed on them to give to my guests.

March 10

Final fitting at David Emanuels for the suit and the Philip Somerville hat. They both look great. Ive lost 7lb by dint of practically eating nothing.

March 11

Stage fright! On this glorious spring morning as I passed through the historic portals of Buckingham Palace, that familiar feeling started. My mouth was suddenly dry and butterflies were playing tag in my stomach, even though I was thrilled to bits.

My son [Alexander Newley, known as Sacha] accompanied me to the palace. I had asked [my partner] Robin Hurlstone, but hed sneered, Im not going to Buck House with you just to get a silly little OBE. Maybe if it were a Damehood then Id accompany you. I was speechless.

One hundred and forty of todays honourees, including a handful of knights, were gathering nervously inside the palace gates, watched by well-wishers outside.

Honoured: Her stories include meeting Paul McCartney at Buckingham Palace in 1997 as she collected her OBE. Pictured: Joan shows off her OBE with her son Sacha by her side

We walked up red-carpeted steps to the entrance hall, then I was ushered past solemn Beefeaters in their dazzling red-and-gold uniforms up more stairs towards the portrait gallery.

Just before I went in, a fellow performer hugged me.

Hello, luv, howre you doing? Are you nervous? said Paul McCartney, there to receive his well-deserved knighthood.

Im scared stiff, are you? I asked.

Terrified.

Finally, summoned in batches of 20 outside the great ballroom, we stood in line and with much neck-craning managed to see the Queen. Stately in royal blue and pearls, she was pinning a medal on each recipient while a five-piece band played show tunes.

It was almost my turn. My mouth was the Gobi Desert now, my knees knocking. Everything seemed effortlessly simple, yet the pomp and circumstance that pervaded the proceedings were redolent of an age of grandeur.

Are you all right? asked the kindly equerry who stood beside me. Im petrified, I whispered. He looked amazed.

Then I was announced and, as instructed, I strode confidently into the ballroom, turned to the Queen, performed a deep curtsey, which I managed to do without falling flat on my face, took six paces forward, approached the dais and stood before my monarch.

Im very, very happy to be giving this to you, the Queen said as she busied herself with pinning on my medal.

Thank you, Your Majesty, I said, my nervousness evaporating. She spoke for the allotted few seconds then held out her hand. I shook it, walked five paces backwards, curtseyed again and marched out, mission accomplished.

Had a call later from Donatella Flick, whod obviously heard the news about the uninvitings. I told her, Darling, you deserve a copy of my OBE for what you put up with from that man.

March 12

At eight oclock I went to John Reids in full black-tie regalia. Roger Moore and Kristina arrived first, always on time. Theyd just flown in from Switzerland.

Adrian and Nicola (the original uninvited) were there, along with the Bells, the Delevingnes, Paul Raben, Sue, Stella, Duncan McLaren and Robin.

The dinner, which started with caviar and blinis, then duck and then a rather delicious pud, was excellent. Several speeches were made, then Roger got up and hysterically read out the Collected Works of Muck Flick.

He did a lot of this with a German accent which had us literally hugging our sides with laughter.

Andrew Lloyd Webber started playing the piano. As usual he asked me, Why didnt you play Norma Desmond?

As usual I told him that I couldnt sing well enough. He then started playing show tunes and I sang along with him.

March 14

Had dinner with Adrian Gill and Nicola Formby at Nobu, the Japanese restaurant at the Metropolitan Hotel thats the new hot spot in London.

Paula Yates, balancing a gorgeous baby on one hip, came over to say hello, and to tell Adrian that he was the only person who had ever written anything nice about her.

So can I give you a b*** job? she said boldly. Even Adrian looked surprised.

I can see Paulas charm and why she managed to wrest Michael Hutchence away from Helena Christensen. Shes sassy, sexy, and speaks her mind. I can also see why shes hated.

She reveals a scandalous proposal by Paula Yates (pictured) who offer a sexual favour to restaurant critic A.A. Gill after meeting him at dinner at Nobu in London

We asked why the baby was out so late. Oh, I take Heavenly Hiraani with me everywhere, she said. I have to. I breastfeed her every half an hour. Nicola and I looked at each other, somewhat stunned.

Every half an hour? I said. How long is this going to go on for?

Well, the last one I breast-fed until she was three years old, she said. In fact I met Warren Beatty at a party and I was talking to him when Pixie came in, undid my dress and started having a swig. Warren looked quite nonplussed, raised his eyebrows and walked away.

Paula laughed and we laughed back. She was quite endearing.

March 16

Lunch at the Delevingnes, where I played with my godchildren: Cara Delevingne, who is four, and Coco Fennell, whos seven. Both children are adorable and it was a very jolly family day.

March 24  Los Angeles

Arrived at the Vanity Fair Oscars party at Mortons in broad daylight at quarter to six. During the commercial breaks, I did some tentative table-hopping. Ryan ONeal, whos separated from Farrah Fawcett, was chatting up Bianca Jagger.

Everyone was disappointed that Lauren Bacall did not win Best Supporting Actress. The English Patient seemed to get a hell of a lot of awards, although I was surprised that Kristin Scott Thomas didnt pull off Best Actress. I was thrilled for Geoffrey Rush in Shine.

After two hours decided to hit another party  Elton Johns Aids Benefit. It was quite a happening, with every hairdresser and decorator in Los Angeles attending. John Reid found me in the throng and took me into an inner sanctum to see Elton. He was wearing a new brown floppy hairpiece, quite fetching, and a lovely butterfly brooch en tremblant.

After talking to Seal and Trudie Styler and lots of other people, we sat with Lulu and her husband. She was utterly sweet. She looks great and we became a mutual admiration society.

Tottered out about one thirty. Home at two. Its been a hard days night  eight hours of schmoozing and boozing.

March 27

First day on the set of Pacific Palisades where everybody looks to be about 12 years old. What a difference to my first day on Dynasty when I felt cold antipathy from John Forsythe, Linda Evans and various others. Here they are welcoming me like Im some sort of queen. I think people are quite impressed by the OBE.

I go to bed early, trying to lose a few pounds by eating only broccoli. I know Mummy used to say youve got to suffer to be beautiful, but Im permanently starving.

April 2

Its great to be back in series TV. Well, it is. Still get that Norma Desmond feeling sometimes!

April 5

Nolan and I dressed casual as instructed and went to Candy and Aaron Spellings house for dinner and a movie. We sat in Aarons study, which is lined with bookshelves containing leatherbound copies of all the scripts hes ever made, from Mod Squad to The Love Boat, Charlies Angels, Dynasty, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place.

I gotta show you your rushes, he said excitedly. Theyre just great and you look fantastic.

Nolan brought down the tape and I was pleased to see I am not the only person who has difficulty with TV video equipment, as Candy couldnt work it and had to call the English butler to help.

He used to work for the Queen Mother, boasted Candy. Aaron said, And hes quite a fan of yours!

Saw the night-time scene and the pool scene and thought they were OK, although I hate watching myself on rushes as I am super-hypercritical.

Dinner was sent in as they are having chef problems. Aaron read us a poem hed written about Candy and her 16 cooks.

Their home is probably one of the biggest and most lavish in LA, but they are having to sue the builder for $3 million because the roof is leaking and its costing $750,000 to get it fixed.

Scaffolding encroaches around the front of the house, rather spoiling the view.

April 15

After ten minutes [at the Eclipse restaurant with the Spellings] that famous movie star Mr Steven Seagal sloped over, said hello to me and everyone else, then plonked himself uninvited next to Aaron and proceeded to monopolise him for 20 minutes.

He was pitching a project and Aaron, who is always charming to everyone, listened, smiling and nodding and looking interested. The rest of us could not believe the effrontery of this asshole.

After 20 minutes Seagal left and we got on with a fine dinner and plenty of caviar. Believe it or not, Mr Seagal returned towards the end of dinner to introduce his fat manager and say, We gotta make this deal.

He then said a fond farewell to Aaron and acknowledged neither me nor anyone else.

Extracted from My Unapologetic Diaries by Joan Collins, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on October 14 at 20.  Joan Collins 2021. To order a copy for 17 (offer valid to 17/10/21; UK P&P free on orders over 20), visit www.mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193. Dame Joan Collins is on tour in London, Bath and Salford from October 11 to 17. For tickets and further information, go to fane.co.uk/joan-collins.
Dominican Republic security forces seized around $11 million worth of cocaine after the pilot of a Cessna jet carrying the drugs was unable to land safely and crashed.

The narco jet was picked up on a radar after it illegally entered the island's airspace Wednesday night.

It was chased down by an armed fighter jet before the cocaine-loaded plane crashed around 11pm in Oviedo, a city in the southwest province of Perdenales.

A member of the Dominican Republic's National Drug Control Directorate removes plastic-wrapped packages of cocaine from the compartment area of a Cessna jet that crashed Wednesday in the southwestern province of Perdenales. A total of 288.87 kilos of cocaine, worth around $11million, were seized. However, no arrests were made

A total of 288.87 kilos of cocaine that were split into 277 plastic-wrapped packages were found inside a Cessna jet that crashed in Perdenales, Dominican Republic, on Wednesday night

Authorities inspect the wreckage of a Cessna jet that crashed with about $11 million worth of cocaine Wednesday night in the Dominican Republic

Authorities on the ground recovered a total of 288.87 kilos of cocaine divided into 277 plastic-wrapped packages, the National Drug Control Directorate said in a statement.

At least 100 bundles were discovered inside a compartment. The drug enforcement agency said agents were canvassing the city for the Cessna's occupant(s) who somehow managed to escape.

The Dominican Republic's National Drug Control Directorate said the massive cocaine shipment was divided into 277 packages wrapped in plastic

Authorities initially located 177 packages of cocaine before discovering 100 more stuffed in the jet's compartment area

Security forces in the Dominican Republic have not announced any arrests and are still looking for the occupants who were able to escape after the jet crashed

The massive bust comes as authorities in the Dominican Republic, with the assistance of the United States' Drug Enforcement Administration, continue to investigate a drug trafficking ring dismantled in September. So far, at least 21 people, including three former and current government officials, have been arrested.

The island's proximity to Central and South America has made it a strategic point for Colombian and Mexican transnational criminal organizations who set up partnerships with local trafficking networks in the Dominican Republic to move drugs into the United States, Europe and Puerto Rico.

A Cessna jet loaded with about $11 million worth of cocaine crashed Wednesday night in the southwestern Dominican Republic city of Oviedo

According to the DEA's 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment, 'Dominican TCOs (transnational criminal organizations) collaborate with foreign suppliers to have cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl shipped directly to the Northeast from Mexico, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic.'

The report also indicated that, 'Dominican traffickers take advantage of Puerto Ricos status as a U.S. territory to facilitate commercial air transport of cocaine into the United States, mainly into the Northeast and south Florida.'

'Dominican TCOs typically use small maritime vessels to transport cocaine and heroin from the Dominican Republic into Puerto Rico via the 80-mile stretch of sea known as the Mona Passage, and subsequently these traffickers utilize mail, commercial shipping services, and maritime vessels to transport illegal drugs to the United States,' the DEA found.
Two Metropolitan Police officers who swapped highly offensive messages with murderer Wayne Couzens are still on duty, it emerged last night.

The constables are alleged to have been part of a WhatsApp group involving officers from three forces who fell under investigation after Couzens's phone was seized following his arrest.

It is claimed they have been left on duty even after being placed under criminal investigation for allegedly exchanging sexist and racist messages with the sexual predator.

Two Metropolitan Police officers who swapped highly offensive messages with murderer Wayne Couzens are still on duty

The revelation will raise fresh concerns about a culture of misogyny in the force and the adequacy of officer vetting procedures.

It also raises questions about further missed opportunities to investigate Couzens earlier.

Yesterday Sue Fish, a former chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police, criticised the Met's decision not to suspend the officers under investigation. 'That beggars belief. That clearly demonstrates the Met does not get it... does not get the seriousness,' she told the Guardian.

The Met's decision contrasts with the actions of other forces who have suspended officers while the investigation continues.

According to the police watchdog, the alleged 'vile' messages denigrating women started in March 2019, just months after Couzens joined Scotland Yard in September 2018.

Met Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave has admitted that vetting procedures were not followed properly when Couzens joined.

Officers failing to carry out a check on his vehicle which would have linked the killer to an indecent exposure report in 2015.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is looking at dozens of messages exchanged between the group of officers including constables from the Civil Nuclear and Norfolk constabularies between March and October 2019.

Sue Fish, a former chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police, criticised the Met's decision not to suspend the officers under investigation

At the time, Couzens was working in Bromley, south-east London, for Safer Neighbourhood Teams before he transferred to the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in 2020.

Yesterday it emerged the IOPC has decided not to investigate Couzens, instead concentrating on serving officers accused of sending discriminatory and inappropriate messages and failing to challenge Couzens.

A spokesman for the IOPC said: 'Due to the criminal charges being faced and subsequent guilty pleas by Wayne Couzens for the murder, kidnap and rape of Sarah Everard, it was not thought to be appropriate to investigate him as a subject in a conduct investigation.'

Yesterday the Met said two constables had been placed on restricted duties. A third former Met officer is also under investigation.

Yesterday Lord Paddick, a former Met deputy assistant commissioner and now the Lib Dems' home affairs spokesman in the House of Lords, said there needs to be a 'cultural change' in the Met.

'I wouldn't go so far as to call it institutional misogyny, but I would describe it as widespread sexism within the force, and we need police leaders to acknowledge prejudice within the police service,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Norfolk Constabulary said: 'We can confirm the officer has been suspended from duty while the allegations are under investigation.'

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary said: 'The officer in question was suspended from duty in August as soon as we were informed of the IOPC investigation.'

Ex-Met chief's bombshell: As it is revealed Wayne Couzens was named as McDonald's flasher THREE DAYS BEFORE Sarah Everard's murder but police didn't spot he was a cop - now Cressida Dick MUST be accountable

Wayne Couzens was named as a suspect in a sex offence 72 hours before he killed Sarah Everard, it emerged for the first time last night.

The revelation came as former Met Commissioner Lord Stevens heaped pressure on Cressida Dick, saying she must ask herself if she bears any responsibility for the failures in the case.

CCTV evidence of a car involved in an alleged flashing incident at a drive-thru McDonald's in February this year generated the name 'Wayne Couzens' as a suspect on Metropolitan Police systems  and provided his address.

Wayne Couzens was named as a suspect in a sex offence 72 hours before he killed Sarah Everard

But officers failed to realise that he was a serving officer and further inquiries were not made until after Miss Everard's disappearance on March 3.

And last night, a former head of Scotland Yard said police chief Dame Cressida must be held accountable for an 'appalling series of blunders' in the case.

In a stinging rebuke Lord Stevens, who served as Met Commissioner between 2000 and 2005, said: 'You have to look at yourself and say can I continue? Can I continue with confidence?

'Can I continue in way that brings around the change that's necessary to make the public feel safe  and in this particular instance, women safe. And further, have we got people in the police service who should not be there?'

It came as damning new claims emerged about Met police blunders.

It had been known that Couzens' car was reported by staff at a McDonald's restaurant in Swanley, Kent, after two female workers said they had been flashed by a motorist there on February 7 and again on February 27. The complaint was made on February 28.

A former head of Scotland Yard said police chief Dame Cressida must be held accountable for an 'appalling series of blunders'

But last night it emerged the CCTV evidence showing his number plate had actually brought up Couzens' name as a suspect on Met police systems.

Yesterday a McDonald's worker who was flashed by the sexual predator blasted officers for 'not acting quickly enough'. The worker, who did not want to be named, said: 'The police took our statements and took away CCTV. If they had taken this more seriously, they could easily have figured out that he was a policeman who had committed these crimes.

'The police had three days to stop him but didn't. It could have stopped him from doing a lot worse.'

Lord Stevens stopped short of calling for Dame Cressida's resignation, but suggested she could not restore faith in Britain's biggest police force after Couzens, one of her officers, was sentenced to a whole life term for the murder of Miss Everard  a 33-year-old marketing executive.

Former Met Commissioner Lord Stevens heaped pressure on Cressida Dick, saying she must ask herself if she bears any responsibility

He also criticised the force's vetting procedures describing them as 'not fit for purpose' following an 'extraordinary story of blunders' that allowed a man nicknamed 'the rapist' to join the force. Vetting officers failed to check Couzens' vehicle record, which would have revealed a link to an indecent exposure in Kent in 2015 when Couzens was reported by a male motorist driving around naked from the waist down.

Met Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave has said Couzens would still have got into the force even if vetting officers had known because Kent Police failed to identify Couzens  then one of their own special constables  as the driver and decided it did not merit any further action.

Lord Stevens told LBC: 'The fact that [Couzens] in 2015 was seen to be driving around without any clothes on from his waist downwards, the fact he was called a rapist, the fact that he was a really strange individual, I mean there is no way that that man should have been given a gun... the vetting process is obviously not fit for the purpose.'

It has emerged that Couzens allegedly shared highly offensive sexual messages abusing women on a WhatsApp group with five serving officers, including three from the Met, just months after he joined the force.

Policing Minister Kit Malthouse warned the police faced a long road to regaining public trust. He said the murder had 'struck a devastating blow to the confidence that people have in police officers but also in the Met police in particular.'

A Met spokesman said: 'The Met received an allegation of indecent exposure some 72 hours before Sarah was abducted. That crime was allocated for investigation but by the time of Sarah's abduction it was not concluded.'
Miss Goodwin she was in 'shock' to find out that Couzens was a service officer

The woman detective who led the hunt for Wayne Couzens has described her horror on learning the monster was in their midst.

Speaking for the first time, Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin revealed how she tracked down the killer within a week of him snatching Sarah Everard off a busy street in Clapham, south-west London, on March 3.

In an extraordinary insight into the fast-paced investigation, the experienced murder squad detective hit back at criticism over a two-hour delay to arrest Couzens which allowed him to wipe his phone records, potentially destroying evidence.

Recalling the moment she learnt of his identity from records of the hire car he used to carry out the abduction, she said: 'I'll never forget the moment one of my team came running into my office, closed the door and told me that the renter of that car was a serving police officer.

Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin (pictured) revealed how she tracked down the killer within a week of him snatching Sarah Everard off a busy street in Clapham, London

'I was in absolute shock. For a split second, I thought perhaps there was a reasonable explanation.

'However, all we knew about Sarah by this point made it clear it was very unlikely she'd voluntarily gone off with someone unknown to her, and almost immediately it felt wrong.'

Her team had to trawl through 2,000 hours of CCTV, more than 415 calls and messages from the public and 97 reports from other forces to narrow down the search area to a 300-metre stretch of road in the capital.

The hunt started the morning after Sarah's disappearance at 9.30pm on Wednesday March 3 as she was walking home from a friend's house in Clapham.

'When I read the daily briefing and saw her disappearance had been reported out of character, something immediately rang alarm bells,' the detective said.

By Saturday, the missing persons investigation had been handed to the homicide team and Miss Goodwin set up an incident room in Putney.

Miss Goodwin said she was in 'absolute shock' to then find out Couzens (pictured) was a service officer

She said: 'One of the first things we did was to build a picture of Sarah and her lifestyle. It was clear that no one could think of the reason for Sarah to disappear of her own accord.'

Teams were dispatched to track her likely route home and collect CCTV and doorbell footage.

On Sunday March 7, police had two vital pieces of information that would narrow down the search to a 300-metre area.

Sarah's phone was last active on Poynders Road, Clapham, at 9.28pm and CCTV confirmed she had walked that way but never reached the next junction just three minutes away.

Officers requested CCTV from buses and dash cam footage from passing vehicles but some took days to retrieve.

On March 9 at 3pm they got the breakthrough, receiving footage from a bus showing Miss Everard with a male figure standing by a white car with the hazard lights flashing.

The detective said: 'It was so incredible to have that concrete lead that finally gave us an indication as to where she may have gone. But, it still didn't provide an explanation as to why she might have got into the car.'

Number plate checks revealed it was rented to Couzens in Dover, but the officer said: 'When we had the name Wayne Couzens, we knew nothing else other than the name, telephone number and address that he'd given to the hire car company.

'Our researchers and analysts immediately began to work out as much as possible about him.'

She said she was in 'absolute shock' to then find out Couzens was a service officer.

Police arrived at Couzens' home at 5.45pm but did not arrest him for a further two hours. This allowed Couzens, who may have spotted plain-clothes officers nearby, to wipe his phone at 7.11pm.

Yesterday, Miss Goodwin defended delaying the arrest until 7.45pm saying colleagues had only known his name for a matter of hours and were still tracing the hire car movements to determine what happened.

The hunt started the morning after Sarah's (pictured) disappearance at 9.30pm on Wednesday March 3 as she was walking home from a friend's house in Clapham

She said: 'We made the rare decision to conduct an urgent interview, this was in order to try and locate Sarah if she was still alive. What followed was the second shock of that night. Couzens concocted a story that he handed Sarah to a gang in repayment for a debt.

'Whilst clearly believing it to be ridiculous, we had to consider whether there was any truth in it. The fact that it ended up being completely untrue and wasted precious time just shows the sort of person he is.'

Officers spent the night searching Hoads Wood  finding her body the next day at 4pm on March 10.

Over the coming days, a total of 16 crime scenes were searched and the team reviewed 1,727 pieces of evidence, 295 forensic samples and nearly 4 terabytes of data.

The officer added: 'Finding out he was a police officer was the most shocking thing ever. But when we got that evidence of how he got Sarah into that car, abusing his position to do so, it was even more devastating.'
Today Sarah Everards shattered parents Jeremy and Sue will be with their bright and beautiful daughter in a peaceful stone-walled churchyard in York. She was buried there in May after a funeral for close family and friends.

They go to her grave every day to seek what solace they can.

Here, they can talk to her, comfort her, relive fond memories of a wonderful daughter who was a good person and had purpose to her life, as they described her in their impact statements during her killers sentencing this week. It is the closest they can be to her.

Beyond these stone walls there is only terrible grief, disbelief and the unfathomable questions that torment this family.

There are so many whys and hows, says Sarahs cousin Marlene Smith. Why do these people [Sarahs monstrous killer, policeman Wayne Couzens] live? Why was an animal like that on the police force?

Sarah Everard's cousin revealed her shattered parents Jeremy and Sue visit Sarah's (pictured) grave in a churchyard in York every day as is the closest they can be to her

Why Sarah? She had a boyfriend. There was hope of marriage and children and grandchildren  a future life to be lived. It just stopped for her in a heartbeat. How could this have happened to her  to us?

Today the family cannot bring themselves to refer, privately, to Couzens by name. He is monster, creature, animal or evil  a diabolical being who crashed into their life and irrevocably changed it when he murdered Sarah on March 3.

They now know Couzens was a sexual deviant who wasnt fit to put on a police uniform, let alone be a serving officer on the night he abducted Sarah. For he was a suspect in sex offences dating back to 2015.

Indeed, as Marlene reveals in this exclusive interview, Sarahs parents despaired as the investigation revealed the married father of two young children had indecently exposed himself (three times that we know of), was addicted to brutal pornography and habitually visited prostitutes. Since his arrest its alleged at least three female officers have come forward and accused him of harassing them.

While the family remain immensely grateful to the Metropolitan Police officers who worked on Sarahs case for their painstaking efforts and constant support, serious questions at missed chances to stop Couzens continue to pile up. Only yesterday it emerged that he had exchanged misogynistic, racist and homophobic texts with his police colleagues before the murder.

In an exclusive interview, Sarahs cousin Marlene Smith (pictured), who lives in Florida, said her family want to know why Wayne Couzens was allowed to hide behind a badge as a police officer

How do you have an animal  a criminal like that  on the streets on your police force? Marlene asks. Its absolutely insane. Jeremy and Sue spoke to me about it when they learnt about it [that hed indecently exposed himself]. They were horrified.

How is it possible that somebody on your force could be flashing his private parts to people and still belong on the force? There is something wrong. Why was it not investigated six years ago [when Couzens, then a special constable for Kent Police, was the registered owner of a vehicle in which a man was seen driving around his home county naked from the waist down]?

Even days before her murder, if the police had arrested him he would have been struck off and wed still have Sarah. [Staff at a drive-thru McDonalds in Swanley told police on February 28 that a motorist had exposed himself to two female workers. CCTV evidence with Couzenss number plate was provided but detectives did not link the incidents to a fellow officer.]

Why was it not investigated  because he has friends on the force, perhaps? Instead, oh my God Marlene breaks down in tears. She is Sarahs second cousin; first cousin to her father, Jeremy. An articulate, no-nonsense former pilot and captain who lives in Florida and works as an instructor for Americas Spirit Airlines, her pain is red raw  like her fury. It is why she is speaking out for the family.

For a creature like that to be able to hide behind his badge, show his authority, like Im a policeman, shouldnt have been possible, she says. Police officers are there to serve, to help protect the public. For him to have done this. hell no

Sarah would have never got into his car if he hadnt been a policeman. Shes very street smart. She wore bright colours. She knew what she was doing. Shed told Jeremy and Sue she was going to visit a friend to have dinner.

She was just having a leisurely walk home. Why was he arresting her? [Couzens falsely arrested Sarah when Covid restrictions were at their height and police had already been accused of being heavy handed.] We think she just thought, Hes a police officer, he showed me his badge. She probably said, OK, I dont know why youre arresting me, but Ill go along with it. Im sure she was hoping if she went along with him shed get justice.

From the moment he handcuffed her she was defenceless. She couldnt fight Marlene takes gulps of air to try to calm herself. She couldnt fight back. The Everards are a large, close-knit family with relatives scattered as far afield as Florida and the Caribbean. They are the sort of decent, law-abiding people who work hard, care for those around them, cherish their family and believe in the innate goodness of humankind  or they did.

They now know Couzens (pictured) was a sexual deviant who wasnt fit to put on a police uniform, let alone be a serving officer on the night he abducted Sarah. For he was a suspect in sex offences dating back to 2015

Little more than a year before Sarahs brutal murder, the family gathered in Florida for her great aunts [Marlenes mothers] 90th birthday. A cousin Patrick had recently died of cancer at the age of 64. The family thought that was about as sad as things got.

Jeremy and Sue stayed here at my house, says Marlene. We are very, very close as a family. Jeremy is my first cousin. His mum, my aunt Pamela, went to England [from her native Jamaica] to be a nurse, which is where she met Jeremys father.

They visited us  my two brothers, two sisters and me  in Jamaica many, many times over the years as children. We grew up with them. We had a farm and would spend the holidays romping there together.

This morning [the day Couzens was sentenced to life in prison] my mum was in tears. Shes 92 and she is grieving so hard. She cant understand how something this cruel can happen.

This has devastated the entire family. Now we know more detail  the terrible detail  of what happened, it torments us daily, every minute of every day. Its horrific to know, not just that he burnt Sarah, but that he strangled her with his belt. It takes a while for people to die. We can only imagine her cries, hear her gasping for breath.

Again Marlene, 54, cries huge sobs. She was getting ready for work on Thursday morning when one of her many cousins in England, Tom [Jeremys brothers son], sent her a WhatsApp message to let her know Couzens had been sentenced to a whole life term so would die in jail.

Marlene said the grieving family are still asking, Why Sarah? She had a boyfriend. There was hope of marriage and children and grandchildren  a future life to be lived. It just stopped for her in a heartbeat. How could this have happened to her  to us?

The family had feared he would receive 25 years. It is, though, little solace. Their pain was read aloud in eloquent, even heroic, victim impact statements in court. Her sister, Katie, spoke of how they had gone to Sarahs flat with her family to pack up her whole life  washing left hanging up, half-sewn outfits, deliveries waiting to be returned, packages waiting at the door ready to be opened. All signs of life waiting to be lived.

Her mother, Sue, a hugely private woman who works in charity, bared her soul to speak of a loss so great it is visceral. And with the sorrow comes waves of panic at not being able to see her again. I can never talk to her, never hold her again, never more be a part of her life. We have kept her dressing gown  it still smells of her and I hug that instead of her. Each evening, she told the court, at the time her daughter was abducted I let out a silent scream: Dont get in the car, Sarah. Dont believe him. Run!

Her 67-year-old father, Jeremy, a professor of electronics at the University of York  a stones throw from the churchyard where Sarah is buried  looked Couzens full on in the face and told him: Theres a photograph of my beautiful daughter on the screen. She had a beautiful mind too. Mr Couzens, please, will you look at me?

He continued: You burnt our daughters body  you further tortured us  so that we could not see her again. We did not know whether you burnt her alive or dead. You stopped us seeing Sarah for one last time and stopped me from giving my daughter one last kiss goodbye.

Many in the court wept as he finished: The closest we can get to her now is to visit her grave every day. But Couzens still refused to look at him.

They were so dignified, but thats the kind of people we are, says Marlene. Were not going to create a scene. We are not ones to be in the limelight, but weve been forced to be because of what happened.

None of us can comprehend that level of evil. We dont understand what goes through someones mind to think its OK to just snatch somebody off the street and rape them and strangle them just for your delight, just for your pleasure  its unfathomable.

I was just bawling listening to Sue and Jeremys statements on the news. I wanted him to look Jeremy in the eyes. How could he have done something so cruel? Oh my God Again, she is overwhelmed.

I thought that was so profound when he said, look at me, explain to me because you have kids of your own so explain to me. Tell me why? How could you? How dare you? For them to be in the same room as the individual who did this I dont have any children of my own but I can only imagine as a parent  good, loving parents like Jeremy and Sue  you love your children, you protect them from everything. You brought them into this world and you look out for their wellbeing. You make sure they are fed and protected, housed and clothed. You nurture them.

As Sue said, Sarah wasnt sick. If she had been sick she would have had somebody to care for her. She wasnt in an accident. She was just robbed from the streets.

It was via a family Facebook page that Marlene learnt Sarah had gone missing on that fateful evening in March. I called them and said, Is this real? They said, Yes Marlene, it is true. Sarahs missing. In the beginning we had hope. Even when they said theyd found her, we were hoping that, perhaps, she was still alive.

When I heard theyd found human remains, is how they described it initially, I knew someone was dead. We just didnt know it was her  still you hope.

Because of the time difference [Florida is five hours behind the UK] I was watching the news the whole time and getting updates from Jeremy and Sue and Jeremys brothers Nicholas and Douglas.

They were horrified when her body was found  in such total disbelief, she continues through her tears. Its hard to talk about what took place  so tormenting to imagine what she could have suffered. Then when they were told it was a police officer Im sorry, its beyond words. Its She stops mid-sentence. Why? she asks.

Were all hurting so badly. Jeremy does some work at the university but I know hes taken time off. This has stunned them so much, they  all of us  are just numb to the rest of the world.

Sarah was so lively. She was so full of fun and had many years of wonderful life to live. Its senseless, absolutely senseless.

If Sarah had been sick, they could have hugged her until she took her last breath, but there was nothing. They couldnt even say goodbye. So they go to her grave every day  every day, she emphasises.

Jeremy and Sue should have been at her wedding. They should have played with her children. He took that from them, a police officer took that from them. The closest they can be to her now is her grave.
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Britain's Covid outbreak is continuing to creep up as infections rose by 5.1 per cent in the past seven days with a total of 246,150 cases recorded.

A further 35,577 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases were registered in the UK on Friday, a 16 per cent rise on the 31,549 infections announced seven days prior.

Other than Thursday's figures, week-on-week cases have been rising steadily for around two weeks.

Meanwhile another 127 people died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus, bringing the country's total to 136,789.

This too is an increase on last Friday's toll of 111 fatalities due to the virus,

Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have been 161,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

Government data up to September 30 shows that of the 93,765,322 Covid jabs given in the UK, 48,863,490 were first doses, a rise of 34,372 on the previous day.

Some 44,901,832 were second doses, an increase of 34,459.

It was earlier revealed that one in 20 children in England were infected with Covid on any given day last week, amid fears a fourth wave may be just around the corner.

The Office for National Statistics on Friday estimated 658,800 people in England had the virus on September 25, up 6.2 per cent on the previous weekly figure.

And separate data from the UK Health Security Agency showed the upper-end estimate of the R rate has increased for the first time in six weeks.

Analysis showed the virus was most prevalent among children aged 11 to 16, with 4.6 per cent of them estimated to have been infected  the equivalent of around one infected pupil in every classroom.

With the outbreak having exploded among pupils since they went back at the start of September, some scientists have urged secondary schools to reintroduce face masks immediately to prevent infections tricking into the rest of the population.

Meanwhile, bosses at Staffordshire County Council today urged 500 schools to be 'proactive' and reimplement infection control measures that were scrapped by No10 in mid-May, including bubbles and contact-tracing.

MailOnline's analysis of official figures suggested vaccine uptake rates have stalled at about 55 per cent in older teenagers. Experts said it wasn't a surprise because so many teens had already caught Covid that they didn't think they needed a jab.

The ONS data, which is closely watched by ministers, barely changed in any other age groups last week, despite a flurry of other official statistics suggesting the outbreak has already started to spill over to adults in their thirties, forties and fifties.

One scientist behind one of the country's largest Covid surveillance studies yesterday warned infections were now spreading up the 'generational ladder'.

The graphs show the Office for National Statistics estimates for the percentage of people testing positive in England for different age groups from August 15 to September 25. The virus was most prevalent among children aged 11 to 16, with 4.6 per cent of them estimated to have been infected  the equivalent of around one infected pupil in every classroom

The graphs show the percentage of people testing positive in the UK's four nations each week from August 15 to September 25. Infections are thought to be on the rise in England and Wales, but falling in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Only around 55 per cent of 16 and 17-year-olds have had their first dose by September 26 (titled week 38), a number which had barely risen in the previous three weeks. Data from the new UK Health Security Agency shows that uptake in the age group was sitting at about 20 per cent at the start of August

The estimated infection rates among 11 to 16-year-olds in England marks a rise from the 2.8 per cent who were thought to be infected one week earlier.

Vaccine uptake has stalled at 55% in 16 to 18-year-olds, official data suggests Uptake of the coronavirus vaccines in older teenagers appears to have stalled already, according to UK Government figures. Only around 55 per cent of 16 and 17-year-olds in England had their first dose by September 26, latest data shows, a number which had barely risen in the previous three weeks. The analysis was revealed in a weekly report by the new UK Health Security Agency, which took over axed Public Health England's pandemic duties today. It showed that uptake in the age group was sitting at about 20 per cent at the start of August. This shot up to 50 per cent in the three weeks after the vaccine rollout was expanded to all older teenagers on August 19. But the progress appears to have stalled in recent weeks, rising just five or so per cent in September. Experts said they were not necessarily surprised by the plateau because many teenagers 'dont feel they need to get vaccinated' or 'they aren't convinced it's safe'. All age groups have seen a natural stagnation in uptake, with this threshold being much higher in older age groups who are most susceptible to getting severe Covid. For example, the ceiling was about 90 per cent in the over-70s, 80 per cent in people over the age of 50 and around 60 per cent in people in their forties, although these numbers are still very slowly rising. Advertisement

Children aged two to 10 have the next highest positivity rate with around one in 40 (2.6 per cent) thought to have the virus on any given day last week, up from 2.3 per cent one week earlier.

Cases are also rising, albeit slowly, among over-70s, with an estimated 0.5 per cent of them infected, compared to 0.4 per cent last week.

But cases are falling or flat in all other age groups, the ONS estimates.

Among 17 to 24-year-olds, 1.1 per cent are thought to have Covid, down from 1.5 per cent last week, while 0.6 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds had the virus last week, a drop from 0.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, 0.8 per cent of people aged 35 to 49 had the coronavirus and 0.7 per cent of those aged 50 to 69 - the same as the previous week.

The uptake in cases among younger groups led Staffordshire County Council to tell schools to bring back wide-ranging measures to control the outbreak in the area, which has seen infections surge by 28.8 per cent in a week.

The council said pupils should wear face coverings, while staff should stay 2m away from students. And there should not be any all-staff meetings or all-school events, such as assemblies, it advised.

It also told pupils living with someone who tests positive to stay at home until they receive a negative PCR test, despite not being able to legally enforce this measure.

Professor Christina Pagel, a mathematician at University College London, yesterday called for infection control measures to be brought back at a national level.

She said: 'I think we need to put mitigations back in schools, particularly masks in secondary schools, now and roll out the vaccine a bit more rapidly.'

Professor Pagel warned the spiralling infection rates in children, risks of them suffering 'long Covid' and a slow vaccine roll out meant action should be taken to limit the spread of the virus.

It comes as the ONS data shows infections across the UK are a mixed picture. Cases are rising in England and Wales, where one in 85 (1.21 per cent) and one in 55 (1.76 per cent) people were estimated to have Covid last week, respectively.

Meanwhile, cases are dropping in Scotland, where one in 65 people (1.85 per cent) were infected last week, down from one in 45 (2.28 per cent) in the seven days up to September 18.

And one in 65 people in Northern Ireland (1.53 per cent) had the virus last week, a drop from one in 60 one week earlier, according to the official estimates.

The ONS said the proportion of people testing positive in England continued to fluctuate across all regions in the week ending September 25. The percentage of people testing positive increased in the North West, where 1.5 per cent of people tested positive and Yorkshire and The Humber (1.8 per cent). Cases were also trending upwards in the East Midlands (1.5 per cent) and the South West (1.2 per cent). But it decreased in the North East, from 1.7 to 1.2 per cent, and in London, from 0.9 to 0.8 per cent

The graph shows the percentage of people testing positive for Covid based on their age up to September 25. It shows that cases are highest among young people in England, while there is more uncertainty in the figures for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland due to the comparatively smaller sample sizes (indicated by wider black lines)

Hundreds of schools are told to bring back suite of Covid curbs Schools have been instructed by councils to bring in a suite of stricter Covid curbs in response to rising infections among pupils. Hundreds of primaries and secondaries in Staffordshire were urged to be 'proactive' and not wait on official guidance from the Government. The county's council has encouraged bringing back face masks and year group bubbles and scrapping assemblies and staff meetings. It also recommended schools stagger starting and break times to limit mixing in corridors and the playground. Staffordshire County Council, which covers more than 500 schools, is believed to be the first to promote reintroducing such a comprehensive set of measures. Other local authorities have brought back light measures like mask-wearing, including Cumbria and parts of Northamptonshire. Pupils whose family member tests positive are advised to 'stay at home pending PCR test result', despite the fact schools can't legally make them isolate. Ministers scrapped the requirement for all contacts of Covid cases to self-isolate in August. Advertisement

The ONS said the proportion of people testing positive in England continued to fluctuate across all regions in the week ending September 25.

The ONS, which bases its estimates on a random testing from a sample of people across the UK, said more than 99 per cent of all positive Covid swabs sequenced in the four weeks to August 30 were the Delta variant.

Meanwhile, No10's top scientists estimated the R rate  which measures the spread of the virus  may now be below one at between 0.8 and 1.1.

This suggests that for every ten people who have the virus, they are passing it on to between eight and 11 others.

The East, Midlands, North East and Yorkshire, North West, South East and South West were all predicted to have an R rate at this level. But in London it had dropped to between 0.8 and 1.

Experts say the R rate and growth rate should be interpreted with huge caution because it is a lagging indicator and only shows the situation on the ground from around three weeks ago.

It comes as Department for Health data yesterday revealed Britain's Covid outbreak shrunk for the first time in nearly two weeks, while hospital admissions and deaths continue to drop.

Another 36,480 positive tests were recorded across the UK, down 0.6 per cent on the 36,710 infections spotted last Thursday. Week-on-week cases had been rising steadily for the previous 12 days.

Despite the fall in official numbers, it could be a blip because other surveillance measures today revealed cases are still rising.

King's College London data yesterday showed the number of Britons catching Covid every day rose almost 30 per cent last week.

Meanwhile, Covid hospitalisations and deaths continued to fall, with 657 people infected with the virus requiring NHS care (down by 12 per cent on last week) and 137 fatalities recorded (down by a quarter).

Both figures lag several weeks behind infections because of how long it can take for infected patients to become seriously ill.
Firms that relied on foreign workers to keep wages down are trying to undermine the new immigration system, the Business Secretary claimed last night.

Kwasi Kwarteng accused them of resisting what he described as a transition toward an economy with lower migration and higher wages.

Asked if haulage, meat and farm chiefs were citing labour shortages and supply problems to try to force a U-turn, he replied: Thats absolutely right.

Mr Kwarteng, who is MP for Spelthorne in Surrey, said voters had backed Brexit for precisely this issue.

Three weeks before the referendum in 2016, I came out of Staines station and someone came up to me and said, Im voting for Brexit, he told the website ConservativeHome.

And I said, Why are you doing that? And he said, Well I havent had a wage increase in 15 years, and he was someone who worked in the building trade.

That in his mind was what this was all about. And so, having rejected the low-wage, high-immigration model, we were always going to try to transition to something else. What were seeing now is part of that transition.

'Youre quite right to say people are resisting that, particularly employers that were benefiting from an influx of labour that could keep wages low.

The British Meat Processors Association warned yesterday of a shortage of 10,000 butchers. If the number of butchers on a production line falls below the required level, production slows and less food is produced, said a spokesman.

There are not 10,000 qualified butchers in the country waiting to be recruited. The only short-term source of these skills is from overseas.

Home Secretary Priti Patel, right) is resisting demands to allow 1,000 butchers into the country amid claims there could be shortages of pigs in blankets, hams and party foods this Christmas

The BBC reported that one farmer in Yorkshire had slaughtered hundreds of healthy piglets because he had run out of space following abattoir delays.

The National Farmers Union says that 150,000 pigs could be culled for their welfare over the next week.

Home Secretary Priti Patel is resisting demands to allow 1,000 butchers into the country amid claims there could be shortages of pigs in blankets, hams and party foods this Christmas. Allies of Miss Patel said: We cannot just erode the points-based system sector by sector.

A Home Office spokesman said: We are closely monitoring labour supply.
Victoria has recorded 1,488 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths as the state prepares to restart the construction industry.

Construction workers will be allowed to return to the worksite from Tuesday, with several safeguards in place.

Under the plan, constructions sites can reopen for workers who have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. They must be fully vaccinated by November 13.

All operators will need to formally attest their site complies with the industry-wide health directions.

Workforce caps remain for some building sites, except for outdoor state government projects, and single-dose workers can set up ahead of Tuesday's reopening.

Construction workers will be allowed to return to the worksite from Tuesday, with several safeguards in place

Fully vaccinated workers can move between regional Victoria and Melbourne, while tearooms will reopen with enhanced cleaning, density limits and additional ventilation

Fully vaccinated workers can move between regional Victoria and Melbourne, while tearooms will reopen with enhanced cleaning, density limits and additional ventilation.

The reopening comes after the construction industry was placed into a two-week lockdown following anti-vaccination demonstrations.

The new cases announced on Saturday smash the pandemic record 1,438 that were recorded on Thursday.

There were 36,878 vaccines administered and 71,224 Covid-19 tests conducted in the last 24 hours.

Premier Daniel Andrews has given all authorised workers an ultimatum: get vaccinated within the next two weeks or risk losing their jobs.

Authorised workers must also have their first vaccine dose by October 15 and a second by November 26 to keep working on site.

The requirement will cover retail workers, personal trainers, MPs, journalists, faith leaders, judges, police, lawyers, actors and professional sportspeople.

Of the 1.25 million estimated authorised workers in the state, Premier Daniel Andrews said more than a million had already had their first dose.

He argues the policy shift is needed to curb rising case numbers after the state reported another 1143 infections and three deaths.

The state government plans to consult with certain industries such as energy, waste management and faith leaders but Mr Andrews flagged there would be few exemptions.

Victoria recorded 1,488 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday with construction set to reopen on Tuesday

Mr Andrews played down the possibility the broader mandate could spark more anti-vaccine protests, with another three demonstrators arrested on Friday

But the Victorian opposition is demanding the public health advice behind the expanded mandate be publicly released

'There's too much at stake,' he said.

The October 15 deadline will not replace Victoria's separate vaccine mandate timelines for aged care, healthcare, freight, construction and education workers.

Mr Andrews played down the possibility the broader mandate could spark more anti-vaccine protests, with another three demonstrators arrested on Friday.

'I'm not taking lectures on freedom from people who will hold all of us back,' he said.

Victorian Chamber of Commerce chief executive Paul Guerra welcomed the decision, saying it 'provides businesses with the certainty, guidance and protections'.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia also labelled it a 'step in the right direction'.

'It protects healthcare workers. It protects patients,' PSA Victorian branch president John Jackson said.

But the Victorian opposition is demanding the public health advice behind the expanded mandate be publicly released.

'It has all the appearance of panic,' Shadow Treasurer David Davis said.

It comes as Greater Shepparton and Moorabool Shire, to the west and north of Melbourne, both entered snap, seven-day lockdowns overnight to contain growing cases.

Shepparton and its surroundings recently battled a major outbreak that sent about a third of its population into home quarantine, before the region emerged from lockdown just over two weeks ago.
Five more small energy suppliers may be on the brink as industry regulator Ofgem chases them for 7million in missing payments.

It came as the energy price cap was raised by 139 a year yesterday in a blow to millions of households, with the winter heating season beginning.

The crisis in the energy market has seen 12 suppliers go bust so far this year, nine of them last month.

Five more small energy suppliers may be on the brink as industry regulator Ofgem chases them for 7million in missing payments

The payments Ofgem is seeking from the five firms are for the renewables obligation programme, and falling behind on these can be a sign that a company is in trouble.

The scheme is designed to support green power projects and requires suppliers to demonstrate they have sourced enough of their electricity from renewable resources.

Ofgem said the firms had missed the initial deadline of September 1 and none had made any guarantees that they would make the necessary payments by the new cut-off date of October 31.

If they do not pay, the regulator said it could start the process of revoking their licences to supply energy.

The payments Ofgem is seeking from the five firms are for the renewables obligation programme, and falling behind on these can be a sign that a company is in trouble

It added: In all instances Ofgem will seek to secure the best outcomes for consumers and the wider energy market.

Ampoweruk owes the most, according to Ofgem, with an outstanding bill of 3.6million. Goto Energy owes 2.5million, while Colorado Energy owes 883,000.

Business-only provider Whoop Energy owes 56,300 and Home Energy Trading 2,500.
The Supreme Court has denied a challenge from New York City public school teachers to block Mayor Bill de Blasio's COVID-19 vaccine mandate from going into effect today.

US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor ruled in favor of the city Friday - allowing the mandate to go ahead and paving the way for up to 14,800 unvaccinated school employees to be out of work come Monday.

A group of four teachers had sent an emergency petition to Sotomayor Thursday asking her to halt the mandate.

They argued the mandate not only places an 'unconstitutional burden' on the city's 148,000 school workers, but also 'threatens the education of thousands of children.'

The petition claimed teachers' rights are being violated because they do not have the option to undergo regular COVID-19 testing instead of getting the shot.

Teachers across all public schools in the Big Apple were given up until 5pm Friday to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or risk losing their jobs.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor (pictured) denied a challenge from New York City public school teachers to block Mayor Bill de Blasio's COVID-19 vaccine mandate

NYC teachers protesting against COVID-19 vaccine mandates in New York on August 25

Unlike most vaccine mandates put in place such as by the federal government and private businesses across the country, the rule does not allow unvaccinated employees to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing instead of getting the shot.

Yet, other New York municipal workers - including NYPD cops - have been given that testing option.

When the school day starts the following Monday - October 4 - all teachers and staff arriving for work across the city's public schools must have received at least their first dose of the vaccine.

Anyone still unvaccinated by the deadline, will be placed on unpaid leave until September 2022.

The New York Department of Education employs 148,000 school workers, including 75,000 teachers.

De Blasio said on MSNBC Friday that 90 percent of all Department of Education employees in the city were already at least partially vaccinated, including 93 percent of teachers and 98 percent of principals.

This shows a significant proportion of educators have rushed to get the shot this week ahead of the deadline, up from 87 percent of all employees Monday, including 90 percent of teachers and 97 percent of principals.

However, this means around 14,800 school employees including 5,250 teachers in the city's public schools could be out of work by Monday, plunging hundreds of schools into potential staffing crises.

Sotomayor, who is the justice for the second circuit including New York, Connecticut and Vermont and so rules on emergency matters in the Big Apple, rejected the teachers' last-ditch effort to block the mandate without giving any explanation.

She also did not refer the emergency request to the full Supreme Court to review.

The liberal justice's decision followed a similar ruling from conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett back in August.

Coney Barrett denied a bid from a group of students at Indiana University to block the school's vaccine mandate - also providing no comment and no referral.

De Blasio said on MSNBC Friday that 90 percent of all Department of Education employees in the city are partially vaccinated, including 93 percent of teachers. Unvaccinated teachers come Monday morning will be put on unpaid leave in the Big Apple

In the 12-page petition, filed Thursday, the group of teachers argued the City of New York, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene 'created an Executive Order that places an unconstitutional burden on public-school teachers' - something they describe as the 'epitome of government overreach.'

The mandate 'forces unvaccinated public-school employees to go on unpaid leave for nearly a year', the petition said.

The group said the mandate unfairly forces teachers out of work when other city employees including those who are also in contact with children can instead opt for weekly testing.

They argued that teachers should also have the option to undergo COVID-19 testing rather than being forced to take the shot.

'As the number of unvaccinated is small compared to that of the vaccinated, there is no basis to mandate vaccines in lieu of weekly testing,' the petition said.

As well as the impact on school staff, the petition argued the mandate also 'threatens the education of thousands of children in the largest public-school system in the country and violates the substantive due process and equal protection rights afforded to all public-school employees.'

Sotomayor (bottom right with the other SC justices) rejected the teachers' last-ditch effort to block the mandate without giving any explanation or referring it to the full Supreme Court. This followed a similar ruling from conservative Amy Coney Barrett (top right) back in August

One of the teachers Rachel Maniscalo told CBS Local they feel 'betrayed' by de Blasio and were fighting for 'medical freedom.'

'I think the mayor needs to understand that we all feel very much betrayed,' she said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education pushed back on the petition said that the mandate is 'firmly grounded in science and the expertise of public health officials from across the nation.'

De Blasio continued to defend the mandate earlier Friday arguing it is the best way to protect unvaccinated younger children from the virus.

One of the teachers Rachel Maniscalo told CBS Local they feel 'betrayed' by de Blasio and were fighting for 'medical freedom'

'The bottom line is this mandate has worked and the goal was to protect kids, including our youngest kids who can't be vaccinated yet, and to ensure that families knew schools would be safe,' he said.

'So, this is  look, our schools are precious, our kids are precious. There's nothing else in our society that is as central to everything we hope for as our schools, and parents, when they send that child to school, that is entrusting our schools, the safety of their child.'

He also added that 'mandates work' pointing to other similar rules across the city.

'We put in mandates for public employees. We put in our indoor dining mandate over the last two months, vaccinations in New York City have gone up 45 percent,' he said.

'And in New York City today, about 83 percent of all adults have had at least one dose. So mandates work, they make us safer.'

The last-ditch effort from the group comes after weeks of toing and froing over the mandate which saw a temporary block lifted Monday.

The teachers filed a proposed class action lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court last month, claiming the mandate violates their rights to due process and equal protection under the law under the US Constitution's 14th Amendment.

Teachers protest the mandate in August. A group of four teachers sent an emergency petition to Sotomayor Thursday asking her to halt it

The teachers argued their rights are being violated because they do not have the option to undergo regular COVID-19 testing instead of getting the shot

The mandate interferes with their freedom to pursue their chosen profession and discriminates against them because other municipal workers can opt out by taking weekly COVID-19 tests, the teachers said.

Maniscalco, who teaches in the city's borough of Staten Island, expressed concern about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, while others said they should be exempt because they have antibodies from a prior COVID-19 infection.

A Brooklyn judge ruled in favor of the city, which led to the teachers filing an appeal.

The, last Friday, an appeals judge sided with the teachers, putting a block on the mandate going into effect.

This meant the city couldn't enforce the rule until a three-judge panel decided whether it was constitutional, forcing de Blasio to amend his rules and allow for weekly testing of staff.

But a panel of federal judges reversed this decision Monday evening, lifting the block and giving de Blasio's administration the green light to enforce the mandate.

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan dissolved the temporary injunction Monday evening and denied the original motion.

De Blasio announced back in August that all school employees - including teachers, custodians and cafeteria workers - were required to get at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination by September 27.

The mayor pushed the deadline back to 5pm Friday on Monday after a lower court temporarily blocked the mandate.

'If you have not have gotten that first dose Friday, 5 p.m., we will assume you are not coming to work on Monday and you will not be paid starting Monday and we will fill your role with a substitute or an alternative employee,' he said.
The post-mortem carried out on Geronimo the alpaca has revealed not a shred of evidence that he had bovine tuberculosis, his owner and vets said last night.

The animal was put down by Government vets after a four-year legal battle in August.

Last night Geronimos owner Helen Macdonald released the full report of the post-mortem carried out by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

She and her vets claimed it revealed all tests showed Geronimo was negative for the disease.

Last night Geronimos owner Helen Macdonald released the full report of the post-mortem carried out by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Pictured: Geronimo is examined by a team of people ahead of being taken away in a trailer to be put down, on August 31, 2021

The post-mortem carried out on Geronimo the alpaca has revealed not a shred of evidence that he had bovine tuberculosis, his owner and vets said last night

But she was immediately countered by Defra which said a number of TB-like lesions were found and were being investigated further.

Miss Macdonald said: I fully expected the post mortem results to be negative for bTB but there is no joy in being proven right. I am outraged and devastated by the way Geronimo and I have been treated.

Geronimo twice tested positive for the disease in 2017, but Miss Macdonald insisted the tests were flawed and produced false positives.

Dr Bob Broadbent, Geronimos vet, said that, significantly, no lesions were found in the alpacas lungs or respiratory tract  the most common place for lesions in an animal with bTB. He added: If Geronimo had had bTB for over six years as Defra claimed, you would expect to find large, classic pyogranulomas (tumours) produced as a result of bTB infection.

None of the lesions identified are pathognomonic (or) specifically indicative of bTB. Despite Defra claiming all of the lesions are TB-like, the post-mortem report expressly rules out any mycobacterial infection such bTB relating to the lesions found in the neck area.

Vet Dr Iain McGill, who has been advising Miss Macdonald during her battle with Defra, agreed the report failed to show any evidence of the disease in Geronimo.

She and her vets claimed it revealed all tests showed Geronimo was negative for the disease

The animal was put down by Government vets after a four-year legal battle in August. Pictured: Geronimo supporters are seen holding signs outside of Shepherds Close Farm in Gloucestershire on August 19, 2021

Timeline: Geronimo's long struggle for survival 2017 Geronimo is brought to England from New Zealand in August 2017 by his owner, veterinary nurse Helen Macdonald.

He tests positive for bovine tuberculosis twice in August and November, and is put into isolation away from the rest of the herd at the farm in Wickwar. 2018 The Government applies for a court order in July to have Geronimo destroyed. The alpaca is given a stay of execution, with a deadline of the end of August for his slaughter.

Miss Macdonald seeks a judicial review claiming new evidence shows the animal is healthy - marking the start of a series of lengthy legal battles.

In November, Miss Macdonald wins the right to a review at the High Court. 2019 In March, a hearing gets underway and Miss Macdonald claims Government experts relied on 'flawed science'. The case dismissed in July. 2021 In May, a district court judge orders an execution warrant.

Miss Macdonald starts an appeal and an order is made preventing Geronimo's destruction pending the application.

She takes out an emergency injunction to delay a warrant to cull the animal before an an appeal hearing on July 29.

The case is again dismissed. A judge agrees to delay the start of a second execution warrant until August 5

Geronimo is taken away on August 31 and executed. Advertisement

He said: If Geronimo had died naturally, and this post-mortem had been carried out and yielded these same results, any veterinary surgeon or pathologist would state that there is no evidence of bTB at all. Simply put, there is not one shred of evidence from this report to suggest Geronimo had bTB.

Miss Macdonald accused Environment Secretary George Eustice of acting immorally and unethically and demanded a public apology from the minister.

Dr Christine Middlemiss, chief veterinary officer at Defra, said: A number of TB-like lesions were found and in line with standard practice these are now undergoing further investigation.

She added: We would expect to complete the full post-mortem by the end of the year.

It comes after last month when Geronimo's owner claimed the animal is being 'denied a funeral' because the Government is refusing to hand over his incinerated remains.

Helen Macdonald claimed the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has insisted on holding onto the South American mammal's ashes due to the risk of contracting TB.

The alpaca was dragged from Miss Macdonald's farm in Gloucestershire in August by Government officials in boiler suits and facemasks - and dozens of police officers fending off animal rights campaigners - days before a court order to execute him lapsed.

Less than 90 minutes later, Defra confirmed that Geronimo - who had twice tested positive for bovine tuberculosis but had refused a third test - was executed by staff from the Animal and Plant Health Agency, bringing a four-year legal battle to a close.

Miss Macdonald was campaigning for the destruction to be halted after insisting the bovine tuberculosis tests previously carried out returned false positives. She had wanted him to be tested for a third time or allowed to live to aid research into the disease.

The veterinary nurse also argued that the Enferplex test was fundamentally flawed and said Geronimo tested positive because he had repeatedly been primed with tuberculin - a purified protein derivative of bovine TB bacteria.

Speaking to the Daily Star, Miss Macdonald alleged: 'They (Defra) incinerated the 'carcass' as they referred to him. They wanted me to arrange for him to be put to death so they could say I consented. They told me to tell them when he was dead so they could collect the 'carcass'.'

Geronimo twice tested positive for the disease in 2017, but Miss Macdonald insisted the tests were flawed and produced false positives

Dr Bob Broadbent, Geronimos vet, said that, significantly, no lesions were found in the alpacas lungs or respiratory tract  the most common place for lesions in an animal with bTB

The farmer believes that Geronimo should not have been led from her farm in Gloucestershire with a rope around its neck, but instead in a head collar, the paper added.

A Defra spokesman told MailOnline that Geronimo was euthanised by APHA in line with strict animal welfare policies. By law, any animal with a suspected TB infection must be disposed of properly and safely as part of rigorous and consistent disease control measures.

It comes amid a row over whether Geronimo had bovine tuberculosis after Miss Macdonald claimed the initial findings of the post-mortem showed no signs of the disease.

Miss Macdonald claimed that the preliminary post-mortem findings were 'negative for visible lesions typical of bovine tuberculosis'. However, the Chief Veterinary Officer said in a statement that 'a number of TB-like lesions were found'.

The farmer has previously also called on Environment Secretary George Eustice to resign, accusing him of 'murdering an innocent animal' days before a warrant for the animal's destruction was due to expire.

Police officers and staff from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) arrived at Helen Macdonald's farm near Wickwar, south Gloucestershire, at 10.45am on August 31.

Pictured: Geronimo's owner Helen (centre) is seen alongside members of the Justice for Geronimo and Stop Badger Culling campaigns outside of the officers of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on September 8, 2021

Macdonald was countered by Defra which said a number of TB-like lesions were found and were being investigated further

Campaigners, who had been camped out at the property for weeks, loudly protested as the Defra staff, wearing overalls, masks and goggles, rounded up the alpaca in his enclosure.

Geronimo, who had twice tested positive for bovine tuberculosis, was tied with white rope before being scanned for a microchip then pulled through a field to a waiting trailer.

The trailer and police escort left the farm at 11.20am and by 12.40pm, Defra confirmed that the animal had been euthanised by staff from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha).

In a statement, Defra said that a court warrant, which was due to expire on September 4, had been used to seize Geronimo from the farm and euthanise him.

Ms Macdonald insists that bovine tuberculosis tests previously carried out on the alpaca returned false positives and has been campaigning for his destruction to be halted.

She had applied in writing for an independent witness to be present when a post-mortem examination was carried out on Geronimo, who came to the UK from New Zealand in 2017.

Vet Dr Iain McGill, who has been advising Miss Macdonald during her battle with Defra, agreed the report failed to show any evidence of the disease in Geronimo

However, on Tuesday evening she posted a letter to her Twitter account that appeared to be from the Government Legal Department.

This stated that Apha 'was not in a position to accommodate' her request for her vet to observe the post-mortem examination 'for health and safety, Covid-19 and site security reasons'.

It added: 'The examination proceeded in accordance with standard operating procedures for suspected TB clinical cases and TB test-positive animals, which do not allow for the obtaining of samples for private testing'.

Ms Macdonald tweeted: 'Citing Covid and security reasons are appallingly weak excuses to block an independent observer to the post-mortem of Geronimo.

Did Geronimo have TB or not? Experts won't know until the end of this year Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Christine Middlemiss said that the initial post-mortem examination of Geronimo found a 'number of TB-like lesions'. These are now undergoing further investigation, with tests including the developing of bacteriological cultures (growths) from tissue samples. This normally takes several months, and experts expect to complete the full process by the end of this year. A lesion is an area of tissue that has been damaged through disease - and in some cases, the microscopic lesions of TB in the affected organs can take a very long time to progress to larger, visible lesions, if at all. Mycobacterium bovis can be grown in the laboratory from clinical samples, usually from tissue samples collected post-mortem. The culture process takes a long time because the bacterium grows slowly. This process can only be carried out in specialist laboratories, and it is not always successful even in lab conditions. It is only after growth in the laboratory that the species of Mycobacterium can be identified. Advertisement

'This is an immensely arrogant and blatant continuation of their mission to conceal their processes and act without transparency and fairness'.

The veterinary nurse also called on environment secretary George Eustice to resign.

She said: 'I am calling for George Eustice's resignation.

'The Secretary of State has acted in bad faith, refusing to engage with us to discuss a research solution that would further the Government's very own objectives.

'Instead he has resorted to bullying and cowardly tactics, hiding behind Government lawyers and refusing to listen to us.

'He has murdered an innocent animal rather than doing something productive and good for this country and small farmers like me.

'He is unfit to hold office.'

However, speaking in September, the Environment Secretary defended the 'difficult but necessary' decision to euthanise Geronimo the alpaca, saying there was a danger of a 'false negative' if vets continued to test the animal for bovine tuberculosis.

Speaking on LBC radio, George Eustice, 49, also defended the test method used by DEFRA officials saying it very rarely shows false positives, after a furious row erupted over whether or not the Emperplex test was accurately recording bovine TB results.

He also argued that euthanising the popular alpaca was a 'difficult' decision, but ultimately the correct one - and compared the case to his own family's experience with the 'terrible' disease after his father slaughtered a show cow that contracted TB.

Mr Eustice said: 'These cases are always difficult, and I had looked at the Geronimo case three years ago, and a couple of other times since, actually.'

'The important thing to recognise is that every week we have to remove and slaughter about 500 cattle who test positive.

'I know this particular owner was attached to Geronimo, but there are farmers up and down the country who suffer similar heartbreak every week - my own family, who have cattle, have lost show cattle, excellent cattle they wanted to show, through this terrible disease, and it is difficult but necessary.'

A Defra spokesman told MailOnline that Geronimo was euthanised by APHA in line with strict animal welfare policies.
A general who led the Royal Marines' invasion of Iraq has been appointed to lead the biggest shake-up of NHS management in 40 years.

Sir Gordon Messenger has been asked to stamp out 'waste and wokery' in the health service and ensure 'every pound is well spent'.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid is keen to ensure none of the Government's recent 36billion tax rise for health and social care is wasted. This is likely to lead to a cut in the number of fat-cat NHS managers and bureaucrats so more money is spent directly on patient care.

Ministers hope retired military chief Sir Gordon, formerly second in command of the British Armed Forces, will apply his leadership skills from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan to spearheading reform of the NHS during the most challenging period in its history. He has been told to 'drive up efficiency' amid concerns that too much of taxpayers' cash is going on bureaucracy.

Sir Gordon Messenger (pictured) has been asked to stamp out 'waste and wokery' in the health service and ensure 'every pound is well spent'

The number of backroom staff and managers in the health service has been creeping up over the past decade, while waiting lists for patients have soared to record highs. Of the 1.2million NHS employees, just 52.5 per cent are now doctors, nurses or other clinically trained staff.

Last month Mr Javid promised to be 'watchful of any waste or wokery' as he announced a 1.25 percentage point increase in national insurance to raise an extra 12billion a year.

The Government said the wide-ranging 'leadership review', launched today, marks the biggest shake-up of NHS management for 40 years. It will also aim to reduce stark regional inequalities in healthcare as part of the Government's 'levelling up' agenda.

Colonel Gordon Messenger, Commander of British Preliminary Operations in Southern Afghanistan on foot patrol in Lashkar Gar, in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan in 2006

Mr Javid said: 'I am determined to make sure the NHS and social care delivers for the people of this country for years to come and leadership is so important to that mission. We are committed to providing the resources health and social care needs but that must come with change for the better.

'This review will shine a light on the outstanding leaders in health and social care to drive efficiency and innovation. It will help make sure individuals and families get the care and treatment they need, wherever they are in the country, as we build back better.'

Sir Gordon will work with Dame Linda Pollard, the chairman of Leeds Teaching Hospital, to examine ways to 'strengthen leadership' and promote 'more efficient ways of working'. They will report the findings of their independent review to Mr Javid early next year.

Sir Gordon, 59, retired from the Royal Marines in 2019 and, despite having no background in healthcare, was made head of operations for the Government's community testing Covid programme last year. During a distinguished military career, he commanded a unit of the Royal Marines during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Sir Gordon will work with Dame Linda Pollard, the chairman of Leeds Teaching Hospital, to examine ways to 'strengthen leadership' and promote 'more efficient ways of working' (file image)

He also served as British commander in Helmand province from 2008 to 2009 during the war in Afghanistan. Sir Gordon has been asked to help identify ways to 'develop leadership skills [needed] this decade across both health and social care' to help tackle record NHS waiting lists.

The Covid backlog and crisis in social care caused Boris Johnson to introduce the controversial national insurance rise  dubbed the 'health and social care levy'.

But ministers are under pressure to ensure this extra cash is invested in frontline care.

They have already been criticised for hiring dozens of new NHS executives on salaries of up to 270,000 who are charged with making sure the 36billion health and social care tax is spent wisely.

Meanwhile, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, launched yesterday, will combat the top preventable risk factors for poor health  including obesity, smoking and alcohol.

Mr Javid said: 'The pandemic has laid bare the health disparities we face not only as a country, but as communities and individuals. This must change and this body marks a new era of preventative healthcare to help people live healthier, happier and longer lives.'
Biologists across the US are working tirelessly to stop a mysterious disease from killing a coral reef off the shore of southern Florida  the only reef habitat in US continental waters.

Nearly 2,000 colonies of coral were removed from Dry Tortugas National Park, west of the Florida Keys, and are now being treated in 20 institutions across 14 states.

The corals are in massive saltwater tanks with sunlight-mimicking lamps glowing above them to recreate their natural Florida habitat.

Here the corals are being fed and treated with antibiotics with the hopes of returning them to their natural home.

The coral is suffering from SCTLD (stony coral tissue loss disease) that first appeared off the southeast coast in 2014, but has since spread along the Florida Keys and down into the Caribbean Sea.

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Nearly 2,000 colonies of coral were removed from Dry Tortugas National Park, west of the Florida Keys, and are now being treated in 20 institutions across 14 states

Michelle Ashton, the communications director of the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida, told AFP: 'It's heartbreaking, and I think the most alarming (thing) about it is that most people don't know it's happening.'

More than half of Florida's coral reef has been infect by the ailment  over 96,000 acres- and approximately 45 species have been affected.

The rescue lab's work is part of a project created in 2018 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and includes dozens of public and private organizations.

The group, faced with the threat of more than 20 of the 45 species of hard corals in the area going extinct, devised the unprecedented plan to extract healthy corals from the region's waters and care for them in these artificially equipped aquariums in the hope they can be returned to their wild habitats in the future.

The coral is suffering from SCTLD (stony coral tissue loss disease) that first appeared off the southeast coast in 2014, but has since spread along the Florida Keys and down into the Caribbean Sea. The white coral is infected by the disease

Biologists at the Florida Coral Rescue Center (pictured) are treating 18 species of coral  more than 700 creatures  by feeding them shrimp inside a tank that mimics their natural habitat

Pictured is a map showing where coral has been affected by the stony coral tissue loss as of last year

'You are looking at the future of Florida Reef Tract in this room,' Aston said of the corals in the Orlando aquariums. 'And their grandchildren will be what goes back out to the water.'

Biologists at the Florida Coral Rescue Center are treating 18 species of coral  more than 700 creatures  by feeding them shrimp inside a tank that mimics their natural habitat.

Justin Zimmerman, the director of the Orlando-based lab, which opened in 2020 and is managed by aquatic theme park company SeaWorld, said in a statement: 'We are holding the corals safely and healthy in our care.

'If they were still in the wild, up to 90 percent of them would have been dead.'

Here the corals are being fed and treated with antibiotics with the hopes of returning them to their natural home

A staff member works on restoring Florida's coral reef, which is suffering from stony coral tissue loss disease, at the Florida Coral Rescue Center in Orlando

The scientists are studying the genetics of the rescued animals in an effort to cultivate new specimens that could be more resistant to disease, as well as other threats such as warming water temperatures and pollution.

The success or failure of these endeavors could have huge consequences for the region.

Stony corals, made up of limestone skeletons, are what create coral reefs, which in turn provide a home for a quarter of marine life.

Plus, the structures are natural barriers between the open ocean and land, reducing the strength of waves that hit the coastline, especially during hurricanes and other storms.

And a hit to coral health could mean a hit to Florida tourism revenue, as one study estimated that visitors drawn to the state for fishing and diving along the reef generate $8.5 billion.
The UN has developed a new tool that reveals the location of all floods on Earth since 1985, which it says will help officials in planning for future disasters.

The World Flood Mapping Tool will be especially useful for countries in the Global South, where flood risk maps are rare and often badly out of date, the UN said.

It was created by the UN Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) in Hamilton, Canada, with support from Google, MapBox and other partners.

It makes use of the Google Earth Engine to show flood data, that comes primarily from the NASA Landsat satellites, with information going back to 1985.

The tool lets users adjust variables to help locate gaps in flood defences and responses, and to plan where to build or upgrade infrastructure, as well as show flood-safe locations for future housing and industry development project.

It was created by the UN University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health in Hamilton, Canada, with support from Google, MapBox and other partners

The map lets users zoom in to street level, showing existing water areas in dark blue and inundated areas as a result of flooding at points in the past, in red

IMPROVEMENTS ON PREVIOUS FLOOD MAP SYSTEMS Improved resolution of inundation maps to 30 meter resolution, enabling analysis at a citywide level

Focus on the Global South, where data and information gaps are prominent and annual losses due to floods are high

Improved accuracy of inundation maps using data from multiple satellite sensors

Improved accuracy and shorter development time of flood risk maps by using AI models Advertisement

Floods in the past decade have impacted the lives of more than half a billion people, mainly in low and middle income countries.

This has resulted in damages of nearly US $500 billion, which is roughly equal to the GDP of Singapore, and the problem is getting worse.

'More recent floods worldwide have added to a fast growing toll of upended lives, damage and deaths,' said UNU-INWEH Director Vladimir Smakhtin.

'An estimated 1.5 billion people  greater than the population of Europe  live at risk of exposure to intense flooding.

'We need to prepare now for more intense and more frequent floods due to climate change and hope this tool will help developing nations in particular to see and mitigate the risks more clearly.'

A UNU-INWEH survey previously showed a majority of flood forecasting centres in flood-prone countries lack the ability to run complex flood forecasting models.

'As temperatures continue to rise the number of flood events will increase along with their severity,' said Hamid Mehmood, a GIS and remote sensing specialist at UNU-INWEH who led the tool's development.

He said floods like those this year in Europe that killed more than 200 people and caused billions of dollars in damages are now up to nine times more likely because of climate change.

These maps generated from the tool show the extent of the 2019 Red River flood in Minnesota. The areas in red show the extent of the flooding, beyond normal water levels

'No place is immune. And yet remarkably few regions, even in wealthy countries, have useful, up-to-date flood maps because of the cost and difficulty of creating them.'

The flood mapping data is available at 100ft resolution, meaning it will show flooding to an area covering a part of a street, giving very localised information.

The first release is primarily for use by policy officials and aid agencies looking to get support in place for future flood risk locations, but future versions could be used by insurance firms, as it will have even more precise building-level resolution.

It layers Landsat information for selected regions and a specified timeframe, to identify temporary and permanent water bodies.

This map, generated using the tool, shows the extent of flooding (red) in Kaprun, Austria, over the past past decade

Researchers say floods like those this year in Europe (pictured in Kaprun, Austria in July) that killed more than 200 people and caused billions of dollars in damages are now up to nine times more likely because of climate change

CASE STUDIES USED TO VALIDATE THE UN FLOOD MAP TOOL Australia, Queensland, 11 - 18 February, 2008 Severe weather and intense rain hit the central coast of Queensland, where some rainfall stations received over 600 mm of rain in just six hours. Insurance companies paid out roughly US $297 million, and road and drainage infrastructure repairs cost an estimated US $32 million. Bangladesh, Dhaka, 2017 Three major flood events affected over 8 million people and caused loss of life, severe damage to housing, infrastructure, and affected crops and livestock throughout the country. It resulted from heavy rains from late March to early April, with a focus on the countrys northeastern region, where over 850,000 households were impacted, and 220,000 acres of ready-to-harvest rice were damaged. Cambodia, Phnom Penh, 2011 Flooding affected 18 of 24 provinces in 2011, damaged infrastructure and agriculture, and directly impacted over 1.2 million people. Canada, Red River, April 2019 The Red River, which originates from Minnesota and North Dakota and flows northwards through Manitoba to Hudson Bay, flooded extensively in 1950 and 2011. The study area focused on the agricultural land and small communities between Winnipeg and the US border flooded in April 2019. Advertisement

This produces a detailed map of flood inundation in recent decades, with available overlays of population, buildings and land use.

This information can then be used for community planning, building zoning, insurance assessments and more, the team explained.

To validate the technology, maps generated in less than a minute using the new tool were compared to documented flooding events in Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Cambodia, India, Mozambique, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The maps produced using the new UN tool matched the outflow and reality of these floods with 82 per cent accuracy.

Since 1985 there have been 103 major flooding events, and information on each of them is available within the new tool, which will also reflect new floods soon after they occur - to provide the most up-to-date maps possible.

'Painting a detailed picture of the historical and potential flood risk areas will be invaluable for any urban and regional planning department,' says project collaborator Dr Duminda Perera of UNU-INWEH.

The UN team plan to expand on this tool, which highlights past flooding, with a new prediction tool - due for release in 2022.

That tool will also be free to use, and will use artificial intelligence to generate current and future flood risk maps for three climate change scenarios at the city, district, and river basin levels.

Dr Mehmood said that that natural disaster-related insurance rates, flood-related human and economic losses, etc., can be estimated using the new tool.

Potential supply chain vulnerabilities can also be revealed. And during disasters, the tool can be used to help determine emergency relief routes.

The World Flood Mapping Tool could also potentially guide development of agriculture insurance support for people living and farming at the subsistence level.

'Creating this safety net would have far-reaching implications for global development goals and promoting more secure economies and nations,' the UN said.

Details of the analysis and findings from case studies used to test the mapping tool have been published in the journal Atmosphere.
An eight-year-old girl has joined a NASA-affiliated programme searching for asteroids, and has already spotted 18 space rocks, according to her family.

Nicole Oliveira, from Fortaleza, Brazil, has had an interest in space since she was a toddler, and was throwing her arms to reach for the stars while learning to walk.

At age eight she has been dubbed 'the world's youngest astronomer' thanks to her work with NASA, which also involves attending seminars and meeting science figures.

The project she is involved with is known as 'Asteroid Hunters' and is designed to introduce young people to science by helping them make their own discoveries.

Brazilian 8-year-old astronomer Nicole Oliveira poses for a picture with her telescope in Fortaleza, Brazil, on September 21, 2021

Nicole Oliveira has had an interest in space since she was a toddler, and was throwing her arms to reach for the stars while learning to walk in her native Brazil

'ASTEROID HUNTERS': A CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT TO FIND SPACE ROCKS The International Astronomical Search Collaboration provides high-quality astronomical data to citizen scientists around the world. These citizen scientists are able to make original astronomical discoveries and participate in hands-on astronomy. It is a free service that draws in observations from around the world, and with support from a wide range of international organisations. One of the projects it runs is a series of 'Asteroid Search Campaigns' - each one of the campaigns is a month-long event in which teams search for asteroids. These asteroids can be difficult to spot, and involve looking for tiny changes in pictures taken over multiple nights. Advertisement

Her room is filled with posters of the Solar System, according to her family, with miniature rockets and Star Wars figures littering her shelves.

She works from a computer with two large screens, where she spends her spare time studying images of the night sky taken by telescopes to look for space rocks.

Asteroid Hunters is run by the International Astronomical Search Collaboration, a citizen science program affiliated with NASA.

Her involvement came about due to the fact Brazil's ministry of science is one of the partnership organisations, working with NASA and others.

Beaming with pride, Nicole told AFP she has already found 18 asteroids, and plans to name them after Brazilian scientists and family members, like her mum and dad.

It could take several years for her 18 discoveries to be confirmed as a space rock, but if they are then she would become the youngest person in the world to officially discover an asteroid.

She'd break a record set by Italian amateur astronomer, Luigi Sannino, who spotted two asteroids in 1998 and 1999 aged 18.

'She really has an eye. She immediately spots points in the images that look like asteroids and often advises her classmates when they are not sure they have really found any,' Heliomarzio Rodrigues Moreira, Oliveira's astronomy teacher told Afp.

She attends a private school in the city of Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil on an academic scholarship.

'The most important thing is that she shares her knowledge with other children. She contributes to the dissemination of science,' added Rodrigues Moreira.

The family relocated to Fortaleza from their hometown of Maceio, a 600 mile move, so she could take up the scholarship.

'We understood that this passion for astronomy was serious when she asked us for a telescope as a birthday present when she turned four. I didn't even really know what a telescope was,' her mum, Zilma Janaca told Afp.

At age eight she has been dubbed 'the world's youngest astronomer' thanks to her work with NASA, that also involves attending seminars and meeting science figures

The project she is involved with is known as 'Asteroid Hunters' and is designed to introduce young people to science by helping them make their own discoveries

She didn't get the telescope until she turned seven, after all her friends pooled their money to purchase her the device.

The youngster has interviewed astronomers, met with the Brazilian minister of science, and the only Brazilian to go to space, Marcos Pontes.

Nicole wants to become an aerospace engineer and build rockets when she grows up, with the hope of one day going to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida 'to see their rockets'.

The International Astronomical Search Collaboration provides high-quality astronomical data to citizen scientists around the world.

These citizen scientists are able to make original astronomical discoveries and participate in hands-on astronomy.

Beaming with pride, Nicole told AFP she has already found 18 asteroids, and plans to name them after Brazilian scientists and family members - like her mum and dad

Her room is filled with posters of the Solar System, according to her family, with miniature rockets and Star Wars figures littering her shelves

It is a free service that draws in observations from around the world, and with support from a wide range of international organisations.

One of the projects it runs is a series of 'Asteroid Search Campaigns' - each one of the campaigns is a month-long event in which teams search for asteroids.

Citizen scientists sign up as part of a team, with most coming from high schools, colleges and universities. If they spot a space rock, then after confirmation, which takes up to five years, they can officially give their discovery a name.

Names are proposed to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the global body that designates names to minor planets and asteroids in the Solar System.
British-built spacecraft BepiColombo is just hours away from making its first flyby of Mercury, when it will snap pictures of the Solar System's smallest planet as it passes within 124 miles of its surface.

The probe will make its closest approach at 00:34 BST on Saturday.

It will only be a fleeting visit, however, because the spacecraft is travelling too fast to go into orbit and instead will race straight past the closest world to the sun.

BepiColombo will be slowed just a little by Mercury's gravity though, before future flybys over the coming years eventually lead to it taking up residence around the diminutive planet by December 2025.

The uncrewed probe will make use of nine planetary flybys in total: one at Earth, two at Venus, and six at Mercury, together with the spacecraft's solar electric propulsion system, to help steer it into Mercury's orbit.

This pass is hot on the heels of its last Venus flyby in August, giving scientists a tantalising first taste of what's to come in the main mission in four years.

BepiColombo will capture images and science data during the approach, although it won't be using its high-resolution cameras because these are currently tucked away to protect them in deep space.

Instead, two of the probe's three monitoring cameras will be taking photos from about five minutes after the time of close approach and up to four hours later.

The first images will be released to the public early on Saturday (October 2), with the rest published on Monday morning.

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Countdown is on: The British-built spacecraft BepiColombo is just hours away from making its first flyby of Mercury, when it will pass within 124 miles of the Solar System's smallest planet

The probe will make its closest approach to the diminutive planet at 00:34 BST on Saturday

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT MERCURY? For all its bland 'dead' appearance, Mercury is a very interesting place It is the smallest planet in our solar system - only slightly larger than the Earth's moon. On its sunward half, the planet sizzles at a temperature of 510C (950CF while its night side maintains 210C (346F). It is the closest planet to the sun at a distance of about 36 million miles (58 million km) or 0.39 AU. Mercury has a solid iron core that measures more than half the planet's diameter. Earth, by contrast, has a solid core that's just 9.5 per cent of its overall girth. One day on Mercury takes 59 Earth days. Mercury makes a complete orbit around the sun (a year in Mercury time) in just 88 Earth days. Advertisement

BepiColombo launched in October 2018 and is made up of two science orbiters, one from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the other from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that will fly in complementary orbits around the planet.

It includes the ESA-led Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the JAXA-led Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, which will study all aspects of the planet  from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and its exosphere.

The aim is to better understand the origin, processes currently at work, and evolution of the planet closest to our parent star.

Travelling the 67 million miles to enter orbit around Mercury is no small task, requiring multiple flybys to speed up, or slow down, for orbital insertion.

Gravitational flybys require extremely precise deep-space navigation work, ensuring that the spacecraft is on the correct approach trajectory.

One week after BepiColombo's last flyby at Venus on August 10, a correction manoeuvre was performed to nudge the craft a little for this first flyby of Mercury.

The experts hope to pass very close to the distant world, just 124 miles from its surface.

As BepiColombo is more than 60 million miles away from Earth, with light taking 350 seconds to reach it, being on target to within just a mile is no easy feat.

'It is because of our remarkable ground stations that we know where our spacecraft is with such precision,' said Elsa Montagnon, operations manager from ESA.

'With this information, the Flight Dynamics team at ESOC know just how much we need to manoeuvre, to be in the right place for Mercury's gravitational assist.

'As is often the case, our mission's path has been planned so meticulously that no further correction manoeuvres are expected for this upcoming flyby. BepiColombo is on track.'

The uncrewed European Space Agency spacecraft will make use of nine planetary flybys in total: one at Earth, two at Venus, and six at Mercury, together with the spacecraft's solar electric propulsion system, to help steer into Mercury orbit

WHO WAS GIUSEPPE 'BEPI' COLOMBO? The upcoming first Mercury flyby falls on the 101st anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe 'Bepi' Colombo He lived from October 2, 1920 until his death on February 20, 1984. Colombo was an Italian scientist and engineer for whom the BepiColombo mission is named. Colombo is known for explaining Mercury's peculiar characteristic of rotating about its own axis three times in every two orbits of the Sun. He realised that by careful choice of a spacecrafts flyby point as it passed a planet, the planet's gravity could help the spacecraft make further flybys. His interplanetary calculations enabled NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft to achieve three flybys of Mercury instead of one. It did so by using a flyby of Venus to change the spacecraft's flight path  the first of many spacecraft to use such a gravity assist manoeuvre. Advertisement

The first image taken by the probe will be available from about 30 minutes after closest approach, and is expected to be available for public release at around 07:00 BST on Saturday.

This will be a black-and-white snapshot in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution, taken by cameras positioned on the Mercury Transfer Module.

'Because BepiColombo is arriving on the planet's nightside, conditions are not ideal to take images directly at the closest approach, thus the closest image will be captured from a distance of about 600 miles,' said ESA in a statement.

The spacecraft's cameras are positioned in a way to capture its solar arrays and antennas, and as the probe changes its orientation during the flyby, Mercury will be seen passing behind the craft's structural elements.

For the closest images it should be possible to identify large impact craters on the planet's surface.

Mercury has a heavily cratered surface much like the appearance of Earth's Moon, plotting its 4.6 billion year history.

Mapping the surface of Mercury and analysing its composition will help scientists understand more about its formation and evolution.

Even though BepiColombo is in 'stacked' cruise configuration for the flybys, it will be possible to operate some of the science instruments on both planetary orbiters, allowing a first taste of the planet's magnetic, plasma and particle environment.

'We're really looking forward to seeing the first results from measurements taken so close to Mercury's surface,' says Johannes Benkhoff, BepiColombo project scientist.

'When I started working as project scientist on BepiColombo in January 2008, NASA's Messenger mission had its first flyby at Mercury. Now it's our turn. It's a fantastic feeling!'

The upcoming first Mercury flyby falls on the 101st anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe 'Bepi' Colombo (2 October 192020 February 1984), an Italian scientist and engineer for whom the BepiColombo mission is named.

It includes the ESA-led Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the JAXA-led Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, which will study all aspects of the planet - from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and its exosphere

Mapping the surface of Mercury and analysing its composition will help scientists understand more about its formation and evolution

Colombo is known for explaining Mercury's peculiar characteristic of rotating about its own axis three times in every two orbits of the Sun.

He also realised that by careful choice of a spacecraft's flyby point as it passed a planet, the planet's gravity could help the spacecraft make further flybys.

His interplanetary calculations enabled NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft to achieve three flybys of Mercury instead of one by using a flyby of Venus to change the spacecraft's flight path.

The BepiColombo mission will build on the successes of its predecessors to provide the best understanding of the Solar System's innermost planet to date.
As well as causing death and destruction, a study suggests natural disasters can put people at a greater risk of developing dementia.

Using health and survey data on people living in the areas worst hit by a 2011 tsunami in Japan, experts from Harvard University explored the link between cognitive decline and natural disasters.

The event, which killed 20,000 and saw 100,000 children uprooted from their homes, may also have contributed to cognitive decline in older adults, they found.

More than 3,000 people with an average age of 73 were questioned about their cognitive state, finding those that lost a home in the disaster experienced an increase in their rate of cognitive decline, but losing a loved one had no impact.

The team say this is linked to increased isolation, with the unmarried, lower educated and eldest at the greatest risk of increasing cognitive decline.

Using health and survey data on people living in the areas worst hit by a 2011 tsunami in Japan (pictured) gave experts Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts an insight into the link between cognitive decline and natural disasters

EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI STRUCK JAPAN IN 2011 The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011. The earthquake measured 9.0-9.1 magnitude and was an undersea megathrust quake with its epicenter int he Pacific Ocean. This was about 45 miles east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tohoku region of Japan and lasted six minutes. It was so intense it caused a tsunami that struck Japan, with waves reaching 133ft in Miyako. They travelled at 435 miles per hour, reaching six miles inland and giving local residents less than 10 minutes to evacuate the area. In total there were 19,747 deaths, 6,242 injuries, and 2,556 people missing. Hundreds of thousands of people were living away from their homes for years after the tsunami struck. Recent studies suggest there was also a link between the event, which destroyed homes and other buildings, and cognitive decline in some. Advertisement

The study of the longitudinal data was conducted by Koichiro Shiba and colleagues, who wanted to know whether directly experiencing the tsunami and the magnitude 9 earthquake that caused it, had an effect on cognition.

'Identifying particularly vulnerable subpopulations is important because it will contribute to allocating public health resources in future emergencies,' Shiba told New Scientist.

To understand the link, they turned to the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study, which spoke to people in the country aged 65 and over at various points.

Shiba focused on data taken from Iwanuma in Miyagi Prefecture, as these were the areas most severely hit by the tsunami.

In total, they used information from 3,350 people with an average age of 73.2, with survey responses seven months before the disaster, and follow ups two and a half, and then five years, after the natural disaster struck.

They were asked about their cognitive state, with responses from caregivers also included to get a broader picture.

The team discovered that those who lost their home during the natural disaster suffered an increase in the speed of their cognitive decline.

'Our analysis showed that the effects of home loss on subsequent cognitive disability may be comparable with diagnosis of stroke, a well-established risk factor of cognitive disability,' the authors wrote.

However, they were surprised to discover that losing a loved on in the natural disaster made no difference to the rate of decline.

Shiba said it was unclear why there was no link between losing someone close to you in a natural disaster, and the rate of cognitive decline.

To get a better picture, the team used machine learning to allow them to compare individual unique circumstances, to consider personal factors on decline.

They discovered that those living on a low-income were most vulnerable to an increase in the rate of cognitive decline if they live through a natural disaster.

This could be because they were more likely to be older, unmarried and less educated than those who didn't suffer as much of a decline.

The event, which saw homes destroyed (pictured), killed 20,000 and saw 100,000 children uprooted from their homes, may also have contributed to cognitive decline in older adults

'Factors such as old age, nonmarried status, and living alone might have accelerated social isolation among the exposed individuals,' the team wrote.

Shiba said he believes community hubs should be built for when disaster strikes to 'encourage social interactions amongst residents' to prevent social isolation.

Robbie Parks at Imperial College London, not involved in the study, told New Scientist that it makes sense that people in low-income area suffer the most.

'This is an important study which highlights how the greatest burden of disasters such as earthquakes will be on those most vulnerable  even in high-income countries like Japan,' he explained.

More than 3,000 people with an average age of 73 were questioned about their cognitive state, finding those that lost a home in the disaster experienced an increase in their rate of cognitive decline, but losing a loved one had no impact. Stock image

Previous studies had looked at the impact of cognitive decline following a traumatic experience, but this is the first to take an individual look at the impact.

The study demonstrated that some people are particularly prone to experience cognitive disability after disasters, which could be overlooked in studies assessing population average associations only, Shiba explained.

However, there were limitations to the research, according to the authors, as the findings can't say which characteristics, such as age or marital status, could be intervened on to mitigate the effects of future disasters on cognitive ability.
A new species of dinosaur that was 16ft long and roamed Brazil 70 million years ago has been unearthed by palaeontologists.

The terrifying predator, named Kurupi itaata by researchers, had tiny arms, a rigid tail and was well adapted to running, fossil analysis revealed.

Its remains were found in Monte Alto, a municipality in the state of Sao Paulo that is one of Brazil's richest sites for dinosaur discoveries.

A new species of dinosaur that was 16ft long and roamed Brazil 70 million years ago has been unearthed by researchers. The predator (pictured) has been named Kurupi itaata

It had a rigid tail and was well adapted to running, fossil analysis revealed. Pictured is the dinosaur's first caudal vertebra

THE ABELISAURIDS Abelisauridae were a striking family of theropod dinosaurs averaging 16 to 30 feet long that prowled mainly in Patagonia and other areas of the ancient southern supercontinent Gondwana. Gondwana is recognised today as Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula. While abelisaurids resembled T-Rex in general appearance with tiny stubby arms, they had unusually short, deep skulls which often bore crests, bumps, and horns. When Tyrannosaurus and its relatives roamed North America and Asia, the abelisaurids occupied a similar niche in Patagonia and other areas of South America. Abelisaurids had huge jaws. Just like T-Rex, they relied on them to crush and kill prey. But abelisaurids had even tinier arms than the tyrannosaurs. Advertisement

The new species is a type of abelisaurid, small-armed dinosaurs that thrived on the ancient southern supercontinent Gondwana.

Abelisaurids were the dominant predators in the southern hemisphere, around the same time that tyrannosaurids roamed North America and Asia.

They were part of the wider theropod clade of massive bipedal meat-eaters with sharp grasping claws.

While abelisaurids resembled T-Rex in general appearance with tiny stubby arms, they had unusually short, deep skulls which often bore crests, bumps, and horns.

Palaeontologists first found an isolated theropod pelvis during an excavation in 2002, before a number of further discoveries of bones were made.

Dr Fabiano Vidoi Iori, from the Museu de Paleontologia, said: 'The bones found were the pelvic bone, three vertebrae, and some that we have not yet identified.

'A phylogenetic analysis was done with those (pieces) we identified, which then identified which species the animal belonged to, and also allowed us to see that it was a new animal.'

The researchers also looked at whether the bones had any trample marks, abrasions, weathering or tooth marks.

Their findings suggest the dinosaur's body remained on the Earth's surface for a short time before it was eventually buried.

There were also no signs of abrasions, meaning Kurupi itaata's bones were not moved far from the place it died to where they were found.

Researchers said the size of the pelvic girdle suggested it was a medium-sized abelisaurid.

The dinosaur's muscle attachments and bone anatomy also indicated that it was well adapted to running, they added.

Its remains were found in Monte Alto (pictured), a municipality in the state of Sao Paulo that is one of Brazil's richest sites for dinosaur discoveries

Researchers said the size of the pelvic girdle suggested it was a medium-sized abelisaurid

This images shows another view of the Kurupi itaata species' first caudal vertebra

'It is possible to infer that in Kurupi such muscles were robust, and could give to the species the ability to cover a large area in search of prey and water in the hostile scenario of the Maastrichtian in the Marilia Formation,' the authors wrote in the paper.

They said the species lived in an arid environment with little rainfall, along with Peirosaurid crocodyliforms  dog-like carnivores that were diverse and abundant on the Gondwanan landmasses during the Cretaceous period.

Researchers said the name Kurupi refers to a legendary monster of the Guarani indigenous culture, God of fertility and sexuality.

'The choice of the name is due to the fact that the fossils were found in the region of "Motel Paraiso" ("Paradise Motel"), a place intended for intimate encounters,' they wrote in their paper.

Researchers believe the dinosaur's body remained on the Earth's surface for a short time before it was eventually buried

There were also no signs of abrasions, meaning Kurupi itaata's bones (pictured) were not moved far from the place it died to where they were found

Monte Alto, in the state of Sao Paulo, is one of Brazil's richest sites for dinosaur discoveries

Itaata comes from the indigenous language Tupi and has two roots: ita for rock and ata for hard, alluding to the very cemented rocks of the Marilia Formation at the Monte Alto regions.

A model of the Kurupi Itaata will now go on display at Monte Alto's Museum of Paleontology.

Earlier this week it was revealed that a 29ft-long dinosaur was one of two recently discovered species that roamed what is now the Isle of Wight 125 million years ago.

The remains of the carnivorous reptiles, about the same length as a Stegosaurus but with crocodile-like skulls, were found on the beach near Brighstone on the island.

The pair were identified as new, previously undescribed dinosaur species by palaeontologists from the University of Southampton.

This new discovery of Kurupi itaata is described in the Journal of South American Earth Sciences.
Archaeologists in Greece say a 14th-century Byzantine warrior survived a broken jaw by having it wired shut  most likely with gold.

The man's skull was first uncovered in 1991, interred in the grave of a 5-year-old child in a cemetery inside a fort in ancient Thrace following the decapitation of the warrior by the Ottoman army.

But it was only recently did researchers notice the soldier's had jaw being shattered in two places a decade before he died, then carefully reset by a knowledgeable medical professional.

The team believe the skilled healer was following advice on jaw injuries laid out by iconic Greek physician Hippocrates nearly 2,000 years before.

The jaw of a 14th-century Byzantine warrior discovered in Thrace indicates it had been fractured and then wired with gold thread while it healed. Such a high level of care was rare at the time, but the approach had been recommended 1,800 years earlier by Hippocrates

The unknown warrior's skull and lower jaw were unearthed 30 years ago at the site of fort Polystylon, a Byzantine stronghold built on the remains of the ancient Greek city of Abdera near the Aegean, in what is now Western Thrace.

They had been 'caringly interred' with the girl's skeleton, according to a new report published in the journal Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry.

Both sets of remains were found in a cist, or stone coffin, in the middle of a 20-plot cemetery at the fort that had been obscured by centuries of earth.

'Large ceramic fragments' nearby may have come from a cup used to dig the grave.

The warrior was probably 35 or 40 when he was beheaded by invading Ottomans. His decapitated head was buried with the remains of a five-year-old girl, likely in secret

It's not clear if the warrior and his young grave mate were related or knew each other.

Anagnostis Agelarakis, an Adelphi University archaeologist who led the excavation, had logged the remains back in the '90s but only recently noticed the warrior's healed mandible, a rarity in that era.

'The jaw was shattered into two pieces,' Agelarakis told Live Science. He praised the skill and knowledge that allowed 'the medical professional ... to put the two major fragments of the jaw together.'

Such a wound would have made eating or drinking incredibly hard and could have resulted in the victim starving to death.

An illustration of the decapitated Byzantine warrior's head

The level of care the man received suggests he was a VIP, according to Agelarakis.

'He was the military leader, most probably of the fort,' he told Live Science. That would also explain why he was decapitated by the Ottomans when they overran the stronghold.

He still had a slightly misaligned jaw, but Agelarakis put that down to medical complications or possibly even the warrior's inability to stay immobile, rather a lack of skill on the surgeon's part.

'In fact, had there not been follow-up adjustment treatments of the aligned jaw fragments by the physician, the fractured jaw component identified as the base triangle would not have been set to fuse as close [as they did],' the authors wrote in their paper.

While the actual metal used to wire his jaw shut is long gone, Agelarakis is fairly confident it was gold: It would have to be something strong but pliable and non-toxic, and the jaw lacked the typical gray discoloration seen with with silver or the green patina associated with copper wiring stains.

One tooth was filed down so that the knot that tied the wire wouldn't scratch his cheek.

'It's very sophisticated,' Agelarakis told Live Science. 'it's flabbergasting.

Anagnostis Agelaraki and archaeologists first excavating the cemetery at Polystylon fort in 1991. The unique injury on the soldier's mandible was only recently discovered

Based on tartar buildup on his teeth where the wire was threaded, Agelarakis believes the soldier suffered the injury about a decade before his violent death at age 35-40.

How he fractured his jaw isn't clear, but Agelarakis suggested possibilities included a fall from a horse or a wound from a spearhead or projectile.

The authors say the discovery of his treatment 'reflected on the continued implementation of an intervention approach that had been recommended 1,800 years earlier' by Hippocrates' treatises.

It also provides 'glimpses of the human condition during the most tumultuous last 100 years of the [Byzantine] Empire,' they wrote.

Both sets of remains were found in a cist, or stone coffin, in the middle of a 20-plot cemetery at the fort that had been obscured by centuries of earth

The warrior was likely decapitated in the 1380s, when the fort was sacked by invading Ottomans.

His skull was also bashed in, they wrote, with a' ghastly-sized' fracture on the upper part of his face and other blunt-force trauma caused 'by the strike of different types of weapons.'

Given that his head was placed in someone else's grave, without the rest of its body, Agelarakis theorized his burial was done quickly without the Ottoman's awareness.

His 'horrific suffering and decapitation' suggest the fort was not surrendered, 'but that it must have been taken by force,' according to the study.

This newest discovery offers 'testimonial on the defense of the fort under siege, the heroic resistance to the invaders, and the inhumane consequences suffered at the hands of the conquerors.'
The redacted content of letters between Marie Antoinette and her rumoured lover, the Swedish count Hans Axel von Fersen, has been revealed using x-ray scans.

The identity of the one who censored the exchanges  which were sent between 179192, early in the French Revolution  has puzzled historian for 150 years.

Experts from Paris's Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation (CRC) were able to distinguish between the inks used in the redactions and that of the underlying text.

From this, they were able to map out the long-hidden text  with the use of words like 'beloved', 'adore' and 'madly' hinting at the close relationship between the pair.

Furthermore, the team found evidence that it was the count himself who redacted parts of the letters, many of which appear to have been copies rather than originals.

According to the team, their method provides a new way to unveil redacted content and could find various historical and forensic applications in the future.

The redacted content of letters from Marie Antoinette (left) to her rumoured lover, the Swedish count Hans Axel von Fersen (right), has been revealed using x-ray scans. The team found that it was the count himself who redacted parts of the letters, which were copies of the originals

Experts from Paris's Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation were able to distinguish between the inks used in the redactions and that of the underlying text. Pictured: a letter from Marie Antoinette to Count von Fersen dated January 4, 1792, with the redactions shown on the left and with the researchers' restorations superimposed on the right

The identity of the one who censored the exchanges  which were sent between 179192, early in the French Revolution  has puzzled historian for 150 years. Pictured: a partially-redacted letter written by the Count von Fersen to Marie Antoinette, dated October 25, 1791, is subjected to x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy microscanning

X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy is a non-destructive technique used to determine the chemical composition of the materials it analyses. It works by exciting the sample with X-rays and measuring the secondary X-rays produced as a result. Each element in the sample gives off a characteristic X-ray fingerprint, which allows it to be identified. Advertisement

In their study, the team  led by physical chemist Anne Michelin  studied a selection of letters exchanged between Marie Antoinette and Count von Fersen between the June of 1791 and the August of 1792.

They used a technique called microscanning x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to analyse the redacted sections of 15 of the historical letters.

In eight of the notes, the researchers found consistent chemical differences between the inks used to write the original texts and those used to later strike through the apparently sensitive content.

By mapping out these variations  which appeared in the copper-to-iron and zinc-to-iron ratios of the inks  the team were able to reveal the original, underlying text.

They next used multivariate statistical analyses to clarify hard-to-decipher sections, allowing the to read the redacted text in eight of the letters.

Furthermore, the team's investigation revealed that the chemical compositions of the inks used in von Fersen's letters was relatively uniform and that the same inks were used to write some of the letters 'from' Marie and make many of the redactions.

This suggests that some of the letters sent to the count were not originals, but copies that he made himself  and that he was the one who censored the content.

The team found evidence that the count himself redacted parts of the letters, many of which appear to have been copies rather than originals. Pictured: a photograph of the second, partly-censored page of a letter from Marie Antoinette to Count von Fersen dated January 4, 1792

The researchers used microscanning x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to analyse the redacted sections of 15 of the historical letters. Pictured: the x-ray scanner

By identifying von Fersen as the censor, the researchers wrote in their paper, the findings highlight 'the importance of the letters received and sent to him  whether by sentimental attachment or by political strategy.'

'He decided to keep his letters instead of destroying them but redacting some sections, indicating that he wanted to protect the honour of the queen (or maybe also his own interests).

'In any case, these redactions are a way to identify the passages that he considered to be private,' they continued.

'The mystery of these redacted passages that make this correspondence special is perhaps the reason that allowed this correspondence to be spared when the rest was largely destroyed.'

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Science Advances.
A geoglyph of a bull discovered in Siberia dates back more than 4,000 years, making it twice as old as the famed Nazca lines of Peru and a millennia older than Uffington's chalk-lined White Horse.

Geoglyphs, which often have spiritual or religious meaning, are large designs made in the ground that can typically only be seen from the air.

The bull, which measures 10 feet tall by 13 feet long, is formed from carefully arranged pebbles and sandstone.

It was part of a larger Early Bronze Age burial site uncovered near Khondergey, a village in southwest Tuva close to Russias border with Mongolia.

This is the first animal geoglyph found in this part of Central Asia, according to archaeologists at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of the History of Material Culture, who participated in the discovery.

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Archaeologists in Siberia have discovered a bull geoglyph they believe is more than 4,000 years olda millennia older than Uffingtons White Horse and twice as old as the famed Nazca lines of Peru

The bull motif is very typical for the Central Asia cultures of the Early Bronze Era, Marina Kilunovskaya, head of Tuva Archaeological Expedition, told The Siberian Times. Later in the Scythian era, bulls were replaced by deers.

Kilunovskaya said petroglyphs, or rock carvings, of bulls have been discovered in Tuva and the surrounding regions before but this is the first animal geoglyph.

We didnt previously find such stone compositions. she told the Times.

Only the back half of the bovine remainsits front was destroyed by road construction in the 1940s. Members of the expedition hope the bulls rear will be better preserved.

A graphic indicating what the bull would have looked like when it was made. Its front end was unknowingly destroyed during road construction in the 1940s

The bull, which measures 10 feet tall by 13 feet long, is formed from carefully arranged pebbles and sandstone

WHAT ARE GEOGLYPHS? Geoglyphs are works of art created by moving objects in the landscape, such as stones, trees and gravel. A positive geoglyph is formed by materials being laid on the ground while a negative geoglyph is formed by removing material. Though some geoglyphs clearly represent animals and other natural imagery, many have strange square, circular or hexagonal shapes. The most famous geoglyphs are the Nazca lines in Peru, rediscovered in 1939. The cultural significance of these features remains unclear. Advertisement

Geoglyphs have been discovered in diverse corners of the world: In addition to the Nazca Lines in Peru and Uffingtons White Horse in England, the Blythe Intaglios are a group of gigantic figures carved into the ground in the Colorado Desert near Blythe, California, that have been radiocarbon-dated to between 900 and 1200 BC.

The Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset, England, is a 180-foot tall nude male figure with a prominent erection and large club.

The phallic figure's outline was made by digging two-feet deep trenches into the ground and filling it with crushed chalk.

Dates for when it was carved have ranged from the Middle Ages to the 17th century, but using optically stimulated luminescence, scientists have placed it much further back, somewhere between 700 1110 AD.

The oldest known geoglyph is also in Russia, though some 1,100 miles away from the Tuva bull: An enormous moose only clearly visible from the sky in Chelyabinsk dates to about 6,000 years ago.

The moose, sometimes labeled an elk, was incised on the Zyuratkul Mountains. It stretches for about 902 feet and depicts an animal with four legs, antlers, and a long muzzle.

Only discovered in 2011 using satellite imaging, the moose is also the largest-known figurative geoglyph, as opposed to an abstract or geometric design.

Stone tools uncovered by archaeologists at the site show indicate were made to fit the hands of children, who partook in the glyphs creation.

The Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset, England, is a 180-foot tall nude male figure with a prominent erection and large club

'But it was not a kind of slave labor of children, Stanislav Grigoryev, a senior researcher from the Chelyabinsk History and Archaeology Institute, told The Siberian Times. They were involved to share common values, to join something important to all the people.'

In 2014, dozens of 50 geoglyphs of various shapes and sizes, including a massive swastika, were discovered across northern Kazakhstan.
Luis Suarez has lifted the lid on a conversation with Lionel Messi this summer in which the Argentine was adamant he would finish his career at Barcelona, before 'everything changed' in the space of an hour.

Suarez, 33, spent six years at the Nou Camp alongside Messi, 34, with the South Americans forming a close bond on the pitch and in the dressing room.

The Uruguayan left for Atletico Madrid in 2020, although the pair have remained close friends and were seen holidaying together during the summer break.

Luis Suarez has revealed Lionel Messi was adamant he would stay at Barcelona until retirement

The 34-year-old bid an emotional farewell to the Spanish giants after his contract expired

It was a whirlwind summer for Messi, with the Argentine waving goodbye to Barcelona due to the cash-strapped LaLiga giants being unable to extend the superstar's contract.

Messi subsequently left for Paris Saint-Germain, joining on a free transfer, and bagged his first goal for the French club in Tuesday's victory over Manchester City.

However, Suarez - who helped Atletico to the LaLiga title last term - has revealed that Messi was intent on staying at Barcelona for the rest of his career, lifting the lid on a conversation the pair had while on holiday.

'He told me "I will finish my career at Barcelona, which is what I always wanted, the club that has given me everything and the children are happy", Suarez told Diairio Sport. 'From one hour to the next everything changed.

Suarez lifted the lid on a holiday conversation in which Messi said he would stay at Barcelona

Messi has since moved to PSG, where he scored his first goal on Tuesday against Man CIty

'Leo loves the club, he owes a lot to Barcelona which you could see with his goodbye. He is the best player in the history of the club.

'He left with the uncertainty of what would have happened because, obviously, the manner of it has bothered him, that everything changed from one hour to the next.'

Suarez added that Messi was devastated by the reality of his exit from the club and expressed his surprise at his friend's departure.

'As a friend I had to act, supporting him, so that he was not crestfallen or down. I was very surprised because everything was arranged for him to stay.'
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Agatha Christie once said: Trains are wonderful... to travel by train is to see nature and human beings, towns and churches, and rivers, in fact, to see life.

She was right. Here we round up some of the worlds most spectacular rides.

GOING, GOING, GHAN

The shiny, stainless-steel carriages of The Ghan - pictured - sweep across the immense dusty red-soil plains of Australia

The 54-hour, 1,851-mile journey between Darwin and Adelaide  or vice versa  on The Ghan, is superb. Shiny, stainless-steel carriages sweep across immense dusty red-soil plains, stopping in Alice Springs, which is a springboard to see the famous sandstone monolith of Uluru. The Ghan is a shortening of The Afghan Express, the name given to Afghan camel herdsmen who crossed the Outback in the 1800s.

Book it: 12-night trips with two nights all-inclusive on The Ghan and an Australian tour from 4,249 pp in November 2022, flights included (trailfinders.com, 020 7368 1200).

INTO INDIA

India's Shimla service from Kalka is nicknamed the toy train, with a twisty 60-mile route through 107 tunnels

There are more than 68,000 miles of rail tracks in India, making it a wonderful country to explore by train.

Some of the finest rides are along narrow-gauge lines into the former hill stations of British colonial rule at Darjeeling and Shimla, both in the foothills of the Himalayas.

The Shimla service from Kalka is nicknamed the toy train, with a twisty 60-mile route through 107 tunnels.

Book it: 17-day tours covering Shimla, Darjeeling, Agra, Varanasi and Kolkata from 2,874 pp B&B, with flights, hotels, train tickets and some meals (transindus.co.uk).

NO-RUSH RUSSIA

Preparing to dine in luxury on the Trans-Siberian Express. Travelling on the railway gives you an idea of the sheer enormity of Russia

Crossing from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Trans-Siberian Railway, you get an idea of the sheer enormity of Russia  the ride covers 5,752 miles. The service also runs from Moscow to Beijing, either through Mongolia (4,735 miles) or Manchuria (5,623 miles). In Siberia, vast pine forests spread out, interrupted by cities with great smokestacks and villages with simple abodes.

Book it: Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express - Classic Route from Moscow to Vladivostok, costs from 13,395pp all-inclusive, including 12 nights in an en-suite cabin in Silver Class on the Golden Eagle, and two nights in five-star hotel accommodation.

ON A SWISS ROLL

Carriages on the Glacier Express (pictured) have panoramic windows so you can see all the peaks

Join the Glacier Express in winter to see the snow-capped mountains of the Swiss Alps rising all around. The route covers 181 miles from Zermatt to St Moritz. Carriages have panoramic windows so you can see all the peaks.

Book it: Five-day Glacier Express Winter Magic tours from 1,195 pp B&B, with Eurostar trains, hotels and train tickets (arenarailholidays.co.uk).

SPEED IN JAPAN

Zip along coastlines and between mountains on Japans Shinkansen trains. Above, the bullet train passes Mount Fuji

Japans Shinkansen (bullet) trains reach 186mph and are famous for their punctuality. Zip along coastlines and between mountains. Many tours begin in Sapporo in the north and finish in Hakata in the south.

Book it: 16-day Journey Through Ancient History and Timeless Traditions Sapporo-Hakata trips from 5,795 pp B&B, with train tickets, hotels, some meals and flights (greatrail.com).

PERFECT PYRENEES

Climb aboard the Little Red Train (pictured above) for a 38-mile journey between Rivesaltes and Axat

Slide along the narrow-gauge tracks of the French Pyrenees aboard the Little Yellow Train, rising from an altitude of 427 metres in Villefranche de Conflent to Bolquere-Eyne, Frances highest railway station at 1,592 metres. The 39-mile route passes through 22 stations. In good weather, passengers can sit in open-sided carriages.

Then join the Little Red Train for a 38-mile journey between Rivesaltes and Axat, drinking in views of vineyards and chateaux.

Book it: Eight-day trips from 949 pp half-board including the Eurostar from London, hotels and train tickets (raildiscoveries.com).

STEAM DREAM

Sip champagne on the Northern Belle as it passes through the Pennines and Yorkshire Dales, with the impress Ribblehead Viaduct, pictured, one of the highlights

Enjoy a ride on the Northern Belle train along the 73-mile Settle-Carlisle line. The route takes you through the Pennines and Yorkshire Dales, with highlights including the impressive Ribblehead Viaduct. Expect a Pullman dining car, champagne and fine-dining.

Book it: Day trip returns from 395 pp, including brunch and a five-course dinner with wine (northernbelle.co.uk).

ANDES ADVENTURE

Ten-day Peru by Rail trips with the Belmond Andean Explorer and Hiram Bingham trains cost from 6,529 pp B&B

Inside the five-star Belmond Andean Explorer, which is a grand sleeper train

Travel between the ancient Inca capital of Cusco and Lake Titicaca, the worlds highest navigable lake, before continuing to the whitewashed city of Arequipa, on the five-star Belmond Andean Explorer, a sleeper train.

This three-day journey takes in magnificent mountain scenery, including the El Misti volcano rising near Arequipa. From Cusco, a day trip on the Hiram Bingham train takes you to the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu.

Book it: Ten-day Peru by Rail trips from 6,529 pp B&B with the Belmond Andean Explorer and Hiram Bingham trains, hotels, some meals and flights (journeylatinamerica.co.uk).

ACROSS AFRICA

Enjoy an odyssey across Africa's great plains on the Coast to Coast - African Kingdoms tour, pictured, with the possibility to stop for safaris

Passengers ride in comfortable 1950s vintage carriages on the Rovos Rail  Pride of Africa luxury train

How about a coast-to-coast ride across Africa? Join a Rovos Rail  Pride of Africa luxury train on the Katanga-Benguela route across Angola into the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The route links up with tracks into Zambia and Tanzania on a 2,650-mile odyssey across great plains, through remote valleys and along mighty rivers, with the possibility to stop for safaris. Youll ride in comfortable 1950s vintage carriages, plus theres a swanky restaurant car.

Book it: 22-day Coast to Coast - African Kingdoms guided train tours from 13,595pp, including train tickets, most meals, accommodation on board and flights (vjv.com).

ROCKY RITUAL

Take to the tracks between Denver in Colorado and Moab in Utah on a new, two-day Rocky Mountaineer service. Following the swirling waters of the Colorado River, the train snakes into canyons and crosses desert-like landscape. Some carriages have panoramic glass roofs. It goes slowly so youll be sure to get lots of super snaps.

Book it: Six-night Rocky Mountaineer Rockies to the Red Rocks Explorer trips from 3,299 pp with train tickets, hotels, some meals and flights (americansky.co.uk).
snorkelling at Playa Piskado on the wilder west side of the 38-mile-long island

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Swooping slowly towards me, a large sea turtle bobs its head to the surface before diving down through the bathtub-like waters again.

Ive only been on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao for a few days, but already Im enchanted by its pristine flora and fauna.

Towering cacti carpet the undulating landscape, with hummingbirds zipping around at light speed, falcons soaring, iguanas scuttling here and there, while these wonderful sea turtles calmly glide through azure waters beside white-sand shores.

Tropical delight: Curacaos Grote Knipe beach. Sadie warns that beaches arent always signposted on the island

Admittedly, Id first heard about Curacao from a bartender on a cruise ship who gave me a quick history of the origin of the orange-flavoured Blue Curacao liquor. But I quickly find theres more to this sun-drenched outcrop than a disco ball-hued cocktail mix.

The Dutch claimed Curacao in 1634, realising it was a valuable stronghold in the Caribbean. The island is still part of the Dutch Kingdom, although it gained autonomy in 2010. The guilder is the primary currency.

On my visit the majority of tourists are Dutch with the others being American, and Im told this is the general trend, amid Covid-19 or not. The only British visitors I meet are a group who are crewing on a superyacht.

I base myself on the east of the island with my partner, who is Dutch. In the supermarket, I struggle to communicate with the cashier as she assumes Im also Dutch, with my blonde hair. But she swiftly switches to English and I find that this is the case across the island, as most locals speak a minimum of four languages.

Spanish is the other language, along with Papiamentu, which is a blend of Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and several African dialects. Signs across the island are emblazoned with the smile-inducing Papiamentu words dushi, meaning nice, and bon bini which translates to welcome.

On the east side of the 38-mile-long island, you can take your pick of beaches bustling with bars and restaurants that have recently reopened given the countrys low number of Covid-19 cases (thanks to strict lockdowns last summer).

Mambo Beach is especially lively with happy hours and DJs spinning tracks, while Jan Thiel has a slightly more sophisticated edge, with fewer Instagramming teenyboppers to contend with.

A sea turtle in Curacao (file photo). When Sadie goes diving off the coast of the island, she sees 'two turtles peacefully snoozing on the seabed'

Vibrant: Curacaos capital, Willemstad, offers smart restaurants and photogenic bars aplenty

For a different evening scene, the colourful capital of Willemstad has smart restaurants, with everything from Italian to sushi on the menu (iguana is no longer permitted as a delicacy), and there are photogenic bars aplenty, the eclectic Cuban-styled Mundo Bizarro being one of the best.

To explore Curacao beyond its bountiful food and drinks, a car  and a sturdy one at that  is highly recommended.

We discover the importance of having a map to hand, as beaches arent always signposted and were often led down bumpy dirt tracks.

Friends on the island fill us in on Curacaos must-dos. This includes the aforementioned turtle snorkelling at Playa Piskado on the wilder west side of the island.

Fishermen throw offcuts of tuna, barracuda and red snapper into the shallows, attracting the flippered creatures and a smattering of snorkellers.

After our turtle encounter, we stop for a bite at the Playa Forti restaurant, with its fine views. Theres a famous 40ft (12m) jumping cliff here  which lures me to take a (hair-raising) plunge.

For a different kind of turtle encounter, we head to Boka Ascension, where we hike through a cave, up a steep staircase, over razor-sharp volcanic rocks to a lofty plateau.

From our perch, we spy sea turtles bobbing up to the surface in the waves below, while pelicans hover and plunge for mouthfuls of fish.

One of the wackier animal encounters leads us to one of the biggest ostrich breeding farms outside of Africa. You can take a mini safari on a bus and have a stab at feeding the big birds. Just mind they dont peck your head.

Their meat is on the menu at the accompanying restaurant and you can stand on a giant egg as a test of its strength.

Luckily, the generous Curacaoan portion sizes havent tipped us over the edge, and the egg remains intact as we balance on the orb.

If youre looking to brush up on your fitness, the top kitesurfing spot is at St Joris Bay, close to the Ostrich compound and Curacaos highest point, Mount Christoffel (1,217 ft or 371 m).

Getting to the top of this has you breaking sweat. Entrance to the peak is permitted only before 10am, as it is too hot at other times. When we venture up at 8am, people are already coming down.

In the 17th century Klein Curacao was used by the Dutch West India Company to quarantine slaves it was transporting between Africa and Curacao who had become sick on the journey. Image courtesy of Falco Ermert, who posted this to his Flickr account

Klein Curacao, which lies 15 miles to the south-east of the Dutch outpost of Curacao, is a rogue island in a Caribbean paradise  uninhabited, barren, scarred with shipwrecks and graves, and blighted by a grisly history. Image courtesy of Falco Ermert, who posted this to his Flickr account

TRAVEL FACTS Sandals Royal Curacao is opening on April 14, 2022. Seven nights with flights from 2,245pp all-inclusive (sandals.co.uk). Return flights via Amsterdam with KLM from 527 (klm.co.uk). Advertisement

Theres also the opportunity to exercise our legs as we explore the uninhabited island of Klein Curacao after taking a catamaran ride. Were rewarded with an open bar on the return journey.

Curacaos geography below the surface is equally enchanting. One day, we stay around our hotel in Jan Thiel and check into the dive centre. Alex, an energetic intern who has gallivanted around the world, says the island is home to some of the most beautiful dive sites he has seen.

Just a short swim from the shore takes us to a coral reef with shoals of fish shimmering like confetti. We spot two turtles peacefully snoozing on the seabed and a lurching green moray eel is another highlight.

After a few weeks on Curacao, there are still things we havent checked off.

The Blue Room cave is meant to be quite a sight on a sunny day and you can rent kayaks with Captain Goodlife to get there.

We turned up at the captains self-built fortress-like home, but it turns out he prefers being contacted by landline in advance. Thats one reason to return, I guess.

From now on, when I spy Blue Curacao sitting on a back bar, the sapphire hue will always remind me of Curacaos balmy waters and what a gem this place is.
These are turbulent times for the airline industry. This month, Wizz Air tried to take over easyJet, while British Airways announced plans to establish a new short-haul operation flying out of Gatwick. Both initiatives failed  but what does the future hold for air travel?

At present, many flights seem ridiculously cheap. A quick search online reveals fares as low as 4.99 for a one-way hop from Bristol to Venice, while a return from Luton to Budapest is a mere 19.99.

Will this continue? And what has been the effect of 20 months of Covid, with all its attendant restrictions, on the way we fly? Here is everything you need to know about taking to the skies in the coming year.

These are turbulent times for the airline industry, and at present, many flights seem ridiculously cheap

Are air fares lower than ever?

You might think so with some of the bargain prices around  but it depends on the destination.

Overall, we have seen some of the lowest prices out there in months, says Jack Sheldon, founder of the cheap flight alerts newsletter Jacks Flight Club. This is because airlines will be happy to get any amount of cash into the bank.

Now the prospects for international air travel are improving, with the scrapping of the Governments traffic-light system from Monday and the decision by the U.S. to open up to fully vaccinated travellers in November.

Philip Meeson, the chairman of Jet2, which pre-pandemic flew to more than 70 European destinations, admits the price of its flights will need to remain consistently enticing to customers this winter. Bookings for summer 2022, however, are already encouraging.

Will flight prices rise?

Yes, according to Ryanair boss Michael OLeary, who has warned that air fares will be dramatically higher next summer. This might seem a predictable view for an airline boss to hold  but his reasons are holidaymakers rushing back to Europe and a drop in short-haul capacity.

Jack Sheldon estimates this rise could be in the realm of ten to 25 per cent higher.

Ryanair boss Michael OLeary has warned that air fares will be dramatically higher next summer

While many airlines now offer flexible booking, in some cases allowing passengers to change travel dates right up until check-in closes, such concessions will not last for ever.

Ryanair has already moved on. From yesterday, passengers making a new booking will have to pay at least 35 euros (30) to change their tickets.

When should I book?

Airlines summer 2022 schedules are now on sale, so it makes sense to book flights while fares are attractive, particularly if work or school commitments limit the dates when you can travel.

Prices are generally still much lower than normal for this period, confirms Gavin Harris, a pricing expert at travel search engine Skyscanner. Deals for popular destinations such as Spain and the U.S. are commonplace, with France currently the cheapest spot for a holiday abroad next August.

For those with more flexibility, or who remain cautious about flying abroad, there will still be cheap flights around, though not necessarily to the choicest destinations. This is a result of competition and because airlines are unable to forecast demand perfectly, even in non-pandemic times, which leads to discounts.

Airlines summer 2022 schedules are now on sale, so it makes sense to book flights while fares are attractive

The crisis has seen them quickly lay on flights to anywhere they sense an interest, which invariably means low introductory fares. When Turkey was removed from the red list last week, budget carrier Pegasus Airlines immediately reinstated services from Stansted to Istanbul, with prices from 49.99 one-way.

Could my airline fail?

Unlikely. With the worst of the pandemic over (we pray), struggling airlines have already taken measures to shore up their finances, including easyJet, which completed a 1.2 billion rights issue this week in order to accelerate its post Covid-19 recovery plan.

Carriers remain optimistic about the long-term future of aviation. Ryanair has invested 50 million euros (43 million) in a new training centre in Dublin that will create 5,000 pilot and cabin crew jobs. Jet2 recently ordered 36 new Airbus 321neo aircraft at a list price of $4.9 billion (3.6 billion).

JetBlue commenced flights between Heathrow and New York (pictured) in August

New budget airlines are also entering the market. In June, Iceland-based Play successfully launched flights between the UK and its homeland.

U.S. low-cost carrier JetBlue commenced flights between Heathrow and New York in August, with Gatwick added this week.

Norse Atlantic Airways, a new airline with headquarters in Norway, plans to operate flights between Europe and North America next year, and links to India could be revolutionised by new start-up Flypop operating out of Stansted.

Will flying change?

It already has. Expect Covid tests, face masks and sanitising to remain standard, with on-board wifi providing a gateway to order drinks and meals, read inflight magazines and shop.

According to Skyscanner, France is currently the cheapest spot for a holiday abroad next August

At check-in, passengers will have to show they have met the travel and health requirements of their destination using an app such as VeriFLY, as favoured by British Airways, or IATA Travel Pass, used by Emirates.

What about airports?

It has been a torrid time for airport managers. This summer, passenger numbers at Luton were down 66 per cent compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Gatwicks South Terminal remains closed and Wizz Air has postponed a planned new base in Cardiff. The need to recoup the losses caused by Covid-19 will hit travellers, from minor add-ons such as the introduction of a fee for vehicles dropping off passengers at terminal forecourts to major hikes in the charges airlines pay to use airport facilities.

And the environment?

Flying harms our planet and we should all offset the carbon emissions of our flights, especially if they cost next to nothing.

The amounts are negligible, for example 2.54 euros for a journey from Liverpool to Rome with Wizz Air (wizzair.chooose.today).

Flight searches with Skyscanner include a Greener Choice option to select a trip that emits less CO2 than average.

BA passengers can further reduce their carbon footprint by adding in a payment for sustainable aviation fuel (pureleapfrog.org/ba).

So where should I go?

Countries like Canada insist that travellers are fully vaccinated. Pictured is the Toronto skyline

Flying overseas is easiest for the fully vaccinated and some countries, such as Germany and Canada, insist that travellers have this status.

Destinations getting on top of Covid-19 will be the most appealing, both for safety reasons and because travel plans are less likely to be disrupted by a spike in cases.

Global vaccination rates by country are available to check online (ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations).

Canny travellers looking to combine a relatively Covid-19-safe getaway with attractively priced flights next summer should consider Spain, Portugal, Iceland, the United Arab Emirates and Cuba.

For the latest government travel advice, see gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.
Just a year ago, Buddy Valastro didn't know if life as he knew it was over following a freak accident that nearly cost the all-star baker the use of his right hand.

The 44-year-old Jersey boy joined DailyMailTV for a sweet interview about his latest venture, Buddy V's Cake Slice, which will make getting dessert at your door a piece of cake and revealed that his is '95% recovered.'

Buddy said that his lowest point came in the immediate aftermath of the incident when he was lying in the hospital bed scared that he would lose himself if he couldn't bake anymore. 'I wouldn't be the same person,' he admitted.

How sweet it is: Buddy Valastro joined DailyMailTV for a sweet interview about his latest venture, Buddy V's Cake Slice, and revealed that his is '95% recovered' following gruesome hand injury

'I'd say I'm probably about 95% of the way,' Buddy explained of his recovery. 'You know, I got about 90% of my strength back, I got all my movement and dexterity. I just have a little problem moving my fingers.'

The celebrity chef showed off his healed hand to DailyMailTV which looked nearly perfect, however, his index finger appeared slightly separated from the rest of his fingers. Valastro explained that after five surgeries, he could be going under the knife one more time to correct the issue.

'Listen, if this is as good as it's going to get, I'm happy,' he added, gratefully.

In September 2020, Buddy impaled his right hand in a freak accident with the pin mechanism of his at-home bowling alley machine and suffered severe tendon and nerve damage.

'I'd say I'm probably about 95% of the way,' Buddy explained of his recovery. 'You know, I got about 90% of my strength back, I got all my movement and dexterity. I just have a little problem moving my fingers.'

Terrifying: In September 2020, Buddy impaled his right hand in a freak accident with the pin mechanism of his at-home bowling alley machine and suffered severe tendon and nerve damage

'The hardest part was probably, you know, laying in that hospital thinking if I'm ever going to be the same,' Buddy recalled. 'It wasn't like I got a scratch or broken a finger. I mean, I had a huge metal stake that was through my hand - and then it rolled and crushed my whole thumb.'

'My whole hand was like destroyed,' he continued. 'Look, I always knew that I would be able to work. And, I still had my mind and I still had everything else that was working but those cakes and that level of detail ... I really didn't know what was going to be.

'That's like taking something away from me,' he said, adding that baking his show-stopping cakes is 'part of my DNA.'

'If that part of me was taken away, I wouldn't be the same person,' Buddy admitted.

'The hardest part was probably. you know, laying in that hospital thinking if I'm ever going to be the same,' Buddy recalled. 'It wasn't like I got a scratch or broken a finger. I mean, I had a huge metal stake that was through my hand - and then it rolled and crushed my whole thumb.'

'That's like taking something away from me,' he said, adding that baking his show-stopping cakes is 'part of my DNA. If that part of me was taken away, I wouldn't be the same person.'

In just 12 months, Buddy went from a hand that was nearly destroyed to being back a the top of his game winning the third season of Food Network's Buddy vs. Duff with a monstrous Godzilla cake.

'It was so much fun to compete again,' he gushed over his team's big win. 'But I got to say, for me, I'm just so happy that I could compete at that level [again].'

The Carlo's Bakery owner is now partnering with Virtual Dining Concepts on Buddy V's Cake Slice to bring his confectionary goodness to kitchen tables across the country with pieces of cake delivered to your door.

'This is an opportunity for you to say, "hey, you know what? I just watched Cake Boss on television. I want a piece of his cake,"' Buddy explained.

Yum! The Carlo's Bakery owner is now partnering with Virtual Dining Concepts on Buddy V's Cake Slice to bring his confectionary goodness to kitchen tables across the country with pieces of cake delivered to your door

'This is an opportunity for you to say, "hey, you know what? I just watched Cake Boss on television. I want a piece of his cake,"' Buddy explained.

Five cake slice flavors are currently available - confetti, vanilla rainbow, chocolate fudge, red velvet and black & white fudge. They can be ordered in most markets across the U.S. and will be delivered to your door same day.

'This is like, you know, ordering pizza or Chinese food,' Buddy quipped.

The best part is that the slices are the real-deal: 'Every single cake is made here in my facility in New Jersey, in my bakery, and then we ship it out all over the country.'

Buddy added that cake is something that freezes and transports perfectly so by the time it gets to your plate the cake's integrity is intact with all the moist, deliciousness fans have come to expect from the Cake Boss.

Five cake slice flavors are currently available: confetti, vanilla rainbow, chocolate fudge, red velvet and black & white fudge

'Cake slices are just easy. They're delicious. You know, you don't have to buy a whole cake, you just want to slice. You don't eat the whole thing, you close it, you put it back in the fridge, you're ready to rock and roll,' Valastro gushed, adding his two go-to flavors are red velvet and rainbow

'Cake slices are just easy. They're delicious. You know, you don't have to buy a whole cake, you just want to slice. You don't eat the whole thing, you close it, you put it back in the fridge, you're ready to rock and roll,' Valastro gushed, adding his two go-to flavors are red velvet and rainbow.

One super-fan who Buddy can always count on to want some Carlo's cakes is supermodel Gigi Hadid.

Valastro recently made the colorful, gravity defying tiered first birthday cake for Gigi and Zayn Malik's daughter Khai.

'First off, she is just such an amazing person. You know, when I met her, I was just so blown away by how down to earth and nice she was,' Buddy said.

Impressive! One super-fan who Buddy can always count on to want some Carlo's cakes is supermodel Gigi Hadid and Valastro recently made the colorful, gravity defying tiered first birthday cake for Gigi and Zayn Malik's daughter Khai

'Being able to spend some time with her and realize that Cake Boss was an important part of her life and growing up, you know, it touches your heart,' he told DailyMailTV. 'It makes you feel like what you do is important.'

Over the summer, the supermodel clocked in for work with Buddy at his famous New Jersey bakery to learn some frosting techniques from the Cake Boss himself as part of a Harper's Bazaar cover story.

'Being able to spend some time with her and realize that Cake Boss was an important part of her life and growing up, you know, it touches your heart,' he told DailyMailTV. 'It makes you feel like what you do is important.'

The superstar baker added that Gigi is officially now 'a lifer' and he vowed to make the catwalker 'any cake [she] needs forever.'

Buddy Vs Cake Slice is available for delivery in most major markets across the country through the website or his app in confetti, vanilla rainbow, chocolate fudge, red velvet and black & white fudge.
He has walked the runway for some of the world's most prestigious fashion houses.

And Aussie model Jordan Barrett reached a major career milestone on Wednesday when he strutted down the catwalk for Balmain at Paris Fashion Week.

The 24-year-old, who recently married partner Fernando Casablancas, looked incredible in a gold leather jacket, leather pants and boots.

Doing his thing! Aussie model Jordan Barrett reached a major career milestone on Wednesday when he strutted down the catwalk for Balmain at Paris Fashion Week

He styled his blond hair loosely and accentuated his high cheekbones with bronzer.

Jordan later posed backstage with stunning Dutch model Imaan Hammam, 24.

Working their angles: Jordan posed backstage with stunning Dutch model Imaan Hammam, 24

Looking good: Imaan displayed her toned stomach in a cut-out, skintight black minidress

Imaan displayed her toned stomach in a cut-out, skintight black minidress.

Jordan, who was scouted at the age of 14, has modelled for the likes of Versace, Tom Ford and Moschino.

He recently signed to Kate Moss' modelling agency and counts the British supermodel among his close friends.

Catwalk king: He recently signed to Kate Moss' modelling agency and counts the British supermodel among his close friends

His appearance at the Balmain show comes after he tied the knot with fellow model Fernando in an intimate wedding in Ibiza in August.

The ceremony was attended by no more than 15 of Jordan's closet friends.

Among them was Kate Moss and her daughter Lila, Georgia May Jagger and American playwright Jeremy O. Harris.
A senior executive at Southern Cross Austereo didn't hesitate to pull a controversial episode of Jessica Rowe's podcast featuring Pauline Hanson as a guest after his conversation with the veteran journalist left him concerned for her wellbeing.

Rowe's request to have the episode removed following backlash on Twitter was 'quickly actioned' by SCA chief content officer Dave Cameron after they spoke on the phone late Wednesday evening, reports The Australian.

Mr Cameron said SCA, which owns podcast platform LiSTNR, was 'really supportive' of her wishes and didn't hesitate to delete the episode.

Rowe, 51, who has spoken openly of her mental health issues in the past, was deeply upset by the negative response to the episode, which included criticism from people she respects, such as Australian of the Year and activist Grace Tame.

Concerns: A senior executive at Southern Cross Austereo didn't hesitate to pull a controversial episode of Jessica Rowe's (pictured) podcast featuring Pauline Hanson as a guest after his conversation with the veteran journalist left him concerned for her wellbeing

'That was a conversation that went late into the evening yesterday [Wednesday] and, to be honest, we are really supportive of Jess [and] of what she wanted to do and how she wanted to go with what unfolded yesterday,' Mr Cameron said.

'We are about talents' needs and wants first and foremost. We certainly weren't going to push her into a situation where she was going to be made to feel more uncomfortable over the coming week or so. It's just not worth it.'

Meanwhile, Hanson said she believed Rowe's mental health issues were a factor in her decision to pull the podcast after being targeted by Twitter 'bullies'.

Scramble: Meanwhile, Hanson (pictured in June) said she believed Rowe's mental health issues were a factor in her decision to pull the podcast after being targeted by Twitter 'bullies'

'The usual woke suspects freaked out and made it their mission to bully a female host who openly admits to struggling with mental health issues brought on by keyboard warriors,' the senator said.

'Serial culprits should be ashamed of themselves for the deliberate intimidation, targeted harassment and stress they put on Jessica Rowe.

'I don't agree with her pulling it down, but I get it.'

It comes after Hanson said she was 'disappointed' in Rowe after the former TV newsreader removed their podcast interview following backlash on Twitter.

Rowe had been fiercely criticised for giving a platform to the One Nation politician, 67, and eventually caved into pressure from activists by pulling Hanson's episode of the Jess Rowe Big Talk Show just hours after publishing it on Wednesday.

The Queensland Senator called her backflip the latest example of 'cancel culture' killing free speech in Australia.

Furious: It comes after Hanson (pictured) said she was 'disappointed' in Rowe after the former TV newsreader removed their podcast interview following backlash on Twitter

'Last night at 9:56pm, my office received an email to advise a podcast I'd participated in some weeks ago with Jessica Rowe was being pulled,' Hanson said in a statement on Thursday.

'I note throughout the day [it was published] that Jessica was sent several tweets condemning her for conducting a non-political interview with me.

'We discussed my grandkids, family, how to cope with public pressure and depression, as well as some other non-controversial matters in a 30-minute podcast.

'Twitter haters bombarded Jess online to a point where she obviously felt pressured to remove the podcast.'

Angry: The Queensland Senator called Jessica's backflip the latest example of 'cancel culture' killing free speech in Australia. Her office also released this mock-up parodying Rowe's podcast artwork, dubbing it 'The Jess Rowe Big Fail Show'

Hanson added that a producer from LiSTNR had advised her the episode was being permanently removed.

'Cancel culture in this country is killing debate, freedom of speech, and shutting down conservative political representation,' she continued.

'While I'm disappointed with Jess and her manager's decision to remove the podcast, I also recognise how much pressure keyboard warriors can put on a person like Jessica who openly discussed with me in the interview how public opinion has impacted her mental well-being.

'The removal of this innocuous podcast is a step in the wrong direction for conservative Australians.'

When it comes to giving a platform to controversial public figures, Rowe learned this week you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.

The former Studio 10 host faced intense backlash on Wednesday for interviewing Hanson on her podcast, eventually deleting the episode just hours later and issuing an apology for her error of judgement.

Can't win: Rowe (pictured) faced intense backlash on Wednesday for interviewing Hanson on her podcast, eventually deleting the episode just hours later and issuing an apology for her error of judgement

While left-leaning Twitter users celebrated this as a victory, other listeners argued Rowe should have stood by her initial decision to interview Hanson, whose views on immigration have made her one of Australia's most divisive political figures.

'It's a shame you've been bullied into taking it down,' one fan wrote on Instagram.

'I thought it was really admirable that you were willing to interview and have a human conversation with someone whose views were so different from your own.

Controversy: While left-leaning Twitter users celebrated this as a victory, other listeners argued Rowe should have stood by her initial decision to interview Hanson (pictured in 2019), whose views on immigration have made her one of Australia's most divisive political figures

'It's so easy to never interview anyone controversial. You did a brave thing, but it seems people weren't able to see that, which is small-minded of them.'

A similar comment read: 'So the bullies win. It's okay for them to have their 'free speech' but not for anyone else who differs in opinion.'

A third critic added: 'Disappointed to hear that you had no choice but to remove that podcast. I think there was nothing wrong with interviewing Pauline.

'Shame': Listeners said Rowe should have stood by her initial decision to interview Hanson, whose views on immigration have made her one of Australia's most divisive political figures

Having her say: Real Housewives of Sydney star Krissy Marsh commented: 'I never listened to it but now I wish I had... has coronavirus made everyone super PC?'

'Just because the views are not shared doesn't mean you can't interview that person. We don't all have to have the same opinions in life.'

Real Housewives of Sydney star Krissy Marsh commented: 'I never listened to it but now I wish I had... has coronavirus made everyone super PC?

'I know you are super-smart and an amazing wife, mother and journalist. When did the world stop wanting to hear other people's opinions? Why do we all have to agree? Why have journalists if it's not to delve and deliver?

'If we only want our own opinions then...'

Differing opinions: Others argued Hanson didn't deserve a platform because of her extreme views, which now include spreading misinformation about Covid-19

'Educating': Disability activist Carly Findlay commented: 'I hope you're listening. Many of us commented on your post and by deleting it, you deleted the work we put into educating you'

However, others argued Hanson didn't deserve a platform because of her extreme views, which now include spreading misinformation about Covid-19.

'Correct move to delete and listen [to feedback]. Perhaps also reflect on the diversity (or lack of) in your guests to date. It's up to us to do better,' a listener wrote.

Another added: 'Thank you for doing that. I briefly saw your teaser post for the episode earlier today [Wednesday] and I had to quickly scroll past it.

'I refuse to give any energy to someone who has caused so much pain for my community and other ethnically diverse Aussie communities.'

Disability activist Carly Findlay commented: 'Thank you. I really hope you're listening. Many of us commented on your [previous] post and by deleting it, you deleted the work we put into educating you.

'I look forward to seeing you platforming some people who do good.'

Regrets: Rowe confirmed in a statement on Wednesday evening she had asked for her interview with Hanson (pictured) on the The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show podcast to be deleted, just hours after it went live. She had mostly avoided politics during the chat, instead focusing on Hanson's love life, children, 2003 jail stint, and even her favourite cocktail

Rowe confirmed in a statement on Wednesday evening she had asked for her interview with Hanson on the The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show podcast to be deleted, just hours after it went live.

'There has been much reaction and comment to my podcast conversation with Pauline Hanson today. Pauline's political views are the opposite of mine. I have never agreed with her on those issues. Never will. Kindness is at the heart of who I am,' she said in a statement on Instagram.

'Amongst the comments today I heard from some who I admire enormously including Nakkiah Lui and Grace Tame and I want to thank them especially for their candour.

'This will be the start of a bigger conversation for me and with those who this topic directly affects. I've asked LiSTNR to remove the episode ASAP. Thank you, everyone.'

Divisive: Rowe thanked her critics for their 'candour' and said she'd asked LiSTNR to delete the podcast episode

Rowe had mostly avoided politics during her chat with Hanson, instead focusing on her love life, children, 2003 jail stint, and even her favourite cocktail.

But she was nonetheless criticised for giving a platform to the polarising senator.

'Wow, I'm really shocked that someone with such a bright, positive vibe would interview someone like Hanson who is openly and unapologetically racist. Disappointing, Jess,' tweeted one fan.

Australian of the Year and activist Grace Tame added: 'This is how discrimination and hate is subtly enabled and normalised. Everyone's entitled to their own views but not all views should be valorised by promoting their source.

'Pauline doesn't need help to be heard, but those whose oppression she's both driven and reinforced do.'

Not happy: Rowe was criticised on Twitter for giving a platform to the polarising senator

'Bad move, Jess. I understand you mean well, but the divide between good and bad is glaringly obvious Hanson is cold hearted, that's it,' another listener commented.

'There is absolutely no way I could engage with Pauline Hanson or anyone like her. Racists must be called out,' a fourth added.

Yet another wrote: 'Jessica Rowe! Pauline Hanson? Really? Bad move, dude.

'I hope you know what you are doing is heartbreaking and vile. Thank you for reminding me that as a child of brown immigrants, I do not belong. Giving this divisive politician a platform is completely unfathomable.'

Hanson spoke to Rowe about her time in prison after being sentenced to three years behind bars in 2003 for electoral fraud and fraudulently obtaining electoral funding.

'When they stood up and they gave that guilty verdict, I just shut down,' she recalled. 'I couldn't believe it.'

'Then they came and put the handcuffs on me, took me down to process me, put into a strip search, then put into a van and taken to the watch house all night.'

She said she was taken to prison the next day and went through the 'whole process' at jail, which involved being photographed and having her details 'put into the system'.

Hanson explained she was put into the hospital ward because she had spiralled into a deep depression and wasn't eating.

Her convictions were later overturned by the Queensland Court of Appeal and she was released after spending 11 weeks behind bars.

She rejoined One Nation in 2013 and was became leader of the party the following year.

Tough: Hanson spoke to Rowe about her time in prison after being sentenced to three years behind bars in 2003 for electoral fraud and fraudulently obtaining electoral funding

Elsewhere in the podcast, she told Rowe her favourite alcoholic beverage was rum topped with lime cordial.

'These days I don't mind a gin and tonic,' she said. 'But I also like my Bundaberg rum full of ice in a glass and you top it up with lime cordial.

'Plenty of ice, fill up your whole glass, half Bundy and half lime cordial.'
Courtney Stodden got their first tattoo to ring in 2020.

And the star, 27, added some more ink to their body art collection on Thursday.

Stodden bared their back wearing a white tube top so the artist could etch a Shakespeare quote upon their shoulder.

New body ink: Courtney Stodden, 27, was all smiles before and after getting a new tattoo in Hollywood on Thursday

Stodden, who came out non-binary this past April, chose a line from Henry VI Part for their latest tattoo, getting 'Fight till the last gasp,' written in black cursive around their left shoulder blade.

It appears Stodden got their new work done by artist Tibo G at Body Electric Tattoo in Hollywood.

Despite being dressed down for the session, the model and social media personality turned more than a few heads by wearing a skimpy white tube top and brown sweatpants.

Inspiration: Stodden took inspiration from William Shakespeare, in particular a quote from his play Henry VI Part I, and had 'Fight till the last gasp' tattooed on their back

Safety first: The reality star wore a face mask during the session with artist Tibo G, but on occasion pulled it down while getting or giving some instruction

The Washington State native made sure to wear a black mask over their mouth and nose while in the tattoo studio amid the still dangerous COVID-19 pandemic.

During the session, Stodden wore their dyed blonde tresses long but pulled it back into a ponytail in order to give the artist plenty of access to their bare back.

Afterwards, and seemingly very happy with the end results, the former Couples Therapy star posed for a few photos, all while emphasizing the new tattoo by looking seductively over their left shoulder.

Artistry: During the session, Stodden wore their dyed blonde tresses long but pulled it back into a ponytail in order to give the artist plenty of access to their bare back

Happy customer: Afterwards, and seemingly very happy with the end results, the former Couples Therapy star posed for a few photos, all while emphasizing the new tattoo

The former teen bride confessed to being 'nervous' before getting the rose tattoo in early January 20202 at what appeared to be Enigma tattoo in Beverly Hills, according to The Sun.

Stodden first got recognition in 2011 when they married then 51-year old Doug Hutchinson when they were just 16.

By the summer of 2013, Stodden had breast augmentation surgery to increase their breast size from a C to a size DD.

The media attention surrounding their story and the marriage led to appearances on numerous reality television shows, including Couples Therapy (2012), with Hutchinson, and Celebrity Big Brother (2013), The Mother/Daughter Experiment (2016), Celebs Go Dating (2017) and Courtney (2019).

Virgin ink: The Courtney star showed off their first tattoo - a rose and stem - while attending the world premiere of Eating Our Way To Extinction on Los Angeles on September 14

First piece: Stodden got the rose tattoo near the right ankle in early January 2020

Over the years, the couple separated several times and eventually Stodden filed for divorce in March 2018, that was later finalized in September 2020.

Just this past May, they took to social media to announce their engagement to entrepreneur Chris Sheng.

'I said yes ... OH and the ring made me gag it's so beautiful,' the Washington State native gushed in the caption of a boomerang video that flaunted the massive engagement ring.
Emmy Rossum was back in character as LA icon Angelyne in LA on Thursday.

The 35-year-old actress looked nearly unrecognizable with the big blonde hair, Barbie pink dress and very padded bra needed to transform into the famed media personality, who became a Hollywood fixture after billboards of her began popping up around the city in the 80s.

Emmy seemed happy to be back on set, seen over a year after the long-awaited TV series went on hiatus from shooting last spring due to Covid-19 concerns.

Back at it: Emmy Rossum was nearly unrecognizable while in costume as Angelyne on the Los Angeles set of the miniseries on Thursday

Rossum was the center of attention on set, sporting silky leopard bra which her fake cleavage nearly spilled out of.

The Shameless actress enhanced her curves in a bright pink minidress that showed off much of her toned legs, as well as a pair of platform shoes as she stepped out of a pink Corvette.

She piled on the sparkly accessories and kept a leopard-print bag slung over her left shoulder.

Tying the look together, the Phantom Of The Opera star rocked a platinum blonde wig as she prepared to film a scene.

Dressed for the part: The star sported a fuzzy leopard patterned bra that exposed her prosthetic cleavage

Signature color: The Shameless actress wore a bright pink mindress which showed off her legs

Development on the Angelyne miniseries was initially reported on in early 2020 when it was announced that the elusive media personality herself would serve as one of the project's executive producers.

The 70-year-old pop culture icon initially rose to fame in the 1980s, when she was featured on various billboards that appeared all over Los Angeles.

The advertisements generally only featured her image and name, as well as a phone number, which only added to the mystique of the performer.

She later began a career as an actress, having previously worked as a musician, and she has released three albums to date.

Known for it: Angelyne made a name for herself after being featured on billboards that became locally famous in Los Angeles throughout the 1980s; she is pictured in 1995

Angelyne went on to boost her public profile further by launching a campaign for the governorship of California in 2003, although she ultimately lost to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The media personality ran for a second time earlier this year, and the governor's chair ultimately went to Gavin Newsom.

In 2017, an article that was ran by The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the actress' real name was Ronia Tamar Goldberg and that she was born to Holocaust survivors in Poland in 1950.

The performer later moved to Los Angeles and changed her first and middle names to Renee Tami before attending high school in the San Fernando Valley and subsequently building her new identity as a media figure.

Further information: An article that was ran by The Hollywood Reporter in 2017 revealed many details about the performer's life that had previously been the subject of speculation for decades; Angelyne is seen in 1987

Last year, it was reported that a miniseries based on Angelyne's life would be made available on the Peacock streaming service in the near future.

That February, Martin Freeman and Alex Karpovsky joined the cast of the project, which also includes the likes of Michael Angarano, Molly Ephraim and Lukas Gage.

After it was announced that the media personality herself would also be working on the project, Rossum shared a shot with the actress to her Instagram and described her as 'the embodiment of LA itself, the original Queen of the Universe.'

A trailer for the miniseries was previously released to the public last April, and an official release date has not been announced as of yet.
Shining City (Theatre Royal, Stratford East London)

Verdict: Luminous revival

Rating:

Witness For The Prosecution (County Hall, London)

Verdict: Fits like a noose

Rating:

Great things are happening at Stratford East's Theatre Royal. Now into her third season in charge, artistic director Nadia Fall has pulled off another coup to follow her casting of Lenny Henry in August Wilson's King Hedley II in 2019.

This time she has attracted star quality in the shape of Downton's Brendan Coyle for an immaculate revival of Conor McPherson's melancholy gem of a tale about Dubliners with guilty secrets.

Coyle plays a grief-stricken man seeking help from a therapist after finding himself haunted by the ghost of his wife, who died recently in a car accident.

But as the shrink, Rory Keenan has demons of his own. Having left the priesthood, his life is in freefall; and the desperate mother of his newborn child is on the warpath.

In Shining City, Brendan Coyle (pictured) plays a grief-stricken man seeking help from a therapist after finding himself haunted by the ghost of his wife, who died in a car accident

The immaculate revival of Conor McPherson's melancholy gem of a tale about Dubliners with guilty secrets. Pictured: Michelle Fox and Rory Keenan at the Theatre Royal Stratford East

This is a luminous production of an exquisitely painful drama. Fall and her cast are particularly attentive to the sad nuances and wit of McPherson's writing, in which the characters relate stories about themselves in a bid to get a handle on their pain.

Often speaking in incomplete thoughts and abandoned sentences, it's all about what is left out. And it's littered with gorgeously ambiguous lines, such as Coyle's gratitude that 'someone had thrown me a rope'.

Peter McKintosh's design presents a cold, damp Dublin tenement, at first sparsely furnished with drab second-hand furniture; later brightened with plants and throws, to indicate the passing of time. There is something ghostly about the room itself.

Coyle gives an unusually tender, anguished and yet wry performance as the man whose grief is sharpened by a dismal affair. He gropes his way through the darkness of his shame, unaware that Keenan is in a funk of his own.

No surprise that Witness For The Prosecution is back and still packing them in. It's not only an Agatha Christie classic; Lucy Bailey's lean, mean production is neatly tailored to win your confidence, lead you up a blind alley and mug you with its cunning ending.

The tale of an affable young drifter accused of murdering a wealthy spinster in 1950s London is heavy with portent. The theatre of law submits to the laws of theatre in a show where even the scene changes are performed as if part of an ongoing trial.

As the shrink, Rory Keenan (right) has demons of his own. Having left the priesthood, his life is in freefall; and the desperate mother of his newborn child is on the warpath

Coyle (pictured) gives an unusually tender, anguished and yet wry performance as the man whose grief is sharpened by a dismal affair

A judiciously curated cast sees Colin Firth's brother Jonathan as the accused's nimble-minded QC, strutting about the stage with Savile Row assurance.

Miles Richardson weighs in as his opposite number: a glowering, pink-faced scourge eager to crush the accused and his case.

Presiding over these prize stags, Martin Turner's judge is an effortlessly assured gamekeeper enthroned beneath a courtly escutcheon.

As our defendant Leonard Vole, trembling in the dock, Joe McNamara is a 'cute and motherable' young man, desperately pleading his innocence.

Bailey sets the stakes high, with a harrowing opening in which Vole imagines himself being judged and hanged. Thereafter, the show's forensic intensity never lets up.

But the real pleasure of this antique yarn is the final twist  and the sublime satisfaction of knowing you have been well deceived.

The Normal Heart (National Theatre, Olivier, London)

Verdict: Heartbreaking HIV history revived

Rating:

By Luke Jones

The night starts with a quiet moment of almost-prayer. The cast assemble in silence round a flickering torch as it's slowly winched up to the ceiling.

It presides over the thumping nightclub scene that follows, the tense doctor's office consultations, the angry charity meetings, the protests, the deaths; the full HIV/AIDS landscape in early 80s New York City.

Larry Kramer's largely autobiographical play was written and premiered months after the scenes it depicts. It is current affairs theatre and the fury burns white hot because of it.

Ned (basically Kramer, played in this Dominic Cooke revival by Ben Daniels) is leading the fight to have this mystery killer acknowledged.

Larry Kramer's largely autobiographical play The Normal Heart was written and premiered months after the scenes it depicts. Pictured: Ben Daniels and Dino Fetscher

Daniels (pictured) is a solid lead, albeit a tad broad for the more tender moments. But when he roars 'this is not a community that has its best interests at heart' you certainly feel it

The papers, the mayor and many gay people have their heads in the sand; and all the while loved ones are diagnosed and left for dead.

Whimpers and tears were sniffled and stifled around the stalls, and applause followed many an indignant outburst. It's a fantastic play, but it does rely more on documenting true misery than its own literary or dramatic flair.

Daniels is a solid lead, albeit a tad broad for the more tender moments. But when he roars 'this is not a community that has its best interests at heart' you certainly feel it.

Scenes are stolen throughout by those around him. Dino Fetscher, as his dashingly handsome partner Felix, is subtle, charismatic and full of believable conflict.

Robert Bowman, as his straight and initially reticent brother, cracks with pain beautifully.

Danny Lee Wynter, as activist Tommy, is glorious camp comic relief, introducing himself as a 'hospital administrator and southern bitch' with a lilt that makes every word enjoyable.

But it's the teetering between drollness and death where the magic happens. Liz Carr, as the dogged Doctor Emma, delivers a barn-storming speech in one scene  then has us choking with laughter after an off-colour gag in another.

It's much needed relief in an evening that, for all the right reasons, will have you boiling with rage.
No Time To Die (12A, 163 mins)

Verdict: Baffling but brilliant

Rating:

At long last, the new Bond film opened in cinemas yesterday, almost two years late. But the key four-letter word is not late or even Bond  but long.

At almost two and three-quarter hours, No Time To Die is the longest 007 movie ever. Your mission is to control your bladder. His? Well, it's predictably complicated.

As it happens, I found no time to check my watch, let alone go to the loo, at Tuesday night's glamorous world premiere. The drama pulsates from beginning to end, and never sags.

Director Cary Fukunaga co-wrote the screenplay with regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, with Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge brought in to add a touch of effervescence.

At almost two and three-quarter hours, No Time To Die (pictured: Daniel Craig) is the longest 007 movie ever. Your mission is to control your bladder. His? Well, it's predictably complicated

Together, they fill No Time To Die with references, some direct, others mischievously oblique, to previous Bond films.

Either visually or verbally, there are conspicuous nods even to golden oldies such as Dr No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever and The Spy Who Loved Me.

Devotees (a much nicer word than anoraks) will get a big Rosa Klebb kick out of spotting them.

As well as being fun, this self-reverence (given Commander Bond's background, we could even call it naval-gazing) serves a purpose.

It reminds us of 007's lineage, which is clever, because in many ways, one or two of them downright startling, Daniel Craig's James Bond bears an ever-dwindling resemblance to Ian Fleming's creation, and indeed to Sean Connery's original screen interpretation.

The transformation began in Craig's first outing as Bond, Casino Royale (2006), and continued in his subsequent three. But for his valedictory outing, the writers, and Craig himself, have gone much farther.

Bond in No Time To Die is still a hardened killer but also kind of 00-woke: lovelorn, sentimental, and every bit as touchy-feely as steely.

Yet there is plenty to enjoy for traditionalists, starting with a gripping pre-titles sequence, which whisks us back in time to a French-speaking household in rural Denmark (if you discern an anti-Brexit agenda at play, you might not be wrong).

This plot may leave you baffled. If someone asked me to explain why Bond leaves Jamaica for Cuba where a rookie agent (Pictured: Ana de Armas) helps him, I would have had to feign a coughing fit

Daniel Craig's James Bond (pictured) bears an ever-dwindling resemblance to Ian Fleming's creation, and indeed to Sean Connery's original screen interpretation

There we learn how, as a child, Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) first encountered a creepy assassin called Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek), who beneath his scary mask has a horribly scarred and pitted face.

Thinking back to Spectre and Skyfall, a study of recent Bond villains could sustain a whole dermatology conference.

But there is a reason for Safin's disfigurement, and in any case he's bent on ensuring that millions end up in an even worse state; he's got his evil mitts on a devastating biological weapon that targets people according to their DNA and peppers them with bubonic boils, before killing them.

Oddly enough, the weapon has been stolen from an MI6 lab in London, where it was being developed for slightly more benign purposes.

This is a great embarrassment to M (Ralph Fiennes), who is not at all thrilled when Bond comes out of retirement in Jamaica to lend a hand, uneasily joining forces with a new crack 00 agent (Lashana Lynch).

For the first half-hour or so of the movie, this plot may well leave you baffled. It did me.

Hard as I tried to understand what was going on, if someone had asked me to explain exactly why Bond leaves Jamaica for Cuba  where he finds himself in a nightclub with revellers dying all around him after the release of some sort of gas, and a rookie CIA agent (Ana de Armas) helping him  I would have had to feign a coughing fit.

The exposition comes later, with everything becoming clear, or clear-ish. But if anyone tells you No Time To Die is easy to follow, get them to take a lie-detector test.

To help you, I hope without spoilers, let me explain that Safin's chief target is none other than Spectre, the shadowy organisation still run from a Belmarsh prison cell by Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz).

Why do Safin and the incarcerated Blofeld hate each other? Well, the only person the latter will confide in is sexy psychiatrist Madeleine Swann (No Time To Die's cinematic playfulness extends beyond Bond; this looks very much like a reference to The Silence Of The Lambs).

Craig's Bond (pictured) in No Time To Die is still a hardened killer but also kind of 00-woke: lovelorn, sentimental, and every bit as touchy-feely as steely

There is abundant talent on display, led of course by Craig (pictured), who has been a terrific 007 and will be missed

Ah, Dr Swann. She and Bond were lovers until she betrayed him, or so he believes.

And before that he lost another lover, Vesper Lynd. He is in emotional turmoil, which, for reasons that do take us into spoiler territory, only intensifies when he and Madeleine manage to put their differences behind them, leading to an explosive denouement at Safin's sinister island lair.

Yes, happily there is enough Bond traditionalism in No Time To Die for the baddie to have a sinister island lair, though it's safe to say the ending is like nothing we've seen before.

What we have seen before are great stunts  and there are plenty more here, even if the most spectacular of them has already been seen by millions in the trailer.

Swedish cinematographer Linus Sandgren, whose credits include the Damien Chazelle films La La Land and First Man, has done a fantastic job, too. And the score is by Hans Zimmer, whose credits are too long to mention.

There is abundant talent on display, led of course by Craig, who has been a terrific 007 and will be missed. But the show goes on. Who will be its Bond is a question for another day.

CAN LOST AND LONELY COLLEGE BOY CONQUER THE HOMESICK BLUES?

There have been some terrific films about the misery of homesickness.

I loved Brooklyn (2015), in which Saoirse Ronan played a naive Irish girl trying to find her feet in 1950s New York City.

Now we can add a splendid rom-com, Freshman Year (, 15, 100 mins), to the list.

Alex (the excellent Cooper Raiff, who also wrote and directed) is a tall, handsome 19-year-old who doesn't look like the sort of young man who would find himself floundering in his first year at college.

There have been some terrific films about homesickness. Now we can add Freshman Year to the list. Alex (the excellent Cooper Raiff, pictured) plays a tall, handsome 19-year-old

But he is a sensitive soul, desperately missing his mother and sister, who are 1,500 miles away at home in Texas.

Alex shares a room with a hard-drinking stoner who deems him a loser, his only friend and confidante the cuddly stuffed animal he has carried with him through childhood, whose advice is represented by subtitles.

Then comes salvation, or so it seems, as a sophomore girl, Maggie (Dylan Gelula), shows an interest in him.

They sleep together and it looks as if she will be his path to happiness. But nothing is that straightforward.

None of this is wildly original but it's still a really engaging film: funny, moving, exquisitely observed and, by all accounts, semi-autobiographical.

If you've ever been homesick or have children who have suffered, it will doubtless strike a chord.

He is a sensitive soul, desperately missing his mother and sister, who are 1,500 miles away at home in Texas

Even if not, it's well worth seeing. And Raiff is a talent worth watching.

Also worth seeing, albeit for strikingly different reasons, is Getting Away With Murder(s) (, 15, 175 mins), a powerful and important documentary by British filmmaker David Wilkinson.

It re-examines the horrors of the Holocaust, in particular those perpetrated at Auschwitz, in the context of the alarmingly high number of Nazis who were never brought to justice.

Fascinatingly, Wilkinson talks not just to survivors but also to the remarkable Ben Ferencz, now 101 and the only surviving prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials.

Freshman Year is available on all major streaming platforms; Getting Away With Murder(s) is in cinemas now.
Olivia Palermo effortlessly showcased her style credentials when she stepped out for Christian Louboutin's Loubillusions party in Paris on Thursday.

The socialite, 35, teamed a figure-hugging skirt adorned with sequins and feathers with a slick leather shirt layered over a crisp white T-shirt.

Adding height to her frame in chic open-toe heels, Olivia looked every inch the fashionista while working her best angles for photographers.

Stylish: Olivia Palermo, 35, effortlessly showcased her style credentials when she stepped out for Christian Louboutin's Loubillusions party in Paris on Thursday

Statement skirt: The socialite teamed a figure-hugging skirt adorned with sequins and feathers with a slick leather shirt layered over a crisp white T-shirt

Olivia's hair cascaded in loose waves down her back and the star was also sporting an immaculate red manicure.

Also stepping out in the French capital was model Leomie Anderson, 28, who caught the eye in a neon yellow top teamed with chic leather trousers.

Influencer Jessica Wang also made a stylish stop at the event, putting her toned legs on display in a pair of PVC shorts and knee-high heels.

Olivia became a celebrity thanks to the MTV reality show The City which premiered in 2008.

Bold: Also stepping out in the French capital was model Leomie Anderson, 28, who caught the eye in a neon yellow top teamed with chic leather trousers

Looking good: Influencer Jessica Wang also made a stylish stop at the event, putting her toned legs on display in a pair of PVC shorts and knee-high heels

All in the details: Jessica toted her belongings in a luxury snakeskin handbag and wore her raven tresses slicked back

The former reality star is married to German model Johannes Huebl, 43, and the couple have remained in the Big Apple throughout the pandemic.

The Dress for Success impact ambassador celebrated her 35th birthday earlier this year with balloons from her husband of six years.

Olivia originally met the German model through friends at a Manhattan film screening while she was still attending The New School back in 2008.

Grateful: The Dress for Success impact ambassador celebrated her 35th birthday earlier this year with balloons from her husband of six years

'Thank you everyone near and far for all of the birthday wishes!' Palermo - who boasts 8.1M social media followers - wrote.

'This birthday may look a bit different but still feeling the love regardless.'

In December, Palermo spoke to Page Six about trying to keep up her fashionable ensembles during the coronavirus crisis by employing 'a lot of cashmere and diamonds'.

'I have not let coronavirus stop me from getting dressed; I feel that it's important,' she said. 'I'm convinced it's going to be the roaring '20s with that extra sparkle when we get out [of quarantine].'
She has been flaunting her figure in an array of skin-baring ensembles after losing more than 30kg over the past year and a half.

And Rebel Wilson opted for yet another sexy outfit as she attended a private party in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The 41-year-old Aussie actress showed off her shrinking frame in a pair of skintight leather trousers and a plunging black top that revealed a hint of cleavage.

Going hell for leather! Shrinking star Rebel Wilson clad her slender legs in a pair of skintight trousers as she arrived at a private party in LA on Thursday

The Pitch Perfect star donned a chic cream coat over the top and accessorised with a pair of dainty ballet flats.

Rebel looked exceptionally groomed - with her blonde locks in a stylish blow wave and a flawless application of makeup

The funnywoman has lost well over 30kg during her 'year of health' throughout 2020.

And she showed just how much she has transformed her body as she attended the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Vanity Fair Premiere party in Hollywood on Wednesday.

As the Aussie actress posed side-on, she showed off her super slender waistline.

Flawless: Rebel looked exceptionally groomed - with her blonde locks in a stylish blow wave and a flawless application of makeup

She drew attention to her midsection by wearing a stunning shimmering tuxedo dress, which was buttoned at stomach.

The LBD also flaunted an abundance of the Pitch Perfect star's cleavage and her toned legs.

The Sydney-born star wore her blonde tresses swept up into a high bun for the red carpet outing.

Her dramatic weight loss was evident in Rebel's noticeably slimmer face.

Her minimal makeup featured lightly applied foundation and a dab of nude lipstick.

On Tuesday, Rebel shared several sizzling throwback snaps from her 41st birthday celebrations to Instagram as she wished for sunnier climes.

The Bridesmaids star showed off her incredible 66lbs (30kg) weight loss in a plunging red swimsuit as she posed up a storm.

Looking good! The funnywoman has lost well over 30kg during her 'year of health' throughout 2020, and she showed just how much she has transformed her body as she attended the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Vanity Fair Premiere party in Hollywood on Wednesday

Losing it: Rebel, 41, showcased her astounding weight loss in a shimmering black jacket dress

Strike a pose: Rebel worked her angles inside the glam party, showing off her stunning dress by the bar

Glam: The actress was looking glam top to toe with her chic up-do and kitten heels

The sexy one-piece featured a zip which she pulled down to unveil a hint of cleavage, while she accessorized with some yellow-tinted sunglasses.

She looked like she was having a great time as she posed on a piece of wood in the clear blue sea and threw her arms in the air.

She penned in the caption: 'It's never too late to improve yourself - to improve your health, your heart, your happiness, your harmony.

Wow! Rebel showed off her incredible 66lbs (30kg) weight loss in a plunging red swimsuit in throwback snaps from her 41st birthday on Marlon Brando's private island on Tuesday

'For everyone out there just trying to be a lil bit better this week: go for it! Every bit counts. Every effort is worth it. You're worth it.'

In a previous set of pictures from the trip she also posed on the shoulder of a strapping man who worked at the resort, who lifted her up in the ocean while she excitedly raised her arms in the air.

Alongside the images, Rebel wrote: 'Adventuring on the remote islands of French Polynesia is ABSOLUTE PARADISE.

Feeling 41 and thriving! Rebel wore a black cap in previous snaps she shared from the vacation

'I've loved learning about how @thebrandoresort is conserving their eco-system and the environmentally friendly ways they do things on the island.

'Thank you to all the amazing staff who made my birthday so magical, you guys have literally and spiritually 'lifted me up.''

Rebel had been celebrating in the tropical paradise with a number of her famous pals, including Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Chrissie Fit and Carly Steel.

Marlon Brando had purchased the private island, called Tetiaroa, after filming Mutiny on the Bounty there in the 1960s.

The resort features 35 villas on white-sand beaches, with Kim Kardashian famously holding her 40th birthday on the island in 2020.

Rebel had documented her incredible weight loss journey, which she dubbed as her 'Year Of Health', throughout 2020.

On Saturday, she told The Weekend Briefing podcast on LiSTNR that she was 'proud' of herself as reflected on her hard work over the past year.

The actress explained that her weight loss was about a lifestyle change and to be a 'healthier version' of herself, rather that reaching a certain weight.

'To me what the year of health was, was just being a healthier version,' she said, noting that working on her fertility and curbing emotional eating were her goals.

'It wasn't about losing a set amount of weight, although I did put a goal original of 75 kilos so I could have something tangible to work towards. But it's not about a number or a dress size, or anything like that.

'It was just about being the healthiest version of me and I dedicated all of 2020 to doing that, and I'm proud of myself,' she said.
Khloe Kardashian showed off her slender physique in a patterned jumpsuit, while going shopping with mom Kris Jenner along LA's Melrose Avenue.

The reality star, 37, looked nothing short of sensational as she strutted out of a rug store in the eye-wateringly tight Marine Serre ensemble paired with dark brown Louboutin heels, she oozed confidence under a pair oversized black shades.

The mother-daughter duo were flanked by a camera crew for their forthcoming Hulu project, as they put on a glamorous display while hitting out the store.

Looking good! Khloe Kardashian showed off her slender physique in a patterned jumpsuit, while going shopping with mom Kris Jenner along LA's Melrose Avenue

She kept her long blonde hair in a sleek updo, which allowed her to display her dazzling diamond studs and glamorous makeup look.

Meanwhile, her mom looked timeless in an all black outfit, which included a large hangbag, combat boots and blazer.

The pair's outing comes just a day after Khloe was seen filming scenes for a new reality show with Hulu.

Fans only said goodbye to her family on TV in June this year, when after 14 years, 20 seasons, and 268 episodes, the Kardashian-Jenner gang bid a bittersweet farewell to their fans on the E! incarnation of their show.

Hot stuff: She looked nothing short of sensational as she strutted out of a rug store in the eye-wateringly night ensemble

Mother daughter duo: As the 37-year-old reality star strutted out of a rug store in a pair of dark brown Louboutin heels, she oozed confidence under a pair oversized black shades

Classic: Meanwhile, her mom looked timeless in an all black outfit, which included a large hangbag, combat boots and blazer

Retail therapy: She kept her long blonde hair in a sleek updo, which allowed her to display her dazzling diamond studs and glamorous makeup look

The episode titled 'The End P.2' showed the famous family taking one last trip for the series to Lake Tahoe, staying at a lush 15-acre estate, costing $6,000 a night, which took place before Christmas last year.

In the final show, Kim confessed that she has turned to a therapist to deal with her martial problems with now-estranged husband Kanye West, while Khloe presided over a future in Boston with on-again boyfriend Tristan Thompson.

The Kardashians' Hulu show is expected to debut later this year.

Just next door: Jenner and Khloe paid a combined $37 million for their neighboring homes

Busy: The pair's outing comes just a day after Khloe was seen filming scenes for a new reality show with Hulu

Already back to business: Fans only said goodbye to her family on TV in June this year, when after 14 years, 20 seasons, and 268 episodes, the Kardashian-Jenner gang bid a bittersweet farewell to their fans on the E! incarnation of their show

Sparking headlines: This week, Khloe's commercial for her jean company Good American was rejected by TV stations for being too sexy

This week, Khloe's commercial for her jean company Good American was rejected by TV stations for being too sexy.

Her brand sent the video to broadcast networks in the hope of getting it aired this week, but it didn't pass the approval process because it was deemed 'too risque for TV audiences.'

'I think I found The One @goodamerican,' the Revenge Body host wrote in her caption for the debut of the commercial. The One is the perfect pair of jeans.

In a voiceover that plays during the ad, Khloe says: 'It's just different this time. I feel good, I feel sexy, like I don't have to keep looking ... I think I found the one.'

Commitment to fitness: Khloe has been heavily documenting her recent workouts on her social media followers

Momager: The Kardashian matriarch, 65, recently attended the 2021 Met Gala with daughters Kendall Jenner and Kim Kardashian
Harry Styles shared some special news during his Nashville concert on Wednesday.

The singer, 27, was asked to get involved in a fan's gender reveal after he spotted a sign in the crowd which read: 'I'm having a baby. Please make it your business...', which is a play on the lyrics from his song Kiwi.

Harry delightedly obliged and read out the audience member's gender reveal results live during the concert, as he divulged she was expecting a 'little baby girl'.

Magic moment: Harry Styles, 27, was asked to get involved in a fan's gender reveal after he spotted a sign in the crowd during his concert in Nashville on Wednesday

While up on stage, Harry, who was performing at the Bridgestone Arena in the city, was instructed to 'open the results', by an adjacent sign.

Once receiving the piece of paper containing the results, Harry let out a high pitched laugh and said: 'I revel in these moments because I know everything... and you don't.'

Harry, who was also on the phone to the fan's partner Mike at the time, then joked: 'Okay we're going to do another song!'

Congratulations! Harry delightedly obliged and read out the audience member's gender reveal results live during the concert, as he divulged she was expecting a 'little baby girl'

Before adding: 'Oh you're still there Mike!'

After announcing a countdown before revealing the results, Harry then dropped to his knees and says ' it's a little baby girl'.

He added: 'That's what I wanted - is that what you wanted?'

Harry, who looked dapper in a sequined suit, got on his knees with his arms in the air, and pretended he was weeping as the arena broke out in cheers at the news.

Open it! While up on stage, Harry, who was performing at the Bridgestone Arena in the city, was instructed to 'open the results', by an adjacent sign

The big moment was posted on social media formats and a Twitter user who posted the exchange shared a photo of the fans involved.

Harry's Love on Tour is slated to run through the U.S. this autumn with another show at the Bridgestone Arena set for Friday.

He will finish his tour with a series of dates from November 17-20 at The Forum in Los Angeles.

Holding the power: Once receiving the piece of paper containing the results, Harry let out a high pitched laugh and said: 'I revel in these moments because I know everything... and you don't'

The former One Direction star, who is romantically linked with actress Olivia Wilde, has past gone the extra mile to connect with his fans.

Last October, after his vehicle broke down, he left a note for a fan whose family friend helped him out, E! News reported.

He wrote, 'Your dad's friend kindly let me wait at your house with a cup of tea. I'm devastated that we missed each other. Looking forward to meeting you soon.'

He ended the note writing, 'PS, I fed the fish.'
Sable (PlayStation, Xbox, PC, 19.99)

Verdict: Chill in the desert

Rating:

So long, folks. I've finally pieced together my own hoverbike from bits of space junk, and it's time for me to leave the tribe behind and strike out into the desert to find adventure  and myself.

Hmm. I wish. This is actually the setup to Sable, and it's one of the most beguiling openings to a game that I've ever played.

A large part of the attraction is Sable's look.

Sable was inspired by the work of the French comic book artist Jean Giraud, aka Moebius, and it seems almost hand-drawn; a world of dark outlines filled in by colour washes

Sable isn't just some art project. It's also a lot of fun. You glide around on your hoverbike, discovering the assorted weirdos of this arid planet and trying to help them out

It was inspired by the work of the French comic book artist Jean Giraud, aka Moebius, and it seems almost hand-drawn; a world of dark outlines filled in by colour washes.

The effect is stunning. I could have happily just watched the searing ochres of day give way to the pastel purples of night on endless loop.

Then there's its sound. A woozy, electronic score by the band Japanese Breakfast contributes to what is a quite meditative experience.

But Sable isn't just some art project. It's also a lot of fun. You glide around on your hoverbike, discovering the assorted weirdos of this arid planet and trying to help them out.

Sable also feels very much like 2017's The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, which pioneered this sort of gameplay

Your skills are climbing, which you can do until your energy runs out, and then floating back to earth in a magic bubble. It feels great in the hands

The further you travel in Sable, and as the initial awe subsides, the more you start itching for something new. Its horizons become slightly less enticing

Your skills are climbing, which you can do until your energy runs out, and then floating back to earth in a magic bubble. It feels great in the hands.

It also feels very much like 2017's The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, which pioneered this sort of gameplay.

The further you travel in Sable, and as the initial awe subsides, the more you start itching for something new. Its horizons become slightly less enticing.

But only slightly. After all, my bike has just been upgraded, and I've still got to find myself out there.

Hot Wheels Unleashed (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, 39.99)

Verdict: Tiny cars, big fun

Rating:

Children (and your inner child) will love this game.

The Hot Wheels of the title are toy cars, and your have to race them around the big spaces of real life: offices, dining rooms, skate parks

The racing itself isn't revolutionary. But the variety of cars and tracks is remarkable, as is the feeling you get while playing that these are actual toys skittering around the floor.

Brum brum! Zoom zoom!

The Hot Wheels of the title are toy cars, and your have to race them around the big spaces of real life: offices, dining rooms, skate parks

The variety of cars and tracks is remarkable, as is the feeling you get while playing that these are actual toys skittering around the floor

Unleashed offers players the opportunity to play with the cars as well as with the real small projectiles
They sparked dating rumours in July after being pictured partying in Miami.

And Lucciana Beynon has once again fuelled speculation she's dating British social media king Max Wyatt after they cuddled up on his birthday on Thursday.

The Venezuelan-Australian model, who is currently in London, shared a video to Instagram of the pair getting cosy at a nightclub.

New couple alert? Lucciana Beynon (right) has once again fuelled speculation she's dating British social media king Max Wyatt (left) after they cuddled up on his birthday on Thursday

They posed for a selfie video while drinking cocktails and dancing to loud music.

While neither of them has confirmed they are dating, both Lucciana, 19, and Max, 23, are believed to be otherwise single.

The pair were romantically linked about three months ago when they spent a weekend partying together in Miami.

Lucciana surprised her fans on Instagram at the time by getting close to the hunky Brit at a pre-Fourth of July bash.

Who knew they were friends? The pair were romantically linked about three months ago when they spent a weekend partying together in Miami. Lucciana surprised her fans on Instagram at the time by getting close to the hunky Brit at a pre-Fourth of July bash (pictured)

She flaunted her curves in a Colombian-flag bikini top and black string bottoms.

Meanwhile, a shirtless Max showcased his own perfect physique as he posed in a pair of striped boardshorts.

'Ready for the boy,' Max wrote, referring to musical artist Purple Miami.

The pair later shared clips of themselves dancing together at the party.

Globetrotter! Lucciana, 19, a rising social media star with more than 126,000 followers on Instagram, had been holidaying in Cancun before heading off to Miami

Lucciana had been holidaying in Cancun before heading off to Miami.

While she certainly looks sensational in skimpy swimwear, Lucciana had revealed a month earlier that was as far as she was prepared to go.

During an Instagram Q&A on June 1, she shut down rumours she was about to join the subscription-based adult website OnlyFans.

She responded with a simple 'no' when asked about starting an OnlyFans account.

Not happening! During an Instagram Q&A on June 1, Lucciana shut down rumours she was about to join the subscription-based adult website OnlyFans

She is already an international model and jets around the world for photo shoots and runway shows.

Lucciana, who looks like a long-lost Kardashian sister, previously spoke of her plans to permanently relocate to the U.S. after finishing high school.

She told the Gold Coast Bulletin in 2017: 'When I finish school I'll still be 17, so as soon as I turn 18, I'm going to move to America forever.'

Rising star: Lucciana is already an international model and often jets around the world for photo shoots and runway shows. She was most recently in Mexico

First look: Lucciana modelled a lilac bikini during her busy day on set in October 2019

'I want to become a Victoria's Secret Angel and then ultimately become a supermodel,' she added.

Lucciana, whose mother is Venezuelan former beauty queen Ninibeth Leal, has a contingency plan to get into real estate investments.

Her father is Australian tobacco tycoon Travers Beynon, who is known for his polyamorous lifestyle and wild parties at his Gold Coast mansion.
Kourtney Kardashian continued to further her bond with boyfriend Travis Barker's kin this week.

The 42-year-old reality star invited his daughter Alabama Barker, 15, and step daughter Atiana De La Hoya, 22, to attend her 'poolside with Poosh' event, where she was seen cozying up to them on a giant chez.

The sweet family hang comes just days after the Blink-182 drummer continued to hint at forever with Kourtney, as he said he wanted to laugh with her for 'the rest of my life.'

Bonding: Kourtney Kardashian lounged poolside with Travis Barker's daughters Alabama and Atiana De La Hoya at a Poosh event this week

Kourtney posted a slew of snaps, one of which included she, Alabama and Atiana all sitting close together on a lounge chair in matching robes.

The trio seemed to be deep in conversation as the Poosh founder leaned back with her hand on her head.

Despite spearheading the wellness event that was also attended by sister Kim Kardashian and other friends, Kourtney made sure to carve out some quality time with Barker's daughters.

In other snaps Kourtney was seen sipping a coconut while tanning in a black bikini and in another she enjoyed some more self-care as she got a foot massage.

Wellness retreat: As part of the Poosh event Kourtney and her team put together a day of self-care which included massages

Sizzling: In another image she sipped a custom Poosh coconut while wearing a series of edgy pendants from Barker around her neck

Full service: The full service day was attended by close friends and some Poosh employees with wellness being at the forefront of all activities

Stepmom? As marriage continues to be a topic of conversation for the pair a source told ET that all of their kids are 'excited about a bigger, closer future together'

Before the pair's relationship turned romantic, the Kardashian and Barker families were close friends and neighbors, and their kids  despite being different in age  virtually grew up together.

As the longtime friends continue to enjoy an increasingly serious romantic relationship, Kourtney's kids Mason, 11, Penelope, nine, and Reign, six, have continued to spend extended time with Barker's kids which includes son Landon, 17.

The drummer shares both Alabama and Landon with ex Shanna Moakler. Atiana is the only child of Moakler and Oscar De La Hoya, but Barker treats her as his own.

A source told ET that the pair are in it for the long haul and that the kids are onboard. 'Their kids are also excited about a bigger, closer future together.'

Barker brood: The drummer shares both Alabama (left) and Landon (right) with Moakler, and Atiana (middle) is her daughter with Oscar De La Hoya, but Barker treats her as his own; pictured December 2020

Healthy couple: Both Kardashian and Barker are big wellness proponents as the drummer boasts a line called Barker Wellness which sells THC-free cannabinoid-infused products for body and mind

The source continued to say that the couple 'have grown even closer since traveling together,' and that they 'have gotten so much more serious, to the point that they could very well spend the rest of their lives together.'

In a past Instagram live Alabama referred to Kourtney as her 'stepmom' furthering speculation the pair had secretly gotten married on a trip to Las Vegas.

Though they have reportedly not tied the knot, Barker recently hinted at forever. He commented on an Instagram post 'Laugh with you for the rest of my life,' to which she replied '@travisbarker my whole life.'
Two of the ABC's most renowned radio presenters, Robbie Buck and Wendy Harmer, are stepping down from their roles on ABC Breakfast Sydney.

The pair made the announcement on Friday after four years of hosting the public broadcaster's popular breakfast radio program together.

The duo said they planned to 'go out on a high' when they present their final series of shows before their last show on December 10.

Stepping down: Robbie Buck and Wendy Harmer have announced they're no longer hosting ABC Breakfast Sydney

'I hadn't worked with Robbie but the decision to put us together on brekkie turned out to be inspired,' Harmer, 65, said of the partnership with Buck, 49.

'We've got to know each other at the same time as the audience and it has blossomed into a fabulous on-air partnership and a wonderful friendship too.'

Buck, who's been with the ABC for 25 years and was a previous host on youth network Triple J, shared Harmer's sentiments when he announced their departure.

'It has blossomed into a fabulous on-air partnership and a wonderful friendship': Comedian Wendy Harmer (pictured) reflected on the fruitful partnership with Buck amid the announcement

'We always enjoyed each other's company and I think that's what's made the partnership so good,' he said.

Buck added that he will return to the national broadcaster in 2023 after taking some time off.

'I now plan to take a year away from the mic and see the world. Its not goodbye to the ABC.'

He explained on-air that the duo's decision to step down had been made 'quite a while ago'.

Its not goodbye to the ABC': Buck added that he will return to the national broadcaster in 2023 after taking some time off

ABC Breakfast Sydney was one of the national broadcaster's most popular radio programs and the second most popular in Sydneys highly competitive breakfast radio market.

In the most recent radio survey, ABC Breakfast Sydney had achieved its best ratings in several years.

Buck's and Harmer's final broadcast will be on Friday, December 10.

Their replacements will be announced within the next two weeks.
Sean Penn returned to work on Starz's Gaslit on Thursday, after a hiatus of more than two months after refusing to work on the show until the entire cast and crew is vaccinated.

Penn, 61, had demanded that the entire cast and crew be vaccinated before he continued work on the project, a modern take on the Watergate scandal.

Both Penn and Gaslit producers Universal Cable Productions reached a compromise, with the remainder of his shoot, two more weeks, to have an entirely vaccinated crew, according to Deadline.

Back to work: Sean Penn returned to work on Starz's Gaslit on Thursday, after a hiatus of more than two months after refusing to work on the show until the entire cast and crew is vaccinated

UCP's parent company, NBCUniversal had only imposed mandatory vaccinations for everyone in 'Zone A,' which is comprised of the cast and other crew members who are in close proximity with the cast.

They had also provided an on-site clinic to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to cast and crew members, which would also arrange second doses if needed.

The cast and crew members were also asked to show proof of vaccination when they showed up for work next, but Penn wanted to enforce stricter standards.

Vaccination: UCP's parent company, NBCUniversal had only imposed mandatory vaccinations for everyone in 'Zone A,' which is comprised of the cast and other crew members who are in close proximity with the cast

He wanted to have his organization CORE provide free vaccinations, but he wanted them to be mandatory for the entire production cast and crew, which created a 'stalemate' with the studio.

The studio couldn't legally mandate vaccinations beyond those in Zone A, as per terms negotiated between production companies and Hollywood unions.

During his two-month hiatus, the series filmed around Penn, but now he's returning to work for his last two weeks of filming.

CORE: He wanted to have his organization CORE provide free vaccinations, but he wanted them to be mandatory for the entire production cast and crew, which created a 'stalemate' with the studio

Penn becomes one of the first major stars to demand more of a studio or a production when it comes to COVID-19 safety.

His demands are especially timely in Los Angeles, where the show films, where the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus has caused cases to rise steadily over the past month.

Filming on the series takes place indoors in Burbank, though, aside from Zone A members, vaccination is not mandatory.

Major star: Penn becomes one of the first major stars to demand more of a studio or a production when it comes to COVID-19 safety

Gaslit is a modern take on the Watergate political scandal of the 1970s, 'centering on untold stories and forgotten characters of the time.

Penn plays John Mitchell, President Nixon's Attorney General, while Julia Roberts plays his wife Martha.

The series also stars Dan Stevens, Betty Gilpin, Allison Tomlin, Darby Camp, Shea Whigham and Anne Dudek.
He's known for living life to the fullest.

And DJ Khaled is now blessing the world with a chance to pamper themselves with his CBD-infused skincare collection GROOMED x BLESSWELL.

The hype man's wellness brand just kicked off a nationwide pop-up tour and recently set up shop in Chicago to offer their immersive, ultra-luxe self-care experience.

The one: DJ Khaled is blessing the world with a chance to pamper themselves with his Groomed X Blesswell skincare line as the brand embarks on a pop-up tour

Earlier this week, BLESSWELL made their first pop-up appearance at the star-studded grand opening of The Breakfast Club in the heart of Hollywood, CA.

Stars indulged in snacks from the eatery as well as state of the art shave and fades services at the GROOMED x BLESSWELL pop-up.

Mario Lopez was spotted chatting with Tik Tok star Brent Rivera while he was getting his hair trimmed by a master barber in shop.

The luxury moved on to the Windy City of Chicago on Monday to share the complimentary grooming services using the premium skin and face products from Khaled's collection.

LA: Mario Lopez got his hair trimmed by a master barber in the first pop-up in LA to celebrate the opening of The Breakfast Club in Hollywood

Luxury: The luxury moved on to the Windy City of Chicago on Monday to share the complimentary grooming services using the premium skin and face products from Khaled's collection

Pampered: City goers will experience the keys to wellness by indulging in a range of offerings including cuts, shaves, and facials

City goers will experience the keys to wellness by indulging in a range of offerings including cuts, shaves, and facials.

Award-winning barber JC Tha Barber, alongside some of the best groomers in Chicago courtesy of the Anti Broke Barbers Club including resident Jesse Elite, will rotate in and out of the shop, providing their services and sharing tips and trends as it relates to the CBD-enhanced line.

The space features two state-of-the-art grooming stations, comfortable lounge seating with gaming, BLESSWELL merchandise, and a bar offering Jim Beam Highballs, Hornitos Seltzers, and On The Rocks Cocktails.

The full collection of BLESSWELL products will also be available to purchase on-site.

The Kimpton Gray Hotel storefront, located at 126 W Monroe Street, is the first physical location of its kind and will run from September 29, 2021 through October 23, 2021.

Fancy: The space features two state-of-the-art grooming stations, comfortable lounge seating with gaming, BLESSWELL merchandise, and a bar offering Jim Beam Highballs, Hornitos Seltzers, and On The Rocks Cocktails
Jenna Dewan was seen attending Variety's Power of Women event in Los Angeles on Thursday evening.

The 40-year-old performer appeared to be enjoying the spotlight while spending time on the function's red carpet, where she was spotted posing for several photos.

The actress' appearance comes just days after she shared a heartwarming snap that featured her fiance and the happy pair's son to her Instagram account.

Katy Perry, Lorde, Amanda Gorman, Channing Dungey, and Rita Moreno were among those recognized at the event held at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills for their philanthropic work.

Showing up: Jenna Dewan wore a lovely floral-printed dress while attending Variety's Power of Women event in Los Angeles on Thursday

Dewan wore a lovely patterned dress that covered up much of her form, although her beautifully toned arms were visible during the event.

The Supergirl actress also wore a set of light beige heeled shoes that added an element of contrast to her clothing ensemble.

The Peabody Award-winning performer accessorized with an eye-catching pair of rings worn on her left hand.

Her lovely dark brunette locks were partially dyed blonde, with certain portions falling onto her chest and others being tied back into a long braid.

Lovely locks: The performer's hair was partially dyed blonde and tied into a long braid during the event

Shining bright: The actress added a little bit of shine to her outfit with a pair of sparkling rings. She also wore a set of light beige heeled shoes to the function

Showing off: Her beautifully toned arms were on near-full display during the star-studded event

Earlier this week, Dewan shared a shot of her fiance, Steve Kazee, spending time with their baby son Callum to her Instagram account.

The actress also wrote a lengthy message in the post's caption to let her nearly 7 million followers know how important she felt her partner and child were to her life.

It read: 'And now for #nationalsonday.! Im here to tell you that this little one is a total spark of divine, ray of sunshine, the actual embodiment of JOY. we are the luckiest ever to be yours!! And @stevekazee- youre prettttyyy amazing too.'

The performers were initially linked in October of 2018 when they were first spotted in each other's company.

Showing the love: Earlier this week, Dewan shared a shot of her fiance, Steve Kazee, spending time with the pair's son Callum

Strong feelings: In her post's caption, Dewan described the couple's child as 'a total spark of divine, ray of sunshine, the actual embodiment of JOY'

Not forgotten: The performer made sure that her fiance knew that he was 'prettttyyy amazing'

Prior to becoming involved with her current partner, Dewan was married to her former husband, Channing Tatum.

The exes initially met while working on the set of the 2006 dance film Step Up, in which they both starred.

The former pair dated for a period of roughly three years before they tied the knot in 2009, and they welcomed their daughter, Everly, in 2013.

The two remained together for five more years before they announced that they had separated in 2018, and they went on to formally dissolve their union the following year.

In the past: Dewan was previously married to her Step Up costar Channing Tatum, and the pair share a daughter named Everly; they are seen in 2017

Following her split from her former husband, Dewan began dating Kazee, and they went Instagram official in June of 2019.

The happy couple later shocked many when they announced that they had become engaged the following February.

That same year, the performers welcomed Callum into their lives, and the actor and the pair's son have made numerous appearances on her Instagram account ever since then.
After nearly two decades staying out of the spotlight, Sonja Morgan's 20-year-old daughter Quincy Adams has been slowly entering the public eye.

And, on Thursday night, the University of Pennsylvania student shared a rare glimpse into her life while rocking a plunging, black sequined dress from her mother's affordable clothing brand, Sonja By Sonja Morgan.

Sonja's lookalike paired the shimmery frock with a thigh-high slit, a vintage Fendi bag and studded black Valentino high heels.

Glamorous: Sonja Morgan's 21-year-old daughter Quincy Adams looked confident in her latest mirror selfie ahead of a fun night out on Thursday

While staring at her reflection in the mirror, the beauty was the picture of confidence as she posed for a selfie in her bedroom for her more than 65,100 Instagram followers.

Quincy is the only child of Sonja and John Adams Morgan, who is the great-grandson to the founders of Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan.

Her dad, a former Olympic gold medallist in sailing, has an estimated net worth of a whopping $100 million, which was largely inherited.

Lucky girl: The 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania student is the only child of John Adams Morgan, who is the great-grandson to the founders of Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan

In March, Quincy, who has never appeared on her mom's reality show The Real Housewives of New York City, made her Instagram public for the first time.

'I never thought I would make my social media public but here I am excited to welcome everyone along for the ride,' she said of her decision on her Instagram Story, at the time.

Quincy, whose pals call her 'Q,' is a 'painter and multimedia studio artist who started college' in 2019, according to Page Six.

Entering the public eye: Quincy, who has never appeared on her mom's reality show The Real Housewives of New York City, made her Instagram public for the first time in March (pictured in 2019)

Her parents divorced after more than eight years of marriage in 2006.

In May, during an episode of RHONY, Sonja got emotional as she discussed the end of their relationship.

'I lost my best friend and a wonderful marriage. Is he dead? No. But for all intents and purposes, for me, he's gone,' she told a healer.

Brains and beauty: Quincy, whose pals call her 'Q,' is a 'painter and multimedia studio artist who started college at the University of Pennsylvania in 2019,' according to Page Six; seen in 2016

She continued: 'I had to make a choice for my daughter and I feel so bad. Maybe I should have stayed with him and made sure she had everything she needed and got more time with me.'

In 2019, she told The Daily Beast: 'My breakup is pretty boring. We were in love and then we broke up. There was no drama. We still love each other and it was painful for both of us.'

Sonja met her ex-husband in 1998 while hostessing at San Pietro, an Italian restaurant in Manhattan.
Married At First Sight star KC Osborne has offered fans a glimpse of what to expect from her upcoming appearance on Ex on the Beach.

The Pussycat Dolls dancer, 32, pranced around in lacy lingerie in a series of videos shared to Instagram Stories on Thursday while promoting the label Samara Loves Us.

She modelled a light blue bra and knickers featuring sheer detailing, as well as a push-up peach set and two floral designs in different colours.

Get ready, boys! Married At First Sight's KC Osborne flaunted her ample assets in skimpy lingerie in a sponsored Instagram post on Thursday, after filming Ex on the Beach in Colombia

The Aussie reality star also showed off her figure in orange lingerie while blowing the camera a kiss.

KC swept her hair into a sexy updo, opted for a full face of glamorous makeup and kept her accessorises to a minimum for the promo video.

She recently flew to England after filming Ex on the Beach in Colombia last month.

Floral : She looked sensational in a light blue bra featuring sheer detailing

Shades: She modelled two floral designs in different colours

Hello, boys! KC commanded attention in this push-up peach set

Turning heads: The Aussie reality star also showed off her figure in orange lingerie while blowing the camera a kiss

But she was forced to defend her international travel during the Covid pandemic after being trolled by locked-down Australians.

'I'm sitting here in London, but before I get abused for being able to leave the country, and you guys tell me I'm privileged, I'm super grateful to be here, but it is for work,' she said on Instagram.

The clip was shared to her Stories for a few minutes before she decided to delete it.

KC is understood to be staying in London for a while before returning to Melbourne.

A source told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday she was 'very happy' with how things turned out on Ex on the Beach and wanted to make the most of being granted a work visa.

Done and dusted! KC recently flew to England after filming Ex on the Beach in Colombia

'I'm super grateful to be here, but it is for work': She was forced to defend her international travel during the Covid pandemic after being trolled by locked-down Australians

It comes after KC's ex Michael Goonan also defended his decision to fly overseas to film the dating show, despite most Aussies being banned from international travel.

'It's time I come clean. Yes, I am overseas. Yes, I did leave Australia,' he said in a video shared to his Instagram.

'Life also gives you opportunities... Did I take advantage of this opportunity? A hundred per cent. Do I regret it? No,' he added.

Similar situation: It comes after KC's ex Michael Goonan also defended his decision to fly overseas to film the dating show, despite most Aussies being banned from international travel

Michael explained that while he understands there are people more deserving, he took advantage of the opportunity to travel when it was offered.

He went on to say he is not a 'missionary or a f**king charity'.

Michael concluded his rant by saying he doesn't think he is a bad person and that 'we're all sluts for the right money'.
Sunrise weatherman Sam Mac had an awkward moment when he interviewed Aussies over 70 to mark International Day of Older Persons on Friday.

The trusty weatherman was speaking to 83-year-old podcast host Jasmine before he noticed a framed painting of a topless woman hanging on her wall in the background.

'Good morning Jasmine, I must say, looking so glam this morning,' Sam, 40, said. 'You host podcasts, you do tarot readings, you do so many exciting things.'

Whoops: Sam Mac spotted an unexpected painting in the background of a Sunrise interview on Friday

'Ive just noticed the painting in the background, which we probably should have noticed before we were on air,' he commented upon realising. 'Too late now!'

The Sunrise hosts Natalie Barr and Matt Doran could be heard chuckling in the background as Sam humourously pushed through the interview.

'How good is zoom,' he added.

'How good is zoom': The trusty weatherman was speaking to 83-year-old podcast host Jasmine before he noticed a framed painting of a topless woman hanging on her wall

Jasmine, unfazed by the weatherman's reaction, went on to discuss breathing exercises.

Last Friday, Sam trolled fill-in Sunrise host Doran during a live viewer quiz by asking viewers what Matt's last name was.

'The male host of weekend Sunrise is Matt who?' he asked viewers.

After an awkward silence, where no one could provide an answer, Sam started laughing and screamed: 'It happened again!'

Awkward: Last Friday, Sam trolled fill-in Sunrise host Doran during a live viewer quiz by asking viewers what Matt's last name was

'Sorry I mean [the answer is] Matt Doran. He needs to work harder on that branding,' the weatherman joked.

Sunrise host Barr found the whole exchange hilarious and couldn't contain her laughter at the desk.

A clearly embarrassed Matt turned to her and asked: 'Will you stop laughing at that, every time you celebrate.'
Cardi B has never been one to avoid answering any questions about plastic surgery, and other body enhancements, that she has done beginning when she became stripper at 18.

And now, as chatter continues to circulate about her undergoing a tummy tuck after giving birth to her son in early September, the WAP rapper is again being open and honest.

Only this time the Bronx, New York native took to her Instagram Stories on Thursday and shot down all the speculation behind her post-pregnancy body.

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Confirmation: Cardi B, 28, shut down rumors that she's had any plastic surgery done after welcoming her son to Planet Earth three weeks ago

In the post, Cardi (born Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar) began by acknowledging all the 'amazing compliments' she's received about her post-baby body.

'I think right now it's because I got some amazing hips due to my gorgeous son, because he was sitting so low. You know when your baby is low, your hips spread,' the 28-year-old mother shared.

After revealing about how everyone's been telling her that she's 'so snatched', Cardi talked about how people have been asking if she got liposuction to achieve her current figure.

'"What do you do? You did lipo? You had a tummy tuck?"' are three of the common questions she's been hearing recently.

Gracias: Cardi (born Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar) began the post by acknowledging all the 'amazing compliments' she's received about her post-baby body

The WAP rapper said she did not have an body enhancements since the birth of her son: 'You cannot do surgery after you give birth, especially me. I lost so much blood, guys.' she explained during the mirror selfie posted on Instagram

The answer is no. Cardi did not have lip or any other body enhancement since her boy arrived on Planet Earth.

'You cannot do surgery after you give birth, especially me. I lost so much blood, guys.' she explained during the mirror selfie that showed her dressed in black skin-tight leggings and a matching spaghetti-strap top.

She went on to promise her 111 million Instagram fans and followers that one day she would 'talk to you guys about my crazy a** delivery.

'But anyways, yes, I look snatched. Especially when I take these paparazzi pics,' she added while striking a few different poses in the mirror.

The birth: The New York native went on to promise her 111 million Instagram fans and followers that one day she would 'talk to you guys about my crazy a** delivery.'; Cardi and husband Offset announced the arrival of their son on September 4

The Bodak Yellow star went on to share how she 'likes to be real with you guys, and that's because my skin is still loose. I still got a little pouchy pouch right here.'

She also shared that she has 'back fat,' before confessing, 'My face is still so fat and my neck, but f**k it.'

She went on to recognize just how tough it is being a mother, while also encouraging them to 'take your f***ing time. It's really hard dealing with kids, especially when you do two kids after you give birth.'

It turns out, Cardi was beginning to get ready for a night out in Paris, when she made the video.

Post baby #1 work: Cardi has previously admitted to have plastic surgery after giving birth to her daughter Kulture in July 2018

Cardi's been vocal about her many cosmetic procedures, which over the years has included breast implants, a derriere enhancement, teeth veneers, liposuction, a second breast augmentation after the birth of her daughter, Kulture, in 2018.

Earlier this year, in a conversation with Mariah Carey for Interview's March 2021 cover story, the rapper went into detail about how she felt insecure about her breasst and derriere, but then after having plastic surgery of both of them she felt 'super confident.'

In fact, she revealed that she felt 'vindicated' after addressing those perceived personal issues within herself with plastic surgery.
Jennifer Garner reunited with old friends on Thursday night, throwing a party with the cast of her breakthrough series Alias.

The hit series debuted exactly 20 years ago, with the 49-year-old actress reuniting with cast and crew from the hit series.

She also took this reunion as the perfect opportunity to join TikTok, sharing a video from the festivities there and on her Instagram.

Reunited: Jennifer Garner reunited with old friends on Thursday night, throwing a party with the cast of her breakthrough series Alias

20 years: The hit series debuted exactly 20 years ago, with the 49-year-old actress reuniting with cast and crew from the hit series

'Twenty years ago this week, tonight in fact, #Alias aired for the first time on @abcnetwork,' Garner began.

'If youre an idea born of @jjabramsofficial's brain youre a big one; JJs ambitious imagination pushed every department on the crew of Alias through and past the norm, it was so much FUN,' Garner continued.

'Since the end of the show, April of 2005, running into a cast or crew member from Alias has always led to this questionWhen will you get everyone back together for a reunion? The 20th anniversary seemed like as good an excuse as any, so the call went outreunion party is happening, pass it on!' she added.

Two decades: 'Twenty years ago this week, tonight in fact, #Alias aired for the first time on @abcnetwork,' Garner began

She added that they all, 'missed everyone who was working and couldnt make it in,' and that, 'We missed you, Jabrams, (because I screwed up and made this happen on a night you were busy).'

'But man, it felt so good to be together again,' she said, while also revealing that she made her debut on TikTok Thursday night as well.

'The 20th anniversary also seemed like as good an excuse as any to join TikTok. No dot in the middle over there, but the same nonsense jennifergarner on TikTokI am more embarrassed for myself than you could possibly be for me, so just pleaseavert your gaze,' she joked.

Together: 'But man, it felt so good to be together again,' she said, while also revealing that she made her debut on TikTok Thursday night as well

On the Tok: 'The 20th anniversary also seemed like as good an excuse as any to join TikTok. No dot in the middle over there, but the same nonsense jennifergarner on TikTokI am more embarrassed for myself than you could possibly be for me, so just pleaseavert your gaze,' she joked

The video she shared featured old cast photos and then footage of that cast member at the party, such as Michael Vartan (Michael Vaughn), Kevin Weisman (Marshal Flinkman), Merrin Dungey (Francie Calfo), Gina Torres (Anna Espinosa) and Victor Garber (Jack Bristow).

The video also included a huge group shot filled with cast and crew members and she also took to her Instagram story to share the group shot, adding, 'Happy 20th Alias!

She also shared a brief video of the whole group raising their arms in solidarity for the IATSE union as the threat of a possible strike is looming, making it clear the cast and crew are showing their solidarity with the union.

Gina: The video she shared featured old cast photos and then footage of that cast member at the party, such as Michael Vartan (Michael Vaughn), Kevin Weisman (Marshal Flinkman), Merrin Dungey (Francie Calfo), Gina Torres (above, Anna Espinosa) and Victor Garber (Jack Bristow)

Group shot: The video also included a huge group shot filled with cast and crew members and she also took to her Instagram story to share the group shot, adding, 'Happy 20th Alias

Alias followed the adventures of Garner's character Sydney Bristow, an international spy who was recruited right out of college.

The hit show ran on ABC for five seasons between 2001 and 2006, also starring Carl Lumbly, Greg Grunberg, David Anders, Bradley Cooper, Mia Maestro, Lena Olin, Terry O'Quinn and Balthazar Getty.

While Garner turned to the big screen after Alias ended its run, she returned to the small screen n 2018 with Camping.

Jen as Sydney: Alias followed the adventures of Garner's character Sydney Bristow, an international spy who was recruited right out of college
Katie Price's ex-husband Kieran Hayler says her life is spiralling out of control and admits: 'If she carries on like this, she's going to end up dead.'

The personal trainer, 34, who shares Jett, eight, and Bunny, seven, from his eight-year marriage to Katie, 43, says he asks himself everyday 'when is the drama going to stop?' after her drink drive horror on Tuesday.

Katie rolled her BMW on a country road during an all-night drink and drugs bender at her home in Horsham, West Sussex. She crashed when she went out at 5am to pick up more drugs  and is now having rehab at The Priory.

'Enough is enough': Katie Price's ex-husband Kieran Hayler says her life is spiralling out of control and admits: 'If she carries on like this, she's going to end up dead' (pictured Monday)

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Kieran, who divorced Katie in July, said: 'I would never let Kate look after the children if I knew she was taking cocaine. If anybody knew more, they would have stepped in to try and help sooner. She's kept it all to herself and that's why it's got so bad.

'It's difficult to answer if she has a problem or is an addict because I don't know. It's not something that existed in our marriage.

'Tuesday could have been a lot worse than it was. Luckily, she wasn't hurt and nobody else was hurt. It's come to a point where enough is enough really.

'It's almost like what's coming next and it shouldn't be like that. I'm sure even Kate sits there and thinks "has this happened to me? Is this my life?"

'She's been through a lot': The personal trainer, who shares Jett and Bunny (pictured), from his eight-year marriage to Katie, says he asks himself everyday 'when is the drama going to stop?'

Exes: Katie and Kieran married in 2013 and split over three years ago. The ex-couple's 500 divorce was finalised in July after being delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic (pictured in 2017)

'A lot has happened recently, and I felt like "oh God, not another thing, when is the drama going to stop?" And then I feel sad because this woman has been through a lot recently and now it's another thing.

'How much more can somebody take before they break? If Kate carries on like this, she's going to end up dead.'

Katie, who's also a mum to Harvey, 19, and Junior, 16, and Princess, 14, from her marriage to Peter Andre, admitted charges of drink-driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance at Crawley Magistrates' Court after flipping her BMW in a smash early on Tuesday morning.

Since checking herself into The Priory, a private clinic for mental health and addiction problems, Kieran has been left to explain the troubling news to Jett and Bunny, who he says are both 'worried and upset.'

'Upset': Kieran revealed Katie has spoken to Jett and Bunny since arriving at The Priory for treatment on FaceTime and the children have made her Get Well Soon cards (pictured in 2019)

Family: The former glamour model is a mum to Harvey, Junior and Princess who she shares with Peter Andre, and Jett and Bunny from her marriage to Kieran

Kieran explained: 'For Jett and Bunny I have kept it very simple. I told them mummy has been in a car accident, mummy is absolutely fine, but mummy is unwell in the head and she's not very well, she has gone into a hospital and they're going to make her better. They don't need to know anything else.

'I have been as honest as I can be with them without damaging them. It is very difficult, but I deal with it as best as I can and hopefully in the future they will look back and respect how I parented them.

'They're worried and upset. They have spoken to Kate now, they're okay and they're dealing with it okay. They made Get Well Soon mummy cards for her at school.

'I don't need to stress them out and confuse them about what's going on. I answer their questions best I can.'

Horror: Katie rolled her BMW on a country road during an all-night drink and drugs bender at her Sussex home and crashed when she went out at 5am to pick up more drugs

Katie reassured her two youngest children on FaceTime 'she's going to get better' while Kieran has agreed to take on full parental control until December when the ex-Loose Women panelist will be sentenced.

He said: 'Bunny asked her about what happened, and she said she was in hospital and she's going to get better and see them really soon.

'She's gone to The Priory, I have seen she is there, I spoke to her on FaceTime on Wednesday night and she's in the best place at the moment to sort herself out.

'Kate said she will be speaking to the children most days from The Priory, and I hope she will get better and the help she needs.

Sighting: Katie was pictured in London on Wednesday after pleading guilty to drink-driving and using a vehicle while disqualified

'I looked after the children when Kate was in The Priory before and I'm their dad, to look after them is not a chore. I have taken parental responsibility to look after them while their mum is getting better.'

Kieran has also been in touch with Katie's first husband Pete, who is Princess and Junior's father.

He added: 'I have spoken to Pete, we became close and there was no reason for our friendship to stop when Kate and me finished.

'Whenever there's any issues or problems we're there and it's good for when Jett and Bunny want to speak to Princess and Junior. Why shouldn't they get to speak to their brother and sister?'

Katie could face prison after being charged with driving while unfit to drive through drink, using a motor vehicle on a public place without third-party insurance and driving while disqualified.

Kieran believes Katie, who over the years has endured bankruptcy, multiple failed marriages, and has put her face and body through countless plastic surgery procedures, will recover from this tremendous fall.

He said: 'Kate has been through a lot in her life and if she was to go to prison, she would be able to cope with it.

'Stressful game': Kieran believes Katie's breakdown was sparked by her not knowing who to trust following years in the spotlight, alongside problems in her relationship with Carl Woods

'It's a life lesson and a lesson she's had to learn the hard way. It's really sad it's had to come to this for her to realise she's done wrong.

'It's hard because it will impact her life and having the freedom to drive is an amazing thing to have and not having the freedom to just jump in the car and go somewhere is not ideal.'

According to Kieran, Katie's breakdown was sparked by her not knowing who to trust following years in the spotlight, while problems in her most recent relationship with fiance Carl Woods, 32, has pushed her to breaking point.

He said: 'It's been hard for Kate to make good solid friends, but her family always sticks by her no matter what happens and it's great she has a good support network in that sense.

'In the industry, people come and go and it's really hard to make friends because you're always worried about who's going to sell you out and it's hard to trust people.

'Mental health has become a huge thing. People don't realise the impact negative comments have and years and years of that have built up and because of that she's been affected mentally.

'At the same time, it's difficult because Kate has used it all to her own advantage, it's a game that's very stressful. She has been going through a lot recently, with her relationship, and I feel like that's one thing that's pushed her to this point now.'
Dakota Johnson flashed plenty of leg in a skintight cream midi dress with a daring thigh-high slit at a special screening of her film The Lost Daughter.

While arriving to the Crosby Street Hotel in SoHo on Wednesday, the Fifty Shades actress, 31, appeared in high spirits as she waved enthusiastically to onlookers.

The How to Be Single star dressed up her satin frock with a chic Gucci bag with an embroidered dragon on it and black face mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wow factor: Dakota Johnson flashed plenty of leg in a skintight cream midi dress with a daring thigh-high slit at a special screening of her film The Lost Daughter

The daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith completed her ensemble with a pair of heels, black nail polish and hair in a sleek updo.

At the event, she met up with her The Lost Daughter costars Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and Maggie Gyllenhaal, who wrote and directed their drama.

Gyllenhaal looked timeless in a chic all-black ensemble with a shiny purse and red lipstick.

Glam: While arriving to the Crosby Street Hotel in SoHo on Wednesday, the Fifty Shades actress, 31, appeared in high spirits as she waved enthusiastically to onlookers

Out on the town! The How to Be Single star dressed up her satin frock with a chic Gucci bag with an embroidered dragon on it and black face mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Leggy lady: Dakota proudly put her knockout legs on display

Stylish: She dressed up her satin frock with a chic Gucci bag with an embroidered dragon on it and black face mask amid the pandemic

Cool girl: The daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith completed her ensemble with a pair of heels and hair in a sleek updo

The older sister of fellow actor Jake Gyllenhaal attended with her husband Peter Sarsgaard, who wore a navy suit and striped button-down.

For the occasion, Ed Harris looked sharp in navy and black glasses.

Irish actor Paul Mescal, best known for his role in the hit miniseries Normal People, looked handsome in a satin shirt and khaki pants.

Mingling: At the event, she met up with her The Lost Daughter costars Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and Maggie Gyllenhaal, who wrote and directed their drama

Star power: Johnson stars as Nina in the upcoming thriller about a college professor that meets a woman and her young daughter while on vacation in Italy

Write and director: Gyllenhaal looked timeless in a chic all-black ensemble with a shiny purse and red lipstick

The Lost Daughter is a psychological drama written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, and based on the novel of the same name by Elena Ferrante.

The anticipated movie had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, where Gyllenhaal won the Golden Osella Award for Best Screenplay.

It tells the story of Colman, as Leda, a college professor, who while on a summer holiday, finds herself becoming obsessed with another woman (Johnson) and her young daughter, prompting memories of her own early motherhood to come back and unravel her.

The film will drop on Netflix on New Year's Eve after a two-week limited release in US movie theaters.

Supportive: The older sister of fellow actor Jake Gyllenhaal attended with her husband Peter Sarsgaard

Handsome: For the occasion, Ed Harris looked sharp in navy and black glasses

Big gig: Irish actor Paul Mescal looked handsome in a satin shirt and khaki pants

Making their rounds: Colman, Johnson, Sarsgaard, Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Ed Harris all attended the premiere after screening event

Making their rounds: Colman, Johnson, Sarsgaard, Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Ed Harris all attended the premiere after screening event
After a three week hiatus, Georgia Love made a return to social media on Friday following her infamous Instagram video scandal.

The 33-year-old posted a smiling photo of herself with her bandaged arm, which was covered with a cotton ball and tape, and announced that she had received her second Covid vaccine.

'In the wise words of one LM Miranda: I am not throwing away my shot,' she captioned the pic, referencing a verse from the song 'My Shot' from the hit American musical Hamilton.

Jabbed: After a three week hiatus, Georgia Love made a return to social media on Friday following her infamous Instagram video scandal

The former Bachelorette added the hashtags, '#raiseaglasstofreedom' and '#vaxxedAZbro'.

Her husband, Lee Elliott, commented: 'Raise a glass to freedom, something they can never take away.'.

'Omg (sic) this photo though,' wrote Australian Survivor star Anneliese Wilson.

'I am not throwing away my shot': The 33-year-old, who was dropped from her on-air reporting role at Seven, posted a smiling photo of herself with her bandaged arm

'Time for some vax picnics!' added a follower optimistically.

Last month, Georgia was relegated to the production desk at Seven after posting an offensive Instagram video.

The journalist sparked backlash for sharing footage of a cat behind the window of an Asian restaurant and writing: 'Shop attendant or lunch?!'

Controversy: The journalist sparked backlash for sharing footage of a cat behind the window of an Asian restaurant and writing: 'Shop attendant or lunch?!'

She deleted the video an hour later and apologised for causing 'offence', but at the time denied the post had any racist 'insinuation'.

Love also posted a similar 'joke' about pets and Chinese restaurants in 2013.

Following a workplace investigation, Seven alerted staff via email that Georgia had been 'counselled' and reassigned to an off-camera role 'effective immediately'.
Stacey Hampton has denied claims that her children misbehaved on a flight between Perth and Adelaide on Friday.

The former Married At First Sight star was pictured sitting with her sons, Kosta, five, and Kruz, three, on Virgin Australia flight VA721, with a source telling Daily Mail Australia the family were disruptive.

'Her kids were so naughty, she was letting them do what they want,' the source, who was seated near Stacey, 27, and her sons, said on Friday.

Claims: Stacey Hampton (pictured) has denied claims that her children misbehaved on a flight between Perth and Adelaide on Friday after a source claimed the family were disruptive

'The flight attendants had to come three times the tell them to turn their volume down on the kids' phones,' the source added.

'The kids had an iPhone each, screaming and carrying on while she had her two Apple AirPods in... just scrolling through her phone'.

Stacey has vehemently denied those claims, insisting she was not on the flight at all, despite being pictured both on the jet and in the terminal.

'Her kids were so naughty, she was letting them do what they want,' the source, who was seated near Stacey, 27, and her sons, said on Friday

Denied: Stacey has vehemently denied those claims, insisting she was not on the flight at all, despite being pictured both on the jet and in the terminal

'That's incorrect... We weren't on that flight,' the former reality star told Daily Mail Australia on Friday. She added that one of her sons suffers from ADHD.

The TV star shares Kosta and Kruz with her Rebels bikie boss ex, Shane Michael Smith, who she split with in 2017.

Speaking in a YouTube clip, Stacey explained that while the pair are on good terms and happily co-parent their two children together, she and her ex-fiance 'just weren't right for each other.'

Retort: 'That's incorrect... We weren't on that flight,' the former reality star told Daily Mail Australia on Friday

Family: She added that one of her sons suffers from ADHD

'Nothing happened to him, I live down the road from him,' Stacey began, after reading out questions sent in by MAFS fans.

'We're co-parenting at the moment, he's good, a good dad, he loves his boys. Very supportive.'

She added: 'Nothing happened to him, we just didn't work, I was very young when I met him.'

Ex: The TV star shares Kosta and Kruz with her Rebels bikie boss ex, Shane Michael Smith, 38, (left) who she split with in 2017

Shane - who is the Rebels' Adelaide president - was convicted of bashing two nightclub bouncers in Bendigo in 2017.

In February 2019, he was convicted and fined $3,500.

He narrowly avoided jail after a magistrate dismissed an affray charge because the savage beatings weren't deemed to be evoking of terror in bystanders.

Past: Shane - who is the Rebels' Adelaide president - was convicted of bashing two nightclub bouncers in Bendigo in 2017

Stacey has publicly defended her her ex - who is 11 years her senior - and urged society not to judge him on his criminal past.

Speaking to WHO magazine, she said: 'He's honestly the greatest person and I think he's ashamed of his past.

'I met him when I was really young, 19, through mutual friends and I wasn't aware of his lifestyle but I fell for him so quickly,' she continued.

Loyal: Stacey has publicly defended her her ex - who is 11 years her senior - and urged society not to judge him on his criminal past

'At the time, I didn't realise he actually had charges from ages ago that had come up - assault charges.'

Stacey previously told Daily Mail Australia that she has 'no regrets' about their relationship.

'We met when I was very young, fell in love quickly and then tried to make it work for the kids,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

Speaking to WHO magazine, she said: 'He's honestly the greatest person and I think he's ashamed of his past. I met him when I was really young, 19, through mutual friends and I wasn't aware of his lifestyle but I fell for him so quickly,' she said

'It was a civil break-up. He's an amazing dad and I have no regrets.'

Stacey rose to fame on season seven of Married At First sight, where she was paired with millionaire businessman Michael Goonan.

The couple split before the show's finale. They reunited as friends last year, but denied that they had rekindled their romance.
Gary Kemp and his wife Lauren Barber looked every inch the loved-up couple as they stepped out for the launch of Stephen Webster's book Cocktales on Thursday.

The Spandau Ballet star, 61, looked dapper in a navy blue suit and a smartly pressed shirt which he wore open at the collar for the bash at the Nobu Hotel London Portman Square.

He stood with wife Lauren, 43, who opted for a stylish black and gold houndstooth coat as she wrapped up warm against the autumn evening weather.

In style: Gary Kemp, 62, and Lauren Barber, 43, looked stylish at Stephen Webster's Cocktales book launch, with Gary wearing a suit and Lauren a black and gold houndstooth coat

Gary was looking as suave as ever in the ensemble, which he gave a casual touch with the addition of the open-necked shirt.

Lauren meanwhile wore all black beneath her statement coat as she held a cocktail in her hand while mingling with fellow stars at the bash.

The pair were spotted mingling with a number of other stars including rapper Tinie Tempah, 32, who stood out from the crowd in a hot pink dinner jacket.

The rap superstar wore a smart white shirt underneath his jacket and hid behind a pair of dark sunglasses.

Gliteratti: The husband and wife were spotted mingling with a number of other stars

Star power: The pair were spotted mingling with a number of other stars including rapper Tinie Tempah, 32, who stood out from the crowd in a hot pink dinner jacket

He happily posed for a picture with Gary, standing with his arm over the musician's shoulder.

Gary was also seen chatting to a number of other musicians, including DJ Pete Tong, 61, who wore a charcoal grey suit and a lightweight navy blue jumper.

The pair stood with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, 77, who wore a slate grey jacket over a blue shirt with a floral pattern.

Music magic: Gary was also seen chatting to a number of other musicians, including DJ Pete Tong, 61, (left) who wore a charcoal grey suit and a lightweight navy blue jumper

Legends: Gary stood with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, 77, who wore a slate grey jacket over a blue shirt with a floral pattern

Party tales: Cocktales, written by Stephen Webster, 62, (pictured) looks to the origin of the cocktail and the inspiration behind his eye-catching cocktail rings

The star had on a pair if black jeans and smartly polished black shoes for the event.

The glitterati was out to support jewellery designer Stephen, 62, following the publication of his book Cocktales.

The tome looks to the origin of the cocktail and the inspiration behind his eye-catching cocktail rings, as well as cocktail recipes for parties.

Friends in high places: Gary was out to support the jewellery designer following the publication of his book Cocktales

Fitting: Interior designer Kelly Hoppen, 62, was seen posing with partner John Gardiner, with Kelly wearing a black trouser suit with a cropped top

Interior designer Kelly Hoppen, 62, was seen posing with partner John Gardiner, with Kelly wearing a black trouser suit with a cropped top.

Her top featured leopard print cuffs and she held a small clutch in her hand.

The pair were joined by television presenter Lisa Snowdon, 49, at the event who wore a pink and black paisley pattern mini-dress which she teamed with a pair of knee-high black boots and a matching purse.
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Daniel Craig's final outing as James Bond divided viewers as the long-awaited No Time To Die hit cinemas in the early hours of Friday morning, with many flooding Twitter to issue reviews.

After the world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday, critics lavished praise on the much-delayed movie, and while many armchair reviewers agreed that the movie was 'brilliant and special' others were less pleased with the departure Ian Fleming's original depiction of 007.

British fans of Bond's latest outing - who have been able to watch the much-anticipated movie a week before American fans - took to the microblogging site penned: 'James Bond was brilliant... #NoTimeToDie is a special, special film... awesome. Absolutely bl***y brilliant. Loved every minute of it... James bond was well worth the wait... the former glory is restored... best Bond in many years for me.'

Hot on the heels of claims the 25th Bond film is '00-woke', others insisted the new take on the supersleuth Lothario was 'a liberty': 'I think they've taken too many liberties and moved away from Ian Fleming's James Bond if that makes sense?... [this has] utterly ruined the character for me.'

History: Daniel Craig's final outing as James Bond divided viewers as the long-awaited No Time To Die hit cinemas in the early hours of Friday morning, with many flooding Twitter to issue reviews

The glowing reviews from devoted fans read: 'James Bond was brilliant... #NoTimeToDie is a special, special film, and a perfect end to Daniel Craigs tenure as Bond. He reinvented the role, and for me? He IS James Bond. Thank you for the past 15 years. Its been a pleasure Commander Craig #WeHaveAllTheTimeInTheWorld...

'Just seen James Bond movie and Wow well worth the wait never expected a ending like that cinema was full and no one made a sound through the whole film... Can't get over how good @007 #NoTimeToDie was last night...

'No spoilers, but best Bond in many years for me. Also just going to the cinema for the first time since covid was class... Cheeky trip to the cinema to see Daniel Craig's swan song as @007 and what a swan song it was. Bravo Mr Craig, sad to see you go but very glad you became Bond, James Bond. #NoTimeToDie...

'Loved it going again at weekend to watch... and it finally felt like a proper cinema night with nigh on a full house their was great to see it after so long... Went to the cinema to watch #JamesBond #NoTimeToDie last night, and it was epic #NoSpoilers... I had the ending spoiled in the gents at the cinema before the film started...

Long wait! Fans are seen queuing to watch the movie in Leicester Square on Thursday evening

Suave: After the world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday, critics lavished praise on the much-delayed movie, and while many armchair reviewers agreed that the movie was 'brilliant and special' others were less pleased with the departure Ian Fleming's original depiction of 007

Yay! Many fans praised the movie and insisted it was worth the wait

'But despite that I thought it was excellent... So, I saw #NoTimeToDie this evening and I loved it but, hated it. I was a rage monster leaving the cinema. @007 WHAT did you do that for? WHY???? Fix it. #007NotJustANumber...

'So it happened, first time in a cinema in over 2 yrs & first film to see was #NoTimeToDie. That was so well worth the wait #DanielCraig is the ultimate James Bondawesome. Absolutely bl***y brilliant...

'Loved every minute of it... James bond was well worth the wait. Although sitting in a packed cinema felt weird. Bring back lockdown... all is forgiven. We were worried after #Spectre but the former glory is restored. Everyone get out, support your local #cinema and see #NoTimeToDie . What an experience...

'@007... Flawed, 25 minutes too longand it will divide hardcore Bond fansbutI really, really enjoyed No Time To Die - an absolute blast to experience in the cinema and ultimately a very fitting end to Daniel Craigs run as BondJames Bond #NoTimeToDie [sic]'

Naysayers however clashed with fans of Daniel's final outing, with critics penning: 'Whos seen the new Bond film? I must admit I was disappointed... Yep me too - I think they've taken too many liberties and moved away from Ian Fleming's James Bond if that makes sense?...

Not too pleased: Others were less than happy with the spin on the movie

Changing the game: Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge was brought in as a scriptwriter to ensure the blockbuster was appropriate for the #MeToo era - with the flick billed as the most politically correct and 'woke' James Bond movie yet, with outdated sexism banned

'I really enjoyed half the film, the 2nd half however has utterly ruined the character for me. That was not a Bond film to me, more of a spoof than anything. Beyond gutted... was anyone else bitterly disappointed with latest @007 outing? Even as a huge Bond fan it just didnt do it for me!...

'Why can't people write films well anymore? I saw the new James Bond film and the ending is like...eh? Mission Impossible is the best franchise going, I love it, standards are still high there. Everywhere else...ugh... James Bond. #NoTimeToDie Well. I'm. Speechless. Devastated. Heartbroken. #NoSpoilers #JamesBond007 #DanielCraig...

'The new James Bond is absolutely useless. Side note, 26 for ticket, popcorn and water in Newbridge cinema #GameisGone #Boomy... Absolutely ruined. Shocking. Never seen a cinema so silent. Almighty mistake. [sic]'

Changes: The movie was previously supposed to come out on April 2, however its original release was supposed to be in April 2020 (pictured Daniel Craig

The changes in question come as Bond's lothario antics appear to have fallen by the wayside as he swaps casual romps for handshakes and camaraderie with his female castmates.

The 25th film in the franchise sees strong female characters stake their claim on the storyline- with Lashana Lynch as British secret agent Nomi, along with Ana De Armas as Cuban agent Paloma, joined by psychologist and Bond's love Madeleine Swann, played by Lea Seydoux.

Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge was brought in as a scriptwriter to ensure the blockbuster was appropriate for the #MeToo era - with the flick billed as the most politically correct and 'woke' James Bond movie yet, with outdated sexism banned.

Therefore, while No Time To Die sees the typical explosive Bond drama beloved of the franchise, 007's previous history of adding notches to his bedpost is very much an afterthought - with the agent seen building a friendly rapport with his female colleagues, rather than trying to seduce them.

In one scene, Bond asks Paloma to turn around as he changes, before shaking hands with her in a scene of mutual respect and understanding following a dramatic fight scene.

They are also seen praising each other's work - and, while Bonds of yesteryear would have seen the suave agent delivering some smooth lines and bedroom eyes before tumbling into a passionate embrace, the pair keep it cordial.

Teamwork: The focus has shifted to teamwork and healthy competition, with no scrimping on the action that fans of the franchise adore

No time to say goodbye! Daniel Craig is credited for his 'extravagantly satisfying' (and unapologetically woke) Bond swansong... as 'slick, stylish and emotional' No Time To Die wins five star reviews

After an 18-month Covid-induced delay the premiere for No Time To Die - Daniel Craig's final outing as James Bond - took place at the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday.

Craig stepped out alongside co-stars Lashana Lynch, Lea Seydoux and Ana de Armas to introduce critics, royals and stars alike to the Cary Joji Fukunaga-directed blockbuster - with a thrilling outcome from the other side.

The Daily Mail's Brian Viner gave Bond's 'daring, tense and explosive' 25th outing four stars, writing that 'the thunderous ovation that rocked the venue as the end credits rolled was not misplaced'.

Reviews from around the world soon flooded in with a slew of five star accolades for Craig's swansong - along with gushing praise over the movie's 'magnificence, glee, extravagance and bulgingly proportions'.

Finally here: After an 18-month Covid-induced delay the premiere for No Time To Die - Daniel Craig's final outing as James Bond - took place at the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday

Teasing an ending that 'no one saw coming', Viner hailed No Time To Die as 'a triumph', gushing: '[No Time To Die is] an explosive, tense, daring, and most of all surprising adventure, toying with our preconceptions about the world's greatest secret agent and exploring his personal life more intimately than ever before.'

Addressing the film's 163 minutes run-time, Viner assured readers that 'the breathless pace rarely slackens'.

On the fact that Craig's fifth and final outing as Bond was filmed in a post Time's Up era, Viner notes: 'Is there now a danger of the character tilting too far away from the callous ladykiller of yesteryear, becoming 00-woke?...

'Yes, there is. However, not least of the achievements of this exciting movie is that it feels progressive, while staying faithful to the spirit of Bond. This is a serious film, and it will leave you seriously blown away.'

Four stars: The Daily Mail's Brian Viner gave Bond's 'daring, tense and explosive' 25th outing four stars

Leading man: Daniel, 53, oozed sophistication ahead of his final outing as James Bond when he walked No Time To Die's world premiere red carpet on Tuesday

NO TIME TO DIE REVIEWS: Magnificent and extravagant THE DAILY MAIL Rating: '[No Time To Die is] an explosive, tense, daring, and most of all surprising adventure, toying with our preconceptions about the world's greatest secret agent and exploring his personal life more intimately than ever before.' THE GUARDIAN Rating: Craig's final film as the diva of British intelligence is an epic barnstormer, with the script delivering pathos, action, drama, camp comedy, heartbreak, macabre horror, and outrageously silly old-fashioned action in a movie which calls to mind the world of Dr No on his island. THE TELEGRAPH Rating: Cary Joji Fukunaga's extravagantly satisfying, bulgingly proportioned last chapter to the Craig era, throws almost everything there is left to throw at 007 the series can come up with. DIGITAL SPY Rating: It might have taken its time getting him, but No Time to Die confirms that whoever the next James Bond is, they've got some big shoes to fill. THE SUN Rating: In his final turn as 007, Craig exits the franchise with a bang  as well as many crashes and several wallops. The stunts are simply spectacular, with one particular scene involving a motorbike in Italy that will leave you watching through splayed fingers in exhilarating fear. EVENING STANDARD Rating: After Spectre, he famously said he'd rather slash his wrists than play Bond again. Instead, with the help of a talented team, he's taken a razor blade to the idea of Bond. Craig bows out with his head held high. Way to go. NME Rating: For the most part though, and with so much at stake thanks to Covid decimating cinema, No Time To Die producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson should be applauded for taking some bold risks. The gobsmacking ending, in fact, may be the biggest in Bond history. THE INDEPENDENT Rating: While Craig is a consummate action star, director Cary Joji Fukunaga's more radical vision of James Bond is fleeting, his film a rotating sideshow of old characters and plot points EMPIRE This film does things that no Bond film has ever done, and despite relying heavily on tropes that feel not only familiar but comforting, it is the unfamiliar things it does that make this such an exciting entry. SKY Spectacularly well shot, wonderfully dark villains (Rami Malek's performance is faultless) and perhaps more depth than before, perhaps Bond really can save the day - for cinema in the short term at least. VARIETY No Time to Die is a terrific movie: an up-to-the-minute, down-to-the-wire James Bond thriller with a satisfying neo-classical edge. It's an unabashedly conventional Bond film that's been made with high finesse and just the right touch of soul, as well as enough sleek surprise to keep you on edge. Advertisement

Other critics were equally roused by Craig's final performance as Bond, with The Guardian awarding the blockbuster five stars and critic Peter Bradshaw hailing the film as 'startling, exotically self-aware, funny and confident'.

He wrote: 'No Time To Die is startling, exotically self-aware, funny and confident, and perhaps most of all it is big: big action, big laughs, big stunts and however digitally it may have been contrived, and however wildly far-fetched, No Time To Die looks like it is taking place in the real world, a huge wide open space that were all longing for.'

Empire offered an impressive four stars, branding No Time To Die an 'exciting entry' into the 007 universe and urging viewers to 'raise a martini' because 'it was worth the wait'.

Four more stars came from the Evening Standard while The Times offered up five thanks to Craig's 'extravagantly satisfying' final portrayal of Bond.

The Evening Standard's Charlotte O'Sullivan observed: 'Fukunaga serves up derring do that's iconoclastic on so many levels. He couldn't have done it without Craig.

'Nobody's puppet, Craig helped produce No Time to Die. After Spectre, he famously said he'd rather slash his wrists than play Bond again. Instead, with the help of a talented team, he's taken a razor blade to the idea of Bond.'

Glamourous: Daniel joined glamorous co-stars Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas and Lea Seydoux at the swanky event before critics sat down to review the flick

Kevin Maher of The Times meanwhile penned: 'It's better than good. It's magnificent. Craig is a towering charismatic presence from opening frame to closing shot, and he bows out in terrific, soulful, style.'

The Sun urged viewers to 'buckle up' in its four star review while the BBC also allocated the movie five stars, noting: 'No Time To Die rounds off the Craig era with tremendous ambition and aplomb.'

However The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey was less content when the credits rolled, branding Craig's 'last hoorah' as 'disappointing and strangely anti-climactic' before mustering up just three stars.

Digital Spy was another publication to award the flick four stars.

Ian Sandwell wrote: 'It might have taken its time getting him, but No Time to Die confirms that whoever the next James Bond is, they've got some big shoes to fill.'

Dazzling: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were also in attendance at No Time To Die's World premiere

Ahead of the screening Craig chatted away to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the Royal Albert Hall.

Also at the star-studded premiere were Billie Eilish, Rami Malek, screenwriter Phoebe Waller-Bridge, director Cary Joji Fukunaga and Naomie Harris.

It has been a long road to Tuesday night's premiere after the film's release was delayed several times due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The film was originally scheduled for release in April 2020, but was pushed back to November before the release was changed once again to April 2021 in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

Looking good! The Duchess of Cambridge appeared just as impressed with Daniel's pink suit as he was with her show-stopping gown

The release date was finally settled for September 30 in the UK followed by October 8 in the US.

Ahead of the release, Daniel and some of his fellow star cast members joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about the movie.

Daniel, who has appeared in five Bond films over 15 years, told Chris: 'After the last one, I thought that was it. I thought, 'I can't do any more of these'.

'I got a bit of a rest and we kind of talked about what we wanted to do with this last movie and how big we wanted to go, and it felt right, and I just got really excited about it, and I can't wait for people to see it.

Team Bond: Finneas O'Connell, Billie Eilish, Rami Malek, screenwriter Phoebe Waller-Bridge, director Cary Joji Fukunaga, Ana de Armas, Lashana Lynch and Naomie Harris all posed on the carpet together

'I saw a rough cut of it about a month after we finished, which is really rough, because there's no special effects or anything. When you see that version of it, you just hope and pray that it makes sense, and it did.

'Once you get the effects, and you get the music, Hans Zimmer's done the music, and it's just incredible. The story holds together.'

'Everyone is just turning in brilliant performances, and I think it's quite special.'

Speaking about the enforced delay to the film's release due to the pandemic, the actor said: 'It's odd enough with a movie, when you've finished it, and you put it out and you kind of go, 'Woah, I hope it's good.'

Close bond: Naomi Harris and Lashana Lynch shared a joke at the star-studded event ahead of the much-anticipated screening

'But when there is a two-year gap between finishing it and putting it out, it just makes things even stranger.'

On where he was when he first found out he had got the role of Bond: 'I was in Baltimore doing a movie. And I was in Whole Foods, doing my weekly shop, wandering around with a trolley with food in it, and (producer) Barbara Broccoli was on the phone, and she just went, 'Over to you kiddo.'

'So I got my trolley and I pushed it quietly down an aisle, walked into the booze section and bought a bottle of vodka and a bottle of vermouth, a glass and a shaker, took it home and drank it, and then went out and sat in a bar and drank about three more vodka martinis.

'It's really sad, actually, when you think about it. But, I must have had a sort of look on my face, because the barman kept asking me what was going on, and I said, 'I can't tell you!'

Release: The release date was finally settled for September 30 in the UK followed by October 8 in the US

Daniel recently addressed the outdated James Bond plotlines of past films in the franchise - such as the idea of glamorous disposable so-called Bond girls.

Speaking to Lorraine Kelly, he said of the spy series - which sees latest movie No Time To Die released this week - that 'you've got to adapt' with the times.

'Certainly a lot of what went on in the earlier movies is sort of questionable now... different times, but we didn't want to lose the essence [in the new film]. It's still a Bond movie.

'I've been given free range to put my influence on it, but I've never forgotten that. We can have all key elements and things people have loved over the years, but you adapt.

On the franchise, Daniel said: 'Certainly a lot of what went on in the earlier movies is sort of questionable now... different times, but we didn't want to lose the essence [in the new film]. It's still a Bond movie'

'One of my biggest things is all the characters, especially the women, have to be brilliant and believable.'

Daniel also told Lorraine about becoming overcome with emotion when he shot his final scene as Bond.

'Everybody turned up - all the heads of department came down, and I thought 'Oh God, I have to make a speech, this is my worst nightmare.' It all just came out, I tried to keep it together.

'All of those people I go to work with every day, particularly on this movie, the collective effort was so huge and meant so much to me that everyone put that hard work in - that's what I'll miss so much.'

Changes: The movie was previously supposed to come out on April 2, however its original release was supposed to be in April 2020 (pictured Daniel Craig)

No Time To Die is the 25th film in the franchise, and finds Bond after he has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica when his old friend Felix Leiter, played by Jeffrey Wright, from the CIA turns up asking for help.

Leaving his seemingly happy life with Madeleine (Lea Seydoux), Bond returns to the field to face Safin (Rami Malek) who is armed with a new dangerous technology that could impact the world.

Producer Barbara Broccoli has already teased what fans can expect and said that the movie will deliver a satisfying ending for Daniel's Bond.

Speaking on the official James Bond podcast, she said: 'It's a culmination of everything that his portrayal of the character has been through and it ties up all the storylines. It's a pretty epic film, I have to say.'

Daniel took over the role of Bond from Pierce Brosnan in Casino Royale in 2006 and went onto appear in Quantum of Solace in 2008, Skyfall in 2012 and Spectre in 2015.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian resigned on Friday after the state's anti-corruption watchdog announced she was under investigation for breach of public trust.

And while the move has left many Liberal Party voters distraught, one person who is rejoicing in Berejiklian's demise is YouTube star Jordan 'FriendlyJordies' Shanks.

In a video shared to YouTube, the comedian and progressive political commentator popped open a bottle of champagne to celebrate the former premier's exit.

All smiles! YouTube star Jordan 'FriendlyJordies' Shanks celebrated Gladys Berejiklian's resignation as NSW Premier in a gleeful video on Friday

'Maybe covid's gonna be so bad when we reopen that this is just a more graceful way of leaving on corruption suspicion,' he laughed.

After thanking ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) for getting rid of Gladys, Jordan torched several mainstream media outlets for downplaying the corruption investigation in favour of fawning coverage.

'My god, the press did everything they could to keep you in the dark about that,' he said.

Good times! In a video shared to YouTube, the comedian and political commentator popped open a bottle of champagne to celebrate the former premier's exit

He also accused the media of turning Gladys into a 'main character of Neighbours' by covering her involvement with Daryl Maguire as a romantic and interpersonal issue instead of focusing on the corruption.

'Yes, being the premiere of New South Wales should be reduced to being a main character in Neighbours,' he said sarcastically.

'How about you inform the public, and then they wouldn't be watching me and I could get back to reviewing MAFS,' he added.

He also claimed that people were congratulating him on the street after he stepped out to buy a bottle of champagne to celebrate the politician's exit.

'The press did everything they could!' After thanking ICAC for getting rid of Gladys, Shanks torched several mainstream media outlets for downplaying the corruption investigation in favour of fawning coverage

Soapy: He also accused the media of turning Gladys (pictured) into a 'main character of Neighbours' by covering her involvement with Daryl Maguire as a romantic and interpersonal issue instead of focusing on the corruption

In 2019, Shanks, who has long been vocal about his disapproval of the Liberal Party, sold T-shirts with a picture of Ms Berejiklian above the hashtag 'koala killer' as the Australian bushfires raged on.

'Post that nickname on every update she makes on social media from now until the day that she is faithfully booted out of office and if there is any justice left in the world, thrown in jail,' he said at the time.

'Because if there's anything that we can positively gleam from living in the age of mass special extinction it's that we also live in the age of Twitter pile-ons.'

Koala killer: In 2019, Shanks, who has long been vocal about his disapproval of the Liberal Party, sold T-shirts with a picture of Ms Berejiklian above the hashtag 'koala killer'

He previously called the impact of the fires to the environment the 'greatest catastrophe to have ever faced this nation's history'.

The comedian also blamed the bushfires on a series of budget cuts to national parks management services and the Liberal Party's lack of action on climate change.

Through sales of the koala killer T-shirts, he was able to raise thousands of dollars for the wildlife-rescue charity Wires and the volunteer New South Wales Rural Fire Service.
Naomi Campbell demanded attention as she made a very stylish departure from her hotel in the French capital during Paris Fashion Week on Thursday.

Looking ethereal in a white blazer and coordinating trousers, the supermodel, 50, flashed her lacy black bra beneath the smart number.

She populated her decolletage with a selection of delicate silver chains and elevated her height with a pair of crimson platform heels.

Incredible: Naomi Campbell flashed her lacy bra beneath a white blazer as she blew a kiss to onlookers while exiting her hotel during Paris Fashion Week on Thursday

Carrying an unmissable hot pink pink clutch featuring gold studs, the Vogue cover star framed her face with a pair of black shades.

She styled her dark brown tresses into a chic fringe and blew a kiss to a crowd of onlookers before making her way into the city.

Naomi jetted to Paris Fashion Week after walking in Versace's Milan Fashion Week show.

Her return to the catwalk comes after the icon welcomed her daughter in May. She recently revealed her experience at becoming a mother.

Pucker up: She styled her dark brown tresses into a chic fringe and blew a kiss to a crowd of onlookers before making her way into the city

She discussed her child for the first time during an interview with BBC HardTalk, where she described her as being 'independent and smart'.

Naomi told listeners: 'I'm really lucky I think have a dream child,' as she detailed the early days of being a mother this month.

Naomi, who was recently appointed Queen's Commonwealth Trust Platinum Jubilee Global Ambassador, said: 'She's wonderful. She's very independent already, very smart, alert, sleeps 12 hours. She's a good girl.'

Beauty: Carrying an unmissable hot pink pink clutch featuring gold studs, the Vogue cover star framed her face with a pair of black shades

When asked if she planned to instill the values in her to be a strong independent woman, Naomi said: 'Absolutely. Right down to the hygiene part.'

Naomi announced the arrival of her daughter in May with a sweet Instagram post of her daughter's tiny feet.

'A beautiful little blessing has chosen me to be her mother,' she wrote on Instagram.

'So honoured to have this gentle soul in my life there are no words to describe the lifelong bond that I now share with you, my angel. There is no greater love.'

Friends said they believe businesswoman used a surrogate, and she is understood to have a new boyfriend with whom she will raise the child.

'I'm not out here on my own,' she told The Cut. 'It's simple, and it's small. To be with your loved ones who just want to enjoy the quality time.

'When I reach out to people, and I need help and understanding and guidance, it's important for me to remember to say thank you. You never know when you may need that person to help you again or guide you.'
Amanda Holden looked mellow in yellow as she headed to Heart Radio, London in a mustard blouse on Friday.

The radio presenter, 50, paired her tie-front top with a pair of skintight leather trousers and a matching leather trench coat, both in khaki.

The star looked typically stylish in her outfit, stepping out in a pair of grey suede court heels.

A vision: Amanda Holden, 50, looked mellow in yellow as she headed to Heart Radio in a mustard blouse on Friday

Despite the rainy weather, the Britain's Got Talent judge looked radiant as she headed off to work, carrying her essentials in a khaki crocodile print handbag.

She further accessorized with a sparkly gold bangle, while she added a pair of huge dark sunglasses to her look.

The blonde beauty beamed as she was pictured heading to work, smiling as she arrived.

Fashionista: The radio presenter paired her tie-front top with a pair of skintight leather trousers and a matching leather trench coat, both in khaki

Beating the weather: Despite the rainy weather, the Britain's Got Talent judge looked radiant as she headed off to work, carrying her essentials in a khaki crocodile print handbag

Her outing comes as Amanda Holden recently told The Daily Mail she refuses to apologise for living her life.

She told the newspaper: 'I'm not apologising for living any more. I want my life back. I keep hearing people going: "I'm sorry, I'm so lucky to go on holiday." I'm like: "No! It's your right to be entertained, your right to go on holiday!"'

At 50, she has inadvertently made it her mission to show that women of any age can be as flamboyant as they please, not least when it comes to their outfits.

No apologies: Her outing comes as Amanda Holden recently told The Daily Mail she refuses to apologise for living her life

Her choice: 'I dress for other women and for myself. I don't dress for men and I dress absolutely how I want to. When I'm told I can't, it makes me do it more,' she said

'I dress for other women and for myself. I don't dress for men and I dress absolutely how I want to. When I'm told I can't, it makes me do it more,' she said.

For example, when Ofcom received 235 complaints about the low-cut Amanda Wakeley dress she wore to judge Britain's Got Talent, Amanda was delighted.

'I thought: '"Amazing!" Now for every show they want to know what I'm going to be wearing in advance, and I'm like: "I'm going to wear a polo-neck . . . surprise!"'

Sure enough, the week after the complaints, she selected a gown that was doubly revealing.

'I don't know what people are complaining about,' she says. 'They sexualise things that are just . . . there. [Fellow BGT judge] Simon [Cowell] can have all his shirt buttons open down to here and his man boobs out and no one bats an eyelid!'
She's a seasoned actress, known for her work in the likes of Little Women and Brooklyn.

But Saoirse Ronan is looking forward to a new venture - preparing for her stage debut in The Tragedy Of Macbeth on Friday, going makeup-free for the rehearsals.

The up-and-coming stage star, 27, showcased her natural beauty as she headed to a nearby cafe in London wearing khaki joggers and a navy raincoat.

Stage debut: Saoirse Ronan , 27, showcased her natural beauty as she headed to a nearby cafe in London wearing grey joggers and a navy raincoat

The Irish actress kept things low-key for the last day of rehearsals, stepping out in a pair of black trainers.

She donned a black printed jumper underneath her rain mac and carried her acting essentials in a brown leather backpack.

The Lady Bird star kept her choppy blonde locks in a short style, pulling her hair back off her face with round sunglasses.

New venture: The star is looking forward to a new venture - preparing for her stage debut in The Tragedy Of Macbeth on Friday, going makeup-free for the rehearsals

Saoirse will soon make her UK stage debut as Lady Macbeth in the production.

The actor previously revealed that she drew inspiration for the iconic character from an unlikely Hollywood couple - Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.

Ronan said to The BBC that her and her co-star James McArdle compared the classic Shakespeare characters to a 'modern power couple.'

Stage debut: Saoirse will soon make her UK stage debut as Lady Macbeth in the production

She revealed that they were inspired by Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West's relationship for their roles in MacBeth.

'We keep thinking about Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as like a Kim and Kanye situation, where there have been stages to their success and real kind of highs and lows.'

She also sees them as a 'couple that is professional but also has tenderness,' and said that 'there is so much of their private life that we dont know.'

Ronan said of her and McArdles storyline: 'The tragedy is that these two people who are soul mates and peers and very much partners in every way when that starts to come apart, what we would hope is that, when people come to see it, that is when the sadness seeps in.'

The Tragedy of Macbeth will open on 1st October at Almeida theatre, Islington.
Former Real Housewives of Melbourne stars Lydia Schiavello and Chyka Keebaugh made headlines in August after Lydia was accused of editing a photo of Chyka to make her look fat.

And now, their fellow Housewife Jackie Gillies has weighed in on the matter.

Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle, she said: 'I just think that  this is my only comment on that  is that women should be uplifting women on every level.

Jackie weighs in! Jackie Gillies has weighed in on the photoshop scandal between fellow Real Housewives of Melbourne stars Lydia Schiavello and Chyka Keebaugh

'I just think photos like that don't need to be  it was just a very negative situation, that didn't need to happen on any ship, shape, or form,' the 41-year-old psychic continued.

'It just didn't need to happen and it caused a s*** show for for both parties, and I did feel sorry for Chyka because it's just bulls***. You know, nobody should be exposed like that, like in a way that's derogatory to someone, you know what I mean?'

Of course the original scandal took place when Lydia, who recently announced she was leaving the series, shared a picture from 2014 which featured Pettifleur Berenger, Janet Roach and Chyka.

In the image, Chyka looked a lot larger than she is in real life.

Meanwhile, in August, the real reason why Lydia edited an image of Chyka to make her look fat was said to be be revealed.

Oh no! Lydia was accused of editing a photo of Chyka to make her look much larger around the midsection (pictured above)

According to Janet, Lydia may have altered the image in an attempt to get back in the headlines ahead of the show's upcoming fifth season.

Lydia won't be part of the new season, which leads Janet to believe she may have tweaked Chyka's appearance to try to shift the spotlight back to her.

'I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt that she didn't know,' Janet told the Unpopular podcast.

'But now that there's talk of Housewives [coming back], clearly Lydia has maximum FOMO [fear of missing out] in the world.'

Janet added: 'She's clearly got massive FOMO and she doesn't care if it's good advertising or bad advertising, as long as...'

'I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt': Janet (pictured) said Lydia may not have known the image was altered, but suspects the whole thing was a ploy to make headlines

The 62-year-old then launched into an impression of Lydia.

'Someone's talking about me, wow, and taking photos of me when I go for a walk!' she said, referring to how Lydia was papped amid the Photoshop scandal.

Janet added that there's now a strong possibility Lydia will return for the show's sixth season if it gets green-lit by Foxtel.

She also suggested that Lydia may have been unaware she had even edited Chyka to look fatter in the first place.

Mission accomplished? Janet added that there's now a strong possibility Lydia will return for the show's sixth season if it gets green-lit by Foxtel

Sharing her own theory on the saga, Janet said that Lydia may have simply been Photoshopping herself to look slimmer, and as a result stretched out Chyka's midsection without realising it.

'The fact of the matter is that Lydia's a bit of a narcissist,' Janet said, before adding: 'Okay, a lot of a narcissist.'

'What I think happened is Lydia got the photo, she slimmed herself down. I don't think she gave a s**t or looked at anybody else,' she continued.

'She's posted the photo, and in slimming herself down, the repercussions of that are that Chyka looks massive.'

'I thought this was a great photo of us': Lydia denied ever editing the image and said that she had no intention of offending Chyka

Denial: Lydia commented: 'It's an old photo Season 2 no Photoshop. I wouldn't do that after being fat shamed myself x'

Lydia has claimed she didn't maliciously Photoshop the image of Chyka to make her look heavier.

She said she didn't edit the photo herself, but had instead been sent it by someone else and naively uploaded it to Instagram because she thought it 'looked great'.

'Hi Chyka,' she wrote on Instagram. 'I was sent many old photos of previous seasons of Real Housewives of Melbourne.

'I thought this was a great photo of us all and it's something we can't do now. It was never my intention to offend anyone. Sending love.'

'My last post deleted': Lydia went as far as to delete the image after it sparked a media firestorm

After deleting the offending picture from her main grid, she shared another photo of Chyka looking svelte in a leopard-print dress, and captioned it: 'Last post deleted. My apology to all.

'After being fat shamed I would not intentionally do that to any one.'

She then shared one last photo of herself and Chyka looking glamorous, and wrote: 'Oldie but a goodie! I hope everyone in this lockdown are looking after themselves.'

The saga began earlier this month when Lydia shared a throwback photo from 2014 which showed her and Chyka with fellow Housewives Janet and Pettifleur Berenger.

Spot the difference: Chyka has insisted the photo shared by her co-star Lydia on Instagram was edited to make her look heavier. Pictured left: the edited version Lydia posted; and right: a similar photo uploaded in 2014

But eagle-eyed fans noticed Chyka looked larger than usual around the torso, so went through the archives to find the original photo from seven years ago.

In the original photo uploaded in 2014, Chyka was noticeably slimmer, leading fans to conclude that Lydia - or someone else - had used a warp tool to make her look fat.

'Dying at the Photoshop. Poor Chyka doesn't deserve the extra 47kg, Lydia,' one fan commented, while another added: 'Someone please find the original of this photo and bring justice for poor Chyka!'

'How bad is that': In the original photo posted in 2014, Chyka was noticeably slimmer, leading fans to conclude that Lydia - or someone else - had used a warp tool to make her look fat

In a recent statement to Daily Mail Australia, Chyka, 52, maintained Lydia had edited the photo, despite her claims she hadn't.

'Sadly I do know the truth and she did do it, but at the end of the day it says more about her and I feel very supported and loved,' said the events organiser.

'I honestly believe Lydia edited... It was always one of her favourite things to do. Regardless, she still put up the photo knowing it 100 per cent wasn't right.'

Meanwhile, the fifth season of The Real Housewives of Melbourne will return this month with four brand-new cast members.
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She's one of the breakout stars from this year's fashion season.

And Iris Law was in attendance at the Loewe Womenswear Spring/Summer 2022 show during Paris Fashion Week on Friday.

The model, 20, certainly turned heads as she rocked up in a mauve knitted cut-out sweater featuring a blue leather bustier.

Fashion forward: Iris Law, 20, turned heads in a mauve knitted cut-out sweater with an edgy yellow body harness as she made an unmissable arrival at Loewe show during PFW on Friday

She layered the edgy number beneath an unmissable yellow leather body harness and completed her ensemble with a pair of baggy denim jeans.

The daughter of Jude Law strutted her way through the French capital in a pair of black trainers featuring silver studs and enhanced her natural beauty with a light touch of make-up.

Her bleached buzzcut stood her out from the crowd as she swept past onlookers during her very own street-side runway show.

Centre of attention: Jude Law's daughter strutted her way through the French capital in a pair of black trainers featuring silver studs

Stunning: Her edgy bleached buzzcut stood her out from the crowd as she swept past onlookers during her very own street-side runway show

Sadie Frost's offspring debuted her striking hairdo cut back in July.

At the time, the beauty discussed with Vogue how she had shaved her head for her role as Soo Catwoman in the upcoming series, Pistol.

She said: 'I wanted to do something that felt liberating. The day I shaved my head, I changed my life. I've never done anything like that before.

Fash pack: The fashionistas were out in force at the Loewe show (L-R: Sitan Abellan, Nichapat Suphap and Mimi Keene)

Monochrome: Miss Fame (L) and Rossy de Palma (R) opted for black and white ensembles

Fashionista: Model Caroline Daur wore a tasseled cape over her Asymmetric skirt

'I looked in the mirror and thought it was going to be emotional but it wasn't. It felt so positive.'

Her first runway appearance was at Paris Fashion Week in 2019 for Miu Miu, part of the fashion house Prada.

Last year, Iris discussed growing up with famous parents and how she is managing with her newly found fame in an interview with ES Magazine.

She said her parents, who divorced following six years of marriage in 2003, had given her normality in her childhood despite their A-list status.

Wow! British designer Jonathan Anderson is the mastermind behind the spectacular garments

Wide-ranging: The latest collection boasts a wide range of colours, cuts and fabrics

Futuristic: Some models sported colorful bowl cut hairstyles with their futuristic attire

Iris explained: 'My dad was really young. He'd had all his kids [with Frost] by 30. Mum, too. She also had a baby face.

'I can never tell [her age] in pictures, I'll say, "What, you had three kids by that age?" She looks 17.'

Recalling her own memories of that time eating snacks on Primose Hill, she said: 'My parents weren't rock 'n' roll when I was growing up, they were just my parents.

'Everyone's parents were rock 'n' roll when they were young. That's not a crazy thing.'
Andy Cohen revealed on Wednesday that he was given an early head's up about Erika Jayne and Tom Girardi's financial problems. Turns out the informant was Real Housewives Of New York vet Bethenny Frankel.

Andy, 53, sat down with Kyle Richards, 52, on Watch What Happens Live to discuss Bethenny's claims that her late ex-fiance Dennis Shields told her about Erika's money troubles years before they became public.

Andy opened by asking for Kyle's opinion on the claims Bethenny made about Tom on her podcast. 'Well you tell me,' she replied.

In on it: Andy Cohen, 53, revealed while chatting with Kyle Richards Wednesday on Watch What Happens Live that he also heard rumors of Erika Jayne and Tom Girardi's finances from Bethenny Frankel

'She did tell us those things,' he admitted after letting out a sheepish laugh, before adding that they discussed the matter at the already-filmed reunion.

'We were told the same things,' Kyle replied in agreement.

'I have the same opinion you probably have,' she added.

Andy's statement seems to confirm that Bethenny had been sharing rumors of Erika and her then-husband Tom Girardi's financial dealings well before they became an issue on The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills.

Tables turned: Andy opened by asking for Kyle's 'opinion on the claims Bethenny made about Tom on her podcast.' 'Well you tell me,' she replied

Included: 'She did tell us those things,' he admitted after letting out a sheepish laugh, before adding that they discuss the matter at the already-filmed reunion

In the air: Andy's statement seems to confirm that Bethenny had been sharing rumors of Erika and her then-husband Tom Girardi's financial dealings well before they became an issue on The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills; still from The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills

Earlier in September, the 50-year-old Real Housewives Of New York City star claimed on her podcast Just B With Bethenny Frankel that Tom's money troubles were a 'well-known secret.'

In addition to speaking with Kyle and Andy about the rumors, she claimed to have also told fellow housewife Lisa Rinna and Erika's makeup artist Kristofer Buckle.

'When this came out... Andy called me and said, "Holy s***. You really do know it all. You told me about this years ago,"' Bethenny claimed on her podcast. 'Im like, "Yeah, I told you."

'I knew about this whole thing. I knew since, yeah, probably 2017 and 2018, I knew about this.'

She claimed that she met Erika's estrange husband at a conference for lawyers years ago where they talked about his then-wife's extravagant spending.

After the meeting, the entrepreneur's late ex Dennis Shields claimed Girardi owed him half a million dollars, and he claimed Girardi was in debt to others as well.

Spilling the beans: Bethenny claimed on her podcast that her late ex-fiance Dennis Shields told her Girardi owed him half a million dollars and owed money to others as well

But Erika's lawyer Evan Borges denied Bethenny's claims.

'Erika has no knowledge of the alleged loans or the conversations referred to by Ms. Frankel, which even per Ms. Frankel, didnt involve Erika,' he told Page Six.

However, a source claimed to the publication that the RHONY star was painting Girardi as a manipulator, rather than suggesting Erika lived too extravagantly.

Bethenny later clarified that she knew of Tom's alleged financial dealings, but wasn't well acquainted with him or Erika.

'I dont quoteunquote know Erika Jayne,' she said on a September 28 episode of her show. 'Ive met her and weve done this sort of Instagram thing and she was at my house doing the crossover Housewives episode.'

She added that she didn't know if Erika was totally aware of Tom's money issues.

'I have no idea if she knew [about Toms behavior]. I know nothing about their marriage, nothing about their life.  Were not all experts on someone elses lives.'

Separation: In November, Erika filed for divorce from Tom, but shortly afterward the two were sued by the family of victims of the Lion Air Flight 610 crash, who accused them of embezzling funs intended for the families; still from The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills

In November, Erika filed for divorce from Tom, but shortly afterward the two were sued by the family of victims of the Lion Air Flight 610 crash, who accused them of embezzling funs intended for the families.

The lawsuit alleged that their divorce was merely a 'sham' to help protect their assets.

Last month, the trustee handling the bankruptcy case for Girardi's law firm sued Jayne for $25 million, claiming that she had spent around that amount in funds given to her by her husband from the firm's coffers.

'She attempts to create a distinction between handing her money directly versus paying all of her bills directly,' the suit said, according to Page Six. 'The distinction, like her prior motion for reconsideration, is meritless. Any payments made for her benefit are her responsibility.'

The trustee also claimed that she had feigned 'willful blindness' and was aware of where the money came from.

Jayne's attorneys downplayed the accusations in a statement to the publication.

'Unfortunately, the amended complaint is another example of the trustee and her counsel jumping to conclusions without a full investigation, and bullying and blaming Erika for actions taken by Girardi Keese for which Erika does not have legal liability,' they said, claiming that the trustee was 'overreaching.'

'Erika will defend the case, and we will seek sanctions and all appropriate remedies for the claims brought in bad faith and without any legal merit.'

In hot water: Last month, the trustee handling the bankruptcy case for Girardi's law firm sued Jayne for $25 million, claiming that she had spent around that amount in funds given to her by her husband from the firm's coffers; seen in 2017 in West Hollywood

DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that Girardi had taken up residence in a senior living home in Burbank, California, in August amid reports he had been diagnosed with dementia and late-onset Alzheimer's disease earlier this year.

The Belmont Village Senior Living facility in Southern California costs more than $5,000 per month for a private suite and boasts chef-prepared dining with 24 daily choices of meals and staff that are on duty at all hours of the day.

Citing his 'major neurocognitive disorder,' Girardi's brother Robert recently instituted a conservatorship for him.

In August, Jayne shared her opinions about her ex-husband ongoing legal troubles.

'I think what has happened to Tom here is that he's not mentally capable, and he's in sole control of his firm,' she said. 'And I think that it got away from him. I think that we're dealing with a man who is [at a] diminished capacity in control, and not doing the right thing. Because if he stole the money, I'd like to know where it is. You know, that's the truth.'
Emily Ratajkowski has finally showed fans what her baby Sylvester looks like.

On Friday the Versace model, 30, posted photos of her first child on social media. In the images the little one had on a sweater that said SLY while joining mom during a lunch date with comedienne Ziwe.

The little one was born in March and the father is the beauty's husband Sebastian Bear-McClard, 34.

There it is: Emily Ratajkowski has finally showed fans what her baby Sylvester looks like. On Friday the Versace model posted photos of her first child on social media

His model mommy: The little one was born in March and the father is the beauty's husband Sebastian Bear-McClard; seen in a bikini this week

In the image Sylvester had on a SLY sweater, diapers, cap and socks. She wrote over the Instagram Story post, 'You're an angel.'

In the past, Emily has shared several images of the back of the child's head. And she has also posted photos with an emoji over Sylvester's face.

But has never revealed the face before.

She welcomed the child six months ago. In March Emily said, 'Sylvester Apollo Bear has joined us earth side. Sly arrived 3/8/21 on the most surreal, beautiful, and love-filled morning of my life.'

Sweet little one: Here Sylvester had on a pink fluffy cap as a baby bottle and toy were on the table at the outdoor dining area with comedienne Ziew

Good mama bear: Emily doted on her baby as a salad with tomatoes and hard boiled eggs was in front of her

The Inamorata CEO had previously said she would not be revealing the sex of her baby as she and her producer husband prepare to raise their child in a 'gender-neutral household.'

The influencer penned a candid essay about how she will nurture her child, admitting she does not want to 'force gender stereotypes' on them.

Emily wrote at the time: 'When my husband and I tell friends that Im pregnant, their first question after Congratulations is almost always Do you know what you want?

UCLA graduate Emily and her partner have been married since February 2018 following a whirlwind romance.

The couple exchanged vows in a surprise New York City courthouse wedding with just a few guests.

Emily rose to prominence when she danced topless with Robin Thicke in the Blurred Lines music video in 2013.

She as private: Emily has shared several images of the back of the child's head

A big heart: And she has also posted photos of the baby but has put an emoji over Sylvester's face

Her man: UCLA graduate Emily and her partner have been married since February 2018 following a whirlwind romance. The couple exchanged vows in a surprise New York City courthouse wedding with just a few guests. Seen in 2020

The media personality has since starred in major fashion campaigns for brands such as DKNY and Versace, and has even forged a successful acting career.

Her biggest role to date was as Andie Fitzgerald in 2014 psychological thriller Gone Girl, before featuring in films such as Entourage, We Are Your Friends and I Feel Pretty.

The businesswoman founded her beachwear line Inamorata in four years ago, which earned her a position on Forbes' 30 under 30 list for Art & Style in 2017.

On top: The star's career has been thriving this year. The brunette bombshell was in Rihanna's Savage x Fenty show which also starred Vanessa Hudgens, Gigi Hadid and Cindy Crawford

Ready to reign: Emily wore a wild purple outfit that consisted of a SF robe with feathered sleeves over a bra and panties. She added leopard print heels

Catch her show: The Los Angeles fashion show was turned into a mini movie for Amazon Prime

The star's career has been thriving this year.

The brunette bombshell was in Rihanna's Savage x Fenty show which also starred Vanessa Hudgens, Gigi Hadid and Cindy Crawford.

Emily wore a wild purple outfit that consisted of a SF robe with feathered sleeves over a bra and panties. She added leopard print heels.

The Los Angeles fashion show was turned into a mini movie for Amazon Prime.

And Ratajkowski walked the runway at the Versace special event during the Milan Fashion Week - Spring / Summer 2022 on September 26, 2021 in Milan, Italy.
They're said to be worth a combined 2.63 billion.

And business magnate Bernie Ecclestone, 90, potentially eyed up his next superyacht as he joined his pal Flavio Briatore, 71, for a stroll through Ibiza Marina on Wednesday.

Accompanied by his wife, Fabiana Flosi, 45, the former chief executive of the Formula One Group appeared to be in high spirits while donning a casual ensemble.

Casual: Business magnate Bernie Ecclestone, 90, potentially eyed up his next superyacht as he strolled through Ibiza Marina with his wife Fabiana Flosi, 45, on Wednesday

Keeping things low-key, Bernie looked suave in a khaki polo shirt, which he combined with a pair of jeans and a silver studded black leather belt.

Wearing a yellow face mask amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the billionaire protected his eyes against the beaming Spanish sunshine with a pair of onyx shades.

Fabiana, meanwhile, showed off her toned legs in a pair of denim hot pants paired with a black T-shirt and accessorised with a Christian Dior white tote bag.

Team: The pair were joined Flavio Briatore, 71, for their sun-soaked outing

Sun-seeker: The former team principal for Renault F1 went mask-free while sporting a pair of blue swim shorts and a black T-shirt

Meanwhile, former team principal for Renault F1 Flavio went mask-free while sporting a pair of blue swim shorts and a black T-shirt.

He slicked his glossy white tresses into a gelled-back look and donned a pair of black Nike trainers.

The couple have arrived in Ibiza after a trip to Croatia with their 14-month-old son Ace.

Bernie became a father for the fourth time when he welcomed son Ace last July with Fabiana, who he married in 2012.

The billionaire businessman is already a father to daughters Deborah, 66, Tamara, 37, and Petra Ecclestone, 32.

Deborah was born to his first wife Ivy Bamford before he welcomed socialites Tamara and Petra with his second wife Slavica Radic.

Bernie married Fabiana three years after he divorced Croatian model Slavica.

He confirmed he and Fabiana were expecting a child to Swiss newspaper Blick last April.
Ridley Scott has revealed a sequel to the epic 2000 film Gladiator is currently being written and will be 'ready to go' once he has finished making his movie about French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte, Kitbag.

'I'm having [the next] Gladiator written now,' Scott said in an interview with Empire. 'So when I've done Napoleon, Gladiator will be ready to go.'

It was reported in 2018 that a sequel was in the works, and Russell's co-star Connie Nielsen confirmed in 2020 that it was still going ahead, subject to Sir Ridley Scott's 'very tight schedule.'

'Gladiator will be ready to go': Ridley Scott has revealed a sequel to the epic 2000 film Gladiator is currently being written and will be 'ready to go' once he has finished making his movie about French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte

It has been reported that the film will follow Lucius (Spencer Treat Clark), the son of Lucilla (Nielson) and nephew of Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix).

In 2019, producers revealed the film would be set 25 to 30 years after the events of the original epic.

This timeline suggests a sequel would pick up with Lucius as a young adult, but it is unknown whether Spencer would return to the role.

Speaking to Hey U Guys, Men in Black producer Laurie MacDonald said: 'We're working with Ridley. That's one we wouldn't touch unless we felt in a way to do it was legitimate.

'I'm having [the next] Gladiator written now': Scott told Empire a script for the sequel was currently in the works; pictured September 2021

'We're working with an amazing writer as well, Peter Craig.'

Her husband, producer Walter F. Parkes, added: 'It picks up the story 30 years later 25 years later.'

Both Walter and Laurie worked as executive producers on the original Gladiator film, which starred Russell Crowe as Maximus, in 2000.

The plot thickens: It was previously rumoured that the film would follow Lucius (Spencer Treat Clark), the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielson) and nephew of Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix)

The film garnered an impressive 11 Oscar nominations and five wins including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell, whose character met an untimely death at the end of the film.

Russell admitted he almost turned down Gladiator, but as soon as producer Walter Parkes told him Scott was at the helm, he was intrigued enough to open talks.

He said: 'I'd read the script and I thought it wasn't a movie. But then Parkes said, "It's 184 A.D., you're a Roman general, and you're going to be directed by Ridley Scott."

Action-packed: The film garnered an impressive 11 Oscar nominations and five wins including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell, whose character met an untimely death at the end of the film

'And that was enough for me to want to talk to Ridley.'

Gladiator producer Doug Wick previously said making a sequel was proving to be a challenge as nobody wanted to make another film just for the sake of it.

He told ComicBook.com in 2020: 'Ridley would love to do it. It's really all about getting something on paper.

'Everyone [involved with the original] loves the movie too much to ever consider cheaply exploiting it and making something that's a shadow of it.

'It's just really a clear creative problem, working on a script, and if we can ever get it to a place... Ridley's working on it, it's really just a question of whether we can get it to a place where it feels worthy to make it. It's a real challenge.'
The European Diversity Awards has released its shortlist ahead of the annual ceremony in November, with business leaders, firms, charities and highly commendable individuals all up for top honours.

The awards, in association with headline sponsor UnitedHealth Group, celebrate leading diversity and inclusion champions while recognising achievements across race, age, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity and religious belief over the past year.

Global corporations like Lego Group, WarnerMedia and Premier League are in the running for accolades alongside notable individuals including Labour councillor Philip Normal and NHS hero Noni Nyathi plus incredible charities like the Liverpool-based Oliver King Foundation.

The foundation has worked tirelessly for the last decade to install defibrillators in schools across the country while lobbying the government to pass legislation making it mandatory for every institution to have the life-saving equipment installed as standard. Progress towards legislation took a major step forward this year when the foundation met with the Secretary of State for Education and parliament took action to pass this bill.

Jamie Carragher meets Mark King from the Oliver King Foundation, who are shortlisted for a European Diversity Award for their work to install defibrillators in schools across the country

Kellogg Company, who are based in Manchester, have been shortlisted for a Diversity Team of the Year award while BBC, ITV and Channel 4 will all battle it out under the Marketing Campaign Category.

The awards ceremony will take place on November 11 at The Landmark Hotel, London, hosted by actress and author Sophie Ward.

Linda Riley, who is the European Diversity Awards founder, said: 'These awards shine a light on those who have worked tirelessly to champion diversity and inclusion during what has been an extremely difficult 12 months.

'Every nominee has made real achievements in race, age, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity or religious belief over the past year.

'Our awards ceremony will take place on November 11 and will be a huge celebration that's needed now more than ever.'

Central to the European Diversity Awards is the celebration of individuals. While many categories honour group endeavours, the Campaigner, Hero, Diversity Champion, Inspirational Role Model, HR Champion, and Head of Diversity categories reward individual efforts.

Among those nominated are activists Margot Szutowicz, Assa Traore, and Rokhaya Diallo, alongside Yasmin Diamond of IHG and Lottie Moor of TikTok.

TikTok marketing manager Moor said: 'It's incredibly important to me that, in every aspect of what I do at TikTok and beyond, I accurately share with passion and care the stories of those around me, provide safe spaces for communities to be themselves, and elevate people's experiences with the platform I have.

Linda Riley, who is the European Diversity Awards founder, is pictured hosting a previous event

'To be recognised for this is an absolute dream come true. For me, diversity doesn't end with the experiences that I personally have as an out, queer woman in the workplace. Diversity, equity and inclusion is a never-ending commitment journey, of which I'm exceptionally proud to be a part of with TikTok.'

Launched in 2010, the European Diversity Awards have been promoting diversity and inclusion for eleven years. The pandemic has exposed the importance of inclusion, particularly with regards to disability and LGBTQIA+ services, and with the 2020 Awards cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, the 2021 Awards hold poignant meaning.

Vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at UnitedHealth Group, Ouraphone Willis, added: 'We are delighted to be the new headline sponsor of the European Diversity Awards, which shares our commitment to foster an inclusive, equitable and diverse culture for our team members and those we are privileged to serve.

'On behalf of UnitedHealth Group, I would like to congratulate all who have been nominated for this year's awards.'

With nominations across sixteen categories, the European Diversity Awards 2021 is united by a dedication to diversity and inclusion, with this year's awards recognising the impact of marketing, campaigning, media diversity, social mobility, and more on positive representation across Europe.

The categories include Diversity in Tech, Campaigner, Charity, Community Project, Company, Diversity Champion, Diversity Team, Head of Diversity, Hero, Inspirational Role Model, Marketing Campaign, Media Diversity Champion, Outstanding Employee Network, Social Mobility Initiative, Supplier Diversity Programme, and HR Champion.
Colin Jost welcomed his first child with wife Scarlett Johansson, a baby boy named Cosmo.

But there was one person who was left scratching their head over the name - his mother, Kerry Kelly.

During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Colin, 39, revealed his mother was 'slightly thrown by' the moniker and even asked if it was final.

'Didn't quite understand it': During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Colin Jost, 39, revealed his mother Kerry Kelly was 'slightly thrown by' the name Cosmos and even asked if it was final

'My mom, I would say, was slightly thrown by it and didn't quite understand it,' Colin admitted.

'I don't know if she thought it was kind of, like, a hippie thing... She would call us and say, you know, after three or four days, she'd be like, "Cosmo... And now, is it final? Like, did you submit the birth certificate?" And we're like, "Oh, yeah, we did that at the hospital."

Still, Kerry continued to offer variations of the name

'She was like, "OK, interesting. Because I was reading that there's also a name Cosimo with an 'I', so that could also be an option. Maybe Cosimo, that's his real name, but then you can call him still Cosmo."'

'OK, interesting': Kerry was left scratching her head over the name; Scarlett and Colin pictured 2020

'Cosimo with an I': Jost said his mother offered an variation of the name

'Is it final?' Kerry hilariously asked her son if the legalities surrounding the name were all finalized

But once Kerry met people with relatives named Cosmo, she came to accept the name.

'She lives in Staten Island, eventually she started meeting various members of the Italian community who have a lot of Cosmo relatives,' Colin explained.

'She would call, and she would say, "I met someone. They said their uncle's name is Cosmo. So it is OK,"' he said. 'Then she goes, "There's a patron saint called Cosmos, so that's another option." We don't need more worse options, variants on Cosmo. But thanks, Mom."'

Colin announced the birth of their son Cosmo back in August, writing on Instagram: 'Ok ok we had a baby. His name is Cosmo. We love him very much.'

Growing family: Jost announced the birth of their son Cosmo back in August 2021

Her rep also confirmed to People that she had 'recently' welcomed her child.

Johansson, 36, is already mother daughter Rose Dorothy, seven, - with French journalist ex-husband Romain Dauriac.

News of her pregnancy first came in early July, after the actress sparked rumours she was expecting when she skipped out on several events for her Marvel flick Black Widow.

Johansson and Jost were first linked in the spring of 2017 after she hosted the longstanding variety show.

He proposed in May 2019 with a stunning 11-carat light brown diamond and the ring is estimated to be worth $450K.

And though their wedding plans got derailed on account of the pandemic, they chose to move forward with an understated ceremony in October 2020 at the actress' home in Palisades, New York.
She's relatively new to the world of permanent ink.

And Billie Eilish revealed a new hand tattoo of what appeared to be two fairies at the No Time To Die premiere in London on Tuesday night.

The 19-year-old Grammy winner casually flashed her left hand while walking the red carpet with her older brother, Finneas, at the Royal Albert Hall where they celebrated the Bond song they created for the flick.

Inkwork: Billie Eilish revealed a new hand tattoo of what appeared to be two fairies at the No Time To Die premiere in London on Tuesday night

Her latest tattoo showed two fairies sitting close together with massive wings etched on top of her left hand.

The ink is certainly recent as she didn't have the drawings during her performance at the Governors Ball in New York on Friday night.

Fans were shocked to find out that Billie already had a massive tattoo when she revealed a dragon piece in a Vogue shoot that starts around her abdomen and curls down her thigh.

Eilish also has her last name tattooed in gothic lettering somewhere on her chest, but told Vanity Fair in 2020 that 'you wont ever see' her secret tattoo.

Sweet: Her latest tattoo showed two fairies sitting close together with massive wings etched on top of her left hand

No signs of fairies: The ink is certainly recent as she didn't have the drawings during her performance at the Governors Ball in New York on Friday night

Debut: The 19-year-old Grammy winner casually flashed her left hand while walking the red carpet with her older brother, Finneas, at the Royal Albert Hall where they celebrated the Bond song they created for the flick

Billie suited up in a black sparkly jacket over a matching blouse and baggy pants with Gucci peep-toe platform heels on the red carpet.

Billie's wavy platinum-blonde locks, bleached by hairstylist Lissa Renn, keep getting shorter and shorter at every public appearance.

Eilish (born O'Connell) wore minimal make-up in order to let her natural beauty shine through.

The Highland Park native couldn't wait to see the opening titled of No Time To Die because she and her brother Finneas, who wore a Giorgio Armani tuxedo for the cinematic event, created the theme song.

'It's going to be crazy,' Billie - who 'loves Daniel Craig' - told the BBC.

'Oh my god, I'm gonna pee myself.'

Glam moment: The 19-year-old pop star donned a black sparkly jacket over a matching blouse and baggy pants with Gucci peep-toe platform heels on the red carpet

Fringed bob: Billie's wavy platinum-blonde locks, bleached by hairstylist Lissa Renn, keep getting shorter and shorter at every public appearance

Ocean eyes: Eilish (born O'Connell) wore minimal make-up in order to let her natural beauty shine through

The Highland Park native couldn't wait to see the opening titled of No Time To Die because she and her brother Finneas (L) , who wore a Giorgio Armani tux, created the theme song

It only took the sibling musical duo three days to write and record No Time To Die on a tour bus in Texas.

'We still wanted to have a big moment because it's a Bond song,' Eilish noted.

'And as much as I'm known for singing quietly, I guess, I was just like, "I'm gonna prove I can do this other stuff too."'

The Nike collaborator and her 24-year-old big brother made sure to pose with Rami Malek, screenwriter Phoebe Waller-Bridge, director Cary Joji Fukunaga, Ana de Armas, Lashana Lynch, and Naomie Harris during the premiere.

Billie - who 'loves Daniel Craig' (R) - told the BBC: 'It's going to be crazy. Oh my god, I'm gonna pee myself'

Fast work: It only took the sibling musical duo three days to write and record No Time To Die on a tour bus in Texas

Eilish noted: 'We still wanted to have a big moment because it's a Bond song. And as much as I'm known for singing quietly, I guess, I was just like, "I'm gonna prove I can do this other stuff too"'

Cast and crew: The Nike collaborator and her 24-year-old big brother made sure to pose with (from L-R) Rami Malek, screenwriter Phoebe Waller-Bridge, director Cary Joji Fukunaga, Ana de Armas, Lashana Lynch, and Naomie Harris during the premiere

Meeting the royals! Billie beamed as she shook the hand of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, clad in a gold sequin Jenny Packham gown

Chit chat: Eilish also traded words with Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, ahead of the James Bond movie premiere

Billie beamed as she shook the hand of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, clad in a gold sequin Jenny Packham gown.

Eilish also traded words with Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, ahead of the James Bond movie premiere.

Missing from the homeschooled vegan's side was her boyfriend Matthew Tyler Vorce who, like her, apologized for offensive social media posts unearthed back in June.

Skipped the red carpet: Missing from the homeschooled vegan's side was her boyfriend Matthew Tyler Vorce (pictured last Tuesday) who, like her, apologized for offensive social media posts unearthed back in June

Sold out! Billie will next put her whispery soprano pipes to use at the Austin City Limits Music Festival on October 2 and 9 in Zilker Park

Billie had mouthed the word 'ch**k' and mocked Chinese accents while the 29-year-old actor previously used slurs for Asians, black people, and gay people.

The inseparable couple - who were first pictured canoodling on April 15 - flew from JFK Airport in New York to England together on Sunday.

Eilish will next put her whispery soprano pipes to use at the sold out Austin City Limits Music Festival on October 2 and 9 in Zilker Park.
She is the new celebrity ambassador for Charlotte Tilbury and is the face of the beauty brand's 2021 holiday collection.

And Phoebe Dynevor oozed Hollywood glamour as she posed for a radiant shoot with the company on Friday.

The Bridgerton star, 26, wore a bright red lip as she fixed the camera with a sultry stare for the new snap.

Incredible: Phoebe Dynevor oozed Hollywood glamour with a sultry red lip as she posed for a radiant Charlotte Tilbury shoot after landing a deal with the makeup brand on Friday

She completed her perfect complexion with a dramatic smokey eye, dark brow and shimmering blush on her cheeks.

Phoebe wore her raven tresses in perfectly styled curls and had on a glamorous gold dress for the stunning campaign shots.

Clearly excited about her latest shoot, Phoebe shared the glowing snap to her Instagram account with a red heart as the caption.

In a second shot she opted for a more natural look with a light pink lip and darker bronze.

Looking good: In a second shot she opted for a more natural look with a light pink lip and darker bronze

Fan: Charlotte Tilbury (pictured) said of her new brand ambassador: 'I am SO excited  I fell in love with Phoebe as I watched her in Bridgerton  her makeup artist even had her character Daphne wearing a Pillow Talk lip'

Charlotte Tilbury said of her new brand ambassador: 'I am SO excited  I fell in love with Phoebe as I watched her in Bridgerton  her makeup artist even had her character Daphne wearing a Pillow Talk lip.'

The new campaign comes after her show Bridgerton's acclaimed first season was viewed by a staggering 82 million Netflix accounts in one month, new data revealed on Thursday.

The steamy period drama - the first run of which focused on the romance between Daphne Bridgerton, (Phoebe), and Simon, Duke of Hastings (Rege-Jean Page) - topped the streaming service's series list, beating dramas including Lupin Part 1 and The Witcher Season One with 76million accounts each.

Fame: The Bridgerton star, 26, shot to stardom after her role in the steamy period drama which is currently filming its second series

Bridgerton's stellar success was revealed in data from the 2021 Code conference, presented by Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos, and was based on how many accounts viewed at least two minutes of the title during its first 28 days on Netflix.

Sex/Life season one, Stranger Things season three and Tiger King also made notable entries on the list with 64 million, 64 million and 67 million accounts.

It also showed that Extraction led the most viewed films list with 99million accounts viewing, followed by Bird Box with 89 million and Spenser Confidential with 85 million.

A further slide ranking Netflix's top 10 films and series based on their total viewed hours during their first four weeks on the service also saw Bridgerton triumph in the latter category with 625million hours viewed.

Success: The new campaign comes after her show Bridgerton's acclaimed first season was viewed by a staggering 82 million Netflix accounts in one month, new data revealed on Thursday (pictured with co-star Rege-Jean Page)

Money Heist season four placed in second with 625million hours followed by Stranger Things season three with 582million hours.

On the films list, Bird Box topped the charts with 282 million hours, with Extraction just behind with 231 million hours and The Irishman with 215 million.

Bridgerton swiftly became Netflix's biggest show ever upon its launch in December 2020 - with fans going wild over the antics of the self-titled family and how their lives are turned upside-down by the revelations of the illusive and anonymous Lady Whistledown in London.
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Naomi Campbell and Alessandra Ambrosio turned heads in stylish ensembles as they led the glamour at the Vogue Exhibition at the Palais Galliera on Friday amid Paris Fashion Week.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell, 51, took centre stage, looking effortlessly chic in a stunning black dress with lace sleeves and a Chanel silver chain belt.

While Brazilian model Alessandra, 40, sent temperatures soaring as she displayed her washboard abs in a tint black bralette.

Stunners: Naomi Campbell and Alessandra Ambrosio turned heads in stylish ensembles as they led the glamour at the Vogue Exhibition at the Palais Galliera on Friday amid Paris Fashion Week

Naomi was the epitome of sophistication as she posed for cameras outside the exhibition which celebrates the iconic fashion magazine's 100th anniversary.

The beauty teamed her black dress with towering black and silver t-bar heels and a matching clutch bag, rounding off her look with statement earrings.

The new mum, who wore her raven locks poker straight, flashed a glimpse of her lace black leggings as she made her way into the venue alongside British Vogue editor Edward Enninful, 49.

Top class: Supermodel Naomi Campbell, 51, took centre stage, looking effortlessly chic in a stunning black dress with lace sleeves and a Chanel silver chain belt

Meanwhile, Alessandra certainly caught the eye as she showed off her killer figure in her skimpy bralette, which she teamed with an asymmetric white skirt.

Not content with showing off her super toned midriff, Alessandra also flaunted her enviable legs in the sexy skirt, while boosting her height with perspex heels.

The catwalk star draped a longline black blazer over her shoulders for extra warmth, while adding a pop of colour with a green handbag.

A vision: Naomi was the epitome of sophistication as she posed for cameras outside the exhibition which celebrates the iconic fashion magazine's 100th anniversary

Style icon: The beauty teamed her black dress with towering black and silver t-bar heels and a matching clutch bag, rounding off her look with statement earrings

Wow: The new mum, who wore her raven locks poker straight, flashed a glimpse of her lace black leggings as she made her way into the venue alongside British Vogue editor Edward Enninful, 49

Hat's it: The star was also seen in a black trilby hat as she made her way into the star-studded fashion event

Catwalk queen: Naomi, who walked the Balmain show this week, posed up a storm for cameras in the lace gown

She swept her brunette locks into a high ponytail for the occasion, while highlighting her features with a dewy make-up palette.

Model and musician Paris Jackson, 23, wowed in a sexy black basque teamed with a tan semi-sheer tulle skirt that showed off her toned legs beneath.

Paris made quite the entrance in her striking outfit, which she tried to protect from the rain with a huge black umbrella.

OMG! Meanwhile, Alessandra certainly caught the eye as she showed off her killer figure in her skimpy bralette, which she teamed with an asymmetric white skirt

Model behaviour: Not content with showing off her super toned midriff, Alessandra also flaunted her enviable legs in the sexy skirt, while boosting her height with perspex heels

Fashionista: The catwalk star draped a longline black blazer over her shoulders for extra warmth, while adding a pop of colour with a green handbag

The daughter of pop icon Michael Jackson accessorised her look with a simple silver necklace and silver rings.

While her caramel locks were left to fall about her shoulders in soft waves.

Paris appeared in great spirits as she waved to onlookers before seeking shelter from the chilly autumnal weather inside.

Never one to be outshone, Karlie Kloss caught the eye in a bright white outfit as she arrived at the Parisian museum ahead of the event.

The beauty, 29, donned a pretty white fringed dress, which she teamed with a matching coat draped over her shoulders and barely-there heels.

There she is: Model and musician Paris, 23, wowed in a sexy black basque teamed with a tan semi-sheer tulle skirt that showed off her toned legs beneath

There she goes: Meanwhile Paris made quite the entrance in her striking outfit, which she tried to protect from the rain with a huge black umbrella

Belle of the ball: Paris looked simply radiant as she arrived at the exhibition in her edgy black top and billowing, ruffled skirt

Rain rain, go away: Paris took shelter beneath an umbrella amid the miserable weather in Paris

Jewels: The daughter of pop icon Michael Jackson accessorised her look with a simple silver necklace and silver rings

Star: The beauty was glowing in the flashlights as she happily waved to the cameras

Karlie flashed an excited smile but kept her head low and she guarded herself from the rain.

Also cutting a stylish figure on the night was Lewis Hamilton, who rocked up in smart brown jacket with a stained glass window design depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

He teamed his striking jacket with baggy blue jeans and chunky black boots, while also sporting a black face mask and sunglasses.

Also making a style statement was Irina Shayk, who turned up in an oversized black pinstripe blazer which shrouded her petite frame.

Dazzling: Never one to be outshone, Karlie Kloss caught the eye in a bright white outfit as she arrived at the Parisian museum ahead of the event

A bit of all white: The beauty, 29, donned a pretty white fringed dress, which she teamed with a matching coat draped over her shoulders and barely-there heels

Looking good: Also cutting a stylish figure on the night was Lewis Hamilton, who rocked up in smart brown jacket with a stained glass window design depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ

There he is: Lewis made quite the style statement upon his arrival

Cool character: The racing driver cut a solo figure as he made his way inside

The Russian beauty showed off her tanned, toned pins beneath the large blazer, with Irina adding a simple pair of black heels to her look.

Irina donned a matching mini dress beneath her outwear, giving a glimpse of her outfit as she strutted down the street.

She left her brunette locks in a loose, tousled style for the evening and kept her make-up to a minimum.

Feeling the cold? Also making a style statement was Irina Shayk, who turned up in an oversized black pinstripe blazer which shrouded her petite frame

Cover up: The Russian beauty showed off her tanned, toned pins beneath the large blazer, with Irina adding a simple pair of black heels to her look

Leggy display: Irina donned a matching mini dress beneath her outwear, giving a glimpse of her outfit as she strutted down the street

Highlight: Elsewhere, Izabel Goulart cut a very colourful figure in a neon pink cut-out mini dress with structured shoulders

Disco diva: Model Natasha Poly didn't let the rain dampen her spirits as she arrived in a silver disc minidress

Elsewhere, Izabel Goulart cut a very colourful figure in a neon pink cut-out mini dress with structured shoulders.

The model certainly stole the show in the bright ensemble, in which she flashed her toned abs and long, slender legs.

Izabel added metallic heels and statement earrings to her showstopping look while her blonde locks were swept up into a sleek, high ponytail.

Maya Henry also got the pink memo, with the beauty going braless beneath a tailored pale pink trouser suit.

Pink lady: Maya Henry also got the pink memo, with th beauty going braless beneath a tailored pale pink trouser suit

Fashionista: Liam Payne's on-again fiancee looked simply radiant in the structured two-piece, which she paired with pointed perspex heels

Company: The model was accompanied to the event by pal Vas J Morgan, who cut a cool figure in a white blazer and matching sunglasses

Easy does it: Maya ensured she avoided a wardrobe malfunction as she held her jacket in place

There she goes: Iris Law meanwhile once again showed off her fashion credentials as she arrived at the Vogue exhibition in the french city

Unique: The budding actress, 20, donned a striped green and gold oversized suit which she wore with an eye-catching sparkly waistcoat

Pretty: Her natural beauty was emphasised by a subtle make up look complete with a neutral coloured lip and a sweep of black eyeliner

Liam Payne's on-again fiancee looked simply radiant in the structured two-piece, which she paired with pointed perspex heels.

The model was accompanied to the event by pal Vas J Morgan, who cut a cool figure in a white blazer and matching sunglasses.

Iris Law meanwhile once again showed off her fashion credentials as she arrived at the Vogue exhibition in the french city.

All black everything: Natalia Vodianova opted for an all-black ensemble for the night, donning a strapless black dress with a matching flowing cape

Fabulous! Dina Asher-Smith opted for plenty of colour on the other hand, wowing in a retro-style tangerine mini dress with quirky fringing on the cuffs

The budding actress, 20, donned a striped green and gold oversized suit which she wore with an eye-catching sparkly waistcoat.

Taking the androgynous look further, she wore a deep red coloured tie with a white shirt.

Elevating her height, she wore huge black platform boots while stepping into the venue.

Her natural beauty was emphasised by a subtle make up look complete with a neutral coloured lip and a sweep of black eyeliner.

Orange you gorgeous: The sprinter accessorised her pretty look with chunky white platform heels and a matching clutch bag, while her fabulously curly tresses were styled in a chic up 'do

Her style: Cindy Bruna also made a stylish entrance at the star-studded event, looking dazzling in a quirky brown padded top and midi skirt combo

Natalia Vodianova opted for an all-black ensemble for the night, donning a strapless black dress with a matching flowing cape.

The stunner kept off the chill with sheer black tights paired with black heels, with Natalia adding a pop of colour to her look with a sweep of coral lipstick.

Dina Asher-Smith opted for plenty of colour on the other hand, wowing in a retro-style tangerine mini dress with quirky fringing on the cuffs.

The sprinter accessorised her pretty look with chunky white platform heels and a matching clutch bag, while her fabulously curly tresses were styled in a chic up 'do.

Cindy Bruna also made a stylish entrance at the star-studded event, looking dazzling in a quirky brown padded top and midi skirt combo.

She highlighted her quirky outfit with white ankle boots and stored her evening's essentials in a snakeskin bag.

Not one to be left out, singer Mika turned heads in a colourful patterned shirt as he made his arrival at the fashion event alongside shoe designer Christian Louboutin, who was typically dapper in a burgundy blazer and shimmering red trousers.
She is an A-lister with countless adoring fans.

But Jennifer Aniston was the one star-struck for a change as the Foo Fighters visited the set of The Morning Show.

The Hollywood superstar, 52, could hardly contain her delight in a slew of snaps capturing the rock superstars performing on the Apple TV+ show.

'This super fan will never forget this day!' Jennifer Aniston was star-struck as the Foo Fighters visited the set of The Morning Show

'The @foofighters paid @themorningshow a visit. This super fan will never forget this day!! (heart emoji) Mind officially BLOWN (mind blown emoji),' she captioned the slideshow, along with the hashtags 'Fan For Life', 'Best Humans Ever', and 'FBF.'

Jennifer looked just like any other fan meeting their icon in a photo of the Friends star embracing Dave on the stage.

The slideshow suggested the band would be making an appearance as themselves on the show, with the rock stars seen performing on stage with their names blasted on a screen.

A second photo captured Jennifer and Dave both wearing glasses as they looked over their notes.

Meeting an icon: Aniston beamed with joy as she embraced rock legend Dave Grohl

Hard at work: A second photo captured Jennifer and Dave both wearing glasses as they looked over their notes

And a subsequent video showed more of Jennifer and Dave's hug, with the actress beaming with joy as she embraced the rock legend.

Jennifer looked utterly star-struck by the band in another photo of her posing with the entire group.

In the final slide of the series, the band performed Making A Fire on stage with cameras capturing the whole thing.

Rock on! The Everlong hit-makers rocked the stage in video of their performance

Hit it! The band performed their song Making A Fire as cameras rolled

The Foo Fighters weren't the only big names visiting the set.

Actress Julianna Margulies also makes an appearance on a new episode of The Morning Show as reporter Laura Peterson.

In photos posted by Reese Witherspoon, The Good Wife actress smiled from ear-to-ear while brandishing her cup of coffee.

Look who's here! Julianna Margulies was also seen making an appearance on a new episode of The Morning Show as reporter Laura Peterson in photos posted by Reese Witherspoon

Collaborating: Witherspoon and her co-star prepared for their roles as co-anchors Alex Levy and Bradley Jackson

Lights, camera, action! Witherspoon threw herself into her role wearing a red dress

'Snaps from set (camera emoji),' Reese captioned her post. She teased Julianna's appearance by adding, 'Swipe to see who joins us in today's episode of @themorningshow!'

Other photos in the post showed Reese hard at work on the hit series, whether she was prepping with co-star Jennifer or getting into character in a red dress.

Season two sees Jennifer and Reese reprising their roles as co-anchors Alex Levy and Bradley Jackson.

The Morning Show, which was suppose to return last November but was delayed due to COVID-19, premiered on Apple TV+ on September 17.

Taking precautions: She slowed the spread of COVID-19 with a handy face shield
Hailey Bieber donned a leggy look in a cheeky new set of snaps, after celebrating her three year wedding anniversary to husband Justin Bieber.

The 24-year-old beauty rocked sultry menswear in a series of images the model shared to her social media accounts on Friday.

Justin is gearing up to release his new concert film, Our World, which follows his grand return to the stage on New Year's Eve following a several year hiatus from performing.

Ready to party: Hailey Bieber donned a leggy look in a cheeky new set of snaps, after celebrating her three year wedding anniversary to husband Justin Bieber

At five foot seven, Hailey had legs for days in a pair of sparkling knee socks which she paired with an oversized black velvet YSL men's blazer and high heels in her Instagram photos.

Hailey smoldered sans pants in sunglasses and tousled hair as she struck seductive poses for the camera.

On snap sees the model's slim figure bent over slightly, pushing a well stocked bar cart.

Seems that menswear is the look of the moment for Mrs. Bieber who added a second series of images in an extra large double breasted black blazer which she wore as a dress.

Glam girl: At five foot seven, Hailey had legs for days in a pair of sparkling knee socks which she paired with an oversized black velvet YSL men's blazer and high heels in her Instagram photos

Stunner: Hailey smoldered sans pants in sunglasses and tousled hair as she struck seductive poses for the camera

Fun! The starlet sported a statement pair of glittering mesh knee socks that added a funky flare to her sizzling look

More dressed down than the first set, Hailey sported scrunched white socks with black patent leather loafers.

Hailey, the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin of the famed Baldwin acting family, began seriously modeling in 2014.

Meanwhile, her husband Justin shared some intimate footage of the lovebirds on his Instagram account on Friday in a teaser for his upcoming Amazon Prime film.

He and Hailey are seen candoodling sweetly while the popstar covers the back of her neck with kisses in the clip.

Vibe! Seems that menswear is the look of the moment for Mrs. Bieber who added a second series of images in an extra large double breasted black blazer which she wore as a dress

Cover girl: Hailey, the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin of the famed Baldwin acting family, began seriously modeling in 2014

The teaser is part of Justin's new concert film, Our World, which drops on Amazon Prime October 8th.

Our World sees The Biebs prepare for his triumphant return to music last year with his New Year's Eve concert after he'd taken a hiatus from the business. Prior to the show, Justin hadn't performed live since 2016.

Following that concert, Justin slowly returned to the music biz, releasing new tracks and a new album, Justice.

He will soon drop the music video for his latest single off the album, Ghost, which was released on September 10.

His world: Justin Bieber shared some intimate footage of the lovebirds on his Instagram account on Friday in a teaser for his upcoming Amazon Prime film

Mr and Mrs: He and Hailey are seen candoodling sweetly while the popstar covers the back of her neck with kisses in the clip

Tune in: Justin is gearing up to release his new concert film, Our World, which follows his grand return to the stage on New Year's Eve following a several year hiatus from performing

Justice also features fan-favorite songs such as Peaches and Holy with Chance the Rapper.

The album was released in March of this year. It will spark his fourth concert tour which is set to begin next year.

It has already been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Just this week Hailey and Justin also hit a marriage milestone celebrating three years of wedded bliss together.

Back at it: His New Year's Eve was Justin's first time performing since taking hiatus from music in 2016

Growing into his own: He will soon drop the music video for his latest single off the album, Ghost, which was released on September 10

Meanwhile: Just this week Hailey and Justin also hit a marriage milestone celebrating three years of wedded bliss together

They first said 'I do' in a courthouse ceremony before celebrating in grand fashion with a massive wedding in South Carolina.

Hailey Bieber honored husband Justin on their third anniversary with gorgeous throwback snaps from the event at the Montage Palmetto Bluff resort in South Carolina on Sept. 30, 2018.

The bride simply stunned in her custom Off-White, off-the-shoulder Virgil Abloh wedding dress.

She simply captioned the social media series with the date of their anniversary: '9.30.18.'

The couple exchanged vows in front of the likes of Ed Sheeran, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Usher and Jaden Smith in the Somerset Chapel within the grounds of the lavish hotel.
Britney Spears' brother Bryan Spears did not have anything to say about the suspension of their father Jamie Spears as her conservator when he was approached on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

The 44-year-old film and television producer was spotted with his girlfriend Amber Lynn Conklin at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks, California, just after a judge took away Jamie's control of Britney's finances.

The pop star's sister Jamie Lynn Spears, 30, also avoided the subject of her sister's legal victory in an Instagram post from Friday.

Mum's the word: Britney Spear's older brother Bryan Spears, 44, stayed silent when he was spotted on Wednesday in Thousand Oaks, California, shortly after his father Jamie Spears was removed as his sister's conservator

Bryan and Amber were seen in the parking lot of The Oaks Mall, which isn't too far from Britney's Thousand Oaks home.

He wore a faded blue Supercross T-shirt with camouflage shorts and white Nike trainers, plus a black Las Vegas Raiders cap.

Amber had on a black jacket over a red top and shredded jeans.

According to Page Six, a photographer asked: 'How do you feel about your father being removed from Britney's conservatorship?'

Bryan didn't comment and kept walking ahead.

Happy for her: Although Bryan wouldn't speak about the conservatorship, his girlfriend Amber Lynn Conklin said he was 'very happy' for Britney after her engagement to Sam Asghari

When he was asked about his sister's engagement to Sam Asghari, Amber Lynn answered for him.

'Hes very happy for her!' she said.

'Were always happy for her,' Bryan chimed in as he got into his car.

In July of 2020, he spoke out about the conservatorship during an appearance on the As NOT Seen On TV podcast, where he seemed to defend the arrangement that controls Britney's finances and many of her major life decisions.

'She's been in this thing for quite some time now. Obviously there was a need for it in the beginning,' he said.

'Now they've made some changes and all we can do is hope for the best.'

To clarify that he was on board with the conservatorship, he added that it had 'been a great thing for our family, to this point, and [we] keep hoping for the best.'

In the same interview, he called the pop star the 'worst driver in the world' and complained about 'how many females I have in this house,' seemingly referring to his mother Lynne Spears, Britney and his younger sister Jamie Lynn.

Fighting words? Britney's sister Jamie Lynn, 30, also stayed silent, though she showed off a 'F*** the Friendship' sweatshirt and joked about wearing it to school pickup

The youngest Spears family member also kept mum about Jamie's suspension on her social media accounts.

On Friday, she acted as if nothing had happened when she posed in a raunchy graphic sweatshirt reading 'F*** the Friendship' and a blue-and-pink floral bucket hat.

It's not clear if the confrontational shirt was a dig at her sister or merely a humorous clothing item.

'Should I wear this for school pick up this afternoon lol?' she joked in her caption.

Up and away: Some fans wondered if Britney shaded Jamie in a post about her first time flying a plane. 'Pssss bringing the ship home, JL ... Stay classy beautiful people !!!!' she wrote, which some fans saw as a note to Jamie Lynn

Connection: The line appeared to reference Jamie Lynn's post from Tuesday, in which she shared photos of a softball tournament with her daughter Maddie and used the line, 'Took home the [ship emoji'

Some fans wondered if Britney had taken a dig at Jamie Lynn in the caption to a post from Thursday.

The pop star shared a short video of herself getting to fly a plane for the first time.

At the bottom of her caption, she added the postscript: 'Pssss bringing the ship [boat emoji] home, JL ... Stay classy beautiful people !!!!'

The line appeared to reference Jamie Lynn's post from Tuesday, in which she shared photos of a softball tournament with her daughter Maddie.

'Fun weekend with this amazing group of girls- took home the [ship emoji],' she wrote.

Britney also used the initials 'JL,' and Jamie Lynn had recently changed her Instagram bio so that it simply read, 'JL.'

Setting off concerns: On Thursday, Britney celebrated her conservatorship win by posting a topless video and several nude photos to Instagram, though fans worried about her mental state after the display

On Thursday, Britney celebrated her conservatorship win by posting a topless video and several nude photos to Instagram.

Although she got plenty of support in the comments  including from her fiance Sam Asghari and her friend Paris Hilton  many fans expressed concerns about her mental state in the wake of the risque photos.

'Is this the look of a mentally healthy person?' one fan asked, while another shared fears about the 'horrible vacant look in her eyes', adding: 'I'm all for sexual liberation and nudity but this feels off.'

'Something about this just doesn't feel right,' noted one comment that received thousands of likes.

Another chimed in: 'Idk how everyone is thinking this is normal. "She's free!" No.'

'Oh Britney, you don't have to do that,' urged one person.

Unstable? Several fans seemed worried that Britney's risque photos might be evidence of mental instability

'This feels so off': While many of her fans and famous friends cheered on her naked pictures, others expressed deep concern about the full frontal images

On Wednesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny suspended Britney's father Jamie Spears as her conservator, after her lawyer Mathew Rosengart had asked the court to remove him.

In Spears' place, Judge Penny appointed the accountant John Zebel as temporary conservator.

He'll be in charge of Britney's finances until a decision is made on whether or not the conservatorship should be terminated.

Out of his hands: Judge Brenda Penny removed her father Jamie Spears as the conservator of her personal life and $60 million estate on Wednesday after 13 years

After the decision, Rosengart thanked Britney's fans and supporters of the #FreeBritney movement.

He called the ruling a 'substantial step toward [Britney's] freedom' but warned that there are additional allegations of misconduct and mistreatment that are being investigated by authorities.

'Today's a great day. It's a great day for Britney Spears and it's a great day for justice. And there's definitely something to celebrate. But it's also a solemn day. Britney Spears has been faced with a decade-long nightmare orchestrated by her father and others,' Rosengart said after the hearing.

'I'm so proud of her for her courage, her strength... and she's so pleased and so thankful to all of you,' he continued.

'I think the support of the Free Britney movement has been instrumental.'

Speaking out: Britney's lawyer Mathew Rosengart (pictured) addressed the crowd outside the Stanley Mosk Courthouse following Britney's win; seen Wednesday

Rosengart also threatened that his client would 'absolutely' sue Jamie if any evidence emerged that he had stolen her money.

In her ruling, Judge Penny said that removing Jamie Spears was 'in the best instants of Ms. Spears.'

She added that filings from Britney's lawyer indicated a 'toxic environment' that could only be righted by removing her father from his position.

As part of his suspension, Jamie will have to turn over any records on Britney's finances that he accrued while leading her conservatorship.

Rosengart suggested after the ruling that Britney's father might be reticent to give the court a look into his financial decisions for his daughter.

'He did a 180 Now he's saying let's terminate the entire conservatorship. He wants to terminate because he doesn't want to be deposed under oath or give discovery,' Rosengart claimed. 'What he is afraid of is the revelations of his corruption.'
The devastating fire at Windsor Castle was just one of the challenges faced by the Royal Family in its 'annus horribilis'.

And it appears that historic moment has been recreated for the next instalment of The Crown.

Exclusive pictures obtained by the Daily Mail show 'flames' ripping through a building standing in for the Queen's Berkshire residence as the fire service battles to put them out.

The scenes, from the fifth series of the Netflix drama, were shot at Burghley House near Stamford in Lincolnshire this week.

The fire broke out in November 1992 in Queen Victoria's private chapel after a faulty spotlight set alight a curtain next to the altar.

The blaze burned for 15 hours and destroyed 115 rooms, including nine State Rooms.

The Queen was not staying at Windsor at the time but she arrived after the blaze began.

The scenes, from the fifth series of the Netflix drama, were shot at Burghley House near Stamford in Lincolnshire this week (pictured)

The fire (pictured) broke out in November 1992 in Queen Victoria's private chapel after a faulty spotlight set alight a curtain next to the altar

Pictures taken on set appear to show Imelda Staunton (pictured), who has replaced Olivia Colman as the monarch, arriving at the castle in a Range Rover

Imelda Staunton arrives to set of The Crown in a Range Rover in Lincolnshire this week

The Crown filming at Burghley House, Stamford, Lincolnshire, for its upcoming fifth season

The Queen was not staying at Windsor at the time of the original fire but she arrived after the blaze began (pictured)

Pictures taken on set appear to show Imelda Staunton, who has replaced Olivia Colman as the monarch, arriving at the castle in a Range Rover.

The photos also showed artwork and furniture stacked outside the castle after being saved.

It has not yet been confirmed what exact storylines the final two series will follow, but it is believed that the show will continue to focus on the breakdown of Charles and Diana's marriage.

Dominic West, 51, will play the prince and Elizabeth Debicki, 31, has replaced Emma Corrin as Diana.

The drama could also focus on the separation of Prince Andrew from Sarah Ferguson and Princess Anne's divorce from Mark Phillips, which all happened in 1992.

The Crown series five will be released in November next year.
She never fails to look sensational.

And Amanda Holden pulled out all the stops as she attended The Magic is Calling event at Tobacco Dock in London on Friday night as Walt Disney World Florida celebrated its 50th Anniversary.

The presenter, 50, looked glamorous in a stunning strapless yellow gown as she posed confidently for snaps at the event.

Incredible: Amanda Holden pulled out all the stops as she attended The Magic is Calling event at Tobacco Dock in London on Friday night as Walt Disney World Florida celebrated its 50th Anniversary

She showed off her figure in the floor-length dress which featured a pretty plunging neckline and a corset design before flowing out into a fishnet skirt.

The beauty completed her look with a statement silver choker and matching earrings while wearing her hair in loose waves and opting for a glamorous makeup look.

She made the most of her night out as she posed for snaps with Minnie and Mickie mouse.

Wow: The presenter, 50, looked glamorous in a stunning strapless yellow gown as she posed confidently for snaps at the event

Fun: She made the most of her night out as she posed for snaps with Minnie and Mickie mouse

Frankie Bridge and her husband Wayne, Dr Ranj and Aston Merrygold and his wife Sarah Louise Richards also attended the event.

Loose Women panellist Frankie looked great in a pink suit as she posed with her dapper husband who opted for an all-black ensemble.

Aston cut a smart figure in a checked suit while Sarah wowed in a pale blue leggy dress.

Radiant: The beauty completed her look with a statement silver choker and matching earrings while wearing her hair in loose waves and opting for a glamorous makeup look

Looking good: She showed off her figure in the floor-length dress which featured a pretty plunging neckline and a corset design before flowing out into a fishnet skirt

Her outing comes after Amanda recently told The Daily Mail she refuses to apologise for living her life.

She told the newspaper: 'I'm not apologising for living any more. I want my life back. I keep hearing people going: "I'm sorry, I'm so lucky to go on holiday." I'm like: "No! It's your right to be entertained, your right to go on holiday!"'

At 50, she has inadvertently made it her mission to show that women of any age can be as flamboyant as they please, not least when it comes to their outfits.

Smart: Aston Merrygold cut a smart figure in a checked suit while his wife Sarah wowed in a pale blue leggy dress

Stars: Frankie Bridge (pictured) and her husband Wayne, Dr Ranj and Aston Merrygold and his wife Sarah Louise Richards also attended the event

Night on the town: Frankie stood out from the crowd in a red suit and enjoyed a glass of bubbly

'I dress for other women and for myself. I don't dress for men and I dress absolutely how I want to. When I'm told I can't, it makes me do it more,' she said.

For example, when Ofcom received 235 complaints about the low-cut Amanda Wakeley dress she wore to judge Britain's Got Talent, Amanda was delighted.

'I thought: '"Amazing!" Now for every show they want to know what I'm going to be wearing in advance, and I'm like: "I'm going to wear a polo-neck . . . surprise!"'

Couple: Loose Women panellist Frankie looked great in a pink suit as she posed with her dapper husband Wayne who opted for an all-black ensemble

Mwah: The couple put on a loved-up display as they posed for a selfie

Here I am! Dr. Ranj Singh put on an animated display as he arrived wearing a black suit

Say cheese: The trio all posed for a photo together

Having fun: Aston and Sarah looked like they were having a great time as they posed with the characters at the event

Sure enough, the week after the complaints, she selected a gown that was doubly revealing.

'I don't know what people are complaining about,' she says. 'They sexualise things that are just . . . there.

'[Fellow BGT judge] Simon [Cowell] can have all his shirt buttons open down to here and his man boobs out and no one bats an eyelid!'

Strike a pose: The star looked dapper in his black jacket and trousers which he teamed with a white shirt
Katie Price's ex-fiance Kris Boyson has told of his hopes her recent drink-drive car crash was a 'turning point in her life'.

The former glamour model, 43, pleaded guilty to drink driving, driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance after her horror crash on Tuesday.

And in a new interview, her former partner Kris, whom she split from in 2019, told how the crash could be deemed as a 'blessing in disguise', with the personal trainer detailing how she used alcohol to 'self-meditate' during tough times.

Speaking out: Katie Price's ex-fiance Kris Boyson has told of his hopes that her recent drink-drive car crash was a 'turning point in her life' (pictured together in 2018)

Kris told The Sun: 'Kate has a great family around her that will hopefully help her with this. I just hope this can be the turning point for her now to change her life.

'The crash was like a blessing in disguise because now hopefully she can get the help she needs.'

The personal trainer and Katie met in May 2018 and got engaged in July 2019, but ended their relationship four months later.

Amid his supportive words about his ex, who learned of Katie's crash on the news, went on to detail how she used alcohol as a crutch in times of trouble.

Troubled: The former glamour model, 43, pleaded guilty to drink driving, driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance after her horror crash on Tuesday (pictured in July)

He said: 'Katie has been open before about how she self-medicates. It seems this is her coping mechanism for whatever is going on in her life. I just hope now for her sake, her kids sake and her familys sake that she gets through this and comes back out on top.'

Upon learning of her recent troubles, Kris admitted he was immediately 'concerned' for both her welfare and her children's, adding that he could relate to her mental health struggles as he's battled with his own issues.

Noting how he's been in a 'similar position' to Katie, a sympathetic Kris remarked that he understands how 'lonely' things get and how 'hard' it is to get out of a 'rut'.

MailOnline have contacted Katie's representatives for comment.

Katie now faces jail after pleading guilty to three charges of drink driving, driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance at Crawley Magistrates Court.

Blessing: Kris, whom she split from in 2019, told how the crash could be deemed as a 'blessing in disguise', with the personal trainer detailing how she used alcohol to 'self-meditate' during tough times

But prosecutors dropped a drug-driving charge in light of her guilty drink-driving plea. It came just days after family and friends rallied round her following her arrest.

Katie, who was already banned from driving, flipped her car on a country road at 6.20am near West Grinstead, close to her home.

After being rescued by a local resident, she was arrested on suspicion of driving while above the legal limit for alcohol and drugs - and tested positive for cocaine.

Katie's roadside alcohol reading was 66 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath - which is nearly double the legal limit of 35 micrograms per 100 millilitres.

The model told police: 'I was just going to my friend's house. I know I shouldn't. I've been banned four times. I took drugs. I should not be driving. I admit it all.'

Old times: Kris was previously engaged to mother-of-five Katie, with their pair getting engaged in July 2019, before separating four months later (Pictured in July 2018)

Katie's fiance Carl Woods posted a statement on his Instagram on Tuesday, saying 'Katie is a rough diamond, she has her imperfections, however they make her perfect to me'.

The TV personality was told that her sentencing had been deferred for 11 weeks until December 15 to allow her to have treatment at The Priory and speak to the probation service.

Chair of the bench Julie Hutton told her she could leave but warned her against driving in the interim, saying: 'You are free to go and good luck at the Priory.'

It comes after a source told MailOnline: 'Katie is on a downward spiral. After an all-night bender. It's a new low, even by her standards.'

Another source told the Daily Mirror: 'Katie is a total mess at the moment. Her partying is out of control and has really ramped up over the last few weeks.'

It has been claimed that the former glamour model had been driving in a car that was given to her as a gift by Carl several weeks before the crash, The Sun reports.

TV: Katie Price appeared with her sister Sophie Price on ITV's Good Morning Britain on Monday

A source said: 'Katie was only given the car by Carl a month or so ago. She'll be gutted it's now written off. But the important thing is that she's OK. It's just a car.'

Price spent five weeks at The Priory last October and vowed this year to take regular drugs tests if anyone challenged her sobriety.

She previously said she had used cocaine in the past to 'block things out' because she 'couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel' due to her mental health issues.

This week, a photograph tweeted by a local police officer showed a damaged BMW lying on its side across both lanes, its front lodged in the hedgerow, after the crash.

A local said: 'Luckily no other vehicles were involved in the crash and it happened away from houses. It sounds like the person behind the wheel is going to be OK.'

Price has experienced a turbulent year, and was recently seen with bruising to her face after an alleged assault at her home in Essex.

What he says: Her fiance Carl Woods said on Instagram that he will 'always be there' for the 'rough diamond'

It comes as Katie's family expressed fears for her mental health.

They said in a statement: 'We have for some time been concerned about Kate's wellbeing and overall mental health. Today our worst fears nearly came true.

'As a family we have been and will continue to help Kate get the help she needs. We hope that she will realise that she cannot battle her issues alone.'

With Harvey: Katie told GMB of her pain that being disqualified from driving meant she could not visit son Harvey (pictured on September 9) at his residential college
TIRUPATI: Domestic air passenger footfall at all the six airports in the state increased significantly in August, which was a 42.5 per cent increase compared to the figures of July.

According to the latest AAI traffic report, all the six airports - Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Rajahmundry, Cuddapah and Kurnool  had encouraging patronage in August with nearly 2,88,936 passengers. This was against 2,02,717; 1,21,646 and 79,000 passenger footfalls in July, June and May. In August last year, only 1.12 lakh passengers used domestic services across the state airports (excluding Kurnool).

Data also shows that the six airports together operated around 3,449 flights in August as against 2,808; 1,850 and 1,667 aircraft's movements in July, June and May, whereas it was 1,898 flights in August 2020 (excluding Kurnool).

Vizag airport scored over the other five both in the operation of flights and passenger-load.

As many as 1,236 flights were operated to and from Vizag airport in August, while there were 682 in Vijayawada, 752 Tirupati, 581 Rajahmundry, 88 Cuddapah and 110 from Kurnool.

In July, June and May, about 908, 592 and 652 flights were operated to and from Vizag airport, respectively; followed by 616, 394 and 323 from Vijayawada, 562, 478 and 316 Rajahmundry, 508, 242 and 228 Tirupati, 104, 25 and 64 Cuddapah, and 110, 98 and 84 from Kurnool.

Similarly, about 1,46,616 passengers used domestic flight services from Vizag in August, followed by 50,404 from Vijayawada; 60,876 Tirupati, 25,913 Rajahmundry; 2,151 Cuddapah and 2,976 from Kurnool. In July, the above airports - in the same order  witnessed 1,02,577; 39,901; 36,137; 19,682; 1,859 and 2,561 passenger footfalls respectively.

In June, they saw 63,634; 25,149; 13,226; 16,947; 627; 2,063 footfalls and in May, 44,904; 16,228; 9,061; 6,698; 650 and 1459 passengers utilised the air services respectively.
The EC has capped the size of gatherings at 1,000 for outdoor meetings of star campaigners and 500 for others, and 200 attendees for indoor campaigning. (DC file photo)

Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India strictly enforcing Covid-19 norms in the bypoll-bound Huzurabad Assembly constituency has cast a shadow on the plans of political parties to hold huge rallies or public meetings by star campaigners and others.

With this, parties are looking holding the public meetings in districts bordering the Huzurabad constituency to get around the EC's Covid-19 norms.

The EC has capped the size of gatherings at 1,000 for outdoor meetings of star campaigners and 500 for others, and 200 attendees for indoor campaigning. Roadshows have been banned.

A special officer will be appointed to enforce Covid-19 norms.

The TRS had planned a public meetings with Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao with one lakh people attending, which is not possible now. The TRS leadership is now planning to hold the meetings in bordering Siddipet district.

Speaking to this newspaper, Chief Electoral Officer, Telangana, Dr Shashank Goel, said, The Huzurabad Assembly constituency falls in two districts, Karimnagar and Hanamkonda. The election code of conduct will be in force in these two districts. No public meetings with huge gatherings will be allowed anywhere in these two districts. Covid-19 norms will be strictly implemented in these two districts."

However, he said, political parties have requested the EC to give permission to hold meetings in other constituencies in Karimanagar district other than Huzurabad which is going for bypoll. We are awaiting clarity from the ECI whether the election code covers only the constituency which is going for election or the entire district."

The Huzurabad constituency is surrounded by Hanamkonda, Siddipet and Siricilla districts. Of this, Husnabad Assembly constituency in Siddipet district is just 27 km from Huzurabad. Political parties are trying to hold public meetings at Husnabad given its proximity to Huzurabad.

Goel stated that the entire area of public meetings will be cordoned off and will be guarded by the police. The count of people entering the ground will be monitored. Only those grounds which are cordoned/barricaded completely will be used for rallies.

He added that the number of star campaigners was restricted to 20 national/state recognised parties and 10 for un-recognised registered parties. No roadshow and no motor/bike/cycle rallies will be allowed.

For street corner meetings maximum 50 persons will be allowed, subject to availability of space and compliance to Covid norms.

A register will be maintained to count the number of people attending the indoor meetings to ensure participation of only 200 people or 30% of allowed capacity, whichever is less.
Minister for housing Ch Sri Ranganatha Raju said he found the rates of private layouts close to the Jagananna Housing Colonies were high and also increasing regularly. (Twitter)

Vishakhapatanam: Rumours are afloat that realtors are buying individual houses allotted to the poor under YSR Housing Scheme and Jagananna Colonies, which are being implemented by AP Housing Corporation. This is more so on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam where the land cost in the private sector has been appreciating every six months.

Sources close to the scheme told Deccan Chronicle on Thursday that around 30 to 40 houses were sold away to realtors, who acquired them at throwaway prices. They can make a fast buck by selling them after the title dispute is resolved in courts.

Sales have been reported in Vellanki, Anandapuram mandal, close to the National Highway, about 34 km from the city and in Krishnapuram in Padmanabham mandal.

The transaction is based on trust and a written agreement on a stamp paper between the realtor and the beneficiary, which is in the form of a loan. Each house was sold for Rs 7 lakh in Vellanki and Rs 5 lakh in Krishnapuram, sources said.

They said that the land cost in Vellanki is around Rs 15,000 per square yard and in layouts Rs 20,000 per square yard.

Minister for housing Ch Sri Ranganatha Raju, who laid foundation stone for a colony in Sontyam in Anandapuram mandal on August 18, said he found the rates of private layouts close to the Jagananna Housing Colonies were high and also increasing regularly.

But I have not received any reports so far about beneficiaries selling off their dwellings to realtors. We will devise a mechanism to prevent such transactions, the minister told this correspondent on Thursday. He said it was quite common for beneficiaries to sell their allotted houses and ask for another one on the eve of elections.

Minister for tourism Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao said that no such trading was going on in his constituency.

The chairman of Vizag chapter of CREDAI B Srinivasa Rao said there were rumors in the Association about transactions between the real estate agents and housing colony beneficiaries.

These kinds of transactions are not unusual and we can do little to prevent them, Srinivasa Rao told this correspondent. He also added that realtors were developing low-cost housing in Anandapuram and Bhimili.

Each beneficiary is given a 430 sq ft house in a rural area and 365 sft in urban area. The beneficiary of a 365 sq ft house has to pay Rs 50,000 as his share, while those getting 430 sq ft house have to shell down Rs 1 lakh. But the government has also announced a 50 percent subsidy for them.

The sources said that by paying Rs 25,000, the beneficiary gets Rs 7 lakh from the realtor. Going by the present rates, each house will cost Rs 15 lakh in the private market in that area.

Around 403 units are being developed in Vellanki and 250 in Krishnapuram.
The Secunderabad-headquartered College of Defence Management (CDM) has started research on ancient Indian texts that are relevant to modern warfare and military statecraft and have recommended two ancient scripts  Bhagwad Gita and Arthashastra. (Representational Photo: AFP)

Hyderabad: The Indian Armed forces are considering introducing Bhagwad Gita and Kautilyas Arthashastra as part of the curriculum for officers, Army and Air Force sources confirmed on Saturday.

Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modis call, the Secunderabad-headquartered College of Defence Management (CDM) has started research on ancient Indian texts that are relevant to modern warfare and military statecraft and have recommended two ancient scripts  Bhagwad Gita and Arthashastra.

Bhagwad Gita is a treasure trove of wisdom and insight into military doctrine, strategies and morality of war and life. They will give an indigenous perspective to our officers and jawans to apply in complex modern warfare, said a senior officer based in the Army headquarters in Delhi. Arthashastra is one of many wonderful texts of ancient India that brings insight into the complex interplay of politics, military thinking and intelligence.

Two senior officers, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the broad conceptual and research work is ongoing but refused to give specific details. It is an ongoing project. We cannot confirm either when this curriculum will go live, or if it would be initiated in which academy or course or for whom, they said.

Air Vice-Marshal Pawan Mohey, the commandant of CDM, when reached out to, was not willing to speak to the media.

Lt. Gen. Anil Bhatt, PVSM, who formerly served as general officer commanding (GOC) XV Corps and director-general of military operations (DGMO), speaking with The Asian Age, said that eventually, this rich training framework must extend to all levels  from entry officer level at the NDA or IMA to higher-levels of warfare training.

In select armed forces circles, both serving and retired, the issue has started getting discussed, largely with a welcoming outlook despite some doubts outside the Indian military about the motivation and implications of the move.

It is a right move, and long overdue. The Indian armed forces largely operate on war doctrines and philosophies of the Western world, like the Carl von Clausewitz doctrines. We even study Sun Tzus Art of War. This shift in military thinking, to incorporate ancient Indian thinking on state craft, doctrinal military warfare, discipline of espionage and spycraft, as well as administration and other aspects should give us a unique edge, said a decorated retired colonel who is one of the many Kargil war heroes.

A few retired offices expressed doubts about the impact of the move.

As Pakistan learnt in 1971, it was defeated because it was a secular Indian Army they faced. The Indian Army had a Parsi chief in Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, a Sikh army commander in J.S. Aurora, a Hindu general who captured Dhaka in Sagat Singh, a Jewish general who steered the famous surrender of Pakistan in J.F.R. Jacob. Arthashastra is fine, but a religious text like Gita leaves me a little unconcerted, said a retired colonel, who also served in imparting training to young officers.

Lt. Gen. Bhatt dismissed the fears, saying, The secularism and humanity of the Indian Army, both before Independence and after, is one of culture, mutual respect, ability to comprehend diversity in thought and faith. We are strong because we respect everyone and we are proud of it. This is Eastern thinking and philosophy we are bringing in to further strengthen our forces.
Kalaburagi: Recent heavy rainfall in Karnataka's Kalaburagi have damaged crops, leaving farmers distressed.

While speaking to ANI, Baburao, a farmer, said, "I had sown onions investing more than Rs 50,000 in two acres of land. This is a big loss. All my crops got damaged due to heavy rain. I did not receive any help from the government. I appeal to the government to help farmers like us. Most of the farmers have been affected."

Farmers said the unseasonal rains have damaged the crops, forcing them to start the sowing process again.

As per Zaheer Ahmed, the Scientist in the department of plant pathology in Krishi Vigyana Kendra, "In past two months, we received excessive rain. Kalburgi received 980mm rainfall. We noticed onion rot, onion basal rot symptoms in low lying areas. In most of the areas, we noticed the damage in pulp areas."
The first phase of the polls are scheduled for October 6 and the second phase for October 9. (Photo: PTI/Representational Image)

Chennai: As campaigning for the rural local body elections shifts into overdrive with top leaders making visits to cheer their grassroots level workers, who are primarily into door-to-door canvassing, it looks that the fight is just between the DMK and AIADMK and with just one issue to haggle over.

While the ruling DMK is going around telling voters that many of promises made during the Assembly elections have been honoured and the rest, too, will be implemented soon, the opposition AIADMK is out to prove that the DMK has cheated the people by reneging on its promises.

Referring to promises like payment of Rs 1000 every month for housewives, lowering of diesel and LPG prices, waiving of educational and agricultural loans and abolition of NEET, the AIADMK cadre are pointing out that the main promises have been hanging fire for the last four months after the DMK came to power.

Leaders of AIADMK, particularly the co-coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami, have been stressing on the need for party workers to explain to the people what they allege as a lapse on the part of the DMK and urge them not to vote for the party in the local body polls.

On the other hand, District secretaries, some Ministers, MLAs and MPs of the DMK who are spearheading the campaigns at the local level tell their campaigners to list out the over 200 promises that had been honoured, besides the new schemes announced in the last four months, despite enormous financial difficulties.

The DMK wants its cadre to drive home the point that every promise given the manifesto would be implemented in due course and that it was too early to expect the government to honour each and every promise.

While the DMK and its allies invoke the surging popularity of Chief Minister M K Stalin among the people to seek votes, an AMMK candidate in Kadayam, Chandrasekar, too has printed the picture of the Chief Minister along with his in the publicity material, much to the annoyance of local DMK cadre.

However, Chandrasekar has rebuffed those who confronted them by averring that the Chief Minister was common for all in the State and no one can prevent him from using Stalins photograph from his handbills.

AIADMK leaders, including former Ministers, MLAs and district secretaries are visiting the poll-bound villages and motivating the cadre, which led to an allegation by the DMK that former Minister S P Velumani was throwing parties to campaigners. Even a complaint was reportedly made to the State Election Commission on that.

Another complaint that both the party cadre are making against each other is that stocking up of gift articles that would be distributed on the eve of the elections  the first phase of which is scheduled for October 6 and the second phase for October 9.

The recovery of 100 fans from the premises of a panchayat president in MIlaripettai village near Thirukovilur, created a sensation in the area with both the parties pointing fingers at each other. Similarly both parties are accusing each other of stocking up liquor, saying that crates and crates have already been transported from Puducherry.

However, there was a general feeling that DMK cadre were not as upbeat as the AIADMK counterparts in reaching out to the people. To add credence to the speculation, Minister Duraimurugan had tried to cheer up the workers during a meeting at Jolarpettai the other day.

He had told the local functionaries not be bogged down as the government would dissolve all the cooperative bodies after the local body elections and fill up the posts afresh with new members, suggesting that they could look forward to rewards.

While Palaniswami is the star campaigner as of now for the AIADMK, party coordinator, O Panneerselvam, who had been lying low after his wife passed away on September 1, is expected to hit the campaign trail from Friday.

Though the other parties are not actually making a real impact in the villages, leaders of VCK, Naam Tamilar Katchi, Makkal Neethi Maiam, Congress and BJP are campaigning in select pockets where they believe they have some clout.

For the PMK, youth wing president Anbumani Ramadoss and Leader of the Legislative Party G K Mani are leading the campaign but only in regions that they consider as their bastions.

Irrespective of party affiliations, villagers in the districts of Kanchipuram, Chengalpattu, Vellore, Tirupattur, Ranipet, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Tirunelveli and Tenkasi, and in places where casual elections are to be held to fill vacancies in other districts, are said to be quietly waiting for parties and candidates to distribute cash.

Though flying squads have been pressed into service and police and home guards are to be deployed, the gossip at the local level is that the emergence of the hidden gifts, cash and liquor into the open cannot be stopped.
Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringlas weekend visit is the first by an overseas dignitary to Sri Lanka since President Gotabaya Rajapaksa proclaimed the much-feared and equally-anticipated food and forex emergency just over a month earlier. It is a quick follow-up on the bilateral discussions between Foreign Ministers S Jaishankar (India) and G L Peiris (Sri Lanka) on the sidelines of the UNGA session just a week earlier, and the first high-level Indian visit after Basil Rajapaksa, a brother of President Gota, took over the reins of the Finance Ministry from family elder Mahinda Rajapaksa, who remains Prime Minister.

The continuing Rajapaksa regime in Colombo could be blamed for some of the fiscal and economic decisions that have made the forex crisis bigger than already, but much of it is inherited from the past.

Reviving the economy would require conceptual and structural changes, through a consensus process, which only the Rajapaksas at the helm can even dream of. Yet, learning from their own recent experience, they need to time it right.

Security-polluted

In Sri Lanka, Secretary Shringlas discussions cannot leave out the current crises faced by the southern neighbour, the closest for each other in the security-polluted Indian Ocean waters. The food crisis apart, a Sri Lankan minister had quipped not very long ago that the nation did not have forex reserves to pay for petroleum imports beyond December.

Through years and decades, India has proved to Sri Lanka and all its other neighbours that it was more trustworthy than any extra-regional power, over the long-term. They may not get what all they want from India, which like a typical South Asian family elder, always worries about their ability to live a life that is not theirs.

But India has never ever short-changed its neighbours, tempting their short-term aspirations with high-cost goodies, to pay for which they have only territory and sovereignty. Independent of the nation involved  China in this case  Hambantota is a prime example, followed by the Colombo Port City (CPC), of contemporary Sri Lankan aspirations for growth hitting the roof and then falling down.

If Sri Lankas idea was to grow the Singapore / Dubai way over a short period, it should have stuck to their international financial and banking models. Hamabantota-like projects should have waited until they had earned enough to pay for. Debtors make poor judges of financial matters and that is what has happened to Sri Lanka, too.

That is because no other investor-nation would want to be involved in a China-funded, China-centric project, given the nations low credibility in the international market place and also global perceptions of the nations intellectual integrity, as the Huawei-like experience suggests.

New Delhis security-centric concerns relating to the long-term adversary entails that it does not want neighbours territory being used to eavesdrop on India.

It looks as if successive governments in Colombo have failed to understand this truth. They have treated them all as zero sum games, and this is what Sri Lanka now needs to review for stabilising and strengthening bilateral ties with India, and granting certain permanency to the same. For two neighbours, whom Mahinda Rajapaksa as President once described as sister nations, that is what has been lacking, all because Sri Lanka has been looking at friends from outside even more  sister-adversarial America during the Cold War and China, since.

Inalienable stake

From an Indian perspective, China, now can wait. But Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans, starting with the nations economy, centred mainly on forex earnings of every kind, cannot. Unacknowledged, the current economic crisis, coming in the wake of the twin disasters of post-war Easter blasts and the global COVID-19 pandemic, has put greater pressure on the incumbent Colombo government to do more, and be seen as doing so, to ensure enduring peace. India has an inalienable stake in the form of the 13th Amendment.

Yet, an ethnic solution is easier said than done, unlike the western movers at the UNHRC seem to believe. It requires two hands to clap. It is not that the Sri Lankan State and the divided Sinhala polity is ready for it, but the way the Tamil polity is getting divided by the hour, there may not be anyone for the other side to talk to, if and when the latter gets ready.

If someone thought that it was Indias job to bring the ever-fighting Tamil polity together, they are mistaken. If any or all of Tamil polity thinks that they could ditch India, as always, and go the Wests way, as with the UNHRC resolutions, post-war, again they have got it wrong. The West has its agenda, centred on China, and much different from India, with its inherent concerns for the welfare of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans, the Tamils included.

Pearl-drop or tear-drop?

Clearly, the Shringla visit is going to focus on pending bilateral issues and uninaugurated projects undertaken with Indian funding. It will spend equal, if not more time, on how New Delhi can help Colombo tide over the food and forex crises. New Delhi might give a patient ear to what the crisis-ridden nation has to say on their expectations from the larger northern neighbour, lest anti-India peripheral groups in Sri Lanka should continue to sing their old tune that the regional hegemon was making hay even when the sun was not shining on the pearl-drop of their island-nation, which to some has resembled a tear-drop, instead, all along.

Yet, the thought would not leave that for a nation with a bumper stock of food grains, India may consider long-term credit-sale of the same to the southern neighbour. Such a move could help Sri Lanka tide over at least a part of its twin-crises on food and forex fronts, at least over the short and medium terms.

The fact remains that given the unviable size of Sri Lankas economy, integrating all South Asian economies, or at least doing it through the Indian medium, bilaterally, is the only way out, through the medium and longterms. If thoughts about the wantonly aborted upgrading of the 1998 bilateral FTA into CEPA/ETCA crosses the mind, it is also where the future lies for Sri Lanka  though for a less ambitious growth-path than what high-cost Hambantota, expressways and now CPC promised, but could not deliver!
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley listens to a Senators question during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations, on September 28, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Patrick Semansky / POOL / AFP)

Washington: Top US generals said Tuesday that they advised President Joe Biden to keep American troops in Afghanistan and expressed concern that the Taliban has not severed ties with Al-Qaeda.

General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, said they had personally recommended that some 2,500 troops remain on the ground in Afghanistan.

Biden, in April, ordered a complete pullout of US forces from the country by August 31, following through on an agreement reached with the Taliban by former president Donald Trump.

Milley, McKenzie and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were grilled for nearly six hours by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee about the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the chaotic evacuation from Kabul airport.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden had received "split" advice about what to do in Afghanistan, which the United States invaded following the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.

"Ultimately, it's up to the commander-in-chief to make a decision," Psaki said. "He made a decision that it was time to end a 20-year war."

Milley, who shrugged off calls from some Republican lawmakers for him to resign, was asked whether the pullout and disorderly evacuation, during which 13 American troops were killed in bomb attack, had damaged US credibility.

"I think that our credibility with allies and partners around the world and with adversaries is being intensely reviewed by them to see which way this is going to go and I think 'damage' is one word that could be used, yes," he said.

Milley said the Taliban "was and remains a terrorist organization and they still have not broken ties with Al-Qaeda," which plotted the 9/11 attacks from Afghanistan.

"It remains to be seen whether or not the Taliban can consolidate power or if the country will fracture into further civil war," he said. "But we must continue to protect the American people from terrorist attacks emanating from Afghanistan."

A reconstituted Al Qaeda or Islamic State with aspirations to attack America remains "a very real possibility," he said, but "it's too early to determine their capability."

Took us all by surprise

Austin said the United States "did not fully comprehend the depth of corruption and poor leadership" in the Afghan armed forces.

"We helped build a state, but we could not forge a nation," he said.

"The fact that the Afghan army we and our partners trained simply melted away -- in many cases without firing a shot -- took us all by surprise," the Pentagon chief said. "It would be dishonest to claim otherwise."

Austin said the United States had provided the Afghan military "with equipment and aircraft and the skills to use them" but "in the end, we couldn't provide them with the will to win."

De-escalate

Milley also testified about calls he made to his Chinese counterpart in the waning months of the Trump presidency.

He said they were intended to "de-escalate" tensions and the former president had no aim of attacking China.

"I know, I am certain, President Trump did not intend to attack the Chinese," Milley said.

"My task at that time was to de-escalate. My message again was consistent: stay calm and steady and de-escalate. We are not going to attack you," he said.

The calls between Milley and his Chinese counterpart, General Li Zuocheng, were first revealed in the book "Peril" by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.

The first call was on October 30, four days before the US presidential election, and the second was on January 8, two days after supporters of Trump stormed the US Capitol in an effort to prevent certification of Biden's victory.

Some Republican lawmakers have accused Milley of overstepping his authority and called for him to resign.

Milley defended his actions and said the calls were coordinated with the then-secretaries of defense.

"The specific purpose of the October and January calls was generated by concerning intelligence which caused us to believe the Chinese were worried about an attack by the US," Milley said.

"These military-to-military communications at the highest levels are critical to the security of the United States in order to deconflict military actions, manage crisis, and prevent war between great powers armed with nuclear weapons," he said.

"At no time was I attempting to change or influence the process, usurp authority, or insert myself into the chain of command," Milley added.

The top US general nevertheless admitted to speaking with Woodward before the publication of "Peril," as well as with other journalists who have written highly critical books on the last months of Trump's term.

"I think it's very very important to make sure that senior officials talk to the media and all of its various forms in order to explain what we're doing," Milley said, noting, however, he could not confirm that his words were accurately represented in the books, having not read them.
Hotel aggregator OYO has filed preliminary documents for a Rs 8,430 crore initial public offering (IPO) as it joined the rush of technology unicorns looking to capitalise on a world-beating rally on stock exchanges.

The offering will consist of a fresh issue of shares of up to Rs 7,000 crore and an offer for sale of as much as Rs 1,430 crore, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed with SEBI.

The hotel-booking startup, whose official name is Oravel Stays Ltd, in the prospectus said it has made losses in each year since incorporation and the pandemic has further "materially and adversely impacted" its business.

The firm incurred a loss of Rs 2,364.53 crore in FY19, which widened to Rs 13,122.77 crore in the following year but reduced to Rs 3,943.84 crore in FY21.

Read | Oyo in legal row with rival Zostel ahead of $1.2 bn IPO

It had aggregate outstanding borrowings of Rs 4,890.55 crore as of July 31, a part of which will be repaid from proceeds of the issue.

While founder Ritesh Agarwal and his holding company had a combined 33.15 per cent stake, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank owned 46.62 per cent of Oyo and AirBnB Inc another 1.36 per cent.

Agarwal held 8.21 per cent and his Cayman-registered holding company RA Hospitality Holdings another 24.94 per cent.

As per the DRHP, SoftBank's arm SVF India Holdings (Cayman) Limited, A1 Holdings Inc, China Lodging Holdings (HK), and Global IVY Ventures LLP are among the entities that are selling some of their shares in the IPO.

Proceeds from the issue would be used towards funding prepayment or repayment, in part, of certain borrowings availed by its subsidiaries amounting to Rs 2,441 crore, and funding the company's organic and inorganic growth initiatives amounting to Rs 2,900 crore, and balance towards general corporate purpose, it added.

With the filing for IPO, OYO Hotels and Homes joins the growing list of startups who have filed for initial share sales recently. It follows the spectacular success of Zomato's IPO that ended with a bumper oversubscription on July 16, and was the biggest since March 2020.

Digital payments startup Paytm and online retailer of beauty products Nykaa are among others that have filed initial documents. Edtech firm Byjus, the country's most valuable startup, is also considering an IPO next year.

Founded in 2013 by college dropout Agarwal, OYO has 5,130 employees around the world, and 70.9 per cent of the total employees are based in India.

"As a result of various initiatives that we took, our adjusted gross profit margin improved from 9.7 per cent in fiscal 2020 to 33.2 per cent in fiscal 2021," it added.

Global co-ordinators and book running lead managers (GCBRLM) to the offer are Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited, JP Morgan India Private Limited and Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited.

The book running lead managers (BRLMs) to the offer are ICICI Securities Limited, Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Private Limited, JM Financial Limited and Deutsche Equities India Private Limited, it added.

GCBRLM do both the regulatory and institutional work as well as the marketing of the issue, while the BRLMs are largely engaged in marketing the issue to the investors.

Moodys Investors Service Analyst, Corporate Finance, Sweta Patodia said, "OYOs potential IPO offering will be credit positive as it will strengthen the company's liquidity and broaden its investor base. It will also provide the company a longer runway to withstand weak operational performance, should pandemic-related disruptions persist for longer than expected."

A listing on the stock exchanges will also reduce governance-related risks around corporate transparency and limited public disclosures, she added.

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Billions of people use Google because it's the best, not because of deals the company made to stay competitive, Google's lawyer said on Friday, wrapping up a week of testimony as the US tech giant fights a record $5 billion antitrust fine.

The European Commission hit Alphabet's Google with a 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) fine in 2018 for using its Android mobile operating system to thwart rivals and cement its dominance in general internet searching from 2011.

At issue are deals requiring phone makers to pre-install the Google Search app and the Chrome browser app together with Google Play, as well deals blocking some variants of Android.

"The reason why billions of people choose Google as their search tool every day is not because of an abuse of dominance. It's because it's the best," lawyer Meredith Pickford told the EU's General Court, the bloc's second-highest.

Pickford said the deals were far from being anti-competitive tools, rather they were to ensure Google stayed competitive.

Also read: Google's plan to ban cookies on Chrome anti-competitive, advertisers tell EU

"You can still compete hard and compete on the merits. Consumers aren't stupid. If Bing or another search engine were better than Google, people would turn to it," he said, referring to a rival Microsoft Corp search engine.

"Successful companies don't stay successful by resting on their laurels and failing to compete," Pickford told the court.

The European Commission's lawyer, Nicholas Khan, said the deals showed that Google had stacked the odds in its favour and urged judges to uphold the Commission's decision and fine.

"Google gives itself the laurel wreath even before the race has started," Khan said. "The scale of the practices entirely justify the fine that was imposed."

It was not clear when there will be a verdict in the case, which is T-604/18 Google vs European Commission.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) on Friday reported 23.6 per cent decline in total sales at 45,791 units in September.

The company had sold 59,913 units in the same month last year, HMIL said in a statement.

Domestic sales were down 34.2 per cent to 33,087 units as against 50,313 units in September 2020, the company added.

Exports increased 34.3 per cent to 12,704 units as compared with 9,600 units in September last year.

The global semi-conductor supply constraint has adversely affected the vehicle production resulting in low dispatches in September 2021, the company stated.
Air India is likely to go to Tata Sons with the salt-to-software conglomerate emerging as the top bidder for the national carrier but a top ministers' panel, headed by Home Minister Amit Shah, is yet to give its approval.

The Tatas and Spicejet promoter Ajay Singh had submitted the bids for Air India before the deadline of September 15 and their bids were first examined by the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Wednesday, sources said.

Officials said bids were evaluated against the reserve price set and Tatas emerged as the highest bidder. Now, the Group of Ministers headed by Shah will take the final call.

As per the disinvestment plan, the government wants to sell 100 per cent stake in the state-owned national airline, including Air India's 100 per cent shareholding in Air India Express Ltd, and 50 per cent in Air India SATS Airport Services Private Ltd.

As some reports suggested that Tata Sons won the bid, Secretary to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted, "Media reports indicating approval of financial bids by Government of India in the AI disinvestment case are incorrect. Media will be informed of the Government decision as and when it is taken."

Media reports indicating approval of financial bids by Government of India in the AI disinvestment case are incorrect. Media will be informed of the Government decision as and when it is taken. pic.twitter.com/PVMgJdDixS

If the bid is approved and Tata Sons takes over the national carrier, Air India will be returning to the corporate House 68 years after the government took over the airline and nationalised it.

JRD Tata founded the airline in 1932, then named Tata Airlines. In 1946, the aviation division of Tata Sons was listed as Air India and two years later, Air India International was launched with flights to Europe. Air India International was among the first public-private partnerships in India, with the government holding 49 per cent, the Tatas 25 per cent and the public owning the rest but in 1953, Air India was nationalised.

Initial attempts to disinvest the carrier faced trouble, following which the process was started again in January 2020 but the Covid-19 pandemic created hurdles. In April 2021, the government asked potential bidders to put in financial bids.

As the bidders were unenthusiastic about certain clauses, the government had in October last year amended the clause relating to the transfer of Air India's debt to the new investor, giving bidders flexibility to decide on the quantum of humongous debt they want to absorb.

According to the EoI floated by DIPAM in January 2020, of the airline's total debt of Rs 60,074 crore as of March 31, 2019, the buyer would be required to absorb Rs 23,286 crore. The rest would be transferred to Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL), a special purpose vehicle.

In July, DH had reported that the movable assets are proposed to be transferred to the new owner while immovable assets are being monetised by Air India to offset the debt of Air India Ltd. A Special Purpose Vehicle  Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL)  was set up for warehousing non-core assets of Air India. Monetisation proceeds of non-core assets were to be used to offset the debt of Air India transferred to AIAHL.

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The BMTC on Thursday unveiled the first of the 90 electric buses it will progressively induct into service in the next three months. Its also in the process of leasing another 300 e-buses.

The first e-bus will undergo trial runs once clearances are given by the Transport Department.

The 90 non-air-conditioned buses will be supplied by the NTPC-JBM joint venture by December 15. The buses are medium-sized (nine metres long) and will run on feeder routes to connect metro stations.

Each bus can travel up to 120 km on a single charge. A subsequent 45-minute quick charge will give an additional mileage of 60 km.

Each bus is estimated to cost Rs 90 lakh, of which about Rs 60 lakh has come from the Rs 50-crore grants under the Smart Cities Mission.

Under the lease model, the BMTC will not own the buses but instead pay Rs 51.67 per km to the NTPC. It will have to pay for a minimum of 180 kilometres for each bus regardless of utilisation. In return, it will keep all the revenue generated from the bus operation.

Read | Govt may extend Fame II incentive scheme for purchase of personal EV cars, e-bicycles

Transport Minister B Sriramulu said that the 10-year lease under the gross cost contract model would help the BMTC understand electric vehicle technology.

The chief minister will formally induct some e-buses in November. We will continue to push for green mobility and green economy, he said.

A BMTC official said that the viability of leasing e-buses would depend on ridership.

Due to high diesel prices, the operation cost of a non-AC diesel bus has crossed Rs 60 per km. Since we are paying Rs 51.67 per km for an e-bus, its a better deal. But viability depends on earnings from each bus, the official added.

300 e-buses

The minister said that the BMTC board would decide on approving the bid for leasing 300 large-sized (12 metres long) e-buses. The BMTC board is set to meet next month.

Officials said that Ashok Leyland had emerged as the lowest bidder to supply the 300 electric buses, a procurement supported by the union governments Fame II scheme and a state government subsidy.

Once the bid is approved, the company will be paid Rs 48.90 per km per bus at a minimum assured operation of 225 km, officials said.

1,500 e-buses for city

The state government plans to add 1,500 electric buses to the BMTCs fleet in the next three years under the Grand Challenge initiative of a subsidiary company of the state-owned Energy Efficiency Services Limited.

Rajender Kumar Kataria, Principal Secretary, Transport Department, said Bengaluru was among nine cities nationwide taking part in the challenge.

State road transport corporations have been asked to quote the number of electric buses they plan to run in the next three years.

For Bengaluru, we are planning to bid for 1,500 buses. With the addition of these buses, e-buses will serve about 30 per cent of city bus services, he said.

BMTC Managing Director V Anbu Kumar said that under Grand Challenge, the entire tender process would be completed by the state-owned company, which would help in faster induction of the buses.
As Australian beef exports to China wither amid diplomatic tensions, demand there for US grain-fed beef has soared, fuelled by the appetites of a growing Chinese middle class.

Hotpot restaurants, Japanese barbecue chains and steakhouses, all expanding in the world's No. 2 economy, are swapping out Australian beef for US meat. Several Australian suppliers were banned last year and shipments from others take too long to clear customs.

Beef imports from the US have grown to 83,000 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, nine times the amount in the same period a year ago, according to Chinese customs data, and are set to be worth more than $1 billion this year. Australia also fell behind the United States this year as the top exporter of grain-fed beef to China.

"They don't have a lot of other options when it comes to the well-marbled, grain-fed product," said Joe Schuele, spokesman at the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF). "That's the product that really stands out in China."

Deteriorating relations between Beijing and Canberra have hurt supplies from Australia. Five of its largest factories were suspended by Beijing last year for reasons such as poor labelling and contamination with a banned substance.

Though other plants are still allowed to ship to China, importers say they face long delays.

Beef imports from Australia in the first eight months fell to 96,000 tonnes, half of what they were in the same period last year, China customs data shows.

"We've been told it will take at least 85 days to clear," said a Beijing-based importer who has six containers of frozen Australian beef stuck in Shanghai port and has begun offering Tyson beef to his restaurant clients.

That compares with about one week for meat from other origins. China's General Administration of Customs did not respond to a request for comment.

Sino-Australian ties have been strained since 2018 and worsened last year when Australia called for an independent investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus, prompting trade reprisals from China.

Grain-Fed Demand

Grass-fed beef, a premium product in other markets, typically goes to cheaper channels in China, such as mass-market restaurants and supermarkets.

Last year imports accounted for 40% of China's beef consumption, or about 2 million tonnes. Though supplies are dominated by low-cost grass-fed producers Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, demand from mass-market consumers is slowing amid a weaker economy.

China's mid- to high-end market - where grain-fed rules - continues to grow, however, as consumers "trade up, eat better", said Pan Chenjun, senior analyst at Rabobank.

China's middle class spent $7.3 trillion in 2020, more than any other country's, according to a report by US research group Brookings, and is still growing, with young people accounting for more spending than in other countries.

New York chain Wolfgang's Steakhouse, which has two restaurants in Beijing, opened another in the southern city of Shenzhen this year and has plans for a fourth in Hangzhou.

The restaurant flies in chilled US beef before ageing it. Its 800g rib-eyes cost $150 apiece.

"Young people like meat, especially 20- and 30-year-olds who come here on dates," said Glen Feng, manager of the Beijing outlets.

Trade Ties

Even as China's beef demand has surged in recent years, driven by a growing middle class, politics have reshuffled the country's top importers.

Domestic production costs, meanwhile, make local supplies of grain-fed beef erratic, said Zhong Dingming, the manager of Jingli hotpot restaurant in Beijing. He said imported beef like the Tyson short ribs he buys offers better quality for a slightly higher price.

In last year's Phase 1 trade deal between Beijing and Washington, China agreed that US-approved processing plants could access its market without Chinese inspections.

The number of facilities allowed to ship to China has jumped to more than 500.

TREX Corp, a US meat exporter owned by Greater Omaha Packing Co, is buying meat from other packers to ship to China as demand climbs, said Henry Davis, chief executive of Greater Omaha.

In China, USMEF has doubled the number of training events teaching local chefs how best to cut and slice, said Joel Haggard, senior vice president for the Asia Pacific.

Shanghai-based retailer Swiss Butchery said it had stocked up on American beef as Australian supplies became less reliable. The store now sells American wagyu for 1,430 yuan ($221.87)per kilogramme, on occasion selling 10 kilogrammes at a time, said general manager Jaap Zuidervliet.

US beef that meets China's import standards is in tight supply and the European Union is competing to buy the same meat, said Omaha's Davis.

And though Australia's beef exporters have turned to Japan and South Korea, a well-established reputation means customers in China could quickly return if things change.

"Australian beef still has a reputation for top quality and being natural. Long-term we're still really bullish on China," said Andrew Cox, general manager of international markets at trade body Meat and Livestock Australia.

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By Sojin Lim for The Conversation

When the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, called for an end to the war on the Korea peninsula recently, the initial response was a rebuff from North Koreas vice foreign minister. This has been the standard response from Pyongyang whenever the idea has been raised of turning the 1953 armistice between the two warring Koreas into an actual peace treaty.

So it was something of a surprise when, the following day, a rather warmer message emerged from Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Koreas supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, who declared the idea admirable. She specified a number of pre-conditions which would need to be met, though:

What needs to be dropped is the double-dealing attitudes, illogical prejudice, bad habits and hostile stand of justifying their own acts while faulting our just exercise of the right to self-defence.

This is the sort of message one would usually expect to come from Kim Jong-un himself, so it prompted a round of discussion from the medias Korea watchers as to how much weight the world can give a statement from his younger sister.

Who Is Kim Yo-jong?

The supreme leaders sister first came to international attention in 2018, when she became the first member of North Koreas Kim dynasty to visit South Korea in an official capacity. She was part of the nations delegation to the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, at which the two countries competed as one team. She held a meeting with President Moon and appeared in photo opportunities alongside US Vice President Mike Pence and the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe. Footage of her dominated coverage in North Korea.

Also read: N Korea test-fires anti-aircraft missile: State media

Following what was reported as her diplomatic triumph at the Winter Olympics, her profile grew as she met with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and was present at all three face-to-face meetings between her brother and former US President Donald Trump.

Little is known about Kim Yo-jongs childhood, though  even her date of birth is clouded in uncertainty. She is the youngest child of former supreme leader Kim Jong-ils relationship with Ko Yong-hui, who was originally from Japan and thus would have been regarded as being from a lower caste in Koreas complex songbun system if Kim Jong-il had not removed the official record about her origin. Kim Yo-jong is understood to have attended the same private school with her elder brother in Bern, Switzerland, after which she attended Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang, where she studied computer science.

By 2009, Kim Jong-ils ill-health made the succession a matter of urgent debate and it became increasingly clear that Kim Jong-un was being groomed to take over the leadership on his death. But at Kim Jong-ils funeral, Kim Yo-jong was photographed alongside senior family members.

She has twice been elevated to the politburo, in 2017 to 2019 and 2020 to 2021. In addition, she is also a leader of the Propaganda and Agitation Department, in which capacity she has boosted the cult of personality surrounding her brother as well as making regular statements about North Korean foreign relations.

She is believed to be married to Choe Song, the younger son of the Korean Workers Party secretary, Choe Ryong Hae, which gives her another source of political power.

Heir apparent?

How much power does Kim Yo-jong actually wield? One incident from June 2020 shows the extent to which she can exercise her will in North Korea. In retaliation for South Korean defectors use of balloons to drop propaganda leaflets into the North, she warned that she had ordered the department in charge of inter-Korean affairs to decisively carry out the next action, adding that: Before long, a tragic scene of the useless north-south joint liaison office completely collapsed would be seen.

The following day the building was blown up, suggesting that when Kim Yo-jong orders something, it happens.

Another interesting episode can cast some light over power relations between herself and her brother. In March 2020, Kim Yo-jong issued her first official statement, lashing out at South Koreas presidential office, the so-called Blue House, which had called on the North to halt its live fire exercises. She referred to the leadership as a mere child and a burnt child dreading fire.

Two days later Kim Jong-un sent a message of condolence over the outbreak of COVID-19 in the South. This underlined his unwavering friendship and trust toward President Moon and said that he will continue to quietly send his best wishes for President Moon to overcome. The message had Korea watchers confused as to whether the siblings were at loggerheads over North-South relations or whether this was a display of good cop-bad cop diplomacy.

This is a family where many of the possible male contenders for power have been executed or assassinated  including Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-uns half brother who was murdered with the nerve agent VX at Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia in 2017; and his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, who was reportedly executed by firing squad in 2013 after being accused of being a counter-revolutionary.

So the status of Kim Yo-jongs relationship with her brother is as scrutinised as Kim Jong-uns physical health when it comes to if  and when  she might be in a position to challenge for ultimate power in North Korea.

In North Korea, it seems that to achieve the leadership its necessary to seize the grip of the trinity power of the military, party and people. Both Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un became leading figures of the National Defence Commission (NDC)  the military  as well as the party through the Korean Workers Party (KWP). They had both developed their cult of personality, giving them access to the people.

Kim Yo-jong may have achieved name recognition in her capacity as a spokesperson on foreign relations and has access to power in the KWP. But she has not yet been appointed to a position at the NDC. If that happens any time soon, it might be a sign that North Korea is preparing for its first woman leader.

(The author is with University of Central Lancashire)

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President Joe Biden's administration on Friday urged a judge to block a near-total ban on abortion imposed by Texas -- the strictest such law in the nation -- in a key battle in the ferocious legal war over abortion access in the United States.

The US Supreme Court on September 1 allowed the Republican-backed law to take effect even as litigation over its legality continues in lower courts. The US Justice Department eight days later sued in federal court to try to invalidate it.

During a hearing in the Texas capital of Austin, Justice Department lawyers asked US District Judge Robert Pitman to temporarily block the law, saying the state's Republican legislature and governor enacted it in an open defiance of the Constitution.

"There is no doubt under binding constitutional precedents that a state may not ban abortions at six weeks," said Brian Netter, the lead Justice Department attorney on the case.

"Texas knew this but, it wanted a 6-week ban anyway. So this state resorted to an unprecedented scheme of vigilante justice."

Also read: Denouncing Texas law, Uma Thurman reveals abortion as teen

In the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalised abortion nationwide, the Supreme Court recognised a woman's constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. The high court in December is due to hear arguments over the legality of a Mississippi abortion law in a case in which officials from that state are asking the justices to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

The Texas law bans abortions starting at six weeks of pregnancy, a point when many women may not yet realise they are pregnant. It and the Mississippi measure are among a series of Republican-backed laws passed by various states restricting abortion.

About 85% to 90% of abortions are performed after six weeks. Texas makes no exception for cases of rape and incest. It also lets ordinary citizens enforce the ban, rewarding them at least $10,000 if they successfully sue anyone who helped provide an abortion after a foetal cardiac activity is detected.

The four Whole Woman's Health abortion clinics across the state have reported that patient visits have plummeted and some staff have quit since the Texas law took effect.

In an emergency motion to the court, the Justice Department provided sworn statements from doctors who described the impact of the Texas law on patients.

In one statement, Dr Joshua Yap said he witnessed a "surge" of women crossing into neighbouring Oklahoma for abortions.

"One of the most heart-wrenching cases I have seen recently was of a Texas minor who had been raped by a family member," Yap said, adding that a guardian made an eight-hour drive to Oklahoma from Galveston because the girl was more than six weeks pregnant.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the state's top law enforcement official, argued in a court filing on Wednesday that the Justice Department's lawsuit must be dismissed on jurisdictional grounds. The Texas law must be challenged in state court through lawsuits brought against abortion providers by private citizens, Paxton said.

Democratic former President Barack Obama appointed Pitman to the judiciary in 2014.

The hearing will also include arguments from other interested parties, including Oscar Stilley, a disbarred lawyer in home confinement for tax evasion who in September became one of the first people to test a key provision of the law by suing a San Antonio doctor who provided an abortion.
A long-planned round of Australia-EU free trade talks have been postponed, a European official confirmed Friday, after fury over Canberra's decision to cancel a major French submarine contract.

"The FTA trade round has been postponed for a month until November," an EU official in Canberra told AFP, throwing the future of the far-reaching pact into doubt.

Australia last month abruptly cancelled a multibillion-dollar contract for 12 French submarines, opting to buy nuclear-powered US-designed vessels instead.

The decision prompted a major diplomatic spat with one of the European Union's largest members and now appears to have hit ties with the entire bloc.

France has publicly said it can no longer trust Australia's government, accusing officials of lying and questioning whether the trade agreement can go ahead.

Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan, who was scheduled to travel to Europe for the talks, played down the decision.

Also Read | AUKUS complements Quad; warm embrace of it by India, says Australian PM Morrison

"We understand the French reaction to our submarine decision but ultimately any nation must act in its national interest -- which is what Australia has done," he said in a statement to AFP.

Tehan indicated he plans to meet EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis -- the body that negotiates trade deals on behalf of its member governments -- next week to discuss what would be the 12th round of negotiations.

"We will continue preparing for the 12th round of negotiations and working towards concluding a free trade agreement that is in the interests of both Australia and the EU."

The European Union is Australia's third-biggest trading partner, with trade in goods between the two economies valued at 36 billion euros ($42.4 billion) and at 26 billion euros in services last year.

The next round of talks was due to cover areas including trade, services, investment and intellectual property rights.

Negotiations began in 2018 and officials had hoped to reach a final agreement by the end of the year.

With both Australia and France heading to elections in early 2022, that timeline now appears optimistic.

The submarine dispute has made front-page news in both countries.

In response to the decision, the French government recalled its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington, a rare move to protest allies' behaviour.

France's ambassador returned to the United States on Wednesday but as yet there is no such indication that ambassador to Australia Jean-Pierre Thebault will return.

Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull this week said his successor and former party colleague "deliberately deceived" France in scrapping the deal.

"(Prime Minister Scott) Morrison has not acted in good faith. He deliberately deceived France. He makes no defence of his conduct other than to say it was in Australia's national interest," Turnbull told the National Press Club in Canberra.

"France believes it has been deceived and humiliated, and she was. This betrayal of trust will dog our relations with Europe for years," he added.

"The Australian government has treated the French Republic with contempt."

Canberra insists it scrapped the contract as it decided it needs nuclear submarines, which can remain underwater and undetected for far greater stretches, at a time of rising tensions with China.

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A slow death if they stay or possible detention if they leave: the last residents of a Syria desert camp face an unenviable choice ahead of a new "voluntary departure" programme.

The nearly 10,000 displaced Syrians still living in the Rukban camp, established in 2014 on the berm between Jordan and Syria, are the last remnants of the nearly 50,000 people who lived there a few years ago.

A 55-kilometre (34-mile) radius security zone around a nearby garrison of US-led coalition troops shields camp residents from the Syrian army.

Also Read | US says it won't normalise or upgrade diplomatic ties with Syria's Bashar al-Assad

But Jordan has largely sealed the border since 2016, leaving residents dependent on rare UN aid deliveries. Not a single humanitarian convoy has entered the area since September 2019.

Driven out by hunger, disease and deplorable living conditions, tens of thousands have flocked to government-held areas, risking detention and enforced disappearance by government forces.

With the situation in Rukban rapidly deteriorating, rebels and Syrian army defectors still living in the settlement must decide whether to go along with a fresh round of UN-facilitated departures -- a move human rights groups have strongly advised against.

"We are caught between two fires. If we go to government-held Syria, we will perish, and if we stay in the camp, we will die a slow death," said an army defector who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.

Read | Putin, Erdogan sit down for talks on war-torn Syria

"Since 2016, we have been trapped in the desert," said Mohammad Derbas al-Khalidi, head of the camp's organising committee.

Khalidi said there are no doctors or surgeons in the camp, only a small clinic and a team of first responders.

Instead of schools, children attend classes under canvas or in mud-brick buildings that need repair, he said.

"Many of the teachers sell vegetables or cigarettes installs at the market," instead of teaching, Khalidi told AFP.

Since 2019, more than 20,000 people have voluntarily left Rukban, according to the UN, which facilitated the voluntary departure of 329 people, with the help of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in September that year.

Also Read | Concerned about involvement of external actors in Syria and its impact on terrorism: India at UN

Others departed independently, or with assistance from the Syrian government, which has been calling on residents to leave Rukban for more than two years.

Earlier this year, the camp committee received a UN plan to resume facilitated repatriations between September and November.

Those who chose to leave would be required to spend at least 14 days in transit shelters in the government-held province of Homs, according to the plan, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

They would only be allowed to leave the shelters if they were granted permission to do so by the Syrian authorities.

"The security and safety of individuals" rest with the Syrian government, the document said.

Bereft of security guarantees, the UN plan amounts to "collusion" with the Syrian government, Khalidi said.

"The United Nations in Damascus is complicit, and it is nothing but a company shipping humans for the regime."

On September 11, the UN kicked off the latest round of departures by supporting a convoy of five trucks, alongside the Red Crescent.

The convoy entered Rukban in response to a request by 88 individuals who had registered to leave, said Danielle Jenni Moylan of the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.

"However, while inside Rukban, a small group of individuals obstructed the convoy and assaulted a driver," the spokesperson said.

"As a result, the mission was cancelled and the convoy immediately departed Rukban."

When asked about potential risks facing returnees, Moylan said the UN was not in a position to offer security guarantees to Rukban residents wishing to leave.

This effectively leaves them at the mercy of Syrian government forces, a concern that prompted Amnesty International to call on the UN to halt all plans for future departures.

"The Syrian government considers that people in Rukban are 'terrorists'," said Amnesty's Marie Forestier.

"They are targeted when they return... arbitrarily detained, tortured and, in some cases, forcibly disappeared."

Earlier this month, Amnesty published an investigation that documented "horrific violations" committed by Syrian security forces against 66 refugees, 13 of them children, who have returned to Syria since 2017 from several places of asylum, including Rukban.

Although the UN stresses that all facilitated departures are voluntary, Forestier said that the decision to leave by some Rukban residents cannot be considered "free" because of the pressures they have faced from accessing health care to securing food and clean water.

"In the current situation, there should be no plan to facilitate the return," she said.

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The signals are confusing. One day, North Korea is raising hopes for dialogue with South Korea, and the next, it is firing missiles or showing off the latest weaponry in its nuclear arsenal.

In the past week alone, the North suggested the possibility of inter-Korean summit talks and said it would reopen communication hotlines with its neighbor. It also fired long-range cruise missiles, trotted out what it called its first hypersonic missile and, on Thursday, tested a new anti-aircraft missile. Earlier in September, it launched ballistic missiles from a train rolled out of a mountain tunnel, on the same day that it called the Souths president, Moon Jae-in, stupid. 

Once again, North Korea is turning to a well-honed, two-pronged strategy, designed to let it flex its military muscles without risking retaliation or nixing the chances for dialogue.

In the absence of talks with Washington, the missile tests reminded the world that North Korea is developing increasingly sophisticated weaponry capable of delivering nuclear warheads. But individually, these short-range or still-under-development missiles do not amount to a direct threat to the United States.

Read | North Korea: The rise and rise of first sister Kim Yo-jong

And North Korea has been careful not to go too far, refraining from testing a nuclear device or an intercontinental ballistic missile, which would jolt Washington into action with fresh sanctions or worse.

North Korea is careful not to cross the red line, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. Amid all these missile tests, North Korea is signaling that it is interested in dialogue.

The Norths favorite geopolitical game has been given various names, like the hot-and-cold water bath strategy. And it has served the regime well over the years, raising often-false hopes of peace while it continued to develop and test new weapons.

Also Read | N Korea test-fires anti-aircraft missile: State media

North Korea is now deploying that strategy at a complex diplomatic moment. Moon badly wants dialogue to resume on the Korean Peninsula, a last-ditch effort to cement his legacy before he leaves office in May. The Biden administration, though, is not as eager to engage the North.

Kim Jong Un, the Norths leader, now finds himself in a position to exploit that gap between the two allies.

He met with then-President Donald Trump three times from 2018 to 2019, becoming the first North Korean leader to hold a summit with a sitting U.S. president. But his diplomatic efforts failed to lift crippling sanctions the United Nations imposed on his impoverished country after its nuclear and ICBM tests. Soon the pandemic hit, further hamstringing the Norths economy.

American and South Korean officials had hoped that the Norths deepening economic troubles, caused by the double whammy of sanctions and the pandemic, would make North Korea more amenable to dialogue.

So far, Kim has proved them wrong.

Since his talks with Trump collapsed in early 2019, he has vowed to slog through the economic difficulties while expanding his nuclear arsenal, his countrys single best diplomatic leverage and deterrent against what it considers US threats to topple its government. By demonstrating his countrys growing military capabilities, Kim has also sought to legitimize his rule at a time when he has been able to deliver little on the economic front to his long-suffering people.

The anti-aircraft missile test Thursday indicated that the North is building a weapon similar to Russias S-400, one of the most potent air-defense systems in the world, according to Kim Dong-yub, an expert on North Korean weapons at the University of North Korean Studies.

The Biden administration has repeatedly urged North Korea to return to talks without preconditions. But Kim said he would not restart negotiations until he was convinced that Washington was ready to ease sanctions and its hostile policy, including the joint annual military exercises it conducts with South Korea.

In his discussions with Trump, Kim also made it clear that he was more interested in talks to reduce nuclear arms than in complete denuclearization. He offered a partial dismantlement of his countrys nuclear facilities if Washington lifted sanctions. Trump rejected the offer.

Also Read | North Korea's Kim condemns US dialogue offer as 'petty trick'

The US is touting diplomatic engagement and dialogue without preconditions, Kim told North Koreas rubber-stamp legislature Wednesday. But it is no more than a petty trick for deceiving the international community and hiding its hostile acts.

North Korea isnt interested in denuclearization talks to receive benefits for coming into compliance with UN resolutions, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. It seeks to rewrite the rules and be compensated for restraint as a nuclear power.

All of this leaves the Biden administration in a difficult bargaining position. Washington is reluctant to engage the North if the country only wants to use dialogue to ease sanctions without giving up its nuclear weapons. But not engaging also means wasting opportunities to put the brakes on the Norths development of its arsenal. It also runs the risk of sparking an arms race in the region.

Kim cannot really attempt shocking provocations like the ones he conducted in 2017  three ICBM tests and a nuclear test  that brought the Trump administration to the table. Such tests would sharply raise tensions, invite more UN sanctions and potentially invoke the ire of China by ruining the mood for the Beijing Winter Olympics in February.

So the question for Kim, analysts said, is how to force Washington to return to dialogue on his terms without angering North Koreas traditional allies, China and Russia, whose help it needs to survive UN sanctions and rebuild its economy.

In the end, Moons government may provide the most promising answer for Kim.

Moon is desperate to put his Korean Peninsula peace process, his signature foreign policy, back on track before his single, five-year term ends in May.

Its our governments destiny to pursue dialogue with the North, Moon told reporters last week, referring to his efforts to build peace through his three meetings with Kim in 2018 and his efforts to help arrange the summit meetings between Kim and Trump.

This week, Kim also offered conciliatory words toward South Korea.

We have neither aim nor reason to provoke South Korea and no idea to harm it, he said.

North Korea was wooing South Korea while shunning talks with Washington, said Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute in South Korea. Other analysts said North Korea was leaning on South Korea to help bring Washington to dialogue.

On Thursday, Sung Kim, the US special representative for North Korea, met with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea and indicated that Washington would support humanitarian aid to North Korea as an incentive for dialogue.

Experts doubted that it would be enough.

I am not sure that the old way of providing humanitarian shipments as an incentive will work this time, given the Norths reluctance to accept outside help during the pandemic, Yang said. North Korea wants the United States to address more fundamental issues concerning its well-being. It wants clearer commitments from the United States to easing sanctions and guaranteeing its security.

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A Qatari aircraft landed in Kabul Wednesday carrying a technical team to discuss the resumption of airport operations after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

"A Qatari jet carrying a technical team has landed in Kabul earlier today to discuss the resumption of operations in the airport," the source told AFP.

"While no final agreement has been reached regarding providing technical assistance, Qatar's technical team has initiated this discussion based on the other sides' request.

Read more: In Afghanistan's Panjshir, anti-Taliban forces fight on

"Talks are still ongoing at the level of security and operation."

The source said that the goal was to resume flights for both humanitarian aid and to provide freedom of movement, including the resumption of evacuation efforts.

More than 123,000 foreign nationals and Afghans fled the country in a frenzied airlift operation that wound up on Tuesday, but many more are desperate to depart.

US officials have said Kabul airport is in a bad condition, with much of its basic infrastructure degraded or destroyed.

Taliban fighters celebrated with gunfire on Tuesday after the last US forces abandoned Kabul following a two-decade war.

Qatar hosted negotiations between the Taliban and the United States in recent years and was a transit point for about 43,000 evacuees from Afghanistan.

The US invaded Afghanistan and toppled its Taliban government in 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks by Al-Qaeda, which had sought sanctuary in the country.

Western capitals fear Afghanistan could again become a haven for extremists bent on attacks.

Gulf countries, including Qatar, have been instrumental staging posts for evacuation flights for Western countries' citizens as well as Afghan interpreters, journalists and others.
Even after nine months, India is yet to fully vaccinate its healthcare workers, the first group prioritised by the government when it rolled out the Covid-19 vaccination drive in January.

As on September 30, around 85 per cent of the healthcare workers received two shots. Considering more than a crore of such workers got the first dose, it means close to 15 lakh doctors, nurses and paramedical workers did not receive the second shot, though they work in a high-risk environment.

A month ago, on August 26, the corresponding number stood at 83 per cent.

"There are certain specific states where the second dose coverage among the healthcare workers is on the lower side. We have drawn their attention and provided a facility in the Co-WIN system where line listing of people who have missed their second dose can be generated, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Thursday.

Read: Centre says needle-free ZyCoV-D to be introduced in Covid vaccination drive shortly

The states, he said, are looking at the list of defaulting individuals to ensure the second dose is administered on time as the festive season coming nearer.

Failure to vaccinate more than 15 lakh healthcare workers even now comes at a time when there is rising scientific evidence on the effectiveness of the two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to protect a person from the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, which is driving the pandemic in India.

There are also several studies on breakthrough infections (Covid-19 cases 14 days after receiving the second dose) among the hospital staff, who were saved from the serious disease because of the two shots.

When it comes to frontline workers, the percentage of fully vaccinated individuals rose from 79 per cent in end August to 82 per cent a month later. Also 100 per cent of frontline staff received the first dose as against 99 per cent healthcare workers.

Nearly 69 per cent of Indian adults have received the first dose, whereas a quarter of them are fully vaccinated. But the official vaccination data shows eastern India fares the worst to inoculate its residents as four of the seven states with less than 60 per cent first-dose coverage are the big ones on the east  Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

These are also the states that are likely to see a spurt in crowd and mass gatherings during the Dasara-Diwali-Chhath festivals over the next one and half months.

Asked about Zydus Cadila's indigenously-developed needle-free three-dose vaccine ZyCoV-D, Bhushan said it would be introduced in the nationwide coronavirus vaccination drive shortly.
The Centre has approved release of the second installment of its share of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) amounting to Rs 7,274.40 crore, in advance, to 23 states.

The decision has been taken by Union Home Minister Amit Shah as part of the Modi government's initiative to facilitate state governments to have enough funds in their SDRF to deal with any emergency arising out of any disaster.

According to a Union home ministry statement, five states have already been released in advance the second installment amounting to Rs 1,599.20 crore.

The central government had issued an order on September 25, revising the items and norms of assistance under the SDRF, making therein a provision for grant of ex-gratia payment to the next of kin of the deceased due to Covid-19.

This enabling provision in the SDRF norms has been made so as to implement the guidelines issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on September 11 in compliance with the order passed by the Supreme Court on June 30.

Shah has approved release of the second installment of the central share of the SDRF amounting to Rs 7,274.40 crore, in advance, to 23 states, the statement said.

The state governments will now have an amount of Rs 23,186.40 crore in their SDRF, including state's share, during the financial year 2021-22, in addition to the amount of opening balance available in their SDRF, to meet the expenses for granting ex-gratia to the next of kin of the deceased due to Covid and for providing relief on other notified calamities, it said.

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Even after nine months, India is yet to fully vaccinate its healthcare workers, the first group prioritised by the government when it rolled out the Covid-19 vaccination drive in January.

As on September 30, around 85 per cent of the healthcare workers received two shots. Considering more than a crore of such workers got the first dose, it means close to 15 lakh doctors, nurses and paramedical workers did not receive the second shot, though they work in a high-risk environment.

Meanwhile, the number of weekly Covid-19 cases and deaths continued to decline globally, the World Health Organization said, noting that both the case and death incidence have reduced for the past two months in the South-East Asian region.

The Covid-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update, released this week, said over 3.3 million new cases and over 55,000 new deaths were reported around the world during the week of September 2026, 2021, a decrease of 10 per cent as compared to the previous week for both cases and deaths.

On the other hand, the WHO has reportedly asked Covaxin maker Bharat Biotech for more data on its Covid-19 vaccine, which could further delay the global acceptance tag for the homegrown vaccine. Bharat Biotech stated that it is diligently working with the WHO to obtain EUL at the earliest.

India's vaccination drive continued steadily, as sixty-nine per cent of the country's adult population has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and 25 per cent has taken both doses, the government said on Thursday.

It also said that increased population density raises chances of Covid-19 spread and it will be prudent to avoid non-essential travel and observe festivity at low key.

The government said that 64.1 per cent doses of Covid-19 vaccine has been administered in vaccination centres in rural areas and 35 per cent in urban areas.

The government also said Zydus Cadila's indigenously-developed needle-free Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D will be introduced in the nationwide coronavirus vaccination drive very shortly and would have a differential pricing than the jabs being used currently.

The Serum Institute of India, which produces the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, will resume small exports via the global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX this month and raise it substantially by January, its head told The Telegraph.

"Our exports to COVAX will recommence again in October, initially these supplies will be small but by January 2022, once we have satisfied domestic demands  people forget that India is still a lower-middle income country  we will see large volumes go to COVAX," Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla said.

In a possible blow to India's vaccination drive, however, some private hospitals have cancelled orders for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine as they struggle to sell Covid-19 shots amid surging supplies of free doses of other vaccines offered by the government.

Some industry officials said low demand and the extremely cold storage temperatures required have spurred at least three big hospitals to cancel orders for Sputnik V, sold only on the private market in the world's biggest producer of vaccines.

Pfizer has submitted research to the US Food and Drug Administration on the effectiveness of its Covid-19 vaccine in children but the shots may not be available until November.

The company said it provided health regulators with data from a recent study of its vaccine in children 5 to 11 years old. Officials had said previously they would file an application with the FDA to authorise use in the coming weeks.

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India has retaliated against the British governments discriminatory travel rules and made it mandatory for the citizens of the United Kingdom arriving in the country from Monday onward to quarantine themselves for 10 days even if they have already been inoculated with Covid-19 jabs.

New Delhi decided to retaliate as the British government has not yet revised its new travel rules, which refused to recognise the Covid-19 vaccination programme in India.

The retaliatory measures imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modis government will require all UK citizens, including the ones already vaccinated, to undergo pre-departure Covid-19 RT-PCR tests within 72 hours before travelling to India. They will also have to undergo Covid-19 RT-PCR tests immediately after arriving at any airport, as well as on the eighth day after arrival in India, according to sources in New Delhi.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Civil Aviation will make arrangements for implementation of the new measures for the UK citizens arriving in India from Monday. The British governments new travel rules, which do not recognise the certificates issued by the Modi government to people inoculated with Covishield in India, will also come into force on Monday.

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The diplomats and health officials of the two governments have been in touch over the past couple of weeks to address the British governments concerns over some aspects of the certificates issued through the CoWIN app to people vaccinated with the Covishield Covid-19 vaccines. The Government of India made arrangements for the certificates to show full dates of birth of the vaccinated beneficiaries and thus addressed one of the concerns of London.

The British government, however, has not yet changed its new travel rules in order to recognise the certificates issued to the beneficiaries of the inoculation programme in India and to exempt them from mandatory quarantine requirement on arrival in the UK.

The UK is continuing to work on expanding the policy to countries and territories across the globe in a phased approach, said a spokesperson of the British High Commission in New Delhi. We are continuing to engage with the Government of India on technical cooperation to expand UK recognition of vaccine certification to people vaccinated by a relevant public health body in India.

The two governments are continuing discussion on technical cooperation to expand UK recognition of vaccine certification to people vaccinated by a relevant public health body in India, a spokesperson of the British High Commission in New Delhi said on Friday.

Londons envoy to New Delhi, Alex Ellis, had earlier pointed out that the visitors from the UK had to remain in home quarantine for seven days upon arrival in India even after testing negative for the SARS-CoV-2 infection.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had raised the issue with his counterpart in the British government, Liz Truss, during a meeting in New York on September 21. Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla had also told journalists in New Delhi on Tuesday that India could take reciprocal measures if the UK continued with its discriminatory policy.

The British governments new travel rules had initially stipulated that only the people, who had been inoculated with the vaccines, such as the double dose ones developed by the AstraZeneca PLC, Pfizer Inc and the Moderna Inc or the single dose one developed by the Johnson and Johnsons would be considered fully vaccinated and hence would be exempted from mandatory quarantine requirement on arrival in the UK.

The Serum Institute of India (SII) manufactures the AstraZeneca PLCs vaccine in India as the company has authorised it to do so and market it as Covishield. But the British governments new travel rules had initially not included it in the list of the approved vaccines for treating travellers as inoculated and hence entitled for exemption from quarantine requirement upon arrival in the UK.

After New Delhi had warned of reciprocal measures, the British government had on September 22 revised its travel rules to recognise the Covishield as one of the approved Covid-19 vaccines, but still refused to recognise the certificates issued to people, who had been inoculated with the jab in India.

This meant that the people administered with the Covishield in India would still have to undergo mandatory quarantine on arrival in the UK from Monday, unlike the ones administered with the same jab or any other approved SARS-CoV-2 jab in the US or anywhere in Europe or in 17 other countries.

New Delhi had called the British governments policy discriminatory and asked it to make changes in it.

A citizen of India at present does not need to be vaccinated to travel to the UK.

But a traveller from India, regardless of her or his vaccination status, must take a pre-departure test and must take a Covid 19 test on or before the second day and on or after the eighth day after arrival in the UK, apart from self-isolating for 10 days. The travellers from India to UK can also choose to shorten their home quarantine to around five days under the Test to Release service.

The UK is open to travel and were already seeing a lot of people going from India to the UK, be it tourists, business people or students, said the spokesperson of the British High Commission. Over 62,500 student visas have been issued in the year ending June 2021, which is an increase of almost 30% as compared to the previous year. We want to make the process of travelling as easy as possible.

Londons envoy to New Delhi, Alex Ellis, had earlier pointed out that the visitors from the UK had to remain in home quarantine for seven days upon arrival in India even after testing negative for the SARS-CoV-2 infection.

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The Calcutta High Court on Friday said that the guidelines issued in its detailed order regarding imposing restrictions on crowds at Durga Puja pandals in West Bengal last year will be in force this year also.

Last year the High Court declared all Durga Puja pandals in the State no entry zones, which means that this year too the pandals will be off-limits for the general public.

The order was issued by the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj following a PIL that sought that the last years crowd control regulations be also imposed this year.

The petition has been filed in public interest inter alia, seeking a direction to the respondents to make proper arrangements so that there is no large gathering during the Puja festival at different places. The learned counsel further referred to detailed orders passed by this Court on October 19, 2020, and October 21, 2020...The submission is that the same protocol is followed for the current year as well, stated the order.

Read | Mamata Banerjee's 'idol' to share space with Goddess Durga in Kolkata pandal

Appearing for the State Government Advocate General submitted in court that the State Government has no objections if the Court imposes the same restrictions as last year regarding prevention of large gatherings at Puja pandals for the benefit of the people.

The learned Advocate General submitted that he has sought instruction from the competent authority to state that even for this year the guidelines issued by this court in the aforesaid order dated October 19, 2020, and October 21, 2020, passed in WPA 8250 of 2020 shall be followed by the authorities concerned, stated the order.

In public interest, all pandals whereat Durga Puja is being celebrated this year are made no-entry zones for members of the public, the order issued last year said.

The High Court later partially modified its order regarding community Durga pujas stating that dhak (musical instrument) and organisers would be allowed inside the pandals.
In an apparent bid to counter any possible anti-incumbency, BJP is likely to deny re-nomination to over one hundred sitting legislators in the forthcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, scheduled to be held in March next year.

According to the sources in the state BJP in Lucknow, the saffron party has decided not to re-nominate the MLAs, who have not been active or with whom the party workers and leaders in their respective assembly constituencies are not happy.

''Those above the age of seventy and also those, who have been making statements against the state government, will not be repeated,'' a senior UP BJP leader here said while speaking to DH.

Sources said that the party was also conducting a survey to get the feedback of the workers in different constituencies to identify the possible candidates.

Also read: Yogi to be UP CM face in 2022 Assembly polls, says state BJP chief

A few BJP legislators have been spewing venom against the state government, especially over its alleged mismanagement during the second wave of Covid-19. A few legislators hailing from the influential 'brahmin' community had also accused the state government of 'persecuting' the members of their community much to the discomfort of the leadership.

One of them, Rakesh Rathore, an MLA from the Sitapur Sadar assembly seat, had met Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav amid speculations that he could soon leave the saffron party and join the SP. At that time the SP leaders had claimed that as many as eight BJP legislators were in touch with them and could soon quit the BJP.

Earlier also several BJP lawmakers had expressed resentment over chief minister Yogi Adityanath's style of working and there were demands that he be replaced. The BJP central leadership however made it clear that Adityanath would be the party's face in Uttar Pradesh.

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A day after former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh raised "humiliation" charge and announced he will quit Congress, the party central leadership on Friday rebutted his charge, reminding him how it gave him top positions even after his defeat and saw "some pressure" from outside behind his remarks.

AICC in-charge for Punjab Harish Rawat issued a detailed statement on the sequence of events and alleged that the BJP wants to "use Amarinder Singh as a mask" and urged the former Chief Minister not to let this happen and reconsider the remarks he made about Congress.

The remarks came after Singh had a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday and NSA Ajit Doval on Thursday after which he said he will leave the Congress but will not join BJP, amid indications that he will form a new political outfit in Punjab.

"After meeting Amit Shah and BJPs contact man, the theory of humiliation is being circulated to gain the sympathy of the people. The humiliation-based sympathy politics may help a person, but it will not help Punjab," said Rawat in a statement.

Read | 'Can't handle insult': Amarinder Singh to quit Congress

Hitting back, the former Chief Minister asked if Congress didn't intend to humiliate him, why did they let Navjot Sidhu attack him on public platforms for months and give rebels led by Sidhu a free hand in undermining his authority?

'What hold does Sidhu still have on the party? Captain said rejecting Rawat's claims as "outrageous" and asked why he kept him in the dark on party leadership's stance & claimed just weeks ago that 2022 polls would be fought under him?.

"Even my worst critics can't doubt my secular credentials. But I'm no longer surprised that a senior and seasoned Congress leader like Rawat is questioning them. It's evident I'm no longer trusted in Congress, which I've served loyally for years," the former CM said.

"Three weeks before quitting I offered my resignation to Sonia Gandhi & she said no. Then I was forced to resign just hours before the CLP meeting, which was clearly convened to oust me. What was this if not humiliation? We spoke just a day before the CLP meeting was called. Harish Rawat told me then there was nothing in the works & even claimed he had not seen any letter sent by 43 MLAs. I am shocked at the blatant way in which he is now lying about this," he said.

Singh flagged that he had said on the day of his resignation, long before meeting Shah that he had been "humiliated thrice by Congress" and hence what Rawat is saying "nonsense". "Any suggestion of a link between my humiliation remark & meeting with the Union Home Minister is nonsense," he said.

Rawat's statement made no mention of Sidhu but sought to highlight the "humble background" of Charanjit Singh Channi, the first Dalit Chief Minister of Punjab from Congress after Captain's resignation.

Also Read | Rejuvenation of Congress must not marginalise loyalists

Rawat said the party expected the former Chief Minister to "bless" him but that did not happen.

In an indication that days of niceties between the Captain and the party's central leadership are over, the Congress statement said tersely that despite continuous reminders from his colleagues and the leadership, unfortunately, Captain "failed to keep his promises on important issues like Bargadi, drugs, electricity etc."

It also reminded him that "even after suffering a crushing defeat from Patiala Constituency in 1998", he was inducted into the Congress Party and immediately appointed by Sonia Gandhi, as the President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee on three occasions from 1999 to 2002, 2010 to 2013 and 2015 to 2017.

"Twice, the Congress Party made him the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007 and 2017 to 2021. As the Chief Minister, he was given a complete free hand," Rawat said.

"There was a general perception throughout the state that Captain and the Badals are helping each other, and they have a secret understanding. I was always politely suggesting to him to initiate action on our election promises. At least five times I discussed these issues with Captain sahib but with no result," Rawat said days after the former CM hit out at Gandhi siblings- Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, calling them "inexperienced" and being misguided by their advisors.

Rawat said Singh "did not implement even one out of eighteen points agreed upon," and "forgot about his promises" even after a time bound implementation course was discussed and mutually agreed later.

"Born out of his stubbornness, he was of the belief that he does not need any advice from anyone, including his own MLAs and Ministers and party leadership," Rawat said recalling how he repeatedly went to his house and had lengthy discussions to implement five points later but it did not happen.

"The Congress MLAs and Ministers were getting restless. As a result, in a written letter to the Party leadership, 43 MLAs told the party that despite repeated efforts we could not get anything done by Captain Amarinder Singh, so please call a CLP meeting otherwise we are going to call a separate meeting. Then I tried to contact Amarinder Singh ji thrice, but I could not get him on telephone. Then through one of his well-wishers I sent him a message that there is a demand for a CLP meeting, and we have no option but to call the CLP meeting.

"Despite getting the message, Captain Amarinder Singh didn't bother to telephone me. Then I suggested to the party high command, that if we delay the matter then many MLAs may form a separate group or may create some more problems for the party. It was then decided to call a CLP meeting. I then officially informed Captain Amarinder Singh that the party had called a CLP meeting and requested him to attend the meeting," Rawat said, detailing the sequence of events which ultimately led to Captain's resignation.

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With P Chidambaram expressing helplessness over lack of "meaningful conversations" within the Congress, party colleague Salman Khurshid on Friday said he had hoped the discussions the former finance minister speaks of might have been led by him and called for a dialogue between the leaders of the party.

In an apparent swipe at the 'Group of 23' leaders and Kapil Sibal's remarks questioning the party's functioning amid a raging feud in the Congress, Khurshid, known to be close to the Gandhi family, said questioning time tested leadership style and substance in isolation from the popular prevailing opinion of ground-level workers, despite strong opinion amongst sundry leaders, is "very worrying".

Weighing in on the internal bickering within the Congress following Navjot Singh Sidhu's resignation as the party's Punjab unit chief, Khurshid, in a long Facebook post, said just "as we saw" a ray of hope in the appointment of the new chief minister of Punjab "things tumbled out of control".

Also read: Congress must come out of Gandhi family shadow to be relevant: Former HP CM Shanta Kumar

"The new order astutely carved out of the crisis of confidence at several levels was challenged from within before the bonhomie pictures had become dated in terms of hours, not days. We continue to hope and pray that the disagreements will settle down in the interest of the party that deserves to win another term," he said, referring to the developments in Punjab.

The former Union minister also expressed his views over the protests outside Sibal's house after he demanded that an immediate meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) be convened and wondered who in the party was taking decisions in the absence of a full-time president.

In his post, Khurshid singled out Chidambaram's tweet in which he had expressed hurt and helplessness over the protests outside Sibal's house.

"I feel helpless when we cannot start meaningful conversations within party forums. I also feel hurt and helpless when I see pictures of Congress workers raising slogans outside the residence of a colleague and MP," Chidambaram tweeted on Thursday.

I feel helpless when we cannot start meaningful conversations within party forums. I also feel hurt and helpless when I see pictures of Congress workers raising slogans outside the residence of a colleague and MP. The safe harbour to which one can withdraw seems to be silence.  P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) September 30, 2021

The safe harbour to which one can withdraw seems to be silence, he had said.

One cannot escape noting the sadness and helplessness of the tweet by Chidambaram, not one to be at a loss for ideas and expression in the toughest of situations, Khurshid said.

"I had indeed hoped that the conversations he speaks of might have been led by him. Be that as it may, and without giving up on hope, one has to empathise with his rejection of the manner of protests that greeted some statements that the protesters found unsavoury. But to forgive my reiteration, once again it is a matter of pigeons coming home to roost," Khurshid said.

"Good or bad, over the past we have encouraged or condoned certain conduct today being described as hooliganism as opposed to sycophantic conduct," he said.

"But of course Mr Chidambaram let us all talk, not just talk but talk with each other," Khurshid added.

Addressing Chidambaram, Khurshid said it would not serve to seek silence and certainly not by someone with eloquence and intellect like yours.

"However, it would be fair that we speak with the young workers who expressed their ire in a manner seemingly unbecoming, but as I said, frequently condoned or encouraged when we were not the targets," he said.

Khurshid said curiously the prevailing norm in national politics seems to be that unless such demonstration of disquiet is publicly expressed political entities are dismissed as ineffective and invisible.

"If we are concerned about fixing decision making in our party we can surely fix communications with ordinary workers. They are the ones who have made us what we are. Without them, we are just names. Perhaps they will, if encouraged to speak up, tell us that we are the mistakes. In other words, there may be a lot to say about others in the party but perhaps we need to reflect on ourselves a bit as well," he said.

In this moment of "trial and tribulation", Khurshid said, Congress leaders' paramount obligation is to restore faith in ourselves and each other.

"Our leaders have led us from the front and for decades together ensured that we have the comfort of being in power. They believe that they get their strength and power from the thousands of workers and ordinary folk. Today they face the crisis with confidence because at the end of the day it is the workers devotion that sustains them," he said.

Congress is a way of life and a matter of faith for millions of workers, he said.

"If there is a sense amongst some people that the way of life should change they must account for those who do not wish to leave the path shown to them by their ancestors. We hope to find the end of the rainbow along this very road. What conversation can we have with those who cannot see the colours of the rainbow anymore," Khurshid said.

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Bihar's main opposition party RJD on Friday mocked Kanhaiya Kumar's induction into the Congress, saying that the former JNU student is like "another Navjot Singh Sidhu" who would "destroy" the grand old party.

Ridiculing the Congress by calling it a sinking ship, senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari said that Kumar's joining won't make any difference to the party.

Also read: Obvious that those having anti-India ideology will join Congress: BJP on Kanhaiya induction

Referring to the CPI turncoat's statement that "Congress is a big ship that needs to be saved", Tiwari said, "He is just like another Navjot Singh Sidhu who will further destroy the party."

"Kanhaiya Kumar's induction won't make any difference. He can't save the party. Congress is a sinking ship and it has no future," the RJD leader told reporters.

RJD sources said that the party is unhappy with the fact that Kumar was inducted into the Congress without consulting the Tejashwi Yadav-led party.

The Congress is a part of the RJD-led opposition alliance Mahagathbandhan that fought the 2020 Bihar assembly elections against the NDA.

Bihar Congress leaders declined to comment on the matter.

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Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, infamous after he claimed that former minister Anil Deshmukh asked cops to collect money, is missing, Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil said.

Several news agencies, on Friday, reported that Singh likely fled to Russia.

"Along with the Union Home Ministry, we're also searching for his whereabouts. I've heard something like that but as a government officer, he can't go abroad without government clearance. We've issued a Lookout Circular and if he went away, then it is not good," Patil told ANI.

He said the state government was in touch with the Centre to find Singh, who had levelled allegations of bribery against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh.

Also Read | Inquiry commission re-issues warrant against Param Bir Singh for failing to appear before it

Singh has been failing to appear in court in connection with the corruption allegations levelled by him against former state home minister Anil Deshmukh. The panel had issued a bailable warrant against him on September 7. But as the warrant couldn't be served upon him, it was re-issued till October 6.

Earlier, the commission had thrice imposed fines on Singh - Rs 5,000 in June and Rs 25,000 on two occasions last month - for failing to appear before it.

Singh was shunted as Mumbai Police Commissioner after his handling of the bomb scare case near Mukesh Ambani's residence.

Days after he was transferred to the Home Guards in March, he had claimed in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that Deshmukh used to ask police officers to collect money from restaurant and bar owners in Mumbai.

Deshmukh, an NCP leader, resigned as minister in April this year, denying the allegations against him. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are probing the allegations made against Deshmukh by Param Bir Singh.

Singh has been booked in multiple cases of extortion. He is also facing a case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act registered in April this year on a complaint lodged by a police inspector.

With PTI inputs

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The body of a 19-year-old woman with burn injuries was found at a house in southeast Delhi's Lajpat Nagar area on Friday morning, police said.

The woman is a resident of Madrasi Camp. She, along with her mother, used to work as domestic help at a house in Lajpat Nagar-II here, they said.

The Lajpat Nagar police station received a PCR call on Friday morning informing them that a woman has got electrocuted but police, however, said that the exact cause of her death will be ascertained only through an autopsy report.

A preliminary enquiry has revealed that the victim had burn injuries on her body. She had come to work at the house around 7 am on Friday, a senior police officer said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Esha Pandey said the spot was also inspected by forensic experts. The body has been sent for post-mortem and further legal action will be taken according to the autopsy report, she said.

An investigation into the matter is underway, police said.

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A 30-year-old constable of the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary deployed at the Delhi High Court allegedly shot himself dead with his service weapon on Wednesday, police said.

The deceased identified as Tinku Ram belonged to Kotkasim in Rajasthan's Alwar, they said, adding no suicide note has been recovered from the spot.

"An information was received that a constable of Rajasthan Armed Constabulary deployed in High Court security has reportedly committed suicide by his service weapon," Deepak Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi), said.

He was taken to a hospital where he was declared brought dead, he added.

According to police, the constable had joined duty at 9.30 am on Wednesday at gate no.3 of the court complex after returning from leave.

The reason behind the constable taking the extreme step is being ascertained, police said.

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Samajwadi Party National President Akhilesh Yadav on Friday lashed out at the Uttar Pradesh government over the Kanpur businessman death case, and charged that "someone" is saving himself and there is an extortion racket linked to the matter.

Businessman Manish Gupta died in a Gorakhpur hotel during a police raid late on Monday night, prompting the authorities to suspend six policemen and book them on the charge of murder.Gupta was staying along with two friends in the hotel.

"No policeman has been arrested in the Manish Gupta murder case. This shows that they did not escaped themselves but they were made to escape. Actually, someone is not saving the accused but saving himself as its strings are linked to the 'vasooli tantra' (extortion racket)," Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.

Read more: Six UP policemen suspended after businessman dies during raid

"Zero tolerance' is also a BJP jumla (rhetoric)," he said, in an apparent reference to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's assertion that the state has zero tolerance towards crime and corruption.

A case of murder has been lodged in the case against six policemen who are absconding.

A top Uttar Pradesh Police official on Thursday claimed that Gupta died from a head injury caused by a fall as he tried to escape during a police raid at a hotel where he was staying in Gorakhpur.

He also said Gupta died at a hospital during treatment.

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The Haryana Police on Friday used a water cannon to disperse a group of farmers who tried to force their way in Jhajjar where Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala was to attend a programme.

A group of protestors jumped barricades and tried to force their way to the venue, police said.

The venue of the event was a government college in Jhajjar.

Police said the protestors gathered near the venue with some of them jumping over the barricades to force their way inside.

Read | Roads can't be blocked perpetually: Supreme Court

Jhajjar's senior police officials and the deputy commissioner reached the spot to oversee law and order.

Later in the day, Chautala is also scheduled to attend another event in Jhajjar.

A group of farmers on Thursday jumped over police barricades in a bid to march towards the venue of a BJP meeting in Karnal's Indri, police said earlier.

Among those present at the meeting were Indri MLA Ram Kumar Kashyap and senior state BJP leader Pawan Saini.

Farmers, who are protesting against the three central farm laws, have been opposing public functions of the BJP-JJP combine in Haryana.
The Kerala union of working journalists (KUWJ) on Friday expressed shock over the Uttar Pradesh police charge sheet against journalist Siddique Kappan, in which the reports and interviews done by the Delhi-based scribe have also been allegedly included.

KUWJ said the action of the UP police was nothing but treating "journalism as a crime".

According to news reports, the 5,000 page charge sheet, filed by the UP Special Task Force (STF), lists the news items and articles by Kappan. "This goes against the very spirit of freedom of expression guaranteed under the constitution. We appeal to the Honorable Supreme Court of India to intervene in the matter and quash the shameful act of the UP police," the KUWJ said in a statement.

The journalists' body said the police in UP was acting against the freedom of expression and fundamental rights of the individual citizen. "The KUWJ is also anguished to learn that the copy of the charge sheet has not been given to Siddique Kappan even though we are on the brink of completing one year of his arrest and subsequent incarceration in the jail," the statement read.

Read | Hathras rape case: Azad threatens to begin dharna

KUWJ also pointed out that Kappan has volunteered to undergo narco analysis and other tests as part of his struggle to prove his innocence in the cases slapped against him. "The KUWJ as an organisation of professional journalists committed to protect the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression would reiterate its support for Mr Kappan and his struggle against the false charges made by the UP police," it said.

Delhi-based Kerala journalist Kappan and three others were arrested by Mathura police on October 5 last year, while they were on their way to a village in Hathras to meet the family members of a Dalit girl who had died in a Delhi hospital while undergoing treatment after being gang raped in her village.

The four were arrested earlier on the apprehension of causing a breach of peace but were later slapped with stern charges of sedition and being involved in various terror offences.

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Congress leader and former Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan on Friday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate officials in New Delhi for inquiry into his "properties."

Zameer, who appeared before the officials at the ED headquarter in Lok Nayak Bhavan in the Khan Market area, was inside the office for more than an hour.

Emerging out of the meeting, he told reporters, "Earlier the ED officials sought some details in connection with my properties. I have submitted all the documents. Since they asked me to appear before them personally, I appeared before them for clarification. I have replied to all their questions."

He further said the ED officials asked him about his properties, his new house in Bengaluru, investment in lands and his transport business.

Read | Muslim leaders being targetted, says Zameer Ahmed Khan

While refusing to disclose further, he said he will be staying in Delhi for a few more days and if the ED officials asked him to appear again, he will attend the inquiry.

However, Zameer dismissed the speculation that the ED summoned him in connection with the IMA scam probe.

In the first week of August, the ED officials conducted search operations at properties connected to Zameer Khan including offices of National Travels, a firm he owns, and other properties linked to him.

The Congress MLA is stated to have had a purported property transaction with then MD of IMA Group Mansoor Khan.

The ED action is linked to its probe in the Rs 4,000-crore I-Monetary Advisor (IMA) alleged ponzi scam case, taking cognisance of a CBI FIR and a charge sheet. However, Zameer has been denying that he is facing a probe related to the IMA scam.

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Seven persons were killed and 13 others injured after an Uttar Pradesh-bound bus collided with a dumper truck near Gohad town in Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh on Friday, a police official said.

The accident took place around 8 am when the Itawa-bound bus from Gwalior collided head on with the dumper, Additional SP Kamlesh Kharpuse said.

The mishap occurred on the national highway near Hargovindpura under the Gohad police station limits, he said. The injured persons have been shifted to Gwalior district hospital for treatment, he added.

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The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a plea by Kerala's People Democratic Party leader Abdul Nazir Maudany, prime accused in the 2008 serial bomb blast case, seeking to stay the Lokayukta findings that he had abused his position as a public servant to obtain a favour for a relative.

A bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari dismissed his application against the condition imposed on July 11, 2014 order for him not to leave the city of Bengaluru.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Maudany, contended that he was wheel-chair bound and his conditions had worsened in all these years. The court had then ordered for the trial to be completed within four months, seven years down the line, the prosecution evidence was complete with no chance of tampering with the evidence.

The counsel said the applicant was advised Ayurvedic treatment at his home town. Further, he was unnecessarily being made to pay rent in Bengaluru. He said the applicant also wanted to reside with ailing father.

Karnataka's Additional Advocate General Nikhil Goel, opposing the plea, submitted that Maudany had filed applications for recall of 44 witnesses who belonged to Kerala. Out of nine cases, 200 witnesses in each had been examined and the statement of 31 accused had been recorded in seven cases, he submitted.

Goel said relaxing bail conditions for the applicant might allow him to come in contact with the witnesses, which would go against another condition for his bail. He also said the applicant faced about 24 cases in Kerala, besides other serious charges previously.

Earlier, in its written response, the state government has told the court that allowing Maudany, to stay in his home state, would affect the integrity of the nation and enable him to escape or establish contacts with other absconding accused to indulge in further terrorist activities.

On July 25, 2008, as many as eight serial bomb blasts occurred on Mysore road, in Bengaluru city, leading to the death of one Sudha, besides causing injuries to nine others and huge damage to the public properties.

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The Supreme Court on Friday took an exception to a plea filed by 'Kisan Mahapanchayat' for permission to hold 'Satyagrah' at Jantar Mantar here, by saying "you have already strangulated the city, blocked the highways and roads and now want to come inside".

"Once you have approached courts challenging the laws, what is the point of continuing the protests? If you have faith in courts, pursue that for urgent hearing instead of protesting," a bench presided over by Justice A M Khanwilkar told the petitioner's counsel.

As petitioner's counsel sought to argue on the petition for permission to hold "peaceful, unarmed and non-violent" 'Satyagrah', the bench said, "You cannot come to the court and continue protesting at the same time. Are you protesting against the judicial system?"

The bench, also comprising Justice C T Ravikumar, said although the petitioners had a right to protest, "but you cannot destroy property. You are also heckling the security person. This business has to stop."

Advocate Ajay Choudhary, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that blocking the highways not part of the protest. He also maintained that it was the police who had blocked the highways not the farmers.

On this, the bench asked the petitioner to file an affidavit in this regard and put the matter for consideration on October 4.

The court also allowed the petitioner to serve the copy of the petition on the office of the Attorney General.

Notably, acting on a batch of petitions, including by some farmers leaders, a separate bench of the top court had on January 12 stayed implementation of three farm laws.

The court had then constituted a committee to report on these laws. The panel had already submitted its report on March 19 after consulting a large number of farmers and several stakeholders.

However, the farmers groups, which started their protests against the three laws since November 26, 2020, continued to stage their sit-ins at the borders of the national capital.

On September 30, a bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, acting on a plea by Noida resident, questioned the Union government on steps taken to remove the road blockade by the farmers, while voicing its concern that the roads can't remain occupied perpetually.

In its October 7, 2020 judgement with regard to Shaheen Bagh sit-in against the Citizenship Amendment Act, the top court had then declared that public roads and spaces can't be occupied indefinitely for protests, causing inconvenience to the people, and the demonstrations must be organised at designated places only.

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Chief Justice of India N V Ramana on Friday said that he had once thought of creating a panel headed by Chief Justice of the High Court to examine the atrocities and complaints against bureaucrats, particularly the police officers.

"I have lot of reservations at the way, how bureaucracy particularly, how police officers are behaving in this country," he said.

I was at one point of time thinking of creating a standing committee to examine atrocities and complaints against bureaucrats particularly police officers headed by Chief Justice of High CourtI want to reserve thatDont want to do now," Justice Ramana orally said.

The bench, also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, was hearing a plea filed by a suspended Additional Director General of Police of Chhattisgarh Gurjinder Pal Singh seeking protection from arrest in three criminal cases  sedition, extortion, and disproportionate assets  lodged against him for change in the government.

The top court provided protection from arrest to the officer in two cases and declined in another case. It asked the High Court to decide his pending applications over there preferably within two months, while maintaining interim protection granted to him till then.

On September 27, dealing with Singh's plea, the top court had said that the police officers who cosy up with the government of the day and also make money, have to pay back after the change in the ruling dispensation.

It had further said that cops, falling in such a category, must not be protected and rather they should be jailed.

On August 26, the court had again, while hearing Singh's plea, expressed its concern over a "disturbing trend" of police officials aligning with a political party in power, later getting targetted with criminal cases when the another regime comes into office.

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Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Rawat on Friday said Amarinder Singh's "proximity" with BJP leaders like Amit Shah puts a question mark on his secular credentials and warned the Centre not to attempt toppling a majority government in the state.

Alleging that the former Punjab chief minister was playing into the hands of people with whom he had no ideological ties, Rawat said Singh should have stood with the Congress leadership to save democracy.

"His proximity with (Union home minister) Amit Shah and some other BJP leaders puts his secular credentials in doubt," he said at a press conference here.

Rebutting allegations that the party had humiliated Singh, Rawat said it always gave him respect.

Read | Congress rubbishes Captain's 'humiliation' charge

"Amarinder Singh was Punjab Congress president thrice and chief minister twice. Is it humiliation? He should compare himself with senior party leaders who had got much less than him in terms of opportunities," the former Uttarakhand chief minister said.

"At a time when the country faces the challenge of saving democracy, Amarinder Singh should have stood with (Congress chief) Sonia Gandhi and strengthened her fight to save democratic values instead of playing into the hands of people who are using his so-called humiliation for political reasons," Rawat said.

Rawat also warned the BJP-led Centre not to attempt to topple a majority government in Punjab. His warning comes after Singh met Shah in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The Punjab Congress in-charge also said there is positive progress in the negotiations between Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Channi is from the Dalit community and every political party should support him, Rawat said.

"But I warn the BJP government at the Centre not to try to topple a majority government in Punjab," he said and advised Singh not to walk into the BJP's trap.

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Barring Ashoka pillars erected in a few uninhabited islands, Lakshadweep, India's Muslim majority archipelago, has been free of statues till now.

For the first time, the country's smallest Union Territory in the Arabian sea is going to get its first statue tomorrow--that too the statue of the Father of the Nation on Gandhi Jayanti day.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will unveil a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Kavaratti on Saturday on the occasion of his 152nd birth anniversary, official sources said. An area near Western Jetty at Kavaratti is being spruced up where the statue in standing posture facing the sea will be installed, an official told PTI.

The Defence Minister, who will arrive here from Kochi tomorrow, will unveil the statue at a function to be presided over by the Island's administrator Praful K Patel in the evening, he said.

"The uniqueness of this year's celebration is the unveiling of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi by Rajnath Singh in the presence of Praful Patel. This will be the first ever statue to be unveiled in Lakshadweep islands to commemorate the contribution of our great freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the cause of India's independence," a statement issued by the administration said.

The administration said it is a "historic milestone" for Lakshadweep to unveil the statue of Father of the Nation on the day of Gandhi Jayanti and dedicate it to the nation on the auspicious occasion by the Defence Minister.

Also read: Kerala HC dismisses plea against administrative reforms in Lakshadweep

The name of Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal P P, who is at loggerheads with Patel, is missing from the programme list prepared by the administration. Faizal and activists of the Save Lakshadweep Forum (SLF), a forum of various organisations fighting against the alleged "anti-people policies" of the administrator, said they would attend the statue unveiling programme organised at the Mahatma Gandhi square.

"Since Rajnath Singh invited me personally, I am attending the unveiling function only," Faizal told PTI when asked whether he was not invited for the function. Sources said the efforts to install the Gandhi statue in the islands had started over a decade ago but could not be fulfilled due to a variety of reasons.

They said the statue to be unveiled tomorrow is newly sculpted. In 2010, during the UPA rule, a Rs 2 lakh statue of Gandhi was brought to the island but it could not be installed.

Officials then had reportedly blamed the "bad weather" condition prevailing in the sea for failing to offload the bust of Gandhi bought from Kochi in a vessel. Sangh Parivar groups then had alleged that local sentiments had prompted the authorities to send back the vessel without offloading the cargo.

Talking to PTI, activists of Save Lakshadweep Forum (SLF), which is fighting against the "anti-people policies" of administrator Patel, rejected the allegations, saying the people of the islands had never objected to the installation of the statue of Gandhi in the islands.

SLF leader Komalam Koya said Gandhiji has got a special place in the hearts of the people of Lakshadweep.

"You can see photos of Gandhiji on the walls of the houses of the people of Lakshadweep, who are Muslims.. despite their faith not allowing them to do so. This is because the Mahatma has got a special place in the hearts of the people of the islands. But we are saddened by the propaganda unleashed by some vested interests to brand us as a section of people who think against the national interests," Koya, who is also a CPI(M) leader, said.

"However, we will continue our fight against the anti-people policies of the administrator," Koya added.

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The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to respond to a plea against mandatory production of Aadhaar card for Covid-19 vaccination.

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and B V Nagarathna issued notice to the Union government on the petition filed by advocate Siddharthshankar Sharma.

Advocate Mayank Kshirsagar, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that one can register with any of the seven IDs on Co-WIN application, but the authorities insisted on Aadhaar on a visit of a centre for vaccination.

At the outset, the bench told the counsel, "Don't go by newspaper articles. Have you seen the Co-WIN app yourself recently?

The bench pointed out that the app has been updated and there are now a variety of ID proofs to register for vaccination.

Read | 15L health workers not fully jabbed even after 9 months

The court said Aadhaar card is not the only ID which is accepted by concerned authorities.

You can also register with a drivers' license, PAN card, voter ID, passport, ration card etcyou go and verify for yourself," the bench told the counsel.

The petitioner, for his part, said everything was there on paper only, the people still faced this problem.

The court then decided to seek a response from the government.

In his plea, the petitioner sought protection of right to vaccination granted to the citizens, which, he claimed was dangerously endangered due to non-submission of Aadhaar details to the concerned authority despite possessing one of the seven prescribed photo-identification mentioned on the app.

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More than 15,000 people from Myanmar are estimated to have crossed the border into India since the February 1 military coup there, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said, telling the General Assembly in a report that armed clashes have erupted mostly in regions and states along the borders with Thailand, China and India and are raising concern about regional implications of the crisis.

Guterres, in his report Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar, said that prior to February 1, there were around 336,000 internally displaced persons in conflict-affected areas across Myanmar.

Since that date, more than 220,000 people have been internally displaced by the escalation of conflict and violence. In addition, more than 15,000 people are estimated to have crossed the border into India. A further 7,000 people crossed into Thailand, all of whom have returned and remain internally displaced in Myanmar, the Secretary-General said in the report, which covers the period from August 15, 2020 to August 14, 2021.

Read more: Myanmar military takes responsibility for economic crisis

Myanmar shares an over 1,600 km long unfenced and porous land border with India as well as a maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal. Four North-Eastern states - Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram share the international boundary with Myanmar.

Guterres said in the report that since February, tensions have increased throughout the country, including in areas covered by the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement and where there was relative peace before February 1, when the Myanmar military seized power and detained top political figures, including Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint.

Mostly in states and regions along the borders with Thailand, China and India, armed clashes have erupted between the Tatmadaw, ethnic armed organisations and newly formed civilian peoples defence forces, raising concern about regional implications of the crisis and the potential for a large-scale armed conflict, the report said.

The UN chief notes in the report that Rohingya continue to undertake risky journeys across the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.

In June, a boat carrying dozens of Rohingya refugees reached Aceh, Indonesia, after leaving Bangladesh or Myanmar  engine failure caused it to remain adrift in the Andaman Sea for several months, leading to the deaths of some refugees. Another boat was rescued by the Indian Coast Guard in February, he said.

The report added that brutality by the security forces against people opposing the military takeover and the self-declared State Administrative Council, including those participating in the civil disobedience movement, has been wide-ranging.

Those expressing opposition to the military and joining democratic movements, as well as their relatives and associates, have been subject to arbitrary killings and detentions, disappearances, night raids, intimidation, and torture, it said.

There have also been numerous reports of sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated by the security forces as well as numerous reports of acts of violence targeted at the security forces, such as the killing of individuals suspected of collaborating with the military.

The Secretary-General has called for maximum restraint by all sides, the report said.

Guterres said he has repeatedly called on the military to respect the will of the people, to refrain from violence and repression, and to act in the greater interest of peace and stability in the country.

The UN Security Council has expressed deep concern at the arbitrary detention of members of the Government, including President Win Myint, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and others, and called for the immediate release of all those detained arbitrarily, while condemning the ongoing violence.

Neighbouring countries could leverage their influence over the military and call on it to respect the will of the people and to act in the greater interest of peace and stability in the country and region, he said.

Guterres voiced concern that Myanmar is facing a prolonged period of insecurity and instability and it is important that concerted efforts are made among domestic, regional and international actors to enable fully civilian rule in line with the will of the people.

Read more: Rohingya community leader shot dead in Bangladesh refugee camp Read

The risk of a large-scale armed conflict requires a collective approach to prevent a multi-dimensional catastrophe in the heart of South-East Asia and beyond," he said.

"Grave humanitarian implications, including rapidly deteriorating food security, an increase in mass displacements and a weakened public health system compounded by a new wave of Covid-19 infections require a coordinated approach in complementarity with regional actors, Guterres said.

He said that the United Nations will focus its efforts on further strengthening a system-wide coherent approach to providing humanitarian and life-saving assistance to support the people of Myanmar and help to prevent further regional ramifications.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet had said last week that more than 1,120 people have been killed since the coup and military authorities have also arrested over 8,000 people, including elected officials, protesters and journalists during arrests and raids.

At least 120 people have reportedly died in custody, and some have been denied access to medical treatment, she said.

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Pappapatti, a remote village in Madurai district that was once infamous for not allowing Dalit representatives to contest elections and assume power, will have a special guest at the gram sabha meeting on Saturday.

The special guest, Chief Minister M K Stalin, will visit the village on Saturday and chair the gram sabha meeting on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. This is probably the first time that a Chief Minister is participating in a gram sabha meeting, considered a routine event.

Sources in the government said Stalin will take a flight to Madurai on Saturday morning after paying floral tributes to a statue of Mahatma Gandhi on Marina Beach. From Madurai, he will proceed to Pappapatti, the sources added.

Also read: When books become CM Stalins tool to showcase TNs culture

Though this is Stalins first gram sabha meeting as Chief Minister, the DMK President has attended hundreds of such events organised by his party during his stint as the Leader of Opposition. Stalin began attending gram sabha meetings in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 assembly elections, to drive home the point that he was an accessible politician who listens to the rural masses.

Stalins choice of Paapapatti is significant as it was during his tenure as Rural Administration Minister in 2006 that rural elections were held in the village along with two other hamlets after several years.

The smooth conduct of elections was attributed to tremendous efforts taken by the then Madurai Collector T Udhayachandran to ensure that a Dalit representative takes over as the panchayat chief with support from the upper castes.

Udhayachandran is now the Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Stalin, and it is believed that the upright bureaucrat has had a major role to play in the selection of venue for the CMs maiden gram sabha meeting.

Paapapatti, along with Keeripatti and Naattamangalam, had hit the headline for wrong reasons in the late 1990s and early 2000s for their stiff resistance to Dalits getting elected as panchayat chiefs. The villagers would either boycott elections or force the elected chiefs from the Dalit community to resign.

Pappapatti is still reserved for Dalits and the villages current president is Muruganandam.

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In a love affair gone wrong, a college student is suspected to have killed a girl on a college campus in Kerala's Kottayam district on Friday. The girl, Nithinamol, a food processing course student at St Thomas College in Pala, was appearing for an exam on the college campus when Abhishek stabbed her to death. Police sources said that prima facia jilted love affair was suspected to be the provocation for the murder.

Abhishek allegedly slashed the girl's neck with a paper-cutter after beating her and remained at the spot after the killing. Local media reports suggest that the two had a verbal duel and a security staffer was proceeding towards them when the incident occurred. Though the girl was rushed to a nearby hospital, she succumbed to the injuries inflicted.

Sources said that the two students were quite close for some time but differences cropped up between them in the recent past. It was even suspected that Abhishek took away Nithinamol's mobile phone a few days ago.

Recently, Kerala witnessed many such incidents of jilted lovers killing girls. Two months ago, a youth had shot a 24-year-old dental student.

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After more than half a dozen attacks by leopards in the periphery of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Mumbai, a wild cat suspected to be behind the incidents was trap-caged in the wee hours of Friday.

The trapped leopard is a female sub-adult and she has been taken to the Leopard Rescue Centre of the SGNP, located in the suburbs of Mumbai.

The Maharashtra Forest Department and the SGNP, however, have not yet confirmed whether the leopard is the same one responsible for the seven back-to-back attacks on locals in the past month.

After the attacks, the SGNP set up four trap cages in the Aarey Colony area -- and in one of those, one leopard was trapped.

MFD and SGNP officials said that the animal was found trapped at 6 am when his team went in for inspection.

Also read: Middle-aged woman repels attack by leopard in Mumbai

A couple of days ago, when a leopard attacked a woman, it was caught on CCTV.

The camera trap pictures of the leopard and CCTV footage would be matched with other evidence and then the SGNP would be able to reach any conclusion whether the leopard trapped was responsible for the attacks.

The SGNP, the only national park in India and the world to be located within the metropolitan limits, has the highest leopard density in the world with around 47 leopards staying in an area of 103 sq km and its periphery.

The SGNP and its larger periphery -- spread in three districts of Mumbai Suburban, Palghar and Thane -- is frequented by locals.

Besides leopards, the SGNP and its neighbourhood which include the Aarey Milk Colony and FilmCity is home to more than 275 species of birds, 35 species of mammals, 80 species of reptiles and amphibians, 170 species of butterflies, several species of fish and a staggering 1,300 species of plants.

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Days before he is scheduled to appear before a Maharashtra government-appointed Commission of Inquiry, speculation is rife that senior IPS officer Param Bir Singh may have fled India -- and is possibly in the United Kingdom or Russia.

Singh, an IPS officer of the 1988-batch is the former Commissioner of Police in Mumbai and Thane and currently is the Commandant-General of Home Guard.

For over two months, Singh had not attended office.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government is also contemplating suspending the police officer for prolonged absence, however, there was no independent confirmation.

Also read: Won't arrest Param Bir Singh in atrocities act case till Oct 21, Maharashtra govt tells HC

While initially there were reports that Singh may have been in London, fresh information suggests that he may be in Russia.

However, the Maharashtra government has refused to comment on the developments.

Singh had alleged that then Home Minister and senior NCP leader Anil Deshmukh had fixed a collection target of Rs 100 crore per month for now dismissed Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze, who was arrested and charge-sheeted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Waze in the sensational twin cases of planting 20-odd gelatine sticks and a threat note in a Mahindra Scorpio near Antilia along the Carmichael Road, the residence of the Ambani-family and murder of the SUV owner Mansukh Hiran, has levelled allegations of corruption against the minister.

State Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil has said that the Maharashtra government and the Centre is not aware of its whereabouts. Neither the state nor the Central government's investigating agencies have any inkling of Singh's whereabouts and are searching for him, he said.

A lookout circular (LOC) has been issued against him, he added, pointing out that an IPS or IAS officer cannot travel abroad without permission of the government.

Senior officers have to follow certain rulesthey cannot leave the country without permission, he said.

On what action would be taken, Walse-Patil said: We are looking for him and once he is found, we will decide the future course of action.

It may be mentioned that the CoI headed by Justice (Retd) Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal to probe allegations of bribery and misuse of office levelled by Singh against Deshmukh, had repeatedly issued summons, however, the police officer has failed to appear.

It has slapped fines thrice, then issued a bailable warrant and he is scheduled to appear next week. In case he fails to do so, the CoI may issue a non-bailable warrant.

Singh hails from Haryana and notices were also sent to his Chandigarh and Rohtak addresses besides his Mumbai office/home.

Meanwhile, the state Congress has accused the BJP of giving Singh a safe passage.

If Singh has fled India, then there has to be a definite role of BJP in giving a safe passage to him. Quite clear that saving Singh supports the agenda of BJP, state Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant tweeted.

If #ParambirSingh has fled India then there has to be a definite role of #BJP in giving a safe passage to him Quite clear that saving Parambir Singh supports agenda of #bjp

Remember it was #NIA which has been investigating #Antilia case first. NIA chargesheet clearly says  Sachin Sawant   (@sachin_inc) October 1, 2021

According to him, the NIA had probed the Antilia terror threat case first and its charge sheet clearly mentions that dismissed cop Sachin Waze was reporting to Singh, who paid Rs 5 lakh to a cyber expert to create an alibi.

Still if Singh flees, then it's a failure of the NIA. What was the chowkidar government doing? How often do we find the chowkidar government napping when people like Nirav Modi, (Mehul) Choksi, (Vijay) Mallya and Singh elope? he tweeted.

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In April 1995, then Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao was nervous as militants had taken hold of the famous Charar-i-Sharif and he invited a Kashmir expert to discuss what his government could do, in addition to the Army siege of the militants, to resolve the impasse. The expert senstised Rao on the matter  Charar-i-Sharif was not merely a place of religious worship, but represented the entirety of the Kashmiri personality as it was the tomb of Sheikh-ul-Alam Shiekh Noor-ud-din Noorani, also called Nund Rishi, the most revered personality in Kashmir.

If the shrine is destroyed by the militants, they will be doomed forever. But if the impression goes round that it was done by the Army, Indian prestige will equally suffer, the expert told Rao. A suggestion was given to Rao that a channel be opened with the Kashmiri nationalist wing of the militants, telling them that Delhis priority was to save the shrine. The person heading the militants holed up there was Haroon Khan, better known as Mast Gul, a Pashtun from Peshawar.

Before Rao could act, the shrine got burnt down, and Gul and all his men, except one, escaped. Rao again called for the expert and noted, I had heard about Nund Rishi but had not known the importance of the shrine. None of my political and administrative advisers on Kashmir had ever told me that. I was just considering your suggestion when the incident took place.

In 2014, Gul, after a long hiatus, was back in the news. He had joined Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a Pashtun group on the Pakistani side, with connections to the Afghan Taliban. The memories of Mast Gul and a few more militants of Pashtun ethnicity are often invoked in the context of the possible negative impact on Kashmir of the Talibans recent takeover of Afghanistan. There is a need for nuance here, factoring in the realities of the region and its relations with the Pashtuns, who form the bulk of the Taliban.

First, there are contradictory accounts about the past presence of militants of Pashtun ethnicity in J&K. While some official accounts have mentioned numbers of Pashtun militants in the past, other officials have contested that narrative. A broad range of foreign militants have been in J&K in the past, but their presence was restricted to the 1990s and even then their numbers were miniscule. The intercepted and live chatter of foreign militants present in J&K on their wireless sets, which this author had listened to from time to time, were in Punjabi, Pothwari or Gojri languages. These are languages spoken in Pakistani Punjab and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, the two areas that send the bulk of foreign militants to J&K.

Second, the contemporary connection of Jammu and Kashmir with Pashtuns is a creation of the Pakistani State. Various personalities of Pashtun ethnicity had been appointed by Pakistan to official Kashmir-centric positions to present the Pakistani perspective on Kashmir before the diplomatic community. For instance, Shehryar Khan Afridi, a Pashtun from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is presently the chairperson of the Parliamentary Special Committee on Kashmir (PSCK) while Ali Amin Gandapur, also a Pashtun from the same province, is the federal minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan. These two federal level positions are examples of the Pakistani States institutionalised focus on the Kashmir issue.

In the past, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a notable Pashtun and prominent Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) leader, was the first chairperson of the PSCK, which was constituted by the Pakistani National Assembly in August 2008. Appointed by the Pakistan Peoples Party government initially, he was retained by the successor Nawaz Sharif government. As the PSCK head, he had reportedly utilised $2.72 million under different heads during his 10-year tenure. Fazlur Rehman, belonging to a family of Deobandi scholars and whose father Mufti Mahmud was Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had visited India in July 2003. Apart from visiting Deoband in UP, he had even met then Prime Minister AB Vajpayee.

Independent scholars have recorded the various ugly facets of the 1947 attack on Kashmir Valley by members of Pashtun ethnicity from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. The attack was marked by acts of brutality against the locals, including Christian nuns, as they entered Baramulla district. In addition, the memories of 66 years of Pashtun rule over Valley from present-day Afghanistan from 1752 to 1819 AD are still institutionalised as a period of trauma in the collective memory of Kashmiri society.

Finally, the comparison with the earlier phase of Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001 and its consequences in Kashmir is not applicable to the present context. Universally, after 9/11, any outside support to extremist violence in Kashmir is widely seen as abetting terrorism. Pakistan is still under the scanner of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). A considerable portion of the Pakistani army is fighting the TTP in its own Pashtun areas and thus it is vested in holding the ceasefire along the Line of Control. This constricts the ability of the Pakistani deep state to provide the earlier level of support to organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, such as facilitating infiltration along the fenced LoC, which was initiated in December 2001.

A person of non-Kashmiri ethnicity is easy to detect in the Valleys milieu because of its distinct language and facial features. It makes the task of the security apparatus easier to detect non-locals. Like the lesson from the early summer of 1995 and as counter insurgency/terrorism studies across the world have repeatedly pointed out, in any situation like Kashmir that has a component of local disaffection, apart from strengthening the security apparatus, getting the local nuances right and the support of the local Kashmiris is critical for the success of counter insurgency/counter terrorism.

(The writer has written two books on J&K, including Across the LoC, published by Columbia University Press)
On Friday afternoon, the summer sun shone against a bright blue sky in Srinagar. Almost all the shops in the city were open, with the streets teeming with shoppers. Three young men sitting on a metal settee in a well-manicured park watched a video showing exultant Taliban fighters celebrating their triumph.

"After a good 20 years, they finally drove the foreign forces out and took Afghanistan back from the collaborators," one of the three said. A few hundred meters away, inside a newly constructed cafe on MA Road, young men in faded jeans and tees engaged themselves in a discussion over Afghanistan. "Now they (Taliban) won't be harsh towards women, and they will allow them to have access to modern education," they averred.

Since the lightning advance of Taliban fighters following the US troop pullout, people in the Kashmir Valley have keenly tracked the situation in Afghanistan. From cafes to hair salons to social media platforms, Afghanistan and the Taliban dominate discussions in the Valley.

Also read: Developments in Afghanistan will have 'very significant consequences', says Jaishankar

Last month, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen's statement that the Taliban had the right to raise its voice for Muslims worldwide, including in Kashmir, has only provided more grist to such discussions. Themselves caught in the throes of a protracted conflict, Kashmiris largely praise the grit and determination of the Taliban fighters. "They did not cave in, remained unyielding in the face of the world's most powerful army," Zeeshan Bhat, as he sips his cappuccino, says.

In 1988, when the Soviet soldiers began withdrawing from Afghanistan, the people also celebrated the victory of the Mujahideen across Kashmir.

Noted Kashmiri writer and poet, 78-year-old Zareef Ahmad says that people in alleyways, mosques and market stalls would talk and praise the Mujahideen. "Some small newspapers carried articles applauding the Mujahideens for defeating the Soviet troops", Zareef says.

Why do Kashmiris discuss the Taliban?

Kashmir has found itself caught in the throes of a long-drawn-out conflict since 1989. Thousands have lost their lives so far, and the number of militants fighting the security forces has waxed and waned over the past 30 years.

Besides local militants, a scant percentage of foreign nationals from Pakistan and Afghanistan also sneaked into the Valley to fight the Indian military. In June, Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbagh Singh apprised reporters in Srinagar that many foreign militants were present in the region.

Ever since the Taliban fighters captured Kabul, there has been a general feeling among a large section of people in the Valley that the Taliban would make their way into the Valley to help local militant groups, a key reason why Kashmiris are discussing the Taliban.

Another reason might be the religious sentiment. Some pro-freedom Kashmiri leaders had welcomed foreign militants from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Kashmir in the past. Prominent separatist leader, founder of People's Conference, Abdul Ghani Lone, would describe foreign insurgents mehmaan or guest, mujahideen. Later, however, he changed his position on this, and in an interview, said that foreign militants should leave Kashmir as they had their own agenda.

The Taliban victory has galvanised some in the Valley, but security experts believe the development could also animate local militants. Last month, former top cop Shesh Paul said that the outcome would embolden militants in Kashmir.

However, a significant increase in the infiltration is unlikely since the Line of Control (LoC) has changed much since the 1990s when militants would cross it easily. After India and Pakistan inked a ceasefire agreement in 2003, India fenced the 450-mile long LoC within a year, significantly reducing infiltration. New surveillance gadgets also help the Indian security grid in tracking down intruders.

However, the situation next summer would help us better assess the impact of the developments in Afghanistan on Kashmir infiltration as snow is about to clog the mountain passes this year. Until then, the Valley's streets will continue to be filled with debates and gossip about the Taliban and Afghanistan.

(The writer is a journalist based in Srinagar)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the authors' own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.
Chinas crackdowns on sectors ranging from e-commerce, technology to real estate, school tutoring and casino industries are ostensibly intended to make the economy more equitable and productive in the long term.

According to Chinese economist Hui Shan, the government intends to regulate specific actions such as anti-competitive behaviour and data collection that infringes privacy and national security. Though the Chinese authorities are placing more emphasis on technological industries, their focus has now shifted to hard tech industries, such as semiconductor and aerospace from soft tech sectors, like internet companies.

Primavera Capitals founder Fred Hu argues that Chinas regulatory goals to rein in tech businesses are similar to what other countries are doing, the difference is that China has taken a far stronger, and arguably more heavy-handed, approach to regulation and enforcement, which has clearly had a devastating impact on investor sentiment and markets in the short term.

The 10-point plan released in August 2021 by Chinas State Council and the Communist Partys Central Committee, outlines tighter regulation of much of its economy for the next five years. It says that new rules will be introduced covering areas including wealth equity, national security, technology and monopolies in the worlds second-largest economy. The regulatory shakeup centres on the phrase common

prosperity.

Chinas anti-monopoly regulations focused on the so-called platform economy. Beijing has already launched anti-monopoly investigations into some of the countrys biggest technology firms. In April, Alibaba paid a record $2.8 billion fine after a probe found that it had abused its dominant market position for years. Alibaba has lost over $400 billion in market value on its US listing.

Gaming giant Tencent, TikTok owner ByteDance and Huawei were all dragged into the geopolitical battle between the US and China. Tencent has also been affected by Chinas latest efforts to combat gaming addiction among minors. In August, under-18s were banned from playing video games for more than three hours a week. Tencent has lost more than $347 billion in market value since mid-February.

Chinas largest provider of private educational services, New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc., has seen the market value of its US-listed shares fall by $7.4 billion since July, when Beijing issued new rules barring for-profit tutoring on the school curriculum. Beijing wants to ease pressure on school children and reduce the cost burden on parents, which has contributed to a drop in birth rates. But analysts warn that the new rules threaten to decimate the countrys private education sector.

Macau, the special administrative region, is the only jurisdiction under Chinese sovereignty where casinos are allowed to operate, making it the go-to destination for mainland Chinas high-rolling millionaires. Tables at Macaus 41 casinos generated six times the revenue of the 144 casinos in Las Vegas, racking up $360 billion in earnings in 2019. The gaming industry contributed over half of the citys $54 billion pre-pandemic GDP. The tighter grip from Chinas regulators comes at a tough time for the casino companies already reeling from slumping traffic as the Covid-19 pandemic drags on. Concerned about Chinese people losing money in Macaus casinos, Beijing will begin reviewing the casino industrys practices. Chinas regulatory overhaul could see its officials supervising the casino companies in the worlds largest gambling hub. Shares of Macau casino operators shed as much as a third of their value, losing about $18 billion last Wednesday.

Real estate contributes about 28% to Chinas GDP. Chinas regulatory push to wean property developers from excessive borrowing is spilling over into loan losses at banks and pain in credit markets as cash-strapped builders fall into distress, raising the risk of fallout rippling across the economy. This year, 274 Chinese real estate companies went bankrupt -- on an average, one every working day. Some real estate analysts say that the bankrupt real estate companies were mainly small and micro real estate companies.

But the mother of all real estate bankruptcies is unfolding in Chinas second largest real estate company, Evergrande. Alarm bells rang this week, with news that the worlds most indebted real estate developer is struggling to make loan payments on its more than $300 billion in liabilities  a sum equivalent to 2% of Chinas GDP. Evergrande borrowed through banks, trusts, wealth investment products, corporate bonds, commercial paper and from front-end suppliers. Some 1.5 million customers have paid advances for Evergrande homes that are yet to be built.

Evergrandes collapse would be the biggest test that Chinas financial system has faced in years, Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a September 9 briefing note. Not only would a collapse of Evergrande be catastrophic for investor confidence and credit markets, it would also reflect poorly on the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under President Xi Jinping. The cracks in the market economy under a dictatorial rule are clearly visible.

(The writer is a retired corporate professional)
Amid calls for a caste-based census, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's demand to ascertain the numbers of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) is intriguing. Unlike the Hindi heartland, Odisha is not known for its overt OBC politics. But like that of his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar, Patnaik's move has discomforted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has played the OBC card in a veiled manner in Odisha since its prime focus was on Hindutva.

When, in August, Parliament passed the constitutional amendment bill to restore states' power to make their own OBC lists, a delegation of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MPs met Union Home Minister Amit Shah to demand a caste-based census. They also demanded central legislation to do away with the 50 per cent cap on reservations.

In Odisha, its Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) population comprise over 38 per cent of its people, making its cases exceptional. It, therefore, could not provide 27 per cent reservation to OBCs without breaching the 50 per cent ceiling. Odisha currently provides 11.25 per cent reservations for OBCs in government jobs. According to the 1931 Census, the number of OBCs in Odisha was 52 per cent.

While it had capped the quota for SCs, STs and OBCs at 50 per cent in urban local bodies and panchayats, reservation exceeding 50 per cent in some municipal bodies was challenged in the past. The Orissa High Court directed the state government to limit reservation to 50 per cent, and the Supreme Court had upheld the order.

The High Court had in 2017 struck down the Odisha Reservation of Posts and Services (For Socially and Educationally Backward Classes) Act, 2008, which had provisioned for 27 per cent reservations for the backward classes in government jobs.

However, recently the Patnaik government piloted a resolution in the Odisha Assembly seeking to remove the 50 per cent ceiling to enable 27 per cent reservation to OBCs.

Last year, the state government also set up the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes (OSCBC), based on the OSCBC Act, 1993. The government's action came after National Commission for Backward Classes chairperson Bhagwan Lal Sahni criticised Odisha for not appointing the commission and not reserving a 27 per cent quota for backward classes in jobs and educational institutions.

Also read: Nearly half of rural households OBC, most in Tamil Nadu: Data

Further, the Odisha State Backward Classes (Amendment) Bill was also passed in the Assembly this year, enabling the OSCBC to survey the social and educational conditions of the people belonging to the backward classes. Subsequently, the government approved a proposal of OSCBC to conduct the survey. The survey's findings, carried out in May this year, have not been made public so far.

Patnaik started playing the caste card ahead of the 2019 elections in which BJP's vote share saw a dramatic increase  from 18 per cent in 2014 to 31.6 per cent in 2019, with the saffron party striving to consolidate the support of the backward classes. The BJP highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's OBC roots in the run-up to the 2019 polls. Also, union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who belonged to the backward classes, inducted many OBC leaders into the BJP before the simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly in 2019.

After coming to power in 2000 riding an anti-Congress wave in alliance with the BJP, the BJD has primarily relied on its women support base to win elections. Before parting ways with the BJP ahead of the 2009 polls, Patnaik had launched the Rs two per kilo rice scheme in 2008 and the rice per Rs one per kilo scheme before the 2014 polls. Anticipating a robust BJP challenge in the 2019 polls, Patnaik launched the KALIA scheme, essentially a financial package, for farmers and landless agricultural labourers.

The BJP, which has a good support base in western Odisha, has strived to woo the Khandayats in the coastal belt in the last few years by highlighting the Paika rebellion against the British and providing financial support for the construction of a memorial on the foothills of a mountain near Bhubaneswar.

Despite the Patnaik government's efforts to make the backward classes happy, the opposition parties have continued to question its commitment to OBCs. They have accused the state government of not making sincere efforts to ensure 27 per cent reservation for backward classes in government jobs and educational institutions.

The 21-member council of ministers headed by Patnaik has as many as nine ministers belonging to the upper castes that comprise about six per cent of the population  five Brahmins, three Kayasthas (Karan) and one Kshatriya.

There are, however, five ministers who are Khandayats. The Khandayats, who constitute 22 per cent of the population, are on the state's list of SEBCs, but not included in the central list of OBCs. Four ministers are STs, two SCs, and one an OBC. Upper castes also dominate the state administration. There have been instances when senior officials belonging to lower castes were sidelined in appointments to top posts in the bureaucracy.

Since the upper castes have dominated Odisha's politics all these years, barring few exceptions, the Khandayats, a land-holding caste, have been fighting for their rights by challenging the dominance of Kayasthas and Brahmins. They, however, have remained with the upper castes while claiming to be champions of the OBCs. Many of these leaders had opposed the Mandal Commission recommendations in the past. In Odisha, this social coalition is termed the state's second KBK  Karan, Brahmin and Khandayat.

The Patnaik government has largely succeeded in preventing the BJP from uniting people on religious lines by taking up major developmental works at several temples across the state. Moreover, the population of Christians and Muslims in Odisha was 2.77 per cent and 2.17 per cent, respectively (2011 Census).

Patnaik is now trying his best to stay ahead of the saffron party in terms of caste politics too. As the demand for caste-based census gains ground, 27 per cent reservation for backward classes remains a big question in Odisha.

(The writer is a journalist based in Bhubaneswar)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH .

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Imagine a scenario in the next 15 to 20 years where unprecedented heatwaves, droughts, floods and forest fires occur around the world along with extensive melting of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets leading the sea to rise, submerging many islands and coastal cities, and many coastal areas being hit by strong storms, hurricanes and cyclones. This is potentially not impossible.

Paris Agreement has a goal of stabilising global warming between 1.5-2 Deg C by the end of the century. But the earth has already warmed by nearly 1.1 Deg C and we see the adverse impacts already felt around the world. The voluntary commitments made in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) by all the countries to the United Nations (UN) before the Paris Agreement, if implemented may still lead to a warming in the range of 2.7-3 Deg C. This level of warming could lead to more unprecedented extreme climatic events threatening humanity and nature.

In such a scenario, the leaders and countries may want an urgent solution, to reduce warming and the related adverse impacts. Some scientists believe geoengineering is the solution in such an emergency situation. Geoengineering is the deliberate large-scale alteration of the earths environment to mitigate climate change. It is one of the quickest ways to reduce the warming of a region or globally.

One of the most important geoengineering options is Solar Radiation Management (SRM). SRM aims at reflecting inbound sunlight back into space, reducing the amount of heat absorbed by the earth and lowering global temperatures. Its techniques involve:

i) Stratospheric (20 to 50 kms) aerosols injection  the spraying of small, reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect some sunlight before it reaches the earth.

ii) Albedo enhancement aimed at increasing the reflectiveness of clouds or the land surface so that more of the suns heat is reflected back to space.

iii) Space mirrors blocking a small proportion of sunlight before it reaches the earth.

A real-life example is the Mount Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines that erupted in 1991. An estimated 20 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide and ash particles were released into the stratosphere. Such volcanic eruptions can impact global climate, reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth's surface, lowering temperatures for many years.

Similar to volcanic eruptions, the most effective solution appears to be injecting highly reflective sulphate aerosol particles into the stratosphere. Alternatively, the placement of mirrors in space or enhancement of the reflectivity of marine clouds by injecting sea-salt aerosols into them could be considered.

Solar geoengineering can cool the planet rapidly within 1-2 years and is estimated to cost much less than the conventional climate mitigation techniques through renewable energy, energy efficiency, etc. Many scientific bodies such as the American Meteorological Society, American Geophysical Union and the Royal Society of UK have advocated research into solar geoengineering which could contribute to a comprehensive risk management strategy to slow climate change.

The most studied among the solar geoengineering options is the proposal to inject aerosol particles such as sulfates or calcium carbonate into the stratosphere and deflect about 1-2% of the incoming solar radiation. Modelling studies have consistently confirmed that solar geoengineering can diminish regional and seasonal climate change from anthropogenic CO2 emissions.

Though SRM is cheap and can rapidly cool down the climate system, it has many undesirable side effects such as weakening the global water cycle, potentially leading to drought in some areas. If SRM fails or is halted, the planet could be subjected to extremely rapid warming with the rate of warming many times that of the current warming. Thus, human and natural systems could be subjected to severe stress following an abrupt termination or failure of SRM.

Reputed scientific bodies such as the Royal Society of UK and the US National Research Council have published reports that recommend research into a portfolio of geoengineering schemes. China started its regional geoengineering program in 2015 and Japanese researchers have assessed the attitudes in the Asia-Pacific region to geoengineering. In India, climate modelling studies have investigated the impacts of solar geoengineering on the hydrological cycle, cyclones in the Bay of Bengal, monsoon and agriculture.

Oxford University has a Geoengineering Programme. Harvard University launched the Solar Geoengineering Research Program which is planning field experiments to test the effects of injected particles (sulfates and calcium carbonates) in the stratosphere at a height of 20 km. However, recently a field experiment in Sweden using a high-altitude balloon, which mimics the cooling effect of volcanic eruptions, was stopped due to opposition from activists and citizens.

According to an assessment by the Overseas Development Initiative, a UK-based think tank, "potential downsides of SRM include changes in regional weather patterns that could lead to droughts in Africa and Asia, damage to the ozone layer, continued ocean acidification, impacts on natural ecosystems and agricultural crops, impacts on tropospheric chemistry, diminished radiation for solar power, and the risk of human error."

There is also a fear that research into geoengineering could lead to the problem of countries stopping the work on emission reduction as there is an engineering solution to the climate problem. There is also the fear that once a research program on geoengineering is initiated, we might ultimately end up implementing geoengineering.

Geoengineering actions such as placing mirrors in the sky may seem like science fiction, and they may not be a panacea for all the adverse effects of climate change. However, it is not clear whether the risks of solar geoengineering are greater than the risks of warming above 1.5 -2 Deg C. The environmental, economic, social, ethical, political, and legal risks of using these technologies are also poorly understood. Scientific research must, however, continue and developing countries including India should be actively engaged in solar geoengineering research, evaluation and discussion.

(The writers are former professors at the Indian Institute of Science)
In a world first, US scientists on Thursday piloted a camera-equipped ocean drone that looks like a robotic surfboard into a Category 4 hurricane barreling across the Atlantic Ocean.

Dramatic footage released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed the small craft battling 50-feet (15 meter) high waves and winds of over 120 mph (190 kph) inside Hurricane Sam.

The autonomous vehicle is called a "Saildrone" and was developed by a company with the same name.

Powered by wind and 23 feet (seven meters) in length, it carries a specially designed "hurricane wing," designed to withstand punishing conditions as it collects data to help scientists learn more about one of Earth's most destructive forces.

Saildrone's website indicates it can record measurements like wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, temperature, salinity, humidity and more.

"We expect to improve forecast models that predict rapid intensification of hurricanes," said NOAA scientist Greg Foltz in a statement.

"Rapid intensification, when hurricane winds strengthen in a matter of hours, is a serious threat to coastal communities," and data collected from uncrewed systems will help improve models, he added.

Scientists warn that climate change is warming the ocean and making hurricanes more powerful, posing an increasing risk to coastal communities.

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It is safe for people to receive a Covid-19 vaccine and a flu shot at the same time and it does not negatively impact the immune response produced by either, a British study found on Thursday.

Britain and other northern hemisphere countries are bracing for a tough winter and the possibility of a surge in flu cases as Covid-19 restrictions are eased and social distancing measures relaxed.

Booster Covid-19 shots are being given to elderly and vulnerable people and to health workers in Britain, while Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has also promised the biggest flu vaccination programme in history this year.

The study, led by the University of Bristol, found that reported side effects were usually mild to moderate in tests with three flu vaccines and either Pfizer or AstraZeneca's Covid-19 shot.

"This is a really positive step which could mean fewer appointments for those who require both vaccines," chief investigator Rajeka Lazarus said.

"The results of this study have been presented to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) for their consideration and will aid policy makers in planning the future of these important vaccination programmes."

Shots were given on the same day, in opposite arms.

One group had a Covid shot and a flu jab in a first visit, with a placebo given in a second visit, and another had a Covid-19 shot and a placebo given on the same day, followed by a flu vaccine on the second day.

The study found 97% of participants said they would be willing to have two vaccines at the same appointment in the future.

The study involved 679 volunteers at 12 sites across England and Wales, and was released as a pre-print, with full results due to be published in the Lancet.
Ever since Covid-19 came into existence in 2020, masks and lockdowns have become commonplace across the world. But a sizeable number of people chose to flout norms like masking and vaccinating, terming them pointless and a violation of their freedom.

While anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers engaged in heated debates with those on the other side, a forum on Reddit, or a subreddit, which was largely unnoticed until a few weeks ago was "chronicling" the deaths of individuals who publicly expressed their unwillingness to wear a mask or get vaccinated.

The subreddit in question  r/hermancainaward  has been at the centre of debates and discussions on ethics and morality, with many calling for Reddit to take it down.

Also Read | Here's how big tech can tackle its vaccine misinformation problem

Created on September 21, 2020 by Wendy Northcutt, a University of California molecular biology graduate, r/hermancainaward describes itself as a community where members can suggest nominees who have "made public declaration of their anti-mask, anti-vax, or Covid-hoax views, followed by admission to hospital for Covid. The Award is granted upon the nominee's release from their Earthly shackles."

The subreddit is named in honour of Herman Cain, an American businessman and 2-12 Republican Presidential candidate who was a strong supporter of ex-US President Donald Trump. Cain was among the more prominent Americans who died from Covid-19 over a month after attending a Trump rally that observed no masking or social distancing.

Posts on r/hermancainaward range from those mockingly celebrating an anti-masker or anti-vaxxer's death to those detailing how such content helped them look past misinformation.

It can best be described as a community that bonds over schadenfreude, the German word that loosely translates to getting joy from other's misery.

The award is seen by many others as dehumanising anti-vaxxers/maskers as they too grieve the loss of their loved ones who died from not making up or getting jabbed.

On the other hand, a moderator told Insider that the forum served as a platform for people to express how frustrated they are about misinformation surrounding Covid-19 and vaccines. Another reason behind such a platform is to show naysayers that the danger posed by the pandemic is real and send out a message that they should get vaccinated if they don't want to see their loved ones receive a Herman Cain Award.

"Covid misinformation kills. We're documenting a pandemic of the unvaccinated," the moderator Rocky Moose told the publication.

The extent to which vaccine falsehood has spread in the US is such that YouTube, on Wednesday, decided to remove all anti-vaccine content. In July, US President Joe Biden had said that misinformation on social media was "killing people."

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Condemning the government's apathy towards resolving the stipend issue, medical interns serving in District Chigateri General Hospital launched an indefinite protest at Jayadeva circle in the city on Friday, urging the state government to provide stipend of five months to them at the earliest.

The agitating students said 104 medical interns (house surgeons) selected under government quota did their MBBS in the JJM Medical College in the City run by the Bapuji Educational Association. As per the norms, medical interns have to be paid a stipend of Rs 20,000 per month as they are serving in District Chigateri General Hospital. But the tug-of-war between the JJM Medical College management and the state government over the payment of stipend for the medical interns has emerged again.

Except for 15 house surgeons who are on Covid-19 and emergency duty, the remaining students boycotted the work. "We are fed up with this kind of negligence towards doctors. The government must take steps towards resolving the issue at the earliest and safeguard the interests of doctors."

They said they had already submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai during his visit to the city recently, and also to Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar, urging them to resolve the issue at the earliest. They also met chief secretary of government of Karnataka in Bengaluru. But there was no positive response. "So, we decided to launch indefinite agitation and it would be intensified in the coming days."

They said, the JJM Medical College management is asking the government to pay the stipend, and the government is directing the management to pay it. "We are in a fix now. So, the government must find a permanent solution for this, and ensure that the interns are not put to further problems," they added.

It may be noted that the JJM Medical College management paid stipend to postgraduate students and medical interns last year after the government intervened in the issue following a series of protests by the students. This year, the management has denied paying and has asked the government to pay it.
Some miscreants have reportedly disfigured the National Emblem of India (Four Asiatic lions standing back to back on a circular abacus) by setting fire on it installed on the flag hoisting platform in front of St Joseph school at Nehru Maidan on Thursday night.

According to people, the incident came to light on Friday when they came to the ground.

The school uses the platform during the celebration of national festivals, after which the emblem is covered with a sack.

Some people may have torched the top portion of the emblem in an inebriated state as liquor bottles were found around the platform.

The school authorities have lodged a complaint at the police station.

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A motion calling for the trial and eventual establishment of a four-day working week was passed by Derry City & Strabane District Council last minute.

The motion, which had been tabled by Deputy Mayor Christopher Jackson of Sinn Fein, called on both the Council and the Department for Economy to establish working groups to research the proposal further.

Iceland successfully trialled a four-day week between 2015 and 2019 with a trial to come in place in the Republic of Ireland next January.

The motion read: This Council recognises that a lack of work life balance contributes to work related stress, low productivity and burnout amongst workers.

(It) accepts that there is a growing body of International evidence that shows that moving to a four-day working week, without a reduction in income, enhances productivity and happiness amongst workers.

(The Council) acknowledges that companies such as Unilever and Microsoft have trialled the concept of a four-day working weekend found it had positive impacts both for business and workers;

(This motion) calls on the Council and Department for Economy to establish working groups and pilot programmes that support employers to trial the concept of a four-day working week amongst their workforce.

Deputy Mayor Jackson in support of his motion said: There are many countries right across the world that are exploring the adoption of a four-day working week.

A similar trial has been carried out in Iceland and it's been described as a resounding success.

That's not surprising when you look at the vast swathes of research that's been carried out on the benefits of a four-day working week. Productivity is boosted, the health and well-being of employees is drastically improved as is job satisfaction.

When we look at this, we look at it in the context of that one hundred years ago, a seventy working hour week was the norm and weekends didn't exist.

I know (reducing the hours and bringing in weekends) that's something trade unions had campaigned and worked for.

Today, trade unions are advocating on behalf of workers who are having difficulties in achieving a life-work balance.

There's workers who are claiming that they're over-worked and feel under-valued.

We can all acknowledge how the pandemic has almost overnight changed the working environment for most of us.

We believe there's an opportunity in front of us to look at changing our working patterns.

So as we emerge from the pandemic, we can seize that opportunity and try and support workers.

The research on this done in terms of Britain alone says that a four-day working week would bring about the same reduction in carbon emissions as removing 1.3million cars off the road (as one day of commuting to work would be gone).

Also, over 25 per cent of work absences are down to stress. If we can create the right environment for workers across the board, there's a possibility that we can create a more positive environment for people to be working in.

An amendment from Cllr Shaun Harkin (PBP) was tabled and passed unanimously.

It read: It has been almost 100 years since Trades Unions secured workers the right to a weekend. Therefore, Council will facilitate employers in the private, public and community sectors to work with trade unions on shaping four-day working week pilot programmes.

"Furthermore, Council agrees to work alongside Trades Unions and other relevant bodies, to bring forward a plan within twelve months to implement a trial under review within our own Council workforce, based on best international examples and practices elsewhere.

The Council agrees also that progress and implementation reports be presented to the Council on a quarterly basis, to support and inform any policies being progressed within the Department for Economy or other relevant bodies elsewhere.

Cllr Sean Mooney (SDLP) backed Deputy Mayor Jackson's motion saying: Since the pandemic, a lot of employees are working longer hours, probably finding it more difficult to switch off their laptops at the end of normal working hours.

This has led to complications with stress and burnout and probably a lack of productivity for both workers and employers.

The evidence that I've seen from a study in New Zealand shows that (a four-day working week) it brings a 20 per cent rise in productivity. Carbon emissions are brought down with one day less of commuting and a better life-work balance.

Employees can now spend more time with their personal life and allows employers to retain better recruitment practices.

A more notable aspect too is that national governments have decided to trial this.

Obviously, the downside is that this can only apply to certain sectors of the economy. I'm thinking of the emergency services but with that said, we would certainly be supporting this motion.

There was a note of caution that a four-day week might not reach every worker in the country.

Alderman Keith Kerrigan (DUP) said: I don't wish to pour cold water on this but whatever is decided is grand, however, it will not work in the private sector.

There's a lot of wee, small businesses with less than 10 employees or a lot of self-employed individuals out there.

It would be very difficult for them to try and cut out that extra day when there's work there that has to be done.

This motion is grand for the larger firms and for the civil service but it will be very difficult to bring this in for the private sector.

Deputy Mayor Jackson's was voted on and passed unanimously.

Of the result he said: There is a growing body of international evidence showing that moving to a four-day working week, without a reduction in income, enhances productivity and happiness amongst workers.

It has already been trialled by major international companies who found that it had positive impacts both for business and workers.

Therefore Im delighted that the council has passed my motion calling on the local authority and the Department for Economy to establish working groups and pilot programmes that support employers to trial the concept of a four-day working week amongst their workforce.

The pandemic and the working from home revolution has shown that major changes in the way we work are possible and that will bring massive benefits to workers and their families.
A dispute over the wording of a motion proposing that all court cases be once again heard in Derry broke out in last night's Council meeting.

Cllr Sean Carr (Independent) tabled a motion calling for clarity and commitment from the Northern Ireland Courts & Tribunals Service and the Department of Justice to restore legal hearings back to Derry's Bishop Street courthouse.

Inadequate social-distancing facilities at the Derry venue led to cases being moved to Coleraine to be heard and ensuring a long commute for all in Derry who had court business to attend to.

However, Cllr Rachael Ferguson (Alliance) insisted an amendment to the motion being made and blasted talk of Derry permanently losing its court services to Coleraine as scare-mongering.

Cllr Carr's motion read: This Council recognises the importance of access to justice as a fundamental right.

This Council notes that Derry Crown Court proceedings have been ongoing in Coleraine Courthouse since the onset of the Covid pandemic, initially due to practical problems in facilitating appropriate social distancing measures, particularly for jury trials.

This Council recognizes the inherent inconvenience, disruption and stress for court users, including many vulnerable people, as well as citizens called for jury service.

Council is concerned about the lack of plans in place to have Crown Court proceedings returned to Derry. Council also acknowledges that even prior to the pandemic there were difficulties in accommodating civil hearings and inquests in Derry.

Council calls for proper commitment and action from NI Court Service and the Department of Justice to ensure that all citizens in this city and district should enjoy access to all aspects of the justice system.

Council calls for proactive engagement between Derry City and Strabane District Council and NI Court Service and others to secure short-term and long-term solutions for the protection of all court services in this city and district, preferably sited in upgraded and expanded fit for purpose facilities in or around the current location within the City Centre.

However, the amendment tabled by Cllr Ferguson called for the third paragraph to be changed to read: This Council recognises the continuous commitment made by the Justice Minister to return jury trials to Bishop Street post Covid.

The amendment also requested a line in the final paragraph welcoming the commitment to major investment in the North West by the Northern Ireland Courts & Tribunals Service and, in the penultimate paragraph above, the term Council calls for proper commitment to be changed to further commitment.

Cllr Ferguson said: Justice Minister (Naomi) Long has continually answered questions and queries with regards to Bishop Street courthouse.

In recent weeks, every time she's stated, whether it be on the Assembly floor, individual member's questions or on social media, that there's no plans to move the services from the courthouse to Coleraine.

To imply the service is in jeopardy or will be discontinued is scare-mongering and is unhelpful.

Rather than play politics with such a fundamental pillar in our democracy I think we really should acknowledge and welcome the goodwill completed by the Department  specifically the courts and the tribunal service and their willingness to keep the jury trials going during lockdown.

I think there are inaccuracies about this motion. Where I do see the importance in making sure our court service is staying here in Derry we would like to propose an amendment.

However, Cllr Maeve O'Neill (PBP) responded by saying: I welcome Cllr Carr bringing this to Council.

I wouldn't support the amendment. People Before Profit MLA, Gerry Carroll, has raised this before the Minister and the response, we felt, was inadequate and unconvincing.

It's another example of the Stormont Minister being dismissive of issues west of the Bann.

Here in Derry, we've had our electoral office taken away, people have to leave Derry to take their driving test and now the courthouse here can't even provide access to justice for local people here.

Derry is being stripped clean so we really need to call the Minister out on this.

A vote on the amendment was taken and was defeated with only 10 voting for it with 20 voting against ensuring the motion would stand in it's original form.

Earlier, when speaking in support of his motion, Cllr Sean Carr said: The lack of court services in this city and district affect many  including some extremely vulnerable people.

This issue raises serious questions about the basic human right to access justice.

Anyone of us can find themselves in the criminal justice system. Whether it's facing a criminal charge, as a victim of crime, being called as a witness to give evidence, supporting a family member or on jury service.

Court proceedings are stressful enough without the added burden of having to travel a considerable distance, the costs of doing so and not to mention the hassle of having to do an early-morning commute  and in some cases (before setting out) having to make childcare arrangements.

Derry court proceedings are currently taking place in Coleraine. Getting from Derry to Coleraine's courthouse before 10am is not straightforward if you rely on public transport.

The reality is that many court users do not have a car. It's a challenge  as we all know  to even get a taxi in Derry to take us to the railway station.

When you get to Coleraine, you have half an hour's walk to their out-of-town courthouse.

People from Belfast and east of the Bann don't have to jump through hoops to access basic human rights such as the right to justice.

While we understand the onset of a public pandemic meant the facilities at Bishop Street courthouse could not accommodate social distancing, it is concerning that 18 months down the line, Court Services and the Department of Justice do not seem to have any roadmaps for the return back to Bishop Street.

As a Council, we cannot afford to have any businesses diverted away from the city. Hotels, cafes, restaurants and shops were all affected by the transfer of court business.

Although this motion focuses on Crown Court proceedings, it also infers to the fact that other aspects of justice have left the city. During the pandemic, families had to endure up and down trips to the Nightingale Court in Belfast for Inquest hearings.

We need to hold Court Services and the Department of Justice accountable. Long-term investment in our courthouse is overdue.

We need to bring all interested parties together to find a short and long-term solution to this issue.

A vote was taken on Cllr Carr's motion and it was passed unanimously.
After Freddy, Kartik Aaryan ready to take Shehzada on floors with Kriti Sanon; is yet to shoot for these upcoming films

Bollywood heartthrob Kartik Aaryan recently wrapped up the climax shot of his much awaited horror comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2. Well, yesterday he gave his fans another big surprise. He took to his social media handle to announce the completion of another one of his most anticipated projects, Freddy. Helmed by Shashanka Ghosh, the romantic thriller marks Alaya Fs second film. Not just netizens but even filmmaker Farah Khan was shocked to see how quickly the actor is completing the shoots of films in his line-up. In a comment, she wrote: How fast r u finishing movies???

View this post on Instagram A post shared by KARTIK AARYAN (@kartikaaryan)

Well, according to the latest report shared by ETimes, the rising star is now all set to take his next film on floors. He will reportedly begin shooting for Rohit Dhawan's Shehzada opposite Kriti Sanon in Mumbai in mid-October. The project, which is a remake of Allu Arjun starrer Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, also stars Manisha Koirala in an important role. Looking at Kartiks past record of quickly wrapping up films, we are sure he wont take too long in completing Shehzada before jumping onto the next one.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by KARTIK AARYAN (@kartikaaryan)

While Kartik has completed Dhamaka, Freddy and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, other much awaited films that he is yet to begin shooting for include Om Raut's yet-untitled 3D action film, Sameer Vidhwan's epic musical love saga backed by Sajid Nadiadwala, which was originally titled Satyanarayan Ki Katha, Hansal Mehta's social drama Captain India and Vasan Bala's yet-untitled superhero entertainer. Busy year ahead!

Which Kartik Aaryan film are you most excited to watch on the silver screen?
Bigg Boss 15 Promo: Salman Khan enters the BB jungle as Tiger; Donal Bisht, Umar Riaz set the stage on fire

Fans had a gala time watching filmmaker Karan Johar school contestants of Bigg Boss OTT when he took over the hosting duties for 6 weekends. While sometimes he was savage, other times he was at his entertaining best. However, audiences were eagerly waiting for Bigg Boss 15 to begin so that they could enjoy Weekend Ka Vaars with Salman Khan once again. Much to our delight, the superstar is back from the international schedule of his next film and has already begun shooting.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by ColorsTV (@colorstv)

Just last night a new teaser of the grand premiere night was dropped on social media by the makers. This time the promo featured Salman in the BB jungle, shaking a leg on his popular track Jungle Hai Aadhi Raat Hai with some of the most talented contestants of Dance Deewane 3. He is introduced as the tiger of Bigg Boss 15 and in the end says Tiger is back in a deadly tone. Thats not all! Another promo which was shared a while ago finally gives us a glimpse of Donal Bisht and Umar Riaz on the stage.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by ColorsTV (@colorstv)

The two were officially introduced during the official launch as the first two contestants of Bigg Boss 15. Well, in the teaser shared by makers last night, they set the stage on fire with their performances! While Donal flaunted her dance moves on Kamli in a shiny red gown, Umar set the temperature soaring with his bathtub segment!

Who are you most excited to see in the Bigg Boss house this season?
Malaika Arora asks Kapil Sharma where he found time to make two kids, he replies when the channel airs CID after his show; Watch

The Kapil Sharma Show promises the celebrities who arrive as guests on the show a gala time and it is one of the foremost reasons why the show is such a big hit. Malaika Arora who is ready to return as a judge on the dance reality show Indias Best Dancer recently shot for an episode and in the latest promo of the episode she can be seen teasing Kapil Sharma about having two kids in two years.

Malaika will be seen as a guest on the show with choreographers Terrance Lewis and Geeta Kapur. The actress teases Kapil saying that her show gives them a break between seasons but Kapils show goes on the entire year-round and wondered, Toh ye sab kaam ke liye apko waqt kab milta hai? So then when does he get time for all this work?). Geeta added to Malaikas query and explained, You mean to make the two little babies?

Kapils answer made everyone laugh out loud as her replied that the show goes on from 9:30 to 11 post which he gets time when the channel air CID.

The comedian also made a witty observation seeing the three judges of Indias Best Dancer and wondered Ye bachon ko dance karne dete honge? Inki apni baat nahi khatam hoti (Do they let the kids dance on their show? Their on conversations never end), as they were busy engaging with each other.
Minister for Foreign Affairs launches Consulate General of Ireland for the North of England

Press release

On 1st October, Irelands Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, T.D., will attend the official opening, in Manchester, of the Consulate General of Ireland for the North of England.

Irelands newest diplomatic mission will represent Irish interests in Englands northeast, the northwest, and Yorkshire and the Humber. Its establishment reflects the Governments commitment to developing the British-Irish relationship and will strengthen the political, commercial, community and cultural ties between Ireland and the North of England. The Consulate opening is also part of the Global Ireland 2025 programme for doubling Irelands international impact.

On the occasion of the launch, Minister Coveney said, The establishment of the Consulate, along with opening of an Enterprise Ireland office two years ago, is a physical testament to the importance that the Irish Government places on the relationship with the North of England, and to our ambition for the British-Irish bilateral relationship.

I am delighted to be marking this major step forward with our new Consul General, Sarah Mangan, and with partners such as the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Steve Rotheram, and Wendy Morton MP, Minister for Europe and Americas at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

The links between Ireland and this part of the world are profound, and uplifting, and have been built over generations. There are few facets of life where connections cannot be found and my hope is that with the opening of this new diplomatic mission we will strengthen existing partnerships, and forge new ones, across every sector and area of activity.

As part of the launch, Minister Coveney will chair a business roundtable discussion, looking at opportunities for Irish businesses in the region, before hosting a reception at the Manchester Art Gallery, where he will meet with representatives of the Irish business and cultural community as well as other key contacts. The Minister will then travel to Liverpool for a community engagement at the Liverpool Irish Centre.

In his meetings with Mayor Burnham, Mayor Rotheram and Minister Morton, Minister Coveney will discuss the Ireland-North of England relationship, and developments, cooperation and opportunities in the community, economic, trade and cultural sectors.

Minister Coveney will also support planning for an official visit to Ireland that Mayor Burnham and Mayor Rotheram will lead in early 2022 to drive forward our partnerships.

ENDS

Press Office

01 October

Notes for Editors The Consulate General of Ireland for the North of England is located in Manchester city centre. The diplomatic mission opened for operations on 1 July 2021, in temporary offices. It will work alongside and in partnership with the Manchester office of Enterprise Ireland, which was established in April 2019 to support the growth of Irish businesses and trade.

Work has begun to locate a permanent office space which will house both the Consulate and Enterprise Ireland office in an Ireland House arrangement, and will facilitate Team Irelands collective work to advance Irelands commercial and promotional interests in the North of England.

The new Consul General, Sarah Mangan, is supported by Vice Consul Carina OBrien. They, along with the head of Enterprise Irelands Manchester office, Laura Brocklebank, will work to strengthen old partnerships and forge new ones across all sectorsbusiness, education, politics, culture, sport, and community.

The new Consulate General demonstrates the Irish Governments commitment to strengthening the British-Irish relationship following the UKs departure from the European Union. It also forms part of a wider programme of investment in Irelands footprint in Great Britain in recent years, including an enhanced whole-of-Government presence in London, the re-opening of the Consulate General in Cardiff in 2019, and the establishment of an Enterprise Office in Manchester in the same year.

While in its temporary premises, the new Consulate General will not provide direct consular services to the public. Embassy of Ireland in London will continue to provide most consular services to Irish citizens in the North of England, including passport and visa services. Please see the Embassy London website for more information.

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Flipkarts Big Billion Day sale is almost here and as always, there are a whole bunch of deals that will be available to you. The sale kicks off on October 3 and will go on till October 10, giving you plenty of time to indulge in some retail therapy.

If you have been thinking about getting a brand new smartphone, this might be the best time to do so. The Flipkart Big Billion Days sale will see a lot of phones available at attractive prices. So you will have a lot to choose from, regardless of your budget. But what if there was a way to get even better value for your buck. Here are a few ways you can make sure you get your next smartphone at a bargain!

Flipkart Smart Upgrade Plan

Flipkart Smart Upgrade Plan allows users to purchase a smartphone by paying only 70% upfront at the time of purchase. After 12 months, you can choose to give back the smartphone and buy a new one. You could also choose and keep the phone by paying the remaining 30%. what makes this even cooler, is that now users no longer need to have a credit card to avail these benefits.

This makes it a very tempting option for those planning to buy a premium smartphone. Do note that the option is available on a wide range of models including the realme 8s, Motorola Edge 20 series, OPPO Reno6 series, realme GT series, realme X series and more.

For example, the OPPO Reno6 5G has an MRP of 35,990. During the Flipkart Big Billion Days Sale, it will be available for 29,990. However, when you apply the Flipkart Smart Upgrade Plan (after paying a fee of 249), you only have to pay 70% of the price. Once you do the math, youll notice that youll only have to pay 21,242,

However, also note that the Flipkart Smart Upgrade Plan is currently only available to select Flipkart users. Further, it is mandatory for users to submit their KYC to avail these benefits. KYC details could include Aadhar, PAN Card Details and Bank Account Details or UPI ID.

Flipkart Mobile Exchange Plan

Almost everyone planning to buy a new smartphone during the Flipkart Big Billion Days sale will be looking for a new device to replace their old one. Why let that old phone go to waste? Flipkart will let you exchange your old device and give you an attractive discount on the price of the new phone. You will be able to exchange your old phone in any working condition. Of course, the better the phone, the better the exchange value.

Flipkart has assured that users can expect a minimum of 1,000 on exchanging a smartphone in working condition. Further, you can also exchange feature phones, with such devices from Nokia and Samsung being exchanged for a flat 500. Feature phones from other brands command a discount of 200. Further, customers can avail of extra discounts of upto 6,000 on the purchase of their phones if they exchange their mobile phones during the purchase. This extra discount is available in selected models of top brands like realme, OPPO and vivo.

No-cost EMI

No-cost EMI lets you purchase a phone in monthly instalments, but without the added interest that this usually entails. This will allow you to purchase premium devices without worrying about spending a lot of money in one go.

Flipkart offers No Cost EMI options from almost all major banks such as HDFC, ICICI and Bajaj Finserv. Flipkart also offers Flipkart Pay Later EMI that allows users to avail themselves of EMI tenure from 3 to 48 months. However, this is limited to select Flipkart Customers.

Complete Mobile Protection

When you buy a new smartphone, the first thing you should do is to ensure that it is protected from any damage, so that you can enjoy using your phone without any worry. Flipkart also offers a suite of services designed to ensure your peace of mind. The Complete Mobile Protection Plan covers against all software and hardware damage, making it a one-stop solution for post-purchase protection.

Complete Mobile Protection covers accidental damage, broken screen, liquid damage, and manufacturing defects and issues. Further, you now have the option to purchase the service till seven days after the delivery of the phone. On top of this, Flipkart Warranty Assist offers doorstep pick-up and drop for any in-warranty services.

Bank offers and modes of payment

Aside from all this, users can also avail of additional discounts and offers when using select bank credit and debit cards. During the Flipkart Big Billion Days sale, ICICI and Axis Bank customers can avail of a 10% instant discount when using credit and debit cards from these banks. Flipkart also accepts a range of payment options such as Cash On Delivery (COD), debit cards, credit cards and online wallets such as Paytm.

You can learn more about all the deals during the Flipkart Big Billion Days sale here.

[Brand Story]
Nintendo recently unveiled a new version of its popular Switch console called the Switch OLED. The new version offered an OLED display with thinner bezels, larger internal storage and more. However, there were initial reports that the Japanese company was planning to launch an even more powerful version of its console with support for 4K gaming. With the launch of the Switch OLED, it looks like those rumours were nothing more than that. Or was it?

A report by Bloomberg seems to suggest that the Switch Pro may have existed, at least for a time. The publication claims that 11 game companies were in possession of Nintendos 4K development kit for the Switch. It further adds that these companies were from all around the globe and ranged from large publishers to small studios. The report calls out Zynga Inc. as being one of the companies.

Nintendo refutes rumours

However, since the story has been published, both Zynga and Nintendo have tried to squash the rumours. Zynga spokesperson, Sarah Ross, stated, to clarify, Zynga does not have a 4K developer kit from Nintendo.

Bloomberg also claims to have reached out to Nintendo with a list of questions. The Japanese company responded by stating that Bloombergs reporting is inaccurate, but declined to specify which parts of the information it was referring to.

Nintendo has also posted a tweet refuting the rumours. The company notes that the report is not true. It further added that it has no plans to launch a new model other than the Nintendo Switch OLED.
Microsoft Edge context menu (AKA right click options) in Windows 11, that Google Chrome May Copy

Microsoft while announced that its Windows version 10 will be the last of the operating system to be launched and after that only the 10th version will be receiving updates, things changed when Microsoft announced the launch of its Windows 11.The launch of the new Windows OS, despite the halted enhancements was because of the increasing market competition and obviously with new technologies and softwares appearing, Microsoft felt threatened to get lost or forgotten in the long run.However, the launch of Windows 11 is not the news here. Windows 11 will be appearing with a whole lot of UI changes as well.So while Windows 11 is all set to launch, Google is all set to make the possible changes for its browser to work the best and in alignment with the newer popular Windows series.Google will be giving the Chrome a more native look in response to the launch of the new Windows.The news came from an update on Chromium Gerrit where the Google company posts about all their updates and information about their new launches. According to the report from that particular patch which informs users about the Google update, it is confirmed that Google Chrome will now be making their menus more Windows 11 styled so that it works perfectly and in alignment with the new Windows.While not much has been said about what the changes and differences will be from the current Google outlook, the rounded menu corners and mica transparency feature are very much expected.Mica transparency will give users a side menu options opening which will still make the background Google screen visible, in a shadowed transparent way. Windows 11 style icons like those present on the Edge are also expected to make their way on the new update.Though, while news has circulated about the changed a specific time frame has not been mentioned as to when these changes will appear.However, if the news has been updated on Chromium Gerrit, it might not take long before we see the possibly expected changes on our respected search engines.H/T: Leo Varela Read next: Google Chrome Is Adding A Website Specific Auto-Dark Feature For Android Users
Were making it easier than ever to explore new topics with a redesigned Google Search page, whether youre curious about macaroni penguins  or the art of acrylic painting  #SearchOn pic.twitter.com/rkR0ku7ZFV  Google (@Google) September 29, 2021

At search on 2021, Google introduces the new design of its search result sheet. This new design brought many pictures, recommended searches, and more website background to the About this result section . This will allow the user to get the background about the website before even opening it. On this occasion, the primary focus of the company was Multitask Unified Model tools to understand the world info in an enhanced way and share with users. In the redesigned model of the Google search, users can now discover exactly what they are searching for. This does not only include the text but also the pictures.The most perceptible feature of this redesign is that the Google search outcomes will also display the pictures for many of users explorations besides just the textual content. It will not only make that page fascinating but will also assist users in what they are searching for. Earlier, Google used to display pictures on the top side of the page to suggest the users to shift to the Google Image portion. Now the search result is also deploying the latest tools, such as MUM to assists users to understand the theme in an improved way.Users will also discover a new  Things to know  that will display a few of the most significant tidbits about that theme. It will be similar to the People also ask part. Users will also be able to polish their searches with more precise phrases relevant to their subject. Moreover, users will be presented with more subjects and phrases relevant to their searched videos on the Google search page.Google will now present About this result to give users more detail about the specific site earlier to their click. Besides just the Wiki report, index date, and details about the link, Google will also display the details about the website's own explanation. However, this section will also be displayed if the publisher has given such details. This will also include the website outcome about the source to discover the news, appraisals, and other contextual situation about the website that is instigated by the 3rdparty. If this changes your brain, Google will allow users to get the info about the news reporting and the outcomes about the identical subject from different bases.About this page will be shown at the bottom side of Google's search on smartphones. Users can further get the news by clicking on the about this page section. This extended Google search sheet will be introduced merely for English questions in America at first. The company also says that it will also launch this extended page to the other countries of the world later.Read next: Google finalizes the model of its new multitasking searching tool for better search results, including a significant element of visual search
The final mural of the SEEK Festival 2021 is set to be started this Sunday, with artist Tellas set to paint a homage to the life of local botanist Dr Thomas Coulter.

The mural itself is set to be painted on Francis Street, with work on the final mural of the 2021 SEEK Contemporary Urban Arts Festival set to begin on Sunday.

Tellas, an artist from Sardinia, is set to create the mural.

According to the SEEK Festival, his style of painting is richly organic and that he takes inspiration from natural elements in the landscape.

This passion for botany is a perfect fit as he will be paying homage to the life of Dr Thomas Coulter, said the SEEK Festival, in a post on Instagram this afternoon.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Seek Dundalk (@seekdundalkofficial)

Dr Coulter, who is from Dundalk, was born in 1793 and travelled across the world, cataloguing plants in Mexico, Arizona and California, before returning to Ireland and founded the herbarium in Trinity College Dublin.

He passed away in 1843, with numerous plants being named in his honour since.

This is set to be the final mural of the 2021 SEEK programme, following the record-breaking mural of Lugh painted on the side of the Crowne Plaza Dundalk by Australian artist Smug One.
A 37 year old south Armagh man who claimed he was travelling to work at the Port Tunnel in Dublin when he was accused of failing to stop for a gardai and making a break for the border on the M1 motorway, was convicted at Dundalk district court last week.

Rico Kelly with an address at Lismore Park, Crossmaglen was charged with dangerous driving at Junction 17 northbound, at Harrison's Lane and at Newtownbalregan on September 24th last year.

A Garda told the court last Wednesday he was travelling on the N53 towards Castleblayney when he saw the defendant driving a black Audi A6 at Barronstown, Hackballscross.

He turned and caught up with it shortly after 8pm. The driver failed to stop and took off at high speed and turned onto the M1 northbound at more than 180 kilometres an hour, which the Garda said was the speed that he was driving at.

The witness said he saw the Audi continue to drive at a dangerous speed past the townland of Thistle Cross and in the distance he observed the car undertaking other vehicles before the car crossed the border.

A fixed charge penalty notice was issued for failing to stop for a Garda.

The Defence barrister said the garda had saved the life of Mr Kelly's mother following a serious road crash a number of years ago, but pointed out the incident occurred at night time, with headlights on and his client had an alibi.

Rico Kelly denied being the driver and claimed he would have been getting a lift to work a night-shift in the Port Tunnel, where he was pulling cables for a fire alarm.

He also said if he was to drive past the garda at night when it was raining "I don't think I'd recognise him".

Mr Kelly's work colleague also gave evidence that as the defendant had no driving licence, he picked up around 7.30pm to arrive at 8.45 ahead of a 9pm start. He said it was impossible for the defendant to have been driving the car as outlined to the court.

The Defence barrister argued 'identification evidence' on its own was insufficient to prove the case against his client.

However, Judge Eirinn McKiernan said she was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt and convicted him.

After being told the defendant had five previous convictions including dangerous driving and is disqualified from driving, and maintains his innocence, Judge McKiernan imposed a four month sentence suspended for 12 months, and a four year driving ban.
A new voucher which could be used to boost tourism during the off-peak season is an option being considered in Budget negotiations, it is understood.

At the the launch of a trial nightclub event at the Button Factory in Dublin on Thursday evening, the Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin was asked if a 100 or 200 voucher could be given to people to spend on tourism and hospitality this winter.

In response the minister said there is a lot to be considered in the Budget, but confirmed it is one of the issues they are looking at.

She said her department is currently engaged in Budget negotiations with Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, Michael McGrath, but said it was one of the proposals.

The Stay and Spend tax scheme was launched earlier this month.

It is aimed at consumers to help drive sales in the hospitality sector during the off-season which has been negatively impacted as a result of COVID-19.

The scheme will provide a maximum of 125 in income tax credits to tax-payers who spend up to 625 in restaurants, pubs, hotels, B&Bs and other qualifying businesses, from Autumn 2020 through to Spring 2021, including over the Christmas period.

Where a taxpayer has insufficient income tax liability to fully benefit from the measure, they may still avail of the relief against their USC contributions.
Retail workers in waves two and three were the workforce most likely to contract Covid-19.

That's according to a recent report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) which looked at Irish household data from Census 2016 to analyse Covid-19 waves.

The report also found that nurses and midwives were the most likely occupation to contract the virus during wave one.

Statistician Steven Conroy commented and said older age groups and people living in Dublin were the most likely people to be affected in the first wave, while the second and third waves affected younger age groups.

He said, "The most common occupation to contract Covid-19 in waves two and three were Sales and Retail Assistants, Cashiers and Checkout Operators. As society reopened after the first lockdown in summer 2020, cases amongst those employed in the Wholesale & Retail Trade sector increased."

Mr Conroy stated the cases in retail rose from 5% in July 2020 to 17% in August 2020 and these have reportedly remained consistent since then.
Euromoney: the EBRD leads by example in addressing climate change

Euromoney magazine, the leading authority for the world's banking and financial market, published a major article in its recent issue praising the EBRDs green policies. The article is based on interviews with President Odile Renaud-Basso and other senior management. The 5,000-word piece described our green work in detail, pointing out that the EBRD is the first development bank to have gone from theory to practice and produce a detailed methodology of how to move towards Paris alignment. The EBRD's experience and capabilities are in many ways well suited to meeting the climate challenge. Everyone from policymakers to bankers agrees on the urgent need to mobilise private-sector finance, which is what the EBRD was created to do, the piece says.

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A milestone for connectivity in the Western Balkans

The EBRD Regional Director for the Western Balkans, Matteo Colangeli, and the Head of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Manuela Naessl, were among the guests of honour at the opening ceremony of Svilaj Bridge connecting the Bosnian with the Croatian section of the Corridor Vc motorway this week. The President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, said: the bridge connects the Western Balkans and the European Union and, more importantly, symbolically builds bridges and connects people, countries and cultures.

Watch

Increasing corporate disclosure about climate change

Speaking at a joint FT-EBRD webinar on Closing the Disclosure Gap: Unlocking climate-related investment in emerging markets on Tuesday, EBRD Managing Director for Green Economy and Climate Action, Harry Boyd-Carpenter, discussed how corporate disclosure matters and whether more and better disclosure could drive investment in emerging markets. You can see things moving very fast and you can see this as an opportunity for everybody involved, he said.

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How evaluation helps improving performance

Evaluation contributes to the monitoring of how the EBRD is delivering its objectives. Evaluation also helps enhance the EBRDs transition impact by collecting evidence of what works and what does not in the Banks projects, programmes and strategies and policies. Independent evaluation is an essential element of the EBRDs work.

Watch

UAE becomes EBRD shareholder

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become a full member of the EBRD and its 72nd shareholder, setting the stage for new investment opportunities across the Banks regions. The UAE will not become an EBRD country of operations.

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Farewell to Vice President Pierre Heilbronn and welcome to Mark Bowman

After five years of service as EBRD Vice President Policy and Partnerships, Pierre Heilbronn left the Bank today. He is succeeded by Mark Bowman, who joined the EBRD from the UK Treasury. Mr Heilbronn represented the Bank throughout its countries of operations, strengthened existing ties and built new ones. President Odile Renaud-Basso said: I would like to thank Pierre [Heilbronn] for his dedication and commitment in advancing the EBRDs agenda and representing the Bank so effectively in Europe and in its countries of operations.

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Zagreb Office raises more than 100,000 for earthquake victims

When strong earthquakes hit Croatia earlier this year and left thousands without a home, the EBRD Resident Office in Zagreb initiated a fundraising campaign for victims in the Sisacko-moslavacka zupanija. A campaign was launched with Solidarna Foundation, a community-based Croatian human rights organisation. In little over a months time, 50,000 has been raised thanks also to a donation from the Croatian Bar Association. Finally, the EBRD Community Initiative double the collected amount. A site visit this week offered the opportunity to launch the first projects and the local press reported.

Read more (in Croatian)

Project signings and agreements

Financing key infrastructure upgrades at Almaty International Airport

The EBRD and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are facilitating better regional and international connectivity for air travellers in Kazakhstan by arranging parallel loans of US$ 150 million each for the development of key infrastructure at Almaty International Airport to be provided to a consortium of investors led by the global airport operator TAV Airports. The project, which is also co-financed by the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and DEG, the German development finance institution, will fund the biggest-ever private investment into airport infrastructure in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

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EBRD becomes shareholder in TBC Bank Uzbekistan

The EBRD and the IFC are promoting increased private-sector participation in Uzbekistans banking sector by acquiring stakes of up to 20 per cent each in TBC Bank Uzbekistan (TBC UZ). The investments goal is to strengthen digital finance in Uzbekistan and thereby boosting financial inclusion in the country.

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Supporting green investments in Morocco

The EBRD, supported by the Green Climate Fund and the European Union, is providing a financial package of up to 25 million to Credit Immobilier et Hotelier (CIH Bank). CIH Bank will use the funds to lend to corporates, small businesses and individuals in Morocco for investments in climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies.

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Boosting renewables, green hydrogen and new technologies in Morocoo

The EBRD and the Moroccan Research Institute for Solar Energy and New Energies (IRESEN) are joining forces to boost energy transition. In a Memorandum of Understanding the parties agreed to strengthen cooperation in the areas of investments promotion and acceleration of Moroccos transition to green energy.

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Offering fresh funding for SMEs in Armenia

The EBRD is providing a financial package of US$ 5 million to Inecobank in Armenia to facilitate the private sectors transition to more sustainable, low-carbon and climate-resilient practices through support of small businesses. The project will benefit from grant incentives of 523,000 provided by the EU.

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Donors

Helping Albania develop sustainable tourism

Tourism helps open up the beauty of Albania to its own citizens and the wider world. We are raising awareness of the benefits of eco-tourism and promoting a sustainable and inclusive tourism sector in the country. Supported by Italy through the Central European Initiative, and in partnership with the Albanian Development Fund.

Watch the video

The agritourism boom in Montenegro

This year's World Tourism Day recognises the importance of ensuring that nobody is left behind in the tourism value chain. This is how, together with the EU and Luxembourg, we are boosting small-scale, green and inclusive tourism in Montenegro.

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Reducing a restaurants environmental impact

Gourmet restaurant Ejona in Albania is one of those delicious finds that you never forget. Together with the EU, we are helping it become a fully eco-friendly restaurant with a business strategy for reducing its environmental impact.

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Tourism for inclusive growth

International tourism is slowly recovering as governments ease restrictions on travel to an increasing number of countries. The EBRD is supporting training programmes to equip local youth with qualifications to help them find jobs in the tourism sector. In addition, the Bank is helping reduce gender gaps in access to employment and services in the sector through equal-opportunity initiatives and the design of gender-responsive infrastructure.

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Investing in quality to become more competitive

With eyes on the EU market, Novi Stil from Jagodina invests in quality to become more competitive. Together with the EU, the EBRD is helping the Serbian furniture manufacturer to invest in modern equipment. Our work helps SMEs to boost their competitiveness by providing them with well-structured finance for investments in equipment to improve production processes, implement international standards and so on, says Matteo Colangeli, EBRD Regional Director for the Western Balkans and Head of Serbia.

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Helping rebuild water infrastructure in Kara-Suu

In the Kyrgyz Republic the EBRD, the EU and the European Investment Bank are joining forces to rebuild the water infrastructure in Kara-Suu, where only half of the residents are served by the municipal water company, while the rest use street taps or own wells. Soon we will start running water through the new lines. With reduced water losses and increased water production, we will be able to provide water services to all 25,000 people and even connect new customers from neighbouring villages, says Altyn Shamshiev, the Chief Engineer at Kara-Suus municipal water company.

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Ukrainian king of antioxidants for European markets

In Ukraine, the company Amethyst Ole supplies local and international berry lovers with blueberries, the ultimate superfood organic product. Together with the EU, the Bank has helped the company to upgrade its production and boost exports.

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EBRD in the news

Rania Al-Mashat, Egypts Minister of International Cooperation, met with Heike Harmgart, EBRD Managing Director for SEMED, to follow up on the ongoing negotiations to prepare for the new country strategy for 2021 - 2026.

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Zsuzsanna Hargitai, EBRD Managing Director for Central Asia, spoke to Qazaq TV about the Banks activities in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, green economy, political risks and nuclear remediation in the region.

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The Turkish news paper Daily Sabah reported that green investments and energy efficiency projects in Turkey are getting a major boost through a 500 million investment by the EBRD supported by 20 million co-financing from the Clean Technology Fund.

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The SeeNews agency reported on EBRD plans to further expand its GEFF programme in the Western Balkans in 2022, following successful investments of around 45 million in household energy efficiency improvements in the region to date.

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The completion of a new landfill in Georgias Adjara region was reported by the newswire georgis.ge. Two existing landfills in the same region will soon be closed in the cities of Batumi and Kobuleti with financing provided by the EBRD and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

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The EBRD on social media

We welcomed the UAE to the EBRD family! UAE has become a full member of the Bank.

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EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso was in Brussels this week to meet the EU Commissioner for Budget and Administration, Johannes Hahn and the EU Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli.

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EBRD Vice-President Alain Pilloux took part in the launch of Bishkek's wastewater collector pipe construction.

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EBRD Managing Director for Green Economy and Climate Action Harry Boyd-Carpenter explained why increasing corporate disclosure about climate change is crucial to mobilise more climate action in emerging markets.

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We celebrated a big milestone for Belgrade's Vinca landfill project with the opening of a new sanitary landfill, which is replacing the old uncontrolled dumpsite.

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Our EBRD Econ Talks are back! Next week Beata Javorcik, Mike Spence, Jean Pisani-Ferry and Jonathan Charles will discuss what the implications of COP26 are for the EBRD regions.

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Subscribe to instant email updates on EBRD news about topics such as coronavirus and climate finance.

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Confiscated Webley revolvers from the late 1800s, which were to have been destroyed, will be sent instead to the National Museum of Ireland.

Prosecution barrister Brendan Kelly said at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that the museum had contacted him following an order for the destruction of the weapons.

At the time of the case earlier this week, Judge Helen Boyle said she would prefer if the revolvers were sent to a museum but was told that a destruction order was the only order that could be made.

That order has now been changed to allow for the weapons to be sent to the museum.

The three revolvers were confiscated from a 61-year-old man, Jan Walowy of Molaga Street, Clonakilty, County Cork, who claimed that he found them in a sealed container inside a black plastic bag on the foreshore in the Clonakilty area.

He pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to four charges. Three of the charges related to having Webley revolvers at his home on January 21 and the fourth charge relates to having 12 rounds of .455 calibre ammunition, without having them for a lawful purpose.

Sergeant Kevin Long said the matter came to the attention of gardai after Walowy produced the weapons in front of friends during a drunken moment. He pointed a revolver at one friend and showed him that it contained bullets.

Judge Boyle said there was no evidence the revolvers had ever been fired by the defendant as she gave him a three-year suspended sentence.

The three revolvers are to be sent to the museum.

The order for the destruction of the ammunition remains.
A three-year jail term was imposed on a man caught with over 100,000 worth of cocaine near Fermoy last year.

Judge Helen Boyle imposed a jail term of five years on Paulo Rodrigues and suspended the last two years of that sentence at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

The 24-year-old man with an address at Corrinlea, Cork Road, Fermoy, Co Cork, was arrested following the drugs seizure by undercover gardai in woodland near Fermoy in North Cork.

Paulo Rodrigues was charged with possession of cocaine and with possession of cocaine for sale or supply at Cullanagh, Fermoy on April 11, 2020.

Most significantly, he was charged with having more than 13,000 worth of the drug.

This can carry a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Detective Garda Robert Kennedy of the Cork City divisional drugs unit gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution on the defendants initial court appearance and he said the accused made no reply to the charges.
Former student to become principal at UCM

A local woman will return to the Island next year to lead a college she attended as a student.

Jesamine Kelly will take over from Jo Petty as principal at University College Isle of Man (UCM) who is moving to a new role at the Department for Education in the UK.

The former graphic designer began a career in education as a lecturer in 2008 and progressed to hold a number of key management and director roles at Southport College.

Most recently, as assistant principal for curriculum and quality, she has helped to reduce learning barriers, improve access to Higher Education and significantly increase their employer base.

She said: Im thrilled to be returning to lead UCM. As a past student, with fond memories of my experience there, this is a particularly proud time for me and my family.

I am looking forward to working with students, parents, carers, staff, employers and the wider community to take the college on the next phase of its journey.

On a recent family visit, I was delighted to see the fantastic facilities and resources, and Im excited to work with the dedicated staff to ensure students fulfil their potential, and enjoy an excellent and inclusive experience which enables them to flourish.

Dr Alex Allinson MHK, Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, said: We are delighted to appoint Jesamine to the position of principal.

She is a passionate and driven advocate of lifelong learning and we are confident she is the right person to build on the excellent work Jo has delivered since 2016.
Cannabis dealers both given suspended sentences

A man and a woman who dealt cannabis through a social media app have been given suspended sentences.

25-year-old Liam Waldrum and 21-year-old Gabriella Hay from Douglas sold the drug through Snapchat last year.

BBC Isle of Man reports the pair both pleaded guilty to supplying the drug.

Police searched the pair's home in May last year and found a small amount of cannabis, as well as seizing two phones.

Investigating officers found notes on how they planned to profit from selling the drug online.

The pair were both given eight-month suspended sentences.
Nigeria is set to lift a ban on Twitter under the condition that it's used in the country for "business and positive engagements," according to Bloomberg. The social media network was originally banned in June after it removed a tweet from President Muhammadu Buhari under a violation of its abuse policy.

The Nigerian government said it was close to an agreement with Twitter on resuming operations. "As a country, we are committed to ensuring that digital companies use their platform to enhance the lives of our citizens, respect Nigerias sovereignty, cultural values and promote online safety, said Buhari in a speech sent to Bloomberg.

Twitter was banned in the country following a tweet by Buhari that threatened to punish secessionists that allegedly attacked government buildings. At the time, the social media company said in a tweet that it was "deeply concerned" by Nigeria's actions and that it considered the open internet an "essential human right."

Facebook, Twitter, Apple and other tech giants often walk a fine line between promoting espousing internet freedom and bending to local laws. Apple, for example, was recently accused of giving the Chinese government control over local data, while railing against similar actions in the United States and elsewhere.
The Google graveyard is getting more crowded. After announcing the Plex mobile-first bank accounts in November last year with Citibank and a few other financial institutions, Google is pulling back from the product. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company is "abandoning plans to pitch bank accounts to its users."

A Google spokesperson told Engadget that it's "updating our approach to focus primarily on delivering digital enablement for banks and other financial services providers rather than us serving as the provider of these services."

Plex was initially positioned as an easy mobile-first way to open bank accounts, with Google providing the technology and app design and banks and credit providers backing the finances. It sounded more like a way to help institutions that didn't yet have a modern, competent app to team up with Google on one, which might be why major names like Bank of America and Capital One, who already had existing apps, weren't on the list of partners.

According to the Journal, a Citibank spokesperson said it plans to recommend other accounts to people who had already signed up for the Plex waiting list. The publication reports that the waiting list numbered about 400,000 people, and that the pandemic had thrown plans off schedule. The Journal also noted that "As late as this week, several banks were under the impression that the project would still move forward."

Though the Plex branding is going away, Google does appear to want to stick around in the financial services business. The spokesperson said that "We strongly believe that this is the best way for Google to help consumers gain better access to financial services and to help the financial services ecosystem connect more deeply with their customers in a digital environment.

It may not a complete abandonment, but Plex joins a long list of other Google products that were cancelled or discontinued, like the Home Max speaker, Clips camera, Google+ and more.
If youve been holding out on a possible iPad purchase (or upgrade), this might be the time to strike. Apples newest base model iPad is now on sale, and weve got a detailed review on what is an incremental upgrade on what is, at heart, the same design weve had for many years now.

Engadget

If youre looking for an iPad with a design twist  or at least a smaller footprint  theres the iPad mini, pulling some of the redesigned iPad Pro DNA into a smaller package. That includes something close to an all-screen design, with an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display and power button with TouchID on the edge that supplants the need for a home button.

Meanwhile, the OG iPad design, so very lightly refreshed for 2021, doesnt put a foot wrong  and its the cheapest new iPad you can get. For that $330, as Nate Ingrahams review lays out, the hardware is powerful and the battery life is outstanding.

It has Apples A13 Bionic chip, which first appeared inside the iPhone 11, circa 2019, but still an upgrade from the last vanilla iPad iteration. But yes, its not as powerful as the newer chips in the iPad Air and just-updated iPad mini.

If we sidestep the Pro models, tablet shopping will boil down to the iPad mini, Air or this new standard model. You could say this is some degree of choice  I just wish there was more tablet competition that didnt run an Apple OS. Android tablets are still, typically, cheaper options that always leave me wanting.

 Mat Smith

The former employees were outspoken critics of many Amazon policies.

Amazon was supposed to defend its decision in court to let Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa go last year. The former Amazon employees were outspoken critics of the company, and both were, according to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), illegally fired. The e-commerce giant didn't have to defend itself, however, because it has settled with the affected parties shortly before the hearing could take place.

The settlement still needs to be approved by the NLRB regional director in Seattle, but Cunningham and Costa are already considering the settlement a victory. In a joint statement, they said the development is a "win for protecting workers rights."

Continue reading.

Huh, that looks a little familiar.

Subaru has shown the first video of its first EV, the 4x4 Solterra crossover, essentially confirming it's a slightly reworked version of Toyota's upcoming bZ4X EV. Were still waiting on key details, like price and battery capacity. It's set to arrive in the US and other markets next summer. For now, take a closer look at the teaser.

Watch here.

A bit of Dolby Atmos makes all the difference.

Engadget

Sonos has added Dolby Atmos support to the original Beam, which turned out to be a popular soundbar for those looking to upgrade their TV sound system in a simple way  and introduce them to the Sonos cinematic universe of speaker add-ons and upgrades.

The new Beam, while more expensive than a lot of the competition, is another compact soundbar that sounds far more immersive than youd expect. According to Devindra Hardawar, it also does a decent job with music and still works well with other Sonos speakers. Read on for his full review.

Continue reading.

The Nreal Air also work with iOS devices.

Nreal

Chinese company Nreal has launched a new model of augmented reality glasses called Air, designed with streaming shows and playing mobile games in mind. The glasses still need to be tethered to a phone, like their predecessor, the Light, but they're a lot lighter (77 grams to Light's 106 grams) and look more like an ordinary pair of sunglasses.

Nreal also improved the display, which has the capability to project a massive virtual screen up to 201 inches in size, and refreshes at up 90Hz. The new model has no motion tracking at all, and a company spokesperson told us that, based on Light's usage, Nreal expects most owners to use the Air simply to watch shows on YouTube.

Continue reading.

The Kiyo X webcam costs $80, while the Ripsaw X capture card is $140.

Razers latest streaming gear aims directly at newbies, starting with its new Kiyo X USB webcam. As with a lot of current games, you can choose between optimizing your webcam feed for fidelity or framerate with 1080p 30 fps and 720p 60 fps options.

Theres also the Ripsaw X capture card, for footage up to 30 frames per second in 4K. Razer says the device delivers "near-zero latency" through its HDMI 2.0 and USB 3.0 connectivity. You can hook it up to a camera with HDMI output to use it as a high-end webcam or capture gameplay from a console. The Kiyo X cam costs $80, while the Ripsaw X will run you $140. Both are available now.

Continue reading.

The biggest news stories you might have missed

Fairphones new ethical phone looks less like an ethical phone (in a good way)

Honda announces plans to build electric VTOLs and telepresence robots

This could be ASUS' long-rumored RTX 3070 with Noctua fans

'The Watcher' takes center stage on this week's 'What If?'

'Lower Decks' mines the weirder corners of the Star Trek universe

Google's original Nest Hub drops to $40 at Best Buy

PlayStation Studios adds remake and remaster studio Bluepoint Games

Blue Origin is a 'toxic environment,' current and ex-employees say
2021-10-01

Maeci

This afternoon the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity (GFSEC) took place - in a videoconference format - at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The Conference was the conclusive step of the Italian rotating Chairmanship of the Forum, which was supported by the United States of America and Japan, as Co-Chairs, and the OECD as Facilitator of the initiative.

The GFSEC was established in 2016, in the framework of the G20, with the aim of promoting cooperation and transparency among the major steel-producing Countries to mitigate the phenomenon of steel excess capacity and its impact on the world market.

"We need multilateralism more than ever to address urgently steel overcapacity", stated the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, in his opening speech. Minister Di Maio also expressed his wish that non-participating steel producing Countries join the dialogue on steel policy.

During the meeting, representatives of the Governments and business associations of the GFSEC membership expressed deep appreciation for the Forums work, addressed the need to avoid market-distorting measures, and discussed present and future challenges facing the global steel sector, such as transition to a green economy and new technologies as tools to reduce steelmaking excess capacity.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Government delegations of 29 economies that are part of the membership endorsed the Ministerial Report for 2021 GFSEC activities.
2021-10-01

Maeci

The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Benedetto Della Vedova, is in Dubai to open the Italy Pavilion at Expo2020, together with the Commissioner General Paolo Glisenti and the Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Nicola Lener. Along with the Pavilion's institutional partners, the ceremony will be attended by the senior management of the leading Italian industrial groups that have contributed as sponsors and technical partners to Italy's participation in the Expo and to the construction of the national Pavilion.

Before the inauguration ceremony the Undersecretary will have meetings with the Minister for Tolerance and Coexistence and Commissioner General of Expo2020 Dubai, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Akl Nahyan, and with the Undersecretary for Culture and Youth, Mubarak Al Nakhi. He will also have discussions with the United States Commissioner General, Bob Clark, and the Deputy Commissioner General, Matthew Asada. Deputy Minister Della Vedova will also be attending the signing ceremony of the cooperation protocol between the Italy Pavilion and San Marino, together with Federico Pedini Amati, the Secretary of State for Tourism of San Marino. Finally, the Undersecretary will be meeting members of the Italian community residing in Dubai.
Homeownership may be the American dream, but some who live in Converses Hanover Cove neighborhood say it has turned into a nightmare of frustration, anxiety and uncertainty.

Owners of eight houses in the neighborhood allege in recently filed lawsuits that their properties have numerous design and construction defects that have caused unacceptable levels of cracking and buckling to the homes foundation.

That has led to extensive interior damage, including broken tile, split trim and cracked wallboard, and has rendered the homes unsafe, unsanitary, or otherwise unfit for living, the complaints add. Mold growth also has been cited.

The homeowners sued Pulte Homes of Texas in September for fraud, negligent construction and breach of implied warranties. Each of the suits seeks more than $1 million in damages.

We started investigating it and found out it wasnt just a one-off or two-off where you have homeowners who are having problems with their foundation, said Shaun Hodge, a Galveston lawyer representing the homeowners. We think it is a significant widespread problem.

Hodge said he has spoken with other homeowners and expects to file more lawsuits.

Pulte Homes parent PulteGroup Inc. spokesman Jim Zeumer said it works hard to deliver outstanding build quality and overall customer experience.

We are reviewing the filings, but we stand behind our warranty and look forward to meeting with these homeowners to assess their issues, he added.

Pulte has yet to file answers to the suits.

Big builder

Atlanta-based PulteGroup Inc. ranked as the nations third-largest homebuilder based on 24,624 closings and more than $10.6 billion in annual revenue last year, according to Builderonline.com. Only D.R. Horton and Lennar Corp. were larger.

Homebuilding in Texas accounted for almost 20 percent of PulteGroups closings and 13.7 percent of its revenue last year. The company controlled nearly 34,000 lots in Texas at the end of last year. The only state where it had a bigger presence was Florida.

The company and most of its subcontractors maintain general liability insurance coverage, including for certain construction defects, it said in a February regulatory filing. However, it added, the availability of such insurance has become increasingly limited.

The majority of construction defect claims it receives relate to alleged problems with siding, windows, roofing and foundations.

The company provides homebuyers a limited warranty against certain building defects, it disclosed in the regulatory filing. It also provides coverage for certain other aspects of the homes construction and operating systems for periods of up to  and in limited instances exceeding  10 years.

The Hanover Cove homes at the center of the lawsuits were sold by either Pulte or its Centex Homes brand from early 2012 to early 2018. Two are less than 4 years old. The houses assessed value ranges from about $163,000 to $220,000.

Issues going on

Hanover Cove features 444 single-family homes, making it the third-largest neighborhood in Converse. The homes that are subject of the lawsuits are on Harbor Mist Lane, Lookover Bay, Madison Creek and Fisherman Port.

Joshua Jones, Converses assistant city manager who oversees building inspections and permits, said he and his staff were unaware of any alleged construction issues with homes in Hanover Cove.

Offhand, I have not heard anything about that, Jones said.

Efforts to reach the president of the Hanover Cove Homeowners Association were unsuccessful.

The city performs foundation inspections as new homes are built. Apparently no issues were evident at the time of construction because the city issued certificates of occupancy for the homes.

Hodge, though, believes Pulte knew about some issues going on during construction and didnt disclose them to later purchasers.

Pulte should have known that there was something going on with the slabs, he said.

Arbitration

Owners of a home in the 9300 block of Fisherman Cove filed the first lawsuit against Pulte in July. They had purchased the home, assessed at about $189,000, from the original homeowner in 2017.

The current homeowners alleged the house experienced significant foundation movement and damage, including cracking of the Sheetrock and exterior veneer, tiles, the foundation, and racking (misalignment) of doors, windows and framing.

Some doors and windows are difficult to secure, creating safety concerns, they added.

Pulte warranty representatives said the indications of significant foundation  movement constituted normal settling, the homeowners said in their complaint.

In its answer to the lawsuit, Pulte said its not liable for normal wear, tear, or deterioration. It added its also not liable for any percentage of damages caused by the plaintiffs failure to take reasonable action to mitigate damages or to maintain the residence.

The homeowners allege Pulte violated the states Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which could increase the economic damages by up to three times the amount of the actual damages. In response, Pulte said the DTPA claim is precluded because it never made any representations to the current owners, who bought the home from the original owner.

The plaintiffs seek to recover the cost of repairs, reduction in market value, temporary housing expenses and engineering fees. The homeowners say their damages range from $250,000 to $1 million.

On Sept. 14, a state district judge in San Antonio granted the parties motion to compel arbitration. It will be heard by former Judge David Berchelmann. Bryan Woods, San Antonio attorney for the homeowners, declined to comment because of the arbitration.

Warranty claims

Hodge, the Galveston lawyer who filed the eight lawsuits in September, said some of his clients submitted warranty claims with the homebuilder. Representatives came out and performed inspections.

But they were essentially saying it was naturally occurring or it was not a construction defect, Hodge said. I dont think its natural to have homes that are 4, 5, even 9 or 10 years old, to start having major foundation issues.

They tend to try to point the finger at the homeowner and do anything they can to say its anything but a construction defect, he added. Certainly, these homeowners were not involved in the construction and preparation of the ground and pouring the foundation. So I guess its pretty disingenuous to point the finger at the homeowners.

Hodge brought the suits under the Texas Residential Construction Liability Act, which requires a homeowner to give notice of the alleged defects and allow the builder or contractor to inspect the property and make an offer to repair.

Pulte didnt make any offers to his clients and basically blew them off, Hodge said. In some instances, however, he said he was unable to give notice to Pulte because of potential statute of limitations deadlines.

All of Hodges lawsuits include a foundation condition evaluation by Sugar Land engineer Michael D. Stall. The reports included photographs of foundation fractures and cracks in wallboard and tile.

Stall concluded the defective foundations were caused by any one or a combination of factors, including incorrect soil preparation, incorrect concrete mix, incorrect placement of reinforcement steel or poor workmanship.

Echoes of Fairhaven

The claims raised by the Hanover Cove homeowners are reminiscent of those made by some residents of Schertzs Fairhaven neighborhood  another Pulte development  about a decade ago.

Homeowners said shifting soil beneath their homes caused structural problems, such as cracks in foundations, walls, ceilings, floors and driveways, as well as sticking doors and windows. Some said they had seen cracks starting in a retaining wall in their backyards.

Dozens of homes allegedly had problems. Several residents opened their homes to elected officials to show the alleged damage.

A third-party engineer hired by Pulte examined several of the damaged homes and conducted soil samples to determine how the structural problems could be fixed.

The homeowners wanted Pulte to buy back some 45 homes in the area.

Pulte eventually came to terms with the homeowners, but it reportedly didnt buy back any homes. In 2012, Zeumer, the Pulte spokesman, told the Express-News it was making house-specific repairs and rebuilding some homes that required more comprehensive work.

The issues in Fairhaven triggered an investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development into whether Pulte falsified information about soil and ground conditions in the neighborhood.

The agencies looked into complaints that Pulte improperly filled out builders certification forms. Theres a separate form for every house, and theyre required so homebuyers can receive government-backed mortgage loans.

No charges were ever brought, FBI spokeswoman Michelle Lee said Wednesday.

In early 2010, Pultes Centex Homes saw a rock-clad retaining wall fail in spectacular fashion between the Rivermist and Hills of Rivermist neighborhoods on the Northwest Side of San Antonio. The city evacuated 91 homes initially and suspended the certificates of occupancy for 27 homes for 17 months. The builder eventually purchased 22 of the evacuated homes.

Hodge, the lawyer for the eight Hanover Cove homeowners suing Pulte, said the problems with the homes also causes a hit on the resaleability of the properties.

You dont expect to buy a relatively new home and expect it to be a fixer-upper, he said. But thats what our clients are having to deal with.

pdanner@express-news.net
Critics of corporate hiring practices have long complained about unnecessary prerequisites that exclude capable candidates, particularly people of color, veterans and low-income people.

The most common and frankly nonsensical is the bachelors degree.

Make no mistake, the years I spent at the University of Texas at Austin enlightened and thrilled me. If Im honest, though, I probably fall back more on the leadership and deductive reasoning training I learned during seven years on active duty in the Army.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: Texans should be recruiting Afghan refugees to boost economy, diversify culture

Nor do I think 17th-century literature adds much vocational value when a young person grows up in a family restaurant and already knows how to keep books, track expenses and manage employees. I loved Don Quixote, but Cervantes doesnt offer advice on when to take a business loan.

These are not unique observations, and three trends are forcing the most significant reassessment of hiring practices in a generation. Wise employers are already rethinking prerequisites, and they are assuming a greater role in training their workforces.

The first trend is that job openings remain stubbornly high. Employers complain that workers dont have the right skills, but labor economists say that is probably exaggerated. Recent studies suggest that automated job boards that screen applications exclude candidates that would be perfect, with a bit of on-the-job training.

Second, income and wealth inequality is taking a toll on young people. Many begin working in high school to help support their families, and they cannot take time off for higher education without causing suffering. Every community college dean will tell you that family obligations are the biggest hurdle to low-income students completing a program.

Lastly, only 30 percent of Americans have a bachelors degree, and rising tuition and fees are scaring young people away from college. Student loans put many millennials under a mountain of debt, and their subsequent earnings do not justify it.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the high school classes of 2020 and 2021 to completely rethink higher education, according to a survey by the Strada Center for Education Consumer Insights, a nonprofit research organization. Top of mind for new graduates was keeping debt low and ensuring their education leads to a career.

Aon, a global financial services and consulting firm, joined with other Chicago-area companies to address these challenges and grow the workforce with an innovative apprenticeship program. Now expanded to Houston, participating companies pay an apprentice a salary with benefits to work part time while attending a two-year college full time to earn a relevant degree or certificates.

The Greater Houston Partnership is also participating, hoping to recruit other companies to scale the model to 500 apprentices by 2025. The network recruits apprentices from community colleges and nonprofits working with disadvantaged communities and veterans.

This apprenticeship program was founded to increase a talent pool for corporate America and to tap into a talent pool, that to be honest, corporate America ignored, Charles Philpott, Aons U.S. president, told me.

Dawn Spreeman-Heine, managing director of commercial risk solutions in Aons Houston office, launched the Houston effort over the summer. Aon whittled 125 applicants down to 10 apprentices through a customized screening process.

The first group has started classes at Houston Community College and is already changing the look of Aons 200-employee office in Houston.

I think 90 to 100 percent of them would self-identify as diverse, so we just boosted our diversity population by 5 percent in an amazing way, Spreeman-Heine explained.

In Chicago, co-founders Aon, Accenture and Zurich North America grew the Chicago Apprenticeship Program to more than 50 companies and 1,000 apprentices in four years. The program has a 90 percent retention rate, far better than community colleges.

Accenture hires most of its apprentices to fill technology roles for client projects, such as cybersecurity and cloud computer migration, and internal positions in human resources or information technology, said Mary Beth Gracy, head of Accentures Houston office. A quarter are veterans or the spouses of veterans.

These apprentices become people with careers at Accenture, she added. Companies get an employee they are able to mold to meet their job specifications. That person is learning their job from the employer in their context.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: Racial wage gap remains stubborn, but trends are promising

Apprentices may not invent the next artificial intelligence, but they can guard against hackers and perform other tasks.

Too many hiring managers consider a bachelors degree a minimum credential. But they are overlooking most of the American workforce and ignoring the rich life experiences that so many people could apply to a variety of positions.

Houston employers should flock to the Greater Houston Apprenticeship Network to learn how to meet their workforce needs. A small investment in an eager apprentice will pay off in higher profits and employee loyalty.

Chris Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and politics.

twitter.com/cltomlinson

chris.tomlinson@chron.com
The Professional Bull Riders tour is making a stop at the AT&T Center on Saturday and Sunday, bringing some of the world's best bull riders to San Antonio.

The top 30 riders in the world are expected to compete in the U.S. Border Patrol Invitational for the championship buckle and a $1 million prize.

On ExpressNews.com: PBR in San Antonio: 10 facts about the bull riders and beasts that buck them

Texas-born Andrew Alvidrez is ranked No. 27 in the world and has won over $160,000 over the course of his career.

The Express-News spoke with Alvidrez, 25, about the good, bad and dangerous things it takes to be a champion bull rider.

What first started your interest in bull riding?

When I was 3 or 4-years-old, I watched the movie "8 Seconds" and ever since then I knew I wanted to be a bull rider. I grew up in the small farm town of Seminole, Texas, so that was pretty much all there was to do. But it happened to be that the Seminole Rodeo was going on, so my mom put me in the mutton bustin' and it went from there. I started riding steers when I was 8 and ever since then it was a hobby that I turned into a profession.

Those 8 seconds when you're on the bull, what is is like? What goes through your mind?

Ma'am, when you ride a bull, it's completely surreal. It is like time slows down, like it is the most chaotic, hectic, beautiful place. It really gets your heart pumping. There's lots more that goes into riding than people think.

Every guy has a natural way of doing it but then each has his own techniques to be able to ride a bull. We really are athletes with the way we contort our bodies and have to make split-second decisions. The (bull) breed lines are getting so damn good, we really have to train every day.

How do you train to be a bull rider?

I work out every day; not everyone does. But you get on horses bareback to build timing, and we also use barrels that we make to practice. But honestly, the best practice is just to get on the bull because we make our living the same way we do it in the practice pen. Bull riding is a self-taught sport because you are the only one who can feel it and the only one who you can trust up there. It is definitely one of the most humbling sports.

What is the worst injury you have ever had?

Definitely the worst one was when I broke my neck, it was my C-7 vertebrate. I was in a neck brace for four months and another three months in recovery. It was definitely just as much of a mental recovery as well. It was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the PBR, the bull bucked me over the front of his shoulder and I landed on top of my head. It was almost like a pencil dive over the bull.

Why did you keep riding after that?

When you are as obsessed and ambitious about something as much as I am about bull riding, you get back up. I think, I'm not here for a long time so may as well do what I love. I didn't want to give up. When the doctor told me I broke my neck it was very scary but it left me with a lot of gratitude because I am still walking and there is a reason for that. I believe in a higher power and I know that this is what I am supposed to be doing.

Your PBR debut was in San Antonio for the Touring Pro Division, how does it feel to come back?

It is awesome to be back in San Antonio. Looking back to my first ride there in 2014, it's definitely something that makes me realize all of the hard work you put in will get you far. And riding in your home state just pumps you up so much more, so I hope that everyone comes out on Saturday.

To see Alvidrez in action, you can purchased tickets through Ticketmaster.

taylor.pettaway@express-news.net
A new monthly dinner series is pairing San Antonios top chefs with an historic venue for an event all area foodies should have on their radars.

The Saint City Supper Club at St. Paul Square is a new initiative from the nonprofit Saint City Supper Club and the downtown historic district that will find chefs serving feasts to hungry diners in monthly installments starting Nov. 18.
NEWTOWN - The parents of two first-graders slain in the Sandy Hook massacre have won a defamation lawsuit in Texas against conspiracy extremist and Infowars host Alex Jones.

Scarlett Lewis, the mother of Jesse Lewis, and Lenny Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, the parents of Noah Pozner, will have their cases heard by a jury to determine damages.

We believe the court hit this nail on the head when it considered Alex Jones and Infowars bad faith approach to this litigation, Mr. Jones public threats, and Jones professed belief that these proceedings are show trials, said one of the parents attorneys, Bill Odgen, in a prepared statement. This day has been a long time coming, and we are not surprised by the courts rulings.

The parents, who each sued Jones for more than $1 million for claiming, among other things, that the 2012 slaying of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School was staged, synthetic, manufactured, a giant hoax and completely fake with actors, had been battling with Jones in Travis County District Court for pretrial documents he had been ordered to turn over to them.

After warnings and sanctions, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled on Monday that Jones was in default.

The court finds that (Jones) discovery conduct in this case is the result of flagrant bad faith and callous disregard for the responsibilities of discovery under the rules, Gamble wrote in her order.

Two other defamation lawsuits filed by the father of Jesse Lewis, Neil Heslin, are pending in Gambles Texas court. Heslin has also asked the judge to find Jones in default of his obligations to turn over pretrial documents.

The parents attorney Odgen said the focus now shifts to how much damage was caused.

Because (the parents) have now been granted relief, and Alex Jones and Infowars are now liable for their damageseach case will be presented to a Travis County, Texas jury to quantify the damages, Odgen said. My clients have and continue to endure (Jones) 5-year campaign of repulsive lies.

Jones and his attorney Norm Pattis disagreed, saying they are determined to see that these cases are heard on the merits.

Nothing less than the fundamental right to speak freely is at stake in these cases, Jones and Pattis said in a statement posted on the Infowars site. It is not overstatement to say the First Amendment was crucified today.

The defamation cases in Texas are separate from two defamation lawsuits filed against Jones in Connecticut Superior Court by eight families who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook massacre and an FBI agent, where the Judge Barbara Bellis has also threatened default against Jones if he doesnt comply with discovery orders.

In Texas, the judge ruled that Jones persistent discovery abuses were part of a pattern that was evident in the Connecticut lawsuits.

[T]his court has also considered (Jones) general bad faith approach to litigation, Mr. Jones public threats, and Mr. Jones professed belief that these proceedings are show trials, Gamble ruled.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
Godofredo A. Vasquez /Staff file photo

A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper was arrested in connection with several sex crimes against children, the department confirmed.

Fredis Rivas, 34, was arrested in Comal County on Monday on suspicion of possession of child pornography and indecency with a child.
An Iraq War Veteran told John Stewart during the comedian's new Apple TV+ show that he is suffering from a variety of health issues because he was exposed to burn pits while he was deployed in the Middle Eastern country in 2007.

Stewart asked Le Roy Torres, who is a former Texas state trooper from Robstown, to be a guest on the premiere episode of his his TV series "The Problem with Jon Stewart."

The name of the first episode is "The Problem with War," which highlights the U.S. government's lack of attention and aid to veterans who suffer from medical conditions caused by exposure to burn pits, which is an area for a massive open-air combustion of trash.

On ExpressNews.com: Crash that killed TikTok star, 3 passengers a suspected human smuggling attempt

According to the show, the U.S. Army uses the disposals to get rid of waste overseas that includes food, human feces, old uniforms, amputated body parts, hazardous materials, trucks, nuclear waste and much more.

Torres, who served in Iraq for one year, told Stewart he suffers from a toxic brain injury on top of a myriad of ailments from being near the burn pits. He said he began experiencing health issues after only one month in Iraq.

"When I first arrived, there was this horrific stench of just burning rubber. There was this massive, just huge hole where they were just burning all of this trash," Torres said on the show.

On ExpressNews.com: Sandy Hook parents of two slain children win defamation case against Alex Jones in Texas

Military service members who were exposed to the smoke from the pits can suffer short-term symptoms like difficulty breathing and coughing, but those exposed for longer periods of time may suffer long-term health conditions, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs website.

Torres was joined by two other veterans who say they are also suffering from health issues caused by burn pits and have not received specialized healthcare from the VA.

Stewart said veterans suffering from health conditions related to burn pits do not get the medical attention they need because the VA and other government departments say there is a lack of proof linking the health issues to the burning of the waste. The TV host noted that there are internal memos that show that the VA is aware of the toxcity of burn pits.

"Now veterans are dying and going bankrupt because the Department of Defense and VA are forcing them to indisputably prove a connection that they already internally admit exists," Stewart said during the episode. "And what makes it so incredibly demoralizing is that they are holding the veterans to a standard of proof far beyond the one our own government used to send them to war in the first place.

Malak.Silmi@express-news.net
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)  A plan to possibly sell the South Florida property where the collapse of a condo building killed 98 people to a United Arab Emirates-based developer was endorsed Thursday by a Florida judge.

Under the plan, the almost 2-acre (0.8-hectare), oceanfront property would be purchased for $120 million in cash by East Oceanside Development. At the same time, an attorney appointed to manage the interests of Champlain Towers South will continue to market the Surfside property, and an auction will be held if competitive bidders emerge willing to pay a higher price.

Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman said during a court hearing that he would approve the plan, provided his court maintained jurisdiction over any lawsuits that come out of the proposed sale. He said he didn't want the property tied up in litigation" if the contract falls apart.

The proposed sales contract makes no mention of a memorial that many family members of survivors are pushing for at the property.

The collapse of the 12-story condominium last June is being examined by federal investigators, but homeowner association documents show that the building had many unaddressed repairs for years.

An appraiser has valued all the units of the building at more than $95 million, according to Michael Goldberg, the lawyer handling the interests of Champlain Towers South. Almost $50 million will be coming from insurance coverage.

The valuation of the the condos came from a fair market appraisal" of what they would have sold for the day before the collapse and used comparisons from other, similar properties, Goldberg said.

The judge told the condo owners that they would be able to review the appraisal of their units and he would listen to their concerns, but he still expected many of them would feel their units were being undervalued.

Its a science, not an art, Hanzman said. Its going to be one of those incidents when the perfect is going to have to be sacrificed for the greater good.

Plus, the judge said, if the amount of damage to the building had been known publicly before the collapse, the units probably couldn't be sold."

The judge also asked attorneys in the case to research how any excess between the $95 million appraisal value and a sale valued at $120 million or higher should be distributed. Without yet making a decision, Hanzman said he was inclined toward giving the additional money to the relatives of the 98 people who died in the building collapse.

He urged family members of the deceased and surviving owners not to fight over how proceeds are distributed.

We have 98 people who perished in this. If the choice I have is to give unit owners more, or take the excess and give it to relatives of family members who died, Im going to go with the latter, Hanzman said. These decisions are difficult. Its going to be sad, in my view, if we see unit owners going up against each other on this issue."

___

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP.
A 29-year-old man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of kidnapping a woman at gunpoint while she was jogging at Brackenridge Park and then sexually assaulting her.

According to an arrest affidavit, Brandyn Alexander Garcia is facing multiple charges, including aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping.

On ExpressNews.com: Alamo Heights ISD employee gave teenage girl vodka and then sexually assaulted her, affidavit says

San Antonio police said Garcia used a gun to force a 20-year-old woman into his vehicle while she was jogging Monday on a trail near the intersection of Mulberry and Avenue A.

Out of fear, the woman got into the vehicle and Garcia made her crouch down in the front passenger seat with a jacket over her head so she couldn't see, the affidavit said.

Garcia drove the woman about 15 minutes to an apartment, where he made here wear a sweatshirt backward over her face, took her cellphone and then bound her hands to a chair, according to the affidavit. He then began asking the woman questions about her background and personal information, the affidavit continued.

Soon after, Garcia took her to the bedroom and sexually assaulted her, the affidavit said. Garcia then made the woman shower before driving her home, according to the court documents.

Garcia kept the phone and told the woman he would return it later, police said. When Garcia turned on the phone two days later, police used its GPS to track him to his home.

Surveillance footage from the front gate of the woman's home captured a partial image of Garcia and his vehicle, according to authorities. Police said they later discovered that Garcia traded in that vehicle the night of the assault.

Police said they confronted Garcia at his home and arrested him after a brief vehicle pursuit.

Garcia's bail was set as $400,000.

taylor.pettaway@express-news.net
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  South Dakota is one of four states, along with the District of Columbia, that won't be resettling any of the nearly 37,000 Afghan evacuees who made it to the U.S. during the final days of its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last month.

Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, which is the state's refugee resettlement agency, decided not to accept any Afghans after weighing local conditions and its ability to resettle them.

Rebecca Kiesow-Knudsen, the groups chief operating officer, said Thursday that those arriving from Afghanistan without special immigrant visas are currently not eligible to work or receive federal aid to help them resettle.

We had really significant concerns about our ability to provide the level of support to help make that integration successful, she said.

Kiesow-Knudsen said the agency was facing a rapidly evolving situation that could change depending on whether Congress decides to provide funding and work eligibility for evacuees who have not been granted refugee status.

The Biden administration this week began telling governors and state refugee coordinators how many Afghan evacuees they would receive. The numbers ranged from more than 5,200 people who are headed to California to as few as 10 being resettled in Alabama and 10 in Mississippi. South Dakota, along with Hawaii, West Virginia, Wyoming and the District of Columbia, are not expected to resettle anyone from the first group.

Republican Gov. Kristi Noem last month expressed reservations about accepting evacuees from Afghanistan. She told KSFY-TV, "We do not want them coming here unless we know they are an ally and a friend, and that they dont want to destroy this country.

Noem in 2019 decided to continue allowing refugees to be resettled in the state after former President Donald Trump attempted to allow states to opt out of the program. But refugee numbers in South Dakota have plummeted in recent years. Lutheran Social Services reported resettling 50 people during the last fiscal year  a drop from 439 just four years earlier.

States with large numbers of Afghans who settled in the U.S. over the past 20 years, including California, Maryland, Texas and Virginia, are again welcoming a disproportionate number of evacuees, according to data for the Afghan Placement and Assistance program obtained by The Associated Press.

Kiesow-Knudsen said there isn't much of an Afghan community in South Dakota. The agency has resettled 12 people from the country in the last five years.

She said, We want to make sure that anyone who would arrive in South Dakota would be successful in integrating."
The Texas House of Representatives on Thursday released its first draft for the chambers new district lines, rearranging boundaries to shore up support for the GOP majority.

Its the same strategy that has been evident in other political maps the Republican-controlled Legislature has drawn this year, calculated to maintain a red majority in a state that has slowly trended more Democratic for years. In 2018, Democrats picked up 12 seats in the House, putting them within nine seats of the chambers majority.

The Democrats had hoped to make up that difference in the 2020 elections but ended up with no net gain  giving the GOP total control over the redistricting process.

The map gives Republicans a slight advantage, said Ross Sherman of the advocacy group RepresentUs, which works with the Princeton Gerrymandering Project to grade redistricting proposals. This seems to be a trend this cycle: another map producing safe seats and insulating politicians from their constituents.

The Gerrymandering Project gave the proposed House map a C in fairness for its GOP advantages. Its the highest grade a Texas map has received so far, after proposals for congressional and state Senate maps earned F grades.

State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, blasted his GOP counterparts Thursday for taking away majority-minority districts under the proposal, despite the states population growth among people of color.

Republicans continue to carve up communities and tilt the system, making free and fair elections impossible under the proposed House map, he said.

RELATED: GOP lawmakers swear new Texas redistricting maps are 'race blind,' as they did a decade ago

Speaking in general about the maps, GOP strategist Brendan Steinhauser said the Republicans tried to lock in the gains they earned during the 2020 election, rather than be too aggressive and shift blue seats their way.

The House seats currently are divided almost equally between districts that favored Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. The current map includes 76 Trump-led districts and 74 Biden-led districts, but the new map shifts that support to 86 in favor of Trump and 64 in support of Biden.

Texas grew by roughly 4 million people over the past decade, a surge driven almost entirely by people of color, especially Latinos. Updating the political maps is required every 10 years, to account for such shifts.

Still, the proposed House map reduces the number of majority-minority districts by voting age population. Previously, 67 districts were majority-white; the new map proposes 72 districts that have mostly white voters.

Those numbers change dramatically when evaluating estimates for adult citizens. Using those figures, the House currently has 83 majority-white districts, compared with 89 under the new map. And while the current districts include 33 with Hispanic majorities and seven with Black majorities, those numbers would fall to 30 and four, respectively.

These maps do nothing but preserve the status quo at the expense of Black and brown Texans, said Anthony Gutierrez, the executive director of the good-government group Common Cause Texas.

There are also nine proposed districts in which sitting House members would be paired, meaning their home addresses overlap in the same seat. House members must live in the district they represent, and pairing often forces one of the members to step down, or they run against each other.

TEXAS TAKE: Get the latest news on Texas politics sent directly to your inbox every weekday

In six of those districts, at least one of the paired members has announced other 2022 plans, avoiding re-election conflict. But the map sets up for fights in three of the districts  one between Democrats in El Paso and two between Republicans in the Hill Country and in Fort Bend County.

State Rep. Lina Ortega, D-El Paso, who is paired under the proposal with a fellow Democrat, state Rep. Claudia Ordaz Perez, said the proposal was the worst possible outcome for our community.

The Texas House map filed today reduces El Pasos representation by drawing two Hispanic, women incumbent members who represent border districts into one House district, Ortega said in a statement. This is a direct attack on our border community and weakens the representation of minorities in the Texas Legislature.

The proposal is all but certain to change over the coming weeks. It must pass the House and the Senate and earn Gov. Greg Abbotts signature before becoming law.

The biggest changes in the new map appear to be centered in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, where district boundaries have changed significantly.

Districts in Bexar and Harris counties would not undergo the dramatic changes proposed for Texas congressional districts, which lawmakers have greater flexibility to reshape.

In most cases, the Texas Constitution prohibits state House districts from spanning multiple counties in urban areas such as San Antonio and Houston.

Still, lawmakers were able to reinforce GOP-controlled seats in their proposed map where the partys support has eroded in recent years, offloading Democratic voters from those areas to districts that are already blue.

For example, the map appears to fortify two red-leaning suburban seats in west Harris County represented by state Reps. Mike Schofield of Katy and Lacey Hull of Houston. The map suggests giving some of their blue-leaning precincts to a seat represented by state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston, making his district more Democratic.

cayla.harris@express-news.net

jasper.scherer@chron.com
A man from Bangladesh who operated a hotel in southern Mexico that housed migrants has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for conspiring to smuggle undocumented immigrants across the United States southern border.

Mohamod Milon Hossain, 41, operated from a hotel in Tapachula, Mexico. He conspired with another Bangladeshi in Monterrey, in northern Mexico, to smuggle paying immigrants from Bangladesh, South and Central America and Mexico between March 2017 and June 2019.

Hossain was sentenced Tuesday in Laredo to 46 months. He provided plane tickets and other assistance for the migrants to travel from Tapachula to Monterrey. There, co-conspirator Moktar Hossain, 31, lived and assisted their illegal crossing into the United States, officials said. The immigrants entered at various points along the border.

Mohamod Hossain was a key facilitator and smuggler of Bangladeshi nationals and his actions put our national security at risk, Shane Folden, special agent in charge of U.S. Homeland Security Investigations-San Antonio, said in a statement. HSI is committed to working with its domestic and international partners to combat this type of crime throughout the globe.

From Monterrey, Moktar Hossain provided accommodations for people aiming to enter the United States illegally. He also paid drivers to transport them to the southern border and instructed them how to cross it. Between March 2017 and August 2018, Moktar Hossain smuggled 14 Bangladeshi nationals into the U.S. in exchange for payment. He was sentenced in August 2019 to 46 months in prison for his role.

This human smuggling conspiracy operated on a global scale and endangered the lives of Bangladeshi migrants, said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Departments Criminal Division. The Justice Department will continue working with our law enforcement partners here and abroad to bring human smugglers like Hossain to justice and to disrupt these criminal networks.

The case was investigated by various offices of Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Marshals Service.

guillermo.contreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland
Authorities are investigating the Sunday crash that killed 19-year-old TikTok star Gabriel Salazar and three Mexican nationals as a human smuggling attempt.

The wreck happened in Zavala County  more than 100 miles southwest of San Antonio, where Salazar lived.

Salazar  who went by @gabenotbabe on TikTok  was known for posting short, humorous lip-sync videos. His profile on the social media platform has more than 1 million followers and over 85 million likes. He posted his final video Sept. 23.

Since Sunday night, Salazars Instagram and TikTok posts have been flooded with fans sharing their condolences. Sunday was when his family opened a GoFundMe account to pay for funeral expenses. The online fundraiser said he had died in an auto wreck, but it did not offer further details.

On Tuesday, the San Antonio Express-News published a story after the Texas Department of Public Safety revealed that a 19-year-old named Gabriel Salazar who was driving a white Chevrolet Camaro had died along with three passengers after leading police on a chase in Zavala County. Salazars last post on Instagram was Sept. 24: a photo of him standing in front of a white Camaro.

And Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations told the Express-News it was investigating a wreck that killed four people Sunday in Zavala County as a human smuggling attempt.

Also Friday, law enforcement sources confirmed to the Express-News that the only quadruple-fatal wreck there Sunday was the one that killed Salazar and his three passengers.

Salazars family has not responded to media inquiries.

DPS internally has listed the three passengers as undocumented foreigners, and the agency started separate traffic fatality and criminal investigations. Thats according to two law enforcement sources who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation and the widespread media attention.

Yeah, its a smuggling situation is what it looks like, said one law enforcement source familiar with the case. Weve had smuggling crashes in Del Rio and by Eagle Pass, Uvalde, but the majority are there in Carrizo (Springs) and Crystal City, along (U.S.) 83 all the way down to (Asherton).

Separately, Homeland Security Investigations said it assisted Zavala County law enforcement with a crash on that date, and it has a parallel investigation. But it stopped short of confirming Salazar was the driver. It referred questions about the matter to DPS.

On September 26, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Eagle Pass, Texas, assisted Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) in Zavala County with a vehicular accident which occurred near LaPryor, Texas, that resulted in the death of four individuals, a statement from HSI reads. The incident is suspected of being a possible human smuggling event. No additional details are being released at this time as the criminal investigation continues.

According to DPS, a Crystal City police officer attempted to pull over a white Chevrolet Camaro about 1:20 a.m. Sunday on U.S. 83. Officials said the driver did not stop and continued traveling north toward La Pryor, which is about 100 miles southwest of San Antonio.

The Camaro was headed north, pursued by police, when it went off the right shoulder and into the grass, according to a DPS report. The driver then overcorrected and crossed the road into the grass on the other side.

There the car hit trees and rolled several times before landing on its roof, according to the report. The vehicle then caught fire, and all four occupants died. The passengers were identified as Jose Luis Jimenez-Mora, 41; Jose Molina-Lara, 23; and Sergio Espinoza-Flores, 36. Their hometowns in Mexico were not available.

While this pursuit involved a local police department, those involving DPS and smugglers have increased over the last year. Since Gov. Greg Abbott and DPS launched Operation Lone Star this year to target smugglers, there have been 711 vehicle pursuits, said Victor Escalon, regional DPS director. Addressing media at a briefing last month, he said the busiest areas have been in and around Del Rio and the Rio Grande Valley.

The Del Rio section of the border saw 375 pursuits from January through August, up from 32 during the same period last year, he said. And the Valley saw 206 pursuits from January through August, up from 143 last year.

Theres more people coming across, more troopers, more pursuits, Escalon said. Its inevitable.

guillermo.contreras@express-news.net | malak.silmi@express-news.net
A man is dead and two others are in critical condition after a shootout at a Northeast Side apartment complex.

The shooting began about 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the center of an apartment complex in the 4000 block of Bentley Drive, San Antonio police said.

Sgt. A. Morris said police are still trying to determine what led to the shooting.

One group has said they were there to meet a girl and were approached by at least two other males. Another group said they arrived for a drug deal.

Everyone showed weapons and began shooting, Morris said.

At least three men, from both groups, were struck during an exchange of gunfire.

One man died after emergency medical personnel tried to save him, police said. The other two men shot were taken to San Antonio Military Medical Center in critical condition.

The men shot are in their 20s, police said.

Everybodys a suspect, and everybodys a victim at this point, Morris said.

She said so far it does not appear police are searching for anyone else, and that there is currently no danger to the public from the incident.

jbeltran@express-news.net
A judge denied the state of Texas request for an order to stop the San Antonio Independent School District from enforcing its employee vaccination mandate, and set a trial date for January on its lawsuit against the district.

The ruling Friday left the school districts requirement intact. The states lawyers said they would appeal the decision to the Fourth Court of Appeals.

It came after lawyers for SAISD and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton  back in court after an earlier ruling sidelined the states effort  presented a new round of arguments over Gov. Greg Abbotts authority to set local health rules.

SAISD employees last month were told to provide proof by Oct. 15 that they are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Only 10 have refused and about 150 have claimed exemptions against it, former Superintendent Pedro Martinez has said.

In a hearing on Zoom, state District Judge Mary Lou Alvarez said that although the states lawyers offered eloquent, passionate arguments, they did not provide any evidence to move her to grant their requested injunction to stop the vaccination policy.

Josie Norris /San Antonio Express-News

I remind all parties that the trial on the merits is evidentiary. Work up your case, get your evidence and go to trial, Alvarez said. This is not the town square. This is not a place for bullhorn arguments. Follow the process and protocol.

Citing Texas laws and court precedents, attorneys for the state argued that the governors authority during disasters is absolute. Steve Chiscano, one of the attorneys representing SAISD, said the state needed to show imminent harm and the likelihood of prevailing at the trial, and had failed to meet that burden.

Alvarez set a trial date of Jan. 19 for the case to be assigned to a judge out of Bexar Countys presiding court docket.

It was clear that the states lawyers wanted a more immediate way to stop the vaccination mandate, which an injunction would provide. In a news release Wednesday, the Attorney Generals Office predicted victory in that effort.

Last week, the case had been shunted to the Fourth Court of Appeals after a judge rejected the school districts challenge to the states routine assertion that it had jurisdiction to bring the suit. The school district this week agreed to drop that appeal.

At both last weeks hearing and on Friday, SAISD attorneys repeated a claim used in other lawsuits that have pitted local governments against Abbott, saying the governors outlawing of virus protection measures unconstitutionally overrides state law that gives such authority to local governments.

The states lawyers Friday scoffed at the districts assertion that it had the authority to attempt to protect the lives of its enrollment of 47,000 children and its 7,000 employees.

Required Reading: Get San Antonio education news sent directly to your inbox

Aaron Reitz, representing Paxtons office, said SAISD so far is the only one of thousands of Texas political subdivisions  cities, counties and school districts  to attempt to impose a vaccination requirement.

The fact that the district is still bringing up this issue even though it has been repeatedly raised and repeatedly resolved reflects the defendants desperation to avoid the core, simple legal question of the lawfulness of the vaccine mandate, Reitz told the court.

The governor decides this matter, who can or cannot, whether or not, a school district can impose a vaccine mandate, he said.

On ExpressNews.com: As San Antonio ISD's new leader sets out his pinky-promises, the kindergartners are on board

Chiscano said the governor did not have that authority  its the school district, he said, that is charged with ensuring the safety of its staff and students.

Vaccine mandates are happening all over this country, Chiscano said. Why? Because it is the No. 1 defense to stopping the spread of this virus.

State District Judge Angelica Jimenez last week denied SAISDs plea that the state didnt have jurisdiction to bring the suit. A day after the school district filed a notice that it would appeal Jimenezs ruling to the Fourth Court, the state asked the appeals panel for an emergency order to stop the vaccination mandate until the appeal was heard.

This week the appeals court justices granted the school districts motion to dismiss the appeal of the jurisdictional issue so they could fully argue their case against the temporary injunction request. The appeal was dismissed without prejudice, so SAISDs lawyers can go back and argue that question later.

ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863
Remember that scene in Dr. Strangelove, the Cold War cult classic film, when the U.S. president calls the Soviet premier to warn of an impending strike by American bombers?

The president, generals and the Russian ambassador are gathered around a massive table in the war room. Gen. Buck Turgidson, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, played by George C. Scott, worries the Russian ambassador will see classified intel, and a scuffle breaks out.

Gentlemen! You cant fight in here; this is the war room, President Merkin Muffley, played by Peter Sellers, says. This is outrageous  I have never heard of such behavior in the war room before.

On ExpressNews.com: Lingle: Vets in House loyal to a lie, not to their oath

Fluorescent lights shine down in the dim space full of cigar smoke and serious faces. In the background, the big board shows the progress of the errant B-52s launched by their unhinged wing commander.

Muffley speaks calmly and disarmingly into the phone to Dimitri, his drunk Soviet counterpart whom we cant hear.

Im just calling up to tell you something terrible has happened, Muffley says. Of course its a friendly call.

He adds, Im sorry, too, Dimitri. Im very sorry.

The image of the worlds most powerful men telephoning to prevent war brings the terrifying absurdity of nuclear annihilation into focus.

And thats the image that came to mind as I pictured Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, calling to reassure his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng, that the U.S. was stable and didnt intend to pre-emptively strike the Peoples Republic.

Here, reality was stranger than fiction, and while the scenario doesnt line up exactly, the Strangelove echoes are strong.

On ExpressNews.com: Lingle: Public was indifferent to a war made abstract

Im hoping for a Coen Brothers or Quentin Tarantino rendering of the final days of the Trump presidency. Picture it  Alec Baldwin or John Goodman as Donald Trump? Daniel Day-Lewis, Ben Stiller or maybe Jon Stewart as Milley? It cant be Steve Carell since hes already in charge of a fictional Space Force.

In Dr. Strangelove, the president was the voice of reason while the general argued for a pre-emptive attack that would only create modest and acceptable civilian casualties.

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In reality, it was the general trying to maintain peace and de-escalate tensions. And, while Milley isnt perfect  no general is  and the end of the Afghanistan was a debacle, we were fortunate to have a man with integrity and patriotism in that office during the death throes of the last administration.

We may not always be that lucky. Never forget: Plenty of diehard Trump acolytes still lurk in the U.S. militarys ranks.

On ExpressNews.com: Lingle: How DOD shaped Americans' view of war in Afghanistan

As Milley testified before Congress these past few days, I tried to imagine the pressures of upholding the Constitution while pacifying an agitated president throwing temper tantrums while peddling lies and conspiracy theories about voter fraud.

MAGA apostles  Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, U.S. Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Ronny Jackson of Texas  peppered Milley with all sorts of political theater, and he dispatched them with facts and candor.

Gaetzs snarky questioning of Milley was especially galling. One could only imagine what the battle-hardened general thought as the congressmen, whos under investigation for sex crimes, demanded a resignation.

The only reason Milley should think about retiring is to speak freely about the months leading up to President Joe Bidens inauguration.

And the people who are slamming the general for being woke, and his efforts to make the Department of Defense a more inclusive and respectful institution? They forget that, besides the effort being the right thing to do, an all-volunteer force that reflects its society needs volunteers.

On ExpressNews.com: Lingle: Two Afghans, but only one journey to safety

The Milley episode reminds me of a conversation I had a few days after Trumps inauguration. One of my bosses, an Air Force major general working at the Pentagon, described the new regimes unpreparedness, unorthodox approach and erratic behavior as uncharted waters.

At the time, none of us realized how uncharted the next four years would be.

Stanley Kubricks dark satire from 1964 challenged people to laugh at the zero-sum game of World War III. It poked at the grim reality that nuclear war was simultaneously imminent and unfathomable.

And, the bizarre realities of the last year did the same  without the humor. Luckily, our governments fail-safes held, but theyre still under attack.

Maybe someday  when were not doom scrolling social media or building survival bunkers  well be able to laugh at it all, but nows not the time.

Brandon Lingle is a retired lieutenant colonel who served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force with assignments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea and across the U.S.

brandon.lingle@express-news.net
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month  an observance since 1987. But in Bexar County, we should be aware of domestic violence every month  and every day. How can we not? The headlines about victims who lose their lives are nonstop. This, despite monumental efforts by most governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations.

Thats why its crucial to give the national and local effort the platform to send the message.

Bexar County consistently ranks in the top five counties in Texas for domestic violence-related homicides, according to Metro Health officials. Last year in Bexar County, there were 36 family violence homicides. And San Antonio Police Departments Crisis Response Team served 14,542 family violence survivors and conducted 2,672 home visits.

In Texas, 40 percent of women and 35 percent of men experience intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner rape and/or intimate partner stalking in their lifetimes, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, or NCADV, headquartered in Denver.

This years National Domestic Violence Awareness Month theme, #WeAreResilient, gave me pause. Why should domestic violence survivors have to be victimized in the first place, much less be encouraged to be strong? While I realize the hashtag plays up the strength of domestic violence survivors, I question the tone. The annual observance is all about the message. The goal should be no violence  not celebrating the survival of it, even if resilience is remarkable.

I spoke to Ruth Glenn, NCADV president and CEO, as well as two local advocates: Patricia Castillo, who leads the PEACE Initiative, and Marta Pelaez, president and CEO of Family Violence Prevention Services who runs the local battered womens shelter.

Glenn said her organizations #WeAreResilient theme is about honoring the strength of not only victims but advocates who work to help them.

Castillo had mixed feelings. My first thought is, Hell, yeah, I am strong. But at the same time, I feel like it leaves out the whole accountability piece. Its always up to the victim to fix everything. In my lifes work, that has been the biggest burden; society always expects her  the victim  usually a woman  to remedy it, to fix it, to stop it, to change it.

Pelaez said the hashtag resonates with her. In resilience, there is an element of resistance. We must resist the temptation to allow domestic violence to become politicized, she said. There is nothing political about looking at the picture of a victim in the Express-News who was killed last night by a bullet at the hands of someone who claimed to love her.

In President Joe Bidens 2021 National Domestic Violence Awareness Month proclamation posted Thursday, he began by touting the landmark Violence Against Women Act, which he wrote as a senator and which passed 27 years ago. Its the same way the Obama administration touted it 11 years ago when Biden, then vice president, called domestic violence the dirty little secret that nobody talked about.

Back then, the statistic on the video feed was: Domestic violence affects 1 in 4 women and about 15.5 million children.

It seems to be getting worse. In his recent proclamation, Biden said homicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States of women under 44  nearly half of whom are killed by a current or former male intimate partner. He said domestic violence has become a pandemic within the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden said in 1994 that passing the legislation was the most significant thing he had ever been part of. Hes still working on it  adding hundreds of millions in federal funding.

And locally, the Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence, CCDV, has its own confusing hashtag, #PurplePorchSA. The Purple Porch initiative invites the public to shine a light on domestic violence by turning their porch lights purple during October in order to break the stigma and have honest conversations, Bexar County Judge Monique Diaz, a CCDV co-chair, said.

In 1994, Biden said we shouldnt be trying to reduce domestic violence but be motivated to end it. This year, again, Biden made a call to all Americans to work to end domestic violence.

The goal of the messaging and awareness is deep change, which requires action. Domestic violence isnt new. And, the message and mission of ending it is complicated.

Nancy.Preyor-Johnson@express-news.net
I never really imagined what aging would be like.

Yes, an older body subject to disease and limits, a memory that needed kick-starting more often than when I was younger. Perhaps less mobility and more a sedentary life as my default position each day. Would my attitude gravitate toward what South Wales poet Dylan Thomas cautioned in his poem, Do not go gentle into that good night, which I read as an undergraduate:

Do not go gentle into that good night

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

That defiant refrain in the last line ends each of the stanzas. But here I am, at 77, continuing to teach a variety of audiences, writing, publishing books, traveling, and enjoying family, friends and fortunes good and challenging. I am not alone. We are in an unprecedented era of an entire population living longer than ever before in human history. How are people using that extended time to refresh what purpose their lives allow?

But there is another entire galaxy of interior possibilities, as retired psychotherapist Connie Zweig eloquently expresses in her new book, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul. I recently heard her on a Zoom talk on the books central features, and how nuanced and complex aging can be. It is a time for new discoveries of ones central myth, namely, the core values and aspirations that give our lives coherence, meaning and purpose.

She believes aging is a spiritual practice, inviting a deepening into our interior worlds. And far from an individual suffering a midlife crisis, she suggests that as a therapist she witnessed a late-life crisis in those she worked with. So what paths may open up within our aging journey? For her, aging into elderhood is an opportunity to awaken to deeper dimensions of ourselves.

Many books on aging and retirement stress new tasks, like volunteering, painting or dance classes  all admirable activities. But Zweig takes a different tack: What do you long for in your aging? What is your promised land? as she recalls the end of Moses life after leading his people to the edge of that terrain of milk and honey. What is falling away from your life that you may have clung to for decades? She believes our dream life as we age can offer wisdom in our exploration.

As a practicing Buddhist, Zweig offers that cultivating the art of meditation can be a life-preserver, slowing brain degeneration. Citing a University of California, Los Angeles neurologists studies, she reports, On average, the brains of long-term practitioners appeared to be seven and a half years younger at the age of fifty than the brains of non-meditators.

Finally, as author/editor of two very popular books on the shadow in our psychological life, Zweig believes that as we move in age to the sage within, we would benefit from engaging the shadow, which is our personal unconscious, that part of our mind that is behind or beneath our conscious awareness.

The shadow holds the key to removing the inner obstacles that block us from finding the treasures of late life, she says.

Readers will find in her book many case studies from her practice that provide a host of narratives to further ground her observations and insights about not raging against the dying of the light but rather welcoming and connecting with the shaded terrains of our aging pilgrimage.

In moonlight, for instance, our perceptions soften to a less sharply chiseled world; we may then rejoice in the knowledge that a life that honors the shadows of our being can complement all that we have become and achieved.

Dennis Patrick Slattery, Ph.D., is distinguished professor emeritus in mythology at Pacifica Graduate Institute and a resident of New Braunfels.
Great craggy stone terraces are piled up one upon the other on sharp-cut mountains that seem to float in the burnt sky over wide yawning canyons. In a twilight reverie, two vaqueros, tiny in their monumental setting, let their booted-feet hang over a menacing precipice, their horses tied up behind them as they stare off into the hazy expanse. The vast vistas are awe-inspiring, when they dont spark abject terror.

A mounted vaquero warily eyes the stony ground before him, his white horse gingerly stepping down the hills steep incline. Taut rope in gloved hand, he pulls along a wayward calf from the hillside behind him.

These are images from photos taken by internationally noted photographer Werner Segarra in the mountains of Sonora in northwestern Mexico, in a place known as La Cruz del Diablo, or the Devils Cross, where he has been visiting legendary vaqueros and vaqueras for the last 40 years, photographically memorializing their vidas duras, their hard lives, revealing their stoic charisma, their dusty tirelessness and steely determination with an artistic eye.

Sixty of these remarkable photos are a part of an ambitious exhibition, Vaqueros de la Cruz del Diablo: Contemporary Photography of the Northern Mexican Cowboy, which recently opened at the Briscoe Museum of Western Art. There are also videos that tell the story of Segarras decades of witness.

Segarra first encountered the vaqueros of the Cruz del Diablo when he was a teenager, lodging with them as a part of a summer program at the school he was attending in Sedona, Ariz., in the late 1980s. Through his stepfather, a photography enthusiast, he had already encountered the work of Sebastiao Salgado, Patrick Demarchelier and pre-eminently, Ansel Adams, whose gelatin silver black-and-white photographs captured so many indelible vistas of the American West.

With camera in hand, the young Segarra began his now decades-long documentation of the vaquero way of life that carries on to the present, even as it is threatened by myriad forces, from the industrialization of the Mexican livestock trade to the menace of the violent rackets of carteles Mexicanos. Segarras intimate, deeply moving photographs of the vaquero life arrive in San Antonio in their U.S. debut at the Briscoe as poignant testimonios of a way of life that hangs in the balance between the past and the future.

The vaquero life of South Texas is equally in the balance. Are our times the twilight of the vaquero?

Additionally, these photographs reveal how deeply the origins of the American West lie in Mexico. The cattle-craft, equestrian prowess, chaparreras (chaps), spurs and brands, all come from Mexico. Their exhibition at the Briscoe Museum uniquely gives life to the museums mission-based tagline: The West Starts Here. Briscoe Museum Board Chair John Montford has highlighted the museums unique ability in San Antonio to present the story of the American West from the South, from Mexico and beyond.

There are vaqueros in my blood, even if we left the Mexicano rancho life behind for la vida urbana, the American city life, with all its promise. My great-uncle Jose Lopez was head vaquero on the storied La Mota ranch in LaSalle County, outside Cotulla. My mother remembered his dazzling horsemanship, his blistered leathery hands, his formal demeanor, the humility he imparted when he spoke his genteel espanol.

I once aspired to the vaquero life. When I was a kid in the mid-1960s, we had a ranchito off Pleasanton road south of San Antonio, with a couple cattle and an ornery Shetland pony named Brown Beauty. Through the summers of my teens, I lived and worked on a family cattle ranch, Los Generales, in the Coahuila Sierra west of Muzquiz. Up early, riding out into the pastures on a four-day roundup, life had never been more lyrical or trying.

I see that rare spirit alive in Segarras photographs. The humble houses of the vaqueros where I was honored to be a guest, their fastidious lodgings, the adorned altars, the herbs and spices drying, the viands of beef, goat, and rabbit hanging on a line, the religious altars, the elaborate preparations for a fiesta or a quincenera, a wedding, an exultant dinner of fresh tortillas and beans. These photographs capture similar scenes, indicating just how pervasive North Mexicos vaquero legacy is.

As Segarra observes, The customs and traditions of these vaqueros  and the singular, real, passionate, hard life they lead  reflect a way of life that is disappearing in the modern age. In these works, the photographer has created a lasting homage to that life.

If youve ever felt that rancho spirit, directly or through your familias past, youll see it in this show. If you havent, then this is your chance to share the witness of the vaquero life at the Briscoe Museum downtown. The West starts here.

Make your way.

John Phillip Santos teaches in the Honors College at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and is a board member at the Briscoe Museum of Western Art.
To the victor goes the spoils was a 19th-century American politicians distillation of winning elections, including doling out coveted jobs.

But when one partys election victories are predetermined because political boundaries have been drawn to protect that party, the spoils are, well, spoiled, and they stink.

The foul odor from Austin drifting over the state arises from the new redistricting maps Texas Senate and House Republicans have proposed in their latest effort to retain power at the expense of the very minority voters driving population growth in Texas.

Ethical new maps should reflect this growth. Of the nearly 4 million new residents Texas added since 2010, 95 percent were people of color, with Latinos accounting for half. There are now nearly as many Latino Texans as white Texans.

The rise in population earned Texas two additional congressional seats, raising the total to 38. The two new seats were drawn in Houston and Austin.

And what will those responsible for Texas vaunted population growth receive in the allocation of congressional districts? Less than nothing.

In the current map of congressional districts, 22 have white majorities, eight have Latino majorities, one has a Black majority and five have no majority. On the map proposed last week by Republicans, the number of districts with white majorities rises to 23, those with Latino majorities drops to seven and Black majority districts will go from one to zero, while eight districts will have no majority.

Its the same story for the first proposed Texas statehouse map. It would create six more districts with white majorities while Hispanic and Black majority districts would fall by three each.

To recap: People of color made up 95 percent of Texas population growth since 2010. But these maps would cut their representation while increasing the number of white majority districts.

The use of the census to apportion elected representatives is in the U.S. Constitution. To gerrymander, to manipulate districts by drawing them in ridiculous shapes for partisan advantages, is not. Historically and nationally, Democrats have been as guilty as Republicans in abusing majority control of statehouses to unfairly draw districts for elective seats. Thats why we support an independent redistricting commission.

But what makes the proposed maps by Texas Republicans so noxious is that they come on the heels of the states new voter suppression law, which will disproportionately hurt Black and Latino voters.

One constant in previous redistricting sessions is federal oversight. In the past, the Department of Justice and federal courts reprimanded Texas for proposals that discriminated against these voters. With the U.S. Supreme Court having eviscerated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by removing preclearance requirements for states with a history of discriminating against voters of color, these new maps are being drawn without federal supervision.

Republicans are more concerned about maintaining congressional seats, such as those held by Tony Gonzales and Chip Roy, who represent parts of San Antonio, than attempting to mount any serious challenges to Democrats. But the new maps arent merely anti-Democratic in not reflecting the states growth among voters and areas less likely to vote for Republicans; they are also anti-democratic, small d, because they strengthen incumbents in both parties, making fewer races competitive.

Whats happening off the 2020 census is like what happened off the 2010 census when Texas gained 4.3 million new residents thanks to the Latino population increase of 42 percent and the African American population increase of 23 percent. As a result, Texas received four additional congressional seats, three of which went to Republicans.

Texas wont truly be a representative democracy until the people elected to office, and the people drawing the maps for those offices, look more like the people who inhabit the state and are fueling its growth.
LaTonya Robinsons tone is measured and matter-of-fact while describing her childhood growing up in Houstons Fifth Ward.

I come from fairly humble beginnings, said Robinson (L.T. to friends and colleagues). Neither of my parents graduated past the fifth grade.

The Fifth Ward of Houston is a historically Black neighborhood known for its poverty. According to Houstons Planning and Development Department, the median income of the Greater Fifth Ward is $20,326, while the city of Houstons is more than $44,000.

Her parents greatest hope for her was that she would have more opportunities than theyd had  and particularly that the young L.T. would obtain a better education than their own.

Although they did not have the context to fully understand for themselves how to support me, they always encouraged me to read more and continue to learn and explore the world, she said.

On ExpressNews.com: SA Lights: Catholic Worker House volunteer director 'inspires everyone around her'

Nominated for an unexpected college scholarship, Robinson became a first-generation college student. Today, as senior vice provost for student affairs and dean of students at the University of Texas at San Antonio, she makes it her priority that first-generation students have the support and resources they need.

I wanted to help support other students like me, first-generation students, underrepresented students, to show them the opportunities and options available to them, she said.

As an undergraduate, Robinson admitted she was social and a little bit of a rule breaker when she first arrived at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville.

But one kindly hall director gave her a suggestion that changed the course of her career.

He said, I appreciate that youre very social and you like to get to know other folks, but I want to make sure youre following our rules, Robinson said. So we would like you to use your power of gab  your gift of gab  for positive change instead.

Thats how she got her start as a student volunteer working in student activities. From there, Robinson became a resident adviser and completed her bachelors degree in communications.

Kin Man Hui /Staff photographer

By then, she knew her calling was to work in the field of student affairs. Robinson applied to Western Illinois University, which awarded her a graduate assistantship and housing as she worked toward her masters degree in college student personnel affairs.

After obtaining her masters, Robinson accepted a full-time hall director position at East Carolina University. When she moved back to Texas to care for a family member, she became a hall director at University of Texas at Austin. During her 13 years there, she ascended the ranks, becoming area manager then program manager.

It was at this point, UTSA President Taylor Eighmy said with a laugh, that UTSA spirited her away.

Her story is synonymous with the journeys that all of our students are on, Eighmy said. Shes a wonderful exemplar of the power of education and the power of purpose.

Robinson arrived at UTSA in 2017 and began her dual role in 2019. Eighmy noted that he has many talented colleagues, but said Robinson is in a class of her own since she is the outward-facing persona of the administration to 36,000 students.

When our students want to engage our university leadership, more often than not they turn to L.T. as the first place they go, he said. She has one of the most complex jobs on campus  but one of the least understood.

Robinsons dual role has put her in a unique position to help underrepresented students  and to use her voice to advocate for diversity and inclusion for all students.

In the senior vice provost role, I work with other campus leaders to identify the barriers that students might have to success, and I help work with them to reduce them as much as possible, Robinson said. She added that as dean of students, she works with ten other departments to help support student well-being, advocacy and engagement needs.

Robinson also talked about the need for proper training of staff and faculty, so that theyre constantly thinking about equitable ways to provide resources.

Were teaching them about students needs, she said, so that if they encounter a student who is LGBTQIA or from a different culture, that they have cultural competence, that they are using language that is welcoming to them.

As for first-generation college students, its not just helping the students but also the families, who dont always fully understand how the university works, she said.

On ExpressNews.com: A 'champion' for dementia patients: San Antonio researcher has dedicated her life to treating Alzheimer's

I ask lots of questions to our departments about the services that we provide. Is this accessible enough? Does everyone have a full understanding of whats going on? How can we streamline processes in a way that makes them easier and more available to our students and our families? Robinson asked.

Its hard, she said, for first-generation students to find a sense of belonging.

When you come to a campus and youre first generation, youre not quite sure whether you belong there or not, Robinson said. So how do you find your tribe?

Academically, first-generation college students often need extra support and resources, depending on their previous educational background.

When you come here, we have a particular expectation about academic rigor; but we want to make sure that were offering resources through tutoring, through academic resources, anything they need to adjust academically to a new environment, Robinson said.

Her work with first-generation students is just one of many passion projects that she has undertaken at UTSA.

She spearheaded a groundbreaking new partnership with UT Health San Antonio to give UTSA students more comprehensive health care services on campus, including mental health services.

Our focus is to provide as many resources as possible for well-being holistically for our students  mind, body and spirit, Robinson said.

Robinson also helms advocacy work for campus sexual assault survivors as chair of the Presidents Task Force on Sexual Assault and Misconduct Prevention.

UTSA has modeled its approach off the program crafted by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, which emphasizes a culture of respect fueled by clear policies, consistent enforcement and consent education.

Kin Man Hui /Staff photographer

As a result, UTSA has developed and strengthened a specific office for survivor support, as well as hired a campus advocate for survivor support. We have also worked with all of the campus counselors to clarify all our policies around sexual assault and misconduct, Robinson said.

She also was called on during the February freeze, working with campus police and other university partners to deliver food for students in need and to assist with water and electricity needs.

Whether its promoting the census or working with community organizations or working with colleagues in the community or managing things related to the pandemic, there are always additional things that end up on her plate by virtue of what she does; and she does all of that with optimism, hope, enthusiasm, collegiality and a can-do attitude, Eighmy said.

The pandemic has been its own challenge. Robinsons first pandemic task was helping students and employees transition to online learning and telecommuting.

Robinson also coordinated with other campus partners to provide laptops, mobile hot spots and accessible platforms to students and employees who lacked access.

We also used this time to strengthen telehealth and telecounseling opportunities for students locally. Robinson said.

She reached out to the campus human resources department to identify ways to support remote staff members and to keep them feeling motivated and appreciated. As a result, she decided to create recurrent webinar sessions for supervisors who managed and supported those employees.

But the pandemic isnt the only event making headlines thats affected the universitys students. The summer of 2020 was an especially painful time for Black people and other people of color who are students on campus, Robinson said.

We wanted to acknowledge the challenges by hosting a community conversation to process emotions regarding the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, she added. Over 400 UTSA community members joined us in sharing concerns, resources and potential solutions.

Robinson also hosted similar events related to the discrimination of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and developed a social justice book club on campus.

I believe that we are experiencing two pandemics right now, Robinson said. We are experiencing a viral one, and we are experiencing a racial one.

On ExpressNews.com: West Side impact: Rod and Patti Radle built legacy of social change with decades of volunteer work

She has always been an advocate for advancing equity, diversity and inclusion, Eighmy said, within the university, within the administration.

One of Robinsons most treasured memories is the time that a Black student walked up to her and told her what a role model Robinson had been.

She said, Since youve been here, youve been a role model to me because I dont see women who look like me in roles like yours, Robinson said.

That, she feels, is her ultimate accomplishment.

Accolades are great, but theyre fleeting. Its about the impact that really matters, Robinson said.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  California is poised to impose the nations first coronavirus vaccine mandate for schoolchildren, a move announced Friday that could push other states to follow as many did after Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the first statewide stay-at-home order in the U.S. during the early days of the pandemic.

Newsom said the mandate won't take effect for all children until the U.S. government has finished fully vetting the vaccine for two age groups  12 to 15 and 5 to 11. That means those in seventh to 12th grades probably will have until July to get their shots. It will be even longer for children in kindergarten through sixth grades because the government has yet to approve any COVID-19 vaccine for that age group.

California law requires all children enrolled in public and private schools to have 10 immunizations, with exceptions for medical reasons. For the coronavirus vaccine, California will grant exemptions for medical reasons, plus religious and personal beliefs. The rules for those exemptions will be written after the state hears comments from the public. Any student without an exemption who refuses to get the vaccine would be forced to do independent study at home.

The mandate eventually will affect more than 6.7 million public and private school students in the nation's most populous state. California already has a mask requirement for schoolchildren.

We have to do more, the Democratic governor said during a news conference at a San Francisco middle school after visiting with seventh-graders. We want to end this pandemic. We are all exhausted by it.

The federal government has fully approved coronavirus vaccines for anyone over 16 and has given emergency authorization to vaccinate those 12 to 15. Full endorsement for that age group is likely within a few months. Vaccines for children 5 to 11 are still in the testing stage.

California has one of the highest vaccine rates in the country  84% of people 12 and older have gotten at least one shot, and 70% are fully vaccinated. But the state has a vocal minority skeptical of both the vaccine and the government's assurances of its safety. Last month, more than a thousand people gathered at the state Capitol to protest vaccine mandates.

I just think its a parents decision, you know. Period, said Fabio Zamora, the father of an eighth-grader at Edna Brewer Middle School. The government in no shape or form should be having mandates like that. I dont care for that. Im a veteran. I served this country, and I fought for those rights.

A small number of school districts nationwide have imposed their own vaccine mandates, including five in California. Among those are the state's two largest districts  Los Angeles and San Diego.

Other states have resisted imposing pandemic rules in schools, including a new law in Kentucky that overturned a statewide mask mandate.

Newsom has been one of the most aggressive governors on coronavirus restrictions, issuing the nations first statewide stay-at-home order in March 2020 that was soon followed by 41 other states. More recently, Newsom required Californias roughly 2.2 million health care workers and most state employees to get vaccinated to keep their jobs.

The governor was emboldened after easily defeating a recall effort last month fueled by anger over his handling of the pandemic. He says he interpreted his landslide victory as an endorsement of his vaccine policies.

Newsom hasn't backed all vaccine mandates, however. He recently opposed a requirement for prison guards that a federal judge imposed. Critics used that example to say Newsom is driven more by politics than science, noting the labor union of corrections officers had donated to his campaign to defeat the recall.

California kids made the mistake of not giving millions to his campaigns, Republican Assemblyman Kevin Kiley tweeted Friday. Kiley was among 46 candidates who ran to replace the governor during the recall election.

Newsom's announcement comes as COVID-19 infections in most of California have dropped markedly. The statewide positivity rate for the last week was 2.8%, and the average number of daily cases was about 6,355, roughly half what it was when the latest surge peaked in mid-August. Hospitalizations have fallen by 40%.

In Los Angeles County  the nations largest, with more than 10 million residents  just 1.7% of people tested for the virus have it, and daily infections are down by half in the last month, when most kids went back to school.

These numbers are amazingly low given that 3,000-plus schools are now open countywide, county Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday. She noted that although the number of outbreaks in schools has increased slightly in recent weeks, the overall number is small and largely related to youth sports.

California's largest teachers unions back the vaccination mandate, as does the California Association of School Boards.

This is not a new idea. We already require vaccines against several known deadly diseases before students can enroll in schools, said Dr. Peter N. Bretah, president of the California Medical Association. The Newsom administration is simply extending existing public health protections to cover this new disease, which has caused so much pain and suffering across our state, our nation and the entire globe over the last 18 months.

Until now, Newsom had left the decision on student vaccine mandates to local school districts, leading to a variety of different orders. In Los Angeles, a vaccine mandate for eligible students is set to take effect in January.

Newsom's plan does not override those plans. He said districts can accelerate" the requirements, and he expected many will.

The vaccine mandate also would apply to teachers and staff in K-12 public and private schools. Newsom already had required them to either get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing, but once the mandate for students takes effect, the testing option won't be available for teachers anymore.

Were never going to get to eradication with this virus, but the higher the immunity, the better, said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease doctor and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

___

Associated Press journalists Jocelyn Gecker and Terry Chea contributed.
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.N.s top humanitarian official in Myanmar said Thursday the Asian nation's people are living in a severe crisis, with a level of poverty not seen for at least 20 years.

Andrew Kirkwood said in a virtual briefing to U.N. correspondents that the number of people in the country needing aid has tripled to 3 million since the military takeover on Feb. 1 while a total of 20 million are living in poverty, or nearly half the population.

Speaking from Yangon, the countrys largest city, Kirkwood said the crisis is the result of increasing communal strife, the military ouster of the countrys democratically elected government and the coronavirus pandemic, which had a devastating third wave of infections this summer.

So, effectively, what we have here is a crisis, on top of a crisis with yet another crisis on top of that, he said.

When Myanmars army seized power from the government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, it claimed with scant evidence that the general election her party won last November in a landslide was marred by widespread voting fraud. The takeover sparked street protests that security forces tried to crush. The pushback has left more than 1,100 people dead, according to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet and right groups.

The conflict has moved from widespread protests on city streets to clashes with ethnic armed groups and so-called Peoples Defense Forces.

Since Feb. 1, Kirkwood said, the U.N. food and cash assistance program has reached more than 1.4 million people in rural communities all around Myanmar as well as in some urban and semi-urban centers.

We are saving lives. We are making a difference, Kirkwood said. But were also quite frustrated that these numbers arent higher and that we arent able to reach all of the 3 million people who we know need urgent humanitarian assistance.

Kirkwood, who is the acting U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, cited significant operational challenges including roadblocks and travel in the country, pandmic restrictions, and overall insecurity. He called on all parties to use their influence to facilitate the safe and unhindered access for humanitarian workers and also our humanitarian supplies.

Kirkwood cited serious underfunding of the U.N. appeal as another key factor.

We have requested a total of $385 million to reach those 3 million people this year, he said. Today, weve received about a third of that. And that means we have a funding gap of roughly $250 million. And that means in turn that we wont be able to reach everybody who needs our assistance.

Kirkwood also called on parties to the conflict to depoliticize our humanitarian and COVID-19 response efforts.

Emotions are running very high here, he said. Many people are frustrated, and some people frankly confuse the delivery of humanitarian assistance with taking sides in the conflict.

Kirkwood said the 1 million people assisted by the U.N. before the military takeover were mainly in border areas where conflicts have gone on for decades and where the U.N. has found ways to work.

Now, the conflict there is increasing, but he said the more acute problem is in new areas of displacement where there have been clashes between the military and the Peoples Defense Forces

The 2 million people are in these new areas of conflict, Kirkwood said, pointing to current hotspots in western Chin state where weve seen tens of thousands of people displaced over the last couple of days -- entire villages have been displaced, people living in forest, with very, very little. There are also places in the center of the country, in the so-called Bomar heartland, he said.

Kirkwood said that without major new funding, it will be impossible for the U.N. to help the 2 million people who need help now, and some of the 20 million who may need it soon.
FAIRFIELD  Fairfield lifted the current indoor mask mandate effective immediately First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick announced Friday.

Kupchick said the decision to lift the mandate came as a result of many positive trends over the last few weeks and after consulting with the health director and emergency management director. The town instead will follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, which recommends masks be worn indoors and when in close contact with others.

The town also said if residents feel more comfortable wearing a mask while indoors, they should continue to do so.

Over the last several weeks, we have seen a consistent downward trend across case rates and hospitalizations, which has also been seen statewide and across the country, Kupchick said. Both national and state public health professionals have advised the peak of the delta variant wave is likely behind us and our health director also advised me that, while conditions can always change and future increases could occur, it currently appears that this wave peaked in the town of Fairfield about two weeks ago.

Kupchick said she put the mask mandate into effect on Aug. 23 to ask residents and neighboring towns to join her as an added layer of protection against the very contagious delta variant. Westport and Easton joined.

As of Friday, neither Westport or Easton had announced they were lifting the mandate and officials could not be reached for comment.

The decision to implement the mandate was based on Fairfield entering the states red category at the time, the highest category for positivity rates, and the high transmission category from the CDC.

Hospitalizations statewide and in Fairfield County were also climbing as the variant begin peaking.

We put this temporary measure into effect while all indicators were trending in a negative direction, Kupchick said. I made it clear that we would continue to monitor all data and lift the mandate when multiple indicators consistently trended in a positive direction.

Since the announcement of the mask mandate, Fairfields number begin to stagger and then ultimately fall. This week, Fairfield County was downgraded by the CDC from high transmission into the substantial category and the town has been downgraded by the state from red to orange.

Fairfields case rate is 11.99 per 100,000 residents as of Friday and the states positivity rate is at just 1.26 percent, according to state data.

Kupchick said Fairfields vaccination rate was an added factor for her decision to lift the mandate. The percentage of the population that is vaccinated climbed since the announcement of the mandate. Fairfield currently has 67 percent of its population fully vaccinated and 71 percent have received at least the first dose.

The age group with the lowest vaccination rate is those ages 18 to 24, which currently sits at 63 percent.

Kupchick said Fairfield expects these numbers to be higher due to data that shows most of the university students in town are vaccinated. These vaccination rates are counted in the students home states, however, Fairfield University sits at 92 percent vaccinated and Sacred Heart University reports being over 90 percent vaccinated as well.

Vaccination is the most important defense against severe illness and hospitalization from COVID-19, Kupchick said. While vaccine breakthrough cases have occurred in Connecticut, the majority of those cases, are reporting symptoms to be mild and have not resulted in severe illness or hospitalizations.

Kupchick said out of the nearly 2.3 million people that have completed their vaccine series, less than 0.6 percent of Connecticuts fully vaccinated residents have contracted the virus.

The most severe cases tend to be in unvaccinated individuals, Kupchick said.

Kupchicks lift of the town mandate has no effect on the school mask mandate, which comes from a governor executive order. She said town leaders do not have the authority to change that policy.

Businesses however, have the authority to continue requiring masks for their employees and customers.

I hope our residents will be respectful of the decisions of businesses that choose to require masks or not, and to also be respectful to residents in town who choose to wear a mask, or not, Kupchick said.

I have done my best to guide our town through the pandemic and make thoughtful, informed decisions for our community, she added. We have all been through a lot together over the last 18 months and emotions continue to run high. Im asking our community once again to please be respectful to each other regarding differences of opinion because in the end, we are neighbors.
Domestic violence thrives in silence. In the past year, we witnessed how the quiet of the pandemic created an onslaught of domestic violence incidents in our community and worldwide. Yet, it is often one of the most overshadowed and misunderstood public health crises in society for a problem so pervasive.

More prevalent than most realize, one in four women and one in seven men will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes. Anyone, regardless of gender, race, sexual identity or orientation, or socioeconomic status, can become a victim of domestic violence. It is likely that everyone knows someone who has been affected by domestic violence.

How can we, as a community, help to solve this insidious problem? One way is to start changing the conversations about domestic violence. How can we shift our culture away from blaming victims and focus on learning to hold abusers accountable for their actions?

Domestic violence is rooted in power and control. It is a pattern of behavior that may not always manifest as physical violence. It can be verbal abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse, technical abuse, and other non-physical forms. Because of the nature of domestic violence, abusers may not appear in society as bad actors, looking angry or threatening people. Many times, it is just the opposite. Abusers live among us in our daily lives. They are the neighbor, the co-worker, or the friend you thought you knew. In public, they can often be charming, pleasant, and agreeable. But this epidemic exists in the privacy of peoples homes. It thrives in isolation.

Therefore, as a community, we need to learn to recognize the signs of abuse and better understand the dynamics around domestic violence. Studies show that less than half of domestic violence victims report the crime. On average it takes a victim seven times to attempt fleeing an abuser before leaving for good. There are many reasons why a victim may stay with an abuser. For example, they fear retaliation, lack financial resources to live independently, or they may not want to end the relationship, they just want the abuse to stop. Even after coming forward, many victims do not want to press charges against their abuser. Studies show 70-80 percent of domestic violence victims will recant their statements.

To help victims feel safe to seek help and ensure abusers are held accountable, we need greater understanding of the complexity of this issue. Domestic violence is a problem that affects every area of a victims life, from personal safety to mental health to financial sustainability. Hence, continued support for legislation around victims rights, and adequate funding on a state and federal level to support domestic violence programs are essential to addressing the full scope of the problem.

But it begins with a conversation. It starts with a willingness for one person to ask another, Are you OK? or Do you feel safe? And to know what to do next if the answer is, No.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The Domestic Violence Crisis Center is joining with our sister agencies in Connecticut and across the country to shine a light on this topic. We urge you to show support around this issue by participating in a DVAM activity this month. Attend a free workshop on bystander intervention, host a book club around the topic, or participate in #purplethursday. There are so many ways to get involved. Most importantly, check in with your family, friends, and neighbors. Help and healing can only begin when silence ceases.

Suzanne Adam is executive director of the Domestic Violence Crisis Center, based in Stamford. If you or someone you know needs help, call the 24-hour Connecticut safe connect hotline at (888) 774-2900. To learn more about DVAM activities, visit dvccct.org.
The FBIs latest annual report on hate crimes seemed to deliver more grim news about race relations in America, announcing a nearly 40% rise in anti-black hate crimes in 2020. Major news outlets trumpeted the headline-grabbing statistic, noting that it coincided with a rise in white nationalism and came amid a surge in anti-black hostility caused by summer 2020 protests. Attorney General Merrick Garland quickly promised a comprehensive response by the Department of Justice.

But a closer look at the data reveals a more complicated picture. Some of the biggest increases in anti-black hate crimes occurred in Democratic Party strongholds yet, perhaps surprisingly, almost no increases were reported in major cities riven by the racially tinged protests and riots after George Floyds murder. Its no surprise, then, that experts caution against using these numbers to claim an epidemic of anti-black crime  both because of the FBI datas limitations, as well as the small absolute and relative size of the reported increase.

The recent FBI dataset tallies reported hate crimes, not the number proven in court. Its unknown whether the true number of hate crimes committed in 2020 is higher or lower than the FBIs reported total. On one hand, not all crimes are reported to police, which could lead to undercounting. On the other, its likely that some portion of reported hate crimes would not withstand legal scrutiny, meaning the FBIs figures might be inflated. The high evidentiary threshold required to prove a hate crime in court is illustrated by the fact that Derek Chauvin  the white cop cast as a racist convicted of murdering George Floyd last year  was not charged with a hate crime.

Whether the FBIs data over or understates the true number of hate crimes, the total number of reported anti-black hate crimes is relatively small. In 2020, the FBI recorded a total of 7,759 hate incidents  which the FBI defines as one or more offenses committed by the same offender, or group of offenders acting in concert, at the same time and place  in a country of 330 million people. Assailants with anti-black biases allegedly initiated 2,755 such incidents, targeting some 3,769 victims. This was the highest number of anti-black incidents recorded by the FBI since 2008, but at that time there were 13,690 law enforcement agencies submitting hate crime data, versus the 15,136 agencies reporting such data last year, reflecting the imprecise nature of hate crime statistics.

What was the nature of these reported crimes? Most of the anti-black offenses recorded by the FBI in 2020 were acts of intimidation and vandalism; roughly 1,200 (approximately 30%) involved violence. One bias-motivated crime is too many, of course, but the number of reported black hate-crime victims pales in comparison to the reported black victims of other crimes.

For example, there were over 189,000 reported black victims of aggravated assault in 2020  more than 50 times the number of victims in all anti-black incidents combined. Black homicide victims dwarfed the total number of victims of all anti-black incidents in 2020. According to the FBIs Expanded Homicide Data, there were more than 9,900 black homicide victims recorded by the FBI in 2020. Of the more than 3,700 black victims in single offender/single victim homicide cases, over 85 percent of the offenders were black. Among all anti-black offenses reported nationally in 2020, the FBI recorded a total of five murders and nonnegligent manslaughters  less than 1/10th of 1% of the total homicides committed against African Americans.

While the absolute increase is relatively small, theres no doubt that reported anti-black hate incidents rose significantly in 2020. A majority of states (37) reported year-over-year increases to the FBI. However, only 14 of these states  including Ohio, which submitted its figures after the FBI released its report  saw increases of more than 20 cases.

Further, state data available on the FBIs Crime Data Explorer site reveals that just six states  California, Ohio, Texas, Oregon, Indiana, and Colorado  were responsible for more than half of the national increase between 2019 and 2020.

Charles Lehman, a fellow at Manhattan Institute and an expert on policing and public safety, told RealClearInvestigations that one reason the number of reported anti-black hate crimes varies significantly across states is that state and local police departments differ in how they classify criminal incidents. In other words, some states are more willing than others to label certain criminal incidents as hate crimes. State laws, too, vary with respect to hate crimes, which can affect the types of incidents that are ultimately reported as such. Lehman pointed to the disparity between Alabama and Arizona as an illustrative example, noting that Alabama has more than twice as many black residents as Arizona but recorded only seven anti-black hate incidents in 2020 compared with Arizonas 124.

City-level data complicates the story further. Several solidly blue cities that figured prominently in the summers protests  Minneapolis, Portland, New York, Kenosha, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and Chicago  did not record meaningful increases in anti-black hate crimes between 2019 and 2020. Minneapolis recorded nine anti-black hate incidents in 2020 after failing to report in 2019. Portland and New York City each had two additional reported anti-black hate incidents between 2019 and 2020; Seattles total fell from 84 in 2019 to 52 in 2020. Chicago had five total reported incidents in 2020, down from seven in 2019. Kenosha and Atlanta recorded zero incidents in both 2019 and 2020.

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, cautioned that municipal hate crime data can be imperfect.

The problem is, when you get to a place like Kenosha, or some other places, they have no levels of reporting. During these kinds of protests, when 911 systems are overwhelmed, you may not get all those [hate crime] reports in. In addition, there are issues with regard to trust [with] those police departments, Levin told RealClearInvestigations.

Sample size is also a significant issue with hate crime data. The relatively small number of anti-black hate crimes reported annually makes it difficult to distinguish genuine trends in the data from random noise.

The issue is underscored by the FBIs findings regarding hate crimes perpetrated against other groups. Asian Americans, for example, suffered a 70% increase in reported hate crimes during 2020  to a total of 274. This was trumpeted as a surge in anti-Asian hate incidents, but the absolute numbers are so small relative to the population that its unclear whether the increase is due to a bona fide spike in hate against Asian Americans or randomness.

Some researchers argue that traditional hate crime statistics are unreliable more generally. Jacob Kaplan, the chief data scientist in research on policing reform and accountability at Princeton University, explained in his book on the FBIs Uniform Crime Reporting initiative (UCR) that hate crimes are the most difficult category of crime to track at the national level because of reporting irregularities and the relative infrequency of hate crimes.

[The hate crimes dataset] is also the most under-reported UCR dataset with most agencies not reporting any hate crimes to the FBI. This leads to huge gaps in the data with some states having zero agencies report crime, agencies reporting some bias motivations but not others, [and] agencies reporting some years but not others, he said. While these problems exist for all of the UCR datasets, it is most severe in this data. This problem is exacerbated by hate crimes being rare even in agencies that report them  with such rare events, even minor changes in which agencies report or which types of offenses they include can have large effects.

Lehman echoed Kaplans concerns about underreporting, noting that the number of jurisdictions that actually report [hate crimes] at all is small and varies wildly, and peoples willingness to report also varies significantly.

Levin argued that the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey proves that a significant number of hate incidents go unreported each year. He also claimed that southern states such as Mississippi and Alabama have historically underreported the number of hate crimes, which has had the effect of depressing the national numbers.

We were having more hate crimes in Eugene, Oregon, than in multiple Southern states combined for a while, he said.

The reporting disparities across states and localities make it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about reported hate crime data. The nebulous nature of hate  most crimes involve some element of malice, after all  adds to the challenge. Despite these limitations, Lehman argued that the reported surge in anti-black hate crimes warrants federal attention.

I think it warrants serious attention, he said. In absolute terms, non-hate crimes are a much bigger deal, and I'd prefer limited resources go there. But we should always take it seriously when there's a spike in heinous offenses, and I think hate crimes qualify.

Correction, Sept. 30, 2021 10:45 AM Eastern

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

An earlier version misstated the percentage of anti-black murders and nonnegligent manslaughters as a percentage of all black homicides in 2020. It was less than 1/10th of 1%, not 1/100th of 1%.
Drying out chicken litter with non-infective bacteria could help poultry farmers adjust to new water pollution regulation in Wales, a trial has shown.

Adding non-infective bacteria to the environment of poultry sheds to dry out litter and reduce ammonia levels could have the potential to help farms.

The Williams family, who farm near Welshpool, Powys have been trialling a new approach to optimising the environment in their two 16,000-hen multi-tiered sheds.

This has resulted in reduction in the frequency that muck needs to be cleaned from the manure belts, from every three days to once a fortnight, and hens are dealing with red mite challenges naturally by maintaining high health.

Mortality rate has decreased, to 2.7 percent from the 3.7 percent recorded at week 59 in the previous cycle, and there has been no requirement for the use of antibiotics.

At a recent Farming Connect open day at the farm, Aled Davies, of Pruex, said the objective of the trial had been to determine what variations optimised the environment of housing.

What we have learned is the peril of wet areas in the building because these cause humidity, which is a significant factor in the production of ammonia from chicken litter," said Mr Davies.

Ammonia is generated by bacteria in chicken litter converting uric acid into ammonia.

By introducing non-infective bacteria similar to soil, in the form of Pruex stabiliser, into the shed, water vapour is produced and the litter dries out.

On the Williams' farm, this effect is apparent from a significant reduction in the build-up of muck on manure belts.

We are able to hold chicken muck on the belts for two weeks rather than three days," said Osian Williams, who farms with his parents, Dafydd and Eleri, and his partner, Nikki.

Before the trial, the litter had been 70% moisture and the weight of this on the manure belt meant it needed to be cleared frequently.

Over the duration of the project, Pruex have been able to reduce moisture in the litter on the belts by over 50% of the original levels, said Mr Williams.

If we left it more than three days it reached very high levels of ammonia but, because it is now releasing water vapour, we can have it sat on there for two weeks."

Labour requirement for this job has been reduced by more than three quarters and ammonia levels are low.

Mr Davies said because the litter is now much drier and its storage requirement is less, it can help farmers meet the new regulations.

A lot of the challenges that farmers are concerned about with regard to the new regulations are mitigated here at Wern," he added.

The atmosphere in the sheds has also improved - ammonia levels have reduced by 75% in the warmer summer months, from 20 parts per million to 5.

This can only be good for egg production, Mr Davies added. Egg production is optimised while ensuring dry bedding, clean air and safe water."

The project is still ongoing and the Welsh government's Farming Connect scheme will be sharing more results and findings as the project progresses.
A Dumfriesshire family farming business has accepted nearly 250,000 in government funding to help them plant over 68,000 trees on 31 hectares of land.

The vast tree planting project aims to diversify the farm, run by Olly and Shara Routledge, and improve its productivity on poorer quality land.

As well as providing shelter belts for sheep, the trees will also provide a source of income when they are used for timber in the future.

The new woodland will be grown around four miles from Moffat on the A708, the majority being native oak, birch and aspen, with a smaller proportion of sycamore.

The woodland planting will be carried out by the Routledge's, a family run farming business which has a long history in the Moffat Valley stretching back 50 years.

The planting will complement the landscape on the A708 tourist route between Moffat and Selkirk, displaying diversity of colour and structures of species.

Mr Routledge said: The decision to increase the tree planting on the farm represents a coordinated approach to making good use of some poorer quality ground to provide alternative income opportunities, while focusing a reduced number of sheep on the more easily accessed and managed land.

The planting of mixed conifer and hard wood forestry contributes to our wider family aspiration to take positive steps in relation to climate change, but also enhancing biodiversity in a landscape that has been heavily impacted by sheep.

"By way of example, when I grew up on the farm there were good numbers of Black Grouse and we hope that our actions will significantly bolster the small number of birds that remain.

Scottish Forestry has agreed to issue 240,000 worth of funding to help the Routledge's commence the project.

The Scottish government has committed to increasing woodland creation targets to 18,000 hectares of new planting each year by 2024/25.

Environment Minister Mairi McAllan said: Scotlands forest and woodlands are making a significant contribution towards tackling the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity decline.

"This project is a great example of tree planting creating multiple benefits for rural business, biodiversity and for climate change.

Last year, the Routledges received grant funding to assist in the planting of around 50 hectares of woodland in the area, consisting of broadleaves and mixed conifers.
Lecturing staff at Scotlands Rural University College (SRUC) are undertaking industrial action in a long-running dispute over pay and grading.

Staff at the Scottish agri-college are taking their first day of strike on Thursday (30 September), with further strike days planned together with a programme of action.

EIS, Scotland's largest teaching union, said pay for lecturers at SRUC had "fallen significantly behind the norms across both the further and higher education sectors".

The pay offer made to lecturers was also "completely inadequate", the union added.

EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said: It is time for management at SRUC to stop dragging their feet and commit to paying their lecturers fairly for the vital work that they do.

"Lecturers at SRUC are not taking strike action lightly, and have displayed great patience while awaiting a fair pay agreement.

"After many years of dither and delay, SRUC management have  at the eleventh hour  finally come back with an offer to take forward a pay and grading review by autumn 2023."

But Mr Flanagan said the offer from SRUC was 'far too little and far too late'.

"It is clearly a belated attempt to head off strike action but comes with so many missing elements and unknowns for members that it is essentially meaningless.

A recent EIS statutory ballot provided a legal mandate for a move to industrial action, including strike action.

Support for industrial action short of strike was extremely strong (93%) and support for strike action was also very strong (86%).

Turnout in the ballot was 65%, above the legal minimum turnout set by the UK governments trade union law restrictions.

A spokesperson for SRUC said the college had made a 'significant offer' to its trade union partners on a pay increase for all employees for 2021/2022.

We are fully committed to a review of pay and grading, which has already started," the spokesperson added.

We have always engaged openly and fairly with our trade unions partners and our doors remain open.

"We look forward to working with them to discuss whats best for employees, students, and the future of SRUC.
More than 54,000 people have signed a letter calling for the government to issue a new pledge to keep Britain's food self-sufficiency levels above 60%.

Tens of thousands of people have signed the NFU's letter urging for a new commitment to secure the future of Britains ability to feed itself.

Britain has watched its self-sufficiency levels drop from as high as 78% in the mid-1980s to its current level of just 60%.

And this year, for the first time, the government has to report on Britain's food security as part of the new post-Brexit Agriculture Act.

Recent events have put a spotlight on how fragile the UK's food supply chains are as a result of ongoing workforce shortages experienced by the sector.

The union's letter, which has been sent to Defra Secretary George Eustice, had seen a surge in support in the space of just two weeks.

NFU President Minette Batters said the amount of people who had signed the letter had sent "a very strong signal to government on how highly the public value British food."

"It becomes more and more challenging to be global leaders in climate-friendly food if we allow our own production levels to drop," she added.

We want ministers across Whitehall to have a greater ambition in promoting British food at home and abroad to aid Britains food security.

"Through this open letter to George Eustice, farmers and the public alike are calling on government to take immediate action and commit to not allowing our self-sufficiency levels to fall any further.

The letter follows last month's Back British Farming Day, which encouraged MPs to show their support for British food and farming.

As part of the annual initiative, the NFU had also released a report which asked for the government to analyse UK food security, covering production of key foods and its contribution to global food security.

It will be the first meaningful assessment of UK food security in over a decade and the first under the requirements of the Agriculture Act that mandate reporting every three years.

The report also showed how the UK could reduce its reliance on food imports by harnessing the growth opportunities for different home-grown foods and increasing British sourcing in public procurement.
2020 was a year marked by hardships and challenges, but the Fauquier community has proven resilient. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you for your continued support, wed like to offer all our subscribers -- new or returning --

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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.
The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike.

We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve.
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Harshvarrdhan Kapoors Bollywood outings  Mirziya and Bhavesh Joshi didnt impress everyone, but looks like the actor who always wanted to do something different and hatke, has found his ground in OTT content. The actor was seen in one of the anthologies in Ray and then even in AK vs AK. The actor has yet another OTT project with his father Anil Kapoor and today in an exclusive interview with Bombay Times, he talks about working with his father.



When asked does he feel intimidated to work with Anil Kapoor, the young actors response was quite honest and impressive too. Excerpts from his interview, I dont feel intimidated when I work with my dad. I just do my own preparation, and he does his. Then we see each other on set and do a scene just like other actors working on a project and thats about it.

Talking about his choice of films that impresses him and leaves a mark on him, he says that he loves watching arty movies. Udaan, Rang De Basanti some of his favourites. He likes films made by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Anurag Kashyap.


Shooting to success by playing a shapeshifter in Naagin on television, Mouni Roy made a gradual shift to movies and is one of the most popular names on social media and in the industry. The actress whos always been private about her personal life is now said to be all ready to tie the knot coming year.



According to reports in E Times, Mouni Roy will tie the knot in January 2022 with her beau Dubai businessman Suraj Nambiar. Mouni has been dating Suraj Nambiar for quite some time now, but the actress has always kept it away from the media and never talked about it. But today we hear that the actress will tie the knot to Suraj Nambiar and Mounis mother even met Surajs parents at Mandira Bedis residence in Mumbai. It is said that the wedding will take place in Dubai or Italy and will happen in January 2022.

Mouni Roy has never shared his pictures on her social media page where she is super active. Looks like the actress is in no mood to talk about her love life. But we will keep waiting for official announcements. Meanwhile at the movies, Mouni will be next seen in Brahmastra with Ranbir Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan and in a Abbas Mustan flick for Netflix sharing screen with the likes of Bobby Deol.
CHICAGO, Sept. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amlan International, a global leader in natural, mineral-based feed additives for poultry and swine production, continues to bolster its operations in Indonesia with the addition of Betty Yuriko as country manager. With 27 years of experience in the poultry and swine industry, Betty joins the Indonesia team to lead company growth and distribution strategy.

Indonesia has the world's fourth-largest population, with demand for animal protein rapidly increasing. With decades of animal health experience, Betty will play a vital role in helping producers incorporate Amlan's novel mineral-based feed additive technology to ensure long-term customer value and profitability. With the recent issuance of a patent in Indonesia to protect the novel mineral-based formulation used in Amlan's natural feed additives - Varium for poultry and NeoPrime for swine - producers in the country now have natural alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters that optimize animal health while ensuring economical production. With her expertise, Betty will lead an engaged and customer-focused team in delivering these products to the market.

"We are extremely excited to welcome Betty to the Amlan team," says Fred Kao, Vice President of Global Sales, Amlan International. "Indonesian producers are looking for new, alternative solutions to maintain their animals' health. With her decades of experience, Betty will be a great asset in providing our natural, mineral-based solutions to meet that demand."

Prior to joining Amlan, Betty spent her whole career in the animal health industry. She recently worked as a senior technical manager for a well-known animal health company, where she drove relationships with distributors, breeders, commercial farms and many others. She also worked to provide expert technical support for the sales teams and assisted in marketing efforts for a variety of feed additives. Betty holds a degree in veterinary medicine from Institut Pertanian Bogor.

"The poultry industry in Indonesia needs high-quality natural feed additives to help them meet their production goals," says Daniel Jaffee, President & CEO, Oil-Dri Corporation of America. "With Betty joining our talented team of industry professionals, we know she will only help strengthen our operations and be a valuable asset in introducing our mineral-based feed additives to the global market."

Company Information

Amlan is the animal health business of Oil-Dri Corporation of America, leading global manufacturer and marketer of sorbent minerals. Oil-Dri leverages over 80 years of expertise in mineral science to selectively mine and process their unique mineral for consumer and business-to-business markets. Oil-Dri Corporation of America doing business as "Amlan International" is a publicly traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ODC). Amlan International sells feed additives across the world. Product availability may vary by country, associated claims do not constitute medical claims and may differ based on government requirements.

Reagan Culbertson

Media Contact

press@amlan.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/56a0ae8a-2eff-4c5e-a855-7ab404376fed
NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Alcoa of Australia Limited, a subsidiary of Alcoa Corp. (AA), has executed a binding term sheet with Western Australia-based FYI Resources Ltd (FYI.AX) for development activities to produce high-purity alumina, or HPA, Alcoa said in a statement. Alcoa of Australia will hold a 65 percent ownership interest in the project, which will have stages of development before potential construction, in 2024, of a full-scale, 8,000 metric-ton-per-year (mtpy) HPA plant. Alcoa noted that the development activities also set a pathway for a future joint venture for the project, of which Alcoa of Australia would be the manager and both parties would contribute specific intellectual property. Alcoa of Australia will contribute an initial $5 million, over 2021-2022, to stage one project development activities that will include additional production trials, as well as the detailed design of an estimated 1,000 mtpy demonstration facility. In stage two, a demonstration facility would be constructed, and detailed engineering undertaken for a full-scale HPA plant that would produce 8,000 mtpy. Stage three would include the start of construction for the full-scale plant. The full-scale facility is currently projected to cost approximately $200 million. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
DUBAI, UAE, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Expo 2020 grandly opened today in Dubai, the global capital of trade. As a leading Chinese lighting brand, OPPLE Lighting is the official partner of the China Pavilion at the Expo. While providing a full range of lighting solutions for the China Pavilion during the Expo, OPPLE Lighting also has its own interactive show "Like a Shadow by Your Side", demonstrating its commitment to the "Light of China" with sustainable lighting technology and AI innovation.

The architectural design of the China Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai is inspired by traditional Chinese lanterns, and is known as the "Light of China" for its implication of hope and light. Relying on its expertise and innovation, OPPLE Lighting takes circle as the starting point and light as the medium to eliminate the boundaries between individuals and groups, and also the present and the future. In the China Pavilion, from the lighting of the restaurant, to the reception area, the rest area, or its own independent exhibition, OPPLE Lighting shows the uniqueness of the China Pavilion, and also its core concept of "Innovation, At-Ease, Vitality".

Echoing the Expo's theme of "Connecting Minds, Creating Future", OPPLE Lighting Interactive Smart Lighting System "Like a Shadow by Your Side" gives the guests an immersive sense of participation through the light and AI recognition, fully demonstrating OPPLE Lighting's continuous exploration of future lighting and human, as well as the application capabilities of the lighting solutions.

"Building a shared future" is not only the theme of the China Pavilion, but also an epitome of the traditional Chinese culture, and the universal aspiration of all mankind. Born in China and targeting the global market, OPPLE Lighting spreads its footprint across home furnishing, municipal engineering, education, medical care, industry, etc., in an unremitting pursuit of a sustainable growth. In the past, OPPLE Lighting was the first to enter LED energy-saving lighting market, now OPPLE Lighting once again embraces new trends such as new infrastructure, 5G and smart lighting, empowering customers and partners to achieve their energy-saving and emission-reduction goals under the national "dual-carbon" strategic framework. Green lighting, which has always been OPPLE Lighting's goal, will be an integral part of "green development" for "building a shared future for mankind".

Ms. Ma Xiuhui, Founder and President of OPPLE Lighting said, "As a Shanghai-based enterprise and a leader in the lighting industry, and one of the earliest companies in the industry to expand into the international market, OPPLE Lighting was the only lighting manufacturer that exhibited in the Private Enterprises Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai. Now we are deeply honored to once again come to World Expo and become the official partner of the China Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. OPPLE Lighting's ten-year involvement in World Expo reflects the company's 25-year growth since its founding, and is also an important epitome of China's "going global" initiative. As a leading lighting brand in China, OPPLE Lighting upholds its brand concept of 'See Beyond', providing differentiated professional lighting solutions for home and commercial furnishings, continuously creating value out of light, and winning trust of customers at home and abroad. In the future, we will spare no effort to give play to our own advantages on innovation, continue to expand overseas business, get to know more partners, and make contribution to China's 'dual circulation' development and 'Carbon Emission Peak and Carbon Neutrality' goals, so that the Light of China can be shown to the world."

About OPPLE Lighting

Founded in 1996, OPPLE Lighting has been engaged in R&D, production, distribution and after-sales services of lighting sources, lighting fixtures and controls, operating in over 70 countries and regions in Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and South Africa. As an industry giant with in-house R&D capabilities and focused on lighting products, OPPLE Lighting constantly expands its product line to artistic switches, integrated home furnishing, kitchen and bathroom appliances and accessories and expands all of its business units using its huge dealer base, with a view to becoming an industry-leading provider of lighting system and integrated home total solutions. With a powerful marketing team and a well-established worldwide marketing network, it now has over 150,000 outlets of sale of various types. OPPLE Lighting became a listed company in 2016 (stock abbreviation "OPPLE Lighting", stock code 603515.SH). OPPLE Lighting improves the quality of spaces across the board and lightens each detail of life for you.

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MENLO PARK, CA and HELSINKI, FINLAND, Oct 1, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - Edison Oncology Holding Corp. ("Edison Oncology"), a company established to develop new therapies targeting the fight against cancer, and Apollomics Inc. ("Apollomics"), an innovative biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery and development of mono- and combination oncology therapies, reported that the first patient was dosed with EO1001 (APL-122) in a Phase I/IIa clinical trial in patients with advanced solid tumors. EO1001 is a potent irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that has demonstrated inhibition of EGFR (ErbB1), HER2 (ErbB2) and HER4 (ErbB4) as a single agent in laboratory studies."We are thrilled to see our first patient treated with EO1001 and hope that the potential safety and efficacy suggested by our preclinical data has the potential to translate into clinical benefits for patients suffering from cancer," said Jeffrey Bacha, B.Sc., MBA, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Edison Oncology. "Our preclinical studies have shown that EO1001 is potent against multiple activating mutations in the intracellular domain of EGFR. We look forward to the results from this first clinical trial as we believe EO1001 has the potential to address unmet medical needs in many types of cancer including non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer and glioblastoma."The Phase I/IIa clinical trial will enroll up to 50 patients and is being conducted in Australia under contract service provided by Senz Oncology Pty Ltd. The objective of this first-in-human clinical trial is to examine the safety and tolerability of EO1001 in patients with metastatic or advanced stage ErbB-1(EGFR), ErbB-2(HER2) and/or ERbB-4 (HER4) positive cancer. Patients with relapsed ErbB-positive cancers in solid tumors, including patients with central nervous system (CNS) involvement, will be enrolled at several clinical sites in Australia.Sanjeev Redkar, PhD, Co-Founder and President of Apollomics, added, "We are pleased to achieve this important milestone in the development of EO1001 which we refer to as APL-122. In preclinical models, APL-122 demonstrated activity in ErbB positive tumors and the ability to penetrate and treat cancers in the CNS. Therefore, this Phase I/IIa study is inclusive of patients with brain metastases. Advancing into human clinical trials marks a pivotal step in our development of this promising cancer therapy."Dr. Sophia Frentzas, medical oncologist and clinical researcher at Monash Cancer Center in Melbourne, Australia and Principal Investigator for the clinical trial said, "ErbB positive tumors represent a significant patient population with unmet clinical needs. These include patients with HER2 (ErbB2) positive breast cancer and EGFR (ErbB1) mutant lung cancer who have acquired resistance, or are refractory, to frontline targeted therapy. They also include those patients with other tumour types where the ErbB pathway has been increasingly shown to be a clinically significant oncogenic driver (e.g. GBM, endometrial, ovarian, bladder cancer and others). Cross-talk between ErbB family members is implicated in resistance to treatment and the growing incidence of central nervous system metastases plays a significant role in patient morbidity and mortality. In particular, the latter presents a significant limitation with currently available targeted therapies. EO1001 is an oral, brain-penetrating, uniquely potent, pan-ErbB inhibitor. We look forward to exploring its safety and efficacy in this first-in-human trial."On February 9, 2021, Edison Oncology and Apollomics announced an exclusive licensing agreement whereby Apollomics will develop and commercialize EO1001 (APL-122) globally, except in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.About EO1001EO1001 is an irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that has demonstrated inhibition of EGFR (ErbB1), HER2 (ErbB2) and HER4 (ErbB4) as a single agent in laboratory studies. EO1001 is potent against mutations in the intracellular domain of EGFR that are typically found in diseases such as Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) including T790M, L858R and d746-750, HER2 (ErbB2) which is prominent in breast cancer, and against the EGFR-variant III (EGFRvIII) that is characteristic of glioblastoma. In preclinical trials, EO1001 has been well-tolerated and demonstrated the ability to enter the central nervous system (CNS) following oral dosing and activity against treatment-resistant EGFRvIII-driven tumors, including malignancies in CNS, in vivo. EO1001 is referred to as APL-122 by Apollomics.About Edison OncologyEdison Oncology was founded in 2018 by experienced life science industry veterans to develop and commercialize new therapies targeting the fight against cancer. Edison Oncology leverages a deep understanding of cancer biology and cancer pharmacology in order to identify and advance underdeveloped drug candidates with the potential to overcome treatment resistance and improve survival outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients.About Apollomics Inc.Apollomics Inc. is an innovative biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery and development of monotherapies and combination therapies of tumor-targeting and immuno-oncology agents. The Company's product pipeline has several programs at different stages of development, including novel, humanized monoclonal antibodies that restore the body's immune system to recognize and kill cancer cells, and targeted therapies against uncontrolled growth signaling pathways. Apollomics has operating entities in Foster City, California, USA, Hangzhou and Shanghai, China. For more information, please visit www.apollomicsinc.com.Edison Oncology Contacts:Company Contact:Jeffrey BachaChief Executive Officer(650) 690-1927jb@eohc.comMedia and Investor Relations Contact:Amato & Partners, LLCInvestor Relations Counseladmin@amatoandpartners.comApollomics Contacts:Investor Contact:Wilson W. CheungChief Financial Officer(650) 209-4436wcheung@apollomicsinc.comU.S. Media Contact:Remy BernardaCorporate Communications(415) 203-6386remy.bernarda@apollomicsinc.comChina Media Contact:Porda Havas International Finance Communications GroupKelly FungGeneral Manager(852) 3150 6763kelly.fung@pordahavas.comPhoenix FungVice President(852) 3150 6773phoenix.fung@pordahavas.comSource: Edison OncologyApollomics, Inc.Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2021) - Aurwest Resources Corporation (CSE: AWR) ("Aurwest" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed the purchase transaction, originally announced on September 27, 2021, with Pacific Empire Minerals Corp. (TSXV: PEMC) (the "Vendor") to acquire the Vendors 50% interest in the Stars Property, a copper porphyry project, covering 2,136 hectares contiguous to Aurwest's Stellar Property in central British Columbia (See figure 1).

Colin Christensen, President & CEO of Aurwest commented, "We're excited to have completed this transaction which provides Aurwest a significant strategic participation in an early-stage porphyry copper discovery, complimenting the exciting upside we see developing on our Stellar Property."

Acquisition Terms

Aurwest acquired the Vendor's 50% interest in the Stars Property by way of a Purchase and Sale Agreement, with an effective closing date of September 30, 2021. Terms of the transaction included a cash payment of C$350,000 to the Vendor, and also granted to the Vendor a 2% net smelter return ("NSR") on the property. Aurwest has the right to repurchase at any time one per cent of the NSR (1.0%) for consideration of C$1,000,000.





Figure 1: Expanded land position with the 50% interest in the Stars Property

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Aurwest also wishes to announce that it intends to commence a normal course issuer bid ("NCIB"), under which the Company may purchase up to 4,801,431 of the Company's common shares, representing approximately 5% of its issued and outstanding common shares. The Company is commencing the NCIB because it believes that, from time to time, the market price of its Shares may not fully reflect the underlying value of the Company's business and future prospects. The Company believes that, at such times, the repurchase of its Shares for cancellation represents an appropriate use of the Company's financial resources and will enhance shareholder value.

The Company intends to appoint PI Financial Corp. as its broker to conduct the NCIB on its behalf. The NCIB is expected to commence on September 30, 2021 and terminate on September 30, 2022, or an earlier date in the event that the number of Shares sought in the NCIB has been repurchased or if the Company feels that it is appropriate. All Shares purchased under the NCIB will be purchased on the open market through the facilities of the Canadian Securities Exchange. All purchases made under the NCIB will be at the prevailing CSE market price for the Shares at the time of purchase. Shares acquired by the Company under the NCIB are being purchased for cancellation.

On Behalf Of Aurwest Resources Corporation

"Colin Christensen"

President and Chief Executive Officer

For additional information please contact:

Colin Christensen

Telephone: (403) 483-8363

Email: cchristensen@aurwestresources.com

Website: www.aurwestresources.com

About Aurwest Resources Corporation

Aurwest is a Canadian-based junior resource company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of gold properties in Canada. The Company currently has three Option Agreements to earn a 100% interest in Paradise Lake and Stony Caldera projects covering a 47,800-hectare (478 sq kms) package of gold exploration licenses within the emerging Central Newfoundland gold district. The Company also currently holds a 100% interest in the 24,533 hectare Stellar copper/gold Project plus an additional 2,136 hectares of contiguous claims in the acquired 50% interest in the Stars property, located approximately 25-65 kilometers southwest of Houston British Columbia.

Forward-Looking Information

Statements included in this announcement, including statements concerning our plans, intentions, and expectations, which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as "forward-looking statements". Forward looking statements may be identified by words including "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "expects" and similar expressions. The Company cautions readers that forward-looking statements, including without limitation: historical exploration results; positive diamond drilling results; styles of copper-molybdenum mineralization; and future work programs.

In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, Aurwest has made numerous assumptions regarding, among other things: the geological advice that Aurwest has received is reliable and is based upon practices and methodologies which are consistent with industry standards; and the reliability of historical reports. While Aurwest considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies.

Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause Aurwest's actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. Known risk factors include but are not limited to, additional exploration of the properties may not locate significant copper-molybdenum mineralization: historical exploration results may not be accurate; exploration of the areas of copper mineralization may not locate significant mineralization; the positive diamond drilling results may not be accurate; styles of copper-molybdenum mineralization; and future work programs may not result in the location of significant copper-molybdenum mineralization future work programs may not be completed as planned or at all; receipt of permits to conduct the exploration plans and matters relating to the Company's future operations and business prospects; certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, except in accordance with the applicable laws.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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TOKYO, Oct 1, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - Osaka University and Fujitsu Limited today announced the establishment of the Fujitsu Quantum Computing Joint Research Division as a collaborative research division at the Center for Quantum Information and Quantum Biology (hereinafter QIQB) of Osaka University.The newly-established research division will focus on the development of foundational technologies for fault-tolerant quantum computers, which are able to perform accurate calculations while correcting errors that occur in quantum bits (qubits). These efforts will draw on the respective strengths of the two partners, combining QIQB's advanced quantum error correction and quantum software technologies with Fujitsu's applied knowledge in computing and quantum technologies.More specifically, QIQB and Fujitsu aim to develop quantum software for fault-tolerant quantum computers with up to several thousand qubits as well as technologies to verify its error correcting operations.Going forward, the two partners will strengthen their cooperation in R&D towards the realization of fault-tolerant quantum computing technologies to innovate solutions to complex societal problems through quantum technology.BackgroundQuantum computers, which make use of the principles of quantum mechanics including quantum superposition states and quantum entanglement (1), offer the potential to one day revolutionize computing, significantly exceeding the capabilities of conventional computing technologies to perform high-speed calculations.Fault-tolerant quantum computing, capable of accurate and large-scale high-speed calculations using error correction codes, may become a key technology especially in the fields of drug discovery and finance, which require a technology able to solve complex and large-scale problems at high speed.In March 2020, Osaka University established QIQB in order to promote quantum information and quantum biology research, focusing on research in a wide range of fields ranging from quantum computing, quantum information fusion, quantum information devices, quantum communications and security, quantum measurement and sensing, and quantum biology.QIQB has also been chosen as the main center for quantum software research in the field of quantum technology of the COI-NEXT program (2) of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and thus plays an important role in Japan's strategy for quantum technology innovation.Cooperating with domestic and overseas research institutes, Fujitsu has been engaged in full-scale research and development of quantum computing since 2020, aiming to further improve the performance of computing technologies.Leveraging its quantum-inspired computing (3) solution "Digital Annealer", which is designed to solve large-scale combinatorial optimization problems, Fujitsu is providing customers solutions in various fields like drug discovery and logistics.In October 2020, Fujitsu started collaborative research (4) with Osaka University on quantum error correction. The establishment of the "Fujitsu Quantum Computing Joint Research Unit" will further strengthen R&D in fault-tolerant quantum computer systems.Outline of the Joint Research1. Name: Fujitsu Quantum Computing Joint Research Division2. Location: Center for Quantum Information and Quantum Biology (QIQB), International Advanced Research Institute (IARI), Osaka University (Toyonaka City, Osaka Prefecture)3. Research Period: October 1, 2021 to March 31, 20244. Research Contents: R&D of Quantum Software for fault-tolerant quantum computers*Assuming a quantum computer with a scale of several thousand qubits, the joint division will research and develop an error correction algorithm able to restore the original information from faulty qubits, as well as technologies to evaluate the performance of this algorithm.*In order to perform quantum computation using logical qubits (5) generated through quantum error correction codes, the joint division will focus on the R&D and implementation of a set of software solutions required from program input to the result output.With regard to future practical applications of this technology, the division will furthermore verify the operation of these solutions using a virtual machine environment to evaluate the effects of noise add up.Roles and ResponsibilitiesOsaka University- Contribution to further R&D in the field of quantum error correction technology on a scale of several thousand qubits based on its knowledge of quantum error correction technology- Development of a set of software necessary for performing quantum computation using logical qubits and verify its application in a virtual machineFujitsu- Generation of quantum error correction algorithms for quantum computers on a scale of several thousand qubits based on its expertise in computing- Development of a set of software necessary for performing quantum computation using logical qubits; application of the software to a virtual machine and verification of its operationFuture PlansIn order to contribute to the further development of quantum computing science and technology, Osaka University and Fujitsu will strengthen their cooperation with a variety of research institutions and companies. Through the practical application of the results of this joint research, the partners aim to contribute to an early practical application of quantum computing with the potential to drive innovations and create a sustainable society.Osaka University and Fujitsu will also collaborate with related industries and the academia to support the training of new human resources in the field of quantum technology.All company or product names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Information provided in this press release is accurate at time of publication and is subject to change without advance notice.(1) Quantum entanglement:Quantum mechanical phenomenon of nonlocal correlations between two distant systems(2) COI-NEXT:Industry-academia collaboration program in which universities and other organizations take the lead in formulating a vision for a future society. The aim of this program is to promote ongoing research and development towards the realization of this vision, as well as to form an independent, collaborative unit of industry, academia and government members able to deliver results even after the completion of the project. In 2020, QIQB was chosen as an international research hub for policy focused areas (quantum technology) of the program. (Quantum Information and Quantum Life Research Center, Osaka University (QIQB) HP)(3) Quantum-inspired technology:A number of acceleration technologies inspired by quantum technology, but not quantum effects.(4) Joint research on quantum error correction:"Fujitsu Commences Joint Research with World-Leading Institutions for Innovations in Quantum Computing" (October 13, 2020 press release)(5) Logical qubits:Qubits able to perform quantum logical operations without errors. Logical qubits are generated through the encoding of multiple qubits by a code able to correct quantum error codes.About Osaka UniversityOsaka University was founded in 1931 as one of the seven imperial universities of Japan and is now one of Japan's leading comprehensive universities with a broad disciplinary spectrum. This strength is coupled with a singular drive for innovation that extends throughout the scientific process, from fundamental research to the creation of applied technology with positive economic impacts. Its commitment to innovation has been recognized in Japan and around the world, being named Japan's most innovative university in 2015 (Reuters 2015 Top 100) and one of the most innovative institutions in the world in 2017 (Innovative Universities and the Nature Index Innovation 2017). Now, Osaka University is leveraging its role as a Designated National University Corporation selected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to contribute to innovation for human welfare, sustainable development of society, and social transformation. https://resou.osaka-u.ac.jp/enAbout FujitsuFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 126,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.6 trillion yen (US$34 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. For more information, please see www.fujitsu.com.Source: Fujitsu LtdCopyright 2021 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
ShangRao, China--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2021) - As a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, Chinese tourists are increasingly inclined to travel at a slower pace, with shorter cycles and closer proximity. They also place greater importance on safety, health, comfort travel experiences. According to the travel frequency analysis of Chinese rural tourism consumers in 2020, rural tourism has become a hot spot in the tourism market. The statistics indicate that in 2020, 70% of Chinese tourists have visited suburbs or rural areas in the province in the past year or half a year, more than 50% of tourists have visited rural areas multiple times in a year, and 18.12% of tourists have visited rural areas many times in one month.





Figure 1

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However, with the prosperity of rural tourism in China, some problems have also been highlighted. For example, the homogenization of rural tourism products is serious. It may be difficult to maintain the enthusiasm of tourists to revisit the same places if there is no novelty. In contrast, international rural tourism is relatively advanced and has developed a rich rural tourism system. Therefore, it is crucial for Chinese rural tourism products to be distinctive, to discover the cultural connotations of local folklore, and to develop innovative tourism products.





Figure 2

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Wuyuan Huangling Village is a typical case. Over the years, it has made great achievements in promoting "rural revitalization" and "tourism poverty alleviation". Huangling Scenic Spot pioneered "participatory poverty alleviation" to allow local villagers to participate in tourism development and become the beneficiaries of tourism development. The villagers' income from tourism and entrepreneurship reached more than 6 million yuan. Its per capita annual income increased from 3,500 yuan before tourism development to 40,000 yuan. The average annual income of households increased from 15,000 yuan to 130,000 yuan.





Figure 3

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As the secretariat of "China International Tourism Village Alliance", Huangling Village initiates the second "International Tourism Village" Village Chief Summit, and send out invitations to the international tourism famous village. It is expected that at this year's summit, village chiefs from all over the world will express their opinions and discuss the development path and direction of rural tourism.

According to the actual situation of COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control, the summit will strengthen the transnational communication between the International Tourism Village Alliance and "Generation Z" through the online summit, offline communication. Generation Z refers to people born between 1995 and 2009, also known as the Internet Generation, and collectively refers to a generation that has been greatly influenced by technology such as the Internet, instant messaging, SMS, MP3, smartphones and tablets. This group is the main force of contemporary youth. They are an important audience for the future internationalization of Huangling. It is reported that the summit will be themed as "Co-construction of famous villages, Youth come first".





Figure 4

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On October 17, 2018, the first International Tourism Village - Huangling Village Chief Summit was hosted successfully by Shangrao Municipal People's Government, Jiangxi Provincial Department of Agriculture, Jiangxi Provincial Department of Culture, and Jiangxi Provincial Tourism Development Commission. The summit also co-organized by Shangrao Tourism Development Commission and Wuyuan County People's Government. Nearly 100 village chiefs from famous tourism gathered in Huangling. They brainstormed around the theme "Rural Revitalization, Tourism Goes Frist".

Upon the event, villagers prepared farm-made rice wine and intangible cultural heritage folk performances such as the centuries-old Wuyuan dance "Quanhui", tea ceremony and Jiangwan bean curd stand to welcome global visitors. The village chiefs from all over the world visited "Shaiqiu Renjia" to experience the farming life under the guidance of Wu Xiangyang, the honorary village chief of Huangling.





Figure 5

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In addition, aims to build a exchange platform of international talents, culture and capital, Champigny-en-beauce Village in France and Crowstone Village in Hungary signed friendship village agreements with Huangling. Nearly 100 tourism villages joined hands with the world's leading tourism villages to establish the China International Tourism Village Alliance, and set up an alliance secretariat in Huangling.

Along with the first summit, China's rural tourism brand was promoted. In August 2020, Huangling held the grand opening ceremony of the Sixth China Huangling Shaiqiu Cultural Festival. It is worth mentioning that Andrew Killeen, a well-known British journalist and writer, also participated in the Festival. Andy Killeen first visited Huangling in early spring four years ago, when he was doing research for his new book, Bright as a Mirror.

Only by further establishing a friendship relationship between China and international tourism villages with shared resources, complementary advantages, and by strengthening close communication and cooperation, can the world see China's countryside and let the international famous villages reach millions of ordinary family in China as well.





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Media Contact

Contact: Jinzhong Cao

Company Name: Wuyuan Huangling Cultural Tourism Co., Ltd

Website: http://www.wyhl.cc/site/wyhl_sj/index.shtml

Email: caojz888666@163.com

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Spirit AeroSystems, Inc. ("Spirit"), a subsidiary of Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. [NYSE: SPR] ("Spirit AeroSystems"), announced today it signed, through its Belfast, Northern Ireland operations (known as Short Brothers), an agreement with SF Airlines (SFA) to modify inlet cowlings for its Boeing 757 cargo freighters.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210930006065/en/

Leaders from SF Airlines and Spirit AeroSystems met this week at the Air Show China in Zhuhai, China, to sign an agreement for Spirit to repair inlet cowlings on the airline's Boeing 757 freighter fleet. From left, Mr. Peter Huang, Vice President of SF Airlines; Ms. Judy Wu, General Manager of the Material Supply Department of SF Airlines; Mr. Tong Jian, President of Maintenance and Engineering Division, SF Airlines; Mr. Kailash Krishnaswamy, General Manager of Spirit AeroSystems (Hangzhou) Enterprise Management Consulting Co.; Mr. Li Sheng, Chief Executive Officer of SF Airlines; Mr. Tristan Ge, Spirit AeroSystems Sales Manager-Asia; and Mr. Jian Liu, Spirit AeroSystems Business Development Manager- Asia. (Photo: Business Wire)

SF Airlines CEO Mr. Li Sheng attended the contract signing with Mr. Kailash Krishnaswamy, General Manager of Spirit AeroSystems (Hangzhou) Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd. in China, during the Air Show China event in Zhuhai, China. Also from SFA, Mr. Tong, General Manager of the SFA Maintenance and Engineering Department, and Ms. Wu, Director of the SFA Maintenance and Engineering Department, joined Mr. Li for the signing.

"Spirit AeroSystems is honored to be selected by SF Airlines for this 10-year agreement," Mr. Krishnaswamy said. "Under this agreement, Spirit will provide important repairs for inlet cowlings that will help keep SFA's Boeing 757 fleet operating effectively now and in the future."

SFA technicians will remove cowlings from the engines and ship them to Spirit's site in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the repairs will take place. Once repairs are complete, the cowlings will be shipped back to SFA.

Mr. Krishnaswamy added, "Spirit is positioning itself regionally to support SF Airlines and other operators with increasing passenger travel and freight traffic in the post-COVID era, and we look forward to bringing our world class repair capabilities to the Asia Pacific region."

On the web: www.spiritaero.com

On Twitter: @SpiritAero

About Spirit AeroSystems Inc.

Spirit AeroSystems is one of the world's largest manufacturers of aerostructures for commercial airplanes, defense platforms, and business/regional jets. With expertise in aluminum and advanced composite manufacturing solutions, the company's core products include fuselages, integrated wings and wing components, pylons, and nacelles. We are leveraging decades of design and manufacturing expertise to be the most innovative and reliable supplier of military aerostructures, and specialty high-temperature materials, enabling warfighters to execute complex, critical missions. Spirit also serves the aftermarket for commercial and business/regional jets. Headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, Spirit has facilities in the U.S., U.K., France, Malaysia and Morocco. More information is available at www.spiritaero.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that may involve many risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "aim," "anticipate," "believe," "could," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "goal," "forecast," "intend," "may," "might," "objective," "outlook," "plan," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "will," "would," and other similar words, or phrases, or the negative thereof, unless the context requires otherwise. These statements reflect management's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown. Our actual results may vary materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. We caution investors not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such forward-looking statements and that should be considered in evaluating our outlook include, without limitation, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and operations; the timing and conditions surrounding the full worldwide return to service (including receiving the remaining regulatory approvals) of the B737 MAX, future demand for the aircraft, and any residual impacts of the B737 MAX grounding on production rates for the aircraft; our reliance on Boeing for a significant portion of our revenues; our ability to execute our growth strategy, including our ability to complete and integrate acquisitions; our ability to accurately estimate and manage performance, cost, and revenue under our contracts; demand for our products and services and the effect of economic or geopolitical conditions in the industries and markets in which we operate in the U.S. and globally; our ability to manage our liquidity, borrow additional funds or refinance debt; and other factors disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors are not exhaustive and it is not possible for us to predict all factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in our forward-looking statements. These factors speak only as of the date hereof, and new factors may emerge or changes to the foregoing factors may occur that could impact our business. Except to the extent required by law, we undertake no obligation to, and expressly disclaim any obligation to, publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210930006065/en/

Contacts:

Forrest Gossett

(316) 803-2975

forrest.s.gossett@spiritaero.com
Leading cruise ship builder extended and expanded its use of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to increase design and construction efficiency

Integrated, open digital platform enabled Meyer Werft to automate selected design processes, engineer and collaborate across sites and disciplines

Meyer Werft and Dassault Systemes strengthen their existing partnership to create the next generation of solutions that bring long-term value to shipbuilding

Dassault Systemes (Paris:DSY) (Euronext Paris: FR0014003TT8, DSY.PA) today announced that the construction phase of Meyer Werft's first luxury passenger ship designed with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform as well as the engineering phase of its sister ship are underway. Meyer Werft, one of the world's leading cruise ship builders and a long-term Dassault Systemes customer, extended and expanded its use of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to increase design efficiency and shorten construction time on this and future customer projects.

The luxury ship, with an expected delivery in 2022, will have a volume of 144,000 gross register tonnage, a capacity for 1,250 passenger cabins, and run on environmentally friendly liquefied natural gas. The efficient design and delivery of such state-of-the-art ships is crucial in a competitive marketplace.

Meyer Werft set an objective to efficiently design and deliver in time the most innovative cruise ships. To achieve this, the company expanded its engineering, product lifecycle management, automated production deliverables, and manufacturing user capabilities with the "Designed for Sea" and "Optimized Production for Sea" industry solution experiences based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

In addition, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform's openness allows Meyer Werft to integrate project data generated by legacy digital design tools at its sites and its suppliers. This supports a smooth and gradual transition to a unified and integrated business experience platform.

"Extending our use of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is part of our ambition to more efficiently design and build innovative cruise ships," said Dr. Paul Meyer, CIO, Meyer Werft. "We aim to unify tools and processes across our sites. As we are in the construction phase for our first ship designed with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, our partnership with Dassault Systemes continues to strengthen to achieve this."

"The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is the only platform that enables industry leaders like Meyer Werft to transform their industrial business and deliver new customer experiences," said Francois-Xavier Dumez, Vice President, Marine Offshore Industry, Dassault Systemes. "The platform has already been at the core of many innovative designs, as shipbuilders can avoid manufacturing errors, rework or delays downstream. Together with Meyer Werft we are creating the next generation of shipbuilding solutions to deliver long-term value."

Social media:

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For more information:

Dassault Systemes' industry solution experiences for the Marine Offshore industry: https://ifwe.3ds.com/marine-offshore

Dassault Systemes' 3DEXPERIENCE platform, 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock Up and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions: http://www.3ds.com

About Dassault Systemes

Dassault Systemes, the 3DEXPERIENCE Company, is a catalyst for human progress. We provide business and people with collaborative 3D virtual environments to imagine sustainable innovations. By creating virtual twin experiences of the real world with our 3DEXPERIENCE platform and applications, our customers push the boundaries of innovation, learning and production. Dassault Systemes brings value to more than 290,000 customers of all sizes, in all industries, in more than 140 countries. For more information, visit www.3ds.com

3DEXPERIENCE, the Compass icon, the 3DS logo, CATIA, BIOVIA, GEOVIA, SOLIDWORKS, 3DVIA, ENOVIA, NETVIBES, MEDIDATA, CENTRIC PLM, 3DEXCITE, SIMULIA, DELMIA, and IFWE are commercial trademarks or registered trademarks of Dassault Systemes, a French "societe europeenne" (Versailles Commercial Register B 322 306 440), or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210930005798/en/

Contacts:

Dassault Systemes Press Contacts

Corporate France

Arnaud MALHERBE

arnaud.malherbe@3ds.com

+33 (0)1 61 62 87 73

North America

Suzanne MORAN

suzanne.moran@3ds.com

+1 (781) 810 3774

EMEAR

Virginie BLINDENBERG

virginie.blindenberg@3ds.com

+33 (0) 1 61 62 84 21

China

Grace MU

grace.mu@3ds.com

+86 10 6536 2288

India

Santanu BHATTACHARYA

santanu.bhattacharya@3ds.com

+91 9717972875

Japan

Yukiko SATO

yukiko.sato@3ds.com

+81 3 4321 3841

Korea

Jeemin JEONG

jeemin.jeong@3ds.com

+82 2 3271 6653

AP South

Pallavi MISRA

pallavi.misra@3ds.com

+65 90221874
Regulatory News:

The United States District Court for District of Delaware has ruled that the patent asserted in CareDx's patent infringement case against Eurofins Viracor is invalid. Eurofins Viracor is very pleased that the Court has agreed with its arguments and issued judgment in Eurofins Viracor's favor in this challenge to Eurofins' critically important diagnostic tools to manage organ rejection risk.

Eurofins Viracor's offerings include Viracor TRAC Kidney dd-cfDNA, Viracor TRAC Heart dd-cfDNA and Viracor TRAC Lung dd-cfDNA. In related innovation for transplant patients earlier this week, Eurofins Viracor's affiliate, Transplant Genomics, Inc. ("TGI"), launched OmniGraf, which combines the TruGraf blood gene expression test and Viracor TRAC donor-derived cell-free DNA assays. For renal transplant recipients, OmniGraf Kidney represents the first diagnostic tool that combines cell free DNA and gene expression data. When combined with TGI's proprietary technology and machine learning, the test offers patients and clinicians an early and accurate assessment of kidney transplant rejection.

OmniGraf is a trademark of Transplant Genomics, Inc.

TruGraf is a registered trademark of Transplant Genomics, Inc.

Viracor TRAC is a registered trademark of Eurofins Viracor, LLC

Notes to Editors:

For more information, please visit https://www.eurofins-viracor.com/clinical/

About Viracor

With over 30 years of specialised expertise in infectious disease, immunology and allergy testing for immunocompromised and critical patients, Viracor Eurofins is committed to delivering results to medical professionals, transplant teams, reference laboratories and biopharmaceutical companies faster, when it matters most. Eurofins Viracor is passionate about delivering value to its clients by providing timely, actionable information, never losing sight of the connection between the testing it performs and the patients it ultimately serves.

Eurofins Viracor is a subsidiary of Eurofins Scientific (EUFI.PA), a global leader in bio-analytical testing, and one of the world leaders in genomic services. For more information, please visit https://www.eurofins.com/ and https://www.eurofins-viracor.com/.

About Eurofins the global leader in bio-analysis

Eurofins is Testing for Life. Eurofins is the global leader in food, environment, pharmaceutical and cosmetic product testing and in agroscience Contract Research Organisation services. Eurofins is one of the market leaders in certain testing and laboratory services for genomics, discovery pharmacology, forensics, advanced material sciences and in the support of clinical studies, as well as having an emerging global presence in Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisations. The Group also has a rapidly developing presence in highly specialised and molecular clinical diagnostic testing and in-vitro diagnostic products.

With 55,000 staff across a decentralised and entrepreneurial network of 900 laboratories in over 50 countries, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 200,000 analytical methods to evaluate the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin, traceability and purity of a wide range of products, as well as providing innovative clinical diagnostic testing services and in-vitro diagnostic products.

The Group's objective is to provide its customers with high-quality services, innovative solutions and accurate results on time. Eurofins is ideally positioned to support its clients' increasingly stringent quality and safety standards and the increasing demands of regulatory authorities as well as the requirements of healthcare practitioners around the world.

In 2020, Eurofins reacted quickly to meet the global challenge of COVID-19, by creating the capacity to help over 20 million patients monthly who may have been impacted by the pandemic with our testing products and our services and directly supporting healthcare professionals working on the front line to fight the virus. The Group has established widespread PCR testing capabilities and has carried out over 25 million tests in its own laboratories, is supporting the development of a number of vaccines and has established its SAFER@WORK testing, monitoring and consulting programmes to help ensure safer environments, travel and events during COVID-19.

Eurofins has grown very strongly since its inception and its strategy is to continue expanding its technology portfolio and its geographic reach. Through R&D and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of biotechnology and analytical chemistry to offer its clients unique analytical solutions.

Shares in Eurofins Scientific are listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN FR0014000MR3, Reuters EUFI.PA, Bloomberg ERF FP).

Until it has been lawfully made public widely by Eurofins through approved distribution channels, this document contains inside information for the purpose of Regulation (EU) 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on market abuse, as amended.

Important disclaimer:

This press release contains forward-looking statements and estimates that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements and estimates contained herein represent the judgment of Eurofins Scientific's management as of the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees for future performance, and the forward-looking events discussed in this release may not occur. Eurofins Scientific disclaims any intent or obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements and estimates. All statements and estimates are made based on the information available to the Company's management as of the date of publication, but no guarantees can be made as to their completeness or validity.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210930005999/en/

Contacts:

Sally Maysent

Director of Marketing

Email: SallyMaysent@Eurofins-Viracor.com

Investor Relations

Eurofins Scientific SE

Phone: +32 2 766 1620

E-mail: ir@eurofins.com
VILNIUS, Lithuania, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardano-based fundraising platform and a project accelerator Kick.io announced a long-waited release on October 1st, 2021, inviting the community to hop on and become an early investor to unicorn-level projects.

Kick.io platform is exceptional and ahead of its competition because it supports projects launched on the Cardano blockchain and offers full support for Cardano native tokens.

The platform's founders are striving to become the place where Cardano's extensive community can come together to fund high-growth projects characterized by the immense potential for future success.

Be an early crypto investor.

The users will have the opportunity to browse via projects, carefully hand-picked and uplisted on Kick.io platform. The earlier the investors contribute to the most promising crypto & blockchain projects, the more enormous the potential for profit and rewards are.

As other platforms tend to list projects and their native tokens after the initial rounds have been completed, Kick.io will ensure that crypto investors will have access to the best projects with the best timing, allowing for higher potential returns.

For the users, Kick.io provides staking functionality and up to 5% additional return on endorsed projects. For staking and endorsing, users get rewards. To participate in Kick.io ecosystem, tokens will need to be deposited onto the platform and can then be designated as desired. Tokens that are not being used for staking or endorsing can be withdrawn to a wallet of choice at any time.

Stakers who have staked at least 20000 KICK tokens in either of the locked staking pools will receive priority access to the project launches. An allocation of 25% of the sale will be open 24 hours before the general public.

Users are invited to analyze the verified project listings, meet project founders, and endorse the most credible ones. The credibility of projects is vetted by well-informed investors and the platform's due diligence team before the propositions are released to the users.

Importance of decentralization

As is crucial for crypto-verse, the companies philosophy turns around decentralization. Kick.io company was founded by a team of Defi and traditional finance professionals.

By being in line with crypto world values, the team works to provide full decentralization, ensuring that the funds raised on the Kick.io platform are directly sent to the project founders and that the tokens generated are distributed to holders without burdensome checks or unnecessary delay. Also by providing a suite of advanced Defi tools ensures that upcoming projects will thrive and prosper.

Kick.io takes financial sustainability and inclusion seriously, working diligently to ensure that their efforts benefit all stakeholders, helping to evolve the reputation and maturity of the Defi industry.

This next-generation decentralized launchpad will be built according to the best Defi industry practices, ensuring real-time settlement, top-notch security, interoperability, true decentralization, zero counterparty risk, and is fully scalable to meet the needs of institutional investors. This will be a massive contribution to the development of maturity of Defi and crypto industries.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1640308/Kick_io_First_Cardano_Launchpad.jpg
Vow ASA's subsidiary Scanship AS has been awarded a serial cruise newbuild contract valued at up to EUR 13.8 million (NOK 140 million) by a major European shipyard.

The contract includes Scanship's clean ship systems for up to four cruise ships, of which two orders are firm at a total value of EUR 6.9 million and two are optional at a total value of EUR 6.9 million.

Each contract includes supply of state-of-the-art technology to process garbage, food waste and wastewater onboard cruise ships carrying 1 000 people aboard.

Equipment for the first ship will be delivered from Scanship to the yard in Q3 2022.

"We are very pleased to continue to supply our technology towards one of the largest cruise newbuild yards in Europe as we continue to grow our market share deploying our advanced clean-tech in the cruise newbuilding market," said Henrik Badin, CEO of Scanship ASA.

"With this new award, we have entered cruise contracts for nearly NOK 500 million including options in 2021. We are very proud for this win, as it confirms our long-time capability to deliver advanced technology at large scale and in line with the cruise industry high-quality performance standards, and fully compliant with highest effluent standards at sea," said Henrik Badin.

Shipyard and shipowner will be disclosed at later stage.





For more information please contact

Henrik Badin, CEO, Vow ASA

Tel: + 47 90 78 98 25

Email: henrik.badin@vowasa.com





About Vow

Vow and its subsidiaries Scanship and Etia are passionate about preventing pollution. The company's world leading solutions convert biomass and waste into valuable resources and generate clean energy for a wide range of industries.

Cruise ships on every ocean have Vow technology inside which processes waste and purifies wastewater. Fish farmers are adopting similar solutions, and public utilities and industries use our solutions for sludge processing, waste management and biogas production on land.

With advanced technologies and solutions, Vow turns waste into biogenetic fuels to help decarbonise industry and convert plastic waste into fuel, clean energy, and high-value pyro carbon. The solutions are scalable, standardised, patented, and thoroughly documented, and the company's capability to deliver is well proven. They are key to end waste and stop pollution.

Located in Oslo, the parent company Vow ASA is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker VOW).

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
WOKINGHAM, UK / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / In accordance with DTR 5.6.1, the Company hereby notifies the following:

The Company's issued share capital as at September 30, 2021 consisted of 232,171,182 ordinary shares of 10 pence each ("Ordinary Shares"), of which 9,890,681 Ordinary Shares were held in treasury as at the date of this disclosure. The voting rights of treasury shares are automatically suspended.

Therefore, the total voting rights in the Company is 222,280,501. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which to determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules and the Company's Articles of Association.

Enquiries:

Graham Middlemiss, Group Company Secretary

(0118 927 3800)

October 1, 2021

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

SOURCE: Ferguson PLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666367/Ferguson-PLC-Announces-Total-Voting-Rights
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.
RELEASE

October 1st, 2021

RCI Banque's General Assembly approves 930.6m special payment

Following ECB decision on July 23rd, 2021 not to extend dividend limitations beyond September 30th, 2021, RCI General Assembly approved a payment from retained earnings for EUR 930 600 000, in line with company's intentions communicated earlier this year.

RCI Banque reported a total capital ratio at 19.79 % as of 30th June 2021 (of which CET1 ratio at 17.01%). Following special payment representing 2.65 % of June 2021 risk weighted assets, capital ratios will return to pre-pandemic levels.





Contacts





Analysts and Investors



Financial Communication

+ 33(0) 1 76 88 81 74

contact_investor@rcibanque.com (mailto:contact_investor@rcibanque.com)





About RCI Banque S.A.:

Created and wholly owned by Renault Group, RCI Banque S.A. is a French bank specializing in automotive financings and services for the customers and dealership networks of Renault Group (Renault, Dacia, Alpine, Renault Samsung Motors and Lada) worldwide, the Nissan group (Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun) mainly in Europe, Brazil, Argentina and South Korea and through joint ventures in Russia and India, and Mitsubishi Motors in the Netherlands.

RCI Bank and Services has been the new commercial identity of RCI Banque S.A. since February 2016.

With 3,800 employees in 36 countries, the group financed over 1.5 million contracts (for new and used vehicles) in 2020 and sold more than 4.6 million services.

At end-December 2020, average performing assets stood at 46.9 billion in financing and pre-tax income at 1.003 million.

RCI Bank and Services has rolled out a deposits collection business in seven countries since 2012. At end-December 2020, net collected deposits totaled 20.5 billion, or 43% of the company's net assets.

Find out more about RCI Bank and Services: www.rcibs.com

Follow us on Twitter: @RCIBS





Attachment
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc (ERM.L), a B2B information services provider, said that it expects adjusted profit before tax for the full year ending 30 September 2021 to be significantly ahead of analysts' expectations before the impact of IAS 38. It reflects continuing strong growth in subscriptions in Pricing, Data & Market Intelligence, especially people Intelligence, and the continuing turnaround in Asset Management. The company stated that its financial position remains strong. Net cash at the end of August 2021 was 34.7 million pounds. The company said it will provide a more detailed update at its full year results which will be announced on 18 November 2021. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Regulatory News:

The Orano group today confirms the acquisition by Orano Nuclear Packages and Services (Orano NPS) of Daher group's German nuclear activities Daher Nuclear Technologies Gmbh (DNT) and its United States subsidiary TLI Inc. (TLI).

The planned acquisition, which was the subject of an agreement signed on March 4, 20211, has been pending the usual authorizations, in particular with regard to foreign investment and merger control. The regulatory authorities having issued a favorable opinion, the acquisition is now effective.

In order to anchor these new activities within the Orano group, the former Daher companies will be renamed: DNT will become Orano NCS and TLI will become Orano TLI.

By making these acquisitions, Orano NPS will benefit from additional know-how, a broader range of products and services, and an extended geographic footprint, particularly in Germany and the U.S.

DNT and its subsidiary TLI have proven expertise in the transport of nuclear materials and in packaging engineering, especially in the Front End of the nuclear fuel cycle. In Germany, DNT's teams have specific skills in rail transport management and waste storage.

The two companies employ about 100 employees in total in Germany (Hanau and Leese) and in the U.S. (Fulton, Maryland, and Kevil, Kentucky). Through its increased global presence and now more than 1,000 employees, Orano NPS can expand customer services to meet an even broader range of needs.

Incorporating DNT and TLI is part of the Orano group's strategy to strengthen its competencies in its core business. With this second acquisition in less than a year, the Orano group continues to make targeted acquisitions enhancing its leading role with stakeholders in the nuclear energy industry, which remains the main source of low-carbon energy in Europe and the United States.

Frederic de Agostini, President of Orano NPS: "I would like to welcome our German and American colleagues from DNT and TLI with whom we are happy to start a new cycle of growth. The joint mobilization of our teams with high levels of expertise and know-how in engineering and transport will allow us to bring even more value to our customers by expanding our range of products and services, while consolidating our international presence, particularly with our European and American customers."

Olaf Oldiges, Managing Director of DNT: "We are delighted to be joining forces with a global player in the nuclear industry such as Orano. The teams will now be able to leverage the experience and expertise developed in Europe and the U.S. as part of Orano NPS."

Amir Vexler, CEO of Orano USA, President of TN Americas: "We are very pleased to welcome the TLI teams. Their proven expertise and their compatible portfolio boost the added value we can deliver to our customers, especially at this time when the industry is seeking the strong performance and certainty we bring to every project."

About Orano NPS

Orano NPS, a business subsidiary of Orano previously known as Orano TN, has more than 60 years of experience providing nuclear packaging and transportation solutions for customers worldwide. Globally, Orano conducts more than 5,000 shipments of used nuclear fuel and radioactive material packages, while meeting the highest international security requirements.

About Daher

Daher is an aircraft manufacturer and an industry and service equipment supplier. Daher asserts its leadership in three main businesses: aircraft manufacturing, aerospace equipment and systems, logistics and supply chain services with a turnover of 1.1 billion euros in 2020. With the stability provided by its family ownership, Daher has been committed to innovation since its creation in 1863. Today, present in 13 countries, Daher is a leader in Industry 4.0, designing and developing value-added solutions for its industrial partners.

About Orano

As a recognized international operator in the field of nuclear materials, Orano delivers solutions to address present and future global energy and health challenges.

Its expertise and mastery of cutting-edge technologies enable Orano to offer its customers high value-added products and services throughout the entire fuel cycle.

Every day, the Orano group's 16,500 employees draw on their skills, unwavering dedication to safety and constant quest for innovation, with the commitment to develop know-how in the transformation and control of nuclear materials, for the climate and for a healthy and resource-efficient world, now and tomorrow.

Orano, giving nuclear energy its full value.

1 A press release was issued on March 5 regarding this agreement.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005237/en/

Contacts:

Press Office

+33 (0)1 34 96 12 15

press@orano.group

Investor relations

Marc Quesnoy

investors@orano.group
STOCKHOLM, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EQT is pleased to announce two new senior hires, Tetsuro Onitsuka who joins as Head of EQT Private Equity Japan, and Masahiko Kato who joins as Head of EQT Infrastructure Japan. Tetsuro and Masahiko will continue to build the Tokyo-based team with both local and relocated EQT employees while exploring thematic investment opportunities in Japan. In addition, Tetsuro and Masahiko will lead the process of strengthening EQT's bench of experienced Japanese advisors to the EQT Network.

Tetsuro and Masahiko bring extensive investment experience and local know-how from the Japanese private equity market, with Tetsuro most recently working as a Managing Director at Japan Post Investment, and prior to that Principal and Head of Japan at TPG. Masahiko most recently held a position as Deputy General Manager in Mitsubishi Corp's private equity and infrastructure division.

The appointment of two senior hires in Japan is in line with EQT's long-term strategy of expanding its presence within the Asia-Pacific region. Tetsuro and Masahiko will lead and grow the team in close collaboration with the entire EQT platform, including the inhouse digitalization and sustainability specialist teams, as well as EQT's global network of industry advisors.

Thomas von Koch, Partner and Chairperson of EQT Asia Pacific, said, "We are thrilled to welcome Tetsuro and Masahiko to lead EQT's operations in Japan. The country offers a wide range of compelling opportunities in EQT's core sectors and we are confident that our industrial heritage, thematic investment strategy and expert capabilities within technology and ESG will create value for Japanese companies. We look forward to executing on these opportunities while continuing to grow EQT's local team in Tokyo."

Tetsuro Onitsuka, Head of EQT Private Equity Japan, said, "I am honored by the confidence EQT has placed with me and I am excited to contribute to the firm's expansion in Japan. EQT has a successful track record of future-proofing companies and supporting them through their digital transformation, internationalization and sustainable growth journeys. We hope to leverage this experience into a Japanese context."

Masahiko Kato, Head of EQT Infrastructure Japan, said, "I am humbled and excited to be leading EQT's Infrastructure business in Japan. EQT's growth-focused ownership philosophy, global industrial expertise and strong focus on ESG, makes EQT a truly unique firm which should strongly resonate in the Japanese market. I believe EQT's partnership approach to investments and its growth mindset will unlock new and exciting opportunities".

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-appoints-heads-of-private-equity-and-infrastructure-in-japan,c3425358

The following files are available for download:
KANAZAWA, Japan, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers at Kanazawa University describe in Chemical Society Reviews how large cyclic molecules can be used for the synthesis of big metallic complexes with two or more metal atoms.

In polymetallic complexes, two or more metal atoms combine with organic molecules into larger, complicated molecular structures. Such complexes are used in the development of e.g. new catalysts, molecular magnets and sensors. In the past, polymetallic complexes were often synthesized by the trial-and-error method of mixing metal ions with organic ligands, resulting in unpredictable compounds. The modern approach involves macrocycles: organic molecules having a ring-structure. The inside space of macrocyclic molecules can be used to anchor a polymetallic complex during its formation, a 'trick' that enables the reproducible synthesis of predictable end products. Shigehisa Akine from Kanazawa University, Mark MacLachlan from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and NanoLSI (Kanazawa University), and UBC PhD student Mohammad Chaudhry have now published a comprehensive overview of the synthesis of polymetallic complexes via the macrocycle route, which also discusses how certain properties of a complex can be tuned by changing the composition of the macrocycle used.

The scientists first discuss the origins of the field. In the 1970s, it was shown that so-called [2+2] macrocycle dinuclear complexes could be formed by using a relatively simple organic compound, with molecular formula C9H8O3, as the building block. These dinuclear complexes consist of two metal atoms sitting in an organic 'web' with 2-fold symmetry. Similar Robson macrocycles, as they are called, can be obtained with 6 metals, with the overall [3+3] structure having 3-fold (triangular) symmetry. Robson macrocycles are still researched today, but the method remains somewhat unpredictable.

The researchers then explain how [2+2] (with two-fold symmetry) and [3+3] (with triangular symmetry) macrocycles also feature in contemporary designs. The [3+3] compounds are nowadays actively researched because of their potential as single-molecule magnets - molecules that exhibit (para)magnetism. Using macrocycles, the magnetic properties of the ensuing molecules can be tuned by changing cluster size and composition. Regarding the [2+2] complexes, these are noted to have cavities that can be exploited for creating unique clusters.

Another interesting class of multimetallic structures are the 'Pacman macrocycles', built from ligands displaying a cleft. This geometry can be used to capture and activate small metal-ligand-metal molecules. In this context, Pacman macrocycles with two uranium atoms have been intensively studied in the context of nuclear waste processing. Akine, MacLachlan and Chaudhry also show that, more generally, by using Pacman ligands, chemists have succeeded in making several structurally and chemically unique polymetallic complexes.

The final type of macrocycles discussed by the researchers features pyridine rings (pyridine is similar to benzene, with one C-H unit replaced by nitrogen). Pyridine-ring macrocycles offer high flexibility, and can be used to synthesize a variety of complicated multimetallic structures - the authors give plenty of examples of silver-containing complexes.

The scientists finish their review with an outlook of this fascinating research area. Specifically, they note that a future trend is likely to be the mimicking of the activity of naturally occurring clusters in living systems. Indeed, polymetallic complexes play key roles in important reactions such as the reduction of nitrogen to ammonia and the oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide. Quoting Chaudhry et al.: "The potential selectivity and control rendered by the macrocycle-templating method is especially attractive for consistent, reproducible production of functional multimetallic clusters."

Image:

https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/fig1.jpg

Figure 1. Contemporary macrocycles used for the synthesis of discrete polymetallic complexes: (a) concept, (b) chemical structures of representative polymetallic complexes.

Reference:

Mohammad T. Chaudhry, Shigehisa Akine, and Mark J. MacLachlan. Contemporary macrocycles for discrete polymetallic complexes: precise control over structure and function, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2021, Advance Article

DOI https://doi.org/10.1039/D1CS00225B

Contact:

Hiroe Yoneda

Vice Director of Public Affairs

WPI Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI)

Kanazawa University

Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan

Email: nanolsi-office@adm.kanazawa-u.ac.jp

Tel: +81 (76) 234-4550

About Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI)

https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/en/

Nano Life Science Institute (NanoLSI), Kanazawa University is a research center established in 2017 as part of the World Premier International Research Center Initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The objective of this initiative is to form world-tier research centers. NanoLSI combines the foremost knowledge of bio-scanning probe microscopy to establish 'nano-endoscopic techniques' to directly image, analyze, and manipulate biomolecules for insights into mechanisms governing life phenomena such as diseases.

About Kanazawa University

http://www.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/e/

As the leading comprehensive university on the Sea of Japan coast, Kanazawa University has contributed greatly to higher education and academic research in Japan since it was founded in 1949. The University has three colleges and 17 schools offering courses in subjects that include medicine, computer engineering, and humanities.

The University is located on the coast of the Sea of Japan in Kanazawa - a city rich in history and culture. The city of Kanazawa has a highly respected intellectual profile since the time of the fiefdom (1598-1867). Kanazawa University is divided into two main campuses: Kakuma and Takaramachi for its approximately 10,200 students including 600 from overseas.


PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French telecom major Orange SA (ORAN) announced Friday an investment of 230 million euros to strengthen the development of Orange Bank. The company also said it has reached an agreement with its historic partner, Groupama, to buy its 21.7% stake.



The closing of the transaction is subject to the usual approvals. The value of the deal remains confidential. Groupama will however remain a major commercial partner with the extension of the exclusivity granted to Orange Bank for everyday banking and consumer credit until 2028.



The increase in Orange bank's capital is expected to speed up the growth projects planned in its strategic plan .



Orange Bank, which was launched four years ago, is now one of the top five neobanks in France with 1.6 million customers in France and Spain.



Orange expects the bank to significantly reduce its losses in 2021 thanks to a 57 percent increase in first-half net banking income, and decreased management costs owing to investments in the bank's processes over the past three years.



Under the development plans, Orange Bank will continue to invest in its platform to maintain its technological edge. New activities will be developed in partnership with the best fintechs.



Paul de Leusse, Chief Executive Officer of Orange Bank said, 'We are now speeding up our industrial and geographic development strategy for a bank that is inherently designed to be accessible to everyone and used over the mobile phone. This new ambitious phase, which reflects the Orange Group's fundamental values, will give rise to a new advertising slogan that will be revealed on Sunday on TV and digital channels.'



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

ORANGE-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Credit Agricole S.A. (CRARF.PK, CDA.L, ACA.PA) confirmed the Group is in talks with Holmarcom regarding a possible sale of its stake in Moroccan subsidiary, Credit du Maroc. The Group stated that these discussions are at a preliminary stage without any certainty. Credit Agricole said it will communicate in due course if the project comes to materialize. Credit Agricole S.A. issued the statement as response to recent market rumors relating to the possible sale. The company noted that it will not comment further on this subject. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Coinpresso Launches to support Crypto with Digital

Auckland, New Zealand--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Coinpresso, a Crypto Advertising Agency built for performance and results - has launched in a bid to address the deficit in Digital Marketing expertise within the crypto space.

Although the company has already had significant success with existing clients, Coinpresso's website and proposition has now gone live to new clients looking to onboard to the service. At an early stage, there are some significant sign-ups taking advantage of the offering.

Looking to differentiate from the norm in crypto marketing, Coinpresso will provide campaigns that are tailored as per a project's use-case and unique keywords, looking to drive value to the website on an ongoing basis, other than short-term marketing ploys seen in the space today.

SEO Specialists for the Crypto Space?

The current cryptocurrency marketing spectrum sees a playing field of the same agents. Purely focused on margins and pumping out articles en masse, with the eye for quality and optimization essentially non-existent.

Most of the top agencies in the space do not know how to rank a page to the top of Google. Yet they are content to take obscene amounts of money for content that does not rank, or provide any lasting effect to keyword performance, which in turn is wasted energy and money from the project perspective.



Adding Value to PR

The Crypto PR space has become abundant with sub-par quality and rinse-repeat tactics, where agents look to send as many articles out as possible, with no care about the structure of the content, or essential HTML. The standard procedure is to duplicate articles to as many distributors as possible, without caring for the result.

Coinpresso does things differently. Campaigns are created with keyword research as a top priority, focusing on quality over quantity, instead of the ineffective models that existing PR distributors use.

Supercharging A Projects Ranking In Google

The tech team behind Coinpresso aims to provide their clients with "supercharged" rankings, and traffic performance that only pushes the visibility of a project to more potential investors.

The team spends time working with their clients to achieve First Page of Google results for their chosen search terms.

The SEO team has over 12 years of combined experience, allowing them to rank existing clients on Page One alongside the industry's most prominent players, with just a fraction of the budget other competitors charge.

Coinpresso positions itself as the Number One Crypto agency based on result, due to its performance within Google's SERPs and the SEO arena. The team's experience is substantial within crypto marketing, based on the team's past employment within the industry and knowledge of the crypto space.

Coinpresso is a no-frills, all-action agency aiming to create case studies with every client it serves.

Clients Come First With Coinpresso

The main objective of the team is client success. Coinpresso provides an ROI-based approach to its marketing click-funnels, creating a unique strategy depending on a client's requirements. Having recently signed notable clients including a dapp for new crypto coins - the Octaplex Network - the industry is seemingly taking notice of the approach to marketing.

"The purpose of Coinpresso is simple. Address the lack of quality SEO and Content within Crypto. Our approach to rankings and traffic is different from any other market "leaders" out there - they even ask us how to rank their clients' sites! That's how we know we are the best at such a young age."

- Liam Quinlan-Stamp - Founder

The power of Google Search within crypto is largely untapped and is an area where Coinpresso is looking to help crypto projects gain further success in attracting mainstream audiences.

Media Contact:



Curtis Ramsay

curtis@coinpresso.io

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98228
RIGA, Latvia, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 'Open Europe' expert club carried out an online discussion 'European Dialogue: New Format' to talk about the EU-Russia relations. The expert club was founded by Ruslan Pankratov, leader of Latvian 'Ricibas' ("Action") political party, to give the floor to politicians, diplomats and academics and share the outcomes with the EU institutions. Many Europeans lately have been going through stress and pressure related to the pandemic and economic decrease, while new sanctions and active spread of propaganda in the media targeted at their eastern neighbour and consequent militarization, more noted in the Baltic states with a significant percent of Russian-speaking population, is adding challenges within the EU.

The event was attended by experts from Belgium, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal and Latvia. Ruslan Pankratov started off highlighting the difficulties that the Russian-speaking minorities are facing in the Baltic States, mentioning the list of rights that they are deprived of, which consists of 82 points. Ongoing militarization and brain drain are not encouraged to talk about in the public space, as the new legislation promotes controversial official policies and 'truths', not shared by many citizens, and is enforced by censorship mechanisms.

Edikas Jageayvichus, a board member of the Socialist Front of Lithuania, added some concerns regarding the freedom of speech in Lithuania, speaking about political figures and citizens being interrogated and even arrested for their political views and doing business with Russia.

Fernando Cabrita, writer, journalist, lawyer and International Criminal Court expert explained that the people of the EU and Russia are negatively affected by the Cold War mentality and myths spread in the media. He suggested building bridges through people-to-people diplomacy and fostering the cultural ties.

Gregoire Tolsloy, honorary member of Peter the Great Foundation, direct descendant of the famous author of 'War and Peace', Leo Tolstoy, shared his impressions about the awareness about Russia in Brussels, saying that he expected deeper knowledge of Russia from the European diplomats, which could have made official dialogue more effective, and suggested to re-establish civil servants exchanges and study visits to improve the mutual understanding.

Professor Roberto de Primis, Italian diplomat, representative of Belgium in the UN has named the carbon tax as an issue that can challenge EU relations with Russia in the future even more than sanctions. The new laws taking action in 2026 will imply major changes in the structure of economics, new rules and regulations for major industries (energy, agriculture, metal industry and production). Areas that could serve as a cooperation basis: climate change and collaboration for peace, security and development of the African continent. "Russia is always a dilemma for European countries, on the one hand EU is willing to have strategic partnership with its neighbor, on the other there is still quite a lot of the Cold war heritage and influence of the USA that wouldn't allow to build the future together," Roberto concluded.

Experts intend to continue discussions in this format and share the reports with the officials promoting strategic cooperation goals.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1640582/Open_Europe_Expert_Club.jpg
MoneyTV with Donald Baillargeon television program, Copyright MMXXI, all rights reserved. MoneyTV does not provide an analysis of companies' financial positions and is not soliciting to purchase or sell securities of the companies, nor are we offering a recommendation of featured companies or their stocks. Information discussed herein has been provided by the companies and should be verified independently with the companies and a securities analyst. MoneyTV provides companies a 3 to 4 month corporate profile with multiple appearances for a cash fee of $6,950.00 to $11,995.00, does not accept company stock as payment for services, does not hold any positions, options or warrants in featured companies. The information herein is not an endorsement by Donald Baillargeon, the producer, publisher or parent company of MoneyTV.

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.
Friday, October 1, 2021





Dear Shareholders and Investors,



This is to advise you that our board member Dough Penick of Dallas, yesterday (Thursday September 30, 2021) bought 50,000 shares at

$ 2.565 per share, increasing his holding to 175,000 NAT shares. Dough Penick was elected to the NAT Board July 19 this year.

During September all NAT board members have increased their holdings of NAT shares.



It is a vote of confidence that board members buy shares in NAT.







Sincerely,

Herbjorn Hansson

Founder, Chairman & CEO

Nordic American Tankers Ltd. www.nat.bm

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect," "pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker market, as a result of changes in OPEC's petroleum production levels and worldwide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus and related prospectus supplement, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our reports on Form 6-K.

NAT is a Bermuda based company.

Contacts:

Gary J. Wolfe

Seward & Kissel LLP

New York, USA

Tel: +1 212 574 1223

Bjrn Giver, CFO

Nordic American Tankers Ltd

Tel: +1 888 755 8391 or +47 91 35 00 91

Herbjrn Hansson, Founder, Chairman & CEO

Nordic American Tankers Ltd

Tel: +1 866 805 9504 or +47 90 14 62 91
DGAP-News: Comcast Houston

APPLICATION WINDOW NOW OPEN FOR $10,000 GRANTS FROM COMCAST



01.10.2021 / 12:00

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





The application window to apply for a grant as part of the $1 million Houston Comcast RISE Investment Fund is now open. Small businesses owned by people of color in Harris and Fort Bend Counties, may now apply to be one of 100 businesses to receive a $10,000 grant.

As part of the company's initial Comcast RISE Investment Fund, the company previously awarded $1 million in April of this year to 100 small businesses in Houston. Last month, the company announced an additional $1 million in grants will be made available for Houston-area small businesses owned by people of color, including Black, Indigenous, Hispanic and Asian American owners, among others.

Eligible businesses can now apply at www.ComcastRISE.com. Applications must be submitted by Oct. 14 and winners will be announced in November.

The Investment Fund is an extension of Comcast RISE, the multi-year, multi-faceted initiative launched in October 2020 to support small businesses owned by people of color and provide the resources and tools they need to thrive for years to come. The Comcast RISE Investment Fund is focused on small businesses owned by people of color that have been in business for three or more years with 1-25 employees.

Comcast RISE is part of an expanded Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion commitment that Comcast announced in June 2020, as well as an ongoing cross-company effort to address digital inequities. Over the next 10 years, Comcast is pledging $1 billion to programs and partnerships that will connect an estimated 50 million people with the skills, opportunities, and resources they need to succeed in an increasingly digital world. More information and the applications to apply for either the grant program or marketing and technology services are available at www.ComcastRISE.com.

About Comcast Business

Comcast Business offers Ethernet, Internet, Wi-Fi, Voice, TV and Managed Enterprise Solutions to help organizations of all sizes transform their business. Powered by an advanced network, and backed by 24/7 customer support, Comcast Business is one of the largest contributors to the growth of Comcast Cable. Comcast Business is the nation's largest cable provider to small and mid-size businesses and has emerged as a force in the Enterprise market; recognized over the last two years by leading industry associations as one of the fastest-growing providers of Ethernet services. For more information, visit www.business.comcast.com or call 866- 429-3085. Follow on Twitter @ComcastBusiness and on other social media networks at http://business.comcast.com/social.

About Effectv

Effectv, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable, helps local, regional and national advertisers use the best of digital with the power of TV to grow their business. It provides multi-screen marketing solutions to make advertising campaigns more effective and easier to execute. Headquartered in New York with offices throughout the country, Effectv has a presence in 66 markets with nearly 35 million owned and represented subscribers. For more information, visit www.effectv.com.

Comcast

Misha McClure

+1 832-547-6783

Misha_McClure@cable.comcast.com

DPWPR

Kim Stinebaker

kim@dpwpr.com

https://houston.comcast.com/

01.10.2021 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.dgap.de


NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / Sino United Worldwide Consolidated Ltd. (OTC PINK:SUIC) and Midas Touch announce signing with E-commerce companies, offering their customized products and services that will benefit more than 500,000 merchants and partners. This will drive an increase in their merchant base. SUIC, Midas will replicate and adopt this model in the $6-trillion EC markets worldwide.

Since 2020, the economic condition across the globe has shown heightened dynamism which expanded the range and reach of E-commerce as more and more companies shift focus on daily necessities relevant to a significant part of the world's population. EC global market size is about $6 trillion dollars. SUIC and Midas Touch's technology and platforms provide solutions for our merchant partners pain points i.e. lower turnover rates, lower profit margins, higher operating costs and idle cash. SUIC has signed up with X-Turn, Bznk and PCHome, the largest Taiwan B2C ECP, as stepping stones to replicate this business model in various EC markets.

X-Turn, through a joint sales platform with Chunghwa Telecom Hami Market, has 1 billion designated user rights. It currently has 300,000 registered members, 5,000 merchants and with over 200,000 merchandise on its X-Turn e-store. For more information please visit its website: https://xturn.com.tw

Bznk is formed to serve more than 1.35 million small and medium-sized enterprises in Taiwan through P2P technology, adopting a reliable credit rating system, and big data system analysis that can match borrowers and investors. Bznk is signing a three-party agreement with Midas Touch and PCHome to provide products and services to PCHome, Taiwan's largest B2C e-commerce website with over half a million merchants. For more information please visit Bznk website: https://bznk.com

SUIC Midas's technology and platform will benefit millions of customers, merchants all around the world, especially as the company is the pioneer in this field offering VIP customized products and services for the fast growing E-commerce market, multi-level marketing businesses, and franchise chain store businesses. The company is launching marketing programs starting from its Taiwan office and is planning to expand this business globally. SUIC, Midas Touch will establish local offices in different countries to serve local PSP's and partners. SUIC and Midas Touch believe that millions of merchants will enjoy higher turnover rates, higher profit margins, and higher business growth through SUIC and Midas Touch's revolutionary technology and product solutions.

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 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.

Please also read the full company report on SUIC by Globe Small Cap Research,

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_f2vaVOfJT5_idLn87lM1Q_lGxnY_tHW/view

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.

Contact:

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/666204/SUIC-Midas-Announce-Signing-With-E-Commerce-Companies-Offering-Customized-Products-and-Services-That-Will-Benefit-More-Than-500000-Merchants-Driving-Increase-Of-Merchant-Base-SUIC-Midas-Will-Replicate-This-Model-In-The-6-Trillion-EC-Markets-Worldwide
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Defiance Silver Corp. (TSXV: DEF) (OTCQX: DNCVF) (FSE: D4E) ("Defiance" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it will be commencing a drill campaign on the regional exploration targets at Lucita on the company's Zacatecas project. Drilling is scheduled to commence on or around October 10th and will initially be focused at Lucita South, which includes the Palenque, El Puerto, and the Tahuares vein structures.







Figure 1. Overview map of Defiance Silver's Zacatecas District mineral concessions.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2950/98217_e19cc204b40afa3a_002full.jpg

Lucita Overview

The Lucita project is under option from Pan American Silver ("Pan American") (See news release dated December 2nd, 2020). The Lucita project includes two licence areas - North and South - and contains numerous drill-ready exploration targets over a large (>20km2) project area (Figure 1). The Lucita North license area encompasses the Panuco vein system. The Panuco system is being drilled by nearby operator Zacatecas Silver Corp. on their portion of the Panuco vein system, located west of Defiance's licence area; Zacatecas Silver has recently published an historic Inferred 43-101 resource estimate for their portion of the Panuco vein system. That resource estimate is on strike with historical high-grade drilling done by Pan American within Defiance Silver's optioned tenure area. Pan American has previously drilled a number of holes in the Panuco area and returned encouraging results. At Panuco, there remain a number of undrilled vein targets marked by outcropping veins, stockworks, and breccias with historical shafts and underground workings.

The southern portion of the Lucita land package contains the multi-kilometre Palenque vein system, which is undrilled and remains a high-priority exploration target. Defiance Silver intends to test the Palenque structure with a series of drill holes. Other targets in the area include the El Puerto target, also under option from Pan American Silver, as well as the Tahuares Vein target, which lies within the San Acacio licenses.







Figure 2. Surface samples taken by Pan American Silver within the Palenque vein system. Mineral concession areas shown in blue (optioned from Pan Am) and white (Defiance Silver) polygons. Gray polygons indicate tenure held by other operators.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2950/98217_e19cc204b40afa3a_003full.jpg

Lucita Geologic Overview and Resource Potential

The Lucita project is characterized as a low to intermediate sulphidation Ag-Au vein, breccia, and stockwork system with historical high-grade drill results and drill-ready exploration targets. There are at least 10 known mineralized structures over a vein strike length of approximately 20 km, including the drilled on-strike extension of the Panuco Deposit (19m oz AgEq using a 100 g/t AgEq Cutoff), currently being drilled by Zacatecas Silver Corp. The veins in the northern license area have a continuous length of 4km and have widths from 0.20m to 4m. Historical drilling of these veins from 20 holes completed by Pan American in 2011-2012 returned encouraging results including 3.35m of 325 g/t Ag from hole LU11-16 and 1.25m of 775 g/t Ag from drill hole LU11-9. The composition of the epithermal veins at Lucita is quartz, calcite and occasionally minor barite, where colloform and crustiform-banded textures can be seen, belonging to various mineralization events. The company believes the previously-drilled structures intersected high-level epithermal mineralization, as mineral zonation at surface suggests that the top of the hydrothermal system is still present at the on-strike Panuco deposit.

Pan American has carried out geological mapping, sampling, and two drilling campaigns in the northern "Panuco" license area. Phase I drilling in 1996 comprised 10 holes and 1,409.85 metres of drilling. Phase II drilling was carried out in late 2011 and early 2012, comprising 20 drill holes with 3,693.41 metres drilled. Both drill campaigns intersected mineralized veining typical of a high-level epithermal system.

Panuco hosts a historic Inferred mineral resource estimate of 3,954,729 tonnes at 153 g/t AgEq based on a 100 g/t AgEq for 19,472,901 Ag Eq ounces (see the Technical report titled: Independent Technical Report on the Zacatecas Properties, Zacatecas State, Mexico prepared by Pearson and Morales-Ramirez dated December 20, 2020, which is available on Sedar and the Zacatecas Silver website). The Company states that its qualified person has been unable to verify the information on the Panuco property and that the information is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Company's Lucita property.

Exploration Program Next Steps

Continued drilling in the main resource area at the San Acacio mine designed to test the limits of the vein system to update the resource estimate. Having received a positive response from the necessary authorities, the commencement in early October of initial drilling at the Lucita project. Additional district-scale surface exploration, including ongoing mapping and sampling at the Lucita and Veta Grande Sur, which is underway. Ongoing core re-logging of the historical drill holes.

Zacatecas Projects History

Zacatecas State continues to be the top producer of silver in Mexico and is one of the reasons Mexico remains the world's largest silver-producing region. The Zacatecas-Fresnillo Silver Belt is one of the most prolific silver producing areas in the world. Production at the San Acacio mine dates to at least 1548 when Spanish colonialists mined mainly bonanza oxide ores, typically grading in excess of 1kg/tonne Silver. The various veins were mined intermittently until the mid-1800s when an English company drove the ~2km Purisima tunnel to allow for deeper underground access and drainage. From the late 1800s until the Mexican Revolution in 1920, mining consisted of intermittent production from bonanza grade ores. During the Mexican Revolution, heavy fighting in the Zacatecas region led to the halt of most mining endeavors. In the mid 1920s, a cyanide plant targeting silica rich ores and a floatation plant for complex Pb-Zn ores were built with varying success until the transition from oxide to sulphide rich ores made for recovery complexities. In the mid-1930s the first tonnage estimate was created on the property, although the project sat mostly idle save for some stope and adit rehabilitation at Purisima and Refugio. Production was largely dormant except for some small processing done by CIA Fresnillo in the late 1930s to early 1940s. In the mid-1990s Silver Standard Resources Inc. began a systematic exploration and evaluation program targeting an open pit silver mine consisting of backfill, remaining stopes and silica-rich hanging wall and footwall mineralization of the Veta Grande structure. This entry by a publicly-listed company kicked off nearly 3 decades of exploration, development, and bulk-scale processing.

Defiance Silver has been exploring the project since 2011 and has focused primarily on identifying near-term mine resources. Drilling by previous operators as well as Defiance Silver from 2009 to early 2017 confirmed the presence of significant mineralizing events that provide evidence for a long-lived mineralizing system. Drilling in late 2017 and early 2019 outlined complexities in the structural geology of the area and identified significant "down dropped" and rotated structural blocks as the company tested the Veta Grande at similar elevations where it was encountered by earlier mining and drilling.

Market Maker

Defiance announces that, subject to regulatory approval, it has retained Red Cloud Securities Inc. to provide its market stabilization and liquidity services to the Company in compliance with the policies and guidelines of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") and other applicable legislation.

Red Cloud will trade shares of the Company on the TSX-V for the purposes of maintaining a reasonable market and improving the liquidity of the Company's common shares. The agreement between Red Cloud and the Company may be terminated by either party with written notice of 30 days and the Company has agreed to pay Red Cloud $5,000 per month during the term, payable quarterly in advance. The Company and Red Cloud act at arm's length, but Red Cloud may provide investment banking or other services to the Company and Red Cloud and/or its clients may have an interest, directly or indirectly, in the securities of the Company. The agreement is principally for the purposes of maintaining market stability and liquidity for the Company's common shares and is not a formal market making agreement. There are no performance factors contained in the agreement between Red Cloud and the Company and Red Cloud will not receive any common shares or options from the Company as compensation for the services it will render.

About Red Cloud Securities Inc.

Red Cloud Securities Inc. ("Red Cloud") is a 100%, principal-owned Canadian based IIROC investment dealer focused in the junior resource sector. Red Cloud's primary businesses include investment banking, equity research, and market stabilization and liquidity services. Red Cloud was founded by capital markets professionals with extensive experience in the junior mining industry. Red Cloud's goal is to become the leading global investment boutique in junior resources.

About Defiance Silver Corp.

Defiance Silver Corp. (TSXV: DEF) (OTCQX: DNCVF) (FSE: D4E) is an exploration company advancing the district-scale Zacatecas silver project, located in the historic Zacatecas Silver District and the 100% owned Tepal gold/copper project in Michoacan state, Mexico. Defiance is managed by a team of proven mine developers with a track record of exploring, advancing and developing several operating mines and advanced resource projects. Defiance's corporate mandate is to expand the San Acacio and Tepal projects to become premier Mexican silver and gold deposits.

On behalf of Defiance Silver Corp.

"Chris Wright"

Chairman of the Board

For more information, please contact: Investor Relations at +1 (604) 343-4677 or via email at info@defiancesilver.com .

www.defiancesilver.com

Suite 2900-550 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6C 0A3

Canada

Tel: +1 (604) 343-4677 Email: info@defiancesilver.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Defiance Silver Corp. relies upon litigation protection for forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98217
Societe de la Tour Eiffel announces the sale to the BMG Group

of a property complex at Caen-Colombelles - Calvados

Societe de la Tour Eiffel, announces the sale of an office property complex at Colombelles (14,760 m) near Caen, to the BMG Group, a specialist in commercial real estate.

The sale concerns a set of 4 buildings, comprising 14,760 m of office space and 618 outside parking spaces, acquired off-plan by Societe de la Tour Eiffel in 2006 from developer Normandie Amenagement.

"This latest transaction continues the asset disposal plan announced in mid-2019 and underlines Societe de la Tour Eiffel's determination to refocus its assets on strategic metropolises." said Bruno Meyer, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Societe de la Tour Eiffel.

Deal advisors: Allez & Associes (Notaries)

Contact

Media relations Laetitia Baudon - Account director

Agence Shan Tel. + 33 (0)1 44 50 58 79 laetitia.baudon@shan.fr

About Societe de la Tour Eiffel Societe de la Tour Eiffel is an integrated commercial real estate company with 1.8 bn in assets and a powerful service culture. It operates across the real estate cycle, supporting companies of all sizes and sectors, and directly manages assets in high-potential regions via a rigorous management process. The real estate company manages its real estate portfolio, which is currently growing fast, for the long term. It is implementing a strategic refocus on 100% office property, 80% in Greater Paris and 20% in high-potential regions and is now established as a leading actor in the sector. Societe de la Tour Eiffel is listed on NYSE Euronext Paris (Compartment B) - ISIN Code: FR0000036816 - Reuters: TEIF.PA - Bloomberg: EIFF.FP - Indexes: IEIF Foncieres, IEIF Immobilier France. www.societetoureiffel.com

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DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE American:GORO) (the "Company") will issue a news release providing a summary of its financial and operating results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021 on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 after the market close, file its 10Q with the financial and operating results for the period ended September 30, 2021 with EDGAR and host a conference call on Thursday, October 28, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

The conference call will be recorded and posted to the Company's website later in the day following the conclusion of the call. Following prepared remarks, Allen Palmiere, President and Chief Executive Officer, Kim Perry, Chief Financial Officer and Alberto Reyes, Chief Operating Officer will host a live question and answer (Q&A) session. There are two ways to join the conference call.

To join the conference via webcast, please click on the following link:

https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2361/43124.

To join the call via telephone please use one of the following dial-in details:

Participant Toll Free: 888-506-0062

International: 973-528-0011

Entry Code: 552947

Please connect to the conference call at least 10 minutes prior to the start time using one of the connection options listed above.

About GRC:

Gold Resource Corporation is a gold and silver producer, developer, and explorer with its operations centered on the Don David Gold Mine in Oaxaca, Mexico. Under the direction of a new board and senior leadership, the Company focus is to unlock the significant upside potential of its existing infrastructure and large land position surrounding the mine, to close our acquisition of Aquila Resources Inc., and to develop the Back Forty Project in Michigan, USA. For more information, please visit GRC's website, located at www.goldresourcecorp.com and read the Company's 10-K for an understanding of the risk factors involved.

Contacts:

Ann Wilkinson

Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs

Ann.Wilkinson@GRC-USA.com

www.GoldResourcecorp.com

SOURCE: Gold Resource Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666381/Gold-Resource-Corporation-to-Hold-Q3-2021-Conference-Call-on-October-28-2021
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Humana Inc. (HUM) announced details of its 2022 Medicare product offerings. The company said the beneficiaries will have new choices through the launch of 72 new plans - 42 Non-SNP MAPD, 3 MA Only, and 27 Special Needs Plans. The company noted that for all MAPD members, benefits continue to include $0 telehealth copays for primary care physician visits, urgent care and outpatient behavioral health. The Part D Senior Savings Model, the company's Insulin Savings Program, is now included with 429 MAPD plans, up from 268 in 2021. Healthy Foods Card is now available to almost all members on D-SNP plans. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / Planet 13 Holdings Inc. (CSE:PLTH) (OTCQX:PLNHF) ("Planet 13" or the "Company"), a leading vertically-integrated national cannabis company, announces that through its subsidiary Planet 13 Florida Inc. it has completed the previously announced purchase of a license issued by the Florida Department of Health to operate as a Medical Marijuana Treatment Center (the "License") in the State of Florida for US$55 million in cash.

"We are excited to get started building out our footprint in Florida. Initially, our focus will be on a network of high performing neighborhood stores modelled off our successful Medizin dispensary along with cultivation and production to bring our portfolio of top-selling products to Florida," said Robert Groesbeck, Co-CEO of Planet 13. "As Florida gets closer to legalizing adult-use sales, we will start on our world-famous SuperStores in high traffic tourist destinations throughout the state."

Licensed Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers ("MMTCs") are vertically integrated and the only businesses in Florida authorized to dispense medical marijuana cannabis to qualified patients and caregivers. MMTCs are authorized to cultivate, process, transport and dispense medical marijuana. As of September 24, 2021, there were 22 companies with MMTC licenses with 370 dispensing locations across Florida. License holders are not subject to restrictions on the number of dispensaries that may be opened or on the number or size of cultivation and processing facilities they may operate.

About Planet 13

Planet 13 (www.planet13holdings.com) is a vertically integrated cannabis company, with award-winning cultivation, production and dispensary operations in Las Vegas and dispensary operations in Orange County, California. Planet 13's mission is to build a recognizable global brand known for world-class dispensary operations and a creator of innovative cannabis products. Planet 13's shares trade on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE) under the symbol PLTH and OTCQX under the symbol PLNHF.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward looking-statements include but are not limited to, statements regarding getting started building out the Company's footprint in Florida, an initial focus on a network of high performing neighborhood stores modelled off the Company's Medizin dispensary along with cultivation and production to bring the Company's portfolio of top-selling products to Florida, getting close to legalizing adult use in Florida, and starting on the Company's world-famous SuperStores in high traffic tourist destinations.

These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to materially differ from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: the Company's ability to locate and secure suitable locations for its planned cultivation and retail buildout; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; changes in applicable laws; compliance with extensive government regulation; the diversion of management time on the License acquisition; risks associated with COVID-19 and other infectious diseases presenting as major health issues; fluctuations in securities markets; expectations regarding the size of the Florida cannabis market and changing consumer habits; the ability of the Company to successfully achieve its business objectives; plans for expansion; political and social uncertainties; inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on cultivation, production, distribution and sale of cannabis and cannabis related products in the State of Florida; and employee relations. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

The Company is indirectly involved in the manufacture, possession, use, sale and distribution of cannabis in the recreational and medicinal cannabis marketplace in the United States through licensed subsidiary entities in states that have legalized marijuana operations, however, these activities are currently illegal under United States federal law. Additional information regarding this and other risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's business, including COVID-19, are contained under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's annual information form dated April 5, 2021 filed on its issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

For further inquiries, please contact:

LodeRock Advisors Inc., Planet 13 Investor Relations

mark.kuindersma@loderockadvisors.com

Robert Groesbeck or Larry Scheffler

Co-Chief Executive Officers

ir@planet13lasvegas.com

SOURCE: Planet 13 Holdings

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666344/Planet-13-Completes-Acquisition-of-Florida-Cannabis-License


KENILWORTH (NJ) (dpa-AFX) - Drug major Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics Friday announced positive interim analysis of Phase 3 MOVe-OUT trial of molnupiravir (MK-4482, EIDD-2801) in at risk, non-hospitalized adult patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19.



Merck said it plans to submit an application for Emergency Use Authorization or EUA to the U.S. FDA as soon as possible based on these findings. The company also plans to submit marketing applications to other regulatory bodies worldwide. If authorized, Molnupiravir could be the first oral antiviral medicine for COVID-19.



In pre-market activity on the NYSE, Merck shares were gaining around 5 percent to trade at $78.75.



In a statement, the companies noted that molnupiravir, an investigational oral antiviral medicine, significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization or death at a planned interim analysis of the trial .



The planned interim analysis evaluated data from 775 patients who were initially enrolled in the Phase 3 MOVe-OUT trial on or prior to August 5, 2021.



At the interim analysis, molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by approximately 50%; 7.3% of patients who received molnupiravir were either hospitalized or died through Day 29 following randomization, compared with 14.1% of placebo-treated patients.



Through Day 29, no deaths were reported in patients who received molnupiravir, as compared to 8 deaths in patients who received placebo.



At the recommendation of an independent Data Monitoring Committee and in consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, recruitment into the study is being stopped early due to these positive results.



Wendy Holman, chief executive officer of Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, said, 'With the virus continuing to circulate widely, and because therapeutic options currently available are infused and/or require access to a healthcare facility, antiviral treatments that can be taken at home to keep people with COVID-19 out of the hospital are critically needed.'



Further, the company said it has been producing molnupiravir at risk in anticipation of the results from MOVe-OUT. Merck expects to produce 10 million courses of treatment by the end of 2021, with more doses expected to be produced in 2022.



Earlier this year, Merck entered into a procurement agreement with the U.S. Government under which Merck will supply approximately 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir to the U.S. government, upon EUA or approval from the U.S. FDA.



The company has also entered into supply and purchase agreements for molnupiravir with other governments worldwide, pending regulatory authorization, and is currently in discussions with other governments.



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MERCK & CO-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
The Phase 2/3 RELATIVITY-047 trial served as the basis for this application, in which a statistically significant and clinically meaningful benefit was observed with relatlimab and nivolumab over Opdivo monotherapy

Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) today announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has validated its Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for the LAG-3-blocking antibody relatlimab and nivolumab fixed-dose combination for first-line treatment of adult and pediatric patients (12 years and older and weighing at least 40 kg) with advanced (unresectable or metastatic) melanoma. This validation confirms completion of the submission and begins the EMA's centralized review process.

"Melanoma can be a devastating disease and cases have been on the rise for years. The results from the RELATIVITY-047 trial demonstrate the potential that the relatlimab and nivolumab fixed-dose combination holds for people with advanced forms of this cancer," said Jonathan Cheng, senior vice president and head of oncology development, Bristol Myers Squibb. "If approved, this treatment would become the first of its kind available to patients in the European Union. We look forward to working with the EMA as they evaluate this combination which includes our third distinct checkpoint inhibitor and are proud of this first step toward making it available for patients with advanced melanoma."

The filing was based on the efficacy and safety results from the Phase 2/3 RELATIVITY-047 trial, which is the first trial to demonstrate a statistically significant and clinically meaningful progression-free survival benefit of a combination therapy over standard of care anti-PD-1 monotherapy in metastatic melanoma.

Primary results from the RELATIVITY-047 trial were presented in an oral abstract session and selected for the official press program for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in June 2021. Data were also presented in an oral presentation during the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Annual Meeting in September 2021.

The U.S. Food Drug Administration (FDA) has also accepted for priority review the Biologics License Application (BLA) for the relatlimab and nivolumab fixed-dose combination.

The fixed-dose combination of relatlimab and nivolumab is an investigational therapy and is not approved for use in any country.

Bristol Myers Squibb thanks the patients and investigators involved in the RELATIVITY-047 clinical trial.

About RELATIVITY-047 (CA224-047)

RELATIVITY-047 (CA224-047) is a global, randomized, double-blind Phase 2/3 study evaluating the fixed-dose combination of relatlimab and nivolumab in patients with previously untreated metastatic or unresectable melanoma versus Opdivo alone. The primary endpoint of the trial is progression-free survival (PFS) by Blinded Independent Central Review (BICR) and the secondary endpoints are overall survival (OS) and objective response rate (ORR). A total of 714 patients were randomized 1:1 to receive a fixed-dose combination of relatlimab 160 mg and nivolumab 480 mg or Opdivo 480 mg by intravenous infusion every four weeks until disease recurrence, unacceptable toxicity or withdrawal of consent. Follow-up for the secondary endpoints of OS and ORR is ongoing.

About LAG-3

Lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG-3) is a cell-surface molecule expressed on effector T cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs) and functions to control T-cell response, activation and growth. Preclinical studies indicate that inhibition of LAG-3 may restore effector function of exhausted T cells and potentially promote an anti-tumor response. Early research demonstrates that targeting LAG-3 in combination with other potentially complementary immune checkpoints may be a key strategy to more effectively potentiate anti-tumor immune activity.

Bristol Myers Squibb is evaluating relatlimab, its LAG-3-blocking antibody, in clinical trials in combination with other agents in a variety of tumor types.

About Melanoma

Melanoma is a form of skin cancer characterized by the uncontrolled growth of pigment-producing cells (melanocytes) located in the skin. Metastatic melanoma is the deadliest form of the disease and occurs when cancer spreads beyond the surface of the skin to other organs. The incidence of melanoma has been increasing steadily for the last 30 years. In the United States, 106,110 new diagnoses of melanoma and about 7,180 related deaths are estimated for 2021. Globally, the World Health Organization estimates that by 2035, melanoma incidence will reach 424,102, with 94,308 related deaths. Melanoma is mostly curable when treated in its very early stages; however, survival rates decrease if regional lymph nodes are involved.

Bristol Myers Squibb: Creating a Better Future for People with Cancer

Bristol Myers Squibb is inspired by a single vision transforming patients' lives through science. The goal of the company's cancer research is to deliver medicines that offer each patient a better, healthier life and to make cure a possibility. Building on a legacy across a broad range of cancers that have changed survival expectations for many, Bristol Myers Squibb researchers are exploring new frontiers in personalized medicine, and through innovative digital platforms, are turning data into insights that sharpen their focus. Deep scientific expertise, cutting-edge capabilities and discovery platforms enable the company to look at cancer from every angle. Cancer can have a relentless grasp on many parts of a patient's life, and Bristol Myers Squibb is committed to taking actions to address all aspects of care, from diagnosis to survivorship. Because as a leader in cancer care, Bristol Myers Squibb is working to empower all people with cancer to have a better future.

About Opdivo

Opdivo is a programmed death-1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor that is designed to uniquely harness the body's own immune system to help restore anti-tumor immune response. By harnessing the body's own immune system to fight cancer, Opdivo has become an important treatment option across multiple cancers.

Opdivo's leading global development program is based on Bristol Myers Squibb's scientific expertise in the field of Immuno-Oncology and includes a broad range of clinical trials across all phases, including Phase 3, in a variety of tumor types. To date, the Opdivo clinical development program has treated more than 35,000 patients. The Opdivo trials have contributed to gaining a deeper understanding of the potential role of biomarkers in patient care, particularly regarding how patients may benefit from Opdivo across the continuum of PD-L1 expression.

In July 2014, Opdivo was the first PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor to receive regulatory approval anywhere in the world. Opdivo is currently approved in more than 65 countries, including the United States, the European Union, Japan, and China. In October 2015, the Company's Opdivo and Yervoy combination regimen was the first Immuno-Oncology combination to receive regulatory approval for the treatment of metastatic melanoma and is currently approved in more than 50 countries, including the United States and the European Union.

INDICATIONS

OPDIVO (nivolumab), as a single agent, is indicated for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

OPDIVO (nivolumab), in combination with YERVOY (ipilimumab), is indicated for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

OPDIVO (nivolumab), in combination with YERVOY (ipilimumab), is indicated for the first-line treatment of adult patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors express PD-L1 (=1%) as determined by an FDA-approved test, with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations.

OPDIVO (nivolumab), in combination with YERVOY (ipilimumab) and 2 cycles of platinum-doublet chemotherapy, is indicated for the first-line treatment of adult patients with metastatic or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations.

OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. Patients with EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations should have disease progression on FDA-approved therapy for these aberrations prior to receiving OPDIVO.

OPDIVO(nivolumab), in combination with YERVOY (ipilimumab), is indicated for the first-line treatment of adult patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM).

OPDIVO (nivolumab), in combination with YERVOY (ipilimumab), is indicated for the first-line treatment of patients with intermediate or poor risk advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

OPDIVO (nivolumab), in combination with cabozantinib, is indicated for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have received prior anti-angiogenic therapy.

OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) that has relapsed or progressed after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and brentuximab vedotin or after 3 or more lines of systemic therapy that includes autologous HSCT. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials.

OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) with disease progression on or after platinum-based therapy.

OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who have disease progression during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy or have disease progression within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment with platinum-containing chemotherapy.

OPDIVO (nivolumab), as a single agent, is indicated for the adjuvant treatment of patients with urothelial carcinoma (UC) who are at high risk of recurrence after undergoing radical resection of UC.

OPDIVO (nivolumab), as a single agent, is indicated for the treatment of adult and pediatric (12 years and older) patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) that has progressed following treatment with a fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate and duration of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials.

OPDIVO (nivolumab), in combination with YERVOY (ipilimumab), is indicated for the treatment of adults and pediatric patients 12 years and older with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) that has progressed following treatment with a fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate and duration of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials.

OPDIVO (nivolumab), in combination with YERVOY (ipilimumab), is indicated for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have been previously treated with sorafenib. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate and duration of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in the confirmatory trials.

OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the adjuvant treatment of patients with melanoma with involvement of lymph nodes or metastatic disease who have undergone complete resection.

OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with unresectable advanced, recurrent or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) after prior fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-based chemotherapy.

OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the adjuvant treatment of completely resected esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer with residual pathologic disease in patients who have received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT).

OPDIVO (nivolumab), in combination with fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy, is indicated for the treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, and esophageal adenocarcinoma.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

Severe and Fatal Immune-Mediated Adverse Reactions

Immune-mediated adverse reactions listed herein may not include all possible severe and fatal immune-mediated adverse reactions.

Immune-mediated adverse reactions, which may be severe or fatal, can occur in any organ system or tissue. While immune-mediated adverse reactions usually manifest during treatment, they can also occur after discontinuation of OPDIVO or YERVOY. Early identification and management are essential to ensure safe use of OPDIVO and YERVOY. Monitor for signs and symptoms that may be clinical manifestations of underlying immune-mediated adverse reactions. Evaluate clinical chemistries including liver enzymes, creatinine, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) level, and thyroid function at baseline and periodically during treatment with OPDIVO and before each dose of YERVOY. In cases of suspected immune-mediated adverse reactions, initiate appropriate workup to exclude alternative etiologies, including infection. Institute medical management promptly, including specialty consultation as appropriate.

Withhold or permanently discontinue OPDIVO and YERVOY depending on severity (please see section 2 Dosage and Administration in the accompanying Full Prescribing Information). In general, if OPDIVO or YERVOY interruption or discontinuation is required, administer systemic corticosteroid therapy (1 to 2 mg/kg/day prednisone or equivalent) until improvement to Grade 1 or less. Upon improvement to Grade 1 or less, initiate corticosteroid taper and continue to taper over at least 1 month. Consider administration of other systemic immunosuppressants in patients whose immune-mediated adverse reactions are not controlled with corticosteroid therapy. Toxicity management guidelines for adverse reactions that do not necessarily require systemic steroids (e.g., endocrinopathies and dermatologic reactions) are discussed below.

Immune-Mediated Pneumonitis

OPDIVO and YERVOY can cause immune-mediated pneumonitis. The incidence of pneumonitis is higher in patients who have received prior thoracic radiation. In patients receiving OPDIVO monotherapy, immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 3.1% (61/1994) of patients, including Grade 4 (<0.1%), Grade 3 (0.9%), and Grade 2 (2.1%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 1 mg/kg with YERVOY 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks, immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 7% (31/456) of patients, including Grade 4 (0.2%), Grade 3 (2.0%), and Grade 2 (4.4%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks, immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 3.9% (26/666) of patients, including Grade 3 (1.4%) and Grade 2 (2.6%). In NSCLC patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg every 2 weeks with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 6 weeks, immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 9% (50/576) of patients, including Grade 4 (0.5%), Grade 3 (3.5%), and Grade 2 (4.0%). Four patients (0.7%) died due to pneumonitis.

In Checkmate 205 and 039, pneumonitis, including interstitial lung disease, occurred in 6.0% (16/266) of patients receiving OPDIVO. Immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 4.9% (13/266) of patients receiving OPDIVO, including Grade 3 (n=1) and Grade 2 (n=12).

Immune-Mediated Colitis

OPDIVO and YERVOY can cause immune-mediated colitis, which may be fatal. A common symptom included in the definition of colitis was diarrhea. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection/reactivation has been reported in patients with corticosteroid-refractory immune-mediated colitis. In cases of corticosteroid-refractory colitis, consider repeating infectious workup to exclude alternative etiologies. In patients receiving OPDIVO monotherapy, immune-mediated colitis occurred in 2.9% (58/1994) of patients, including Grade 3 (1.7%) and Grade 2 (1%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 1 mg/kg with YERVOY 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks, immune-mediated colitis occurred in 25% (115/456) of patients, including Grade 4 (0.4%), Grade 3 (14%) and Grade 2 (8%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks, immune-mediated colitis occurred in 9% (60/666) of patients, including Grade 3 (4.4%) and Grade 2 (3.7%).

Immune-Mediated Hepatitis and Hepatotoxicity

OPDIVO and YERVOY can cause immune-mediated hepatitis. In patients receiving OPDIVO monotherapy, immune-mediated hepatitis occurred in 1.8% (35/1994) of patients, including Grade 4 (0.2%), Grade 3 (1.3%), and Grade 2 (0.4%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 1 mg/ kg with YERVOY 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks, immune-mediated hepatitis occurred in 15% (70/456) of patients, including Grade 4 (2.4%), Grade 3 (11%), and Grade 2 (1.8%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks, immune-mediated hepatitis occurred in 7% (48/666) of patients, including Grade 4 (1.2%), Grade 3 (4.9%), and Grade 2 (0.4%).

OPDIVO in combination with cabozantinib can cause hepatic toxicity with higher frequencies of Grade 3 and 4 ALT and AST elevations compared to OPDIVO alone. Consider more frequent monitoring of liver enzymes as compared to when the drugs are administered as single agents. In patients receiving OPDIVO and cabozantinib, Grades 3 and 4 increased ALT or AST were seen in 11% of patients.

Immune-Mediated Endocrinopathies

OPDIVO and YERVOY can cause primary or secondary adrenal insufficiency, immune-mediated hypophysitis, immune-mediated thyroid disorders, and Type 1 diabetes mellitus, which can present with diabetic ketoacidosis. Withhold OPDIVO and YERVOY depending on severity (please see section 2 Dosage and Administration in the accompanying Full Prescribing Information). For Grade 2 or higher adrenal insufficiency, initiate symptomatic treatment, including hormone replacement as clinically indicated. Hypophysitis can present with acute symptoms associated with mass effect such as headache, photophobia, or visual field defects. Hypophysitis can cause hypopituitarism; initiate hormone replacement as clinically indicated. Thyroiditis can present with or without endocrinopathy. Hypothyroidism can follow hyperthyroidism; initiate hormone replacement or medical management as clinically indicated. Monitor patients for hyperglycemia or other signs and symptoms of diabetes; initiate treatment with insulin as clinically indicated.

In patients receiving OPDIVO monotherapy, adrenal insufficiency occurred in 1% (20/1994), including Grade 3 (0.4%) and Grade 2 (0.6%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 1 mg/kg with YERVOY 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks, adrenal insufficiency occurred in 8% (35/456), including Grade 4 (0.2%), Grade 3 (2.4%), and Grade 2 (4.2%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks, adrenal insufficiency occurred in 7% (48/666) of patients, including Grade 4 (0.3%), Grade 3 (2.5%), and Grade 2 (4.1%). In patients receiving OPDIVO and cabozantinib, adrenal insufficiency occurred in 4.7% (15/320) of patients, including Grade 3 (2.2%) and Grade 2 (1.9%).

In patients receiving OPDIVO monotherapy, hypophysitis occurred in 0.6% (12/1994) of patients, including Grade 3 (0.2%) and Grade 2 (0.3%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 1 mg/kg with YERVOY 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks, hypophysitis occurred in 9% (42/456), including Grade 3 (2.4%) and Grade 2 (6%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks, hypophysitis occurred in 4.4% (29/666) of patients, including Grade 4 (0.3%), Grade 3 (2.4%), and Grade 2 (0.9%).

In patients receiving OPDIVO monotherapy, thyroiditis occurred in 0.6% (12/1994) of patients, including Grade 2 (0.2%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks, thyroiditis occurred in 2.7% (22/666) of patients, including Grade 3 (4.5%) and Grade 2 (2.2%).

In patients receiving OPDIVO monotherapy, hyperthyroidism occurred in 2.7% (54/1994) of patients, including Grade 3 (<0.1%) and Grade 2 (1.2%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 1 mg/kg with YERVOY 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks, hyperthyroidism occurred in 9% (42/456) of patients, including Grade 3 (0.9%) and Grade 2 (4.2%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks, hyperthyroidism occurred in 12% (80/666) of patients, including Grade 3 (0.6%) and Grade 2 (4.5%).

In patients receiving OPDIVO monotherapy, hypothyroidism occurred in 8% (163/1994) of patients, including Grade 3 (0.2%) and Grade 2 (4.8%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 1 mg/kg with YERVOY 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks, hypothyroidism occurred in 20% (91/456) of patients, including Grade 3 (0.4%) and Grade 2 (11%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks, hypothyroidism occurred in 18% (122/666) of patients, including Grade 3 (0.6%) and Grade 2 (11%).

In patients receiving OPDIVO monotherapy, diabetes occurred in 0.9% (17/1994) of patients, including Grade 3 (0.4%) and Grade 2 (0.3%), and 2 cases of diabetic ketoacidosis. In patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks, diabetes occurred in 2.7% (15/666) of patients, including Grade 4 (0.6%), Grade 3 (0.3%), and Grade 2 (0.9%).

Immune-Mediated Nephritis with Renal Dysfunction

OPDIVO and YERVOY can cause immune-mediated nephritis. In patients receiving OPDIVO monotherapy, immune-mediated nephritis and renal dysfunction occurred in 1.2% (23/1994) of patients, including Grade 4 (<0.1%), Grade 3 (0.5%), and Grade 2 (0.6%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks, immune-mediated nephritis with renal dysfunction occurred in 4.1% (27/666) of patients, including Grade 4 (0.6%), Grade 3 (1.1%), and Grade 2 (2.2%).

Immune-Mediated Dermatologic Adverse Reactions

OPDIVO can cause immune-mediated rash or dermatitis. Exfoliative dermatitis, including Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS), toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), and drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) has occurred with PD-1/PD-L1 blocking antibodies. Topical emollients and/or topical corticosteroids may be adequate to treat mild to moderate nonexfoliative rashes.

YERVOY can cause immune-mediated rash or dermatitis, including bullous and exfoliative dermatitis, SJS, TEN, and DRESS. Topical emollients and/or topical corticosteroids may be adequate to treat mild to moderate non-bullous/exfoliative rashes.

Withhold or permanently discontinue OPDIVO and YERVOY depending on severity (please see section 2 Dosage and Administration in the accompanying Full Prescribing Information).

In patients receiving OPDIVO monotherapy, immune-mediated rash occurred in 9% (171/1994) of patients, including Grade 3 (1.1%) and Grade 2 (2.2%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 1 mg/kg with YERVOY 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks, immune-mediated rash occurred in 28% (127/456) of patients, including Grade 3 (4.8%) and Grade 2 (10%). In patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks, immune-mediated rash occurred in 16% (108/666) of patients, including Grade 3 (3.5%) and Grade 2 (4.2%).

Other Immune-Mediated Adverse Reactions

The following clinically significant immune-mediated adverse reactions occurred at an incidence of <1% (unless otherwise noted) in patients who received OPDIVO monotherapy or OPDIVO in combination with YERVOY or were reported with the use of other PD-1/PD-L1 blocking antibodies. Severe or fatal cases have been reported for some of these adverse reactions: cardiac/vascular: myocarditis, pericarditis, vasculitis; nervous system: meningitis, encephalitis, myelitis and demyelination, myasthenic syndrome/myasthenia gravis (including exacerbation), Guillain-Barre syndrome, nerve paresis, autoimmune neuropathy; ocular: uveitis, iritis, and other ocular inflammatory toxicities can occur; gastrointestinal: pancreatitis to include increases in serum amylase and lipase levels, gastritis, duodenitis; musculoskeletal and connective tissue: myositis/polymyositis, rhabdomyolysis, and associated sequelae including renal failure, arthritis, polymyalgia rheumatica; endocrine: hypoparathyroidism; other (hematologic/immune): hemolytic anemia, aplastic anemia, hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), systemic inflammatory response syndrome, histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis (Kikuchi lymphadenitis), sarcoidosis, immune thrombocytopenic purpura, solid organ transplant rejection.

In addition to the immune-mediated adverse reactions listed above, across clinical trials of YERVOY monotherapy or in combination with OPDIVO, the following clinically significant immune-mediated adverse reactions, some with fatal outcome, occurred in <1% of patients unless otherwise specified: nervous system: autoimmune neuropathy (2%), myasthenic syndrome/myasthenia gravis, motor dysfunction; cardiovascular: angiopathy, temporal arteritis; ocular: blepharitis, episcleritis, orbital myositis, scleritis; gastrointestinal: pancreatitis (1.3%); other (hematologic/immune): conjunctivitis, cytopenias (2.5%), eosinophilia (2.1%), erythema multiforme, hypersensitivity vasculitis, neurosensory hypoacusis, psoriasis.

Some ocular IMAR cases can be associated with retinal detachment. Various grades of visual impairment, including blindness, can occur. If uveitis occurs in combination with other immune-mediated adverse reactions, consider a Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada-like syndrome, which has been observed in patients receiving OPDIVO and YERVOY, as this may require treatment with systemic corticosteroids to reduce the risk of permanent vision loss.

Infusion-Related Reactions

OPDIVO and YERVOY can cause severe infusion-related reactions. Discontinue OPDIVO and YERVOY in patients with severe (Grade 3) or life-threatening (Grade 4) infusion-related reactions. Interrupt or slow the rate of infusion in patients with mild (Grade 1) or moderate (Grade 2) infusion-related reactions. In patients receiving OPDIVO monotherapy as a 60-minute infusion, infusion-related reactions occurred in 6.4% (127/1994) of patients. In a separate trial in which patients received OPDIVO monotherapy as a 60-minute infusion or a 30-minute infusion, infusion-related reactions occurred in 2.2% (8/368) and 2.7% (10/369) of patients, respectively. Additionally, 0.5% (2/368) and 1.4% (5/369) of patients, respectively, experienced adverse reactions within 48 hours of infusion that led to dose delay, permanent discontinuation or withholding of OPDIVO. In melanoma patients receiving OPDIVO 1 mg/kg with YERVOY 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks, infusion-related reactions occurred in 2.5% (10/407) of patients. In HCC patients receiving OPDIVO 1 mg/kg with YERVOY 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks, infusion-related reactions occurred in 8% (4/49) of patients. In RCC patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks, infusion-related reactions occurred in 5.1% (28/547) of patients. In MSI-H/dMMR mCRC patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks, infusion-related reactions occurred in 4.2% (5/119) of patients. In MPM patients receiving OPDIVO 3 mg/kg every 2 weeks with YERVOY 1 mg/kg every 6 weeks, infusion-related reactions occurred in 12% (37/300) of patients.

Complications of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Fatal and other serious complications can occur in patients who receive allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) before or after being treated with OPDIVO or YERVOY. Transplant-related complications include hyperacute graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), acute GVHD, chronic GVHD, hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD) after reduced intensity conditioning, and steroid-requiring febrile syndrome (without an identified infectious cause). These complications may occur despite intervening therapy between OPDIVO or YERVOY and allogeneic HSCT.

Follow patients closely for evidence of transplant-related complications and intervene promptly. Consider the benefit versus risks of treatment with OPDIVO and YERVOY prior to or after an allogeneic HSCT.

Embryo-Fetal Toxicity

Based on its mechanism of action and findings from animal studies, OPDIVO and YERVOY can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. The effects of YERVOY are likely to be greater during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Advise pregnant women of the potential risk to a fetus. Advise females of reproductive potential to use effective contraception during treatment with OPDIVO and YERVOY and for at least 5 months after the last dose.

Increased Mortality in Patients with Multiple Myeloma when OPDIVO is Added to a Thalidomide Analogue and Dexamethasone

In randomized clinical trials in patients with multiple myeloma, the addition of OPDIVO to a thalidomide analogue plus dexamethasone resulted in increased mortality. Treatment of patients with multiple myeloma with a PD-1 or PD-L1 blocking antibody in combination with a thalidomide analogue plus dexamethasone is not recommended outside of controlled clinical trials.

Lactation

There are no data on the presence of OPDIVO or YERVOY in human milk, the effects on the breastfed child, or the effects on milk production. Because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in breastfed children, advise women not to breastfeed during treatment and for 5 months after the last dose.

Serious Adverse Reactions

In Checkmate 037, serious adverse reactions occurred in 41% of patients receiving OPDIVO (n=268). Grade 3 and 4 adverse reactions occurred in 42% of patients receiving OPDIVO. The most frequent Grade 3 and 4 adverse drug reactions reported in 2% to <5% of patients receiving OPDIVO were abdominal pain, hyponatremia, increased aspartate aminotransferase, and increased lipase. In Checkmate 066, serious adverse reactions occurred in 36% of patients receiving OPDIVO (n=206). Grade 3 and 4 adverse reactions occurred in 41% of patients receiving OPDIVO. The most frequent Grade 3 and 4 adverse reactions reported in =2% of patients receiving OPDIVO were gamma-glutamyltransferase increase (3.9%) and diarrhea (3.4%). In Checkmate 067, serious adverse reactions (74% and 44%), adverse reactions leading to permanent discontinuation (47% and 18%) or to dosing delays (58% and 36%), and Grade 3 or 4 adverse reactions (72% and 51%) all occurred more frequently in the OPDIVO plus YERVOY arm (n=313) relative to the OPDIVO arm (n=313). The most frequent (=10%) serious adverse reactions in the OPDIVO plus YERVOY arm and the OPDIVO arm, respectively, were diarrhea (13% and 2.2%), colitis (10% and 1.9%), and pyrexia (10% and 1.0%). In Checkmate 227, serious adverse reactions occurred in 58% of patients (n=576). The most frequent (=2%) serious adverse reactions were pneumonia, diarrhea/colitis, pneumonitis, hepatitis, pulmonary embolism, adrenal insufficiency, and hypophysitis. Fatal adverse reactions occurred in 1.7% of patients; these included events of pneumonitis (4 patients), myocarditis, acute kidney injury, shock, hyperglycemia, multi-system organ failure, and renal failure. In Checkmate 9LA, serious adverse reactions occurred in 57% of patients (n=358). The most frequent (>2%) serious adverse reactions were pneumonia, diarrhea, febrile neutropenia, anemia, acute kidney injury, musculoskeletal pain, dyspnea, pneumonitis, and respiratory failure. Fatal adverse reactions occurred in 7 (2%) patients, and included hepatic toxicity, acute renal failure, sepsis, pneumonitis, diarrhea with hypokalemia, and massive hemoptysis in the setting of thrombocytopenia. In Checkmate 017 and 057, serious adverse reactions occurred in 46% of patients receiving OPDIVO (n=418). The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in =2% of patients receiving OPDIVO were pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, dyspnea, pyrexia, pleural effusion, pneumonitis, and respiratory failure. In Checkmate 057, fatal adverse reactions occurred; these included events of infection (7 patients, including one case of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia), pulmonary embolism (4 patients), and limbic encephalitis (1 patient). In Checkmate 743, serious adverse reactions occurred in 54% of patients receiving OPDIVO plus YERVOY. The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in =2% of patients were pneumonia, pyrexia, diarrhea, pneumonitis, pleural effusion, dyspnea, acute kidney injury, infusion-related reaction, musculoskeletal pain, and pulmonary embolism. Fatal adverse reactions occurred in 4 (1.3%) patients and included pneumonitis, acute heart failure, sepsis, and encephalitis. In Checkmate 214, serious adverse reactions occurred in 59% of patients receiving OPDIVO plus YERVOY (n=547). The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in =2% of patients were diarrhea, pyrexia, pneumonia, pneumonitis, hypophysitis, acute kidney injury, dyspnea, adrenal insufficiency, and colitis. In Checkmate 9ER, serious adverse reactions occurred in 48% of patients receiving OPDIVO and cabozantinib (n=320). The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in =2% of patients were diarrhea, pneumonia, pneumonitis, pulmonary embolism, urinary tract infection, and hyponatremia. Fatal intestinal perforations occurred in 3 (0.9%) patients. In Checkmate 025, serious adverse reactions occurred in 47% of patients receiving OPDIVO (n=406). The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in =2% of patients were acute kidney injury, pleural effusion, pneumonia, diarrhea, and hypercalcemia. In Checkmate 205 and 039, adverse reactions leading to discontinuation occurred in 7% and dose delays due to adverse reactions occurred in 34% of patients (n=266). Serious adverse reactions occurred in 26% of patients. The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in =1% of patients were pneumonia, infusion-related reaction, pyrexia, colitis or diarrhea, pleural effusion, pneumonitis, and rash. Eleven patients died from causes other than disease progression: 3 from adverse reactions within 30 days of the last OPDIVO dose, 2 from infection 8 to 9 months after completing OPDIVO, and 6 from complications of allogeneic HSCT. In Checkmate 141, serious adverse reactions occurred in 49% of patients receiving OPDIVO (n=236). The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in =2% of patients receiving OPDIVO were pneumonia, dyspnea, respiratory failure, respiratory tract infection, and sepsis. In Checkmate 275, serious adverse reactions occurred in 54% of patients receiving OPDIVO (n=270). The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in =2% of patients receiving OPDIVO were urinary tract infection, sepsis, diarrhea, small intestine obstruction, and general physical health deterioration. In Checkmate 274, serious adverse reactions occurred in 30% of patients receiving OPDIVO (n=351). The most frequent serious adverse reaction reported in =2% of patients receiving OPDIVO was urinary tract infection. Fatal adverse reactions occurred in 1% of patients; these included events of pneumonitis (0.6%). In Checkmate 142 in MSI-H/dMMR mCRC patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY (n=119), serious adverse reactions occurred in 47% of patients. The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in =2% of patients were colitis/diarrhea, hepatic events, abdominal pain, acute kidney injury, pyrexia, and dehydration. In Checkmate 040, serious adverse reactions occurred in 59% of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY (n=49). Serious adverse reactions reported in =4% of patients were pyrexia, diarrhea, anemia, increased AST, adrenal insufficiency, ascites, esophageal varices hemorrhage, hyponatremia, increased blood bilirubin, and pneumonitis. In Checkmate 238, serious adverse reactions occurred in 18% of patients receiving OPDIVO (n=452). Grade 3 or 4 adverse reactions occurred in 25% of OPDIVO-treated patients (n=452). The most frequent Grade 3 and 4 adverse reactions reported in =2% of OPDIVO-treated patients were diarrhea and increased lipase and amylase. In Attraction-3, serious adverse reactions occurred in 38% of patients receiving OPDIVO (n=209). Serious adverse reactions reported in =2% of patients who received OPDIVO were pneumonia, esophageal fistula, interstitial lung disease, and pyrexia. The following fatal adverse reactions occurred in patients who received OPDIVO: interstitial lung disease or pneumonitis (1.4%), pneumonia (1.0%), septic shock (0.5%), esophageal fistula (0.5%), gastrointestinal hemorrhage (0.5%), pulmonary embolism (0.5%), and sudden death (0.5%). In Checkmate 577, serious adverse reactions occurred in 33% of patients receiving OPDIVO (n=532). A serious adverse reaction reported in =2% of patients who received OPDIVO was pneumonitis. A fatal reaction of myocardial infarction occurred in one patient who received OPDIVO. In Checkmate 649, serious adverse reactions occurred in 52% of patients treated with OPDIVO in combination with chemotherapy (n=782). The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in 2% of patients treated with OPDIVO in combination with chemotherapy were vomiting (3.7%), pneumonia (3.6%), anemia (3.6%), pyrexia (2.8%), diarrhea (2.7%), febrile neutropenia (2.6%), and pneumonitis (2.4%). Fatal adverse reactions occurred in 16 (2.0%) patients who were treated with OPDIVO in combination with chemotherapy; these included pneumonitis (4 patients), febrile neutropenia (2 patients), stroke (2 patients), gastrointestinal toxicity, intestinal mucositis, septic shock, pneumonia, infection, gastrointestinal bleeding, mesenteric vessel thrombosis, and disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Common Adverse Reactions

In Checkmate 037, the most common adverse reaction (=20%) reported with OPDIVO (n=268) was rash (21%). In Checkmate 066, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) reported with OPDIVO (n=206) vs dacarbazine (n=205) were fatigue (49% vs 39%), musculoskeletal pain (32% vs 25%), rash (28% vs 12%), and pruritus (23% vs 12%). In Checkmate 067, the most common (=20%) adverse reactions in the OPDIVO plus YERVOY arm (n=313) were fatigue (62%), diarrhea (54%), rash (53%), nausea (44%), pyrexia (40%), pruritus (39%), musculoskeletal pain (32%), vomiting (31%), decreased appetite (29%), cough (27%), headache (26%), dyspnea (24%), upper respiratory tract infection (23%), arthralgia (21%), and increased transaminases (25%). In Checkmate 067, the most common (=20%) adverse reactions in the OPDIVO arm (n=313) were fatigue (59%), rash (40%), musculoskeletal pain (42%), diarrhea (36%), nausea (30%), cough (28%), pruritus (27%), upper respiratory tract infection (22%), decreased appetite (22%), headache (22%), constipation (21%), arthralgia (21%), and vomiting (20%). In Checkmate 227, the most common (=20%) adverse reactions were fatigue (44%), rash (34%), decreased appetite (31%), musculoskeletal pain (27%), diarrhea/colitis (26%), dyspnea (26%), cough (23%), hepatitis (21%), nausea (21%), and pruritus (21%). In Checkmate 9LA, the most common (>20%) adverse reactions were fatigue (49%), musculoskeletal pain (39%), nausea (32%), diarrhea (31%), rash (30%), decreased appetite (28%), constipation (21%), and pruritus (21%). In Checkmate 017 and 057, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) in patients receiving OPDIVO (n=418) were fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, cough, dyspnea, and decreased appetite. In Checkmate 743, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) in patients receiving OPDIVO plus YERVOY were fatigue (43%), musculoskeletal pain (38%), rash (34%), diarrhea (32%), dyspnea (27%), nausea (24%), decreased appetite (24%), cough (23%), and pruritus (21%). In Checkmate 214, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) reported in patients treated with OPDIVO plus YERVOY (n=547) were fatigue (58%), rash (39%), diarrhea (38%), musculoskeletal pain (37%), pruritus (33%), nausea (30%), cough (28%), pyrexia (25%), arthralgia (23%), decreased appetite (21%), dyspnea (20%), and vomiting (20%). In Checkmate 9ER, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) in patients receiving OPDIVO and cabozantinib (n=320) were diarrhea (64%), fatigue (51%), hepatotoxicity (44%), palmar-plantar erythrodysaesthesia syndrome (40%), stomatitis (37%), rash (36%), hypertension (36%), hypothyroidism (34%), musculoskeletal pain (33%), decreased appetite (28%), nausea (27%), dysgeusia (24%), abdominal pain (22%), cough (20%) and upper respiratory tract infection (20%). In Checkmate 025, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) reported in patients receiving OPDIVO (n=406) vs everolimus (n=397) were fatigue (56% vs 57%), cough (34% vs 38%), nausea (28% vs 29%), rash (28% vs 36%), dyspnea (27% vs 31%), diarrhea (25% vs 32%), constipation (23% vs 18%), decreased appetite (23% vs 30%), back pain (21% vs 16%), and arthralgia (20% vs 14%). In Checkmate 205 and 039, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) reported in patients receiving OPDIVO (n=266) were upper respiratory tract infection (44%), fatigue (39%), cough (36%), diarrhea (33%), pyrexia (29%), musculoskeletal pain (26%), rash (24%), nausea (20%) and pruritus (20%). In Checkmate 141, the most common adverse reactions (=10%) in patients receiving OPDIVO (n=236) were cough (14%) and dyspnea (14%) at a higher incidence than investigator's choice. In Checkmate 275, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) reported in patients receiving OPDIVO (n=270) were fatigue (46%), musculoskeletal pain (30%), nausea (22%), and decreased appetite (22%). In Checkmate 274, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) reported in patients receiving OPDIVO (n=351) were rash (36%), fatigue (36%), diarrhea (30%), pruritus (30%), musculoskeletal pain (28%), and urinary tract infection (22%). In Checkmate 142 in MSI-H/dMMR mCRC patients receiving OPDIVO as a single agent (n=74), the most common adverse reactions (=20%) were fatigue (54%), diarrhea (43%), abdominal pain (34%), nausea (34%), vomiting (28%), musculoskeletal pain (28%), cough (26%), pyrexia (24%), rash (23%), constipation (20%), and upper respiratory tract infection (20%). In Checkmate 142 in MSI-H/dMMR mCRC patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY (n=119), the most common adverse reactions (=20%) were fatigue (49%), diarrhea (45%), pyrexia (36%), musculoskeletal pain (36%), abdominal pain (30%), pruritus (28%), nausea (26%), rash (25%), decreased appetite (20%), and vomiting (20%). In Checkmate 040, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) in patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY (n=49), were rash (53%), pruritus (53%), musculoskeletal pain (41%), diarrhea (39%), cough (37%), decreased appetite (35%), fatigue (27%), pyrexia (27%), abdominal pain (22%), headache (22%), nausea (20%), dizziness (20%), hypothyroidism (20%), and weight decreased (20%). In Checkmate 238, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) reported in OPDIVO-treated patients (n=452) vs ipilimumab-treated patients (n=453) were fatigue (57% vs 55%), diarrhea (37% vs 55%), rash (35% vs 47%), musculoskeletal pain (32% vs 27%), pruritus (28% vs 37%), headache (23% vs 31%), nausea (23% vs 28%), upper respiratory infection (22% vs 15%), and abdominal pain (21% vs 23%). The most common immune-mediated adverse reactions were rash (16%), diarrhea/colitis (6%), and hepatitis (3%). In Attraction-3, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) in OPDIVO-treated patients (n=209) were rash (22%) and decreased appetite (21%). In Checkmate 577, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) in patients receiving OPDIVO (n=532) were fatigue (34%), diarrhea (29%), nausea (23%), rash (21%), musculoskeletal pain (21%), and cough (20%). In Checkmate 649, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) in patients treated with OPDIVO in combination with chemotherapy (n=782) were peripheral neuropathy (53%), nausea (48%), fatigue (44%), diarrhea (39%), vomiting (31%), decreased appetite (29%), abdominal pain (27%), constipation (25%), and musculoskeletal pain (20%).

Please see US Full Prescribing Information for OPDIVO and YERVOY.

Clinical Trials and Patient Populations

Checkmate 037-previously treated metastatic melanoma; Checkmate 066-previously untreated metastatic melanoma; Checkmate 067-previously untreated metastatic melanoma, as a single agent or in combination with YERVOY; Checkmate 227-previously untreated metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, in combination with YERVOY; Checkmate 9LA-previously untreated recurrent or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer in combination with YERVOY and 2 cycles of platinum-doublet chemotherapy by histology; Checkmate 017-second-line treatment of metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer; Checkmate 057-second-line treatment of metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer; Checkmate 743-previously untreated unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma, in combination with YERVOY; Checkmate 214-previously untreated renal cell carcinoma, in combination with YERVOY; Checkmate 9ER-previously untreated renal cell carcinoma, in combination with cabozantinib; Checkmate 025-previously treated renal cell carcinoma; Checkmate 205/039-classical Hodgkin lymphoma; Checkmate 141-recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck; Checkmate 275-previously treated advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma; Checkmate 274-adjuvant treatment of urothelial carcinoma; Checkmate 142-MSI-H or dMMR metastatic colorectal cancer, as a single agent or in combination with YERVOY; Checkmate 040-hepatocellular carcinoma, in combination with YERVOY; Checkmate 238-adjuvant treatment of melanoma; Attraction-3-esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; Checkmate 577-adjuvant treatment of esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer; Checkmate 649-previously untreated advanced or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction or esophageal adenocarcinoma

About the Bristol Myers Squibb and Ono Pharmaceutical Collaboration

In 2011, through a collaboration agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Bristol Myers Squibb expanded its territorial rights to develop and commercialize Opdivo globally, except in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, where Ono had retained all rights to the compound at the time. On July 23, 2014, Ono and Bristol Myers Squibb further expanded the companies' strategic collaboration agreement to jointly develop and commercialize multiple immunotherapies as single agents and combination regimens for patients with cancer in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

About Bristol Myers Squibb

Bristol Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information about Bristol Myers Squibb, visit us at BMS.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

Celgene and Juno Therapeutics are wholly owned subsidiaries of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. In certain countries outside the U.S., due to local laws, Celgene and Juno Therapeutics are referred to as, Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb company and Juno Therapeutics, a Bristol Myers Squibb company.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding, among other things, the research, development, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. All statements that are not statements of historical facts are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on historical performance and current expectations and projections about our future financial results, goals, plans and objectives and involve inherent risks, assumptions and uncertainties, including internal or external factors that could delay, divert or change any of them in the next several years, that are difficult to predict, may be beyond our control and could cause our future financial results, goals, plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the statements. These risks, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors include, among others, the possibility that the combination treatments may not receive regulatory approval for the indication described in this release in the currently anticipated timeline or at all, any marketing approvals, if granted, may have significant limitations on their use, and, if approved, whether such combination treatments for such indication described in this release will be commercially successful. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many risks and uncertainties that affect Bristol Myers Squibb's business and market, particularly those identified in the cautionary statement and risk factors discussion in Bristol Myers Squibb's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, as updated by our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made only as of the date of this document and except as otherwise required by applicable law, Bristol Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

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nina.goworek@bms.com
Mondragon Assembly's continuous string process technique is purportedly 10% more productive than a standard stringing machine.From pv magazine Spain Mondragon Assembly, a Spanish PV production equipment supplier, has secured a licensing agreement for its continuous string process. "The deal was made with one of the most relevant players in the solar industry," a spokesperson from the company told pv magazine, without disclosing the name of the manufacturer. This license is for its patent for its continuous string process, which has been its intellectual property since 2013. Mondragon Assembly ...

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.
DURHAM, NC / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / 374Water, Inc. (OTCQB:SCWO), a social impact, cleantech company located in Durham, North Carolina ("374Water") focused on deploying its AirSCWO technology to safely eliminate pollutants from a variety of water and waste streams, is pleased announce its upcoming event schedule for October - November 2021.

World Water-Tech North America, Virtual Summit, October 5-6, 2021; Kobe Nagar, Co-Founder and CEO will be a panelist for discussion about "PFAS: The Ultimate One Water Contaminant," October 6, 2021, 10:50 am EDT.

Wyoming Global Technology Summit, Center for the Arts, Jackson, WY, October 7, 2021; Kobe Nagar, Co-Founder and CEO, will be a panelist for "Panel VII Water Technologies - Addressing The Regions Severe Drought," 11:15 - 12:00 pm MDT.

WEFTEC 2021, 94th Annual Technical Exhibition & Conference, the water quality event, McCormick Place, Chicago, IL, October 16-20, 2021; the 374Water team will be at the Innovation Pavilion & Theater, Booth # 4817M, South Building.

DEFENSE TECHCONNECT INNOVATION SUMMIT & EXPO, Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center Washington, DC, October 18-21, 2021, Steve McKnight, Strategy & Strategic Partnerships, and Steve Brock, Strategic Advisor, will represent 374Water at the Table T247.

SYDNEY WATER'S INNOVATION FESITVAL, Online & Customs House Sydney, October 19, 2021; Tali Harif will represent 374Water at the event and discuss the AirSCWO innovation as a driver in the circular economy.

374Water Demo Day - Duke University, Pratt School of Engineering, Durham, NC, November 4, 2021; 374Water will host investors, strategic partners, government agencies, university staff, and industry professionals to celebrate 374Water's successes to date and to observe the AirSCWO Nix1 in action processing a waste stream.

Aquatech Amsterdam, RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, November 2-5, 2021. Doug Hatler, Chief Revenue Officer, and Tali Harif, Commercialization Advisor will represent 374Water at the event.

About 374Water

374Water, Inc. (SCWO) is a publicly traded company offering innovative technology to process and eliminate organic waste including "forever" chemicals such as PFAS from natural and engineered environments. Our mission is to preserve a clean and healthy environment that sustains life. We apply cutting-edge science and engineering prowess to recover resources from the wastes our society generates to keep our drinking water clean. We help businesses and local governments deploy solutions consistent with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

CONTACT: Rick Davis, rd@374water.com

Related Links: https://www.374water.com

SOURCE: 374Water, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666340/374Water-Hits-the-Road-to-Promote-Its-Innovative-Pollution-Elimination-Technology-at-Major-Industry-Events
BLACKROCK LATIN AMERICAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (the "Company")

LEI: UK9OG5Q0CYUDFGRX4151

Voting Rights and Capital (Article 15 Transparency Directive, DTR 5.6)

In conformity with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule 5.6.1R, the Company would like to notify the market of the following:

As at 30 September 2021, BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust plc's capital consists of 39,259,620 Ordinary Shares of 10 cents each, carrying one vote each, excluding 2,181,662 ordinary shares held in treasury.

As at 30 September 2021, the total number of voting rights for Ordinary shareholders in BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust plc is 39,259,620.

Shareholders should use 39,259,620 as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company.

All enquiries:

Sarah Beynsberger

BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited, Company Secretary

Tel: 0207 743 2639

1 October 2021
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / Skeena Resources Limited (TSX:SKE)(OTCQX:SKREF) ("Skeena" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Randy Reichert to the Board of Directors of the Company as an independent director. The Company also thanks Borden R. Putnam III as he moves from the Board of Directors to a technical advisor role for Skeena.

Skeena's CEO, Walter Coles Jr. commented, "We are grateful to Borden for having been a Board member with Skeena for the last three years. He has been a valued contributor to the company's overall success to date, and we are glad to be able to continue to benefit from his geological knowledge and expertise. Now, as we aggressively advance Eskay Creek through development and into production, Randy's years of mine building experience will help guide Skeena in this exciting next stage of growth."

Mr. Reichert has 30 years of experience in the mining industry and is currently Vice President, Operations with B2Gold Corp. where he oversees their three international gold operations. Prior to this, Mr. Reichert was General Manager at their Fekola Mine in Mali where he was part of the development team and led the transition from development into operations.

Mr. Reichert started his career with Cominco in Canada working at various operations including the Snip Mine. He then embarked on international work with Bema Gold, Oriel Resources, and other junior companies in executive roles where he was responsible for various development projects and mining operations. Randy has led construction or development projects in Russia, Brazil, Nevada, and Kazakhstan and was General Manager during the development of the Kupol Mine in Russia with Bema Gold and subsequently Kinross. He also has experience as a consultant assisting with due diligence for mine financings for Canadian financial groups. Mr. Reichert has a BASc in Mining and Mineral Processing, an MScEng in Rock Mechanics, a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and is a Professional Engineer.

About Skeena

Skeena Resources Limited is a Canadian mining exploration and development company focused on revitalizing the past-producing Eskay Creek gold-silver mine located in Tahltan Territory in the Golden Triangle of northwest British Columbia, Canada. The Company released a Prefeasibility Study for Eskay Creek in July 2021 which highlights an open-pit average grade of 4.57 g/t AuEq, an after-tax NPV5% of C$1.4B, 56% IRR, and a 1.4-year payback at US$1,550/oz Au. Skeena is currently completing both infill and exploration drilling to advance Eskay Creek to full Feasibility by Q1 2022. Additionally, the Company continues exploration programs at the past-producing Snip gold mine.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Skeena Resources Limited,

Walter Coles Jr.

President & CEO

Contact Information

Investor Inquiries: info@skeenaresources.com

Office Phone: +1 604 684 8725

Company Website: www.skeenaresources.com

The scientific and technical information in this press release was approved by Paul Geddes, P.Geo., a Qualified person as defined under National Instrument 43-101 and Vice President, Exploration and Resource Development for the Company.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

Certain statements made and information contained herein may constitute "forward looking information" and "forward looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. These statements and information are based on facts currently available to the Company and there is no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward-looking statements and information may be identified by such terms as "anticipates", "believes", "targets", "estimates", "plans", "expects", "may", "will", "could" or "would". Forward-looking statements and information contained herein are based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, metal prices, taxation, the estimation, timing and amount of future exploration and development, capital and operating costs, the availability of financing, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental risks, title disputes and other matters. While the Company considers its assumptions to be reasonable as of the date hereof, forward-looking statements and information are not guarantees of future performance and readers should not place undue importance on such statements as actual events and results may differ materially from those described herein. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or information except as may be required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Skeena Resources Limited

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666150/Skeena-Welcomes-Randy-Reichert-to-Board-of-Directors
JINAN, CHINA / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province is playing an increasingly important role in fostering new growth drivers to underpin China's development following the approval of the city's start-up area by the State Council this April.

The Jinan Start-up Area for Growth Drivers Transformation is located in Jinan's northern area and spans 798 square kilometers. It is the second of its kind in China, following the start-up area of Xiongan New Area in Hebei province.

The region will play a crucial role in promoting the shift of growth drivers from old to new ones in the country's northern area and accelerate regional integration, said Sun Shutao, Party secretary of Jinan at the fourth China Enterprise Forum.

He stated that the area will help Jinan deepen cooperation with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership members.

A landmark of the Jinan Start-up Area for Growth Drivers Transformation in Jinan, Shandong province [Photo/english.jinan.gov.cn]

Jinan start-up area shoulders the two national strategic tasks of the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, as well as the transformation of old growth drivers to new ones.

The area will facilitate the high-quality development, ecological protection, and cultural inheritance along the Yellow River and also hasten the collaboration development of Shandong provincial capital economic circle, Sun added.

According to its implementation plan released by local authorities this May, the Jinan Start-up Area for Growth Drivers Transformation aims to develop itself into a green, smart and livable urban area by 2035.

The region plans to develop a modern industrial system integrating modern manufacturing, modern service and cultural industries, to underpin the high-quality development of Yellow River Basin.

Yellow River in Jinan, Shandong province. Yellow River is the second longest river in China. [Photo/english.jinan.gov.cn]

As of July 2021, the area was home to 16 of the world's top 500 companies and had signed 81 projects with a total investment of 254.4 billion yuan ($39.34 billion).

A batch of innovative platforms, including the Shandong Industrial Technology Research Institute, Shandong Advanced Technology Research Institute, is currently under construction, according to Sun.

The area is home to 818 enterprises and R&D institutes, and 52 universities, all of which help cultivate a large talent pool for its industrial development. The current population of talents in the area stands at 2.39 million.

By 2025, the output value of high-tech industries is expected to account for nearly 60 percent of the output value of industries above designated size in the region.

Jinan Green Construction International Industrial Park at the Jinan Start-up Area for Growth Drivers Transformation. The park is expected to be put into trial operation in this October. [Photo/english.jinan.gov.cn]

Green construction will be a highlight for the region's future development. It will give priority to the development and utilization of renewable energy such as geothermal energy, solar energy, as well as biomass energy.

Moreover, the region plans to build an integrated data sharing service system. Digital technologies will be applied in the fields of transportation, medical care, education, pension, social security, community governance.

The region enjoys superior regional advantages, convenient transportation, and favorable business environment, which make it a good place for enterprises to start up and invest.

"I see the bright future of Jinan", said Riaz Muhammad Mudassar, a journalist from Pakistan CPEC News during his trip to Jinan.

A group of more than 10 foreign journalists were on Sept 29 given a chance to experience the Jinan Start-up Area for Growth Drivers Transformation, and the city's some famous attractions.

A group of foreign journalists visit the Jinan Start-up Area for Growth Drivers Transformation on Sept 29. [Photo/english.jinan.gov.cn]

Company: Jinan Municipal Government

Contact: Leo Du

Tel: +86186 0004 4636

SOURCE: Jinan Municipal Government

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666402/New-Region-to-Spur-Growth-Drivers-for-Jinan
Global Telephony Provider WM provides an overview on what is behind the system that is entering into a potential sector-influencing role in many of the world's largest markets.

NEW YORK and ST PETER PORT, Guernsey, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- To supply the suite of services that Global Telephony Company Webtel.mobi ("WM") provides, worldwide, would - if using conventional methodologies - require:



Global Accessibility: The build of multiple different Platforms to cater for the wide disparity of internet / Mobile Data / Hardware / Handsets worldwide.



Regulatory Compliance: The provision of many of its Facilities as stand-alone products in different Sectors -rather than integrated into one Telephony Platform.



Infrastructure: Hundreds of thousands of personnel and support & administrative personnel - and premises for them - worldwide.



To cater for all of the above, WM first researched and then planned the build and structuring of all end-requirements, then built its business and Delivery Platform to fit the end requirements.

A summary of the structure and flow of the WM System is as follows:

Global Accessibility

For internet-based products and services to be globally accessible and usable, the Online Delivery Platform has to be built, and function to cater for, the extremely wide disparity in the hardware, software, mobile data and internet capacity in all countries and several other factors. A summary of requirements, and what WM had to make its system available to, is as follows:

Applications: Only Online Applications or "Web Applications" can be used. 50% of Mobile Phones in use worldwide are Pre-Smart phones, which cannot download Apps. If Apps are downloaded onto phones, the Company whose Apps they are - is legally deemed to be present in the country where the App is downloaded and used.





Only Online Applications or "Web Applications" can be used. 50% of Mobile Phones in use worldwide are Pre-Smart phones, which cannot download Apps. If Apps are downloaded onto phones, the Company whose Apps they are - is legally deemed to be present in the country where the App is downloaded and used. Browsers: There are very many browsers in use - for Desktop / Laptop / Tablet, Smart Phones and Pre-Smart Phones. These include legacy (old) Browsers not in use in Developed Economy countries. Browsers also function differently on different makes and models of hardware and hardware resolutions. The Delivery Platform must function on all of them. There are thousands of combinations, and the Delivery Platform must be built to render and function on them all.





There are very many browsers in use - for Desktop / Laptop / Tablet, Smart Phones and Pre-Smart Phones. These include legacy (old) Browsers not in use in Developed Economy countries. Browsers also function differently on different makes and models of hardware and hardware resolutions. The Delivery Platform must function on all of them. There are thousands of combinations, and the Delivery Platform must be built to render and function on them all. Operating Systems: There are hundreds of differences in the operating systems of the various makes and models of Smart Phone, Pre-Smart Phone, Tablets, Laptops and Desktops. This is further compounded by the use of Low-Resolution Operating Systems in large parts of the world that are developing countries. Again, there are thousands of combinations, and the Delivery Platform must be built to render and function on them all.





There are hundreds of differences in the operating systems of the various makes and models of Smart Phone, Pre-Smart Phone, Tablets, Laptops and Desktops. This is further compounded by the use of Low-Resolution Operating Systems in large parts of the world that are developing countries. Again, there are thousands of combinations, and the Delivery Platform must be built to render and function on them all. Bandwidth / Data Cost: In the majority of the world, access to internet does not exist outside of Mobile Data. In the Developing World, internet and Mobile Data is either extremely expensive or very slow - particularly for the 70% of the world population who are on Pre-Paid phone contracts. The Delivery Platform must be built to strip out all Rich Images and Dynamic content, and highly-compressed - otherwise, the product is too slow or too expensive in bandwidth / Mobile Data cost to be accessed or used.





In the majority of the world, access to internet does not exist outside of Mobile Data. In the Developing World, internet and Mobile Data is either extremely expensive or very slow - particularly for the 70% of the world population who are on Pre-Paid phone contracts. The Delivery Platform must be built to strip out all Rich Images and Dynamic content, and highly-compressed - otherwise, the product is too slow or too expensive in bandwidth / Mobile Data cost to be accessed or used. Pre-Smart Mobile Phones: The 50% of Pre-Smart Phones in use globally cannot download Apps, cannot properly function on Platforms / Sites using Javascript, and are limited in their User-Functions. The Delivery Platform must be built without Javascript and to be easily usable by limited functionality devices.





The 50% of Pre-Smart Phones in use globally cannot download Apps, cannot properly function on Platforms / Sites using Javascript, and are limited in their User-Functions. The Delivery Platform must be built without Javascript and to be easily usable by limited functionality devices. Globally Intuitive Layout: The wide discrepancy in user "norms" in different parts of the world means what is considered normal or intuitive in one part of the world is considered strange or difficult in others. The layout must be simple and intuitive, presented in a clear and simple manner, conforming to a global median of norms of navigation.





The wide discrepancy in user "norms" in different parts of the world means what is considered normal or intuitive in one part of the world is considered strange or difficult in others. The layout must be simple and intuitive, presented in a clear and simple manner, conforming to a global median of norms of navigation. Color: Color is extremely important in multiple countries - signifying good, bad, lucky, unlucky, etc. All colors with negative connotations in any significant parts of the world must be avoided.



The above considerations and various others - and a decade of testing in multiple markets worldwide - have informed and guided the layout and functionality of WM's Platform 2. Its current format renders it easily accessible and usable by all devices, on all browsers, with all software / hardware / handset combinations, in low-cost or high-cost and rapid or slow internet and mobile data countries, in market-sectors, in all countries, worldwide.

Regulatory Compliance

WM is a Telephony Company with internet-initiated telephony. It is regulated as an Internet Telephony Service Provider. All its Services are telephony and Telephony-Support Services. The fact some of them are Dual Use is due only to its Complex Adaptive System and Complex System Hybrid (see next section).





WM does not provide services to the public - only to Members. It is therefore a "Closed-Loop Members Only service" - not a public service.





WM's operation from Guernsey as a Third-Country location (not part of any Political or Economic Union of countries) and its accessibility via Web Application means wherever the Platform is accessed from, it is deemed to be being accessed in Guernsey, and all member Accounts and Transactions occur in Guernsey.





The "Stored Credit" Members load into their WM Pre-Paid telephony Accounts is not a deposit / payment or part-payment. Stored Credit remains the property of the owner until it is used. Stored Credit loads therefore do not represent outward payments, deposits, or transfers to third parties.





No Stored Credit of WM Members held in WM's Regulated Bank Accounts ever moves - even in "Transfer" or "Payment" transactions. The Stored Credit (funds) remain completely static in WM's Regulated Multicurrency bank Accounts (held with one of the world's leading and largest Banking Groups), and the only alteration after "Transfers" or "Payments" is the alteration of each transacting Member's Balance in their WM Accounts.





Multiple other considerations - the above being some of them. Moreover, WM's KYC and AML processes in respect of its Members are one of the most thorough and credible of such systems in the world.



All WM's regulatory requirements and structures have been researched by multiple independent firms of Attorneys, Global Specialist Consultancies, Banks, Regulatory Agencies, and other entities, in one of the most thorough due diligence processes ever carried out on a corporate entity in corporate history. WM is compliant with all Regulatory Requirements applicable to it - which is why it has already operated for nearly 10 years in its Platform 1 phase without any incident.

Infrastructure

WM operates as a Decentralized Company, with software and human capital infrastructures located in 15 countries worldwide. A summary of WM's infrastructure is as follows:

Outsourcing:

Non-essential and non-core infrastructure requirements are outsourced - although WM retains joint oversight over them. The outsourced facilities are primarily hardware-related. Several hundred people work in the entities where the decentralized WM outsourced infrastructure is located, but they are not a WM cost-centre. There are multiple replacements for each outsourced entity at all times, with immediate switchover capacity - so not rendering WM vulnerable to an external entity.

WM In-House Outsourcing (VSMPs and Agent):

WM expands internationally by means of an Affiliate Program (the Virtual Specialized Mobile Provider or VSMP Program), and an Independent Agent Program. VSMPs are Affiliates of WM given to existing companies / organizations / other entities. All personnel of the existing companies / organizations / other entities that have VSMPs - and all their premises and equipment - is used to run their Affiliated WM business. The same applies for Independent Agents. The cumulative de-facto total of personnel and premises that already exist as WM VSMPs make WM one of the most substantial global companies in terms of de-facto personnel, equipment, and premises - but none of this is a cost-centre for WM.

Artificial Intelligence Complex Adaptive System:

This is the key to WM as an entity. To provide its all-encompassing services globally - and for any entity in the world to provide such services and facilities in this manner - the use of Artificial Intelligence is required. Without this, it is simply not possible to provide such services in such a manner - and it would require hundreds of thousands of personnel to even attempt to do so. WM built an Artificial Intelligence System, which is a Complex Adaptive System. It also integrates elements of an Inanimate Complex System (software, systems, processes and components) and an Animate Complex System (human beings - for the VSMP + Independent Agent + Attorneys and Notaries for the KYC + AML processes). The Animate Part of the System functions within the "TEL.mobi Group Global Alliance". The perfection of its Artificial Intelligence component is what has taken the time to perfect the WM System, and is the Primary Factor in all that WM does - and can do. To understand more about the WM's Artificial Intelligence component - referred to as "HAL" within WM - it is easiest if the concepts, requirements, and results of a "Complex Adaptive System" and a "Complex System" are researched online. The Complex Adaptive System and two additional Complex System components are what endow WM's Facilities with the properties of "Emergence", enabling them to be dual-use products whereby they simultaneously provide Telephony-Support functionality and their secondary functionality in and to other markets.

Resources:

Media Contact:

Nick Lambert: wm@thoburns.com

Information on the TEL. mobi Group Global Alliance:

https://webtel.mobi/pc/info/tmg-global-alliance/

Video on WM's Regulatory Compliance:

https://youtu.be/u522lVsGIJI

Video on The Capacities of the WM System:

https://youtu.be/XYBrCikUhn8

Research Reports on the Capacities of the WM System:

https://tinyurl.com/TUVresearch

WM's urls:

https://webtel.mobi/pc(Pre-Smart Mobile Phones)

Overview Information on Complex Adaptive Systems:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_adaptive_system

Overview Information on Complex Systems:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_system

Overview Information on the Properties of Emergence:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/89237c42-9613-4826-85b5-cde76bb49300

The photo is also available at Newscom, www.newscom.com, and via AP PhotoExpress.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / MGX Minerals Inc. ("MGX" or the "Company") (CSE:XMG)(FKT:1MG)(OTC PINK:MGXMF) is pleased to announce, the Company, has completed an initial review of Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Technology ("SMR"). The Company has identified an opportunity in the design of a standardized fuel, to give confidence to the many developers of SMR technology, that a reliable fuel supply will be available as their new reactor designs become available to the energy infrastructure and long range space flight markets. The Company has identified uranium and americium based pellet fuel as the focus, including (but not limited to) TRI - structural ISOtropic particle fuel ("TRISO").

About MGX Minerals Inc.

MGX Minerals is a diversified Canadian resource and technology company with interests in advanced metals, industrial minerals, and energy technologies.

Contact Information:

Andris Kikuaka (P.Geo)

Chief Executive Officer

andris@mgxminerals.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively, "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information. Forward-looking information in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to holding the postponed Meeting, and the filing of an amended notice of meeting and record date for the postponed Meeting. Forward-looking information is generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "in the event", "if", "believes", "asserts", "position", "intends", "envisages", "assumes", "recommends", "estimates", "approximate", "projects", "potential", "indicate" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur.

The Company's forward-looking information are based on the applicable assumptions and factors the Company considers reasonable as of the date hereof, based on the information available to the Company at such time, including without limitation, the ability to host the postponed Meeting at a later date, and the ability to find a suitable location which can accommodate an in-person shareholders' meeting. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various risk factors. These factors include, among others, uncertainties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, and general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors, and their potential effects, which may be accessed through the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Except as required by securities law, the Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise.

SOURCE: MGX Minerals Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666392/MGX-Minerals-Commences-Design-Study-for-Small-Modular-Nuclear-Reactor-SMR-Fuel-for-Electric-Power-and-Long-Range-Space-Flight
TORONTO, LONDON, and EDINBURGH, England, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. (TSX: CF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that through its wealth management business in the UK ("CGWM UK"), it has completed its previously announced acquisition of the private client investment management business of Adam & Company ("the Business").

The completion establishes the Company's entry into the Scottish market with a leading and well-established franchise and strong brand. CGWM UK will continue to operate the Business, which manages approximately 1.7 billion (C$2.9 billion) in client assets, under the name of Adam & Company. The Company expects the transaction to be accretive to its fiscal 2022 adjusted earnings1.

"We are excited to begin our partnership with the team from Adam & Company, whom we have found to be closely aligned with our culture, values and investment philosophy," said David Esfandi, Chief Executive Officer of CGWM UK. "Given our long-standing commitment to investing in and growing our wealth management business, we are all very energized to advance the business together."

Graham Storrie, Managing Director of Adam & Company said: "On behalf of the Adam & Company private client investment management team, we are very pleased to be joining Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management. We welcome the support from CGWM UK as we look forward to growing a leading wealth and investment business in Scotland, while introducing an enhanced suite of products and services to our valued clients"

A new office location on Princes Street in the heart of central Edinburgh has been established to provide seamless continuity for Adam & Company's portfolio managers, support staff and clients.

As part of CGWM UK, the investment professionals and clients of Adam & Company's private client investment management business will also have access to the broad range of resources and expertise in the areas of global and small cap equities, ESG and fixed income offerings, in addition to its robust suite of retirement, later life care and inheritance tax (IHT) planning capabilities. To help facilitate this, Adam & Company's investment team will become active members of CGWM UK's existing investment committees.

In connection with the completion of the acquisition, CGWM UK has modified its existing banking arrangements and increased its bank loan by an additional 53.4 million (C$92.5 million).

____________________ 1. Adjusted earnings is a non-IFRS measure generally referred to by the Company as pre-tax net income excluding significant items. Refer to Non-IFRS measures in the Company's MD&A.

ABOUT CANACCORD GENUITY GROUP INC.

Through its principal subsidiaries, Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. (the "Company") is a leading independent, full-service financial services firm, with operations in two principal segments of the securities industry: wealth management and capital markets. Since its establishment in 1950, the Company has been driven by an unwavering commitment to building lasting client relationships. We achieve this by generating value for our individual, institutional and corporate clients through comprehensive investment solutions, brokerage services and investment banking services. The Company has Wealth Management offices located in Canada, the UK, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Australia. The international capital markets division operates in North America, the UK & Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. is publicly traded under the symbol CF on the TSX.

ABOUT CANACCORD GENUITY WEALTH MANAGEMENT

The wealth management operations of the Canaccord Genuity Group (Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management) provide comprehensive wealth management solutions and brokerage services to individual investors, private clients, charities and intermediaries through a full suite of services tailored to the needs of clients in each of its markets. Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management has Investment Advisors (IAs) and professionals in Canada, the UK and its Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man) and Australia and has advisors in Canada who are registered in the US. Reference to CGWM UK includes offices located in both the UK and the Crown Dependencies. Since 2016, Canaccord Genuity has materially invested to support the growth of its wealth management businesses in all geographies. As a result of this growth, client assets have increased substantially, and Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management has become a stable and significant contributor to firmwide profitability and earnings.

To learn more about CGWM UK, visit https://www.canaccordgenuity.com/wealth-management-uk/

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release may contain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). These statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's expectations, beliefs, plans, estimates, intentions and similar statements concerning anticipated future events, results, circumstances, performance or expectations that are not historical facts, including business and economic conditions and Canaccord Genuity Group's growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict", "potential", "continue", "target", "intend", "could" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and a number of factors could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. In evaluating these statements, readers should specifically consider various factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement. These factors include, but are not limited 'to, market and general economic conditions, the nature of the financial services industry and the risks and uncertainties discussed from time to time in the Company's interim condensed and annual consolidated financial statements, its annual report and its annual information form ("AIF") filed on www.sedar.com as well as the factors discussed in the sections entitled "Risk Management" and "Risk Factors" in the AIF, which include market, liquidity, credit, operational, legal and regulatory risks. Material factors or assumptions that were used by the Company to develop the forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to, those set out in the Fiscal 2022 Outlook section in the annual MD&A and those discussed from time to time in the Company's interim condensed and annual consolidated financial statements, its annual report and the AIF filed on www.sedar.com. The preceding list is not exhaustive of all possible risk factors that may influence actual results. Readers are cautioned that the preceding list of material factors or assumptions is not exhaustive.

Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon what management believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Except as may be required by applicable law, the Company does not undertake, and specifically disclaims, any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, further developments or otherwise.

Investor and media relations inquiries: Christina Marinoff, Vice President, Investor Relations & Communications, Phone: 416-687-5507 Email: cmarinoff@cgf.com, www.cgf.com/investor-relations
FRUITLAND, ID / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / PROTOCALL TECHNOLOGIES INC (OTC PINK:PCLI) trades on the Pink Open Market. Investors can find Real-Time quote and market information for the Company on http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/PCLI/quote $PCLI

Protocall Technologies Inc. (PCLI) has successfully completed the formal process of providing current information disclosures to officially achieve the OTC Pink Current Information status on the OTC Markets.

CEO Paul Knudson stated, "We are very excited to be Pink Current as this completes the long process of rehabilitating PCLI to become a viable, publicly traded company. We have preserved the investments of our loyal and patient shareholders. In addition, I am excited to say we have established the foundation for recapitalization of PCLI thru acquisitions and company growth will continue. PCLI is establishing a Real Estate Division with acquisitions ideally suited to take advantage of the red-hot Idaho housing market. As we expand this division the Company will be providing updates."

PCLI CONTACT: Paul Knudson, 912 Bobwhite Street, Fruitland, Idaho 83619.

PCLI's telephone number is 1-208-452-6972.

Website: http://www.protocalltech.com

Follow us on Twitter: @OfficialPCLI

INVEST IN LAND, THEY AREN'T MAKING ANYMORE OF IT - Mark Twain

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time the statements are made and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements in this press release. This press release should be considered in light of the disclosures contained in our filings and our "forward-looking statements" in such filings that are available in the OTC Markets, Inc. website under our trading symbol, "PCLI".

SOURCE: Protocall Technologies Inc. (PCLI)

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666192/PCLI-Achieves-OTC-Pink--Current-Status-and-Creates-a-Real-Estate-Division
-The Company launched a wide range of Radient-branded products and formulations across the majority of Canadian provinces during fiscal 2021

-Reduced operating costs by over 41% to move towards operating profitability

-Updates on M&A as part of strategic review

Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Radient Technologies Inc. (TSXV: RTI) (OTC PINK: RDDTF) ("Radient" or the "Company"), a manufacturer of high-quality cannabinoids-based formulations and products, is pleased to announce it has released its financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. The audited financial statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis (the "MD&A") for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021 are available at SEDAR.com, under the Company's profile.

Key Business Developments & Subsequent Events

Fiscal 2021 was a transformational year for Radient, with a wide range of strategic initiatives and cost-cutting measures led by a new management team under the leadership of Harry Kaura, who was newly appointed as CEO in February 2021. A key milestone for the Company was the successful introduction of Radient-branded products and formulations into the rapidly growing recreational cannabis market in several Canadian jurisdictions.

Radient successfully launched 55 SKUs across several provinces. The range of SKUs in Radient's formulations and products now include:



Distillate Vapes, 21 SKUs Live Resin X Vapes, 11 SKUs Live Resin Vapes, 2 SKUs THCa Diamonds, 6 SKUs Shatter, 4 SKUs CBD isolate, 1 SKUs THC and CBD Tinctures, 6 SKUs Distillate Dabs, 4 SKUs



Products Radient expects to be launched within the next 6 months include:



Cigarette-style pre-rolls Solventless extract line Afghan Hash Packaged dry flower



The Company established sales relationships with all major provincial and territorial retail markets in Canada, resulting in Radient now selling its products in the majority of provinces in Canada, with its first sales order received from Ontario in August 2021.

The Company signed an exclusive licensing and extraction agreement (the "Extraction Agreement") with HighGrade Supply Ltd., ("HighGrade"), an established cannabis culture legacy brand, to manufacture a wide range of premium concentrates for sale in both the medicinal and recreational cannabis markets in Canada. As per the terms of the Extraction Agreement, Radient and HighGrade will endeavour to install a custom extraction system designed to achieve high throughput and maximum product purity. The capacity of the HighGrade team is expected to be 1,100 kgs of biomass daily between hydrocarbons and other solvents. Radient expects to release a wide range of top-quality and affordable cannabis products in this category across Canada for the recreational, medical, and wholesale B2B markets.

The Company announced a licensing agreement with one of Canada's first wholly owned Indigenous cannabis brands, Atomic Eh! ("Atomic"). Together, Radient and Atomic are working together to build a nationwide brand. This is among the first initiatives in the Canadian cannabis industry to build a platform to help increase the representation of Indigenous-owned cannabis companies, which have so far been under-represented. Radient became the first ever Canadian-licensed processor to build a unique line of products and formulations to bring cannabis and herbal remedies together to provide communities with a natural medicine option.

Strategic Potential Acquisitions

Radient entered into a letter of intent with Tunaaaa Room Inc. (" Tunaaaa Room ") to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Tunaaaa Room Xtracts Inc. (" TRX ") (the " Transaction "), a cannabis brand previously co-developed by Tunaaaa Room and Radient. The Transaction was subsequent to a licensing agreement (the " Licensing Agreement") entered into by the Company, which was first announced on December 8, 2020. In accordance with the Licensing Agreement, Radient and Tunaaaa Room co-developed high-quality premium cannabis products, including live resin vape cartridges, caviar, and THCa diamonds. The products are currently being sold under the popular TRX brand extensively through provincially-licensed retailers across Canada, with the first shipment of products sold in Ontario in September 2021.





") to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Tunaaaa Room Xtracts Inc. (" ") (the " "), a cannabis brand previously co-developed by Tunaaaa Room and Radient. The Transaction was subsequent to a licensing agreement (the " entered into by the Company, which was first announced on December 8, 2020. In accordance with the Licensing Agreement, Radient and Tunaaaa Room co-developed high-quality premium cannabis products, including live resin vape cartridges, caviar, and THCa diamonds. The products are currently being sold under the popular TRX brand extensively through provincially-licensed retailers across Canada, with the first shipment of products sold in Ontario in September 2021. On July 29, 2021 Radient announced that it had entered into a letter of intent with PBR Laboratories Inc. ("PBR Labs") to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of PBR Labs, a leading consumer product-testing and development company. PBR Labs is a leading scientific and consumer product-testing laboratory providing analytical and contract research services to public and private sector clients in the cannabis, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, food, natural health product, and agriculture industries. If the transaction is completed, Radient anticipates PBR Labs will provide efficiencies from a quality assurance and product development & approval perspective, significantly reducing the cost and time typically required to bring consumer products to global markets.

Radient intends to update shareholders on the progress of the potential TRX and PBR Labs acquisitions in the coming months, pending TSX-V and other approvals.

Fiscal Summary

The Company commenced the transformation of its business to commercialize its science-based technology stack into operating profitability as part of a comprehensive restructuring plan. There were wide-ranging strategic and operational changes initiated by the new management team through fiscal 2021.

Operating costs were reduced significantly by 41% from $24.7M to $14.3M. These included reduction in SG&A by 34% and a one-time financing charge of $2.6M. The cost savings of over $12M for fiscal 2021 is part of Radient's strategic efforts to achieve operating profitability in fiscal 2022. Management expects a further reduction in these costs, as the Company moves forward in this direction to break even in fiscal 2022.

Conversion of over $8M in debt into shares as a part of Management's initiatives to de-leverage of the balance sheet. There was a reduction in construction and related payables by $4.2M (45%) to reflect this transition.

Restructuring several parts of the business through a series of consolidations, divestitures and the commercialization of Radient's technology into branded products and formulations.

Restructuring the European operations through a strategic review process and the winding down of Radient's subsidiary, MAG Industries in Germany, to focus the business on revenue generating opportunities in North America.

Management Commentary:

"This is an incredibly exciting time for Radient as we are just getting started on several key revenue-generating initiatives that we believe will be reflected in our financial statements moving forward," said Harry Kaura, CEO of Radient. "Aside from fortifying several key strategic partnerships and launching new Radient-branded products which have continued to be enthusiastically received by cannabis consumers, a key focus for the Company during fiscal 2021 was reducing our capital and operating expenses, which we have successfully achieved. I look forward to what the year ahead holds for the Company and I would like to thank our shareholders for their ongoing support."

About Radient

Radient is a commercial manufacturer of diverse, novel and high-quality cannabis extracts and packaged products, specializing in identifying existing market gaps and bringing products that fulfill these gaps to consumers. With scientific and industry expertise at its foundation, Radient develops specialty products that contain a highly engineered and unique range of cannabinoid and terpene profiles, while meeting the highest standards of quality and safety. Radient also operates a scientific and product testing laboratory that offers unique solutions to the cannabis and wellness spaces. Please visit www.radientinc.com for more information.

SOURCE: Radient Technologies Inc.

For more information, please contact:

Harry Kaura, CEO & Director

ir@radientinc.com

Ph: 780 465 1318



Cautionary Statements

Completion of the proposed strategic acquisitions described herein are subject to a number of conditions including, completion of due diligence and execution of definitive agreements, receipt by the Company of all requisite corporate and regulatory approvals, including approval of the TSX-V, and other closing conditions customarily found in similar transactions. There can be no guarantees that the proposed transactions will be completed as contemplated or at all.

Nothing contained in this press release constitutes any representation as to the safety, efficacy, suitability, effectiveness or other features of medical cannabis or any other product in the management of any medical condition or for any purpose, and is not intended to provide, or to be a substitute for, professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health care practitioner for any questions you may have about any illness or other condition, including the suitability or effectiveness of any particular course of treatment.

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding (i) the ability of the Company to achieve operating profitability, the revenues specified herein, further cost reductions and break even in fiscal 2022, (ii) the proposed strategic transactions, including the Company's ability to enter into the definitive agreements and complete the proposed transactions, (iii) the ability of PBR Labs to provide efficiencies, (iv) the winding down of MAG Industries, and (v) the business and operations of the Company. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Radient, as the case may be, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social uncertainties; risks associated with operation in the cannabis sector; and other risks inherent in the cannabis industry. Although Radient has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Radient does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98223
ZURICH (dpa-AFX) - Credit Suisse Group AG announced Friday that Axel Lehmann and Juan Colombas were both newly elected to the Board of Directors for a term until the end of the next Annual General Meeting, at today's Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM). The shareholders also approved all the proposals put forward by the Board of Directors at the meeting. Axel Lehmann was elected as a new member of the Board of Directors with a majority of 98.87% of shareholders. Juan Colombas was also elected as a new member of the Board of Directors with a majority of 98.75%. Shareholders also elected Colombas as a new member of the Compensation Committee as proposed by the Board of Directors. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Lorne Park Capital Partners Inc. (TSXV: LPC) ("LPCP") is pleased to announce that its Board of Directors has approved the declaration of a cash dividend of $0.005 per common share, payable on October 29, 2021 to the shareholders of record as of October 15, 2021.

The dividend payments qualify as eligible dividends for Canadian income tax purposes. The declaration, amount and payment of future cash dividends are subject to the Board of Directors' continuing determination that the payment of dividends is in the best interests of the Company, its shareholders and is in compliance with all laws and agreements of the Company applicable to the declaration and payment of cash dividends. The ability of the Company to pay future dividends will be reviewed on a quarterly basis taking into consideration actual and forecasted cash flows and the macroeconomic outlook at that point in time.

About Lorne Park Capital Partners Inc.

LPCP was created to bring together boutique investment management and wealth advisory firms in order to deliver robust, cost effective investment solutions to affluent investors, foundations, estates and trusts. LPCP's unique strategy creates better alignment between investment managers and wealth advisors while providing them with additional resources to accelerate their growth.

For further information, please contact:

Robert Sewell

Chief Executive Officer

Lorne Park Capital Partners Inc.

investor.relations@lpcp.ca

(905) 337-2227

Cautionary Notes

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains statements which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", "plan", and other similar expressions. Forward looking information in this news release includes, without limitation, LPCP's objectives, goals and future plans. Forward-looking information addresses possible future events, conditions and financial performance based upon management's current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions. In particular, the forward-looking information contained in this news release reflects assumptions about the timing and results of the amalgamation and regulatory approvals. Management of LPCP considers the assumptions on which the forward-looking information contained herein are based to be reasonable. However, by its very nature, forward-looking information inherently involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such information. Such risks include, without limitation, changes in economic conditions, applicable laws or regulations. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. LPCP disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES, ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF U.S. SECURITIES LAW/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/97939
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Thesis Gold Inc. (TSXV: TAU) (WKN: A2QQ0Y) ("Thesis" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Thomas Mumford as a Director of the Company. In addition, Mr. Xiang has stepped down from the Board of Directors effective September 30, 2021 but will remain as an advisor to the Company.

Dr. Mumford is an exploration geologist with over 15 years experience. He has extensive technical and project management experience in Au, REE, Cu-porphyry, and U deposits. He is a registered professional geologist and professional engineering licensee with Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia (EGBC), and currently acts as the Vice President, Exploration for Scottie Resources Corp. He is a director for the Association for Mineral Exploration (AME) and has served as a lecturer at Carleton University and British Columbia Institute of Technology. He holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. from University of New Brunswick, and a Ph.D. from Carleton University which focused on magmatic controls of the Nechalacho REE deposit in the NWT.

"We would like to thank James for his contributions to Thesis over the past year and we look forward to continuing working with him in his new role as an advisor to the Company," Ewan Webster, President and CEO commented.

"I am delighted to welcome Thomas to the board. His extensive exploration experience will be invaluable to the Company as we continue to advance our Ranch Gold project."

The Company is also pleased to announce it has entered into a letter agreement (the "Letter Agreement") dated September 15, 2021 with Steven Scott, pursuant to which the Company acquired British Columbia mineral claim numbers 1074376, 1074335 and 1074333 (the "Acquisition") (Figure 1). The mineral claims are all British Columbia mineral claims that were originally staked and are owned by an arm's length third party, Mr. Scott (the "Vendor"). Under the terms of the Letter Agreement, the Company paid cash consideration the amount of $5,000 plus the cost of transferring the title of the mineral claims to the Company. No finder's fees were paid in connection with the Acquisition.





Figure 1: Ranch project outline and inset showing the acquired claims.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2191/98200_e9261cc5e4b709a0_001full.jpg

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Thesis Gold Inc.

"Ewan Webster"

Ewan Webster Ph.D., P.Geo.

President, CEO and Director

About Thesis Gold Inc.

Thesis Gold is a mineral exploration company focused on proving and developing the resource potential of the 17,832-hectare Ranch Gold Project located in the "Golden Horseshoe" area of northern British Columbia, approximately 300 km north of Smithers, B.C. For further details about the Ranch Gold Project, please refer to the Company's current geological Technical Report dated September 18, 2020 available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

For further information or investor relations inquiries, please contact:

Dave Burwell

Vice President

The Howard Group Inc.

Email: dave@howardgroupinc.com

Tel: 403-410-7907

Toll Free: 1-888-221-0915

Nick Stajduhar

Director

Thesis Gold

Telephone: 780-701-3216

Email: nicks@thesisgold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the use of proceeds from the Company's recently completed financings, and the future plans or prospects of the Company. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to business, market and economic risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Other factors which could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the risk factors in the Company's most recent annual management's discussion and analysis which is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98200
Kindred Group has on 1 October 2021 completed the previously announced acquisition of the remaining outstanding shares in Relax Gaming, a leading and rapidly growing B2B iGaming supplier.

VALLETTA, Malta, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kindred Group announced on 2 July 2021 that it had entered into an agreement to acquire the remaining 66.6 per cent of the outstanding shares in Relax Gaming. Relax Gaming is a market leading B2B iGaming software supplier that designs and develops online casino games, supported by an open distribution platform for third party aggregation as well as proprietary poker and bingo products. Relax Gaming was founded in 2010 and has today c. 240 full-time employees with four main hubs in Malta, Estonia, Sweden and Serbia. Kindred has been invested in Relax Gaming since 2013 and was prior to the transaction the largest owner with 33.4 per cent of the outstanding shares.

The acquisition accelerates Kindred's strategy to increase its focus on product and customer experience by strengthening Kindred's product control and product differentiation capabilities. The acquisition is expected to generate annual run-rate synergies of EUR 8 million within the next three years for the Group, driven especially by lower investment needs and reduced cost of sales. In order to secure continued integrity of Relax Gaming's B2B customers, Kindred's intention is to keep Relax Gaming as an independent entity within the Group with a separate management team and Board of Directors. Patrik Osteraker, the co-founder of Relax Gaming, will remain as the Chairman of the Board. Kindred's ambition is to continue to invest in Relax Gaming to cement its position as a leading B2B iGaming supplier by further strengthening Relax Gaming's product offering and by broadening their B2B customer base.

In conjunction with the completion of the transaction, all existing employee share option programmes in Relax Gaming have been exercised, and Relax Gaming's management, who is committed to the future success of the company, retains an ownership of seven per cent of the total fully diluted shares in the company. Kindred's ownership in Relax Gaming after the transaction is 93 per cent of the total fully diluted shares.

The transaction values Relax Gaming at up to EUR 320 million on a cash and debt free basis (Enterprise value) and a total value of the outstanding shares of approximately EUR 295 million (Equity value). The initial consideration for the remaining outstanding share of approximately EUR 80 million (on a cash and debt free basis) has been settled in cash. In addition to the initial consideration, the maximum earn-out payments amount to EUR 113 million and may become payable in 2022 and 2023, subject to Relax Gaming achieving certain earnings thresholds.

This disclosure contains information that Kindred Group is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014). The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person, on 01-10-202113:30 CET.

CONTACT:

For more information:

Patrick Kortman, Head of Corporate Development & Investor Relations

ir@kindredgroup.com

+46 723 877 438

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/kindred-group/r/kindred-group-completes-the-acquisition-of-relax-gaming,c3425623

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Ardian, a world leading private investment house, via its infrastructure business, and FiveT Hydrogen, a clean-hydrogen enabling investment platform, today announced a partnership to create Hy241, an equally owned joint venture. Hy24 will become the world's largest investment platform focused on clean hydrogen infrastructure, designed to invest in projects that are critical to global decarbonization.

Hy24 is targeting 1.5bn for its first fund, making the platform the industry's largest clean hydrogen infrastructure manager. Of this, 800m has already been committed by a leading group of industrial and financial investors active in clean hydrogen. The fund is the result of distinct initiatives from two groups of investors:

Air Liquide, TotalEnergies and VINCI, all fully committed to low carbon and renewable hydrogen development, each of which has pledged to invest 100m each as anchor investors.

Plug Power, Chart Industries and Baker Hughes together (as former cornerstone investors in FiveT Hydrogen), who are also joining as anchor investors.

LOTTE Chemical, a large Asian industrial Group, also confirmed its intention to join as an anchor investor, and so will AXA, a major institutional investor. Other large international industrial players, all strongly committed to carbon neutrality, also intend to join the initiative. These include: Groupe ADP, Ballard, EDF and Schaeffler. More are expected soon.

The international tender process to select Hy24 and to engage industrial investors was arranged by Societe Generale.

Hy24 plans to bring together additional international institutional investors and industrial companies to provide scale and investing capability for hydrogen projects around the world.

Hy24 combines Ardian's world-class infrastructure investment expertise and asset management capabilities with FiveT Hydrogen's extensive access to and experience with the hydrogen value chain. The combination will create the largest and most credible partner to energy giants and investors that are seeking a role in accelerating the build-out of hydrogen infrastructure. It meets the enormous demand from governments, corporations, and investors to invest in hydrogen to meet the world's climate goals. Recent analysis2 indicates that up to $100 trillion in hydrogen investments will be required to meet net zero goals by 2050.

Hy24's first fund will be set up and managed as an impact fund with the aim to reduce global carbon emissions, in accordance with Article 9 of the SFDR regulation. It will scale proven technologies towards mature infrastructure assets generating predictable cash flows, providing investors with unrivalled access to a new asset class that has the potential to follow the same pace of growth as renewables. The portfolio will be diversified across geographies (Europe, Americas and Asia) and value chains, from upstream projects like green hydrogen production, to downstream projects like captive fleet and refueling stations. The value-creation opportunity is significant: job creation and decarbonization, especially in hard-to-abate sectors.

Mathias Burghardt, Head of Ardian Infrastructure and Member of Ardian's Executive Committee, said: "We are proud to have been chosen by some of the world's leading industrial players and investors to lead this initiative. At a time when the European Union has announced a step-up in its climate ambitions, and just ahead of COP26, it is a great responsibility to lead such a platform. We were early backers of the renewables market, our platform reaching 7.5GW of heat and renewable capacity today, and it is clear to us that hydrogen is facing a similar trajectory. This collaborative partnership is exactly in line with how Ardian Infrastructure operates. We are confident that Hy24 will be able to play a leading role in accelerating the hydrogen scale-up needed to decarbonize our economies."

Pierre-Etienne Franc, Co-founder and CEO of FiveT Hydrogen, said: "This is a great step forward for FiveT Hydrogen. Via this unique partnership, we expect to mobilize 15bn worth of investments as a catalyst for scaling up the industry at pace. The world urgently needs to accelerate the energy transition and reduce the carbon output of energy intensive, hard-to-abate sectors like transport and industrial production. Together with Ardian, and with the ambitious backing of our industrial LPs, we are well-placed to do this, combining a unique skill set and track record."

The Hy24 executive committee comprises Laurent Fayollas (President), Pierre-Etienne Franc (CEO), Amir Sharifi (Chief Investment Officer), Nicolas Brahy (General counsel, public affairs and ESG Director) and Sebastien Paillat (Managing Director, Investments). A recruitment process is ongoing to establish a dedicated global team operating across four countries: France, Switzerland, the U.S. and Singapore.

ABOUT HY24

Hy24 was created by Ardian and FiveT Hydrogen to manage the first large global investment platform exclusively dedicated to hydrogen infrastructure solutions, resulting from an initiative started by industrial champions: Air Liquide, TotalEnergies, VINCI Concessions, Plug Power, Baker Hughes and Chart Industries and joined by AXA, a major institutional investor. With strong industrial expertise at its core, the platform will have a unique capacity to accelerate the scaling up of hydrogen solutions along the whole value chain: production, conversion, storage and supply and usage. The platform will support large early stage and strategic projects into becoming essential energy infrastructures.

hy24partners.com

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$114bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base. Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian's activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world. Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 750 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of more than 1,200 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

www.ardian.com

ABOUT FIVE T HYDROGEN

FiveT Hydrogen is the world's first pureplay clean-hydrogen private investment and asset management platform. Its mission is to enable the foundation of the hydrogen economy through the development of various large Hydrogen investment initiatives, starting with infrastructure and this Clean H2 Fund jointly developed now within Hy24, with ARDIAN. FiveT Hydrogen was launched by an experienced team of world-class hydrogen and financial executives and is dedicated to enabling the Hydrogen economy to deliver its full potential. We believe that clean hydrogen an energy carrier created with close to zero carbon-emissions will transform and decarbonize the world's economy, creating a material value-creation opportunity.

https://fivet.com/fivet-hydrogen

1 The platform will be operational later in 2021, subject to AIFM accreditation by the French Market Authority (AMF) and to the finalization of the legal documentation with all partners. The Alternative Investment Fund Manager Directive (AIFM) provides a regulatory framework for alternative investment fund managers in Europe.

2 Including BloombergNEF (New Energy Outlook)

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005411/en/

Contacts:

US PRESS CONTACTS

ARDIAN

The Neibart Group

Emma Murphy

ardian@neibargroup.com

FIVE T HYDROGEN

FTI Consulting

Elizabeth Adams

fivethydrogen@fticonsulting.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Next Green Wave Holdings Inc. (CSE: NGW) (OTCQX: NXGWF) ("Next Green Wave", "NGW" or the "Company") the Company is pleased to confirm the appointment of Curtis Floyd to NGW's Board of Directors.

Mr. Floyd joins the Next Green Wave Board of Directors with an outstanding track record in business, entrepreneurship and leadership.

Currently, Mr. Floyd is:

a practicing attorney with The Law Offices of Curtis Floyd, holding an economics degree from UCLA and a law degree from Stanford, and;





a member of the Board of Directors of Mission Bank, a publicly traded community bank, headquartered in Central California. In addition to being a Board Member, Mr. Floyd is also a founder of Mission Bank, where he has served as the Chair of the Audit and Corporate Governance Committees, and as a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions Committee. Since its formation in 1999, Mission Bank has grown from a single branch with approximately US$5 million in assets to a chain that is now located in seven (7) cities around California, with assets in excess of US$1 billion.





Chairman of the Board of Directors of Community Action Partnership of Kern, a community service organization located in Central California, with an annual budget of US$45 million and over 900 employees.

During his legal career, Mr. Floyd has counseled numerous business owners on business formation, structuring, expansion, financing, compliance and litigation. Personally, Curtis has founded or invested in a vast array of diverse private business ventures, including, but not limited to, educational services, restaurants, farming, real estate development and construction. Curtis has invested in both private and public cannabis enterprises and currently owns over 5% of the outstanding shares of Next Green Wave, which places him in alignment with NGW Shareholders.

The Company has granted 850,000 stock options to Mr. Floyd under its stock option plan, exercisable at a price of CDN$0.50 per share, with an expiry date of five years, and will vest 25% every 6 months for a period of two years.

"Mr. Floyd's diverse experience in business, governance, banking, risk management and California cannabis makes him a perfect addition to the Next Green Wave board to help guide the Company to the next level. We could not be more excited to have him join our team." - Michael Jennings, CEO Next Green Wave

Unrelated to the above, the Company has granted 850,000 stock options under its stock option plan exercisable at a price of CDN$0.50 per share, with an expiry date of five years, to multiple contractors, where the vesting conditions are contingent on internal 2022 sales targets, none of which can vest before Dec 31, 2022.

About Next Green Wave

Next Green Wave is an integrated premium seed-to-shelf craft cannabis producer offering products through its in-house brand portfolio and wholesale flower for other large cannabis manufacturers. The Company owns and operates a 35,000 sq. ft. indoor facility in Coalinga, CA, which is home to our nursery, cultivation, distribution, and packaging business. Marketing, product design, and formulation are produced in-house; please follow along at www.nextgreenwave.com or on Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

For more information regarding Next Green Wave please contact:

Matthew Jewell

CFO

Tel: +1 (604) 684-6844

IR@nextgreenwave.com

Neither Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") nor its Regulation Services Providers (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Next Green Wave Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, are "forward-looking statements" and such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information represent only NGW's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of NGW's control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts" "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein may include, but are not limited to, the Company's expectations for long-term (YE 2021, YE 2022 and YE 2023) revenue and adjusted EBITDA profitability, the ability of the Company to successfully achieve business objectives (including completion of construction and increasing production capacity), and expectations for other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. This forward-looking information reflects NGW's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to NGW and on assumptions NGW believes are reasonable.

Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others: dependence on obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals, including acquiring and renewing state, local or other licenses and any inability to obtain all necessary governmental approvals licenses and permits to complete construction of its proposed facilities in a timely manner; engaging in activities which currently are illegal under US federal law and the uncertainty of existing protection from U.S. federal or other prosecution; regulatory or political change such as changes in applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. state-law legalization, particularly in California, due to inconsistent public opinion, perception of the medical-use and adult-use marijuana industry, bureaucratic delays or inefficiencies or any other reasons; any other factors or developments which may hinder market growth; NGW's limited operating history and lack of historical profits; reliance on management; NGW's requirements for additional financing, and the effect of capital market conditions and other factors on capital availability, competition, including from more established or better financed competitors; the need to secure and maintain corporate alliances and partnerships, including with customers and suppliers; and risks and delays resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Although NGW has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other risk factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. NGW has no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, even if new information becomes available as a result of future events, new information or for any other reason except as required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98166


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has raised concerns against increasing e-cigarettes use among U.S. middle and high school students. Youth e-cigarette use remains a serious public health concern amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.



The study by the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, says more than 2 million U.S. middle and high school students were found to be using e-cigarettes in 2021. Almost 85 percent of them used flavored e-cigarettes, which is more than 8 in 10 students.



The regulators warned that youth use of tobacco products, in any form, including electronic nicotine delivery systems or ENDS like e-cigarettes, is unsafe as they contain nicotine, which is highly addictive and can harm the developing adolescent brain. The use can also increase risk for future addiction to other drugs.



The report, based on data from the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey or NYTS, assessed current e-cigarette use, frequency of use, and use by device type, flavors and usual brand.



In the surveyed students, an estimated 11.3 percent or 1.72 million of high school students and an estimated 2.8 percent or 320,000 of middle school students reported current e-cigarette use. During the survey at the pandemic time, many students were in remote learning environments that might have affected their access to tobacco products.



Among the youth who currently used e-cigarettes, 43.6 percent of high school students and 17.2 percent of middle school students reported using e-cigarettes on 20 or more of the past 30 days. More than 1 in 4 high school students and about 1 in 12 middle school students used them daily.



The most commonly used e-cigarette device type was disposables with 53.7 percent using it, followed by prefilled or refillable pods or cartridges, and tanks or mod systems.



84.7 percent used flavored e-cigarettes including 85.8 percent of high school and 79.2 percent of middle school users. Overall, the most commonly used flavor types were fruit, candy, desserts, or other sweets, mint, and menthol.



Among high school students who currently used e-cigarettes, 26.1 percent reported their usual brand was Puff Bar, followed by Vuse, SMOK, JUUL and Suorin. Among middle school students the highly used brand was Puff Bar followed by JUUL. A good number of users reported not knowing the e-cigarette brand they usually used.



Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said, 'These data highlight the fact that flavored e-cigarettes are still extremely popular with kids. And we are equally disturbed by the quarter of high school students who use e-cigarettes and say they vape every single day. The FDA continues to take action against those who sell or target e-cigarettes and e-liquids to kids, as seen just this year by the denial of more than one million premarket applications for flavored electronic nicotine delivery system products..'



As part of the efforts to protect youth from the dangers of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, the FDA said it has taken action on over 96 percent of the applications to date.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FYX Gaming, the Raleigh-based esports infrastructure and technology provider behind the popular skill-based strategic fighting game CryptoFights, has announced follow-on seed round financing. FYX has attracted commitments from several prominent investors as part of the ongoing funding round, including Ventek Ventures and Ayre Ventures, with opportunities now available for new participants to join the round.

CryptoFights, which allows players to enter real-money tournaments using its native cash on the BSV blockchain, has already attracted over 100,000 registered users. These users are currently generating hundreds of thousands of transactions each day, a feat made possible by the BSV blockchain's unbounded scaling capacity.

This latest funding round involves a mix of new and existing investors, with the former led by Los Angeles-based Ventek Ventures, an early stage cross-border venture capital fund focusing on the US, China, and Southeast Asia.

Ventek founding partner Tony Zhang said: "There's a lot of hype surrounding the Metaverse and NFTs right now, but there are also a few innovative Play to Earn companies creating actual value for users. FYX is one of them. By combining best of class game play with a sophisticated virtual economy based on years of experience in gaming, FYX has figured out a way to make games both fun and lucrative. We are proud to partner with FYX as it continues to reward players by building a powerful, inclusive platform that players can leverage to generating more income."

Among the existing investors raising their stake is Ayre Ventures, whose founder Calvin Ayre expressed delight in renewing his support for FYX. Ayre called CryptoFights' daily transaction volume "emphatic proof of the possibilities that can only be achieved on the BSV Enterprise Blockchain. CryptoFights is an engaging product with unlimited growth potential thanks to BSV and the dedication of the FYX team."

FYX CEO Adam Kling said he was pleased that his company had "joined the growing ranks of gaming companies, including Mythical Games and Sky Mavis, that are sparking investors' interest." Kling added that FYX was looking forward to closing its Series A funding next year.

Kling says FYX will use capital raised via the current funding round on new hires to grow its infrastructure and boost CryptoFights' capacity to handle millions of users. The FYX platform recently expanded players' funding options through the addition of Simplex, for fiat-to-BSV transactions, and will soon launch Fabriik's Weave API, for crypto-to-BSV transactions. This will enable players to more easily fund their game play and to buy and sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the FYX marketplace. Additional capabilities to allow users to create their own NFTs are in the works.

To learn more about FYX, attend (in person or virtually) the CoinGeek New York conference, the year's biggest BSV blockchain event (October 5-7, 2021), at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. FYX CEO Adam Kling will participate in the Licensing IP for NFTs: Graphic Novels, Comic Books & Brands panel on Wednesday, October 6.

About FYX

FYX Gaming is an esports infrastructure and technology provider, specializing in the development and implementation of blockchain technologies. The company offers a full suite of specialized esports products and services, with innovative solutions spanning game monetization, integrity, data and analytics. In 2020, FYX was admitted as a member of the esports Integrity Commission (ESIC).

About Ventek Ventures

Ventek Ventures is an early stage cross-border venture capital fund focusing on companies with the technology, team and timing to capture sustainable markets in the US, China, and Southeast Asia.

About Ayre Ventures

Ayre Ventures, founded by celebrated entrepreneur and philanthropist Calvin Ayre, provides capital to scalable, high-growth businesses within the BSV blockchain ecosystem, the only infinitely scaling enterprise public blockchain. The Group targets investment in innovative ideas and ambitious projects that are 'positively disruptive', supporting their expansion with the Group's extensive network and industry partners.
NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / (CSE:ROO)(OTC PINK:JNCCD)(FRA:5VHA) - RooGold Inc. ("RooGold" or the "Issuer") is pleased to announce the closing in escrow ("Escrow Closing") of the definitive Share Exchange Agreement ("SEA") with Aussie Precious Metals Corp. ("APMC") whereby RooGold has effectively acquired a 100% interest in APMC's Trilby and Lorne properties ("Properties") in New South Wales (NSW) Australia. The Issuer issued four million (4,000,000) common shares (the "Purchase Shares") to the shareholders of APMC ("Shareholders") in exchange for all of the issued and outstanding shares of APMC with the Properties held in APMC's wholly owned Australian subsidiary. APMC Shareholders have entered into voluntary lock-up undertakings ("Undertakings") with the Issuer. Pursuant to terms of the Undertakings, a majority of the Purchase Shares shall be released in tranches for a period of up to two years from Escrow Closing. In connection with the Escrow Closing, the Purchase Shares are currently being held in escrow pending New South Wales ministerial approval ("Ministerial Approval") of the change in ownership of the Properties and the satisfaction of other final closing conditions. The Issuer expects to shortly make application to the Minister for such approval and will provide prescribed due diligence information on the Issuer as part of such application process. Once Ministerial Approval is obtained and the other closing conditions are satisfied, the final closing of the acquisition will occur and the escrow closing documents will be released from escrow. The Issuer expects the Ministerial Approval to be granted in due course given that such approval has already been received in connection with other acquisitions by the Issuer.

About ROOGOLD

ROOGOLD is a Canadian based junior venture mineral exploration issuer which is uniquely positioned to be a dominant player in New South Wales, Australia, through a growth strategy focused on the consolidation and exploration of highly mineralized precious metals properties in this prolific region of Australia. Through its acquisition of Southern Precious Metals Ltd., RooGold Ltd. and Aussie Precious Metals Corp. properties, RooGold commands a portfolio of 13 high-grade potential gold (9) and silver (4) concessions covering 1,380 km2 which is home to 137 historic mines and prospects.

For further information please contact:

Michael Mulberry

T: 778-855-5001

info@roogoldinc.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur.

Although the Issuer believes that the expectations reflected in applicable forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements are subjectto risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in such statements.

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

SOURCE: RooGold Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666358/Roogold-Completes-Further-Acquisition-of-Australian-Properties
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Doubleview Gold Corp (TSXV: DBG) (OTC PINK: DBLVF) (FSE: 1D4) ("Doubleview", the "Company") is pleased to provide update on metallurgical testwork program of drill core rock samples at its 100% owned Hat Copper-Gold-Cobalt deposit, located in the Golden Triangle region of Atlin Mining District in Northwest British Columbia. Testwork is in progress and as per work flow designed by the company's metallurgy team led by Mr. Andrew Carter EUR ING B.Sc. CEng. MIMMM, MSAIMM SME of Coffey - A Tetra Tech Company.

Recent laboratory testwork demonstrated that it is possible to produce a high-gold, low-cobalt chalcopyrite concentrate and a high-cobalt, low gold pyrite concentrate from HAT project mineralogical materials. Additional testwork is being implemented, which is aimed at improving process selectivity, concentrate grades and recoveries.

HAT drill core assays have indicated the presence of scandium at elevated levels typically twice that associated with crustal rocks. Scandium is a high value technology metal and is used in the manufacture of super-alloys and ceramic fuel cells; the market for scandium is anticipated to expand significantly in the near future. Preliminary analysis indicated the potential for by-product scandium production from the HAT project. The flotation testwork program will generate a tailings product that will be evaluated for the potential recovery of scandium. If the testwork proves successful, then by-product scandium production could add significant value to the HAT project.

Follow up updates will be announced as they become available.

Strategic Metals:

On March 11, 2021, Canada unveiled its Critical Minerals List that can be viewed by following the link below. The list includes 31 minerals considered integral to the Canadian economy.

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/minerals-mining/critical-minerals/23414

Stock Options:

The Company also announces that it has granted a total of 410,000 stock options to its directors, officers, and consultants. The options are exercisable at a price of $0.35 per share and expire five years from the date of grant.

Qualified Persons:

EUR ING Andrew Carter B.Sc. CEng. MIMMM, MSAIMM SME of Coffey, Tetra Tech is Doubleview's Qualified Person with respect to the Hat Project Metallurgical Studies as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release. He is independent of Doubleview.

About the Hat Project:





The Hat Property is considered a probable porphyry gold-copper deposit with characteristics similar to those of many of British Columbia's major deposits. Hat mineralization carries many of the important North American strategic metals, including but not limited to, Copper, Cobalt, and Scandium, with unique metallurgical characteristics that differ from other base metal deposits of British Columbia's Stikine Terrane. Sulphide mineralization, primarily chalcopyrite, occurs in fracture zones in dioritic intrusive rocks and strongly altered andesitic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of Upper Triassic age.





Doubleview acquired the Hat Property in 2011 and has conducted several programs of exploration, Doubleview discovered the Hat deposit under the supervision and guidance of Mr. Erik Ostensoe, P.Geo.





About Doubleview Gold Corp:





Doubleview Gold Corp, a mineral resource exploration and development company, is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and is publicly traded on the TSX Venture Exchange [TSXV: DBG] [OTCBB: DBLVF] [GER: A1W038] [FSE: 1D4]. Doubleview identifies, acquires and finances precious and base metal exploration projects in North America, particularly in British Columbia. Doubleview increases shareholder value through acquisition and exploration of quality gold, copper and silver properties and the application of advanced state-of-the-art exploration methods. Doubleview's portfolio of strategic properties provides diversification and mitigates investment risk.





On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Farshad Shirvani, M.Sc. Geology

President and CEO

For further information please contact:

Doubleview Gold Corp

Vancouver, BC, V6C 1V5

corporate@doubleview.ca

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Doubleview cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Doubleview's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Doubleview's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Doubleview undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98225
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Hypercharge Networks Corp. (the "Company") is pleased to announce the closing of a non-brokered private placement through the issuance of 10,000,000 common shares of the Company (the "Shares") at a price of $0.40 per Share (the "Offering") for gross proceeds of $4,000,000.

In connection with the Offering, the Company paid finder's fees of $18,900 in cash.

50% of the Shares issued under the private placement are subject to a hold period of two months and the remaining 50% of the Shares are subject to a hold period of 4 months and one day. Both hold periods are from the date the Company is listed for trading on a recognized stock exchange in Canada.

David Bibby, President & CEO commented, "This financing was well over-subscribed, and we are very encouraged by the public's interest in our early stage Company."

For further information, please contact investors@hypercharge.com or by phone at (888) 320-2633.

On behalf of the Board,

Hypercharge Networks Corp.

David Bibby

President & Chief Executive Officer

1008 Homer Street, Suite 310

Vancouver, BC V6B 2X1

Tel: (888) 320-2633

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or does not expect", "is expected", anticipates" or "does not anticipate" "plans", "estimates" or "intends" or stating that certain actions, events or results " may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to materially differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98206
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Cross River Ventures Corp. (CSE: CRVC) (OTCQB: CSRVF) (FSE: C6R) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that its common shares have commenced trading on the OTCQB marketplace in the US, under the symbol "CSRVF". The Company's common shares will continue to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) under the symbol "CRVC".

The Company expects the listing on the OTCQB to provide greater visibility and convenience of trading for US investors, resulting in enhanced liquidity and greater reach.

"Upgrading to the OTCQB improves our reach in a globally influential marketplace," said CEO, Alex Klenman. "The QB listing gives Cross River greater access to millions of US investors. As we enter the next phase of growth the ability to connect with a significantly larger audience is of critically important," continued Mr. Klenman.

The OTCQB Venture Market is for early stage and developing U.S. and international companies. Companies are current in their reporting and undergo an annual verification and management certification process. Investors can find Real-Time quotes and market information for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.

In addition to the CSE and OTCQB listings, the Company continues to trade on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "C6R".

About the Company

Cross River is a gold exploration company focused on the development of top tier exploration properties located in emerging Greenstone Districts of NW Ontario, Canada. The Company controls a 28,0090-ha, multiple project portfolio with highly prospective ground in and among prolific, gold bearing greenstone belts. Cross River's common shares trade in Canada under the symbol "CRVC" on the CSE, and in the US under the symbol "CSVRF" on the OTCQB. Please visit www.crossriverventures.com for more information.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of

CROSS RIVER VENTURES CORP.

Alex Klenman

CEO

604-227-6610

aklenman@crossriverventures.com

www.crossriverventures.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the Canadian Securities Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws.

References

http://www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/mdi/data/records/MDI52F07SW00008.html

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98208
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - 3iQ Corp. ("3iQ") is pleased to announce that it has filed and obtained a receipt for a preliminary prospectus for the Bitcoin Split Trust (the "Fund") from the securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces and territories of Canada relating to the initial public offering of Preferred Securities and Capital Units of the Fund (the "Offering").

The investment objectives for the Preferred Securities are to provide their holders with fixed quarterly cash interest payments of 6% (US$0.60) per annum on the issue price of US$10.00 and to return the original issue price of the Preferred Security to holders on March 31, 2025 (the "Maturity Date"), subject to extension for successive terms of up to three years as determined by 3iQ.

The investment objectives for the Capital Units are to provide their holders with quarterly cash distributions targeted to be US$0.1125 per Capital Unit (US$0.45 per annum or 3% per annum) on the issue price of US$15.00 per Capital Unit until the Maturity Date, subject to extension for successive terms of up to three years as determined by 3iQ, and to provide their holders with the opportunity to participate in the performance of bitcoin held by the Fund on a leveraged basis.

To achieve its investment objectives, the Fund will invest, directly or indirectly, in long-term holdings of bitcoin. In order to seek to generate income, the Fund may write covered call options and put options in respect of portfolio assets.

In addition to payment in cash, the Fund will accept bitcoin in respect of subscriptions for at least 100,000 Combined Securities (consisting of one Capital Unit and one Preferred Security), or if agreed to by 3iQ for at least 100,000 Capital Units, under the Offering. Details of the subscription process are set forth in the Fund's preliminary prospectus.

3iQ will act as the investment manager and portfolio manager of the Fund.

The syndicate of agents for the offering is being co-led by Canaccord Genuity Corp. and BMO Capital Markets, and includes Echelon Wealth Partners Inc., iA Private Wealth Inc., Leede Jones Gable Inc., PI Financial Corp., Research Capital Corporation and Richardson Wealth Limited.

About 3iQ Corp.

Founded in 2012, 3iQ is Canada's largest digital asset investment fund manager with more than C$2.5 billion in assets under management. 3iQ was the first Canadian investment fund manager to offer a public bitcoin investment fund, The Bitcoin Fund (TSX: QBTC) (TSX: QBTC.U), and a public ether investment fund, The Ether Fund (TSX: QETH.UN) (TSX: QETH.U). More recently, 3iQ launched the 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin ETF (TSX: BTCQ) (TSX: BTCQ.U) and the 3iQ CoinShares Ether ETF (TSX: ETHQ) (TSX: ETHQ.U). 3iQ offers investors convenient and familiar investment products to gain exposure to digital assets. For more information about 3iQ and its digital asset investment funds, visit www.3iQ.ca or follow us on Twitter @3iQ_corp.

Contact Information

Fred Pye - Chairman and CEO

E: fred.pye@3iQ.ca

P: +1 (416) 639-2130

A preliminary prospectus relating to the Fund has been filed with the Canadian securities commissions or similar authorities. You cannot buy securities of the Fund until the relevant securities commissions or similar authorities issue receipts for the prospectus of the Fund. Important information about the Fund is contained in the preliminary prospectus. Copies of the preliminary prospectus may be obtained from 3iQ, from any of the syndicate members listed above, or at www.sedar.com .

You will usually pay brokerage fees to your dealer if you purchase or sell securities of the Fund on a stock exchange or other alternative Canadian trading system (an "exchange"). If the securities of the Fund are purchased or sold on an exchange, investors may pay more than the current net asset value when buying securities of the Fund and may receive less than the current net asset value when selling them.

There are ongoing fees and expenses associated with owning securities of an investment fund. An investment fund must prepare disclosure documents that contain key information about the fund. You can find more detailed information about the Fund in its public filings available at www.sedar.com. Investment funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

IMPORTANT NOTICES

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN, IS RESTRICTED AND IS NOT FOR PUBLICATION, RELEASE OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES OR ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE SAME WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.

This announcement should not be distributed, forwarded, transmitted or otherwise disseminated in or into the United States. This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or issue or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction. The Fund's securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or under the applicable securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States, and may not be offered, sold, resold, transferred or delivered, directly or indirectly within, into or in the United States, absent registration or an applicable exemption from, or except in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and in compliance with the securities laws of any relevant state or other jurisdiction of the United States. Neither this announcement, nor the fact that it has been disseminated, shall form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any future information that we distribute.

Not for distribution to U.S. newswire services or for dissemination in the United States.

This announcement and the information contained herein is restricted and is not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly in, or into or from the United States or any other jurisdiction in which the same would be unlawful. Further, this announcement is for information purposes only and shall not constitute an offer to sell or issue or the solicitation to buy, subscribe for or otherwise acquire any securities of the Bitcoin Split Trust in any jurisdiction in which any such offer or solicitation would be unlawful.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98235


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Luyuan Inc. recalled about 6,800 units of Luyuan Youth All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) sold in the United States for possible crash hazard and violation of federal ATV safety standard, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission or CPSC.



The CPSC said the ATVs fail to comply with the requirements of the federal mandatory ATV safety standard, including maximum speed limitations and other mandatory safety requirements for vehicles intended for children under 10 years of age.



The ATVs that fail to meet the mandatory safety requirements pose a risk of serious injury or death to children, CPSC added.



The recall involves Luyuan's Youth ATVs sold from August 2018 through August 2020 and intended for use by children ages 6 years and older. The ATVs were also marketed on Amazon.com to children as young as 12 months of age and on Walmart.com to children age 5 years. Some of these ATVs were sold with GBMOTO or GoBowen branding



The model numbers include LY-ATV-40A, LY-ATV-40D, LY-ATV-40E and LY-ATV-40I. The ATVs may have a label on the front frame, stating: 'This ATV is subject to LUYUAN INC's ACTION PLAN approved by U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on August 7, 2009' or a label on the motor stating: 'IMPORTED BY LUYUAN, INC.'



Luyuan said it has not received any reports of incidents or injuries so far involving the recalled ATVs.



The company advised consumers to immediately stop using the recalled ATVs and contact Luyuan for a free repair from an authorized repair shop.



All the recalled ATVs were manufactured in China and imported into the U.S. by City of Industry, California -based Luyuan Inc. They were sold at Luyuan dealers across the U.S. and online at Amazon.com, Walmart.com, FamilyGoKarts.com, BigToysGreenCountry.com, Bigtoysusa.com and SaferWholesale.com from August 2018 through August 2020 for between $450 and $550.



The Luyuan dealers include Tool Store Go-Kart Shop, ATV Distributors, Four Seasons Power Sports, Mefast Wholesale, Toomey Tools, Steward Auto, A&S Auto, and Bounce it Off Motorsports, Go-bowen, Powersportsmax and Smokers Alley 2.



In another similar recall, Venom Motorsports recalled about 500 units of Youth Model ATVs on the same day. These include electric and gas ATVs. These were also manufactured in China and were sold online at VenomMotorsportsUSA.com from August 2020 through January 2021 for between $800 and $1,700.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
The "Fuel Wholesaling in the UK Industry Market Research Report" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Firms in this industry sell a range of fuel products and some by-products from the petroleum refining process. The industry includes the wholesale of charcoal, coal, coke, fuel wood, naphtha, crude oil, diesel fuel, petrol, fuel oil, heating oil and kerosene. The industry also includes the wholesale of greases, oils and gases such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), butane and propane.

This report covers the scope, size, disposition and growth of the industry including the key sensitivities and success factors. Also included are five year industry forecasts, growth rates and an analysis of the industry key players and their market shares.

A Selection of Companies Mentioned Include:

Greenergy Fuels Ltd

DCC plc

Key Topics Covered:

ABOUT THIS INDUSTRY

Industry Definition

Main Activities

Similar Industries

Additional Resources

INDUSTRY AT A GLANCE

INDUSTRY PERFORMANCE

Executive Summary

Key External Drivers

Current Performance

Industry Outlook

Industry Life Cycle

PRODUCTS MARKETS

Supply Chain

Products Services

Demand Determinants

Major Markets

International Trade

Business Locations

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Market Share Concentration

Key Success Factors

Cost Structure Benchmarks

Basis of Competition

Barriers to Entry

Industry Globalization

MAJOR COMPANIES

OPERATING CONDITIONS

Capital Intensity

Technology Systems

Revenue Volatility

Regulation Policy

Industry Assistance

KEY STATISTICS

Industry Data

Annual Change

Key Ratios

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/d0dyqa

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005467/en/

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press@researchandmarkets.com

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BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Daimler AG (DDAIF.PK) said the resolution regarding spin-off of the truck and bus business was approved by 99.90% of the capital stock represented at the Extraordinary General Meeting. 56.45% of capital stock were represented at the virtual EGM. The shareholders also approved also with an overwhelming majority the renaming of Daimler AG as Mercedes-Benz Group AG. Daimler AG said two current members of the Supervisory Board, Marie Wieck and Joe Kaeser, will step down from their positions and join the Supervisory Board of Daimler Truck Holding AG. Helene Svahn and Olaf Koch were elected as their successors. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
NEW DELHI and MUMBAI, India, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- "About 80-100 Central Banks around the world, including G20 nations, are exploring the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and are in some sort of pilot or testing stages," Tobias Adrian, Financial Counsellor and Director Monetary and Capital Markets Department, International Monetary Fund said at the Global FinTech Fest. The three-day Fest, which concluded on 30 September, was attended by over 26,000 delegates from 121 countries. Policymakers, technocrats, investors, founders, economists, bankers, participated in the Fest. The event was organised by National Payments Council of India (NPCI) and Fintech Convergence Councill (FCC) and Payments Council of India (PCI) of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

"CBDCs are designed to be very stable, stable in value, low transaction cost and backed by the Central Bank for added consumer confidence, very different from bitcoins which fluctuate in value and are more like an investment asset," Tobias Adrian said.

Central Banks around the world are rushing in to think about CBDCs as it is very appealing for Central Banks to go along with technological progress. Also, there could be a lot of innovations in Central Banks issued digital currencies, especially across payments, lending platforms.

"CBDCs could indeed be somewhat similar, not necessarily be, to bitcoin assets, could be based on blockchain technology, could be available in wallets. It depends on the design whether it is based on existing payment systems or using very powerful blockchain technologies," Tobias Adrian mentioned.

Meanwhile, he warned that cybersecurity could be a major challenge for CBDCs. "You need to make sure that the system is resilient against cyberattacks." It's not the technology alone but the intersection of technology and human. Secondly, CBDCs might undermine existing banks so banks need to upgrade their technologies to compete. Finally, cellphones, not all today have cellphones for transacting CBDCs.

On expensive cross-border payments, Adrian envisioned that cross-border transfers would be a lot cheaper for small amount of payments. There are some wallet exchanges available that allow one to convert US dollar into rupee stable coin, with an implicit fee that is cheaper. However, there are a lot of discussions going on between Central Banks of various countries to make the cross-border payments cheaper.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1629838/GFF_Logo.jpg
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TurtleTree has officially opened its new R&D facility in California's state capital. Located in West Sacramento, this 24,000-square-foot building will house a world-class research hub showcasing the company's extensive array of innovations and cell-based technologies.

Representing a milestone in TurtleTree's US-based expansion plans, the research facility will spur the development of precision fermentation technology currently used to produce valuable milk ingredients like lactoferrin. This marks a significant stride towards the production of consumer-ready milk and dairy, reaffirming TurtleTree's status as a leading player in the field of sustainable nutrition.

In addition to improving these capabilities, the establishment of this groundbreaking facility will also further TurtleTree's mission of uplifting the world beyond the creation of sustainable food. To adequately staff the facility, the company will create approximately 40 new tech-related jobs in and around Greater Sacramento. These will span diverse fields from food science to engineering, yielding fresh opportunities for seasoned professionals and fresh graduates alike.

Referencing this positive impact, TurtleTree's CEO and co-founder, Fengru Lin, stated: "Establishing this R&D facility in Greater Sacramento marks the first step towards bringing our unique products from development to market-one that we're very glad will help unlock new opportunities within the local community. We're eagerly looking forward to working with the brilliant talent in the area and building a future generation of nutrition that we can all enjoy for decades to come."

Echoing similar sentiments, various West Sacramento representatives have also offered their support for the new facility. President and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, Barry Broome, stated: "We want to congratulate TurtleTree for locating their R&D and manufacturing facility in West Sacramento. This move signals market validation of why Greater Sacramento is world-class in biotech, specifically alternative proteins research."

"West Sacramento is honored to have been chosen by TurtleTree as the location for their much-anticipated research facility. The city looks forward to assisting the TurtleTree leadership to achieve their goals, with respect to the facility, through an accelerated occupancy permit process," announced West Sacramento mayor, Martha Guerrero. She added: "TurtleTree is making significant contributions to a sustainable, global food supply and is also creating opportunities to prepare future generations to continue this important scientific work through our student internship program, which will be of great benefit to the city's youth."

Moving forward, TurtleTree remains committed to its role in developing the food and agriculture ecosystem in Northern California. Aside from functioning as a research hub, the R&D facility will also serve as an integral touchpoint for TurtleTree to connect and collaborate with educational institutions, research-focused partners, strategic partners, future customers, and investors.

About TurtleTree

TurtleTree is a biotech company that's using cell-based technologies to create sustainable food and dairy. In spite of this, we earnestly believe that what we do extends beyond the dining table and into the heart of humanity. At our core, we seek to uplift the world by providing a new generation of nutrition that's better for the planet, better for the animals, and better for people everywhere.

To learn more, please visit TurtleTree's website .

About the Greater Sacramento Economic Council (GSEC)

The Greater Sacramento Economic Council is the catalyst for innovative growth strategies in the Capital Region of California. The organization spearheads community-led direction to retain, attract, grow, and scale tradable sectors, develop advanced industries, and create jobs and investment throughout a six-county region. Greater Sacramento represents a collaboration between local and state governments, market leaders, influencers, and stakeholders, with the sole mission of driving inclusive economic growth. The Greater Sacramento region was founded on discovery, built on leadership, and fueled by innovation.

To learn more, please visit GSEC's website .

About the City of West Sacramento

West Sacramento is located minutes from the state capital, midway between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, in the heart of California's Great Central Valley. West Sacramento has abundant land, high-quality water, and nearby agricultural production combined with market access and proximity to the world-renowned food and agricultural research of U.C. Davis. Over 60 companies in food and ag-tech research, production, and distribution have established West Sacramento's Global Food Industry Hub, including Origin Materials, TOMRA Sorting Solutions, NuSeed Americas, Nor-Cal Beverage, Bayer Crop Science, and Nippon Shokken U.S.A.

To learn more, please visit the City of West Sacramento's website .

Contact:

Rita Huang

Media Specialist

Phone: (530) 564-2403

Email: media@turtletree.co

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1640476/Image1.jpg
Y-T-D sales total $20.9 million

CHICO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / AmeraMex International, Inc. (OTCQB:AMMX), a provider of heavy equipment for logistics companies, infrastructure construction and forestry conservation, announced that it has received equipment orders totaling $1,041,000. Year-to-date, AmeraMex has announced sales of approximately $20.9 million.

AmeraMex International CEO Lee Hamre commented, "We are having a great year. With three months remaining, I believe this will be our best year ever. With that said, I am disappointed that our current stock price does not reflect the significant strides we have made in 2021. Now that gatherings are permitted, we will once again begin presenting at various investor conferences to introduce AmeraMex to the investor community."

This week's orders consisted of the following equipment:

One ASV 120 Forestry Skid Steer Loader with a mulching head. The equipment will be used to clear undergrowth on a commercial farm. Videos of the ASV 120F in action are located on the AMMX.net website as well as the HamreEquipment.com website.

Two refurbished Taylor THDC 955 for stacking loaded containers or ISO Tanks, Stacks 5 containers high, 20'-40' spreader. Shipping to a trucking yard in California.

One refurbished Taylor TEC950 Loaded container handler shipping to a trucking yard in California.

One refurbished Tier 3, 2010 Taylor Loaded Container Handler shipping to a port on the West Coast.

0ne 2017 John Deere 317G Track Skid Steer shipping to a fencing contractor in Northern California.

For more information and pricing of logistics, construction, and forestry equipment or to receive information and arrange for a demonstration of the Kovaco Electric's 100 percent electric skid steer loaders or the line of ASV Posti-Tract and Skid Steer Loaders, contact the AmeraMex/Hamre Equipment sales team at 530.895.8955.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "potential," "continue" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, and there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors are encouraged to review the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Company's current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

Investor and Media Relations

McCloud Communications, LLC

Marty Tullio, Managing Member

Office: 949.632.1900 or Marty@McCloudCommunications.com

SOURCE: AmeraMex International, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666373/AmeraMex-International-Announces-Equipment-Orders-Totaling-Approximately-1-Million
VILNIUS, Lithuania, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Baby Floki belongs to that rare breed of meme token projects: launched with a noble charity cause whilst still rewarding its holders. Baby Floki has been creating waves in the Binance Smart Chain DeFi space, having already listed on both CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap whilst having a vibrant community behind it. Admittedly charity tokens are nothing new in the altcoin space. However, most of them lack an integral function that piques investors' interest - generating profitable returns. While many of those meme coins come and go, Baby Floki's consistent performance and rewards for holders mean it has become firmly rooted in the community, and it is here to stay.

Inspired by Elon's Floki

Baby Floki is the first charity token that serves a dual purpose of providing a financial benefit to its holders and seeks to serve its noble purpose. This is also why crypto enthusiasts eagerly add Baby Floki to their watch lists, forecasting it to be a cryptomoonshot. The project came into existence as a celebratory moment of Elon's adorable new pet 'Floki,' a Shiba Inu pup Musk purchased very recently.

This reflection token is different from many other BSC-based meme coins. The team decided to forgo huge taxes and instead focused on rewarding holders with 3% in DOGECOIN (of course, continuing with the Elon connection) and a low tax on buys in particular. Considering Floki being mentioned all over the social media and the project's tax affordability aspect, the token is likely to rise exponentially.

DOGE Rewards

Baby Floki is a frictionless yield token that gives attractive $DOGE rewards on an hourly basis. By holding $BabyFloki in their wallet, investors can earn generous passive income paid out in $DOGE.

It is also a community-driven project, reflecting the $DOGE rewards and the ethics and charitable cause as its long-term goals. Its developers have worked tirelessly to build a community of investors focused on its bright future. They have created a community that is not only interested in earning a passive income from holding this token but also involved in the development of their web presence, advertising strategies, merchandising store, future NFT marketplace, and other future endeavors.

How does it work?

The tokenomics of Baby Floki is very simple, and it works by taking a tax fee on every transaction occurring on its network. After this, a part of its fee is redistributed to every wallet that holds $BabyFloki in a given percentage. With this, each holder will be able to secure a generous passive income in the form of $DOGE. These rewards will be automatically sent to their wallet every 60 minutes.

Revolutionary NFT Implementation - Baby Floki NFT Marketplace and Collectibles

Perhaps one of the most innovative aspects of Baby Floki aside from its smart tokenomics is the incorporation of NFTs into its platform. As crypto enthusiasts know, Non-Fungible Tokens can be virtually anything from art, music, text, and even games. Keeping this in mind, the project will launch its own NFT platform called the BabyFlokiWorld NFT & Merchandise marketplace, as mentioned on their roadmap. The first set of NFTs that will eventually be traded on BabyFlokiWorld are set to be released next week.

What is an NFT?

In simple terms, a non-fungible token (NFT) is a digital asset, just like Bitcoin or other forms of digital currency, that indicates a specific address on a certified blockchain. It can also be referred to as an ever-growing digital receipt detailing the object's transaction history. However, unlike a US dollar or Bitcoin, which are both fungible and mutually equal in value, they maintain their worth when exchanged. An NFT is unique to itself and therefore is used to identify a unique object. In essence, no NFT is equal to another in its utility or form, which makes NFTs so valuable. Foreseeing this, the developers of Baby Floki are aiming to be ahead of its game by creating the future of NFT trading and collectibles on their platform.

Strong Community

Baby Floki is creating a community of influential investors who wish to impact positively. The developers state that they want to expand Baby Floki operations to the point where they are positively impacting the lives of people who don't even have the luxury of knowing what crypto is. What's unique about their initiative is that they want to do this while giving back to their community and supporters.

About the Team

The Baby Floki team is filled with members having extensive experience in the crypto world, and each brings a unique quality to ensure the project's success. The Baby Floki Developers are committed to the project and maintain a daily presence on Telegram channels.

The marketing team has had massive success on other very well-known projects and aims to inject the same passion and relentless aggressive marketing techniques into this project. This project is genuine, the team is accurate, and they are here to stay for the long run.

Ambitious Marketing Campaign

Baby Floki's marketing team has had massive success with relentless, aggressive marketing techniques that have been incredibly successful. Its key activities include significant partnerships with celebrities and influencers and a big Chinese marketing push including Weibo/Btok planned for October. It also consists of the constantly trending on Dextools alongside other marketing campaigns targeting numerous Crypto websites. They also have a giant advertising billboard for Baby Floki right at SpaceX, which eventually brought extensive attention and attraction to this project. A second billboard was revealed a couple of days ago in the heart of Broadway, NYC. There is plenty more exciting marketing to come including some hidden surprises.

Baby Floki Future Plans

After a very successful launch of the Baby Floki token, website, and marketing campaigns, the subsequent project phases look promising. The Crypto Company has already been listed on CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap quite quickly, and the team now has its sights set on other big exchanges. Its profitable future endeavors include Dapps/Games, significant partnerships, BabyFlokiWorld NFT & Merchandise Marketplace, and a few more attractive initiatives. With all these futuristic projects, and by impressively reaching milestone after milestone, the team has shown its capability of delivering everything they have set out to achieve.

Social links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebabyfloki

Telegram: https://t.me/thebabyfloki

Media Details

Company: Baby Floki

Email: contact@babyfloki.info

Website: https://www.babyfloki.info

Disclaimer: All investment strategies and investments involve the risk of loss. Consider doing your own due diligence before making financial decisions related to any Cryptocurrency.
Affiliated Hospital Purchases IB Clinic for Automated Analysis

MILWAUKEE, WI / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / IQ-AI Limited (LSE:IQAI) (OTCQB:IQAIF), a developer and manufacturer of medical image processing platforms announced a recent publication in Neurosurgery Open that illustrates the clinical impact of its neuro oncology software solutions for both neurosurgery and tissue diagnosis of high-grade brain tumors.

The on-going challenge with the treatment of brain tumors is that new or recurrent tumor can appear the same as treatment effect on traditional postcontrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images. Today's standard of care requires either many weeks of follow-up imaging or an invasive surgical biopsy to confirm diagnosis. Imaging Biometrics, LLC (IB), a subsidiary of IQ-AI Limited, has developed and validated a non-invasive, timely and quantitative imaging solution that addresses this issue.

For the published study, IB Clinic, which is IB's non-invasive, neuro-oncology platform, was used to distinguish brain tumor tissue from treatment effect. The results explained the discordance between the intraoperative assessment and the pathologic diagnosis suggesting that IB Clinic should be routinely used to optimize surgical guidance and pathologic diagnosis, which in turn would lead to optimized treatment management and patient outcomes.

"We are relying on FTB maps more routinely in our clinical practice as well as our weekly comprehensive multidiscipline brain tumor boards. They have proven to provide information that can help interpret MRI findings and optimize treatment for our patients," said Dr. Jennifer Connelly, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology and Co-Director of the Neuro-oncology Program at Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin and lead author of the paper.

The case report authors are clinicians and scientists from the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW, Milwaukee, WI), which is affiliated with Froedtert Health (Milwaukee, WI). For more than a decade, Froedtert Health's radiology department have used IB software for analyzing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) datasets within the OsiriX (Mac based) environment which requires manual user intervention. Froedtert Health has recently acquired the upgraded IB Clinic - Container edition, which automatically generates quantitative rCBV and Delta T1 maps. This platform-independent processing application networks with scanners and PACS (picture archiving and communication system) and requires no manual intervention.

"There is growing interest in our automated platform." said Michael Schmainda, CEO of IB. "The seamless integration in clinical workflows coupled with IB's quantitative and validated output is gaining attention from large and small hospitals alike."

As previously announced in a release on September 21, 2021, IQAI has sold multiple licenses of its Imaging Biometrics (IB) software to such clients as Eastern Alabama Medical Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Rhode Island Hospital, and others. The Company anticipates renewals and new customers for the remainder of 2021 and throughout 2022. ?

For further information, please contact:

IQ-AI Limited

Trevor Brown/Vinod Kaushal/Brett Skelly/Michael Schmainda

Tel: 020 7469 0930

Peterhouse Capital Limited (Financial Adviser and Broker)

Lucy Williams/Heena Karani

Tel: 020 7220 9797

About Imaging Biometrics, LLC

Imaging Biometrics, a subsidiary of IQ-AI Limited (LSE: IQAI) (OTCQB: IQAIF), develops and provides visualisation and analytical solutions that enable clinicians to better diagnose and treat disease with greater confidence. Through close collaboration with top researchers and clinicians, sophisticated advancements are translated into platform-independent and automated software plug-ins which can extend the base functionality of workstations, imaging systems, PACS, or medical viewers. By design, IB's advanced visualisation software seamlessly integrates into routine workflows. For more information about Imaging Biometrics, visit the company's website at www.imagingbiometrics.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," or the negative of these words and/or similar statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. For example, statements about future revenues and the Company's ability to fund its operations and contractual obligations are forward looking and subject to risks. Several important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the inability to raise capital to support the Company through its growth stage, the Company's inability to generate projected sales and trade relations between the United States and China. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

Investor Relations Contact:

Michael Porter, President

Porter, LeVay & Rose, Inc.

Tel: 212-564-4700

mike@plrinvest.com

SOURCE: IQ AI Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666441/Published-Neurosurgery-Case-Report-Underscores-Clinical-Value-of-IB-Software
BEIJING, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wanda Hotels & Resorts is to open its first internationally managed hotel - Wanda Vista Istanbul - on October 1 in Turkey, marking an important milestone of group's offshore management.

Close to Istanbul Airport, the Wanda Vista Istanbul, with 127 luxury guestrooms and 320 fully-equipped service apartments co-designed by Philippe Starck and Wanda Hotel Design Institute is the first international hotel to promote the "Pure Oriental Delight" concept internationally.

An Urban Resort in the Emerging Business District

Located in Bagcilar, a rapidly developing area in Europe, Wanda Vista Istanbul sits in the transportation hub close to the airport highway and is only 35 kilometers from the Istanbul Airport. The advantageous location allows guests to travel conveniently to famous attractions, including the Bosphorus Strait, Hagia Sophia, and Blue Mosque.

Wanda Vista Istanbul has created a unique living space in the emerging business district with its wealth of dining and leisure facilities. The hotel lobby, full of light and full of style, is elaborately adorned with one colorful retro car and well-arranged paintings. Four restaurants and bars will be serving guests unforgettable delicacies from Turkey, China and around the world.

Maestros from Two Countries Lead the Symphony of the Era

The Wanda Vista Istanbul and Wanda Vista Residence project, officially signed in 2017, was jointly developed by Mar Yapi Turizm A. S., a leading real estate developer from Turkey, and Wanda Hotels & Resorts, a leading asset management company China.

Eurasian Bridge Embraces Oriental Elegance

Wanda Vista Istanbul was designed by the internationally renowned Philippe Starck design firm, with Wanda Hotels & Resorts completing the interior design and operation management.

The hotel has a unique triangular column tower structure that maximizes daylight, pursuing the harmony and unity of culture and nature. Wanda Hotel Design Institute has combined the traditional Chinese philosophies of "following the rules of nature" and extended the simple lines of the building exterior to the interior. The exquisite metal screens cleverly separate the space that correlates as a whole, making the interior design echo with the outer to deliver a warm, comfortable vibe that conveys the power of harmony, openness and inclusiveness.

The 320 luxury apartments have well-equipped kitchens and elegant furniture, with high-speed internet covering the entire hotel. The grand ballroom has an area of 450 square meters and a worship hall. In addition, there are three function rooms of different ranges to meet the various demands of banquet guests.

Wanda Vista Istanbul's spa and fitness facilities cover an area of 2,600 square meters and consist of a fully-equipped fitness center, yoga room, spa center, outdoor pool and heated indoor pool. The spa center has a Turkish bath where guests can experience authentic local bathing. The Kids Center is also a popular choice for family travellers.

For more information or to make a booking, please visit http://www.wandahotels.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1640246/POOL_1.jpg

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AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a+" (Excellent) of Ocaso, S.A. Seguros y Reaseguros (Ocaso) (Spain). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. Concurrently, AM Best has withdrawn the ratings as the company has requested to no longer participate in AM Best's interactive rating process.

The ratings reflect Ocaso's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

Ocaso's balance sheet strength assessment is underpinned by risk-adjusted capitalisation at the strongest level, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). The balance sheet strength assessment benefits from low dependence on reinsurance, excellent liquidity and absence of financial leverage. A partially offsetting factor is the deficiency of the legacy pre-1999 "decesos" (i.e., funeral expense insurance) reserves, following regulatory changes that occurred in 2015. The reserves continue to be strengthened annually, and the deficiency will reduce incrementally until 2033.

Ocaso has a track record of strong operating performance, supported by very stable and profitable underwriting performance, demonstrated by a five-year (2016-2020) weighted average combined ratio of 83.5%. Profitability of the life business continues to be affected adversely by reserve strengthening of the run-off book of business that contains policies with high guarantees. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the technical performance of the decesos book modestly, given the associated increase in mortality rates. Despite this, the technical result has remained resilient and AM Best expects Ocaso's operating performance to remain strong over the medium term.

Ocaso has a well-established competitive position in Spain, where it benefits from a recognised brand and a broad distribution network. The company has a defensible profile in its domestic market as a leading insurer of decesos, in which it has a stable customer base. Approximately 97% of Ocaso's underwriting revenue was sourced from Spain in 2020. Although this high concentration to the domestic market is a potential source of earnings volatility, Ocaso has demonstrated its ability to produce resilient results, even during periods of recession and most recently, a pandemic.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright 2021 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005572/en/

Contacts:

Ben Diaz-Clegg

Financial Analyst

+44 20 7397 0293

ben.diaz-clegg@ambest.com



Jessica Botelho-Young, CA

Associate Director, Analytics

+44 20 7397 0310

jessica.botelho@ambest.com



Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com



Jim Peavy

Director, Communications

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644

james.peavy@ambest.com
AM Best has revised the outlook to positive from stable for the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A+ (Superior) and the Long-Term ICR of "aa-" (Superior) of the main rated insurance subsidiaries of Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (Zurich) (Switzerland). At the same time, AM Best has revised the Long-Term ICR outlook to positive from stable for Zurich, a non-operating holding company, and affirmed its Long-Term ICR of "a" (Excellent). The outlook of the FSRs is stable.

The Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect Zurich's consolidated balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, very favourable business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

The revision of the Long-Term ICR outlook to positive reflects AM Best's expectation that Zurich's strong and stable operating performance, underpinned by improved profitability of its commercial property and casualty business and higher revenues derived from management services for Farmers Exchanges, will support the resilience of its balance sheet.

Zurich's balance sheet strength is underpinned by risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), which is at the strongest level. The group's balance sheet strength further benefits from excellent liquidity and good financial flexibility, with demonstrated access to financial markets. A partially offsetting factor is Zurich's reliance on soft capital components to support its capital position, which include the value of in-force life business and hybrid debt.

The group's strong operating performance is supported by a highly diversified earnings profile by line of business and geography. Results are enhanced by the consistent fee-based income derived from its non-claims management services for Farmers Exchanges (a leading mutual insurance group operating in the United States), which is expected to increase following the completion of the joint acquisition of MetLife's U.S. property and casualty operations by Farmers Exchanges and Farmers Group, Inc., a member of Zurich, in April 2021. The Zurich group's income is supported by solid returns from its life operations, as well as stable investment income. Additionally, the underlying performance of the group's non-life business has improved in recent years, driven by stronger underwriting discipline, favourable pricing conditions and a shift in business mix toward less volatile shorter-tail and specialty lines of business. As a result, Zurich has delivered a solid five-year (2016-2020) return on equity of 11.2%.

Zurich is one of the world's largest insurance groups, with excellent diversification by geography and product. The group maintains strong competitive positions in Europe and the United States, a strong presence is Latin America and selective positions in Asia Pacific.

The Long-Term ICR outlook has been revised to positive from stable, whilst, the FSR of A+ (Superior) and the Long-Term ICR of "aa-" (Superior) have been affirmed, with a stable outlook on the FSR, for the following subsidiaries of Zurich:

Zurich Insurance Plc

The Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland

Empire Fire and Marine Insurance Company

Empire Indemnity Insurance Company

Universal Underwriters Insurance Company

American Guarantee and Liability Insurance Company

American Zurich Insurance Company

Universal Underwriters of Texas Insurance Company

Steadfast Insurance Company

Zurich American Insurance Company

Zurich American Insurance Company of Illinois

Colonial American Casualty Surety Company

Rural Community Insurance Company

Zurich Insurance Company Limited

Zurich American Life Insurance Company

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright 2021 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005597/en/

Contacts:

Jessica Botelho-Young, CA

Associate Director, Analytics

+44 20 7397 0310

jessica.botelho@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

Ghislain Le Cam, CFA, FRM

Director, Analytics

+44 20 7397 0268

ghislain.lecam@ambest.com

Jim Peavy

Director, Communications

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644

james.peavy@ambest.com
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Silk Road Energy Inc. (TSXV: SLK.H) ("Silk Road" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Alberta and Ontario securities commissions (collectively, the "Commissions") have revoked their respective cease trade orders (collectively, the "CTOs") against the Company effective today. The Company will set strategic directions in the coming weeks and consider divesting its current assets or raising capital to pay for their decommissioning and to further other corporate objectives. The Company will also seek new opportunities in the oil and gas sectors and explore opportunities in the mining and exploration sectors including the acquisition of or joint venture in production and exploration concessions in these sectors. The Company is looking for potential asset acquisitions that will generate future positive cash flows.

The Commissions had issued a dual order to cease trading in the securities of Silk Road, directly or indirectly, until further notice on February 1, 2019 which was partially revoked on October 24, 2019. Silk Road had failed to meet the filing deadlines for the Company's audited annual financial statements, annual management's discussion and analysis and certification of annual filings for the year ended September 30, 2018, as required by the securities laws of British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario. The Company's common shares were cease traded by the Commissions or failure to file annual financial statements (the "Financial Statements"), management's discussion and analysis (the "MD&A"), and certifications of annual filings (the "Certifications") for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018.

The Financial Statements, the MD&A and the Certifications were filed by the Company effective November 30, 2020 along with the annual financial statements, management's discussion and analysis and certifications of annual filings for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2019. On May 19, 2021, the Company filed the annual financial statements, management's discussion and analysis and certifications of annual filings for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020. On May 26, 2021, the Company filed three sets of interim financial statements for the periods ended June 30, 2020, March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 as well as the related, management's discussion and analysis and certifications. On May 27, 2021, the Company filed two sets of interim financial statements for the periods ended March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 as well as the related, management's discussion and analysis and certifications. On June 30, 2021, the Company amended and restated the MD&As for annual period ended September 30, 2020 and the interim period ended March 31, 2021 (the "Amended and Restated MD&As") and amended and restated interim financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2021 (the "Amended and Restated Q2 2021 FS") and filed the Amended and Restated MD&As and the Amended and Restated Q2 2021 FS on SEDAR with accompanying certifications of re-filed annual filings ("Re-filing Certificates"). On August 30, 2021, the Company filed one set of interim financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020 as well as the related management's discussion and analysis ("Q3 MD&A") and certifications. On September 22, 2021, the Company amended and restated the interim financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2021 (the "Amended and Restated Q3 2021 FS") and filed the Amended and Restated Q3 2021 FS on SEDAR with accompanying certifications of re-filed interim financial statements ("Q3 Re-filing Certificates").

The Financial Statements, the MD&A, the Amended and Restated MD&As, the Amended and Restated Q2 2021 FS the Certificates, the Re-filing Certificates, the Q3 MD&A, the Amended and Restated Q3 2021 FS and the Q3 Re-filing Certificates are all available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Silk Road is also pleased to announce that it will hold its next annual general and special meeting on November 30, 2021.

For further information please contact:

Silk Road Energy Inc.

Michael Judson, Director

Telephone: 514-865-5496

Cautionary Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes", an or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would" , "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate, among other things, to: approval of the Private Placement and obtaining a full revocation order. This forward-looking information reflects the Company's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to the Company and on assumptions the Company believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to: the market acceptance of the Private Placement; the ability of the Company to obtain a full revocation order and the receipt of all required approvals in connection with the foregoing. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; general capital market conditions and market price for securities; and the delay or failure to receive board, shareholder, court or regulatory approvals. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Except as required by law the Company does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Canadian Securities Exchange have approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

Not for distribution to U.S. Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of U.S. Securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98266
Regulatory News:

Exclusive Networks S.A. (Paris:EXN) ("Exclusive Networks"), has received notification that J.P. Morgan AG, acting as stabilising manager in the context of the first admission to trading of ordinary shares of Exclusive Networks on Euronext Paris, has undertaken stabilization activities (as defined under Article 3.2(d)), of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (the "Market Abuse Regulation")) of the following securities:

Issuer: Exclusive Networks Securities: Ordinary shares with a nominal value of 0.08 euro (ISIN: FR0014005DA7) Offering Size: 18,295,307 ordinary shares (excluding the overallotment option) Offer Price: 20 euros per ordinary share Market: Euronext Paris Stabilisation Manager: J.P. Morgan AG

Pursuant to Article 6, paragraph 2, of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 supplementing the Market Abuse Regulation with regard to regulatory technical standards for the conditions applicable to buy-back programmes and stabilisation measures, Exclusive Networks, on the basis of the information disclosed by J.P. Morgan AG, hereby communicates the data relating to the stabilisation activities undertaken by J.P. Morgan AG as stabilisation agent between 23 September 2021, date of opening of the trading, and 30 September 2021:

Execution Date Intermediary Buy/ Number of shares Average Transaction price (in euros) Lowest/Highest Price in euros) Aggregate amount (in euros) Stabilisation Trading Venue Sell/ Transfer 23-Sep-21 J.P. Morgan AG Buy 1,895,076 19.562573 17.77 20 37,072,563 Euronext Paris 24-Sep-21 J.P. Morgan AG Buy 363,519 19.824303 18.97 20 7,206,511 Euronext Paris 27-Sep-21 J.P. Morgan AG Buy 25,343 19.996534 19.9 20 506,772 Euronext Paris 28-Sep-21 J.P. Morgan AG n/a 0 n/a n/a n/a n/a 29-Sep-21 J.P. Morgan AG Buy 35,002 20.000000 20 20 700,040 Euronext Paris 30-Sep-21 J.P. Morgan AG Buy 28,398 19.999056 19.98 20 567,933 Euronext Paris

The detailed list of transactions is available on Exclusive Networks' website in the section dedicated to the IPO (www.exclusive-networks-ir.com/ipo).

This press release is issued also on behalf of J.P. Morgan AG pursuant to Article 6, paragraph 2, of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052.

About Exclusive Networks

Exclusive Networks is a leading global specialist in innovative cybersecurity technologies, providing services to accelerate the sale of cybersecurity disruptive and digital infrastructure technologies on a global scale. Exclusive Networks helps cybersecurity vendors scale their businesses globally, and offering channel partners (such as value-added resellers, system integrators, telcos and managed service providers) expertise, disruptive technologies and services to fit the needs of their corporate customers. Exclusive Networks also works with several vendors offering solutions in specific sub-segments beyond cyber.

Exclusive Networks excels by combining global scale with local execution. With offices in 40 countries and the ability to service customers across five continents and in over 150 countries, Exclusive Networks, headquartered in France, offers a "global scale, local sale" model. This model enhances performance in local operations by providing both global and local support. This approach has enabled Exclusive Networks to (i) develop one of the world's broadest portfolios of cybersecurity solutions from over 240 leading vendors and (ii) develop a worldwide customer base, consisting of over 18,000 VARs, SIs, Telcos and MSPs, indirectly serving more than 110,000 end-customers. Over the period from 2018 to 2020, Exclusive Networks engaged in business in more than 124 countries.

Exclusive Networks' approach enables vendors to adopt a simple and agile go-to-market model in relation to their cybersecurity and digital infrastructure solutions, while benefitting from Exclusive Networks' local expertise and market knowledge in each jurisdiction where it operates. Exclusive Networks' scale is equally important to its customers as their own end-users may be located in multiple regions of the world. In addition, Exclusive Networks helps its customers through its expertise in vendor selection as cybersecurity and digital infrastructure solutions become ever more complicated and keep evolving in the face of increasing cybersecurity threats.

Important Notice

This press release does not constitute a public offer to sell or purchase, or a public solicitation of an offer to sell or purchase, securities in the United States or in any other country or jurisdiction. Exclusive Networks shares may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Exclusive Networks does not intend to register in the United States any portion of the offering or to conduct a public offering of the shares in the United States.

No communication nor any information relating to this transaction or to Exclusive Networks may be distributed in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution would require registration or approval of securities. No such registration or approval has been or will be obtained outside of France. The distribution of this press release in certain countries may be prohibited under applicable law. Exclusive Networks assumes no responsibility if there is a violation of applicable law and regulation by any person.

This announcement is not a prospectus within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market, as amended (the "Prospectus Regulation"), also forming part of the domestic law in the United Kingdom by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (the "EUWA"). The prospectus approved by the French Financial Markets Authority (the "AMF") is available on the AMF website (www.amf-france.org) and on Exclusive Networks' website in the section dedicated to the IPO (www.exclusive-networks-ir.com/ipo).

With respect to the member States of the European Economic Area and to the United Kingdom, no action has been undertaken or will be undertaken to make an offer to the public of the securities referred to herein requiring a publication of a prospectus in any relevant member State other than France. As a result, the shares may not and will not be offered in any relevant member State other than France except in accordance with the exemptions set forth in Article 1(4) of the Prospectus Regulation, or under any other circumstances which do not require the publication by Exclusive Networks of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Regulation, also forming part of the domestic law in the United Kingdom by virtue of EUWA, and/or to applicable regulations of that relevant member State or the United Kingdom.

In France, an offer to the public of securities may not be made except pursuant to a prospectus that has been approved by the AMF. The approval of the prospectus by the AMF should not be understood as an endorsement of the securities offered or admitted to trading on a regulated market.Thes

This announcement is not a prospectus, a disclosure document or a product disclosure statement for the purposes of the Australian Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ("Corporations Act"). The provision of this announcement to any person does not constitute an offer of, or an invitation to apply for, any securities in Australia. This press release is intended for distribution to, and any offer in Australia of the securities of the Company may only be made to, persons who are "sophisticated investors" or "professional investors" within the meaning of section 708 of the Corporations Act, and who are a "wholesale client" within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act.

In Canada, the information contained in this announcement is only addressed to and directed at persons who are accredited investors and permitted clients as defined in Canadian securities legislation.

During a period of 30 days following the date on which the offer price was determined (i.e., until October 22, 2021 (inclusive)), J.P. Morgan AG, acting as stabilising manager may, without any obligation, in compliance with laws and regulations in particular, in particular Regulation (EU) No. 59612014 of April 16, 2014 on market abuse and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No. 2016/1052 of March 8, 2016, effect transactions with a view to maintaining the market price of the Company's shares on the regulated market of Euronext Paris. In compliance with Article 7 of Commission Delegated Regulation 2016/1052 of March 8, 2016, the stabilisation activities shall not in any circumstances be executed above the offer price. Such stabilisation activities may affect the price of the shares and may conduct to the fixing of the market price higher than the one which would otherwise be fixed. Even if stabilisation activities were carried out, J.P. Morgan AG may, at any time, decide to stop such activities. Information will be provided to the competent market authorities and the public in compliance with Article 6 of the above mentioned Regulation.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005668/en/

Contacts:

Media:

FTI Consulting

Emily Oliver/Christina Zinck

+44 (0)20 3727 1000 exclusivenetworks@fticonsulting.com

Exclusive Networks

Hadas Hughes, VP Global Marketing and Communications

Hacene Boumendjel, Head of Investor Relations

Contact via IR@exclusive-networks.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Castle Peak Mining Ltd. (TSXV: CAP) ("Castle Peak" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement financing of up to 10,000,000 units (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.015 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to $150,000 (the "Offering"). Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (each, a "Common Share").

Closing of the Offering is expected to occur on or about October 29, 2021. All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a statutory hold period of four-months and one day, as well as to any other re-sale restrictions imposed by applicable securities regulatory authorities. Completion of the Offering is subject to a number of conditions, including without limitation, receipt of TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") approval. The Company intends to use the proceeds from the Offering to fund the ongoing exploration program at Castle Peak's Akorade project in Ghana, as well as, working capital.

In addition to other prospectus exemptions commonly relied on in private placements, such as the accredited investor exemption, the Offering is being made available to qualifying existing shareholders of the Company in reliance on BC Instrument 45-534 Exemption from prospectus requirement for certain trades to existing security holders and other provincial equivalents (the "Existing Security Holder Exemption"). To comply with the criteria of the Existing Security Holder Exemption, the ability of existing shareholders to participate in the Offering under the Existing Security Holder Exemption shall be subject to, among other criteria, the following:

September 27, 2021, has been set as the record date (the "Record Date") for the purpose of determining existing security holders entitled to purchase Units pursuant to the Existing Security Holder Exemption;

To participate, a qualified shareholder must deliver an executed subscription agreement in the required form, which will include the requirements of the Existing Security Holder Exemption;

The aggregate acquisition cost to a subscriber under the Existing Security Holder Exemption cannot exceed $15,000 per twelve-month period unless that subscriber has obtained advice from a registered investment dealer regarding the suitability of the investment; and

Subscriptions will be accepted by the Company on a "first come, first served basis"; therefore, if the Offering is oversubscribed it is possible that a shareholder's subscription may not be accepted by the Company.

Further terms and conditions shall be set out in the form of subscription agreement that will be made available to interested shareholders, who are directed to contact the Company as soon as possible in accordance with the contact information provided below.

Completion of the Offering is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.

Debt Settlement

The Company also reports that its board of directors has approved the settlement of up to $425,000 of debt through the issuance of common shares of the Company (the "Debt Settlement"). Pursuant to the Debt Settlement, the Company will issue up to 30,000,000 common shares of the Company to certain creditors being Allan Green and Candel & Partners SAS (the "Creditors").

The Debt Settlement transactions involving the Creditors will constitute "related party transaction[s]" under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Securityholders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). All of the independent directors of the Company, acting in good faith, considered the transactions and have determined that the fair market value of the securities being issued to insiders and the consideration being paid is reasonable. The Company has determined that it is exempt from the minority approval and formal valuation requirements under MI 61-101 in respect of the Debt Settlement transactions, relying on the exemptions found in sections 5.5(1)(a) and (b) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101.

Completion of the Debt Settlement is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.

For further information, please contact:

"Iyad Jarbou"

Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 604.362.7685

Email: iyadj@castlepeakmining.com

Website: https://castlepeakmining.com/

FORWARD-LOOKING AND OTHER CAUTIONARY INFORMATION

Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain 'forward-looking information' and 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of applicable securities laws. This release may contain statements that are forward looking statements and are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. Such information contained herein represents management's best judgment as of the date hereof based on information currently available. As a result, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this release. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required by law. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States, or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdictions in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Any offering made will be pursuant to available prospectus and registration exemptions and restricted persons to whom the securities may be sold in accordance with the laws of such jurisdictions and by persons permitted to sell the securities in accordance with the laws of such jurisdictions.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98292
DGAP Voting Rights Announcement: QIAGEN N.V.

QIAGEN N.V.: Release according to Article 40, Section 1 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act] with the objective of Europe-wide distribution



01.10.2021 / 22:03

Dissemination of a Voting Rights Announcement transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The AFM (the Netherlands Authority For the Financial Markets) has informed us on September 28, 2021 that a notification related to our institution has been released by the AFM. The following notification has been disclosed in the relevant register on the AFM website: Date of transaction: 24 sep 2021

Person obliged to notify: BlackRock, Inc.

Issuing institution: Qiagen N.V.

Registration Chamber of Commerce: 12036979

Place of residence: VENLO Distribution in numbers Type of share Number of shares Number of voting rights Capital interest Voting rights Manner of disposal Settlement Ordinary share 32.181.494,00 34.483.173,00 Real Real Indirectly - BlackRock, Inc. Contract for difference 117.211,00 117.211,00 Potential Potential Indirectly - BlackRock, Inc. In Cash Ordinary share 662.743,00 662.743,00 Potential Potential Indirectly - BlackRock, Inc. Physical Delivery

Distribution in percentages Type Total holding Directly real Directly potential Indirectly real Indirectly potential Capital interest 14,28 % 0,00 % 0,00 % 13,94 % 0,34 % Voting rights 15,28 % 0,00 % 0,00 % 14,94 % 0,34 % QIAGEN N.V. is not responsible for the accuracy and correctness of the notification above. The content has been taken from the relevant register of the AFM: https://www.afm.nl/en/professionals/registers/meldingenregisters/substantiele-deelnemingen/details?id=115947

01.10.2021 The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.dgap.de


TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2021 / Vanadium One Iron Corp. (the "Company") (TSXV:VONE), announces that as a result of a review by staff of the Ontario Securities Commission, the Company is issuing the following news release regarding disclosure at the Mont Sorcier Iron and Vanadium Project.

The Company wishes to clarify that the Mont Sorcier Iron and Vanadium Project Technical Report dated June 25, 2021 (the "Updated MRE") is considered to be the current technical report on the Mont Sorcier Project and this technical report does not support the continued disclosure by the Company of the results of the 2020 Preliminary Economic Assessment Technical Report (the "2020 PEA Technical Report"). The Company also cautions investors that the 2020 PEA Technical Report results previously reported are no longer current and should not be relied upon.

The Company's disclosures in its Management Discussion and Analysis for the three months ended May 31, 2021, dated July 28, 2021 should not have highlighted the 2020 PEA Technical Report since the Updated MRE was the Company's current technical report on the date in which it was filed.

The Company notes that it has revised its corporate presentation to exclude certain detail referencing economic results of the 2020 PEA Technical Report. The Company has also removed the hyperlink on its website to the Argus Equity Research Analyst Report since such report included results of the 2020 PEA Technical Report.

About Vanadium One Iron.

Vanadium One Iron is a mineral exploration company headquartered in Toronto, Canada. The Company is focused on advancing its Mont Sorcier, Vanadium-rich, Magnetite Iron Ore Project, in Chibougamau, Quebec. The project has over 1,0 Billion tonnes of resources and is ideally located near key rail, port and hydro electrical infrastructure to support rapid development.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF VANADIUM ONE IRON CORP.

Cliff Hale-Sanders, President & CEO

Tel: 416-819-8558

info@vanadiumone.com

www.vanadiumone.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains "forward-looking information" including statements with respect to the future exploration performance of the Company. This forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements of the Company, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, as well as others, are disclosed within the Company's filing on SEDAR, which investors are encouraged to review prior to any transaction involving the securities of the Company. Forward-looking information contained herein is provided as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any obligation, other than as required by law, to update any forward-looking information for any reason. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate and the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking information.

SOURCE: Vanadium One Iron Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666487/Vanadium-One-Iron-Provides-Corporate-Update
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Hank Payments Corp. ("Hank") and Nobelium Tech Corp. (TSXV: NBL.H) (the "Company") are pleased to announce that the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") has conditionally approved the business combination (the "Transaction") between Hank and the Company previously announced in the Company's press releases dated December 21, 2020, June 16, 2021, August 11, 2021, August 16, 2021, and September 10, 2021. The Transaction remains subject to the final approval of the TSXV and satisfaction of closing conditions customary for transactions of this nature. The Company, upon and subject to completion of the Transaction, (the "Resulting Issuer") will continue under the name "Hank Payments Corp." and trade on the TSXV under the symbol "HANK". The Transaction is expected to close on or about October 13, 2021.

The Company has filed a filing statement today that is dated effective September 28, 2021 (the "Filing Statement") with the TSXV and on SEDAR. Additional information in respect of the Transaction and Hank can be found in the Filing Statement.

About Nobelium Tech Corp.

The Company is a Capital Pool Company ("CPC"). It has not commenced commercial operations and has no assets other than a minimum amount of cash. Except as specifically contemplated in the CPC Policy, as defined in the final prospectus, until completion of the proposed qualifying transaction with Hank, the Company will not carry on any business other than the identification and evaluation of assets or businesses with a view to completing a proposed qualifying transaction.

Disclaimer

All information provided in this press release relating to Hank has been provided by management of Hank and has not been independently verified by management of the Company. Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, TSXV acceptance and if applicable pursuant to TSXV requirements, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the transaction, any information released or received with respect to the transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that discusses predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, without limitation, statements regarding: the terms, conditions, and completion of the Transaction and the Concurrent Financing; use of funds; and the business and operations of the Resulting Issuer. In making the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, the Company has made certain assumptions, including that: due diligence will be satisfactory; the Concurrent Financing will be completed on acceptable terms; all applicable shareholder, and regulatory approvals for the Transaction will be received. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: results of due diligence; availability of financing; delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals; and general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise.

For more information please contact:

Glenn Jessome

Director of Nobelium

Tel: 902-492-0298

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98315
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Boosh Plant-Based Brands Inc. (CSE:VEGI) (OTCQB: VGGIF) ("Boosh" or the "Company") wishes to make, at the request of the OTC Market Groups Inc. ("OTC Markets"), the following statements regarding certain market activity surrounding the Company's common shares.

On September 28, 2021, the Company was notified by the OTC Markets about certain promotional activities in relation to the Company's common shares, including certain promotional newsletter emails dated September 28, 2021 (the "Promotional Materials") distributed by Wealth Resource Group and Portfolio Wealth Global. The Company had not seen the specific forms of Promotional Materials prior to receiving copies from OTC Markets, but notes that the Promotional Materials purport to have been prepared pursuant to an agreement between the Company and Gold Standard Media LLC ("Gold Standard"). The Company does have an advertising agreement in place with Gold Standard dated May 27, 2021 and the Company's CEO was provided with portions of copy, some of which was used in the Promotional Materials, for review of accuracy of certain statements related to the Company's products and distribution.

Since the Company's initial listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange at the end of May 2021, the Company has utilized Gold Standard as its marketing firm, as well as Edge Growth Holdings Corporation as its primary public and investor relations team. Separately, on May 28, 2021, the Company engaged AGORA Internet Relations Corp. to provide online advertising for the Company. The Company has also entered into agreements with BTV, North Equities Inc., Amherst Baer Consultancy Corporation, Proactive Investors North America Inc. AGORA and BTV are not investor relations firms, and none of the entities listed above had involvement with the Promotional Materials.

After inquiry, except as outlined above, the Company confirms that its officers, directors or its controlling shareholders (i.e., shareholders owning 10% or more of the Company's securities) have not, directly or indirectly, authorized or been involved in any way with the creation or distribution of the Promotional Materials.

The Company acknowledges that the distribution of the Promotional Materials coincided with higher than average trading volume in the Company's common stock, however, the Company has no knowledge or opinion as to whether or not the materials themselves affected trading activity. Many other factors, including but not limited to recent Canadian roadshow activities and interviews of the Company's CEO and recent press releases, could have had an impact on trading volume. Since August 1, 2021, the Company announced the launch of the Company's products in Whole Foods Markets in Canada, the completion of its studio kitchen and the appointment of Dave Richardson as a special advisor, as well as DTC eligibility. The Company believes that such events and announcements may have been a factor in the increase in the trading volume of its common stock.

The Company recognizes that the statements made in the Promotional Materials may be deemed to have encouraged investors to purchase common stock of the Company in the open market. The Company confirms that the Promotional Statements contain no factual inaccuracies or any material non-public information, and the Company did not review the specific Promotional Materials or have any right of editorial control over the content. The statements made in the Promotional Materials regarding the Company's grocery store expansion goals, and the potential performance of the Company's Common Shares are forward-looking and speculative in nature. As such, these forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied, including: (i) the risks that the Company's production of products may be impacted by delays including delays associated with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; (ii) that the Company may not raise enough money to fund its business plans; (iv) agricultural product price fluctuations; (v) political or economic instability and regulatory changes; (vi) currency fluctuations; (vii) the state of the capital markets; and (viii) other risks and uncertainties identified under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's continuous disclosure documents filed on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") at www.sedar.com.

The Company disclaims any potentially exaggerated statements in the Promotional Materials, and readers of the materials should not place undue reliance on the Promotional Materials. The Company does not condone the use of sensational language to describe the Company's business prospects or any statements made regarding the urgency of investing in the Company's common stock, or any other similar statements. The Company further notes that investing in the Company's securities involves certain risks and uncertainties that investors should review prior to making any investment decision. The Company encourages all investors to rely on its continuous disclosure filings accessible on SEDAR.

Upon inquiry of management, directors, control persons and third-party service providers, to the Company's knowledge, based upon filings made with the SEDI and other information available to the Company, during the past 90 days, no such persons executed any purchase or sales transactions of the Company's securities, other than the grant by the Company's CEO of a call option on 200,000 of his warrants to an advisor of the Company as incentive to the advisor and the grant to the Company's CFO of 12,500 options at prices ranging from $1.10 to $1.18 per share and to the Company's corporate secretary of 10,000 options at an exercise price of $1.10 per share.

Issuances of Securities

Since its public offering in May, 2021, and other than pursuant to the exercise of warrants issued with exercises prices that were a premium to market at the time of issuance, the Company has only issued shares at a price constituting a discount to the current market rate at the time of the issuance once being an aggregate of 28,409 common shares at a deemed price of $0.88 per share as partial consideration for the assets forming the business of Saltspring Harvest Ltd.

Listing on the OTCQB

The common shares of the Company listed commenced trading on the OTCQB on August 16, Since listing, trading volumes on the OTCQB have been minimal and sporadic, as the Company's primary listing is in Canada on the Canadian Securities Exchange and only six weeks have passed since listing. Volumes have fluctuated, depending on the state of the capital markets and the Company's business activities. However, trading volumes on the OTCQB have recently increased, in the last seven days. The Company attributes the increases in trading volumes to activities.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

James Pakulis

Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: (833) 882-6674

www.Booshfood.com

About Boosh Plant-Based Brands Inc.:

Boosh Plant-Based Brands Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary, Boosh Food (www.booshfood.com), is the gateway to experiencing high quality, non-GMO, gluten free, 100% plant-based nutritional comfort foods for the whole family. We currently offer six frozen meals which are sold throughout Canada, and now we're expanding our meals to include three refrigerated products. Boosh, good for you and good for planet earth.

The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward-looking statements. These statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, the Company's proposed use of the proceeds of its initial public offering. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98348
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Comstock Metals Ltd. (TSXV: CSL) ("Comstock" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it is has closed previously disclosed proposed non-brokered private placement of units ("Units") and flow-through units ("FT Units") (see press release dated September 28, 2021) for aggregate gross proceeds of $388,900.

The Company issued an aggregate of 1,715,000 FT Units and 2,225,000 Units pursuant to the offerings. Each Unit was priced at $0.09 and consists of one common share in the capital of the Company (a "Share") and one common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one additional common share of the Company (a "Warrant Share") at an exercise price of $0.12 per Warrant Share for a period of 24 months from the closing of the offerings. Each FT Unit was priced at $0.11 and consists of one flow-through common share in the capital of the Company (a "FT Share") and one Warrant. The expiry date of the Warrants is subject to an acceleration provision that provides that if the closing price of the Company's common shares is equal to or greater than $0.24 for a period of 10 consecutive trading days, the Company has the right to accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants by giving written notice to the holders of the Warrants with the revised expiry date being 30 days from the date of the notice to the warrant holders. The acceleration of the Warrant expiry date may not be triggered prior to February 2, 2022.

The Company will use the gross proceeds of the offering of FT Units for eligible exploration expenditures, which will constitute "Canadian Exploration Expenses" ("CEE") that are "Flow-Through mining expenditures," as defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada) which can be renounced to purchasers of the FT Units for the 2021 taxation year in the aggregate amount of not less than the total amount of the gross proceeds raised from the flow-through offering. The CEE shall be incurred no later than December 31, 2022.

The proceeds from the offering of Units will be used to fund exploration on the Company's Preview SW gold deposit (with a focus on Comstock's Preview North zone) located in Saskatchewan, Canada and for general working capital.

The offerings were offered on a non-brokered private placement basis in certain provinces of Canada and such other jurisdictions as the Company may determine in its sole discretion and will be subject to a statutory hold period ending on February 2, 2022. The Company paid finder's fees totalling $13,398 and issued 125,300 broker warrants as compensation to a finder that assisted with the offerings. Each broker warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one common share at a price of $0.09 per share at any time on or before October 1, 2023.

The securities issued under the offerings have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any U.S. state securities laws.

Pursuant to the offering, the Company issued securities to certain purchasers that are considered to be "related parties" (within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101")), making the Offering a "related party transaction" (within the meaning of MI 61-101) (the "Related Party Subscriptions"). The Company was exempt from obtaining a formal valuation for, and minority approval of, the Related Party Subscriptions pursuant to Section 5.5(b) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, respectively.

Steven H. Goldman's wife's company subscribed for a total of 1,000,000 Units pursuant to the offering. Mr. Goldman is an officer and director of the Company and a "related party" of the Company (within the meaning of MI 61-101). Mr. Goldman now beneficially owns, or exercises control or direction over, 3,006,626 common shares (or, approximately 10.27% of the issued and outstanding common shares or approximately 14.39% of the issued and outstanding common shares on a partially diluted basis) (including all options and warrants owned or controlled by Mr. Goldman).

Arnold Tenney's spouse subscribed for a total of 450,000 FT Units pursuant to the offering. Mr. Tenney is a director of the Company and a "related party" of the Company (within the meaning of MI 61-101). Mr. Tenney now beneficially owns, or exercises control or direction over, 871,666 common shares (or, approximately 3.0% of the issued and outstanding common shares or approximately 5.2% of the issued and outstanding common shares on a partially diluted basis) (including all options and warrants owned or controlled by Mr. Tenney).

The material change report to be filed in connection with the Private Placement will be filed less than 21 days prior to the closing of the offerings. The shorter period was necessary in order to permit the Company to close the Private Placement in a timeframe consistent with usual market practice for transactions of this nature.

Early Warning Report

Steven Goldman and his wife Nancy Carroll, acting jointly (collectively the "Goldmans"), announced that they have filed an updated early warning report related to their participation in the offering of Units

Upon completion of the offering, the Goldmans beneficially owns and has control of 3,006,626 common shares of the Issuer, as well as common share purchase warrants to acquire a further 1,000,000 common shares and options to acquire 410,000 common shares, which represents approximately 14.39% of the issued and outstanding common shares as calculated in accordance with National Instrument 62-104 Take-Over Bids and Insider Bids.

The Units were acquired for investment purposes only by the Goldmans. The Goldmans' view of the Company and the investment may change, depending on market and other conditions, or as future circumstances may dictate, from time to time. The Goldmans, on an individual or joint basis, may increase or dispose of some or all of their ownership in the Issuer or each may continue to hold its current position.

This news release is being issued in accordance with National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues in connection with the filing of an early warning report dated October 1, 2021. A copy of the early warning report relating to the Goldmans' participation in the Offering will be available under the Issuer's profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Review ("SEDAR") at www.sedar.com.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act") and may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or "U.S. persons" (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the 1933 Act any application state securities laws.

About Comstock Metals Ltd.

Comstock Metals is advancing the Preview SW Gold Project, a resource-stage gold project in the La Ronge district of Saskatchewan. The Preview SW deposit hosts indicated mineral resources containing 158,300 ounces of gold (2.61 million tonnes grading 1.89 g/t Au) and inferred mineral resources containing 270,800 ounces of gold (5.70 million tonnes grading 1.48 g/t Au), both based on a 0.50 g/t Au cut-off grade1. During 2017 and 2018, Comstock completed diamond drilling campaigns targeting the Preview North zone and the Preview SW deposit comprising 24 holes totaling 4,700 metres. Several additional, relatively untested targets remain on the Property, including the A, B, C, and Clearwater zones (Map 2).





Map 2. Preview SW Property Map Showing Drilled Gold Zones

For further details, see the Company's website at www.comstock-metals.com

To view an enhanced version of Map 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7078/98357_a04cd07e34589a55_001full.jpg

Qualified Persons

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release as it relates to the Preview SW Gold Project has been reviewed and approved by Kristopher J. Raffle, P.Geo. (BC) Principal and Consultant of APEX Geoscience Ltd. of Edmonton, AB and a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Raffle verified the data disclosed which includes a review of the analytical and test data underlying the information and opinions contained therein.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes forward-looking information and statements, which may include, but are not limited to, information and statements regarding or inferring the future business, operations, financial performance, prospects, and other plans, intentions, expectations, estimates, and beliefs of the Company. Such statements include statements regarding the use of proceeds resulting from the financing. Forward-looking information and statements involve and are subject to assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future events, results, performance, and achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information and statements herein. The assumptions on which the forward-looking statements contained herein rely include the ability to complete the proposed financing and receipt of regulatory approval. Although the Company believes that any forward-looking information and statements herein are reasonable, in light of the use of assumptions and the significant risks and uncertainties inherent in such information and statements, there can be no assurance that any such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, and accordingly readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance upon such forward-looking information and statements. Any forward-looking information and statements herein are made as of the date hereof, and except as required by applicable laws, the Company assumes no obligation and disclaims any intention to update or revise any forward-looking information and statements herein or to update the reasons that actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in any forward-looking information and statements herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

For more information about Comstock Metals Ltd., please refer to Comstock Metals' website at www.comstock-metals.com or contact:

Steven H. Goldman

President, CEO and Director

COMSTOCK METALS LTD.

Cell Phone: (416) 917-1533

Email: s.goldman@goldmanhine.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this Release.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES

1 The Company has filed on SEDAR the 43-101 Technical Report, Preview SW Gold Project, La Ronge, Saskatchewan, prepared for Comstock Metals Ltd. by Ronald G. Simpson, P.Geo., Geosim Services Inc. Effective date September 27, 2016.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98357
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2021) - Ocumetics Technology Corp. (formerly Quantum Blockchain Technologies Ltd.) (TSXV: OTC) (the "Corporation") announces that it has appointed Sandi Gilbert to the Corporation's Board of Directors and that it has appointed Roger Jewett, CA, CPA as Chief Financial Officer.

Sandi Gilbert is involved with several ventures focused on supporting entrepreneurs as they navigate through start-up to scale-up. She is the founder of PoweredByDealPoint.io, a fintech solution that digitizes investor onboarding, investment execution and compliance for private capital markets activities for investment dealers, early-stage companies, angel and venture led financings and syndications.

Ms. Gilbert leads the InterGen initiative, a not-for-profit that is building a community where ambitious entrepreneurs and emerging companies get connected with the talent and expertise of Alberta's business leaders. She is the Managing Partner of InterGen Capital, a private venture fund designed to enable high potential companies to seize global opportunities.

She sits on the boards of the National Angel Capital Association and the Angel Capital Association in the USA, a member of the advisory board of NRC-IRAP and the New Economy advisory board of the Alberta Securities Commission.

Ms. Gilbert's appointment as a director of the Corporation is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Roger Jewett, CA, CPA is the owner of A Fresh Approach Inc., a corporation through which Mr. Jewett provides contract Chief Financial Officer services to private and public companies. Mr. Jewett is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Guardian Exploration Inc., a public oil and gas exploration and development corporation as well as a number of private companies in the aviation, medical device, software development and oil and gas services sectors.

Mr. Jewett is the past CFO of Enerjet, a Boeing 737 charter operator, and Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, a private Canadian ski hill operator and resort developer. He also previously held the positions of Director, President and CFO of Rare Method, which was then a TSXV listed interactive marketing firm. Mr. Jewett holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of New Brunswick and holds CA and CPA designations.

Mr. Jewett is also a director of the Corporation.

"Ocumetics has a busy 12 months ahead of us," says Dr. Mark Lee, CEO of Ocumetics. "We are thrilled to have these two highly-skilled individuals on board to help guide us during this phase of our growth."

The appointments of Ms. Gilbert and Mr. Jewett are accompanied by the resignations of Johannes Kingma as a director of the Corporation and of Sandey Wang as the Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation. The Corporation thanks Mr. Kingma and Ms. Wang for their contributions to the Corporation and wishes them well on their future endeavours.

About Ocumetics

Ocumetics Technology Corp. (TSXV: OTC) is a Canadian research and product development company that specializes in adaptive lens designs, based in British Columbia. It is now in the pre-clinical stage of a game-changing technology for the ophthalmic industry - the Bionic Lens. The Bionic Lens is an expandable intraocular lens that fits within the natural lens compartment of the eye to completely eliminate the need for corrective lenses. It re-establishes the natural kinetics of the eye muscles to facilitate the eye's ability to shift focus effortlessly from distance to near and very near range.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Dr. Mark Lee

President and CEO

(604) 832-6052

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98341
By Jeremy Levy, CEO, Indicative

For anyone watching B2B tech in recent years, the action in data has been impossible to miss. Mergers, acquisitions and skyrocketing enterprise valuations have our collective attention. Companies that can take vast amounts of data and operationalize it are hitting home runs left and right. Look no further than Snowflakes IPO a year ago and Googles Looker acquisition, to name a pair.

The trend will continue to accelerate. The recent valuations and large rounds of funding have been eye-popping. The data ecosystem is in a frenzy. Month after month, were reminded how transformative a time this is for the sector. There is also continued awareness  and acceptance  that companies should be building out their data infrastructure with cloud data warehouses in mind. There is significantly more mainstream adoption of this approach by companies of all types.

The data ecosystem is growing up

The activity over the past couple of years raises the question: Whats the maturity of the data ecosystem? Were no longer in the nascent stages. Its still early, but were starting to move into a more mature phase around how businesses leverage data.

Were standardizing on an approach to how to do that vis-a-vis the cloud data warehouse, and the industry is aligning around it, creating much of the enterprise value we see in the market. This new approach also is destroying value for companies that are incompatible with the cloud data warehouse  for example, those that require proprietary storage or pre-analytics data replication.

Why would clients continue to be beholden to monolithic stacks like Adobe when there are best-in-class products that are built to interface with the cloud data warehouse so seamlessly that a company can easily choose the best tools for its stack? Why would they continue to replicate their data time and time again before they operationalize it? The writing for those outdated solutions is on the wall. In addition, companies deserve ownership and control over their own data.

Data warehouses and data lakes will see increasing adoption, and the companies that provide them will see even greater value. The same will be said for companies that can connect directly to the data warehouse and operationalize data without the hassle of data replication or forcing customers to use proprietary storage. So while you have winners like BigQuery, Census and Fivetran on one hand, you see significant threats to stacks like Adobe Experience Cloud and data warehouse-unfriendly platforms like Amplitude and Mixpanel on the other.

One also cant ignore the companies that have gone public recently, including Amplitude. To some extent, Amplitudes valuation and filing are wins for everyone in analytics  a massive validation for the market. If the company was founded today, though, it would not have this same level of success because the market is clearly transitioning to the cloud data warehouse model; something Amplitude is simply not compatible with. And while this model has been written about at length, the more tangible predictor of this trend is the continued acceleration of growth at Snowflake and other cloud data providers like Amazon and Google.

Amplitudes requirements for replicating and operationalizing customers data reflect a decades-old approach. Their solution isnt built for tomorrow. In time, especially given the increased scrutiny of shareholders and earnings reports, the shortcomings of Amplitudes approach will catch up with them.

New players mean significant opportunity to create value

The barrier to entry into this space is getting much lower. Its no longer buy Adobe. Its more, build your own marketing cloud. Because thats really what the cloud data warehouse allows adopters to do. Free from the constraints of a proprietary solution, its much more feasible to build your own stack. Whether you need an analytics solution or a data quality solution, you can find one that integrates directly into the cloud data warehouse.

Significant opportunity remains for new players to help long-suffering clients address existing data challenges. As Gallup reported last year, only a minority of companies believe theyre making effective use of the data they have. And, consequently, emerging providers will have to be able to demonstrate near-immediate value. Otherwise, customers can quickly try something different. They arent handcuffed to a proprietary stack. This competition  and the associated attention and investment  is healthy for the data industry as a whole, even if some legacy providers are under threat.

Still, many questions remain about how the future of the ecosystem will play out. Weve already seen venture capital flow into the collection and storage portions of the new data architecture. Whats next? Will it be analytics platforms?

Theres a good chance the attention will focus on companies that help customers operationalize data since investment in collection and storage is already running high. Platforms that connect to the cloud data warehouse, leverage data and allow customers to make better decisions would be a natural next area of focus.

We also must wonder about the likelihood of further M&A activity in the space. What are the chances that the prominent players in the market will eventually try to roll up the pieces? What would this look like? If data warehouse companies, for example, acquire collection, analytics and BI companies, would customers still be able to purchase, lets say, the acquired BI solution a la carte? Or would we be headed toward a new era of proprietary stacks?

Is it, in practice, a natural evolution for dominant companies in industries with decentralized architectures to engage in an M&A strategy, followed by a movement back toward decentralization?

While the data industry is no longer in its infancy, its not quite jogging yet either. Legacy, monolithic stacks are clearly under threat, though, and the cloud data warehouse is recognized as the center of modern data architecture. We should expect substantial investment and M&A activity still to come and likely some trial and error before we know what the ecosystems prevailing financial strategies will be.

###

Author

Jeremy Levy is CEO and co-founder of Indicative, the only product analytics platform for product managers, marketers and data analysts that connects directly to the data warehouse. He is a serial entrepreneur and a veteran of New York Citys Silicon Alley. Jeremy co-founded Xtify, the first mobile CRM for enterprise, acquired by IBM in 2013. He also co-founded MeetMoi, a pioneering location-based dating service for mobile sold to Match.com in 2014.
AlleyCorp, a NYC firm dedicated to founding, funding, and building transformative companies across industries, launched the AlleyCorp Healthcare Fund, a $100m early-stage venture capital fund and incubator dedicated to healthcare.

The AlleyCorp Healthcare Fund will continue AlleyCorps approach of both founding companies and funding existing startups.

The fund will deploy $100M in early-stage capital for incubations and investments over the next few years with a focus on NYC-based digital health startups. AlleyCorp also will strategically partner with companies across the country in healthcare subsectors like biotech and diagnostics.

Incepted in 2007 by Kevin Ryan, AlleyCorp has founded several of New Yorks most successful technology companies, including MongoDB, Gilt Groupe, Business Insider, and Zola. Recently, the team has served as co-founder or first investor of 20 healthcare startups that have already gone on to raise around $500M in funding, including Nomad Health, Vori Health, Pearl Health, and Memora Health.

Chaired by Ryan, the AlleyCorp Healthcare Fund is physician-led with Brenton Fargnoli, M.D., serving as Managing Partner and Jeff De Flavio, M.D., as Partner & Entrepreneur-In-Residence. The team also includes medical students Omar Njie and Sherman Leung, as well as Jane Suh, formerly of Andreessen Horowitz.

In addition to patient care, this team has founded or been early operators at leading digital health startups such as Flatiron Health, Nomad Health, Groups Recover Together, CityBlock Health, Clover Health, and PatientPing.

While AlleyCorp is industry-agnostic, it also has a dedicated Robotics Fund and Canada-focused fund in addition to Healthcare.

FinSMEs

01/10/2021
Profian, a Raleigh, NC-based security company providing a Confidential Computing platform, raised $5M in Seed funding.

The round was led by Project A Ventures and Illuminate Financial with participation from Olivier Pomel, Chief Executive Officer of Datadog; Tyler McMullen, Chief Technology Officer of Fastly; Till Schneidereit, Chairman of Bytecode Alliance; and Sarah Novotny, Board Member of the Linux Foundation.

The company intends to use the funds to develop a suite of open source products and services around Confidential Computing, a set of hardware and software technologies improving application security.

Co-founded by Mike Bursell, former Chief Security Architect at Red Hat, and Nathaniel McCallum, former Virtualization Security Architect at Red Hat, Profian is a security company providing products and services in the Confidential Computing space. The company is committed to open source software founding its products on the open source software project Enarx, which uses WebAssembly, a portable run-time binary format supported on all the major hardware platforms, and which is being standardized by the W3C. Profian allows companies to deploy existing cloud-native applications, without redesign or recompilation, across existing platforms like Intel SGX and AMD SEV, and new platforms as they are rolled out, such as AMD SEV, and new platforms as they are rolled out, such as the Arm Confidential Compute Architecture (Arm CCA) and IBM Power Series PEF.

The platform will be applicable across industries, but will initially focus on the financial services sector, where there is a well-defined set of use cases and an appetite for solutions that meet confidentiality and integrity requirements.

Profian is a member of the Confidential Computing Consortium, a Linux Foundation project, which unites hardware vendors, cloud providers, and software developers to accelerate the adoption of Trusted Execution Environment technologies and standards. More than 30 industry innovators including Accenture, Arm, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Red Hat and VMware are members. The company is also a member of the Bytecode Alliance, an industry alliance around WebAssembly and related technologies.

FinSMEs

01/10/2021
PSG, a Boston, MA  based growth equity firm, closed PSG V, its fifth U.S. flagship fund, at $4.5 billion in third-party limited partner commitments.

The fund, which brings PSGs aggregate capital commitments across the U.S. and Europe to more than $10 billion, received commitments from both existing and new investors, including state and corporate pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and family offices.

Through PSG V, the firm will continue its commitment to its founding buy and build strategy focused on helping middle-market software companies grow through strategic value creation initiatives in addition to sourcing and facilitating add-on acquisitions.

Founded in 2014 by Mark Hastings, CEO, and Peter Wilde, Chairman, PSG partners with middle-market software and technology-enabled services companies to help them navigate transformational growth, capitalize on strategic opportunities and build strong teams.

PSG has a team of over 120 employees across offices in Boston, Kansas City and London, including more than 85 investment professionals and over 30 operations team professionals. It is also supported by 20 senior advisors. The firm closed its debut European fund earlier this year with 1.25 billion in third-party limited partner commitments.

PSG, which operates out of offices in Boston, Kansas City and London, has backed more than 85 companies and facilitated over 325 add-on acquisitions since 2014.

FinSMEs

01/10/2021
New partnership set to bring extended reality learning to UofG

Students and academics are set to benefit from the introduction of cutting-edge extended reality technology at the University of Glasgow.



Extended reality (XR) merges augmented and virtual reality technology to create immersive new ways of interacting with computer-generated 3D images and simulations.



The University has partnered with EON Reality, a global leader in augmented and virtual reality-based knowledge, to establish a new EON-XR Centre on campus.

The EON-XR Centre, which will be based at the Universitys James Watt South Building, will aim to find new ways to expand the learning experience offered to students across the Universitys four Colleges with new technologies.

Students will have access to augmented reality (AR) software on their mobile devices and virtual reality (VR) headsets to bring lessons to life in new ways. Engineering students, for example, will be able to visualise and interact with the inner workings of machinery in virtual space, while medical students could gain new insight into how organs function.



In addition to accessing through EON Realitys knowledge metaverse  an online repository of thousands of existing learning tools created with other partners  University teachers will be able to develop their own lessons for students. Learners will also have the chance to build, use and share their own designs.



The partnership is officially unveiled today (Friday 1 October) with an event at the Universitys student union reading room.



Professor Frank Coton, the Universitys Vice Principal (Academic Planning & Technological Innovation), said: We are delighted to be partnering with EON Reality on the establishment of this new Centre. Despite being an ancient university, Glasgow has always embraced the opportunities that new technologies offer to enhance student learning. XR technology will become a significant feature of the future global learning landscape and this partnership will allow us to help shape that future.



Dan Lejerskar, Founder of EON Reality, added: Its an honour to partner with an institution like the University of Glasgow, as they helped to set the standard for what high-level education means both today and in years past. Now, we can help launch them into the future with EON-XR and our other solutions. The University of Glasgow is an absolutely legendary academic institution and will make an incredible addition both to our global network as well as the knowledge metaverse.

https://youtu.be/UQjHnEUsDC4



Learners at the Universitys partner campuses at the Singapore Institute of Technology and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) will also benefit from access to the XR system.



Professor Muhammad Imran, Dean of the University of Glasgow UESTC, said: The benefit of exploiting XR technology goes beyond the pandemic needs of enabling learners to learn from their homes. It will enhance the learning experience even in face-to-face classroom teaching by helping learners to have better visualisation and the ability to repeat the experience of learning/training of specific skills in functionally safe environment.



As the partnership develops, Professor Imran and his team will also use the Universitys Urban Testbed, funded by The Scotland 5G Centre, to explore how the high-end digital connectivity that 5G communications technology provides can help create a seamless XR experience.



Paul Coffey, CEO of the Scotland 5G Centre, said: The end user experience of XR technology is highly dependent on the resolution and quality of immersive video/graphics as well as agile responses to users actions. Consequently, high-end digital connectivity solutions like 5G have a prominent role in improving the user experience and uptake of the XR technology. 5G will be a game changer for augmented and virtual reality, and will enable many new use cases and applications. Scotland 5G centre is keen to explore the role of 5G to enhance the experience of XR technology for its users.
Ratings reflect balance sheet strength and strong operating performance



AM Best views Ohio Nationals risk-adjusted capitalization at the strongest level

AM Best affirms stable outlook

AM Best sites growth trends in the core life insurance and disability income product lines



CINCINNATI, Sept. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ohio National Financial Services, Inc. announced today that AM Best has affirmed its Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings of a+ (Excellent) of The Ohio National Life Insurance Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, Ohio National Life Assurance Corporation. The outlook of these ratings is stable.

The A rating is AM Bests third-highest rating out of 16 categories. According to AM Best, insurers rated with a category have high credit quality and are subject to low credit default risk.

In its release, AM Best categorized Ohio Nationals balance sheet as very strong and stated ratings reflect Ohio National Life Groups balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management. The groups risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), is at the strongest level.

The rating action also considers the company's planned sponsored demutualization with Constellation Insurance Holdings, Inc. to provide growth opportunities and strengthen its capital position.

AM Best also noted that:

[Ohio National] continues to display favorable premium growth trends in the core life insurance and disability income product lines.

[Ohio Nationals] distribution channels also continue to diversify and expand.

We are pleased that AM Best highlights our strong capitalization and favorable premium growth trends in our primary product lines, stated Barbara A. Turner, CRCP, Ohio National president and chief executive officer. Further, AM Best recognizes continued diversification and expansion in our distribution channels. We believe our position will be further strengthened through the Constellation transaction we announced earlier this year.

Following its strategic announcement earlier this year with Constellation, Ohio Nationals ratings were unchanged by Moodys, A3, and affirmed by Fitch A-.

Turner also said, We continue to maintain our long-standing financial strength and our focus on serving our policyholders and fulfilling our mission to help you achieve financial security and independence today  and for generations to come.

Additional information about the Constellation transaction can be found on AdvancingOhioNational.com.

About Ohio National

Since 1909, Ohio National has been committed to helping individuals, families and businesses protect what matters most. Through our network of financial professionals across 49 states (all except New York), the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico and through affiliated operations in South America, we provide the insurance products that help our policyholders achieve financial security and independence. As of December 31, 2020, its affiliated companies have $41.2 billion total assets under management. Products are issued by The Ohio National Life Insurance Company and Ohio National Life Assurance Corporation. Recognized as a Leader in Gender Equity by Queen City Certified. Please explore ohionational.com for more information and for the latest company updates, connect with Ohio National on LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

Contact: Lisa Doxsee, APR

513.794.6418 office

513.218.5519 mobile

lisa_doxsee@ohionational.com

Angela Meehan, CLU, ChFC, RFC

513.794.6337 office

513.444.0566 mobile

angela_meehan@ohionational.com
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Patriot Battery Metals Inc. (the Company or Patriot) (CSE: PMET) (OTCQB: RGDCF) (FSE: R9GA) wishes to make the following statements regarding recent market activity concerning its common shares (the Common Shares) traded on the OTCQB marketplace.



On September 27, 2021, the Company was informed by OTC Markets of several promotional materials that presented a general overview of the Company and the lithium mining industry, recent press releases regarding its drilling operations and encouraged investors to purchase or trade the Companys Common Shares. The Company believes that the promotion may have had some impact on market activity, but that a recent stock price increase and trading activity are due primarily to the Companys news released on September 16 and September 23, 2021 related to its drilling program.

The promotional materials present an overview of the Company that appears based largely on information extracted from the Companys website, public filings, or in prior press releases. It contains some speculative language and forward-looking statements about investment potential, but the Company does not believe it contains any materially false or misleading statements about the Company. The Company engaged JWC Marketing Awareness Group Inc. (JWC) on August 15, 2021 for the purpose of corporate marketing and investor awareness. The Company acknowledges it had editorial control over some of the promotional material referenced above but not all of them, and some of the promotional materials were directly procured or paid for by the Company, while it does not recognize the others, however, the Company acknowledges that it may have indirectly contributed to the creation and distribution of such material due to its engagement of JWC.

To the Companys knowledge, except as mentioned above, neither the Companys management, officers, directors, or any controlling shareholders, or any third-party service providers have, directly, or indirectly, been involved in any way (including payment to a third party) with the creation, distribution, or payment of promotional materials related to the Company and its security.

Since September 30, 2020, the Company has engaged the following third-party providers for investor relations, public relations, marketing or other related services: Stockhouse Publishing Ltd., Resource Stock Digest, JWC Market Awareness Group Inc., Flathead Business Solutions, LLC (dba Tamarack Advisors).

Upon inquiry of management, directors, control persons and third-party service providers, during the past 90 days, no such persons have purchased or sold the Companys securities.

The Company completed the following private placements at prices constituting a discount to the then current market prices at the time of issuance: July 17, 2020, 8,040,000 common shares at $0.075 per share; August 26, 2020, 3,000,000 at $0.12 per share; and June 30, 2021, 23,182,000 common shares at $0.16 per share.

About Patriot Battery Metals Inc.

Patriot Battery Metals Inc. is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of mineral projects containing battery, base and precious metals.

The Companys flagship assets are the wholly owned Corvette Property and the FCI Property (held under Option from O3 Mining Inc.) located in the James Bay Region of Quebec, and the 100% owned Freeman Creek Gold Property, located in Idaho, USA.

The Corvette-FCI Property includes the wholly owned Corvette claim block, and the FCI East and West claim blocks held under Option from O3 Mining Inc. The claim blocks are contiguous, and host significant gold-silver-copper-PGE-lithium potential highlighted by the Golden Gap Prospect with grab samples of 3.1 to 108.9 g/t Au from outcrop and 10.5 g/t Au over 7 m in drill hole, the Elsass and Lorraine prospects with 8.15% Cu, 1.33 g/t Au, and 171 g/t Ag in outcrop, and the CV1 Pegmatite Prospect with 2.28% Li2O over 6 m in channel.

The 100% owned Freeman Creek Gold Property hosts two major advanced targets - the Gold Dyke Prospect with a 2020 drill hole intersection of 4.11 g/t Au and 33.0 g/t Ag over 12 m, and the Carmen Creek Prospect with surface sample results including 25.5 g/t Au, 159 g/t Ag, and 9.75% Cu.

In addition, the Company holds the Pontax Lithium-Gold Property, QC; the Golden Silica Property, BC; and the Hidden Lake Lithium Property, NWT, where the Company maintains a 40% interest, as well as several other assets in Canada.

For further information, please contact us at info@patriotbatterymetals.com Tel: +1 (778) 945-2950, or visit www.patriotbatterymetals.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

BLAIR WAY

Blair Way, President & Director

ADRIAN LAMOUREUX

Adrian Lamoureux, CEO & Director



Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information



Statements included in this announcement, including statements concerning our plans, intentions, and expectations, which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words including anticipates, believes, intends, estimates, expects and similar expressions. The Company cautions readers that forward-looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the Companys future operations and business prospects, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release
English Indonesian

CHICAGO, Sept. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amlan International, a global leader in natural, mineral-based feed additives for poultry and swine production, continues to bolster its operations in Indonesia with the addition of Betty Yuriko as country manager. With 27 years of experience in the poultry and swine industry, Betty joins the Indonesia team to lead company growth and distribution strategy.

Indonesia has the worlds fourth-largest population, with demand for animal protein rapidly increasing. With decades of animal health experience, Betty will play a vital role in helping producers incorporate Amlans novel mineral-based feed additive technology to ensure long-term customer value and profitability. With the recent issuance of a patent in Indonesia to protect the novel mineral-based formulation used in Amlan's natural feed additives  Varium for poultry and NeoPrime for swine  producers in the country now have natural alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters that optimize animal health while ensuring economical production. With her expertise, Betty will lead an engaged and customer-focused team in delivering these products to the market.

We are extremely excited to welcome Betty to the Amlan team, says Fred Kao, Vice President of Global Sales, Amlan International. Indonesian producers are looking for new, alternative solutions to maintain their animals health. With her decades of experience, Betty will be a great asset in providing our natural, mineral-based solutions to meet that demand.

Prior to joining Amlan, Betty spent her whole career in the animal health industry. She recently worked as a senior technical manager for a well-known animal health company, where she drove relationships with distributors, breeders, commercial farms and many others. She also worked to provide expert technical support for the sales teams and assisted in marketing efforts for a variety of feed additives. Betty holds a degree in veterinary medicine from Institut Pertanian Bogor.

The poultry industry in Indonesia needs high-quality natural feed additives to help them meet their production goals, says Daniel Jaffee, President & CEO, Oil-Dri Corporation of America. With Betty joining our talented team of industry professionals, we know she will only help strengthen our operations and be a valuable asset in introducing our mineral-based feed additives to the global market.

Company Information

Amlan is the animal health business of Oil-Dri Corporation of America, leading global manufacturer and marketer of sorbent minerals. Oil-Dri leverages over 80 years of expertise in mineral science to selectively mine and process their unique mineral for consumer and business-to-business markets. Oil-Dri Corporation of America doing business as Amlan International is a publicly traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ODC). Amlan International sells feed additives across the world. Product availability may vary by country, associated claims do not constitute medical claims and may differ based on government requirements.

Reagan Culbertson

Media Contact

press@amlan.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/56a0ae8a-2eff-4c5e-a855-7ab404376fed
CARLSBAD, Calif., Sept. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aurora Spine Corporation ("Aurora Spine" or the "Company") (TSXV: ASG) (OTCQB: ASAPF), a designer and manufacturer of innovative medical devices that improve spinal surgery outcomes, today announced it will participate in the Lytham Partners Fall 2021 Investor Conference from October 5-7. Auroras President and CEO Trent Northcutt, will deliver the companys investor presentation on Tuesday, October 5, 2021 at 2:45pm ET.



A webcast of the presentation will be available on the Companys website at www.aurora-spine.com or https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2422/42882. The webcast will be archived and available for replay following the live event.

Mr. Northcutt and Mr. Chad Clouse, CFO of Aurora Spine, will also be available for one-on-one meetings throughout the event, which is scheduled for October 5-7. To arrange a meeting, please contact Lytham Partners at 1x1@lythampartners.com or register by clicking here.

I am pleased to participate again in the Lytham Partners Investor Conference Series, where I will update existing investors and share the Aurora story with potential investors. We have an exciting story and believe we are on the path to success coming out of Covid. We have worked diligently to convert many of our third-party products to proprietary products as we continue to develop new products. Several new products are scheduled for commercialization in the next few quarters. I look forward to discussing Auroras strategy for growth with investors, said Mr. Northcutt.

About Aurora Spine

Aurora Spine is focused on bringing new solutions to the spinal implant market through a series of innovative, minimally invasive, regenerative spinal implant technologies. Additional information can be accessed at www.aurora-spine.com or www.aurorapaincare.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information that involves substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, most of which are beyond the control of Aurora Spine, including, without limitation, those listed under "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information" in Aurora Spine's final prospectus (collectively, "forward-looking information"). Forward-looking information in this news release includes information concerning the proposed use and success of the companys products in surgical procedures. Aurora Spine cautions investors of Aurora Spine's securities about important factors that could cause Aurora Spine's actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements included in this news release. Any statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not historical facts and may be forward-looking and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ unilaterally from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that the expectations set out herein will prove to be correct and, accordingly, prospective investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release and Aurora Spine does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.

Contact:

Aurora Spine Corporation

Trent Northcutt

President and Chief Executive Officer

(760) 424-2004

Chad Clouse

Chief Financial Officer

(760) 424-2004

www.aurora-spine.com

Adam Lowensteiner

LYTHAM PARTNERS, LLC

Phoenix | New York

Telephone: 646-829-9700

asapf@lythampartners.com
Miami, FL, Sept. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Although $GREED has been planning on a major build in the Metaverse it seems many others are following suit. According to Benzinga, Facebooks Q2 2021 earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and others mentioned the metaverse 20 different times. Roblox mentioned the metaverse 16 times on its call and Unity Technologies did so 8 times. Why are leading social media and video game companies so enamored with this term? Its because many expect the metaverse to emerge as the next evolution of the internet, presenting trillions of dollars of opportunities, as well as risks, to todays leading platforms and internet giants. The Greed Metaverse build ties other utilities together in the Greed Ecosystem. Greed is a hybrid rewards-utility token and is one of the first to launch on the Cardano Blockchain.



One of the Cardano Blochains first launches, $Greed, is planning a major Metaverse build for the Greed Ecosystem

Grammy Award winning producers and song writers, Cool & Dre, teamed up with lead developer Captain Awesome (Peter Parente) to launch the first crypto music label, Greed Music. One of the featured Geed Metaverse projects will be the building of a recording studio, where fans can see their favorite recording artists live streaming while they work in the studio. There will also be a virtual concert venue for live streaming performances. Recently, Ariana Grande hosted a virtual live concert via the popular Video Game Fortnite, where she sold 5 million tickets(at $5 a piece). The Metaverse project ties the Music project into the Greed NFT Marketplace because you will need special NFT keys to access these areas. You will also be able to buy collectible music and art NFTs as well. And dont forget your drivables, wearables, and accessory NFTs for your Metaverse avatar. The Ecosystem will also include the GreedSwap, farms, staking pools, and multichain NFT Marketplace powered by PARADOXNFT.

NewsBTC reports ADA has about 2,300 smart contracts loaded up and ready to go, but within that gang of contracts more than 200 of those wont see the light of day just yet, according to Cointelegraph. Cardano has some game-changing contracts that remain time locked and unavailable to the public, and many of these very notable projects are not yet ready for the world. However, changing landscapes could come in to play that will change that. One of frozen few is GREED, a rewards token that is redistributing ADA back to holders and providing a new way to distribute and stream both live and recorded music.

This list also includes SingularityNET and Cardax  two notable projects with a lot eyes waiting to see whats next as time progress. As things unfold and more countries address much-needed regulations to crypto currency, all we can do is sit and see whats next for these projects as we wait to find out who will join the list or make a debut. While you are waiting for Greed to launch you can check out Greeds pup who is already trading. $BabyDogeInu is currently trading and is part of the Greed Ecosystem known as the HODL token. Greeds pup will be supported with a buy back feature from Greed as well as being provided other utility. The Baby Doge Inu game showcasing all the $GREED NFTs is soon to launch as well so keep your eyes open.

Not Investment Advice

The information provided in this release is not investment advice, financial advice or trading advice. It is recommended that you practice due diligence (including consultation with a Professional financial advisor before investing or trading securities and cryptocurrency.

Information Accuracy

All the information provided is subject to change at any time due to market conditions or source retractions including editorial modifications.

For more information, press only:

Peter Parente

info@greedtoken.com



For more information:

Website: www.greedtoken.com








Austin, TX, United States, Sept. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

This dentist is located at 1301 S Capital of Texas Hwy A-132, Austin, TX 78746 and welcomes emergency dental patients from West Lake Hills TX, Lost Creek, Tarrytown, Rollingwood, Barton Creek and the wider North West Austin Texas area.

Those in pain and requiring urgent dental treatment can contact them for guidance and support in having the problem treated in a timely and efficient manner. West Lake Hills Dental Arts has updated its pandemic-safe emergency services, offering critical dental care in a relaxing, patient-friendly environment.

More information can be found at: https://www.westlakehillsdentalarts.com/emergency-dentistry.html

West Lake Hills Dental Arts specialize in emergency and urgent dental treatments to their local community and have the capacity to schedule appointments at short notice, in addition to offering advice about the management of the dental issue before the appointment.

In addition to handling dental emergencies, West Lake Hills Dental Arts offers a full range of preventative dental and hygienist services, including advice on home oral care to protect against decay, gum disease, and oral infections. The dentistry is equipped for X-ray imaging, dedicated exams, and oral cancer screenings.

The team works closely with patients and specializes in treating patients suffering from anxiety about visiting the dentist. They recognize the severity of this anxiety for some individuals and offer both oral conscious dental sedation and nitrous oxide sedation as seen here https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sedation-dentistry-west-lake-hills-104800855.html

To assist their clients in paying for dental treatment, West Lake Hills Dental Arts accepts PPO dental insurance plans and will file claims on a clients behalf. For uninsured clients, they offer CareCredit Financing to help spread the cost of both emergency and planned dental treatment.

West Lake Hills Dental Arts is a family and emergency dentistry headed by Dr. Rebecca Long, an experienced dentist who has earned a Fellowship in the Academy of General Dentistry, placing her among the top 6 percent of dentists in the United States.

A satisfied patient has said: Ive been a patient of Westlake Hills Dental Arts for more than 13 years and have only ever had A++ treatment and customer service. They schedule well so that you never have to wait, and yet they have fit me in within 30 minutes for emergencies on more than one occasion. I feel like they know and care about me. I will never go anywhere else.

Other recent media coverage on West Lake Hills Dental Arts can be found here: https://www.yahoo.com/now/west-lake-hills-tx-dental-041900088.html

Website: https://www.westlakehillsdentalarts.com/
TIMISOARA, Romania, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Restart Energy, one of the well-known independent electricity and natural gas suppliers from Romania, is thrilled to announce the launch of the RED platform - the first tokenized CO2 offset sustainability system on the market.



The RED platform aims to help companies and individuals to become sustainable by increasing the production of green energy, setting incentives to increase the consumption of green energy as well as developing and supporting sustainable projects. RED supports the UN's Sustainable Development Goals by launching and promoting sustainable projects based on blockchain technology.

The RED platform is the first blockchain-based CO2 offset and sustainability system designed to revolutionize the way companies and individuals interact with energy and the CO2 offset systems while also incentivizing renewable energy producers and consumers. Since its inception, RED has always been focused on innovation and sustainability, pioneering new paths for a greener planet. The company began developing renewable energy projects in 2010 and later became one of the largest solar developers in Romania. The launch of RED Platform is set to begin on October 1st - a worldwide premiere.

"Our company saved millions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by delivering clean renewable energy to its customers. Last year we even received the Guinness World Record for the longest journey with an electric car in a single country. Today, we are launching a revolution in sustainability, a platform that is meant to become a global marketplace and business ecosystem for sustainability, incentivizing both individuals and companies alike to participate and unlock previously untapped value." -- founder and CEO of Restart Energy, Armand Doru Domuta

Value and recognition are the real currency of the RED platform. Built on the state of the art blockchain technology, the RED ecosystem allows individuals, companies to calculate their carbon footprint, claim tokenized carbon credits for their positive environmental actions, and burn the credits in exchange for unique sustainability certificates in the form of NFTs on the blockchain. It's fully compatible with Ethereum, thus, users can withdraw tokens issued on the RED platform to their Ethereum private wallet but with 1000 times less energy consumption, zero emissions, near-zero gas fees, and up to 300,000 transactions per second.

The RED platform is offering outstanding solutions to CO2 emission problems through the following ways:

It offers incentivization to green energy producers through the CO2 offset system by giving free Green Certificates of Origin, REO-G tokens.

It gives users rewards for using green energy.

It provides the opportunity for companies to reduce their CO2 footprint by supporting green energy producers and other sustainable projects on the platform.

The offset system comes in the form of GTK and REO-G tokens that are minted on the blockchain.

Green Token (GTK)

Green Token (GTK) is an ERC Token that monitors CO2 offsets. They're minted for all users who execute green actions based on a rigorous validation scheme inside the RED platform. Purchasing 1 GTK is equivalent to eliminating 1 kg of CO2 or any other greenhouse gases like CH4 from the atmosphere. When a user makes a validated "claim", RED mints GTK. It can be traded on the RED Exchange, and withdrawn in Ethereum wallets and third-party exchanges. Users can utilize this token to offset their carbon footprint by claiming a Green Certificate of Sustainability on the RED platform.

Renewable Energy Origin - Guarantees (REO-G)

REO-G, the Green Certificates of Origin for renewable energy producers are minted on the blockchain as ERC-721 NFT tokens. Purchasing 1 REO-G is equivalent to reducing 750 kg of CO2 from the atmosphere. It can also be traded on the RED exchange and withdrawn to a user's wallet or other exchanges. REO-G acts as a guarantee of origin, ensuring untampered traceability.

Using the platform's MWAT token, any user can buy RED franchises, buy REO-G or GTK, transfer MWAT to other users, store or withdraw from their Ethereum wallet, or trade it on the RED exchange.

Saving the earth is all about teamwork. With the RED platform, users can reduce global emissions. RED makes CO2 offset rewarding, transparent, and accessible for all users by providing a user-friendly framework with minimum overhead for consumers and companies on blockchain technology with an efficient token economy.

RED is set to expand with the first tokenized franchise business system, where the entire business is an NFT token that can be withdrawn or sold at a certain point. It intends to offer franchises access to simplified blockchain tools to help companies tokenize everything including any kind of business process, contract, artistic creation, or information with the platform's unique Zalmoxis NFT Token Generator and NFT Marketplace. Franchises can help guide organizations to launch their sustainable projects or products by creating unique tokens and validation schemes linked to the projects. RED will create a liquid tokenized marketplace for rewarding sustainability worldwide connecting exciting projects to impact investors and sustainable companies.

The RED platform already has quite a number of projects in the pipeline for tokenizing renewable energy, carbon offset, and even launching new ESG tokens. Leveraging industry experts that act as validators in the platform, RED will validate the CO2 offset of users products on the blockchain and provide them with the carbon credits for their customers through unique QR codes printed on each product and purchase receipt to enable the customers to redeem, sell or burn the carbon credits on the RED platform.

About Restart Energy

Restart Energy is an independent electricity and natural gas supplier for homes and companies, with Romanian-American capital, established in 2015 in Timisoara, Romania. From its very beginning, Restart Energy was a company focused on innovation and sustainability. Restart Energy started developing renewable energy projects in 2010 and soon became one of the largest solar developers in Romania. The company saved millions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by delivering billions of clean KWh of renewable energy to its customers. They are also a Guinness World Record holder for sustainable mobility for the longest journey ever made with an electric car in a single country in 2020.

Social links

RED Official Video: https://youtu.be/XPwkH04aQTw

Twitter: https://twitter.com/REDplatform

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/red-platform

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/restartenergydemocracy

Media Contact

Company: Restart Energy

E-mail: andreea.petrica@restartenergy.ro

Website: http://redplatform.com/en/, https://restartenergy.ro/

SOURCE: Restart Energy
This marks Avicannas first commercial exports of proprietary genetics in the form of feminized seeds into the Peruvian and the Argentine medical cannabis markets.



Avicanna worked closely with the Colombian and Argentine ministries of agriculture to establish the phyto-sanitary requirements to allow for continuous supply to the emerging Argentine medical cannabis industry with standardized and feminized seeds.

/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF UNITED STATES SECURITIES LAWS/

TORONTO, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avicanna Inc. ("Avicanna" or the "Company) (TSX: AVCN) (OTCQX: AVCNF) (FSE: 0NN) a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of plant-derived cannabinoid-based products is pleased to announce that, through its majority owned Colombian subsidiary, Santa Marta Golden Hemp S.A.S. (SMGH), it has completed its first commercial exports of its proprietary genetics in the form of feminized cannabis seeds to Peru and Argentina.



The characterization, evaluation and production of these seeds were all completed through Avicannas vertical integration at SMGH over the past 3 years and validate the companys leadership in the breeding and stabilization of cannabis strains in South America. The seeds are a part of Avicannas supply chain business unit branded as Aureus, which also includes within its portfolio feminized seeds, full spectrum extracts, distillates, isolated cannabinoids (CBD, THC, CBG, and other rare cannabinoids), and bulk formulations.

Peruvian legislation allows for the importation, distribution, and sale of cannabis, its seeds, its extracts and derived products, for medical and scientific research purposes. Current Argentinian legislation allows for the importation, distribution, and sale of cannabis, its seeds, its extracts and derived products, for medical and scientific research purposes related to the treatment of patients with refractory epilepsy under the Exception Access Regime. Argentinian legislation also allows for certain government agencies to cultivate cannabis in collaboration with provincial agencies whom Avicanna is currently supplying with its genetics.

Lucas Nosiglia, President of Avicanna LATAM commented: After several years of R&D developing our breeding program, we have established a world-renown genetics platform and established a regulatory pathway for the export of our genetics into what is now 4 countries. We are thrilled that our pioneering efforts have enabled us to supply and support our Argentine and Peruvian partners with their long-term medicinal cannabis cultivation programs. With this program we are delivering federally registered genetics that are optimized and standardized for industrial agronomic performance in both greenhouse and outdoor cultivation models.

To the knowledge of the Company, it carries out its operations in compliance with all applicable laws in the jurisdictions in which it operates.

About Aureus

Avicannas supply chain business units are based in Santa Marta, Colombia and are primarily dedicated to providing consistent source of cannabinoid raw materials for Avicannas current commercial products and pharmaceutical pipeline for the global marketplace.

Additionally, under the Aureus brand, standardized cannabis extracts and feminized seeds are made available to cultivation, cosmetic and pharmaceutical partners around the world. Aureus branded products are cultivated, extracted, and manufactured by Avicannas subsidiaries in Colombia where they benefit from optimal environmental conditions to produce cannabinoid active pharmaceutical ingredients economically and sustainably and include a range of extracts of CBD, THC and rare cannabinoids such as CBG. Avicannas supply chain business also benefits from federally regulated legislation in Colombia where the company is well positioned to be a global supplier of the less competitive psychoactive extracts including CBD and THC crude oil to meet the growing global demand.

About Avicanna

Avicanna is a commercial stage Canadian biopharmaceutical company and an established leader in cannabinoid research, development, and evidence-based products for the global consumer, medical, and pharmaceutical market segments. Avicanna conducts its research in Canada including its R&D headquarters in the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Centre, JLABS @ Toronto, Canada, located in the MaRS Discovery District, and in collaboration with leading Canadian academic and medical institutions. Avicanna has established an industry leading scientific platform including advanced R&D and clinical development which has led to the commercialization of over twenty products across four main market segments:

RHO Phyto: these medical and wellness products are an advanced line of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis products containing varying ratios of CBD and THC. The product portfolio contains a full formulary of products including oral, sublingual, topical, and transdermal deliveries that have controlled dosing, enhanced absorption and stability studies supported by pre-clinical data. These products are developed using pharmaceutical drug development processes and are supported with pre-clinical data. The advanced formulary is marketed with consumer, patient and medical community education and training.



these medical and wellness products are an advanced line of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis products containing varying ratios of CBD and THC. The product portfolio contains a full formulary of products including oral, sublingual, topical, and transdermal deliveries that have controlled dosing, enhanced absorption and stability studies supported by pre-clinical data. These products are developed using pharmaceutical drug development processes and are supported with pre-clinical data. The advanced formulary is marketed with consumer, patient and medical community education and training. Pura H&W: these registered, clinically tested, cosmetic products include a portfolio of functional CBD consumer derma-cosmetic and topical products.



these registered, clinically tested, cosmetic products include a portfolio of functional CBD consumer derma-cosmetic and topical products. Aureus: as a part of Avicannas vertical integration based out of Santa Marta, Colombia its supply chain business units are primarily dedicated to providing consistent source of cannabinoid raw materials for Avicanna and its global partners food, cosmetic, medical and pharmaceutical needs. Aureus branded products are cultivated, extracted, and manufactured by Avicannas subsidiaries in Colombia where they benefit from optimal environmental conditions to produce cannabinoid active pharmaceutical ingredients economically, organically, and sustainably and include a range of CBD, THC and rare cannabinoids such as CBG extracts and standardized seeds. Company is well positioned to be a global supplier of cannabinoid raw materials demand and has already successfully exported its products to over 10 countries in 4 continents.



as a part of Avicannas vertical integration based out of Santa Marta, Colombia its supply chain business units are primarily dedicated to providing consistent source of cannabinoid raw materials for Avicanna and its global partners food, cosmetic, medical and pharmaceutical needs. Aureus branded products are cultivated, extracted, and manufactured by Avicannas subsidiaries in Colombia where they benefit from optimal environmental conditions to produce cannabinoid active pharmaceutical ingredients economically, organically, and sustainably and include a range of CBD, THC and rare cannabinoids such as CBG extracts and standardized seeds. Company is well positioned to be a global supplier of cannabinoid raw materials demand and has already successfully exported its products to over 10 countries in 4 continents. Pharmaceutical pipeline: leveraging from the companys scientific platform, vertical integration, and real-world evidence, Avicanna has established a pipeline of indication specific cannabinoid-based drug candidates that are in various stages of clinical development and commercialization. Avicannas drug candidates are in pre-clinical stage and are dedicated to providing solutions for unmet medical needs in the areas of dermatology, chronic pain and various neurological disorders.

SOURCE Avicanna Inc.

Stay Connected

For more information about Avicanna, visit www.avicanna.com, call 1-647-243-5283, or contact IR representative Iryna Zheliasko by email at iryna@chfir.com or by phone at 416-868-1079 x 229.

The Company posts updates through videos from the official company YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFXPBGdKSxOUOf_VZoSFSUA.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as, "may", "would", "could", "will", "likely", "expect", "anticipate", "believe, "intend", "plan", "forecast", "project", "estimate", "outlook" and other similar expressions, and includes statements with respect to the Companys and SMGHs abilities to continue to produce seeds, SMGHs ability to maintain its licenses to produce seeds, or SMGHs ability to export seeds to Peru, Argentina, or anywhere else. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management in light of management's experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors relevant in the circumstances, including assumptions in respect of current and future market conditions, the current and future regulatory environment; and the availability of licenses, approvals and permits. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward looking information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to current and future market conditions, including the market price of the common shares of the Company, and the risk factors set out in the Company's annual information form dated September 3, 2021 and final short form prospectus dated November 27, 2020, filed with the Canadian securities regulators and available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The statements in this press release are made as of the date of this release. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/40ce1f85-880a-4116-a31b-743009d54eb2




SINGAPORE and ALLEN, Texas and MANTA, Ecuador, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Galapagos Cable Systems Pte. Ltd. (GCS) and Xtera, Inc., a provider of subsea fiber optic systems, are pleased to announce that the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract has been signed for the turnkey build of the Galapagos Cable System between the west coast of Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. The 1,280km system has been developed to date by GCS, a Singapore based digital infrastructure company working in close cooperation with CNT (Corporacion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones) the national telecommunications operator of Ecuador.



This contract triggers the project execution which starts with the permitting and design phase, and the marine survey which is already scheduled to follow in early 2022. The system will connect Continental Ecuador with Galapagos Islands, enabling the development of scientific research, commerce, tourism and education.

The new cable, which will go live in Q2 2023, will initially boost bandwidth to the Galapagos Islands by over ten times. President Lasso has increased confidence in the Ecuadorean economy, encouraging the international business communitys inbound direct investment. The Minister of Telecommunications, Vianna Maino, and CNTs General Manager, Ralph Suastegui, have cleared all of the obstacles to allow this major infrastructure project to proceed. A key benefit of the system is to provide the Galapagos archipelago with high capacity and high quality national and international telecommunications services, both fixed and mobile, fiber optic broadband internet, and 4G mobile services with 5G in the future. With a design capacity of 20 terabits per second, the state-of-the-art submarine system will ultimately increase the regional bandwidth more than 2,500 times.

Xtera will perform the design and construction works on a turnkey basis utilizing their next generation SDM repeater, with cable supplied by Prysmian/NSW and marine installation activities performed by IT International Telecom. Xteras subsea implementation combines project management and system integration expertise with solid industry partnerships.

Alexandria Donoghue, Managing Director Galapagos Cable Systems Pte. Ltd., stated that, GCS' decision to invest in this project was based on the company's opportunity to make a strategic investment in Ecuador that would enable the digital connectivity of the Galapagos Islands to the mainland. This new system allows for unique possibilities; connected services and the IoT will be available to the entire community, bringing with them a wealth of new opportunities, increased scientific research capabilities, and a boost of revenues for existing businesses.

John Hibbard, Chairman of Galapagos Cable Systems Pte. Ltd., an industry veteran with extensive experience consulting with Pacific Island Governments, noted, With the wealth of comprehensive research institutions on the Galapagos Islands, this submarine cable system will enable real-time collaboration between the scientists on the islands and their colleagues in their home base.

Keith Henderson, Chief Executive Officer of Xtera, added, It is our privilege to deliver this environmentally important, state-of-the-art undersea system. Xteras agile approach to supply enables GCS to benefit from a turnkey solution which utilizes the best products and services for their requirements. We are living in a time of unprecedented bandwidth demand and Xteras expert team will continue to drive important connectivity projects, such as this one, to successful completion.

About Galapagos Cable Systems Pte. Ltd.

The GCS team has an extensive background in the telecommunications industry and specifically in Subsea Cables. They have successfully implemented remote islands connectivity systems such as the Galapagos Islands in French Polynesia, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomons, PNG, Palau, and FSM, and CNMI. They specialize in providing telecommunications infrastructure that enables exponential bandwidth growth, therefore 'future proofing' internet growth demand.

About Xtera

Xtera is an innovative provider of subsea and telecom technology. The Company supplies both repeatered and unrepeatered systems, using its high-performance optical amplifiers to deliver traffic directly inland to cities and offering flexibility in working with industry partners to provide the optimum solution. For more information, please visit Xtera or contact info@xtera.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7c0a847a-49fb-47ae-8a42-a9a56690fe0f
CALGARY, Alberta, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CEMATRIX Corporation (TSXV: CVX) (OTCBB: CTXXF) ("CEMATRIX" or the "Company") a North American leading manufacturer and supplier of technologically advanced cellular concrete products announces changes to its Board of Directors.



Mr. Dan Koyich has retired from the Board of Directors effective September 30th, 2021. Mr. Koyich has served on the Board since 2007. Dan has provided strategic leadership since the early days of CEMATRIX and has continued to provide valuable counsel to the board and our staff, said Minaz Lalani, Chairman of the Board of Directors. I want to publicly thank Dan for his service and help in growing shareholder value.

CEMATRIX is also pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. John Kim to the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board"). Mr. Kim currently sits on the Boards of several publicly traded companies including WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL), EMERGE Commerce (TSXV: ECOM), and Tetra Bio-Pharma (TSX: TBP). Mr. Kim is a Toronto based businessman and advisor to several early-stage technology companies, particularly in the areas of strategy and finance. Previously, Mr. Kim was an award-winning institutional investor, where he managed various mandates, including mutual funds, hedge funds, and private client assets. John has a great understanding and passion for the capital markets and has years of experience helping young companies grow.

"We are very excited to welcome John to CEMATRIXs Board," said Jeff Kendrick, CEO of CEMATRIX. "John adds a wealth of knowledge in public Board governance and institutional capital markets. John also brings relevant experience in acquisitions, which will be instrumental to CEMATRIX as we continue to pursue strategic acquisitions to accelerate our growth plan."

"I am excited to join CEMATRIX at a pivotal time in the growth of the company. I look forward to working with the Board and the management team as they as they continue to execute on their strategy of organic growth and accretive acquisitions," said John Kim.

For further information on CEMATRIXs Board of Directors, please visit www.cematrix.com.

ABOUT CEMATRIX

CEMATRIX is a rapidly growing, cash flow positive company that manufactures and supplies technologically advanced cellular concrete products developed from proprietary formulations across North America. This unique cement-based material with superior thermal protection delivers cost-effective, innovative solutions to a broad range of problems facing the infrastructure, industrial (including oil and gas) and commercial markets. Through recent acquisitions of Chicago based MixOnSite and Bellingham based Pacific International Grout, CEMATRIX is now North Americas largest Cellular Concrete company. For more information please visit our website at www.cematrix.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company, including satisfaction of regulatory requirements in various jurisdictions and the Companys anticipated use of the net proceeds of the Offering. Forward looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which could cause actual results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing these forward-looking statements are reasonable based upon the information currently available to management as of the date hereof, actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Readers are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed times frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information, please contact:

Jeff Kendrick - President and Chief Executive Officer

Phone: (403) 219-0484

Glen Akselrod  President, Bristol Capital

Phone: (905) 326 1888 ext 1

glen@bristolir.com

Jeff Walker, The Howard Group  Investor Relations

Phone: (888) 221-0915 or (403) 221-0915

jeff@howardgroupinc.com
Washington, D.C., Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) and H2 Development have cut the ribbon on eight affordable single-family townhomes in Ward 8s Anacostia neighborhood. The Douglass: A Todd A. Lee Townhome Community consists of eight modern, affordable homes which were developed under DCHFAs Housing Investment Platform (HIP). HIP partners with local, emerging developers to create homes priced for workforce incomes, residents earning between 60-120 percent of the area median income (AMI).

During the ceremony on September 24, 2021, DCHFA Executive Director/CEO Christopher E. Donald spoke about how The Douglass is the epitome of what HIP is all about, showcasing three top priorities of the program and of the agencys greater mission: Number one: the retention of long-term D.C. residents. Number two: wealth-building through homeownership. And number three: building capacity for emerging developers so that they have access to capital and can grow from where they are to where they need to be. Members of the Council of the District of Columbia and housing leaders participated in the celebration.

This is a special opportunity for us to see what our city can be as we move forward. New residents, old residents, long-standing residents, we all want to have a beautiful place to live, stated Anita Bonds, Councilmember at-Large, Council of the District of Columbia and Chairperson of the Committee on Housing and Executive Administration. And its only through the programs that the government is pushing forward that were able to do that...Its very clear that if were going to have beautiful places like this, then our tax dollars have to be a part of the equation.

Its important because the definitions of the American Dream and homeownership have been so elusive to so many people in this country for such a long time, stated Kenyan McDuffie, Ward 5 Councilmember and member of the Committee on Housing and Executive Administration.

DCHFA celebrated cutting the ribbon of the first Todd A. Lee Townhome Community, which honors the agencys former executive director. Mr. Lee led the agency from 2016-2020, and The Douglass is one of many properties around the city that will honor what the agency refers to as the Lee Legacy.

I have to say that the relationship with HFA and with Todd Lee was very special to me, stated Polly Donaldson, Director, Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Todd taught me a lot, not just about housing and finance, though he was an expert. But a lot about caring, caring for your teams, your staff, caring for the people youre working with, caring for the communityFolks leave us and its our job to keep their light going. The land where The Douglass now stands was provided by DHCD from its portfolio of vacant properties.

Mr. Lee was a huge proponent for homeownership and the power it gave those to build wealth and stabilize lives. HIP was created under his leadership in 2017, and these projects are the embodiment of his commitment to making homeownership accessible to the missing middle.

Ive served this city for 15 years. Im a sergeant with the Metropolitan Police Departments Sixth District, and I feel this is the first time that my work has paid off, said Kori Heyward, a new homeowner at The Douglass. We dont take this lightly. I have become and will continue to be an advocate for fair and equal housing opportunity. Youve given me a gift that keeps on giving.

The Douglass is the third fully completed project under the HIP program. Previously, the agency has delivered five homes at Elvans Road Townhomes (Ward 8) and 15 units at Cynthia Townhomes (Ward 7). Phase one of the Kuvera Condominiums in Ward 6 was recently completed, and construction on phase two will begin soon. Overall, there are over 100 units in the HIP pipeline, and the agency is committed to continue creating homeownership opportunities for the Districts workforce.

Being a homeowner iswas my life goal. I was in foster care and just not having my own home, a place to call home, and nowmy 35th birthday was on WednesdayI bought myself a house. I bought my family a house, said Natasha Dulin, homeowner at The Douglass. Being able to show your legacy, your children, that anything is possible as long as you put hard work to it.

The District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency is an S&P A + rated issuer, serving Washington, D.C.s residents for more than 40 years. The Agencys mission is to advance the District of Columbias housing priorities; the Agency invests in affordable housing and neighborhood development, which provides pathways for D.C. residents to transform their lives. We accomplish our mission by delivering the most efficient and effective sources of capital available in the market to finance rental housing and to create homeownership opportunities.

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ATHENS, Greece, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSX), (the Company), a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels, today announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it has entered into a time charter contract with Olam International Limited, Singapore, for one of its Capesize dry bulk vessels, the m/v Baltimore. The gross charter rate is US$56,000 per day, minus a 4.75% commission paid to third parties, for a time charter trip duration of about ninety (90) days. The charter commenced retroactively as of September 28, 2021. The m/v Baltimore was chartered, as previously announced, to Koch Shipping Pte. Ltd., Singapore, at a gross charter rate of US$13,000 per day, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties.



The Baltimore is a 177,243 dwt Capesize dry bulk vessel built in 2005.

The employment of Baltimore is anticipated to generate approximately US$5.04 million of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charter.

Diana Shipping Inc.s fleet currently consists of 36 dry bulk vessels (4 Newcastlemax, 12 Capesize, 5 Post-Panamax, 5 Kamsarmax and 10 Panamax). The Company also expects to take delivery of one Kamsarmax dry bulk vessel by the end of February 2022. As of today, the combined carrying capacity of the Companys fleet, excluding the one vessel not yet delivered, is approximately 4.6 million dwt with a weighted average age of 10.54 years. A table describing the current Diana Shipping Inc. fleet can be found on the Companys website, www.dianashippinginc.com. Information contained on the Companys website does not constitute a part of this press release.

About the Company

Diana Shipping Inc. is a global provider of shipping transportation services through its ownership of dry bulk vessels. The Companys vessels are employed primarily on medium to long-term time charters and transport a range of dry bulk cargoes, including such commodities as iron ore, coal, grain and other materials along worldwide shipping routes.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words believe, anticipate, intends, estimate, forecast, project, plan, potential, may, should, expect, pending and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, Company managements examination of historical operating trends, data contained in the Companys records and other data available from third parties. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies that are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond the Companys control, the Company cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in the Companys view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the severity, magnitude and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, including impacts of the pandemic and of businesses and governments responses to the pandemic on our operations, personnel, and on the demand for seaborne transportation of bulk products; the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for dry bulk shipping capacity, changes in the Companys operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for the Companys vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessel breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors. Please see the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Washington, D.C., Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- During the month of October, MissionSquare Retirement will celebrate National Retirement Security Month (NRSM), a national effort to inspire employees to focus on financial wellness, save toward a successful financial future, and achieve their retirement savings goals. As part of the companys support of NRSM, MissionSquare will once again offer engaging and educational resources to help public sector employees plan for retirement.

This years NRSM campaign theme, Invest in a Shared Sense of ServiceTM, reinforces their commitment to helping public employees build retirement security. MissionSquare has developed an interactive microsite (www.retirementmonth.org) that emphasizes the need for participants to focus on what they need to do today to help plan for tomorrow. The site includes links to calculators and other helpful resources such as PDFs and webinars. Multiple themes are explored on the microsite:

Enrollment

Cybersecurity

Savings

Financial Wellness

Investment Strategies

"We are exclusively focused on the public sector and National Retirement Security Month is another touchpoint that allows us to reinforce our commitment to helping those who serve their communities build retirement security, said Sheri Gilchrist, Chief Marketing Officer at MissionSquare Retirement. The resources we offer provide a unique opportunity for us to interact with our clients to help them reach their retirement goals.

MissionSquare encourages plan sponsors and participants to visit www.retirementmonth.org to view its NRSM tips, videos, and other resources to help plan for a successful retirement.

About MissionSquare Retirement:

MissionSquare Retirement is dedicated to guiding those who serve our communities toward a secure and confident financial future. Founded in 1972, MissionSquare Retirement is a mission-based, nonstock, nonprofit, financial services company with approximately $74 billion* in assets under management and administration, focused on delivering retirement plans, investment options, and personalized guidance to more than 1.6 million participant accounts. For nearly 50 years, our mission has been constant  to help those who serve reach their retirement goals with confidence.

For more information, visit www.icmarc.org/missionsquare-retirement, download MissionSquare Retirements mobile app (listed as ICMA-RC) from the App Store and Google PlayTM , or follow the company on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

*As of June 30, 2021

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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LINK Agency , a fast-growing TikTok creative agency, today announces the launch of its Content Creator Scholarship to support promising content creators to not only go viral but to find lasting success in the industry.

Budding "TikTokers" looking to level up on their careers in content creation will be put through a six-month scholarship program where they will receive support from one of LINK Agency's two co-founders, Francisco Lopes and Francisco Schmidberger , both Portuguese immigrants to California who flew across the world to pursue their dreams.

With their experience working with large prestigious corporations, graduating from top universities, and scaling start-ups, these experts are well-positioned to arm content creators with the knowledge needed to identify new opportunities on today's most-promising platform, TikTok. During the scholarship, the founders will host weekly meetings to help develop career opportunities, negotiate brand deals, and provide ongoing advice and resources.

Those interested can apply to the program , where the initial cohort (Fall '21) of three will be selected by an industry leader committee based on their needs, passion, and commitment to content creation. LINK anticipates that this initiative will be the first of many and already has views to expand and develop the program in the coming years.

The creator economy is a relatively new industry, but it is already worth an estimated $20 billion . It attracts a much younger demographic, where 54% of Gen Z and millennials would be keen to become an influencer, many favoring a career as a content creator over other more traditional jobs such as an astronaut .

In addition, creators with a lack of business education or experience can become targets of companies and individuals looking to take advantage of young and vulnerable people. Many are making life-changing decisions such as dropping out of college to pursue their dreams at a very young age, often lacking the proper emotional support or career advice to successfully navigate the highs and lows of the industry.

While LINK has always provided informal support to the content creators they work with, they now see the need to make more formal forms of assistance available for top TikTok talent.

"We're a creator-first company and believers in the long-term potential of the creator economy," says Francisco Lopes , one of the Co-founders. "As someone that works with creators daily, we want to empower them and continue to increase their access and ability to be successful entrepreneurs of their own content."

About LINK Agency

LINK Agency is a "TikTok Brand Factory", a fast-growing agency that provides end-to-end campaign management services, including talent acquisition, creative strategy, and performance analysis. Since its launch in 2020, LINK Agency has generated 1.2 billion organic views across its TikTok campaigns, with an impressive combined community reach of 10 billion and access to over 20,000 influencers.

Contact

Name: Daniela Pena Romero

Email: danielap@publicize.co

Related Images











Image 1: LINK Agency





LINK Agency









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

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Sydney, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Australia's No. 1 commercial cleaning company Clean Group, Sydney in their recent webinar explained the importance of school cleaning in Sydney.

Clean Group Sydney is one of the finest commercial cleaning companies in Australia, and the company is hosting an awareness campaign through online and offline mode. Before school cleaning, the company had also explained medical centre cleaning, gym cleaning, office cleaning, covid-19 cleaning, strata cleaning and restaurant cleaning, and more. This series of webinars on proper cleaning methods are a part of the awareness campaign they are hosting online to make everyone aware of risks, correct methods, effective products, and provide the training they need.

During the webinar, Clean Group CEO Suji Shiv, Clean Group Sydney Commercial Cleaning Manager Stephen Mathews, and some of their commercial cleaning experts answered questions from the audience as well.

Clean Group Sydney is an over 15 years old professional cleaning company well-known for providing a range of services including commercial cleaning, industrial cleaning, residential cleaning, and strata cleaning services. The companys portfolio also includes some business or property-focused services like school cleaning, church cleaning, gym cleaning, medical center cleaning, childcare cleaning, mall cleaning, etc. Their portfolio also includes urgent cleaning or occasion-based cleanings like Christmas cleaning and after-party cleaning. Along with all these, in this pandemic period, Clean Group was among the first cleaning companies to add Covid-19 cleaning to their portfolio.

Suji Shiv said that A school to be remembered for high-quality education and skill development. It is also a place where children can learn and understand the basics of life which will help them later in life. When it comes to ensuring that the school is a safe environment, the importance of school cleaning cannot be excused.

He added that "COVID-19 makes people worry about cleanliness, and when it comes to the school where their children will spend a few hours a day, that concern is natural. We Clean Group can give them surety of a higher standard of cleanliness with our dedicated school cleaning services. Our School Cleaning services include proper cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting tasks which will eliminate dirt, dust, bacterias, viruses, and other germs and pathogens effectively. With our dedicated service infections and the spread of any kind of disease can be stopped. The demand for commercial cleaning in Sydney and office space cleaning has risen in the last few years. And it will rise in the future due to upcoming variants and waves of Covid-19.

In this webinar, his representative also talked about the dangerous viruses and germs present in such premises and the health hazards they pose. They also shed light on how these pathogens can spread and how parents can train their children to protect themselves.

Later, Stephen Mathews explains the difference between local cleaners and professional cleaners and why hiring a professional cleaner will be beneficial for the school owners and managers. As per the webinar, hiring local cleaners not only requires more effort but more funds too. It is because when a business hires in-house cleaning staff they will have to buy all the equipment, products, and tools, and cleaning products. Thus, in this way, they have to invest much more at the initial stage with a monthly salary as well. However, in the salary of 2-3 in-house cleaners, one can outsource cleaning services from a reputed commercial cleaning service provider.

Furthermore, in-house cleaners cant match the experience, knowledge, training, and techniques of experienced cleaners, thus with professional cleaners schools can get a higher standard of cleaning without disturbing the daily operations. It has been observed that Clean Group also added Covid-19 Certification service to their service list. Thus, Schools can get the certificate to resume their operations and also to assure the parents about the cleanliness standard of the school.

Clean Group Sydney has all the resources including cleaning equipment, handheld tools, heavy machinery, cleaning/ disinfecting/ sanitizing products, and a team of highly trained cleaners. The company is ready to serve schools and other education centres at any time of the day to avoid interrupting their daily operations.

School owners and managers can contact Clean Group for quality School Cleaning service through their website or by sending an email at sales@cleangroup.email.

###

For more information about Clean Group Sydney, contact the company here:



Clean Group Sydney

Stephen Matthews

+61288598938

sales@cleangroup.email

Sydney NSW 2000
Lake City, Colo., Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Now in its 14th year, the contest recognizes the industrys most authentic, beautiful, sustainable projects and the professionals who design and construct them. It highlights the best green homes that feature:

Sustainable features

Innovative design

Whole-home performance

Integration with the natural environment

Above and Beyond characteristics that address environmental risks

In addition, the program selects a Sustainable City of the Year and a Sustainability Superhero.

Winners will receive coverage in the January/February 2022 issue of Green Builder magazine via social media and promotional outlets.

This year, weve added award categories for projects that go Above and Beyond, says Green Builder Editor-in-Chief Matt Power. For example, in California, you may be building fire-smart homes with metal roofs, ember-proof soffits, and fiber cement siding. In Phoenix, you may be installing exterior roof insulation, extending overhangs, and adding mass to mitigate temperature swings. If youre building in the Southeast, your project might include special flood- and hurricane-resistant measures. With this years Green Home of the Year Awards, you have a chance to showcase this important, innovative work, and get the accolades you deserve.

Check out last years collection of award-winning homes and communities, featured in Green Builder for an idea of the caliber and scope of projects entered in our annual competition.

The window for entering projects is now open, and you have until October 29 to finalize your entry, Power says. Please consider entering your single-family home, community, multifamily project, townhouse, or apartment building into this years competition. We could all use some good news and inspiration. Why not demonstrate your mastery and innovation to the wider world!

Click here to enter.

For more information, contact Melissa Smith at 352-388-1121 or melissa.smith@greenbuildermedia.com









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Upstream Materials-Led Geographic Expansion into California and Arizona



Transaction Expected to be Accretive to Earnings Per Share in First Full Year

RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE: MLM) (Martin Marietta or the Company) today announced that it successfully completed its previously announced acquisition of Lehigh Hanson, Inc.s West Region business (Lehigh West Region) for $2.3 billion in cash. Consistent with the Companys SOAR ( S trategic O perating A nalysis and R eview) 2025 Plan, the acquisition provides the Company with 17 active aggregates facilities, two cement plants and related distribution terminals, and targeted downstream operations serving key California and Arizona regions including the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix.

Ward Nye, Chairman, President and CEO of Martin Marietta, stated, We are pleased to complete the Lehigh West Region acquisition and welcome a talented group of new employees to the Martin Marietta team. These assets serve as a new growth platform for our continued geographic expansion and are uniquely positioned to benefit from favorable market dynamics and accelerating public and private construction activity in California and Arizona. We are confident in our ability to quickly realize the benefits of this transaction and deliver significant value creation for our shareholders, customers and employees following the same proven approach we took with our acquisitions of TXI and Bluegrass.

Excluding acquisition-related expenses, Martin Marietta expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings per share within the first full year of ownership. Integration of the acquired business is anticipated to proceed as planned.

Additional Information

Martin Marietta will provide additional information about the Lehigh West Region acquisition on its third quarter 2021 earnings conference call and online webcast, the date and timing of which has yet to be announced.

Forward Looking Statements

This release contains statements which constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities law. Statements and assumptions on future revenues, income and cash flows, performance, economic trends, the outcome of litigation, regulatory compliance and environmental remediation cost estimates are examples of forward-looking statements. Numerous factors could affect the Companys forward-looking statements and actual performance.

Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and are based on assumptions that the Company believes in good faith are reasonable at the time the statements are made, but which may be materially different from actual results. Investors can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate only to historic or current facts. The words may, will, could, should, anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, forecast, intend, outlook, plan, project, scheduled and other words of similar meaning in connection with future events or future operating or financial performance are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Any or all of Martin Mariettas forward-looking statements in this release and in other publications may turn out to be wrong.

You should consider these forward-looking statements in light of risk factors discussed in Martin Mariettas Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, Martin Mariettas Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2021 and June 30, 2021, and other periodic filings made with the SEC. All of the Companys forward-looking statements should be considered in light of these factors. In addition, other risks and uncertainties not presently known to the Company or that it considers immaterial could affect the accuracy of its forward-looking statements, or adversely affect or be material to the Company. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any event or circumstance that may arise after the date of this release.

About Martin Marietta

Martin Marietta, a member of the S&P 500 Index, is an American-based company and a leading supplier of building materials, including aggregates, cement, ready mixed concrete and asphalt. Through a network of operations spanning 30 states, Canada and The Bahamas, dedicated Martin Marietta teams supply the resources for building the solid foundations on which our communities thrive. Martin Mariettas Magnesia Specialties business produces high-purity magnesia and dolomitic lime products used worldwide in environmental, industrial, agricultural and specialty applications. For more information, visit www.martinmarietta.com or www.magnesiaspecialties.com.

Investor Contact:

Suzanne Osberg

Vice President, Investor Relations

(919) 783-4691

Suzanne.Osberg@martinmarietta.com

MLM-G
Beverly Hills, CA , Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stacie Feller isnt just the president of KangaRoof; shes also its co-owner along with her husband and business partner, Scott. Since beginning her career working for an insurance company back in 1996, its been a long and eventful road to running and growing a family-owned roofing business in Round Rock, Texas, right outside of Austin, Texas.

Listen to the full interview of Stacie Feller at Mission Matters Business Podcast.

Stacie says her companys primary goal is to change people's perception of roofing companies by doing things the right way. By that, she means KangaRoof hires hardworking people to deliver consistently excellent results to their customers. "Our mission, she says, is to provide better employment to industrious people."

How is Austins roofing market performing?

According to Stacie, Austins roofing market has continued booming even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. "Many people were scared of recession after the COVID-19 outbreak last year, but (our company was) safe in Texas, she says. In recent years, the capital city of Texas has seen the addition of brands like Tesla, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple setting up new offices and driving unprecedented growth to the region. The state itself, of course, is also known for its lack of state income tax, making it an attractive place for people looking to move somewhere new.

How is growth affecting real estate?

"Unfortunately, Stacie explains, There is not a lot of inventory for houses in Austin, so, people are quoting higher prices than expected." Describing the chaotic state of its housing market at the moment, she says homes are often sold in just a few hours within their availability being made known. For a variety of reasons, including the rapid pace of the market and the overwhelming imbalance between supply and demand, the current shortage of labor and supplies makes it difficult to complete new development.

The story behind KangaRoof

KangaRoof is a family business initially set up by Stacie's husband, Scott, in his college years. Before launching the business in Round Rock, he worked as an engineer, and what began as a contracting business ended up becoming KangaRoof.

After marrying Scott in 2012, Stacie joined the company in 2016 and they worked together with his sister, Ami, as co-owners to grow the business one customer at a time. Eventually, Scotts sister spun off her own roofing company about an hour and a half south of Austin. Since then, its been Scott and Stacie running an efficient and reliable family-owned roofing company ever since.

As Stacie explains, KangaRoof is strictly a residential roofing company that doesn't construct anything new: their main function is roof replacements, gutters and repair roofs.

"We found this is what we're good at, Stacie says, and we want to stick to our (area of) expertise."

The core value of Stacies family business

"Our core value is to do the right thing." Stacie says. The team has managers handling the front desk, and Stacie guides KangaRoofs workplace culture. "Any company that is growing, initially, can slip from your hands real fast," Stacie says. So, she explains, its important to work with people who share the companys ethos of hard work, efficiency, and doing the right thing in every circumstance.

Tips for women working in the home service industry

When it comes to the male-dominated history of the roofing industry, Stacie says, "You don't know how many men have questioned my knowledge." Women can dive deep into whatever product or service they specialize in and become experts, she says, which may help to shield them from being bullied or humiliated by others. Confidence and authority are key elements of success for women in roles traditionally held by male counterparts, she explains: its important to be firm and expect respect.

The road ahead for KangaRoof

KangaRoof had a record-breaking year in 2020. Two years ago, they acquired an HVAC company and rebranded it to Koala Cooling. They have discussed expanding into services like plumbing, electrical, and more. But before moving to the next level, Stacie says she wants to ensure the roofing and HVAC companies will hold steady throughout the process without sacrificing any of the excellence theyre known for.

You can reach KangaRoof through the website, callkangaroof.com. For HVAC issues, you can contact koalacooling.com, or email Stacie directly at stacie@callkangaroof.com.

About KangaRoof

KangaRoof ensures customers are just as well protected as their homes are by a quality roof. Before any of the technicians are allowed to offer their services, they are thoroughly trained and taught the commitment to complete customer satisfaction.

Media Communications

Inquiries: adamtorres@missionmatters.com

Publicist for Adam Torres and Mission Matters Media KISS PR Brand Story PressWire

Brand Publicity Partners KissPR.com

For more details, visit Kisspr.com. KISS PR Digital PR & Marketing powers the Mission Matters Business podcast with brand storytelling. T: 972.437.8942

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NEW YORK, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bernstein Liebhard, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of Annovis Bio, Inc.. ("Annovis Bio" or the "Company") (NYSE: ANVS) from May 21, 2021 through July 28, 2021 (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania alleges violations of the Securities Act of 1934.



If you purchased Annovis Bio securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Annovis Bio Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Rujul Patel toll free at (877) 779-1414 or rpatel@bernlieb.com

The Complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements as well as failed to disclose adverse facts about the Companys business, operations, and prospects.

On July 28, 2021, after the market closed, the Company announced that its Alzheimers and Parkinsons drug, Posiphen, failed to show statistically significant success relative to the placebo in clinical trials.

On this news, the price of Annovis Bio shares fell $65.94 per share, or 60%, to close at $43.50 per share on July 29, 2021, on unusually heavy trading volume.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than October 18, 2021. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesnt require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.

If you purchased Annovis Bio securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit https://www.bernlieb.com/cases/annovisbioinc-anvs-shareholder-class-action-lawsuit-fraud-stock-431/apply/ or contact Rujul Patel toll free at (877) 779-1414 or rpatel@bernlieb.com

Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journals Plaintiffs Hot List thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for ten consecutive years.

ATTORNEY ADVERTISING.  2021 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. The lawyer responsible for this advertisement in the State of Connecticut is Michael S. Bigin. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.

Contact Information

Rujul Patel

Bernstein Liebhard LLP

https://www.bernlieb.com

(877) 779-1414

rpatel@bernlieb.com
Washington, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This Monday, Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman of the U.S. Small Business Administration will visit Nashville as part of a national tour highlighting the nation's economic recovery, including increasing vaccinations to help continue to fully re-open their businesses and help Americans safely get back to work. This marks the Administrators first visit to Tennessee.

Administrator Guzman will meet with small businesses, community organizations, and economic development advocates to discuss their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, listen to their recommendations, and lay out the Biden-Harris Administrations path forward for the small business community. Administrator Guzmans visit will include a walking tour of Jefferson Street and meetings with several business owners. Since June, Administrator Guzman has visited 13 states and U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico.

Media is invited to join the visit and must RSVP to the SBA Regional Communications Director at Lola.Kress@sba.gov by 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, October 1, 2021, for credentialing and trip locations.

WHEN

Monday, October 4, 2021

WHERE

Nashville, Tennessee (Media: RSVP for locations)

WHO

Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, U.S. Small Business Administration

Nashville small business owners

WHY

The SBA has administered more than $1 trillion in economic aid to small businesses via several COVID relief programs , including the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans, Paycheck Protection Program, Restaurant Revitalization Fund, and Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, which were all funded in President Bidens $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan . The agency continues to provide small business relief via COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Advances in its efforts to help those affected by the pandemic get back on track. SBA Administrator Guzmans national listening tour is focused on hearing directly from small business owners most affected by the pandemic who needed and/or still need economic aid to recover.

MEDIA RSVP: Lola Kress, Lola.Kress@SBA.gov or 404-330-4737.

###

About the U.S. Small Business Administration
NEW YORK, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of the securities of The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE: SAM) between April 22, 2021 and September 8, 2021, inclusive (the Class Period), of the important November 15, 2021 lead plaintiff deadline.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Boston Beer securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Boston Beer class action, go to http://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-2159.html or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than November 15, 2021. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs Bar. Many of the firms attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Boston Beers hard seltzer sales were decelerating; (2) as a result, Boston Beer was reasonably likely to incur inventory write-offs; (3) Boston Beer was reasonably likely to incur shortfall fees payable to third party brewers; (4) a result of the foregoing, Boston Beers financial results would be adversely impacted; and (5) as a result of the foregoing, defendants positive statements about Boston Beers business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Boston Beer class action, go to http://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-2159.html or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investors ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

-------------------------------

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

lrosen@rosenlegal.com

pkim@rosenlegal.com

cases@rosenlegal.com

www.rosenlegal.com
San Jose, Calif., Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Santa Clara County Association of REALTORS (SCCAOR) announces the support of Transit-Oriented Development Opportunity Housing. In accordance with the California Association of REALTORS support of SB 9, a bill signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September to address the housing crisis, SCCAOR supports a smart growth approach to densify neighborhoods. Densification around transit corridors, or Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), is a smart growth approach that provides for greater homeownership opportunities while alleviating traffic and parking concerns.





Doug Goss, President of the SCCAOR Board of Directors, states, "A City of San Jose Opportunity Housing policy focused around transit corridors, in conjunction with SB 9, creates a smart growth approach to increase supply and homeownership opportunities. SCCAOR is very supportive of the Urban Village concept to densify San Jose through smart growth to make a legitimate impact on our regions housing crisis. We do not want to see a general Opportunity Housing Study detract from the Citys Urban Village progress. Instead, we want the City of San Jose to support policies that incentivize new housing in collaboration with enhanced transit design guidelines as part of a TOD Opportunity Housing proposal.





According to the Federal Transit Administration, focusing growth around transit stations provides many benefits, including a larger supply of affordable housing and congestion relief. SCCAOR supports more affordable forms of homeownership to uplift underserved communities and considers homeownership as the best way to create housing stability, bridge the wealth gap, and create generational wealth.





As part of the smart growth approach, SCCAOR is supportive of the following stipulations in SB 9:

Applicants cannot destroy more than 25% of the existing parcel and must preserve local design guideline standards

Lot-split applicants must owner-occupy one of the parcels for at least 3 years





However, SCCAOR does not support any up-zoning policy with restrictions that prohibit recently rented properties from utilizing the opportunity housing proposal. Instead, we support a rent-to-own or condo conversion policy that provides affordable ownership opportunities for current tenants in our community.





SCCAOR supports a Transit-Oriented Development Opportunity Housing proposal that provides for greater homeownership opportunities. Research shows residents support ownership opportunity housing and TOD opportunity housing. A TOD works in collaboration with new statewide laws to create a better City of San Jose for everyone while protecting and preserving our great neighborhoods.





The Santa Clara County Association of REALTORS (SCCAOR) is made up of over 6,000 REALTORS and 400 Affiliates in and around the Bay Area. SCCAOR offers leadership, educational, political, and networking opportunities and exists to meet the business, professional and political needs of its members and to promote and protect private property rights.





To learn more, visit www.sccaor.com/residential-upzoning-policy.
Salt Lake City, UT, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Haus of Aesthetics is a premier medical spa with a mission to help everyone look and feel their best. Formerly Spa Trouve on 9th and now rebranded to Haus of Aesthetics, the spas team of industry experts are excited to share their experience and knowledge with existing and new clients when it opens as Haus of Aesthetics on October 1st.

Opening Day: Friday, October 1, 2021

Spa Address: 705 E 900 S Ste 100, Salt Lake City, UT. 84105

Haus of Aesthetics will provide high-end medical spa services to adults of all ages, regardless of gender identity. The company wants every client to feel comfortable and welcomed and invites everyone to come as they are.

Haus of Aesthetics owner Amy Archuleta said she was excited to create a space where everyone would feel comfortable achieving their individual aesthetic goals. People deserve to look and feel their best and we are proud to be part of their personal journey, she said. Aesthetics is fun and we love it when people enjoy it as much as we do.

Amy said she and the rest of her Haus of Aesthetics team are proud of what they now offer, and how their services help improve peoples lives.

Haus of Aesthetics will offer a variety of high-end medical spa services, including:

Botox

Filler

Lip enhancements

CoolSculpting

Laser hair removal

Chemical peels

And more

Schedule an appointment at Haus of Aesthetics by calling 801-997-8199 or texting 801-436-5127

###

About Haus of Aesthetics

Haus of Aesthetics is a premier medical spa opening in Salt Lake City, Utah. Formerly Spa Trouve on 9th, Haus of Aesthetics has rebranded to be a more inclusive, welcoming, and high-end medical spa. It is a woman-owned business and welcomes all individuals, regardless of gender identity. The company hopes to be known for its premier services, exceptional results, friendly and knowledgeable staff, and warm inviting atmosphere where everyone feels welcomed and valued. Haus of Aesthetics services are completed by industry professionals and all safety and sterilization procedures are followed exactly.
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As global leaders prepare for CoP 26 meetings in Glasgow, international scientists have raised alarm that the climate math is wrong, because it is missing a critical variable: the impact of changing ocean carbon on the climate is not included.

In a workshop convened by the Ocean Frontier Institute, Mark Carney, United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance highlighted the urgency of understanding key ocean inputs driving the climate/carbon balance. He underscored his support for strong Canadian leadership, particularly in North Atlantic observation.

The ocean is the most important storage depot of carbon on earth. It holds 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere and soaks up more carbon than all global rainforests combined. Yet todays climate targets do not include the impact of our changing ocean  taking its capacity for granted.

The workshop opened with remarks from the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, who said The worlds ambitions for a net-zero-carbon future depend on the oceans ability to continue to absorb carbon. Thats a huge, life-altering bet  that the ocean will continue to act in the same way and continue its current capacity to absorb carbon. We need better data so governments can make more informed policy choices on the climate crisis.

The North Atlantic Ocean is the most intense carbon sink on the planet, accounting for approximately 30 per cent of the global ocean Carbon Dioxide (CO2) uptake. There is compelling evidence that the biogeochemical carbon pump supporting the North Atlantic carbon sink is changing, with commensurate concern that climate estimates may not be valid if they do not incorporate this. However, the North Atlantics vitalcarbon-absorbing function remains critically under-observed.

Incomplete data harms the credibility of global climate targets, says Dr. Anya Waite, CEO, Ocean Frontier Institute. Recent science shows changes in the ocean that indicate its carbon absorption may be slowing significantly  and some regions we once thought were carbon sinks may also turn out to become areas of emission. These are of serious concern.

Canada is poised to lead an international effort to close this gap with a focused ocean observation effort which will build scientific knowledge and apply near real time assessment of how ocean changes are impacting the global carbon budget.

Concurrently, observation data can create the baseline to measure the effectiveness of technologies. For example, important to ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal technologies will be the ability to credibly quantify the results. For governments and financial institutions, this is a key component to ensure investments are happening in the right place to ensure climate targets are met.

Global investors and policy-makers need confidence in the climate calculations, and that confidence cannot be guaranteed unless the impact of ocean carbon is factored into climate targets, added Dr. Waite.

Participants of todays workshop included representatives from G7 and Asian nations, the UN, industry leaders, global philanthropists and environmental organizations.

The Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI) was established in September 2016 through a partnership led by Dalhousie University, Memorial University and the University of Prince Edward Island. An international hub for ocean research, OFI brings together experts from both sides of the North Atlantic to explore the vast potential of the ocean. https://oceanfrontierinstitute.com/
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ceylon Graphite Corp. (Ceylon Graphite) (TSX-V: CYL) (OTC: CYLYF) (FSE: CCY) announces that it intends to seek approval of the TSX Venture Exchange to extend the exercise period of an aggregate of 8,000,000 common share purchase warrants (the Warrants). The Warrants were issued to subscribers as part of Ceylons private placement which closed on October 16, 2019.



Subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange; Ceylon proposes to extend the exercise period of the Warrants by one year from October 16, 2021 to October 16, 2022.

All other terms and conditions of the Warrants will remain unchanged.

A portion of the Warrants is held by an insider of the Corporation. Therefore, the amendment of Warrants constitutes a related party transaction as contemplated by Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Shareholders in Special Transactions, and TSX Venture Policy 5.9 - Protection of Minority Shareholders in Special Transactions. However, the exemptions from formal valuation and minority approval requirements provided for by these guidelines can be relied upon as the fair market value of the Warrants does not exceeds 25% of the market capitalization of the Corporation.

About Ceylon Graphite Corp.

Ceylon Graphite is a public company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, that is in the business of mining for graphite, and developing and commercializing innovative graphene and graphite applications and products. Graphite mined in Sri Lanka is known to be some of the purest in the world and has been confirmed to be suitable to be easily upgradable for a range of applications including the high-growth electric vehicle and battery storage markets as well as construction, healthcare and paints and coatings sectors. The Government of Sri Lanka has granted the Companys wholly owned subsidiary Sarcon Development (Pvt) Ltd. an IML Category A license for its K1 mine and exploration rights in a land package of over 120km. These exploration grids (each one square kilometer in area) cover areas of historic graphite production from the early twentieth century and represent a majority of the known graphite occurrences in Sri Lanka.

Further information regarding the Company is available at www.ceylongraphite.com

Don Baxter, Chief Executive Officer

info@ceylongraphite.com

Corporate Communications

+1(604) 765 8657

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This news release contains forward-looking information as such term is defined in applicable securities laws, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. The forward-looking information includes statements about Ceylon Graphites grids, Ceylon Graphites plans to undertake additional drilling and to develop a mine plan, and to commence establishing mining operations. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to Ceylon Graphite, including the assumption that, there will be no material adverse change in metal prices, all necessary consents, licenses, permits and approvals will be obtained, including various Local Government Licenses and the market. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. Risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking information include, among other things, an inability to reach a final acquisition agreement, inaccurate results from the drilling exercises, a failure to obtain or delays in obtaining the required regulatory licenses, permits, approvals and consents, an inability to access financing as needed, a general economic downturn, a volatile stock price, labour strikes, political unrest, changes in the mining regulatory regime governing Ceylon Graphite, a failure to comply with environmental regulations and a weakening of market and industry reliance on high quality graphite. Ceylon Graphite cautions the reader that the above list of risk factors is not exhaustive.
DUBAI, Arab Emirates, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stephen Shaya, M.D. Managing Director of Akkad Holdings and Executive Servant Leader at J & B Medical, is speaking at the World Expo 2021, hosted in Dubai from Oct. 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022. For 170 years, World Expos have provided a platform to showcase some of the most significant innovations that have truly shaped the world we live in, and this will be the first-ever expo hosted in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. This year's World Expo focuses on inspiring and meaningful actions to address the world's most crucial challenges and opportunities.

Dr. Shaya's session will discuss and offer a solution to one of the biggest challenges the world is currently facing, the medical supply shortage. The COVID-19 pandemic has cause chaos, panic, and widespread loss, but it also brought to light the overwhelming and dangerous inadequacies of the global supply chain for medical equipment, supplies, and personal protective equipment. Dr. Shaya will highlight the outdated and inefficient state of the current global supply chain and offer a refreshing new take on how to reimagine and remodel the global supply chain to face 21st-century challenges by leveraging strategic partnerships in the UAE. Helen Keller said it best. "Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much."

Akkad Holdings is the family office of Stephen Shaya M.D., whose family owns J & B Medical. J & B is a world-class family of businesses that span across all aspects of medical-related care, including the following: insurance covered products, national managed care contracts, medical-surgical products, retail home-care products, technology solutions, and serves as one of the largest third-party billers of consumable medical products in the United States. J&B owns HNC Virtual Care Solutions, which manages a telehealth company serving customers worldwide.

stephen@akkadholdings.com

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United States / Nashville, TN, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Students For Liberty will host an annual pro-liberty festival, Freer Future Fest, on October 9, 2021, in Nashville, TN.

The event will bring together global human rights activists, policymakers, industry CEOs, international media, and promising students from across North America to host an open discussion about liberty across the ideological spectrum.

Freer Future Fests speaker lineup features prominent activists in the global liberty movement with names including the Libertarian Partys 2020 Presidential Nominee Jo Jorgensen, Guatemalan 2019 Presidential Candidate Gloria Alvarez, Chinese human rights activist and artist Ai Weiwei, Iraqi-American human rights activist Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, Fiverr Millionaire Alex Fasulo, famous Twitch streamers Bastiat, Vaush, and Destiny, and Director of Growth Marketing at Kraken Dan Held.

We can show the beauty of our ideas by writing articles in campus newspapers that argue why free expression matters. We can show it by talking respectfully to people who disagree with us and by organizing events and inviting folks from opposing viewpoints to be a part of them. In the light of rising populism, socialism, and nationalism, we need to get out there and show that our ideals of peace, love, and liberty are the antithesis of hate, fear, and big government. This is what we will be celebrating at Freer Future Fest, says Dr. Wolf von Laer, Students For Libertys CEO.

The Freer Future Fest is hosted by Students For Liberty, the worlds biggest international pro-liberty student organization that has grown from 1,600 to 600,000 event attendees in less than ten years. Formerly hosted in Washington D.C. as LibertyCon, the event attracted 1,200+ attendees each year from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.

This year, Freer Future Fest partners with the Reason Foundation, Institute for Justice, Freedom Fest, The Cato Institute, FIRE, and many more. All will land in Nashville on October 9, 2021, to meet students passionate about the ideas of a free society under the banner #TogetherInLiberty.

Freer Future Fest is open to the public, and accredited media can register to attend for free. To register for a press pass, contact Students For Libertys PR Manager Julia Kril at jkril@studentsforlibery.org.

###

About Freer Future Fest:

Freer Future Fest is an annual student festival hosted by Students For Liberty. It is a festival experience engineered to educate, energize, and inspire liberty-minded students, activists, and influencers across North America around a vision of a freer future.

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Washington, D.C., Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, a unanimous Supreme Court of the State of Arizona ruled that the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) is not entitled to extreme deference in its utility ratemaking determinations. The New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group, filed an amicus brief in April 2021, in support of Petitioners in Sun City Home Owners Association v. Arizona Corporation Commission. NCLA argued that the Arizona Supreme Court should interpret the statutory or regulatory texts rather than deferring to the interpretation of an administrative agency in deciding whether the agency violated the Arizona Constitutions prohibition against discriminatory rates.

ACC provided individual wastewater service rates to five separate wastewater districts within the Phoenix Metropolitan area. ACC would later consolidate these districts and apply a flat wastewater rate for all customers in the new district, an action challenged by customers in the rate discrimination lawsuit. The Arizona Court of Appeals upheld ACCs decision, reasoning that ratemaking is a function entrusted to the commission by the Arizona Constitution. The Arizona Court of Appeals erred by going so far as to grant extreme deference to ACC, which conflicts with both the state and federal constitutions.

The deferential standard the Arizona Court of Appeals applied to ACC requires far more than respectful consideration of ACCs views; it commanded judges to give weight to those views simply because ACC espouses them, and it instructed judges to subordinate their own judgments to the views preferred by ACC.

Justice Clint Bolick, writing the opinion of the court, stated, Because the court of appeals attributed the extreme deference requirement to decisions from this Court,  we take the opportunity to clarify a courts role in holding the Commission to its constitutional boundaries. Justice Bolick rejected the Court of Appeals application of deference, reasoning, as to issues of constitutional and statutory compliancehere, whether the Commission caused unlawful rate discriminationwe do not defer to the Commissions judgment. Our review of such questions is de novo.

Agency deference requires judges to abandon their duty of independent judgment and violates the Due Process Clauses of the Arizona Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. NCLA commends the Court for fulfilling its fundamental duty and protecting the due process of law for all litigants by denouncing deference to agency interpretations and ensuring that judges will not defer to the legal interpretation of one of the parties before the Court.

NCLA released the following statement:

It is high time that ACC be held accountable to the Arizona Constitution. Like all Arizonans and the state agencies that serve them, when ACC appears before Arizona courts, it is an ordinary litigant that must follow the rule of law. The Arizona Supreme Court does not owe ACC any special consideration that it does not owe every other litigant.

 Adi Dynar, Litigation Counsel, NCLA

For more information about this case visit here.

ABOUT NCLA

NCLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State. NCLAs public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies and to foster a new civil liberties movement that will help restore Americans fundamental rights.

###
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MegaFans, a mobile gaming company headquartered in Southern California, announced it is offering cryptocurrencies and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) in addition to digital prizes and collectibles for their eSports tournament games beginning October 2021.

The eSports tournaments will be played across the world on mobile phone and tablets with three games featuring the new prize pools: Candy Boo, Crash N Win and Tunnel Tournament. All of the MegaFans games are published and can be downloaded on the Apple App and Google Play stores. They can also be accessed from the company website, www.MegaFans.com.

The NFTs can be earned, won, bought and traded within Megafans games and community on their website. The tokens will include illustrations, animations and collectibles of in-game characters and other virtual objects.

MegaFans is building the world's first mobile eSports gaming community using blockchain cryptocurrency and NFTs in a play-to-earn environment where 2.8 billion daily active mobile gamers can participate in a metaverse, exchanging and trading assets that change in value. MegaFans recently joined the Launchpool Labs incubator program where they are receiving strategic and technical support to help grow their new community of gamers and collectors.

"There are nearly 3 billion daily active mobile gamers in the world and they are all welcome to play, win and have fun with the MegaFans community," says Jeff Donnelley, founder and CEO of MegaFans and he continues, "MegaFans is on a mission to create a safe, supportive and inclusive environment where anyone can compete in massive multiplayer eSports tournaments across the globe. We call it eSports for All!"

Donnelley has been building and growing eGaming companies for 22 years. He created two advertising and media companies around the industry, and he has consulted for and partnered with household technology brands such as DraftKings, Ubisoft, Jam City and World of Tanks.

Megafans offers free-to-play (F2P) and pay-to-play (P2P) options that run from quick, one-minute games up to monthly tournaments with the largest prize pools. The prize pools will scale up as the community participation grows over time and players win virtual tokens, which can be exchanged for cryptocurrencies, NFTs, gifts and cash. MegaFans uses a leaderboard format that allows unlimited players to participate, no matter what skill level or geo-location.

About Megafans

MegaFans (Mobile eSports Gaming Fanatics) is building the world's first global, mobile eSports community where 2.8 billion daily active users can play-to-earn and collect real world prizes such as cryptocurrency, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), collectibles and cash. MegaFans offers turnkey solutions for mobile game developers that increase monetization and retention by enriching the players experience. MegaFans mantra is "eSports for All!" which focuses on underserved markets around the world. Links to MegaFans social media and company channels can be found at https://linktr.ee/megafans

Contact

Alexis Vera

MegaFans, Inc.

Phone: +1 (760) 889-3187

Email: PR@Megafans.com







Related Files

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megafans-twitter_card_1.0.jpg

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Image 1: Crunchy Shoots Laser Eyes NFT by MegaFans





Crunchy Shoots Laser Eyes NFT by MegaFans









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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aton Resources Inc. (AAN: TSX-V) ("Aton" or the "Corporation") announces the following operations and corporate updates.



Operations Update

Aton signed a drilling contract with Energold Drilling Ltd. in June to complete a minimum of 4,250 metres of diamond drilling at the Corporations Abu Marawat Concession (see news release dated June 14, 2021). At the time of signing the contract it was expected that drilling would commence in September 2021. Due to export clearance and shipping delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the scheduled delivery date of the drill rig to the port in Egypt is now October 9, 2021. As a result, Aton expects to commence drilling during the month of November 2021. A summary of the drill program is provided below.

The program will commence at Rodruin with 3,350 metres of drilling, with the objective of following up on the successful 2018 reverse circulation percussion drill program, as well as testing for the first time the high-grade veins sampled at surface on the North Ridge, which returned assays of up to 321 g/t Au (see news release dated February 6, 2018). Drilling will also further test and delineate the distribution of the near-surface oxide mineralisation identified on the South Ridge, which returned intercepts including 36m @ 12.47 g/t Au (see news release, dated October 1, 2018) and 20m @ 5.36 g/t Au (see news release, dated December 10, 2018). The program will also follow up on the deeper sulphide mineralisation which returned wide intersections including 61m @ 1.55 g/t Au, 8.9 g/t Ag and 0.86% Zn (see news release dated January 29, 2019).

The drilling program at Hamama will consist of 900 metres of drilling with the objective of delineating additional oxide and transitional resources at the Hamama East and Central areas, which have not been effectively drill tested to date. Channel sampling of surface trenches has indicated the potential for relatively high grade oxide mineralisation, and has returned intercepts including 84m @ 1.13 g/t Au, 49.7 g/t Ag and 7.29% Zn and 42.8m @ 1.28 g/t Au, 55.5 g/t Ag and 10.37% Zn (see news release dated May 3, 2018).

During the last six months the Corporation has completed all the necessary work required to commence the above noted drill program, including the acquisition of capital items, construction of a new camp at the Rodruin project, road construction and drill pad preparation.

Atons exploration team has also resumed field activities, continuing with the surface channel sampling program at Rodruin, and have also undertaken further sampling, mapping and ionic leach sampling at the Abu Gaharish prospect. Samples have been dispatched to the ALS Minerals for analysis, and results will be released when they become available.

Corporate Update

Due to other professional commitments, Mr. Bill Koutsouras has resigned from his position as Director and Interim CEO of the Corporation, effective immediately. Mr. Koutsouras will continue to be available to provide ongoing support to the Corporation in the future as an advisor.

Mr. Tonno Vahk will assume the role of Interim CEO, effective immediately and until such time as a permanent CEO is recruited by the Board of Directors. Mr. Vahk has been a director of Aton since 2017 and is a significant shareholder of the Corporation with his current shareholding (held indirectly in OU Hektik) representing 12.97% of the issued and outstanding shares of Aton.
San Juan, Puerto Rico, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (via Blockchain Wire) The Puerto Rico Blockchain Trade Association (PRBTA), in partnership with the Blockchain Education Network (BEN) announce CryptoCurious, a free four-week workshop beginning Monday, October 4th 5:30PM at the Condado Ocean Club. Every Monday, attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the fundamentals of a new topic in the cryptocurrency space:

Week 1: Introduction to Blockchain & Crypto

Week 2: Bitcoin: The Beginning

Week 3: Ethereum & Smart Contracts

Week 4: What are NFTs?

Our goal is to make crypto accessible and inclusive to everyone, especially native Puerto Ricans, said Keiko Yoshino, Executive Director for the Puerto Rico Blockchain Trade Association, Blockchain and crypto are largely inaccessible because it is a rapidly emerging field of technology, computer science, economics, and engineering and there is no textbook.



To address this issue, the Association has developed CryptoCurious workshop designed for new to or curious about cryptocurrency. Registration can be found on eventbrite. For those unable to come in person, the workshop will be recorded and made available through their website.

Leading the workshops in October will be guest lecturer, James Haft. Haft has more than 30 years of experience in the emerging and blockchain capital markets and currently serves as Chairman of DLTx, a publicly-listed enterprise vendor for DAO's and blockchain protocols. Haft also founded the largest decentralized network of blockchain meetups globally known as CryptoMondays.

As part of their mission to offer education in both Blockchain and crypto to Puerto Ricans, PRBTA partnered with BEN this past month of July. Since their establishment, BEN has offered course material designed to spur blockchain adoption by empowering members to bring blockchain to their communities, now being the largest and oldest network of blockchain students, alumni, and professors across the world.

The technology is moving quickly and while there are a number of courses online, they are expensive, Erick Pinos, President of BEN, We are partnering with the Blockchain Trade Association because we believe free classes is the right approach to knowledge sharing.

About The Puerto Rico Blockchain Trade Association

The Puerto Rico Blockchain Trade Association exists to connect blockchain entrepreneurs to communities and peers contributing to make positive changes in Puerto Rico, while representing members interests on and off the island. For more information, visit www.prblockchain.org

About The Blockchain Education Network (BEN)

The Blockchain Education Network (BEN) is a seven-year-old network of blockchain students and professors around the world. Founded in 2014 between blockchain clubs including at the University of Michigan, MIT, and Stanford, BEN provides accessible educational resources, free and discounted conference tickets, jobs and internship opportunities, as well as an online and offline community for all its members. For more information, visit http://www.blockchainedu.org
DALLAS, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NexPoint Strategic Opportunities Fund (NYSE:NHF) (NHF) today announced the extension of the offering period for its previously announced offer to purchase any and all Shares of Beneficial Interest (the Shares) of United Development Funding IV (UDFI or the Company) at a price of $1.10 per Share upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase and in the related Assignment Form for the offer (which together constitute the Offer and the Tender Offer Documents). The Offer is now scheduled to expire at 12:00 midnight, Eastern Time, at the end of the day on October 29, 2021, unless the Offer is extended or earlier terminated. The Tender Offer Documents are available at www.UDFITenderOffer.com, or from the information agent for the Offer, as discussed below.

As previously announced on December 14, 2020, the Offer is conditioned upon, among other things, the satisfaction or waiver of the following conditions: (i) there shall not have been threatened, instituted, or pending any action or proceeding before any court or any governmental or administrative agency (a) challenging the acquisition of shares pursuant to the Offer or otherwise relating in any manner to the Offer, or (b) in the sole judgment of NHF, otherwise materially adversely affecting the Company; (ii) NHF shall have received all required governmental approvals, if any, for the Offer; (iii) NHF shall have had the opportunity to conduct sufficient due diligence to determine whether the offered price per share is reasonable given the current financial condition and results of operations of UDFI; (iv) the Board of Trustees of UDFI shall have waived in writing the ownership limitations set forth in Article VII of the Declaration of Trust of UDFI as such limitations would otherwise apply to the Offer; and (v) NHF shall have received satisfactory evidence that UDFI has continued to qualify as a real estate investment trust (REIT) under federal tax laws and thereby to avoid any entity-level federal income or excise tax.

On January 8, 2021, UDFI announced that it had reduced the percentage of outstanding Shares that a shareholder may own from 9.8% to 5.0%. The Company took such action in an effort to frustrate the Offer. It also announced it amended the Companys bylaws to require that certain legal actions could be brought on behalf of or against UDFI only in certain courts in Maryland. NHF and its advisors are reviewing these actions and their legality under applicable law.

Shareholders should read the Offer to Purchase and the related materials carefully because they contain important information. Shareholders may obtain a free copy of the Offer to Purchase and the Assignment Form from D.F. King & Co., Inc., the information agent for the Offer (the Information Agent), by calling toll-free at (800) 331-7543. THE OFFER WILL EXPIRE AT 12:00 MIDNIGHT, EASTERN TIME, AT THE END OF THE DAY ON OCTOBER 29, 2021, UNLESS THE OFFER IS EXTENDED OR EARLIER TERMINATED.

About the NexPoint Strategic Opportunities Fund (NHF)

The NexPoint Strategic Opportunities Fund (NYSE:NHF) is a closed-end fund managed by NexPoint Advisors, L.P. that is in the process of converting to a diversified REIT. On August 28, 2020, shareholders approved the conversion proposal and amended the Companys fundamental investment policies and restrictions to permit the Company to pursue its new business. The Company has since realigned its portfolio so that it is no longer an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 1940 Act). On March 31, 2021, the Company filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) for an order under the 1940 Act declaring that the Company no longer operate as an investment company (the Deregistration Order). During the SECs review process, the Company will continue to be structured as a closed-end investment fund. The Company has also completed the repositioning of its investment portfolio sufficient to achieve REIT tax status and is operating during its 2021 taxable year so that it may qualify for taxation as a REIT.

For more information visit www.nexpoint.com/nexpoint-strategic-opportunities-fund

About NexPoint Advisors, L.P.

NexPoint Advisors, L.P. (the Investment Adviser) is an SEC-registered adviser on the NexPoint alternative investment platform. It serves as the adviser to a suite of funds and investment vehicles, including a closed-end fund, interval fund, business development company, and various real estate vehicles. For more information visit www.nexpoint.com



Risks and Disclosures

This document is for informational purposes only and is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell any common stock of UDFI or any other securities. The offer to purchase common stock of UDFI will only be made pursuant to the Offer to Purchase, the Assignment Form and related documents. THE TENDER OFFER MATERIALS (INCLUDING THE OFFER TO PURCHASE, THE ASSIGNMENT FORM AND CERTAIN OTHER TENDER OFFER DOCUMENTS) WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. STOCKHOLDERS OF UDFI ARE URGED TO READ THESE DOCUMENTS CAREFULLY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION THAT SUCH STOCKHOLDERS SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE MAKING ANY DECISION REGARDING TENDERING THEIR SHARES. Investors and security holders may obtain a free copy of these statements (when available) by directing such requests to the Information Agent, by calling toll-free at (800) 331-7543.

###

Media Contact

Lucy Bannon

lbannon@nexpoint.com
WILMINGTON, Del., Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In response to a recent decision to sideline the Claremont Institute's panels at an annual gathering of political scientists, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) has announced today that it will host the American Politics and Government Summit (APG Summit) in the fall of 2022. This Summit will bring together scholars to participate in dialogue focused on emerging researchrooted in timeless principles in the fields of politics, philosophy, and economics.

ISI has been dedicated to promoting the values of real education to students and faculty since 1953. ISI's first president, William F. Buckley Jr., believed that the true purpose of education was not to serve a political agenda but to enable the pursuit of wisdom and to cultivate virtuous citizens.

In that spirit, the APG Summit will facilitate discussion and debate rooted in the pursuit of academic excellence. The Summit will be held on Oct. 28-29, 2022 at the Linda L. Bean Conference Center at ISI's F.M. Kirby Campus, located in Delaware's idyllic Brandywine Valley. ISI broke ground on the Center in June 2021.

ISI President and CEO Johnny Burtka said: "The education that we provide our students is only as good as our professors who teach them. Recent decisions to sideline academics who dissent from the accepted range of orthodoxy in modern higher education show that the vast majority of scholarship in America today is fundamentally unserious in nature. Our professors need alternatives. In the fall of 2022, ISI will provide one."

For more information about the APG Summit, visit https://isi.org/events/american-politics-and-government-summit/.

About the Intercollegiate Studies Institute

Too many college students feel isolated or attacked for questioning the ever-narrowing range of debate on campus. ISI introduces them to the American tradition of liberty and to a vibrant community of students and scholars. ISI students get an education and a community they don't find at their universities. And in the process, they become articulate voices for the principles that made America free and prosperous.

ISI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization. For more information, visit isi.org.

To request an interview, please contact Spencer Kashmanian at skashmanian@isi.org or (302) 524-6119.

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arras Minerals Corp. (Arras) is pleased announce it has commenced an initial 30,000 metre surface drill program targeting the extensions of the Beskauga deposit both laterally and at depth, as well as a series of never before tested targets within the wider area.



For the drilling, Arras is using the local company Tsentrgeolsemka LLP. The drill program is conducted under the Option to Purchase agreement (Option Agreement) executed on January 26, 2021, with Copperbelt AG (Copperbelt), a mineral exploration company registered in Zug, Switzerland. Pursuant to the Option Agreement, Arras has the right to acquire Copper Belts right, title and 100% interest in the Beskauga property located in Kazakhstan by incurring US$15,000,000 in cumulative exploration expenditures on the Beskauga Project by January 26, 2025.

About the Beskauga Deposit: The Beskauga deposit is a gold-copper-silver deposit with a NI 43-101 compliant Indicated Mineral Resource of 207 million tonnes grading 0.35 g/t gold, 0.23% copper and 1.09 g/t silver for 2.33 million ounces of contained gold, 476.1 thousand tonnes of contained copper, and 7.25 million ounces of contained silver and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 147 million tonnes grading 0.33 g/t gold, 0.15% copper and 1.02 g/t silver for 1.56 million ounces of contained gold, 220.5 thousand tonnes of contained copper, and 4.82 million ounces of contained silver.

The constraining pit was optimised and calculated using a NSR cut-off based on a price of: $1,500/oz for gold, $2.80/lb for copper, $17.25/oz for silver, and with an average recovery of 81.7% for copper and 51.8% for both gold and silver.

Table 1. Pit-constrained Mineral Resource estimate for the Beskauga copper-gold project

CATEGORY TONNAGE (MT) CU % AU G/T AG G/T AU (MOZ) CU (KT) AG (MOZ) Indicated 207 0.23 0.35 1.09 2.33 476.1 7.25 Inferred 147 0.15 0.33 1.02 1.56 220.5 4.82

Notes:



An NSR $/t cut-off of $5.70/t was used, and the NSR formula is: NSR $/t = (38.137+11.612 x Cu%) x Cu% + (19.18 + 12.322 x Au g/t) x Au g/t + (0.07 + 0.0517 x Ag g/t) x Ag g/t

The NSR formula incorporates variable recovery formulae. Average copper recovery was 81.7% copper and 51.8% for both gold and silver.

Metal prices considered were $2.80/lb copper, $1,500/oz gold and $17.25/oz silver.

The Resource is stated within a pit shell that considers a 1.25 factor above the metal prices.

Mineral Resources are estimated and reported in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves adopted May 10, 2014, as required under NI 43-101.

The Mineral Resource is not believed to be materially affected by any known environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic, marketing, political or other relevant factors

These Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability.

The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Resources in this MRE are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Resources as Indicated or Measured; however, it is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration.

The report was issued by CSA Global Consultants Canada Limited, the coordinating author is Serikjan Urbisinov, B.Sc., MAIG, an Independent Qualified Person in accordance with NI 43-101.

Effective date of the report was January 28, 2021.

For a full summary of the Beskauga resource please visit the following link:

https://silverbullresources.com/site/assets/files/5975/csa-beskauga-ni-43-101-final.pdf

About Kazakhstan

Size: Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world, covering 2,717,300 square kilometres, and has a population of 18.2 million people.

Capital City: The capital city is Nur-Sultan which is located 300 kilometers from the project. Nur-Sultan has a major international airport allowing for easy access and administration of the Beskauga project.

Mining Law: Kazakhstan adopted a new mining code titled Code on Surface and Subsoil Use (the "SSU Code") on December 27, 2017, that became effective on June 29, 2018. The SSU Code is based on the Western Australian model where Kazakhstan moved from a contractual regime to a licensing regime for solid minerals (except for uranium). Coincident with the updated SSU law, the Kazakhstan government also reduced a considerable amount of the administrative burdens for subsoil users.

Tax: A summary of pertinent taxes related to exploration in Kazakhstan is as follows:

20% corporate tax

12% value-added tax (VAT) is refundable for exploration companies

4.7% royalty for copper

5% royalty for gold and silver

Geological Prospectivity: Kazakhstan is one of the most prospective countries in the world for a number of metals. According to the United States Geological Survey (www.usgs.gov), Kazakhstan is:

1 st in the world for uranium production (41% of world output)

in the world for uranium production (41% of world output) 2 nd in the world for chromite production (18% of world output)

in the world for chromite production (18% of world output) 4 th in the world for titanium production (6% of world output)

in the world for titanium production (6% of world output) 10th in the world for copper production

The Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies in 2020, ranked Kazakhstan the 23rd best mining jurisdiction in the world. Additionally, the World Banks 2020 Doing Business Ranking ranked Kazakhstan in a tie for 23rd, alongside Canada and Ireland, out of a total of 190 countries measured on Ease of Doing Business.

The technical information of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Tim Barry, a Chartered Professional Geologist (CPAusIMM), and a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Tim Barry"

Tim Barry, CPAusIMM

Chief Executive Officer and Director

INVESTOR RELATIONS:

+1 604 687 5800

info@arrasminerals.com

About Arras Minerals Corp.

Arras is British Columbia incorporated private company advancing a portfolio of copper and gold assets in northeastern Kazakhstan, including the Option Agreement on the Beskauga copper and gold project.

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors concerning estimates of Measured, Indicated, and Inferred Resources: This press release uses the terms measured resources, indicated resources, and inferred resources which are defined in, and required to be disclosed by, NI 43-101. The Company advises U.S. investors that these terms are not recognized by the SEC. The estimation of measured, indicated and inferred resources involves greater uncertainty as to their existence and economic feasibility than the estimation of proven and probable reserves. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that measured and indicated mineral resources will be converted into reserves. The estimation of inferred resources involves far greater uncertainty as to their existence and economic viability than the estimation of other categories of resources. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that estimates of inferred mineral resources exist, are economically minable, or will be upgraded into measured or indicated mineral resources. Under Canadian securities laws, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies.

Disclosure of contained ounces in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian regulations, however the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute reserves by SEC standards as in place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measures. Accordingly, the information contained in this press release may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies that are not subject NI 43-101.

Cautionary note regarding forward looking statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and Arras future results that are subject to the safe harbors created under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Exchange Act, and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements regarding the expected timing, mechanics, income tax consequences, benefits and other aspects of the Mineral Resource estimates for the Beskauga project. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about Arras exploration projects, the industry in which Arras operates and the beliefs and assumptions of Arras management. Words such as expects, anticipates, targets, goals, projects, intends, plans, believes, seeks, estimates, continues, may, variations of such words, and similar expressions and references to future periods, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond managements control, including such factors as whether the results of exploration activities and whether the results continue to support continued exploration activities, unexpected variations in ore grade, types and metallurgy, volatility and level of commodity prices, the availability of sufficient future financing, and other matters discussed under the caption Risk Factors in the Form 20-F filed with the SEC on September 1, 2021 available on www.sec.gov. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by the Company in this release is based only on information currently available and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
Virginia Launches Expanded Train Service from Downtown Richmond to Washington, D.C., on to New York and Boston

New Amtrak train is first step in statewide rail expansion program

RICHMONDGovernor Ralph Northam today announced the launch of expanded rail service from Richmond to the Northeast corridor. The Amtrak Northeast Regional Route 51 will now offer early morning service from Main Street Station, getting travelers from Downtown Richmond to Washington D.C. when the workday begins or to New York for a lunchtime meeting. The new train is the first expansion of service under Governor Northam's Transforming Rail in Virginia program to significantly expand rail infrastructure throughout the Commonwealth.

Governor Northam celebrated the milestone this morning from the tracks at Main Street Station as the first train departed at 5:35am.

If you've ever been stuck on I-95, you know we can't pave our way out of congestion, said Governor Northam. This new train offers quick, reliable service from the Commonwealth's capital to Washington, D.C., connecting our two cities and making it easier for thousands of Virginians to get to work in the morning. Virginia is leading the nation in expanded access to high-performance railand I look forward to many more milestones ahead.

The newly expanded service has stops at a variety of destinations in the Northeast corridor. Travelers can choose from three daily departure times, two in the morning and one in the evening.

Originating more trains from Main Street Station will connect our vibrant capital city to Washington D.C. and population centers along the East Coast, said Secretary of Transportation Shannon Valentine. This extension will bring trains closer to where people live and work, expanding access and economic opportunity.

The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority supports four Northeast Regional routes. Service originates in Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond, and Roanoke. These routes allow passengers to travel to cities along the East Coast without needing to change trains.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, service to and from Richmonds Staples Mill Station was suspended in March 2020, said Virginia Passenger Rail Authority Executive Director DJ Stadtler. Todays resumption of this service, which includes the extension to Main Street Station, marks the return to pre-pandemic service levels in Virginia.

Main Street Station is a National Historic Landmark located in Richmonds Shockoe Bottom district. It is served by Amtrak, GRTC, RVA Bike Share, and Megabus. The stations Virginia Welcome Center is stocked with information about local and statewide tourist destinations.

Amtrak service was restored to the station in 2003. The train shed opened in 2018 as a 47,000 square foot event space. This station serves a variety of transportation needs. Most recently, a Pulse bus rapid transit service stop was added at the entrance.

We are pleased to partner with Virginia to bring additional Amtrak service to the Main Street Station, said State Supported Services at Amtrak Vice President Ray Lang. As people feel comfortable traveling again, we are honored that our customers trust us on their journey as we are excited to welcome them onboard.

CSX is proud to partner in this Transforming Rail in Virginia initiative, which is enhancing passenger and freight rail service from the Commonwealth of Virginia into the District of Columbia, said CSX Vice President Tammy Butler. This is just the first step in creating safer, more efficient service while easing congestion in the region.

Tickets are now available for purchase. Amtrak worked with a medical director and partnered with the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health to ensure proper health and safety protocols were implemented.

Transforming Rail in Virginia is a $3.7 billion program to expand and improve passenger, commuter, and freight rail in Virginia. It will connect the Northeast and Southeast corridors in Americas national rail network. In partnership with CSX, Amtrak, and VRE, Virginia is constructing a new Long Bridge over the Potomac dedicated to passenger and commuter rail. 386 miles of rail right-of-way and 223 miles of track were acquired, and more than $1 billion was invested for additional rail infrastructure.

Over the next ten years, these investments will result in nearly hourly Amtrak service between Richmond and Washington. Amtrak service will also be enhanced for Newport News and Norfolk. VRE services will increase by 75 percent along the I-95 Corridor and weekend service will be added.

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Governor Northam Announces Italian Cured Meats Producer to Establish First U.S. Operation in Virginia

Veronesi Holding S.p.A. to invest in new production facility in Rockingham County, creating more than 150 new jobs over the next four years

RICHMONDGovernor Ralph Northam today announced that Italy-based Veronesi Holding S.p.A., a leading manufacturer and producer of cured meats, will establish its first U.S. production operation. This investment in Rockingham County will create more than 150 new jobs over the next four years. The company plans to explore the possibility of working with smaller Virginia farms for its American production needs.

Located on 75.8 acres in the countys Innovation Village, the new facility will be used to age, process, and package the companys products for distribution, increasing its cured meat and charcuterie customer base in the U.S. market. Governor Northam and his staff met with company officials in Italy during his first international trade and marketing mission in July 2018.

We are pleased that Veronesi Holding S.p.A. chose Virginia, the home of nearly 900 internationally owned businesses, to grow in the U.S., said Governor Northam. The Commonwealths sophisticated infrastructure and world-class transportation network are key assets that attract global businesses looking to expand into new markets. We welcome one of Europes leading food and beverage companies to Virginia and Rockingham County and look forward to its success in the Commonwealth.

Veronesi Holding S.p.A is an Italian privately traded company headquartered in Verona, Italy with more than 3.1 billion in sales in 2020 and 9,000 employees. The company is among the top five Fast Moving Consumer Groups in Italy and is the largest vertically integrated poultry and hog producer in the country. Its products range from feed to fresh meats and cured meats. Veronesi has grown through its brands, AIA and Negroni, which are regarded as top names in the Italian agroindustry throughout Europe and across the globe. Negroni has been a leader in the premium delicatessen meats market for over a century.

Veronesi Holding S.p.A.s new U.S. operation is a substantial addition to Virginias diverse food and beverage processing sector and is a perfect fit for the Shenandoah Valley, said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball. The state-of-the-art facility in Rockingham County will enable the company to build on its centuries-old legacy of high-quality products, and we thank Veronesi for choosing the Commonwealth for this major investment.

Virginias centuries-old agricultural industry is rich and diverse, making the Commonwealth the perfect new home for a company like Veronesi, which has a long and diverse agricultural history of its own, said Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Bettina Ring. Like Virginias world class wines and Veronesis premier charcuterie, the company and the commonwealth are indeed a perfect pairing. I look forward to connecting Veronesi with Virginia farmers so they can write a new chapter of quality and tradition in both of their agricultural histories.

This is a very ambitious project for us and it marks an important step for our company, said Veronesi Holding S.p.A Chief Executive Officer Luigi Fasoli. We want to start a new chapter in our history and establish in this country our first-ever production site for cured meats abroad, offering Americans all our expertise with the maximum freshness and quality. It is with great enthusiasm that we chose Virginia, where we found all the necessary ingredients to live our American dream.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Rockingham County, the Shenandoah Valley Partnership, and the Port of Virginia to secure this project for Virginia. Based on the companys planned investment of approximately $100 million and creation of more than 150 new jobs over the next four years, Governor Northam approved a $3.8 million grant from the Commonwealths Opportunity Fund to assist Rockingham County with the project. Veronesi Holding is eligible to receive benefits from the Port of Virginia Economic and Infrastructure Development Zone Grant Program, as well as a Major Business Facility Job Tax Credit for new, full-time jobs created. Funding and services to support the companys employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

Rockingham County is excited to work with Veronesi as the company establishes its agricultural presence in the Shenandoah Valley and Virginia, said Rockingham County Board of Supervisors Chairman Rick Chandler. This new project adds to the diverse agricultural industry of Rockingham, and we are thankful for the investment into our community and more than 150 new jobs.

The Shenandoah Valley Partnership is extremely excited to welcome Veronesi to Rockingham County and the Shenandoah Valley, said Shenandoah Valley Partnership Executive Director Jay A. Langston, Ph.D. Its brands have a very high reputation for premium charcuterie, thus its expectations for a location were equally stringent. The need for robust food and beverage infrastructure is exceedingly important, particularly for the successful launch of an international brand in the U.S. Working with Rockingham County, we have shown that the depth of our international-level infrastructure has allowed global success to grow here in the Valley. We are excited to welcome the company to our international food and beverage sector.

When a world-wide brand like Veronesi Holding S.p.A. decides to build its first U.S. production facility in Virginia, it sends a very positive message about our business climate, said Virginia Port Authority Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Stephen A. Edwards. We are ready to collaborate with Veronesi Holding, help build its business, and serve as its gateway for trade in the U.S. This is another example of what a pro-business environment that is supported by a world-class port can achieve.

Thanks to Veronesi Holding for working in partnership with the Commonwealth, Shenandoah Valley Partnership, and Rockingham County, said Senator Mark Obenshain. We welcome this new business to the Shenandoah Valley. This project will provide more job opportunities for our citizens and partnerships with small farms, which will be an enormous benefit to our region.

This is an exciting announcement for the Rockingham County and Harrisonburg communities, said Delegate Tony Wilt. Veronesi Holding S.p.A.s desire to make such a substantial investment right here in the Shenandoah Valley is once again a testament to the strength of our workforce, the high quality of life that we have to offer, and the importance of the agriculture industry to our future success.

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Sebastian Vettel regularly makes the news with his projects and activities to improve the environment. In doing so, he doesn't seek out publicity but rather does so under the radar. This is a conscious decision: the Aston Martin driver wants to make a real contribution and feels that seeking publicity would defeat the purpose.

Vettel active in nature conservation and environment

Vettel has been actively concerned with the environment and conservation for some time. During the lockdown, he completed an internship in organic farming, and he organises and participates in projects in that field. For example, he built a bee hotel with schoolchildren in Austria and photos surfaced showing him cleaning up after the British Grand Prix.

Read more This is what Mick Schumacher did better than his family in F1 debut

The 34-year-old German stresses that his fame as a Formula 1 driver can help spread the message, but that he finds it more important to actively participate in "credible" projects.

Read more McLaren considering bringing IndyCar driver to Formula 1

"I don't do these things so people look at them," he said in a conversation with Motorsport.com. "The first thing I always want to make sure of is that it makes sense, and that it helps the place where we are at that moment."

Vettel: 'Only talking and doing nothing is not authentic'

Vettel does see that his work can inspire others to take action too. "It's great when people show interest and start thinking about doing things differently. But for me, the first priority is always that it's credible, and that what you're doing makes sense. It's nice to talk about what we should be doing, but I think you then have to do it yourself. Otherwise it's not authentic," said the four-time world champion.
Aemetis, a renewable fuels company focused on negative-carbon-intensity products, signed an offtake agreement with Delta Air Lines for 250 million gallons of blended fuel containing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to be delivered over the 10-year term of the agreement. The aggregate value of the agreement is estimated to be more than $1 billion, including LCFS, RFS, 45Q and tax credits.

Sustainable aviation fuel provides significant environmental benefits compared to petroleum jet fuel, including a lower lifecycle carbon footprint. Deltas agreement with Aemetis builds on Deltas current effort for a future of net zero aviation, which includes committing to airline carbon-neutrality from March 2020 onward; aspiring to replace 10% of its conventional jet fuel consumption with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by the end of 2030; and committing to set targets aligned with the Paris Agreement.

The sustainable aviation fuel is expected to be produced by the Aemetis renewable jet/diesel plant under development on a 125-acre former US Army Ammunition production plant site in Riverbank, California. (Earlier post.) The blended sustainable aviation fuel is expected to be available for use by Delta starting in 2024.

The 90 million gallon per year Aemetis Carbon Zero sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel plant under development in two phases in Riverbank, California is designed to produce below-zero carbon intensity renewable fuels by utilizing cellulosic hydrogen from waste forest and orchard wood along with onsite CO 2 carbon sequestration capacity. Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis

Powered by 100% renewable electricity, the Aemetis Carbon Zero plant design utilizes cellulosic hydrogen made from carbon-negative waste wood. The below-zero carbon intensity, cellulosic hydrogen then is used to hydrotreat vegetable or other renewable oils to produce aviation and diesel fuel.

Earlier this year, Aemetis selected Axens Vegan Renewable Hydroprocessing technology for the Carbon Zero 1 production plant in Riverbank. Axens Vegan technology is designed to hydrotreat a wide range of lipids and to produce a flexible slate of low-density and high cetane renewable diesel as well as renewable jet fuel.
Allison Transmission and SAIC Hongyan Automotive Co., Ltd (formerly known as SIH Truck), a premium Chinese brand in the manufacturing, service and support of heavy-duty vehicles, signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under which the two companies will integrate the Allison eGen Power 130D e-Axle into SAIC Hongyans regional and long haul tractors. The partners will collaborate on testing and trials ahead of production sourcing decisions.





This builds on the successful relationship between the two companies, where the majority of automatic equipped trucks SAIC Hongyan sells feature Allison automatic transmissions.

SAIC Hongyan will be the first Chinese OEM to integrate the eGen Power 130D electric axle into its trucks, which is specifically designed to accommodate vehicles that require a 13-tonne rated axle. This series of fully integrated electric axles replaces the traditional powertrain, and features two high-speed electric motors and a multi-speed gearbox, providing SAIC Hongyan and its customers with exceptional performance and optimized efficiency.

With a continuous power of 424 kilowatts (569 horsepower) and peak output power of 648 kilowatts (869 horsepower), the eGen Power 130D is among the most powerful propulsion solutions in its class, and leverages Allisons proven control hardware and software expertise, and decades of design, validation and manufacturing experience.
Honda Motor outlined the technology development direction the company is currently pursuing for the challenges Honda is taking on in new areas while leveraging its core technologies. These new areas include an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL); an avatar robot to expand the range of human ability; and a new challenge in the field of outer space.

These new initiatives, led by Honda R&D Co., are made possible by core technologies Honda has amassed to date, including technologies in the areas of combustion, electrification, control and robotics.





Honda eVTOL. To make the mobility in the skies Honda realized with its original HondaJet even more accessible for more people, Honda is developing its eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-off and Landing) aircraft by taking advantage of a wide range of Hondas core technologies.

In addition to clean operation realized by electrification technologies, eVTOL features safety at a level equivalent to that of commercial passenger airplanes realized by its simple structure and decentralized propulsive system and quietness due to relatively small diameter of rotors.

This makes it possible for eVTOL to take off and land in the middle of a city without causing noise issues. Because of such features, the development race for eVTOL aircraft is getting increasingly vigorous. However, all-electric eVTOL aircraft face a range issue due to limited battery capacity, therefore the realistic use area is limited to intra-city (inside city) transportation.





To address this issue and realize user-friendly inter-city transportation with longer range, Honda will leverage its electrification technologies and develop Honda eVTOL equipped with a gas turbine hybrid power unit. Moreover, in addition to electrification technologies, Honda eVTOL will feature technologies Honda has amassed in a number of different areas such as combustion, aerodynamics and control technologies.





Honda will strive to create new value for people by establishing a mobility ecosystem featuring eVTOL aircraft at its core, coordinated and integrated with mobility on the ground.

Honda Avatar Robot. Honda will develop an avatar robot with the goal of expanding the range of human ability virtually without the constraints of time and place / space.

Honda has been continuously working on robotics research, including the research and development of its bi-pedal robot ASIMO. As a part of next-generation Honda robotics, Honda is pursuing development for the practical applications of Hondas original avatar robot.

The greatest merit of an avatar robot, which can act as a second self of the user, is that the user can perform tasks and experience things without being there in person, including the realistic sense of handling objects remotely.

What will become the core of the realization of such an avatar robot is the multi-fingered robotic hand developed while leveraging Hondas strengths in robotics technologies and Hondas original AI-supported remote control function. Honda is striving for an avatar robot that is capable of using its multi-fingered hand to make full use of tools designed for human use and performs complex tasks quickly and accurately based on the AI-supported and more intuitive control by the user.

To date, Honda has realized a multi-fingered hand with the ability to both delicately pick up a small object with the fingertips and the strength to open a tight jar lid, at the level of the human hand. This has long been a challenge in the field of robotics research. Moreover, in order to enable its multi-fingered hand to grasp an object smoothly in one sequence of moves and handle a tool with precise control of force, Honda is working on the further advancement of its original AI-supported remote control function.





Honda is currently working on downsizing the hardware and further improvement of the precision of robotic hand movements such as grasping and manipulation. Honda is striving to begin technology demonstration testing of the Honda Avatar Robot before the end of the fiscal year ending 31 March 2024, with a vision to put it into practical use in the 2030s.

Moon. By leveraging core technologies unique to Honda, such as combustion, guidance, fuel cell and robotics technologies, Honda is pursuing technology development with a goal to create new value in the ultimate environment of outer space.

As international momentum for expanding the range of human activities outside the Earth continues to grow, Honda began initiatives to strive for the expansion of human activities and development on the lunar surface. It is said that there is water on the Moon, and various possibilities for the use of water may open up are attracting attention.

Honda is conducting joint research with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) with the goal of building a circulative renewable energy system on the lunar surface by leveraging the fuel cell technologies and high differential pressure water electrolysis technologies Honda has amassed to date.





Circulative renewable energy system for the lunar surface JAXA/Honda

By combining Hondas fuel cell technologies and high differential pressure water electrolysis technologies, and by using electricity from renewable energy sources, the system electrically decomposes water and stores hydrogen and oxygen. Then, using that hydrogen and oxygen, Hondas fuel cell technologies can generate and supply electricity. The oxygen also can be used for people staying at living quarters on the lunar surface, and the hydrogen also will be used as fuel for rockets.





High differential pressure water electrolysis system

By building such a circulative renewable energy system, Honda will strive to contribute to a wide range of human activities on the lunar surface.

Moreover, for the remotely-controlled robots on the lunar surface, which can minimize the risks astronauts will be exposed to and enable people to virtually enjoy the experience of being on the Moon from Earth, Honda is expecting to apply a number of its core technologies. This includes the multi-fingered robotic hand technology and AI-supported remote control technology being developed for the Honda Avatar Robot and the highly-responsive torque control technology for collision mitigation. These research themes were adopted by the JAXA Space Exploration Innovation Hub and the joint research began in February of this year.

Reusable small rocket. Honda also is working on the development of small rockets. This rocket development was initiated by the proposal made by young Honda engineers who wanted to build a small rocket by utilizing core technologies, such as combustion and control technologies, that Honda has amassed through the development of various products.

Artificial satellites are indispensable for various purposes including the observation of the global environment, such as global warming and abnormal weather conditions and also to enable wide-area communication, which is an effective means to provide connectivity to mobility products. However, currently, there are not enough rockets available to meet demand for satellite launches.

To address this issue, Honda is developing a small rocket with a goal to use it as a launch vehicle for small low-earth orbit satellites. Moreover, Honda is conducting research with an assumption to make its rocket reusable by enabling at least some of the rocket components to land back on earth after the launching. For this challenge, Honda will strive to utilize control and guidance technologies Honda has amassed through the development of automated driving technologies.





In addition to a complete commitment to its environmental and safety challenges, Honda will continue pursuing outside-the-box research to leverage its core technologies and take on challenges in new areas to bring about new value that overcomes the constraints of time and space of people.
Students at Harrison Elementary School hug and congratulate Brittany Montgomery Thursday morning following an announcement she was named Wyoming Teacher of the Year.

When Brittney Montgomery showed up to Harrison Elementary School last Thursday, she was expecting another normal day of teaching first grade. She didn't know that after the morning Pledge of Allegiance, Alicia Keys' "Girl on Fire" would start playing over the school's speakers or that that she would be greeted with flowers, balloons and hallways lined with students holding up handmade signs and congratulating her for being named Wyoming Teacher of the Year.

"I had no idea," Montgomery said, blown away by the surprise celebration the school put together for her. She hugged students and wiped away tears as she made her way through the cheering crowds.

As surprised as she was to be celebrated by her colleagues and students, Montgomery was even more surprised when she was named Wyoming's 2022 Teacher of the Year during the Wyoming Education Summit in Cheyenne Sept. 22. The main emotion Montgomery has felt is shock.

"This whole process has been very exciting and overwhelming at the same time," she said. "I'm very grateful, but still just very shocked."

The process that led to this honor began last spring, when teachers throughout Sweetwater County School District No. 2 were nominated as the district's teacher of the year. She was selected in June and went through a lengthy process that included writing a resume and multiple essays for a statewide committee to review. Despite the amount of work, Montgomery said she appreciated the chance to reflect on her career.

The week school started in August, Montgomery received a phone call informing her she was one of three finalists from across the state. This phase of the process included giving a keynote speech and doing an interview. Then the WDE Summit took place and Montgomery was named Wyoming Teacher of the Year.

"So just shock after shock after shock," Montgomery said.

The journey isn't over, either.

According to the WDE, the Wyoming Teacher of the Year acts as liaison among the teaching community, Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming Department of Education, districts and communities, as well as being an education ambassador to businesses, parents, service organizations and media and an education leader involved in teacher forums and education reform.

"I am so excited to work with Brittney as Wyoming's Teacher of the Year," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow said in a press release. "Her skill and passion in the classroom and as a teacher leader will represent Wyoming well. Brittany's belief in teaching the entire child is evident - she has a positive impact on the students she teaches. As Teacher of the Year, her influence and impact will extend to colleagues and others across the state and nation."

Montgomery couldn't believe she'd been chosen. She said she doesn't consider herself anything special, she just does what she has a passion for, so being the Teacher of the Year is overwhelming and exciting.

"I just hope that I can do justice to it because it's a huge honor," she said. "One thing I've taken from it is that it doesn't mean that I'm the best teacher, it just means they saw potential for me to be an ambassador for educators, where I can raise and amplify our voices and just share some of the amazing things that are happening."

Going forward, Montgomery also has the opportunity to be in the running for National Teacher of the Year. If she is chosen, she will be the first teacher from Wyoming to receive the honor.

Within Wyoming, it's been a while since the Teacher of the Year came from Sweetwater County. The last local teacher to receive the honor was Joan Marie Barker from Green River High School in 1992.

"We're a really good district, but I think sometimes we're just kind of overlooked, so I'm excited for this opportunity," Montgomery said. "It'll bring some very well-deserved recognition to our area."

Harrison Elementary Principal Steven Lake also recognizes the honor this brings to the district, and is excited for Montgomery to be recognized for her hard work.

"It's super exciting for her and for our district and our school," Lake said. "She's a great representative of what a dedicated teacher looks like. She's all about kids, and she's all about doing what's best for kids. It's exciting. It's exciting for teachers to be recognized for the hard, hard job that they have."

Recognition is especially appreciated after Montgomery and other educators have adapted to more than a year of teaching during a pandemic.

"[COVID-19] definitely forced all educators to take a little shift and a pivot," Montgomery said. "Last year for Sweetwater County No. 2, I was the first grade instructor virtually for the entire district," she explained. She also had to adjust to teaching both in-person and virtually. While this was a challenge and came with its own difficulties, Montgomery said she enjoys finding ways to adapt and put a positive spin on things. She was excited for the chance to grow personally, and to help the kids stay connected and keep learning.

When it came to balancing teaching both in-person and virtually, Montgomery "was able to manage both really, really well where none of those kids at home felt like they weren't part of that class," Principal Lake said. "And that's just a credit to her and her ability to reach kids."

Lake believes Montgomery's ability to connect with kids is her biggest strength and that her love for learning is contagious.

"We're lucky to have her," Lake said.

Connecting with kids is also one of Montgomery's favorite parts of being a teacher. She loves the hugs and the support she receives from her students.

"They make you feel so good," Montgomery said. "No matter what's going on, you can walk into a classroom and it all just kind of melts away with their smiles and their excitement to learn. That's what I'm here for."

She also said one of her favorite things is "seeing when kids realize their potential and watching them grow from where they've come and seeing where they go." Montgomery explained that the first group of kindergarteners she taught are seniors in high school this year, and she's enjoyed watching them "blossom over the years."

"It's fascinating to me when they do finally realize how special they are, how important they are, and watching them take care of one another," Montgomery said of the kids she's taught. "The reason I'm a teacher is to have that impact. We all want to leave the world a better place, and what better way than teaching kids how to do that for themselves and for each other?"
Green River Police Department reports for Sept. 21

At 10:40 a.m., Animal Control Officers responded to a report of a dog bite on Mississippi Street. Officers met with an individual who reported their two dogs were fighting and they were bitten in the process of breaking up the fight. Neither dog had a current rabies vaccine and were impounded. Officers transported the dogs to the Green River Animal Shelter and they will be held on a 10-day rabies quarantine. Officers completed a report of the incident.

At 10:44 a.m., officers responded to a report of found property at Harrison Elementary School. Officers collected a taser, booked it in as found property, and completed a report of the incident.

At 2:18 p.m., officers responded to a report of an individual with an active warrant. Officers made contact with the individual, confirmed the warrant, and placed the individual, a juvenile, of Green River, under arrest per the active warrant. Officers transported the individual to the Sweetwater County Detention Center and completed a report of the incident. The GRPD did not release the address officers responded to.

At 3:18 p.m., officers conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of Hitching Post Drive and Wind River Drive and issued the driver, a juvenile, 17, of Green River, a citation for alleged speeding.

At 7:05 p.m., officers responded to a report of a found juvenile. Upon arrival, the parent/guardian of the juvenile arrived on scene as well. Officers met with the individuals and advised. The GRPD did not release the address officers responded to.

At 8:09 p.m., officers responded to a REDDI (report every drunk driver immediately) report of a vehicle that crashed into a pole on Uinta Drive. Officers met with the driver of the vehicle and detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from their person. Subsequently officers placed Rebecca Johnson, 41, of Green River, under arrest for alleged driving while under the influence and unlawful possession - plant form less than 3 ounces.

Officers transported Johnson to the Sweetwater County Detention Center and completed a report of the incident.

Sept. 22

At 3:25 p.m., officers conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of Hitching Post Drive and Anvil Drive and issued the driver Roy Lucero, 62, of Green River, a citation for alleged speeding in a school zone.

At 9:41 p.m., officers responded to a report of domestic violence. Officers met with individuals involved in a verbal dispute and completed a report of the incident. The GRPD did not release the address officers responded to.

Sept. 23

At 8:54 a.m., officers responded to a report of an empty rifle case found at the gun range on Scotts Bottom Road. Officers were able to locate an owner of the gun case, turned it over to the owner, and completed a report of the incident.

At 1:16 p.m., officers responded to a report of a burglary. Officers met with an individual who reported they observed a known individual on their property attempting to pull the door open. Officers contacted the suspected individual and completed a report of the incident. The GRPD did not release the address officers responded to.

At 3:28 p.m., officers responded to a report of fraud at Bomgaars. Officers met with the store manager who reported that an individual was spotted under the loading dock and left a bunch of opened mail. Officers collected the mail, which appeared to belong to several different individuals. The US Postal service was contacted and officers completed a report of the incident, which is still under investigation.

At 4:40 p.m., officers responded to a report of a two-vehicle collision at the intersection of Upland Way and Colorado Drive. It was reported one vehicle was traveling southeast on Upland Way and stopped at the intersection. A second vehicle was traveling northeast on Colorado Drive when the first vehicle pulled out into the intersection and the front bumper of the first vehicle struck the rear drivers side of the second vehicle. Officers completed a report of the incident.

Sept. 24

At 8:45 a.m., officers responded to a report of an abandoned vehicle at the intersection of East 3rd South Street and South 2nd East Street. Officers attempted to contact the owner, tagged the vehicle, and completed a report of the incident.

At 9:28 a.m., officers responded to an emergency school safety drill at Washington Elementary School. The drill was completed successfully.

At 10:24 a.m., officers responded to a report of threats/harassment. Officers met with an individual who reported receiving harassing text messages and phone calls from a known individual. Officers advised and completed a report of the incident. The GRPD did not release the address officers responded to.

At 12:20 p.m., officers responded to a report of a missing person. Officers met with an individual who reported a family member missing. Officers were later notified the individual had made contact and was ok. Officers completed a report of the incident. The GRPD did not release the address officers responded to.

At 2:28 p.m., officers responded to a report of a suspicious circumstance on Mansface Street. Officers met with an individual who reported they had seen two individuals outside the building in the late hours of the previous night and when they tried to make contact with the individuals they fled the area. Officers completed a report of the incident.

At 3:07 p.m., officers responded to a report of a two-vehicle collision at the Loaf N Jug on East Flaming Gorge Way. It was reported a vehicle pulled into the north west gas pump. A fuel truck was parked directly to the west of the vehicle. As the fuel truck pulled forward the rear passenger side tires of the truck rubbed against the driver side bumper of the other vehicle. The fuel truck then left the area. The owner of the truck was contacted and the driver returned to the scene. Officers completed a report of the incident. No citations were issued.

Sept. 25

At 12:02 a.m., officers while on patrol observed a vehicle parked in a parking space on the east side of the parking lot of Hilltop Baptist Church. Officers made contact with the driver and detected the strong odor of suspected marijuana emitting from the vehicle. Officers subsequently located paraphernalia and suspected marijuana. Officers issued two juvenile occupants, 17, of Green River, each a citation for alleged unlawful possession - plant form less than 3 ounces. Officers notified their parents or guardians and completed a report of the incident.

At 2:56 a.m., officers responded to a report of a subject removal on Upland Way. Officers met with individuals involved in a dispute. Both parties agreed to be civil. Officers advised and completed a report of the incident.

At 4:46 a.m., officers responded to a report of malicious mischief. Officers met with an individual who reported an open door of the property and a latch that was broken. Officers completed a report of the incident. The GRPD did not release the address officers responded to.

At 6:53 a.m., officers responded to a report of a five-vehicle crash. It was reported a vehicle was traveling east on East Flaming Gorge Way when the vehicle left the lane of travel and struck the drivers side of a second vehicle that was parked on the south side of the roadway. The first vehicle continued to travel east and struck the drivers side of a third vehicle which was parked on the south side of the roadway. The first vehicle then left the roadway, striking the rear passenger side of a fourth vehicle which was parked on the south side of the roadway, causing the fourth vehicle to move forward striking the rear of a fifth vehicle which was parked on the south side of the roadway. The first vehicle then continued on its movement to the right and made contact with the chain link fence on the property of a residence. Officers made contact with the driver and requested emergency medical services to the scene. Officers detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from the drivers breath and subsequently issued the driver of the first vehicle, Candon Jones, 33, of Green River, a citation for alleged driving while under the influence of alcohol. Candon was transported and later booked into the Sweetwater County Detention Center for alleged driving while under the influence of combination alcohol and drugs. Officers completed a report of the incident.

At 5:24 p.m., officers responded to a report of a larceny at Wyoming Downs. Officers met with an individual who reported their cell phone was missing or stolen. Officers met with the suspected individual but did not locate the cell phone. Officers were later notified the cell phone had been found inside the establishment. Officers completed a report of the incident.

At 8:41 p.m., officers responded to a report of a suspicious person walking in the roadway on East Teton Boulevard. Officers made contact with the individual, advised, and completed a report of the incident.

At 11:01 p.m., officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle for speeding at Monroe Avenue and West Teton Boulevard and issued the driver, a juvenile, 15, of Green River, a citation for alleged no valid drivers license and/or violation of conditions.

At 11:50 p.m., officers responded to a report of a disturbance on Hitching Post Drive. Officers arrived in the area and met with individuals involved in the disturbance. Officers subsequently placed James Muniz, 43, of Green River, under arrest for alleged aggravated assault and battery - threatens to use a drawn deadly weapon. Officers transported Muniz to the Sweetwater County Detention Center and completed a report of the incident.

Sept. 26

At 3 a.m., officers responded to a report of a disturbance on East 3rd Street. Officers met with the individuals involved in the verbal dispute. Officers completed a report of the incident.

At 9:34 a.m., officers responded to a report of domestic violence. Officers met with an individual who reported a verbal dispute. The parties had already separated and officers completed a report of the incident. The GRPD did not release the address officers responded to.

At 11:33 a.m., officers responded to a report of a single-vehicle collision at Maverick. It was reported a semi truck had hit an electrical box. Officers met with the driver of the truck who advised they did not turn wide enough to negotiate the turn, and had to leave the scene to turn the truck around. Officers issued the driver Evan Austie, 24, of Nevada, a citation for alleged improper lane use. Officers completed a report of the incident.

At 2:30 p.m., officers responded to a report of a disturbance on Andrews Street. Officers met with the individuals involved in a verbal dispute. The parties separated and officers completed a report of the incident.

At 7:44 p.m., officers responded to a report of a disturbance on Hillcrest Way. Officers met with the individuals involved in a verbal dispute. The parties separated and officers completed a report of the incident.

At 8:17 p.m., officers responded to a report of an individual causing a disturbance on Upland Way. Officers met with the individual and completed a report of the incident.

Sept. 27

At 8:20 a.m., officers conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of Uinta Drive and Miller Street and issued the driver Rebekah Morrison, 32, of Green River, a citation for alleged speeding in a school zone.

At 8:48 a.m., officers responded to a report of a truck towing a trailer that lost cargo through an open door of the trailer at mile marker 14 on Highway 530. Officers issued the driver, Charles Bergmeier, 63, of Mckinnon, a citation for alleged load on vehicle violations.

At 1:04 p.m., officers responded to a report of a disturbance on Moran Drive. Officers met with the individuals involved in a verbal dispute and completed a report of the incident.
Dear Editor,

The health of the children and adults in Wyoming should be the current number one priority of the State of Wyoming. Our hospital ICU beds and emergency rooms are full or nearing capacity. These emergency rooms and ICU beds are occupied by a majority of unvaccinated individuals. Consequently, all people who depend on hospital services risk receiving less than optimum care, having to wait for care, or being turned away. Hospital staff are being required to prioritize admittance in Idaho.

Will Wyoming hospitals need to adopt these same protocols? Those who spread COVID by failing to wear a mask in public or getting vaccinated to slow the spread of COVID are unconscionable.

It is highly unlikely that any law will be passed and upheld requiring wearing masks or getting vaccinations. Nevertheless, these recommendations are vital for public health. Please do everything possible to support wearing masks and getting vaccinated. The outcome of COVID continuing to spread presents a bleak outcome for many individuals; lingering health issues and death may result from COVID. If any of these individuals are your family member, child, or close friend, you may regret your failure to strongly support or even mandate simple health suggestions: vaccinate, mask up, and social distance.

Russell Smith

Green River
My father was a coal miner.

After learning about Bridger Coal Companys plans to close its underground mine, I found myself thinking about him and his work. He was a miner throughout much of his life, spending a lot of his years working underground. He was one of the first people to work at Bridgers underground mine and was one of the last to leave the Stansbury Mine when it was operated by Arch Minerals.

He took me into the Stansbury Mine when I was 11 as part of an open house at the mine. We lied about my age to get me on a tour of the coal mine and I distinctly remember the sense of awe and excitement I felt walking through the portal and into the mine itself. My father didnt want his son to work in one of those pits and his exact words to me are absolutely unprintable. But, I wonder what it was he enjoyed about work underground.

I dont remember if life for our family was rough following the Stansbury Mines closure, but I think they were because my father sold his prized Harley to make ends meet while he was unemployed. He ended up getting a job at the Bridger Coal Company afterward, running heavy equipment at the surface mine. A few years later, when plans for the underground mine were solidifying, he was asked to be one of the first to work the new mine, which was established in 2004. He jumped at the opportunity, but eventually ended up bidding back to the surface.

He clearly loved working underground and Ive always wondered why. Ill never have the opportunity to ask him, but it was always clear whenever I heard him talk to friends and former coworkers about working underground. I have to admit, I still feel the excitement I did when I walked around the Stansbury Mine whenever I have a chance to tour one of the trona mines. Those opportunities are few and far between and have occurred only a small handful of instances in my 11 years working here.

Perhaps it was the camaraderie as well. Underground mining is an inherently dangerous occupation, regardless of the many safety systems and equipment in place to keep miners safe. Like law enforcement or firefighters, theres a unique sense of family amongst miners that develops due to the nature of the job.

The work and the dangers associated with it are unique and only known to those that have been there themselves.

Coal remains an important resource in Sweetwater County, but anyone can see its days are coming to an end.

Underground coal mines built Rock Springs and the county, with places like Reliance and Superior remaining testament to the importance it had in fueling the Union Pacifics locomotives and later powering the west coast.

Remnants of that history can be seen everywhere with the right kind of eyes. While underground mining still exists through the trona industry, coal mining itself is looking to soon be a thing of the past.

As local leaders hope the county is selected as a pilot location for Rocky Mountain Powers proposed Natrium nuclear plant and with Bridgers underground mine closing, it really is the end of an era for Sweetwater County and Wyoming.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Blasting a $3.5 trillion social spending bill that Democrats hope to salvage, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy asserted the legislation would break President Joe Bidens campaign promise not to tax Americans who earn less than $400,000 a year. Thats technically accurate yet also misleading.

McCarthy also falsely suggested Thursday that a Biden administration proposal to help pay for the legislation by boosting IRS tax enforcement would amount to spying targeted at everyday Americans.

A look at the claims and reality:

MCCARTHY: Joe Biden said: No one making under $400,000 will see their federal taxes go up. Thats a lie: In fact, under his plan, an average family who earns over $50,000 will see a tax increase.  news conference Thursday.

BIDEN: "I give you my word as a Biden: If you make under $400,000 a year, Ill never raise your taxes one cent. But, Im going to make those at the top start to pay their share in taxes."  tweet Sunday.

RONNA MCDANIEL, head of the Republican National Committee, replying to Biden's tweet: Not true  according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, Bidens plan will hike taxes on families making $50K or more a year.  tweet Monday.

THE FACTS: Bidens pledge defies simple analysis. Republicans can legitimately ding the president for violating his campaign pledge to not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000. But Republican leaders also rely on an economic model in which any tax that clearly targets companies and wealthy stockholders can be interpreted as a middle-class tax hike.

So lets skip the politics and focus on what is really going on here.

Congress Joint Committee on Taxation and other analysts use the idea of tax incidence when estimating how much people pay. This is an economic model about who bears the expense of tax changes. When companies face higher taxes, much of the cost is borne by shareholders. But some of the cost comes at the expense of workers in the form of lower salaries, and thats a major reason why the Democrats policies can be portrayed as a middle-class tax hike.

Nearly 17% of taxpayers will pay more in 2023, including people earning less than Bidens target, according to the Joint Committee's analysis. This is a function of how economic models work, which seldom conform perfectly to the messaging of political candidates. Bidens tax policies are clearly designed to get most of their revenue from companies and the wealthy.

But is McCarthy right that an average family earning $50,000 will see a tax increase? Not quite.

The Tax Policy Center has released an extensive analysis by income quintile. It found that the middle 40% to 60% of earners will get on average a cut of $630. This is true even though 70% of the tax units in this group would get a slight tax increase averaging about $230. How is that possible?

Well, the increases largely reflect how corporate tax hikes could reduce wages. But Bidens plan also includes an expanded child tax credit that would help households with dependents under the age of 18. The tax credit ranges from $3,000 to $3,600 per child. This credit only goes to people with children. The credits are so large that the entire package nets out as a tax cut for people who think of themselves as middle class.

The Tax Policy Center analysis also makes clear that the increases are targeted at the wealthy. The top 0.1% of earners would owe an additional $1.1 million next year, enough to raise a total of $132.2 billion.

___

MCCARTHY: Now Democrats want to spy on anything you earn or buy that is more than $600. By hiring 85,000 new IRS agents to dig through every aspect of your life the Democrats want to enlist a bureaucratic army to achieve their goal of a big-government socialist nation.

THE FACTS: That's an exaggeration. There is no spying nor monitoring of individual transactions as McCarthy describes it.

As part of its efforts to crack down on tax evasion by the wealthy, the Biden administration has proposed to have banks report total money flows into and out of bank accounts each year that are greater than $600, or for accounts with at least $600 in them. But the banks would not report individual transactions. The Treasury Department estimates that $600 billion a year is lost to tax evasion, equal to all the income taxes paid by the bottom 90% of taxpayers.

The Treasury Department has explained that while most Americans have their pay reported to the IRS on W-2 forms, many high-income Americans receive income from legal or financial partnerships that is often not directly reported to the IRS. This allows many wealthy Americans to avoid paying the taxes they would otherwise owe.

By receiving data on total annual flows into and out of a bank account, the Biden administration argues, the IRS would have a better sense of who might be receiving large incomes that they arent reporting.

The idea has been one of many tax proposals that Democrats have been considering to help pay for the social spending bill to invest in climate programs, child care and education.

The American Bankers Association has objected to the plan, saying it would create unmanageable reporting burdens on the industry. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal has suggested in recent days that Democrats might ultimately raise the reporting threshold from $600 to $10,000.

___

Associated Press writer Hope Yen contributed to this report.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE  A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.

___

Find AP Fact Checks at http://apnews.com/APFactCheck

Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck
ATLANTA (AP)  Gov. Brian Kemp warned unvaccinated Georgians on Thursday not to assume that COVID-19 is over, saying the state could risk a fifth surge of the pandemic this winter even though cases are steeply declining from the fourth surge that peaked a month ago.

Today I want to emphasize the importance of not waiting until the next wave of COVID cases to get vaccinated, Kemp said. Given that our increase in cases and hospitalizations in 2021 was similar in timing to surges seen in 2020, we can only assume that a winter increase is also possible.

The Republican again voiced opposition to federal plans to to require employers with 100 or more workers to mandate vaccination. Kemp said he's exploring possible legal action with state Attorney General Chris Carr. It's too soon to sue, though, because the federal government hasn't issued a final rule.

This is unnecessary federal government overreach that I, personally, don't think anybody who is a businessperson wants," Kemp said.

The governor, though, said he respects the right of private employers to mandate shots if they wish and opposes state legislation that would block private employers from imposing such a requirement.

Kemp spokesperson Cody Hall clarified that the governor believes an earlier executive order blocks state agencies and public schools from mandating vaccinations, but that city and county governments are not prohibited. The Decatur school system has moved to require all employees to be vaccinated or submit to daily testing. The cities of Decatur and Brookhaven have mandated that employees must get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.

Georgia's fourth COVID wave, which peaked in late summer, is easing. The seven-day average of new positive tests have fallen below 3,800 a day, down 60% since peaking a month ago. The total number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals statewide has fallen by almost half. The crush on intensive care units is easing more slowly, with 90% of ICU beds still occupied. Deaths continue to be recorded at a rate of more than 100 a day, with the state rising above 26,000 deaths as of Thursday.

Georgia's vaccination rate has improved somewhat, with state data showing 47% of all residents are now fully vaccinated and 54% have received at least one dose. Georgia has moved up comparatively with other states, but is still in the bottom quarter of states in vaccinations per capita.

There are only 11 counties where more than 50% of residents are vaccinated, although that includes the state's four most populous counties  Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb and DeKalb. There are three dozen counties where fewer than a third have been inoculated.

Kemp and Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey said that Georgia wasn't seeing a shortage of monoclonal antibodies, a therapy for those sickened by COVID, even though the federal government is rationing the treatments and giving out fewer doses than were previously available.

Toomey said Georgia would follow federal guidelines on who can receive booster shots, although she emphasized they are only available currently to people who earlier received the Pfizer vaccine. She said among groups that will be eligible are those over 65, people living in long-term care facilities, people younger than 65 with underlying medical conditions and frontline workers who may be exposed to COVID-19. Toomey acknowledged those groups are so large that they may encompass most adults.

You don't need to run, but walk, to get your booster," Toomey said, encouraging people to also get a flu vaccine at the same time.
BRUSSELS (AP)  The European Unions chief prosecutor accused member nation Slovenia on Friday of interfering in the EUs justice system and raised concerns about whether the trade blocs budget is fully protected from fraud or corruption.

The European Public Prosecutors Office began work in June. Its aim is to independently investigate crimes against the EU budget, such as corruption and serious cross-border value added tax fraud. Slovenia is alone among those countries taking part that refuse to name two prosecutors to the agency.

The fact that a member state is interfering with the proper functioning of an EU judicial institution sets a very dangerous precedent, Chief Prosecutor Laura Kovesi told EU lawmakers. She said that Slovenias failure to nominate prosecutors to the agency she leads has left a prosecution gap in the EPPO zone.

The process of selecting the delegates was carried out by a council of Slovenian prosecutors. But Prime Minister Janez Jansa said in July that the procedure was not carried out correctly. He said that only two candidates were proposed for the posts, even though several candidates came forward.

Jansa accused his countrys own justice system of moving too slowly on fraud and corruption.

The delay is acutely embarrassing for the EU given that the tiny Alpine nation holds the 27-country blocs rotating presidency until the end of the year. The EPPO is made up of 22 EU members. Hungary, Poland and Sweden decided not to join, and Denmark and Ireland have an opt-out in EU justice matters.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the start of Slovenias current term at the EUs helm that the public prosecutors office is a crucial component to protect EU taxpayers money.

It is very good that Slovenia has signed up to it, and now Slovenia must deliver and cooperate with the EPPO, she said. I count on the prime minister to submit names of candidates to the EPPO with utmost urgency.

Kosevi said her office has to work as if it did not exist in Slovenia. In this situation, how can Slovenia ensure proper and complete supervision of bodies responsible for the management and control of Union funds? How can Slovenia guarantee effective judicial follow-up of all the detected fraudulent irregularities? Is the EU budget properly protected?

A spokesman for the commission, which proposes EU laws and supervises the way they are enacted, said that Brussels has had several exchanges of letters and discussions with the Slovenian authorities. This is not a sustainable situation, said the spokesman, Christian Wigand.

Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders has threatened to take Slovenia before Europes top court if it does not respect its obligations. But the commission is unlikely to move before a Slovenian administrative court rules on complaints by the two prosecutors whose candidacies were refused.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - To Kelly Smith, the case against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is strong. More than 50,000 Floridians killed by covid-19. A confrontational opposition to mask mandates and vaccines that has rubbed even some Republicans the wrong way.

But the Pasco County Democratic Party head is skeptical that Florida Democrats can capitalize on it to topple DeSantis, R, next November.

"My concern is [DeSantis] is going to win again, simply because people know his name and we haven't been able to connect how his policies and executive orders impact them," Smith said. "And we are a little behind in getting out and meeting the voters."

Smith's angst, echoed by local Democratic officials throughout Florida, highlights the grim struggle facing the party, which is trying to rebound from its 2020 losses while developing an effective message against DeSantis ahead of his possible presidential campaign.

Yet as they seek to defeat DeSantis's brash style of conservatism, Florida Democrats have been battered by internal divisions over strategy and messaging, lackluster fundraising and a flailing voter registration effort, even as the state's population gets more diverse.

For the first time in history, there are nearly as many Republicans registered in Florida as there are Democrats. The state continues to drift to the right even as new census data shows White residents have slipped to 51% of the state's population.

"We have failed to counter Republican propaganda, which has been especially aimed at Independent and no-party affiliated voters," said Steve Simeonidis, a former chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party. "Republicans have been able to convince them to vote against their own values, and part of the reason is they are out knocking on doors six, seven, eight months before an election."

Democrats are also contending with fundraising challenges, struggling to convince wealthy donors that the state will remain pivotal in future presidential elections.

Against that backdrop, Florida Democrats are preparing for a divisive primary battle next year. There are already two leading White contenders in the governor's race - former Florida governor Charlie Crist, who is now a U.S. representative, and state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is vying to become the state's first female governor.

Annette Taddeo, a Colombian American state senator from Miami, said she is also likely to get into the race, bringing the issue of diversity to the forefront of the state's Aug. 23 Democratic primary.

- - -

Although Florida hasn't elected a Democratic governor since 1994, statewide elections have been close here for decades.

Former president Barack Obama carried Florida in both of his campaigns. In 2018, Andrew Gillum, running to become the state's first Black governor, came within 33,000 votes of defeating DeSantis. The same year, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., prevailed over Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson by just 10,000 votes.

But Democrats' troubles were apparent in November when President Donald Trump carried Florida by 370,000 votes - more than three times his 2016 winning margin - after he rallied rural and exurban White voters while also doing better than expected among Cuban Americans and some other minority groups in South and Central Florida.

Since then, Democrats' woes have accelerated.

According to voter registration data released in late August, registered Republicans are poised to eclipse registered Democrats for the first time in history. There are now 23,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans, down from Democrats' 183,000 voter advantage just a year ago.

A decade ago, Democrats had a half-million more registered voters than the GOP.

Christian Ziegler, the vice chairman of the Florida Republican Party and a Sarasota County commissioner, said DeSantis is fueling the GOP's success, attracting voters with his coronavirus policies, which prioritized opening up the state.

"In Florida, Republicans, Democrats and Independents take covid seriously, and probably know someone who died from covid, but they question whether we can remain in lockdown mode forever," said Ziegler, adding that the GOP is especially pleased by the numbers of middle-aged women and Latinos who are registering as Republicans.

Experts and party insiders cite other reasons for Republicans' success.

Even though Democratic donors have poured tens of millions of dollars into the state over the past decade, local Democratic officials say that money hasn't trickled down to the county parties that do much of the work finding new voters.

As a result, chairs of local Democratic parties say they're increasingly struggling to compete for new voters. The challenge has only grown as national Democratic donors invest less in Florida.

"Our candidates are all talking about how difficult it is to raise money this year," said Ione Townsend, chairwoman of the Democratic Party in Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa. "Our donors need to understand we are good stewards of their money, and that we can deliver on the money."

Former Miami mayor Manny Diaz, who was elected chairman of the Florida Democratic Party in January, said he "inherited a financial mess," including the party ending the 2020 election with $800,000 in debt in its federal election account. The shortfall followed a string of controversial financial decisions, including accepting a federal loan last year that was intended for small businesses, which the party later had to pay back.

"The first three months were hell for me, to figure out what was what, and who do I owe money to," Diaz said. "The more questions I asked, the more things surfaced."

In recent months, Diaz said the state party's finances have stabilized, in part because former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg donated a half-million dollars in February.

But Diaz said he still has to do a lot more work to turn the party into an effective, year-round operation by boosting its paid staff while enhancing coordination between state and local Democratic leaders.

"What I am telling major donors is, if you have a successful business, don't you invest in that business regularly, or do you disappear regularly and come back?" Diaz said. "You wouldn't start a distribution company that doesn't have distribution routes, and logistics.

- - -

In Hillsborough County, Townsend said Democrats' advantage over the GOP in registered voters has shifted from about 75,000 in November - when President Joe Biden carried the county by about 50,000 votes - to 68,000 today. Elections officials have been removing people from voter rolls if they have not voted in recent elections, a process that has disproportionately affected Democrats, Townsend added.

But Townsend still thinks DeSantis can be defeated by wooing Independents - who make up a quarter of registered voters in Florida and who she believes have been especially turned off by DeSantis's approach to the virus.

She noted Hillsborough county had a 6% increase in voter turnout last year, and Democrats expanded into a 5-to-2 majority on the county commission.

In August, the Hillsborough County School Board became one of the first in the state to defy DeSantis by imposing a mask mandate for students.

DeSantis fired back by threatening to withhold the salaries of school board members. He generated more controversy recently when he announced that parents can decided whether school-aged children should quarantine if they are exposed to the virus.

"Governor DeSantis is the gift that keeps on giving" for Democrats, Townsend said. "He has not only failed us on covid, but he has failed us in so many other ways."

Although most of the court battles over DeSantis's covid policies continue, DeSantis has suffered a string of high-profile losses, including a federal judge's ruling earlier this month that a bill he championed to crack down on unruly protesters was unconstitutional.

DeSantis, who started the year as one of the nation's most popular governors, has seen an erosion in his poll numbers as Florida hospitals became overwhelmed with coronavirus patients this summer. Several polls over the past six weeks show just less than half of Florida voters approve of the governor's job performance.

DeSantis has been crisscrossing the state trying to shore up his appeal, at times flying into four separate Florida media markets in a single day.

Although most of DeSantis's recent public outings have been designed to defend his covid policies, the governor has also been attempting to broaden his political message. A few weeks ago, DeSantis announced he would push to end standardized testing in schools, drawing praise from the traditionally Democratic-leaning teachers' unions.

"People are coming to us and telling us they really like Gov. DeSantis's matter-of-fact, common-sense leadership style," said Helen Aguirre Ferre, executive director of the Florida Republican Party.

Aguirre Ferre noted 1,000 people a day moved to Florida during the height of the pandemic, and the GOP has been using marketing data and other tools to reach out to the newcomers.

"We know why they are coming to Florida, and that opens up opportunities for us," said Kevin Cate, a Florida Democratic strategist who is now advising Fried. He noted DeSantis has raised $40 million for his campaign so far this year, and Cate expects the governor will have as much as $150 million by next fall.

That money advantage will be tough for Democrats to overcome, but Cate is more optimistic about his party's chances than he was even a few weeks ago.

"Many of us are trying to figure out where the floor [for his approval rating] actually is. Is it 43 percent or is 47 percent?" asked Cate, noting that as little as 5% of Florida's electorate may be up for grabs by next fall. "But seeing his numbers drop in the mid-40s should perk up the ear and eyes of every Democrat."

- - -

As Florida Democrats ponder their path forward, they appear headed for an extended battle between Crist, Fried and, probably, Taddeo.

In an interview, Crist, 65, compared the choice facing voters in the Aug. 23 primary to the one that Democratic voters nationally made last year in deciding their nominee to take on Trump.

"Biden had tremendous experience in public service, versus a rookie president, who acted like a rookie every day, or worse," said Crist, who is also a former state attorney general. "In this race, we have a rookie governor who acts like a rookie every day."

Crist previously served as governor from 2007 to 2011 as a Republican, but he left the GOP a year later. He ran again for governor in 2014 as a Democrat, but was defeated by Scott.

Fried, the only Democrat to win statewide in 2018, argues that she can win the state's vote-rich suburbs by showcasing how she's already been "holding Governor DeSantis accountable."

As agriculture commissioner, Fried, 43, has sparred frequently with DeSantis, accusing the governor of withholding data on coronavirus cases and deaths.

"We have shown the people of our state an alternative way to lead," Fried said. "People are tired of this chaos, and just wanting someone who just cares about the well-being of their family members."

Taddeo, 54, said Democrats are not going to be successful unless they do more to reach non-White voters. Citing her Colombian heritage, Taddeo said she can "fight back" against GOP efforts to portray the party as "socialists and communists,"a charge many Democrats blame for their 2020 losses here.

"It's time for new leadership, and I offer something completely different," said Taddeo, who ran as Crist's running mate during his unsuccessful 2014 campaign. "I am a Latina from Miami-Dade, a small-business owner, and I am also a mother at a time when we, as parents with our kids in school like I have, are very concerned about the current governor, and the way he is behaving."

- - -

Susan A. MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida, said the biggest problem facing Democrats is appealing to young voters of color.

In July, MacManus published a study that found the Biden campaign struggled to turn out younger voters, a core segment of the party's coalition.

Writing in the Sayfie Review, MacManus noted that three youngest generations - Gen X, millennials and Gen Z - now make up 57% of registered votes in Florida.

Among Gen Z, broadly defined as Floridians born after 1996, just 46% of registered voters identify as White, compared with 71% of baby boomers. Although 37% Gen Z registered voters identify as Democrats, 26% are registered Republicans while a growing share - 34% - are choosing not to identify with either party.

And in 2020, younger Republicans in Florida turned out in greater numbers than younger Democrats, a reversal from 2018, when Gillum turned out a diverse coalition of voters.

MacManus said Trump did well with Florida voters in their 30s, which she thinks was a sign that many service workers and employees in the tourism industry feared Biden would enact additional covid restrictions. Two-thirds of millennial voters had supported Obama just eight years earlier, MacManus noted.

"Effective campaigns have to do better legwork up front on the state's demographic makeup and find a better, nuanced message," MacManus said. "They have to figure out all Latinos don't vote alike. All women don't vote alike. And all younger voters don't vote alike."

Democratic organizers echo a similar message.

In diverse South Florida, Kassandra Timothe, a Haitian American Democrat who serves on the North Miami Beach Council, said Democrats simply haven't invested enough money in crafting a message that can break through the clutter of conservative media and reach voters about the issues they care about.

"We need to have a message of, 'We hear you,' " Timothe, 31, adding that she hopes Democrats focus on issues such as how to grow wages and housing affordability. "We need to tell younger voters, 'Yes, you can live the American Dream.' "

Lilly Eubanks, the chairwoman of the Escambia County Democratic Party, said she hopes that Democrats start looking beyond covid and craft a message that focuses on "helping people" once the pandemic wanes.

"A lot of people have lost loved ones, and there is a mess in Florida with our health-care system, and with what our doctors and nurses have gone through, it's too big of a thing to ignore," Eubanks said. "But I don't think it's the only thing we can talk about."
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)  A hospital fire in the Romanian port city of Constanta killed at least seven COVID-19 patients Friday, prompting concerns over the state of the country's ageing health care infrastructure amid the pandemic. It was Romania's third deadly hospital fire in less than a year.

All the victims were in the intensive care unit of Constantas Hospital for Infectious Diseases, said Constantin Amarandei, head of the city's emergency inspectorate.

The health ministry said 113 patients were in the medical unit of the hospital and all the survivors have now been evacuated. The fire was extinguished by mid-morning.

The head of Romanias Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, said irregularities had been discovered in the hospitals electrical installations system and that the case prosecutor is investigating.

Prime Minister Florin Citu sent his condolences to the bereaved families and said it's unacceptable that such tragedies happen in Romanian hospitals.

It is important for the Ministry of Health to see what the short-term solutions are so that such tragedies do not happen again, he told a press conference. He said he has demanded the dismissal of the hospital manager.

Were trying to change something after 30 years in which almost nothing was done in Romanias health care system, Citu added.

President Klaus Iohannis said Romania has failed in its fundamental mission to protect its citizens.

I am horrified by the tragedy that took place this morning at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Constanta, he said. It is a terrible new drama that confirms the deficient infrastructure of the Romanian health system.

Iohannis said Romanias outdated health care system has been put under an unimaginable pressure by the pandemic.

Romanias hospitals are facing an onslaught of hospitalizations due to a rapid surge of COVID-19 infections, which is stretching the countrys hospitals to maximum capacity.

Romania on Thursday recorded its highest number of infections since the pandemic started  12,032 new cases.

The country of 19 million has the lowest spending on health care in the EU relative to GDP at 5.2%, compared with an EU average of 10%.

During the pandemic, fires in COVID-19 hospitals or wards have cost scores of lives in other countries  including another two in Romania.

Last November, 10 people died after a blaze tore through an intensive care unit for COVID-19 patients in the northern Romanian town of Piatra Neamt. Another blaze in January engulfed a ward at Bucharests Matei Bals hospital, killing five people.

On Sept. 8, a fire in a COVID-19 field hospital in North Macedonia killed 14.

In Iraq, a fire in a COVID-19 ward in a hospital in the city of Nasiriyah, believed to have been started either by a short-circuit or an oxygen cylinder explosion, killed 92 people. In April, at least 82 people died in a Baghdad hospital blaze  many of them COVID-19 patients  after an oxygen tank exploded.

After Romania's Matei Bals fire, President Iohannis had called for urgent and profound reform. He said tragedies like it must not happen again.

Vlad Mixich, a Romanian public health specialist, told The Associated Press that hospital fires in Romania are inevitable and said that the authorities need to urgently invest in new public hospitals.

In the last 32 years only three small and medium-sized public hospitals were built in Romania, he said. When the ICUs are overcrowded due to the surge of COVID patients, these kinds of accidents are inevitable.

Mixich said that Romanias ageing health care infrastructure is hardly compatible with modern medical technology.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea said Friday it test-fired a new anti-aircraft missile, its fourth weapons launch in recent weeks, which experts say is part of a strategy to receive relief from economic sanctions and win other concessions.

South Korea, Japan and the United States typically publicly confirm North Korean ballistic missile launches, which are banned by U.N. resolutions, soon after they occur. But they did not do so for Thursdays launch, indicating the weapon tested may have been a different kind. Seouls Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities monitored moves by North Korea but didnt elaborate.

Three weeks ago, North Korea resumed missile tests after a six-month lull. As it has sometimes done before, North Korea combined the show of force with a more conciliatory gesture, offering earlier this week to reactivate hotlines that North and South Korea use to set up meetings, arrange border crossings and avoid accidental clashes.

Diplomacy aimed at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear arsenal in return for economic and political rewards has largely been deadlocked since early 2019. That has left North Korea under crippling U.S.-led economic sanctions at a time when its fragile economy is suffering massive setbacks due to the coronavirus pandemic. North Korea's latest moves appear aimed at pressuring South Korea, which wants to improve strained ties on the peninsula, to persuade the U.S. to relax the sanctions.

On Friday, the North's Korean Central News Agency said the anti-aircraft missile test was of very practical significance in studying and developing various prospective anti-aircraft missile system.

Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the launch appears to be the primitive stage of a test to develop a missile designed to shoot down incoming enemy missiles and aircraft. He said the missile resembles the Russian-made S-400 air defense system, which he said has a maximum range of 400 kilometers (250 miles) and is reportedly capable of intercepting stealth jets.

The U.N. Security Council received a briefing on the recent launches and the humanitarian and COVID-19 situations in North Korea at an emergency closed-door meeting Friday but took no action.

While the United States, Britain, France and other council members raised the risks the tests posed, China said a U.S. and U.K. deal to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines poses a danger to the region, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.

France later circulated a proposed statement that the diplomats said expresses concern over the missile launches and calls on North Korea to fully implement U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban its ballistic missile firings. But Russia and China didnt consider a council statement timely, the diplomats said, so its approval remains uncertain.

Earlier this week, in his government's latest mixed signal, North Korea leader Kim Jong Un expressed his willingness to restore the communication hotlines with South Korea in the coming days, but he also shrugged off U.S. offers for dialogue as a cunning concealment of its hostility against North Korea. He also insisted that South Korea abandon its double-dealing attitude if it wants to see an improvement in Korean relations. His comments largely echoed demands from his powerful sister Kim Yo Jong, who has taken the lead in the Norths ongoing pressure campaign.

South Korea has said it would prepare for the restoration of the cross-border phone and fax lines, which have been largely dormant for more than a year. But as of Friday afternoon, North Korea remained unresponsive to South Korea's attempt to exchange messages through the channels, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North.

During an Armed Forces Day ceremony on Friday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in vowed to repel any attempt to threaten his peoples lives and strive to achieve lasting peace. He didnt mention North Koreas recent tests in a possible effort to keep alive the possibility of talks between the Koreas.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that U.S. officials were still assessing the most recent missile launch. She said Biden administration officials have made efforts to reach out to North Korea to spur talks but have not received a response.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Thursday that Washington certainly supports inter-Korean dialogue in principle. But he said the U.S. was concerned about North Koreas recent launches, which he noted were in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and created greater prospects for instability and insecurity.

Among the weapons North Korea tested in September were a hypersonic missile, a newly developed cruise missile and a ballistic missile launched from a train. South Koreas military assessed the hypersonic missile to be at an early stage of development, but experts say the other weapons displayed North Koreas ability to attack targets in South Korea and Japan, key U.S. allies that host American troops. Earlier this week, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said its commitment to the defense of South Korea and Japan remains ironclad.

North Korea has not tested a long-range missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland for about four years  what experts see as an indication it is carefully calibrating its provocations to keep alive its chances for diplomacy.

___

This article corrects that it is a U.S. and U.K. deal to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, not U.S. and U.N.

___

Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Andrew Medichini/AP

GENEVA (AP)  The Swiss government decided Friday to set up a dedicated embassy to the Vatican, for which Switzerland's ambassador to Slovenia is currently responsible.

Switzerland's governing Federal Council determined the current arrangement no longer allows all the work entailed by Switzerlands diplomatic relations with the Holy See to be accomplished efficiently, a government statement said. It pointed to a sharp rise in high-level official visits in recent years.
GREENWICH  Only three new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the Greenwich Public Schools as of Friday, according to the latest update on the school districts online tracker.

Since the start of classes on Sept. 1, there have been 61 cases of COVID-19 reported among students, teachers and staff, with 11 cases considered currently active, according to the tracker. Seven of those cases are due to outside activities or family contact, with four cases of undetermined origin, the district reported.

A total of eight students, one teacher and two service providers account for those nine active cases, according to the tracker.

The number of new cases is lower this week than last week, with five new cases reported on Tuesday, compared with 11 cases on Sept. 21 and 10 cases on Sept. 24, according to this weeks data.

Our COVID numbers are trending down and it can be attributed to all of the hard work our staff, students, and parents are doing for following all health and safety protocols that are in place that help keep us safe, schools spokesman Jonathan Supranowitz said.

A total of nine school buildings are currently impacted, according to the district, with two cases each at Central Middle, Hamilton Avenue and North Mianus; and one case each at Eastern Middle, Greenwich High, Julian Curtiss, New Lebanon, North Street and Old Greenwich.

The school total is higher by one than the district total, according to Supranowitz, because a service provider working in two different locations tested positive. and staff working at multiple schools are counted toward each locations total.

The slow rate of COVID-19 cases in the schools was reported as a policy kicked in Monday at Greenwich Public Schools that requires all district employees to either be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing for COVID-19, he said.

The school district updates its online tracker every Tuesday and Friday morning to alert the GPS community about updates on COVID-19. Positive cases are recorded and updated on the tracker, starting with the first day of classes for students on Sept. 1.

Nine families have reported more than one case for a total of 22 individuals in those families affected.

Under an executive order from Gov. Ned Lamont, masks are required for everyone, regardless of immunization status, in schools statewide until at least Feb. 15. The legislature this week granted an extension of the governors emergency powers covering COVID-19  and the mandates now in place.

Vaccination policy

On Monday, a new policy kicked in for Greenwich Public Schools that requires district employees to either be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing for COVID-19. Those who dont will be placed on unpaid leave for a maximum of five days. If they have not been vaccinated or agree to weekly tests after that period, the district said it will begin the process of terminating their employment.

The district, which has more than 2,000 employees, needs time to accurately record all of the information to ensure everything that was submitted was received and allow staff ample time to submit their information if unexpected issues occurred, according to Supranowitz, the districts spokesman.

We have a small handful of staff who have received reminders, but we are optimistic that most of our staff will be compliant by the end of the week, Supranowitz said.

As of Sept. 30, Connecticuts school submission summary of COVID-19 reported 686 cases of COVID-19 in public and private schools statewide during the week of Sept. 23 through 30.

That was a drop from the week before, when 855 cases in public and private schools were registered. The state updates its schools COVID-19 data on Thursdays.

A year ago, the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Greenwich Public Schools came in mid-September and, until late October, cases remained in the single digits districtwide. For the entirety of the 2020-21 school year, a total of 697 cases of COVID-19 were reported districtwide.

Decline in the town

In the town of Greenwich, the curve in new cases again dipped lower this past week. On Wednesday, First Selectman Fred Camillo said there had been 36 new cases of COVID-19 among residents over the past seven days, which is down significantly from the 69 new cases that had been reported the week before.

Of all the cases in town, 52 were considered active by the Department of Health, which is down 16 from the week before. And this comes as the number of residents who are partially vaccinated has gone up to 85.87 percent of the 52,482 eligible people in town while those who are fully vaccinated has also increased to 79.37 percent.

Also, the number of residents who have died after being diagnosed with COVID-19 increased by three to 93, Camillo said.

Thats all good news there except for unfortunately the number of deaths going up three, he said.

Staff Writer Ken Borsuk contributed to this story.
According to noted Chinese tipster Honor is about to release its first foldable phone before the end of Q4 this year and will allegedly be similar to Huawei's Mate X2 as the development strated before the separation of the two companies. The device is internally known as Magic X, but it's not certain if that will be its final marketing name.

Previously Honor's CEO George Zhao revealed his company is working on a foldable phone and believed it will be the best one in the industry. Seeing how great the Mate X2 is and how Honor isn't limited by the sanctions imposed on Huawei we wouldn't be surprised if that was indeed the case.

The blogger Digital Chat Station mentioned that there will be differences between the Magic X and the Mate X2, but failed to provide mode details about them. With Q4 already started it can't be long before we hear more about it, though.

Source 1 * Source 2




Haiti - FLASH : More than 1000 Haitians could be repatriated every day





"The number of expulsions of Haitian migrants from the USA, Mexico and the Bahamas could soon reach more than 1,000 per day" declared Giuseppe Loprete, Head of Mission of the International Organization for Migration, (IOM - Haiti ).



Mexico and the Bahamas will do as the US, said Jean Negaud Bonheur Delva, Director of the National Migration Office (ONM)



There are an estimated 14,000 illegal migrants in Texas, 28,000 in Mexico, 19,000 in Colombia, 16,000 of whom are stranded in the town of Necocli, in the north awaiting their turn for limited transport by boat to the jungle of the "Darien Gap", one of the most dangerous and impassable regions of Latin America https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34874-haiti-mexico-voluntary-return-to-haiti-of-70-haitians.html and more than 1,000 in the Bahamas without taking into account land repatriations from the Dominican Republic (https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-34000-icihaiti-dominican-republic-more-than-70-000-haitians-returned-to-the-country-in-one-month.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34635-haiti-dr-178-000-haitians-intercepted-at-the-border.html)



Colombia and Panama agreed last August that 500 migrants could cross per day, but local officials have repeatedly urged to increase the quota, saying it is far too low because the pace with the roughly 1,500 migrants arriving daily in the city.



Erika Mouynes, Panamanian Foreign Minister, estimates that up to 60,000 additional migrants are likely to continue their journey north



Panama's President Laurentino Cortizo told the United Nations General Assembly last week that more than 80,000 irregular migrants have traveled through Panama this year and called for international aid, saying his country is spending its limited budget on support for migrants.



Since the beginning of January 2021, 88,514 migrants have entered Panama through the Darien jungle, according to figures from the National Migration Service, and Panama has gone from 800 migrants in one month (January 2021) to 30,000 in a month (Aug. 2021)



Thursday, September 30, 2021 several United Nations agencies declared that vulnerable Haitian men, women and children who are displaced on the American continent should not be expelled from the countries where they have found refuge.



"The situation is very serious in Haiti at the moment. There are multiple crises. Areas controlled by gangs in the South, three departments affected by the earthquake political instability, less than 1% of the population vaccinated against Covid-19. This is the situation that the migrant finds upon arrival. It's a difficult situation," underlines Giuseppe Loprete, especially since most of these people left Haiti 5 years ago and more, and some have lost links with their families in Haiti or have no one in the country.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34863-haiti-migration-crisis-the-usa-repatriated-more-than-3-700-haitians-in-8-days.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34874-haiti-mexico-voluntary-return-to-haiti-of-70-haitians.html



Read also on the Haitian migration crisis in the USA :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34828-haiti-flash-no-more-migrants-under-the-del-rio-bridge.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34830-haiti-flash-biden-denounces-the-treatment-of-haitians-at-the-border-and-takes-responsibility-for-it.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34820-haiti-flash-us-special-envoy-to-haiti-daniel-foote-resigns.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34812-haiti-migration-crisis-congresswoman-maxine-waters-revolted-and-angry.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34811-haiti-flash-haitian-migrants-from-del-rio-escape-during-their-bus-transport.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34807-haiti-politic-dhs-does-not-tolerate-abuses-against-migrants.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34805-haiti-justice-two-un-agencies-concerned-about-the-american-deportation-of-migrants-to-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34804-haiti-flash-haitians-attack-american-pilots-and-injure-three-ice-agents.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34799-haiti-usa-democrat-nancy-pelosi-in-defense-of-haitians-stranded-at-the-mexican-border.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34797-haiti-migration-crisis-the-government-calls-for-solidarity-with-our-compatriots-in-difficulty.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34786-haiti-flash-joe-biden-orders-the-deportation-of-thousands-of-illegal-haitian-migrants.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34770-haiti-flash-thousands-of-haitian-migrants-detained-in-the-usa-in-a-makeshift-camp.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34734-haiti-politic-200-illegal-haitian-migrants-intercepted-in-mexico-returned-to-guatemala.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-34669-icihaiti-chiapas-a-caravan-of-haitians-marches-towards-the-usa.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34658-haiti-mexico-muscular-interception-of-migrants-dozens-of-haitians-arrested-video.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34626-haiti-politic-more-expulsions-of-haitians-under-joe-biden.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34268-haiti-mexico-more-than-2-000-illegal-haitian-migrants-arrive-in-tapachula.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33352-haiti-flash-joe-biden-expels-more-haitians-than-donald-trump.html



SL/ S/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Security : Police operations more and more deadly for the bandits





The Central Directorate of Administrative Police (DCPA) has observed for a few weeks a high level of professionalism in the execution of operations against the armed gangs of Croix-des-Bouquets and Tabarre, which have not until here caused collateral damage during the targeted operations carried out by the special units of the National Police of Haiti (PNH)



Indeed, 7 bandits were killed and several dozen wounded, were identified by various intelligence sources in the bandits camp. This is testament to the efficiency and accuracy of police fire at moving targets.



In addition, the DCPA deplores the fact that many young people engage in crime, deceived by "manipulators with a criminal vocation who call themselves Hougans and who make these young people believe that they are invulnerable and protected by 'Loas' (voodoo spirits) against police bullets, once integrated into gangs" ...



In addition and given the large number of victims in the ranks of bandits, the Central Directorate instructed the Departmental Director of West 2 to carry out counter-intelligence on this file and to contact, if necessary, all the local authorities (of the respective jurisdictions) with a view to clearing a humanitarian corridor, under strict control of the PNH, so that gunshot wounded have access to emergency care and be held accountable for their acts by-law.



Support to the town halls of Croix-des-Bouquets and Tabarre was requested in order to list the various mass graves where bodies would be buried, in order to avoid a health catastrophe linked to probable epidemics caused by mistreatment of corpses.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34801-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34790-haiti-flash-the-gangs-retreat-in-front-of-the-pnh.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34608-haiti-flash-the-pnh-at-the-the-offensive-hecatomb-among-bandits-40-arrests.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34417-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-34326-icihaiti-insecurity-2-bandits-killed-in-exchanges-of-fire-with-the-police.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Japan : Remote communities in the North-East will discover electricity





As part of the Rural Electrification and Women's Empowerment (ERAF) project, in the North-East of Haiti, the municipalities : Vallieres (https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-33567-icihaiti-valliere-jovenel-moise-inaugurates-the-valliere-micro-solar-power-plant.html already in operation), Capotille and Mont-Organise, formerly deprived of electricity, will each benefit from a mini-grid and a hybrid electric micro-plant funded by the Government of Japan to the tune of $5.5 million executed jointly by the Ministry of Public Works and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).



About 30 kilometers of distribution power lines have already been built and 3 power plants totaling 700 kW of solar photovoltaic energy, with a storage capacity of 1,700 kWh in total, will be coupled with diesel groups of 900 kW in total.



These micro-power plants are built by companies recruited through calls for tenders. This infrastructure will connect and supply around 2,000 households which, for the first time in their existence, will have access to electrical energy, including clean energy from a reliable distribution network.







The ERAF project is one of the largest rural electrification projects in Haiti. Aligned with one of the priorities of the Haitian Government. This project aims in particular to strengthen and extend existing electricity networks. This will make it possible to restore the Electricity of Haiti (ED'H) and to put in concession the public service of production, transport and distribution and the marketing in certain regional electricity grids and secondly the development of mini grids across the country.



In this context, the MTPTC, through its Energy Unit and the National Energy Sector Regulatory Authority (ANARSE), is implementing several projects for the construction of decentralized "off-grid" electrical microsystems in photovoltaic solar energy base to provide the electricity necessary for the needs of households, public and private institutions including hospitals, schools and small and medium-sized enterprises.



According to the Government's wishes, the electric micro-grids built under the ERAF project will be managed through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, with the involvement of the host municipal administration, in order to ensure their sustainability. A transparent operator recruitment process will be carried out through public tenders. The operator should use local resources while promoting the empowerment of women in the areas of maintenance, extension and marketing. A prepayment system via smart meters will be set up for customers.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Deacon Sylner Lafaille's wife released

The Head of the pastoral college of the 1st Baptist Church in Street of the Reunion, Josue Mathieu has confirmed the release of Marie Marthe Laurent Lafaille, widow of deacon Sylner Lafaille assassinated on Sunday September 26th https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34844-haiti-flash-the-first-baptist-church-of-port-au-prince-victim-of-heavily-armed-men.html. Reverend Pastor Mathieu specifies that the victim was released for ransom without specifying the amount.



Kidnapping of a student

Johnny Jean, a student at the Faculty of Human Sciences at the State University of Haiti, was kidnapped on the evening of September 29 at rue Cameau. The kidnappers demand a ransom of 30,000 US dollars in exchange for his release.



5,500 Haitians repatriated

Between September 19 and 29, 2021, the United States, operating 7 to 8 flights per day, have already expelled from their territory nearly 5,500 Haitian compatriots. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34878-haiti-flash-more-than-1000-haitians-could-be-repatriated-every-day.html



USA : No pressure on Haiti

Thursday Ambassador Brian Nichols Assistant to the United States Secretary of State for the Hemisphere accompanied by Juan Gonzalez Senior Director of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council, at the head of the American delegation met with various actors actors Politics and Civil Society at the American Embassy in Port-au-Prince on the political situation in Haiti. At the end of these meetings, Ambassador Brian Nichols declared that The White House did not intend to impose a solution or a roadmap on Haiti "We are not exerting pressure for short-term elections [...] We support an inclusive solution found by Haitians in the face of their challenges [...]" Let's recall that the American delegation is in Haiti for 48 hours.



1,000 Haitians repatriated per day

From next week, Haiti could start receiving a thousand returnees per day. After the United States, Mexico and the Bahamas will also expel thousands of compatriots, announces the International Organization for Migration (IOM-Haiti). See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34878-haiti-flash-more-than-1000-haitians-could-be-repatriated-every-day.html



Judge Jean-Louis : free to travel

Thursday, September 30, the measure prohibiting departure taken against judge Mecene Jean-Louis, applied after he had accepted, as a judge at the Court of Cassation, to become the provisional President of the transition was lifted.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















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Published on 2021/10/01 | Source

New poster added for the upcoming Korean documentary "Shadow Flowers" (2019)

Advertisement

Directed by Yi Seung-Jun

Synopsis

Kim Ryun-hee, a North Korean housewife, was forced to come to South Korea and became its citizen against her will. She tried to smuggle herself out and even sought political asylum at the Vietnamese Embassy but all in vain. As her seven years of struggle to go back to her family in North Korea continues, the political absurdity hinders her journey back to her loved ones. The life of her family in the North goes on in emptiness, and she fears that she might become someone, like a shadow, who exists only in the fading memory of her family.

Release date in Korea : 2021/10
The people of Liberty County and beyond provide aid and care to derailment survivors

Jesse Anderson, manager of the MX Motel in Chester, poses Wednesday for a photograph. Anderson said his community should be proud of itself for its response to help with an Amtrak derailment near Joplin Saturday.

It's been an emotionally complicated week for many in the region in the wake of the tragic Amtrak derailment near Joplin last Saturday, with the community feeling a mix of shock at what happened, sadness for those three who lost their lives and pride in their community's response.

Indeed, people from across the region pitched in, helping those caught in the crash, the first responders who tended to them, and the workers who repaired the tracks in the aftermath, in a communitywide effort that has drawn the praise of the state and the nation.

People said, talking to the victims of the crash, the united effort by the community to provide for those in need meant a lot of people went home feeling safe, secure and cared about by a community that dropped everything to help them.

Local residents and businesses came together, coordinating the delivery of food and blankets, providing space for people to stay, and comforting to those involved in the accident.

"Honestly it's hard to remember, it all happened so fast," said Jesse Anderson, manager of the MX Motel in Chester, which provided rooms to people involved in the crash.

While the prevailing feeling expressed by people in Chester and Joplin, Anderson included, has been pride in their community for their collective response, that Saturday evening was a frantic dash to get people help and some still don't feel like they processed what happened.

"It's hard to even know what your feelings are, because we're all so busy all the time. Like, there is so much to do and so few people," he said, "... I don't even know if it's sunk in, at least it hasn't for me."

He said the first thing he remembers hearing that evening was the town's emergency siren.

"The siren went off four times, and I never heard that before," he said. "Two, that's an ambulance call, three that's a fire call, four is supposed to be some major disaster."

He said he initially assumed that someone new at the sheriff's office had made a mistake, but not long after that he spoke to some customers who told him people were talking about a derailment.

He said learning exactly what happened and how bad it was was a surreal experience.

Anderson was born at Liberty County Hospital, delivered by the same doctor who delivered his father, he's lived here all his life, he said, but nothing quite like this had ever happened as far as he can remember.

He said he started getting calls that evening from the family members of people involved in the crash, trying to set them up in his motel, and he and his employees stayed late that night getting people into rooms and driving people to and from the school gymnasium where many of those people were being cared for by first responders and the area's health care specialists.

Anderson said he spoke to an older couple from Michigan who were travelling to visit their son in Seattle and finally meet their new grandchild, something they couldn't do last year due to the pandemic.

He said they told him they'd made this trip by train many times before, but this time the ride seemed a lot rougher, so much so, that they'd decided to get off in Shelby to find another way, just before the train derailed.

Anderson said those he spoke to had mostly gotten over the shock of the derailment, and they all appreciated the town's efforts to help them.

He said he spoke to a man traveling alone, who expressed a sentiment he think the community should hear.

"Something like this happens, you want it to happen in the middle of nowhere because the best people live in the middle of nowhere,' that's what he came away thinking," Anderson said. "I think people should be proud of that."

He said the area has few resources, but between a flawless and efficient response from the area's first responders and the community coordinating to help everyone, they did what they could to address this tragic accident.

"I was really proud of what people did, we all are," he said.

A helping hand to those in need

In the wake of the accident the Hi-Line's first responders have been universally praised by everyone including Montana's governor and congressional delegation who all said their service was a testament to the area and the state's resilience and care for others.

Anderson said the first responders of Liberty County, as well as most others in the region, are volunteers and did a great job that night.

But in addition to those first responders, local health care professionals of all disciplines responded - including Kelcey Diemert and his wife Nancy, pharmacists who split their time between pharmacies throughout the area - helped a lot of people.

Diemert said he and his wife got to town after first responders had saved everyone from immediate danger, but many passengers were left without the everyday medicine they needed, since many couldn't retrieve their personal effects, which is where the Diemerts came in.

"We got a call that several passengers didn't have access to their luggage and medication, and they were going to be in need," he said.

Diemert said he and his wife didn't really know what they were getting into when they first departed for Chester fearing the worst, but first responders had done their jobs well and the ongoing effort to keep everyone healthy and feeling safe was highly organized and well executed despite the circumstances.

"We thought, 'Well this is gonna be chaos,'" Diemert said. "But it wasn't."

Diemert said passengers were calm and thankful for the help, and for the most part all he and his wife ended up needing to do was interview people and make sure they had everything they needed, things like inhalers, heart medications and blood pressure medicine, which they provided free of charge.

He said it was inspiring to see everyone working together and coordinating as well as they did, professional and otherwise.

"It was a great community effort for sure," he said.

Humility in aid

Despite their pride in the community, few in Chester, Diemert and Anderson included, claimed to have done all that much in the end, and that humility was shared by their fellows in Joplin.

Betty Wolery of the Bethel Lutheran Church Quilters said much the same, though many who received her group's blankets that night may disagree.

Wolery said her group has been making quilts since 1957 sending most to Lutheran World Relief to help people around the world, but when her daughter called her about the derailment saying passengers were in need, she and her fellow quilters wasted no time in getting their surplus supplies out to them.

She said the group couldn't go out to the scene themselves, but were happy to do what ever they could.

"Our ages are between 72 and 92, so we wouldn't have been much help," she said.

Wolery said said people like her daughter came from all over the area to help, and she's happy so many did.

Supplies were a big part of the community response to the derailment and a not insignificant amount of those supplies were provided by the family-owned Chester Supermarket.

Brothers Manjit and C.J. Maan said their family's supermarket provided all the supplies they could which Manjit Maan said mostly consisted of water, ice, a whole lot of pizza and some bandages.

He said in 26 years of living in the U.S. he'd never seen anything quite like this derailment and he and his brother are glad they were able to help the community in their efforts to help people.

Havre Daily News/Colin Thompson Brothers C.J. and Manjit Maan pose Wednesday in front their family's supermarket in Chester. They provided food, water and other supplies to victims of the Amtrak derallment in Joplin Saturday and to emergency responders and volunteers.

"Everyone from Chester was helping, they didn't care who the person was, they just want to feed people, get them blankets, water all that stuff," C.J. Maan said.

They also provided food to the people working on the track in the aftermath of the derailment, Maan said.

"We wanted to feed them too because they have to work all night," he said.

Some thanks have gone out in more than words - Diemert offered free coffee at the coffee bar at the library Thursday to anyone who helped - and some help has come back, as well.

Liberty County Public Health announced in Facebook posts that a free counseling session was available Wednesday evening for people to discuss their experiences and for people who might be "struggling to process the recent events in our community."

The counselor also was available for people to talk to Thursday.

"We are working to obtain additional resources and 24/7 crisis hotlines," one post added. "Please reach out to your neigbors, friends and family members to support them during this time."
The meeting of the two presidents was held in the Russian city of Sochi on the Black Sea, today, Wednesday, during which the two sides discussed bilateral relations and regional issues - the situation in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and the Caucasus, according to Russian media.

The talks between the two presidents ended without making a final statement or holding a press conference at the headquarters of the talks, which indicates that there was no consensus or that Turkey made concessions to the Russian side regarding the situation in Idlib.

After that, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he left Sochi after fruitful talks with Putin.

At the beginning of the meeting, a protocol meeting was held, during which Putin and Erdogan spoke. Putin indicated that his talks with Erdogan have continued since their last face-to-face meeting in March 2020.

He continued, "The talks between us sometimes encounter difficulties, but they lead to positive final results, and our specialized committees have learned to find compromise solutions that are in the interest of both sides."

By this, Putin meant the existence of many contentious files between Russia and Turkey, including Syria, Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, Afghanistan and the Crimean Tatars.

Russia and Turkey made many deals in Syria that take into account the interests of the two countries at the expense of the blood of the Syrian people. Through these deals, Moscow helped the Damascus government regain control over large areas of lands that were out of Damascus' control since 2011.

For more than a month, Russian warplanes have not left the airspace of Idlib governorate, targeting all its countryside, especially the southern ones known as "Jabal al-Zawiya".

In the past few days, Russian planes have targeted Turkish mercenary points in occupied Afrin, in a new escalation that is understood as messages of pressure before the upcoming meeting between Putin and Erdogan.

Russia insists on the entry of government forces into the Idlib areas and the opening of the international road M4. The aforementioned road links the cities controlled by Damascus forces in Aleppo and Latakia. For several months, it witnessed the conduct of Russian-Turkish patrols, but soon they stopped.

A few days before the meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would discuss with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Russia the situation in Syria's Idlib.

In televised statements, Peskov said that the presidents of the two countries showed political will and were able to reach an agreement on Idlib, but "unfortunately, terrorist activities continue in those territories." He added, "It is unacceptable and dangerous. It is something that obstructs the settlement process in Syria. Most likely, all of this is on the agenda."

The meeting, which was held between Putin and Erdogan on the twenty-ninth of this September, is the first of its kind, since the last meeting in March 2020.

At that time, the two parties agreed on a ceasefire in the Syrian province of Idlib along the front line between the mercenaries of the Turkish occupation and the forces of the Damascus government, to be followed by the establishment of a "security corridor" six kilometers north and six kilometers south of the main international highway in Idlib "M 4".

A

ANHA
Ask Matt ... what's opened in Kellogg Center

Cecily Timmons and Lindsay Jalonen are cofounders of Wild Oak Independent School. [MATT MATTESON/Hendersonville Lightning]

Q. What is going into the Kellogg Center on Broyles Road and will the walking trails still be available to the public?

The new tenant is Wild Oak Independent School. It will replace the YMCA of Western North Carolina as the occupant of the Kellogg Center located at 1181 Broyles Road. The YMCA had leased the site for classes for several years and wrapped-up their summer day camp program in August.

Wild Oaks co-founders, Cecily Timmons and Lindsay Jalonen, have designed three separate schools on the site. The Seedling School is a preschool and kindergarten for kids starting at age three. Wild Oak School will serve children in 1st through 6th grades in the inaugural year and will eventually expand through 8th grade. Also, an Afternoon Academy which is billed as an enrichment program will be offered on-site. Classes at Wild Oak will differ in cost. For example, the tuition for a fifth or sixth grade child is $8,750 per year.

The 46-acre tract was once the summer residence of Kathryn A. Kellogg, who first donated the property to Wake Forest University in 1969. After the property was passed on to UNC-Asheville in 1987, a 50-seat conference center was built on the site and used frequently by nonprofit groups. In recent years a building was added to become the temporary home for the Center of Craft Creativity and Design. A grant from the Perry N. Rudnick Foundation helped build a walking trails on the property in 2002.

Timmons said the school has appealed to parents whose children will benefit from smaller class size and personalized instruction. Having 46 acres of woods and meadows as a learning environment, is also a plus.

You will hear a lot of grab your raincoats, kids, were going outside from the teachers, said Timmons, who added that child safety is also a priority. We heard from parents who were uncomfortable with other schools during Covid and they liked our model.

UNC-Asheville has given the school a two-year lease charging $30,000 a year with an option to extend. Maintenance of the grounds and trail system will be a joint effort and Timmons said the walking trails will remain open to the public. Dogs are permitted if kept on a leash.

Affixed to the wall in the entrance area of the main Kellogg building is a bronze plaque that honors Sam Neill, who was instrumental in creating the Center. Neill served on the UNC Board of Governors with his term ending in 1997 before his fall from grace. He was convicted and served six years in prison for income tax evasion and embezzling from clients trust accounts. A second building known as the craft center building will be home to the older students. Because the Kellogg Center is owned by the state, UNC-Asheville pays no property taxes.

* * *

Send questions to askmattm@gmail.com.
Appointment

1 October 2021

Peter B. Mikkelsen will lead the Steigenberger Airporthotel Frankfurt with effect from 1 October 2021.

Mr. Mikkelsen replaces Stefan Frank, who moved to Corporate Office as Senior Director Operations for both Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts and Jaz in the City. This switch formed part of Deutsche Hospitality's strategic realignment.

Peter B. Mikkelsen began his career at the Steigenberger Graf Zeppelin Stuttgart, where he trained as a hotel specialist. After studying for a degree, he went on to gain experience at hotel chains such as Sheraton, Hilton und Radisson Blu. From 2016 to 2020, Mr. Mikkelsen held the position of General Manager at the Steigenberger Hotel Cologne. He had been in charge of the Steigenberger Hotel Am Kanzleramt since 1 March 2020 and had additional responsibility for the Steigenberger Hotel Berlin at Los Angeles Platz and for the Steigenberger Airporthotel Berlin in his capacity as Area Manager.
Appointment

1 October 2021

Peter Martin assumes interim charge of the Steigenberger Hotel & Spa Krems.

Peter Martin now takes up the reins in Krems on a provisional basis. He will relinquish his position as General Manager of the Steigenberger Hotel Bad Neuenahr, which is closed until further notice for renovation and refurbishment following last summer's floods.

Peter Martin was born in the UK and has worked for Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts since as long ago as 1989. From 2003 onwards, he served as a Hotel Director at locations such as Meran, Bad Homburg and Konstanz.
Appointment

1 October 2021

Daniel Hunger becomes General Manager of the Steigenberger Hotel Am Kanzleramt in Berlin.

He was already acting as interim General Manager of the Steigenberger Hotel Am Kanzleramt when he was named as Hotel Director in Krems in 2018.

Daniel Hunger also originally trained as a hotel specialist before going on to qualify as a Hotel Business Economist. As well as taking him to Berlin and Krems, his career has included stints at the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof, the Steigenberger Herrenhof Vienna, and the Hotel Palace Prague.
Author

Youri Sawerschel is a Branding Expert and Founder of Creative Supply, a strategic branding agency based in Zurich. Solicited for his creative thinking skills, Youri has been involved with projects focused on creating, launching and managing brands in Europe, China and the Middle-East. He has worked with brands as diverse as Kempinski Hotels, UBS, EPFL and Mondelez. Youri is also the author of dozens of articles on the topics of brand strategy and entrepreneurship and is a lecturer at ESSEC Business School in Paris and Geneva School of Business (HEG).

More about Youri Sawerschel
Supplier News

30 September 2021

A small private paradise in the Maldives with high-speed connectivity during the 365 days of the year. This is a small portrait of a modern, elegant, and tropical resort in the Indian Ocean: Fun Island Resort & Spa.

The complex, which is part of the renowned Villa Hotels group, is committed to the customer experience by delivering the best in technological solutions for the implementation of a high-speed internet network. This is carefully thought out to serve with excellence all the elegant villas of the complex, which receives tourists of all nationalities throughout the year.

The implementation of Furukawa's Laserway optical technology  with high-speed connectivity  was important to ensure two fundamental pillars for Villa Hotels: customer experience and cost reduction.

"We have over 150 beach villas on Fun Island. A traditional LAN network would be impractical due to the high cost and lack of range over longer distances. That's why we decided to opt for GPON technology," says Mr. Ali Hammad, Chief Technology Officer of the Villa Hotels group. This solution, in addition to ensuring greater competitiveness in relation to implementation costs, prioritizes an even more satisfactory customer experience to the thousands of tourists who visit the complex annually.

"Technology has improved customer experiences as well as IT services. Now, our guest can enjoy all their favorite shows in HD while staying with us." Hammad reinforces. This is a paradigm breaker for many who believe that by staying in secluded paradises around the globe, they need to give up high speed connectivity altogether. At the Villa Hotels complex, clients have access to triple-play service - which guarantees telephony, data, and multimedia in a single connectivity channel. This is made possible by the advantages of implementing Furukawa's Laserway optical technology, "a cost-effective solution that can provide long-distance data transmission over 100 meters, unlike traditional LAN," says the hotel group's Director of Technology.

The logistic and maintenance work was also fundamental for the decision to implement this technology, due to the natural difficulties imposed by the geographical isolation of the complex. This, because the Laserway solution is a network that will last more than25 years, without the need for constant maintenance. In other words: the solution offers a 5 times longer durability over copper solutions, which require cabling change every 5 or 7 years. This factor also influenced the performance and performance of connectivity in the complex. "Since adapting to new technology, we have never had a major problem or any downtime.", says Hammad.

Although the IT team of the Villa Hotels group was already trained and accustomed to the GPON solution, Furukawa always ensures the implementation of Laserway technology in an agile, accurate and efficient manner, helping customers to make full use of the available resources. Therefore, all support is provided by our team of specialized engineers, at all stages of the project: from network design and product specification to the implementation and operation of the system. This includes Furukawa's 24x7 Premium support service, which guarantees support of any kind, at any time, every day of the year.

In addition to the benefits of connection and Premium support, Furukawa's Laserway technology "is a scalable and future-ready solution aimed at expanding the Villa Hotels group in the coming years," concludes Mr. Ali Hammad.
Supplier News

1 October 2021

LONDON, UK  The Resort and Residential Hospitality Forum (R&R) is Europes only resort-focused investment conference and the 2021 edition is taking place at the Tivoli Marina Vilamoura Resort on 25-27 October 2021.

R&R is part of the highly reputable International Hospitality Investment Forum (IHIF), and attracts a senior audience of leading investors, developers and operators in the leisure hospitality sector. What sets this event apart is the seniority and decision-making power of its audience and the opportunities to forge new connections and partnerships that can transform businesses.

This years conference theme is Leisure Leads the Return and is testament to the resilience and adaptability demonstrated by the industry. Investment appetite remains strong, with some hospitality brands reporting double-digit growth in ADR as leisure travellers make up for lost time over the past year and a half. The seismic shifts in leisure hospitality investment continue to shake up the industry, with increasingly blurred lines between personal and work life demanding innovation across all aspects of the resort and leisure experience.

At our last edition in 2019, more than 400 delegates from 14 countries were in attendance to hear from 80 industry-leading speakers. The strength of the R&R conference programme and contributions from respected and influential leaders creates an informative, innovative and educational experience for all who attend:

'R&R is a quality event which I will definitely be attending again. The conference gives you a superb balance of networking and highly informative sessions. The attendance is of the highest calibre and you come away with really useful contacts.' - Daniel Johansson, Director of Development and Acquisitions, Cheval Collection.

'The Med is one of the most visited areas in the worldit deserves a world-class event to showcase its true potential, and MR&H delivered just that!' - Savvas Perdios, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Cyprus.

'Besides the excellent content and networking opportunities I have come to expect of R&R, the increased focus on the leisure/resort segment and island destinations is of great interest.' - Rui Cardoso-Santos, Board Member, Aguas e Energia da Boavista.

Joining the panel of speakers is Vilamoura World CEO, Joao Brion Sanches, who be taking part in the Destination Roundtable: Portugal session on Tuesday 26th October. He joins host, Luis Araujo, President of Turismo de Portugal and Julio Delgado, CEO of Ombrira Resort, as they collectively review the resort investment climate in Portugal and discuss the market dynamics and opportunities.

R&R is focused on providing an unrivalled networking environment with 12 hours of business-critical networking included over the course of the three-day event. Delegates can meet with a select audience of owners, operators, developers, investors, bankers, lenders, asset managers, and architects to discuss the latest and most exclusive opportunities in leisure investment.

Delegates can attend four networking lunches and evening receptions as part of the conference programme, and this year we are pleased to announce we are bringing together two of our events for a unique networking reception. Delegates of R&R and our hosted buyer event, Hotec Europe 2021, will come together on Tuesday 26th October at the Tivoli Marina Vilamoura Resort for an evening of drinks, food and conversation.

Hotec Europe gathers senior executives of leading hotel chains, purchasing companies and interior and architectural design firms alongside key leading domestic and international suppliers. By combining both R&R and Hotec audiences, we are creating a not-to-be-missed opportunity for delegates to make contacts across the entire hospitality lifecycle that could transform businesses and brands alike.

For further details on R&R and how you can register please visit randrforum.com
Press Release

1 October 2021

BOSTON and THE WOODLANDS, Texas - Two storied hotel and resort management companies have aligned forces, creating one powerhouse organization strategically positioned for the future of the global hospitality industry: Benchmark Pyramid. With a worldwide portfolio of 210 properties and annual operating revenue under management of more than $3 billion, the new company captures the passions and unique strengths of Benchmark Global Hospitality, a celebrated leader in the development and management of independent and lifestyle properties, and Pyramid Hotel Group, with its history of success across branded/franchise and resort properties. Benchmark Pyramids combined centers of excellence will make it the property manager and employer of choice as it delivers improved and accelerated results focused on service to owners and hotel guests.

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The new entity is backed by each companys respective longtime investment partners, Gencom and TZP Group. Serving as co-chairs are Pyramid Hotel Group co-founder Rick Kelleher and Benchmark founder Burt Cabanasboth hospitality industry visionaries who built their respective companies from the ground up.

A meeting of minds between hospitality industry innovators

Leading the new company are CEO Warren Fields, formerly CEO and founding partner of Pyramid Hotel Group, and President Alex Cabanas, the former CEO of Benchmark Global Hospitality. Its European platform will continue to be led by Frank Croston, CEO of U.K.-based Hamilton Hotel Partners, a Pyramid Hotel Group Company.

Entertaining the idea of a merger has always been about finding the right fit in terms of both business strategy and employee culture, said Fields in announcing the merger. We recognized early in our discussions there were unique and exceptional advantages in combining the respective strengths of our organizations. Together, Benchmark Pyramid has the depth, capability and DNA to innovate and lead for years to come, which will significantly increase owner value, employee advancement opportunities, and portfolio growth.

Since the beginning, specialization and differentiation have been the focus of our merger conversations, said Alex Cabanas. Our goal is to be the best in independent and brand management as well as the most experiential hotel company in the industry for our guests, our employees and the communities were in.

Expanded service offering and strengthened divisions

Specifically, Benchmark Pyramid will provide a wider range of specialized services going forward while continuing to offer all services available before the merger. Across the diverse portfolio of properties, its core businesses include management of independent, lifestyle, soft brand, full-service and select-service hotels and resorts, as well as corporate conference centers, day meetings and event centers. It also offers a full range of hospitality advisory and technical services, from experiential on-property innovation to receivership, asset management, project management and Benchmarks ACCESS platform; and real estate investments and partnerships.

About Gencom

Founded in 1987 by Karim Alibhai, Gencom is one of the nations leading domestic and international investment and development firms specializing in hospitality with further emphasis on the luxury, mixed-use sector as well as related operating platform investments. Headquartered in Miami, Gencom is fully integrated and highly diversified, with expertise in virtually every aspect of development, acquisition, financing, asset management and sales of hospitality properties. Gencom has had success not only in developing, purchasing and exiting single assets and hotel portfolios, it also has been successful in creating, purchasing and growing hospitality platform investments, throughout the United States, Caribbean and Europe, including Gencom American Hospitality, Summerfield Suites, Carnival Resorts and Interstate Hotels. Gencom companies successful track record has led to significant ventures with prominent institutional investors, prominent family groups and other strategic partners both domestically and internationally. For more information about Gencom, please visit www.gencomgrp.com.

About TZP Group

TZP Group, a multi-strategy private equity firm managing approximately $2.2 billion across its family of funds including TZP Capital Partners, TZP Small Cap Partners, TZP Strategies and TZP Strategies Acquisition Corp., is focused on control, growth equity and structured capital investments in business services, technology, and consumer companies. TZP has recently launched an Impact Investing strategy that invests in mission-oriented businesses addressing key U.N. Sustainable Development challenges.

Founded in 2007, TZP targets companies with solid historical performance and sustainable value propositions and aims to be a "Partner of Choice" for business owners and management teams. TZP seeks to invest primarily in closely held, private companies in which the owners desire to retain a significant stake and partner with an investor with complementary operating and financial skills to accelerate company growth, increase profitability, and maximize the value of their retained stake. TZP leverages its investment professionals' operating and investment experience to provide strategic and operational guidance and is dedicated to long-term value creation. For more information, please visit www.tzpgroup.com.
Press Release

1 October 2021

UNWTO and Netflix have partnered on the publication of a report which looks at the role of film and series as drivers for tourism and cultural affinity. The Global Report on Cultural Affinity and Screen Tourism explores the growing affection one has towards a particular country or culture displayed on the screen.

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The findings of the research were presented in Madrid against the backdrop of the Iberseries Platino Industria - the largest international event for professionals linked to the audiovisual industry in Spanish and Portuguese.

The reports ultimate goal is to support policymakers and key stakeholders within the tourism sector to implement policies that make their destinations attractive for audio-visual producers. At the same time, it aims to help in the building of focused strategies to promote tourism and consumption of local culture, investing in skills and training to develop the local film and creative sectors to ensure a high level of talent, infrastructure and production capacity and integrating tourism and showcasing culture at film festivals to deepen the global audiences knowledge.

UNWTO Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili says: Both tourism and the audiovisual sectors celebrate and promote culture, support jobs and provide opportunities in diverse locations. The joint work of UNWTO and Netflix will help destinations realize the potential benefits of screen tourism."

Dean Garfield, Vice-President, Public Policy, Netflix: As highlighted in this research, we have been able to demonstrate conclusively what we instinctively already believed, which is that alongside the desire to travel and visit destinations, exposure to screen content also leads to greater interest in heritage, culture, language, and developing interpersonal relationships. This truly demonstrates that the creative industries, cultural exchange, storytelling, and tourism are all interlinked and can transform the way communities perceive and connect with each other.

Following the presentation of the Global Report, experts on tourism and the audio-visual industry shared their knowledge and insights into changing trends in screen tourism, its positive impacts on strengthening cultural affinity and the role of online streaming services in promoting tourism and cultural affinity between people, cultures and countries in line with the 2030 Agenda. The event also served to underline how public-private partnerships can support destinations to promote themselves as attractive locations for audio-visual producers.

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Press Release

1 October 2021

The Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC) was back this week after 25 months off. Running September 27-30 in Dallas, Texas USA. Produced by Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), HITEC showcases the industry's latest innovations and provides a top-notch education program for attendees. This year just over 4,000 attendees participated, with 250+ exhibiting companies set up in 60,000+ square feet of exhibit space. In addition, HFTPs Annual Convention was co-located with HITEC with a focus on education sessions that featured finance-related topics.

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The first word that comes to mind is gratitude, said HFTP CEO Frank Wolfe, CAE, FIH. This week has been a tremendous success and HFTP is extremely grateful for all the support from the vendor community and our attendees representing multiple segments across the hospitality industry. We heard over and over how wonderful it was to be together again.

HITEC, in its 49th year, had gone virtual last year due to the pandemic and in 2021 returned as an in-person event. To keep its attendees safe this year, HFTP implemented numerous health safety measures, including frequent sanitization of the event area, mask requirement and more. The overall sentiment from attendees was appreciation for a return to a face-to-face event.

Highlights of the event were four distinguished keynote/general sessions. Starting the first day was the Opening Keynote presentation by Erik Qualman with his session: "Digital Transformation: Design Your Future. Followed the next day by the Industry CIO Panel with panelists Andrew Arthurs of Aimbridge Hospitality; Carol Beggs of Chatham Bars Inn; Dan Kornick of Loews Hotels & Co.; Michael Levie, CHTP of citizenM Hotels; Mohammad Al Qassim of The Manor by JA; and Scott Strickland of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. Other keynotes included presentations by speakers Victoria Labalme and John Sileo.

In addition, a full program of concurrent education sessions was on the schedule covering trending topics including emerging technology in F&B, decentralized ID, direct distribution vs. third-parties, hyper-personalization, defining a digital hotel, ethical conundrums in technology, pressing cybersecurity threats and more. Other educational opportunities were available on the show floor, including the non-sales oriented exhibitor tutorials right on the exhibit hall floor.

Two hospitality technology industry leaders were recognized and awarded at HITEC Dallas: 2021 HFTP International Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame recipients include Mark Haley, CHTP+, co-founder and partner at Prism Hospitality Consulting, LLC and Rama P. Rama, president and CTO/CIO at Sarona Hotels, Investments & Premier Management Services. In addition, the HFTP CHTP of the Year recipient Dennis Blair, Jr., CHTP, IT project manager for Hyatt New Openings and Transitions Team was recognized.

Due to travel restrictions, much of the international attendees could not make it to HITEC Dallas this year. To accommodate those who were unable to attend, HFTP is offering a Keynote/General Session Digital Collection. The four sessions are available on the HITEC website through Oct. 31, 2021 for $199 USD. In addition the HFTP Virtual Education program will offer three encore sessions as webinars over the next month at no cost.

HFTP is already getting ready for next year's HITEC Orlando scheduled for June 27-30, 2022 in Orlando, Florida USA. In addition, HFTP Dubai at the Hotel Show Dubai will be May 24-26 in Dubai, UAE. For more information about HFTP's events, visit www.hftp.org or contact the HFTP Meetings & Special Events Department at [email protected]

View photos from HITEC Dallas and Watch HITEC TV for hospitality technology related videos.
Opinion Article

1 October 2021

It is always the hard times that serve the role of a tough teacher, leaving in their wake lessons that become ineffaceable. It is human nature to gloss and glide over the good times and take them for granted. But the difficult phases are the time when thought processes are put into active gear, strategies are formulated and fine-tuned, perspectives are widened and a long view is taken of the status quo.

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In this, the Corona virus pandemic has coerced industries and their mandarins to rethink, reshape and redesign their existing business model and practices and bulletproof their brands.

Several wise, well-conceived and enlightening operating procedures and business master plans are being brought to the new normal table.

I decided to speak with Gaurav Pokhariyal, Senior Vice President & Global Head  Human Resources, at the Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL)  the parent company of Taj Hotels.

Gaurav, an alumnus of the Glion Institute of Higher Education, Switzerland, and the Institute of Hotel Management, Pusa, New Delhi, is an IHCL veteran and a primo hotelier with three decades of enviable experience.

As an industry leader, fine decision making ability, staunch commitment and passion towards work, an innate understanding of people, ability to present out-of-the-box solutions and rally teams aiming to get the best out of them are Gauravs hallmarks.

Gaurav has had a long innings heading operations for Tajs key markets and enjoyed successful stints at marquee IHCL hotels. As the Head Honcho of Human Resources for Taj, Gauravs critical focus areas are strategy for long term growth, strengthening the Company's market and brand leadership position, strategic and innovative initiatives relating to organizational culture, business excellence, people enablement and employee centricity.

With an extremely well-rounded experience and well-fleshed out portfolio, Gaurav Pokhariyal brings in a sound voice of wisdom, acutely meditated methodologies, and blue-chip blueprints to ably map the road ahead.

Here follows my dialogue with Pokhariyal -

L. Aruna Dhir - What broad lessons have you learned, as a hotel company, from the severity of this Crisis?

Gaurav Pokhariyal - IHCL has a legacy of over 118 years and, by virtue of its lifespan, has been through crises of a similar or varied nature at one time or another. These have always provided crucial learnings to handle the VUCA world, helping the Company withstand volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity with courage and compassion.

Therefore, the three most significant, time-tested lessons would be -

Invest in our people, our community, and stakeholders. This is true to our philosophy of Tajness. Demonstrate strategic spryness. Continue to learn and reinvent. Look for opportunities in every situation and never waste a crisis

L. Aruna Dhir - What specific lessons have you learnt as a people-oriented Company to deal with similar crises in future?

Gaurav Pokhariyal - The crisis has reinforced our belief in our people processes. Learnings for the future are manifold and I enumerate them here -

Resilience, Adaptability and Agility have all emerged as key leadership behaviours. Continuous communication is critical to sustaining a positive and engaged workforce. Also a high level of probity in communication ensures a high level of integrity from all quarters. Continue to associate with a larger purpose. Look beyond and support the community and the less fortunate, it builds compassion and pride.

The present crisis has brought home the essential truth that we must learn to be inclusive. The able must carry forward those in dire need in order to create a happy, productive, peaceful balance.

When we operate together as an industry, we achieve far greater results. It is imperative to innovate and to embrace new streams of knowledge and technology, so as to stay relevant.

L. Aruna Dhir - How have some of the SOPs changed, specifically those around employee management?

Gaurav Pokhariyal - Most employee experiences onsite have been made touch-less. To start with, there has been a non-negotiable emphasis on disinfected uniforms and Personal Protective Equipment for all employees. We shifted from the manual attendance capturing system to a Facial recognition system which also allowed employees to self-check and correct any discrepancies.

The employee dining moved away from community meals to pre-packed bento boxes for individual consumption. Fully cooked meals are preferred to avoid contamination and focus is on serving immunity booster menus.

Over 10400 employees have been trained virtually and through socially distanced classrooms to ensure readiness to deliver a safe and healthy work place for all our stakeholders.

During the intense pandemic period, in order to limit the exposure, only employees who had personal transportation were called to work to start with. Employees had to report personal details of travel before entering the hotel premise and were tested for body temperature and symptoms, if any, daily during briefings.

The Aarogyasetu App as advised by the Ministry of Health was made mandatory for everyone entering the hotel. This helped in employees becoming more aware of their health and taking required precautions if they, inadvertently, had been in touch with someone who tested positive.

Heart-of-the-house employee areas were marked throughout to ensure physical distancing. Foot operated elevators, sensor based utilities such as two way doors, soap dispensers, and lights etc. were quickly installed to ensure touch-less experience.

A rigorous once in 15 days sanitization and pest control schedule was followed in employee accommodations provided by the hotels to ensure their well-being. Common Employee transportation was sanitized post every use.

To enable the robust implementation of new processes, the Covid Marshalls checklist was put in place to ensure compliance. A Cross-functional team of Marshalls was created to conduct daily audits and maintain health, safety, hygiene, and physical distancing standards. All non-compliances were escalated daily to guarantee tighter processes.

To combat the pandemic, the organization provided a panel of on-call doctors pan-India with specialist doctors emplaned for consultation by employees. This was especially useful for employees who resided in remote locations where medical facilities were limited.

All guest SOPs were realigned so as to uphold safety of our colleagues. Servicing the rooms in the absence of another person, delivering in-room dining at the door step, contact-less arrival and departure experience etc being a few highlights

Administrative tasks became online. Using technology to the optimal advantage, regional synergies and HR/ Finance/ L&D multi-functional approaches were defined.

The organization also used this opportunity to redesign work processes and we now have shared services for HR & Finance and the L&D hub structure which provide remote assistance to colleagues across geographies.

Needless to say, all the changes brought into place to face the pandemic-driven challenges have become par for the course.

L. Aruna Dhir - How are your hotels more safe and ready for the guests now?

Gaurav Pokhariyal - IHCL has transformed its approach and framework ever since March 2020 when the pandemic impacted the world. From the early period itself of augmented safety and cleanliness protocols, to adapting digital technology for providing contactless stay and dining, access, travel, and well-being to the customers and all stakeholders, we have taken the lead and learnt to work with many variables.

From the initial days of opening our doors to the medical fraternity and international and domestic travelers who were left in the lurch with cancelled flights and road travel to redoing our SOPs so as to implement the new protocols, we conscientiously pulled out all the stops.

As a step forward, we trained our staff, vendors and partners to take our hotels home to guests through endeavours such as Hospitality @Home and Qmin - our gourmet food delivery service and App.

With an unwavering and relentless focus on a customer-centric approach, we have rolled out six new brands, and over 12 new offers such as 4D, Urban Getaways, Bizcations, Wellness retreats and more to cater to evolving customer needs and the business ecosystem.

Today, travelers are more discerning, looking to indulge in not just the hotel but immersing themselves into the destination and all that it has to offer  be its food, culture, heritage, or legacy. Guests are looking at India and other leading destinations in a new light and are keen for consummately-enveloping, experiential holidays in the cocoon of a hotel; given that health safety protocols are critical and paramount.

By anticipating needs, espousing the fast-paced changes, consciously and compassionately understanding the constantly changing climate, the Taj has stayed ahead of the curve.

L. Aruna Dhir  Can you share with us some of the measures you have adopted to ensure the above?

Gaurav Pokhariyal  Yes, sincere thought and serious strategizing has gone into embracing new approaches and repurposing the earlier practices in order to ensure safety of all stakeholders and meet their needs; with equal premium given to both internal and external customers.

With Tajness - A Commitment Restrengthened, IHCL has come out with two key components for Safety and Precautionary measures, placing supreme importance on well-being and protection.

Developed in collaboration with some of the leading players in the field of safety and hygiene, this framework is representative of IHCL's augmented safety, hygiene, and physical distancing standards. Created in accordance with the norms laid down by the World Health Organization (WHO), Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Government of India, it reflects our assurance of safety and comfort for our guests and the well-being of our associates and partners.

Some of the concrete steps undertaken as a part of this assurance include:

Resting our rooms post check-outs and prior to reoccupation

Thermal screening of entrants and regular health-checks and counselling support for our associates

Mandating use of statutorily prescribed protective equipment, by our guests and associates

Use of digital technology for seamless check-ins, check-outs, payments, and dining experiences

Use of proven disinfectants for regular and deep disinfection of all hotel areas

Remodelling of layouts and fixtures in our guest and service areas as per physical distancing norms

Extensive training of our associates in practicing safety, hygiene, and physical distancing norms

I-ZEST, IHCLs Zero-Touch Service Transformation, leverages technology to ensure heightened safety for guests and employees. I-ZESTs new digital features allow guests to interact and engage with IHCL hotels by minimizing the physical touch, but maximizing quality of service.

Digital menus have been installed across restaurants which facilitate dining orders through QR codes and digital payments. Digital pre-check-in registrations, contactless guest access to their rooms via optional digital key cards, and Check-outs with online invoicing services have been brought into play.

To ensure that everybody was on the same page for effectively managing the Crisis, we avowed adherence to Government Travel Advisory and Guideline, for guest arrivals and stay protocols.

IHCL devised 4 Ps Framework which entails - Prevent Infection; Protect lives; Provide the support; and Persevere on sustained safety moving ahead with a sole objective of providing support towards its colleagues, customers, and community.

PREVENT Infection - Besides the stringent and consistent safety and hygiene protocols across all our hotels and offices, the Company has also been facilitating vaccinations for all eligible employees and will continue to drive the same for remaining age groups. IHCL has set up COVID testing camps for ease of testing and established a panel of doctors across India, accessible to all employees.

- Besides the stringent and consistent safety and hygiene protocols across all our hotels and offices, the Company has also been facilitating vaccinations for all eligible employees and will continue to drive the same for remaining age groups. IHCL has set up COVID testing camps for ease of testing and established a panel of doctors across India, accessible to all employees. PROTECT Lives - In support of our frontline COVID warriors, IHCL has once again extended its #MealsToSmiles initiative and delivered over six and a half lakh nutritious meals to the healthcare fraternity across 35 hospitals in the country to date, in addition to hosting over 9,000 room nights for doctors. 17 IHCL hotels across 12 locations have partnered with hospitals to provide quarantine facilities for asymptomatic to mildly symptomatic patients, and this scope expanded when the situation became more dynamic. These facilities extend to employees and their families too.

- In support of our frontline COVID warriors, IHCL has once again extended its #MealsToSmiles initiative and delivered over six and a half lakh nutritious meals to the healthcare fraternity across 35 hospitals in the country to date, in addition to hosting over 9,000 room nights for doctors. 17 IHCL hotels across 12 locations have partnered with hospitals to provide quarantine facilities for asymptomatic to mildly symptomatic patients, and this scope expanded when the situation became more dynamic. These facilities extend to employees and their families too. PROVIDE Support - IHCL continues to extend support to its employees during these trying times through end-to-end support for impacted employees and their families including rehabilitation, care, and leave.

- IHCL continues to extend support to its employees during these trying times through end-to-end support for impacted employees and their families including rehabilitation, care, and leave. PERSEVERE Sustained Safety - The company is focusing on providing sustained health support such as upgrading safety protocols, introducing more nutritious meals for employees at staff cafeterias, organizing annual vaccination drives, driving awareness about regular medical check-ups and other endeavours towards the long-term commitment of the safety and health of all our colleagues.

L. Aruna Dhir  What significant steps have you taken around your CSR initiatives and Community Care? Please list all your CSR outreaches.

Gaurav Pokhariyal  Through the Taj Public Service Welfare Trust, IHCL has also supported many initiatives such as meals to smiles, which has to date provided for 3.5 million meals to migrant workers and medical staff in 2020 and now during the second wave, we have already delivered over six and a half lakh meals to medical fraternity. This was done through the companys gourmet delivery brand called Qmin.

We have been front runners in supporting the Government in the Vande Bharat exercise, providing isolation and quarantine facilities for citizens who were repatriated from across the world. We provided 70000 plus room nights for health care staff and essential services. Many of these initiatives have engaged our employees in the frontline also, giving them a sense of larger purpose.

For a Tata company, community is not just another stakeholder in business, but is in fact the very purpose of its existence. Upholding IHCLs values of Trust, Awareness, and Joy and in line with the Tata spirit of benevolence, IHCL sensed its responsibility and dedicated itself to making a positive social impact to the community and people from the industry that were adversely impacted by the pandemic resulting in loss of livelihood.

Through its disaster response vehicle the TPSW - Taj Public Service Welfare Trust, IHCL created positive impact through various initiatives including COVID 19 Disaster Response, Taj for Family, Meals to Smiles, Healthcare professional support, and quarantine centres.

IHCL donated PPEs worth 2.01 crores and 30 state-of-the-art Ventilators. During the 2nd wave of COVID, we re-started meals to smiles program in 35 Hospitals across 9 states in India.

Despite all odds brought in by the ongoing pandemic, IHCL has focused on building livelihoods in the country by skilling less-privileged, school dropout youth and by extending handholding and business opportunities to micro enterprises, artisans & social impact organizations. IHCL Tata STRIVE Hospitality Skill Centres continued to mobilize students, conducted sessions, undertook practical session, and carried out assessments, all through Virtual Modes. This determination resulted in training over 700 plus students. As the lockdown restrictions are easing and the COVID effect hopefully dissipating, they are in a strong position for placements.

Our Procurement team encourages local sourcing with special focus on vendors from marginalized community, small scale farmers, and women self-help groups. This generates impact of supporting livelihood of these people and communities at large. To this end our hotels work with small scale entrepreneurs, women SHGs and NGOs income generation project, to source select goods and services.

As a result of these efforts in Financial Year 2020- 21, our hotels supported over 23 vendors from under-served community members in earning a regular livelihood. Apart from this, the needs of local community are addressed through various welfare activities such as donation of food, supporting charity homes and orphanages undertaken in association with local partners, including communities, NGOs, and government bodies, as appropriate.

Further, in the arts and heritage section, IHCL is evaluating opportunities to promote and safeguard ICH - Indian Intangible Cultural Heritage which includes measures to ensure the viability of intangible cultural heritage, such as identification, documentation, research, promotion, transmission, revitalization of such heritage sites. This, we reckon, will provide an impetus for community livelihoods and income generation in these destinations.

My conversation with Gaurav Pokhariyal reaffirms my belief that the individuals, communities and companies that are inclusive and weave others into their future vision and system design are the ones that will be most profitable businesswise given that they will have longer innings. Besides, they will also be those who will be the most respected and sought after.

The Pandemic has been universal and unbiased in the unleashing of its devastation. It has been undiscriminating, effecting people from any caste, creed, gender, age, geography, financial background, with as much ferocity.

The ultimate lasting lesson has to be that we must learn to unlearn and relearn and evolve in order to move forward from the Pandemic that has brought so many of us down to our knees. Also that the strong must carry along the not so sound in order to form a healthy, whole, gainful picture back again!
Texas defended its new law banning most abortions as stimulating interstate commerce because its forcing women to travel to other states.

In a court filing on Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton cited news reports of women driving hundreds of miles to Oklahoma and Kansas to seek abortions as proof that the law wasnt interfering with interstate commerce. The Biden administration, which is suing to block the law, has cited its impact on interstate commerce as grounds for federal intervention.

The federal government doesnt cite any actual evidence that the Texas Heartbeat Act burdens interstate commerce, Paxton said in the filing in federal court in Austin. What evidence that does exist in the record suggests that, if anything, the Act is stimulating rather than obstructing interstate travel.

He asked U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman to dismiss the Justice Department suit, which claimed the ban was burdening interstate commerce in insurance, banking and pharmaceutical services. The U.S. didnt allege any obstructions of interstate travel.

Forced to Flee

Pitman will hear oral arguments and could rule Friday on a U.S. request for an order putting the law on hold while the case proceeds.

Paxtons surprising argument was slammed by opponents of the law, which prohibits abortions after the first six weeks -- before most women know theyre pregnant.

As thousands of pregnant Texans seeking essential, time-sensitive medical care are forced to flee the state in desperation, Texas is now claiming its blatantly unconstitutional abortion ban has stimulated interstate travel, ACLU staff attorney Julia Kaye said in a statement. It is appalling that Texas is trying to capitalize on the catastrophe anti-abortion politicians created.

Paxtons office didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Justice Department attacks the Texas law as unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade but also says it could interfere with insurance companies throughout the United States that cover abortion services provided in violation of the statute, as well as banks facilitating transfers of funds to reimburse women receiving restricted abortions.

According to the complaint, the ban could also impact certain payments the federal government is required to make to Texas for constitutionally protected reproductive services.

The case is United States v. Texas, 21-cv-00796, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (Austin).
Two of Big Oils biggest players dropped their long-term energy outlooks this week: French energy company TotalEnergies and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. They offer quite different visions of the world 25 years from now. The European energy major sees a future driven by technology and policy; the cartel presents a vision that looks much like today.

TotalEnergies looks at all energy demand, not just oil, and posits a now-familiar refrain of Europes long-term corporate energy planners: renewable energy will continue to expand rapidly; oil and coal demand growth will fall; and natural gas demand, continuing to rise, will be the key to the energy transition. Even with a timeline measured in decades, details matter. Let's take a closer look at two scenarios Total puts forth of the energy transition: Momentum and the somewhat alarmingly, named Rupture.

Momentum, the outlook notes, is based on decarbonization strategies of net-zero 2050, with China on track to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 and includes the announced climate targets and Paris Agreement-based nationally determined contributions of other countries. This scenario, a baseline expectation, foresees a temperature rise of 2.2 to 2.4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. Rupture is more aggressive: it expects countries to meet the global aspirations of the Paris Agreement along with even more net zero commitments, strong public policy, technology advancements, and a new energy system built on a global scale.

Momentum also creates ceilings on future demand for oil and coal (gas, on the other hand, continues to grow). Peak oil demand will come at some point in this decade. In the Rupture scenario, oil demand in 2050 is 60 percent lower than in 2019. Coal demand has already peaked and gas demand continues to grow.

OPEC, not surprisingly, has a rather different take on oil. It sets out four scenarios, only one of which has a technology lens. The oil cartel sees demand rising in one scenario, plateauing in another, and peaking in the 2030s in another. The only decline from 2019 levels is in its most aggressive scenario, the Accelerated Policy and Technology Case.

OPECs energy transition-focused scenario allows for more aggressive policies, but does not spell them out. A word search reveals exactly zero mentions of net zero in the 340 pages of its outlook. Technology breakthroughs play no part in its vision, but it allows for the possibility of faster adoption of existing technology.

New research from the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School suggests that OPECs technology scenario significantly underestimates what is possible to change transport. The researchers have scrutinized the actual and projected costs for 50 different energy technologies, and found that most models consistently over-estimated costs and under-estimated deployment for renewable technologies. Solar, wind, and batteries on the other hand, have dropped in cost at a rate of roughly 10% per year for several decades. Todays energy technology simply needs to continue at that rate to change tomorrows energy system.

That is a scenario the Oxford researchers see as possible. Their Fast Transition scenario assumes that renewable energy and storage technologies maintain their current deployment rates for a decade, replacing fossil fuels in two decades. Its Slow Transition scenario requires current renewable growth rates to slow immediately, with fossil fuels still dominating through the middle of the century. In a No Transition scenario, every energy type grows proportionally to its share today. This, the authors say, is essentially a worst case scenario.

No Transition sounds much like what OPEC expects: today, just more of it. But that is not what research suggests is possible based on decades of observation. And its not what companies like TotalEnergies expect either, when even their standard scenario sees demand for oil peaking soon, then declining substantially by mid-century.

Nathaniel Bullard is BloombergNEF's Chief Content Officer.
LONDON  Drivers in Britain have been rushing to gas stations to fill up, amid a fuel shortage that has lasted days. Long lines at gas stations and rising fuel prices are the latest challenges that the country faces as it emerges from the pandemic.

Heres a look at whats been happening.

Is this the 1970s all over again? Why is there a gas shortage?

Across London and other parts of Britain, gas stations (called petrol stations here) have run out of fuel.

The shortages have drawn comparisons to the global energy crises of the 1970s, when an OPEC oil embargo led to widespread shortages. But unlike then, the current shortage is not one of fuel but of trained drivers to deliver it.

Truck drivers tend to be older, and they are retiring. At the same time, driver trainees are facing delays in getting licensed because of the pandemic. Transport companies have reported raising wages for truck drivers by 25% or more this year to retain them.

The shortage has also caused problems for restaurants, which are struggling to obtain food, and grocery stores, which have been unable to replenish shelves.

Drivers, concerned about reports of empty gas stations, have also been panic buying fuel in recent days, which has exacerbated the shortages.

Brexit is a contributing factor, but not the only problem.

Britains withdrawal from the European Union has made labor shortages worse, but it is not the sole cause. The Road Haulage Association, a trade association of road transport operators, estimates that Britain is facing a shortfall of 100,000 drivers. About 20% of those are drivers who left Britain after it voted to leave the European Union.

In an effort to attract drivers, the government has increased the number of hours they can work each day and has sped up the licensing process. It has also offered 5,000 three-month work visas to foreign truckers and to suspend rules that prevent oil companies from coordinating deliveries.

But some government critics say that may not be enough to address the long-running shortage of drivers. About 200,000 EU citizens left Britain during the pandemic, on top of the thousands who have left since 2016, when Britain voted in a referendum to leave the European Union and signaled it would impose limits on immigration from the bloc. That has made it harder for companies  including those in the haulage, hospitality and food supply sectors  to fill empty positions with overseas hires.

The military is on standby in case the situation worsens.

The government has urged calm and said there were tentative signs that the situation was beginning to stabilize. Officials are hoping that normal purchasing patterns will resume now that many Britons have rushed to fill up their tanks over the past few days, alleviating the pressure on supplies.

But if the fuel crisis worsens, the government has put 150 military tanker drivers on standby.

Taxi drivers, food suppliers and others whose livelihoods depend on driving said they were still concerned. The teachers union said in a statement Tuesday that the fuel shortages had caused serious difficulties for educators and urged the government to prioritize teachers access to gas.

The Petrol Retailers Association, which represents independent fuel retailers in Britain, said in a statement Tuesday that there were early signs the crisis was abating, but that deliveries were still reduced.

Im afraid to say there is still quite a bit of panic buying around the country, Brian Madderson, chair of the Petrol Retailers Association, told the BBC.

As soon as a tanker arrives at a filling station, people on social media are advising that a tanker has arrived, and then its like bees to a honey pot. Everyone flocks there, Madderson said. Within a few hours it is out again.
Reed Saxon, STF / Associated Press

Occidental Petroleum Corp. is in talks to sell offshore oil assets in Ghana to Kosmos Energy Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter. Kosmos is already a partner in the Jubilee and TEN oil fields operated by London-based Tullow Oil Plc.

Several obstacles, including tax issues, remain in the path of securing a deal, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is not public. Deliberations are ongoing and no final decisions have been made, they said.
Whats old is new at Gucci.

In celebration of the Italian luxury brands centennial anniversary, nine North American cities were tapped to receive a surprise drop of exclusive merchandise dedicated to Gucci 100 last Friday. Fortunately for Houston shoppers, the Galleria made the cut.

Space City is in good company. New York, Miami, Beverly Hills, Costa Mesa, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and Toronto are each hosting an ephemeral store-within-a-store pop-up experience.

The merchandise is an extension of creative director Alessandro Micheles unconventional and irreverent aesthetic. At first glance, theres a decidedly 1970s undercurrent. Bell-bottoms, gold-rimmed sunglasses and bamboo handle bags make a big, vintage impression. Some of the clothing is, in fact, reissue; like a pair of rose-embroidered sweaters in rust and pink.

But the true star of Gucci 100 is pop culture. Tongue-in-cheek references to the brands influence in music and streetwear are woven throughout the collection. The number 22,705 adorns several items, referencing the number of current songs that mention Gucci. A selection of lyrics from those songs make cameos on ready-to-wear items and accessories. Music is mine, Gucci seats reclined from Eric B. Rakims The R is repeated across both mens and womens apparel. One floral trench coat features This ones dedicated to all you Gucci bag, Gucci carriers out there. Its called you got good taste, from The Cramps 1983 album Smell of Female.

Gary Fountain, Houston Chronicle / Contributor

Exaggerated, interlocking Gs on a tracksuit, with reflective trim, riff on the brands influence in hip-hop culture. Though truthfully, there are very few corners of any closet untouched by the world of Gucci. A silk bowling shirt and signature items suggests there is, in fact, a Gucci look for every occasion.

Good luck getting your hands on the limited-edition goods, however. One Galleria store associate revealed that top-tier local customers got first dibs on preordering products. A few handbags have already sold out, such as a red tote bag in wool and felt. Camera bags have also flown off the shelves  before they were even stocked.

Gary Fountain, Houston Chronicle / Contributor

In better news, the most expensive thing in the store, a top-handle bag in black crocodile, is still up for grabs. It retails for a cool, collectors item-level sticker price of $43,000. Other purses come with bonus accessories stashed inside; the Gucci 100 medium bamboo bag has a thick crossbody strap and has a leather hand mirror tucked into a compartment.

Last Friday marked the first surprise drop from Micheles centennial collection, called Aria, though it wont be the last. During fashion week, Gucci hacked Balenciagas spring/summer runway ala a deep fake of a fashion show. Those pieces reportedly hit stores in November. With any luck, Houston will hold its position at the top of the list to score them first.

amber.elliott@chron.com
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  A federal judge on Thursday denied a request by four people who had challenged the constitutionality of Rhode Islands health care worker coronavirus vaccine mandate because it does not allow for religious exemptions and sought a temporary restraining order to block it.

The court finds that the plaintiffs have not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of these claims, U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy wrote in her decision.

As to the constitutional claims, courts have held for over a century that mandatory vaccination laws are a valid exercise of a states police powers, and such laws have withstood constitutional challenges, she wrote.

McElroy also noted that the plaintiffs filed the suit just eight days before the mandates deadline, but more than five weeks after the governor announced it.

The legal challenge to the mandate that takes effect Friday was filed by four people who work in the health care field, including a doctor, a nurse, a hospital clerk who attends medical school, and a health unit coordinator at a hospital.

The plaintiffs were not named because they wish to keep their identities anonymous to avoid harassment, according to the suit.

The state's mandate applies to workers in state-run and state-licensed health care facilities.

Workers who don't comply could lose their licenses to work in the state, and thus their jobs.

The suit did not mention which religion the plaintiffs follow, but said they are refusing shots based on the use of aborted fetal cell lines in the development and production of COVID-19 vaccines.

A message seeking comment was left with the plaintiffs' attorney.

Gov. Daniel McKee at a news conference Thursday called the mandate "crucial" for protecting the state from the coronavirus, and said since it was announced, about 5,000 health care workers in the state have been vaccinated.

The state's two biggest hospital operators  Lifespan and Care New England  have about a 95% vaccine compliance rate, he said.
SALISBURY, N.C. (AP)  Authorities have apprehended a man who they say pulled a gun on a North Carolina sheriffs deputy, then head-butted her before running off from a fast-food restaurant and prompting a search.

News outlets reported a Rowan County sheriffs deputy was going to a drive-thru line early on Wednesday when workers asked her to check on two men who appeared to be passed out in a car in the line, according to a news release. The deputy and a Salisbury police officer dispatched to the scene spoke to one of the men, who kept putting his left hand under his leg despite commands to keep his hands where they could be seen, authorities said.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  The recently concluded redistricting special session at the Oregon Legislature was marked by a broken deal, a Republican walkout and accusations of cheating that have reignited tensions on the state House floor.

And the fallout from the special session may linger, bleeding into next years legislative session.

It seems extremely likely to me that (the last special legislative session) indicates heightened tensions, polarization and likely more extreme maneuvers  particularly from Republicans  in the state Legislature in the next year, said Christopher McKnight Nichols, an associate professor of history at Oregon State University.

The 2022 regular legislative session was already looking like it would be filled with friction, as the division between political parties has expanded in recent years. While the majority Democrats are hoping to continue work on bills surrounding racial equity, police reform, immigrant rights and economic recovery following the pandemic, they will need enough Republicans to show up in Salem for them to conduct business.

And right now the GOP is in no mood to accommodate the party that they feel double-crossed them.

The most valuable thing we have here is our word, Republican Rep. Suzanne Weber said on the state House Floor on Monday. So when the deal was broken ... I lost trust, and when trust is gone I genuinely dont know how this institution can work.

The most controversial moment of September's redistricting session was when House Speaker Tina Kotek, a Democrat, rescinded a power-sharing deal with GOP lawmakers. The agreement, reached in April, had given House Republicans an equal say in redrawing political maps in exchange for them to stop blocking bills with delaying tactics.

The even split on the House redistricting committee essentially granted the minority party veto power over the state's new political boundaries, which included a sixth U.S. House seat.

But Kotek  who announced she is running for governor in 2022  voided the deal on the first day of the special session, saying Republicans weren't engaging constructively. As far as Im concerned, we held up our end of the bargain as long as we could, Kotek said following the conclusion of the redistricting session.

Republicans say they were cheated, as Democrats cleared the path to pass maps they wanted.

She lied and broke her promise not just to us but to Oregonians, Minority Leader Christine Drazan said.

Republicans initially walked out, denying the House a quorum to vote on and pass maps. However, GOP lawmakers returned Monday at which point Drazan put forward a motion to have Kotek formally censured.

When she chooses to break an agreement made in good faith, she is harming the institution, Drazan said after Democrats passed new political maps largely along party lines.

Drazan's motion failed, 33-14, with Democrats voting against disciplining their leader and two Republicans opting to leave the chamber.

But hurt relationships and broken trust have some wondering if frustrations on the House floor will impact next years legislative session.

Kotek declined to speculate, saying I take one challenge at a time. But the Democrat did not hesitate to place blame for the heightened tension that has marked the House in recent years.

Ive had my challenges with Republican leaders, but not to the level that Ive had with Leader Drazan, Kotek said, noting she has led the chamber through nine regular and six special sessions.

Drazan said in an interview with The Associated Press that if divisions get greater and majority and minority status gets more and more separated then it's going to hurt Oregon." But the exact effect the special session will have remains unknown.

It seems to me, that every indicator right now is that its going to be a much more heightened and tense environment. And much more politicized  even more than it has been, increasing the likelihood of walkouts and the likelihood of allegations of bullying and unconstitutional behavior, McKnight Nichols said.

The divide in Oregon's legislative chambers have been expanding over the past few years  as the minority party says they are not being heard and Democrats argue Republicans are not willing to compromise.

Republicans have relied on delay tactics and walkouts, halting action at the state Capitol in recent years.

In May 2019, a series of walkouts by Republican senators began to block a school funding tax. They returned after Democrats scrapped bills on gun control and another that would have limited religious exemptions from vaccines. The next month, Republicans again did not show up to the Capitol in order to stop a cap-and-trade bill.

Walkouts and delay tactics continued in 2020 and 2021.

If Republicans do seek to influence next years session with parliamentary delays or walkouts, it might be their last opportunity, as a coalition of Democratic allies have begun pursuing measures on the 2022 ballot that would penalize lawmakers for blocking legislative action by walking away, and effectively eliminate their ability to require bills to be read in full.

While Republicans criticized Kotek's broken deal, the fallout also prompted State. Rep Janelle Bynum, a Democrat, to announce she will once again pursue the House speakership, saying repair work needs to be done.

If the session proved anything, its that we need a reset, Bynum wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday.

__

Cline is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP)  A Montana State Hospital patient has pleaded guilty to killing her mother in Great Falls more than four years ago.

Pamela Jean Courtnage pleaded guilty Tuesday to mitigated deliberate homicide in the May 2017 death of Katherine Elaine Courtnage, 69, the Great Falls Tribune reports.
Metro Video

Two brothers were shot, one fatally, early Friday at a northwest Houston park after a gunman demanded money from them, police said.

The brothers were sitting in Pitner Pocket Park, 8650 Pitner, in the Spring Branch area about 12:30 a.m. when a black sedan drove up to them, police said. A man got out of the car and demanded money. When the brothers said they didnt have any, the man opened fire, striking each of the brothers in the chest, police said.
A school principal in Houston was wounded Friday when a former student opened fire inside a charter school, sending kids running out of the building and forcing nearby schools to temporarily shelter in place before the gunman surrendered to authorities without injuring any students.

The terror commenced when the 25-year-old suspect, whose name was not immediately released, entered YES Prep Southwest Secondary at 4411 Anderson Road by shooting a glass door that was locked, said Houston police Chief Troy Finner. Immediately upon entering, the male suspect shot an administrator, later identified as the principal, in the back. He surrendered without incident and police confiscated a rifle.

Police did not release the shooters name, but KHOU reported it as Dexter Kelsey.

Officers responding to a call of a shooting-in-progress reported about 11:45 a.m. administered first aid to the employee, who was later identified by the school as Principal Eric Espinoza. He was taken to a hospital and expected to be released later Friday.

It remained unclear late Friday afternoon what prompted the shooting.

It could have been a lot worse, Finner said. The most important thing is: I think we have over 1,000 students  I was told  and no students are hurt. We are praying for the employee of the school and I think that is a good day  think it is a good day, considering.

Now Playing: Student Miguel Granados describes shooting at YES Prep Southwest Secondary at 4411 Anderson Road. Video: Marie D De Jesus Houston Chronicle, Laura Duclos

There have been about dozen shooting incidents on greater Houston-area campuses -- colleges included -- since 2015, according to Everytown for Gun Safety data. In most situations, only one person was hurt. The deadliest happened in 2017 at Sante Fe High School when a student killed 10 people and wounded 13 others.

A Bellaire High School student in 2020 was shot and killed in what police called an accidental shooting. His classmate was charged in the death.

In a letter to students and families, Yes Prep identified the principal as "Espinoza (who) was taken to the hospital after a bullet grazed him from behind. Police said late Friday he was released from the hospital.



As a consequence of the shooting, the letter stated: "We are canceling classes Monday through Wednesday, and we will meet with students and families next week before classes resume. More details will be shared with you soon.



"We cannot imagine the terror you must have felt as the events unfolded. Todays shocking incident is one that no student, parent or educator should ever have to go through or cope with on their own. We have counselors standing by to help anyone needing support over the weekend, next week, and through the school year," stated the letter from Mark DiBella, CEO, Yes Prep Public Schools.

DiBella wrote the school went into lock down. By the time authorities secured the building, fears of the worst had already spread among families and youngsters.

A young boy said he was in class taking notes when the schools principal started screaming, run, run.

The boy saw glass sprinkled everywhere and blood splattered on the floor as he ran out. A bloody shoe-print remained on the floor while police worked the crime scene, the 6th grader noted.

All I heard was the officers screaming. They were screaming, drop the gun, drop the gun, said Hector Vazquez, 11, breaking down and standing near his siblings and parents. They kept saying that.

Meanwhile, his sister was still inside of the building in an upper floor.

My whole family was texting me, said Kimberly Flores, 15. We were like the last people to get out. So traumatizing.

Houston ISD said it placed nearby campuses into a temporary shelter in place as authorities investigated the initial reports. The precautionary move was lifted by Friday afternoon.

In a statement, officials at the charter school system, YES Prep Public Schools, said no students had been involved in the incident and directed parents to a nearby location to pick up their children. The system operates 23 schools with more than 17,000 students in Houston, according to its website.

Near the pick-up site, Destiny Lidia, 14, met her uncle, a firefighter who went to the scene as soon as he heard about the shooting.

By then, however, the shooting had already injected pangs of anxiety amounting to a panic attack. The panic started when she received a message alerting her of a gunman inside their school and she began worrying for her brother, who was on the other side of the building.

I never thought this would happen, Destiny said while still waiting to be reunited with her brother in the parking lot and as her mother sobbed. Its traumatizing.

Another teen said he was eating lunch in his cafeteria when he saw the schools principal run through the room to warn kids of the shooter

He was the one that alerted us, said Miguel Granados, 17.

Miguel sprinted away, along with about 80 other students. They all crammed into a classroom in the schools gym, he said.

Everyone was panicking, he said. All the girls were crying.

Miguel said he and other boys began moving stacks of chairs in front of the door to block it while searching for any items they could potentially be used as weapons had they needed to defend themselves.

I had a pair of scissors in my hands, he said.

Eventually, Miguel said, a coach went into the classroom and announced everyone could go outside to try finding their families.

He hugged his mother tight when they reunited in a shopping center down the street. His mother held onto him and wept, rocking back and forth and thanking God her son was safe.



Hannah.Dellinger@chron.com

Nicole.Hensley@chron.com

Leah.Brennan@chron.com

alejandro.serrano@chron.com

This report will be updated.
One man was fatally shot early Friday outside a north Houston club.

The man and his brother left a gentlemans club at 1050 Rankin Road about 2:45 a.m., about the same time a group of six men also left, Houston police said. One of the men from the group began arguing with one of the brothers.

The man shot the brother, who was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead, police said.

The other brother told police no altercation happened inside the club to prompt the fatal argument.
Miami leaders again met Friday to discuss their ongoing feud with Art Acevedo, the city's police chief and the former top cop in Houston.

During an hours-long meeting on Friday afternoon, one city commissioner said Acevedo had "failed" to navigate the city's politics, while another powerful commissioner accused Acevedo of blackmail and said he was worried about potentially being arrested and shot.

The commissioner, Joe Carollo, spent much of the meeting excoriating Acevedo, by first airing lengthy grievances against a memo the chief filed last week alleging corruption. Then, Carollo raised numerous other issues about controversies that have arisen during Acevedo's brief tenure.

Acevedo took over the department earlier this year, shortly after announcing in March that he was leaving the Houston Police Department. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez described him as the "Tom Brady" of police chiefs, but commissioners were less enthused, because the hiring caught them by surprise and Acevedo had not been among a list of finalists seeking the job.

TROUBLE IN FLORIDA: Former Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo in hot water in Miami over 'Cuban Mafia' comment

Acevedo immediately started shaking up the department, making some controversial disciplinary decisions that included firing the highest-ranking police couple in the department and abruptly demoting several supervisors -- including a high-ranking Black female officer. He said his own department should investigate police shootings -- mirroring his insistence in Houston that his own officers investigate the Harding Street scandal.

During the lengthy afternoon meeting, Carollo criticized Acevedo's disciplinary actions, which he said were hypocritical -- particularly the firing of Ronald and Nerly Papier, a husband-and-wife couple who worked at Miami PD, for failing to report a minor traffic accident. But Carollo honed in on an incident in which Acevedo damaged his own vehicle -- and apparently failed to report the damage.

"There's a potential for a cover-up," he said, before echoing -- with obvious relish -- Acevedo's frequent motto: "You lie, you die!"

Commissioners attacked Acevedo's performance, saying he had failed to bring any reform. They pointed to his desire to have his own department investigate police shootings. They took issue with his decision -- mirroring past actions in Austin and Houston -- to overhaul the department's image by changing the departments' uniforms. (In Houston, Acevedo changed officers' badges -- a move Chief Troy Finner rolled back as soon as he was appointed.)

"I find it tremendously strange, out of the normal questions and concerns a police chief is going to have coming to a new place... that one of the first things he wants to do is change uniforms and go to a different type of uniform," Carollo said.

CHIEF'S RISE: Acevedo survived controversy on way to top policing jobs

Commissioners also again sharply criticized Acevedo for a weeks-old comment he made at a roll call with officers in which he said that the department or the city (its not clear which) were run by the "Cuban Mafia," a term that is deeply offensive to many exiled Cubans living in Miami.

"Hubert, don't think you're so smart," Carollo said at one point, referring to Acevedo by his rarely used first name.

As relations between the commissioners and Acevedo have soured, the chief filed an 8-page memo with the city's mayor and manager, alleging misconduct and interference by Carollo and other city commissioners into police work or internal police business. The commissioner spent much of the meeting blasting Acevedo's allegations.

Carollo also again lambasted Acevedo for attending a protest earlier this year in which he responded to a wound up protester by saying he was doing his "f**king job," and calling him a "fool." (The man was a member of the Proud Boys, a racist neo-fascist organization, according to Miami news outlets.)

"Our police chief could not even control himself to the level of a rookie cop," Carollo said, before moving on to raise questions about Acevedo's travel schedule. Carollo noted that in his first 5 1/2 months, Acevedo had spent 21 work days -- or about $24,000 -- traveling.

"He has been out of it a lot of it," Carollo said. He said the extensive travel could be a "major crime."

But perhaps the most shocking moment came when Carollo said he was concerned that Acevedo's memo could be construed as blackmail and he wanted assurances that Acevedo wouldn't arrest him in the middle of the night.

ACEVEDO'S FIRST YEAR IN HOUSTON: Houston's top cop sets whirlwind pace during first six months

"I don't want to end up with a couple of rounds in me," Carollo said, suggesting police would then justify the incident by saying he pointed a gun at an officer and using a "throw down gun" to back up their statements.

The Miami Herald previously reported Acevedo's superiors had barred him from talking to the press about the brewing controversy.

Acevedo did not appear during the multi-hour meeting, but could be seen watching the proceedings from a window from a floor above the commissioners' meeting room.

At one point, Carollo questioned Acevedo's absence and told City Manager Art Noriega to go find him and bring him to the meeting.

"If he wants to arrest me," he said, Acevedo should "come right now and do it himself."

The city of Miami has launched an investigation into the claims of both Acevedo and the commissioners.
GALVESTON  Dylan Levi Bailey took his spot at the helm of trolley No. 504 and then guided it along the rails of the islands historic downtown streets, past shops and cafes.

It was the rail trolleys first passenger trip since Hurricane Ike knocked out the transit service 13 years ago, costing Bailey his favorite job, that of trolley operator.

On Friday, the historic trolleys made their long-anticipated return  and so did Bailey.

Ive been waiting a long time for this day, said Bailey, a trolley operator from 1996 to 2008. Ive missed my train.

He wore a neon vest and gripped the operator equipment, gazing through wide windows and marveling at how smooth the ride was compared to the old days, when his teeth would rattle. The refurbished trolley cars are now more electrical, less mechanical.

UNDER FIRE: Miami official accuses Art Acevedo of a 'cover-up,' blackmail and a 'major crime' in lengthy tirade

Bailey wasnt the only one celebrating the return of Galvestons trolleys, which hadnt regularly operated on the citys streets since George W. Bush was president.

City leaders and community members gathered on Postoffice Street near 23rd Street to mark the occasion with confetti, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a handful of speeches.

The trolleys are iconic, said Mayor Craig Brown. They represent our spirit here in Galveston, the resiliency and the sustainability of the community.

Rides are free this weekend, but after that it will cost $1 for adults to ride the trolleys.

They will run every half hour on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays on a route that extends from downtown to Seawall Boulevard. The rubber-wheeled trolley buses that have filled the need in recent years will complement the rail trolleys.

This is a history-making moment, one man said before making his way over to the line of people, young and old, who clambered inside the wood-paneled trolley cars, one red and the other green.

SUBURBS: Bike rider brings joy to Kingwood streets with his trio of canine companions

Among the passengers on the first ride was Clyde Wood, a local business owner and member of the citys ad hoc trolley committee. Pedestrians waved and smiled at people on the trolley as it passed.

Theyre just so happy to see it, he said. I think everybody had a huge grin on their face  I know I did for sure.

Woods involvement began seven years ago when he wrote a guest column in the Galveston Daily News titled: Where are the trolleys? It was a question posed often by his customers at The Witchery, a downtown book and gift shop.

Soon, Wood was attending meetings, making PowerPoint presentations and organizing a Facebook group in an effort to bring back the trolley rail cars.

The Galveston City Council in 2015 voted to restore the trolley system with funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Galveston Convention & Visitors Bureau. Gomaco Corp., an Iowa-based company, repaired three of the four damaged rail cars under a contract of just over $3 million. The fourth could be restored at some point.

Lex Jacobson, a manager with the restoration company, said it was a complicated three-year project requiring extensive engineering and repair work. The cars had sustained water and structural damage during the storm, which slammed into the island in September 2008, bringing extensive storm surge flooding. The final result is true to the rail cars original design, he said.

Galvestons first streetcars were drawn by mules, according to city officials. In 1890, the trolleys were updated with an electric system. The catastrophic 1900 hurricane wiped out the electric trolleys, but they eventually returned to service; in 1938, the system was discontinued.

Fifty years later, the service was revived with newly acquired trolley cars. The service was extended to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. That era ended with Ike in 2008.

Now residents said they look forward to taking friends and family on the trolley cars when they come to town for visits. Some remembered a time when the trolley would rumble down the street and rattle windows.

It takes a village to bring it back  and we did it, said Kay Sandor, who didnt board the inaugural ride but said she plans to ride the trolley when it comes near her neighborhood.

The rail lines from downtown east to UTMB are usable, but for now the line will only serve the corridor from downtown to Seawall Boulevard.

DANGEROUS FLIGHT: Small plane narrowly misses traffic before crashing in Chambers County

Its such an integral part of Galveston, said Kathy Modzelewski. It lends to the ambiance.

Bailey, 69, the trolley driver, has loved trains since childhood. His father was an Amtrak engineer.

In his previous stint as trolley operator, he remembers the regulars who rode the UTMB route and a fellow driver who was a good friend. While the trolleys were out of commission, he switched to driving buses.

But trolley operator remains his favorite job. He was excited to see the communitys response to the return of the trolleys in Galveston, his home since 1973.

This is a family, he said, adding that he has no plans to retire anytime soon.

anna.bauman@chron.com
SpaceX

NASA is planning to launch its next batch of astronauts to the International Space Station on Oct. 30.

NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron, joined by European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer, will launch on the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
If power reveals character, as LBJ biographer Robert Caro has argued, then what does the power of Texas Republican lawmakers in Austin say about them? When it comes to the proposed legislative maps theyve released this week, it says elected officials here are plum terrified of the voters in the districts they now represent.

How else to interpret the outrageous maps presented this week, ones that aim to dilute the voting power of growing pockets of minority voters and keep incumbents  especially Republican incumbents  in office no matter how much the voting population in their districts has changed in the past decade?

Texas total population grew by 4 million in the last decade. Nearly 95 percent of that growth came from Latino, Asian and Black residents. Those new voters brought change across Texas, including turning many of the states largest suburban counties purple and putting Democrats firmly in control of local government in Harris and Dallas counties. Across the state, congressional seats that were reliably Republican in 2012 were fiercely competitive by the end of the decade.

But rather than embrace that competition and fight to persuade new voters that Texas is in good hands under nearly all-Republican rule, Republicans are running from it. In doing so, they arent just making it harder to win for Democrats, who currently hold just 13 of Texas 36 congressional seats. The proposed maps for the U.S. House and Texas House and Senate released this week also dilute the impact of Texas fast-growing minority communities. Minorities often vote for Democrats, but as 2020 showed, especially among Texas Latinos, thats not a foregone conclusion.

Of the current congressional districts, 22 have white majorities, eight have Latino majorities, one is majority Black and five are without a clear majority. The new map proposes 23 districts with white majorities, seven with Hispanic majorities, none with a Black majority and eight without a majority.

And in the Texas House map proposal released Thursday, its the same story. The new maps have fewer Hispanic and Black-majority districts than the current maps, no Asian majority districts, and more white majorities. The Texas Senate map under consideration is marginally better. It doesnt significantly dilute the racial representation in each district, but still manages to draw boundaries in a way that protects incumbents. While Donald Trump carried 16 of 31 districts in 2020, hed have won 19 under the proposed boundaries.

Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston and chair of the redistricting committee, said this week race played no role in drawing the new maps. But regardless of intent, the results speak for themselves.

These racial impacts are likely to put the Legislature in court. Renee Cross, senior director of the University of Houstons Hobby School of Public Affairs, told us that challenges to the new maps will have a pretty strong case that they were drawn in a way that disadvantages voters of color. That shouldnt come as much of a surprise: Texas lawmakers have violated the Voting Rights Act in every redistricting cycle since 1970 with racially gerrymandered districts.

Whats new this time, however, is that the Voting Rights Act no longer requires states such as Texas to submit its maps to the Justice Department or to a federal court before they go into effect. Any who allege racial gerrymandering in these maps can only sue after the fact. In practice, given how slow courts can move, thats not much of a deterrent.

The only real constraint on Republicans this time is not getting too greedy, Rice political scientist Mark Jones told us Wednesday.

But the racial aspects of the maps are only the most cringe-worthy aspects of these new boundaries. At their heart, the new maps are designed to lock in existing GOP majorities in the delegation and in the Legislature, despite fast-changing voting demographics that have been breathing life into Democratic hopes for something long rumored but rarely seen in Texas: political diversity.

Wherever Huffman and company saw a competitive race in 2020, theyve used their pen to rejigger the boundaries to keep as many seats safely Republican as possible. In 2020, 12 congressional districts had a presidential race margin of 5 percentage points or less. Under the new maps, that number drops to one.

Take Rep. Mike McCauls 10th Congressional District, for instance, which stretches from Austin and San Antonio to parts of Harris County. His reputation as both a Trump supporter and a respected independent voice on national security helped carry him to re-election over a spirited, liberal challenger in 2020. He won by 7 percent but it didnt come easy, as many who voted for him were not Trump fans. The president carried the district by only 1.6 percent.

Where we see good governance and the triumph of good politics, Huffman and company see much too close of a call. They made certain that it wont be so close next time. Based on the new map, voters in the 10th district would have gone for Trump by 20 points.

What all this means for Texas voters is that Republican mapmakers are clearly afraid of you. Combined with the relentless push to restrict voting, their fight to diminish the voting power for huge swaths of Texans is morally indefensible. Its also craven.
Regarding, 17-year-old dies after shots fired at south Houston convenience store, police say, (Sept. 28): According to this article and to TV news reports, the teenager was armed and attempted to thwart a robbery that was in progress at the store. The National Rifle Association would have you believe that, The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. I'm sure this blather brings great solace to the family of the slain 17-year-old.

Bill Wilson, Houston

Border crisis

Regarding Editorial: Migrants released en masse as Abbott's border game unravels, (Sept. 30): The president and Congress have done nothing to stop the large increase of unauthorized immigrants at the border.

I am a property owner in Val Verde County and have seen firsthand the property damage and theft that can be committed by desperate people trying to enter the country.

The border surge of DPS troopers and the National Guard has had a dramatic effect on stopping this activity in the county. Abbotts surge is not the real answer, but his willingness to do something has brought national attention to the shameful lack of response by the federal government.

Thank you Governer Abbott.

Terry Roundtree, Katy

Light pollution

Regarding Opinion: If sheer brightness worked, we'd be the lowest accident city in the world, (Sept. 30): Thanks to Deborah Moran for publicizing a downside of unnecessarily bright LED lights (glare on steroids).

I have reached that age where my doctor advises against night driving. The impact of glare on elderly eyes also makes it impossible to decipher street signs when they hang on the wire adjacent to the new glaring traffic signal lights. And I really do not appreciate the neighbors who aim spotlights or mercury vapor lamps directly at my property, blinding me to the possibility of someone lurking in my shrubbery.

I wish that Houston and Harris County, perhaps the entire state of Texas, would address the issue of light pollution, educate our citizens and legislate against light pollution. Street lights shaped like upside-down shoeboxes and shielded outdoor lighting that prevents light trespass are proven safety measures.

Page S. Williams, Houston
In the summer of 1966, I finished my two-year tour as a Peace Corps director in Sarawak in East Malaysia. Before returning home I was asked to detour to Afghanistan to document a new experimental grassroots program in Jalalabad to introduce Peace Corps volunteer medical professionals and their families to address community health needs.

I am obsessed with the current disaster in Afghanistan and would like to describe what it was like when peace prevailed there. My pictures and words describe the intimate relationship between Peace Corps volunteer doctors and Afghan villagers. Their mission to save lives was such a stark contrast to our governments attempt to reconfigure Afghanistan  a culture that wasnt understood and resulted in 20 years of violent military action (a school that I had graduated from in 1950 as a Marine infantryman in Korea).

A two-day bus ride from New Delhi to Jalalabad took me through Pakistan until we reached a serpentine road, with special lanes for camels, climbing from the flat plains of the Punjab in Pakistan to 3,500 feet. We drove through the Khyber Pass, described by Rudyard Kipling as a sword cut through the mountains. The jaws of rock served those who controlled it, giving them the power to levy a price on all who chose to make the passage. It joined one world to another and helped shape centuries of history.

Fred Baldwin

The Pashtun who lived on both sides of this geological gap defended it successfully from the most powerful armies of the time. Invaders from the time of Alexander the Great in 326 BC, followed by Genghis Khan, Tamerlane and the Mughals who established their dominance in 1526. The British invaded from India, using the Khyber, to subdue Afghanistan in three wars from 1839 until their final effort in 1919.

In 1966, Afghanistan was governed by King Mohammad Zahir Shah, a progressive monarch with a prime minister who supported a new constitution that allowed women to vote and a woman had been appointed to the Cabinet as minister of health.

Crossing into Afghanistan, we stopped at Ali Masjid, an eerie spot that had a dozen regimental seals cut into the rock, dedicated to soldiers who had served in the Khyber during the 19th and 20th centuries. One shield represented a unit of 4,500 British and Indian troops with 12,000 camp followers who, while attempting to withdraw to India from Kabul in 1842, were ambushed by Afghan tribesmen.Only one survivor, a British military doctor, made it back to Jalalabad.

The next day, I arrived in Jalalabad. Citrus fruits, date palms and sugar cane as well as cereal crops dotted the gray expanses around the city. I arrived to meet a traffic jam  sardine-packed buses; camels bearing huge loads were led through the confusion. Carts assembled from junk automobile axles provided mobility. The few women I saw were covered in long loose burkas being taxied by horse-drawn carts.

Fred Baldwin

Picture-taking was easy with my Leica, an inconspicuous 35mm camera. There were no tourists. Where do you come from? was a common question. Men asked me to photograph them. Every man was wearing a headdress representing his tribe or region. The turban was warm in the winter and kept the brain cool during the intense heat of summer.

It was Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic calendar that began as the new moon appeared in sky. The holiest period of Islam, it was one of fasting and religious reflection that lasted from dawn until the sun set. It was also a period of extreme stress as workers carried on, not only without food but also without water. The fast was mandated for everyone with the exception of pregnant women, lactating mothers, small children and the very old and infirm.

Ramadan fasting had spiritual aspects that transcended appetite. It was a temporary social and cultural equalizer that gave the devout a special perspective that connected all practicing believers  those who were fortunate to be full-bellied all other times of the year and those who were not. They were bonded by hunger and thirst.

A teahouse in Jalalabad was filled with turbaned, dusty tribesmen seeking relief from a world that was harsh enough without fasting. Alcohol and women were absent in this dark and crowded public space. Even with the help of hot tea, nobody shed their warm clothes. Afghanistan is a land of extremes.

Fred Baldwin

A musician with an accordion sang to the crowd in a wailing voice, like a piercing call to prayer. Then, to my amazement, dancers appeared. In the middle of the crowd, two young boys wearing womens headscarves rose and began swaying, rotating, undulating their bodies. Their lifted arms waved to the music in the most erotic way  not what I expected on a hungry and thirsty night during Ramadan.

My assignment in Afghanistan was to document a new Peace Corps experiment involving medical professionals and their families, instead of the usual selection of recent college graduates. A team of four Peace Corps volunteers arrived at Nangarhar Medical Faculty in October 1965 to begin the experiment. The head of the program was Dr. Robert Rogers, 66, who had retired from a successful pediatric practice in Greenwich, Conn. His wife, Mildred, was serving as a teacher.

Rogers job was to train Afghan teachers to train other Afghan teachers as clinicians. In addition to Rogers there were 15 other Peace Corps medical professionals who worked in the Jalalabad hospital and the two rural clinics. He felt it was going to take six to eight years to accomplish the mission.

Tragically, after nearly four decades of stability, Afghanistan in the early 1970s moved in the direction of chaos as the Soviets invaded and revolution, assassinations and the Taliban plagued the country. Our governments massive intervention over the last 20 years has inched Afghanistan toward hell, rather than the American dream.

The press images from 2021 provide such a contrast to what I was lucky enough to witness in 1966.

Fred Baldwin

One of the two village clinics set up by the Peace Corps was in Madrawal, a 45-minute trip over a desolate rocky road from Jalalabad. The land seemed filled with shrapnel left over from a war between the mountains themselves. There was not a blade of grass or tree in sight.

Mud-covered stone walls gave the clinic a fortress look. Animals lived in the courtyard. The clinic was a focus of community life, the main contact between Afghan villagers and the Peace Corps doctors staffing it.

Swarms of mothers pressed against the windows of the clinic. Some were clutching their babies. Forty to 50 children were examined every day for respiratory infections, diarrhea, parasites and other problems. The women's expressions ranged from anxious to defensive. They jostled to get at the cardboard boxes of powdered milk decorated with an American shield. Many children were malnourished. Unveiled, the village women were assertive and strong when it involved their childrens welfare.

Medicine required physical intimacy. Taps on the chest with naked fingers, a peek into the ear or a mouth, a few quick questions. Some of the women had anger in their eyes. They were uncertain about being treated by strangers, Afghan trainees and foreigners who couldn't communicate with them.

Men also came to the clinic. The eyes of one tough bearded old farmer showed terror. For him, life had been shaped by circumstances that were so different from that of the well-meaning volunteer who had traveled halfway around the world to help.

What I saw in Afghanistan affected me for the rest of my life. I was able learn about this culture as I recorded medical aid being applied one on one.

But I couldnt have imagined that, 55 years later, the hopeful scenes from Jalalabad and Rogers Peace Corps team would be replaced by the tragedy in Afghanistan today.

As a photojournalist, I survived by learning from the people that I interviewed or photographed. My education ranged from traveling with the Sami reindeer migrations across Arctic Norway to living with a Black Texas farmer in a 13-foot trailer in Grimes County.

I am no foreign policy expert or scholar of Afghanistan. I never had the opportunity to return there after 1966. Should the United States have pursued a different policy in Afghanistan than backing Islamic fundamentalists during the Cold War? I dont know. What I can say is that, for a few weeks, I saw a place where Americans were trying to help bring about a future very different than the one we see on our TV today.

Baldwin is the co-founder of FotoFest and wrote a memoir called Dear Mr. Picasso: An illustrated love affair with freedom.
I love naps but I stay woke! The adorable toddler holding this sign went viral in the Womens March of 2017, inspiring parents all over to create similar signs and attend marches with their little ones. Children, after all, are often the most compelling reasons for us to fight for a better future. Seeing them show up in their own bodies and raising their voices is powerful and poignant.

Children have historically been a part of protests and social change. Notably, the civil rights movement from the 1950s included schoolchildren who insisted their reality match the laws of racial integration. In our current times, children have continued to show up alongside adults  from the womens marches to Black Lives Matter to climate change walkouts.

Protests are a disruption of society  thats the purpose of a protest, to interrupt the regular functions of life to draw attention to a cause. Because of this, protests are inherently rife with tension, public action and potential danger. Experienced activists receive training to navigate a protest in order to make protesting as safe as possible and also effective in accomplishing their goals.

Are children sophisticated enough to understand the nuances of a particular cause to decide for themselves their participation? Are they old enough to know the dangers and implement safe practices? Should we, as a society, include children in these public confrontations? These are some of the questions parents are asking themselves, and not just parents, but all caretakers and adults who care for the well-being of children.

I do not think we live in a time and place where sheltering children from protest makes sense.

This Saturday, Houston Womens March is organizing to protest troubling current events in Texas, including Senate Bill 8 limiting womens reproductive freedoms. Girls and young women are showing up to advocate for their own bodies. Theres a sense of enfranchisement as conscientious families realize they can channel their voice and energy into momentum for change, together as families  including children. But are the little girls and young women putting their own bodies at risk by going to protests even as they advocate for their bodily autonomy? Parents are wrestling with these dual tensions, on this issue as well as many others.

The question of protesting with children, like many questions throughout the pandemic, involves a risk assessment. To answer it, we can ask ourselves:

How old are the kids?

What kinds of temperaments do they have?

How risky will the protest be? What are the chances of violence erupting? What percentage of the people are vaccinated or will be masked?

What kinds of risks do you normally tolerate for yourself? For your kids?

Do they understand what the protest is for? Why is it important to you? To them?

Are they old enough to consent? Are they cognitively developed enough to give thoughtful consent, with thorough knowledge of the decision-making factors, including nuanced power dynamics  between authority and youth, parents and children, governors and governed?

What are the benefits of bringing them? Do they outweigh the risks?

Whether its responsible to bring the kids to protest will be different for every family and every cause, but what is responsible is to at least be asking these questions.

Should children be allowed at protests? Reasonable parents may debate this question and choose for themselves. However, what should not be debatable is our childrens right to understand the realities of the world in which they live. Protesting, after all, is only one of many strategies we, as conscious citizens in a democracy, shape the society we want to live in. To exclude children from conscious citizenship is to deny them their human rights  and children are human, despite the many ways social structures are set up diminish the potential impact of their contributions.

As parents and caretakers, we have a responsibility to develop their framework for understanding how they are situated in their communities and how the health of a community impacts them. Regardless of whether a parent will bring their children to Saturdays march in Houston, the children deserve access to information about how their bodily autonomy is threatened, and they deserve the choice to participate in demanding better policies. Whether or not we give them the containers for understanding it, they already experience the impacts of policy decisions. And as long as they experience the impact, they have the right to know the process by which we make change so that they, along with the rest of us, can live life worthy of their humanity.

Wang Brandt is the author of the children's book, You Are Revolutionary! and Parenting Forward: How to Raise Children with Justice, Mercy, and Kindness. She will be reading from her new childrens book Oct. 11 at HISD Parker Elementary.
The Legislature convened last week for its third special session with instructions to pass legislation regarding whether any state or local government entities in Texas can mandate that an individual receive a COVID-19 vaccine, and if so, what exemptions would apply to such a mandate.

The Immunization Partnership is concerned that a broad interpretation of the governors proclamation could put at risk Texas lives, businesses and families at a time when unvaccinated individuals account for over 90 percent of COVID hospitalizations and an even greater percentage of those who die.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, some Texas politicians have made public health experts  not the virus  the common political enemy. A Kaiser Health News analysis this month found legislators in Texas and 25 other states are moving with great force to weaken the abilities of public health experts to protect the publics health.

We oppose several bills introduced in the current special session because they fail to protect Texans and further erode the vital role of our states public health and medical experts in combating this pandemic.

Bills in the Senate, such as Senate Bill 11, would prohibit a government entity from requiring proof of a COVID-19 vaccination for access; prevent employers from requiring proof of immunization; and expand non-medical vaccination exemptions.

Several House bills have similar language, such as House Bill 39. Others would make it a misdemeanor crime and a licensure suspension for a company or hospital to require a COVID immunization; prohibit or restrict private and public health plans, schools, government agencies and private universities from requiring a vaccination; and prohibit students with a non-medical vaccine exemption from being excluded from school during a declared emergency or pandemic.

All of the above measures would result in lower overall vaccination rates and make Texas a less safe place to live. They would also cause economic and academic turmoil as Texans are forced to undergo surge after surge of COVID-19 cases. Political considerations, not public health interests, drive these harmful bills.

Dr. Peter Hotez, a member of The Immunization Partnership Scientific Advisory Council, and Rekha Lakshmanan, our director of advocacy and public policy, are among the authors of an article published this month in The Lancet which called for uncoupling vaccination from politics. They correctly point out that Texas Republican and Democratic lawmakers have frequently worked together in the past to pass vaccine legislation to protect and improve our states public health.

We expect our elected officials to represent the best interests of their constituents, and not just the vocal few who push agendas harmful to Texans. We encourage you to contact your state representative and senator to tell them to oppose these dangerous bills. The power of the people comes from the voice of the people. It is time Texas lawmakers hear our voices.

Dugan, M.D., is the incoming chair, and McGee, M.D., is an incoming member of the executive committee of The Immunization Partnership, a statewide nonprofit organization that aims to create a community free from vaccine-preventable diseases by educating the community, advocating for evidence-based public policy and supporting immunization best practices.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday directed lawmakers to reverse a part of the massive voting restriction and reform package that he signed into law just three months ago that would have reduced penalties for illegal voting.

Hearst Newspapers earlier this month reported on the little-noticed provision, which lowered the criminal offense for illegal voting from a second-degree felony to a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail.

Abbotts flip-flop comes the day after former President Donald Trump pressured him to add a measure requiring an audit of 2020 Texas election results to the Legislatures agenda in the special session that began Sept. 20. Abbott has so far declined to do so.

Senate Bill 1 had also made a slight change to require that a person charged with illegal voting must have done so either knowingly, as the law currently states, or intentionally. Abbott did not make mention of that provision in his call.

BACKGROUND: Texas Republicans quietly reduced penalties for honest voting mistakes

The State of Texas has made tremendous progress in upholding the integrity of our elections, Abbott said in a statement. By increasing penalties for illegal voting, we will send an even clearer message that voter fraud will not be tolerated in Texas.

But hours later, the future of the legislation was clouded as House Speaker Dade Phelan announced he did not support it.

Now is not the time to re-litigate, Phelan said in a statement. Instead, the House will remain focused on its constitutional obligation to pass redistricting maps, and members look forward to fulfilling this critical task.

In recent weeks, grassroots conservative groups have blamed Phelan for the provision softening criminal penalties.

The Tyler-based Grassroots America in a tweet on Sept. 20 demanded to know: Gov. Abbott and Republican TXLege, Why did you just DECRIMINALIZE VOTER FRAUD?

Speaker Phelan made a deal with Dems and you blessed it! Are you people deaf??

SB 1 was the focus of the Legislatures energy this spring and summer, as House Democrats staged three walkouts to deny Republicans the attendance needed to pass legislation. The bill was ultimately passed this summer when some Democrats broke from the party and returned to the Capitol.

taylor.goldenstein@chron.com
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A screenshot from a video posted to YouTube of the fight that also resulted in injuries to two administrators.

Pittsfield Superintendent Addresses Tuesday Taconic Fight

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Following a fighting incident at Taconic High School on Tuesday, Superintendant Joseph Curtis released a letter and video assuring Pittsfield Public School families that there is no tolerance for violence in the district

"If students fight in any of the Pittsfield Public Schools they will be suspended for up to 10 days, or if warranted a longer-term suspension of 45 to 60 days," Curtis said in the communication.



"During this suspension will provide work and tutoring if necessary, we will also require a family meeting that will include the creation of a restorative plan, a plan to help the offending students make right with each person involved and most importantly, with the rest of the school community for violating the peace and sanctity of the school."



He added that if cases warrant it, the district may require an examination of alternative education outside of PPS and will involve the Pittsfield Police Department and possibly file charges if needed.



A 30-second YouTube video posted on Tuesday showed three students kicking and punching each other in Taconic's hallways. One of the students was thrown by their hair to the ground and the other two students punched and kicked them while down.



In the video, two staff members quickly intervened, it appears that one of them suffered a hit to the face. The other staff member fell to the ground before separating the brawl.



It was identified later that two administrators were injured in the fight but it was not if they were the reacting staff members from the video.



There was commotion from surrounding students in the background of the recording and other staff members came to the scene to help.



"I'd also like to stress that any student that films a fight or an altercation in our schools will initially receive up to five days of school suspension," Curtis said in regards to the video. "To honor such heinous acts with video and posting those same videos publicly will not be tolerated."



He urged parents, guardians, and caregivers to have a discussion with their child or children and stress the need for peace and order each day.



Curtis said that just five weeks into the school year, PPS has had fights in its secondary schools requiring direct physical intervention from staff, faculty, and administrators.



The PPD told another media outlet that they received service calls to Taconic four times on Tuesday.



"I want to be absolutely clear, this type of behavior is not acceptable in our homes, it's not acceptable in our community, and it's certainly not acceptable in any one of our schools, we will not tolerate talk of violence, hate speech, or the kind of verbalization including cursing, that leads to fighting," He asserted.



"The work our students do during their K to 12 education is foundational to a healthy economically stable life, their work is too important to have students involved in fighting or having their own health and concentration disturbed by others fighting because the stakes are so high, the potential for injury so great."
The Taliban has closed down Afghanistans womens affairs ministry and replaced it with a controversial virtue and vice ministry in a telling and ominous sign for women in the country. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is concerned at the rapid shrinking of womens space in Afghanistan under the Taliban and calls for urgent measures to support women journalists in the country.

A man walks past an entrance gate with a sign of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which replaced the ministry of women's affairs, in Kabul on September 17, 2021. Credit: Hoshang Hashimi / AFP

On September 16, the sign of the womens affairs ministry was removed and replaced with a new sign written in Dari and Arabic reading "Ministries of Prayer and Guidance and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice". Historically, such ministries are known for harsh interpretation of Islamic law and to ban music, carry out public executions, humiliate women and impose strict dress codes. Women staffers were also prevented from entering the building as the new sign was erected.

The latest policy decision by Taliban leaders follows other restrictions on women in various fields including in education . Large numbers of women journalists are now living amid increasing uncertainty in the country, with vast numbers expressing fear and anxiety at the situation. While some women journalists have been able to flee the country, vast numbers of provincial journalists and other female media workers employed in the industry remain but without any work or prospect of future employment or means to support their families.

Women journalists advise the IFJ that they believe all their achievements in their careers to date will be taken from them under a new era of Taliban rule.

Despite initial speeches outlining a respect for womens rights and a free media, media workers experiences on the ground tell a different story of Taliban control. The Taliban asked all media houses not to broadcast music or programs featuring women. The regime also ordered the removal of Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) news anchor Khadija Amin and news presenter Shabnam Dawran from their posts on August 15. Women journalists have also reportedly been threatened to not continue their work as journalists.

With the help of arbitrary interpretations of Sharia Islamic law, the Taliban previously restricted womens movements, right to education and healthcare during its earlier rule and control of the country. There is increasing speculation, that a new era of control is imminent and underway.

The South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN), a network of the media unions in South Asia, has expressed concern for the future of female journalists in Afghanistan. On September 19, the regime also announced 11 new media regulations for Afghanistans media industry that empowers the Taliban to censor broadcast content and restrict press freedom.

The IFJ said: What fate awaits Afghanistans women journalists? There is no doubt the future is bleak for women in the countrys media  as it stands now, there seems there is no future for media more broadly and the situation for women in media in Afghanistan is even worse.
Public service media companies and international organisations have signed the Brussels Declaration on September 30, 2021, a statement for journalist safety drafted on the initiative of CBC/Radio Canada, VRT and RTBF. Violence against and intimidation of journalists and other media staff is increasing, hence this call for a halt to this dangerous evolution. Freedom of the press is a universal human right. We must unite to protect it. The International Federation of Jouranlists supports the Brussels Declaration and commends it to other media organisations for delivering safety to journalists everywhere.

2020 and 2021 will be remembered as violent years for media. According to research conducted by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (supported by the European Commission), more than 900 attacks on journalists were perpetrated in Europe in 2020. Alarmingly, several countries were even confronted with the assassination of journalists.

Therefore, VRT and RTBF decided to dedicate the annual conference of Public Broadcasters International (PBI), which they co-organise in Brussels, to the role of public service media in democratic systems. The conference will lay the emphasis on the Brussels Declaration.

The Brussels Declaration is in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It endorses the right to a democratic society with a free and secure press and media. All signatories to the Brussels Declaration commit themselves to adhering to 5 important principles, to actively promoting and implementing them. These are the 5 principles:

We improve the safety of journalists and other media staff

We stand up for the independence of public broadcasters

We encourage well-informed democratic debate

We support a strong and diverse news media landscape

We promote diversity, fairness and inclusion within our own organisation and in the society we serve

Anthony Bellanger, the Secretary General of the IFJ said, "The IFJ welcomes the Brussels Declaration initiative which helps highlight further the gravity of the safety crisis in journalism all over the world. It also promotes the role of media employers and owners in providing safe workplaces to their staff both in newsrooms and while reporting in the field. The IFJ supports the Brussels Declaration and commends it to other media organisations for delivering safety to journalists everywhere."
In an exchange during a three-hour-long Senate hearing on Thursday, Facebook's global head of safety, Antigone Davis, was asked whether the company would commit to releasing all of its data and research on the effect of Instagram on young children. "We need to look at our privacy obligations," said Davis.

Those eight words are emblematic of the real problem with Facebook, which is the complete disconnect between the way it views itself and the way the rest of the world does. Ironically, they're also true, just not in the way Davis meant.

Most observers took her answer as a no, as did most of the members of the Senate Commerce Committee's consumer protection panel, which held the hearing. The hearing was prompted by a series of reports from The Wall Street Journal, which revealed the negative effects of Instagram on teenagers, especially teenage girls who struggle with their self-image.

Of course, those senators already have much of the information, as it was provided by a whistleblower who is scheduled to appear this weekend on 60 Minutes. On Thursday, the Journal also published six documents on which it based its reporting on the subject.

One senator even compared Facebook to the tobacco companies. "Instagram is that first childhood cigarette meant to get teens hooked early," said Senator Ed Markey. "Facebook is just like Big Tobacco, pushing a product that they know is harmful to the health of young people, pushing it to them early."

It's not the first time I've heard Facebook compared to cigarettes. In 2019, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that Facebook "is the new cigarettes. It should be regulated." Benioff was calling on the government to get involved. Two years later, it finally is.

Facebook's response has been to point with waving hands in the general direction of a commitment to privacy. "At Facebook, we take the privacy, safety, and well-being of all those who use our platform very seriously, especially the youngest people on our services," Davis said.

The thing is, Facebook seems to truly believe that the benefit it brings to society far outweighs any privacy or other concerns. It also seems to have a different definition of privacy from most people. Most people think privacy means that you don't track their activity and use their personal information to make money.

Facebook seems to think it's fine to do just that, as long as it isn't directly sharing their information with others. That's a distinction without a difference in Facebook's case. It's also not a new line. In 2020, Facebook's head of public policy told an audience at CES that Facebook "adds value to users in a privacy-protective way." Everyone in the room laughed.

It's pretty easy to observe that not to be the case. A business model that attracts young teenagers in an effort to get them hooked on a product early, so their personal information can be monetized for years to come, is fundamentally incompatible with any "privacy obligation."

One that does so with full knowledge of the negative impact it has on its users is fundamentally incompatible with morality. That bothers a lot of people, some of whom serve in the United States Senate.

Facebook regularly "chooses the growth of its products over the well-being of our children," said Senator Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the Senate panel that held Thursday's hearing.

As I mentioned, Davis's statement is actually true -- Facebook does need to look at its privacy obligations. Facebook's biggest issue is that it seems to rarely consider privacy obligations, even when they cause its users harm.

By the way, that's a lesson for every leader. You are responsible to your users to have their best interests in mind. That can be difficult when you're standing at the top of a business model that, for all practical purposes, prints money. Facebook's information monetization engine is extraordinarily profitable, and that success clouds the judgment of those who should be considering the impact the company is having on real people's lives.
Quentin Tarantino has shed some light on why he loves including feet in his films.

From Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the directors films often include close-up shots of womens feet, which has led to criticism.

However, Tarantino isnt fussed and told GQ: I dont take it seriously. In fact, he thinks its just good direction.

Defending his decision to focus on womens feet, he said: Theres a lot of feet in a lot of good directors movies. Like, before me, the person foot fetishism was defined by was Luis Bunuel, another film director. And Hitchcock was accused of it and Sofia Coppola has been accused of it.

Tarantinos enthusiasm for feet was referenced by Brad Pitt during his Screen Actors Guild (SAG) acceptance speech for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 2019; as well as thanking the director, he jokingly thanked Margot Robbie and Margot Qualleys feet.

Speaking about her barefoot scene in the film, Qualley revealed to IndieWire she was nervous, telling Tarantino: This is a bad idea; I dont have good feet.

Margot Robbie and her feet in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Other actors to shoot barefoot scenes in Tarantino films include Uma Thurman and Diane Kruger.
A relaxing yoga class at a studio in China ended in an accident, after a student suffered a broken leg while performing a particular posture.

The woman student, whose femur broke during her first-ever private yoga class, told local media she was suing the studio, located in eastern Chinas Anhui province.

The incident occurred toward the end of August, according to local media, who identified the woman only by her family name, Ms Wang.

The Xinan Evening News reported first that Ms Wang was asked to practice the dragon pose  a hip-opening posture that targets the human bodys hip flexors and quads  by the instructor, who local media identified as just Ms Li.

The dragon pose is supposed to help with sciatic pain and relieve tightness in the legs and hips.

She was pushing down on my thigh, and pressed too hard. Suddenly, I just felt severe pain and could not move at all, Ms Wang was quoted as saying.

Ms Li, before correcting her posture, told Ms Wang that her left leg was in the wrong position.

The yoga instructor soon called an ambulance and took Ms Wang to a nearby hospital, where doctors confirmed she had a compound fracture on her femur. Ms Wang needed surgery, reports said.

She was in hospital for 16 days, but claimed she was still unable to walk.

The yoga studio paid Ms Wang 50,000 yuan (approximately 5,760) for her medical fees, but refused to pay more when Ms Wang asked for compensation for future treatment.

I paid 6,000 yuan (690) from my own pocket for the medical treatment because the hospital charged 56,000 yuan (approximately 6,450) and the yoga studio only covered 50,000 yuan, said Ms Wang.

Whats more, there will be other costs for rehabilitation in the future and my work will be affected due to this injury. I want reasonable compensation, Ms Wang added.

Orthopaedists in China have seen an increase in the number of cases related to yoga injuries, although many said the injuries were not as serious as a broken femur, reported state-run news agency Xinhua.

Doctors at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University received around three to four such cases per month, far more than they received a year ago, with most of the cases of young women.

The age of Ms Wang was not disclosed by local media reports.

In 2019, a similar case occurred, in which a 55-year-old Chinese woman won almost 21,320 after suffering a permanent injury from attending a yoga session.

There were 20 million yoga practitioners in mainland China at the end of 2017, according to official figures. Authorities estimate this figure to go over 100 million by 2030.

The BBC quoted Benoy Matthews, a leading UK-based physiotherapist, who said he witnessed increasing numbers of yoga teachers with serious hip problems  many of whom require surgery  because they are pushing their bodies too hard.
North Korea said on Friday it launched a newly-developed anti-aircraft missile  the latest in a series of weapon tests.

It is the countrys fourth missile launch this year, even though it has expressed willingness to thaw relations with South Korea.

North Korea tested the anti-aircraft missile for multi-purpose weapon performance, state media KCNA reported. The test was to confirm the practical functionality of the launcher, radar and all-purpose battle command vehicle, as well as the combat performance of the missile.

An undated picture of the test launch released by hermit state on Thursday showed a sleek missile being fired from a vehicle parked in a barren field. It was fired from a tube-like structure on the vehicles, which resembled weapons the North showcased in its last two military parades in October 2020 and January this year.

The test was carried out by North Koreas Academy of Defence Science in the presence of North Korean marshal Pak Jong-chon.

South Korea, Japan and the United States typically publicly confirm North Korean ballistic missile launches, which are banned by UN resolutions, soon after they occur. But they did not do so for Thursdays, indicating the weapon tested may have been a different kind.

Seouls joint chiefs of staff said Friday that South Korean and US intelligence authorities monitored moves by North Korea but didnt elaborate.

Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the launch appears to be the primitive stage of a test to develop a missile designed to shoot down incoming enemy missiles and aircraft.

He said the missile resembles the Russian-made S-400 air defence system, which he said has a maximum range of 250 miles and is reportedly capable of intercepting stealth jets.

With this fresh arsenal, North Korea said it can down air targets with new key technologies like twin-rudder control and double-impulse flight engine, according to KCNA.

It said it introduced a substantial increase in the rapid responsiveness and guidance accuracy of the missile control system.

The recent tests were the first such launches in six months and are a further indication of the countrys ambition to strengthen its arsenal in line with the US, China and Russia.

On 28 September North Korea fired a hypersonic missile, which has flight characteristics of the detached hypersonic gliding warhead.

Earlier this month, North Korea sprung a surprise when it fired ballistic missiles and a railway-borne cruise missile with nuclear capabilities that can serve as a harsh blow to enemies, provoking strong condemnation from its neighbours Japan and South Korea.

The two countries confirmed the missiles landed on their territory. The outrageous missile launches by the North are in direct violation of United Nations resolutions and pose a direct threat to the region, the two countries said.

Pyongyang has argued the weapons tests are a way to boost its self-defence capabilities, just like other armed nations.

Kim Jong-un-led North Korea has accused its southern neighbour of double standards and hostile policy.

Additional reporting from wires
Millions of wild animals will be killed or injured by fires being started in Brazil to clear land, environmentalists are warning.

Rescuers are creating escape routes out of the flames for wildlife ranging from jaguars and tapirs to birds.

But its only a start. Workers say they have already seen baby deer with their legs burnt, monkeys and jaguars turned to carbon by fire and others with burnt paws, dehydrated or starving, unable to find food or water.

Many of the fires that destroy habitats in Brazils biodiversity hot spots are started deliberately to clear land to grow crops to feed farmed animals worldwide.

World Animal Protection (WAP) says land is being cleared and burnt at record levels in the Pantanal region, in the countrys west, which is the worlds largest wetland.

Last year an estimated 65 million native vertebrates were killed or injured by fires in Pantanal, which also extends into Bolivia and Paraguay.

As this years fire season starts, already 138,948 blazes have been recorded in Brazil, according to the countrys National Institute for Space Research.

The animal charity, together with a regional environmental organisation, and local rescuers, is creating escape corridors through the flames and smoke-logged areas, as well as providing water and nutrition for wildlife.

Rescuers say that where necessary, animals will be captured and treated before being released back into the wild where possible.

Greenpeace, which says Brazils fires are growing worse each year, has mounted a campaign against the forest burning in the Brazilian Amazon, Cerrado and the neighbouring Pantanal wetlands.

Farms use slash and burn practices to clear swathes of land of natural vegetation to grow soya for animal feed, which is exported globally for the meat industry, campaigners say.

We can no longer ignore the link between factory farming and the irresponsible behaviour of the big companies driving this devastation Joao Almeida

Joao Almeida, executive director of World Animal Protection Brazil, said: The Cerrado is considered a savannah ecosystem with some of the greatest biodiversity in the world, and the Pantanal is the worlds largest tropical wetland and a World Natural Heritage Site.

Seeing the impact of these fires on the environment and wildlife is devastating.

We have seen baby deer with their legs burnt, animals such as monkeys and jaguars completely carbonised, and others with their paws burnt, dehydrated or starving.

We can no longer ignore the link between factory farming and the irresponsible behaviour of the big companies driving this devastation.

In Brazils central state of Goias, fires that this month have destroyed at least 44,480 acres of vegetation now threaten a national park thats home to rare species such as jaguars and maned wolves.

Leticia Larcher, a local biologist working with WAP, said: Last year, 90 per cent of the total area that we work in to conserve went up in flames, and with that, it is estimated that over 17 million animals died. Our mission is to preserve the Pantanal.

The charity is calling for a ban on new factory farms being built.

Fred Arruda, the Brazilian ambassador to the UK, says the countrys environmental legislation is arguably the strictest in the world, with 80 per cent of the area of each private property in the Amazon having to be kept with forest or other native vegetation. Brazilian farmers abide by these strict rules at their own expense, he said.
A police watchdog is reportedly investigating homophobic, racist and misogynist messages Sarah Everards killer is alleged to have exchanged with police colleagues.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was investigating the conduct of five serving officers and a former Metropolitan Police officer on a Whatsapp group.

They are alleged to have exchanged discriminatory messages over the course of seven months in 2019.

The messages were discovered during the police investigation into Ms Everards murder.

Wayne Couzens, a former Met officer,was given whole-life prison term for the kidnap, rape and murder of the 33-year-old marketing executive on Wednesday.

The Times reported he is the former officer linked to the Whatsapp group under investigation.

He is alleged to have exchanged misogynistic, racist and homophobic with colleagues, according to the newspaper.

Three of the serving officers under investigation by the IOPC are from the Met, another from Norfolk Constabulary and the final one from Civil Nuclear Constabulary, where Couzens used to work.

They are being investigated for gross misconduct for allegedly sending messages of a discriminatory and/or inappropriate nature, and for allegedly failing to challenge the messages sent by the others, the IOPC said in an update on its linked investigations following Couzens sentencing.

Two of the Met officers and the former Met officer have also been notified they are being criminally investigated for improper use of the public electronic communications network, the watchdog said.

The Met is also investigating whether Couzens committed more crimes before he kidnapped, raped and murdered Ms Everard.

The force has also admitted a previous allegation of indecent exposure may have been missed during his vetting process.

Couzens was also linked to an indecent exposure incident at a McDonalds in Kent just 72 hours before Ms Everard was abducted in March.

Dame Cressida Dick, the Met commissioner, said Couzens had brought shame on the force following his sentencing.

Couzens was handed a whole life sentence at the Old Bailey on Thursday by Lord Justice Fulford, who said his warped, selfish and brutal offences had eroded confidence in the police.

The judge said he had been planning for at least a month before abducting Ms Everard as she walked home from a friends house in Clapham, south London, on 3 March.

Couzens, who had been hunting for a victim, used his warrant card and handcuffs to snatch the marketing executive off the street using Covid lockdown rules to make a false arrest.

Lord Justice Fulford said the case in which a serving officer abused his position was so exceptional it warranted a whole life order, meaning Couzens will never be freed.

Additional reporting by Press Association
Boris Johnson has been accused of rampant cronyism after it emerged that a major Conservative donor will be made a peer and a government minister.

Financier Malcolm Offord, who has gifted 147,500 to the Conservative Party, has been appointed as a junior minister at the Scotland Office.

Since he is not an elected official, he will be given a lifetime peerage so that he can assume the role.

Mr Offords appointment comes just months after he failed in his bid to become an MSP in the Holyrood elections in May.

Fiona Hyslop, an MSP for Linlithgow, noted the irony. You have more chance becoming a Tory Scotland Office minister if you are rejected by voters in a Scottish election than elected by them, she tweeted.

Meanwhile, Stewart Hosie MP, one of her SNP colleagues, said the Conservatives decision to give roles and peerages to party donors shows contempt for democracy.

He suggested that rampant Tory cronyism was engulfing Westminster, adding that Scotland would be better out of the union.

The Scottish Greens also hit out at the prime minister, with its MSP Gillian Mackay branding the decision a disgrace.

However, Alister Jack, the secretary of state for Scotland, defended the move, saying that Mr Offord would help the countrys economic recovery through his wealth of valuable business experience.

I very much look forward to working with Malcolm over the coming months and years, as we invest in Scotland to grow our economy and create jobs, he added.

It is not the first time Mr Johnson has faced a backlash for elevating an unelected figure to government.

He was criticised at the start of his premiership for giving a peerage to Nicky Morgan so that she could serve as culture secretary, even though she did not stand in the 2019 general election.

Zac Goldsmith likewise entered the House of Lords to serve as a minister, while David Frost, the former chief Brexit negotiator, entered cabinet in March 2021, six months after he received a peerage.

The prime ministers decision to appoint Conservative donor Peter Cruddas also caused a scandal, especially after it was revealed that he donated 500,000 to the party three days after becoming a peer in February 2021.

Additional reporting by PA
 Close Brian Laundrie: Police fly drone over Carlton Reserve as activity ramps up

Duane Chapman, aka Dog the Bounty Hunter, who vowed to find Brian Laundrie just over two weeks ago, has been sued for $1.3m by the producer of his unaired last reality tv show. The defamation suit claims that he used racist language while filming and illegally carried a stun gun. Mr Chapman has denied all claims as an attempt to smear him.

The search for Mr Laundrie slowed somewhat, as the significant law enforcement presence at the Carlton Reserve on Wednesday and Thursday appears to have been scaled back on Friday. Authorities are hopeful that improving weather conditions at the swamp will dry up flooded sections and provide access for them to search previously inaccessible areas.

Police have revealed that Mr Laundrie, the man who is a person of interest in the killing of Gabby Petito, was under surveillance before his parents reported him missing.

Josh Taylor, the North Port police spokesperson, told CNN that officers were monitoring the 23-year-old fugitive as best as they could legally before he went missing.

Officers never spoke with Mr Laundrie directly but had him under surveillance around the time he disappeared, the broadcaster said.

On Thursday, more than two weeks after Mr Laundrie went missing, his father Chris Laundrie joined law enforcement efforts in Carlton Reserve to help them find his son.
The gunman who killed one and injured three other worshipers at a crowded San Diego synagogue was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

John Earnest, 22, opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway during a Sabbath service in April 2019, killing Lori Gilbert-Kaye.

He pleaded guilty to murder in San Diego Superior Court in July in a deal to avoid the death sentence.

Earnest also pleaded guilty to attempted murder and arson for setting a fire outside a mosque in Escondido, California, a month before the synagogue attack.

Authorities said that he used accelerant and left graffiti referencing deadly shootings carried out by a white supremacist at New Zealand mosques days before.

As part of his plea deal, Earnest admitted that both the shooting and the arson were hate crimes.

At his sentencing Earnests lawyer asked if his client could make a statement to the court, which was filled with victims and their families.

I dont want this to be a platform for him to make white supremacist or racist statements, Deddeh said Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh.

Im not going to let him use this as a platform to add to his celebrity.

Earnest was a 19-year-old nursing student at Cal State San Marcos when he carried out his attack.

The victims husband, Dr Howard Kaye, told the court of his deep loneliness without his wife of 32 years, whom he called a superior person and a wonderful woman.

Mr Kaye, who was accompanied by daughter Hannah Kaye, called Earnest a a recalcitrant murderer as he added: It is too easy for those of weak character to get influenced by the dark, evil side.

After the hearing, district attorney Summer Stephan refused to mention the defendant by name.

He will be erased from history, she said.

What will remain is the name of Lori Gilbert-Kaye and all of the heroes that jumped in to save life that day. ... We will not glorify this act of complete cowardice.
The tragic disappearance and death of Gabby Petito was strange enough on its own; a fiance who refused to speak with police arrived home in Florida after a road trip without the woman he claimed to love. Days after she was reported missing, Brian Laundrie disappeared himself, sparking a nationwide manhunt and a public thirsty for answers.

Then Dog the Bounty Hunter showed up.

Duane Chapman, better known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, is a former reality TV star and bail enforcement agent, otherwise called a "bounty hunter.

Mr Chapman joined the search for Mr Laundrie in late September, claiming he had more than 1,000 leads and vowing "I will find him.

The internet exploded at the revelation that the TV persona was on the case. But who is Mr Chapman, and why is his inclusion in the manhunt for Mr Laundrie such a tantalising addition to the already captivating story?

Reality TV star

Mr Chapman was an iconic presence during the mid-to-late aughts thanks to his A&E show Dog the Bounty Hunter.

The show was on the air before streaming platforms dominated the television landscape, when hundreds of cable TV channels were vying for compelling content to keep eyes glued to their programming. Television shows featuring novel occupations like Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, and Deadliest Catch turned regular workers into celebrities through the drama of their day-to-day lives  both real and manufactured.

Beth Chapman, pictured here with husband Duane Dog the Bounty Hunter Chapman (Getty Images)

Mr Chapman rose to fame during the same period. After his bail enforcement business was featured on a television program highlighting unusual jobs, he was tapped to be the subject of his own reality television series.

The programme was greenlit and premiered on 31 August, 2004. The show ran for eight seasons before it was cancelled by A&E in 2012.

In a typical episode of the show, Mr Chapman and his bail enforcement team composed of family and friends would learn about an individual who skipped out on a court appearance, violating the conditions of their bail agreement. Mr Chapman and his team would then track down the individual, often by interviewing neighbors, acquaintances, and family members of their target.

After often dramatically presented confrontations with the targets, Mr Chapman and his family were filmed driving their targets to jail. During the drives, Mr Chapman would often counsel the individual, challenging them to correct their lives, frequently by appealing to the well-being of their loved ones and through Christian evangelism.

Mr Chapman became an iconic figure in pop-culture during that time, notable for his long, blonde mullet, outlaw biker attire, sun-leathered skin, and for carrying enormous cans of bear spray rather than firearms due to a felony conviction earlier in his life.

In 2003, Mr Chapman found himself on the wrong side of the law after he inserted himself into another high-profile criminal case.

Andrew Luster, the heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune, was convicted in 2003 for sexually assaulting three women after drugging them with GHB. After paying a million dollar bail, he fled to Mexico, prompting to FBI to issue an Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution warrant for his arrest.

 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' joins the search for Brian Laundrie

Mr Chapman tracked Luster to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where he took the man into custody. Both Luster and Mr Chapman were arrested, the former for unlawful flight and the latter for kidnapping. Mr Chapman was not allowed to operate as a bounty hunter in Mexico and was held in a Mexican prison until media attention earned him a release.

Three years later, US Marshals arrested Mr Chapman just before the statute of limitations on his kidnapping charges expired. The charge was eventually reduced to a misdemeanor.

The later years of Mr Chapman's show were marred with family infighting, with two of his sons quitting the show mid-season and severing ties with the family. Mr Chapman also made a public apology and committed to change in 2007 after one of his son's leaked audio of him using the n-word in a discussion about the word and his son's Black girlfriend.

Bail enforcement

Most countries outlaw bounty hunters, but bail enforcement in the US is a thriving business thanks to the nation's preponderance of incarcerations when compared to the rest of the world.

Under the US bail system, people who cannot afford to pay their bail can make an agreement with a bail bonds agency. The agency fronts an alleged criminal the sum of their bail on the agreement that they will pay it back, often in installments.

If someone released on bail through a bonding agency tries to flee rather than show up in court, bail enforcers  sometimes called bounty hunters, though people in the profession tend to avoid that designation due to historically negative connotations tied to the term  are tasked with tracking them down and forcing them to appear.

When a bounty hunter captures someone who has skipped on their bail, they are typically rewarded 10 per cent of the bail agreement sum, though those rates can vary. The US bail system has been criticised both domestically and abroad for effectively punishing the poor by either forcing them to enter into debt with a bond agency or sitting in jail until their trials, which can last weeks, months or longer.

The Brian Laundrie manhunt

Mr Chapman's involvement in the case is curious, as Mr Laundrie has not skipped bail. While various rewards for information leading to Mr Laundrie's capture have been offered  including $20,000 from a Florida law firm - Mr Chapman is not guaranteed any payment should he locate Mr Laundrie.

Mr Chapman has said he is not paying much attention to the police search for Mr Laundrie, and he has already proven useful to the search. Shortly after joining the chase, Mr Chapman reported a tip that Mr Laundire's family visited a campground at Fort DeSoto in Panellas County, Florida.

That tip proved fruitful; reporters confirmed from the Pinellas County Parks Department that Roberta Laundrie, Mr Laundrie's mother, checked in to the campgrounds on 6 September and checked out on 8 September. Three days later, Ms Petito was reported missing by her family.

After reporters confirmed Mr Chapman's tip, they further confirmed through Steven Bertolino, the Laundrie's attorney, that Mr Laundrie was with them on that camping trip. The FBI, prompted by the tip and media focus on the campgrounds, secured footage from surveillance cameras in the area for review.

Mr Chapman is using private teams of trained dogs and boat crews in his search for Mr Laundrie, and has teased that he is "closing in" on him.

The bounty hunter's involvement in the case may continue to yield results, or it could be a huge publicity stunt that does little more than add a reality-TV seasoning to the search for Mr Laundrie. It may, and likely will, be a combination of the two.
The Canadian socialite and daughter-in-law of billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft, Jasmine Hartin, tried to clear her name in a TV interview as she could possibly face murder charges for killing a police superintendent in Belize.

People perceive me as being this wild, crazy, party girl thats hanging from the rafters, she told CBS. Thats not it at all. Im a businesswoman. Im a mother. Im a friend... Im a wife.

Ms Hartin, whom CBS spent three days reporting on in Belize, told the network that shes not a murderer, calling the idea ridiculous. The interview is set to air on 2 October.

The 32-year-old said she shot her friend and police officer Henry Jemmott in a tragic accident as he was trying to teach her how to use a Glock 17. They had been drinking and went out to a pier. She thought she needed a gun to protect herself.

Can you hand me the magazine from the gun? she told CBS that Mr Jemmott had asked her. Im trying to get the magazine out. Next thing I know, the gun went off.

All I could feel [was] warmth, she said. And I later then realized he was bleeding on me.

Police found her on the pier covered in blood. But Mr Jemmotts family doesnt believe Ms Hartins account of what occurred.

My brother was shot behind the ear  execution-style, his sister Cherry told CBS. The family is pushing for murder charges, Ms Hartin has been charged with manslaughter by negligence.

Some locals believe that Ms Hartin has received favourable treatment because of the wealth of her father-in-law  a British-Belizean businessman, pollster, and politician who previously served in the House of Lords and as deputy chairman of the Conservative Party with an estimated net worth of $2.2bn.

Ms Hartin has two sons with Lord Ashcrofts son Andrew, who is a developer and owner of the resort where Ms Hartin was staying. The story has been in the news since last spring, and Ms Hartin was arrested in May and sent to the Belize Central Prison  known for its brutality.

When I arrived there I said, this is not right, my lawyer doesnt know Im here, I need to make a call, she said in June. They said, Sorry sweetie, the phones are locked already for the day  now take your clothes off, were strip-searching you.

She was released on bail despite prosecutors pushing for her to stay in prison, but the release was contingent on good behaviour, and she was briefly sent back to prison after she faced off with Lord Ashcroft about him allegedly making sure she couldnt see her kids.

Lord Ashcroft pushed back on the claims, saying that she abandoned the residence I had arranged for her without informing myself, the police, or the security guards and disappeared to an unknown location.

Prosecutors also charged Ms Hartin with common assault and drug possession, The Daily Beast reported.

A GoFundMe was launched for her defence, which raised less than $2,500.

It has been reported that Andrew Ashcroft has been given interim custody of their children.
A bitterly divided Senate late Thursday approved President Joe Bidens choice to oversee vast government-owned lands in the West, despite Republican complaints that she is an "eco-terrorist.''

Tracy Stone-Manning, Bidens choice to lead the Interior Departments Bureau of Land Management, was approved, 50-45.

Republicans sharply criticized her nomination during an often acrimonious Senate debate, with several holding up a metal spike similar to one used in a 1989 environmental sabotage case.

Democrats defended Stone-Manning, noting she was never charged with a crime and in fact testified against two men who were convicted of spiking trees to sabotage a timber sale in Idahos Clearwater National Forest.

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, called Stone-Manning a dangerous choice to be put in charge of our public lands'' and said she continues to hold very dangerous views" against oil and gas drilling, logging and other commercial activity on federal lands. The land management agency oversees energy production, grazing, recreation and other activities on nearly a quarter-billion acres of public lands, primarily in the West.

Democrats called Barrasso's claims outrageous.

"The truth is, Tracy Stone-Manning did nothing wrong. And in fact the people who went to jail went to jail because of Tracy Stone-Manning,'' said Sen. Jon Tester D-Mont. Stone-Manning was a senior Tester aide from 2007 to 2012.

Tester accused Barrasso and other Republicans of unfounded character assassination and said the real reason GOP lawmakers opposed her nomination was because she was a top aide to former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat who lost a closely contested race last year to Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont.

If somebody wants to go into the investigation and find out whats happened over the last three years, with the governor running against the senator in this body ... you will find out why folks stand up and make stuff up about Tracy Stone-Manning,'' Tester said in an impassioned defense of his former aide. "The facts dont back up what theyre saying, and the character assassination is not something you should be proud of.''

Stone-Manning, 56, was Bullock's chief of staff for three years after working for Tester and now is a senior adviser at the National Wildlife Federation, an environmental group.

Her advocacy for land preservation contrasts sharply with the land bureaus priorities under former President Donald Trump who sped up oil and gas drilling and sought to open new lands to development. But her nomination has been dogged by Republican accusations of wrongdoing in the foiled 1989 plot.

At the time, she was a 23-year-old environmental studies graduate student at the University of Montana. Two of Stone-Mannings friends were later convicted of inserting metal spikes into trees, which makes them dangerous to cut and can be used to block logging.

She received immunity from prosecutors, testified against the two men and was never charged with any crime.

Stone-Manning acknowledged retyping and sending a letter on behalf of one of the convicted men warning authorities not to log in the sabotaged area. She didnt come forward until the criminal case was prosecuted several years later, and has said she was fearful of one of the defendants.

Stone-Manning was an unofficial spokesperson for the activist group Earth First, which opposes logging, dam-building and other development and advocates civil disobedience. Activists have chained themselves to heavy machinery and camped in trees to block logging and other projects. The two men who were convicted in the planned sabotage were loosely affiliated with the group.

A former investigator for the U.S. Forest Service, Michael Merkley, has said that Stone-Manning was a target of the criminal investigation and helped plan the tree spiking. Others involved in the case, including the lead prosecutor, have disputed that characterization.

We're not here to prosecute people. That's not our job,'' said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate energy panel. Stone-Manning's youthful compassion" for the environment "does not make her guilty,'' Manchin said, adding that he closely reviewed the 1993 trial and found no evidence that Stone-Manning was directly involved or committed a crime.

This is a person that basically has given herself to public service,'' he said, praising Stone-Manning's knowledge of natural resource issues and unwavering dedication to the outdoors.''

The land-management bureau has been without a Senate-confirmed director since January 2017. Trump relied on acting directors who did not have to go before the Senate to advance his agenda to increase U.S. energy production from federal lands.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said Sept. 17 that she is moving the agency's national headquarters back to Washington, reversing a Trump decision to move the agency to rural Colorado. The agency lost nearly 300 employees to retirement or resignation after its headquarters was moved to Grand Junction, Colo., in 2019.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Brown in Billings, Mont., contributed to this story.
A US marine who says he saved a baby during the evacuation from Afghanistan in photos seen across the world is under investigation for appearing on stage with Donald Trump at a rally.

Lance Cpl Hunter Clark introduced himself as the guy that pulled the baby over the wall when he addressed the crowd at Mr Trumps Save America event in Georgia on Saturday.

He appeared to be referencing viral photos and videos from August that showed an unknown marine guarding the barbed wire wall around Kabul Airport grabbing a child proferred by their father and lifting them up to safety.

But the Marine Corps is now probing whether Lance Cpl Clark broke US Defence Department (DoD) rules that forbid active duty troops from speaking at any partisan political gathering.

A spokesman told the military affairs magazine Task and Purpose that Lance Cpl Clark was not the person who first grabbed hold of the baby in the most famous video, although he is part of the same Marine task force.

It is possible that he was one of the other Marines shown in the video, or that he pulled a different child over the wall in one of several similar incidents.

At his rally on Saturday, Mr Trump introduced the Marine by saying: Were also honoured to be joined by one of the Marines who bravely served in Kabul during the withdrawal and helped evacuate children over the airport wall. You saw him, he did a great job... Lance corporal, get up here!

Lance Cpl Clark then told the crowd: I am the guy that pulled the baby over the wall, and its definitely one of the greatest things Ive ever done in my entire life.

I just want to thank all the support from all of yall, it really means a lot. And Im glad to be home now today. Thank you.

His appearance lasted less than a minute, and he did not wear a uniform, nor endorse any political candidate or ideology.

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Nevertheless, the rally was a political event, and US military commanders are very sensitive about any appearance that service members have traded on their membership for partisan ends.

It comes after a Marine lieutenant colonel was jailed for refusing to stop a stream of social media posts criticising US generals for the chaos in Afghanistan and urging followers to join him in peaceful revolution.

A Marine spokesman told Task and Purpose: The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) has initiated a command investigation regarding Lance Cpl Hunter Clarks attendance at the event last weekend to determine if any DoD policies were violated.

Any details pertaining to this incident are not releasable while the investigation is being conducted.
The premier of Australias biggest state economy New South Wales (NSW), Gladys Berejiklian, resigned on Friday after a corruption watchdog said it was investigating whether she was involved in conduct that constituted or involved a breach of public trust.

Berejiklians shock resignation comes as the state, which has an economy larger than Singapore, Thailand or Malaysia, battles the biggest COVID-19 outbreak in the country and is poised to begin ending months-long lockdowns as Australia sets to reopen international borders in November.

Berejiklian said the issues being investigated were historical matters but she felt compelled to resign because of the long time frames likely to be involved in the investigation. She also said the state needed certainty over its leadership amid the coronavirus pandemic.

I state categorically I have always acted with the highest level of integrity she said at a news conference.

The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said in a statement on its website that it will hold further public hearings as part of its ongoing investigation, Operation Keppel, on Oct. 18.

That investigation has already heard Berejiklian was once in a secret relationship with a state legislator who is the focus of its corruption investigation.

My resignation as premier could not occur at a worse time, but the timing is completely outside of my control, as the ICAC has chosen to take this action during the most challenging weeks, the most challenging times in the states history, Berejiklian said.

Berejiklian, who became premier in 2017, had fronted the media on an almost daily basis to announce COVID-19 infection rates, deaths and restrictions on businesses, schools and households as the state battles an outbreak of the Delta variant that began in June.

In the past week daily infection tallies had begun to fall as the state neared an 70 percent vaccination target and greater freedom of movement is expected to be granted in mid-October.

NSW recorded 864 new cases on Friday and 15 deaths, however officials have warned hospitals would face a peak in sick patients throughout October as social restrictions are lifted as the state nears 80 percent vaccination.

Berejiklian is the second NSW premier to resign because of an ICAC investigation. NSW leader Barry OFarrell quit in 2014 after giving evidence in which he forgot to tell the commission he had accepted a gift of a $3,000 bottle of Grange wine.

Berejiklian said she had told ministers in her government if they were the subject of an integrity investigation they should stand aside until their name was cleared, but in her case, as premier this wasnt an option. She will leave parliament as soon as a by-election can take place.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said she had displayed heroic qualities as premier, while former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull wrote on Twitter that she was a dedicated reformer who had led the State bravely and tirelessly through the bushfires and the pandemic.

Berejiklian gave evidence at an ICAC hearing 12 months ago, and denied any wrong doing.

ICAC on Friday said the scope of its investigation had widened and includes whether between 2012 and 2018 Berejiklian engaged in conduct that constituted or involved a breach of public trust by exercising public functions in circumstances where she was in a position of conflict between her public duties and her private interest as she was in a personal relationship with the then NSW MP Daryl Maguire.

The potential breach involved grant funding promised to community organisations in Maguires electorate of Wagga Wagga, and whether she failed to report, or encouraged, corrupt conduct by Maguire. Maguires legal representative declined to comment.

Maguire told the same wide-ranging inquiry last year he had received envelopes full of thousands of dollars in cash at his parliament office as part of a scheme for Chinese nationals to fraudulently acquire visas and had also tried to make money from his position as chairman of the parliaments Asia Pacific Friendship Group by promoting a series of Chinese business deals in the Pacific islands.

Reuters
After being turned away from four private clinics over the course of a long, traumatic week, the frazzled 21-year-old college student managed to get a government hospital to agree to terminate her unwanted pregnancy. But it was a Sunday and a minor Christian holiday in Romania, the doctor explained, and the pious nurses on the ward were uncomfortable performing the procedure. Come back the following day, he said.

But the next day there were more obstacles. Kai, who asked that her last name not be published, was kept waiting and not allowed to eat or drink for hours, and when she was finally given anaesthesia, held for another 90 minutes until the sedative all but wore off.

She screamed in pain as the doctor performed the procedure. And when it was over, a nurse delivered the coup de grace. Next time, she hissed, youll be more careful.

Kai was stunned, but through her exhaustion and tears, she managed to reply to the nurse: I was raped.

More than 30 years after Romania legalised abortion upon toppling the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who notoriously outlawed the practice in a failed gambit to boost the countrys population, social and political pressures are once again making it more and more difficult for women to obtain the procedure even though it remains legal up to 14 weeks.

Phony clinics and pregnancy crisis centres have been set-up to dissuade women from terminating unwanted pregnancies, sometimes using subterfuge. Conservative politicians and religious groups emboldened by the rise of right-wing populism across eastern Europe and sometimes funded by backers in the United States and Russia are becoming more assertive. More doctors are saying they are uncomfortable giving abortions and increasingly turning women away from their clinics.

One Orthodox priest recently boasted on television that he convinced scores of doctors to stop performing abortions. And a hospital in the northeastern city of Piatra Neamt forces all women seeking abortion services to first obtain counselling from a priest.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that doctors and medical staff are increasingly citing reasons of religion or conscience to deny women abortions, which is allowed under Romanian law provided the care provider refers the patient to another physician.

The result has been a steady decline in reported pregnancy terminations. According to Romanias health ministry, the number of abortions performed in the country dropped from 103,386 in 2011 to 31,889 in 2020.

At state hospitals, the doctors are asking for medical reasons to perform the abortion and if you dont have one, they might refuse you, says Vasile Barbu, president of the National Association of the Protection of Patients, an advocacy group.

Through conversations with doctors and patients, health advocates have detected a trend of women, especially from impoverished or rural areas, being forced to delay terminations until later and later stages of their pregnancy because they cannot afford the fees of up to 500 (430) to perform the procedure at a private clinic.

Of course the government doesnt pass any laws to ban abortion, but they dont have to do that, says Andrada Cilibiu, of the organisation Centrul Filia, a womens rights advocacy group. Any doctor can deny a procedure if its against his or her moral beliefs.

A cemetery in Bucharest. Doctors recall a time when Romanian cemeteries were dotted with tombs for young women who died in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s after receiving botched illegal abortions (Borzou Daragahi)

The struggle for abortion access is playing out across European countries, including in Poland, where the procedure was severely restricted in 2020 by the right-wing government. But the issue is especially poignant in Romania. It was in this eastern European nation that Ceausescu, a megomaniacal Communist Party apparatchik who rose to become the countrys long-time ruler, issued Decree 770 in 1966 outlawing contraception and all abortions except in the most dire of circumstances.

The aim of the policy was to increase Romanias population, but it ended up yielding entire generations of orphans as well as a cottage industry of back-alley or at-home abortions that led to the deaths of at least 10,000 women and the disfigurement and trauma of many more over a period of 23 years. State security operatives would hover at hospitals, forcing women bleeding from botched abortions to give up the names of underground clinics they had gone to before they could be treated. Romanian cemeteries became dotted with the graves of young women who died of botched procedures.

Contraception was banned. Abortion was banned, says Daniela Draghici, a Romanian womans health advocate who herself had two underground abortions during the 1970s. But when you have an unwanted pregnancy you just have to find the right person to do it.

The mood of desperation was depicted in the award-winning 2007 film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, which recounts the efforts of a Romanian college student to help her pregnant roommate get an illegal abortion in the 1980s.

Romanian communist sympathisers brings a portrait of former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu as they gather on his and his wife Elenas graves (AFP/Getty)

Ceaucescu was killed along with his wife during a late 1989 uprising, with the removal of Decree 770 among the very first acts of the post-communist government. In 1990, nearly a million abortions were performed in Romania. But the number has steadily declined.

Kais ordeal, recounted over a series of interviews and corroborated by her attorney, womens health advocates and medical documents, is one of many that shows how difficult it has become for women to obtain the procedure in recent years, even in the case of sexual assault. The student of veterinary medicine says she was raped by a young man after she became intoxicated at a gathering with friends in May. I blacked out, she says. I woke up, and four guys were cheering. I was naked and my vagina was in pain.

Kai, who decided to study veterinary medicine in part because of her love of animals, is a skateboarding aficionado. She grew up mostly abroad, and struggles to adjust to life in Romania. At first she tried to block out the memory of the assault, and move on. She didnt even remember being penetrated. But after a positive pregnancy test result a week later, she went and found her assailant  a student at another school near hers residing in the same Bucharest dormitory complex  and confronted him.

She demanded he pay for the termination. He rudely replied that he would pay for it, so long as she performed a sex act on him. Instead, she slapped him in the face and headed to the police to report him for rape.

But there she faced more hurdles of the type that pervade institutions with outdated understandings of sexual assault. All the police officers were men. Why did she wait a week? Was it really rape? The police conducted hours of interrogations but ultimately have not moved forward.

You can pressure the prosecutor or pressure the police, but nothing comes of it, says Cristinel Buzatu, a Bucharest human rights lawyer whom Kai has retained. Theyre just hoping that she and the perpetrator will find some resolution.

Bucharest: Romanian women show support with Polish women on strike against a proposed near-total abortion ban in Poland (AFP/Getty)

Next came the search to obtain an abortion. Kai looked on Google, and came up with the name and a number of what she thought was a clinic to get an appointment. But when she called, the woman on the other end told her instead that abortions were very risky, and that she could die if she had one. Instead of an appointment to terminate her pregnancy, the woman offered to send her videos and links recounting the horrors of abortion. Its part of a growing number of pregnancy counselling services set up by Christian organisations to discourage abortions. Cilibiu, the womens rights advocate, says the groups try to shame the callers, warning them that they are sinners and will be haunted by nightmares of their unborn child should they obtain an abortion.

There are very many physical and emotional complications after an abortion, a woman on the phone at one such organisation said to young woman who asked about obtaining pregnancy termination services. Many women are going through a traumatic experience after an abortion. After you take an abortion pill you can have a temporary haemorrage or you can bleed to death in the worst-case scenario.

Romanias abortion opponents have become increasingly assertive in recent years, and though most say they dont want a return to the dark days of Ceaucescu, they are adding to the increasingly formidable wall for women seeking to obtain the service.

They attend conferences with counterparts across Europe and receive funding from international anti-abortion groups pushing conservative agendas. According to a report issued in June by the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, US and Russian organisations account for nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in funding for anti-abortion and anti-LGBT+ causes in Europe over the course of nine years.

Father Nicolae Tanase, a Romanian Orthodox priest and founder of Pro Vita Association for the Born and Unborn, stands near a shrine dedicated to what he describes as millions of unborn children aborted by their mothers (Borzou Daragahi)

Among the most outspoken abortion opponents in Romania is Father Nicolae Tanase, a Romanian Orthodox priest and founder of Pro Vita Association for the Born and Unborn. He serves parishioners in a rural, hilly agricultural region about two hours away from Bucharest. He first came to prominence in the 1990s, when he roamed hospital corridors and chastised women seeking abortions until he was kicked out, or sometimes, as he put it, dragged out by nurses pulling on his bushy beard. He and his supporters have built a shrine on a hillside dedicated to what he describes as millions of unborn children aborted by their mothers.

Tanase opposes abortion even in cases of rape, saying it adds fuel to the fire of sin.

Its cheap and easy to get an abortion in Romania, he says. Abortion should happen only after women are informed. She should stay prone on a bed and see the image [of the fetus] and the heartbeat, and be shown a doll of what she has in her belly.

I felt everything. Its like the anesthetic was non-existent. It was one of the most painful experiences Ive had my whole life Kai, a Romanian woman who tried to get an abortion after she was raped

Fear of the controversy surrounding abortions has prompted many doctors to turn women away. After her encounter with the fake pregnancy centre, Kai visited three more clinics, each of which rejected her. One said they didnt want to deal with a first-time abortion. Another seemed nervous about the rape allegation.

Theyre there to make money, says Buzatu, Kais lawyer. They dont want anything that will get a prosecutor to come and start looking through their files. Once it gets a little complicated, they dont want to deal with it.

But doctors themselves are also just deciding they dont want to give abortions. Draghici, the womens rights advocate, says ob-gyn physicians give abortions early in their careers and then give the practice up once theyve made their fortunes.

It was a lucrative business, admits one doctor who stopped performing abortions several years ago. I was doing tens of abortions a day. But I realised it was not the right thing for me to do. Its not a religious issue  more of an ethics issue.

Doctors dont want anything that will get a prosecutor to come and start looking through their files. Once it gets a little complicated, they dont want to deal with it Buzatu, Kais lawyer

Desperate and alone, Kai was forced to go to the public hospital to obtain an abortion. The nurses needled her and gave her dirty looks. Why are you having an abortion, one questioned her.

The doctor disappeared for a full 24 hours, letting her languish alone before finally performing the procedure, which she alleges was botched. Law enforcement had failed to protect her. A health system supposed to provide her with a safe, discreet way to end her pregnancy had failed.

I felt everything, she recalls. Its like the anesthetic was non-existent. It was one of the most painful experiences Ive had my whole life. I am screaming and crying. I told him I am about to vomit. I am laying on the bed and I am screaming and crying. He doesnt say anything to me. He doesnt say a single thing to me. He just gets up and leaves.

Adina Florea contributed to this report
At least nine people have died after a fire in a hospital in Romania, the third within a year.

All other patients were evacuated from the Hospital for Infectious Diseases in the port city of Constanta and the fire was extinguished by mid-morning on Friday, Romania's emergency situations inspectorate said.

There were 113 patients were in the medical unit of the hospital, 10 of whom were intensive care unit patients, according to the Romanian health ministry.

Romania, an EU country of 19 million, has had two other deadly hospital fires within a year, raising concerns about the country's ageing hospital infrastructure.

Last November, 10 people died after a fire in an intensive care unit for Covid-19 patients in the northern town of Piatra Neamt.

Another fire in January killed five people at Matei Bals hospital in Bucharest, the capital. Supplemental oxygen was present on both of the wards. Authorities said there would have been an explosion at Matei Bals had a nurse not stopped the oxygen supply.

After the last fire, president Klaus Iohannis called for urgent and profound reform. He said tragedies like it must not happen again.

A hospital worker checks on evacuated patients (AFP/Getty)

Romanias healthcare system has long been under pressure, dogged by corruption and inefficiencies. It has the lowest health budget in the EU both by per capita spending and as a proportion of GDP (5 per cent to a 9.8 per cent bloc-wide average).

Only one hospital has been built by the state in the last three decades. One in four Romanians has insufficient access to essential healthcare and tens of thousands of doctors and nurses have left for other countries.

Additional reporting by Associated Press
Estranged president Mikheil Saakashvili said he had returned home to Georgia on Friday, despite orders being out for his arrest  setting up a battle of wills with his longtime foe and the local kingpin billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.

In a grainy, nighttime video apparently shot on the Black Sea-front promenade of Batumi, the bling casino resort Mr Saakashvili helped popularise, the former leader said he had "risked everything" to come back.

"I have really missed this place," he whispers, grinning and dressed in a hooded top. "Today, my dream is fulfilled."

Mr Saakashvili said he would travel to the capital Tbilisi in time for Saturdays all-important local elections. He said a vote for Georgian Dream, his rival Mr Ivanishvilis political party, was to vote for a "Georgian death sentence". He called on supporters to join him to "take back" the country.

"Even if this usurper government manages to arrest me, even if they stop me, we should strengthen our forces," he said. "In any case, I wont stop and neither should you."

The former president announced his intention to return home on 27 September, publishing tickets for a flight due to arrive on 2 October. Few thought he would follow through on such a risky move that on the surface appeared to mirror the ultimately calamitous homecoming of opposition leader Alexei Navalny to Moscow in February.

Authorities, who said they had no record of Mr Saakashvili crossing the border, reiterated threats to send him to jail. The former leader features in four criminal cases and has been found guilty in absentia on two counts: assault and abuse of power. Mr Saakashvili and his allies say the charges are politically motivated.

Never far from drama, the western-educated Saakashvili shook up Georgia after seizing power during the 2003 Rose Revolution. Over two intense presidential terms, he turned his country on its head, towards the west, but also towards a damaging war with Russia in 2008.

The early Saakashvili had huge success modernising the relatively backward post-Soviet state, eradicating much official corruption at the lowest level. But following a scandal over prison torture, his party was forced from power in 2012, pushing the larger-than-life politician to declare self-imposed exile abroad.

The underwhelming life that followed  as a hipster in Brooklyn and frustrated change-maker in Ukraine  always suggested another chapter was in store.
The UKs Foreign Office (FCDO) has updated its guidance to advise against all non-essential travel to Jamaica.

The advice was changed on Saturday, and means many holidaymakers will find their travel insurance is now invalidated during a trip there.

The new advice was issued due to the current assessment of Covid-19 risks in Jamaica.

The FCDO advisories are separate from the Department for Transports (DfT) traffic light lists, which assign countries a colour of red, amber or green with corresponding travel restrictions depending on the risk of inbound arrivals reimporting coronavirus infections into the UK, particularly virus variants of concern.

Instead, the FCDO assesses the risks to the traveller of falling ill while abroad, as well as other threats in terms of security, health and natural disasters.

Despite fears it would turn red in the governments last travel review on 26 August, Jamaica remained in the amber category.

It means that travellers fully vaccinated in the UK, EU and US  with two jabs of the same vaccine having been administered at least 14 days prior  plus under 18s can dodge quarantine on return to the UK.

They must instead take a PCR test within two days of arrival.

Unvaccinated travellers are required to self-isolate for 10 days and take a second PCR on day eight of quarantine, with arrivals in England having the option to pay for a third, day-five test, to escape early.

All travellers, regardless of vaccination status, must present a negative Covid test before departure for the UK.

It follows the news that the FCDO has lifted its blanket advisory against all non-essential travel to Italy.

It withdrew the former warning due to the current assessment of Covid-19 risks.

The lifting of the travel advisory means holidaymakers should be covered by their travel insurance when taking a trip to Italy  most policies are invalidated if the FCDO advises against travelling to a certain destination.
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The perennial hunt for the perfect smartphone is common to all of us. With year-round launches, new updates and fluctuating prices, we often wonder - should we wait for a better deal?

Over the last year, Flipkart has seen almost a 2X jump in its premium customer base, proving how well it is able to cater to these customers. If you have Flipkart Plus, you will get early access to the sale from 2nd October 12 AM onwards. Flipkart is also having a pre-sale from 29th September to 1st October.

For most of us, it is the festive season when the dream smartphone becomes a reality, thanks to the bumper discounts on premium handsets.

Flipkart

I mean, ahead of Flipkarts Big Billion Days sale this year, the iPhone 12 price has been teased to be as low as 49,999. Pinch me, somebody! Its officially time to switch the gear to premium and get our hands on a snazzy phone.



Flipkarts annual Big Billion Days is slated to shower us with colossal discounts from 3rd October to 10th October.

Brace yourselves for big discounts and bigger bragging rights. Here are 5 premium smartphones to look out for during the Flipkart Big Billion Day Sale:

1) iPhone 12

Rumours are rife that the iPhone 12 will be priced at 49,999. Yes! Owing to this never-seen-before price drop, its likely that a great chunk of people will finally be able to afford the iPhone. And why not - its 6.1" Super Retina XDR OLED Display, 5G connectivity and A14 bionic chip make it one of the most desirable phones in the market.

2) iPhone 12 Mini

While not much has been said about the price of the iPhone 12, technocrats wont be surprised if its available for around 40,000, considering the iPhone 12 price drop. This younger apple sibling packs a strong punch with its 5.4" Super Retina XDR OLED Display and is a big upgrade over iPhone 11 with a 5G Support, and A14 Bionic Chip.

3) OPPO Reno6 5G

Flipkart

OPPO Reno6 5Gs futuristic design, outstanding video camera (we mean it!), the dynamic Dimensity 900 chipset, and powerful battery (read: 65W fast charger) make it a strong contender as your smartphone. We all know that camera is among the prime reasons that can sway your decisions to buy a smartphone, one should not ignore this model's 64MP triple camera setup. Its Big Billion Days sale price is 26,990 with exchange.



4) Motorola Edge 20 | 20 Fusion

Flipkart

Motorola has been a trusted brand for many years and here is this premium series where you can pick the finest phone of Motorola. Motorola Edge 20 has got that every amazing feature that you look for in a smartphone. If youre usually the person behind the lens, clicking pictures and recording reels - this might be the perfect phone for you. Powered by a 108MP camera, 13 5G bands and a 6.7 FHD + OLED screen, Motorola Edge 20 deserves to be on your shortlisted tab.



This phone is available for only 19,999. Specific bank users can get it for 18,499.

5) Realme GT Master Edition

This multi-tasking phone packs the Snapdragon 778G 5G processor, 65W SuperDart charging capacity, and a 120Hz Ultra Smooth Display. An amazing processor helps in the smooth functioning of the phone while supercharging allows you to click ready in a matter of minutes. Now thats what we call an impressive refresh rate. Realme GT Master Edition will be available at a never-seen-before discount, at just 20,990! On using specific bank discounts, one can get this smartphone for as low as 18,499.



The Big Billion Day Sale 2021 will witness major price cuts across all top brands like Google Pixel, Samsung, Vivo, Apple, Realme, Motorola, Oppo, and many more.

While the price drop is mighty enticing, we have some insider tips on making the most of your purchase:

1) No Cost EMIs

Flipkart allows us to opt for the no-cost EMI option while making the purchase. This means 0% interest and no processing fee. How convenient and easy on the pocket is that?

2) Flipkarts Mobile Exchange Offer

Why not trade your old phone for a new one on Flipkart? One can get a minimum exchange rate of Rs.1,000 on exchanging your old smartphone in any working condition. Of course, the actual rates are higher depending on the age and condition of your phone.

3) Flipkart Smart Upgrade Plan

Under this plan, you only have to pay 70% of the value upfront while buying a smartphone. After using it for a year, you can either exchange it for a new model or pay the remaining 30% and continue using the phone.

This brilliant upgrade plan is available on a wide range of models including the realme 8s, Motorola Edge 20 series, OPPO Reno6 series, realme GT series, realme X series, and more.

The cherry on this wonderful cake is that you can also avail 10% extra bank offer on ICICI & Axis bank cards, and Cashback on Paytm transactions.

Wasnt that an exhaustive list of smartphone offers and purchase delights?

Well, weve got one last piece of mind-blowing news before we let you get down to shopping for your dream smartphone. Flipkart Quick! As the name suggests, this feature brings to us Flipkarts ultra-fast delivery services - just 90 minutes.

This 90-minute delivery service is currently available in 12 cities - Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad, and Panchkula, with new cities, added every day.

Flipkart

Keep a tab on Flipkarts official page to monitor exciting new deets about the Big Billion Days Sale. Happy shopping!


A sub-adult leopardess that is believed to be behind the recent attacks on humans in and around the Aarey forest in Mumbai has been captured.

The leopardess, which is said to be aged around two years old was caught in one of the four trap cages installed by the Forest Department on Friday morning.

Save Aarey

According to officials, the trapped leopard was taken away from the Aarey colony at around 7.30 am and was taken to the rescue centre at Sanjay Gandhi National Park for treatment and have been treated for minor wounds there.

It is believed to be the same animal that had attacked at least six humans in the past month, most of them this week.

Its latest attack was reported just hours before it was found trapped inside the cage.

Screengrab

A 19-year-old boy identified as Rajesh Rawat a resident of Santosh Nagar, Goregaon east, was attacked by the leopardess when he returning back after dropping his friend.

Just a day before that a 65-year-old woman, identified as Nirmala R. Singh was attacked by the same big cat when she had stepped outside her house in Aarey Colony.

CCTV visuals from the house showed the leopard prowling on the plot before the woman, who was walking with help of a stick came out and sat down.

55 Year Old Nirmaladevi Singh is seen in this video fighting off a leopard lurking in the shadows in Aarey, Goregaon, reports @Priyanka_Scribe @fpjindia #AareyForest pic.twitter.com/hQYlNPYoXS  Satish Nandgaonkar (@NewsroomMumbai) September 29, 2021

Barely had she settled and caught her breath, the leopard - crouching a couple of metres behind her - lunged at her with full force, and as she tried to stand up, he knocked her down.

As she fell on her back on the floor, the leopard continued to claw at her and attempted another attack, but luckily Singh managed to grab her walking stick, waved, jabbed and swiped it at the hungry and angry cat.

Hearing her screams for help and seeing her relatives running out, the confused leopard turned and beat a hasty retreat into the Aarey forests, and Singh was safe.

This was the fifth time since the first attack was reported on August 31, the leopard had injured a human being.
In what is seen as a reciprocal move by the authorities on the Covid-19 restrictions imposed by the UK, India has decided that similar rules will be implied to the travellers coming from UK to India.

Sources suggest that from October 4 the new rules will come into effect. They will be applicable to all UK nationals arriving from the UK.

According to sources, from October 4 onwards, all UK nationals arriving in India from the UK, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to undertake mandatory measures, such as carrying the report of pre-departure Covid-19 RT-PCR test taken within 72 hours before travel, and undergo Covid-19 RT-PCR test on arrival at any airport in India.

India has also made it mandatory for the UK nationals to go for 10-day quarantine at home or at the destination after arrival in India.

On the 8th day after their arrival, will have to take a second RT-PCR test.

According to reports, the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare and Civil Aviation have been asked to strictly enforce the new measures and adequate arrangements must be made at all international airports for this purpose.

Before issuing these mandatory Covid-19 restrictions for travellers from the UK, India had given a warning to UK authorities that it would be well within its rights to initiate reciprocal measures if the UK does not ease the new travel rules relating to Covid-19 vaccine certification for Indian nationals. T

The current row started when the UK government placed Indians, vaccinated with Covishield, in the category of "unvaccinated" and prescribed testing and quarantine measures but after India hinted that this might be reciprocated, the UK accepted Covishield but did not change the testing and quarantine rules.

In August, the UK announced 10-day mandatory quarantine for travellers arriving from India as it does not recognise the CoWin vaccination certificate. Indian authorities expressed their anguish against the decision. According to reports, while the decision was initially attributed to the exclusion of Covishield from the list of recognised vaccines in the UK, it was later clarified that the British authorities are concerned over the vaccine certification system in India.

With inputs from IANS
In a shocking incident, a 22-year-old female student who had steeped out after appearing for an exam was murdered inside the college campus in Kerala.

The victim, identified as Nidhina, a 3rd-year Food Processing Technology student of St. Thomas College in Pala was murdered by her classmate, Abhishek on Friday.

Facebook

What happened?

The two students had attended the exam and were leaving the campus when Abhishek suddenly pushed Nidhina to the ground and slit her throat with a paper cutter.

According to an eye witness, a guard of the college, he had rushed to the spot, assuming that it was a fight. But when he reached there Nidhina was lying in a pool of blood, while Abhishek stood there like nothing had happened.

As more staff and students rushed to the spot, the witness said Abhishek did not try to flee or resist them capturing him.

Indiatimes

In the meantime, Nidhina was rushed to a hospital where she was declared brought dead.

According to some classmates, Nidhina and Abhishek were in a relationship for more than two years, but nobody knew if and when it had strained.

The families of the two students also confirmed they were aware of the relationship and expressed shock that it took such a tragic turn.

Indiatimes

Abhishek later told the police that he had no intention to murder Nidhina and had carried the sharp object to cut his own vein in an attempt to scare her.

Abhishek also told the police that Nidhina had begun distancing herself from him and that he had suspected her of having an affair with someone else.
It's not often you see a rhino go up against a buffalo, but it did happen and it turned out to be a one-sided contest.

A safari tour guide was left stunned after witnessing an epic battle between two of the Africa savannahs biggest beasts - a rhino and a buffalo. Braden Colling was driving around Kariega Game Reserve in South Africa when he spotted a herd of buffalo looking agitated with a rhino.

Screengrab/YouTube

A video that is going viral, shows the intense moment a rhino and buffalo come face to face with each other. The clip shows a 2.5-tonne rhino appearing to be encroaching on the group of buffaloes.



The footage shows one buffalo break off from the herd to confront the much larger animal in an apparent ill-advised test of strength.



In what was always going to be a step too far for the buffalo, it was being toyed by the rhino. The rhino landed the final blow by using its horns to throw the animal up into the air and slam it down onto its side.

Badly defeated, the buffalo then ran back to the safety of the herd.

Screengrab/YouTube

"It was incredible. When I watched the bull flip the buffalo as easily as it did, it just blew my mind," Braden Colling was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.



"Fortunately neither of the animals had any injuries which was surprising because the buffalo was flipped head over heels," he added.
In popular culture, Udham Singh is known as the avenger of Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

He is known as the "patient assassin", who waited 21 years to avenge the death of the innocents by assassinating British administrator Michael ODwyer in 1940. Considering this, it is surprising that his presence in popular discourse has remained relatively limited.

Twitter/@varadadya

It is worth noting that while Reginald Dyer was the one who ordered the shooting at Jallianwala, Dwyer condoned his actions.



Early Life

Udham Singh was born on 26 December 1899, in the Sangrur district of Punjab. His birth name was Sher Singh. He had a very tough childhood as he lost his mother. While his father, Tehal Singh, decided to migrate to Amritsar to provide better education to his children, he too passed away soon.

He was then brought to the Khalsa orphanage in Amritsar when he was 5 and was had to self-sustain from an early age. At a time when Singh was growing up, Punjab was in deep political turmoil. The young boy grew up observing the intense political situations developing around him.

Beginnings

Singh joined the British Indian Army during the First World War as a manual labourer, serving overseas. It was after his return to India in 1919 that his life as a revolutionary began.

BCCL

It was also the time when popular resentment was making its way through against the British in Punjab, fueled by the discontent with the way British used to recruit soldiers and make them a part of their army.



There was also resentment on how they forced contributions of funds towards World War I. Apart from these two issues, the British government passed the 'Rowlatt Act', which solely came into power to extend and strengthen the repressive wartime measures.

Due to such a stringent and repressive Act, Mahatma Gandhi called for a nationwide protest. He received an immensely positive response from Punjab. This left the then British administration in Punjab, namely Lt. Governor Michael O'Dwyer absolutely panic-stricken.



As protest spread across Punjab and the majority of the population supported Gandhi's protest, it left the administration in a state of panic. To regain control and order in the state, the Governor handed the charge of the situation to Brigadier-General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer. The first thing Dyer did to uproot tensions, was ban public gatherings, which according to him accumulated mass protests and riots.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

The turning point in Udham Singh's life came on that fateful day of April 13, 1919. On the day of the Baisakhi festival (festival of harvest), about 20,000 unarmed men, women and children gathered at Amritsar's Jallianwala Bagh. Many of them had come from out of towns unaware of the ban on public gatherings. Singh and his friends were present at Jallianwala as the turnout celebrated the festival in an open space.

While the crowd gathered to celebrate the festival, General Dyer arrived with his troops, sealed the only exit to the park and opened fire without any warning on the unarmed crowd.



The crowd ran for their lives, but there was nowhere to go. Many people lost their lives in the horrific massacre, but according to the official tally, there were 400 killed and 1,200 injured. However, unofficial records claim the count to be a lot higher.

Singh was just 20 years old when he witnessed such brutality. This incident shaped his future as it made him a part of the armed resistance that was unfolding in and outside of India.



The fight against the British

The ghastly incident was a catalyst in turning him from a faceless member of Indias oppressed masses into a man who would strike one of the most dramatic blows against the empire.



In the two decades of political activism that followed  activism that spanned four continents and more than 20 countries  Singh took on different names and occupations.



In 1927, Singh who was highly influenced by Bhagat Singh was asked to head back to India to help out with the revolution back in the country. Upon returning he was imprisoned for four years for running the Ghadr party's radical publication 'Ghadr Di Gunj'.

Twitter/@janhvisgiggle

Even though Singh was released in 1931, he was under constant surveillance of the police because of his association with Bhagat Singh. He eventually escaped the surveillance and made his way to Germany to plan events for independence without any further intervention.



For years, he plotted his revenge against the perpetrators of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. All these years, he never forgot his eventual goal- the execution of Dwyer.

In March 1940, the moment finally came. He opened fire at Michael ODwyer in Caxton Hall in London, killing him on the spot. Singh was hanged four months later at Pentonville Prison and his mortal remains were handed over to India in 1974.
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Indian American actor Michael Maliakel (l) and Michael James Scott attend the Opening Night at Bloomingdales 59th Street celebration of NYC event Sept. 9, 2021 in New York City, while Indian American actor Shoba Narayan (right) attends the annual Make Equality Reality Gala hosted by Equality Now Nov. 19, 2019 in New York City. (Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Bloomingdales; Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Equality Now)
Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari along with his wife Kanchan Gadkari and Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways General Vijay Kumar Singh inspect the Z Morh Tunnel, in Sonamarg, Kashmir, Sept. 28, 2021. (ANI photo)
We now offer lithium prices and coverage free for reference. Click here to read all about it. Join our growing community of participants who want to learn more about electrification and how this market is developing.
MOSCOW (AP)  Russian authorities have arrested an executive of a top cyber-security company on the charges of high treason, a move that has sent shock waves through Russias business community.

A court in Moscow on Wednesday announced a ruling to place Ilya Sachkov, founder and CEO of the Group-IB, one of the leading cyber-security companies in Russia, in custody for two months pending investigation and trial.

The court didnt offer any details about the case against the executive as the case files have been classified, the Interfax news agency reported  as is typical with treason cases in Russia.

According to Russian media reports, Sachkov was arrested on Tuesday morning and the law enforcement raided the offices of Group-IB in Moscow. The company on Wednesday confirmed that the raid took place.

In a statement Wednesday, Group-IB said the companys employees were sure of their bosss innocence and honest business reputation. The company refused to comment on the accusations against Sachkov or details of the case, citing ongoing legal proceedings.

Russias state news agency Tass reported, citing anonymous sources, that Sachkov also insisted on his innocence. The agencys source alleged that Sachkov worked for foreign intelligence services and passed on cyber-security data that constitutes a state secret.

Sachkovs arrest on treason charges surprised many. Russias business ombudsman Boris Titov demanded that investigators explain themselves, given the caliber and the uniqueness of entrepreneur Sachkov for Russias entire IT industry.

If the authorities dont explain their case against Sachkov, a critical blow will be delivered to the sector and its investment appeal, Titov said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov argued Wednesday that Sachkovs case has nothing to do with (Russias) business or investment climate, because accusations (against him) are not connected to the economy, they are connected to treason.

Group-IB specializes in combating cyber attacks, online fraud and investigating high-tech cyber crimes. Top Russian banks and companies, including state-run ones, are among the companys clients.

Group-IB helped Russian authorities investigate cyber-fraud cases and is also said to be an official partner of the Interpol and Europol.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Cyber Russia
Howden, the international insurance broker, announced the acquisition of CHB Insurance Brokers (CHB), one of the pre-eminent property/casualty brokers in the Baltic region.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition represents Howdens first step into the Baltic market as it continues to build out its international platform and expand its retail operations across Europe to support both local and multi-national clients.

Howden Acquires Independent Italian Broker Andrea Scagliarini SpA Broker Howden Launches Retail Operation in Switzerland, with Aons Jenny as CEO

Led by Howden Finland, this acquisition reflects Howdens ongoing strategy to set up operations to serve clients across Europe. By building businesses and empowering local teams to partner with strategic, culturally aligned companies that embed specialisms across the distribution network, Howden said it will offer clients greater choice in the Baltic region.

The establishment of Howden Estonia follows the recent announcements of other start-ups in Italy and Switzerland, and a wave of talent joining Howden to drive growth in key markets, such as Luigi Sturani as CEO, Europe, Holger Schaefer as CEO, Germany and Jeroen Everling as CEO, Netherlands, Corporate.

Andry Saarm, chairman of the board, and Priit Helm, CEO, will continue to run the company. Former board member Evelin Parna continues as the head of CHBs Southern region, based in Parnu.

With this acquisition, Howden plans to expand its activities in the Baltic region, with Estonia as a springboard to access markets in Latvia and Lithuania, commented Jorma Hakonen, CEO and partner, Howden Finland Oy.

Since the founders of CHB  Saarm and Helm  are remaining with the company, clients will continue to enjoy the expertise, dedication and personal touch they have come to know, Hakonen added.

Partnering with Howden means we will have better access to new insurance products and new industries, enabling us to grow as part of an international insurance broker, said Saarm. This is a major cross-border transaction in the Estonian insurance market and provides us with the opportunity to meet the demands of companies in the region.

Source: Howden

Topics Mergers Agencies
The widow of a man who died last year after being struck by a car driven by South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has reached an out-of-court settlement after threatening a lawsuit, the two sides confirmed.

Ravnsborg pleaded no contest to a pair of traffic misdemeanors in the crash that killed Joseph Boever, who was walking alongside a rural highway late the night of Sept. 12, 2020. Ravnsborg was ordered to pay $500 fines on each charge, as well as court costs.

Matthew Tysdal, an attorney for Jenny Boever, and Mike Deaver, spokesman for Ravnsborg, confirmed the settlement but would not reveal any terms. Tysdal said neither he nor his client would have any further comment.

They have reached a settlement with the insurance company and Mr. Ravnsborg, Deaver told The Associated Press. It happened fairly quickly. So there wont be any kind of civil suits or anything else, as it was an accident.

Prosecutors said Ravnsborg was on his phone roughly a minute before the crash, but phone records showed it was locked at the moment of impact. Ravnsborg told investigators that the last thing he remembered before impact was turning off the radio and looking at his speedometer.

Republican Gov. Kristi Noem has repeatedly called for Ravnsborg to resign. The GOP-controlled Legislature will consider whether to try to impeach the Republican attorney general during a special session that starts Nov. 9.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics South Dakota
Defense company Northrop Grumman knew for more than a decade that chemicals from a site it owns near Missouris Springfield-Branson Airport were contaminating groundwater in surrounding property, according to a federal lawsuit filed Sept. 29.

The lawsuit claims Northrop Grumman, which is based in Virginia, did not notify residents their groundwater may be contain trichloroethylene, or TCE, which causes cancer.

The contamination came to light only after TCE was detected near the Fantastic Caverns tourist site near Springfield in 2018, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two Springfield families who said the contamination made their land and businesses worthless and led to health problems. Attorneys from Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane & Conway are seeking class action certification to represent other affected families.

Vic Beck, a spokesman for Northrop Grumman said the company had not yet seen the lawsuit. He said the company has worked closely with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the community for 20 years to address environmental concerns at the site.

The property was previously owned by Litton Industries, which used TCE to manufacture circuit boards. Northrup Grumman bought the site in 2001 and knew at the time about the contamination, according to the lawsuit.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Pollution Missouri Chemicals
The question is not whether the future of the insurance industry is bright.

Few industries are better positioned for outstanding growth over the next 15 years, insists Verisks Mark Anquillare.

Anquillare points to the giant global protection gap between what could be and what is insured. Less than half of the worldwide properties that could be insured against loss actually are. Among them are the many homes without flood insurance. He also points to new threats, such as cyber risks, that will continue to fuel demand for insurance.

So, he offers, the question should not be whether the future of insurance is bright. The question should be, who owns the future of insurance?

We are in an important fight for the future of our industry, he told viewers at the Verisk Elevate 2021 virtual conference.

3 Reasons the Insurance Industry Will Change a Lot Verisks Mark Anquillare is focused on where the industry might be 15 years from now, in the year 2036. He thinks it matters for everyone in the industry and for those who depend on the industry. It will change how you get to work, how you interact with policy holders, and how you adapt to changing conditions and requirements. Its highly likely that the insurance industry will change more in the next 15 years than it has in the previous 100, he told registrants at the Verisk Elevate 2021 virtual conference. Why will it change? While there are many reasons, he discussed three, each of which by itself could lead to profound disruption. The first is artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The speed of AI insights is ramping up and has the potential to accelerate at amazing speed in the very near future, he said. The second reason the insurance industry is rapidly changing is people. Our thinking has changed and will continue to change. And certainly the thinking of insurance customers is rapidly evolving. We may not fully realize how much weve changed in just short time, but it is clear that were now geared to expect and embrace change at a much more rapid pace than we were even a year ago. Third, people are not alone in changing. The global climate is changing also. Its now routine to hear that a years weather related to disasters is a broken record. Weve been talking about this for decades, but in many ways, we arent keeping up with those profound changes that are impacting our industry.

Anquillare, executive vice present and chief operating officer of Verisk, used the insurance industrys favorite tool  models  to look ahead 15 years to 2036. He obtained three possible scenarios that answer his ownership question.

I think the models point to possibilities that can be highly helpful for us to consider, that can help us prepare for the future and to also do our part in shaping it because the insurance industry itself has a very bright future, he said.

Scenario 1

His first model suggests that in the year 2036, the industry has been completely disrupted and the familiar insurance organizations are few, with most insurance players now being technology firms.

Long-standing companies that were centuries old have disappeared. In their place are a few survivors, some significantly weakened and one or two have thrived. The rest are new and their heritage isnt insurance, its technology or retail or automotive, is how he describes this scenario.

This future has already happened over the past several decades to once-thriving industries. Think about music, network TV, travel, telecommunications, taxi service, newspapers, postal service, he said.

In this future, nearly everything will be connected, contain smart technology, be mobile, produce data, and analyze in real time. He said this means insurance will be connected to vehicles, alarm systems, appliances, weather sensors, retailers, banks, energies, even building materials.

So the question is who will make those connections most efficiently, most effectively? The existing insurance industry or the tech companies? In short, were in a race.

In this first scenario, those who are first to develop a fully connected and integrated insurance ecosystem win the future insurance marketplace.

But not so fast. To get to this future, the tech whiz kids face considerable obstacles, according to Anquillare. These include the complexity of insurance, extensive regulation and consumer confidence.

Complexity is a double-edged sword and solving it with technology offers substantial benefits, he said.

He cited a recent Verisk-backed study in which a number of insurer chief information officers said they were still using Excel spreadsheets to make underwriting decisions and that it takes months to get new products to market. He said other studies have found that insurance CEOs are more likely than others to see the speed of technology change as a threat to growth. Also, they are concerned about shifts in consumer spending and behavior.

The second barrier for insurance industry disruptors is the heavy regulation the insurance industry faces. This is unfamiliar territory for tech companies. They have mostly enjoyed protections and immunities and been allowed to grow without a lot of oversight.

Its fairly clear that when they are faced with regulation, big tech isnt very adept at handling it, Anquillare observed.

That does not bode well because there are signs this regulatory honeymoon may be ending given the governments antitrust suit and lawmakers clamoring for repeal of social media firms immunity for their content contained in a federal communications law provision known as Section 230.

Anquillares final barrier to entry to the insurance industry is consumer confidence. This first model of tech winning the future assumes that big tech and startups succeed in convincing huge swaths of the population to dump venerable long-standing insurance companies and go with a company with very little prior insurance experience.

Anquillare notes that while consumer loyalty is a major strength for the insurance industry among the silent generation and many baby boomers, there are signs that loyalty is eroding among baby boomers and it appears weak among younger generations.

Generations who grew up with technology often trust technology providers more than they do original companies who built the industry, he said. It starts with customer experience and investing in design and layout. They target consumers by substantially simplifying existing complex experiences. An important part of that process is how the experience looks and feels.

Scenario 2

His second model describes an industry that fends off most of its disruptors and sees many incumbents adapting and surviving and retaining the trust of customers. With some exceptions, the attackers find insurance to be much more complex and difficult to crack than they expected. They also learned that without very careful management, its a highly effective way to lose a lot of money very quickly, he added.

This second model is much like the first in terms of the market pressures, changes in consumer attitudes, and other threats. But in this case, established insurance industry wins the race and builds a highly effective and ever-evolving insurance ecosystem, he said.

In this second scenario, many ambitious startups crashed and burned, while others succeeded. Similarly, some long-established companies couldnt change rapidly enough while others managed to change and become stronger than ever, with some uncovering new markets and ways of conducting business.

He made it evident that this second scenario is the one Verisk advocates and is working toward.

He said there are many reasons this second model could prove true.

One is the advantage of thoroughly knowing the industry, its strengths and its weaknesses.

One thing that the insurance industry understands perhaps better than others is how to respond to a challenge  in part because it deals with catastrophes. Adapting and responding quickly is in our DNA. Its literally built into the way we do business, Anquillare believes.

He cites as an example the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which Lloyds of London turned into an opportunity by paying all claims  more than a billion dollars in todays dollars and almost went broke in the process. The fear was the industry would pull back and make future insurance more difficult to get. But thats not how the industry responded. Instead, it started new practices still used today, more sophisticated risk transfer strategies, construction and neighborhood analysis, diversification using insurance discounts to encourage development of better buildings, use of models, and much more, the Verisk executive said.

Perhaps the most unforeseen consequence of that billion dollar expenditure more than 100 years ago was its sales power. It was perhaps the best marketing moment in the history of insurance as potential customers saw the devastation and how Lloyds kept the promises, he said. The demand for insurance soared and the industry entered a bright new era of growth and innovation.

He said what the industry did was more effectively adapt the insurance ecosystem, embrace productivity and open systems, and become a new kind of insurance industry that competes on tech and wins on insurance savvy. It utilizes automation to reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction. It makes its digital experience user-friendly. Its automated AI systems allow underwriters to fine tune portfolios and position companies to respond quickly to new markets, opportunities and threats.

In this scenario favored by Verisk, the insurance industry wins the race to reduce complexity and provide a customer experience that builds loyalty and at the same time, it builds digital trust with its use of technology.

Scenario 3

The third model points to a world that looks a lot like it does now. Not much in the industry changes, yet the pace of new technology continues.

This third scenario has its proponents, although Anquillare thinks their numbers may be dwindling.

This model represents those who downplay the threat of disruption and claim the fear is exaggerated. They note that the industry is still talking about the same threats it did 15 years ago.

In this model, it turns out that hundreds of years of refinement and experience are still solid and difficult to assail, he said.

This third model assumes the necessary changes are already happening and disruptors will be discouraged. Proponents of this model argue about the speed of change, not the reality of change and they tend to believe the industry has more time to adapt than the first two models suggest.

Since the industry is already evolving, they suggest there is no need to rethink the model that has worked for hundreds of years, he said.

Some in this camp have concerns about too much data and connectedness and wonder when too much information becomes synonymous with no information.

He said Verisk is committed to working to build the second model. And he believes much of that scenario is already here and much more is on the way. Also, while there are some problems with data, he says they are being solved.

We are in a race to build a better insurance ecosystem, he said.

I firmly believe the insurance industry controls its own destiny.

Topics Trends Market
A federal judge on Thursday rejected Wells Fargo & Co.s bid to dismiss a lawsuit claiming it defrauded shareholders about its ability to rebound from five years of scandals over its treatment of customers.

The fourth-largest U.S. bank has operated since 2018 under consent orders from the Federal Reserve and two other U.S. financial regulators to improve governance and oversight, with the Fed also capping Wells Fargos assets.

Shareholders said bank officials falsely claimed in TV interviews, analyst calls and congressional testimony that the bank was mending its ways, when regulators actually viewed its progress as deficient and unacceptable.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan said the shareholders plausibly alleged that some statements by various bank officials, including former Chief Executive Tim Sloan, were deliberately or recklessly false or misleading.

According to shareholders, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo lost more than $54 billion of market value as the truth was gradually revealed over a two-year period ending in March 2020.

Woods also dismissed claims against current Chief Executive Charles Scharf, saying he was not culpable for the challenged claims.

The scandals prompted Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to shed nearly all of its 10% stake in the bank.

We will continue to vigorously defend the litigation and strongly disagree with the claims, Wells Fargo said in an emailed statement.

Lawyers for Sloan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The decision is a setback for Wells Fargos rebound from revelations including that it opened about 3.5 million accounts without customer permission, and charged hundreds of thousands of borrowers for auto insurance they did not need.

Wells Fargo has paid more than $5 billion in fines, and the Feds $1.95 trillion asset cap restricts the banks growth.

Sloan stepped down abruptly as chief executive after 2-1/2 years in March 2019. One year later, Wells Fargo canceled a $15 million bonus for him.

In his 61-page decision, Woods did not decide whether bank officials intended to defraud shareholders.

But he said it would have been nearly impossible for Sloan to be unaware of the regulators criticisms.

Based on the facts on the ground, Mr. Sloan knew or, more importantly, should have known that he was misrepresenting material facts related to the corporation, Woods wrote.

The shareholders are led by the state of Rhode Island, and pension funds in Louisiana, Mississippi and Sweden.

Their lawyer Steven Toll said he was pleased they can sue over the vast majority of the alleged fraudulent statements.

The case is In re Wells Fargo & Co Securities Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-04494.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Aurora Ellis and Cynthia Osterman)

Topics Legislation Claims Fraud
Eight people, including four firefighters, were injured on morning of Sept. 29 in an explosion at an apartment complex in south Dallas, authorities said.

Three of the firefighters were critically injured.

Firefighters were investigating a report of a natural gas leak at the two-story complex and had reported smelling gas just before the explosion partially collapsed the building, Dallas Fire Rescue said in a statement.

Besides the three firefighters listed in critical condition, a fourth firefighter and four civilians were hospitalized in stable condition, according to the statement. All occupants of the units involved were accounted for, it said.

The cause of the blast was not immediately determined and remained under investigation.

The building where the explosion occurred had 10 units and all of the residents were accounted for, authorities said. The structure itself was torn down later on Sept. 29 because of safety issues and an investigation into the cause of the blast was ongoing.

Dallas Fire Rescue said natural gas was shut off for the entire complex because of the investigation and that displaced about 300 people. All buildings will be inspected in the complex before the residents return.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A Houston businessman has been sentenced to prison for an insurance fraud scheme and ordered to pay more than $1.8 million in restitution, federal officials say.

According to Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei for the Eastern District of Texas, Robert Lance Kuperman, 74, pleaded guilty on March 22, 2021, to interstate transportation of money by fraud. He was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Thad Heartfield and ordered to pay over $1.8 million in restitution.

According to information presented in court, Kuperman purchased a home on Lake Livingston in Polk County in 2013. In July 2015, he submitted an insurance claim related to water damage to the house that he said was caused by a defective water heater. As part of the claim, Kuperman submitted fraudulent documentation supporting his claim for out-of-pocket costs associated with what he represented was his replacement of personal property destroyed by the water leak.

Based on Kupermans fraudulent claims, American Strategic Insurance Company issued a series of checks, made payable to Kuperman totaling $412,836.12. As part of the sentence, Kuperman was ordered to repay not only the $412,836.12 to American Strategic Insurance Company, but an additional $1,445,000.00 in restitution to RSUI Indemnity Group for conduct deemed relevant to the offense, for a total of $1,857,836.24 in restitution and an additional fine of $80,000.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Polk County Sheriffs Office and the Texas State Fire Marshals Office. The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Tommy L. Coleman and Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald S. Carter.

Source: U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Texas

Topics Fraud
As Citizens Property Insurance, Floridas state-created insurer of last resort, works to reduce its exposure, officials there may take heart from three court rulings handed down this week. A fourth decision, however, could end up costing the insurer significantly.

In Maria Muguercia v. Citizens, Floridas 3rd District Court of Appeal affirmed a Miami-Dade County Circuit Court decision. The court held that the insurer had produced sufficient evidence to show that certain types of property damage were excluded from the policy, and the policyholder did not prove otherwise.

In a closely watched assignment-of-benefits case, Union Restoration vs. Citizens, the court found that a questionable document did not divert insurance payments to the construction firm. Union Restoration, like hundreds of restoration firms have done in Florida in recent years, had filed suit against the insurer after Citizens refused to pay directly to the contractor.

The appeals court affirmed a Miami-Dade Circuit Court decision and noted that a Union principal had altered the written assignment by changing the date of the claimed loss, changing the number of the claim several times, and adding the insureds initials to the alterations.

Under the circumstances, we have no difficulty in upholding the summary judgment for Citizens, appeals court Judge Thomas Logue wrote in the opinion.

In another ruling, the appeal court affirmed the lower court ruling in favor of Citizens, in Danay Rivero vs. Citizens. The courts per curiam decision did not go into detail about the case.

In a fourth decision, however, the court did not see things Citizens way in a $112,000 claim. The case examines the simmering issue of insurance adjuster versus public adjuster.

In 2015, the Miami-area homeowners, Odalys Alvarez and Jorge Garcia, found a leak in a water supply line and filed a claim with Citizens, the courts opinion explained. The Citizens adjuster maintained that the damage was limited to little more than a few floor tiles and paid the insureds about $7,100.

The homeowners hired a public adjuster and engineer, who performed a tapping test on floor tile throughout the house. Based on the hollow sound, he concluded that many tiles had debonded or loosened from the concrete slab and needed replacing. The homeowners filed a subsequent claim for $111,600.

Citizens denied the claim and the insureds filed suit for breach of contract. Citizens challenged some of the engineers conclusions, and the trial court in Miami-Dade County granted summary judgment in Citizens favor.

The court of appeal noted that the engineer in the case was the same one whose reports had been largely discredited in a 2019 case in Miami. In Gonzalez vs. Citizens, concerning a roof leak, it was shown that the engineer, Alfredo Brizuela, had made the bald assertion that the roof damage was from a windstorm, but he had never inspected the property, appeal court Judge Edwin Scales wrote.

While we recognize in the instant case that there might be inconsistencies in Brizuelas affidavit and deposition testimony that undermine his conclusions, we also recognize that, unlike in Gonzalez, there is a fact-based rationale to Brizuelas opinion: the hollow sound from a tapping test that might indicate tile porousness and debondment, Scales wrote. Citizens argued that most of the floor tiles did not show other signs of being loose or damaged.

Citizens had not addressed the debondment issue at the trial court level but raised other questions that placed the parties evidence in conflict. The trial court weighed the evidence but did not determine whether a genuine issue of material fact existed, the DCA found.

The appeal court reversed and remanded to Miami-Dade Circuit Court for further proceedings.

Citizens, created by the Florida Legislature in 2002, has seen the number of policyholders balloon in recent years, as private carriers have abandoned the state or have raised premiums. With policyholders expected to top one million next year, up from 487,000 a year ago, the corporation has been trying to depopulate its rolls, reduce claims and reduce exposure before another major hurricane hits, officials have said.

Topics Florida Claims
A lawsuit accuses the Catholic Diocese of Nashville of failing to protect a minor child from sexual abuse by an employee at a Murfreesboro church.

The suit filed in Circuit Court in Nashville claims the diocese received multiple warnings from parishioners and employees at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church that Michael Lewis had an inappropriate relationship with the plaintiff, who filed the lawsuit under the pseudonym of Jane Doe. Doe says the abuse began in 2014 when she was 13 years old and continued until 2017, when her family cut off contact with Lewis for what the lawsuit says was his controlling behavior.

Several months before that, a parishioner who was also a licensed clinical psychologist had written to then-Bishop David Choby expressing concerns about the relationship between Lewis, then the churchs director of religious education, and the girl.

In response, Lewis was given a letter from the diocesean attorney instructing him to follow diocesan safe environment policies and follow professional standards set forth in the Dioceses code of conduct, according to the lawsuit. Lewis refused to sign and resigned his positioin instead, the lawsuit states.

The diocese issued a statement on the lawsuit, saying it would in inappropriate to respond before the dioceses attorneys had a chance to review it.

We encourage everyone who suspects that abuse is taking place to report it to civil authorities, and we pray for everyone involved in this matter, it states.

The suit claims that the letter from the psychologist was just one of many warnings the diocese had about Lewis behavior. For example, in 2014 a parish employee examined Lewis diocese-issued cell phone and found he exchanged numerous text messages and pictures with the girl, according to the lawsuit. These exchanges were often lengthy and some occurred late at night, it added.

In response, according to the lawsuit, the parish priest met with Lewis, his wife, and his mother. They told the priest that Lewis loved the plaintiff and wanted to help her, and that she was like family, the lawsuit states. No further action was taken.

Twice, Lewis met with a coordinator for the dioceses Safe Environment Program, which is supposed to help protect children from abuse, according to the suit. It said the coordinator warned Lewis that he was not allowed to be alone with the girl.

Lewis responded by saying he would do what he wanted and he loved Plaintiff like a daughter, according to the lawsuit. No further action was taken, the suit states.

The girl did not fully understand that she had been abused by Lewis until 2019, according to the lawsuit. She filed a police report accusing Lewis of rape and sexual assault in January 2020. He was indicted in June on 10 counts of statutory rape by an authority figure and four counts of sexual battery by an authority figure, all felony counts, The Tennessean has reported. Trial is scheduled for next February.

Lewis attorney did not immediately respond to an email sent late on Wednesday.

It was not until September 2020 that a former parish employee informed Doe of the many letters of concern for her welfare the parish had received.

The lawsuit claims Doe experienced anxiety and panic attacks and has ongoing emotional problems stemming from the abuse she suffered. It seeks a jury trial and damages of an unspecified amount.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Abuse Molestation Church
General Motors Co.s Cruise and Alphabet Inc.s Waymo self-driving car subsidiaries on Thursday became the first companies to receive autonomous vehicle permits to offer rides to passengers in California.

Cruise has obtained a permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to offer driverless rides to passengers at night in some parts of San Francisco, and Waymo has won a permit from the regulator to deploy autonomous vehicles with safety drivers behind the wheel.

The DMV said it would allow commercial service for the companies, but said they would need to obtain another permit from the California Public Utilities Commission to start charging passengers for rides.

Another company, Nuro, last year received a California self-driving deployment permit, but that was for delivery of goods, not passenger rides.

The California DMV said the new permit would allow Cruise to operate its vehicles within designated parts of San Francisco between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at a maximum speed limit of 30 miles per hour.

Waymo vehicles which have safety drivers behind the wheel are approved to operate on public roads within parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties with a speed limit of no more than 65 mph, the DMV said.

The two companies have ramped up testing in San Francisco, with Cruise using GMs electric Bolt EV vehicles and Waymo running Jaguar all-electric Jaguar I-PACE SUVs.

Waymo started public testing in San Francisco in August, with a backup driver behind the wheel. Waymo has given paid, driverless rides hailed through its app in limited suburban areas in Arizona.

Waymo tweeted on Thursday that its new permit will help us build on our efforts to bring our AV technology to many more CA residents.

Self-driving startups are scurrying to commercialize the expensive technology and raise fresh funds, after missing their earlier deadlines for deployment, hampered by technological hurdles.

Cruise, which also counts Softbank and Honda as investors, earlier this year raised a fresh $2.75 billion from investors like Walmart Inc while Waymo has raised $2.5 billion this year.

Reuters in May reported that Cruise and Waymo had earlier this year applied for approval from the California DMV to deploy their self-driving vehicles in San Francisco, setting the stage for the biggest tests yet of the technology in a dense urban environment.

(Reporting by Jin, Lee and Dave in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson and Matthew Lewis)

Related:

Topics California
Federal watchdogs are suing Portland, Ore.-based Viewpoint Construction Software and its recruiting firm CampusPoint Corp., alleging they refused to hire a job applicant who is deaf.

Viewpoint makes software that construction firms use to plan and manage large projects. It sold to California company Trimble for $1.2 billion in 2018 but continues to operate under the Viewpoint name, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges a man named Indigo Matthew applied to work as a Viewpoint product and pricing analyst in 2018. Matthew has substantial hearing loss but passed an initial screening from both companies, according to the lawsuit.

While one interview was done with help from a video relay service, and Matthew said he can read lips in individual meetings, the lawsuit says he requested an American Sign Language interpreter for his group interview.

According to the EEOC, Viewpoint and CampusPoint refused to pay for that and erroneously assumed that Matthew would need a full-time interpreter if he was hired for the analyst position.

Viewpoint rejected Matthews application and he was unable to get them to reconsider, according to the EEOC.

Neither Viewpoint nor CampusPoint responded to requests for comment from the newspaper

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Portland Tuesday, seeks an injunction to block Viewpoint and CampusPoint from discriminating against job applicants and pay Matthew for lost compensation and unspecified punitive damages.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Oregon
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Read our full Opinion Policies here. Updated on 10/7/2020
Many top directors of Irish companies believe the overhaul of global tax will erode Irelands competitiveness and are urging the Government to focus on boosting broadband, housing, and energy supply rather than fuel consumption in the budget.

The survey of Irelands top bosses, carried out by the Institute of Directors (IoD), also found most directors believe it unlikely that the outcome of the tax reform talks, led by the Organisation for Cooperation and Development, will allow Ireland, along with other similar small countries, to keep corporation tax rates unchanged.
Bringing human life into the world has never been an easy task, and no one expects it to be. Over generations, the process has been helped by advancements in medical care, advancements that have eased the path for countless women and their babies.

In Ireland antenatal care is generally very thorough, appointments are held on a regular basis, there is no charge unless you choose a private option, your health is monitored, your urine examined, and your blood pressure taken with increasing regularity as your pregnancy progresses.

Ultrasounds give expectant parents a glimpse into what was once a mysterious internal world, you get to see your baby grow and expand as the weeks pass and the belly swells. But then a curious thing happens, after a woman gives birth, no matter what the circumstances, there is very little care given to her.

During labour a womens body is stretched and contorted and often sliced, leaving it battered for weeks and months, but there are no weekly appointments anymore, just one visit to a doctor at six weeks post birth and a visit from a public health nurse.

Women attend the six-week appointment alongside their baby. In my case, when visiting the GP after the baby was stripped, weighed and tested, she was howling. My examination consisted of a quick glance at the healing stitches and an even quicker 'are you coping ok?'. At which point all I could think of was getting the baby relaxed and feed.

In the weeks after this appointment, I had to return to a GP numerous times with repeated infections and complications and was given a referral letter for a gynaecologist and round after round of antibiotics. Hospital waiting lists were considerable so I began to search for a gynaecologist online. I called numerous friends looking for recommendations, but everywhere I called was booked up.

At a time when day blurs into night and you are subsumed with caring for a newborn and trying to heal, it is draining and exasperating to be left scrambling for care. Only after further enquiries at The National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, where I gave birth to my daughter in May, was I admitted to the Poppy Clinic. It was here that I first felt listened to and this simple fact made all the difference in my recovery.

While there I was treated for a build-up of scar tissue due to an episiotomy, a simple laser procedure removed the tissue and stopped the repeated infection from returning. I have since been given a series of exercises to aid prolapse and received follow-up phone consultations as well as hospital appointments.

Debrief following a traumatic birth

While at the clinic I also received a debrief, or what hospitals in Britain often call a birth-reflection service for those who experienced a traumatic birth. In my case the instrumental delivery was difficult, and it led to complications and further surgery immediately after the birth. I found the debrief cathartic.

The midwife sat with me for over an hour and had all my records to hand. I was able to ask why decisions were made, when they were made, and why things unfolded as they did. It all made much more sense and gave me a clearer perspective of what had happened in the labour ward. I came away reassured, with less lingering doubt about choices or events on the day.

I have since learned that this is the only hospital clinic in Ireland that deals with post-birth care for women. According to Holles Street advanced nurse practitioner Caroline Brophy the clinic was set up after the hospital identified that there was nowhere specific to send women who experienced complications during childbirth or in the days and weeks after giving birth.

A recent report has stated that clinics of this kind are an essential element of maternity care. However, Dr Laoise OBrien, who practises in the Poppy Clinic is the only doctor in the country specialising in post-birth care for women. This is shocking when you realise that more than 50,000 women give birth each year, many suffering trauma, physical and mental.

"The value of the service for women at such a vulnerable time in their lives cannot be underestimated," says Dr O'Brien. "Prior to the clinic, these women presented to A&E, GPs or gynaecological services, whereas the clinic offers a dedicated service where women can access compassionate care.

In my experience the clinic was invaluable, However, according to Brophy, there is very little research in the area or very little appetite among doctors to enter the space. There is also a lack of knowledge of the clinics existence among GPs who refer women to gynaecology departments, where waiting lists are considerable, or to the physiotherapy department where they are longer.

Michelle Darmody Picture: Moya Nolan

Dark history of not listening to women

When I asked why the care of women post-birth is so poor, I was told by midwives in the clinic it is because women do not complain.

Ireland has a dark history of not listening to women and diminishing their health problems. Dr Gabriel Scally annotated this in his 2018 scoping inquiry into CervicalCheck, documenting the silencing of the women who had been affected and the heartbreak that ensued.

There is a similar feeling of despair when you read about the treatment of those who were taken to mother and baby homes, or the use of symphysiotomy in Irish hospitals for longer and more often than in any other European country. All of these seem like points on a continuum, aspects of the same devastating story repeated again and again. In the past year, we have also witnessed women in distress pleading over and over for their partners to be allowed to accompany them to maternity appointments.

We have managed to make improvements in our antenatal system and in follow-on care for newborn babies. However, the thousands of women who following childbirth have trouble defecating, endure urinary incontinence, suffer damage to their perineum, or experience pain when having sex, often go unchecked. In the absence of postpartum care, many women suffer these conditions in silence and suffer for years, which can lead to more severe gynaecological complications or difficulty returning to the workforce.

Postpartum depression and trauma can worsen when a woman does not know where to turn for help or does not feel listened to when she does find an outlet. The lack of funding or the dire lack of specific clinics means that GPs hands are often tied.

Fourth trimester of care

Brophy suggests establishing a universal community midwife system, one where specialised midwives visit womens homes for postpartum care. This is mentioned in our National Maternity Strategy but is not yet available to the majority of new mothers in Ireland.

Staff in the Poppy Clinic also advocate for a fourth trimester of care. This is a term used to describe the 12 weeks post-birth, a period when women could receive support, helping them transition into motherhood. As Brophy says, it is also a time when many health issues that later plague women could be caught and treated.

If you have been affected by lack of post-birth care or would like to see the situation improve, for any reason you could send a submission to the National Women and Infants Health Programme (nwihp.corporate@hse.ie), calling for the implementation of a national community midwives system and for increased funds for clinics to support the care for women in the weeks and months after they have a child.

It is time that Irish women started to complain, in fact, to shout out and demand that the care they receive is as consistent after their childs birth as it was before, mother and baby need to be well for both to thrive.
Retail staff, cashiers and checkout operators were the most likely occupations to contract Covid-19 during the second and third wave of the pandemic, according to a new analysis by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

In the first wave, meanwhile, it was nurses and midwives who were most at risk of catching the virus.

On Friday, the CSO published an analysis  using 2016 census data  of the three waves of Covid-19 from March 2020 until May 2021.

Sales and retail assistants, cashiers and checkout operators were the personnel most likely to contract COVID-19 in waves two and threehttps://t.co/Y0Gsunq09q #CSOIreland #Ireland #COVIDIreland #Health #SocialImpact pic.twitter.com/v8o8Qn4lHa  Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) October 1, 2021

It found employees in the health and social work sector were hardest hit in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, making up 60% of cases amongst those employed in April 2020.

However, as society reopened after the first lockdown in summer 2020, the proportion of cases among those employed in the wholesale and retail trade sector increased from 5% in July 2020 to 17% in August 2020 and have remained consistently at this level since.

In all waves, non-manual workers (22%-23%) were the socio-economic group with the highest proportion of Covid-19 cases.

Steven Conroy, a statistician with the CSO, said the age profile of cases also differed between waves.

We can see that the profile of cases changed from the first wave, where cases were concentrated more in older age groups and in Dublin, to the second and third waves, where younger age groups were more likely to be infected and the cases were spread around the rest of the country, he added.

People with Covid-19 more likely to be female

People with Covid-19 are more likely to be female, with the largest difference in wave one when 54% of cases were female, the analysis found.

The proportion of cases which were people aged 0-14 and 15-24 increased dramatically between waves one and two and then dropped slightly in wave three.

The opposite pattern can be seen for people aged 65 and over, who made up 26% of cases in wave one but just 9% in wave two and 11% in wave three.

Mr Conroy said the extent to which affluent or disadvantaged areas were affected by the virus also varied between waves.

Rates [of infection] were higher in the most affluent areas in wave one, with a rate of 655 per 100,000 population in the most affluent quintile compared with 499 in the most deprived, Mr Conroy said.

This pattern reversed in wave two, with a rate of 781 in the most affluent quintile compared with 1,055 in the most deprived."

He added: "By wave three, the rates were similar in the most affluent quintile (3,907) and the most deprived (3,874).

In wave three, 89% of cases were Irish nationals, 86% were white Irish and 85% were born in Ireland.

Overcrowded homes, where there is more than one person per room, accounted for 8% of households with a confirmed case in wave three compared to 19% in wave one.

The average number of people per household affected by Covid-19 increased across the waves, rising from 3.7 in wave one to 4.6 in wave three.

About 67% of all confirmed cases during the analysed timeframe were in family units with at least one child, the CSO found.

The percentage of cases in single people rose between the first and third wave, from 44% to 47%, while other marital statuses remained consistent.

There was a drop in cases among married or cohabiting couples with children from 54% in wave one to 49% in wave three, while cases among married or cohabiting couples without children rose from 13% to 25% during the same time period.

With regard to the health of Covid patients, 86% of matched cases in wave one said they were in good or very good general health in Census 2016 compared with 91% in wave three.

Some 16% of people confirmed with Covid-19 reported having a disability.

One in five, or 21%, of those with a disability with Covid-19 lived in a communal setting in the first wave compared to just 6% and 8% in wave two and three.
She was a great human being, she wasnt just my wife, she was my best friend, said the husband of a woman who died hours after giving birth last year in Mayo.

When Ayaz Ul Hassan shares memories of his wife Nayyab Tariq, his voice lightens and the happiness they shared through seven years of love and marriage shines through his grief.

Already committed to working with the hospital to ensure this cannot happen to someone else, he wants now to remember Nayyab as she lived.

Generous, brave, friendly, always bringing people with her whether the adventure was living in Mayo after moving from Pakistan, studying in Cork or trying fish and chips for the first time at Dinos in Kinsale.

He laughs as he remembers her face when she bit into the battered fish.

Shes so used to spicy foods, he said in comparison to the plainer meal. But she ate it all, and about a month later she said she felt like having that fish and chips again.

Nayyab and Ayaz: 'We clicked straightaway, and we never looked back after that.'

It became a regular treat, with trips to Roosters Peri Peri in Douglas for spicier fare.

Ayaz had lived in Mayo since 2002 with his family when he met Nayyab in Pakistan through their parents.

When she was in the room, she would light up the room, thats what her personality was and you could talk to her about anything, he said.

She could adapt herself to the atmosphere around her and her sense of humour was great. That was something, we got each others sense of humour.

He paused and said simply: We clicked straightaway, and we never looked back after that.

The couple married in February 2017, and from the moment she arrived in Ireland one year later after the long visa process, their adventures began.

She was a very sociable person, she would go out and make sure people knew she was there in a nice way, he said.

She was always socialising and networking here.

Ayaz was working in Cork by then. But the couple decided with the crazy rental prices in the city, Nayyab would live with his family and he would search for a job closer to Mayo.

Nayyab and Ayaz at a friend's wedding in Sligo.

She moved here and in a couple of weeks, she was saying I want to work, he said, laughing again.

She had so many friends in Ballyhaunis. Everyone here welcomed her with open arms, it was like family. She felt like she belonged here.

Nayyab, a microbiologist in Lahore with their shared passion for science another bond, took on a biopharma processing course in University College Cork to help with her job-search.

For a couple of months she would stay with me in Cork. Id drop her to UCC and pick her up, we would go for dinner, he says, remembering something so normal they took it for granted, never thinking it could disappear.

Nayyab and Ayaz in Bundoran, Co Donegal: 'There were a few more places we wanted to see in 2019 but it was coming into the winter then, we thought we had better wait till the next summer. But we never got the chance.'

They visited Kerry, Donegal, Sligo and climbed Croagh Patrick with his brother. Ayaz confesses he hadn't told her exactly how steep Croagh Patrick is, and said even the bags of Taytos and chocolate he produced at the top couldnt get him out of trouble.

There were a few more places we wanted to see in 2019 but it was coming into the winter then, we thought we had better wait till the next summer, he said. But we never got the chance.

Shortly before Nayyab graduated in October 2019, Ayaz got a job near Ballyhaunis and they turned their eyes to the future, to planning a family together.

Nayyab has two older brothers and a younger sister in Lahore  she knew from playing with their children she was ready to be a mother.

She adored children, we were so excited, he said.

They went into hospital on March 22, 2020, carrying one blue and one pink blanket, ready to love whoever came to them.

But instead, he said: Never for a moment did I expect that we would go into hospital to have a baby, and that those would be the last moments with my wife.

After three days at the inquest into her death which returned a verdict of medical misadventure, Ayaz told the Irish Examiner: It was difficult but I needed to hold myself together for Nayyab, I needed to be strong for my daughter.

It wasnt easy and it is not something that anyone should have to go through. Its about findings and learnings now, its all about the learnings.

Discussing the high standard of medical care in Ireland, he said: We should be able to handle scenarios like this. Its not like this is the first case that happened like this.

Friends now with Sean Rowlette, who lost his wife Sally in similar circumstances, and supported by the family of Tracey Campbell-Fitzpatrick who also died after giving birth, Ayaz is acutely aware mistakes can be repeated.

I have made a request to the hospital that I would like to be involved in the implementation and everything they are doing to stop this from happening again, he said, with determination in his voice.

That is something I am going to do.
Revenue officers stopped a man arriving into Dublin Airport on Wednesday and discovered a large amount of tablets in his possession.

Gardai were called to assist Revenue Customs at the airport following the search of a male passenger at around 11.45pm.
A director of Dublin-based homeless charity Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) wants the court to appoint an inspector to investigate the affairs of the charity and report on its operations and future.

Ann Birney said extremely serious allegations have been made against the companys former CEO - Anthony Flynn  and the charity is in a perilous and untenable position.

At this juncture nothing has been proven, however, the reputation of the company is in tatters, she said in an affidavit.

I believe that the good work and important services done by the company should continue to be provided for the benefit of vulnerable people but that will not be possible unless its reputation can be clarified by a full investigation and recommendations made as to its future.

Paul McGarry SC, with Ross Gorman BL, for ICHH, secured liberty from Mr Justice Michael Quinn on Friday to issue a motion seeking the appointment, under section 747 of the Companies Act, of Remy Farrell SC as inspector. The judge returned the matter to October 14.

Mr McGarry said the matter has a degree of urgency, the charity had been subject to a lot of media coverage and comment over the summer and there had been significant changes at the top.

He said the Act requires the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) to be put on notice of the application for an inspector, under the Companies Act, and his side had written to the ODCE on Monday last. The charities regulator would also be formally notified of the application, counsel added.

The application, for appointment of the inspector to ICCH Ltd, follows controversy over sexual assault allegations made against Mr Flynn. Mr Flynn, who died last August, had been under investigation by gardai in relation to two alleged sexual assaults. In recent weeks, another two men claimed they had also been sexually assaulted by him.

Mr Flynn was a founder of the ICHH and an Independent councillor on Dublin City Council.

Ms Birney's affidavit

In her affidavit, Ms Birney, of The Beeches, Grange Road, Dublin 13, said the ICHH company was incorporated in March 2014 and had traded without much controversy until the situation changed dramatically about July 2021.

She wanted to make clear, before setting out what has happened, she has had regard to the fact there is an ongoing Garda investigation into the affairs of the company and had no wish to jeopardise that by anything she might say in the affidavit.

She said the companys former chairman David Hall had produced a detailed report setting out what has happened at the company since July 2021 and a significant amount of the factual matters set out in her affidavit were derived from his report.

The charities regulator had written to the company and board on July 30 last asking whether they were aware of any complaints of sexual exploitation of vulnerable homeless women being made against any staff, volunteers or anyone associated with the charity, she said.

That prompted various discussions between the directors, Mr Hall and Mr Flynn. The latter also had a meeting with the staff about the regulators letter.

At a board meeting on August 4, Mr Flynn had assured the board that no complaints of inappropriate behaviour, or complaints about the sexual exploitation of vulnerable homeless women had been made, she said. A letter to that effect was sent to the regulator by Mr Hall, having first been agreed by the board, on August 5.

The companys former chairman David Hall had produced a detailed report setting out what has happened at the company since July 2021 File photo: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

On the same day, the CEO and Mr Hall received an email from the person making the allegations the regulator had referred to in his letter, she said. The email made serious allegations against an individual and indicated gardai were investigating the complaint. The email was copied to the regulator, the Dublin Homeless Executive and the HSE.

Ms Birney said she understood there was then a call between Mr Hall and the CEO during which she understood Mr Flynn again denied any knowledge of an investigation. Mr Hall on August 6 called the gardai and asked to speak to somebody about the allegations that had been made, she said. Mr Hall was informed by a Detective Sergeant on August 7 complaints had been made against the then-CEO and the Sgt sought certain information from the company.

Mr Hall had then written to Mr Flynn suspending him following the non-disclosure of the allegations made against him and Mr Hall also sought legal advice. On August 8, Mr Flynn had said he was stepping back from the company.

Mr Hall took further steps, including updating the charities regulator about what had transpired and engaging with gardai and the board. A board meeting on August 17 resolved to appoint external lawyers and to request Remy Farrell SC to commence an investigation. Prior to that, on August 12, the charity was getting requests for information from media.

On August 18, Ms Birney said she was informed Mr Flynn had died in tragic circumstances. Mr Hall had later in August made a further statement to gardai and handed over certain information requested by them. Mr Hall resigned from the company on August 26.

'Untenable position'

Ms Birney said several other board members have resigned, by the end of last week she was potentially the only director left but Mr Peter Watson has agreed, in the interim, to continue to act as a director.

The company is in an untenable position with no executive directors or a standing chairman. It also has a significant amount of money in its bank account.

She is anxious to ensure a comprehensive investigation is carried out into the companys affairs which will either restore confidence in or make clear it ought to cease trading.

While Mr Farrell has been appointed by the company to carry out an investigation, the reality is that will be seen as an internal matter with limited powers, she said. The appointment of a statutory inspector will ensure that a proper and thorough investigation is carried out.
IT describes itself as one of the worlds leading general medical journals, published weekly in England since 1823, and The Lancet does indeed carry great weight around the globe which is why its latest cover is so disturbing.

Released on social media, it was plain white with just a quote in the middle of the page: Historically, the anatomy and physiology of bodies with vaginas have been neglected, it stated. Underneath that posting on Twitter was the tagline: Our new issue is here. On the cover Periods on display and the cultural movement against menstrual shame and #PeriodPoverty.

It all related to an article inside  including that quote on bodies with vaginas  that examined an exhibition that explored the taboos of periods and their history at the Vagina Museum in London.

The responses poured in, well over 7,000 at last count, so many of them strongly critical.

Two days later there was the sorry if you were offended statement from Lancet editor-in-chief Richard Horton. He understood the strength of feeling it had provoked, stating the journal strives for maximum inclusivity of all people in its vision for advancing health.

In this instance, we have conveyed the impression that we have dehumanised and marginalised women, he wrote as part of a longer statement.

Our new issue is here! On the cover'Periods on display' and the cultural movement against menstrual shame and #PeriodPoverty.



Plus, @WHO air quality guidelines, low #BackPain management, community-acquired bacterial #meningitis, and more. Read: https://t.co/eP1Lx7D116 pic.twitter.com/DchfiHnYEs  The Lancet (@TheLancet) September 24, 2021

Is there irony, or not, in a leading medical journal using terminology on its cover that could be found in the lexicon of fictional serial killers of women, serving to only further dehumanise women who so frequently have poor experiences of the health services.

Around the same time the leader of the British Labour Party, Keir Starmer, responded to a question from a BBC interviewer that one of his partys MPs was wrong to say that only women have a cervix. He was speaking about comments made by Labour Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield.

Starmer said that it is something that shouldnt be said and it is not right. Duffield opted not to attend the Labour Partys annual conference this week, following

online threats.

The Labour leader added there needed to be a mature, respectful debate about trans rights and that we needed to bear in mind that the trans community were amongst the most marginalised and abused communities.

Given the current mood music around that particular subject, he has two chances of a mature debate happening  slim and nil.

The fact that an elected member of his party chose to stay away from the party conference says so much about where things are at. Where you stand on what the MP said really does depend on your perspective and your ideology.

Also in the UK recently, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust introduced terms such as birthing parents and human milk rather than referring to mothers and breast milk.

The new terms are to be used when discussing pregnancy, birth, and parenting in literature, at meetings, and in general communications, although not in a one-on-one scenario. It was described as gender-inclusive language. In plain English, what it is is utter daftness.

In recent months here, when highlighting Covid-related restricted access to maternity hospitals some people, including TDs, have publicly referred to pregnant people. When asked, the HSE confirms it has also, unfortunately to my mind, used that term recently. Far preferable is how, in its literature on who should go for cervical screening, it states: Women and people with a cervix between the age of 25 and 65 should go for regular cervical screening when its due.

It may well have happened that a trans man gave birth here during Covid restrictions, but realistically the fingers of both hands would probably not all be needed to count the amount of times this has occurred, even in total in Irish maternity units. Yet almost 100% of women who are pregnant and giving birth are robbed of being properly called women.

Surely in a country where we have a catalogue of scandals that starkly reflect the poor standing and lack of agency of women in Irish society, especially in relation to pregnancy and childbirth, the dangers of that are obvious?

Feminism must be able to defend women and to do so from a position of truth, not fudging around the issues for fear of those people who go out of their way to be offended as they weaponise the genuine suffering of trans people.

None of the issues trans people face have easy answers. We have a duty to do our absolute best for the trans community, providing the healthcare required and all the necessary societal supports  but not at the expense of women.

By presenting it as a vicious either-or choice, we risk further marginalising and disempowering 50% of the worlds population.

TRANS rights supporters state that trans women are women. Full stop. It seems to me that so many of those who so vehemently espouse trans rights and argue for the admittance of those with male bodies into places of much-needed sanctuary for women  such as domestic violence refuges  have yet to have those experiences of life that open your eyes to the harsh realities of being a woman.

In my 20s and early 30s, I never even considered the issue of gender equality  if asked, I may even have dismissed it as being a thing, Im ashamed to say.

However, age and childbirth, especially delivering two daughters, and motherhood, have brought me round to a place of flag-waving feminism. A quick flick through the headlines any day will provide further ample material for why it is necessary.

There is no doubt in my mind that I stand in solidarity with trans people  a group that has been shown to be incredibly vulnerable. However, simply asking questions on this topic is a modern-day heresy. It also seems there is a fear among traditional media of taking on the issue because of how much it dominates new media and what can be the viciousness of the exchanges and how they spill over into real life, such as the threats to Rosie Duffield or protests as a result of certain things said.

Taken to its logical conclusion, where would all this end?

We would do well to remember that in recent months it is women who have suffered so greatly from not having their partners present during antenatal appointments and at the birth of their babies. It is women who have suffered through the dramatic escalation in domestic abuse as a result of lengthy lockdowns, who continue to be vulnerable to rape and assault, who have suffered most in employment terms during the pandemic, and who struggle now to generate an income in this new normal.

Getting that message through and getting something done about it are difficult enough, without the very fact of them being called women being erased.
I was 13 when two men tried to abduct me.

It was around 7.30pm on a weekend in October and I was walking home after a trip to the local shopping centre with two girls with whom I really wanted to be friends. That was my biggest concern at the time.

The bus stop I was getting off at was no more than two minutes away from my home. I was wearing a red T-shirt with black guitars on it, a beige cardigan with dark brown buttons, and blue jeans. Its funny the things we remember at times like that.

It wasnt too dark. There were street lamps the whole way.

I made sure to tell people these facts after the event, lest they thought it was my fault, or that I brought it on. As a teenager, I already knew thats what the narrative would be.

As I alighted the bus and started towards the road leading up to my house, a silver car pulled up to me, with two men sitting in the front.

They rolled down the window and shouted compliments at me, if you could call them that.

"Hello love," they said. "You look gorgeous," they added. I nodded and smiled, because I thought it was safer to do that than to respond.

To walk up the road to my house, I had to pass by the car. As I moved to do so, the man in the passenger seat reached out and grabbed my arm tightly, pulled me towards the vehicle, and attempted the hoist me in through the window.

"Get in the car!" he shouted  a command I replayed in my head for weeks afterwards, the words haunting my sleep.

To this day, Im still not quite sure how I managed to break free of his grasp. Perhaps it was the angle at which he was holding me, his disadvantaged position sitting in the car while I stood, or maybe just adrenaline providing me with strength I dont normally possess.

But I got away. And I ran home. Before I burst into tears at the sight of my parents.

We reported the incident to gardai, who later told us that it was probably just two men having a laugh.

Those words have stuck with me ever since.

In what world is petrifying a teenage girl fun? Why did the garda say that, as if I should be relieved? They werent really after you, she intimated. It was just a spontaneous Saturday-night plan. Like going to the cinema or a restaurant.

Thats the problem though, isnt it? We dont tend to treat these incidents with the severity they deserve. Because my story could have ended differently.

If the pair had decided to take their fun to the next level, who knows what would have happened?

I, for one, am glad I didnt have to find out.

My story is but one of millions. When the news of Sarah Everards death broke last March, Irish Examiner readers shared stories of their own personal experiences of terror at the hands of men.

Sarah Everard. Picture: Family Handout/CPS/PA Wire

They reported feeling anxiety when walking alone both during the day and at night, holding keys tightly in their hands, sharing their location with friends and texting them when theyre home and safe, and constantly scanning their surroundings to make sure nothing is amiss.

I am tired of being scared, one reader said at the time.

These stories only highlight what is already there, another said of male violence against women, Hidden and unspoken but threat constantly there.

Recent figures show that almost 690 domestic abuse incidents have been reported to gardai every week, on average, this year. That's almost 100 domestic abuse calls per day.

And that doesn't cover the many, many more incidents of abuse or violence towards women that go unreported.

Now, as Wayne Couzens, the former police officer who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard, is sentenced to a whole life term in prison, I cant help but feel disenchanted with the whole system.

Former Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens.

I am glad he will face justice. But his sentencing does not improve the issue of male violence against women; it doesn't change the fact that Sarah is now dead and her family will never see her again.

In their victim impact statement, Sarah's family said Couzens had stolen their 33-year-old daughter's future.

Sarah is gone and I am broken-hearted. She was my precious little girl, our youngest child. The feeling of loss is so great it is visceral, her mother Susan Everard said.

And with the sorrow come waves of panic at not being able to see her again. I can never talk to her, never hold her again, and never more be a part of her life.

The truth is, if we only ever deal with the cases which do result in death, nothing is ever going to change. We are treating a consequence of the problem, but not the problem itself.

We need to change things sooner. We should educate children in primary schools on what is and is not acceptable when it comes to the treatment of their peers. Clear, concise language must be used in an age-appropriate way, without shying away from the hard truths.

There are classes like Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE), but I believe all teachers, too, need to be educated on what exactly should be taught on the course, rather than just mindlessly pacing through the curriculum outlined in a textbook.

There needs to be a societal change, too. Sarahs death is a case of police brutality, with Couzens using his position as a police officer to falsely arrest her under the pretence of breaching Covid rules.

This issue of violence within law enforcement is a situation that black people and people of colour have raised for years, but which has largely been ignored.

In fact, several international studies over the years have found that the rates of domestic violence among members of law enforcement are considerably higher than those in the general population.

If that doesn't illustrate a need for reform, then I'm not sure what else would.

We cannot allow the news cycle to move on this time. Things can no longer remain the same. It is time to enact the changes people raise every time an act of violence against a woman is publicised.

We cannot keep acting horrified and ashamed every time another life is taken at the hands of needless and brutal violence.

We need to take the smaller, seemingly "insignificant" incidents seriously.

We cannot allow men to pontificate that their actions were only in the name of fun.

If we dont change these things, there will, undoubtedly, be more stories like Sarahs in the future. We've lost enough lives already, let's not allow any more deaths to occur.
Most Europeans will need a valid passport to enter the UK from Friday as the Government will cease to allow access to those travelling on national identity cards.

From October 1, following the change that was announced a year ago, most citizens of the European Union, European Economic Area, and Switzerland will no longer be allowed to enter the UK using a national identity card, and will instead be subject to the same entry rules as travellers from the rest of the world.

The change will not apply to those who are part of the UKs EU Settlement Scheme or have equivalent rights, who will be able to continue using ID cards to enter the UK until at least 2025.

The Home Office said the ID cards are some of the most abused documents seen by Border Force officers, and that last year almost half of all false documents detected at the border were EU, EEA or Swiss ID cards.

By no longer accepting the national ID cards as a valid travel document, the Government said it can prevent organised criminal gangs and illegal migrants from using them to enter the UK unlawfully.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: The UK has a proud history of being open to the world, and global Britain will continue in that tradition.

But we must clamp down on the criminals that seek to enter our country illegally using forged documents.

By ending the use of insecure ID cards we are strengthening our border and delivering on the peoples priority to take back control of our immigration system.

We are doing this as part of our new plan for immigration, which will be firm on those who seek to abuse the system, and fair on those who play by the rules.
The Biden administration urged a US federal judge to block the nations most restrictive abortion law, which has banned most abortions in Texas since early September and sent women racing to get care beyond the borders of the second-most populous state.

US District Judge Robert Pitman, an appointee of former president Barack Obama, did not say when he would rule following a nearly three-hour hearing in Austin.

At least one Texas abortion provider said it stood ready to resume offering services if the law known as Senate Bill 8 is temporarily shelved.

Every day that S.B. 8 is in effect, we turn away patients in droves, Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Whole Womans Health, told the court in a filing.

So far, abortion providers trying to block the Texas law have been rejected at every turn.

That makes a lawsuit filed by the Biden administration their best chance yet to deliver the first legal blow to the Republican-engineered law.

The Supreme Court in Washington (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

It has withstood an early wave of challenges, including one reviewed by the US Supreme Court, which allowed the law to remain in force.

The law effectively bans abortion before some women know they are pregnant, and there are no exceptions in cases of rape or incest.

Enforcement is solely left up to private citizens, who are entitled to at least 10,000 US dollars in damages if they are successful in suing not just abortion providers but anyone found to have helped a woman get an abortion.

A state may not ban abortions at six weeks.

Texas knew this, but it wanted a six-week ban anyway, so the state resorted to an unprecedented scheme of vigilante justice that was designed to scare abortion providers and others who might help women exercise their constitutional rights, justice department lawyer Brian Netter told the court.

The law was signed by Republican governor Greg Abbott in May and took effect on September 1.

In that short time, abortion providers say, exactly what we feared has become reality.

They have described Texas clinics that are now in danger of closing while neighbouring states struggle to keep up with a surge of patients who must drive hundreds of miles from Texas.

Other women, they say, are being forced to carry pregnancies to term.

This is not some kind of vigilante scheme, said Will Thompson, defending the law for the Texas attorney generals office.

This is a scheme that uses the normal, lawful process of justice in Texas.

If the Justice Department prevails, Texas officials would likely seek a swift reversal from the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals, which previously allowed the restrictions to take effect.

In anticipation of Judge Pitman possibly granting an injunction, physicians at Whole Womans Health clinics this week gave patients found to have cardiac activity information to comply with another restriction requiring a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion, so that they would be ready to call those patients back in, Ms Hagstrom Miller told the court.

Hope of an injunction, she said, is one of the only things that is keeping us going day to day.

The Texas law is just one that has set up the biggest test of abortion rights in the US in decades, and it is part of a broader push by Republicans nationwide to impose new restrictions on abortion.

Barbara Beavers presides at an anti-abortion protest outside the Jackson Womens Health Organisation clinic in Jackson, Mississippi (Rogelio V Solis/AP)

On Monday, the US Supreme Court begins a new term, which in December will include arguments in Mississippis bid to have the landmark Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing a womans right to an abortion overturned.

Last month, the court did not rule on the constitutionality of the Texas law in allowing it to remain in place.

But abortion providers took that 5-4 vote as an ominous sign about where the court might be heading on abortion after its conservative majority was fortified with three appointees of former president Donald Trump.

Ahead of the new Supreme Court term, Planned Parenthood on Friday released a report saying that if Roe v. Wade were overturned, 26 states are primed to ban abortion.

This year alone, nearly 600 abortion restrictions have been introduced in statehouses nationwide, with more than 90 becoming law, according to Planned Parenthood.

Other states, mostly in the South, have passed similar laws that ban abortion within the early weeks of pregnancy, all of which judges have blocked.

But Texas version has so far outmanoeuvred courts because it leaves enforcement to private citizens, not prosecutors, which critics say amounts to a bounty.

Texas officials argued in court filings this week that even if the law were put on hold temporarily, providers could still face the threat of litigation over violations that might occur in the time between a permanent ruling.

The federal governments complaint is that the Heartbeat Act is difficult to effectively enjoin, the state wrote in objection to the lawsuit by the Biden administration.

But there is no requirement that a state write its laws to make them easily enjoined.

At least one Texas abortion provider has admitted to violating the law and been sued, but not by abortion opponents.

Former lawyers in Illinois and Arkansas say they instead sued a San Antonio doctor in hopes of getting a judge who would invalidate the law.
Burma Almost 100 Civilians Killed By Myanmar Junta Forces in September

A collage of six people killed in September: (top from left) Pastor Cung Biak Hum; NLD member Ko Than Htun Oo, aka Ko Min Ko Thein; youth activist Ko Sithu Kaung Myat, (Below from left)Ko Zaw Linn Htet, nurse Ma Khin Khin Kywel, Dr. Zin Lynn

At least 99 more people, including a toddler and four senior citizens in their seventies, were killed by Myanmar junta forces in September. Their deaths push the number of people who have died at the hands of the military regime to 1,146 over the past eight months, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)

Myanmar has been in political and social turmoil since the juntas February 1 coup, as the merciless military regime continues with brutal and lethal crackdowns in its efforts to suppress the nationwide rebellion against the junta.

In September, the Myanmar military massacred civilians, including children, torched entire villages, fired randomly into homes and shelled residential areas in Kayah and Chin states and Magwe, Sagaing and Mandalay regions. The junta claims those areas were harboring Peoples Defense Forces: bands of civilian resistance fighters opposing the regime.

Among those killed in September were nine children, the youngest of whom was one and half-years-old, detainees who were tortured to death, members and supporters of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and three medics, according to the latest report from the AAPP, an activist group which monitors killings and arrests by the junta.

On September 20, regime troops raided Shaw Phyu Village in Natogyi Township, Mandalay Region. During the raid, junta forces shot at the home of NLD supporters, killing five family members.

Four of five were shot dead on the spot. A one and half-year-old child survived initially but died from injuries after arriving at Mandalay General Hospital, AAPP stated in their report.

In northern Shan States Monekoe Township, nine-year-old Mah Bon suffered serious head injuries after a junta artillery shell hit his home on September 27. The boy died the following day. His mother was also injured in the artillery strike.

Around a dozen detainees were tortured to death in September. Among them was Mandalay-based political activist and philanthropist Ko Than Htun Oo, aka Ko Min Ko Thein, a member of the NLDs Mandalay branch. He died in police custody just a few hours after being arrested on September 25.

The 48-year-old, affectionately known as Ko Fatty among his friends, was arrested at his home in Aungmyaythazan Township, Mandalay Region for alleged possession of weapons.

During the raid on his house, junta forces told him to get on his knees. When he said that he couldnt kneel due to his weight, he was reportedly shot in the knee. He was arrested despite no weapons being found during the search. In the evening of the following day, his family was notified of his death. Ko Than Htun Oos body was not returned to the family, with regime officials claiming that they had organized funeral rites for him.

Ko Zaw Linn Htet, 30, from Pyay, Bago Region also died during an interrogation after just a few hours in junta custody. He was detained with his younger brother on the afternoon of September 6, allegedly in connection with the arrest of student union members a week before. His family was also informed of his death at night.

September also saw a surge in killings of youth activists and villagers from anti-regime strongholds where civilian resistance groups have inflicted heavy casualties on junta forces.

In Yangon, four young people were shot dead at midnight on September 25 after regime forces raided their hideout in Sanchaung Township. Two of the four activists were identified as Dr. Zin Lynn and nurse Ma Khin Khin Kywel. The following day, the wife of Dr. Zin Lynn, who is also a medical doctor, was arrested at her home. The couple have a seven-month-old baby.

On Thursday, junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun said at a press conference that the youths had opened fire on junta soldiers when they surrounded the hideout, killing and injuring a few of them. He claimed that the four activists were killed in a subsequent shootout with regime forces.

However, local residents and video footage uploaded by Khit Thit Media revealed that the young people were dragged from the apartment and beaten and kicked several times, before the junta forces fired shots. Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun made no mention of this at the press conference.

Teenagers were also rounded up and massacred in Myin Thar Village in Yaw in Magwe Region on September 9. In all, 18 people died in the village, including elderly citizens, and some 20 houses were burned down by junta forces.

The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar  an independent group of prominent former United Nations human rights experts  urged the United Nations Security Council in its latest statement to declare the junta a terrorist organization for its atrocities against its own people including public torture, executions and the taking of hostages, including children.



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Burma German Food Giant Metro Ends Operations in Myanmar

Feature: A Metro cold storage truck delivers food items. / Metro

German wholesale food distribution company Metro is ending its operations in Myanmar due to the volatile business environment. Metro is the latest international company to leave the country following the militarys February 1 coup.

The company currently employs 131 people in Myanmar. It announced on Wednesday that it will terminate its operations by October.

Metro officially launched in Myanmar in March 2019. It has a 5,900-m2 warehouse situated in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone outside Yangon. It offers one-stop food service distribution for hotels, restaurants, catering firms, independent small retailers and offices entirely through e-commerce and delivery systems.

The wholesaler said that the reason for discontinuing its business in Myanmar is due to the volatile investment and business environment, which is expected to continue for some time.

We made this decision with regret because we started in 2019 with positive expectations in this interesting market and were able to quickly build a stable customer base, Kubilay Ozerkan, Operating Partner for Metro businesses in Asia, said in a press release issued Wednesday.

Unfortunately, the significant changes in business conditions in Myanmar give us no other option than to cease the business.

15 foreign companies have suspended or stopped their operations in Myanmar since the coup. Prior to the military takeover, a majority of foreign businesses were planning to maintain or increase their operations and investments in the country.

Last month, US pretzel company Auntie Annes and the Taiwan bubble tea franchise KOI The also left Myanmar. The Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor announced on July 8 that it had agreed to sell its Myanmar operation.

Metro operates in 34 countries worldwide. The company generated annual sales of 7 million in Myanmar in 2019-2020.



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Burma Karen Armed Group Ambushes Myanmar Junta Regional Commander

DKBA troops in Karen State in 2018. / The Irrawaddy

The southeastern commander of Myanmars junta has survived an ambush by a Karen rebel group during his trip to Myawaddy Township, Karen State, on Friday, according to the Karen media.

At 9am on Friday, a splinter group of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) led by Brigadier General Saw Kyaw Thet ambushed a military convoy carrying Brigadier General Ko Ko Maung near the Kyaik Don junction on the Kawkareik-Myawaddy highway.

An officer from the junta-allied Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) told The Irrawaddy that the ambush targeted the commander.

Four junta soldiers were reportedly killed and three others, including a major, were wounded, according to the Karen media.

However, the BGF officer denied there were any military deaths only injuries and the commander arrived safely in Myawaddy, he said.

After the ambush, junta forces used artillery against nearby villages and some houses were damaged, the media reported.

The DKBA splinter group was unavailable for comment.

On Thursday evening, a junta office was bombed in Bayintnaung ward, Pobbathiri Township, Naypyitaw.

A military vehicle and the office were damaged but no casualties were reported.

On Friday, Naypyitaw Peoples Defense Force claimed responsibility for the bombing attack.

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Burma Myanmar Junta Charges Rapper and Former NLD Lawmaker With Terrorism

Feature: U Phyo Zeya Thaw aka Zeya Thaw on stage in 2019. / Thein Than Oo

Myanmars military regime has charged a rapper and former National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker with terrorism.

U Phyo Zeya Thaw is accused of involvement in covert attacks on junta targets in Myanmars commercial capital Yangon.

On Thursday, the juntas spokesperson Major-General Zaw Min Tun said that the former hip-hop star has been charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law and the Public Property Protection Act.

He was involved in several bomb attacks in Yangon. Now he is in hiding, said the Maj. Gen.

Following the juntas brutal crackdowns on anti-coup protesters, Myanmar has seen deadly attacks by civilian resistance fighters on regime targets like administration offices, police stations and army convoys. The junta has accused ousted NLD lawmakers and party members of masterminding most of the attacks.

After four police officers were shot dead in August aboard a train on Yangons Circular Railway, the regime said that U Phyo Zeya Thaw was behind the attack.

The 40-year-old served as an NLD MP in the Lower House of Parliament from 2012 to 2020.

But prior to that U Phyo Zeya Thaw made his name as a member of Acid, Myanmars original hip-hop band. Acid emerged in 2000, when the young Myanmar audience was growing bored of the countrys mainstream rock music and was looking for something new. Their debut release  Beginning  was the first rap album by local musicians and propelled the band to nationwide stardom, as well as paving the way for other Myanmar hip-hop artists.

But U Phyo Zeya Thaw was committed to politics as well as music. In 2007, he co-founded Generation Wave, an anti-regime movement against the then junta. Arrested in 2008, he remained in prison until 2011.

In 2012, U Phyo Zeya Thaw became the NLDs candidate at the by-election for the Lower House parliamentary seat of Pobbathiri Township in Myanmars capital Naypyitaw. He won the seat, joining Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as a Lower House MP. He was re-elected for a different township in the 2015 general election, but didnt run for parliament in the 2020 election.

After the juntas February 1 coup and its subsequent crackdowns on peaceful anti-regime protesters, U Phyo Zeya Thaw went into hiding but appears to have been active against the junta. As he didnt stand for parliament in the 2020 poll, he is unlikely to be a member of the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, a group of ousted elected NLD lawmakers which the military regime has branded a terrorist organization.



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Burma Myanmar Shadow Governments Declaration of War Echoes 1949 Rebellion

Soldiers at the Battle of Insein outside Rangoon in 1949.

The shadow National Unity Governments (NUG) declaration of war earlier this week against the military regime has echoes of 1949, when armed organizations rebelled against the government, occupied half the country and fought the Myanmar military.

With NUG Acting President Duwa Lashila calling on civilian resistance fighters to target the junta and its assets and for ethnic armed organizations to join the fight against the regime, the NUG is hoping to unify anti-coup forces to fight the junta in more effective fashion.

But just a few months after Myanmar gained its independence in 1948, several armed organizations took up arms against the then Anti-Fascist Peoples Freedom League (AFPFL) government over ideological conflicts and racial tensions. At that time Myanmars population was 17 million, compared to around 54 million today.

The Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO), the then armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU)  which was established before independence  rebelled against the government after their demand to be allowed to secede from the Union was denied. The KNU was also at odds with the government over the Karen peoples territorial boundaries within the Union.

Two Karen battalions from the Myanmar military  one based in Pyay and the other in Taungoo in todays Bago Region  as well as ethnic Karen police joined the KNDO. Other leftist units in Myanmars military including Battalions 1 and 3, based respectively in Thayet in todays Magwe Region and Mingalardon in Yangon, and some Bago-based units also rebelled against the government.

The military-published history of internal insurgency in Myanmar said that there were only around 2,000 officers and men left in Myanmars military at the time.

Anti-government groups, which also included different factions of communists, were stronger than the Myanmar military because they had weapons left behind after World War II and also because the defecting units took their arms with them when they joined the revolt.

Troops from the Communist Party of Burma, which had a force of between 10,000 and 15,000 fighters, occupied towns in todays Ayeyarwady, Bago, Mandalay and Magwe regions, including Hinthada, Pyinmana, Yamethin, Myingyan and Pakokku.

Meanwhile, the white-band faction of the Peoples Volunteer Organization, which was formed by independence hero General Aung San from war veterans as his own paramilitary force for the independence struggle, occupied towns in central Myanmar.

The KNDO, which was believed to have at least 10,000 soldiers, occupied Mawlamyine and Thaton in Mon State, in collaboration with the Mon National Defence Organisation. By early 1949, the KNDO had taken control of Mandalay, Pyin Oo Lwin, Taungoo, Pathein, Meiktila and several other towns before its troops reached and occupied Insein Township in the north of Yangon.

Between February 1 and May 22 in 1949, the KNDO was able to retain control of Insein, posing a great threat to the central government in Yangon.

Amid the chaos, government employees went on strike across the country, which was ultimately counterproductive as it gave the government a breathing space. At the time, the Union government was completely broke. Fortunately, government employees came out on strike across the country. We didnt even have the money to pay their salaries, said the then Prime Minister U Nu.

Yangon was surrounded by the vanguards of armed groups. The government was unable to control the rebellion around the country and was struggling to hold Yangon. Some international newspapers even started referring to the U Nu government as the Yangon Government.

The Union of Myanmar (then Burma) was rocked violently throughout 1948 and until April 1949, wrote U Thant, a civil servant in the U Nu government who would later become United Nations Secretary-General, in his book Journey to Pyithawthar.

As Myanmars military units were short of weapons, U Nu had to fly to New Delhi to seek help from his Indian counterpart Jawaharlal Nehru. Only after Nehru provided arms was the AFPFL government able to start reoccupying the towns taken by the rebels.

U Nus government was also helped by the fact that the different armed groups were no longer collaborating because of their different political objectives. By 1950, the government had retaken control of most of the occupied towns. But more armed groups would later emerge and, over the next 70 years, Myanmar would continue to suffer from insurgencies until todays civil war.



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Burma Peoples Defense Force Claims Blast at Military Office in Myanmars Capital

Regime soldiers among the debris after an explosion on Thursday.

Once thought of as a safe haven for generals, the Myanmar capital Naypyitaws image as a fortress was dented on Thursday afternoon when an explosion rocked a military facility in the city.

The first-ever attack on a military-related building in the official seat of the Myanmar military regime was made public by the Naypyitaw Peoples Defense Force (PDF), which claimed responsibility for the explosion at the office of the Directorate of Procurement of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services (Army) in Pobbathiri Township.

The Naypyitaw PDF, which operates under the command of the Central Command of the parallel National Unity Government (NUG)s Defense Ministry, said it carried out the attack together with another revolutionary group that does not want to be named.

The attack on the military office came hours after regime spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun, speaking at a press conference, challenged the NUG ministers to come out of hiding.

According to the security forces internal report, which went viral online, an explosive planted inside a flower pot under the buildings portico went off at around 5 in the afternoon. Pictures from the scene show that the portico ceiling and a vehicle nearby were damaged. No one was injured.

Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun was not available for comment on Friday.

The request for anonymity by the group that reportedly carried out the joint attack with the Naypyitaw PDF is unusual. PDFs have for the most part revealed their identities when claiming previous attacks on military targets.

The Naypyitaw PDF warned that Thursdays attack was intended merely as an initial warning to a handful of regime stooges it said had ignored the people by failing to join the Civil Disobedience Movement, adding that harsher punitive actions would be taken against them in the near future.

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Burma Thousands Flee Clashes Between Myanmar Junta and Karenni Resistance

Civilian resistance fighters in in Kayah State. / Loikaw PDF

Thousands of civilians have fled their homes in Kayah State following fierce clashes between Karenni resistance groups and junta troops at the village of Konethar near the state capital, Loikaw.

Fighting broke out on Wednesday after Karenni resistance groups attempted to stop a junta convoy from Shan State near Konethar on the Shan-Kayah state border. The military convoy reportedly consisted of at least 300 troops and about 40 trucks.

The large village of Konethar has around 4,000 to 5,000 residents, according to villagers who fled their homes this week.

A female villager, who asked for anonymity, said junta troops fired artillery on the village on Wednesday and she saw at least 10 houses hit by shells before she fled her home.

We thought we would die as we were trapped in our homes. We felt helpless as many artillery shells landed on our village. We packed our belongings overnight and fled this morning when they stopped firing, she said on Thursday.

Some elderly residents and nuns who care for them remain trapped, villagers said.

Villagers fled their homes for surrounding forests in May due to fighting.

The combined forces of Karenni Army (KA), Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), Loikaw Peoples Defense Force (PDF), Demoso PDF and Pekon PDF are fighting regime troops near Konethar.

Resistance fighters in Pekon and Moe Bye ambushed the military convoy heading to Kayah State when it entered Pekon from Pinlaung Township in Shan State on Monday.

Karenni resistance groups reported five casualties in the fighting near Konethar.

A KNDF spokesman told The Irrawaddy on Thursday: We have held them at Konethar village. They have shelled indiscriminately and deployed in civilian houses and torched homes in the village. Five houses were burned last night and they torched five more this morning.

Junta troops have reportedly driven away villagers that stayed in their homes and residents from nearby Kayan Tharyar village have also fled the fighting.

In May in Kayan Tharyar villagers left their homes after four civilians hiding in the village church were killed by junta shelling.

Military tensions are running high along the Shan-Kayah border. The regime has deployed hundreds of extra soldiers into Kayah State. It has extended a unilateral ceasefire until February next year unless there are threats to the military-run administration and security operations.

The parallel National Unity Government declared war against the military regime in September and asked resistance groups to attack junta troops and their assets.

The KA was in peace talks with Myanmars military over signing the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement before the February coup.

The Karenni PDFs say they are under the NUGs command. Karenni resistance groups began launching attacks on the junta on May 20.

Kayah State has a population of 280,000, according to the 2019 census. The Karenni State Consultative Council said about half the population has been displaced by fighting since May.



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Burma UN Says Poverty in Myanmar at Worst Level in 20 Years Following Coup

Riot police seal off downtown Yangon near Sule Pagoda in February following the coup. / The Irrawaddy

The UNs top humanitarian official in Myanmar said on Thursday the countrys people are living in a severe crisis, with a level of poverty not seen for at least 20 years.

In a virtual briefing for UN correspondents, Andrew Kirkwood said the number of people in the country needing aid has tripled to 3 million since the military takeover on Feb. 1, while a total of 20 million are living in poverty, or nearly half the population, AP news reported.

Speaking from Yangon, Kirkwood said the crisis is the result of increasing communal strife, the military ouster of the countrys democratically elected government and the coronavirus pandemic, which saw a devastating third wave of infections this summer.

So, effectively, what we have here is a crisis, on top of a crisis with yet another crisis on top of that, he said.

Since Feb. 1, Kirkwood said, the UN food and cash assistance program has reached more than 1.4 million people in rural communities all around Myanmar as well as in some urban and semi-urban centers.

We are saving lives. We are making a difference, Kirkwood said. But were also quite frustrated that these numbers arent higher and that we arent able to reach all of the 3 million people who we know need urgent humanitarian assistance.

The acting UN humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar cited significant operational challenges including roadblocks and travel in the country, pandemic restrictions, and overall insecurity. He called on all parties to use their influence to facilitate the safe and unhindered access for humanitarian workers and also our humanitarian supplies.

Kirkwood cited serious underfunding of the UN appeal as another key factor.

We have requested a total of [US]$385 million to reach those 3 million people this year, he said. Today, weve received about a third of that. And that means we have a funding gap of roughly $250 million. And that means in turn that we wont be able to reach everybody who needs our assistance.

Kirkwood also called on parties to the conflict to depoliticize our humanitarian and COVID-19 response efforts.

Emotions are running very high here, he said. Many people are frustrated, and some people frankly confuse the delivery of humanitarian assistance with taking sides in the conflict.

Armed clashes and military operations have been taking place in the countryside almost daily, and the number of Peoples Defense Force groups is increasing in Kayah and Chin states as well as in Sagaing Region.



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GUEST RESEARCH: More than half (57%) of local consumers would never buy from a brand again if it was accused of working with unethical suppliers, according to research findings by OpenText.

The OpenText study says consumers would just seek an alternative brand that engages in responsible sourcing, adding that the pandemic has made them more mindful of the impact of their purchases.

Post-pandemic, 84% of consumers plan to prioritise buying from companies that make it clear they have ethical sourcing strategies in place. This is higher than the 73%, who said pre-pandemic, they prioritised buying from companies with such strategies in place.

The study, which polled 1,000 Australian respondents, highlights the importance for brands in proactively ensuring all suppliers in their supply chain operate ethically.

It considered the extent to which environmentally sustainable and socially responsible business practices matter to the public and influence their purchasing behaviour.

The business case for ethical supply chains

Nearly half (48%) of consumers judge not only the brand but also the actions of its suppliers as well. In fact, consumers place such value on buying from ethical brands that over three quarters (81%) are willing to pay more if they can be sure a product has been ethically sourced or produced.

More than three in ten (32%) are willing to spend between 25% and 50% more for that product.

Purchasing ethically sourced or produced items matters to 77% of Australian consumers, though just under a quarter (24%) admit it has only started to matter to them in the last year or so.

The majority (81%) of consumers are even willing to compromise convenience, such as accepting a slower delivery, if they can be sure an item has been ethically sourced or produced.

Over half (59%) agree they would only opt for this sometimes or for certain items, but more than a fifth (22%) are always willing to make this compromise.

Creating an ethical supply chain requires having visibility into every supplier, says OpenText senior vice president and chief marketing officer Lou Blatt.

The ethically minded consumer is exercising more control over their buying power. Brands can no longer claim they act responsibly if they have no visibility into their operations or those of their suppliers, Blatt adds.

Rising demand for ethical business principles

When shopping online, 49% of Australian consumers are now aware to purchase locally sourced or produced items to support local businesses and reduce their carbon footprint.

Almost two thirds (65%) of consumers agree businesses have a responsibility to ensure their suppliers abide by an ethical code.

More than half (58%) believe that businesses need to rethink their supply chain if they dont know where their goods are sourced.

Increased focus on transparency and accountability

Nearly two thirds (61%) of consumers agree government should introduce regulation that holds businesses more accountable for responsible sourcing. The majority (83%) also think online retailers should clearly mark whether or not products are ethically sourced where they can.

More than three quarters (78%) admit that knowing where a product has originated from or where parts are sourced is important to their buying decision.

For the 48%, this information always or often impacts their buying decision.

Transparency is paramount in building an ethical supply chain, and this can only be achieved through the utilisation of trustworthy information, concludes OpenText regional vice president business ecosystems George Harb.

Having full visibility across the supply chain empowers organisations to do more to meet customers expectations when it comes to ethical sourcing and practices, and enables them to hold partners and suppliers accountable, Harb says. By embracing a single, unified, cloud-based integration platform, organisations will not only optimise the flow of information across the supply chain, but have the transparency to ensure it operates ethically at every stage.
Researchers have published details of what they claim is a Chinese-speaking nation-state actor which has been targeting a number of south-east Asian countries for more than a year, using vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange as an entry point. The campaign has been given the name GhostEmperor.

Kaspersky's Mark Lechtik, Aseel Kayal, Paul Rascagneres and Vasily Berdnikov wrote in a long blog post  which also included a separate list of technical details  that the actor used a rootkit which had been adapted to work on Windows 10. The rootkit was given the name Demodex.

This was loaded using the kernel mode component of an open source project known as Cheat Engine in order not to be stopped by the Windows Drive Signature Enforcement that has been put in place by Microsoft as a safety valve.

The research is not totally new as Kaspersky announced some basic details back in July. The fleshed out version was presented at the company's annual Security Analyst Summit which was held this week.

The four researchers said attacks had been observed as far back as July 2020. Among the countries targeted were Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Also on the attackers' list were organisations in Egypt, Ethiopia and Afghanistan, with some of these targets having strong ties to south-east Asian countries.

"This means that the attackers might have leveraged those infections to spy on the activities in countries that are of geopolitical interest to them," the researchers wrote.

GhostEmperor was found to mainly use hosting services based in Hong Kong and South Korea, such as Daou Technology or Anchent Asia.

The researchers gave as one reason for their attribution the attackers use of open-source tools such as Ladon or Mimikat_ssp that are popular among such actors.

"Additional data points such as version info found within the resource section of second stage loader binaries included a legal trademark field with a Chinese character: Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation'," they said.

Additionally, some similarities were noticed between Demodex and the Derusbi toolkit which has also been used by Chinese-speaking actors.

"GhostEmperor is an example of an advanced threat actor that goes after prominent targets and aims to maintain a longstanding and persistent operation within their environments," Lechtik, Kayal, Rascagneres and Berdnikov wrote.

"We observed that the underlying actor managed to remain under the radar for months, all the while demonstrating a finesse when it came to developing the malicious toolkit, a profound understanding of an investigators mindset and the ability to counter forensic analysis in various ways."
Many areas of Southeastern Louisiana are still struggling to rebuild from the damage caused byHurricane Ida. In response, Lafayette Parish Public Schools has adopted St. Charles Parish School District and will be holding a two-week donation drive to collect new or gently used school uniforms.

Beginning Friday, October 1, 2021, and continuing until October 15, 2021 parents can send uniform donations with their students to any school in the district or drop them off at the United Way of Acadiana office, located at 215 E. Pinhook Road.

We know our neighbors are in need, so we wanted to do something to help these families recover from this devastating storm sooner rather than later, said Superintendent Irma D. Trosclair. The faster the recovery, the sooner students can return to school and have some sense of normalcy in their everyday lives.

White uniform shirts are needed in all sizes, as well as shorts and pants in either navy or khaki. In addition to uniforms, LPSS can also accept gift cards to help St. Charles Parish Schools.

Please note: LPSS cannot accept direct financial contributions that is why we are requesting gift cards. Monetary donations should be directed to the St. Charles Public Schools Foundation, Inc. or donated online by visiting www.scpsfoundation.org/donate.html. For more information about the uniform donation drive, please visit the LPSS website
Han Hyo Joo and Park Hyung Sik diversify their acting roles as they venture into a more challenging drama, "Happiness", an apocalyptic thriller series produced by the broadcast giant tvN.

The drama depicts the new normal world where a different kind of fear penetrates the people's ordinary daily lives.

Han Hyo Joo and Park Hyung Sik's 'Happiness' Threatened By a New Crisis

tvN's forthcoming apocalyptic thriller series "Happiness" teased its prospective viewers with a new teaser poster.

"W: Two Worlds" actress Han Hyo Joo returns to the drama scene as Yoon Sae Bom, a policewoman who has a great sense of judgment, determination, and guts.

Opposite "Strong Woman Do Bong Soon" actor Park Hyung Sik who is returning to the small screen after his military discharge. He will take on the role of Jung Yi Hyun, a clever and honest detective in the violent crime department who works hard for the common good, and to protect himself and Yoon Sae Bom.

The newly released teaser poster stimulates the public's anticipation. It also attracts the attention of many with its eerie and thrilling aesthetics

Firstly, the landscape shot of the apartment that is enveloped by the darkness meets the eye. Although there's nothing much special, the silhouette that is seen in the poster reveals colorful lights shining through the apartment window, amplifying curiosity.

Next, the mysterious appearance of Yoon Sae Bom (Han Hyo Joo) and Jung Yi Hyun (Park Hyung Sik) who are looking outside through the window signifies a heart-stopping incident that took place.

Yoon Sae Bom, who had just succeeded in making her lifelong dream house come true, and Jung Yi Hyun, who lived with courage all his life, fell into an unexpected crisis. What kind of danger changed everyone's daily lives and whether the two can survive in the extreme apocalypse raise anticipation.

The production team of "Happiness" described the drama, saying, "It is a modern drama that is completely inseparable from our daily life in today's time. It is set in an apartment where people from different walks of life live. Please look forward to seeing the new apocalypse of infectious disease change the world that is our shelter."

K-Drama 'Happiness' Summary and Pre-Production

tvN's newest drama "Happiness" is helmed together by director Ahn Gil Ho, who showed a detailed directing with "Record of Youth" and "Memories of the Alhambra", and written by "Watcher" and "The Good Wife" screenwriter Han Sang Woon for Studio Dragon.

It follows the story of the enigmatic lives of the people who lived in an apartment amidst the chaos of a surge of an infectious disease, and struggle for survival.

Alongside main actors Han Hyo Joo and Park Hyung Sik, actors Jo Woo Jin, Lee Jun Hyuk, Park Joo Hee, Baek Hyun Jin, Park Hyung Soo, and Bae Hae Sun are expected to realistically portray the real horrors of day-to-day doubt and anxiety in an extreme situational crisis.

'Happiness' Release Date and Where to Watch

"Happiness" consists of a total of 12 episodes, with 70 minutes running time each.

The forthcoming thriller drama is slated to air for the first time on November 1 on tvN.

It will also be available on legal streaming platform Viu.



Follow KDramastars for more Kdrama, KMovie, and celebrity news updates!





KDramastars owns this article.



Written by Elijah Mully.
Former Boston Ballet star Dusty Button and her husband, Mitchell Taylor Button, are accused of sexually abusing several dancers, including a minor, according to a federal lawsuit.

Taylor Button was accused over the summer but an updated complaint filed on Thursday also named his wife.

Dusty Button was a ballerina for the Boston Ballet from 2012 to 2017, according to the company, and has since then cultivated a large Instagram following by highlighting her coveted international workshops, master classes and dance numbers.

A complaint filed in July in the US District Court in Nevada claimed Taylor Button "has exploited his position of power and influence in the dance world to sexually abuse young dancers across the country."

After Taylor Button moved to dismiss the lawsuit and denied the allegations in court filings, an updated complaint filed with the court last week named both Dusty Button and her husband as defendants in the abuse.

At least five dancers, some of whom were mentored by Taylor Button, and Dusty Button at times, say he sexually abused them, at times with his wife's participation, court documents show.

What the dancers allege

Boston Ballet dancer Sage Humphries and dancer Gina Menichino filed the initial complaint against Taylor Button, alleging that he manipulated and groomed them for sexual assault for years.

Menichino took dance lessons from Taylor Button when she was 13, according to the complaint.

Taylor Button allegedly sexually assaulted Menichino on two occasions in 2010 when they were sharing a blanket while watching a movie with other dance students, according to the complaint.

When Taylor Button traveled out of state, he "would continue to communicate with Gina, including by sending and soliciting sexually explicit photos and videos," said the complaint.

"We look forward to clearing both of their names in court," attorney Marc John Randazza, who represents the Buttons, told CNN. "We are not trying this matter in the press."

Randazza filed a motion to dismiss the case denying the allegations, citing Nevada's statute of limitations, court documents show.

Randazza also said allegations made in the complaint "were written to make the press interested in this case and to enflame the anger of anyone who reads the Complaint," his motion said.

A judge denied Randazza's motion to toss the case since it was directed at the original complaint. Other accusers had stepped forward since the motion was filed.

"Our position remains the same," Randazza told CNN regarding his motion to dismiss.

The lawsuit alleges that on multiple occasions, Dusty Button held down Humphries so she could not move while her husband penetrated her without her consent.

According to the lawsuit, the Buttons engaged in sex trafficking because they enticed Humphries "to cross state lines with the Buttons by using threats, intimidation, and the pretense that they would help further her career and professional development, in exchange for engaging in sex acts."

Another dancer, identified as Jane Doe 100, was a minor in the care of the Buttons when they allegedly sexually assaulted her in "a room that had a mattress on the floor and an arsenal of guns hanging on the wall," the complaint said.

Sigrid McCawley, attorney for plaintiffs Sage Humphries, Gina Menichino, Rosemarie DeAngelo, Danielle Gutierrez and Jane Doe 100, sent a statement to CNN regarding the lawsuit against the Buttons.

"Taylor and Dusty Button can no longer use the dance world to perpetrate their criminal behavior against young girls. Brave women are now coming forward and saying this must stop."

"Boston Ballet supports Sage Humphries who is bravely coming forward, sharing her experience to protect others, and seeking accountability and justice," the dance company said in a statement, but declined to comment specifically on the pending litigation.

The-CNN-Wire

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MEDFORD, Ore. -- Commissioner Roberts: "Yes," Commissioner Dyer: "Yes," Commissioner Dotterrer: "No."

In a two-to-one vote, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners voted in favor on Thursday of declaring a state of emergency for the possible impacts of a statewide vaccine mandate deadline that will officially go into effect on October 18.

"It is a very avoidable and foreseeable path that we are going down," said Commissioner Dyer.

Currently there are several concerns that commissioners have raised in Jackson County in regards to the vaccine mandate. The major concern is that when the deadline hits, employees across the Jackson County's healthcare, education, public safety and emergency services sectors will begin to quit or be let go.

"It will have a detrimental impact," said County administrator Danny Jordan.

During that meeting, Dyer expressed several examples of how he had heard Jackson County could be impacted, including a discussion with a healthcare recruiter where they said that getting people to work in the healthcare system in Jackson County will be even more difficult with the mandate.

"Doing any sort of recruitment will be nearly impossible," Dyer said. "You stack on the cost of housing, the smoke situation, and now these mandates and we are going to be in a situation moving forward  well past the major impacts of the pandemic."

NewsWatch 12 has reached out to one of Southern Oregon's major health care providers, Asante, for comment on how many workers they expect to lose when the deadline hits.

Asante told NewsWatch 12 that as of Thursday, they do not have an exact number of how many people might leave. However, Asante did tell NewsWatch 12 that 83% of its staff throughout all of its locations are currently fully vaccinated.

Another major concern is the impact to the public school system.

Currently, several school districts across Jackson County are facing staffing shortages in different areas unrelated to teachers, such as school bus drivers. School officials say that these shortages well pre-dated the vaccine mandate.

The worry from Jackson County Commissioners is that the vaccine mandate could put a deeper strain on schools.

"Education has suffered in this state and academic progress has been retarded as far as the kids in this state," said Dyer. "We can't afford these loses."

NewsWatch 12 has reached out to several school districts on this potential. According to the Phoenix-Talent School District, 90% of its employees are fully vaccinated, with no employees leaving yet because of the mandate. The Medford School District says it should have more information on its vaccination efforts by Friday.

Not everyone during today's state of emergency meeting was onboard, including Commissioner Dave Dotterer.

"What we are essentially doing is responding with another blunt instrument," Dotterer said. "And this is a blunt instrument which is not going to do anything."

Dotterer did eventually say that he would sign onto the state of emergency to show his support as a one unit.

In one way or another, all of the commissioners in today's meeting are hoping that Governor Kate Brown will hear their message and remove this vaccine mandate  but even with the state of emergency in place, it will not give Jackson County an exemption to following the vaccine mandate.
SALEM, Ore.  Oregon's Department of Justice has filed lawsuits against two county governments that defied a new state gun law by passing local ordinances, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum's office announced Friday.

The lawsuits target Yamhill County and Harney County, requesting that circuit court judges in both counties order state gun laws to remain fully enforceable.

Both counties adopted ordinances that Rosenblum's office says "seek to nullify new statewide gun safety laws." The ordinances also stipulate that officials who enforce the state's laws can be prosecuted or subjected to private lawsuits.

Senate Bill 554 was passed during the 2021 legislative session and went into effect September 25 following Governor Kate Brown's signature. The bill includes several new restrictions  first, that public institutions can adopt policies banning guns on the property, even for concealed carry permit holders; and second, that guns be securely stored and locked when not in use.

Gun safety laws exist to help keep guns out of dangerous hands and keep people safe. A county commission simply doesnt get to override state law in this way, said Attorney General Rosenblum. The laws of Oregon remain fully in force  and fully enforceable  notwithstanding these invalid ordinances.

"No officials should be frightened out of properly doing their job by the threat of illegitimate criminal charges or bogus lawsuits. Although todays lawsuits are addressed to only these two Oregon counties, other counties have enacted similar illegal ordinances. These actions will hopefully send the message that we are prepared to preserve the rule of law across our state.

Yamhill and Harney counties are not the first in Oregon to pass "Second Amendment sanctuary" ordinances, but those considered or passed in previous waves  in anticipation of 2018 ballot measures that never reached the ballot  are still being litigated.
CENTRAL POINT, Ore.  The Jackson County Jail "consistently" leads the state in the number of forced releases due to overcrowding, the Sheriff's Office said in an update released on Thursday  and the number of currently incarcerated inmates accused of serious crimes means that lower-level alleged offenders are often released rapidly.

The Sheriff's Office says there is a misconception that much of the jail's population consists of those arrested on low-level charges "related to a lapse of judgment due to drugs or alcohol." But of 253 adults in custody currently incarcerated in the jail, almost 100 are charged with serious Measure 11 person crimes  including 22 alleged murderers and 35 alleged sex offenders.

"Due to the nature of these crimes and the potential danger to the public, more than half the jails population cannot be released pre-trial," the agency said. "The trial process can take months, or even years for more serious crimes. Every Measure 11 offender in our max-capacity jail means there is one less bed for low-level charges."

While some low-level offenders might be sentenced to a short jail term instead of a stint in state prison, the Sheriff's Office said that they do not have the room for many of these cases. Most adults in custody at the Jackson County Jail are on pre-trial status, and many are not eligible for release until they have been tried.

"The Jackson County Jails population is almost entirely devoted to securing individuals who are in a pre-trial status. We simply do not have space to allow local jail sentences to be served," the Sheriff's Office continued.

Overcrowding at the jail is not a new issue, and Sheriff Nathan Sickler has been pushing for the construction of a new jail for several years now. Despite herculean efforts to get city and county officials on board, voters firmly rejected a proposed service district that would have funded the new jail during a May, 2020 election.

Since then, the campaign to build a new jail has gone dormant, at least publicly.

The Jackson County Jail has a maximum capacity of 300 based on best practices for operating a safe facility in light of the overall space, the Sheriff's Office said Thursday. However, COVID-19 precautions have reduced the amount of available beds to about 250 for the time being.

"This allows appropriate distancing and quarantine protocols as new people are brought into the jail and kept separate from the general population until verified healthy," the agency said.

Supervisors at the jail say that they constantly monitor the jail population to make sure that the current adults in custody are ones who pose the highest risk to the community. They weigh an inmate's criminal history, current charges, and behavior or perceived risk. The level of serious alleged offenders in the jail means that "each and every release decision is difficult."

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office gave the following breakdown of the reasons for incarceration currently represented in the jail population:

Current Jail Population - 253
MEDFORD, Ore.  A federal grand jury in Medford issued an indictment on Thursday, charging the alleged leader and multiple associates of an alleged Klamath Falls drug trafficking ring that brought "large quantities" of methamphetamine and fentanyl into Oregon from California, according to the US Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon.

Federal prosecutors said that 57-year-old Juan Jessie Martinez-Gil, a Mexican national living in Reno, Nevada, was the leader of the operation. He's been charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute meth and fentanyl, plus additional charges for possession, distribution, and attempted distribution.

Nine others were charged for their alleged roles in the conspiracy  one more in Reno, four in Klamath Falls, two in Lakeview, one in the Klamath County community of Midland, and one in Lynwood, California.

According to prosecutors, Martinez-Gil and his associates worked to distribute meth and fentanyl in the form of counterfeit Oxycodone pills, a method that the US Drug Enforcement Administration recently flagged in a rare public safety alert, as the fake pills can carry a potentially lethal dose of the powerful synthetic opioid.

Law enforcement agencies conducted a coordinated sting on September 2, leading to the arrest of Martinez-Gil and the nine other co-defendants. Investigators served federal search warrants at five locations and on two vehicles, the US Attorney's Office said  eventually seizing roughly 17 pounds of meth and 700 counterfeit Oxycodone pills.

Martinez-Gil made his initial appearance in federal court on Thursday in Portland before a U.S. Magistrate Judge. He was arraigned, entered a plea of not guilty, and was ordered detained pending an eight-day jury trial scheduled to begin on December 14.

If convicted, Martinez-Gil faces a maximum sentence of life in federal prison, five years' supervised release, and a $10 million fine.

All of the other co-defendants have made their first appearances in federal court as well, either on Thursday or in days prior.

This case was investigated by the DEA with assistance from the Basin Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team (BINET), which is made up of members from the Oregon State Police, Klamath Falls Police Department, and the U.S. National Guard. It is being prosecuted by the US Attorneys Office for the District of Oregon.

The DEA also received assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, the Washoe County Sheriffs Office, the California Highway Patrol, the Central Point Police Department, the Torrance Police Department, and the Lake County Sheriffs Office.
CENTRAL POINT, Ore. -- On Tuesday, the Oregon Health Authority and FEMA joined forces to open up another COVID-19 vaccine and testing clinic in Jackson County  just as the approval came down for a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine to be administered to eligible groups at high risk from the virus.

Linda Bettis showed up at the Expo clinic on Thursday, looking forward to getting her Pfizer booster shot.

I am excited because Im taking care of my health  thats why Im here. I saw this on the news last night and had to come by, Bettis said.

Bettis tells Newswatch 12 that she had COVID-19 back in November of 2020, and she's glad to get her booster shot now.

I think having had it made me want to get the vaccine even more, Bettis added.

Bettis wasnt the only Rogue Valley Resident who got their booster shot on Thursday.

I feel that being in and out of Covid rooms all day its especially important to make sure Im protected and my family is protected in any way possible, Reanna Cook said.

Cook works as a phlebotomist at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. She said this is one of the most stressful times of her life.

Vaccine Watch: Jackson County Expo to host new vaccination and testing clinic as Pfizer boosters gain approval

Patty Crumrine is retired, and she got her booster shot on Thursday as well. For her, the argument over vaccines is particularly frustrating, because the consequences of not getting vaccinated have hit close to home.

I'm sad, I'm scared, I'm annoyed, because this vaccine is available to us for free ... people have been so smart to do this for us, and here we are  not many of us are going to survive us at our age, Crumrine said. "I don't get it."

Crumrine says that her nephew is 47 years old and works as a nurse. He is currently in a fight for his life as he battles a serious case of COVID-19.

As of the news this morning from family, he is walking the line between life and death, Crumrine said.

Her nephew wasnt vaccinated, and she hopes others out there will get the vaccine so we can move forward and out of the pandemic.

"C'mon people, get the vaccine and let's get this pandemic over with. Let's quit arguing about it, and let's not be political about it," Crumrine said.

Tanya Phillips with Jackson County Public Health said more than 125 people received their vaccines on Wednesday. The clinic is open Tuesday through Sunday for the next two weeks beginning September 28. Hours will be from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Passengers wear protective face masks and are physically distanced on a flight from Calgary to Vancouver, Tuesday, June 9, 2020. The union representing flight attendants at Canada's major airlines says reducing on-board food and drink service might help combat passenger bad behaviour in the skies. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
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In fully-humanized health care, I envision patients as clients, with doctors as part of the health care team in a role more akin to expert consultants and skilled proceduralists. The consumer is empowered in the network to drive his or her own health  taking the central role rather than the physician.

By continuously humanizing health care and creating therapeutic alliances, we gain one more benefit. We enlist the efforts of the clients natural support network, a free army of caregivers to reduce the load on our overburdened health care system. But to be effective, the support network will need engaging and actionable information. Together with providers, they will help individuals integrate multiple modalities in their journey toward healthfulness.

Therapeutic alliances not only would reduce costs by sharing information with people in a way that encourages them to take more responsibility for their own health, but they would also reduce the dehumanization rampant in health care today.

Summer Knight is a family physician and physician executive. She is the author of Humanizing Healthcare: Hardwire Humanity into the Future of Health.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, Humane health care outcomes by creating therapeutic alliances.

This episode is sponsored by Tradeoffs, available on your favorite podcast platform.

Did you enjoy todays episode?

Please click here to leave a review for The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out!

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Hosted by Kevin Pho, MD, The Podcast by KevinMD shares the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from.
Amazon has reached a settlement with two former employees who claimed they were illegally fired after speaking out against the company.

Two former Amazon corporate workers, Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, said that Amazon fired them last year after they organized workers around climate action and warehouse conditions during the pandemic. Amazon said it fired the workers for "repeatedly violating internal policies."

A local branch of the United Food and Commercial Workers union in Washington State filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board last year, alleging that Amazon violated federal labor law by firing the workers. The NLRB in April found merit to the charges, and the agency issued a complaint. An NLRB administrative law judge was set to hold a hearing on the complaint this week.

The agreement did not include an admission of liability, according to Amazon and UFCW.

In a joint statement issued Wednesday, Cunningham and Costa said the settlement was a "win for protecting workers rights, and shows that we were right to stand up for each other, for justice, and for our world."

Amazon "will be required to pay us our lost wages and post a notice to all of its tech and warehouse workers nationwide that Amazon can't fire workers for organizing and exercising their rights," Cunningham and Costa said.

Amazon did not comment on the specifics of their statement.

"We have reached a mutual agreement that resolves the legal issues in this case and welcome the resolution of this matter," an Amazon spokesperson said in an email.

More than 90% of "meritorious unfair labor practice" cases are settled by agreement, according to the NLRB.

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United Airlines announced Tuesday that only 593 of its workers face dismissal for not complying with the requirement to get a Covid-19 vaccine. That is less than 1% of its 67,000 US workers who are covered by the rule.

About 2,000 other employees, or less than 3% of the workforce, have applied for a medical or religious exemption from the vaccine, and their cases are now being considered by the airline.

"Our rationale for requiring the vaccine for all United's US-based employees was simple -- to keep our people safe," said United CEO Scott Kirby in a letter sent to United employees, which was also released to the media. "The truth is this: everyone is safer when everyone is vaccinated, and vaccine requirements work."

Some of the 593 employees who have not yet complied with the requirement could still be kept on staff if they have received the vaccine or started the vaccine process and had not forwarded proof to the airline.

Some employers are concerned that mandating their staff get a vaccine could lead people to quit their jobs during a very tight labor market. But the jobs at United, almost all of which are covered by union contracts, are apparently attractive enough for even vaccine-hesitant employees to get vaccinated.

Support for employer mandates has also been growing as Covid-19 cases and deaths surged this summer, primarily among unvaccinated people. A CNN poll conducted in August showed 54% supported employer vaccine mandates, up from only 46% support in April.

United, like all airlines, trimmed its staff in 2020 as air travel fell sharply. Airlines are now all in the process of hiring staff to deal with a rebound in air travel. And United officials said some of the most qualified candidates volunteered that they were applying for jobs at United because of the vaccine requirement and what it says about the airline's commitment to the safety of employees.

United has one of the strictest employer vaccine mandates. The federal employer mandate rules announced by President Joe Biden earlier this month that covered most businesses with 100 or more employees gave workers a choice between vaccination or weekly Covid testing. But there is not a testing alternative for United employees.

The major unions at United have not fought the airline's vaccine mandate. But Tuesday the pilots unions representing pilots at American and Southwest voiced objections to federal rules they fear could require vaccine for their members.

The Allied Pilots Association, which represents American's pilots, wrote to 15 high-ranking US government officials saying "mandatory vaccinations could result in labor shortages and create serious operational problems for American Airlines and its peers" at the height of the holiday travel season. It warned of "a scenario in which airlines are forced to either offer unpaid leaves of absence or, worse, implement mass terminations of unvaccinated pilots."

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association said it is the union's belief that it is "each pilot's right to choose" whether to get vaccinated.

But the federal rules only require employers to mandate either a vaccine or weekly Covid tests, although an employer can chose to have a tougher policy as United has done.

So far the other major US airlines  American Airlines, Delta and Southwest  do not have a mandate, although Delta has told employees they'll have to pay more for health insurance if they are not vaccinated.

Both the American and Southwest pilots unions have been voicing displeasure with work conditions at the airlines in recent months for issues that have nothing to do with vaccines. Both unions have announced plans to hold informational pickets of the airlines later this year, though in neither case would they engage in a work stoppage.

United had planned to place employees who had medical reasons for not getting the vaccine on medical leave, which could include partial pay, depending upon the terms of their union contract. And it planned to place those whose requests for religious exemptions were accepted on unpaid leave. Those who had applied for those exemptions and had the requests rejected would face dismissal.

Six United employees who had applied to be exempt from the mandate for medical or religious reasons, if not both, filed federal lawsuit last week challenging the mandate. In response, United put on hold plans until at least October 15 to place those with exemptions on leave and to dismiss those whose request for exemption had been rejected.

While United is a strong supporter of employer vaccine mandates, it does not support the idea of requiring passengers to be vaccinated in order to fly.

"I don't think [mandating vaccination for] air travel on its own will drive a huge increase in vaccination rates," Kirby told CNN earlier this month. "I think this employer mandate will drive a really big increase." He said he was concerned passenger mandates risked "creating friction in airports, friction in subways, friction across the board."

-- CNN's Pete Muntean and Gregory Wallace contributed to this report

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A British police officer has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, a case that sparked outrage and a national debate about violence against women.

Prosecutors said Everard was walking to her London home on March 3 when Wayne Couzens used his police identification and handcuffs to deceive her into getting in his car under the pretense that she had violated Covid-19 rules. He raped her and strangled her with his police belt later that evening.

Couzens was sentenced Thursday to a whole-life prison term, which is very rare in the United Kingdom and reserved for exceptionally serious crimes. It means the defendant is never considered for parole.

Delivering the sentence in front of a packed courtroom, Lord Justice Adrian Fulford described Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, as a "blameless victim of a grotesquely executed series of offenses" and called the case "devastating, tragic and wholly brutal."

The judge added that Couzens, 48, had spent the entire evening of March 3 "hunting a lone female to kidnap and rape." Couzens was fired from London's Metropolitan Police in July, days after he pleaded guilty to Everard's kidnap, rape and murder.

"You have irretrievably damaged the lives of Sarah Everard's family and friends ... you have eroded the confidence that the public are entitled to have in the police forces ... you have utterly betrayed your family," the judge said in his sentencing remarks.

Standing in the dock, Couzens kept his head bowed and his eyes closed, as he had done throughout the whole two-day sentencing hearing. The judge made a point of criticizing Couzens' behavior in court, saying he had seen "no evidence of genuine contrition on your part as opposed to evident self-pity."

Everard's parents Jeremy and Susan, her sister Kate, and many of her friends were in court at London's Old Bailey -- the central criminal court of England and Wales.

A life sentence is mandatory in murder cases in the UK, but it is usually up to the court to decide the minimum length of time to be served before the possibility of early release.

Couzens' whole-life term is exceedingly rare. According to data from the UK Ministry of Justice, there were only 60 whole-life prisoners in the UK as of June 2021, out of nearly 7,000 inmates serving life sentences.

Couzens' defense lawyer Jim Sturman QC failed to convince the court that the crimes didn't meet the test for the imposition of a whole-life prison term. He argued there were several mitigating factors, including Couzens' early guilty plea and what he said was genuine remorse, his underlying depression and the lack of prior convictions.

"He is filled with self-loathing and abject shame, as he should be," Sturman told the court shortly before the sentence was delivered.

Everard went missing on the evening of March 3 after leaving a friend's house in Clapham, south London. Her remains were found days later in woodland near Ashford, Kent -- more than 50 miles from where she was last seen.

Couzens was later arrested at his home in Kent, close to where Everard's body was found. Due to his guilty pleas there was no trial, but the sentencing hearing over the past two days was an opportunity for the prosecution to present the facts of what happened in March and for Everard's family to read impact statements.

Prosecutor Little summarized Couzens' actions as "deception, kidnap, rape, strangulation, fire." Little also detailed what eyewitnesses to the kidnapping on March 3 saw, saying they observed Couzens handcuff Everard, who appeared compliant and had her head down. They thought he was an undercover police officer arresting a woman.

Everard was alive for hours after her kidnapping, and was moved to Couzens' own car later that evening, the prosecutor said. "In order to have done so and without her escaping or trying to escape or make a noise, it can be inferred that he, at least, must have threatened her," Little told the court. Prosecutors believe Everard died around 2.30 a.m. on March 4, several hours after she was kidnapped by Couzens.

Everard's family was given the opportunity to speak in court on Wednesday, demanding that Couzens, who spent the hearing with his eyes closed and head bowed, look at them while they read their statements.

Sarah's mother, Susan, said her daughter "spent the last hours on this earth with the very worst of humanity. She lost her life because Wayne Couzens wanted to satisfy his perverted desires ... He treated my daughter as if she was nothing and disposed of her as if she was rubbish. I am haunted by the horror of it."

Everard's family said they were "pleased" with the sentence handed to Couzens. "Nothing can make things better, nothing can bring Sarah back, but knowing he will be imprisoned forever brings some relief," they said in a statement.

Epidemic of violence

Everard's disappearance prompted an outpouring of grief and rage across social media from women sharing their own experiences of sexual assault, while also shining a light on the epidemic of violence against women and girls in the UK.

"You have very considerably added to the sense of insecurity that many have living in our cities, perhaps particularly women, when traveling by themselves and especially at night," Lord Justice Fulford also told Couzens during the sentencing.

One woman is killed by a man on average every three days in the UK, according to data from the Femicide Census, an organization that tracks violence against women and girls. The group argues that the government's new strategy to curb such violence "shamefully ignores" victims of femicide.

The government promised to take action to tackle violence against women and girls, but activists and the opposition say the steps it proposed were not adequate.

The murder of elementary school teacher Sabina Nessa earlier this month convinced many that nothing has changed since Everard was murdered six months ago.

The man accused of murdering Nessa, Koci Selamaj, also appeared in the same court as Couzens later on Thursday. Prosecutor Alison Morgan said the murder was a "premeditated and predatory" stranger attack and that Selamaj inflicted "extreme violence" on Nessa, PA Media reported.

Selamaj was remanded in custody and a plea hearing has been set for December. His lawyer Aidan Harvey has previously indicated Selamaj would plead not-guilty, PA reported.

London's Metropolitan Police force has also faced a barrage of criticism for their actions in the days after Everard's disappearance.

Women were reportedly warned by police officers not to venture out alone as they made door-to-door inquiries on the case, prompting some to comment that this approach only fueled the culture of victim blaming.

Meanwhile, the police regulator, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), is investigating whether the Met responded appropriately to a report that Couzens indecently exposed himself at a South London fast food restaurant in February. The IOPC is also investigating alleged failures by Kent Police to investigate another indecent exposure incident linked to Couzens from 2015.

Speaking outside the court on Thursday, the Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said Couzens had brought shame on the police. "There are no words that can fully express the fury... and sadness that we all feel about what happened to Sarah. I am so sorry," she said.

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EUGENE, Ore. -- A group of local business owners is searching for a solution to the homeless camp in the Greenhill Industrial Park area on Ed Cone Boulevard.

Jenny John and her husband own the roughly eight-acre property that is outlined by the dozens of campers and tents. She said the camp's presence makes it more difficult to sell the property.

She said there have even been instances where people have pulled out of a deal because they couldn't promise the camp would be dissolved.

"It's just frustrating to not have somebody helping us to disband that. And most of those campers have now migrated from other areas," John said.

John said she and several of her peers have sent letters to city councilors and the local fire department.

However, they have not heard of any sort of solution.

John claimed several of the residents threatened her husband when he came to check on the property.

Overall, they are concerned this is a problem that is only going to get worse.
VENETA, Ore. -- The hunt is still on to find a breakthrough in the Derek Martell case, according to Oregon State Police.

The Veneta man who was injured mysteriously near The Dalles is now home, and his wife said he's getting better by the hour.

Days after Martell was found unconscious inside his parked vehicle along Interstate 84 on Saturday, troopers are still looking for answers.

RELATED: VENETA MAN INJURED NEAR THE DALLES IS BEING RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL

Oregon State Trooper Mark Jubitz told KEZI his team is struggling to find evidence.

"We're hoping we find something soon," Jubitz said. We are just going through the tedious day-to-day stuff, going through every piece of evidence.

Making matters more complicated, Jubitz said Oregon Department of Transportation traffic cameras dont record.

They just livestream. You would think this day in age they would, Jubitz said.

He told KEZI they sift through about half a dozen tips a day. They've come up with several theories as to what happened to Martell and how he couldve wound up with severe head trauma to the back right side of his head. But Jubitz said no theory is more plausible than the other.

"We are just trying to establish a timeline and go through the facts and sort things out," Jubitz said.

As for now, Martell's wife Kari said in a post that he is doing what he does best: laying in his recliner with his dog named Turtle.

Kari said doctors thought he wouldn't be able to go home until the end of this week or the next, but she said her husband is a fighter and stubborn too.

Sherry Stock, director of the Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon, told KEZI every case is different. As the brain heals over time, some memories may come back.

But as time goes on, the chance of remembering something becomes less likely. She said one of the best ways survivors can recover memories is with music.

"Music stimulates every lobe in the brain and so listening to music, Stock said. What I tell people is make sure it's the music the individual likes, not what you like."

Kari said he might never remember what happened to him on his way home from his elk hunting trip, but she is over the moon to have her husband back home.
LANE COUNTY, Ore. -- Oregon teachers and staff have just over two weeks until they have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Under Gov. Kate Brown's mandate, the deadline is Oct. 18. Staff members can apply for a religious or medical exemption, however.

A spokesperson for Eugene School District 4J told KEZI 9 News that as of Thursday, about 91% of the districts 2,150 regular staff members are fully vaccinated, and nine are at least partially vaccinated. About 64 are not vaccinated. The district is reviewing medical and religious exemptions that have been submitted, and they said they are considering options such as enhanced safety measures, job reassignment, and unpaid leave.

RELATED: Parents split on Oregon's new vaccine mandate for educators

KEZI 9 News spoke to Sabrina Gordon, the president of the Eugene Education Association. Gordon said along with Eugene and Bethel schools continuing to implement multiple safety measures, vaccination is still the best way to keep everyone safe.

"Our districts in Eugene are moving forward to make that happen," said Gordon.

Gordon also said there are still a lot of unknowns as far as what things will look like for Eugene and Bethel school districts. She said there are a lot of potential things that could happen to teachers who decide to apply for a medical or religious exemption.

"I think that one of accommodations that potentially could be offered is an unpaid leave," Gordon said. "So, that person would continue to be employed by the school district, but not an active employee this year."

KEZI 9 News also reached out to the Springfield School District, and a spokesperson said their Human Resources department is working through different process and procedures with the vaccine mandate.

Springfield Education Association President Jonathan Gault said there are a lot of what-ifs for teachers right now.

MORE: Educators and students react to in-person classroom learning mandate

I think the most challenging thing for all of us is what does the future hold?" said Gault. Those unknowns could be, 'What is my daily schedule going to look like? Am I going to have a break?'

Gordon also said teachers and members of the district should be working together to keep students and staff safe.

Whatever the district can do to support the educators who are there in the classrooms through all of the things that they need to be the best teachers they can for the students in front of them, we need to be doing that, said Gordon.
EUGENE, Ore. -- Bi-Mart announced Thursday that the company will leave the pharmacy business, selling all 56 of its pharmacies in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington state to Walgreens. The sale includes all of Bi-Mart's prescription files and inventory.

Bi-Mart stores aren't going anywhere, but the company's pharmacies will either shut down and transfer prescriptions to nearby Walgreens locations or remain operating under the Walgreens brand in "select areas where Walgreens does not have nearby stores," primarily in rural Oregon.

Bi-Mart said that pharmacies in the Portland metro area and in several other markets have already been closed, with prescriptions transferred to Walgreens.

This decision, while difficult, is strategically important as we move to strengthen our solid financial position and expand our plans for future growth in the Northwest, said Rich Truett, president and CEO of Bi-Mart. Bi-Marts core business is healthy and strong, however over the years factors such as increasing costs and ongoing reimbursement pressure has led in part to our decision. We look forward to partnering with Walgreens to transition our pharmacy staff and members as seamless as possible.

Transfer of most prescription files is set to begin in October and be completed by January, "subject to customary closing conditions." Pharmacists and pharmacy staff at Bi-Mart locations will have an opportunity to apply for open positions at Walgreens.

Walgreens is pleased to introduce more patients to our trusted pharmacy services, that we currently provide in over 9,000 locations in communities across the country including more than 70 across Oregon, said Rob Ewing, regional vice president of Walgreens. We look forward to welcoming Bi-Mart patients to Walgreens pharmacy services, as well as providing employment opportunities to Bi-Mart pharmacy associates in available positions throughout our stores where they can continue to meet the needs of their patients.

Patients whose prescriptions are being transferred will be notified by mail, the companies said, and both Bi-Mart and Walgreens pledged to work together on a smooth transition for patients.

Financial terms of the deal between Walgreens and Bi-Mart were not disclosed.
Kilkenny's Carol Knox was eliminated last night from Glow Up Ireland. The judges Cathyanne Mac Allister and Emma O Byrne decided it was her time to leave after making it through to the top six make up artists in Ireland.

Last night's episode of Glow Up Ireland was a bittersweet one for Kilkenny's Carol Knox. Her Glow Up Ireland journey ended, but she was also grateful to be able to return home to her two children, who she was really starting to miss.

The remaining MUAs were asked (in the second part of the show) to create a look based on a person that inspires them the most.

According to Carol it was one of the most emotional and challenging episodes yet. "I changed my mind last minute on the person who inspires me most. I was going to focus on a famous artist that inspires me, however I decided to go with my heart and pay tribute to my friend. She had been through a huge amount of tragedy in such a short period of time, losing family members, one year after another. She is the person that inspires me the most, so I wanted to pay homage to her and her strength as a person.

"The idea of spiral was an optical illustration, just like tear drops from heaven from the people who had passed in her life. The ripple on my face was to reflect the ripple effect of grief but also of her strength."

The judges were curious to see the final look but Carol ran out of time to finish it. She ended up in the bottom two in the Face Off Chair for her final challenge against fellow MUA Caolan. Unfortunately the Kilkenny mum-of-two did not make it through the elimination round and it was her time to pack up her make up bag and leave the show.

On leaving Carol said "the show opened my eyes to my capabilities. The judges said they never knew what I was going to bring, as I pleasantly surprised them every week with my versality."

She added, "before entering this competition I only had four months experience in creative make up, I was green, but I learnt very fast. I also went on the show with huge self doubt and very little confidence. However when I was up in Dublin filming, I realized I was one in ten of so many people chosen to compete on this show, the judges saw something in me that I didn't. They believed in me when I didn't, so that hit a nerve. Some people climb to the top of the Himalayas to conquer their fears, I went on national TV to do a competition to have my soul searching journey."

One thing is for sure. The Thursday night viewing of Glow UP Ireland will not be the same without fighter Carol Knox. She certainly kept us entertained and as she says herself, its time for her to start believing in herself.

Don't miss next week as Kilkenny's Michael Ryan still stands a fighting chance as one of the top five MUAs left in Glow Up Ireland. Episode 6 will air on RTE2, Thursday at 9.35pm.
Here's what made the front page of the Kilkenny People on October 1, 1971 - 50 years ago this week

Women are in the majority in Kilkenny City according to the 1971 census returns. They outnumber the men by 604. Strangely enough, the position is reversed for the county, where the men outnumber the women by 2,843.

A satisfactory feature of the returns is that for the first time since 1841 the population of Kilkenny has increased. The increase over the 1966 figure is 1,348, while the city shows an increase of 224. Both figures represent a rise of 2.2 per cent. Net emigration has dropped to 3.1 per thousand of the population, compared with 10.9 per 1,000 in 1961-66.

The population of Kilkenny now stands at 61,811 - 32,025 men and 29,780 women. It was 60,463 in 1961-66. The citys population has risen from 10,068 in 1961-66 to 10,292 in 1971.

The increase of 1,348 in Kilkennys population is made up of 713 females and 635 males while of the estimated emigration of 944 persons, 619 were females and 325 males.

Kilkenny is one of four counties to show a substantial reduction in net emigration, the others being Laois, Wexford and Kildare, while in Waterford there was an increase of 0.6 per thousand in net immigration.

Population figures for the rural areas are also interesting. Callan, Carrick-on-Suir No 3, Castlecomer and Urlingford rural districts show slight declines while Ida, Kilkenny, Thomastown and Waterford No 2 show slight increases.

PUT THE COUNTRY IN SAFE HANDS

A call to find an alternative Government to the present Fianna Fail administration and to put the country into safer hands was made by Labour TD Dr Conor Cruise OBrien at the annual Labour Party dinner in the Newpark Hotel last week.

Referring to the Fianna Fail dissidents, Dr OBrien said that while Jack Lynch was a pacifist he was also the leader of a party which included men who were gambling on the brink of war in a bid to bring themselves back into power.

On a recent statement by the Northern Catholic Bishops which posed the question Who in their sane senses thought they could bomb a million Protestants into a United Ireland.

Dr OBrien said that at that time there were members of the Government party who were prepared to speculate towards war and were also a source of encouragement to people who adopted this violent approach to the Northern Ireland situation.

For this reason, it was absolutely urgent to seek an alternative government and a method of changing the Government of the country into safer hands, he said.

EXPLOSION

A quick decision to turn off a lighted gas prevented almost certain death when three people were burned, two of them seriously, after an explosion rocked the Harbour Bar, Thomastown.

The accident occurred when leaking gas from a cylinder, which was being attached to a cooker, was ignited by a naked flame. It happened just as Mrs Joan Myler, wife of the proprietor Mr James Myler, turned off the gas.

The explosion blew out a door and a number of windows and caused extensive damage to the property.

Mrs Myler and two others were rushed by ambulance to St Lukes Hospital, where they were treated for severe face, arm and leg burns.

OLD MILL TO CLOSE

Brownes Mill at Greenville, Kilmacow, which had been in operation for almost 100 years, is to close at the end of November. Ten employees will become redundant.

In the old times Kilmacow parish had eight mills, of which Brownes was the last. It was owned by the Pilworth family, Thomastown, who purchased it from Brownes in 1913.
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Large UK companies are required to reveal their gender pay gaps. But the rules are failing to address inequality, according to a new report.

The research, by the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College London and the Fawcett Society, concludes that the UK's mandatory gender pay gap reporting, which came into effect in 2017, "has no teeth" and is less effective than other global reporting systems which require a commitment to change.

Researchers analyzed pay gap reporting systems in six countries -- the UK, Australia, France, Spain, Sweden and South Africa -- and ranked the UK and Australian systems in joint last place for lack of effectiveness.

They assessed the gender pay gap reporting policies of each country by scoring them against 11 indicators, including accountability, transparency and enforcement.

The UK was ranked joint last because the government doesn't mandate that employers take action to address any pay gaps reported, while Australia was ranked joint bottom because company data is anonymized after it is submitted, risking a lack of accountability, the report authors said Thursday.

Spain and France were ranked first and second respectively because of laws in those countries which mean companies can face "heavy penalties" for failing to address gender inequality. South Africa was third and Sweden fourth.

The report praises the high compliance of gender pay gap reporting in the UK but calls on the government to require employers to take "remedial measures" to close the gender pay gap, rather than just "monitoring" the figures. Without the need for action, the system "has no teeth" authors said.

What needs to be done?

The report urges the government to make it a legal obligation for companies to publish gap-reducing "action plans" and to fine those who do not report gender pay gap data.

It also says the threshold for gender pay gap reporting should be reduced from companies with 250 employees to 50, to capture more workplaces.

Rosie Campbell, director of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College London, told CNN Business that the UK's gender pay gap was at risk of becoming worse.

"You can put your gender pay gap out there, and nothing happens," Campbell said. "Whereas a lot of other [reporting] mechanisms around the world [ask for] things they're doing to help eliminate the gender pay gap, such as around parental leave."

According to the UK's Government Equalities Office, between 2017/18 and 2018/19, around half of the gender pay gaps reported by UK employers narrowed. Though, by that measure, half also either stayed the same or widened, the report authors warned.

Official figures also indicate that men continue to be paid more.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that in 2020 -- the latest data available -- the gender pay gap stood at 15.5% in the UK, which was down slightly from 17.4% in 2019.

Felicia Willow, interim chief executive at the Fawcett Society, said in a statement that more action was needed.

"Gender equality is good for business, good for our economy, and good for employees. Unfortunately, this report clearly shows just how far behind the UK is from comparable countries in reducing its gender pay gap. Reporting without action is not enough."

The Government Equalities Office said in a statement to CNN Business: "The Gender Pay Gap reporting regulations have helped to motivate employers and focus attention on improving equality in the workplace. Lots of positive work has been done by employers since the scheme began, and ONS figures show that the gender pay gap stands at a record low."

The-CNN-Wire

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MASON CITY, Iowa - A crash Friday morning blocked a portion of the Avenue of the Saints just east of Mason City.

The Iowa DOT said the crash was south of Portland in the eastbound lane. It was reopened around 7:45 a.m.

US 18 EB: Road blocked due to a crash from US 65 to County Road S56 (near Mason City). https://t.co/TZ3FR1O9GD  Statewide Iowa 511 (@statewideia511) October 1, 2021
Leaders from Mayo Clinic, IBM, Rochester Public Schools, the Minnesota State Senate and Rochester Community Technical College gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of Pathways in Technology Early College High, or P-Tech, on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

RCTC'S P-Tech school is the first and only of its kind in Minnesota, offering high school students a college alternative that is free of cost.

Two pathways are offered to high school students, which are nursing and information technology.

A Practical Nursing Diploma requires the completion of 39 credits, which has an educational value of $7,562.

An Associates Degree in Informational Technology consists of 60 credits, which is worth $11,634.

State Senator Carla Nelson said funding was difficult to secure but that her position in the Minnesota Senate helped make Rochester the first city with the unique program.

"It came down to actually that competition for limited funding and fortunately I was chair for the Education, Finance and Policy Committee, so I could really shepherd this through in a way that may not have been possible otherwise," Nelson said.

The first P-Tech school was created in Brooklyn, New York, according to IBM's State Senior Executive Tory Johnson.
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa - An Iowa state Senator is looking to challenge longtime incumbent Senator Chuck Grassley's seat in the U.S. Senate.

Senator Jim Carlin, who represents District 3, is running for the Republican nomination for the upcoming November election. An attorney, Carlin was a member of the 6th Iowa House District, and was elected to the Senate in 2017. During his time in Des Moines, he was one of the champions of the heartbeat bill, developed active shooter protocols in schools, and worked to freeze property taxes for seniors.

Carlin has seen the state of Iowa change over the last several decades, particularly in rural areas.

"Small town Iowa has been decimated for 40 years, that was on Chuck's watch. Whether he bears some responsibility for that, it's something that should've been more meaningfully engaged on a legislative level in Washington, D.C. When we drive around our small towns, we see a lot of closed store fronts. We see our young people leaving small towns and going to the cities. There's been an exodus. I think small town Iowa truly represents Iowa."

As he looks to challenge Senator Grassley, Carlin is wanting to address issues such as the United States' relationship with China, the growth of 'big tech' into our everyday lives, and the overall direction of the country.

"The government's getting too big, and our freedoms are shrinking in that process. We need to meaningly size up and engage what we're up against to preserve freedoms so our children and grandchildren can enjoy the same freedom we did as kids. That's our duty, that's our responsibility."

Carlin is visiting with voters across Iowa, including a stop at Tap'd in Clear Lake on Wednesday. On Thursday, he made stops in Waverly and Buchanan County.
MINNNEAPOLIS (AP)  A Texas man who says he is affiliated the anti-government boogaloo movement has pleaded guilty to opening fire on a Minneapolis police station last year during unrest over the death of George Floyd.

Ivan Harrison Hunter was accused of firing 13 rounds from a semi-automatic assault-style rifle on the Third Precinct police station while protesters were inside the building.

The Boerne, Texas, man pleaded guilty to a federal riot charge. A judge ordered a presentence investigation. Floyd died in May 2020 after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck for nearly eight minutes. His death sparked protests around the world.
MASON CITY, Iowa - A man is arrested after authorities say they found about two pounds of methamphetamine in Mason City.

The Cerro Gordo County Sheriff's Office says it searched a home in the 400 block of S. Taylor Avenue at around 11:15 am Friday. Investigators say roughly two pounds of meth were discovered along with items used to distribute drugs.

Law enforcement says James Lee Mariner, 54 of Mason City, was also found at the location and charged with possession of meth with intent to deliver and failure to use a drug tax stamp.

Mariner has been booked into the Cerro Gordo County Jail on $25,000 bond.

The Sheriff's Office says this is an ongoing investigation into meth dealing and money laundering. Anyone with information on the matter is asked to contact authorities.

The Clear Lake Police Department, Mason City Police Department, Mason City Fire Department, Iowa Divison of Narcotics Enforcement, U.S. Postal Service, and the North Central Iowa Narcotics Task Force assisted with this search and arrest.
MASON CITY, Iowa - A familiar name is the new president at Metalcraft.

Chief Operating Officer Kyle Bermel is taking over for CEO and former president Steve Doerfler.

Today Im grateful for the confidence of our board and member-owners in my ability to help lead Metalcraft, says Bermel. Its been rewarding serve a strong, innovative, growing company; I know we have experience, and expertise company-wide to exceed our customers expectations.

The company says Bermel joined Metalcraft as an engineer in 2012 and earned the respect of the board and member-owners while

developing subsidiaries ARK Business Systems and Inlay Innovation.

As CEO, I have tremendous confidence in Kyles servant leadership, says Doerfler. Were preserving the values that have served Metalcraft for decades. Im particularly dedicated to our vision for innovative products and development of our member-owners  work that will keep the company growing and successful.

Metalcraft designs, engineers and manufactures custom RFID and barcode tags and has operated in Mason City since 1950.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - As tests continue on new treatments for patients infected with coronavirus, a Mayo Clinic expert is providing an update on the efforts underway.

Mayo Clinic Infectious Disease Expert Dr. Raymund Razonable says researchers continue to lend their focus is monoclonal antibodies, with several clinical trials being conducted on treatments - some of which could be long-acting. Yet one monoclonal treatment that has continued to prove effective, according to Mayo Clinic, is Regeneron, made available under emergency use authorization last November.

"We have been using it since then. Mayo is using the same product, actually, predominantly at this time, and it has proven to be effective against all known existing variants to date," said Dr. Razonable.

A Mayo Clinic study found use of Regeneron resulted in a 70% reduction in hospitalization. With eligibility for monoclonal antibodies expanded to include a long list of conditions in May, Dr. Razonable says these treatments have a significant role to play.

"The eligibility criteria for monoclonal antibodies has been expanded to anybody who's 12 years and older, who is maybe slightly overweight. They don't have to have other medical conditions that were traditionally considered high risk." The doctor continued, "everybody who has heart disease, lung disease, asthma, those with high blood pressure, those who are smokers, or previous smokers, those who have neurodevelopmental disorders such as cerebral palsy, for example, those who have chronic kidney disease. So as you can see, the list is long."

Another area of focus for researchers has been antiviral treatments in the form of pills. However, for those hopeful oral medications could supplant vaccines, Dr. Razonable says it's unlikely.

"All of these are different layers of efforts to combat this pandemic. Really, vaccination prevention is still the best. If you don't allow the virus to circulate because the majority of the population is vaccinated, then that will be the best effort to, you know, stop this pandemic. Antivirals are there to treat patients who have the disease already. They are already at the stage wherein they are already transmitting to other people as well. Plus, we've learned from experience with other infections that, you know, antiviral resistance will eventually happen. Just like what I mentioned earlier, as long as the virus continues to circulate in the community, variants will emerge, and maybe these parents will eventually develop resistance to many of the treatments that we have available. And this is the reason why 'vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate' is what is being proposed from the public health standpoint."

Another drug that's made headlines recently in the context of COVID-19 is Ivermectin, a dewormer commonly used in livestock. Dr. Razonable says there have only been small studies on its effectiveness treating coronavirus, producing conflicting results.

In addition to the limited data, the doctor adds healthcare providers already have other options that have proven to be effective. The FDA says ivermectin should not be used to treat or prevent COVID-19.
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa - The American Legion of Iowa Foundation has given a $1,200 community grant to One Vision's Wellness Center.

Officials say the money will be used to buy new flooring for the center to increase safety and expand accessibility.

Thank you to the American Legion for the generous donation. Their continued support over the years has allowed us to make numerous improvements to the fitness/exercise room in various forms. From new equipment to rubberized flooring allowing for a quieter, cleaner, and more versatile workout space, says Steven Story, Boyer Pool and Wellness Center Manager.

The Wellness Center houses One Visions indoor heated (Boyer) pool, spa, fitness room, and gymnasium. Wellness Center memberships and $5 day passes are available to the public.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - The Kaiser Family Foundation released a survey reporting that about 12 percent of Americans said they will "definitely not get vaccinated."

While more than 70 percent of U.S. adults have reported that they have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, vaccine hesitancy still remains.

The CDC recently approved a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine as a booster for eligible patients in efforts to combat waning immunity.

According to the KFF survey, 19 percent of those who are vaccinated and 71 percent of those who are unvaccinated view the booster as a sign that the vaccine is not working as well as promised.

PHN Disease Prevention and Control Public Health Nurse Manager Leah Espinda-Brandt urges those who are hesitant to receive the vaccine to reach out to local health experts for more information.

"Providing clear, accurate messaging about the vaccine itself is important to build that trust," said Espinda-Brandt. "I think providing tools to those who do vaccinate so that we can have empathetic conversations with those who are hesitant...and be able to answer those common questions. Even encouraging those who were vaccinated to share those personal stories. Sometimes the personal stories might change someone's mind or have people ask questions about the vaccine or view the vaccine differently."

As of now, more than half of Minnesota and Iowa are vaccinated.

"We do look at data and we find that immunity may wane, so then it's best practice then to add another dose to the series," said Espinda-Brandt. "It's not that it's not working, it is working. It just may wane from the original and we just might need that little boost to get that increase in that immunity level."
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP)  A University of Northern Iowa biology professor who required masks be worn in his classroom and threatened lower grades for students who refused has been relegated to online teaching and stripped of his eligibility for merit pay.

UNI professor Steve OKane Jr. had pushed a resolution among his colleagues saying faculty should be allowed to manage their classrooms. The Gazette of Cedar Rapids reports O'Kane received a disciplinary letter from UNI College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences Dean John Fritch.

Despite the letter's warning that he could be fired if he fails to comply with university policies on face masks, O'Kane says he will require masks again in the spring if he's allowed to return to in-person teaching.
MASON CITY, Iowa - A break-in attempt that led to a police pursuit results in jail time for a North Iowa man.

Cody Dean Dakin, 26 of Manly, has pleaded guilty to attempted third-degree burglary, eluding, and unlawful possession of a prescription drug.

Mason City police say Dakin tried to break into an apartment on July 19 and then led officers on a car chase. Dakin then allegedly abandoned his vehicle and tried to run away before being captured. Police say Dakin's vehicle wasn't put in park and rolled away, crashing into another vehicle.

He's been sentenced to 120 days in jail and fined $1,715.
COLUMBIA  Following an ethics complaint filed in 2019, Columbia Mayor Brian Treece has been ordered to terminate his campaign committee.

The Missouri Ethics Commission issued the order on Friday, saying that Treece violated state law. The commission says upon termination, no further action will be taken against Treece.

In November 2019, Columbia attorney Dan Viets filed the complaint with two arguments, according to the Columbia Missourian: that Treece failed to file required paperwork before accepting donations for a 2022 mayoral campaign, and that he is illegally maintaining a campaign committee while he is a registered lobbyist.

Treece announced last month that he would not seek reelection in 2022, but Treece has been a registered lobbyist since 1996 and throughout his tenure as mayor.

The 2016 state law requires that registered lobbyists must dissolve his or her candidate committee and that the campaign money should be returned to donors or contributed to a non-for-profit group or political party committee.

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At the time, Viets said he knew Treece was a lobbyist but only recently learned of the statute.

The state's ethic commission wrote that, after enactment but prior to the law taking effect, Treece registered with the commission in December 2016 and sought advice from its executive director. It says that Treece did not terminate his committee in 2016 prior to registering as a lobbyist in 2017, 2018, 2019 or 2020.

According to Treece's attorney Jeremy Root, the commission dismissed the complaint relating to committee contribution filings.

Root said Treece followed the executive director's advice, which was that he was advised "not to dissolve his candidate committee."

"We disagree with the conclusion of the Missouri Ethics Commission regarding Section 105.465 both because Mayor Treece was advised not to dissolve his committee, and because Article VIII, Section 23(6)b of the Missouri Constitution clearly states: candidate committees 'shall continue in existence for use by an elected candidate.' The Missouri Ethics Commission cannot vary the commands of the Constitution, which gives elected candidates like Mayor Treece a right to have and use a candidate committee post-election," Root said in an email to KOMU 8.

According to the Columbia Missourian, Gov. Mike Parson vetoed a piece of legislation in July that would have kept Treece out of potential hot water. The legislation created an exemption to an existing state statute and clarified that lobbyists running for municipal and school district offices could maintain candidate committees.
More Americans are dying from drug overdoses. Pictured is the prescription painkiller Oxycodon.
More than 2 million US teens say they use e-cigarettes, with a quarter of them saying they vape daily, a new national survey finds.
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ROME, OCT 1 - Italy's COVID-19 incidence has continued on a downward trend while the Rt transmission number is steady, according to a draft of the latest coronavirus monitoring report of the health ministry and the Higher Health Institute (ISS). The report said Italy registered 37 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants in the period from September 24 to 30, compared to 45 in last week's report. Experts say it is possible to trace and track cases if the incidence is below 50. It said the Rt number was 0.83 in the period of September 8 to 21, while it was 0.82 in last week's report. A Rt over 1 indicates that the epidemic is in a phase of expansion. The report said the pressure the coronavirus is exerting on Italy's health service was down slightly. It said the proportion of Italy's intensive care places occupied by COVID sufferers was down to 5.1%, with the number falling from 516 on September 21 to 459 on September 28. It said the proportion of ordinary hospital ward places taken up by coronavirus patients was 5.9%, with the number dropping from 3,937 to 3,418. It said all of Italy's regions and autonomous provinces were classed as low risk for COVID, except the Lazio, the region Rome belongs to, where the risk is 'moderate'. The report will be presented later on Friday after it has been examined by the government's 'control room' COVID taskforce. (ANSA).
TURIN, OCT 1 - Three men of Albanian origin were arrested Friday on suspicion of murdering a 50-year-old Italian architect in a burglary-gone-wrong near Turin in June, sources said. Roberto Mottura died in his home at Piossasco after surprising the three would-be burglars. Police said they had solid evidence against the three. Mottura's brother Enrico said "my brother's killers have been arrested and I hope they rot in jail. "I really hope this case has reached a breakthrough. I hope so for my brother's family, for my parents, for us all. "These past few months have been terrible", the man told Turin daily La Stampa. (ANSA).
AREZZO, OCT 1 - One person was acquitted and 23 acquitted in a trial into the bankruptcy of medium-sized Tuscan lender Banca Etruria on Friday. The bank lender went to the wall in 2015, leaving many small investors with worthless bonds, including one who killed himself. The person convicted was financier Alberto Rigotti, a former member of the bank's board. He got six years in jail. Among those acquitted was the former chairman of the bank's last board, Lorenzo Rosi. Prosecutors had requested jail terms ranging from one year to six and a half years for he 24 defendants. In February 2020 a Florence appeals court found the bank's ex president and former general manager guilty of obstructing regulators. Former president Giuseppe Fornasari and former GM Luca Bronchi were given suspended prison sentences of one year, one month. Another former executive, Davide Canestri, was acquitted. All three were found not guilty at the first-instance trial. Fornasari and Bronchi were also ordered to pay damages of 327,000 euros to the Bank of Italy. (ANSA).
ROME, OCT 1 - Activists Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Rakete led a massive march in Milan on Friday demanding action to combat the climate crisis. Fridays For Future Italia estimated that 50,000 people were taking part in the demonstration at the time of writing and, with more people jointing in, this could go up to 100,000. One of the banners read "uproot the system". Sweden's Thunberg and Ugandan Rakete took part in the Youth4Climate conference in Milan this week and on Thursday talked to Premier Mario Draghi, who opened the PreCOP talks head of next month's COP26 UN Climate Conference. Earlier in the week Thunberg gave a remarking speech in which she blasted politicians for producing lots of "blah, blah, blah" about the climate crisis but no action. During Friday's march Thunberg danced and clapped as other protestors sang Italian partisans' anthem 'Bella Ciao'. (ANSA).
ROME, OCT 1 - Italian police on Friday seized some 50 million euros in assets from the best-known construction entrepreneur in the Puglia city of Molfetta outside Bari, a former drug trafficker. Real estate, company shares, current accounts, luxury cars and goods, a plush seaside villa, and a yacht were seized from Giuseppe Manganelli, 52. Police said the man built his business and property empire from ill-gotten gains. Manganelli has been convicted in the past of robbery, conspiracy to traffic drugs and extortion. He has been linked to the local mafia. Molfetta Mayor Tommaso Minervini said "plaudits to the magistrates and the police for today's actions safeguarding legality. "This is tangible proof that the State and the institutions are working daily against all forms of crime". (ANSA).
TURIN, OCT 1 - A 57-year-old high-school teacher with psychiatric issues on Friday tried to snatch a nine-month-old baby girl from her pram in a bar in Turin. The man, who was previously convicted of attempted murder, was arrested. He has been charged with attempted kidnapping. The man was almost lynched by people in the bar, police said. he had recently gone off his meds, and had been missing from work for the last few days, police said. The man is employed by a liceo classico in the northern city. He is in treatment at the psychiatric ward of Turin's Molinette Hospital. (ANSA).
Mumbai, Oct 1 (PTI) Kyrgyzstan said it is offering free land and power for Indian pharma companies eager to set up shop in the central Asian country.

Our government is willing to provide free land and electricity to Indian pharmaceutical companies willing to set up plants in Kyrgyzstan, its Ambassador Asein Isaev said speaking at MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai.

Also Read | UPSC CDS II Result 2020 Released, Candidates Can Check Their Results Online at upsc.gov.in.

. ICICI Bank launches special festive offers for customers

Also Read | Flipkart Big Billion Days Sale 2021 To Go Live at Midnight for Plus Members, Check Details Here.

*Private sector lender ICICI Bank on Friday launched special festive offers for customers, including attractive deals on various brands and e-commerce platforms.

Offers also available on banking products including loans, credit cards, savings and current accounts, it said in an official statement.

 Kotak Mahindra Bank launches National Pension Scheme products

*Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank on Friday launched New Pension Scheme products on mobile to drive the sale of such products.

In a statement, the lender said its customers can open an NPS account instantly in a fully paperless manner.

.. Times Network to launch Hindi business channel ET Swadesh'

*Times Network on Friday said it will be launching ET Swadesh, a business channel in Hindi, from Tuesday.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be launching the channel, as per an official statement.

 Majority of consumers eager to buy alcohol online

*A majority of consumers are eager to purchase alcohol online after facing difficulties in buying their spirits during the pandemic, a survey of 2,000 people has said.

Sixty per cent of the respondents said they are eager for the purchase with Maharashtra showing the highest eagerness for in-home delivery of alcoholic beverages, as per an official statement.

 KOEL introduces fully automated organic waste composter

*Sustainable engineering solutions provider Kirloskar Oil Engines (KOEL) has introduced the Kirloskar i-Land  a fully automated organic waste composter to convert organic waste from homes and commercial spaces into compost.

It aims to reduce the dumping of waste in landfills and reduce the waste-treatment pressure on government agencies, according to a company release.

The company said that its latest innovation complements the Central government's 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' that aims to create a clean and green India, adding that the composter has features such as noiseless, odourless, and maintenance-free functioning with a short processing time of 24 hours.

The Kirloskar i-Land will be available in ranges from 25 kg to 1,250 kg machines. The only CSIR validated organic composter, acts as an efficient green-living solution with an operating expense of less than Re 1 per person per day, the company said. PTI AA IAS

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Motorola India is all set to launch the Edge 20 Pro smartphone today in the country. The handset made its global debut in July 2021 along with Edge 20 and Edge 20 Lite smartphones. Motorola Edge 20 Pro will be launched at 12 noon and will be made available for sale via Flipkart during the Big Billion Days Sale 2021. The device is already available in Europe from EUR 699.99 (approximately Rs 60,500) for the 12GB + 128GB model. The Indian variant is said to be similar to the Euro-spec model. Motorola Edge 20 Pro Launching Tomorrow in India at 12 PM IST; Expected Prices, Features & Specifications.

Motorola Edge 20 Pro is expected to come with a 6.7-inch OLED display with a refresh rate of 144Hz.

Collect memories that helped you #FindYourEdge and store them in #motorolaedge20pro's 128GB Built-in Storage! Want to know how to be an absolute pro? Head to @Flipkart on 1st October at 12 PM. See you there! https://t.co/GkiRCaLRhX  Motorola India (@motorolaindia) September 29, 2021

It will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC coupled with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.

Motorola Edge 20 Pro (Photo Credits: Motorola)

For optics, the handset will come equipped with a triple rear camera setup comprising a 108MP main camera, a 16MP ultra-wide-angle lens and an 8MP optical zoom lens. At the front, there will be a 32MP for selfies and video calls.

Motorola Edge 20 Pro (Photo Credits: Motorola)

The smartphone will come packed with a 4,500mAh battery with 30W fast charging support and is claimed to deliver up to 9 hours of battery life with a 10-minute charge. Motorola Edge 20 Pro will run on Android 11 with assured upgrade to Android 12 and Android 13.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 01, 2021 10:14 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Hundreds of health care workers in the United States are being fired or suspended for over compliance with the vaccine mandate that U.S. President Joe Biden earlier announced.

Biden had announced a vaccine mandate for health care facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement affecting around 17 million health care workers in the U.S., according to an ABC News Go report.

Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas has around 26,000 employees with 153 of those having quit or fired over the vaccine mandate after the June 7 deadline to get the COVID vaccine.

Out of the 153 workers, 26 were nurses.

Hospital spokesperson Lisa Merkl said that they had staffed up before the mandate so that they would be much better prepared when the June 7 deadline arrived.

Merkl added that they continue to hire positions as needed, adding that they have not had any major turnover or staffing concerns.

Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles had projected about 97 percent to 98 percent of its 17,000 people workforce to comply by its vaccine deadline, which is until Thursday.

Only one percent applied for medical or religious exemptions.

The vaccine requirements were announced at the time that hospitals were facing staffing problems, according to California Hospital Association spokesperson Jan Emerson-Shea.

The spokesperson said that there is a possibility that workers might opt to leave their jobs rather than get the COVID vaccine.

READ NEXT: Pres. Joe Biden Disappointed in Republican Governors Planning to Refuse Vaccine Mandate, Says "This Isn't a Game"

Not Just Health Care Workers

Meanwhile, other business sectors are also imposing a strict adherence policy for the vaccine mandate, such as the case with United Airlines.

About 600 United Airlines employees, who refused to get the COVID vaccine within the company-imposed deadline, will lose their jobs, according to a Forbes report.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby and president Brett Hart said in a letter to employees that it was a difficult decision. However, keeping the team safe has always been the top priority.

The airline company noted that around 96 percent of its 67,000 employees have been vaccinated, while three percent are seeking an exemption, and fewer than one percent will be fired.

The exemption could result in being placed on unpaid leave, according to an Associated Press News report.

Other companies such as Google, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, and McDonald's, among others, have also announced their own rules requiring in-office workers to be vaccinated now or in the coming weeks.

Tyson Foods has been requiring all of its workers to be vaccinated by November 1. The meatpacking company's workforce has been one that has been hit hard by the pandemic.

Around 80 percent of Tyson's employees have received at least one dose of the vaccine, which was an increase from 50 percent when it first announced the mandate in August.

Meanwhile, social media giant Facebook had pushed back its return to the office until January 2022 due to concerns over the delta variant, according to an NBC News report.

Lori Goler, vice president of Facebook People, said in a statement that they will be requiring anyone coming to work at any of their U.S. bases to be vaccinated as their offices reopen.

READ MORE: American Airlines Cancels Almost 400 Flights Over Staff, Maintenance Issues

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WATCH: Local Healthcare Workers Face Consequences As Vaccine Mandate Looms - from KPBS






U.S. defense officials on Thursday confirmed that a senior Al Qaeda member was killed in a drone strike in Syria that was conducted on September 20, at the province of Idlib.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesman, Army Major John Rigsbee said that the senior Al Qaeda member killed in the attack was identified as Salim Abu-Ahmad, The Daily Mail reported. Rigsbee went on to say that Abu-Ahmad was the one responsible for the funding, planning, and approving trans-regional attacks of the militant group.

READ NEXT: Pentagon Contradicts Pres. Joe Biden on Claims Al Qaeda 'Gone' in Afghanistan, Taliban Letting Americans Reach Airport

Senior Al Qaeda Member Killed in Drone Strike

The target of the drone strike on September 20 was reported to be in a vehicle traveling on a rural road in rebel-controlled territory. However, the identity of the target was not confirmed until Thursday.

Navy Lieutenant Josie Lynne Lenny said in a statement that initial indication showed that they struck their target person. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that the target vehicle was carrying a militant linked with Al Qaeda.

Also known as White Helmets, the Civil Defense team further noted that the unidentified body was lifted from the car that was located along the Idlib-Binnish road, east of Idlib, Syria. The vehicle was reported to be cut in half and laid on the side of the rural road in an orchid.

Navy Lieutenant Lenny and Army Major Rigsbee underscored that there were no casualties in the recent drone attack.

"There are no indications of civilian casualties as a result of the strike," Rigsbee pointed out, adding that the recent drone attack in Syria continues the operations of the United States to "degrade" the networks of militant groups, as well as focus on terrorist leaders that plan to attack the U.S. and its allies abroad.

According to reports, a large part of Idlib and its neighboring province, Aleppo is still in the hands of the militant groups including the Al Qaida linked to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Idlib and Aleppo were known to house at least four million civilians which were displaced from previous violence in the country's 10-year conflict.

The drone attack in Idlib, Syria on September 20 was not the first time. It can be recalled that Abu Bakr-Baghdadi was targeted when he was also hiding in the said province after he fled from eastern Syria.

Military Leaders Caution on Al Qaeda's Return

The drone strike in Idlib, Syria came days after U.S. military leaders warned that Al Qaeda could strengthen their group in Afghanistan and threaten the United States in a year, The Washington Examiner reported.

The comments came from a roster of military leaders including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CENTCOM Commander Gen. Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie, and Joints Chief of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, as they testified before a Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

"A reconstituted Al Qaeda or ISIS with the aspiration to attack the United States is a very real possibility," Milley warned, adding that the event could happen within the next 12 to 36 months.

Milley also admitted that Afghanistan pull-out made it "more difficult" for them to gather "intelligence, surveillance, [and] reconnaissance find fix functions."

Despite announcing the threat Al Qaeda brings to the U.S., the chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff said that it was "too early to tell" if there was a greater threat in Afghanistan.

"Over-the-horizon operations are difficult but absolutely possible," Austin underscored.

READ NEXT: Ex-Obama CIA Director Calls on Biden Administration to Investigate the Afghanistan Drone Strike

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WATCH: Top General Warns of Al Qaeda Resurgence - From CBS Evening News
Almost 77 percent of Venezuela's 28 million population are currently living in extreme poverty, which was an increase from the previous year's 67.7 percent, according to a study.

Researchers at Andres Bello Catholic University had conducted the study known as the 2020-2021 National Survey of Living Conditions, according to a Reuters report.

The study had factored in the rise to both the COVID pandemic and chronic fuel shortages, with at least 20 percent of respondents saying that they could not put gasoline in their cars.

Pedro Luis Espana, a UCAB sociologist, also cited loss of purchasing power, as well as boredom due to the lack of employment.

Espana also cited that Venezuelans' minimum wage plays around $3 a month, with the country's private sector being small.

The UCAB sociologist said that it is the absence of opportunities and doing nothing, not because people do not want to do anything, but because there is nowhere there to do it.

READ NEXT: 320,000 Venezuelan Migrants Allowed to Work, Live Legally in U.S. Under Temporary Protected Status

Venezuelan Government's Response

Meanwhile, Venezuela's information ministry has yet to comment on the study's findings.

Venezuela has seen the collapse of its oil industry despite having the largest oil reserves in the world, which was responsible for almost all of the government's revenue.

Tough U.S. sanctions on oil exports have also contributed to the crisis, according to a BBC News report.

The administration has blamed the U.S. sanctions for the collapse of the country's economy. The U.S. continued to give financial assistance to the country, which includes a recent contribution of $336 million in humanitarian and economic assistance.

The Hill reported that the State Department said that the U.S. has given more than $1.9 billion in financial assistance to the country since 2017.

Venezuela's Turbulent Leadership

Many Venezuelans blame Nicolas Maduro's leadership and his socialist government for the country's decline. He was put in office after the death of his socialist mentor and predecessor in office, Hugo Chavez.

In May 2018, Maduro was re-elected to a second six-year term. It was highly controversial at the time with most opposition parties boycotted the polls.

The opposition-controlled National Assembly dubbed Maduro as a "usurper" and argued that the presidency was vacant, according to another BBC News report.

Juan Guaido was prompted to declare himself acting president, with more than 50 countries recognizing him in the position, including the U.S. and other Latin American nations.

However, Russia and China, among others stood by Maduro.

More than 5.6 million Venezuelans have left the country since the crisis started to rise in 2014, while the government has disputed the numbers and said that they are inflated by "enemy countries."

Guaido noted that ECOVI's results are the reflection of the reality of the Venezuelans, adding that they are not isolated numbers, according to the U.S. Mission to the U.N. Agencies in Rome press release.

The legitimate interim president said that it reflects what Venezuelans are suffering at the moment.

Only three percent of households in Venezuela are considered food secure as compared to the 10 percent reported in 2018.

READ MORE: Why Venezuela is Latin America's Most Corrupt Country

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WATCH: In Venezuela, an ongoing struggle for power amid a growing humanitarian disaster - from PBS NewsHour
Two soldiers who contracted COVID-19 engaged in a legal battle against the U.S. Defense Department to exempt military members who caught the virus on the vaccine mandate.

The soldiers, identified as Sergeant Daniel Robert and Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Hollie Mulvihill, filed the said lawsuit on August 17, The Daily Wire reported.

The soldiers were reported to file the lawsuit on the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

READ NEXT: Pres. Joe Biden Directs Defense Department to Plan Mandatory COVID Vaccine Among Military Members

Soldiers Seek Exemption on Vaccine Mandate for Military Members Who Got COVID

In the lawsuit filed in August, the soldiers argued that military service members who have "natural immunity" that was developed from surviving the coronavirus must be granted a medical exception for the vaccine mandate. They contended that prior infection gives the immune system the "best possible response" against the virus.

The plaintiffs also mentioned 14 affidavits from military service members who claim their commands pressured them in getting the jab.

Six of the 14 members were known to apply for religious waivers, while four previously tested positive for COVID-19.

"These are the healthiest people [soldiers] on the planet in their age group... so why are we rushing," the soldier's attorney, Todd Callendar, said. Callendar also asked for a "compelling reason" for forcing the military to take the vaccine.

Robert and Mulvihill were also reported to file a request of injunction last week to block the vaccine mandate as the Pentagon pushes through the inoculation of unvaccinated members of the military.

The plaintiffs also mentioned Army regulations 40-562 in the lawsuit. The said regulation states that evidence of immunity through serologic tests and underlying conditions are examples of medical exemptions.

The lawsuit filed by the soldiers came as a military officer identified as Army Lt. Col. Paul Douglas Hague resigned from his duties due to the mandatory vaccination issued by the Pentagon. It can be recalled that Hague's wife took to social media to post the army official's resignation memo, where he underscored that he cannot subject himself to be injected with a "serum" against his will.

The official then mentioned several studies that claim exposure to SARS-CoV-2 promotes natural immunity against COVID, as he called the vaccine mandate by the Pentagon "unlawful, unethical, and tyrannical."

Military Vaccine Mandate

Days before the soldiers filed a lawsuit against the Defense Department, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a memo on August 9 mandating that every military member must be vaccinated against the COVID-19 as soon as the vaccine was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Austin issued another memo directing that the vaccination process shall begin "immediately" days after the Pfizer vaccine was approved by the FDA.

To date, each branch of the military set its deadline on when its service members should be vaccinated. The U.S. Air Force made November 2 the last day for their troops to be vaccinated.

READ NEXT: White House Weighing Vaccine Mandates for Domestic Air Travelers, Nursing-Home Workers as COVID Delta Variant Spreads

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WATCH: U.S. Army Sets Deadline for Vaccine Mandates - From CBS News
Mexico's government has found a long-running body disposal site near the border city of Nuevo Laredo, as announced by Mexican officials on Wednesday night.

The National Search Commission said the location was discovered weeks earlier and is being probed within the reported cases of disappearances, according to a Border Report media release.

The commission said in a statement that the characteristics of the site point to the possibility that it is an extermination site that has been used for years and was only recently discovered.

The commission added that this will have to be confirmed by experts. They also noted that it is the first site found in Nuevo Laredo.

Searchers had found burned human remains on the ground, with several possible clandestine graves and crematorium, according to a KRGV report.

READ NEXT: Gunmen Stormed a Hotel in Mexico and Kidnapped 38 Guests, Including 22 Foreigners

Drug Cartels Using Clandestine Graves

In May 2017, more than 250 skulls have been found in what appears to be a drug cartel mass burial ground in the city of Veracruz, according to an Associated Press News report.

Veracruz's top prosecutor, Jorge Winckler, said that the pits have human remains of cartel victims that were killed years ago.

Winckler added that it seemed the burials had happened before the new state administration had taken office at the time.

He noted that drug cartels disappeared people and that authorities were complacent. He was seemingly referring to the administration of former Gov. Javier Duarte and his predecessors.

The prosecutor said at the time that only two sets of remains have been identified, which were a police detective and his assistant.

He described Veracruz as an enormous "mass grave," saying that he cannot imagine how many more people are illegally buried there with state reports at the time that about 2,400 people are still missing.

Last October, 59 bodies have been discovered in a mass grave site located in a region of central Mexico. The area was known to have suffered some of the highest levels of drug violence in recent years, according to a Reuters report in 2020.

Karla Quintana, head of Mexico's National Search Commission, said that at least 10 of the corpses were women and most of the bodies belonged to very young people, even teenagers.

Homicide rate in the state of Guanajuato had risen amid a raging turf war between rival gangs. It recorded 2,250 homicides between January and August of 2020, which is a more than 25 increase over the same period compared to the previous year.

Forced Disappearances in Mexico

Forced disappearances in Mexico largely go unsolved, with many of the cases have been investigated, but there was a reference to collusion between security forces and organized crime groups, according to a Foreign Policy report.

Many relatives of victims were discouraged from reporting their disappeared family members to the police.

In 2017, the General Law on Disappearances was passed, which created agencies and commissions to address the cases. However, many commissions lack adequate funding, with few accountability measures exist to ensure that they fulfill their obligations.

These factors had prompted family members of the victims to continue the search themselves.

READ MORE: Immigrant Children at Border Have High Chance of Staying in the U.S.

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WATCH: Mexico's largest clandestine graves discovered - from Al Jazeera English






A 17-year-old boy accused of stabbing his twin sister to death in Harris County, Texas appeared in court to face charges on Thursday morning.

According to ABC13, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said that Benjamin Elliott was charged with murder after he was found by deputies early Wednesday morning performing CPR on his sister, Meghan Elliott, in a bedroom of their home located in Brown Meadow Court.

Gonzalez said Meghan sustained several stab wounds to her neck.

Texas Teen Stabs Twin on the Neck

Based on Benjamin's claim, he woke up between 2:30 a.m. and 3 a.m. and found himself in his sister's bedroom with a knife in her neck, realizing that he was no longer dreaming. Benjamin said he removed the knife from his sister's neck and sat it beside her before he called 911, Click2Houston reported.

After informing the 911 operator about the situation, the Texas teen was instructed to perform CPR, which Gonzalez confirmed he was doing when deputies arrived on the scene. Court documents noted that the twins' parents woke up and screamed after what they had discovered moments after the initial call.

EMS personnel also arrived and pronounced Meghan Elliott dead from her injuries. A $100,000 bond was set on the murder charge against her brother.

During his appearance in court, prosecutors said that Benjamin Elliott admitted to the investigators that he has never suffered from any sleep disorders and has not taken any drugs or alcohol.

However, Benjamin's attorneys said they would go through his medical records to see if he did have issues before the incident.

A neighbor named Robert Dawson, who saw the Elliott twins go to and from the bus daily, said he was shocked at what happened.

Benjamin's attorneys shared a photo of the twins together on a beach and said the twins were not fighting and got along well.

READ NEXT: Deaf Colorado Man Tased, Jailed for Not Understanding Police Command; Files for Lawsuit Against Police

Texas Teen Claims Sleepwalking During Stabbing Twin

As of Thursday morning, Benjamin Elliott remained in custody at the Harris County Jail. Based on the information from the neighbors, the siblings attended Cypress Park High School. It was not the first time that sleepwalking was used as a defense.

Raymond Lazarine, who killed his wife, used the sleepwalking defense during his murder trial in Harris County in 2019. He was still convicted.

A law professor from South Texas College, Kenneth Williams, said Benjamin Elliott would be facing an uphill battle since he chose the sleepwalking defense.

"It is extremely hard to prove because it's hard to get a jury to believe he actually was sleepwalking and was not aware of what he was doing," Williams noted.

The next hearing of Benjamin Elliott's murder case is on Friday morning.

READ MORE: Gabby Petito Search Led to Discovery of Missing Texas Man's Body in Wyoming; Brian Laundrie's Neighbor Got Into Scuffle With Protester

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Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: 17-Year-Old Accused of Stabbing His Sister to Death While Their Parents Slept at Their Katy-Area Home - From Khou 11
Famous TikTok Star Gabriel Salazar and three other Mexicans died on Sunday following a police chase and car crash in Texas.

The incident happened on US Highway 83 near La Pryor, Texas, at around 1:25 a.m., E! Online reported. The 19-year-old TikToker and his three passengers were pronounced dead at the scene.

The three other victims were identified as Jose Luis Jimenez-Mora, 41; Sergio Espinoza-Flores, 36; and Jose Molina-Lara, 23. The Texas Highway Patrol confirmed that they were all Mexican nationals.

On Thursday, the Zavala County Sheriff's Office also said that the Homeland Security Investigations notified them that the three victims were illegal immigrants from Mexico.

It was unclear how Gabriel Salazar was related to the three Mexicans. Authorities did not provide details regarding the Texas TikTok star's injuries.

READ NEXT: TikTok Removes Videos of Viral Trend "Devious Licks" Promoting Students to Steal School Properties

Texas TikTok Star Gabriel Salazar Dead After Car Crash

Reports said police officers tried to stop a white 2014 Chevrolet Camaro driven by the TikTok star known as GabeNotBabe, but he refused to pull over.

Authorities unsuccessfully deployed a tire deflation device on the TikToker's car, which eventually hit a tree and rolled multiple times before bursting into flames.

Officials from the La Pryor Fire Department responded at the scene and admitted that it was challenging for them to put out the fire because of a ruptured gas tank that spilled fuel. The Texas Department of Public Safety is now investigating the crash.

Texas TikToker Gabriel Salazar

Gabriel Salazar, who was from San Antonio, joined the video-sharing app TikTok in 2019. His account garnered more than 2 million followers.

Days before his death, Salazar posted a TikTok video featuring his friends, whom he claimed fell asleep during their road trip. It was unclear if the friends in the video were the ones who died during the fatal car crash.

Aside from TikTok, Salazar also used Instagram as his outlet in sharing his love for cars. His last post on his Instagram account showed him wearing a black hoodie and posing in front of a white Camaro.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by GABE (@gabenotbabee)

A GoFundMe page was created to raise funds to cover the funeral expenses.

"Words cannot express the heartbreak our entire community is feeling from the loss of our Gabriel," the organizer wrote on the fundraiser post.

Danna Salazar, Salazar's older sister, confirmed her brother's passing on Instagram on Monday, and tributes for the young TikToker immediately flooded in.

"I'll no longer be able to see your beautiful smile... I love you little brother. I hope to see you soon," Danna Salazar wrote in Spanish as a caption in several photos of her brother.

Salazar's best friend and fellow TikToker Ricky Flores began the hashtag "LLG" for Long Live Gabe together with photos of him and Gabriel Salazar that he posted.

READ MORE: California Teacher in Viral TikTok Video Caught Telling Students to Pledge to Pride Flag Instead of American Flag

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Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: TikToker Gabriel Salazar Dies In Texas Car Accident - From E! News
A California teen mom was left brain dead and placed on life support after a school safety officer shot her in the back of her head.

Mona Rodriguez, 18, was reportedly shot on Monday afternoon as she drove away from the scene near Millikan High School in Long Beach. The California teen mom has a five-month-old son.

People reported that the school safety officer has been placed on administrative leave while the tragic incident is being investigated.

READ NEXT: Mexico Government Reports Body Disposal Site Near Border City

California Teen Mom Got Into Fight With Fellow Teen

On the day she was shot, police said Mona Rodriguez got involved in a fight with a 15-year-old girl. A witness said the fight broke out when the California teen mom got out of a car by a nearby shopping center and confronted the younger girl, the Daily Beast reported.

While driving in the area, the unnamed safety officer from the Long Beach Unified School District happened to see the physical dispute between Rodriguez and the girl who was walking from the school.

The officer then threatened to use pepper spray on the two teenagers, who immediately stopped fighting and walked away. However, things took a sudden turn when the California teen mom got back in the car with her 16-year-old brother and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Rafeul Chowdhury.

A video seemed to show the school safety officer firing two shots at the car that nearly hit him as the vehicle began to speed away from the parking lot.

Police said Rodriguez was sitting in the front passenger seat. The California teen mom, who was the only person injured in the shooting, was rushed to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.

Hospital Tried to Remove Life Support of the California Teen

Reports revealed that Mona Rodriguez is brain dead and is not expected to survive from her injuries. The family said the hospital told them they would remove the life support, but the family disagreed.

"They're trying to take my sister away... At first, they had told me that I would be able to make the decision, and now they're taking that from me," said Oscar Rodriguez, the California teen's brother.

The brother further noted that he thinks it's not right that they are not the ones who will decide "whether they should pull the plug or not."

Mona Rodriguez's cousin Alex Cervantes said his cousin might have done something she was not supposed to do, but he noted that Rodriguez was unarmed.

California Teen Mom Dubbed as Suspect by the Police

Despite being brain dead and on life support, the Long Beach Police Department still labeled the California teen mom as a suspect, arguing that Mona Rodriguez initiated the assault.

Police also believed that the teenagers knew each other. However, Rodriguez's attorney Luis Carillo, said the priority should be arresting the school safety officer.

"We have a murderer on the streets and he has no business having a gun and a badge," Carillo noted.

Long Beach Public Schools superintendent Jill Baker told KTLA that the district's safety officers were "highly trained and held accountable to the established standards in their profession."

Baker also said the district would investigate the incident. The safety officer involved has already been placed on leave.

Meanwhile, civil rights activist Najee Ali noted that the only way to stop officers from shooting unarmed people is to hold them accountable for what they did wrong in the community.

He added that there's "no excuse, no justification" for the school safety officer who shot Rodriguez since she and the others inside the car were unarmed.

READ MORE: Drone Strike Kills Senior Al Qaeda Leader in Syria , U.S. Officials Say

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WATCH: School Safety Officer Fires on car Near Millikan High; One Person Critically Wounded - From Long Beach Post
A forensic expert has offered her opinion on why the full autopsy results on Gabby Petito's remains are yet to be released.

Petito's body was found at the Spread Creek Dispersed Campground near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on September 19.

An autopsy was performed on the body, and the Teton County coroner's "initial determination for the manner of death" was a homicide.

Petito's body is yet to be released. In a press conference this week, her stepfather, Jim Schmidt, said that her body has still not been released despite the YouTuber's funeral being held in New York.

READ NEXT: Gabby Petito Search Led to Discovery of Missing Texas Man's Body in Wyoming; Brian Laundrie's Neighbor Got Into Scuffle With Protester

Gabby Petito's Autopsy May Show' Signs of Trauma'

Jennifer Shen, a retired San Diego Police Department Crime Laboratory director, told The Sun that quickly ruling Petito's death a homicide generally indicates that the "cause of death was pretty apparent to those that found her."

Shen believed that there could have been "visible trauma consistent with some kind of attack" like gunshot or knife wounds or signs of strangulation.

According to Shen, the official cause of death and the full autopsy report will likely take weeks to be released since many in-depth toxicological tests must be completed to provide "all information her body has to offer."

Petito's stepfather said that part of their goal was to bring her home "as quickly as possibly." However, he noted that it's also crucial for the FBI, the Teton County coroner's office, and the Teton County sheriff's office to hold onto Petito "for as long as they need" to not impede the investigation in any way.

"We wanted her home immediately, but we understand their position and we know that she's safe with them," Schmidt noted.

Petito's stepfather said they felt it was important for her to come home "so we could mourn her and celebrate her life and be with our family and friends."

Thus, he said when authorities are ready to release Gabby Petito's body, they will bring her home. The YouTuber's official cause of death will remain pending until final autopsy results are in.

Gabby Petito Told Cops Brian Laundrie Assaulted Her

A new bodycam video obtained by Fox News on Thursday showed that Gabby Petito told a Utah cop that her fiance Brian Laundrie assaulted her during their August 12 domestic dispute.

New York Post reported that the attack allegedly happened shortly before police stopped them at the entrance of Arches National Park. A crying Gabby Petito told police that Brian Laundrie "didn't like hit me in the face" or "didn't like punch me," but cut her "with his nail."

"Well he like, grabbed me with his nail, and I guess that's why it looks, I definitely have a cut right here... I can feel it, when I touch it, it burns," she reportedly said as she rubbed her cheek.

Gabby Petito disappeared on a cross-country road trip with Brian Laundrie. The couple was traveling to Oregon when the YouTuber stopped communicating with her family in Wyoming in late August.

Brian Laundrie was named a person of interest by North Port police after returning home on September 1 or 10 days before Gabby Petito was reported missing by her family.

The FBI has already issued a federal arrest warrant for Brian Laundrie over debit card fraud. As of Thursday, Gabby Petito's fiance remained on the loose.

READ MORE: Man Claims He Saw Brian Laundrie a Day Before Gabby Petito Disappeared; Laundrie's Parents Called 911 on Dog the Bounty Hunter

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WATCH: Gabby Petito Tells Officer Brian Laundrie Hit Her in Newly Released Body Camera Video - From WFLA News Channel 8
A family support centre in Portlaoise has been awarded 23,000 to help it recover from the economic impact of the Covid pandemic.

Treo Nua Resource Centre in Knockmay, Portlaoise, remained open through Covid for its tenants but it lost out income because it could not offer its training rooms.

While life is now returning to normal, with dance classes, Sunday church groups and art classes all resuming, the centre has just gained some Covid Government funding.

This Friday October 1, Sean Fleming TD, Minister of State at the Department of Finance said he is pleased to confirm that Treo Nua has been granted 22,917 in COVID Stability funding. The funding is being provided by the Government and administered through Pobal.

"Treo Nua is another example of a local community and voluntary group who reach out and assist those most vulnerable. Covid has placed extra financial pressures on community and voluntary organisations and charities and this funding will go in some part to help stabilise the organisation.

"I would like to thank all involved in Treo Nua for their work and commitment to provide critical services to those most vulnerable in communities," Minister Fleming said.

Covid Stability Funding supports are aimed at groups that provide critical services within the community which have seen their incomes suffer as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Treo Nua manage and operate a community centre which acts as a focus and catalyst for the community of Portlaoise and surrounding areas, with a view to promoting the educational, cultural and economic development of the residents of the community. They provide and maintain high quality, accessible and affordable premises in order to facilitate the delivery of a range of personal, social, health and educational services or programmes.

It is an associated company of Laois County Council, who this week confirm that bookings have now resumed at the centre, for clients including LOETB and Laois Partnership.

"Dance classes, Latvian Sunday school and other church group bookings have also resumed. Art classes for older people which ceased last year are starting back in October. the centre continues to play an important role not only for tenants but the local and wider community. All usage continues in compliance with the prevailing covid rules," the council reports.
Ireland's first pilot nightclub opened it's doors last night at the Button Factory in Dublin, over 18 months since the public were allowed to enter a nightclub in the Republic.

The venue, which was operating at 60% capacity, featured acts such as Sunil Sharpe, Kelly Anne Byrne and R. Kitt, to name a few.

Attendees of the nightclub had to provide proof of vaccination and antigen tests were carried out to ensure that the event could be carried out succesfully. This meant extra staff had to be hired and the testing to be carried out in a separate building throughout the day.

No positive tests have been reported as of yet.

The pilot event looked to be a success with Kelly Anne Byrne tweeting a video of the attendees on the dancefloor and commending everyone in involved in the event.

Big up to @GiveUsTheNight @hidden_agenda_ @sunilsharpe @cathmartingreen @District8Dublin all the DJs, crew & bar staff for last night's pilot nightclub event, I had a blast playing & the crowd were brilliant, roll on 22nd Oct! pic.twitter.com/axvY0CO8OC  Kelly-Anne Byrne (@KellyAnneByrne2) October 1, 2021

Promotors of the event also said they felt the night was a success.

David Parle of Hidden Agenda Promotions said that once people got inside the building in Temple Bar it felt like a "normal" night out.

He said the 450 attendees wanted to bond with others, see people they had not seen in a while, and that "hopefully we are nearly there with that".

Mr. Parle said he hopes the Government will give some direction as to how practical it could be for more nightclubs around Ireland to follow in these footsteps.

Minister for Arts Catherine Martin, seen below trying her hand as a DJ, said a report on the use of antigen testing is expected shortly.

DJ Catherine Martin in da house, as the kids say. pic.twitter.com/Ha8lO8cvzl  Brian Mahon (@_BrianMahon_) September 30, 2021

The Department of Arts said that attendees will be contacted in the coming days to see if any infection occurred as a result of the event.


Maynooth University (MU) has paid tribute to retiring President Professor Philip Nolan as he prepares to leave his office.

Prof Nolan previously spent 10 years as the President of MU, during which time he led major campus developments and curriculum changes.

Speaking on his tenure, MU said in a statement: "During his presidency, Prof Nolan led a university-wide reform of the undergraduate curriculum which was cited as a best practice model for all Irish universities in its success in broadening the range of subject options; oversaw the expansion of the Law department, the School of Business, and the appointment of over 250 additional faculty members."

"Prof Nolan instigated major campus developments, including Maynooth Universitys largest capital project, a 57 million Technology Society and Innovation Project, the development of a 20-year campus master plan and the opening of the International College of Engineering at Fuzhou University in China."

It added that Maynooth is now the fastest growing and most diverse university in Ireland, and the only Irish university in the top 100 THE Young University Rankings.

The statement continued: "At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Professor Nolan was asked by government to chair the NPHETs Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group.

He has served in both roles since March 2020.

Prof Nolan was admitted to the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) in May 2021, and was described in his citation as 'a distinguished researcher, teacher and administrator.'

Commenting on his leadership capabilities, MU said: "He has provided outstanding leadership to Maynooth University since his appointment as president in 2011."

"Most recently, he has chaired the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, with responsibility for advising government on the response to the Covid-19 virus, and has earned national admiration for his dedication and sound counsel."

The Chairperson of Maynooth Universitys Governing Authority, Dr Mary Canning, also paid tribute to Prof Nolan: "On behalf of the Maynooth University Governing Authority I would like to express our deep gratitude to Professor Nolan for the visionary leadership he has provided to the university in this last decade."

"The strides made by Maynooth University in terms of offering students an outstanding and distinctive learning experience, in growing the universitys research profile, and in a massive expansion of its campus facilities, are legacies of his tenure that will endure for years," she added.

Prof Nolan has been succeeded by Professor Eeva Leinonen, who is also Vice Chancellor and President of Murdoch University, and has a background in the fields of linguistics and psychology.

Kildare County Council also briefly paid tribute to Prof Nolan at the most recent Clane-Maynooth Municipal District meeting earlier today.
The Holy Family Secondary School in Newbridge is the first school in the county to participate in a pilot project promoting inclusion in school.

The Kildare Inclusion in Schools Project (KISP) is a partnership initiative between CKAN, DESSA and Kildare County Council. DESSA is a national community development organisation working to create non-disabling communities. The purpose of DESSA is to create a society where everyone with lived experience of disability and their families can participate equally as full citizens. They do this by working to eliminate the barriers to enable disabled people[1] to reach their potential and participate fully in their community.

CKAN advocates for people with disabilities and its members include Access Groups from Newbridge, Naas, Celbridge, Maynooth and Athy, disability organisations and local Councillors.

The Kildare Inclusion in Schools project seeks to support Kildare schools to become positive to disability. Disability equality awareness in schools is extremely important because it educates students so they may become better citizens.

This project aims to create positive understanding and awareness of disability and disability equality amongst children and young people as well as providing students with practical skills in ensuring their schools are accessible to all, with particular reference to physical accessibility and inclusive communications.

Transition year students at the Holy Family started the course on Thursday, September 30 to coincide with County Kildare Social Inclusion week. A toolkit will be developed alongside the project so that other schools in Kildare can introduce disability equality awareness training.
Kildare County Council (KCC) has expressed interest in inviting Maynooth University (MU) to a discussion meeting.

The development comes from a motion proposed by Mayor of Kildare Naoise O Cearuil at this morning's Clane-Maynooth Municipal District (MD) meeting.

In his motion, which was issued by a Ms S Martin (the MD's Meetings Administrator), Mayor O Cearuil called for KCC to attend a meeting of the MD in order to discuss local matters.

Explaining his reasoning behind it, Mayor O Cearuil said: "Maynooth is not just a commuter town anymore; People want to live there."

He added that while the MD has a "good relationship" with MU, he criticised the university for allegedly not providing enough accomodation for their students.

Mayor O Cearuil said: "We need to open a dialogue between the MD and Maynooth."

"A presentation and a closed discussion should take place as well," he added.

Mayor O Cearuil's motion was supported by Cllr Tim Durkan, and the discussion has been given the go-ahead by KCC.

MU Professor Philip Nolan was also briefly discussed at the meeting, with the MD congratulating Prof Nolan on his retirement as the university's President.
GARDAI are warning that a number of pickpocketing incidents have been reported in Limerick city in recent days.

In one incident, a young lady was socialising in a pub in the city centre last Saturday evening when she was targeted.

"Her handbag was beside her but when she went to get her purse, she discovered that it had been taken," said divisional crime prevention officer Sergeant Ber Leetch.

On the same day, another lady was targeted by a thief while shopping in a supermarket.

"She placed her bag on her trolley and a short time later she realised that her purse was gone," explained Sgt Leetch who added that both women believed they had kept their handbags in their sight at all times before the thefts occurred.

"These incidents show how fast pickpockets are and how they can spot an opportunity," said Sgt Leetch who is advising both men and women to be vigilant as they begin to socialise more following the lifting of Covid restrictions.
A LIMERICK man renowned for his investigative journalism work at the New York Times has added two Emmy awards to his extensive trophy cabinet.

Senior Producer of Visual Investigations, Malachy Browne and his investigative team at the Eighth Avenue office space picked up two news and documentary Emmys at the 73rd annual awards held in September.

The two Emmys were awarded for an investigation into How the Police Killed Breonna Taylor, an African-American medical worker who was murdered in her Kentucky home by white plainclothes police officers in March 2020.

No cameras captured the final minutes of Breonna Taylors life. We used crime scene evidence and testimony to reconstruct what happened and show the mistakes that led to her killing by police. With @singhvianjali @NatalieReneau @DrewJordan_NYT Thread https://t.co/z4pvAWJHLs December 28, 2020

Malachy and his colleagues placed first in the Outstanding Long Feature and Best Story in a Newscast categories for their complex breakdown of how the murder took place.

In 2018, Malachy and his team at the New York Times won an Emmy for their work documenting the Las Vegas massacre of 2017.

Malachy, who grew up in Broadford in County Limerick, was deeply interested in news from a young age, his father David told the Limerick Leader upon hearing of his latest achievement.

We were all into newspapers growing up. My father was a newsagent and had a real deep interest in news.

Malachy started off working with my brother Vincent (Browne) who had a television programme. The training he got off him was rather intense, as you can imagine, he smiled.

Malachy then joined Storyful in Dublin before being contracted by the New York Times, where last year he was awarded the highest accolade in journalism, the Pulitzer Prize, along with his team for proving, through a visual investigation, that Russia had bombed Syrian hospitals and civilians.

His father added: He lives in New York now with his beautiful wife Siobhan from Rathkeale and his three children and has a few years left in his contract.

During the summer, Malachy returned home for two months to his native county of Limerick along with his family - a hard-earned break after rigorous investigative work against tightly imposed deadlines.

The Munchins College graduate is always tuned into local news in his village, even while heading up investigations in the Big Apple, his father informed.

He still keeps very closely in touch with his friends that he grew up with here. Whenever I talk to him, I ask him if he knows whats going on in Broadford.

Even though I am living here myself, he knows more of what is going on in the village. He is very much a home person and keeps in touch with everybody. We are very proud of him, he concluded.
THREE TDs, including one from Limerick, have raised the portrayal of the greyhound industry in a secondary school book, in the Dail.

Minister of State Niall Collins, and Deputies Michael and Danny Healy Rae tabled questions to the Minister for Education Norma Foley regarding a page in a Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE) book.

Under the heading Gone to the dogs it says, Greyhound racing is legal in Ireland. The dogs seem to enjoy the chase, and they come to no harm if they are looked after properly. Most racing greyhounds are well cared for but some are not.

The students are asked to write solutions to problems in greyhound racing. One of which is Greyhounds bred in Ireland have green tattoo marks in both ears to identify them. Some owners cut off the dogs ears when they abandon them so they cannot be identified.

Another problem is unsuccessful greyhounds are sometimes abandoned or even put down and when some greyhounds become too old to race they are abandoned or put down.

Students are asked to write an email or letter to the Ministers for Agriculture and Sport suggesting some actions the Irish government can take to protect the welfare of greyhounds in Ireland.

Minister Collins said he was contacted by a number of people involved in the greyhound industry who were upset and concerned by this.

I share their concern. Id call on Folens, publishers of the book, to engage with the greyhound industry. Clearly animal welfare practices within the greyhound industry have hugely improved in the last number of years and it is unfair to taint the reputation of the vast majority of greyhound owners.

Clearly that school book is completely biased and misrepresents the people and the industry, said Minister Collins, who in his Dail question asked the minister for education if her department deems the content of the CSPE school book appropriate?.

At the end of a lengthy reply, Minister Foley says her department does not approve or review the content of textbooks published by private companies, as this may be seen as an indication of approval for their use in schools.

Any concerns regarding material published in textbooks should be raised with the publisher themselves.

Folens had not responded to a media query from the Limerick Leader.
LIMERICK racecourse is delighted to welcome all of our racing patrons back for an action packed weekend of racing on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th October.

Saturday, October 9, features the Munster Mile and the first race of a 7 race flat card goes to post at 1.05pm.

Sunday, October 10, is Munster National Day with an 8 race national hunt card first race going to post at 1.10pm featuring the JT McNamara Ladbrokes Munster National.

Patrick O Callaghan General Manager of Limerick Racecourse commented: We are truly delighted to welcome back our sponsors, annual members and customers to our Munster National weekend of racing, albeit in an outdoor only setting. While this isnt ideal it is a step in the right direction after what has been a very challenging time for everyone. We had been fortunate to continue racing behind close doors throughout the year, although it just hasnt been the same without the spectators present.

General admission tickets for both days are 15 and are available online only at limerickraces.ie

Due to Covid restrictions this is an outside only event however we will have marquees onsite, as well as bar and food facilities. Full bookmaker and tote services will also be available on both days.

For updates see our social media platforms.

Facebook - @limerickraces

Twitter - @LimerickRaces

Instagram - @limerickraces

*Sponsored content
India has in recent years seen a proliferation of private universities set up under state acts. The phenomenon, critics fear, got an official stamp with the tone of last years National Education Policy. But as the country recovers from the covid-19 crisis, an open embrace of much costlier private higher education could come in the way of generating skilled jobs quickly enough, experts say.

India had 327 state private universities as of 2019-20, a 66% jump in four years and 32% share in all universities, government data shows. Only one other category saw comparable growth: institutes of national importance such as IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and IISERs. The overall number of public universities grew just 26%, lending weight to concerns of already-increasing privatization.

A private degree is not affordable to all. Lower-income groups were far worse hit by the pandemic, making unaffordability an even bigger concern . Professional degrees give better employability but are four times dearer than general ones, and could increasingly get out of reach.

The government is focused on building model public institutions, but their limited intake pushes the vast majority to state private universities," said educationist Rohin Kapoor, who founded edtech app Wonk. He expects financial uncertainty to force poorer students to postpone higher education plans.

Privatization is not new to the sector, but the method has evolved with increasing private capital, which does not always mean a reliable upgrade in teaching quality or job prospects. The NEPs answer to concerns of commercialization is true philanthropic private participation", but not many see this enough to take distressed youngsters closer to jobs.

Inequity risk

To start with, higher education already has a poor track record of ensuring fair representation of disadvantaged groups , who have been more likely to face job losses during the pandemic. Even in public universities, Dalit and Adivasi representation falls short of mandated quotas. The situation is worse in private ones. If public education doesnt get a funding boost and private education gets costlier, it could deprive the most disadvantaged.

Several private institutions follow reservation quotas for marginalized communities as per local state laws, but the lack of a central law that applies to private entities has failed to ensure comprehensive coverage.

Private universities should find ways such as cross-subsidization to offer fee waivers to socio-economically disadvantaged students after the pandemic, said Pankaj Mittal, secretary general of the Association of Indian Universities. Merit-based freeships given by some private institutions have not been enough, she added.

Crunched finances

In earlier decades, private higher education mainly referred to university-affiliated private colleges that flowered into deemed" universities. The boom today is powered by corporate funding and exorbitant fees. But much like other sectors, higher education has also been pressed for funds due to the pandemic.

Liquidity crisis is the gravest risk being faced by the sector due to delayed fee payments and decline in enrolments, found a January 2021 survey of 132 senior leaders in higher education institutions by Global Risk Management Institute and FICCI. High drop-out rates in private colleges even forced teachers in certain cases to abandon teaching and focus on business development to get students back, Kapoor said.

The situation did not lead to an increased government spending: the Centres budget for higher education in 2021-22 is just 4% higher than 2019-20. With corporate funding and student fees facing a crunch, private institutions stand an even smaller chance, in turn making it difficult to ensure infrastructure and quality.

Jobs gloom

Higher education is perhaps the most reliable upward mobility tool available to youngsters, with professional degree holders finding a better shield from the unemployment gloom during the pandemic. But anecdotal evidence suggests college placements have become dismalwhile the jobs declined for fresh graduates with technical degrees, there were also reports of job offers being withdrawn.

Only 47% employers plan to ramp up hiring in 2021, compared to 56% in 2020 and 64% in 2019, said the India Skills Report 2021 by Wheebox. If private institutions grow in coming years, they have a greater burden than usual to ensure decent placements: a return on students investment matters far more for them.

Worse, low-end jobs could have dimmer prospects in the near term than top-tier jobs with greater bargaining power, said Vidya Mahambare, a professor at Great Lakes Institute of Management.

As we come out of the current crisis, higher education could need greater government spending to ensure the worst-hit demographics realize their full earning potential in the years to come.

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India on Thursday hit out at China for attempting to blame it for the eastern Ladakh standoff, asserting that the "provocative" behaviour and "unilateral" attempts by the Chinese military to alter the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the region seriously disturbed peace and tranquillity in the region.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said China continues to deploy a large number of troops and armaments in the border areas and it was in response to Chinese actions that Indian armed forces had to make appropriate counter deployments.

He said China's allegations have "no basis in facts" and that it is India's expectation that the Chinese side will work towards an early resolution of the remaining issues while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols.

India's reaction came in response to China's fresh allegation that the "root cause" of the tensions between the two countries was New Delhi following a "forward policy" and "illegally" encroaching Chinese territory. Replying to a media query on China's allegations, Bagchi said.

India has already made its position clear on the matter a few days back and rejected such statements that have "no basis in facts".

"It was the amassing of large number of troops by the Chinese side, their provocative behaviour and unilateral attempts to alter status quo in contravention of all our bilateral agreements that resulted in serious disturbance of peace and tranquillity along the LAC in eastern Ladakh," he said.

"China continues to deploy large number of troops and armaments in the border areas. It was in response to Chinese actions, that our armed forces had to make appropriate counter deployments in these areas to ensure that India's security interests are fully protected," he said.

He also referred to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's message to his Chinese counterpart in a meeting in Dushanbe earlier this month. "As emphasised by the external affairs minister in his meeting with Chinese foreign minister earlier this month, it is our expectation that the Chinese side will work towards early resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in eastern Ladakh while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols," Bagchi said.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on Wednesday accused India of following a "forward policy". "India has long been following the forward policy and illegally encroached upon China's territory across the border," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing while replying to a question on reports of India deploying artillery guns in eastern Ladakh.

"This is the root cause of the tensions," Hua said. Since the border standoff last year, India has been holding China's provocative actions responsible for triggering it. The border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries erupted on May 5 last year in eastern Ladakh following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area.

Both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry. As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process in the Gogra area last month. In February, the two sides completed the withdrawal of troops and weapons from the north and south banks of the Pangong lake in line with an agreement on disengagement. Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the sensitive sector.

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

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Whitehawk woman

(Image credit: Royal Pavilion & Museums; Brighton & Hove)

The Whitehawk woman lived about 5,500 years ago. Researchers found her in 1933 near what is now the Brighton Racecourse, in the United Kingdom, but it's only now that a facial reconstruction shows us what she looked like.

The Whitehawk woman stood about 4 feet, 9 inches (1.45 meters) tall, which was small, even for a Neolithic woman. She didn't have any signs of illness of injury, and because the bones of a baby were found on her pelvis, archaeologists say it's likely that she died in childbirth.

She was buried with two shepherd's crowns  a type of fossil that is considered to be good luck  and two small chalk pendants with holes drilled in them, artifacts that were also believed to ward off evil.

[Read more about these re-created faces]

Cro-Magnon man

(Image credit: Royal Pavilion & Museums; Brighton & Hove)

The remains of the Cro-Magnon man were found in France. But these people likely lived in Brighton, too, based on archaeological findings.

Cro-Magnon are early Homo sapiens that lived in Europe from about 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, during the upper Paleolithic period. "According to recent DNA research, early Cro-Magnons like this one had really dark skin," Oscar Nilsson, a forensic artist based in Sweden who sculpted these faces, told Live Science.

Neanderthal woman

(Image credit: Royal Pavilion & Museums; Brighton & Hove)

This Neanderthal woman was found in Gibraltar. The Neanderthals are the closest extinct human relative. They went extinct about 40,000 years ago.

Slonk Hill man

(Image credit: Royal Pavilion & Museums; Brighton & Hove)

This Iron Age man lived between 2,400 and 2,200 years ago. He was found in 1968 not too far from Brighton, by the Holmbush Shopping Centre. The Slonk Hill man had light skin, brown or black hair and brown eyes. He was buried in a semi-crouched position and laid on a thick bed of mussel shells and barnacles.

The Slonk Hill man was also buried with a shepherds crown, just like the Whitehawk woman was 3,000 years earlier.

Patcham woman

(Image credit: Royal Pavilion & Museums; Brighton & Hove)

The Patcham woman, who lived in about A.D. 250 during the Romano-British era, may have been murdered.

Her remains were found in 1936, when workers were digging ditches for laying drains in Patcham, an area in Brighton & Hove. She died when she was between the age of 25 and 35, a skeletal analysis shows. She likely had light skin, blue eyes and blonde hair.

Although her burial was normal, there weren't any grave goods. And she was found like a nail impaled into the back of her skull, and nails scattered around her knees. Moreover, a mysterious male skeleton was found laying feet-to-feet with her.

Stafford Road man

(Image credit: Royal Pavilion & Museums; Brighton & Hove)

The Stafford Road man lived in about A.D. 500, during Saxon times. His remains were unearthed in Brighton in 1985, during an archaeological excavation.

The muscular and robust man was older than 45 years old when he died and stood almost 5 feet, 9 inches (1.75 m) tall. But because dental care wasn't what it is today, he likely died from complications from a toothache, researchers found. He had numerous dental abscesses, including a giant one in his front upper jaw, that could have given him blood poisoning or led to a heart attack.

Stafford Road man had a number of grave goods: He held a knife in his right hand, there was a buckle from a small bag by his right hip and his grave contained several weapons, indicating he was likely a warrior.

The exhibit

(Image credit: Royal Pavilion & Museums; Brighton & Hove)

The exhibit at The Elaine Evans Archaeology Gallery in Brighton offers an immersive experience and invites the public to connect with people who lived in Brighton and Europe long ago.

[Read more about these re-created faces]
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Angelina Jolie struck a poignant and empowering chord on Thursday night, presenting national youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman with Varietys Power of Women honor.

The superstar director, actor and humanitarian arrived at the Beverly Hills celebration presented by Lifetime with daughter Zahara Jolie-Pitt in tow, to hand the honor to Gorman  the poet who captivated the country in January at the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

The young woman of grace, who stepped fearlessly to the podium on inauguration day. Not just the youngest but the strongest voice we could ask for in that moment. The Amanda we see today might seem as if she leapt into our times, fully formed, to summon our better angels. But there was an Amanda we didnt see, Jolie said.

A little girl with a speech impediment. In her own words, a buck-toothed, kinky-haired, speech-garbled 7-year-old. Scribbling in her journal, on the school bus and park bench. wrestling with language, puzzling out meaning and rhyme, inventing her own dictionary. All those hours of thought and creation forged the unfaltering woman you see today, Jolie said.

Jolie applauded Gormans ability to hone her words in deep solitude and express them in multitudes, saying if anyone can bring people to the streets with their words in this urgent moment, it is Gorman.

So as well as celebrating your extraordinary achievements, Amanda, we honor 7-year-old you, and every other girl who feels she is an outsider, alone, when she is simply coming into her own, said Jolie. So many girls have their progress in life derailed  by poverty, by the disapproving word, the clenched fist, or the steel of the gun. How many Amandas are living in Afghanistan, hiding their journals, waiting to see if they will be allowed to go to school? As if anyone has the right to decide what a woman can or cannot do with her own mind and body.

Jolie, who walked the carpet with Gorman and Zahara, remarked there was nothing more beautiful, more challenging and more unsettling perhaps than the free mind of the thinking woman. That is surely why so much effort is put into constraining her.

Following a round of applause on that note, Jolie concluded by saying: Those who have the power of free speech  the weapon of free speech  must combine to defend those who do not. We need voices like Amandas, those lights in the dark. May you burn fiercely, and light the way for others.

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Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a new mandate that will require all public and private school children to get COVID-19 vaccinations, as long as their age is eligible.

When the FDA gives full approval to vaccines for ages 12 and over, the mandate will take effect the next semester for grades 7 through 12.

Our schools already require vaccines for measles, mumps and more. Why? Because vaccines work. This is about keeping our kids safe & healthy, Newsom tweeted.

Currently, only teens 16 and older are eligible to receive the vaccination with full FDA approval, while children over 12 are receiving it with emergency authorization. This means its not likely the mandate would kick in for the 2021-2022 school year, but more likely would start next fall.

Younger children from kindergarten to sixth grade would need to be vaccinated to attend all California schools, both public and private, after the shot gets government approval for those ages.

Its the first such wide mandate in the nation. Los Angeles and San Diego Counties had already enacted vaccine mandates, but the Los Angeles Times reports that they have also received cease-and-desist letters that are a precursor to a lawsuit. Los Angeles public schools are requiring full vaccination for children 12 and over by January. California now has the lowest coronavirus case rate of any state. The state re-introduced widespread indoor mask rules over the summer as well as vaccination requirements for restaurants, bars and other businesses in several cities. The Los Angeles City Council is set to vote Wednesday on whether to expand the vaccine requirement beyond bars and nightclubs to restaurants and movie theaters, among other venues.

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On a night of overwhelming inspiration and the in-person return to Varietys Power of Women celebration, host Chelsea Peretti brought some much-needed levity.

The stand-up comic and Brooklyn Nine Nine star played emcee for the Thursday event, where she loosened up a crowd of honorees including Lorde, Amanda Gorman, Katy Perry, Warner Bros. executive Channing Dungey and EGOT icon Rita Moreno. From Peleton rides and toddler wrangling to casting woes and pay equity, Peretti touched on both the triumphs and anxieties of our time at the Beverly Hills event, presented by Lifetime.

She also spoke plainly about the ongoing threat of an IATSE strike. In introducing Variety editor-in-chief Claudia Eller and Variety president and group publisher Michelle Sobrino, Peretti took a moment to acknowledge hardworking industry crews and craftspeople.

Lets support IATSE, who are striking for livable working conditions and to be able to pee and sleep and see their families, she said. Read on for her best jokes:

On Being a Woman in Hollywood

Its so meaningful to celebrate the Power of Women in Hollywood, the town where Little Nicky was greenlit. A place where the most famous buddy movie with two female leads ends with them careening off a cliff. A town which constantly asks of female roles, Why are we rooting for her? Remind me, why did we root for anyone on Entourage? Why are there Rob Schneider movies?

Im so desperate for female leads in a comedy I remember I laughed at Andie MacDowells character in Groundhog Day. Modeling is a good prerequisite for being a female in a comedy movie if you think about it  both are just about standing there.

On Getting Ready for Events

I had my makeup done for tonight. Because Im insecure and not as cool as Frances McDormand. Its always an exercise in humility. Every makeup artist is now on social media. Theyll do a blonde 20 year old and their caption will be like Had the absolute honor, of painting the exquisite face of this absolute doll and then the next day they do my makeup and I eagerly go to check the caption and its like Fun day with Chelsea Peretti!

On Her Toddler

I was asked to host last minute so Im guessing either someone had to bail or Variety is an absolute disorganized mess. Either way, my prep time was limited and I wrote this in my car in my driveway while hiding from my toddler. Hes hosting a Power of Toddler event right now where he wont eat, sleep, or take baths and is probably shitting on the floor. How many times a day is it normal to fantasize about disappearing? Just goin out for a pack of tampons and never coming back.

On Show Business Acronyms

Every email I got about this kept calling it a POW event. You do know that acronym is already in use? Im just trying to assess the education level in Hollywood. If youre out there just stealing acronyms  why not PAP or HPV or something a little more on brand! PCOS.

On Men in Hollywood

This is my impression of men being nurturing: I tried one thing and it didnt work! Were in quite a timeline. This pandemic has shone a light on the work required of all the cogs in the wheel of capitalism in order to make like five white dudes insanely wealthy and space-travel ready. We already had significant gender and racial pay gaps but in 2020 record numbers of women dropped out of the labor force entirely. I think it was four times the number of men.

Have you noticed even when human labor is outsourced to robots they still give them female names? Alexa, Siri, Cortana, Viv  why not just name one mommy? Im now gonna call on a random man in the audience and ask them why they think this is.

On the Attack on Womens Reproductive Rights

What does the future hold? Texas is being demented about a womans right to choose, the GOP is trying to suppress the voters that voted them out, Trump may run again, and Im still wearing heels and have my tits out. But on the bright side we have AOC, we have we have Greta, we have Stacey Abrams, and we have Rose McGowan and Larry Elder? I must have written that down wrong. But everyone on social media will post any color boxes theyre told to without giving it a second of thought  so with all that combined we should be able to defeat evil. By 2022.

The older I get (and I just hit the dreaded 28), the more thankful I am for anyone actively working to make the world better for current and future generations. Tonight our honorees will tell you about the causes that are important to them, everything from trauma counseling, mentorship programs, climate change solutions, healthcare and arts programs.

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Ahead of the U.S. release of No Time to Die, Daniel Craig will be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The 007 actor will get his star in a ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 6, at 6:30 p.m. PT. His will be the 2,704th star on the Walk of Fame, and the fourth James Bond actor to receive the honor after David Niven, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan. Barry Nelson also played Bond in a TV movie and received a star during his career. Craigs star will be placed next to Moores, located at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard.

Rami Malek, who plays the villain Lyutsifer Safin in the upcoming No Time to Die, Craigs fifth and final outing as Bond, will speak at the Walk of Fame ceremony. Bond franchise producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli will also serve as guest speakers. The Walk of Fame event will be emceed by Nicole Mihalka, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce chair.

Daniel Craig is a British cultural icon, as is James Bond, the man he has portrayed in five 007 films. We are thrilled to place his terrazzo Walk of Fame star next to the star of another famed actor who also portrayed James Bond, Roger Moore. Fans will be thrilled when they see that their stars are appropriately located at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard, said Ana Martinez, producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in a statement.

In addition to his previous Bond roles in Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre, Craig received a Golden Globe nomination for Rian Johnsons whodunnit mystery Knives Out, which is getting the franchise treatment from Netflix, and starred in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Logan Lucky, Munich, Road to Perdition, Enduring Love, The Mother and more.

As part of his post-Bond career, Craig is bringing Macbeth back to Broadway next spring. Hell play the lead role with Ruth Negga as his Lady Macbeth.

Variety is a media partner with the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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About a week after she quit her full-time dance job, Jessica Pinkett began to worry.

She wasn't concerned about the income she'd given up or how she was going to find more work.

The 28-year-old was worried that something was wrong with her body. It had to be, because - for the first time in years - she felt no pain.

"I was scared something's wrong; I'm not feeling anything. I thought I'd pinched a nerve or something," Pinkett says, laughing, in a Zoom call from her apartment in the Bronx. "I had no buckling, twisting, torques, nothing."

She soon put a name to the strange sensation: relief.

After three years with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Pinkett resigned in May. It came about over the pandemic year, when Ailey, like other performance groups, canceled everything, and the dancers had to shift to keeping in shape through online training. Barred from her normal routine and stuck at home, Pinkett did a lot of thinking. That led to a major life change, one that shocked her friends, colleagues, even herself. She left her dream dance company - her obsession since she was 4 - to pursue photography and filmmaking.

"The pandemic sped up the process," Pinkett says. "I probably would have danced another year or so if the pandemic didn't happen. But this year I realized I could build something for myself, and pursue this fiery passion for film. Why not?"

The pandemic has upended every aspect of life, the workplace especially. For dancers, the disruptions have been extreme. They can't work from home - just keeping in shape in one's kitchen or living room is a hit-or-miss challenge - and the lost income, isolation from colleagues, and lack of performing outlets have heavily strained the field.

It's impossible to say how many dancers over the past 18 months have examined their lives and chosen, like Pinkett, to leave the industry. Under normal circumstances, many who land salaried jobs in this highly competitive arena seek to remain in the business as long as possible. But these are not normal times.

There are a few signs that the field may be somewhat shrinking. Some dance companies didn't survive the pandemic. Among the most established ones are Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, which in March announced the closure of the 25-year-old company, though its school will continue, and the New York-based Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre, which dissolved in May after 27 years.

At the end of the 2020 season, which had been curtailed by the pandemic, the Ailey company lost several dancers who had already planned to retire. What's unusual about Pinkett is that she cut her own career short, walking away in her prime performing years.

"It's been in the back of my mind for sure," she says. "As a dancer, I felt like I kind of got stuck. My identity was tethered to dance and dance alone - I can't do anything else but dance. So this is occupying your time, but you have so much more to bring to the table. And now you have time to think about those things that had been just quick, passing thoughts. And you can form them into something solid."

As Pinkett speaks, her photographer's eye for light and composition is apparent in her Zoom setup. Glowing in the afternoon sun, wearing a bright headwrap, gold hoop earrings and an orange tank top, she could be posing for a magazine cover. (The happy abandonment of a stage makeup routine, she says, has done wonders for her skin.)

She discovered filmmaking in college. She grew up in Baltimore, graduated from the George W. Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson, Md., and earned a dance degree at Towson University. There, she took a course in capturing dance on camera. Her dance career got in the way of exploring this further: She spent two years in Ailey's junior company, Ailey II, then worked in commercial dance, performing in films, ad campaigns, concert tours and music videos. In 2018, Pinkett joined Ailey's main company.

When the company sent everyone home in March 2020, she filmed herself dancing a whimsical solo in her apartment and sent it to Ailey officials. They posted it on the Ailey YouTube channel. Encouraged, she bought a better camera and started filming her friends.

One of those was Ailey veteran Yannick LeBrun, who asked Pinkett to make a short film of him dancing while he narrated his journey from his native French Guiana to New York City. He was thrilled with the three-minute video shot in one of Ailey's sun-drenched studios, where Pinkett captured him soaring in all that light against the Manhattan skyline.

"She has a great eye," LeBrun says. "She knows what movement will work better than others, and what angles. She also understands lighting as well, and using the space."

But Pinkett's decision to quit Ailey took him by surprise.

"I'm not used to seeing dancers leave the company so early and so soon," LeBrun says, "and especially Jessica, who is so talented and who in my eyes had such a bright future in this company. ... Her spirit onstage and her smile was captivating, and her movement quality is just stunning."

Pinkett came to her decision gradually, as she kept upgrading her equipment and making more videos. When George Floyd was murdered by police, she was determined to make her own statement, as a Black artist honoring the Black community.

"It put a magnifying glass on us as a people, how we move, how we grieve, how we think about our mental health," she says. "I'm like, where is my footprint in this?"

Pinkett asked several Black male dancers to film themselves in a movement expression of their feelings about Floyd's death, and she edited the clips into a celebration of gentle strength. She'd discovered what she was meant to do.

"I want to showcase Black dancers, bringing to the forefront the conversation about mental health awareness. Everything is sensationalized in regards to tragedy, not wellness. I want to showcase the light and the power within."

In early May, Pinkett gave Ailey officials her notice.

"To be honest, I was terrified to do it," she says. "People said to me, 'Are you insane? It's Ailey!' "

She knew what they meant. Quitting that internationally renowned temple of dance? One of the world's great dance companies, that regularly sends its audience into raptures and is beloved everywhere? Pinkett pushed aside the questions, and her nerves, and stuck with her decision.

"I just felt my time there was up," she says. "Knowing when it's your time to go doesn't mean you're dying off. You're expanding."

A dancer learns to listen to her body, and Pinkett's body was saying: Thank you. This was another factor, although the physical toll of her dancing life was somewhat hidden from her conscious thought before she resigned. Like most professional dancers, Pinkett had learned to live with routine aches, injuries and muscle spasms, the consequences of her years in Ailey II, the fast-paced world of commercial dance and the main Ailey company, where the tempo sped on. Rehearsals and touring seemed nearly nonstop.

Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, the former Ailey dancer who heads Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, taught Pinkett at Towson and remembers her as tenacious and hard-working, still drilling herself "after people left, and in the studio on Saturdays when nobody was there." That ability to practice and perfect, she says, will serve Pinkett in her new endeavors.

"I'm excited for her," Fisher-Harrell says. "Covid has been one of those times where you can say, 'Hmm, am I doing what I really want to do?' If you never depart and take that chance, you're never going to find out."

For now, Pinkett is finishing up a documentary series on dancers' mental health and planning to submit it to film festivals. She's living on savings, a GoFundMe campaign and support from the Ailey Dancers' Resource Fund, which helps dancers make career transitions. She's also applying for filmmaking grants and taking more courses in television and film, all in the hopes of bringing dance to the forefront of her work, to tell "the stories beyond the stage."

"I have zero complaints," Pinkett says. "Pursuing your passion is the most important thing, and knowing that allows me to go forward with confidence and clarity."
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Lil Wayne and Rich the Kid have joined forces for a collaborative mixtape, Trust Fund Babies, out now via Young Money Records/Republic Records.

The mixtape features 10 tracks, with a guest spot from YG. The pair also released a music video for the single Feelin Like Tunechi.

The mixtape follows the release of Lil Waynes Tha Carter IV (Complete Edition) on streaming platforms in celebration of the albums 10th anniversary. Wayne also launched the specialty Tha Carter IV Topps trading cards around the anniversary, making him the first rapper to have his own trading card collection.

Last month, Lil Wayne joined Run the Jewels on the remix of their RTJ4 standout Ooh La La. The new version  which also features DJ Premier and Greg Nice  is among the songs on the rap duos just-released RTJ4 Digital Deluxe Edition. Earlier this summer, the rapper linked up with British rapper KSI for the single Lose.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Two Mexican museums have opened a massive show this week of 1,525 pre-Hispanic and historical artifacts, more than half of which were recovered from abroad.

Mexico has long had a problem with collectors or traffickers taking artifacts out of the country, even though that has been illegal since 1972.

But 881 of the sculptures, vessels and other artifacts on display in Mexico City were returned, either voluntarily by foreign collectors or through police seizures abroad. They were returned from the United States, Italy, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

For most, it is the first time they have been seen in Mexico.

Many of the other 644 pieces had been seized in Mexico or had long sat in warehouses. Forty-six of them are on loan from museums abroad.

What is being gained here is the possibility for us Mexicans to see these pieces again, or even to see them for the first time, said Miguel Angel Trinidad, one of the curators.

One example, an impressive Mayan stela, shows a warlord grasping a captured rival. It had previously been on display in Los Angeles, California.

The show is called The Greatness of Mexico, and the pieces on display come from pre-Hispanic cultures like the Mayas, Aztecs and Olmecs, as well as later pieces. The pieces will be on display in Mexico City's National Anthropology Museum and the colonial-era museum of the Public Education Department.

The show coincides with the 500th anniversary of the 1521 conquest of Mexico City by the Spanish, and the 200th anniversary of the consummation of Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821.
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Sabaya producer Antonio Russo Merenda has responded to a bombshell article published on Monday in The New York Times claiming that many Yazidi women portrayed in the Sundance prize-winning documentary never agreed to be in the film.

Merenda issued a statement on Thursday evening saying that he and director Hogir Hirori received written, verbal or filmed consent from everyone who appears in Sabaya, as well as from the legal guardian of the young girl who is featured in the film.

Merenda also provided statements from one of the main female protagonista of Sabaya, as well as from a Syrian Kurdish filmmaker who worked with Hirori. He also presented a letter from the Swedish Film Institute, which financed the documentary.

Sabaya follows a fearless rescue group risking their lives to save women who were abducted by ISIS and turned into sex slaves. It played at this years Sundance and won the world cinema sections directing award. The film is sold by London-headquartered doc specialists Dogwoof.

The New York Times article claims the women portrayed in the film received the consent forms electronically and in English  a language they did not understand  almost two years after he filmed them and after the movie had screened. The director told the Times that he initially recorded verbal consent from the women and planned on having them sign the written releases during his next trip but was delayed due to the pandemic.

Merenda said in his statement that Sabaya is a Swedish production following Swedish law, which says that written, verbal and filmed consent are equally valid. He also said the releases were provided in both Arabic (the official language in both Syria and Iraq) and English.

The producer said the response from the women whom we feature in the film has been filled with gratitude and appreciation for exposing the atrocities from which they have suffered. He also pointed out that Hogir is himself a refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan married to a Kurdish refugee from Syria and said he still maintains regular contact with all the main female characters in the film.

The statement from the main female protagonist of the film, which was translated from Kurdish and remains anonymous for safety reasons, says the director explained to [them] all who he was and that he was making a documentary and told [them] what it was going to be about.

I happily signed the consent forms by my own free will. No one forced me to consent to anything, the statement reads. It also says she didnt witness any of the other girls objecting to being filmed during the whole film process, and received two copies of the consent form, one in English and one in Arabic.

Guevara Namer, a Kurdish female filmmaker who is now based in Germany and worked alongside Hirori during part of the shoot, said one of the women had asked early to not be in the film and had agreed to be in the film at the condition that her face was covered. So she stays with niqab. And this is how it shows up in the film.

Namer said the woman is now currently in Iraq where she has started going on TV and telling her stories and made interviews.

I would never accept to be part of a story or making a story where women are getting oppressed again, said Namer.

The Swedish Film Institute said the producer and director of Sabaya handled both the filming and the follow-up in a correct and professional way, and that the participants have given their consent, written or verbal, which has the same status according to Swedish law.

They have been responsive to the objections from a couple of participants with small parts in the film and immediately made the necessary adjustments, said the Institute, which added that the documentary was made to create needed awareness of the situation for the Yazidi women.

Here are the full statements from Antonio Russo Merenda, as well as the female protagonist of the film, alongside Guevara Namer and The Swedish Film Institute:

To Whom It May Concern:

Director Hogir Hirori and I have received written, verbal or filmed consent from everyone who appears in our film Sabaya (as well as from the legal guardian of the young girl who is featured). Sabaya is a Swedish production following Swedish law and per Swedish law: written, verbal and filmed consent are equally valid. Consent forms were provided in both Arabic (the official language in both Syria and Iraq) and English.

Sabaya is the story of the Yazidi Home Center, where two men and the remarkable women infiltrators who work with them risk their lives to save women and girls who would otherwise live a life of bondage and daily horror. It is a film that gives voice to the silenced and is helping to give these women a new chance at life.

The response from the women whom we feature in the film has been filled with gratitude and appreciation for exposing the atrocities from which they have suffered. Hogir (who I should add is a refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan married to a Kurdish refugee from Syria) still maintains regular contact with all the main female characters in the film.

Please find below statements from the main female protagonist of Sabaya as well as from a Syrian Kurdish filmmaker who worked with Hogir Hirori. Attached is a statement from the Swedish Film Institute.

Sincerely,

Antonio Russo Merenda

Producer, Sabaya

*Some names below have had to be redacted due to safety concerns.

Statement from the main female protagonist of the film (translated from Kurdish):

My name is ___.

For as long as I have known Hogir I have thought of him as my older brother. I met him for the first time in Syria, where he told me what he was doing and working on and showed me pictures of his own family. We were several girls that had been rescued from ISIS. Hogir introduced himself to all of them as well. He explained to us all who he was and that he was making a documentary and told us what it was going to be about. I gave him my consent there and then, and I didnt witness any of the other girls objecting to being filmed during the whole film process. He even let us try filming with his camera. Then Hogir accompanied us to the Syrian-Iraqi border where he gave us his phone number and told us to contact him if we had any questions or concerns. We all told him that we consent to everything and that we didnt have any concerns.

Many of us girls follow Hogirs status updates about the film on Facebook. They comment his posts with: Well done, brother!.

I have happily signed the consent forms by my own free will. No one forced me to consent to anything. I feel that the making of this film is important for all of us that have been rescued and for the girls that are still kidnapped, so that the rest of the world can see what has happened to us Yazidis. It is a film about the reality of what we have been through.

Ever since the beginning, there has been an organization that has interfered. The woman who is the leader of the organization and her team have tried to contact us girls that are in the film telling us not to sign any consents, not to participate in the film, not to let Hogir film us, and to try to convince us not to participate in this project. But I did not listen to any of them because I have made my own decision and I believe in Hogir and what he is doing. But what I dont understand is why these people from this organization are so keen on stopping us from participating in this film; they are still calling me to try to manipulate me to change my mind. But I do not have to listen to them or anyone else. I have a mind of my own. And, none of these people have the right to tell me to not participate in this film, or not sign the consent form  they are not my boss. How is this any of their business? What interest does this organization have to stop us? Why are they saying, Dont participate in this film?

I read the information in the consent forms and signed them. We received one copy in English and one in Arabic. There were others present with me when I signed them. I am OK with everything in the film, and it is OK with me to show it in any part of the world. It is so important that this film has been made about our Yazidi girls and the reality we have been through so that everyone can see what has happened to us, so we can create awareness of what is going on. This is not fiction, no acting or lies. All of this has actually happened to us  it is about our real lives. And I am so happy with it.

Statement from Guevara Namer:

Im Guevara Namer. Im a Syrian Kurdish filmmaker. Im based in Berlin. Since 2011, I have been involved in many projects in Syria. Its the main topic I work on. I joined Hogir proudly on one of the trips on his shootings when when he was making Sabaya. I went with him to the family house and to the al-Hol Camp. Mainly two stories that I was there for two women, ___ and ___ [names redacted]. I remember ___ she asked early to not be in the film or if she will be in the film that she wants her face to be covered. So she stays with niqab. And this is how it shows up in the film. This is how she ended up in the film. And she was worried about her life in Iraq. And actually what we found out later was that when she went to Iraq herself and she found out that there was no risk she started going on TV and telling her stories and made interviews. So she was worried when she was in Syria and we did not show her face. And she this changed for her later.

The other story was ___, who is shown more in the beginning of the film. And ___ was also like she agreed to be on the film. And was also making so many interviews while she was still inside Syria. So that means for us that she was liberated. And these are at least two stories that this film dealt with very honestly, very ethically and me, myself, I would never accept to be part of a story or making a story where women are getting oppressed again. So Im ready to share my experience. Im ready to defend this. I am here to support the crew, Hogir and Antonio.

Statement from The Swedish Film Institute:

To whom it may concern

The Swedish Film Institute pays attention to documentary filmmakers working methods, that they are carried out in both a legal and ethically correct and professional way. Regarding the film Sabaya, the producer and director have a long experience working with documentaries and their ethical compass has never been questioned before. On the contrary: they have built up a high level of trust over the years.

From our point of view they have handled both the filming and the follow-up for Sabaya in a correct and professional way and that the participants have given their consent, written or verbal, which has the same status according to Swedish law. They have been responsive to the objections from a couple of participants with small parts in the film and immediately made the necessary adjustments.

It is our understanding that the filmmakers worked as professionals as always, treating the participants with all needed respect in this complex situation. Lastly, we would like to underscore the importance of the subject of the film and its role to create needed awareness of the situation for the Yazidi women.

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The devil is in the details  or, in The Addams Family 2, a digitally animated sequel aimed at ages six and over, in the demented ghoulish sparkle of jokes that are just macabre and kiddie witty enough to tickle you. Take, for instance, Uncle Fester, voiced by Nick Kroll with an extreme goofy lisp, sizing up the creaky brown wood camper in which the Addams family are about to take a three-week cross-country trek and saying, Oh, its a hybrid  half car, half eyesore! Or the way that Morticia, voiced by Charlize Theron in the most musical of aristocratic purrs, doesnt just walk but glides around in her cadaverous skin-tight dress that drapes over the floor in trails that look like black silk octopus legs. Or Gomez (Oscar Isaac), in his Igor-as-head-waiter hodgepodge of an Old World accent, saying, Tell that Billie Eilish shes a little too sunny for my taste. Or the way that Wednesday (Chloe Grace Moretz), that paragon of proto goth disaffection, says shes been social distancing since birth. Or Cyrus Strange (Bill Hader), the mad scientist whos trying to make Wednesday his daughter, snapping at the regal Morticia, Oh, pipe down, Elvira!

Two years ago, the first film in this series, The Addams Family (2019), was, of course, the third big-screen Addams Family feature, after the two live-action ones that came out in the early 90s. But it felt like it could have been the 13th. The co-directors, Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon, did a splendid job visually, returning the characters to the loopy stylized glory of the original Charles Addams cartoons. But the jokes were too safe and cozy (the movie was far less outrageous than the Hotel Transylvania films), and the story was thin even for a knowing piece of cobweb camp.

Its in the nature of most animated sequels to struggle to recapture the full charm of the original hit. But in the case of The Addams Family 2, Tiernan and Vernon have used the sequel as an opportunity for an upgrade. The script is by an entirely new team (Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit, Ben Queen, and Susanna Fogel), and At a Little Miss Jalapeno Pepper contest in Texas, Wednesday, looking even more sinister under a mountain of blonde big hair, dumps red paint all over the other contestants as if this were the prom in Carrie.

It helps that Wednesday, the spiritual seed for characters from Lydia in Beetlejuice to Coraline, gets to be the center of gravity. In form, The Addams Family 2 is a road-trip movie, with the Addamses traveling in their camper van (which inside somehow looks about as big as their mansion) to visit the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, and other spots that speak to their penchant for arid lifeless spaces.

Emotionally, though, its all about the mid-tween crisis of Wednesday. Shes robbed of the chance to win the school science fair  even though, with a chemical beaker in hand, shes like Dr. Frankenstein crossed with Pippi Longstocking. Her father thinks she doesnt need him anymore. And a pesky attorney, who looks just like Wallace Shawn (and is voiced by him), shows up to inform Gomez and Morticia that their beloved little ghoul isnt actually their daughter; she was switched at birth. Theres a flashback to Fester making a visit to her in the hospital nursery, where he hilariously juggles the infants on hand (and is too Fester-brained to bother putting them back correctly), at which point we seriously wonder: Could Wednesday be the daughter of Cyrus, who covets the pitiless detached genius of her psycho scientific mind?

The secret of the Addams family, of course, is that theyre actually a clan of innocents. They mean well  theyre a devoted middle-class extended family  and, if anything, the rest of the world seems jaded by comparison. In The Addams Family 2, theres a funny sequence in which Pugsley (Javon Wanna Walton), controlled by Wednesday with a rag-doll voodoo doll, wins over some girl tourists with his dance moves before pitching himself over the side of Niagara Falls. (Hes also a pyromaniac who literally blows up the Grand Canyon.) And when Wednesday gets adopted by Cyrus, whose wife is literally a bird (the stranger the movie gets the better  and thats strange), our heroines ambivalence about whether or not she wants to leave her parents makes for a genuine bittersweet excavation of the Addams attitude. Wednesday is a pure misanthrope (greeting some other kids her age, she says, Excuse me, vacuous lemmings), but beneath that punk superiority Chloe Grace Moretz laces her with just the right hint of freakish inner normalcy.

I should mention that Lurch, at a biker bar, sits down at the piano and sings I Will Survive. And that Snoop Doggs ingenious vocal performance as Cousin Itt will have you thinking spinoff. After the 2019 Addams Family, I had no real desire to sit through another one of these. After The Addams Family 2, however, I now hope that theres an Addams Family 3. But only if the filmmakers keep doing what they do here: in their PG way, upping the ante on the cuddly bed-bug insanity of it all. Many of the movies jokes are merely benign. But the best ones really are a scream.

Reviewed at Park Ave. Screening Room, Aug. 29, 2021. MPAA Rating: PG. Running time: 93 MIN.

Production

A United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer release, in association with BRON Creative, of a Jackal Group/Glickmania production. Producers: Gail Berman, Conrad Vernon, Danielle Serling, Alison OBrien. Executive producers: Kevin Miserocchi, Jonathan Glickman, Cassidy Lange, Andrew Mittman, Aaron L. Gilbert, Jason Cloth.

Crew

Directors: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon. Screenplay: Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit, Ben Queen, Susanna Fogel. Music: Michael Danna, Jeff Danna.

With

Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloe Grace Moretz, Bill Hader, Nick Kroll, Javon Wanna Walton, Wallace Shawn, Snoop Dogg, Bette Midler.

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TOKYO (AP)  Japanese Princess Mako and her fiance are tying the knot next month but no wedding ceremonies are planned.

Their marriage is not fully supported by the public because of a financial dispute involving her future mother-in-law, the palace announced Friday.

The controversy involving Mako fiance Kei Komuro's mother is an embarrassment for the imperial family and led to public rebuke that delayed their marriage for more than three years.

Komuro, 29, returned to Japan last week from New York, where he was studying to become a lawyer. His hair, tied in a ponytail, was considered a bold statement for someone marrying a princess in the tradition-bound family and only added to the criticism.

The couple will register their marriage on Oct. 26 and will have a news conference together, the Imperial Household Agency said. They are expected to start a new life together in New York later this year.

There will be no wedding banquet and other rituals for the couple because their marriage is not celebrated by many people, the agency said.

Mako has also declined the 150 million yen ($1.35 million) she is entitled for leaving the imperial family, palace officials said. Mako would be the first female imperial family member since World War II to not receive the payment when marrying a commoner.

She was recently diagnosed with a mental condition that palace doctors described as a form of traumatic stress disorder, according to the agency.

Mako, who turns 30 three days before the wedding, is a niece of Emperor Naruhito. She and Komuro were classmates at Tokyos International Christian University when they announced in September 2017 their intent to marry the following year, but the financial dispute surfaced two months later and the wedding was suspended.

The dispute involved whether the money his mother received from her former fiance and spent on Komuros education in Japan was a loan or a gift.

Komuro left for New York in 2018 to study law, and this is the first time he has returned since then.

The Imperial House Law allows only male succession. Female members of the royal family must renounce their royal status when they marry a commoner  a practice that has resulted in a decline in the size of the royal family and a shortage of successors to the throne.
Ozy is shutting down less than a week after a New York Times column raised questions about the media organization's claims of millions of viewers and readers, while also pointing out a potential case of securities fraud.

The story triggered canceled shows, an internal investigation, investor concern and high-level departures at the company.

An emailed statement Friday from Ozy Media's board called it a company with many world-class journalists and experienced professionals to whom we owe tremendous gratitude. It said it was "with the heaviest of hearts that we must announce today that we are closing Ozys doors.

The board's statement did not give the reason for shutting down the company based in Mountain View, California. Ozy did not respond to questions about why it was shutting down now or how many employees it had.

Ozy's CEO, former cable-news commentator and host Carlos Watson, started Ozy in 2013. It published stories on its website, made podcasts, newsletters and shows and hosted the OzyFest festival. Its website remained up on Friday afternoon.

The Times story said Ozy's chief operating officer and co-founder, Samir Rao, impersonated a YouTube executive on a call with Goldman Sachs while attempting to raise money from the investment bank. It also addressed long-held industry questions of whether Ozy was inflating its audience size.

In a tweet, Watson claimed 25 million newsletter subscribers  the New York Times, with a much bigger brand presence, says it has 15 million newsletter readers  and more than 30 million views on YouTube. The Times said fewer than 500,000 people went to Ozy's website in June and July, according to Comscore data.

On Thursday, Marc Lasry, the hedge-fund billionaire and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner who had been named Ozy's chairman in September, resigned, citing Ozy's need for someone experienced in crisis management and investigations. He remained an investor.

A high-profile employee, former BBC anchor Katty Kay, resigned earlier in the week, and an early investor, a venture capital firm, gave up its Ozy shares. The board had reportedly hired a law firm to review Ozy's business activities.

Cable network A&E pulled a special on mental health hosted by Watson that was scheduled for Monday night, and Watson stepped down from hosting a documentary Emmys awards show Wednesday night.

The website Crunchbase, which tracks corporate fund-raising, said Ozy had raised more than $70 million from investors as of late 2019.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  The Biden administration on Friday urged a federal judge to block the nation's most restrictive abortion law, which has banned most abortions in Texas since early September and sent women racing to get care beyond the borders of the second-most populous state.

But even if the law is put on hold, abortion services in Texas may not instantly resume because doctors still fear that they could be sued without a more permanent legal decision.

That worry underscores the durability of Senate Bill 8, which has already withstood a wave of challenges. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman of Austin, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, presided over a nearly three-hour hearing but did not say when he will rule.

The law bans abortions once cardiac activity is detected, which is usually around six weeks, before some women know they are pregnant. To enforce the law, Texas deputized private citizens to file lawsuits against violators and has entitled them to at least $10,000 in damages if successful.

The Biden administration says Texas has waged an attack on a womans constitutional right to abortion.

A state may not ban abortions at six weeks. Texas knew this, but it wanted a six-week ban anyway, so the state resorted to an unprecedented scheme of vigilante justice that was designed to scare abortion providers and others who might help women exercise their constitutional rights, Justice Department attorney Brian Netter told the court.

So far, abortion providers trying to block the Texas law have been rejected at every turn. That makes the lawsuit filed by the Justice Department their best chance yet to deliver the first legal blow to the GOP-engineered restrictions, which were signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May and took effect Sept. 1.

Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Whole Woman's Health, said some of the 17 physicians at her four clinics are ready to resume normal abortion services if the law is put on hold. Preparations began this week when some doctors gave patients found to have cardiac activity information to comply with another restriction  requiring a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion  so that they would be ready to be called back.

Its not the hundreds of people weve had to turn away," Hagstrom Miller said in an interview. But there is a significant group of people who have said, Please, let me do whatever I can. Keep me on a list, and call me if you get an injunction.'"

But the majority of her physicians, Hagstrom Miller said, remain wary and fear lawsuits absent a permanent court ruling. Clinic staff are also worried. Of course, we understand that," she said.

Abortion providers say their fears have become reality in the short time the law has been in effect. Planned Parenthood says the number of patients from Texas at its Texas clinics decreased nearly 80% in the two weeks after the law took effect.

Some providers have described Texas clinics that are now in danger of closing while neighboring states struggle to keep up with a surge of patients who must drive hundreds of miles. Other women, they say, are being forced to carry pregnancies to term.

This is not some kind of vigilante scheme, said Will Thompson, defending the law for the Texas Attorney General's Office. This is a scheme that uses the normal, lawful process of justice in Texas.

If the Justice Department prevails, Texas officials would likely seek a swift reversal from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which previously allowed the restrictions to take effect.

The Texas law is just one that has set up the biggest test of abortion rights in the U.S. in decades, and it is part of a broader push by Republicans nationwide to impose new restrictions on abortion.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court begins a new term, which in December will include arguments in Mississippis bid to overturn 1973's landmark Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing a womans right to an abortion.

Mississippi has told the court it should overrule Roe and the 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey that prevent states from banning abortion before viability, the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb, around 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Last month, the court did not rule on the constitutionality of the Texas law in allowing it to remain in place. But abortion providers took that 5-4 vote as an ominous sign about where the court might be heading on abortion after its conservative majority was fortified with three appointees of former President Donald Trump.

Ahead of the new Supreme Court term, Planned Parenthood on Friday released a report saying that if Roe v. Wade were overturned, 26 states are primed to ban abortion. This year alone, nearly 600 abortion restrictions have been introduced in statehouses nationwide, with more than 90 becoming law, according to Planned Parenthood.

Other states, mostly in the South, have passed similar laws that ban abortion within the early weeks of pregnancy, all of which judges have blocked. But Texas' version has so far outmaneuvered courts because it leaves enforcement to private citizens, not prosecutors, which critics say amounts to a bounty.

Texas officials argued in court filings this week that even if the law were put on hold temporarily, providers could still face the threat of litigation over violations that might occur between then and a permanent ruling.

At least one Texas abortion provider has admitted to violating the law and been sued  but not by abortion opponents. Former attorneys in Illinois and Arkansas say they instead sued a San Antonio doctor in hopes of getting a judge who would invalidate the law.
Shortages of power, computer chips and other parts, soaring shipping costs and shutdowns of factories to battle the pandemic are taking a toll on Asian economies.

While business sentiment is improving in some parts of Asia as governments begin easing restrictions put in place to curb coronavirus infections, there is mounting evidence that such disruptions are slowing a return to business as usual.

A quarterly survey by the Bank of Japan released Friday showed sentiment among manufacturers at its highest level in nearly three years. The survey found companies plan to raise investment more than earlier forecast, but that shortages of components were disrupting production.

That dovetailed with data released Thursday that showed Japans factory output fell 3.2% in August from the month before. That followed a 1.5% decline in July.

Automakers and producers of IT products and other electrical machinery were the hardest hit.

Japans Suzuki Motor Corp. became the latest automaker to idle production lines for a few extra days due to shortfalls in components. Suzuki said in a statement that it expected to suspend operations at a factory in central Japan for an extra three days and to do the same two days at another factory.

While there are signs of improvement in some parts of Asia, fresh peaks for new daily cases in some countries and relatively slow progress in vaccination rollouts in Southeast Asia mean the risks of semiconductor and other component shortages could persist for an extended period, Harumi Taguchi of IHS Markit said in a commentary.

Japan's retail sales fell a much worse than expected 4.1% in August from a month earlier due to weak demand for clothing and appliances.

In another sign of slowing activity, surveys of factory managers also showed Chinese manufacturing slowing.

The manufacturing purchasing managers index, or PMI, fell to 49.6 in September from 50.1 in August on a 0-100 scale where 50 marks the break between expansion and contraction.

The survey was conducted before power shortages began causing factories in some parts of China to begin suspending operations.

The weakest readings were in energy intensive areas such as chemicals and metals, Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a report.

Respondents to the surveys noted that material shortages and transportation delays were still holding back output," he said.

Surging demand for computers and other equipment for remote work has strained supplies of the microchips that run them.

Shortages of shipping containers and occasional shutdowns of ports due to COVID-19 outbreaks also have caused bottlenecks throughout global supply chains.

Chinese and South-east Asian ports are still suffering the consequences of those earlier closures, with record queues of ships waiting to unload," Rabobank said in a report on the shipping industry.

It estimated that 10% of global container capacity was waiting offshore for unloading.
Courtesy photo /U.S. Border Patrol

Two men have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a human smuggling attempt that involved a chase in south Laredo.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo sentenced Elian Pecina to 48 months in prison while Daniel Alejandro Ovalle-Chavez was sentenced to 14 months. Both had pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to transport a migrant within the United States.
To recognize and commemorate the month of October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month locally, the Webb County Courthouse will light up pink for the month.

The decision was announced this week by county commissioners.

Commissioners stated in addition to celebrating October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, they will also celebrate National Mammography Day  the third Friday in October each year  on Oct. 15.

Commissioner Rosaura Wawi Tijerina stated that as breast cancer is the most commen cancer among women except for non-melanoma skin cancers, and it is the second-leading cause for cancer death in women exceeded only by lung cancer. She added that the chance of developing invasive breast cancer at some time in a womans life is about one in eight.

Breast cancer does not just impact women. Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina stated that 2,615 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 in the U.S., and approximately 530 of them will die.

Whereas mammography and X-rays of the breast is recognized as the single-most effective method in detecting breast changes that may be cancer long before physical symptoms can be seen or felt  I, Tano Tijerina, by the virtue authority invested in me by the state of Texas and on behalf of the Webb County Commissioners Court, do hereby proclaim the month of October 2021 as Breast Cancer Awareness Month and October 15th, 2021 as National Mammography Day in Webb County, Texas.

Members of the American Cancer Society were invited to the meeting to celebrate the commemoration and initiate the first week of the pink October for the Webb County Courthouse.

Tijerina encouraged all the Webb County familys and employees to wear pink on Wednesdays to show support to women and men fighting and survivors of breast cancer.

ctrevino@lmtonline.com
A man who pleaded guilty to cocaine possession told a judge last week: Sound, thanks after being warned of how the drug would likely kill him if he continued to take it.

Construction worker Kielan McDonagh, 32 Railway Meadows, Farneyhoogan, Longford gave the flippant reply at last week's District Court sitting to Judge Marie Keane.

The court heard Mr McDonagh has been found with 70 of cocaine in a car park beside Longford County Council headquarters at Great Water Street, Longford on July 30 202o.

Garda Brian Carroll said he stopped the accused shortly before 6pm where Mr McDonagh handed over a bag of cocaine valued at 70.

Garda Carroll said the accused admitted it was for his own personal use.

Mr McDonagh defended himself and told of how he worked with a local firm.

I'm sorry, it won't happen again, he told Judge Keane after she quizzed him about the incident.

I went down a wrong road.

Judge Keane said in light of Mr McDonagh's previous unblemished record, she would beissuing a 250 fine.

Mr McDonagh revealed how he only had 150 with him, but asked the court for his case to be put on hold while he went to a nearby ATM to withdraw the remaining 100 balance.

Upon being told to come back in five minutes, Mr McDonagh duly did and handed over the full 250 to the court.

In striking out the case and allowing Mr McDonagh to maintain his unsullied criminal record, Judge Keane directed the 250 handed in to be given to the Irish Guide Dogs charity.

As she made that order, Judge Keane strongly advised Mr McDonagh to steer clear of anymore drug taking in the future.

You keep taking that rubbish, you will die, she said, a sounding which Mr McDonagh simply replied with: Sound, thanks.
Crime, Business & Finance

By Chris Boyle Published: October 01 2021

AG James recovers $400,000 for laundry workers unlawfully fired by FDR Services, reinstates those employees to the company.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced an agreement with FDR Services Corporation of New York (FDR Services Corp)  an industrial laundry facility in Hempstead, Long Island  that holds the company accountable for unlawfully firing seven workers and denying paid sick leave to others who took sick leave when they were ill with COVID-19. An investigation into FDR Services Corp found that the company violated several state and federal laws when it fired seven employees  most of whom are from immigrant communities  and failed to provide sick pay to those individuals, as well as to three others. This agreement stipulates the payment of $400,000 from FDR Services Corp, which will be distributed among the 10 affected workers for sick leave pay compensation and emotional distress. Additionally, FDR Services Corp will reinstate five employees who wish to return to the company and provide them with the benefits they received prior to their unlawful discharge.

So many workers jeopardized their health and safety during the pandemic, and too many did so without proper protections from their employers, said Attorney General James. These individuals were unlawfully fired for doing the right thing  protecting themselves and our communities during an unprecedented public health crisis. Let this serve as notice to all employers across New York: We will take action against any employer that puts our workers in harms way and do whatever is necessary to protect the safety and rights of our workers.

When I was an employee of FDR Laundry, I contracted COVID-19 during the pandemic, and went through all the appropriate channels to notify the company of my positive test, said Roxanna Moreno, a former FDR employee in the Residents Clothing Department. When I returned from quarantine, the company fired me. At the time, I was pregnant, and I suffered many complications during my pregnancy due to the stress of unemployment, and the mistreatment by FDR Laundry. My co-workers and I should have never been fired for taking precautions during the pandemic, and I thank the Office of the Attorney General and our union for working to give us justice.

I was fired from my position at FDR Laundry following my COVID-19 diagnosis in March 2020, said Blanca Landaverde, a former FDR employee in the Packing Department. As a single mother, I had no means to provide for my children during that difficult time. I am proud to stand with fellow FDR Laundry workers in support of fair treatment in the workplace, especially during this pandemic. No family should go through what I went through, and I thank the attorney general and our union for standing with us in this fight.

We applaud New York Attorney General Letitia James for helping workers at FDR Services get their jobs reinstated, along with back pay theyre owed and paid sick leave, said Megan Chambers, co-manager of the Laundry, Distribution, and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United/SEIU, the labor union representing FDR Services employees. Todays announcement is a major victory, not just for our members, but for workers rights, economic justice, and public health in New York. The employees of FDR Services are essential laundry workers who have been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis, cleaning and delivering linens to hospitals and nursing homes on Long Island and throughout the wider New York metro area. During the darkest days of the pandemic, FDRs workers performed vital jobs to protect the health and safety of countless New Yorkers. Instead of rewarding such dedication, FDR illegally fired its employees for staying home with COVID-19 symptoms. The company must now right these wrongs and treat all of its workers with dignity and respect.

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) began its investigation in the spring of 2020 following a complaint filed by the Laundry, Distribution, and Food Service Joint Board of the Workers United Union, which represents the employees who work for FDR Services Corp. The company's status as an essential business allowed for FDR Services Corp to remain operational during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the nature of their work  cleaning dirty and potentially COVID-19-infected linens from health care workers and patients  FDR Services employees were constantly exposing themselves to risk of infection.

Seven workers from FDR Services Corp stayed home when they began experiencing symptoms related to COVID-19 and obtained orders of quarantine from their local health departments. However, when the employees returned to work after completing their periods of quarantine, they were promptly fired, and the company refused to pay them for the period they were out sick. Three other employees who took COVID-19 sick leave were also denied the mandated sick pay, although they were not fired. Additionally, FDR Services Corp failed to provide the individuals with any written notice of termination, as is required by New Yorks Labor Law.

New Yorks COVID-19 sick pay law went into effect on March 18, 2020, and required employers with 100 or more employees to provide at least 14 days of paid sick leave to any employee subject to a mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation issued by New York state, the state Department of Health, a local board of health, or any government entity duly authorized to issue such an order due to COVID-19. Additionally, New Yorks COVID-19 sick pay law requires employers to restore any employees who have taken COVID-19 leave to their prior positions upon return to work with the same pay, and prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for taking sick leave.

FDR Services Corps actions endangered public health by instilling fear in other employees and workers throughout New York state who may have been reluctant to report COVID-19 symptoms or take sick leave because they were afraid of retaliation. The New York Legislature passed the COVID-19 sick leave law precisely to provide critical relief to workers and curb the spread of COVID-19. FDR Services Corps unlawful actions undermined the states efforts to contain the spread of this virus, and they are now being held accountable.

The agreement with FDR Services Corp requires the company to pay $400,000 that will be distributed to current and former employees. Every worker who was fired will receive COVID-19 sick pay and damages for emotional distress. Additionally, five of the fired workers who wish to return to the company will be reinstated to their original positions, or will be offered new positions that are agreed upon by all parties. The three workers who were not fired will receive compensation for the COVID-19 sick pay owed. FDR Services Corp is also responsible for submitting a report to the OAG twice a year for the next three years identifying any sick leave complaints and ensuring compliance with the agreement.

No one should lose their job for following a critical public health order. These workers did the right thing, said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. I thank Attorney General James and her office for delivering justice through this settlement.

This agreement should serve as a notice to all employers in New York state that we will always prioritize the rights of workers, said State Senator Kevin Thomas. When an employer fails to compensate their workers in accordance with the law, the Office of the Attorney General will hold them accountable and ensure that employees receive their hard-earned wages. I thank Attorney General James for her continued commitment to protecting the rights of workers across our state.

At the beginning of the pandemic, we moved quickly to protect workers from this exact scenario, said State Senator Jessica Ramos. Im grateful to the attorney general and the Laundry, Distribution, and Food Service Joint Board of the Workers United Union for their decisive action in the interest of these workers.

During the earliest and most frightening days of the COVID-19 pandemic, essential employees, like the workers at FDR Services Corp., placed themselves in harms way to reinforce key pillars of our society, said Nassau County Legislator Siela A. Bynoe. I commend each of these courageous individuals for standing tall and confronting this egregious injustice, and thank Attorney General James and her team for sending a clear message that it is unacceptable to retaliate against any employee for doing their part to protect their coworkers and the community from COVID-19.

If a New Yorker believes they have been retaliated against for exercising their rights in the workplace, they should reach out to the OAG's Labor Bureau by emailing labor.bureau@ag.ny.gov or by calling (212) 416-8700.

This case was handled by Senior Counsel Sandra Pullman of the Civil Rights Bureau, Assistant Attorney General Christina Bedell of the Nassau Regional Office, and Social Justice Coordinator Francisca Montana. The Nassau Regional Office is led by Assistant Attorney General in Charge Valerie Singleton, and is a part of the Division of Regional Affairs, which is led by Deputy Attorney General for Regional Affairs Jill Faber. The Labor Bureau is overseen by Chief Karen Cacace, and is a part of the Division for Social Justice, which is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Meghan Faux. Both the Division of Regional Affairs and the Division for Social Justice are overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.
Others, Local News

By Long Island Published: October 01 2021

Nada Anid passed away on September 28, 2021.

Nada Anid passed away on September 28, 2021.

Nada Marie Anid, Ph.D., joined New York Tech in 2009 as the first female dean of the NYIT College of Engineering and Computing Sciences. As dean, she spearheaded the creation of New York Tech's NSA/DHS National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education, its federally and state-funded Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center (ETIC), and its Empire State Development's Division of Science, Technology, and Innovation (NYSTAR)-certified business incubator.

Long an advocate for women pursuing education and career opportunities, Nada was instrumental in launching the Womens Corporate Council, a group of female leaders whose goal it is to empower and inspire others within the New York Tech community and beyond.

She is also the recipient of numerous awards, with Long Island Business News naming her as one of the Top 50 Most Influential Women in Business in recognition of her achievements in workforce and economic development three times.

Since 2018, Nada has served as Vice President for Strategic Communications and External Affairs, a role dedicated to articulating New York Tech's mission as a premier polytechnic that fosters technology innovation and entrepreneurship.
(Alliance News) - Australia's powerful mining sector has backed a 2050 net-zero carbon target, heaping pressure on the country's coal-championing government to follow suit.

The Minerals Council of Australia a which represents mining heavy hitters like BHP Group PLC and Rio Tinto PLC a said a 2050 target was achievable through "significant investment in technology".

"A more sustainable minerals sector is not only important for Australia's post-Covid recovery, it is also helping to sustain and improve the lives of millions around the world," Chief Executive Tania Constable said.

Australia is currently one of the world's leading exporters of fossil fuels, particularly coal and natural gas.

Its conservative government continues to fund new coal projects despite the global climate crisis and mounting questions about whether new mines make economic sense.

Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison has so far shied away from setting a net-zero target carbon emissions target, despite pressure from the US, Britain and other allies ahead of climate talks in Glasgow.

Morrison has threatened to boycott the landmark UN climate summit, which begins late this month.

At the same time, his government has slowly shifted focus away from a 2030 carbon-neutral target to a less ambitious 2050 target a which critics say is too little, too late.

A series of senior figures within Morrison's government, and now closely tied industry groups, have backed the 2050 target publicly.

But there is still division within Morrison's ruling coalition.

He faces reelection before May next year and will almost certainly need the stridently pro-coal and climate-sceptic National Party to form a government.

Polls show most Australians favour concrete action to tackle climate change, with those calls only intensifying following a string of climate-worsened bushfires and other natural disasters.

source: AFP

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Horizonte Minerals PLC - nickel company focused on Brazil - Gains credit approval from a syndicate of international financial institutions for a senior secured project finance facility of up to USD346.2 million, which will go towards funding the construction and development of its Araguaia ferro-nickel project.

The senior lenders are BNP Paribas Securities Corp, ING Capital LLC, Natixis, Societe Generale, and Swedish Export Credit Corp.

The term of the senior debt facility will be ten and a half years for tranche A of USD146.2 million, and eight and a half years for tranche B of USD200 million.

"I am delighted to announce the receipt of these final credit approvals from five leading international financial institutions. The Horizonte team and our advisors have worked over the past 18 months to reach this point. Coupled with the two export credit agencies, this syndicate of seven provides a USD346.2 million senior debt facility to help finance the construction of Araguaia," said Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Martin.

Current stock price: 8.05 pence, down 6.1% on Friday

Year-to-date change: up 9.5%

By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Sound Energy PLC - Morocco-focused upstream gas company - Remains of the "strong opinion" that remaining charges against unit Sound Energy Morocco East Ltd over Greater Tendrara petroleum agreement have been wrongly interpreted by Moroccan Tax Administration. The unit has now filed to Moroccan court a challenge to remaining charges brought by tax administrator. Although tax administrator in August dropped most of charges, it did not drop charges relating to disposal of assets by Sound Energy Morocco East to Schlumberger in October 2018.

Current stock price: 1.43 pence

Year-to-date change: unchanged

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
For the end of Mental Health Awareness, Sir John Kirwan joined the show to talk about being an early ambassador for mental health in Aotearoa to his learnings from his own journey.

Watch the full chat above.
Residents of Spain's La Palma were struggling on Thursday to come to terms with the devastation wrought by the Cumbre Vieja volcano, which has been ejecting a destructive cocktail of ash, smoke and lava for more than 10 days.

Carmen Rodriguez, who lost her home in the village of Todoque, was caught off guard by the advancing column of molten rock.

"We never thought that the volcano was going to reach our house, never," she said, recalling how she rushed to salvage belongings during a last-minute evacuation before the lava engulfed her home.

"There were so many people and difficulties, there was a queue. Thankfully we were able to take the washing machine, the fridge and a cooker that I recently bought."

"I only ask that they give us a place to live, that they give us a habitable house, nothing more, she said.

Some 6,000 people have been evacuated and are yet to return to their houses, a local government spokesperson said on Thursday.

Since erupting on Sept. 19 the volcano has destroyed more than 800 buildings, as well as banana plantations, roads and other infrastructure.

"It's unimaginable that this would happen, and now we are living worse days than the COVID state, which was already a bit unreal," said Dutch national Emilie Sweerts, who has lived on the island in the Canaries archipelago for six years.

"I really thought this would be my paradise island," she said from her jewellery store in Tazacorte, a small coastal town which the lava ploughed through on its way to the sea, wrecking houses and farms.

After meandering downhill to the coast for nearly 10 days, the lava reached the ocean just before midnight on Tuesday a kilometre west of Tazacorte and has created a rocky outcrop more than 500 metres wide.

On reaching the water, the lava cools rapidly, binding to the cliffside and enlarging the island's territory.

Despite fears of toxic gases from the lava reacting with the seawater, authorities said the air remained safe to breathe inland.

Emergency services warned that ash thrown out from the crater was blocking sunlight and reducing visibility.

Several villages near the coastline remained locked down as a precaution but banana farmers were allowed access to their plantations to tend their crops.
Editor

Darren Marcy, a journalist since 1992, is the editor of the Manchester Journal. A New Mexico native, he previously worked for newspapers in the Land of Enchantment before moving to Vermont in 2004. He joined the Journal in October 2018.
MANISTEE  No members of the public showed up for a public accuracy test of election equipment for the upcoming municipal election in Manistee. The test was performed by Manistee City Clerk Heather Pefley and Deputy City Clerk Lora Laurain on Thursday.

The test took about 15 minutes to perform. The public accuracy test is required by Michigan law.

"Before beginning the count of ballots, the board of election commissioners shall test the electronic tabulating equipment to determine if the electronic tabulating equipment will accurately count the votes cast for all offices and on all questions. Public notice of the time and place of the test shall be given at least 48 hours before the test," reads an excerpt of Michigan Election Law Act 116 of 1954.

The second part of the law refers to the process at the end of the test.

It reads, "On completion of the test and count, the programs, test materials, and ballots arranged by precincts shall be sealed and retained as provided by this subsection and rules promulgated by the secretary of state pursuant to Act No. 306 of the Public Acts of 1969.

"If the electronic tabulating equipment that is tested and certified to by the board of election commissioners will be used to count votes at the precinct, a memory device containing the tested programs, if any, shall be sealed into the electronic tabulating equipment.

"Upon completion and certification of the count of votes, the memory device containing the program and the vote totals shall remain sealed in the electronic tabulating equipment or, if removed from the electronic tabulating equipment, shall remain sealed in a container approved by the secretary of state, delivered to the clerk, and retained in the manner provided for other voted ballots."

For this election test, there is a clear plastic bag, with a yellow slip but the results are submitted electronically to the county clerk via email. Pefley described how the results of the test are distributed.

"The clear plastic sleeve holds the certificate that documents what election the test was performed for and who performed the test," she said. "It also documents the date the test was performed and the seal number for the seal that was used to close the bag. That seal remains in place until the end of the retention period. Once the retention period had passed the bag can be opened and the items inside destroyed. The test results are/were transmitted to the county clerks office."

On a step-by-step basis, before the machine scans the ballots, it must be "zeroed out", meaning that if it shows any numbers, it needs to be reset to start.

Then a sample ballot is fed through the machine and counts. If all goes correctly, the number of ballots through should read on the machine. If seven ballots are put through, it should read seven ballots on the machine, and it will print out a receipt that shows the numbers of ballots counted.

Pefley, the city clerk, also noted that there are four machines in total, and they're all tested before absentee ballots are mailed out to voters. However, they just use one machine and do not bring out the ballot box for the public accuracy test.

Pefley was not surprised that no members of the public showed up. She said she has worked for the city for 20 years, and in her three years as a clerk, no one has attended the public accuracy test, despite the city advertising it on their website as well as their Facebook page.

That being said, Pefley noted the importance of the process.

"It is very important that we perform testing on the electronic tabulating equipment before each election to ensure the equipment is performing properly, the ballots have been properly prepared for each precinct, and the programs will accurately count votes," she said. "Although members of the public may not choose to come in to observe the process, we know at the conclusion of the test that the equipment is ready for election day."

The Manistee municipal election will be held on Nov. 2.

For much of the past year, the election process has come into tight focus and has been heavily discussed in national media and politics. Repeated claims about election fraud and questions about the integrity of elections throughout the state of Michigan have popped up and in particular regard to the 2020 presidential election.

An Antrim County resident unsuccessfully sued after a clerk's error led the county to initially erroneously show a local victory for Joe Biden over Trump. It was quickly corrected. A post-election hand-count audit of every Antrim ballot found that Dominion Voting Systems machines accurately counted the votes.

The Michigan Republican legislature investigated the claims but found nothing and in fact, asked the state attorney general to conduct her own investigation into people making spurious claims about election fraud in order to make money.

In July, Nessel opened an investigation at the request of a Republican-led legislative committee that alleged people were making baseless allegations about the results in Antrim County to raise money or publicity for their own ends. The lawmakers' report, which uncovered no systemic fraud in Michigan, did not specify who should be investigated. But people mentioned in it include Matthew DePerno, who has criticized GOP legislators for not ordering a statewide review of all ballots, machines, and software. DePerno also was the lawyer for the man in the Antrim County lawsuit.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, has said the election's integrity and accuracy have been affirmed by more than 250 audits. Those included a review of procedures in at least 200 in-person voting precincts; a review of records and procedures related to absentee ballot counting in four large cities, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Sterling Heights and Livonia; and a comparison of 18,000 randomly selected ballots to the statewide total, showing strong evidence that the outcome was correct.

David Eggert from the Associated Press contributed to this article.

RELATED:

A quick guide to 2021 Manistee municipal elections

Raddatz: Current election laws work just fine
The Golden State Stimulus Check is coming to the aid of many Californians, with federal unemployment benefit programs coming to an end on September 6, in the form of either a 500, 600 or 1,100 dollar payment.

For those who are expecting to receive some financial aid in the form of the Golden State Stimulus Check, you may be wondering how you can track the payment to see if it is on its way or not.

Below, we will explain the simple processes you need to do in order to track the progress of your payment.

The California Franchise Tax Board (CFTB) have updated their website in order to provide assistance for the Californians looking to track their Golden State Stimulus Check payment.

Tracking your California Stimulus payment

The majority of eligible Californians will receive their check via a direct deposit into their bank, which should appear between now and October 15. These checks were sent out from September 1.

If you were late submitting your taxes, however, doing so after August 20, you should allow an additional 45 days for your tax return and check to be processed.

Meanwhile, physical checks will start to be sent out from October 4 and will continue until the end of December. The date that you can expect to receive your physical check depends on the last three digits of your zip code.

"If your tax return is processed after the date of your scheduled ZIP code payment, allow up to 60 days," said the CFTB.

Contacting the California Franchise Tax Board

Should you need to get in touch with the CFTB, there are three ways to do so - by phone, online chat or mail.

Phone

You can get in touch with one of the CFTB's representatives from 08:00 to 17:00 Pacific time from Monday to Friday on 800-852-5711.

Online chat

You can sign in to your MyFTB account and chat to representatives from the CFTB. Again, they are available Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 17:00 Pacific time.

Mail

You can also send any questions, documents and anything else relating to your query via mail. The address that you will need is: Franchise Tax Board, PO Box 942840, Sacramento CA 94240-0040.
Page Content

McGowan Government builds on strong trade and investment relationship with India through India Connect 2021

In 2020, Western Australia's trade with India was worth $1.92 billion

Strengthening economic and cultural ties with India is a focus of the State Government's Asian Engagement Strategy

State Development, Jobs and Trade Minister Roger Cook has today reaffirmed the State's longstanding economic relationship with India during the India Connect 2021 event at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Attended virtually by the High Commissioner of India in Australia, His Excellency Mr Manpreet Vohra, the event builds on the strong foundations of Western Australia and India's existing investment and trade relationship and people-to-people links.

India Connect 2021 provided an important and timely platform for Western Australian and Indian industry and government partners to exchange ideas on new investment and trade opportunities that can support economic development and job creation in both jurisdictions.

The event was a fully hybrid format, welcoming both in-person and online attendees from India and from around Australia.

Four targeted sessions were held covering areas of strategic economic importance including energy, mining, primary industries, international education, tourism and advanced manufacturing.

Worth $1.92 billion in 2020, India is an important trading partner for Western Australia and the State's largest market for international students.

The nation presents significant opportunities for Western Australia across a wide range of sectors. In particular, India's commitment to clean energy technology, including electric vehicles, presents investment opportunities for Western Australian industry in key battery minerals.

India Connect 2021 was held in collaboration with the Consulate General of India in Perth, Australia India Business Council, Chamber of Commerce and Industry Western Australia, Perth USAsia Centre, Confederation of Indian Industry and the Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce.

Strengthening ties with India is a key component of Western Australia's Asian Engagement Strategy 2019-2030: Our future with Asia.

Comments attributed to State Development, Jobs and Trade Minister Roger Cook:

"It has been a privilege to partner with the Indian Government on this event and to welcome His Excellency Mr Manpreet Vohra to Western Australia, albeit virtually, at a time when India is celebrating its 75th year of independence.

"Through this important relationship, we have the potential to strengthen investment and trade opportunities with India across a wide range of sectors including mining and mining services, energy production and distribution, higher and vocational education and training, agriculture and fisheries systems.

"This work is critical to supporting Western Australia's economic development and diversification agenda.

"Western Australia's Indian community is also an important part of the culturally diverse fabric of our State, with over 49,000 people born in India residing in WA, and a further 79,800 claiming Indian heritage."

Minister's office - 6552 6500
The trailer of Vicky Kaushals much-awaited film Sardar Udham , based on the life of the freedom fighter Udham Singh, has been well-appreciated by the viewers and people are really looking forward to watching it. The trailer has piqued the curiosity of the viewers as it has shown enough without revealing much about the character. It will be interesting to see how Sardar Udham Singh contributed to the freedom struggle.

As we all know that Vicky gives his blood and sweat to his characters, and this film is no exception as he looks very convincing on the screen as Udham Singh. At the trailer launch, he revealed that he had got 13 stitches on his face due to an injury before he started shooting for the film. There were rumours that Vicky was injured on Sardar Udhams set. The actor has now clarified that he was actually injured during another shoot and that's why he is sporting the scar in the film.

Heres the first look where you can spot those stitches:

He said, I did not get injured on this film. I got injured on another film, which was four days before we could start shooting for Sardar Udham. I had 13 stitches on my cheek. The first picture that I sent was to Shoojit da and he said, Dont worry, you come with the stitches, Sardar Udham Singh will have stitches.

Vicky went on to add, So, the scar that you see on my face as Sardar Udham Singh is a real scar. There are many different looks in the film. As you saw in the trailer, he kept changing his identity and his passports to reach London. I had to lose and gain weight several times for Sardar Udham Singh. I had to look 19 to 40 convincingly too.





Vicky also said how the stories about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre made him relate to his character at a deeper level. He said, Jallianwala Bagh massacre hit home in the most brutal way. A person who promised to avenge that bloodshed, not in India but in the heart of the British empire. For me, it is a story of resilience, bravery, patience, and a passionate person.

Talking about challenges in playing Sardar Udham Singh, he said, Through this film, I wanted to explore that factor in me also. Its not the easiest role to touch. Its also a character that isnt widely documented in our history books.





He added, If you go about reading books on him or the Jallianwala Bagh episode or even the Indian freedom struggle, youll find different stories about the same person. Youll find different names, identities, and faces. How do you tap into what was at the core of the person?

Well, the trailer has got us excited and we are looking forward to watching it on Amazon Prime Video on October 16. What about you?
It has been 67 years since Tata sons ceded Air India to the Indian government and now it looks like the Tata group will once again own the airline conglomerate. According to BloombergQuint, a panel of ministers have accepted a proposal from bureaucrats who recommend Tata Groups bid. According to people with knowledge of the matter, the decision has been made but is yet to be made public. An official announcement is expected in the coming days according to BloombergQuints sources.

 Tata Sons

Moneycontrol cites sources saying, "The Tatas have placed the highest bid for Air India, whereas CNBC TV-18 reports that the government plans to handover the airline to its new owners by December.



Tata and Air Indias History

 Reuters

Air India, then Tata Airlines, was founded by JRD Tata where he himself inaugurated the first flight in 1932. The airline was founded on a small capital of Rs 2 lakh. The Tata archives also quote that Tata airlines was also responsible for delivering the first airmail for Air India. The airline was later listed as Air India in 1946 and eventually started flying to Europe in 1948. Air India was amongst the first public-private partnerships where the Government had a 49% stake while Tatas had 25%.



 Tata Sons

However, in 1953, Air India was forcefully nationalised, ending Tata Sons stake in the international airline. Air India was later merged with domestic operator Indian Airlines Ltd. in 2007 and started to incur losses. Air India never managed to recoup its losses and remained in debt until today  some say the debt amounts to around Rs 600 billion ($8.1 billion). In 2017, the government started the process to privatise Air India and it seems like the Tata Sons will once again own the airline it started almost 90 years ago.



Once the purchase goes through, Air India will be the third airline brand that will be added to Tata sons portfolio. The group already has a majority interest in AirAsia India and works in a joint venture with Singapore Airlines Ltd.

 Reuters

Tata Group was amongst many companies that showed interest in purchasing Air India as recently as December 2020. SpiceJet founder Ajay Singh was also amongst the bidders, however it seems like the government is opting to go with the Tata Group's bid.



If the deal goes through, Tatas will get control of 4,400 domestic and 1,800 international landing and parking slots. These slots also consist of 900 slots at airports overseas. Needless to say, we do recommend taking this news with a pinch of salt as no official announcement has been made yet.

Sources: BloombergQuint, Moneycontrol
Under the new structure, Tata Steel Europe will no longer exist as an operational organization; Tata Steel Netherlands and Tata Steel UK will operate as two independent companies.

Tata Steel started national-level consultations to separate its businesses in the UK and the Netherlands in June this year. The separation of the two units...
AG Nessel Joins Coalition in Fight for States' Power to Enact Public Health Policies That Will Protect Against Opioid Overdose Deaths

AG Nessel Joins Coalition in Fight for States' Power to Enact Public Health Policies That Will Protect Against Opioid Overdose Deaths

Attorney General

Media contact: Lynsey Mukomel 517-599-2746

Public inquiries: 517-335-7622



October 1, 2021

LANSING - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined a coalition of 11 attorneys general in a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to hear a case supporting states' rights to enact public health policies that can prevent opioid overdose deaths and treat those suffering from opioid use disorder.

The coalition, led by District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine, is asking the Supreme Court to review a ruling by the U.S Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that prevents Safehouse, a Pennsylvania nonprofit, from operating a lifesaving "safe injection site" that can prevent opioid overdose deaths. This medically-supervised site would afford those who consume opioids immediate medical care in the event of an overdose. The Trump Administration sued to prevent Safehouse from operating the program.

"Preventing Safehouse and entities like it from operating will not save lives or reverse the harm inflicted by this ongoing epidemic - it only penalizes people struggling with an opioid addiction," Nessel said. "It should be up to individual states and communities to oversee and implement public health policies and I join my colleagues in urging the Supreme Court to hear this case."

Medical supervision saves lives because death can occur within minutes of using heroin or fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid, often too quickly for emergency responders to arrive on the scene. These sites also reduce the risks associated with public usage and contaminated needles. Safehouse also plans to offer drug treatment options, primary medical care, and wraparound social services that can help treat those suffering from opioid use disorder. There are approximately 120 safe injection sites operating in ten countries around the world.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 136 Americans die each day from an opioid overdose. Opioid deaths have been on the rise in the United States since 1999. The death toll now totals nearly 500,000. In their brief, the attorneys general support Safehouse and urge the Supreme Court to hear this case because: This is an issue of national importance that requires innovation at the local and state levels: The opioid crisis affects every state in the nation, including the District, which has been disproportionately impacted by the crisis. States have reported startling numbers of overdose deaths and other dire consequences stemming from opioid use disorder. Many states and local governments are considering safe injection sites as one way to prevent overdose deaths and promote public health. The Court's decision about the future of Safehouse could impact the future of other similar sites.

The opioid crisis affects every state in the nation, including the District, which has been disproportionately impacted by the crisis. States have reported startling numbers of overdose deaths and other dire consequences stemming from opioid use disorder. Many states and local governments are considering safe injection sites as one way to prevent overdose deaths and promote public health. The Court's decision about the future of Safehouse could impact the future of other similar sites. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the opioid crisis and reinforced the need for more solutions: According to the American Medical Association, every "state has reported a spike or increase in overdose deaths or other problems during the COVID-19 pandemic." And individuals with substance use disorders are at increased risk of COVID-19 exposure and of severe disease due to COVID-19. Safe injection sites like Safehouse offer users medical care along with life-saving support, including immediate access to sterile injection equipment, opioid reversal agents like Naloxone, and pathways into drug treatment programs.

According to the American Medical Association, every "state has reported a spike or increase in overdose deaths or other problems during the COVID-19 pandemic." And individuals with substance use disorders are at increased risk of COVID-19 exposure and of severe disease due to COVID-19. Safe injection sites like Safehouse offer users medical care along with life-saving support, including immediate access to sterile injection equipment, opioid reversal agents like Naloxone, and pathways into drug treatment programs. States have a well-established role in enacting public health and safety programs: States are on the front lines battling the opioid crisis and have historically enjoyed broad powers to protect public health. For example, many states have implemented Good Samaritan laws, which encourage victims and bystanders to seek help for those experiencing a drug overdose by offering limited immunity from drug-related charges. States have also implemented needle exchange programs, which provide clean needles to prevent the spread of diseases. It is crucial that states and localities maintain the flexibility to act quickly to adopt public health solutions that address their residents' needs.

Joining Attorney General Nessel in this brief are the attorneys general from Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.

A copy of the brief is available here.
AG Nessel Releases Statement on Paused Instagram Kids Development

AG Nessel Releases Statement on Paused Instagram Kids Development

Attorney General

Media contact: Lynsey Mukomel 517-599-2746

Public inquiries: 517-335-7622



October 1, 2021

LANSING - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel released the following statement in response to news that Instagram paused plans related to developing "Instagram Kids" for users under 13:

"While this is a step in the right direction, it falls short of acknowledging the detrimental effect a kid-specific version of the platform will have on those who primarily haven't yet been exposed to social media. It's especially concerning that this pause was the sole update announced following the release of concerning data that quantifies that effect, which has been at the company's fingertips throughout the development process.

"Mr. Mosseri, in his statement, suggests providing a kids-only Instagram will address problems because 'kids are already online'. That's demonstrably false. Launching Instagram Kids will only pose threats to security and overall wellbeing while further profiting from society's obsession with social media."

In May, Nessel joined a coalition of 44 attorneys general urging Facebook to abandon its plans to launch the under-13-years-old version of Instagram.

Facebook has not responded directly to the coalition as of Friday morning.

Protecting kids online was the sole focus of a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday. The hearing followed concerning findings from the Wall Street Journal related to what Facebook knows about how Instagram affects young users, including data from the company's own research that showed among "teens who reported suicidal thoughts, 13% of British users and 6% of American users traced the desire to kill themselves to Instagram...."

The hearing lasted about three hours. Federal lawmakers grilled the Global Head of Safety at Facebook about its internal data.
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MDHHS, Food Bank continue Flint mobile pantries during October

MDHHS, Food Bank continue Flint mobile pantries during October

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 30, 2021

CONTACT: Bob Wheaton, 517-241-2112,

LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) will continue to provide nutritious food by the truckload to Flint residents throughout October.

MDHHS has provided the Flint mobile food pantries since February 2016 in partnership with the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan in Flint. October's mobile food pantry distribution will have plenty of delicious, vitamin-rich produce and proteins, including potatoes, carrots, onions, hard squash, ground turkey and cheese.

October dates for distributions are:

Bethel United Methodist Church, 1309 Ballenger Hwy. Monday, Oct. 4, at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 11, at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 18, at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 25, at 10 a.m.

End Times, 4002 S. Dort Hwy. Monday, Oct. 4, at 11 a.m. Monday, Oct. 11, at 11 a.m. Monday, Oct. 18, at 11 a.m. Monday, Oct. 25, at 11 a.m.

Asbury United Methodist Church, 1653 Davison Road. Tuesday, Oct. 5, at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19, at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 10 a.m.

Greater Holy Temple, 6702 N. Dort Hwy. Thursday, Oct. 7, at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 28, at 10 a.m.

American Muslim Community Services, 4800 S. Saginaw St. Saturday, Oct. 9, at 9 a.m.



Flint residents can also pick up free nutritional food at the three Flint Help Center locations:

Bethel United Methodist Church, 1309 N. Ballenger Highway, open from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays; Asbury United Methodist Church, 1653 Davison Road, open Tuesdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; and Greater Holy Temple, 6702 N. Dort Highway, open Thursdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Information about additional food distributions will be announced as they are scheduled. To check food distribution schedules, visit the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan website at FBEM.org and find the updated schedule on the Mobile Pantry Distribution page, or call 810-239-4441.

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Secretary Benson, partners launch MI Vote Matters high school challenge on National Voter Registration Day

Secretary Benson, partners launch MI Vote Matters high school challenge on National Voter Registration Day

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021

Program aims to increase young voter knowledge and participation

On National Voter Registration Day, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced a new program with nonpartisan partner organizations seeking to increase young voter knowledge and participation by ensuring that eligible high school seniors register or pre-register to vote.

The MI Vote Matters High School Voter Registration Challenge (Michigan.gov/MIVoteMatters) encourages high schools across Michigan to help connect students with their right to vote through civic education and nonpartisan voter registration drives. Schools can strive for the highest voter registration rate and earn recognition from the Secretary of State for the percentage of eligible seniors who have registered or pre-registered:

Gold for 90% and above

Silver for 70% and above

Bronze for 50% and above

"All high schools in the state are invited to participate in the MI Vote Matters challenge and to encourage students who are eligible to register to vote," Secretary Benson said. "When young people empower themselves as voters, they make our democracy stronger."

In Michigan, teenage residents who are U.S. citizens and at least 17.5 years old can pre-register to vote and then automatically become active voters once they turn 18. Some students will have their first opportunity to vote in the Nov. 2, 2021, election.

In the MI Vote Matters program, once students have registered or pre-registered to vote, they will submit a pledge to vote card either online or by paper in order for their registration to count toward their school's participation numbers. The program runs through June 30, 2022.

The Secretary of State's Office is partnering with several nonpartisan organizations that already have standing high school voter registration programs, including:

Inspire2Vote, a program of Project High Hopes

League of Women Voters of Michigan

Michigan Center for Civic Education

When We All Vote, an initiative within Civic Nation

"The Michigan Center for Civic Education (MCCE) celebrates the Michigan Department of State for recognizing the importance of engaging all voters, especially those in their most formative years, in the importance of voting," said Ellen Zwarensteyn, Executive Director of the MCCE.

"Young adult engagement is critical and their perspectives are vital as they help to shape their world as it is now while imagining their own preferred futures. This program integrates the knowledge and the skills for vibrant and healthy civic communities."

High school administrators can request an action kit at Michigan.gov/MIVoteMatters and will be provided with all the materials needed to get started. The League of Women Voters of Michigan also has a voter registration presentation that is available for use or League members can present the program in person if requested.

"The League of Women Voters is happy to participate in this project, which promotes voter registration among students" said Paula Bowman, Co-President of the League of Women Voters of Michigan. "Young people have a stake in our future and voting is the best and easiest way to participate in our democracy."

Stephanie L. Young, Executive Director of When We All Vote, said her organization also stands ready to help provide students with the tools to get registered and engaged so they are active members of their communities.

"At When We All Vote, we are developing lifelong voters, and that work starts in our high schools. Through our My School Votes program, we know that young people are eager to get involved in our elections and create change in their communities, so we are proud to partner with Secretary of State Benson to ensure Michigan high school students get registered or pre-registered to 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).
Gov. Whitmer Announces Grant to Boost High-Tech Business Growth in Cass County, Creating 248 Jobs and Generating $14 Million in Investment

Gov. Whitmer Announces Grant to Boost High-Tech Business Growth in Cass County, Creating 248 Jobs and Generating $14 Million in Investment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 30, 2021

Contact: Press@Michigan.gov

Gov. Whitmer Announces Grant to Boost High-Tech Business Growth in Cass County, Creating 248 Jobs and Generating $14 Million in Investment

LANSING, Mich. - Today, Gov. Whitmer announced that the U.S. Secretary of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $6 million grant to the Midwest Energy Cooperative in Cassopolis, Michigan to construct the needed road, sewer, and water infrastructure to support the 234-acre Southwest Michigan Advanced Research and Technology Park (SMART Park). This EDA grant, to be matched with $6 million in local funds, is expected to create 248 jobs and generate $14 million in private investment.

"We are grateful to our federal partners for investing in Michigan by supporting the Southwest Michigan Advanced Research and Technology Park," said Governor Whitmer. "This grant will help us continue to usher in a new era of prosperity by creating 248 jobs and generating $14 million in private investment, making a lasting positive impact on our communities."

"President Biden is committed to supporting local efforts to create new jobs and opportunities in communities impacted by nuclear plant closures," said Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo. "This investment leverages Cass County's assets - high-skilled workforce, access to major rail and fiber broadband - to attract new businesses and build regional economic resiliency."

"The Economic Development Administration is pleased to support Midwest Energy Cooperative's efforts to build an industrial and tech park that will create much needed, good-paying jobs," said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Y. Castillo. "This investment will diversify the local economy by attracting high-tech companies involved in the critical solar, fiber optics, data-hosting, agriculture and food sectors as the region prepares for the closure of the Palisades Nuclear Plant."

This project is being funded under EDA's Assistance to Nuclear Closure Communities program. Closures of nuclear power plants throughout the United States have had a significant impact on the economic foundations of surrounding communities through sudden job losses and a reduction to the local tax base. EDA has a history of success working with communities facing structural economic adjustments to diversify and strengthen their economies for the future, including those impacted by nuclear power plant closures.

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov) The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA invests in communities and supports regional collaboration in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.

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Gov. Whitmer announces U.S. Economic Development Administration awards $2 million in grants to support high-tech startups Across the State

Gov. Whitmer announces U.S. Economic Development Administration awards $2 million in grants to support high-tech startups Across the State

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 1, 2021

Contact: Kathleen Achtenberg, achtenbergk@michigan.org

Gov. Whitmer announces U.S. Economic Development Administration awards $2 million in grants to support high-tech startups Across the State

Funds further boost Michigan's entrepreneurship ecosystem, Industry 4.0 initiative

Grants build on Sept. 16 awards by the U.S. Small Business Administration to three Michigan accelerators to speed the launch, growth, and scale of high -tech small businesses in the state

LANSING, Mich. - Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer joined the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to announce the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding more than $2 million to three SmartZones in Michigan to support programs that fuel innovation and tech-based economic development.

"In Michigan, we are laser-focused on supporting small businesses and providing critical access to capital to support growth and ensure long-term economic opportunity in the state," said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. "Today's grants will leverage private funds to create good-paying jobs and grow emerging businesses around the state, helping us usher in a new era of prosperity for Michigan."

The grants were awarded to Troy-based Automation Alley's Michigan Industry 4.0 Accelerator ($1.3 million), Innovation Marquette Enterprise Corporation ($305,465) and TechTown Detroit ($400,000).

U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Y. Castillo announced the "Build to Scale" grantees yesterday at TechTown Detroit. Representatives from MEDC, the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity and Automation Alley also joined the event. The "Build to Scale" program is administered annually by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. The program aims to accelerate technology entrepreneurship by increasing inclusive access to business support and startup capital.

"Michigan is excited to work with the U.S. Economic Development Association to take advantage of these tremendous grant opportunities that will allow our communities to build back better," said Susan Corbin, Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity director. "These grants will allow us to focus on equity and grow local programs and services that not only help communities recover from the hardships brought on by the pandemic, but also prepare them to be resilient against future economic shock."

The grants were awarded in two categories: The Venture Capital Fund, which seeks to leverage regional strengths to accelerate innovation and job creation through high-growth technology entrepreneurship and fostering inclusive access to proven entrepreneurship models. The Capital Challenge increases access to capital in communities where risk capital is in short supply by providing operational support for early-stage investment funds, angel capital networks, or investor training programs that focus on both traditional and hybrid equity-based models.

Automation Alley received a Venture Capital grant which it will use to expand its Michigan Industry 4.0 (MI4.0) Accelerator, powered by Centrepolis Accelerator at Lawrence Technological University and Lean Rocket Lab in Jackson. The MI4.0 aims to attract best-in-class advanced manufacturing technology companies from around the world and find pathways for these firms to provide a meaningful impact to our domestic value chain, using Michigan's existing manufacturing base as a gateway catalyst.

"There is an urgent need for manufacturers to understand and adopt Industry 4.0 technologies, and a great risk in not doing so," said Tom Kelly, Executive Director and CEO of Automation Alley. "This national funding award from the Build to Scale Program will allow Automation Alley's Industry 4.0 Accelerator to bolster our region's competitive position in the Fourth Industrial Revolution by amplifying startups' efforts to fortify and expand Michigan's Industry 4.0 ecosystem."

TechTown Detroit received a Capital Challenge grant that it will use, in partnership with the Angel Capital Association, VentureWell, and Ann Arbor SPARK, to recruit and train 200 high-net-worth individuals from Michigan who are underrepresented in the angel investor community and activate their potential as investors. TechTown's goal is to support 50 projects, totaling $34.7 million in early-stage capital.

"Expanding the pool of angel investors to include more people who intrinsically understand the experience of founders of color and women is critical to unlocking more high-risk capital and creating a more robust innovation ecosystem," said Ned Staebler, president and CEO of TechTown Detroit.

Innovate Marquette also received a Capital Challenge grant, which will be matched with $306,446 in local funds. Innovate Marquette plans to use the new resources for the Make it Marquette Start to Scale (Marquette STS) project, which will leverage educational, economic development and capital investor partnerships. Together, with project partners, Marquette STS will educate local angel investors about scalable tech investment opportunities and connect to state, regional and national venture capital (VC) networks.

"Innovate Marquette is honored to receive this win for the Marquette community, however, it's not an award we accept singlehandedly. Without support and collaboration from all of our economic development partners, championing this grant would not have been possible," said Joe Thiel, CEO of Innovate Marquette. "Rural innovation begins when longtime residents who have built the foundation of a community work in parallel with those who have a vision for a regenerative economic future. That's what we are seeing in Marquette today; it's pivotal and it's just the beginning."

The project is also designed to be 100-percent sustainable after the proposed three-year project timeline.

Today's news builds on the Sept. 16 announcement that the U.S. Small Business Administration also awarded grants to the Centrepolis Accelerator, BBCetc in Chelsea, and TechTown Detroit through its the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition and Small Business Innovation Research Catalyst competition. The grants are intended to support start-up accelerators and incubators working with underrepresented entrepreneurs.

"Michigan's entrepreneurial support system is extremely robust, as evidenced by these federal grants, which will further empower our business incubators to support Michigan's entrepreneurs - ultimately leading to more jobs and a creating a stronger, more inclusive economy in Michigan," said Fred Molnar, vice president of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the MEDC. "Congratulations to the teams at Automation Alley, Innovate Marquette, and TechTown Detroit, as well as BBCetc and Centrepolis, on receiving these grants that will help Michigan's small business and entrepreneurs find success, and will help lead the way in Industry 4.0 technologies and workforce needs."

"EDA is proud to support this year's 'Build to Scale' grantees as they fuel regional innovation hubs throughout the country," Castillo said. "Investing in scalable startups and creating access to capital will yield more economic opportunities and support the next generation of industry-leading companies. This is the type of vital work that President Biden's build back better agenda promises to continue to support."

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov) The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA invests in communities and supports regional collaboration in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.

About Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation is the state's marketing arm and lead advocate for business development, job awareness and community development with the focus on growing Michigan's economy. For more information on the MEDC and our initiatives, visit www.MichiganBusiness.org. For Pure Michigan tourism information, your trip begins at www.michigan.org. Join the conversation on: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

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Gov. Whitmer Celebrates MI's Strong Economic Growth, Third Highest in Nation

Gov. Whitmer Celebrates MI's Strong Economic Growth, Third Highest in Nation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 1, 2021

Contact: Press@Michigan.gov

Gov. Whitmer Celebrates MI's Strong Economic Growth, Third Highest in Nation

LANSING, Mich. -- Governor Gretchen Whitmer today announced Michigan's strong economic progress continues after the U.S Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released state-by-state Q2 2021 GDP numbers showing Michigan at 8.3% growth - the third highest in the nation and the best in the Midwest.

"As we emerge from the once-in-a-century pandemic, I am laser-focused on growing our economy and ushering in a new era of prosperity for our families, communities, and small businesses. Today's numbers showing 8.3% GDP growth in the second quarter of 2021 prove that our efforts are working," said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. "Thanks to our tireless efforts to beat back the virus and invest in our families, communities, and small businesses, Michigan has the third-fastest growing economy in the country. This week, I signed a bipartisan budget that delivers on the kitchen-table fundamental issues that matter most to Michiganders. The budget builds on the education bill we passed earlier this summer, which makes the largest investment in K-12 education state history without raising taxes. Looking ahead, we have an extraordinary opportunity right now to invest the billions in federal dollars we have received from the American Rescue Plan. Let's keep that momentum going by continuing to put Michiganders first."

Throughout the pandemic, Governor Whitmer worked alongside Republicans to pass historic economic relief packages to help support small businesses. The governor launched 23 economic relief programs and deployed nearly $240 million in small business relief across all 83 Michigan counties, supporting over 25,000 businesses and saving over 200,000 jobs.

"Under Governor Whitmer's leadership, unemployment is down, surpluses are up, and thanks to the help of President Biden and the American Rescue Plan, Michigan is poised to exit the COVID-19 pandemic by making transformational investments that will leave the state stronger than when we entered it," said Susan Corbin, director of the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. "Today's GDP numbers show that our economic strategy is working, and we'll continue to implement the governor's MI New Economy plan - her vision for a stronger, more resilient and equitable state."

At the Mackinac Policy Conference, Gov. Whitmer detailed her economic agenda, including the unveiling of the three pillars of her bold $2.1 billion MI New Economy plan to grow Michigan's middle class, support small businesses, and invest in communities.

"This is great news for our state as we continue our strong economic recovery," said Tim Daman, president & CEO Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce. "This data supports the resiliency of our business community, workforce and strong economic climate."

This week, the governor signed a budget that puts Michiganders first. It repairs 100 bridges, fully funds workforce programs putting 167,000 Michiganders on a tuition-free path to higher education or skills training, expands low or no-cost childcare to 105,000 kids and so much more.

In addition to the GDP numbers from the BEA, Michigan's unemployment rate is below the national average and has been on a downward trajectory for the last 17-month period since May 2020. In the first quarter of 2021, personal income was up 19.1%, the fourth-highest nationwide. Both Moody's and S&P improved the state's credit rating outlook. And the state turned a projected $3 billion deficit into a $3.5 billion surplus. Michigan remains a top ten state to do business and still boasts the strongest automotive manufacturing nationwide.

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LANSING  The Department of Natural Resources has issued an emergency order closing a shooting area on state land in Benzie County.

According to a press release from the DNR, the order, signed by DNR Director Daniel Eichinger on Sept. 29, will close the shooting area at 2167 N. Pioneer Road in Beulah for 90 days. During this time, department staff will evaluate next steps that would eliminate the possibility of visitors target shooting from anywhere other than specified areas.

Dave Lemmien, unit manager of the Traverse City Management Unit, Forest Resources Division, said the area wasn't a designated shooting range, but an old gravel pit on state land where people have been using to set up targets.

"It is basically an old gravel pit that people have started to utilize for target practice over the years," Lemmien said. "They've been utilizing the banks of the old gravel pit as a backstop where they set up targets and shoot into the backdrop so that the bullets lodge safely into the dirt instead of getting sprayed all over the place. I think it has become a convenient place for people to set up targets over the years. You can get there fairly quickly, set up targets and start shooting. Word of mouth over the years has attracted other users to utilize the same spot. "

Lemmien said people have even set up shooting benches. However, people have been setting up targets elsewhere on the property without a backstop, and bullets have been leaving public land and striking a resident's home and outbuildings.

"What has started occurring is people aren't shooting down into the old gravel pit," Lemmien said. "They want longer shots and are setting up targets on the other side of the pit instead of a straight shot downward into the bank of the gravel pit. Bullets are leaving the area and actually striking a nearby residence and outbuildings. That's why we stepped in."

Lemmien said people shooting likely didn't know there was a residence behind the state property.

"I don't think the people using the area for shooting know what's occurring," he said. "Unless you're a local resident and familiar with area and how the property ownership lays out, you wouldn't know there's houses on the other side of the trees. But that falls on the person discharging the firearm. They do have the responsibility to know what's behind where they're shooting."

The news release stated that several things were done in attempts to direct people to use the gravel pit as a backstop, including;

 Posting signs that direct visitors to shoot from the base of the hill, rather than the elevated parking area;

 Relocating shooting benches and tables to the base of the hill; and

 Outreach by local DNR Law Enforcement Division staff to target shooters to encourage responsible use of the area.

"We tried to change things hoping that the safety measures would keep stray bullets from leaving the area and going toward nearby homes," Lemmien said. "Obviously, that didn't work. Those residents are still experiencing bullet strikes."

Signage announcing the closure will be placed and conservation officers will be patrolling the area to inform people of the closure.

Public safety has to be the No. 1 concern and responsibility when it comes to outdoor recreation, especially with shooting sports, said Eichinger in the press release. Everyone should have the opportunity to safely enjoy Michigans public lands, but that opportunity comes with a responsibility to treat both the lands and other users with respect and courtesy. We will not reopen this area to target shooting until public safety concerns have been fully addressed and rectified.

During the 90-day period, DNR staff will work with local and county officials to evaluate opportunities for site improvements or continued closure of the area. Anyone with questions about this temporary closure should contact David Lemmien by email at LemmienD@Michigan.gov or by phone at 231-922-6040.

Lemmien said it is also possible the DNR might look for a place more suitable as a gun range.

In the meantime, hunters looking for opportunities to sight in their firearms and prepare for Michigans coming deer hunting seasons are welcome to responsibly use other DNR facilities. Visit Michigan.gov/ShootingRanges for locations, safety information and hours of operation.
BEIJING (AP)  China has appointed a new governor for Xinjiang where the ruling Communist Party is accused of carrying out mass detentions and other abuses against members of the Uyghur and other Muslim minority groups.

A former vice governor, Erkin Tuniyaz gained some notoriety for delivering a vociferous defense of Chinese policies in the northwestern region, particularly the use of facilities critics call detention centers but which China says are intended for vocational training and deradicalization and turning the region's residents away from terrorism and extremism.

Tuniyaz, 59, is an ethnic Uyghur who studied economics and law and worked his way up through a variety of posts in Xinjiang. His appointment was announced late Thursday.

The region's most powerful official is Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo, who is accused of overseeing the mass detentions and all-enveloping surveillance of minorities.

In his February video address to the United Nations, Tuniyaz said: "All trainees of these facilities had graduated" by October 2019 and now had "stable jobs and are living a normal life."

The centers educated and rehabilitated people influenced by religious extremism and guilty of minor crimes in order to prevent them from falling victim to terrorism and extremism" and and to protect citizens from infringement of their basic human rights, Tuniyaz said.

Observers say the camp system has been expanded with more permanent facilities, while ex-detainees say they were subjected to brutal conditions and political indoctrination intended to separate them from their traditional culture and religion.

Under the assimilation drive, the state has forced Uighurs to undergo sterilizations and abortions, an Associated Press investigation found, and in recent months, has ordered them to drink traditional Chinese medicines to combat the coronavirus.

Many in the camps have been sentenced in secret, extrajudicial trials and transferred to high-security prisons for things like having contact with people abroad, having too many children and studying Islam. People deemed less of a risk, like women or the elderly, have been transferred to a form of house arrest or forced labor in factories.
VALLEY TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP)  Authorities were looking into a weekend fire at a southwestern Michigan recreational area as a suspected arson.

An investigation was continuing, but initial evidence suggests the fire Sunday at the Allegan State Game Area in Valley Township was intentionally set, Michigan Department of Natural Resources Sgt. Charles Towns said in a release.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  Wildfires have destroyed nearly 50,000 homes in California alone in the last five years, and scientists say global warming is only making things worse.

While much attention is focused on managing overgrown forests, fire managers say its equally crucial to increase the fire resistance of homes and the area immediately around them, known as defensible space.

It really allows firefighters to have a better chance of defending a home, said Jessica Morse, the California Natural Resources Agencys deputy secretary for forest resources management.

California fires have burned more than 3,075 square miles (7,964 square kilometers) so far in 2021, destroying more than 3,000 homes, commercial properties and other structures. Some large fires have also threatened communities, including Lake Tahoe, a major vacation destination. The latest destructive blaze to send residents fleeing this year, the Fawn Fire, has charred more than 13.4 square miles (34.7 square kilometers) of heavy timber and destroyed 185 homes and other buildings.

A California legislative analysis on Thursday called defensible space a key way to limit wildfires destructiveness, but said there should be better enforcement to make sure homeowners in fire-prone areas comply.

Defensible space not only helps to protect that home, it also reduces the risk that the wildfire will spread to neighboring homes, thereby helping to protect communities, analysts said.

In California, homeowners are required to maintain defensible space, but analysts said enforcement efforts are complicated by the fragmented and overlapping nature of state and local responsibilities, along with scarce data and research; homeowners' lack of resources and motivation; and agencies' lack of funding and staffing.

Hotter and drier weather coupled with decades of fire suppression have contributed to an increase in the number of acres burned by wildfires, fire scientists say. And the problem is exacerbated by a more than 20-year Western megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change.

All of these things are contributing to these large and damaging fires  and they're also contributing to communities and structures being part of the fuel, said Thom Porter, director of California's firefighting agency.

WHAT IS DEFENSIBLE SPACE?

California requires property owners to reduce flammable materials within 100 feet (30.5 meters) of rural homes and those in what are defined as very high fire hazard areas, even within towns and suburbs.

That's an increase from the 30 feet (9 meters) of clearance that was required until 2005, but experts say that the area on and around each house is still the most important to tackle. Start by removing dead leaves and pine needles from rain gutters and work outward to the areas that are farther from the house.

WHAT'S NEW?

A 2020 California law creates a new ember-resistant zone that bars flammable materials, including things like wooden fencing and mulch, within 5 feet (1.5 meters) of vulnerable homes.

The requirement won't take effect until the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection develops regulations by Jan. 1, 2023, but officials are urging homeowners to voluntarily comply now.

Since July 1, 2021, California requires those who sell property located in a high or very high fire hazard severity zone to have documentation that the property passed an official defensible space inspection.

It also has grant programs to help homeowners and mobile trailers with equipment like chain saws and weed trimmers to clear defensible space.

WHAT ARE OTHER STATES DOING?

California has the most stringent defensible space law in the West, said Daniel Berlant, Californias chief of wildfire planning.

But Oregon Gov. Kate Brown in July signed a wildfire bill that includes setting standards for defensible space around homes. California officials are helping their northern neighbors develop the regulations.

Nevada urges 100 feet (30 meters) of defensible space, while Reno and Lake Tahoe are among communities that offer help for homeowners.

Critics of the Oregon legislation fear it will force too many homeowners to remove too much vegetation from around their homes. But what were looking for are park-like settings, said Berlant. Its well manicured, its green.

WHO SHOULD WORRY?

The severity of wildfires that we are experiencing today is off the charts from where it was just 10 years ago," said Berlant.

Defensible space has always been important in rural areas. But California is remapping its fire severity areas and with changing conditions is likely to move more urban areas into higher risk zones that require defensible space.

Even homes in subdivisions that may be half a mile or a mile away from the forest really have to be thinking about these type of preparations, he said. "We have seen, fire siege after fire siege, homes that are in the middle of urban areas be destroyed because embers are being carried by the wind under extreme conditions way ahead of the fire itself."

WHAT ABOUT MY HOUSE?

Along with defensible space around homes, experts say there are simple ways to protect houses themselves from flying sparks.

They include things like installing tight screens on attic vents under the eaves and using caulk to fill holes in siding.

The goal is increasing the homes armor against embers, said Berlant. "A lot of these are very low cost, easy to do.

California created a homeowner's checklist and an online assessment to help guide homeowners on what they can do.

___

Associated Press writers Gillian Flaccus in Oregon and Scott Sonner in Nevada contributed to this story.
Huron County has no plans to mandate vaccines for county employees, and will not pass any motions to require mandates in the community.

The Huron County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution this week stating that it would not require its employees to get vaccinated or have vaccines as a requirement for any prospective employees.

Commissioner Steve Vaughan, who read the resolution during this weeks Huron County Board of Commissioners meeting, said board members have been approached by many constituents who said that it is not their decision to force any mandates upon them. The same thing can be said of the countys employees.

Theyre cognizant of themselves, Vaughan said. They do not need us to mandate anything. Their health is between them and their health provider. We wanted to ensure them that they have that right.

As part of the resolution, Huron County shall not encourage employers located in the county to establish such mandates, and not question any citizens claim to exemption from wearing a face mask or any other similarly mandated preventative activity.

Instead of having a mandate, the resolution instead encourages citizens to increase their awareness of available immunizations and discuss the risks and benefits of available immunizations with their chosen healthcare provider.

Vaughan said there is not anything in the resolution that he believes will change, since creating such a mandate is not within the countys scope of powers.

Were an administrative body, not a legislative body, Vaughan said. We do not create legislation. It's not our job to run peoples lives. Our job is to run the countys business and make sure our employees are taken care of.

The resolution does recognize the work the employees of the Huron County Health Department, community health care providers, and other various county offices have done for their effort throughout the pandemic.

While other counties across Michigan like Muskegon and Grand Traverse have also issued similar resolutions, Vaughan said the county was taking a proactive approach and making sure that residents know commissioners are sticking up for them.

We took an oath where wed be looking out for their welfare and we are doing that, Vaughan said.

Copies of this resolution will be forwarded to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, state Rep. Phil Green, state Sen. Dan Lauwers, the Michigan Association of Counties, and all other counties in the state of Michigan.
MINNNEAPOLIS (AP)  A Texas man who says he is affiliated the anti-government boogaloo movement pleaded guilty Thursday to opening fire on a Minneapolis police station last year during civil unrest over the death of George Floyd.

Ivan Harrison Hunter, a self-proclaimed member of the boogaloo bois, is accused of firing 13 rounds from a semi-automatic assault-style rifle on the Third Precinct police station while protesters were inside the building.
A proposal for an apartment complex has residents from one small neighborhood raising their voices.

The Midland City Planning Commission met on Tuesday at City Hall to discuss two proposed apartment site plans and a proposed street behind Costco.

One of the apartment plans brought residents to the meeting with concerns about increased traffic and the safety of the children who play on an adjacent street.

Lincoln Park Residences is a proposed complex by Deshano Development at 221 E. Patrick Road on the north side of Patrick, which is a one-way street running west. The site is one block south of the Creative 360 building on Bayliss and is adjacent to Lincoln Park.

Scott Bell is part of Lapham Associates, the engineering group for the project, and he said the apartments are planned to be subsidized for moderate-income renters. He said there have been feasibility studies for Midland that identified the need for this housing.

The complex itself would be comprised of three buildings: two for the apartments and one for an office and community space. The apartment buildings would have 50 units total, with a mix of single-floor apartments and two-story townhouses. There would also be a small playground on the property, Bell said.

The property is 46,997 square feet and has extra space to allow for potential future expansions, said City of Midland Director of Planning & Community Development Grant Murschel.

Murschel presented the site plan to the commission, and said that the site plan has some outstanding items, including a finalized stormwater plan and a plan for a sidewalk along the segment of Bayliss Street the property is on. Murschel said light pollution would be blocked from bleeding into the surrounding homes.

Many residents who live in a small neighborhood next to the property voiced concerns about it, primarily about the driveway entrance located on Arbury Place. Many residents said it is a quiet street and that many children ride bikes and scooters along this street. They are concerned about the amount of traffic that would be added to the street from the complex.

One nearby resident who lives by the property said his 3-year-old child goes up and down the road, and he is worried about cars speeding. He also worried about the dumpster placement and potential light pollution from the parking lot lights.

Laura Vosejpka, Executive Director of Creative 360, said she is also concerned about children who play on the street and Creative 360s ability to hold outdoor events due to increased traffic noise. She also questioned the need for this apartment complex and asked what the rent will be for the apartments and how it compares to the property values in the surrounding neighborhoods.

We want to be able to hold those outdoor events with as little external noise as possible, and Arbury Place being a quiet street makes that possible, Vosejpka said. When there is traffic coming down that street, it is going to be really hard for us to hold outdoor events.

Commissioner James Bain said he would be in favor of moving the driveway and the dumpster. The commission asked Bell to come back to the next meeting on Oct. 12 with the recommendation that the driveway be moved in the plans.

Another proposed apartment building, located downtown, did not receive public opposition. It would be named Rodd Street Lofts and would be developed by William A. Kibbe and Associates. The property is located at 311 and 315 Rodd Street, next to Element Salon and Day Spa.

The building would be 7,744 square feet and would have two stories with second-floor patios. There would be six units in the building and there would be parking access in the back.

Murschel said this plan also has some outstanding items before approval, including a final stormwater management plan and a landscaping plan.

The last major item on the agenda was Market Street, a potential service road proposed by D&M Site to connect Fast Ice Drive to the Costco access driveway, south of Bay City Road. Murschel said this street would be zoned for Regional Commercial, which refers to big-box stores and chain restaurants. He said the developers will have plans to develop this road in the future.

The apartment and road plans will be discussed and decided on by the commission during the next meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 12 at City Hall. The meeting will also have discussions on a potential new car wash and an update on the citys Master Planning process.
Moments after a man took off in his new ultralight plane for a flight back home to Fremont, the plane crashed on Tuesday evening at the Gladwin Zettel Memorial Airport.

It went up and pretty quickly came down, said Gladwin City Manager Chris Shannon.

Gladwin City Police Sgt. Joshua Hale said the pilot, the only occupant of the plane, was trapped in the plane, so Gladwin firefighters used tools to free him. The man sustained injuries from the crash, the extent of which are unknown at this time.

Hale said the incident occurred around 6:59 p.m. Tuesday.

The pilot's identity could not be determined from police. Police said the plane was destroyed in the crash.

Airport manager Mike Hargrave said he wasnt at the airport when the crash occurred. He said he arrived afterward. He did not offer a comment about the incident.

Ultralight planes are often built from kits.

Shannon said the man bought the ultralight plane and went to pick it up from an airport hangar. He said the mans wife drove him to the airport and then he attempted to fly back to Fremont.

An ultralight plane is usually a one-seater plane with a maximum weight of about 254 pounds and a five-gallon fuel capacity, according to aviation experts.

At its maximum speed with full power, an ultralight plane can travel at 55 knots. Per the Federal Aviation Administration, those who fly these planes dont need a pilots license. An estimated 60 people in the United States die annually in ultralight crashes.

Training is available in specially certified two-seat ultralights through the Experimental Aircraft Association and other organizations. While training isnt mandatory, it is recommended  especially to anyone new to flying.
HONG KONG (AP)  Police in Hong Kong halted a four-person pro-democracy protest on Chinas National Day Friday amid a expanding crackdown on free speech and opposition politics.

Chanting and carrying a placard calling for the release of Hong Kongers arrested in the crackdown and chanting pro-democracy slogans, the four members of the opposition party League of Social Democrats had attempted to march to the harbor-side Convention Center where the official celebration was being held.

Dozens of officers, part of a massive police presence deployed to prevent any disruptions on the day, surrounded them and kept them out of sight and earshot of officials attending a flag-raising ceremony.

I think Hong Kong is now the only place in China where diverse opinions are allowed," Chan Po-ying, the party's chairperson told reporters.

Chan noted the extensive security measures deployed, but added that, Even under such pressure, we still need to hang on to our most basic civil rights, which is the freedom of speech and assembly.

Restrictions have made such protests a rare occurrence and Hong Kongs government has arrested three leaders of the group that organized an annual candlelight vigil commemorating victims of the militarys crushing of 1989 pro-democracy protests centered on Beijings Tiananmen Square. The vigil has been the only large-scale public commemoration of the crackdown on Chinese soil, but it has not been allowed for two years.

The leaders have been charged with subversion under a national security law imposed on the city by Beijing following months of anti-government protests in 1989 that criminalizes subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion to interfere in the citys affairs.

Such measures have led to the U.S. imposing sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials, saying the new law rolls back freedoms promised to the former British colony when it was handed over to China in 1997.

Over the past year, dozens of pro-democracy activists have been arrested and others have left for self-imposed exile abroad, while electoral laws have been amended to increase the number of seats for pro-Beijing legislators while reducing those that are directly elected.

At the National Day celebration, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam presided over a flag-raising ceremony attended by Hong Kong and Chinese officials who sang China's national anthem while helicopters displaying the Chinese flag passed overhead.

In remarks at a reception that followed, Lam praised the central government's support for the economy, the stabilizing effects of the security law and the improved electoral system, while sounding defiant toward the U.S. and other critics.

A recent Chinese Foreign Ministry report enumerating what it described as U.S. political interference in Hong Kong shows that despite a plethora of smearing and defamatory remarks made by foreign politicians and some Western media, Hong Kongs inherent strengths remain intact, Lam said in her address.

On mainland China, huge crowds gathered to watch flag raising ceremonies in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and in cities across the country. This year marks the ruling Communist Party's centenary, adding to the scale and lavishness of the celebrations. Friday marks the beginning of a weeklong national holiday.

And despite heightened tensions between Beijing and Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent a congratulatory message.

As the United States seeks to work cooperatively to solve the challenges we all face, we wish the people of the PRC peace, happiness, and prosperity over the coming year," the message said.
The Huron County Board of Commissioners approved the allocation of funds to help Port Austin residents impacted by Junes tornado.

The $173,578 in state relief funding will be divvied up between 29 different recipients, who were each given funds based on the varying levels of damage they and their homes suffered from.

The primary and secondary homes that suffered severe damage received between $2,000 and $25,000. Homes suffering from more minor storm damage received between $1,000 and $2,000

Joseph Baranski will receive the most funding, $25,000, as his farm at 354 Grindstone Road was destroyed, followed by Robert Golochowicz who will receive $20,000 after his primary home was destroyed and he suffered injury.

David Strozeski will receive the least amount of funds, $500, after his home at 8153 N. Van Dyke Rd. suffered damage from a power surge and the funds would cover the cost of an insurance deductible.

The Forest Creek Condo Association will receive $10,000 in funds after 26 of its 29 buildings suffered some damage.

Randy Miller, the emergency services director for Huron County, said the county treasurers office will be mailing the checks out.

Hopefully theyll all have their money by October 15, Miller said.

The relief funds come from Public Act 67, which appropriated $10 million for emergency and disaster response and mitigation related to the June storms happening across the state.

By accepting the funds, Huron County agreed to:

 Only use these funds to cover costs for emergency and disaster response and mitigation related to the June 2021 weather events in this state.

 On a monthly basis, and no later than the 15th of each month, provide a report to the Michigan State Police, Emergency Management, and Homeland Security Division of expenditures and activities for use of these funds until the funds are exhausted.

 Maintain appropriate documentation for expenditure of these funds that is subject to an audit.

 Return any unused portion of the funds as of Sept. 30, 2023 to the Michigan State Police, Emergency Management, and Homeland Security Division.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP)  The girlfriend of a man who police say confessed this week to killing her, his roommate and three other people whose bodies were found dismembered in a burning dumpster in Texas was reported missing in 2017 after not returning from a trip with him to Arizona, the woman's relative said.

Jason Thornburg, 41, was arrested Monday on a capital murder charge in the deaths of the three people found in the dumpster last week in Fort Worth, Texas. He told officers that he'd felt compelled to sacrifice those three people, as well as his roommate in Fort Worth in May and his girlfriend, according to an arrest warrant.

His girlfriend's name was redacted in the warrant, but a relative told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that she was Tanya Begay, an American Indian woman from Gallup, New Mexico. Sheryl Tsosie said Wednesday that Begay disappeared while taking a trip with Thornburg.

We didnt want to believe he had killed her," Tsosie told the newspaper.

The Associated Press reported on Begays disappearance in 2018, as part of a series of stories on missing Native American women and how authorities can better pursue their cases.

Thornburg was being held Thursday on $1 million bond. Jail records did not list an attorney for him.

During his interview with police on Monday, Thornburg told officers that he had in-depth knowledge of the Bible and believed he was being called to commit sacrifices, according to the arrest warrant.

The AP reported that the last time Begay spoke to her mother was in March 2017. Begay told her mother that she planned to travel from the tiny Arizona town of Leupp back to her familys home near Gallup, New Mexico  a drive through the Navajo Nation that shouldve taken a few hours.

A day earlier, Begay had made a stop near Tohatchi, New Mexico, to visit a relatives home with her boyfriend, marking the last time any of her relatives had seen her, according to a police report.

Messages left with police in the Navajo Nation and Gallup seeking more information were not immediately returned Thursday.

Thornburg, an electricians apprentice, had been staying in a motel in the Fort Worth suburb of Euless since late July, according to the arrest warrant.

Police said that when they identified Thornburg as a suspect in the deaths of the three people found in the dumpster, they were already familiar with him from a suspicious death investigation earlier this year.

According to the arrest warrant, Thornburgs roommate was killed in a suspicious house fire on May 21. During the police interview on Monday, Thornburg told officers he had slit his roommates throat, uncapped a natural gas line and lit a candle, the warrant said. At the time, the medical examiner wasn't able to determine his roommates cause of death.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit France next week as the Biden administration tries to smooth over hurt feelings and potentially more lasting damage caused by its exclusion of Americas oldest ally from a new Indo-Pacific security initiative, the State Department said Friday.

The department said Blinken will visit Paris starting Monday for an international economic conference but highlighted that he will also meet with French officials to discuss the rupture in relations.

The administration has been scrambling to mend fences with France and the European Union more broadly since the Sept. 15 announcement of the Australia-U.S.-UK agreement, known as AUKUS, which canceled a multibillion-dollar Australian-France submarine deal.

All sides agree it will take time to repair those ties. The State Department said Blinken's talks will be aimed at further strengthening the vital U.S.-France relationship on a range of issues including security in the Indo-Pacific region."

Ahead of his visit, Blinken met Friday with French Ambassador Philippe Etienne on his return to Washington after having been recalled to Paris by French President Emmanuel Macron. The recall was an unprecedented display of anger to protest the exclusion of France and the European Union from AUKUS, which is aimed at countering Chinas growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.

The State Department said Blinken and Etienne discussed the way forward in the U.S.-French bilateral relationship and previewed the secretarys upcoming travel to France for the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Ministerial Council Meeting. The two also talked about ways to enhance U.S. and French cooperation globally, it said.

But, U.S. officials remain concerned about the potential damage done to the relationship.

We recognize this will take time and it will take hard work, said Karen Donfried, the newly confirmed top U.S. diplomat for Europe.

In Paris, the French foreign ministry said Blinken and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian would meet on Tuesday for a deep exchange in the continuity of their meeting in New York Sept. 23, to identify steps that could allow them to restore trust between our two countries.

The exit from the crisis will take time and require action. That is also the conclusion our American interlocutors reached," it said.

Other matters to be discussed will include "the climate crisis, economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Transatlantic relationship, and working with our Allies and partners to address global challenges and opportunities, the State Department said.

Fridays announcement came a day after the White House announced that national security adviser Jake Sullivan had met with Etienne to try to restore trust between the countries. French officials have said AUKUS was a stab in the back."

Those discussions followed a Sept. 22 phone call between President Joe Biden and Macron and the New York meeting between Blinken and Le Drian on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly. Biden and Macron are due to meet in Europe later this month.

The ostensible reason for Blinken's trip to France, which had been planned well before the AUKUS ruckus, is to co-chair a ministerial meeting of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Tuesday and Wednesday about climate change and security.

Former Secretary of State and current U.S. climate envoy John Kerry will also attend the Paris talks, which will take place just weeks before the next U.N.-backed international conference on climate, in Glasgow, Scotland.
MIDDLETOWN  South Fire District Chief James Trzaski has been inducted into the Connecticut State Firefighters Association Hall of Fame.

Trzaski was one of the 16 inductees from fire departments across Connecticut selected for this prestigious award, according to a press release. He is the first South Fire chief to receive this recognition.

I am extremely honored to receive this award, and to join the long line of men and women who have received this award with me and before me, Trzaski said in a prepared statement. My accomplishments are not mine alone, they are the result of the many talented people to have inspired me and mentored me throughout my career.

Trzaski began his career in 1985 as a volunteer firefighter with Beacon Hose Co. No. 1. Over the course of his membership, he held the officer ranks of assistant secretary, secretary, assistant EMS director, fire captain and chief, the district said.

In 1991, he was appointed as a career firefighter in Naugatuck, where he served until 2014.

There, he held the roles of assistant department mechanic, lieutenant, captain/shift supervisor, and secretary of IAFF Local 1219, the statement said.

He was hired by South Fire in 2016, where he quickly rose through the ranks to deputy chief. He left the department in July 2020, and rejoined Naugatuck Fire Department, where he was deputy chief until his return to South Fire.

He holds certifications and vast expertise as a Firefighter I, II, and III, pump operator, aerial operator, Fire Service Instructor III, EMS-I, Fire Officer III, hazardous materials technician, rope rescue, and others, the news release said.

He also holds certification from the National Fire Academy Leadership I, II, and III programs, incident safety officer, and FEMAs NIMS 700, 100, 200, 300, and exercise practitioner programs.

He was an instructor at the Wolcott Regional Fire Training School, Valley Regional Fire School, and Connecticut Fire Academy, where he was the recruit program lead instructor.

Past chief of Beacon Hose Co., the late Theodore Teddy Smith, nominated Trzaski.

Not only has firefighting been your lifelong career, but your lifestyle as well, he said. You are a perfect example of the firemans fireman, Smith said. When I hear the term brotherhood in the fire service, I think of James Trzaski. A true firefighter, mentor, and most of all friend, he wrote.

The award was established in 2009 to recognize present and past members of an organized fire department that have gone above and beyond normal expectations to better the fire service throughout Connecticut and the United States. Candidated must also have made significant contributions to the enrichment of the organizations they represent.
MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. (AP)  Two law enforcement officers and a suspect were shot during a chase in northwest Alabama on Friday, authorities said.

Colbert County Sheriff Frank Williamson said conditions of the officers and the third person weren't immediately available, and it wasn't clear what prompted the chase.
BRIDGEPORT  Another city official has resigned following criminal charges.

Michael Nastu, an appointed member of the citys Zoning Board of Appeals since May 2020, resigned Wednesday  three months after he was arrested by the FBI on child exploitation charges.

Please accept this as my formal resignation from the Zoning Board of Appeals effective immediately. Thank you for allowing me to serve, Nastu stated in his letter received by the City Clerks Office Wednesday morning.

In return, Nastu was mailed a form thank you for your service letter from the mayor. Nastu had served as secretary on the ZBA, according to the citys website.

The mayors office acknowledged receiving the resignation but would not comment on it.

Nastu, 62, is charged with attempted transfer of obscene materials to a minor, attempted receipt of child pornography and attempted enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.

He was arrested June 30 and posted $100,000 bond. He was ordered to have no unsupervised contact with children.

Nastu could not be reached for comment. He is represented by a public defender.

The federal complaint alleges that Nastu used the Kik social media smartphone application in March to start talking with an undercover FBI agent, posing as a 14-year-old girl from Connecticut, prosecutors said.

From March 31 through June 25, Nastu sent the undercover officer sexually explicit messages, along with pictures and videos of male genitalia, prosecutors said. They allege that he also tried to get the officer  who investigators said Nastu believed to be a teenage girl  to send sexually explicit images in return.

Nastu and the undercover officer exchanged messages about meeting in person to engage in sexual activity, prosecutors said, claiming Nastu ultimately opted not to due to the risk of being caught.

Nastu was fired from his job as a food service employee in an Easton school following his arrest, according to a report by News12. His application for the ZBA stated he previously worked in food service in the Trumbull school system.

Nastu joins a number of other city and state officials and representatives who are facing criminal charges.

Recently resigned City Council member Michael DeFilippo is facing federal absentee ballot fraud charges, while City Councilman Alfredo Castillo has pending threatening and breach of peace charges related to an alleged altercation earlier in August with the public facilities chief. Both cases are pending.

City Councilwoman Eneida Martinez, who lost her primary this month to keep her seat, is facing illegal alcohol sales charges related to her operation of a social club where a man was fatally shot to death last year. Her case is pending in Superior Court.

State Sen. Dennis Bradley, D-Bridgeport, is facing federal conspiracy and wire fraud charges, and Board of Education member Jessica Martinez, Bradleys campaign treasurer, is facing federal campaign fraud charges related to Bradleys campaigns for his senate seat. They have pleaded not guilty to the allegations that they tried to fraudulently obtain or attempt to obtain $179,850 in campaign grants, according to an indictment affidavit. Bradley and Martinez are tentatively scheduled for trial in December.

And fellow Board of Education member Board of Education member Christopher Taylor is facing state kidnapping charges after he was arrested in 2019 and charged with allegedly posing as a police officer and attempting to kidnap a Seymour man at gunpoint. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is awaiting trial in Superior Court in Milford.
AP

BERLIN (AP)  A joint European-Japanese spacecraft is set to fly by Mercury for the first time late Friday on its path to deliver two probes into the planet's orbit in 2025.

The BepiColombo mission will make the first of six flybys of Mercury at about 2334 GMT (1934 EST), using the planet's gravity to slow itself down.
NEW DELHI (AP)  India said Friday that British nationals arriving in the country will be subjected to COVID-19 tests and a 10-day mandatory quarantine, in response to the same measures imposed on Indians visiting the U.K.

India has been demanding that Britain revoke what it called a discriminatory advisory that includes Indians even if they are fully vaccinated with the Indian-made AstraZeneca shots.

Indias External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had discussed the issue with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in a meeting in New York earlier this week.

A foreign ministry official said that starting on Monday, all British arrivals, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to undertake RT-PRC test within 72 hours before travel, another test on arrival in India and the third one eight days later.

They will also have to quarantine at home or at their destination address for 10 days, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

The U.K. Foreign Commonwealth and Development office said Friday it was in contact with Indian authorities. It said the Indian authorities are responsible for setting and enforcing the rules of entry into India.''

The trouble started when Britains government announced what it billed as a simplification of its travel rules including allowing fully vaccinated travelers arriving in England from much of the world to skip quarantine and take fewer tests.

But the fine print on who was considered fully vaccinated proved complicated. In order to skip self-isolation, travelers must have received a vaccine under the American, British or European programs or have received a U.K.-authorized shot from an approved health body. Bodies in more than a dozen countries in Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East made it to the list, However, Indias program was not included, nor were any programs in Africa.

Countries that received hundreds of thousands of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the U.K. itself were left wondering why their vaccination programs werent good enough in the eyes of the British government. Thats leading to concerns that the rules could exacerbate already worrying vaccine hesitancy in Africa as some question whether the doses available there dont measure up.

The vast majority of Indians have been vaccinated with Indian-made AstraZeneca shots.

The spat demonstrates an exasperation with the U.K. position on a number of issues, said Rob Yates, director of the global health program at the Chatham House think tank in London.

Yates said, for example, the UK is one of the worst performers among the Group of Seven industrialized countries in re-allocating vaccines it doesnt need using the COVAX facility, which aims for equitable distribution of vaccines. It has also blocked efforts to waive vaccine patents.

I think this is indicative of the lack of solidarity that has been shown by governments and by politicians, both in locking down and opening up, he said. Its unfortunate that were seeing tit-for-tat. In terms of humanity and for us all this is what we want to be avoiding. We want much more cooperation.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been produced by Serum Institute of India. Others have received COVAXIN, a vaccine produced by an Indian company that is not used in Britain.

India, the worlds largest vaccine producer, said earlier this week that it will resume exports and donations of surplus coronavirus vaccines in October after a monthslong freeze because of the massive surge in domestic infections.



Associated Press writer Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Rejecting the recommendation of prosecutors, a federal judge sentenced a Jan. 6 rioter to probation on Friday and suggested that the Justice Department was being too hard on those who broke into the Capitol compared to the people arrested during anti-racism protests following George Floyds murder.

U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden questioned why federal prosecutors had not brought more cases against those accused in 2020 summertime protests, reading out statistics on riot cases in the nation's capital that were not prosecuted.

I think the U.S. attorney would have more credibility if it was even-handed in its concern about riots and mobs in this city, McFadden said during Danielle Doyle's sentencing for entering the Capitol on Jan. 6 with a throng of other rioters. Prosecutors recommended two months of home confinement for Doyle, who is from Oklahoma.

The statements by McFadden, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, were a major departure from the other federal judges overseeing insurrection cases so far, despite other Trump appointees on the court assigned to the hundreds of cases. They have generally discussed seriousness of the crime and its unique place in American history - different from other violent free speech protests because it sought to disrupt the peaceful transition of power.

The Associated Press analyzed more than 300 criminal cases stemming from the protests incited by Floyds murder, showing that many leftist rioters had received substantial sentences, rebutting the argument that pro-Trump defendants were treated more harshly than Black Lives Matter protesters.

As McFadden sentenced Doyle, he said he thought she was acting like all those looters and rioters last year. Thats because looters and rioters decided the law did not apply to them.

Despite these concerns, McFadden said Doyle's behavior was not excusable. He called it a national embarrassment, and again likened it to the police brutality protests following the death of George Floyd last year that made us all feel less safe.

By contrast, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Friday sentenced another rioter, Andrew Ryan Bennett, to three months of home confinement, accepting the request by prosecutors. Bennett was accused of espousing conspiracy theories about the election and used pugnacious rhetoric in posting about his plans to be in Washington. The mob on Jan. 6 attacked and beat an overwhelmed police force, sent lawmakers running for their lives and did more than $1 million in damage to the building.

I cant emphasize enough, as Ive said before, that the cornerstone of our democratic republic is the peaceful transfer of power after an election, the judge told Bennett. And what you and others did on Jan. 6 was nothing less than an attempt to undermine that system of government.

Earlier this week, Boasberg, appointed by former President Barack Obama, sentenced Derek Jancart and Erik Rau, friends from Ohio, to 45 days in jail.

All three men had pleaded guilty to misdemeanors punishable by a maximum of six months imprisonment. Like Jancart and Rau, Bennett wasnt accused of personally engaging in violence or property destruction.

Bennett said he was not thinking clearly and was pumped up on adrenaline when he joined the mob that stormed the Capitol after driving to Washington from his home in Columbia, Maryland, that morning.

What I did was wrong and I hold myself accountable for my actions that day, he said.

Doyle, too, was not accused of violence in the mob. She climbed through a broken window and spent 24 minutes inside the building. She told the judge she had no intention of harming anyone, and she was sorry that a peaceful rally changed when people started breaking into the building.

I love this country, she said. So many people came here to represent things that were important to us but in the blink of an eye, all of those things were overshadowed, she said. For that Im sorry, because it overshadowed the things that were good.

Meanwhile, a retired U.S. Special Forces soldier and onetime Florida congressional candidate was arrested for his role in the insurrection. Jeremy Brown was accused of a misdemeanor charge of entering restricted grounds. FBI officials received photos of Brown in tactical gear at the Capitol from an acquaintance of Brown's, and a rioter who pleaded guilty also confirmed to agents that Brown was there, according to court papers. He has said that federal officials called him and tried to get him to inform on others.

Brown ran for Congress in 2020 as a Republican in the 14th District, which includes Tampa and the surrounding area, but dropped out of the race in March 2020.

___

Kunzelman reported from College Park, Md.
BUXTON, Maine (AP)  Schools in Maine that closed in the wake of social media threats planned to reopen on Friday.

The schools are located in Portland and the Buxton area. They closed on Thursday due to threats on the social media platform Snapchat.
MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP)  Investigators searching for an Iowa boy who vanished in May days before his 11th birthday said Thursday they have found human remains matching his description in a nearby cornfield.

The remains were discovered by a farmer working in a field a few miles outside of Montezuma, where 10-year-old Xavior Harrelson was reported missing May 27 from the trailer park where he lived.

The farmer called the Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office, which responded to the scene, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation assistant director Mitch Mortvedt told KCCI-TV.

State agents, Iowa medical examiner and the state anthropologist also responded and confirmed that they were remains, he said.

It appears to be that of an adolescent and at this time, the clothing that we see on scene, even though it's obviously soiled and stuff, is consistent with what we knew Xavior to last be wearing," Mortvedt told the station.

He said authorities were not ready to identify the body as belonging to Xavior, adding that the state medical examiner and anthropologist have a lot of work left ahead of them in the days and weeks even to come.

Authorities said they had relayed the news to Xavior's mother.

The boy's disappearance from Montezuma, a town of 1,300 people that is 70 miles (112.65 kilometers) east of Des Moines, had baffled investigators and saddened residents for months.

It was another blow to a rural area that had been mourning the 2018 abduction and killing of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts, who vanished about 15 miles (24.14 kilometers) away in July 2018 while out for a run in her hometown of Brooklyn.

In fact, the boy's disappearance came as prosecutors delivered closing arguments in the first-degree murder case against Cristhian Bahena-Rivera, a farmhand who allegedly stabbed Tibbetts to death and dumped her body in a nearby cornfield. Some investigators who had worked the Tibbetts case for years left the trial to search for the boy, before jurors returned a guilty verdict.

After the trial, Bahena-Rivera's lawyers tried to raise suspicions about whether the two apparent kidnappings were connected, but law enforcement officials have rejected that scenario.

So far, no suspects of persons of interest have been named in Xavior's disappearance.

A 50-year-old man who was a boyfriend of Xavior's mother has come under scrutiny and been jailed on a federal weapons charge, but authorities have not alleged he was involved.

County, state and federal investigators had been examining whether the boy was abducted, ran away or had some kind of accident, and had searched several areas in the region in recent months.

Xavior lived with his mother in the Spruce Village trailer park. He was gone by the morning of May 27, and a friends mother called authorities later that day to report the boy missing after speaking with Xaviors worried mother.

On what would have been his 11th birthday on May 30, hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials searched the nearby Diamond Lake County Park and other areas for him.

Xavior had completed his fourth grade year at Montezuma Elementary School on May 21 and was off for summer break. He was known for riding his bike around the trailer park.

Xavior is a happy kid who gets along well with his peers and wants to please his teachers, one of his teachers, Marie Boulton, said in June. Hes always willing to help you out, engage in a conversation, and offers a smile to everyone he sees."
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP)  Thousands of Sudanese rallied in the capital of Khartoum on Thursday to demand an exclusively civilian transitional government and accused the generals now in power of derailing the transition to democracy. Security forces fired tear gas as protesters neared a central street housing government headquarters.

Sudan has been ruled by an interim, joint civilian-military government since 2019. The military ousted longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April that year, following four months of mass protests against his rule. Months after al-Bashirs toppling, the ruling generals agreed to share power with civilians representing the protest movement.

The objective of these marches is to protect Sudans democratic transition and there is no way to achieve that without ending any partnership with the military council, said a statement issued by the Sudanese Professionals Association, which spearheaded the nationwide uprising that kicked off in December 2018 and culminated in al-Bashirs ouster.

Tensions between the civilians and generals in the transitional government have increased since Sudans interim authorities last week said they foiled a coup attempt within the military. Officials blamed al-Bashir loyalists for the move.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, the civilian face of the government, described the coup attempt as an effort to undermine Sudans democratic transition. The interim government has been under pressure to end wars with rebel groups as it seeks to rehabilitate the countrys battered economy, attract much-needed foreign aid and deliver the democracy it promised.

On Thursday, demonstrators waved Sudanese flags and chanted pro-democracy slogans. They accuse the military of dragging its feet on transferring power to civilians, purging state institutions of remnants of al-Bashir's regime and bringing to justice those responsible for the killing of dozens of protesters in June 2019, when security forces dispersed a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum.

In a scene reminiscent of the 2018 uprising, a train carried protesters from other Sudanese provinces to Khartoum. Train cars were packed, with demonstrators waving Sudanese flags from windows and making victory signs, while others rode on the rooftop of the slow-moving train.

Many protesters gathered at the entrance to a street leading to the government buildings, including the Republican Palace, which is the seat of the ruling Sovereign Council, where they were stopped by security forces and tear gas.

The council was created by a power-sharing agreement signed in August 2019 by the military and pro-democracy activists. It consists of five military and six civilian members and is headed by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan.

___

Elhennawy reported from Cairo. Associated Press reporter Marwan Awad in Khartoum, Sudan, contributed to this report.
STOCKHOLM (AP)  A manhunt continued Friday for the tenant in an apartment building that was rocked by an explosion and fire this week that injured 16 people, four of them seriously.

The man is wanted on suspicion of public destruction. Authorities have not identified him, but Swedish media reported the suspect was a man in his 50s who had lived with his mother in the building in Goteborg, Swedens second-largest city.
BEIRUT (AP)  A Turkish company supplying electricity to Lebanon from two power barges off the coast of Beirut said Friday it has halted supplies after its contract with the Lebanese state electricity company expired.

The move by the Turkish company, Karpowership, which has provided electricity for the past eight years, was expected. It had said earlier that Lebanon's state power company owes Karpowership overdue payments in excess of $100 million.

Lebanon is grappling with an economic meltdown that includes fuel and power shortages; blackouts last up to 22 hours a day. The country's new government, voted in last week, has said that improving electricity production is one of its top priorities. Successive governments have failed to agree on a permanent solution for the chronic shortages, largely because of profiteering and endemic corruption.

During our eight years operating in Lebanon, despite all the challenges, we have done all we can to support the Lebanese people, Karpowership said in its statement.

Since 2013, the company has been providing around 370 megawatts  about a quarter of Lebanons supply  from giant generators on its two barges, docked south and north of the Lebanese capital.

Karpowership said its contract expired at midnight Thursday. In May, the company briefly shut down its operations over delayed payments and the threat of legal action against its vessels.

Blackouts have been a fixture of life in this Mediterranean country since the 1975-1990 civil war, with Lebanon relying mostly on imported diesel for powerful generators owned by a cartel that light up people's houses in the absence of government-provided electricity.

Lebanon hopes to improve production in the coming weeks with power supplies from Jordan and Egyptian natural gas supplies to one of its main power stations.

Corruption in the electricity sector has compounded Lebanons economic crisis, which has thrown more than half of the country's population of 6 million, including a million Syrian refugees, into poverty. According to the United Nations, 36% of the people live in extreme poverty.

On Friday, the U.N. unveiled a $383 million emergency plan to provide lifesaving aid over the next 12 months to 1.1 million of the most vulnerable Lebanese and others, mainly Syrians and Palestinians.

Lebanons U.N. humanitarian coordinator, Najat Rochdi, told reporters that the plan includes 119 projects in education, food security, health, nutrition, water and sanitation, child protection and protection against gender-based violence.

Rochdi said the plan involves providing direct support, including distribution of food and cash assistance to around half a million people, and improved access to doctors and medicine in primary health care centers for around 250,000 people.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)  Two juveniles have been charged with murder in the shooting deaths of two teenagers in Kansas City, police said Friday.

The juveniles, who are 15 and 17, were each charged with two counts of murder and two counts of armed criminal action in the deaths of Dominik Simmons and Dominique Nelson, who were both 15 when they were killed, The Kansas City Star reported.
DURHAM  A local physician voluntarily surrendered her license Friday after providing medical exemptions for COVID vaccines without ever seeing the patients, the state Department of Public Health said.

The Connecticut Medical Examining Board unanimously suspended Dr. Sue Mcintoshs license last week, saying she poses a clear and immediate danger to public health and safety, according to the Associated Press.

In July, DPH received an anonymous complaint that the doctor was providing fraudulent medical exemption forms for the coronavirus vaccines and testing, requirements to wear facial masks and general vaccines, the state agency said.

While investigating the allegations, a DPH official mailed Mcintosh a self-addressed stamped envelope with his home address on Sept. 11. Five days later, he received the envelope with instructions and the exemptions signed by Mcintosh, according to DPH documents.

Mcintosh provided these forms without seeing the patient, and the paperwork was sent to anyone who provided a self-addressed stamped envelope to her, DPH said.

Dr. Mcintoshs actions are totally unacceptable, Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani said.

In the exemptions, Mcintosh wrote that the recipient is highly allergic to aluminum and mercury and cannot be vaccinated. In an exemption from routine invasive COVID testing, Mcintosh wrote that many tests are unreliable.

The documents showed that at the bottom of her instructions to the recipient, Mcintosh signed, Let freedom ring!

Mcintoshs voluntary surrender will be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank, a tool that prevents practitioners from moving state to state without disclosing disciplinary action from other jurisdictions.

Any signed, blank exemption forms from Mcintosh are invalid, DPH said.

Officials are trying to determine how many employees of Connecticuts long-term care facilities received these exemptions. Juthani and other state health department officials sent a memo to hundreds of nursing homes, assisted living centers and other facilities asking them to turn over any exemptions signed by Mcintosh, the Connecticut Mirror reported.

A Tuesday hearing on Mcintoshs previously suspended license has been canceled, DPH said.

Mcintoshs case file may be turned over to state or federal law enforcement for consideration, Juthani added.

liz.hardaway@hearst.com
The now-jailed Lt. Col. Stu Scheller -- the Marine officer who rose to fame for a viral video demanding accountability from military leaders for the failures in Afghanistan -- is hoping to strike a legal deal to avoid trial and leave the service with an honorable discharge.

Stu's request is real simple: He's willing to go in there and say guilty to whatever they want  all he wants is to be able to leave honorably, a person familiar with the matter told Military.com.

Marine Corps officials have said there are no specific charges "preferred" or initiated against Scheller, but a spokesman for the service, Sam Stephenson, confirmed he is currently in pre-trial confinement while awaiting an Article 32 preliminary hearing.

That upcoming but yet-unscheduled hearing will consider whether charges of contempt toward officials, willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer, failure to obey lawful general orders or conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman should be recommended to his commander for action, Marine officials said.

According to the source, Scheller and his supporters are hoping for a deal prior to his Initial Review Officer (IRO) hearing -- a hearing that must be held within seven days of being sent to the brig for pre-trial confinement. That is likely to occur next week.

Eddie Gallagher, the now-retired Navy SEAL who was found not guilty after his former colleagues accused him of war crimes during a tumultuous deployment to Iraq in 2017, is one of Schellers supporters. His nonprofit, The Pipe Hitter Foundation, has been raising money and awareness for Scheller since last week.

Read Next: Military Braces for Long and Politically Divisive Mission to House Afghan Refugees

In a statement posted on Gallaghers Instagram account, the foundation said that Scheller was willing to continue his time in the brig in order to provide peace of mind to the command while allowing negotiations to secure an honorable departure.

The Marine Corps reason for jailing Scheller is they deem him a flight risk, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Schellers original video, which came days after the deaths of 13 servicemembers in Kabul during the Afghanistan evacuation, called for ownership and accountability from senior leaders in the military for the failed war. He appeared in the video wearing his uniform and responded directly to Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger's letter to troops and veterans asking whether the nearly 20-year-long war in Afghanistan was worth it.

Political speech is strictly regulated in the military, and public criticism of leadership can cost officers their careers -- especially when offered outside of formal or scholarly venues. Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice forbids officers from using contemptuous words against their civilian leaders.

In May, a Space Force commander was fired from his post for comments made during a podcast promoting his new book, in which he claims Marxist ideologies are becoming prevalent in the U.S. military.

Like Gallagher, Schellers story has found sympathy from Republican members of Congress, 21 of whom wrote a letter to the Marine Corps commandant asking for his release. The letter argues that his brig sentence appears to be simply for messaging, retribution, and convenience.

The Marines have not publicly provided specifics about what landed Scheller in legal trouble. The source said it relates to either his now-viral videos or an order given to Scheller to stop making posts on social media.

Scheller alluded to such an order in a Facebook post made on Sept. 25 when he quoted from what appeared to be language from such an order. Effective immediately upon your receipt below, you are hereby ordered to refrain from posting any and all material, in any form without exception, to any social media, Schellers post said.

The post ended with, Col. Emmel please have the MPs waiting for me at 0800 on Monday. Im ready for jail.

The source familiar with negotiations argued that such a broad and blanket order is likely not legal. His real crime is saying what was on everybody's mind and embarrassing the senior leadership, the source said.

When contacted for comment on the reasons for Schellers incarceration, a spokesman for the Marine Corps declined to comment.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: Marine Officer Who Blasted Leaders over Afghanistan Withdrawal Is in the Brig
The military has settled in for what could be a long, expensive and politically volatile mission housing refugees who fled the end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan and are now searching for new homes in the U.S.

Congress on Thursday approved $2.2 billion just for the Pentagon's resettlement efforts, which include more than 10,000 defense personnel. Meanwhile, the general in charge of eight resettlement communities on U.S. bases estimated the sites could be needed for another six months as Afghans navigate the immigration process and the search for permanent homes.

A measles outbreak, several alleged assaults by refugees in the base villages, and Republican claims of a human rights crisis and vetting issues have complicated the historic effort to take in the nearly 67,000 Afghan allies now in the resettlement process.

"We're prepared to be here as long as we need to conduct this mission," Gen. Glen VanHerck, the head of U.S. Northern Command, said Thursday. "We'll be ready if we need to support [refugee housing] through the winter months and into the spring."

The refugees were flown out of Afghanistan in August amid the chaotic military evacuation and a stunning Taliban takeover of the country and its capital, Kabul. They were taken to sites in Europe before being moved on to the U.S. to wait for final clearance for resettlement.

A total of about 2,600 had completed the process and been resettled off base as of this week, according to VanHerck.

Read Next: Air Force Touts Best Recruiting Numbers in Five Years as Pandemic Drags On

A stopgap spending measure passed by Congress this week to keep the government open also contained $6.3 billion for Afghan refugee resettlement efforts, including the $2.2 billion.

The U.S. bases are now housing 53,000 Afghans, and another 14,000 waiting in Europe could begin flying to the U.S. next week after a 21-day measles quarantine lifts. That new influx could exceed the military's current capacity, meaning an expansion of housing may be needed, the general said.

A measles outbreak stretched from the European sites to domestic bases with 24 cases of a disease virtually eradicated by U.S. vaccines, and caused all refugee flights to be stopped.

Measles vaccinations of all refugees were expected to be completed this week, and about 84% had taken the COVID-19 shot, VanHerck said.

But disease was just one of the troubles for the military.

Two Afghan refugees at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, were arrested, one charged with crimes against minors and another for assaulting his wife. The FBI is investigating a report that a female soldier at Fort Bliss, Texas, was assaulted by a group of male Afghan refugees.

"In a population of 53,000, there have been eight reported cases of robbery and theft," which is below-average crime rates in the U.S., VanHerck said when asked about crime.

'Human Rights Crisis'

The large-scale resettlement efforts have split Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Many are torn between attacking the Biden administration's resettlement policies and bashing its chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal. They say Biden left behind thousands of Afghans who aided the U.S. war effort, and also set up lax vetting standards for those it did evacuate.

The alleged crimes at bases have fueled claims of a wider problem. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., wrote a letter to Biden last week, saying they are "deeply concerned that your withdrawal has imported an acute human rights crisis to our country."

There were other isolated reports of issues with food and heat at some bases. The Pentagon denied there was ever lack of heat at Fort McCoy, despite reports, and said it is providing three meals daily, including halal meat -- Islamic custom requires meat to be blessed before it is eaten -- and 24-hour access to food.

The Department of Homeland Security is the lead federal agency responsible for what is called Operation Allies Welcome. It coordinates efforts by the Pentagon and other agencies.

The growing Republican opposition to the resettlement efforts was on display during the government funding debate, as every GOP senator backed an amendment from Cotton aimed at curtailing aid to the Afghan refugees. The amendment failed on a party-line 50-50 vote.

Cotton's amendment would have cut off aid for housing, food, medicine and other needs after March 31, 2023, for Afghans who come to the country through parole, a process that allows refugees to enter the U.S. quickly during humanitarian crises.

"Insultingly, these benefits would last much longer than the eight months of benefits given to SIV holders who actually served alongside American forces," Cotton wrote in a Fox News op-ed this week, referring to the special immigrant visa program.

Background checks of incoming Afghans also have become a political issue. Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups still operate from Afghanistan, and 13 U.S. troops were killed in a suicide bombing during the August withdrawal.

"Because of the chaos, we also evacuated many Afghans who have no record of assisting us or our allies," Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said on the Senate floor this week in support of Cotton's legislation.

Finding Affordable Housing

Democrats insisted proper vetting was being done. Republicans wanted to limit Afghan refugees' "ability to resettle into a new life," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.

Once refugees clear the screening process on military installations, they are resettled into communities throughout the country. Afghans either can let a resettlement agency place them in an area, or they can choose one based on family ties, according to the State Department.

"Over the past few weeks, we have resettled several hundred Afghan individuals and families," said Timothy Young, a spokesman for the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, or LIRS. "We're expecting to resettle several thousand more in the months to come."

Many of those the nonprofit has assisted end up in the Washington, D.C., suburbs and northern Virginia, but there is a struggle to find safe, affordable housing for Afghan families, Young said in an interview.

"This is obviously in the context of a general affordable housing shortage here in the States," he said.

Ultimately, refugees should have final say over where they end up -- regardless of whether they go at it alone or through a charity like LIRS.

"We can make placement recommendations and let them know where the most robust resources are but ultimately that is a decision that they will make," Young said.

-- Travis Tritten can be reached at travis.tritten@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @Travis_Tritten.

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: Our Next War in Afghanistan Is Already Looming. And It May Be Even Harder.
Suicides rose by 15% in 2020 among U.S. military personnel, part of a report released by the Pentagon on Thursday that the defense secretary described as troubling.

A total of 384 active-duty service members, 77 reservists and 119 National Guard men and women took their own lives, according to the Defense Departments Annual Suicide Report, totaling 580 service members. That figure was up from 504 in 2019 and 543 in 2018.

As seen in previous DoD reports on suicide, military personnel at risk are largely young -- under 30 -- white, enlisted and male. Between 64% and 80% of suicides were carried out by firearms, 87% of which were privately owned.

Read Next: Our Next War in Afghanistan Is Already Looming. And It May Be Even Harder.

In a letter accompanying the release of the report, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that suicide rates among our service members and military families are still too high, and the trends are not going in the right direction.

Because of the role firearms plays in military suicides, the Defense Department has embarked on a campaign to educate its personnel on misconceptions surrounding firearms storage and use and is developing a firearm safety training initiative that includes suicide prevention content, Karin Orvis, director of the department's suicide prevention office, told reporters.

"While the presence of a firearm does not cause someone to be suicidal, research tells us that storing a loaded firearm at home increases the risk of dying by suicide up to four to six times," Orvis said.

Orvis downplayed the increase for 2020, and the year-over-year increases in the past three years, saying that they reflected a relatively flat course when considering the margin of error. The Pentagon has reported a sharp escalation in suicides among active-duty personnel since 2015.

"That sounds very statistical," Orvis said after explaining how the office makes its calculations, "but this is a rigorous, best practice in terms of industry standards on how we look at our data to draw conclusions and then use that to inform our policies and programs."

The rates -- the number of deaths compared in relation to the population size -- increased slightly for the active duty and Reserve forces -- from 26.3 per 100,000 in 2019 to 28.7 for the active duty and for Reserves, from 18.2 to 21.7 per 100,000 -- and significantly for the National Guard, from 20.5 to 27 per 100,000.

When broken down by service, the numbers and rates for active-duty deaths show alarming increases for the Army and Marine Corps. The Army saw 175 suicides in 2020, a rate of 36.4 per 100,000, up from 30.7 per 100,000 in 2019, while 62 Marines died by suicide in 2020, a rate of 33.9 per 100,000.

In 2019, the Marine Corps had 47 suicides, a rate of 25.3 per 100,000.

The Air Force saw its number and rates decrease, down from 82 deaths in 2019 -- a rate of 24.8 per 100,000 -- to 81 in 2020, or 24.3 per 100,000.

And the Navy had the lowest deaths by suicide of the services, 66, a rate of 19.3 per 100,000, down from 74 in 2019 or 22.1 per 100,000.

DoD officials said the military rates are comparable to the U.S. civilian population when adjusted for age and gender, although they did not provide the exact rate they use for comparison.

Earlier this month, the Department of Veterans Affairs released a report noting that the suicide rate among veterans fell by roughly 7% in 2019, the most recent year for the data.

For the third straight year, the DoD suicide report contains information on suicides among military family members. Those rates, too, are trending upward but not with "statistical significance," according to DoD.

In 2019 -- the most recent year for military family data -- 202 dependents took their own lives, a rate of 7.7 per 100,000, up from 191 the previous year, or 7.2 per 100,000.

Of those deaths, 130 were spouses and 72 were children ranging in age from 12 to 23.

As with the military service members, firearms played a significant role, with guns being the leading method of suicide for 41% of the deaths of female spouses and 72% of male spouses.

In the general U.S. population, about 31% of suicides by adult females ages 18 to 60 are conducted by firearm.

Orvis added that the department plans to work to reduce the stigma associated with mental health treatment, focusing its message on young enlisted personnel. She said DoD also seeks to improve outreach with military families, connecting them with counselors, screening for depression and suicide risk at primary care visits and understanding suicide risk among military spouses.

If you are a service member or veteran who needs help, it is available 24/7 at the Veterans and Military Crisis Line, 800-273-8255 (press 1), by texting 838255, or through the online chat function at www.veteranscrisisline.net.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

Related: 3 Soldiers at 10th Mountain May Have Died by Suicide in 2 Days. The Division Is Trying to Figure Out Why.
The Pentagon asked the internet for help replacing names honoring Confederate troops on iconic bases such as Fort Bragg and Fort Benning.

It got more help than it bargained for.

"Some of those suggestions on the website are quite intense," retired Adm. Michelle Howard, the chair of the Naming Commission in charge of the effort, said following an update to Congress Thursday. "There are some folks who are distinctly opposed and the verbiage that [they] use is quite deliberate and they make it clear they do not support the commission."

The public has so far submitted 27,000 suggestions since the request was posted Sept. 7, and the commission plans to keep accepting ideas until December. The effort, mandated by Congress in January, requires the U.S. military to remove names of Confederates on bases, ships, buildings and streets that commemorate slavery and racism against Black Americans.

The process is expected to result in Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the first Black person to serve in that position, announcing new names for some of the country's most iconic military facilities in 2023. At least 10 Army installations will likely be among the final list of assets to be renamed.

The commission has not made the long and growing list of suggestions public. The online deluge and a series of trips to visit bases over the summer has yielded up to 5,000 suggestions for names of individual bases.

"There's women, there's people of color. Some of those suggestions highlight people of lesser-known religious faiths," Howard, who was the first Black woman to become a four-star admiral in the Navy, said during a briefing to reporters. "I think the hard part for the commission is going to be picking from the list."

Read Next: Our Next War in Afghanistan Is Already Looming. And It May Be Even Harder.

Hundreds of local military, government and civic leaders have met with commission members since May in visits to facilities in Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia. The panel plans to wrap up the tour by November with visits to Fort Pickett, Virginia, and Fort Polk, Louisiana, both named after Confederate generals.

The visits also have hit resistance at times from locals who feel their history is being scrubbed.

"They're very tied to the history of the area," Howard said. "But in the end, they understand that the law has already been written, that it's not a decision for the commission whether to rename, and that decision has already been made by Congress."

Other key questions still remain. The eight-member panel has not yet created a complete list of Defense Department assets that will be renamed or come up with a cost figure for the effort, two things that Congress wants to see by next year.

The panel briefed the House and Senate armed services committees about its progress on Thursday.

-- Travis Tritten can be reached at travis.tritten@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @Travis_Tritten.

Related: 10 Much Better Names for the Army Bases Honoring Confederate Generals
Blackline Safety Presenting Connected Worker Innovations at 2021 NSC Safety Congress & Expo

Blackline Safety Corp. (TSX: BLN), a global leader of gas detection and connected safety solutions, today announced it will be a featured presenter and exhibitor at the 2021 National Safety Council (NSC) Safety Congress & Expo. The annual event, which takes place Oct. 8 - 14 in Orlando, Florida, brings together safety, health and environmental professionals to learn, network and discuss the industry's latest best practices and technologies. Blackline will present, host educational sessions, and demo its product and services that drive safety and enhance organizational performance.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005136/en/

Blackline Safety's G7 EXO connected area monitor (Photo: Business Wire)

Blackline Safety's Chief Revenue Officer, Sean Stinson, is a featured speaker and will lead the session, "Empowering Your Employees to Drive Safety Culture" with Nathan Hiller, Director of the Center for Leadership at Florida International University and Jeffrey Fors, Corporate Director for the Landfill Gas Program at Waste Management. The technical session is part of the organizational leadership for advanced safety professionals and takes place Monday, Oct. 11 from 4-5 p.m. ET in Room 304 A-D.

Blackline Safety will also host interactive educational sessions for attendees to learn about the future of connected safety. The presentations at booth #2311 include:

"How Connected Safety is Transforming the Workplace" Mon., Oct. 11 at 1:30 p.m. with Glen Silver, VP Sales North America Tues., Oct. 12 at 10:30 a.m. with Glen Dane, Director, Business Development

"Combustible Gas and Its Detection" Mon., Oct. 11 at 10:30 a.m. with Yves Carrier, Business Development Executive and Jay Weber, Product Manager Tues., Oct. 12 at 1:30 p.m. with Yves Carrier, Business Development Executive and Jay Weber, Product Manager



At NSC, attendees can preview, live and in-person, Blackline Safety's product enhancements, including:

Blackline Live & Blackline Analytics , award-winning connected safety software that provides proximity messaging alerts to keep people and teams safer in the event of an emergency and now offers convenient Single Sign-On, with more comprehensive bump and calibration reports coming soon to meet the compliance requirements of some of the world's most regulated environments.

, connected safety software that provides proximity messaging alerts to keep people and teams safer in the event of an emergency and now offers convenient Single Sign-On, with more comprehensive bump and calibration reports coming soon to meet the compliance requirements of some of the world's most regulated environments. G7 EXO Area Monitor , a portable area gas monitor that offers flexibility, a broad sensor portfolio to better monitor and model gas releases and versatile mounting systems for placement anywhere. G7 EXO also offers an optional satellite module for use in areas with poor cellular connectivity, and will soon include real-time gas plume modeling in partnership with Vlahi Systems for accurate and automated mapping.

, a portable area gas monitor that offers flexibility, a broad sensor portfolio to better monitor and model gas releases and versatile mounting systems for placement anywhere. G7 EXO also offers an optional satellite module for use in areas with poor cellular connectivity, and will soon include real-time gas plume modeling in partnership with Vlahi Systems for accurate and automated mapping. G7 Wearables, convenient, versatile and easy-to-use wearable devices for personal gas detection and lone worker monitoring with satellite or cellular connectivity. G7 wearables offer built-in features including a clock, timer, powering down warnings, false alarm features and non-emergency alarm tones. Automatic firmware updates help ensure compliance without the need for manual checks.

The G7 EXO, which previously won the OH&S 2021 New Product of the Year Award and gold at INT Design's 2021 GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN awards, is also a finalist in this year's Best in Show New Product Awards Showcase. This product is the first direct-to-cloud connected area monitor with integrated 4G communications and delivers unmatched connectivity and visibility into an entire worksite. Voting is open through Oct. 11 at 3 p.m. ET.

"It is an honor to have our G7 EXO as a finalist in this year's Best in Show awards," said Barry Moore, Vice-President of Product Development, Blackline Safety. "We are proud of this product and its role in protecting workers."

For those unable to attend this year's NSC Safety Congress & Expo, please visit here for Blackline Safety news and product tours.

About Blackline Safety

Blackline Safety is a global connected safety leader that helps to ensure every worker gets their job done and returns home safely each day. Blackline provides wearable safety technology, personal and area gas monitoring, cloud-connected software and data analytics to meet demanding safety challenges and increase productivity of organizations with coverage in more than 100 countries. Blackline Safety wearables provide a lifeline to tens of thousands of people, having reported over 159 billion data-points and initiated over five million emergency responses. Armed with cellular and satellite connectivity, we ensure that help is never too far away. For more information, visit www.BlacklineSafety.com and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005136/en/
Why would a dour, taciturn and, apparently, emotionless Scotsman grow red in the face when handing over a shiny cup to the owner of the winning horse in a prestigious race?

And why would he stomp away from the dais immediately afterwards?

And why was the owner of the horse openly laughing and his wife (and co-owner) sniggering when they accepted the cup?

I was visiting Calcutta when on leave and had been invited to the years mega horse-racing event at the race-course. The star event was the XYZ Bank Cup, sponsored for many years by my bank.

The glitterati of Calcutta, all the people who mattered, were present. After the race came the prize-giving ceremony where this strange incident happened.

Out of curiosity, I sought an answer from a colleague.

Before I tell you the story, I must give you a bit of background.

Malcolm Frazer DSO (distinguished service order) was the then operations head for Calcutta area and his office was in the banking hall of our main branch. Mr Frazer was a superbly fit man in his mid-30s.

After school, he had joined the British Army, where his outstanding physical prowess, fearlessness and total obedience to authority caught the eye of his superior officers. He was promoted to Sergeant way ahead of his time. Upon finding routine regimental duties in peacetime too boring, he applied for induction into the Special Air Service (SAS), the legendary British commando branch.

Mr Frazer not only survived the gruelling training, during which the instructors did not try to train you, but they try to kill you. He ranked near the top of his batch and joined the SAS.

A year later, Mr Frazer, a young Lieutenant by now, was sent to Al-Mazynah in southern Oman, where a contingent of the British Army was helping the young Sultan repel communist guerillas from across the border.

Encounters were bloody and fierce and in one such affair, young Mr Frazer took a bullet in one knee while fighting off a horde of armed attackers, thus saving himself and four of his men.

As a result, he was decorated with the DSO and given an honourable discharge  his game knee made him unfit for future military service.

Mr Frazer joined our bank as an international officer. His most considerable qualifications were his Scottish ancestry and his DSO.

Our bank chairman at the time was Scottish, too, and he had been decorated in World War II when he was just a wee lad of nineteen.

A Scotsman with a DSO was just right for the bank.

The other protagonist in this story (or should I say antagonist?) is Jasmine Bharucha, Mr Frazers secretary.

Jasmine was an extremely pretty Parsi girl from a middle-class family, who had learnt shorthand and typing, rather than going for 'dubious' professions such as fashion model or air-hostess, and had got herself a job in our bank in the good old 'gora' days.

Young Rustom Bharucha, the scion of an old Parsi family, who had made a fortune stevedoring in the days of the East India Company (handling opium, jute, indigo and cotton), had fallen in love with Jasmine at first sight when he had come to the bank to get some cash (no ATMs in those days).

Love was returned and they got married.

Now the Company was gone, and Calcutta Port was a mere shadow of its former self. Still, Rustoms ancestors had invested their wealth wisely in shares, land and the like, and he had ample moolah to live in luxury, hobnob with the rich and famous, and indulge in his passion  racehorses.

Obviously, Jasmine did not need to work, but she liked her position at the bank (No 2 in the pecking order of secretaries), and so she had continued working. Naturally, soon, she was into racehorses, too.

Things went just fine until one faithful day when the managers head peon presented Mr Frazer with an urgent telex, which the manager wanted to be sent  jaldi.

He turned to look at the glass-walled telex room, which adjoined his office and found it empty because the telex operator had gone for lunch.

The telex had to go  Bosss order  so he summoned Jasmine and told her (not 'requested' or even 'asked', mind you) to send the telex.

Not that Jasmine-bai did not know how to send a telex. If asked politely, she could oblige and had indeed done so in the past for her previous bosses.

But the way Mr Frazer had commanded her put her back up.

I am a secretary, not a telex operator. It is not my job to send telexes. I wont do it.

Mr Frazer was astounded.

Disobeying a direct order from a superior officer? Unheard of! Unacceptable!! A Court Martial offence!!!

To make sure he had heard her right, he commanded again, Go and send this telex, right now.

Jasmine dug in her heels, drew up every inch of her 5-foot nothing frame and announced, No, I wont.

To hell with the telex, insubordination could not be tolerated.

Mr Frazer stomped out of his office, went straight to the personnel officer, got him to make a termination letter for Jasmine Bharucha while he stood glaring, signed it, and personally handed it over to her.

Tum military, to hum bhi military (you are military, then I am also military)  this was Rustom Bharuchas reaction when his sobbing wife came home mid-afternoon with the termination letter in her hand.

Rustoms second cousin, once removed, was the head of a leading law firm. He agreed with Rustom that this high-handedness, this insult, could not be tolerated. The bank had to be sued for wrongful dismissal. This bloody gora needed to be taught a lesson.

The case was heard in the labour court.

After multiple hearings, the judge opined that a secretary was a 'workman' and hence protected by every law that applied to workmen, in particular, one that said that a workman could not be asked to carry out a task that was not a part of his/her regular duties.

The bank lost the case and had to agree to reinstate Jasmine Bharucha and pay her a hefty compensation.

Jasmine had no desire to return to work, especially for that gora.

She spurned the reinstatement offer and adopted the role of a society lady, full time. She took the compensation, however. Moolah was moolah, right?

In the meantime, Mr Frazer was getting hammered from all sides.

The Bank Workers Union was delighted to add the position of 'secretary' to its fold and began to flex its muscles against a (perceived) weak management.

The manager, Mr Frazers boss, was extremely annoyed at having to swallow defeat in court after paying huge sums of money to lawyers. Head office was distinctly displeased.

The worst was  at the bars of Bengal Club whispers could be heard circulating amongst the gora sahebs: Jolly poor show, what?, Chap took it too far, Trouble with these Army types  they think they are still in the bloody Army and such like.

Mr Frazer had to abandon the Bengal Club and imbibe his sun-downers in the lower echelons such as Saturday Club and Tolly Club.

Malcolm Frazer DSO was a frustrated and dejected man.

Months passed.

The date for the annual bank race arrived. The manager was 'home' on furlough, and Mr Frazer had to give the cup to the winners owner.

And it was  Rustom and Jasmine Bharucha, co-owners of 'Buttercup', the winning horse!!

Now you know why Malcolm Frazer appeared upset at the prize-giving ceremony.
The Pocharam branch of Infosys on the outskirts of Hyderabad was penalised Rs 50,000 and served with a show-cause notice by the Pocharam municipality this week for collecting parking fees from its employees. The IT companys Pocharam branch was collecting Rs 500 per car and Rs 250 to Rs 300 for bikes and scooters from their employees and the money was being directly deducted from the employees salaries.

The Infosys office in Hyderabad is located in the city outskirts, in the Pocharam Special Economic Zone (SEZ) campus spread over 420 acres. An estimated 20,000 people work at the facility and the workforce is expected to increase by another 20,000 in the next few years.

According to municipal bye-laws, parking within the office premises is free. However, the company violated the norm and has been charging fee for providing parking facilities to its own employees.

The municipality took action against the IT firm after a public interest litigation (PIL) plea was filed in the Telangana High Court by Vijay Gopal, a city-based anti-corruption activist and founder of Forum Against Corruption.

Mr Gopal had written to the ministry of commerce and industry asking for action to be taken against the software major. Levying parking charges is illegal, Infosys must be booked under section 420 of IPC for cheating their employees and under the relevant SEZ Penal Sections of the SEZ Act and Rules, he added.

Infosys reportedly responded to the ministrys query into the allegation of parking charges saying, The charges collected from the employees as a deduction from salary is accounted as a fund with the Infosys employees welfare trust which utilises the same for the maintenance and upkeep of the parking facility. The company claimed they even collect GST on the parking fee from the employees.

The company employees had earlier approached their human resources department with complaints about the parking fee being collected and requested for the practice to be stopped. But the management responded by saying that the fee was being collected to maintain the parking lot.

However, in a letter to the municipality earlier, Infosys claimed that it was collecting the parking fee to encourage its employees use public transport. However, the municipality quoted a State Government Order (GO) to rationalise and regulate parking fee, which applies to all companies, including the Pocharam branch of Infosys.

The issue has been simmering for over two years. In 2019, Infosys has expressly said in a letter that the said GO 63 was not applicable to the company since it does not use its parking facility as a commercial activity  the facility is used exclusively for its employees.

The charges collected from the employees as a deduction from salary, is accounted as a fund with the Infosys Employees Welfare Trust which utilises the same for maintenance and upkeep of the parking facility, the same letter stated.

It is understood that parking charges are levied on all Infosys employees across India.
The news of Chinas Evergrande group on the brink of default halted the euphoric markets for a day or two in the past week. Amidst conflicting news of a possible deal, markets forgot the situation is far from over and scaled new heights. With over $300 billion in debt, the largest construction company in China is still facing a severe cash crunch as it struggles to raise cash for coming coupon payments by selling its assets and has missed payments for overseas investors.

The situation is not ordinary because when a market leader is facing a crisis, it says a lot about the sectors pulse in general. The construction sector in China accounts for roughly 25% of the economy (if we account for both direct and indirect linkages). Thus, any major bankruptcy in the top-10 league is sure to trickle down, with cascading effects on the other sectors, including exports to China.

The construction sector has been a mainstay of Chinese growth for a very long time. With massive urbanisation, the industry employed rural Chinese labour, thus creating enormous purchasing power for goods produced by other sectors. Structurally, the industry has a high pull effect. For the period 2001-15, the pull effect of different sectors on the construction industry began to exceed the push effect of the construction industry on other industries after 2006. This gap increased significantly in 2013, which makes the current situation a cause of worry.

By 2016, commentators in China concluded that the economy was entering a new normal with traditional sectors such as construction, low-end manufacturing unable to contribute to high growth. Under the influence of restructuring towards consumption and pushing for a new knowledge-driven industry, the sector is already slowing. Interestingly, Chinese scholars concluded, as far back as 2016, that investment in the traditional sector and that in the new industry show a strong substitution pattern.

The reasoning finds substantial basis in Evergrande group investment strategy with core construction company ploughing its profits in knowledge economy sectors by venturing into electric vehicles, online streaming media operation, health management, among others. Some of these ventures also directly relate to the belt and road initiative (BRI) of China. With the ongoing crackdown in knowledge economy sectors and power shortage in China, the realisable value of some Evergrande group subsidiaries needs to be watched out for.

The impact of COVID-19 is also not a comforting factor for the construction sector. The residential property prices have sharply corrected since 2020 and are yet to regain pre-COVID levels.

What will be the impact of large-scale bankruptcy in construction sectors in China? Well, bankruptcy or restructuring is akin to the loss of output or supply. A static stimulation for 10% loss of output in construction is shown in the chart below:

How will the problem develop, going forward? Well, a lot depends upon how the constructions company under stress use the Chinese bankruptcy laws and what makes sense  reorganisation vs liquidation vs voluntary bankruptcy.

Not much is known about how bankruptcy procedures operate in China. The recent study by Bo Li and Jacopo Ponticelli only throws some light on this very recent but significant development inside China. Their sample between the period 2011-20 shows that liquidation is the general rule.

Further, for the huge company, i.e., employees more than 5,000 forming a very small share in the sample. The construction sector underwent 565 bankruptcies accounting for 20% of total cases between 2011-20.

The average time for resolution of cases under new law through special courts has decreased by around 500-odd days. However, the median turnover time for construction and real estate companies is one of the highest 520 days.

Further the study does not throw much light on the status of operational creditors such as the home-buyer in the construction sector, a point which CPCs will not ignore. The average recovery rate for the ordinary unsecured creditor is only 13.3% in their study, indicating that large-scale bankruptcy may trigger joint defaults in other sectors, which are operational creditors to the constructions sector.

In all, the evolving situation in the construction sector warrants close monitoring. In particular global funds investing in China and some of the Indian fund-of-funds may be in for a surprise.

If we segregate the construction into  construction of buildings (62% of the sector), civil engineering (23%) and specialised construction (15%), the first category is where the current crisis will impact the most.

That leaves the second and the third category to keep the demand going. With the recent natural calamity in China, civil projects may see some activity, but specialised construction of domestic and project exports under BRI will have a mixed trend.

Thus, even if the bankruptcy laws ensure an orderly resolution, the cost of loss of output and demand will take time to recover. The situation will compound further as the power shortage disrupts both traditional and new sectors of the economy.

From an Indian point of view, while the market regulator has allowed the mutual funds to invest in overseas assets up to a limit, it is difficult to calculate the exact country-wise exposure of resident Indian investors.

The most recent data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on foreign liabilities and assets of mutual fund (MF) companies shows that foreign assets of MF companies increased due to rise in equity security and other foreign assets during the year and stood at $2.9 billion at end-March 2021.

But the most surprising part is the Indian investor and the mutual funds are bullish on their China funds when China is taking an aggressive posture against India. Further, Indians are quite naively funding the very technology that will kill Indias information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the coming years.

In a nutshell, if the current situation in China gets worse, Indian markets may see sharp correction; not to mention that internal turmoil may precipitate more aggressive external response to divert attention.

(The author is an economist in the banking system. The views are personal)
In another unexpected twist in what is turning out to be an Ekta Kapoor-style television drama, the Zee board has adopted a confrontational stance and rejected the demand of Atlanta-based Invesco Developing Markets Fund to convene extraordinary general meeting (EGM). The board has cited 'multiple legal infirmities' setting the stage for a legal battle that will inevitably push the battle into the next year, when new voting rules become applicable.

In a regulatory filing to the exchanges this afternoon, Zee said the board had convened a meeting on 1st October to discuss the demand raised by the shareholders for the EGM.

"In the best interests of the company as a whole, including all its shareholders and stakeholders, we express our inability to convene the EGM," the company said.

In a supreme show of confidence, the company also claimed that it arrived at this conclusion after consulting and obtaining written legal advice from legal experts including senior corporate lawyers and former judges of Supreme Court.

Zee pointed out that Invesco had called for the EGM to push for the ouster of directors Ashok Kurien and Manish Chokhani, apart from MD and CEO Punit Goenka. However, Mr Kurien and Mr Chokhani have already resigned from their posts, thereby, making the resolution moved by Invesco 'infructuous', it said.

"The Board deliberated, and unanimously concluded that the Requisition Notice is not valid, as it suffers from multiples legal infirmities," the company said. Zee also said that since Goenka was an interested party, he recused himself and did not attend, participate or vote in the board meeting.

In a press release issued after rejecting Invescos call for the EGM , Zee said the board arrived at this decision after "referring to various non-compliances under multiple laws, including the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Guidelines, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Guidelines and key clauses under the Companies Act & Competition Act." However, the company has refused to comment on any future actions since the 'matter is sub-judice'.

In her column earlier today, managing editor of Moneylife -- Sucheta Dalal had explained that since Invesco is firm on Mr Goenkas exit, it needed to act within the calendar year, because voting rules currently allow a director to be voted out by a simple majority of shareholders; it would need a 75% vote after January 2022. The priority for Invesco was to push for the EGM where it hopes Mr Goenka will be ousted and a new board, led by Invescos own appointees as independent directors, will be ushered in.

The boards rejection to call the EGM on such technical grounds appears to be a tactical move to delay holding the EGM till January or till the merger with Sony is complete (whichever happens first).

As per rules, the Zee board has time up to 2nd October to call for an EGM, which is 21 days from Invesco's requisition and another 21 days to hold it.

EGM has to be called within 45 days with a 21-day notice period. So, the company can push it to a maximum period of 24 days from receipt of investor request. Earlier, Zee had maintained a stoic silence on the request to call an EGM.

Invesco moved National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on 29th September seeking an order from the Tribunal for an EGM. In its petition, Invesco had termed Zees action of not convening the EGM, 'a deliberate and oppressive act'. During the hearing on 30th September, NCLT had noted that any entity with at least 10% stake in a listed company has the right to call for an EGM and asked Zee to consider the requisition. All eyes will be on NCLT where the next hearing is scheduled on Monday 4th October.

During the NCLT hearing, senior advocate Janak Dwarkadas, who is representing the investors, had expressed concern that the Zee board may delay the calling of an EGM till the Zee-Sony merger comes into effect. The investors shareholding will be diluted post the merger, he had elaborated.

However, the Tribunal had observed that the merger with Sony should not be a concern as it cannot go through without Invesco's approval.

According to JN Gupta, founder of proxy advisory firm Stakeholders Empowerment Services (SES), the rejection of EGM on technical grounds 'does not amount to good governance'. "Zee should have raised an objection to EGM notice earlier if they felt it was untenable," Mr Gupta told CNBC TV 18.

It is a race against time for Zee to get certainty on the proposed merger with Sony to gather shareholder's votes in its favour.

While the Essel group holds only a 3.99% stake, Invesco and OFI Global have 17.88%. Hence, a lot will depend on which way the other investors swing.

Many experts had earlier termed the proposed merger with Sony a masterstroke strategy by Zee promoters to stave off Invescos challenge to oust Punit Goenka.

A majority of the board of directors of the merged entity will be nominated by the Sony Group, Zee had said in a statement after the merger announcement.

It may be recalled that before the merger announcement, Invesco and OFI Global had sought the appointment of Surendra Singh Sirohi, Naina Krishna Murthy, Rohan Dhamija, Aruna Sharma, Srinivasa Rao Addepalli and Gaurav Mehta as independent directors on Zees board.

Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwalas RARE Enterprises and BoFA Securities picked up close to 0.5% stake each during the surge in the Zee stock after Invescos EGM requisition. Any share purchase before the record date of the EGM will get a voting right.

Other dominant institutional shareholders are: Vanguard (5.8%), Life Insurance Corporation of India (4.9%), Amansa Holdings (3.4%), SBI Life Insurance (1.8%), HDFC Life Insurance (1.66%).

Mutual fund asset management companies (AMCs) Nippon Life India Trustee, Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip Fund, ICICI Prudential Equity Arbitrage Fund, Kotak Equity Arbitrage Fund and Aditya Birla Sun Life Trustee each owns over 1% stake in Zee.

Meanwhile, after Invesco moved NCLT, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) (which owns a 4.89% stake in Zee) said that it is monitoring the situation and will decide on whether to vote in favour, against or abstain closer to the EGM date. LIC has stated that policyholders' interest and the company's value in Zee would be paramount factors to be considered during the vote.
October 01, 2021 How AP, Reuters And SCMP Propagandize Their Readers Against China A typical 'western' anti-China propaganda claim is that China is using its military aggressively. 'Western' news agencies do this on a regular base when they report of Chinese air maneuvers around Taiwan. This report by the South China Morning Post, based on AP and Reuters items, is a perfect example for that: 25 Chinese warplanes enter Taiwans air defence zone Taiwans air force scrambled again on Friday to warn away 25 Chinese aircraft that entered its air defence zone, according to the defence ministry in Taipei. Taiwan has complained for a year or more of repeated missions by Chinas air force, often in the southwestern part of its air defence zone close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands. The latest PLA air force mission involved 18 J-16 and four Su-30 fighters plus two nuclear-capable H-6 bombers and an anti-submarine aircraft, the Taiwan ministry said. It said Taiwan sent combat aircraft to warn away the PLA aircraft, while missile systems were deployed to monitor them. The Chinese aircraft all flew in an area close to the Pratas, with the two bombers flying closest to the atoll, according to a map that the ministry issued. I do not believe that China would fly its bombers and jets into Taiwan's "air defense zone" because that is the geographic area where Taiwan would actually shoot to take them down. So I checked with the news agency reports the SCMP story is based on. AP headlines: China sends 25 fighter planes toward Taiwan on National Day TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)  China sent 25 fighter jets toward self-ruled Taiwan in a large display of force on Chinas National Day Friday. The Peoples Liberation Army flew 18 J-16 fighter jets as well as two H-6 bombers, among other planes. Taiwan deployed air patrol forces in response and tracked the Chinese aircraft on its air defense systems, the islands Defense Ministry said in a statement. China has sent planes toward the island it claims as part of its territory on a near daily basis in the last couple of years, stepping up military harassment with drills. No "air defense zone" there but one extra point for "military harassment". Reuters is less subtle: China marks national day with mass air incursion near Taiwan TAIPEI, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Taiwan's air force scrambled again on Friday to warn away 25 Chinese aircraft that entered its air defence zone, the defence ministry in Taipei said, the same day as China marked its national day, the founding of the People's Republic of China. Chinese-claimed Taiwan has complained for a year or more of repeated missions by China's air force near the democratically governed island, often in the southwestern part of its air defence zone close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands. The latest Chinese mission involved 18 J-16 and four Su-30 fighters plus two nuclear-capable H-6 bombers and an anti-submarine aircraft, the Taiwan ministry said. So the "air defense zone" claims comes from Reuters. It is however 100% fake news. Neither did the Chinese airforce fly into the "air defense zone" of Taiwan nor did Taiwan claim that it did. Here is the original news item from the Ministry of Defense of Taiwan. The headline and first line say it all: Air activities in the southwestern ADIZ of R.O.C. Air activities in the southwestern ADIZ of R.O.C.

... There is no "air defense zone" (ADZ) in there. Instead there is Taiwan's ADIZ, or "Air Defense Identification Zone", into which Chinese planes 'intruded'. What is an ADIZ one might ask: An air defense identification zone (ADIZ) is airspace over land or water in which the identification, location, and control of civil aircraft is performed in the interest of national security. They may extend beyond a country's territory to give the country more time to respond to possibly hostile aircraft. The concept of an ADIZ is not defined in any international treaty and is not regulated by any international body. Some countries unilateral declare an ADIZ around this or that territory. They ask any plane entering it to identify itself. As ADIZ are unilateral 'pretty please' requests with no binding power they are regularly ignored. Taiwan's ADIZ is quite rediculous as it covers parts of mainland China: Taiwan has an ADIZ that covers most of the Taiwan Strait, part of the Chinese province of Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi and part of the East China Sea and adjacent airspace. Most of the ADIZ of Taiwan is built on its exclusive economic zone. Taiwan's ADIZ was designed and created by the United States Armed Forces (USAF) after World War II. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry Military News Updates claim that Chinese 'violations' of its ADIZ happen each and every day. The Reuters fake news piece also says that the Chinese planes flew near to Pratas Island (Dongsha) which China as well as Taiwan both claim as their territory. In fact mainland China is nearer to Pratas than Taiwan is. The Twitter account of Taiwan's Defense Ministry just posted this map of the alleged 'violations' which perfectly shows how ridiculous such claims are:

bigger The AP report is misleading as it implies a special meaning to something that happens regularly. The Reuters piece is obviously fake news as it claims that Taiwan's defense ministry said something which it did not say. The SCMP deserves to be criticized too as any reporter and editor covering such news should know the difference between an ADZ and an ADIZ and should have recognized that the "air defense zone" claim in the Reuters piece is obviously bollocks. That said all three fulfill their intended purpose. They propagandize those who read them against China by depicting normal military training of China's armed forces as aggression against its neighbors. Posted by b on October 1, 2021 at 16:52 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
October 01, 2021 Iran Sanctions - How To Say F... Y.. In Diplomatese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on September 24, 2021 Hubei Media Group: According to reports, on September 21, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in his statement at the general debate of the UN General Assembly denounced US willful withdrawal from the JCPOA and its sanctions on Iran amid COVID-19. He also said all parities should faithfully implement the JCPOA and UN Security Council Resolutions. What is China's comment? Zhao Lijian: China noted that President Raisi declared in his statement that "nukes have no place in our defence doctrine", called for all parties to stay true to the JCPOA, and said that dialogues aimed at removing all sanctions on Iran are beneficial. China appreciates this, and believes it shows Iran's constructive attitude of upholding the JCPOA and supporting negotiations to resume compliance. China always believes that resuming full and effective implementation of the JCPOA meets common interests of all parties. As the one that started the new round of tensions in the Iranian nuclear situation, the US should redress its wrong policy of maximum pressure on Iran, lift all illegal sanctions on Iran and measures of long-arm jurisdiction on third parties, and work to resume negotiations and achieve outcomes at an early date. China will work with all parities and continue to make relentless efforts to bring the JCPOA back onto the right track. Exclusive-U.S. has reached out to China about cutting oil imports from Iran, officials say - Reuters, September 28, 2021 The United States has reached out to China diplomatically about reducing its purchases of Iranian crude oil, U.S. and European officials said on Tuesday, as Washington seeks to persuade Tehran to resume talks about reviving the 2015 nuclear deal. Purchases of Iranian oil by Chinese companies are believed to have helped keep Iran's economy afloat despite U.S. sanctions that are designed to choke off such sales to put pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear program. "We are aware of the purchases that Chinese companies are making of Iranian oil," said a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. "We have used our sanctions authorities to respond to Iranian sanctions evasion, including those doing business with China, and will continue to do so if necessary," he added. "However, we have been approaching this diplomatically with the Chinese as part of our dialogue on Iran policy and think that, in general, this is a more effective path forward to address our concerns," the official said. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on September 29, 2021 TASS News Agency: According to Reuters, the United States has reached out to China diplomatically about reducing its purchases of Iranian crude oil. It is said that this was one of the issues raised by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman when she visited China in late July. Do you have any comments on this information? Hua Chunying: China's position is clear and consistent on normal economic and trade cooperation between China and Iran. China and Iran always conduct cooperation following the commercial principles with equality, mutual benefit and win-win results within the framework of international law. We firmly oppose any unilateral sanction, and urge the US to remove the so-called "long-arm jurisdiction" over third-party entities and individuals as soon as possible. Posted by b on October 1, 2021 at 7:53 UTC | Permalink Comments
PORTLAND, Maine  Maines rural areas need better access to COVID-19 testing, the head of the states Center for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The percent positivity rate in some of Maines rural counties is much higher than it is in more densely populated areas such as Cumberland County. Federal data show the percent positivity rate in Cumberland is about 2% while in rural Somerset County its more than 9%.

Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Nirav Shah said Thursday thats a product of a lack of testing. He said the state is working to get more tests to rural corners of the state. Maine has the lowest population density in New England.

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services also said Thursday that Maine child care facilities can now access pooled testing for children and staff through a federal program that provides the testing for free to some community organizations and schools. The agency said Walgreen is also expanding testing options at almost all of its Maine locations.

Not enough testing happening in those parts of the state. Were focusing on making community level testing more accessible, Shah said.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

 Its flu vaccine time, even if youve received COVID-19 shots

 UK families see hard times ahead as coronavirus programs end

 Singapore strategy of living with virus raises concern, hope

 Woman who survived 1918 flu, World War II succumbs to virus

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 See all of AP's pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday said it wouldnt allow the state to enforce its ban on mask mandates by schools and other government bodies, keeping in place a judges ruling temporarily halting the law.

Justices denied the request by the state to stay the August decision blocking enforcement of Arkansas mandate ban.

More than 100 school districts and charter schools have approved mask requirements since the ruling against the law. The requirements cover more than half the states public school students.

Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who signed the law but later said he regretted that decision, had separately asked the court to deny the request to stay the ruling.

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ATLANTA  Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday warned unvaccinated Georgians to not assume that COVID-19 is over, saying that the state could risk a fifth surge of the respiratory illness over the winter, even as cases decline steeply from a fourth surge that peaked a month ago.

Today I want to emphasize the importance of not waiting until the next wave of COVID cases to get vaccinated, Kemp said. Given that our increase in cases and hospitalizations in 2021 was similar in timing to surges seen in 2020, we can only assume that a winter increase is also possible.

Kemp says he still opposes federal plans to require employers with 100 or more workers to mandate vaccination and will explore legal action with state Attorney General Chris Carr.

Georgias vaccination rate has improved somewhat, with state data showing 47% of all residents are now fully vaccinated. Kemp and Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey said that Georgia isnt seeing a shortage of monoclonal antibodies for COVID-19 therapy because demand is declining.

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AMHERST, Mass.  All eligible students in Massachusetts Amherst Regional school district will be required to get a coronavirus vaccine that has full federal approval by Dec. 1 to continue attending classes, the school committee voted.

The Amherst Regional School Committee voted 7-0 at its meeting Tuesday to mandate vaccinations, according to The Daily Hampshire Gazette.

The vote came after the Amherst Board of Health on Sept. 9, based on a request from the public schools, added COVID-19 vaccines with full federal approval to the list of immunizations students are required to have. Medical and religious exemptions are allowed.

Amherst is believed to be the first district in the state to require its eligible students to get a COVID-19 vaccination. So far, the only coronavirus vaccine with full Food and Drug Administration approval is Pfizers, and only for people ages 16 and older.

The mandate applies mostly to students at Amherst Regional High School and Amherst Regional Middle School, which also serve children from the towns of Pelham, Shutesbury and Leverett.

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HAVANA  Beaches and recreation centers have reopened in Cubas capital after authorities announced it is time to resume outdoor activities, including strolling on the Malecon coastal promenade that has long been a gathering place for Havana.

Officials say Thursdays reopening was possible because 90% of the citys residents are vaccinated against the coronavirus and the number of new cases has been declining. Some people were quick to take advantage of the announcement and headed to the beach to enjoy the sun and sand.

The Malecon filled up with people Wednesday night, with groups of young people with guitars and even street vendors for the first time since access was closed at the beginning of the year. The city announced last week that restaurants and bars can allow customers back in.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska  The mayor of Alaskas largest city has criticized a proposed mask mandate before the Anchorage Assembly and defended the use of yellow Stars of David that are being worn by people who oppose the proposal.

The Anchorage Daily News reports the proposal would require wearing masks in indoor public spaces and outdoors at large event. The multi-day was scheduled to resume Thursday.

Mandate opponents have been wearing yellow Star of David stickers, like the patches that Holocaust victims wore. Mayor Dave Bronson says the stars in Jewish culture mean never again and calls their use by mask opponents a credit to Holocaust victims.

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DALLAS  United Airlines officials say nearly half the employees facing dismissal for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 have gotten their shots.

That cuts the number of airline workers facing termination from 593 to 320. An airline spokeswoman Leslie Scott says the declining number of potential firings shows the companys policy of requiring vaccinations is working.

In less than 48 hours, the number of unvaccinated employees who began the process of being separated from the company has been cut almost in half.

United announced the vaccine requirement in August. The airline says about 99% of its workers either got vaccinated or applied for a medical or religious exemption.

Chicago-based United has the toughest vaccination policy among major U.S. airlines. Delta Air Lines is requiring vaccination or weekly testing and will begin charging unvaccinated workers on the company health plan a $200 monthly surcharge starting in November.

American and Southwest have offered incentives for employees to get vaccinated. They havent indicated how theyll comply with President Joe Bidens order that employers with more than 100 workers require vaccination or weekly testing. Both airlines are based in Texas.

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PHOENIX  Advocates for Phoenixs homeless population say a surge in COVID-19 cases requires more medical workers.

The Arizona Republic reports Circle the City and Maricopa County have been operating the Phoenix Inn since May 2020, but it had rarely been full. However, it has reached full capacity of 90 patients several times in recent weeks.

Circle the City, which provides health care services for the homeless, says it needs at least 50 more nurses, physicians assistants, security guards and other support staff. It hopes to recruit more health care workers with incentives, including signing bonuses and a 401(k) match.

Marty Hames, Circle the City spokeswoman, says the cases are mostly people who are unvaccinated. The organization is hosting vaccine events for the homeless and offering shots at its clinic.

About 58% of Arizonas eligible population has received one dose of vaccine.

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BUCHAREST, Romania  Romania recorded 12,032 coronavirus cases on Thursday, its highest daily infections since the start of the pandemic.

In the last month, Romanias infections have risen from about 1,000 cases a day to the record of more than 12,000 reported Thursday. There are 1,364 COVID-19 patients in intensive care, close to the ICU capacity at a national level.

Romania has the European Unions second-lowest vaccination rate, with just 34% of all adults fully vaccinated. Data published by health authorities indicated between Sept. 20-26, nearly 75% of reported cases and 92% of deaths occurred among unvaccinated people.

Romania, a nation of 19 million, has registered more than 1.2 million confirmed cases and 37,041 confirmed deaths.

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ST. PAUL, Minn.  The Minnesota Department of Corrections has been more successful getting inmates immunized against the coronavirus than its own employees.

About 80% of prisoners in Minnesota have been fully vaccinated, while the immunization rate for corrections employees is just over 65%, according to the department.

Fewer than 60% of staff at Moose Lake and St. Cloud have gotten the shot. At Rush City, its fewer than half, Minnesota Public Radio News reported.

A mandate took effect this month that requires all Minnesota state employees working in the office or on site be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.

Paul Schnell, state corrections commissioner, says his department is testing about 1,400 unvaccinated staff members on a weekly basis. He says the number of positive cases is impacting the staff levels needed to operate the prisons.

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SAN JOSE, Calif.  Primetta Giacopinis life began and ended with pandemics.

The 105-year-old California woman was 2 years old when she lost her mother to the flu in Connecticut in 1918. A foster family took her back to their ancestral home in Italy, where she worked as a seamstress until she was forced to flee in 1941 during World War II as Benito Mussolini purged the country of Americans.

She returned to Connecticut, where she worked in a factory grinding steel for the U.S. war effort. She moved to San Jose in the 1970s, remarried and had a daughter, living there until she contracted COVID-19 this month.

She struggled with the disease for a week before she died Sept. 16.

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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia will make COVID-19 vaccination compulsory for all federal government workers.

Vaccination is voluntary in the nation, but the Public Service Department says all federal staff must be vaccinated to ensure smooth delivery of public services.

It says its in line with plans to return to full operations following a lockdown since June. The department says nearly 98% of federal government staff have been inoculated. About 1,700 workers, accounting for 1.6% of the total, are unvaccinated.

It says all staff must complete their vaccination by the end of October, unless they are exempt due to medical reasons.

Nearly 62% of the nations 33 million people are fully vaccinated. New daily infections have dipped by nearly half from its peak of more than 24,000 last month. Malaysia has registered 2.23 million confirmed infections and more than 26,000 confirmed deaths.

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HELSINKI  Finland will ease coronavirus restrictions on bars and restaurants in selected areas, including extending hours of alcohol service until midnight, effective Friday.

Minister of Family Affairs and Social Affairs Krista Kiuru tweeted Thursday the ban on singing and dancing in bars and restaurants will be lifted Friday.

However, bars and pubs in Finland are still under certain coronavirus restrictions, including using half of seating capacity and restaurants using 75% of maximum capacity.

Last week, regional authorities in southern Finland announced the remaining gathering restrictions in the southern Uusimaa region, including capital Helsinki, will end Friday.

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NAIROBI, Kenya  The World Health Organization says just 15 of Africas 54 countries have reached the global target of fully vaccinating 10% of their population by the end of this month.

Half of African countries have fully vaccinated 2% or less of their populations. The WHO says almost 90% of high-income countries have met the 10% target set by the World Health Assembly this year.

While vaccine deliveries to African countries have increased 10-fold since June, WHO Africa immunization official Richard Mihigo says deliveries need to more than double by the end of the year to reach the WHO target of fully vaccinating 40% of the population by then.

Mihigo says about 900 million doses are needed. He says African countries have received more than 200 million vaccine doses so far and administered over 70% of them. Just 4% of Africas population of 1.3 billion people have been fully vaccinated.

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NEW YORK  A survey of Americans on President Joe Bidens plan to require most workers to get either vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19 finds a deep and familiar divide: Democrats are overwhelmingly for it, while most Republicans are against it.

With the highly contagious delta variant driving deaths up to around 2,000 per day, the poll released Thursday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed that overall, 51% say they approve of the Biden requirement, 34% disapprove and 14% hold neither opinion.

Sixty-four percent of vaccinated Americans say they approve of the mandate, while 23% disapprove. Among unvaccinated Americans, just 14% are in support, while 67% are opposed. Most remote employees approve, but in-person workers are about evenly divided.
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  President Joe Biden's administration says it has followed a court order to schedule an offshore oil and gas lease sale for the Gulf of Mexico after the Democratic president's moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands was blocked by a judge.

The sale will be livestreamed from New Orleans on Nov. 17, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced in a news release Thursday. Bidding will be only by mail; walk-in bids won't be accepted, it said.

The agency postponed lease sales scheduled in March to comply with Bidens executive order to combat climate change. Scientists urge immediate action to slash greenhouse emissions to avoid the worst consequences of global warming, including devastating storms, floods, wildfires and droughts.

But Louisiana and 12 other states sued, and in June a federal judge found that the government had omitted steps required for such actions. The administration said in August it would comply while appealing the judges order.

The Biden Harris Administration is continuing its comprehensive review of the deficiencies associated with its offshore and onshore oil and gas leasing programs, the bureau's statement said.

The sale will cover roughly 136,000 square miles (352,000 square kilometers) located from 3 miles to 231 miles (five to 370 kilometers) offshore in the Gulf of Mexico with water depths ranging from 9 feet to more than 11,115 feet (3 to 3,400 meters).

Less than 2% of available water bottom was leased in August 2020.

The agency said lease stipulations will protect biologically sensitive resources, mitigate potential adverse effects on protected species, and avoid potential conflicts between oil and gas development and other activities and users in the Gulf of Mexico.

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia joined Louisiana in challenging the lease sale suspension.

The scheduling is welcome news for the American worker and our national security, said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association.

The U.S. Gulf of Mexico supports more than 345,000 jobs, many of which are accessible, high-paying and cannot be easily substituted, and generates vital government revenues for conservation and recreation programs, he said.

And, he said, U.S. offshore oil and gas produces less carbon than imports that would be needed if U.S. wells all shut down.

Several environmental groups sued Interior Secretary Debra Haaland in August, trying to prevent the sale. The lawsuit, brought by Friends Of The Earth, Healthy Gulf, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, contends that the bureau didnt meet a legal requirement to carefully study the sales environmental impacts and substantially underestimated such effects..

Climate change is rapidly intensifying Gulf storms, fueling uncontrollable wildfires in the West and threatening numerous species with extinction, said Kristen Monsell, oceans program litigation director for the Center for Biological Diversity. We need to end offshore oil drilling, not burden future generations with this dirty and dangerous folly.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  An arson investigation was underway after a man wearing an American flag bandanna threw a Molotov cocktail into the headquarters of the county Democratic Party in Austin.

The incendiary device did not ignite when it was thrown at the Travis County Democratic Party headquarters at about 2 a.m. Wednesday, Austin Fire Capt. Brandon Jennings said. A small stack of papers was set on fire, but that was quickly put out by employees of a neighboring business using a fire extinguisher.
LONDON (AP)  London police were desperately trying Friday to regain the trust of women after evidence presented in court showed that a serving officer used his position to abduct, rape and murder a marketing executive as she walked home from a friends house.

The Metropolitan Police Service took the unprecedented step of issuing a statement that advised women and girls on how to protect themselves if they are suspicious of officers who stop them on the street.

The statement Thursday came after evidence presented during the sentencing of Wayne Couzens showed that he used his police identification to stop 33-year-old Sarah Everard on March 3, 2021, then handcuffed her, threw her in the back of a car and drove her to a remote location where he raped and strangled her. Suggestions that earlier offenses may have been overlooked further stoked outrage.

The full horrific details of his crimes are deeply concerning and raise entirely legitimate questions, the department said. We completely hear the legitimate concerns being raised and we know women are worried. All our officers are concerned about the impact of these horrific crimes on trust in the police, and we want to do all we can to rebuild that trust.

Couzens, 48, this week was sentenced to life in prison without the possibly of parole after pleading guilty to Everards abduction and murder. Confidence in the police forces ability to protect women has been further shaken by the murder of primary school teacher Sabina Nessa, 28, who was killed Sept. 17 as she walked through a south London park to meet a friend.

The department said it would soon publish a new strategy for combating violence against women.

In response to the revelations about Couzens, police stressed that it was rare for a sole plainclothes officer to question a woman, and that if this does occur other officers should arrive soon after.

It is entirely reasonable for women who find themselves in this situation to seek assurances about the officers identity, the department said. Women should ask the officer searching questions about the absence of other officers, why the officer is in the area and exactly why they are being stopped.

If after doing so a woman still feels she is in danger, she should shout to others on the street, knock on doors, wave down a passing bus or call 999, Britains emergency phone number, the police said.

But British media reverberated with outrage over what many saw as a tone-deaf response amid longstanding concerns that police havent made it a priority to investigate, prosecute and prevent crimes against women.

Lawmaker Jess Phillips, the opposition Labour Partys spokesperson on domestic violence and safeguarding, said authorities need to develop a comprehensive strategy to protect women, not keep asking them to do more to protect themselves.

I could scream, if Im honest, about the amount of things that women are told to do, she told the BBC. Sarah Everard was keeping herself completely safe. She was doing exactly what any woman would do, and still this happened to her. The onus is on the Metropolitan Police to do better.

While Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the public should continue to trust the police, he acknowledged that there must be changes in the way the criminal justice system responds to crimes against women.

There is a problem in the way we handle rape, domestic violence, sexual violence and the way we handle the complaints of women and girls, Johnson told reporters.

Johnson said he had convened a task force to streamline the investigation and prosecution of complaints from women.

But Aisha K. Gill, a professor of criminology at the University of Roehampton, expressed frustration at the continuing stop-gap response to the problem, saying it was time for a systemic overhaul of the criminal justice system so that police make it a priority to combat violence against women.

That has to be at the forefront, she said. This is gender-based terrorism. Its happening every day in our homes, in our streets, and we need to buckle up and ensure that another woman does not die in this way again.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Facing bipartisan criticism over its approach to immigration, the Biden administration on Thursday announced new rules that require authorities to only pursue migrants who recently crossed into the country without permission or are deemed to pose a threat to public safety.

The new guidelines replace interim rules issued in February that were initially blocked by a federal judge in August as part of a lawsuit brought by Texas and Louisiana. They break from a more aggressive approach to immigration enforcement under former President Donald Trump, who early in his presidency directed authorities to apprehend anyone who was illegally in the country.

The release comes as President Joe Biden has come under fire from allies for his reliance on a Trump-era public health authority to rapidly expel migrants encountered on the U.S.-Mexico border while also facing Republican criticism that he hasn't done enough to counter a sharp increase in migrants seeking to enter the country.

The Biden administration has expelled about 5,000 Haitians who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border at Del Rio, Texas, in recent weeks. A federal appeals court in Washington on Thursday cleared the administration to continue expelling families under the public-health authority known as Title 42. The appeals court put on hold a lower court order barring the expulsions of families hours before the ban was to take effect.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters that the new policy was based on the reality that the U.S. cant go after all people in the country without legal status and shouldnt try because many have been contributing members of our communities for years.

Authorities will be directed to focus on noncitizens who have crossed recently, defined as after Nov. 1, 2020, or who determined to be a threat because of national security or serious criminal activity. Homeland Security includes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol.

Unlike the interim rules, the criminal activity is not limited to the category known in legal terms as an aggravated felony but will depend on the totality of the facts and circumstances, Mayorkas said. Anyone would be considered a priority if they are engaged or even suspected of terrorism or espionage, according to the memo. The new rules take effect Nov. 29.

Immigration authorities would be prohibited from arresting and seeking to deport someone in retaliation for exercising First Amendment rights, such as joining a protest or taking part in union activities.

We are requiring and frankly empowering our workforce, critically empowering our workforce, to exercise their judgment, their law enforcement judgment, the secretary said.

Advocates for strict immigration enforcement have criticized the interim guidelines, which were similar in intent as the newly released rules, because they were seen as a top-down approach and one that precluded low-level arrests that might yield investigative leads into bigger cases or help serve as a deterrent to illegal immigration.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said on Twitter that Biden has welcomed the migrants who have crossed and would now promise those already in the country that they may stay in the U.S. without repercussions with the new rules.

Immigrant advocates, including some who have in the past called for eliminating ICE and immigrant detention altogether, welcomed limits on enforcement but are wary given the rapid detention and expulsion of thousands of Haitians at Del Rio.

This policy is only going to be as good as the results," said Jacinta Gonzalez, senior campaign organizer of Mijente. "If detention numbers continue to rise, as deportations continue to happen, if we still see human rights abuses at the border, this policy wont mean anything.

A federal judge in Texas blocked the interim rules in August, ruling that the administration did not have discretion to choose which migrants to detain, but a federal appeals court allowed the guidelines to take effect while the lawsuit proceeds.

Mayorkas said it makes little sense to pursue all of the estimated 11 million people in the country without legal status, even if the U.S. had the law enforcement capacity to do so.

They contribute to the well-being of our country and justice requires that we exercise our discretion accordingly, he said. The fact that an individual is a removeable non-citizen should not alone be the basis of an enforcement action against them.

Trump's administration took hundreds of measures to restrict both legal and illegal immigration, including a zero-tolerance policy on border crossings that resulted in the forcible separation of thousands of families and requiring asylum seekers to await the processing of their cases in Mexico.

In the end, total deportations were higher under the first term of President Barack Obama, who enacted enforcement priorities similar to Biden's, than under Trump. That was due in part to a lack of cooperation from many cities and states whose leaders opposed Trump's immigration policies.

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Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.
During his keynote speaker address during the annual Permian Basin Petroleum Association Annual Meeting, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said whats missing from the Texas Senate is a senator whos an expert on oil and gas operations.

We have doctors, we have too many lawyers  but we dont really have any oil men or women, Patrick said.

He said theres a large amount of interest in the state Legislature because of the upcoming 2022 elections.

(Rep.) Tom Craddick has been the heart and soul of your industry forever, and thank goodness for Tom, but hes in the House, Patrick said to attendees of the PBPA meeting. We really havent had a senator whos an oil and gas person and I think its important for your industry these days. If not in the industry, then someones whos going to be all for the industry.

The lieutenant governor added that without someone whos an oil and gas expert in the senate, other senators dont hear from those who understand the industry when making decisions.

Sen. Kel Seliger, whose district includes the Permian Basin, has a background in steel and is the co-owner of Lake Steel, Inc. Patrick and Seliger have had a publicly tense relationship; in 2019, Patrick removed Seliger as chair of the Agricultural Committee after Seliger suggested one of Patricks female staffers should kiss his backside.

Patrick said Thursday that although oil is now at $75 a barrel, the oil and gas industry is under siege. He spoke about the successful passage of Senate Bill 13, which requires state entities to divest from companies that boycott fossil fuel companies.

It basically says if youre going to boycott the oil and gas industry, then were not putting our money with you, he said, noting that the state of Texas has a $125 billion annual budget.

Patrick also used his keynote address as an opportunity to attack President Joe Biden, particularly the Biden administrations response to the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. He said that border patrol agents usually apprehend about 400,000 individuals a year at the border, but that number is expected to be about 2 million this year.

Regarding former Rep. Beto ORourke mulling a run against Gov. Greg Abbott, Patrick said he would be happy if ORourke entered the race so voters could get rid of him once and for all.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California's reservoirs are so dry from a historic drought that regulators warned Thursday it's possible the state's water agencies won't get anything from them next year, a frightening possibility that could force mandatory restrictions for residents.

California has a system of giant lakes called reservoirs that store water during the state's rainy and snowy winter months. Most of the water comes from snow that melts in the Sierra Nevada mountains and fills rivers and streams in the spring.

Regulators then release the water during the dry summer months for drinking, farming and environmental purposes, including keeping streams cold enough for endangered species of salmon to spawn.

This year, unusually hot, dry conditions caused nearly 80% of that water to either evaporate or be absorbed into the parched soil  part of a larger drought that has emptied reservoirs and led to cuts for farmers across the western United States. It caught sate officials by surprise as California now enters the rainy season with reservoirs at their lowest level ever.

Nothing in our historic record suggested the possibility of essentially that snow disappearing into the soils and up into the atmosphere at the level that it did, California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said. These climate changes are coming fast and furious.

California's State Water Project  a complex system of dams, canals and reservoirs  helps provide drinking water to about 27 million people in the state. In December, state officials will announce how much water each district can expect to get next year.

Thursday, Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth said the agency is preparing for what would be its first ever 0% allocation because of extraordinarily dry conditions.

Its a done deal, were sure that we will get a zero, said Demetri Polyzos, manager of resource planning for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California that provides water for about 19 million people. These are uncharted territories, what we are seeing.

The December announcement acts as an initial estimate. It could change later if things improve. That's why this winter is so important. It's impossible to predict with accuracy how much rain and snow California will get this winter. But if it's anything like the last two winters, there will be even bigger problems.

California's water year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. The 2021 year ends Thursday, and it was the second driest year on record, according to the Department of Water Resources. California had its warmest ever statewide monthly average temperatures in October, June and July, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information.

The 2021 water year began with reservoirs at 93% capacity. But California won't have that cushion this year. The state's reservoirs are at 60% of their historic average, state officials said.

The State Water Project provides about 30% of the Metropolitan Water District's supplies, with the Colorado River supplying about 25%. The district also has some local supplies, including water it has in storage.

Last month, the agency declared a water supply alert and called for voluntary conservation. They're offering rebates for things like more efficient shower heads and appliances and replacing grass lawns.

Despite the severity of the drought, Gov. Gavin Newsom has not declared a statewide emergency. Instead, he has declared emergencies in 50 of the state's 58 counties, an approach his administration says is driven by lessons learned from the most recent drought when the state imposed restrictions statewide.

(Water agencies) have explained to us that one size fits all mandates from Sacramento sometimes have unintended consequences, Crowfoot said.

Still, California's water supplies are in poor condition heading into the rainy season. In July, Newsom asked everyone to voluntarily reduce their water use by 15%. But in the first three weeks after that request, Californians reduced their water usage by just 1.8%, state officials said.

In a call with reporters on Thursday, Crowfoot said mandatory water restrictions need to be on the table. But he indicated those restrictions likely wouldn't come until state officials have a better idea of how much water the state will get this winter.

This winter will be determinative in terms of what additional actions we need to take on conservation, Crowfoot said. We'll be watching.
A fire that swept through a front bedroom of a South Jacksonville house had fire crews working into the early hours of Thursday.

South Jacksonville firefighters were called about 10:35 p.m. Wednesday to 216 E. Greenwood Ave. The fire was fully engulfed and had made its way into the attic when they arrived.

All the occupants were out of the structure upon arrival, South Jacksonville Fire Chief Rich Evans said. There were no injuries, thank goodness.

Jacksonville Fire Department also assisted in battling the blaze.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, but Evans said foul play is not suspected. The state fire marshal is investigating.

Most of the structural damage is on the southwest corner of the building but smoke and heat damage mean the homeowners are unable to occupy the home.

The house is not livable, Evans said.

South Jacksonville Fire Department cleared the scene at 1 a.m. Thursday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends that smoke detectors be installed on all levels of a home and placed inside and outside of sleeping areas. Alarms should be tested monthly, batteries should be changed regularly and no alarm should be more than 10 years old.

FEMA also recommends having two exit strategies and a designated meeting place outside a home.

The National Fire Protection Association reports that, between 2014 and 2018, 49% of house fires stemmed from cooking, 14% from heating equipment and 10% from electrical distribution and lighting equipment. Another 8% were intentionally set and 5% were smoking-related.
5 1 of 5 Screen shot from Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Screen shot from Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Screen shot from Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team Show More Show Less 5 of 5









Ava Lahey of Jacksonville has been dancing for more than 16 years and is sharing her talent with the world as part of the CMT show Making the Team, hoping to become a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. Were following her throughout the competition. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team is on CMT at 8 p.m. today.
Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 A 12-year-old boy was cited at 2:20 p.m. Thursday on a disorderly conduct charge after being accused of causing a disturbance at Jacksonville Middle School at 664 Lincoln Ave.

VANDALISM

 A resident of the 1000 block of East Morton Avenue found dirt on her car that was not there the night before, according to a report filed at 7:22 a.m. Thursday.

 A window was broken at a residence in the 800 block of Goltra Avenue, according to a report filed at 4:22 p.m. Thursday.

THEFTS, BURGLARIES

 Jewelry was taken from a residence in the 1000 block of South Diamond Street five to six weeks ago, according to a report filed at 10:28 a.m. Thursday.

 Several pairs of eyeglass frames were stolen from Pearle Vision at 111 E. Morton Ave., according to a report filed at 1:59 p.m. Thursday.

Compiled by David C.L. Bauer
In a time when normality has become a fluid construct, it makes sense that Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corp. would choose a unique approach in naming a top industry for the year.

During its annual Harold Cox Industry of the Year event Thursday at Waters Edge Winery, JREDC gave the honor to three entities that shared the same mission during the past year: keeping the community safe during a pandemic.

The award has been given yearly since 1990 to a company that exhibits outstanding business development and activity that enhances regional economic viability.

The honor this year went to Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, Morgan County Health Department and Jacksonville/Morgan County Office of Emergency Management.

During a year of extraordinary challenges for those in the health care field, Jacksonville Memorials employees have been faced with physically and emotionally draining work and high volumes of patients, according to JREDC. While it has been difficult to see friends and neighbors suffer from such a devastating illness, the hospital staff supported one another and worked together to meet the needs of their patients and our communities, according to the organization.

Working alongside hospital staff to ensure the well-being of the community was the Jacksonville/Morgan County Office of Emergency Management. The pandemic brought the offices work to the forefront as it coordinated with private and public partners to ensure mitigation of risks and to set the foundation for a recovery.

The offices partnerships include Morgan County Health Department. During the past 18 months, COVID-19 outreach has been one of the main priorities for health department staff. From communicating daily updates to providing testing, contact tracing and vaccinations, staff members have worked to ensure the Jacksonville region has the tools needed to be as safe as possible.

JREDC Chairman Jodee Nell recognized the award recipients during her remarks. In addition, she thanked JREDC President Kristin Jamison and Vice President Bonni Waters for their work during difficult circumstances.

We can all agree that 2020 was a year of challenges for everyone, but Kristin and Bonni adapted to the times, and spent countless hours educating and informing businesses of the opportunities for help during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

Jamison and Waters worked throughout the onset of the pandemic, focusing a large part of their efforts on helping small businesses and non-profits gain access to grant funding through state and local programs. More than $1.3 million in assistance was given to entities in Morgan and Scott counties through the efforts of the JREDC and community partners. The organization also is serving as a community navigator through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunitys small business grant program.

During Thursdays investor appreciation event, JREDC recognized Mike Hayes and The Hayes Group with the Champion Award. The Hayes Group has been steadily growing its operations in Jacksonville since 2005. Hayes, a Jacksonville native, began his entrepreneurship efforts with a homemade ice cream shop and a communications group. Today, the Hayes Group of companies has grown to include more than 400 residential units and several hundred thousand square feet of commercial space, including the former A.C. Humko plant, Dunlap Center and former U.S. Bank building downtown, as well as five buildings on the former MacMurray College campus.

The Hayes Groups latest project is Country Club Hills subdivision and Waters Edge Winery & Bistro of Jacksonville on East Morton Avenue.

I was born and raised on the north and northeast side of this community, and I have always seen the east side of Jacksonville as an opportunity to grow the economic base for our town, Hayes said. We will continue to grow our presence in Jacksonville and work hard to provide economic and cultural growth for the city.

The mission of Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corp. is to create, expand, recruit and retain job opportunities for Morgan and Scott counties. The investor-based group traces its beginnings to 1964, when Jacksonville Area Industrial Corp. was formed with the objective of creating jobs by acquiring new industries and assisting the growth of existing industries.
We all know the risks of tobacco abuse: Science has been quite clear that its not great. But science has also shown that innovative, safer alternatives to cigarettes can limit negative externalities on health and the environment. Even so, regardless of evidence, local and international institutions are fighting against vaping  and it has terribly negative consequences on public health, the environment, and the economy.

The number of adult smokers in the world has decreased  from 23.5% in 2007 to 19% today  and that number is expected to be as low as 17% in 2030. More and more consumers have chosen alternatives to traditional cigarettes that companies have developed to convert smokers to smoke-free products while keeping and transforming their business. Some companies, like Philip Morris, declared they would eventually switch to medical-related products (such as inhalers) once any type of tobacco-related product would not be market fit anymore.

Innovation is an innate and natural process in companies and humankind. As described by world-famous economist Joseph Schumpeter, it is nothing more than doing things differently in the realm of economic life.

But how can companies innovate to reduce their environmental and health impact if regulators hamper this process?

Unfortunately for smokers trying to quit, the U.S. has done just that by recently announcing a countrywide ban on flavored e-cigs (considered too appealing for young people). Whats more, another law has forbidden vaping product shipment. And in other countries like Italy, the government is trying to equalize taxes on alternative tobacco products to traditional cigarettes.

These national regulators are getting their bad advice from the World Health Organization, which is pushing governments and institutions to wage a political war on innovative alternatives to cigarettes.

Politicians and regulators often speak about the public interest that would be pursued with this regulation. References are associated with sins and harm. We have to protect citizens. But are we really protecting them? Moreover, is it something that the government should do for any potential harmful behavior?

Lets start with the first question.

Nobel Prize economist Milton Friedman wrote, One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.

Noble intentions can easily cause devastating consequences, and history is full of episodes of this kind.

To look at a more contemporary example, we can take Colombia, a country that the World Health Organization has awarded for its efforts to fight the tobacco market.

In 2016, the World Health Organization celebrated Colombia as the most virtuous country to fight tobacco use. Colombia increased the tobacco tax rate and tripled it from 2016 to 2018.

According to official data, cigarette consumption fell by 34% in 2018, but at the same time, a substantial black market developed, doubling the number of illegal cigarettes sold in Colombia from 2016 to 2017. Illegal trade has a public cost, in 2017 thousands of jobs were lost, together with $144 million in taxes.

The Philippines were also celebrated for their extraordinary Sin Tax Law, which raised taxes on cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and electronic cigarettes. Yet, in 2020, 53% of contraband seized by the government in terms of value were tobacco and cigarettes.

Another country, India, has interestingly banned all vaping and tobacco-heating products while keeping an ordinary regulation on traditional cigarettes, which are proved to be more harmful.

These policies are dangerous for their methodology, as they were developed without considering the scientific method, and their effects, as they can jeopardize achievements obtained in harm reduction.

Behavioral studies, medicine, and psychology have widely demonstrated that folks can be vulnerable to behaviors that might create harm and addiction.

What science has also proved, however, is that it is possible to develop alternatives that can reduce damage and limit negative externalities while accepting, and this is key, that individuals should still have the free will to choose what is best or worst for themselves.

Addressing individual choices has been the obsession of policymakers, institutions, and economic behavioralists, from the most authoritarian dictatorships to the softer incentives put in place by the Nudge Theory.

Finally, it is not a surprise that some innovations meet resistance from regulators and institutions. However, what is a surprise is when these innovations can substantially reducing risk and are fought by the government.

Reaching a world without smoke is not impossible, but only if governments get out of the way.

Elisa Serafini is a journalist for The Post Internazionale and Forbes Italy and has experience in public policy and innovation. She wrote this for InsideSources.com.
N Korea says it fired anti-aircraft missile, 4th recent test View Photo

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea said Friday it test-fired a new anti-aircraft missile, its fourth weapons launch in recent weeks, which experts say is part of a strategy to receive relief from economic sanctions and win other concessions.

South Korea, Japan and the United States typically publicly confirm North Korean ballistic missile launches, which are banned by U.N. resolutions, soon after they occur. But they did not do so for Thursdays launch, indicating the weapon tested may have been a different kind. Seouls Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities monitored moves by North Korea but didnt elaborate.

Three weeks ago, North Korea resumed missile tests after a six-month lull. As it has sometimes done before, North Korea combined the show of force with a more conciliatory gesture, offering earlier this week to reactivate hotlines that North and South Korea use to set up meetings, arrange border crossings and avoid accidental clashes.

Diplomacy aimed at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear arsenal in return for economic and political rewards has largely been deadlocked since early 2019. That has left North Korea under crippling U.S.-led economic sanctions at a time when its fragile economy is suffering massive setbacks due to the coronavirus pandemic. North Koreas latest moves appear aimed at pressuring South Korea, which wants to improve strained ties on the peninsula, to persuade the U.S. to relax the sanctions.

On Friday, the Norths Korean Central News Agency said the anti-aircraft missile test was of very practical significance in studying and developing various prospective anti-aircraft missile system.

Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the launch appears to be the primitive stage of a test to develop a missile designed to shoot down incoming enemy missiles and aircraft. He said the missile resembles the Russian-made S-400 air defense system, which he said has a maximum range of 400 kilometers (250 miles) and is reportedly capable of intercepting stealth jets.

The U.N. Security Council received a briefing on the recent launches and the humanitarian and COVID-19 situations in North Korea at an emergency closed-door meeting Friday but took no action.

While the United States, Britain, France and other council members raised the risks the tests posed, China said a U.S. and U.K. deal to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines poses a danger to the region, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.

France later circulated a proposed statement that the diplomats said expresses concern over the missile launches and calls on North Korea to fully implement U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban its ballistic missile firings. But Russia and China didnt consider a council statement timely, the diplomats said, so its approval remains uncertain.

Earlier this week, in his governments latest mixed signal, North Korea leader Kim Jong Un expressed his willingness to restore the communication hotlines with South Korea in the coming days, but he also shrugged off U.S. offers for dialogue as a cunning concealment of its hostility against North Korea. He also insisted that South Korea abandon its double-dealing attitude if it wants to see an improvement in Korean relations. His comments largely echoed demands from his powerful sister Kim Yo Jong, who has taken the lead in the Norths ongoing pressure campaign.

South Korea has said it would prepare for the restoration of the cross-border phone and fax lines, which have been largely dormant for more than a year. But as of Friday afternoon, North Korea remained unresponsive to South Koreas attempt to exchange messages through the channels, according to Seouls Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North.

During an Armed Forces Day ceremony on Friday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in vowed to repel any attempt to threaten his peoples lives and strive to achieve lasting peace. He didnt mention North Koreas recent tests in a possible effort to keep alive the possibility of talks between the Koreas.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that U.S. officials were still assessing the most recent missile launch. She said Biden administration officials have made efforts to reach out to North Korea to spur talks but have not received a response.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Thursday that Washington certainly supports inter-Korean dialogue in principle. But he said the U.S. was concerned about North Koreas recent launches, which he noted were in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and created greater prospects for instability and insecurity.

Among the weapons North Korea tested in September were a hypersonic missile, a newly developed cruise missile and a ballistic missile launched from a train. South Koreas military assessed the hypersonic missile to be at an early stage of development, but experts say the other weapons displayed North Koreas ability to attack targets in South Korea and Japan, key U.S. allies that host American troops. Earlier this week, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said its commitment to the defense of South Korea and Japan remains ironclad.

North Korea has not tested a long-range missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland for about four years  what experts see as an indication it is carefully calibrating its provocations to keep alive its chances for diplomacy.

___

This article corrects that it is a U.S. and U.K. deal to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, not U.S. and U.N.

___

Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

By HYUNG-JIN KIM

Associated Press
China accuses ex-security official of poor integrity, greed View Photo

BEIJING (AP)  Chinas ruling Communist Party has expelled a former vice minister of public security amid a raft of accusations from corruption to abandoning his post amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Sun Lijun was fired from his position after an investigation was opened last year and he will now face prosecution and what is likely to be a lengthy prison sentence.

He is the latest high-ranking official to fall in president and party leader Xi Jinpings sweeping decadelong crackdown on graft that has ensnared numerous serving and retired officials in what some see as politically motivated prosecutions.

An announcement from the partys Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said Sun displayed extremely inflated political ambition and very poor political integrity, issued groundless criticisms of the Partys policies, and spread political rumors.

The leading police official also engaged in superstitious activities, sold official posts, displayed extreme greed, accepted large amounts of money and property and led a decadent lifestyle, the announcement said.

The circumstances were particularly serious, the nature was particularly pernicious, the impact was extremely bad and the case must be handled with extreme seriousness, it said.
Sacramento, CA  Once it receives full FDA authorization, Governor Gavin Newsom says the COVID-19 vaccine will be required for all k-12 students who are in classroom settings.

In the school term immediately after FDA approval, it will be required for students in grades 7-12, and then shortly after that for students in K-6.

In announcing the directive, Governor Newsom noted that California was the first state to require masking in school settings and for school staff members to be vaccinated. He argues, As you know, we have not been shy, and continue to lean in.

He says that 63-percent of the states youth between the ages of 12-17 have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Those under 12 are not yet eligible.

Newsom says the COVID vaccine will be added to the list of 10 others that are currently required for students to attend school.

Tuolumne Countys vaccination rate, sitting at just over 50-percent of those eligible, is much lower than the state average, which is over 70-percent. We reported earlier there have also been a pair of recent Freedom Rallies at Sonoras Courthouse Park in opposition to any vaccine mandates.
Calaveras County Public Health reports 37 new Covid cases since yesterdays report. Active cases increased to 61, including one Covid hospitalization. There are 10 new cases age 0-17 and 6 new cases in individuals age 65 years old or older. Since the pandemic began Calaveras has had 557 Covid-19 positive children who are 17 and under and 618 Covid-19 positive people 65 and over. Calaveras has vaccinated 53.4% of their eligible population.

Tuolumne Public Health reports 13 new COVID-19 cases since Thursdays report with 169 active cases including 6 who are hospitalized. Tuolumne public health officials say We are seeing our case rate slowly decline. Thank you for continuing to take those positive actions to protect ourselves and those around us from illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19.

The total current case rate, a 14-day average for Tuolumne County is down to 39.2 from 41.9 per 100,000 population. A total of 4,670 have been released from isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, there have been 103 deaths and 1,620 inmate cases with none currently active, for a total of 6,562 positive COVID-19 cases.

Todays newly reported cases include 5 cases age 17 or younger and 1 case age 60 or older. The gender and age breakdown is; 2 girls and 1 boy age 0-11, 2 boys age 12-17, 1 woman and 1 man age 18-29, 1 man age 30-39, 2 men age 40 to 49, 1 woman and 1 man age 50-59, and 1 man age 60 to 69.

Of the 13 new community cases, 12 were unvaccinated and 1 was vaccinated. Of Tuolumnes population eligible to be vaccinated 59% have been vaccinated. Tuolumne Countys active community cases were below 200 for 8 days until yesterday when it spiked up to 218. Cases were above 200 for 49 days between August 2 and September 19 with a high of 407 active cases. During the previous surge, active cases were above 200 for 36 days between November 15 and December 20 with a high of 350.

Week Overview since last Friday Tuolumne reported a total of 197 new COIVD-19 cases and Calaveras reported 151 new cases. There were two deaths of Tuolumne residents due to COVID-19 and three deaths of Calaveras residents. Hospitalizations in both counties decreased over the week although today Tuolumnes increased two from yesterday.

COVID-19 Testing Public health recommends if you believe you have been exposed to COVID, schedule an appointment to get tested 5 days after exposure and if you are having any symptoms, please get tested right away. The Tuolumne County State testing site is open 7 days a week beginning from 7 AM to 7 PM at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds. Appointments can be scheduled at www.lhi.care/covidtesting or by calling 888-634-1123 the same website and phone number can be used to schedule tests in other counties. Testing is also available through some pharmacies, at Rapid Care, the hospital emergency department if you are experiencing any symptoms, or contact your healthcare provider.

COVID-19 Vaccines Tuolumne Public Health says Vaccination is the most important step we can take to reduce the spread of disease, and reduce the impact to our healthcare system. In addition, the continued practice of other preventive actions like wearing a mask in public, keeping your distance, avoiding crowds, washing hands, cleaning surfaces, and staying home when sick will help slow the spread of the virus.

Vaccine appointments can be made at local pharmacies and through myturn.ca.gov or by calling 833-422-4255. Anyone 12 and older is eligible for a COVID vaccine, Pfizer is approved for anyone age 12 or over. In Calaveras, mobile vaccination clinics now do COVID-19 testing. For COVID-19 testing times and locations go to: https://covid19.calaverasgov.us/. Walk-ins only for COVID-19 testing. No appointment is needed. Register online to reduce waiting time: https://bit.ly/3wpNEUU. The Pfizer vaccine requires 3 weeks between doses and the Moderna requires 4 weeks. The J&J vaccine requires only one dose. Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine booster shot information is here. Call or email with any questions you may have Tuolumne is available at (209) 533-7440 Health@tuolumnecounty.ca.gov, Mariposa at (209) 259-1332 or mariposacovid19@gmail.com more numbers are available on our COVID-19 vaccine page here.

County/Date

Tier Color Active

Cases New Cases

Total Cases COVID

Deaths Amador 9/30 136 15 3,156 52 Calaveras 10/1 61 37 3,525 74 Mariposa 10/1 65 16 1,110 13 Mono 10/1 68 11 1,339 5 Stanislaus 10/1 1,758 202 74,232 1,284 Tuolumne 10/1 169 13 6,562 103
CAIRO (AP)  Libyan security forces on Friday detained at least 500 African migrants, including women and children, two officials and a refugee group said. The authorities described the raid as part of a crackdown on illegal migration but made no mention of any traffickers or smugglers being arrested.

Libyas Interior Ministry said the migrants were rounded up in the western town of Gargaresh and taken to detention centers in Tripoli  places that rights activists say are rife with abuse and where migrants are kept in miserable conditions.

The ministry did not say how many migrants were detained. Gargaresh, a known hub for migrants and refugees, is about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) west of Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

Two security officials and the Norwegian Refugee Council said that more than 500 were rounded up. The officials said many of those detained had lived illegally in Libya for years. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The chief prosecutor office said hundreds of arrested migrants were taken to detention centers. The Interior Ministry posted images purporting to show some of those detained, sitting clustered together on a street with their hands tied behind their backs. Another image, an aerial photo, showed men lying face-down on the ground at a crossroads, with military trucks and guards around them.

Tarik Lamloum, a Libyan activist working with the Belaady Organization for Human Rights, described the raid as the fiercest crackdown in western Libya in years.

Dax Roque, the Norwegian Refugee Councils director in Libya, expressed his concerns over the detentions, saying the arrested migrants are at risk of abuse and ill-treatment. Torture, sexual violence, and extortion is rampant in Libyan detention centers, he said.

Libya has for years been a hub for African and Middle Eastern migrants fleeing war and poverty in their homelands and hoping for a better life in Europe. The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

Traffickers have exploited the chaos and often pack desperate families into ill-equipped rubber or wooden boats that stall and founder along the perilous Central Mediterranean route. Thousands have drowned along the way, others were intercepted and returned to Libya.

Those returned to shore have been taken to government-run detention centers, where they are often abused and extorted for ransom under the very nose of U.N. officials.

By SAMY MAGDY

Associated Press
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem defends daughters licensure View Photo

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Friday defended her administrations handling of her daughters application for a real estate appraiser license, attempting to brush aside questions about a meeting she held last year that included her daughter, Kassidy Peters, and the state employee who was overseeing her application.

I never once asked for special treatment for Kassidy, the Republican governor said in video posted on YouTube days after The Associated Press first reported on the meeting. She is my daughter and Im proud of her. I raised her to accomplish things on her own.

The meeting happened after the Department of Labor and Regulation moved to deny Peters the license. Four months later, in November 2020, Peters received her certification as a residential appraiser, according to the department.

A week after Peters received her license, the state employee who directed the agency was allegedly pressured to retire by Noems Cabinet secretary. The state employee, Sherry Bren, eventually received a $200,000 payment from the state to withdraw an age discrimination complaint and leave her job.

The states attorney general, as well as Republican and Democratic lawmakers, are looking into the episode.

Until the video, Noem had released limited statements about the meeting, calling the APs report a political attack and insisting she didnt seek special treatment for her daughter.

In the video, Noem did not mention the July 2020 meeting in her office or that the agency had indicated it would deny Peters her license. Noem said Peters had followed all the same steps as other appraisers, taking 200 hours of classroom education and gaining more than 1,500 hours of experience over the course of more than a year.

The Department of Labor and Regulation has denied a record request from the AP for agreements between the agency and Peters that would shed light on how Peters application progressed and whether her work samples met federal standards.

Although the department acknowledged those records state they are open to public inspection, the agencys attorney argued that they were exempt. An appeals office later ruled that the department was right to deny the records.

However, Brad Johnson, an appraiser from Watertown, was riled by the departments decision to withhold the documents.

Any appraiser understands that anything we sign with the state of South Dakota can be public, he said.

Noem, 49, has generated speculation about a possible 2024 presidential run bid by forming a federal political action committee, assisting with campaigns across the country and attending many of the same events as other potential GOP hopefuls. Though Noem has said she is focused on reelection in 2022 and hasnt publicly indicated that she plans a White House bid, she has visited the key early presidential campaigning states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and shown a willingness to jab at potential rivals.

In a statement released with the video Friday, the governors office said the shortage of appraisers is a nationwide problem that had been exacerbated in South Dakota due to barriers to getting certification. In the video, the governor said that since her daughters certification, she has made changes to the process to streamline it for the future. The certification program no longer requires people looking to get an entry-level license to take a test.

My administration started fixing that process and it was way too difficult, she said. Appraisers werent getting certified and South Dakotans were having to wait much longer to buy a home than in other states.

However, the governors ability to change the program is limited because the state must meet federal standards for certifying appraisers.

In its statement, the governors office included quotes from three real estate professionals who praised Noems move.

It is way too tough for young folks to enter this field, said Brian Gatzke, an appraiser from Brookings who is a political backer of the governor and has donated to her congressional and gubernatorial campaigns.

However, Johnson, the appraiser from Watertown, said that the governors apparent interference in the licensing of her daughter has worried other appraisers in the state. Federal regulators are currently auditing the certification program, raising concern that if they find something amiss, it could affect everyone with an appraiser license from South Dakota.

Any appearance that something is not right in our appraiser certification program puts a black eye on the industry and we dont appreciate it, he said.

By STEPHEN GROVES

Associated Press
Doug McDonough/Plainview Lions Club

The Plainview Lions Club joined last week and this week for their Wednesday meetings.

On Sept. 22, immediate past Lion Boss Stacie Hardage got pressed back into service in the absence of the Lion Boss and both Vice Presidents. She presided over the meeting along with Queen Kenzi Knippa and Princess Bella Becerra. The Club congratulated Princess Bella on her involvement with the Plainview FFAs dairy judging team, which placed 5th recently in a national competition. Members got reminders to attend the Sept. 30 Queens Contest; the Oct. 5 Snack Pak for Kids packing session; and an overpass cleanup, on a date to be determined in October.
Emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food benefits have been extended for the month of October.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission will provide an estimated $294 million in emergency benefits in addition to the more than $4.5 billion previously provided since April 2020, according to a news release from Governor Greg Abbotts Office.

All SNAP recipient households will receive a minimum of $95 in emergency allotments, which was approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The allotments are expected to appear in recipients accounts by the end of October.

SNAP is a federal program administered through HHSC. It provides food assistance to eligible low-income families and individuals across the state.

Those interested in signing up for SNAP and Medicaid benefits can visit YourTexasBenefits.com or utilize the Your Texas Benefits app to manage existing benefits.
Upon the official arrival of Plainview Independent School Districts Superintendent H.T. Sanchez, he immediately set to work shaping the school board.

He took over in 2018 starting a new era for the district with a few new board members.

In the first six months of his reign, the board participated in training after training and met constantly to share ideas and get to know one another. It was very hands-on, said Board President Sylvia De La Garza.

Thats the way he runs the district, she noted.

De La Garza and Amber Bass, another board member, said Sanchez makes himself constantly visible to the students, the faculty and to the community  a factor that was important to the board as they searched for the next head of the district. Its also a factor the board feels has helped him achieve the districts goals and one that led to his recent crowning as the states top superintendent.

Sanchez was named Superintendent of the Year during a Texas Association of School Administrators/Texas Association of School Board Convention last weekend after a final interview for the award conducted during the conference. The Plainview ISD School Board and Sanchezs wife, Mary Sanchez, who is also a district employee, were present to watch as his name was called.

Past boards have submitted nominations but Sanchez is the few have made it past the first rounds of elimination.

Sanchez was chosen out of a wide applicant pool open to all superintendents across the state.

To be eligible, De La Garza said candidates must first be nominated by their school board to be considered within their Education Service Center region. Plainview is in ESC Region 17 and there are 20 across the state.

It was an easy decision, she said. Every board member was in agreement to submit his name. The slight pushback came from Sanchez, she mentioned noting that hes humble.

Following the initial nomination, candidates go through a vigorous interview process competing for selection to the final five.

When it was announced last month that Sanchez made the cut down to the top five, he gave all the credit to the school board and district employees.

Bass said Sanchez alluded to that during a special celebratory reception hosted in his honor on Monday. In an address to faculty and staff, he called the win an all-in effort.

Bass and De La Garza both noted a few points of accomplishment for the district under Sanchezs leadership.

Sanchez led the district through a successful bond election to condense the number of district facilities, build a few new ones and renovate others.

The district has strengthened its grow-your-own programs where the district helps aspiring teachers and principals finish their degree and certifications in exchange for employment.

It has implemented recruitment/retention programs that provide incentives intended to bring in new hires and retain current employees.

Plainview ISD has implemented a program that helps second-career professionals train for and attain a teaching certification.

The district has implemented a teacher mentor program where new teachers are provided with guidance from seasoned professionals.

Plainview ISD established its own police department.

It established a Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)/504 program, which was created to perform casework services to help resolve any barriers to learning for students.

The district implemented a new lunch program through SFE Food Services that provides free lunches to all students which include menus that students (and employees) are generally satisfied with.

All students and employees across the district now have laptops providing a greater degree of flexibility for learning and teaching and work duties.

The district has enhanced its Career and Technical Education programs with more resources and more options for students.

Plainview ISD has cultivated new and enhanced existing community relationships for the benefits of students.

The district has established Plainview Collegiate High School allowing students to take college-level classes from Wayland Baptist University and Angelo State University as freshmen.

The district is working to establish an internet network that would allow students broadband access virtually anywhere within city limits.

He thinks outside the box, De La Garza said adding that the board wouldnt have imagined the idea of creating the districts own broadband network without Sanchez.

Sanchezs last interview as a finalist for the title was conducted during the conference and he  along with the board members  were pleasantly surprised when he was announced as the winner.

Were really proud, said Bass.
The next local medication cleanout event is set for Oct. 23 at the Harral Auditorium from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This is the first Medication Take Back event scheduled since COVID.
Two recently opened bars have upcoming anniversary celebrations, though one has been marred by an act of vandalism.

First up, inner Westside community bar Jaime's Place is celebrating it one year anniversary with a big celebration on Saturday, October 9.

Owner Jaime Macias opened the bar last year to serve as a "gateway" business to the Westside community, and inspire positive, conscious growth in the 78207.

Now the hangout spot, which has had celebrities grace its grounds, is inviting locals to enjoy cold brews and performances from the George Rivas Band, The Munoz Brothers Band, and Status'fied 17.

Chuck Blount /Staff

Next up, Tony's Siesta officially invited San Antonio to its one-year anniversary celebration on Saturday, October 16, on Instagram, turning a disappointing moment for the bar into an exciting one.

Tony's Siesta posted a photo of its building tagged with graffiti on Tuesday.

"My main goals when opening this bar were to pay the great OG homage and create a comfortable and inviting downtown cantina that screamed Puro SA," the post says. "Though this can and will be painted over I take this very personal, not only to me, but to Tony himself."

The post refers to Tony Lopez, the former owner of the bar when it was Tony's Bar, who turned 81 last Friday and still frequents the bar. Owner Andy Palacios reopened the landmark watering hole as Tony's Siesta in last year to honor Lopez's legacy.

The post didn't give any more details about the anniversary celebration, but says it will provide more details soon.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia

(THE CONVERSATION) Britney Spears finally got her wish: A judge suspended her dad as conservator, about two and a half months after she told the court that he was ruining her life.

During the Sept. 29, 2021, hearing, Spears lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, described Jamie Spears as a cruel, toxic and abusive man and cited a recent report in The New York Times that he established an intense surveillance apparatus to monitor and control his daughter. Earlier, Britney Spears claimed her father even prevented her from having a baby.

Whether or not the conservatorship is ended entirely wont be decided until November. To terminate a conservatorship, California law simply requires the filing of a petition demonstrating that it is no longer required.

Spears case is unusual: Conservatorships are typically not imposed on someone who doesnt have severe cognitive impairments. Since her conservatorship was put in place in 2008, Spears has toured the world, released four albums and earned US$131 million, all while deemed legally unfit to manage her finances or her own body.

But it does illustrate how easily conservatorships can be abused  which is one reason some members of Congress are considering ways to enact reforms to the state-run system.

What is a conservatorship?

I teach about conservatorships in my course on aging and law and have written extensively about the parent-child relationship.

Conservatorships are legal arrangements that give a third party control over someone else. They can be imposed only by a court, and only a court can terminate them. The person put in charge of the persons affairs is called the conservator, or the guardian in some states.

Conservatorships have been around for centuries and are critical legal mechanisms to help people  often older persons with dementia or other neurocognitive disorders  who are considered unable to care for themselves or their finances.

Conservators are subject to court oversight and are typically required to submit annual reports to the court. And California law  which is similar to the rules in most states  requires the court to monitor each conservatorship to protect against abuse and ensure that the conservator is acting in the best interests of the subject.

Conservators often have broad powers

Jamie Spears was appointed as conservator by a California court in 2008. Since then, hes reportedly received at least $5 million in fees.

At different points in time, Jamie Spears has served as both the conservator of the person, which refers to someone able to make medical and other personal decisions on anothers behalf, as well as the conservator of the estate, which involves financial decisions. Most recently, before he was removed on Sept. 29, Spears served only in the second role, while Jodi Montgomery, a licensed personal fiduciary and care professional, is Britney Spears conservator of the person.

The California judge approved accountant John Zabel as Jamie Spears successor as conservator of the estate, at least until the Nov. 12 hearing that will decide whether the conservatorship is terminated.

While the standard in many states is to impose the fewest restrictions so the person retains the most rights possible, the powers of a conservator can be broad. And the person subject to one may lose the right to marry, make a will, vote or consent to medical treatment.

And imposing a conservatorship is not supposed to be easy. California requires clear and convincing evidence that one is necessary. The law also states that the individual has the right to be represented. The one imposed on Spears, however, was done quickly.

Conservatorship abuse and anemic oversight

Broad powers and what my colleague, Nina Kohn, has characterized as anemic oversight make conservatorships subject to multiple forms of abuse, ranging from the imposition of unnecessary restrictions on the individual to financial mismanagement. Nothing can be done if no one finds out about the abuse.

A 2010 U.S. government report identified hundreds of allegations of physical abuse, neglect and financial impropriety by conservators. Most of them related to financial exploitation, and that, in turn, often meant that the victims family was affected, losing not just expected inheritances but also contact with the person subject to the conservatorship.

A 2017 New Yorker article on abusive guardians highlighted the case of April Parks, who was sentenced to up to 40 years in prison for financial conduct related to numerous conservatorships she handled. She was also ordered to pay more than half a million dollars to her victims.

But beyond these anecdotes, no one even knows the magnitude of the problem. Thats because conservatorships are subject to state law, and each state handles the imposition of them as well as data collection differently. A 2018 Senate report found that most states are unable to report accurate data on conservatorships.

The National Center for State Courts estimated in 2016 that 1.3 million adults in the U.S. are subject to some kind of conservatorship  representing about $50 billion in assets  but a previous report suggested the number of cases could be more than double that.

Theres virtually no data on how often conservators misuse their power or when a conservatorship has been improperly imposed.

[Over 110,000 readers rely on The Conversations newsletter to understand the world. Sign up today.]

Free Britney may lead to reforms

However, this may begin to change, thanks to growing publicity of the issue.

The 2020 Netflix movie I Care a Lot told the story of a fictionalized abusive guardian played by Rosamund Pike, who won best actress at the Golden Globe for the role. And a 2020 episode of the investigative series Dirty Money profiled what it alleged was guardian abuse by several lawyers, including one who subsequently filed a lawsuit claiming defamation.

In February 2021, The New York Times aired Framing Britney Spears, which documented her yearslong struggle under the conservatorship. Times reporters also exposed confidential court records that showed Britney Spears has been unhappy with her father since at least 2014. A court investigator in 2016, for example, wrote that the conservatorship had become an oppressive and controlling tool against her.

Now, members of Congress as ideologically opposed as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have joined the Free Britney cause and are pushing for conservatorship reforms and more data on the legal arrangements.

While states have made some improvements, such as urging more autonomy for conservatees and less restrictive alternatives to conservatorships, reform advocates such as Kohn, a Syracuse University law professor, say more is needed to protect the rights of individuals and prevent abuse, including stronger oversight.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on July 19, 2021.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/britney-spears-gets-free-of-fathers-conservatorship-but-many-others-remain-shackled-by-the-easily-abused-legal-arrangement-169059.
U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had to explain very basic female anatomy to her colleagues during an abortion hearing on Thursday, September 30.

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, held Thursday's hearing to examine the threat to abortion rights and access posed by extreme anti-choice state governments, like the Texas legislature.

In Texas, a conservative abortion law went into effect on September 1 that effectively bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy  a period before many women know they are pregnant. It also does not make exceptions for rape or incest.

"Once again, we're in a room of legislators who are attempting to legislate reproductive systems that they know nothing about," Ocasio-Cortez said during the congressional hearing. "It's shameful that this education even needs to happen because this conversation shouldn't even be held in a legislative body."

Ocasio-Cortez noted that being six weeks pregnant is about two weeks after a missed period. She explained how a woman can miss or be late for their period for many reasons, ranging from simple hormone changes to the stress of being sexually assaulted.

"When you are raped, you don't always know what happened to you," Ocasio-Cortez said. "And I speak about this as a survivor... You are in so much shock at what happened to you, sometimes it takes years to realize what actually went on."

The representative provided an example of how someone could be late on her period due to an inconsistent weight. She said it's unrealistic for women to know they're pregnant within that six-week window.

This isn't the first time AOC has spoken on the subject. In early September, the politician called out Gov. Greg Abbott on the abortion law while speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper.



"I don't know if [Abbott] is familiar with a menstruating person's body. In fact, I do know that he's not familiar with a female or menstruating persons body because if he did, he would know that you don't have six weeks," she told Cooper. "I'm sorry we have to break down Biology 101 on national television, but in case no one has informed him before in his life, six weeks pregnant means two weeks late for your period."

You can watch the hearing below:
Google Maps

Officials in Montgomery County, north of Houston, are currently searching for three children in the Sam Houston National Forest.

The children  a girl, 6, and two boys, 6 and 7  were first reported missing on Thursday around 8 p.m. in the Flamingo Lakes Subdivision, a neighborhood that is encircled by the national forest, says the Montgomery Country Sheriff's Office.
A man has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman who was jogging at Brackenridge Park, according to the San Antonio Police Department.

Brandyn Alexander Garcia, 29, was charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, evading arrest, and felon in possession of a firearm, according to booking records from the Bexar County Jail.

According to an arrest affidavit, the 20-year-old woman was exercising at a trail at Brackenridge Park when Garcia abducted her at gunpoint on Monday, September 27. The victim got into the vehicle and was told by Garcia to crouch down, the affidavit stated.

Garcia drove 15 minutes to an apartment complex in 1800 block of Marshall Cross. Police said he forced the woman enter the apartment and put a hoodie on her face. Garcia then sexually assaulted the victim and made her shower before they left the apartment. The affidavit stated Garcia drove the victim home, but kept her cell phone.

Surveillance footage from a camera of the victim's main entrance gate showed Garcia in a Hyundai Elantra driving the victim, police said. On Wednesday, September 29, cell records also showed the victim's phone was turned on at an apartment in Marshall Cross.

Garcia was also seen from surveillance footage trading in his Hyundai at a car dealership the evening after the kidnapping, the affidavit stated.

On Thursday, September 30, police found Garcia's new vehicle and began to follow him from his apartment complex. Garcia's driving became erratic and reckless, authorities said. Police pulled Garcia over and placed handcuffs on him but he slipped out of one of the handcuffs and got back into his vehicle.

A pursuit was terminated due to Garcia posing a safety threat to the public, police said. Garcia returned to his apartment where police were waiting for him and arrested him.
Twenty banks (some suffering repeated outages), six countries (one in lockdown), five continents, tens of millions of unhappy customers.

Theres never a good time for your banks IT system to go down. But few can be worse than in the middle of a lockdown. Its difficult to leave home, your local branch may not be open, and as a result you are more reliant than ever on digital banking services. In New Zealand, now in its seventh week of nationwide lockdown, one of the countrys largest lenders, Kiwibank, went down on Tuesday, leaving many of its customers in the lurch. It is one of a string of IT outages the bank has suffered over the past three weeks, after a DDoS attack on New Zealands third largest Internet provider caused IT crashes at a number of lenders, including Commonwealth Bank and Anz Bank.

In a DDoS attack hackers overwhelm a site by getting huge numbers of bots to connect to it all at once, rendering it inaccessible. Servers are not breached, data is not stolen but it can still cause plenty of disruption.

24 Million Unhappy Customers

New Zealand is not the only country to have suffered major outages within its banking system in recent weeks. Other countries include the UK, Japan, South Africa, Venezuela and Mexico, though there are no doubt more (if you know of any, It would be great if you could provide details in the comments section).

On September 12, operating failures at Mexicos largest bank, BBVA Mexico, left 24 million account holders unable to use the banks 13,000 ATMs, its mobile app or in-store payments for almost 20 hours. It being a Sunday, customers could not even avail of the lenders in-branch cash services. The bank blamed the outage on a system update failure and has offered to compensate customers with cash bonuses on purchases when using their credit or debit cards. The bank was also at pains to assure them that their financial data was not compromised.

It had nothing to do with the outside world, said Jorge Terrazas, the banks director of communicate and corporate identity. The bank and its customers information is secure. What we did was undo the changes to the system and return everything to as it was.

Less than a week after BBVAs outage, Santander Mexico, another Spanish-owned Mexican bank, suffered an outage that left customers across the country unable to use their debit cards at the ATM or in stores. Again, it was blamed on internal problems.

In recent years, Mexico has become an important market for stolen data  enough to earn it eighth place in the world in terms of identity theft, according to the countrys central bank, Banco de Mexico (Banxico for short). This is partly a result of the widespread impunity cyber criminals enjoy in the country, due to the lack of enforcement of existing laws and the absence of adequate legal tools. Cyber theft in Mexico is not just the preserve of isolated basement-dwelling hackers but also highly professional criminal organizations.

Even Banxicos SPEI interbank transfer system, an iteration of the SWIFT global payment system, has been the target of digital heists, as WIRED reports:

In January 2018 a group of hackers, now thought to be working for the North Korean state-sponsored group Lazarus, tried to steal $110 million from the Mexican commercial bank Bancomext. That effort failed. But just a few months later, a smaller yet still elaborate series of attacks allowed hackers to siphon off 300 to 400 million pesos, or roughly $15 to $20 million from Mexican banks. [Click here to read how they did it].

Since then Mexican banks have suffered repeated outages, one of the biggest of which took place during last years Buen Fin, an annual nationwide shopping event inspired by Black Friday. The online banking websites and mobile apps of many of the countrys major banks, including BBVA and Citibanamex collapsed on the same day, leaving many customers unable to complete their purchases.

A Growing Trend

In the UK the Financial Conduct Authority has been deeply concerned about the increasing number of technology outages for a number of years. At the FCAs annual public meeting in 2019, the regulators executive director of supervision, Megan Butler, said the number of incidents of operation resilience breaks reported in terms of IT failings had increased 300% year-on-year. And this, she said, would probably be a growing trend, though it is partly due to the rise in reporting of events.

On July 22 this year, the websites of six large banks and building societies  Lloyds, HSBC, TESCO Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and Barclays  were brought down by a global Internet outage allegedly caused by a botched software update at hosting service Akamai. Less than a month later, the apps of five lenders and building societies  Natwest, TESCO Bank, TSB, Santander UK and Halifax  all went down over a period of just a few days. The outage, apparently triggered by a problem with US payments company TSYS, left consumers unable to access their credit card services and account information. Since then, HSBC, Barclays Bank and the Cooperative Bank have all suffered brief outages.

Some outages can last much longer and wreak far more disruption on peoples lives. In 2018 Banco Sabadells botched IT migration of its UK subsidiary TSB  branded the biggest IT disaster in British banking history  left hundreds of thousands of customers unable to access their online accounts for weeks on end. Some customers lost out financially. Many saw their credit ratings deteriorate as a direct result. Business customers were unable to pay bills or make payroll and mortgage payments were missed. Over 1,300 customers became victims of fraud attacks. The crisis cost Sabadell hundreds of millions of pounds, 80,000 customers and one CEO. It was probably a key factor in scuppering BBVAs takeover of Sabadell late last year.

An Intense and Aggressive Cyber Attack

Almost 5,000 miles away from the UK, on the other side of the Atlantic, 16 million customers of Venezuelas biggest bank, Banco de Venezuela, had to recently endure five days without the banks online platform. As tends to happen in these cases, the outage became apparent when bank customers began venting their anger on social media. When the platform was finally restored, on September 20, Venezuelas vice president Delcy Rodriguez laid the blame on the US government, which she accused of launching an intense and aggressive cyber attack against the banks IT system.

The attack was apparently an attempt to derail Caracas plans to launch a new currency, which went live today (Oct 1) with six fewer zeros. Whether Rodriguez allegations are true or not its impossible to tell, but Washington certainly has the capability and form. Plus, it is engaged in a no holds-barred economic war against Venezuela.

Sometimes its the frequency rather than the duration of the outages that is the biggest problem for bank customers. Yesterday (September 30) Mizuho Bank, one of Japans three mega banks, experienced its eighth IT system failure so far this year  almost one every month. In the latest episode a system glitch caused a delay to some foreign exchange transactions. The system outages at Mizuho date back almost two decades and have been broadly blamed on its failure to integrate cultures and systems from the three-way merger of Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank, Fuji Bank, and IBJ that brought the bank into existence, all of 21 years ago. The bank has already spent $3.6 billion trying to fix the problems, but to little apparent avail.

Mergers of large banks have a tendency of leaving behind serious IT system issues, as Clive and I pointed out in an NC article published in December last year. This is particularly true in the case of cross-border mergers. One of the main reasons for this is that many banks are still largely run on creaky legacy systems built in the 1970s that make it all but impossible to merge IT systems without storing up big problems further down the line. In a 2019 Treasury Select Committee inquiry into what went wrong at Banco Sabadell, Alison Barker, director of specialist supervision at the Financial Conduct Authority, was asked to what extent legacy systems are still being used across the UKs retail banking sector. Heres what she said:

It is still pretty extensively, Im afraid some pretty core systems are still run on legacy. They still use code back from the 1970s on some of these systems, and theyve just built on top of them.

Yet many of these same banks are still trying to compete with younger, smaller, fleet of foot challengers whose IT systems are much more modern and flexible. And that is causing serious problems.

Inherent Fragility of Legacy Systems

If you are a large retail bank in the UK, you are probably dealing with legacy systems, the deputy chief executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority, Lyndon Nelson, told the inquiry. But as fintech companies add new features to their apps, they are keen to do the same for competitive reasons.

Nelson added that although some banks do plan to eventually phase out their legacy systems, it takes a brave chief technology officer to envisage that, due to the inherent risk in changing systems. Sabadells disastrous attempt to upgrade TSBs system will hardly have encouraged others to do the same. As S&P Global recently noted, bungled IT change is a leading culprit for outages and disruptions at U.K. financial institutions. An overreliance on outsourcing could make the problems worse.

Another problem highlighted by Nelson (and NC way back in 2016) is that few programmers are left who can actually use COBOL, the primary programming language used in banks legacy systems. This, says Nelson, has left many banks IT officers asking the question: how many times in a week can we change an app without it falling over?

When a banking app falls over or an IT system goes down, it can leave chaos in its wake. Ten years ago, Mizuho Bank suffered an outage that delayed money transfers in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. Its seventh outage this year, in early September, was apparently the final straw for Japans financial regulators, which requested that Mizuho submit a work plan for system maintenance and updating, in a rare move to effectively oversee the system of a megabank, reported Kyodo News.

Another bank that has been plagued by repeated IT system problems is South Africas largest lender, Standard Bank. In late April, the bank suffered hardware issues that downed its internet, mobile and ATM channels for over a week, leaving customers unable to pay their bills or access cash. By early September the banks mobile app was down once again, causing customers no end of hassle. On Tuesday this week the mobile app of another South African bank, Capitec, also went down.

All of these bank outages are happening for a variety of reasons, from internal problems within a banks IT system (Mizuho, Sabadell) to a botched update (BBVA), to a cyber attack (Kiwibank), to the downing of a hosting service (the collapse of bank websites around the world on July 22). But one thing they all highlight is the inherent fragility of banks IT systems, at a time when many people are using less and less cash and are becoming more and more dependent on digital banking services.
According to Tankersleys framing, the analysis seeks to show a gap between the tax rate that everyday Americans face and what the richest owe on their vast holdings, and is an attempt to bolster Mr. Bidens claims that billionaires are not paying what they actually should owe in federal taxes, and that the tax code rewards wealth, not work (emphasis added). In other words, its an analysis with a political agenda.

Dubious Data Point

This is in contrast to most measures of tax rates, which do not use the White House method of counting asset gains as annual income. The piece emphasizes how unconventional the White House analysis is, and that its well below what other analyses have found. (Note that these analyses dont seek to show, but simply find, thus enhancing their social science credibility.)

Tankersley points to one data point here:

The independent Tax Policy Center in Washington estimated this year that in 2015, the highest-earning 1,400 households in the country paid an average effective tax rate of about 24%, compared with an average rate of about 14% for all taxpayers.

First, that most measures dont count asset gains says more about how thoroughly the rich have rigged the tax code to exclude most of their income than it does about how one ought to measure incomeor tax rates. The Tax Policy Center figure, for instance, only considers federal income tax, which ignores state and local income tax, as well as payroll, consumption and excise taxes.

Second, the independent Tax Policy Center should hardly be assumed to be agenda-free; according to its most recent annual report (2017) available online, the groups Leadership Committee includes representatives of major financial firms like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and the Carlyle Group, entities that have a direct stake in keeping gains in financial assets from being counted as income.

And third, its crucial that the data from the Tax Policy Center comes from 2015, since that was before the 2017 Trump tax cuts slashed taxes even further for the ultra-rich. As New York Times columnist David Leonhardt (10/6/19) pointed out in 2019, the tax cuts helped push the tax rate on the 400 wealthiest households below the rates for almost everyone else in 2018, to 23% for the wealthiest versus 28% for the average taxpayer.

Top tax rates have been pushed so far down over the last 70 years that the richest households now pay a lower percentage than any other income group (New York Times, 10/6/19).

Victory for the Richest

Its a remarkable victory for the rich over the rest of us: The richest Americans had an effective tax rate of 70% in 1950 and 47% in 1980. Meanwhile, the average taxpayer has seen relatively little change in their effective tax rate over the same period.

Thats all according to University of California/Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman (Triumph of Justice, 2019), who were not using the unconventional White House method of dividing taxes paid by total asset gains. They were, however, using the White House method of looking at the top 400 as measured by wealth, rather than the top 1,400 as measured by adjusted gross income. They were also considering all taxes, including payroll tax (Social Security and Medicare), state income tax, and consumption and excise taxes.
Reference terms from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Bering Strait (Russian:  ) is a strait between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, separating the Chukchi Peninsula of the Russian Far East from the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. The present Russia-United States maritime boundary is at 168 58' 37" W longitude, slightly south of the Arctic Circle at about 65 40' N latitude. The Strait is named after Vitus Bering, a Danish explorer in the service of the Russian Empire.

The Bering Strait has been the subject of the scientific theory that humans migrated from Asia to North America across a land bridge known as Beringia when lower ocean levels  perhaps a result of glaciers locking up vast amounts of water  exposed a wide stretch of the sea floor, both at the present strait and in the shallow sea north and south of it. This view of how Paleo-Indians entered America has been the dominant one for several decades and continues to be the most accepted one. Numerous successful crossings without the use of a boat have also been recorded since at least the early 20th century.

Since 2012, the Russian coast of the Bering Strait has been a closed military zone. Through organized trips and the use of special permits, it is possible for foreigners to visit. All arrivals must be through an airport or a cruise port, near the Bering Strait only at Anadyr or Provideniya. Unauthorized travelers who arrive on shore after crossing the strait, even those with visas, may be arrested, imprisoned briefly, fined, deported and banned from future visas.
Reference terms from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Google Science Fair was a worldwide (excluding Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Myanmar/Burma, Syria, Zimbabwe and any other U.S. sanctioned country) online science competition sponsored by Google, Lego, Virgin Galactic, National Geographic and Scientific American. It was an annual event spanning the years 2011 through 2018.

The first Google Science Fair was announced in January 2011; entries were due on April 7, 2011 and judging occurred in July 2011. The competition is open to 13- to 18-year-old students around the globe, who formulate a hypothesis, perform an experiment, and present their results. All students must have an internet connection and a free Google Account to participate, and the projects must be in English, German, Italian, Spanish, or French. The final submission must include ten sections, which are the summary, an "About Me" page, the steps of the project, and a works cited page.

Entries are judged on eight core criteria, which include the student's presentation, question, hypothesis, research, experiment, data, observations, and conclusion. Prizes are awarded to three finalists. The grand prize includes a National Geographic trip to the Galapagos Islands, and a US$50,000 scholarship; finalists will receive a US$15,000 scholarship and assorted packages from sponsoring organizations. While Larry Page and Sergey Brin were PhD students at Stanford University in California, they created Google in January 1996 as a research project; Google employee Tom Oliveri highlighted the company's early days: "Science fairs help students to explore their vision and curiosity through science. Our company was founded on an experiment. We firmly believe that science can change the world," he stated. As of October 28, 2019, no details for the next Google Science Fair have been released.
Reference terms from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci drew his design for an "aerial screw" in the late 1480s, while he was employed as a military engineer by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan from 1494 to 1499. The original drawing is part of a manuscript dated to 1487 to 1490 and appears on folio 83-verso of Paris Manuscript B, part of the papers removed from the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in 1795 by Napoleon and still held by the Institut de France in Paris. The "aerial screw" was one of several aerial machines drawn by Leonardo, including an early parachute, an ornithopter and a hang glider.

The pen-and-ink sketch outlines an idea for a flying machine similar to a modern helicopter, with a spiral rotor or "aerial screw" based on a water screw, but intended to push against the fluid of the air instead of water. Leonardo labelled it the helix (, meaning "spiral" in Greek); from which, with the Greek word pteron (, meaning "wing"), the word "helicopter" is derived.

The design comprises a large structure, built on a solid circular platform, with a central vertical pole supported by three diagonal members meeting at a small circular plate about halfway up the pole. The upper half of the pole is the supportive axis for a large spiralling sail of linen with a radius of about 5 m (16 ft), stiffened with starch. The inner edge of the sail winds clockwise around the pole, while the outer edge of the sail is connected by ropes or wires to a ring that rotates around the lower platform. The design envisions a crew of several people on the wooden platform running around the central pole while holding handles that rotate the sail.

Leonardo's annotations suggest that a linen aerial screw, if turned quickly enough, would push against the air and lift the structure into the air. The notes indicate that Leonardo built small flying models of the aerial screw, but there were no indications for any provision to stop the reaction against the rotation of the sail from making the craft itself rotate in the opposite direction. It is conceivable that Leonardo could have constructed small working models, but a full-size working version could not have been realized for want of sufficiently light but strong materials, and a powerful enough drive for the screw.

The bamboo helicopter, a toy flying machine based on similar principles, had been known in China since about 300 BC. The modern helicopter owes more to the bamboo helicopter than to Leonardo's aerial screw.
Reference terms from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In paleoanthropology, the recent African origin of modern humans, also called the "Out of Africa" theory (OOA), recent single-origin hypothesis (RSOH), replacement hypothesis, or recent African origin model (RAO), is the dominant model of the geographic origin and early migration of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens). It follows the early expansions of hominins out of Africa, accomplished by Homo erectus and then Homo neanderthalensis.

The model proposes a "single origin" of Homo sapiens in the taxonomic sense, precluding

parallel evolution of traits considered anatomically modern in other regions, but not precluding multiple admixture between H. sapiens and archaic humans in Europe and Asia. H. sapiens most likely developed in the Horn of Africa between 300,000 and 200,000 years ago. The "recent African origin" model proposes that all modern non-African populations are substantially descended from populations of H. sapiens that left Africa after that time.

There were at least several "out-of-Africa" dispersals of modern humans, possibly beginning as early as 270,000 years ago, including 215,000 years ago to at least Greece, and certainly via northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula about 130,000 to 115,000 years ago. These early waves appear to have mostly died out or retreated by 80,000 years ago.

The most significant "recent" wave out of Africa took place about 70,00050,000 years ago, via the so-called "Southern Route", spreading rapidly along the coast of Asia and reaching Australia by around 65,00050,000 years ago, (though some researchers question the earlier Australian dates and place the arrival of humans there at 50,000 years ago at earliest, while others have suggested that these first settlers of Australia may represent an older wave before the more significant out of Africa migration and thus not necessarily be ancestral to the region's later inhabitants) while Europe was populated by an early offshoot which settled the Near East and Europe less than 55,000 years ago.

In the 2010s, studies in population genetics uncovered evidence of interbreeding that occurred between H. sapiens and archaic humans in Eurasia, Oceania and Africa, indicating that modern population groups, while mostly derived from early H. sapiens, are to a lesser extent also descended from regional variants of archaic humans.
Reference terms from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Youngest Toba eruption was a supervolcanic eruption that occurred around 75,000 years ago at the site of present-day Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia. It is one of the Earth's largest known explosive eruptions. The Toba catastrophe theory holds that this event caused a global volcanic winter of six to ten years and possibly a 1,000-year-long cooling episode.

In 1993, science journalist Ann Gibbons posited that a population bottleneck occurred in human evolution about 70,000 years ago, and she suggested that this was caused by the eruption. Geologist Michael R. Rampino of New York University and volcanologist Stephen Self of the University of Hawaii at Manoa support her suggestion. In 1998, the bottleneck theory was further developed by anthropologist Stanley H. Ambrose of the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. Both the link and global winter theories are controversial.

The Youngest Toba eruption is the most closely studied supervolcanic eruption.
(Natural News) What would happen if the country where most of Americas manufacturing base was outsourced back in the days of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were to shut off the industrial power supply? The world is about to find out.

China, reports indicate, has slashed the electricity supply to 16 of its 31 provincial jurisdictions in recent days. Many of these jurisdictions are factory-heavy, meaning everything that has a Made in China label slapped on it is now at risk of seeing shortages.

Beijing has suddenly decided that the energy it has been using for decades to power all of the worlds outsourced manufacturing is unclean and must be limited. This has created waves of rolling blackouts that are interfering with production at a time when the supply chain is already suffering due to Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions.

A chief economist told the state-run South China Morning Post (SCMP) that the situation worsened this past weekend, leaving factories ill-equipped to continue churning out everything from iPhones to iguana lamps.

The longer this goes on, the barer retail shelves will become. This is especially true now that shipping containers are having to float around out in the ocean with nowhere to port due to workers shortages and other economic symptoms of Chinese Virus fascism.

Is anyone really buying that China is suddenly worried about the environment?

The excuses the Chinese regime is giving as to why it has to cut off the power to the manufacturing industry  right now  are laughable. The latest one suggests that China is suddenly concerned about the environment and thus has to cap the use of coal.

There has never been a time in the current generation that China has ever cared about pollution. In fact, China practically wore its heavily polluting ways as some kind of badge of honor.

Now, as the Fauci Flu continues to decimate global supply chains, we are expected to believe that China has suddenly become a tree-hugging nation at a time when one wrong move could result in a total economic collapse?

It is just too convenient that China would pull a stunt like this now, when the worlds superpowers are on the verge of defaulting. Was this planned long in advance to initiate the great reset?'

With market attention now laser-focused on Evergrande and on Beijings unprecedented curbs on the property sector, another major supply-side shock may have been underestimated or even missed, one market analyst told the SCMP.

Factory operators are already warning the world that these rolling blackouts threaten to stop production indefinitely. They may have just enough energy to keep the furnace warm, one said, but there may not be enough for much else beyond that.

How long this takes to trickle down and become noticeable at your local Walmart remains to be seen. The automobile industry is already taking a major hit as it relies on microchips from China to produce modern vehicles  what else is next?

Peng Wensheng, the chief economist at investment bank China International Capital Corporation, issued a note suggesting that this decline in production could drag down Chinas national economic growth rate by 0.1 to 0.15 percentage points both in this quarter and the next.

The problems involving the abnormal growth of exports and high [producer price index] must be solved by means of power rationings, [but this] will sacrifice economic growth to a certain extent, added economists Deng Haiqing and Wang Shuqin about how policymakers in China are supposedly working on figuring out the least-bad option at the moment.

Economic collapse is on the horizon. To keep up with the latest, visit Collapse.news.

Sources for this article include:

Archive.is

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Sheriff Richard Mack urges the American people to make a stand against President Joe Bidens dictatorship.

This Biden dictatorship  its not a regime, its not an administration  this Biden dictatorship is going to be the death of America if we dont stand and do something, Mack says in The Sheriff Mack Show with his co-host Sam Bushman on Brighteon.TV.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is now serving as Bidens muscle.

As of the last count, a total of 658 supporters of former President Donald Trump have been arrested and charged for their varying roles in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. The number of people charged in the so-called insurrection is expected to keep growing as FBI agents continue to pore through video footage, social media posts, phone location data and tips from the public.

The subterfuge and the downright corruption of the FBI keep raising their heads  now its about weekly, says Mack. (Related: FBI busted again for combing through Americans information WITHOUT a warrant: Time to reel in the corrupt FBI deep state, but will Biden allow it?)

FBI thuggery knows no bounds

He relates that people who were just sitting on the lawn outside of the Capitol, and others who never even went close, have also been served with search warrants. And dont forget, when they went in to these peoples homes, they handcuffed their children, says Mack. The thuggery of the FBI just knows no bounds.

Stop Hate Awareness Program President and CEO David Sumrall has experience FBIs thuggery firsthand.

The FBI is real. Theyve been to my house. They have my employee under house arrest, Sumrall tells host Dan Happel of Connecting the Dots on Brighteon.TV.

FBI agents come in with guns blazing, ready to shoot somebody. Theyre trying to get someone to snap. I have a story of one of the men that they arrested. They laid hands on his wife, trying to get to him, to incite him to do something so they can say see we got one of those crazy Trumpers.'

The FBI is pursuing virtually every person who took part in the riot that left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer, and more than 100 other officers injured. Prosecutors have said that the riot also caused at least $1.5 million in damages to the historic building.

Psychological warfare and torture

Sumrall says one of the people arrested by the FBI has cancer and cant get treatment inside prison. Theres also a pregnant woman under house arrest. Some of the people arrested are being moved from state to state without informing their families and relatives.

This is psychological warfare. This is torture, Sumrall says. This is the system that we live in. This is nothing the people need to suffer through for standing up for their president.

Prosecutors are expected to bring more serious charges against some defendants who have already been charged, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray.

This is far from over. And with each arrest and each case we bring, not only are we driving toward accountability for the attack but were also learning more about what was out there beforehand so we can use that to get better moving forward, Wray said.

Sumrall has figured that out a long time ago. They want the optics. They dont want this to go away, he said.

Interestingly, only a few of the rioters facing federal charges have come from pro-Trump strongholds. Based on the George Washington University extremism tracker, most of them came from districts that voted for Biden in last years election.

New York governor: Vaccine is from God

Newly installed New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is acting like a dictator herself.

Preaching from a pulpit in Brooklyn, Hochul says that citizens should be thankful to God for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines. Hochul, who assumed office in August after Andrew Cuomo resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct, urges her audience to be her apostles by convincing their friends to get vaccinated.

We are not through this pandemic, Hochul says during her homily at the Christian Cultural Center, a non-denominational megachurch. I prayed a lot to God during this time and you know what, God did answer our prayers. He made the smartest men and women, the scientists, the doctors, the researchers. He made them come up with a vaccine. That is from God to us and we must say, Thank you, God. Thank you.'

Hochul says those who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine arent listening to God and what God wants.

God does not promote corruption and politics

Mack doesnt even think that Hochul believes in God. (Related: NY governor appoints herself Gods messenger, egging congregation to get vaccinated because God told her so.)

She strikes me as a communist, so how could she be listening to God. God doesnt promote communism. He also doesnt promote corruption and politics. And He doesnt support lies and dishonesty about anything, let alone COVID-19 scams, Mack says.

My first impression of her is that this has to be another Communist-Atheist trying to run the great state of New York. Shes a self-appointed dictator, lets just call it as it is, and shes using propaganda and brainwashing to reach out to the Christians because thats the biggest group that isnt going to be vaccinated.

Using Gods name to push agenda

A lawyer for a group trying to preserve a religious exemption for health care workers says Hochul is unjustly using Gods name to try to nudge employers into ignoring court orders allowing the exemption.

Cameron Lee Atkinson, an attorney with We The Patriots USA Inc., a group challenging New Yorks vaccine mandate, argues that Hochuls comments about God are discouraging healthcare employers from granting religious exemptions.

Healthcare institutions across New York have started suspending workers who failed to meet a state deadline to get a COVID-19 vaccine. The states vaccine mandate for healthcare workers doesnt include a religious exemption, but courts have temporarily barred employers from enforcing the mandate against people with a sincerely held religious belief against vaccination.

Watch the Sept. 28 episode of The Sheriff Mack Show here:

You can catch new episodes of The Sheriff Mack Show with Sheriff Richard Mack every Tuesday at 10-11 a.m. on Brighteon.TV.

Follow JoeBiden.news for more news and information related to Joe Biden and his administration.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com 1

Insider.com

Brighteon.com 2

VOANews.com

News.Yahoo.com

ABCNews.go.com
(Natural News) Canadas military used the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to test propaganda techniques on citizens, despite never being ordered to by the countrys federal government, a report claims.

(Article by Chris Tomlinson republished from Breitbart.com)

A report on the propaganda operation claimed that Canadian military leaders did not believe they needed the approval of the federal government to conduct the propaganda operations that were developed in April 2020.

Former Canadian Chief of Defence Staff General Jon Vance shut down the programme, which was headed by the Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC), after some had called into question its legality. Vance also brought in retired Major General Daniel Gosselin to conduct a report on the operation.

According to the Ottawa Citizen Major General Gosselin investigated the operation and presented his findings in December, but the report had been unavailable to the public until the newspaper obtained it in a freedom of information request.

The plan is said to have used techniques that had been previously used by the Canadian military in Afghanistan and looked at both shaping and exploiting information, with the CJOC stating that the operation was needed to halt any potential civil disobedience during the coronavirus pandemic.

Lieutenant-General Mike Rouleau, the former head of the CJOC, headed the propaganda operation that started on April 8th, 2020, but it was not shut down until May 2nd of that year, following General Vances orders.

Anyone who doesn't support disgraced blackface enthusiast Justin Trudeau is await for it https://t.co/7CvievkTHH  Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) September 7, 2021

In his report, Gosselin noted that Rear Admiral Brian Santarpia said of the operation: This is really a learning opportunity for all of us and a chance to start getting information operations into our [Canadian Armed Forces-Department of National Defence] routine.

The investigation also noted that many at the CJOC were in support of the programme, rather than simply specialists in propaganda and that support was clearly a mindset that permeated the thinking at many levels of CJOC.

Gosselin went even further saying that those at the CJOC saw the pandemic as a unique opportunity to test their propaganda techniques on their own citizens in Canada.

The public reporting of the operation comes just months after it was revealed that Canadian military intelligence was monitoring the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement while making claims that it did so as part of its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Intelligence officers are said to have monitored the social media accounts of BLM protesters. The Department of National Defence later claimed that the intelligence gathering was related to the deployment of the military in long term care homes during the pandemic as part of Operation LASER.

Columnist Mohammed Adam later wrote of the issue: The Canadian Armed Forces are supposed to be our protectors, but for them to think that snooping on peaceful protesters is part of their call to duty is extremely disturbing. What happened to the Black Lives Matter movement is an affront to our democracy that we should never tolerate.

Earlier this month, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that he would get tougher on those protesting coronavirus vaccine mandates outside hospitals and other health centres, saying that he would criminalise such protests.

Read more at: Breitbart.com or Propaganda.news.
(Natural News) An investigation by Project Veritas has uncovered significant anti-vaccine sentiment inside big pharma company Johnson & Johnson. In the organizations latest report, two of the companys employees admitted that they believe children should not receive the companys Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines because of potential long-term effects.

The groundbreaking investigation by Project Veritas prominently features two Johnson & Johnson employees: Brandon Schadt, regional business lead, and Justin Durrant, a scientist. The organizations reporter got the two individuals to talk freely about the company on two separate occasions. (Related: Johnson & Johnson expects global sales of $2.5 billion from coronavirus vaccines in 2021.)

J&J business lead believes vaccines long-term side effects need to be properly studied

During one part of the conversation, the Project Veritas reporter asked Schadt if it would be better to homeschool children or get them vaccinated against COVID-19 if the vaccines were mandated by the school.

Honestly, I dont think a kid needs to get it, said Schadt. Its a kid, its a f kid, you know? They shouldnt have to get a f vaccine, you know?

Its just a kid whos not developed yet, he continued. Schadt explained that the data shows children and toddlers who get infected with COVID-19 recover very easily from the virus, which is why it isnt necessary to force them to take experimental and deadly vaccines.

Schadt went on by talking about how the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine had not been tested to figure out its potential long-term effects.

Its a kid, you just dont do that, you know? Not something thats so unknown in terms of repercussions down the road, you know? he said. I mean, how could you  right  theres nobody whos 30 years in, who said, Hey, I had the vaccine and I dont have a third eyeball.'

Schadt then talked about his deep distrust for mainstream media outlets who talk about the coronavirus vaccines.

I shouldnt trust the media? asked the Project Veritas reporter.

No, why should we? replied Schadt. Why the hell should we? Hell no, no chance  In no capacity should we trust anything that the media says.

J&J scientist believes kids being unvaccinated doesnt make that much of a difference

In a separate conversation, Johnson & Johnson scientist Durrant raised the same concerns as Schadt regarding his companys COVID-19 vaccine. In particular, he believes children should not be forced to take it.

You really dont need to vaccinate a baby, he said. It wouldnt make that much of a difference.

Durrant then went on to talk about how the vaccine mandates are making life very difficult for people who are reasonably skeptical of big pharma and their rushed, experimental and deadly COVID-19 vaccines.

Inconvenience to the point where its like, I might as well just f do it, you know what Im saying? said Durrant to the Project Veritas reporter. Like, I cant go out of state, My grandmas in Canada and I cant visit her, you know what Im saying?

You cant go to France unless youre vaccinated. You know youve just got to keep doing things like that where youre almost like a second-[class] citizen if youre not vaccinated, but I know thats awful.

Despite his opposition to forcibly vaccinating children, Durrant is in favor of coercing adults to take the vaccines through vaccine mandates that threaten their employment. He believes keeping people from being gainfully employed is a sufficient threat.

Only way people really act and comply is if it affects their pockets, like if youre working for a big company and youre going to lose your job, best believe youll be the first one in line [to get vaccinated], he said.

When the Project Veritas reporter asked Durrant what COVID-19 vaccine they should get, he said: Dont get the Johnson & Johnson. I didnt tell you though.

Durrant chose not to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. He said he looked at the data and it showed that its supposed effectiveness has not been sufficiently demonstrated. He instead opted to get vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine.

Learn more about the opposition to Johnson & Johnsons dangerous COVID-19 vaccine by reading the latest articles at Vaccines.news.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

WeeklyBlitz.net

TennesseeStar.com
(Natural News) An officer of the Marine Corps has been jailed for criticizing the way military leadership handled the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, an infantry officer and former battalion commander, made headlines in August and early September after he posted videos on social media criticizing the military leadership and calling for accountability for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Im not saying weve got to be in Afghanistan forever, but I am saying: Did any of you throw your rank on the table and say Hey, its a bad idea to evacuate Bagram Airfield, a strategic airbase, before we evacuate everyone, said Scheller in his first video, posted on Aug. 26. Did anyone do that? And when you didnt think to do that, did anyone raise their hand and say We completely messed this up.'

The reason people are so upset on social media right now is not because the marines on the battlefield let someone down. People are upset because their senior leaders let them down. And none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying We messed up.' (Related: The government spent BILLIONS to equip Afghan forces, only for American military hardware to end up in Taliban hands.)

The day after Scheller posted his first video, military leadership retaliated by firing him from his position. Before his firing, he was the battalion commander for the Advanced Infantry Training Battalion at School of Infantry East at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

This retaliatory strike against him only increased his reputation, and he followed it up with several other videos criticizing the military leadership.

In one of his last posts on social media before he was jailed, Scheller acknowledged that his open criticism of military leadership could land him in hot water.

What happens when all you do is speak truth and no one wants to hear it? But they can probably stop listening because  Im crazy, right? he wrote. Im ready for jail.

Scheller currently in pre-trial confinement for multiple offenses under military law

According to a military spokesperson, Scheller is being accused of four offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice:

Article 88: Contempt toward officials.

Article 90: Willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer.

Article 92: Failure to obey an order.

Article 133: Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.

Scheller is currently in pre-trial confinement in Camp Lejeune. He will have to go through an Article 32 hearing. This pre-trial hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence against Scheller to warrant a proper court-martial.

The time, date and location of the proceedings have not been determined, read a statement from Training and Education Command. Lt. Col. Scheller will be afforded all due process.

Schellers father, Stuart Scheller Sr., has defended his sons freedom of expression. He described his son as a proud American who loves the Marine Corps and has served his country with distinction for nearly 17 years.

Hes asking for the same accountability that is expected of him and his men, said the elder Scheller.

All our son did is ask the questions that everybody was asking themselves, but they were too scared to speak out loud, he continued. He was asking for accountability. In fact, I think he even asked for an apology that we made mistakes, but they couldnt do that, which is mind-blowing.

The elder Scheller has also accused the military of attempting to put a gag order on his son.

They had a gag order on him and asked him not to speak, he said. He did, and they incarcerated him. They dont know what to do with him.

The elder Scheller continued by talking about how he has been approached by Vietnam War veterans who congratulated his son for his courage. Because they too want to know: Was it all worth it? said the elder Scheller.

And by demanding accountability and honesty from his senior leaders, thats all he was asking. And the way the Marine Corps has dealt with it: They have now put him in jail.

Learn more about how the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan has threatened the U.S. by reading the latest articles at NationalSecurity.news.

Sources include:

HeadlineUSA.com

TaskAndPurpose.com

FoxNews.com
(Natural News) A writer for a major British newspaper appeared to endorse former President Donald Trumps longstanding allegation that his 2020 election opponent, Joe Biden, did not legitimately win the White House.

(Article by Jonathan Davis republished from ConservativeBrief.com)

So Trump was right, Rob Liddle began in his piece for the Sunday Times. The American public is slowly waking up to the fact that they are being led by an ineffectually devious, senile halfwit.

Donald Trump is back in the lead in the opinion polls. Imagine how awful a president must be if people would rather that sack of meat with mittens were back in charge, he continued.

Soon the public will wake up to something even more unpleasant and sinister: that the last presidential election was a fraud, rigged by big business, the labor unions and, more than anything, the media and the tech companies, Liddle noted further.

If that election had taken place in any other country, it would have been called unfree. And, as more and more evidence emerges, it terrifies me that the same thing could happen here, he predicted.

The Sunday Times piece isnt the first from a major media outlet to suggest that some sort of behind-the-scenes operation took place during the election cycle last year to defeat the incumbent.

Time magazine published a report Feb. 4, roughly two weeks after President Joe Biden was inaugurated, under the headline, The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election, laying out various details and aspects that certainly indicate a concerted effort to ensure a particular outcome, namely, defeating Trump, that involved giant corporations, big tech giants, and powerful labor unions:

Their work touched every aspect of the election. They got states to change voting systems and laws and helped secure hundreds of millions in public and private funding. They fended off voter-suppression lawsuits, recruited armies of poll workers, and got millions of people to vote by mail for the first time. They successfully pressured social media companies to take a harder line against disinformation and used data-driven strategies to fight viral smears. They executed national public-awareness campaigns that helped Americans understand how the vote count would unfold over days or weeks, preventing Trumps conspiracy theories and false claims of victory from getting more traction. After Election Day, they monitored every pressure point to ensure that Trump could not overturn the result.

While aspects of Times report have been refuted, such as the claim that Trump was assaulting democracy as president, Times report makes clear to Liddle that something happened that maybe should not have.

What we didnt know until we were told in February this year, courtesy of Time magazine, was that there actually was a conspiracy  a secret coalition of chief executives, labor unions, left-wing pressure groups, and media companies  to manage what information was available to the voting public, Liddle went on. Its aim, as The Wall Street Journal put it, was to suppress unwanted elements of US political conversation. What a wonderful phrase, he wrote in the Times.

Time magazine reported this as if the cabal  it called the arrangement a cabal  had been acting heroically, he noted further. To save the US public from making the same mistake again and electing that Brobdingnagian boor  and to do so by suppressing stories favorable to him.

Liddle also cited Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, who reportedly worked behind the scenes as well to undermine his then-commander-in-chief.

Now we discover that General Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was also conspiring against the president, Liddle wrote. Twice Milley called Chinese diplomats to let them know that he would countermand any order from Trump to attack China  which seems to a lot of US conservatives to be an act of pure treason. Milley also went behind his presidents back to connive with the Democrat leader of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

The reasoning for this was that Trump was unhinged  a familiar notion peddled by the media for the four years of his presidency, the writer continued. Was he? I dont know. He didnt seem terribly hinged to me, but then Americans rarely do. But more unhinged than your average American  or Joe Biden?

Whatever the case, that election one year ago was plainly rigged, he argues. Not by fraudulent postal votes. But by an affluent elite conspiring, brutally at times, to ensure that the American public heard only one side of the story.

Read more at: ConservativeBrief.com or VoteFraud.news.
(Natural News) Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law Monday requiring every registered voter to be mailed a ballot in all future statewide elections.

(Article by Shakhzod Yuldoshboev republished from DailyCaller.com)

State Assembly Bill 37 extended a pandemic-driven accommodation that automatically mailed a ballot to every voter in the state and was set to expire Jan. 1, 2022, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The bill also maintained an extension of the date by which ballots should be received. As opposed to a three-day deadline stipulated by law prior to COVID-19 amendments, the ballots will now continue to be allowed to arrive within seven days after election day.

Last year we took unprecedented steps to ensure all voters had the opportunity to cast a ballot during the pandemic and today we are making those measures permanent after record-breaking participation in the 2020 presidential election, Newsom said in a Monday statement.

BREAKING: California is now PERMANENTLY a vote-by-mail state. Because we believe in making voting EASIER and for every voice to be heard. https://t.co/zGXkPPobBa  Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 27, 2021

The governor had to fight a lawsuit stemming from his support of the expansion of mail-in-voting.

Two Republican California assemblymen sued Newsom in June of 2020 over his executive order to send mail-in ballots to every voter, alleging an abuse of power. Superior Court Judge Sarah Heckman ruled in favor of the lawsuit in November of 2020.

The Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, however, overruled that decision early May 2021, stating that Newsom was within his rights to expand mail-in-voting during the pandemic.

California became the eighth vote-by-mail state in the nation, following in the footsteps of Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington, according to Ballotpedia.

Read more at: DailyCaller.com or NewsomWatch.com.
(Natural News) A labor union representing thousands of pilots in the United States has declared its opposition to Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine mandates. The group warned that vaccine requirements would trigger a lot of chaos.

The Allied Pilots Association (APA) represents around 15,000 pilots who work for American Airlines. The union is reacting to potential vaccine mandates that could affect the airline industry.

In a letter addressed to Congress, the White House, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and several other federal agencies, APA President Eric Ferguson said that many of the pilots he represents are unable to undergo vaccination for documented medical reasons, while others are reluctant to get vaccinated based upon concerns about the potential for career-ending side effects.

Because of the legitimate concerns of APA pilots, Ferguson is asking President Joe Biden to grant airline pilots an exemption to the pending COVID-19 vaccine mandate that he announced earlier this month.

To ensure commercial aviations ongoing viability by avoiding a scenario in which airlines are forced to either offer unpaid leaves of absence or, worse, implement mass terminations of unvaccinated pilots, it is essential that an alternate means of compliance with the Executive Order be made available for professional pilots, wrote Ferguson.

Ferguson then called on public health regulators and lawmakers to remember that pilots play a crucial role in the travel industry. Given this, they should be given an alternate means of minimizing the risk of spreading COVID-19, such as presenting proof of natural immunity to COVID-19 or regular testing. This will allow unvaccinated pilots to keep flying.

The union boss pointed out that pilots for commercial airlines already have to adhere to strict medical requirements. Adding experimental and side effect-riddled COVID-19 vaccines to the mix could complicate matters, leaving many pilots unable to fly planes.

The FAA also prohibits pilots from operating an aircraft within 48 hours after receiving each dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Such a requirement could delay flights significantly.

In a situation where we became instantly short say 10 or 15 percent, on manning, the viability of this company would be at risk, said Ferguson during an interview.

Weve been getting input from the membership, and weve received more input since Sept. 9th, said Ferguson. He explained that about 70 percent of his pilots are fully vaccinated.

About another 30 percent, for whatever reason at this point, have not taken the vaccine, said Ferguson. And I suspect that 10 or 15 percent  or 30 percent  may never take it, no matter what.

We are not pro or anti-vaccine, explained the union boss. We are not anti-vaccine mandate necessarily. But as it pertains to your job, you need to have the option to not get vaccinated.

Other airline pilots union asking for similar exemption to vaccine mandate

The APA is just one of many groups all over the U.S. that have, in recent days, announced their opposition to the COVID-19 vaccine mandates sweeping over the country.

Fortunately, APA is not alone in the airline industry advocating for the right of airline pilots to make their own choices regarding their health. (Related: Employees file suit against United Airlines over draconian COVID-19 vaccine mandate.)

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), which represents over 9,000 pilots working for the company, argued that each pilot should have the right to decide whether to get vaccinated.

Our pilots have shouldered an elevated risk of illness from the start of the pandemic, including well before the vaccines became available, wrote the union in a statement. And we are hopeful that our contributions are recognized and accounted for as we seek approval of an alternate means of compliance and an operationally feasible implementation period.

Like the APA, SWAPA is also concerned that the federal vaccine mandate could worsen an already significant labor shortage and create serious operational problems for Southwest Airlines and its peers.

These problems would escalate during the upcoming holiday period, when many airlines generate a substantial portion of their annual revenue.

Our nations airlines, and the traveling public, cannot afford significant service disruptions due to labor shortages, wrote the APA.

Meanwhile, United Airlines and Delta Airlines have both expressed their support for vaccine mandates.

Delta recently announced that around 82 percent of its employees are already fully vaccinated. The company is offering bribes for the remainder to get vaccinated. Those who choose to remain unvaccinated will have to pay an additional $200 per month to the companys health plan.

United Airlines announced that employees have until Monday, Oct. 4. to get vaccinated. According to CEO Scott Kirby, nearly 99 percent of his 67,000 employees are already fully vaccinated. He is ready to fire the remaining one percent that continues to hold out.

Frontier Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines have also mandated COVID-19 vaccines for their workforces.

Learn more about how vaccine mandates affect industries like the airline and travel industries by reading the latest articles at Vaccines.news.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

WFAA.com
(Natural News) United Airlines has confirmed that it will terminate 593 employees who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

United was the first American carrier to institute a vaccine mandate for all of its domestic employees. They were given a deadline of September 27 to upload proof of their inoculation or face termination by October 2, while those who refuse to get it were terminated outright.

Although airline executives have said that more than 99 percent of their domestic employees did get vaccinated, the rest will be parting ways with the company. Staff who did not comply with the mandate span various roles, including pilots, mechanics and flight attendants.

A memo sent to employees this week stated: For the less than 1 [percent] of people who decided to not get vaccinated, well unfortunately begin the process of separation from the airline per our policy.

They characterized it as an incredibly difficult decision that is aimed at keeping their team safe, even though vaccinated people are just as capable of passing the disease onto others as those who dont get the jab.

The memo added that people who are applying for exemptions on religious or medical grounds have had their deadline extended thanks to a pending court case. According to officials with the airline, people applying for these exemptions make up less than three percent of their 67,000-person strong workforce.

They had originally planned to offer an accommodation to these employees of unpaid personal leave starting this month, which would cause them to forfeit benefits such as medical coverage. However, six employees have filed a class action lawsuit against the company arguing that their handling of vaccine mandates is a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Attorneys for the employees involved in the suit announced this week that United agreed to put its plan on hold until October 15, something they applauded as a victory for employees seeking reasonable accommodations for personal medical conditions. They added that the original accommodation offered by the airline was simply termination by another name. The lawsuit will be heard by a Texas judge October 8.

Jump in employees getting vaccinated as deadline approached

Employees complying with the mandate rose dramatically in the final days before the deadline, with the number of flight attendants who had not yet sent in vaccination cards or received an exemption dropping by about half from the weekend to Monday before falling further to fewer than 100 by Tuesday. This is according to the Association of Flight Attendants representing Uniteds 23,000 cabin crew members.

Meanwhile, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers representing more than 25,000 United employees reported that the more than 500 United workers who had not uploaded their vaccination proof by Monday dropped to less than 400 by Tuesday, while a further 700 had received exemptions. The president of the unions District 141, Mike Klemm, said the union will file wrongful termination grievances should the workers who refused to get vaccinated be fired.

United has said that they are not expecting any operational problems due to the terminations, but a spokesperson for the airline told Reuters that they will be hiring around 25,000 people in the next few years with COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment. In addition, they will be requiring that students attending their pilot training school get the vaccine.

They have also said they will work with any unvaccinated employees who change their mind about getting the shot during the termination process. Because their firing is on the grounds of violating a company safety policy, they could be ineligible for unemployment benefits.

While all of the major American carriers have encouraged their employees to get vaccinated, they have used different approaches, such as offering extra pay or time off as incentives. Most have stopped short of requiring the vaccines. American Airlines and Alaska Airlines have said that unvaccinated employees must use their own sick time should they miss work because of a COVID-19 infection, while Delta Airlines will be charging a $200 monthly surcharge to unvaccinated employees starting in November on their company healthcare costs.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

CNBC.com
(Natural News) A whistleblower informed Republicans of the House Judiciary Committee that President Joe Biden has given official notice to the U.S. Border Patrol for agents to get vaccinated by November, or they risk losing their jobs.

This information comes after Biden promised to make agents pay, citing the debunked claim that agents used a whip to attack Haitian migrants.

In a tweet, the House Judiciary GOP Twitter account stated that a whistleblower alleged Border Patrol agents have been given official notice that they must be fully vaccinated by November 2021 or face termination.

In response, Rep. Jim Jordan highlighted the risk behind reducing the number of border patrol agents as the immigration crisis continues to reach a fever pitch. The letter also states that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas failure to support federal law-enforcement officials will only make the border crisis worse, and the country less secure.

The letter also went on to describe the administration as derelict in its duty in securing the border, adding that the Border Patrol has encountered over 1.2 million illegal aliens along the border since Biden assumed office in January. (Related: Sheriffs all over the US say they will not enforce Bidens COVID-19 vaccine mandate.)

Retaining men and women to serve in the U.S. Border Patrol has been difficult enough as it is in past administrations, highlighting the risk of losing agents during an immigration crisis.

Texas would be honored to hire fired Border Patrol Agents

Meanwhile, Texas Governor Abbott said that under the laws that he established, no government agency in the state of Texas can impose a vaccine mandate. He added that if there is any Border Patrol officer who gets fired or has to quit because of the vaccine mandate imposed upon by the President, Texas would be honored to take them in and be a border patrol officer for the state.

Abbott also noted that illegal migrants have been getting past the border, but are not being tested or vaccinated. He said that it is reprehensible and reckless, even criminal for the fact that they are not being tested or vaccinated, but they are being put on different transportation devices such as buses or planes, and are being moved around the U.S., exposing Americans to a disease that the Biden administration claims to have been trying to stop.

The Immigration and Custome Enforcement said that it cannot force individuals in detention to be vaccinated, but it does encourage them to do so.

On September 9, Biden announced that the Department of Labor would issue an emergency rule that mandates employers with over 100 employees to fully vaccinate their workforce or show a negative test result at least once a week.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnocivh announced on September 14 that he would sue Biden and his administration over the order because migrants who cross the southern border illegally are not subject to any vaccination requirements even when released directly into the United States, reflecting favoritism for the undocumented migrants.

ICE says that it offers COVID-19 vaccines to all individuals detained in its centers, and encourages them to get inoculated. This is similar to other federal detention policies, which offer vaccinations to inmates who want it. However, as per their policy, they cannot force individuals to be vaccinated.

American federal, state and local governments do not physically force any individual to get a vaccine, but they do mandate vaccinations at some schools and workplaces.

The World Health Organization says that vaccine mandates are not compulsory, so nobody can force individuals to get vaccinated against their will. However, a government may require vaccinations as a condition for work or school. Individuals still have options and exemptions for declining vaccinations, and vaccine mandates in the U.S. do not apply to individuals, including migrants, outside of the places that the mandates specifically apply to.

Get more news and updates regarding COVID-19 vaccinations and mandates in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world at Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

NationalFile.com

Radio.FoxNews.com

ABC10.com
(Natural News) Six of the seven people who recently died from the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) in the eastern Australian state of New South Wales were vaccinated.

On Tuesday, Sept. 28, New South Wales Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr. Marianne Gale announced that the state recorded seven new COVID 19-related deaths overnight. Gale made this announcement during a press conference with members of the state government, including Minister for Health and Medical Research Brad Hazzard of the ruling Liberal Party.

As the minister said, tragically today, we announce the deaths of seven people who have lost their lives to COVID-19, four women and three men, said Gale. One person was not vaccinated. Three people had received one dose of a COVID vaccine and three people had received two doses of a COVID vaccine.

Gale tried to argue that their deaths were not a sign that the COVID-19 vaccines do not work. She said all of the seven individuals had underlying health conditions, and she tried to argue that their age made them more susceptible to the virus. One person was in their 40s, another in their 50s, two were in their 70s, two in their 80s and the last person who died was in their 90s.

The health officer further tried to argue that some of the vaccinated people who died got infected with COVID-19 just days after they received their doses.

So we know in a number of cases, unfortunately, the vaccine didnt have enough time to provide the protection that we would have wanted, said Gale.

The health officer ended her statement by urging people to get vaccinated.

We know that vaccines are highly effective at preventing hospitalizations and death, claimed Gale. And so if you havent already done so, please, please do book in for your vaccination.

New South Wales government still pushing residents to get vaccinated

During the same press conference, New South Wales government ministers announced that the state had just hit a full vaccination rate of 60.4 percent. The government recently announced that some of the states coronavirus restrictions will be rolled back once the state hits a 70 percent full vaccination rate. Estimates suggest this will happen by Oct. 11.

Gales boss, Hazzard, tried to urge state residents to keep getting vaccinated, claiming that vaccinations were the only way out of this.

You need to go and get vaccinated as quickly as possible. Youre kidding yourself if you think you dont need to get vaccinated, because it may well be you that gets the virus and dies, or ends up in a hospital ICU, said Hazzard. It may be you that passes on the virus to your family or your friends and see the responsibility then fall upon your shoulders for the death of one of your close friends or family.

Hazzard then went on to attack New South Wales residents who were skeptical about taking the rushed, experimental and deadly COVID-19 vaccines. He claimed some of them were just waiting for a particular type of vaccine, which is why many do not want to take the ones already available in Australia.

Theres been a little bit of pickiness and choosiness, said Hazzard. When youre going to have your flu shot, you dont ask what brand it is. We never have. Go and have the vaccine thats available because whatever vaccine is available is the best one to keep you safe. (Related: Australian doctor SUSPENDED over social media posts questioning COVID-19 policies, treatment and vaccines.)

During the same conference, Hazzard announced increased lockdown restrictions for two local government areas in New South Wales that had an uptick in new COVID-19 cases. Those two areas had plans to come out of lockdown.

Hazzard also announced that there may be further restrictions on three other local government areas.

These decisions are not made lightly, said Hazzard. Theres more work to do and the public health team will do that work.

The seven new deaths put the states total number of coronavirus-related deaths during this post-vaccine outbreak at 316. Before the proliferation of vaccines, the state only recorded 56 deaths due to COVID-19.

Learn more about the number of people dying because of the COVID-19 vaccines in Australia and other parts of the world at Vaccines.news.

Sources include:

BigLeaguePolitics.com

SkyNews.com.au 1

SkyNews.com.au 2

9News.com.au 1

9News.com.au 2
(Natural News) Recently recovered Chinese security data revealed that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) bought a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine in 2019 to test coronaviruses.

This revelation presents evidence that the pandemic began with a virus that was engineered by researchers at the lab, who were partly funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The report regarding the purchase of the PCR machine coincides with the intelligence that researchers from the Wuhan lab became sick with COVID-like symptoms and sought hospital care in November 2019.

Sky News Australia reporter Sharri Markson, who discovered there was a buy up in Wuhan for the PCR equipment, asked former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe if he was aware of the purchase. However, Ratcliffe, who served under the Trump administration during the first year of the pandemic, said that he wouldnt be able to comment on the statement.

Ratcliffe said there is compelling evidence that supports the lab-leak theory, which is not in the public domain. He also said that releasing more information will create additional pressure on Chinese communist authorities and others who continue to deny Chinas contribution to the problem.

Pompeo says there is enormous evidence of lab leak

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that there was enormous, albeit indirect, evidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the center point of the pandemic.

He said that there were 14 American diplomats on the ground in Wuhan at the time who were watching and observing what was taking place in the lab. The World Health Organization was also unwilling to stand up to China, and failed at the task it was created for  which is to prevent a global pandemic. (Related: Virus expert at Wuhan lab denies COVID-19 lab leak theory.)

Pompeo also said that the cover-up showed the absolute absence of humanity of Chinas leaders. They are prepared to let millions of people die if thats what it takes to protect their regime.

Among others, Markson also explored the close ties of the lab to the Chinese military and the possibility that China was working on a bioweapon or a defense against one.

David Asher, who led the early investigation of the pandemics origins said that lab workers became ill with COVID symptoms, and believes a bioweapon can be released accidentally, adding that U.S. intelligence agencies had information early in the outbreak, which could have prevented the pandemic.

Markson also broke the story of Wei Jingsheng, a Chinese dissident who fled to the U.S. and maintains high-level contacts in China. Wei said that he was informed of the coronavirus spreading in Wuhan at the time of the World Military Games in October 2019, six weeks before Beijing admitted to an outbreak.

Virologists reconsider lab accident origins of COVID-19

Multiple investigations showed few definitive conclusions about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. As infection rates and deaths continue in many developed countries, the Chinese governments lack of cooperation in the investigations prompted some of the worlds leading virologists to reconsider the possibility of the pandemic being caused by a lab accident.

Among the pieces of circumstantial evidence that could support the lab-leak theory is the fact that the Wuhan lab has conducted controversial types of scientific research in the past.

WHO adviser Jamie Metzl said that they were doing gain-of-function research, which involves enhancing certain aspects of an organism. This is particularly common in some fields to study genetic variations and to better understand biological entities. However, its use to enhance the lethality or transmissibility of a virus remains controversial.

Dr. Charles Calisher, a virologist from the Colorado State University, said that there is too much coincidence to ignore the lab-leak theory, adding that the COVID-19 virus is likely to have come out of the Wuhan lab.

Learn more possible theories as to where the COVID-19 virus came from at Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

WND.com

ABCNews.go.com
(Natural News) A not-for-profit health system based in North Carolina has fired around 175 employees for not complying with its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Novant Health, which is made up of 15 medical centers across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia and has more than 2,300 physicians, terminated the employees this week. According to the companys president and CEO, Carl Armato, more than 99 percent of their overall workers got vaccinated.

Last week, around 375 employees who were found to not be in compliance were put on unpaid suspension and given an ultimatum: Get the shot within five days or lose your job. That time period has now ended. While 200 of them ultimately gave in, the remaining employees are facing termination.

Team members are only considered compliant if they have received a first dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or have been granted a religious or medical exemption. Those who were given exemptions must undergo weekly testing for the virus and wear an N95 respirator mask or other appropriate type of personal protective equipment as well as eyewear protection while working on the premises of the health system. Those who have received just one dose of a two-dose vaccine series will have until October 15 to receive their second dose.

Armato said: Without a vaccine mandate for team members, we faced the strong possibility of having a third of our staff unable to work due to contracting, or exposure to, COVID-19. This possibility only increases heading into a fall season with the more contagious and deadly Delta variant.

In the meantime, the health system has hired more than 150 new workers in the last week. A company representative said: Like healthcare systems across the country, we are being impacted by a national nursing shortage, which existed prior to the pandemic and has been further exacerbated by the pandemic.

One nurse who has worked with the company for more than 15 years, Laura Rushing, told WSOC-TV in Charlotte that she knew as soon as the vaccine mandate was instituted that she would not give in, and then her religious exemption request was denied.

Who decided my religious exemption, the wording used, was not good enough? It wasnt as good as someone elses? That just feels like discrimination and I didnt appreciate it, she told the outlet.

Hundreds of healthcare workers suspended in New York over vaccine mandates

Meanwhile, hundreds of healthcare workers in New York have been suspended and are facing losing their jobs as a COVID-19 mandate in the state goes into effect. The New York State Department of Health issued the order last month, which required every health care worker in the state to get the vaccine by September 27.

According to Governor Kathy Hochuls office, 92 percent of hospital and nursing home staff and 89 percent of adult care facility staff in the state have received at least one dose. She added that rates have climbed significantly in the past four weeks as the deadline approached.

This new information shows that holding firm on the vaccine mandate for health care workers is simply the right thing to do to protect our vulnerable family members and loved ones from COVID-19, she stated.

Unfortunately, these short-sighted mandates that are being seen around the country could leave people in need without enough healthcare professionals available to take care of them. One can only imagine how healthcare employees who are being terminated right now feel after showing up day after day during the pandemic and working under highly stressful conditions to help save peoples lives only to be forced out of their jobs for not risking their own lives.

Sources for this article include:

WesternJournal.com

Edition.CNN.com
(Natural News) Numerous studies outline the dangers of radiofrequency radiation (RFR), especially 5G frequencies, on humans. Thus, a group of individuals and organizations has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asking the agency to act on the dangers of RFR. The petitioners seek to have the court mandate the FCC to update its exposure guidelines for RFR coming from cell phones, cell towers, Wi-Fi, 5G and other wireless communication devices.

The petitioners in the January 2021 lawsuit included scientific think tank Environmental Health Trust (EHT), Childrens Health Defense (CHD), Consumers for Safer Phones and some other individuals. The landmark suit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, seeks to order the FCC to update its RFR exposure guidelines that are now more than two decades old.

The FCC last scrutinized its RFR guidelines in 2013, following a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) the previous year. The GAO report states that the FCCs exposure limits that time may not reflect current science, thus warranting a review. Peer-reviewed studies submitted by scientists support the GAOs call to update the RFR guidelines.

Based on the studies submitted to the FCC, RFR is harmful to both people and the environment. It is also linked to cancer, reproductive issues and other problems in humans, animals and plants. However, the FCC released an order in December 2019 saying that the existing RFR guidelines are adequate now and for the future and that nothing needed to be done about them.

EHT Founder and President Devra Davis says: The FCC has ignored our extensive submissions  over the years, which clearly document harm [from RFR]. As the legacies of lead, asbestos and tobacco teach us, this issue deserves the immediate attention of our federal government in order to protect our childrens healthy future. (Related: FCC faces historic legal challenge for failing to protect the public from wireless technology radiation.)

The FCC continues to deny the dangers of RFR

In their lawsuit, the petitioners allege that the FCC violated numerous laws in the course of its refusal to update its RFR exposure guidelines.

First, FCC has violated the Administrative Procedure Act due to its 2019 order failing to provide a record of a reasoned decision making. The petitioners claim that the agencys decision to maintain RFR exposure guidelines is capricious, arbitrary and not evidence-based.

Second, the petitioners argue that the FCC violated the National Environmental Policy Act for failing to consider the environmental impacts of its decision.

Third, the FCC has purportedly violated the Telecommunications Act of 1996 for failing to consider the consequences of its decision on public health and safety.

Fourth, the petitioners also note that the inadequate FCC guidelines are used to deny accommodation  contravening the Americans with Disability Act.

CHD is named as a petitioner in EHTs January 2021 lawsuit. However, the group led by lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. filed a brief back in June 2020 at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Similar to the 2021 filing, the earlier brief challenges the FCCs refusal to review and revise its obsolete RFR guidelines. Incidentally, the June 2020 brief also names EHT as a co-petitioner.

Scientist and public health expert Dr. David Carpenter is among the petitioners in CHDs 2020 lawsuit. The director of the University of Albanys Institute for Health and Environment says: The scientific consensus that the FCC guidelines have no validity and are causing widespread illness and death. (Related: Untested 5G radiation linked to adverse health effects, warn UK researchers.)

CHD Director of 5G and Wireless Harms Project Dafna Tachover says: The most important evidence is the human evidence. Those who have been injured and died because of the FCCs abuse of power have been invisible to the FCC like the wireless radiation that harms them. The purpose of our case is to make this invisible problem visible.

Kennedy, who serves as CHDs chairman and chief legal counsel, meanwhile says that his group is committed to protecting children from toxic exposure. He adds: This case seeks justice for parents of kids who have suffered from health impacts from wireless radiation. We are committed to making our government accountable and giving a voice to injured children, their parents and doctors and the scientists who have spoken out for justice on this issue.

Radiation.news has more articles about the dangers of RFR that the FCC refuses to acknowledge.

Sources include:

GlobalResearch.ca

ChildrensHealthDefense.org [PDF]
(Natural News) The fraudulence of covid-19 vaccines is on full display, and the evidence is sitting right out in the open. The full FDA approval for Pfizers COMIRNATY vaccine contained clinical proof that the inoculation increases COVID infection by over 300 percent!

A former Pfizer employee named Karen Kingston is blowing the whistle on her former employer. Kingston is currently a pharmaceutical marketing expert and biotech analyst. When she scrutinized the full FDA approval for COMIRNATY, she found blatant fraud in Pfizers clinical studies.

FDA approves Pfizers covid-19 vaccine, even though it increases infection by 300 percent

Kingston brought forth a Briefing Document from the FDAs advisory committee meeting that took place on September 17, 2021. The title of the document is, Application for licensure of a booster dose for COMIRNATY (COVID-19 Vaccine, mRNA). The document includes clinical studies conducted by Pfizer. These studies track the durability of immunity offered by the COMIRNATY vaccine and compare it to immunity observed in unvaccinated people.

If you get the Pfizer vax, youre more likely to get COVID said Kingston, So, when they werent injected, their infection rate was 1.3% and when they got injected, it was 4.34%. It went up by over 300%. How could the FDA have glossed over this evidence and approved blatant fraud?

Since the vaccine was officially approved, the federal government started applying pressure on businesses across the US, threatening them with extortion and fines if they do not impose vaccine mandates on their employees. The covid-19 vaccines have been injected almost 225 million times into the arms of Americans, causing severe injury and death along the way. Real world observations also support clinical data showing that the vaccines increase ones susceptibility to covid-19. In fact, the vaccines increase viral load in the nostrils of the vaccinated. An August 26 article by Dr. Peter McCullough shows that the covid vaccines allow the vaccinated to carry 251 times the viral load of covid-19 in their nostrils, turning them into the asymptomatic super spreaders they once feared.

Pfizer studies show that being unvaccinated offers greater protection

Medical freedom rights attorney, Thomas Renz, went public with the Pfizer fraud. The Pfizer study involved over 36,000 people. Those who were injected earlier in the study were more likely to come down with covid infections later on, showing a clear trend of waning immunity. Those put in high priority groups, who were vaccinated earlier on, have a 36 percent greater chance of infection, compared to the group that vaccinated later on.

The group that vaccinated later on went unvaccinated for 5.1 months longer than the group that got vaccinated early on. This placebo group did not have high rates of infection while they were unvaccinated, even though they went longer without any protection. Because of this, Kingston stated that the vaccinated group have an even higher chance of being infected with COVID-19 than the 36 percent difference indicated by this portion of the study.

The study even admitted in its conclusion: An additional analysis appears to indicate that incidence of COVID-19 generally increased in each group of study participants with increasing time post-Dose 2. Kingston clarified that infection rates increase over time when people get two doses of Pfizer mRNA.

Most shocking was the data on the placebo group. In the first four months, the placebo group had no vaccine protection and recorded an infection rate of 12.6 cases per 1,000 person-years. The infection rate for the unvaccinated was a meager 1.3 percent.

After their placebo period, the group got fully vaccinated. In just a few months, this group became more infectious and showed 43.4 cases per 1,000 person-years. Their infection rate went UP by over 300 percent to a 4.34% infection rate. Mrs. Kingston called this super alarming.

They had less infection when they had no protection. So, thats a problem, she said.

Check out Vaccines.News for the latest on the covid-19 vaccine fraud.

Sources include:

LifesiteNews.com

FDA.gov

Papers.SSRN.com
(Natural News) Arizona state representative and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem (R) is calling for the arrest of officials involved in tampering with election systems in his state as well as the decertification of his states election results after the forensic audit report was revealed late last week.

(Article by Shane Trejo republished from BigLeaguePolitics.com)

Finchem also wants a full forensic audit of Pima County. He made the declaration in a Twitter post shortly after the report became widespread news:

After hearing the evidence in the Arizona Audit report I call for decertification of the Arizona election, arrest of those involved in tampering with election systems, and an audit of Pima County as a next step.  Mark Finchem for AZ Secretary of State (@RealMarkFinchem) September 25, 2021

Even though the fake news media is painting the results of the Arizona forensic audit as a nothingburger, Finchem strongly disagrees. He believes that the findings showed that there were enough suspect or illegal ballots to change the election results in his state.

In the 2020 presidential election, the margin of victory was only 10,457 votes, a small fraction of the 57,734 ballots with known issues. Again, this is almost 6 times the margin of victory in the Presidential race and is multiples of the margin of victory in other races. Based on these factual findings, the election should not be certified, and the reported results are not reliable, Finchem said.

Big League Politics has reported on some of the troubling irregularities and abnormalities reportedly found during the Arizona forensic audit:

The Arizona State Senates Maricopa County election audit recently concluded, with a hearing held on Friday that shared its final conclusions.

It was stated that the audit does affirm the win of Joe Biden, with him gaining a small number of votes that have essentially no effect on the result.

The first person to give a testimony during the hearing was Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, an engineer from MIT who specializes in data irregularities. Ayyaduri was working on behalf of Echomail, a company hired along with Cyber Ninjas to do a forensic audit on the 2020 United States presidential election

Analysis presented by Ayyadurai found what he claimed to be various statistical anomalies, the most significant of being a large discrepancy between the reported number of duplicate envelopes sent into Maricopa County, with Maricopas CANVASS election report not mentioning and kind of duplicates in their findings.

Echomails audit, on the other hand, found that 17,126 voters sent in duplicate envelopes

Cyber Ninjas conducted the hearings next audit, offering some similar conclusions to Echomail  including an affirmation of a Biden win with minor statistical discrepancies between the vote count of both the government and the auditors while still acknowledging small irregularities

Cyber Ninjas also reported on various cyber security concerns in the Dominion Voting Systems, the most notable being the failure to preserve any of the operating system security logs  the oldest date was Cyber Ninjas was able to view was on February 5th, 2021, months after the 2020 election.

It was also said by Cyber Ninjas that tens of thousands of security logs were overwritten by a Dominion Voting Systems admin account beginning on February 11th, 2021, with many more scrubbed by March 3rd.

The findings from the Arizona forensic audit have seemingly made everyone on each side dig in their heels, and Finchem is not budging an inch in his crusade to clean up voter fraud.

Read more at: BigLeaguePolitics.com and VoteFraud.news.
(Natural News) Law enforcement officers in the Australian state of Victoria threw a man to the ground on Sept. 22, amid anti-lockdown protests in the states capital of Melbourne. Footage of the incident shows the man calmly talking to officers of the Victoria Police at Melbournes Flinders Street Station when one officer suddenly grabbed the man from behind and threw him to the ground.

The videos original caption says: This poor guy was calm. [He] was just talking to the police, you can see it in the video. [Then] he gets thrown to the ground. The footage also captured the sound of the mans skull hitting the floor, rendering him unconscious. [When] he woke up, he was calling for his mum, the woman who recorded the footage said.

According to the woman, the same officer who threw the man also put handcuffs on him while he was unconscious. Paramedics tried to attend to the unconscious protester, but Victoria Police officers informed them that they were not needed. The current condition of the man assaulted at Flinders Street Station remains unknown as of writing.

The woman recording the footage, which has gone viral on social media, told News.com.au: We are all very disturbed by this, and Ive been inundated with people worldwide wanting to know if this man is alright. [We] understand the paramedics looked at him, but [were] not sure what happened after that.

Writer Sonia Hickey condemned the Sept. 22 assault in a piece for Sydney Criminal Lawyers, adding that the police officers move had the potential to prove fatal. She noted that [witnesses] report the man [being] knocked unconscious and left in a pool of his own blood and urine.

Keeping the peace and ensuring public safety [is] one thing, but forcefully throwing a man to the ground is another [thing] entirely  particularly when he has been grabbed from behind, and has no ability to defend himself, Hickey wrote.

Authorities unsurprisingly defend the officers actions

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton commented on the footage on Sept. 23, a day after the incident. He told reporters that an investigation would be conducted to determine what actually led to the assault. I dont know what the full circumstances are, [but theres] always context to everything. Well investigate it with an open mind, Patton said.

The chief commissioner nevertheless insisted that he was not jumping to any conclusions. He adds: [Therell] be incidents that appear, or may be inappropriate. [Any] of them that are, we will fully investigate.

Patton also defended the response of Victoria Police officers to Australians protesting Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns. According to Patton, law enforcement has been responding proportionately in an environment that was dynamic, threatening and frightening.

I couldnt be prouder of them, [what] theyve done and the way theyve conducted themselves.

The Sept. 22 assault at Flinders Street Station occurred during the fourth day of protests against COVID-19 lockdowns, the sixth of many stringent mandates since the pandemic began. The lockdowns imposed by Victoria Premier Dan Andrews subject residents to curfews, travel restrictions and prohibitions on public gatherings  including protests, which are deemed illegal. (Related: THE TYRANNY NEVER ENDS: Australia extends COVID-19 emergency powers for three months.)

Andrews condemned the ugly actions of protesters on Sept. 23 and praised the Victoria Polices effective tactics during the demonstrations. Police [officers] were very effective  and I thank them for putting themselves in harms way to keep the rest of us safe, he said. The Victoria premier also slammed protesters spitting at law enforcement, saying: Why would you spit on people who are doing that sort of work? That is uncalled for.

Ultimately, Hickey wrote in her piece that extended lockdowns ordered by Andrews have undoubtedly created a pressure cooker environment in Victoria. She also believes that people have been incredibly frustrated by months of restricted movement, curfews and business closures.

Seeing the streets taken over by angry mobs is unlike anything weve witnessed before in Australia  [and] its likely that we could be well seeing more are people stand up for their democratic right to personal choice. (Related: REVOLT: Australian truck drivers protest border restrictions, mandatory vaccinations as local authorities treat citizens like medical prisoners.)

MedicalTyranny.com has more articles about Australias draconian response to anti-lockdown protests.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

News.com.au

SydneyCriminalLawyers.com

7NEWS.com.au
(Natural News) Video sharing site YouTube has announced it will ban all harmful vaccine content from its platform. The Google-owned platform says that it has taken down more than 100,000 videos under this category, including claims of vaccines being ineffective in reducing disease transmission. YouTubes intensified censorship has prompted concerns that this suppression will extend to dissenting viewpoints.

The video-sharing platform elaborated on this new policy in a Sept. 29 blog post. The post says: Weve steadily seen false claims about the [Wuhan] coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general. [Were] now at a point where its more important than ever to expand the work we started  to other vaccines.

YouTubes Sept. 29 blog outlined the different types of harmful vaccine content subject to the ban. These include claims that approved vaccines are dangerous and cause chronic health effects, vaccines do not reduce [disease] transmission, approved vaccines cause autism, cancer or infertility and substances in vaccines can track those who receive them.

According to the blog post, the policy applies to all vaccines in general  not just the vaccines for COVID-19 and other shots for diseases such as measles or hepatitis B. These policy changes will go into full effect today and, as with any significant update, will take time for our systems to fully ramp up enforcement, YouTube adds.

The platform says it has removed 130,000 videos that violate these policies. A YouTube spokesperson also confirms that the account of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is critical of vaccines, is among the channels that have been removed as part of the new rule.

However, the new policy allows for exemptions. The platform notes: Given the importance of public discussion and debate to the scientific process, we will continue to allow content about vaccine policies, new vaccine trials and historical vaccine successes or failures. Personal testimonials relating to vaccines would also be permitted  as long as the video does not violate other community guidelines or the channel does not show a pattern of promoting vaccine hesitancy.

YouTube also suppressing content about COVID-19 cures

The Google-owned video-sharing platform has also exercised its wanton censorship powers over COVID-19 cures. Back in November 2020, conservative news outlet One America News Network (OAN) received a one week suspension from YouTube. The platform argues that a video posted by OAN violates the YouTube COVID-19 misinformation channel.

The week-long suspension also comes with one strike on the news outlet; three such strikes merit a permanent ban on the platform. YouTube also adds that OAN can no longer monetize its videos owing to prior violations of the misinformation policy. A later statement by OAN says it would abide by the YouTube policy, but emphasizes that it would not let the sites arbitrary rules infringe upon [OANs] First Amendment rights to inform the public.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) also received a weeklong suspension from YouTube back in June 2021. The platform alleges that the lawmaker is spreading misinformation about COVID-19 treatments through his espousal of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). Despite intense suppression by the medical establishment, many studies show that HCQ proves to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 infection. (Related: SUPPRESSING THE CURES: YouTube suspends Sen. Ron Johnson for uploading videos about hydroxychloroquine.)

A YouTube spokesperson tells Fox News more about Johnsons temporary suspension. They say: We removed the video in accordance with our COVID-19 medical misinformation policies, which dont allow content that encourages people to use [HCQ] or ivermectin to treat or prevent the virus.

Johnson confirms his suspension on YouTube in a tweet: YouTubes arrogant [COVID-19] censorship continues. How many lives will be lost as a result? How many lives could have been saved with a free exchange of medical ideas? This suppression of speech should concern every American. (Related: YouTube censors video in which medical doctors said hydroxychloroquine might help treat COVID-19.)

The lawmaker voices out his concerns regarding censorship in a statement to news outlets. Big Tech and mainstream media believe they are smarter than medical doctors who have devoted their lives to science and use their skills to save lives. They have decided there is only one medical viewpoint allowed, and it is the viewpoint dictated by government agencies, Johnson says.

YouTubeCensorship.com has more articles about the video-sharing platforms wanton censorship of COVID-19 content.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com 1

Blog.YouTube.com

FOX5SanDiego.com

TheEpochTimes.com 2

Twitter.com
A 19-year-old woman from Sao Paulo, Brazil previously diagnosed with toxoplasmosis in the fifth month of her pregnancy, lost her unborn child to infection from cat's feces.

Heavily pregnant Milena Gloria Cardoso lost her child on the ninth month of her pregnancy due to an infection caused by parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which is usually found in contaminated cat feces, water or undercooked meat.

While Toxoplasmosis does not commonly cause overt symptoms, as per Milena's experience, it can easily impact weakened or pregnant women, especially when caught early on in pregnancy. The disease had been first caught on Milena's fifth month of pregnancy, according to a media report.

Symptoms of toxoplasmosis includes flu-like symptoms, such as high temperatures, aching muscles, tiredness, feeling sick, a sore throat and swollen glands for about six weeks. However, Milena had initially been asymptomatic and was only diagnosed with the infection subsequent to a routine blood tests. She then felt 'extremely swollen and in great pain' just days before her child died on her womb.

"She spent the entire night bleeding," said Milena's cousin, Sabrina Segecs.

Investigation goes after family requested a post-mortem

"They warned her that her pregnancy was at risk, but they didn't retake the exam when she was six months [pregnant]," Milena's cousin said. "Since then, we've been in this rush of going to and from the hospital. They said she had to wait for a normal birth, even though she was in a lot of pain."

The family claims that Melina was sent home the day before the tragedy, and when she got back the next day on Sept. 19, doctors discovered her baby had a weak heartbeat. She had to wait for a normal delivery as per the medical staff instead of performing a cesarean section. The baby died a few hours later.

Milena was hospitalized the next day to undergo a cesarean to remove the deceased baby.

The family filed a police report in Sao Vicente and requested necropsy at the Legal Medical Institute for the real cause of death. They accused local health officials of negligence on monitoring the development of the disease when the diagnosis has since been done in earlier month.

Also read: A Scientist's Mistake Led to the Release of Stomach-Bursting Parasites in a Remote Island

Department of Health insists that all care protocols were followed

According to the statement of Department of Health in Sao Vicente, Milena had already contracted toxoplasmosis even before the pregnancy. She was then referred for high-risk prenatal screening, and that protocol from the Ministry of Health had been followed.

Unfortunately, there was no indication for treatment as the infection was acquired before pregnancy, and after repeated tests, the toxoplasmosis result remains.

The department clarified that all care protocols for this particular case were followed and respected throughout the prenatal period.

They had sent condolences to the family. "The City Hall sympathizes with the family's pain and has already made itself available for further clarification," the note said.

Also read: Gene Editing Among Livestock May Increase Resistance to Diseases
A scary-looking dinosaur measuring 29ft is one of two species discovered not long ago that wandered all over what is presently called the Isle of Wight 125 million years ago.

Crocodile-faced Hell Heron Dinosaur

The remnants of the carnivorous reptiles which have similar length as a Stegosaurus but with skulls that look like that of a crocodile were discovered on the beach close to Brighstone on the island.

The pair were recognized as new dinosaur species which palaeontologists from the University of Southampton didn't describe earlier on.

Ceratosuchops inferodios was the name given to the more fierce of the two and the translation is the 'horned crocodile-faced hell heron', because of a series of low bumps and horns across the brow area and its hunting style that is like that of heron.

It is known that herons capture aquatic prey around the borders of waterways, but their meal is more adjustable than is usually appreciated and terrestrial prey can serve as their food.

Also Read: Dinosaurs Were Already Dying Off Due to Climate Change Even Before Asteroid Hit

Milner's Riverbank Hunter Dinosaur

Riparovenator milnerae was the name given to the second and the translation is 'Milner's riverbank hunter'. It was named after Angela Milner, a British palaeontologist who recently passed on.

The haul of over 50 bones was found over a period of a number of years from rocks that make up a part of the Wessex Formation, laid down more than 125 million years ago.

Now scientists are saying they are related to two new species of spinosaurid. A spinosaurid is a group of predatory theropod dinosaurs that is a close relation to the giant Spinosaurus.

The project supervisor named Dr Neil J Gostling, said the work has uncovered the extremely varied ecology of the south coast of England in the time of the Early Cretaceous. The only spinosaurid skeleton the was exhumed in the UK in the past was owned by Baryonyx, which was found at first in a quarry in Surrey in the year 1983.

Most of other discoveries since have just been single bones and isolated teeth.

Diversity of Spinosaurids

A PhD student at the University of Southampton and also a lead author of the study whose name is Chris Barker said they discovered the skulls varied from Baryonyx and others.

"Suggesting the UK housed a greater diversity of spinosaurids than previously thought." Barker explained.

In spite of the fact that the skeletons are not complete, the researchers roughly calculated that the measurement of both Riparovenator and Ceratosuchops in length is about 29ft, using their skulls that is 3ft-long to snap up prey.

Numerous fossil hunters bringing their findings to the Dinosaur Isle Museum and letting experts put all the facts and details together, and confirm them as new species made the extraordinary discovery possible.

It was "the rarest and most exciting find I've made in over 30 years of fossil collecting," Brian Foster, a fossil collector who played an important part in the finds said.

Related Article: New Discovery: The Largest Dinosaur, 'The Spinosaurus' Was Not Well-Adapted To Aquatic Life

For more news, updates about dinosaurs and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!
A 30-year-old woman from California has been charged for igniting a massive wildfire that has affected thousands of acres of Shasta County. She claims the reason she started the fire was an unsuccessful attempt at boiling a puddle containing bear pee.

Fawn Fire

A 30-year-old one-time Bay Area biotech researcher named Alexandra Souverneva who on LinkedIn listed her occupation as a "shaman," was arrested on the 23rd of September being on Thursday and was charged with "arson to wildland" linked to the Fawn Fire, as per the Shasta County District Attorney's Office.

The Fawn Fire has consumed not less than 13.5 square miles (35 square kilometers) and damaged 185 structures in California as of September 28. It also took nearly 1,700 personnel to combat the flame, including three firefighters who were injured by the fire. About 30 percent of the wildfire hasn't been uncontained.

Firefighters reportedly sighted Souverneva coming out of the brush close to the fire at about 8 pm on the 22nd of September. She claimed she has lost a large amount of water and is in need of medical assistance.

Also Read: Dixie Fire Could Possibly Become the Largest Wildfire in California's History

The Interview

After she was medically assessed, CAL FIRE law enforcement interviewed her. Court documents revealed that CAL FIRE told Souverneva to remove everything in her fanny pack and pockets, disclosing that she had a cigarette lighter on her and an "item containing a green leafy substance that she admitted to smoking that day."

Upon interrogation, she asserted she had been going for a hike in Shasta County in California trying to reach Canada, more than 684 miles (1,100 kilometers) away. Souverneva also told the officer she had lost a large amount of water and then she saw a puddle of water polluted with bear pee.

After failing on her trial to filter the water using a teabag, she tried boiling the water. However, she asserted it was "too wet for the fire to start," so she just consumed the pee-puddle water and kept on walking.

Souverneva Pleads not Guilty

After she was arrested and interviewed by a CAL FIRE officer, Souverneva has been connected with another Shasta County wildfire which is about 5 miles (8 kilometers) away from the Fawn Fire. Extra charges for this second fire have not been filed yet.

In a statement to Shasta County District Attorney named Stephanie Bridgett, Matt Alexander who is a CAL FIRE officer said: "It is my opinion there is a high possibility she is responsible for the vegetation fire in Shasta Lake City the previous evening. It is my experience that arsonists are responsible for multiple fires and will light multiple fires in a short timeframe."

Souverneva has pleaded innocent to arson charges regarding the Fawn Fire and will stay in custody on $100,000 bail. If guilty as charged, she could remain in prison for up to nine years.

Related Article: New Fires Spark in California, Leaving Hundreds of Residents Under Evacuation Orders

For more news, updates about wildfire and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!
According to a new study, despite their commitments to address the climate problem, several of America's most renowned corporations, including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Disney, are supporting business groups that are blocking major climate legislation.

A slew of corporate lobbying groups and organizations have banded together to fight the Democrats' planned $3.5 trillion budget blueprint, including unprecedented steps to reduce global warming gases. The Democratic leader of the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, has termed the reconciliation measure "the most important climate action in our country's history."

Companies Showing Climate Concern

Most major US companies have voiced concern about the climate problem or established their greenhouse gas reduction objectives. For example, one of the world's wealthiest individuals, Jeff Bezos, has stated that the climate issue is the "greatest threat to our planet," and his firm, Amazon, has set a promise for businesses to reduce their emissions to zero by 2040. In addition, Microsoft has stated that it will be "carbon negative" within a decade, while Disney has stated that it would solely utilize renewable energy within the same timeframe.

However, these and other major corporations either support or actively steer the lobby groups attempting to derail the bill that bears the weight of Joe Biden's ambitions to address the climate crisis, jeopardizing one of the last major legislative efforts that will determine whether parts of the world enter a new, barely livable climate state.

"Major corporations love to tell us how committed they are to addressing the climate crisis and building a sustainable future, but behind closed doors, they are funding the very industry trade groups that are fighting tooth and nail to stop the biggest climate change bill ever," Kyle Herrig, president of the watchdog group Accountable.US, said.

None of the firms contracted by the Guardian were willing to criticize the positions of the lobbying organizations to which they belong, and none indicated they would evaluate their ties to these organizations.

"Hiding behind these shady entities endangers not just our environment, but it also jeopardizes these corporations' household brands and reputations," Herrig added.

Related Article: UN Assessment Warns About Worsening Climate Crisis Despite the Agreement in the Paris Agreement



US Chamber of Commerce

The US Chamber of Commerce has pledged to "do all we can" to prevent the reconciliation plan from becoming law, raising taxes, and killing jobs. The board of directors of the leading business lobby group includes executives from Microsoft, Intuit, United Airlines, and Deloitte, who have expressed concern about climate change - Deloitte even includes climate crisis education in its employee training - and have made various promises to reduce emissions.

Companies Against the Bill

The Business Roundtable, for example, has expressed "deep concern" about the bill's passing, primarily because it boosts taxes on the rich. The association comprises CEOs, including Apple's Tim Cook, who has called on governments and companies to do more to address the climate crisis. Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google's parent firm Alphabet, and Darren Woods, the CEO of Exxon Mobil, are among the other members.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade group with Bayer and AstraZeneca, has launched advertisements against the measure. Another lobby group, the Rate Coalition, which includes Disney, FedEx, and Verizon, is planning an advertising blitz to help kill the bill. At the same time, the National Association of Manufacturers, which is backed by Johnson&Johnson, Dow, and Goodyear, has stated that it is attempting to overturn the bill "in every way you can imagine."

This blitz jeopardizes legislation that is already on a rocky route through Congress, with the president requiring the support of every Senate Democrat for it to succeed. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia who has received much money from the fossil fuel sector, has claimed the climate part of the plan "doesn't make sense" and has insisted that coal, oil, and gas subsidies stay in place. Republicans are united in their opposition to the package.



What would Happen if the Bill is Passed

If passed, the bill would create a mechanism to gradually phase out emissions from the US electrical grid and subsidies to encourage carbon-free nuclear energy and electric vehicle adoption.

The law comes when experts warn that the world is fast running out of time to avert catastrophic climate change. It is the first significant attempt at climate legislation in more than a decade. The bill's defeat would not only hurt Biden politically, but it would also stymie efforts to persuade other governments to take more extreme measures at the forthcoming UN climate conference in Scotland.

Friends of the Earth's climate program manager, Lukas Ross, stated, "This is a historic opportunity to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and invest in a livable future." "We can't afford to squander this chance to pass real climate legislation; there may not be another."

Also Read: 4 Out of 10 Gen-Zers People Afraid to Have Kids Because of the Climate Crisis

For more news update about Environmental Action, don't forget to follow Nature World News!


Yarmouth mural to combat modern slavery

A large mural will be erected in Great Yarmouth later this month to raise awareness of the widespread presence of slavery in this country. Tony Rothe reports.

The mural has been commissioned by Park Baptist Church in Gorleston and Imagine Norfolk Together, and will be displayed in Great Yarmouth from October 18, which coincides with Anti-Slavery Day. The various activities in Yarmouth on that day are being planned in partnership with the local police.



The term modern slavery encompasses both trafficking (the arranging or facilitating of the travel of another, whether into, out of or within the UK, with a view to that person being exploited) and exploitation itself, which can take place both alongside and independently of trafficking. The mural depicts some of the industries where slavery most commonly occurs  carwashes, nail bars, construction, hospitality and domestic work, but the practice is very pervasive and could really be taking place anywhere.



Anna Heydon, Development worker with Imagine Norfolk Together in Yarmouth, said, Its really important to raise awareness of modern slavery because its a hideous crime which thrives on secrecy and on peoples unwillingness to admit or recognise that it happens where they live.



The mural is one way to remind people that slavery is present in every community, and that includes here in the Borough of Great Yarmouth. Turning a blind eye isnt an option for us as Christians  we believe that every human is made in the image of God and has been created for love, dignity and freedom. This mural is a call to action. We must refuse to ignore or look away from situations of injustice and oppression, but instead to stand against them and stand with the victims.



The mural is part of a larger strategy to raise awareness amongst local people via the churches and Great Yarmouth library will also be hosting a display of books related to the subject of slavery, with more information and people available to answer questions.



Anna previously ran the Clewer Initiatives Hidden Voices course in 2019, and also facilitiated a local Women in the Shadows Lent course on zoom before Easter this year. Imagine Norfolk Together is a member of the Norfolk Anti-slavery Network (NASN).



If people have concerns about modern slavery, should ring the police or the Modern Slavery Helpline on 08000 121 700. It operates 24 hour a day, 365 days a year.



There are an estimated 136,000 victims of modern slavery in the UK. Victims are men, women and children of all ages, ethnicities and nationalities. Those we know about are just the tip of the iceberg - many victims never come forward to the authorities and continue to live miserable lives with no freedom or dignity.



To learn more about modern slavery, visit the Clewer Initiative website .



For more about the work of Imagine Norfolk Together, visit imaginenorfolktogether.org.uk



Or e-mail Anna Heydon at anna.heydon@togethernorfolk.org.uk

Do you have a news story or forthcoming event relating to Christians or a church in East Norfolk?

If so, e-mail tony.rothe@networknorwich.co.uk with details and, if possible a suitable picture.

Tony Rothe, 01/10/2021
Since he helped build the highly successful ship that is VMware, it is widely expected the companys CEO Raghu Raghuram, appointed in June, wont rock that boat too much, at least in the near term.

VMware

Raghuram is credited with helping build and grow the companys core virtualization and multicloud business as well as its software-defined data center strategy. VMware also credits Raghuram with driving partnerships with Dell Technologies and hyper-scaler customers.

Since being appointed a little over 100 days ago, Raghuram has been focused on those efforts but also growing the companys multicloud software subscription and SaaS business.

He inherited a good base to start with as VMware in its August Q2 2022 earnings call said total company revenue for the quarter was $3.1 billion, with combined subscription, SaaS, and license revenue growing 12% year-over-year to $1.5 billion.

In a press and analyst event last week Raghuram stressed the same theme that he laid out in his first financial analysts call in May: VMwares mission is to provide foundational multicloud platforms for accelerating digital business.

We provide a ubiquitous consistent software platform across clouds, data centers, and edge with which customers can rapidly build and modernize their applications. We empower them to operate their entire distributed environment with optimal cost, security and governance while leveraging their existing investments in our technology and skills to go faster to the future, Raghuram said.

He has also spent a lot of time planning for VMwares pending spin-off from Dell Technologies that Dell announced in April, which will create two free-standing companies.

Dell has had an 81% equity ownership of VMware Since 2016 when it paid $67 billion for EMC, which owned VMware. Under terms of the planned spin-off, VMware will distribute a cash dividend totalling $11.5 billion to $12 billion to VMware shareholders, which includes about $9.7 billion to Dell Technologies, the companies stated.

The two companies have had a close development relationship.That includes services such as VMware Cloud on Dell EMC, which combines VMwares high-performance compute, storage, and networking software integrated with Dell EMC hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI). Specifically, it involves VMware vSphere, vSAN, and NSX and Dell EMC VxRail HCI delivered as a service managed by VMware.

Raghuram said that the split from Dell is on track for November and that VMware as a stand-alone company will have increased strategic, operational and financial flexibility to drive its growth strategy and will also be able to strengthen its strategic relationship with Dell.

The Dell spin will let partners look at VMware in a new light and allow us more flexibility in growing our own business, Raghuram said.

The Dell situation hasnt been the only thing on the new CEOs plate. Raghuram said he has also focused on further developing VMwares multicloud strategy in a post-pandemic enterprise world.

The pandemic has accelerated what was already happening in that there are now many more distributed applications, infrastructure and people, and because of the way things have been accelerated people are finding that this distributed multicloud world is pretty complex and we are looking to reduce that complexity, Raghuram said.

Making the distributed world look like one logical entity that can be managed easily is a tough proposition, Raghuram said. How we make all of that work easier for customers is our mission, he said.

Another hot topic has been enabling business workforces that either work at home full or part-time. How do we enable the anywhere workspace that will be staying with us for the foreseeable future? Raghuram said.

At the heart of VMwares remote work technology is its VMwares Anywhere Workspace package that brings together the companys core enterprise software products, including Workspace ONE unified endpoint management, Carbon Black Cloud cloud-native endpoint security, and secure access service edge (SASE) components, into a single system to support a widely distributed workforce.

Customers are rethinking everything in terms of security and access for distributed resources, Raghuram said.
ROXBURY  When witnessing someone littering in town, its important to hold that person accountable, said Roxbury First Selectman candidate Bruce Tuomala Thursday evening at a candidates debate held at Shepaug Valley High School in Washington.

Tuomala, a Republican, is running against Patrick Roy, a Democrat. Current Roxbury First Selectman Barbara Henry is retiring after 24 years of service.

The hour-long debate was sponsored by The League of Women Voters of Litchfield County and moderated by Pat Donovan. Each candidate had two minutes to respond to questions, and the opponent had an opportunity for a 30-second rebuttal. The debate was streamed for those unable to attend in person.

It comes down to personal responsibility. I have Libertarian values. Its a behavioral issue, said Tuomala, in regard to the topic of littering.

He added its very hard to police people....You need to make sure the behavior is being reinforced  This is bad. Dont do this. Whats the matter with you? from the public. If you see someone, talk to them, ask them why they did that.

In Roys response about littering, he said aside from the town taking responsibility, its also the job of the Public Works department to help with this issue.

He added there are residents who regularly take part in organized street clean-up groups, and said he, too, would like to get involved himself in that initiative.

Im a person who enjoys being out in the field, rolling up my sleeves, and getting dirty as necessary  being involved in the process, Roy said.

Roy has served on the Board of Finance and was a manager at Lowes Home Improvement, with 200 employees reporting to him.

Tuomala, Danburys former economic development director, has worked as a corporate executive, strategy consultant, government official, nonprofit consultant and volunteer, entrepreneur and business owner, and has served as a member of numerous boards.

In response to complaints of theft of traffic signs, lack of sidewalks, potholes and speeding, Roy said there needs to be more of a police presence in town.

There needs to be some accountability to let people know that this is our town and thats not allowed, Roy said. If we had a stronger police presence, a little bit more of an impression of control, people would know Not in our town.

Additionally, Roy said speed signs are ineffective.

There is no penalty, there is never going to be an officer there  people just blow through those signs, he said. Part of the responsibility of a first selectman is to protect this community. And I see that theres more accidents and its becoming more rampant. I think we do need to slow people down and I think there needs to a cop and police cars. If you never have the threat of seeing an officer, you're not going to pay attention to it.

In his response, Tuomala said the number one way to reduce crime is deterrence.

There has to be a threat of some kind of consequence before you do something, he said.

He spoke about omnipresent policing where you are in different places all the time, he said.

Unlike his opponent, he added that signs can be useful. With current technology, Tuomala said there are now signs that capture speed, time and date.

All they have to do is add the camera, he said, reiterating his opinion that personal behavior is of critical importance.

Also, unlike Roy, Tuomala said he doesnt think, based upon discussions with law enforcement, that adding police will make any difference in deterring speeding. He said there is already enough police presence in town. Instead, he said we need to change how we manage it.

Additionally, Tuomala said cost should be considered.

If we get more police, well be paying for it. Thats an issue for the town  do they want to pay more taxes to get more police? he asked.

In response a question that pertained to the new residents in town, most likely as a result of the pandemic, Roy said he hopes they get involved in the community and become part of it.

Additionally, in regard to home businesses in town, he said he would consider improving cell phone communication to support residents home businesses.

There are still plenty parts of this town where you cant get a cell phone signal or you cant conduct business from your home, so giving them the opportunity to work from home would be a great avenue, he said, adding if elected, he would also support existing local businesses in town.

In regard to small businesses in town, Tuomala said the first thing people want to know when he tells them hes running for First Selectman is will he attract the same number of new businesses to town as he did in his role in economic development in Danbury.

He said he has no interest and no plan to economically develop Roxbury and would like to ensure the town remains rural.

He said while he supports home businesses in town, and mentioned utilizing the local library as potential space for this, the overall picture is ... of all the businesses we have, from the market to the distillery to the pizza place ... I would suggest there is no commercial opportunity for business here.... We are fine with what we have, said Tuomala.

He added the surrounding towns, which are within ten minutes distance from Roxbury, have a lot of services and businesses, so I dont see Roxbury needs them. I dont want the town to change. Once you start it, it starts to build so I would not be supportive.

On many occasions throughout the debate, Tuomala spoke about what he said is the importance of establishing strong relationships.

Many things can affect Roxbury outside of Roxbury and a big way that you find out about those things is through networking, through understanding relationships, Tuomala said. I developed this network and it takes a long time to develop these relationships. It took me four years to do that.

He then questioned his opponent  I would say Patrick, what contacts do you have? It takes a long time to build.

In response, Roy said he, too, has developed strong relationships, and brought up some, such as the Northwest Hills Council of Governments (COG).

Building relationships has always been part of my career. Im not a legislator, Roy said. I have no interests other than serving this community and listening to the people of this community, making the best decisions.

In his closing statement, Tuomala mentioned the nonprofit group Desegregate Connecticut.

Tuomala said he was very disappointed there werent any questions during the debate about Desegregate Connecticut, which he said is the most important issue in the town and what Hartford is trying to do change our local zoning and and land use.

According to the Desegregate Connecticut website, this is a a coalition of neighbors and nonprofits advocating for more equitable, affordable, and environmentally-sustainable land use policies in Connecticut with a focus on expanding the diversity and supply of our housing stock.

Tuomala said, Im really running to keep Hartford from affecting our local zoning.

In Roys closing remarks, he reiterated hes not a politician.

Its not about what Im going to do, he said. Its what were going to do together.

sfox@milfordmirror.com
SHARON  Local leaders reacted quickly and with disappointment to the news that their local hospital is eliminating services, including that of delivering babies.

Sharon Hospital announced a transformative plan Wednesday, which includes consolidating some of its services and eliminating others, including its labor and delivery department.

The plan, according to Sharon Hospital President Mark Hirko, is in place to best meet the evolving needs of patients, families, and staff.

The hospital was built 100 years ago, and the purpose for which it was built was very good at the time, he said. But health care has changed, and the hospital has fallen behind. Weve had to look at the changes and what the hospital is there for. So were taking stock of what we have, and focusing more on outpatient services.

Sharon Hospital, Danbury Hospital, and New Yorks Putnam Hospital in Carmel and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, are among the facilities that are part of Nuvance Health, as well as New Milford Hospital, which has primary care offices, a cancer care center and outpatient services.

The Sharon hospital plans to phase out the labor and delivery unit over the next eight to 12 months.

Sharon Hospital has seen fewer than 200 annual deliveries for the past four years, an average rate of fewer than one delivery per day, some days passing with no births at all in a fully staffed unit, Hirko said. An underused labor and delivery unit cannot be maintained while also ensuring Sharon Hospital can continue serving its patients and community in the long-term.

Cornwall First Selectman Gordon Ridgway said he was concerned.

Obviously, this is not good news for our area, he said. I think a lot of our elected representatives are going to be very concerned. This area is served by this hospital.

If you were born there, you want to keep that continuity of care there, Ridgway said. Its huge ... My kids were born there. For a lot of people, its deeply personal.

Cornwall also depends on Sharon Hospital to be part of its emergency management system.

And obviously, its essential to have that department here, he said. There are a lot of new families in the area. Salisbury is experiencing a population increase, and so is Cornwall.

Sharon First Selectman Brent Colley said he was dismayed by the news.

I feel for us here in Sharon, and its unfortunate. A lot of people are worried, he said. We have new people who have moved here from New York, and theyre having babies. So now what? Theyll be traveling a long way.

And, (the department) is more than just babies, Colley said. Theres a whole other part thats going away. My wife was taken care of in Sharons OB department. They saved my wifes life.

He has received many calls from upset residents, he said. I have had to spend time talking it through with people, answering their questions if I could, he said. Its very depressing.

The hospital first announced its intention to close the labor and delivery department in 2019. At that time, residents and leaders, including Colley, gave testimony against the idea during hearings and forums. Others launched letter-writing campaigns.

I and others had to go to Danbury to testify about it, and it was tense, Colley said. But this affects not only Sharon, but other towns like Lakeville, Kent, Cornwall; it just leaves us all out. Losing the OB department is big.

Ridgway called the labor and delivery department a vital service to the community.

Were trying to rebuild the state, and part of that is having outstanding health care, he said. Promises were made for a fully functioning hospital. We want to make sure we have that, to the best of our ability.

Hirko said he knew the announcement about phasing out this service would be difficult. But, he said, Nuvances other hospitals are ready to serve patients.

Vassar is not that far away, and we also have Putnam Hospital in Dutchess County, he said. High risk babies and high volume deliveries will be handled there.

As far as phasing out labor and delivery, Hirko said, We never said it was a quality issue. Its based on the ability to staff it, and the financial losses that weve had  $5 million last year. We want to be able to be vibrant and vital, and something else had to give. We cant keep putting money into an area where were not seeing any growth.

Thats hard, he said. We didnt take the decision lightly. I didnt come to Sharon Hospital to close down the unit .. It was a very difficult decision. If we werent part of a larger health system, Sharon wouldnt be open right now.

State Rep. Maria Horn of the 64th District said she has received many calls from her constituents about the announcement.

Its not happy news that theyre closing labor and delivery...,, she said. What will be important is the community, going forward. Weve attracted a lot of young families to the area, and we need to have conversations about keeping them healthy.

She said the hospital will have to gain the communities support as it began putting its plans into action. To build community support, the community needs to be engaged, she said. It doesnt mean people will get everything they want. But we need the hospital, and the hospital needs a partner.

Hirko said the next step in the hospitals plan is to continue meeting with the established work groups from various departments, evaluating services and finding ways to make them more efficient, such as surgery and increased behavioral health services.

Thats up and running, he said. The obstetrics and gynecology unit (with labor and delivery) is something well be focusing on, probably in the next week or so.

The transformative plan also includes expanding primary care services, ambulatory services and adult behavioral health offerings, to better meet the needs of our growing 65-plus population as well as children and adults with disabilities. The hospital plans to consolidate its inpatient care services by organizing work groups and allow for more effectively (assigning) staff and resources to better serve the needs of our patients and keeping them at the hospital whenever possible, according to Hirko. The hospital also is consolidating its surgical services offerings, using the same work group model to find efficient ways to improve this unit.

Parts of this have been going on already, Hirko said. In regard to a timeline, we are going to hold ourselves accountable, so set up milestones ... We will be responsible to report to Nuvance and Sharons boards, and the communities, to give updates. And if things arent moving forward, well explain why.

The hospitals financial health is another consideration in the consolidation plans. A big expense for Sharon Hospital was the breakdown of the cooling systems for half the building, which happened in April. A temporary system is in place while the regular cooling system is being rebuilt.

Hirko said the funding for other Nuvance hospitals also had to be considered.

Weve lost more than $40 million  $21 million this year, and you cant keep that up, he said. It takes away from other Nuvance systems. You can only go so far. We have to get to a point where we can break even. Thats all we want.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  Several thousand Missourians who previously were not eligible for Medicaid are expected to seek the health care coverage, now that voter-approved expansion of the program has taken effect.

Friday marked the day the health care program began processing applications. Voters approved Medicaid expansion in August 2020. The constitutional amendment passed with 53% of the vote.
NEW MILFORD  The public is invited to attend two free community memorials in honor of Florence Chandler Maybrick on the 80th anniversary of her historic passing.

The event will be Saturday, Oct. 23, morning observance from 10-10:15 a.m. at the New Milford Historical Society & Museum Plaza.

The event will take place in appreciation of both the community of Gaylordsville in the Town of New Milford and the communities of South Kent and South Kent School in Kent, a press release said.

According to the release, on Oct. 23, 1941, in a ramshackle bungalow on Old Stone Road in the northwest corner of New Milford, a penniless old lady whom the local adults knew as Old Mrs. Chandler and the children called The Cat Lady of Old Stone Road, died at age 79.

The next day, her obituary ran at the top of page one of the New York Times, revealing this woman as a famous accused murderess and prison reformer, the release said.

In response to a request submitted in August 2021 by local author Ron J. Suresha, who is writing a book about Florence Chandler Maybricks nearly quarter century residing in Gaylordsville and South Kent, New Milford Mayor Pete Bass has signed a proclamation acknowledging her significance as a historic resident and declaring that Oct. 23, 2021 be observed as Florence Chandler Maybrick Day.

There will be an afternoon memorial service from 4-5 p.m. conducted by Chaplain Steve Klots at St. Michaels Chapel & Cemetery, South Kent School.

Masks are required for indoor public events.

For information and event updates, join the Facebook Group Friends of Florence Elizabeth Chandler Maybrick.

The event is supported by the New Milford Historical Society & Museum, Gaylordsville Historical Society & Museum, Town of New Milford, Kent Historical Society & Museum, South Kent School St. Michaels Chapel.
As I roll away about a half century of memories, I still visualize the day I came home to 69 Perry Drive, New Milford, and saw Mrs. Hibbards blue car parked in our sloped driveway. The car wasnt anything fancy, in fact, it looked a little old to me. It was probably a Ford Galaxy or something like that, just a plain practical four-door car. Practical like a rural New England woman born in 1924 would have been.

After all, having survived the Great Depression, endured brutal winters, and witnessed a world war, the owner of that blue car was probably the type of woman who worked hard, occasionally did without, and made things last. If her family hadnt done so themselves, Im sure she would have known families who had farmed Connecticuts rocky soil.

But getting back to that day in 1974, Mrs. Hibbard had told me in school she was going to see my mother that afternoon. Grandmotherly-type teacher that she was, she wanted to make sure I knew I wasnt in any trouble.

When I got home from the bus stop, there they were, chatting over coffee at the kitchen table. And no, I wasnt in any trouble at all. Instead, Mrs. Hibbard was just being a teacher. and a good one at that.

She didnt visit my mother exclusively. She visited ALL her students mothers. Of course, I knew I was the star of the show and I was excited that the two women in my life were acting like friends.

At the conclusion of Mrs. Hibbards visit, she and my mother walked out back to watch me go roaring down the hill on my Big Wheel and flying over a homemade ramp. Of course, Mrs. Hibbard had already earned her days pay and she was probably ready to go home.

But grandmothers and first grade teachers know that little boys rise and fall on their words. I dont remember what words she spoke to me as I triumphantly pushed my Big Wheel back up the hill, but whatever she said that autumn afternoon made me feel like my Junior Evil Knievel stunt was really show-worthy. I went to bed smiling that night, having impressed my teacher.

I hadnt been sure how I had felt about Mrs. Hibbard when I first met her a few weeks earlier. My family and I had arrived from Ohio a few days after the school year began, so I enjoyed the special attention being a transfer student meant. The woman seemed nice, but she was still a stranger to me.

To make matters worse, my first afternoon in her class, I put my lips on the water fountain and shed spanked me, three gentle pops on the butt. But she also let me bury my face in her long black skirt as she rubbed the back of my head and soothed me until the tears were gone.

She was kind and forgiving, but she still made sure I knew what Id done wrong. I didnt go home angry. I went home feeling chastised  and loved. Mrs. Hibbard would take attendance by calling our first names and we were expected to answer with our last name and courtesy title.

I still remember her beginning the roll call with Tina, followed by a little girls voice responding Miss Baird. Then, there was Price  Mr. Broder Jim  Mr. Bridges, and so forth. I dont know why Price Broders name came before mine  maybe it was Brawder or something like that  but I do remember that it was the first time Mr. Bridges" was ever used in connection with me. It was yet another way of making everyone in her class feel special.

Mrs. Hibbard had birthday parties for every student whose birthday fell within the school year. She assigned reading groups with names chosen by the students. I was in the Kims and we frequently were called to the circle of tiny chairs simultaneously with the Ghosts.

In December, I received the high honor and great privilege of her picking me to be the voice of the rooster in the Christmas play. After all, being raised by Alabama parents whod lived on farms, I could actually imitate a rooster, while everyone else had auditioned with either Cockledoodle-doo! or Cluck, Cluck, Cluck. I still have that talent, by the way, of imitating roosters. Its comforting to know that if I ever lose my law license, I can still make a living.

Over Christmas, Mrs. Hibbard did something unexpected: She became Mrs. Roberts. When school resumed in January, she assured us that she was the same, just that she had found a wonderful new husband. I didnt know much about her previous husband (not even his name until last night) except that he had died and had been in a wheelchair. I remember Mrs. Hibbard telling us one day about how she had ramps in her house for him.

Life happens and school years end. Soon I was in Mr. Murphys second grade class and the following April, we moved off to West Virginia. As for Mrs. Hibbard, she was consigned to fading, but not completely faded, memories. She was and remains a distinguished face in a long line of women and men who, in exchange for low salaries, had tended to my scraped knees and bruised feelings while laboring to give me a future.

Ive never been back to New Milford since we moved away and it has now been about 46 years since I looked into her eyes or heard her voice. Even though Mrs. Hibbard was only about 50 years old when she taught me (a fact I didnt know then), when youre 6, anyone with strands of grey hair is old. Hence, whenever I thought of her over the years, I assumed she had died decades earlier.

Perhaps I could have run one of those computer background checks on her and found out differently, but I didnt even know her first name until now. I just knew her as Mrs.

Last night, for whatever reason, I searched for Hibbard Roberts Teacher New Milford, thinking I might find an old obituary. I didnt really expect to because I thought she might have passed before they posted them online.

To my surprise, though, I found one: A teacher at Hill and Plain Elementary School, a lifelong New Englander, a Daughter of the American Revolution, and a member of the Congregationalist Church, Mary Hibbard Roberts died just last year. She was 96.

If only Id known she was alive all those years  Of course, she would have never remembered me. I was just one of the probably 1,000-plus kids shed called on the roll over her career. But I always remembered her and if Id known she was alive, I would have written her a letter and told her exactly that.

After all, we always remember our good teachers, and, like I said, she was a good one. Indeed, during that wonderful year of birthday parties and Christmas plays, Mrs. Hibbard had gently orchestrated and softly engineered something very powerful: She had taught me how to read. It was her lasting gift to me, one I use every day. So, thank you, Mrs. Hibbard. I only wish I had said so while you were alive. And to all the other good teachers out therethose who struggle with the low pay and the challenges that come with your profession who get away with things my generation couldnt  thank you for not giving up. It may take a half century, but one day some long-forgotten pupil will be writing about you.
Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).
"We need the publics eyes and ears, said Deputy Champaign Police Chief Nate Rath. We know there are people in this community who are intentionally withholding information.
I encourage you to talk with your students about this as well as the harm that these challenges can bring, Champaign Superintendent Shelia Boozer wrote in Thursdays letter to families. Also, continue to monitor your childs social-media accounts.
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One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021
Is one COVID vaccine better than the other? Four current vaccines  Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca  are highly effective against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but a new medRxiv* study suggests the level of protection varies.

Researchers from The Netherlands found the mRNA vaccines produce more antibodies than adenovirus-based vaccines.

The implication is that individuals receiving one of the adenovirus vector-based vaccines are more vulnerable to infection with the Beta and Delta VOCs, which is consistent with the lower efficacy of these vaccines against symptomatic infection with VOCs compared to the mRNA vaccines, although all vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe disease by VOCs, explained the researchers.

Against SARS-CoV-2 variants, especially the Beta variant, immunity weakened most among adenovirus vector-based vaccines.

Overview of experiment

The researchers collected convalescent plasma samples of individuals who were vaccinated with either the Pfizer-BioNTech (n = 50), Moderna (n = 40), AstraZeneca (n = 41), or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine (n = 16).

Participants included healthcare workers who were never exposed to SARS-CoV-2. The four vaccine groups were fairly similar in composition; 62-87% were female, with the majority between 35 and 60 years old. However, the majority of individuals who were vaccinated with the two-dose AstraZeneca shot were over 60 years of age. The age difference is due to the Dutch government allocating most AstraZeneca shots to this age group.

Neutralizing antibodies were measured from serum samples and tested against four SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern  Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta.

Serum samples were collected at least 3 weeks after the first vaccination and 4 weeks after the second vaccination. For the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot, samples were collected 5 to 8 after vaccination.

Both mRNA vaccines show superior humoral immune response

All four vaccines showed antibody responses against the spike protein of the original coronavirus strain.

Four weeks after full dosing, mRNA vaccines had significantly higher neutralization titers compared to adenovirus-based vaccines. However, antibody responses decreased in individuals who received the AstraZeneca and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Binding and neutralization titers pre- and post-vaccination with one of the four SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. (A) Timelines of the vaccinations and serum collections, showing the mean and interquartile range of times of vaccination and samples in weeks after the first dose. (B) Binding titers to wild-type S protein represented as mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of 1:100,000 diluted sera collected pre- and post-vaccination for the four vaccination groups. The convalescent group (n=68) consists of sera from hospitalized (dark gray) and non-hospitalized (light gray) COVID-19 patients collected 4-6 weeks post symptom onset. Median and 95% confidence intervals are indicated. The lower cutoff for binding was set at an MFI of 10 (grey shading). (C) Median half-maximal neutralization (ID50) titers of D614G pseudovirus for sera collected post-vaccination for the four vaccination groups. The convalescent group (n=68) consists of sera from hospitalized (dark gray) and non-hospitalized (light gray) COVID-19 patients collected 4-6 weeks post symptom onset. Median and 95% confidence intervals are indicated. The lower cutoff for neutralization was set at an ID50 of 100 (grey shading). All data points shown here represent the mean of a technical triplicate. *, p < 0.01, **, p < 0.001, ***, p < 0.0001.

The AstraZeneca and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had a 17 to 29-fold reduction in antibody responses.

Using a lentiviral-based pseudovirus, the researchers studied vaccine antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants.

For the B.1 variant, neutralizing antibody responses were highest with the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna vaccines. But the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines had lower neutralizing activity against the variant.

Binding and neutralization titers post-vaccination against VOCs. (A) Median with an interquartile range of binding titers to wild-type and VOCs S proteins represented as mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of 1:100,000 diluted sera collected four-five weeks after full vaccination for the four vaccination groups. The lower cutoff for binding was set at an MFI of 10 (grey shading). Vaccine groups are indicated by colors with BNT162b2 in green, mRNA-1273 in purple, AZD1222 in orange and Ad26.COV2.S in blue. (B) Median with an interquartile range of half-maximal neutralization (ID50) titers of D614G and VOCs pseudoviruses for sera collected after full vaccination for the four vaccination groups. The lower cutoff for neutralization was set at an ID50 of 100 (grey shading). Vaccine groups are indicated by colors with BNT162b2 in green, mRNA-1273 in purple, AZD1222 in orange and Ad26.COV2.S in blue. (C) Median ID50 neutralization of D614G and VOCs plotted against the reported vaccine efficacy against symptomatic infection. Vaccine groups are indicated by colors with BNT162b2 in green, mRNA-1273 in purple, AZD1222 in orange and Ad26.COV2.S in blue. Circles represent WT data, squares for Alpha, diamond for Beta, nabla triangle for Gamma and delta triangle for Delta. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient with p-value are indicated. The result of the AZD1222 phase 3 trial conducted in South Africa, demonstrating poor (10%) efficacy against Beta variant, is not shown.

Antibody response after partial vaccination

The researchers next look at antibody responses after one vaccination compared to the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The mRNA vaccines had detectable antibody binding titers against the spike protein after one dose. In contrast, 5 of the 42 individuals taking one-dose AstraZeneca vaccine and 1 of the 13 individuals with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine did not show antibody levels.

A one-dose Moderna vaccine had the highest antibody titers compared to all three vaccines.

Overall, partial vaccination resulted in low neutralizing antibody levels than full vaccination. The neutralizing antibody levels after one dose were low in all cases (median titers of <100 for BNT162b2 and AZD1222, 119 for Ad26.COV2.S and 300 for mRNA-1273) with only 19 of 45 (42%) BNT162b2, 13 of 35 (37%) AZD1222, 7 of 13 (54%) Ad26.COV2.S and 26 of 31 (84%) mRNA-1273 having detectable neutralization, explained the researchers.

Neutralization titers of pooled sera against VOCs and VOIs. Half-maximal neutralization (ID50) titers of SARS-CoV-2 variant pseudoviruses for pooled sera for the vaccination groups (excluding the Ad26.COV2.S group) after full vaccination. The lower cutoff for neutralization was set at an ID50 of 100 (grey shading). Convalescent group 1 (light gray) consists of pooled COSCA sera representing COVID-19 patients between 4-6 weeks post symptom onset and convalescent group 2 (dark gray) consists of pooled RECoVERED sera representing COVID-19 patients up to seven months post symptom onset (median three months), who experienced mild to severe COVID-19. Vaccine groups are indicated by colors with BNT162b2 in green, mRNA-1273 in purple and AZD1222 in orange. All data points shown here represent the mean of a technical triplicate and at least two replications.

Antibody levels against variants of concern

All vaccines showed a drop in antibody levels against SARS-CoV-2 variants, with the most significant reduction in neutralizing activity coming from the Beta variant, followed by Delta, Gamma, and Alpha.

Neutralizing titers against the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants were the highest among individuals with either of the mRNA vaccines.

A good proportion of recipients of the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines did not show detectable neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Neutralization titers were also associated with greater protection from symptomatic COVID-19 infection.

Overall, the results show that the mRNA vaccines induce substantial levels of neutralizing antibodies against currently defined VOCs, while the adenovirus vector-based vaccines are much less efficient in doing so, concluded the researchers.

*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.
People who receive care and the adult social care workforce will be further protected from COVID-19 and flu over the coming months, as the government sets additional funding for infection prevention and control.

Today (Thursday 30 September) Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid has announced an additional 388.3 million to prevent the spread of infection in social care settings, including 25 million to support care workers to access COVID-19 and flu vaccines over the winter months. This will ensure social care staff who need to travel to receive their COVID-19 or flu vaccinations are paid their usual wages to do so and can be support with travel costs .

To boost flu vaccine uptake among social care staff, GP practices will be able to vaccinate care home staff that are not registered at their practice. Uptake will be regularly monitored by region to allow a targeted approach, and more flu vaccines will be available earlier this year.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Sajid Javid said:

Protecting care home staff and residents has been a priority throughout the pandemic and as we move into winter I am committed to ensuring they have the resources they need. This additional funding demonstrates how we will continue to support those delivering and receiving care. Everyone deserves to be cared for with dignity and respect and our wider reforms will continue to work towards our aim of a world-leading social care system."

Continued funding to prevent infection spreading and provide testing will be delivered through the Infection Control and Testing Fund (ICTF), which was first introduced in May 2020 with an investment of 600 million. Today's funding announcement includes 237 million for Infection Control measures and 126.3 million for testing costs. This will allow testing to continue for staff, residents and visitors to ensure residents can see their loved ones as safely as possible.

Minister for Care, Gillian Keegan said:

The social care workforce have continued to deliver high quality care in the most challenging circumstances over the past 18 months - showing true dedication and professionalism - and I can't thank them enough for all their hard work. We will ensure both staff and those who receive care continue to be protected from COVID-19, as well as other illnesses, this winter."

Infection prevention and control measures to protect residents and staff include:

Continuing to provide free PPE to protect against COVID-19 to the adult social care sector until the end of March 2022.

Providing regular asymptomatic COVID-19 testing .

Continuing to support care providers to make best use of technology to help remote monitoring including making pulse oximeters available to care homes that have less than the recommended number of devices.

Continuing to support care home providers to follow guidance on restricting workforce movement between care homes and other care settings.

Supporting providers to pay staff who are isolating in line with government guidance their normal wages while doing so.

As part of supporting good quality discharge the government will also extend the use of designated settings for people discharged from hospital to a care home with a positive COVID-19) test. This includes extending the Designated Settings Indemnity Scheme to March 2022, supported by 478 million which has already been pledged to continue hospital discharge programmes through the winter until March 2022.

From November 11 any staff or visiting professionals entering a care home will need to provide evidence of their COVID-19 vaccination or exemption status. Vaccines save lives and it is our responsibility to do everything we can to reduce the risk for those in care, who are some of the most clinically vulnerable to COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

To apply for a medical exemption, individuals will be able to call 119 from 30 September and, if there is a medical reason for exemption, will be issued with an application form. Each application will be clinically reviewed and they will automatically be contacted via post with results of their application.

The government will also launch a consultation on extending free PPE beyond March 2022 for Health and Social Care on 1 October.

Background

Vaccine exemptions

The vaccines are safe and effective. The possible reasons for exemptions are limited to continue protecting the most vulnerable in society. Examples that might be reasons for a medical exemption include:

people receiving end of life care where vaccination is not in the person's best interests

people with learning disabilities or autistic individuals, or people with a combination of impairments where vaccination cannot be provided through reasonable adjustments

a person with severe allergies to all currently available vaccines

those who have had a rare adverse reaction to the first dose

Other medical conditions could also allow you to get a medical exemption.

Time-limited exemptions will also be available for those with short-term medical conditions.
If immigrants to the United States formed their own country, their pre-COVID-19 life expectancies would exceed or match those of the world's leaders in longevity -; Swiss men and Japanese women. A new study by USC and Princeton researchers estimates that immigration adds 1.4 to 1.5 years to U.S. life expectancy at birth. In 2017, foreign-born life expectancy reached 81.4 and 85.7 years for men and women, respectively. That's about 7 and 6.2 years longer than the average lifespan of their U.S.-born counterparts.

Demographers knew that immigrants lived longer. The main question that we set out to answer was, How much is this really contributing to national life expectancy trends? Our results show that they're making an outsized contribution to national life expectancy." Arun Hendi, the lead author of the study and assistant professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University

The study was published in the September 2021 issue of SSM Population Health, by Hendi and Jessica Ho, an assistant professor of gerontology and sociology at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Their work provides new insights on how immigrants contributed to national life expectancy trends over nearly three decades, from 1990 to 2017.

The research suggests that immigrants are responsible for approximately half of the recent U.S. gains in life expectancy. Moreover, the gap in life expectancy between foreign-born and native-born residents is widening.

In fact, the researchers say, Americans' life expectancy would steeply decline if it weren't for immigrants and their children. Under that scenario, U.S. life expectancy in 2017 would have reverted to levels last seen in 2003 -; 74.4 years for men and 79.5 years for women -; more closely resembling the average lifespans of Tunisia and Ecuador.

Study shows diverging trends during the last decade

Prior research has shown that between 2010 and 2017, overall U.S. life expectancies saw an unprecedented stagnation. The plateau has been largely attributed to drug overdose deaths among adults in their prime working ages and slowdowns in the rate of improvement in cardiovascular disease mortality. But this new study shows that immigrants experienced life expectancy gains during this period, while the U.S.-born population experienced declines.

"If it weren't for immigrants, our national life expectancy stagnation that we experienced since 2010 would instead be a national decline in life expectancy," Ho said. "For them to have that large an impact is unexpected because they represent a relatively small proportion of the U.S. population."

In addition, while the immigrant advantage was already present in 1990, the research shows that the difference between immigrants and the U.S.-born has widened substantially over time, with the ratio of American-born to foreign-born mortality rates nearly doubling by 2017.

"When compared to immigrants' life expectancy, the U.S.-born are doing poorly. Much of this is related to their very high mortality at the prime adult ages," said Ho, an expert in the social determinants of health and mortality. "Low mortality among prime-aged immigrants doesn't just help the foreign-born -; it helps the U.S.-born too. Prime-aged adults are likely to be in the labor force and raising children. This means that they contribute to higher tax revenues and slower population aging."

Hendi says this is particularly relevant today because those prime adult ages are where the country is losing years of life due to drug overdose mortality and other preventable causes of death.

"The fact that immigrants are doing well suggests that there is a capacity to thrive in the U.S., but the U.S.-born aren't fulfilling that potential," he said.

Immigrants are a small but influential share of the U.S. population

Immigrants make up under 15% of the U.S. population, up from around 8% in 1990 but still a small percentage of the total. Hendi and Ho cite healthy behaviors and the changing selectivity of the immigrant population as factors that may contribute to their influence on total life expectancy.

"Immigrants tend to be healthier in part due to the selective migration of those who have the health, resources and stamina to migrate to the U.S., and this selectivity may have grown stronger," Ho said.

The researchers highlight the role of increases in high-skilled immigration, which is partly reflected in changes in countries of origin as immigrant streams shift from Mexico to places like India and China. They also note that there may be pro-longevity characteristics of immigrant populations, regardless of country of origin, including a lower propensity to drink, smoke and use drugs than U.S.-born residents.

"Many of America's immigrants come from lower-income, less-developed nations, leading some to worry that these immigrants bring their home countries' high-mortality conditions with them and thus drag down America's national average longevity," Hendi said. "But the results say just the opposite. Far from dragging down the national average, immigrants are bolstering American life expectancy. A big part of the story appears to be that immigrants take fewer risks when it comes to their health."

The study additionally found that the children of foreign-born residents retain some life expectancy advantage but do not fare as well as their parents.

Hendi and Ho used data from the National Vital Statistics System and the U.S. Census Bureau to estimate life expectancy levels among foreign-born, U.S.-born and total populations between 1990 and 2017.

The team plans to examine COVID-19's impact on immigrant life expectancies. A January 2021 study by USC and Princeton researchers found the COVID-19 pandemic had significantly affected life expectancy, with stark declines in life expectancy among Black and Latino populations. A separate USC study last July of a large diverse group of Medicaid enrollees found Latino patients had starkly higher odds than whites of testing positive for COVID-19 as well as higher odds of hospitalization and death.
JDRF, the leading global nonprofit funder of type 1 diabetes (T1D) research, announces a new grant awarded to Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System. Led by endocrinologist Shivani Agarwal, M.D., M.P.H., and by psychologist Jeffrey Gonzalez, Ph.D., the study will utilize telemedicine to deliver cognitive behavioral therapy to young adults with T1D to reduce diabetes-related distress.

JDRF is excited to support the work of Drs. Agarwal and Gonzalez, and their team in the exploration of methods to alleviate diabetes distress in young adults. Psychosocial research is a priority for JDRF as we believe the avenues of supportive mental health care across all ages and stages of disease will better benefit the community as an aspect of management." Sanjoy Dutta, Ph.D., JDRF Vice President of Research

Primary research shows that young adults with T1D have high levels of diabetes distress and some of the highest blood sugar levels, measured by HbA1c, among all age groups with T1D. To date, not many studies have specifically targeted diabetes distress in young adults with this disease, and it remains unknown whether interventions can positively impact blood-sugar management in this population.

"We are looking forward to testing ready-for-practice care solutions that address unmet psychological needs of young adults with T1D," says Dr. Agarwal, assistant professor of medicine and of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, clinical psychologist at Montefiore, and professor of psychology at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University. "We are excited to partner with JDRF to conduct this important study."

This New York City-based study will recruit 150 young adults nationally, aged 18 to 30, to evaluate whether telemedicine-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy, plus continuous glucose monitor (CGM), will yield significant improvement in both diabetes distress and blood-sugar control, compared with CGM alone-;which has become the current standard of T1D care. Recruitment efforts will include young adults from non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic backgrounds who may be primarily Spanish-speaking to demonstrate the reach of the approach to underserved communities.

"After years of research documenting the negative impact of diabetes distress on quality of life and health outcomes in diabetes, I'm thrilled to be part of a team that is aiming to do something about it," says Dr. Gonzalez, professor of psychology at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University and the Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "This is a unique opportunity to rigorously test a short-term behavioral health solution for diabetes distress that, if successful, can be widely disseminated."

If successful, this treatment-;in addition to providing a scientific understanding of diabetes distress and blood-sugar control in young adults-;will support a new, billable model of care for T1D that can be quickly integrated into current clinical practice.
Researchers at University of California San Diego and University of California San Francisco have mapped out how hundreds of mutations involved in two types of cancer affect the activity of discrete groups of proteins that are the ultimate actors behind the disease. The work points the way to identifying new precision treatments that may skirt side effects common with much current chemotherapy.

The effort, dubbed Cancer Cell Mapping Initiative (CCMI) https://ccmi.org, is led by Trey Ideker, PhD, professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center, and Nevan Krogan, PhD, director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute at UCSF, who are co-senior authors on a set of three related studies that describe the map. The papers appear in the October 1, 2021 online issue of Science.

The bottom line is that we're elevating the conversation about cancer from individual genes to whole protein complexes. For years, different groups have been discovering more and more mutations that are involved in cancers, but in so many different genes that scientists can't make sense of it all. Now we're able to explain these mutations at the next level  by looking at how the different gene mutations in different patients actually have the same downstream effects on the same protein machines. This is the first map of cancer from the protein complex lens." Trey Ideker, PhD, Professor, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Mapping protein mutations

Hierarchy of cancer protein systems: Each node represents a protein system carrying out cellular functions such as mobility or immune signaling. Nodes farther out on the branches represent systems with few proteins and highly specialized processes, while those closer to the root have many proteins and correspond to generalized processes. Darker colored systems, and their subsystems, are under selection in more tumor types.

DNA contains the instructions for building proteins, which then interact with other proteins, almost always in large groups called complexes. These protein complexes, in turn, make up most of the machinery of cells, dictating basic cell functions like feeding, growth and whether the cell develops into cancer. If the underlying DNA has a mutation, the resulting protein machines often will as well.

In cancers, a subset of genes is commonly mutated, Krogan said, and each of these genes can be mutated in hundreds of different ways. In addition, the function of a particular protein may be different in different types of cells, so a mutation in a breast cancer cell might have different effects on protein complexes than that same mutation in a cell in the throat.

CCMI's goal was to map the constellation of protein complexes formed by approximately 60 proteins commonly involved in either breast cancer or cancers of the head and neck, and to see what each looked like in healthy cells. Alongside that effort, they created maps of how protein complexes are affected by hundreds of different gene mutations in two cancerous cell lines.

"This is an exciting advance that not only provides a treasure trove of new protein-protein interactions, but also the computational tools to robustly analyze the data and put it in a meaningful context for others to use," said Shannon K. Hughes, PhD, deputy director of the Division of Cancer Biology at the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, which funds CCMI. "The methodology can be expanded to other tumor types and other diseases, which is very exciting. Importantly, these large-scale, systems-level mapping endeavors require a strong collaborative team, which has clearly been demonstrated within the CCMI."

Expanding precision medicine

Currently, physicians look for a small number of mutated genes as biomarkers to decide whether or not to prescribe a particular drug. For instance, patients with breast cancer who have an alteration in their HER2 gene are given the medication Herceptin because that's what will work best for them.

"The problem is that there are still only a few genes that work in this way, providing reliable biomarkers that are clearly actionable with an FDA-approved drug," Ideker said. "Our studies provide a new definition of biomarkers based not on single genes or proteins but on large, multi-protein complexes."

Because each protein complex incorporates mutations from a larger collection of genes, it is typically relevant to more patients, Ideker said. For example, XRCC5 is a DNA-repair gene altered in just 2 percent of colon cancers, which limits the usefulness of this biomarker. Now, however, researchers can look at CCMI's new map of cancer protein complexes and see that XRCC5 is part of a 15-protein assembly altered in 14 percent of patients, and that these patients are typically very resistant to standard therapies.

Trey Ideker, PhD, professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center.

"There are many examples like this in our map," Ideker said. "The clear next step is to help scientists and physicians evaluate them for use in the clinic. This is one of the main reasons we have worked really hard to make the map easily accessible on the web."

"Indeed, by targeting simultaneously multiple components of these 'oncogenic networks,' our collaborative studies will pave the way for the development of more effective combination cancer therapies, while preventing treatment resistance," said co-author J. Silvio Gutkind, PhD, chair of the Department of Pharmacology at UC San Diego School of Medicine and associate director of basic science and co-director of the Head and Neck Cancer Center at Moores Cancer Center. "These studies in breast and oral cancer can now be expanded to most human malignancies."

The most powerful aspect of these extensive protein interaction maps is that they can shed the same light on many other conditions, Krogan said. For example, the team is also at work on similar studies of protein interactions in psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders and infectious diseases.

Collaboration is key

The team sees the CCMI collaboration as the real source of strength behind the approach.

"We're not only making connections between different genes and proteins, but also between different people and different disciplines," Krogan said. "Those collaborations have built up an infrastructure that allows them to integrate an array of types of information and push the boundaries of what's possible in applying data science to complex diseases.

"We're in the perfect position to take advantage of this revolution on every level. I couldn't be more excited than I am right now. We can do such damage to cancer."
Unvaccinated pregnant women are increasingly being hospitalized with COVID-19 during a nationwide surge of the Delta variant, according to research from UT Southwestern Medical Center.

The study  which covers more than 1,500 cases in the Dallas area since May 2020  offers a snapshot of what doctors believe is happening in communities across the country. The research shows the proportion of pregnant COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization increased to 10 to 15% in late August and early September, more than double the percentage of last year before the emergence of the Delta variant.

"This is a concerning trend, and we're primarily seeing these cases in unvaccinated women," said Emily Adhikari, M.D., Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and a lead author of the study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr. Adhikari said the findings offer the first objective evidence that the case number and severity of illness in pregnant women rose with a spike in the Delta variant. The study included 1,515 pregnant women diagnosed with COVID-19 who received care from Parkland Health & Hospital System  Dallas County's public hospital  from May 2020 through Sept. 4, 2021.

Overall, 82 patients had severe or critical illness, including 10 requiring ventilators, and two deaths. The proportion of severe or critical cases was around 5% until after the new year, and were then largely nonexistent in February and most of March.

However, the rise of the Delta variant coincided with a new wave of hospitalizations that peaked this August and early September, including more than a third of COVID-19 cases the week of Aug. 29. By this time, genetic sequencing conducted at UT Southwestern showed nearly all the local variants sequenced were the Delta B.1.617.2 strain.

Of the 82 patients hospitalized since May 2020, all but one were unvaccinated.

Dr. Adhikari acknowledged that some women fear the vaccine may not be safe to take during pregnancy, but said research has debunked those concerns. She co-authored a JAMA article earlier this year that elaborated on the issue of vaccines and pregnancy.

Dr. Adhikari said pregnant women are at greater risk for complications with any type of severe respiratory infection, so these findings further emphasize the need for pregnant and lactating women in all communities to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

If they are exposed and infected, they run a higher risk of severe illness from this most recent Delta variant. Pregnant women should get immunized as soon as possible." Dr. Emily Adhikari, Medical Director of Perinatal Infectious Diseases at Parkland

The genomic sequencing that revealed nearly all the local SARS-CoV-2 variants were Delta was performed in the McDermott Center Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Core with analysis performed by the McDermott Bioinformatics Lab, both under the supervision of Helen H. Hobbs, M.D., a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular Genetics, who directs the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development at UT Southwestern. Jeffrey SoRelle, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology and a co-author on the study, is collaborating with Dr. Hobbs by providing all positive COVID-19 samples tested at UT Southwestern and interpreting sequencing results with support from a rapid, focused PCR-based test. The collaboration with the McDermott Center Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Core at UT Southwestern allows whole genome whole sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 virus in a state-of-the-art facility that performs NGS coupled with bioinformatic analysis.
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has awarded more than $2.5 million to University of California, Irvine researchers seeking to elicit from children more accurate information about maltreatment.

"We're trying to help interviewers help kids give good evidence," said J. Zoe Klemfuss, assistant professor of psychological science and leader of the team that has already launched the five-year research project. By analyzing court and forensic interview transcripts and conducting laboratory-based studies, the team aims to identify best practices for interviewing young witnesses.

One of the biggest challenges for children on the witness stand involves questions pertaining to the sequence of events. Currently in the first stage of the research plan, team members are examining 581 legal transcripts from past maltreatment cases. They're focusing on how children have traditionally been questioned about event sequence and how they've responded. The researchers will also analyze how differences in age, comprehension, memory and attention may affect kids' ability to accurately recall event sequence.

In the second and third stages of the project, the team will conduct laboratory studies with 644 4- to 12-year-olds to gauge how they answer the types of questions that children face in the legal system in a context where the truth about what occurred between a child and an adult is known. Klemfuss, who directs the Child Narratives Lab at UCI, noted: "The method that we'd be using in the lab is obviously very innocuous compared to sexual abuse and being asked about sexual abuse, but it does involve a seeming transgression with mutual culpability, which a lot of kids in the legal system feel, even when they're being abused as young children."

There is often no witness other than the child and no corroborating evidence in child maltreatment cases, particularly those involving sexual abuse, the outcomes of which may depend solely on a child's report of the alleged abuse. "If we don't have a good method of helping kids do that, then the end result is that we don't know which kids to believe and we can't prosecute or acquit cases of sex abuse accurately," Klemfuss said.

That's why the final stage of the project will be an examination of how jury-eligible adults interpret case evidence from the first three stages. If mock jurors have a more precise interpretation of what happened in a case because of clearer testimony from children, the questioning protocols developed in these laboratory studies could go a long way in promoting justice in maltreatment cases. The work will build on the foundation laid by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Investigative Interview Protocol, established in the mid-1990s, and could inform modifications to enhance the protocol's recommendations for interview strategies.
The fast spread of the highly infectious Delta variant underscores the need for faster identification of COVID-19 mutations. Uniting governments and medical communities in this challenge, the University of Oxford and Oracle's Global Pathogen Analysis System (GPAS) is now being used by organizations on nearly every continent. Institutions using the platform include: the University of Montreal Hospital Centre Research Centre, the Institute of Public Health Research of Chile, the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam, the Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research - New South Wales Pathology, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies. GPAS is also now part of the Public Health England New Variant Assessment Platform.

The Global Pathogen Analysis System is being provided as a free resource to help combat COVID-19 and other microbial health threats. Join the program and learn more at: www.gpas.cloud

Built using Oxford's Scalable Pathogen Pipeline Platform (SP3), Oracle APEX, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), the Global Pathogen Analysis System is a cloud platform that provides a unified, standardized system for analyzing and comparing the annotated genomic sequence data of SARS-CoV-2. Researchers are using the system to upload pathogen data and receive comprehensive results within minutes. With user permission, the results may be shared with participating laboratories around the globe in a secure environment. Making this data comprehensible and shareable will help public health authorities evaluate and plan their response by giving them invaluable insight into emerging variants even before they are officially designated as Variants of Concern.

Uniting the global research community in a common mission

"GPAS is the first industry standards-based service anywhere in the world, offering a standardised sequence data analysis service for users on the cloud," said Derrick Crook, professor of microbiology in the University of Oxford's Nuffield Department of Medicine. "Users will be able to access, upload and process their sequence data fully under their sovereign control and receive back fully analysed data in as little as 20 minutes of successful upload. If they select to share data, they will contribute to electronic dashboard visualisations of global data revealing the daily changes in the way the pandemic is progressing and how the virus is changing. This will enable continuous assessment of the pandemic and help guide national and global interventions to curb the impact of the virus."

"COVID-19 is a global fight, yet researchers have lacked the technical infrastructure to process raw sequences quickly, securely and share those results worldwide," said Oracle Chairman and CTO, Larry Ellison. "With GPAS, we are bringing the power and security of the cloud to enable any researcher, in any location to become part of the solution. The more data that medical institutions, governments, and academics provide, the more quickly we can understand and act to get ahead of the coronavirus."

Using the platform, researchers and governments will be able to quickly access the timely, relevant data they need to make up-to-date scientific analysis and better informed policy and safety decisions regarding new variants. As part of their work with the Global Health Security Consortium (GHSC), the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine (Ellison Institute) and the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) for Global Change have worked in coordination with Oxford and Oracle to support the development of the platform and to get it in the hands of global researchers.

"The world's lack of preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted our need to work differently in order to identify solutions that are pragmatic and able to scale in the face of challenges," said Dr. David B. Agus, GHSC Member and CEO, Ellison Institute. "GPAS is a key building block in the global data infrastructure for early warning systems and global surveillance."
Knee, hip and spinal surgery is the focus of a major new research project focusing on 3D technology developed in South Australia.

A Fusetec anatomical model used in brain surgery training. Photos courtesy Fusetec.

Under a new $2.4 million project, led by a $1 million Australian Government AusIndustry Global Innovation Linkage Program grant, Flinders Universitys Medical Device Research Institute researchers will collaborate with a leading South Australian company Fusetec and DePuy Synthes, the orthopedics company of Johnson & Johnson Medical, to develop surgical training models for improved knee, hip and spine surgeries.

Fusetec chief executive Mark Roe says the world-leading 3D technology under development at the Adelaide-based company can simulate a variety of medical training devices, reproducing exacting density of all anatomical tissues and bone densities and reproducing organs or joints to an accuracy of 20 microns among a wide range of features.

Our collaborative outcomes in this project will have a wide range of benefits to the healthcare sector, including the ability to upskill residents and surgeons in a risk-free environment from potentially harmful bacteria, Mr Roe says.

The project will also provide pathology on demand, meaning complex surgical training can now be rehearsed prior undertaking potentially life-threatening operations.

Strategic Professor of Biomedical Engineering Mark Taylor says Flinders University is internationally recognized for its experimental and computational work on better orthopedic devices or orthopedic biomechanics.

In particular, Flinders researchers have used technology to characteris tissues and modelling of joints, which will support Fusetec to develop the next generation of anatomical models, Professor Taylor says.

Professor Karen Reynolds, director of the Medical Device Research Institute at Flinders, Tonsley, and Associate Professor John Costi, from the College of Science and Engineering, are also on the Flinders University research team.

Development of the new technology will be supported by advanced bio-model workshops led by DePuy Synthes, which will trial the Fusetec anatomical models as part of Johnson & Johnsons surgeon training for use of their digital technologies.

Professor Taylor is also Flinders University lead in the Australian Research Council Training Centre for Medical Implant Technologies (ARC CMIT), which provides training for PhD students and early career researchers to engage with industry and clinical partners. The Centre specializes in personalized 3D printed orthopedic and maxillofacial implants.
This month the few remaining countries in East Asia and the Pacific that had kept schools shuttered since the COVID-19 outbreak are reopening, some on a limited scale.

During the early months of the pandemic, governments were focused on protecting the elderly against the onslaught of the highly transmissible coronavirus. Children were confined to their homes with the harm caused to young people becoming apparent especially when the Delta variant appeared this year.

While there is a collective sigh of relief from educators and social scientists at the reopening, schoolchildren's safety remains a concern especially among parents. Also, whether the school reopening will succeed in reversing the setbacks to the education and overall development of young people in the region remains to be seen.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned that the negative impact of the school closures will have "long-lasting repercussions". UNICEF has seen a backward trend in progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals  with children paying the steepest price. The pandemic, if not met with coordinated global action, will lead to severe consequences for children and "for the future of our shared humanity", it said.

According to the World Bank, the disruption to the worldwide educational system affected around 1.6 billion students with their learning losses translating to US$10 trillion of lost earnings over time, and countries will be driven off-track to achieve their "Learning Poverty goals".

In East Asia and the Pacific, an estimated 80 million children did not have access to any kind of learning in 2020. Efforts to mitigate this through the introduction of remote learning schemes were stymied by low availability of computers and devices, along with poor Internet connectivity in many communities.

There is also the economic loss incurred when parents or siblings have to forego work in the office so they can help their kids navigate the digital learning systems at home.

In India, which has the largest school system in the world, around 250 million K-12 students and 10 million teachers have been impacted by school closures, says a report by the Asian Development Bank. It cites studies indicating that students in the South Asian country now "are not achieving class-appropriate" learning levels.

Even before the pandemic, nearly a third of school-aged children in the region did not have Internet at home. In the ASEAN region alone, a UNICEF survey showed that 61 per cent of students did not get any digital literacy education in schools and that teachers were largely unfamiliar with new technologies and the use of new tools.

The effects of all these are palpable. In the Philippines, some parents are noting that their children's reading skills are sinking. A recent UNICEF survey showed that 80 per cent of parents think their children are learning less in the experimental system using a blend of digital and printed materials.

The pandemic has also caused a decline in economies and livelihoods across the region. With an expected increase of around 140 million poor households by the end of last year, child poverty is seen to be correspondingly growing.

Around East Asia and the Pacific, there has been an increase in the number of children with "severe acute malnutrition" and a lack of access to safe water and sanitation. This makes millions of these children more vulnerable to the highly transmissible coronavirus. The feared result: more deaths among children.

Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director, summed up the situation in an open letter: "For children everywhere, COVID-19 has turned lives upside down, disrupting comforting and familiar patterns like going to school and playing outdoors. For adolescents, the lockdown has deprived them of the social and peer connections that are so crucial at this time of life. And for children affected by the trauma of violence, neglect or abuse in the family, the lockdown has stranded many behind closed doors with abusers and without the support they would normally find in school, and with their extended families and communities."

A collective global initiative to prevent further harm to young people must include measures to strengthen mental health services, stresses Fore. Half of mental health disorders in 93 per cent of countries worldwide, she said, develop before the age of 15, with young people comprising the majority of 800,000 people who die by suicide every year. Fore said that countries such as Bangladesh and India offer free phone helplines that provide support for troubled children.

Fore also cited the role of UNICEF's "Reimagine Education" in providing novel learning and skills development for children through digital learning, Internet connectivity, devices, affordable data and the engagement of young people. This programme aims to extend assistance to 500 children and youth by the end of this year.

As the crisis continues and the economic fallout deepens, the UNICEF executive director warns of "difficult days" ahead.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration issued regulations to implement last year's law to limit "surprise" medical bills to patients who get care outside their insurance networks. Health providers  doctors and hospitals  are already complaining that they will be asked to pick up too much of the bill to protect patients.

This week's panelists are Julie Rovner of KHN, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN and Kimberly Leonard of Insider.

Among the takeaways from this week's episode:

Progressive Democratic lawmakers successfully used their leverage to thwart passage of a bill funding traditional infrastructure projects before they secure a deal on spending for new and enhanced domestic policy initiatives. Negotiations might not move any faster, though, and it appears an ugly fight still looms over what could get cut from those domestic plans.

One major debate seems to revolve around expanding Medicare benefits versus providing coverage to low-income people in the 12 states that refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Medicare benefits might be a more popular lure with older voters, an important voting bloc, and Republicans would be less likely to come back later and overturn that initiative. Medicaid expansion, however, is an issue dear to many Democrats who see it as important to finishing the ACA legacy. They also say it may give Democrats in those 12 conservative states a good campaign hook.

The rift between progressives and moderates over "social infrastructure" spending in the reconciliation bill has shed light on the difficult task of brokering major legislation. Clinching a spending bill for even $1.5 trillion would be an enormous accomplishment for the Democrats. But their infighting projects failure to the public. And that can have repercussions at the ballot box.

New rules on protecting consumers from surprise medical bills  announced this week by the Biden administration  put limits on the arbitration process set up by the law passed by Congress last year. And those limits appear to favor the insurance industry over hospitals and other health care providers.

A poll from KFF shows the big divide over vaccinations between Democrats and Republicans. Even former President Donald Trump, who was booed at a recent rally when suggesting that the audience get vaccinated, may not be able to bridge the gulf.

One group that has been reluctant to get vaccinated are rural residents a population also hit hard by the opioid epidemic. That crisis led many rural Americans to grow wary of the health care industry, which may influence their views on getting vaccinated against covid-19.

The House last week passed a bill to codify a woman's right to an abortion. It's a landmark bill but likely to die in the Senate. Part of the problem for groups seeking to buttress the right to abortion is that states handle the issue so differently. In those conservative states where lawmakers are seeking to limit or deny access to abortion, the issue may be front and center. But many states have not restricted abortion facilities and people in those areas may not see the issue as imperative.

Also this week, Rovner interviews Anna Flagg, a data journalist for the Marshall Project, about a story she wrote on how a major medical education report from 1910 inadvertently contributed to racial inequities in health care that persist today.

Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read too:

Julie Rovner: Science's "Top Secret: U.S. National Academy of Medicine Keeps Expulsions Quiet," by Meredith Wadman

Alice Miranda Ollstein: The New York Times' "'Mandates Are Working': Employer Ultimatums Lift Vaccination Rates, So Far," by Shawn Hubler

Tami Luhby: The Wall Street Journal's "Vaccination Status Is the New Must-Have on Your Resume," by Patrick Thomas

Kimberly Leonard: Insider's "Walmart's Health Clinics Are Struggling With Basic Functions Like Billing, Imperiling the Company's Push to Upend Care," by Shelby Livingston

To hear all our podcasts, click here.

And subscribe to KHNs What the Health? on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
New research from RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences has found a possible relationship between the presence of a specific type of bacteria found in tumors and the spread of bowel cancer.

Published in the leading gastroenterology journal Gut, findings of the research can help clinicians to identify patients at risk of poorer outcomes and make decisions on treatment options for patients with bowel cancer whose tumors are infected with the bacterium Fusobacterium nucleatum.

Using genomic sequencing, researchers are now able to detect traces of an infection with bacteria or other microbes in patients tumors that previously would have been undetectable. The RCSI-led research set out to understand which tumors are infected with bacteria, and what the role of a bacterial infection means in terms of how the disease progresses.

The research found that a collection of bacteria that normally lives in the oral cavity infects bowel tumors, changes how tumor cells behave, and may trigger the spread of the tumor to other organs. The study suggests that there is a direct relationship between the presence of a bacteria called Fusobacterium nucleatum and the spread of bowel cancer resulting in poorer outcomes for a subset of patients.

Lead researcher, Jochen Prehn, Professor of Physiology and Director of the Centre for Systems Medicine at RCSI said: An effective tool to help oncologists to personalize colorectal cancer treatment is urgently needed.

This study demonstrates the role that bacteria play in the spread of bowel cancer in patients. We hope these finding will enhance diagnostics to improve the efficacy of current treatment and help further advance the use of new therapeutics for patients infected with this bacterium. Jochen Prehn, Professor of Physiology, Director of Centre for Systems Medicine, RCSI

According to the Irish Cancer Society, almost 3,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in Ireland each year and worldwide, bowel cancer presently accounts for approximately 10% of new cancer cases diagnosed (1.9m cases, WHO 2020).

In this collaborative study with Queens University Belfast, samples from patients from Northern Ireland and from over 600 patients from the Cancer Genome Atlas were analyzed. The Cancer Genome Atlas is an international programme that analyses the genetic mutations responsible for cancer types to help researchers and clinicians to better understand the disease and how to treat it.

The study was supported by the RCSI and the Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) and funded by the Health Research Board, Science Foundation Ireland and the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy (NI DfE).
Two California public health officials who pressed forward with aggressive measures to contain covid-19 even while enduring death threats and harassment will be honored with the 2021 PEN/Benenson Courage Award from PEN America, the group announced Friday.

Mimi Hall and Dr. Gail Newel, health director and health officer, respectively, for Santa Cruz County, California, will be honored Tuesday at the PEN America Literary Gala in New York City. Newel was one of the first officials in the nation to institute a shelter-in-place order at the beginning of the pandemic, and under Hall and Newel, Santa Cruz has experienced some of the lowest covid case rates in the country, as well as one of the smallest gaps in vaccination by race or ethnicity.

"In a sea of denialism and pushback against credible science, Mimi Hall and Gail Newel are standard bearers for everyone who's on the side of responsible public health messaging," Suzanne Nossel, chief executive officer of PEN America, a nonprofit that advocates for freedom of expression, said in a statement.

Over the course of the pandemic, public health officers across the nation have become the face of local government authority. In turn, they have confronted rage and resentment from members of the public and become targets of loose-knit militia and white nationalist groups. Hall and Newel lived through such a scenario in Santa Cruz County, where legitimate debate over their covid-related public health orders devolved into vitriol and sinister intimidation.

Earlier this year, KHN profiled the women and their experiences in an online story, as well as an audio episode with "This American Life." Both women soldiered on with their public health duties, even as their homes and families became targets of protest and violent threats and their daily routines morphed to incorporate security patrols and surveillance cameras.

"It's not okay what's happening now. I don't think there's any time other than now that I've actually been afraid for American democracy, and it's highlighted and exacerbated by this assault on science and service," Hall said in a statement. Both women said they are accepting the award on behalf of health officials across the country, many of whom risked losing their jobs if they spoke out.

In September, Hall tendered her resignation, joining more than 300 top public health officials who have resigned, retired or been fired during the pandemic, according to an ongoing KHN-AP analysis.

The PEN/Benenson Courage Award was created in 2015 to honor "exceptional acts of courage in the exercise of freedom of expression." Previous winners include Darnella Frazier, the Minneapolis teenager who filmed the murder of George Floyd by a police officer; law professor and equal rights advocate Anita Hill; and Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha and LeeAnne Walters, two women who helped expose the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.
A new study published in Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging on cardiac imaging trends over a decade reports that the rate of coronary computed tomography angiography (cCTA) exams by radiologists in hospital outpatient departments increased markedly from 2010 to 2019, suggesting a bright future for the technology. The study also found that reimbursement cuts and advances in technology have helped shift much of the imaging done by cardiologists from the office to the hospital outpatient department.

Imaging has long played a critical role in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, the leading killer in the world. Both radiologists and cardiologists perform noninvasive cardiac imaging, but over time two of the most common cardiac imaging methods, echocardiography and myocardial perfusion imaging became almost exclusively the domain of cardiologists.

The dominance was partly due to a cardiologist's unique position as a provider who both orders and performs diagnostic cardiac imaging. However, reimbursement cuts from the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 had a major impact on in-office cardiac imaging.

"In the early 2000s, cardiology office imaging utilization was skyrocketing," said study lead author Russell A. Reeves, M.D., from the Center for Research on Utilization of Imaging Service (CRUISE) and diagnostic radiology resident in the Department of Radiology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. "The changes brought by DRA reversed that trend to where it no longer was lucrative or even feasible for a lot of cardiologists to do imaging in their offices."

During that same period, technological advances made competing imaging exams traditionally performed by radiologists, such as cCTA, appealing options.

Dr. Reeves and colleagues studied data from the 2010-2019 Physician Supplier Procedure Summary files to assess the impact of these developments on the utilization of different types of cardiac imaging.

They found that cardiologist in-office myocardial perfusion imaging rates per 100,000 Medicare beneficiaries dropped by 52%, from 4,426 to 2,119, over the 10-year period. Correspondingly, imaging rates per 100,000 beneficiaries at hospital outpatient departments rose 71%, from 935 to 1,598.

Cardiologists are not performing nearly as many myocardial perfusion scans as they were, and most are now being done at hospital outpatient imaging departments." Russell A. Reeves, M.D., Diagnostic Radiology Resident, Department of Radiology, Thomas Jefferson University

Over the same period, the rates of cCTA by radiologists in hospital outpatient departments increased by 355%. Overall rates, however, remained low compared to myocardial perfusion imaging, despite the fact that some studies have shown cCTA to be more accurate. The technology's uptake may be limited, Dr. Reeves said, by its complexity and the cost of equipment, in addition to the fact that it requires a dedicated technologist.

Still, he said, the increasing rate of cCTAs performed by radiologists represents a growing opportunity for collaboration in cardiac imaging. Recently at Thomas Jefferson, cardiologists have shown interest in reading cCTA exams side-by-side with radiologists to enhance patient care.

"Coronary CTA is a useful screening tool for coronary artery disease that obviates the need for invasive coronary angiography," Dr. Reeves said. "I think the future is looking favorably on it."

Rates of cardiac PET (cPET) in cardiologist offices increased by 193% over the 10-year period, but cardiac PET performed by radiologists in offices and hospital outpatient departments saw little change. The increase in in-office cPET is likely due to a combination of technological advances, interpretation familiarity, and financial incentives, according to Dr. Reeves.

Dr. Reeves plans to continue following the trends to study the impact of regulatory, economic, and other factors on imaging utilization.

"Ultimately, we as radiologists need to be self-regulators and also do the research to support change, to help the specialty and help medical practices overall in the future," he said.

The research is also a way of honoring the legacy of Dr. Reeves' mentor, David Levin, M.D., professor and chairman emeritus at Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Levin, a former fighter pilot who became a leading researcher in imaging utilization trends and founded CRUISE, died in 2020.

"Cardiac Imaging Trends from 2010 to 2019 in the Medicare Population." Collaborating with Dr. Reeves were Ethan J. Halpern, M.D., and Vijay M. Rao, M.D., FACR.
(Newser)  Update: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Thursday to permit the return of a piece of California beachfront to the family it was taken from almost 100 years ago. Several descendants of the Black couple who built a resort on the land attended the ceremony, and the governor apologized to them, the AP reports. He indicated the action could be the beginning of reparations efforts. "What we're doing here today can be done and replicated anywhere else," Newsom said. Our original story from April follows:

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A family hopes to hold a major reunion soon, on the oceanfront land in Los Angeles County that was seized from their relatives a century ago. The City of Manhattan Beach and the state are considering returning the land to descendants of the people kicked off it in 1924, the Los Angeles Times reports. "It's not often we can correct these atrocities in America," a California legislator said. "But this is an easy fix." Starting in 1912, Willa and Charles Bruce owned a couple of lots along the beach where they operated a lodge, cafe, and dance hall. People called it Bruces Beach. The resort was the first seaside resort along the West Coast specifically for Black guests. Other Black families established cottages nearby. All endured harassment from the KKK and others until 1924, when the city used eminent domain to seize two dozen properties, giving the need for a park as the reason.

The family also lost its opportunity to build generational wealth, per the Daily Breeze. A bill now in the legislature would allow the county, which now owns the land and uses it for a lifeguard headquarters, to transfer the parcel to the Bruce family. Los Angeles County probably would then lease the land back from the family. There's support, but public hearings have been contentious, and the city council voted Tuesday not to issue an apology to the family. Some opponents don't see the logic in apologizing for an event a century ago, while others express concern that an apology could spark lawsuits. If the current effort succeeds, it would be the first time that land in the US has been returned to a Black family to atone for a racial wrong. (Read more eminent domain stories.)
(Newser)  Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's long-argued overhaul of mail delivery is here. Starting Friday, the Postal Service will be in less of a hurry to bring the mail, part of DeJoy's 10-year plan to cut costs and hold prices down, CBS reports. The Postal Service, which is looking at billions in losses over the next decade, is shifting its delivery goal from three days to five for first-class mail in the US. One analysis found that means that nearly 4 in 10 pieces of mail will be slowed up as trucks are used more and air transportation less. "Everything in American society is getting faster, it seems, except for the mail deliverywhich is now going to get slower," an expert said.

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A spokeswoman said the change mostly will affect mail going far; first-class delivery in a local area is supposed to stay at two days, per CNN. Experts and governments remain critical. "It's the least fortunate who will be hurt hardest by this," said Paul Steidler, a senior fellow at the Lexington Institute who tracks the Postal Service. People who live in rural areas could be waiting for checks, bills, and other important mail, and the elderly and disabled could have trouble dealing with the changes. One senator said he was concerned about the effects on people who rely on the mail "for prescription drugs, financial documents, running their small businesses and more." The scheme was opposed by 21 state attorneys general.

The changes, also intended to accommodate the shift from moving letters to packages, could cause people to lose faith in the system. "Reducing service will only discourage use of the US Mail, which is not a formula for long-term financial health and stability," said Christopher Shaw, who just wrote First Class: The US Postal Service, Democracy and the Corporate Threat. Reducing standards can trigger a downward cycle, Steidler said, lamenting that "mail delivery will be slower than in the 1970s." (Read more US Postal Service stories.)
(Newser)  Holiday travelers could face new pandemic rules this season. "We can't allow upcoming holiday air travel to contribute to another surge in COVID cases," Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein tweeted. "Today, I introduced legislation requiring passengers on domestic flights to be vaccinated, test negative or be fully recovered from a previous COVID illness." Willis Orlando of Scott's Cheap Flights doesn't think that would cause any problems, WPVI reports. "It really would just be kind of adding restrictions in the US that already exist elsewhere in the world and that have been working pretty well to contain COVID," he said.

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Albert Hsieh of Foxtrot Dash, a company that focuses on the use of points, agreed that the tighter restrictions work well in other parts of the world. "I actually feel the most safe flying internationally," he said. Dr. Anthony Fauci has said he'd endorse a vaccine mandate for air travelers, per the Washington Post. The airlines have not welcomed it, with one saying a mandate would be "logistically impractical," though United has said 320 of its US employees could lose their job if they don't produce evidence that they've been vaccinated. "Airlines are doing not only what they can to protect themselves and their passengers but also their reputation," Orlando said.

More restrictions could be enacted as the holiday season, historically the busiest travel time of the year, approaches. A House bill would require airline or Amtrak passengers to show proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test. Before Thanksgiving, the US will impose a vaccine mandate for visitors from other countries, who will also have to show negative test results. "It only makes sense that we also ensure the millions of airline passengers that crisscross our country aren't contributing to further transmission," California's Feinstein said in a statement. (Read more coronavirus vaccine stories.)
(Newser)  Things got intensely personal Thursday at a House of Representatives hearing on reproductive rights. Reps. Cori Bush, Barbara Lee, and Pramila Jayapal shared their stories of choosing to have an abortion at the House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing, which focused on current threats to abortion rights including Texas' new heartbeat law and Supreme Court cases threatening Roe vs. Wade, while other lawmakers spoke out against abortion. Bush, Lee, and Jayapal had also talked about their experiences on MSNBC the night prior, USA Today reports. Details:

Bush: The Missouri Democrat said she was 17 when she was raped by a man she met on a church trip, and recounted the abortion clinic workers who treated Black girls "like trash" while speaking respectfully to the white girls and women there, the Washington Post reports. "We live in a society that has failed to legislate love and justice for us. So we deserve better. We demand better. We are worthy of better."

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Lee: She was just 16 when she got a "back-alley abortion" in Mexico in the 1960s. At the time, many were dying after unsafe abortions, she said, and she considered herself lucky to make it through. "I was one of those that survived and I think it's my duty now, as hard as this is, to talk about it. Because I know it's going to happen again if we don't stop what's taking place."

She was just 16 when she got a "back-alley abortion" in Mexico in the 1960s. At the time, many were dying after unsafe abortions, she said, and she considered herself lucky to make it through. "I was one of those that survived and I think it's my duty now, as hard as this is, to talk about it. Because I know it's going to happen again if we don't stop what's taking place." Jayapal: After her first baby was born severely premature and weighing less than two pounds, she got pregnant again even though she was on birth control and realized she could not endure another high-risk pregnancy.

After her first baby was born severely premature and weighing less than two pounds, she got pregnant again even though she was on birth control and realized she could not endure another high-risk pregnancy. Gloria Steinem: The 87-year-old journalist and activist also spoke at the hearing, "because I bet Im one of the few people old enough to remember how bad it was when abortion was illegal," she said. If laws like Texas' are allowed to stand, "we will be very close to turning back the clock to the days of the 1950s, when one in three women had an illegal and a dangerous abortion," she warned.

The 87-year-old journalist and activist also spoke at the hearing, "because I bet Im one of the few people old enough to remember how bad it was when abortion was illegal," she said. If laws like Texas' are allowed to stand, "we will be very close to turning back the clock to the days of the 1950s, when one in three women had an illegal and a dangerous abortion," she warned. The other side: Some anti-abortion lawmakers also spoke at the hearing, including Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida, who shared that her mother was counseled to have an abortion because she had suffered a stroke while pregnant with Cammack's older sister, the AP reports. "I am grateful every single day that there were resources available for my mom," she said. "My mom survived. I survived, and I am a living, breathing witness of the power of life and the incredible choice that my own mother made.

Some anti-abortion lawmakers also spoke at the hearing, including Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida, who shared that her mother was counseled to have an abortion because she had suffered a stroke while pregnant with Cammack's older sister, the AP reports. "I am grateful every single day that there were resources available for my mom," she said. "My mom survived. I survived, and I am a living, breathing witness of the power of life and the incredible choice that my own mother made. "National sin": Another anti-abortion lawmaker, North Carolina's Rep. Virginia Foxx, called abortion a "national sin" and said, "Those of you who promote abortion wouldnt be with us if your mothers had had an abortion. ... How can any woman say that her life is better because of abortion?

(Read more abortion stories.)
(Newser)  Corey Lewandowski, the former Donald Trump campaign manager who was canned amid infighting in 2016, has now been dropped by the former president's super PAC. Lewandowski was replaced at Make America Great Again Action after a Trump donor accused him of making unwanted sexual advances and touching her inappropriately at an event last weekend, CNN reports. Trump spokeswoman Taylor Budowich said in a tweet Wednesday night that former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi will be taking over MAGA Action. Lewandowski "will be going on to other endeavors and we very much want to thank him for his service," Budowich said. "He will no longer be associated with Trump World."

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Trashelle Odom, wife of construction exec John Odom, told Politico Wednesday that Lewandowski made aggressive sexual advances during a charity event in Las Vegas Sunday. "He repeatedly touched me inappropriately, said vile and disgusting things to me, stalked me, and made me feel violated and fearful," she said. An attorney for the Odom family said witnesses observed Lewandowski getting physical with Odom, who was seated next to him during the charity dinner. The attorney said Lewandowski followed Odom when she tried to leave the room, then called her "stupid" and threw a drink at her. John Odom said Lewandowski, sounding "distraught and scared," called him the next day and said he had been intoxicated.

Lewandowski attorney David Chesnoff said "accusations and rumors appear to be morphing by the minute and we will not dignify them with a further response," per NBC. Lewandowski, named as head of the Trump PAC in February, had also been serving as a political adviser to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, but her office cut its ties with him after Odom's allegations this week. The Washington Post reports that Noem slammed conservative website American Greatness Wednesday after it claimed that she had been having an extramarital affair with Lewandowski. "These rumors are total garbage and a disgusting lie," she tweeted. (Read more Corey Lewandowski stories.)
(Newser)  For years, a serial rapist and killer stalked Paris, suspected of murdering an 11-year-old girl, a 19-year-old woman, and a man and his 21-year-old au pair, both of whom were brutally tortured. Known as "Le Grele" or "The Pockmarked Killer" due to his pockmarked face, he terrorized the city in the 1980s and 1990s but was never caught. Now, a shocking twist: A French police officer who committed suicide Wednesday left behind a note claiming to be the serial killer, the Daily Beast reports. The man, identified publicly only as Francois V., overdosed on pills at a seaside resort near Montpellier.

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In addition to the four murders, "Grele" was accused of six rapes, including rapes of children, Sky News reports. Three of his alleged victims identified him as a police officer, though authorities initially thought he might just be masquerading as one, but they ultimately started focusing on Francois V. after finding evidence the killer and rapist was, indeed, a member of the security forces. He was supposed to provide DNA to authorities, but failed to show up, and his body and note were later found. DNA testing will confirm whether his story is true. The 59-year-old claims to have been unwell when the crimes took place. (Read more France stories.)
(Newser)  Update: The family of an unarmed Long Beach woman who was shot by a high school safety officer and subsequently pronounced brain dead will be taken off life support. Per CNN, the family of 18-year-old Manuela "Mona" Rodriguez announced the news at a press conference on Friday. The officer has been placed on administrative leave while authorities investigate the incident, during which the officer reportedly approached a vehicle Rodriguez was inside near Millikan High School as she attempted to flee the scene of an altercation. The officer opened fire into the vehicle, striking Rodriguez. Also in the car was the father of Rodriguez's 5-month-old son. Our original story from Oct. 1 follows:

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An unarmed non-student was shot in the head by a school safety officer a block away from a Long Beach, California, high school Monday, and her family is demanding answers. Police say 18-year-old Mona Rodriguez was shot after the Millikan High School safety officer broke up a fight Monday afternoon, the Long Beach Post reports. Video shows the officer walk up to a gray sedan in an off-campus parking, then open fire as it begins to drive away. Rodriguez, who was in the front passenger seat, was declared brain dead Wednesday, relatives say, but she is still on life support, reports NBC Los Angeles. Her mother told reporters that she doesn't want her daughter to be "disconnected."

Rodriguez, mother of a 5-month-old boy, had already packed her things in preparation for a move to Kansas with her boyfriend, relatives say. Luis Carillo, an attorney for the family, tells the Guardian that the officer should be arrested for murder. Carillo says there was no threat to the officer nor any reports that anybody was armed, and his actions were "totally against policy, against training, and against common sense." The Long Beach Unified School District says the safety officerwho is employed by the district, not Long Beach policehas been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, the Mercury News reports.

Before the shooting, Rodriguez was allegedly involved in an altercation with a 15-year-old girl. The Long Beach Police Department and the Los Angeles County DA's office are investigating. Audrena Redmond, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Long Beach, tells the Guardian that the group has been fighting to get armed officers out of schools. She says there was no justification for the officer's actions. "They were doing what happens among kids, which is fighting and arguing  and then he shot a teenager at close range." The district's use-of-force policy states that officers "shall not" fire at fleeing people or moving vehicles. (Read more California stories.)
(Newser)  Alex Jones has lost two more court cases and is going to have to pay more damages to the families of children killed in a mass shooting he claimed was a hoax. A Texas judge has issued two rare default judgments against Jones and his conspiracy theorist media outlet, Infowars, for repeatedly failing to comply with court orders to produce documents, the Huffington Post reports. In decisions made public Thursday, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled that Jones had lost the lawsuits brought by parents of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting. A jury will now convene to determine how much Jones and Infowars owe the plaintiffs, who sued for defamation and infliction of emotional distress.

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Gamble wrote that the failure to comply was "greatly aggravated" by the "discovery abuse throughout similar cases pending before this Court," per CNN. "The Court finds that Defendants' discovery conduct in this case is the result of flagrant bad faith and callous disregard for the responsibilities of discovery under the rules." A month ago, Mark Bankston, a lawyer for Sandy Hook parents, told the judge that Jones had failed to provide "basic information" first requested in 2018, including video and transcripts of his on-air discussions of the mass shooting, the Austin American-Statesman reports.

The 2012 mass shooting killed 26 people, including 20 children, all 6 or 7 years old. Jones repeatedly claimed that the shooting was fake and grieving parents were "crisis actors," the Guardian reports. The parents said they suffered harassment, including death threats, as a result of the conspiracy theorist's claims. "Jones was given ample opportunity to take these lawsuits seriously and obey the rule of law," Bankston says. "He chose not to do so, and now he will face the consequences for that decision." (In a 2019 deposition, Jones blamed his false claims on a "form of psychosis.")
(Newser)  Police are asking for the publics help in locating an Arizona family last seen three weeks ago. Married couple Erika Irene Allison, 36; Joshua Robert Martinez, 30; and their 17-year-old son, Psymon J. Kelly, of Kingman, left home with their two dogs to go camping 35 miles away in the Katherine's Landing area along the Colorado River on Sept. 11, according to the Kingman Police Department. The family planned to return in a week to 10 days, say police. They were seen departing in Allison's grey 2005 Toyota Corolla with a foam mattress strapped to the roof but haven't been seen or heard from since, per KNXV. Police note they left their cellphones behind. Martinez also left behind medication he takes for a disability, police say.

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Family members and National Park Service rangers have searched Katherine's Landing and surrounding areas without finding any sign of the family, their dogs, or their vehicle, which carried the Arizona wheelchair plate GAC93, per AZFamily. Police note Allison and Martinez had recently shaved their heads. Allison is white, 5'3", 115 pounds, with brown hair and eyes, while Martinez is white, 5'5", 120 to 130 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes, police say. Kelly is described as white, 6'0", 190 pounds, with blond hair and brown eyes. They were traveling with a female dog, a black and white miniature pinscher chihuahua mix, and a large, tan-colored male dog of unknown breed. Anyone with information is asked to call Kingman Police at 928-753-2191. (Read more missing person stories.)
(Newser)  Pat Robertson kicked off the summer with a diatribe against critical race theory. He's entering the autumn season with a different, more subdued message: goodbye. WAVY reports that the 91-year-old televangelist, who for more than a half-century hosted The 700 Club for the Christian Broadcasting Network he founded, is stepping down from that role. "Today's show will be my final," said Robertson on Friday during the program, per a CBN release. "My replacement will be my very capable son, Gordon, who will take over as full-time host."

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Robertson's duties on the show, which debuted in 1966, made him the "longest-running TV host" in the country, the release notes. His announcement was made on the 60th anniversary of the very first broadcast of CBN, said to be the nation's first Christian TV network. In addition to preaching the Gospel and interviewing fellow Christian leaders such as Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham, Robertson also hosted US presidents, celebrities, and world leaders.

WAVY notes that Robertson suffered an embolic stroke in early 2018, but he returned to the show less than two weeks later. Although son Gordon will now be taking the helm of The 700 Club after serving as an executive producer and co-host for 20 years, Robertson assures his fans they haven't seen the last of him. He noted in his farewell announcement that he'll be teaching at Regent University, the Christian school he founded in 1977. He'll also be popping in monthly to an interactive version of the show to respond to viewer emails and will show up occasionally during other broadcasts. (Read more Pat Robertson stories.)
(Newser)  The shutdown has been averted, at least temporarily. Now the focus is solely on whether Democrats can reach a compromise on legislation crucial to President Biden's agenda. Toward that end, Biden himself will travel to Capitol Hill to meet with House Democrats later Friday afternoon, reports the Hill and Politico. Meanwhile, talks with Democratic holdouts Sens. Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema continue in earnest. More:

Pelosi promise: "There will be a vote today," she told reporters after midnight, per NBC News. "We're not trillions of dollars apart." Pelosi delayed Thursday's vote on a $1 trillion infrastructure plan because it appeared doomed to fail. Progressive members of the party are threatening to torpedo it as part of simultaneous negotiations on a larger $3.5 trillion spending package also in flux.

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Progressives: "Nobody should be surprised that we are where we are, because we've been telling you that for three and a half months, says Rep. Pramila Jayapal, head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Her group wants to make sure the $3.5 trillion package isn't stripped of money for programs such as family leave, pre-K, and climate change, per the New York Times.

"Nobody should be surprised that we are where we are, because we've been telling you that for three and a half months, says Rep. Pramila Jayapal, head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Her group wants to make sure the $3.5 trillion package isn't stripped of money for programs such as family leave, pre-K, and climate change, per the New York Times. Manchin, Sinema: Manchin and Sinema remain the key holdouts. Manchin says he won't support anything more than $1.5 trillion, while Sinema's concerns focus more on the prospect of increased taxes, per Axios. Both have been involved in intense negotiations with the White House and party leaders this week.

Manchin and Sinema remain the key holdouts. Manchin says he won't support anything more than $1.5 trillion, while Sinema's concerns focus more on the prospect of increased taxes, per Axios. Both have been involved in intense negotiations with the White House and party leaders this week. Manchin vs. progressives: The dispute is getting nasty. The West Virginia senator accuses his left-of-center colleagues of "fiscal insanity," while progressives such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accuse him of hypocrisy, reports the Hill. "Ever notice how 'deficit hawks' vote for record-high defense spending, yet claim bills that help people & challenge lobbyists are 'too much?'" she wrote.

The dispute is getting nasty. The West Virginia senator accuses his left-of-center colleagues of "fiscal insanity," while progressives such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accuse him of hypocrisy, reports the Hill. "Ever notice how 'deficit hawks' vote for record-high defense spending, yet claim bills that help people & challenge lobbyists are 'too much?'" she wrote. Bernie Sanders: The Vermont senator, squarely in the progressives camp, lashed out at Manchin and Sinema. "2 senators cannot be allowed to defeat what 48 senators and 210 House members want," he tweeted. "We must stand with the working families of our country. We must combat climate change. We must delay passing the Infrastructure Bill until we pass a strong Reconciliation Bill."

The Vermont senator, squarely in the progressives camp, lashed out at Manchin and Sinema. "2 senators cannot be allowed to defeat what 48 senators and 210 House members want," he tweeted. "We must stand with the working families of our country. We must combat climate change. We must delay passing the Infrastructure Bill until we pass a strong Reconciliation Bill." Perspective: "The uncertainty on Capitol Hill marked a sharp contrast from what lawmakers had hoped would be a more joyous occasion for Biden, delivering him his first bipartisan victory," notes the Washington Post. "And it exposed an ever-growing sense of distrust among Democrats that only added to the challenge Pelosi and other leaders face in governing in a time of narrow majorities."

(Read more Congress stories.)
(Newser)  Before John T. Earnest was sentenced Thursday for fatally gunning down one person and injuring three others, including a young girl, in a 2019 shooting at a Southern California synagogue, his lawyer asked if he could make a statement. The response of San Diego Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh in San Diego Superior Court: hard pass. "I'm not going to let him use this as a platform to add to his celebrity," Deddeh said of the 22-year-old gunman before giving him life in prison without parole, reports the AP. Citing Earnest's probation report, comments he'd made while being arrested, and hand gestures made to the crowd during a past hearing, Deddeh went on to say he didn't want to give the gunman a "political forum" in which to spew his white supremacist views.

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The gunman, 19 at the time, burst into the Chabad of Poway synagogue on April 27, 2019, the last day of Passover, hurling antisemitic slurs before opening fire with an AR-15-style rifle, killing 60-year-old Lori Gilbert Kaye and injuring three others: an 8-year-old girl, her 34-year-old uncle, and Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein. Earnest pleaded guilty last month to a 117-count indictment, thereby avoiding the death penalty.

Who Judge Deddeh did allow to speak at Thursday's hearing: 13 victims and family members affected by the shooting. Earnest was instructed to listen to the statements while sitting at a table in front of them, his "unmoving back" to the speakers, per the New York Times. Kaye's husband of 32 years, Howard, called the gunman "evil," reports CNN; her sister told Earnest she hoped he would "rot in prison." Kaye's daughter, Hannah Kaye, who was with her parents at the synagogue that day, spoke last, recalling their last moments of peace before the gunman showed up.

"Suddenly, in an instant, the earth literally shifted," she told the court, per the Times. Earnestsaid by prosecutors to have been inspired by the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh the previous year, as well as shootings at two New Zealand mosqueshas also admitted that he set fire to a mosque in Escondido, Calif., in March 2019 to kill Muslims and Jews; no one was injured in that attack. He's due to be sentenced for those charges in December, which could bring him a life sentence plus 30 years. (Read more synagogue shooting stories.)
(Newser)  Vice President Kamala Harris had a chance to argue the point made by a college student who asked her about "ethnic genocide" supposedly committed by Israel. But she didn't. That's got her staff scrambling now to reassure allies that her support for Israel remains "consistent and unwavering," CNN reports. Members of Congress and several organizations have heard from Harris aides. "At no time did we doubt her support of Israel. We wanted additional context to understand what occurred," said Halie Soifer, CEO of Jewish Democratic Council of America and a former Harris staffer.

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During a visit to George Mason University in Virginia on Tuesday, Harris took questions in a political science class. "I see that over the summer, there have been, like, protests and demonstrations and astronomical numbers done with Palestine," one student said, "but then just a few days ago there were funds allocated to continue backing Israel, which hurts my heart because it's an ethnic genocide and a displacement of peoplethe same that happened in America and I'm sure you're aware of this." The student added, "And I feel like there's a lack of listening, and I just feel like I need to bring that up because it affects my life and people I really care about's life."

Harris' answer began, "I'm glad you did." Nothing she said after that contradicted anything the student said. "Your perspective, your experience, your truth cannot be suppressed, and it must be heard," the vice president said, adding, "Our goal should be unity, but not uniformity." Israeli newspapers also noticed, per Politico. "Kamala Harris doesn't reject US student's 'ethnic genocide' claim against Israel," read a headline in the Times of Israel. Jewish organizations expressed satisfaction with the reassurance, but the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League would like to hear more. "Looking fwd to a clearing of the record so there's no ambiguity that what that student said was hateful/wrong," Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted. (Read more Kamala Harris stories.)
(Newser)  Britain's Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, have named their newborn daughter Sienna Elizabeth. In a tweet Friday, Beatrice revealed the namein full, Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzialongside a picture of the newborn's footprints, per the AP. Sienna Elizabeth is Queen Elizabeth II's 12th great-grandchild. She was born on Sept. 18 at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, weighing in at 6 pounds and 2 ounces. Beatrice, 33, is already stepmother to Mapelli's son, Christopher Wolf, who's known as Wolfie, from a previous relationship.

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"We are all doing well and Wolfie is the best big brother to Sienna," Beatrice said. Beatrice is 10th in the line of succession to the British throne, the eldest daughter of Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York. After a whirlwind romance, Beatrice and Mapelli tied the knot in July 2020 in a private wedding ceremony at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor, after their initial wedding date in May was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Sienna's arrival has come at a time when Andrew is facing a US civil sexual-assault lawsuit.

(Read more Princess Beatrice stories.)
(Newser)  Alaska Airlines and JetBlue are joining United Airlines in requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, just as the Biden administration steps up pressure on major US carriers to require the shots. White House coronavirus adviser Jeffrey Zients talked to the CEOs of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Southwest Airlines about vaccine mandates, according to three people familiar with the situation, the AP reports. Airlines are large employers that fall under President Biden's sweeping order that companies with more than 100 workers require employees to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing for the virus.

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They are also government contractors, and so could fall under a Dec. 8 deadline that contractors enforce vaccination requirementswithout the testing option. Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airways said Friday they will require employees to be vaccinated as soon as Dec. 8 because they will be treated as federal contractors. "This means employees may no longer opt-in for regular testing and masking in lieu of getting the vaccine," Alaska Airlines said in a memo to employees.

Delta said it was still evaluating Biden's order. The airline previously said it will require vaccination or weekly testing and impose surcharges on unvaccinated employees. That would meet the Biden test for large employers but not the stricter rules for federal contractors. American and Southwest say they are studying Biden's order. Both are under pressure from their pilot groups not to require vaccinations but to instead offer options including testing. United Airlines took an early stance to require vaccination. (Bills in Congress would tighten requirements for passengers on domestic flights.)
(Newser)  With his domestic legislative agenda going nowhere in Congress, many Democrats had publicly urged President Biden to get more involved personally in negotiations. He did that Friday afternoon, going to Capitol Hill to meet with the divided House Democrats, the New York Times reports. As he left, he expressed confidence that the impasse would be broken. "I'm telling you, were going to get this done," the president said. Despite the deadlines and postponed voting, Biden's not watching the clock. "It doesn't matter whether it's in six minutes, six days or six weeks," he said. "We're going to get it done."

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The 40-minute session was the first time Biden has met with the House Democratic Caucus. Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen is among those who wanted the meeting, per CNN. "Very few of us have seen the president in nine months he's been president," Cohen said. The president didn't try to get a commitment on a timeline but urged centrist and progressive members to find common ground, per the Hill. "I think the president might be the only person that can bridge both the trust gap and the timing gap," said Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips.

After the talks with Biden, at least one centrist House member wanted a vote scheduled this week. But there's still no sign of when the vote will be held. "I'm very disappointed," Costa said. Democrats aren't close to reaching a deal, per CNN, and it's not clear what next steps are for the party. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who with Sen. Joe Manchin are the Democrats blocking Biden's infrastructure plan on the other side of the Capitol, isn't even in town; her staff said she went to Phoenix for a medical appointment. Manchin does plan to stay in Washington this weekend. (Read more House Democrats stories.)
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, yesterday welcomed the opening of the Embassy of Israel in Bahrain. Their highnesses described the move as a step that affirms the importance of further strengthening Bahrain-Israel bilateral ties and cooperation. This came as HM the King held talks with Yair Lapid, the Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel, at Al Sakhir palace and HRH Crown Prince and Prime Minister with Lapid at Gudaibiya Palace.



His Majesty the King welcomed Lapid and reviewed the progress of bilateral relations and the steps that would contribute to broadening areas of cooperation between the two countries. King Hamad told Lapid that the signing of the Declaration Supporting Peace and the principles of the Abraham Accords is a historic accomplishment towards achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East. The deal aims at meeting the aspirations of the people of the region for security, stability and prosperity, added HM the King. King Hamad affirmed that peace is a strategic option for the Kingdom.



Bahrains vision and approach focus on fostering the values of understanding, dialogue, cooperation, peaceful co-existence, tolerance and rapprochement among peoples, His Majesty said. King Hamad further told Lapid that Bahrain is keen to support all efforts for achieving peace, stability and development that would benefit all. King Hamad also valued highly the role played by the United States of America in reaching peace agreements and endeavours for peace in the region.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrains pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, which has its theme on Density as an enabler of opportunities will start welcoming visitors today.

The expo, which has exhibitors from almost 200 countries, is expected to grow the gross domestic product of UAE by 1.5% during its six-month-long journey. Expo Dubai 2020 sits on a 4.3 sq km (1.7 sq miles) site- a desert when Dubai took the baton eight years ago to follow the 2015 Expo in Milan, Italy.

Bahrains pavilion at the expo, designed by Christian Keres Zurich AG, is conceived as a physical and spatial experience of density, exploring future possibilities in a dense world. The structure consists of 126 columns of 11cm in diameter and 24m in height that join each other at several points, exploring three-dimensional possibilities inspired by geometric gypsum ornaments of traditional Bahraini architecture.

The columns are made of steel, whereas the outer facade is composed of aluminium, showcasing one of the main exports in Bahrain. The pavilion will be fully dis[1]mantled and rebuild permanently in Bahrain at the end of six months.

The main exhibition element revolves around the textile industry of Bahrain. The pavilion will showcase a live production of the weaving craft, showcasing joint installation artworks produced and displayed in the exhibition space.

The Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities with Economic Development Board and several other public and private sector establishments are the organisers of Bahrains participation at the expo. The pavilion, located in the Opportunity District, was designed by Kerez with the Wanders Werner Falasi Consulting Architects from the United Arab Emirates.

What do you see

Bahrain today will inaugurate its first exhibition dubbed Bahr organised in cooperation with Bahrain Institute of Pearls and Gemstones Danat. On display will be a work What do you see created by Bahrain-based textile designer Muhairi Boyle. The exhibition focuses on the nobility of textile craft in Bah[1]rain and the beauty of sails of the Banoosh ships used for pearling. Danat also offers a programme allowing the audience to learn about the latest tools and tech[1]niques for examining natural pearls.

What to expect

Unique and ground breaking architecture:

The pavilion features 126 columns, 11cm in diameter and 24m high, that will join at several points and bring to mind weaving needles, through which density is experienced.

Live weaving

Live weaving stations will take visitors on a journey of craft from loom-weaving to intricate traditional embroidery including naqda, kurar, and palm weaving.

Craft and technology

First-hand look at innovative technologies used in the manufacture of carbon fiber and fiber-glass  woven composite materials used in a number of industries including automotive and construction.

Traditional Bahraini food with a twist

Three renowned and award-winning Bahraini chefs will come together to create a menu of revisited traditional Bahraini food. The menu will include small sampling plates that will allow visitors to share and experience new flavours and tastes.

Underground laboratory of innovation

The pavilions main area is an underground open plan space of experience and innovation. The unique architecture and multiple live weaving stations will enjoy constant activity, akin to a laboratory of innovation and multiple experiences
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday said it wouldn't allow the state to enforce its ban on mask mandates by schools and other government bodies, while lawmakers clashed over efforts to prohibit businesses from requiring employees get the COVID-19 vaccine.

In a one-page order, justices denied the request by the state to stay the August decision blocking enforcement of Arkansas' mandate ban.

More than 100 school districts and charter schools have approved mask requirements since the ruling against the law. The requirements cover more than half the state's public school students.

Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who signed the law but later said he regretted that decision, had separately asked the court to deny the request to stay the ruling.

I am gratified with the Arkansas Supreme Court ruling allowing the decision of Judge Fox to stand," Hutchinson said in a statement. Judge Fox determined the law was unconstitutional and allowed local school districts to make their own decisions on masks.

Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said she was disappointed with the ruling.

I will wholeheartedly defend Arkansas law as this appeal progresses," she said in a statement.

The ruling came the same day the majority-Republican Senate voted to send eight bills limiting or prohibiting employer vaccine mandates back to a committee following complaints that they were rushed through a day earlier without public comment.

The general public had 30 minutes' notice, had no chance to read the bills and we think thats OK?" Republican Sen. Jonathan Dismang said.

The Legislature has been flooded with the anti-vaccine mandate bills, despite legislative leaders saying they want to keep their focus on redrawing congressional boundaries. Hutchinson has also said lawmakers should focus on redistricting.

The bills are primarily in response to President Joe Bidens order that businesses with more than 100 employees must require their workers to get vaccinated or tested regularly. Some of Arkansas largest employers, including Walmart, and several hospitals in the state are requiring some or all employees to get vaccinated. Arkansas law bans vaccine mandates by state and local government entities.

I have been immunized, that was my choice, but I have no problem protecting the citizens of Arkansas and what they believe, Republican Sen. Blake Johnson, who introduced one of the bills allowing workers to opt out of vaccine requirements.

The bills proposed include one that would allow employees to be exempted from vaccine mandates if they have philosophical or religious objections, or have medical contraindications. Another bill would allow employees to be exempted from vaccine mandates if theyre tested weekly or can prove they have antibodies, even though health officials say antibody tests should not be used to assess immunity from COVID-19.

Opponents said the measures would prevent businesses from taking steps to protect their workers and customers. The state Chamber of Commerce has also warned it could force businesses to choose whether to break state law or to violate federal regulations and face costly fines.

Nobody is forced to get the shot under even the executive orders," Sen. Jim Hendren, an independent, said. It is required as a condition of employment just like many other things are required."

Lawmakers reconvened this week primarily to take up congressional redistricting, though the resolution the Legislature approved to return to the Capitol included the COVID-19 pandemic and federal relief funding for the pandemic as a possible topic.

Several of the measures call for using relief funds, which proponents say would make them eligible to be considered during the extended. But a consultant hired by the state said some of those proposals, including one calling for using the relief funds to reimburse lost wages to workers who refuse to get vaccinated, would not be allowed under the American Rescue Plan.

House and Senate leaders also said they were continuing to negotiate between competing redistricting maps. The House and Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committees have indicated support two different proposals that would include splitting Pulaski County, the state's most populous county, between two congressional seats.

The county is currently located in the 2nd Congressional District. Republicans hold all four of the state's congressional seats.
DOWNINGTON, Pa. (AP)  A former Roman Catholic pastor has admitted he stole $30,000 from his Pennsylvania parish, money he spent on a beach house on the New Jersey shore and men with whom he had sexual relationships.

Monsignor Joseph McLoone, 58, pleaded guilty Thursday to misdemeanor theft charges and was sentenced to five years of probation, the first nine months of which he will complete under house arrest. He also will have to perform community service.
NEW YORK (AP)  After being vaulted into office two months ago, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is preparing to run for the job in her own right next year.

But as she works to sculpt her reputation in the wake of Andrew Cuomos resignation, a cohort of fellow Democrats is making moves to potentially challenge her in the primary.

At least half a dozen Democrats could set up the 2022 race with a historically diverse field of top contenders, including Attorney General Letitia James, the state's first Black attorney general.

James, who oversaw the sexual harassment investigation that prompted Cuomos resignation, has not said whether shell run, but she sounded like a candidate Wednesday as she addressed an influential civic group in New York City.

In a campaign-style speech, she rebuked Cuomo, called for reforms to a state ethics commission and issued a call to begin a new era in government and to make history, to break ground, to shatter societys self-imposed glass ceilings.

She dodged a question about whether shes running: "I am focusing on my work, putting my head down and serving all of you as the attorney general.

At a dinner Thursday night, James told another group of Democrats, Stay tuned.

I love serving as the attorney general of the great state of New York," she said, according to a recording of her remarks obtained by the New York Post. "But the question, again, is: Can I make more change?"

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams announced this week hes formed a committee to explore a run for governor, an office he could become only the second Black man to hold.

And New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is term limited, hinted this week that he is also considering a gubernatorial campaign.

De Blasio, Williams, James and Hochul all attended a Brooklyn Democratic Party breakfast fundraiser Thursday.

We havent had a wide open, Democratic primary for governor like this in a long, long time, said Neal Kwatra, a Democratic strategist who worked on Cuomos 2014 campaign and once served as chief of staff to former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

This is an authentically open primary, which I think makes it irresistible," he said.

Of all the potential challengers, James is unquestionably the most formidable, Kwatra said, citing big battles she took on as attorney general and her strong base of support in New York City.

In less than three years, James has used her office to take on powerful targets beyond Cuomo, suing opioid manufacturers and the National Rifle Association and investigating former President Donald Trumps business affairs.

Hochul, a 63-year-old centrist and former member of Congress from the Buffalo area, is meanwhile working to quickly seize a political spotlight that Cuomo once dominated.

Most New Yorkers didnt know who the heck she was until about a month ago, said Patrick J. Egan, an associate professor of politics at New York University. So she not only has to get her name out there, she also has to establish her record and give people the sense that shes somebody that they want to lead the state.

To do that, shes been giving cable news interviews and making frequent appearances in the heavily populated, heavily Democratic New York City area, seen as critical in a statewide primary.

If several city politicians challenge her and split the downstate vote  James, Williams and de Blasio all call Brooklyn home  Hochul's connections to upstate and western New York could be a decisive advantage, Egan said.

During a news conference Thursday, Hochul said shes not preoccupied with potential challengers.

"I dont have to have the time to be distracted by the political noise, she said. Everybody is free to do what they want. Ive got a job to do and that is my focus.

She has pledged a fresh break from the decadelong Cuomo era, which ended amid sexual harassment allegations and the revelation that his administration released misleading statistics on COVID-19 deaths.

Cuomo's spokespeople have argued that the investigation into his conduct that James oversaw was biased against him because of her political ambitions  a charge that James has dismissed as unfounded.

Williams, a 45-year-old former city councilman, said if he runs, hed present a break from the toxicity and egos seen in Albany, New Yorks capital.

What I would like to bring is a different way of doing politics, he said in interview this week on NY1, a cable news station.

Williams, a regular presence at street demonstrations on racial injustice for years, is perhaps the most progressive potential contender to emerge so far. Hochul has already beaten him once before, when the two faced off in a race for lieutenant governor in 2018.

De Blasio, who launched a short-lived presidential campaign in 2019, has struggled with skewering tabloid headlines during his time running the nation's largest city.

His twilight months as mayor, intended as a full-throated celebration of the city's resurgence following the pandemic, have been marred by the coronavirus' refusal to go away and a crisis at the city's Rikers Island jail, which has struggled with staffing shortages and prisoner deaths.

De Blasio said this week that he wants to keep serving the city and the state after his term ends in December.

I want to continue working on issues that I care about deeply, he said at a news conference this week. So, you know, Im going to figure out the best way I can serve going forward.

Other potential candidates include Steve Bellone, the Suffolk County executive overseeing eastern Long Island. He has been traveling around the state and has hired political strategists as he weighs a campaign.

U.S. Rep. Thomas Suozzi, who represents Long Island and Queens and whose name has been in the mix as a candidate, demurred when asked by The Washington Post last week when he would make a decision about whether to run for governor.

Though New York is a blue state where more than half of registered voters are Democrats and a Republican hasnt held the governors mansion in 15 years, several Republicans are planning to make their case to voters next year.

The GOP candidates include: Lee Zeldin, a Trump-aligned congressman from Long Island; Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; and former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who lost to Cuomo in 2014.

___

Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)  New York health officials have revoked the medical license of a doctor with the cult-like group NXIVM who branded 17 women with the initials of the group's leader, Keith Raniere.

A health department hearing committee sustained multiple of counts of professional misconduct against Danielle Roberts, who belonged to a secret women's group within NXIVM called DOS that required a vow of obedience between master and slave.

Many of the counts stem from Roberts using a cauterizing device to brand KAR on the women in their pelvic region without anesthesia to intentionally cause them pain, according to the decision released this week.

The brands were meant to symbolize the womens status as sex slaves for the now imprisoned self-help guru.

Roberts deviated from the standard of care and dangerously operated the branding device on the women, according to the decision first reported by the Times-Union of Albany.

The committee said Roberts was evasive and defiant during her testimony. Roberts "denies being brainwashed, yet she expressed no real remorse, which represented to the hearing committee her distorted reality and the very real concern that others remain vulnerable to her future brandings, according to the decision.

Her attorney, Anthony Scher, said Friday they were likely to appeal the decision.

The evidence in the case was overwhelming that she was not practicing medicine and therefore the normal standards that apply to medical practice dont apply, Scher said.

Raniere  known to members of the upstate New York organization as Vanguard and the smartest man in the world  was sentenced last year to 120 years in prison for his conviction on racketeering conspiracy and other charges.

NXIVM, whose followers included millionaires and Hollywood actors, was the subject of two TV documentary series last year, HBOs The Vow, and the Starz series Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult.
When COVID-19 spread through Connecticut in the spring of 2020, Griffin Health, a small, Derby-based hospital, became the states primary contractor for testing residents of nursing homes, which were being devastated by the fast-moving virus.

The hospital  which, like some of the states other independent hospitals, had been struggling financially for years when the pandemic began  eventually earned more than $51 million in COVID testing fees, the majority of which came from a $137.6 million contract with the state Department of Public Health, a CT Mirror investigation has found.

The state contracts with Griffin were worth far more than the contracts with any other hospital, documents show  and, according to data provided by the Department of Public Health, Griffin was paid more per test than other hospitals.

That $51 million was not insignificant to Griffin  it amounts to about 25 percent of Griffins total reported revenues in 2019.

But why Griffin was paid more per test is still unclear. While officials did provide general categories of expenses incurred by the hospital, no dollar figures were attached to their explanations despite repeated attempts to get detailed financial information from the Department of Public Health and Griffin Health.

Several laboratories and hospitals also initially received contracts to administer COVID tests at nursing homes  from the states largest hospital chains, Yale New Haven Health and Hartford HealthCare, to smaller private laboratories, such as SEMA4 in Branford  but many of them had stopped participating in the program by early 2021, and all of the other hospitals combined earned less than Griffin.

DPH officials said Griffin Health received more money than the other hospitals because it picked up the slack, eventually providing testing at more than 60 percent of the states 213 long-term care facilities until June 30, when all of the other contracts expired.

Griffin Hospital provided on-site testing for nursing homes throughout the state at a larger scale than any other hospital or Care Partner, DPH spokesman Christopher Boyle said. Griffin Hospitals administrative rates were not significantly higher than any other hospital, nor were Griffins rates the highest.

But according to contracts obtained by the CT Mirror under the Freedom of Information Act, Griffin Health was paid twice as much in collection fees as any other hospital that participated in the nursing home testing program.

From the very beginning of the nursing home testing in June 2020, Griffin Health has been paid $54.93 per test in collection fees, which are separate from the payments laboratories receive for processing the COVID tests. Collection fees are meant to cover expenses incurred during the administration of tests, such as staffing, transportation and the purchase of swabs and other testing supplies.

Except for a two-month period between June and August of 2020 when Griffins collection fee dropped to $37.93, the hospitals payment was consistently $54.93 per test. None of the other five hospitals that signed contracts with DPH received more than $27 in collection fees, and some received as little as $20 per test, records show.

Beyond broadly referencing Griffins responsibilities, state officials would not specifically quantify the expenses that led to such a variance in collection fees.

In response to questions, Boyle said Griffins negotiated rate differed from other hospitals because it offered a different scope of services and that collection costs varied depending on operations.

Griffin hired a team of over 100 staff to operationalize testing in nursing homes. The teams worked with the nursing home to develop rosters, swab residents and deliver specimens to the labs daily. Griffin worked with nursing homes in every county in the state, Boyle added.

Neither state nor Griffin officials elaborated or provided detailed financial accounting of their testing expenses.

The state was also slow to disclose the contracts with health providers that carried out the testing. The Office of the State Comptroller, which independently arranged with Griffin and others to provide COVID testing for state employees and prison inmates, for months refused to release the collection rates for different providers, claiming they were trade secrets. The comptrollers office finally disclosed the rates in early August; about a month later, the Department of Public Health complied with a CT Mirror FOI request for the documents.

That reluctance to share details of the contracts, or to explain why Griffin Health received higher fees for collecting COVID tests, raised questions about whether the state favored Griffin Health in disbursing federal funds. But state officials and Griffin Health President Patrick Charmel said the hospital didnt receive special treatment.

The state is not reluctant to share details of any contracts; the FOI process takes time  especially during a pandemic  and every request is processed in the order that it is received, Boyle said, adding Griffin did not receive any special treatment.

Griffin Health continued to step forward at a critical time during the pandemic in the absence of others to conduct the COVID testing at nursing homes. All major hospitals were asked to participate in the nursing home testing program. Many participated in the beginning of the program in good faith but did not continue, Boyle said. Griffin continued to support the program and was the safety net for nursing homes who needed a care partner.

The DPHs contracts with its 11 care partners  a combination of hospitals and laboratories that did nursing home testing  were no-bid, awarded under the governors emergency powers.

Those contracts show the extent of Griffin Healths revenue from testing.

Overall, DPH distributed more than $202 million in federal funds in about 13 months on COVID testing for nursing home residents and staff. Griffin Health received about two-thirds of that funding, state records show.

The other hospitals that performed nursing home testing were Hartford HealthCare, Stamford Hospital, Eastern Connecticut Health Network, Waterbury Hospital and Yale New Haven Health. Hartford HealthCare and Stamford were paid $27 per specimen in collection fees. The three others were paid $20 per specimen, records show.

Former acting DPH Commissioner Deidre Gifford declined a request to be interviewed for this story. Instead, the department answered a series of submitted questions and produced multiple analyses of what the contracts were worth.

Boyle said DPH contracted with the 11 care partners to conduct the nursing home testing and that Griffins contract, capped at $137.6 million, was the largest. Boyle said that as other partners dropped out of the program, Griffin took over their testing responsibilities and kept the key program going.

The contracts were awarded under a plan to test every nursing home resident in Connecticut  both as a way to learn how many people had the virus and to slow its spread by making it easier for providers to isolate asymptomatic residents. Connecticut was one of the first states in the nation to use federal COVID funds for mass nursing home testing.

Part of the contract called for getting test results within 24 hours, which was why each hospital needed a laboratory partner to process its tests quickly at a time when many people were waiting a week or more for test results.

Griffin contracted with Jackson Laboratories to run the tests on all of the samples they were collecting. Boyle said Griffin turned over about $80 million of the $137.6 million DPH contract to Jackson Laboratories.

Other hospitals also had to pass through payments to laboratories. For example, Hartford HealthCare was paid $127 per COVID test, according to its contract, but $100 of that was passed through to its lab partner Quest Diagnostics.

In addition, Boyle said, Griffin Healths contract required it to bill third-party payers such as Medicare and turn that money back to the state. Boyle said the hospital has remitted about $19 million to the state in Medicare payments. Accounting for that and the $80 million to Jackson Labs, Griffin Health took in roughly $39 million in revenue from the $137 million DPH contract.

The $39 million far outstrips what other hospitals earned through the DPH contracts.

For example, Stamford Hospital was paid about $7.8 million, Yale New Haven Health about $5.38 million and Hartford HealthCare about $4.4 million since June of 2020, according to DPH contracts.

Officials with Yale New Haven Health and Stamford Hospital declined to comment for this story. Hartford HealthCares Chief Clinical Integration Officer Dr. James Cardon, who has overseen the hospitals testing and vaccine programs, said the hospital has done whatever the state has asked of it.

Hartford HealthCare has been proud to help lead the state throughout the pandemic, wherever we are needed: be it testing, vaccination, education or access to care, Cardon said. When it comes to COVID testing, Hartford HealthCare has worked hard to be a lower cost provider with the highest quality of care  averaging $27 a test in [collection] fees.

Charmel said Griffin made more money than the other hospitals in the program because it stepped up when the state needed someone to take over nursing home testing as other care partners dropped out.

We only agreed to provide testing to additional homes outside of our immediate area when others said no or dropped out after initially participating, leaving a number of homes without a designated Care Partner, Charmel said. As for others who may have told you that they wanted to do more nursing home testing but didnt get it, you may want to look at their performance in the program before assigning credibility to their claim. We were often asked to step in after others were reluctant to take more on or dropped out.

How the DPH contract grew from $7.8 million to $137 million

When Griffin started testing in nursing homes, it was assigned 12 homes in the Naugatuck Valley area, but that quickly expanded to 84 nursing homes across the state, from Greenwich to West Haven  far outside the area the hospital normally serves.

Griffins initial contract with DPH, for $7.8 million, ran from June through August 2020, state records show. That contract paid Griffin almost as much in those three months as other hospitals were paid over the past 15 months.

As the contracts were amended, the number of nursing homes that Griffin was assigned to test grew as other hospitals dropped out. By the spring of 2021, Griffin Health was testing at more than 125 nursing homes out of the 213 located in the state. Its latest contract, which ran through July 1, called for Griffin to be paid no more than $137.6 million.

Griffins commitment to caring for the health and well-being of our community compelled us to take a leading role in the states COVID-19 testing program to protect the staff and residents of the states skilled nursing facilities and continuing care communities which experienced large numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths and therefore needed a capable and reliable testing partner that they could trust to help them stem the tide, Charmel said.

Griffin has now administered more than 1 million COVID tests in nursing homes  far more than any other provider, Boyle said.

Without Griffins efforts, he said, DPH would have had difficulty continuing the program.

A second contract

Unraveling to whom and how much the state paid for COVID testing is difficult not just because of the lack of transparency but because several state agencies handed out contracts to a wide variety of laboratories and hospitals, and most of them were awarded without bidding under the emergency powers granted to Gov. Ned Lamont during the public health crisis.

The Department of Public Health was not the only agency to contract for COVID testing. The state Comptrollers office awarded 12 contracts for COVID testing, much of it for testing state employees and people incarcerated in the states prisons  ranging from a $45,000 contract with Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London to a $79.8 million contract with Quest Diagnostics, which processed most of the test specimens.

In August, the state Comptrollers Office reversed its position that collection rates were trade secrets and made public its COVID testing contracts.

Those contracts show that Griffin also brought in more money than any other hospital that contracted with the state Comptrollers office.

Griffin was paid $12.3 million through that contract. Hartford HealthCare received $3.1 million, and Yale New Haven Hospital received $1.25 million, according to the Comptrollers office.

Unlike the Comptrollers contracts, DPH negotiated its own testing contracts for nursing homes through the agencys Contracts and General Management section. The contracts were signed by Deputy Commissioner Heather Aaron, who at that time was heavily involved in DPHs response to the spiraling COVID crisis in nursing homes.

Unlike DPH, the Comptrollers office paid the laboratories directly, and there were no pass through payments made to hospitals first, which means Griffin didnt have to pass any of the $12.3 million to a lab.

An increase in revenue for Griffin Health

Between the $39 million in revenue from the DPH contract and the $12.3 million from the Comptroller, Griffin Health received more than $51 million in COVID funds  a sum that roughly equal to 25 percent of Griffins total reported revenues of $203.5 million in 2019.

The nonprofit hospitals profit that year, according to its Oct. 13, 2020 public filing with the Internal Revenue Service, was $9 million, a decrease of $6.4 million from the previous year.

Charmel said it would be a mistake to assume Griffin made a huge profit from the state contracts because it also incurred numerous costs during the testing program.

Charmel said Griffin had to hire staff to transport specimen tests to Jackson Laboratories to expedite the process. The hospital also spent a significant amount of money purchasing testing supplies  particularly at the beginning of the pandemic when supplies were scarce and overpriced  so it could provide the lab with those materials to speed up the process, he said.

Charmel said he also had to hire additional staff because Griffin was one of the only hospitals that agreed to do testing at nursing homes in other parts of the state.

The $39,000,000 is revenue, not profit, and therefore not comparable to the $9,000,000 reported in our last 990, Charmel said, referring to the hospitals contract with DPH, in a written response to questions from the CT Mirror. Charmel did not respond to a follow-up email asking how much profit Griffin made from COVID testing.

It is not a windfall and does not account for the tremendous expenses that we incurred to operate the program, including hiring and assigning more than 200 caregivers (creating opportunity when the rest of the economy was in lockdown), purchasing millions of dollars in equipment and supplies to collect specimens and process over 900,000 COVID-19 tests, and building an infrastructure to support transporting tens of thousands of samples weekly from nursing homes throughout the state to the Jackson Laboratories for testing, he added.

Griffin is also being paid an unspecified amount of money to run the states mobile vaccination program. The yellow van program is the centerpiece of a $33 million outreach program the state launched in late March using federal funds.

State records show that the hospital has been paid more than $7 million since April for vaccine-related work. DPH did not respond to questions about whether those payments were related to the mobile vaccination program or for something else. DPH has not responded to a request for a copy of Griffins mobile clinic contract.

The mobile vaccination program is designed to reach unvaccinated residents who live in areas identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as socially vulnerable. The state has identified 50 ZIP codes, most in cities and with minority populations, that fall under the social vulnerability index.

Financial struggles

As one of the few independent hospitals remaining in the state, Griffin was struggling financially long before COVID-19 hit. The virus only exacerbated these struggles.

Not only did typical funding sources such as elective surgeries dry up in the spring of 2020, the hospital was forced to spend money to buy equipment, such as ventilators, and to retrofit routine hospital rooms into negative-pressure rooms to handle the growing number of COVID patients.

Griffin is located in Derby on the cusp of Fairfield County  a blue-collar community that bears little resemblance to its wealthy Gold Coast neighbors but close enough to get hit hard by the virus as it spread up the state from New York in the spring of 2020.

The pandemic was traumatic for the hospital. It took an emotional and physical toll on employees who worked around the clock to care for COVID patients and caused significant financial stress that resulted in more than 100 employees being furloughed.

The initial contracts were reviewed by the Attorney Generals office, but several of the amendments were not.

Charmel expanded on the hospitals financial plight in a May, 2020 Washington Post story at the height of the initial spread of the virus in Connecticut. At that time, the state was among the worst in the country for COVID cases and deaths.

Charmel told the Post he feared Griffin would be gobbled up by a larger health care system or, worse, shuttered.

I like saying the independence of the hospital is at risk [rather] than the survival, though theres some of that, too, Charmel told the Post.

Charmel also told the Post he believed the federal government and the state would recognize the financial fragility of a small community hospital fighting a pandemic. The story goes on to say that Charmel believed they would step up with enough help. Yet as spring deepens, he finds their response tepid.

Griffin did receive about a $16 million loan from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in April, but that was, in effect, a cash advance that the hospital was required to start repaying later in 2020.

In the Post story, Charmel said he hoped the hospital would get some portion of the $12 billion the federal government was sending hospitals in coronavirus hot spots in the spring of 2020. Since Connecticut was one of the hardest-hit states in the country at the time, the hope was that hospitals here would get a significant portion of that funding.

The federal government allocated $291 million to 12 Connecticut hospitals, but Griffin was not one of them because it didnt meet the threshold to qualify. To get the federal money, hospitals needed to have 100 confirmed COVID cases by April 10, 2020, and Griffin didnt have its 100th case until 10 days after that deadline.

Less than a month later, as operators and state officials were scrambling to contain outbreaks in nursing homes, DPH agreed to the initial nursing home testing contract with Griffin for $7.8 million.

Charmel said the hospitals financial problems and the testing contracts with the state are unconnected.

The notion that DPH or the administration was trying to bail out a struggling hospital has no basis in fact, Charmel said. I shudder to think what the consequences would have been if we didnt take on this enormous challenge and perform at a level that set the standard for all other Care Partners.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden pledged Friday at the Capitol to get it done as Democrats strained to rescue a scaled-back version of his $3.5 trillion government-overhaul plan and salvage a related public works bill after days of frantic negotiations.

But it's not getting done right now.

Biden huddled with House Democrats on their home ground in a private meeting that was part instructional, part morale booster for the tattered caucus of lawmakers, telling them he wanted both bills passed regardless of the time it takes. He discussed a compromise topline of $1.9 trillion to more than $2 trillion for his bigger vision, according to lawmakers in the room.

But it was clear they are all now in it for the long haul as the White House and its allies in Congress prepared for protracted negotiations.

It doesnt matter whether its six minutes, six days or six weeks  were going to get it done, Biden declared to reporters as he left his late-afternoon meeting at the Capitol.

It's a pivotal time for both president and party, as Biden's approval ratings have dropped and Democrats are restless, eager to deliver on his signature campaign promise of rebuilding the country. His ideas go beyond roads-and-bridges infrastructure to delivering dental, vision and hearing care for seniors, free pre-kindergarten for youngsters, major efforts to tackle climate change and other investments that would touch countless American lives.

Biden's sudden excursion to Capitol Hill was aimed at giving the legislation a needed boost toward the finish line. Holdout Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia had sunk hopes for a swift compromise on a framework when he refused to budge late Thursday on his demands for a smaller overall package, around $1.5 trillion, despite hours of shuttle diplomacy with White House aides.

Without a broader deal, prospects for a Friday vote on the companion public works bill stalled out, progressives refusing to lend their votes until senators reach agreement. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a late-evening letter to colleagues that more time is needed as they shape the broader package.

Instead the House passed a 30-day stopgap measure to keep transportation programs running during the stalemate, essentially setting a new deadline for talks, Oct. 31. The Senate was set to follow with a vote Saturday, to halt the furloughs of more than 3,500 federal transportation workers, a byproduct of the political impasse.

With Republicans solidly opposed to Biden's sweeping vision, the president and his party are reaching for a giant legislative accomplishment on their own  all to be paid for by rewriting federal balance sheets with tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy, those earning more than $400,000 a year.

As action ground to a halt Friday in Congress, Biden appeared to offer no particular new legislative strategy. Keeping her promise to centrists, Pelosi had insisted there would be a vote today on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that is popular but is snared in the debate over Biden's broader measure.

With Democratic progressives refusing to give their support for that slimmer roads-and-bridges bill unless advances are made on the president's big bill, Pelosi  with an oh-so-slim House majority  was unwilling to call for a vote.

Biden, by insisting that both bills pass, gave a nod to the progressives' strategy, while floating the lower numbers meant acknowledging the compromise with centrists to come.

"He was really clear that we need to get both bills done," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., a leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Attention returned to Manchin and to some extent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, two centrist Democrats who helped steer the $1 trillion public works bill to Senate passage but have concerns that Bidens overall bill is too big. The two senators have infuriated colleagues with their close-to-the vest negotiations that could tank Bidens effort  and their own campaign promises.

After hours of negotiations that stretched near midnight Thursday, Manchin said he could not yet compromise beyond his $1.5 trillion offer.

Biden, a former six-term senator making his first in-person visit to a House Democratic caucus, told the lawmakers Friday that "I know a little bit about the legislative process, according to a person familiar with the private remarks and granted anonymity to discuss them. Even a smaller bill can make historic investments in such areas as childcare, daycare and clean energy, he said.

Biden also relayed a story that seemed to mark the moment.

The president told them that when his White House office was renovated, it was hung with pictures of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt, presidents who led a deeply divided country and the biggest economic transformation  and thats just the kind of moment were in, said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I.

The White House said the president plans to travel next week to other cities to make his case that his historic measures would help the American people.

Biden's bigger proposal is a years-in-the-making collection of Democratic priorities with an ultimate price tag he says is zero, because the tax revenue would cover the spending costs  higher rates on businesses earning more than $5 million a year, and individuals earning more than $400,000 a year, or $450,000 for couples.

Tensions spiked late Wednesday when Manchin sent out a fiery statement, decrying the broad spending as fiscal insanity.

It's not just Manchin's demands to reduce the overall size, but the conditions he is insisting on that are riling his more liberal colleagues. For example, he wants to ensure the aid goes only to lower-income people, rather than broader swaths of Americans. And he's resisting some of the bolder efforts to tackle climate change.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., another progressive leader, shot back: Trying to kill your partys agenda is insanity, she said.

The total legislative effort is testing not just Biden, but Pelosi and some of the leading figures in the Democratic Party whose legacies will be shaped by whether they succeed or fail.

Weve been fighting for transformative legislation as all of you know; these discussions have gone on for month after month after month, said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the chairman of the Budget Committee and a leading progressive lawmaker. This is not a baseball game. This is the most significant piece of legislation in 70 years.

___

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Jonathan Lemire, Kevin Freking, Brian Slodysko and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.
TORONTO, Sept. 29, 2021 /CNW/ - Blue Deer Capital Partners, a Toronto-based Exempt Market Dealer which advises mission driven entrepreneurs, is pleased to announce the addition of Bradley Trotter to its Advisory Board, as its inaugural advisor.

"We are thrilled to welcome Brad Trotter as our first Advisory Board Member. As a leading operator and financier, Brad aligns with Blue Deer's vision of surrounding itself and its companies with world-class business leaders from a multitude of backgrounds." said Dan McClure, Founding Partner at Blue Deer.

Most recently, Brad served as Global Head of Debt at Timbercreek Asset Management where he defined strategy, led all direct debt investing, and expanded the platform to the U.S. and Ireland. Prior to Timbercreek, Brad spent over 26 years in various business and finance leadership roles at General Electric. At GE Capital Real Estate, he served as President of North America, managing a $22B portfolio of private direct debt, equity and joint venture investments across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Prior to leading the North American platform, he served as GE Capital Real Estate's Managing Director of Canada ($5B) and was the European CFO ($20B, 18 countries).

"The Blue Deer team has a unique platform and approach, and I look forward to utilizing my experience, expertise and network , to accelerate the growth and success of our clients."

Bradley Trotter has 30+ years of commercial real estate, financial services, and capital markets experience, leading and directing diverse, global teams. He has led restructurings, turn-arounds, global expansions, M&A, joint venture and organic growth strategies in both business and finance leadership roles. Brad has lived in Canada, Europe and multiple US cities; he holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) from the Smith School of Business at Queen's University, Canada.

ABOUT BLUE DEER CAPITAL PARTNERS

Blue Deer Capital Partners is an Exempt Market Dealer headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and provides advisory services to mission driven entrepreneurs. The Firm is focused on finding discriminating capital for founders and curated opportunities for its investors. Blue Deer advises clients from a diverse set of industries including Sustainable and Renewable Energy, Technology, Media, Hospitality, FinTech, Medical Devices and Real Estate.

For more information on Blue Deer see: https://bluedeercapital.com/

Dan McClure

CEO & President

Blue Deer Capital Partners Inc.

SOURCE Blue Deer Capital

For further information: 1 (647) 348-9357
Each day a new stamp will be unveiled, honouring these individuals for their brilliant, funny and provocative images, ending with an online roundtable discussion with the artists

OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 1, 2021 /CNW/ - Over the next week, Canada Post will unveil five stamps that celebrate five of Canada's greatest editorial cartoonists, whose thought-provoking and seminal work has helped shape our national fabric over the last half-century. Videos and stories will be shared with each unveiling, with a special online roundtable discussion with the artists planned for Friday, October 8.

The five award-winning cartoonists, each honoured with their own stamp, are some of our country's best journalists and storytellers. Their powerful drawings have been important fixtures in some of Canada's most prominent and influential newspapers for decades.

Armed with pencils, ink and razor-sharp wit, these editorial cartoonists have boiled down complex issues into a single image  providing pointed commentary on important domestic and world events. Challenging the status quo and tackling controversial subjects head-on, their work has transcended politics and played an important role in upholding Canadian democratic freedoms.

These talented Canadian artists have made us laugh, reflect and cry with cartoons that tap into the emotions of a country. Their combination of humour and art have enlightened and entertained us, contributed to national debate, and brought attention to unfairness and injustice.

Canada Post is proud to honour the enormous contributions to Canadian media and society of these editorial cartoonists:

Monday, October 4: Serge Chapleau of La Presse, winner of eight National Newspaper Awards and a Member of the Order of Canada. An annual collection of his best caricatures has been published every year since 1993. In 2004, his popular puppet character Gerard D. Laflaque was brought to life on the television satire Et Dieu creaLaflaque.

Tuesday, October 5: Brian Gable of The Globe and Mail, winner of seven National Newspaper Awards and a Member of the Order of Canada, whose citation said his work "embodies our national sense of humour, namely our ability to laugh at ourselves and our institutions."

Wednesday, October 6: Terry Mosher of the Montreal Gazette, best known by his pen name, Aislin. Over the last half-century, Mosher has drawn more than 14,000 cartoons, which have appeared around the world. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and has won two National Newspaper Awards and a gold National Magazine Award. At 78, he is both a historian and an elder statesman of the craft in Canada; one of Mosher's more than 50 books is about Duncan Macpherson's career and influence.

Thursday, October 7: Duncan Macpherson (1924-93), of the Toronto Star, one of the most influential cartoonists in Canada. The first editorial cartoonist to be invested into the Order of Canada, and winner of six National Newspaper Awards, he drew witty cartoons for three decades, challenging what he called "wrongness" on behalf of everyday Canadians. He also successfully pushed for independence from the editorial stance of his own newspaper, thereby changing the role for the editorial cartoonists who followed.

Friday, October 8: Bruce MacKinnon of The Chronicle Herald (Halifax), who has won 21 Atlantic Journalism Awards, six National Newspaper Awards for editorial cartooning (and a seventh, the inaugural Journalist of the Year award) and the World Press Freedom International Editorial Cartoon Competition. His citation as a Member of the Order of Canada called him "one of Canada's most skilled, empathetic and provocative editorial cartoonists.

The live panel discussion with the cartoonists and Ian Macpherson, Duncan's son, will be held online on October 8 at 11 am, ET. Register for the webcast here. It will be moderated by Anthony Wilson-Smith, President and CEO of Historica Canada and Chair of the Canada Post Stamp Advisory Committee.

SOURCE Canada Post

For further information: Media Relations: 613-734-8888, [email protected]
TAKING CARE: We recognize this comes at a difficult time for many and that our efforts to show solidarity with Indigenous Peoples and honour victims and families may become a painful reminder to those who have suffered hardships through generations of government policies that have been harmful to Indigenous Peoples. A National Residential School Crisis Line is available to provide support to former residential school students where you can access emotional crisis referral services.

Please call the Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419 if you or someone you know is triggered while reading this.

We encourage all those who need some support at this time to reach out and know that support is always there for you through the Hope for Wellness Help Line at 1-855-242-3310 (toll-free) or the online chat at hopeforwellness.ca, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

You can also find information on how to obtain other health supports from the Government of Canada website.

This recognition is an important step to a renewed relationship with Indigenous Peoples, based on a recognition of rights, respect, co-operation, and partnership.

SHUBENACADIE, NS, Sept. 30, 2021 /CNW/ - The Residential School System was part of a shameful colonial policy that removed Indigenous children from their families and communities, not only denying them their traditions, language and culture, but also exposing children to grievous harm and even death. Indigenous people and communities have suffered impacts from residential schools, which endure across multiple generations. On the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, all Canadians pause to reflect on this tragic history, acknowledge the past, honour those children who were lost, and recognize the extraordinary strength and resilience of the Survivors and of all Indigenous People. The Government of Canada is committed to raising the voices of Indigenous People to ensure this history is never forgotten.
OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 1, 2021 /CNW/ - The Minister of CrownIndigenous Relations, Carolyn Bennett, issued the following statement today:

"The mistreatment of Indigenous children is a tragic and shameful part of Canada's history, the impacts of which are still being felt today. The Government of Canada is deeply committed to advancing reconciliation and healing for former Indian Residential School Day Scholars and their descendants.

On Friday, September 24, 2021, the Federal Court approved the Indian Residential Schools Day Scholars (Gottfriedson) Settlement Agreement. The Court ruled that the agreement is fair, reasonable and in the best interests of the Survivor and Descendant class members.

Canada is pleased with this important step forward on the journey of reconciliation and healing with Indigenous Peoples. We are proud of the work we have accomplished together with Survivors and their counsel toward a lasting and meaningful resolution for the thousands of Day Scholars who suffered harm while attending an Indian Residential School.

The settlement agreement combines individual compensation of $10,000 for harms experienced in attending an Indian Residential School as a Day Scholar with forward-looking investments to support healing, wellness, education, language, culture, heritage and commemoration for Survivors and Descendants.

To ensure that the aging survivors receive compensation in their lifetime, the parties have agreed to separate the Band Class claims in order to focus on the settlement of the Survivor and Descendant classes.

The parties to the settlement will continue to work collaboratively toward implementing the settlement following the 60-day appeal period.

As the process going forward can have a re-traumatizing effect, Canada has health supports in place for Survivors and their families. The Hope for Wellness Help Line offers immediate access to experienced and culturally competent Help Line counsellors to all Indigenous Peoples across Canada. Counsellors can help those who want to talk, who are in distress, who are having a strong emotional reaction or who are triggered by painful memories. The Hope for Wellness Help Line offers counselling and crisis intervention and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling 1-855-242-3310 or by connecting to the online chat at hopeforwellness.ca.

The advocacy, perseverance and commitment of former Indian Residential Schools Day Scholars to address past wrongs will not be forgotten."

Stay connected

Join the conversation about Indigenous Peoples in Canada:

Twitter: @GCIndigenous

Facebook: @GCIndigenous

Instagram: @gcindigenous

Twitter: @CrownIndigenous

You can subscribe to receive our news releases and speeches via RSS feeds. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.cirnac.gc.ca/RSS.

SOURCE Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

For further information: media may contact: Ani Dergalstanian, Press Secretary and Communications Advisor, Office of the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, 819-997-0002; Media Relations, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, 819-934-2302, [email protected]
VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 30, 2021 /CNW/ -

TSX VENTURE COMPANIES

BENZ CAPITAL CORP. ("BCC.P")

BULLETIN TYPE: New Listing-CPC-Shares, Halt

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

This Capital Pool Company's ('CPC') Prospectus dated June 28, 2021 has been filed with and accepted by TSX Venture Exchange and the British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario Securities Commissions effective July 5, 2021, pursuant to the provisions of the relevant Securities Act and Multilateral Instrument 11-102 Passport System in Alberta (the 'Instrument').

The Company will complete its initial distribution of securities to the public on Monday, October 4, 2021. The gross proceeds to be received by the Company for the public offering will be $344,400 (3,444,000 common shares at $0.10 per share).

Commence Date: At the opening Monday, October 4, 2021, the common shares will be listed and immediately halted from trading on TSX Venture Exchange.





The closing of the public offering is scheduled to occur on October 4, 2021. A further notice will be published upon the confirmation of closing and the trading halt will be lifted.



Corporate Jurisdiction: British Columbia



Capitalization: unlimited common shares with no par value of which

8,144,000 common shares will be issued and outstanding on completion of the initial public offering Escrowed Shares: 3,500,000 common shares

Transfer Agent: Computershare Investor Services Inc. Trading Symbol: BCC.P CUSIP Number: 08290B107 Agent: Research Capital Corporation

Agent's Warrants: 344,400 non-transferable warrants. Each warrant to purchase one share at $0.10 per share for 2 years.

For further information, please refer to the Company's Prospectus dated June 28, 2021.

Company Contact: Miloje Vicentijevic

Company Address: 927 Poirier Street, Coquitlam, British Columbia V3J 6C3

Company Phone Number: (604) 617-1239

Company Email Address: [email protected]

________________________________________

CENTRAL AFRICAN GOLD INC. ("CAGR")

BULLETIN TYPE: Resume Trading, Reviewable Transaction-Announced

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Effective at the open, Monday, October 4, 2021, trading in the Company's shares will resume.

This resumption of trading does not constitute acceptance of the Reviewable Transaction announced September 28, 2021, and should not be construed as an assurance of the merits of the transaction or the likelihood of completion. The Company is required to submit all of the required initial documentation relating to the transaction. IF THIS DOCUMENTATION IS NOT PROVIDED, OR IS INSUFFICIENT, A TRADING HALT MAY BE RE-IMPOSED.

Completion of the transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, Exchange acceptance. There is a risk that the transaction will not be accepted or that the terms of the transaction may change substantially prior to acceptance. SHOULD THIS OCCUR, A TRADING HALT MAY BE RE-IMPOSED.

________________________________________

CGX ENERGY INC. ("OYL")("OYL.RT")

BULLETIN TYPE: Correction, Rights Offering-Shares

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Correction:

Further to the TSX Venture Exchange Bulletin dated September 27, 2021, the Bulletin should have stated:

Halt and Delist: The Rights will be halted at noon on October 28, 2021 and delisted at the close of business on the same day.

The remainder of the bulletin dated September 27, 2021, remains unchanged.

__________________________________________

PALEO RESOURCES, INC. ("PRE")

BULLETIN TYPE: Reinstated for Trading

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Further to the TSX Venture Exchange Bulletin dated May 7, 2021, the Exchange has been advised that the Cease Trade Order issued by the Alberta Securities Commission dated May 6, 2021 has been revoked.

Effective at the opening, Monday, October 4, 2021, trading will be reinstated in the securities of the Company.

________________________________________

21/09/30 - TSX Venture Exchange Bulletins

TSX VENTURE COMPANIES

BLUE SKY URANIUM CORP. ("BSK")

BULLETIN TYPE: Shares for Services

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing the Company's proposal to issue 1,666,714 shares at a deemed price of $$0.2063, in consideration of certain services provided to the company pursuant to an agreement dated January 20, 2021.

The Company shall issue a news release when the shares are issued.

________________________________________________

DISTRICT METALS CORP ("DMX")

BULLETIN TYPE: Property-Asset or Share Purchase Agreement

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for expedited filing a Purchase And Sale Agreement dated July 20, 2021 (the "Agreement") between District Metals Corp (the "Company") and Viad Royalties AB (the "Seller"), a wholly owned subsidiary of EMX Royalty Corporation ("EMX"), whereby the Seller is the legal and beneficial owner of the mineral licenses comprising the Svardsjo exploration project located in Bergslagen, Sweden (the "Project") and the Company will acquire a 100% interest in the Project.

Under the terms of the Agreement, the purchase price will be satisfied via (i) cash consideration of $37,500; (ii) issuance of 1,659,084 common shares of the Company to EMX at a deemed price of $0.23; and (iii) incur $1,000,000 in aggregate exploration expenditures over a five-year period, of which no less than $150,000 shall be spent annually.

Upon public announcement of (i) each of a mineral resource estimate and preliminary economic assessment, the Company shall pay to EMX a fee of $275,000 in respect of each of the mineral resource estimate or preliminary economic assessment; and (ii) a development decision by the board of directors of the Company in respect of the Project, in the absence of either or both of a mineral resource estimate or preliminary economic assessment, the Company shall pay to EMX a fee of $550,000, whereupon no further payments will be required (the "Resource Payment"). The Resource Payment may be payable in cash or through the issuance of the Company's shares. Any issuance of shares relating to the Resource Payment is subject to a floor price of $0.23 per share and prior written approval of the Exchange at the time it becomes payable.

The Seller will retain a 2.5% net smelter returns royalty (the "Royalty") with respect of the Project, of which 0.5% of the Royalty is purchasable by the Company for $2,000,000 on or before the sixth (6th) anniversary. In addition to the Royalty, the Company will make an annual advance royalty payments of $25,000 commencing on the third anniversary with each payment increasing by $10,000 per year subject to maximum of $75,000 per year.

For further details, please refer to the Company's news release dated July 22, 2021.

________________________________________

GENESIS METALS CORP. ("GIS")

BULLETIN TYPE: Property-Asset or Share Purchase Agreement

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation pertaining to a memorandum of understanding dated July 7, 2021 (the "Flying Post MOU") between the Company and Flying Post First Nation ("Flying Post") and a memorandum of understanding dated August 9, 2021 (together with the Flying Post MOU, the "MOUs") between the Company and Chapleau Cree First Nation (together with Flying Post, the "First Nations"), whereby the Company has agreed to work with the First Nations to establish a long-term relationship and engage in negotiations toward an impact benefit agreement regarding the Company's exploration and development of the Company's October Gold Project.

Under the terms of the MOUs, the Company will (i) make certain cash payments, (ii) issue 100,000 shares in the aggregate and (iii) issue 100,000 share purchase warrants in the aggregate to the First Nations. Each warrant is exercisable into one common share at a price of $0.30 per share for a two-year period.

For further details, please refer to the Company's news release dated September 28, 2021.

________________________________________

GRANADA GOLD MINE INC. ("GGM")

BULLETIN TYPE: Private Placement-Non-Brokered

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to a Non-Brokered Private Placement announced September 27, 2021:

Number of Shares: 7,857,143 Quebec flow-through shares and 2,500,000 common shares



Purchase Price: $0.14 per Quebec flow-through share and $0.10 per common share



Warrants attached to Quebec

flow-through shares: 3,928,572 share purchase warrants to purchase 3,928,572 shares



Warrant Exercise Price: $0.20 for a two-year period Warrants attached to common

shares: 1,250,000 share purchase warrants to purchase 1,250,000 shares



Warrant Exercise Price: $0.15 for a three-year period



Number of Placees: 4 placees

Finder's Fee:

GloRes Securities Inc. - $94,500 cash and 550,00 finder's warrants

Marquest Asset Management Inc.  175,000 finder's warrants

Each finder's warrant has the same terms as warrants attached to Quebec flow-through shares.

Pursuant to Corporate Finance Policy 4.1, Section 1.9(e), the Company issued a news release dated September 27, 2021 announcing the closing of the private placement and setting out the expiry dates of the hold period(s). Note that in certain circumstances the Exchange may later extend the expiry date of the warrants, if they are less than the maximum permitted term.

________________________________________________________

HPQ-SILICON RESOURCES INC. ("HPQ")

BULLETIN TYPE: Property-Asset or Share Purchase Agreement

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing the documentation relating to an agreement (the "Agreement") dated September 18, 2021, between the Company and EBH2 Systems SA (the "Vendor"), in connection with the acquisition of a worldwide license granted by the Vendor to sell the products in which the EBH2 generators are incorporated in the Company's technologies, and exclusively used to supply autonomously the technologies of the Company. The Agreement also provides the right to hold a 50% ownership with the Vendor in a Canadian company that will be created by the Company, that will be in charge of commercializing, selling and maintaining the EBH2 systems and products in North America, and that will be granted by the Vendor a permanent license for the commercialization, sale and servicing of the EBH2 systems and products in North America.

Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company will have to issue 10,000,000 common shares, 10,000,000 common share purchase warrants (the "Warrants") and pay US$500,000. Each Warrant will allow its holder to acquire one common share of the Company at a price of $0.75 per share for a period of 36 months following the closing of the transaction.

For further information, please refer to the Company's press releases dated August 24, 2021 and September 29, 2021.

______________________________

HPQ-SILICON RESOURCES INC. ( HPQ )

TYPE DE BULLETIN : Convention d'achat de propriete d'actif ou d'actions

DATE DU BULLETIN : Le 30 septembre 2021

Societe du groupe 2 de TSX Croissance

Bourse de croissance TSX a accepte le depot de documents relativement a une convention (la  convention ) datee du 18 septembre 2021, entre la societe et EBH2 Systems SA (le  vendeur ), concernant l'achat d'une licence mondiale accordee par le vendeur pour vendre les produits dans lesquels les generatrices de EBH2 sont incorporees dans les technologies de la societe et utilisees exclusivement pour alimenter de maniere autonome les technologies de la societe. La convention comprend aussi le droit de detenir un actionnariat de 50% avec le vendeur dans une compagnie canadienne qui sera formee par la societe, qui sera chargee de commercialiser, de vendre et d'entretenir les systemes et produits EBH2 en Amerique du Nord et qui se verra accorder par le vendeur une licence exclusive permanente pour la commercialisation, la vente et le service de systemes et produits EBH2 en Amerique du Nord.

En vertu de la convention, la societe devra emettre 10 000 00 actions ordinaires, 10 000 000 bons de souscription (les  bons ), et payer une somme de 500 000 US $. Chaque bon permettra a son porteur d'acheter une action ordinaire de la societe a un prix de 0,75 $ par action pour une periode de 36 mois a compter de la date de cloture de la transaction.

Pour plus d'information, veuillez-vous referer aux communiques de presse emis par la societe le 24 aout 2021 et le 29 septembre 2021.

_________________________________________

INOMIN MINES INC. ("MINE")

BULLETIN TYPE: Private Placement-Non-Brokered

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to a Non-Brokered Private Placement announced July 26, 2021:

Number of Shares: 2,862,000 flow-through shares and 1,170,000 non flow-through shares



Purchase Price: $0.125 per flow-through share and $0.10 per non flow-through share



Warrants: 2,016,000 share purchase warrants to purchase 2,016,000 shares



Warrant Exercise Price: $0.15 for a two-year period



Number of Placees: 19 placees

Insider / Pro Group Participation:



Insider=Y /

Name ProGroup=P # of Shares John Gomez Y 224,000

Finder's Fee:

PI Financial Corp.  $11,112.50 cash and 88,900 finder's warrants

Accilent Capital Management Inc. - $7,000 cash and 56,000 finder's warrants

Each finder's warrant is exercisable for one common share at a price of $0.15 for a two-year period.

Pursuant to Corporate Finance Policy 4.1, Section 1.9(e), the Company issued news releases dated August 25, 2021 and September 24, 2021 announcing the closing of the private placement and setting out the expiry dates of the hold periods. Note that in certain circumstances the Exchange may later extend the expiry date of the warrants, if they are less than the maximum permitted term.

________________________________________

LEVELJUMP HEALTHCARE CORP. ("JUMP") ("JUMP.WT")

BULLETIN TYPE: Halt

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 1 Company

Effective at 10:32 a.m. PST, September 30, 2021, trading in the shares of the Company was halted at the request of the Company, pending news; this regulatory halt is imposed by Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, the Market Regulator of the Exchange pursuant to the provisions of Section 10.9(1) of the Universal Market Integrity Rules.

________________________________________

O2GOLD INC. ("OTGO")

BULLETIN TYPE: Shares for Debt

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing the Company's proposal to issue 800,323 common shares at a deemed price of $0.22 per share, in settlement of a debt having a deemed value of $176,071:

Number of Creditors: 1 Creditor

Non Arm's Length Party / ProGroup Participation: None

For more information, please refer to the Company's a press release dated September 3, 2021.

________________________________________

PURE GOLD MINING INC. ("PGM")

BULLETIN TYPE: Prospectus-Unit Offering

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Effective September 21, 2021, the Company's (final) Short Form Prospectus dated September 21, 2021 qualifying the distribution of 19,048,000 units of the Company, was filed with and accepted by TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"), and filed with and receipted by the British Columbia Securities Commission and the Ontario Securities Commission. Under Multilateral Instrument 11-102 - Passport System the Prospectus is deemed to have been filed with and receipted by the securities regulators for each of the Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador Securities Commissions.

The Exchange has been advised that the closing of the offering occurred on September 28, 2021, for gross proceeds of CDN$23,000,460.

Offering: 21,905,200 units (which includes 2,857,200 units of the over-allotment option that was fully exercised)



Unit Price: CDN$1.05 per unit. Each unit consists of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant.



Warrant Exercise Price/Term: Each whole warrant is exercisable into one common share at CDN$1.36 for an eighteen (18) month period.



Underwriters: National Bank Financial Inc., Clarus Securities Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc., Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc., Haywood Securities Inc., PI Financial Corp. and Sprott Capital Partners LP



Underwriter's Commission: Aggregate cash commissions of CDN$1,150,023

For further details, please refer to the Company's Short Form Prospectus dated September 21, 2021 and filed on SEDAR and news releases dated September 8, 2021 and September 28, 2021.

________________________________________

REGEN III CORP. ("GIII")

BULLETIN TYPE: Halt

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Effective at 12:09 p.m. PST, September 29, 2021, trading in the shares of the Company was halted at the request of the Company, pending news; this regulatory halt is imposed by Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, the Market Regulator of the Exchange pursuant to the provisions of Section 10.9(1) of the Universal Market Integrity Rules.

________________________________________

REGEN III CORP. ("GIII")

BULLETIN TYPE: Resume Trading

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Effective at 5:00 a.m. PST, September 30, 2021, shares of the Company resumed trading, an announcement having been made.

________________________________________

SCOZINC MINING LTD. ("SZM")

BULLETIN TYPE: Shares for Debt

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 1 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing the Company's proposal to issue 378,788 shares to settle outstanding debt for $$250,000.

Number of Creditors: 1 Creditor

The Company shall issue a news release when the shares are issued and the debt extinguished.

________________________________________

STAR ROYALTIES LTD. ("STRR")

BULLETIN TYPE: Property-Asset or Share Purchase Agreement

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 1 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation pertaining to a Royalty Purchase Agreement (the "Agreement") dated September 27, 2021, between the Company and an arm's length party, whereby the Company has acquired an existing 2% net smelter royalty (the "NSR") on the Elk Gold Mine Project, located near Merritt B.C.

Under the terms of the Agreement, the Company has agreed to acquire the NSR for USD$10,000,000 cash payment and issuance of 1,659,304 common shares at a deemed price of $0.47460. Additionally, the Company will issue 829,652 common share purchase warrants, exercisable for two years at $0.70 per common share.

For more information, please refer to the Company's news releases dated September 28, 2021, September 29, 2021 and September 30, 2021.

________________________________________

THINK RESEARCH CORPORATION ("THNK")

BULLETIN TYPE: Shares for Debt

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 1 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing the Company's proposal to issue 56,364 common shares at a deemed price of $2.20 per share to settle outstanding debt for $124,000.

Number of Creditors: 1 Creditor

For more details, please refer to the Company's news release dated September 15, 2021.

___________________________________

THUNDERSTRUCK RESOURCES LTD. ("AWE")

BULLETIN TYPE: Warrant Term Extension

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has consented to the extension in the expiry date of the following warrants:

Private Placement:

# of Warrants: 1,250,000

Original Expiry Date of Warrants: October 9, 2021

New Expiry Date of Warrants: October 9, 2023

Exercise Price of Warrants: $0.15

These warrants were issued pursuant to a private placement of 1,250,000 shares with 1,250,000 share purchase warrants attached, which was accepted for filing by the Exchange effective October 29, 2018 .

________________________________________

TVI PACIFIC INC. ("TVI")

BULLETIN TYPE: Halt

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Effective at 4:59 a.m. PST, September 30, 2021, trading in the shares of the Company was halted at the request of the Company, pending news; this regulatory halt is imposed by Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, the Market Regulator of the Exchange pursuant to the provisions of Section 10.9(1) of the Universal Market Integrity Rules.

________________________________________

TVI PACIFIC INC. ("TVI")

BULLETIN TYPE: Resume Trading

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Effective at 7:00 a.m. PST, September 30, 2021, shares of the Company resumed trading, an announcement having been made.

________________________________________

VIZSLA COPPER CORP. ("VCU")

BULLETIN TYPE: Resume Trading

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Effective at 6:30 a.m. PST, September 30, 2021, shares of the Company resumed trading, an announcement having been made.

________________________________________

WESTERN ATLAS RESOURCES INC ("WA")

BULLETIN TYPE: Warrant Term Extension

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has consented to the extension in the expiry date of the following warrants:

Private Placement:

# of Warrants: 11,127,941

Original Expiry Date of Warrants: October 9, 2021

New Expiry Date of Warrants: October 9, 2022

Exercise Price of Warrants: $0.20

These warrants were issued pursuant to a private placement of 21,705,882 shares and 550,000 flow-through shares with 11,127,943 share purchase warrants attached, which was accepted for filing by the Exchange effective November 28, 2019 .

________________________________________

NEX COMPANY

GSTAAD CAPITAL CORP. ("GTD.H")

BULLETIN TYPE: Private Placement-Non-Brokered

BULLETIN DATE: September 30, 2021

NEX Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to a Non-Brokered Private Placement announced July 22, 2021:

Number of Shares: 5,000,000 shares



Purchase Price: $0.10 per share



Number of Placees: 10 placees

Insider / Pro Group Participation:



Insider=Y /

Name ProGroup=P # of Shares





Aggregate Pro Group Involvement P 140,000 [2 placees]





Finder's Fee:

Ehsan Agahi  325,000 common shares

Pursuant to Corporate Finance Policy 4.1, Section 1.9(e), the Company issued a news release dated September 17, 2021 announcing the closing of the private placement and setting out the expiry date of the hold period.

________________________________________

SOURCE TSX Venture Exchange

For further information: Market Information Services at 1-888-873-8392, or email: [email protected]

Related Links

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idhu was made PCC chief by Congress leadership in July to stem infighting in Punjab Congress ahead of next year's assembly polls but the party is now grappling with a fresh crisis.

Amid the ongoing crisis in Punjab Congress, state cabinet minister Pargat Singh said everything is fine in the party. Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Thursday called on Navjot Singh Sidhu, who resigned as the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief. Held at Punjab Bhawan, the meeting was attended by the state cabinet minister Pargat Singh and leaders like Pawan Goyal, Kuljit Nagra and Harish Chaudhary. The meeting lasted for around 3 hours.

Everything is fine, Pargat Singh told media after the meeting. However, all the other leaders refused to comment after the meeting. Meanwhile, the Punjab Congress is likely to form a coordination committee for the better functioning of the state government, said sources.

According to sources, the Coordination Committee will comprise Chief Minister Charanjeet Singh Channi, AICC Incharge of Punjab Harish Rawat, senior Congress leader Ambika Soni, state party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and a few senior leaders of partys state unit.

The Punjab Congress has already sent the proposal to the partys top leadership. An announcement regarding this will be made soon after the nod from the Congress high command. Sidhu had tendered his resignation as Punjab Congress chief on September 28. He was reportedly upset over the bureaucratic setup and his commands not being followed after Cabinet expansion in Punjab.

Party sources say that his resignation has not been accepted by the party yet. Sidhus resignation as state party chief has intensified the crisis in the Punjab Congress. A minister and three Congress leaders, considered close to him, stepped down from their posts.

This comes as a big blow to the Congress that was hoping to resolve the turmoil in the Congress unit of Punjab ahead of the Assembly elections early next year. Charanjeet Singh Channi took oath as the 16th Chief Minister of Punjab on September 20, days after Captain Amarinder Singh stepped down from the post of Punjab Chief Minister following months of infighting between him and Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Amarinder Singh had resigned as Chief Minister on September 18 and had told the media that the Congress leadership had let him down. He had also taken a dig at Sidhu over his resignation, saying he is not a stable man. Sidhu was made PCC chief by Congress leadership in July to stem infighting in Punjab Congress ahead of next years assembly polls but the party is now grappling with a fresh crisis.
Pakistan on several occasions has promised to safeguard the interests of minority communities in the nation. However, rampant attacks on the minorities narrate a different story.

A Sikh community member was brutally murdered in Peshawar city of Pakistan after unidentified assailants shot at him four times. The incident took place on Thursday when the attackers entered the clinic of Satnam Singh, a Hakim (physician), and shot at him.

Singh was rushed to the provincial capitals Lady Reading Hospital in an injured condition where he later succumbed to his injuries, Express Tribune reported. The motive behind the murder is yet to be ascertained. The police stated that the physician had arrived in Peshawar from Hassan Abdaal a day earlier.

The incident comes as yet another example of the deplorable conditions under which religious minorities live in Pakistan. Religious minorities continue to face brutal suppression of their rights that not only include the vandalism of their sites of worship but also attack on their houses and the illegal acquisition of their property lamented Rafiq.

They regularly become a target of rampant violence stemming from personal enmity to professional or economic rivalry. Religious minorities remain a soft target of non-state actors and religiously inspired extremists. Meanwhile, the dogged persistence of state policies has failed to reboot the judicial system and rule of law.

Pakistan on several occasions has promised to safeguard the interests of minority communities in the nation. However, rampant attacks on the minorities narrate a different story.
Washington and New Delhi "share a strong military-to-military relationship under the US-India Major Defence Partnership, which supports a free and open Indo-Pacific".

Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on Thursday (local time) met the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark A Milley here and both discussed a range of issues, including ways to ensure regional security. The top officials agreed to continued cooperation in training exercises and creating more opportunities to increase interoperability between the two militaries, Office of the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs said in a statement.

Milley had welcomed General Rawat during an Armed Forces full honour arrival ceremony on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. General Rawat laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as part of his official visit. Later both officials met at the Pentagon, where the two military leaders discussed a range of issues, including ways to ensure regional security and their respective roles as principal military advisors to civilian leadership, the statement added.

Washington and New Delhi share a strong military-to-military relationship under the US-India Major Defence Partnership, which supports a free and open Indo-Pacific.

General Rawat is on a visit to the US. Earlier on Wednesday, he visited Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington and also discussed issues of bilateral defence cooperation with US Armys Major General Xavier T Brunson, Commanding General, 1 Corps.
India, which has been on alert since 2020 when a Chinese refueller aircraft landed in Skardu in June last year, has since then moved its air defence missile systems to Eastern Ladakh sector.

Fresh activity has been spotted at Skardu air base in Gilgit Baltistan, which can potentially emerge as a security threat for India. There has been a considerable work completion on the new runway being built o n the sight.India, which has been on alert since 2020 when a Chinese refueller aircraft landed in Skardu in June last year, has since then moved its air defence missile systems to Eastern Ladakh sector. The IAF has also activated its fighter aircraft in the Eastern Ladakh region.

The latest developments come at a time when Army Chief General MM Naravane is on a two-day visit to Ladakh Sector, said the Additional Directorate General of Public Information, Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Army) on Friday. Naravane will review the prevailing security situation, operational preparedness in the Ladakh Sector and also interact with troops deployed in the sector.

The Indian Army tweeted: General MM Naravane COAS is on a two-day visit to Ladakh Sector to review the prevailing security situation and operational preparedness. The COAS will also interact with troops deployed in the harshest terrain and weather conditions.

India on Thursday while rejecting Beijings allegation that New Delhi has long pursued the forward policy along the LAC, further said that Chinas provocative behaviour, amassing of troops and its unilateral attempts to alter the status quo resulted in serious disturbance of peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh.
Afghanistan is "not capable of overcoming the sanctions because over 20 million people are in grave need of humanitarian assistance", said political analyst Abdul Naseer Rishtia.

Expressing its displeasure over a bill that seeks to impose sanctions on Taliban in Afghanistan, the outfit on Thursday stated that the imposition of sanctions on the Islamic Emirate will repeat the failed policies of the US in Afghanistan, local media said. This comes after more than 20 US Senators on Tuesday introduced legislation to impose sanctions on the Taliban and the foreign governments that support the outfit.

Any sanction causes harm to Afghanistans interest and its people, and should not be imposed; the Taliban should be asked to engage politically with the international community, political analyst Hekmatullah Hikmat was quoted as saying by TOLO News, reported.

Afghanistan is not capable of overcoming the sanctions because over 20 million people are in grave need of humanitarian assistance, said political analyst Abdul Naseer Rishtia. The legislation titled the Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act, seeks to address the outstanding issues related to the Administrations rushed withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan was as awful as it was avoidable. It was unwise and unrealistic for the Administration to stick to its arbitrary August 31st deadline, which resulted in hundreds of Americans and tens of thousands of our most loyal allies  drivers, translators, guides, and others  and vulnerable Afghans such as women leaders being left behind in Afghanistan in dire jeopardy, said Senator Collins on the legislation introduced by Senator Jim Risch.

An official release stated the new legislation would establish a US State Department task force to focus on the evacuation of American citizens, legal permanent residents, and Afghan Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) who are still stuck in Afghanistan. The bill also intends to probe into Pakistans support to the Taliban for the 2021 offensive that toppled the Afghan government. It further calls for an assessment of support by state and non-state actors, including the Government of Pakistan.
Win McNamee, Staff / TNS

SEATTLE (AP)  President Joe Biden on Thursday announced another nominee for the extremely shorthanded federal bench in Seattle: Washington state Court of Appeals Judge John H. Chun.

Chun is the fourth person Biden has nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, with one of those nominees confirmed by the Senate so far  former Grant County Superior Court Judge David Estudillo. Before Estudillos confirmation this month, five of the seven active judge positions in the Seattle and Tacoma courthouses were vacant  the highest ratio in the country.
BRANFORD  A police officer will now be at Board of Education meetings to discourage possible threatening behavior, according to board Chairman John Prins.

The move comes while improving communication has been a recurring theme for the nine-member Board of Education and the panel voted this week on revised board bylaws. The bylaw change modifies a prohibition of disruptive public behavior to include verbally abusive behavior.

We dont serve on this board to be intimidated or threatened. Prins said.

Police Chief Jonathan Mulhern said there havent been any problems at the meetings that hes aware of.

It was a request that came in months ago from the superintendent, Mulhern said. My understanding is that was at the request of some of the board members.

Having police officers at meetings is common in some communities, although its not done in others, he said.

Were there simply for safety and security, Mulhern said.

Board Member Tim Raynor, a proponent of two modifications the panel made, said the board finds itself in a very interesting place. The school board did not give specific examples of incidents it was concerned about.

Raynor said, There is a level of aggression. Courtesy seems to be a thing of the past  I think the fact that we need law enforcement at board meeting showcases the point that courtesy and dialogue seem to be gone in public meetings.

He called the police presence a layer of protection to ward off what other boards in other parts of the country have experienced in recent months.

Prins said his definition of threatening behavior includes speakers who make unsupported or disparaging comments about board members or staff or who approach the board table. He did not immediately respond to an email seeking further comment Friday.

On Thursday the National School Board Association weighed in on school board meeting disruptions that have been taking place nationwide.

It told President Biden in a letter that public education and its leaders allegedly are under an immediate threat and asked for federal law enforcement and other assistance to deal with threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation. The letter did not name any incidents in Connecticut.

Local school board members want to hear from their communities on important issues and that must be at the forefront of good school board governance and promotion of free speech. However, there also must be safeguards in place to protect public schools and dedicated education leaders as they do their jobs, the group wrote.

Engagement

In another change made by the Branford board, by a 6-2 vote  with board members Ellen Michaels and Joanne Borrus voting no and Prins not voting  the board decided not only to hear from the public during its regular business meetings but to allow responses to what is said.

Recently, the board also had agreed to allow a dialogue with the public during Communication Committee meetings.

Up until now, comments made by the public during board meetings have been a one-way street. The board and district personnel listen, but rarely responded immediately to questions or comments

Parents had sought better communication while grappling with the pandemic last winter and it was a top recommendation in the school superintendents recent evaluation.

Board member Peter Berdon said he agreed with the proposed bylaw changes, calling them a great idea.

Borrus called it a step backwards. She said making the dialogue optional opened the possibility that only select members of the public would get responses.

Michaels said she wanted to see how the practice plays out in the Communications Committee before expanding it to full board meetings.

I am afraid if we open it up we will be here until 11 or 12 (a.m.), Michaels said.

It concerns me that a board member would verbalize and say that I am concerned the public is going to talk to me too much and we will be there really late, Raynor responded.

Raynor called parent comments, even uncomfortable ones, part of the process.

Since speakers are limited to three minutes each, several board members argued meetings wouldnt go off the rails by allowing board and staff responses to comments.

Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez warned there are times he might have the answer to every question on the spot.

Prins said he didnt want to see the board thumb its nose at best practices.

Most school boards in the area that he polled on the issue dont respond to public comments during meetings, he said.

He said he also wondered about the structure of exchanges.

Who responds? he said. The first, the loudest?

Board Member Meredith Gaffney said the bylaw change became necessary because of Prins strict rules discouraging responses.

At this weeks meeting there were only a handful of speakers, some in person, one online.

Jennifer Orlando, thanked the board for adding dialogue to public comment.

It is important to the community, Orlando said. We worked hard for that.

She said there also may be some board members who cant distinguish between threats and frustration parents feel when they dont get their questions answers. It is why, she said, they come to speak, meeting after meeting.

Mark Zaretsky contributed to this story.
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (AP)  Nearly a century ago, white leaders of a Southern California city robbed a Black family of their prime beachfront land and legacy.

Descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce  including the couples great-great grandson  returned to the scene of the crime in Manhattan Beach on Thursday to watch Gov. Gavin Newsom sign the law that allows ownership of the property to be transferred back to the family.

The move was hailed as a major milestone in the fight for reparations and the return of lands stolen from people of color.

There are other families waiting for this very day, to have their land returned to them, Patricia Bruce, a cousin of Willa and Charles Bruce, told The Associated Press.

Amid rampant forced segregation in 1912, the Bruces built the first West Coast resort for Black people. Situated along what became one of Southern Californias signature beaches fronted by rows of multimillion-dollar homes, it included a lodge, cafe, dance hall and dressing tents.

The Bruces and their patrons faced constant racism and harassment. There even was an attempt to burn the resort down. The Manhattan Beach City Council eventually used eminent domain to take the land from the Bruces in the 1920s, purportedly for use as a park.

Yet the land lay unused for years until was transferred to the state in 1948. In 1995, it was transferred to Los Angeles County for beach operations. It came with restrictions limiting the ability to sell or transfer the property, which could only be lifted through a new state law.

The legislation unanimously approved by state lawmakers was necessary to allow the start of the complex legal process of transferring ownership of what was once known as Bruces Beach.

The journey here was far from easy, said Kavon Ward, a Black resident who learned of the property's history and founded Justice for Bruce's Beach.

Ward also cofounded Where Is My Land, an organization that aims to return land taken from Black Americans and get restitution. The organization is looking at several other unspecified projects, including one in California, to see if its goals are possible.

With a half-dozen descendants of the couple present Thursday, Newsom apologized for how the land was taken before signing the bill during a ceremony at the property.

The Bruces have found mercy in the unfailing love of Jesus Christ, said Anthony Bruce, the familys great-great grandson, as he read a prayer during the ceremony.

Newsom suggested the move could be the start of broader reparations.

This can be catalytic, he said. What we're doing here today can be done and replicated anywhere else.

County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who led a government push to transfer the land, said the heirs would almost certainly be millionaires now if the property had not been taken.

The law was used to steal this property 100 years ago, and the law today will give it back, Hahn said.

Newsom said the Bruces could have become like other leading Southern California entrepreneurs, like the Getty family that garnered fame for its oil wealth and art collection.

The Bruces' property along the south shore of Santa Monica Bay encompasses two parcels. The county's lifeguard training headquarters building sits there now, along a scenic beach walkway called The Strand that is lined with luxury homes overlooking the beach.

In Manhattan Beach, an upscale Los Angeles seaside suburb, the population of 35,000 is more than 84% white and 0.8% Black, the city website says. This year, the City Council formally condemned the efforts of their early 20th century predecessors to displace the Bruces and several other Black families.

The county, meanwhile, has outlined steps needed to move forward with the transfer, including assessing the value of the parcels and trying to find a means to lessen the tax burden on the heirs.

The county also needs to vet the legal heirs of the Bruces and possibly find a new site for the lifeguard training headquarters. One option would have the heirs lease the land back to the county for continued use.

Patricia Bruce, 65, of Hawthorne, said the family has not yet decided what it will do with the property.

___

Associated Press writer John Antczak contributed to this report.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  Legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper announced Friday agreement on an energy bill that aims to meet Cooper's goals on greenhouse gas reductions and gives dominant utility Duke Energy the ability to seek multiyear rate increases.

The measure, which is expected to clear the Republican-controlled legislature next week, removes most of the prescriptive actions that House Republicans laid out in an earlier version of the bill that passed the chamber in July.

Instead the new bill, largely negotiated between the Cooper administration and senators from both parties, directs the state Utilities Commission to come up with a roadmap by the end of 2022 on how to move toward goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions that align with Coopers Clean Energy Plan.

That plan seeks to reduce carbon dioxide levels from energy producers by 70% compared to 2005 levels by 2030, and achieve zero-net CO2 emissions by 2050. The House plan would have contributed to a 62% reduction in power-sector greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade, according to an estimate by the commission's public staff.

The approved House bill had singled out which inefficient coal-fired plants operated by Duke Energy should be shuttered early and replaced with other alternate fuels. It also quantified solar power production expansion levels and told Duke to begin investigating where it could build a new, smaller modular nuclear facility. These items aren't in the updated bill.

Cooper and several environmental and manufacturing groups panned the approved House bill, either for relying too much on natural gas, increasing customer rates dramatically or weakening the Utilities Commission's authority.

This bipartisan agreement sets a clean energy course for North Carolinas future that is better for the economy, better for the environment, and better for the pocketbooks of everyday North Carolinians, Cooper said in a joint news release with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

A draft of the new legislation directs the commission, which would revisit its roadmap every two years, to consider several factors while taking all reasonable steps to meet the percentage targets. The analysis, which requires stakeholder input, must seek the "least cost path" forward and ensure reliable and adequate electricity supplies. It does state that any plan would require 45% of additional solar energy originate from third-party producers, with the remainder coming from Duke Energy.

The agreement "will signal to businesses and families here now or considering a move here that North Carolinas leaders are committed to pro-growth energy policies, Senate leader Phil Berger said in the release.

The final draft measure does retain much in the House proposal that would allow Duke Energy to seek rate increases in three-year blocks through the commission, rather than year by year. The Charlotte-based utility was unsuccessful two years ago in getting legislative approval for the multiyear rate idea, which it says can reduce legal costs and provide more predictability. The bills does contain consumer protections and assistance to repay the costs of energy efficiency improvements they make, according to Friday's release.

The commission's public staff had estimated some Duke Energy customers could have seen a roughly 4.5% increase in retail rates by 2030 if the House-approved bill had been enacted. But a group of industrial customers calculated the cost to be several times that percentage increase. There was no information released immediately on how the updated bill could affect ratepayers.

The North Carolina Retail Merchants Association, which had been neutral on the House bill that passed in July, came out in support of the updated bill Friday. Duke Energy praised the efforts of state leaders.

Legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle recognize the opportunity in front of us to move away from coal and accelerate a clean energy transition for our state, spokesperson Bill Norton said.

Other groups remain opposed to the measure, saying it would harm low-income families, many of which are still behind on their power bills due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and give Duke Energy too much control over whether the 70% goal is met.

Increasing costs for families and businesses just to give Duke Energy more profits, especially when the only trade-off is that we might get to 70% carbon reductions by the end of the decade is bad enough, said Rory McIlmoil with environmental group Appalachian Voices.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  More than 1,000 University of Maine System students must come into compliance with the system's vaccination and testing requirements this month or they will be withdrawn from courses without a refund.

The system said Thursday it is reaching the end of its campaign to bring students into compliance with the rules. Students have until Oct. 15 to verify their vaccinated status or receive an exemption that requires weekly testing, the system said.
/ Hearst Connecticut Media file photo

NEW HAVEN  The noose found in a city school was created by a student who attempted self-harm, a city spokesman said.

The noose was not race-related, city spokesman Kyle Buda said.
NEW HAVEN  A 25-year-old city man was shot Thursday night on Newhall Street, police said.

Officers responded to Newhall Street between its intersections with Hazel and Ivy streets at 7:42 p.m. after receiving a ShotSpotter alert of gunfire, Officer Scott Shumway said in an email.

Responding officers located a 25-year-old New Haven man, who had crashed his car on Dixwell Avenue, and had been struck by gunfire, said Shumway. American Medical Response transported the victim to Yale New Haven Hospital where he was listed in stable condition.

Related: Police: Norwalk man shot in New Haven early Thursday

Shumway asked that any witnesses who have not yet spoken with the department contact the New Haven Police Department Investigative Services Division at 203-946-6304.

He said callers may remain anonymous or submit tips anonymously by calling 866-888-TIPS(8477), or texting NHPD plus your message to 274637 (CRIMES).

As of Sept. 26, there had been 22 homicides, 85 non-fatal shootings and 264 incidents of shots fired in New Haven this year, according to the latest statistics from police.

At this time last year, there had been 16 homicides, 79 shootings, and 161 incidents of shots fired, police reported.

The last time the city saw so many incidents in any of the three categories by this time in the year was 2011, according to the department.

At this point in that year, there had been 25 homicides, 92 non-fatal shootings and 318 incidents of shots fired.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
NORTH HAVEN  The phone call was a surprise.

When North Haven High School student Zoey LoPresti answered, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro was on the line other line, telling LoPresti her photograph had won the Congressional Art Award.

I answered the phone and I put it on speaker and I went to my moms roomand then I heard (DeLauro) say that I won, said LoPresti, who is now a senior at North Haven High School. I was really excited, and the feeling, it just like overwhelmed me a little bit.

Thanks to the win, the photograph  which was taken at the high school  is now on display inside the United States Capitol.

Wendy Wade, LoPrestis photography teacher, said LoPresti is her first student to earn that honor. She has taught art for 25 years.

Congressionals like cream of the crop. Its kind of like the Superbowl for teachers and the student, Wade said. Ive entered it several times.

Students submit entries to their United States representatives office, which chooses one winner from their district, often with the help of panels of local artists, according to the Congressional Institutes website.

Jami LaRue / Contributed photo /

The winning artwork is displayed for one year in the Capitol.

LoPrestis photo shows a girl peaking out from behind a semi-sheer gray scarf. The models left had holds the front of the scarf to her cheek, partly obscuring her face; the back of the scarf is draped over her hair.

For LoPresti, the photo is a little mysterious. It evokes themes of (being) lost, or running away from something, or hiding, she said.

She snapped the picture on a fall day in 2019. Short on time, her Advanced Placement photography class decided to take photos near their own room, Wade said.

A student who often modeled for the class was playing around with a cloth, wrapping it around her face, when LoPresti pressed the shutter button.

It just looked like (the model) was like trying to hide for something, and then after that I realized the background didnt really match ... I edited it to black and then it made her pop out more, LoPresti said.

The result was just stunning, Wade said.

What I like about it now is that it speaks to so many things that are current in the world for us, whether its womens rights in other countries or not being able to speak or use your voice or needing to wear a mask because of the pandemic, Wade said.

Zoeys photograph was sophisticated in both message and execution. With wonderful use of texture and composition, particularly on the fabric of the scarf, the photo speaks volumes, DeLauro said in a written statement provided by an aide. It is an excellent piece of artwork that I could see hanging in my home.

Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

Wade said LoPresti has a talent for taking photos that make statements.

LoPrestis AP portfolio includes a series of photos featuring chess boards. Her essay on the artwork ties the chess pieces themes of social hierarchies, Wade said.

She just does such a fantastic job, Wade said. I think that she just sees things a lot differently and has a good way of even using inanimate objects to make statements.

The LoPresti family said Wade has a lot to do with Zoey LoPrestis success.

She is encouraging and is always there for you if you need help with something. She pushed me to submit my artwork to different competitions, LoPresti said.

Darcee LoPresti, Zoey LoPrestis mom, said Wade helped her daughter come out of her shell.

What stands out about Wade is her personal and individual level with each child and like their particular talent, Darcee LoPresti said.

Not every kid has the same exact talent, you know, and she really knows how to find it in a kid, she said.

Wade recently traveled to Washington, D.C. to see LoPrestis photo.

But she ran into a problem: amid COVID-19 restrictions, only staff were allowed inside the Capitol.

She wasnt able to see get inside, but she had brought a print of LoPrestis piece and took a picture with it outside the iconic building.

LoPresti and her family also have not yet been able to see the photo on display.

Darcee LoPresti said the family was told they would receive two plane tickets to attend an an awards ceremony at the Capitol this past summer. The trip did not materialize  the last the family heard, Darcee LoPresti said, was that the ceremony might not happen.

I just wish...we could actually see it hanging there, she said. Its a big deal, so not to be able to go its kind of, you know, disappointing.

DeLauros office didnt have an update on the reception but has been closely monitoring the developments related to the Congressional Art Competition celebration, according to a statement by spokesperson Katelynn Thorpe.

Once we have information regarding a reception, we will let Zoey know, the statement says. Because she won the art competition, she will receive two round-trip tickets to Washington, D.C., courtesy of Southwest Airlines to attend the reception.

DeLauro met LoPresti at a local celebration in July, according to the email.

I thank Zoey for taking the time to create something so beautiful and thought-provoking and look forward to seeing what she creates in the future, she said in the statement. I am hopeful that she will be able to visit me at the United States Capitol soon to celebrate this accomplishment.

Meanwhile, Wade is determined to return to D.C.

Im gonna go back, she said. I gotta get into that building.

meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The United Nations chief informed Ethiopia on Friday that it has no legal right to expel seven U.N. officials and warned that severe restrictions on desperately needed aid to the conflict-wracked Tigray region have created a humanitarian and human rights crisis that is spiraling out of control.

Tigray is facing a near-blockade by the government on deliveries of food, fuel and other humanitarian supplies, and children are reportedly dying of famine.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at least 5.2 million people in the region need humanitarian assistance including at least 400,000 living in famine-like conditions. Child malnutrition levels are now at the same level as they were at the start of the 2011 famine in Somalia, he warned.

Ethiopia announced the expulsions on Thursday, accusing the seven officials of meddling in the countrys affairs and giving them 72 hours to leave. In a new statement Friday, Ethiopias foreign ministry accused some U.N. staff of failing to fulfill their mission independently and impartially and listing grave violations including the alleged diversion of humanitarian assistance to Tigray forces fighting government troops.

Guterres said in a letter informing the U.N. Security Council of the expulsions, which was obtained by The Associated Press, that Ethiopias decision to expel critical members of the U.N. leadership team creates yet another obstacle to reaching Ethiopians, at a moment when all efforts should be focused on working together to save and protect lives, protect human rights and avert a humanitarian catastrophe.

The Security Council held emergency closed consultations on Tigrays humanitarian crisis and expulsion order but took no action.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said a diplomatic note sent to Ethiopias U.N. Mission and conveyed to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed during a phone call with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday stated the U.N.s longstanding legal position that the doctrine of declaring someone persona non grata -- or unwelcome -- does not apply to U.N. personnel.

The application of this doctrine to United Nations officials is contrary to obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and the privileges and immunities to be afforded to the United Nations and its officials, he said.

The doctrine of declaring someone persona non grata applies between one state and another state, Haq said. We are not a state.

When issues are raised regarding U.N. personnel, Haq said, the requirement is that such concerns are appropriately conveyed to the organization.

Its then for the secretary-general to make the necessary determinations and take the necessary steps to address the matter, the spokesman said.

The diplomatic note to the Ethiopian government from the U.N. Office of Legal Affairs, which was also sent to the Security Council, said the secretary-general can't make a determination on the conduct of the 7 U.N. officials based on information provided by the foreign ministry. It noted the unprecedented nature of ordering the staffers expulsion without any information provided as to conduct that may have been incompatible with the performance of their functions.

The legal office requested that the 7 officials not be required to leave Ethiopia and resume their official functions with the United Nations. It also requested that they be granted visas in compliance with the governments legal obligations, including the privileges and immunities to be accorded to the United Nations and its officials.

Secretary-General Guterres said Thursday he was shocked by the announcement and expressed full confidence in the U.N. staff, saying they are guided by impartiality and neutrality.

Fridays statement from Ethiopias foreign ministry echoed the governments earlier accusations that humanitarian workers are supporting the Tigray forces who have been fighting its soldiers and allied forces since November -- which aid workers deny.

Thousands of people have died in the conflict marked by gang rapes, mass expulsions and the destruction of health centers, with witnesses often blaming Ethiopian soldiers and those of neighboring Eritrea.

The U.N.s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, this week told The Associated Press that the crisis in Ethiopia is a stain on our conscience as children and others starve to death in Tigray under what the U.N. calls a de facto government blockade. Just 10% of needed humanitarian supplies have been reaching Tigray in recent weeks, he said.

The remarks were one of the sharpest criticisms so far of the worlds worst hunger crisis in a decade. Memories of the 1980s famine in Ethiopia, which killed around 1 million people and produced images that shocked the world, are vivid in his mind, Griffiths said, and we fervently hope (this) is not happening at present.

The AP, citing witness accounts and internal documents, last week reported the first starvation deaths since Ethiopias government imposed the blockade in June in an attempt to keep support from reaching Tigray forces.

Richard Gowan, U.N. director of the International Crisis Group, told AP: The UN has worked very hard to maintain good relations with the Ethiopian government throughout the crisis (and) some diplomats, including U.S. officials, have felt that the U.N. was being too solicitous towards Addis Ababa.

But he said Abiy seems to be angry that Martin Griffiths would take such a firm line on the crisis during his recent AP interview.

Other grave violations by U.N. staff listed by the foreign ministry on Friday were violating security agreements, transferring communications equipment to be used by Tigray forces, dissemination of misinformation and politicization of humanitarian assistance and reticence in pressing for the return of trucks used in aid deliveries.

Ethiopias government alleges the trucks are commandeered by Tigray forces; humanitarian workers have said instead that truck drivers fear further intimidation upon leaving Tigray and that there is little fuel.

We are confident that the provision of humanitarian assistance will not be affected by the expulsions, the statement said, adding that Ethiopia will continue to cooperate with the U.N. and its agencies provided that their activities do not undermine the sovereignty of Ethiopia and pose a threat to its national security interests.

Guterres said the U.N. and its partners are committed to providing aid, but it cant without adequate humanitarian supplies, including at least 100 trucks a day to Tigray alone, with additional supplies to Amhara, Afar and other regions. Fuel is also essential to deliver aid and provide critical services including water and health care, and cash is required to pay staff and suppliers, he said.

A cease-fire and political dialogue are urgently needed, he said, warning that attempts to politicize humanitarian assistance undermine the core efforts of the United Nations to support the people.

Guterres also warned that if the current trajectory continues, I fear for the future of many Ethiopian lives, and indeed for the stability of the country and the region.

-

Associated Press writer Cara Anna contributed to this report from Nairobi.
This morning, as I heard the birds sing their melody outside my office window, I recalled an article that I read somewhere that was purported to be true. It was about a construction company that was contracted to build a new road through the countryside. As the construction progressed through the heavily rural area, the crew began taking down large trees.

As they were working, the foreman noticed a birds nest. It was nestled in a cluster of branches in one of the trees. The foreman peered closer, and he saw there were baby birds within the nest. Those birds are probably newborn and cant fly, he said to himself. With that, he told his crew not to cut the tree. Then, to be sure his orders were followed, the foreman marked it so that particular tree wouldnt be cut down until sometime later.

Weeks passed, and the foreman came back to the area with the marked tree. Before cutting it down to finish the road, he got into a bucket truck. A member of his crew lifted him up so he could look into the nest. The baby birds were gone. Clearly, they had learned to fly. The foreman then told his crew, Its now safe to cut down the tree and finish the road construction.

The crew followed his instructions. They took down the tree, and it fell to the ground. As the workers were clearing the branches, they noticed some of the bark, twigs and small objects that the birds had gathered to make their nest. One of the items discovered from the nest was a scrap of paper that was torn from a Sunday school pamphlet. On the piece of paper were the words, He careth for you.

If God could watch over and protect a family of baby birds, He can certainly provide for your needs. So despite what has happened in the past or how challenging your situation appears to be today, Cast all your cares upon Him; for He careth for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

Wipe away those tears and smile again. God is a God of another chance. No matter how small or large your needs may be, dont get discouraged, God is there for you. God moves in mysterious ways. His specialty is doing the impossible. And help can come from unexpected places.

 Does all appear to be over? Be on the lookout for someone to intercede. Out of the blue, people will show up in the most unlikely places and help you accomplish a goal, changing the course of your future.

 Has a door closed in your life? Continue taking steps ahead,while speaking words of faith over your situation. You could be only days or weeks away from seeing a better door open, leading you into a life of blessings.

 Is your circumstance at a standstill? With joyful expectation, keep hope alive. God knows how to get you where He desires you to be. All of a sudden, youll receive a breakthrough,and everything will fall into place perfectly.

 Have you suffered a defeat? Persevere. Try again. And get ready. Unexpectedly, you could be offered an amazing opportunity that brings new dreams to fruition.

 Are you going through a tough time right now? God knows how to arrange the situations and people that you need to get your life back on track.

Awhile back, I received an incredible letter from a dear reader who wrote: Dear Catherine, My sister is a Music Therapist at an Alzheimers facility. Every Sunday, before her music program is presented, she has to give an inspiring talk to relatives and friends of the patients.

I cut out ten of your columns to send to her for inspiration. The first letter was returned back to me and said: address unknown. This was a mistake, so I sent the second letter two-day priority mail. My sister never received the letter, yet the tracking number said it was delivered. So, my thought was that she simply wasnt meant to use your columns.

But, as the saying goes, God works in mysterious ways!I received a letter today, with the columns, from a woman that received the letter by mistake. She said that when the letter arrived she was very down and unhappy. Her life was spiraling in the wrong direction and she simply did not know where to go or how to help herself.

Out of curiosity, the oppressed woman read the first column, and there was a sign for her to move in the right direction. And she thanked me profusely. Actually, she should have thanked you and my sister.

My sister is very spiritual and loving. She believes in angels and said the letter was guided by an angel to the right person. I think the whole situation is remarkable. She lives in Arizona and I live in Pennsylvania. The woman was in Arizona and the addresses were completely different.

I do believe that something very mysterious happened and maybe it was because of your belief and my sisters eternal optimism and deep faith. She made a pledge to help someone every day. I was just the instrument!

There is a peace that I have come to know as I hear such testimonies of the little reminders of Gods tender love and care. God smiled on this downhearted woman and sent the letters to give her guidance and inspiration. You know, there are no coincidences between God and His children.

So return to a place of peace, for God is tapping you on the shoulder today and saying, I am here with you. I love you. Yes, I am right here.

Email Catherine Galasso-Vigorito at cgv@anewyouworldwide.com. To order a copy of her new book, The Open Window, 8 Weeks to Creating an Extraordinary Life, visit www.anewyouworldwide.com or bookstores nationwide. Like me on Facebook! Follow Catherine on Instagram @Catherinegalassovigorito.
MIDDLETOWN  The cremains of eight veterans who fought in both world wars, Vietnam and Korea were finally laid to rest Friday in a funeral at the State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown.

Some of these mens cremains went unclaimed for several decades. This week, they received a proper burial.

After a brief prayer service at the state Department of Veterans Affairs campus in Rocky Hill, four hearses made their way to 317 Bow Lane for a ceremony in their honor.

It was made possible through a combined effort between the state DVA and Connecticut Funeral Directors Association, Commissioner Thomas J. Saadi said. A lot of planning went into the event, the commissioner added, as both his office and the CFDA have a shared goal.

We have a common mission of ensuring these veterans are no longer forgotten, Saadi said.

John F. Cascio, executive director of the CFDA, called it an honor to help give veterans a proper resting place. We felt it was their right, he said.

Since 2009, Cascio and his organization have teamed up with the DVA to track down the remains of veterans at funeral homes around the state that have gone unclaimed.

Through this project, an effort is made to track down living relatives.

Cascio said there are a few reasons remains may go unclaimed. Often, the individual simply has no living relatives, and, at other times, family members assume the remains will be handled by the military branch where the individual served.

Its not usually a case of neglect, he said.

Fridays ceremony was the seventh of its kind in the state. Over 100 people, most of them veterans, gathered in the cemetery to honor their fellow servicemen.

Laid to rest were:

Victor Hebert Anderson, a U.S. Marine who fought in the Korean War and died in Seymour in 2018.

Orville K. Davis, who fought in WWII with the U.S. Army and died in Southington in 1993.

Stephen Yoder Forrester, who fought in the Vietnam War with the U.S. Army and died in Branford in 1972.

Joseph P. Galipeau who fought in WWII with the U.S. Army and died in Southington in 2001.

Lawrence W. Jordan, who fought in WWI with the U.S. Army and died in Branford in 1976.

Bernard Joseph Lafleur, who fought in WWII with the U.S. Navy and died in Southington in 2007.

George Dalton Parker, who fought in WWII with the U.S. Navy and died in Hartford in 1984.

Lawrence Earl Tefft, who fought in WWII with the U.S. Navy and died in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 1998.

All eight men were posthumously presented with wartime service medals.

They were not just statistics or names on a roster, Saadi said. They were loved.

He said Fridays proceedings exemplify how the honoring of veterans continue even after death.

While these men passed without friends or family to remember then, they are not forgotten, Saadi said. These departed brothers are forgotten no longer because you are here.

Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System Director Alfred A. Montoya Jr., also a veteran, spoke about what the event means to those who serve their country. Todays ceremony puts in action the words, Thank you for your service.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, applauded the DVA and CFDA for creating this initiative which went on to be implemented in other states. Thank you for creating a model that is being followed by states around the country to honor veterans, he said.

He spoke on behalf of U.S. Congress members in commending the men, along with the veterans in attendance for their sacrifice and willingness to serve. That sacrifice is extraordinary, Murphy said.

The ceremony included multiple color guards, a firing detail, the playing of Taps, and a benediction.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has been conferred with the traditional title of Aare Baasofin of Yorubala...

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has been conferred with the traditional title of Aare Baasofin of Yorubaland (the Supreme Lawmaker of Yorubaland) by the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi.

The Alaafin communicated the conferment of the title to Gbajabiamila in a letter dated September 7, 2021, and presented to the Speaker on Thursday at the National Assembly, Abuja, by members of the Oyomesi Council led by the Bashorun of Oyo Kingdom, High Chief Olayinka Ayoola, who is the traditional Prime Minister of Oyo Kingdom.

According to a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, this is the first time that a Yoruba son would be conferred with such a title.

The statement was titled, Alaafin names Speaker Gbajabiamila as Supreme Legislative Guide of YorubalandIm most honoured, says Speaker.

Adeyemis letter read in part, Since your victory at the polls and subsequent swearing-in as a member of Federal House of Representatives representing the good people of Surulere Federal Constituency of Lagos State in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019 and eventual emergence as the Rt. Hon. Speaker of the 9th National Assembly House of Representatives via an overwhelming 283 votes out of 360 members.

I have watched with keen interest your unquantifiable contributions on the floor of the House as a member with the highest number of bills and motions, to your rise from a member to Minority Leader, Leader of the House and eventually the Rt. Hon. Speaker, and your centrality in the federating unit Nigeria have placed you in the legislative realm just like our forefathers who were actively involved in nation-building.

Going by the above, you have demonstrated as a Legislator the uniqueness inherent in the Yoruba race participating effectively in nation-building; you have participated in ensuring that the practice of separation of power to check abuses of the Executive and ensure the smooth running of government.

After due consideration and indeed consultation, the Alaafin in Council has identified you with the aforementioned attributes and considered you worthy of being honoured. It is on this basis that I have decided on behalf of Yoruba land to pick you as AARE  BAASOFIN OF YORUBA LAND.

This new title bestowed on you is a clear reflection of your outstanding success as an astute legislator, accomplished Legal Luminary, successful Representative of Yoruba race and Nigeria in general. With this title, you are placed in the rank of great Empire builders and defenders of the Yoruba race. The least I can expect from you in your new title is to put all the state attributes of yours for the service of Yoruba land and advancement of a balanced system of government.

Presenting the letter, the Bashorun of Oyo Kingdom, who spoke in Yoruba language, said the selection of the Speaker as the first to get the title in Yorubaland was well thought out.

Ayoola, whose remarks were translated by Bishop Ayo Ladigbolu, leader of the Oyo Development Association, said looking at Gbajabiamilas records, the Alaafin saw in him an adequate representation of the kind of balance in governance where the Executive exercises its own authority, but the Legislature is there to say this is what the people want, and this is how we want you to do it.

Accepting the honour, Gbajabiamila said he was full of appreciation and pride looking at where the title came from.

He said, I honestly want to thank the Alaafin for this gesture; this honour that he has done to me and the House of Representatives. May the Almighty God continue to honour him. I receive this honour with pride because of where it is coming from. You cannot talk about Yorubaland and not talk about the Alaafin and the Oyo Kingdom as the cradle of civilisation.

The Speaker noted how democratic the Oyo Empire had been even before the coming of the colonial masters, saying the role of traditional rulers in Nigerias democratic journey could not be too strongly stressed.

I have accepted this honour on behalf of the House and my colleagues, he added.
Governor of Cross River State, Professor Benedict Ayade and his Deputy, Professor Ivara Esu, snubbed the federal government team led by Dire...





Governor of Cross River State, Professor Benedict Ayade and his Deputy, Professor Ivara Esu, snubbed the federal government team led by Director General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Ahmed.

Neither the governor nor his deputy bothered to receive the team nor honoured invitation to attend the flag- off of the distribution of agricultural inputs to farmers that were assessed to have suffered damages and losses during last years flood disaster.

The federal government team also included representative of the minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, representative of secretary to the federal government of Nigeria and others.

Despite series of notifications through official channels, the team arrived Margaret Ekpo international airport Calabar Wednesday 29 September 2021 but there were only junior officers from the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to welcome the high-powered federal government officials.

According to some officials of the federal government team who pleaded not to be named, the Cross River State government did not even care to send vehicles to convey us.

They also said that if officials from their zonal office were not on ground ahead of their arrival in Calabar with their vehicles they would have been thoroughly embarrassed.

According to another female official, We were told that the governor would not be disposed to receive us until after the flag off of the distribution of the Agricultural inputs we came to distribute to farmers in the state.

This never held as he neither called to tell them nor apologize.

The previous day, we were to have audience with the deputy governor upon arrival. We were abandoned in his mini Conference hall as we waited for him for more than an hour. Eventually, he did not come to receive us.

We are very disappointed, she told a journalist, asking whether the governor thought he was still in PDP that he would snub an APC federal government team in his state.

If we knew we would receive this type of snubbish treatment we would have looked at another state which equally suffered flood disaster last year and then conduct the flag off ceremony there.

Speaking, Okon Owuna said he came to the event in his official capacity as commissioner for Agriculture, and not to represent the governor. He however commended NEMA, assuring that the state government was happy for the agric inputs given to farmers in the state.

The state director general of SEMA, Princewill Ayim graced the event and also commended the NEMA team for selecting the state for distribution of the agrochemicals to farmers who suffered disaster during last years flood.

An official close to the governor said since the minister could not come in person it was not very proper for the governor to attend in person, which reason he sent a representative, too.
Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo, senior pastor of Kingsway International Christian Centre in London, has described Nigeria as an oxymoron, a coun...

Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo, senior pastor of Kingsway International Christian Centre in London, has described Nigeria as an oxymoron, a country without focus.

According to him, the nation lacks the ability to develop her youths.

The popular gospel preacher made the assertion on Thursday at the ongoing Redeem Christian Church of God, RCCG Youth Convention Tagged Exceeding Expectations.

The man of God alleged that authorities in the country have prioritized cows and herders at the detriment of younger Nigerians who need to be pushed for advanced technology.

According to him, it is an accident to be born in Nigeria saying the country lacks leaders that have its people at heart.

He said, It is not an accident that you are a young man or woman, or that you were born in Nigeria. We know there are challenges in the nation, Nigeria is an oxymoron, a contradiction.

When other nations are pushing their young men and women to advance into technology, artificial intelligence, artificial super intelligence, our nation is busy protecting cows and cow herders as if taking us back to the ancient days.

I know some of you here today are wishing you were born somewhere else, but you know God does not make a mistake.

You are a person of destiny and whatever you have gone through, God will make it work for you.
Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has granted state pardon to 26 condemned inmates on death row in the State. Akeredolu commuted ...





Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has granted state pardon to 26 condemned inmates on death row in the State.

Akeredolu commuted the death sentence of the condemned inmates who were convicted by various courts in the State and awaiting execution to life imprisonment.

18 other convicts serving various jail terms across the various Correctional facilities in the State were also beneficiaries of the Governors gesture, which was made to commemorate the 61 anniversary of Nigeria as an independent country.

While charging them to be of good conduct and live a crime-free life, Akeredolu urged the public not to discriminate against them as they reintegrate back to the society.

According to a statement issued and signed by Richard Olatunde, the Governors Chief Press Secretary, the governor was exercising his power of Prerogative of Mercy as enshrined in Section 212(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.

The statement reads: In exercise of the powers conferred on him by Paragraph (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 212 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as Amended, Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has granted State pardon to 18 convicted inmates.

The Governor also commutted to life imprisonment twenty six (26) other inmates who were condemned to death by the various Courts in the state.

The affected convicts were said to have earned the Governors Prerogative of Mercy after they were discovered to have shown remorse and had been of good conduct at the correctional centres.
Former Ogun State Governor, Chief Olusegun is currently recuperating in London after a knee replacement surgery, Governor Dapo Abiodun has s...

Former Ogun State Governor, Chief Olusegun is currently recuperating in London after a knee replacement surgery, Governor Dapo Abiodun has said.

Abiodun, who just returned from a controversial trip to the the United Kingdom, said he visited Osoba during his stay.

According to him, the former Governor could not attend todays Independence Day celebration because of the surgery, which he said was successful.

Our Baba, Chief Olusegun Osoba, underwent knee replacement surgery in the UK and we thank God that it went well, as he is now fine and in perfect condition. He spoke to me that he would have loved to be present at the independence celebration, but for the surgery, a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Abiodun, Kunle Somorin, read.

Abiodun, while congratulating Osoba over the success of the knee replacement surgery, explained that the elder statesman was recuperating well after the surgery he underwent on Thursday, September 30.

Abiodun quoted as saying that Nigerians should rally round their leaders, expressing optimism that Nigeria will overcome its challenges

According to him, Osoba bad sent his words of admonition, asking Nigerians not to lose hope in Project Nigeria.

Even in his condition, Baba offered prayers for Nigeria in general and Ogun state in particular, Abiodun had stated.

He prayed God preserve Osoba and grant him good health, assuring Nigerians that the octogenarian would soon return.

Osoba is a close friend to the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bola Tinubu, who was said to have earlier undergone a knee surgery in the UK.
Poet Amanda Gorman dishes on the whys and wherefores of her 2036 presidential run, unveils her childrens book
The American Library Association has released its list of Ten Most Challenged Books" for the past year. The list includes titles that address racism and racial justice, as well as those that shared the stories of Black, Indigenous or people of color. As with previous years, LGBTQ+ content also dominated the list.

A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials.

Libraries promote the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinions, even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular, and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those viewpoints to all who want to read them.

1. "George" by Alex Gino. Challenged, banned, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, conflicting with a religious viewpoint, and not reflecting community values.

2. "Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You" by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds. Banned and challenged because of the authors public statements and because of claims that the book contains selective storytelling incidents and does not encompass racism against all people.

3. "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. Banned and challenged for profanity, drug use and alcoholism and because it was thought to promote anti-police views, contain divisive topics and be too much of a sensitive matter right now.

4. "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson. Banned, challenged and restricted because it was thought to contain a political viewpoint, it was claimed to be biased against male students, and it included rape and profanity.

5. "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie. Banned and challenged for profanity, sexual references and allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of the author.

6. "Something Happened in Our Town: A Childs Story about Racial Injustice" by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins and Ann Hazzard, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin. Challenged for divisive language and because it was thought to promote anti-police views.

7. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. Banned and challenged for racial slurs and their negative effect on students, featuring a White savior character, and its perception of the Black experience.

8. "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. Banned and challenged for racial slurs and racist stereotypes and their negative effect on students.

9. "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison. Banned and challenged because it was considered sexually explicit and depicts child sexual abuse.

10. "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas. Challenged for profanity, and because it was thought to promote an anti-police message.

The Banned Books Week Coalition is an international alliance of diverse organizations joined by a commitment to increase awareness of the annual celebration of the freedom to read.

The coalition seeks to engage various communities and inspire participation in Banned Books Week through education, advocacy and the creation of programming about the problem of book censorship.

BOATING SAFETY: The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will conduct a boating safety class from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 9 at the North Kenner Library, 630 W. Esplanade Ave., Kenner.

The class lasts between six and eight hours and is completed in a day. Preregistration is recommended by going to the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries website.

The course includes information on choosing a boat, classification, hulls, motors, legal requirements and equipment requirements, many navigation rules, navigation charts, trailering, sailboats, and related subjects that include canoeing, personal watercraft and more. Students who complete the course will be issued a vessel operators certification card.

'MURDER ON THE TECHE': Tom Aswell, journalist and author, will discuss his latest book, "Murder on the Teche, A True Story of Money and a Flawed Investigation," at noon Oct. 12, via video conference online. Visit www.jplibrary.net/adults for more details, including how to join the discussion.

BOOK CLUB: The Jefferson Highway Book Club meets at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 19 at the River Ridge Library, 8825 Jefferson Highway. The book up for discussion is "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood.

The meeting is free and open to the public. The library has plenty of copies of this book.

'EDWIN DROOD' UPDATE: Jon Gegenheimer, a New Orleans native, litigation lawyer and Clerk of Court for Jefferson Parish, will discuss his latest book, "The Canon Code," at noon on Oct. 19, via video conference online.

Visit www.jplibrary.net/adults for more details, including how to join the discussion.

"The Canon Code" is subtitled Freud, C.S. Lewis, et al., Solve the Mystery of Edwin Drood. Dickens last book, "Edwin Drood," was not finished at the time of his death. Though it was incomplete (only six of 12 installments were completed), it was published in 1870. Many other authors have attempted to complete the story.

"The Canon Code" is a combination of fact and fiction in which various dignitaries of the day explore the intent of Dickens unfinished novel and its characters.

NO BOOK SALE: The Big Book Sale, sponsored by the Friends of the Jefferson Public Library, has been canceled. It was scheduled for Oct. 29-31. More details will appear in this column in the future, however, on how the Friends plan to dispense with the books and other items accumulated during COVID-19.
In 2007, when Drew Leshko started making sculptures of the buildings in his working-class Philadelphia neighborhood, he saw them as a response to gentrificationa process he both documented and accelerated as an artist.

I was trying to make a 3D archive of buildings that were here today, gone tomorrow, Leshko said. I didnt see them as likely survivors of what was going on around me.

In 2021 New Orleans, a city reeling from Hurricane Idas catastrophic hit and surge after surge of deadly COVID-19 infections, survivorship has a different context. Thats what Mortal Machine Gallery owner Gabriel Shaffer hopes to highlight in "Invisible Landscapes," a group exhibition celebrating the gallerys two-year anniversary and featuring Leshkos miniatures of three New Orleans buildings.

Memorializing these spaces  is super important now because we dont know what the hell could happen, Shaffer said. God forbid some iconic space we care about doesnt exist, whether because of a damn pandemic or the economic results of a shutdown or a fing hurricane as we adjust to this global warming scenario.

For the show, Leshko built 1:12 replicas of three New Orleans buildings: Uptown dive bar Snake and Jakes Christmas Club Lounge, Marigny market Mardi Gras Zone and Bywater corner store Mikes Food Store. Featuring details like grimy dumpsters and faded flyers, his dollhouse-scale sculptures manage to look both seedy and cute.

Leshko is a frequent visitor to New Orleans, but because the pandemic grounded planes, he relied on Google Maps for visual reference points. At some point in the process, he set the images aside and worked from memory, which gives the tiny buildings foundations in both a specific time and place and in a non-physical, mnemonic dimension.

What makes Drew unique amongst miniaturists is his attention to immortalizing very targeted locations and trying to bring the spirit of those locations through in his sculptures, Shaffer said.

Leshkos process mimics that of a full-size home builder. He starts with a wooden framework, then collages that with layers of paper and carves in recessed features. He adds windows after the facade is finished and installs the roof after that.

He eschews computer-aided technology like laser cutters, engravers or etching machines in favor of razor blades. For the flyer-clad bulletin board in the Snake and Jakes miniature, he photographed Philadelphia flyers, then sanded away addresses in a way that made the flyers appear naturally weathered. Each sculpture takes 80 to 100 hours to complete.

The scale allows you enough space to communicate information, but the small nature allows you to simplify things at the same time, Leshko said.

+24 Dollhouse artist turns apartment into life-sized cabinet of curiosities Stepping into Lauren George's tiny apartment feels like entering a Jazz Age speakeasy or a kooky Victorian parlor for good reason. Her home is

Leshkos other New Orleans sculptures include miniatures of Saturn Bar and Preservation Hall.

His introduction to the city was in 2007, when he was invited to show at the Jonathan Ferrara gallery. Leshko sees parallels between Philadelphia and New Orleans, such as a similar mix of grit and polish.

Although New Orleans-centric pieces hold obvious appeal for locals, Shaffer said hes sold Leshkos works to collectors all over, including in New York and the United Kingdom.

Hes a whole other level of Americana. He documents structures and objects that a lot of people tend to take for granted, Shaffer said. What I like about an artist like Drew, is hell yeah, we want to see Snake and Jakes or Saturn BarI adore that place. I want structures like that immortalized because I know people who are fans of New Orleans appreciate those iconic, powerful spaces.

The opening reception for Invisible Landscapes takes place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8 at Mortal Machine Gallery (940 Royal St.)
New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Shaun Ferguson on Thursday touted what he described as stellar results from the latest crime-fighting venture between the NOPD and the embattled Louisiana State Police over the summer.

Ferguson tallied 90 arrests, scores of seized weapons and four federal indictments he said have resulted so far from Operation Golden Eagle over its three months, while he downplayed concerns raised by critics over the work of a partnership of agencies that police under different rules and oversight.

Ferguson, flanked by State Police Superintendent Col. Lamar Davis at a news conference also attended by FBI and ATF representatives, offered few details on the nature of State Police's work in the city or the number of troopers involved. Ferguson said the arrests and charges were for a variety of weapons and drug crimes.

Davis said the LSPs help included intelligence and air support in addition to troopers on the streets.

Amid a surge in violence in May, Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced that state troopers would return to the city to fight crime alongside NOPD officers. Unlike previous arrangements between the agencies, which focused on the French Quarter  and drew controversy -- the new effort was aimed at violent crime hotspots outside of the citys tourism center.

Im proud to say today the operation was in fact a success for the city of New Orleans, Ferguson said. He said the city began the summer averaging more than 80 violent crimes per week. That average has declined to a little more than 50 per week, he said.

Our partnership doesnt just cover special events, Davis added, noting LSP's frequent presence in the city for Mardi Gras and other big draws. Were now expanding out to those criminal elements so we can serve as a force multiplier to New Orleans and really help them reduce violent crime.

LSP's expanded role was met with trepidation from critics of previous invitations for troopers to team with the NOPD to patrol city streets. Foot patrols by troopers in the French Quarter have been the subject of debate for years over whether their tactics are too heavy-handed, including a racial profiling lawsuit involving a Black tourist from Indiana that ended with a settlement in 2018.

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The concerns only grew this year as LSP became deeply engulfed in scandal over the brutal actions of troopers in the northeast corner of the state, prompting a series of ongoing federal civil rights investigations and allegations of a far-reaching coverup.

Cantrell announced the summer partnership just as State Police were taking a public pounding over newly released videos by the Associated Press showing Monroe-area troopers beating and tasing an unarmed motorist, Ronald Greene, in May 2019. Greene died in the encounter. Some have called on the U.S. Justice Department to launch a broad civil rights review of LSP, like the review that sparked NOPD reforms a decade ago.

Today, state troopers fall outside of the federal watch that has guided NOPD for the past nine years. Troopers, for instance, can engage in car chases within the city that wouldnt pass muster under NOPD policies.

In August, troopers chased a man with no license plate and an infant riding unbuckled in the front seat, in a pursuit that ended in a fiery crash in Lakeview. NOPD officers are barred from chasing motorists not suspected of violence.

LSP has their policies for their pursuits, and we have ours," Ferguson declared on Thursday. "So we have no concerns.

Danny Engelberg, chief of trials for the Orleans Public Defenders, said his agency does have concerns and has been tracking the summer operation.

Ostensibly, this is to promote public safety, but we saw a fair amount of things that ended up making the community less safe and more dangerous, specifically with car chases, Engelberg said. In some cases, the only arrests produced were for resisting or fleeing, he added.

At an online accountability forum on July 8, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams acknowledged those concerns and said that his office would be flagging cases from the operation for special scrutiny.
A 61-year-old woman was the victim of a purse-snatching Wednesday evening on Bourbon Street, New Orleans police said.

The woman was in the 600 block of Bourbon Street when a man rode up to her on a bike. He snatched her purse, causing her to fall down, and fled, police said. They responded to the call at 7:07 p.m.

In a separate case reported Thursday, a 58-year-old man was also the victim of a robbery. Two suspects physically assaulted him to the point that he lost consciousness, NOPD said. When the man woke up, his possessions were gone.

EMS took him to a hospital, and police responded at 2:41 a.m. The victim was not able to provide the location of his assault and robbery, and his condition was not immediately available.
A pastor from Harvey has been arrested and accused of raping and inappropriately touching a girl over the course of four years, authorities said.

Dolhman Brown, 58, was booked Sept. 24 with first-degree rape and sexual battery, said Capt. Jason Rivarde, a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office spokesperson.

Brown, who is being held at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna, appeared via video conference Wednesday for a bond hearing in Jefferson Parish Magistrate Court.

The victim and her family are known to Brown, according to Jefferson Parish Assistant District Attorney Aimee St. Cyr. The abuse allegedly began in 2016 when the girl was about 9 years old.

Brown is accused of inappropriately touching the victim through her clothing on several occasions. But he later began directly touching her genitals, according to authorities.

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+2 2nd suspect booked in murder of motorcyclist shot and killed on west bank last year Authorities have arrested a second suspect accused in the death of James White, who was gunned down while riding his motorcycle near Westwego 

Brown raped the girl and reportedly offered to pay her $100 to perform oral sex, authorities said.

The victim told a relative about the abuse in 2020, but the relative didn't believe the girl. Still, relatives no longer allowed Brown to be around her, according to authorities.

In June, the girl was being treated at a hospital when she again revealed the abuse, this time to a doctor. Hospital officials contacted the Sheriff's Office, and a criminal investigation was opened, according to an incident report.

During Wednesday's hearing, Brown's attorney, Branden Villavaso, told the court that Brown, a grandfather of 15, had been a pastor at First Emmanuel Baptist Church in Gretna for 17 years and was not a threat or a flight risk.

Magistrate Commissioner Paul Schneider set bond at $350,000 and order Brown to wear a GPS monitor if he is released from jail.
The largest suburban school districts in southeast Louisiana are taking differing paths when it comes to a new policy that will allow parents to decide when their child quarantines after exposure to COVID-19.

Jefferson Parish public schools said Thursday they will maintain their current policy of requiring quarantines for students who are potentially exposed, while St. Tammany Parish public schools said they will adopt State Superintendent Cade Brumley's proposal and leave it up to parents.

Jefferson joins nearby NOLA Public Schools in rejecting the new state policy, which Brumley announced Wednesday. Together, the two districts serve nearly 100,000 students. St. Tammany Parish schools, with around 40,000 students, announced that it will adopt the new policy as of Oct. 6.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of New Orleans said officials were still reviewing the new state policy and there are no changes at this time to their current quarantine rules.

New guidelines: Louisiana public school students won't have to quarantine after COVID exposure In a major change, public school students will be allowed to remain in classrooms even if they have close contact with someone who tests posit

"We are experts in education. We are not experts in the virus," Jefferson Parish schools Superintendent James Gray said in a statement. "After consulting with medical professionals, we have decided not to implement this option at our schools."

Under the new state policy, students identified as close contacts of someone who tested positive for COVID-19 will not be required to quarantine. That decision will be left up to the parents and guardians, Brumley said.

The new policy received swift backlash from state health officials, with Dr. Joseph Kanter of the state Health Department calling it "dangerous."

"I think this is going to put kids at risk," Kanter said.

It was also criticized by the Jefferson Federation of Teachers, which sent an open letter to Gray urging him to reject the state's proposal.

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The delta wave has crested, but Louisiana remains in dangerous territory After a record-breaking summer of COVID cases that stretched Louisiana hospitals to their breaking point, the delta wave has finally subsided 

"The new policy will immediately increase the spread of COVID-19 in schools," said the letter, from JFT President Kesler Camese-Jones. "We call upon you as the leader of our school district to oppose this new policy and continue to follow the recommendations of the Louisiana Department of Health" and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a statement issued late Thursday, a St. Tammany Parish public schools said they will implement the new policy on Wednesday. Students who have been quarantined before then will be allowed to return that day as long as they are asymptomatic. Going forward, the parents or guardians of any student identified as close contact will be contacted and given the choice about whether to quarantine or not.

"By implementing the guidance from the LDOE for the parent choice option, we are allowing our parents and caregivers to make the best choice for their child and family. We look forward to keeping healthy students in school," St. Tammany schools Superintendent Frank Jabbia said.

NOLA Public Schools, meanwhile, was quick to blast the new policy, issuing a statement just hours after Brumley announced it Wednesday.

The Louisiana Department of Educations decision flies in the face of the data, the science, and the sound advice of our health and medical advisors when it comes to protecting our students and educators amid the latest surge in this pandemic, NOLA Public Schools Superintendent Henderson Lewis said in the statement. We have proven that our approach is effective at keeping COVID-19 out of our schools, and we will stay the course and continue to listen to health experts.

In announcing the new policy, Brumley argued that it would mitigate the impacts of repeated quarantine periods that some students have endured.

"We can no longer ignored the unintended academic consequences of our students unnecessarily missing school," Brumley said.

Staff writer Marie Fazio contributed to this story.
Once teeming with young fruit, the rows of citrus trees in front of Ben and Gwen Becnel's house are now gnarled, naked and gray. The murky storm surge that Hurricane Ida pushed inland on Aug. 29 covered their roots in water, and in a thick, black sludge, for more than three weeks. The few remaining satsumas are dark and shriveled.

"It's a complete and total disaster," said Ben Becnel Sr., a fifth-generation farmer, as he rode his tractor past the field of dead trees.

Last fall, Hurricane Zeta ripped much of the crop from the branch in Plaquemines Parish' citrus industry, already in slow decline after two decades of disease, pests, freezes and land loss. Less than a year later, flooding and wind from Ida have knocked many farmers such as the Becnels, whose spread of orange and satsuma trees near Alliance is one of the largest in the parish, back to square one.

"It's kind of like Groundhog Day for these growers," LSU AgCenter extension agent Anna Timmerman said.

Worth $4.7 million in 2019, Plaquemines' celebrated citrus industry has flourished in southeast Louisiana's soil and temperate climate since the 1800s. But the farmland and the parish's 23,000 residents have grown increasingly vulnerable as Louisiana's coastline retreats and stronger hurricanes fueled by global warming become more common. The 2018 value was $6.4 million.

+15 Louisiana's citrus hub has struggled with hurricanes, erosion, aging farmers; What's next? From the top of the Mississippi River levee, the bright orange of hundreds of satsumas and navels stands out against the green leaves of the c

Farmers across the region are still assessing what's left after Ida, but Timmerman said preliminary estimates suggest 4,000 to 8,000 citrus trees were lost out of an estimated 48,400 in the parish. Upriver near Belle Chasse, where fields avoided flooding, she said, smaller fruits such as satsumas and kumquats might have managed to hang onto their branches. But in lower Plaquemines, where the wind was stiffer and the water lingered on the fields, losses range from 80% to 100%.

Gwen Becnel hopes that a third of her family's 40-acre crop survived. But she said that estimate is generous. The salty water and mud that Ida washed in from Barataria Bay smothered their trees and poisoned the soil even as the storm's gales stripped them of their leaves and fruit.

Their farm saw similar flooding after Hurricane Isaac in 2012, although the water receded faster and the land wasn't covered in several inches of sludge. This time, the muck clogged the Becnels' drainage system, slowing the water's retreat, and prevented them from driving farm equipment through the rows.

"It's like nothing we normally deal with," she said.

Downriver in Port Sulphur, Patty Vogt, a fourth-generation farmer, said her 8 acres of citrus trees escaped flooding thanks to levees running from West Pointe a la Hache to Venice. But the trees, already stricken with several diseases and fighting salt in her soil, didn't stand a chance against Ida's 140 mph wind.

"What little they had, Ida tore off," she said, leaning against her roadside stand. "There's nothing."

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Vogt also lost one of her barns and portions of the roof off others. But she counts herself lucky that she avoided the surge seen at the Becnels'. Her farm went under water during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and it took two years before the soil was healthy enough to start replanting trees.

"It's going to be a long time before the land gets good," she said.

Gwen Becnel said her family plans to replant come spring - but on land they own closer to Belle Chasse. Even then, it takes five years for citrus trees to bear fruit, she said, so it will be a long time before their crop recovers, especially after losing 500 trees to Zeta.

Vogt and the Becnels have crop insurance that might cover the expected value of the fruit that Ida destroyed. For replanting money, they will look to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The federal aid is unlikely to cover all of the tree costs, however, for Timmerman said the agency typically pays about $14 a tree but that Louisiana's tree shortage means they can cost $20 to $22. Prices have risen amid increasing demand among homeowners for citrus trees during the coronavirus pandemic and back-to-back blows to the citrus nurseries.

"It's better than nothing, but it's also not enough," she said.

Growers are also receiving assistance from nongovernmental organizations such as the Market Umbrella's donation-based Crescent Fund in New Orleans.

After two challenging years, Timmerman expects the 200-year-old Plaquemines citrus industry to continue to consolidate, a trend that dates from the early 2000s. Citrus farmers are an aging demographic, and with each storm, a few more farms are lost and the industry contracts, she said.

"If people are wondering what they can do to help ... they can also just choose local produce, especially as we're heading into citrus season," Timmerman said. "The prices might be a little higher this year because of the loss of the fruit, but we do grow very good citrus in this area. So, support those farmers directly."
It has been just over a month since Hurricane Ida ravaged southeast Louisiana and federal aid has been flowing in at a steady pace.

FEMA was authorized by President Biden to aid the region on August 27, two days before the storm hit.

Since then, federal funding for Ida relief has topped over $1 billion to Louisiana residents as of Thursday, per FEMA spokesperson John Mills.

That figure can be broken down into three different sources of federal funding, according to FEMA:

FEMA individual assistance: $670 million to 500,000 households

$670 million to 500,000 households Flood insurance: $96 million with 13,000 claims submitted

$96 million with 13,000 claims submitted SBA loans: $258 million for 5,600 loans approved

$258 million for 5,600 loans approved Public Assistance: $415,452

Total: $1.024 billion

FEMA's individual assistance:

This is funding provided for homeowners or renters to restore homes to habitable conditions. This applies to either uninsured households or amounts not covered by insuranceby law, FEMA can't cover costs already given by insurance companies.

They also cover other serious needs for homeowners and renters such as chainsaws and generators.

FEMA has also been providing short term housing needs for those affected by Ida, such as rental assistance or hotel stays. An estimated 7,000 displaced households have had their hotels paid for, according to FEMA.

Flood insurance:

Flood insurance is separate from homeowners insurance in the U.S. So FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program either directly provides flood insurance or indirectly reimburses private insurance companies for flood insurance that they provide.

Small Business Administration (SBA) loans:

Whatever FEMA can't provide as individual assistance, the SBAa separate government agencycan provide low-interest disaster loans for homeowners, renters and businesses. Businesses do not qualify under individual assistance FEMA funds.

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Public Assistance:

Public Assistance typically reimburses governments for money spent responding to a disaster and for damage the disaster does to government buildings and infrastructure. This is issued through the state.

Due to the time state approval takes and FEMA prioritizing relief for individuals, these numbers are currently relatively low, Mills said.

An example of FEMA public assistance funds is the $20 million that New Orleans recently secured for their emergency garbage contracts. This has not yet been picked up by FEMA, but will be, according to the Cantrell administration.

+3 New Orleans secures FEMA funds for $20M emergency garbage contracts The Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse New Orleans for Mayor LaToya Cantrells emergency garbage-hauling effort, resolving a d

A per-parish breakdown of the FEMA response:

The following is a breakdown of nine of 25 parishes that qualified for FEMA aid after Ida.

They were the parishes hit hardest. They each received more than $20 million in grants (no need to refund) for homeowners and renters by FEMA's response for individual assistances.

Orleans (pop. 390,845) $144 million provided 106,000 households approved 1,809 households in hotels

Jefferson (pop. 432,493) $146 million provided 117,000 households approved 1,655 households in hotels

Terrebonne (pop. 110,461) $67 million provided 29,000 households approved 1,184 households in hotels

Lafourche (pop. 97,614) $54 million provided 24,000 households approved 553 households in hotels

Tangipahoa (pop. 134,758) $40 million provided 29,000 households approved 450 households in hotels

East Baton Rouge (pop. 440,059) $37 million provided 44,000 households approved 202 households in hotels

St. Tammany (pop. 260,419) $36 million provided 40,000 households approved 181 households in hotels

St. John (pop. 42,837) $28 million provided 13,000 households approved 777 households in hotels

St. Charles (pop. 53,100) $22 million provided 15,000 households approved 516 households in hotels



Totals across the nine parishes:

Population: 1,962,586

Grants provided: $574 million

Households approved: 417,000

Households in hotels: 7,327

For the remaining 16 parishes (roughly):

Grants provided: $96 million

Households approved: 83,000


Louisiana state government does little to screen the nursing home natural disaster evacuation plans required by law or to ensure that nursing homes carry out those plans as written, according to several state government officials and records released by the Louisiana Department of Health this month.

The LDH reviews the nursing home evacuation plans, but the agency isnt in charge of approving the plans or testing their feasibility, LDH officials said, and they have been reluctant to explain what their review of the plans entails.

A lack of nursing home oversight may have contributed to the horrific scene of a nursing home evacuation to a warehouse in Independence following Hurricane Ida. Nursing home owner Bob Dean moved nearly 850 residents from seven of his facilities into a former pesticide warehouse he owns ahead of the storm in late August.

Those residents ended up in squalid conditions  without regular bathing, clothes and adequate food. Hundreds eventually had to be rescued. Fifteen have died since the evacuation first took place a month ago. In response, Louisiana health officials have revoked Deans seven nursing home licenses  an action Dean is expected to fight.

But when asked repeatedly by legislators to explain the health departments role in vetting nursing home evacuation plans last week, the agencys executive counsel, Stephen Russo, cited a law or regulation  instead of answering the question directly.

[The Louisiana health department] does not approve emergency preparedness plans, Russo told lawmakers Friday.

So what do you do? asked Rep. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge.

I believe the [state] statute 40:2009.25 spells out exactly what the department is supposed to do, Russo responded.

The indirect response frustrated lawmakers attended a regularly scheduled committee meeting about Medicaid spending and policies last week. Edmonds, the committees chairman, had added a discussion about nursing home evacuation plans to the agenda, in light of the scandal surrounding Deans warehouse.

Russo told lawmakers that local governments are responsible for keeping full nursing home evacuation plans on file, even if the LDH and the federal government oversee every other aspect of nursing home operations. Its the LDH that issues nursing home licenses and regularly inspects the facilities  not parish officials.

'What is the purpose?'

Five law enforcement agencies are investigating Dean: Louisianas Office of the Attorney General, Office of Inspector General, State Police, Baton Rouge City Police and East Baton Rouge Sheriffs Office.

Nursing home residents and their families have also filed at least nine lawsuits against Dean  and at least one against the health department. That pending litigation is the reason health officials cant be more forthcoming about the states role in vetting nursing home plans, Russo said.

Any time you have loss of life or alleged poor treatment, your heart just breaks for those folks, he said. Howeverwe have a job here to do as lawyers and thats to protect the integrity of the legal process  to not discuss it and let this play out in the courts.

Several questions remain about why hundreds of nursing home residents ended up in a warehouse in the first place.

[Nursing homes] have to have evacuation plans but no one has to approve them, said Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Gonzales. What is the purpose of a mandated plan that can say anything, apparently, if nobody has to approve it?

Days before Ida made landfall Aug. 29, the health department didnt push back on Deans plan to move hundreds of vulnerable people to a warehouse, according to a copy of a state inspection report released earlier this month. That decision raised the eyebrows of lawmakers.

[A warehouse] just doesnt seem like an appropriate place for people who are medically fragile to be housed, said Rep. Thomas Pressly, R-Shreveport.

Im asking, generally, of the plans that are reviewed by the department, is it normal for those plans to include housing in a warehouse? Pressly asked at last weeks hearing.

The answer to that is you can go to an unlicensed facility, Russo said.

An unlicensed facility? Are there any minimum standards for what that means? Pressly replied.

Russo paused, consulted with another attorney sitting next to him, and then responded: No. I cannot answer that.

A state surveyor visited Deans warehouse on Aug. 27, two days before Hurricane Ida made landfall. The surveyor noted that Dean planned to move at least 700 nursing home residents to the site, that Dean planned to put them on air mattresses on the warehouse floor and that Dean planned to use 30 portable toilets to service the residents and staff during the evacuation, according to an inspection report.

The health inspector was also told that there wasnt going to be laundry or linen service for at least five days at the warehouse and that the nursing homes would primarily rely on a nearby church to provide food for the residents during the evacuation. The warehouse didnt have kitchen equipment, according to an inspection report.

With all of that information, the inspector still gave Deans homes the go-ahead to move to the warehouse. Then, much of that plan went sideways.

+5 Death toll reaches 12 among nursing home residents evacuated to warehouse for Hurricane Ida The number of nursing home residents who died after being evacuated en masse to an unsanitary warehouse in Tangipahoa Parish for Hurricane Ida

Its not clear what happened to the church that was supposed to feed the residents  health inspectors dont mention them in post-storm reports  but the nursing homes eventually started cooking food outside with propane tanks. In the days following the storm, the health inspectors said that residents meals were meager and many were sleeping on dirty bedding.

Lawmakers were aghast that the initial inspection of Deans warehouse hadnt raised alarms.

The idea that we allow standards where portalets inside a building are an acceptable standard? Theres no kitchen in there. We had men and women laying side by side on the floor that are people held dear by their families, said Senate President Pro Tempore Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton.

This is something we should hold our heads in shame about as a body because we should have addressed the lack of standards a long time ago, Mizell said. Whatever it takes to address the standards is going to be done.

Contradictory inspections

Nursing homes in hurricane-prone regions are required to file evacuation plans with the state. Those plans are reviewed every nine to 15 months as part of a federal inspection process, Russo said. The nursing homes are also required to conduct two evacuation drills annually in years where a real-life evacuation doesnt take place.

Still, much of Deans warehouse evacuation plans appear to have been up in the air before Hurricane Ida.

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The state inspectors who examined his warehouse either couldnt agree  or werent clear on  on basic information like the occupancy of the facility, according to health department reports.

On Aug. 27, two days before Hurricane Ida, a state inspector noted that Deans warehouse had an allowed capacity of 600 people. After the storm on Aug. 30, when Dean had moved 839 nursing home residents into the warehouse, the buildings allowed capacity started being listed as unknown on inspection reports. By Sept. 1, the allowed capacity had changed again on an inspection report  to 1,600 people.

Even as the warehouse capacity numbers shifted, inspectors documented severe overcrowding in the building.

+5 Bob Dean, owner of 7 Louisiana nursing homes closed by state, will seek to get licenses back The owner of seven Louisiana nursing homes who sent more than 800 fragile residents to ride out Hurricane Ida in an unsanitary warehouse will 

The beds were placed side by side with mere inches between them, approximately 40 by 60 foot area with no isles (sic) or space other than 3-6 inches. These twin-size air mattresses were on the floor and the sheets had visible dirt from being treaded upon. Most residents lay on their beds in a morass of bedding and people, one inspector wrote on Aug. 31.

A handful of inspectors filed reports on the warehouse. The inconsistency surrounding the listed warehouse capacity is part of an ongoing internal review of the event, said Aly Neel, spokeswoman for the health department.

No plans on file

The Louisiana Department of Health would have had a difficult time reviewing the evacuation plans for Deans nursing home ahead of Hurricane Ida because full copies of those plans arent kept at the agency.

The health department only has summaries of nursing home evacuation plans on file. The full plans  which run hundreds of pages  are housed at the local parish emergency operations centers where the nursing homes are located.

The evacuation plan summaries  that the health department receives annually  are simply extended checklists in which nursing home operators answer yes or no to questions about their facilities and evacuation sites, according a review of documents.

The health department has declined to say whether any of the information in those plan summaries is checked for accuracy.

Do you guys have a responsibility to ensure that the answers [nursing home owners] provide to you are accurate? Or do you take it at face value that if they said it, it must be true? Bacala asked the health department last week.

Im going to have to, on advice of counsel, respectfully decline to answer that, responded Russo, representing the health department.

Will you do an assessment on whether the answers that [the nursing home owners] gave are accurate on the documents which they provided to you guys? Bacala asked.

Russo also declined to answer that question.

Deans most recent nursing home evacuation plan summaries  which were filed in March  list details that dont appear to be workable during a hurricane evacuation, according to a review of health department records.

For example, Dean is required  according to the forms  to list a primary and secondary evacuation site for his nursing homes. On his evacuation plan for his River Palms Nursing and Rehab facility in New Orleans, he lists a WAREHOUSE CONVERTED INTO EVAC SHELTER as his primary evacuation site.

+2 Problem with nursing-home evacuation was execution, not plan itself: Louisiana health officials The ghastly problems that festered after residents of seven New Orleans-area nursing homes were evacuated to a warehouse in Tangipahoa Parish 

As his alternate or secondary evacuation sites for River Palms, Dean then listed the six other nursing homes he owns. But these nursing homes could not have been used as evacuation sites during Hurricane Ida because those homes also needed to be evacuated to the warehouse.

Given the proximity of the other nursing homes to River Palms, its not clear how any of them could ever be used as an evacuation site ahead of any hurricane. Four of the six nursing homes are located within 15 miles of the River Palms, according to the homes evacuation plan summary.

Dean also incorrectly answered yes to a question in the River Palms evacuation plan summary form asking whether these secondary evacuation sites are located outside of parishes identified as hurricane risk areas. The nursing homes listed are located in Lafourche, Orleans and Jefferson  all parishes prone to hurricanes. After Ida, those three parishes all lost electricity or water service for several days and had severe property damage.

Its not clear who would be responsible for catching such inconsistencies in the evacuation plan. The state health department oversees most of the state and federal inspections of nursing homes, but hasnt taken responsibility.

[The health department] does not approve the [nursing home] plan, said Russo again during last weeks hearing.

Who does? responded Sen. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge. I mean we cant even get that? Thats public record, is it not?

I would refer to the [health department] rule. They are supposed to submit their full plan Russo said.

Sir, I dont think these families [of the nursing home residents] want to be referred to the rule, responded Talbot, cutting off Russo. They want to know who is at the end of the line that said it was a good idea to send [nursing home residents to a warehouse].

Rules mum on evacuation requirements

Louisiana has regulations that must be followed when a nursing home evacuates, but those rules mostly dont address what should be provided at a nursing home evacuation site. This could explain why Dean was shown such flexibility at his warehouse.

The regulations currently focus on three areas: what needs to happen for a nursing home to shelter in place during a disaster, what needs to be provided in the vehicles that transport nursing residents to an evacuation site, and what needs to happen in order for the residents to return to the nursing home site following the evacuation. The state code is largely silent on what type of accommodations nursing homes have to provide at the evacuation site.

But regardless of whether there are specific regulations outlining evacuation site requirements, lawmakers said it should have been obvious from the health departments first inspection of Deans warehouse that the facility wasnt adequate for medically fragile people.

It looks like a place Hitler sent people to, Mizell told the health department last week. This should not have passed muster for anything.  And yet it passed the sanitarium walk-through.

Legislators said they plan to look at more nursing home rules and laws as a result of what happened at the Dean warehouse.

I think requiring permanent restrooms at an evacuation site that are handicap-accessible seems to be pretty common sense, said Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington.

The Louisiana Illuminator is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization based in Baton Rouge.
After coming out against the $2 billion Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project in Plaquemines Parish more than three months ago, the St. Tammany Parish Council is no longer opposing it. Instead, the council is now on record urging the state to put measures in place to minimize any of the project's negative impacts.

The change follows an appearance at the council's August meeting by Chip Kline, chairman of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board, who told members he was discouraged that they opposed the diversion without giving the agency a chance to make its case.

At that time, he called the project, designed to send freshwater into the Barataria Basin's marshes to capture sediment, the cornerstone of the state's 50-year coastal restoration plan. He said then that the parish's resolution opposing it put St. Tammany in the middle of a political circus.

But if the initial resolution stirred controversy, so did the new version, which stated explicitly that it is a change from the council's earlier position.

Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser urged the Parish Council to stick with its earlier anti-project position.

"Yes, it built New Orleans  that's a great line," Nungesser said, referencing the sediment in the riverwater that scientists say builds land. But the Mississippi isn't the same as it was 1,000 years ago or even 50 years ago, he said.

The Mississippi is polluted and 98% of the sediment it carries is trapped behind dams upstream, he said. "It's me and a bunch of fishermen" opposing the plan, he said. "I'm not going to let them destroy our coast," Nungesser said.

Council member Rykert Toledano, who authored the initial resolution, said that he has a charter fishing business in Delacroix and has seen first-hand the destruction caused by diversions.

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He and Council members Jimmie Davis and Martha Cazaubon had worked on the new resolution, but Toledano objected to language in the new resolution that says it "represents a change" from St. Tammany's earlier position. He attempted to amend the resolution, to remove that phrase, but his motion failed.

Cazaubon said that the council voted in May after hearing only one person speak about the issue from a fisheries perspective. "I seconded a motion thinking we had heard all there was to hear. I was mistaken because we were not educated on both sides," she said. "This issue has two sides to it."

After that meeting, Cazaubon said she and Davis went to the Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority for more information.

"This is not fly by night. There is thought going into it," she said, adding that dredging is still part of the state's strategy for rebuilding land.

Council member Jerry Binder asked how many parishes have taken a position on the project, and Nungesser said that St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes have opposed it, as have the towns of Lafitte and Grand Isle.

"It kind of makes me wonder, what we're doing in this?" Binder said. "This is not me trying to knock Mr. Toledano, my colleague...We need to learn sometimes from our mistakes. Did we even know what we were voting about? I think the answer to that is 'no.'"
For nearly two years, a key supervisor at the office that dispatches New Orleans first responders to 911 calls had access to a national criminal records database despite having a prior felony conviction that should have barred her from using it, the citys Office of Inspector General announced Friday.

Wendy Ervin remains in her role at the Orleans Parish Communications District, though her access to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) was revoked in February 2020, said a report from interim IG Ed Michels office.

In a statement, the communications district's executive director said the database's overseers knew about Ervin's past and still cleared her for access.

At no time did OPCD violate the existing regulations around NCIC access, Tyrell Morris said. Ms. Ervin has been an exemplary public safety employee during her time at OPCD and has been instrumental in our efforts to provide the people of New Orleans with emergency services when they need them most.

+2 New Orleans 911 operator facing arrest for allegedly disconnecting calls deliberately A New Orleans 911 operator deliberately disconnected emergency calls without obtaining necessary information or relaying the callers' emergenc

Ervin pleaded guilty in federal court in March 2015 to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She admitted that she got more than $17,000 in federal disaster relief by lying about working at a reception hall whose business was hurt by the 2010 BP oil spill, and she was sentenced to three years of probation.

While still serving her probation, Ervin in April 2016 was hired by the communications district, where she worked her way up to the rank of operations manager. The district in May 2018 gave her access to NCIC, where she could enter or search for information about stolen property, missing or wanted persons, domestic violence restraining orders, or those listed on the National Sex Offender Registry. She also could use the Louisiana Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, or LLETS, equipping her to verify vehicle registrations, drivers license information and conduct criminal history checks.

The problem is that federal and local policies governing the use of NCIC, LLETS and other similar databases prohibit access to anyone with a felony conviction, said the report from Michels office. An anonymous tipster complained about Ervin to the Metropolitan Crime Commission, who forwarded the complaint to the inspector general's office.

The report said that the office confirmed Ervins federal conviction as well as her use of the databases in question, so it notified the State Police, which is the agency that manages access to NCIC and LLETS. The State Police, along with the communications district, then cut off Ervin from the databases on Feb. 14, 2020.

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Agencies can request an exception from those rules, citing the severity of the offense resulting in the felony conviction or the amount of time that has passed since it happened.

Morris made such a request on behalf of Ervin, citing her years of service to the agency as well as her compliance with all federal and local guidelines, but the State Police rejected it.

The inspector general's report recommended that the communications district review its employment records to determine whether any other convicted felons are on staff. If there are any, their access to NCIC and LLETS should also be revoked, the report said.

An attorney for the district issued a reply to the report, and it was contained in the document released Friday.

Among other things, the reply from attorney Benjamin Chapman noted that Ervin disclosed her conviction, and the district notified the State Police about it. The State Police first cleared Ervin for employment by OPCD and then certified her to use NCIC and LLETS, said the reply, which criticized the inspector generals investigation as incomplete.

Ervin did not illegally or improperly access the NCIC/LLETS database, Chapmans reply said. Nor are there any allegations that she did so.

Note: This post has been updated to clarify that the the OPCD statement was from Morris.
The launch of Intel Alder Lake is imminent, according to Lenovo. The company's first Alder Lake-based gaming PC will be orderable from next month with DDR5 RAM and PCIe 5.0 support. The Legion 9000K will start shipping in early November.

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Lenovo has unveiled the Legion 9000K 2022 on Chinese social media. While the company does not refer to the machine as featuring Intel processors, the mention of 12th Gen CPUs is a strong nod towards the Alder Lake architecture. Presumably, Lenovo has left out any Intel branding to avoid violating embargoes.

According to ITHome, Lenovo will start selling the Legion 9000K on October 29, likely the date when Alder Lake processors will become available. October 29 is a day after Intel's inaugural Innovation event ends, which commences on October 27. Hence, Intel will probably reveal all remaining details about its Alder Lake processors in just under a month's time.
My role is to serve as a liaison between the three CTSA hubs and the health department, but also between the CTSA hubs and other community organizations that I come in contact with.

My role is to serve as a liaison between the three CTSA hubs and the health department, but also between the CTSA hubs and other community organizations that I come in contact with, says Paul-Brutus. I keep everybody informed about opportunities like pilot grants or a need for partnership with others in the network.

Paul-Brutus actively plays a role in a number of projects at CDPH. She participated in several working groups designed to develop some of the strategies included in the recent Healthy Chicago 2025 plan. Every five years, CDPH outlines a plan for reducing the disparity in life expectancy between Black and white Chicagoans. She has also been involved in the dissemination of the Chicago Health Atlas, which provides health-related data across communities.

Another of her ongoing projects is a report on The State of Blacks in Chicago. Paul-Brutus and four other Black women in CDPH came together to create the Health Equity Index Committee, who collectively compiled a report on the longevity differences and health outcomes in Black Chicagoans versus non-Black Chicagoans.

I'm really closely involved with those other four ladies in the dissemination of this tool because we want it to serve as a way to increase the awareness about this life expectancy gap, but also for people to start taking action around what can be done at the community level to change and increase life expectancy, says Paul-Brutus.

According to Atkins, C3s ongoing projects include working with other CTSA programs in large cities in the U.S. to promote CTSA hub involvement with health departments. They even published a paper on this subject: Bridging the gap between research, policy, and practice: Lessons learned from academic-public partnerships in the CTSA network. They are also bringing more community stakeholders into the C3 network to make sure their work is community-oriented.

To the extent that we promote research on Chicagos health priorities, we provide CDPH with critical resources to support their initiatives, says Atkins. We also serve as a liaison to our respective CTSA programs for CDPH and the community. Lastly, we serve as the public face of the CTSA programs. Working collectively, we can coordinate our resources to best address health inequities.
In 2014, doctors at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center published a report on two patients who arrived at the emergency room with rhabdo shortly after their first spin class. One was a 24-year-old woman hobbled by pain, her legs swollen and feeling as tight as drums. She was rushed to surgery, where doctors sliced her thighs open to relieve a dangerous buildup of pressure.

Another study found that between 2010 and 2014, there were 29 emergency room visits for exercise-induced rhabdo at NewYork-Presbyterian alone. Weight lifting, CrossFit, running and P90X were the reasons for some visits. But the most common one was spinning. Dr. Todd S. Cutler, an internist at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian and lead author of the study, said the patients all fit a similar profile.

These are people who are not unfit, Dr. Cutler said. They are being pushed too hard, and theyre not trained to do this, and so they get really bad muscle trauma.

There is some evidence that certain medications, including statins, stimulants and antipsychotic drugs, as well as genetic susceptibilities may contribute to the condition, said Patricia Deuster, a professor of military and emergency medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

But in general it occurs when people simply do not give their muscles time to adjust to an aggressive new exercise, experts say. A little damage to muscles is a good thing because that stimulates them to grow and adapt to stress. But when the stress is too great, fibers are destroyed. When that happens they break apart and release compounds that can be harmful to the liver, such as a protein called myoglobin, which causes brown or tea-colored urine, a classic symptom of rhabdo.

While almost any intense activity can cause rhabdo, it almost always strikes people who are doing something new. That is why people should always progress from light to moderate and then vigorous intensity when doing a new exercise, said Eric Rawson, chair of the department of health, nutrition and exercise science at Messiah College in Pennsylvania.

You can be fit, and I can come up with a workout that you are unaccustomed to, and that could be what causes rhabdo, he said.
WASHINGTON  As many as 320,000 Venezuelans living in the United States were given an 18-month reprieve on Monday from the threat of being deported, as the Biden administration sought to highlight how dangerous that country has become under President Nicolas Maduro.

The immigrants also will be allowed to work legally in the United States as part of the temporary protective status the administration issued as it considers the next steps in a yearslong American pressure campaign to force Mr. Maduro from power.

The living conditions in Venezuela reveal a country in turmoil, unable to protect its own citizens, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, said in a statement. It is in times of extraordinary and temporary circumstances like these that the United States steps forward to support eligible Venezuelan nationals already present here, while their home country seeks to right itself out of the current crises.

Venezuela is mired in one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises under Mr. Maduro, who, through a mix of corruption and neglect, oversaw the decay of the countrys oil infrastructure that had propped up its economy. The United Nations has estimated that up to 94 percent of Venezuelas population lives in poverty, with millions of people bereft of regular access to water, food and medicine.
Biden administration officials, who are formulating their China policies, are giving special attention to Taiwan, and trying to determine whether strategic ambiguity is sufficient to protect the increasingly vulnerable island from Beijings designs. But they also realize that Americans may look unfavorably at new, faraway military commitments after two decades of bloody and costly conflict in the Middle East.

That is why Admiral Davidson raised eyebrows last month when he acknowledged under questioning, in a departure from standard government messaging, that the policy should be reconsidered, adding, I would look forward to the conversation.

I think theres been a shift in peoples thinking, said Richard N. Haass, a former director of policy planning at the State Department under President George W. Bush and now the president of the Council on Foreign Relations. What youve seen over the last year is an acceleration of concern in the United States about Taiwan. He described a sense that this delicate situation that appeared to have been successfully managed or finessed for decades, suddenly people woke up to the possibility that that era has come to an end.

Mr. Haass helped prompt a conversation on the subject last year after publishing an essay in the September issue of Foreign Affairs magazine that declared that strategic ambiguity had run its course.

The time has come for the United States to introduce a policy of strategic clarity: one that makes explicit that the United States would respond to any Chinese use of force against Taiwan, Mr. Haass wrote with his colleague David Sacks.

Mr. Haass and Mr. Sacks added that the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, may question Americas willingness to defend its alliances after four years under President Donald J. Trump, who railed against endless wars and openly questioned the United States relationships and security commitments. While more hawkish-sounding, a clearer pledge would be safer, they argued.

Such a policy would lower the chances of Chinese miscalculation, which is the likeliest catalyst for war in the Taiwan Strait, Mr. Haass and Mr. Sacks wrote.
NAIROBI, Kenya  In a highly contentious move, Somalias president has extended his own term in office by two years, drawing condemnation from the United States and other allies who viewed it as a naked power grab that could upend faltering efforts to establish a functioning state in Somalia and defeat the insurgency by the extremist group Al Shabab.

President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, a onetime American citizen popularly known as Farmaajo, announced that he signed the law extending his mandate early Wednesday, two days after it was approved by Somalias Parliament amid accusations that the presidents office had engineered the vote.

The move represented a worst-case scenario for United Nations and Western officials, who had been shuttling for months between Mr. Mohamed and Somali regional leaders locked in a bitter dispute over when and how to hold parliamentary and presidential elections that were scheduled to take place by early February.

The United States, which has given billions of dollars in aid to Somalia and conducted numerous airstrikes and military raids against Al Shabab, had privately threatened Mr. Mohamed and his top officials with sanctions and visa restrictions if they disregarded the election time table.
Over the past few years, as the Trump administration imposed stringent sanctions on Cuba and the tourism industry was decimated by the pandemic, Cubans have seen their countrys economy plummet once again, with many waiting for hours in bread lines. The countrys lauded health care system is frayed. And the number of Cubans trying to leave the island is going up, though it is still far from the exoduses of the 1980s and 1990s.

The Communist Party lives off the achievements of a long time ago, from when they began, said Claudia Genlui, an activist with the San Isidro political movement, a collective of artists who have protested against the Communist Party in recent months. Although the group is small, it has surprised the nation with its continued defiance.

The party does not represent my generation, it does not represent me, Ms. Genlui said, adding that there is a lack of generational connection, of interests, of priorities, and all of that somehow drives us away.

Mr. Castro, to some extent, would agree.

Although Fidel held fast to his rallying cry of socialism or death until he died in 2016, the younger Mr. Castro grew to realize that reform was necessary to quell growing discontent and began opening up the countrys economy.

After Fidel formally resigned from the presidency in 2008, Raul Castro prioritized recruiting younger Cubans into the Communist Party and putting younger members into top government positions. On Monday, the party held elections for its 17-member Politburo, selecting younger members to the body to replace the last of what Cubans call the historics, veterans of the armed revolution.

That has sat well with some Cubans.

I think weve got to move on to a new generation, younger people with new ideas, said Osvaldo Reyes, 55, a taxi driver in Havana, while voicing his support for Mr. Castro and the Communist Party. A revolution should keep transforming, keep doing the best for people.
NAIROBI, Kenya  Ethiopia on Thursday expelled an Irish journalist working for The New York Times, dealing a new blow to press freedom in a country as the government fights a grinding war in the northern region of Tigray.

The expulsion of the reporter, Simon Marks, comes one month before much-delayed Parliamentary elections in Ethiopia that are expected to cement the authority of the countrys embattled prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.

Mr. Marks had reported extensively on the war in Tigray, where there are widespread accounts that the Ethiopian military and its Eritrean and militia allies are committing atrocities, including massacres and sexual assault.

On Thursday, Ethiopian officials summoned Mr. Marks to a meeting in the capital, Addis Ababa. His press credentials had already been canceled since March, one day after he returned from an approved reporting trip in Tigray. The officials detained him and drove him to the city airport, where he was held for eight hours before being deported on a flight that left around 12:30 a.m. local time on Friday.
Hong Kongs march toward an authoritarian future began with a single phrase in a dry policy paper. Beijing, the document declared, would wield comprehensive jurisdiction over the territory.

The paper, published in June 2014, signaled the Chinese leader Xi Jinpings determination to tame political defiance in the former British colony, which had kept its own laws and freedoms. But the words were dismissed by many as intimidating swagger that the citys robust legal system and democratic opposition could face down.

Hong Kong now knows Mr. Xis ambitions with a stunned clarity. The paper marked the opening of a contest for control in the city, culminating in the sweeping national security law that few saw coming.

Since that law took force one year ago, Beijing has unleashed a stampede of actions to bring Hong Kong into political lock step with the Chinese Communist Party: arresting activists, seizing assets, firing government workers, detaining newspaper editors and rewriting school curriculums.
WASHINGTON  The United States conducted a drone strike against Shabab militants in Somalia on Tuesday, the first such military action against the Qaeda affiliate in East Africa since the Biden administration took office in January.

The strike was carried out by military aircraft against Shabab fighters who were attacking members of the Danab, an elite American-trained Somali commando force, near the town of Galkayo in the countrys north, said a Pentagon spokeswoman, Cindi King.

The Biden administration placed new limits on drone strikes outside active war zones when it took office on Jan. 20, to give it time to develop a permanent policy. The Trump administration set broad rules for strikes in particular countries and delegated authority to commanders in the field about when to carry them out, but proposals for strikes are now generally routed through the White House.

The White House has since rejected a handful of requests by the militarys Africa Command to carry out drone strikes against Shabab targets in Somalia because they did not meet the new standards. But in this case, Mrs. King said, White House approval was not needed because the Africa Command has the authority to conduct strikes in support of allied forces under what the military calls collective self-defense.
Nancy, like many of her generation in Hong Kong and Taiwan, had undergone a gradual and reluctant political awakening, spurred in part by the threat of Xis authoritarianism in the region. In these contested polities, on the edges of Chinas empire, which had flourished outside Beijings direct control, young people came together to try to understand: How do you fight against Goliaths denial of Davids very existence? For Nancy and her friends, this was existential. The challenge from China would determine the future of their countries and their lives.

Ever since Nancy was little, she was a contrarian  unafraid to rebel against things she thought were stupid or unfair, like how teachers seemed to favor students who got good grades, even if they had been misbehaving along with the rest of the class. When she was growing up in Taipei, there were lots of things that just did not make sense to her. It did not quite add up that her schoolbooks said Taiwan was a province of the greater Republic of China (R.O.C.), which comprised mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, and that its capital was Nanjing. Nanjing was a city in the Peoples Republic of China, where Nancy had never been, so why was it listed as the capital of her country? When she challenged her teacher, she told her to just do what everyone else was doing  write the correct answer and move on.

Indeed, it was confusing. The R.O.C. is typically referred to internationally as Taiwan; it is by and large not recognized as a country and is instead referred to by many media organizations, including this one, as a self-governing democracy. But the archipelago, of which Taiwan is the biggest island, has a Constitution, a president and a Legislature. Its citizens have voted for their representatives in free and fair elections since 1992, the year before Nancy was born. They serve in their own armed forces and carry a green Republic of China passport when they travel, though in 2003, after they complained they were being confused with Communist China, the government changed the passport to say both Republic of China and Taiwan.

This Gordian knot of identity was a product of a contested history. For centuries, Taiwan had been at the whims of colonizers, settlers, warlords and dictators. As far back as 1544, when a Portuguese vessel passed the island and a passenger exclaimed Ilha Formosa  beautiful island  outsiders had decided even its name. It was originally populated by Indigenous Austronesians, but Han migration from China increased with the arrival of European traders, including the Dutch East India Company. The Qing empire took control in 1683, but after a humiliating defeat by the Japanese in 1895, it ceded Formosa to the victors. The Japanese made the island their model colony to prove they could rival white European imperial powers, setting up Japanese schools and much of the islands infrastructure.

The Republic of China, meanwhile, was established far away in Nanjing in 1912 after revolutionaries overthrew the Qing empire, but it was quickly torn apart by Japans invasion and internal conflicts between the ruling nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communists. After Japan lost World War II, Formosa was given to the R.O.C. by the decree of the Allied powers. Residents were not consulted, but after 50 years of Japanese control, many held genuine enthusiasm for their Chinese liberators. Their hopes to speak their own language, practice their own culture and elect their own leaders quickly vanished. The KMT governed Taiwan with an iron fist, regarding the locals as Japanese collaborators and pillaging the islands resources for the ongoing civil war on the mainland.

In 1949, the Communists defeated the nationalists and established the Peoples Republic of China. The remnants of the R.O.C., led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, fled to Taiwan. Each government proclaimed itself the rightful ruler of all of China. The tsunami of around 1.5 million exiles who accompanied Chiang to Taiwan produced two castes: benshengren  people from this province  and waishengren  people from outside this province. Nancys paternal grandmother grew up under Japanese rule and watched the newcomers take the best jobs and resources. Later she married one of these new arrivals, but he ran up gambling debts and then ran back to the mainland, leaving her to settle his tab. She sold their house and moved the family to Taipei, supporting Nancys father and his three siblings by selling sliced fruit and shaved ice, a traditional dessert, on the street.

The KMT embarked on a campaign of forced Sinicization  Mandarin was made the official government language instead of Hokkien, which Nancys grandmother spoke along with a vast majority of the six million locals. Streets in Taipei were renamed after Chinese cities, and schoolbooks taught mainland geography and R.O.C. history. The benshengren were written out of their own existence. Chiangs secret police ensured no one stepped out of line.
For the last few years, Hungary, a country of fewer than 10 million people, has occupied an outsize place in the imagination of American liberals and conservatives. If you think the American right is sliding toward authoritarianism, you cite Viktor Orbans nationalist government as a dark model for the G.O.P. If you think an intolerant progressivism shadows American life, you invoke Orban as a figure whos fighting back.

In this running debate, sharpened by the recent Tucker Carlson visit to Budapest, I was struck by an observation from The Atlantics David Frum, a fierce critic of the rights Orban infatuation. As part of a Twitter thread documenting corruption in Orbans inner circle, Frum wrote: I visited Hungary in 2016. Again & again, I witnessed a gesture I thought had vanished from Europe forever: people turning their heads to check who was listening before they lent forward to whisper what they had to say. They feared for their jobs, not their lives  but still 

This is a useful tweet for thinking about the fears motivating Hungary-watching Americans, left and right. On the one hand, theres the fear that Trumpian populism will someday gain enough power to make its critics fear for their livelihoods. On the other, theres the fear that progressivism already exerts this power in the United States, and that what Frum describes in dire terms, the cautious sotto voce conversation, is an important part of American life right now.

You can document this fear of sharing strong opinions, especially ones that conflict with progressive orthodoxy, by looking at opinion polls. For example, a 2020 survey conducted by the Cato Institute found that 62 percent of Americans felt uncomfortable sharing their views because of the political climate, and strong liberals were the only ideological group where the majority felt free to speak their minds. To the question, Are you worried about losing your job or missing out on job opportunities if your political opinions became known? highly educated Americans were the most anxious, with 44 percent of respondents with a postgraduate degree and 60 percent of Republicans with a post-grad degree saying yes.
The scene, captured by bank security cameras, lasts less than a minute, but it is a chilling instance of a mundane weekend errand suddenly becoming a bloody, life-or-death struggle.

A man at an A.T.M. in Lower Manhattan does not notice when another man with a hatchet in his right hand enters the bank lobby behind him, the footage shows. Seconds later, the second man swings the blade violently at the back of the A.T.M. users leg.

The man being attacked tries to protect himself with his backpack, then grabs at his attacker in a desperate bid to disarm him. The man with the hatchet lands several blows, eventually drawing blood. Then, with his victim out of the frame, he smashes several A.T.M. screens, drops the hatchet and walks away.

On Wednesday, the police arrested Aaron Garcia of Yonkers, N.Y., as the suspect in the attack, charging him with attempted murder and assault. After being taken into custody late Tuesday, Mr. Garcia, 37, was taken to Bellevue Medical Center for a psychiatric evaluation, the police said. It was unclear whether he had a lawyer.
Security experts say that election hardware and software should be subjected to transparency and rigorous testing, but only by credentialed professionals. Yet nearly all of the partisan reviews have flouted such protocols and focused on the 2020 results rather than hunting for security flaws.

In Arizona, the firm chosen by the Republican-led Legislature, Cyber Ninjas, had no previous experience auditing elections, and its chief executive has promoted conspiracy theories claiming that rigged voting machines cost Mr. Trump the state. The company also used Republican partisans to help conduct its review in Maricopa County, including one former lawmaker who was at the Jan. 6 protest in Washington that preceded the Capitol riot.

In Wisconsin, the Republican Assembly speaker, Robin Vos, is pushing for a review of the 2020 results to be led by a former State Supreme Court justice who claimed in November that the election had been stolen. And in Pennsylvania, the Republican leader of the State Senate has announced hearings that he likened to a forensic investigation of the election, saying it could include issuing subpoenas to seize voting machines and ballots.

Christopher Krebs, the former head of the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said such reviews could easily compromise voting machines. The main concern is having someone unqualified come in and introduce risk, introduce something or some malware into a system, he said. You have someone that accesses these things, has no idea what to do, and once youve reached that point, its incredibly difficult to kind of roll back the certification of the machine.

Decertifying machines effectively means replacing them, often in a hurry and at great cost. Philadelphias elections board rejected an earlier G.O.P. request for access to the citys election machines, saying it would cost more than $35 million to buy new ones.

In Arizona, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, told Maricopa County in May that her office would decertify 385 machines and nine vote tabulators that had been handed over for the G.O.P.-led election review.

The issue with the equipment is that the chain of custody was lost, Ms. Hobbs said in an interview. The chain of custody ensures that only authorized people have access to it, so that that vulnerability cant be exploited.
Amazon has not commented on the bill but has said that it tailors performance targets to individual employees over time based on their experience level and that the targets take into account employee health and safety. The company has emphasized that fewer than 1 percent of terminations are related to underperformance.

The bill would require Amazon and other warehouse employers to disclose productivity quotas to workers and regulators, and would allow workers to sue to eliminate quotas that prevent them from taking breaks and following safety protocols.

While it is unclear how big an impact the bill would have on Amazons operations, limiting the companys hourly productivity quotas would probably affect its costs more than its ability to continue next-day and same-day delivery.

I think its all about money, not about what the system is set up to handle, said Marc Wulfraat, president of the supply-chain and logistics consulting firm MWPVL International. If you said to me, Bring the rate down from 350 to 300 per hour, Id say, OK, we need to add more people to the operation  maybe we need 120 people instead of 100.

A report by the Strategic Organizing Center, a group backed by four labor unions, shows that Amazons serious-injury rate nationally was nearly double that of the rest of the warehousing industry last year.

They would say, Always pivot, never twist,' all this stuff youre supposed to do, said Nathan Morin, who worked in an Amazon warehouse in California for more than three years packing and picking items before leaving in December. But its oftentimes impossible to follow the proper body movements while also making rate.

The company has vowed to improve worker safety and said it had spent more than $300 million this year on new safety measures.
MOSCOW  A senior government official died on Wednesday when he dove off a cliff trying to save a prominent film director who had fallen into the water during a drill in Russias Far North, officials confirmed.

Yevgeny N. Zinichev, the minister of emergency situations, was tragically killed while on duty, while taking part in interagency exercises designed to protect the Arctic zone from emergencies, as he tried to save a persons life, a statement from his ministry said.

Mr. Zinichev, who was visiting the region of Norilsk as part of a multicity drill involving 6,000 people, dived into the water after Aleksandr Melnik, the director, slipped and fell off a wet rock, the ministrys press service told local reporters.

The Russian-state news agency, TASS, reported that Mr. Melnik, who was scouting locations for a documentary, also died. The men had been standing on the edge of the Kitabo Oron waterfall, part of the picturesque Putorana State Nature Reserve in northern Siberia, about 100 miles west of Norilsk.
The system as its designed allows a minority faction that really has no hope of winning statewide election to get a recall on the ballot, said Chris Elmendorf, a professor at the University of California, Davis, School of Law, who studies elections.

Some Californians point to the last recall election, in 2003, as evidence that the system works. That year, voters booted Gray Davis, a Democrat, and replaced him with Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican. While Mr. Schwarzenegger fell short of winning an outright majority, at least more people voted for him than voted to keep Mr. Davis.

But is that good enough? There are numerous ways that California should reform its recall system.

First, it ought to shift the burden of winning majority support from the incumbent  who was, after all, duly elected by the voters  and put it on the recall effort. There is a reason that impeaching and removing the president requires not only a majority vote in the House but also a supermajority in the Senate. In a democracy, the results of a regularly scheduled election should not be overturned before the next election except in the most extraordinary circumstances.

Other states with recall provisions, like Minnesota and Washington, require an act of malfeasance or a conviction for a serious crime for the recall to proceed. Mr. Newsoms maskless dinner at a high-end restaurant to celebrate a lobbyists birthday, which buttressed the recall effort, was certainly hypocritical and tone-deaf, but it shouldnt alone be grounds for early eviction from office.

Another needed reform is to make it harder to get a recall on the ballot in the first place. Among the 18 other states with voter recall measures, none have a lower threshold than Californias. It takes signatures equal to just 12 percent of the total votes cast in the previous gubernatorial election to initiate a recall in California. In many other states, the threshold is 25 percent. In Kansas, the bar is 40 percent. In 2020 alone, at least 14 governors nationwide faced recall efforts, but only Californias attempt proceeded to a ballot, according to Joshua Spivak, a senior fellow at Wagner Colleges Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform and the author of a recent book on recall elections. Thats due in part to those other states higher thresholds. California already has a more stringent 20 percent standard for recalls of state lawmakers and judges. That would make sense for governors as well.

Finally, Californias system discourages the sitting governors party from backing a replacement candidate for fear of bolstering the recall effort. Thats why Mr. Newsom asked voters to vote no on the recall and leave the second question blank. Doing so makes it even more likely that a candidate from the opposing party will win.

Another fix would be to hold the vote on the recall itself on a different day than the vote on a successor, as several other states do. That would give replacement candidates time to put together a campaign on the issues, rather than just on the recall itself.
Mr. Stringer, the city comptroller, expressed similar concerns about the policy, and said on Twitter that his office would push back its full return for at least another month.

We will be delaying a fuller return to the workplace until at least Oct. 12, to give us more time to assess the situation on the ground and build out a program for hybrid work, Mr. Stringer wrote. Mr. Mayor, this is not the time for a my way or the highway approach.

Nevertheless, Mr. de Blasios plan seems reasonable to some epidemiologists, who note that New York Citys coronavirus rate is low compared with other parts of the country, and at some point, life will in fact have to return to some level of normalcy.

One thing that I say to folks is, If not now, when? said Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. What are we waiting for? Last fall, we could all say we have to hold off and not do things and wait until the cavalry arrives, and the cavalry is the vaccines.

Now, he argued that the risk to the vaccinated is low.

At this point, a vaccinated person is at much lower risk of having a significant health complication from this virus than a typical person is in a typical flu season, Dr. Jha said.

But Dr. Jha also added, I would hope people use this as an opportunity to ask some hard questions about the nature of work and what kind of work needs to be done in person.

If there is dissension among Mr. de Blasios employees, there is also support from New York Citys business leaders. For New York City to flourish, they argue, its office districts must again be vibrant.
The California State Legislature this week approved a measure that would make the state the first to outlaw stealthing, the act of removing a condom during sex without a partners consent.

The bill, which was approved unanimously on Tuesday, awaits the signature of Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, who has until Oct. 10 to sign it into law. A spokesman for the governor said his office did not comment on pending bills.

If approved, the measure would amend the states civil definition of sexual battery and make stealthing a civil offense, meaning victims could sue their assailants for damages.

Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia of California, who sponsored the bill, said the measure would give victims another resource to hold assailants accountable. It would also make it clear that this is not just amoral, but also illegal, she said in an interview on Thursday.
BRUSSELS  Pushing back against European complaints that the Biden Administration had failed to consult its allies over the withdrawal from Afghanistan, Jens Stoltenberg, NATOs secretary-general, said those objections were exaggerated and that NATO had given unanimous approval for the withdrawal as far back as April.

Mr. Stoltenberg also said that talk of a new, separate European Union military force  which some have argued is necessary in the aftermath of the collapse of Afghanistan  could only weaken the trans-Atlantic alliance and divide the continent.

You see different voices in Europe, and some are talking about the lack of consultation, but I was present in those meetings, Mr. Stoltenberg said late Thursday in a wide-ranging interview at NATOs headquarters. Of course the United States consulted with European allies, but at the end of the day, every nation has to make their own decision on deploying forces.

He acknowledged that the consultation was somewhat artificial, because once the United States decided to withdraw, he said, it was hard for other allies to continue without the United States. It was not a realistic option.
My biggest concern is that the F.D.A. has not approved vaccines for kids under 12, said Professor Cragin, referring to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The fact that my moms biggest concern when she goes to a movie theater is not a terrorist attack is a good thing.

Mr. Biden has indicated he is open to updating one of the relics of the post-9/11 period: the 2001 law that authorized the president to wage war on those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. It has been stretched beyond recognition to justify military action against all sorts of new enemies. Mr. Biden has also imposed limits on drone strikes and commando operations, pending a review.

The presidents matter-of-fact language is not unlike that of his old boss, Mr. Obama. He speaks of diffuse threats from the Shabab in Somalia; Qaeda affiliates in Syria and Yemen; and Islamic State spinoffs in Africa and Asia. Americas over-the-horizon capabilities, he said, would enable it to strike terrorists and targets without American boots on the ground  or very few, if needed.

It is a stark contrast to Mr. Bush, who coined the phrase global war on terror. In the feverish aftermath of 9/11, he framed the battle in Manichaean terms, not just as a law enforcement or counterterrorism challenge, but as a twilight struggle between good and evil.

Why do they hate us? Mr. Bush asked a joint session of Congress. They hate what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble.

As the war on terror enters its third decade  some have taken to calling it the post-post-9/11 era  American presidents no longer cast the battle in existential terms. The defining contest of 2021, Mr. Biden has said, is between open societies and the autocrats in Moscow and Beijing.
He shared 19 questions that represented a small sampling of those raised by the trade groups members. Among them:

What proof-of-vaccination documentation will the companies need to collect, and will booster shots also be required?

Must employees be fully vaccinated?

Will workers who have had the coronavirus still have to be vaccinated or get tested?

Will the requirements apply only to vaccines that are fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration? (The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is currently the only shot with full approval.)

Who is responsible for vaccination tracking  the government or the individual businesses?

What are the consequences of falsifying a vaccination status?

Other questions, on testing and other policy details, covered similar ground, touching on how federal guidelines interact with state-level initiatives, who will be responsible for paying for testing and whether waivers would be allowed if employee absences or attrition resulted in supply chain disruptions.

Also of concern, Mr. Freeman said in an interview, is the slow pace at which government tends to move, compared with the quick decisions that private businesses are used to making. This has been a problem during the pandemic, he said.

For 19 months, weve been working with either the Trump administration or the Biden administration and all of the agencies involved in this, he said. And the simple truth is that they have been slow to keep up with the pace of change.

He added: All of us want to get to the other side of this thing as quickly as possible. Its not going to work in this scenario unless an entity like OSHA can move at the pace of the business environment.

A spokesperson for the White House said the specific provisions of the rule were still being determined. The White House has said it will provide more guidance on Sept. 24 for the federal contractors affected by the executive order. Jeffrey D. Zients, Mr. Bidens coronavirus response coordinator, has said the rule-making process for the OSHA component will take weeks.
Mr. Newsoms office said the governor supported farmers and ranchers, while also trying to promote water conservation and other measures to fight the effects of climate change. The state budget includes $5.1 billion to be spent over four years to mitigate the droughts impact. This includes funding for emergency drought-relief projects that would secure and expand water supplies, and for drought contingency planning.

Mr. Newsom has also worked with the Legislature to push for more than $1 billion in spending on climate-smart agriculture, his office said. That includes the Healthy Soils Program, which provides grants to enable farmers to adopt soil management practices that sequester carbon. And Mr. Newsom has tried to spread the sacrifice; in July, he asked all Californians to voluntarily cut their water use by 15 percent. (About 80 percent of the water California uses goes toward agriculture.)

But in interviews, many farmers said the current water limits, combined with other state restrictions and taxes, have put a chokehold on their livelihoods.

Jerry Coelho, an owner of Terra Linda Farms in Riverdale, said that if the water crisis doesnt ease next year, hell have to stop farming half of his 6,000 acres and use that water to help irrigate his more water-intensive crops, like pistachios, almonds and wine grapes.

He is aggravated that his water bills remain high while he gets only a small fraction of the water he says he is entitled to. And he is frustrated that there hasnt been more immediate attention to creating new reservoirs, dams or water banks to harness water from the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a critical source. Theres always an excuse as to why we cant get water, he said. The worst thing of all is to do nothing.

Climate activists and environmentalists have emphasized the importance of conserving water in a state that is growing increasingly drier with climate change. But Mr. Coelho said he feels that farmers have done everything they can to conserve.
The war in Afghanistan wasnt a failure. It was a massive success  for those who made a fortune off it.

Consider the case of Hikmatullah Shadman, who was just a teenager when American Special Forces rolled into Kandahar on the heels of Sept. 11. They hired him as an interpreter, paying him up to $1,500 a month  20 times the salary of a local police officer, according to a profile of him in The New Yorker. By his late 20s, he owned a trucking company that supplied U.S. military bases, earning him more than $160 million.

If a small fry like Shadman could get so rich off the war on terror, imagine how much Gul Agha Sherzai, a big-time warlord-turned-governor, has raked in since he helped the C.I.A. run the Taliban out of town. His large extended family supplied everything from gravel to furniture to the military base in Kandahar. His brother controlled the airport. Nobody knows how much he is worth, but it is clearly hundreds of millions  enough for him to talk about a $40,000 shopping spree in Germany as if he were spending pocket change.

Look under the hood of the good war, and this is what you see. Afghanistan was supposed to be an honorable war to neutralize terrorists and rescue girls from the Taliban. It was supposed to be a war that we woulda coulda shoulda won, had it not been for the distraction of Iraq and the hopeless corruption of the Afghan government. But lets get real. Corruption wasnt a design flaw in the war. It was a design feature. We didnt topple the Taliban. We paid warlords bags of cash to do it.
To the Editor:

Re Bidens Orders Deepen Conflicts Over Vaccines; G.O.P. Vows Legal Fight (front page, Sept. 11):

Sitting silently in her Manhattan apartment, my sister and I watched the twin towers turn to dust. Like all Americans, I would give anything to be able to fly backward around the world like Superman, to rewind time, to tell the pilots not to take off, the passengers not to board and the commuters to stay home.

Twenty years later, about the same number of Americans die of Covid-19 every 48 hours as were taken on Sept. 11. Like the attack, Covid-19 kills indiscriminately, irrespective of party or ideology. Unlike the attack, however, we still have the power to affect the outcome.

I beg my fellow Americans to summon again the fellow feeling that coursed through the body politic in the months after Sept. 11. Heed President Bidens call to get vaccinated. Do it out of a duty to strengthen the nation and love thy neighbor.

No, Sept. 11 cannot be undone. But when it comes to the pandemic, we may yet fly backward, change the ending  and save lives. When to do so is possible, not to do so is unconscionable.
Afghanistan is not the most pressing terrorism threat for the United States, even after the takeover by the Taliban, the Biden administrations top intelligence official said Monday.

The withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and the collapse of the U.S.-backed government has created challenges for collecting intelligence in the country, said Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence. But she added said that Afghanistan is not the top global terrorism threat facing the United States.

In terms of the homeland, the threat right now from terrorist groups, we dont prioritize at the top of the list Afghanistan, she said. What we look at is Yemen, Somalia, Syria and Iraq for ISIS. And thats where we see the greatest threat.

Yemen is the base for a Qaeda offshoot that has attempted attacks on the United States. Somalia has Al Shabab, a terrorist group which regularly attacks neighboring Kenya. While diminished, the Islamic State still operates in Syria and has mounted attacks in Iraq.
Voters in Norway ousted their conservative prime minister on Monday, turning instead to a center-left leader following an election campaign dominated by climate change, and the growing contradictions between the countrys environmental aspirations and its dependence on its vast oil and gas reserves.

The vote came at the end of a tumultuous summer in Europe, marked by scorching temperatures and flooding in many countries. Once a distant prospect for many Norwegians, global warming became a more tangible reality that all political parties in the wealthy Nordic nation of 5.3 million could no longer ignore.

Though smaller Norwegian parties with the most aggressive stance toward fossil fuels fared less well than expected Monday, the vote offered evidence that the climate issue may be shifting the balance of power to the left in some European countries, among them Germany, which is holding its own election in just two weeks. The Social Democratic candidate there has been leading in the polls, and the Green candidate is ranking third.

In Norway, the Labour Party, led by former Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store, won around 26 percent of the votes in the countrys parliamentary elections and was poised to form a coalition with the Center Party. But he may also have to include a smaller left-wing party that has demanded a more aggressive response to tackle climate change, and that could make any coalition deeply divided over fossil fuels and taxes.
Something like this divide existed very early on, with conservatives like Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas expressing alarm about the outbreak while liberals decried the potential racism of a Wuhan virus panic. But by late spring of 2020, the entire dynamic was reversed: Liberals supported tough government interventions to fight the virus, the right was full of fierce libertarians, and so it has mostly remained.

You can blame Donald Trumps early insouciance for establishing this pattern, or the way that Covid hit blue metropoles hardest early while taking much longer to take root in rural regions. But its also useful to do in-group/out-group analysis, which suggests that conservatives were more willing to support limitations on liberty that fell on foreigners and international travelers  to them, out-groups  but balked at restrictions that seemed to fall most heavily on their own in-groups, from the owners of shuttered businesses to the pastors of closed churches to the parents of small children deprived of school.

For many liberals, it was the opposite. Early on the idea of a travel ban or quarantine rule looked authoritarian and bigoted because it seemed likely to punish their own constituencies, especially immigrant communities in big cities. But the restrictions that were imposed from March onward were developed within one of liberalisms inmost in-groups  the expert class, the public-health bureaucracy  and geared in different ways to the needs of other liberal constituencies: The professional class could adapt to virtual work, the teachers unions could mostly keep their paychecks without risking their health, and the youthful antiracism activists of spring and summer 2020 were conveniently deemed to be exempt from the rules that forbade other kinds of gatherings.

This same pattern shows up in the debate over vaccine mandates. The mainstream right clearly found it easier to be uncomplicatedly pro-vaccine when anti-vax sentiment was coded as something for crunchy Left Coast parents, as opposed to conservatives skeptical of the public-health bureaucracy and sharing Facebook posts on ivermectin.

On the other hand, the American Civil Liberties Union, or at least its Twitter account, has decided that vaccine mandates actually further civil liberties rather than traducing them. This seems somewhat hard to square with many of its past fears about government overreach in a pandemic  until you consider that those fears probably assumed a right-wing government acting punitively toward immigrants and racial minorities, whereas now the imagined target of the Biden administrations mandate is white, rural and Republican.

The point of noting this dynamic is not to simply condemn everyone involved for hypocrisy. First, a lot of small-d democratic politics is inevitably just the negotiation between different groups based on their immediate interests rather than high principle, and it shouldnt alarm us unduly that principle often bends to accommodate the defense of ones own side.

Second, there can be a terrible and icy consistency among people who dont change their views at all when the in-groups and out-groups seem to shift. Some of the most consistent people in politics right now, for instance, are former Bush Republicans and 9/11-era hawks who talk about Trump supporters who think the election was stolen the way they used to talk about foreign terrorists and the domestic left. In one sense their principle is admirable, but in another sense they seem to have learned nothing from the excesses of their own past alarmism, their war on terror mistakes.
ROME  Pope Francis on Tuesday rejected in stark terms the use of the cross as a political tool, an apparent swipe at nationalist forces in Europe and beyond that have used the imagery of Christianity for personal gain.

Let us not reduce the cross to an object of devotion, much less to a political symbol, to a sign of religious and social status, Francis said in eastern Slovakia during a four-day visit to that country and to Hungary, his first trip since undergoing intestinal surgery in July.

The remarks came two days after Francis stopped in Budapest, where he met Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has made Hungarys Christian roots and identity a hallmark of his political messaging and policies, including anti-immigrant and nationalist measures.

The cross is not a flag to wave, but the pure source of a new way of living, Francis said, adding that a Christian views no one as an enemy, but everyone as a brother or sister.
[explosion] In one of the final acts of its 20-year war in Afghanistan, the United States fired a missile from a drone at a car in Kabul. It was parked in the courtyard of a home, and the explosion killed 10 people, including 43-year-old Zemari Ahmadi and seven children, according to his family. The Pentagon claimed that Ahmadi was a facilitator for the Islamic State, and that his car was packed with explosives, posing an imminent threat to U.S. troops guarding the evacuation at the Kabul airport. The procedures were correctly followed, and it was a righteous strike. What the military apparently didnt know was that Ahmadi was a longtime aid worker, who colleagues and family members said spent the hours before he died running office errands, and ended his day by pulling up to his house. Soon after, his Toyota was hit with a 20-pound Hellfire missile. What was interpreted as the suspicious moves of a terrorist may have just been an average day in his life. And its possible that what the military saw Ahmadi loading into his car were water canisters he was bringing home to his family  not explosives. Using never-before seen security camera footage of Ahmadi, interviews with his family, co-workers and witnesses, we will piece together for the first time his movements in the hours before he was killed. Zemari Ahmadi was an electrical engineer by training. For 14 years, he had worked for the Kabul office of Nutrition and Education International. NEI established a total of 11 soybean processing plants in Afghanistan. Its a California based NGO that fights malnutrition. On most days, he drove one of the companys white Toyota corollas, taking his colleagues to and from work and distributing the NGOs food to Afghans displaced by the war. Only three days before Ahmadi was killed, 13 U.S. troops and more than 170 Afghan civilians died in an Islamic State suicide attack at the airport. The military had given lower-level commanders the authority to order airstrikes earlier in the evacuation, and they were bracing for what they feared was another imminent attack. To reconstruct Ahmadis movements on Aug. 29, in the hours before he was killed, The Times pieced together the security camera footage from his office, with interviews with more than a dozen of Ahmadis colleagues and family members. Ahmadi appears to have left his home around 9 a.m. He then picked up a colleague and his bosss laptop near his house. Its around this time that the U.S. military claimed it observed a white sedan leaving an alleged Islamic State safehouse, around five kilometers northwest of the airport. Thats why the U.S. military said they tracked Ahmadis Corolla that day. They also said they intercepted communications from the safehouse, instructing the car to make several stops. But every colleague who rode with Ahmadi that day said what the military interpreted as a series of suspicious moves was just a typical day in his life. After Ahmadi picked up another colleague, the three stopped to get breakfast, and at 9:35 a.m., they arrived at the N.G.O.s office. Later that morning, Ahmadi drove some of his co-workers to a Taliban-occupied police station to get permission for future food distribution at a new displacement camp. At around 2 p.m., Ahmadi and his colleagues returned to the office. The security camera footage we obtained from the office is crucial to understanding what happens next. The cameras timestamp is off, but we went to the office and verified the time. We also matched an exact scene from the footage with a timestamp satellite image to confirm it was accurate. A 2:35 p.m., Ahmadi pulls out a hose, and then he and a co-worker fill empty containers with water. Earlier that morning, we saw Ahmadi bring these same empty plastic containers to the office. There was a water shortage in his neighborhood, his family said, so he regularly brought water home from the office. At around 3:38 p.m., a colleague moves Ahmadis car further into the driveway. A senior U.S. official told us that at roughly the same time, the military saw Ahmadis car pull into an unknown compound 8 to 12 kilometers southwest of the airport. That overlaps with the location of the NGOs office, which we believe is what the military called an unknown compound. With the workday ending, an employee switched off the office generator and the feed from the camera ends. We dont have footage of the moments that followed. But its at this time, the military said that its drone feed showed four men gingerly loading wrapped packages into the car. Officials said they couldnt tell what was inside them. This footage from earlier in the day shows what the men said they were carrying  their laptops one in a plastic shopping bag. And the only things in the trunk, Ahmadis co-workers said, were the water containers. Ahmadi dropped each one of them off, then drove to his home in a dense neighborhood near the airport. He backed into the homes small courtyard. Children surrounded the car, according to his brother. A U.S. official said the military feared the car would leave again, and go into an even more crowded street or to the airport itself. The drone operators, who hadnt been watching Ahmadis home at all that day, quickly scanned the courtyard and said they saw only one adult male talking to the driver and no children. They decided this was the moment to strike. A U.S. official told us that the strike on Ahmadis car was conducted by an MQ-9 Reaper drone that fired a single Hellfire missile with a 20-pound warhead. We found remnants of the missile, which experts said matched a Hellfire at the scene of the attack. In the days after the attack, the Pentagon repeatedly claimed that the missile strike set off other explosions, and that these likely killed the civilians in the courtyard. Significant secondary explosions from the targeted vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material. Because there were secondary explosions, theres a reasonable conclusion to be made that there was explosives in that vehicle. But a senior military official later told us that it was only possible to probable that explosives in the car caused another blast. We gathered photos and videos of the scene taken by journalists and visited the courtyard multiple times. We shared the evidence with three weapons experts who said the damage was consistent with the impact of a Hellfire missile. They pointed to the small crater beneath Ahmadis car and the damage from the metal fragments of the warhead. This plastic melted as a result of a car fire triggered by the missile strike. All three experts also pointed out what was missing: any evidence of the large secondary explosions described by the Pentagon. No collapsed or blown-out walls, including next to the trunk with the alleged explosives. No sign that a second car parked in the courtyard was overturned by a large blast. No destroyed vegetation. All of this matches what eyewitnesses told us, that a single missile exploded and triggered a large fire. There is one final detail visible in the wreckage: containers identical to the ones that Ahmadi and his colleague filled with water and loaded into his trunk before heading home. Even though the military said the drone team watched the car for eight hours that day, a senior official also said they werent aware of any water containers. The Pentagon has not provided The Times with evidence of explosives in Ahmadis vehicle or shared what they say is the intelligence that linked him to the Islamic State. But the morning after the U.S. killed Ahmadi, the Islamic State did launch rockets at the airport from a residential area Ahmadi had driven through the previous day. And the vehicle they used   was a white Toyota. The U.S. military has so far acknowledged only three civilian deaths from its strike, and says there is an investigation underway. They have also admitted to knowing nothing about Ahmadi before killing him, leading them to interpret the work of an engineer at a U.S. NGO as that of an Islamic State terrorist. Four days before Ahmadi was killed, his employer had applied for his family to receive refugee resettlement in the United States. At the time of the strike, they were still awaiting approval. Looking to the U.S. for protection, they instead became some of the last victims in Americas longest war. Hi, Im Evan, one of the producers on this story. Our latest visual investigation began with word on social media of an explosion near Kabul airport. It turned out that this was a U.S. drone strike, one of the final acts in the 20-year war in Afghanistan. Our goal was to fill in the gaps in the Pentagons version of events. We analyzed exclusive security camera footage, and combined it with eyewitness accounts and expert analysis of the strike aftermath. You can see more of our investigations by signing up for our newsletter.
Zooms roughly $15 billion acquisition of the call center software company Five9 fell apart on Thursday evening, when the companies said they would terminate a deal that had drawn national security scrutiny.

Five9 said in a news release that the deal had failed to garner enough support from its shareholders, and that the company would continue to operate independently. Allison Wilson, a spokeswoman for Five9, said the company believed it would build on its current proven momentum as an independent firm.

Zooms chief executive, Eric S. Yuan, said in a blog post that while the acquisition had been an opportunity for the company to expand, it was in no way foundational to the success of our platform. A spokesperson for Zoom, CJ Lin, said the company had no further comment.

The proposed deal between the companies, both based in California, had attracted government scrutiny. In August, the Justice Department pushed for a federal review to determine whether the deal poses a risk to the national security or law enforcement interests of the United States, according to a letter to the Federal Communications Commission. The agency said it was worried about the possibility of foreign participation in the transaction.
The ads appear on Facebook millions of times a week. They take aim at vulnerable Democrats in Congress by name, warning that the $3.5 trillion budget bill  one of the Biden administrations biggest efforts to pass meaningful climate policy  will wreck the United States economy.

Some politicians including Rep. Houlahan are setting their sights on pushing for tax hikes on U.S. energy producers, reads an ad attacking Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania that started running Sept. 15. Tax hikes on U.S. energy producers is equal to risking U.S. energy jobs. Call Rep. Houlahan now!

The paid posts are part of a broad attack by the oil and gas industry against the budget bill, whose fate now hangs in the balance. Among the climate provisions that are likely to be left out of the plan is an effort to dismantle billions of dollars in fossil-fuel tax breaks  provisions that experts say incentivize the burning of fossil fuels responsible for catastrophic climate change.

On Thursday, details emerged of an agreement between Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, and Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a Democrat with huge sway in the divided Senate who has said he doesnt support such an expansive bill. According to a memo outlining the agreement, first obtained by Politico, Mr. Manchin said that if the legislation were to include extensions of smaller tax credits for wind and solar power, it shouldnt undo tax breaks for fossil fuel producers.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst has enlisted a cybersecurity firm to help investigate the source of racist emails that were sent to Black student organizations, its chancellor told students this week.

The universitys chancellor, Kumble R. Subbaswamy, said in a note to students that the anonymous emails were contemptible and cowardly and that they were part of an increase in anti-Black racist incidents that have taken place on the campus this semester.

We will not be intimidated by the hateful acts of craven individuals who hide in anonymity, Mr. Subbaswamy said. We stand with our students who have been victimized, and we will continually strive for a more equitable community grounded in the principles of dignity and respect.

The universitys administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday night.
Twin crises afflict the natural world. The first is climate change. Its causes and potentially catastrophic consequences are well known. The second crisis has received much less attention and is less understood but still requires urgent attention by global policymakers. It is the collapse of biodiversity, the sum of all things living on the planet.

As species disappear and the complex relationships between living things and systems become frayed and broken, the growing damage to the worlds biodiversity presents dire risks to human societies.

The extinction of plants and animals is accelerating, moving an estimated 1,000 times faster than natural rates before humans emerged. Bugs on our windshields are no longer a summer thing as insect populations plummet. Nearly three billion birds have been lost in North America since 1970, diminishing the pollination of food crops. In India, thousands of people are dying of rabies because the population of vultures that feed on garbage is cratering, resulting in a huge increase in feral dogs that eat these food scraps in the birds absence.

This past week, federal wildlife officials, as if underscoring the point, recommended that 22 animals and one plant be declared extinct. They include 11 birds, eight freshwater mussels, two fish and a bat.
The Eviction Lab at Princeton, which I direct, estimates that the eviction moratorium helped prevent 1.55 million eviction filings, affecting more than 3.7 million people. This number is almost certainly an underestimate of the moratoriums true reach, since its based on data covering most but not all of the country and since it reflects the difference between the average number of evictions initiated in previous years  years without a pandemic and the resulting economic fallout  to the number initiated after the moratorium went into effect. (It should also be noted that the C.D.C. order did not cover all evictions, and some judges flat-out ignored it anyway.)

A study by researchers at Duke found that eviction-prevention policies reduced the pandemic death rate by 11 percent. If the federal eviction moratorium had been enacted at the start of the pandemic instead of several months into it, it could have lowered the death toll by even more.

Another study, published in July in The American Journal of Epidemiology, found that states that ended their own eviction moratoriums in the months before the federal moratorium went into effect (like Pennsylvania and Texas) experienced significantly higher mortality rates than states that did not (like Minnesota and New York). Nationally, this resulted in an estimated 433,700 excess Covid-19 cases and 10,700 excess deaths.

Today, transmission rates are roughly what they were in early February, hospital I.C.U.s are at capacity, and about one in six renting families is behind in rent, yet many tenants are now exposed to eviction. Only six states and the District of Columbia have eviction moratoriums still in place, with protections in California and Illinois set to expire in October. Various states have passed limited renter protections, such as requiring landlords to apply for the federally financed Emergency Rental Assistance Program before filing for eviction.

With the exception of Virginia, no Southeastern state has retained full or partial eviction restrictions. Yet this is the region of the country where evictions are typically the highest and where the risk of infection, particularly for the unvaccinated, remains significant. In September, Covid-related deaths in Florida hit a record, but the states eviction courts are now open for business.

From the start, many landlords opposed the moratorium. After the Supreme Court ruling, David Brogan, the director of the New Jersey Apartment Association, captured a widespread sentiment among property owners when he declared: The expectation that landlords can continue to meet their financial obligations without rent revenue is completely unreasonable. Rent revenue is the lifeblood of the multifamily ecosystem, and government cannot expect private sector landlords to continue to provide housing for free.

Did the eviction moratorium push landlords, including small operators with thin margins, into foreclosure?
Former and current employees at Blue Origin, the rocket company started by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the richest people in the world, say the company is rife with sexism, intolerant of employees who dare to contradict their bosses and lax on safety.

The claims, including charges of sexual harassment by company executives, were put forward in an essay written by 21 employees and former employees and published Thursday on the website Lioness. Only one former employee identified herself. The essay also suggested that there were safety concerns about New Shepard, the vehicle that flew Mr. Bezos and three other passengers to the edge of space in July.

In the opinion of an engineer who has signed on to this essay, Blue Origin has been lucky that nothing has happened so far, the essay writers said. Many of this essays authors say they would not fly on a Blue Origin vehicle.

The next New Shepard flight is scheduled for Oct. 12, and one of its four paying passengers said his plans had not changed.
WASHINGTON  In a combative speech on Thursday, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. defended several of the Supreme Courts recent rulings on what critics call its shadow docket, saying the news media had created the impression that a dangerous cabal is deciding important issues in a novel, secretive, improper way in the middle of the night, hidden from public view.

He addressed the recent decisions in unusual detail, rejecting, for instance, what he said was the false and inflammatory claim that we nullified Roe v. Wade in early September by allowing a Texas law that bans most abortions after six weeks to come into effect.

We did no such thing, and we said so expressly in our order, he said, quoting from it. Indeed, the majority in the 5-to-4 ruling said it based its decision on procedural grounds and did not address the constitutionality of the Texas law.

The effect of the ruling, however, has been to deny abortions to most women in Texas. In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the majoritys unsigned order illustrates just how far the courts shadow docket decisions may depart from the usual principles of appellate process.
WASHINGTON  The Biden administration published new guidelines on Thursday for which undocumented immigrants should be prioritized for arrest, giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents broad discretion to decide who poses threats to public safety and national security.

The priorities are intended to further undo the broad immigration arrest policies of the Trump administration, and to instead direct immigration officers to focus on each person rather than categories of specific offenses.

The fact that an individual is a removable noncitizen should not alone be the basis of an enforcement action against them, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, said on Thursday. Therefore, we are requiring and, frankly, empowering our work force  critically, empowering our work force  to exercise their judgment, their law enforcement judgment.

Such considerations include the seriousness of a past offense, what kind of harm it caused and whether a firearm was involved. Under the guidelines, agents should also consider advanced or tender age as a mitigating factor. Other considerations include the effect that arresting and eventually deporting someone would have on the persons family.
WASHINGTON  President Biden has been so eager to move past the Trump era that he prefers to call his predecessor the former guy rather than utter his name.

But in recent weeks, Mr. Biden has found himself in the uncomfortable position of being compared over and over again to Donald J. Trump. Foreign policy experts and even some of his own allies have invoked the T-word on issues such as immigration, treatment of foreign allies and the abrupt withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The comparisons have prompted the White House to underscore points of contrast  its focus on climate, the end of dictating policy by Twitter  to push back on any sense that Mr. Biden represents something less than a clean break from the slash-and-burn politics of the past four years.

I think were in a bit of a different place, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said at a briefing on Thursday when asked about recent comparisons. People would be pretty hard-pressed to argue that the president has taken any aspect of the former presidents playbook and used it as a model of his own.
The postponement was a humiliating blow to Mr. Biden and Democrats, who had spent days toiling to broker a deal between their partys feuding factions and corral the votes needed to pass the infrastructure bill. Mr. Biden has staked his reputation as a deal-maker on the success of both the public works package and a far more ambitious social policy bill, whose fates are now uncertain in a Congress buffeted by partisan divides and internal Democratic strife.

Given the distance between the Democrats left flank and a few centrists on that larger bill, it was not clear when or even whether either would have the votes  and whether Mr. Bidens economic agenda could be revived.

The House and Senate did pass legislation on Thursday to fund the government until Dec. 3, with more than $28 billion in disaster relief and $6.3 billion to help relocate refugees from Afghanistan. Mr. Biden quickly signed it, averting the immediate fiscal threat of a government shutdown and clearing away one item on the Democrats must-do list, at least for two months.

But that small accomplishment was overwhelmed by the acrimony on display within the presidents party.

The infrastructure measure, which would provide $550 billion in new funding, was supposed to burnish Mr. Bidens bipartisan bona fides. It would devote $65 billion to expand high-speed internet access; $110 billion for roads, bridges and other projects; $25 billion for airports; and the most funding for Amtrak since the passenger rail service was founded in 1971. It would also begin the shift toward electric vehicles with new charging stations and fortifications of the electricity grid that will be necessary to power those cars.
In a pivotal week, in a make-or-break stretch for President Bidens domestic agenda, congressional Democrats are trying to assemble a puzzle of four jagged pieces that may or may not fit together.

Making them work as a whole is critical for the partys agenda and political prospects. Failure could have major electoral and economic consequences  including the potential of a first-ever default on the governments debt that could precipitate a global financial crisis. Here are all the moving parts.

Piece 1: Government funding.

Lawmakers entered this week facing a critical deadline: At a second past midnight on Friday morning, the parts of the government that operate under the discretion of Congresss annual spending process had been set to run out of money.

Oct. 1 is the beginning of the fiscal year, and with larger issues dominating their attention, the Democratic House and Senate have not completed any of the annual appropriations bills to fund the Departments of Defense, Transportation, Health and Human Services, State and Homeland Security, to name a few.
WASHINGTON  President Bidens trillion-dollar bipartisan infrastructure plan suffered a significant setback late Thursday night when House Democratic leaders, short of support amid a liberal revolt, put off a planned vote on a crucial plank of their domestic agenda.

Democratic leaders and supporters of the bill insisted the postponement was only a temporary setback. The infrastructure vote was rescheduled for Friday, giving them more time to reach agreement on an expansive climate change and social safety net bill that would bring liberals along.

But such a deal appeared far off, and the delay was a humiliating blow to Mr. Biden and Democrats, who had spent days toiling to broker a deal between their partys feuding factions and corral the votes needed to pass the infrastructure bill. The president has staked his reputation as a deal-maker on the success of both the public works package and a far more ambitious social policy bill, whose fates are now uncertain in a Congress buffeted by partisan divides and internal Democratic strife.

Given the distance between the partys left flank and a few centrists on that larger bill, it was not clear when or even whether either would have the votes  and whether Mr. Bidens economic agenda could be revived.
Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a key centrist holdout, panned the prospects of reaching a deal on Thursday on a framework for an expansive domestic and social policy package, holding firm to a $1.5 trillion price tag that liberals have said is too small.

Emerging late in the evening from a lengthy huddle with top White House officials and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Mr. Manchin said, I dont see a deal tonight, I really dont.

The comments underscored just how far apart the intraparty factions were as they struggled to salvage both pieces of President Bidens sprawling economic agenda. On a day when Congress united to keep the government funded until early December, divisions within the Democratic Party threatened his $1 trillion infrastructure bill as well as the social spending bill.

Hours after Mr. Manchin confirmed that he would not support anything larger than $1.5 trillion in social spending  less than half of what liberals have sought  efforts to hammer out a framework had yet to deliver a deal.
The Senate took its first procedural step on Thursday to advance a stand-alone bill that would lift the statutory limit on federal borrowing until December 2022, even though it is all but guaranteed to fail amid a Republican filibuster.

Senate Democrats pushed forward with a party-line 50-to-43 vote on the legislation, which cleared the House on Wednesday. A day earlier, the Treasury Department warned that it would hit the limit by Oct. 18 and inaction would risk a first-ever default on the federal debt.

Congress raises the debt limit to cover spending it has already approved, and failure to address that ceiling could force the Treasury Department to default on its loans and struggle to pay Social Security payments and crucial benefits.

Republicans continue to insist that Democrats, who control the White House and both chambers of Congress, should act to lift the debt ceiling without any votes from the minority party. Democrats, who helped raise the cap under the Trump administration, have argued that Republicans should help shoulder the political responsibility for such measure.
SEOUL  North Korea said on Friday that it had test-launched a newly developed antiaircraft missile, carrying out the latest in a flurry of weapons tests in recent weeks even as it has declared an openness to dialogue with the South.

The newest launch, conducted on Thursday, tested a land-to-air missile that has greater range, speed and accuracy than previous missiles, the Norths official Korean Central News Agency said on Friday.

The South Korean government has not commented publicly about the Norths missile test, and it did not report the launch when it took place on Thursday. The Souths military reports tests of North Korean ballistic missiles, which violate United Nations resolutions, immediately after they happen. But it has often not done so when the North tests cruise missiles or other weapons considered less threatening.

From a photo of the new missile released by North Korean media, analysts in South Korea said on Friday that the weapon looked like one that the North had unveiled during military parades last October and in January. Weapons on display during the parades included a new land-to-air missile fired from a vehicle with four launch tubes.
ROXBURY, Conn.  Ron Norsworthy, a visual artist and designer, could slot easily into popular cultures ideal of the hero: He is a man of relentless self-invention. He studied architecture at Princeton, worked for a year as a designer with Michael Graves, and, after being laid off, remodeled himself into an art director and production designer for widely-recognized hip-hop groups in the 1990s (among them Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes and Salt-N-Pepa).

While at first the art direction work was exciting, Norsworthy said, I realized in the late 90s that the hip-hop music video world was one [where] I found myself marginalized.

In the early 2000s he created his own multidisciplinary design firm, the Norsworthy Fund, and in 2011, with his self-developed NHOME brand, became one of the first African-American men to sell his own line on QVC. Within the last two decades he has recognized himself, at his core, as an artist.

Through his exploration, Norsworthy told me in an interview at his home, that he has come to understand that what he is primarily seeking with his work is identity-centered place making. In essence, hes creating art works and installations in which the disparate parts of his identity harmoniously coexist. Its crucial to Norsworthy that all of him is welcomed, not just the parts that are apparent and presumed  being a Black, queer man  but also the parts that are subdued and fugitive.
BUCHAREST, Romania  Romania has a long record of defying the catastrophes history has served up, so it certainly would not allow the pandemic to derail the George Enescu International Festival, devoted to its premier musical native son, which ended on Sunday. At stake was not only the 25th edition of this countrys largest cultural event, but also the renewal of a global artistic exchange that this still-marginalized part of Europe considers essential to its development.

Stubbornly underappreciated elsewhere, Enescu (1881-1955), whose Oedipe runs at the Paris Opera through Oct. 14, remains a pervasive presence here, even beyond the musical realm. His face is on Romanias five-lei note; Bucharests largest orchestra is the George Enescu Philharmonic. A sumptuous Beaux-Arts palace along the fabled Calea Victoriei that served briefly as his home is now the Enescu Museum and the headquarters for the Romanian Composers Union.

Credited with giving Romanians a national voice inspired by the countrys rich folk music, Enescu also had a fully cosmopolitan outlook that embraced multiple stylistic shifts. He embodied an ideal of the complete musician in his roles as composer, virtuoso violinist and pianist, conductor, teacher and generous mentor to younger artists. Yehudi Menuhin praised him as the most extraordinary human being, the greatest musician and the most formative influence I have ever experienced.
Tommy Kirk, who was a busy star in the Disney universe as a child and young man, appearing in Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, Swiss Family Robinson and other movies in the late 1950s and early 60s, but whose career was derailed when his homosexuality became too widely known and when drugs and alcohol got the better of him, died on Tuesday at his home in Las Vegas. He was 79.

The Walt Disney Company announced his death in a statement, which did not give a cause.

Mr. Kirk got into show business by accident. An older brother was auditioning for a part in Eugene ONeills Ah, Wilderness! at the Pasadena Playhouse in California and took Tommy, then 12, along; the brother didnt get cast, but Tommy did (though not in the part his brother auditioned for).

An agent came backstage and introduced himself and gave me his card and said, Would you have your folks call me? Mr. Kirk recalled in an interview with the film magazine Scarlet Street in 1993. My mom and dad did, and I ended up signed with a Beverly Hills agency.

He started getting television roles almost immediately, many of them on the live one-hour dramas that were ubiquitous in TVs early days. Then he was cast as Joe, the younger of the two crime-solving Hardy brothers (Tim Considine played the other, Frank), in two Hardy Boys serial adventures broadcast on The Mickey Mouse Club beginning in 1956.
At 105 years old, the local root doctor, Mama Z, has documented nearly every lynching in America since 1913, and she chides the prolific academic author of a two-volume work on the biological and philosophical origins of racial violence in the United States for his ability to construct 307 pages on such a topic without an ounce of outrage. The professor is outraged, however, when reading through Mama Zs files on lynchings, copying down the names of the victims. The crime, the practice, the religion of it, Everett writes, was becoming more pernicious as he realized that the similarity of their deaths had caused these men and women to be at once erased and coalesced like one piece, like one body. They were all a number and no number at all, many and one, a symptom, a sign.

This coalescence will take something of a supernatural form as the murders continue, the enforcers of retributive justice moving as one, making a collective noise, chanting one syllable: rise.

WE IMAGINED IT WAS RAIN

By Andrew Siegrist

193 pp. Hub City Press. Paper, $16.95.

Image

Siegrists debut collection, winner of the C. Michael Curtis Short Story Prize, is a muted affair. Sad fathers of lost sons and disappeared daughters populate these quiet stories, in a book unified by a gently plaintive tone, heavy symbolism and a reverence for Tennessee.

The mothers in this book are often distant or dead, and Siegrist gives tender treatment to these fragile, abandoned men and boys. In Whittled Bone, a mother sleeps or stares out the window while her husband copes with the disappearance of their daughter by collecting and arranging the dead wasps, spider webs and cattle bones shed recorded in her dream journal before she ran away. The motherless siblings of Satellites must decide whether to help their father, who plans to kill himself the day NASAs UARS satellite burns out and falls from the sky. Another grief-stricken son learns magic tricks from his father, who swallows fire on street corners for money, and imagines the even greater illusion of bringing his mother back to life.

Politics are nearly absent from these worlds, but there is social context to be found in the deft details: the nesting of cottonmouth snakes, caterpillars collected in Ball jars, a father examining the childhood scar on the brow of his son who lies dead from an overdose. There is a strange sense of almost antediluvian time operating in this atmospheric collection, and intriguing hints at lives influenced more by myth than by history. A grieving young father tells the story of a girl with waist-length eyelashes, who raised sacred things by planting pages of the Bible in the earth. Another father remembers the story of a woman who made miracles by sending candles floating downriver, toward the sea.

Coffins and coolers fill with water as characters pray for the rain that always comes. Maybe Siegrists South is edging closer to diluvian dream time, where the floods of the past and the floods of the future are the same torrent because, as he writes, every drop of water on earth has been here since the beginning of time.
In Clarksburg, we meet some of the victims, longtime employees who lose their health coverage and pensions. Poverty and diminishing opportunity in West Virginia also make it prime recruiting country for our all-volunteer military, and we meet badly damaged veterans. Recruitment from such communities enhances Washingtons ability to wage war and to keep America safe, including the speculators in Greenwich and the politicians in the nations capital, who are also kept safe from having their sons and daughters serve in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Perhaps local legislators should do better than Congress. Not so in West Virginia, where the legislature is allied with industry, and does little to protect its citizens, even when Freedom Industries, co-founded by a former cocaine dealer and tax evader, spills toxic chemicals into the Charleston water supply.

In Chicago, Osnos shows us the continuing struggle of African American children to get an education, and to avoid a largely hostile police force in an underfunded city. Many of them have never seen the lake, nor Michigan Avenue and its magnificent mile. What would either mean to them? Such exclusion from the best that the country has to offer is a running theme and, as Osnos notes, many of the Capitol rioters were visiting D.C. for the first time.

Some will find Osnoss picture too dark, too one-sided. American capitalism still permits many to flourish, and it supplies us with an immense range of goods and services. Yet it is true that Washington is largely hobbled by the needs of campaign finance and the clamor of lobbyists. And as corporations and the rich avoid taxes, and as health care devours one in every five dollars without delivering good health, federal and local governments are increasingly struggling to fund the police, teachers, roads and public health. For those without a four-year college degree, life is getting worse; their lives have become more painful and, since 2010, their life spans have shortened, even before the Covid pandemic. It is also true that our country has been polarized and paralyzed before, most recently in the 1960s, and we have not descended into another civil war.

In The Raging 2020s, Alec Ross similarly argues that our social contract is broken, that the roles of business, labor, government and foreign countries need to be rethought, and he supplies several of his favorite templates. Osnoss view is from the ground, Rosss view, that of the policy wonk, is from above, not the view of the people nor even the politicians. The best chapter (by far) is an immensely (and unusually) readable account of how tax havens and the competition between countries have allowed multinational companies, especially the big tech companies, to avoid paying taxes in any of the many jurisdictions in which they operate.
Bidens agenda on the line

President Biden signed a short-term spending bill to fund the U.S. government until early December and avoid an imminent shutdown.

The extension gave lawmakers additional time to reach consensus over the dozen annual bills that dictate federal spending, but the future of Bidens domestic agenda still hung in the balance.

Late Thursday night, Democrats in the House of Representatives delayed a vote on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, a setback to a crucial piece of Bidens economic agenda. Liberal Democrats had threatened to block it without substantial progress toward passing a $3.5 trillion social policy and climate bill.

That larger legislation faces tough resistance from moderates in the party. On Thursday, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a key holdout, announced for the first time that he would support only $1.5 trillion in funding for the social safety net.
TOKYO  Takao Saito, who created Golgo 13, a manga comic book series that has sold in staggering numbers over a half-century, making its assassin-for-hire antihero one of Japans most recognizable characters and the world of Japanese comics a darker, more adult place, died here on Sept 24. He was 84.

His office said the cause was pancreatic cancer.

In tales of international intrigue and moral ambiguity, Mr. Saitos laconic but ruthless character Golgo 13, armed with a customized M-16 that almost never misses its mark, has appeared in movies, video games and even a self-improvement book that counseled businessmen to follow his single-minded commitment to his work.

In July, Golgo 13 became Japans longest running comic series with the publication of its 201st collected volume, an event marked by Guinness World Records. (The stories were originally published in weekly magazines.) This month the 202nd volume was published. About 300 million of the volumes have been sold, the series publisher says.

With tales of sex and violence set against the backdrop of contemporary geopolitics, Golgo 13 marked a turning point for the manga industry, whose top creators had mostly made comics for children.
Much of the world is suddenly worried about running short of natural gas, and the impact is being felt in surging utility bills, shuttered factories and a rising desperation as winter approaches.

Across Asia, Europe and Latin America, consumers still reeling from the pandemic are finding energy costs soaring, driven higher by natural gas prices that have increased fourfold in some regions in recent months, hitting record highs this week. Makers of chemicals, steel, ceramics and other goods that require large amounts of energy are seeing their bottom lines squeezed and, in some cases, suspending operations.

In South Korea, electric rates just increased for the first time since 2013, and small businesses that struggled under months of strict pandemic rules are now fearing future price jumps. Its already hard for small businesses to survive, said the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise.

In Brazil, the worst drought in 90 years has depleted hydroelectric output, forcing power generators to import expensive natural gas. The government raised electricity prices by nearly 7 percent in September, after a nearly 8 percent increase in July.
On Thursday, The Times published another report from Mr. Smith that, last year, Ozy hired a team to make a talk show for the cable network A&E  The Carlos Watson Show, hosted by Mr. Watson. Guests were told the show would air on A&E, and the shows executive producer was told it would premiere in August 2020 in prime time.

The problem: A&E said there was no such deal. The executive producer resigned after finding out, writing to Ozys leaders: You are playing a dangerous game with the truth. The consequences of offering an A&E show to guests when we dont have one to offer are catastrophic for Ozy and for me.

Heres what we know about the turmoil at Ozy.

Mr. Watson said the show was being produced for A&E, then YouTube Originals. Neither happened.

When the executive producer, Brad Bessey, resigned, he told the shows staff that the program was not, in fact, going to be shown on A&E. Mr. Watson then told the people on the Zoom call that The Carlos Watson Show would eventually wind up on A&E, according to Mr. Bessey and one other person on the call. Until that time, Mr. Watson added, the show would appear on YouTube as part of its YouTube Originals, a slate of programming made by professional studios and paid for by YouTube.

The Carlos Watson Show ended up appearing on Ozy.com and on YouTube, although not as a YouTube Original. A YouTube official confirmed that the show was not a YouTube Original. Mr. Watson and an Ozy spokesperson did not reply to requests for comment.

Read more about the proposed A&E show 

The chairman of Ozys board stepped down.

Marc Lasry, the chairman of Ozys board and a hedge fund manager who is also a co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, resigned on Thursday, four days after The Times reported that someone from Ozy appeared to have impersonated a YouTube executive during a conference call with Goldman Sachs bankers while the company was trying to raise $40 million.
We have a new favorite recipe in the rotation at our house: Eric Kims version of gyeran bap, a dish he paid homage to in his column in The New York Times Magazine a few weeks ago. Several cultures have a dish like this, a soul-satisfying combination of fried egg and rice, topped as you like. Ive made variations on egg rice many times, but I especially love Erics method of allowing the butter to brown, and his addition of soy sauce to the pan (which makes for, as he describes them, buttery soy sauce drippings). We eat this for lunch, though its just as good for breakfast, dinner or snacking.

That recipe is below, as well as one from Yewande Komolafe, whose new column for The Times made its debut this week! Its a gorgeous exploration of food, home and identity, and it comes with a recipe for roasted carrots with yaji spice relish. As always, I hope youll read and cook. And, of course, I hope youll tell me what you think about the recipes below and what youre making lately. Im dearemily@nytimes.com, and its good to hear from you.
This Saturday, there will be demonstrations across the country to protest Texas crowdsourced abortion ban and the Supreme Courts refusal to enjoin it. It could be a broad mobilization. Rachel OLeary Carmona, executive director of the Womens March, part of the coalition organizing the protests, told me there are 650 marches planned nationwide. Ill be happily surprised, however, if any of the events are very large. Organizers have applied for a permit for 10,000 people in Washington. Thats about 10 percent of the people who showed up there for the third Womens March in 2019.

Lara Putnam, a historian at the University of Pittsburgh, told me she was impressed by how many events are being planned in Pennsylvania  more than for the original Womens March. But are the numbers of people showing up going to be the same? she said. No. Theres no way theyre going to be the same.

Ive always assumed that if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, which I suspect it will next year, it would spark a furious backlash. But it turns out the Supreme Court can functionally suspend Roe without making too many waves. Maybe some people are reluctant to protest because of Delta. But after four years of Donald Trump and a year and a half of a pandemic, a lot of politically committed Americans are burned out.

Of course, not all of them. Putnam has been tracking people, especially women, who were spurred to get involved in politics by horror and revulsion at Trumps election. She told me that those who were most active  she estimates about 20 percent of the total  are still at it. Their lives remain utterly transformed, she said. They are still super involved. They are now either themselves elected officials, or on local Democratic Party committees. They are vastly more savvy than they were.
Free trade in Africa is an obvious opportunity. The World Bank estimated in a report last year that the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement that was signed in 2018 has the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty, with two-thirds of the gains coming from cutting red tape and simplifying customs procedures. Its more efficient for Africans to buy from other Africans  which would result in greater economic diversification  but that often doesnt happen today because intracontinental trade is costly and complex.

Manufacturing has been the way out of poverty for many countries, including China. But now that manufacturing has become more capital- and technology-intensive, that route has become a less effective job creator. Says Usman: Africa has some window of opportunity, maybe two decades, before the robots take over.

Usmans paper focuses on a type of diversification that gets less attention, namely diversification of government revenue sources. Thats obviously correlated with economic diversification  you cant tax factories if there arent any factories.

One solution, although not an easy one, is to raise taxes from enterprises that are now in the informal sector  that is, not registered, regulated or taxed. But overtaxation of small companies by government at multiple levels can be a problem as well, she says. Usman points to research showing that its easier to raise taxes when the public believes the government is honest and effective. The money raised by casting the revenue net wider can fund government programs that promote economic development and diversification, the paper argues.

One product thats instantly recognizable as African is the brightly colored, intricately designed fabric thats made into womens dresses, especially in Central and Western Africa. Whats less known is that the biggest producer of the fabric, Vlisco, is Dutch and manufactures it in the Netherlands. Nothing wrong with that, of course; Vlisco is serving a need and serving it well. But Usman sees in Vlisco a missed opportunity. Why, she asks, cant an African company supply a quintessentially African product?



The readers write

The difference between partial slavery  a noncompete agreement  and full-scale slavery is important, of course, but the two are birds fledged from the same nest. Both are unconscionable restrictions on freedom imposed by the powerful upon the powerless.
Its hard to believe now, but before Donald Trump became the G.O.P.s presidential nominee in 2016, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida was widely seen as a champion of the reformicons  conservatives who wanted the Republican Party to become more moderate and flexible, to move beyond its obsessive focus on cutting taxes for the rich and slashing benefits for the poor. Since then, however, Rubio has become a pathetic figure  not just a Trump toady, but someone who routinely tweets out stuff like this: The $3.5 trillion Biden plan isnt socialism, its Marxism.

Indeed, we all remember the stirring passage in The Communist Manifesto where Marx declared, Workers of the world, unite to spend 1.2 percent of G.D.P. on popular programs over the next decade!

The fact that Republicans routinely say such nonsense is why the Biden administration should mint a $1 trillion platinum coin or declare that the Constitution gives it the right to issue whatever debt is needed to fund the government  or use some other trick I havent thought of to ignore the looming crisis.

Some background: We all learned in civics class  do students still take civics?  that federal policy on spending and taxing is set by a straightforward legislative process. Congress passes bills and if the president doesnt veto those bills, they become law. End of story.
The man says his wife will accuse him of walking away. This a common refrain among the callers.

Let me stop you there, Sharon says. You need to inform your partner and son that this is a strategy youre going to use, so from now on, if conflict is arising, youre going to practice this time out and this is what it looks like, so they are forewarned about strategies youll be using.

He says his wife will still accuse him of abandoning her, but Sharon pushes back. If you say to your wife: I want to help, but in the moment Im struggling and I dont want a situation that gets abusive, and I want your support, but in the meantime if I feel a moment of anger, I want you to know what Im doing with this strategy. Maybe what she sees in the moment is that you dont want to help her, but this is a different message, and you want to have that discussion with your family beforehand.

Later, I talked to Sharon about her time on the help line. She said she often gets calls from men who have returned home to find that their partner and children have fled to a shelter. The men may have been served with a restraining order. Its a side of the story we rarely see: What happens in the empty house when a victim has fled with the children and the abuser arrives home? This scenario is perhaps where the help line is crucial as a crisis intervention. For perpetrators of violence, coming home to an empty house can ignite a stress response, the fight-or-flight mode, and abusers often go into fight mode. Its a fragile, critical moment that can mean life or death for a victim. Risk of homicide for victims of domestic violence increases more than fivefold in the first year after theyve left a highly controlling abuser, according to Jacquelyn Campbell, one of the most renowned domestic violence researchers in the United States. The point is to disrupt a moment of escalation.

Sharon will try to reframe this moment as a time out for callers. We say: Lets look at the positives. This gives you some time to say OK, slow it down. Its a chance to take time to think, shell tell them. If you dont use this opportunity to explore whats next and what you can do better, the consequences will be more severe. You will lose more. Sharon said its important to get them to name their behavior, and often shell ask them to consider whether such behavior is unacceptable. She gives them concrete tasks to fulfill during their time out, like calling their doctor to explore medication or doing exercises from the Respect website. For many, perpetrator intervention programs will come next. She tries not to end a call without a list of concrete steps that someone should take to begin the process of change.

The United States response to violence has been fundamentally shaped by the myth that a violent person will not reach out for help. Its part of the reason we rely so heavily on the criminal justice system and court-mandated interventions; its why we put so much of the impetus for change on victims, who are asked to disrupt their lives and the lives of their children to move into shelters, which are, at best, a temporary fix.

But Covid is challenging that myth. In the early months of the pandemic, when courts were closed, many programs either shut down or went online. A number of programs found that probation and parole officers were unable to adequately supervise attendance and yet, participants still showed up. Groups across the country reported high rates of attendance. Men and women joined from their bedrooms, from laundry rooms, from their cars. For me, that is breaking a fundamental paradigm in this country that men will not ask for help voluntarily, or that men will not go to these groups voluntarily, Mr. Arean told me. Many of these men are desperate for support.

In their new book The Violence Project, Jillian Peterson, a psychologist, and James Densley, a sociologist, write that 86 percent of mass shooters under the age of 21 will signal their plans, will reach out to someone beforehand  a friend, a teacher, a family member. But we must not lose sight of the fact that in the vast majority of cases, any threat is really just a cry for help, evidence of an underlying personal crisis, they write.
These moves reveal what companies are trying to avoid. If you look inward and investigate the harms your platform has caused and it turns out to be too expensive or too hard to fix them, it stirs up the exact kind of public relations storm Facebook is now enduring. From these companies perspective, the alternative is simpler: If you dont study it, theres nothing to reveal.

Between Facebooks internal research and reports last month on the companys failed program to share its data with outside social scientists, executives across Silicon Valley at other companies are most likely breathing a sigh of relief: Theyve managed to dodge pressure from outside researchers to interrogate their own practices.

The series most damning takeaways were the revelations around how Facebook has handled content issues in Africa, Latin America and Asia. While Facebook applies its community rules globally, those rules cant possibly adhere to the wide range of cultural norms of Facebook users around the world. Understanding those differences requires more and better people to constantly revise the rules and enforce them.

Last week, Facebook announced it has spent more than $13 billion on safety and security since 2016 and currently employs 40,000 full- and part-time safety and security workers. For 2020 alone, this puts the costs in this area between $5 billion to $6 billion  or about one-tenth of the companys overall costs. To put this all in perspective, in the United States there is roughly one law enforcement officer for every 500 people. Facebook has 2.8 billion global monthly active users; that means just 1.3 people working in safety and security for every 100,000 users.

There is no quick fix for content moderation. The only way to do it better is to hire more people to do the work of safety and security, a term that encompasses all who both directly and indirectly write, revise and enforce Facebooks community standards. According to Facebooks S.E.C. filings, the average revenue per users in the United States and Canada in the last quarter of 2020 was $53.56. Europe, its next-largest market, accounted for only a fraction of that at $16.87, with Asia-Pacific users at just $4.05. Rest of World was just $2.77 per user. Those numbers dont necessarily reflect where Facebook ultimately ends up investing in safety and security. But it does help explain one powerful set of incentives that might motivate the companys priorities.

The Facebook Files series is motivating change. But it will take more than breathless reporting to make sure that reform happens in effective ways. That will require laws demanding transparency from platforms, a new agency to specialize in online issues and more science. Whistle-blowing gets us halfway there. We have to do the rest.
I am reminded of watching a university chancellor give a talk about 20 years ago in which she said that she was committed to diversity not only in terms of admitting as many brown students as possible, but also people of various other kinds, depending on factors such as geography, religion, political beliefs and others. She was venturing to approach diversity on the basis of its original meaning. But by that point, the word had been used in its narrowed way for so long that it seemed as if it were hard for the people listening to wrap their heads around the idea of an admissions policy based truly on simple variety  all of the audience questions about diversity that followed were built on our modern, narrowed usage of the word.

That understanding of the word diversity traces to 1978. Allan Bakke, a white man, sued the regents of the University of California after twice being rejected from the U.C. Davis School of Medicine, which set aside 16 percent of its seats for members of minorities. He claimed that his grades and test scores were better than some of these students who had been accepted. The schools affirmative action policy amounted to reverse discrimination, he said. In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the regents, arguing that racial preferences in university admissions were justifiable in creating diversity, though minority quotas were not. From there on, the term has been used as a kind of shorthand for a concern with those students specifically. Seventh-day Adventists and people from Kansas are considered much less important under this conception of diversity.

Many may hear universities voice support for diversity and chafe that there seems so much less concern for a representative number of Idahoans, English horn players or even financially strapped whites than of brown-skinned students. However, diversity has not referred to diversity per se for over 40 years now in these contexts. Universities themselves tend to use the word today  and its close cousins, equity and inclusion  in a semantically narrowed, shorthand fashion when referring to their own tabulations of racial breakdowns of student populations. It is taken as a given that the diversity in question is racial. This seems quite ordinary now but would throw the time traveler from 1920, for whom the word had not taken on this particular, limited meaning yet.

The term discrimination has narrowed in the same way and would equally baffle the person from a century ago in its modern usage, as it still confuses some people. People who feel that in our era it can sometimes be a disadvantage to be white when applying for a certain kind of position  because of calls for diversity  may claim that they are being victimized. They might call this unlawful on the basis of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discriminating against people on the basis of, among other things, race.
In Germany, you can buy a rapid Covid-19 test at the grocery store for one euro (a little more than a dollar). In Britain, any household can obtain a pack of seven rapid tests every day for free. In Singapore, you can get a free rapid test from a vending machine. Families in Israel receive at-home rapid tests for their children to use before school. Rapid testing is commonplace in many parts of the world because policymakers recognized early on that the tests could blunt the pandemic by stopping chains of transmission. By letting people know they are infectious, rapid tests are useful even in areas with high vaccination rates and can allow for a safer return to in-person activity.

But in the United States, if youre lucky enough to find tests on a pharmacy shelf, they can cost from $7 to $50. The United States has not prioritized these tests, and only recently have Americans recognized their unique benefits. To end the coronaviruss grip on American society, the United States must embrace rapid testing in a more substantial way by making it easier and cheaper for people to use them frequently.

At-home rapid tests  which are usually antigen tests  can tell people within minutes whether they are contagious with Covid-19. Many Americans are more familiar with laboratory P.C.R. tests, which tell users if theres any amount of virus in their system and can often take 24 hours or longer to return results. (Dr. Mina advises a diagnostics company working on a rapid molecular test for Covid-19, which is different from the rapid antigen tests discussed here.)

People can buy rapid tests at the local pharmacy, swab the front of their nose or throat at home, and based on the results, either isolate or continue about their day. Regular use of rapid tests can make schools and workplaces safer and erase the need for quarantines through test-to-stay programs, in which students who have been exposed to the virus can stay in school as long as they take frequent Covid tests. The rapid tests can also make everyday activities  including indoor ones, such as dinner parties, play dates, weddings and visits with grandparents  less risky.
sabrina tavernise

From The New York Times, Im Sabrina Tavernise. This is The Daily.

archived recording Tonight the most restrictive abortion law in the country has gone into effect in Texas. The Texas rule bans abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity before many women know theyre pregnant.

sabrina tavernise

A month ago, on September 1st, Texas adopted a controversial law that effectively bans abortion in the countrys second largest state.

archived recording Breaking news tonight. The U.S. Supreme Court will not block the new Texas law that bans 

sabrina tavernise

The law has faced multiple challenges in court 

archived recording The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to block the new Texas abortion law.

sabrina tavernise

 including by the federal government. But so far, the law has survived, and it is already having an effect. Today, my colleague Clare Toeniskoetter and I on how the most restrictive law in the country is changing the map on abortion. Its Friday, October 1st.

clare toeniskoetter Can you describe what were seeing? sabrina tavernise We are driving through a series of endless stoplights on a really straight road with no hills out toward the clinic. clare toeniskoetter What time is it? sabrina tavernise Its 7:35 in the morning.

sabrina tavernise

Last week, Clare and I traveled to Oklahoma City to go to one of Oklahomas four abortion clinics.

clare toeniskoetter Its supposed to be 99 degrees today. sabrina tavernise It does not feel like it, but I guess thats the Plains states for you. clare toeniskoetter Yeah. Pulling up. sabrina tavernise Oh, great. You, too.

sabrina tavernise

We arrived on a hot, sunny Monday morning.

clare toeniskoetter Sabrina, tell me where were at. sabrina tavernise Were standing on the lawn of an abortion clinic called Trust Women. Building is brick, single story, pretty nondescript. It could be a dentist office. It has some security cameras and a really tall wooden fence that goes all around the property. And were here to see what the effect of the Texas abortion law has been  the one that began September 1st. Because this clinic is only about three hours north of Dallas. Its one of the closest clinics to Texas that women could go to.

sabrina tavernise

We knew that because this clinic was so close to the Texas border, it would see an increase in patients. So we wanted to see how this law was affecting women and their calculations for whether to get an abortion.

clare toeniskoetter Lets go inside. sabrina tavernise Yeah, lets go in.

sabrina tavernise

We head through a little vestibule, past an armed guard watching security cameras and checking bags, into what looks like a typical doctors office. Theres a large waiting room with magazine racks on the walls and soft music playing and about a dozen chairs. And a reception area behind a glass window.

[side conversation] health care worker OK what were your questions?

sabrina tavernise

Inside, four women are already busy answering phone calls. One of those women 

jennifer reince Hi, its nice to meet you!

sabrina tavernise

 is Jennifer Reince.

clare toeniskoetter Is this a normal amount of calls? jennifer reince After September 1st, yes. It was like a light had been flipped. We had every line lit up for almost eight hours straight. clare toeniskoetter How many calls do you get a day? jennifer reince Before it was  I mean, there were really slow days. Wed be 15 calls a day, 20 calls a day. And then, Im telling you, September 1st rolled around. And it was just like all hell broke loose. Probably 60 to 80. sabrina tavernise Whats that like? jennifer reince Its hard but  I mean, I have to I have to stop and take a breath and tell myself, like, youre one person. Youre doing as much as you can, and you just have to take a breath and remember that. And then I can move on. But like Ill just try to take on too much. health care worker All right, how can I help you?

sabrina tavernise

On these calls, Jennifer and her colleagues answer questions about the procedure itself.

health care worker And are you wanting the surgical or medication option?

sabrina tavernise

The clinic offers two kinds of abortions. Medication abortion  pills that terminate a pregnancy up to 11 weeks  and surgical abortions, which are offered up to 21 weeks and six days.

health care worker OK so the cost of your procedure is going to be $650, we require 

sabrina tavernise

Other calls are about the price, which ranges from $650 for the earliest stages of pregnancy, to about $2300 for the latest.

health care worker Payment plans, no, but we do offer funding.

sabrina tavernise

Some calls are about funding. In almost all cases in Oklahoma abortion is not covered by insurance, and the clinic has a list of organizations that women can contact to ask about funding. And now, when a caller is ready to schedule an appointment, she has to wait.

health care worker Our next available appointment would be October 14 and 15.

sabrina tavernise

Because since the Texas law went into effect, this clinic is completely booked and is scheduling appointments several weeks out.

health care worker No problem. jennifer reince Thats the hard part right now. Were so capped out on our surgeries right now that they are looking at three or four weeks before wed be able to get them back in.

sabrina tavernise

And theres only so many patients the clinic can take, because they dont have full time doctors on staff. Their doctors actually come from out of state.

clare toeniskoetter Do you know where all the different doctors are flying in from? jennifer reince Lets see, we have Dallas, Florida. Shes in California, she goes to the Kansas clinic and here. So shes 

sabrina tavernise

This is typical. Clinics in states that restrict abortion often struggle to hire local doctors. The social stigma can be strong, and there are also concerns about safety. So clinics like this one rely on doctors who fly in for a few days at a time.

clare toeniskoetter And how does it feel to you, living here, working here, that the doctors all fly in from out of state? jennifer reince I think its, think its sad that we live somewhere that doctors dont feel safe enough to live and work in a state. I think its ridiculous though, because all these doctors have full time jobs other places too. So its not like theyre just like, oh, I only have to work two days a week and thats in Oklahoma City. Like they go work full time, come here, and then go back to their full time job again

sabrina tavernise

Over the next few months they have five different doctors scheduled, and theyre trying to get them to come in more often to accommodate all the Texas patients.

jennifer reince One of the other doctors tried adding another day here and this one was added for sure because of it, these two were added because of it. clare toeniskoetter And because of it meaning, because of Texas? jennifer reince Yes, yes yes.

sabrina tavernise

And as were talking to Jennifer one of her co-workers, Amenthia Carrion, takes a call.

amenthia carrion Oh my goodness, Im so sorry. OK. OK, so we would not be able to get you in here in Oklahoma until the 14th. 18, 19, 20, 21. And so the 14th and the 15th, and so by then youll probably already be 21 weeks. So what my options that I would give you would be, we have a sister clinic in Wichita, Kansas. And their waiting list is a lot shorter than ours. They may be able to get you in next week. Or I know Colorado and New Mexico as well. I could give you the numbers to them as well. But I know with all three of those locations, they do help with funding. And I know theres three places right now in Texas that are helping people with funding to get to their abortions. Mm-hmm. Where are you located at? Would you be interested in maybe trying to schedule at our Kansas location in Wichita, Kansas? health care worker Just have a seat for me, itll be like two seconds. Ill call you back up to payment, OK? sabrina tavernise Amenthia, that was, was that a patient that was like, the October 14 thing was going to be hard for her, right? amenthia carrion Yeah, it would have put her over. Shes 18 weeks since a couple of days today. So if she was to come in October 14, because it would be a two-day procedure, so shes 18 right now. 19, 20, 21, 22. 6, so  sabrina tavernise So she was basically out of time. amenthia carrion Yeah. background chatter And what is your  right here. So it says its going to be done in the consultation session. Dont believe it youre just going to do it now. amenthia carrion There was a girl a couple of weeks back, that pretty much she was just crying on the phone and because we werent able to get her in. And I dont think she had somebody to help her take care of the child that she already had. And when she did finally find a caretaker and somebody to drive, the date that they were able to, we werent available for clinic. And she was like  excuse my language  shes like, I guess Im just pretty much [EXPLETIVE] stuck and nobodys going to be able to help me. And she was just bawling on the phone and you just feel kind of helpless in situations like that.

sabrina tavernise

This is a real moment for abortion in America. In the past four years that Ive been covering it, Ive seen states in the South, in the Midwest, restrict access pretty dramatically, which means abortion clinics have been closing. And women are now having to travel longer distances to get to a clinic. At the highest level, the Supreme Court is about to hear an abortion case from Mississippi. Its the first argument of an abortion case before the court with all three of former President Trumps appointees in place. And theres a chance that it will erase the federal protection for abortion altogether. But for women in Texas who want abortions, at least for now, that protection is effectively already gone. So that morning at the clinic there were 48 patients on the schedule.

clare toeniskoetter Hi. sarah Hello. sabrina tavernise Thank you so much for talking to us.

sabrina tavernise

And one of them agreed to talk to us.

clare toeniskoetter Tell me your name. sarah My name is Sarah. sabrina tavernise And tell me how old you are, Sarah. sarah Im 21.

sabrina tavernise

A young woman named Sarah, who asked that her last name not be used.

sabrina tavernise Is it weird if I just sit down on the ground? sarah No.

sabrina tavernise

Shes wearing a gray t-shirt with an outline of Texas on it. She has an IV in her arm, and shes waiting to have an abortion.

sabrina tavernise Sarah, where did you come from this morning? sarah I live in Dallas, so we drove up here yesterday.

sabrina tavernise

She came from Dallas the day before.

sabrina tavernise How far of a drive was it? What time did you start yesterday? sarah Three hours. We left at like 2:30-ish.

sabrina tavernise

With her boyfriend whos a police officer.

sabrina tavernise Tell us a little bit about your background. sarah So yeah, I grew up in Texas. Both of my parents died when I was very young, so I dont have that support system behind me. My mom died in a car accident when I was nine, and then my dad got cancer when I was 19. So Ive been on my own for a while. And its pretty hard having to  because this is honestly probably the hardest thing Ive ever had to go through. And to have to go through it without them has been hard. Um, oh, Im sorry. [DEEP BREATH] So I was putting my way through college until Covid happened.

sabrina tavernise

Last year, Sarah was paying for college courses to do a criminal justice degree. But then took some time off during Covid and hadnt gone back to her studies yet.

sarah Roofing, I do roofing.

sabrina tavernise

And thats when she got a job for a roofing company.

sabrina tavernise Do you yourself go up and do the roofing? sarah Well no, I go up and I assess the storm damage. But I do have to climb on top of roofs and then get on top of them if theres any damage and whatnot. So, yeah.

sabrina tavernise

She goes up on top of roofs and does inspections for insurance after storms.

sarah I actually used to work at the airport, and hes a police officer for the airport.

sabrina tavernise

Shes been dating her boyfriend for about a year.

sarah I worked for a private security company 

sabrina tavernise

They met at the Dallas airport, where she was working for a security company. And he kept finding ways to talk to her.

sarah It turned from like cute little work flirtation to something, to the best love Ive ever had in my life. sabrina tavernise And at what point, Sarah, did you learn you were pregnant? Tell us a little bit about your story. sarah So I did miss a period, but Im 21 and that happens. So I didnt really, I didnt really realize it, I thought I was  my period was just kind of being irregular and that it would come the next month.

sabrina tavernise

So in August of this year, she misses her period.

sarah I wasnt on birth control at the time. But I mean I tried to practice safe sex.

sabrina tavernise

And she doesnt really think much about it, shes never been pregnant before.

sarah And then it didnt come the next month, and I was a little worried. But then she misses another period and so she takes a pregnancy test. clare toeniskoetter Where did you take the test? sarah In my best friends bathroom. It was kind of like, oh man lets take a pregnancy test just to be safe. And then it turned out I was so 

sabrina tavernise

And the test comes back positive.

sarah And I went, OK, well we just got to take care of it. We just got to, you know, I just have to get an abortion. Thats what I have to do.

sabrina tavernise

Immediately she thinks, I want to get an abortion, but she doesnt have health insurance.

sarah So I had to make a bunch of phone calls. And I found like a free clinic to go and get like an ultrasound.

sabrina tavernise

And the next day she ends up at a crisis pregnancy center. These are places that do not perform abortions but they do provide free ultrasounds. Theyre typically run by people associated with the anti-abortion movement, who try to counsel women out of getting abortions. Sarah knew this, but she wanted to confirm the pregnancy and find out how far along she was.

sarah And I understand that the lady giving me an ultrasound was just trying to be helpful but she wrote like messages. She was like, Hi mommy, its me, Oh, heres baby. And like seeing that, and knowing that its right here, and that like  it was just hard. Yeah. My counselor at the place did tell me, she was like, you dont even have to worry about it, youve got time. In Texas, you can get an abortion at up to 21 weeks, and she didnt even mention the legislation that was about to pass.

sabrina tavernise

Sarah finds out that shes 13 weeks pregnant. So she thinks she has time.

sarah I had seen that it was in legislation 

sabrina tavernise

She knows the law is coming 

sarah  but I thought I would be like, grandfathered in, and I thought that 

sabrina tavernise

 but she doesnt think it would apply to her.

sarah  I would be able to explain my situation here, but the law that they passed is so strict that they have absolutely no, no loopholes, no ways around it.

sabrina tavernise

So then the law took effect.

sarah I was thinking about going to New Mexico, maybe Colorado.

sabrina tavernise

And she immediately started scrambling to find an abortion clinic in a different state.

sarah But this one was the closest, and 

sabrina tavernise

Almost a month later, she found herself here in Oklahoma, at six weeks and five days of pregnancy.

sabrina tavernise How did you do it financially?

sabrina tavernise

She and her boyfriend split the cost of the abortion 

sarah I did have to put off my car payment, so I could pay for my half.

sabrina tavernise

 which amounted to $1550.

sarah Now Im in debt and now Im in a hole that I have to get myself out of. Yeah. sabrina tavernise How are you feeling right now, Sarah? sarah Very scared. Very nervous. Not conflicted, I made this choice and I know that its the choice thats best for me. But there is like a possible life forming inside me, and its hard not to bond with that. Its hard not to make that connection. Its hard not to want this. And I dont think people realize that this is a really hard decision. And if it wasnt like, if it wasnt like, the smartest one. If I was in a better place I wouldnt be here. sabrina tavernise Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Good luck.

sabrina tavernise

At the end of the day, more than half the patients who came traveled from Texas. There have been so many Texas patients at the clinic in recent weeks that some Oklahoma women who wanted appointments were having to go to another neighboring state: Kansas. Well be right back.

clare toeniskoetter Good morning.

sabrina tavernise

We come back to the clinic on Tuesday morning.

clare toeniskoetter A car just pulled up 

sabrina tavernise

And before the doors even open,

sabrina tavernise  a red truck with a Texas license plate.

sabrina tavernise

Cars are arriving from Texas.

sabrina tavernise Another car just pulled up, also a Texas plate.

sabrina tavernise

Patients come in.

louis padilla Hello.

sabrina tavernise

And the first person they meet is Louis Padilla 

louis padilla Hi there.

sabrina tavernise

 the security guard. Hes quiet and professional, wearing a blue uniform with a badge and a gun.

louis padilla Thats what I do here, is I check people in. Make sure theyre supposed to be here. Search their bags, articles, whatever, make sure they dont have any weapons.

sabrina tavernise

But when we ask him about his job, he opens up. And its a little bit unexpected.

louis padilla I mean, Im probably the only Catholic Republican that works in an abortion clinic in the United States. Before, I was just here for a job, but since then Ive picked a side. I picked a side of the patient. sabrina tavernise And how long did it take you to come to the conclusion youve come to? That feel like youre kind of solidly on this side? louis padilla After my first week of dealing with protesters.

sabrina tavernise

He says a lot of his job is dealing with protesters.

louis padilla Regular basis.

sabrina tavernise

We saw only one.

clare toeniskoetter arent they there right now? louis padilla Because we usually do clinic on Thursdays and Fridays. So therefore we fooled them today, they didnt know we were here.

sabrina tavernise

And he says thats because abortions usually take place at the end of the week. Still, he said, he cant be too careful.

sabrina tavernise Is there a feeling that like, maybe there could be danger or violence? louis padilla Yeah absolutely, because since Ive been working here, within the last three months, Ive had two preachers call me out to the corner wanting to fight with me. I had this old man pull a pocketknife on me. And Ive called the police and all of them. And police, they kind of like, handle protesters with kids gloves around here. They really dont care to have a lot of interaction with them. And then the interaction that they do have with them, they kind of seem to take a side. And its not our side.

sabrina tavernise

And he goes to great lengths  extreme lengths, maybe  to protect the people at this clinic.

clare toeniskoetter Is this a drone? louis padilla It is. It is the newest high tech equipment that I got to watch the protesters.

sabrina tavernise

For example, he bought a $700 drone with his own money to monitor protesters outside the fence.

louis padilla There is nobody that comes out here that is not documented somehow, some way, shape, form or another, if theyve been out here.

sabrina tavernise

So if anyone ever got violent, he would have their photo. But on Tuesday it was quiet.

louis padilla Do you have an appointment for today? patient Yes, I dont know how it works, its my first time, sorry. louis padilla Oh Im just 

sabrina tavernise

Just a lot of Texas patients.

louis padilla Check in at the front desk. patient Thank you.

sabrina tavernise

And around noon, one of the women he checks in agrees to talk to us.

samerah I live in Beaumont, actually. So this  I dont even know if youve heard of it. Its a small town about an hour outside of Houston and 

sabrina tavernise

Her name is Samerah. She asked us not to use her last name. And before we even get to know her, she launches into the story of how she ended up here, starting with the moment she realizes shes pregnant.

samerah I found out I was pregnant at literally five weeks, five weeks flat. So I think Im good, everybodys talking about this ban, and everybodys getting nervous. Im like five weeks, Im good. I can drive an hour up there.

sabrina tavernise

Samerah finds out she was pregnant early. Early enough to think she has time to get an abortion in Texas. So she schedules an appointment in Houston right away.

samerah I go to my first appointment and I speak to the doctor, they say Im a good candidate everything, you know, should be great.

sabrina tavernise

They do an ultrasound and clear her for an abortion the next day, after a mandatory 24-hour waiting period.

samerah So Ill go back 24 hours later and I 

sabrina tavernise

She returns on September 1st. Thats the day that the law goes into effect. But the law still allows for very early abortions, before any cardiac activity is detected. The staff thinks Samerah makes this cutoff. The ultrasound the day before was quiet, and they bring her into a room for the procedure.

samerah Its a dark room, because its an ultrasound room obviously. They have a curtain on, like when you walk in, and you cross over the curtain and they have a bed. I know I was shaking a bit, it was cold in there. The gel was always cold when they put it on your stomach.

sabrina tavernise

And then they do one final check for cardiac activity.

samerah I remember looking at that in a deep breath and she said, take a deep breath in.

sabrina tavernise

And the doctors hear something.

samerah Doo doo, doo doo doo, doo  all you hear is the heartbeat. Whole room, all you heard is the heartbeat, strongest heartbeat.

sabrina tavernise

And they immediately stop the procedure.

samerah And I just, in that same breath, all the tears came. Everything I had been like crossing my fingers about like just came out. And I bawled and bawled and bawled. And coming out of that ultrasound room, I actually ran into two or three other girls who had the exact  we had been some of the first girls to not have an abortion because of that. And we were all just crying in the hallway, like, what are we going to do it.

sabrina tavernise

Samerah is told that her only option is to go out of state, which is how she ended up here at this clinic in Oklahoma. But it wasnt easy

sabrina tavernise OK sorry, so start from the beginning Samerah. [interposing voices]

sabrina tavernise

And Samerah starts to tell me about her life.

sabrina tavernise Samerah, how old are you? samerah 22.

sabrina tavernise

Shes 22.

samerah My son is my world.

sabrina tavernise

She has a kid, a two-year-old son.

samerah I have, I actually have had an abortion before.

sabrina tavernise

Shes also had an abortion before.

samerah You can call me this, you can call me that, you can say what I am. Ill be that. Ill be that, but that was my choice. Im comfortable with it.

sabrina tavernise

Samerah grew up as one of six kids.

samerah My mom was in foster care from either eight or nine until she was a legal, grown adult. She had my brother when she was young, like 14 or 15. She had me at like 16 or 17. And my next sister 18 or 19. She was a very young teen mom. So shes always expressed that all these mouths to feed and its not easy. And she was like, I get it done, because she always got it done. We never went to bed hungry, but I could tell it wasnt easy.

sabrina tavernise

She was born in California but moved around a lot. By high school she ended up in Texas, where she met her partner.

samerah Me and him, high school sweethearts. Weve been  Im a year older than him. So I met him when I was in 12th and he was in 11th.

sabrina tavernise

And they had their son together in 2019, but money was really tight. She was working a job in retail making minimum wage. Her partner was working at a temporary job doing road work, like repainting lines on roads and putting down traffic cones.

samerah We didnt have really much anything. Kind of just started from square one, and our main goal was giving him everything that he ever wanted. Everything that we ever wanted and couldnt have. I mean, lights is on, water  hot water is. Like those are things that we were like, I want to do for him and I remember 

sabrina tavernise

Samerah wanted to be able to offer her son more than shed had as a child. But she and her partner lived with his mothers family. It was five people in a two bedroom apartment.

samerah After giving birth to him I had severe depression because I hated that we lived with his family. I couldnt  Im not bringing my baby to my own house so he can grow up and relax. I can like bond with him in a private manner, that I want to bond with him. I couldnt do that because they were family. You know how a family can be with a new child, theyre all in your face. Everybody has something to say about how you parent your child and things like that. So all of that was struggle.

sabrina tavernise

Then last year things started to turn around for Samerah.

samerah This is when the pandemic started. And I got a callback for a work-from-home job at Apple, bless them, because they were the reason I was able to even get on my feet like that. And they started me at $13.50 which was  in Texas? Where minimum wage is 7.25? Yes, I jumped on that opportunity.

sabrina tavernise

She had lost her retail job because of the pandemic, but then she got a job at a call center that paid better and allowed her to work from home so she could take care of her son.

samerah  had a deposit and first months rent. And we were out of there.

sabrina tavernise

And last November, she and her partner moved into their own place.

samerah I couldnt believe. We literally  I remember it, it was like everything is like a movie, I swear. We went into the house, I get chills thinking about it. We just sat just stood there looking around and looked at each other, and we just hugged each other. Like all you can hear is our baby just stomping around hes yelling, Mommy, daddy, I have a room! Hes so excited, like oh my god. I remember it like it was yesterday. We were just  I let a couple of tears fall because I was just so happy. Like, living with other people is hard. So finally being able to have our own space, were free to do we want to do. We dont have to answer to nobody. Like, it was surreal. And it was one of the greatest films, I felt to this day. sabrina tavernise You guys were building something for yourself, right? Like you had put it like a foundation down? samerah Definitely building. Thats what we always  it was meant to be together, like to build stuff. Like, we have a vehicle now and were able to go out and buy food. We can come back home or go to the park every day. Like, were just getting to a comfortable point in life. And to many people, that might not seem like much, but Im taking my son to do things I never got to do. We worked hard to get a two-bedroom apartment for him to have his own space, because we never had that growing up.

sabrina tavernise

So Samerah and her partner settled into their new home with their son and their financial situation continued to improve, with her partner getting a job as a driver making $15 an hour.

samerah Finally, like weve been together four or five years, this was our first time actually buying a brand new out the box mattress. Its not off of like Facebook or something. Like a literal, we ordered this. It has to sit up in our house and inflate kind of mattress. We were so proud of ourselves, like, we have a mattress and a bed frame on a box spring, is brand new nobodys ever laid on. This Is ours! So we were so proud of ourselves.

sabrina tavernise

But when she finds out shes pregnant in early August, she starts to worry about the life shed built. The home shed created for her son.

samerah You know weve started building up a home in this apartment.

sabrina tavernise

She said she thought about what it would mean to have another kid.

samerah But this is a childs life that I have to take care of and provide for, and my rent.

sabrina tavernise

The financial costs 

samerah Where my child thats already here is living.

sabrina tavernise

 their ability to stay in the apartment and take care of their son together.

samerah And Im going to do that by any means possible. And if I cant have another child right now because itll prohibit me from taking care of him the way I want to, then I wont have another baby right now. And that was my main mindset. Like, I can afford to get him pullups at any point in time. With any of the money I have in my account, if I can spend the last cent of money, itll hold me over till I get paid again. I cant do that for two. So that was my main thought. I have to be able to keep taking care of my bills and my baby. And if I cant take care of my baby with the bills as well, I dont need the other child right now, because why would I bring them into that?

sabrina tavernise

And so she chose to have an abortion. And thats why she found herself in the clinic in Houston the day that the Texas law went into effect, finding out that she couldnt get an abortion in her state anymore.

samerah I ended up speaking with the counselor who was very, very sweet 

sabrina tavernise

And this clinic in Oklahoma seems like the easiest option. But its far away, an eight-hour drive.

sabrina tavernise What was the most expensive part for you guys like what was the part where you were looking at it and thinking, oh, thats going to be really hard? samerah Getting to Oklahoma, literally. We have a vehicle, but its not the most reliable vehicle. So its one of those cars you can drive in town, I can get to work and get back home. But its not something where you would trust taking your two-year-old and yourself on an eight-hour drive to a whole other state. So that right there became like the biggest challenge. Like, how are we even going to get out here? And then, what about managing having a two year old out there? There were so many little things that were adding up. And it was so stressful. It was like, were going to have to just have this baby. Like, we cant get to Oklahoma. With our family, our upbringing, our background like, its just low-income. Its poverty, you say. Our families arent people that we could just call and ask for money for a plane ticket. Cant call them and say, hey, I cant tell you what Im doing but I really need this money right now. Like when you have family like that, or loved ones like that who would love to help you, but they cant, thats just is what it is. And if they can help you, they want to know exactly what theyre helping you for. Because they want to know if they get their money back, because they need that money too.

sabrina tavernise

Samerah doesnt have the money to go on her own, and she cant borrow it from her family. So she ends up getting some funding from nonprofits, both to cover her procedure and to fly to Oklahoma. But Samerah doesnt know what to do with her son. She doesnt have child care, and her mother and her partners mother both work 12-hour shifts as home health aides. They cant take him. So Samerahs partner decides to go with her to Oklahoma and take time off work. But when he requests the time from his employer, they dont want to give it to him. He takes it anyway.

samerah And they just let him go.

sabrina tavernise

And they end up letting him go.

samerah Right now hes without a job. So when we come back to Texas, its a whole other storm to weather through because of that. So when we get back home its like, its almost the beginning of the month again. Rents coming up, light bills coming up, phone bills are due, and I need to buy my child pull-ups. Like all of these things add up. All of these things cost money. All of these things are stressful. And its just  this is a mess.

sabrina tavernise

So Samerah was able to leave Texas and get to Oklahoma for her abortion. But going back to Texas, shes facing a lot of uncertainty. And shes worried about the life she worked so hard to build for her son.

samerah A bunch of people who dont have to feel the effects of those actions are making these laws. Theyre like, oh you know, let me sign this here, and were going to have a meeting today, and heres a photo op. No, but theres people like me. And tomorrow the day after, I go back home, not knowing what will happen in the next month. If I still have my apartment, if I still be  any of that stuff, you know? Its just like, they dont understand that were real people. We have real life going on. I literally have a two-year-old that I like, I dont  Im not struggling to provide for him, but Im providing for him in a comfortable manner right now. And if I had another child, I couldnt do that for both. [CRYING] And I dont want to be that parent. I dont want to bring my kid into something that I cant afford to take care of, because they dont deserve that. I grew up in that kind of reality. And I know what it does to people. I know how hard it is, it can be. And I pride myself on being able to take care of my child. Me and his father do, we do everything in our power to give him everything he needs and everything he wants. And he never leaves the store without a toy, I promise he never does. So its like, people dont understand that were real human beings and we have real lives. We cry, we get sad, we have stressful situations going on. Nobody stops and thinks, if somebody can go in their state and get an abortion that dont make things so much easier for them. Oh goodness gracious. Like I have to go home and figure out what Im going to do in the next month. And like, the next month is in a couple of weeks. Like, what am I going to do, you know? What am I going to lose?

sabrina tavernise

After talking to us, on Tuesday afternoon Samerah gets her abortion. It takes about 10 minutes. And at the end of the day, shes one of the last patients in the recovery room. And as shes sitting there 

jennifer reince I know its Covid, but can I give you a hug? samerah OK, Im a hugger.

sabrina tavernise

She meets Jennifer, from the front desk.

samerah So grateful for you. I dont even have your name, what is your name? jennifer reince Im Jennifer. samerah Jennifer. jennifer reince Yes.

sabrina tavernise

They had cried together on the phone when Samerah booked her appointment, and both remembered each other.

jennifer reince How are you feeling? samerah It was super easy. No pain, just a little tired, but other than that. jennifer reince And youre going to just feel so much better. And just know when you go home, its done. Its  samerah Yall made it so, so simple. Like, I didnt have to ask a single question. jennifer reince Do you want me to give you your aftercare instructions? And we can get you the hell out of here.

sabrina tavernise

Jennifer reads Samerah her discharge instructions.

jennifer reince Youre going to cramp, thats normal.

sabrina tavernise

So Samerah can leave the clinic and start heading back home to Texas.

jennifer reince Do it every eight hours as you need. Do you know how to massage your abdomen if you start cramping? OK. You can get pregnant immediately. samerah When I go back Im setting up an appointment. Im going to get an I.U.D. this time with my insurance back in Texas, so. jennifer reince Yeah, thats perfect. Other than that, please be careful. I know youre flying, but be careful. Im so sorry about your state. samerah I just hope they dont do the same thing to you guys. jennifer reince Im nervous Im getting. Luckily, with the Texas thing going on right now, its enough to keep my mind off of what could be happening 

sabrina tavernise

Later today, a federal judge is going to hear arguments from the Justice Department and the state of Texas on whether to temporarily suspend the Texas law. Well be right back. Heres what else you need to know today.

archived recording This vote says we are keeping the government open.

sabrina tavernise

The Senate and the House passed a short-term spending bill on Thursday, which would fund the government until early December a move that avoided a much feared government shutdown.

archived recording (senator chuck schumer) It is a very, very bad thing to let the government shut down, but at this time in particular, where there is so much going on in this country. And it is, it is a glimmer of hope as we go through many, many other activities.

sabrina tavernise

The bill passed both chambers on a bipartisan basis, with 15 Republicans in the Senate joining all Democrats in favor of the bill. The spending package gives lawmakers more time to negotiate over a number of other bills that make up the bulk of President Bidens agenda.

archived recording (senator joe manchin) I think there are many ways to get to where they want to, just from everything at one time.

sabrina tavernise

But that agenda was thrown into doubt on Thursday when Joe Manchin Senator from West Virginia a Democrat said he would not support President Bidens sweeping social safety net bill at the price tag of $3.5 trillion. Instead, he said he would vote for the bill at $1.5 trillion, far less than the president had been asking for.

archived recording (senator joe manchin) My top line has been 1.5, because I believe in my heart that what we can do and what the needs we have right now and what we can afford to do without basically changing our whole society to an entitlement mentality.

sabrina tavernise
The year was 1791, and while Marie Antoinette may not have had the favor of the people of France, she did have a pen pal. Her confidant, Axel von Fersen, was a Swedish count, and one of the French queens close friends.

Between the summers of 1791 and 1792, though the queen was kept under close surveillance after a botched escape attempt, she still managed to sneak letters to Count von Fersen. He copied the letters, which are now held in the French national archives. But between the time the letters were written and the time they arrived at the archives, some mysterious actor censored the letters, scrawling out words and lines with tightly looped circles of ink.

The content of the censored lines  and the identity of the fastidious scribbler  eluded historians for nearly 150 years. In a paper published on Friday in the journal Science Advances, scientists have now revealed the redacted content of eight of the censored letters between Marie Antoinette and Count von Fersen. The researchers used a technique called X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, which can detect the chemical signatures of different inks without damaging documents.

The uncensored contents of the letters show the depth of Marie Antoinettes affections for her close friend during a time of turmoil. But in a blow to gossips, the contents do not clarify whether they were having an affair.
On early autumn afternoons across the temperate world, the midges are now gathering to swarm: clouds of tiny flies, wings lit by the sun like so many sparks, swirling in patterns too quick and complicated for the eye to follow but leaving a mental afterimage of order. Not a perfect order, but something more than chaos.

That impression of order is accurate, according to scientists who study such swarms: In the movements of midges, one can find the mathematical signatures of properties beyond what one would expect from a cloud of bugs. As a group, they behave like liquids or gases, and even exhibit the characteristics of criticality, that uncanny stage of matter at which radical transformation from one state to another occurs in a blink.

Collective correlation can emancipate the system from its microscopic details, said Dr. Andrea Cavagna, a physicist at the Institute for Complex Systems in Rome. A swarm is much more than its midges.

Before Dr. Cavagna and his partner, Dr. Irene Giardina, a theoretical physicist at La Sapienza University in Rome, turned their attention to midges, they studied starling flocks. Using high-speed video cameras to measure the trajectory of every bird in a murmuration, as starling flocks are called, the researchers discovered in 2009 that when one starling changes direction or speed, so do the birds nearest them, and in turn the birds nearest those. Each starling in a murmuration is thus linked, no matter how far apart.
A year into his relationship with Abigail Pesta, Joel Oestreich, a political science professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, moved to Africa.

Ms. Pesta, 52, a Philadelphia-based journalist and author, had mixed feelings about his departure. It was sad to see him go, she said, but she also wanted him to enjoy the experience  Mr. Oestreich, 56, would be teaching at the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin, on a long-planned Fulbright fellowship.

We talked every day, said Ms. Pesta, who was born in England and raised in Indiana. He lived all over the world in his life and I lived all over the world in mine, so we had a lot to talk about.

From the first week that they met on the dating app Bumble in August 2017, Ms. Pesta and Mr. Oestreich seemed perfectly suited for each other. But it was difficult to navigate their busy schedules.
Amy Ogbonna and Samuel Oiwoh both swiped right on the dating app Tinder in December 2014, but neither of them messaged the other.

Three weeks later, Ms. Ogbonna spotted Mr. Oiwoh at a party. She walked up to him and asked if he was the guy who didnt talk to her on the app.

I was stumped until she pulled out her phone and showed me that we matched, said Mr. Oiwoh, 33. Now a freelance user experience designer and researcher, he grew up in London, and graduated from Swansea University in Wales and received a masters degree in journalism from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I thought she was funny for calling me out, he said.

The couple flirted, exchanged phone numbers and made a date for the next weekend.

I liked Sam, said Ms. Ogbonna, 31, a graduate of the College of New Jersey and now an industry account manager for Microsoft Advertising. He was tall, charming, well dressed, and took me to a museum for our first date. He was born in Nigeria, as were my parents, so we shared cultural experiences and understanding. We are both Igbo, an ethnic group in Nigeria. My 24-year-old self thought he was cool and cultured, with a British accent to boot.
Establishing a joint Google calendar may not be a standard marker of a flourishing romance, but for Efrain Guerrero and James Jones, it stood in just fine for a more customary expression of commitment.

The two men met in September 2017 through the dating app Scruff, and had their first date at Rendezvous, a restaurant in Harlem, where both lived. They had instant chemistry, as well as common experiences as people of color who attended Ivy League schools and worked in majority-white professions. There was also a mutual regard for the Real Housewives franchise. A second date quickly followed.

By month two, we were boyfriends and had a shared Google calendar, and I think thats when we knew we had a shared future, said Dr. Jones, 33, an assistant professor of African-American and African studies at the Newark, N.J., campus of Rutgers. He graduated cum laude from George Washington University and received a doctoral degree in sociology from Columbia. They still use the joint calendar, he added: Its very handy.

When it came to outwardly sharing their feelings for one another, however, the process took longer, according to Mr. Guerrero, who is 39 and the senior managing director for operations in New York at KIPP, a network of charter schools. He graduated cum laude from Harvard and received an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
F.A.s work often physically manifests itself as short videos that closely examine their source material and their methodology. It is not visually unappealing, but it has the look of a formal presentation, almost like an exhibit at a criminal trial. The Louisiana project was, tellingly, unveiled this past June to the public not in a gallery or museum but on The New York Times home page, in a short film produced with the papers video team. The fact that a phase of the project, which includes 3-D models and detailed cartography that illustrate how the Louisiana landscape has changed over time, was part of an exhibition at an art space across the Atlantic from the actual site the group is investigating is also not an accident: Nearly every cultural institution in Louisiana is funded by the oil and gas industry. One irony of contemporary art that critiques or transcends the institution is just how central the institution remains to it. Indeed, the complexity of the art ecosystem as a reflection of global power is at the heart of F.A.s origin story. In 2002, Weizman was asked, along with his partner in his Tel Aviv practice, Rafi Segal, to represent Israel at the World Congress of Architecture in Berlin. But their project, which examined in detail the spatial form of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and how their physical layout is informed by politics, was abruptly withdrawn by the Israel Association of United Architects. That widely reported censorship created an immediate buzz, and the work was exhibited instead at New Yorks Storefront for Art and Architecture in 2003. In 2004, Weizman co-curated with Anselm Franke an exhibition called Territories, which focused on spatial warfare  the way in which dominion is built into the construction and destruction of the landscape, housing and infrastructure. It was part of a shift in architecture away from flashy luxury developments and toward a more politically engaged construction, practiced over the past decade by everyone from Shigeru Ban to Rem Koolhaas, which explicitly tries to respond to issues like climate change and inequality. When Goldsmiths hired Weizman to establish an architecture program in 2005, it was with the goal of creating an alternative paradigm to existing studio-based architectural education models, a refuge for architects that want to take part in reform and activism.

We thought, Art will allow us to do what we need, Weizman tells me wryly. And then we realized, No, we have another war to wage here. F.A. had already been invited to contribute to the Whitney Biennial when he read the articles linking Kanders to Safariland. Weizman immediately thought of a 2016 demonstration in the West Bank in which hed participated. I was running with a young woman toward the Israeli army, and they shot a tear-gas canister at us, and she got hit in the head, he recalls. And after tending to her, I looked at the thing, I took a photo of it. And when we heard about Kanders, I realized that that canister was actually something I had breathed: You breathe with your eyes and with your nose, and its kind of like everything is watering, an extremely unpleasant, intense sort of sensation. Fast-forward to 2017, and we realized, OK, hold on, that stuff that was thrown at me is now funding our contribution. We knew that we had a slightly different role than other artists because we had a capacity: We had people on the ground, we had the technology, we knew that we could investigate. We wanted to turn the art world into a site of accountability.

The Death Alley investigation will be exhibited in October in Louisiana at community spaces, and eventually, Brown hopes, the platform will be handed off to local activist groups. While the stories F.A. tells arent designed to elicit emotion or push aesthetic boundaries, these things have a way of seeping in. If violence has an aesthetic, so do the physical traces it leaves behind. Looking at the aerial imagery Brown and her team scour for anomalies, clues that might indicate the site of an unmarked burial ground, she points out a lone oak  the last remaining descendant of trees once planted by people who didnt have access to stone to mark the graves of their loved ones  and for a moment, neither of us can speak.
Alex Jones, the Infowars founder and conspiracy theorist who claimed that the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012 was a hoax, has lost two defamation lawsuits filed in Texas by victims families because he failed to provide requested information to the court, filings show.

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble issued the rulings on Monday in the Civil District Court of Travis County. They were made public on Thursday, HuffPost reported. A lawyer for the parents of children killed in the attack, Mark D. Bankston, provided copies of the filings to The New York Times on Friday.

The defendants, including Mr. Jones and his digital channel, Infowars, had made persistent discovery abuses by failing to turn over documents as required and by failing to carry out other obligations required by the court, Judge Guerra Gamble wrote in the filings.

Mr. Bankston said the next step would be a trial scheduled for March 28, when a jury will decide the damages.
President Bidens approval rating among key Democratic constituencies has declined considerably in recent months, eroding or even reversing decades-long patterns in public opinion.

The as-yet-unanswerable question is whether that slide is a momentary dip  a fluke of a tough run of headlines  or a warning sign of even deeper dissatisfaction among Democratic-leaning voters.

A large number of voters  women, young people and those who are Black or Latino  have all soured on Mr. Bidens performance, according to polls conducted since the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, even while Mr. Biden has retained more of his support among men, college-educated white voters and older voters.

The shifts could be temporary. Perhaps the enactment of the presidents stalled legislative initiatives in Congress would be enough for the president to renew his reputation with Democratic-leaning voters. But for now, the differences in attitudes about Mr. Biden between men and women, young and old, Hispanic and non-Hispanic and perhaps even white and Black have grown unusually small. The pattern defies the decades-long tendency for Democrats to fare better among women than men, and among the young than the old.
Preliminary data indicates the mandates are working to persuade holdouts who have continued to refuse vaccination, either because of misinformation or for religious or political reasons. (Many mandates have limited medical and religious exemptions.) But schools generally have been more cautious about mandates, in part because not all children have been authorized for a vaccine and because of the political ramifications that may come with forcing the hands of parents. Polling indicates that a healthy share of parents  about 40 to 50 percent by some estimates  have expressed hesitance about vaccinating their children.

Only a handful of school systems have moved to require Covid-19 vaccinations for children, and Mr. Newsoms statewide rule is contingent upon federal approval that is likely to take months, particularly for younger students. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is fully approved for people 16 and older; the vaccine remains available for children ages 12 to 15 under emergency use authorization.

Pfizer and BioNTech are expected next week to formally ask the F.D.A. to authorize emergency use of their vaccine for children 5 to 11, according to people familiar with the companies plans. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a Pfizer board member, has said the F.D.A. could decide on authorization as early as Halloween.

The California mandate is expected to give political cover to schools in more conservative parts of the state to impose similar district-level mandates, particularly in areas where vaccine resistance has created coronavirus hot spots. Kevin Kiley, a Republican state assemblyman on his chambers education committee who was among the challengers to Mr. Newsom in a recent attempt to recall him, noted that the mandate was unlikely to have much immediate impact and criticized the governor for acting unilaterally rather than working with the Legislature.

He added that requiring children to get inoculated was inconsistent with the governors refusal to issue similar mandates for state prison guards, who donated generously to his campaign to beat the recall. A federal judge this week ordered inoculation for the guards.
Erin Primer, director of food services for the San Luis Coastal Unified School District, recalled a single mother who made $50,000 a year calling her, pleading to join the program.

I was like, Im so sorry, but you dont qualify, and I remember her crying, Primer told me.

Californias expanded free lunch program doesnt technically begin until next school year, but its basically in effect already because of the pandemic. When schools closed last year, the federal government provided funding to offer free meals to all students in an effort to make it easier to reach needy children.

Primer told me that the number of children picking up school lunch has more than doubled at some schools in her district. She said its most likely because of both newly eligible students and those who had always qualified but not taken advantage.

Before the policy change, children may have felt awkward or shameful picking up a school lunch because of what it said about their familys income. For high schoolers, it may have not been the cool thing to do when wealthier classmates wanted to eat off-campus.

Families also felt stigma. Some had been reluctant to fill out the needed paperwork because they didnt want to rely on government benefits. Others worried they would have to reveal their immigration status, though that wasnt the case.

By offering free meals for all, no questions asked, these roadblocks are eliminated.

Stephanie Bruce, director of nutrition services at Palm Springs Unified School District, told me that when her school began offering free lunch, the school nurse noticed a change: Fewer students came in for headaches and nausea, which had apparently been caused by skipping meals.

Theres plenty of research that shows that eating breakfast and lunch is linked with a reduction in nurse visits, improved attendance and better test scores. Not to mention that children who dont eat tend to distract the rest of the class, affecting others learning experiences, too.
Im a registered nurse in the emergency department. I went to my first concert since the pandemic began a few weeks ago with my husband, and I had a panic attack in the venue. My social anxiety has become a fear that random people I see will suffer and die if they get Covid. It was a Sixth Sense, I see dead people' kind of a moment for me, like seeing a dead man walking. I tried to find an exit door.  Cate, Atlanta

I am someone who, pre-pandemic, never felt social anxiety. During this summer I have felt social anxiety in a number of situations, mostly with how to small talk. I would forget to ask people about themselves and get upset at how rude that came across. With friends, I was constantly worried that I was talking too much. At my work, I am also very isolated, not talking to many people during the day, and I am a true extrovert, so I sometimes get overexcited once I have someone to talk with.  Heather, San Francisco

How readers deal with anxiety

Here are some ways that readers have managed to cope with social anxiety. Thank you to everyone who shared their personal stories with us.

No is a complete sentence. I respectfully, cordially, and in a friendly, nonconfrontational manner, decline, thanking the inviter for including me on the guest list.  Joanne Martin, Chevy Chase, Md.

I have slowly started easing my way back into social settings by starting out with one to two people at a time. Even with a small setting, I feel exhausted when I get home, both mentally and physically, as if I was putting on a facade the whole time I was out. Now, I just see it as building up my social stamina again. Its getting better, slowly but surely! Plus, the help of a therapist works very well, too!  Darlene, Los Angeles

I give myself one guilt-free day off each weekend, where I dont feel bad telling people Im busy. I just stay home. I read, cook and watch the latest from the Bachelor franchise.  Megan, Seattle
For dozens of Louisianas oldest and longest-serving inmates, the choice could not have been more stark: Risk getting sent to the electric chair for rape or murder, or sign a plea agreement that carried a life sentence.

In 10 years and six months, they were told, they would be eligible for parole.

It was the law  until it wasnt. In the 1970s, the state raised the parole eligibility requirement to 20 years, and then to 40 years. And by 1979, the chance of parole was gone altogether.

Now, five decades later, many of those languishing inmates are well into their 70s or 80s, and for some, their release is imminent.

The plight of the inmates, most of whom are Black and are known as 10-6 lifers, drew the attention of Jason Williams, the first-year district attorney for New Orleans.
Reporter: Do you remain where you are on the infrastructure bill if they bring it to the floor today  Yes. Your caucus remain where you are? Theres been a couple who have said they will vote for it. No, Im very confident of our numbers, and the reality is, look, were going to do both of these things. Theyre both part of the presidents agenda. We are making sure were holding up the women who need child care, the families who need child care and paid leave. The folks who need climate change addressed, housing, immigration. These are all the things that are 85 percent of the presidents agenda, and theyre contained in the Build Back Better Act. So we are at the table to try to deliver both things, and I believe we will. And Im just so proud of our caucus, because they are standing up for people who feel like they have not been heard in this country for a very long time. People who came out and voted for the president because of this agenda, people who came out and delivered us the House, the White House and the Senate because of this agenda. And they want to see us fighting for this agenda. And thats what were doing. And at the end of the day, well deliver both. Thanks, you guys. Thanks so much. Thank you.
With Democrats pleading for a deal on a hard-fought social safety net bill, one of the key holdouts, Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, left Washington on Friday. The reason, her spokesman said, was a medical appointment for a foot injury.

But on Saturday, she is also scheduled to attend her political action committees retreat with donors at a high-end resort and spa in Phoenix, three different sources confirmed, including an attendee. The hotel also confirmed the event, which kicks off with a cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, followed by a dinner.

Fund-raising for lawmakers is, of course, not unusual, but Ms. Sinemas timing is sure to raise the level of frustration that her fellow Democrats are already feeling toward the senator. President Biden and congressional Democratic leaders are trying to hammer out a framework agreement on a climate change and social policy bill that can pass with the votes of every Senate Democrat and virtually every House Democrat.

That need for unanimity has given Ms. Sinema veto power. The senator, who is not up for re-election until 2024, has met repeatedly with White House negotiators, but some Democrats say she has not been engaged in the intense negotiations needed to at least come to agreement on a 10-year cost of the bill. In contrast, the other holdout, Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, is remaining in Washington this weekend.
The term Hood has been toyed with, too.

Some people say, Why cant it be for something else, like the hood of a jeep, said Jose Segarra, the mayor of Killeen, Texas, where residents are keenly connected to the base. Others have suggested names that reflect a region, such as the Central Texas base, or a military value, like Freedom and Liberty, which has also gained some traction.

What has been eye opening is that every community engagement is distinctly different, Ms. Howard said.

Communities have found themselves immersed in history-rich and, at times, painful excavations at meetings with commission members, town halls and other gatherings, commissioners and residents said. For me its been really insightful, said Jerald Mitchell, the president of the Chamber of Commerce in Columbus, Ga., which is closely associated with Fort Benning, named after Brigadier General Henry L. Benning, who commanded Confederate troops at the Battle of Gettysburg.

There are lots of people that are really excited about it because of the issues around equity and inclusion, Mr. Mitchell said. There are some people who dont want the name to change. Its not that they want to embrace Confederate symbolism, its because they identify the installation as a place not a person. Their parents met while someone was doing their service at Fort Benning, or their child was born at Fort Benning. We are communicating that this is federal law  its going to happen so we just need to be a part of it.

Residents are learning about local heroes whose names were lost to history, and often encountering one anothers views for the first time.
WASHINGTON  A federal judge heard arguments on Friday from the State of Texas and the federal government on whether a Texas law that bans nearly all abortions in the state should be suspended while the courts decide if it is legal.

At issue is a restrictive abortion law that Texas enacted in September that uses a unique legal approach  deputizing private citizens to enforce it, instead of the state. The law, also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act and Senate Bill 8, has had a chilling effect, with most of the states roughly two dozen abortion clinics no longer offering abortion services in cases in which cardiac activity is detected, which usually begins at around six weeks of pregnancy.

The Justice Department sued Texas last month over the law. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland called the enforcement mechanism an unprecedented effort to prevent women from exercising their constitutionally protected right to have an abortion. He said that no matter their stand on abortion, Americans should fear that the Texas law could become a model to restrict other constitutionally protected rights.

At the hearing on Friday, before Judge Robert L. Pitman, a Federal District Court judge in Austin, William T. Thompson, a lawyer for the State of Texas, asserted that the federal government had no grounds to be arguing the case, because the law did not harm it.
The circuslike review of the 2020 vote commissioned by Arizona Republicans took another wild turn on Friday when veteran election experts charged that the very foundation of its findings  the results of a hand count of 2.1 million ballots  was based on numbers so unreliable that they appear to be guesswork rather than tabulations.

The organizers of the review made up the numbers, the headline of the experts report reads.

The experts, a data analyst for the Arizona Republican Party and two retired executives of an election consulting firm in Boston, said in their report that workers for the investigators failed to count thousands of ballots in a pallet of 40 ballot-filled boxes delivered to them in the spring.

The final report by the Republican investigators concluded that President Biden actually won 99 more votes than were reported, and that former President Donald J. Trump tallied 261 fewer votes.

But given the large undercount found in just a sliver of the 2.1 million ballots, it would effectively be impossible for the Republican investigators to arrive at such precise numbers, the experts said.
When Teresa Miller, a professor at the University at Buffalo School of Law, showed her documentary film about the Attica Correctional Facility during a panel discussion at the Glimmerglass opera festival in 2014, it sparked an idea. Why not, she thought, bring an opera to the prison?

Francesca Zambello, the director of the festival, in Cooperstown, N.Y., had the same notion and joined the effort. Ms. Miller helped persuade prison officials to grant permission, and a year later Glimmerglass took Verdis Macbeth to Attica. Opera there became an annual tradition, with Ms. Miller each year sitting among a rapt audience of inmates to watch the production.

Its culture we dont see, Donovan Jackson, an Attica inmate, told the news website syracuse.com in 2017. Ours is hostility and violence.

Bringing the outside world behind prison walls  and then showing that outside world what life behind bars is like  was a central part of the criminal justice work done by Ms. Miller, who died at 59 on Aug. 6 at a hospital in Manhattan.
I wrote a detailed account of my struggle and shared it with my followers, along with my plan. I knew from my experience with alcohol that public accountability was important. I also knew I had to go cold turkey; moderation not only required a massive amount of energy, it failed me every time.

In the months that followed, I felt freer, lighter and more focused than ever. I did whatever it was I was doing, without the compulsion to capture, package and share it. I still felt anxiety because I am an anxious person, but I wasnt choking on it. I was more productive, yes, but most incredibly, I was actually present with people who were in front of me.

I also got curious. What was it specifically about Instagram that was so destructive for me?

I realized that whenever I was on social media, I was chasing a goal that was impossible to reach.

When a post did well, or I got a bunch of followers, I felt great for a minute, but just as quickly I felt pressure to do it again. If something was negatively received, or I lost people, I was consumed by anxiety and felt compelled to fix it. Over time, I made hundreds of tiny adjustments to how and what I shared, editing myself to get the best outcome. But there was no best outcome. No matter what I did, there would never be enough followers, enough approval, enough success. The more I posted, the less I felt like my true self.

In that way, it was very similar to alcohol, in that drinking also became fundamentally dishonest  the person I was when I was drinking was presenting a false front to the world too.

Once were curating a false image of ourselves, online or otherwise, we become alienated from ourselves and we start to not feel real in the world, and not tethered to our existence, said Anna Lembke M.D., medical director for the Stanford Addiction Medicine and author of Dopamine Nation, in a recent interview for my podcast. This generates enormous amounts of anxiety and dysphoria, and its a really dangerous place to be.

Were incentivized in myriad ways to enact a false self on social media, but when we do, we lose something vital: the ability to experience life in the here and now. And the here and now is where the true self lives.
India said on Friday that it would require visitors from Britain to quarantine regardless of their vaccination status  a retaliatory measure after weeks of talks to reverse a similar move by Britain appeared deadlocked.

The British government relaxed quarantine requirements for vaccinated visitors from more than a dozen countries last month. But its decision to exclude Indians fully inoculated with Covishield  an Indian-manufactured version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that Britain uses  caused a strong backlash in India, and the government threatened retaliation.

For nearly two weeks, officials from the two countries said they were in talks to resolve what Indias foreign secretary, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, called a discriminatory move. He said that Britain was essentially not recognizing the very vaccine that India had given it five million doses of when Britain was struggling with its inoculation drive.

The British high commissioner in New Delhi, Alex Ellis, said in interviews with the local news media in India that the vaccine itself was not the issue. Rather, he suggested that the issue was with Indias vaccine certification app, CoWIN, and he said developers of CoWIN and Britains National Health Service were in talks to resolve it.
TOKYO  Anyone who dreams of being a princess should probably have a chat with Princess Mako of Japan.

On Friday, the agency that manages the affairs of Japans royal family announced that the princess, the 29-year-old niece of Emperor Naruhito, would marry her fiance, a commoner named Kei Komuro, on Oct. 26.

Its a long time coming. The couple, who first met in college, have been engaged since 2017  but getting to the chapel has meant running a bruising gauntlet of media scrutiny and savage public commentary on Mr. Komuros fitness to be the spouse of an imperial daughter.

The pressure on the couple has been so intense that the princess has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, Japans public broadcaster, NHK, reported.
SEOUL  The signals are confusing. One day, North Korea is raising hopes for dialogue with South Korea, and the next, it is firing missiles or showing off the latest weaponry in its nuclear arsenal.

In the past week alone, North suggested the possibility of inter-Korean summit talks and said it would reopen communication hotlines with its neighbor. It also fired long-range cruise missiles, trotted out what it called its first hypersonic missile and, on Thursday, tested a new antiaircraft missile. Earlier in September, it launched ballistic missiles from a train rolled out of a mountain tunnel, on the same day that it called the Souths president, Moon Jae-in, stupid. 

Once again, North Korea is turning to a well-honed, two-pronged strategy, designed to let it flex its military muscles without risking retaliation or nixing the chances for dialogue.

In the absence of talks with Washington, the missile tests reminded the world that North Korea is developing increasingly sophisticated weaponry capable of delivering nuclear warheads. But individually, these short-range or still-under-development missiles dont amount to a direct threat to the United States.
SEOUL  President Moon Jae-in and his Democratic Party in South Korea have spent months vowing to stamp out what they have called fake news in the media. But lawmakers had to postpone a vote on a new bill this week when they encountered a problem: no one can agree on exactly how to do it.

Mr. Moons party, which controls a majority in the Parliament, submitted the bill in August, touting it as one of the last major reforms of his administration before his five-year term ends in May. The bill triggered an outcry from domestic media and international rights groups that warned it would discourage journalists from investigating corruption scandals and would have a chilling effect on press freedoms.

The proliferation of unverified news reports is not unique to South Korea. As more people consume news online, often taking what they find on social media to be truthful and reliable, the problem of misinformation has become global, deepening political divides and complicating efforts to preserve election integrity and fight the pandemic. But government attempts to stem the flow of misinformation have raised questions about free speech, censorship and democratic backsliding.

Hardly a day passes without newspapers and social media accounts in South Korea carrying poorly sourced reports of corruption that candidates in next years presidential race have called fake news. The fight intensified after Cho Kuk, a key ally of Mr. Moon, resigned as justice minister in 2019 amid allegations of ethical lapses and financial wrongdoing by his family. The scandal rocked Mr. Moons administration, and Mr. Chos supporters and critics heatedly accused each other of spreading false information to influence public opinion.
The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email.

Recently, Ive been reporting on the controversy over Labors pick to represent Fowler, where Tu Le, a young lawyer and the daughter of Vietnamese migrants, was passed over, with the party instead choosing Kristina Keneally, a party leader and white woman. Ive been using it as a starting point to examine why Australias Parliament lags behind other English-speaking countries when it comes to cultural diversity.

Ive talked to people from across the political spectrum, including many young people of color within the Labor Party who have led the debate. For them, the controversy is just the latest example of the dissonance between a country that claims to be the most successful nation when it comes to multiculturalism and a governing elite that is reluctant to address diversity at the cost of political convenience.

What I wasnt able to go into much in my article (coming soon) was the details that party members shared about the barriers they faced on every rung of the political ladder. It all added up to a picture of a two-tiered political system that sees people of color as fine community representatives or liaisons but not cut out for higher leadership positions, and treats immigrant communities as expandable membership bases or voting blocs.

A few caveats: they had differing views about the Fowler preselection. They had nothing against Kristina Keneally and her qualifications for office. They stressed that underrepresentation is a problem across all parties, not unique to Labor  its just particularly disappointing when the party that purports to champion diversity doesnt make good on its promise.
While Justice Thompson found that the logging company that was looking to have the injunction extended was suffering irreparable harm from the protests, he wrote that the actions of the Mounties in enforcing it have led to serious and substantial infringement of civil liberties.

The mounted police did not immediately comment. The office of Bill Blair, the public safety minister, declined to comment.

Fairy Creek became a center of protests after the New Democratic Party of Premier John Horgan, in the view of the protesters, backtracked on a promise he made to protect old growth forests during last years provincial election.

While old growth logging was suspended in some areas of the province, it was continued in and around Fairy Creek until June by the lumber company Teal-Jones. The company was logging in partnership with the three First Nations whose territories include the Fairy Creek forests.

The Mounties came to the protests in large numbers and arrests began growing after the logging company, which declared this week that it is a myth that old growth in the area is at risk, was given an injunction in April against efforts by protesters to stop its work.
As countries in Asia accelerate their vaccination efforts with an eye toward easing restrictions and fully reopening their economies, some are reporting a rise in new infections.

In South Korea, officials said on Friday that they would extend social distancing regulations for another two weeks starting on Monday, amid the nations worst wave of infections. And in Singapore, Covid infections have surged to record highs in the past week, with 2,487 new infections reported on Thursday, the highest number of daily cases since the pandemic began.

The rise in South Koreas cases has been linked to activities around Chuseok, a holiday celebrating the fall harvest when many families traveled to gather together. Health officials reported 2,486 new daily cases on Friday, the eighth consecutive day the number has exceeded 2,000.

After Chuseok, the countrys cases have been rising, said Lee Gi-il, a senior health official at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.
BRUSSELS  Wherever he goes in St. John the Baptist Church in Brussels, the Rev. Daniel Alliet finds himself quickly surrounded by a crowd, an unusual sight for a Roman Catholic church in largely secular Western Europe.

But St. Johns is no usual church. An impressive Baroque facade graces the exterior, but inside there are no pews, votive candles or even worshipers. The 17th-century religious statues are draped with posters calling for social justice and the marble floor is crowded with mattresses and sleeping bags for the migrants sheltering there, who often gather around the priest as he makes his way around.

To Father Alliet, 77, the core of Christianity is helping those on the margins of society, and he has devoted much of his life to helping undocumented migrants, most of them Muslims, and the urban poor. Although his church is still sanctified, not a single Mass has been celebrated there since he retired in 2019. It is an unorthodox approach, one that has raised tensions between him and more conservative members of the Roman Catholic clergy in Belgium.

He calls undocumented migrants modern slaves, and in an interview at the church said their plight reflected the global injustice for which the Western world bears responsibility. There are as many as 200,000 migrants of irregular status in Belgium, a nation of 10 million, according to estimates by aid organizations.
A fire tore through the intensive care unit of a Romanian hospital where Covid patients were being treated on Friday, killing at least seven people and raising public outrage over the dismal state of the nations health care infrastructure.

It was the third deadly hospital blaze in the country in less than a year, and at least two dozen people have died in those fires. An inspection in February at the hospital where the latest fire occurred, in the Black Sea port city of Constanta, had found what one official described as malfunctions.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, and officials said that oxygen supplies had been turned off, raising the possibility that the tanks may have played a role in the blaze. Oxygen tanks being used to treat patients with severe Covid-19 have been blamed for deadly fires at other coronavirus clinics around the world, most recently killing 14 people in North Macedonia.

President Klaus Iohannis called Fridays fire a terrible new drama that confirms the deficient infrastructure of the Romanian health system, which he characterized as an outdated system, long strained and put under unimaginable pressure by the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The title of the artwork was a clue to the artists intentions  Take the Money and Run.

A Danish museum gave about $83,000 to an artist to reproduce a pair of works displaying the cash, reflecting the nature of work in the modern world.

Instead the artist, Jens Haaning, delivered two blank canvases without a scrap of currency in sight, which are featured in the exhibition that opened last week at the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art. Mr. Haaning concedes that he did almost no actual work on the project after receiving a commission from the museum, in the northern city of Aalborg, but says he is keeping the cash  in the name of art, of course.

This is only a piece of art if I dont return the money, Mr. Haaning said in an interview. I believe that I have created a good and relevant piece of artwork, which could be hung on the wall.

The reaction from the Kunsten Museum has been mixed  at least publicly.

Artistic merits aside, Mr. Haaning did not fulfill his original commission, Lasse Andersson, the museums director, said in an interview. He said the artist was given 532,549 Danish kroner to reproduce two of his previous works, in which he had framed piles of kroner and euro bills to represent annual wages earned by workers in Austria and Denmark.
PARIS  For Frances venerable Socialist Party, languishing at 4 percent support ahead of next years presidential elections, news of a surprise win last Sunday by its center-left counterpart in Germany offered a glimmer of hope.

The slim victory by Olaf Scholz and Germanys Social Democratic Party, along with the expected return to power of Norways Labor Party following a recent win, have underscored the recent success of Europes long-embattled social democrats. If Mr. Scholz succeeds in forming a government, social democrats in Europes most powerful nation will join center-left governments in Spain, Portugal and the Nordic nations of Sweden, Denmark and Finland, as well as Norway.

Attention will then turn to France, where presidential elections are scheduled for next April. But in France, experts say, the social democrats hopes of a continent-wide revival are likely to dim.

Socialist Party officials were nevertheless quick to seize on the German results as a sign that Europes political tides may be turning.
MOSCOW  Mikheil Saakashvili, a former president of Georgia and once a prominent figure in the politics of post-Soviet countries, was arrested on Friday on charges he called politically motivated after returning secretly to Georgia following eight years in exile.

Mr. Saakashvilis return, like much of his tenure in power, had the trappings of high-stakes political theater. The former president, who had been living in Ukraine, had been taunting the Georgian government, which is controlled by his political enemies, for days with hints of a return, including posting pictures of an airplane ticket on social media.

It was unclear how or when Mr. Saakashvili entered the country despite a warrant for his arrest that has been outstanding for years. But he apparently did not arrive at an airport, where he faced certain arrest.

Before his detention on Friday, a cheerful-looking Mr. Saakashvili had posted videos of himself strolling in Batumi, a Georgian beach town on the Black Sea. He said he wanted to encourage voting in local elections on Saturday.
As if demonstrating the yield of a D.E.A. drug bust, he put seized Romanian Pro-Secco, a 10-pack of glitter Prosecco Bath Bombs and Prosecco Princess Shower Gel on the table of his headquarters. The important thing is to have an enemy, he said. It unites us.

But not everyone.

In a dark and vaulted cellar under a stone Prosecco museum on the Valdobbiadene hillside, Enrico Bortolomiol  Ms. Bortolomiols first cousin  argued that the conflict over the Croatian wine presented a rare chance to advance a radical agenda: The time had come to ditch the name Prosecco.

The grandmaster of the Confraternity of Valdobbiadene  a hallowed society of Prosecco makers from the wines traditional home on the Valdobbiadene and Conegliano hills  Mr. Bortolomiol, 55, wore a heavy white fustian cloak, black velvet cap and a gold medallion embossed with the brotherhoods coat of arms. Around him, frescoes depicted the societys four founding fathers knocking some chalices back with giddy medieval knights, a topless Bacchus and women in slinky togas.

With his back to dusty bottles of the hills best spumante through the decades, he sat with tented hands on an elevated seat and argued that the good name of Prosecco had been irrevocably sullied by overproduction on the mechanically harvested and viticulturally uninteresting provinces that accounted for 500 million of the 600 million bottles on the market.

We have nothing to do with that, Mr. Bortolomiol said.
LONDON  Challenging officers by asking them searching questions. Flagging down a bus, or running into a house. Asking for help from bystanders.

Faced with nationwide consternation over a police officers rape and murder of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, the London police have offered several safety tips to women in the event they come face-to-face with an officer they consider a threat, or someone posing as one.

The tips, issued after Wayne Couzens, the officer who abducted and murdered Ms. Everard earlier this year, have been met with outrage and derision in Britain. They come after he was sentenced Thursday to life imprisonment for her killing.

Mr. Couzens sentencing hearing included shocking details about how he  under the guise of an arrest, although he was not on duty  handcuffed and abducted Ms. Everard before raping and murdering her and setting her body afire. And many women asked how realistic it was that the police safety tips would save them if they faced a similar threat.
While politicians around the world have invoked a similar martial rhetoric, he said it was critical to his success that he was widely seen as detached from politics.

He quickly assembled a team of some three dozen people, led by elite military personnel  including mathematicians, doctors, analysts and strategic experts from Portugals Army, Air Force and Navy.

Asked what other countries can do to bolster their own vaccination efforts, he did not hesitate to offer his best advice.

They need to find people who are not politicians, he said.

Before the pandemic, Portugal was fortunate to have a robust national vaccination program. It grew out of the countrys devastating experience battling polio, which was still affecting the country after Admiral Gouveia e Melo was born in 1960. He recalls when the daughter of a family friend fell ill from the disease and the suffering that followed.

Manuela Ivone da Cunha, a Portuguese anthropologist who has studied anti-vaccination movements, said that vaccine doubters and anti-vaxxers are in the minority in Portugal, and they are also less vocal than they are in many other countries.

Leonor Beleza, a former Portuguese health minister who is now the president of the Champalimaud medical foundation, said Portugals rollout clearly benefited from the discipline stemming from the nomination of a military officer.
No member of the Romanov family ever thought we would come back here, he said in an interview on the eve of the nuptials.

Raised in both Spain and France, Mr. Romanov was educated at Oxford and worked for several European Union institutions as well as Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel group before starting his own consultancy. According to his official biography, he is related to every royal family in Europe.

He and Ms. Bettarini, now Romanovna, began dating while they lived in Brussels, but the pair moved to Moscow two years ago to run the philanthropic foundation they established together in 2013. Ms. Bettarini, who also founded a consulting company, said in an interview that she wrote two novels during the Covid-19 pandemic, including one called Aristocrazy.

Mr. Romanov first traveled to Russia as an 11-year-old, for the funeral of his grandfather, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich Romanov, in 1992. Born in Finland by happenstance, Vladimir and his family had escaped the fate suffered by Czar Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, and their children and relatives: execution in 1918 at the hands of the Bolsheviks who had taken over Russia.

The wedding on Friday represents, at least in part, the evolving memory of the Russian empire and the family that ruled it for 300 years. Under communism, the Romanovs were often portrayed as backward and responsible for familial and societal collapse. But since the 1990s, the familys legacy has been embraced by the powerful Russian Orthodox Church, which canonized Nicholas II, Alexandra and their five children in 2000.
Even people who can normally afford to charter a private jet at a moments notice are being forced to be patient and, often, pay more.

Its all because of the pandemic.

Early on, few people were flying at all  or really had anywhere to go. Since then, demand for high-end travel, in particular, has increased exponentially, as more of the wealthy opt to avoid airport lines and crowded commercial flights. But so many are flocking to private jets, there are not enough planes and pilots to serve them.

That has been coupled with the same supply chain problems that have plagued many other parts of the economy. Want a replacement tire for a jet and someone to swap it out? What could once be done in a few hours may now take a week or more, one jet company said.

As a result, providers that used to be able to quickly send out a jet to members have been changing their terms. XO, for instance, now requires 72 hours notice, up from 24. Ascension has gone to 24 hours from 10.
In an extreme attempt to prevent cheating during a written exam, Indian Army in the state of Bihar has asked over 1,000 applicants to strip to their underwear and take the test outdoors.

Images published by Indian media show the naked men in an open field trying to complete the test by holding the sheets of paper on their thighs or on the ground, under the watchful eyes of uniformed supervisors. We were frisked and then ushered into an enclosure. Then the army officers asked us to remove all clothes except our underwear, said 21-year-old Harishambhu Kumar. I felt awkward, but the army people told us it was to check cheating, so I got used to it.

Photo: ANI/Twitter

The bizarre army recruitment exam took place on February 28 and has drawn criticism from the states high court, which has sought an explanation from Indias Ministry of Defense after a lawyer filed a petition against the army. The decision to ask candidates to appear for the exams without a shirt, trouser or vest is simply bizarre, lawyer Dinu Kumar said. Those who showed reluctance to remove their clothes were asked to leave. It was insulting.

Photo: Gopi Mishra

Officers responsible for the outrageous requirement dont seem to remorseful, though. Colonel V.S. Godhra, director of the Army Regional Office in Muzaffarpur, said the over 1,000 candidates were asked to strip to their underwear and sit in an open field to prevent them from hiding any cheat sheets in their clothes or under the desks and chairs. I am entitled to take all precautions necessary. In the past year, there have been two instances of candidates hiding cheating slips and mobile phones in their vests and undergarments, he was quoted as saying, by the Press Trust of India. We did not insult anybody or subjected anyone to cruelty. No examinee complained, so why outsiders are making a hue and cry over the matter.

To be fair, though, Bihar is famous for having a serious cheating problem during important exams. Last year, local police arrested around 1,000 aspiring officers who admitted to having paid other individuals to take the exams in their place. And lets not forget the local practice of scaling school walls to offer friends and relatives cheat sheets during year-end exams.

Im not saying that this justifies the local officers decisions. However, they probably felt that drastic measures were required to prevent cheating.

Sources: Indian Express, NDTV, The Wall Street Journal
Over two dozen people taking a national exam that could lead to a career in teaching were caught cheating Bluetooth-enabled flip flops to get an edge over the stiff competition.

Cheating has always been a big problem in India, especially during potentially life-changing exams. I remember watching surreal scenes of people climbing the walls of a school building in Bihar to hand cheat sheets to the students taking their year-end exams inside a few years ago, or army applicants forced to take exams in their underwear to prevent cheating. This year, authorities in Rajasthan went as far as cutting the internet connection in the state during the exam to prevent cheating, but they still couldnt prevent savvy cheaters from trying to get a leg up through nefarious ways. The latest method of cheating reportedly involves Bluetooth-connected flip-flops sold by criminal gangs for up to 600,000 rupees ($8,000) per pair.

More than 4,000 test centers were set up across the Indian state for the Rajasthan Teacher Eligibility Test (REET) on September 26. The test hadnt been held since 2018 and it is considered an entry into a teaching career, an important opportunity for many. Important enough to risk cheating on the exam and landing in jail for dozens of candidates caught last Sunday.

With the internet turned off statewide, shoes and sandals banned in test centers, and thorough searches at entry points, authorities thought they had every base covered, but cheaters always find a way. Over two dozen of them were caught wearing flip-flops with a sim card concealed inside. The phone was connected to tiny Bluetooth earpieces embedded deep in their ears to make them less visible.

The slippers had a sim card and the candidates had a tiny Bluetooth bug implanted in their ears. In one case, we had to take a doctors intervention to find the bug as it was so deeply implanted, one police officer told The National.

The cheaters plan was to have accomplices on the outside call their flip flops so they could discreetly dictate the answers to them and then receive the answers in return. Only some of the would-be teachers started acting strangely before entering the exam halls, which prompted an extra thorough search that revealed the high-tech footwear.

We were aware of the possibility of cheating but we thought it would be a question paper leak or someone would use the internet, which is why it was restricted in many cities, police official Priti Chandra said. But this was a totally new modus operandi. They are getting so tech-savvy.

Apparently, the rubber flip-flops were designed by a gang that procured the necessary components for around 30,000 rupees ($400) and then sold them to candidates appearing for the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers for a whopping 600,000 rupees ($8,000) per pair.



A total of 25 people were caught wearing a pair during this weeks exam. The number could have been greater, but as the cheaters were caught the information regarding the novel method was shared with several districts, prompting many centers to ask the candidates to remove their footwear outside the exam halls.
OFFALY County Council has turned down an application for a 150m high wind turbine on land close to the Tullamore bypass.

A Dublin-based company, Natural Forces Renewable Energy Ltd said it was working with a local group, Clonminch Sustainable Energy Community (SEC), to install the 4.2MW turbine in a field owned by John McGrath, Ashfield House, Clonminch.

The turbine was to be built 400m from the N52 bypass and the company said the project would be 51% community-owned when complete.

In their planning application, the company said that while Clonminch is outside both of the areas in Offaly designated as open for consideration for wind farms, the Offaly county development plan said the potential for small community based proposals should be considered and small scale turbines should be considered on a case by case basis.

The proposed project is being progressed with support from the local community, documentation lodged with the council said and the Clonminch SEC was described as a group made up mostly of small farmers with an interest in energy saving and low carbon farming.

Refusing the application, the County Council said exemptions relating to wind energy for an industrial or commercial premises, a school, a hospital or other community-related premise did not apply in this case.

The project was also deemed to be contrary to the development plan because it would involve the creation of a new access onto the N52.

Natural Forces Renewable Energy Ltd was previously refused permission on July 9 for what was described as the Leabeg and Leamore Community Wind Turbine at Rin, close to the Blueball/Cloghan road, near Lough Boora.

Also a single turbine project, it was to be located in a field across the road from the existing two turbines, which are operated by a different company.

While the proposed site location is located in an area not open to consideration for wind energy it should be noted that the project would be classed as a community project, the community ownership of the project under the Renewable Energy Support Scheme would be 51% [plus] a community benefits fund of 2/MWh annually for a 15 year period being made available to local community organisations, the company's application said.

The project would be 49% owned by Natural Forces. Should the project be successful at the planning stage, and as a Community Project, we hope to furhter promote the opportunity for all residents to become part of the Leamore Community Wind Turbine REC who will be owners of the project.

Niall McCoy and Grainne Blount were stated to be the directors of Natural Forces, a company registered in Clontarf. Kieran Dooley is the landowner at Rin.

Offaly County Council turned down the application, saying it was on land outside the wind energy area and did not benefit from available exemptions.

The council also said it was directly adjacent to land which has a high landscape sensitivity and may result in a detrimental visual impact.

The Rin planning refusal has been appealed to An Bord Pleanala.
The magnificently restored Meelick Weir and walkway on the River Shannon was officially opened by Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh OBrien TD and Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan TD on Friday morning last.

The weir was damaged in severe storms in 2009 and again in 2015/2016, when the walkway was also damaged and was subsequently closed.

Charlie Killeen, Chairman of the Meelick Lusmagh Development Committee, told The Midland Tribune that Friday's opening was the end result of many years of campaigning.

We were often ploughing a lonely furrow trying to get support for our much-loved weir, said Charlie, but at long last all our campaigning and hard work has paid off and we now have this beautiful, magnificent weir, which is one of the most beautiful things along the Shannon basin. We want to warmly thank The Midland Tribune and The Connaught Tribune who often publicised our campaign. The publicity provided by these newspapers was very important.

Meelick Weir was originally built in the 1840s as part of the Shannon Navigation. The weir is over 300 metres in length with a 12 sluice barrage. It maintains and regulates the navigation level for that section of waterway between Athlone (Lough Ree) and Meelick (Lough Derg).

The new walkway means there is now a link between the historic village of Meelick in east Galway to Lusmagh in west Offaly, and it forms part of the Hymany Way and the Beara-Breifne Way walking trails.

The walkway was much loved and much used by locals for many years, commented Charlie, but it was damaged in 2015 and no one could use it after that. It's now been unofficially open for several months and we are all delighted with it. They did a fantastic job on it. He strongly recommended that people come and have a walk across. It's a special walk, a special experience, he remarked.

Charlie added that there's also a plan to put a viewing platform on the martello tower in Meelick. They have taken away the ivy from the martello tower, he remarked. When the viewing platform is completed there will be a fine view of the surrounding landscape and the river. They are also planning to construct a walkway from the 600 year old Meelick Church to the weir.

Construction work on the 3.2m Waterways Ireland project began in 2019 and included the restoration of the weir, its 300m walkway and new tilting weir gates, along with other weir refurbishment. The new tilting weir system will be mechanised, meaning that staff will no longer have to manually install and remove the sluice boards in response to changing water levels.

There was a great turnout of people at Friday's official opening, and also a happy atmosphere because it had been a long time, 18 months, since anyone had attended an official opening, and it felt like another sign of life getting back to normal.

Speaking at the official opening, Minister Darragh OBrien said: I am delighted to be here today to officially open Meelick Weir and walkway after the completion of a hugely significant programme of work by Waterways Ireland on this state-of-the-art project. Recognising the importance of the weir and the walkway, I was pleased to support the project and to ensure funding was made available from my Department in the amount of 3.2m. It is great to see it brought to completion and ready for its official opening today.

Meelick Weir has a dual purpose. Not only is it a critical piece of infrastructure in maintaining the navigation level between Lough Ree and Lough Derg, it also serves to unite the communities of Meelick and Lusmagh and offers a fantastic amenity in the area.

I know this is very popular with local people and also provides a wonderful tourism opportunity for Galway, Offaly and Tipperary  the three counties that it borders. The restoration of the weir and walkway opens the potential for these historic structures to play an important role in tourism in the future.

Minister O'Brien pointed out that the area surrounding Meelick Weir is also of huge historical significance, with Victoria Lock and its lock-keepers house, and Meelick Martello, located on Moran Island, all included on the Record of Protected Structures.

Meelick Martello is a recorded monument in the care of Waterways Ireland, he remarked. Nearby Meelick Church, meanwhile, dates back to the 1400s.

Minister for Heritage, Malcolm Noonan commented: This whole area is hugely significant from a heritage perspective. This project opens the walkway and allows people travelling its route to visit Victoria Lock, which was built in the 1840s also as part of the navigation system, and the famous landmark the three counties Shannon view, where the counties of Galway, Offaly and Tipperary meet. In terms of wildlife, it is within both the River Shannon Callows Special Area of Conservation, and the Middle Shannon Callows Special Protection Area.

He added: I am delighted to see the restoration of the connectivity between the communities of Lusmagh and Meelick and the re-instatement of the Hymany Way. This project will have a significant impact on the communities and the broader tourism opportunities in the area.

Waterways Ireland chief executive, John McDonagh said: Meelick Weir is an iconic structure and Im delighted that this restoration project is now complete. The weir is an extremely important piece of navigation infrastructure, enabling the management of water levels on the River Shannon for navigation, and also linking the counties of Offaly and Galway, and the provinces of Leinster and Connaught via the walkway. The systems built into the weir also ensure a safer working environment for our staff.

This is the largest project Waterways Ireland has undertaken since we restored the main line of the Royal Canal and I would like to commend my colleagues, who have worked diligently to deliver this ambitious project on budget in very challenging times.

He pointed out that Waterways Ireland initiated design work on the project in 2012, completed the statutory environmental assessment and submitted planning for the project to Galway and Offaly county councils, which was given in 2017.

The works involved the restoration of the weir, its walkway and the tilting weir gates along with other weir refurbishment. The new tilting weir system is a significant improvement in health and safety for employees managing water levels on site.

To by-pass the fords and rapids at Meelick, the first attempt at improving the navigation of the area was made through the construction of Clonahenogue canal and Hamiltons Lock c.1755 (rebuilt in 1806) but was notoriously difficult to navigate due to insufficient depth and an entrance known locally as the devils elbow.

In 1840-43, a second phase of navigation works was made by the Shannon Commissioners, which, under the recommendations of engineer Sir Thomas Rhodes, constructed Meelick weir and a new cut with a spacious lock named for Queen Victoria.

A stone-built cottage for the lock keeper was built on the eastern (mainland) side, while a tow path was constructed along the western bank. Victoria Lock and its lock-keepers house are also included on the Record of Protected Structures and are considered to be of regional importance. Located on Moran Island, the Meelick Martello forms part of a cluster of defences close to Banagher.

Both locations were historically important fording points between the east and west of the country. On this island in the river, the Martello tower was constructed to defend against a potential Napoleonic invasion. Meelick Martello is a recorded monument in the care of Waterways Ireland, as well as being included in the Offaly Record of Protected Structures.

Waterways Ireland is a cross-border body accountable to the North South Ministerial Council under the 1998 British-Irish Agreement. The organisation is headquartered in Enniskillen and has satellite offices in Dublin, Carrick-on-Shannon, and Scarriff.

Its 340 staff are deployed across the management, maintenance, development and promotion of over 1,000kms of inland navigable waterways. Waterways Ireland assets contribute approximately 560m in economic, societal and environmental value annually. The waterways estate comprises Grand Canal; Royal Canal; Barrow; Shannon, Shannon-Erne; Erne; Ulster Canal and Lower Bann navigations. In 2020, the waterways estate received 3.5 million visitors.
Today is International Coffee Day, and while some of us may not know our Arabica from our Robusta, 78% of us choose to start our day with a cup of the black stuff, according to Bewley's Coffee Consumption Report.

The annual report, which looks at Ireland's coffee consumption habits, examines the changes in coffee consumption habits and attitudes.

The latest findings show that coffee is an essential part of an Irish adult's day, with an average of three cups of coffee consumed by 41% of Irish adult's every day, with over half (55%) choosing the morning as their perfect coffee moment.

The Americano was voted Irelands favourite coffee for the third year running as 41% of respondents prefer it as their choice of brew, with cappuccinos and lattes following in popularity, 40%, and 34% respectively.

Happy #InternationalCoffeeDay

I made a chart.







 

  

   

      TG (@TG22110) September 29, 2021

When it comes to preparing coffee at home, instant coffee hits the spot for the majority of coffee drinkers (55%) while using a coffee machine (48%) and French press (24%) are also popular.

Younger coffee drinkers (18-24) enjoy coffee for more than just the taste with two-thirds (66%) saying it makes them feel grown-up and sophisticated. However, their coffee must look the part with nearly half (49%) of this cohort claiming they need their coffee to look good so they can share it on social media with 68% even saying social media influences the coffee they drink.

But it's not all about looking the part among this age group, 78% of 18-24-year-olds claim they actively seek coffee that is sustainably sourced with only 42% of over 25s doing the same.

Ultimately, it all comes down to the taste buds for Irish coffee drinkers, with 72% saying that that taste is the main factor when choosing their favourite coffee.
VANCOUVER, Wash., Sept. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Banfield Pet Hospital  the nation's leading provider of preventive veterinary care and part of the Mars Veterinary Health family of practices  today announced a nearly $10 million commitment over the next year toward supporting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and strengthening educational pathways for current and future veterinary professionals. This includes a new national partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America focused on encouraging high school students from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue careers in veterinary medicine.
Opalesque Industry Update - The Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) is warning the public about the risks of fraud associated with the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) prepared by the company Air Next. The AMF has been contacted by Air Next to obtain a visa for its proposed ICO. The project's initiators submitted documents to the AMF, some of which are suspected of being forgeries. The AMF points out that no visa has been issued for the ICO conducted by the company Air Next, nor for any other token offering performed by this company. This ICO does not benefit from the legal guarantees associated with the AMF approval. This offer has allegedly been directly marketed to the public in France, in infringement of Article L. 341-10, 6 of the Monetary and Financial Code, which is subject to criminal penalties. Pursuant to Article 40 of the Criminal Procedure Code and Article 621-20-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code, the AMF is sending the Paris public prosecutor's office the information it has concerning Air Next and its website airnext.io The AMF urges investors who may be approached (by telephone, mail, social networks, instant messaging, etc.) to invest in this project to be vigilant and to refrain from passing on these solicitations to third parties.
Request Immediate Publication Headline: Post Brexit UK can tap the $5 trillion global halal consumer market to become the global hub & gateway to Ethical & Shariah Finance: Indian American Dr. Tausif Malik Post-COVID -19, the startups can give a great fillip to the UK economy and UK can be hub for Islamic Fintech, Halal food manufacturing, Halal cosmetics, and, Modest fashion Halal Angels Network has partnered with two UK organisations - Educational 
With thousands of young people taking part each year, The Queens Commonwealth Essay Competition is the worlds oldest international writing competition for schools.

Aditi S Nair, an 11th-grade student from Delhi, has been adjudged Runner-up in the Senior category in the prestigious Royal Commonwealth Essay Competition for 2021. Another Indian student, Raisa Gulati from Amritsar, is the Junior Runner-up.

Queen Elizabeth II is the chief patron of the Royal Commonwealth Society who conducts this competition. The first prize in the Senior section has gone to Kayla Bosire from Kenya, while Junior Winner, Ethan Mufuma, belongs to Uganda.

The Queens Commonwealth Essay Competition is the worlds oldest international writing competition for schools, established in 1883. With thousands of young people taking part each year, it recognises achievement, elevates youth voices and develops key skills through creative writing. Over 25,648 young people submitted entries this year sharing their ideas.

Awards will be presented to the winners at a glittering function at St Jamess Palace, London, on October 28. Commenting on this years competition, the Society, in a statement, said: The QCEC 2021 was especially competitive, with over 25,648 young people submitting an entry and sharing their ideas with our #Commonwealth family. Thank you, and a tremendous well-done, to all those who entered!

Aditi, the daughter of G Sreedathan, Associate Editor of Organiser, and Bindu Sreedathan, DDG, Ministry of Urban Development, is a student of Sanskriti School in Delhi.
Hearing the petition, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said that the farmers have strangulated the entire city and now want to enter the city and protest.

The Supreme Court slammed Kisan Mahapanchayat for seeking permission to hold 'satyagraha' at Jantar Mantar, saying, "you may have a right, but the citizens too have a right".

Hearing the petition, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said that the farmers have strangulated the entire city and now want to enter the city and protest.

"You are obstructing everything and even heckling security people," he added.

"Once you have approached courts challenging the laws, what is the point of continuing the protests. If you have faith in courts, pursue that for urgent hearing instead of protesting," the court said, as reported by Bar and Bench. "You have strangulated the city and now you want to come inside the city and protest. This coaxing should stop. You have blocked highways and roads".



This comes a day after the top court questioned how highways could be blocked "perpetually" and said it is the Executive's duty to implement the law laid down by the court that dealt with protests at public places.
During his visit, Army Chief will be interacting with troops and review the prevailing security situation and operational preparedness in the Ladakh Sector.



New Delhi: Army Chief General MM Naravane is on a two-day visit to Ladakh Sector, said the Additional Directorate General of Public Information, Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Army) on Friday (October 1).

During his visit, Naravane will review the prevailing security situation and operational preparedness in the Ladakh Sector.

He will also be interacting with troops deployed in the sector.

"General MM Naravane COAS is on a two-day visit to Ladakh Sector to review the prevailing security situation and operational preparedness. The COAS will also interact with troops deployed in the harshest terrain and weather conditions," the Indian Army tweeted.

Courtesy: ANI
AASU, AGP, AJYCP staged a statewide protest against MLA Sherman Ali for his derogatory remarks.

Guwahati: Controversial Congress MLA Sherman Ali of Baghbar constituency in Barpeta district wants to hang DC-SP of Darrang district for evicting migrant Muslims in Dhalpur. In a very controversial statement, the MLA said that the martyrs of Assam agitation are murderers. In a video statement, Sherman Ali said, "8 youth who were killed by migrant Muslims in Dhalpur in 1983 were murderers. These killings should be appreciated. They went to kill the Muslims out there and so, in defence, they killed the murderers. If I were there, I would have also killed them," Sherman, who wants to set up 'Miya' museum in Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra, also said, "If Congress returns to power in Assam, we will re-investigate it and make sure that the SP-DC of Darrang district, who led the eviction drive in Dhalpur against Muslims, would hang."

Indigenous people of Assam sharply condemned the remark of the Congress party MLA. AGP staged a statewide protest against the controversial remark by MLA Sherman Ali. AGP president and agriculture minister Atul Bora said that it was not one MLA's remark. It was a remark by the entire Congress party. Congress killed 855 martyrs during a legitimate agitation. Now their anti-Assamese stand is exposed to everyone. The All Assam Students Union (AASU) strongly condemned the insulting remarks to the martyrs by the Congress party and staged a statewide protest. The student body alleged that the Congress party always acts like a saviour of illegal immigrants. By insulting the martyrs of the Assam agitation, they insulted the whole Assamese society. AASU GS Shankar Jyoti Baruah said that the Congress party wanted to settle the illegal Muslims in Assam.

Meanwhile, the Assam Pradesh Congress Party (APCC) served a show-cause notice to the controversial MLA. Senior BJP MLA Prasanta Phukan said that if the Congress party has guts, they should expel Sherman Ali for his derogatory remark against the martyrs and the Assam police. BJP MP Dilip Saikia demands an apology from the Congress party and urges the state government to file a case against Sherman Ali for his derogatory remarks on martyrs and police.
Narrating the incident, Digvijay Singh stated Amit Shah helped them to reach their destination safely and face no hardships on the way and RSS workers met him regularly and kept asking him about his wellbeing and comfort.

Senior Congress leader and long term RSS baiter Digvijay Singh has showered praise on RSS and Amit Shah while speaking at the launch event of a new book Narmada Ke Pathik (the travellers of Narmada), written by his long-time associate OP Sharma at Bhopal.

Narrating the incident, Digvijay Singh stated that during his Narmada Parikrama Yatra, he had once reached Gujarat late in the night. It was a hilly and forest area with no proper roads and no boarding facilities. There, a forest officer came to meet them, introduced himself and said to Singh that he was instructed by Amit Shah to see to it that Digvijay Singh and his associates face no trouble in the yatra.

#WATCH | Once, we reached Gujarat at 10:30 pm. There was no way ahead through forested area&no facility for an overnight stay. A forest officer arrived& you'll be surprised to know that he told me that Amit Shah had directed him to fully cooperate with us: Digvijaya Singh,Cong pic.twitter.com/9wa5umk0nk  ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2021

Digvijay Singh, his wife Amruta and some Congress leaders had undertaken the Narmada Yatra in 2017, walking along the length of the Narmada river.

Singh further stated that even though it was a remote area, they were given places to rest and good food. They were also helped in their travel and sent safely to their destination.

He also added that he (Digvijay Singh) was one of Amit Shahs biggest critics. Yet Amit Shah saw to it that they get to reach their destination safely and face no hardships on the way.

Singh also said that during the Yatra RSS workers met him regularly and kept asking him about his wellbeing and comfort. During the Yatra, once RSS workers had even helped him to spend a night at a Dharmashala run by the Manjhi community in Gujarats Bharuch area. Digvijay Singh states he was surprised by the care and hospitality shown by RSS workers and had asked why they were doing so.

The RSS swayamsevaks had replied that the senior leadership of the Sangh had instructed them to help Digvijay Singh during the Narmada Yatra.
CM Sarma has been consistent with his working style and stern authority from his days as a minister and the opposition has failed miserably in maligning him.

The elections of 2021 can be termed as the most important election of the millennium for Assam because it took place just after the aftermath of the violent CAA protests and the deadly pandemic COVID-19. Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister of Assam, has emerged as the unbeatable leader who has won the hearts of the people of Assam and became an example for the entire nation. Day by day, his popularity is increasing, and the Chief Minister is growing stronger in his true identity as the most esteemed leader of the state. It seems that his secret lies in his endeavour to make Assam one of the top five states in India. Since the days when he jumped into politics, his popularity has been growing with each passing year.

What makes him succeed? How is he defying all the odds? Why can nothing impact his popularity? These are the questions doing rounds in many of the discussions that are going on today.

Dr Sarma has surprised the political analysts and opposition leaders who had taken him lightly and underestimated his popularity. One can closely look into Dr Sarma's political journey from student leader till he became the Chief Minister. To ascertain the secret behind his success, we have to understand his style of functioning. There is consistency in everything. Be it his attitude, activities or behaviour in visualising, Assam reaches the top. Dr Sarma has been consistent with his working style and stern authority from his days as a minister. Assam has always been confident that he's a taskmaster. He will get the job done. The opposition has failed miserably in maligning him. Now, as a no-nonsense Chief Minister, he has never given refuge with corruption in any ministry or the administration and never excused those who had the slightest touch of dishonesty.

There is another factor responsible for his popularity, people-centric policies and an agenda of development. From his first day as the Chief Minister, he has been giving importance to the development of the state and various people-centric programs for solving problems like poverty, illiteracy, inequality, unemployment reforms in education, administration, economic relief, safeguarding the cultural heritage and ethnicity of the state and contribute to the global campaign against carbon emission. These reforms will strengthen the social infrastructure in the state.

With the start of the term as the Chief Minister, the thrust was on the vaccination of the population, peace talks with insurgent groups, minimising human trafficking, drug annihilation and cattle smuggling. People started to feel the change in the process of governance in the state.

Bringing NFLB to the mainstream was a great success, along with the Karbi Anglong agreement. The decision to sign MoU with the microfinance companies was a historic step to resolve the financial difficulties of the distressed woman borrowers. To improve the quality of higher education, a budgetary allocation of 2612.80 crores and a budgetary allocation of 9389.54 set a new benchmark.

Implementing the NEP from April 2022 is set for a massive overall in the state's education sector. To boost the infrastructure of the state, the government allocated a fund of 988.92 crores. Assam faces continuous natural disasters in the form of flood and erosion, with a budgetary allocation of 893.56 crore, which covers 401 schemes for flood and erosion management and 1019 anti-erosion schemes the government has prepared itself to save Assam from continuous disasters.

Assam will take a giant leap towards ensuring green fields with a budgetary allocation of 1245.85 crores and connecting Assam through superlative road infrastructure. The government has allocated a budget of 8583.37 crores. The government is determined to achieve the mega target of the Har Ghar Jal campaign of the Prime Minister. The government has started to deliver on the promise of 1 Lakh jobs. The entire state machinery is in mission mode to deliver and achieve in every sector, be it health education, infrastructure, safety, security, social equality, etc. Dr Sarma's government has identified priority work areas and has proposed doorstep delivery of government services.

Dr Sarma has taken a go-getter attitude towards his ministers. They have been given the responsibility to develop the state. A weekly or monthly review of the developmental works will determine the position where the state's development has reached. The Mantra of the Chief Minister seems to be Timely Teamwork, Transparency and Technology to achieve Transformation. This is a pragmatic way to deal with the issues the state is facing. All these have proved that he is the invincible leader of the state. Not only Assam, but the country is proud to have a leader like Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma.

(The writer is the Vice-President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Assam Pradesh)


Congress promoted a religious divide in the country and has also nurtured the idiom of disintegration.



Bereft of any ideology and commitment, Congress today faces the crisis of its decimation. After failing the country to deliver in the post-Independence era, it is on the verge of extinction.

To quote Bipan Chandra, the historian, the Congress during the freedom struggle was not a political party, but an umbrella movement in which different ideologies merged to fight for nationalism. And over the last two decades, the nation has witnessed a slow and incremental collapse of the so-called ideological roots of the Congress-party. An ideology that should be the basis of any political outfit has been missing in Congress all through.

The Congress, since independence, has claimed to foster the philosophy of secularism, Fabian-socialism and national integration. Over the years, it has miserably failed to realise any of these goals. It has promoted a religious divide in the country and has also nurtured the idiom of disintegration.

The slogan of 'Bharat Tere Tukde Honge-Insha Allah Insha Allah' caught the nation's attention in the JNU five years ago. It got hyped and earned notoriety as a war cry against the very national integration of the Indian - nation by a left-leaning anarchist group of so-called students. Today, that group led by Kanhaiya has joined hands with the Congress.

The meaning of this slogan is - India, you will be divided into pieces in the name of Allah. This provocative and highly anti-national slogan was raised at JNU to protest against the hanging of Afzal Guru, whom the Hon'ble Supreme Court convicted for abetting and aiding terrorists in India and waging war against the Indian Nation. This slogan was also ideologically supported by many a 'left-liberal intellectuals and the main Centrist ideologically political outfit, Congress. A few leaders of political outfits visited the JNU campus in February 2016 to express solidarity with the students.

This protest was led by Kanhaiya Kumar, then JNU Students' Union president and National leader of the All India Students Federation (AISF). After that, he joined CPI (Communist Party of India) and served as a CPI National Executive Council member. This former CPI leader was welcomed into the fold of the Indian National Congress on 28 September 2021. In politics, persons do not matter, 'ideas' matter. Kanhaiya Kumar may have joined as an individual, and he has all right to join any political outfit. But, the ideology he represents is anti-national. It is dangerous, poisonous and toxic for India as a nation... He ideologically supported Afzal Guru, a threat to the nation and was convicted by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.

These anti-India slogans were justified even on the grounds of freedom of speech and freedom of expression... What can be more than the nadir of ideology where you use your ideology to subvert the very nation for which it was idealised? Is it thinkable that you can support 'Bin Laden' in the USA?

If you look at the slogan of 'Bharat Tere Tukde Honge', it is not just a slogan, but an ideology giving birth to these slogans. This slogan is just a superstructure standing on a substructure of an ideology that is detrimental to the very existence of this nation. At the outset, we should understand what the ideological roots of this underlying ideology are?

This slogan was chanted by the ideologues of the 'Leftist-Marxists-liberals' whose citadel the JNU has been. The communist ideology is a hypothesis that was propagated by its proponent, Karl Marx. Their basic assumption is that the moving force of human progress is 'matter' and not 'idea'. It assumes material or economic factors as the basis of change and development. Other factors like religion, nationalism, and ideology are just the shadow of the prevailing economic relationships. They purportedly divide between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, the capitalist-bourgeoisie and the labour-proletariats.

Nationalism and nation-state is a 'false consciousness among the masses projected by the rich to control the 'minds' of the poor and perpetuate former's control! Only by throwing away the yoke of religion and nationalism, the so-called state of classless and stateless society would emerge through violence and revolution. Of late, the neo-Left liberals of India have also started believing in libertarianism, individualism and constitutionalism and claim to believe in equality, human rights, the rule of law, women-emancipation etc.

So, this ideology of the Indian-leftists in which Kanhaiya Kumar has been groomed is an extreme anti-nation ideology. He represents that ideology and ironically has surfaced as a symbol of that ideology. Persons like Kanhaiya claim to oppose the government in power, but in the garb of opposing the government, they oppose the very country and the nation. They do not desist from spreading and promoting the idea of secession, anti-nationalism and anarchy. They will find fault in anything and everything, which is the idea of 'India'. They disrespect the sovereignty of India, and its national symbols is it the very unity of India, its national flag, its armed forces or any other.

Since their prime aim is to destroy the very nation-state itself, they build up their 'narratives' of anti-India, be it its historical past or the present or the nation's progress in the future. Even the history of India is interpreted from this so-called perspective, where the glorious and historical achievements are ridiculed and distorted. They hail secession, separatism and anti-nationalism in India. The chants like 'Bharat-Tere Tukde Tukde Honge', 'Bharat Teri Barbadi' are just reflections of their ideological grooming of anti-nationalism.



(The writer is BJP national general secretary)
Mizos share an ethnic affinity with some Myanmar ethnic groups and have been helping the incoming people who have not been declared or given refugee status officially.

New Delhi: In a special humanitarian gesture, the MNF-led Mizoram government has ensured enrollment of about 2,000 Myanmarese children who fled their country following the February military coup.

The state school education minister Lalchhandama Ralte said the ill-fated children have also resumed their studies under the supervision of the state government.

The incoming people from Myanmar and young students are now spread across all the 11 districts in the state. Most of them were in the northeastern Champhai district and Hnahthial, Lawngtlai and Siaha districts in southern Mizoram.

Sourced said the "Myanmar students" were admitted in nurseries, primary schools, middle schools and high schools. Mizos share an ethnic affinity with some Myanmar ethnic groups and have been helping the incoming people who have not been declared or given refugee status officially.

Despite fund constraints, arrangements were being made to ensure that Myanmar displaced students would avail free uniforms, textbooks, and midday meals. Among those who were extended support also include 18 orphans, the influential social organisation Young Mizo Association sources said.

The orphans, aged between four and 19 years, have just completed their mandatory quarantine period and are being lodged at the relief camp in the outskirts of the village, an office-bearer of YMA said.

Officials said the state government, which had earlier sought the assistance of Rs 10 crore from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would soon send the data of the refugee students to the centre.

The Mizoram government has officially informed the centre that over 20,000 Myanmar refugees are now living in the state which neighbours Myanmar's Chin province by mid-September.
Natwar Singh, who was External Affairs Minister during the UPA government, also questioned the Congress leadership and blamed the Gandhi family for the erosion of the party's base.

New Delhi: Senior leader Natwar Singh on Thursday said that there is nobody in Congress, including Rahul Gandhi, who can challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

When asked if Rahul Gandhi could challenge the Prime Minister, Singh told ANI, "Do you think so? Will he be able to stand up before PM Modi? Hold a debate between PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi. You saw Gandhi's interview with a tv channel. PM Modi is an orator. He is fearless and bold. He (Rahul Gandhi) can do nothing against him (PM Modi). There is nobody in Congress who can challenge Modi and take him on because he is a great orator."

Singh, who was External Affairs Minister during the UPA government, also questioned the Congress leadership and blamed the Gandhi family for the erosion of the party's base.

Speaking on Congress' poll prospects in the five states, he said, "I don't think so (if the party can defeat BJP). Had they taken a stand...but...their judgement is bad. They don't have an advisor but think they are 'Tees Maar Khan'."

The former senior Congress leaders blamed Rahul Gandhi for the erosion of the party's support base in the leader.

He said that Rahul Gandhi does not hold any designation in the party but continues to call the shots.

"Three people are responsible for the current crisis in the Congress party. One of them is Rahul Gandhi, who doesn't even hold any post, and he is calling the shots," Singh told ANI.

Singh's criticism of the functioning of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi came amid crisis in Congress in three states - Punjab, Kerala and Chhattisgarh.

Courtesy: ANI
Shri Dattatreyaji stressed the importance of literature in preserving our age-old culture and explained the importance of different segments of the tea tribe to stay organised and united.

Guwahati: Sar Karyavah of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Dattatreya Hosabale on Thursday (September 30) said in Guwahati that preserving the rich heritage of 'Bhartiya Sanskriti' and its age-old traditions in literature is the need of the hour. Addressing the representative of 108 tea communities of Assam Sar Karyavah Hosabale asked them to upkeep the great values of the tea tribe's culture, tradition and age-old dharmic belief.

He explained the importance of different segments of the tea tribe to stay organised and united.

While recalling the history of the tea tribe during the British period when they were brought to different places of the world, including Assam, Sar Karyavah Hosabale said, "They contributed in their best way as nation-builders with hard labour and sweat." He further added, In Trinidad and Guyana, those who had been brought as Girmitia did not forget their culture and religion despite innumerable challenges. That's indeed the beauty of them.

The different culture of tea tribes originally from different states got a unique mixture on the land of Assam, which enriched our overall Bharatiya culture. He further said, " Sanskriti is one, but with different manifestations. We see linkages in different manifestations. That is the uniqueness of Bharatiya culture."

Shri Dattatreyaji stressed the importance of literature in preserving our age-old culture.

"Value of life is understood in a better way when the economic conditions of people are enriched. Improving one's economic condition through moral means is what should be cherished.", He added.

During the crisis period, cooperation with each other for better sustenance, properly availing different government welfare schemes for health and educational necessities, should be taken into account.

Dattatreya Ji said that the educated elites in society must properly guide the other Janjati society, considering it a duty.

Speaking in a seminar on "Socio-economic and cultural development of tea tribes and welfare schemes of government" in Guwahati, Hosabaleji said, a "chitra pradarshani" should be developed and demonstrated, taking into account the stories of 3/4 generations of tea communities in Assam which will facilitate an inspiring history of the tea tribe for the future generation.

Union MoS of petroleum Rameswar Teli and a host of dignitaries of tea communities were present at the seminar held in Madhab Dev international auditorium in Guwahati.
Zojila Pass is the strategic link connecting the Leh-Ladakh region to Jammu & Kashmir and the rest of India. The completion of an all-weather connectivity tunnel will boost economic opportunities and strengthen Indias security

The strategic Zojila Tunnel Project will be completed by December 2023, much before its earlier deadline of 2026, said Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on September 28.

After inspecting the work progress of the Zojila and Z-Morh tunnel site in Baltal, Jammu & Kashmir, Nitin Gadkari directed the authorities of Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) to complete the tunnel before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

MEIL was awarded the project in October 2020 by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation.

The work on the Asias longest bi-directional tunnel is going on at faster pace. I am satisfied with the speed of the and the quality of the construction is good. But its better if the construction is completed by December 2023 as we will face General Elections in 2024, the Union Minister said during a media interaction at the project site.

The completion of tunnels at Zojila and Z-Morh will provide all-weather connectivity from Srinagar to Leh. This will become the highway for socio-economic development in the region.

The Minister also said that an extensive road network in the Himalayan region will help boost the region's tourism sector and provide huge employment opportunities to the people and strengthen the economy.

Zojila Pass is the strategic link connecting the Leh-Ladakh region to Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir and with the rest of India. Presently, the road from Srinagar to Leh is not open all year round, as it is not suitable for vehicular movement due to extreme snowfall during winters. However, the region does not have all-weather connectivity, especially to Leh, which has adversely impacted the transport and tourism sector, thereby affecting the regions economy.

This project coming up at an altitude of 11,578 ft will provide all-weather connectivity from Srinagar to Leh against just five months access with the Srinagar-Ladakh highway closed from mid-November to April, cutting off this entire region from the rest of India.

Once the tunnel is completed, travel and trade between Srinagar and Ladakh throughout the year will become possible. It will boost economic opportunities and strengthen Indias security.

When asked about the Ministers request of completing the tunnel work before the 2024 Parliamentary election, MEIL Managing Director PV Krishna Reddy told Organiser that the company would try to do it as nothing is impossible.

Addressing the media, Nitin Gadkari also said Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh will get 31 tunnels with a cumulative length of 52 km with an investment of Rs 1.4 lakh crore in the next couple of years. While 20 tunnels will be complete with a cumulative length of 32 km in Jammu & Kashmir, another 11 will be built with a total length of 20 km in Ladakh.

Taking a jibe at the Opposition, the Union Minister said 969 new national highways have been announced in the region. The Modi Government has been able to do the same amount of work related to road projects in Jammu & Kashmir that earlier took 50 years. I dont want to point fingers at anyone, but this work should have been done earlier.
On Friday, 24 September, during the celebration of Holy Mass for First Nations leaders and parish representatives at the Santa Teresa Spirituality Centre in Ormiston, Queensland, Archbishop Mark Coleridge, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, publicly endorsed the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which demands a constitutional voice for Australias indigenous peoples, recognizing that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were the first sovereign Nations of the continent. Speaking ahead of the first assembly of the Plenary Council of the Church in Australia, scheduled to begin on 3 October in Adelaide, the Archbishop of Brisbane said that only a heart of stone could allow indigenous peoples to become aliens, exiles, and refugees in their own land. Indeed, he added, what has been done to the indigenous ...

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At the end of the Angelus on Sunday, 26 September, World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Pope Francis urged the faithful not to close our doors to the hope of migrants. Earlier the Holy Father had reflected on the days Gospel Reading of Mark in which Jesus warns against the temptation to be closed off. The following is a translation of the Popes reflection which he shared in Italian.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Buongiorno!

The Gospel of todays Liturgy recounts a brief dialogue between Jesus and the Apostle John, who speaks on behalf of the entire group of disciples. They saw a man who was casting out demons in the name of the Lord, but they stopped him because he was not part of their group. At this point, Jesus invited them not to hinder those who do good, because they contribute to the fulfilment of Gods plan (cf. Mk 9:38-41). Then he admonished them: instead of dividing people into good and bad, we are all called to be vigilant over our own hearts, lest we succumb to evil and bring scandal to others (cf. vv. 42-45, 47-48).

In short, Jesus words reveal a temptation, and offer an exhortation. The temptation is to be closed off. The disciples would like to hinder a good deed simply because it is performed by someone who does not belong to their group. They think they have the exclusive right over Jesus, and that they are the only ones authorised to work for the Kingdom of God. But this way, they end up feeling that they are privileged and consider others as outsiders, to the extent of becoming hostile towards them. Brothers and sisters, every closure tends in fact to keep us at a distance from those who do not think like we do, and this  we know  is the root of many great evils in history: of absolutism that has often generated dictatorships and of great violence towards those who are different.

But we need to be vigilant about closure in the Church too. Because the devil, who is the divider  this is what the word devil means, the one who divides  always insinuates suspicions to divide and exclude people. He tempts by using cunning, and it can happen as with those disciples, who ended up excluding even someone who had cast out the devil himself! Sometimes we too, instead of being humble and open communities, can give the impression of being the top of the class and keep others at a distance; instead of trying to walk with everyone, we can show off our believers license: I am a believer, I am Catholic, I belong to this association, to that one, and the others, poor things, do not. This is a sin. Showing off ones believers license to judge and exclude. Let us ask for the grace to overcome the temptation to judge and to categorise, and may God preserve us from the nest mentality, that of jealously guarding ourselves in the small group of those who consider themselves good: the priest with his loyal followers, the pastoral workers closed off among themselves so that no one can infiltrate, the movements and associations in their own particular charism, and so on. Closed. All this runs the risk of turning Christian communities into places of separation and not of communion. The Holy Spirit does not want closure; He wants openness, welcoming communities where there is a place for everyone.

And then in the Gospel there is Jesus exhortation: instead of judging everything and everyone, let us be attentive to ourselves! Indeed, the risk is to be inflexible towards others and indulgent towards ourselves. And Jesus urges us not to make a deal with evil, with striking images: If something in you causes you to sin, cut it off! (cf. vv. 43-48). If something harms you, cut it off! He does not say, If something is a reason for scandal, stop, think about it, improve a bit. No: Cut it off! Immediately! Jesus is radical in this, demanding, but for our own good, like a good doctor. Every cut, every pruning, is so we can grow better and bear fruit in love.

Let us then ask ourselves: what is in me that is contrary to the Gospel? What, in concrete terms, does Jesus want me to cut out of my life?

Let us pray to the Immaculate Virgin, that she may help us be welcoming towards others and vigilant over ourselves.

After the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:

Dear brothers and sisters, today we are celebrating World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which this year is on the theme: Towards an ever wider we. It is necessary to walk together, without prejudice and without fear, beside those who are most vulnerable: migrants, refugees, displaced persons, victims of human trafficking, and the abandoned. We are called to build an ever more inclusive world, that excludes no one.

I join with those, who are celebrating this Day in various parts of the world; I greet the faithful gathered in Loreto for the initiative of the Italian Episcopal Conference in aid of migrants and refugees. I greet and thank the various ethnic communities present here in the Square with their flags; and I greet the representatives of the Italian Caritas  apri  project, as well as the Migrantes Office of the Diocese of Rome and the Centro Astalli. Thank you all for your generous efforts!

And before leaving the Square, I invite you to go over to the monument over there  where Cardinal Czerny is  the boat with the migrants, and to look closely at the expressions of those people and grasp in that look the hope that every migrant has, to start living again. Go over there and look at that monument. Let us not close the doors to their hope.

I express my closeness and solidarity to those who were affected by the eruption of the volcano on the island of La Palma, in the Canaries. I think in particular of those who were forced to leave their homes. Let us pray to Our Lady, venerated on that island as Nuestra Senora de las Nieves, for these people who have been sorely tried, and for the rescuers.

Today, Fr Giovanni Fornasini, priest and martyr, will be beatified. A parish priest zealous in charity, he did not abandon his flock during the tragic period of the Second World War, but rather he defended it to the point of bloodshed. May his heroic witness help us to face lifes trials with fortitude. A round of applause for the new Blessed!

And I greet you all, people of Rome and pilgrims from various countries. In particular, I greet the Opera Don Orione lay movement and the representation of parents and young people joined in the fight against tumours.

I wish all of you a happy Sunday. And please, please do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch. Arrivederci!
The Holy Father has granted Ecclesiastica Communio in accordance with Canon 76 2 of the Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches (cceo), requested by His Beatitude Raphael Bedros xxi Minassian, Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians. The Patriarch and his entourage, who were received in audience by Pope Francis on Friday, 24 September, was elected on Thursday, 23 September, by the Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church, gathered in Rome. The following is a translation of the Popes Letter for the occasion.

To His Beatitude

Raphael Bedros xxi Minassian

Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians

I have received the letter with which Your Beatitude informed me that today you have been elected Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians by the Synod of Bishops, requesting the concession of ecclesiastical communion.

I wish to join in the joy of the sons and daughters of that Church and of the universal Church, who greatly accompanied with their prayers the Bishops gathered, first in Lebanon at the beginning of summer, and in these days in Rome, at the Pontifical Armenian College. Every member of the Armenian Catholic holy People of God was waiting for his Pastor, to be known by him, called by name and led by the strong and gentle word of the Gospel.

The election of Your Beatitude has come at a time when people are particularly burdened by various challenges. I am thinking of the suffering in Syria and Lebanon  countries where the Church of Cilicia of the Armenians is present  as well as the pandemic, which is still far from being overcome in many parts of the world. All persons of good will, especially Christians, are called to be neighbours and to demonstrate they are brothers, overcoming indifference and loneliness. Even under the floods of history and in the deserts of our time, we can and must walk towards the Crucified and Risen One.

We know the Armenian people as experts in suffering, because of the many trials throughout its more than 1,700 years of Christian history, but also because of their inexhaustible ability to flourish and bear fruit, through the holiness and wisdom of their saints and martyrs, the culture of their doctors and thinkers, and the art that knows how to carve into the rock the sign of the cross like a tree of life, testimony to the victory of faith over every adverse force in the world.

The Church Your Beatitude has been called to lead is fully integrated in the affairs of the Armenian people, preserving its memory and traditions, and at the same time deeply linked to the Successor of the Apostle Peter: I entrust to you the care of the younger generations, the promotion of vocations, the wise harmony you must be able to find between the different entities of your community, such as the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, the Mekhitarist Congregation and the Patriarchal Institute for the Clergy of Bzommar, as well as many of your sons and daughters who were formed and live within the Latin Church but are well aware of their Armenian heritage.

May the All Holy Mother of God and the saints of your tradition, especially Saint Gregory of Narek, whom I had the joy of proclaiming a Doctor of the Church, guide you, be of example and intercede for you: may they show us above all the path of authentic fraternity and ecumenical dialogue with our brothers and sisters of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

May the Patriarchal Church of Cilicia of the Armenians, led by Your Beatitude together with the Bishops of the Synod, continue to make its way in these first decades of the third millennium.

As the Successor of the Apostle Peter, called to confirm the brethren in the faith, I gladly grant you the ecclesiastical communion requested, in accordance with Tradition and the norms in force, conveying to you my embrace of peace and my Apostolic Blessing.

Rome, Saint John Lateran, 23 September 2021

Francis
We are sinners, but we live our lives with this grace of God that justifies us each time we ask forgiveness, Pope Francis said at the General Audience on Wednesday morning, 29 September, as he continued his series of catecheses on Saint Pauls Letter to the Galatians. The following is a translation of the Holy Fathers words which he shared in Italian with the faithful gathered in the Vaticans Paul vi Hall.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Good morning!

On our journey to better understand Saint Pauls teaching, today we will encounter a difficult but important topic: justification. What is justification? We, who were sinners, have become just. Who justified us? This process of change is justification. We, before God, are just. It is true, we have our personal sins. But fundamentally, we are just. This is justification. There has been a lot of discussion on this topic, to find the interpretation that best corresponds to the Apostles thought and, as often happens, these discussions even ended up in contradicting positions. In the Letter to the Galatians, just as in the Letter to the Romans, Paul insists on the fact that justification comes through faith in Christ. But, Father, I am just because I keep to all the Commandments! Yes, but justification does not come from that. It comes before that. Someone justified you, someone made you just before God. Yes, but I am a sinner! Yes, you are justified, but a sinner. But fundamentally, you are just. Who justified you? Jesus Christ. This is justification.

What is hidden behind the word justification that is so decisive for the faith? It is not easy to arrive at an exhaustive definition, but taking Pauls thought as a whole, we can simply say that justification is the consequence of Gods merciful initiative of offering forgiveness (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1990). And this is our God, so very good, merciful, patient, full of mercy, who continually grants pardon, continually. He forgives, and justification is God who forgives everyone first in Christ. Gods mercy grants forgiveness. In fact, God, through Jesus death  and we have to underscore this: through Jesus death  destroyed sin and definitively granted us his pardon and salvation. Thus justified, sinners are welcomed by God and reconciled with him. It is like a return to the original relationship between the Creator and the creature, before the disobedience of sin intervened. The justification wrought by God, therefore, allows us to recuperate the innocence lost through sin. How does justification happen? Responding to this question means discovering another novelty in Saint Pauls teaching: that justification comes through grace. Only through grace: we are justified because of pure grace. But can I not go to the judge and pay so that he can justify me, like some people do? No. You cannot pay for this. Someone paid for all of us: Christ. And from Christ, who died for us, comes that grace that the Father gives to everyone: Justification comes through grace.

The Apostle is always mindful of the experience that changed his life: his meeting with the Risen Jesus on the way to Damascus. Paul had been a proud, religious and zealous man, convinced that justification consisted in the scrupulous observance of the precepts of the law. Now, however, he has been conquered by Christ, and faith in Him has completely transformed him, allowing him to discover a truth that had been hidden: we do not become just through our own effort, no, it is not us, but it is Christ, with his grace, who makes us just. So, Paul was willing to renounce everything that had made him rich before, in order to be fully aware of the mystery of Jesus (cf. Ph 3:7), because he had discovered that only Gods grace had saved him. We have been justified, we have been saved, through pure grace, not because of our own merits. And this gives us great trust. We are sinners, yes; but we live our lives with this grace of God that justifies us each time we ask forgiveness. But he does not justify us in that moment: we have already been justified, but he comes to forgive us again.

For the Apostle, faith has an all-encompassing value. It touches every moment and every aspect of a believers life: from baptism to our departure from this world, everything is informed by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus who gives salvation. Justification through faith underlines the priority of the grace that God offers without distinction to those who believe in his son.

We must not, however, conclude that, for Paul, the Mosaic Law had lost its value; rather, it remains an irrevocable gift from God. It is, the Apostle writes, holy (Rm 7:12). Even for our spiritual life, observing the Commandments is essential. But here too, we cannot count on our efforts: the grace of God that we receive in Christ is fundamental. That grace that comes from the justification given to us by Christ who already paid for us. From him, we receive that gratuitous love that allows us, in our turn, to love in concrete ways.

In this context, it is good to recall the teaching of the Apostle James, who wrote: You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. It seems to be the contrary, but it is not the contrary. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead (Jas 2:24, 26). If justification does not bear fruit with our works, then it will just remain there, buried, as if dead. It is there, but we must activate it with our works. This is how James words complement Pauls teaching. For both, therefore, the response of faith demands that we be active in our love for God and in our love of neighbour. Why active in that love? Because that love saved all of us, it freely justified us, gratis!

Justification incorporates us into the long history of salvation that demonstrates Gods justice: faced with our continual falls and inadequacies, he did not give up, but wanted to make us just and he did so through grace, through the gift of Jesus Christ, of his death and resurrection. Sometimes I have said, how God acts, what his style is. And I said it with three words: Gods style is nearness, compassion and tenderness. He always draws near to us, is compassionate and tender. And justification is precisely Gods greatest nearness with us, men and women, Gods greatest compassion for us men and women, the Fathers greatest tenderness. Justification is this gift of Christ, the death and resurrection of Christ that makes us free. But, Father, I am a sinner, I have robbed Yes. But fundamentally, you are just. Allow Christ to effect that justification. We are not fundamentally condemned no, we are just. Allow me to say, we are saints, fundamentally. But then, by our actions, we become sinners. But, fundamentally, we are saints: let us allow Christs grace to come and this justice, this justification will give us the strength to progress. Thus, the light of faith allows us to recognize how infinite Gods mercy is, his grace that works for our good. But that same light also makes us see the responsibility that has been entrusted to us to cooperate with God in his work of salvation. The power of grace needs to be coupled with our works of mercy which we are called to live to bear witness to how tremendous Gods love is. Let us move ahead with this trust: we have all been justified, we are just in Christ. We must effect that justice with our works.

Special Greetings

I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in todays Audience, especially the groups from Denmark and the United States of America. In a particular way, my greeting goes to the seminarians of the Pontifical North American College and their families gathered for the ordination to the Diaconate. Upon all of you, and your families, I invoke the joy and peace of the Lord. May God bless you!

Lastly, as usual, my thoughts turn to the elderly, to the sick, to young people and to newlyweds, who are many today. Todays Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Rafael, and the upcoming Feast of the Guardian Angels, represent an invitation to always be attentive to divine designs and their manifestation. Do not hesitate to journey with confidence along the paths that Divine Providence indicates to you every day. And also, let us not forget the approaching Feast Day of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. With her simplicity and her short journey, that brief journey, may she help us to move forward on the way to holiness and may she bless us.

I offer my blessing to all of you.
EVART  Following several months of delays and extensions, Attitude Wellness LLC, also known as Lume Cannabis Company, in Evart received approval for renewal of three marijuana licenses.

The city received three renewal applications from Lume for their provisioning, processing and grow licenses, which were set to expire May 18.

The Evart City Council gave conditional approval for the renewals during its May 17 meeting, dependent on the company getting necessary effluent testing done within 30 days.

Then-city manager Sarah Dvoracek told the council during the meeting that staff was looking at developing a customizable effluent testing procedure that would test for additional contaminants other than those recommended by the Department of Energy, Great Lakes and Environment that could be harmful to the citys sewer lagoon system.

This is an evolving process and I want to make sure we are following what EGLE is saying and that we are protecting our sewer lagoon system, Dvoracek said at the time. I want to be able to test quarterly or every other month as their processes evolve. We have to make sure that nothing is harming our lagoon system.

Subsequently, the council approved two extensions to the conditional approval while awaiting the results of air quality testing.

Air & Water Compliance Group tested air quality samples from each exhaust vent at the facility.

In September, the city received the results of the air quality tests from Air & Water Compliance Group, which stated that the Lume facility is below state allowed emission rates for toxic air contaminants.

In addition, Michigan Consulting & Environmental collected samples from each exhaust vent which were submitted to Prism Analytical Technologies for analysis.

All three samples exhibited concentrations of volatile organic compound concentrations within the required limits, according to their report.

It is my understanding that you were awaiting the air quality report, which we have received, interim Evart city manager Richard Lewis said. The summary shows that the Lume facilities are well below the toxic air emissions guidelines. I recommend you grant the renewal licenses that will be good until May 18, 2022.

The motion to grant the renewals was unanimously approved.
ONEKAMA  After a hiatus in 2020, Onekamas Fall Festival is set to return Oct. 9 with a full slate of free family-friendly activities.

Organizers with the Portage Lake Association say theyre eager to see the annual event return to Village Park in Onekama this fall after being canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

We're really excited, and the reason we're excited (is) it's a way for us to give back to the community, said Julie Lapinski, Portage Lake Association president. Lots of times we have community members, parents, grandparents come up to us and say, thank you for having this event, it gives our children, grandchildren an opportunity to participate in something they don't always get.

The popular scarecrow contest is set to return with around 60 scarecrows displayed along Main Street in the village. Individuals, businesses and school children participate in creating the scarecrows every year and the public is encouraged to vote for their favorites at the festival. A small fee is charged for tickets to vote, with proceeds going to the Onekama Food Bank.

The festival will also feature a number of merchants at its arts and crafts show, and food vendors, including Trinity Lutheran Church of Onekamas popular Donut Wagon. The Four-Footed Flea and Art Market will take place from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. with a $20 table fee going to benefit Homeward Bound Animal Shelter. Call 312-909-0155 for vendor information.

The annual pet parade and costume contest will be held at noon. Those who want to enter their pets should meet by the pavilion shortly before noon to register. Pet costumes are strongly encouraged and prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place entries. All participants will receive a doggie bag for their pet.

A pumpkin carving contest will take place, and attendees are encouraged to bring their finished jack-o'-lanterns to the event.

Live music will begin at 11 a.m. with headliners the Feral Cats performing from 2-4 p.m.

A number of childrens activities will also be available, including face and rock painting, musical chairs and bounce houses.

Attendees are also encouraged to bring out returnable cans and bottles to the festival in support of the Onekama volleyball program. People will be accepting the recyclables from 9-11 a.m. to help raise money.

For more information about the event visit onekama.info or find them on Facebook at 1, - Onekama, Michigan. Inquiries may be sent to info@onekama.info.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP)  Five men were indicted Thursday in the fatal drive-by shooting of a 4-year-old girl in Florida.

A Hillsborough County jury formally charged Zvante Sampson, 30; Quandarious Hammond, 28; Jaylin Bedward, 22; James Denson, 24; and Andrew Thompson, 22. They have been taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force, according to a Tampa police news release.
Three Rivers Corporation welcomes Cherie Armstrong as an estimator in the Commercial Construction Group.

Armstrong joins the company as a journeyman carpenter with 13 years experience as an estimator. Her career includes experience as an assistant estimator at Kaiser Permanente Foundation Hospitals in California and most recently as an estimator for C.W. Driver, working on projects up to $170 million in value. Her experience and estimating knowledge will support the companys growing portfolio of projects across the state.

Cherie is a great addition to the Three Rivers team and is part of our strategy to invest in retaining and attracting top talent to serve our customers across the Great Lakes Bay Region and the state, stated Jon Lynch, president of Three Rivers Corporation.

Armstrong was born in Michigan and is excited to be back in the state, closer to her family.

We are thrilled to join the Three Rivers family, said Armstrong about her new position. We cannot wait to get out and explore the Great Lakes Bay Region and experience everything weve heard so much about.
BANGKOK (AP)  A former ally of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's leader ousted in a February military takeover, testified at her corruption trial on Friday that he had handed to her large amounts of cash and gold in proceedings supporters say are meant to discredit her.

A Special Court in the capital Naypyitaw is hearing four corruption cases against Suu Kyi, each of which carries a penalty of up to 15 years imprisonment, the longest possible prison terms of the several offenses she has been charged with.

All the proceedings against the 76-year-old Suu Kyi are closed to the public and press. She has been detained by the military at an undisclosed location in Naypyitaw.

Like other top members of her party and government, Phyo Min Thein, who testified Friday, was arrested by the military when it took power on Feb 1. The allegations of payoffs were first raised in March by the military government and have been denied by her lawyers.

She faces two charges of accepting bribes and two of conspiring to carry out corruption in connection with real estate transactions. A fifth corruption charge has not yet gone to trial.

Phyo Min Thein, a top figure in Suu Kyis National League for Democracy party who held the important job of chief minister for Yangon Region before the military seized power, testified for the prosecution. He said that he had personally handed over $600,000 and seven gold bars to Suu Kyi in 2017-18, lawyer Min Soe said.

The military at a March news conference had presented a videotape of Phyo Min Thein making the same allegations. In his court testimony, he added that he presented Suu Kyi with a statue from a prominent Buddhist monk, Min Soe said.

Suu Kyis supporters and independent analysts say all the charges against her are politically motivated and an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the militarys seizure of power while keeping her from returning to politics.

Suu Kyi is also being tried on lesser charges of sedition, two counts of flouting COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, illegally importing walkie-talkies and the unlicensed use of the radios.

Preparations have also begun to try her for breaching the official secrets law, which carried a maximum prison term of 14 years.

The military said it seized power because last Novembers election, won in a landslide by Suu Kyis party, was tainted by massive fraud. Its claim has almost no independent support, and the takeover was quickly met by widespread public protests.

Security forces used deadly force to try to quash the peaceful protests, killing more than 1,100 people, according to the detailed tallies of the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners and human rights groups. Opponents of military rule have turned to armed self-defense, sabotage and killings of soldiers and officials on a near-daily basis.
Services following a persons death seem to have a common-knowledge routine about them.

The wake is in the evening at the funeral home, followed by the funeral the next morning, maybe a church service, and then interment at the cemetery.

Yet 200 years ago and heading into the 1940s, the final goodbyes after someones passing had a different process.

Mourning wasnt only an emotional state, it was also an expression of that to the community. And it is from these previous traditions that some post-death actions and terms still exist today. Its the subject of an annual exhibit at the Colonel Benjamin Stephenson House in Edwardsville, Illinois located about 25 miles east of St. Louis.

This is the month Stephenson died. He died on Oct. 10 of 1822, and it works well with the whole month of October because its Halloween and that type of stuff  but we stress the fact that this isnt meant to be a scary, its meant to be a history lesson, RoxAnn Raisner, director of the historic home, said.

Docents take visitors on tour of the house and tell the story of the colonels passing and how mourning practices went about.

Black curtains hang on display, the parlor is set up for a 19th century funeral  complete with coffin  and displays of clothing, artifacts and replicas allow for a window to the way life in mourning once was.

When you could afford it, a household usually would shutter everything, Raisner said. The outside shutters are pulled, the blinds are pulled, everything is in darkness  and its because its a sad time, its mourning. It wasnt uncommon for an entire house to be shuttered.

Telltale signs of a household in mourning would come from public displays of black curtains hanging in windows and over doorways.

You know as a visitor that there was a death in the house, Raisner said,

There werent any funeral homes back then. There wasnt even embalming or clothes picked out for burial. Instead, wakes and services were held in the family home, usually in the parlor or dining room where bodies were sometimes laid out on a table or other displays wrapped in shroud.

In fact, the term wake in regard to the post-death service is believed to have stemmed from this era of mourning when some say a member of the household would stay awake with the body lying in state all night.

Undertakers as we know them today didnt have the same job description back then either.

The individuals that we would call undertakers just came in and washed the body, wrapped them in shroud, and prepared them for the laying out, Raisner said.

The status of mourning was also a public display in attire for men, women and children who had lost a loved one. Men would wear black armbands or sashes across their chest or wrapped around their hats, children would wear black hats, clothing and/or jewelry.

Women, however, were the most expressive in mourning. A series of black dresses; their styles, their make, the material used to craft them, a lot of details showed not only a woman in mourning, but which stage of mourning she was in.

Women were really the ones that wore the brunt of the mourning. And if you were the widow, your typical mourning dress wouldve been made out of a silk and wool blend, Raisner said. Its very dull. Theres no sheen to it whatsoever.

As mourning went on, you got to different stages of it," Raisner continued. "When you got to half-mourning you could start adding colors. You could add white, you could add gray or purple, lavenders, maroons. You could start branching out into other colors.

Clothing on display at the house gives a direct view to these past practices.

And a funeral in the parlor isnt the only mourning stop along the tour.

In Stephenson's bedroom, his bed is disheveled with sheets and pillows exhibiting how it wouldve looked as he lied in it dying. Neighboring objects such as chairs, bowls, wash rags, and other items lend to the reality of the experience.

Stephenson died from malaria and yellow bark was used to treat patients with the disease at the time. That too is on display as is a faux container of leeches.

Throughout the house there are several myth cards for visitors to read. They all explain the truth to superstitions, phrases, and not-so-actual practices of the time. One of them is entitled Saved By the Bell.

In days gone by, a pipe leading down to the buried body covered a string that was tied to the deceases finger or hand. If it turned out the person wasnt dead, their movement would ring the bell to alert the cemetery workers above (who sometimes worked through the night) that they were actually alive  giving us the term, the graveyard shift.

But in reality even if that bell rang, there wouldnt be enough oxygen in the coffin to give the person sufficient air. By the time diggers would reach the coffin, realistically itd be too late.

Visitors will also learn about funeral invitations and funeral biscuits.

When you came to a funeral you might have somebody standing out front by the door with a platter of funeral biscuits, Raisner said. They would wrap them in parchment or paper and they would print a lot of times a little remembrance card and glue them to it.

Theyll also learn the difference between a pallbearer and a coffin bearer. As it turns out, what you see at a funeral today is actually the work of the coffin bearer.

Pall was a type of cloth. It was black and supported by poles at each corner of the coffin, giving it coverage like a canopy. When it was time to head to the cemetery, pallbearers would carry the poles to keep the pall over the coffin, and the coffin bearers would carry the body.

There are some instances of pall being draped over the coffin thus only the need for coffin bearers. But eventually over time, the pallbearer name survived. Additionally, the death of a child called for a white pall.

The exhibit runs throughout the month of October at the Stephenson House. Walk-ins are welcome as are groups looking for their own tour.

Raisner does advise that anyone who recently lost a loved one or young children may have some difficulty with the presentation.
Due to technical difficulties, the state was unable to update its COVID-19 website on Friday afternoon before the Daily News' press deadline.

Recovered

According to the Midland County Health Department website, which was updated Sept. 27, 7,767 Midland County individuals have recovered from COVID. The state reported that as of Sept. 24, a total of 917,827 persons have recovered.

Testing

Midland Countys seven-day rolling positivity rate on Sept. 29 was listed at 11%, and Gladwin County's was listed at 15%. Our 12-county region was listed at 14% and Michigan was at 9%.

MidMichigan Health statistics

As of Sept. 30, MidMichigan Medical Center in Midland was listed as having a 85% bed occupancy, with 27 COVID patients and six in the ICU. MidMichigan Medical Center in Gladwin was listed as having a 47% bed occupancy, with no COVID patients and none in the ICU.

Both medical centers reported having at least 15-30 days worth of personal protection equipment (N95, surgical masks, gowns, gloves and eye protection) on hand.

Schools

As of Friday, Midland Public Schools reported 120 staff/students were in close contact to an individual who was confirmed COVID-19 positive and 30 staff/students currently tested positive for the virus. Schools with one or more staff/student confirmed positive for COVID-19 as of Friday include Dow High (5), Midland High (5), Jefferson Middle (1), Northeast Middle (2), Adams Elementary (1), Central Park Elementary (4), Plymouth Elementary (2), Siebert Elementary (1) and Woodcrest Elementary (9).

Bullock Creek reported on Friday that there are eight staff members and 45 students who are active confirmed cases. There are also 371 students and no staff members currently in quarantine. Schools with one or more staff/student confirmed positive for COVID-19 as of Friday include Bullock Creek Elementary (1), Floyd Elementary (10), Pine River Elementary (4), Middle School (19) and High School (19).

Midland County vaccinations

The Michigan COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard lists Midland's completed vaccine rate is 66.1%. Currently, the vaccines are not authorized to be given to those under age 12.

Midland County Health Department is hosting a weekly walk-in COVID vaccination clinic from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every Tuesday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Friday on the second floor of the Midland County Services Building, 220 W. Ellsworth St., Midland.

Future COVID-19 vaccine clinics in Midland County are listed at www.co.midland.mi.us/HealthDepartment/COVIDVaccineInformation.aspx. Those with questions may call 989-832-6380 or email MCDPH@co.midland.mi.us.
On Thursday, governors from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin announced the establishment of a partnership to collaborate on electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the Midwest. The governors also signed the Regional Electric Vehicle for the Midwest Memorandum of Understanding.

This comes as demand for new electric vehicle-related jobs requires cooperative approaches within the Midwest, the governors said. The multi-state effort will support electric vehicle manufacturing, futureproof regional commerce and will aim at reducing pollution from the five states.

The goal of the REV Midwest MOU is to collectively accelerate vehicle electrification in the Midwest Region. REV Midwest will provide the foundation for cooperation on fleet electrification along key commercial corridors to safeguard economic security, grow jobs, futureproof interstate commerce, reduce harmful emissions, improve public health, and advance innovation. The MOU also ensures the entire Midwest region is able to effectively compete for new private investment and federal funding for vehicle electrification.

"Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act puts us on track to be the best state in the nation to manufacture and drive an electric vehicle  but were just getting started, and the work doesnt stop at our state borders," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a statement. "By working together with our Midwestern neighbors, we can accelerate the regions growth in the transportation sector, create jobs across our communities, and prioritize the environment that makes the Great Lakes region so great along the way."

Building on the advanced manufacturing, engineering, research and development, and technological expertise of the Great Lakes Region, REV Midwest will coordinate to promote clean energy and mobility manufacturing, leverage the states automotive industry electrification leadership, grow the regions share of electric vehicle production, and elevate access to tools required to equip the workforce of tomorrow, the governors said.

Improving access to charging infrastructure and reducing range anxiety will support EV adoption and the next generation of American-made electric automobiles. Through REV Midwest, the states will work together to remove barriers to electric medium and heavy-duty vehicles and enable EV charging across states by coordinating with the intention to optimize charging infrastructure, cooperate on best practices, and support standardization.

"Todays REV Midwest partnership is a bipartisan effort to build the future of mobility and electrification and connect our communities," said Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. "Our partnership will enable the Midwest to lead on electric vehicle adoption, reduce carbon emissions, spur innovation, and create good-paying jobs."

An estimated 105,000 new jobs in the utility sector are anticipated to be needed to deploy EV charging infrastructure by 2030. The states will work together with the industry to understand future workforce needs and support workforce training programs to build the transportation system of the future.

The REV Midwest is a multi-state compact to develop, operate, and market the region and strategically develop an EV charging infrastructure network which aims at working for industry and people. The network will initially focus on interstate and regionally significant commercial corridors and creating publicly accessible charging opportunities capable of serving MHDV where the Midwest can leverage its existing role as a shipping and logistics hub.

The MOU is meant to competitively position the Midwest for upcoming federal funding opportunities and create a welcoming environment for economic development and innovation around EVs, EV charging infrastructure, battery performance, and other technologies on the cutting edge of the transportation energy sector convergence. These innovations and opportunities will be crucial to safeguard the regions manufacturing economy in the long-term, the governors said.



The transportation sector is the leading source of air, climate, and water pollution. REV Midwest will support goals to promote a transition to EVs for all communities. One benefit of the initial focus on MHDVs will be to reduce pollution in communities located near freight and shipping facilities and along transportation corridors, where nearby historically disadvantaged communities are harmed by emissions and negative environmental impacts, the governors said.

Reducing harmful emissions through EV deployment makes all communities more sustainable, healthy and equitable places to live, work and play. REV Midwest will work with energy providers to address the full emissions reductions potential and encourage community sustainability through grid advancement.

"The Midwest has the ingenuity and the drive to develop innovative solutions to curb climate change," said Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. "I am proud to work with my fellow Midwest governors to not only reduce pollution, but protect public health, create jobs, and increase consumer choice across the region."
Alyssa Gethings, a military spouse now back in mid-Michigan after living in Hawaii, is opening a new yoga studio in Midland.

The business, Midland Yoga Co-op, will celebrate its grand opening this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at its studio at 705 Bayliss Street.

Originally from Bay City, Gethings and her family now reside in Midland, where she and her group of independent yoga instructors are joining forces to share their love for the mind and body practice.

Gethings and her cohorts aim to promote health, wellness and mindfulness through their variety of class offerings.

Proponents of yoga, an ancient practice that focuses on breathing, flexibility and strength, swear by its spiritual, physical, mental and emotional benefits.

Im very excited to bring yoga to Midland, Gethings said. Ive bounced around and have lived in Hawaii and California, where its quite popular. When we moved back here, I noticed all the yoga studios in Midland were closed due to COVID. Yoga is what I do, so I dove in and started Midland Yoga Co-op.

Gethings and her husband, Vincent Gethings, purchased a building on Bayliss Street. Her husband operates his franchise business, Koala Insulation, in the lower level of the building, and Gethings and her team of three other yoga instructors will conduct classes on the main floor.

Gethings has been teaching yoga for eight years. She started the practice in California after the birth of her second child to de-stress and exercise. Today, shes all in on yoga's myriad health benefits and specializes in teaching the Vinyasa approach. She describes it as a fast-paced, fluid form of yoga in which you can get a little more creative.

If youre looking for a way to manage stress and get healthy, among so many other reasons, please consider yoga, she said. Enter it with an open mind and see where it takes you, what youll discover about yourself. Be open to making the connection between mind, body and spirit.

The idea of opening an indoor studio here stemmed, in part, from Michigans ever-changing weather. In much of California and in Hawaii, one can do yoga year-round outdoors. Since thats not the case here, Gethings and her fellow instructors came together under one roof with the intent to share their love of yoga and grow its community in Midland.

Yoga instructors dont make a lot of money, so we all pitch in and pay rent, and since were operating independently, you can get creative and do your own thing, she said. Well be offering a wide variety of classes. We want to keep it open for everyone.

The classes are typically one hour, though one of Midland Yoga Co-ops instructors is catering to working professionals by offering a 45-minute lunch class. The business also gives opportunities for other health and wellness experts to offer workshops at the facility on topics such as sound healing and meditating health.

Saturdays grand opening will feature free yoga classes, a meet-and-greet, and giveaways of yoga mats. For further information, visit http://midlandyogacoop.com/
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  A panel of experts is being assembled to advise Michigan officials on how to reduce lead in drinking water.

The creation of the seven-member panel was announced Friday by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE).

Academic and water system engineering experts will be selected for the panel which will meet on a regular schedule and be available as a resource on an as-needed basis, EGLE said.

The state is pushing efforts to reduce lead exposures caused by aging water distribution infrastructure in several communities with the goal of removing lead contamination from drinking water statewide.

The agency said its Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division regulates 2,685 public drinking water systems under the states Lead and Copper Rule.

Last month, the state said it would provide bottled water and water filters in Benton Harbor, where tests have revealed elevated levels of lead.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has called for spending $20 million in Benton Harbor to replace nearly 6,000 service lines, most suspected of containing lead, within five years.

Benton Harbor is in the southwestern corner of Michigan, roughly 200 miles from Flint, where lead flowed through old pipes in 2014-15 because water pulled from a river wasnt properly treated to reduce corrosion.
Photo: (Photo : Leon Bennett/Getty Images)

Eminem has found a permanent spot for his famous Mom's Spaghetti in his Michigan hometown. The rapper opened the first brick-and-mortar location of the spaghetti house on Woodward Avenue in Detroit.

Mom's Spaghetti is based on the rapper's famous song from 2002, "Lose Yourself," where he briefly mentioned barfing on his mother's spaghetti. However, this restaurant won't be the first time the multiple Grammy winner has capitalized on the reference.

In 2016, Eminem, Marshall Bruce Mathers III in real life, sold a limited edition of Mom's Spaghetti shirts, "vomit" included, for Mother's Day. In 2017, he set up a pop-up restaurant serving a simple menu of spaghetti and meatballs.

During the first wave of COVID-19, Mathers once again served up Mom's Spaghetti for all medical workers in Michigan, as well as families battling the virus. He has donated packs of pasta to victims of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Read Also: Rapper Gunna Opens Free Grocery Store in Atlanta School to Fight Child Hunger

What's in Mom's Spaghetti?

Mom's Spaghetti officially opened doors on Wednesday, September 29, and the TV ads are running on local television. The restaurant has only five items on the menu: the basic spaghetti, spaghetti with meatballs, spaghetti with rabbit balls (vegan), spaghetti sandwich, and a bottle of soda pop or water.

According to the rapper's manager, Paul Rosenberg, the previous pop-ups were meant to test the waters before opening a permanent shop, where other Eminem items will also be for sale.

"Now, fans can experience a uniquely-curated environment and obtain merch and other items from Eminem and his new pasta operation," Rosenberg said.

Detroit- 2day is THE day. Come down for our pasta debut!  #MomsSpaghetti Grand Opening @ 5pm pic.twitter.com/wPDN2xrwnJ  Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) September 29, 2021

But Who is Eminem's Mother?

Eminem didn't have a good relationship with his mother, Debbie Nelson, in his youth. She had him when she was just 18 years old and single-handedly raised him on her own because Eminem's father abandoned his family.

The rapper and his mother had a difficult life, compounded by her disease, Munchausen syndrome, which the rapper also talked about in his music. According to the Cleveland Clinic, this disorder prompts the person to lie, exaggerate or induce their condition.

In 2006, Nelson filed an $11-million defamation lawsuit against her son and claimed she was unhappy with the Eminem songs that depicted her as an abusive mother. The judge, however, ruled that she should only receive $1,600 from the $25,000 settlement from Eminem.

Nelson then released a memoir, "My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem," detailing their life and has done the TV rounds to promote the book and gave her side of the story. However, years later, Eminem wrote an apology to his mother via the song "Headlights," and their relationship has been better since.

Eminem's mother has been living a relatively quiet life with her second husband and their three children. In a Rolling Stone interview in 2013, Eminem said they have said their apologies and forgiven each other and chosen the path to love and respect each other from then on.

Related Article: Lil Wayne Reveals He Shot Himself at 12 Years Old Because of His Mom
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Dentsu Ghana, the leader in advertising and marketing communications, as part of its CSR activities has donated educational materials worth thousands of Ghana Cedis including computers, projectors, assorted reading and creative books for various levels, math sets, set squares, crayons, legos, and A4 sheets to the Tesano Cluster of Schools.



This forms part of the companys wider social impact strategy that rouses the talent, energy and aspirations of our people and delivers for our clients, our shareholders, and the wider society.



Speaking at the donation ceremony, CEO of dentsu Ghana, Mr. Andrew Ackah, said, The fundamental part of our business is communication and communication comes through education. It is essential for the business to have the right skillsets in the right places with the right empowerment culture. At dentsu, we believe the right foundation must be laid to achieve this.



Our value of being responsible hinges on being good corporate citizens who impact and build brighter futures for the communities in which we operate through a sustainable world, fair and open society, and digital for good. Our aim is to empower the next generation to do more, to achieve more, and to become more. It is on this backdrop that we have selected the Tesano Cluster of schools, he stated.



Mrs Joyce Nana Simmons, Headteacher of Tesano 1KG/ Primary School, who received the items on behalf of the Tesano cluster of schools expressed her excitement, emphazing the importance of the educational materials to the school as it will improve learning outcomes.



She said she was overwhelmed by the level of donation done by dentsu adding that dentsu has been very generous to the school in the past and was thankful that the company could do it again despite the impact of COVID-19 on businesses.



She implored the students to use the materials for the purposes for which they were donated to achieve greater laurels in the Okaikwei North Municipal Assembly.



The ceremony ended with a breakaway session where staff visited the various classes in the cluster to interact with students and empower especially those who are preparing for BECE.



Also present at the ceremony were Madam Bithia Awuku-Asante  General Manager, Carat Ghana; Mr. Emmanuel Odoom  General Manager, iProspect; other managers and staff of dentsu; Mr. Hardy Tamimu, School Improvement Support Officer (SISO) for Circuit 25, Apenkwa; Mr. William Korku Yormewu, Headteacher  Tesano JHS; Mr. Kingsley Akrofi  Headteacher, Tesano2 Primary A school, and Rev. Vida Boafoa Adjei  Headteacher, Danboi JHS.



Tesano Cluster of Schools hosts Tesano 1, 2 Primaries, Tesano, and Danboi Junior High Schools.







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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced on Thursday to one year in prison for illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid, making him the first French head of state in modern times to receive two jail terms.



It is unlikely that Sarkozy will serve his sentence behind bars: The judge said he could serve the sentence by wearing an electronic bracelet at home. All 13 co-defendants have been found guilty.



"Nicolas Sarkozy knew the spending limit," the judge said. "He knew he shouldn't exceed it."



Speaking outside of the courtroom on Thursday, Sarkozy's lawyer Thierry Herzog told French media that he would be launching an appeal.



This is the second criminal case involving Sarkozy. In March he was handed a three-year prison sentence, two of which were suspended, for corruption and influence peddling. The 66-year-old has appealed the March conviction.



Read Full Story .... HERE >>> :









Source: CNN









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Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng has indicated that his outfit will be going after Ghanaians driving luxurious cars in the country.



Speaking in an interview on ''Kokrokoo'' on Peace FM, the Special Prosecutor outlined his mandate stating he is not only tasked to prosecute corrupt politicians but also any individual, whether in public or private capacity, who lives a suspicious lifestyle.



He stressed that he has the obligation to interrogate the source of people's wealth and businesses.



"Those of you driving cars that we have no idea where you get them from. What work do you do to be driving a Bugatti? You will explain it to me. It's also part of my job. I can give you a notice for you to report in my office to show me where you acquired the Bugatti from. What work do you do? Come and show me your salary . . . If you don't explain it clearly to me for me to better understand, I will impound the car and proceed to court," he warned.



''The Office of Special Prosecutor is not targeting only politicians but public officials, politically exposed persons, meaning a person who the government has given a position in this country - the person can be a Judge, Police officer and so forth - and the person's spouse, children and anyone closely associated with the person is politically exposed person. Also, political party officials like a party Chairman at a constituency, a party Chairman/executive at the national level; the Special Prosecutor can investigate all them," he said.





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As part of the National Lottery Authoritys commitment to giving back to society, the Authority led by the Director-General, Mr. Samuel Awuku donated high performance Motor bikes to the Ministry Police Station to augment their police visibility and patrol efforts on the 30th of September, 2021.



The National Lottery Authority through the NLA Good Causes Foundation Handed over two (2) patrol motor bikes to the Police.



It will be recalled that, the Ghana Police service in 2018 established the Motor Bikes Patrol Unit (MBPU) to help the police rapidly deal with the crime and related matters, the Ministry Police Station on the basis of this initiative in June 2021 made a request to the National Lottery Authority to help them in the acquisition of motor bikes to increase their patrol and crime prevention efforts



Delivering the motor bikes, Mr Samuel Awuku reiterated the Authoritys vision of using the NLA Good Causes Foundation to strengthen the Authoritys Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts.



Our Act mandates us to use proceeds of our games to help the society, under privileged people, the aged and destitute children, it is this reason we are helping the Police in their crime fighting and prevention mandate duties.



The Director General bemoaned the lack of maintenance culture in our public service space and urged the Ministry police to take steps properly to maintain these bikes to help them carry out their duties.



Superintendent Florence Owusu the Ministrys District Police Commander who was accompanied by her District Crime Officer and other Officers were elated about the gesture and thanked the NLA for coming to their aid.



She promised they will t take good care of the donation with the hope of getting more support to carry out their duties. They thanked the NLA management for always coming to the aid of the Police service.

















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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has appointed Dr Albert Antwi-Boasiako the Acting Director-General of the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) effective October 1, 2021.



Prior to this appointment, Dr. Antwi-Boasiako served as the National Cybersecurity Advisor and Head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), leading Ghanas institutionalisation of cybersecurity under the policy direction of the Minister for Communications & Digitalisation, Hon Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, who is responsible for cybersecurity matters in government.



Dr Antwi-Boasiako has led the revision of Ghanas National Cybersecurity Policy & Strategy (NCPS) and the development and passage of Ghanas Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038), two enabling interventions that constitute the anchors of Ghanas cybersecurity development.

In his role as Advisor to Government and the Head of the NCSC, Ghana acceded to the Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention), ratified the African Union Convention on Cyber Security & Personal Data Protection, launched Ghanas National Cybersecurity Awareness Programme (Safer Digital Ghana) and established Cybercrime and Cybersecurity Incident Reporting Points of Contact, which allows the public to report cybercrime and cybersecurity incidents.



During his tenure as Cybersecurity Advisor, Ghanas cybersecurity improved on the ITUs Global Cybersecurity Index from 32.6% in 2017 to 86.69% in 2021, with Ghana becoming the 3rd most ranked country on the African continent with a global ranking of 43rd from the previous 89th position.

This position was achieved through his leadership and the collective efforts of the National Cyber Security Technical Working Group (NCSTWG) established in 2017 by the then Minister for Communications as part of the institutionalisation of Ghanas cybersecurity architecture.



Dr Antwi-Boasiako previously served as a Cyber Security Expert with the Interpol Global Cybercrime Expert Group (IGCEG) and is an Expert with the Council of Europes Global Action on Cybercrime Extended (GLACY+) Project.



He founded e-Crime Bureau, the first and an award-winning cybersecurity and digital forensics firm to be established and operate in West Africa, in 2011.



Albert completed his PhD studies at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, and introduced the Harmonized Model for Digital Evidence Admissibility Assessment (HM-DEAA) as a ground-breaking contribution to digital forensics standardisation.



The HM-DEAA has been adopted by the UNODC as part of its Education for Justice (E4J) Programme.



Albert graduated from the University of Trento in Italy for his undergraduate programme and the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom for his postgraduate programme, receiving cum laude and distinction respectively.



He has a number of publications covering information technology, cybersecurity, cybercrimes, data protection and digital forensics to his credit.



Dr Antwi-Boasiako has conducted cybersecurity related consulting and assignments for a number of international and local organizations including the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC), United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD), the European Union, Commonwealth Cybercrime Initiative (CCI) of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Global Commission on Internet Governance (GCIG)/Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) among others.



Dr Antwi-Boasiako is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC).



He is also a Faculty Member at the Ghana Police Command and Staff College (GPCSC).



Dr Antwi-Boasiako has received a number of awards and global recognitions. In June 2021, he was recognised as the worlds 20th most Influential Security Executive in the Cybersecurity Category by IFSEC Global, a respected industry body based in the United Kingdom.



Dr Antwi-Boasiako currently serves as the Government of Ghanas representative on the Independent Advisory Committee (IAC) of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT).



He also serves as a Bureau Member of the Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY) and the Government of Ghanas representative to ECOWAS Regional Technical Committee (RTC) on Cybersecurity.



Dr Antwi-Boasiako also serves on the Governing Board of the National Information Technology Agency (NITA).

As the Director-General of the newly established Authority, Dr Antwi-Boasiako is expected to lead Ghanas cybersecurity regulatory efforts under the policy direction of the Ministry of Communications & Digitalisation.



Primary focus of the regulatory activities of the Cyber Security Authority includes the protection of Ghanas critical information infrastructures, cybersecurity incident reporting and information sharing, and regulation of cybersecurity services in the country among others.

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The Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Prof Ken Attafuah, has said Ghanaians must not rush in terms of getting their Ghana card for the SIM registration.



According to him there are six more months to end the SIM registration therefore the National Identification Authority have embarked on many measures to ensure every Ghanaian gets his or her card.



There has been a massive uproar especially on social media as to how those who dont have their Ghana card can get their SIM registered with the SIM registration exercise beginning today, 1st October, 2021.



However, the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority, Prof Ken Attafuah in an interview with Peace FM's Pious Baidoo-Banson said, major initiatives are been taken by his outfit to ensure everyone get the card.



He said the NIA have opened 34 offices at the Ghana Revenue Authority offices across the country where Ghanaians can go and register for free.



Prof Ken Attafuah said after the 18th of October, 2021 there will be over 270 regional and district offices across the country where one can visit for his new Ghana card, an update if there was a mistake on yours or replacement if yours is missing.



He added that there is no need to visit the NIA head office in Accra for your Ghana card since you can get it at the district where you registered after October 18 this year.



He explained that, acquiring a new card is free but seeking for a correction (update) and replacement will cost you 30 cedis.



Additionally, any corporate organization that calls on the NIA to come to their offices to register the workers must pay Ghc 100 cedis per head as stated bythe law, as well as Ghc 150 per head to register any household when called upon.



Prof Ken Attafuah added that those who want premium (protocol) services will have to pay Ghc 250 cedis which are all backed by law and approved by the Ghana Parliament.

Source: Pious Baidoo-Banson









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The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has reiterated the support of Government for the recent actions taken by the acting Inspector General of Police, George Akuffo Dampare, which are eliciting strong backing from the population.



Addressing the graduation ceremony of the 50th Officer Cadet Course of the Ghana Police Service, on Friday, 1st October 2021, at Tesano, in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said the acting IGP has, so far, vindicated my decision to repose trust in him to hold this high office.



According to the President I am confident that, once the necessary processes are completed, which I am sure will be soon, he will become our nations 23rd Inspector General of Police.



Touching on the recent incidents of violent crimes in some parts of the country, that have generated safety and security concerns from several sections of the public, he assured Ghanaians that the Police Service, and, indeed, all the other security services, are determined to deal decisively with the threats posed by dangerous criminals and criminal syndicates.



We can help them succeed in this endeavour if we urge the Police and the other security services on, and give them as much support and co-operation in the fight as we can, he said.



In his address, President Akufo-Addo stated that the most important things for a nation are the peace and safety of its people, and its territorial integrity.



Quoting from Article 200 (3) of the Constitution states, which states that the Police service shall be equipped and maintained to perform its traditional role of maintaining law and order, the President explained that the ultimate goal of this provision is to ensure explicitly that the ordinary citizen feels safe, and can go about his or her everyday life, free from the fear of crime and insecurity.



The Police Service is further mandated by the Police Service Act, 1970 (Act 350) to prevent and detect crime, apprehend offenders, and maintain the safety of persons and property, he said.



The President continued, The effective execution of this mandate is premised on building a professional police service that is accountable, responsive, transparent, trustworthy, and which accommodates the concerns of the general public that it serves. We want to go back to the good old days of policing where people felt that all the efforts of the police were geared towards making their lives more comfortable.



Citing the 2020 Global Peace Index Report, compiled and released by the Institute of Economics and Peace, which ranks Ghana as the second most peaceful country in sub-Saharan Africa, after Mauritius, he stated that such a positive global outlook identifies Ghana as a peaceful destination for sound investments, adding that all Ghanaians, including the police and the citizenry, should be encouraged by such an assessment.



Whilst Government does its utmost to equip, resource and retool the Police Service, he indicated that it is important that discipline prevails throughout the Service.



This is a charge I give the acting Inspector General of Police and the entire Police Administration. Without discipline and effective supervision, winning public confidence and support to fight crime will be very problematic. The prevention and detection of crime are a shared responsibility between the police and the public, and mutual respect, confidence and support are required to achieve these goals, President Akufo-Addo said.



To the new Cadet Officers, the President urged them to step out as agents of change, as the training they have undergone should have imbibed in them the values of commitment to discipline, duty, hard work and integrity.



I am hopeful that you will bring to bear the knowledge you have acquired to project positively the image of the Police Service. Discharge your responsibilities professionally, and live above reproach, the President 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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A two-day national capacity building workshop for leaders of worker unions affiliated to the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) has ended in Accra, with a call on the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and public sector unions to take immediate steps to re-engage the government to review the salary adjustments for 2021 and 2022.

In a resolution passed at the end of the workshop, the 25 participants drawn from the 13 affiliate unions of the GFL, expressed concerns about the brouhaha within the labour movement over "ineffective workers leadership at the national level" which resulted in botched negotiations with government.



They observed that the four per cent salary increment for public sector workers needed to be given a second look, for which reason the organised labour and government must re-engage to meet each other halfway.



Among other things, they said it was important for the government to pay heed to the concerns of the aggrieved public sector workers to curtail the mounting agitations against their national leadership.



Context



The tripartite committee, comprising the government, employers and organised labour announced four per cent and seven per cent increment in the salaries of public sector workers for 2021 and 2022.



The announcement of the salary increment was met with agitations by some workers who said it was paltry and would not meet their current living conditions.



Some of the public sector workers embarked on demonstrations in some parts of the country to press home their demand for improve salaries



Workshop



At the close of close of the two-day workshop yesterday (September 29), the participants observed that a renegotiating of the salary increment was the way to go.



The workshop was organised by GFL in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO).



The participants critically examined the prevailing challenges facing the trade unions in Ghana and created awareness among the leadership of the Ghanaian public sector on the GFL's role in defending and promoting the welfare of workers and the society at large.



They also developed a strategic plan that would guide the GFL and its affiliates for the next four years



Renegotiation



Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the resolutions by the GFL, the General Secretary of the Federation, Mr. Abraham Koomson, said if the government reconsidered the salary increment, it would avert aggravation of the situation which had the tendency to negatively affect productivity and economic growth.



Again, he said a return to the negotiation table was important because it would give the tripartite committee the opportunity to appropriately appreciate the concerns of workers.



Mr. Koomson said there was the need for robust structures by organised labour as required by law to address the concern of workers.



"The participants observed that the lack of organised labour structures to conform and function as provided under Sections 112 and 113 of the Labour Act 2003 Act 651 are the cause of the upheaval," he said.



Background



The GFL is a national trade union in Ghana. The origin of the federation can be traced to the departure of a group of workers from the TUC-affiliated Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU) who then founded the Textile, Garment and Leather Employees Union (TGLEU) in 1993.



The TGLEU subsequently attempted to affiliate to the TUC, but was refused.



In 1996, changes in labour law in Ghana allowed trade union pluralism, and in 1998, the GFL was founded.



The federation currently has 13 affiliate worker unions including TGLEU, General Metal and Manufacturing Workers Union (GEMM), Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU), Financial and Business Services Employers Union (FBSEU) and Media and Printing Industry Workers Union (MEDIANET).

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 Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has endorsed Rocksure International as the strategic partner of the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC), selected to implement Project 2:- development of a mine at Nyinahin-Mpasaaso and a refinery solution.



At a courtesy call on Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at the Manhyia Palace in the Ashanti Region to introduce Rocksure International, a wholly Ghanaian owned company; the King commended GIADEC for fulfilling its promise of selecting a strategic partner to begin the development of the Integrated Aluminium Industry.



He described the event as historic and timely as the people in the region especially residents living in and around the mining communities have been looking forward to such a moment for decades.



Otumfuo gave his blessings to the partnership between GIADEC and Rocksure International and pledged the support of his kingdom and sub-chiefs within the mining communities, paving the way for commencement of the project.



The Asantehene urged GIADEC and Rocksure to conduct its operations in a responsible manner adding that the building of a mine and a refinery solution in the region will give the mining communities a facelift and provide employment opportunities especially for the teeming youth.



Additionally, he urged GIADEC to expedite processes which will lead to the selection of other strategic partners who will develop other aspects of the Integrated Aluminium Industry (IAI).



Chief Executive Officer of GIADEC, Mr. Michael Ansah, on his part, expressed his gratitude to Otumfuo for his continuous support and assured the King that GIADEC, remains committed to its overriding goal of value addition.



He noted that the execution of Project 2 by Rocksure International will present a significant number of opportunities not only to residents within the mining communities but Ghanaians in general.



On his part, the CEO of Rocksure International, Kwasi Osei Ofoiri, thanked the Asantehene and assured him of the readiness of Rocksure to begin the execution of Project 2.



The delegation from GIADEC included its Board Chairman, Dr. Tony Oteng-Gyasi, Deputy CEO, Mr. Akwasi Osei-Adjei, Executive Assistant to the CEO, Mr. Kojo Yankah and Communications Manager, Mr. Sheriff Appiah.



The delegation was also joined by Senior Executive Members of Rocksure International.





Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana









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

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Participants in a town hall meeting in Kadjebi have unanimously endorsed the peace and national cohesion campaign of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE).

They described the campaign as good and timely but it would be meaningless if there was no justice and fairness.



They said the bloody happenings at Ayawaso West Wuogon, Techiman North, Ejura, among other places, would not bring peace and national cohesion if victims were denied justice.



They, thus, tasked the Commission to intensify the campaign by targeting politicians and the youth to avoid violent acts that were likely to disturb the peace of the country.



Identifiable groups



Speaking at the meeting, the Kadjebi District Director of the NCCE, Mr Daniel Agbesi-Latsu, said the Commission was engaging identifiable groups and schoolchildren, especially the Civic Education Club members, with the peace and cohesion message for easy propagation.



The campaign broadly seeks to promote national cohesion and peaceful co-existence, especially in the parts of the country where peace and security are being threatened.



He said national cohesion and peaceful co-existence were cornerstones to national development.



Mr Agbesi-Latsu said tolerance, fairness, respect for each others fundamental human rights, respect for the rule of law, among others, were factors that ensured peaceful co-existence in homes, schools, institutions, communities and the nation as a whole.



He said peace did not mean the absence of conflicts since differences would always be there but should resolve it through dialogue, education, knowledge and humane ways.



Divergent views



The Chairman of the Kadjebi District Council of Churches, Rev. Vincent Darkpo, admonished Ghanaians to accept divergent views no matter the situation because peace and cohesion did not come by chance but by choice.



He said national cohesion was strongest when everyone in the country had the opportunity, the resources and the motivation to participate in society as fully as they wished and on an equal basis with others.



An Assistant Civic Education Officer of the NCCE at the Oti Regional Office, Mr Ezekiel Awidi, urged Ghanaians to avoid violence as it led to disunity, underdevelopment and retrogression.



He called on the participants to take part in the decision-making processes at all levels and contribute as well.



He said they needed to avoid apathy towards their communities development but rather contribute towards it since the government could not do everything for them.



For his part, the Paramount Chief of Dodo Traditional Area, Dasebre Oduro Guranim I, called on the populace to help NCCE deliver on its constitutional mandate.



He said civic education was a shared responsibility which must be carried out on a daily basis.





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 governments flagship agricultural programme, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), will occupy centre stage at this years National Farmers Day to be held in Cape Coast, Central Region, on December 3.

The event will be on the theme:  Planting for Food and Jobs: Consolidating food systems in Ghana.



The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, announced this at the launch of the day in Accra yesterday.



Dr Akoto said the day, the 37th, was instituted in 1985 to support and appreciate farmers and fishers for their invaluable contribution to national development.



He said food security was crucial to the peace and stability of a society, adding that there was incontrovertible evidence across the world that food insecurity is a major driver of conflicts.



This is why food production and access are important and must be prioritised at all times, he said.



No food shortage



Dr Akoto gave an assurance that the country would not experience any food shortages next year.



According to him, his observation during a field trip to the Oti and the Volta regions this week to assess the situation was that Ghanas food production outlook was positive.



My observation in those regions puts to shame those who are saying there is going to be food shortage; there is going to be abundance of food in the coming year, he said.



The minister commended farmers and fishers for their hard work, saying they were the backbone of Ghanas development.



Our roads, schools, hospitals and scholarships for brilliant, needy students are a testament to the contribution our farmers have made and continue to make to national growth, he added.



He, however, said the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic had compounded challenges of funding for the event.



With the adverse impact on an already constrained national budget due to the pandemic, it has become necessary to rely on support outside the government to sustain the celebration in a befitting manner, he said.



Dr Akoto said the national planning committee had been tasked to explore the use of digital technology in organising this years event to cut down cost and in line with the modernisation of the sector.



He expressed appreciation to partners for their support so far and further appealed to institutions, companies, groups and individuals to also contribute towards the successful hosting of the event.



The Chairman of the Council of State, Nana Otuo Siriboe II, mentioned some of the challenges in the agricultural sector to include climate change, pest and diseases and inadequate access to financing.



Challenges



Climate change, for example, has engendered unfavourable rainfall patterns that are challenging agricultural development, he said.



Nana Siriboe, who is also the Paramount Chief of the Juaben Traditional Area in the Ashanti Region, said the bottlenecks in the sector needed innovative solutions.



For her part, the Central Regional Minister, Ms Justina Marigold Assan, expressed appreciation for the decision to organise the event in the region.



This years celebration has come at a time when the region is actively participating in the PFJ programme which has benefited thousands of people in this area, she said.





Source: graphiconline.com









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

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The re-registration of mobile SIM cards across the country is expected to commence later today, Friday, October 1, 2021.



The exercise is expected to last for six months, ending on 31st March 2022.



According to the government, the registration is aimed at riding the countrys cyberspace of fraudsters, monitor and track down persons who use their phones for criminal activities.



SIM card users will require the National Identification card also known as Ghana card to be able to register their SIM cards.



Any SIM which is not registered at the end of this exercise will be blocked.



The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in commenting on the development months earlier said, we all have to do that otherwise well lose that SIM card. That will really give us a real identity for all MoMo transactions. For example, it takes away fraud that is taking place like SIM box and through MoMo, he added.



The move has been criticized by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, who has argued that undertaking a SIM re-registration exercise will not solve the issue of Mobile Money fraud as expected by Dr. Bawumia.



He said the Vice President is ill-informed, inept and highly naive, with that assumption. The solution to the challenges of fraud within the electronic money ecosystem goes beyond SIM registration, he said.



We hold the view that the mandatory re-registration of SIMS provides no substantial benefit in the fight against electronic money fraud, and will face practical challenges such as inbound travellers who require a SIM card without a national ID, he added.



SIM re-registration steps

Dial the short code *404#

Enter Ghana Card Pin (Note: Enter letters and figures without hyphens)

Confirm Ghana Card Pin

Enter Surname

Enter First Name(s)

Enter Date of Birth (Format: DDMMYYYY)

Select Sex

Confirm Details

Submit Details Provided After Confirmation



Note:



1, If successful, you will get a confirmation message with a unique code



2, If unsuccessful due to wrong details, you have 3 attempts to answer security questions



A second stage of the registration process requires that users visit the office of their telecom service providers.













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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Acting Head of the Refugee Board Tetteh Padi says his outfit is looking to relocate about 400 refugees at the Buduburam camp ahead of the demolition exercise set to take place.



According to him, these are individuals who were exempted from the Cessation clause which was implemented in 2012 after the United Nations withdrew its recognition of the area as a camp for refugees when wars ended.



Speaking on Top Story he said that, in 2012 after the Cessation clause was introduced, some refugees chose to go back home while others who had ties to Ghana were given a package that included a free passport and a $400 cash grant to aid them in renting a place outside the camp.



However, there was also the opportunity for some of them who felt that they have peculiar circumstances for which reason they should remain refugees. Well over 3000 households applied for it, but about 350 households were granted exemption from the Cessation clause.



It is the reason why we have over 400 people who are still refugees and it is those people that we have a responsibility towards, Mr Padi told Ernest Manu the host.



This comes after some residents of the former refugee camp at Buduburam in the Gomoa East Municipality of the Central Region massed up at the frontage, vowing to resist a planned shutdown of the facility.



Following concerns raised by chiefs and opinion leaders that the camp has become a den for criminals, the government, through the Gomoa East District Assembly gave the residents a September 30 deadline to vacate the area.



But, during a visit to the area on Thursday, JoyNews gathered that although some of the residents have left, the majority of them seem unprepared, calling on the government to as a matter of urgency, provide them with accommodation before relocating.



However, the Gomoa East DCE Solomon Darko-Quarm reacting to the resistance said that the Buduburam Refugee camp has outlived its usefulness.



Meanwhile, Mr Padi stated that his outfit with the help of the British High Commissioner, the US Embassy and some other entities renovated other refugee camps across the country in preparation for the relocation of these individuals.



Mr Padi said that the refugees left have been engaged and will be relocating soon.





Source: Joy News









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

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The Minority in Parliament has challenged the government to make public the report of the forensic audit it undertook to investigate contracts awarded during former President John Mahamas tenure for the execution of various hospital projects.



It said since the government instituted the forensic audit five years ago, it must be bold to come out with the report for Ghanaians to know the truth.



We are challenging the government that if anybody did anything wrong, the law must take its course. They must stop worrying our ears with the excuse that it is due to the forensic audit that hospital projects have delayed, it said.



People deserve better



Speaking to the media after Minority members on the Health Committee of Parliament had visited some uncompleted hospital projects in the Ashanti and the Eastern regions last Monday and Tuesday, the Ranking Member of the Health Committee, Mr Kwabena Akandoh, said If the government thinks anybody has squandered money, the law must take its course and the people must not suffer for delayed projects.



The people living in communities where these projects are situated deserve better than the treatment meted out to them by this government.



Mr Akandoh dared the government, after the team had visited district hospitals that were initiated by former President Mahama in Kumawu and Fomena in the Ashanti Region, as well as Abetifi and Somanya in the Eastern Region.



The four hospitals were part of a turnkey arrangement with Messrs NMS Infrastructure and Barclays Bank Plc, London, at an estimated cost of $175 million.



Along with others in the Shai-Osudoku, Sekondi-Takoradi and Garu district and municipalities, the projects started in 2015 and were due to be completed in 2017.



However, their execution had stalled over the past five years following the governments decision to undertake forensic audit of the contract.



Respond to cry of the people



The MP for Juaboso noted that Ghana had contracted the $175 million facility for the seven hospital projects and the government had been paying interest on the loan, even though the people were not getting full benefits of the projects.



He said the hospitals could be serving the utmost interest of the people of Abetifi, Kumawu, Somanya and Fomena and their environs, the reason the government must commit the needed resources to complete them.



Since no government can finish projects in one or two terms, when another government inherits projects, it must continue them, so that the people will benefit from such projects.



Even if there is no law for a government to continue with inherited projects and you are a responsible government, at least the crying of the people must pinch you that they need something, he said.



He argued that if a project was awarded and the government considered that the funds for its execution were inadequate, it could repackage it and go back to Parliament to seek more funds.



Produce report



A member of the team, Mr Charles Akwasi Agbeve, who is the MP for Agotime-Ziope, said unless the government renegotiated the project contract, Ghana would be paying the interest and the principal for work that had not been completed.



We have a situation where money has taken and no work has been done and this is total waste, he said, and called for a reconsideration of the law on causing financial loss to the state.



If you say you are carrying out a forensic audit to investigate and understand the projects that you came to meet, will it take you five years? If you have done the investigation, we want to see the report, so that we will know the truth. But because you found nothing, you cannot produce the report and the job too you are not able to continue, he said.



Lead demonstration



Mr Agbeve commended the youth of Abetifi for embarking on a demonstration for the persistent failure of the government to implement the project.



According to him, Abetifi was not a beneficiary of the governments Agenda 111 hospital projects, since it already had this project, and that is their fate.



Members



The group, led by the Ranking Member of the Health Committee, Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, included the Deputy Ranking Member, Dr Mark Kurt Nawaane, who is also the MP for Nabdam; the MP for Techiman North, Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare; the MP for Afram Plains North, Mrs Betty Nana Efua Krosbi Mensah; the MP for Agotime-Ziope, Mr Charles Akwasi Agbeve, and the MP for Amenfi West, Mr Eric Afful.















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 Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Buaben Asamoa, has indicated that most of the armed robberies in Ghana are carried out by foreigners from other West African countries.



He explained that due to the free movement of persons within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region, all manner of persons enter Ghana to carry out various activities including robberies.



He was commenting on the recent robber cases that have plagued some parts of the country especially Accra on the Pae Muka show on Onua FM.



It is not only Ghanaians who are involved in this, foreigners are part of it. There are others from other countries because it is easy to move within the West African sub region, he said.



When his attention was drawn to the fact that the borders may have been porous, a situation that may be giving rise to the influx of criminals in Ghana, the former lawmaker for Adentan said Security has gone beyond just the borders, it has to do with scaling up intelligence gathering and also the use of sophisticated gadgets to fight crimes.



He further explained that although the Police and other security agencies are there to provide security, individuals must also take their personal safety seriously.



Security is shared responsibility between the security agencies and the people, he said.



Therefore, he added, the people must assist the Police with information on crime related activities that they may have chanced upon for further actions to be taken on them.



Without that, he said, the police cannot be able to gather all the intelligence on their own.



You will have to be vigilant and be watchful. In case you see any suspicious activity inform the police. If you leave your own security in the hands of one person to do it for you, it will be difficult.



In every country Police and security rely on informants for information on crimes to deal with the, we have to learn from that.



The Ghana Police Service on Monday September 27 arrested one Bukari Salifu, who is said to have provided weapons to armed robbers for their expeditions.



Bukari Salifu, 65, was arrested over the weekend following police intelligence.



Prior to his arrest, two suspected robbers who had been arrested when they attempted to rob motorists along the Koluedor-Sege-Accra road had mentioned Bukari Salifu as the one who provides them with weapons for their robberies.



But while ostensibly taking the police to the man, the two rather took the crime-combat team to a bush full of other armed robbers.



There, the police came under fire as the suspects attempted to escape, a press release signed by Acting Director-General of Public Affairs ACP Kwesi Ofori on Monday, September 27 noted.



The suspected armed robbers were shot in the process and were rushed to the Police Hospital, where they died.



They are Joseph Dagodzo and Mujahid Abubakar, alias Sule. Their bodies have been deposited at the Police Hospital morgue.





Source: 3 news









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

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Special Prosecutor (SP), Kissi Agyebeng, has hinted of a bitter relationship between him and his predecessor, Martin Alamisi Burnes Kaiser Amidu.



Martin Amidu resigned as Special Prosecutor after accusing the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of interfering with his job and also made several claims of corruption against his administration.



In a letter issued on Monday, November 16, 2020 and addressed to the President, Mr Amidu said he was resigning due to the lack of respect of the independence of his office.



Following his resignation, the President mentioned Kissi Agyebeng as the new Special Prosecutor but this invited a caustic reply from Mr. Amidu who didn't sound enthused about Mr. Agyebeng's appointment.



Martin Amidu's Reply



He accused Mr. Agyebeng of having a close relation with the President's cousin, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko and also playing a role in the controversial Agyapa Royalties deal.



Mr Amidu, who extensively took on Asaase Radio for, according to him, publishing falsehoods about his resignation as Special Prosecutor to justify the nomination of Mr Agyebeng, said: Asaase Radio appears to have been so bent on pressurizing the President to announce their preferred choice as the Special Prosecutor (the Agyapa Special Prosecutor) that it forgot that the nomination letter by the Attorney General was addressed only to the President.



Asaase Radio should also have told the Ghanaian and international public that its surrogate and nominee Special Prosecutor in the published letter is a personal friend and classmate of the Attorney General, and the owner of Asaase Radio, all of whom attended the University of Ghanas Faculty of Law, and Ghana Law School, he added.



The former SP, in an article authored by him following the nomination of Lawyer Kissi Agyebeng to replace him, further stated; ''The Agyapa Royalties Transaction records show the role the Presidents cousin who established Africa Legal Associates, and Asaase Radio played with White &Case LLP, of London, one of the foreign law firms in the suspected corruption transaction.



''It must, therefore, be worrying to any patriotic Ghanaian not afraid of the culture of silence to see Asaase Radio undertaking political propaganda beginning on 25th April 2021 to 26th April 2021 to prepare the minds of the Ghanaian and international public to accept the surrogate of the alter ego of the Asaase Radio station and Africa Legal Associates as the Special Prosecutor as mandated under section 4(1) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2018 (Act 959).''



Kissi Agyebeng Shades Amidu



During an interview on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' Thursday morning, the host Kwami Sefa Kayi, affectionately called 'Chairman General', asked Lawyer Agyebeng whether he has reached out to his predecessor to seek his knowledge on the job, but it has been revealed that the two have never communicated and it's due to the seething bad blood between them.



To him, Mr. Amidu's advice is ''useless'' to him.



In response, Mr. Agyebeng said; ''I went to meet the handing-over note. When my name was mentioned, this person started insulting me. Is this somebody you go for advice? He doesn't know me. Someone who doesn't know me but insults me, I'd rather go to Professor Mensah Bonsu for advice. I can't come to you the person insulting me for advice."





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

Featured Video
Reno Omokri has tackled President Buhari for wearing designer shoes to foreign meetings.



In a post shared on his Instagram page this afternoon, Reno made reference to President Buhari's Gucci shoes valued at $640. According to him, the President wears expensive designer shoes to ''beg for loans from countries whose Presidents wear $100 shoes.''



He wrote:-



"The issue is not the shoe you wear on your leg. The issue is where your leg takes you. Bambiala Buhari wears $640 @Gucci to go and beg for loans from countries whose Presidents wear $100 shoes. What is in your head is always more important than what is on your leg.



The same Bambiala has 10 Presidential jets. How many jets does the Queen of The Netherlands, that he was begging for money, last week have? Beggar from top to bottom. Tueh! May Nigeria never be cursed with your like a again."





The issue is not the shoe you wear on your leg. The issue is where your leg takes you. Bambiala Buhari wears $640 @Gucci to go and beg for loans from countries whose Presidents wear $100 shoes. What is in your head is always more important than what is on your leg!#TableShaker pic.twitter.com/diU1prwp0O



 Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) September 29, 2021









Bemigho Reno Omokri is a Nigerian human right activist and lawyer.









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 governing New Patriotic Party(NPP) has scheduled December, 18 to December 20, 2021, to hold its National Annual Delegates Conference in Kumasi, in the Ashanti region.



The Conference, according to the party leadership will be held in strict compliance with standard guidelines and Covid-19 health protocols.



Meanwhile, the party has scheduled the month of October beginning Friday to hold Regional Annual Delegates Conferences in all 16 regions of the country.



This is in accordance with Article 9 of the Partys Constitution.



Notice of Amendment to the Party Constitution



The General Secretary of the Party has started receiving notice/proposals for amendments to the Party Constitution, in accordance with Article 19 of the partys constitution.



Per the constitution, this should be done not later than two months before the National Annual Delegates Conference, the General Secretary.



The NPP will, from Friday, October 1, 2021, to Friday, October 22, 2021, hold Regional Annual Delegates Conferences across all the 16 Regions of the country in accordance with Article 9 of the Party Constitution.



The Regional conferences shall be held in conformity with the following Schedules (Dates, Venues and Zonal Arrangements), as approved by the National Executive Committee of the Party:



1) Savannah Region - Friday, October, 1, 2021, at Daboya



2) Upper West - Saturday, October 2, 2021, at Wa



3) Upper East - Sunday, October 3, 2021, at Bolgatanga



4) North East - Monday, October 4, 2021, at Nalerigu



5) Northern Region - Monday, October 4 and Tuesday, October 5, 2021, at Yendi & Tolon respectively



6) Bono East - Wednesday, October 6, 2021, at Atebubu



7) Ahafo Region - Thursday, October 7, 2021, at Goaso



8) Bono Region - Friday, October 8, 2021, at Sunyani



9) Ashanti Region - Saturday, October 9 and Sunday, October 10, 2021, at Obuasi West/ Bekwai, Abuakwa, Ejisu, Kodie



10) Western North - Monday, October 11, 2021, at Sefwi Wiawso



11) Western Region - Tuesday October 12, 2021, at Takoradi and Tarkwa



12) Greater Accra - Thursday October 14 and Friday, October 15, 2021, at Tema and Accra



13) Eastern Region - Saturday, October 16, 2021 and Sunday, October 17, 2021, at Nkawkaw, and Koforidua



14) Oti Region - Monday, October 18, 2021, at Dambai



15) Volta Region - Tuesday, October 19 and Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at Ho and Sogakope



16) Central Region - Friday, October 22, 2021 and Saturday, October 23, at Cape Coast and Kasoa



The Party wishes to emphasize that, just like the Constituency Conferences, the Regional Annual Delegates Conferences shall also held in strict observance of all the COVID-19 Health Protocols.



Thank you.



Signed



JOHN BOADU

GENERAL SECRETARY





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 Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it is a common practice around the world for a president to allow other heads of state to occasionally use his presidential jet as part of bilateral and multilateral diplomatic relations.



In a statement dated 30 September 2021, the ministry said it has noted with concern reservations raised by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, over the use of Ghanas presidential jet by Liberian leader George Weah to the recent ECOWAS summit in Accra.



It said Ghanaian leaders have in previous times also benefitted from such gestures, adding Ablakwas insular posture comes as a surprise.



In the light of the strenuous and concerted efforts by ECOWAS leaders to broker peace in the region, the Ministry finds it rather unfortunate that Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa would seek to deliberately muddy the waters with these negative comments, the statement said.



In the latest of such utterances, Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa sought to suggest that transporting the President of Liberia, His Excellency George Weah, aboard Ghanas presidential jet to participate in the emergency ECOWAS Summit during the recent political crisis in Guinea, constituted an impropriety. Nothing could be further from the truth.



It must be emphasised that the practice of sharing travel resources among West African Heads of State and high-ranking officials, is not a recent phenomenon. Indeed, in the past, some Heads of State have, in their capacity as Chair of ECOWAS, extended this courtesy, the statement added.















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

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Dr Nana Ayew Afriyie, Chairman of Parliaments Health Committee, has indicated that the Akufo-Addo led government should not be held responsible for the delay in completing stalled health projects started under the previous government.



Speaking in an interview on Joy News, the Sekyere East MP said, funds needed in completing some nine health projects the Mahama government left behind will come from the countrys donor partners, therefore, the British construction firm is to oversee the project's completion with its own funds.



He explained that funds expected from the UK Export Fund was behind the delay in completion adding that the government of Ghana is innocent of allegations levelled against it by some opposition members.



The Ranking Member on Parliaments Health Committee, Kwabena Mintah-Akandoh has accused the incumbent government of failing to complete projects started by the previous government.



He indicated that, the Fomena and Abetifi health projects are in a deplorable state.



The Fomena hospital can no longer be said to be 90 per cent complete. It is deteriorating. The ceiling has caved in. There are completed medical doctors and nurses bungalows taken over by weeds. The bungalows have been tiled and have air conditioners. If it is not wickedness, tell me one word to describe this situation, Mintah-Akandoh said.



He accused the government of causing financial loss to the state with failure to complete such projects.



In a reaction, Dr Afriyie explained, The money is not coming from Ghana governments; it is coming from the UK. If you want advance mobilization, what you have to do is that the Ministry of Health will submit your withdrawal letter to the Ministry of Finance and they, in turn, will pass it on to the UK and the UK will release the money.



As I speak with you, all these have been done. We are waiting for funds to be released from the UK so (that) the contractors can complete Kumawu, Fomena, European Hospital. If the money is not coming, do you blame the government for this? I dont understand.



He, however, stated that the NDC should be interrogated on why a large sum of money was spent on the projects but little was done.



The program was supposed to have ended on December 31, 2016, where they would have constructed almost about 10 hospitals.



As of 2016, in August when it went for renewal, they had only completed Dodowa and the remaining were on average about 50 percent complete. Yet about 85 percent of the money had been given out. Out of USD175million, it was left with almost USD38million. So the financial consumption had outweighed what was there physically and for that matter, they went to the then Finance Minister Seth Terpker for renewal and he decided not to renew it in August and it actually expired in December 2016.



The question is going to be that, I want to find out why the former Minister, Seth Terpker did not renew the mandate of the then contractors, Dr Afriyie stressed.

Source: Ghanaweb.com









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A flag bearer hopeful of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Alan Kyerematen, has urged the delegates of the party come out of their regional annual delegates conferences which start today, Friday, 1 October 2021, re-energised and united in the partys bid to break the eight-year power swing jinx.



The party will, from today, Friday, 1 October 2021, to Friday, 22 October 2021, hold Regional Annual Delegates Conferences across all the 16 Regions of the country in accordance with Article 9 of the Party Constitution.



The Regional conferences shall be held in conformity with the following Schedules (Dates, Venues and Zonal Arrangements), as approved by the National Executive Committee of the Party:



1) Savanna Region  Friday, October 1, 2021, at Daboya

2) Upper West  Saturday, October 2, 2021, at Wa



3) Upper East  Sunday, October 3, 2021, at Bolgatanga



4) North East  Monday, October 4, 2021, at Nalerigu



5) Northern Region  Monday, October 4 and Tuesday, October 5, 2021, at Yendi & Tolon, respectively.



6) Bono East  Wednesday, October 6, 2021, at Atebubu



7) Ahafo Region  Thursday, October 7, 2021, at Goaso



8) Bono Region  Friday, October 8, 2021, at Sunyani



9) Ashanti Region  Saturday, October 9 and Sunday, October 10, 2021, at Obuasi West/ Bekwai, Abuakwa, Ejisu, Kodie



10) Western North  Monday, October 11, 2021, at Sefwi Wiawso



11) Western Region  Tuesday, October 12, 2021, at Takoradi and Tarkwa



12) Greater Accra  Thursday, October 14 and Friday, October 15, 2021, at Tema and Accra



13) Eastern Region  Saturday, October 16, 2021, and Sunday, October 17, 2021, at Nkawkaw, and Koforidua



14) Oti Region  Monday, October 18, 2021, at Dambai



15) Volta Region  Tuesday, October 19 and Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at Ho and Sogakope



16) Central Region  Friday, October 22, 2021, and Saturday, October 23, at Cape Coast and Kasoa



In a statement signed by General Secretary John Boadu, the party said it wishes to emphasise that just like the Constituency Conferences, the Regional Annual Delegates Conferences shall also be held in strict observance of all the COVID-19 protocols. In a short statement, Mr Kyerematen, who is the Minister of Trade and Industry, said: Today marks another important day in the annals of our party, the NPP, as we meet once again at our annual regional delegates conference to take stock of the past year and plan for the future.



This year, he noted, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are meeting at different venues at different times to safeguard our health.



I urge you all to observe the protocols of masking up, sanitising and washing of hands and social-distancing.



He added: No matter where we find ourselves, l urge members to hold paramount the unity and well-being of the party in their deliberations. Our continued relevance in the affairs of the state depends on the cohesiveness of our party as a people of independent thought and free will, Mr Kyerematen said.



I pray that we come out of our conferences re-energised and united in our bid to break the 8 and keep Ghana on the path of Development in Freedom, in adherence to the motto of our great party.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Popular Ghanaian actor, King Aboagye Brenya has died.According to his family, he died on Thursday, September 30, 2021 at the County Hospital at Abrepo in Kumasi after he was rushed to the facility for treatment.The 82-year-old had been incapacitated for the past six years, and as such has been out of the Ghanaian movie scene.He left behind nine children and a wife.During his youthful years, King Aboagye Brenya combined acting with working at the Kumasi Cultural Centre.He played several roles in both Ghanaian and Nigerian movies.He was the owner of Ohenenana Guest House at Bohyen, and also owned the Kumasiman Preparatory School at Bohyen.Although he was quite weak and was unable to work during his last days, his family says he survived on the revenue they were generating from his guest house and the school.Following the news of his passing, some actors and producers have visited his home at Bohyen to commiserate with the family.Speaking to Citi News after visiting the family house of the late actor, the President of the Film Producers Association of Ghana, James Aboagye, iescribed King Aboagye Brenya as a pioneer in the film industry.King Aboagye Brenya affectionately called Nana or King was one of the pioneers in the film industry when it comes to the Kumawood fraternity. He was among those who accepted the challenge to battle their colleagues in Accra for roles, despite the latters vast experience in the industry. He progressed very well and starred in popular and iconic movies like Kumasi Yonkoo, Asem, Odasanii. Nigerian film producers noticed his acting skill and invited him to Nigeria for movies through Mr. Samuel Nyamekye of Miracle Films. He fell sick about six years ago, and he did not fully recover and has been on the sick bed until late afternoon today, Wednesday, 30th September 2021.

Source: UTV/Citi News









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

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Simon Jolin-Barrette, Quebec's minister responsible for the French language, speaks at the beginning of a legislature committee studying a proposed reform of the French language law, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021, at the legislature in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
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Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Variable clouds with showers at times, and perhaps a rumble or two of thunder, especially this evening. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Variable clouds with showers at times, and perhaps a rumble or two of thunder, especially this evening. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Federal bankruptcy officials are debating whether an investigator or forensic accountant needs to be hired to find out what happened to nearly $6.5 million that has disappeared from the historic Rickenbaker Gin's bank accounts.

The gin, located in tiny Davis Station in Clarendon County, owes the money to farmers for crops it sold on their behalf. The 76-year-old company never passed the money along to the growers, prompting the S.C. Department of Agriculture to cover the payments through a pair of special programs designed to protect crop losses.

Now, the state agency wants its money back.

"We need an accounting of what happened," Rick Mendoza, a lawyer representing the department, said during an Oct. 1 hearing in Charleston. "Where did the money go?"

The State Law Enforcement Division is asking the same question. It has opened a criminal investigation into the gin's financial dealings.

Elisabeth Gasparini, a lawyer for the U.S. Trustee's Office in Columbia, tried to get some answers during a 3-hour meeting of Rickenbaker Gin's creditors in the case.

During questioning, owner Burt Rickenbaker blamed flooding, hurricanes, government programs that purportedly pay farmers not to grow crops and his former accountant for the company's financial collapse.

In documents filed Oct. 1, the gin listed assets totaling nearly $2.1 million, although Rickenbaker said much of the value was his own estimate and that a formal appraisal has not been completed. Debts total a little more than $8.1 million, including what is owed to the Department of Agriculture.

Those debts were incurred mostly in 2019 and 2020, even as the gin reported nearly $35 million in income for the period.

Gasparini focused some of her questions on numerous transactions between Rickenbaker and Santee Leasing Inc. owned by James "J.C." Black of nearby Manning, whom Rickenbaker termed a friend he's known since he was a teenager.

Rickenbaker said he often borrowed money from Black or Santee Leasing to help with the gin's cash flow. Rickenbaker said Black would write a check to him as a loan, and Rickenbaker would then give Black a check for the same amount plus 2 percent interest to be deposited in 10 days.

There was no documentation for the loans, such as their purpose, other than the checks that were deposited in each other's accounts.

Also, among the debts listed on the gin's financial statements is a $650,000 unsecured loan from Santee Leasing. Rickenbaker said Black asked him to sign a promissory note for that amount early this year when the gin started having financial trouble. In another instance, Black filed a mortgage in February 2020 against property Rickenbaker owns to secure a $200,000 loan. Rickenbaker said he has not made any payments on that loan, which is not listed in the gin's bankruptcy filings.

Black declined to answer questions about the loans when contacted Oct. 1.

Gasparini also questioned Rickenbaker about an $80,000 loan his wife made to the gin last December. He said the money was for operating expenses, although there was no documentation for the loan, which he said came from his wife's personal income. Rickenbaker said the gin paid the money back, including $2,000 in interest, a couple months later.

Throughout the questioning, Rickenbaker  who was paid a salary of $115,000 a year  described a business practice in which he would put his own money into the company's accounts when operating funds were running low and then pay himself back by withdrawing money later. There was no documentation for the disbursements, which totaled roughly $100,000 a year in 2019 and 2020, other than the bank transactions.

"I'd put it in and draw it back out as I needed it back," Rickenbaker said during the hearing.

The next order of business will be to determine whether a court-appointed examiner or a forensic accountant paid for by Rickenbaker should be hired to dig further into the financials. Lawyers for all sides said Oct. 1 they are not sure how far back such an investigation should look and how detailed it should be. They also don't want to spend more funds than needed on such an investigation, because it would reduce how much might be disbursed to creditors.

Eighteen cotton farmers and 28 grain producers were paid through the agriculture department's crop programs. The funds that were used to compensate them are financed by farmer and warehouse assessments, so no tax dollars were involved.

The court actions and criminal investigation are a far cry from the gin's history as a second-generation company founded by Rickenbaker's father upon his return to South Carolina after World War II. The S.C. Legislature recognized the company in a 2003 resolution for its "commitment to the cotton industry in Clarendon County."

Burt Rickenbaker  a former president of the Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association  was named Ginner of the Year by that group in 2019.
Closed since the onset of COVID-19, one Charleston restaurant has finally reopened with much anticipation.

Harold's Cabin, the cozy neighborhood establishment near Hampton Park, has been reimagined during its closure, though its roots remain the same.

The interior has been refurbished, with fewer tables spaced farther apart in the downstairs dining room, a bar added upstairs next to a turntable and vinyl collection, and patio seating installed on the rooftop deck.

Instead of table service, patrons can make their orders at the downstairs bar counter, and the menu reflects comfort foods and Southern staples, in addition to a few creative twists.

Owner John Schumacher describes it "as if Charlestons Glass Onion and Moes Crosstown Tavern had a love child."

"It's been a challenge," Schumacher said. "It's essentially been like opening a new restaurant."

The restaurant wouldn't have been able to reopen without a pandemic-era emergency small business loan and Restaurant Revitalization Fund allotment, which paid for rent along with the equipment repairs and fixer upper projects that sprouted up while the restaurant was empty.

The reason Schumacher decided not to open when other restaurants did a few months into the pandemic was twofold. From a logistical and health perspective, he knew the cozy, confined space wouldn't work.

"Thats what we are," he said. "A cozy little space where youre right next to your fellow diner or at the bar."

And he wanted to take the time to step back and figure out what was working and what wasn't, with a clear upcoming pivot on the brain.

"What weve always been strong at is our community and neighborhood attachment and the camaraderie of the place," Schumacher said. "Its essentially like walking into someones home when you come in. Thats how we treat everybody and thats kind of the vibe. Thats where we thought our concentration should be."

That pivot's time has now come, with the restaurant reopening doors in late September to guests from 4-10 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The menu remake came from the concept of simplifying the food to reflect an unpretentious, welcoming neighborhood joint.

Schumacher strived for an abbreviated, approachable menu with more appetizers and sandwiches in place of the refined, upscale cuisine Harold's once was known for.

"I wanted it to be more playful and whimsical," he offered.

There's a Lowcountry broil, Mexican street cornbread, a pulled chicken sandwich and a burger made with an in-house onion bun.

A few menu items are near and dear to Schumacher's heart, like his mom's Rice Krispy chicken, which he grew up eating at horse races in Aiken, and a Southern dessert with a spin of a Mexican coke with a Moon Pie and bag of peanuts.

"We'll see who's Southern by who puts their peanuts inside their Coke," Schumacher said with a laugh.

There's also a new bar manager, Joshua Hurley, who's keeping up with Harold's craft cocktails.

Hurley, who wore a Buffalo felt Stetson to his interview and is originally from Montana, kept the popular Salty Raccoon (silver tequila, lime, rosemary) on the drink menu, but has added some literary- and film-themed seasonal beverages.

He formerly worked at Rarebit for three years before applying to this gig.

On his updated list, there's the Basil Rathbone, named after a British actor who played Sherlock Holmes back in the 1930s and '40s. It's made with basil grown on the rooftop muddled in a shaker with bourbon, splashed with lime juice and ginger liqueur and topped with champagne.

There's also the Norma Jean, Marilyn Monroe's birth name, fashioned with a summer bouquet of local gin, yellow Chartreuse, elderflower liqueur and fresh lemon juice.

And there's the Billy Bones, a rum drink fashioned after the Treasure Island character, that stars a golden rum, muddled jalapeno and cardamom.

"I like being able to give a whole background story," Hurley said.

The names and drinks will switch quarterly, he added.

Because of Charleston's frose craze, the new bar manager also added a Frosty Raccoon to the menu, the frozen version of a Salty Raccoon.

"Every cabin should have someone from Montana working in it," said Schumacher with a chuckle.
PLANTERSVILLE  A new bike and walking trail is being planned to the Plantersville area, and the community got its first look at a draft of the 12-mile long project Sept. 29.

Georgetown County set aside $100,000 for this study and design, but funding to actually construct the path and its amenities has not yet been allocated, said Public Services Director Ray Funnye.

The trail would start at Choppee Recreation Center, go down Choppee Road to the Plantersville Cultural Center, and up Plantersville Road to the Plantersville General Store and St. Paul Community Park.

Most of the path would be a pavement or asphalt two-way path along the sides of the roads, and would include several rest areas and overlooks for bikers, walkers and others to enjoy. At some of these rest areas would be fishing accessibility along the Black River, as well as bike parking and information on the several historical landmarks along the path.

Among these landmarks are several plantations, and Funnye, who is also a Plantersville native and runs the Plantersville nonprofit The Village Group, assured residents their ancestors who worked on those plantations would be honored by the path.

"You can't tell the story of Plantersville without including our ancestors, its very strong and dominant in that story, so that will be included," Funnye said.

Several residents expressed concerns about the intersection of U.S. Highway 701 and Choppee Road, where the Plantersville Cultural Center sits, saying it is dangerous and hard to cross as is without bikers and pedestrians.

The proposed draft has a so-called "pedestrian refuge" on U.S. 701 to make it easier to cross the roads, though putting a signal at the intersection would require coordination with the South Carolina Department of Transportation, Funnye said.

Also at the cultural center would be a trailhead, complete with signage, seating area, bike parking and landscaping.

Many residents in attendance at the Sept. 29 meeting at Plantersville Elementary expressed enthusiasm for the project, saying that residents of the area needed more recreational activities to encourage a healthier lifestyle.

Funnye and the designers, a transportation design company called Alta, also emphasized the ecotourism possibilities the path could provide.

The study and design of the path itself is supposed to be finalized by Spring 2022, Funnye said. Once that is complete, he said, he'll make recommendations to the county and county council as to how much it will cost to construct it, though there is no set deadline for when the county has to set aside money for it.

Another public meeting about the bike path will be held at 6 p.m. Sept. 30 at Choppee Regional Resource Center, or online via webinar.
GEORGETOWN  Students and employees at Georgetown County schools may soon be required to wear masks while on school grounds, as the district board is set to discuss the possibility Oct. 5.

District spokeswoman Kristi Kibler would not comment beyond what's written on the meeting agenda, which says the board will consider "various options regarding the implementation of a facemask requirement."

The discussion will come a week after a federal court judge and the state's highest court offered separate rulings on mask mandates in schools.

A ban on school mask mandates inserted into the state budget in June, when legislators thought the pandemic was subsiding, specifically bars districts from using public funds authorized through the 2021-22 budget to enforce a mask mandate.

The state Supreme Court ruled Sept. 30 the ban is constitutional. However, the justices made clear districts can still find a legal workaround by using other pots of public money.

While the state's high court found the budget rules do not deprive students of their constitutional right to a free education, a federal court reached a contradictory conclusion.

The budget rule had already been temporarily blocked by a Sept. 27 ruling from U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis, who said the ban clearly discriminated against students with disabilities.

After the federal decision, state schools Superintendent Molly Spearman gave districts the green light to issue mandates, telling them the ruling provided them the "discretionary authority to require masks." The state court's refusal to block the ban does not change that, she said.

Georgetown County School District parents and board members have overwhelmingly supported a mask mandate for students, with some parents in the past even asking the board to defy state law and enact a mandate anyway, as a few other districts had already done.

I think we really need to consider (if) we can go out on the line and risk the budget, are we willing to do that for our students? Georgetown schools parent Amy McGrath said Aug. 17. It does not look like this will hold up in a court of law. Are we willing to take that risk like Richland County or Charleston County?

Two of South Carolinas largest school districts  Charleston County and Richland One in Columbia  rejected the one-year state law in August by enacting their own mask mandates, potentially risking their state funding.

Georgetown schools Superintendent Keith Price said previously that while he believes the decision to enact mask mandates should rest with individual school districts, he didn't want to break a law by defying the Legislature.

Georgetown County's school board meets at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at the J.B. Beck Administration and Education Center in Georgetown.
Kingstree, SC (29556)

Today

Generally cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 74F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Overcast with rain showers at times. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
The South Carolina branch of the American Civil Liberties Union is searching for a new executive director after Frank Knaack said this week he was departing for a new position with the organization's New Hampshire branch.

Knaack said Oct. 1 he accepted a new position as policy director for the ACLU of New Hampshire to be closer to family. He said he starts the new position Nov. 1. Knaack will remain in South Carolina to assist in the organization's transition until Oct. 22.

Stuart Andrews, board president for the ACLU of South Carolina, said Karen Dudley-Culbreath, director of people and operations for the state branch, will serve as interim executive director while the organization searches for Knaack's replacement.

"She's got a lot of strong management experience, and we believe that she would help just allow us to continue to be stable and to move forward in the path we're going for," Andrews said.

Andrews said he expected the search to take anywhere from six months to a year.

Knaack, named ACLU South Carolina's executive director in January 2020, has led the Charleston-based organization's civil rights efforts during a tumultuous time, as the COVID-19 pandemic raised new questions about the government's role during a national health crisis and incidents of police brutality against Black people have led to increased calls for accountability.

The ACLU scored a major legal victory earlier this week after a federal judge struck down the state's ban on school mask mandates. The ACLU sued Gov. Henry McMaster and other state officials on behalf of parents of students with disabilities who claimed the ban violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In May, the organization released a smartphone application called Mobile Justice, which allows users to record videos of police interactions and report abuses that are directly entered into an ACLU database.

Andrews said the organization is also continuing to monitor issues surrounding immigration and women's reproductive rights. The state branch recently received a grant from the national office that will allow it to focus on the state's redistricting process, Andrews said.
The Charleston Forum is continuing its examination of social problems facing the tri-county area with its second public panel discussion next week. The event, to be held online using Zoom, is open to all.

The discussion, set for 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 6, will include results of a recent survey administered by the Vermont-based Center for Research & Public Policy on behalf of the Charleston Forum. The areas of interest in the questionnaire included policing and criminal justice reform, economic development and housing, education reform, addressing symbols of public history, and quality-of-life issues.

The first public discussion in June focused on education. The upcoming Zoom event will focus on policing and criminal justice reform. The panel includes 9th Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson; Gary Rainey, retired sheriff of Boise, Idaho, and now a criminal justice consultant; Jerry Blassingame, founder and CEO of Soteria Community Development Corp. in Greenville, which assists the formerly incarcerated reenter society; and Laurie Garduque, criminal justice director for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The event will hosted by Kristy Danford, project director of the Charleston County Criminal Justice Council, and moderated by WCBD-TV anchor Carolyn Murray.

Most Charleston-area residents are ready for changes, the survey showed.

A large majority, 87 percent, think police should be required to undergo continuing education and training on fair treatment. Nearly as many want police officers to receive comprehensive de-escalation training.

About 86 percent think police officers should be punished for failing to activate body cameras, and nearly 73 percent want incidents of excessive use of force recorded in a database that can be monitored by people outside the police department. Nearly as many favor periodic racial bias audits.

Respondents showed strong support (79 percent) for strengthening the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, reforming the bail and bond system to ensure non-violent offenders are not kept in jail if they cant pay (74 percent), and introducing pre-trial programs to support people least able to get themselves to the courtroom and avoid future arrests (72 percent).

Fewer respondents, though still a significant majority (64 percent), want certain non-violent offenses decriminalized. Racial disparities should be taken into account by solicitors responsible for prosecuting offenders (53 percent), and police need to collaborate more with communities of color to build trust (84 percent).

Nearly 56 percent of respondents overall indicated they were willing to pay more in local and regional taxes in support of these reforms.

To register for the public discussion, go to eventbright.com and search "Criminal Justice Equity."

The Charleston Forum was founded in 2016 in response to the Emanuel AME Church shooting of the previous year. Its goal is to facilitate conversations and pave the road to reform.

Other issues likely will be addressed publicly in 2022. For more information, or to register for the upcoming webinar, go to thecharlestonforum.com.
The South Carolina State Conference NAACP is holding a two-day virtual fundraiser event next week featuring some prominent members of Congress.

Among the speakers are U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Tim Scott, Rep. Jim Clyburn and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

The opening session is set for 6-7 p.m. Oct. 8. A second plenary session is scheduled for 8 a.m. Oct. 9. Its followed by:

9:15-10 a.m. keynote session with NAACP Chairman Leon Russell and President Derrick Johnson

10-11 a.m. session devoted to the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act," featuring Booker and Scott

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. session on redistricting featuring representatives of the NAACP, ACLU, ACAFL-CIO and National Action Network

1:30-2 p.m. session titled The Impact of Our Vote

2-2:45 p.m. keynote featuring Clyburn and Pelosi

Registration costs $25 and can be done online at https://bit.ly/3AZbeLA.

The NAACP invited these heavy hitters because we have some heavy, heavy issues, said Brenda Murphy, president of the state conference.

High on the agenda is electoral redistricting, a process conducted by state lawmakers. Leaders said they expect to complete the process in October so the General Assembly can vote with time left to adjudicate any legal challenges before the March 2022 filing deadline for state House and Senate races.

We need to have representatives of our communities, people who understand what the needs are, Murphy said.

The needs are many, she said. They include voting rights reform to make it easier for citizens to access the polls, criminal justice reform and health care reform  all topics to be addressed during the 82nd annual convention.

The COVID pandemic has set in relief the countrys various problems, including weaknesses in our health care system, Murphy said.

I am very concerned, because this COVID has impacted us in such a way that its even more difficult to access care, she said. People are walking out of emergency rooms because of the situation.

The state NAACP and its chapters, especially the Charleston chapter, are known for drawing big names. Joe Biden came to the Gaillard Center in 2017, less than a year after he served as vice president. Hillary Clinton also came to Charleston, twice: in 2007 and 2015.

Other well-known leaders who have addressed banquet attendees include the Rev. William Barber II, co-founder of the contemporary Poor Peoples Campaign; civil rights leader and former NAACP President Julian Bond; and Kamala Harris when she was a senator and presidential candidate.
North Augusta City Council held its first study session of the month after a brief hiatus.

During the meeting, the council and the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department announced the cancellation of the Jack-O-Lantern Jubilee festival.

The annual festival, usually held around Halloween, features a musical artist and other fall activities. This is the second year in a row the event has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was an unanimous decision. It wasnt what we wanted and all of us are sad, but you look at all the factors involved and things that have happened, you look at the numbers in South Carolina, you look at employees that have been affected  there is just no way around it in our decision, the city's PRT director, Rick Meyer, said. We feel that we have made the best decision and, honest to goodness, I hope that everything changes faster than expected and things get better, but safety is always the first and foremost thing to keep in mind.

Other Halloween and fall festivities within the city are still planned in North Augusta. SRP Park is hosting a Dugout Theater Movie Experience on the field to watch Disneys Hocus Pocus movie.

Well I think it is disappointing for a lot of folks. It is something that we would hope to be able to do, City Administrator Jim Clifford said. I think right now the health conditions are such that we wanted to ensure the safety of our community and our employees.

In addition, the North Augusta Department of Public Safety is hosting a Trunk or Treat drive-thru event on Oct. 16 at Riverview Park. In addition, Third Thursdays are planned for the months of September and October and are put on by North Augusta Forward.

Meyer is looking forward to future events in North Augusta, with a potential festival in the spring.

If we couldnt do the event all the way, the way that our people now have become accustomed to it, we didnt want to do it halfway ... Our hope is that this gives us time to prepare and make 2022 the best Jack-O-Lantern Jubilee ever.

Council also heard that Clifford and Finance Director Cammie Hayes will be the contact individuals for the American Rescue Plan Act. The city of North Augusta is slated to receive $11 million in federal coronavirus funds and is expected to put it toward infrastructure projects.

All decisions made about ARPA money spending will be voted on by the council.

Council member Jenafer McCauley was not in attendance.

Other business

 A resolution for designing a boat dock for Riverside Village will start a design process within the next 60 to 120 days. The document allows the Cranston Engineering firm out of Augusta to start the process.

 A resolution about renegotiating a parking operation agreement was brought to council. The current agreement was made with Greenstone in 2017. We are focused on the next build within Riverside Village. We believe the apartment complex and Parcel K will be the next one to go and in order to incentivize that to move forward, we have to work out something when it comes to parking because there are not enough parking spaces that would be able to fit on a parcel going forward, Clifford said.

 A resolution on improving streetscape amenities was discussed by council during the study session. The resolution would include the addition of planters, bike racks and benches to downtown North Augusta.
The number of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations is beginning to decline across the country, signaling the beginning of the end of this latest surge, but, in South Carolina, like many states in the Southeast, coronavirus activity is still high.

Health experts have been saying it for months: The state needs a higher percentage of its residents to be vaccinated.

But overcoming vaccine hesitancy isnt easy. This week, we're hearing from someone whos been having those difficult conversations with people who are vaccine hesitant.

Dr. Thaddeus John Bell is a physician with a practice in North Charleston and the founder of Closing the Gap in Healthcare, a nonprofit dedicated to decreasing health disparities and increasing the health literacy of African Americans and underserved communities.

This pandemic has exacerbated existing health disparities.

In South Carolina and across the U.S. Black patients disproportionately got sick with COVID-19 and died of the virus. And, since coronavirus vaccines became available, another gap emerged, in vaccination rate.

What's especially challenging right now, Dr. Bell said, is reaching young Black men and women who are hesitant about getting a COVID-19 vaccine. He explained some of the possible reasons behind the hesitancy and what he's doing to try to close this gap.

More Ways to Listen Understand SC is available in all major podcasting apps. Search for us or use one of these links: Apple Podcasts

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What stories do you want to hear? Email understandsc@postandcourier.com with your ideas.

Understand SC is a weekly podcast from The Post and Courier that draws from the reporting resources and knowledge of our newsroom to help you better understand South Carolina. This episode was hosted and edited by Emily Williams.

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This pathetic: She cant even speak to a small group of college students without revealing her anti-Israel views and giving aid and comfort to our enemies. From now on, Harris public appearances should be limited to ribbon cuttings (if they still have them).

Iran quickly seized on Harris statement that the view of Israel as genocidal is one version of the truth. According to Fox News:

An Iran state media outlet promoted a clip Thursday of Vice President Kamala Harris praising a student who had just accused the United States of funding Israels ethnic genocide against Palestinians. Press TV, an Iran-affiliated international outlet, tweeted out the exchange Harris had at Virginias George Mason University Tuesday with a female student, who raised questions about U.S. monies provided to allies Israel and Saudi Arabia. . . . Press TV is a division of the states Islamic Republic of Iran broadcasting, which controls television and radio broadcasting in the oppressive country. It has been cited by the Anti-Defamation League for its dissemination of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

Harris is no stranger to Iranian state media. Fox News says that earlier this week the Iranians promoted a clip of Harris saying that the use of whips by U.S. border patrol agents on Haitian immigrants evoked slavery.

But the border patrol didnt whip immigrants. That claim was Bidens and Harris truth, but it wasnt true.

Harris is turning into a gold mine for Iranian propagandists.

Meanwhile, the vice presidents team scrambling for cover. To that end, it turned to an outfit called the Democratic Majority for Israel. Its president, Mark Mellman, said:

We were pleased Vice President Harriss senior staff reached out to us today to confirm what we already knew: Her commitment to Israels security is unwavering and she strongly disagrees with the George Mason students characterization of Israel.

If youre an avowedly Democratic organization and Harris seeks absolution, what else are you going to say?

Actually, its in Israels interest for its U.S. backers to provide absolution. Theres a chance Harris will be president one day, so it makes sense to do her this favor. Its doubtful shell repay it, but she sure as hell will hold it against you if you demur.

The claim that Harris is unwavering in support of Israels security is nonsense, though. A person unwavering in that regard would have objected to the claim that Congress was wrong to fund Iron Dome, a key element of Israels security, and to the characterization of Israel as genocidal. But far from objecting, Harris called the claim and the characterization one version of the truth.

When Republicans dont object to offensive, off-the-wall comments, Democrats and their media accomplices go into full gotcha mode. I seem to recall this happening to John McCain at a town hall meeting during the 2008 campaign, or maybe it was Mitt Romney in 2012.

The Republican candidate never called the offensive comment anyones truth. He simply neglected to take it on. That was enough to tar him.

But when Harris responds positively to the smearing of Israel, we are supposed to believe she doesnt share some of the students anti-Israel views  which, by the way, are pretty standard issue on the far left, where Harris has roots.

The Iranians know better.
When I attended college in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I viewed Oberlin College as a model for what a radicalized campus should be. After John and I braved a snow storm to visit Oberlin for a debate tournament, my impression was confirmed. Oberlin was in the vanguard.

These days, that position must be difficult to maintain, but Oberlin is trying hard not to lose it. There was the colleges defamation of a bakery that detained black students who were stealing from it. A jury awarded the bakery $44 million in damages against Oberlin (reduced by the trial judge to $25 million).

The business with the bakery probably could have happened at many American colleges. But how many would award a professorship to Irans ambassador to the United Nations during the 1980s? Not many, Id like to think.

The former ambassador from Iran is Mohammad Jafar Mahallati. He teaches religion, but calls himself a professor of peace.

Jewish students allege that the professor of peace required students enrolled in his Religion 270 class to post anti-Israel blog entries that reflect the professors lectures and assigned readings. Students allegedly were also required to blog that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS) is a pro-peace effort.

The German and Austrian parliaments have passed resolutions defining BDS as an antisemitic movement that harks back to the Nazis boycott of Jewish businesses during the 1930s in Germany. The Germans and the Austrians should know.

As Irans ambassador to the UN, Mahallati was, of course, a fierce critic of Israel. In speeches at the UN, he denied the legitimacy of the Jewish state.

During this period, the future professor of peace also called for a global jihad against Israel. He touted the first intifada as setting an example for Arabs and Muslims across the world in the holy struggle against oppression and Zionism.

Back then, this was his job. Nowadays, its his pleasure. Oberlin is happy to indulge it.

Repressing Iranians seems also to have been part of Mahallatis job. According to the Jerusalem Post, an Amnesty International report accuses him of crimes against humanity by covering up the massacre of at least 5,000 innocent Iranian prisoners in 1988. Reportedly, he also railed against Irans persecuted Bahai community.

A former Oberlin student, Melissa Landa, filed a civil rights complaint against Oberlin with the U.S. Department of Education. Landa says that for six years and throughout two Oberlin administrations, Jewish students and alumni who support Israel have reported to me that they were either forced into silence, coerced into anti-Israel activity, or left with no alternative but to transfer to another institution. Her complaint reportedly includes a running list of outbreaks of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel incidents from 2014 to 2017, including student comments about the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel environment on campus.

Its not a civil rights violation for anti-Israel students and professors to advocate for BDS or to otherwise attack Israel in strong terms. Its not a civil rights violation if these views become predominant on campus, as they have at so many colleges.

However, harassment of Jewish students, whether for their views on Israel or for other reasons, is problematic. So is forcing students to present anti-Israel views on blog posts, as the professor of peace allegedly has done.

The complaint raises by implication the perennial issue of whether, or to what extent, hating Israel means hating Jews. Civil rights laws protect Jews, but not supporters of Israel. Unfortunately, rabid anti-Israeli sentiment on campus can easily lead to harassment and persecution of Jews. And a Jew who is pressured into denouncing Israel may well have a valid claim of religious discrimination.

If, hypothetically, a black student were pressured into denouncing BLM, Im pretty sure the Biden Education Department would be open to a claim that this student was discriminated against on the basis of race.

Apart from any legal issues raised by the complaint filed with the Department of Education, theres the question of what Oberlin will do, on its own, about the fake peace professor. Oberlin shouldnt retain a professor who forces students to take anti-Israel positions (or any other controversial position) online.

And even if Oberlin doesnt see it this way, theres the matter of employing a professor who has been associated with the mass murder of dissidents. Oberlin Colleges chief of staff David Hertz told the student paper Oberlin Review in April that the college is aware of the allegations and is taking steps to address them.

Whether Oberlin is serious about this seems unclear. The Jerusalem Post reports that Oberlin has refused to answer multiple queries about its investigation of Mahallati and whether the findings will be published.

Mahallati says he was in New York during the massacres in question and was never informed of them. Its not clear what his defense is to the claim that he indulged in tirades against Irans persecuted Bahai community, members of which were tortured and executed during the 1980s..

If true, this claim alone should preclude Mahallati from teaching religion (or anything else) at any college in America.
Kto szuka: Nordea Bank Abp SA Oddzia w Polsce Stanowisko: IT Service Manager in Calypso for Large Corporate & Institutions in Application Maintenance Numer referencyjny: 3417 Lokalizacja: Gdansk pomorskie

Wymagania stawiane pracownikowi:

We are looking for IT Service Manager that can ensure the daily management of the business critical application Calypso and play supportive role to other critical applications from the Application Maintenance side. You are expected to help with driving the improvement agenda with Business, IT operations and IT Development stakeholders from Nordeas backoffice area.

Working in an IT area, every day can bring new challenges. We are moving into the next generation of Application Maintenance, adopting Agile, DevOps and reliability engineering principles  and you will be a core part of this transformation.

You will act as an IT Service Manager, possibly Application Provider, who is a senior functional leader with no direct staff reporting to You. Working with international teams in an inspiring working environment, youll have lots of opportunities to expand your skills and advance your career.

At Nordea, we know our customers needs are changing  and were deeply committed to meeting them with the financial solutions of tomorrow. Were creating an agile environment where were harnessing the power of technology  one where you can make an impact. So bring your skills, ideas and unique background. With us, youll find plenty of opportunities to grow and make your mark on something bigger.

About this opportunity

As a senior IT Service Manager, you will be expected to handle a portfolio of applications and working very closely together with the Technology Execution Team for support of your applications in scope. This will be done in the alignment with the Business Area Technology Leader and Lead TSL for TCO Technology who set the strategy and roadmaps.

What youll be doing:

Manage the interface to business technology stakeholders and processes including communication to foster alignment between business technology and Core technology.

Ensure management of portfolio of specific applications and vendor contracts.

Managing assignment of Vendor delivered people within area of Calypso responsibility

Champion technology strategies and create awareness of technology trends and opportunities.

Ensure execution and deliverables according to technology delivery plans observing the priorities, execution structure, funding and capability resource plans.

Work in close cooperation with Technology Capability Heads, BATL and Lead TSL.

Ensure continuous alignment with Technology strategy (workforce, partnerships, standards) as well as with common frameworks and standards.

Drive collaboration with internal and external stakeholders to steer current work and manage escalations like Incidents  Problem handling and impediments across your portfolio.

Planning and optimization of technology total cost of ownership for own business portfolio.

You will be working closely with the business  execution and development teams for your area, ensuring full alignment across the delivery chain.

The role will be based in Poland or in Denmark. We are looking forward to welcome you to an experienced leadership team, that together work on ensuring that Application Maintenance builds Trust and enables Great Customer Experiences.

Who you are

Collaboration. Ownership. Passion. Courage. These are the values that guide us in being at our best  and that we imagine you share with us.

To succeed in this role, we believe that you:

Have leadership experience and know how to set direction, delegate and use feedback

Understand how financials world works and able to provide the answers for your portfolio.

Result oriented, taking ownership, reaching out and making things happen

Collaborate with and influence partners and stakeholders across the value stream.

Role model for collaboration, empowering own team, inspiring the can do attitude.

Communicate in a clear and understandable way and know your stakeholders.

A deep understanding of technology strategy and delivery options for Change and Run.

A deep understanding of own technology domain.

Customer centric mindset actively seeking value-creation opportunities through technology.

Curiosity and interest on understanding and fulfilling business requirements and delivering exceptional customer experience.

A by nature creative and innovative person with strong problem-solving skills.

Understanding Agile and DevOps, working with Kanban and Jira

Your experience and background:

A preferred candidate with an IT technical background enabling the candidate to understand the technical context of the area.

Strong skills within transformation and project/program management creating proven changes in complex financial environments.

Knowledge of ITIL and DevOps principles preferably from working within financial services institutions.

If this sounds like you, get in touch!

Firma oferuje:

Next steps



Submit your application no later than 24/12/2021.

At Nordea, we know that an inclusive workplace is a sustainable workplace. We deeply believe that our diverse backgrounds, experiences, characteristics and traits make us better at serving customers and communities. So please come as you are.



Please include permit for processing personal data in CV as following:



In accordance with art. 6 (1) a and b. Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) hereinafter GDPR. I agree to have: my personal data, education and employment history proceeded for the purposes of current and future recruitment processes in Nordea Bank Abp.



The administrator of your personal data is: Nordea Bank Abp operating in Poland through its Branch, address: Aleja Edwarda Rydza Smiglego 20, 93-281 odz. Your personal data will be processed for the recruitment processes in Nordea Bank Abp. You have a right to access your personal data, right to rectify and right to delete. Disclosing the personal data in the scope specified by the provisions of Polish Labour Code from 26 June 1974 and executive acts are mandatory. Providing personal data is necessary to conduct the recruitment processes. The request for the deletion of your personal data means resignation from further participation in recruitment processes and causes the immediate removal of your application. Detailed information concerning processing of your personal data can be found at:



We reserve the right to reply only to selected applications.

Kontakt do pracodawcy:
Kto szuka: Nordea Bank Abp SA Oddzia w Polsce Stanowisko: Capital and Risk Analyst Numer referencyjny: 700 Lokalizacja: Warszawa mazowieckie

Wymagania stawiane pracownikowi:

We are now looking for a Capital and Risk Analyst within Regulatory Reporting unit. You will work with various types of risk reporting for Nordea Group and its subsidiaries. Your focus will be on analysis and reporting the development of risk exposure amounts (REA), the capital base and the leverage ratio in accordance with Basel III regulation. This is an opportunity for you to join a fast-paced and dynamic field of critical importance in the international finance industry. You will get exposure to a broad spectrum of risk types as well as the opportunity to work with passionate and collaborative colleagues at Nordea.

We offer working with skilled international teams in a bright, modern office, youll provide invaluable support to our Nordic business areas. The pace is quick, the atmosphere lively and collaborative.

There are plenty of opportunities for you to learn and grow as you build your career with us. Will you help us lead the way in becoming the best bank we can be?

At Nordea, we see that the world is changing fast  and we want to be one step ahead of the curve. Thats why were deeply committed to providing the financial solutions of tomorrow to our customers. Were creating an agile environment where we experiment and grow together  and we need your ideas and unique background. With us, youll be in good company with a chance to make your mark on something bigger.



About this opportunity



Welcome to the Capital control team. We add value by delivering reports to supervisory authorities through efficient processes meeting regulatory requirements, as well as to support analysis work related to risk and capital.



What youll be doing:

Performing analysis of the development of risk exposures amounts (REA), capital consumption over broad range of portfolios and risk types and capital frameworks.

Communicating and presenting developments in risk exposure amounts (REA), the capital base to an internal stakeholders in the various portfolios in a clear and concise way.

Driving continuous improvements in your processes and in the unit.

Ensure adequate risk controls within your process and continuous to development of these controls.

Youll join an international & very dynamic environment where there are unlimited development opportunities, both in your carrier and on a personal level. Welcome to a global team with high commitment and positive atmosphere with the ambition to become even better in supplying essential deliveries for Nordea. The role is based in Warsaw.



Who you are



Collaboration. Ownership. Passion. Courage. These are the values that guide us in being at our best  and that we imagine you share with us.



To build a successful career with us, youll work well with others and always act with the customers needs in mind. You love learning and trying new things, and youre excited about bringing your ideas to the table. Youre honest and dependable, willing to speak up even when its difficult, and committed to empowering others. Youre passionate about doing a great job.



To succeed in this role, we believe that you have:

Creative Thinking: can think creatively, has a questioning mind-set, proposes new ways of working and strives for constant improvement in current processes

Flexibility & Reliability: can take on unstructured assignments, discerns what is important, develops appropriate action plans and demonstrates ownership

Drive & Motivation: can successfully handle multiple tasks, persists in the face of adversity, and takes both initiative and accountability for improving his/her own performance

Judgement: Displays good judgement, thinks ahead, anticipates questions and prioritises work tasks appropriately

Your experience and background:

An academic degree in finance, mathematics, statistics, engineering or similar.

2-5 years relevant work experience

Fluency in English is required

Strong Excel Skills

Basic knowledge of VBA, SAS or SQL

Strong analytical skills and attention to details

If this sounds like you, get in touch!

Firma oferuje:

Next steps

Submit your application no later than 31/10/2021 .

At Nordea, we know that an inclusive workplace is a sustainable workplace. We deeply believe that our diverse backgrounds, experiences, characteristics and traits make us better at serving customers and communities. So please come as you are.



Please include permit for processing personal data in CV as following:



In accordance with art. 6 (1) a and b. Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) hereinafter GDPR. I agree to have: my personal data, education and employment history proceeded for the purposes of current and future recruitment processes in Nordea Bank Abp.



The administrator of your personal data is: Nordea Bank Abp operating in Poland through its Branch, address: Aleja Edwarda Rydza Smiglego 20, 93-281 odz. Your personal data will be processed for the recruitment processes in Nordea Bank Abp. You have a right to access your personal data, right to rectify and right to delete. Disclosing the personal data in the scope specified by the provisions of Polish Labour Code from 26 June 1974 and executive acts are mandatory. Providing personal data is necessary to conduct the recruitment processes. The request for the deletion of your personal data means resignation from further participation in recruitment processes and causes the immediate removal of your application. Detailed information concerning processing of your personal data can be found at:



We reserve the right to reply only to selected applications.

Kontakt do pracodawcy:
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Yes, but it depends on variety

No, for medical reasons, uncertainty

No, principle

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President Hakainde Hichilema has wasted no time in asserting his authority. The cabinet appointments announced by Zambias new head of state took second place to his bold move to retire security chiefs across all sectors, from the army through to correctional services.

His swift actions are a positive indication that the new era in Zambia puts respect for the Constitution and rule of law above loyalty to the ruling party and president.

This is a marked departure from the impunity that securocrats in Southern Africa and indeed the continent have become accustomed to. Security sector reform has remained elusive for most countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC)  something Hichilema seems intent on changing.

True to the businessman he is, he wasted no time in aligning the security forces. The president charged the former security heads of willfully negating the spirit and letter of Zambias Constitution and being brazenly partisan and unprofessional in their conduct.

These accusations were strengthened by his first-hand experience of the many arbitrary arrests and detentions of political activists. Under former president Edgar Lungu, the Zambian police and military became complicit in Lungus autocratic tendencies. Soldiers and officials were accused of various abuses, ranging from arbitrary detentions of those who spoke out against the government to killing protesters.

Mr Hichilemas move is a necessary first step in developing professional security forces and engendering citizens confidence in the integrity of these institutions. It can also help mend damaged relations between the public and the security forces, and show that the security sector should serve the nation  not the ruling party.

In a clear recognition of professionalism and integrity, Mr Hichilema promoted one of his jailers to Deputy Commissioner General of Correctional Services. This is likely to have a ripple effect across other sectors of government.

The new presidents critics are, however, urging caution. They point out that he has a long way to go in balancing competing interests within his winning alliance and securing the confidence of the entire state apparatus.

Mr Hichilemas actions could also, if not communicated well, fuel street-level retribution against those who abused power during the reign of Lungus Patriotic Fronts (PF). Already a video is circulating on social media of civilians apprehending and taunting a man accused of abuses during the PFs crackdown against the opposition.

While retiring the securocrats was necessary, some might perceive it as too drastic and too hasty. SADC governments have long grappled with the difficulty of successfully reforming their security sectors. Mr Hichilemas decision to tackle the problem head-on has undoubtedly been unsettling for some politicians in the region.

ALSO READ: Zambian opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema wins presidential election after sixth trial

This sentiment is likely stronger in countries where police and soldiers have been willing accomplices in the abuse and torment of opposition parties and human rights activists. In countries like eSwatini, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania, ruling elites might find Mr Hichilemas measures unpalatable.

In most SADC countries, the military and ruling party are joined at the hip, enabling the army to act as guarantor of the regime. Despite numerous efforts by the regional bloc, it has not pronounced itself definitively on the matter, leaving citizens unsupported as they wrestle with partisan security forces. Recently, soldiers and police in eSwatini brutally repressed protests that erupted against the monarch.

In Zimbabwe, the military and police have a long history of impunity and partisan behaviour in defence of the ruling party. To date, the soldiers involved in the killing of unarmed civilians in the post-election violence of 2018 and subsequent clampdowns on protests have not faced justice. The script reads the same in Tanzania and Angola. Mr Hichilema is likely to touch a nerve in these countries, which may see ruling elites digging in their heels even deeper.

SADC should perhaps take lessons from Mr Hichilema and create inclusive platforms that civil society and opposition parties can participate in. Rather than tinkering on the margins as it has been doing for years without concrete action, the regional bloc could take inspiration from Mr Hichilemas courage on security sector reform.

It is not surprising that Zambias president is being greeted as a breath of fresh air by many in the region. Southern Africans living under autocratic and repressive regimes are looking up to him as a role model. Mr Hichilema is undoubtedly defining his own governance style. His actions in the first two weeks of his administration show that he walks the talk and is not afraid to make bold moves.

In a region desperate for better governance and stronger democracies, questions are already turning to whether he can galvanise a coalition of likeminded leaders and inspire reform in other Southern African countries.

Ringisai Chikohomero, Researcher, Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Pretoria

(This article was first published by ISS Today, a Premium Times syndication partner. We have their permission to republish).
Scores of protesters under the umbrella of #RevolutionNow, on Friday, held a peaceful rally to express dissatisfaction over the state of affairs of Nigeria on her 61st independence anniversary.

The protesters, comprising youth and the elderly, marched from New Garage, around 11 a.m., to the Gani Fawehinmi park at Ojota, about a three kilometre distance.

Despite the heavy presence of police officers, the protesters kept chanting solidarity songs, to show displeasure with the state of the country.

At least 50 police officers, led by Kehinde Adeniran, the Area Commander of Area H, Ogudu, were at Ojota to wait for the protesters.

On arrival at Ojota, the protesters expressed their grievances over the governance pf Nigeria, with many of them chanting Buhari must go, Buhari must go.

Juwon Sanyaolu, one of them, said while Nigeria is marking its 61 years of independence, citizens are languishing in sorrow, poverty, unemployment, and economic hardship.

There is nothing for us to celebrate, the Buhari-led administration has drawn Nigeria backward and people are suffering greatly, he said.

Kehinde Agebo, a member of #RevolutionNow group, said President Muhammadu Buhari has failed Nigerians since 2015 with banditry, kidnapping, insecurity going on around the country.

Festus Ogun, a lawyer, said Nigeria is far from being independent as the country does not respect the rule of law and fundamental human rights.

An independent country will find a leading solution to unemployment, poverty and penury in the land, he said.

We are so unlucky in Nigeria, we are so unfortunate to be led by a set of callous, irresponsible, and terrible set of individuals.

We are saying enough is enough to the madness of this set of individuals. We have been cheated for too long and that is why we are coming out. We are not intimidated by the presence of security officers or shenanigans of the police.

We have come and our message is simple, we cannot get freedom unless we have a country that works for all, the government of this country works for the few elite, he said.

Mr Ogun said Nigerians are in bondage of misrule, bad governance, insecurity, unemployment, poverty and terrible infrastructure.

Nigeria does not belong to the few in power, Nigeria belongs to all of us, he added.

A similar protest by the #RevolutionNow group held at the Federal Capital Territory on Friday morning. They were, however, dispersed by security agents.
Details have emerged of how Umar Bature, a former member of Nigerias House of Representatives, was arrested in London while distributing suspicious funds suspected to have been meant for a former Nigerian National Security Adviser (NSA), Aliyu Mohammed Gusau.

Mr Bature, an ally of Mr Gusau, was arrested after he met Jeffrey Tesler, a British businessman previously involved in the case of international corruption known as the Bonny Island Halliburton scandal. Mr Tesler also doubles as a friend and ally of Mr Gusau.

The money is suspected to be among the slush funds distributed in connection with the Malabu scandal.

The new details are found in documents obtained exclusively by PREMIUM TIMES from exhibits submitted in a case filed in the United States by oil giant, ENI.

Mr Tesler is a British citizen already implicated in the Halliburton-Bonny Island scandal regarding the bribery of Nigerian public officials, which also involved SAIPEM, a company that was until 2016 a subsidiary of ENI.

Mr Gusau, easily one of the most influential figures in Nigerias military intelligence circles, was head of the secret military service in Nigeria between 1988 and 1989. He later became director of national security for former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan. He also served briefly as Minister of Defence under Mr Jonathan.

Mr Bature was a member of the House of Representatives, where he represented Sokoto North/South Federal Constituency. He had earlier served in the Nigerian Armed Forces until he retired in 2003 and joined partisan politics. He is said to have become a protegee of Mr Gusau during his days in the Armed Forces. He is currently serving as Commissioner for Water Resources in Sokoto State.

The Malabu Backstory

The Malabu scandal involved the transfer of about $1.1 billion by Shell and ENI through the Nigerian government to accounts controlled by Dan Etete, a former Nigerian oil minister.

From the former ministers accounts, prosecutors say about half the money went to accounts of companies controlled by Aliyu Abubakar, a middleman popularly known in Nigeria as the owner of AA oil. Anti-corruption investigators and activists suspect he fronted for top officials of the Goodluck Jonathan administration as well of officials of Shell and ENI. He denied wrongdoing.

The Malabu transaction was authorised in 2011 by former President Goodluck Jonathan through some of his cabinet ministers and the money was payment for OPL 245, one of Nigerias richest oil blocks.

The oil resources of the OPL 245 license have remained undeveloped since the controversies began. ENI initiated international arbitration proceedings against Nigeria last September, alleging the government had breached its obligations by refusing to let the firm develop the license.

Fresh Details

Fresh details seen in documents reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES have provided insights into the roles of other Nigerians in the long-running Malabu scandal.

In one of the exhibits submitted by Eni, Mr Tesler explained the role of Mr Bature in the scandal. Until now, Mr Batures name and alleged roles have never been reported in the controversial deal.

On January 9, 2014, details showed that Mr Tesler went into a police station in London, handed over a bag containing the sum of 378,670 in cash, and made statements about the circumstances under which he came into possession of the money.

In summary, Mr Tesler reported that he had entered into a cooperation agreement with the government of the United States, ostensibly regarding investigations on the Halliburton scandal, thus obtaining a type of immunity in exchange for his activities as an informant.

For this reason, through his lawyers in New York, he advised the US government of his meeting, on November 15, 2013, with a man of Nigerian nationality, who introduced himself as Umar Bature, who had informed him that Dan Etete, former Nigerian oil minister, intended to transfer to him the sum of $2 million at a foreign exchange office in Abuja.

Mr Bature had, therefore, asked him to provide bank details so as to credit the money to him. In response to his answer of not having an account that could be used for such purpose, Mr Bature said that the money, net of commissions for the transfer, could be collected by him in London in several tranches.

According to Tesler, at that first meeting, he had not been told the origin of the money, nor the reason for which he was the beneficiary, the document said.

In the performance of the agreement entered into with the Department of Justice of the United States, he had drafted a memo summarising the content of the meeting with Bature, and had sent it to his lawyers, so that they could inform the United States legal authorities.

Speaking further in his account to the British police officers, Mr Tesler stated that he had not had further news of Mr Etete and the money until the evening of January 8, 2014, when he received a phone call from General Mohammed Aliyu Gusau, who informed him that within a few minutes he would receive another phone call.

Indeed, at 7:15 p.m., Umar Bature phoned him, presenting himself as the person he met on a previous occasion and asked if they could meet so that he could give him something, the document said.

They made an appointment to meet at 8:00 p.m. at the Cavendish Hotel on German Street in Piccadilly, where Bature stated he was staying. He immediately informed his lawyer, who told him the instructions received from the United States to collect the money and not spend it.

Therefore, he went to the appointment, meeting with Bature in his room, and there received a very heavy suitcase, extracted from a case, inside which, according to Bature, there was the sum of GBP 378,000 in small bills. Bature asked him to return the following day to receive another suitcase and to discuss the commissions to be paid.

After the meeting was finished, he immediately informed his lawyer of the events, who told him a few hours later that he would be contacted by an FBI agent. Indeed, the day after, at noon, he received a phone call from a certain John Coushad, who told him that he had already informed the police authorities of the United Kingdom and to not go to the next appointment with Bature.

Speaking on how he met Mr Gusau, Mr Tesler explained that he had had a long relationship of continuous visits with him, meeting him whenever he came to London, which normally happened once every 4- 6 weeks, and speaking on these occasions of the political-economic events of Nigeria.

He added that he met Mr Bature in November 2013 and January 8, 2014, adding that he had not asked questions on the origin of the money and the reasons for which Mr Etete had sent it to him so as to not place himself in danger.

When asked by the English police agent whether he knew the reason why Mr Etete had sent him the money, he said, according to details of the exhibit: two million is a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of money which he collected from Shell and Agip  The document added that Mr Tesler, therefore, links the sum of money in cash given to him by Umar Bature on behalf of Dan Etete to the price received by the latter from ENI and Shell for OPL 245.

The documents further explained that Mr Bature had had a role in the negotiation for the sale of OPL 245 because, since 2009, he has participated in meetings between Messrs Etete, Agaev, and employees of Shell. He was also serially identified as Gusau man.

The next day, the document showed, Mr Bature was arrested and interrogated by an agent of the anti-money laundering team of New Scotland Yard.

During interrogation, the document said, Mr Bature admitted to having been commissioned to take the amount of $1.4 million to Mr Tesler, a friend of his boss.

He also reportedly admitted to having gone along with his boss to currency exchange offices that were legally recognised in Nigeria to check how to transfer this sum of money to the United Kingdom and, indeed, agreed on the transfer to the United Kingdom in exchange for a commission of 7.8 per cent.

The document said that Mr Bature also confirmed that his boss, from whom he received the assignment, is General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, a Nigerian minister at the time. He also added that he flew to London from Dubai at the request of the General to deliver the money to Mr Tesler.

Mr Bature also claimed, according to the documents, to have handed over to Mr Tesler, who he had already met previously several times, the sum of GBP 374,000, as the first tranche of a total sum of 1.3 million allocated to him. He added that he received the money, in turn, from a Nigerian citizen, who was also arrested, named Gabriel Oziegbe.

In actual fact, the money given by Tesler and seized by the British authorities amounted to GBP 378,670. Also, Gabriel Oziegbe was interrogated by the English police and confirmed Batures story. A considerable further amount of money in cash, for a total amount of $50,000 and GBP 82,173, was seized from him, the document reads in part.

The general Aliyu Mohammed, to whom Bature refers, is certainly the General Aliyu Mohamed Gusau, given that he held a variety of positions in the Nigerian Armed Forces up to the highest levels of the secret services of that country, and was then national security adviser to two presidents of the republic.

Gusau has been a friend of Tesler for years, as stated by the latter; it was Gusau who told Tesler in advance, on the same day, about Batures telephone call pre-announcing the delivery of the money. Bature was already indicated in 2009 as a man of Gusau by Copleston, who, by collecting information on the field in Nigeria on behalf of Shell on the strength of his previous experience as an MI6 agent, probably came to know about the relationship between the two, dating back to their common past of belonging to the Nigerian Armed Forces.

The document claimed that the revelation reflects the statements of Ednan Agaev, an ex-Russian diplomat, regarding the fact that in relation to the deal of OPL 245, Gusau was expecting a commission from Etete. The revelation also finds confirmation in the statements made to the investigators by Jonathan Benton, the former head of the Corruption Unit of the Metropolitan Police of London, which had investigated the OPL 245 Malabu saga, it added.

Messrs Etete and Gusau are believed to be close allies. In one of his disclosures in 2019, Mr Agaev claimed that he was introduced to Mr Etete by Mr Gusau in 2008.

When contacted Thursday night, Mr Bature told PREMIUM TIMES he had nothing to say about the matter.

Mr Gusau, on his part, did not return telephone calls and text messages seeking comments from him.

In March, PREMIUM TIMES reported how an Italian court in Milan acquitted Shell, Eni and their managers in the long-drawn Malabu trial. But prosecutors reportedly lodged appeals against the verdict. An Italian newspaper quoted a Milan prosecutor as describing the acquittal judgment as thin and illogical.

Anti-corruption groups monitoring the case in Nigeria and across Europe, including the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, (HEDA), Corner House and Re: Common, also criticised the acquittal judgement which they said distorted and ignored vital evidence.

Our own analysis suggests that the Milan judgment was deeply flawed, Lanre Suraj, chair of HEDA, was quoted as saying in a joint statement in August.
President Muhammadu Buhari said Friday that Twitter must meet the Nigerian governments five conditions before the suspension of the social media platform will be lifted.

Mr Buhari said this during his televised broadcast on Friday to mark Nigerias 61st independence anniversary.

He listed the conditions to include the fact that Twitter must pay attention to national security and cohesion; registration, physical presence and representation in Nigeria; fair taxation; dispute resolution and local content.

As a country, we are committed to ensuring that digital companies use their platform to enhance the lives of our citizens, respect Nigerias sovereignty, cultural values and promote online safety, he said.

Following the extensive engagements, the issues are being addressed and I have directed that the suspension be lifted but only if the conditions are met to allow our citizens continue the use of the platform for business and positive engagements.

The Nigerian government suspended Twitters operations on June 5 after the social media network deleted a controversial tweet by President Buhari.

The suspension was condemned by many Nigerians, activists and the international community as a clampdown on freedom of expression.

However, buoyed by the international communitys tepid follow up to their initial calls on the Nigerian government to back down on its crackdown on the platform, the government has since doubled down on its resolve.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the suspension has dealt a fatal blow on small scale businesses that use the platform to reach customers and a teeming digital-happy Nigerian population.

With Twitter banned and physical protests often ending in forceful dispersal, the decision ultimately shrunk Nigerians access to justice and their freedom to speak.

The information minister, Lai Mohammed, a fortnight ago also said Twitter was already meeting a lot of the demands by the Nigerian government and the suspension will be lifted soon
President Muhammadu Buhari, whose government has been accused of clamping down on free speech, has accused the Nigerian media of just reporting irresponsible remarks.

The Nigerian leader said this during his televised broadcast to mark Nigerias 61st Independence Anniversary.

Our media houses and commentators must move away from just reporting irresponsible remarks to investigating the truth behind all statements and presenting the facts to readers, Mr Buhari said.

Mr Buharis attack on the media was part of his comments on how some of the violence being perpetrated across Nigeria are caused by remarks people make.

I will therefore take this opportunity, on this special day that symbolises the unity and oneness of our great nation, to ask all Nigerians to embrace peace and dialogue, whatever your grievances, the Nigerian leader said.

The seeds of violence are planted in peoples heads through words. Reckless utterances of a few have led to losses of many innocent lives and destruction of properties, he said.

We must all come out and speak against the lies being peddled.

While Mr Buhari attacked the media, he appreciated the large number of our Traditional, Religious and Community leaders as well as other well-meaning Nigerians who, in their various fora are openly spreading the message of peaceful co-existence and conflict settlement through dialogue in their respective communities.

Faced with growing criticisms over the deteriorating security and economic situation under his watch, Mr Buhari is responding with stringent regulations, policies and legislation to control the traditional and social media space, the free speech channels which citizens also use for the planning and execution of many activities.

Between 2015 and 2018, Nigeria recorded the worst attacks on journalists in 34 years. Analysts say the recent developments bring back memories of the presidents past as a dictator who wielded absolute powers as military head of state between 1984 and 1985, invoking arbitrary decrees.

In June, the Nigerian government suspended the operations of Twitter indefinitely, after it alleged that the micro-blogging site was being used to undermine Nigerias corporate existence through the spreading of fake news that have violent consequences.

For that reason, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), directed broadcasters to suspend patronage of the platform. It described its further use by broadcast stations as unpatriotic. Many broadcast media stations have since complied with the directive and stopped the use of Twitter.

Media and human rights advocates condemned NBCs directive, calling it illegal and an attack on press freedom.

The government has since asked lawmakers to give the NBC powers to also regulate all online media.

Nigerian media organisations have stood against the federal governments repressive steps, with some approaching the court for redress.

Apart from the actions of the Executive, bills have also been proposed in the parliament to regulate the media and civil society organisations which observers believe are parts of steps to clamp down on the freedom of expression.

As a push back against these moves, the print and online newspapers widely circulated advertorial campaigns in July.

Information Blackout, read the caption that was placed on front pages of newspapers. Its not just against the media.its about societys right to know, your right to be heard.

Another round of media solidarity followed. This time, editorials in major dailies called on the government to shut down the two controversial media bills at the National Assembly.

Mr Buhari and officials of his government are, however, not alone in the criticism of the Nigerian media. Recently, some experts decried the preponderance of fake news which they said had caused divisions along ethnic, religious and geographical lines leading to mutual distrust, suspicion and hatred that had constituted a huge threat to Nigerias corporate existence.
President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that the significant spike in the prices of food in Nigeria is caused by middlemen who have been buying and holding essential commodities.

The president stated this Friday during a televised broadcast to commemorate the 61st anniversary of Nigerias independence.

The presidents comments come as prices of major staple foods (legumes, cereals, proteins and vegetables) in Nigeria have risen at an average of about 98.85 and 99.9 per cents respectively in the last year.

Unfortunately, as our food production capacity has increased, food prices continue going up due to shortages created by middlemen who have been buying and holding the essential commodities, Mr Buhari said.

More details later
Bandits have sent a handwritten letter to the district head of Burkusuuma in Sabon Birni local government area of Sokoto State, asking him to gather ransom from the families and friends of kidnapped victims.

In the letter seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the bandits wrote in Hausa language and mentioned the names of those in captivity.

Bandits recently intensified attacks on villages in Sabon Birni and Isa local government areas of the state, killing 21 security personnel in attacks on Dama and Gangara villages.

They also killed 20 persons and kidnapped others in Gatawa village recently.

Due to the incessant attacks on the communities, the member representing Sabon Birni East at the Sokoto House of Assembly, Saidu Ibrahim, recently told PREMIUM TIMES that bandits have taken over control of his constituency.

Isa and Sabon Birni are among the 14 local government areas where mobile telecommunications network have been shut down to aid military operations on bandit.

The ransom letter

The ransom letter was written by one of the kidnapped persons and addressed to Sarkin Rafin Burkusuuma, the district head of the area.

In the letter, the monarch was informed that those kidnapped from Gatawa and Burkusuuma two days ago were in good health but the sum of N20 million must be paid for them to be released.

The kidnapped victims, whose names were all written in the letter, consist of nine males, eight females and two children.

The 20th kidnapped person was given the letter to deliver to the monarch.

Confirming the letter, a local, who is living in Sokoto metropolis, Usama Tarah, said the bandits had been sending letters to families of kidnapped victims since the shutting down of telecommunications network in the areas.

He said one of the victims was sacrificed by the bandits to deliver the letter since they couldnt communicate with the families. He brought the letter to Gatawa and eventually had it handed to Sarkin Rafi in Burkusuuma.

Mr Tarah said the man was among those kidnapped in a night attack on Gatawa two days ago.

The police spokesman in the state, Sanusi Abubakar, did not respond to calls and SMS sent to him on the issue.
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has granted state pardon to 18 convicted inmates in various correctional centres in the state to mark Nigerias 61st Independence Day.

This is contained in a statement signed by Richard Olatunde, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the governor and made available to newsmen in Akure on Friday.

The statement further said that Mr Akeredolu also commuted the death sentences of 26 prisoners to life imprisonment adding that the gesture was in commemoration of Nigerias 61st Independence anniversary.

In exercise of the powers conferred on him by Paragraph (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 212 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as Amended, Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has granted State pardon to 18 convicted inmates.

The governor also commutted to life imprisonment 26 other inmates who were condemned to death by the various courts in the state.

The convicts were released having shown remorse and are of good conduct at the correctional centres, the statement read.

While charging them to be of good conduct and live a crime-free life, the governor urged the public not to discriminate against them as they reintegrate into the society.

(NAN)
The Nigeria Media Merit Award (NMMA) Trust, organisers of one of Nigerias media awards, has said despite the biting consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and the economic crunch that is taking its toll on the media industry in particular, the number of entries received ahead of this years annual award is record-breaking.

According to a statement issued by the Trust and signed by the project director, Adewumi Adediran, a total of 1,050 entries from 731 journalists nationwide were received ahead of the four-day ceremony, which has been scheduled to hold between October 28 and 31.

The organisers say, the number of entries for the year is one of the highest ever received since the inauguration of the award in the early 90s.

The statement reads in part; Crucial preparations for the 29th edition of the Award programme began with the Call for Entries, inviting journalists from all over the country to participate in the programme by forwarding their best works for the past year 2020 to the administrators for diligent assessment by the esteemed Panel of Assessors (POA) of NMMA.

The exercise lasted for about six weeks from mid-June to the end of July 2021. Notwithstanding the effects of the pandemic in the year 2020, a record-breaking 1,050 entries from 731 entrants was received from across the nation, making it one of the largest number of entries received since inception of the NMMA in 1991/92.

Kogi to host

Meanwhile, the statement added that this years edition of the award ceremony, which is the 29th in the series, will be hosted in Kogi State, North-central Nigeria.

The organisers noted that the choice of the state was a product of thorough appraisal, and that the statement is set to make the ceremony a great experience for media professionals and other partners who would be taking part.

The four-day grand award programme in Lokoja, Kogi State, is scheduled for 28th to 31st October 2021.

The Administrators are pleased to confirm that general preparations have gone on very well at every stage, while the cooperation by the Kogi State high-powered local organising committee has been very impressive and commendable, it stated.

About the award

The NMMA Kogi 2021 programme will feature five major events, including the Chief Hosts Grand State Reception for all Media Leaders, veterans, chief executives, editors, and nominees of NMMA.

Others expected at the grand reception include leaders of Corporate Nigeria from across the nation especially those from the ten neighbouring states, particularly from FCT-Abuja. The State Government will be making a presentation on Kogi State to the august gathering at an interactive session with national and global media leaders in attendance, the statement highlighted.

The second major event is the Media Heroes Nite of Tributes, a special fanfare session to recall and acknowledge the contributions of media professionals who have passed in recent years after meritorious service to their fatherland.

The statement noted that part of the vision of NMMA is to recognise and salute past media heroes.

Security

The statement revealed that the Kogi State government will provides a very safe, secured, relaxing and memorable experience for media leaders, nominees and guests at the event.

The state government has also made far-reaching commitments in ensuring security for all guests attending, from pick-up at Abuja to Lokoja Kogi State and back. For those coming from other parts of Nigeria, adequate security is assured on all routes to Kogi State with the support of federal security agencies to ensure a hitch-free NMMA KOGI 2021, it noted.

Assessors

The NNMA official noted that as part of efforts to strengthen the assessment processes, nine new members have been added.

What followed was the assessing of entries received by the 2021 POA within a scheduled period as provided in the annual plan.

The POA for 2021, made up of 25 accomplished professionals, was reconstituted and strengthened with nine new members to bring freshness and innovation into the assessment process.

The final report has been rescheduled for Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th October, to conclude all processes involved, the statement said.

It further stated that all nominees duly approved by the board of trustees will be contacted latest on October 14, and their package to attend the grand award ceremony delivered promptly.
President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that the past 18 months have been the most challenging in the history of Nigeria.

The president stated this Friday during a televised broadcast to commemorate the 61st anniversary of Nigerias independence.

The presidents comment comes as virtually all parts of Nigeria are currently battling one form or another of violent crimes.

President Muhammadu Buhari came into office in 2015 on the strength of his promise to tackle insecurity, fight corruption and improve the economy.

Many Nigerians, however, say the security situation in Nigeria is getting worse.

More details later
The United States government has arrested and charged a Nigerian man for allegedly operating an unlicensed money transfer business to launder the proceeds of online investment fraud schemes.

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement Thursday that the 31-year-old accused, Tochukwu Edeh, was charged with one count before a federal court in Boston.

According to the DoJs statement, Mr Edeh, who ran used-car dealerships and currency transfer services in Texas, Florida and Nigeria, was previously charged by the U.S. criminal complaint. He has been in custody since his arrest on 2 September , 2021, the statement added.

The U.S. government alleged in the indictment that Mr Edeh, a former resident of Jacksonville, a popular city in Florida, used a network of co-conspirators in both the United States and Nigeria sometime in 2015, to launder and transmit proceeds of Ponzi-style investment fraud schemes based in Nigeria.

Specifically, the schemes purported to offer trading and Bitcoin investing services when, in fact, investor funds were allegedly stolen and later victims investments were used to pay purported returns to earlier investors.

Edeh allegedly laundered the fraud proceeds using a network of co-conspirators in the United States and using his personal and business accounts in the United States and Nigeria. Edeh, along with his alleged co-conspirators, did not hold money transmitting licenses in their respective states of residents, nor were they registered as money transmitters as required by federal law.

Accused to face 20 years in prison

According to the statement, if found guilty of the charge, Mr Edeh could be convicted and sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and face a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the amount of the ill-gotten gains involved.

The charge of money laundering conspiracy provides for a sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the laundered funds, whichever is greater.

The charge of conspiracy to conduct an unlicensed money transmitting business provides for a sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Promoters of the Ponzi scheme usually lure culpable investors with huge returns as much as 100 per cent within a short period by paying existing investors from new users.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had announced in May this year that about three million Nigerians had lost an estimated N18 billion to Ponzi scheme operators.
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) to rehabilitate the National Food Reserve Agency in order to address the looming food crisis in the country.

The president stated this Friday during a televised broadcast to commemorate the 61st anniversary of Nigerias independence.

Mr Buhari in his speech blamed middlemen for the shortage in the food supply in the country due to their hoarding activities.

To address this, he said, the FMARD should work with the security agencies, Nigeria Commodity Exchange group and the National Assembly to proffer lasting solutions to the disruptive and unpatriotic holding activities of the middlemen in the country.

Mr Buhari said the agric sector remains the key driver to our economic diversification effort as the sector has been a consistent driver of the non-oil sector.

It has contributed 22.35 and 23.78 per cent to the overall GDP in the first and second quarters of 2021, he said.
President Muhammudu Buhari has said his administration has concluded plans to recruit 10,000 policemen annually for the next six years.

The president stated this on Friday during a state-wide broadcast to commemorate the 61st independence anniversary of Nigeria.

The presidents promise comes amidst heightened insecurity across the country.

Apart from insurgency, the current spate of banditry, kidnapping and secessionist violence is pushing Nigeria to the edge.

Security experts have on several occasions raised the alarm that the ratio of a policeman to citizens is grossly inadequate.

The police force is, however, the security agency that has the highest number of personnel with its presence in every nook and cranny of the country.

The force is also one of the paramilitary agencies that conducts massive recruitments by its inspector generals.

The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali, had, few days ago said that the Nigeria Police will soon begin the recruitment of 20,000 junior police officers.

10,000 per year henceforth

Speaking on security his broadcast, the president highlighted some of his achievements and plans.

He also revealed some of the strict measures that would be taken against citizens who contribute to insecurity.

To support our surge approach to fighting banditry, the Nigerian Armed Forces have recruited over 17,000 personnel across all ranks.

Furthermore, I have also approved for the Nigerian Police Force to recruit 10,000 police officers annually over the next six years, the President said.
Only 4 per cent of Africas population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. This is despite the continents efforts, including those of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the campaign led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa as chair of the African Union (AU) last year. Just 6.4 per cent have received one dose, according to the Africa CDC.

Global instruments such as COVAX aimed to get vaccines to poor and middle-income countries, and the World Health Organisations (WHO) COVID-19 Tools Accelerator was launched to speed up production and access to tests, treatments and jabs. African initiatives to get more vaccines include the AU COVID-19 Response Fund and the Africa Pool Procurement Portal.

The rate of vaccination on the continent is increasing. But attaining the WHOs target of 30 per cent fully inoculated in Africa by the end of 2021 looks impossible. Mr Ramaphosa pointed out at the United Nations (UN) last week that, Of the around six billion vaccine doses administered worldwide, only 2 per cent of these have been administered in Africa, a continent of more than 1.2 billion people. This is unjust and immoral.

He noted that globally, the world was also falling well short. The WHO set a target of vaccinating at least 70 per cent of the worlds population by September 2022. But we are now at the end of September and have not [even] reached the 10% target we set ourselves in May  The gulf is widening between better-resourced nations who are buying up and even hoarding vaccines and developing countries who are struggling to have access to vaccines.

Whats to be done? Greater global leadership, for one thing. A truly global response to the crisis has been lacking. Having a nationalist leader like Donald Trump in the White House last year  who even cut off support to the WHO  certainly did not help. Last week, his successor Joe Biden attempted to step into the leadership vacuum by convening a COVID-19 summit on the margins of the UN General Assembly.

He announced a raft of measures to address the pandemic and meet the target of 70 per cent vaccination in all countries by next years General Assembly. These included a pledge by the United States (U.S.) to donate an extra 500 million vaccines through COVAX, bringing U.S. vaccine donations to 1.1 billion. The European Union (EU) pledged to donate one billion, and Italy, Denmark, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand increased donations.

Mr Bidens most important announcement was perhaps to call on his peers to support the establishment this year of the $10 billion global health security fund to tackle COVID-19 vaccines and treatment. This would likely be something like the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Mr Biden offered to kickstart the fund almost with $1.1 billion of US money. Several other heads of state, including Mr Ramaphosa and the leaders of the EU, Italy and Norway, expressed support for the idea, though evidently did not pledge specific amounts.

The big question of course, is, why would this particular fund succeed where so many other efforts to get COVID-19 vaccines to the world have failed? Mark Heywood, a veteran health activist in South Africa, is cautiously optimistic about the prospects, noting that the Global Fund has been quite successful in mobilising funds to fight AIDS, TB and malaria.

But perhaps Mr Bidens initiative has a better chance simply because world leaders seem at last to be mobilised. As Carolyn Reynolds of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) pointed out at a 24 September seminar in Washington, the WHOs 70 per cent target had been around for many months. Yet last week was the first time global leaders had assembled to decide how to meet the target.

This years G7 summit of the richest countries had been expected to do that but failed, she said. Ms Reynolds and other experts on the CSIS panel agreed that Mr Bidens summit had been a success in at last mobilising global support to achieve equity in COVID-19 vaccination  and also in therapeutics.

The summit had important gaps though. As J Stephen Morrison of the CSIS underscored, China and Russia were conspicuously absent, and the private pharmaceutical sector was also largely not in attendance. He noted that many developing world leaders told Mr Bidens meeting that they didnt want charity  they wanted the means to manufacture vaccines and therapeutics themselves.

One of those was Mr Ramaphosa. He used the opportunity to plug for a temporary waiver of the World Trade Organizations TRIPS provision that protects the patent rights of pharmaceutical companies. He wants that protection to be suspended temporarily to allow others to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines at no cost. Heywood agrees that it is necessary to meet the worlds vaccine demand.

But while that remedy is vital, it would probably take two to three years to kick in, according to some experts. Action is needed in the meantime. One option the CSIS panellists agreed should be expanded on was to back licensed manufacturing.

The U.S. is already supporting South Africa to manufacture J&J vaccines to supply Africa. And the U.S., Germany, France and World Bank support the development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa, Senegal and Rwanda. Yet even these admirable manufacturing enterprises arent enough or will come too late.

The WHOs interim target of vaccinating 40 per cent of the world this year is probably already unachievable. But if the 70 per cent global target by September 2022 is to be met, a truly monumental effort of greatly increased donations will have to be undertaken very fast.

The summit and its proposals  particularly the new global health security fund  are a good start. Much must still be done however, including at least a temporary shelving of the power struggle between the US, China and Russia in the interest of working together for this global good.

Peter Fabricius, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Consultant

(This article was first published by ISS Today, a Premium Times syndication partner. We have their permission to republish).
President Muhammadu has said his administration has recruited 17,000 personnel into the armed forces.

The president stated this on Friday in a nationwide broadcast to commemorate the 61st independence anniversary of Nigeria.

The armed forces are the Nigerian Navy, the Nigerian Air Force and the Nigerian Army.

The disclosure by the president comes even as insecurity worsens in the country.

Virtually all parts of Nigeria are currently battling with one form of insecurity or the other.

Despite attempts by the government to curb the criminalities and killings, the nations security apparatus appears to be overwhelmed with criminals having a field day killing, maiming and extorting their victims.

The Nigerian armed forces which are fighting a decade-long insurgency in the North-east, appear to be overwhelmed with additional responsibilities.

Aside from fighting insecurity in the North-East, the armed forces are also involved in various forms of internal security operations in other parts of the country.

What we are doing to tackle insecurity

The president, while revealing his plans to tackle various forms of insecurity, said aside from the recruitment of the 17,000 armed forces, his administration procured the recently delivered Super Tucano fighter jets.

To support our surge approach to fighting banditry, the Nigerian Armed Forces have recruited over 17,000 personnel across all ranks. Furthermore, I have also approved for the Nigerian Police Force to recruit 10,000 police officers annually over the next six years.

I am also pleased to note that most of the Air Force platforms we acquired over the past three years have started to arrive in Nigeria. These will positively impact our security operations in all parts of the country.

In line with section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the security and welfare of Nigerians continue to be the prime focus on which programmes and projects of our government revolves.

Therefore, as a Government, we are ready to arrest and prosecute all persons inciting violence through words or action.

Our resolve for a peaceful, united and one Nigeria remains resolute and unwavering.

That said, our hope is not to fight for peace. We can always settle our grievances peacefully without spilling any blood, the president said.
The National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) has described Nigerias constitution as forged and entrapping to some ethnic groups.

The said the nation needs new laws and called on the United Nations (UN) to fastrack the process.

This was contained in the groups independence message signed by its General Secretary and Spokesperson, Ayo Opadokun.

NADECO was one of the major groups that fought for the restoration of democracy in Nigeria in the 90s. The group battled the Sani Anacha military regime in its quest to actualize the mandate given by Nigerians to the late Moshood Abiola in the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

The group said the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration prefers to trivialise the genuine

demands of some ethnic groups, which it said are entrapped, humiliated and oppressed.

Since the military takeover in 1966, it said, politicians in military uniform had halted the national progress, and development, the group said.

They have equally dashed the hopes and aspiration of most Nigerians at independence that the country would be a beacon of light that would provide credible leadership to the black race and contribute significantly to human progress and civilizationIt is needless but necessary to restate that the centralisation and unitarisation of Nigeria had since created injustice, unfair play, inequity, wanton disregard and disrespect for the rule of law.

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The Nigerian State has failed to provide security for lives and property a fundamental right which is its primary responsibility under the UNO Protocols, African Charter on Peoples Rights, and its domestic legislation.

The group further lamented the activities herdsmen, Boko haram and bandits across the country whom they said have killed, maimed and kidnapped for ransom several thousands of Nigerians including school children as well as ethnically cleansed several native communities in the North-central, North-west, North-east and Southern Nigeria without any manifest government successful counter action to deter these outlaws from their assault on most Nigerians.

NADECO added that the Nigerian State, in clear violation of oath of office, have failed to use available modern technology for counter insurgency to track down, arrest and kill the outlaws at the points where they are harvesting several billions which central and state governments and civil populace have been forced to pay as ransom  thereby exposing that the government is directly or indirectly complicit in their deadly violations of peoples rights and terrorist attacks.

President Buharis led government had frustrated in Nigeria any legal avenue where the entrapped ethnic nationalities can seek redress for the many instances of humiliation, repression, hounding and subjugation of majority of Nigerians by the sectional dictates and wishes of his Fulani controlled security agencies and outlaws, part of the statement read.

The group therefore, implored the United Nations, its Security Council and other Global bodies concerned with peaceful co-existence of the world to urgently fast-track their preparations to conduct variously demanded for referendum (in the constitution review) to ascertain the wishes and aspirations for those entrapped.

NADECO hereby requests the UNO, its Security Council and other Global bodies to critically accept that their failure to act timeously on these legitimate demands for their intervention may tantamount to an invitation to possible national conflagration and unmanageable national crisis which may result into consequential deleterious situations on the West African Sub-Region, the African Continent and the World in general.

Let it be remembered that Nigeria as the most populous black nation in the world has about 200 million citizens residing in a suffocating geographical and political space, the possible reaction of the entrapped ethnic nationalities who are already overwhelmed with repression, discriminations on religion, gender, ethnicities can quickly result to national upheavals, forced dispersal and migration with their attendant global consequences.
Some writers and fellows of the West Africa independent verification platform, Dubawa, have been shortlisted as finalists for the 2021 African Fact-checking Awards.

In the Working Journalist category, Dubawa writers, Maxine Danso and Silas Jonathan, alongside Ghanas Programme Officer, Caroline Anipah, were shortlisted for a collaborative fact check they entered for the fact-checking award.

In the fact check article, the writers analysed a video where it was claimed that the Ghanaian President was caught on tape accepting a bribe in 2017. The video was shared several times and continued to circulate at a time when the countrys presidential election was approaching. Their findings showed that the claim was false and the viral video was doctored.

Two other journalists affiliated with Dubawa were also shortlisted in the Working Journalist category.

Kunle Adebajo, a 2020 fellow, who works with HumAngle, was shortlisted for his fact-check on an alleged military raid of a Boko Haram enclave. Elizabeth Ogunbamowo of SaharaReporters, a 2021 fellow, was shortlisted for her fact-check on the claim that Twitter does not recognise President Muhammadu Buhari.

The African Fact-checking Award, which is in its eighth year, is famous for annually appreciating and promoting fact-checking journalism in Africa. The organisers say the 2021 call received 216 entries from 28 countries, an increase from last year which recorded 192 entries from 27 African countries.

The award received entries for both Fact-Check of the Year by a Working Journalist and Fact-Check of the Year by a Student Journalist categories.

The winners and runners-up from each category will be announced at the awards ceremony, which will be held on October 12, during the African Investigative Journalism Conference.
The leader of mutinous soldiers who deposed Guinean President Alpha Conde last month, Mamady Doumbouya, was on Friday inaugurated as the countrys interim president.

The junta leader, a 41-year-old colonel and former ally of the deposed Mr Conde, was sworn in at a ceremony held at the Mohamed V Palace in the capital, Conakry, an event boycotted by most West African heads of state.

The coalition of the regional leaders under the auspices of ECOWAS, last month, imposed sanctions on the junta members and their relatives, froze their assets and imposed travel bans on them.

But this has not deterred the putschists resolve to take their pound of flesh by ousting Mr Conde  whom they accused of corruption, disregarding human rights and economic mismanagement  barely a year into his controversial third term reelection.

Regional powers would now hope that the new interim government propped by the countrys military will be for a short while and transition to civilian rule will return quickly.

In a picture shared by CNN network, Mr Doumbouya was seen regaled in a cream ceremonial military uniform, a red beret and his trademark dark sunglasses, holding up white-gloved hand as he took the oath of office.

I fully appreciate the magnitude and immensity of the responsibilities entrusted to me, CNN quoted him as saying in a speech afterwards.

He pledged to broker transition to constitutional rule and electoral reforms, draft a new constitution and tackle corruption head on.

Although the junta did not say when it will hand over, it said its members will be barred from participating in the next elections, whose date will be decided by an 81-member Transitional National Council.

The political upheaval in the bauxite-rich West African country has raised concerns over the rising cases of coups in West and Central Africa regions.
Whatever other speculations about the consequence of Yahya Jammehs return to the Gambia might be, it is, without doubt, a reinforcement of the position of dictators in Africa This unholy alliance between Adama Barrow, who publicly stated that hypocrisy defines democracy, and Jammeh, who demonstrated that the purpose of power is to destroy institutions, is the foundation of what may end up as the greatest calamity to befall The Gambia since 1965.

Africa, a continent noted for its immense natural wealth and potentials  symbolised by vast arable lands, precious minerals, and a young vibrant population  has failed to fully utilise these assets in achieving progressive socio-economic transformation, after more than sixty years of self-rule. One central reason identified for this misfortune is the prevalent cases of bad leadership. Except for a few occasions of exemplary stewardship from the likes of Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, and John Kufuor, Africas post-independence leadership history has comprised a litany of sit-tight despotic and kleptocratic regimes  both military and civilian. This tragedy of Africas leadership situation is even more apparent when one considers that about half-a-century or so ago, the indigenous political forces of the then nascent African nation-states rallied around the ideals of freedom, equality, and good governance to protest the injustice of colonial rule and demand independence.

The unfortunate post-independence tradition of tyrannical leadership in Africa has followed a pattern whereby after independence, a charismatic figure from a politically (sometimes numerically) dominant ethnic group of a typical multi-ethnic post-colonial African state becomes president and assumes complete control of economic and political powers through a network of patrimonial/client-patron relationships, and the use of the states instruments of coercion. Firmly in place, such leader then initiates constitutional reforms, which accord him extensive powers and provide a cover of legitimacy for undemocratic draconian practices. Consequently, protests from politically and, most times, numerically less privileged ethnocultural groups, who are alienated and subjected to deprivation and abuse through the self-perpetuating intrigues of the incumbent, provide the basis for a military coup (take-over), the only other means (after death) of changing such sit-tight leaders.

With military governments, the experience is also mostly similar. Taking a leaf from the ousted dictators book, the interim military government promises to hand over power after righting the political mess of the ousted government. As such, it schedules transition/handover dates that are repeatedly post-postponed until such a time when its head can, with some confidence, arrange for a transition process  complete with a constitutional coup  that guarantees his/her emergence as president. Such a government, with its military background and extensive constitutional powers, becomes nearly impossible to replace through the ballot. It deploys every option available to remain in power, and even when, by some chance, it loses at the ballot, it voids the election.

However, from the 1990s, Africa has recorded significant transformations in the political systems of many of its countries. These changes involved the collapse of several military and civilian dictatorships, as well as the emergence of rule-of-law-based governments, such as South Africas non-racial democracy. Notwithstanding these (democratic) gains though, many countries in Africa have continued to struggle with deepening and institutionalising democracy. As such, there is yet very little check on governmental impunity, especially in the areas of the abuse of executive powers and human rights violations.

At the far left are countries like Togo, Uganda, Cameroon, Chad, and until recently, the Gambia, which are still under the despotic regimes of sit-tight leaders. These countries have remained notorious for their hostile political environments, economic hardship, poor records of human rights, and the ever-present threat of conflict. They not only symbolise the reversal to Africas blossoming democratic culture, but also stand as an inspiration for other despotic ambitions yet laying fallow. As constant reminders that Africa still faces the possibility of sliding back to the pre-1990s levels of authoritarianism, the event of a political transition in any of these countries mentioned above represents hope; as another vital step away from Africas leadership albatross.

As civilian president, Yahya Jammeh ruled the Gambia with an iron fist. His reign of terror was enacted through a litany of draconian laws and anti-people policies that infringed on the peoples rights to information, expression, and interaction. Typical of a brutal authoritarian regime, Jammehs government sought to control information coming in and going out of The Gambia.

One country in which recent political developments best capture this patent threat to Africas democratic gains is The Gambia. A small, English-speaking, West African country with at least ten different ethnic groups, The Gambia (named after the Gambia River) gained its independence from Britain in 1965. And in the more than five decades of independent existence, it has had only three presidents! The Gambias venture into what has become a long and perilous post-independence leadership history began with the tenure of Dawda Jawara, the countrys first president who went on to rule for almost three decades between 1965 and 1994. Under Dawda Jawara, the country was, for all appearances, a liberal democracy. The political atmosphere was, in principle, one of competitive politicking, complete with regular elections into five-year tenures. However, it was a one-party monopoly state, where power was centered around the dominant figure of President Jawara and his Peoples Progressive Party (PPP).

With monopoly control over government resources and a dictatorial communications regulation policy, the presidents party maintained an undue advantage over the opposition, which was left weak and in constant danger of being declared subversive. Jawaras government also imposed strict restrictions on the civil society and the activities of political organisations. It was embroiled in numerous allegations of misconduct, including vote-buying, intimidation of the opposition, and election tampering. And with no limit set for terms, Dawda Jawara was able to perpetuate himself in office as president of the Gambia for over thirty years, until the Yahya Jammeh-led military coup of 1994.

Twenty-nine-year-old Yahya Jammeh, a lieutenant officer and leader of the Armed Forces Provisional Council (AFPC), seized power through a bloodless coup detat in 1994. Having assumed control, Jammeh, as military dictator (1994-1996), set out to consolidate his power. Beginning with a suspension of the constitution, Jammeh went ahead to round up and detain some of his superiors in the military. He also placed Jawaras ministers under house arrest, banned political activities, and announced a four-year transition period to democratic civilian rule. The four-year transition period was later reviewed and reduced to two years in January 1995 by the National Consultative Committee (NCC). In April, three months after, a Constitutional Review Commission was established. The resultant constitution, which was drawn up to accentuate Jammehs economic and political power, allowed for multi-party elections, a limitless number of five-year tenures, and the presidents authority to appoint judges directly. Then, Jammeh tactfully retired from the military at the rank of colonel, just a month before the presidential election of September 1996. He contested the election and was declared winner by an electoral commission of his own selection.

As civilian president, Yahya Jammeh ruled the Gambia with an iron fist. His reign of terror was enacted through a litany of draconian laws and anti-people policies that infringed on the peoples rights to information, expression, and interaction. Typical of a brutal authoritarian regime, Jammehs government sought to control information coming in and going out of The Gambia. It reduced state-owned communication networks (both television and radio) to government (Jammehs) propaganda outlets and moved to suppress the independent press by enacting laws that undermined their operations. Some of these laws included the 1994 Newspaper Act (reviewed again in 2004), which made it mandatory for owners of news agencies to pay expensive yearly registration fees; the National Media Communication Act, which required journalists to divulge confidential information to the police and judicial authorities; and the 2004 Criminal Code (Amendment) Bill, which stipulated prison terms for defamation and sedition.

Following the enactment of these laws, there were several attacks on the countrys independent press and its personnel. As the years passed and Jammeh successfully influenced the outcome of election after election, his hold over The Gambia grew even more resolute. With the aid of armed groups like the defunct Green Boys, some state security agencies such as the Police Intervention Unit of the Gambians police force, the Serious Crimes Unit, and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Jammeh enacted his diabolic reign of terror. Individuals and journalists who criticised his government were picked up and taken to undisclosed locations, never to be heard from again. Before long, it became a practice for Jammehs rivals at the polls to seek refuge outside the country. Yahya Jammeh gradually reduced The Gambia to his personal fiefdom and started to equate any criticism of his person to sedition, thereby disturbing the nations peace.

one could only imagine the amount of shock and disbelief that greeted the news that Yahya Jammeh has formed some coalition with the incumbent president, with the possibility of a return to The Gambia from exile in Equatorial Guinea. Is there even a small chance of this materialising barely four years after his removal? Where is the justice for Jammehs victims?

After a botched coup attempt in 2006, Jammeh became even more resolute in his oppressive strategies against the Gambian populace. People were jailed without trial, there were allegations of extrajudicial killings, and journalists disappeared without trace. Famous amongst his victims were the April 2000 massacred students; the over fifty West African migrants from Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Ivory Coast, and Senegal murdered by the NIA; the one thousand Gambian citizens arrested and tortured on allegations of witchcraft; journalists Deyda Hydara and Ebrima Manneh; and the casualties of Jammehs fictitious HIV/AIDS cure. There were also allegations of rape, embezzlement, and cases of summary detentions for indefinite periods. By and large, Yahya Jammeh became a symbol of all that was wrong with democracy in Africa.

Hence, when in 2017, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its member countries decided to defend the outcome of The Gambias presidential election of that period, the action was welcomed across Africa as a win for democracy and a move towards the future of respectable and responsible leadership in Africa. To all supporters of democracy, another ruthless dictator had been removed, which was a cause to celebrate, and the celebrations were heard even beyond the shores of The Gambia and Africa.

Therefore, one could only imagine the amount of shock and disbelief that greeted the news that Yahya Jammeh has formed some coalition with the incumbent president, with the possibility of a return to The Gambia from exile in Equatorial Guinea. Is there even a small chance of this materialising barely four years after his removal? Where is the justice for Jammehs victims? What is the message being communicated to other dictatorial regimes and ambitions? What does this portend for the future of democracy in Africa? Should donor agencies continue to support the current government in The Gambia? These and other issues haunt the minds of serious Africans. For the Gambian people, on whose behalf I am writing, the horror that this bodes can be imagined. With the memories yet fresh and the inquisitions having not yielded the whole truth, whatever faith the people have in the principles of democracy and government stands a good chance of being lost forever, which can also produce a multiplier effect in other African countries.

Whatever other speculations about the consequence of Yahya Jammehs return to the Gambia might be, it is, without doubt, a reinforcement of the position of dictators in Africa. Apart from the fact that a Jammeh return would undermine all the democratic efforts and gains already recorded in the Gambia, there is a chance of a Jammeh revenge campaign that can spark off deadly conflicts between pro- and anti-Jammeh factions. The fragility of ethnic divisions will escalate into full-blown hostilities. About this second coming for Yahya Jammeh, Africa must have a rethink, especially for the sake of the long-suffering Gambian people and for the future of peace and democracy in Africa. This unholy alliance between Adama Barrow, who publicly stated that hypocrisy defines democracy, and Jammeh, who demonstrated that the purpose of power is to destroy institutions, is the foundation of what may end up as the greatest calamity to befall The Gambia since 1965.

Toyin Falola, a professor of History and University Distinguished Teaching Professor, is Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at The University of Texas at Austin.
The gist, if it is not already palpable, is that while the Buhari bribery train is designed to massage his montage of propaganda in Nigeria, it will always crash abroad. The days are gone when the Nigerian government can preach justice abroad, while promoting injustice at home. The days are gone when a clique could assume power in Nigeria, dictate as it pleases, and assume the world would follow.

It was not surprising that the Nigerian Diaspora community would gather in New York City at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly to protest the reign of terror under President Muhammadu Buhari. What was deeply surprising was that the agents of the Nigerian government from the homeland would attempt to counter the truth by storming the same venue to launder millions of dollars on foreign imposters, who were recruited to create the false impression that all is well with the African country. This shameless approach by the emissaries of the Nigerian government only goes to show that President Muhammadu Buhari is an irredeemable zombie.

Agreed, sense is no more common these days, but recent events ought to have been able to alert the president that his government no longer has credibility on the international scene. Even a dumbo could have reasoned that the backhand banning of Twitter by Buhari has a ring to it. One also neednt be a genius to discern the timing of the recent outright refusal of the U.S. government to sell arms to Nigeria. Follow these facts with the freefall of the naira against major world currencies. Even a buffoon could recognise there and then that Buharis ongoing war against the Nigerian people is not being decided at the Aso Rock.

The gist, if it is not already palpable, is that while the Buhari bribery train is designed to massage his montage of propaganda in Nigeria, it will always crash abroad. The days are gone when the Nigerian government can preach justice abroad, while promoting injustice at home. The days are gone when a clique could assume power in Nigeria, dictate as it pleases, and assume the world would follow. The days are far gone when the world relied solely on the official mouthpiece of the Nigerian government or the false testimonies of its corrupt agents. Whilst fronting Nigerias foreign delegations with a deep cocktail of Igbo and Yoruba colours can be superficially strategic, these government toadies can only talk and go back home.

The inconvenient truth is that Nigeria now boasts of millions of independent and trustworthy Nigerians in the Diaspora, who function as a shadow government. The members are strategically entrenched in all the nooks and crannies of the world, and they are bound to tell it as it is. The members are formidable and have earned the trust of foreign governments.

The inconvenient truth is that Nigeria now boasts of millions of independent and trustworthy Nigerians in the Diaspora, who function as a shadow government. The members are strategically entrenched in all the nooks and crannies of the world, and they are bound to tell it as it is. The members are formidable and have earned the trust of foreign governments. They are profoundly influential at every seat of world power and every seat of state and city governments. Ironically, most of them are the direct victims of the injustice in the homeland. They belong to the community of highly qualified Nigerian citizens who are deemed unworthy at home but have found grace in foreign lands. They have become the Nigerian Biblical Josephs.

Today, these Nigerian Josephs have come to dictate the content and character of the nations foreign exchange, foreign trade, foreign investment, the media, as well as other socio-economic relationships. Common sense dictates that the same Josephs are the leading block contributors to the yearly amount of foreign money remitted to Nigeria, which is interestingly more than the national budget. Common sense dictates that as they go, so goes the national image and much more.

Nothing highlights the impact of these Nigerian Josephs more than their roles in the current wave of Nigerian secessionist movements on the international scene. We should recall that rather than exploring dialogue, as Buhari has always advocated in the case of a similar situation in Palestine, his regime chooses brute force against Biafran and Yoruba Nation activists. The regime even goes further to launder millions of dollars worldwide in a futile attempt to brand the Biafran activists as terrorists. But the Nigerian Josephs know better. And the world knows to follow.

There were more flags belonging to the Yoruba Nation agitators and the Biafran terrorists than the national flags of Nigeria at the just concluded 76th session of the UN General Assembly. Thus, if propaganda and draconian threats  like his latest independence speech  must remain the solution to the Nigerian leadership crisis, someone ought to tell General Buhari that he is fighting a losing battle.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the Nigerian group, besides Boko Haram, that came to be recognised worldwide as terrorists are the foreign Fulani herdsmen, the very group that President Buhari cuddles. What is more? There were more flags belonging to the Yoruba Nation agitators and the Biafran terrorists than the national flags of Nigeria at the just concluded 76th session of the UN General Assembly. Thus, if propaganda and draconian threats  like his latest independence speech  must remain the solution to the Nigerian leadership crisis, someone ought to tell General Buhari that he is fighting a losing battle.

The true solution is common sense. Nigeria must not remain a fool at 61! There are open wounds that must be addressed and dressed. As the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Saad Abubakar III, stated at the earlier stage of the secessionist crisis, A lot of things were done in the past by some people with impunity and nothing was done. The Sultan appealed that statesmen across Nigeria should help the country by championing the dialogue. This goes without saying that Muhammadu Buhari should lead by example. He needs to embody what he has always preaches at the United Nations in case of the people of Palestine. This is the question of justice, fairness, and equity in respect of the Nigerian people. Anything else is being busy doing something close to nothing.

SKC Ogbonnia, a 2019 APC presidential aspirant, writes from Houston, Texas.
It is even more appalling that at the contemplation of any contrasting opinion to what the group, which see itself as constituting the true/real Igbos, considers as being correct, its self-reighteous members begin to curse at the contrarians and make them out as the efulefu  traitors/the ones without identity/the lost, and the many other ways in which the word is interpreted.

Anyi gegbu ozu anyi geso kwa? Will we join in the killing of corpses whose funerals we will be a part of? Ponder! Ponder again! This land we built on blood, sweat, tears, and pain; this land we know how long it took to rebuild, to get to where we are; to become the envy of our neighbours; to become the reason why Nigerias economy keeps growing. Are we not the businessmen and women of this nation  the importers-exporters, like we are fondly called?

It is Ndi Igbo that our brothers and sisters from other ethnic nationalities within and even outside Nigeria look out for before inhabiting any geographic location. They would say, any place you go to and do not see an Igbo person, know that place is inhabitable; we give life a reason; we give people a reason to co-exist and live.

We do have legitimate concerns; yes, we do. Are we going about getting the attention we deserve in the right way? That is a big question we individually need to answer honestly.

For me, it is not a question of fighting for what we deserve but how we fight for this. Ndi Igbo si na nkwucha aburo ujo: That we as a people decide to be calm in the way we pursue our demands, does not qualify us as weak. Remember that he who fights and retreats, lives to fight another day. If we had all died between 1967 and 1970, will there still be grievances to settle?

After the killings and bloodshed in the South-East, will we all sit together to mourn and bury our dead, or do we plan to eat their corpses? Is this totally unavoidable?

These killings transcend the loss of lives, it also involves the loss of sources of income, wealth, education, and other losses that have become as a result of all the not properly thought out approaches to airing our grievances as a people.

We are losing money; Ndi Igbo are losing investments. What investor would bring their money, ideas, and infrastructure to an unstable location? The South-East is fast becoming an unstable location; we should #SaveSouthEastNow.

The news about school children being chased away from schools, forcing them to adhere to the sit-at-home protests, which are expected to affect those in the seat of power in Abuja, which is hundreds of kilometres away from the South-East is quite disturbing. Are we fighting against the education of our people or demanding for better for their future?

It is even more appalling that at the contemplation of any contrasting opinion to what the group, which see itself as constituting the true/real Igbos, considers as being correct, its self-reighteous members begin to curse at the contrarians and make them out as the efulefu  traitors/the ones without identity/the lost, and the many other ways in which the word is interpreted. In the worst case scenario, anoyone with a contrary view becomes a target, who probably needs to have a casket waiting for him or her.

Ezigbote Ada Igbo kam bu! Our demands for better from Nigeria are definitely not baseless but is killing ourselves the only way to approach the necessary resolution? Poor Dora Akunyili will be turning in agony in her grave, seeing what has been done to her spouse in her home State. Is home no longer where we feel safe?

News has it that Chike Akunyili was murdered gruesomely by unknown gunmen; when did our land become home to unknown gunmen? We have given way to unscrupulous elements to infiltrate our safe heaven and turn it into a den of vampires.

There are many others whose deaths may never make the news but they are humans and deserve to live as much as we do.

The news about school children being chased away from schools, forcing them to adhere to the sit-at-home protests, which are expected to affect those in the seat of power in Abuja, which is hundreds of kilometres away from the South-East is quite disturbing. Are we fighting against the education of our people or demanding for better for their future?

Why do we have to force others to believe in our cause, instead of convincing and giving them reasons to be on our side? Pray tell, what differentiates us from the bad leadership we claim to be fighting? Another question we must honestly answer.

We need good, proven, and trusted leadership at the National Assembly, the gathering where decisions binding on us are made. We constantly cheer Abaribe but does he have two heads? Is he the last of his kind? We often cheer him for being outspoken against ills; have we all lost our tongues?

In my opinion, the change we seek can only be achieved through active political participation, yet we choose to boycott elections and promote political apathy amongst our people. By not voting out bad leadership, we keep them in power.

We need good, proven, and trusted leadership at the National Assembly, the gathering where decisions binding on us are made. We constantly cheer Abaribe but does he have two heads? Is he the last of his kind? We often cheer him for being outspoken against ills; have we all lost our tongues? The cat cut them, I am told. We would rather sit in circles and cook up ways of destroying our land. Ndi Igbo, we must #SaveSouthEastNow.

With the little history I know, never have I read that boycotting an election gave power to the right people. Our power is in the number of votes we cast.

I had earlier felt that it was necessary to call out the leaders of the South-East to intervene and save the situation. It was a subtle way of saying adighi agwa ochi nti na agha esu (a deaf person cannot be told that war has started/or war is near); apparently, this appeal was ignored.

Now agha esugo (war has started), we have all run into hiding to save our heads as though the heads of people rolling all over the South-East are not human heads.

In consideration of the sit at home of declared in the South-East today, October 1, it is important to assess the outcome of the previous sit at homes of the past months.

Again, Ozoemena!

Favour Okafor wrote from Awka, in the heart of the South-East.
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all creation. May the salutations of Allah, His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet, his family, his companions and his true and sincere followers until the Last Day  then to proceed:

Dear brothers and sisters! These days, my beloved family, associates and friends normally send me Jumuah Mubarak greetings on WhatsApp. There are wise quotes and video clips that share inspiring thoughts. Recently, I received a video clip that grabbed my attention so that I watched it again and again. Then I decided to transcribe the audio and share it with you. I have no idea who the speaker was, but these were his wise words:

If Allah is on your side, then who can harm you? No one! And if Allah is against you, then who can defend you? No one! And if you have earned the love of Allah, then what did you lose? Nothing! And if you lose the love of Allah, then what did you really gain? Nothing!

Respected brothers and sisters! Allahs love can benefit us in endless ways! To mention just a few:

 If Allah loves you, He will place your love in the hearts of the people. And if the people love you, thats priceless. Imagine being loved by everyone around you!

 When Allah loves you, He grants you Wisdom! And whoever is granted wisdom, certainly has been given a lot of goodness.

 A wise person will manage and be happy with a small income. But without wisdom, a person could be miserable with a huge income.

 A wise man will be happy and content with an average wife. But an unwise man could be miserable with a first-class wife!

 A wise person can turn enemies into friends. But an unwise person could turn friends into enemies!

In short, one is granted priceless gains if one is granted wisdom from Allah. And wisdom from Allah is granted to believers as a reward for their faith (Iman) and right conduct. Thats only one of the gains of Allahs love, that He grants you wisdom.

When Allah grants you wisdom, He blesses you with peace and tranquillity (Sakinah). Sakinah is a high status that gives you contentment, happiness, optimism, strength, self-confidence, the right perspective. Sakinah (inner peace and tranquillity) will give you happiness even if thats all you possess. But if you lose it you will be miserable, even if you possess everything else.

You could be blessed with health, wealth and intelligence, but if you lack wisdom, youll surely be miserable. Its narrated that Allah grants health, wealth, intelligence, and beauty to many people, but Allah grants wisdom only to his chosen believers!

Do you not wish to become one of Allahs chosen believers? I do!

Read how Surah Al-Anfal, describes this special category of the True Believers: (Quran 8:2, 8:3 and 8:4):

The true believers are only those whose hearts tremble at the remembrance of Allah, whose faith increases when His revelations (Quran) are recited to them, and who put their trust in their Lord. They are those who establish prayer and donate from what We have provided for them. It is they who are the true believers. They will have elevated ranks, forgiveness, and an honourable provision from their Lord.

To sum it up, we must train ourselves to love Allah, to obey Allah and His Messenger (Peace be upon him), with complete and loving obedience. There should be no resistance in our hearts. No ifs, buts or maybes. If were chosen by Allah for his special favour, Allah blesses us with wisdom.

Respected servants of Allah! According to Abu Hurairah, the Messenger of Allah Almighty said that:

A word of wisdom is the lost property of the believer. Whoever finds it is most deserving of it.

He (Allah) gives wisdom to whom He pleases; and those to whom wisdom is given has received indeed a benefit overflowing; but no-one will grasp the Message except people of understanding.

Clearly, Allahs wisdom will only be conferred on those of us who use their intellect, those who ponder, who contemplate on Allahs abundant signs in the world around us and the world within us. This regular exercise of deep contemplation must inevitably lead us to appreciate how much Allah loves us, how much Allah loves His entire creation.

Lets sum up the key points of my sermon today:

 We can enjoy lasting peace and contentment (Sakinah) if we have wisdom.

 Wisdom is a gift from Allah to the most devoted believers.

 The believers love Allah more than anything and anyone else.

 Our love for Allah is the natural outcome of recognising and appreciating Allahs love for us.

Oh Allah! Have mercy on humanity and cure us of the hate and evil that are destroying us and dividing us through wars, ethno-religious crisis, armed banditry, terrorism, and other acts of violence and intolerance.

Ya Allah! Have mercy on all of those who are suffering from starvation, relieve their difficulties and provide them with what they need, as You are the best of Providers!

Oh our Lord, You are the most Merciful of all Who have mercy. Please have mercy on us, in all of our affairs in this life and the next.

Our Creator, please have mercy on us and our family on the Day of Judgment, when Your Mercy will be most important.

Ya Allah, have mercy on our brothers and sisters in Islam and our brothers and sisters in humanity.

Our Merciful Creator, please strengthen the hearts of those who are innocent but serving time in prison wrongfully.

Our Lord, have mercy on all who continue to suffer due to disasters of the past which others have forgotten. Have mercy on those who are in physical pain.

Oh Merciful One, please have mercy on those who are still struggling to rebuild their lives in the war zones of the world. Give them strength and resilience.

Our Creator, increase us in love for and mercy toward the poor, hungry, poverty-stricken and oppressed wherever they are.

Our Sustainer, please have mercy on us and our family as we struggle to deal with our family problems. Please strengthen us and put love and mercy in our hearts for each other.

Oh Merciful One! Please cure us of our sickness and grant us good health.

Our Lord, You are the Provider, please have mercy on us and provide for us.

Oh Allah, have mercy on everyone who is struggling financially. Relieve their suffering, help them pay off their debts, cover their expenses, and increase their Halal earning.

Our Merciful Lord, relieve the suffering of the sick and grant us a cure for every disease, ameen.

All praises and thanks are due to Allah alone, Lord of the worlds. May the peace, blessings and salutations of Allah be upon our noble Messenger, Muhammad, and upon his family, his Companions and his true and sincere followers.

Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of Nagazi-Uvete Jumuah and the late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okenes Mosques, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: gusauimam@gmail.com or +2348038289761.

This Jumuah Khutbah (Friday sermon) was prepared for delivery today, Friday, Safar 23, 1443 A.H. (October 01, 2021).
Jarrar and Meng have come to symbolise the resistance of their various countries against formidable odds. They displayed unconquerable spirits and stood out as women who will never sell out.

In the last six days, two women have walked out of jail, unrepentant, heads held high, dignity in place, unperturbed and symbolising the hopes and aspirations of their peoples.

One of them, Khalida Jarrar, a 58-year-old Palestinian lawmaker, released after two years in Israeli prison, has been in jail at least four times, and knows that if she does not betray the hopes of her people, she will soon be back in prison.

But the other, Meng Wanzhou, the 49-year-old Chief Financial Officer of the Chinese Huawei Technologies, who has spent the last three years in confinement in Canada, is unlikely to ever experience captivity again.

Jarrars alleged crime is her insistence that just as the Israelis have a homeland and definable borders, so must her people, the Palestinians. Since the Israeli state cannot make the allegation of Jarrar being violent or planning violence stick, they simply accuse her of belonging to a terrorist organisation, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Indeed, all organisations, including the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), who seek self-determination for Palestinians are classified by Israel as terrorist.

What might have made Jarrars latest stint in jail more painful is that two months ago, she lost her 31-year- old daughter, Suha Ghassan Jarrar, a human rights activist with a Master of Science degree in Climate Change Science and Policy.

Israel rejected all pleas to allow Jarrar out for a furlough to enable her bury her daughter and return to detention. So, she had to watch the funeral on television.

This Sunday, on leaving prison, Jarrar visited her daughters graveside at the Ramallah Cemetery. She knelt down, broke down in tears and lamented: They forbade me from participating in the funeral of my beloved daughter and from planting a kiss on my daughters forehead.

They denied me her farewellThe last time I hugged Suha was the night of my arrest in 2019. Jarrar has been banned from leaving the country since 1998, after attending that years Human Rights Defenders Summit in Paris.

On August 23, 2019, an attack against Israeli targets led to the death of 17-year-old Rina Shnerb. Israel accused the PFLP of carrying out the attack and rounded up dozens of its members, including Jarrar, who was held without trial for one year.

Jarrar, who was first imprisoned in 1989, was for a dozen years, from 1994, the director of Al-Dameer, a non-profit organisation dedicated to offering legal assistance to prisoners. She was elected in 2006 into the Palestinian legislature.

On August 23, 2019, an attack against Israeli targets led to the death of 17-year-old Rina Shnerb. Israel accused the PFLP of carrying out the attack and rounded up dozens of its members, including Jarrar, who was held without trial for one year.

On August 20, 2014, 50 Israeli soldiers had surrounded her home and served her with an order to leave her Ramallah home for Jericho; a South Africa apartheid era system of internal banishment. But she refused to be banished, saying: It is the occupation who must leave our homeland. This saw her back in prison in 2015 and 2016, on charges of promoting terror activities. She was again imprisoned in 2017 for 19 months on similar charges.

The Palestine is, for many humans, the land of promise. The sources of some of the biggest religions on earth today  Judaism, Christianity and Islam  are traceable to Palestine. It was a colony of Britain when some Europeans of Jewish ancestry were searching for an homeland.

They had built an homeland in the United States, which collapsed; they started another one in present day Uganda, which was quickly abandoned, and had their most enduring and largest one in the defunct Soviet Union.

However, the genocide carried out against the Jews by Hitlerite Germany made a number of the Europeans, especially from Eastern Europe, head for Palestine, which had Jews, Palestinians and Arabs as indigenes.

The new European immigrants, deploying terror, forced out the British colonialists. Their biggest attack was the July 22, 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel, which housed the headquarters of the British colonial authorities. Ninety-one persons were killed in that bombing, with dozens injured.

On May 14, 1948, Israel declared its independence, won the follow up war against its neigbours, and started the systematic expulsion of Palestinians from the territory. The 1967 six-day war, which Israel also won, led to more expulsions, seizure of more Palestinian lands, and occupation of the rest.

The PFLP was established that same year to fight for the fundamental human rights of the Palestinians to self-determination and a homeland within secured borders. On leaving prison last Sunday, Jarrar draped around her neck, the Palestinian flag of the horizontal tricolour of black, green and white with a red triangle, a defiant gesture that announced her eternal wedlock to the Palestinian struggle.

In setting the Canadians free shortly after Mengs release, some have accused China of Hostage Diplomacy but in the first place, Meng was a prisoner of war (POW) in the America-China trade war. As such, it balances out as essentially an exchange of POWs.

The day before Jarrars release, Meng Wanzhou flew into Shenzhen, China. Clad in a red gown, she proclaimed: Im finally back home! Where there is a Chinese flag, there is a beacon of faith. If faith has a colour, it must be China red.

The trade war between China and the United States had seen the latter accusing Meng and Huawei of making false claims to an American bank in order to conceal its trade with Iran, a country under American sanctions. It had subsequently requested Canada to arrest and extradite Meng. Incredibly, Canada agreed to play the American game and ended up being a pawn in the ChinaAmerican chess game.

Canada arrested Meng on December 1, 2018 and commenced extradition processes. China retaliated by seizing Canadian businessman, Michael Spavor, and on August 11 sentenced him to 11 years imprisonment for alleged spying. It seized a second Canadian, Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, also charging him with offences against the Chinese state.

In my August 13 column titled America: Playing Lionel Messi with diplomacy, I had written that: Canada has staked so much in the Meng case and its judiciary will be held to ridicule if it were to set Meng free.

So the best option is for America to withdraw the extradition request. With that, Spavor and Kovrig will return home.

Last Friday, September 24, America withdrew the extradition request, and the next day, Meng went home just as the Canadians were freed.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudea, while welcoming the pair, told them: Youve shown incredible strength, resilience and perseverance. Know that Canadians across the country will continue to be here for you, just as they have been.

In setting the Canadians free shortly after Mengs release, some have accused China of Hostage Diplomacy but in the first place, Meng was a prisoner of war (POW) in the America-China trade war. As such, it balances out as essentially an exchange of POWs.

Jarrar and Meng have come to symbolise the resistance of their various countries against formidable odds. They displayed unconquerable spirits and stood out as women who will never sell out.

Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.
The Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matatwalle, has ordered the restoration of telecommunications networks in Gusau, the state capital.

The governors spokesperson, Zailani Baffa, announced the order in a statement to reporters on Friday. He said it is to end the hardships the measure brought to the people.

The restoration of the service at the state capital becomes imperative following the tremendous success recorded in the fight against banditry in the state and to ease the hardship faced by both the private and public sectors of the state, Mr Baffa said in the statement.

Government finds it necessary to ease the tight measure after the recorded success desired of it which has no doubt destabilised the syndicate of criminals terrorising the state, leading to the successes recorded against them by the security operatives.

Governor Matawalle promises that his administration will continue to monitor closely the unfolding developments and will announce further decisions of the Government on measures being taken appropriately, the official said.

Success Recorded  Government

On Thursday, the state government said over 2,000 suspected informants of bandits had been arrested since it cut telecommunication services to support a military offensive against bandits in the state.

The states Commissioner for Information, Ibrahim Dosara, at a press conference in Kaduna on Thursday, said the suspects have provided vital information to the security agencies.

Mr Dosara said many bandits had fled the state while the others were starving and forced to eat raw food, having been cut off from communities.

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Many bandits have been neutralised by the army. Most of them are forced to eat raw food like millet, because they have been cut off from their collaborators in town.

They have settled on using camels to perpetrate violence, Mr Dosara said.

The governments of four North-west states have suspended telecommunications networks, banned weekly markets and restricted the sale of petrol, among other measures they have taken to check the rampage by bandits.
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State, Andy Uba, has said that there are many reasons why his party would win the November 6 election in the state.

Mr Uba said this in Akwa on Friday while addressing APC executive members drawn from 326 political wards and 21 local government areas in Anambra.

He listed the reasons why APCs chances were brighter to include the achievements of President Muhammadu Buharis government in Anambra and other states of the South-east.

Mr Uba, who listed some of the federal governments projects in the region, said the masterstroke was the Second Niger Bridge which is under construction.

In addition to the federal government projects, as a senator for eight years for Anambra South District, I have chains of projects done and scores of persons I empowered through one way or another, he said.

Mr Uba attributed the influx of politicians into the APC as another advantage, adding that these were advantages the party would leverage on to have a smooth sail.

He used the medium to apologise to members of the party who were aggrieved due to the outcome of the governorship primary, saying he emerged the winner out of Gods design.

The primary has ended, all I am pleading at this stage is for all to come together as a body so that we will work and win the November 6 election.

If we win, certainly our members will have countless opportunities; some will be senators, House of Representatives members, and other positions, he said.

Mr Uba said members should not rest on their oars just because a lot of bigwigs were joining the party, but should work tirelessly until APC is declared winner.

The Deputy Director, Andy Uba Campaign Organisation, Ifeanyi Ibezim, said the coast was clear for Mr Uba to win the election.

Mr Ibezim who recently defected from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) described himself as a harbinger of victory in Anambra politics.

I was a foundation member of ACN in the state, but I left for APGA and as an APGA member we were in power in Anambra for about 16 years now.

Now that I have rejoined my former party, the glory has returned and by the grace of God, APC will win the November election, he said.

The state chairman of APC, Basil Ejidike, said the meeting of wards and local government executives was convened to update members on what the state and national bodies were doing.

He said every member of the APC must work hard for the party to beat others clearly in the election.

Mr Uba would be contesting against a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Charles Soludo, who is a candidate of APGA, the ruling party, and Valentine Ozigbo, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.

(NAN)
Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, on Friday, staged a peaceful protest over the death of a final year student of Foreign Languages department, Aisha Adesina.

The late Adesina was said to have died at Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, Ile-Ife, where she was referred to by the universitys health centre.

Sources among the protesting students accused the universitys health centre of poor management of Miss Adesinas case, and for allegedly delaying in its response when the deceased presented herself to the centre.

But in its reaction to the allegation, the university in a statement issued on Friday and signed by its public relations officer, Abiodun Olarewaju, denied the accusations and appealed to the students to remain calm.

Background

Reports by various media platforms including Humangle earlier on Friday indicated that the late Miss Adesina was an asthmatic patient who had gone to the health centre to complain of a sore throat.

She was reportedly given an anti-malaria medication which the late Miss Adesinas friends confirmed did not work for the deceased noting the pains had persisted for three days before she was rushed back to the health centre on Thursday.

Another source who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation told Humangle that Miss Adeshina could not be attended to because doctors were on strike.

We were told by officials at the clinic that doctors are on strike and they cannot even refer her to OAU teaching hospital. The best they could do was to refer her to Seventh Day hospital, the source said.

The public relations officers-elect of OAU students union, Ogunperi Taofeek, said in a statement issued on Friday that Adesinas death is not the first to happen due to negligence of duties by the workers at the Health Centre.

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We call on the University Management to investigate this death and punish all health workers who failed in performing their duties when Aishat needed attendance which they failed to give but only transferred her in her last moments to Seventh Day Hospital where she eventually died.

Without a proper and quick investigation (one which must actively involve and be communicated to students) and punishment meted, the University Management will be putting the lives of students in danger. We cannot let our lives become toys. We will have to protest this, as we cannot afford to keep losing our lives like fowls, the statement reads in part.

Following the death on Friday, the students blocked the universitys main gate in protest.

Management reacts

But in its response on Friday, the university management appealed to the students to remain calm, even as it commiserated with the family of the late student.

The management will like to appeal to all students of the students of the University to remain calm and kindly refrain from any act that can jeopardise the peace on campus and truncate the ongoing Rain Semester examinations, the university said in a statement.

The statement added that the deceased was promptly treated with some drugs prescribed and asked to report back as an outpatient.

The statement further stated that Miss Adesina reported back to the health centre on Thursday morning, September 30, but was referred to Seventh Day Adventist Hospital for further management where she regrettably died.

The management sympathises with the parents, friends, colleagues and the entire students of the University on this sad loss, and pray for the repose of her soul, it added.
SINGAPORE, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LIXIL, the maker of pioneering water and housing products, is excited to announce the launch of the American Standard Design Award (ASDA) 2022. Organized by American Standard for students in the region, the competition aims to bring the design community across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) together to develop purposeful function that is inspired by the next generation of designers.

At the heart of the ASDA is the single proposition to embrace purposeful and thoughtful design to enhance hygiene standards while providing solutions to the ever-changing needs of consumers, from space maximization to comfort and convenience. With this in mind, the theme of this year's competition is Purposeful Design - Transforming the Way We Live.

The competition seeks to promote the user-centric design philosophy that guides the American Standard brand in delivering dependable bathroom solutions that combine thoughtful designs and innovative technologies. The ASDA allows students to showcase their craft and introduce the concept of a purposeful and thoughtful design through innovations that address daily consumer issues.

"American Standard, one of LIXIL's portfolio global brands, has an unmatched legacy of quality and innovation for over 140 years. Through its brand philosophy of designing innovative and purposeful bathroom designs, we decided to create a platform for budding designers of the future to be able to showcase their creativity and innovation. The ASDA will allow the design community to collaborate, push boundaries, and create solutions that meets the needs of an ever-evolving world," expressed Antoine Besseyre Des Horts, Leader, LIXIL Global Design, Asia.

The ASDA 2022 is open to Year 2 tertiary design students from 8 countries across APAC  namely Australia, Cambodia, India, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The competition will run from September 2021 when the submission period opens and will end in March 2022 with the announcement of the regional ASDA winners.

Driven by insights of current and future challenges, the ASDA is structured into two categories that reflect emerging lifestyles trends of urbanization and health & well-being. The two categories are the Residential Bathroom Space Design and Hospitality Bathroom Space Design. To qualify for the awards, students from the region are required to design bathroom spaces that not only feature inviting aesthetics but are integrated with functionality that fulfills the user's needs.

The key driving motivation lies in a desire to solve practical problems with thoughtful solutions. With limited living spaces, designers will have to optimize and create multi-functional spaces in homes without compromising on living and work spaces. As the world shifts into the new normal, there is a heightened awareness and enhanced requirements for better health and hygiene standards in shared facilities.

The entries will be judged at 2 levels  National Level and APAC Level. At the national level, a national judging panel made up of local architecture and design luminaries from each country will evaluate entries received from local participants. First prize winners for each category in each country will then proceed to the APAC competition round and will be judged by regional judging panel for the grand prize.

For more information about the design competition and a way to be part of an impactful movement that can make a difference to consumers' lives, please visit the ASDA website at (https://americanstandard-apac.com/asda).

ABOUT AMERICAN STANDARD

As one of the most iconic brands in sanitary ware, American Standard has earned the trust of its customers by constantly delivering style, quality and reliability to their bathrooms. Today, backed by more than 140 years of pioneering legacy, American Standard continues to raise the bar in delivering dependable bathroom solutions that combine thoughtful designs and innovative technologies to create inviting bathroom spaces offering ultimate hygiene, comfort and convenience.

ABOUT LIXIL

LIXIL makes pioneering water and housing products that solve everyday, real-life challenges, making better homes a reality for everyone, everywhere. Drawing on our Japanese heritage, we create world-leading technology and innovate to make high quality products that transform homes. But the LIXIL difference is how we do this; through meaningful design, an entrepreneurial spirit, a dedication to improving accessibility for all, and responsible business growth. Our approach comes to life through industry leading brands, including LIXIL, GROHE, American Standard, INAX, and TOSTEM. Over 70,000 colleagues operating in 150 countries are proud to make products that touch the lives of more than a billion people every day.

LIXIL Group Corporation (TSE Code: 5938) is the listed holding company for LIXIL's portfolio of businesses

SOURCE LIXIL
The 2-month long International Innovation Conclave was named after the Missile Man of India and former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as a mark of respect for his contribution made in the field of Defense and Space Technology. More than 5000 young and budding innovators from 32 countries participated in the Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam International Innovation Conclave during the 2-month long conclave student participants tried to find innovative & technology driven solutions of problems in the field of Agriculture, Health, COVID-19, Waste Management, Water Management, Rural Development.

Sai Prasad from IIT Bombay won first position for his innovative idea of Skin spray gun which helps in rapid healing of wounds using patient's own skin in the Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam International Innovation Conclave which ended today at Chandigarh University. Raman & Lakshman from Sethu Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu and Rutvik Mehenge from Trinity College of Engineering won 2nd positions. While Mann Goel from IIT Kanpur, Jai Chachra from Chandigarh University, and Ayushi Sharma from UPES, Dehradun won 3rd positions jointly in the competition. Parkhi from Dass and Brown School, Ferozepur secured first position in the school category while Shankha from S.S Public School secured the 2nd position in the same category. Jams O Rychard from Indonesia won first prize in the International category while Krishna from Brazil secured second position and Marcos got 3rd position in the same category. A total prize money of Rs. 11 lakh was given to the winners of the innovation conclave of various categories.

Dr. Mohit Gambhir (Innovation Director, MoE & Innovation Cell, Govt. of India), Dr. Lourdes C. Generalao (President, University of Southeastern Philippines), Joy King, Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer, U.S Embassy, New Delhi, Vikas Sood, Director Nexus, Startup Hub and Incubator, US Embassy and Dr. R.S Bawa, Pro- were the dignitaries who were present during the concluded ceremony of the Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam International Conclave.

During his inaugural address Dr. Mohit Gambhir said, "The solution which participants have provided is the need of an hour. The entities and the agencies like DST, DBT, Innovation cell of Government of India are working for making a breeding ground for the next generation of entrepreneurs." While emphasizing on the importance of grassroot innovation. He said, "In today's time it is well understood that the future innovations will spring from the base of the pyramid - where everyone will innovate for their needs. This base of the pyramid is very critical for holistic development of society and needs to be trained."

"India currently houses the world's 3rd largest start-up ecosystem and there are over 40,000 registered startups in India. More than 50 firms are there in India which are valued more than over US $ 1 billion. From e-commerce to electric vehicles Indian start-ups are the torch bearers for innovation and entrepreneur's spirit of India," said Vikas Sood, Director Nexus, Startup Hub and Incubator, US Embassy. He further said, "The start-up ecosystem in India is playing a major role in the digitization of India and creating wealth & employment across the segment of the society. The global capital is moving into India at never before pace. There are over 15 startups that have become unicorns since the start of this year and there are still 4 months to go."

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Lourdes C. Generalao said, "Everything begins with an idea, in fact most of the things we see all around us, be it technology, medicine, products, infrastructure etc. have been created from small ideas, which later turns into a great invention. Ideas are no longer just concepts, they are now becoming the reality. Even during the time of pandemic this conclave has provided an outlet of innovative ideas to the students and during this 2-month international conclave, students have used their potential to assess the current problems and come up with their innovative solutions."

Joy King said, "At a time when the whole world is witnessing a critical situation due to COVID-19. I congratulate the university and the participating students for their successful completion of this conclave which shows the determination and dedication of the young budding entrepreneurs." She further said "Crisis sometimes creates new opportunities and innovators play an important role in the development of any country. Innovation promotes social change while improving the quality of life through new products, equipment, and better services." "Innovators make the country prosperous, because the services and products they produce, enable the development of a new market, increase the national income by creating new jobs," added Joy King.

About Chandigarh University

Chandigarh University is a NAAC A+ Grade University and an autonomous educational institution approved by UGC and is located near Chandigarh in the state of Punjab. It is the youngest university in India and the only private university in Punjab to be honoured with A+ Grade by NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council). CU offers more than 109 UG and PG programs in the field of engineering, management, pharmacy, law, architecture, journalism, animation, hotel management, commerce, and others. It has been awarded as The University with Best Placements by WCRC.

For more information, please visit our website www.cuchd.in.

SOURCE Chandigarh University
The Jindal and Deakin Education Partnership, through innovative and hybrid models of teaching and learning, aims to provide opportunities for Indian students to have an international campus experience. Students will commence studies with JGU in India and subsequently transfer to a Deakin University campus in Australia.

The areas of study, the programs and the models of delivery offered will be flexible, future-oriented and will draw the expertise of both partners. JGU and Deakin University will work together to make the transition from enrolling in-country and then transferring their studies in Australia a seamless process to ensure the best study experience possible.

The initiative was signed off virtually by both partners on 1st October, 2021 by Professor (Dr) C Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University, and Professor Iain Martin, President and Vice Chancellor, Deakin University, Australia.

This one-of-a-kind initiative is a boost to the ongoing India Australia Education Initiative and was strategically signed off in the presence of Mr Ian Biggs, Deputy Australian High Commissioner to India, who spoke enthusiastically on the establishment of the Jindal and Deakin Education Partnership and its importance to the growing bilateral relationship between the two countries.

The Founding Vice Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, said, "Since our inception in 2009, JGU is committed to bringing world-class education to Indian students in Social Sciences, Arts and the Humanities. JGU throughout its short history has aspired to the kind of internationalism that has characterised exceptional institutions of higher learning. The university's mission is centred on adopting a global approach to our vision, specifically to promote a global perspective through a global faculty, global courses, global programmes, global curriculum, global research, and global collaborations. Also, as an 'Institution of Eminence' in India, we are deeply committed to the vision and mission of the National Education Policy 2020, which also focuses on creating globally diverse perspective through the medium of education. With this objective of internationalizing the higher education landscape of India, I am delighted at this landmark Jindal and Deakin Education Partnership between O.P. Jindal Global University and Deakin University."

Professor Kumar, further observed, "The Jindal-Deakin collaboration promises an education experience that blends the best of both institutions through an industry-relevant education portfolio, world-class faculty and dynamic learning environment on the campuses of JGU in India and Deakin University in Australia. The unique portfolio of two undergraduate degrees from both institutions and a master's degree from Deakin will ensure that graduates have an incredible opportunity to learn and grow in two international university systems. JGU and Deakin University, which are both internationally endorsed in the recent QS World Universally Rankings 2022, among other global rankings, continue to make our respective national higher education systems stronger. I look forward to this collaboration of our institutions, which I believe is going to be an extraordinary and transformative initiative for strengthening the relationship between our two nations."

Deakin University's President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Iain Martin, said, "At Deakin, our focus is always on how to best serve our communities, locally and internationally."

"Our strong presence in India over the last three decades has enabled us to collaborate and continuously innovate our research and education. This open-mindedness to new possibilities has served us extremely well in responding to the recent challenges presented by the pandemic."

"The establishment of the Jindal and Deakin Education Partnership will continue this emphasis on what is possible and will prioritise new opportunities for our students and partners in India, helping us deliver impact and progress across society. We are very excited about this collaborative initiative with OP Jindal Global University, and we are confident that Indian students will benefit from the innovative offerings through this education partnership."

Ms Ravneet Pawha, Deputy Vice President (Global Engagement) and CEO (South Asia), Deakin University, said, "In our twenty-seven plus years of engagement in India, it has been our continuous endeavour to develop meaningful partnerships and connect with high achieving education providers like OP Jindal Global University."

"This partnership is important to Deakin University and our future initiatives to provide pathways for learning and allow the sharing of ideas that are important for a global learning experience for students. The Jindal and Deakin Education Partnership will be crucial as it will provide opportunities for Indian students to gain international experience for their future careers, foremost, collaborating with world-class educators and researchers from both institutions."

Through the Jindal and Deakin Education Partnership, the first program will be an integrated Master program in Management scheduled for commencement in August 2022. Both institutions will allow credit transfers and enable students to move between the two campuses. This partnership will focus on proving excellence through hybrid models of teaching and learning as per academic governance policies of both countries in emerging study across education, training and research.

The launch event witnessed the presence and participation of Dr. V.S. Chauhan, former Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC) & former Chairman, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and Dr. Pankaj Mittal, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities (AIU), both of whom delivered thought provoking special addresses highlighting the larger importance of internationalisation. The speakers at the signing of the MoU between both the universities included, Professor Shaun Star, Director, Centre for India Australia Studies, JGU; Professor (Dr.) Ashish Bhardwaj, Dean, Jindal School of Banking & Finance; and Professor Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik, Registrar, O.P. Jindal Global University.

Contacts:

Deakin University: David Das, Associate Director (South Asia) | [email protected] | +91 11 26544715

OP Jindal Global University: Anjoo Mohun, Director (Communication & Public Affairs) | [email protected]

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/713572/Deakin_University_Logo.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1640633/JGU_Logo_Eminence.jpg

SOURCE Deakin University
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Land Title Association (ALTA), the national trade association of the land title insurance industry, released the following statement on the Senate's confirmation of Rohit Chopra as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB):

"On behalf of the American Land Title Association and our members nationwide, we congratulate Rohit Chopra on his confirmation as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," said Diane Tomb, ALTA's chief executive officer. "ALTA and its members look forward to working with Director Chopra and the Bureau's staff to help provide positive and compliant real estate settlement experiences for consumersand to serve as a resource on important issues, such as wire transfer fraud, third-party oversight and mortgage disclosures."

About ALTA

The American Land Title Association, founded in 1907, is the national trade association representing the land title insurance industry, which employs more than 120,000 people working in every county in the United States. The majority of ALTA's 6,400 member companies are small businesses.

Connect with ALTA on Facebook here. Follow ALTA on Twitter here.

Contact: Megan Hernandez

Direct Office Line: 202-261-0315

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE American Land Title Association

Related Links

www.alta.org


The 10th Anniversary of CHICOS will be held at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar Resort in Nassau, Bahamas November 10-12, 2021. Tweet this

Says Bahamas Minister of Tourism & Aviation the Honourable Dionisio D'Aguilar, "We are pleased to welcome such a prestigious event and celebrate the 10th year edition in The Bahamas. As someone who attended the inaugural CHICOS in our country, it is an honor for us to show the developers and operators in attendance how our island has further matured and evolved since that time."

"It's a thrill for us to celebrate this monumental event, our 10th anniversary celebration of the conference, back where it all started  in The Bahamas," says Jordan. "We have been so fortunate over the years to experience our Conference throughout the most diverse and attractive region of the world, and to now host our hospitality developers and lodging companies at the new Baha Mar, back in The Bahamas, where I've had the pleasure of living for four years  is meaningful to me personally and to the loyal CHICOS attendees and advisory board members."

"We encourage our attendees to come early and stay late because Bahamas, and Baha Mar in particular, offer so much activity and recreation, as well as of course, investment opportunity," adds Jordan.

For conference news, updates and comments, follow CHICOS on Twitter @CHICOS_HVS and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/11167654/

ABOUT THE BAHAMAS

Explore all the islands have to offer at www.bahamas.com or on Facebook , YouTube or Instagram .

About CHICOS

Powered by HVS, the Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference & Operations Summit, CHICOS is the premier industry conference for the region. CHICOS 2021 welcomes governmental representatives, opinion leaders, developers, bankers and other lenders, tourism officials, investment funds, hotel brand executives, individuals/companies seeking investors for their tourism projects, franchise and operations companies, public and private institutions, consultants, advisors, architects and designers  all to discuss the region's markets and possibilities. https://chicos.hvsconferences.com/.

Media Contact

Anita Johnson-Patty

Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation

[email protected]

954-236-9292

Media Contact for CHICOS

Leora Halpern Lanz, LHL Communications

[email protected]

516-680-8529

SOURCE Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation
DALLAS, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Award-winning immigration firm BAL welcomes veteran immigration attorney and AILA luminary Jeff Joseph as its newest Partner. Joseph, who is located in Denver, will head up efforts to grow BAL's presence and provide on-the-ground support to companies in Colorado and across the greater Rocky Mountain region. Joseph will join BAL starting Oct. 1.

"We are very excited to welcome Jeff to BAL," said Partner Kortney Gibson, who is overseeing the firm's Rocky Mountain expansion. "His expertise and stellar reputation will give BAL a quick path to establishing trust among the region's corporate leaders as we help them meet immigration challenges and explore new opportunities."

This is the fourth major talent grab by BAL in recent months. The firm welcomed Leslie Rohrbacker as a Partner and COO from Fragomen in June, followed by Partner Maggie Murphy who moved with her legal team to BAL's Austin office from Jackson Lewis. BAL also nabbed Tiffany Derentz, a former State Department attorney, who joined BAL's Government Strategies team as a Senior Counsel in Washington, D.C.

Joseph is a top-ranked attorney, immigration law professor, and is active in advocacy within the immigration legal community, having served in numerous roles with the American Immigration Lawyers Association's (AILA) executive board and currently serving as its Treasurer. With more than two decades of experience in corporate immigration, Joseph has represented clients before the immigration agencies and in litigation in the federal courts. He has given more than 200 lectures to professional organizations on wide-ranging aspects of immigration law and is a recognized thought leader. His practice at BAL will focus on corporate immigration and finding strategic business solutions to the complexities of global mobility.

"Jeff's practice will be instrumental as we continue to expand our legal service offerings to new locations," explains BAL Managing Partner Jeremy Fudge. "We are helping businesses navigate a tight labor market and challenging immigration conditions to source the talent they need. Jeff will join our legal teams in combining cutting-edge technology tools and a people-centered culture that produces the highest level of service to our clients."

BAL's innovative culture appealed to Joseph, who is eager to take his next step in leading and improving the way legal services are delivered to clients in the Mile High City and beyond. "To compete globally, companies need an immigration provider that continually pushes the envelope," says Joseph. "BAL offers clients a winning formula: the best lawyers in the business, innovative problem-solving, world-class tech, and customer service that values relationships and seeks to improve people's lives. I'm excited to come on board and help revolutionize global talent acquisition for businesses in the region."

About Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP (BAL)

BAL, the world's leading corporate immigration law firm, is the Best Lawyers "Law Firm of the Year" in U.S. Immigration Law for 2019, ranks #1 on the Diversity Scorecard by The American Lawyer (2020 and 2021), #1 on Law360's Diversity Snapshot (2020 and 2021), and the #1 Law Firm for Women according to the National Law Journal (2019, 2020 and 2021). BAL's Cobalt digital immigration services platform won the 2020 CODiE Award for Best Legal Tech Product, the prestigious CIO100 award for Innovative Use of Intelligent Automation in Immigration Services, and Legalweek's Most Innovative Law Firm Operations Team of 2021. BAL is singularly focused on meeting the immigration challenges of corporate clients around the world in ways that make immigration more strategic and enable clients to be more successful. Established in 1980, BAL has consistently provided immigration expertise, top-notch information security and leading technology innovation. The firm entered into a strategic alliance with Deloitte UK to create the world's first global immigration service delivery model. BAL and its leaders are highly ranked in every major legal publication, including Best Lawyers, Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500, and Who's Who Legal. See website for details: https://www.bal.com

SOURCE Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP

Related Links

https://www.bal.com/


NORWICH, England, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Media Company BizClik Media Group (BMG) highlights the value of Brand & Media Partnerships with the launch of its new corporate website - bizclikmedia.com .

The Norwich, UK-based company, founded in 2007, works with some of the world's largest companies to help enable corporations and their partners to interact and deliver thought leadership content and customer success stories.

The company operates a wide range of digital magazines, websites, newsletters, webinars, and whitepapers and has recently launched its hybrid events business  BMG Connect  which has already successfully run two major conferences in London/Global Virtual.

Founder and CEO Glen White  a pioneer of Digital Technology since the early 2000s  says:

"What we are increasingly seeing is that our clients want more from their media partnerships.

"We've been able to say to our clients 'Hey, we've got the platforms, we have the journalists, our designers are all used to working on big brands, our video content is second to none, our marketing reach is massive'. It's pretty straight forward for us and them. We produce the work that they can't do, or don't want to do, themselves. 'One Global Partner' is our deliverable.

"Now is the time to roll out our new operating model - 'Media-as-a-Service' or MaaS which allows our clients to sign up to our platforms and buy as little or as much as they want or need.

"The new website really shows how we work, our deep range of services and the results we deliver for our clients. And, of course, we designed the website in-house  so our UI/UX team's work is front and centre!"

BizClik Media's COO & CSO , Stacy Norman, adds:

"There is a trend emerging in Digital Media. Companies noticed that hyper-targeted advertising wasn't delivering the impact that they saw before the world moved online. The big campaigns that meant the whole world knew your name have evolved, even more since the pandemic began.

"We are uniquely positioned to be able to deliver that global campaign impact with our unmatched breadth of in-house expertise. Our newly refreshed website demonstrates this perfectly."

Employing over 150 people globally, BizClik Media Group services digital media & events in the Procurement, Supply Chain, Technology FinTech and Sustainability areas.

FinTech & InsurTech Live begins in London's Tobacco Dock on October 12th.

Sustainability LIVE begins in London on Feb 23rd.

CONTACT

Jack Goddard

[email protected]

020 8054 2031

SOURCE BizClik Media
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE American: BRBS), the holding company of Blue Ridge Bank, National Association ("Blue Ridge Bank") is pleased to announce its inclusion in the Piper Sandler Bank & Thrift Sm-All Stars Class of 2021.

Piper Sandler has identified the Company as one of the top performing publicly traded small-cap banks in the nation. This award puts the Company among an elite group of small-cap banks and thrifts in the U.S. and is presented as a testament to its hard work and successful management of the business.

In its "Class of 2021 Bank and Thrift Sm-All Stars" report, Piper Sandler recognized the Company among the top 35 best performing small capitalization institutions from a list of publicly traded banks and thrifts in the U.S. with market capitalizations less than $2.5 billion. Sm-All Star companies must have a market cap below $2.5 billion and clear numerous hurdles related to growth, profitability, credit quality and capital strength. The firm's screening methodology eliminated 351 institutions, or 91% of banks and thrifts that trade on a major exchange, with the Class of 2021 showing outstanding performance metrics and bottom-line results that are markedly better than the industry as a whole.

"This recognition is a testament to the work of the Blue Ridge team," said Brian K. Plum, President and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. "The commitment to our customers, communities, and one another is unparalleled, and what we have been able to accomplish together reflects this attitude our team shows up with every day."

Piper Sandler is an investment banking firm and broker-dealer focused on the financial services sector.

This recognition is in addition to other recent recognition Blue Ridge Bank has received. The bank was named the "Best Small Bank in Virginia" in Newsweek's ranking of America's Best Banks 2022. Newsweek's ranking recognizes the financial institutions that best serve their customers' needs in each state. Blue Ridge Bank was recognized as the #1 small bank in Virginia.

Additionally, Blue Ridge Bank recently received a 5-star rating from Bauer Financial, the nation's leading independent bank rating firm. The 5-star rating denotes a "Superior" rating.

About Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc.

Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. is the holding company for Blue Ridge Bank, National Association. The Company, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, provides a wide range of financial services including retail and commercial banking, payroll, insurance, card payments, wholesale and retail mortgage lending, and government-guaranteed lending. The Company also provides investment and wealth management services and management services for personal and corporate trusts, including estate planning, and trust administration. Visit www.mybrb.bank for more information.

SOURCE Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc.
BALTIMORE, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In recent years many descendants of enslaved people from Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations have applied for citizenship only to learn that they are rejected for having no blood connection to a recognized citizen. Yet when their ancestors were enslaved they were then considered Choctaw slaves, or Chickasaw slaves. After freedom, their historic tie was ignored and these human beings were now to be excluded from rights that their slave holders promised to provide through treaty with the United States in 1866.

Since May 2021 descendants of both Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen have formed a new organization. This new group is called the Choctaw Chickasaw Freedmen Association, (CCFA).

CCFA will be an advocacy group for descendants who are seeking inclusion, and expanding the historical narrative by telling the entire story of the presence of black men, women and children in those two nations

CCFA embraces the same name used by their ancestors, in the 1890s, and following in the footsteps of the original group, this group will address concerns and interests of today. Among their issues, is the omission of the very presence of their ancestors in the tribal history, and the exclusion of Freedmen descendants from citizenship. This omission allows both tribes to omit the story of slavery, as if it never occurred.

CCFA seeks to address this very act of historical omission of chattel slavery, and the group will examine efforts of race-based exclusion that still exists today, continuing the practice that began in the early post- Civil War years.

The founding members of CCFA, are writers, educators, bloggers, nationally known speakers, advocates for historic preservation, and cultural inclusion. The group embraces all people who had ties to the history of both nations. Freedmen reach out to all who have an interest in the history of the Freedmen, to find stories of their legacy from Removal to Freedom to the struggles for citizenship. A major task of this new group will be to identify descendants of Freedmen from both groups.

CCFA hopes to educate and to engage with both enrolled citizens and descendants of Freedmen from both nations. CCFA hopes to reach out to those who see the Freedmen as having a presence in the history of each tribe, and who know that the full history cannot be told accurately until it is told entirely.

CCFA will be an advocacy group for descendants who are seeking inclusion, and expanding the historical narrative by telling the entire story of the presence of black men, women and children in those two nations.

CCFA hopes to eradicate the old-south treatment of formerly enslaved people, who have a birthright to the nation where their grandparents, great grandparents and earlier ancestors lived and toiled as Chickasaw-held and Choctaw-held people for generations.

CCFA hopes to help descendants have a closer tie to the communities from which their families come.

Contact:

Angela Walton-Raji

Public Relations

[email protected]

816-313-8287

SOURCE Choctaw Chickasaw Freedmen Association
"Virginia has the highest concentration of tech talent in the U.S. and thousands of tech companies have made Fairfax County home, so we are delighted to join this incredible and growing business hub," shared Jan Pawli, Cloudpermit's CEO . "We are proud to have our North American Headquarters in Reston as it is a fantastic opportunity for Cloudpermit to expand and help even more local governments digitalize development processes."

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority were involved in Cloudpermit's decision to establish its North American Headquarters in Fairfax County, Virginia.

"We are proud to welcome Cloudpermit to Fairfax County and Northern Virginia for its continental headquarters," said Victor Hoskins, President and CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority. "A company like Cloudpermit has many options for a North American base. Choosing Fairfax County is an important vote of confidence in our business climate, our assets for company success and the kind of talent it can find here  whether the company is from the U.S. or another country."

Close to 500 local governments across Europe and North America prioritize efficiency and simplicity by adopting digital and cloud-based development and permitting processes with Cloudpermit.

"Virginia is a leader in tech jobs, and we're happy to announce it has brought another company to the Commonwealth as Cloudpermit, a global leader in e-permitting software, has chosen to establish its U.S. headquarters here," said Governor Northam. "Virginia's continued growth in the software sector creates jobs, spurs innovation, and supports our booming economy. Virginia and Fairfax County have a diverse roster of international companies, and we are pleased to welcome Cloudpermit to their new home in Virginia."

Cloudpermit has just under 10 employees working out of its Reston office and is planning to double its team by the end of this year.

"Our decision to select Virginia for our North American Headquarters was easy after meeting with Governor Northam and delegation this spring in Germany," Pawli explained. "The personal involvement from key leaders in Virginia and learning how other businesses are thriving in Fairfax County from the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority gave us the confidence we needed to choose Reston as the base for our growing team."

Cloudpermit will join other successful businesses in Fairfax County and help establish more communities as easy places to build for builders, citizens, and businesses alike.

"We welcome Cloudpermit to Fairfax County and are excited to see the company join Virginia's rapidly expanding software sector," said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball. "This is an ideal location for the company to expand into U.S. markets, and the company's decision demonstrates our strength as a software industry leader. We look forward to building a strong partnership with Cloudpermit."

About Cloudpermit: Cloudpermit empowers local governments with simple and online development processes. It takes users from application to approval and encourages collaboration among government staff, applicants, homeowners, builders, designers, third-party agencies, and all those involved in each permit. The cloud-based software was created for, and with, North American local governments to help communities thrive.

Cloudpermit Contacts:

Anna Rolnicki

Head of Marketing, North America

289-208-0930

[email protected]

Carly Thackray

Marketing and Communications Manager, North America

437-882-0292

[email protected]

SOURCE Cloudpermit Inc

Related Links

www.cloudpermit.com


PROVIDENCE, R.I., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorney Michael P. Quinn, Jr., shareholder of the trial law firm of Decof Barry Mega & Quinn, P.C., won the first civil jury trial (Case No. PC 15-0743) to take place in Rhode Island since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The battle was hard fought by lawyers on both sides of the aisle, but Attorney Quinn ultimately prevailed, recovering over $2 million for a woman severely injured in a botched gallbladder removal surgery.

The client was only 25 years old when she sought medical help for intense abdominal pain. She was soon diagnosed with symptomatic gallstones and recommended for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, a surgical procedure in which the gallbladder and any gallstones are removed.

Gallbladder removal surgery can become complicated because of the ductwork that connects the organ to the biliary system. A surgeon, if not utilizing correct technique, cannegligently cut, or "transect," the common bile duct instead of the duct he is supposed to (the cystic duct). Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened to Attorney Quinn's client. The general surgeon did not realize what he had done intraoperatively, and he sent the client home later that afternoon.

Eventually, the client experienced unbearable pain due to the surgical error. She was hospitalized for over a month, was treated with bile replacement, in which she had to drink bile, and ultimately underwent and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery to reconstruct her biliary/intestinal anatomy.

Throughout litigation and at trial, the defense fought back expertly and vigorously, but in the end, Attorney Quinn and his staff's hard work paid off: DBMQ achieved a unanimous verdict of $1.2 million for the client. With interest, the judgment totaled $2.136 million. 

Decof Barry Mega & Quinn, P.C. is proud to advocate for the victims of medical malpractice. As the first firm in the state to specialize in personal injury law, it has achieved more favorable verdicts than any other Rhode Island firm. If you have been injured, learn more about the firm online at decof.com.

Contact:

Decof Barry Mega & Quinn, P.C.

401-272-1110

SOURCE Decof Barry Mega & Quinn, P.C.

Related Links

https://www.decof.com/


CHICAGO, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Edward A. Reilly, Jr. has joined McDonald Hopkins LLC as Of Counsel in the Business Department, adding his expertise to the firm's litigation finance and general corporate teams. Reilly will be affiliated with the firm's Chicago office and continue to reside and operate remotely from New York.

Throughout his legal career, Reilly has been a corporate partner with several international law firms, most recently Goodwin Procter. In that capacity he has typically represented corporations and financial sponsors including prominent venture capital, mezzanine, private equity and hedge funds. In 2012 Reilly founded and since then has managed Themis Legal Capital, a commercial litigation finance business based in New York City. At McDonald Hopkins, Reilly will work closely with the firm's litigation finance practice as well as support the firm's general corporate practice.

"Ed's legal experience and business expertise make him an invaluable asset to our firm and to our clients," said James Stief, Chair of McDonald Hopkins' Business Department. "It is an exceptional opportunity for any firm to bring in an attorney with such a prolific career. His prowess as a founder and manager of an asset management business enhances a team at McDonald Hopkins that is already on the cutting edge in the field."

"I have been impressed with McDonald Hopkins' commitment to providing legal services to the growing litigation finance industry and look forward to bringing my hands-on experience to bear in this practice," said Reilly. "Moreover, as I have learned more about the firm I have become excited about the opportunity to work with the firm's outstanding team of business lawyers in a broad range of matters."

Reilly is a frequent author and speaker on litigation finance with a focus on the technical aspects of executing litigation finance transactions and counseling on creative uses for litigation financing to facilitate transactions and support corporate business objectives.

Reilly earned his J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame.

Reilly can be reached at [email protected] or 312.642.7062.

About McDonald Hopkins

Founded in 1930, McDonald Hopkins is a business advisory and advocacy law firm with locations in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, and West Palm Beach. With more than 50 service and industry teams, the firm has the expertise and knowledge to meet the growing number of legal and business challenges our clients face. For more information about McDonald Hopkins, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com.

CONTACT:

David Carducci

McDonald Hopkins LLC

600 Superior Avenue, East, Suite 2100

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Phone: 216.348.5814

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE McDonald Hopkins

Related Links

http://www.mcdonaldhopkins.com


BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IRSA Inversiones y Representaciones S.A. (NYSE:IRS ; BYMA:IRSA), leading real estate company in Argentina, informs that as of this date the Company's Board of Directors has approved the beginning of the corporate reorganization process in the terms of article 82 and sbqs. of the General Law of Companies No. 19,550, the Income Tax Law No. 20,628, amendments, and regulations, CNV's Rules and the Listing Regulations of BYMA, by which IRSA, acting as the absorbing company, will merge by absorption with IRSA Propiedades Comerciales S.A. ("IRSA PC"), as the absorbed company. In this regard, the Board of Directors has approved: (i) the individual and special merger financial statements as of June 30, 2021; (ii) the consolidated and special merger financial statements as of June 30, 2021; (iii) the subscription of the Prior Merger Agreement between both companies and (iv) establish the effective date of reorganization on July 1, 2021.

The merger is subject to the approval of the shareholders' meeting of both companies, which will be held once both companies have the administrative approval of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, an entity to which they are subject because both companies' shares are listed in markets that operate in said jurisdiction.

Likewise, and within the framework of the reorganization process, the Board of Directors has approved the exchange ratio, which has been established at 1.40 IRSA shares for each IRSA PC share, which is equivalent to 0.56 IRSA GDS for each ADS of IRSA PC.

Contact:

+ 5411 4323-7449

[email protected]

https://www.irsa.com.ar/home-inversores.php?lng=en

Follow us on Twitter @irsair

SOURCE IRSA Inversiones y Representaciones S.A.

Related Links

http://www.irsa.com.ar


PITTSBURGH, Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- National plaintiffs' law firm Keller Lenkner LLC yesterday filed a proposed class action lawsuit on behalf of real property owners whose rights have been violated by the unlawful conduct of EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas producer in the United States. EQT extracted and otherwise produced natural gas from the plaintiffs' real property without making required royalty payments.

The complaint alleges the defendantsEQT Production Company; Rice Drilling B, LLC; Vantage Energy Appalachia LLC; and Vantage Energy Appalachia II LLCare in violation of the Pennsylvania Minimum Royalty Act, in breach of quasi-contract, and have committed unjust enrichment and conversion, among other allegations. Keller Lenkner and its co-counsel, Whiteford, Taylor & Preston LLP, seek to obtain compensation for real property owners who are owed royalties as well as to prevent further violation of their property rights.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, EQT leads significant drilling and natural gas extraction operations throughout Pennsylvania. Prior to exploiting a natural gas deposit in Pennsylvania, EQT must enter into agreements with at least one owner of that deposit for the right to drill and extract natural gas from the owner's property. Pennsylvania law further requires EQT to pay royalties to all owners of the natural gas it seeks to produce, regardless of whether it has secured production rights directly from those owners.

Keller Lenkner's complaint alleges that EQT systematically fails to locate, account to, and pay the owners with whom it has not directly contracted, in violation of Pennsylvania law. It further alleges that EQT has extracted natural gas from real property in which plaintiffs have an ownership interest without accounting to or paying royalties to the plaintiffs as mandated by statute.

"For years, EQT has generated billions in profits by extracting natural gas beneath properties across the Commonwealth while failing to pay property owners the royalties to which they are entitled," Keller Lenkner Partner Seth Meyer said. "On behalf of our clients, we intend to hold EQT accountable."

Keller Lenkner attorneys representing the plaintiffs include Meyer and Associate Alex Dravillas. Scott Hare and Anthony Gestrich of Whiteford Taylor & Preston's Pittsburgh office are co-counsel on behalf of plaintiffs.

The case is titled Richard A. Ross and Fieldstone Ventures, LLC v. EQT Corporation et al., No. GD-21-011948, and is filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

ABOUT KELLER LENKNER: Keller Lenkner LLC represents plaintiffs in complex litigation matters in federal and state courts throughout the nation. The firm acts for clients in many types of cases, including class and mass actions, arbitrations, and multi-district litigation matters. Its team includes four former law clerks at the Supreme Court of the United States and former partners and associates from the country's leading law firms. Since its founding in 2018, the firm has secured results for more than 100,000 clients.

SOURCE Keller Lenkner LLC

Related Links

https://www.kellerlenkner.com


MILWAUKEE, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN) has completed its acquisition of ettain group, one of the largest privately held IT resourcing and services providers in North America. The acquisition accelerates ManpowerGroup's strategy of diversifying its business mix into higher growth and higher value services. ettain will become part of ManpowerGroup's Experis business, bringing increased strength in Financial Services, Healthcare and Government clients.

Becky Frankiewicz, ManpowerGroup President North America, said; "We are delighted to welcome the talented ettain team to ManpowerGroup. ettain's winning culture, expert team and breadth of solutions complements Experis and together we are uniquely suited to provide greater IT solutions expertise to our clients as well as wider IT opportunities to our people across North America."

Ger Doyle, Head of Experis U.S added; "Businesses are accelerating their digital transformation, seeking increasingly agile solutions and specific IT skills. They need trusted expert partners who can deliver at speed and scale. Joining forces gives us the opportunity to serve an even broader range of organizations with industry-leading talent and solutions."

About ManpowerGroup

ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN), the leading global workforce solutions company, helps organizations transform in a fast-changing world of work by sourcing, assessing, developing and managing the talent that enables them to win. We develop innovative solutions for hundreds of thousands of organizations every year, providing them with skilled talent while finding meaningful, sustainable employment for millions of people across a wide range of industries and skills. Our expert family of brands  Manpower, Experis and Talent Solutions  creates substantially more value for candidates and clients across more than 75 countries and territories and has done so for over 70 years. We are recognized consistently for our diversity - as a best place to work for Women, Inclusion, Equality and Disability and in 2021 ManpowerGroup was named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies for the 12th year - all confirming our position as the brand of choice for in-demand talent.

About ettain group

ettain group is the Talent Solutions Company that delivers Recruitment Solutions and Managed Solutions in 5 practice areas: Technology, Healthcare IT, Digital, Professional, and Government. From discovery to execution, we help our clients successfully design, develop, and deliver critical technology and business initiatives, from providing individual resources, to staffing and managing programs and projects, to running entire recruitment processes. Founded in 1996, with nearly 5,000 employees and consultants currently at work, we offer opportunities across North America, with 28 offices located in 24 key markets. We are a proud recipient of ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Diamond Award for both Client and Talent Satisfaction for 10 consecutive years, an honor achieved by less than 1% of our industry. For more information, visit www.ettaingroup.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains statements, including without limitation statements regarding the Company's strategic initiatives, anticipated results of the acquisition, and the Experis brand's positioning for future growth, that are forward-looking in nature and, accordingly, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward looking statements can be identified through the use of words such as "may," "will," "intend," "should," "expect," "believe," "estimate," "anticipate" and similar expressions. Actual results may differ materially from those described or contemplated in the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements include, among others, (i) our inability to achieve expectations regarding the integration, accounting and tax treatments related to the acquisition of ettain group; (ii) our inability to achieve expected synergies and operating efficiencies from the acquisition within the expected time frames or at all; (iii) the potential impact of the acquisition on relationships with our and/or ettain group's employees, customers, suppliers and other business partners; (iv) inability to retain key personnel; (v) changes in legislation or regulations; (vi) developments in the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting business and operational impacts on the Company and/or ettain group; (vii) economic, financial or social conditions that could adversely affect the Company, ettain group or the acquisition; (viii) unanticipated liabilities or exposures for which we have not been indemnified or otherwise may not recover under insurance or otherwise; and (ix) other risks ManpowerGroup business and results of operations; each as further discussed in ManpowerGroup's reports filed with the SEC, including the information under the heading "Risk Factors" in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, which information is incorporated by reference. We caution that any forward-looking statement reflects only our belief at the time the statement is made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

SOURCE ManpowerGroup

Related Links

http://www.manpowergroup.com


HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, virtually presented its Industry & Advocate Awards for fiscal year 2021 on Wednesday, Sept. 30. The awards reflect leadership in the aerospace business community and sustained achievement in service to Marshall and to NASA's overarching mission.

This year's recipients are:

Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc. was named Large Business Prime Contractor of the Year for support of the Marshall Small Business Subcontracting Program under the Mission Operations and Integration Contract.

Aerie Aerospace LLC was named Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year for support to the Marshall's Engineering Directorate, Test Laboratory, under the Marshall Engineering Technician and Trade Support Services Contract.

Frontier Electronic Systems Corporation was named Small Business Subcontractor of the Year for subcontracting support to The Boeing Company under the Space Launch System Stages Contract.

Small Business Mentor Protege of the Year was awarded to The Boeing Company, Inc., and Southern University Systems for their participation in the NASA Mentor-Protege Program under the Space Launch System Stages Contract.

Systems for their participation in the NASA Mentor-Protege Program under the Space Launch System Stages Contract. Small Business Mentor Protege Excellence Award was presented to Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (ESSCA) and JBS Solutions Inc., for their participation in the NASA Mentor-Protege Program under the Engineering Services and Skills Capability Augmentation Contract.

Procurement Team of the Year was awarded to Nichole F. Crayton , Logan M. Ojermark , Ashley S. Pierce , William Burt Sellers , and Remonda J. Stevens for their support of the Marshall Small Business Program through their participation on the 2021 Procurement Small Business Action Team.

, , , , and for their support of the Marshall Small Business Program through their participation on the 2021 Procurement Small Business Action Team. Program Team of the Year was awarded to LaBreesha B. Batey and Angela F. Lovelady for their support of the Marshall Space Flight Center Small Business Program for Historical Black Colleges and Universities awarding of a NASA Cooperative Agreement Notice Initiative in collaboration with Florida A&M University efforts on Foams in Neuropathy Treatment.

for their support of the Marshall Space Flight Center Small Business Program for Historical Black Colleges and Universities awarding of a NASA Cooperative Agreement Notice Initiative in collaboration with efforts on Foams in Neuropathy Treatment. Clyde S. (Chip) Jones was named Small Business Technical Advisor of the Year for exemplary support of the Marshall Small Business Program in his role as Marshall Small Business Technical Advisor.

was named Small Business Technical Advisor of the Year for exemplary support of the Marshall Small Business Program in his role as Marshall Small Business Technical Advisor. Large Business Prime Contractor Excellence Awards were presented to Jacobs Space Exploration Group, Inc., Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (CH2M), and The Boeing Company.

Small Business Prime Contractor Excellence Awards were presented to Acuity Edge Inc., Aetos Systems Inc., All Points Logistics LLC, Cepeda Systems and Software Analysis Inc., and Victory Solutions Inc.

Small Business Subcontractor Excellence Awards were presented to 4M Research Inc., Avans Machine Inc., JBS Solutions Incorporated, Norman Filter Company LLC, and Tracker Engineering LLC.

NASA civil service employees nominate eligible individuals and organizations for awards. A panel of NASA business procurement and technical officials evaluates each nominee's business practices, innovative processes, adoption of new technologies and their overall contributions to NASA's mission and the agency's Small Business Program.

Award recipients in the following categories become candidates for agency-level Small Business Industry and Advocate Awards:

Large and Small Business Prime Contractors of the Year.

Small Business Subcontractor of the Year.

Procurement Team or Person.

Technical, Small Business Technical Coordinator/Technical Advisor.

Program Person or Team of the Year.

For more information about doing business with Marshall, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/about/business.html

For more information about NASA's Office of Small Business Programs, visit:

http://osbp.nasa.gov

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will provide coverage of a Tuesday, Oct. 5 launch that will carry a Russian cosmonaut, actress, and film producer to the International Space Station, where they will film segments for a movie. The launch will mark the expansion of commercial space opportunities to include feature filmmaking.

Making his fourth flight into space, Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov will join actress Yulia Peresild and producer Klim Shipenko for the launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:55 a.m. EDT Oct. 5 (1:55 p.m. Baikonur time). Their Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft will make a fast-track, two-orbit journey to dock to the station's Rassvet module.

NASA's coverage will begin at 4:15 a.m. on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency's website. The spacecraft's docking is expected to take place at 8:12 a.m., with NASA TV coverage beginning at 7:30 a.m.

About two hours after docking, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open. The trio aboard will then join Expedition 65 Commander Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency), NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov. Coverage of the hatch opening will begin at 9:30 a.m.

Peresild and Shipenko, who are making their first flights into space, will spend 12 days on the space station, filming segments for a movie titled "Challenge" under a commercial agreement between Roscosmos and Moscow-based media entities.

Peresild and Shipenko will return to Earth with Novitskiy Oct. 16 (Oct. 17 Kazakhstan time) on the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, which is currently docked at the space station, for a parachute-assisted landing on the Kazakh steppe. Shkaplerov will remain aboard the station through next March, returning with Vande Hei and Dubrov on the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft. The return of Vande Hei and Dubrov will mark the end of a 355-day mission. Vande Hei will have completed the longest single spaceflight by an astronaut in U.S. history.

Keep up with the International Space Station, its research, and its crew:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

Get breaking news, images and features from the space station on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


SAO PAULO, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nuvemshop, Latin America's leading e-commerce platform, with more than 90,000 merchants, today announced the acquisition of Mandae, a logistics platform for small and medium e-commerce businesses.

The acquisition follows Nuvemshop's securing a new $500 million investment in August 2021 to become the most recent unicorn in Latin America. Acquiring Mandae, whose operations will be 100% integrated into the parent company, thrusts Nuvemshop directly into the small- and medium-sized business (SMB) logistics market and reinforces its mission to reduce barriers to entrepreneurship throughout Latin America.

This acquisition is another move by Nuvemshop to strengthen its ecosystem of quality tech solutions for e-commerce companies. As one of the primary tech players focused on logistics in Brazil, Mandae provides services ranging from the collection of orders placed on the merchant's website to delivery to the final destination, leveraging its own assets and those of multiple carriers. This model will fit seamlessly into Nuvemshop's open-platform strategyleveraging economies of scale, offering lower costs to retailers, and adding value to the entire ecosystem.

"Acquiring Mandae and integrating our teams is part of our strategy to deliver even greater solutions to merchants across the supply chain ecosystem," said Santiago Sosa, CEO and co-founder of Nuvemshop. "With this merger, we will strengthen our services offering, as well as continue with our open-platform DNA, incorporating various companies in logistics and other markets so entrepreneurs may choose the best solution that meets their needs. Our goal is to have more variety and quality within our ecosystem, to cater to retailers of different sizes, segments and regions."

Rodrigo Rivera, Chief Strategy Officer at Nuvemshop and responsible for the Logistics and Payments business units in Latin America, noted: "Combining scale and a focus on what entrepreneurs and their consumers really need, we will improve their buying experience, enable new business models and improve results for entrepreneurs who choose to partner with us."

Marcelo Fujimoto, CEO and co-founder of Mandae, expressed his enthusiasm. "We are very excited about this acquisition. It is a combination that makes a lot of sense, not just because of the importance of logistics to e-commerce, but because both companies have similar missions to connect merchants directly to consumers," Fujimoto said. "Logistics is one of the main challenges for e-commerce companies in Latin America, and for years, Mandae has been helping thousands of merchants to ship millions of packages faster, more efficiently and more cost-effectively  advantages that help them compete and grow. We are thrilled to be part of the team, and to be able to help Nuvemshop merchants achieve success with logistics."

Strengthening the ecosystem to benefit SMBs

The announcement represents Nuvemshop's first direct step into the logistics market, which is growing rapidly in Brazil. The strategy is part of the company's expansion plan, which projects a business growth of more than 20 times over the next 5 years. Mandae will continue to serve its business partners and clients while also positively impacting Nuvemshop merchants.

"We know that we still have a long way to go and that logistics solutions are a key to the success of online businesses,'' Rivera said. "But one thing is certain: we will continue to accelerate e-commerce in Brazil and Latin America, empowering each entrepreneur to show the world what they are capable of."

About Nuvemshop :

Nuvemshop is the leading e-commerce platform in Latin America, committed to empowering and motivating all entrepreneurs to transform their passions into thriving businesses. With over 90,000 merchants, Nuvemshop integrates products, payments, shipping as well as provides an ecosystem with more than 1,000 partners, such as Facebook, Instagram, marketplaces and brick-and-mortar stores. The company currently has more than 600 employees and offices in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. In August 2021, the company received a new round of investments of US$500 million and became a unicorn in Brazil.

About Mandae :

Mandae is a logistics platform that uses technology to connect small and medium-sized e-commerces with shipping companies and that plots the best route for each order shipped. With Mandae, e-commerces can save money on shipping, while achieving competitive delivery times and high-quality service. Mandae uses data and algorithms to connect all players involved in the supply chain.

SOURCE Nuvemshop
This new alliance opens up the opportunity to leverage each other's strengths and networks in the service provider space. Moreover, it also creates an opportunity in already saturated markets such as the Nordics and Benelux and new potential for both Telepo, Destiny and Poly in less saturated Voice/UC markets in other parts of EMEA and APAC.

Over time more and more Poly devices will be integrated into the Telepo platform besides headsets and deskphones. And Telepo applications will be integrated into the Poly+ apps to give the richest experience possible to the end-user. Telepo is also part of the Poly Beta program, which means that new devices will be tested and onboarded right from the moment of launch.

Clint Edwards, Vice-President Solution Architecture Service Provider & Alliance Poly: "We are excited about this partnership with Telepo and the opportunity to bring the Poly portfolio into the Telepo ecosystem. The joint solution will allow Telepo based Service Providers in areas such as Northern Europe, South Africa, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore to enhance their options for phones, headsets, and video, to take advantage of the Poly portfolio and industry leading audio and video innovations to provide compelling solutions for customers in those regions. "

Rami Houbby, General Manager Telepo: "This is an important partnership that we are adding to the Telepo Alliance Program to help our Service Providers enrich their offers to their customers with Poly's enhanced audio and video innovations. Support for Poly technology by Telepo will also enable our Service Providers to provide seamless migrations to their environments whilst protecting their customers' investments. This is a win-win for all and we are very delighted to be working closely with Poly to provide the best customer experience."

For further information

Veerle Wijsgeer  PR Destiny

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +32495580797

About Destiny

Destiny, originally Belgian, is a European leader and innovator in secure cloud communications based on its powerful and secure mobile-first products and UCaaS. Destiny empowers +2 million business users to communicate, collaborate and provide excellent customer service. The company enables service providers, channel partners and end customers as well as 3rd party services to thrive in their cloud ecosystem. Destiny, with headquarters in Brussels, has 700 employees in 7 European countries and an expected annual turnover of close to 200 million in 2021. Destiny acquired Telepo in June 2021.

More info: www.destiny.be

About Poly

Poly (NYSE: POLY) creates premium audio and video products so you can have your best meeting -- anywhere, anytime, every time. Our headsets, video and audio-conferencing products, desk phones, analytics software and services are beautifully designed and engineered to connect people with incredible clarity. They're pro-grade, easy to use and work seamlessly with all the best video and audio conferencing services. With Poly (Plantronics, Inc.  formerly Plantronics and Polycom), you'll do more than just show up, you'll stand out. For more information visit www.Poly.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1638933/Telepo_Poly.jpg

SOURCE Destiny
"For example, the state's continuing slow response to the aftermath of last year's Derecho storm that devastated Cedar Rapids, the ongoing mishandling of the pandemic statewide, inadequate funding for public education, and the erosion of basic rights for workers."

Stover also believes the governor and legislature need to immediately look at alternatives to the failed privatization of the Medicaid program.

"The pandemic illustrates the need for good, timely and affordable healthcare for all Iowans," she says. "The privatization of the state's Medicaid program has been inefficient and costly to taxpayers and providers."

Her professional background includes twenty-five years of experience in executive positions at several Fortune 500 companies. She has also owned small businesses in Iowa.

Stover expects to make a final decision by early winter, after the new district maps are completed and upcoming local elections have concluded.

"Public servants help people by improving the community they serve," she says. "They listen objectively, use facts, and make decisions that are in the best interests of their residents. This is what separates a public servant from a politician, something too many in Des Moines have forgotten."

Stover has a master's degree from the University of Denver and a bachelor's degree from St. Mary's University in San Antonio. Originally from Puerto Rico, she and her husband, who is from Dubuque, have resided in District 65 for more than a decade.

Media contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Peggy Rodriguez Stover
RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Raleigh Radiology has been designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology (ACR).

By awarding facilities the status of a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence, the ACR recognizes breast imaging centers that have earned accreditation in mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, and breast ultrasound (including ultrasound-guided breast biopsy).

"Breast cancer stats show that 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. We are so pleased to receive this recognition of excellence from the ACR. It demonstrates our level of commitment to our patients and community," says Dr. Laura Thomas, board-certified breast interventional radiologist and head of breast imaging services for Raleigh Radiology.

Peer-review evaluations, conducted in each breast imaging modality by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field, have determined that this facility has achieved high practice standards in image quality, personnel qualifications, facility equipment, quality control procedures and quality assurance programs.

The ACR is a national professional organization serving more than 36,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.

Raleigh Radiology has locations in Raleigh at Blue Ridge and Oberlin as well as in Cary, Clayton, Fuquay-Varina, Knightdale, and Wake Forest. More locations are planned for 2022.

About Raleigh Radiology

A cornerstone in the Wake County medical community since 1950, Raleigh Radiology offers diagnostic imaging subspecialties such as abdominal imaging, breast interventional, vein & vascular interventional, musculoskeletal, neuro and neurointerventional, nuclear medicine and PET, hospital-based emergency radiology, and pediatric radiology. Our board-certified radiologists see patients at our imaging centers as well as provide professional radiology interpretation for WakeMed Health & Hospital facilities (Wake County, NC), Wilson Medical Center (Wilson, NC), East Cooper Medical Center (Mount Pleasant, SC), and Wythe County Community Hospital (Wytheville, VA). An ACR-designated Breast Imaging Center of Excellence with seven locations across the Triangle, Raleigh Radiology is part of the WakeMed Key Community Care collaboration delivering high-quality, high-value care to ensure high patient satisfaction and support for patients to improve their health. To learn more about Raleigh Radiology, visit www.raleighrad.com.

SOURCE Raleigh Radiology

Related Links

http://www.raleighrad.com


LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Schweiger Dermatology Group, the fastest-growing dermatology practice in the Northeast, has announced the acquisition of the Warmuth Institute of Dermatology, with offices in Elmer and Swedesboro, New Jersey.

The Warmuth Institute of Dermatology was founded in 2002 by Dr. Ingrid Warmuth, who received her medical degree from the University of Cologne, Germany, and graduated with high honors for her doctoral thesis. She completed her internship and dermatology residency at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, and thereafter completed a cosmetic surgery fellowship and Mohs micrographic surgery training.

"I am very excited and pleased to join the Schweiger Dermatology Group. They are committed to continuing the highest standard of individualized care for our patients, while ensuring support for administrative responsibilities," says Dr. Warmuth. "This allows me to do what is most important to me  focusing on the care of my patients."

"We are excited to welcome Dr. Warmuth to Schweiger Dermatology Group, with our shared vision of extending our excellent dermatology care throughout New Jersey," adds Kevin Schirf, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Schweiger Dermatology Group.

Along with Dr. Warmuth, Brittany Davis, PA-C and Lauren Hartman, PA-C will be joining the provider team at Schweiger Dermatology Group.

The new Schweiger Dermatology Group locations are:

420 Front Street

Elmer, NJ 08318

95 Woodstown Road

Swedesboro, NJ 08085

About Schweiger Dermatology Group

Schweiger Dermatology Group is the largest group dermatology practice in the Northeast with over 90 offices and over 250 healthcare providers. SDG provides both medical and cosmetic dermatology services to over 1,000,000 patient visits annually. Schweiger Dermatology Group has been named to Crain's New York Fast 50, honoring the fastest growing companies in New York and to Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America, each over five consecutive years. To learn more, visit schweigerderm.com .

Media Contact:

Melissa Schweiger Kleinman

[email protected]

SOURCE Schweiger Dermatology Group

Related Links

http://www.schweigerderm.com


ANTIOCH, Calif., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Citing massive understaffing, difficult working conditions, and a series of unfair labor practices, more than 350 healthcare workers at Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch will strike October 4th  8th. Workers will walk off the job and onto the strike picket line at 5 a.m. on Monday, October 4th.

Employees at Sutter Delta Medical Center say conditions are dire for caregivers and patients inside their facility as management ignores concerns about understaffing and working conditions. Workers are worried about patient and staff safety and say they've been pushed to the limit by their employer.

"We're drowning. There's just not enough staff," said Jennifer Stone, an emergency room technician at Sutter Delta Medical Center. "We're wearing too many hats  we're talking down angry COVID patients, then we're rushing to a code, then we're talking to family members who just lost a loved one. We can't give adequate care. We feel like management is ignoring our concerns and is leaving us to fend for ourselves. We can't do it all anymore."

Workers at Sutter Delta Medical Center say staffing shortages predate the COVID-19 pandemic and, as a result of years of poor staffing and management decisions by Sutter, the hospital already didn't meet adequate staffing for average patient levels. Frontline caregivers say COVID exacerbated this already strained infrastructure, and their employer's response to the pandemic has only worsened the preexisting crisis.

The strike consists of a variety of job classes at the hospital in Antioch, including emergency room technicians, respiratory therapists, phlebotomists, transporters, and licensed vocational nurses.

WHAT: Caregivers in their uniforms will walk off the job joined by their coworkers and supporters, including SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan. Later, caregivers in their uniforms and scrubs will form picket lines, hold signs, chant, and give speeches.

WHEN: MONDAY, October 4

5 a.m. Walkout

11 a.m. Speaking program

WHERE: Sutter Delta Medical Center,

3901 Lone Tree Way (main entrance)

Antioch, Calif. 94509

SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is a healthcare justice union of more than 100,000 healthcare workers, patients, and healthcare activists united to ensure affordable, accessible, high-quality care for all Californians, provided by valued and respected healthcare workers. Learn more at www.seiu-uhw.org.

SOURCE SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West

Related Links

http://www.seiu-usww.org


WILMINGTON, N.C., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Two attorneys, Patrick Mincey of North Carolina and Phil Brewster of Illinois, were recently mentioned in a Wall Street Journal article for their representation of a North Carolina whistleblower who exposed an alleged international conspiracy to launder no less than $100 million through major U.S. securities firms, including Morgan Stanley and Interactive Brokers.

The Wall Street Journal reported the alleged conspiracy involved a network of international actors and firms collaborating to steal $2 billion from PDVSA, the state-owned oil company of Venezuela. As part of the investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal agencies are trying to determine why U.S. firms managed more than $100 million in securities for a suspicious Venezuelan businessman when the accounts displayed what authorities have listed as red flags for potential money-laundering activities.

U.S. authorities launched the investigation after attorneys Mincey and Brewster filed their client's whistleblower complaint with the SEC in 2019. "It is one of the greatest privileges of our careers to represent whistleblower Mark Coffey," Mincey and Brewster said in a joint statement. "Our client has made extraordinary sacrifices in his endeavor to shed light on the money laundering crisis in the U.S. securities industry, and there is no doubt he should beand will behailed for his unshakeable courage."

Attorney Patrick M. Mincey is Chair of the White Collar, Government Investigations & Special Matters Group at Cranfill Sumner LLP in North Carolina.

Attorney Phil Brewster is the founding partner of Brewster Law Firm LLC in Winnetka, Illinois, a firm dedicated to whistleblower matters and government investigations.

ABOUT CRANFILL SUMNER LLP

Cranfill Sumner LLP serves clients in 28 practice areas. For more information, visit www.cshlaw.com.

ABOUT BREWSTER LAW FIRM LLC

Brewster Law Firm LLC is dedicated to whistleblower matters and government investigations. For more information, visit www.brewsteradvisory.com.

SOURCE Cranfill Sumner LLP

Related Links

https://www.cshlaw.com/


BOERNE, Texas, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans who are worried about America's trajectory will be pleased to know of a citizen action organization called TACTICAL CIVICS . With over 165 county chapters from coast to coast so far, after more than 60,000 hours of R&D, TACTICAL CIVICS developed a comprehensive and long-term mission entailing peaceful, lawful action projects and reform laws to bring government back under the control of We The People.

First, the county chapter educates citizens to recognize their power to investigate crime, once impaneled as Grand Jurors. Its proposed County Grand Jury Ordinance will have county government do what 26 California counties already do: add a dedicated web page for citizens to volunteer for Grand Jury and report potential crimes in our county. The group's 'Grand Jury Awake' handbook is a briefing manual for every Grand Jury.

Each county chapter also works with area 'militia' groups to pass a County Militia Ordinance committing county government to lawfully fulfill the constitutional duty that the State has refused to perform. As David Zuniga, Founder of Tactical Civics, explains, "Militia has gotten a bad rap and sometimes it's deserved. We're not a militia group but our chapters teach civics and help restore constitutional Militia. It's right in the Constitution; required by law! Our federal and state servants will not stop violating the law on their own, but once a responsible remnant of the People restore our Grand Juries and Militias and a critical mass of other citizens see the value of restored American civics, we think our state legislature will see the writing on the wall".

TACTICAL CIVICS has a national project called Our First Right, to complete the ratification by the states of the original first Article in the original Bill of Rights, requiring congressional districts to not exceed 50,000 people. Already ratified by 11 state legislatures, when ratified by 27 more, it will give America's 31,000 small towns their first representation in the U.S. House and Electoral College in more than a century.

The political impact will be significant, explains Zuniga. "The corrupt, immoral big cities will no longer control American elections. Small districts, as George Washington suggested, will reduce corruption. Serving in the U.S. House will become attractive to normal Americans to run affordable campaigns and serve as statesmen rather than career lap-dogs of industry and globalists".

But reducing districts to 50,000 people will result in more than 6,400 congressmen. Since the Capitol building and congressional office buildings in DC will not accommodate them, the group plans to work with the large new cohort of candidates to promise to pass its 'Bring Congress Home Act', creating the world's first distributed legislature. Congress would meet by Internet as they often did during the so-called 'pandemic', each member working from one modest office in their own district, under the watchful eye of the People, rather than under the thumb of lobbyists.

"This isn't rocket science," Zuniga explains. "Members of Congress will no longer abandon their families only to be corrupted by DC organized crime. And both House and Senate will be limited to two terms of office."

The organization is working on an artificial-intelligence mobile app, the Indictment Engine, to scan every proposed state and federal bill when filed. If it violates the Constitution, the app finds applicable state criminal statutes being violated, sending felony presentment(s) to the Grand Juries in each co-sponsor's jurisdiction. Grand Juries would warn each target to withdraw the bill or face indictment.

Beyond its action projects, the organization has 18 other major reform laws for statesmen to pass over the long term: end the FED's counterfeiting scheme, defund and mothball unconstitutional agencies and regulations, end DC's subsidizing tyrants and plundering foreign countries, truly securing our borders, and more.

The organization's online training center offers an orientation boot camp, live forums for each project team, and a large library of books, podcasts, videos, blog articles and more at members.tacticalcivics.com

Zuniga is quick to clarify, this is not a militia group. "TACTICAL CIVICS is We The People finally enforcing the magnificent Law that our forefathers left us. And unlike politics, TACTICAL CIVICS needs only half of 1% of the People to take responsibility. We start learning what we weren't taught in school. We turn off the circus of politics and together, we save our civilization by the grace of God."

Media Contact:

David Zuniga

817-243-8335

[email protected]

SOURCE Tactical Civics

Related Links

http://members.tacticalcivics.com


HOUSTON, Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hicks Thomas LLP is pleased to announce that the firm and five of its partners have earned a place in the 2022 edition of Benchmark Litigation, a leading guide to trial law firms and litigators.

This is the third straight year that Benchmark Litigation has honored Hicks Thomas, with the firm singled out for its expertise in dispute resolution. The annual guide, focused exclusively on litigation, selects honorees based on extensive research, litigator and client interviews, and casework analysis.

Firm partners John B. Thomas, Robin Harrison, Jay Old, Courtney Ervin and Stewart Hoffer were all honored as Litigation Stars, with Mr. Hoffer earning notice for his labor and employment work in particular.

"I am really proud of the success this team has had. I believe it is a product of our mission to keep our focus squarely on our clients and achieving their goals," said Mr. Thomas. "To be recognized for that is truly an honor."

Mr. Thomas, known for his deep experience in handling complex commercial litigation, has spent more than 30 years representing a diverse range of plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal courts across the country. His clients include companies and individuals in oil and gas, securities, environmental disputes, banking, and intellectual property. He has been recognized by Chambers USA for his commercial litigation skills. He and the four other Hicks Thomas honorees are also listed in the peer-review guides Texas Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America.

Mr. Harrison, in his career of more than 35 years, has an impressive record of success representing plaintiffs and defendants in both trials and arbitrations both nationally and abroad. Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, he has experience handling breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, fraud and misrepresentation, and professional liability disputes. Mr. Harrison has been recognized by Chambers USA for his commercial litigation expertise.

Mr. Old has spent more than 30 years representing clients of all sizes in complex commercial and insurance litigation. He is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).

Ms. Ervin is a seasoned litigator with extensive experience representing clients in complex business disputes. She focuses her practice on energy and insurance litigation, as well as cases involving construction, real estate, private equity, information technology, and health care. She has previously earned recognition on the Legal 500 list of top Energy Litigators.

Mr. Hoffer is an experienced trial lawyer who has earned an impressive record litigating complex commercial, labor and employment, and intellectual property disputes. Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He has served as lead counsel for publicly traded and privately held companies across the U.S.

To read more about Hicks Thomas' rankings online, visit https://benchmarklitigation.com/Firm/Hicks-Thomas-Texas/Profile/114479#profile

Founded in 1997, Texas-based Hicks Thomas LLP is a premier litigation firm representing plaintiffs and defendants across the nation. With offices in Houston, Austin, Beaumont, Amarillo, and Sacramento, California, the firm provides in-depth experience in cases involving oil and gas, environmental, complex commercial, toxic tort, construction, products liability, corporate governance, securities, banking, insurance coverage, transportation, trade secrets, and business litigation.

Visit the firm at http://www.hicks-thomas.com .

Media Contact:

April Arias

800-559-4534

[email protected]

SOURCE Hicks Thomas LLP

Related Links

http://www.hicks-thomas.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Transfix Inc., a leading transportation solutions provider, today announced that Sophie Dabbs, Chief Commercial Officer at Transfix, will be hosting a fireside chat with Jonathan Gold, Vice President of Supply Chain and Customs Policy at the National Retail Federation, during a FreightWaves Webinar on Tuesday, October 5, 2021 at 1 p.m. ET.

With the holidays fast approaching, the ramifications of the supply chain capacity crunch continue globally. Dabbs and Gold will focus on this moment of immense pressure, and how it validates the digital evolution of the supply chain industry.

The fireside chat will cover:

Results of the NRF's latest survey on the impact of supply chain disruptions

A discussion on moving from tactical maneuvers to long-term strategy shifts

How resiliency is fueling the new era of freight innovation

Sophie Dabbs was recently appointed as Transfix CCO, where she oversees sales, partnerships, account management, carrier management, marketplace strategy, pricing, and operations. Jonathan Gold represents the retail industry before Congress and the administration on supply chain, international trade, product safety and customs-related issues impacting the retail industry.

The fireside chat will take place on Tuesday, October 5 at 1:00 p.m ET. Register here.

About FreightWaves

FreightWaves is the leading provider of news, data and market analysis for the freight markets and is responsible for commercializing Trucking Freight Futures to industry participants to build awareness and market liquidity. The company's news site, freightwaves.com, is the number one freight and logistics news site globally and receives 2.7X more on-site engagement than any other freight-related news site. The company's SaaS product, SONAR, is the industry's first and only freight market data and analytics platform. FreightWaves' core customers are both freight industry professionals and financial institutions with direct and indirect exposure to the freight or related markets. For more information, visit www.freightwaves.com.

About Transfix

Transfix is a market-leading, next-generation freight platform transforming the traditional and digital freight sector while bringing transparency, trust, and sustainability to the transportation ecosystem. The company combines deep industry expertise and a world-class class carrier network with advanced technology. The result? Competitive pricing, superior service and reliability, and an intelligent platform designed to optimize the supply chain from start to finish. Today, some of the world's most recognized brands rely on Transfix's trusted carrier network.. Transfix was named one of Forbes' "Next Billion-Dollar Startups" and is headquartered in the heart of New York City with an office in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, visit www.transfix.io.

About NRF

The National Retail Federation, the world's largest retail trade association, passionately advocates for the people, brands, policies and ideas that help retail thrive. From its headquarters in Washington, D.C., NRF empowers the industry that powers the economy. Retail is the nation's largest private-sector employer, contributing $3.9 trillion to annual GDP and supporting one in four U.S. jobs  52 million working Americans. For over a century, NRF has been a voice for every retailer and every retail job, educating, inspiring and communicating the powerful impact retail has on local communities and global economies. nrf.com.

Media Contact

Chelsea Horn, Carve Communications for Transfix

[email protected]

(210) 378-8580

SOURCE Transfix

Related Links

http://www.transfix.io


In addition, Purdue University trustees voted Friday (Oct. 1) to rename the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management in honor of the White family's longstanding financial and in-kind support. At the request of Bruce White, White Lodging's founder and CEO, the school's name will also honor the career and contributions of J.W. "Bill" Marriott, Jr., executive chairman and chairman of the board of Marriott International.

Effective immediately, Purdue's School of Hospitality and Tourism Management will officially be known as the White Lodging  J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Bruce and Beth White's and the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation's $5 million pledge provides the foundation for an honors program in hospitality, an endowed scholarship for top hospitality students and a named headship in the school.

This follows Bruce and Beth White's and the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation's pledge of $30 million in the aggregate in 2018 to Purdue for the transformation of the historic Union Club Hotel.

"Our goal is to create an environment that allows associates to be their best selves and grow through training, development and mentorship," Bruce White said. "This goal stands as a foundation that Bill and the Marriott team built for the hospitality industry and continue to support at all levels. I'm very appreciative of Bill's support throughout our time together and proud that we can play a role in creating the next generation of hospitalitarians at Purdue  at a time when it's needed more than ever."

J.W. "Bill" Marriott, Jr. said, "I am delighted and humbled by this incredible recognition. We have had a wonderful relationship with White Lodging and Bruce and Beth White for decades. The relationship with Purdue is also a longstanding one, and I am grateful to be part of this initiative preparing future hospitality leaders."

The Marriott family has a longstanding relationship with Purdue, including The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation providing the lead donation of $5 million in 2012 to create Marriott Hall on Purdue's campus. The Marriott family also supports the annual Marriott Executive in the Classroom series, which brings top leaders from across all segments of the hospitality industry to West Lafayette, Indiana, to engage with students about the industry's exciting career pathways and visit with faculty to provide business insights to advance the students' learning experience.

Purdue's hospitality and tourism program, housed in the College of Health and Human Sciences, is widely known as one of the best in the nation, with graduates serving in hospitality positions the world over. Dean Marion Underwood said this gift and new name will help extend its reach even further.

"The generous endowment to support a named headship will allow the College of Health and Human Sciences to attract a creative, visionary and transformative leader of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management," Underwood said. "The gift also provides vitally important support for exceptional students to pursue an education in finance and hospitality."

The Union Club Hotel anticipated to be designated an Autograph Collection Hotel

As part of the announcement of the school's name change, Marriott International, White Lodging and Purdue are working toward an agreement to designate the Union Club Hotel at Purdue as an Autograph Collection Hotel. Autograph Collection hotels are a collection of more than 200 independent hotels around the world hand-selected for their inherent craft and distinct perspectives on design and hospitality.

In 2020, the nearly 92-year-old, 182-room Union Club Hotel reopened on campus after a comprehensive $35 million, yearlong transformation. The project involved a complete overhaul of all guest rooms and public spaces, as well as the creation of three dining concepts honoring Purdue's legacy. Original Purdue architecture and academic-inspired design are preserved in carpet patterns, upholstery, room fixtures and countless other elements in the hotel.

The hotel is also used as a hands-on learning laboratory for Purdue hospitality students where they spend time working and learning about hotel and restaurant operations while earning college credits. Additionally, the Union Club Hotel is host to the White Lodging LAUNCH Hospitality Immersion Program designed to propel high-caliber university students into the industry by providing paid, hands-on experience.

The transition is expected to occur in early 2022. Upon the designation of the Union Club Hotel as an Autograph Collection Hotel, guests will be able to book stays on marriott.com and participate in Marriott Bonvoy  Marriott International's award-winning travel program  where members can earn and redeem points on stays and experiences.

"The continued involvement of Marriott, the Marriott family and White Lodging have helped accelerate our hospitality program to international recognition, and their latest endeavors on campus  today and in recent years  further position us as one of the top hospitality programs in the country," Purdue President Mitch Daniels said.

"Our students will have support and learning opportunities from the top hospitality company in the world and one of America's leading hotel owners, developers and management companies  a combination no other university has."

Developing the next-generation hospitalitarian

"While the definition of hospitality hasn't changed, the business of hospitality has evolved greatly  even before the COVID-19 pandemic," Bruce White said. "The industry is complex, and the key to thrive like we have in the past is by developing a generation of college graduates with advanced critical thinking, financial, business AND service skills. There's no question that hospitality remains an incredible career choice."

Purdue's hospitality program develops future global leaders through rigorous learning, cutting-edge research, and innovative engagement in the areas of hospitality and tourism, financial counseling and planning, retail management, and selling and sales management.

About White Lodging

White Lodging, established in 1985, is one of the leading ownership, development, and management companies in America. An innovative trendsetter, the organization's portfolio includes convention, urban lifestyle, and suburban select hotels with more than $1 billion in managed revenue. White Lodging operates approximately 90 premium hotels, 40 restaurants and 30 brands. Success knows no boundaries at White Lodging, where associates and leadership have consistently earned superior guest satisfaction scores, top market share and industry-leading profit margins while recruiting the best, brightest, and most passionate professionals in every discipline. White Lodging is a proud winner of the Gallup Great Workplace Award. For more information about White Lodging, visit www.whitelodging.com , or connect on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn and Instagram .

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today's toughest challenges. Ranked in each of the last four years as one of the 10 Most Innovative universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://purdue.edu/ .

For more information:

White Lodging

Mike Banas

[email protected]

312-730-7329 Purdue University

Abigail Nickel

[email protected]

740-326-0481

SOURCE White Lodging

Related Links

http://www.whitelodging.com


CHEVY CHASE, Md., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Throughout the month of October, young people across the country will let their creativity guide them on a STEM learning journey to space as part of the 14th annual 4-H STEM Challenge, Galactic Quest. The Galactic Quest adventure will conclude with a space-themed trivia game show on Facebook Live hosted by Black-ish actor & youth cause advocate Marcus Scribner on Wednesday, October 27. The 2021 4-H STEM Challenge was developed with support from signature partner, the U.S. Space Force, and national partners, Bayer and Facebook.

The 4-H STEM Challenge empowers young people to tackle the same types of scientific and engineering problems that today's top STEM professionals are working on. In partnership with National 4-H Council, the U.S. Space Force and Clemson Cooperative Extension designed four unique hands-on activities to get kids and teens to explore space as they make connections to physics, computer science, space ethics, and more.

"As commercial spaceflight takes off, the U.S. prepares to return to the moon, and the Perseverance rover continues to explore Mars, space exploration has once again captured the imagination of America's young people," said Jennifer Sirangelo, president and CEO, National 4-H Council. "We are excited to bring hands-on STEM learning to young people nationwide with the help of the 4-H STEM Challenge, Galactic Quest."

As young people, parents, and educators continue to find new and creative ways to stay engaged during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 4-H STEM Challenge has adapted to ensure that young people everywhere, regardless of internet connectivity or family resources, have access to STEM Challenge kits which include online and offline activities.

"Cooperative Extension plays a vital role in developing the young people of today for tomorrow's world. We are proud to have developed the curriculum for Galactic Quest with National 4-H Council," said Dr. Tom Dobbins, Associate Dean for Outreach and Engagement, Director of Clemson Cooperative Extension. "With the 4-H STEM Challenge, youth get to look further than our own world to explore the excitement and challenges of real-world issues surrounding space exploration."

"The pursuit of education is one of the most important aspects of Space Force culture. Our partnership with 4-H provides synergies with STEM-minded youth and influencers to drive awareness of the U.S. Space Force and how STEM plays a significant role in guarding space," said Captain Timothy Applegate, Chief of Space Force Marketing.

Marcus Scribner, star of the hit ABC show Black-ish, will close out the monthlong STEM Challenge activities with a Facebook Live event highlighting Galactic Quest trivia. An ardent supporter of youth causes, Marcus is passionate about how science affects everyday life and how young people can affect positive change. The Galactic Quest Game Show will challenge STEM aficionados on a series of space-related questions. The first and second place winners will win cash prizes of $1,000 and $500 as well as an exclusive mentorship call from a USSF Guardian and a behind-the-scenes look at the Air Force Academy. The Facebook Live event is free and open to the public. Kids and adults alike are invited to tune in on 4-H's Facebook page on Wednesday, October 27 at 8:00 p.m. EST and play along by sharing answers in the comment section.

Youth are invited to participate in Galactic Quest from October 1-31. For additional information on STEM Challenge kits, the Galactic Quest Game Show, and more, visit https://4-h.org/parents/4-h-stem-challenge/.

ABOUT 4-H

4-H, the nation's largest youth development organization, grows confident young people who are empowered for life today and prepared for career tomorrow. 4-H programs empower nearly six million young people across the U.S. through experiences that develop critical life skills. 4-H is the youth development program of our nation's Cooperative Extension System and USDA and serves every county and parish in the U.S. through a network of 110 public universities and more than 3000 local Extension offices. Globally, 4-H collaborates with independent programs to empower one million youth in 50 countries. The research-backed 4-H experience grows young people who are four times more likely to contribute to their communities; two times more likely to make healthier choices; two times more likely to be civically active; and two times more likely to participate in STEM programs. Learn more about 4H at 4-H.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

ABOUT U.S. SPACE FORCE

The U.S. Space Force is a military service that organizes, trains, and equips forces which protect U.S. and allied interests in space and provide space capabilities to the joint force. Space Force responsibilities include developing Guardians, acquiring military space systems, maturing the military doctrine for space power, and organizing space forces to present to our Combatant Commands. The Space Force filled nearly 400 enlisted positions and more than 250 officer positions in Fiscal Year 2021. After just 10 months supporting that mission, Air Force recruiters are confident they are ready to recruit over 500 Guardians in the second year of Space Force recruiting in Space Systems Operations, Intelligence, and Cyber career fields.

ABOUT BAYER

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of health care and agriculture. Its products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time, the Group aims to create value through innovation, growth and high earning power. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its social and ethical responsibilities as a corporate citizen. In fiscal 2015, the Group employed around 117,000 people and had sales of EUR 46.3 billion. Capital expenditures amounted to EUR 2.6 billion, R&D expenses to EUR 4.3 billion. These figures include those for the high-tech polymers business, which was floated on the stock market as an independent company named Covestro on October 6, 2015. For more information, go to www.bayer.com/.

ABOUT FACEBOOK

Founded in 2004, Facebook's mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. People use Facebook's apps and technologies to connect with friends and family, find communities and grow businesses.



Facebook is a trademark of Facebook, Inc.

SOURCE National 4-H Council

Related Links

http://www.4-h.org


SEATTLE, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Alaska Air Group, Inc., the parent company of Alaska Airlines, Inc. and Horizon Air Industries Inc., will announce its 2021 third quarter financial results on Thursday, October 21, 2021. A conference call is scheduled at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time / 8:30 a.m. Pacific time. Interested parties may listen to the call via webcast at www.alaskaair.com/investors.

Alaska Airlines and its regional partners serve more than 120 destinations across the United States and to Mexico, Canada and Costa Rica. The airline emphasizes Next-Level Care for its guests, along with providing low fares, award-winning customer service and sustainability efforts. On March 31, 2021, Alaska became the 14th member of oneworld. With the global alliance and Alaska Airlines' additional partners, guests can travel to more than 1,000 destinations on more than 20 airlines while earning and redeeming miles on flights to locations around the world. Learn more about Alaska at newsroom.alaskaair.com and blog.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK).

SOURCE Alaska Air Group
All Day Kitchens' mission is to empower restaurants to thrive in the digital ordering and delivery era. Unlike the traditional warehouse ghost kitchen model, the company offers restaurants access to a full network of strategically located satellite kitchens to quickly multiply their customer reach without upfront investments associated with opening a brick-and-mortar location. Their micro-fulfillment model not only offers a plug-and-play solution for restaurants to rapidly scale their digital business but also brings great restaurants closer to consumers.

With over 15 locations operating throughout the Bay Area and Chicago, the number of restaurant partners on the platform has grown 4X in the last 12 months. All Day Kitchens has partnered with beloved local brands such as Honey Butter Fried Chicken, Mott St, HaiSous, 90 Miles Cafe, Cheesie's, China Live, Dosa, and Mac 'n Cue by International Smoke from Michael Mina and Ayesha Curry.

"After six months on All Day Kitchens, it's clear this concept is the future of the industry," said Darnell Johnson, owner of Chicago's Home of Chicken & Waffles. "The partnership has been an unbelievable way to expand our brand reach and take us to another financial level. The volume of guests coming in who discovered us through an All Day Kitchens location keeps growing."

"All Day deeply understands the pains that restaurants face scaling their businesses in a delivery-first world. They have invented the most elegant solution to this wide-spread problem and are well on their way to becoming the leader in infrastructure for food delivery" said Alex Taussig, Partner at Lightspeed. "We couldn't be more delighted to lead their round and help support restaurants around the country."

"COVID has been challenging for businesses, especially in the restaurant industry. We've seen increasing urgency from restaurants to expand digitally, for pick up and delivery, using All Day Kitchens. We're scaling rapidly in new markets to help more great brands thrive" said All Day Kitchens CEO and co-founder Ken Chong. All Day Kitchens has doubled the number of satellite kitchens in its network this year and plans to accelerate opening new locations.

With the new round of funding, All Day Kitchens is hiring rapidly for the HQ team, and opening several new markets across the US. Their next market launches will be in Texas and Southern California, where they've already received high inbound interest from top regional brands.

ABOUT ALL DAY KITCHENS

Founded in 2018 by Uber Eats alums Ken Chong and Matt Sawchuk, All Day Kitchens is a San Francisco-based restaurant platform start-up supporting great local restaurants by providing services to expand their reach in delivery and pick-up. As a turnkey Distributed Restaurant Platform, All Day Kitchens partners with restaurants to share their food with more diners in new neighborhoods through a network of satellite kitchens, without the upfront costs of traditional expansion. The platform brings more selection and the ability to enjoy dishes from multiple restaurants in a single order. Currently, All Day Kitchens operates locations throughout the Bay Area and Chicago with expansion throughout California and Texas planned in the next year.

SOURCE All Day Kitchens

Related Links

alldaykitchens.com


BALTIMORE, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Urological Association  the world's leading professional association for the advancement of urologic patient care  is pleased to announce in early 2023, will be launching a new journal - The Journal of Urology Open Plus (JU Open Plus). A fully open access journal, JU Open Plus will become a part of the AUA's world-class family of journals.

American Urological Association Announces New Journal - JU Open Plus - to Join the AUAs World-Class Family of Journals in 2023

With an editorial goal to publish the best in class, not only in urology, but across scientific, technical and medical journals as a whole, JU Open Plus aims to serve the global urology community, as well as the broader medical research community, by making research findings and breakthrough discoveries more accessible to potential users throughout the world. JU Open Plus will stand as an international, peer-reviewed, open access online journal focused on high-quality research in all areas of urology.

Article types accepted for submission will include full-length original research articles, registered reports, case reports and case series, breakthrough technologies, commentaries, narrative and systematic reviews, conference proceedings, as well as video articles. Additionally, JU Open Plus will offer a nimble, streamlined decision process and wide dissemination of scientifically rigorous research, thereby advancing the specialty of urology.

"AUA's decision to launch an open access journal was based on careful thought and planning, as well as a philosophical desire to further support the worldwide community of investigators and clinicians with an outlet to make their scientific research accessible to all from the time of publication," said John D. Denstedt, MD, AUA Board Secretary and Professor of Urology, Western University, London, Ontario. "JU Open Plus will be a part of the world-renowned, best-in-class family of peer-reviewed scholarly journals of the American Urological Association, which also includes The Journal of Urology and Urology Practice  together, these publications will represent the definitive and collective voice of urology."

The AUA is currently accepting applications for an independent Editor to oversee the launch and publication of JU Open Plus.

Original submissions and cascaded transfer submissions from The Journal of Urology (JU) and Urology Practice (UPJ) to JU Open Access will begin being accepted in fall 2022, with publication of accepted articles scheduled for January 2023.

About the American Urological Association: Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology, and has more than 23,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy.

About The Journal of Urology: The Official Journal of the American Urological Association (AUA), and the most widely read and highly cited journal in the field, The Journal of Urology brings solid coverage of the clinically relevant content needed to stay at the forefront of the dynamic field of urology. This premier journal presents investigative studies on critical areas of research and practice, survey articles providing brief editorial comments on the best and most important urology literature worldwide and practice-oriented reports on significant clinical observations. The Journal of Urology covers the wide scope of urology, including pediatric urology, urologic cancers, renal transplantation, male infertility, urinary tract stones, female urology and neurourology.

About Urology Practice: An Official Journal of the American Urological Association (AUA), Urology Practice focuses on clinical trends, challenges and practice applications in the four areas of Business, Health Policy, the Specialty and Patient Care. Information that can be used in everyday practice will be provided to the urology community via peer-reviewed clinical practice articles (including best practices, reviews, clinical guidelines, select clinical trials, editorials and white papers), "research letters" (brief original studies with an important clinical message), the business of the practice of urology, urology health policy issues, urology education and training, as well as content for urology care team members.

Contact:

Christine Frey, AUA

410-689-3731,

[email protected]

SOURCE American Urological Association

Related Links

http://www.auanet.org


NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ANA's Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM), Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) and Media Framework announce a collaboration aimed at increasing investments in multicultural and inclusive-owned media (African American, Asian, Hispanic, LGBTQ and People with Disabilities) to help brands and agencies measure their investment and impact on multicultural and inclusive-owned media and the communities these represent. On October 8th, during the ANA Masters of Marketing Conference, AIMM will release the most comprehensive and validated diverse-owned media list in the industry, created by Media Framework via its database of media vendors - MAVEN. Paired with this list, AIMM and Nielsen are also releasing a new "Diverse Owned Media Planning and Investment Guide" - free to the industry - that will include profiles and aggregated metrics of diverse-owned media on TV, radio and digital platforms with their related audience descriptions, estimated reach, gross impressions and more.

The partnership aligns with ANA AIMM's vision for the industry to #SeeALL and its commitment to increase the visibility of diverse-owned media across national, local and cable TV, radio and digital entities. The resources will also allow marketers and agencies to discover and build partnerships with diverse media companies.

"Together, we are creating a more equitable playing field by bringing greater visibility to all players in the industry, providing valuable data to advertisers and connecting brands with the diverse-owned media in which so many of them have pledged to financially invest," said Lisette Arsuaga, Co-Founder of ANA AIMM. "It's time the industry invests in engaging multicultural and diverse audiences who are key to business growth. That effort cannot be maximized without investing in both diverse-owned AND targeted media."

AIMM's work in this space supports AIMM's Seven-Point Pledge to address systemic inequities in the marketing and advertising industry, specifically by:

Helping brands and agencies plan and measure fair investments commensurate with opportunity

Going beyond traditional efficiency reach measurements by overlaying new critical measures of Cultural Relevance capturing the quality of the connection proven to enhance engagement and impact

"We embrace AIMM's 7 Point Pledge and are excited to work with AIMM in an industry wide effort to increase investment in minority, LGBTQ+ and disability-owned media companies that will fuel their ability to, in turn, invest in improving and expanding their offerings, especially in culturally relevant content" Stated Kathleen Coffey, CEO and Founder of Media Framework. "Identifying, documenting, and tracking diverse media ownership is the most challenging part of what we do at Media Framework, but it is also the most rewarding."

ANA AIMM will evaluate current advertising spend on diverse-owned media and establish industry investment benchmarks, informed by Nielsen AdIntel, the company's advertising monitoring service. This will enable the partners to track the growth of advertising spend on diverse-owned media in various markets and across TV, radio, print and digital platforms over time.

Comprising nearly 7% of all media entities, multicultural & inclusive-owned media are a key component for advertising spend, and with further investment these entities can continue to grow and serve their communities. According to MAVEN data on multicultural & inclusive-owned entities categorized to date: 40% are currently Hispanic-owned, 40% Black or HBCU-owned, 10% Asian-owned, 7% Native American-owned, 2% LBGTQ-owned and 1% owned by people with disabilities. Part of AIMM and MAVEN's work will involve sourcing and vetting further diverse-owned media entities in order to come closer to the full understanding of the universe of these diverse media entities.

"As part of our commitment to creating a better media future for all people, we want to raise the visibility of the diverse-owned media that play a critical role in reaching and representing the increasingly diverse U.S. population," said David Kenny, Nielsen CEO. "Through our work with ANA AIMM, we are also empowering advertisers to more effectively measure their investments."

"ANA has worked on behalf of advertisers and brands to ensure their investments are measurable in all media," said Bob Liodice, CEO of the ANA. "We are honored to have informed this work which will raise the visibility of the value and high relevancy of diverse-owned media to advertisers. Not only are we helping marketers, but we are also doubling down on the ANA's commitment to addressing the systemic inequalities in our industry."

The Cultural Insights Impact Measure (CIIM) from AIMM and partner company CIIMatters will provide further support to advertisers as they begin to increase investment in diverse-media entities.

"The investments in diverse-owned media that will yield the greatest ROI will be those that bring cultural relevancy to the networks' audiences," said Carlos Santiago, Co-Founder of AIMM. "By providing advertisers an understanding of the cultural value of minority owned media's programming, CIMM helps advertisers to connect with target segments via relevant programming, understanding both where to invest and how to target key audiences."

ANA AIMM continues to lead the industry towards more inclusive and culturally relevant practices. To get involved in ANA AIMM or learn more about the diverse-owned media collaboration and/or accessing the list, please visit https://www.anaaimm.net/.

To be considered for inclusion in the multicultural and inclusive-owned media list, please reach out to [email protected]. The special list offer consisting multicultural and inclusive minority owned media will be exclusive to ANA and AIMM members by subscription. More extensive tools for agencies and marketers may be accessible directly from Media Framework.

About the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM)

ANA's Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) was established in 2016 to provide corporations with viable solutions for growth by addressing opportunities in Multicultural and Inclusive marketing. AIMM comprises senior-level advertisers, media/publishers, research and data companies, agencies and trade organizations, to spotlight the missed growth potential in General, Hispanic, African American, Asian-American and LGBTQ markets. This extraordinary working group of industry leaders is transforming the way multicultural and inclusive marketing is seen and understood via an industry-wide reboot  the largest ever in this space. Beyond simply identifying where growth potential lies, AIMM shows its members (and the industry) how to best maximize this potential towards positive bottom-line impact. AIMM is the leading authority in the space.

About the Association of National Advertisers (ANA)

The ANA (Association of National Advertisers)'s mission is to drive growth for marketing professionals, for brands and businesses, and for the industry. Growth is foundational for all participants in the ecosystem. The ANA seeks to align those interests by leveraging the 12-point ANA Growth Agenda, which has been endorsed and embraced by the ANA Board of Directors and the Global CMO Growth Council. The ANA's membership consists of 1,400-plus domestic and international companies, including more than 900 client-side marketers and nonprofit fundraisers and 500 marketing solutions providers (data science and technology companies, ad agencies, publishers, media companies, suppliers, and vendors). Collectively, ANA member companies represent 20,000 brands, engage 50,000 industry professionals, and invest more than $400 billion in marketing and advertising annually.

About Nielsen

Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a leading global data and analytics company that provides a holistic and objective understanding of the media industry. With offerings spanning audience measurement, audience outcomes and content, Nielsen offers its clients and partners simple solutions to complex questions and optimizes the value of their investments and growth strategies. It is the only company that can offer de-duplicated cross-media audience measurement. Audience is EverythingTM to Nielsen and its clients, and Nielsen is committed to ensuring that every voice counts.

An S&P 500 company, Nielsen offers measurement and analytics service in nearly 60 countries. Learn more at www.nielsen.com or www.nielsen.com/investors and connect with us on twitter.com/Nielsen, linkedin.com/company/nielsen, facebook.com/Nielsen and instagram.com/lifeatnielsen.

About Media Framework

Media Framework facilitates advertising business intelligence for consumer media and diversity. Media Framework's MAVEN Diversity fuels media supplier diverse ownership and reporting for advertising agencies and marketers across 17 diverse categories for both certified and classified media companies.

Media Framework's MAVEN Diversity provides the most comprehensive business intelligence platform for agencies and brands to discover and build partnerships with diverse media companies. Building on more than a decade of diversity research and expertise, MAVEN's Diversity platform equips agencies and advertisers with the tools they need to effectively grow diverse spending to meet diversity goals. MAVEN was developed in 2008 in collaboration with the 4 largest holding companies and MAVEN Diversity was launched in 2012. Founder and CEO Kathleen Coffey began Media Framework in 1999 with Snapshots, a local market profiling service, and has evolved her business alongside the media landscape. She has over 30 years of experience in buying, selling, designing, managing, and utilizing media and market research.

About Cultural Insights Impact Measure (CIIM)

CIIM (Cultural Insights Impact Measure) is the industry-leading metric validating the incremental value of cultural relevance in ads and programming demonstrating that culture explains 40% of campaign' sales success and viewers' preference. Created in partnership with AIMM member companies, CIIM provides a guide for brands and content creators to benchmark their cultural journey progress. To date, over 600,000 evaluations across 350 shows and 1,200 ads by 400+ brands have been tested.

SOURCE ANAs Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM)
-Closes previously signed acquisition of dispensary in Carroll, OH

-Enters into definitive agreement to acquire dispensary in Coshocton, OH

NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Ascend Wellness Holdings, Inc. ("AWH" or the "Company") (CSE: AAWH.U) (OTCQX: AAWH), a leading multi-state, vertically integrated cannabis operator, today announced that it has:

Completed the acquisition of BCCO, LLC ("BCCO"), which operates a medical dispensary in Carroll, Ohio , and

, and Entered into definitive agreement to acquire Ohio Cannabis Clinic, LLC ("OCC"), which operates a medical dispensary in Coshocton, Ohio .

Management Commentary

"We are thrilled to officially expand our vertically integrated footprint in the rapidly maturing Ohio market," said Abner Kurtin, CEO and Chairman of AWH. "With adult-use legislation currently under consideration, now is an opportune time to scale our footprint while continuing to provide medical patients with the high-quality products and service they have come to expect from us. By investing in key regions ahead of regulatory events, we have positioned AWH for long-term, sustainable growth in the most attractive markets in the U.S." Kurtin added, "We remain focused on disciplined capital allocation and are proud to have completed these acquisitions at multiples that are significantly accretive on a forward-looking basis."

Current AWH Ohio Footprint

Carroll, OH medical dispensary, currently operating under the Ohio Provisions retail brand and is located approximately 25 miles southeast of Columbus .

medical dispensary, currently operating under the Ohio Provisions retail brand and is located approximately 25 miles southeast of . Coshocton, Ohio dispensary, which is pending close and currently operating under the Ohio Cannabis Company brand and is 77 miles northeast of Columbus .

dispensary, which is pending close and currently operating under the Ohio Cannabis Company brand and is 77 miles northeast of . Monroe, OH cultivation facility, which closed in May 2021 , and affords the Company the opportunity to expand cultivation capacity.

cultivation facility, which closed in , and affords the Company the opportunity to expand cultivation capacity. Monroe, OH processing facility, the Company previously entered into an agreement with Marichron Pharma, LLC and intends to submit the transaction for state approval once permitted to under state regulations.

processing facility, the Company previously entered into an agreement with Marichron Pharma, LLC and intends to submit the transaction for state approval once permitted to under state regulations. Together these assets provide the Company with cultivation, processing, and dispensary assets in the state. AWH intends to migrate both the Ohio Provisions and the Ohio Cannabis Company brands over to the AWH brand by year-end. Additionally, the Company continues to look to expand to the state imposed 5 dispensary cap limit.

Market & Rationale

Ohio is the seventh largest state in the U.S. with a population of approximately 11.8 million residents.

is the seventh largest state in the U.S. with a population of approximately 11.8 million residents. The medical cannabis program was legalized in 2016 and according to the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program, as of July 2021 , the market is made up of 53 operating dispensaries and 27 operating cultivators and the program allows for up to 40 processors.

, the market is made up of 53 operating dispensaries and 27 operating cultivators and the program allows for up to 40 processors. In 2020, the legal medical market in Ohio saw $200 million in sales and it is estimated to reach approximately $600 million in 2025 1 .

saw in sales and it is estimated to reach approximately in 2025 . Jefferies estimates that 2020 legal and illicit market sales reached approximately $2.7 billion , making Ohio the 3rd largest market that is only legalized for medical2.

1 8th Edition, The State of the Legal Cannabis Markets, Arcview Market Research (Published May 5, 2020) 2 "Initiate on US Cannabis: Generational Wealth Opportunity, Avg. Upside >100%", Jefferies, July 7, 2021.

About Ascend Wellness Holdings, Inc.

AWH is a vertically integrated operator with assets in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. AWH owns and operates state-of-the-art cultivation facilities, growing award winning strains and producing a curated selection of products. AWH produces and distributes Ozone branded products. For more information, visit www.awholdings.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes forward-looking information and statements, which may include, but are not limited to, information and statements regarding the plans, intentions, expectations, estimates, and beliefs of the Company. Words such as "expects", "continue", "will", "anticipates" and "intends" or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current projections and expectations about future events and financial trends, and on certain assumptions and analysis made by the Company in light of experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors management believes are appropriate.

Forward-looking information and statements involve and are subject to assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future events, results, performance, and achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information and statements herein. Such factors include, among others: the risks and uncertainties identified in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, and in the Company's other reports and filings with the applicable Canadian securities regulators and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Although the Company believes that any forward-looking information and statements herein are reasonable, in light of the use of assumptions and the significant risks and uncertainties inherent in such information and statements, there can be no assurance that any such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, and accordingly readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance upon such forward-looking information and statements. Any forward-looking information and statements herein are made as of the date hereof, and except as required by applicable laws, the Company assumes no obligation and disclaims any intention to update or revise any forward-looking information and statements herein or to update the reasons that actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in any forward looking information and statements herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release.

SOURCE Ascend Wellness Holdings, LLC

Related Links

https://awholdings.com/


CHICAGO, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Automotive Filters Market by Filter Type (Air, Fuel, Oil, Cabin, Coolant, Brake Dust, Oil Separator, Transmission, Steering, Dryer Cartridge, EMI/EMC, Coolant Particle), Air & Cabin Filter Media, Fuel & Vehicle Type, Aftermarket - Global Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Automotive Filters Market is estimated to grow from USD 19.5 billion in 2021 to USD 23.1 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 3.4% during the forecast period.

The increasing stringency of vehicle emission and fuel economy regulations are expected to drive the growth of the Automotive Filters Market. Additionally, the increasing vehicle production globally, particularly, countries such as China, India, etc. is expected to drive the demand for automotive filters.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Automotive Filters Market"

336  Tables

52  Figures

285  Pages

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=1270

"Particle to be the largest segment, by material type"

Particle is estimated to be the largest segment in the Automotive Filters Market. Particle cabin filters are very cost-effective compared to activated carbon and electrostatic cabin filters and offer above-average performance. Their low cost is one of the key factors for the growth of these filters, especially in price-sensitive countries such as India and China. Particle filters have a filter barrier made of a fully synthetic non-woven fabric. Synthetic fibers are not hygroscopic and, hence, water does not cause the cabin filters to deform. Such advantages are expected to result in steady growth for particle filters market soon.

"Passenger Car to be the fastest growing market for Automotive Filters Market, by vehicle type"

Passenger vehicles account for the largest share of environmental pollution caused by vehicles. Therefore, governments in several countries have implemented stringent pollution control norms for passenger vehicles. For instance, strict vehicular emission transition norms in India, such as BS 6, will ensure better treatment and filtration of exhaust gases. This will require the installation of more efficient filters, subsequently driving the market growth for filters in the passenger car segment.

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"North America is estimated to be the largest market for automotive filters aftermarket"

The North American automotive industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world and is dominated by domestic OEMs, such as Ford and General Motors, along with established European and Japanese OEMs. The US is home to leading aftermarket suppliers, such as Donaldson, ACDelco, and K&N Engineering, for automotive filters in the world. Hence, it can be inferred that the US is a matured aftermarket for automotive filters. The lack of adequate public transport and the wide geographical area of the country have compelled people to travel in their own vehicles. The average miles driven in the US is, therefore, higher as compared to other countries.

Mexico does not have stringent emission and fuel economy regulations like the US or Canada. However, there is a plan to harmonize the regulations with that of the US. This would generate demand for advanced filters like air and fuel filters in the aftermarket that will be compatible with the new emission regulations. Canada has signed a free trade agreement with the US and Mexico. This has strengthened the country's automotive industry and increased sales, thereby stimulating the demand for automotive filters in the aftermarket. Thus, the North American automotive filters are expected to witness a significant growth in the coming years.

The Automotive Filters Market is dominated by global players and comprises several regional players. The key players in the Automotive Filters Market are MANN+HUMMEL (Germany), MAHLE (Germany), Donaldson (US), Sogefi (Italy), and Robert Bosch (Germany).

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Brake System Market by Type (Disc, Drum), Technology (ABS, ESC, TCS, EBD), On & Off-Highway Vehicle (Passenger Car, LCV, HCV, Construction-Mining, Tractor), OHV Brake (Hydraulic Wet, Hydrostatic, Dynamic), Actuation and Region - Global Forecast to 2026

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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' 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.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Epiphany Dermatology, a leading dermatology company committed to improving access to exceptional dermatologic care, announced today it has expanded its presence into the state of Georgia through its partnership with Avail Dermatology.

Originally founded in 1990, Avail Dermatology has a long-established reputation of providing high-quality dermatology services to patients in the greater Atlanta area. Led by Mark Ling, MD, and Steven Marcet, MD, Avail Dermatology's provider team is dedicated to personalized and professional skin care across its four locations in Newnan, Peachtree City, Stockbridge, and Fayetteville.

Dr. Ling is a board-certified dermatologist who earned his medical degree at Duke University and completed his dermatology residency at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Marcet is a board-certified dermatologist who earned his medical degree at the University of South Florida and completed his dermatology residency at the University of Texas-Houston/MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is also a fellow of the American College of Mohs Surgery.

The Avail Dermatology team consists of six board-certified dermatologists and nine physician assistants  all of whom are focused on raising the level of care available to patients in the greater Atlanta area. Avail Dermatology offers a broad range of dermatology products and services including medical, surgical, Mohs surgery, and cosmetic dermatology services.

Drs. Ling and Marcet commented, "The Avail Dermatology providers and staff are excited to join Epiphany, which has proven itself to be a high-integrity company comprised of caring dermatologists. Epiphany's mission and values dovetail with what Avail's people believe in  providing excellent medical, surgical, and cosmetic dermatologic care for our patients. By forming this partnership with Epiphany, Avail gains access to best-in-class expertise in medical practice management, and partnership with the nearly 100 Epiphany dermatologists . We look forward to using our partnership to allow us to bring Avail's top-quality care to new communities across Georgia."

Gheorghe Pusta, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Epiphany said, "We are thrilled to welcome Drs. Ling and Marcet and their capable team, including board-certified dermatologists Drs. Jill Buckthal, Joseph Dyer, Wallace Nozile, and Mark Holzberg. Through our interactions with the Dr. Ling, Dr. Marcet, and their entire team, we have been impressed by their commitment to patients in the communities they serve  and doing it the right way. We are pleased to find a strong cultural alignment and determination to make exceptional patient care accessible. This is an exciting opportunity to expand our provider network and improve access to great dermatologic care in the Atlanta market and across Georgia."

Through this partnership, Avail Dermatology's providers and staff gain additional resources to help with operations, managed care, marketing, compliance, human resources, recruiting, IT, and many other support services. Epiphany also benefits from the clinical expertise of Avail Dermatology's physicians and team, as best practices are collaboratively shared across the Epiphany network.

About Epiphany Dermatology

Epiphany Dermatology is a rapidly expanding dermatology company, driven by a passion to improve access to high quality dermatologic care in a values-based manner. Through its partnership with leading dermatologists across 67 locations in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming, Epiphany provides general dermatology, skin cancer care, Mohs surgery, cosmetic services, and additional dermatologic services. Epiphany raises the standard of dermatologic care by making clinical excellence accessible to all patients, promptly and in a warm and inviting environment. Epiphany Dermatology is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more details, please visit www.epiphanydermatology.com or call (512) 628-0465.

Ted Emmert

Chief Development Officer

Epiphany Dermatology

(512) 628-0465

[email protected]

Gheorghe Pusta

Chief Executive Officer

Epiphany Dermatology

(512) 628-0465

[email protected]

SOURCE Epiphany Dermatology

Related Links

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CHICAGO, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL), a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm, is pleased to announce the sale of Mateo's Gourmet Salsa (Mateo's) to Sauer Brands, a portfolio company of Falfurrias Capital. BGL's Food & Beverage investment banking team served as the exclusive financial advisor to Mateo's in the transaction, which furthers BGL's expertise within branded specialty foods and the broader consumer packaged goods sector. The specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL), a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm, is pleased to announce the sale of Mateos Gourmet Salsa (Mateos) to Sauer Brands, a portfolio company of Falfurrias Capital. BGLs Food & Beverage investment banking team served as the exclusive financial advisor to Mateos in the transaction, which furthers BGLs expertise within branded specialty foods and the broader consumer packaged goods sector.

Mateo's was founded by Andrew Robbins in 2010 as a supplier of branded, better-for-you (BFY) gourmet salsa. Today, the company offers a diverse selection of salsas and drink mixes to the U.S. retail market. The Mateo's recipe for success starts with all-natural and gluten-free products and adds in intense flavors, resulting in a truly unique product offering. The company's core focus on the salsa category and high quality, proprietary recipes has proven successful; Mateo's has grown into one of the largest independent, shelf-stable salsa brands in the U.S. and consistently outperformed larger, well-capitalized strategic portfolios. In 2020, Mateo's recorded phenomenal sales growth that far exceeded the industry.

"I could not be happier with the outcome of this transaction," said Robbins. "The BGL team did an outstanding job understanding, positioning, and communicating the Mateo's brand to the market. Their strong relationships within the relevant buyer universe  along with their customized process  yielded the optimal result for me and my family. I thank them for all they have done."

BGL's Food & Beverage team, led by Daniel J. Gomez, has deep sector knowledge and extensive transaction experience representing companies across the entire food and beverage landscape. Coverage includes retail of both branded and private label products, global supply chain sourcing, processing, distribution, and wholesale.

About Brown Gibbons Lang & Company

Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) is a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm focused on the global middle market. The firm advises private and public corporations and private equity groups on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial restructurings, valuations and opinions, and other strategic matters. BGL has investment banking offices in Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia, and real estate offices in Chicago, Cleveland, and San Antonio. The firm is also a founding member of Global M&A Partners, enabling BGL to service clients in more than 30 countries around the world. Securities transactions are conducted through Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Company Securities, Inc., an affiliate of Brown Gibbons Lang & Company LLC and a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information, please visit www.bglco.com.

SOURCE Brown Gibbons Lang & Company

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CHICAGO, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Biosimilars Market by Product (Monoclonal antibodies (infliximab, rituximab, trastuzumab), Insulin, Interferon, Etanercept, Glucagon, Calcitonin), Indication (Oncology, Chronic Disease, Blood Disorder, Autoimmune Disease), Region - Global Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global market is projected to reach USD 44.7 billion by 2026 from USD 15.6 billion in 2021, at a CAGR of 23.5% during the forecast period of 2021 to 2026.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Biosimilars Market"

137  Tables

46  Figures

253  Pages

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The Market growth is largely driven by the rising incidence of chronic diseases and increasing demand of biosimilars for their cost-effectiveness. Regulatory approvals and other regulations favouring biosimilars adoption in different countries is also a major driving factor in the biosimilars market. However, the complexities in the development and manufacturing of biosimilars and resistance from reference biologic manufacturers is expected to restrain the growth of this market during the forecast period.

The monoclonal antibodies segment accounted for the largest share of the product segment in the biosimilars market in 2020.

Based on the product, the market is segmented into monoclonal antibodies, insulin, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, erythropoietin, recombinant human growth hormone, etanercept, follitropin, teriparatide, interferons, enoxaparin sodium, glucagon and calcitonin. The monoclonal antibodies product segment accounted for the largest share of around 27.5%. This segment is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Monoclonal antibodies and Insulin are seen to be the leading segments with respect to the growth rate during the forecast period as a result of wide applications of monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of cancer, autoimmune disorders and osteoporosis, and rising incidents of insulin dependent diabetes globally and increasing demand for cost-effective treatment options.

The oncology segment accounted for the largest share of the indication segment in the biosimilars market in 2020

Based on the indication, the market is segmented into oncology, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases; chronic diseases, blood disorders; growth hormone deficiency; infectious diseases and other indications (infertility, hypoglycemia, myocardial infarction, postmenopausal osteoporosis, chronic kidney failure, and ophthalmic diseases). Oncology accounted for the largest share of the market in 2020. Cancer is a major burden on healthcare systems across the globe. The availability of biosimilars in the field of oncology has lowered prices and made cancer treatment more affordable and accessible. Combined with the rising incidences of cancer, the demand for biosimilars used in oncologic treatments is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

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The Asia Pacific region is the fastest-growing region of the biosimilars market in 2020.

Based on the region, the market is broadly segmented into Europe, the Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America and Middle East and Africa. Europe is the largest regional market for biosimilars, with an estimated share of around 38% in 2020; the Asia Pacific is the second-largest regional market with a share of around 30%. Growth in these markets is primarily driven by several factors, such as the impending patent expiry of biologic products and the launch of new biosimilars, the rising incidence of chronic disorders, the emergence of new players and early entry into the market. However, the Asia Pacific market is projected to register the highest growth during the forecast period due to the presence of many emerging players, less-stringent regulations, and increasing cooperation among leading and regional players for development, manufacture and commercialization of biosimilars.

Key players in the biosimilars market include Novartis AG (Switzerland), Pfizer, Inc. (US), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. (India), Amgen, Inc. (US) and Eli Lilly and Company (US).

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https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/womens-health-care-market-136585329.html

Recombinant Proteins Market by Product (Growth Factors, Chemokines, Structural Proteins, Membrane Proteins), Application (Drug Discovery & Development, Academic Research), End User (Biotechnology Companies, CROs) - Global Forecast to 2026

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/recombinant-proteins-market-70095015.html

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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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MarketsandMarkets INC.

630 Dundee Road

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Northbrook, IL 60062

USA: +1-888-600-6441

Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
LONDON and AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Prism (AIM: PRSM), a global leader in intelligent automation, today announced that Everest Group, a leading research firm, has named it a Leader in its "Robotic Process Automation Products PEAK Matrix Assessment 2021." This recognition comes at a time when digital transformation is more important than ever as businesses rely on intelligent automation technologies to meet critical business goals at scale and speed.

Everest Group's "Robotic Process Automation Products PEAK Matrix Assessment 2021" includes 23 providers within the RPA industry. The report includes PEAK Matrix, which classifies RPA providers into Leaders, Major Contenders, and Aspirants. Leaders have demonstrated high overall market impact and strong vision & capability to respond to the amplified demand for a holistic intelligent automation solution.

"While continuing to strengthen its traditional expertise in security and governance, customer support and training, and unattended automation, Blue Prism has increased its investments in improving its product's ease of use, enabling a holistic automation solution, and modernizing its product architecture," said Amardeep Modi, vice president at Everest Group. "These factors along with a large and growing client and revenue base contributed to its position as a Leader on the RPA Products PEAK Matrix 2021."

Within the PEAK Matrix, Blue Prism was noted for several strengths, which included:

Acknowledgement and praise from customers for Blue Prism's core platform functionalities; its ease of use, reusability, and scalability. Customers have also noted product training, customer support and the Blue Prism Community as key strengths.

Blue Prism's rich experience of providing RPA across geographies and industry verticals.

Blue Prism's focus on driving faster time to value by helping businesses identify new use cases for automation and continuous expansion of its automation marketplace, the Blue Prism Digital Exchange, that provides reusable automation assets and pre-built integrations with a wide variety of technologies.

Pioneering enterprise scale automation means that Blue Prism provides a robust and secure platform for businesses to extend intelligent automation and drive digital transformation throughout the organization. A renewed focus on product development and orchestration is moving customers away from single process automation to wider adoption, providing them with the platform for building operating systems of the future in which a blend of human and digital workers provide the speed and agility needed to compete in ever changing economic environments.

"Being positioned as a Leader in Everest Group's PEAK Matrix demonstrates Blue Prism's ongoing commitment to create successful intelligent automation outcomes for our loyal customers who recognize the quality of our platform and our efforts to support them at every step of their journey." said Jason Kingdon, chairman & chief executive officer of Blue Prism. More than any other vendor, our rich experience in the enterprise sector and our extended partner ecosystem is helping organizations to reimagine the way they operate, with a digital first mindset that enriches human effort and enables them to remain agile and competitive."

Notes to editors:

About Blue Prism

Blue Prism is a global leader in enterprise robotic process automation (RPA) and intelligent automation, transforming the way work is done. We have over 2,000 customers in over 170 countries and 70 industry verticals, 30% in the Forbes Global 2,000, creating value with new ways of working by unlocking efficiencies and returning millions of hours of work back into their businesses. Our enterprise digital robots offer high-scale automation that is secure, smart, accessible to all, enabling centrally managed human and digital workforces of the future and freeing up humans to re-imagine work. To learn more visit www.blueprism.com and follow us on Twitter @blue_prism and on LinkedIn.

 2021 Blue Prism Limited. "Blue Prism", the "Blue Prism" logo and Prism device are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Blue Prism Limited and its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.

SOURCE Blue Prism

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http://blueprism.com/


CHARLESTON, S.C., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- More private schools in North Carolina are turning to BOX Pure Air for indoor air solutions, this time with an emphasis on large spaces. The latest deal comes from Greenfield School, ordering numerous units including multiple Apex 2.0 units.

Government funding for private schools in North Carolina has increased spending on COVID-19 prevention which includes air purification units. As BOX Pure Air sales increase in North Carolina, it comes as no surprise that private schools like Greenfield are looking to take advantage of this opportunity.

Ryan Cowell, CEO of BOX Pure Air, commented on the recent success with private schools. "Private schools often look for custom solutions involving different size units for both classrooms and larger spaces," Cowell says, "Being able to offer Peak units for smaller rooms as well as the Apex 2.0 for their gymnasiums or auditoriums makes things more convenient for the school staff and provides us with a competitive advantage."

The offering of the Apex 2.0 is crucial, and is unlike any other unit being sold to schools right now. It is a professional-grade unit capable of purifying up to 4,500 sq ft, and is priced far lower than any other unit with comparable power and ease of transportation. Schools are finding it to be especially useful for larger areas where proper ventilation is difficult to attain and enforcing masks social distancing guidelines can be a challenge.

In addition to the aforementioned benefits, fleet management capabilities have become another selling point for private schools wanting insight into their network of units. Being able to remotely schedule run-times and control fan speed is critical, but insights including temperature, CO2 levels, and notice of when filters need to be changed are especially useful for larger schools. As schools realize they will need units in more than just their classrooms, we expect fleet management to become an increasingly common add-on to school orders.

More private school orders will continue to roll in as we head into the fall and winter seasons. Colder weather will reduce a school's ability to have large gatherings such as lunch or gym class outdoors, and closing windows will reduce the amount of natural ventilation fresh air can provide. With this in mind, BOX Pure Air will continue to work with schools to provide an additional layer of protection against all unwanted airborne particles.

About BOX Pure Air LLC.

BOX Pure Air strives to provide the best products to help clean air through the deployment of high-efficiency air purification technologies. Learn more at www.boxpureair.com

Contact Information

[email protected]

(843) 936-6649

SOURCE Box Pure Air
Also present at the event were Indonesian State-Owned Enterprise (SOEs) Minister, Erick Thohir; SOEs Deputy Minister II, Kartika Wirdjoatmodjo; OJK Capital Market Supervision's Chief Executive, Hoesen; IDX President Director, Inarno Djajadi; BRI Vice President Director and Head of PMO (Project Management Office), Catur Budi Harto; and the President Director of Pegadaian, Koeswiyoto.

"This has been an historic achievement as BRI's rights issue now becomes the largest in Southeast Asia, ranked third in Asia, and ranked seventh worldwide, providing more investment opportunities for capital market in Indonesia," said Sunarso.

The Indonesia's SOEs Minister, Erick Thohir, also praised BRI for the outstanding result during this turbulence situation. "MSMEs now contribute to around 60% of economy in Indonesia. Through the establishment of Ultra Micro Holding (UMi), we will help ultra-micro players with easier access to funds, assistance, and access to scale up," said Thohir.

With this rights issue's result, shareholders can maintain the ownership of above 40%, that aligns to BRI's target. "This also reflects their confidence in our vision to provide financial inclusion, while securing growth in microsegments to create more values for all shareholders. Along with UMi, BRI will bring millions of ultra-micro business players to scale up and make positive contributions to stakeholders and the national economy," added Sunarso.

OJK Capital Market Supervision's Chief Executive, Hoesen, pointed how the rights issue's result has answered widespread doubts from many investors about the economic growth in Indonesia. "In the future, our economy will rely more on MSMEs growth. As most Indonesian people focus on everyday life to make a living, we at OJK are confident that these MSME sectors will continue to grow," said Hoesen.

Since first entered LQ45 in 2005, BRI has garnered the largest market capitalization in Indonesia, with the most active stocks traded based on value. "With outstanding performances and potential growth with UMi, BRI shares can certainly increase new optimism from investors," concluded IDX President Director, Inarno Djajadi.

SOURCE PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BRI)
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Carolinas AGC (CAGC) is pleased to announce we were among a small group of AGC chapters from across the country honored with 2021 Chapter Awards at the 2021 AGC National and Chapter Leadership Conference, which took place September 19-20 in Orlando, Florida. Carolinas AGC was awarded two of the seven awards, the only chapter of 89 chapters nationwide to earn more than one award. The AGC of America Chapter Awards recognizes chapters that have developed outstanding programming and excelled at achieving tangible accomplishments during the calendar year.

Honors included the Chapter Public Relations Award for our efforts to support the Construction Industry through a $3.75M Construction Pandemic Mitigation and Education Grant from the North Carolina General Assembly, as well as the Chapter Workforce Development Award for our 2020 workforce development efforts.

Chapter Public Relations Award: Through listening sessions with our members and other groups representing the construction industry, CAGC learned of the challenge many construction businesses, particularly small and minority owned companies, were having with financing pandemic mitigation efforts. Although some businesses were able to get financial assistance with PPP loans, many were left out of this process and needed help with considerable unbudgeted costs such as buying PPE for their workers and cleaning equipment for their jobsites. Through a grant funded by the state legislature, CAGC was awarded $3.75 million for construction pandemic mitigation and education outreach from the state's share of the federal CARES Act funding. $3.0 million was used to make subgrants to businesses, non-profits and other eligible groups for mitigation efforts related to health and safety measures, and the additional $750,000 was used to make subgrants to media organizations, businesses and non-profits for multilingual education, training, and community outreach programs.

Chapter Workforce Development Award: The Carolinas AGC Foundation recognized the key to building a successful comprehensive workforce development initiative needed to be deeply rooted in effectively mapping out a strategic plan of action designed to address the most critical needs of our industryrecruiting, training and retaining a sustainable workforce. To build upon CAGC's Build Your Career (BYC) program, CAGC implemented additional robust programs in 2020, a sampling includes:

Updating the BYC website (www.buildyourcareer.us) to include a skills assessment quiz; career pathway information; a listing of construction-related training and curriculum offerings throughout the Carolinas; a new educational video series Building Your 21 st Century Construction Career ; a fully loaded resource toolkit for Ambassadors and educators; school visit request forms; information on registered pre-apprenticeship programs; a jobs posting board, and more.

; a fully loaded resource toolkit for Ambassadors and educators; school visit request forms; information on registered pre-apprenticeship programs; a jobs posting board, and more. Creating a comprehensive construction education video series for our Ambassadors to use during virtual or live Careers-in-Construction school visits.

school visits. Partnering with the NC K-12 system and Wake County Educational system to produce a construction-themed SummerSTEM workshop for nearly 100 educators.

Creating a customizable teacher externship program template for virtual or live use.

Creating an original content Workforce Development CE elective course for the NC Licensing Board for General Contractors titled Ways to Create, Retain & Sustain a Viable Workforce.

For more information on the CAGC grant or our Workforce Development programs, please contact Betsy Bailey, CAGC Director of NC Government Relations & Building Division at [email protected].

About Carolinas AGC

Carolinas AGC (CAGC) is a construction trade association made up of contractors and construction-related firms that perform work in North Carolina and South Carolina. CAGC is a chapter of the AGC of America (AGC) and the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). Our members are both small and large general contractors, specialty contractors, material/equipment suppliers, and service providers.

SOURCE Carolinas AGC

Related Links

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"Mind-blowing adventure and heart-stopping thrills!"- Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Tweet this

King launches his tale by sending "you" in search of your wacky Grandma Dolores shortly after your family arrives in Wisconsin from southern Florida. You are discussing where your grandmother has gone with your new friends when an innocent hop on the Inn's kiddie ride sends you back in time to the Mesozoic Era when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. This is when you realize your Grandma is one of the world's foremost time travel researchers. And it's up to you and your friends to travel through time and space (and the multiverse!) to find her.

Advance Praise for Time Travel Inn:

"Mind-blowing adventure and heart-stopping thrills!"

- Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid

"I ended up reading every twisty turn just to make sure I hadn't missed any.

- Tina Connolly, Hugo-nominated author of Seriously Wicked

"To have a thrilling, mind-bending adventure, turn to Page 1 of Time Travel Inn."

- Dale E. Basye, author of The Circles of Heck series

" This fun-filled journey will delight kids of all ages. Walk the plank, and if you're lucky, unlock the secrets of the past that will transform your future.

- Kate Ristau, author of Clockbreakers

Time Travel Inn is available wherever great literature for children is sold.

About Chooseco



Chooseco is a purpose-built publisher who relaunched the groundbreaking Choose Your Own Adventure series of interactive gamebooks in 2006. Since then, Chooseco has sold over 15 million copies of bestselling, original, and all-new books, translated into 40 languages. Over 270 million books are in print worldwide.

www.cyoa.com

About Bart King

Bart King is a longtime middle school teacher who has written over 25 books; his projects include Bad Dad Jokes: That's How Eye Roll, The Pocket Guide to Mischief, and the science-fiction adventure The Drake Equation (Disney Hyperion). Oh, and he likes turtles.

www.bartking.net

Contact:

Dottie Greene

802-496-2595

[email protected]

SOURCE Chooseco

Related Links

http://www.chooseco.com


ZURICH, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb Limited (NYSE: CB) will hold its third quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday, October 27, 2021, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

The company expects to issue its third quarter earnings release and financial supplement after the market closes on Tuesday, October 26, 2021. These documents will be available on the company's investor website at investors.chubb.com.

The earnings conference call will be available via live webcast at investors.chubb.com or by dialing 888-394-8218 (within the United States) or 323-794-2588 (international), passcode 8805396. Please refer to the Chubb website under Events and Presentations for details. A replay of the call will be available until Wednesday, November 10, 2021, and the archived webcast will be available on our website for approximately one month. To listen to the replay, please click here to register and receive dial-in numbers.

About Chubb

Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries and territories, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London, Paris and other locations, and employs approximately 31,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: www.chubb.com.

SOURCE Chubb Limited

Related Links

http://www.chubb.com


JACKSON, Mich., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS) ("CMS") today announced the close of its previously announced sale of home improvement point-of-sale lender EnerBank USA ("EnerBank") to Regions Bank, a subsidiary of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF) ("Regions"). Estimated proceeds from the transaction, which include customary adjustments at closing, are approximately $1 billion and will be used to fund key initiatives in CMS' core utility businesses.

"EnerBank has been a valued part of the CMS Energy family for nearly two decades." said Rejji Hayes, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of CMS Energy and former Chairman of the Board of EnerBank. "They have delivered consistently for all stakeholders and we look forward to their continued success with Regions."

"The addition of EnerBank's exceptional team and leading-edge technology will help Regions Bank deliver even greater value to customers who are seeking convenient, competitive solutions for efficiently financing home improvement needs," added Scott Peters, Senior Executive Vice President and head of the Consumer Banking Group for Regions Bank. "We appreciate the collaboration of the CMS Energy team, and we are proud to welcome our new EnerBank colleagues."

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as CMS Energy's financial advisor. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP served as the legal advisor.

CMS Energy is a Michigan-based energy provider featuring Consumers Energy as its primary business. It also owns and operates independent power generation businesses.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This news release contains, and certain oral statements made by our representatives from time to time may contain, forward-looking statements regarding the merger of EnerBank and Regions and our expectations regarding such merger and building shareholder value. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as, but not limited to, "estimates," "might," "may," "could," "should," "anticipates," "believes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "forecasts," "predicts," "assumes," and similar expressions. All forward-looking statements (a) involve risks, assumptions, uncertainties and factors, many of which are outside of CMS Energy's and its affiliates' control and are subject to change and (b) speak only as of the date made, and unless legally required, CMS Energy and its affiliates undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. CMS Energy's actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements due to a variety of important factors, both positive and negative, that may be revised or supplemented in subsequent statements and reports filed by CMS Energy or its affiliates with the SEC, including in reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K. The risks and other important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC, and our other reports filed with the SEC, could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this news release.

Investors and others should note that CMS Energy routinely posts important information on its website and considers the Investor Relations section, www.cmsenergy.com/investor-relations, a channel of distribution.

For more information on CMS Energy, please visit our website at cmsenergy.com.

To sign up for email alert notifications, please visit the Investor Relations section of our website.

Check out Consumers Energy on Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/consumersenergymichigan

Twitter: https://twitter.com/consumersenergy

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/consumersenergy

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consumersenergy



SOURCE CMS Energy

Related Links

http://www.cmsenergy.com


As well as enjoying the fabulous food and drink created by the Guastavino's team, guests will be able to bid on a selection of exclusive Auction items using BSV tokens, including:

Create your own NFT. A live artist installation where guests have their own sketch created by one of three up-and-coming artists. They will be created digitally at the event and minted into an NFT on the spot

Digital NFTs created with celebrities

An exclusive Franck Muller Watch

A Limited-Edition Champagne Magnum bottle donated by BSAV.io

Items from Bullish Art

Showcase of work from artist Nicola Dana

Guests will be airdropped BSV Tokens into their MoneyButton wallet that will allow them to bid on and win auction items. The proceeds of the event will go the American Heart Association - HEART.ORG

The evening will also include wine tasting with Carrie Lyn Strong, sommelier, educator and founder of Strong Wine Consulting, plus live art created at the event by Nicola Dana.

Adrian Grenier said: "I am really interested in continuing to learn as much as I can about the utility of blockchain and how it can be used. The peer-to-peer element of it particularly appeals to me  the sense of ownership and control that comes with that, and taking power away from centralized authorities so individuals can manage their own finances safely and effectively. I am looking forward to increasing my understanding of BSV and blockchain at the CoinGeek Conference."

Emily Ratajkowski said: "I'm interested in the NFT space as someone who has traditionally been unable to have ownership over my likeness."

*Guastavino's is a landmark New York venue located on East 59th Street, under the Queensboro Bridge.

About 8th CoinGeek Conference  taking place Oct 5-7, Sheraton Times Square:

CoinGeek Conference is a forward thinking blockchain conference focused on promoting actual use of Bitcoin, not as a speculative trading asset  but as a data protocol and distributed data network, and scalable technology platform (like IP protocol is for the Internet). This conference focuses primarily on the technological capabilities of the Bitcoin SV (BSV) blockchain  which follows the original Bitcoin protocol created by Dr. Craig S. Wright (who is the US Copyright holder of and author of the Bitcoin White Paper).

SOURCE CoinGeek Conference
NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ColorComm, Inc., the nation's leading platform addressing diversity & inclusion across the communications, marketing, advertising, and media industries celebrates the 10 year anniversary of the company with a private luncheon at the Michelin star restaurant, The Daniel on the Upper Eastside in New York on Friday, October 1.

The luncheon is bringing together Fortune 500 executives, media personalities, celebrities, thought leaders, ColorComm's Board Members, and key leaders in the ColorComm Community. Co- Host of ABC's The View and EGOT Winner, Whoopi Goldberg will be returning to ColorComm as keynote speaker. Rashida Jones, President, MSNBC and previous honoree of The ColorComm28 will offer brief remarks.

"ColorComm started as luncheon series in 2011 to provide economic opportunity and advancement to women of color working in the business of communications, marketing, advertising, and digital. Over the past decade, ColorComm has become a collective and powerful force to yield measurable outcomes on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the communications industry and beyond," said ColorComm Founder Lauren Wesley Wilson. "We are grateful to the full ColorComm community, as together we make ColorComm a community we can all be proud of," said Wilson.

The restaurant will be closed to the public and vaccination is required to enter the venue.

For More information visit:

ColorComm Network Membership: www.colorcommnetwork.com

ColorComm Search Jobs Platform: www.colorcommsearch.com

ColorComm Merchandise: www.colorcommshop.com

SOURCE ColorComm, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.colorcommnetwork.com


COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- During National Primary Care Week, Oct. 4-8, seven Columbus doctors will be honored as "Best Physicians" for providing exemplary health care to their senior patients. Julie Colella, M.D., Laurie Gossard M.D., Monika Patel M.D., John Ryan M.D., Lisa Mewhort, M.D. and Matt Skomorowski, M.D., Central Ohio Primary Care (COPC), were chosen out of a network of more than 1,000 independent primary care physicians nationwide for helping to improve the lives of their senior patients.

A total of 32 physicians were selected as winners by medical directors at agilon health, a company transforming health care for seniors by empowering primary-care physicians to focus on the entire health of their patients. The criteria for selection included how frequently they met with patients, how much time spent with those who are chronically ill and their efforts to keep patients out of hospitals and emergency rooms.

"These exceptional physicians are really making a significant difference in the lives of their senior patients," said Ben Kornitzer, M.D., chief medical and quality officer at agilon health. "We believe the movement to value-based care like that embraced by these physicians, is a fundamental part of the solution."

Value-based care is a healthcare delivery model that puts doctors in the "driver seat" of patient health outcomes. Also known as advanced primary care or coordinated care, doctors are rewarded for preventing and managing chronic diseases and helping patients improve their health.

Studies have shown a significant relationship between the investment in primary care services and improved efficiency with better patient outcomes. Still, a concerning trend documented by the Primary Care Collaborative shows the decline in funding allocated to primary care services nationwide. This comes at a time when the nation's senior population is rising and there is an even greater need for primary care physicians.

National Primary Care Week highlights the importance of primary care in the U.S. healthcare system.

Physician founded and led since 1996, Central Ohio Primary Care is a leading healthcare organization committed to delivering the highest quality primary care. With 84 practice locations and over 470 physician partners, COPC is the largest independent, physician-owned primary care group in the country.

For more information about agilon health, visit www.agilonhealth.com and connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, Linked in and YouTube.

SOURCE Central Ohio Primary Care
CLEVELAND, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- McDonald Hopkins is proud to announce the election of attorneys Karina Conley, John Gambill, Joseph Muska and Jake Weinberg to the firm's membership.

"Karina, John, Joe and Jake are all outstanding attorneys and I am pleased they have been elected to join the firm's membership," said Shawn Riley, president of McDonald Hopkins. "All four exemplify our core values and each possess the qualities and expertise in their area of practice that our clients expect of us. Our people and culture are key drivers to our success, and we look forward to the quality they will continue to bring to our firm in the years ahead."

Conley, who is based in McDonald Hopkins' Cleveland office, is a member of the Litigation Department and Labor and Employment Practice Group. Gambill, who is a resident in the firm's Columbus office, is a member of the Litigation Department and Construction team. Muska, who is based in McDonald Hopkins' Cleveland office, is a member of the Litigation Department. Weinberg, who is also in Cleveland, serves in the Business Department and Commercial Finance Practice Group.

Karina Conley's experience includes representing employers and management in a variety of labor and employment and workplace injury matters, including but not limited to claims of discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation, issues involving the Family Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, National Labor Relations Act, False Claims Act, Title IX, and both federal and state wage and hour statutes. She has been involved in defending matters in both state and federal court and before the EEOC, Ohio Civil Rights Commission, Department of Labor, and other administrative bodies. Conley also regularly advises employers on issues involving employment law compliance and policy development. Prior to joining McDonald Hopkins, Conley was an associate at a national employment law firm. Conley is licensed to practice law in both Ohio and West Virginia.

John Gambill is an attorney in McDonald Hopkins' Construction Law Practice Group. John came to the firm in May 2017 after five years with his own firm in Portsmouth, Ohio, and primarily focuses his practice on construction law. He represents contractors and project owners in front-end construction contract negotiations, as well as claims arising out of commercial construction projects of all sizes in both arbitration and litigation proceedings. John has litigated cases from inception to conclusion at the trial court and throughout the appellate process, including arguing a complex contractual issue before the Ohio Supreme Court. Although he has extensive experience in civil litigation and focuses his practice on construction law related issues, John also has considerable experience helping businesses with legal matters outside the courtroom and works with the firm's attorneys in other practice areas to make sure that his clients receive the specialized legal guidance that they require.

Joseph Muska brings a committed passion, yet practical approach, to successfully resolving disputes for clients both inside and outside of the courtroom. He actively listens to clients and helps them evaluate their goals to provide the most direct and cost-effective means to achieve client-driven results. Muska prides himself in providing exceptional legal representation in every case, developing and implementing innovative strategies, formulating value-added solutions, and finding opportunities to minimize future risks. He also draws on experience from his temporary in-house counsel role for a publicly-traded Fortune 500 company.

Muska maintains a diverse practice representing both public and private entities and individuals throughout Ohio in federal and state courts. He represents and advises clients in connection with business and commercial litigation matters, such as contract, commercial landlord-tenant, securities, and uniform commercial code and warranty disputes. He also represents clients in estate and trust litigation matters, including will contests and other trust disputes or breaches of fiduciary duties. In addition to his business litigation and trial experience, Muska also has experience in representing natural gas distribution and transmission companies in civil litigation, including lawsuits involving fires and explosions, natural gas leaks, personal injury claims, and real and personal property damages. Muska's appellate practice covers every aspect of the appellate process from briefing to oral argument.

Jake Weinberg focuses his practice on commercial finance and general business counseling. Weinberg has experience assisting in the representation of national and local lenders and borrowers in a variety of transactions including: asset-based finance transactions; syndicated loan transactions; structured and mezzanine finance transactions; floor plan lending; ESOP loans; Export-Import Bank loans; and real estate acquisition, development and construction loan transactions. Prior to joining McDonald Hopkins, Weinberg served as a law clerk for the Honorable Scott M. Bernstein of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida and participated in our Summer Associate Program. He is licensed to practice law in Florida and Ohio.

About McDonald Hopkins

Founded in 1930, McDonald Hopkins is a business advisory and advocacy law firm with locations in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, and West Palm Beach. With more than 50 service and industry teams, the firm has the expertise and knowledge to meet the growing number of legal and business challenges our clients face. For more information about McDonald Hopkins, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com.

CONTACT:

David Carducci

McDonald Hopkins LLC

600 Superior Avenue, East, Suite 2100

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Phone: 216.348.5814

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE McDonald Hopkins

Related Links

http://www.mcdonaldhopkins.com


OKLAHOMA CITY, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE: CLR) (the "Company") plans to announce third quarter 2021 results on Monday, November 1, 2021 after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The Company plans to host a conference call to discuss third quarter 2021 results on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. CT). Those wishing to listen to the conference call may do so via the Company's website at www.CLR.com or by phone:

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/95419/continental_resources_logo.jpg

Time and date: 12:00 p.m. ET, Tuesday, November 2, 2021 Dial-in: 1-888-317-6003 Intl. dial-in: 1-412-317-6061 Conference ID: 8481323

A replay of the call will be available for 14 days on the Company's website or by dialing:

Replay number: 1-877-344-7529 Intl. replay: 1-412-317-0088 Conference ID: 10160546

The Company plans to publish a third quarter 2021 summary presentation to its website at www.CLR.com prior to the start of its conference call on Tuesday, November 2, 2021.

About Continental Resources

Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) is a top 10 independent oil producer in the U.S. and a leader in America's energy renaissance. Based in Oklahoma City, Continental is the largest leaseholder and the largest producer in the nation's premier oil field, the Bakken play of North Dakota and Montana. The Company has significant positions in Oklahoma, including its SCOOP Woodford and SCOOP Springer discoveries and the STACK play. The Company also has a newly acquired position in the Powder River Basin play of Wyoming. With a focus on the exploration and production of oil, Continental has unlocked the technology and resources vital to American energy independence and our nation's leadership in the new world oil market. In 2021, the Company will celebrate 54 years of operations. For more information, please visit www.CLR.com.

Investor Contacts: Media Contact: Rory Sabino Kristin Thomas Vice President, Investor Relations Senior Vice President, Public Relations 405-234-9620 405-234-9480 [email protected] [email protected].com



Lucy Spaay

Investor Relations Analyst

405-774-5878

[email protected]



SOURCE Continental Resources

Related Links

http://www.clr.com


"Compared with Hong Kong, the mainland features a larger space with diverse industries that can broaden my horizon. That's what attracted me most," the 25-year-old told Beijing Review.

He has been working in Shenzhen for almost two years now, at a hi-tech company focusing on machine vision in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub (E Hub) located in Qianhai, just across a bay from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).

E Hub-based businesses can enjoy a rent discount and other subsidies from both the Shenzhen government and the hub's authority, Lo explained. Four years after settling there, BMTek, where Lo works, has gone through a growth spurt. Its staff has grown from a mere seven members to more than 100.

E Hub is part of a plan for advancing the reform and opening up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone issued by China's central authorities in early September. The plan expands the area of the Qianhai zone by eight times, from 14.92 square km to 120 square km.

Similarly, a plan for the creation of a Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone in Hengqin was issued in the same month.

Together, the two plans provide a broader, more convenient and higher-quality environment for residents of the mainland and both SARs to live, invest and work in, said Leung Chun-ying, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top political advisory body, at an online seminar on September 13.

They also make it easier for enterprises in Hong Kong and Macao to explore the vast array of opportunities on the mainland and beyond, Leung added.

The Qianhai plan gives full rein to Hong Kong's long-held advantages in high-end professional services, while enabling the Qianhai zone to play a greater role, Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR Carrie Lam said.

Rather than getting embroiled in competition for resources, Qianhai and Hong Kong will forge a mutually beneficial relationship, Wu Sikang, Director of the Shenzhen Municipal Government's Development Research Center, said.

Like Qianhai, Hengqin, too, banks on its geographical advantage to promote regional cooperation. The Hengqin Island in Zhuhai is adjacent to Macao, with the closest points between the two no more than 200 meters apart, and is also not far from Hong Kong.

Hengqin covers an area of 106 square km, over three times the size of Macao. The Hengqin plan aims to help Macao cultivate a more diversified economy and leverage its advantages in industries such as health, modern finance, hi-tech, exhibitions, trade, culture and sports.

"Industries and businesses that boost employment are what we want," said Cong Liang, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation's top economic regulator.

According to the plan, young professionals from Macao who start their own businesses or are employed in innovative enterprises in Hengqin will be able to enjoy supporting policies from both Macao and Guangdong. Further measures to encourage businesses in the cooperation zone to recruit young talent from the SAR are in the pipeline.

With a population of more than 80 million, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, consisting of two SARs and nine Guangdong cities, covers an area of 56,000 square km, about three times that of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Regional cooperation has made the daily life of residents in the Greater Bay Area more convenient. For example, a new port of entry, with a designed capacity for handling 222,000 daily passenger crossings, has greatly eased travel between Zhuhai and Macao.

Guangdong will continue to improve services for Hong Kong and Macao entrepreneurs, said Lin Keqing, Executive Vice Governor of Guangdong. Also, a range of competitions and internship programs will be launched to help them familiarize with the real world of business on the mainland.

SOURCE Beijing Review
VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (TSX: CMMC) (ASX: C6C) (the "Company" or "Copper Mountain") will be hosting a conference call on Monday, November 1, 2021 at 7:30 am (Pacific Time) for senior management to discuss its third quarter 2021 results. The Company will be releasing its third quarter 2021 financial and operating results before markets open on Monday, November 1, 2021.

Dial-in information:

Toronto and international: 1 (416) 764 8650

North America (toll-free): 1 (888) 664 6383

Webcast: https://produceredition.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1501080&tp_key=fd3437f8d3

Replay information:

Toronto and international: 1 (416) 764 8677, Passcode: 436750#

North America (toll-free): 1 (888) 390 0541, Passcode: 436750#

The conference call replay will be available until 8:59 pm (Pacific Time) on November 15, 2021. An archive of the audio webcast will also be available on the company's website at http://www.cumtn.com.

About Copper Mountain Mining Corporation

Copper Mountain's flagship asset is the 75% owned Copper Mountain Mine located in southern British Columbia near the town of Princeton. The Copper Mountain Mine currently produces approximately 100 million pounds of copper equivalent per year, with average annual production expected to increase to approximately 140 million pounds of copper equivalent. Copper Mountain also has the development-stage Eva Copper Project in Queensland, Australia and an extensive 2,100 km2 highly prospective land package in the Mount Isa area. Copper Mountain trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "CMMC" and Australian Stock Exchange under the symbol "C6C".

Additional information is available on the Company's web page at http://cumtn.com/.

On behalf of the Board of

COPPER MOUNTAIN MINING CORPORATION

"Gil Clausen"

Gil Clausen, P.Eng.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Website: www.CuMtn.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance and opportunities to differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include the successful exploration of the Company's properties in Canada and Australia, the reliability of the historical data referenced in this press release and risks set out in Copper Mountain's public documents, including in each management discussion and analysis, filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although Copper Mountain believes that the information and assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, Copper Mountain disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Copper Mountain Mining Corporation

Related Links

http://cumtn.com/


ATLANTA, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cousins Properties (NYSE: CUZ) announced today that it will release its third quarter 2021 earnings after the market closes on Thursday, October 28, 2021. Cousins will hold its third quarter 2021 earnings conference call on Friday, October 29, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time). The number for this call is (877) 247-1056. The live webcast of this call can be accessed on the Company's website, www.cousins.com, through the "Cousins Properties Third Quarter Conference Call" link on the Investor Relations page.

A playback will be available shortly after the call on Friday, October 29, 2021 and run through Friday, November 5, 2021. The number for the playback is (877) 344-7529, passcode 10160757. The playback can also be accessed on the Company's website through the "Cousins Properties Third Quarter Conference Call" link on the Investor Relations page.

Financial information will be placed on the Company's website promptly after the earnings release announcement. This information will be available in the "Featured Reports" section on the Investor Relations page. This information will also be available through the "SEC Filings" and "Supplemental Information" links on the Investor Relations page.

About Cousins Properties

Cousins Properties is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company, based in Atlanta, GA and acting through its operating partnership, Cousins Properties LP, primarily invests in Class A office buildings located in high-growth Sun Belt markets. Founded in 1958, Cousins creates shareholder value through its extensive expertise in the development, acquisition, leasing and management of high-quality real estate assets. The Company has a comprehensive strategy in place based on a simple platform, trophy assets and opportunistic investments. For more information, please visit www.cousins.com.

CONTACT:

Roni Imbeaux

Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations

404-407-1104

[email protected]

SOURCE Cousins Properties

Related Links

http://www.cousins.com


DALLAS, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dallas Independent School District recently announced that a data security incident occurred on August 8, 2021, that involved the district's electronic records of certain former and current students, alumni, parents, and district employees.

To inform individuals who may now live outside of Texas, and in compliance with relevant state regulatory requirements, the district is providing this public and media notification to several potentially affected people believed to be residing in the following states, as well as Puerto Rico:

Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Federal law enforcement authorities are continuing to investigate the incident, and are performing additional forensic analysis to determine the scope of the breach. At this time, the district has no evidence any individuals' personal information has been specifically misused, however, the following information may have been accessed or acquired by an unauthorized third party: first and last name, social security number, date of birth, and some student medical record information.

The district's IT team, assisted by forensic consultants, have addressed specific vulnerabilities that were exploited during this event, and will continue efforts to augment security going forward.

The district has arranged for free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services for potentially impacted individuals. If you have any questions about the incident, how to protect your personal information, or how to enroll in free credit monitoring services, you may call (855) 651-2605 or visit dallasisd.kroll.com.

Additional information can be found here .

Media Contact:

Robyn Harris

(214) 202-6806

[email protected]

Additional Information

Credit Reports: You may obtain a copy of your credit report, free of charge, whether or not you suspect any unauthorized activity on your account. You may obtain a free copy of your credit report from each of the three nationwide credit reporting agencies. To order your free credit report, please visit www.annualcreditreport.com , or call toll-free at 1-877-322-8228. You can also order your annual free credit report by mailing a completed Annual Credit Report Request Form (available at https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0155-free-credit-reports) to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA, 30348-5281.

Security Freeze: You also have the right to place a security freeze on your credit report. A security freeze is intended to prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in your name without your consent. To place a security freeze on your credit report, you need to make a request to each consumer reporting agency. You may make that request by certified mail, overnight mail, regular stamped mail, or by following the instructions found at the websites listed below. The following information must be included when requesting a security freeze (note that if you are requesting a credit report for your spouse or a minor under the age of 16, this information must be provided for him/her as well): (1) full name, with middle initial and any suffixes; (2) Social Security number; (3) date of birth; (4) current address and any previous addresses for the past five years; and (5) any applicable incident report or complaint with a law enforcement agency or the Registry of Motor Vehicles. The request must also include a copy of a government-issued identification card and a copy of a recent utility bill or bank or insurance statement. It is essential that each copy be legible, display your name and current mailing address, and the date of issue. As of September 21, 2018, it is free to place, lift, or remove a security freeze. You may also place a security freeze for children under the age of 16. You may obtain a free security freeze by contacting any one or more of the following national consumer reporting agencies:

Equifax Security Freeze P.O. Box 105788 Atlanta, GA 30348 1-800-349-9960 Experian Security Freeze P.O. Box 9554 Allen, TX 75013 1-888-397-3742 TransUnion Security Freeze P.O. Box 160 Woodlyn, PA 19094 1-800-909-8872 https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/ www.experian.com/freeze/center.html www.transunion.com/credit-freeze

Fraud Alerts: You can place fraud alerts with the three credit bureaus by phone and online with:

Equifax ( https://assets.equifax.com/assets/personal/Fraud_Alert_Request_Form.pdf );

); TransUnion ( https://www.transunion.com/fraud-alerts ); or

); or Experian ( https://www.experian.com/fraud/center.html ).

A fraud alert tells creditors to follow certain procedures, including contacting you, before they open any new accounts or change your existing accounts. For that reason, placing a fraud alert can protect you, but also may delay you when you seek to obtain credit. As of September 21, 2018, initial fraud alerts last for one year. Victims of identity theft can also get an extended fraud alert for seven years. The phone numbers for all three credit bureaus are listed above.

Monitoring: You should always remain vigilant and monitor your accounts for suspicious or unusual activity.

File Police Report: You have the right to file or obtain a police report if you experience identity fraud. Please note that in order to file a crime report or incident report with law enforcement for identity theft, you will likely need to provide proof that you have been a victim. A police report is often required to dispute fraudulent items. You can generally report suspected incidents of identity theft to local law enforcement or to the Attorney General.

FTC and Attorneys General: You can further educate yourself regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, security freezes, and the steps you can take to protect yourself, by contacting the consumer reporting agencies, the Federal Trade Commission, or your state Attorney General.

The Federal Trade Commission can be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580, www.identitytheft.gov , 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338), TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The Federal Trade Commission also encourages those who discover that their information has been misused to file a complaint with them. You can obtain further information on how to file such a complaint by way of the contact information listed above. You have the right to file a police report if you ever experience identity theft or fraud. Please note that in order to file a report with law enforcement for identity theft, you will likely need to provide some proof that you have been a victim. Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement. This notice has not been delayed by law enforcement.

For Maryland residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202, 1-888-743-0023, and www.oag.state.md.us .

For New Mexico residents, you have rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, such as the right to be told if information in your credit file has been used against you, the right to know what is in your credit file, the right to ask for your credit score, and the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. Further, pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the consumer reporting agencies must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information; consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information; access to your file is limited; you must give your consent for credit reports to be provided to employers; you may limit "prescreened" offers of credit and insurance you get based on information in your credit report; and you may seek damages from violators. You may have additional rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act not summarized here. Identity theft victims and active duty military personnel have specific additional rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. We encourage you to review your rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act by visiting www.consumerfinance.gov/f/201504_cfpb_summary_your-rights-under-fcra.pdf or by writing Consumer Response Center, Room 130-A, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.

For North Carolina residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001, 1-877-566-7226 or 1-919-716-6400, and www.ncdoj.gov.

For New York residents, the Attorney General may be contacted at Office of the Attorney General, The Capitol, Albany, NY 12224-0341, 1-800-771-7755, and https://ag.ny.gov/.

For Rhode Island residents, the Rhode Island Attorney General can be reached at 150 South Main Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, www.riag.ri.gov, and 1-401-274-4400. Under Rhode Island law, you have the right to obtain any police report filed in regard to this incident.

SOURCE DISD

Related Links

https://dallasisd.kroll.com


MOLINE, Ill., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) have reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year labor agreement covering approximately 10,100 production and maintenance employees at 12 facilities in Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas.

Deere and the UAW have also reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year labor agreement covering nearly 100 production and maintenance employees at Deere parts facilities in Denver and Atlanta.

"After six weeks of negotiations, John Deere and the UAW have reached a tentative agreement that honors the enormous contributions of John Deere's production and maintenance employees and builds a strong foundation for our shared success in the future," said Brad Morris, vice president of labor relations for Deere & Company.

"Through this agreement, John Deere reinforces our longstanding commitment to provide employees the opportunities to earn the best wages and most comprehensive benefits in the agriculture and construction industries.

Deere production and maintenance employees will have time to review the terms of the tentative agreement before a ratification vote. All Deere operations will continue as scheduled.

For future updates, please visit one.deere.com.

SOURCE Deere & Company

Related Links

www.deere.com


MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Amber Cziok was installed as president of the Minnesota Dental Association (MDA) for the 2021-2022 term at the Association's annual House of Delegates meeting.

Dr. Cziok earned her undergraduate degree from Bemidji State University and her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, graduating with high honors in 2006.

Dr. Cziok has been active in organized dentistry since 2004, serving on several MDA committees including the Scientific Session Committee, New Dentist Committee, and Membership Committee. She is a past trustee of the West Central District Dental Society (WCDDS) and has served as a 10th District delegate at several American Dental Association (ADA) Annual House of Delegates meetings. At the 2018 MDA House of Delegates meeting, Dr. Cziok was elected MDA second vice president and, subsequently, served as first vice president and president-elect.

Currently, Dr. Cziok serves on the Minnesota Dental Foundation Board of Directors and on the MDA Board of Trustees. She also takes an active role in charitable activities, supporting and volunteering her time and services to Give Kids A Smile events, the Minnesota Mission of Mercy, and Donated Dental Services.

Dr. Cziok currently practices in Litchfield, MN.

The Minnesota Dental Association is the voice of dentistry in Minnesota, representing practicing dentists. It is committed to the highest standards of oral health and access to care for all Minnesotans. Learn more at: www.mndental.org.

SOURCE Minnesota Dental Association

Related Links

http://www.mndental.org


CINCINNATI, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As a result of the company's ongoing investments to improve southwest Ohio's electricity infrastructure and enhance value to customers, Duke Energy Ohio today asked its state regulator, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, to perform a public review of the company's electric distribution rates and approve a rate adjustment.

Overall, the proposed adjustment amounts to an approximately $55 million increase. If approved by the commission, average customer bills would remain below the national average. The monthly electric bill for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month would increase by 3.86%, or less than 15 cents per day. Nonresidential customers will also see bill impacts of varying degrees.

"We're working hard every day to keep rates reasonable as we continue making strategic, data-driven investments to improve reliability and protect our system against cyber and physical threats," said Amy Spiller, president of Duke Energy Ohio/Kentucky. "And our customers are benefiting from high reliability, better service and more control over their energy use as a result of our ongoing improvements and grid investments."

Increasing reliability and delivering more control, convenience and choice

Many of Duke Energy Ohio's investments have focused on the continual buildout of a self-optimizing, smart-thinking grid that automatically isolates issues and reroutes power to reduce the frequency and duration of power outages.

In addition, the company has installed advanced smart meters that enable customers to access more bill-lowering tools; view detailed information about their energy use; easily sign up to receive usage alerts, outage notifications and customized billing options; and more.

"We've been able to make these important and impactful investments and enhancements  all while reducing our operating and maintenance expenses," said Spiller. "This is a credit to our employees' incredible focus on being strategic and efficient in the planning and execution of their work."

New customer benefits proposed

In today's filing, Duke Energy Ohio outlines various proposals to provide customers more value, choices and convenience when it comes to their electric service. These include:

Creating a fee-free payment option for residential customers who wish to pay their monthly utility bills with credit cards, debit cards or electronic checks. Currently, these customers must pay a $1.50 fee at the time of transaction to use any of these payment methods. This fee is administered by a third-party payment processor.

fee at the time of transaction to use any of these payment methods. This fee is administered by a third-party payment processor. Introducing an upgraded, easier-to-use and dynamic time-of-use rate option that provides more opportunities for residential customers to control their energy consumption and costs through the use of popular and emerging technologies like internet-enabled thermostats and electric vehicles. Simple behavioral changes  such as only running dishwashing and laundry appliances at night or on weekends  can also contribute to lower bills as a result of the new plan's shorter on-peak and discount time periods.

Continuing to make annual investments in the local electric distribution system to allow for additional grid improvement and modernization projects. Recent projects have resulted in increased levels of safety, reliability and resilience of Duke Energy Ohio's system  leading to fewer and shorter customer outages, among other benefits. Ongoing and future plans include additional efforts designed to decrease the frequency and duration of outages and improvements that lay the groundwork for the two-way power flows needed to support emerging technologies like rooftop solar, battery storage, electric vehicles and microgrids.

Duke Energy Ohio in its filing with its state regulator also proposes several changes to its lighting tariffs to enable transitions and upgrades to more efficient fixtures.

Helping customers in need

With many individuals and families experiencing financial hardship and struggling to pay their everyday expenses and energy bills, Duke Energy Ohio continues to support its customers, connect them with available assistance and offer tools and programs  including flexible payment plans  to help manage their energy bills.

The company is reaching out to vulnerable residential customers with information about utility assistance administered by state agencies, as well as local nonprofits across Greater Cincinnati. Additional resources can be found here: duke-energy.com/home/billing/special-assistance/need-help.

Separately, the company has delivered more than $3.5 million in local grants since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on social justice and racial equity; women-, veteran- and minority-owned businesses; nature; workforce development; urban revitalization; and K-12 education.

Additional information and next steps

Today's filing has no bearing on the electric supply portion of customers' bills or their ability to participate in the state's Energy Choice Ohio program to choose an electric supplier.

Duke Energy Ohio anticipates the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to soon initiate a detailed rate review process that will include hearings in Columbus as well as public hearings in the company's southwest Ohio service territory. Learn more about the process as well as how members of the public can participate in it.

Duke Energy Ohio, which serves more than 735,000 customers in parts of Adams, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, Montgomery and Warren counties in southwest Ohio, estimates that its state regulator will rule on the company's request by summer 2022, with rate adjustments taking effect shortly thereafter.

Additional information about Duke Energy Ohio's request for a regulatory review of its electric distribution rates can be found at duke-energy.com/ohio-rates.

Duke Energy Ohio/Kentucky

Duke Energy Ohio/Kentucky, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, provides electric service to about 870,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in a 3,000-square-mile service area, and natural gas service to approximately 542,000 customers.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 7.9 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 51,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 27,500 people.

Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy strategy to create a smarter energy future for its customers and communities  with goals of at least a 50 percent carbon reduction by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The company is a top U.S. renewable energy provider, on track to own or purchase 16,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2025. The company also is investing in major electric grid upgrades and expanded battery storage, and exploring zero-emitting power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2021 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' "America's Best Employers" list. More information is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media contact: Lee Freedman

Media line: 800.559.3853

Twitter: @DE_LeeF

SOURCE Duke Energy

Related Links

www.duke-energy.com


HOUSTON, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Entoro Capital, LLC (Entoro), a leading investment bank for alternative investments and assets, in conjunction with Valhil Capital, LLC (Valhil), the underwriter, announce the first non-fungible tokens (NFT) issued as a security under the Reg. D 506(c) offering exemption. The offer to Accredited Investors will conclude on Friday, October 8, 2021, in Austin Texas at the Texas Blockchain Summit VIP dinner.

The marketing and sale of the limited edition NFTs will be by competitive sale contemporaneously with the creation of the original painting. Nine (9) of the ten (10) NFTs to be minted will be sold online through Entoro's proprietary securities offering platform, OfferBoard. There is a consolidation option to the offering that allows interested Investors to compete to purchase all the NFTs being offered, and obtain a right to purchase the original physical work of art. Cuban born artist Rolando Diaz will create a painting live during the conference based on the theme "Sailing to the Moon" with the NFT name of "Buen Viaje," or "good voyage."

"Given the trend toward regulation for numerous digital instruments, assets and potentially NFTs, we felt as a regulated organization it was an opportunity to get ahead of the competition and be a leader in NFT securities offerings," stated James C. Row, Founder and Managing Partner of Entoro. "With the leadership from the Valhil Capital team, it was a perfect time, event, and artist to create the first NFT issued as a compliant security."

Post sale, a high-resolution photo of the painting will be created, as well as an animated 3D video to be digitally delivered to Investors. Interested Accredited Investors can obtain information about the offering and details of the sale process at https://nft.offerboard.com on Tuesday, October 5, 2021, after 9:00 am CT.

About Entoro:

Entoro Capital is an investment bank and advisory group for traditional and digital securities. Entoro offers a range of comprehensive placement and capital raising solutions for businesses interested in reaching Family Offices, Foundations, Endowments, Institutional and direct Investors for funding. The Entoro team's strength is in bringing highly vetted projects to Investors globally, with maximum efficiency, end-to-end security, and seamless execution, delivering total confidence in each investment. Additionally, Entoro Investments, LLC ("First Digital RIA"), Clear Rating, LLC (company valuation and securities ratings) are affiliated entities. Securities offered through Entoro Securities, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Learn more about Entoro Capital, visit www.entoro.com or email [email protected].

Media Contact:

Entoro Capital

Stephen Spencer

[email protected]

SOURCE Entoro Capital

Related Links

http://www.entoro.com


"The acquisition of Appriss Insights leverages the Equifax Cloud by expanding the breadth of differentiated data and insights that only Equifax can provide," said Mark W. Begor, CEO of Equifax. "Our strong performance and balance sheet allow Equifax to reinvest in this accretive and strategic acquisition that will strengthen our largest and fastest-growing business - Workforce Solutions. Appriss Insights' unique people-based risk intelligence data extends the verification capabilities of our high-performing Workforce Solutions business further beyond income and employment, supporting its future growth while further diversifying Equifax."

Appriss Insights provides data used in public and workplace safety, law enforcement, corporate investigations, fraud detection and prevention, and healthcare sanctioning and credentialing. The acquisition expands Equifax relationships with employers, background screeners, and state and federal government agencies - furthering the company's penetration into the $5 billion U.S. talent acquisition market and the $2 billion U.S. government social services delivery market.

"The Appriss Insights team provides a powerful and valuable resource for employers and social service agencies," said Rudy Ploder, President of Equifax Workforce Solutions. "There are approximately 75 million new hires annually in the U.S. and 40% of new hires are in roles that require background checks and other verifications, including in healthcare, financial services, public sector and portions of other industries. Our Workforce Solutions business also sees tremendous value in the power of Appriss Insights data in delivering broader, more comprehensive solutions to federal and state governments across Unemployment Insurance, Medicaid, food assistance, rental support and other benefit programs."

Appriss Insights, an Equifax company, is now part of the Workforce Solutions business unit. Appriss Insights President Brian Matthews has assumed the role of Senior Vice President and General Manager of the new Louisville, Kentucky-based division of Equifax Workforce Solutions.

"We are thrilled to join the Equifax team," said Matthews. "The combination of Equifax and Appriss Insights is a powerful one. Together, we have the ability to deliver truly differentiated data and insights to more quickly help individuals in need and further identify ways for employers to expand candidate pools and create new screening standards."

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. All statements that address operating performance and events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future, including statements relating to our future financial and operating results, our strategy, the expected financial and operational benefits, synergies and growth from the Appriss Insights acquisition, our ability to integrate Appriss Insights and its products, services, technologies, IT systems and personnel into our operations, the impact of COVID-19 and changes in U.S. and worldwide economic conditions, and similar statements about our outlook and our business plans are forward-looking statements. We believe these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made. However, forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in our 2020 Form 10-K and subsequent SEC filings. As a result of such risks and uncertainties, we urge you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date when made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

ABOUT EQUIFAX INC.

At Equifax (NYSE: EFX), we believe knowledge drives progress. As a global data, analytics, and technology company, we play an essential role in the global economy by helping financial institutions, companies, employers, and government agencies make critical decisions with greater confidence. Our unique blend of differentiated data, analytics, and cloud technology drives insights to power decisions to move people forward. Headquartered in Atlanta and supported by more than 12,000 employees worldwide, Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. For more information, visit Equifax.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Kate Walker for Equifax

[email protected]

SOURCE Equifax Inc.

Related Links

http://www.equifax.com


"This partnership responds to the growing need for employers to connect authentically with current students and alumni who are ready and willing to have a meaningful conversation on the Firsthand Career Engagement Platform. From the moment students arrive on campus through their increasingly complex career journey, they now have a personalized, curated, and meaningful experience that they build upon throughout their lives" explains Paul Skordilis, President and CEO at Infobase.

This partnership responds to the growing need for employers to connect authentically with students and alumni.

Creating a Best-in-Class Solution Positioned to Enable Career Seekers to Connect, Research, and Upskill

Together with Purple Briefcase, the Firsthand Career Engagement Platform will serve more than 2,400 Fortune 1000 employers, 1,000+ universities and community colleges, and 8M users internationally. With trusted information, access to virtual career fairs or company profiles, internship and job opportunities, and personal mentorship relationships, insider information is readily available on the Firsthand platform.

"We are excited to extend our college, university, and student populations more access to the tools and information they need during their college and career journey. Developing efficient, systematic, and equal access to these resources is increasingly important in our mission to achieve positive student outcomes, successful job placement, and alumni engagement," explains President and CEO of Ruffalo Noel Levitz,the firm that acquired Purple Briefcase in 2017 Sumit Nijhawan.

Students mentored on Firsthand's platforms are 18% more likely to graduate with a full-time job and secure 22% higher-starting salaries on average. The engagement score within Purple Briefcase allows students and administrators to gauge their preparedness to land their first job or internship.

Every year, the Vault / Firsthand team surveys more than 100,000 professionals to identify and rank employers in their given industries by the attributes that young professionals care about most: diversity, quality of life, technology, prestige, and more, all in an attempt to demonstrate an unfiltered view of the best places to work.

Through the technology and resources this partnership provides, students, alumni, and professionals will have a continuous and authentic experience not just with their current and former higher education institutions, but with the diverse and varied people who have also lived, worked, and attended school there. Similarly, the platform provides a launchpad for relationships with employers, including the people who work within the company.

Check Out Some of the Key Features That Drive Leading Academic Institutions like Harvard, MIT, Austin Community College District, and University of Connecticut to Value Firsthand and Purple Briefcase:

Useful tools that connect current students with appropriate alumni who are determined to be a match

Pre-scheduled 1:1 meetings with employers guarantee access to impactful conversations and opportunities for students

Employers can fully customize profiles, career fair booths, host live events like webinars and group chats, feature resources, showcase job openings, and access reports on engagement

Targeted virtual events for specific groups, from the school of business to graduating seniors

Learn More about the Companies Recruiting on the Firsthand Career Engagement Platform

Cravath, Swaine, and Moore - Ranked #1 in Law

- Ranked #1 in Law PWC - Ranked Most Prestigious Accounting Firm

Bain & Company - Top Ranked for Diversity, LGBTQ + Equity

Boston Consulting Group - Top Ranked for Diversity and Inclusion

Browse companies .

To learn more about Purple Briefcase and the Vault Firsthand Career Engagement Platform or to demo the platform, contact Dr. Thomas D. Iwankow at [email protected] today.

About Infobase:

Infobase, a Centre Lane Partners portfolio company, is an educational solutions provider facilitating the connection between content, people, and the learning experiences that empower all users to evolve personally and professionally throughout their lives. Infobase delivers award-winning multimedia reference content, online tools and technology, and professional development and training solutions to the school, academic, public library, and professional communities.

Enabled by such well-known brands as Facts On File, Learn360, Credo, The Mailbox, Films Media Group, Bloom's, Ferguson's, and Vault / Firsthand, Infobase provides students, educators, librarians, parents, and professionals with the broad range of solutions they need to inspire, enable, and inform lifelong learners. For more than 80 years, Infobase has been a reliable, authoritative resource providing flexible options for accessing educational content whether in school, at the library, or at home. To learn more, visit www.Infobase.com.

SOURCE Vault Career Intelligence
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement was issued by Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), regarding the release of new immigration enforcement priorities from the Secretary of Homeland Security:

"Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has once again eschewed the very mission of his agency by issuing new enforcement priorities that protect nearly every illegal alien in the United States. In the midst of a raging border crisis and a seemingly never-ending pandemic, the Biden administration is embracing lawbreaking at the expense of the American people. When will this stop?

"Under the new guidance, almost every illegal alien in the country is shielded from deportation. Secretary Mayorkas explicitly says that being here illegally 'should not alone be the basis' for immigration authorities to arrest or deport someone. He also specifically protects large classes of illegal aliens from deportation, including farmworkers, the mentally ill, and those who have maintained a 'lengthy presence' in the United States. He claims, strangely, that 'there are individuals in our country who have been here for generations and contributed to our country's well-being, including those who have been on the frontline in the battle against COVID,' etc. Firstly, illegal status does not pass generationally like Corruption of Blood or something. Children born here are U.S. Citizens. So 'generations' have not been here in illegal status.

"Even worse, many criminal aliens are protected, including those who have committed domestic violence. Since the Biden administration cannot abolish the agency itself, Secretary Mayorkas is dead set on destroying it from within.

"But here is the biggest problem  Secretary Mayorkas is potentially allowing millions of people to gain temporary status through TPS, expansive parole, and other innovative emergent or humanitarian powers as aliens cross our borders at alarming rates. Simultaneously, he is telling the American people that, eventually, unsuccessful asylum seekers will be removed, which is clearly a lie. At the same time, he is joining President Biden and Democrats on Capitol Hill in calling for the largest amnesty in American history. Combined, he is sending a clear signal that immigration is effectively unlimited, save a relative handful that are removed for severe criminal or terror-related convictions. No wonder caravans and smugglers are having a great opportunity for riches in human smuggling. Is Mayorkas really this clueless?

"The administration's move to severely limit immigration enforcement is another in a long line of decisions that worsen  not fix  historic levels of illegal immigration into our country. The Department of Homeland Security exists to defend our borders, enforce existing immigration laws, and preserve our sovereignty. Once again, the Biden administration chose to undermine immigration enforcement for motives that are increasingly suspect. It is unconscionable, and could not come at a worse time for our fragile nation."



Contact: Matthew Tragesser ([email protected]/202-328-7004)



ABOUT FAIR

Founded in 1979, FAIR is the country's largest immigration reform group. With over 3 million members and supporters nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.

SOURCE Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)

Related Links

http://www.fairus.org


Fairtrade America partnered with notable mural artists and key retailers in three major metropolitan cities where mural art is already a prominent part of the culture. Each mural features real farmers and a key benefit of choosing Fairtrade. While consumer awareness and purchase intent of Fairtrade products is increasing in the U.S., this campaign is intended to reach more Americans and educate them about the value of purchasing Fairtrade certified products. Visit Fairtrade's new Product Finder to easily identify and purchase thousands of certified products.

"We are thrilled to continue a campaign that beautifully celebrates and honors the hardworking farmers and workers who produce the goods we enjoy everyday, while overcoming tremendous challenges to do so," said Peg Willingham, Executive Director of Fairtrade America. "We hope this positive expression of Fairtrade's mission inspires shoppers to give more thought to the people behind the foods they purchase, and opt for Fairtrade certified products when possible. Choosing Fairtrade certified products actively supports initiatives that fight poverty, foster gender equality and more across the globe."

Fairtrade is an alternative approach to trade based on partnership instead of exploitation, a partnership between those who grow our food and we who consume it. The producers featured

in the murals represent millions of farmers in the Fairtrade system who receive fair compensation for their goods and assistance producing them in compliance with rigorous gender equality, climate change and child labor standards. Fairtrade's model includes a Premium fund that farming cooperatives receive on top of the price of the product. Co-op members vote to determine how the money is spent; typically deciding on community programs such as access to education or healthcare. In 2019, Fairtrade Premium funds contributed more than $228M to farming communities.

About the 'Choose Fairtrade. Choose the world you want.' Murals

Carmen Mueses Mural, by Mari Shibuya, located at Central Co-op, Tacoma, Wash.

In Tacoma, Fairtrade America partnered with Central Co-op, a full-service grocery store that empowers its customers to make ethical choices when it comes to food purchases, to create a mural featuring a Fairtrade cocoa farmer. Local artist Mari Shibuya portrayed Carmen Mueses, a member of a Fairtrade certified cocoa cooperative, CONACADO, in the Dominican Republic. Cocoa from CONACADO makes its way into a variety of Fairtrade certified items, including chocolate confections from Washington's beloved local purveyor, Fran's Chocolates. Carmen has demonstrated resilience and ingenuity to make a living from her cocoa crops and even started a small business selling sweets and liqueurs made with her cocoa pods and coffee beans to diversify her income. Mari's mural is inspired by the strength and determination of the female leaders in farming communities, like Carmen.

Tony's Chocolonely Cocoa Cooperative Leaders Mural, by J Muzacz, located at Wheatsville Food Co-op's Guadalupe store, Austin

Fairtrade America joined with the Wheatsville Food Co-op, voted 'Best Neighborhood Grocery ' by the Austin Chronicle's Readers Poll for eleven years running, to commission a mural by local artist J Muzacz. This mural celebrates three female farmers and cooperative leaders who grow cocoa used in Fairtrade certified goods, including Tony's Chocolonely bars available at the local Co-op. Sarah Larweh is a cocoa farmer and board member of her cooperative in Ghana where she works to address and resolve instances of child labor, an injustice that is rooted in poverty. A cocoa farmer in Cote d'Ivoire, Eugenie Lago leads a women's association that helps members diversify their crops to increase profits and alleviate poverty within the community. Lastly, Assata Doumbia, cocoa farmer and president of her cocoa cooperative, has led her cooperative to become one of the top 3 in Cote d'Ivoire. J hopes the strength, humanity and drive of the farmers depicted inspires current and future generations to shop ethically and sustainably.

Johnny Gabriel Navas Aquim Mural, by Reggie LeFlore, located at the Twin Cities Co-op Partners' Wedge Co-op, Minneapolis

The Minneapolis mural is located at the Twin Cities Co-op Partners' (TCCP) Wedge Co-op. TCCP was excited to partner with Fairtrade America because of their shared values, including supporting farmers and educating community members about the importance of equity for the people producing our food and sustainability for our planet. Local mural artist Reggie LeFlore captured Johnny Gabriel Navas Aquim, a 26 year-old, third-generation, small-scale banana farmer in Ecuador who has implemented aquaculture techniques to farm more sustainably. Johnny is a proud member of the Fairtrade certified AsoGuabo Cooperative, a grassroots organization of banana farmers committed to improving their quality of life. Reggie is inspired by Johnny and his fellow farmers who work hard to take care of their communities. Bananas from AsoGuabo are sold, in part, through Equal Exchange, a key vendor partner of TCCP, once again taking the story from farm to store via these murals.

Fairtrade's local retail partners donated wall space for the murals because of a shared passion for ensuring producers are paid fairly for their crops, as well as the other socioeconomic and environmental benefits of Fairtrade. During Fair Trade Month, each store will offer special promotions on Fairtrade certified goods, as well as host a variety of in-store and online events and giveaways. The acclaimed mural artists commissioned to create the murals are all committed to cause-based art.

Fairtrade partnered with National Co+op Grocers (NCG) food co-ops nationally to extend the reach of this campaign, including through the selection of the three retail partners where murals were installed this year. As part of this month-long campaign, NCG plans to celebrate the benefits of choosing Fairtrade in its consumer-facing channels, and more than 20 NCG co-ops across the US plan to develop special promotions and merchandising of Fairtrade certified goods in their stores, further extending the reach of the Choose Fairtrade campaign.

Fairtrade Areas of Impact

Farming is the single largest employer in the world -- two out of every five people farm. Purchasing goods with the Fairtrade America mark is an easy way to make a difference in the lives of people who grow our food. The 'Choose Fairtrade. Choose the world you want.' campaign highlights two of Fairtrade's key areas of impact: fighting poverty and promoting gender equality. Fairtrade's work also impacts ending child labor, combating climate change, and supporting workers' rights.

Fighting Poverty: The Austin and Minneapolis murals emphasize Fairtrade's commitment to fighting poverty. Many farmers and workers around the world live on less than $2 per day. Fairtrade breaks down the systems that trap producers in cycles of poverty by addressing them at their core - price. The Fairtrade Minimum Price acts as a safety net for farmers when prices fall below a sustainable level. The Fairtrade Premium fund also enables farming cooperatives to improve quality of life in their communities.

and murals emphasize Fairtrade's commitment to fighting poverty. Many farmers and workers around the world live on less than per day. Fairtrade breaks down the systems that trap producers in cycles of poverty by addressing them at their core - price. The Fairtrade Minimum Price acts as a safety net for farmers when prices fall below a sustainable level. The Fairtrade Premium fund also enables farming cooperatives to improve quality of life in their communities. Gender Equality: The Tacoma mural is themed around Fairtrade's focus on promoting gender equality. A large proportion of the world's food is produced by women, yet gender inequality remains prevalent in farming communities worldwide. Fairtrade America tackles unequal power relationships by strengthening women's and girls' human, social, financial and physical capital. Because the Fairtrade Standards require all cooperative members to vote on how to use their Premium funds, female Fairtrade producers often have a greater voice in their communities.

In addition to the murals, Fairtrade will offer 20 giveaways in October. Follow @fairtrademarkus on Instagram and visit choosefairtrade.org to learn more and participate in Fairtrade certified product giveaways. The prize pack includes one mural art print of the winners' choosing, a bag of Nature's Path Love Crunch Granola, La Riojana Olive Oil, Reese Artichoke Hearts, a Divine Chocolate's Deliciously Smooth Dark Chocolate Bar, Conscious Step's Socks that Protect Toucans, Kicking Horse Cafe Moulu Ground Coffee and a Fairtrade cotton tote bag. Winner selection is randomized.

"Now, more than ever, we must listen to and raise the voices of the farmers and workers around the globe. As public art has inspired change for generations, we hope this year's murals bring positive awareness to farmers and provides Americans a variety of reasons to choose goods at the store that support people and our planet," shared Willingham.

About Fairtrade America

Fairtrade America betters the lives of farmers and workers in developing countries by inspiring businesses to implement ethical production practices and assisting shoppers in making informed purchasing decisions. Fairtrade America is the US chapter of Fairtrade International, the original and global leader in fair trade certification with over 30 years of experience working to make trade fair, with headquarters in more than 30 countries across the globe. A non-profit 501(c)3 organization, Fairtrade America is the world's largest and most recognized fair trade systempart of a global movement for change. Learn more at www.fairtradeamerica.org, and by connecting with Fairtrade America on Instagram and LinkedIn.

About National Co+op Grocers (NCG)

National Co+op Grocers (NCG) is a business services cooperative for retail food co-ops located throughout the United States. We represent 148 food co-ops operating over 200 stores in 38 states with combined annual sales over $2.3 billion and serving over 1.3 million consumer-owners. NCG provides the capacity of a chain while maintaining the autonomy of each individual co-op. We help unify natural food co-ops in order to optimize operational and marketing resources, strengthen purchasing power, and ultimately offer more value to natural food co-op owners and shoppers everywhere. Learn more about NCG and connect at https://www.grocery.coop/ and Facebook.

About Central Co-op

Established in 1978, Central Co-op is a community-owned natural foods cooperative with locations on Seattle's Capitol Hill and in Tacoma's North End. With over 14,000 members, Central Co-op is a full-service grocery story, open to all, that encourages its shoppers and community members to "Bring the Bigger Story to Your Table," and works to highlight the crucial connection between the food we eat and the producers, farmers and food systems that provide it. The Co-op is dedicated to supporting over 140 community partners, championing small farmers, vendors & producers, and working to increase access to quality foods for all, while offering exceptional products that reflect our commitment to health eating, sustainable agriculture, fair wages and safe worker conditions, conscientious ranching and fishing practices, and more.

About Twin Cities Co-op Partners

Twin Cities Co-op Partners (TCCP) connects the Minneapolis community to local growers, suppliers, farmers and producers through healthy, sustainable, ethically produced goods. TCCP's mission is to provide access to real food made by real people that makes a difference in people's lives and for the planet. TCCP is a welcoming and convenient market stocked with trusted products and services emphasizing delicious local and organic food. The co-op works to strengthen the local food system and pioneer a model of sustainable, profitable cooperatively-owned business.

Wheatsville Food Co-op

Wheatsville Food Co-op is a full service, natural foods cooperative grocery store serving the central Austin community since 1976. Its primary mission is supplying high-quality food and unbiased information about food to the Austin community. The only retail food cooperative in Texas, Wheatsville Co-op has more than 24,000 invested owners and operates two locations. It has been voted 'Best Neighborhood Grocery ' by the Austin Chronicle's Readers Poll for eleven years running.

Contact:

Emma Feeney

224-545-7699

[email protected]

SOURCE Fairtrade America

Related Links

http://www.fairtradeamerica.org


CHESTERFIELD, Mo., Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action (USFRA) third annual Honor the Harvest convening this month connected farmers and ranchers with agricultural value chain leaders in food, fiber, and energy to address the needs of the next #DecadeofAg. The 120 participants brought together 100% of the food and ag value chain for three full days of identifying and addressing specific actions to further innovation and investment that will be necessary to unlock the full potential of climate-smart agriculture nationwide.

Several key themes and action areas emerged during the plenary sessions, breakout discussions, presentations, and leadership talks including collaboration is key to moving the industry forward and the ongoing dialogue and relationships must start with the farmers. USFRA Chairman and Nebraska farmer Anne Meis said of the Forum, "The leadership we've seen, the insight and tough questions we've heard, and the focused conversations must continue."

From meaningful investment to data privacy to elevating producers to educating consumers, the Forum focused on breaking old stereotypes and meeting this critical moment with a sense of urgency. "In this pivotal time, we can be leaders in tackling the climate crisis  to be effective, we must work for farmers, ranchers, and landowners and with farmers, ranchers, and landowners," said U.S Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack who addressed the participants on the first day.

The three-day convening ended with USFRA unveiling a new short film that highlights the important role farmers and ranchers are taking in forging climate solutions with help from science, experts, investors and partners. The docudrama  The Carbon Neutral Pig  sponsored by the United Soybean Board, follows the real-life journey of Marlowe Ivey who has taken over her dad's North Carolina pig farm and is working to make it carbon neutral

"Change has got to start somewhere" becomes a key line as Ivey encounters people online and in her community that criticize her, and tell Ivey that change is needed. The film is the second of a series telling the stories of our nation's farmers on their journey. While each film tells an individual story, together they show how they are not the only one working to make improvements.

"The need for greater transparency and collaboration is critical, to ensure that producers are valued for their ongoing contributions for our food systems," concluded Meis.

ABOUT USFRA

U.S. Farmers & Ranchers in Action (USFRA) represents farmer and rancher-led organizations, and food and agricultural partners, with a common vision to further our global sustainable food systems. We believe farmers uniquely contribute to nourishing our planet, people, and natural resources. Our focus is creating a proactive collaboration between the best minds in food, agriculture, science, and technology to co-create solutions that will result in environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Learn more at www.usfarmersandranchers.org.



Wholly or partially funded by U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action including support from the Soybean Checkoff.

For More Information, Please Contact:

Diane Cullo, VP, Public Affairs & Communications, USFRA

[email protected]

SOURCE U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance

Related Links

http://www.fooddialogues.com/


NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global independent marketing and communications firm FINN Partners today promotes Ariane Lovell to the newly created role of Partner, New York Health Media Lead. In addition to reflecting her industry-leading skill in delivering media strategy and results for a wide range of health sector clients, as well as her commitment to mentoring budding media strategists, the promotion recognizes Lovell's outstanding contributions to changing the face of the media relations industry and passion for making the industry a more diverse community in which all voices and ideas are heard. Lovell will spearhead FINN's earned media relations offering for the New York Health group. Previously, Lovell was Vice President, Media Relations Strategist. In her new role, Lovell reports to Tom Jones, Senior Partner, New York Health and US Pharma Team Lead, and will serve on the New York Health Leadership Team.

Ariane Lovell, Partner, Head, Media Relations, NY Health, FINN Partners

"Media relations remains paramount in our profession, and I am honored to lead and elevate the strength of our New York Health media team," says Lovell. "We do better when we embrace all communities and ideas: health improves when communication includes all. This is true for the PR industry itself, too, and I am committed to continuing to exemplify inclusiveness and to raise up diverse perspectives in media relations."

Lovell is a PRSA Bronze Anvil-winning healthcare media relations trailblazer who is a beacon for people seeking best practices in media relations, strategy and client counsel. Lovell serves clients in health-product communications, patient advocacy and consumer wellness, and has implemented numerous successful communications programs to raise awareness for a variety of health conditions. Lovell's award-winning work elevates the public relations profession through creative, life-improving campaigns and her high-level connections with reporters, clients and colleagues are invaluable.

"Our Health Practice innovates to stay ahead of client expectations in all areas of communications," said Jones. "Ariane is leading our change efforts in several areas, including team mentorship, establishing relationships with agenda-setting reporters and creating award-winning media campaigns. As someone who embodies our values, particularly the desire to 'make a difference in the world,' Ariane fulfills that purpose every day, for clients, for the patients and families they serve, and for our own team and broader community -- making it so exciting to work with her every day."

Lovell serves as board Vice President and Chair of Mentorship Programs at the Black Public Relations Society-New York, a resource and opportunity network for Black communications professionals that advocates for diversity, equity and inclusion. Lovell is also a regular contributor to PRNews and uses her platform to raise public health awareness and better understanding of navigating the media landscape.

"Ariane is a superstar who leads and teaches by example, and whose work impacts the greater good," said Kristie Kuhl, JD, Managing Partner, Global Health Practice Leader, FINN Partners. "People of all career levels at FINN Partners frequently seek Ariane's advice. She understands that in order to represent a diverse society, the PR industry needs the voice of senior leaders and practitioners like her, who bring inclusion and advocacy into the industry."

Since joining FINN in 2018, Ariane has contributed to building the New York Health media team's reputation as a trusted resource for reporters around the world who wish to access FINN's network of clients and medical, scientific, and advocacy community connections. Globally, the FINN media team has more than 60 full-time media relations professionals originating from national, print, social and broadcast news outlets, who are among the news sector's key conduits for health-related stories.

About FINN Partners, Inc.

Founded in 2011 on the core principles of innovation and collaborative partnership, FINN Partners has more than quadrupled in size over the past 10 years, becoming one of the fastest growing independent, integrated marketing agencies in the world. The full-service marketing and communications company's record setting pace is a result of organic growth and integrating new companies and new people into the FINN world through a common philosophy. With more than 900 professionals, FINN provides clients with global access and capabilities in the Americas, Europe and Asia. In addition, FINN provides its clients with access to top tier agencies around the world through its membership in the global network PROI. Headquartered in New York, FINN's other offices are in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Nashville, Paris, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, Singapore, Southern California and Washington D.C. Find us at finnpartners.com and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @finnpartners.

SOURCE FINN Partners

Related Links

http://www.finnpartners.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global independent marketing and communications firm FINN Partners today promotes Diana Scott from partner to senior partner, deputy director, New York Health. This promotion recognizes her commitment to client excellence, dedication to staff mentorship and development, and her contributions to the growth of the New York Health group.

Diana Scott, Senior Partner, Deputy Director, NY Health, FINN Partners

"FINN Partners' New York Health group serves a diverse client portfolio with a diverse, creative team -- a combination that gives us the opportunity to deliver best-in-class client work, while empowering colleagues to stretch and grow," said Scott. "I am excited and honored to continue mentoring and growing our talented team, and to help FINN deliver results that make a difference in people's lives."

In her new role, Scott will work with Tom Jones, Senior Partner, New York Health and the US Pharma Team Lead, on all operations related to New York Health ensuring teams feel supported and inspired by the work, while delivering irreplaceable value to clients.

"Diana brings a distinctive combination of creative and strategic brainpower that has contributed to the growth of the Health Practice and has made a lasting impact on colleagues and clients," said Jones. "She lives our values in her work, bringing smarts, empathy and leadership to our growing FINN community."

Scott joined FINN Partners late in 2019, bringing more than 20 years' experience partnering with clients across a wide range of disease states and health areas including oncology, cardiovascular disease, COVID-19 testing, neurodegenerative diseases and more. Since joining the team, FINN Partners' New York Health group has nearly doubled its client portfolio and team of talent.

"Clients seek and value agency partners that are not only deeply knowledgeable in their business and industry, but are able to listen to their goals and bring them creative solutions and campaigns," said Kristie Kuhl, JD, Managing Partner, Global Health Practice Leader, FINN Partners. "Diana's deep experience in the health arena and her ability to inspire the FINN team makes her an invaluable strategic partner to her clients and our agency."

Scott has championed numerous pharmaceutical portfolio programs, including product milestones and disease awareness campaigns, and led blockbuster product launches, US and global data communications efforts, and regulatory milestone support for a wide variety of therapeutic categories. She has a deep passion for mentoring and helping staff to achieve their career goals.

About FINN Partners, Inc.

Founded in 2011 on the core principles of innovation and collaborative partnership, FINN Partners has more than quadrupled in size over the past 10 years, becoming one of the fastest growing independent, integrated marketing agencies in the world. The full-service marketing and communications company's record setting pace is a result of organic growth and integrating new companies and new people into the FINN world through a common philosophy. With more than 900 professionals, FINN provides clients with global access and capabilities in the Americas, Europe and Asia. In addition, FINN provides its clients with access to top tier agencies around the world through its membership in the global network PROI. Headquartered in New York, FINN's other offices are in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Nashville, Paris, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, Singapore, Southern California and Washington D.C. Find us at finnpartners.com and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @finnpartners.

SOURCE FINN Partners

Related Links

http://www.finnpartners.com


JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation is celebrating First Responders Month this October with a goal of raising $1 million through its largest annual fundraising campaign. All funds raised through $1, $5 or $25 medallion donations in Firehouse Subs restaurants and through online ordering donations will help provide first responders with the equipment needed to save lives.

"October is a special time of year for everyone at Firehouse Subs and the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation," said Robin Peters, executive director, Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation. "Saving lives is our mission, but our ability to provide much needed equipment and resources to public safety organizations would not be possible without the generosity of the donors who give back during First Responders Month."

Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation awards grants on a quarterly basis to first responders and public safety organizations. Today, the non-profit organization has granted more than $62.5 million in 49 states and Puerto Rico, ensuring the right equipment is in the right hands. Countless lives have been saved thanks to the Foundation's support, a reminder that donations do more:

Rescue boats granted to Louisiana fire departments were on the water in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida allowing first responders to provide emergency rescue and recovery to local citizens for days after the disaster.

fire departments were on the water in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida allowing first responders to provide emergency rescue and recovery to local citizens for days after the disaster. Flagler County Sheriff's Office (FCSO) was awarded 16 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for their patrol vehicles to prepare officers for cardiac arrest emergencies. Just months after receiving these lifesaving tools, FCSO deputies responded to a man who had stopped breathing and had no pulse. Responding deputies performed CPR and administered shocks from one of the awarded AEDs, resulting in the man regaining a pulse. He was safely transported to the hospital for further care.

Sheriff's Office (FCSO) was awarded 16 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for their patrol vehicles to prepare officers for cardiac arrest emergencies. Just months after receiving these lifesaving tools, FCSO deputies responded to a man who had stopped breathing and had no pulse. Responding deputies performed CPR and administered shocks from one of the awarded AEDs, resulting in the man regaining a pulse. He was safely transported to the hospital for further care. Within one week of receiving new vehicle extrication equipment, Midway Volunteer Fire Department jumped into action after a pickup truck lost control and rolled across four lanes of traffic, leaving the driver stuck in the vehicle. Firefighters used the new tools to remove the patient from the truck and allow EMS to provide medical care.

Tippecanoe Township Fire Department was awarded an all-terrain vehicle with fire suppression and rescue slide-in to help with wildfires and emergencies impassable by traditional vehicles. Earlier this year, the vehicle became truly valuable to first responders as it helped them quickly extinguish a brush fire in the woods, preventing the fire from spreading further to multiple acres.

This year's First Responders Month fundraiser marks the return of paper medallions in Firehouse Subs restaurants throughout the U.S. Firehouse Rewards users will receive double points on all medallion donations made in-restaurant, through online ordering or via the Firehouse Subs app during First Responders Month.

Those interested in donating or applying for a grant can do so through the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation website: FirehouseSubsFoundation.org.

ABOUT FIREHOUSE SUBS PUBLIC SAFETY FOUNDATION

In 2005, the Firehouse Subs founders established the 501(c)(3), non-profit Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation. The charity provides lifesaving equipment, prevention education, scholarships and continued education, and disaster relief for first responders and public safety organizations, as well as support for members of the military. Since inception, Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation has awarded more than $62.5 million to hometown heroes in 49 states and Puerto Rico.

Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation is honored to be listed as a four-star nonprofit organization, the highest designation, by Charity Navigator. Charity Navigator is the nation's largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities. Grant allocations are made possible thanks to the overwhelming support of Firehouse Subs restaurants and generous donors. More than 70% of the funds raised for the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation come from the generosity of Firehouse Subs guests and the restaurant brand. Please consider supporting a Firehouse Subs restaurant near you.

SOURCE Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation

Related Links

http://FirehouseSubsFoundation.org


FREDERICKSBURG, Va., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, PE-partnered practice Fredericksburg Endoscopy Center, LLC, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, held an open house to mark months of successful service. The center opened in December of 2020, and this summer, the center physicians celebrated the success of the center and their provision of quality GI care. The grand opening ceremony also recognized the physicians' hard work and dedication to successful patient outcomes for their community in Fredericksburg, as well as their Medicare certification as a GI center.

Fredericksburg Endoscopy Center, LLC is located at 1211 Central Park Boulevard, Fredericksburg, VA. The center has 9,000 square feet and four procedure rooms, this allows the center to provide a high volume of procedures.

The success of the Fredericksburg Endoscopy Center can be credited to the physicians of Mary Washington Healthcare and Gastroenterology Associates of Fredericksburg and PE GI Solutions. The center's physicians Frank DeTrane MD, Dong Lee MD, Chetan Pai DO, Peter Wong MD, Narayan Dharel MD, Lisanne Anders MD, Akash Ajmera MD, and Amandeep Kalra MD have enhanced the centers experience through their expertise and passion. All three parties bring specific value to the relationship, which has been the driving force of success for the center this past year.

PE GI Solutions, the physician owners of Fredericksburg Endoscopy Center, and Mary Washington Healthcare are proud of the great work the center has been able to accomplish in the past year.

To learn more about PE GI Solutions partnerships, please visit the company's website here.

To learn more about Fredericksburg Endoscopy Center, visit fbgendo.com

About PE GI Solutions (Formerly known as Physicians Endoscopy)

PE GI Solutions specializes in providing integrated business strategies and insights for GI specialists and healthcare partners to help their practices, ASCs and ancillary services grow and thrive through professional management, aligned investments, and strategic partnerships. PE GI Solutions' physician partners leverage the PE Practice Solutions and PE Center Solutions platforms to gain access to centralized resources and operational efficiencies that drive growth and positively impact physician and patent experiencesall while preserving the independent practice of medicine. Recognized as the largest single-specialty developer, investor, and manager, PE GI Solutions is the trusted business partner and advisor exclusively serving gastroenterologists for over 20+ years. For more information on PE GI Solutions, please visit www.pegisolutions.com.

Contact: Kelly McCormick ([email protected])

SOURCE PE GI Solutions

Related Links

http://www.pegisolutions.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Garnier reveals its next Green Beauty milestone as the brand launches an educational campaign dedicated to sustainable consumption.

With content produced by National Geographic CreativeWorks, Garnier will give consumers access to expert knowledge and real-world advice. This is a first step in a new commitment, from Garnier, which aims to encourage and empower 250 million people with high quality information on how to live greener on the planet, by 2025.

"To realise the full power of our continuing journey towards Greener Beauty, Garnier wants to encourage consumers to take green steps too. Sustainability can be an intimidating topic and our aim is to help make it truly accessible  we're doing that with plans to roll out innovative products, from solid shampoo with fast rinse technology, to cardboard integrated tubes - but this is just a start and we want to go further. Through the work of National Geographic CreativeWorks, we aim to give our consumers access to top experts and their advice for living greener everyday." Adrien Koskas, Garnier Global President

This new commitment from Garnier is the latest in a series of ambitious 2025 targets set with the aim of helping reduce the environmental impact of the brand's entire value chain. Garnier will continue its ambitious sustainable transformation but knowing that 80% of a shampoo's life cycle carbon footprint comes from its use in the home**, it is clear that empowering consumers to understand how they can take action themselves is critical too.

In the first step of this commitment, Garnier has worked with National Geographic Explorers Rosa Vasquez & Imogen Napper to bring expert knowledge and real-world advice to consumers, inspiring the everyday changes that can make a real difference, and tackle the important question - Can Beauty Go Greener?

"We are proud to work with Garnier and help bring this latest Green Beauty commitment to life. Bringing the passion and storytelling talent of National Geographic's Explorers to help tell Garnier's stories, while inviting people to understand their own impact on the world and imagine new possibilities is what we do best at National Geographic CreativeWorks" - Nadine Heggie, VP Brand Partnerships at National Geographic

The accessible, educational content will cover key sustainability topics, related to beauty. Subjects such as plastic & packaging, water usage & green sciences will be explained, and practical advice shared all with the aim of making sustainability accessible and empowering people to take #OneGreenStep in their day to day lives.

To be revealed at the Expo 2020 Dubai, the first piece of educational content will be available from 1st of October on www.garnierusa.com/about-garnier/greener-beauty/can-beauty-go-greener with more episodes to be revealed soon.

About Garnier USA

Garnier, a L'Oreal USA brand, was developed in 1904 in France by hair care expert Alfred Amour Garnier and is now present in more than 65 countries worldwide. Following the launch of Garnier in the United States in 1999 with Nutrisse hair color, the brand has continued to develop cutting-edge beauty products The entire collection of Garnier brands available in the U.S. includes Nutrisse, Fructis hair care, and Fructis Style, Olia hair color, Color Sensation hair color, SkinActive, and Whole Blends hair care. For more information visit www.garnierusa.com or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Snapchat @GarnierUSA.

For press inquiries please contact

Elizabeth Hanigan

Head of Brand Engagement, Garnier

212.984.4960

[email protected]

Lauren Larkin or Donna Valle

Alison Brod Marketing Communications

212.230.1800

[email protected]

*Source: Garnier Sustainability Research 2021

** Based on a Life Cycle Analysis conducted on Garnier Ultra Doux shampoo

SOURCE Garnier

Related Links

http://www.garnierusa.com


FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 15; Released: April 2021 Executive Pool: 3099 Companies: 431 - Players covered include Britannia Industries Ltd.; Britannia Industries Ltd.; Kellogg (Aust) Pty., Ltd.; Mondelez International; Parle Products Pvt., Ltd.; PepsiCo, Inc.; Yildiz Holding A.S. and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Type (Sweet Biscuits, Savory Biscuits, Wafers, Crackers, Cookies, and Other Types) Geographies: World; United States; Canada; Japan; China; Europe (France; Germany; Italy; United Kingdom; Spain; Russia; and Rest of Europe); Asia-Pacific (Australia; India; South Korea; and Rest of Asia-Pacific); Latin America (Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; and Rest of Latin America); Middle East (Iran; Israel; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates; and Rest of Middle East); and Africa.

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ABSTRACT-

Global Biscuits Market to Reach $131.5 Billion by 2026

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Biscuits estimated at US$106.8 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$131.5 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 3.4% over the analysis period. Sweet Biscuits, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record a 3% CAGR and reach US$27.4 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Savory Biscuits segment is readjusted to a revised 3.8% CAGR for the next 7-year period.

The U.S. Market is Estimated at $29.7 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $26.6 Billion by 2026

The Biscuits market in the U.S. is estimated at US$29.7 Billion in the year 2021. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$26.6 Billion by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 6.2% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 1% and 2.6% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 1.7% CAGR.

Wafers Segment to Reach US$13 Billion by the year 2026

In the global Wafers segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 3% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US$8 Billion in the year 2020 will reach a projected size of US$9.9 Billion by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. More

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CONTACTS:

Zak Ali

Director, Corporate Communications

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

www.StrategyR.com

Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

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DUBLIN, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Flooring Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Product (Soft Coverings, Non-resilient, Resilient, Seamless), by Application (Residential, Industrial, Commercial), by Region (MEA, APAC), and Segment Forecasts, 2021-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global flooring market size is expected to reach USD 621.54 billion by 2028 registering a CAGR of 6.1%. Rising urbanization and expansion of ultramodern workspaces and offices coupled with evolving consumer lifestyles are expected to drive market growth.



The rapidly growing global construction industry and the resultant demand for insulation are expected to boost the market growth. The increased availability of innovative construction solutions with attributes, such as low maintenance and high durability, is anticipated to have a positive impact on the market.



The development of innovative floor covering solutions and changing consumer trends in construction solutions and floor designs have been critical in the industry development over the last few years. A high degree of integration is observed between the prominent players to achieve optimum business growth in the market. Mergers & acquisitions and joint ventures are undertaken by companies to extend their business portfolio and geographical reach.



Flooring Market Report Highlights

The resilient product segment is expected to ascend at the fastest CAGR of 6.8% from 2021 to 2028 on account of the wide acceptance of performance floorings including rubber, vinyl, carpet, linoleum, cork, and others

In 2020, the residential application segment dominated the market with a share of 54.3% and is likely to expand further at a steady CAGR from 2021 to 2028

The segment growth is attributed to the rising residential building construction activities across the globe

On the other hand, the industrial application segment is expected to record the maximum growth rate during the forecast period

Asia Pacific is estimated to be the largest regional market by 2028; however, MEA is projected to register the fastest CAGR over the forecast period

is estimated to be the largest regional market by 2028; however, MEA is projected to register the fastest CAGR over the forecast period Prominent players in the market are focusing on the acquisitions of smaller companies to enhance their product portfolio and strengthen their presence in the global market

Companies Mentioned

Mohawk Industries, Inc.

Tarkett, S.A.

AFI Licensing

Burke Flooring Products, Inc.

Forbo Flooring

Shaw Industries, Inc.

Interface, Inc.

Gerflor

Mannington Mills, Inc.

Polyflor

Key Topics Covered:

Chapter 1. Methodology and Scope

1.1. Research Methodology

1.2. Research Scope & Assumption

1.3. Information Procurement

1.4. Information Analysis

1.5. Market Formulation & Data Visualization

1.6. Data Validation & Publishing

Chapter 2. Executive Summary

2.1. Market Outlook

2.2. Segmental Outlook

2.3. Competitive Insights

Chapter 3. Flooring Market Variables, Trends, & Scope

3.1. Market Lineage Outlook

3.2. Penetration & Growth Prospect Mapping

3.3. Industry Value Chain Analysis

3.4. Regulatory Framework

3.5. Market Dynamics

3.6. Business Environment Analysis: Flooring Market

3.7. Case Studies

Chapter 4. Flooring Market: Product Estimates & Trend Analysis

4.1. Definition & Scope

4.2. Product Movement Analysis & Market Share, 2020 & 2028

4.3. Market size & forecasts and trend analysis, 2017 to 2028 for the following

Chapter 5. Flooring Market: Application Estimates & Trend Analysis

5.1. Definition & Scope

5.2. Application Movement Analysis & Market Share, 2020 & 2028

5.3. Market size & forecasts and trend analysis, 2017 to 2028 for the following:

Chapter 6. Flooring Market: Regional Estimates & Trend Analysis

6.1. Regional Market Snapshot

6.2. Market Size & Forecasts and Trend Analysis, 2017 to 2028

Chapter 7. Flooring Market - Competitive Analysis

7.1. Key Company Market Share

7.2. Key players & recent developments & their impact on the industry

7.3. Key Company/Competition Categorization

7.4. Vendor Landscape

7.5. Public Companies

7.6. Private Companies

Chapter 8. Company Profiles

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/n4mpdx

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

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U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

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TORONTO, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Golden Star Resources Ltd. (NYSE American: GSS) (TSX: GSC) (GSE: GSR) ("Golden Star" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has concluded negotiations with Future Global Resources Limited ("FGR") to restructure the consideration for the purchase of the Bogoso-Prestea mine that was completed on September 30, 2020. All references to "$" herein are to United States dollars.

HIGHLIGHTS:

The conclusion of negotiations to restructure the consideration for the purchase of the Bogoso-Prestea mine represents a full and final settlement of all existing and future claims, together with a mutual release between Golden Star and FGR

The deferred consideration (the "Deferred Consideration") detailed in the share purchase agreement dated July 26, 2020 , as supplemented by a letter agreement dated September 30, 2020 , and amended by a first amending agreement dated March 28, 2021 and a second amending agreement dated May 31, 2021 (collectively, the "Share Purchase Agreement") will now be replaced by a net smelter return ("NSR") agreement which will trigger certain payments once 100,000 ounces of gold have been produced from the Prestea underground mine

, as supplemented by a letter agreement dated , and amended by a first amending agreement dated and a second amending agreement dated (collectively, the "Share Purchase Agreement") will now be replaced by a net smelter return ("NSR") agreement which will trigger certain payments once 100,000 ounces of gold have been produced from the Prestea underground mine The NSR payments are capped at $35 million , equaling the value of the initial Deferred Consideration and the working capital balancing payment that were defined in the Share Purchase Agreement

, equaling the value of the initial Deferred Consideration and the working capital balancing payment that were defined in the Share Purchase Agreement The quantum of the Sulphides Contingent Payment defined in the Share Purchase Agreement remains unchanged. Golden Star has agreed to adjust the timing of the staged payments in order to support the development of the refractory resource at Bogoso-Prestea

Andrew Wray, Chief Executive Officer of Golden Star, commented:

"By working with the FGR team we have been able to conclude discussions on an amicable and cooperative basis. The future of the Bogoso-Prestea mine, its workers and other stakeholders was our priority. We have agreed to restructure the acquisition consideration into an NSR agreement, in order to better align any payments owed to Golden Star with the performance of the Prestea underground mine operation.

While the quantum of the Sulphides Contingent Payment remains unchanged, we have agreed to provide FGR with further financial flexibility for the development of the refractory resource by adjusting the timing of the payments associated with the sulphide project to allow time for production to reach 500,000 ounces before we realize the full contingent payment.

We are pleased to reach a full and final settlement of all existing and future claims, as this will allow both the Golden Star and FGR management teams to focus fully on their respective assets to deliver the best outcome for all stakeholders."

Revised payment terms

The restructuring of the consideration is aimed at better aligning the payments due to Golden Star with the anticipated performance of the Bogoso-Prestea asset. The Deferred Consideration has therefore been replaced by an NSR agreement with the following commercial terms:

From October 1, 2020 , NSR royalty payments in respect of products produced from the Prestea underground mine will be paid at a rate of 1.0% of the net smelter returns once production exceeds 100,000 ounces of gold, and up to a total of 300,000 ounces of gold

, NSR royalty payments in respect of products produced from the Prestea underground mine will be paid at a rate of 1.0% of the net smelter returns once production exceeds 100,000 ounces of gold, and up to a total of 300,000 ounces of gold Once production from the Prestea underground mine exceeds 300,000 ounces of gold, the royalty rate will increase to 2.0%, until cumulative royalty payments total $35 million at which point the obligation to make royalty payments will automatically terminate

at which point the obligation to make royalty payments will automatically terminate These payments apply to production from the areas containing the underground resources and reserves declared at the Prestea underground mine at the time it was acquired by FGR

Sulphides Contingent Payment

The value of the Sulphides Contingent Payment of up to $40 million relating to the Bogoso-Prestea refractory gold resources remains unchanged from those outlined in the Share Purchase Agreement. The quantum of the Contingent Payment is determined by reference to the average spot gold price for the 90 day period preceding the date of the trigger point for such payment (as described below):

$20 million , if the average spot gold price is less than or equal to $1,400 /oz;

, if the average spot gold price is less than or equal to /oz; $30 million , if the average spot gold price is greater than $1,400 /oz but less than or equal to $1,700 /oz; or

, if the average spot gold price is greater than /oz but less than or equal to /oz; or $40 million , if the average spot gold price is greater than $1,700 /oz

The trigger point for the Sulphides Contingent Payment is the extraction of an aggregate of 5% of the sulphide resources as stated at the end of 2019, being 1.76 million ounces of measured and indicated mineral resources and 0.07 million ounces of inferred mineral resource.

The Sulphides Contingent Payment is now payable in three tranches, rather than the two tranches defined in the Share Purchase Agreement, as follows:

33.3% at the time when 5% of the sulphide mineral resources have been extracted;

33.3% at the time of the first anniversary of the declaration that 5% of the sulphide mineral resources have been extracted; and

The remaining unpaid amount of the Sulphides Contingent Payment will fall due once a cumulative 500,000 ounces of gold have been produced from the Bogoso Sulphide project.

Company Profile:

Golden Star is an established gold mining company that owns and operates the Wassa underground mine in the Western Region of Ghana, West Africa. Listed on the NYSE American, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Ghanaian Stock Exchange, Golden Star is focused on delivering strong margins and free cash flow from the Wassa mine. As the winner of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada 2018 Environmental and Social Responsibility Award, Golden Star remains committed to leaving a positive and sustainable legacy in its areas of operation.



Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Some statements contained in this news release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and include but are not limited to, statements and information regarding: the timing for and quantum of any NSR payments, the timing for and quantum of the Sulphides Contingent Payments, the impact of the consideration restructuring on all stakeholders, including operations at the Prestea Underground Mine and the development of the refractory resource, and the receipt by Golden Star of NSR payments and/or contingent payments . Generally, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases (including negative or grammatical variations) or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements and information are inherently uncertain and involve risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause facts to differ materially. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which Golden Star will operate in the future, including the price of gold, anticipated costs and ability to achieve goals. Forward-looking information and statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Golden Star to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information and statements, including but not limited to: gold price volatility; discrepancies between actual and estimated production; mineral reserves and resources and metallurgical recoveries; mining operational and development risks; liquidity risks; suppliers suspending or denying delivery of products or services; regulatory restrictions (including environmental regulatory restrictions and liability); actions by governmental authorities; the speculative nature of gold exploration; ore type; the global economic climate; share price volatility; foreign exchange rate fluctuations; risks related to streaming agreements and joint venture operations; the availability of capital on reasonable terms or at all; risks related to international operations, including economic and political instability in foreign jurisdictions in which Golden Star operates; risks related to current global financial conditions including financial and other risks resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic; actual results of current exploration activities; environmental risks; future prices of gold; possible variations in mineral reserves and mineral resources, grade or recovery rates; mine development and operating risks; an inability to obtain power for operations on favorable terms or at all; mining plant or equipment breakdowns or failures; an inability to obtain products or services for operations or mine development from vendors and suppliers on reasonable terms, including pricing, or at all; public health pandemics such as COVID-19, including risks associated with reliance on suppliers, the cost, scheduling and timing of gold shipments, uncertainties relating to its ultimate spread, severity and duration, and related adverse effects on the global economy and financial markets; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities; litigation risks; the quantum and timing of receipt of NSR payments and/or the Sulphides Contingent Payments from the sale by the Company of its interest in Bogoso-Prestea; and risks related to indebtedness and the service of such indebtedness. Although Golden Star has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information and statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting the Company will be those anticipated by management. Please refer to the discussion of these and other factors in Management's Discussion and Analysis of financial conditions and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020 and in our annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2020 as filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forecasts contained in this press release constitute management's current estimates, as of the date of this press release, with respect to the matters covered thereby. We expect that these estimates will change as new information is received. While we may elect to update these estimates at any time, we do not undertake any estimate at any particular time or in response to any particular event.

SOURCE Golden Star Resources Ltd.

Related Links

www.gsr.com


KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Greenphire , the global leader in financial lifecycle management for clinical trials, today announced company executives will take an active role in the Society for Clinical Research Sites (SCRS) annual Global Site Solutions Summit by hosting two sessions at the 17th annual event taking place from Oct. 1-3, 2021, in Hollywood, Fl.

The SCRS Global Site Solutions Summit provides a unique hub where sites, sponsors, CRO executives, and regulators come together to discuss best practices and ideas while developing strategic partnerships.

The Greenphire hosted events include:

New Operational Best Practices Developed in Response to Navigating the COVID Pandemic Joe Gough, MA, Sr. Solutions Specialist, Strategic Medical Center and University Accounts

Oct. 1, at Noon EST

Mr. Gough will lead a discussion centered on sharing best practices among workshop attendees related to the clinical research operational challenges faced during COVID-19 and new best practices resulting in improved efficiency and outcomes for research sites. These new best practices will offer sites a framework for future operational success.

"Nothing has ever affected the clinical trial industry more than when the COVID-19 pandemic hit," said Mr. Gough. "Trials were put on hold or shut down and new vaccine-related studies were initiated at record speed. COVID-19 opened the door for the implementation of new technologies and novel operational practices to be tested. I am honored to lead this interactive discussion to explore the challenges and new best practices identified by my clinical research colleagues that can hopefully benefit all in our industry in 2021 and beyond."

Using Patient Stipends to Establish Fair Market Value

Wayne Baker, Chief Commercial Officer

Oct. 2 at 3 p.m. EST

Wayne Baker will join Rochelle Redding, MS, CPM, Associate Director Global, Site Budgets and Payment, Merck in this panel discussion. Baker will discuss how an appropriate patient compensation plan is a critical part of recruitment and retention success; how to determine industry benchmarks to establish a level playing field; and how the industry can access Fair Market Value for global clinical research.

"Today the industry considers patients as partners but broken budgetary processes have not ensured that these crucial stakeholders are taken care of on a consistent basis," said Baker. "One of the most important factors in keeping patients engaged and enrolled in a study is removing financial burden through compensation. As trials continue to evolve, shifting from on-site to hybrid or decentralized, removing obstacles from trial participants as well as research sites through technology and more accurate fair market value data is needed now more than ever."

To learn more or to register for the summit, visit: https://sitesolutionssummit.com/

About Greenphire

Greenphire is the leader in global clinical trial financial process automation. Greenphire's best-in-class solutions optimize clinical trial performance by streamlining payment and logistical workflows from sponsors and CROs to sites and patients. Greenphire's EnvisiX, eClinicalGPS, ClinCard and ConneX solutions easily handle any type of trial design and complexity, resulting in more accurate and compliant payments and simplified travel globally for both sites and patients. The choice of industry leaders worldwide, Greenphire provides better performance and better data, resulting in better trials. Learn more at www.greenphire.com .

Contact:

Alyson Kuritz

[email protected]

(908) 892-7149

SOURCE Greenphire

Related Links

http://www.greenphire.com


SYRACUSE, N.Y., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hofmann Sausage Company announces the production release of a special infused seasonal sausage for the month of October. The Hofmann Oktoberfest Beer Bratwurst is a limited-edition product made with a New York created lager.

Hofmann Sausage Company Since 1879 Hofmann Oktoberfest Limited Edition Beer Brats

"This beer brat is just the start of Hofmann making seasonal items that consumers will love," said Pat Favalo, National Sales Manager for Hofmann. "It is handcrafted, full of flavor, and has the texture of a traditional bratwurst. Many generations have boiled bratwurst in beer which started in Germany, but our brats are infused with beer in the cooking process." All Hofmann products are fully cooked.

Hofmann's Oktoberfest Beer Bratwursts are manufactured at the company's Syracuse, New York plant at 6916 Eastern Avenue, using Willow Rock Brewing Company's Hoi, Hoi, Hoi, German inspired beer which has deep malt aromas, traditional lager flavors, and is reddish in coloring. Willow Rock Brewing Company makes a variety of fresh, craft beer and is also located in Syracuse.

The limited-edition bratwurst will be available in select northeast grocery stores and online at hofmannsausage.com as part of Hofmann's Sausage Fest packages during October.

Hofmann Sausage Company is one of the oldest hot dog and sausage manufacturers in the United States - dating back to a meat market in 1861and incorporation in 1879. Hofmann products are available in grocery retail, big box, convenience stores, restaurants, and stadiums in several states across the eastern United States.

For more information on Hofmann Sausage Company, contact Rebecca Baker, Chief Marketing Officer, 315-437-7257, or visit https://hofmannsausage.com.

Media Contact:

Rebecca Baker

Hofmann Sausage Company

C: (214) 616-9033

O: (315) 437-7257

[email protected]

SOURCE Hofmann Sausage Company
The coronavirus pandemic created significant disruptions in cancer screenings for women around the world. For example, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program saw sharp declines in breast (87%) and cervical (84%) cancer screenings during April 2020 as compared with the previous five-year averages for that month. The Hologic Global Women's Health Index found that 21% of U.S. women say they had been screened for any cancer in the past 12 months.

"The 40% of women worldwide who said they didn't speak with a doctor or nurse about their health in 2020 is a troubling prospect. This means hundreds of millions of women potentially haven't had the chance to express their concerns and ask questions about their bodies, much less get screened for serious and preventable diseases," said Priscilla Standridge, Senior Research Consultant at Gallup. "It also means some women have had fewer valuable opportunities to disclose gender-based violence to a medical professional and access resources."

The percentage of women tested for cancer was in the single digits in nearly 40 countries and territories, including the less than 1% of women who say they were tested in Pakistan, where breast cancer rates are thought to be the highest in Asia. The true figures in Pakistan are unknown, however, as is the case in many lower- and middle-income countries.

Women in South Korea are the most likely in the world to say they were tested for cancer in that period, with 38% saying they had been. Globally, no country or territory has tested more than this percentage of women for any type of cancer  and in a host of countries, the percentage is less than 10%. Yet given even the least stringent guidelines, it can be expected that 50% of women would have been screened for any type of cancer in 2020.

The Hologic Global Women's Health Index offers the world an in-depth examination of critical markers for women's health and safety, by country and territory, and over time. This Index provides actionable, science-backed data for improving the life expectancy and quality of life for women and girls worldwide. The inaugural Index serves as a baseline of women's knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding their health to identify the keys to help women live longer, safer and healthier lives.

"Early detection, screening and diagnosis have been proven to significantly improve patient survival rates and quality of life, as well as to significantly reduce the cost and complexity of cancer treatment," said Susan Harvey, M.D., Vice President of Global Medical Affairs at Hologic. "However, barriers to achieving higher rates of early cancer detection need to be addressed at the individual, health system and governmental level to help reduce the personal and financial burden of cancer worldwide."

"Without being able to measure essential factors such as access to healthcare and the ability to meet basic needs, leaders cannot make the necessary investments and progress to improve women's health, life expectancy and quality of life. Addressing even a single challenge women and girls are facing based on the priorities within countries, as highlighted within the data and report, will start to make the health and lives of women and girls better."

Africa

African countries have some of the lowest scores when it comes to preventive care, especially with respect to screening for cancer. The Ivory Coast scored the lowest in the Preventive Care dimension of the Index, with less than 10% tested for most health conditions, including cancer. However, South Africa and Zambia both score in the top four countries for preventive care, with 25% of South African and 29% of Zambian women saying they were tested for cancer in the past year.

Asia Pacific

In Eastern Asia, about one in six women (17%) say they were tested for cancer in the past year, while 11% in South-eastern Asia said the same. These figures are even lower in Central and Southern Asia, where 7% and 3% of women, respectively, say they were tested for any cancer in the past year. However, nations such as South Korea (38%) and Japan (21%) see testing rates higher than the regional median value for Eastern Asia.

Australia and New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand experience some of the highest rates of preventive health testing in the world and on average 26% of women in the region say they have been tested for cancer in the past 12 months. In Australia, reported cancer screenings fall short of the 50% that would be expected if all Australian women complied with guidelines for 45- to 74-year-olds to have biannual breast cancer screenings alone  not considering that other regular cancer screenings would also be included in these responses. Slightly more than one in three Australian women (35%) in this age range report being screened for any type of cancer in the past year.

Europe

In Europe, 18% of women, on average, say they were screened for cancer in the past year. Thirty-five percent of Latvian and Portuguese women, respectively, say that they were screened for cancer in the past year  among the highest numbers in Europe. Meanwhile, German (33%), British (10%) and Spanish (9%) women report low levels of screening despite robust and national health systems.

Latin America and the Caribbean

In 2020, 10% of women in Latin America say they had been tested for cancer in the past year. In Brazil, only 7% of women say they had been tested for cancer in the past year, the lowest in the region. In comparison, 21% of Nicaraguan women say they were screened for cancer.

Northern America

In Northern America, 20% of women say they were screened for cancer, well below the recommended guidelines for testing. Overall, 21% of U.S. women say they have been tested for cancer in the past 12 months. That figure rises slightly to 25% among those aged 40 to 74, the range in which federal guidelines recommend women be tested for breast cancer at least every two years  but it remains well below the 50% that would be expected if all adhered to the recommendation.

Thirteen percent of Canadian women say they have been screened for cancer. For Canada, breast cancer screenings are recommended every two to three years for women aged 50 to 74. However, the Hologic Global Women's Health Index finds that only one in four Canadian women aged 50 to 74 had been tested for any type of cancer in the past year.

About Gallup

Gallup delivers analytics and advice to help leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems. Combining more than 80 years of experience with its global reach, Gallup knows more about the attitudes and behaviors of employees, customers, students and citizens than any other organization in the world.

About Hologic

Hologic, Inc. is an innovative medical technology company primarily focused on improving women's health and well-being through early detection and treatment. For more information on Hologic, visit www.hologic.com .

Hologic and the Global Women's Health Index are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Hologic, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries and territories.

Media Contacts:

[email protected]

SOURCE Gallup, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.gallup.com/


REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Informatica, an enterprise cloud data management leader, today announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") relating to a proposed initial public offering of shares of its common stock. The number of shares and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. Informatica has applied to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "INFA".

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities and Citigroup will serve as lead book-runners for the proposed offering. Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities, RBC Capital Markets, UBS Investment Bank, Wells Fargo Securities, Wolfe | Nomura Strategic Alliance and LionTree Advisors LLC will serve as book-runners for the proposed offering. Siebert Williams Shank will serve as co-manager for the proposed offering.

The proposed offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the preliminary prospectus, when available, may be obtained from:

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, New York 10282, telephone: 1-866-471-2526, facsimile: 1-212-902-9316, or by email at [email protected] ;

10282, telephone: 1-866-471-2526, facsimile: 1-212-902-9316, or by email at ; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, telephone: 1-866-803-9204, or by email at [email protected] ;

11717, telephone: 1-866-803-9204, or by email at ; BofA Securities, NC1-004-03-43, 200 North College Street, 3rd Floor, Charlotte, NC 28255-0001, attention: Prospectus Department, or by email at [email protected] ;

28255-0001, attention: Prospectus Department, or by email at ; Citigroup Global Markets Inc., c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717, telephone: 1-800-831-9146, or by email at [email protected] .

A registration statement on Form S-1 relating to these securities has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted, prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

"Wolfe I Nomura Strategic Alliance" is the marketing name used by Wolfe Research Securities and Nomura Securities International, Inc. in connection with certain equity capital markets activities conducted jointly by the firms. For these activities, Nomura Securities International, Inc. serves as the underwriter, placement agent, or initial purchaser (as applicable) and Wolfe Research Securities provides sales support services, investor education, and/or independent equity research services.

About Informatica

Informatica, an enterprise cloud data management leader, empowers businesses to realize the transformative power of data. We have pioneered a new category of software, the Informatica Intelligent Data Management CloudTM (IDMC), powered by AI and a cloud-first, cloud-native, end-to-end data management platform that connects, manages and unifies data across any multi-cloud, hybrid system, empowering enterprises to modernize and advance their data strategies. Customers in more than 100 countries and 84 of the Fortune 100 rely on Informatica to drive data-led digital transformation.

The information provided herein is subject to change without notice. In addition, the development, release and timing of any product or functionality described today remain at the sole discretion of Informatica and should not be relied upon in making a purchasing decision, nor as a representation, warranty, or commitment to deliver specific products or functionality in the future.

Contact:

Investor Relations

Victoria Hyde-Dunn

[email protected]

Media Relations

Priya Ramesh

[email protected]

SOURCE Informatica

Related Links

https://www.informatica.com/


DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Consulting and advisory firm Clarkston Consulting announced today the launch of a new Clarkston Scholars scholarship program. The new program was founded on a mission to create equitable access and opportunities for low-income, first-generation college students.

"The social justice movement in this country has highlighted a dire need to reevaluate how we help communities and people that have been underserved and under-represented. Part of that evaluation has to consider how we as businesses can contribute to bettering circumstances for the next generation," said Clarkston CEO Tom Finegan.

Created through a collaborative effort with Clarkston's Diversity Council, the scholarship program is purpose-built with three components to address the specific needs of low-income, first-generation students. First, the program provides a financial award of $10,000 split over two academic years. Second, Clarkston stewards and partners will offer mentorship and networking opportunities to assist the student in navigating career planning, work dynamics, and more. Lastly, the student will be evaluated for the opportunity to intern with Clarkston in the hopes of joining the firm as a consultant.

Clarkston President Paul Garrison said, "Financial assistance is important but we're most excited to create a program that enables long-term benefits for the recipient. Beyond helping to address the realities of financing an education, this program is designed to equip students with skills, resources, and mentors that can help them navigate the world inside the classroom and beyond."

To be eligible for the scholarship, students must be a current college sophomore and first-generation college student attending one of the following schools:

Babson University

University of North Carolina  Chapel Hill

 North Carolina State University

Georgia Tech

Agnes Scott College

Atlanta University Center

University of Michigan

University of Arizona

Arizona State University

Clarkston is seeking applicants who demonstrate alignment to Clarkston's core values and have an interest in pursuing work in the life sciences, consumer products, retail, or consulting industries following graduation. The application period for the scholarship, to be awarded in February 2022, is now open. Learn more here.

About Clarkston Consulting

Businesses across the life sciences, consumer products, and retail industries partner with Clarkston Consulting to enhance strategic decision-making, improve operational efficiency, implement new technologies, and promote business growth and market diversification. Leveraging deep functional and industry expertise, our people discover, design, and deliver solutions that fit your business, your goals, and your future. At Clarkston Consulting, your purpose is our purpose.

SOURCE Clarkston Consulting

Related Links

http://www.clarkstonconsulting.com


TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945

BOSTON, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - John Hancock Retirement, a company of Manulife Investment Management, announced today encouraging data resulting from the first year of use of its new retirement planner. Introduced to participants in May 2020, the retirement planner enhanced the online and digital experience for individuals in its retirement plans to help them easily project their own retirement readiness and model the impact of taking different steps to improve it. Over the past year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 23.6% of retirement planner users made a positive change to their contribution rate and increased their payroll contribution rate by an average of 4.2%.1 Additionally, in the first six months of use, 94% of retirement planner users added information to personalize their projections, with 66% of users making 10 or more changes within the experience to further refine their retirement projections and plan.2

"Our retirement planner is just one of the many tools we offer as a part of comprehensive plan design to help participants achieve the retirement outcomes they envision," said Sue Reibel, CEO, John Hancock Retirement. "We are confident that helping employees plan and save for retirement through a workplace plan is the best and easiest way for people to reach their individual retirement savings goals. If we want participants to engage with their plans, we need them to be taking these actions to help visualize what their retirements will be."

The retirement planner uses proprietary predictive analytics to project a participant's income and spending needs each year of their retirement3, breaking down expenses into line items such as healthcare4, food, and housing. This detailed view of retirement spending makes the need to save more tangible and relevant to the participant. The results of the first year of the retirement planner's use are in keeping with the responses from the 2020 John Hancock Financial Stress survey where 95% of respondents said that projections of their estimated income and expenses in retirement would help motivate them to plan.5

The retirement planner can accommodate all types of income sources including defined contribution plans, defined benefit and nonqualified plans that sit with John Hancock Retirement as well as outside accounts including savings, other retirement plans and expected income like rental income to provide the participant a realistic holistic retirement picture.

"We could not be happier to mark the one-year anniversary of the retirement planner with these results," added Lynda Abend, head of strategy & transformation, John Hancock Retirement. "We are all aware of how difficult the past year has been on both plan sponsors and participants and are really encouraged by the increased activity we have seen  including higher contribution rates and the addition of personalized information into individual plans. These changes help make retirement projections more accurate for participants and also show that participants are becoming more aware of the impact the planning they can do now to achieve their individual retirement outcomes and goals."

John Hancock internal data based on the 116,589 active participants on John Hancock's Open Architecture platform, who used the retirement planner from June 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021 . John Hancock internal data based on participants on John Hancock's Group Annuity and Open Architecture platforms, who used the retirement planner from May  November 2020. The projected retirement income estimates for current John Hancock accounts, future contributions, employer contributions (if applicable), and other accounts set aside for retirement used in this calculator are hypothetical, and for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute investment advice. Results are not guaranteed and do not represent the current or future performance of any specific account or investment. All investments carry a degree of risk, and past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Due to market fluctuations and other factors, it is possible that investment objectives may not be met. Health data is not retained due to privacy reasons, but the impact of the health information is retained in the projection. In July 2020 , John Hancock commissioned our seventh annual financial stress survey with the respected research firm Greenwald & Associates. An online survey of 589 workers was conducted between 7/28/20 and 8/14/20 to learn more about individual stress levels, their causes and effects, and strategies for relief. John Hancock and Greenwald & Associates are not affiliated, and neither is responsible for the liabilities of the other.

About John Hancock Retirement

John Hancock Retirement is the U.S. retirement business of Manulife Investment Management. For nearly 50 years, we've helped people plan and invest for retirement; today, we're one of the largest full-service providers in the United States.1 We take a hands-on consultative approach based on the idea that no two plans - and no two plan participants - are exactly alike. We partner with plan sponsors, financial professionals, and third-party administrators to ensure that every plan is personal to the participant and delivers results.

As of June 30, 2021, John Hancock serviced over 52,000 retirement plans with over 3.1 million participants* and over $218 billion in AUMA.2

*Participant Counts reflect all active participants with a balance.

"2020 Defined Contribution Recordkeeper Survey," PLANSPONSOR, 2020. As of June 30, 2021 , John Hancock Life Insurance Company ( USA ) supported 47,995 plans, 1,606,720 participants, and $ 108,283,261,827.19 in AUMA. John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York supported 2,549 plans, 80,027 participants, and $ 6,434,822,673.87 in AUMA. John Hancock Retirement Plan Services, LLC supported 2,207 plans, 1,428,948 participants, and $103,680,838,816.18 in AUMA. Participant Counts reflect all active participants with a balance. Approximate unaudited figures for John Hancock, provided on a U.S. statutory basis.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement.

As of June 30, 2021, Manulife Investment Management had CAD $1.0 trillion (US $834 billion) in assets under management and administration. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulifeim.com.

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services, LLC offers administrative or recordkeeping services to sponsors and administrators of retirement plans. John Hancock Trust Company LLC provides trust and custodial services to such plans.

Group annuity contracts and recordkeeping agreements are issued by John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.), Boston, MA (not licensed in New York), and John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York, Valhalla, New York. Product features and availability may differ by state.

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services, LLC, John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.), and John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York each make available a platform of investment alternatives to sponsors or administrators of retirement plans without regard to the individualized needs of any plan. Unless otherwise specifically stated in writing, each such company does not, and is not undertaking to, provide impartial investment advice or give advice in a fiduciary capacity.

Both John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.) and John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York do business under certain instances using the John Hancock name.

JH Enterprise is a registered trademark of John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.).

JH Signature is a trademark of John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.) and is used under license by John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York.

NOT FDIC INSURED. MAY LOSE VALUE. NOT BANK GUARANTEED.

 2021 John Hancock. All rights reserved.

MGR0929211853362

SOURCE John Hancock
"The completion of our business combination with Kensington greatly accelerates our strategy globally, including the construction of our manufacturing facility in Texas and working capital needed to support sales growth in over 70 countries," said Enric Asuncion, CEO and co-founder of Wallbox. "We are pleased to have partnered with Kensington, who out-performed in a challenging SPAC market, and shares our vision of a more energy-sustainable automotive future."

Justin Mirro, Chairman and CEO of Kensington, added, "we are proud to complete our business combination with Wallbox and look forward to the future success of Enric and his team of over 700 associates around the world. To partner with such a visionary company, that is already impacting how people manage their energy consumption today, continues our tradition at Kensington to support those companies that make the world greener, safer and better for the next generation."

"We appreciate the continued support of our investors throughout this process, including Janus Henderson Investors and Kepos Capital. It is great to work with these world-class investment managers that support the Kensington investment thesis and share our vision for the future," added Dan Huber, CFO of Kensington.

The transaction will result in gross proceeds of approximately $250 million to Wallbox to fund the company as it expands its manufacturing capacity and global sales presence. Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP served as legal advisor to Kensington and Latham and Watkins LLP served as legal advisor to Wallbox. Houthoff and Loyens & Loeff advised Kensington and Wallbox, respectively, on matters of Dutch law and Cuatrecasas, Goncalves Pereira, S.L.P. advised Kensington on matters of Spanish law. UBS Securities LLC, Stifel Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated served as financial advisors to Kensington and Barclays Capital Inc. and Drake Star Partners served as financial advisors to Wallbox. UBS Securities LLC and Barclays Capital Inc. served as joint placement agents on the PIPE offering.

About Wallbox

Wallbox is a global technology company, dedicated to changing the way the world uses energy. Wallbox creates advanced electric vehicle charging and energy management systems that redefine users' relationship to the grid. Wallbox goes beyond electric vehicle charging to give users the power to control their consumption, save money, and live more sustainably. Wallbox offers a complete portfolio of charging and energy management solutions for residential, semi-public and public use in more than 80 countries.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Barcelona, the company now employs over 700 people in its offices in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

For additional information, please visit www.wallbox.com.

About Kensington

Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. II, which traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol KCAC, was a special purpose acquisition company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, stock purchase or similar business combination with a business in the automotive and automotive-related sector. The company was sponsored by Kensington Capital Partners ("KCP") and the management team included Justin Mirro, Bob Remenar, Simon Boag and Dan Huber. The company was also supported by a board of independent directors including Tom LaSorda, Nicole Nason, Anders Pettersson, Mitch Quain, Don Runkle and Matt Simoncini. The Kensington team has completed over 70 automotive transactions and has over 300 years of combined experience leading some of the largest automotive companies in the world.

For additional information, please visit www.autospac.com.

Caution About Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this press release, regarding Kensington's business combination with Wallbox, the development and performance of Wallbox's products (including the timeframe for development of such products), the benefits of the transaction and the combined company's future financial performance, as well as the combined company's strategy, future operations, estimated financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the words "are designed to," "could," "should," "will," "may," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "project," the negative of such terms and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions about future events and are based on currently available information as to the outcome and timing of future events. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, Wallbox disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements, all of which are expressly qualified by the statements in this section, to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. Wallbox cautions you that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of either Kensington or Wallbox. In addition, Wallbox cautions you that the forward-looking statements contained herein are subject to the following uncertainties and risk factors that could affect the combined company's future performance and cause results to differ from the forward-looking statements herein: Wallbox's ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition and the ability of Wallbox to grow and manage growth profitably following the business combination; risks relating to the outcome and timing of the Company's development of its charging and energy management technology and related manufacturing processes; intense competition in the electric vehicle charging space; risks related to health pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic; the possibility that Wallbox may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; the possibility that the expected timeframe for, and other expectations regarding the development and performance of, Wallbox products will differ from current assumptions; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against the combined company or others following the consummation of the business combination; the ability to meet stock exchange listing standards following the consummation of the business combination; the risk that the business combination disrupts current plans and operations of the combined company as a result of the consummation of the business combination; costs related to the business combination; and changes in applicable laws or regulations. Should one or more of the risks or uncertainties described in this press release, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and plans could different materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning these and other factors that may impact the operations and projections discussed herein can be found in Kensington's periodic filings with the SEC, and the proxy statement/prospectus of Wallbox B.V. in the registration statement on Form F-4 filed with the SEC. Kensington's and Wallbox B.V.'s SEC filings are available publicly on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

Contacts:

For Wallbox

Investors

ICR, Inc.

[email protected]

Media

ICR, Inc.

[email protected]

For Kensington

Dan Huber

[email protected]

703-674-6514

SOURCE Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. II

Related Links

https://www.autospac.com


TORONTO, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Khiron Life Sciences Corp. ("Khiron" or the "Company") (TSXV: KHRN) (OTCQX: KHRNF)(Frankfurt: A2JMZC), a vertically integrated medical cannabis leader with core operations in Latin America and Europe, today announced that Joel Friedman, has resigned as Chief Financial Officer of the Company for personal reasons. Khiron's board of directors has appointed Swapan Kakumanu of RTB LLP to the role of Interim CFO, effective immediately. Mr. Friedman will remain with Khiron until October 31, 2021 to provide transitional support.

Mr. Alvaro Torres, Khiron CEO and Director, commented: "On behalf of the Board of Directors and the management team, I would like to thank Joel for his contributions and leadership to our strong finance team and wish him the best in his future endeavours."

About RTB and Swapan Kakumanu

RTB LLP (www.rtbllp.ca) is a fractional CFO, controller and accounting services provider for private, publicly-traded and non-profit organizations, with a team of accounting professionals with extensive industry experience. Mr. Kakumanu has more than 25 years of senior finance and operations experience and has served at the senior executive management levels, both in public and private companies, in high growth technology, manufacturing, blockchain, medical device, and oil field services industries. He has held senior roles as President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Controller, Company Secretary, and Board Member for public and private companies.

About Khiron Life Sciences Corp.

Khiron is a leading vertically integrated medical cannabis company with core operations in Latin America and Europe. Leveraging wholly-owned medical health centres and proprietary telemedicine platforms, Khiron combines a patient-oriented approach, physician education programs, scientific expertise, product innovation, and agricultural infrastructure to drive prescriptions and brand loyalty with patients worldwide. The Company has a sales presence in Colombia, Peru, Germany, UK, and Brazil and is positioned to commence sales in Mexico in 2021. The Company is led by Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Alvaro Torres, together with an experienced and diverse executive team and Board of Directors.

Visit Khiron online at investors.khiron.ca and on Instagram @khironlife.

Cautionary Notes

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. Khiron undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third-parties in respect of Khiron, its securities, or financial or operating results (as applicable). Although Khiron believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, such forward-looking statement has been based on expectations, factors and assumptions concerning future events which may prove to be inaccurate and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond Khiron's control, including the risk factors discussed in Khiron's Annual Information Form which is available on Khiron's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and is made as of the date hereof. Khiron disclaims any intention and has no obligation or responsibility, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

SOURCE Khiron Life Sciences Corp.

Related Links

https://khiron.ca/


GELEEN, The Netherlands, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kriya Materials, a leading developer and manufacturer of coating liquids and masterbatches, today called for EU legislation to support its new products within the building and automotive industries.

These products will have a direct and positive impact, lowering the energy usage in buildings by up to 35%, and in cars by up to 10%. The potential reduction in overall global CO 2 emissions is 0.5 Gigatons, or 3% of the world's current annual CO 2 emissions.

Validated by independent research institutes, the coating products are applied to building glass resulting in a 35% reduction in energy usage depending on local climate conditions. This is significant, as buildings consume up to 40% of global energy.

The same products applied to car glazing directly impact the CO 2 emissions of combustion engines by reducing air conditioning usage and therefore fuel consumption. In electric vehicles, this will significantly increase the potential range as cooling systems currently account for a large amount of a car's power.

Kriya Materials CEO, Roel Huis in 't Veld, says that support from EU legislators would make a big difference: "Currently, the EU's WLTP test, which is obligatory to determine a new car model's CO 2 emissions, demands that the air-conditioning is switched off! So, the EU acts as if it is not there! This is strange as air-conditioning units are responsible for roughly 10% of an average vehicle's CO 2 emissions.

"Changing legislation would provide an immediate incentive for the automotive industry to implement products such as ours so they are not penalised for their CO 2 emissions.

"It only costs a few Euros per car, and, alongside a significantly lower CO 2 footprint, it greatly improves passenger comfort, so it's a win-win!"

The same applies to buildings. Changing legislation around national building codes would reduce the adoption and overuse of air-conditioning, which is currently growing at an unprecedented rate. As well as increased CO 2 emissions, this has led to energy poverty for many households due to increased bills.

Kriya Materials is a backward integrated nanotech coating company. Central in its strategy is to develop low cost, easy to implement products which when applied lower CO 2 emissions.

For further information, visit https://kriya-materials.com/

SOURCE Kriya Materials bv

Related Links

https://kriya-materials.com/


VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - MANTARO SILVER CORP. (TSXV: MSLV) (FSE: 9TZ) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors of the Company has approved a change of the Company's name to "Mantaro Precious Metals Corp." (the "Name Change"). The Name Change better reflects the Company's diversified portfolio of gold assets in Bolivia and silver assets in Peru.

Dr. Christopher Wilson, CEO of the Company stated, "Mantaro's Board of Directors felt that the name change better reflects the Company's portfolio of high-grade gold and silver projects. Ongoing work at our Santas Gloria and Golden Hill projects have continued to prove the significant prospectively of these areas and we look forward to drill testing these targets in the near future."

Mantaro is actively advancing its projects in Bolivia and Peru:

Bolivia : Mantaro is focused on the drill-ready, high grade, orogenic gold deposit at the Golden Hill Property. An experienced field team is currently onsite and is focused on advancing known mineralization at La Escharcha Mine. The team is also conducting a concession-wide reconnaissance with a focus on over 6 km of regional structures with gold alluvials.

Peru : Mantaro has a very experienced field team sampling and mapping new vein extensions at the Santas Gloria Silver Property. Recently, Mantaro was awarded its second archaeology area approval (CIRA)  which further strengthens the ongoing drill permitting process. Once mapping and sampling of vein extensions at Santas Gloria Silver Property are finished, the Mantaro field will return to reconnaissance mapping of the high-grade San Jose Silver Project.

Mantaro continues an aggressive review of gold and silver projects within the region. Not only does the new company name better reflect corporate strategy, but it also broadens our mandate from the perspective of project owners.

The company will shortly provide separate update to the market on recent work completed at the Santas Gloria Silver Property and Golden Hill Property.

Shareholders will not be required to exchange their existing share certificates for new certificates bearing the Company's new name. The name change does not affect the Company's share structure or the rights of the Company's shareholders, and no further action is required by existing shareholders. The Name Change is subject to acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Mantaro Silver Corp.

Mantaro Silver Corp. is a British Columbia company that holds a diversified portfolio of gold and silver focused mineral properties in Bolivia and Peru. The Company's holds an option to acquire up to an 80% interest in the advanced Golden Hill Property ("Golden Hill"), located in the underexplored, orogenic Bolivia Shield, Bolivia.

The Company also has an 100% interest in high-grade Santas Gloria Silver Property as well as a 100% interest in the San Jose, La Purisima, Cerro Luque and Huaranay Properties (the "Silver Properties"). The Silver Properties are all located in Peru.

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Company's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Resulting Issuer undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Mantaro Silver Corp.

Related Links

https://mantarosilver.com/


IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today reported total September sales of 24,045 vehicles, a decrease of 0.8 percent compared to September 2020. Year-to-date sales totaled 273,213 vehicles; an increase of 34.4 percent compared to the same time last year. With 25 selling days in September, compared to the same number the year prior, the company posted a decrease of 0.8 percent on a Daily Selling Rate (DSR) basis.

CPO sales totaled 5,603 vehicles in September, a decrease of 7.0 percent compared to September 2020.

Mazda Reports September Sales Results

Sales Highlights

CX-30 achieved 12 percent YoY growth with 3,581 vehicles sold

CX-5 achieved 32 percent YoY growth with 13,094 vehicles sold

CX-9 achieved its best-ever September with 2,887 vehicles sold

Mazda Canada, Inc., (MCI) reported September sales of 5,620 vehicles, a decrease of 4.9 percent compared to September last year. Year-to-date sales increased 26 percent with 52,442 vehicles sold.

Mazda Motor de Mexico (MMdM) reported September sales of 1,681 vehicles, a decrease of 58.9 percent compared to September last year. Year-to-date sales increased 6.1 percent, with 32,964 vehicles sold.

Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States, Canada and Mexico through approximately 780 dealers. Operations in Canada are managed by Mazda Canada Inc. in Richmond Hill, Ontario, and operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City. For more information on Mazda vehicles, including photography and B-roll, please visit the online Mazda media center at InsideMazda.MazdaUSA.com/Newsroom.

Follow MNAO's social media channels through Twitter and Instagram at @MazdaUSA and Facebook at Facebook.com/MazdaUSA.

























Month-To-Date

Year-To-Date

























September September YOY % % MTD

September September YOY % % MTD



2021 2020 Change DSR

2021 2020 Change DSR























Mazda3 2,595 2,535 2.4% 2.4%

30,619 25,169 21.7% 22.7%

Mazda6 1,032 1,451 (28.9)% (28.9)%

14,271 11,950 19.4% 20.5%

MX-5 Miata 824 862 (4.4)% (4.4)%

9,608 6,652 44.4% 45.7%

CX-3 32 436 (92.7)% (92.7)%

5,099 7,012 (27.3)% (26.6)%

CX-30 3,581 3,188 12.3% 12.3%

47,474 27,793 70.8% 72.3%

CX-5 13,094 13,580 (3.6)% (3.6)%

137,343 104,257 31.7% 32.9%

CX-9 2,887 2,183 32.2% 32.2%

28,799 20,412 41.1% 42.3%













































CARS 4,451 4,848 (8.2)% (8.2)%

54,498 43,771 24.5% 25.6%

TRUCKS 19,594 19,387 1.1% 1.1%

218,715 159,474 37.1% 38.4%























TOTAL 24,045 24,235 (0.8)% (0.8)%

273,213 203,245 34.4% 35.6%













































*Selling Days 25 25





228 230





























SOURCE Mazda North American Operations

Related Links

www.mazdausa.com


PUNE, India, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to The Insight Partners study on "Medical Imaging Market to 2028  Global Analysis and Forecast  by Product, End User, and Geography" the market was valued at US$ 23,901.88 million in 2020 and is projected to reach US$ 33,002.52 million by 2028; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.3% during 20212028. A few key factors such as the rising demand for early diagnosis of diseases; broadening the scope of clinical applications; rapidly growing geriatric population and the rising prevalence of diseases associated with it; surging technological advancements in the diagnostic imaging industry; and increasing investments, funds, and grants by publicprivate organizations drive the market growth.

In 2020, North America dominated the global medical imaging market. A surge in medical imaging services in hospitals and clinics, an increase in diagnostic imaging procedures, high patient awareness about early disease diagnosis, good reimbursement scenarios, and significant spending in healthcare are among the major factors that bolster the market growth in North America. Furthermore, the rising elderly population, growing prevalence of chronic diseases, and the surging number of diagnostic and medical imaging centers in the region are expected to drive the growth of the North America medical imaging market during the forecast period.

Strategic Insights





Report Coverage Details Market Size Value in US$ 23,901.88 Million in 2020 Market Size Value by US$ 33,002.52 Million by 2028 Growth rate CAGR of 4.3% from 2021-2028 Forecast Period 2021-2028 Base Year 2021 No. of Pages 166 No. Tables 57 No. of Charts & Figures 76 Historical data available Yes Segments covered Product ; End User , and Geography Regional scope North America; Europe; Asia Pacific; Latin America; MEA Country scope US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Argentina Report coverage Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape, growth factors, and trends Country scope US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Argentina

Get Exclusive Sample Pages of Medical Imaging Market at https://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPHE100000883/

The medical imaging market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period. China, India, and Japan are major contributors to the market growth owing to a few factors such as the increasing aging population, rising chronic diseases prevalence, growing supportive government efforts, and growing medical imaging research. Additionally, growing investments by international market players in the regional market fuel the growth of the market in Asia Pacific.

Introduction of Technologically Advanced Systems

Medical imaging is an integral part of the diagnostic process. From ultrasounds to MRIs and CT scans, medical imaging is utilized to properly diagnose and treat diseases. The capabilities of medical imaging have advanced dramatically over the last two decades. Essential research and technological developments have resulted in significant improvements in medical imaging technology. This advancement is critical for accurate diagnosis and improved patient care. When combined with the power of IT and digital technologies, developments in medical imaging increase procedural efficiency in the delivery and execution of patient care. Medical imaging technology is one of the domains where artificial intelligence (AI) has aided in improving many parts of the healthcare industry. The AI solution in medical imaging is designed to assist radiologists who diagnose issues related to body parts, such as chest, abdomen, spine, and head. In 2020, DeepMind, a division of Google, got the CE mark for its AI solution technology, making it available to medical facilities across Europe. The company has developed an AI system that can diagnose over 50 eye problems using regular medical scans. The LOGIQ E10 radiology ultrasound system, which is integrated with AI to record data and reconstruct images swiftly, was unveiled by GE Healthcare in March 2021 as breakthrough medical imaging technology. Closed connectivity and advanced algorithms are used in the digital system to ensure 48 times more data flow and 10 times more processing power than earlier systems.

The COVID-19 outbreak pandemic has disturbed various trades and businesses across the world. Many cities were closed to control the spread of the novel coronavirus, which canceled treatments and doctor's appointments. Patients suffering from critical health disorders require physical distancing from others. Nonetheless, delays in the treatment of chronic disease are distressing. However, in the case of COVID-19, numerous firms in the US, such as Siemens Healthineers and General Electric Company, are taking the lead and using imaging techniques, such as CT scans and ultrasounds, to examine patients' lungs as a part of COVID-19 treatment. In addition, in the UK, the practice of cardiology, general imaging, musculoskeletal, OB/GYN, and obstetrics, and gynecology has evolved. Owing to the diversification of the medical workforce and the decision to focus on treating critically ill patients, rising COVID-19 cases have propelled the demand for quick illness detection and treatment in the market.

Download the Latest COVID-19 Analysis on Medical Imaging Market Growth Research Report at https://www.theinsightpartners.com/covid-analysis-sample/TIPHE100000883/

Medical Imaging Market: Segmental Overview

The medical imaging market, by product, is segmented into CT systems, X-ray systems, PET systems, MRI systems, ultrasound systems, and others. The X-ray segment held the largest share of the market in 2020 and is also anticipated to register the highest CAGR of 5.5% in the market during the forecast period. Medical X-rays are commonly utilized to provide images of internal human tissues and structures. Medical X-ray is an essential aspect of the healthcare system because it provides information that is required to make the best therapeutic decisions. Early detection and diagnosis can save patients' time and money and can prevent them from experiencing unnecessary pain and suffering. It also has the potential to lower the scope and cost of treatment. According to a significant body of studies, early diagnosis has been linked to measurable health benefits, such as high survival rates and cheap treatment costs.

Medical Imaging Market: Competition Landscape and Key Developments

Companies such as GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthineers, Canon Medical, Esaote, and Samsung have been implementing strategies for the growth of the company, which, in turn, have brought about various changes in the market. Companies are focusing on the expansion and diversification of their market presence and the acquisition of a new customer base, thereby tapping prevailing business opportunities.

In March 2021, GE Healthcare launched Vscan AirTM, a cutting-edge, wireless pocket-sized ultrasound. Vscan AirTM offers crystal clear image quality, whole-body scanning capabilities, and intuitive software in the palm of clinicians' hands.

Company Profiles

General Electric Company

Siemens AG

Koninklijke Philips N.V.

SHIMADZU CORPORATION

Hitachi, Ltd.

Canon Inc.

Hologic, Inc.

Carestream Health Inc.

ESAOTE SPA

Samsung Group

Order a Copy of Medical Imaging Market Shares, Strategies and Forecasts 2021-2028 Research Report at https://www.theinsightpartners.com/buy/TIPHE100000883/

In January 2021, Esaote launched MyLab X8 Ultrasound System in Canada. Previously approved by FDA in the US, MyLab X8 expands the reach of the MyLab Ultrasound Product Line with a fully featured premium imaging solution, integrating the latest technologies, and delivering superior image quality without compromising workflow or efficiency.

In May 2021, GE Healthcare acquired Zionexa, a leading innovator of in-vivo oncology and neurology biomarkers that help enable personalized healthcare.

In April 2021, Carestream Health and Ziehm Imaging Americas announced distribution partnership. The partnership is aimed in the addition of a mobile C-arm into its growing innovative product portfolio and the increasing market reach of Carestream's mobile and fluoroscopic product offerings.

Browse Related Reports:

About Us:

The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We specialize in industries such as Semiconductor and Electronics, Aerospace and Defense, Automotive and Transportation, Biotechnology, Healthcare IT, Manufacturing and Construction, Medical Device, Technology, Media and Telecommunications, Chemicals and Materials.

Contact Us:

Sameer Joshi

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: +1-646-491-9876

More Research: https://www.openpr.com/news/archive/139407/The-Insight-Partners.html

SOURCE The Insight Partners
NYSE AMERICAN: MTA

TSX-V: MTA

(All Currency is in United States (US$) dollars unless otherwise noted)

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Metalla Royalty & Streaming Ltd. ("Metalla" or the "Company") (NYSE American: MTA) (TSXV: MTA) is pleased to announce that, further to its news release dated September 13, 2021, it has closed (the "Closing") the acquisition of an existing 5% net smelter return royalty (the "Royalty") from an arm's length seller (the "Seller") on the South Domes portion of the Castle Mountain Gold mine owned by Equinox Gold Corp. (NYSE: EQX; TSX: EQX).

On Closing, Metalla paid $10 million in cash to the Seller (the "Closing Payment") with the remaining $5 million of the purchase price to be paid within twenty months from the closing date bearing interest at a rate of 4% per annum from the closing date.

FINANCIAL UPDATE

The Company has completed its previously announced drawdown of an additional C$3 million (the "Drawdown Amount") under its existing amended and restated convertible loan facility (the "Convertible Loan Facility") with Beedie Capital ("Beedie"). The Drawdown Amount will accrue interest at 8% per annum with the remaining C$12 million available to the Company under the Convertible Loan Facility subject to stand-by interest of 1.5% per annum.

The Drawdown Amount is convertible by Beedie into common shares of Metalla ("Common Shares") at a conversion price of C$11.16 which is based on a 20% premium above the 30-day volume-weighted average price ("VWAP") of the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange calculated as of September 30, 2021, in accordance with the terms of the Convertible Loan Facility. Any Common Shares issued upon conversion of the Drawdown Amount will be subject to a hold period elapsing on February 2, 2022.

The Drawdown Amount was used to fund a portion of the Closing Payment for the acquisition of the Royalty.

ABOUT METALLA

Metalla was created for the purpose of providing shareholders with leveraged precious metal exposure by acquiring royalties and streams. Our goal is to increase share value by accumulating a diversified portfolio of royalties and streams with attractive returns. Our strong foundation of current and future cash-generating asset base, combined with an experienced team, gives Metalla a path to become one of the leading gold and silver companies for the next commodities cycle.

For further information, please visit our website at www.metallaroyalty.com.

ON BEHALF OF METALLA ROYALTY & STREAMING LTD.

(signed) "Brett Heath"

Website: www.metallaroyalty.com

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of United States and Canadian regulations. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budgets", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "projects", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements and information in this release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the potential achievement of milestones and payments in connection therewith; the payment of the remaining $5 million purchase price; the anticipated or possible future developments at the Castle Mountain Project and the properties on which the Company currently holds royalty and stream interests or relating to the companies owning or operating such properties; the future value of the Company's stock; future cash generation; and the Company's potential to become a leading gold and silver company. Forward-looking statements and information are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions that, while believed by management to be reasonable, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, and contingencies. Forward-looking statements and information are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the ability of Metalla to control or predict, that may cause Metalla's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied thereby, and are developed based on assumptions about such risks, uncertainties and other factors set out herein, including but not limited to: the risk that the milestones may not be satisfied; risks associated with the impact of general business and economic conditions; the absence of control over mining operations from which Metalla will purchase precious metals or from which it will receive stream or royalty payments and risks related to those mining operations, including risks related to international operations, government and environmental regulation, delays in mine development, construction and operations, actual results of mining and current exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations and changes in project parameters as plans are refined; problems related to the ability to market precious metals or other metals; industry conditions, including commodity price fluctuations, interest and exchange rate fluctuations; interpretation by government entities of tax laws or the implementation of new tax laws; regulatory, political or economic developments in any of the countries where properties in which Metalla holds a royalty, stream or other interest are located or through which they are held; risks related to the operators of the properties in which Metalla holds a royalty or stream or other interest, including changes in the ownership and control of such operators; risks related to global pandemics, including the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global health pandemic, and the spread of other viruses or pathogens; influence of macroeconomic developments; business opportunities that become available to, or are pursued by Metalla; reduced access to debt and equity capital; litigation; title, permit or license disputes related to interests on any of the properties in which Metalla holds a royalty, stream or other interest; the volatility of the stock market; competition; future sales or issuances of debt or equity securities; use of proceeds; dividend policy and future payment of dividends; liquidity; market for securities; enforcement of civil judgments; and risks relating to Metalla potentially being a passive foreign investment company within the meaning of U.S. federal tax laws; and the other risks and uncertainties disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent annual information form, annual report on Form 40-F and other documents filed with or submitted to the Canadian securities regulatory authorities on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on the EDGAR website at www.sec.gov. Metalla undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information except as required by applicable law. Such forward-looking information represents management's best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual future results may vary materially. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

SOURCE Metalla Royalty and Streaming Ltd.

Related Links

http://www.metallaroyalty.com/


Built in 2020, this 238-unit community is one of the few multifamily additions along the South Broadway corridor. Located in the area's sought after entertainment district, Neon Local's proximity to mass transit and commuter freeways make it an arterial thoroughfare with premier access to the larger Denver metro. Its onsite retail options and an irreplaceable core location make Neon an ideal entry into the Colorado market.

The sellers, North America Sekisui House and Holland Partner Group, were represented by Jordan Robbins and Pamela Koster of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). The acquisition of the community was financed with a loan from an affiliate of Apollo Global Management arranged by JLL Capital Markets' Charles Halladay, Rick Salinas, Brandon Smith, and Annie Rice.

"We are pleased to announce our entrance into the Denver market." said Mark Gleiberman, Founder & CEO of MG Properties Group. "This community offers a unique luxury product in one of Denver's most sought-after neighborhoods. We are continuing to actively pursue acquisitions in the broader Denver area to further scale our operations."

Neon Local is the first property purchased by MG Properties Group in Colorado and marks the 18th acquisition in the last year for the company overall  totaling over $1.5 billion in combined value. MG Properties is continuing to target further acquisitions in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Texas.

To learn more visit: rentneonlocal.com

About MG Properties Group



MG Properties Group is a privately owned, fully integrated real estate company specializing in the investment, redevelopment, and management of multi-family assets. Headquartered in San Diego, California, MG was founded in 1992 by Mark Gleiberman with the mission to enrich communities. MG's current portfolio is comprised of over 23,000 rental homes in California, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, and Oregon, including 78 communities. For additional information, visit www.mgproperties.com.

SOURCE MG Properties Group

Related Links

http://www.mgproperties.com


OKOTOKS, AB, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - (TSX: MTL) Mullen Group Ltd. ("Mullen Group", "We", "Our" and/or the "Corporation") is pleased to announce that today it has entered into a new credit agreement (the "CIBC Credit Facility") with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ("CIBC"). The CIBC Credit Facility is a $100.0 million revolving demand credit facility to finance the Corporation's general operating requirements including acquisition transactions. The CIBC Credit Facility is available in, among other things, Canadian dollar loans, US dollar loans and Canadian dollar banker's acceptances. Interest on the CIBC Credit Facility is based on either the Canadian bank prime rate plus 0.50 percent or US bank base rate plus 0.50 percent, in each case payable in arrears or banker's acceptance rates plus an acceptance fee of 1.50 percent payable upon acceptance.

The CIBC Credit Facility is unsecured although the Corporation's wholly-owned subsidiary, MT Investments Inc. ("MTI"), has granted an unlimited guarantee of any indebtedness owing on the CIBC Credit Facility. The CIBC Credit Facility does not have any financial covenants although the Corporation cannot be in default of its obligations under any other credit agreement that it has entered into and it must remain in compliance with certain reporting and general covenants customary for credit facilities of this nature.

The Corporation also announces that today it has amended the terms of its existing $150.0 million revolving demand credit facility (the "RBC Credit Facility") with Royal Bank of Canada ("RBC"), to add MTI as a guarantor. MTI has granted an unlimited guarantee of any indebtedness owing on the RBC Credit Facility. All other material terms of the RBC Credit Facility remain the same. For further information about the RBC Credit Facility, please refer to the Corporation's Interim Financial Report for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2021, which is available on the Corporation's SEDAR profile or the Corporation's website, www.mullen-group.com.

"We would like to thank our lenders for their support and confidence in our business. The increase in our borrowing capacity will provide us with enhanced financial flexibility to pursue accretive acquisitions and greater flexibility to allocate capital in support of our strategic plan while still maintaining a strong balance sheet," said Mr. P. Stephen Clark, Chief Financial Officer.

About Mullen Group Ltd.

Mullen Group is one of North America's largest logistics providers. Our network of independently operated businesses provide a wide range of service offerings including less-than-truckload, truckload, warehousing, logistics, transload, oversized and specialized hauling transportation. In addition, we provide a diverse set of specialized services related to the energy, mining, forestry and construction industries in western Canada, including water management, fluid hauling and environmental reclamation. The corporate office provides the capital and financial expertise, legal support, technology and systems support, shared services and strategic planning to its independent businesses.

Mullen Group is a publicly traded corporation listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "MTL". Additional information is available on our website at www.mullen-group.com or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Contact Information

Mr. Murray K. Mullen - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President

Mr. P. Stephen Clark - Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Richard J. Maloney - Senior Vice President

Ms. Joanna K. Scott - Corporate Secretary & Vice President, Corporate Services

121A - 31 Southridge Drive

Okotoks, Alberta, Canada T1S 2N3

Telephone: 403-995-5200

Fax: 403-995-5296

SOURCE Mullen Group Ltd.

Related Links

www.mullen-group.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nava, a modern healthcare benefits brokerage leveraging technology and benefits innovation to tackle the rising costs of healthcare, today announced the addition of three new members to its Healthcare & Benefits Advisory Board. Todd Bisping, Global Benefits & Health Manager at Caterpillar, Tracy Desmond, Head of Global Benefits, Wellbeing & Mobility at Airbnb, and Ellen Meza, Director of Global Benefits, Wellbeing & Mobility at DocuSign will join leaders from Walmart and Delta Airlines to provide strategic expertise and counsel as Nava works to bring world-class employee benefits to thousands of small-and-midsize employers.

Nava was founded in 2019 with a mission to provide high-quality, affordable care options to the 160 million Americans who receive healthcare coverage through their employer. The company launched its Healthcare & Benefits Advisory Board in 2020 to bring benefits expertise from the country's largest employers straight into the hands of small and midsize employers. Its members, known as Nava Advisors, work directly with Nava's leadership and customers to scale and deploy what they have learned from their organizations to improve healthcare coverage for employees across industries and around the country. Advisors will also partner with Nava's benefits, product, and engineering teams to design innovative tools and products for employees and HR leaders

"The data is clear: the US healthcare system is crushing small-and-midsize employers. We observed that 8 in 10 are in the wrong benefits strategy and getting overcharged as a result. Meanwhile, America's largest employers are playing a different game and pay 20-25% less for the equivalent or better benefits," said Brandon Weber, CEO and co-founder of Nava. "The good news is that the mid-market can too, and we're fortunate to be partnering with these thought leaders to bring their expertise and playbook to the employers who form the backbone of the American economy."

"What we're doing at Caterpillar can be done by small-to-midsize employers across the country  but to make that happen, they need a partner they can trust," writes Todd Bisping, Global Benefits & Health Manager at Caterpillar. "Usually it goes that the smaller the company, the less leverage they have in healthcare. That's one of the problems Nava is trying to solve. With a high level of transparency and a strong commitment to the client's needs, Nava is on track to become a champion of SMB benefits."

Ellen Meza, Director of Global Benefits, Wellbeing & Mobility at DocuSign added: "As someone who has sat in the role of HR leader and benefits consultant, I have witnessed firsthand just how much this space needs innovation. It's even better when that innovation is anchored in a mission we can all get behind: high-quality, affordable healthcare for all."

"Nava aims to revolutionize the broker-employer relationship," notes Tracy Desmond, Head of Global Benefits, Wellbeing & Mobility at Airbnb. "Driving change in the healthcare industry means being proactive, innovative, and forward-thinking. That's what Nava brings to small-to-midsize employers and I'm thrilled to be a part of a team working together to disrupt the existing system."

The three members bring a diverse set of skills, input and knowledge and join existing Board members, including:

Kelley Elliott , VP, Total Rewards at Delta Air Lines

, VP, Total Rewards at Delta Air Lines Dr. Marty Makary , Johns Hopkins Surgeon & Professor of Public Health, and New York Times bestselling author of "The Price We Pay"; Chief Medical Advisor at Nava

, Johns Hopkins Surgeon & Professor of Public Health, and bestselling author of "The Price We Pay"; Chief Medical Advisor at Nava Marcus Osborne , SVP Walmart Health at Walmart

, SVP Walmart Health at Walmart Dene Sparrman , Director, Global Benefits at Amazon

About Nava

Nava is a modern benefits brokerage on a mission to fix healthcare, one benefits plan at a time. Nava was founded with a mission to bring high-quality, affordable healthcare to all Americans, starting with the 160 million who receive insurance through their employers. By partnering with healthcare and benefits advisors from the country's largest companies, Nava packages their insights, tools, and best practices into a scalable, unified service offering that has helped smaller employers save 8-22% on their benefits plans. For more information, visit www.nava.io.

Media contact: Veronique Valcu, [email protected]

SOURCE Nava

Related Links

https://nava.io/


FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 16; Released: April 2021 Executive Pool: 3982 Companies: 506 - Players covered include Almarai Company; ARYZTA AG; Associated British Foods PLC; Barilla G. e R. Fratelli S.p.A; Britannia Industries Ltd.; Campbell Soup Company; Finsbury Food Group PLC; Fuji Baking Co., Ltd.; Goodman Fielder Pty., Ltd.; Grupo Bimbo S.A.B. de C.V.; Premier Foods PLC; Yamazaki Baking Co., Ltd. and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Bread Geographies: World; United States; Canada; Japan; China; Europe (France; Germany; Italy; United Kingdom; Spain; Russia; and Rest of Europe); Asia-Pacific (Australia; India; South Korea; and Rest of Asia-Pacific); Latin America (Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; and Rest of Latin America); Middle East (Iran; Israel; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates; and Rest of Middle East); and Africa.

Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry

ABSTRACT-

Global Bread Market to Reach $222.9 Billion by 2026

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Bread estimated at US$204.3 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$222.9 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 1.4% over the analysis period.

The U.S. Market is Estimated at $56.2 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $41.4 Billion by 2026

The Bread market in the U.S. is estimated at US$56.2 Billion in the year 2021. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$41.4 Billion by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 2.8% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 0.1% and 0.9% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 0.4% CAGR. More

MarketGlass Platform

Our MarketGlass Platform is a free full-stack knowledge center that is custom configurable to today`s busy business executive`s intelligence needs! This influencer driven interactive research platform is at the core of our primary research engagements and draws from unique perspectives of participating executives worldwide. Features include - enterprise-wide peer-to-peer collaborations; research program previews relevant to your company; 3.4 million domain expert profiles; competitive company profiles; interactive research modules; bespoke report generation; monitor market trends; competitive brands; create & publish blogs & podcasts using our primary and secondary content; track domain events worldwide; and much more. Client companies will have complete insider access to the project data stacks. Currently in use by 67,000+ domain experts worldwide.

Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android

About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world`s only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years.

CONTACTS:

Zak Ali

Director, Corporate Communications

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

www.StrategyR.com

Email: [email protected]

LINKS

Join Our Expert Panel

https://www.strategyr.com/Panelist.asp

Connect With Us on LinkedIn

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SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

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WORCESTER, Mass., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As the St. Vincent nurses strike approaches the seventh month mark, local nurses and leaders representing more than 3,000 nurses working in hospitals throughout the central Mass. region want the public to know that the entire nursing community stands behind the St. Vincent hospital nurses and their strike for safer patient care, and that they, like a growing number of public officials, hold Tenet Healthcare solely accountable for the length of the strike and for Tenet's callous decision to close beds and services, which is having a devastating impact on the region's ability to respond to the most recent surge in the pandemic caused by the Delta variant.

While the nurses are being kept out on the street by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare and Tenet has closed beds and services needed by the community, many of the nurses have found or are seeking positions at a number of facilities in the region in the hopes of minimizing the impact of the COVID crisis on their own communities while also sustaining their families until Tenet agrees to an equitable end to the dispute. The MNA doesn't' have an exact count of nurses taking per diem positions but can report that hundreds are working in a number of hospitals, including at both campuses of nearby UMass Memorial Medical Center, at both UMass Memorial HealthAlliance facilities in Clinton, and Leominster, at UMass Memorial Marlborough Hospital, at Milford Regional Medical Center, Harrington Hospital and Henry Heywood Hospital. Other nurses are working in vaccination sites and some in local nursing homes. The skill, expertise and helping hands of these nurses are much appreciated by their colleagues throughout the region.

Strong Statements of Support from Nurses in Local Hospitals

"As a nurse at UMass Memorial Medical Center and the co-chair of the local bargaining unit on the Memorial campus, it is important to know that the nurses at our hospital stand with the St. Vincent Hospital nurses and support them in maintaining their strike for as long as it takes to achieve the staffing levels and back to work provisions they need to properly care for their patients," said Colleen Wolfe, RN. "As our CEO has stated, we are currently overwhelmed with patients due to the surge caused by the Delta variant, but no nurse places the blame on the nurses or the MNA, as it is Tenet that has abused these nurses, closed beds and services, and is spending millions to avoid accountability for the providing safer patient care. The St. Vincent nurses are heroes and their struggle is being followed and applauded all over Central Mass. and yes, the world. They deserve our support as they are fighting for all of us."

Cathy Mysliwiec, the other co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit on the Memorial campus echoes Wolfe's assessment and applauds the support the nurses are providing hers and other hospitals in the region. "Contrary to insulting statements made by Tenet's CEO that these nurses are sitting on the sidelines I can tell you they are working per diem at other hospitals and mine not only to help support their families but do their part to address this crisis," she explained.

She also strongly supports the nurses' decision to continue the strike in the face of Tenet's abusive practices. "Tenet's position is union busting at its best. The St Vincent nurses sounded the alarm for the sake of their community and our patients. We should be thanking the nurses who are courageous whistleblowers of Tenet's shady behavior. Tenet needs to bring back these 700 nurses to their original positions and end this, it's that simple."

Lyn Flagg, RN, an emergency department nurse on the University campus of UMass Memorial Medical Center, underscored the crisis the nurses are facing and points to Tenet as the cause of the crisis and their need to change their position to end the strike as the solution. "As an ED nurse I see the horrible toll daily reflected in the long waits and in the delay of vital care to this community," Flagg explained. "We hold Tenet responsible for this situation and we need Tenet to end this so these nurses can return to work and reopen those desperately needed beds."

"We completely support the St. V's nurses. Their battle for safe staffing in order to provide safe care to their patients is a fight that belongs to all of us," said Diane Lane-Cormier, RN and co chair of the nurses local bargaining unit at UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Leominster Hospital. "We have had St, Vincent nurses coming in droves to help us out with our nursing shortage at HealthAlliance. They have been nothing but wonderful, caring nurses and we are pleased and grateful to be working side by side with them."

Kathy Turini, RN a nurse leader at another UMass Memorial HealthAlliance hospital has high praise for the contributions the St. Vincent nurses are making at her facility. "We are grateful for the help that some of these nurses have provided to Clinton Hospital. I have had the pleasure of working with a few of them and they are dedicated, hard-working nurses. Staffing throughout the region is a crisis right now and they are giving us the support we desperately need."

Sara Burton and Cheryl Hamel, RNs and co-chairs of the recently organized union with the MNA at Milford Regional Medical Center emphasized that the staffing crisis impacting theirs and other communities predates the strike. "The current nurse staffing crisis has multiple causes and has existed for a number of years. Nurses have been chronically overworked and exploited by the business of healthcare," Burton stated.

"It is not a direct result of the strike by the courageous MNA/St Vincent nurses. In fact, many have been working in per diem positions in our hospitals to help ease the crisis. Their sacrifice demonstrates their commitment to safe patient care," Burton added.

The voices of support by nurses for their fellow nurses joins a growing chorus of voices coming from all sectors of the community in recent days, including two powerful letters from the unions -- UFCW 1445 and Teamsters Local 170 -- representing most of the caregivers still working insider St. Vincent Hospital who place the blame for poor conditions inside the hospital, and the crisis outside the hospital on Tenet, and fully support the nurses call for a return to the positions they held prior to the strike. These letters were followed by a powerful statement by State Representatives Mary Keefe and David LeBoeuf, where they wrote in part: "Worcester is in the midst of a public health crisis with a 'negative' number of hospital beds throughout the regionThis lack of services during the height of resurge of the COVID-19 pandemic has put all of us in the community at risk. There are over 700 nurses on the picket line. Bringing them back to their jobs would solve this crisis that our community faces."

Most recently, Mayor Joe Petty and City Councilor and Chair of Public Health Sarai Rivera held a press conference supporting the St. Vincent nurses' position and calling out Tenet for their efforts to endanger the community, where the Mayor stated, "Tenet Healthcare is demanding that these nurses end this strike with no guarantee that they will retain their previous positions or a commitment that they can return to work without fear of retaliation. These demands are unprecedented and violate the standard practice in any and all strikes and the high labor standards that we expect from all employers in our city. The demand put upon them by the hospitals corporate owners is not only unjust, it is detrimental to the safe restoration of services for our community. I want Tenet to know that we will not allow Worcester to be a testing ground for the imposition of unprecedented labor practices that harm unions and all workers. And when it comes to our nurses, who have given so much to us for so many years, I want Tenet to know that we in Worcester believe that they are irreplaceable."

The nurses and Tenet Healthcare remain deadlocked over Tenet's unprecedented demand that the nurses accept a retaliatory and punitive back to work provision that is not only unfair to nurses, but its replacement of highly skilled nurses with lesser qualified staff, would undermine all the patient safety gains the parties had negotiated throughout the strike. The hospital's proposal also called for the nurses to retract all the unfair labor practice charges, opening the door for Tenet to continue its efforts to retaliate against the striking nurses. The nurses are clear that any negotiated Return to Work Agreement must also include a negotiated resolution of all the unfair labor practice charges the nurses have filed.

"From the beginning of our strike, we have been amazed and humbled by the tremendous support we have received from our community, particularly our fellow nurses., who truly understand the pivotal role we play in protecting this community, and who also understand that we are out on the street walking that picket line for one reason and one reason only  to convince Tenet Healthcare to provide us with the staffing and resources we need to keep our patients safe," said Marlena Pellegrino, RN, longtime nurse at the hospital and co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit with the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA).

As the strike continues, the nurses continue their effort to hold Tenet accountable for their actions and have filed a total of ten unfair labor practices against the corporation for its actions prior to and throughout the strike including making unlawful threats against striking nurses, retaliation and discrimination towards striking nurses, promises of benefits to non-strikers, and bad faith bargaining tactics, all designed to break the strike and to remove MNA as the nurses' bargaining agent. This conduct has greatly disturbed the nurses, who are now demanding that any return-to-work agreement must also include resolution of the unfair labor practices and the conduct underlying them.

Tenet's propensity for questionable and unlawful behavior is well documented, as the corporation has been subject to fines and other judgements from courts and governmental agencies totaling more than $1.8 billion over the last 20 years alone. A listing of those decisions can be found here. This includes the award in February of $10.6 million to two cardiologists at Tenet-owned Detroit Medical Center after a federal judge upheld an arbitrators' decision that the hospital and Tenet acted with malice in firing them as retaliation for reporting violations at the facility. Four nurses at a Tenet facility in June of 2020 have also filed $25 million lawsuit against Tenet for alleged wrongful discharge, retaliation against whistleblowers, and intentional and/or reckless infliction of emotional distress, after the nurses reported preventable patient deaths in their emergency department due to understaffing during the height of the COVID crisis. And in February of 2020, Tenet and one of its California hospitals agreed to pay $1.41 million to settle false claims allegations brought by the federal government for knowingly charging Medicare for implanting unnecessary cardiac monitors into patients.

"As difficult as this has been for all of us, we take enormous comfort from the support we have received and continue to receive from all sectors of our local community and from around the world," said Dominique Muldoon, RN, another longtime nurse at the hospital and co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit. "No matter what lies and misinformation our CEO puts out, the public understands the core message of our strike, as shown on one of our signs, which is 'if nurses are out here, there is something wrong in there.' The public understands the key role we play in their care, particularly after what we all went through last year, and they know we are doing this not for personal gain, but to keep them safe."

For more background on the strike and the issues involved, click here to learn more.

MassNurses.org  Facebook.com/MassNurses  Twitter.com/MassNurses

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association

Related Links

http://www.massnurses.org


DAYTON, Ohio, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dayton Development Coalition will present the Ohio Defense and Aerospace Forum webinar Oct. 5 and 6, 2021, bringing together community and military leaders from across the state to share information on our defense and aerospace installations, industries, academic institutions, and local and state communities are critical to the industrial base and national security and exploration goals of our nation.

This statewide event will highlight Ohio's Defense and Aerospace Pillars:

Preserve and protect our federal installations

Expand our Research capabilities

Attract Industry

Grow talent and Workforce.

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted will speak at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Assistant Secretary of the USAF for Installations, Environment and Energy Jennifer Miller will give the installations keynote earlier that day. Janet Kavandi, President of Sierra Space, will give the aerospace keynote on Wednesday.

Communities home to Department of Defense organizations play an important role in supporting military missions. The Ohio Defense Forum will give community leaders, elected officials, industry and small business leaders, and other defense professionals the opportunity to learn more about the current defense environment and the role they can play in supporting their defense installations.

The discussions will focus on intersections between the defense sector, industry, academia, Panels will focus on helping the audience understand Ohio's federal installations, research and defense, workforce pipeline initiatives, and more.

The forum will also feature a presentation on the results of an economic impact analysis of federal installations across the state. Eline Bryant, JobsOhio Managing Director for the Military and Federal Sector, will present the results at 11 a.m. Oct. 5. The hour-long presentation will be followed by an online media availability.

Speakers and panelists include:

Special guest U.S. Rep. Mike Turner will moderate a panel on the State of National Defense.

will moderate a panel on the State of National Defense. U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson

Ohio Rep. Adam Holmes

Military Installation Commanders from across Ohio discussing their future strategies and needs

discussing their future strategies and needs Major General John Harris , Adjutant General, Ohio National Guard

, Adjutant General, Ohio National Guard Joe Zeis , Aerospace and Defense Advisor, Office of Gov Mike DeWine

For additional information, please visit: https://ohiodefenseforum.com/. To view the agenda, visit: https://ohiodefenseforum.com/odaf-agenda/.

Registration for this event is still open and is $75 for the general public. Register here: https://ohiodefenseforum.com/online-registration/.

Registration is required to attend this Zoom webinar. To register as a member of the news media, please contact Shannon Joyce Neal at [email protected] by Monday, Oct. 4, 2021.

The Dayton Development Coalition (DDC) is the leading economic development organization for the 14-county Dayton region. Working closely with public and private regional partners, its mission is to retain, expand and recruit jobs. The DDC and the Dayton Region ranked as the nation's top metro for its size for economic development in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2019 and runner-up in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2018. With the State's largest single-site employer in its backyard, the DDC also focuses on advocating for the critical missions at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and supporting the work of the United States Air Force. The DDC was ranked as America's top military community, and was presented with the 2015 Community Excellence Award from the Association of Defense Communities. It was designated as one of the ADC's Great American Defense Communities in 2016  a testament to the collaborative efforts in support of Wright-Patt, America's #1 Air Force Base as ranked by the Air Force Times (2014).

SOURCE JobsOhio

Related Links

http://www.jobsohio.com


Kidde launched the Fire Service Dog of the Year 2021 contest on its social media channels to find and celebrate beloved firehouse dogs. U.S. fire departments with working fire dogs were invited to upload creative pictures of the pups as the first-round selection. After identifying the finalists, Kidde opened the contest to the public to determine the winner by popular social media vote.

Birdie received the most votes and won 10 pet oxygen masks (a $1,200 value) for her local fire station, a feature on Kidde.com and Kidde's social media channels, inclusion in Kidde's fire safety materials, a trophy and unlimited barking  that is, bragging  rights.

"Congratulations to Birdie, and the members of CAL FIRE," said Sharon Cooksey, Fire Safety Educator at Kidde. "At Kidde, it's our mission to ensure pet owners are equipped with the right products, resources, tools and confidence in case of an emergency."

Due to the overwhelming popularity and community support with the contest, Kidde will also award two close runners-up, Kenna from the Riverton Volunteer Fire Company in Barkhamsted, Connecticut and Merle Haggard from the Fort Valley Fire Department in Fort Valley, Virginia.

Kidde is fully devoted to the safety of all family members, both two legs and four legs alike, launching the industry's first-of-its-kind pet-focused campaigns, Pet Fire Safety Month and Pet Carbon Monoxide Safety Day, as part of Carrier's Healthy Homes Program. According to a survey commissioned by Kidde and conducted online by The Harris Poll among 1,367 pet owners (i.e. own at least one dog or cat), a vast majority of pet owners (91%) say they will leave their pet home alone more often as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. As a committed advocate of pet fire safety, Kidde shares the following advice to protect and prevent your pets from the dangers of a home fire:

Safety Window Clings: In an emergency, first responders need to be able to quickly assess the number of pets in a home. Consider attaching a non-adhesive decal to a window near your front door to let rescuers know how many animals are inside.

In an emergency, first responders need to be able to quickly assess the number of pets in a home. Consider attaching a non-adhesive decal to a window near your front door to let rescuers know how many animals are inside. Fire Escape Practice: Pets should always be included in a family's evacuation plan. Stay aware of their typical hiding spots or locations where they often nap in case you must evacuate quickly. When you are not home, keep pets in areas near entrances where firefighters can easily find them.

Pets should always be included in a family's evacuation plan. Stay aware of their typical hiding spots or locations where they often nap in case you must evacuate quickly. When you are not home, keep pets in areas near entrances where firefighters can easily find them. Train Pets on How to Respond: Pets who are already prone to anxiety when a smoke alarm sounds may become even more so when their owners are not at home. Through its collaboration with celebrity pet trainer Sara Carson , Kidde shares some easy steps to train your pet to respond positively to the sound of a smoke or carbon monoxide (CO) alarm.

Pets who are already prone to anxiety when a smoke alarm sounds may become even more so when their owners are not at home. Through its collaboration with celebrity pet trainer , Kidde shares some easy steps to train your pet to respond positively to the sound of a smoke or carbon monoxide (CO) alarm. Smoke Alarm Maintenance: Smoke alarms must be replaced after 7-10 years. In addition to testing alarms once each week, check the manufacturing date on your smoke alarms to make sure they are under 10 years of age. If they are older than that, it is time to replace them.

For more pet fire safety tips, visit www.kidde.com/petsafety.

About Kidde

Kidde, a leading manufacturer of residential smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, fire extinguishers, and safety accessories, has been keeping the world a safer place for over 100 years. Kidde produced the first integrated smoke detection system a century ago and continues its legacy today by delivering advanced fire-safety technology. Kidde is a part of Carrier Global Corporation, the leading global provider of healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions. For more information, visit kidde.com or follow @KiddeSafety, and on Facebook and Instagram.

CONTACT:

Sharon Cooksey

919-612-0583

[email protected]

SOURCE Kidde
NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Happeo, the social intranet built to make work a happier place, today announced that North America has become Happeo's fastest-growing market, in large part due to Happeo's first certified partner, Onix. To further service its clients and partners, Happeo has now opened its office in New York City.

Onix & Happeo

Scott Waugh, Happeo's Partner Manager for North America said: "I'm proud of Onix. They are our first North American partner to achieve Happeo certification and our partnership has been strong from day one. I look forward to our future together and helping companies achieve better alignment, engagement and collaboration."

Solange Jacob, Onix Collaboration Services Manager, added: "Happeo's partnership program is robust and the support we receive from them is incredible. This certification enables us to help clients get the most out of their Happeo platform. We're looking forward to changing the way companies communicate all across North America."

Happeo is also opening a new office in New York City. Regarding their new office in New York City, Perttu Ojansuu, Happeo's CEO, said: "I'm very excited to have a foothold in New York City, a place that I've come to know and love. From this office, we will further expand our sales, marketing and customer success capacity, allowing us to give our North American clients the best service possible."

Happeo's office will be located on 500 7th Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10018, United States.

About Happeo

Happeo is a social intranet, designed for businesses that work with Google Workspace. It acts as a company's news stream and enterprise social network, combined into a branded intranet environment. Happeo enables your business communications to flow seamlessly, making work a happier place for all.

Business success in today's world depends on talent and a company's ability to build and maintain a high-performing digital culture  a place where employees lead the conversation, share information freely and fuel business growth. Large enterprises and fast-growing organizations like the Tide Cleaners, State Auto and Randstad Sourceright use Happeo to engage, align, and retain more than 300,000 employees worldwide.

In 2019, Gartner named Happeo a Cool Vendor. That same year, The Next Web recognized Happeo as one of Europe's fastest-growing scale-ups. In 2021, G2 awarded Happeo with the "Easiest to Use '' and "Momentum Leader" badges. Happeo's talent is spread across locations, generations, and time zones, helping Happeo's continued growth globally. To learn more visit https://www.happeo.com .

Media contact: Stefka Ivanova, [email protected], +31640011226, Media Kit

SOURCE Happeo
The event was attended by experts from Belgium, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal and Latvia. Ruslan Pankratov started off highlighting the difficulties that the Russian-speaking minorities are facing in the Baltic States, mentioning the list of rights that they are deprived of, which consists of 82 points. Ongoing militarization and brain drain are not encouraged to talk about in the public space, as the new legislation promotes controversial official policies and 'truths', not shared by many citizens, and is enforced by censorship mechanisms.

Edikas Jageayvichus, a board member of the Socialist Front of Lithuania, added some concerns regarding the freedom of speech in Lithuania, speaking about political figures and citizens being interrogated and even arrested for their political views and doing business with Russia.

Fernando Cabrita, writer, journalist, lawyer and International Criminal Court expert explained that the people of the EU and Russia are negatively affected by the Cold War mentality and myths spread in the media. He suggested building bridges through people-to-people diplomacy and fostering the cultural ties.

Gregoire Tolsloy, honorary member of Peter the Great Foundation, direct descendant of the famous author of 'War and Peace', Leo Tolstoy, shared his impressions about the awareness about Russia in Brussels, saying that he expected deeper knowledge of Russia from the European diplomats, which could have made official dialogue more effective, and suggested to re-establish civil servants exchanges and study visits to improve the mutual understanding.

Professor Roberto de Primis, Italian diplomat, representative of Belgium in the UN has named the carbon tax as an issue that can challenge EU relations with Russia in the future even more than sanctions. The new laws taking action in 2026 will imply major changes in the structure of economics, new rules and regulations for major industries (energy, agriculture, metal industry and production). Areas that could serve as a cooperation basis: climate change and collaboration for peace, security and development of the African continent. "Russia is always a dilemma for European countries, on the one hand EU is willing to have strategic partnership with its neighbor, on the other there is still quite a lot of the Cold war heritage and influence of the USA that wouldn't allow to build the future together," Roberto concluded.

Experts intend to continue discussions in this format and share the reports with the officials promoting strategic cooperation goals.

SOURCE Open Europe

Related Links

http://www.openeurope.org.uk/Page/Staff/en/LIVE


DUBLIN, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Digital Transformation in Healthcare Market 2021-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report implies that the global digital transformation in healthcare market is likely to register growth at a CAGR of 27.84% over the forecasting period 2021-2028.

The market's growth is driven by numerous factors, including the rising need for qualified healthcare professionals and an increase in e-health adoption. As per WHO, there has been substantial growth in the adoption of electronic health records over the years. It is predicted that more IT firms will concentrate on developing real-time applications and software relating to the healthcare sector. This will increase the demand for digitization globally.



Additionally, the rise in electronic health records, coupled with government initiatives for enhancing health services, is expected to generate lucrative opportunities for the global market over the forecast period.



The global digital transformation in healthcare market encompasses the regions of North America, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Europe, and Middle East and Africa.

The Asia-Pacific is calculated to observe the fastest growth rate in the digital transformation in healthcare market over the estimated phase. Among the major countries, China, India, and Japan are likely to contribute largely to the market's growth. Moreover, due to the rise in coronavirus patients, the governments in the region have imposed strict rules, which will drive the studied market's growth. For instance, the rise in digital solutions to treat patients during the pandemic has increased smartphone demand. Other than this, China and India are adopting IT technologies in the healthcare sector, which will supplement the growth of the digital transformation in healthcare market over the forecasted period.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Global Digital Transformation in Healthcare Market - Summary



2. Industry Outlook

2.1. Impact of COVID-19 on Digital Transformation in Healthcare Market

2.2. Key Insights

2.2.1. Artificial Intelligence is Expected to Be the Fastest-Growing Technology

2.2.2. Asia-Pacific is the Fastest-Growing Regional Market

2.2.3. Increment in Growth for Telemedicine

2.3. Porter's Five Forces Analysis

2.3.1. Threat of New Entrants

2.3.2. Threat of Substitutes

2.3.3. Bargaining Power of Buyers

2.3.4. Bargaining Power of Suppliers

2.3.5. Threat of Competitive Rivalry

2.4. Market Attractiveness Index

2.5. Vendor Scorecard

2.6. Regulatory Framework

2.7. Key Impact Analysis

2.7.1. Cost

2.7.2. Data Sharing Features

2.7.3. Interoperability

2.8. Key Market Strategies

2.8.1. Acquisitions

2.8.2. Product Launches

2.8.3. Contracts & Partnerships

2.8.4. Business Expansions & Divestitures

2.9. Market Drivers

2.9.1. Growing Need for Qualified Healthcare Professionals

2.9.2. Rise in Adoption of E-Health Worldwide

2.9.3. High Level of Patient Engagement

2.10. Market Challenges

2.10.1. Policy and Regulations for Public Healthcare

2.10.2. Security Risks Pertaining to Medical Data

2.10.3. Expensive New Technologies

2.11. Market Opportunities

2.11.1. Growing Usage of Electronic Health Records (Ehrs)

2.11.2. Government Initiatives and Budget Allocations for Health Services



3. Global Digital Transformation in Healthcare Market Outlook - by Product & Services

3.1. Product

3.2. Services



4. Global Digital Transformation in Healthcare Market Outlook - by Delivery Model

4.1. On-Premise

4.2. Cloud



5. Global Digital Transformation in Healthcare Market Outlook - by End-User

5.1. Healthcare

5.1.1. Payer

5.1.2. Provider

5.1.3. Homecare

5.2. Lifesciences

5.3. Other End-Users



6. Global Digital Transformation in Healthcare Market Outlook - by Application

6.1. Customer Transformation

6.2. Workforce Transformation

6.3. Operational Transformation

6.4. Product Transformation



7. Global Digital Transformation in Healthcare Market Outlook - by Technology

7.1. Ai

7.2. Big Data Analytics

7.3. Blockchain

7.4. Ar Vr

7.5. Iomt

7.6. Mhealth

7.7. Telehealth

7.8. Robotics



8. Global Digital Transformation in Healthcare Market - Regional Outlook



9. Competitive Landscape

9.1. Accenture plc

9.2. Alphabet Inc (Google)

9.3. Apple Inc

9.4. Cognizant Technology Solutions

9.5. GE Healthcare

9.6. HCL Technologies Ltd

9.7. Infosys Limited

9.8. International Business Machines Corporation (Ibm)

9.9. Medtronic plc

9.10. Microsoft Corporation

9.11. Philips Healthcare

9.12. Schneider Electric Se

9.13. Siemens Healthineers

9.14. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd

9.15. Wipro Ltd



10. Research Methodology & Scope



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/g0oyk8

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com


STUTTGART, Germany, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

Extraordinary General Meeting votes for historic realignment

First stock-exchange listing of Daimler Truck Holding AG planned by end of 2021

Renaming of Daimler AG as Mercedes-Benz Group AG as of 1 February 2022

Participation: 56.45% of capital stock represented

At the virtual Extraordinary General Meeting of Daimler AG (ticker symbol DAI) on 1 October 2021, the shareholders decided by an overwhelming majority on the historic realignment of the company. The spin-off of the truck and bus business and the subsequent listing of Daimler Truck Holding AG as an independent company on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange were approved by 99.90% of the capital stock represented for the resolution.

Furthermore, the shareholders approved also with an overwhelming majority of 99.89% of the votes cast the renaming of Daimler AG as Mercedes-Benz Group AG effective as of 1 February 2022. The new name emphasises the future focus on cars and vans of the brands Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach and Mercedes-EQ. The two measures must now be entered in the Commercial Register. Both companies can then create decisive value added for all stakeholders.



Two current members of the Daimler Supervisory Board, Marie Wieck and Joe Kaeser, will step down from their positions and join the Supervisory Board of Daimler Truck Holding AG. As their successors in the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG, the shareholders elected Helene Svahn with a majority of 99.34% and Olaf Koch with a majority of 98.60%. Around 3,000 viewers followed the virtual Extraordinary General Meeting on the Internet. A total of 56.45% of the share capital was represented.



Further information at: www.daimler.com/focus/

Forward-looking statements:

This document contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current views about future events. The words "anticipate," "assume," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "can," "could," "plan," "project," "should" and similar expressions are used to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to many risks and uncertainties, including an adverse development of global economic conditions, in particular a decline of demand in our most important markets; a deterioration of our refinancing possibilities on the credit and financial markets; events of force majeure including natural disasters, pandemics, acts of terrorism, political unrest, armed conflicts, industrial accidents and their effects on our sales, purchasing, production or financial services activities; changes in currency exchange rates, customs and foreign trade provisions; a shift in consumer preferences towards smaller, lower-margin vehicles; a possible lack of acceptance of our products or services which limits our ability to achieve prices and adequately utilize our production capacities; price increases for fuel or raw materials; disruption of production due to shortages of materials, labour strikes or supplier insolvencies; a decline in resale prices of used vehicles; the effective implementation of cost-reduction and efficiency-optimization measures; the business outlook for companies in which we hold a significant equity interest; the successful implementation of strategic cooperations and joint ventures; changes in laws, regulations and government policies, particularly those relating to vehicle emissions, fuel economy and safety; the resolution of pending governmental investigations or of investigations requested by governments and the outcome of pending or threatened future legal proceedings; and other risks and uncertainties, some of which are described under the heading "Risk and Opportunity Report" in the current Annual Report or in the current Interim Report. If any of these risks and uncertainties materializes or if the assumptions underlying any of our forward-looking statements prove to be incorrect, the actual results may be materially different from those we express or imply by such statements. We do not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements since they are based solely on the circumstances at the date of publication.

Daimler at a Glance

Daimler AG is one of the world's most successful automotive companies. With its Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans, Daimler Trucks & Buses and Daimler Mobility divisions, the Group is one of the leading global suppliers of premium and luxury cars and one of the world's largest manufacturers of commercial vehicles. Daimler Mobility offers financing, leasing, fleet management, investments and insurance brokerage, as well as innovative mobility services. The company founders, Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz, made history by inventing the automobile in 1886. As a pioneer of automotive engineering, Daimler sees shaping the future of mobility in a safe and sustainable way as both a motivation and obligation. The company's focus therefore remains on innovative and green technologies as well as on safe and superior vehicles that both captivate and inspire. Daimler continues to invest systematically in the development of efficient powertrains  from high-tech combustion engines and hybrid vehicles to all-electric powertrains with battery or fuel cell  with the goal of making locally emission-free driving possible in the long term. The company's efforts are also focused on the intelligent connectivity of its vehicles, autonomous driving and new mobility concepts as Daimler regards it as its aspiration and obligation to live up to its responsibility to society and the environment. Daimler sells its vehicles and services in nearly every country of the world and has production facilities in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. In addition to Mercedes-Benz, the world's most valuable luxury automotive brand (source: Interbrand study, 20 Oct. 2020), and Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach, Mercedes-EQ and Mercedes me, its brand portfolio also includes commercial vehicle brands Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Freightliner, Western Star, BharatBenz, FUSO, Setra and Thomas Built Buses as well as the brands of Daimler Mobility: Mercedes-Benz Bank, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, Daimler Truck Financial and Athlon. The company is listed on the Frankfurt and Stuttgart stock exchanges (ticker symbol DAI). In 2020, the Group had a workforce of around 288,500 and sold 2.8 million vehicles. Group revenues amounted to 154.3 billion and Group EBIT to 6.6 billion.

SOURCE Daimler North America - Corporate Communications

Related Links

www.nissanusa.com


STAMFORD, Conn., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PASSUR Aerospace, Inc., a global leader in digital operational excellence, announced income from operations of $202,000 and $811,000, respectively, for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2021, compared to income from operations of $9,000 and a loss from operations of $1,971,000 respectively, in the same periods in the prior fiscal year (the loss from operations in the prior year for the nine months ended July 31, 2020 was before the one-time impairment charge of $9,874,000 taken in the second quarter of the prior fiscal year).

PASSUR's operating performance has improved despite reporting lower revenues of $1,510,000 and $4,670,000, respectively, for the three and nine months ended July 31,2021, compared with revenues of $2,208,000 and $9,612,000, respectively, for the same periods in the prior fiscal year.

The Company had a net loss of $64,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, and net income of $21,000, or $0.00 per diluted share, respectively, for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2021, compared to net losses of $250,000, or $0.03 per diluted share, and $12,564,000, or $1.63 per diluted share, respectively, for the same periods in the prior fiscal year. The net loss for the nine months ended July 31, 2020 was after the impairment charge of $9,874,000 noted above.

"We continue to see high renewal rates, as well as increasing new business opportunities, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This is a testament to the value that the market sees from our ARiVA platform, and the operational efficiencies we can bring to our customers," stated Brian Cook, PASSUR's President and CEO. During this quarter, we also relaunched our website, highlighting our ARiVATM platform capabilities and spotlighting our growing partnerships within the aviation data industry.

Visit our website to view the full 10-Q.

About PASSUR Aerospace, Inc.

PASSUR Aerospace, Inc. is the operations platform of choice for aviation experts, offering a unique combination of global data, decision support, and subject matter expertise solutions to improve operational efficiencies. Our platform and people help deliver actionable-data and user-friendly tools to corporate and operations leadership. Specifically, PASSUR products identify creative ways to minimize and eliminate bottleneck capacity constraints, react to irregular operations (IROPS), restart operations after an interruption in service, and enhance the efficiency of the daily schedule. Our collaborative framework uniquely enhances data sharing, communications, and decision-making within and between stakeholders in an operations ecosystem. PASSUR provides its solutions to the largest airlines and airports globally including in the United States, Canada, and Latin America.

Visit PASSUR Aerospace's website at www.passur.com for updated products, solutions, and news.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains ":forward-looking statements: within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the Company's future plans, objectives, and expected performance. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and are identified by words such as "will", "expects", "estimates", "projects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "plans", "may", "pending", "continues", "should", "could" and other similar words. All statements other than statements of historical fact are considered to be forward-looking statements and such forward-looking statements, including statements of management's expectations and beliefs, are based on preliminary information and assumptions and expectations of future events. The Company cannot and does not guarantee that such information, assumptions, and expectations are accurate or will be realized. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results, and should be evaluated in light of important risk factors, assumptions, and uncertainties that could cause the Company's results to differ in material respects, including, without limitation, those related to customer needs, budgetary constraints, competitive pressures, the success of airline trials, the Company's maintenance of above average quality of its product and services, as well as potential regulatory changes. Additional uncertainties include, without limitation, uncertainties relating to the ability of the Company to sell its existing product and professional service lines, plus new products and professional services, as well as the potential for terrorist attacks, changes in fuel costs, airline bankruptcies and consolidations, and economic conditions, including, without limitation, the severity and duration of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and its adverse impact on the U.S. and world aviation and travel industries. Further information regarding some of the factors that could affect the Company's results and cause those results to vary materially from those currently anticipated is contained on Forms 10-K - including under the heading entitled "Risk Factors", 10-Q, and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, undue reliance should not be placed on the Company's forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by the Company in this press release speaks only as of the date on which we made it and reflect management's analysis, judgments, belief, or expectation only as of such date. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any obligation to update its risk factors or to publicly announce updates to the forward-looking statements contained in this press release to reflect new information, future events, or other developments.

PASSUR Aerospace, Inc. and Subsidiary







Consolidated Balance Sheets









July 31, 2021

October 31, 2020

(unaudited)



Assets





Current assets:





Cash $ 3,016,061

$ 2,748,066 Accounts receivable, net 505,708

662,081 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 221,865

162,843 Total current assets 3,743,634

3,572,990















Capitalized software development costs, net 859,050

1,223,399 Property and equipment, net 146,791

257,561 Operating lease right-of-use assets 151,329

232,721 Other assets 52,481

53,031 Total assets $ 4,953,285

$ 5,339,702







Liabilities and stockholders' deficit





Current liabilities:





Accounts payable $ 774,389

$ 1,486,808 Accrued liabilities - Stimulus funding 2,149,568

1,933,955 Accrued expenses and other current liabilities 718,231

721,058 Operating lease liabilities, current portion 93,807

168,923 Deferred revenue, current portion 1,319,113

1,173,573 Total current liabilities 5,055,108

5,484,317







Deferred revenue, long term portion 192,606

249,727 Note payable - related party 10,691,625

10,691,625 Operating lease liabilities, non-current 173,134

271,946 Total liabilities 16,112,473

16,697,615







Commitments and contingencies













Stockholders' deficit:





Preferred shares - authorized 5,000,000 shares, par value

$0.01 per share;





none issued or outstanding -

- Common shares - authorized 20,000,000 shares, respectively,





par value $0.01 per share; issued 8,496,526 at July 31,





2021 and October 31, 2020, respectively 84,964

84,964 Additional paid-in capital 18,626,350

18,448,202 Accumulated deficit (27,936,824)

(27,957,401)

(9,225,510)

(9,424,235) Treasury stock, at cost, 784,435 shares at July 31, 2021 and





October 31, 2020, respectively (1,933,678)

(1,933,678) Total stockholders' deficit (11,159,188)

(11,357,913) Total liabilities and stockholders' deficit $ 4,953,285

$ 5,339,702

PASSUR Aerospace, Inc. and Subsidiary















Consolidated Statements of Operations





































Three months ended

Nine months ended

July 31,

July 31,

2021

2020

2021

2020































Revenues $ 1,509,808

$ 2,207,722

$ 4,669,573

$ 9,611,780















Cost of expenses:













Cost of revenues 579,491

860,540

1,714,615

5,567,720 Research and development expenses 55,802

66,042

156,685

281,739 Selling, general, and administrative expenses 672,399

1,272,376

1,987,183

5,733,142 Impairment charges -

-

-

9,874,281

1,307,692

2,198,958

3,858,483

21,456,882















Income/(Loss) from operations $ 202,116

$ 8,764

$ 811,090

$ (11,845,102)















Interest expense - related party 266,400

238,826

790,513

667,741 Other loss -

19,473

-

19,473 Income/(Loss) before income taxes (64,284)

(249,535)

20,577

(12,532,316)















Provision for income taxes -

-

-

31,560 Net Income/(Loss) $ (64,284)

$ (249,535)

$ 20,577

$ (12,563,876)















Net Income/(Loss) per common share - basic $ (0.01)

$ (0.03)

$ 0.00

$ (1.63) Net Income/(Loss) per common share - diluted $ (0.01)

$ (0.03)

$ 0.00

$ (1.63)















Weighted average number of common shares

outstanding - basic 7,712,091

7,712,091

7,712,091

7,710,047 Weighted average number of common shares

outstanding - diluted 7,712,091

7,712,091

7,748,451

7,710,047

Contact: Media: Investor Relations: Evee Burgard Sean Doherty VP Marketing Executive VP Finance and Administration (310) 995-0313 (226) 338-0969 [email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE PASSUR Aerospace
MONTREAL, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Peak Fintech Group Inc. (CSE: PKK) ("Peak" or the "Company"), an innovative Fintech service provider and manager of the Cubeler Business Hub, today announced that it has officially acquired analytics and AI company Cubeler Inc. ("Cubeler").

Cubeler (https://www.cubeler.com/) is the developer and owner of the technology that powers Peak's Business Hub. Peak first announced its intension to acquire Cubeler on August 16, 2021 pending satisfactory due diligence, a pricing report on Cubeler and a fairness opinion from an independent third party on the proposed acquisition. Peak is pleased to announce that it has now acquired 100% of Cubeler's issued and outstanding shares form Cubeler's shareholders in exchange for $1,000,000 in cash and 11,133,012 common shares of Peak (the "Acquisition"). Under the terms of the Acquisition, the Peak common shares received by Cubeler's shareholders will initially be restricted for a four-month period, following which 50% of the shares will be free-trading and the remaining 50% will be released and become free-trading over a two-year period on the anniversary date of the closing of the transaction.

With the acquisition of Cubeler, Peak now owns the worldwide commercial rights to the Business Hub concept, which the Company is looking forward to expanding beyond China's boarders, beginning with a Hub in Canada planned for later this year. "We couldn't be more excited about getting this transaction closed to finally be able to launch our operations here in our own backyard," commented Peak CEO Johnson Joseph. "I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our Canadian financial institution partners and the hundreds of SMEs that have pre-registered on the platform and have been patiently waiting for the Canadian launch of the Hub. I promise we'll do our best to get going as quickly as possible to do whatever we can to help your businesses reach new heights. We've been able to fill some key positions to help us do that over the past couple of months, but we still have more to fill. So, if you're reading this news release and have skills in AI, analytics, marketing, software development, graphic design, etc., consider this a personal invitation, we'd love to hear from you. Please send us your CV at [email protected] and let's work together to use the power of AI and analytics to help small businesses around the world continue to positively impact their communities".

The Acquisition is expected to constitute a "related party transaction", as defined within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"), as Johnson Joseph, Chief Executive Officer and director of Peak; Liang Qiu, director of Peak; Jean Landreville, Chief Financial Officer of Peak; Charles-Andre Tessier, director of Peak; and Mark Dumas, director of Peak (collectively the "Related Parties"), are all shareholders of Cubeler. The Acquisition will be exempt from (i) the formal valuation requirements of Section 5.4 of MI 61-101 by virtue of Subsection 5.5(a) of MI 61-101, and (ii) the minority shareholder approval requirements of Section 5.6 of MI 61-101 by virtue of Subsection 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 on the basis that the fair market value of the consideration to be received by the Related Parties shall not exceed an amount equal to 25% of Peak's market capitalization.

About Peak Fintech Group Inc.:

Peak Fintech Group Inc. is the parent company of a group of innovative financial technology (Fintech) subsidiaries operating primarily in the commercial lending industry. Peak's subsidiaries bring together lending financial institutions and businesses to create the Cubeler Business Hub, an ecosystem where analytics and artificial intelligence are used to facilitate transactions among members of the ecosystem. For more information: http://www.peakfintechgroup.com

For more information, please contact: CHF Capital Markets MZ Group  MZ North America Peak Fintech Group Cathy Hume, CEO Mark Schwalenberg, CFA Barry Ellison, Director of Marketing

and Communications 416-868-1079 ext.: 251 1-312-261-6430 514-340-7775 ext.: 521 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Follow Peak Fintech Group Inc. on social media:

Twitter: @peakfintech

Facebook: @peakfintech

LinkedIn: Peak Fintech

YouTube: Peak Fintech

Forward-Looking Statements / Information:

This news release may include certain forward-looking information, including statements relating to business and operating strategies, plans and prospects for revenue growth, using words including "anticipate", "believe", "could", "expect", "intend", "may", "plan", "potential", "project", "seek", "should", "will", "would" and similar expressions, which are intended to identify a number of these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information reflects current views with respect to current events and is not a guarantee of future performance and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as may be required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. Readers are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating any forward-looking information.

SOURCE Peak Fintech Group Inc.

Related Links

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BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vertice Pharma announces the results of a recent study demonstrating the bioequivalence of Thyquidity, an oral liquid solution of levothyroxine sodium to Synthroid. The study results were presented on September 30, 2021 during a virtual poster session at the 90th annual meeting of the American Thyroid Association.

The study compared Thyquidity oral solution to Synthroid tablets in a single dose (600 mcg) crossover comparative bioavailability pharmacokinetic trial (N=42) in healthy adult subjects under fasting conditions.1 The results revealed that the geometric LS mean ratio of AUC 0-72 and Cmax for baseline-adjusted levothyroxine were 109.1% (100.6-118.2%) and 107.9% (101.7-114.6%) for Thyquidity and the reference, Synthroid tablet respectively.1 The corresponding 90% Confidence Intervals (CIs) were within the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acceptance range of 80% to 125%, establishing bioequivalence. The incidence of adverse events (AEs) was similar between treatment groups.1 There were no serious adverse events or discontinuations due to AEs.1

Novel oral formulations of levothyroxine that do not require a dissolution phase in the stomach represent the most recent treatment options for patients with hypothyroidism.2

"Thyquidity's liquid formulation expands dosing options for patients with varying treatment needs," said Noel Greenberger, Chief Commercial Officer of Vertice Pharma. "Thyquidity is a FDA-approved treatment option for patients living with hypothyroidism. We are pleased to have the opportunity to share the bioequivalence data comparing Thyquidity with Synthroid tablets."

About Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism is one of the most common diseases worldwide.3 It affects up to 5% of the general population, with a further estimated 5% being undiagnosed. 3 Hypothyroidism occurs when the thyroid gland, located in the neck does not produce enough thyroid hormone for the body's requirements.3 The condition occurs more frequently in women, in older people (>65 years), and in white individuals, although data on ethnic differences are scarce.4 Hypothyroidism can include a wide variety of symptoms that differ with age, sex, and time between onset and diagnosis.4 Oral levothyroxine is considered first-line treatment, with most patients requiring lifelong therapy.5

About Thyquidity

Thyquidity is an oral solution containing 100mcg/5 mL of levothyroxine sodium.6 It is approved by the FDA for the following indications: (1) as replacement therapy in primary (thyroidal), secondary (pituitary), and tertiary (hypothalamic) congenital or acquired hypothyroidism and (2) as an adjunct to surgery and radioiodine therapy in the management of thyrotropin-dependent well-differentiated thyroid cancer.6 Thyquidity is not indicated for suppression of benign thyroid nodules and nontoxic diffuse goiter in iodine-sufficient patients, as there are no clinical benefits and over-treatment with Thyquidity may induce hyperthyroidism. Thyquidity is not indicated for treatment of hypothyroidism during the recovery phase of subacute thyroiditis. Thyquidity is the first levothyroxine oral solution that allows individualized dosing flexibility not limited by fixed dosage strengths. The formulation allows administration of the full range of clinically acceptable dosing options for diverse clinical scenarios, including the elderly, pregnant women, and pediatric patients. Additional information, including patient and healthcare provider resources may be found at, www.thyquidity.com.



Important Safety Information

WARNING: NOT FOR TREATMENT OF OBESITY OR WEIGHT LOSS

Thyroid hormones, including THYQUIDITY, either alone or with other therapeutic agents, should not be used for the treatment of obesity or for weight loss. In euthyroid patients, doses within the range of daily hormonal requirements are ineffective for weight reduction. Larger doses may produce serious or even life-threatening manifestations of toxicity, particularly when given in association with sympathomimetic amines such as those used for their anorectic effects.

THYQUIDITY is contraindicated in patients with uncorrected adrenal insufficiency.

In the elderly and in patients with cardiovascular disease, THYQUIDITY should be initiated at lower doses than those recommended in younger individuals or in patients without cardiac disease. If cardiac symptoms develop or worsen, the THYQUIDITY dose should be reduced or withheld for one week and restarted at a lower dose.

Patients with coronary artery disease who are receiving THYQUIDITY should be monitored closely during surgical procedures for cardiac arrhythmias. Monitor patients during concomitant administration of THYQUIDITY and sympathomimetic agents for signs and symptoms of coronary insufficiency.

Use of oral thyroid hormone is not recommended in myxedema coma. Products formulated for IV administration should be used to treat myxedema coma.

Patients with adrenal insufficiency should be treated with replacement glucocorticoids prior to initiating treatment with THYQUIDITY. Failure to do so may precipitate an acute adrenal crisis when thyroid hormone therapy is initiated.

THYQUIDITY has a narrow therapeutic index. Regardless of the indication for use, careful dosage titration is necessary to avoid the consequences of over- or under-treatment.

Addition of levothyroxine therapy in patients with diabetes mellitus may worsen glycemic control and result in increased antidiabetic agent or insulin requirements. Carefully monitor glycemic control after starting, changing, or discontinuing THYQUIDITY.

Increased bone resorption and decreased bone mineral density may occur as a result of levothyroxine over-replacement, particularly in postmenopausal women. To mitigate this risk, patients receiving THYQUIDITY should be given the minimum dose necessary that achieves the desired response.

Adverse reactions associated with THYQUIDITY therapy are primarily those of hyperthyroidism due to therapeutic overdosage.

Many drugs and some foods affect thyroid hormone pharmacokinetics and metabolism and may alter the therapeutic response to THYQUIDITY. In addition, thyroid hormones and thyroid status have varied effects on the pharmacokinetics and actions of other drugs. Administer at least 4 hours before or after drugs that are known to interfere with absorption. Evaluate the need for dose adjustments when regularly administering within one hour of certain foods that may affect absorption. Prescribers should consult appropriate reference sources for additional information on drug or food interactions with THYQUIDITY.

Closely monitor patients from birth to 3 months of age receiving THYQUIDITY due to the potential for glycerol- induced gastrointestinal irritation resulting in vomiting and/or osmotic diarrhea.

THYQUIDITY should not be discontinued during pregnancy, and hypothyroidism diagnosed during pregnancy should be promptly treated. TSH levels may increase during pregnancy, so TSH should be monitored and THYQUIDITY dose adjusted as needed.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see full Prescribing Information including Boxed Warning or visit https://www.thyquidity.com/pdf/Prescribing-Information.pdf.

About Vertice Pharma

Vertice Pharma is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on improving patients' health. Vertice Pharma develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes high-quality and affordable pharmaceutical products through its operating companies. Vertice Pharma has global headquarters in the United Kingdom and United States headquarters in New Jersey. For more information visit www.verticepharma.com.

References:

Vandse S, Washington K, Baron M. Comparative Bioavailability of a Novel Levothyroxine Oral Solution to Tablets. Poster presented at: The 90th Annual Virtual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association; Sept 30  Oct 3, 2021 Fallahi P, Ferrari SM, Elia G, Ragusa F, Paparo SR, Antonelli A. L-T4 therapy in enteric malabsorptive disorders. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2021;12:626371. Chiovato L, Magri F, Carle A. Advance Therapeutics 2019; 36:S47S58. Chaker L, Bianco AC, Jonklaas J, Peeters RP. Hypothyroidism. Lancet. 2017;390(10101):1550-1562 Jonklaas J, Bianco AC, Bauer AJ, et al. Guidelines for the treatment of hypothyroidism: prepared by the american thyroid association task force on thyroid hormone replacement. Thyroid. 2014;24(12):1670-1751. THYQUIDITY (levothyroxine sodium) oral solution [package insert]. New Providence, NJ : Vertice Specialty Group; 12/2020

Company Contact

Vertice Pharma

Sophia Massey

[email protected]

727-530-1633 x276

SOURCE Vertice Pharma

Related Links

http://www.verticepharma.com/


ENDICOTT, N.Y., Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- An affiliate of Phoenix Investors ("Phoenix") announced the acquisition of a multi-building complex comprising 29 buildings and encompassing 130 acres commonly known as the birthplace of IBM. The former IBM Campus comprises approximately 4,000,000 square feet in Endicott, NY. The cluster of buildings, generally encompassing downtown Endicott today is known as the Huron Campus, an industrial, R&D, and office campus and opportunity zone for the greater Binghamton area in New York.

Dubbed the "Valley of Opportunity" in the late 1800s, the greater Binghamton area maintains a history and culture still rich with ties to the Industrial Revolution; today, it serves as a valuable hub to the region's diverse markets. In addition to exceptional commercial quality, the Huron Campus also boasts proximity to Binghamton University (SUNY) and SUNY Broome Community College as well as convenient access to the Erie Canal, New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Scranton, Syracuse, and both the Pennsylvania and Canadian borders. The greater Binghamton area's industrial market is robust, as is the local labor market; major industries include manufacturing, engineering, technology, trade and transportation, education and health services, leisure/ hospitality, and the U.S. Government.

The Huron Campus is the birthplace of IBM and was once exclusively occupied by the world-renowned company. IBM still maintains a presence on the Campus. IBM made a massive financial investment into the Campus over many decades creating infrastructure that is highly attractive to industrial and office tenants, including an abundance of stable, low-cost power, redundant waste treatment, and other structural, mechanical, and process support ideal for R&D or manufacturing use.

Two decades ago, a prominent local investment group acquired the Campus and began the process of converting the campus to multi-tenant occupancy. This group was successful in attracting a number of high-quality companies to the Campus, most notably, BAE Systems. BAE Systems employs over 1,400 associates at the Campus across its business units. In total over 2,800 people are employed on the campus, with significant new hires planned in the coming months.

Since early this year, Phoenix collaborated with the Seller to attract next generation companies and technologies to the Huron Campus. Recent lease agreements with high-tech firms Imperium3, a pioneer in the lithium-ion battery space, and Ubiquity Solar, a cutting-edge firm in the solar space. The lithium-ion battery industry is estimated to reach a market value of $93.1 billion by 2025. The solar industry is estimated to reach a market value of $200 billion by 2026.

Going forward, Phoenix plans to apply its disciplined renovation and marketing approach and expand the complex's offerings through Phoenix Logistics to attract further tenants to the campus. The complex offers a unique opportunity to provide tenants with a plethora of amenities at an affordable price.

"The Village of Endicott has been industrial for over 100 years when Mr. Johnson built the Village around his shoe factory and tanneries. With our new, clean, and green technology companies coming to our Village, we have a lot to look forward to. As the mayor of Endicott, I want to extend any assistance we can give to our new campus owners. We look forward to a long and equally beneficial working relationship!" said Endicott Mayor Linda Jackson.

"It's great to see that the local investments made in the former IBM Huron Campus are paying off and generating outside interest and investments in this historic site. Rather than looking backward in nostalgia, announcements like this make me excited to look toward the future of our Endicott community," said Senator Fred Akshar.

"Given its rich history and unique infrastructure, the Huron Campus is positioned for incredible growth and opportunity," said Frank Crivello, Phoenix's Founder & Chairman. "Over the next year we will rebrand the Campus to reflect its future and make significant capital improvements."

"We are delighted to have the principals of Phoenix Investors make a major investment in the acquisition of the Huron Campus. Having a large real estate company with a core focus on industrial real estate with national scale should provide key strategic benefits for the Campus and our tenants. Phoenix has a strong group of real estate professionals who will bring additional expertise to Endicott. I look forward to working with Phoenix to complete our two major project announcements, as well as bringing in additional tenants and jobs!" said Chris Pelto, Huron's President.

"I'm thrilled that Phoenix Investors has committed to revitalizing the former IBM campus in Endicott. They have significant experience with taking legacy industrial sites like ours and turning them into attractive corporate campuses. New and existing businesses, along with the surrounding community, will benefit from this very positive development," said Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo.

"This is a great opportunity for further growth at the Huron Campus," said Broome County Executive Jason Garnar. "With their track record of revitalizing legacy manufacturing sites, we're excited to work with Phoenix to build on the progress made in Endicott over the last several years."

"We are excited to add the Huron Campus to our growing Portfolio," said Anthony Crivello, Phoenix's Executive Vice President. "With it comes a large group of talented professionals that we have welcomed to Team Phoenix. We will work with local, regional, and New York State partners to attract additional high-quality tenants to the Campus."

About Phoenix Investors

Phoenix Investors is a national commercial real estate firm based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Phoenix's affiliate companies hold interests in industrial, retail, office, and single tenant net-leased properties in approximately 46 million square feet, spanning 28 states. Its core business is the revitalization of former manufacturing facilities throughout the United States. This strategy leads to positively transforming communities and restarting the economic engine in the communities we serve.

For more information, please visit https://phoenixinvestors.com.

SOURCE Phoenix Investors

Related Links

http://www.phoenixinvestors.com


BOCA RATON, Fla., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PointsKash, a Florida based financial technology company is leveraging Algorand to launch the first blockchain enabled platform linked to a mobile phone application that will allow consumers to aggregate, convert, track and spend their rewards and loyalty points while giving issuers the power to engage consumers like never before.

Freedom to Pay Your Way. PointsKash was created to overcome the discontent expressed by consumers related to their inability to spend reward points at places they truly like and the feeling of being 'locked in' with very few options. PointsKashbuilt on the high-performance, low-cost, and fully decentralized Algorand blockchainis positioning itself to be a 'Rewards Cash Wallet' to help consumers be more efficient shoppers and to enhance their shopping experience. By aggregating points into a single interface and converting them to PointsKash users can easily see their total rewards on a single screen and immediately translate them into a monetary value.

"We built PointsKash to help the consumer capture their portion of the billions of dollars in reward and loyalty points available to them with a simple and easy to use application while providing points issuers with the ability to meet their redemption goals" said Steve Janjic, PointsKash co-founder & CEO. "We see an opportunity to bring consumers and points issuers together in one place. It's about putting the power of points to work. Pay your way. Play your way. Give your way."

"We are thrilled to partner and support the PointsKash team on their journey to improve the loyalty point redemption process and the introduction of digital wallets that allow consumers to freely spend their hard-earned points" said Rob Fleschler, CEO of Seabury Global Markets.

PointsKash serves as a direct communication link across rewards programs that can utilize mobile push notifications, email, social media, and SMS alerts to help consumers stay in-the-know about special programs, bonus points, coupons, and other ways to generate or maximize the value from their rewards points. Soft launch is planned in time for the holidays. Visit www.pointskash.com to sign up to receive updates.

About PointsKash

PointsKash has developed a proprietary platform that services consumers, rewards points issuers and merchants in the conversion of loyalty rewards points to cash, utilizing stablecoins, tokens and blockchain technology. PointsKash has brought together a team of experts from financial services, technology, loyalty rewards issuers, legal and marketing to bring this exciting offering to market. Primary sales and support group is in Boca Raton, FL with technology and additional support in Palo Alto, CA. Visit www.Pointskash.com

Media Contact: Kathy Kohler, Chief Marketing Officer  [email protected]

About Seabury Global Markets

Seabury Global Markets LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seabury Capital Group LLC which operates several specialty finance, investment banking, technology, and software companies with a core focus anchored in aviation, aerospace & defense, financial services & technology. Since its founding in 1995, Seabury Capital, has taken ownership stakes in software and asset management businesses servicing the aviation and travel industries.

More recently, Seabury Capital has expanded its portfolio by investing in early-stage startup companies within the financial technology industry and structured investment products. In addition, Seabury Capital owns and operates FINRA, NFA and FCA regulated investment banking services firms in the U.S. and U.K., respectively, serving external clients as well as assisting the companies in which Seabury Capital has invested. www.seaburycapital.com

Media Contact: Paul N. Thibeau, Communications - [email protected]

About Algorand

Algorand is building the technology to power the Future of Finance (FutureFi), the convergence of traditional and decentralized models into a unified system that is inclusive, frictionless, and secure. Founded by Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali, Algorand developed a blockchain infrastructure that offers the interoperability and capacity to handle the volume of transactions needed for defi, financial institutions and governments to smoothly transition into FutureFi. The technology of choice for more than 700 global organizations, Algorand is enabling the simple creation of next generation financial products, protocols, and exchange of value. For more information, visit www.algorand.com.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE PointsKash

Related Links

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According to Ravenswood's CEO Kipp Peppel, "We are excited to be here in the heart of the modeling and simulation community. We look forward to strengthening our partnerships through this unique intersection of industry, government, and academia to help solve the national security challenges of today and tomorrow."

Principal Engineer Stacy Corcoran, the chief architect of the Ravenswood product family, will lead the new Product Development Center. Together with UCF, Mr. Corcoran will work to rapidly grow Ravenswood's local engineering presence, with a focus on augmented reality, expeditionary networks, and data analytics. "I am eager to bring our technology and ideas from Silicon Valley and blend them with the rich experience and know-how of Orlando's modeling and simulation community to develop better solutions for our customers," says Corcoran.

Corcoran is joined in Orlando by Ms. Kathy Keyser (Ravenswood's Director of Contracts & Procurement) and Mr. Rob DeGaine (Senior Program Manager). "You have to be there with our customers to help them know what you are working on that could benefit them," says DeGaine.

Ravenswood Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of SRI International, the globally renowned research institute headquartered in Menlo Park, CA. For more than 25 years, the Ravenswood team has delivered high-performance modeling and simulation solutions for clients around the world. Launching the Orlando-based PDC is the next milestone in Ravenswood's drive to deliver innovative, open, cost-effective solutions tailored to each customer's needs.

For more information media should contact 

Ravenswood Solutions: Naomi Atlas, 650-646-2895, [email protected]

UCF Business Incubation Program: Carol Ann Dykes Logue, 407-635-9882, [email protected] or Alan Byrd, Alan Byrd & Associates, 407-415-8470, [email protected]

About Ravenswood Solutions. Ravenswood Solutions, a subsidiary of SRI International, enables world-class performance through exceptional technology and partnership. Born in Silicon Valley, Ravenswood specializes in rapidly delivering data collection, visualization, and analysis capabilities to your point and time of need, anywhere in the world. For more than 25 years, Ravenswood has successfully converted research to revenue and fielded scalable, modular solutions for training, testing, and operations across a variety of defense and commercial applications. Our expert team of geeks and grunts is dedicated to ensuring you achieve your goals in an efficient and cost-effective manner. At Ravenswood, we are committed to delivering on-time, on-budget, with unparalleled performance.

About the UCF Business Incubation Program: The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program is a community resource that provides early-stage companies with the tools, training and infrastructure to become financially stable, high growth/impact enterprises. Since 1999, this award-winning program has provided vital business development resources resulting in over 300 local startup companies reaching their potential faster and graduating into the community where they continue to grow and positively impact the local economy.

With seven facilities throughout the region, the UCF Business Incubation Program is an economic development partnership between the University of Central Florida, the Corridor, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia Counties, and the cities of Kissimmee, Orlando and Winter Springs. For more information, visit www.incubator.ucf.edu.

SOURCE Ravenswood Solutions

Related Links

http://www.ravenswoodsolutions.com


BOSTON, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Recorded Future, the world's largest provider of intelligence for enterprise security, today announced that it has been named Threat Intelligence Company of the Year by CyberSecurity Breakthrough , a leading independent market intelligence organization. The Recorded Future Intelligence Platform functions as a single authoritative source for intelligence, enabling organizations to build holistic, security programs across a wide range of business areas within the enterprise with actionable, relevant insights.

This is the second year that Recorded Future has been recognized by CyberSecurity Breakthrough. In 2020, the Recorded Future Express browser extension was named the Overall Threat Detection Solution of the Year.

"Having access to actionable intelligence is a key component to an organization's security posture, whether in the private or public sector, or in any industry. Cyber threats and attacks are now a reality for every business and intelligence is what allows for a proactive stance against adversaries. We're honored to be recognized for a second year by CyberSecurity Breakthrough for our work to defend organizations with intelligence-led security." - Stuart Solomon, President, Recorded Future

Evaluated by an independent panel of industry experts, Recorded Future was selected because it is the most innovative and technologically advanced product in the Threat Intelligence category, exemplifying the best in cybersecurity technology solutions across the globe.

CyberSecurity Breakthrough is a market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies, and products in the global information security market. The mission of the CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards is to honor excellence and recognize the innovation, hard work, and success in a range of information security categories. This year's program attracted more than 4,000 nominations from over 20 different countries throughout the world, and the full list of CyberSecurity Breakthrough 2021 winners can be found here: https://cybersecuritybreakthrough.com/2021-winners/ .

Request a demo of the Recorded Future Intelligence Platform at recordedfuture.com/demo .

About Recorded Future

Recorded Future is the world's largest provider of intelligence for enterprise security. By combining persistent and pervasive automated data collection and analytics with human analysis, Recorded Future delivers intelligence that is timely, accurate, and actionable. In a world of ever-increasing chaos and uncertainty, Recorded Future empowers organizations with the visibility they need to identify and detect threats faster; take proactive action to disrupt adversaries; and protect their people, systems, and assets, so business can be conducted with confidence. Recorded Future is trusted by more than 1,000 businesses and government organizations around the world. Learn more at www.recordedfuture.com and follow us on Twitter at @RecordedFuture.

SOURCE Recorded Future

Related Links

http://www.recordedfuture.com


Alberta Real Estate Brokers Brett Turner and Darren Langille to Lead 85 Agent Team

TORONTO and NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Real Brokerage Inc. ("Real" or the "Company"), an international, technology-powered real estate brokerage, today announced that Canada's Redline Real Estate Group will be joining its growing network of agents.

Redline Real Estate Group, originated and based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has been in business since 2009, and now has 85 agents and serves clients throughout the provinces of Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia.

As part of the expansion, Brett Turner and Darren Langille, owners and CEOs of Redline Real Estate Group and members of the Calgary Real Estate Board, will be leading the Redline team's transition to Real's platform. As an independent brokerage since 2009, Redline aims to provide a superior level of service than the typical franchise model and maximize the value of agents -- an approach which is aligned with that of Real's model.

"With Real's platform, technology, and network of almost 3,000 agents, we feel we are positioned for long-term success," said Darren Langille. "We feel that by joining Real we can both maintain the momentum we're proud to have achieved, and provide greater benefits to our agents."

"We are making this move from an independent operation into a cloud based agent owned model at a pivotal time for our brokerage," Turner said. "We are encouraged by our agents' performance and their passion for our brand and the industry that we wanted to give them a better platform. That is something that we are very proud of as we work our way into Real."

The addition of Redline Real Estate Group expands Real's growing business in Canada which began in August, marking the first launch of the Company's international operations.

"At Real, we have already made significant inroads and built relationships in Canada and Redline Real Estate Group will add to this progress," said Real co-founder and CEO Tamir Poleg. "Redline is a staple brokerage in Canada, with a network of agents that are trusted in the communities they serve. We are proud to say they are now part of the Real team and look forward to having them play an integral role in our operations."

About Real

Real (www.joinreal.com) is a technology-powered real estate brokerage operating in 35 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and Canada. Real is building the future, together with agents and their clients. Real creates financial opportunities for agents through better commission splits, best-in-class technology, revenue sharing and equity incentives.

Contact Information

For additional information, please contact:

The Real Brokerage Inc.

Caroline Glennon

[email protected]

1+201-564-4221

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "likely" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions. These statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof. Forward-looking information in this press release includes, without limiting the foregoing, information relating to Redline Real Estate Group joining Real, and the business and strategic plans of Real.

Forward-looking information is based on assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including but not limited to Real's business objectives, expected growth, results of operations, performance, business projects and opportunities and financial results. Real considers these assumptions to be reasonable in the circumstances. However, forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. These factors should be carefully considered and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, Real cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and Real assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release, and the NASDAQ has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

SOURCE The Real Brokerage Inc.

Related Links

http://www.joinreal.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- buywith is joining forces with retail industry leaders to share the insights that can set the brands and retailers off to a good start with Livestream shopping for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and last-minute holiday shopping.

The webinar "Winning the 2021 Holiday Season with Livestream Shopping", that will take place on Wednesday, October 6, and feature the panelists:

John Ehrnst , a retail executive, ex CEO Americas at Daniel Wellington, and EVP, Head of Sales and Operations USA at H&M, will talk about Livestream shopping as a part of the growth strategy for brands and retailers.

a retail executive, ex CEO Americas at Daniel Wellington, and EVP, Head of Sales and Operations at H&M, will talk about Livestream shopping as a part of the growth strategy for brands and retailers. Ken Fenyo , President, Research & Advisory at Coresight Research, will review the global trends of Livestream shopping.

President, Research & Advisory at Coresight Research, will review the global trends of Livestream shopping. Ross Yellowlees , VP Business Development at Viral Nation, the leading global agency specializing in influencer marketing and talent representation, will talk about best practices of collaborating with influencers that can help maximize the campaign's ROI.

VP Business Development at Viral Nation, the leading global agency specializing in influencer marketing and talent representation, will talk about best practices of collaborating with influencers that can help maximize the campaign's ROI. James D'Adamo , Head of Sales at buywith and previously, Group Advertising Director of Fashion & Luxury at Hearst Magazines, will talk about Livestream shopping campaigns designed and optimized for success.

Head of Sales at buywith and previously, Group Advertising Director of Fashion & Luxury at Hearst Magazines, will talk about Livestream shopping campaigns designed and optimized for success. Adi Ronen Almagor , CEO & Co-Founder at buywith. A leading expert in the Livestream Shopping space, Adi will deliver a keynote on buywith's Livestream shopping journey with the top global beauty and fashion brands and share the exclusive insights acquired from this experience.

Click here to register for the webinar.

James D'Adamo said, 'We look forward to sharing the lessons we've learned from working with the leading global brands and retailers in the last three years to help you make the most out of the 2021 shopping season."

John Ehrnst added, "Livestream shopping that promotes conversion is key for the upcoming Holiday season."

Ken Fenyo noted, "Livestream shopping will emerge as a key channel for retailers and brands to engage their shoppers and drive sales this holiday season. Based on Coresight Research analysis, Livestream shopping should reach $6 billion in sales in the US this year and over $25 billion by 2023."

Adi Ronen said, "As more brands and retailers are reaching to buywith looking for the best Livestream Shopping technology, it's clear that retailers need to activate live shopping sessions during the hot holiday season to stay relevant and attractive."

Ross Yellowlees said, "Utilizing influencers through Livestream shopping is a massive opportunity to connect directly with an engaged and trusted consumer base and drive sales during the holiday period. Livestream shopping has been tremendous in China, and the success seen is sure to translate to all markets in 2021 and beyond."

About buywith

buywith is a platform for retailers and brands, influencers, and celebrities to host Livestream shopping events with their followers on brands' websites through patent-pending technology, enabling the unique "shop with me" experience. buywith, unlike other Livestream shopping solutions, doesn't require an app download, a complicated code integration, or expensive studio production and is built for scale. buywith is working with world-class brands in the fashion and beauty industries across the US, Europe, and the Middle East and is backed by private investors and VCs from Europe and the US.

For more information, please contact Ms. Liel Anisenko at [email protected]

SOURCE buywith

Related Links

https://www.buywith.com/


SHANGHAI, Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ruipu Energy Co., Ltd. (REPT) has become the first new energy enterprise to receive investment from Tsingshan Industry, a world-leading stainless steel and nickel iron producer with its own deep rich nickel, cobalt and lithium resources which ranked 279th in Fortune Global 500 in 2021 with a revenue of $42,448.1 million. Earlier this year, REPT passed the world-renowned Dun and Bradstreet business certification and its current 26GWh capacity will reach 200GWh by 2028.

In just four years since its founding in 2017, REPT has been selected by giant vehicle brands and has become a major player in the energy storage sector. REPT's first developed product, a household 50Ah square lithium-ion battery with a lifespan of over 10 years, obtained SII battery subsidy/disaster certifications and has been sold in Australia, Europe and Japan.

In early 2019, REPT took aim at the large-scale energy storage market with aspirations to design a 280Ah lithium-ion battery with a lifespan of 15-20 years and a cycle count of over 8000 under constant 0.5P of power. REPT's engineers adopted advanced lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode material to build highly reliable electronic channels and a porous electrode system to ensure a low expansion rate of the positive electrode during the battery lifespan allowing for stable electronic channels. Long-term rigorous testing and evaluation constantly optimized the battery formula and structure to ensure the high quality of the product.

It took two years for the 280P battery to go from the design and development stage to mass production with strict testing at every step. Having been tested for over a year, the capacity retention rate is 86% for 4000 weeks at room temperature cycle conditions of 1 degree Celsius. It has recently passed global standards certifications such as UL 1973, UL 9540A, IEC 62619 and GBT 36276. The DNV recently evaluated the 280P battery, instilling a lot of confidence in energy storage users. The capacity is expected to reach 500MWh by the end of 2021.

REPT is committed to becoming an outstanding international supplier of new energy and electric energy storage equipment. Our partners include GROWATT, SolaX Power, FOX ESS and SUNGROW, among others, with plans to build factories in Europe. REPT has broken through in battery energy density regarding LFP 200Wh/kg and NCM 300Wh/kg and a new generation energy storage product roadmap will be launched in Q4 2021 and will continue to ensure to make every battery with passion and help people enjoy the benefits of green power.

SOURCE Ruipu Energy Co., Ltd.
FORT WORTH, Texas and NEW YORK and CHICAGO, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Simpli.fi, a leader in programmatic advertising and agency management software, announced today that private equity funds managed by Blackstone (NYSE:BX) ("Blackstone") have completed the previously announced significant equity investment in the company. Blackstone joins existing investor GTCR, a leading private equity firm, as majority shareholders in the company. The investment, made through Blackstone's flagship private equity vehicle, values the company at approximately $1.5 billion.

Simpli.fi's full suite of mission critical workflow and ad buying software enables agencies and media groups to manage their core operations more efficiently, and to execute high ROI omni-channel ad campaigns. Each month, the company's innovative programmatic advertising platform powers over 120,000 CTV, mobile, and other digital campaigns for 30,000 active advertisers.

"We are thrilled to embark upon this next chapter for Simpli.fi as we welcome Blackstone as a new partner," said Frost Prioleau, Co-Founder and CEO of Simpli.fi. "Working alongside Blackstone and GTCR, we look forward to driving further product innovation and expansion of our platform, both organically and through our targeted acquisition strategy, in order to better serve the needs of advertising agencies and media buying organizations."

"As local media spend increasingly moves from linear to digital channels, we are excited to partner with management and GTCR to build upon Simpli.fi's market leadership in this space," said Sachin Bavishi, a Managing Director at Blackstone. "We look forward to investing behind Simpli.fi's rapid growth trajectory as it continues to innovate and serve customers through superior technology and customer service."

Craig Bondy, a Managing Director at GTCR, and Stephen Master, a Principal at GTCR, added: "Blackstone shares our vision and strong belief in Simpli.fi's growth potential and, importantly, brings complementary expertise and valuable resources to bear. We look forward to working together to support the company's continued expansion."

Evercore, LUMA Partners, and Canaccord Genuity served as financial advisors, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Simpli.fi and GTCR. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal advisor to Blackstone.

About Simpli.fi

Simpli.fi is a leading provider of workflow software and programmatic advertising solutions, serving over 1,400 agencies, advertisers, and media buying organizations. Our solutions enable our customers to perform more effectively and efficiently, and to maximize ROI on their advertising spend across CTV, mobile, display, and other media types. Our platform delivers performance on budgets of all sizes, executing over 120,000 campaigns for 30,000 advertisers in a typical month. For more information please visit our website at www.simpli.fi

About Blackstone

Blackstone is the world's largest alternative asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $684 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.

About GTCR

Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the Growth Business Services, Technology, Media & Telecommunications, Healthcare and Financial Services & Technology industries. The Chicago-based firm pioneered The Leaders Strategy  finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $20 billion in over 250 companies. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com.

Contact

Katie McGovern

SHIFT Communications

simpli.fi@shiftcomm.com

609.206.1082

SOURCE Simpli.fi

Related Links

https://simpli.fi


WELLESLEY, Mass., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun Life U.S. announced today expanded philanthropic support for organizations focused on issues around diversity, equity and inclusion. Sun Life will be supporting organizations in Greater Boston and at national levels for initiatives that seek to educate on diversity, further the dialog, and support underrepresented minority groups.

"As we continue to learn more about the systemic issues that perpetuate racial inequity, we are looking at more ways to support various organizations that seek to educate on these issues and bring more opportunities to communities of color," said Ed Milano, vice president of marketing at Sun Life U.S. "We hope to provoke more meaningful discussions among our allies while encouraging action in the communities where we and our clients work and live."

In 2020 Sun Life engaged the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. and More Than a Vote to support their "We Got Next" voter education campaign in the months leading up to the election, as well as the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture's Talking About Race online education portal.

Sun Life's 2021 support includes:

Boston Children's Museum's Our City exhibit, which invites families to discuss and address issues of race, equity, bias and empathy. Sun Life will support media development for the exhibit, including interactive content such as cultural objects, family recipe cards, and shared storytelling.

exhibit, which invites families to discuss and address issues of race, equity, bias and empathy. Sun Life will support media development for the exhibit, including interactive content such as cultural objects, family recipe cards, and shared storytelling. The Bridge Program , a new learning and leadership initiative developed by the 7uice Foundation, which was founded by Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown and his family in partnership with the Community Biotechnology Initiative at MIT's Media Lab. The program for 15-17 year-olds from underrepresented communities of color aims to address the urgent need for greater diversity and inclusion in the leadership ranks of science and technology.

, a new learning and leadership initiative developed by the 7uice Foundation, which was founded by Boston Celtics star and his family in partnership with the Community Biotechnology Initiative at Media Lab. The program for 15-17 year-olds from underrepresented communities of color aims to address the urgent need for greater diversity and inclusion in the leadership ranks of science and technology. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.'s Prepared to Vote outreach efforts, which, for over a decade, have prepared voters for elections by engaging volunteers on Election Day and offering information on voting rights and Black political candidates.

outreach efforts, which, for over a decade, have prepared voters for elections by engaging volunteers on Election Day and offering information on voting rights and Black political candidates. The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture 's annual Speakeasy Evening , which celebrates the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Through this partnership Sun Life employees will have the opportunity next week to hear from museum curators about efforts to transcribe records from the Freedmen's Bureau, a program created in 1865 to assist in post-war reconstruction and help former slaves transition to freedom and citizenship.

's annual , which celebrates the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Through this partnership Sun Life employees will have the opportunity next week to hear from museum curators about efforts to transcribe records from the Freedmen's Bureau, a program created in 1865 to assist in post-war reconstruction and help former slaves transition to freedom and citizenship. United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley's Board Connection Program with a goal of increasing diversity of non-profit boards.

Sun Life also has several employee-led inclusion networks that work to advance important issues within underrepresented communities, foster employee development, and share cultural activities. These networks, which just announced their community support recipients, include Sun Life Pride, BEA (Black Excellence Alliance), HOLA (Hispanic Organization for Leaders & Achievers), BrightWomen, AAHA (Asian American Heritage Association) and DiversAbility.

Sun Life has committed to a new approach to diversity, equity and inclusion over the past year, including the launch of Allies Acting for Change, an employee group serving as an extension of senior leadership, focused on assessing and making recommendations to strengthen DE&I in hiring, career development, and employee education practices. The group's actions have resulted in increased diversity of new candidates and the development of clear performance expectations for inclusive, anti-racist behaviors of people leaders and all employees. To learn more about Sun Life's philanthropic support and initiatives around diversity, equity and inclusion, visit https://www.sunlife.com/us/en/about/

About Sun Life

Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of June 30, 2021, Sun Life had total assets under management of C$1.36 trillion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com.

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.

In the United States, Sun Life is one of the largest group benefits providers, serving more than 55,000 employers in small, medium and large workplaces across the country. Sun Life's U.S. portfolio of insurance products and services includes disability, absence management, life, dental, vision, voluntary, supplemental health, medical stop-loss. Sun Life and its affiliates in asset management businesses in the U.S. employ approximately 5,500 people. Group insurance policies are issued by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (Wellesley Hills, Mass.), except in New York, where policies are issued by Sun Life and Health Insurance Company (U.S.) (Lansing, Mich.). For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com/us.

Media contacts:

Devon Fernald

Sun Life U.S.

781-800-3609

[email protected]

Connect with Sun Life U.S.

https://www.facebook.com/SLFUnitedStates

https://www.linkedin.com/company/sun-life-financial

https://twitter.com/SunLifeUS

SOURCE Sun Life U.S.

Related Links

https://www.sunlife.com/us/


WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 16, 2021 Mending Kids will be hosting Hike2Mend. The third annual event will be held virtually and in-person at Griffith Park, Los Angeles. The fundraiser aims to address the expanding health disparity gap by giving deserving children an equal opportunity to life-changing medical care.

Hike2Mend launched in the fall of 2019, inspired by an aunt of a recipient who, in one week, traveled over 700 miles across Tanzania to save her young - orphaned - nephew who was in need of surgery for a congenital heart defect. The hike is in honor of the distance that countless parents travel to gain access to medical care for their child and for those navigating the obstacles of insurance eligibility and denials.

Since 2005, Mending Kids has provided free life-changing and life-saving surgical care to over 4,500 children in the United States and around the world from 68 countries. Proceeds from the event will provide free surgeries to children in the U.S.A and help support overseas volunteer medical teams to perform procedures ranging from interventional cardiology, open-heart, neuro, otolaryngology, plastic, orthopedic and general surgeries.

To join Hike2Mend in-person: Register and hike in-person on October 16th at Griffith Park, Los Angeles. To join virtually: Register and hike, walk, jog, run, bike, or swim anywhere, and record the distance on a smart device and share the trek on Facebook tagging @mendingkids, or on Instagram using #hike2mend.

Participants will receive Mananalu Water, Jen's Cafe Bars and Bu Sunscreen. In addition, anyone who uses the promo code: MENDINGKIDS will get 20% off purchases from all three sponsors. Hikers to complete the course will receive a Mending Kids hat and top fundraisers will be given a special gift.

High school students can earn community service hours by joining in the virtual or in-person hike.

For more information on how to register for the event or earn community service hours, visit events.mendingkids.org.

Hike2Mend would not be possible were it not for the support from sponsors. Special thanks to Chris Cortazzo and Charity on Top, Mananalu, Jen's Cafe Bars and Bu Sunscreen.

"The big picture about the Hike2Mend and our programs in general is about shining a light on the health disparity that surrounds us; visibly and invisibly, around us and everywhere, and the social injustice that is inextricably enmeshed alongside it. Advocacy for health equity saves lives. Health frees up resources and energy for children to focus on learning and for the parents to focus on employment, affording them all the time to elevate their standards of living and reset them on a course to dream of better things." Isabelle Fox, Executive Director, Mending Kids

With the success of the 2021 Hometown Mission, 12 more children who were denied access to care are in the wings waiting for the next mission which is scheduled for late January -early February 2022.

Social media Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @mendingkids Check out our work!

About Mending Kids

Mending Kids

is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization that provides free life-saving critical surgical care to children in the United States and around the world from over 68 countries by deploying volunteer medical teams and educating communities to become medically self-sustaining. Since 2005, Mending Kids has mended nearly 4,500 children. Our surgical teams donate their time and services to train and perform procedures that range from interventional cardiology, open-heart, neuro, otolaryngology, plastic, orthopedic or general surgeries.

Please contact Adrienne Johnson to schedule an interview with Dorothy Lucey, Mending Kids board member, Isabelle Fox, Executive Director of Mending Kids, or Cristina Farrut, Director Mission Services, for interviews in Spanish.

Photos:

https://www.prlog.org/12887730

Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE Mending Kids International

Related Links

http://events.mendingkids.


MIAMI, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Excellence Collection is proud to reveal the grand opening of Finest Punta Cana on October 1, 2021. This resort is the first of the collection's Finest Resorts brand in Punta Cana, and offers high end All Inclusive vacations for all ages. Finest Punta Cana sits along the same stretch of beach as the collection's two Excellence Resorts branded properties for adults only in the destination.

A strategic resort layout caters to guests of all ages at Finest Punta Cana, with different areas for families and for adults to share Extraordinary Moments with their loved ones in the setting that best suits their age group.

The 455-suite resort features the brand's iconic rooftop terrace suites, swim-up suites, family suites, and even more luxurious options, divided into three sections:

Finest Suites with infinite excellence amenities

with infinite excellence amenities Finest Club for families, with elevated in-suite amenities, complimentary hydrotherapy, and access to members-only lounges, beach area, pools, and restaurants

for families, with elevated in-suite amenities, complimentary hydrotherapy, and access to members-only lounges, beach area, pools, and restaurants Excellence Club for adults only, with elevated in-suite amenities, complimentary hydrotherapy, and access to exclusive lounges, private beach, pools, and restaurants. Excellence Club areas are set on their own side of the resort for a secluded adults-only environment.

Guests will have seven total pools with areas for families and adults, 10 international dining options, 15 bars, Imagine Kids Club, Imagine Lounge for mealtime childcare, ONE Spa with expansive hydrotherapy, and state-of-the-art fitness and meeting facilities. Of course, daytime and nighttime activities keep guests entertained throughout the week.

"It is a great joy for us to open Finest Punta Cana. The Excellence Collection's footprint in the Dominican Republic began in 2000 with the opening of Excellence Punta Cana, our first resort, and we are grateful to the incredible teams in the destination who built this stunning resort through a vision of Innovative Curation, and the staff who will bring our signature Bespoke Service."

Domingo Aznar, VP of Sales & Marketing

Destination weddings take center stage at Finest Punta Cana, with venues from beach weddings to rooftop terraces and elegant indoor ballrooms, alongside an expert team to plan each event.

Just like every property within The Excellence Collection, Finest Punta Cana has extensive health and safety protocols, including a new feature for contactless online check-in and check-out. Additionally, all employees will be fully vaccinated by opening day.

CONTACT: Diego Penaranda, [email protected]

SOURCE The Excellence Collection
The Lengnau site is a 1.5 million square-foot facility that will leverage highly flexible bioproduction technologies, including both single-use and stainless steel with up to 12,500L bioreactor capacity. This will provide biopharma companies with a pathway from development to large-scale production as manufacturing needs evolve.

"We are excited to add the new Lengnau site to our global biologics manufacturing network and we are thrilled to welcome more than 200 new colleagues to Thermo Fisher," said Michel Lagarde, executive vice president of Thermo Fisher Scientific. "Through our partnership with CSL, this site further strengthens our unique customer value proposition to leverage our scale and depth of capabilities for pharma and biotech customers. With the addition of new high-volume stainless-steel capabilities in Lengnau, we are enabling our customers to start their projects with us and stay with us as their manufacturing requirements grow."

Following completion of site construction in 2022, Thermo Fisher will initially support manufacturing of CSL's next-generation recombinant factor IX product Idelvion for patients with hemophilia B. Over time, Thermo Fisher plans to expand the use of the site to include additional biopharma customers.

The Lengnau site is an important expansion of Thermo Fisher's biologics manufacturing network that includes Princeton, NJ and St. Louis, MO, USA; Groningen, NL; Brisbane, AU; and Hangzhou, China.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with annual revenue of approximately $35 billion. Our Mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Whether our customers are accelerating life sciences research, solving complex analytical challenges, improving patient diagnostics and therapies or increasing productivity in their laboratories, we are here to support them. Our global team of more than 90,000 colleagues delivers an unrivaled combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and pharmaceutical services through our industry-leading brands, including Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific, Unity Lab Services and Patheon. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com.

Media Contact Information:

Ron O'Brien

Phone: 781-622-1242

E-mail: [email protected]

Investor Contact Information:

Raf Tejada

Phone: 781-622-1356

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Thermo Fisher Scientific

Related Links

http://www.thermofisher.com


WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Anthony "Tony" Curti, CIC, LIC, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan has been installed as president of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents during the organization's September 23, 2021 board meeting in Detroit.

Curti was sworn in together with his four fellow national officers: Gerald F. Hemphill, CIC, LUTCF of Richmond, Virginia, President-elect; Richard A. Savino, CIC, CPIA, of Warwick, New York, Vice President/Treasurer; Ariel Rivera of Puerto Rico, Secretary/Assistant Treasurer; and Wayne F. White, CPA, CPIA, PFMM of Conway, Arkansas, Immediate Past President. All the officers will serve one-year terms that begin on October 1, 2021 and run through September 30, 2022.

"Insurance agents plus technology is the winning combination in insurance distribution," said Curti. "Emotional intelligence and relationship-building are fundamental in our business. Today, these traits and others can be married with tech innovation to best serve clients. I am proud to carry the mantle for the industry as we progress."

Curti pointed out that PIA adapted quickly to changes in the business environment prompted by the coronavirus crisis. "PIA was quick to adjust to COVID circumstances because we had already invested in technology and had strong prior knowledge to rely on. We adapted very well, which is what independent insurance agents are uniquely positioned to do."

He added that PIA's aggressive advocacy has produced legislative and regulatory victories that have added to agencies' bottom lines.

"It is also important for all agents to remember that we are in the relationship business," Curti added. "As has been demonstrated by the ongoing success of PIA's agency-company council, The PIA Partnership, agencies and carriers are stakeholders with an interdependence that drives our business. Each of us has a stake in our mutual success."

Curti was elected to the executive committee of PIA in 2018 and has served as a board member for nine years. He also has completed three terms as president of the Michigan Association of Professional Insurance Agents and still serves on their board.

Tony began in insurance with Curti Insurance Agency, Inc., a family-owned firm. After the sale of the Curti Agency, he held senior insurance leadership positions at the U.S. insurance subsidiary for ABN Amro Bank, NV. In 2012, Tony joined fintech and top 10 global broker Acrisure as a shareholder/Agency Partner where he today serves as an Operations executive. He's held multiple senior positions, interfacing with Acrisure's insurance agencies and brokers, as well as Home Office colleagues in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Tony is an adjunct professor in Finance, at Walsh College, in Troy, MI. He has previously served on the faculty of the Society of Certified Insurance Counselors (CIC), involved with risk management and insurance studies.

Founded in 1931, PIA is a national trade association that represents member insurance agents and their employees who sell and service all kinds of insurance, but specialize in coverage of automobiles, homes and businesses. PIA's web address is http://www.pianational.org.

This press release is online at:

https://www.pianational.org/detail-pages/news/2021/10/01/tony-curti-installed-as-president-of-pia-national

SOURCE National Association of Professional Insurance Agents

Related Links

pianet.com


BOXX Insurance Inc. announces expansion to USA

Insurtech leader Hilario Itriago appointed as President, BOXX USA

TORONTO, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Hot off the heels of closing its Series A financing round and rapid growth in Canada, the BOXX Insurance Inc. team is pleased to announce its expansion to the US and its appointment of Hilario Itriago as BOXX USA President.

With this expansion, BOXX will bring its suite of cyber insurance products to the US, making it easier for American businesses, individuals and families to insure and defend themselves against cyber threats.

Itriago, who is based in Miami, has been instrumental in the expansion of the Insurtech ecosystem across the USA and Latin America. He has built an expert reputation over the last five years as investor and growth advisor of a portfolio of early and growth-state US Insurtech companies. Itriago joins the BOXX team after leading and developing venture company Rokk3r's Insurtech Division, which acquired the company he co-founded in 2016. Prior to this, Hilario was a C-Level executive of RSA Insurance Latin America's Division, where he contributed to its double digit growth over six years as COO and then as CEO, led the successful sale of its USD 1.2BN insurance premium business, with operations in six countries and more than 2,000 employees, to Colombian-based holding company Grupo SURA.

Said Vishal Kundi, CEO of BOXX, which he co-founded with Mike Senechal, of the appointment: "We are thrilled to welcome Hilario to the team. Mike and I have known Hilario for nearly as long as we've been building BOXX and his knowledge, experience and passion are going to be huge assets for us. Hilario has spent the last few years on the development side of Insurtech and his decision to join us is an endorsement of and testament to all the work we've put in at BOXX  and we don't take that lightly. We couldn't have asked for someone more capable for this role."

On joining BOXX, Itriago said: "There is no doubt that cyber is the next frontier in risk management and prevention. I'm delighted to join BOXX at such an exciting time for the company, to help drive BOXX's next phase of growth into a market as important as the USA. Vishal and Mike have a bold vision, which the team has been executing relentlessly and I'm incredibly excited to work alongside them to bring BOXX's proposition to such a great market as this".

About BOXX Insurance

BOXX Insurance Inc. is privately-held with headquarters in Toronto, Canada. BOXX's vision is to help businesses, individuals and families stay ahead of, respond to and recover from cyber threats, putting their digital safety first.

For further information, please visit www.boxxinsurance.com.

SOURCE BOXX Insurance
Representing a milestone in TurtleTree's US-based expansion plans, the research facility will spur the development of precision fermentation technology currently used to produce valuable milk ingredients like lactoferrin. This marks a significant stride towards the production of consumer-ready milk and dairy, reaffirming TurtleTree's status as a leading player in the field of sustainable nutrition.

In addition to improving these capabilities, the establishment of this groundbreaking facility will also further TurtleTree's mission of uplifting the world beyond the creation of sustainable food. To adequately staff the facility, the company will create approximately 40 new tech-related jobs in and around Greater Sacramento. These will span diverse fields from food science to engineering, yielding fresh opportunities for seasoned professionals and fresh graduates alike.

Referencing this positive impact, TurtleTree's CEO and co-founder, Fengru Lin, stated: "Establishing this R&D facility in Greater Sacramento marks the first step towards bringing our unique products from development to marketone that we're very glad will help unlock new opportunities within the local community. We're eagerly looking forward to working with the brilliant talent in the area and building a future generation of nutrition that we can all enjoy for decades to come."

Echoing similar sentiments, various West Sacramento representatives have also offered their support for the new facility. President and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, Barry Broome, stated: "We want to congratulate TurtleTree for locating their R&D and manufacturing facility in West Sacramento. This move signals market validation of why Greater Sacramento is world-class in biotech, specifically alternative proteins research."

"West Sacramento is honored to have been chosen by TurtleTree as the location for their much-anticipated research facility. The city looks forward to assisting the TurtleTree leadership to achieve their goals, with respect to the facility, through an accelerated occupancy permit process," announced West Sacramento mayor, Martha Guerrero. She added: "TurtleTree is making significant contributions to a sustainable, global food supply and is also creating opportunities to prepare future generations to continue this important scientific work through our student internship program, which will be of great benefit to the city's youth."

Moving forward, TurtleTree remains committed to its role in developing the food and agriculture ecosystem in Northern California. Aside from functioning as a research hub, the R&D facility will also serve as an integral touchpoint for TurtleTree to connect and collaborate with educational institutions, research-focused partners, strategic partners, future customers, and investors.

About TurtleTree

TurtleTree is a biotech company that's using cell-based technologies to create sustainable food and dairy. In spite of this, we earnestly believe that what we do extends beyond the dining table and into the heart of humanity. At our core, we seek to uplift the world by providing a new generation of nutrition that's better for the planet, better for the animals, and better for people everywhere.

To learn more, please visit TurtleTree's website .

About the Greater Sacramento Economic Council (GSEC)

The Greater Sacramento Economic Council is the catalyst for innovative growth strategies in the Capital Region of California. The organization spearheads community-led direction to retain, attract, grow, and scale tradable sectors, develop advanced industries, and create jobs and investment throughout a six-county region. Greater Sacramento represents a collaboration between local and state governments, market leaders, influencers, and stakeholders, with the sole mission of driving inclusive economic growth. The Greater Sacramento region was founded on discovery, built on leadership, and fueled by innovation.

To learn more, please visit GSEC's website .

About the City of West Sacramento

West Sacramento is located minutes from the state capital, midway between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, in the heart of California's Great Central Valley. West Sacramento has abundant land, high-quality water, and nearby agricultural production combined with market access and proximity to the world-renowned food and agricultural research of U.C. Davis. Over 60 companies in food and ag-tech research, production, and distribution have established West Sacramento's Global Food Industry Hub, including Origin Materials, TOMRA Sorting Solutions, NuSeed Americas, Nor-Cal Beverage, Bayer Crop Science, and Nippon Shokken U.S.A.

To learn more, please visit the City of West Sacramento's website .

Contact:

Rita Huang

Media Specialist

Phone: (530) 564-2403

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE TurtleTree
COLLEGE PARK, Md., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Maryland today celebrated the dedication of its newest residence hall, Pyon-Chen Hall . The state-of-the-art, 131,000-square-foot building, which houses 450 students, is named after two trailblazers who were key to diversifying UMD: Pyon Su and Chunjen Constant Chen.

The naming is one of several initiatives and recommendations UMD President Darryll J. Pines outlined on his first day as president aimed at building a more diverse and welcoming campus community. This is the first time since 1914 that a residence hall has been named for a person.

"Our pioneers made invaluable contributions to our university that have helped shape our campus for more than a century," says Pines. "Pyon-Chen Hall is a tribute to two individuals who helped define the institution we are today, and it serves as a physical reminder of our commitment to inclusive excellence."

In 1891, Pyon (pronounced "Pe-awn" as one syllable) Su became the first Korean student to receive a degree from any American college or university. Chunjen Constant Chen was the first Chinese student to enroll at the Maryland Agricultural College in 1915.

"My great-great-great-uncle, Pyon Su, was a changemaker, and his legacy at the University of Maryland is a shining example of that. He was the first Korean to graduate from any U.S. college or even any western university. He was a trailblazer for not only Koreans but also for all Asians in this country. We are honored for our family name to be ingrained in this university's history and to be part of something much greater than one man's journey," said Harold Pyon, Pyon Su's great-great-great-nephew.

"My family are Terps through and through. Last year, Cara Chen, our family's fourth generation of Terps, proudly graduated on the 100th anniversary of my grandfather Chunjen Constant Chen attaining his master's degree at the University of Maryland. Our family knows he would have been honored to have his name cemented on campus, and to know that his story has inspired and paved the way for so many students for generations," said Andrew Chen, Chunjen Constant Chen's grandson.

Home to some of the incoming cohort of the University Honors living-learning program in addition to other first-year students, the building is at the forefront of a national trend, bringing together a critical mass of high-achieving students from diverse backgrounds to live and learn jointly, opening up new opportunities for creative collaboration and strengthening academic engagement.

The six-story high-rise overlooking La Plata Beach is full of natural light and features occupancy sensors to help reduce energy use. Central lounges and enclosed study spaces on each floor help students connect with one another and focus on their academic work. Each floor also includes one handicapped-accessible room with a private bathroom; the other rooms are single- and double-occupancy.

"Opening a new residence hall is an exciting time for our entire campus community," said Patty Perillo, UMD's Vice President for Student Affairs. "I am proud of our commitment and intentionality to design spaces that inspire and facilitate teaching and learning, community building and inclusion among students, faculty and staff...space that truly supports the academic mission."

Pyon-Chen Hall is the first of two new residence halls located in the newly established Heritage Community, which will also include a new dining hall. The neighboring Johnson-Whittle Hall will open in 2022.

"What's so special about this building, in particular, is the name of the hall and the community; Heritage. For years to come, Terps will understand the importance of these influential names, who helped pave the way for students to have an opportunity to make their mark on our campus," said Scott Cronin, Residence Hall Association President. "It also makes me so happy to say that the Residence Hall Association students had the opportunity to collaborate with the University on this residence hall to help ensure it met students' needs."

About the University of Maryland

The University of Maryland, College Park is the state's flagship university and one of the nation's preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation, the university is home to more than 40,000 students, 10,000 faculty and staff, and 300 academic programs. As one of the nation's top producers of Fulbright scholars, its faculty includes two Nobel laureates, four Pulitzer Prize winners and 59 members of the national academies. The institution has a $2.2 billion operating budget and secures more than $1 billion annually in research funding together with the University of Maryland, Baltimore. For more information about the University of Maryland, College Park, visit www.umd.edu .

SOURCE University of Maryland

Related Links

http://www.umd.edu


CHESTERFIELD, Mo., Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action (USFRA) is one of  if not the only  organization that has successfully connected farmers and ranchers to food and agriculture stakeholders to co-create sustainable food systems through four tremendous back-to-back events in two weeks' time.

Honor the Harvest Forum:

Beginning with the third annual USFRA Honor the Harvest Forum which brought together farmers and ranchers with agricultural value chain leaders in food, fiber, and energy to address the needs of the next #DecadeofAg. The more than 120 participants brought together 100% of the food and ag value chain for three full days of identifying and addressing specific actions to further innovation and investment that will be necessary to unlock the full potential of climate-smart agriculture nationwide.

Several key themes and action areas emerged during the plenary sessions, breakout discussions, presentations, and leadership talks including collaboration is key to moving the industry forward and the ongoing dialogue and relationships must start with the farmers. USFRA Chairman and Nebraska farmer Anne Meis said of the Forum, "The leadership we've seen, the insight and tough questions we've heard, and the focused conversations must continue."

From meaningful investment to data privacy to elevating producers to educating consumers, the Forum focused on breaking old stereotypes and meeting this critical critical moment with a sense of urgency. "In this pivotal time, we can be leaders in tackling the climate crisis  to be effective, we must work for farmers, ranchers, and landowners and with farmers, ranchers, and landowners," said U.S Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack who addressed the participants on the first day.

The Carbon Neutral Pig  A Docudrama Short Film:

The three-day convening ended with USFRA unveiling a new short film that highlights the important role farmers and ranchers are taking in forging climate solutions with help from science, experts, investors and partners. The docudrama  The Carbon Neutral Pig  sponsored by the United Soybean Board, follows the real-life journey of Marlowe Ivey who has taken over her dad's North Carolina pig farm and is working to make it carbon neutral.

"Change has got to start somewhere" becomes a key line as Ivey encounters people online and in her community that criticize her, and tell Ivey that change is needed. The film is the second of a series telling the stories of our nation's farmers on their journey. While each film tells an individual story, together they show how they are not the only one working to make improvements.

"The need for greater transparency and collaboration is critical, to ensure that producers are valued for their ongoing contributions for our food systems," concluded Meis.

Securing a Seat at the Table for Farmers: United Nations Food Systems Summit:

USFRA successfully secured a seat at the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit, with USFRA Chairwoman and Nebraska Farmer Anne Meis speaking as part of the official General Assembly events. Marilyn Hershey (USFRA Secretary and Chair of Dairy Management, Inc.), Chip Bowling (Former USFRA Chair and Former National Corn Growers Association President) and Toni Stanger-McLaughlin (USFRA Board Member and Native American Agriculture Fund CEO) joined Chairman Meis as United States farmer leaders at the digital UN Food Systems Summit inside the General Assembly.

Two years ago, this was a dream, a goal, an objective. Eight months ago, it became a strategic plan. Within the last 30 days, that dream was realized through the thoughtful engagement by USFRA's leadership who worked diligently to ensure the U.S. producer perspective was "at the table" for these important international and domestic conversations about the future of our food systems.

USFRA's mission is to connect farmers and ranchers to food and agriculture stakeholders to co-create sustainable food systems and vision is to continue to enable farmers and ranchers to uniquely contribute to the sustainable food systems of the future by nourishing our communities, natural resources, and planet.

USFRA has worked and will continue to work to bring the authentic voice of farmers and ranchers to key conversations about the future of food, including the UN events. As ag markets and value chains are increasingly global, what happened at the UN Food Systems Summit not only impacts governmental decisions, but also shapes market decisions by brand, financial, and non-governmental organization conversations over the next decade.

Climate Week 2021: Not the Culmination, It's the Kick-Off

Collectively, over the course of the last three weeks, USFRA engaged its internal leadership with our international partners and thought leaders to our farmers and ranchers and through these efforts through social media, meetings, and one-on-one conversations, it is proven that dialogue matters. That dialogue has created a call to action to partner with farmers and ranchers and collaborate with them for without that engagement and collaboration, these dialogues will stall. Unlike any other non-governmental organization, USFRA is at the nexus of these discussions and will continue to lead the path forward.

There are now almost 150 leaders and organizations who have endorsed the Decade of Ag, a shared vision for 2030 with specific outcomes for the food and agriculture sector. These weeks have elevated all participants to be #LeadersinAction for this #DecadeofAg. What is the #DecadeofAg? It's a resilient, restorative, economically viable and climate-smart agricultural system that produces abundant and nutritious food, natural fiber, and clean energy for a sustainable, vibrant, and prosperous America. The path forward is our mutual responsibility. USFRA will continue to lead and represent our nation's farmers and ranchers to further our global sustainable food systems. Join us here.

ABOUT USFRA

U.S. Farmers & Ranchers in Action (USFRA) represents farmer and rancher-led organizations, and food and agricultural partners, with a common vision to further our global sustainable food systems. We believe farmers uniquely contribute to nourishing our planet, people, and natural resources. Our focus is creating a proactive collaboration between the best minds in food, agriculture, science, and technology to co-create solutions that will result in environmental, social, and economic sustainability. USFRA is serving as the secretariat for the Decade of Ag a shared vison for 2030 for US food and agriculture. Learn more at www.usfarmersandranchers.org.

Wholly or partially funded by U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action including support from the Soybean Checkoff.

For More Information, Please Contact:

Diane Cullo

VP, Public Affairs & Communications, USFRA

[email protected]

SOURCE U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance

Related Links

http://www.fooddialogues.com/


DUBLIN, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Herbal Supplements Market Research Report by Supplier Type, by Function by Form, by Application, by Source, by State - United States Forecast to 2026 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The United States Herbal Supplements Market is projected to grow with a significant CAGR in the forecast period. Economic development and substantial infrastructure development have constituted regional revenue generation. Further, the patterns associated with domestic production, import and export, and consumption have helped market participants to analyze and capitalize on potential opportunities. Besides, the qualitative and quantitative parameters provided in the report with detailed analysis highlights the driving and restraining factors of the United States Herbal Supplements Market.



This research report categorizes the Herbal Supplements to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:

Based on Supplier Type, the Herbal Supplements Market was studied across Private Labelled and White Labelled.

Based on Function, the Herbal Supplements Market was studied across Aroma and Medicinal.

Based on Form, the Herbal Supplements Market was studied across Capsules & Tablets, Oils, Powder, and Syrups.

Based on Application, the Herbal Supplements Market was studied across Food & Beverages, Personal Care, and Pharmaceuticals.

Based on Source, the Herbal Supplements Market was studied across Barks, Fruits, Vegetables & Flowers, Leaves, and Roots.

Based on State, the Herbal Supplements Market was studied across California , Florida , Illinois , New York , Ohio , Pennsylvania , and Texas .

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Herbal Supplements Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the United States Herbal Supplements Market, including ABCO Laboratories, Inc., AIE Pharmaceuticals Inc., Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, Bio-Tech Pharmacal Inc., Glanbia PLC, Herbalife International of America, Inc., Nutraceutical International Corporation, Sunfood Nutraceuticals, Vitakem Nutraceutical Inc., and Wellness Origin Indy.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments

The report answers questions such as:

What is the market size and forecast of the United States Herbal Supplements Market?

What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the United States Herbal Supplements Market during the forecast period?

Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the United States Herbal Supplements Market?

Herbal Supplements Market? What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the United States Herbal Supplements Market?

Herbal Supplements Market? What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the United States Herbal Supplements Market?

Herbal Supplements Market? What is the market share of the leading vendors in the United States Herbal Supplements Market?

Herbal Supplements Market? What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the United States Herbal Supplements Market?

Companies Mentioned

ABCO Laboratories, Inc.

AIE Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company

Bio-Tech Pharmacal Inc.

Glanbia PLC

Herbalife International of America, Inc.

Nutraceutical International Corporation

Sunfood Nutraceuticals

Vitakem Nutraceutical Inc.

Wellness Origin Indy

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/kbqkxk

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com


The greatest threat to women's health globally today is cancer, the most common of which is breast cancer. About 1 in 8 U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of their lifetime and about 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history. Nearly 80% of women under 40 diagnosed with breast cancer find their breast abnormality themselves proving that self-checks are critically important to early detection.

"As the world's leading lingerie brand, the health and well-being of women is paramount to our community," said Martha Pease, Chief Marketing Officer, Victoria's Secret. "We have a unique opportunity but also a responsibility to use our platform and scale of our global footprint to bring greater awareness to the risks of breast cancer, especially among younger women, and educate around the effectiveness of self-checks."

The initiative will kick off with a full takeover of Victoria's Secret channels with risk and detection awareness education, including a guide on how to perform monthly self-checks on victoriassecret.com and all social media handles. More than 25,000 Victoria's Secret associates around the world will also receive these materials, further spreading the potential impact to reach hundreds of thousands of women with this critical message.

PSA with Stella McCartney

Stella McCartney is one of the most powerful voices in breast cancer awareness and has been working for more than 20 years to raise money for research, share campaigns on prevention awareness and provide mastectomy products via The Stella Cares Foundation. In partnership with Victoria's Secret, McCartney developed a vital PSA stressing the importance of regular self-checks, which will serve as a key reminder for women year-round. Victoria's Secret will also make a donation to The Stella Cares Foundation to help further the organization's work towards awareness and support.

Introducing the Body by Victoria Mastectomy Bra

Victoria's Secret will introduce the Body by Victoria Mastectomy Bra to support the thousands of women who undergo mastectomies each year as part of their fight against breast cancer. The bra is a wire-free design made with soft micro fabric and lace and features a pocket within the inner lining to fit a prosthetic. Throughout the month of October, 100% of the Body by Victoria Mastectomy Bra sales will be donated to The Victoria's Secret Global Fund for Women's Cancers to support breast cancer research and discoveries. For more details on the bra or to make a purchase, please visit victoriassecret.com.

This initiative builds upon Victoria's Secret's longstanding commitment toward cancer research and education, including the recent creation of The VS Global Fund for Women's Cancers with longstanding partner, Pelotonia. This groundbreaking initiative will fund innovative research projects aimed at progressing treatments and cures for women's cancers and investing in the next generation of women scientists who represent the diverse population they serve. Through the partnership, Victoria's Secret will invest at least $5 million annually in cancer research, including examining and addressing racial and gender inequities and unlocking new innovations that improve cancer outcomes for all women.

For more information, including monthly reminders to #CheckYourself, please visit victoriassecret.com/selfcheck.

Stay Connected:

Victoria's Secret: https://www.victoriassecret.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victoriassecret

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VictoriasSecret

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victoriassecret

TikTok: https://[email protected]

The Stella Cares Foundation: https://www.stellamccartneyfoundation.com/

About Victoria's Secret:

Victoria's Secret (NYSE: VSCO) is the world's largest intimates specialty retailer offering a wide assortment of modern, fashion-inspired collections including signature bras, panties, lingerie, casual sleepwear and athleisure, as well as award-winning prestige fragrances and body care. With nearly 1,400 retail stores worldwide and a predominately female workforce of more than 25,000, Victoria's Secret boasts the largest team of specialty trained bra fit experts worldwide. Victoria's Secret is committed to inspiring women around the world with products and experiences that uplift and champion them and their journey while creating lifelong relationships and advocating for positive change.

About The Stella Cares Foundation:

Stella McCartney Cares Pink is a platform dedicated to the prevention, early detection and treatment of breast cancer through education, awareness and support; an important cause incredibly close to Stella's heart. Since 2014, Stella McCartney has contributed to Breast Cancer Awareness through informative global campaigns, donating proceeds from product featured to leading support centres and charities worldwide. For more information, visit stellamccartneyfoundation.com.

About Pelotonia:

Pelotonia exists to engage, inspire, and challenge a community committed to change the world by accelerating innovative cancer research. Since its founding in 2008, Pelotonia has raised over $232 million for cancer research which has been invested in high-impact breakthroughs in prevention, diagnostics and treatment, and recently, the launch of The Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology. Thanks to its generous funding partners, Pelotonia is able to direct 100 percent of every community-raised dollar to cancer research. For more information, visit pelotonia.org.

SOURCE Victoria's Secret

Related Links

http://www.victoriassecret.com


BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Viventium, a SaaS-based human capital management solution specializing in the health services sector, today announced that it will join forces with DailyPay to offer more of its clients' employees life-changing access to, and control over, their earned pay. This groundbreaking, white-label solution will offer Viventium clients a seamless, on-brand experience that leverages DailyPay's best-in-class technology previously available only to larger clients.

With more than 6,000 integrations with banks and financial institutions, DailyPay moves more than $1 billion a year in earnings into the hands of employees as they need it. In less than six weeks, the technology teams at Viventium and DailyPay came together to create a customized solution that fits Viventium's needs and delights their clients' employees. With this solution seamlessly integrated into Viventium's systems, millions more healthcare professionals will have instant access to their earned wages, 24/7.

"Since COVID began, healthcare professionalsour most essential workershave been more stressed than ever before. Viventium's mission is to relieve as much of this stress as possible, and this partnership accomplishes that goal by eliminating the financial burden of waiting between pay cycles," said Dan Neuburger, Chief Executive Officer of Viventium. "DailyPay's gold-standard technology platform and seamless integration with Viventium made them the obvious choice."

Research shows that employees who have access to their pay as they earn it are less stressed and more engaged at work. Research shows that companies offering DailyPay are able to hire 52% faster and retain employees as much as 72% longer, a critical need for healthcare companies amid the labor shortage and global pandemic.

"Our white-label offering provides our valued partners a customized solution with unrivaled go-to-market speed and efficiency," said Darren Cho, Vice President of Product, DailyPay. "We are thrilled to roll out this innovative partnership and solution with Viventium, which will now offer millions in the healthcare field the ability to take control of their finances, reducing their personal stress and helping to save more lives during these unprecedented times."

About Viventium

Viventium Software Inc. is a SaaS-based human capital management solution that provides a remarkable user experience and award-winning software. Viventium provides flexible software and expert guidance so clients can be sure their payroll is done right. Viventium offers specialized solutions in the health services markets which include home care agencies and skilled nursing facilities. Viventium Software supports all 50 of the United States with payroll and HR. For more information about Viventium, visit https://www.viventium.com, or follow @viventium on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About DailyPay

DailyPay, powered by its industry-leading technology platform, is on a mission to build a new financial system. Partnering with America's best-in-class employers, including HCA Healthcare, DaVita Kidney Care, ProMedica and Intelycare, DailyPay is the recognized gold-standard in on-demand pay. Through its massive data network, proprietary funding model and connections into over 6,000 endpoints in the banking system, DailyPay works to ensure that money is always in the right place at the right time for employers, merchants, and financial institutions. DailyPay is building technology and the mindset to reimagine the way money moves, from the moment work starts. DailyPay is headquartered in New York City, with operations based in Minneapolis. For more information, visit www.dailypay.com/press.

Media contacts:

David Schwarz

Email: [email protected]

Ye Bin Kwon

Email: [email protected]

[email protected]

Website: dailypay.com

SOURCE Viventium

Related Links

https://www.viventium.com


A financial and investment industry veteran, Gonzalez brings extensive experience in advising and amplifying the growth trajectory of leading startups within transportation and broader technology sectors, and has served as a board member for almost all of Spain's Unicorn Startups to date -- including Wallbox, Cabify and Glovo. In addition to board positions with other cutting-edge organizations including Spotahome, Filmin, and Idealista, Gonzalez is the Founder and Managing Partner of Seaya Ventures, a leading European & Latin-American Venture Capital firm focused on accelerating startup growth - counting over $350 million of assets under management.

"Beatriz Gonzalez has a proven track record with aiding and advising some of the most promising transportation and technology companies in the world, and we are thrilled to expand her role in our organization," said Enric Asuncion, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wallbox. "Her experience strategizing with organizations to help them achieve and maintain a global presence will play a vital role in helping us continue to scale our business and expand into new markets and territories."

"Wallbox has remained on the forefront of innovation in the energy sector since its inception, and I've been a believer in the company for many years," said Gonzalez. "As a long-standing member of the company's board, it's an honor to elevate my role as a member of Wallbox's team and to draw upon my professional experiences to help the company achieve its goals and establish itself as a sustainable, global technology leader while delivering the future of energy solutions worldwide."

Through this latest appointment, Wallbox's Board of Directors following the business combination with Kensington now includes Enric Asuncion, Anders Pettersson, Francisco Riberas, Diego Diaz, Pol Soler, and Beatriz Gonzalez.

"The addition of Beatriz Gonzalez to Wallbox's Board of Directors is a testament to the promise of Wallbox's market dominance and continued growth potential," said Justin Mirro, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kensington. "Her seasoned background in investments, corporate strategy and business development will play a crucial role in our expansion as Wallbox continues its growth trajectory and prepares to enter the public markets."

Transaction with Kensington

In June, Wallbox and Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. II ("Kensington") (NYSE: KCAC) announced a business combination that is expected to result in Wallbox becoming a publicly traded company on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "WBX". For additional information, please visit www.wallbox.com .

About Wallbox

Wallbox is a global technology company, dedicated to changing the way the world uses energy. Wallbox creates advanced electric vehicle charging and energy management systems that redefine users' relationship to the grid. Wallbox goes beyond electric vehicle charging to give users the power to control their consumption, save money, and live more sustainably.

Wallbox offers a complete portfolio of charging and energy management solutions for residential, semi-public and public use in more than 80 countries.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Barcelona, the company now employs over 700 people in its offices in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

For additional information, please visit www.wallbox.com .

About Kensington

Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. II (NYSE: KCAC) is a special purpose acquisition company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, stock purchase or similar business combination with a business in the automotive and automotive-related sector. The company is sponsored by Kensington Capital Partners ("KCP") and the management team of Justin Mirro, Bob Remenar, Simon Boag and Dan Huber. The company is also supported by a board of independent directors including Tom LaSorda, Nicole Nason, Anders Pettersson, Mitch Quain, Don Runkle and Matt Simoncini. The Kensington team has completed over 70 automotive transactions and has over 300 years of combined experience leading some of the largest automotive companies in the world.

For additional information, please visit www.autospac.com .

Seaya Ventures

Seaya Ventures is a leading European & Latin-American Venture Capital firm based in Spain, investing in value-driven founders who are building global technology companies with a sustainable approach. Since raising its first fund in 2013, Seaya manages $350M across three early-stage funds. Seaya Ventures accelerates startup growth by working with the founders to enhance their strategic vision, putting at their disposal its global platform, its strong network of founders, investors and corporates, as well as Seaya's experience in scaling leading companies such as Glovo, Cabify, Wallbox, Spotahome, Clarity AI, Clicars and Savana.

Additional Information

This communication is being made in respect of the proposed transaction involving Wallbox Chargers, S.L. ("Wallbox"), Wallbox B.V. and Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. II ("Kensington"). This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. In connection with the proposed transaction, Wallbox B.V. has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") a registration statement on Form F-4 that includes a proxy statement of Kensington in connection with Kensington's solicitation of proxies for the vote by Kensington's shareholders with respect to the proposed transaction and other matters as may be described in the registration statement. Wallbox and Kensington also file other documents with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction and a proxy statement/prospectus has been mailed to holders of shares of Kensington's Class A ordinary shares. BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING OR INVESTMENT DECISION, INVESTORS ARE URGED TO READ THE FORM F-4 AND THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS REGARDING THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS CAREFULLY IN THEIR ENTIRETY BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. The proxy statement/prospectus, as well as other filings containing information about Wallbox and Kensington are available without charge at the SEC's Internet site ( www.sec.gov ). Copies of the proxy statement/prospectus can also be obtained, without charge, from Wallbox's website at www.wallbox.com . Copies of the proxy statement/prospectus can be obtained, without charge, from Kensington's website at www.autospac.com .

Participants in the Solicitations

Wallbox, Wallbox B.V., Kensington and certain of their respective directors, executive officers and other members of management and employees may, under SEC rules, be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Kensington's shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction. You can find more information about Kensington's directors and executive officers in Kensington's final prospectus dated February 25, 2021 and filed with the SEC on February 26, 2021. Additional information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests is included in the proxy statement/prospectus. Shareholders, potential investors and other interested persons should read the proxy statement/prospectus carefully before making any voting or investment decisions. You may obtain free copies of these documents from the sources indicated above.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of section 10 of the Securities Act, or an exemption therefrom.

Caution About Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this press release, regarding Kensington's proposed business combination with Wallbox, Kensington's ability to consummate the transaction, the development and performance of Wallbox's products (including the timeframe for development of such products), the benefits of the transaction and the combined company's future financial performance, as well as the combined company's strategy, future operations, estimated financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the words "are designed to," "could," "should," "will," "may," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "project," the negative of such terms and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions about future events and are based on currently available information as to the outcome and timing of future events. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, Wallbox disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements, all of which are expressly qualified by the statements in this section, to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. Wallbox cautions you that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of either Kensington or Wallbox. In addition, Wallbox cautions you that the forward-looking statements contained herein are subject to the following uncertainties and risk factors that could affect Wallbox's and Kensington's future performance and cause results to differ from the forward-looking statements herein: Wallbox's ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition and the ability of Wallbox to grow and manage growth profitably following the business combination; risks relating to the outcome and timing of the Company's development of its charging and energy management technology and related manufacturing processes; intense competition in the electric vehicle charging space; risks related to health pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic; the possibility that Wallbox may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; the possibility that the expected timeframe for, and other expectations regarding the development and performance of, Wallbox products will differ from current assumptions; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the business combination; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Kensington or Wallbox, the combined company or others following the announcement of the business combination; the inability to complete the business combination due to the failure to obtain approval of the shareholders of Kensington or to satisfy other conditions to closing; changes to the proposed structure of the business combination that may be required or appropriate as a result of applicable laws or regulations; the ability to meet stock exchange listing standards following the consummation of the business combination; the risk that the business combination disrupts current plans and operations of Kensington or Wallbox as a result of the announcement and consummation of the business combination; costs related to the business combination; changes in applicable laws or regulations; and underlying assumptions with respect to shareholder redemptions. Should one or more of the risks or uncertainties described in this press release, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and plans could different materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning these and other factors that may impact the operations and projections discussed herein can be found in Kensington's periodic filings with the SEC, and the proxy statement/prospectus of Wallbox B.V. in the registration statement on Form F-4 filed with the SEC. Kensington's and Wallbox B.V.'s SEC filings are available publicly on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov .

Contacts:

For Wallbox

Investors

ICR, Inc.

[email protected]

Media

ICR, Inc.

[email protected]

For Kensington

Dan Huber

[email protected]

703-674-6514

For Seaya Ventures

Alvaro Troyano

[email protected]

Related Links:

www.wallbox.com

www.autospac.com

SOURCE Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. II

Related Links

https://www.autospac.com


OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Wi-LAN Inc. ("WiLAN"), a Quarterhill Inc. ("Quarterhill") company (TSX: QTRH) (OTCQX: QTRHF), today announced that WiLAN has entered into a license agreement with Motorola Mobility LLC. The licensed patents relate to wireless technology. The terms and conditions of this agreement are confidential.

About WiLAN

WiLAN, a Quarterhill company, is one of the most successful patent monetization companies in the world and partners with its customers to unlock the value of intellectual property through various patent monetization models. WiLAN operates in a variety of markets including automotive, digital television, Internet, medical, semiconductor and wireless communication technologies. For more information: www.wilan.com .

About Quarterhill

Quarterhill is a growth-oriented company in the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) industry as well as a leader in Intellectual Property licensing. Our goal is to execute an investment strategy that capitalizes on attractive growth opportunities within ITS - and its adjacent markets - to become a global leader in that industry. Quarterhill is listed on the TSX under the symbol QTRH and on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol QTRHF. For more information: www.quarterhill.com.

All trademarks and brands mentioned in this release are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Quarterhill Inc.

Related Links

http://www.wilan.com

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PHOENIX, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- When my wife Michelle and I started the Land Profit Generator, our dream was to create a company that embodies our core values.

We believe in ethical business practice, respecting our employees' rights, and the rights of the individuals and families we serve.

Jack & Michelle Bosch Owners - Land Profit Generator

Over the years, we have been very privileged to witness, first-hand, how people can transform their lives when they embrace their freedom of choice, and protecting personal liberties is therefore sacred to us.

President Biden recently announced that all Government employees and contractors are mandated to be vaccinated against Covid-19. While we have no strong feelings about vaccination, we, as a company, do not believe that the pandemic, or any external factor, should automatically suspend people's right to self-determination.

With dismay, we note hundreds and perhaps THOUSANDS of employers worldwide are implementing policies that force people to choose between making a living and their right to make informed decisions about their bodies and health.

And herein lies the problem.

Medical advice and treatment can only be administered by a board-registered medical practitioner consulting on an individual's specific case under strict confidentiality. We are NOT medical professionals. We have very little understanding of the risk and benefits of any particular medical treatment. Providing a medical opinion or advocating for medical treatment is not our job as a company.

In line with our core values as a company, we respect the inalienable right to self-determination of every single person that is in any way associated with our organization.

Work for a company that will always respect your right to make the best choice for you, your loved ones based on the confidential advice of a medical professional of your choosing.

We would not, for a moment, suggest that the risk of Covid-19 is not real, and that it does not pose a threat to public health on a global scale. However, Land Profit Generator is a 100% virtual business.

We are currently on the hunt for ambitious, driven, top achievers for several roles in our fast-growing Real Estate Education Company, The Land Profit Generator.

We pay competitive salaries, provide generous paid vacation, paid sick time, plus full medical insurance and great performance bonuses.

Best of all:

No vaccination requirement + 100% work from home = 100% perfect solution

Visit our careers page TODAY and apply for one of our available positions.

www.landprofitgenerator.com/careers

Media contact:

Barbara Lindsay

1-(602)-712-0175

SOURCE Land Profit Generator
The appearance of the Red Xifeng products at the Summit has shown China's sincerity and responsibility to the world, as well as the style of China as a big country and the profound heritage of an ancient civilization.

As a pioneer in the digital transformation of traditional industries, Xifeng liquor will take the opportunities brought by the fifth Next Summit, the new round of scientific, technological and industrial revolution, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the dual circulation development pattern to integrate the world's high quality resources, promote quality and technological innovation, and deepen international trade cooperation, in a bid to improve brand influence and display the charm of Made-in-China products and the Chinese liquor culture, said Zhang Zheng, chairman of Xifeng Group.

Based in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the cradle of cultures of Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties and the core area of the BRI, Xifeng Group has both economic and cultural influences in the Belt and Road construction.

In recent years, Xifeng Group has started the construction of cultural projects like Xifeng liquor museum and Xifeng old street, and held the Chinese Feng-flavor liquor cultural festival, integrating all media resources to create a multi-form, multi-level and three-dimensional liquor culture under the BRI and boost the spread of the Chinese culture.

The NEXT Summit has been held successfully in Auckland, Hangzhou and Dubai for four consecutive sessions.

See the original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/324133.html

SOURCE Xinhua Silk Road
Washington, Oct 1 : The US Senate on Thursday passed a short-term spending bill to avert shutdown as government funding is set to expire in just a few hours, sending the bill to the House of Representatives for approval.

By a vote of 65-35, the upper chamber approved the measure to keep the government funded through December 3, Xinhua news agency reported.

The House is expected to approve the measure later in the day.

The Senate approval of the stopgap funding bill came after days of partisan fight over a debt limit provision, as Democrats had intended to incorporate a suspension of the debt limit into the short-term government spending bill, a move opposed by Republicans.

Republican lawmakers argued that Democrats should do that on their own, since they control both chambers of Congress and the White House, while complaining about a lack of bipartisanship in crafting President Joe Biden's $3.5-trillion spending plan.

Senate Republicans previously said that they would support a "clean" stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown, pressuring the Democrats to remove the debt limit provision.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday evening that an agreement had been reached.
Geneva, Oct 1 : Russia and the US on Thursday held the second round of their bilateral strategic stability dialogue in Geneva, some two months after their first such meeting in the Swiss city on July 28.

The dialogue, led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, was held here behind closed doors, Xinhua news agency reported.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the two sides said that the discussion was "intensive and substantive." "The two delegations agreed to form two inter-agency expert working groups -- the Working Group on Principles and Objectives for Future Arms Control, and the Working Group on Capabilities and Actions with Strategic Effects," the statement said.

It also informed that the delegations have agreed that the two working groups would commence their meetings, to be followed by a third plenary meeting.

In a joint statement issued following their Geneva summit on June 16, US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin reaffirmed their commitment to arms control and risk reduction.

The two leaders also agreed that diplomats and military experts from both countries would meet for what was called a "Strategic Stability Dialogue" to lay the groundwork for future arms control and risk reduction measures.
Tehran, Oct 1 : Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has urged South Korea to resolve the problem of Iran's access to its financial assets frozen in the latter's banks "as soon as possible." In a telephone conversation on Thursday with his South Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong, Abdollahian strongly criticised the continuation of freezing Iran's assets, according to a readout released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry on its website.

The top Iranian diplomat called for ending "the current impasse created by following the path drawn by the United States," so that Iran can use them to buy such essential items such as medicines, Xinhua news agency reported.

Due to the existing problem and suspension of trade between the two countries, and even restrictions on the trade of humanitarian items, the Iranian people are very dissatisfied with this situation, Abdollahian said.

Meanwhile, he praised the friendly relations between the two countries in the past decades, and stressed the need to further develop bilateral ties.

For his part, Chung stressed the need to resolve the problems existing in bilateral relations.

Over $7 billion of Iranian funds from oil exports are frozen in South Korean banks amid the US sanctions on Iran.
Srinagar, Oct 1 : An encounter has started between terrorists and security forces at Rakhama in South Kashmir's Shopian district on Friday morning, officials said.

"Encounter has started at Rakhama area of Shopian. Police and Security Forces are on the job," police said.

The firefight between terrorists and security forces took place after a joint team of the police and the army cordoned off the area and launched a search operation on the basis of specific information about presence of terrorists.

As the security forces zeroed in on the spot where terrorists were hiding they came under a heavy volume of fire that triggered the encounter.
Ottawa, Oct 1 : Canada marked its first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to honoUr lost children and survivors of the notorious indigenous residential school system in the country.

The day was made a federal statutory holiday by the government earlier in June, as the truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommended in its 94 calls to action in 2015. It will be observed annually on September 30, reports Xinhua news agency.

An estimated 150,000 indigenous children attended residential schools, which were designed to strip them of their culture and language, between the 1860s and 1996.

The TRC documented stories from survivors and families and issued a report in 2015. The report detailed mistreatment at the schools, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse of children, and at least 4,100 deaths.

Hundreds of people gathered at a ceremony held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to mark the day on Thursday.

Wakerakatste Louise McDonald Herne, a condoled Bear Clan Mother for the Mohawk Nation Council, called on Canadians to "know the history of this country and the corruption it was built upon," saying "You need to correct the wrongs and you have to own your own truth".

Algonquin Elder Claudette Commanda said the discovery of unmarked graves near former residential school sites has awakened the country to its history.

"Two-hundred and fifteen little voices woke the country, 215 voices spoke to the world," Commanda said in reference to the remains of 215 children that were first discovered near a former residential school site in Kamloops, Canada in May.

Hundreds more graves have been found since near other former school sites, prompting calls for justice that have resonated beyond Canada's border.

She called on Canadians to open their hearts and listen to the truth to move forward with reconciliation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a statement on Thursday, pointing to the hundreds of unmarked graves near former school sites that have been discovered in May and June this year.

"The tragic locating of unmarked graves at former residential school sites across the country has reminded us of not only the impacts of colonialism and the harsh realities of our collective past but also the work that is paramount to advancing reconciliation in Canada," Trudeau said in the statement.

"Today, we also recognize the harms, injustices, and intergenerational trauma that Indigenous peoples have faced - and continue to face - because of the residential school system, systemic racism, and the discrimination that persists in our society.

"We must all learn about the history and legacy of residential schools. It's only by facing these hard truths, and righting these wrongs, that we can move forward together toward a more positive, fair, and better future," Trudeau said in the statement.

Mary Simon, Canada's first indigenous governor general, said that the holiday is a poignant one for her.

Simon said Canada's legacy of colonization is "hard to accept," but necessary to address as the country works towards reconciliation.

"Reconciliation is a way of life, continuous, with no end date," Simon said. "As we strive to acknowledge the horrors of the past, the suffering inflicted on Indigenous peoples, let us all stand side-by-side with grace and humility, and work together to build a better future for all." The UK's Queen Elizabeth II issued a statement to mark the holiday, saying that Canada's history in regards to its treatment of indigenous people is "painful".

"I join with all Canadians on this first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to reflect on the painful history that Indigenous peoples endured in residential schools in Canada, and on the work that remains to heal and to continue to build an inclusive society." In a joint statement from Indigenous Services Canada, several Canadian ministers called residential schools a "shameful part of damaging racist and colonial policies" and acknowledged that the government has "more work to do" in addressing the calls to action outlined by the TRC.

Despite the marking of September 30 as a national holiday, several provinces, including Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario, have chosen not to recognise it, meaning that schools and provincial offices in these provinces will remain open, according to CTV on Thursday.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : With the countdown to the monsoon withdrawal officially started, apprehension of bad air quality days has started. And, amongst the many sources that cause pollution is 'parali' (stubble burning) by farmers in Punjab and Haryana.

Now, the farmers can look forward to not just earning from this agri-waste but also help in the generation of hydrogen.

Researchers from Pune have developed a unique technology for direct generation of Hydrogen from agricultural residue. This innovation can promote eco-friendly hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles by overcoming the challenge of hydrogen availability.

Of the several steps that India has promised the world community as part of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the action to be taken to limit carbon emissions to restrict global temperature rise, India has set a target of 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030.

Researchers all over are working towards renewable energy solutions which should be sustainable with a limited carbon footprint. One of the most economical ways to achieve this is to produce hydrogen from a cheap, abundant, and renewable source.

Agricultural waste, which faces a great challenge for disposal, could be one of the sources of hydrogen production, and this could solve the dual problem of energy generation and waste disposal.

A team of researchers from Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), government of India, in collaboration with Sentient Labs of KPIT Technologies, have developed the technology at lab-scale to extract hydrogen from agricultural residues.

"Our technology is 25 per cent more efficient as compared to conventional anaerobic digestion processes used today. The two-stage process eliminates the pre-treatment of biomass, thus making the process economical and environment friendly. This process generates a digestate that is rich in nutrients, which can be used as an organic fertilizer," said Director of the ARI, Dr Prashant Dhakephalkar.

The developers of the technology explained that the hydrogen fuel generation process comprises the use of a specially developed microbial consortium that facilitates biodegradation of cellulose- and hemicellulose-rich agricultural residues, such as biomass of paddy, wheat, or maize, without thermo-chemical or enzymatic pre-treatment. "The process generates Hydrogen in the first stage and Methane in the second. The methane generated in the process can also be used to generate additional hydrogen," the developers added.

"This breakthrough of generating hydrogen from unutilised agricultural residue will help us to become self-reliant on energy resources. It will also add a major stream of revenue to the farmer community," chairman, Sentient Labs, Ravi Pandit said.

Scientists, Dr S.S. Dagar and Pranav Kshirsagar from Maharashtra Association for Cultivation of Science (MACS-ARI) and Kaustubh Pathak from KPIT-Sentient, contributed significantly towards the development of the process, a release from the Ministry of Science & Technology said on Thursday, adding, an Indian Patent application has been filed to protect the IPR.
Bijnor : , Oct 1 (IANS) The Allahabad High Court has asked a station house officer (SHO) in Bijnor to submit a report following allegations by a Dalit petitioner that his 23-year-old son was tortured and died in police custody and later, cremated without the family's consent.

Police had claimed that the man was caught for theft and committed suicide Last month, the SC/ST court hearing the case had ordered that 12 men, including seven policemen, be booked under relevant sections of the IPC, including 302 (murder), and those of the SC/ST Act.

The father of the deceased, Jaipal Singh, however, said he was unsatisfied with the investigation and had approached the high court earlier this month, demanding that the case be handed over to an independent agency for investigation.

On July 12, a clash had taken place between Singh's son, Neetu, and some men in his village.

Later that night, some men allegedly accompanied by police had landed at their doorstep and picked up Neetu to take him to the police station. There was no news of him after that.

Five days later, on July 17, Jaipal was called to Bijnor barrage where he saw Neetu's body even as 25 policemen were present on the spot.

Jaipal alleged that he was forced to put thumb impressions on blank papers and his son was cremated without the family's consent.

The court on September 25 summoned Noorpur SHO, under whose jurisdiction the incident occurred, with a detailed investigation report and the autopsy on October 18.

Bijnor SP Dharamveer Singh said that he has circulated copies of Constitutional provisions that protect citizens against illegal detention. He said that he circulated them so that local police, as well as people, are aware of the rights of a citizen against Illegal detention.
Chennai, Oct 1 : The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) will terminate 18 employees who were recruited without proper papers. These employees were issued appointment orders just a day before the model code of conduct for Tamil Nadu Assembly polls had come into force on February 25.

The CMDA has already given notice to all the 18 employees to explain why their services should not be terminated. The notice, according to CMDA authorities was served oon Monday.

The 18 employees are given 15 days period to respond to the notice, sources in CMDA told IANS.

These employees, according to information available, did not process the required qualifications and were also not coming under the age bracket that was mandatory for recruitment to CMDA.

There were candidates who were above the upper bracket age of 30 years among the 18 who were given appointment orders as well as some who did not have the mandatory qualification of a degree for the Junior Assistant post. Written tests and interviews were conducted for the posts and finally, the appointment orders were given to those who had political patronage, sources said.

The CMDA has already given a chargesheet to two senior officers of the CMDA who were involved in the recruitment.

The previous government appointed 18 people just a day before the model code of conduct after applications from more than 60,000 young people were received for the posts of Junior Assistants, steno grade typist, field man, and messenger job vacancies.

Sources in the CMDA told IANS that the employees who were recruited for Class IV and Class III level postings lacked even the minimum eligibility to be appointed for these posts.

R. Balamurugan, Retired professor of Economics and social activist and anti-corruption crusader based out of Chennai while speaking to IANS, said: "The employees who join service through backdoor has to be terminated. After 60,000 jobless youths applied and written tests and interviews were conducted and they appointed people according to their whims and fancies. It is shocking to notice that there are people whose age does not fall under the mandatory upper age limit and some don't even have a degree which is the minimum requirement that the CMDA has advertised for the post. This means that justice has been subverted and the CMDA is now taking a correct decision and such bold decisions will prevent more people trying the easy route to get a government job."
Vilnius, Oct 1 : Amid increased Covid-19 infection rates, the Lithuanian government has decided to reimpose a mask mandate and issue recommendations on working from home for both private and public sectors.

Under the mandate, people will be required to wear masks indoors in public spaces, including shops, public transport, schools and event venues, except for children under the age of six, people with disabilities who cannot cover their faces, and exercising individuals, reports Xinhua news agency.

Additionally, the mask mandate will not apply to service provision when it is impossible to serve a masked customer.

The government adopted the new rules due to the spread of the Delta variant.

Last week, Lithuania moved into the worst "black" zone under the nation's colour-based pandemic classification system.

So far, 67.7 per cent of the population in Lithuania has been vaccinated against the virus, but the proportion is still insufficient to contain the virus.

As of Friday morning, the country's overall infection tally and death toll stood at 331,683 and 4,993, respectively.
Chennai, Oct 1 : A 29-year-old Flight Lieutenant with the Indian Air Force, who was charged for allegedly raping his colleague at the IAF Administrative college at Red Fields, Coimbatore was handed over to the Air Force.

Judge (in-charge) N. Thilageswari of the Mahila Court, Coimbatore on Thursday had directed the police to hand over the case to the Indian Air Force. The IAF had argued that under the provisions of the Indian Air Force Act 1950, the case be handed over to them for court-martial proceedings.

N. Sundaravadivelu, the counsel of the accused argued that the case is probed only by court-martial and if proved guilty, he would be punished.

However, the Coimbatore All Women Police, who had taken the accused in custody, argued that he be handed over to them for further questioning. The police requested two days of custody of the accused officer.

The advocate appearing for the accused also stated that the IAF should take cognizance of the FIR registered by the City police and that investigation cannot be continued without the documents collected by the Civil police.

The Flight Lieutenant was arrested on September 25 after a 28-year-old Woman IAF officer complained that she was sexually assaulted by the accused entering her room while she was sleeping after taking a medication.

According to the FIR of the Coimbatore Police, the woman IAF officer has alleged that the IAF officers, including the medical officers, were trying to put pressure on her to withdraw the complaint. She also complained that she was subjected to the Supreme court which banned the "Two-finger" test by the Air Force medical department.

The accused Flight Lieutenant was taken to the Air Force Administrative College, Red Fields immediately after the court pronounced the judgment.
Kabul, Oct 1 : The Taliban-led Afghan government has implemented a new security plan for the country's eastern Nangarhar province to ensure security in the provincial capital city of Jalalabad and its adjoining areas, an official statement confirmed.

"In order to strengthen security and prevent corruption, serious plans have been adopted by provincial security personnel in Jalalabad city and Nangarhar province at large," Xinhua news agency quoted statement as saying on Thursday.

"The Islamic Emirate assures all citizens in Nangarhar that they will soon see improvement in security and safety," it added.

The statement quoted Bashir Khan, director of the provincial intelligence directorate, as saying that all "security challenges" would be removed in the province.

Since the Taliban takeover in August, at least 10 people have been killed and many others wounded as Jalalabad, about 120 km east of Kabul, was hit by a series of bombings reportedly claimed by militants affiliated to the Islamic State (IS) terror group.

In response to the bombings, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed that IS militants will be eliminated from Afghanistan.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
October 01 : A man with many aliases, Udham Singh was a member of the Ghadar Party who assassinated Michael ODwyer on 13 March 1940 in the UK. Shoojit Sircar's film 'Sardar Udham' is the story of his sacrifice. Vicky Kaushal will be seen playing the role of Sardar Udham in the film.

At the trailer launch of the film, Vicky spoke to News Helpline about how he trained himself for a character about whom very little information is out there. The actor said, "Sardar Udham Singh and many other people who gave their lives for our freedom struggle get lost in a line, paragraph, or a page in our history books. Sardar Udham Singh was probably that one line, paragraph, or page in the book. But because I had heard his stories from my grandparents and parents, there was always this connection straight from my core where I related to his angst.

He further added, He was a person who promised to avenge the bloodshed of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, not in India but in the heart of the British empire. For me, it is a story of resilience, bravery, patience, and a passionate person. Through this story, I really wanted to explore that factor in me also. "

Talking about how he surrendered himself completely to the director, he said, "Throughout the process of the film, I understood that the only way was to surrender myself completely to Shoojit Sircar. I have never met a person who has studied so much about him in detail. So I surrendered myself to his vision."

Sharing about the toughest part of playing this character on screen, the actor said, "Through the process of the film, I used to have sleepless nights thinking some person actually lived the life I was portraying. It was so difficult to fathom the fact that a person can keep angst in him for 21 years. "

There were rumours that Vicky Kaushal was injured on Sardar Udhams set. Giving clarifications on the same, the actor said, "I did not get injured on this film. I got injured on another film, which was four days before we could start shooting for Sardar Udham. I had 13 stitches on my cheek. The first picture that I sent was to Shoojit da and he said, Dont worry, you come with the stitches, Sardar Udham Singh will have stitches.

So, the scar that you see on my face as Sardar Udham Singh is a real scar. There are many different looks in the film. As you saw in the trailer, he kept changing his identity and his passports to reach London. I had to lose and gain weight several times for Sardar Udham Singh. I had to look 19 to 40 convincingly too,.
Bengaluru, Oct 1 : The Karnataka High Court has cancelled the order of appointment of Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) by the state government in connection with a murder case of RTI activist Vinayak Panduranga Balika.

The Single bench headed by Justice M. Nagaprasanna gave the order considering the petition by the main accused in the Balika murder case Naresh Shenoy.

The petitioner submitted that the SPP has been arguing for the complainants in the case since the beginning and also participated in many protests. It was also brought to the notice of the court that the appointed SPP had also participated in the press conference organised by the father of RTI activist Balika and given statements against the accused person.

The petitioner maintained that Ravindranath has been appointed as the SPP in the case by the government as per the wishes of the family of RTI activist. The petitioner demanded that his appointment must be cancelled as if he is continuing as the SPP in the case, impartial inquiry won't be possible.

The bench, which considered the plea, cancelled the order of the government. The court also stated that RTI activist's sister Anuradha Baliga could submit a petition to the government for the appointment of a fresh SPP to the case and instructed the state government to consider her application as per the law.

RTI activist Vinayaka Balika was hacked to death on March 21, 2016. The state government had appointed Ravindranath Kamath as the SPP on December 21, 2016.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : The Supreme Court on Friday pulled the farmers' organisation, Kisan Mahapanchayat, for seeking permission to stage a Satyagraha at Jantar Mantar against the farm laws. The top court said after blocking highways and strangulating the city, the demonstrators now want to come inside to protest.

A bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said: "You cannot come to the court and at the same time continue with protest." The bench queried the counsel representing the organisation if they were also protesting against the judicial system.

The bench also comprising Justice C.T. Ravikumar was hearing a plea by the Kisan Mahapanchayat seeking permission to stage the Satyagraha as a mark of protest against the three farm laws.

The plea sought directions to allow the staging of the Satyagraha as it was permitted to the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha farmers.

The Kisan Mahapanchayat's counsel submitted before the bench that his client had been asking permission from the Delhi Police.

The bench told him that after approaching the courts challenging the laws, what is the point of continuing the protests? "If you have faith in courts, pursue that for urgent hearing instead of protesting," it added.

The bench also told the counsel that the demonstrators have right to protest, but cannot destroy property, adding that this business should stop.

The counsel for the farmers' organisation said the highways have been blocked by the police and "we have been detained", adding that his client was not part of the protest blocking the highways.

The bench emphasized that there was no purpose of protest once the organization approaches the court.

"There is no purpose to approach the court when you want to protest," it added.

The court asked the counsel to come on record stating his client is not part of the protest, to which the latter agreed.

The bench ordered to serve the copy of the petition to the office of AG and listed the matter for further hearing on October 4.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Dakshina Kannada : , Oct 1 (IANS) The Karnataka Police have arrested two persons in connection with raping a minor girl, studying in Class 10 in Belthangadi town in Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district, police sources said on Friday.

The incident came to light at the time of the Covid vaccination and was detected by the medical staff.

The police said that the medical staff at the vaccination centre observed the state of the girl when she came to the centre. After the checkup, it came to light that the minor was pregnant.

She was asked to visit the Mangaluru hospital by the medical staff. The girl disclosed about the rape incident afterwards and lodged a complaint with the Belthangadi police on September 27 against the accused persons.

The accused have been identified as Ravindra, a driver and Yogesh, a resident of Kokradi. According to the police, the accused had forcefully taken the girl to an isolated place and raped her.

They threatened the girl not to talk about it to anyone. Being fearful of consequences, the minor did share the incident with her parents and friends, police sources said.

The police have lodged case under the POCSO Act, IPC 376 (rape by one or more persons) and 34 (criminal act by several persons with the common intention). The investigation is on.
Kochi, Oct 1 : Popular actor Sreenivasan has said that he never knew the now arrested fake antique dealer Monson Mavunkal was a fraud.

Speaking to the media, Sreenivasan said he never knew Mavunkal as an antique dealer and he visited him at his house as he was a 'doctor'.

"At that time, he was a doctor, now I don't know about it. He claimed himself to be a cosmetologist and I went to him not to see his antiques but for medical reasons, which I had. After speaking to him, he directed me to an Ayurveda hospital in a nearby district," said Sreenivasan.

"As directed by him, I went to the Ayurveda hospital and was there for around two weeks. After getting discharged, when I went to pay the bill, I was told the bill had been paid by Mavunkal. I was surprised about that and after that I have never seen him or met him," added Sreenivasan.

54-year-old Mavunkal was arrested by the Crime Branch police from his home cum museum, here on Saturday after some people approached Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan with their complaints that they had been swindled of Rs 10 crore by Mavunkal.

Sreenivasan went on to add that 'of the six people who complained against Mavunkal, two of them are big time frauds, as one of them cheated his own uncle'.

"Since I know, I say the two are big frauds, but I will not name them," added Sreenivasan, who went on to say that Mavunkal even promised to give Rs 5 crore without interest to his friend to produce a film.

Ever since the arrest of Mavunkal surfaced, social media has been full of trolls. One of a social media post showed Sreenivasan seated at the antique museum of Mavunkal, on a chair which he used to claim was the throne of Tipu Sultan.

Incidentally, the news is also emanating that Mavunkal is believed to have cheated superstar Mohanlal also by giving him a watch which he told was an antique. But, later Mohanlal realised that he was cheated as this watch is available in the Middle East for a very small price. A picture of Mohanlal and Mavunkal is also going around.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : General Mark Milley, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the Talibans alleged ability to escape to Pakistan during the 20 years of American presence in Afghanistan as a major strategic issue, Dawn news reported.

"Not effectively dealing with Pakistan as a sanctuary, major strategic issue that we are going to have to really unpack," he told the US Senate committee.

Gen Milley made a similar demand in a Senate hearing on Tuesday, saying: "We need to fully examine the role of Pakistan sanctuary." The US military chief has informed American lawmakers that the loss in Afghanistan was a cumulative effect of 20 years of wrong decisions and bad planning and was not caused by any single factor, such as the Taliban's alleged sanctuary in Pakistan, the Dawn news report said.

In their latest testimony before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, top US generals also blamed the administration of former President Donald Trump's agreement with the Taliban for accelerating the fall of Kabul on August 15.

He also cited some major decisions, by successive US administrations, that he believed contributed to the loss. Those include letting Osama bin Laden escape from Tora Bora.

"We knew where he was. He was a thousand metres away, could have ended perhaps right there," he said.

Another mistake, according to him, was shifting focus from Afghanistan to Iraq in the early stage of the war.

"Pulling all the troops out of Afghanistan with the exception of a few others, major strategic decision. Pulling off intelligence advisers (and by doing so) we blinded ourselves to our ability to see" how the war was going, he added.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, Oct 1 : India's victory in the elections to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2017 "remains sui generis (of its own kind) and a hard feat for anyone else to match". It was a momentous diplomatic victory that not only "exorcised the ghosts of the past", was the first time an incumbent judge had lost to another incumbent, and the first time that a P5 member of the UNSC -- the UK -- would not be represented in the Court after an epic battle that saw Britain back down in the face of India's relentless challenge.

"While we were privileged to be in the trenches on the frontline, many of our colleagues toiled in back rooms in different parts of the globe to ensure a successful outcome," Syed Akbaruddin, India's Permanent Representative at the UN at the time, writes in "India VS UK - The Story of an Unprecedented Diplomatic Win" (HarperCollins).

"There are many unsung heroes. Collectively, we exorcised the ghosts of the past. In many small ways the efforts reflected subterranean changes in style and substance that were the building blocks of a much more confident approach to thinking about and implementing foreign policy goals.

"In India, the resonance of a successful outcome went far beyond the diplomatic establishment. It fed into a growing belief that with the right focus and direction, and with necessary adjustments, seemingly difficult changes for the better could be made to happen," Akbaruddin, who served at the UN for four years and is currently Dean at the Kautilya School of Public Policy, writes.

India had been unwilling at first but was prompted to enter the ring in the wake of the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, which proved the importance of having an Indian judge in the court (Judge Dalveer Bhandari's term was due to end in 2018). The contest that followed was like a "Second War of Independence" in the words of then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who led her troops from the front in the David-and-Goliath fight against the permanent members of the Security Council, who put all their might behind the UK -- in spite of which India prevailed.

The odds were formidable as the election cycle of November 2016-November 2017 was a rare period for India as polls were to be held for three key UN legal bodies -- the International Law Commission (ILC), the International Tribunal for the Law of the Seas (ITLOS) and the ICJ.

Given that elections to each of them are usually held at different intervals over a nine-year period, Indians were represented in each of them.

"We now need to decide if we are willing to contest all the three in the space of a year. If so, we will be the only country to do so. We should choose with care and caution, decide early and begin the pursuit of our chosen objectives forthwith," Akbaruddin writes in the book that makes for riveting reading quite akin to a thriller.

Tasked by Sushma Swaraj to focus on the first two elections, these were quickly wrapped up quite comfortably.

The ICJ go-ahead came only in May 2017, long after five candidates (four of them incumbents) had already been declared in the fray for the five seats that were falling vacant but when the decision was taken, the entire Indian establishment -- from the ministry to Indian missions around the world to that at the UN -- went flat out to secure Judge Dalveer Bhandari a full nine-year term (he was then filling a mid-term vacancy.

The ICJ elections require a candidate to secure an absolute majority in the General Assembly and the Security Council. After five rounds of voting in mid-November, 2017, four candidates (three of them incumbents) were declared elected, leaving Judge Bhandari and Judge Christopher Greenwood of the UK, the other incumbent, in the fray for the fifth seat.

That was when the UK attempted to flex its muscles, making known its intention to stop further voting by invoking Article 12 of the ICJ statute to call a "conference" for a "compromise". This had never before happened in the history of the UN.

Thereafter, the UNGA President called a meeting in his chambers to explore a way forward. The others present were the UNSC President, Akbaruddin, the UK's Permanent Representative, the legal advisor to the UNGA President and some UN Secretariat officials.

The arguments flowed back-and-forth till Akbaruddin forcefully declared that a "conference" would raise an uproar as it would view it as a "purposeful bid to undermine the General Assembly without any consultations. I conclude that in this case, what may be legally permissible is not politically wise and diplomatically sagacious". Saying so, he left the chamber due to "other commitments".

What Akbaruddin was banking on was that a permanent UNSC member could not risk a loss to a non-permanent member.

That was the end of the matter, as Boris Johnson, then the UK Foreign Secretary, informed Sushma Swaraj that Judge Greenwood's candidature was being withdrawn. The Foreign Office concluded later that "the inability of the government to secure the re-election of Sir Christopher Greenwood to the court was a failure of UK diplomacy".

"At one level, legal analysts projected the result as 'an important departure from ICJ election practice'. They said, 'First, it did away with the tradition that reserved a seat on the court for the five permanent members of the Security Council. Second, it was noteworthy because it resulted in a reallocation of seats amongst the regional groups'.

"Whether this was on account of Indian exceptionalism, and if it set a trend for the future, can only be understood following the subsequent ICJ election results," Akbaruddin writes.

The election, "also symbolised the coming of age of Indian multilateral diplomacy. The lessons we learnt are many. Our decision-making process may, at times, be time-consuming and can put a heavy load on ensuring the implementation of a decision that has taken a long time to arrive at in the first place. However, once a decision is taken, with all on board, the trajectory is never half-hearted. It usually proceeds at full throttle to achieve success. Focus provided by the political leadership sets the tone for the rest," Akbaruddin maintains.

(Vishnu Makhijani can be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Chennai, Oct 1 : Retrenched permanent and contract workers of Hindustan Motors Ltd/Hindustan Motor Finance Corporation Ltd. and their family members on Friday began their sit-in protest at the Tiruvallur District collectorate demanding back their land or a job in PCA Automobiles India Private Ltd.

Car maker PCA Automobiles located in Tiruvallur is a joint venture between global automotive manufacturer Stellantis Group and India's C.K. Birla group.

Hindustan Motors Ltd/Hindustan Motor Finance belonged to the C.K.Birla group.

"We have begun our protest as announced earlier. The protestors include men, women and children. We are demanding our land back or a job in PCA Automobiles," H. Ismail, one of the retrenched workers whose grandfather's land was acquired by Hindustan Motors in 1968.

The protest was flagged off by CPI MP K. Subbarayan.

"We will continue our protest till a solution is arrived at. We are planning to put up a tent and stay here day and night. Food is being cooked for the protestors," Ismail added.

The workers were earlier employed by Hindustan Motors Ltd/Hindustan Motor Finance Corporation Ltd. at its Tiruvallur car plant rolling out Japanese Mitsubishi Motors Corporation's models like Lancer, Pajero and also under contract manufacturing deal for Isuzu Motors MU 7 model.

Later about 175 permanent workers and over 150 contract workers were retrenched by Hindustan Motor Finance Corporation and the plant was transferred to PCA Automobiles.

"We were retrenched despite an agreement signed between the two joint venture partners that the workers will be absorbed by PCA Automobiles," Ismail, who was retrenched and whose grandfather's land was acquired by Hindustan Motors in 1968.

"Based on this Employee Transfer Agreement, Hindustan Motor Finance Corporation got permission from the Tamil Nadu government to transfer the plant and other assets to PCA Automobiles. Post transfer of assets, the workers -- permanent and on contract -- were sent out," E. Srinivasan, Secretary of the Hindustan Motors Land Giving Farmers Progressive Association had told IANS.

According to Srinivasan, Hindustan Motors acquired about 356 acres of agricultural land from 1968 at Tiruvallur.

Initially Hindustan Motors bought the land directly from the owners. But it was not able to get the extent it wanted and sought the District Collector's help. Later the company deposited the land cost with the government treasury and the government transferred the land to the company, Srinivasan said.

At that point of time, the District Collector had assured that the land owners will be employed by the company in the Hindustan Motor's earthmoving equipment plant at Tiruvallur.

"The land cost was so low that many landowners did not make efforts to get their money from the government treasury as the expenses incurred would be higher," Srinivasan added.

However, the landowners were not given employment as promised earlier and after protesting Hindustan Motors employed 82 persons -- mostly the grandsons of the landowners -- in 1980s.

"After a decade of protests another batch of 82 workers were hired as trainees in 1997," Srinivasan said.

Srinivasan and Ismail said Hindustan Motors confirmed the trainee workers only after 10 years.

Hindustan Motors hived off a sizable portion of the land for its car plant to roll out Mitsubishi Motors Corporation's models like Lancer, Pajero.

And some workers of the Hindustan Motors' earthmoving equipment division were transferred to the car plant.

Some years later, the Indian company transferred the plant to Hindustan Finance Corporation and then to PCA Automobiles while sending out permanent and contract workers.

Hindustan Motors sold its earthmoving equipment division (that made dumpers, loaders and others) to Caterpillar, US.

Barring the 22 workers whose grandfathers had given their land to the factory and some others, the majority of the permanent workers had agreed to take lump sum compensation from Hindustan Motor Finance Corporation.

"The company had deposited the lump sum in our bank accounts without our consent. We wrote to the company, Tamil Nadu government and also to PCA Automobiles stressing our demand for jobs and the amount deposited would be treated as our monthly wages," Srinivasan had said.

After the job loss, life for all the workers turned upside down.

"We were not able to get proper employment in other companies as age was against us. Many workers joined car service stations and others at a wage of Rs 8,000 per month, after drawing about Rs 50,000 per month. Our families are still in dire straits," S. Gandhi, Former Secretary of the worker's union at Hindustan Motor Finance, told IANS.

According to Srinivasan, the PCA Automobiles plant has about 190 acres of land of which about 150 acres are vacant.

"We want our land back so that we can do farming and manage our families," Srinivasan said.

"Our land is there. The old owner -- C.K. Birla group and new owner Stellantis Group -- are also there. The car plant is also rolling out Citroen brand cars. Only we are not there. This is not just," Ismail and Srinivasan said.

Despite several rounds of talks between the former workers, PCA Automobiles in the presence of the District Collector and other officials, there has been no progress on the issue, the former workers said.

"We have seen four District Collectors. Everyone knows about the Employee Transfer Agreement signed between Hindustan Finance Corporation and PCA Automobiles and its subsequent breach. But still no progress," Ismail said.
Gorakhpur : , Oct 1 (IANS) Nearly 72 hours after the murder of a Kanpur businessman in Gorakhpur, a 25-year-old man working at a model liquor shop was beaten to death by drunk customers.

The incident was captured on CCTV installed in the shop.

According to reports, the incident took place late on Thursday night, about half a kilometre from the Ramgarh Tal police station.

Manish Prajapati, the victim, was a native of Madhya Pradesh and was working in this model shop since the past few months.

On Thursday, a few men came into the shop and ordered drinks. The customers apparently got angry over the delay in getting the order and this led to a verbal spat with Manish.

The argument soon turned into an ugly fight and the customers allegedly attacked Manish and another staff member, Raghu.

The customers called in a few more of their friends who also joined the assault, which continued for nearly 20 minutes.

By the time the police came, the attackers had fled.

Both injured persons were taken to hospital where Manish was declared brought dead. Raghu is still admitted in the hospital where his condition is critical.

Police have registered a case and are currently trying to identify the accused persons.

The Gorakhpur police tweeted that one of the accused has been arrested and a search is on for the remaining accused whose identity is being established through the CCTV footage.

The police tweeted that the accused will be booked under the National Security Act (NSA).
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D vaccine against Covid-19 will soon be a part of under India's mass inoculation drive, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan announced, adding that talks were underway with the manufacturer on pricing issues.

Addressing a press briefing on the Covid situation across country, Bhushan on Thursday said the price of the jab, which is needle-less and requires three doses, would be different from the existing vaccines.

"As far as the price of the vaccine at which it will be procured is concerned, we are in conversations with the manufacturer. Since it is a three-dose vaccine and comes with a needle-less delivery system, it would have a differential pricing than the existing vaccines that are being used in the vaccination drive." Without giving any timeline for the roll-out, he said that the Zydus Cadila vaccine will not be brought in the market in the short run, but will be part of India's Covid-19 vaccination programme.

The ZyCov-D vaccine was approved by India's regulatory authority on August 20.

The three dose DNA built vaccine has 66.6 per cent efficacy against Covid, according to the the manufacturer.

Meanwhile, India on Friday reported 26,727 fresh Covid cases and 277 deaths in the last 24 hrs.
Kolkata, Oct 1 : Incessant rainfall coupled with the sudden release of water by the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has led to a flood-like situation in six districts of West Bengal and the situation was such that the Army and NDRF had to be called in to assist the state government in the rescue operation.

Chief Secretary H.K. Diwedi held an emergency meeting with the District Magistrates and Superintendent of Polices of West and East Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Hooghly, and Howrah on Thursday evening and took stock of the situation. After that the state government decided to deploy the Army in certain areas. However, NDRF teams have been kept on standby.

According to highly placed sources in the state government, eight companies of the army have been deployed so far with three companies each for West Burdwan and Howrah and two companies for Hooghly's Khanakul and Arambagh area. This is for the second time that the Army has been called in to assist in the rescue operation.

"Incessant rains for the last couple of days has inundated major portions of South Bengal and some areas of central Bengal and the release of water by DVC has added to woes leading to flooding in at least seven districts of the state," a senior official of the state secretariat said.

Due to the sudden release of 2.4 lakh cusec water from the Durgapur barrage since Wednesday night flood-like situation occurred, Nabanna sources said.

Dwivedi asked the DMs about the flood situation and wanted them to take proper steps to rescue people and provide them shelter in the relief camps and keep adequate stock of dry food and relief materials.

The upper catchment area of Maithon and Panchet dams received heavy rainfall in the past 24 hours. "We released 1,86,100 cusecs of water around 1 p.m. on Thursday. On Wednesday night, 55,950 cusec water was released," a senior official of Durgapur Barrage said.

"Due to the heavy rainfall, we released 32,000 cusecs of water in the past two days to reduce water levels of Maihon and Panchet dams," a DVC official said.

Meanwhile, several areas of Asansol particularly Railpar and Kalipahari areas were underwater for which the Army had to be deployed in these areas. In Asansol Municipal Corporation, 37 wards out of 106 were inundated. So far 5,850 people have been evacuated and 36 relief camps are opened in Asansol.

However, 900 people are stranded. The Army came with three boats from Panagarh while four teams of SDRF have already started the rescue operation. Valuables and cars and two-wheelers parked were also submerged as people were not prepared for such a flood.

Many people in Asansol took shelter on the rooftops of their houses. Those living close to Ajay river vacated the ground floors of their houses. The National Highway 2 near Kalipahari in west Burdwan was also underwater and the DRM office in Asansol was waterlogged.

"The areas under Asansol Municipal Corporation were severely marooned. Villagers of Talbahari in the Kanksa block near Ajoy river were evacuated. 30 families were shifted," Abhijit Shevale, ADM (G) of West Burdwan, said.

Many areas in the Bankura were also inundated as the Durgapur barrage water reached Barjora. Bankura DM, K. Radhika Aiyer and SP Dhritiman Sarkar visited the flood-affected areas on Thursday.

While in Hooghly, water of the Dwarakeswar river entered several areas in Arambagh. Even Khanakul too had been inundated and the water had also affected traffic along Kalipur-Garbeta Road.

The situation in Udaynarayanpur in Howrah was also critical.
Srinagar, Oct 1 : A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant armed with a pistol was arrested on Friday in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, police said.

Following specific information, a cordon and search operation was launched earlier in the day jointly by the police, CRPF and Rashtriya Rifles in the orchards of Nikloora village.

"During the operation, Shamim Sofi, the LeT militant belonging to Nikloora village was apprehended along with a pistol and ammunition. He was associated with the LeT and had been active since July 2021," the police said.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the Centre on a plea seeking directions to not insist on the production of Aadhaar card as the only proof of identification for Covid-19 vaccination.

A bench headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked the counsel for the petitioner, "Don't go by newspaper articles. Have you seen the CoWIN app yourself recently?" The bench further added that the app has been updated and there are now a variety of ID proofs to register for vaccination.

The petitioner Siddharthshankar Sharma moved the top court through advocate Mayank Kshirsagar. The plea sought protection of right to vaccination granted to the citizens, which is dangerously endangered on account of denial of vaccination due to non-submission of Aadhaar details to the concerned authority despite possessing one of the seven prescribed photo-identification mentioned on the CoWIN app.

The bench noted that Aadhaar card is not the only ID which is accepted by the concerned authorities. "You can also register with a drivers' license, PAN card, voter ID, passport, ration card, etc. You go and verify for yourself," the bench told the counsel.

Kshirsagar submitted that one can register with any of the seven IDs, but when you visit a centre for vaccination, the authorities insist on Aadhaar. He added that everything on paper is there, but people are still facing this problem. After hearing arguments in the matter, the top court issued notice on the plea.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Tehran, Oct 1 : Iran will not accept more commitments beyond the 2015 nuclear deal, commonly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

"Iran accepts nothing more than the JCPOA at the nuclear (negotiations), nor does it expect anything less than lifting of sanctions related to the JCPOA," Xinhua news agency quoted Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying.

The spokesman told the French daily Le Monde that nuclear "negotiations will definitely take place," but the Iranian new government needs to review the case of nuclear talks that have formerly taken place in Vienna, according to the ministry's website.

Iran's measures of reducing JCPOA obligations are completely "reversible", he said.

Khatibzadeh expressed regret that the Europeans "have sided with the US" in violation of the JCPOA commitments.

The US government under former President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran.

In response, Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its commitments to the agreement from May 2019.

Tehran has repeated that it will "re-embrace" its reduced commitments, in case Washington does the same.

The JCPOA Joint Commission began to meet offline on April 6 in Vienna to continue previous discussions about a possible return of the US to the deal.

After six rounds of talks which ended on June 20, serious differences remain between Iran and the US on restoring the deal.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Further to the announcement on the return of RISE, one of Asia's largest tech conferences, in March 2022, Hong Kong also recently secured two major technology events to be held next year -- the very first Greater Bay Area Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Conference 2022 (GBAAIR Conference), and IEEE Region 10 Conference 2022 (TENCON), which was last held in the city in 2006.

The two conferences are expected to act as a magnet for leading industry experts, strengthening the city's position as a pivotal innovation and technology (I&T) hub. Conference organisers paid tribute to the Hong Kong Convention Ambassador (HKCA) programme initiated by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), which helped them decide on the best location.

HKTB Executive Director Dane Cheng said: "Since starting the HKCA programme, we have received tremendous support from more than 100 ambassadors, who are all prominent leaders of business and professional bodies in Hong Kong. Their concerted efforts will lead to a new era of opportunity for both Hong Kong tourism and the city's multi-sector development. We are confident we will achieve further success with our ambassadors and make Hong Kong the world's meeting place for business events." Greater Bay Area Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Conference 2022 (GBAAIR Conference)

Artificial intelligence and robotics experts from Hong Kong, Mainland China and around the world are expected to flock to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre for the GBAAIR Conference, the first large-scale conference of its kind to take place physically in the Greater Bay Area since the pandemic. A rich programme of cross-border exchange and excursions will take place, thanks to the city's supreme connectivity to Mainland China, with its extensive road and rail network. The conference will be hosted by the Hong Kong Society of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, in tandem with the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC), which is part of the HKCA programme.

HKPC Chairman Willy Lin Sun Mo, GBS, JP said: "Playing host to this event will underscore Hong Kong's first-rate research capability in artificial intelligence and robotics, which has been identified as one of the key pillars of the city's innovation economy and a prime part of the National Key Technologies Research and Development Programme. We are delighted that the HKCA programme was launched in time, and the HKTB is a great partner, offering professional support every step of the way, especially for first-time organisers." IEEE Region 10 Conference 2022 (TENCON)

Thanks to the referral of ambassador Ir Edward Cheung, Chairman of the Joint Chapter on Circuits & Systems and Communications of IEEE Hong Kong Section, the HKTB worked together with the IEEE Hong Kong Section to successfully bring TENCON to Hong Kong. The high-profile technology and engineering event will gather more than 1,000 cross-disciplinary professionals, academicians, industry leaders, researchers and students.

Dr Paulina Chan, Chair of the IEEE Hong Kong Section and the General Chair of TENCON Conference, said: "We're excited to host TENCON, an IEEE flagship conference in Hong Kong again in 2022. Hong Kong is an ideal destination for technology-business integration and an international hub for hosting professional conferences in Asia. We had a great experience working with the HKTB. I am confident that the upcoming TENCON will reach new horizons in global participation, anticipating multidisciplinary professional profiles and dynamic exchanges among international attendance." Hong Kong: A Pivotal I&T Hub

Hong Kong is a pivotal I&T hub, enjoying strong government support and growing collaboration among GBA cities. Coupled with Hong Kong's unique position as an international gateway, with unrivalled connectivity, the city is a strategic destination for tech events.

Through the HKCA programme, the HKTB provides one-stop event support for events both large and small for the I&T sector, as well other business and professional fields, and promote the multiplier effect to fuel the local economic recovery.

(IANSlife Features can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)
Ramallah, Oct 1 : Palestine has extended the state of emergency to prevent the spread of Covid-19, mainly the highly-transmissible Delta variant.

In a decree issued by President Mahmoud Abbas, the state of emergency was extended effective immediately so as to give the government enough power to combat the spread of Covid, reports Xinhua news agency.

The state of emergency was first issued in March last year after the discovery of the first cases of coronavirus in the Palestinian territories and has been extended or re-declared every month since then.

Extending the state of emergency in Palestine came after the Ministry of Health recorded 18 fatalities and 1,461 new COVID-19 cases in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours.

The virus has so far claimed 4,366 lives in the Palestinian territories since March 2020.

The Ministry also said that over 1,404,892 people have received their first jab of the Covid-19 vaccine in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, of whom 752,412 received both doses.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Chennai, Oct 1 : The AIADMK leadership has lashed out at the ruling DMK over the reported statement of its senior leader and state Water resources minister S. Duraimurugan that MGR was a betrayer in a recent DMK party meeting.

AIADMK leaders and former Chief Ministers O. Panneerselvam and K. Palaniswami in a joint statement released on Thursday said the 'statement of Duraimurugan was false and that it was Karunanidhi who had betrayed MGR'.

The AIADMK leaders said that MGR was a popular matinee idol and that it was the popularity of MGR that led to the DMK capturing power. The leaders said that Duraimurugan's statement was like "Satan preaching scriptures".

The AIADMK leaders said that Karunanidhi was the biggest betrayer and said that withdrawal of a case from Supreme Court in the inter-state Cauvery water dispute issue was the biggest betrayal against the people of Tamil Nadu.

OPS and EPS in the joint statement said 'handing over Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka was the biggest betrayal the late Chief Minister has done to the fishermen of Tamil Nadu claiming that civil war had ended in Sri Lanka. The massacre of Sri Lankan Tamils in the Island nation was a major betrayal of the Tamil diaspora and joining the Centre government to ban Jallikattu was a betrayal of the sportsperson of the state'.

The former Chief Ministers also said that introducing NEET was a major betrayal of the poor rural students of Tamil Nadu.

The statement of the AIADMK leaders is to open a war of words between the AIADMK and the DMK. Political observer and Director of Centre for Policy and Development Studies, C. Rajeev while speaking to IANS said, "It is a major development and the war of words will continue. Don't think that the DMK will be cowed down by this statement from the AIADMK leaders. We can expect DMK bringing out a list against the AIADMK also and this seems to be the beginning of the end of the bonhomie between the two parties."
New Delhi, Oct 1 : The new owners of Air India will be decided in the next few days as the financial bids for the flag carrier are being scrutinised, sources said on Friday.

Besides, conglomerate Tata Sons, which is one of the bidders, is touted to be the frontrunner to get hold of the carrier.

Earlier, Tata Sons backed SPV and industrialist Ajay Singh, in his personal capacity had sent in their financial bids.

Accordingly, sources said that the two bids are being scrutinised against a reserve price set for the airline.

The process will not go ahead if the bids come in short of the reserve price.

Furthermore, senior government officials are conducting separate meetings with the two bidders regarding other aspects of the sale such as the indemnity clause and carry over debt levels of the airline.

More or less, the final decision can be made within the next few days by the AISAM (Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism).

The AISAM headed by Home Minister Amit Shah is an empowered GoM, which has the authority, to take the final call on the matter, without the need of a Cabinet approval.

The AISAM is scheduled to meet after all its members are back in the country.

After the announcement of the winning bid is made, the process of a complete handover is expected to take place within three-four months time.

The Centre on September 15 had received multiple financial bids for divestment of Air India.

The government has of late taken several steps to fast-track the much-delayed privatisation of the national carrier.

Recently, the Centre decided to waive taxes on the transfer of assets from the national carrier to Air India Assets Holding Ltd, a special purpose vehicle (SPV).

During the Budget speech for FY22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that all the proposed privatisation process would be completed by the end of the fiscal, including the much-delayed strategic disinvestment of Air India.

This is the second attempt of the current Central government to divest its stake in the airline.

In the pre-pandemic era, the airline, on a standalone basis, operated over 50 domestic and more than 40 international destinations.

Besides, it operated over 120 aircraft prior to the Covid pandemic.

During that period, the airline had over 9,000 permanent and 4,000 contractual employees.
Manama, Oct 1 : Visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and his Bahraini counterpart Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani have jointly inaugurated the Israeli embassy here in the wake of the two countries normalising their ties.

As he arrived in Manama on Thursday, Lapid became the highest Israeli official to visit Bahrain, Xinhua news agency.

The visit is "a milestone" in the rapid development of the bilateral relations, Zayani told a press conference.

The two Ministers signed several cooperation agreements on environmental protection, sports, innovation, and development of water resources.

Later in the day, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa received Lapid at the Sakhir Palace, said a statement quoted by the Bahrain News Agency.

Also on Thursday, a Gulf Air Airbus A320 arrived at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, which was the first direct commercial flight between Bahrain and Israel.

The flight by Bahrain's national carrier departed from Manama about an hour after Lapid landed.

The flight between Manama and Tel Aviv would be operated twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays, according to a statement issued by the Israeli Transportation Ministry.

The trip from Bahrain to Israel will take two hours and 50 minutes, and two hours and 35 minutes for the return trip.

During an ceremony held at the Ben Gurion Airport, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll said that the new route would "allow citizens of the two countries to work together and develop scientific, cultural and business collaborations".

Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed the US-brokered agreements called the Abraham Accords to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in September 2020.
Washington, Oct 1 : US space agency NASA does not intend to rename its much-awaited James Webb Space Telescope, despite controversy over its name, according to media reports.

The $10 billion telescope, scheduled to launch on December 18, is a technological marvel. Webb will be the largest, most powerful and complex space telescope ever built and launched into space.

Touted as the successor to the iconic Hubble Space Telescope, it aims to fundamentally alter understanding of the universe.

However, the telescope has been mired in controversy after it was named after former NASA administrator James Webb, who went along with government discrimination against gay and lesbian employees in the 1950s and 1960s, NPR reported.

The Webb telescope was formerly known as the "Next Generation Space Telescope" (NGST), but was renamed in September 2002.

When NASA investigated the matter, it found no evidence and decided not to change the telescope's name.

"We have found no evidence at this time that warrants changing the name of the James Webb Space Telescope," NASA administrator Bill Nelson, was quoted as saying.

Earlier this year, over 1,200 people, mostly astronomers or astronomy enthusiasts, including scholars who want to use the new telescope for their own research, signed a petition urging NASA to rename the telescope.

They alleged that Webb seems to have been complicit in the purge of homosexual people from government jobs during his time in public service, including when he served in a high-level position in the US State Department, the report said.

They cited evidence such as the interrogation of NASA employee Clifford Norton, who was fired in 1963 while Webb was directing the agency.

"The historical record is already clear: under Webb's leadership, queer people were persecuted," the letter said.

In response to the controversy, NASA opened an investigation "to examine Webb's role in government", but the agency has offered no other details about how that review was conducted or who evaluated its findings, other than mentioning that historians were involved, the report said.

"We've done as much as we can do at this point and have exhausted our research efforts," senior science communications officer Karen Fox told NPR.

"Those efforts have not uncovered evidence warranting a name change." Webb is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. It is a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-metre primary mirror.

The telescope will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is soon going to announce a new party. According to sources, the name of Captain's new party will be 'Punjab Vikas Party'.

According to sources, Amarinder Singh will convene a meeting of leaders close to him in a few days to consider the formation of his new party, which will include all the leaders of the anti-Sidhu faction.

Earlier, the Captain had said that his first goal is to defeat former Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu. In such a situation, a strong contender will be fielded in the upcoming Assembly elections against Sidhu from his newly-formed party.

Meanwhile, Singh will also contact all the farmers' leaders of Punjab. He will also get in touch with small parties, sources said.

On Thursday, Amarinder Singh said: "I have been in politics for 52 years, but they treated me like this. At 10.30 Congress President Sonia Gandhi asked me to resign. I did not ask any question. At 4 o'clock I went to the Governor and submitted my resignation. If you still doubt me after 50 years... My credibility is at stake and there is no trust, then there is no point in being in the party." After this statement, he announced that he was quitting the Congress. He made it clear that he was leaving the Congress, but will not join the BJP. He also said that he was deeply hurt by the humiliation that he had to face from the top leadership of the Congress.

It is not the first time that Amarinder Singh has announced to quit the Congress party.

In 1980 he won the Lok Sabha elections on the Congress symbol, but after the Operation Blue Star in 1984, he left the Congress to join the Akali Dal. He rejoined the Congress in 1998.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Honolulu, Oct 1 : The US Geological Survey (USGS) said that Kilauea volcano in Hawaii has been erupting since the past two days, while local authorities confirmed that there is no current threat to the public.

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) detected glow in Kilauea summit at approximately 3.20 p.m. on Wednesday, indicating that an eruption commenced within Halema'uma'u crater in Kilauea's summit caldera in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Kilauea's eruption continues through the night," the USGS tweeted on Thursday morning, adding that "activity is still confined to a crater that is within the closed area of Kilauea's summit".

HVO reported that Kilauea's volcano alert level changed from an orange 'Watch' to a red 'Warning'.

Cyrus Johnasen, Hawaii County spokesperson, told the local TV station KHON2 that people near the park should "proceed with caution. folks with heavy breathing, respiratory issues, stay far away as possible".

According to the National Weather Service (NWS) in Honolulu, volcanic glass was observed near the Halema'uma'u crater by pilots in the area.

Volcanic glass, the amorphous product of rapidly cooling magma like all types of glass, will remain in the area around the crater during the eruption.

The NWS Honolulu advised residents and visitors to minimize their exposure to volcanic emissions.

Kilauea volcano had a major eruption in 2018 that destroyed homes and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate.
United Nations, Oct 1 : The UN strongly condemns the killing of a Rohingya refugee leader in a crowded Cox's Bazar camp in Bangladesh, a spokeswoman said.

Mohib Ullah, chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), was shot dead at by unknown gunmen on Wednesday at around 8 p.m., The Dhaka Tribune quoted the police as saying.

The world body urges the Bangladeshi authorities to conduct an investigation into the slaying of Mohib Ullah and to hold those responsible to account, said Stephanie Tremblay, an associate spokeswoman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"We urge continued strong international support for the protection and support to the Rohingya communities anywhere, including in Bangladesh," Xinhua news agency quoted the spokeswoman as saying.

She said the US continues to call for the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar and the return of internally displaced persons to their homes.

The world organisation continues to support such returns, Tremblay added.

According to The Dhaka Tribune report, several witnesses said they had recognised at least three attackers out of the 20-25 during the shooting, claiming them to be members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).
Chennai, Oct 1 : Sivaji Ganesan needs no introduction. The innumerable characters he made memorable on screen gave him a permanent place in the hearts of millions of movie-goers, and he still lives there, 20 years after he passed away on July 21, 2001, at the age of 73.

On Friday, October 1, to celebrate his 93rd birth anniversary, the legendary actor, who was also a recipient of the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the country's highest award for cinema, has been honoured by Google with a Google Doodle.

The Google Doodle, created by a guest artist from Bengaluru, Noopur Rajesh Choksi, has brought back fond memories of the legend, popularly known as the "Marlon Brando of Indian cinema", who was adored for his performances in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam movies, and also in Sinhalese and Hindi productions.

Born as Villupuram Chinniah Ganesan, or V.C. Ganesan, at Villupuram in the then South Arcot district of Tamil Nadu, Sivaji Ganesan entered the world of theatre at the young age of 7. He started playing child and female roles at a young age in popular theatre groups, and also trained in three dance forms -- Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Manipuri.

Ganesan's big break in acting came when he was portraying the Maratha King, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in the play 'Sivaji Kanda Samrajyam', written and directed by the late former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and doyen of Dravidian politics, C.N. Annadurai.

The name Sivaji became iconic and Ganesan retained the name throughout his extraordinarily brilliant acting carrier. The big break for the legendary actor came with the Tamil film, 'Parasakthi', directed by Krisnan-Panju and written by M. Karunanidhi, DMK leader and late former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

Critics have listed several movies as his best, but Sivaji Ganesan himself rated his performance as V.O. Chidambaram in and as 'Kappalottiya Thamizhan' as his most memorable one.

Sivaji Ganesan was remembered for his extraordinary flair for dialogue delivery. He pioneered an exquisite style, diction, tone and tenor. His style of dialogue delivery helped him play such mythological and historical characters as Lord Shiva in ('Thiruvilaiyaadal'), the great Chola emperor in and as 'Raja Raja Cholan', the Vaishnavite saint (and one of the 12 Alvars revered in southern India), Periyalvar, in 'Thirumal Perumal', and the seventh-century Shaivite saint Appar in 'Thiruvarutchelvar'.

The legend was addressed as 'Nadigar Thilagam' (literally translated as 'the pride of actors') for his all-around acting performance, but ironically, Sivaji did not receive any National Award, except for a Special Jury Mention for a cameo appearance in the Kamal Haasan-starrer 'Thevar Magan' released in 1992. Predictably, the legend rejected the award.

The French government, however, bestowed upon him its highest decoration, Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, in 1995.

Sivaji Ganesan was unsuccessful in politics, unlike his compatriot M.G. Ramachandran, fondly referred to as MGR, who became Chief Minister and one of the most popular leaders of the state. His 'Parasakthi' scriptwriter M. Karunanidhi, too, went on to become Chief Minister.

The legend was engaged in politics as a Dravida Kazhagam activist and later as a member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), but he crossed over to the Congress in the late 1950s.

He joined hands with the Congress (O) led by another Tamil leader K. Kamaraj, after the Congress split in 1969 and later aligned himself with Indira Gandhi after the passing away of Kamaraj. Eventually, Sivaji Ganesan left the Congress and floated his own 'Tamizhaga Munnetra Munnani in 1989, but had to face a crushing defeat at the electoral hustings.

The cinema legend could not become a political superstar.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Kolkata, Oct 1 : A day after the West Bengal government lifted the night restrictions during the Durga Puja festival, the Calcutta High Court said that Puja pandals will have to be treated as 'containment zones' and visitors will not be allowed to enter inside them.

The same will be applied for the Kali Puja also, which comes around 20 days after the Durga Puja.

Passing an order on a PIL filed by Howrah resident Ajay Kumar Dey pledging to impose last year's restrictions during the Durga Puja to contain the spread of Covid-19, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Kumar Bindal said the visitors will not be allowed inside the Durga Puja pandals in West Bengal this year as well. He also said all the restrictions imposed by the court last year will remain the same.

The Advocate General, who appeared for the state, said the state government has no objections if the court imposes these kinds of restrictions for the greater benefit of the people.

Last year the division bench of the high court comprising Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Arijit Banerjee, hearing a public interest litigation filed by the same person, said that no visitors would be allowed to enter the marquees.

For small pandals, barricades will have to be put up five metres from the entrance, while for the bigger ones, the distance has to be 10 metres, the court had ordered.

There should be no-entry boards at the barricades, it had said.

The court also had ordered that only 15 to 25 persons belonging to the organising committees will be allowed to enter the pandals.

The court had also said that the organisers will have to distribute masks and sanitisers to the visitors, do awareness campaigns and make continuous announcements so that the people get aware of the impending threat of the disease.

This year all these restrictions will remain active during the Durga Puja and Kali Puja celebration.

Latest updates on Navratri Festival 2021
Prayagraj : , Oct 1 (IANS) Five members of a gang that sold SIM cards to cyber fraudsters and criminals, have been arrested by a joint team of Army Intelligence (Lucknow), Special Operations Group (Narcotics) and Kareli police.

The members were arrested on Thursday while selling SIMs to criminals near Lal Colony in the city.

The police have seized around 1,000 SIMs and forged documents from their possession.

The arrested persons have been identified as Abdul Khalid, Shriram Chaurasia, Zishan Ahmad, Vikas Kesarwani and Krishna Kumar.

Inspector (Kareli) Anupam Sharma said the arrested persons had sold SIM cards to law-breakers at high prices after creating fake IDs.

"The miscreants are experts in generating fake IDs with a mobile app and selling SIMs to cyber criminals and others. They sold at least two SIM cards on a single ID. After selling a SIM to a customer with his original ID and activating it, they used to call the same customer pretending that their ID, which they had submitted for SIM, had gone missing and sought another ID for activation of the SIM card," he said explaining their modus operandi.

The gang was also expert in generating fake IDs to sell SIM cards of a prominent cellular provider company. They were supplying fake activated SIMs to cyber criminals and a city-based call centre.
Srinagar, Oct 1 : The terrorist killed in a gunfight with the security forces at Rakhama in South Kashmir's Shopian district on Friday refused to surrender and instead opened fire which triggered the encounter, officials said.

The Army said on receiving specific intelligence from the police about the presence of a terrorist in the vicinity of village Rakhama, a joint operation was launched by the Army and police at 11.30 p.m. on September 30.

"The cordon was established by 2.00 a.m on today (October 1). One terrorist was located. Multiple appeals were made to the terrorist to surrender but he opened fire on the troops at about 5.00 a.m. He was finally neutralised by the security forces in the ensuing firefight," the Army said.

As per police, the terrorist has been identified as Mujeeb Amin Lone, a resident of Redwani in Kulgam district. He had joined the terrorist ranks in early September 2021.

"He was responsible for creating terror in the locality and had been coercing innocent citizens to sympathise with anti-nationals," the Army said.
Seoul, Oct 1 : South Korean President Moon Jae-in recorded the highest job approval rating than compared to his predecessors in the second quarter of the fifth year of respective presidencies, a poll revealed on Friday.

In the three-day survey by Gallup Korea of 1,002 voters nationwide through Thursday, 38 percent gave a positive assessment of Moon's leadership, up 2 percentage points from a week earlier, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The proportion of those who disapprove dropped 3 percentage points to 54 percent, Gallup said.

With an upcoming presidential election scheduled for March 2022, Moon's five year term, which began in May 2017, is scheduled to end next year.

According to Gallup, Moon's latest approval rating was the biggest compared to his predecessors during the same time window of respective presidencies since the country introduced a direct presidential election system through a Constitutional amendment in 1987.

Former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Lee Myung-bak's ratings were recorded at 26 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively, followed by Roh Moo-hyun, Roh Tae-woo and Kim Young-sam, with 24 per cent, 12 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively.

The number for former President Park Geun-hye was not compared, as her presidency was then embroiled in a corruption scandal that led to her impeachment.

In terms of parties, public support for the ruling Democratic Party inched up 1 percentage point to 33 per cent, and that of the main opposition People Power Party slid 3 percentage points to 31 per cent.

The Gallup survey's margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points with a confidence level of 95 per cent.
Jammu, Oct 1 : A Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) national was apprehended on Friday by the Army after he crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.

Lt. Colonel Devender Anand, defence ministry spokesman said, "Today, at about 12.30 a.m. one POK National(male) crossed LoC and has been apprehended by Indian Army troops along Mendhar River in Balnoi area, of Poonch district." The spokesman said further details were awaited.

Last month, one PoK national was sent back by the Indian Army after he inadvertently crossed the LoC.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Bengaluru, Oct 1 : A 31-year-old female Ugandan national, who was allegedly found smuggling heroin in her trolley bag, has been arrested at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, sources in the immigration department said on Friday.

The immigration authorities have recovered four kilogram of heroin worth Rs 28 crore from the accused woman.

She was allegedly travelling on a medical visa and reached the Bengaluru airport late in the evening on September 28 on the pretext of undergoing surgery in the city.

Based on specific information, the sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence nabbed her in the arrival area of the airport. The accused woman had booked a hotel room in the city and an investigation is on to unearth her network.

Sources said the accused travelled from Nairobi in Kenya to the Middle East allegedly carrying drugs and had reached Bengaluru through a Gulf-based airline.

The woman has been booked under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and sent to judicial custody.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : At a high-level ministerial meeting, India has extended support for protecting the Antarctic environment and for co-sponsoring the proposal of the European Union for designating East Antarctica and the Weddell Sea as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology and also Minister of State for Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh affirmed it while addressing the Ministers of different countries of the European Union during a meeting held virtually.

Singh said, "India supports sustainability in protecting the Antarctic environment." The two proposed MPAs are essential to regulate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. He urged the member countries of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to ensure that India remains associated with the formulation, adaptation and implementation mechanisms of these MPAs in future.

Singh said the proposal to designate East Antarctica and the Weddell Sea as MPAs was first put forth to the CCAMLR in 2020 but could not reach a consensus at that time. He said since then substantial progress has been made with Australia, Norway, Uruguay and the United Kingdom agreeing to co-sponsor the proposal. The Minister added that by the end of October 2021, India would join these countries in co-sponsoring the MPA proposals.

He informed the EU delegates that India had embarked on an Antarctic expedition in 1981, through the Southern Indian Ocean sector and since then, there has been no turning back. Till date, India had completed 40 expeditions with plans for the 41st expedition in 2021-22.

"This is the first time India is considering co-sponsoring an MPA proposal at the CCAMLR and getting aligned with countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Korea, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA, which are also proactively considering supporting the MPA proposals," a release from the Ministry of Earth Sciences said on Thursday.

The Minister said India's decision to consider extending support and co-sponsoring the MPA proposals is driven by conservation and sustainable utilization principles and adhering to the global cooperation frameworks (such as Sustainable Development Goals, UN Decade of Oceans, Convention on Biodiversity, etc.) to which India is a signatory.

The ministerial meeting was hosted virtually by Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, EU, Virginijus Sinkevieius. It was attended by Ministers, Ambassadors and Country Commissioners from 18 countries. The meeting aimed to increase the number of co-sponsors of the MPA proposals and reflect on a joint strategy and future actions for their swift adoption by CCAMLR.

The CCAMLR is an international treaty to manage Antarctic fisheries to preserve species diversity and stability of the entire Antarctic marine ecosystem. It came into force in April 1982. India has been a permanent member of the CCAMLR since 1986. Work pertaining to the CCAMLR is coordinated in India by the Ministry of Earth Sciences through its attached office, the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE) in Kochi, Kerala.

An MPA is a marine protected area that provides protection for all or part of its natural resources. Certain activities within a MPA are limited or prohibited to meet specific conservation, habitat protection, ecosystem monitoring, or fisheries management objectives. Since 2009, CCAMLR members have developed proposals for MPAs for various regions of the Southern Ocean. CCAMLR's scientific committee examines these proposals. After CCAMLR members agree upon them, elaborate conservation measures are set out, the release added.
Seoul, Oct 1 : North Korea on Friday remained unresponsive to South Korea's regular calls via military and liaison hotlines after leader Kim Jong-un offered to restore severed cross-border communication lines in early October.

"North Korea did not answer the opening call through the inter-Korean liaison office at 9 a.m.," a Unification Ministry official said.

The calls through military hotlines also went unanswered, another official said.

North Korea did not pick up afternoon calls at 5 p.m. either, Yonhap News Agency quoted the two officials as saying.

While addressing a session on Wednesday, Kim said that he will restore cross-border communication lines with South Korea in early October as part of efforts to improve tense relations.

North Korea blew up the liaison office in its border town of Kaesong created in 2018 to promote cross-border exchanges and unilaterally cut off all communication lines with South Korea in June last year in anger over anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent from the South.

The hotlines were back in operation in late July, but Pyongyang began refusing Seoul's regular calls again two weeks later as it bristled at joint military drills by South Korea and the US that the North has long denounced as a rehearsal for invasion.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the goal of 'Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0' is to make the cities garbage-free. He was speaking after launching the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0.

"In 2014, the countrymen took a pledge to make India open defecation free - ODF and they fulfilled this pledge with the construction of more than 10 crore toilets. Now the goal of 'Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0' is to make the city garbage-free, completely free of garbage," the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister underlined the scope of the country's target in the next phase of Mission AMRUT as 'Improving sewage and septic management, making our cities water safe and ensuring that no sewage drains anywhere in our rivers'.

The Prime Minister dedicated the successes of transformation in urban regeneration and cleanliness to Mahatma Gandhi. "These missions are the result of inspiration by Mahatma Gandhi and are being realized through his ideals only," he said.

The Prime Minister also highlighted the ease for mothers and daughters due to the construction of toilets.

Saluting the spirit of the nation, the Prime Minister said that the journey of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and AMRUT Mission so far makes every countryman proud. "In this, there is a mission, there is respect, there is dignity, there is also the ambition of a country and there is also the unmatched love for the motherland," he said.

Noting that today's event was taking place in the Ambedkar International Centre, the Prime Minister said that Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar believed in urban development as a great means of removing inequality and many people from villages come to cities with an aspiration for a better life.

"They get employment but their standard of living remains in a difficult situation even compared to their lives in the villages. This is like double jeopardy of staying away from home, and after that to stay in such a difficult situation. Babasaheb's emphasis was on changing this situation by removing this inequality. The next phase of Swachh Bharat Mission and Mission Amrit is an important step towards fulfilling the dreams of Babasaheb," said the Prime Minister.

He said, along with Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas are critical for the campaign of cleanliness.

Talking about the level of public participation with regard to cleanliness, the Prime Minister expressed happiness that the present generation has taken the initiative to strengthen the cleanliness campaign, and the toffee wrappers are no longer thrown on the ground but kept in pockets by children. Small children now ask the elders to avoid mess.

"We have to remember that cleanliness is not a task just for a day, a fortnight, a year or for just a few people. Cleanliness is a great campaign for everyone, every day, every fortnight, every year, generation after generation. Cleanliness is a lifestyle, cleanliness is a life mantra," said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister recalled his efforts as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for enhancing the tourist potential of Gujarat where he turned the quest for cleanliness into Jan Andolan by the Nirmal Gujarat Programme.

The Prime Minister pointed out that today India is processing about one lakh tonnes of waste every day. "When the country started the campaign in 2014, less than 20 per cent of the waste generated every day in the country was processed. Today we are processing about 70 per cent of daily waste. Now we have to take it to 100 per cent," he said.

The Prime Minister also talked about enhanced allocations for the Urban Development Ministry. "In the preceding seven years before 2014, the Ministry was given about Rs 1.25 lakh crore while in seven years from 2014 almost Rs four lakh crore were allocated to the Ministry," the Prime Minister said.

The use of modern technology is also continuously increasing for the development of cities in the country. The Prime Minister mentioned the recently launched National Automobile Scrappage Policy, and pointed out that this new scrapping policy strengthens the campaign of Waste to Wealth and a circular economy.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, Oct 1 : The Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday released the second instalment of the Central share of Rs 7,274.40 crore in advance to the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) of 23 states. Five states have already got in advance the second instalment amounting to Rs 1,599.20 crore.

This fund release will help the states to meet the expenditure on giving ex-gratia to the next of kin of the victims of Covid-19, a Home Ministry official said.

The state governments will now have an amount of Rs 23,186.40 crore in their SDRF, including states' share during the financial year 2021-22, in addition to the opening balance available in their SDRF to meet the ex-gratia expenses and for providing relief on other notified calamities, the official added.

The Centre had issued an order on September 25 revising items and norms of assistance under the SDRF, making a provision for giving ex-gratia to the families of Covid-19 victims.

The revised SDRF norms are to implement the guidelines issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on September 11, 2021 in compliance with the order passed by the Supreme Court.

The first instalment of Central share to SDRF of the states of Rs 8,873.6 crore was released on May 1 this year in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19 that claimed thousands of lives in April-May this year.

The SDRF is the primary fund available with state governments for providing immediate relief to the families of Covid victims.

The Centre contributes 75 per cent of the allocation for general category states and Union Territories and 90 per cent for special category states such as the north-eastern states, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Canberra, Oct 1 : Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday announced his latest ministry reshuffle, under which her promoted two of his close political allies in a Cabinet shake-up triggered by the resignation of Christian Porter from his post as the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology last month.

Porter, who previously served as the attorney-general, stood down after accepting an anonymous donation to fund personal legal fees, reports Xinhua news agency.

Morrison announced that Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor would take on the industry portfolio and Melissa Price, the minister for defence industry, will take on science and technology.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, considered Morrison's closest political ally, has been promoted to Cabinet, the innermost sanctum of the government, after overseeing Australia's evacuation efforts from Kabul.

West Australian Member of Parliament (MP) Ben Morton, who has served as Morrison's assistant minister since the 2019 election, was named the special minister of state and the public service minister.

Price was returned to Cabinet in March after being demoted following the 2019 election.

"These changes provide a timely opportunity to reinforce some of the key issues that the government is progressing," Morrison told reporters.

"I recently promoted Melissa again to the Cabinet and she's been hitting the marks and doing a terrific job and it's great to have her in the new roles."
Bengaluru, Oct 1 : The case of noted small-screen Kannada actress Soujanya's suicide has taken a twist with her father lodging a complaint against her fellow actor Vivek and assistant Mahesh, the police said on Friday.

The Kumbalagodu police investigating the case are questioning Vivek, a Kannada and Telugu small-screen actor, and Mahesh. Soujanya's father, Prabhu Madappa, says he suspects that Vivek used to torture his daughter to marry him.

"My daughter was all right," Madappa said. "I had given her money recently. The gold is missing. There must be another reason for her death. Mahesh did not wait for the police to come and removed the body of my daughter from the spot where it was found. Soujanya's mobile is missing. Once it is found, everything will come to light," the distraught father added.

The Kumbalagodu police, meanwhile, conducted a recce of the apartment in the presence of Soujanya's parents. Her body has earlier been handed over to the parents after the post-mortem.

Reacting to charges, actor Vivek said he was waiting for the post-mortem report to answer the allegations against him. "I will not say anything now. I knew Soujanya for over a year. She met me whenever she was upset. She was an innocent person," he said.

Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra has stated that he has instructed the police to conduct an inquiry into the case and take suitable action.

Soujanya was found dead in an apartment near Doddabele village on the outskirts of Bengaluru in neighbouring Ramnagar district of Karnataka on Thursday.

She had left a four-page suicide note before allegedly taking the extreme step. In the note, Soujanya claimed her mental state was "not good" and that she could not bear it anymore. The police, however, have not yet said anything about the exact reason for the suicide.
Canberra, Oct 1 : Australia's international border will reopen in November after being closed for 18 months amid the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday.

According to Morrison, international travel to and from Australia will resume as states and territories approach 80 perc ent of the adult population fully vaccinated against Covid-19, reports Xinhua news agency.

Under the reopening plan, fully vaccinated Australian citizens and permanent residents will be able to quarantine at home for seven days on arrival in the country rather than for 14 days at hotels.

It is reliant on states and territories reaching the 80 percent vaccination milestone for their over-16s and agreeing to implement home quarantine, trials of which are currently underway in South Australia (SA) and New South Wales (NSW).

"It's time to give Australians their lives back," Morrison told reporters.

"We must work together to ensure that Australians can reclaim the lives that they once had in this country." The changes mean that fully vaccinated Australians will be able to freely leave and enter the country for the first time since March 2020.

It marks an end to international arrival caps that have left tens of thousands of Australians stranded overseas unable to secure flights home.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has advised that China's Sinovac and India's Covishield will be considered "recognised vaccines", paving the way for the return of international students to the country.

Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines have previously been approved by the TGA.

Morrison said the federal government would provide support to states that follow SA and NSW in implementing home quarantine.

"To maximise the number of Australians who can return, our government is also offering facilitated flights into any state or territory that agrees to commence seven day home quarantine trials for returning Australians," he said.

In a media release on Friday, Australian Airports Association (AAA) Chief Executive James Goodwin said airports would be ready to welcome back increasing numbers of Australians from overseas when quarantine arrangements begin to ease and passenger caps are lifted from November.

"This is just the first step to reopen Australia with work needed now on the next phase of the framework where we can welcome back international tourists and other important cohorts such as business people, students and skilled workers," he said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Chennai, Oct 1 : The Madras High Court on Friday directed the Tamil Nadu government to respond to the writ petition filed by the Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict S. Nalini to release her from prison without a nod from the Governor.

In her petition, Nalini requested the court to declare as unconstitutional, the Governor's 'failure' to release her by acting upon a recommendation made by the state cabinet on September 9, 2018, in favour of all live convicts in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Advocate M. Radhakrishnan appearing for Nalini contended that the Governor is bound to act as per the directive of the state cabinet and not vice versa.

The first bench of the Madras High Court comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P.D. Adikesvalu ordered the state government to file a counter-affidavit after the Dusshera holidays.

Nalini has in an affidavit filed through her counsel sought a direction to the state government to release her without waiting for the nod of the Governor.

In her petition, Nalini said that she was originally sentenced to a death sentence by the trial court on January 28, 1998, and the Supreme court had also confirmed the death penalty on May 11, 1999. She said that her death penalty was commuted to life sentence under Article 161 that gives the Governor power to suspend, remit or commute sentences. She said that her death penalty was commuted to life sentence on April 24, 2000.

She contended that around 3,800 convicts, who had served ten-year prison terms, were released after serving the years under Article 161 for their good conduct and added that she became eligible for such a premature release in 2001 itself, but, still she was not released. She said that the prosecution had then contended that her case was under the CBI investigation.

The Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict in her petition also stated that she should have been released on September 10, 2018, after the council of ministers had made a recommendation to release her in the cabinet meeting held on September 9, 2018. She said that the Governor was yet to take a decision in this matter.

The petitioner also contended that her two earlier petitions, one seeking a direction to the government to implement the state Cabinet decision and the other for the Governor to countersign the recommendation were dismissed on August 20, 2019.

Nalini in her petition said that she has filed a third petition in the Madras High Court seeking a writ of declaration that the Governor's "failure" to act in accordance with the recommendation was unconstitutional.
Chennai, Oct 1 : Medical syringe major Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices Ltd (HMD) has received an order for supply of 132.5 million syringes from the Centre, a top company official said on Friday.

The company is not accepting any export orders and has diverted the supply of 100 million pieces from an order for the UNICEF order to the government from September to December, 2021.

Hindustan Syringes has been entrusted with a new order of 132.5 million pieces by the Indian government and has accepted the same, Managing Director Rajiv Nath said.

According to him, the company has supplied the Central government 471.35 million pieces for Covid-19 vaccination as against a commitment of 442.5 million pieces by September 2021.

Nath said an additional 13 million pieces are also being supplied.

"We feel humbled & honoured to contribute to the Union Health Ministry's plans to celebrate India administering 1 billion Covid vaccine doses by early October," he said.

Hindustan Syringes produces more than 4.2 lakh syringes of various types per hour at its factories in Faridabad industrial district in Haryana.
Hyderabad, Oct 1 : The Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Governors and Chief Ministers on Friday conveyed their greetings to President Ram Nath Kovind on his birthday.

Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan conveyed birthday greetings to President Kovind. "Wish him a long life and many years of dedicated service to the nation," she tweeted.

"Respected Rashtrapati ji, I along with the people of #AndhraPradesh with utmost pleasure and privilege convey my heartiest congratulations and warm greetings to you on your birthday," tweeted Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao sent birthday greetings to the President on behalf of the Telangana government and its people. "May God bless Ram Nath Kovind ji with good health and long life for serving the nation for many more years," the Chief Minister said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy also greeted Kovind. "Warm greetings to President Ram Nath Kovind ji on his birthday. May the Almighty bless him with a long and healthy life in service of our nation," Reddy said.
Chennai, Oct 1 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday paid floral tributes to late actor Sivaji Ganesan on his 93rd birth anniversary at the Mani Mandapam constructed in honour of the late thespian at Adayar in Chennai.

The Chief Minister said that Sivaji Ganesan was a great actor who was the pride of Tamil Nadu, as he reminiscenced the association his father late M. Karunanidhi had with the actor since the "Parasakthi" (1952) days. The script of the movie was written by Karunanidhi while Sivaji played the lead actor in the film.

Several politicians, including state Health Minister Ma Subramanian were present during the occasion in which the family members of the thespian actor were also present.

The actor, who earned the sobriquet "Nadigar Thilagam", which meant top class actor in Tamil, passed away on July 21, 2001 at the age of 73.

Born as Villupuram Chinniah Ganesan, or V.C. Ganesan, at Villupuram in the then South Arcot district of Tamil Nadu, Ganesan entered the world of theatre at the young age of 7. He started playing child and female roles at a young age in popular theatre groups, and also trained in three dance forms -- Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Manipuri.

Ganesan's big break in acting came when he portrayed the role of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the play "Sivaji Kanda Samrajyam", written and directed by late former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and doyen of Dravidian politics, C.N. Annadurai.

The name Sivaji became iconic and Ganesan retained the name throughout his extraordinary acting carrier. The big break for the legendary actor came with 'Parasakthi'.
Panaji, Oct 1 : Shiv Sena's 25-year long alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra did not allow it to expand its base in the state, its Rajya Sabha member and national spokesperson Sanjay Raut said on Friday.

Addressing a press conference here, he also said that the party would contest between 22-25 seats in the Goa Assembly polls which are scheduled to be held in early 2022.

"All this while, we focussed on alliances. In Maharashtra, our leader and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had to concede that we could not expand our base because of the alliance for 25 years," he said.

Raut, who is in-charge of party affairs in Goa, is here to oversee the Sena's election campaign for the 2022 polls.

"Even in Goa, we used to opt for alliances... that is why we could not expand. That is why we have decided that we will contest 22 to 25 seats in Goa on our own strength," he said.

The Sena has contested Assembly elections in the past, but performed poorly. In 2017, it contested on three seats in alliance with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the Goa Suraksha Manch, but lost all three.

Asked about the resurgent Aam Aadmi Party and the re-entry of West Bengal-based Trinamool Congress in Goa ahead of the polls, Raut said that Goa was in the midst of a "political carnival".

"There is a political carnival in Goa. Goa has become a laboratory for everyone. Someone comes from West Bengal, others come from Delhi to contest elections. Anyone can contest elections in Goa. But Goa and Maharashtra have an emotional relationship. It has always been that way," Raut said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, Oct 1 : The Deakin University, Australia, and the O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU), Sonipat, have announced the establishment of the Jindal and Deakin Education Partnership which is to be based out of the JGU campus in Sonipat near New Delhi.

The initiative, a first of its kind and in accord with the National Education Policy 2020, will offer innovative models of global education, training and research for the students in India.

The Jindal and Deakin Education Partnership, through innovative and hybrid models of teaching and learning, aims to provide opportunities for Indian students to have an international campus experience.

The students will commence studies with JGU in India and subsequently transfer to a Deakin University campus in Australia. The areas of study, the programmes and the models of delivery offered will be flexible, future-oriented and will draw the expertise of both partners.

JGU and Deakin University will work together to make the transition from enrolling in-country and then transferring their studies in Australia a seamless process to ensure the best study experience possible.

The initiative was signed off virtually on Friday by Professor (Dr) C Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University, and Professor Iain Martin, President and Vice Chancellor, Deakin University, Australia.

This one-of-a-kind initiative is a boost to the ongoing India Australia Education Initiative and was strategically signed off in the presence of Mr Ian Biggs, Deputy Australian High Commissioner to India, who spoke enthusiastically on the establishment of the Jindal and Deakin Education Partnership and its importance to the growing bilateral relationship between the two countries.

Professor (Dr) C. Raj Kumar said, "Since our inception in 2009, JGU is committed to bringing world-class education to Indian students in Social Sciences, Arts and the Humanities. JGU throughout its short history has aspired to the kind of internationalism that has characterised exceptional institutions of higher learning. The university's mission is centred on adopting a global approach to our vision, specifically to promote a global perspective through a global faculty, global courses, global programmes, global curriculum, global research, and global collaborations.

"Also, as an 'Institution of Eminence' in India, we are deeply committed to the vision and mission of the National Education Policy 2020 which also focuses on creating globally diverse perspective through the medium of education. With this objective of internationalizing the higher education landscape of India, I am delighted at this landmark Jindal and Deakin Education Partnership between O.P. Jindal Global University and Deakin University." Professor Kumar further observed, "The Jindal-Deakin collaboration promises an education experience that blends the best of both institutions through an industry-relevant education portfolio, world-class faculty and dynamic learning environment on the campuses of JGU in India and Deakin University in Australia. The unique portfolio of two undergraduate degrees from both institutions and a master's degree from Deakin will ensure that graduates have an incredible opportunity to learn and grow in two international university systems.

"JGU and Deakin University, which are both internationally endorsed in the recent QS World Universally Rankings 2022 among other global rankings, continue to make our respective national higher education systems stronger. I look forward to this collaboration of our institutions, which I believe is going to be an extraordinary and transformative initiative for strengthening the relationship between our two nations." Professor Iain Martin said, "At Deakin, our focus is always on how to best serve our communities, locally and internationally." "Our strong presence in India over the last three decades has enabled us to collaborate and continuously innovate our research and education. This open-mindedness to new possibilities has served us extremely well in responding to the recent challenges presented by the pandemic.

"The establishment of the Jindal and Deakin Education Partnership will continue this emphasis on what is possible and will prioritise new opportunities for our students and partners in India, helping us deliver impact and progress across society. We are very excited about this collaborative initiative with OP Jindal Global University, and we are confident that Indian students will benefit from the innovative offerings through this education partnership."
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Friday orally observed that he had thought of creating a panel to examine atrocities and complaints against bureaucrats, particularly police officers, headed by the Chief Justice of the high court concerned.

"I have lot of reservations at the way, how bureaucracy particularly, how police officers are behaving in this country.

"I was at one time thinking of creating a standing committee to examine atrocities and complaints against bureaucrats, particularly police officers, headed by the Chief Justice of the high court.. I want to reserve that.. Don't want to do now," he said.

A bench also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli was hearing a plea filed by suspended Additional Director General of Police of Chhattisgarh Gurjinder Pal Singh seeking protection from arrest in criminal cases - sedition, extortion, and owning disproportionate assets - against him.

On September 27, the top court told Singh's counsel that his client cannot take protection from arrest in every case, and pointed out that things take a wrong turn when people start extracting money, as they were close to the government.

"When you're good with government, you may extract... then you've to pay back with interest. This is too much, why should we grant protection to such officers?", the Chief Justice had remarked, adding that such police officers must not be protected but must be jailed.

On August 26, the top court had orally pointed out at a disturbing trend, where police officials, siding with the party in power, later getting targeted when another political dispensation comes into power.

The Chief Justice had said: "When a political party is in power, police officials side with it.... then, when a new party comes into power, the government initiates action against those officials. This is a new trend, which needs to be stopped." Three special leave petitions have been moved before the apex court against the Chhattisgarh High Court orders, where the court declined to quash the FIRs against Singh.

A case was filed against Singh based on a written complaint by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau, based on preliminary findings that he had amassed disproportionate assets. Certain documents were seized from his possession, which pointed at his involvement in a conspiracy against the government.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : ITC Limited is strengthening its flagship solid waste management programme WOW (Wellbeing Out of Waste) in New Delhi.

Amplifying its year-round waste management initiatives, the company has initiated a range of on-ground activities during the 'Swachhta Week' (Sept 25 - Oct 2), reinforcing its large-scale citizen engagement programme in the national capital.

The company's large-scale waste management programme ITC WoW reaches out to over 1.5 crore citizens across the country.

As a part of its larger initiative, ITC is working with local bodies like SDMC (South Delhi Municipal Corporation) and MoHUA (Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs) to undertake door-to-door campaigns to promote source segregation of waste, and sensitize citizens on the importance of fostering a 'zero-waste' ecosystem. These initiatives formed part of the larger 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' campaign to mark 75 years of Independence.

To garner larger citizen participation in waste management, ITC WOW has designated special coordinators for the South Delhi wards identified by SDMC for a range of initiatives under the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' campaign. Each participating ward has a team of 30 members with representatives from ITC WOW, SDMC field staff, ragpickers, volunteers, and are being led by 'Swachhta Ambassadors'.

As a part of the special initiative, demonstrations were made to residents on source segregation and home composting techniques with an aim to reducing waste going to landfills. Awareness was created through puppet shows, rallies, kiosks and selfie zones in key locations. School children also participated actively in the awareness campaign.

The campaign saw waste management best practices and innovations being exhibited by different stakeholders from each ward including waste entrepreneurs, volunteers and the 'safaimitra', households, small-scale vendors, citizen groups, Self Help Groups, Urban Local Bodies and Resident Welfare Associations and so on. The most innovative and impactful initiatives by different stakeholder groups were acknowledged through a public felicitation programme, on Friday, October 1.

Mr. Vadiraj Kulkarni , Divisional Chief Executive , Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division, ITC Limited, said, "We at ITC are proud to be partnering the State Governments and the Municipal Corporations to create an enabling ecosystem to foster best practices in waste management, towards a shared goal of nurturing a circular economy. ITC has been spearheading a large-scale solid waste management initiative through its flagship Wellbeing out of waste 'WOW' program, which reaches out to over 1.5 crore citizens across the country. We stand committed to significantly strengthening our waste management initiatives, including in the national capital, in days to come." ITC's waste management programme aims to ensure that 100% of packaging introduced by the company is reusable, recyclable, or compostable in the next decade.

ITC's WOW initiative is aligned with the Government of India's 'Swachh Bharat' mission where the objective is to create public education and awareness on the importance of source segregation, in order to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste to optimize resource use and lessen the burden on the planet. It also promotes sustainable livelihoods for rag-pickers and waste collectors. The programme has been carried out extensively over the last decade across various parts of India During the year (2020-21), the ITC WOW programme continued to be executed in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hyderabad, major towns of Telangana, Coimbatore, Chennai, Tirupur, Cochin, Muzaffarpur, Delhi and major districts of Andhra Pradesh.

The quantum of dry waste collected during the year was about 70,900 MT from 1,067 wards. The programme has covered over 1.5 crore citizens, 38.26 lakh households, 52 lakh school children and around 2,040 corporates across the country. It creates sustainable livelihood for over 16,900 waste collectors by facilitating an effective collection system in collaboration with municipal corporations. The intervention has also created over 140 social entrepreneurs who are involved in maximising value capture from dry waste collected.
Jaipur, Oct 1 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah found special praise from an unusual quarter on Friday -- senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, who was addressing the media here.

Singh said, "Amit Shah had made comprehensive arrangements for food and lodging when I undertook the Narmada Parikrama." "It was election time there. We were passing through jungles when a forest department official came to me and said that you are passing through forests, so we have been told by Amit Shah to make roads and provide food and lodging. As Amit Shah cooperated, I thanked him," he said.

While praising Shah on the one hand, Singh also took a dig at the RSS, saying that it is not a registered body.

"Till date it (RSS) has not been registered. When it is not registered, it can't have its own account. So where does the entire 'Dakshina' (donations) get deposited," he asked.

In Jaipur, Singh held several political meetings, besides addressing the media at the party's state headquarters here.

He held meetings with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot and also participated in a programme to mark the birthday of state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed farmers issues. The meeting was held at the Prime Minister's official residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg here.

It is learnt that Channi in his first meeting with the Prime Minister after becoming chief minister of Punjab requested that the Centre take back its decision to postpone paddy procurement by 10 days. The Centre has postponed the procurement of paddy by 10 days due to rain in Punjab and Haryana. Earlier the procurement was supposed to start from October 1 but now it will start from October 11.

"The chief minister has raised the issue of postponement of paddy procurement and requested to withdraw the order and immediately start the procurement," sources said.

The sources said that the Punjab chief minister also discussed issues concerning the development of the state.

It is learnt that Channi discussed the three new farm laws against which farmers have been protesting for almost a year. "Punjab chief minister Channi has requested the Prime Minister to repeal the three new farm laws or find a solution to end the farmers' protest," sources said.

Last month, the Congress high command made Channi the chief minister of Punjab replacing Amarinder Singh. Channi reached the national capital on Friday afternoon around 3 p.m. and later went to meet the Prime Minister.

There is speculation that Channi will meet former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other senior party leaders before returning to Punjab. Channi is likely to discuss the ongoing crisis in the Punjab Congress unit with the party central leadership after the resignation of Navjot Singh Sidhu from the post of state unit chief. Before coming to the national capital, Channi met Sidhu on Thursday.
New York, Oct 1 : A global flu outbreak continues to be a "serious and real" risk to human beings more than the ongoing Covid-19, according to infectious disease experts.

According to Professor Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, a global influenza outbreak could be far worse than the Covid pandemic, with models suggesting that it could kill up to 33 million people in the first six months, The Telegraph reported.

"Prior to Covid-19, influenza pandemics were the number one biological risk to humans and this hasn't changed," Osterholm was quoted as saying.

"During the 100 years between 1918 and 2018, we had four influenza pandemics. This clearly illustrates that the risk of pandemic influenza is a serious and real threat. The question is not if we will have another influenza pandemic, but when," he said.

Osterholm was speaking at the launch of a roadmap to develop vaccines against both seasonal flu -- expected to rise this year -- as well as pandemic influenza, by the World Health Organisation along with several other organisations.

Influenza kills 290,000 to 650,000 people per year, disproportionately affecting those in lower- and middle-income countries. The world has historically experienced an influenza pandemic once every 25 years.

The roadmap sets out what is needed for the development of new vaccines from better understanding of the immune response to flu to ensuring sustainable funding.

According to the experts, current flu vaccines are based on technology first developed in the 1940s and need to be formulated every year depending on what strains of the disease are circulating.

While there has been "incremental" improvement in vaccine development in the last 10 years, "we still do not have a vaccine that protects against stronger strains for a longer amount of time", Dr Martin Friede, vaccines expert at the WHO, was quoted as saying.

The ultimate goal is for a universal flu vaccine that would not have to be administered every year, was effective against many different strains and could be used in low and middle income countries.

There is also an urgent need for vaccines against pandemic influenza and experts hope that the lessons of the Covid pandemic can be learned.
New Delhi/Gwadar, Oct 1 : Thousands of people from different areas of Gwadar and Turbat in Balochistan province of Pakistan staged a protest demonstration against non-availability of basic amenities and shortage of drinking water, health, education facilities and increasing unemAployment in Gwadar and other areas of Makran division, the Dawn reported.

Seneral secAretary of Jamaat-i-Islami's Balochistan chapter Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman Baloch led the protest procession in Gwadar on Thursday. It later turned into a big public meeting at Shuhada Jewani Chowk.

Speaking on the occasion, Maulana Baloch strongly criticised the government and the authorities concerned and said that over the last 70 years the successive governments had failed to resolve basic issues of the people of Makran and Gwadar, the report said.

"We are demanding basic rights of the people of Gwadar and Turbat which have been usurped by the rulers and the people have even been deprived of drinking water, health and education facilities and since the government has allowed big trawlers to fish at Makran Coast, local fishermen were also not able to earn their livelihood," he said.

The Jamaat leader said that it was the responsibility of the state to solve problems of the masses, but it had not been fulfilling its responsibilities for the last 70 years.

"I announce a jihad against atrocities and injustices being committed against the people of Gwadar and Makran," the Jamaat leader said, as per the report.

He said that despite the construction of the Gwadar seaport, people of the area were still jobless and the government had done nothing for providing jobs to them.

He said that thousands of people had come here from far-flung areas of Gwadar and Kech districts and taken to the streets to force the government to ensure provision of their basic rights of jobs, drinking water and education, the Dawn reported.
New Delhi, Oct 1: As life rapidly comes back to normal in India after being hit by a brutal second wave of Covid 19, economic and trade activities between India and South Korea are expected to pick up steam.

Bilateral trade between India and South Korea touched $21.5 billion only in 2018 -- crossing the $20 billion mark for the first time despite the trade pact -- Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CEPA) that was signed in 2010.

"The target is to touch $50 billion by 2030," Chang Jae-bok, South Korea's Ambassador to India told India Narrative. "South Korea and India have a special relation and we will have talks (to figure out) how to boost trade further," he said, speaking on the sidelines of the 10-day 'Korea fair in India'.

The two countries are expected to focus on ways that to strengthen political and security co-operation as well.

Change said that several Korean companies are interested in investing in India. "We also need Indian companies to go to Korea and invest there," he said.

There are about 750 Korean companies operating in India. But the number is significantly lower compared to other Asian countries such as Vietnam, which has about 7000.

South Korean culture, music, food and even language are gaining popularity like never before in India.

"Korean language has been made part of the school curriculum since last year, we hope that more and more schools start teaching Korean," Change, who assumed charge in July, said.

Just before leaving India, former South Korean ambassador to India Shin Bongkil said that Covid-19 pandemic showcased India as the next investment destination.

However, Shin also said that while many global companies across the world are looking to invest in India, the country must upgrade the essential infrastructures and be better prepared in the future to avoid any disruptions caused by any crisis.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) from South Korea into India up to September 2020 stood at $6.94 billion.

South Korean major Seoul Semiconductor in June announced its keenness to set up a research & development (R&D) facility in Haryana.

The company will expand its existing operations to cater to the needs of the Indian market and customers. Later it is expected to set up a manufacturing unit in the state. South Korean majors including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai, LG Electronics, Doosan Heavy Industries are among those that are already operating in India.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Bengaluru, Oct 1 : A Bengaluru journalist, whose wife and three children had committed suicide, was taken into custody on Friday, after their death notes were found to blame him for their taking the ultimate step, according to police sources.

Shankar, aka Hallagere Shankar, has been booked for abetment of suicide.

Police have recovered death notes, spanning over 20 pages, written by daughters Sinchana, and Sindhoorani and son Madhu Sagar from the residence, squarely blaming him. Madhu Sagar alleged that his father was a womaniser and also harassed his mother and daughters inside the house while posing as a decent person for the outside world.

The horrific incident had come to light on September 17 when Shankar's wife, his two daughters, and a son were found hanging at their residence in Bengaluru's Tigalarapalya. His nine-month-old baby grandson was also found dead.

The bodies were found in a decomposed state.

However, Sinchana's two and half year old daughter - who lived in the house amidst dead bodies - for five days was rescued.

The post-mortem report of the baby revealed that the toddler was suffocated to death by mother Sindhoorani with a piece of cloth, before she killed herself.

Later, the police have recovered death notes from the residence, wherein all family members alleged that their father Shankar's recklessness, extra-marital affairs and ill-treatment were the reasons for their death.

The police have recovered three laptops, two i-pods, and mobiles from the spot and they are retrieving the data to find out more details of the case.

Shankar's two sons-in-law are also being questioned in connection with the case.

Shankar claimed that his wife and two daughters did not take his advice to lead a peaceful life and fought with him. However, the death notes told a different story of his torture. The daughters said that they had nowhere to go as they were harassed by their husbands and not supported by the father.
Hyderabad, Oct 1 : Police in Telangana's Warangal town arrested the husband of a corporator on Sunday for allegedly raping a 27-year-old woman by cheating her in the name of marriage.

Akuthota Shirish, who was absconding for last one week, was arrested on Friday. He was produced before the Additional First Class Magistrate, who sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

Police had registered a case at Azam Jahi Mills Police Station against Shirish on September 23 on a complaint by the victim, who alleged that he called her to his house and sexually assaulted her.

The police had booked him under Indian Penal Code's (IPC) Sections 376 (rape), 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

The victim, a M.Tech degree holder, alleged that Shirish cheated her with the false promise of marrying her. She also alleged that he forced her to have sex.

According to the complainant, Shirish also forced him to sell her land and give him the money (Rs 90 lakh) with the promise that he will invest the same in business. The victim told police that he also used her credit cards and gold ornaments.

The woman said after recently learning that he was already married and had a daughter, she demanded to marry her. The accused not only rejected the demand but threatened her.

The complainant told police that she went to his house on August 20, demanding that he at least return her money. She said Shirish and his father used abusive language against her. She following mediation by two persons, including a news channel reporter, Shirish returned her gold ornaments.

She then approached police for justicce.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Friday urged the country's young start-ups to come up with innovative and out-of-the-box solutions to the everyday problems faced by the elderly. Naidu said that taking care of the elderly should not be the responsibility of the government alone and each one of us should come forward and join this noble cause.

Addressing the gathering after presenting the National Award -Vayoshreshtha Samman-2021 here, the Vice President said that he would prefer to call the senior citizens 'elders' rather than 'older persons'. He also launched the SACRED (Senior Able Citizens for Re-Employment in Dignity) portal to connect the senior citizens with job providers in the private sector.

Referring to the LASI report-2020, he said that more than 50 per cent of senior citizens are active and therefore, it is very important to provide gainful employment opportunities to them for a happy, healthy, empowered and self-reliant life. He urged the private sector to join the new portal and benefit from the skills and experience of the elders.

Naidu launched a National Helpline (Elder Line) during the award function. Noting that senior citizens are a highly vulnerable group, the Vice President lauded the helpline in bringing in an easy and efficient grievance redressal mechanism to protect them. He also appreciated SAGE (Seniorcare Aging Growth Engine) portal designed by the Ministry to encourage entrepreneurs in the area of elderly care.

The United Nations General Assembly had adopted a resolution to observe October 1, 1999 as the 'International Day of Older Persons' and since then, the first day of October every year is celebrated as the International Day of Older Persons, worldwide. On this occasion, the Government of India confers 'National Award-Vayoshreshtha Samman' on eminent senior citizens and institutions in recognition of their service to elderly persons.

Noting that the Covid pandemic has severely affected everyone including the senior citizens, Naidu called upon the civil society and voluntary organisations to act as a support system to the elderly and supplement the efforts of the Government and its agencies.

Observing that the elderly population in India is projected to reach about 14.9 per cent by 2036, Naidu recalled India's rich tradition of respecting and caring for the elderly. "Under the joint family system, they enjoyed a place of reverence and influence, guiding and advising the younger generation on the strength of their knowledge, wisdom and long years of experience," he said.

He added that with changing times and erosion of the traditional values, these days many young children do not have the privilege of enjoying the tender care, love, affection and guidance of the older generation as was available in joint families.

Referring to the various challenges to the well being of the elderly, Naidu said that the Government and Parliament are taking necessary initiatives to create the right policy framework for the care of the elderly.
After the abrogation of article 370, Pakistan faces a credibility crisis in Kashmir as it failed to orchestrate large-scale terror attacks and social unrest. At this moment, when, in Pakistan's calculations, India is vulnerable due to recent developments in Afghanistan, the US' embarrassing withdrawal, and fears of China's escalation in Ladakh, Pakistan is likely to intensify militancy in Kashmir. Further, high levels of public alienation due to the end of special status and decades of jihadist radicalization will ensure massive support to Taliban, AQ, and IS-styled radical jihadist infiltrators.

Analysis India's three-decade-old Pakistan-sponsored Islamist militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir stands vulnerable to intensified terrorist violence with the Taliban takeover. Pakistan, facing heat from the FATF pressure, is likely to shift terror training camps from the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) to Afghanistan as Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, on account of Taliban's endemic ties with the GHQ Rawalpindi, will be like a de facto Pakistani colony and a favourite safe-haven for jihadists of all hues and colors. Such an exercise equips Islamabad with much-needed deniability in a major terror attack by a Pak-sponsored terrorist group in India. Also, it will help in easing off the FATF pressure.

Reportedly, training of the cadres of India-focussed terror groups has already begun in Afghanistan, in the Taliban training camps. In April 2020, in a raid at Taliban camp in Nangarhar, the Afghan Security Forces killed ten militants of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), a Kashmir-focussed terror group responsible for some of the deadliest fidayeen attacks like Pulwama (2019), Pathankot(2016), and the parliament attack(2001). After the abrogation of article 370, Pakistan is trying to revive Al Badr, a Kashmiri terror group active in the 1990s. After the 1990s, Al Badr went dormant in Kashmir; however, it sustained its presence in the FATA region and cultivated strong links with Haqqanis and the Taliban. Reportedly, its present commander, Hamza Burhan, a resident of Pulwama, met Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a pro-Taliban leader and Hizb-e-Islami chief. It seems the ISI has revived Al Badr in Kashmir because the latter can have better coordination with Taliban foreign terrorists due to its generational ties.

Pakistan may divert a segment of the Taliban's battle-hardened terrorists to Kashmir for the following reasons. After three decades of a war-like jihadist lifestyle, they may not be an ideal fit for governance-related positions, and keeping them idle may transform them into an internal security challenge for Pakistan. Sending them to Kashmir in a calculated and well-strategized manner may be the best bet for Pakistan and perhaps for its benefactor China, to keep the region on the boil and keep India under pressure and boxed in. It serves the Chinese interests as they would focus on consolidating in the Indian Ocean, where the Indian Navy continues to be a force to reckon with. India's headaches in Kashmir are likely to adversely impact its counter-measures against the Chinese moves in the Indian Ocean.

Reportedly, terrorist commanders from PoK have instructed the valley-based terrorist leadership to lie low and protect themselves for another month and a half to two months, with the promise of intensifying militancy and social unrest after that by sending foreign fighters. In the short run, Pakistan may confine itself to a medium-level terror strike in Kashmir to test India's response. However, in the long run i.e. after seven-eight months when Islamabad is done with providing a semblance of stability-cum-establishment to Taliban and some rudimentary level of diplomatic recognition for Taliban as a counterweight or evil necessity against ISIS-K, Pakistan is likely to focus its proxy assets on India and intensify terror attacks/radicalisation/communal riots and other forms of sabotage in Kashmir as well as other states of India.

Reportedly, 150-300 Kashmiris who fled Kashmir in the 90s and 2000s have fought alongside the Taliban, on the assurance of the latter, helping them in Kashmir. According to the author's informed interlocutors, some of the prominent Kashmiris commanders active in Afghan theatre are Nasarallah Hasan, who reportedly has robust ties with Sirajuddin Haqqani, Ayub Bangroo, and Majid Bangroo. Deobandi-leaning terrorist groups like HuJi (Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami), JeM and HuM (Harkat-ul-Mujahidin) have generational ties with the Taliban. Most of their leaders, including Masood Azhar, Sadatullah, and Maulana Fazlur Rahman Khalil, began their careers in anti-Soviet Jihad. Also, they come from Deobandi fortresses of Binoria and Haqqania madrasa, also the intellectual nurseries of the Taliban. Reportedly, 10,000 JeM and LeT fighters fought alongside the Taliban in the battles against the Afghan forces and Americans. Taliban is likely to reward them by rendering them support in Kashmir.

In the Taliban regime, Afghanistan is likely to become 'Jihad central,' in the words of India's former R&AW chief Vikram Sood. Jihadist groups of all flavors are likely to flourish under the protective umbrella of ISI. Among them, Al Qaeda and ISKP will pose a serious threat to India's national security. AQIS, AQ's South-Asian affiliate, has been attempting to find a foothold in India. In the past, its affiliated groups like Indian Mujahidin and SIMI carried a series of terror attacks before the Indian agencies dismantled their modules. In his video message (July, 2019) on Kashmir, AQ chief, Ayman al Zawahiri displayed his keen interest in expanding in Kashmir.

Further, many top-level leaders of ISKP have Lashkar background and are from Kashmir, substantial proof of its linkages with the ISI. ISKP also has robust ties with the Haqqanis, a 'veritable arm' of ISI. ISKP has targeted Indian interests in Afghanistan. They are likely to ramp up their activities in India, and it will not be confined to Kashmir. IS' khilafat model, proving the possibility of realization of the sharia-ruled state, attracted Indians to IS, who, for long, kept their distance from AQ. In 2016, the ISI facilitated ISKP's recruitment in India; as a result, about 100 individuals from India's southern state Kerala, the new hub of Islamist radicalization, joined ISKP. Under the Taliban's regime, this trend may witness an upward trajectory. Also, ISKP's brand may lure Indians from other states to join Jihad in Kashmir. This is worrisome because so far, non-Kashmiri Indian Muslims have stayed away from Islamist insurgency in Kashmir. Also, India's communally polarised socio-political milieu adds fuel to the fire and provides a fertile ground for ISKP and AQ's expansion.

Turkey's presence in Afghanistan can also be problematic for India. Lately, after the abrogation of Kashmir's special status, Erdogan voiced strong protest against India. Since 2016, Turkey has also expanded its outreach among Indian Muslims, mostly with the Islamist tone and tenor for gaining support for Erdogan. Turkish president Erdogan has made soft-power inroads in Kashmir. Turkey's presence in Afghanistan raises strong possibilities of SADAT, Erdogan's private army, known for training jihadists in Syria and Libya, training Kashmiri militants. Turkey helping terrorist groups with advanced drone technology, used in smuggling weapons and infiltration, is also an alarming but realistic possibility.

India also needs to worry about the 600,000 assault rifles and pistols left by Americans. Kashmiri militants have been facing massive weapons shortages for the last five-six years. M4 Carbines, pistols, RPGs, Pika guns, and missiles are likely to be used by terrorists in Kashmir. Taliban's rise to power will also give a fillip to drugs smuggling for terror financing. Drug addiction is already a significant challenge in India's Punjab and Kashmir.

Another factor that may embolden Pakistan is that now FATF pressure appears to be increasingly ineffective. Since Pakistan has emerged as a central player with leverage and penetration to manage unstable Afghanistan, with both the US and China dependent on Pakistan, Pakistan is least likely to face problems in receiving aid money and face diplomatic humiliation in global forums like UNSC and FATF. As a result, Pakistan is much less likely to bother about the FATF. Also, after the US withdrawal, there has been a sharp decline in its credibility as a reliable ally. Hence, the Pak-China combine may attempt to test India's patience. After the Balakot airstrikes, Pakistan's nuclear blackmail was shattered, making Pakistan apprehensive of India's retaliation in future terror attacks. However, after the Taliban conquest and worsening India-China ties (Galwan clash), Pakistan believes India is vulnerable. Hence, Pakistan may test India's red-lines through a major terror strike. Besides, Xi Jinping facing serious leadership challenges in the CCP may open up the Ladakh front to make quick territorial gains. To divert India's resources, Beijing may ask Pakistan to boil LoC, organize terror strikes and street anarchy in Kashmir, rendering the Indian forces' movement difficult.

Radicalisation Challenges A section of Indian Muslims, including some prominent intellectual and journalistic voices, perceive the Taliban as freedom fighters. For radical extremists, the Taliban's win is the victory of Islamic forces against infidels. The establishment of the sharia-state in Afghanistan and IS' caliphate (destroyed now) has presented a successful model of sharia state for the radical elements. Taliban's strengthening will intensify jihadist radicalization in India, in general. Though India's Deoband is cross with Pakistan's Deoband, i.e., Taliban and JeM's religious ideology, there are pockets of sympathy. JeM will try to expand and capture recruits from those Deobandi pockets of sympathy spread across the country. Additionally, the radicalization of Indian Muslims will lead to more social frictions and violent communal riots, resulting in more acrimony and terrorist recruitment. Taliban's sharia state model will also strengthen radicalisation trends in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and the Maldives. Reportedly, some youth crossed into India from Bangladesh to join the Taliban. Lastly, if radical Islamist spreads to Central Asia, Pakistan will get strategic depth there also, again a loss for India.

(Abhinav Pandya is the founder and CEO of Usanas Foundation, an India-based geopolitical and security affairs think-tank. The article has been published with permission from Usanas Foundation) (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Kolkata, Oct 1 : A day after Bengal BJP show-caused the party's MLA from Raiganj, Krishna Kalyani, for speaking against the party's Raiganj MP and former Union minister Debasree Chaudhuri, Kalyani resigned from the party on Friday.

However, Kalyani did not resign from the legislative Assembly, nor did he say anything about joining any other party.

Terming Raiganj MP Debasree Chowdhury as a traitor, the BJP MLA said, "I have come here to give service to the people. I cannot work with people who are more interested in other things and so I resigned. More specifically, I resigned because of Debasree Chowdhury. She has back-stabbed me. I cannot work with people like her." When asked about Kalyani's allegations, Chowdhury said, "I never had a word with him. We have had no quarrel, but for the last few days he has been engaged in all sorts of anti-party activities. He has also spoken against me, the reason for which is best known to him. In this condition, the party has asked for an explanation." State BJP President Sukanta Majumdar said, "Kalyani was show-caused because he was making statements that were not good for the image of the party. Without replying, he preferred to resign. It is his personal choice, but I believe dialogue could solve all the problems. He should have spoken with the party leaders before resigning." BJP Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said, "He was supposed to answer the show-cause notice, but he resigned. If he is a man with a backbone, why didn't he resign from being an MLA? He should resign first, else he will face action. His condition will be the same as Mukul Roy. We will fight till the end," Adhikari said.

However, Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy said, "There are more in the queue. The film is yet not over. No right-thinking people can stay with them (BJP)." Kalyani is the fifth MLA after Mukul Roy to leave the party after the Assembly election results were declared earlier this year.

Kalyani, however, didn't divulge the details of his future plan of action, but sources said that he is likely to join the Trinamool.
Mumbai, Oct 1 : Bollywood actress Zarine Khan was among the 35 corona warriors honoured by Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari with the Lok Seva Gaurav Puraskar.

The award presentation ceremony, which took place at the Raj Bhawan in Mumbai on Thursday, was also attended by Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale.

Khan, who was recently seen in the film 'Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele' on Disney+ Hotstar, was the only film personality to receive the award.

In her acceptance speech, Khan thanked the Governor for "appreciating" her efforts and said: "It is truly an honour to be presented with such a notable award. Being present here at the Raj Bhavan among all these famous personalities is a matter of prestige for anybody."
Washington, Oct 1 : Merck on Friday announced its anti-viral drug has shown "compelling results" in clinical trials -- halving the risk of hospitalisation or death for patients with mild or moderate cases of Covid.

Molnupiravir, co-developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is administered orally and works by inhibiting the replication of the coronavirus inside the body. The companies plan to seek emergency authorisation for the drug in the US as soon as possible, the company said in a statement.

An interim analysis of a Phase-3 study, based on 775 trial participants, found that 7.3 per cent of patients treated with molnupiravir were hospitalised within 29 days. Of the patients who received a placebo, 14.1 per cent were hospitalised or died by day 29. No deaths were reported in patients who were given molnupiravir within the 29-day period, while eight deaths were reported in placebo-treated patients.

The drug's efficacy was not affected by timing of symptom onset or underlying risk factor. In addition, based on the participants with available viral sequencing data (approximately 40 per cent of participants), molnupiravir demonstrated consistent efficacy across viral variants Gamma, Delta, and Mu.

"With these compelling results, we are optimistic that molnupiravir can become an important medicine as part of the global effort to fight the pandemic," Merck CEO and President Robert M. Davis, said in the statement.

"We will continue to work with regulatory agencies on our applications and do everything we can to bring molnupiravir to patients as quickly as possible," he added.

Moreover, adverse events were comparable in the molnupiravir and placebo groups, with around 10 per cent reporting adverse events. The Phase 3 trial was conducted at more than 170 sites, in countries including the US, Brazil, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Taiwan, and Guatemala.

Molnupiravir has also been shown to be active in several preclinical models of SARS-CoV-2, including for prophylaxis, treatment, and prevention of transmission.

If authorised by regulatory bodies, molnupiravir could be the first oral antiviral medicine for Covid. Antiviral treatments now in use, such as remdesivir, are administered intravenously, CNBC reported.

Merck has already begun producing molnupiravir. The pharmaceutical giant expects to produce 10 million courses of treatment by the end of 2021, and more doses in 2022.

The company agreed earlier this year to supply the US with around 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir if it receives emergency use authorisation or full approval from the FDA.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Hyderabad, Oct 1 : Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday proposed a Green Fund to support various activities to improve the green cover in the state.

Speaking in State Assembly, he mooted the fund which will have participation of all segments of people with some monetary contribution.

Officials said Telangana will become the first state in the country to come up with Green Fund.

Money for the Telangana Haritha Fund (Telangana Green Fund) is proposed be mobilised from people at the time of registration of their property, renewal of their licenses, and admission of students into schools and colleges.

Rao said Members of Parliament, Members of Legislative Assembly, and Members of Legislative Council will contribute Rs 500 every month. Public representatives of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) have already agreed to make the contribution, he said and appealed to all the opposition parties to come forward.

Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, and Indian Forest Service officers will contribute Rs 100 every month from their salary towards the Fund. Every other state government employee will contribute Rs 25 per month.

Similarly, it is proposed that traders will pay Rs 1,000 each for the Green Fund at the time of renewal of licenses for their trade, shops, bars, and liquor shops.

Pointing out that every day 8,000 property and land registrations take place in the state, he said there is a proposal to collect Rs 50 from each transaction.

KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, said he spoke to public representatives, officials and employees who are ready to contribute.

There is also a proposal to charge 0.1 per cent on government contract works, which will be collected by the Roads and Buildings Department.

He said the state government would bring the proposed Fund to the notice of the Central government.

He mooted the proposal during short-duration discussion on 'Haritha Haram', the flagship programme of the state government for plantation across the state.

KCR was confident that Green Fund will make Telangana a role model in another sector. "Like many schemes of Telangana, this will also become a role model," he said.
Bengaluru, Oct 1 : The ruling BJP in Karnataka is all set to announce a Rs 6,000 crore package for the development of Bengaluru, also known as the Silicon Valley of India, ahead of the civic polls to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

Sources said that with the announcement of the special package, the ruling BJP will aim to restore its image in the city as its people had to put up with the worst condition of roads caused by incessant rains.

The special package will focus on asphalting of roads, peripheral ring roads and other infrastructure activities. The matter of BBMP elections is presently with the Supreme Court and the polls are likely to be announced in the months of February or March next year.

Last December, former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa had kickstarted the 'Bengaluru Mission 2022' to provide fundamental infrastructure, improve transport system, ensure hygiene, make Bengaluru a green city besides ensuring digital services.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is announcing the special package with new objectives and also by including the main points of 'Bengaluru Mission 2022'.

Upgrading of about 190 km of 12 arterial roads with more traffic congestion, rejuvenation of 25 lakes, beautification of 20 lakes and stormwater drains, building a study centre for waste management, creation of mega tree parks in 400 acres of land in satellite towns, single-window agency for public grievance etc. are on the agenda of the BJP government.

Revenue Minister R. Ashok stated that Bommai will announce the special package within 15 days. But he declined to comment on whether this is being done for the purpose of the polls.

Sources said that Bommai is very keen to win the BBMP polls and please the party high command and prove that being a north Karnataka leader, he can secure victory in south Karnataka as well.

The BBMP council's term ended a year ago and an administrator took over operations of the civic body.

The government passed the BBMP Act, 2020, which provides for 243 wards. Presently, there are 198 wards and the delimitation process is underway.
New York, Oct 1 : The producer of the Sundance prize-winning Swedish documentary, 'Sabaya', has defended himself against an investigative story published in 'The New York Times' claiming that many of the Yazidi women portrayed in the film had never agreed to be a part of it, according to report in Variety.com.

The much-acclaimed film, directed, shot and edited by Hogir HIrori, follows the actions of a group that, braving all kinds of risks, sets out to rescue Yazidi women held by the ISIS as sex slaves in the Midde East's most dangerous Al-Hawl camp.

In a statement issued on Thursday evening, the producer, Antonio Russo Merenda, said that director Hirori and he had "received written, verbal or filmed consent from everyone who appears" in 'Sabaya', and from the legal guardian of the young girl who is featured in the film.

Merenda also provided statements from one of the main female protagonists of 'Sabaya', as well as from a Syrian Kurdish filmmaker who worked with Hirori. He also presented a letter from the Swedish Film Institute, which had financed the documentary.

'The New York Times' article, according to Variety.com, claimed the women portrayed in the film received the consent forms electronically and in English - a language they did not understand - almost two years after they'd been filmed and after the movie had been screened. The director had said to the 'Times' that he "initially recorded verbal consent from the women" and planned on having them sign the written releases during his next trip, but he had been delayed because of the pandemic.

Merenda said in his statement that 'Sabaya' is "a Swedish production following Swedish law," which says that "written, verbal and filmed consent are equally valid." He also said the releases "were provided in both Arabic (the official language in both Syria and Iraq) and English."
Jaipur, Oct 1 : Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Friday levelled serious allegations against the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and demanded an inquiry by a Supreme Court judge into the Mundra Port heroin seizure, saying that he has no trust in the NIA.

Speaking to the media at the Congress state headquarters, Digvijaya Singh said, "All accused in Ajmer Dargah blast, Mecca Masjid case, Samjhauta blast, Malegaon blast were acquitted. That's why we don't trust the NIA. While the aim of the investigating agency is to send criminals to jail, the Modi-Shah government has acquitted all those who were involved in terrorist activities," he added.

Singh said that the investigation of heroin traced from Mundra port should be done by a Supreme Court judge, instead of the NIA and this judge should be appointed by a committee consisting of the Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice.

He also commented on the media and said that If 300-400 gram ganja (a drug) was seized from Bollywood actors, it would make big news, but even after a huge stock of heroin was seized at Mundra Port, there is silence.

Singh however remained silent when asked about cabinet expansion in Rajasthan, the G-23 group in the Congress and other national issues of the party.

"I neither have any AICC portfolio nor am I a Rajasthan Congress spokesperson," he said.

He charged that the ED and IT department are raiding opposition figures under Modi's rule. Terming demonetisation as the biggest scam, he said, "Demonetisation was introduced to end fake currency and terrorism. If demonetisation was done to stop black money, then how did the currency in the country increase from 17 lakh crores to 26.7 lakh crores. The maximum number of new currency notes went to the Cooperative Bank of Gujarat, which comes under Amit Shah. The Special Investigation Team report in the matter is pending till date," he added.
Colombo, Oct 1 : The Foreign Secretary of India, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, will arrive in Sri Lanka on a four-day visit Saturday.

The Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka said in a statement that the Indian Foreign Secretary's visit is on an invitation from Lankan Foreign Secretary Admiral Jayanath Colombage.

During his four-day visit, Shringla is scheduled to meet President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris.

"The visit will contribute towards consolidating the longstanding multifaceted relations and enhance bilateral partnerships between the two countries," the statement said.

In his first visit to Sri Lanka since assumption of office, Shringla will visit the historical city of Kandy, besides going to the former war-torn Northern and Eastern cities of Trincomalee and Jaffna.
Gurugram, Oct 1 : Commuters on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway were stuck in heavy traffic for hours on Friday evening.

During the busy evening hours, the traffic was completely choked on most major crossings on the National Highway.

Thousands of commuters on the stretch, travelling between the Delhi-Gurugram border to enter Delhi took hours to cross the border. Commuters hit the snarl as soon as they entered the Sarhaul border and moved bumper to bumper till Rajokri flyover in Delhi.

The reason behind the massive jam was the evening rush hours which slowed down vehicle movement.

Gurugram police personnel were present on the spot trying to smoothen traffic movement.

"We are keeping a close watch on peak hour traffic. The peak hour slow traffic movement is a daily phenomenon. We have highway inspectors checking expressway traffic all the time," said a traffic police officer.

Traffic jams started from the Delhi-Gurugram border from 6.15 p.m. and kept on growing from Shankar Chowk in Gurugram till Rajokri flyover in Delhi as office goers started returning to Delhi from Gurugram.

The Gurugram police has deployed inspector-rank officers in the Delhi-Gurugram border area on the Expressway for smooth traffic movement.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the government is in talks with some groups of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), seeking a reconciliation, the Dawn reported.

"There are different groups which form the TTP and some of them want to talk to our government for peace. So, we are in talks with them. It's a reconciliation process," Khan said during an interview with the TRT World.

When asked if the government is asking them to lay down arms, the Prime Minister responded: "Yes, we forgive them and they become normal citizens." When asked why the TTP was carrying out attacks on Pakistani security forces when they were in talks with the government, Khan said it was just a "spate of attacks".

"We might not reach some sort of conclusion or settlement in the end, but we are talking," he added.

Responding to another query on whether the Afghan Taliban were acting as mediators between the TTP and Pakistan, Khan said: "Since the talks were taking place in Afghanistan, so in that sense, yes," the report added.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Microchip shortage along with high fuel prices heavily dented major automobile manufacturers' September sales on a year-on-year basis.

The semiconductor or microchip shortage has impacted the industry's production levels, extending the waiting period besides escalating prices.

Major automobile players such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor, Tata Motors and Mahindra reported an adverse impact on production that led to lesser dispatches.

Semiconductors play a critical part in the production of internal combustion engines. They are an integral part of all kinds of sensors and controls in any vehicle.

At present, these shortages have forced several original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to slow down production, thus further extending the waiting period for popular, feature-rich and high-end models.

Consequently, passenger car market leader Maruti Suzuki's total sales for the month under review fell to 86,380 units from 160,442 units sold in September 2020.

"Total sales in the month include domestic sales of 66,415 units, sales to other OEMs of 2,400 units and exports of 17,565 units," the company said in a statement.

"The sales volume of the company in September 2021 was adversely impacted due to shortage of electronic components. The company took all possible measures to limit the adverse impact," it added.

Hyundai Motor India said that cumulative sales in September fell to 45,791 units from 59,913 dispatched in the month of September 2020.

The domestic sales fell to 33,087 units from 50,313 units reported for the corresponding period of last year.

Similarly, the company shipped out 12,704 units in September from 9,600 units sold abroad in the like month of 2020.

Even as Tata Motors' domestic sales last month rose to 55,988 units from 44,410 units sold in September 2020, the company's Executive Director Girish Wagh said semiconductor shortage continues to impact the auto industry globally.

"The impact of supply shortage due to restrictions in East Asia continued in September, leading to moderation of production and offtake volumes. The situation is fluid and we continue to work to mitigate the impact on our customer orders through an agile, multi-pronged approach," he said.

Another auto giant Mahindra & Mahindra's overall passenger vehicle sales for September declined by 12 per cent to 13,134 units from 14,857 units sold during the corresponding period of 2020.

M&M's Chief Executive Officer (Automotive Division), Veejay Nakra, said: "The challenges around the supply of semiconductors continue to pose difficulties for the auto industry globally. We have taken several steps to mitigate the effect and are working towards managing the situation as best as possible."
Guwahati/Agartala, Oct 1 : Even as southwest monsoon rainfall in the country, according to the the India Meteorological Department (IMD), as a whole was "normal", six of the eight northeastern states witnessed deficient monsoon rains due to lack of rain bearing clouds and monsoon trough from the Bay of Bengal.

According to the IMD data, except Sikkim and Tripura, the six remaining northeastern states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram -- experienced deficit rains during the four-month long (June to September) southwest monsoon.

IMD (Tripura) Director Dilip Saha said that due to lack of rain bearing clouds, water vapour and monsoon trough from the Bay of Bengal, several northeastern states experienced deficient rainfall.

"However, there are at least 15 days left for the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon from the northeastern states. By the remaining two weeks, the deficiency of the rain might get covered before the formal withdrawal of the monsoon. The withdrawal of monsoon starts from the western region of the country and then from the northeastern region," Saha told IANS.

He said the monsoon trough accompanied by strong moisture incursion from Bay of Bengal mostly moved towards Odisha.

According to the IMD, during the four-month monsoon period, Manipur witnessed highest rainfall deficiency of 60 per cent, categorised as "large deficiency", followed by Nagaland (26 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (25 per cent), Assam and Mizoram (both 22 per cent), Meghalaya (21 per cent) and Tripura (15 per cent).

Sikkim, like previous years, experienced excess rainfall of 12 per cent during the monsoon period.

As per the IMD norms, up to 19 per cent deficient or excess rainfall is categorised as normal. The northeastern region normally witnesses normal or heavy rainfall during the four months of the southwest monsoon, and few states, especially, Assam gets badly affected by the recurring annual floods.

This year, according to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) officials, flood-related deaths in Assam were 10 while over 6.47 lakh people were affected in 22 of the state's 34 districts.

Monsoon floods also created havoc in various national parks in Assam, killing many wild and endangered animals, besides affecting domestic animals as well.

Agriculture experts said that at the moment there is no major threat to crops as irrigation facilities are more or less active in most parts of the northeastern region.

However, the Assam tea industry leaders apprehended that the prolonged drought-like situation during the pre-monsoon period (April-May) and in the beginning of the monsoon might cause a crop deficit this year, amounting to about 40 per cent, over the same period of 2019.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
Patna, Oct 1 : Bihar, as per its health infrastructure, is languishes last among all states and Union Territories, as per the latest report on health infrastructure at the district level, published by NITI Aayog.

As per the report, prepared with the help of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry and WHO India, Bihar has just six hospital beds for one lakh population as against the national standard of 24 beds per one lakh population. Puducherry tops the list with 222 beds per one lakh population.

Following the report, Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav "congratulated" Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the state's ranking.

"Congratulation to Nitish Kumar for ruling the state for the last 16 years with such a progress that it came to number one position from the bottom.

"Bihar has been tremendously benefitted from the double engine government with 39 out of 40 MPs belonging to NDA," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, state Minister Jiwesh Mishra, blamed the previous Lalu-Rabri governments for the poor result.

"The health infrastructure of Bihar is pathetic due to the 15 years tenure of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi government between 1990 to 2005. They did not make any effort to improve the health system of Bihar. Now, we are ruling the state and it will take some time to improve the health infrastructure," he said.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Amazon's clarification on legal professional charges is a blatant lie in order to hide its illegal business practices and is inconsistent with the regulatory filings of Amazon and its group companies, traders' body CAIT has said.

In a letter to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, CAIT said that Amazon has spent Rs 5,262 crore towards legal professionals.

Further, even if one were to accept Amazon's clarification that the legal charges were merely Rs 52 crore, Amazon must clarify without delay to whom was the remainder, i.e. Rs 5,210 crore, was paid as professional charges.

"Amazon is hell bent on discrediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tireless efforts to protect small traders and safeguard their interests. Amazon's business practices have instead been destroying these very traders and have caused large scale unemployment in the sector. It is only expedient in public interest that an urgent and time-bound inquiry by the CBI must be ordered into Amazon India's self-admitted charges," CAIT said.

"It is also suggested that Amazon India's operations, in all forms, must be suspended before it does any more damage or resorts to any other financial irregularity. A strong example must be set here so that it proves to be a deterrent for Amazon and companies like it from taking Indian law and government agencies for granted," CAIT added.
Dubai, Oct 1 : Venkatesh Iyer scored his second half-century in his fifth IPL match and Nitesh Rana blasted an 18-ball 31 but Punjab Kings came back strongly to restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to 165/7 in their 20 overs in a crucial IPL 2021 encounter here on Friday.

With both teams in the hunt for a place in the knockouts, Friday's clash between them was crucial as victory will maintain their hopes of reaching the playoffs. KL Rahul elected to field on winning the toss as he thought the team batting second will have a chance.

But the way Iyer went about the job of piling up runs, Rahul must have been worried for some time as KKR were cruising at 90/1 in the 12th over despite losing Shubman Gill early. Iyer scored his highest score of 67 but after his departure, KKR lost a couple of more wickets quickly and as has happened in the middle overs in the UAE leg of the IPL 2021, the bowling side came back to restrict them. Nitish Rana landed some lusty blows as he scored 31 off 18 balls to help KKR reach a defendable score. Arshdeep Singh claimed 3/32 while Ravi Bishnoi picked 2/22 to help Punjab Kings slow KKR's progress.

But the first innings belonged to Venkatesh Iyer as the Madhya Pradesh opener added to his growing reputation with another superb innings in his first IPL.

Though KKR lost Gill -- bowled by Arshdeep Singh off an inside edge -- early, they managed to reach 48/1 in the Powerplay with Iyer and Tripathi held the innings together as they pushed the score towards the three-figure mark before they lost their second wicket.

Iyer was the more aggressive and assertive as he struck some pleasing shots, a couple of switch hits in his nine boundaries catching the eye. He was not afraid to jump out to attack the spinners as Punjab skipper KL Rahul opened the attack with left-arm spinner Fabien Allan.

Tripathi kept the score moving, hitting some good shots of his own, a big six off Fabian Allen being the standout shot.

Iyer went with his job undeterred as he raced to his half-century, his second fifty in five innings, off 39 deliveries, hitting seven fours in the process. Iyer used the gaps in the field intelligently, placing the ball well as made his highest score in the IPL. He was caught by Deepak Hoods going for a six off Bishnoi while trying to push the scoring rate.

He was out with the score at 120 and KKR lost their way in the last five overs though Nitesh Rana struck two fours and two sixes to give it a little push. But in the end, their skipper Eoin Morgan, who was trapped lbw by Mohammed Shami for two, would be a bit disappointed as they lost a chance of posting a bigger total.

Punjab Kings made three changes to their squad. With Chris Gayle leaving the bubble, Fabian Allen comes in for him while Mayank Agarwal has recovered from the niggle and replaces Mandeep. PKBS also brought in Shahrukh Khan for Harpreet Brar.

KKR made two changes to their squad. Tim Seifert makes his debut, replacing Lockie Ferguson while Shivam Mavi came in for Sandeep Warrier.

Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders: 165/7 in 20 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 67, Rahul Tripathi 34, Nitish Rana 31; Arshdeep Singh 3/32, Ravi Bishnoi 2/22) against Punjab Kings.

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New Delhi, Oct 1 : Facebook-owned WhatsApp on Friday said it banned 20.7 lakh accounts in India in the month of August in accordance with the new IT Rules 2021.

In its second monthly report for the 30-day period of August 1-August 31, under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, WhatsApp received 420 grievances from users in India received via e-mails and mails sent to the India Grievance Officer via post. The platform acted upon 41 of those grievances.

"This user-safety report contains details of the user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp's own preventive actions to combat abuse on our platform," said a WhatsApp spokesperson.

In the period from June 16-July 31, WhatsApp had banned 30.2 lakh accounts in India in compliance with the new IT rules.

In its first monthly grievance redressal report, WhatsApp had banned 20 lakh accounts in India that attempted to send harmful or unwanted messages at scale.

"Our top focus is preventing accounts from sending harmful or unwanted messages at scale. We maintain advanced capabilities to identify these accounts sending a high or abnormal rate of messages," the company had said.

"Majority of users who reach out to us are either aiming to have their account restored following an action to ban them or reaching out for product or account support," it added.
Kolkata, Oct 1 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday hit out at the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for releasing water without informing the state government, leading to flood-like situation in the state.

The state government later informed that more than 22 lakh people have been affected because of the flood situation in seven districts of the state.

"They have released more than 1.5 lakh cusecs of water without even informing the state government. At the dead of the night, when all people are asleep, DVC has released the water. This is sin. This is a crime. I have told them many times to inform us before releasing water so that we can evacuate the people," a visibly angry Chief Minister said.

Terming the flood as 'man-made', Banerjee said, "There are several dams in Maithon-Panchet that are lying dysfunctional because of lack of dredging. The state government has written to the Jharkhand government several times to do the dredging but they are reluctant to do so. We are suffering because of them. Whenever there is heavy rain in Jharkhand, our state is the worst-affected".

Later in the day, the Chief Minister held a high-level meeting with the district administrations and took stock of the situation.

"More than 22 lakh people across seven districts have been affected because of the flood. The water of various rivers, including Ajay, is flowing over the danger line. More than one lakh houses have been damaged and agricultural land has been flooded," a senior official at the state secretariat said.

"More than four lakh people have been evacuated. The state has started 1,500 relief centres where more than two lakh people have been given shelter," he added.

The Chief Minister will go for an aerial survey to inspect the flood situation personally.

Earlier on Friday morning, the state government said that incessant rains coupled with the sudden release of water by DVC have led to a flood-like situation in six districts of the state.

The situation was such that the army and NDRF had to be called to assist the state government in the rescue operation in these areas. The situation is worst in districts like West and East Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Hooghly and Howrah.

According to highly-placed sources in the state government, eight companies of army have been deployed so far with three companies each for West Burdwan and Howrah and two companies for Hooghly's Khanakul and Arambagh areas.

Several areas of Asansol, particularly Railpar and Kalipahari, were underwater for which the army had to be deployed in these areas. In Asansol Municipal Corporation, 37 wards out of 106 were inundated. So far, 5,850 people have been evacuated and 36 relief camps have been opened in Asansol.

The army came with three boats from Panagarh while four teams of SDRF have already started the rescue operation. Valuables and cars and two-wheelers were also submerged as people were not prepared for such a situation.

Many people in Asansol took shelter on the roofs of their houses. Those living close to the Ajay river vacated the ground floors of their houses. The NH2 near Kalipahari in West Burdwan was also underwater, while the DRM office in Asansol was waterlogged.

"The areas under Asansol Municipal Corporation have been severely marooned. The villagers of Talbahari in Kanksa block near Ajay river were evacuated. Thirty families were shifted," Abhijit Shevale, ADM (G) of West Burdwan, said.

Many areas in Bankura were also inundated as the Durgapur barrage water reached Barjora.

In Hooghly, water of the Dwarakeswar river entered several areas in Arambagh. Even Khanakul was inundated and the water also affected traffic along the Kalipur-Garbeta Road.

The situation in Udaynarayanpur in Howrah is also critical.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : A number of explosions followed by some shootings were reported on Friday from Charikar district in Afghanistan's central Parwan province.

Some local sources claimed that Taliban fighters exchanged fire and blasts with Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K) fighters in the area. Casualties from both sides are expected, Raha News Agency reported.

However, some other sources said it was due to an operation of Taliban fighters against a local warlord associated with the ousted government. The Taliban are yet to make any comment.

As per earlier reports, Daesh fighters have been sighted in Herat province.

"Since some days, fighters associated with Daesh have been seen in Obe city and nearby areas, especially the main bazaar of the city," said local sources in Herat, Raha News Agency reported.

Riding horses, Daesh fighters were seen moving to different areas of the city, the local residents added.

Rejecting the claim, a Taliban official said that Islamic Emirate forces are everywhere to establish security at all areas of Herat province.

After the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Daesh had described them as 'infidels' and announced that they will target the Taliban leaders.

Since then, in several attacks in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, many Taliban fighters have been killed.

This comes as General Mark Milly, the chief of staff of America's army, told the Senate that Al-Qaeda has not cut ties with the Taliban. He said in 12 to 36 months, under the Taliban, Al-Qaeda will rebuild itself, the report said.
Srinagar, Oct 1 : A man allegedly involved in the killing of J&K Police Inspector Parvez Ahmad, who was shot dead on June 22 this year while on his way to the mosque for prayers, has been arrested, officials said on Friday.

The accused Muheeb Bashir Dar, son of Bashir Ahmad Dar, and resident of Manganwagi is also involved in many other terror-related incidents, police said.

Meanwhile, on a specific input regarding the movement of terrorists and their planning to attack security forces, a joint checkpoint was established at Mujhmarg Junction in Shopian by police, army, and the CRPF.

"During checking, a suspicious person, on seeing the search party, tried to flee from the spot but the alert party apprehended him," police said.

He has been identified as Kamran Bashir Hajam, resident of Babapora, an active terrorist of proscribed terror outfit LeT.

A hand grenade and 29 rounds of 7.62 mm calibre were recovered from his possession.

Police have registered a case and investigations are going on.
United Nations, Oct 1 : UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid said on Monday that he will appoint the leaders of the negotiating process for Security Council reforms, before the Assembly debate next month on the topic, to begin work early on the process.

"I intend to appoint them before the Security Council reform agenda debate - I think it is scheduled for November. And I will be appointing them before the debate so that work could begin," he said at a news conference.

About speeding up the reform, he said: "I wish I had the magic wand to fix it. But then, the United Nations Security Council reform is a membership-driven issue." But what he said that what he could do is appoint the co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN), as the process is called.

Shahid, who is the Foreign Minister of the Maldives, acknowledged that Council reform has been "on the plate of the General Assembly for far too long".

"In 1979, the Maldives was one of the countries who initially signed on to a group of ten countries to initiate the Security Council reform," he said.

"And I was only 17 years then," he said, and pointing to himself, he added, amidst laughter, "And look at what has happened to me since, and (it) is still there".

The IGN met only in January his year, giving it little time for substantive work and in May, the Assembly decided to roll it over to the current session that began this month.

India has asked for starting the IGN meetings early in the session and holding more meetings.

The IGN was led at the last session by Permanent Representatives Joanna Wronecka of Poland and Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani of Qatar, who were appointed as co-chairs by former Assembly President Volkan Bozkir of Turkey.

The negotiations have been sabotaged by a small group of countries known as United for Consensus (UfC) that has blocked the IGN from adopting a negotiating text to allow the reform process to proceed. UfC is led by Italy and includes Pakistan.

India and a large number of countries have been demanding that the IGN adopt a negotiating text that would set up the framework for discussions, which have been mired in speech-making in an endless loop.

On the sidelines of the Assembly's high-level meeting last week, India, Brazil, Japan and Germany, which together are known as G4 and jointly lobby for reforms and mutually support each other for a permanent seat on an expanded Council, "expressed their strong determination to work towards launching text-based negotiations without further delay in the IGN on the basis of a single document, with a view to its adoption in the General Assembly".

India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Foreign Ministers Foreign Ministers Carlos Alberto Franco Franca of Brazil, Heiko Maas of Germany and Motegi Toshimitsu of Japan, said, in their joint statement after their meeting, that they "decided to intensify dialogue with all interested Member States, including other reform-minded countries and groups, in order to seek concrete outcomes in a definite time-frame".

The G4 had in May forced an amendment to the roll-over resolution to make it acknowledge "the commitment of the Heads of State and Government representing the people of the world to 'instil new life in the discussion on the reform of the Security Council'" to add a sense of urgency to the process.

China, along with Pakistan and Italy and their allies, had opposed the amendment.

The amendment marks a significant development in the IGN process at the text-drive UN where what may seem simple-sounding words can have major impact.

India's Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti declared after the amendment was adopted, that "IGN can no longer be used as a smokescreen today with this amended rollover decision" to delay reforms.

"By agreeing to include our leaders promise to instil new life in our role or decision, we are reaffirming once more that what we are engaged in in the IGN is not simply a series of academic debates. Our mandate is to deliver on Security Council reform, not just to discuss it ad infinitum," he added.

Bozkir, whose country Turkey is a member of the UfC, had tried to get an innocuous measure - an "oral decision" in UN parlance - that would have swept the topic under the rug adopted without discussion.

"This is not the task of the President of the General Assembly to represent the position of one group," Germany's Permanent Representative at that time, Christoph Heusgen said.

He added that he was "shocked" that Bozkir had not held consultations "in contradiction to the practice of your predecessors" and that there was no mention of the mandate given by the 193 world leaders for reforms.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis)
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Two days after threatening legal action, Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, the national secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), on Friday sent a legal notice to BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy for allegedly making defamatory comments against him on social media.

The notice said that if Swamy fails to submit a written apology within seven days from the receipt of the notice, Bagga will proceed legally to appropriate courts of law for causing defamation.

Sharing a copy of the legal notice, the BJP's youth wing secretary tweeted, "Sent legal Notice to Dr @Swamy39 through my advocate Vikas Padora. Will file a civil and criminal defamation case if he does not apologise in one week." On September 28, Swamy had tweeted, "Delhi journalists inform me that before joining BJP, Tajinder Bagga had been jailed many times for petty crimes by the New Delhi Mandir Marg Police Station. True, if so Nadda should know." Quoting Swamy's tweet, Bagga had replied: "Dr @swamy39 heard you are James Bond ke Chacha. Instead of tweeting call Mandir Marg SHO, take details and expose me. Giving you 48 hours, uske baad meri turn (after that my turn). Your time starts now." Asking Swamy to justify his tweet, the legal notice asked him to provide details of all serial numbers of FIRs which have been reportedly registered against Bagga at the Mandir Marg Police Station.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Army why 72 Women Short Service Commission Officers (WSSCO) were not considered for permanent commissions, and also restrained it from discharging them till further hearing on the matter.

A bench, headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, said: "Don't discharge these women officers from services till further hearing in the matter." The bench, also comprising Justice B.V. Nagarathna, sought reply from the Army within a week on a clutch of pleas filed by the women officers who alleged the March 25 ruling of the apex court, was not considered and all 72 of them were not considered for permanent commisssions at one go.

Senior advocate V. Mohana, representing some WSSCOs, submitted that the Army passed the order rejecting the officers at one go without giving reasons, despite the top court's direction to consider all the 72 for grant of permanent commisssions. She added this action is against top court's order, and needs to be set aside.

As the bench queried Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, representing the Centre, on what is happening in this matter, he replied that it seems there may be 72 reasons for rejecting them and there cannot be one reason for rejecting all at one go.

He submitted that relevant documents have been sought to examine the factual matrix.

Mohana submitted the officers scored over 60 per cent marks in their subjects, were found medically fit, and no disciplinary and vigilance inquiry was pending against them. She added these were the three criteria listed in the top court's verdict.

Senior advocate R. Balasubramanian, also representing the Centre, submitted as per his knowledge out of this batch of 72 officers, only 25 will be released in November, and sought time to file response.

Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for one of the women officers, contended the Army's order was in teeth of the top court's verdict.

After hearing arguments, the bench listed the matter for further hearing on October 8.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) on Friday declared the popular comics character of Chacha Chaudhary as the mascot for the ambitious Namami Gange programme.

"The NMCG has been focusing on youth as part of its outreach and public communications efforts as they are the impellers of change. As a step towards this, NMCG has tied-up with Diamond Toons to develop and distribute comics, e-comics, and animated videos," a release from the Jal Shakti Ministry said.

The decision was taken at NMCG's 37th executive committee meeting chaired by NMCG Director General,Rajiv Ranjan Mishra.

The content will be designed with the objective of bringing about behavioral change amongst children towards Ganga and other rivers. The total estimated budget for the project is Rs 2.26 crore.

Executive Director, Projects, Ashok Kumar Singh presented the project details and shared that Chacha Chaudhary can be useful in ground-level activation for Ganga rejuvenation. Initially, the comics will be launched in Hindi, English and Bengali.

Mishra said: "NMCG has always been into community engagement with special focus on youth and children. This association will be one more step towards it." The meeting also saw deliberations and decisions about projects from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Bihar, Principal Secretary, Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Dipak Kumar Singh presented a proposal for conserving and sustainably managing Gangetic floodplain wetlands in Bihar.

A Detailed Project Report for 'Interception and Diversion of Drains and Sewage Treatment Works at Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh' was presented by NMCG Director, Technical, Dr Pravin Kumar Mutiyar. The main aim of this project is reduction of pollution load from Pratapgarh into river Sai along with the improvement in biodiversity and eco-system of the river and improvement in general hygiene and sanitation, the release said.

Revised DPR for 'Development of Ghat and Crematoria at Simariya, Barauni, Bihar' was presented by NBCC Ltd at the meeting, the release added.
Guwahati, Oct 1 : The Assam Congress on Friday served a show-cause notice to its MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed for his reported "communally provocative" comments referring to the September 23 violence, in which two persons were killed and 20 others were injured after a mob clashed with the police during an eviction drive in Darrang district of the state.

The 54-year-old Muslim leader's comments have led to a widespread political controversy across the state with various organisations lodging complaints at different police stations, besides organising demonstrations in many districts demanding action against him.

In the show-cause notice to Ahmed, Assam Congress General Secretary Bobbeeta Sharma said that the MLA's "provocative comments and statements" have damaged the reputation and credibility of the AICC and the state Congress.

"You are acting as an 'agent of the BJP' due to your closeness to the Chief Minister (Himanta Biswa Sarma). You might have been sponsored to make such provocative and communal comments to cause harm to the Congress, especially ahead of the by-elections in the state," Sharma told Ahmed.

Asking the MLA to reply to the show-cause notice within three days, she said that his "provocative comments and communal statements" also appeared in various media outlets, creating serious confusion and resentment within and outside the party.

Ahmed, a former MLA of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), a Muslim-based party, got elected to the state Assembly thrice from Baghbar in Barpeta district of western Assam.

Sharma in her notice in Assamese said: "As an MLA, your provocative comments in the media, reviving old wounds of the past incidents of Assam agitation when people of various communities had suffered, are totally insensitive and unwarranted." "You time and again have given statements in the media and various public platforms against Congress' policies and matters with communal implications, damaging the social harmony of Assam," Sharma said.

Senior Congress leader Debabrata Saikia, who's also the leader of the opposition in the Assembly, said in a separate statement that Ahmed's comments and communal statements would definitely affect peace and harmony in the state, besides hurting the basic principles of the party.

The Asom Gana Parishad, born out of the Assam agitation, held demonstrations in different districts, including Dibrugarh, Barpeta, Mangaldoi, Dhemaji, Tezpur, Biswanath, Nalbari, Bongaigaon, Majuli and Morigaon, and burnt effigies of Ahmed.

The AGP is the main partner of the ruling BJP in Assam.

Earlier, Ahmed had allegedly made remarks while reacting to statements by some leaders of the ruling BJP that the alleged encroachers in Sipajhar area of Darrang district "had killed" eight people in 1983 during the Assam agitation (1979-1985).

He had alleged that the eight people were "not martyrs, but murderers", as they were involved in the massacre of people from the minority community in the Sipajhar area.

The All Assam Students' Union (AASU), the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and a few other organisations have also filed complaints against the controversial MLA at different police stations.

Two persons, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed and 20 others were injured after a mob clashed with the police during an eviction drive in Assam's Darrang district on September 23.

The eviction drive was launched by the police and the district administration to vacate 4,500 bighas (602.40 hectares) of government land, allegedly illegally encroached by several hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslim families in Darrang.
Hyderabad, Oct 1 : Two nominations were filed on Friday, the first day for filing of nominations for the by-election to the Huzurabad Assembly constituency in Telangana.

With the Election Commission of India issuing a notification, the poll process has begun for the October 30 by-election.

Ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidate Gellu Srinivas Yadav filed his nomination on the first day. He filed two nomination sets. Mohd Mansoor Ali of Anna YSR Party also filed his nomination on Friday.

As per the schedule announced by the EC, the last date for filing of nominations is October 8.

Scrutiny of nominations will be taken up on October 11. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 13. Polling will be held on October 30 while counting of votes will be taken up on November 2. The entire poll process has to be completed by November 5.

Meanwhile, TRS submitted a list of 20 star campaigners to the Election Commission. The list includes Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, ministers K. T. Rama Rao, Harish Rao, Gangula Kamalakar and Koppula Eshwar.

The Huzurabad Assembly seat fell vacant with the resignation of former minister Eatala Rajender after he was dropped from the state Cabinet by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in May following allegations of land encroachment.

Rajender also quit the TRS to join the BJP and will be entering the fray as the saffron party's candidate.

TRS named its student wing chief Srinivas Yadav as the party candidate for the by-election. The Congress party is yet to announce its candidate.

The by-election raised the political temperature in the state as Rajender targetted the Chief Minister by alleging that he was insulted in the party. The BJP is citing Rajender's alleged humiliation to mount fresh attack on TRS for what it calls the family rule of Chandrasekhar Rao.

After ending his nearly two-decade-long association with TRS, Rajender launched an aggressive campaign in Huzurabad targeting the TRS government.

BJP's state unit chief Bandi Sanjay is also currently undertaking a 'padyatra' which will cover the Huzurabad constituency as well.

The TRS government also picked the constituency for implementing its prestigious 'Dalit Bandhu' scheme on pilot basis. It has already sanctioned Rs 2,000 crore to implement the scheme under which every Dalit family will be given a grant of Rs 10 lakh to start business of its choice.

The government's move came under criticism from the opposition parties and some NGOs who alleged that the TRS is trying to lure the voters. A couple of NGOs also moved the Telangana High Court, but the latter refused to interfere in the matter.
Jaipur, Oct 1 : A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition has been filed by Jodhpur-based Saarthi Trusts managing trustee Dr Kriti Bharti in the Rajasthan High Court's Jaipur Bench challenging the constitutional validity of Rajasthan Compulsory Registration of Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which has the provision of registering child marriages in the state.

The Assembly on September 17 passed the Rajasthan Compulsory Registration of Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which has provisions for registration of marriage of a girl below 18 years of age and marriage of a boy below 21 years of age.

In her PIL, Bharti, a rehabilitation psychologist who is internationally renowned for her efforts for annulment and prevention of child marriages, has made the state government, the departments concerned, and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights parties and pleaded for an early hearing.

Bharti, who has annulled 43 child marriages and has stopped more than 1,500 child marriages so far, in her PIL, filed through Supreme Court advocate and Delhi Child Rights Protection Commission former member Shashank Shekhar, argued that through this amendment, the government has tried to give registered recognition to the malpractice of child marriage which is a cognisable offence.

She said that the future consequences of recognition to child marriages will be quite fatal. "To get the government certificate of child marriage, people will come to Rajasthan for a month and will dump their children into child marriages. Due to which, Rajasthan, which has been already famous for years for having the highest prevalence of child marriages in the world, will turn into a child marriage hub by this amendment," she said.

She also contended that the state government has also misinterpreted the Supreme Court's 2006 judgment as a reason for passing the amendment.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : BJP MP from North East Delhi, Manoj Tiwari, said on Friday that he would defy the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) order if permission to celebrate Chhath Puja at the ghats is not granted.

As per a DDMA order issued on Thursday, Ramleela, Durga Puja and Dussehra celebrations have been allowed in the national capital, whereas Chhath Puja celebrations have been prohibited in public places and people have been advised to celebrate the same at their homes.

Calling the move a conspiracy by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Tiwari said, "By celebrating Chhath Puja, we will show him that we cannot be stopped." Tiwari made the remarks while addressing the gathering of a Chhath Puja Samiti on Friday.

"Weekly markets have started opening. Big programmes are also being held. People have started defeating Covid due to PM Narendra Modi's free vaccine," Tiwari said.

"In other states, Chhath Puja, Durga Puja and Ramleela will be held properly," he said, adding, "If someone stops Chhath Puja just in Delhi, then his intentions are not clear." Chhath Puja will be celebrated on November 10 this year. The festival is popular in Bihar, Jharkhand and Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

As per the fresh Covid guidelines issued by the DDMA on Thursday, large gatherings, melas, rallies and processions during the festivals are not allowed.

All the event organisers will have to obtain requisite permission from the district magistrate concerned for organising the festival in advance and capacity of each event site will depend on the area and social distancing norms, the order read.

A week ahead of the Navratri festivals, the Delhi government allowed to reopen religious places for devotees on Friday until October 15 with strict compliance to Covid appropriate behaviours.
Dubai, Oct 2 : Skipper KL Rahul struck a well-paced half-century to help Punjab Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets in a thrilling encounter in the IPL 2021 here on Friday, moving to fifth position and maintaining their chances of making it to the knockout rounds.

Both teams needed a win -- the KKR more so as it would have pushed them to 12 points from 12 games and closer to a place in the top four. But it was not to be as Punjab (10) won the match and reached the fifth position, moving ahead of Mumbai Indian (10) on better Net Run Rate. This win means that the Delhi Capitals are assured of a place in the knockouts with Punjab, KKR, and Mumbai Indian on 10 points and fighting for the final qualifying spot.

Punjab restricted KKR for 165/7 in their 20 overs despite a superb 67 by opener Venkatesh Iyer and a quick 31 off 18 deliveries by Nitesh Rana, with some good bowling in the middle overs, and came back to reach 168/5 in 19.3 overs capitalising on a few dropped catches by their opponents. Punjab too lost their way a bit in the middle overs on a slow track but Rahul managed the innings well and helped them keep their noses ahead. Punjab were also helped by a debatable decision on a diving catch by Rahul Tripathi by the third umpire. A wicket at that time would have made things very difficult for Punjab. Rahul was eventually out, caught by Shivam Mavi off Iyer with Punjab needing four runs to win off as many deliveries. Shahrukh Khan (22 off 9 balls) blasted the next ball over the infield and the fielder spilled it over the rope and Punjab won the match.

Rahul and his opening partner Mayank Agarwal gave the team a great start -- with Agarwal capitalising on an early life -- as Punjab chased down the target after asking KKR to bat first. Rahul anchored the innings while Agarwal went for his shots as they raised 70 runs for the opening stand. Agarwal, who struck three big sixes after being put down by Eoin Morgan when he had not yet scored a run, was caught by Morgan, incidentally, off Varun Chakravarthy.

Punjab lost a couple of wickets, Nicolas Pooran (12), Aiden Markram (18), and Deepak Hooda (3) getting out early but Rahul found a good partner in the big-hitting Shahrukh Khan and they pushed Punjab Kings across the line.

Earlier, after his partner Shubman Gill was out early, Venkatesh Iyer (67) hit some powerful shots to post his highest score in IPL in his fifth match but just when KKR, asked to bat first, were looking to dominate the match, Punjab Kings came back to claim some quick wickets in the middle overs to halt their progress. Nitish Rana struck some good blows in making 31 off 18 balls that proved crucial for KKR. Arshdeep Singh was the most successful Punjab bowler as he claimed 3/32 while Ravi Bishnoi picked 2/22 in his four overs as Punjab did well in the middle overs to restrict KKR which were looking for a score around 180.

KKR did their chances lot of harm by picking only four bowlers in order to get an extra batsman -- hoping that Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana, who did well for them with the bat, will make good of the four overs. But the two batting-allrounder cost them 37 runs in 3.3 overs which in the end thwarted them.

Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders: 165/7 in 20 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 67, Rahul Tripathi 34, Nitish Rana 31; Arshdeep Singh 3/32, Ravi Bishnoi 2/22) lost to Punjab Kings 168/5 in 19.3 overs (KL Rahul 67, Mayank Agarwal 40, Shahrukh Khan 22; Varun Chakravarthy 2/24).

Latest updates on IPL 2021
New Delhi, Oct 2 : Calling for an online monitoring mechanism for the compliance of dust mitigation measures, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has directed that all construction and demolition projects on a plot area equal to or greater than 500 sq mt in Delhi-NCR have to mandatorily register themselves on its web portal.

The step has been taken to curb and abate air pollution levels arising from construction and demolition (C&D) activities in the National Capital Region (NCR), the CAQM said, adding that it will periodically review the compliance of dust mitigation measures at all C&D sites in the National Capital Region.

Every year from October onwards, Delhi-NCR faces deadly air pollution due to a combination of various point sources of emissions. Construction and demolition dust, vehicular pollution and pollution travelling towards Delhi from Punjab and Haryana, where farmers burn crop residue, are among the prime reasons.

The CAQM will be looking into an "airshed" approach (like watershed, airshed is a geographical area beyond political boundaries wherein winds blowing from one area have an impact on other areas) and the authorities are looking at improved management of the air quality this season because of coordinated actions.

Directions have been issued by CAQM to the state governments of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) to develop an online mechanism through a web portal for monitoring compliance of dust mitigation measures by the project proponents, according to a release from the Ministry of Environment & Forests.

The introduction of a robust online mechanism for monitoring dust mitigation measures is a compelling necessity to ensure strict implementation of the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules.

As per the directions of CAQM, all the projects (on plot area equal to or greater than 500 sq mt) of construction and demolition under the territorial jurisdiction of the urban local bodies in the NCR have to mandatorily register at the web portal.

Along with this, provision for video fencing equipped with remote connectivity technology will be incorporated in the web portal for effective and round-the-clock monitoring of compliance of dust mitigation measures by the project proponents.

Further, the project proponents are required to install reliable and low-cost PM2.5 and PM10 sensors at the project sites.
New Delhi, Oct 2 : The recent entry of Kanhaiya Kumar, earlier associated with the Communist Party of India (CPI) and its student wing the All India Students Federation - including in his stint as President of the JNU Students Union, into the Congress has created ripples in the political circles.

It is believed that Kanhaiya, known for his stirring oratory and debating skills, may be given a key role in the Congress, with sources indicating that he could be made the Bihar unit's Working President, like Hardik Patel in Gujarat, or a party Secretary.

In an interview with IANS, Kanhaiya, who is noted for dwelling on ideology, was unfazed on a question about switching between parties with different ideologies.

"Ideas can evolve. On hearing the word 'ideology', we get a pre-conceived idea in our mind. Change is a constant of the universe, but the foundation does not alter," he said.

Kanhaiya said that for him, the foundation of his thought, or ideology, is related to Indian culture's ethos of welfare of all and 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'.

Then training his guns on the BJP, he said that the present rulers of the country are those who do not like to be questioned, and are seeking to remove all vestiges of critical questioning and thought, which will undermine the country's foundations.

Along with this, he also lauded the Congress' historical legacy of taking along the cultural and civisational ethos of the country. That is why he chose to be associated with the party, Kanhaiya said.

Internal rifts are rising in the Congress, and on the day of of his induction, the party's Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu used Twitter to announce his resignation.

Asked to comment on this shortcoming, Kanhaiya contended that the focus on such aspects is a ploy by the ruling party to divert attention from the burning national issues and portray the opposition as incapable.

Rising prices of essential goods, unemployment, the farmers' protests against the agriculture laws, and such key issues are the matters that should figure in the discourses, he said.

He claimed that the BJP is itself not free of differences.

"Is everything okay between Amit Shah and (UP Chief Minister) Yogi (Adityanath)? Why is (Union Minister) Nitin Gadkari never seen with Prime Minister (Narendra) Modiji," he asked.

Kanhaiya also said that the various issues that the opposition should raise are being taken up by the Congress. These include issues affecting the common man, which prompted his association with the party.

"I will also raise these issues - be it a matter concerning the farmer, the youth, the unemployed, the poor, the women - I will raise them all," he said.

Questioned about his electoral ambitions, Kanhaiya, who had lost by a large margin from Bihar's Begusarai in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls despite the CPI's influence in the region, said that polls are a key aspect of representative democracy, but not the sole aspect.

He said that fighting polls is not his priority, but raising issues of public interest is. "It is necessary to fight for the common people," he said.
New Delhi, Oct 2 : The incentive on sugar sacrificed for ethanol from B-heavy molasses/sugarcane juice/sugar syrup/sugar has been doubled from October onwards in the monthly release quota for sugar mills for encouraging them to divert excess sugar cane/sugar to ethanol.

With a view to maintain the demand supply position of sugar in the country and to stabilise ex-mill prices of sugar and also to ensure sufficient availability of sugar for domestic consumption, mill-wise monthly release quota of sugar for domestic sale by sugar mills is allocated by the Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution every month on the basis of stocks held by them, export performance, and diversion of sugar to ethanol.

Now, those sugar mills, which will be diverting sugar to ethanol would be getting the entire quantity of sugar sacrificed on producing ethanol from the various sources in their monthly release quota, a Ministry statement said on Friday.

In every sugar season (October-September), production of sugar is around 320-330 Lakh Metric Tonne (LMT) as against the domestic consumption of 260 LMT. "It results in huge carry over stock of sugar with mills. Due to excess availability of sugar in the country, the ex-mill prices of sugar remain subdued, resulting in cash loss to sugar mills," it said.

This excess stock of 60 LMT also leads to blockage of funds & affects the liquidity of sugar mills, resulting in accumulation of cane price arrears.

With a view to prevent cash loss to sugar mills caused due to subdued sugar prices, the government in June 2018 had introduced the concept of minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar and it at Rs 29/kg, revised to Rs 31/kg from February 14, 2019, the statement added.
New Delhi, Oct 2 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president J.P. Nadda held a meeting with the national general secretaries of the party on Friday to discuss the preparations for the Assembly polls in five states due early next year.

The meeting held at the party's central office was attended by the organisation general secretary B.L. Santosh, besides general secretaries - Arun Singh, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Dushyant Kumar Gautam, Tarun Chugh, C.T. Ravi and D Purandeswari.

A BJP leader said that this 'important' meeting was called in view of the organisation's preparations for the elections.

In the meeting, along with preparations for the elections, organisational issues were also discussed.

Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa is slated to be held early next.

Except Punjab, the BJP is in power in the all of the four states.

The BJP is not just targeting to retain these four states, but also at the same time it wants to achieve success in Punjab on its own.

In 2017, the BJP formed the government in Uttar Pradesh with a thumping majority and ended its 14-year exile in the state.

In Uttarakhand, wherein the BJP changed the Chief Minister twice, it wants to make a record by retaining the power.

Similarly, by winning Goa and Manipur, the party wants to stamp its pan-India 'popularity' once again.

A separate meeting was also held in the BJP office regarding the preparations for the Manipur Assembly elections.
We are excited to be awarded Honorable Mention by Fast Company and to be recognized as a company that is reshaping the world.

Aectual, the worlds first platform to rapidly produce bespoke 3D-printed XL architectural and interior products at industrial scale, today announced the company was named an honorable mention in the Spaces and Places and Sustainability categories in Fast Companys 2021 Innovation by Design Awards.

The 10th anniversary of the awards, which can be found in the October 2021 issue of Fast Company, recognize people, teams, and companies that transform businesses, organizations, and society through design. One of the most sought-after design awards in the industry, Innovation by Design is the only competition to honor creative work at the intersection of design, business, and innovation, recognizing the people, companies, and trends that have steadily advanced design to the forefront of the business conversation.

We are excited to be awarded Honorable Mention by Fast Company and to be recognized as a company that is reshaping the world, said Hedwig Heinsman, co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Aectual. We are pleased to provide easy online access for people worldwide so that they may customize their architectural designs. We believe customized design, high-quality products and qualitative architecture that is 100% circular and sustainable should be available to everyone.

Aectual Circular is a new circular design and digital production service that allows products made by Aectual to be easily shape-shifted from one material into infinite interior design solutions over time. Aectuals 3D printing technique has always been an entirely waste-free production method, but since a majority of Aectuals building materials are now also fully circular, material usage is significantly reduced. After use, Aectual takes back the building and design products and shreds, recycles and directly reprints them into new products. This makes their products truly a 100% circular. Moreover, depending on the product type, Aectual products in general have a 35% to 95% material reduction due to their parametric product design optimization.

Design is not just a beauty contest, said Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. Its something that can change the world and create solutions in a time when we face pressing global issues such as systemic racism, climate change, and a global pandemic. Many of these entries showcase these challenges while providing hope for the future through their steadfast commitment to elevate design.

The judges include renowned designers from a variety of disciplines, business leaders from some of the most innovative companies in the world, and Fast Companys own writers and editors. Entries are judged on the key ingredients of innovation: functionality, originality, beauty, sustainability, user insight, cultural impact, and business impact. Winners, finalists, and honorable mentions are featured online and in the October issue of Fast Company magazine.

The Aectual design-to-delivery process reduces the cost of custom-made architectural products by 50%, is up to 10 times faster, eliminates waste, and reduces materials usages and CO2 emissions. View a short video of Aectual here.

About Aectual

Aectual is the worlds first platform to rapidly produce bespoke XL 3D-printed architectural and interior products at industrial scale that are 100% circular. We develop sustainably 3D-printed products, such as flooring, planters, room dividers, stairs and more  all made from 100% recycled and renewable materials. Our seamless digital design-to-delivery platform utilizes customizable parametric products, software and proprietary XL 3D print technology, and is already in use and deployed by globally recognized brands like Nike, Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport and BMW. Aectual allows for a 10x faster design-to-build process, eliminates waste and reduces materials usage and CO2 emissions, resulting in up to a 50% cost savings and the possibility to create truly sustainable, custom-made architectural and interior design products.

Founded in 2017, Aectual is the brainchild of three experienced architects and 3D-print experts, who are the team behind the 3D Print Canal House, an internationally acclaimed design-and-build research project into new global housing solutions and market explorations. Headquartered in Amsterdam, Aectual is a privately held company backed by AKEF and DOEN. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, or learn more at https://www.aectual.com.

About Fast Company

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. The editor-in-chief is Stephanie Mehta. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication, Inc., and can be found online at fastcompany.com.

All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.
Our team is closing deals at an unprecedented pace. This supports the strength of our business model, which attracts well-qualified candidates interested in the lucrative healthcare industry.

American Family Care (AFC), the nations leading provider of urgent care and accessible primary care, is celebrating explosive franchise development growth over the last 90 days. In quarter three of 2021, AFCs sales and development team closed 22 deals to open new franchise locations across the nation. By the start of the new year, the brand is on track to open its 200th franchise unit.

Our team is closing deals at an unprecedented pace. This supports the strength of our business model, which attracts well-qualified candidates interested in the lucrative healthcare industry, explains Sean Hart, Vice President of Sales and Development at American Family Care. History will reflect 2021 as a pivotal year in the growth of AFC franchising. We set an end-of-year goal to close 30 deals, and now it looks like we are going to double that number.

In 1982, AFCs founder, D. Bruce Irwin, MD, pioneered the concept of non-emergency room urgent care clinics and opened dozens of corporate locations across the southeast. Less than 10 years ago, AFC opened the door to entrepreneurs interested in running a successful business that happens to focus on healthcare. The companys 200th franchise location will open in Florida in early 2022.

We have a proven retail healthcare model that is equipped with all the tools needed for a franchise owner to be successful, explains Hart. Despite what most people think, you do not need a medical degree to open an AFC franchise. From real estate to medical equipment to marketing and advertising, our team walks each franchise owner step-by-step through the process to run a thriving urgent care clinic.

In addition to franchise sale achievements, the AFC brand has accumulated numerous accolades for its franchise growth this year, including its seventh showing on the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of the countrys fastest-growing private companies, as well as a position in the Top 100 of Entrepreneur magazines Franchise 500 list.

About American Family Care:

Founded by Dr. Bruce Irwin with a single location in 1982, American Family Care has pioneered the concept of convenient, patient-centric healthcare. Today, with more than 240 clinics and 600 in-network physicians caring for nearly 3 million patients a year, AFC is the nations leading provider of urgent care, accessible primary care, and occupational medicine. Ranked by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States, AFCs stated mission is to provide the best healthcare possible, in a kind and caring environment, while respecting the rights of all patients, in an economical manner, at times and locations convenient to the patient. For more information, visit http://www.AmericanFamilyCare.com.
American Hartford Gold ranked #1 in gold, #140 in financial services, and #374 in California on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list The past few years we have been growing exponentially and have had the opportunity to serve tens of thousands of investors and deliver over $750 million in precious metals.

American Hartford Gold today announced that the company has been ranked as the #1 gold company by the prestigious Inc. 5000 2021 list of Americas fastest-growing private companies.

The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy's most dynamic segmentits independent small businesses. American Hartford Gold also ranked #140 fastest-growing companies in America in the financial sector.

American Hartford Gold is honored to be the #1 ranked gold company on the Inc 5000 list, said Sanford Mann, CEO of American Hartford Gold. The past few years we have been growing exponentially and have had the opportunity to serve tens of thousands of investors and deliver over $750 million in precious metals.

Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis weve lived through is amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people, says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc.

American Hartford Gold helps clients achieve greater security for their future by adding safe haven assets to their portfolios. Investors receive only the highest quality gold and silver coins, offered at competitive prices with 100% customer satisfaction guaranteed.

To learn more about investing in physical precious metals such as gold and silver, investors can call 866-342-2257 or visit americanhartfordgold.com.

About American Hartford Gold

American Hartford Gold is a family-owned and operated company in Los Angeles, CA which helps individuals and families invest in precious metals. They provide both physical delivery to ones doorstep or inside of a retirement account like an IRA, 401K or TSP. American Hartford Gold has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and has a 5-star customer satisfaction rating on multiple review platforms like Trustpilot and Google. Debuted on the Inc 5000 list in 2019 and again in 2021. American Hartford Gold is a proud multi-year sponsor of NASCAR and is the only precious metals company recommended by Bill OReilly.
Erin earned her Juris Doctor from Regent University School of Law, where she graduated summa cum laude. While there, she honed her interest in constitutional law by becoming a Blackstone Fellow and working with Alliance Defending Freedom and the American Center for Law and Justice. Her advocacy through writing is her greatest strength, as she won the 1st Leroy R. Hassell, Sr. Writing Competition at Regent University School of Law.

Throughout her career, Erin has worked in a variety of areas, having served as a law clerk to the Hon. S. Bernard Goodwyn in the Supreme Court of Virginia before joining Regent University School of Law as a full-time faculty member. She worked for several years as a consultant at a local law firm before returning to the Supreme Court of Virginia to serve two more years as a law clerk.

Erins experience with the Supreme Court of Virginia honed her interest and skills in litigation and appellate law. She will bring that wealth of experience to the firm, helping clients with complex litigation matters, assisting clients throughout the appellate process, and helping churches and nonprofit organizations thrive.

The legal team at Anchor Legal Group, PLLC helps clients facing a variety of legal matters. Call 757-LAW-0000 or visit the firms website at anchorlegalgroup.com to learn more. The firms offices are located in Virginia Beach, and they serve clients throughout the United States via their network of associated attorneys.
Colin Milner Our vision for the future focuses on the concept of healthspan  which emphasizes not only living longer, but also living better

Widely regarded as ahead of its time, the forward-thinking International Council of Active Aging (ICAA) founded the active-aging industry on October 1, 2001 to fundamentally change the way we age by proactively engaging older adults to live their best life.

With 10,000 members that own or operate 40,000 wellness locations in 47 countries, the organization today is a powerful influencer across global, governmental and local levels throughout multiple countries, sectors and organizations.

On our 20th anniversary as the voice and centerpiece of the active-aging industry, we reflect on our tremendous progress in uniting the formerly disparate group of professionals that serve the older adult community, says Colin Milner, CEO of ICAA. Our vision for the future focuses on the concept of healthspan  which emphasizes not only living longer, but also living better.

According to The Four Pillars of the New Retirement: What a Difference a Year Makes, a June 2021 report by Age Wave and Edward Jones, full life expectancy includes two components: a healthy lifespan  the years lived in full health and free of disability  followed by approximately 12.4 years of expected poor health.

Expanding the healthy lifespan, or healthspan, not only improves individual quality of life and productivity, but also benefits society and grows the active-aging industry, which includes senior living communities, senior centers, health clubs, rehabilitation centers and aging organizations.

Wellness is the way

The critical foundation to increasing heathspan involves fully embracing wellness, which includes seven dimensions: emotional, intellectual, physical, social, spiritual, vocational and environmental.

To support the industry, ICAA produces a wide variety of resources that promote aging well, such as proprietary research to inform the industry about best practices, trends and the current state of affairs. In fact, ICAA research findings have supported a financial return on wellness and a trend toward shifting from care communities that include wellness to wellness-based communities that offer care.

ICAA also leads executive think thanks that serve as expert counsel and guide rods to create solutions and drive the industry forward. And the organizations conferences, initiatives and publications further facilitate collaboration, awareness and progress.

Furthermore, online education with certificate courses, virtual summits and webinars equips professionals in the retirement, assisted living, rehabilitation, fitness and wellness fields to foster thriving communities. Currently, ICAA is expanding its education arm to enhance offerings on what wellness is and how to build a wellness culture.

As the go-to source on active aging, ICAA works with the U.S. Administration on Aging, the National Institute on Aging, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the White House Conference on Aging, the Canadian Special Senate Committee on Aging, the European Commission and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Great expectations

Milner is enthusiastic about the next 20 years, as key trends are converging that support the expansion of healthspan. Among them: a growing health data economy, inclusive living models such as intergenerational communities and multigenerational housing, communities integrating into the larger society and more.

The future is about building an even more robust foundation for wellness, continuing to drive change, and equipping organizations that serve older adults, Milner notes. Our vision is to create a world of healthier older people that are alive with purpose, inspired to live a rich quality of life and able to enjoy a fulfilled life.

About the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA)

http://www.icaa.cc

ICAA is a professional association that leads, connects and defines the active-aging industry and supports professionals who aspire to develop wellness cultures for adults over 50. This support includes creating wellness environments, programs and services. The association is focused on active agingan approach to aging that helps older adults live life as fully as possible within all dimensions of wellnessand provides its members with education, information, resources and tools. As an active-aging educator and advocate, ICAA has advised numerous organizations and governmental bodies.
We look forward to delivering an exceptional building and are confident in the high-quality care that will be provided here for years to come.

Cadence McShane Construction Company is excited to break ground on the 128,000-square-foot Anthology of Austin, a ground-up assisted living and memory care facility positioned cattycorner to The Domain in north Austin. This new development, constructed on behalf of Anthology Senior Living, will provide supportive services and assistance to residents, ensuring their safety and well-being.

Designed by OZ Architecture, the five-story building will feature 130 spacious units in studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom configurations. Amenities will include a salon, multiple dining rooms to enjoy gourmet meals, a high-end fitness center, a discovery room, a theater, a clubhouse, and a bar/bistro. The development encompasses every aspect that future residents might desire.

The prime location of this development, just minutes from some of Austins best restaurants and shopping, will be alluring to many prospective tenants. The 2.2-acre site will boast two large courtyards with space to enjoy the impressive landscaping.

With over $725M in multifamily projects under construction across the state, Cadence McShane is currently ranked as one of the top multifamily contractors in Texas. This will be the Cadence McShanes third assisted living/memory care project with Anthology Senior Living.

Cadence McShane is excited to build upon our relationship with Anthology Senior Living through this key project, remarked Srinath Pai Kasturi, Executive Vice President of Cadence McShane. We look forward to delivering an exceptional building and are confident in the high-quality care that will be provided here for years to come.

The project is slated for completion in spring of 2023.

About Cadence McShane Construction Company

Founded in 1985, Cadence McShane Construction Company (CMC) has grown to become one of the most trusted and well-established contractors in the State of Texas. Specializing in the Education, Multifamily, Senior Living, Commercial, and Industrial market sectors, we offer design-build, and construction management services from our offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. CMC is part of The McShane Companies and, along-side our sister company McShane Construction, is recognized as one of the largest general contractors in the United States, with Top-10 rankings across the Multifamily, Senior Living and Education sectors. For additional information, visit the firms website at https://cadencemcshane.com.

About Anthology Senior Living

Anthology Senior Living is a vertically integrated owner, developer, and operator of CA Ventures senior living platform. Their full portfolio encompasses both Anthology owned and operated, and 3rd party operated communities offering senior living options for independent living, assisted living, and memory care across the United States, with 42 locations in 16 different states. Anthology Senior Living boasts over 1,900 residents and 1,855 team members across their portfolio and is headquartered in Denver, CO. The individual communities foster a culture of inclusion, where seniors are encouraged to continue their life story in a beautiful, meaningful way. For more information about Anthology Senior Living, visit http://www.AnthologySeniorLiving.com.
I Rose from the Ashes: a potent tale of the resiliency of a womans spirit. I Rose from the Ashes is the creation of published author Carla Shafer, a loving mother who was raised in Ohio and Southern California.

Shafer shares, As a little girl, I remember being told, Why dont you kill yourselfyou are just taking air from someone who deserves it. That was my mother who said that. She reminded me almost daily how stupid I was, that she hated me, and how no one wanted me.

After hearing those things and being passed around on a constant basis to live with strangers along with abuse from her, I started to believe what I was told. My mother then told me that I was not her daughter. I never knew my grandmother or grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins, or anyone who was part of my family. I cried a lot and trusted no one.

As years went by, I tried to buy friendships and loveof course, it didnt work. I became a rug mat for everyone. I was lied to, used, abused, and taken for granted. At work, I did way more than what the job required without compensation for it. I had very low self-esteem.

Then something changed when I had my sons.

I became the mother, father, and anything or anyone my sons needed. We had each other.

As time went on, I started learning and loving myself.

Through our lives, our experiences shape who we are. Whether it is something said or actions taken (or not) by you or someone else, it does affect lives. With all of the outside influences defining us, sometimes we lose sight of who we are.

Just like a fingerprint that only applies to one person, you are unique! There is not even one person just like you! You have your own likes, dislikes, dreams, and gifts. The world looks at you from the outside inthe trick is for you to know yourself from the inside out!

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Carla Shafers new book is a poignant look back on her life and determined faith.

Shafer offers readers a deeply private look into a life of cruelty and loneliness that led her to ultimately discovering a surprising amount of self-worth through personal healing and growth.

Consumers can purchase I Rose from the Ashes at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about I Rose from the Ashes, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Casey Winchell Napolitano, Founder of NDA Real Estate We are the only real estate company that protects and prioritizes privacy, specializing in NDAs and blind trusts

Casey Winchell Napolitano today announced the launch of NDA Real Estate, a full-service luxury real estate firm based in Los Angeles. NDA Real Estate focuses on securing, selling, and protecting client investments with the utmost privacy and discretion. Its exclusive yet approachable methods appeal to everyone, from entertainers and executives to creators, innovators, and influencers.

Napolitano is a licensed real estate broker with over 13 years of experience. Under her belt are hundreds of Los Angeles sales, many of which are multimillion-dollar luxury estates. NDA Real Estate is not a traditional real estate team. We are redefining success for our clients, said Napolitano.

Led by both real estate professionals and investment experts, NDA Real Estate has reimagined the brokerage dynamic with innovative marketing and elevated hospitality. The company can swiftly navigate each real estate deal directly with clients and their business managers to ensure a seamless transaction. Regardless of a clients real estate goal  be it finding and securing a dream home, maximizing return on investment, or developing a beautiful design for a primary residence or income property  clients trust NDA Real Estate to visualize and actualize their propertys potential.

Our clients are loyal to us because we prioritize their privacy. We are focused on helping make smart investments in a fast-moving market, said Napolitano. We are the only real estate company that protects and prioritizes privacy, specializing in NDAs and blind trusts.

NDA Real Estate has partnered with Side, the only real estate technology company that exclusively partners with high-performing agents, teams, and independent brokerages to transform them into market-leading boutique brands and businesses. NDA Real Estates partnership with Side will ensure that it remains on the cutting edge of the evolving real estate market while continuing to deliver premium services to its clients. Side works behind the scenes, supporting NDA Real Estate with a one-of-a-kind brokerage platform that includes proprietary technology, transaction management, branding and marketing services, public relations, legal support, lead generation, vendor management, infrastructure solutions, and more. Additionally, NDA Real Estate will join an exclusive group of Side partners, tapping into an expansive network from coast to coast.

About NDA Real Estate

NDA Real Estate is the only real estate company that protects and prioritizes its clients privacy while offering innovative marketing and elevated hospitality. NDA Real Estates responsive and savvy team specializes in nondisclosure agreements and blind trusts. With its full-service care, luxury focus, and investment expertise, its agents roll out the red carpet for its A-list clientele. NDA Real Estate is headquartered in Los Angeles. To learn more, visit http://www.nda-re.com.

About Side

Side transforms high-performing agents, teams, and independent brokerages into successful businesses and boutique brands that are 100% agent-owned. Side exclusively partners with the best agents, empowering them with proprietary technology and a premier support team so they can be more productive, grow their business, and focus on serving their clients. Side is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.sideinc.com.
"Chalice is expanding well beyond what we ever imagined."

Chalice Network is the largest member benefit organization and digital marketplace for independent financial services professionals, providing best of need business services, technology, and tools to help firms thrive through the entire life cycle of their business. Chalice is pleased to announce the addition of two new members to the Chalice Advisory Board. Joining will be Mitch Wood, and Whitney Kendrick as Vice Chair. An additional change will be the appointment of Don Plotsky as Chairman. These members all bring a wealth of knowledge and experience that will enhance the mission of the Board.

Serving as Chairman will be Don Plotsky. Don is an investor in Chalice Network and has been a member of the Board since its inception in 2018. Don has been an innovator and leader in the asset management business since 1984 and is an alum of New York Universitys, Stern School of Business. Prior to his entrepreneurial efforts launching both Uinta Investment Partners and Alternative Income Solutions, Don was head of product development and product management at Western Asset Management, Don was also Head of Global Client Service and Marketing at CDC Investment Management (now part of Natixis) and was responsible for product management and structuring. He was a Portfolio Manager at Advisors Capital Management, Equitable Capital Management and Hutton Risk Management. His mastery and guidance within the Chalice Network will bring an innovative perspective to help launch Chalice into the next chapter of growth.

Don states, As Chalice moves into its next phase of expansion and innovation, I look forward to working with the esteemed and accomplished members of the Advisory Board to harness their collective experience and wisdom to provide invaluable insight and advice to the management team.

We are very excited to have Don take the helm of the Board. He is an investor in Chalice both financially and emotionally; and we expect his passion for excellence and delivering the best experience for our members will exemplify his leadership. I want to thank Ron Fiske for his leadership and support, especially for successfully navigating the Board and keeping us all together during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Keith Gregg, Founder and CEO of Chalice Network.

Whitney Kendrick, newly appointed Vice Chair, and long-standing VP Marketing at Chalice Network will elevate both internal and external support for Advisory Board Directors and the members of Chalice Network. Whitney plays a key role in introducing new prospects and partnership opportunities to the Chalice ecosystem and brings a wealth of marketing knowledge to the table. Chalice is expanding well beyond what we ever imagined. Through a highly skilled development and partner management team, the Marketplace is growing rapidly. As Vice Chair, I am focused on enhancing our technology and user experience, all while bringing culturally compatible partners to serve our membership community, explains Whitney.

Mitch Wood is the President of MundaneAway and President of Larson Network Services, a consulting company that specializes in removing the monotonous activities that occur day in and out for financial professionals. His experience comes from working in the wealth management space as a portfolio manager and consultant to over 1,000 other investment advisors across the country. Mitch has a history of helping advisors systematize their operations to minimize the tedious worka perfect match to be part of Chalice Advisory Board. Keith Gregg and the rest of the Chalice team have a tremendous passion to see todays Financial Advisors have the connections, tools, and resources to be successful in the present and into tomorrow, explains Mitch, My goal is to continue connecting advisors as well as industry influencers to the Chalice platform to expand the network of advisors focused on growing, buying, and selling their businesses with the very best industry minds.

About Chalice Network

Chalice is a Digital Marketplace PaaS (Platform as a Service) with a community of 60,000+ business owners consisting of Financial Advisors, RIAs, IBDs, CPAs, Insurance Agents, Attorneys, and Allied Financial Services Professionals. Chalice was purposely built to give small businesses economies of scale, operational efficiency, and enhanced enterprise value through a marketplace-based membership model. Learn more about Chalice Network at http://www.chalicenetwork.com.

Contact:

Whitney Kendrick

whitney@chalicenetwork.com

480-322-3471
The Elohi team knows the only way to change the world is to change the way the world eats, says founder Stephanie Lind. Thats why were so proud to debut Traditional Medicinals, Veggies Made Great and Mr. Lees Pure Foods at NACS..."

Elohi Strategic Advisors will present three innovative, new-to-foodservice brands at the upcoming National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show this October. Attendees will get to know the latest offerings from Elohi clients Traditional Medicinals, Veggies Made Great and Mr. Lees Pure Foods.

The Elohi team knows the only way to change the world is to change the way the world eats, says Founder and Chief Business Development Officer Stephanie Lind. Thats why were so proud to debut Traditional Medicinals, Veggies Made Great and Mr. Lees Pure Foods at NACS, as they share our vision for socially and environmentally responsible healthy eating.

These three brands represent Elohis core values of eco- and health-friendly innovation in foodservice, with each focused on a different aspect of the market. Traditional Medicinals is known for its organic, hot teas made with medicinal-grade herbs; Veggies Made Great offers a variety of delicious muffins and frittatas where veggies are the No. 1 ingredient; and Mr. Lees Pure Foods has grown a loyal following for its grab-and-go collection of healthier rice noodles and congee.

At Traditional Medicinals, we believe in the power of plants  and NACS is the perfect place to connect with like-minded retailers who are interested in joining us on our journey to support peoples pursuit of wellness through the power of organic, medicinal-grade plants, says Scott Schoenwaelder, Brand Manager for Traditional Medicinals. Together, we can provide more access to these amazing plants and help you become a destination that supports peoples wellness.

Elohi will feature the three cutting-edge brands at its booth, No. 7275 in the New Exhibitor Area of the South Hall, alongside members of the Elohi team. In addition to their expo debut, these brands will also be featured in the Cool New Products room.

The Veggies Made Great team is thrilled to join Elohi and these other innovative brands at the NACS event, says Elliot Huss, CEO of Veggies Made Great. Were determined to inspire people to love eating vegetables through our delicious, nutritionally smart foods. We cant wait to connect with those C-Stores looking to bring better snacking solutions to their customers.

The #NACSShow expo will be held at McCormick Place in Chicago Oct. 6  8. Event information is available at nacsshow.com.

About Elohi Strategic Advisors: Elohi Strategic Advisors is a global food and beverage consulting firm with a mission to empower companies to pioneer, develop and innovate in order to achieve success. Founded in 2015, Elohi helps both small and large businesses enter and navigate the complex world of foodservice by building an end-to-end market penetration engine focusing on product, marketing, sales and management. This woman-owned firm (WBENC- and WOSB-certified) draws on more than 30 years of experience, as well as market dynamics, consumer insights and a clients business goals to craft a thoughtful go-to-market strategy focused on execution. Visit elohi.us to learn more.

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Law Office of Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP For more information about the lawsuit against Koulax Enterprises, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

The Los Angeles employment law attorneys, at Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP, filed a lawsuit against Koulax Enterprises alleging the company violated Labor Code  2699, et seq. seeking penalties for DEFENDANTs alleged violation of California Labor Code  201, 202, 203, 204, 210, 221, 226(a), 226.7, 227.03, 246, 351, 510, 512, 558(a)(1)(2), 1194, 1197, 1197.1, 1198, and 2802. The lawsuit against Koulax Enterprises, is currently pending in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Case No. 21GDCV01154. To read a copy of the Complaint, please click here.

According to the lawsuit filed, Koulax Enterprises allegedly failed to pay employees for all the time they were under Defendant's control. This, allegedly, includes the time Plaintiff and other Aggrieved Employees had to wait in line and submit to mandatory temperature checks for Covid-19 screening. To the extent that the time worked off the clock did not qualify for overtime premium payment, Defendant failed to pay minimum wages for the time worked off-the-clock in violation of Cal. Lab. Code  1194, 1197, and 1197.1

PAGA is a mechanism by which the State of California itself can enforce state labor laws through the employee suing under the PAGA who do so as the proxy or agent of the state's labor law enforcement agencies. An action to recover civil penalties under PAGA is fundamentally a law enforcement action designed to protect the public and not to benefit private parties. The purpose of PAGA is not to recover damages or restitution, but to create a means of "deputizing" citizens as private attorneys general to enforce the Labor Code.

For more information about the lawsuit against Koulax Enterprises, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP is a labor law firm with law offices located in San Diego County, Riverside County, Los Angeles County, Sacramento County, Santa Clara County, Orange County and San Francisco County. The firm has a statewide practice of representing employees on a contingency basis for violations involving unpaid wages, overtime pay, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and other types of illegal workplace conduct.

***THIS IS AN ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT***
Tango Shalom is a fun, sweet and honest portrayal of the unique struggles and internal deliberations our real-life students experience..."

Returning to her hometown, Jill Gray Savarese, the first producer attached to dance comedy hit Tango Shalom, has initiated a pairing with Columbus NW Fred Astaire Dance Studio and top ballroom dance emcee, and studio owner, Daniel Tackett. The little film that could,'' produced by Hollywood directing legend Joel Zwick and distributed by Vision Films continues to rack up film festival awards, accolades, and interfaith reviews from around the world. The films message of diversity, equity and inclusion is resonating with audiences of all ages.

Synopsis: When a female Tango dancer (Karina Smirnoff) asks a Rabbi (Jos Laniado) to enter a dance competition, theres one big problem - due to his Orthodox beliefs hes not allowed to touch her! The prize money is much needed for both, so they develop a plan to enter the competition without sacrificing his religious beliefs, and the bonds of family and community are tested one dazzling dance step at a time in this lighthearted and comedic fable.

Tango Shalom had its Ohio theatrical premiere in Columbus at the Gateway Film Center on Friday, Sept. 24, 2021 followed by an event screening on Saturday with a Q&A by Sundance alumna and Pickerington graduate Jill Gray Savarese and a tango performance by dancers Daniel Tackett and Simona Polmova. The film has been extended at the Gateway Film Center until Monday. Tango Shalom is currently showing in theaters across the US, including in Columbus OH, South Florida, Malverne and Floral Park NY, Palm Desert CA, and Scottsdale and Sedona AZ.

Official Trailer: https://youtu.be/R6w9qkvKca8

Tango Shalom is directed by Gabriel Bologna and stars Lainie Kazan, Renee Taylor, Karina Smirnoff, Joseph Bologna, Jos and Claudio Laniado, Bern Cohen and Judi Beecher.

Jill Gray Savarese, a Tango Shalom producer says, Partnering with Fred Astaire Dance Studios makes perfect sense to me. Years ago, with a postcard of the Hollywood sign on my desk, I got a job at Fred Astaire to support my film aspirations. So, it feels warm and satisfying to come back to my hometown as a producer of a film about following a dream to dance the tango.

According to Daniel Tackett, owner of the Columbus NW Fred Astaire Dance Studio: Tango Shalom is a fun, sweet and honest portrayal of the unique struggles and internal deliberations our real-life students experience learning to let their spirit express itself through movement.

Gabriel Bologna, the director of Tango Shalom adds, Fred Astaire Dance Studio is open to everyone, has been teaching dance to all walks of life for a half century, and embodies the message of Tango Shalom. As a former dancer myself, having studied at Carnegie Hall as a child and teenager, dancing and music are the ultimate forms of expression. I am so moved by the Fred Astaire dancers who came out to support Tango Shalom the best way they knew how--dancing!

Oscar-nominated actress Renee Taylor, who plays Deborah Yehuda in Tango Shalom, tells of meeting Fred Astaire. While staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel, she noticed Fred Astaire getting a shave and a haircut so she followed him as he left. When he asked her if she was following him, she admitted that she was. When he wanted to know why she exclaimed, Why wouldnt I? I love the way you sing and I love the way you dance! I love everything about you! So he said, Come walk with me and asked, Do you dance? I answered, A little. Ive had a few dancing lessons. He took my arm, pirouetted me and then went into his house.

"This is the feel-good film we all need to experience right now," says Lise Romanoff, Managing Director and CEO of Vision Films. "With amazing tango dance sequences, a fantastic musical score, and a message of inclusion, family, and love, Tango Shalom is a must-see."

Official Website: https://www.tangoshalommovie.com
Domestic travel hit a high for Americans this summer, which helped hotel businesses flourish and stay open, but now the next wave is arriving from abroad, and that will mean more business for our hotels." - Mark Zisek, Director of Commercial Operations, Front Desk Supply

Front Desk Supply, a leading hospitality supplier based in San Diego, CA, analyzed recent travel industry trends, and coupled with relaxed restrictions on international travel beginning in November, sees a strong Q4 for the hospitality industry. Front Desk Supply has developed a special offer for hospitality managers to stay stocked on hotel supply items that can be found at http://www.FrontDeskSupply.com/October2021/.

The decision to lift restrictions for international travelers is a momentous occasion for the hospitality industry in the United States, said Mark Zisek, Director of Commercial Operations, Front Desk Supply. Domestic travel hit a high for Americans this summer, which helped hotel businesses flourish and stay open, but now the next wave is arriving from abroad, and that will mean more business for our hotels, 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.

As we move forward, we mustnt forget how the industry was set back when the Delta Variant emerged. Being alert and cautious can help hospitality managers head into the future with optimism, Zisek added. I anticipate this season will be busier than previous years, as the holidays and the return of international visitors combine to create a unique travel season. Hotels should start their holiday preparations now, Zisek said.

For the month of October, Front Desk Supply has created a special offer available at http://www.FrontDeskSupply.com/October2021/ to help businesses in the 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
Gallery of Aesthetics, a state-of-the-art medical spa in South Jordan, Utah, is now open, serving Salt Lake County with advanced non-surgical aesthetic solutions. My vision was to create a state-of-the-art space where our clients can enjoy advanced aesthetic treatments to bring out their personal best.

Gallery of Aesthetics, a state-of-the-art medical spa in South Jordan, Utah, is now open, serving Salt Lake County with advanced non-surgical aesthetic solutions including laser skin rejuvenation, hair restoration and much more.

What sets Gallery of Aesthetics apart?

Medical Director and CEO of Gallery of Aesthetics Dr. Jeffrey Ayers, who owns the Gallery with his wife, Julie, created Gallery of Aesthetics to merge his two greatest passions: Aesthetic medicine and art. Hence, Gallery of Aesthetics is more than just a medical spa; its also a gallery showcasing the celebrated works of international artists.

I love art, says Dr. Ayers, My vision was to create a state-of-the-art space where our clients can enjoy advanced aesthetic treatments to bring out their personal best. During your visit, youll be able to enjoy results-driven treatments to turn back time, reverse sun damage and intensely revitalize yourself from head to toe. At the same time, youll also be able to peruse inspiring artwork! Of course, the most important works of art are our clients! Our team cant wait to help you feel like the work of art you are!

Advanced aesthetic services

Dr. Ayers and his wife, Julie Ayers, are co-owners of Gallery of Aesthetics. Theyve worked diligently to curate a menu of services that provide the highest level of results for their clients with minimal downtime. Gallery of Aesthetics proudly offers a wide selection of aesthetic services, including:



Collagen stimulators

BBL photofacial

Clinical facials

Microneedling

Lash services

Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) facials and facelifts

Botox/Xeomin/Dysport

Dermal fillers

Liquid facelift

Non-surgical rhinoplasty

PRF hair restoration

HydraFacial MD

Laser hair reduction

Minoxidil, Finasteride hair restoration

Hair loss supplements

Moxi fractional laser skin treatment

AquaGold

Chemical peels

Dermaplaning

Clinical skin care products

Gallery of Aesthetics is offering a first-time client special:



$100 off  $500 service

$200 off  $1,000 service

$300 off  $1,500 service

Gallery of Aesthetics is located at 10709 S. Redwood Road, Suite 103, South Jordan, UT, 84095. To learn more or schedule a consultation, please call 801-515-0260 or visit their website today.

About Gallery of Aesthetics

Gallery of Aesthetics is a state-of-the-art medical spa in South Jordan, Utah, with a uniquely artistic vision. At Gallery of Aesthetics, clients can transform their skin into a work of art! Our dedicated team is ready to guide clients on their journey toward looking and feeling their very best both inside and out, at any age or stage in life.

Whether clients are visiting our aesthetic gallery for skin rejuvenation or fillers, Gallery of Aesthetics is committed to providing the highest standard of aesthetic and wellness care in the industry. Their menu includes: Collagen stimulators, BBL photofacial, clinical facials, microneedling, lash services, platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) facials and facelifts, Botox/Xeomin/Dysport, dermal fillers, liquid facelift, non-surgical rhinoplasty, PRF hair restoration, HydraFacial MD, laser hair reduction, Minoxidil and Finasteride hair restoration, hair loss supplements, Moxi fractional laser skin treatment, AquaGold, chemical peels, dermaplaning, clinical skin care products.

About Dr. Jeffrey Ayers, medical director and CEO of Gallery of Aesthetics

Dr. Ayers has practiced medicine in Utah for 26 years. While working for Intermountain Healthcare, he realized medicine would evolve, requiring professional diversity. As a result, he sought additional training and discovered medical aesthetics.

After joining the National Institute of Medical Aesthetics, he spent 12+ years as their medical director. While there, he continued developing his artistic skill for aesthetics and contributed to the professional training programs they offered.

Dr. Ayers has a bachelors degree in biology from Westmont College and completed his medical degree at Des Moines University. He then completed his family medicine residency at Camp Pendleton Naval Hospital and served as a staff family doctor in Sasebo, Japan as a commissioned naval officer for three years.

Dr. Ayers enjoys many of the services offered at Gallery of Aesthetics. On any given day, he would jump at the chance to have a HydraFacial. This service mildly exfoliates the skin and infuses serums and boosters, leaving the skin feeling clean, refreshed and soft. In addition, in as little as 30 minutes he can also have a fractional laser resurfacing (Moxi) that has very little downtime. He also believes the most important step in skincare is sunscreen. A regimen of antioxidants, anti-aging products and sunscreen will correct and protect the skin moving forward.

Dr. Ayers is inspired by many artists and enjoys contemporary abstract to realism. His first recollection of an artist he enjoyed as a child was Andrew Wyeth (USA). Dr. Ayers also enjoys the works of Didier Lourenco (Spain) and Danny McBride (Canada).
Georgina Jacobson "Real estate expert Georgina Jacobson extends unparalleled market knowledge and unrivaled expertise to clients all over Orange County and beyond."

Real estate expert Georgina Jacobson extends unparalleled market knowledge and unrivaled expertise to clients all over Orange County and beyond. Because of her local knowledge and experience, Georgina has handled transactions for custom homes in Big Canyon, Emerald Bay, Smithcliffs, Harbor Island, Linda Isle, Irvine Terrace, Balboa Island, Pelican Hill, Pelican Point, Irvine Cove and Crystal Cove. Demonstrating exceptional knowledge of the high end market, Georgina has managed landmark sales, including a Corona del Mar landmark sale asking $36 million, a $17 million sale on Harbor Island, $14 million on Linda Isle, $10 million plus sale in Irvine Terrace, $8 million in Pelican Point, $7.5 million in Shady Canyon and a prestigious Rancho Latigo family compound listing for $40 million in Santa Ynez. Georgina is extremely well versed in the luxury market of Orange County, and she takes pride in her ability to negotiate win-win transactions for buyers and sellers alike.

A resident of Newport Beach for over 30 years and a licensed real estate agent for the past 25 years, Georgina possesses a unique understanding of the various differences among the communities along the Orange County coast. She also has a keen understanding of the cutting edge market trends in todays real estate market and she stays current with all of its changing conditions.

Georginas integrity and commitment to her clients make her an asset to every transaction. As a graduate of USC, Georgina enjoys calling California home and she takes pride in providing the highest level of service to all of her clients, whether buying or selling. With a background in marketing, Georgina is able to quickly identify the most appropriate strategy for selling a home.

Visit Georgina Jacobson's Haute Residence Profile:

https://www.hauteresidence.com/member/georgina-jacobson/

ABOUT HAUTE RESIDENCE

Designed as a partnership-driven luxury real estate portal, Haute Residence connects its affluent readers with top real estate professionals, while offering the latest in real estate news, showcasing the worlds most extraordinary residences on the market and sharing expert advice from its knowledgeable and experienced real estate partners. The invitation-only luxury real estate network, which partners with just one agent in every market, unites a distinguished collective of leading real estate agents and brokers and highlights the most extravagant properties in leading markets around the globe for affluent buyers, sellers, and real estate enthusiasts. HauteResidence.com has grown to be the number one news source for million-dollar listings, high-end residential developments, celebrity real estate, and more.

Access all of this information and more by visiting http://www.hauteresidence.com
We are bridging the gap between Austin and Waco, to extend the compassionate care and support that Heart to Heart provides throughout the state.

Heart to Heart Hospice, one of the countrys largest private providers of hospice care, has added a new location in Temple, Texas, expanding its service to those living in Central Texas.

The new Temple site was recently opened to help meet the needs of more patients and families in the Central Texas service area. That area, with offices already located in Cleburne and Austin, covers the counties of Bell, Coryell, Falls, Lampasas, McLennan, Mills, San Saba, and Williamson.

This is a fast-growing area that has been directly underserved with hospice, said Greg Drummond, Heart to Hearts Vice President of Sales for Texas. We are bridging the gap between Austin and Waco, to extend the compassionate care and support that Heart to Heart provides throughout the state.

The new site is located at: 990 Marlandwood Road in Temple. Phone: 254.493.8448

Since 2003, Heart to Heart Hospice has been serving patients with life-limiting illnesses, as well as their loved ones, across Texas, and in Michigan and Indiana.

When medicine cannot provide a cure, hospice redefines hope in terms of a patients quality of life, said Kelly Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Heart to Heart Hospice. Through a team-oriented approach, Heart to Heart cares for the whole person, noted Mitchell. We meet each patients unique needs, while also supporting their caregivers with guidance and encouragement to help make the time together as peaceful as possible, he added.

Helping our patients remain in the place they call home and keeping them comfortable is what the Heart to Heart care team is trained to do, said Heather Lumsdon, BSN, RN and Chief Clinical Officer of Heart to Heart Hospice. We develop a personalized care plan that will honor their wishes and values and truly make a difference for them and their families.

About Heart to Heart Hospice

Heart to Heart Hospice, founded in 2003, is one of the largest private providers of hospice care in the United States. Headquartered in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Heart to Heart provides a broad range of hospice services to patients with life-limiting illnesses across 52 locations in Texas, Michigan, and Indiana. At Heart to Heart, we understand both the physical and emotional challenges for our patients and their loved ones and our compassionate care team is committed to providing them with what they need most: comfort, support, and dignity. Learn more about Heart to Heart Hospice.


Today, Heaton Companies has announced its newest project, Ouanalao Residences & Resort (pronounced O-wana-loo). Inspired by the native spirit and timeless architecture of St. Barthelemy in the French West Indies, this 15-acre oasis features 25 beach homes and 25 beach cottages fronting the Atlantic Ocean and Indian River Lagoon on South Floridas Hutchinson Island. Homes are 4,231 sq. ft. with prices from the $3 millions and features including a private walkway to the beach, elevated oceanfront pools, and more. Cottages are priced from $1.2 million.

Ouanalao invites residents to own a carefree piece of paradise with the option to place their oceanfront home in a premier vacation rental program. This idyllic retreat enjoys both sunrise and sunset views and is further complemented by an impressive selection of amenities, dining, and activities.

We are thrilled to introduce Ouanalao Residences & Resort to South Hutchinson Island, said Lee Heaton, Principal of Heaton Companies. From its spectacular location between the ocean and the lagoon to its curated amenities and onsite dining, every aspect of Ouanalao is designed to create a true island paradise for residents and guests. All of us at Heaton Companies and our partners look forward to bringing Ouanalao to life and creating an exciting new destination

just off the coast of South Floridas Martin and St. Lucie counties.

Heaton Companies is a family enterprise that has made Florida its home for more than 45 years, developing or refining elegant private communities, hotels and businesses in Florida, Vermont and New Hampshire. They are committed to working closely with civic leaders and citizens to design projects that are assets to the community, landscape and the local economy, such as the Vero Beach Hotel & Spa.

DOUGLAS ELLIMAN SALES & MARKETING has been selected as the exclusive broker for Ouanalaos residences. The resort component will be operated by Mainsail Lodging & Development, an award-winning management company which excels at lifestyle, experiential boutique resorts and whose turnkey program covers interior design, furnishings, financing and property maintenance. With a portfolio that includes Autograph Collection Hotels and Homes & Villas by Marriott International, Ouanalaos property and guests will be in capable hands.

Several renowned firms are collaborating on the creation of this new residential resort and lifestyle, including: Randall Stofft Architecture, Niemitz Design Group, Masterpiece Design Group, United Landmark Associates (branding and marketing), and Jacob Industries, LLC (contractor).

For a preview of this island-inspired lifestyle, visit the Ouanalao website at http://www.OuanalaoResort.com

HEATON COMPANIES

Developer

Enviable locations. Visionary concepts. Superior design and construction. These are the hallmarks of a Heaton Companies project. Specializing in the development of waterfront properties, creating luxurious hotels, elegant private communities, restaurants and trademark commercial centers currently in Florida, New Hampshire & Vermont. A family enterprise that has made Florida its home as well as its business for more than 45 years, Heaton Companies is committed to working closely with civic leaders and citizens to design projects that are assets to the landscape and local economy. Learn more at HeatonCompanies.com

MAINSAIL LODGING & DEVELOPMENT LLC

Resort Management

Mainsail Lodging & Development is a Tampa-based hospitality company that develops and operates lodging products in the Southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean. Their property portfolio includes five Autograph Collection hotels: Scrub Island Resort, Spa & Marina, a private island resort in the British Virgin Islands; the boutique, food-focused Epicurean Hotel in Tampa, Florida; Waterline Marina Resort on Anna Maria Island, Florida; the historic Fenway Hotel in Dunedin, Florida and the riverfront Luminary Hotel & Co. in downtown Fort Myers, Florida; as well as Mainsail Beach Inn, a boutique beachfront hotel on Anna Maria Island, Florida and The Karol Hotel, the first Tribute Portfolio hotel in Pinellas County, Florida. Mainsail Lodging also manages a portfolio of private vacation homes through its Mainsail Vacation Rentals (MainsailVR.com) offered on Homes & Villas by Marriott International. Learn more at MainsailHotels.com

DOUGLAS ELLIMAN SALE & MARKETING

Sales Team

Douglas Elliman brings homebuyers unmatched sales and marketing expertise in new developments internationally and throughout the United States, including New York, California and South Florida. With 113 offices nationwide, Douglas Elliman brings a long track record of success in the luxury residential market, as well as a deep national and international buyer network. Learn more at elliman.com/florida
Drivers should know that after an accident happens, they can only be reimbursed if they file a claim. To do that, drivers are recommended to follow several steps after the accident happened, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

Cheapquotesautoinsurance.com has launched a new blog post that presents the necessary steps for filing a car insurance claim.

For more info, visit https://cheapquotesautoinsurance.com/how-to-file-an-auto-insurance-claim/

Policyholders that file a claim, expect that their insurance providers will reimburse the costs of sustained damages after they were involved in a car accident. When filing a claim, policyholders have to follow certain steps.

Depending on the guilty party, and the damage suffered, the insurance company will be able to provide coverage. In most cases, the same steps apply:



Contact the authorities. Its important for drivers to call the police as soon as possible after the accident happened or when the owner realized his car got stolen. The police will create a report where they will gather evidence and eyewitness reports. Drivers should make sure to get a copy of that report.

Get in touch with the DMV to notify the accident. After they are informed about the accident, they will inform the drivers about their legal responsibilities.

Drivers should obtain all the info related to their accident. Its important to gather witness testimonials, police reports, and car repair bills.

Notify the insurance company. Drivers should explain to their insurers how the accident happened and what are the damages.

The insurance company will send a claim adjuster. Claim adjusters are trained professionals that work for the insurance company and they will try to obtain the lowest settlements possible.

Cooperate with claim adjusters. The adjuster will contact the policyholder and ask him to describe how everything happened. The adjuster will check the car and review the repair costs. Drivers should carefully negotiate with claim adjusters and make sure they get a fair settlement.

For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://cheapquotesautoinsurance.com/

Cheapquotesautoinsurance.com 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.
We couldnt imagine opening our coffee shop without Crimson Cup! Its been well worth the cost for the quality of consulting and products and equipment. They offer quality for a value price. - Molly Jeffrey, Humble Texan Coffee

Dont Use Crimson Cup  if you want to fail! said Doug Jeffrey, a serial entrepreneur, pilot and co-owner of the new Humble Texan Coffee in Vernon, Texas.

He and wife Molly Jeffrey opened their newest venture through the award-winning roasters 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup program.

Humble Texan Coffee joins the couples other local businesses, which range from cattle ranching and commercial real estate to The Refinery, a local artisan gift store that acts like a farmers market for retail items instead of food.

A school teacher 20 years ago, Molly learned to run their businesses and investments so she could stay home and work with their children.

She said the couple developed Humble Texan Coffee to fill the towns dire need for coffee that didnt come from a bank lobby or fast-food joint.

There was no third space in town for people to hang out, so we created a family-friendly place where people can get together and chat over quality coffee.

Like their other businesses, Humble Texan Coffee is about relationships and serving their local community.

We want to be the best small coffee house in Texas! Doug said. Our friends and neighbors deserve the best we can offer.

Relationships led the pair to Crimson Cup, which teaches entrepreneurs with little or no coffee experience how to run thriving coffee businesses.

Doug serves in the Air Force with Jeremy Buxton, a co-owner of four White Buffalo Coffee Bars in Altus, Lawton and Weatherford, Oklahoma. All four opened through Crimson Cups 7 Steps program.

I was impressed with the relationship Crimson Cup has with its customers, and how theyve helped White Buffalo succeed, he said.

Were honored that Jeremy recommended us to Doug and Molly, said Crimson Cup Founder and President Greg Ubert. We look forward to working with them to grow Humble Texan Coffee over the months and years to come.

Through its 7 Steps to Success program, Crimson Cup has helped over 200 entrepreneurs in 30 states start unique coffee shops in their local communities.

Based on Uberts book, Seven Steps to Success: A Common-Sense Guide to Succeed in Specialty Coffee, the program covers everything entrepreneurs need to run profitable coffee shops.

From choosing the right location and writing a sound business plan to training baristas and attracting customers, 7 Steps coffee shop startup consultants guide new owners from initial concept through opening day and beyond.

Molly said 7 Steps Trainer and Project Manager Steve Bayless is her favorite part of working with Crimson Cup so far. He spent the week before opening at the shop teaching her team everything they needed to know.

Having Steve handle all the training has taken a tremendous burden off, she said. Hes brought us so much knowledge and systems, taking the guesswork out of putting together a solid business.

We couldnt imagine opening our coffee shop without Crimson Cup! she added. Its been well worth the cost for the quality of consulting and products and equipment. They offer quality for a value price.

She found Step 5, Focus on Training, the most valuable of the 7 Steps.

The customer service, cleaning, all those things are wrapped up in the training and consulting. You can apply so much of what we learned through the process to other businesses and to life!

Now open at 4007 Wilbarger Street, Humble Texan Coffee invites guests into a unique experience based on connecting with one another over quality drinks, baked goods and lunch fare. The shop highlights Fair Trade coffees and teas and works with local dairy suppliers.

Sunny days guarantee that our patio will be full of guests enjoying a drink or treat, Molly said. On not-so-sunny days, we also offer comfortable seating inside our cafe with free Wi-Fi and plenty of outlets!

She is already hearing positive feedback about the coffee, which is roasted by Crimson Cup.

Weve had some great reviews already! People say its phenomenal, incredible, delicious, definitely worth the price.

Over the past five years, the roaster has won several national coffee awards  including a 2020 Good Food Award, which recognizes the countrys best tasting, most responsibly sourced coffees.

The signature Humble Texan Mocha, which melds fresh espresso with white chocolate and a caramel drizzle, is an early fan favorite.

The couple believes local service, quality and value create a winning combination for their shop.

Theres a national upswell of people gravitating towards mom and pop, genuine, local, and real, Doug said. Its your neighbors serving you, not some corporation.

The serial entrepreneurs offered this advice to other prospective coffee shop owners:

Get your finances in order, and expect delays in shipping, building, equipment. Remember to be flexible, because things are going to go wrong and you wont have everything down.

There will be punch list stuff to deal with, but it will be worth it a month after you open and all that will be a distant memory because youll see the smiles on your customers' faces and it will all be worth it.

Be persistent, and give us a call if you need advice!

Doug and Molly Jeffrey invite everyone in North Texas to stop and visit Humble Texan Coffee. The new shop is open six days a week.

To keep up with events and announcements, including new menu items and future grand opening celebrations, follow the stores Facebook Page.

About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea

Columbus coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea is celebrating 30 years of Coffee + Community. Since May 1991, Crimson Cup has roasted sustainably sourced craft coffee for consumers and wholesale coffee customers. It is a 2020 Good Food Award winner, 2019 Golden Bean Champion for Small Franchise/Chain Roaster and Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year.

Through its 7 Steps to Success coffee franchise alternative program, the company teaches entrepreneurs to run independent coffee houses in their local communities. By developing a coffee shop business plan, entrepreneurs gain insight into how much it costs to open a coffee shop.

Crimson Cup also supports life-enriching projects through its Friend2Farmer initiatives, promoting the education, health, sustainability and economic growth of small-plot coffee farmers and their communities.

Crimson Cup coffee is available through over 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 30 states, Guam and Bangladesh. The company also operates several Crimson Cup Coffee Houses and a new Crimson retail flagship store. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com, or follow the company on Facebook and Instagram.
"Our team built out a cohesive story of the current event landscape that clients can learn from, implement into their own strategies and ultimately be in the know of the best practices and current industry climate...

Impact Point Group, a strategic advisory and event management consultancy, has won a Gold Stevie Award in the Thought Leadership Campaign of the Year category as well as a Bronze Stevie Award in the Female Entrepreneur of the Year category recognizing Erica Spoor, President and Chief Strategist of Impact Point Group. The 18th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business were announced on September 23, 2021.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor women executives, entrepreneurs, employees, and the companies they run worldwide. The Stevie Awards have been hailed as the worlds premier business awards.

As the global pandemic systematically decimated the events industry, and most event agencies were undergoing layoffs, furloughs and salary reductions, Impact Point Group quickly transitioned the company focus to providing in-depth analysis, recommendations, and strategies for digital and remote events. The company began publishing its own thought leadership in the form of a Digital Event Forecast. This quarterly report with trends, in-depth metrics, and tactical solutions is the winning concept for the Gold Stevie Award in the Thought Leadership Campaign of the Year.

Our team built out a cohesive story of the current event landscape that clients can learn from, implement into their own strategies and ultimately be in the know of the best practices and current industry climate, said Erica Spoor. Im proud of their ability to use the data and their experience to provide insights and recommendations that made an impact. This award is well deserved!

President and Chief Strategist, Erica Spoor has made the company culture her number one priority and Impact Point Group is honored to realize this recognition with a Bronze Stevie Award in the Female Entrepreneur of the Year category. Since 2019 the Impact Point Group team has maintained an average team happiness rating of 92.3% and has grown their headcount by 333% going from three full time employees to thirteen, 46% of that growth has happened just within the last six months.

More than 1,500 entries were submitted this year for consideration in more than 100 categories, including Executive of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Company of the Year, Startup of the Year, Women Helping Women, and Women Run Workplace of the Year.

Winners will be celebrated during a virtual awards ceremony on Thursday, January 13, 2022. Registration for the ceremony is now on sale.

About Impact Point Group

Impact Point Group is proud to be a WBENC-certified women-owned business and offers full-service advisory, strategic support and event management to corporate event and marketing teams helping them build and execute event and engagement strategies.

Founded in 2007 by Erica Spoor, Impact Point Group began with one-full time employee, a few contractors, and a couple of agency partners and has successfully grown into a fully staffed boutique consultancy working with Fortune 500 enterprise tech companies.

Learn more at impactpointgroup.com

Connect with us at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/impact-point-group/

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at StevieAwards.com

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It is a great honor to be nominated as a finalist for a GovCon Award, INCATech attributes our success to the excellent commitment, hard work and performance of our staff, and the outstanding support from our customers.  Liliana Freedman, President & CEO

We are excited to announce that INCATech LLC has been selected as a finalist for Contractor of the Year (up to $25 million) in the 2021 The Greater Washington Government Contractor (GovCon) Awards. The finalists were announced on 9/23/2021 during a private event. Presented by the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Professional Services Council (PSC), the Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards winners will be announced at an evening gala on Wednesday, November 3rd, 5:30 - 9:00 pm at The Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner. The Annual GovCon Award has been dubbed the "Academy Awards of Government Contracting." This unique event draws the region's top industry and government leaders.

The Contractor of the Year award is presented to a government contractor in the Greater Washington-area for distinguished financial and operational accomplishments, as well as outstanding contributions during the past year to employees, the government contracting industry, and the U.S. Government. The Contractor of the Year award is divided into four different revenue categories:



Contractor of the Year (up to $25 million)

Contractor of the Year ($25 to $75 million)

Contractor of the Year ($75 to $300 million)

Contractor of the Year (greater than $300 million)

About the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce

Originally founded in 1925 as a Fairfax county-focused business advocacy organization, the Northern Virginia Chamber has grown into the region's largest Chamber of Commerce, drawing members and impacting policy across the Greater Washington D.C. Metropolitan Region. Today, representing close to 500,000 employees, the diversity of our community is one of our greatest assets, offering opportunities to learn from one another and form personal connections that help guide lasting business growth.

NOVAs goal is to be considered not only a business partner but also an agent of change for our members. We do this through our work in government advocacy, education through events and programs, networking, promotion of member businesses, and recognition through awards. We are proud to have worked together over these many years to build a meaningful association that enriches our community and look forward to continuing that good work.

For more information, visit http://www.novachamber.org.

About PSC

PSC is the voice of the government technology and professional services industry. PSCs more than 400 member companies represent small, medium and large businesses that provide federal agencies with services of all kinds, including information technology, engineering, logistics, facilities management, operations and maintenance, consulting, international development, scientific, social, environmental services, and more. Together, the trade associations members employ hundreds of thousands of Americans in all 50 states. Follow PSC on Twitter @PSCSpeaks.

About INCATech

INCATech is an SBA 8(a) certified Woman Owned Small Business that has provided innovative technology to U.S. government and commercial customers for nearly a decade. Our expert teams apply Agile methodologies and use state-of-the-art products to achieve your mission goals and deliver breakthrough results. https://incatech-corp.com
"Latinos continue to lead entrepreneurial starts, labor force participation, and homeownership growth, outpacing that of other segments of the population, said Gary Acosta, NAHREP CEO and Co-Founder.

The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) and the Hispanic Wealth Project (HWP) today announced the release of their annual State of Hispanic Wealth Report (SHWR) at the LATTITUDE conference. The reports findings highlight that despite the seismic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Latino household wealth, Latinos are on track to meet the Hispanic Wealth Projects goals, primarily because of the historic levels of real estate acquisitions and home equity gains of the past few years. While Latinos continue to drive small business development, a low level of stock market participation and retirement account ownership rates continue to leave Latinos less diversified in their wealth.

Latinos continue to lead entrepreneurial starts, labor force participation, and homeownership growth, outpacing that of other segments of the population. Our survey shows that significant knowledge gaps continue to inhibit Latinos from participating in non-cash financial investments including the stock market and retirement accounts, said Gary Acosta, NAHREP CEO and Co-Founder.

The reports findings include:

HOMEOWNERSHIP

With a homeownership rate above 48 percent, Latinos are on track to reach the HWP goal of 50 percent homeownership rate over the next 5 years.

Wealth gains mostly driven by real estate: Residential property values make up more than half (52 percent) of Latino assets, driven by both homeownership and investment property ownership.

Homeowners have 28 times the wealth of renters: Latino homeowners have a net worth of $171,900, 28 times that of Latino renters of $6,210. With over 600,000 home purchase transactions, Latinos saw a greater increase in home purchases between 2019 and 2020 than any other demographic, with a mortgage activity up 13 percent from the year prior and 24.5 percent from 2018.

Purchasing investment properties at faster rates: Between 2016 and 2019, Latinos increased their ownership of investment properties by 33.1 percent, the highest increase of any demographic. At the same time, the non-Hispanic White, Black, and general population all decreased their rates of investment property ownership during that time period.

Forbearance rates high but home equity gains prevent losses seen in Great Recession: As of March 2021, 8.4 percent of Latino home loan borrowers were in forbearance, and 0.7 percent of Latino borrowers were at least 60 days delinquent, making them 2.3 times more likely to be in forbearance and 1.5 times more likely to be delinquent than non-Hispanic White borrowers. However, even with these alarming rates of Latinos being behind on their mortgage, home equity gains in Q2 of 2021 was $51,500 per owner household, the largest average equity gain in the past 11 years. This means, that most borrowers who are behind on their mortgage today, have accumulated enough equity that they can either refinance or sell their home at a gain, rather lose their home to foreclosures.

Down payment biggest perceived hurdle to homeownership: Over one in three Latino renters in the 2021 HWP Survey (36 percent) reported not having enough saved for a down payment as their primary reason for not buying a home, the highest of any demographic. Surveys suggests that inaccuracies exist in perceptions on how much of a down payment is needed to buy a home, particularly among Latinos.

Homeownership as a tool for building generational wealth: Less than half (44 percent) of Latinos in the 2021 HWP Survey reported growing up in a house their family owned, compared to 57 percent of non-Hispanic White households. Young adults who grow up in a home their parents owned are 7 to 8 percentage points more likely to become homeowners themselves.

Latinos are driving demand for real estate: More than half (53 percent) of Latino renters in the 2021 HWP Survey reported plans to buy a home in the next 5 years and more than a third (36 percent) of Latinos plan to buy an investment property in the next 5 years. The proportion of Latinos looking to buy an investment property this year was nearly three times that of non-Hispanic White buyers.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

With 331,625 Latino employer firms, Latinos are roughly one-third of the way toward reaching the HWP goal of 400,000 Latino employer firms by 2024.

Self-employment increases wealth fivefold: Self-employed Latinos have a median net worth of $174,920, five times that of Latinos overall. Even further, self-employed Latinos with business equity, or those who have business assets, have a net worth of $314,380, almost 9 times the wealth of Latinos overall.

Engine of business growth: Growth in Latina-owned employer businesses accounted for nearly all (93 percent) of the growth in women-owned employer businesses between 2017 and 2018, employing nearly 700,000 people. Latino-owned businesses overall grew faster than the national average in over 80 percent of U.S. States and in 13 out of 15 industry sectors where Latinos do business.

Small businesses are recovering from closures: In the first few months of the pandemic, between February and March of 2020, one in three (32 percent) Latino-owned businesses had to shut down, a reduction of nearly 700,000 businesses.

Latinos have less access to capital: All things being equal, Latino business owners are 60 percent less likely to be approved for a business loan than their non-Hispanic White counterparts, requiring them to rely on personal funds at higher rates than other business owners. Latino business owners in the 2021 HWP Survey respondents were twice as likely Latinos who did not own a business to report carrying a balance on their personal credit cards (63 percent vs 36 percent).

SAVINGS AND INVESTMENTS

Between 2016 and 2019, Latinos reduced their retirement account participation by 14.1 percent, continuing the trend of having the lowest retirement account participation rate in the country. Latinos are likely not to reach the 37 percent HWP retirement account goal by 2024.

Latinos with retirement accounts have ten times the wealth: Latinos with a retirement account have a median net worth of $133,300, nearly ten times the wealth of those who do not, highlighting why these tax-advantaged investments are so critical to drive up wealth for Latinos.

Retirement account participation trending down: With a Latino retirement account participation rate at 25.5 percent, HWP goal progress in this category has remained flat.

Unfamiliarity of stock market drives low participation rates: Latinos primary driver of low retirement account participation is not a lack of funds, but rather unfamiliarity with how stock market-based investments work. Among 2021 HWP Survey respondents, 25 percent of Latinos report not knowing how to invest in retirement accounts, 10 percent report not thinking it is a safe investment, and 9 percent have never even heard of them.

Most likely to expect to work beyond retirement. At 15 percent, Latinos in the 2021 HWP Survey were the most likely demographic to say they have no intention to ever retire or to permanently stop working, 50 percent higher than the general population.

Lower capacity to save: As of 2019, 44.7 percent of Latino households reported that they had the capacity to save, compared to 58.6 percent of the general population, consistently the lowest among demographics over the past decade.

While Latino real estate purchases and entrepreneurial starts have been robust, formidable challenges threaten future wealth gains. Latinos have trailed all other demographics in retirement account participation, small business owners are not accessing capital at the rates necessary to effectively scale their businesses, inventory shortages are slowing home purchases, and Latinos were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

However, even with the setbacks, Latino household wealth is set to continue on an upward trajectory, with wealth derived from real estate acquisitions offsetting some of the losses in business equity and savings and investments. As the economy continues on an unpredictable path, the demonstrated resilience and work ethic of the Latino community remains an invaluable asset to Americas continued prosperity.

For the full report see Hispanic Wealth Report 2021.

About NAHREP:

The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP), a nonprofit 501(c)6 trade association, is dedicated to advancing sustainable homeownership for the Hispanic community in America. NAHREP has a network of over 40,000 real estate professionals and 100 local chapters nationwide, hosting several national events per year and publishing multiple industry cornerstone reports annually. Join us in advocating for policies that grow sustainable Latino homeownership, read our 2021 policy priorities here. Also, see the NAHREP Hispanic Homeownership by Congressional District Tool which measures Hispanic homeownership by U.S. congressional district, allowing constituents, advocates, policy makers, and lending and housing professionals to evaluate district performance at a glance.

Watch the Hispanic Homeownership Short Film!
Using Locomation, one driver pilots a lead truck with technology augmentation while a follower truck operates in tandem through a fully autonomous system Autonomy is going to be part of the future of the trucking industry, and human-guided convoys have the potential to reduce risk and open new opportunities for the entire industry.

Locomation, a leading provider of autonomous truck technology solutions, and Aon plc today announced a collaboration to develop a risk management plan as Locomation develops its autonomous freight transport technology and backend platform for commercial deployment to trucking companies and shippers. Aon, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement, and health solutions, will work with Locomation and insurance carriers to assess the autonomous technology risks and align them with insurance industry best practices.

We are confident that Aons experience will enhance Locomations corporate development and strategic plan and will also highlight the benefits of our approach to the insurance community, trucking companies, shippers, and truck drivers themselves, said Dr. Cetin Mericli, CEO and co-founder of Locomation.

The collaboration will also aim to support one of Locomations long-term goals of reducing customers operating costs through lower insurance rates for carriers, shippers, truck manufacturers, and others using Locomations autonomous truck technology.

With demand for freight trucking service increasing and drivers in short supply, autonomous driving is poised to redefine the supply chain in the years ahead and will revolutionize the trucking industry.

Were pleased to work with Locomation to learn how this technology functions in the real world and what it means for safety and insurance coverage, said Michael Stankard, managing director for Aons automotive practice. Autonomy is going to be part of the future of the trucking industry, and human-guided convoys have the potential to reduce risk and open new opportunities for the entire industry.

About Locomation:

Locomation is re-engineering the worlds supply chain for autonomy by developing a portfolio of AV products and a suite of proprietary tools, methods, and processes that enable our clients to implement an operating model designed specifically for autonomous vehicles. Launched in 2018 by veterans of Carnegie Mellons National Robotics Engineering Center, the Locomation team includes some of the worlds foremost experts in robotics technology, artificial intelligence, trucking, freight optimization, safety, and automotive.

Learn more at https://locomation.ai or follow us on Twitter at @LocomationAI or on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/locomation.

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We are excited to fund the first cohort of research studies under the CURE-19 collaboration with NYC Health + Hospitals, said Dennis S. Charney, MD, the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Icahn Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs of the Mount Sinai Health System.

The Arnhold Institute for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and NYC Health + Hospitals today announced the four inaugural grant awardees of the CURE-19 Research Pilot Projects, an initiative to support collaborative, interdisciplinary COVID-19 research to better understand the novel virus that has transformed health care globally. Each winner will receive $25,000 to support their research project thanks to funding by Icahn Mount Sinai.

The CURE-19 Research Pilot Projects will support new COVID-19 research over the next five years, with an emphasis on projects related to disease control for large communities, informatics and decision support systems, addressing structural racism and social determinants of health, translational science research, and evidence-based interventions and policies. The projects will also address the long-term effects of COVID-19, social and environmental determinants of COVID-19, and maternal and child health related to COVID-19.

Elmhurst is thrilled to collaborate with our colleagues at Mount Sinai to further understand the relationship between COVID-19 and community, clinical, and socio-economic variables, said NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst CEO Helen Arteaga Landaverde, MPH. We saw first-hand how terribly impacted our precious community was in the early days and weeks of the pandemic. However, that impact will have lasting effects for decades and generations to come. It is critical, as community health care providers, to thoroughly understand these impacts and better adapt our care and support services to those needs.

Congratulations to the four inaugural grant awardees of the CURE-19 Research Pilot Projects, said NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens CEO Neil J. Moore, MBA, MPA, FACHE. By partnering with our neighboring health institutions, our experts will be able to collect larger samples of information to draw stronger conclusions and correlations that will ultimately help address health needs in these communities, now and in the future.

We are excited to fund the first cohort of research studies under the CURE-19 collaboration with NYC Health + Hospitals, said Dennis S. Charney, MD, the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Icahn Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs of the Mount Sinai Health System. The pandemic has disproportionately affected vulnerable populations. We must understand the systemic issues in order to address inequities in medicine and provide equitable care that improves health outcomes and enhances pandemic preparedness and response initiatives.

The inaugural research grant winners and their projects include:

1. Environmental Impact on Outcomes: Saadiyah Bilal, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Icahn Mount Sinai, will examine the relationship between neighborhood-level community variables with clinical outcomes and vaccination rates for patients with COVID-19.

2. Community Health Care Workers: Stanley Pierre, MD, MPA, Patient Safety Coordinator and Director of the Clinical Centers of Excellence Development Program, NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens, will examine how community health care workers can promote equity in vaccine access and trust to historically marginalized and vulnerable communities.

3. Maternal COVID-19 Vaccination: Uday Patil, MD, Director of Neonatology and Newborn Services at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, and Global Health and Health Systems Design, at Icahn Mount Sinai, will examine the transfer of passive immunity against COVID-19 to newborns after vaccination of mothers in diverse, multiethnic communities that are often underserved and underrepresented.

4. Opioid Overdose During Pandemic: Siri Shastry, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Icahn Mount Sinai, will examine the impact of COVID-19 on risk behaviors of patients with non-fatal opioid overdose in the Emergency Department, while understanding the influence of structural, community, and network factors.

The four inaugural research grant winners were required to submit a proposal that included a project summary or abstract, research description that emphasized its focus and significance, proposed timeline, list of principal and co-principal investigators, and more. The proposals were reviewed by a committee of research leaders from the CURE-19 partner institutions, who scored them on criteria including overall impact, significance, innovation, and approach.

The research pilot projects are part of a larger partnership known as the COVID-19 Unit for Research at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst and /Queens (CURE-19), a collaboration between Mount Sinais Arnhold Institute for Global Health and NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst Global Health Institute that formed during the initial peak of the pandemic in 2020. CURE-19 translates data, experiences, and lessons from clinicians at the Mount Sinai Health System, NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, and NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens into research to address both the global pandemic and root causes of health disparities in New York City.

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About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York Citys largest academic medical system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. We advance medicine and health through unrivaled education and translational research and discovery to deliver care that is the safest, highest-quality, most accessible and equitable, and the best value of any health system in the nation. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 free-standing joint-venture centers; more than 410 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked in U.S. News & World Reports "Honor Roll" of the top 20 U.S. hospitals and among the top in the nation by specialty: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Urology, and Rehabilitation. Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital is ranked in U.S. News & World Reports Best Childrens Hospitals among the countrys best in four out of 10 pediatric specialties. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked among the Top 20 nationally for ophthalmology. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is one of three medical schools that have earned distinction by multiple indicators: ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News & World Reports Best Medical Schools, aligned with a U.S. News & World Report

Honor Roll Hospital, and No. 14 in the nation for National Institutes of Health funding. Newsweeks The Worlds Best Smart Hospitals ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital as No. 1 in New York and top five globally, and Mount Sinai Morningside as top 20 globally, and The Worlds Best Specialized Hospitals ranks Mount Sinai Heart as No. 1 in New York and No. 5 globally and the Division of Gastroenterology as No. 5 globally. For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

About NYC Health + Hospitals

NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest public health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the citys five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the systems trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan  all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 42,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit http://www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NYCHealthSystem/ or Twitter at @NYCHealthSystem.
The United States Mint has appointed Dr. Harcourt Fuller to the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC), as the member recommended by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He replaces Thomas J. Uram, who recently completed his second term on the CCAC, which included two years as chairperson.

Currently an Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora History in the Department of History at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Dr. Fuller has taught at Connecticut College, Florida International University, and Emmanuel College. He was also a Visiting Scholar and Researcher at Boston University.

A coin and currency collector since his childhood years, Dr. Fuller is a member of the American Numismatic Association and the International Bank Note Society. His numismatic research has been highlighted in "Coin World" and the "IBNS Journal," and in 2021, he spoke at the Metropolitan Coin Club of Atlanta, and his Money Talks presentation was featured at the American Numismatic Society. He is also the creator of the traveling museum exhibition, "Black Money Exhibit: World Currencies Featuring African and African Diasporic History and Cultures"; the Black Money Exhibit soundtrack; and the forthcoming documentary-film, "Black Women on Money."

Dr. Fuller holds a Ph.D. in International History and a M.Sc. (with Merit) in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics. He also holds a B.A. in International Studies, an M.A. in History, and a Certificate in Latin American Studies from the City College of New York. His notable awards include a Fulbright Global Scholar Award, a Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship, and an Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society Grant. During his graduate studies, he held the position of Research Assistant in the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum in London.

Dr. Fuller is also the producer of the award-winning documentary-film "Queen Nanny: Legendary Maroon Chieftainess" (2015), which chronicles the history and legacy of the 18th century African-Jamaican anti-slavery leader, Nanny of the Maroons.

About the CCAC

The CCAC was established by an Act of Congress in 2003. It advises the Secretary of the Treasury on theme or design proposals relating to circulating coinage, bullion coinage, Congressional Gold Medals, and other medals produced by the United States Mint. The CCAC also makes commemorative coin recommendations to the Secretary and advises on the events, persons, or places to be commemorated, as well as on the mintage levels and proposed designs. The CCAC is subject to the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury. The United States Mint is responsible for providing necessary and appropriate administrative support, technical services, and advice.

The CCAC submits an annual report to Congress and the Secretary of the Treasury, describing its activities and providing recommendations.

About the United States Mint

Congress created the United States Mint in 1792, and the Mint became part of the Department of the Treasury in 1873. As the Nations sole manufacturer of legal tender coinage, the Mint is responsible for producing circulating coinage for the Nation to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint also produces numismatic products, including proof, uncirculated, and commemorative coins; Congressional Gold Medals; silver and bronze medals; and silver and gold bullion coins. Its numismatic programs are self-sustaining and operate at no cost to taxpayers.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:


We are extremely proud of our outstanding medical teams that make this award possible, - Kenneth Davis, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Hospital has been named the No. 1 specialty hospital in New York State and one of the top 5 medical centers in the world for gastroenterology, cardiology, and cardiac surgery in Newsweeks Worlds Best Specialized Hospitals 2022 list.

The annual list ranks the top 250 hospitals for cardiology and oncology, the top 150 for cardiac surgery and pediatrics, and the top 125 each in endocrinology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, neurology, neurosurgery, and pulmonology. The Mount Sinai Hospital received top honors in 10 specialties overall and for the first year, Mount Sinai Beth Israel was recognized in five specialties.

This is the second year in a row that The Mount Sinai Hospital was assessed in Newsweeks annual medical specialty survey and ranked among the top in the world in the following disciplines: gastroenterology (No. 3 worldwide), cardiology (No. 4), cardiac surgery (No. 4), pulmonology (No. 6), neurosurgery (No. 8), neurology (No. 11), oncology (No. 22), pediatrics (No. 23), orthopedics (No. 25), and endocrinology (No. 29). Mount Sinai Beth Israel was ranked worldwide in the following specialties: orthopedics (No. 86), neurosurgery (No. 88), pediatrics (No. 101), neurology (No. 112), and oncology (No. 178).

We are extremely proud of our outstanding medical teams that make this award possible, said Kenneth L. Davis, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Mount Sinai Health System. To receive this distinction by a global audience is a great honor. This ranking reflects a commitment to providing equitable, high-quality care to our patients and underscores Mount Sinais relentless pursuit of knowledge, understanding, and answers to the worlds most complex health problems. We do this in service of each patient and family we treat and care for, as well as the millions of families and communities around the globe through research collaborations that advance understanding of health and the human condition.

This honor is a testament to the compassion and dedication of our entire staff, who work tirelessly to deliver exceptional care to our patients. I am deeply proud of every member of our community. From our operations and support teams to our physicians and nurses, everyone has made this global recognition possible, says David L. Reich, MD, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Mount Sinai Hospital. This has been a challenging year for our community, but our team continues to respond by making world-leading advances in science that improved clinical care.

The dedication and compassion of our expert clinicians is inspiring and reinforces our commitment to the community that we are proud to serve, said Jeremy Boal, MD, President of Mount Sinai Beth Israel and Downtown, and Chief Clinical Officer of Mount Sinai Health System. I am so grateful to the many teams and individuals who all play a part in the care provided to our patients, and make this honor possible.

According to Newsweek, these rankings are provided to help patients and their loved ones know which hospitals or state-of-the-art facilities have the most accomplished physicians and offer the highest level of care. Developed in partnership with global data research firm Statista Inc., Newsweek invited over 40,000 medical experts (medical doctors, health care professionals, hospital managers, and directors) in more than 20 countries to an online survey. Participants were asked to recommend and rank hospitals based on their expertise in one primary medical field and were able to choose an optional secondary area of expertise. Results were compiled, weighted, ranked, and then validated by an international board of experts.

The Mount Sinai Hospital is the flagship hospital of the Mount Sinai Health System, one of the nations leading health care systems, comprising eight hospitals, an award-winning medical and graduate school, and a large network of ambulatory centers and practices. Mount Sinai Beth Israel is notable for its unique approach to combining medical excellence with clinical innovation and has advanced our commitment to community-based ambulatory care and expanding patient access to primary and specialty care.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest academic medical system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical and graduate school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. We advance medicine and health through unrivaled education and translational research and discovery to deliver care that is the safest, highest-quality, most accessible and equitable, and the best value of any health system in the nation. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 free-standing joint-venture centers; more than 410 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked in U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of the top 20 U.S. hospitals and among the top in the nation by specialty: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Urology, and Rehabilitation. Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital is ranked in U.S. News & World Reports Best Childrens Hospitals among the countrys best in four out of 10 pediatric specialties. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked among the Top 20 nationally for ophthalmology. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is one of three medical schools that have earned distinction by multiple indicators: ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News & World Report's "Best Medical Schools," aligned with a U.S. News & World Report "Honor Roll" Hospital, and No. 14 in the nation for National Institutes of Health funding. Newsweeks The Worlds Best Smart Hospitals ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital as No. 1 in New York and top five globally, and Mount Sinai Morningside as top 20 globally, and The Worlds Best Specialized Hospitals ranks Mount Sinai Heart as No. 1 in New York and No. 4 globally and the Division of Gastroenterology as No. 3 globally. For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Because Optelos both organizes and transforms images from drones, cell phones and other devices into easily usable and shareable data that can be used to perform detailed assessments, it allows commercial roofing contractors to reduce costs, increase revenue and improve the safety of their workforce

Optelos, Imagine Technologies and Cotney have come to together to bring the latest roofing inspection technology to the commercial roofing industry, enabling commercial roofing contractors, property managers and material manufacturers to more rapidly and accurately perform roofing assessments. The solution is centered around Optelos visual inspection platform and drone captured data to produce high resolution images and 2D and 3D models allowing detailed roof assessments to be performed in a fraction of the time with more accuracy and at a fraction of the cost of the traditional boots on the roof approach. The Optelos platform also produces high quality assessment reports allowing for more accurate costing and improved deliverables to clients. Clients can also gain access to the Optelos platform through their contractor, enabling better client engagement, leading to increased revenue and longevity with the client.

In announcing the partnership, David Tran, Optelos CEO, noted, Were delighted to be able to provide the industry-leading visual data management and analysis capability of Optelos to the commercial roofing industry. Because Optelos both organizes and transforms images from drones, cell phones and other devices into easily usable and shareable data that can be used to perform detailed assessments, it allows commercial roofing contractors to reduce costs, increase revenue and improve the safety of their workforce.

Through this partnership Cotney, the recognized leader in commercial roofing business best practices, ensures that the Optelos solution delivers high value to commercial roofing contractors, general contractors, property owners and property managers. The platform provides unique insights into the conditions of their roofs, as well as assists in the planning and inventory management of new roofing construction and repair projects. The combination of Optelos visual data management capabilities, interactive site diagrams, comprehensive 2D and 3D models, highly accurate measurement tools and integrated AI workflows, combined with Cotneys commercial roofing consulting experience, creates a breakthrough solution for the industry.

John Kenney, Chief Operating Officer of Cotney Attorneys and Consultants noted Our clients look to Cotney to provide them with industry insights and best practices to keep them ahead of the competition. The Optelos platform has provided us with the ability to help our clients realize the power of digital asset inspections to improve worker safety, reduce costs and leverage digital inspection data for better insights and business decisions.

The Optelos solution is delivered through Imagine Technologies Group (ITG) who recognize that customers are in different stages of their drone roofing inspection journey. To help customers achieve maximum results as quickly as possible, complete turnkey professional services are available through ITG, who offer end-to-end data collection, inspection, and reporting for the roofing industry. Customers can take advantage of ITGs expertise to jumpstart their digital inspection programs to begin realizing advantages immediately.

About Optelos

We believe that intelligent interpretation of visual data can empower our customers to deliver better business outcomes. Our patented software transforms unstructured inspection data into answers to deliver actionable insights. We enable customers to identify and remediate critical asset issues through our patented geovisual data management and AI analytics platform. Optelos is the leading enterprise platform for digitalization of asset inspection and management. Utilizing patented image transformation technology, Optelos leverages AI, advanced image modeling/visualization to fully operationalize asset visual inspection. Optelos is based in Austin, TX. For more information, visit https://optelos.com

About Imagine Technologies Group

The foundation of our business was built on the experience of our team in the commercial roofing and asset management industry. Through many years of being driven to exceed the norms in our industry through technological advances, Imagine Technologies Group was founded. We feel that our never seen before offering will elevate the entire commercial roofing / asset management industry as we continue to Imagine Better. Imagine Technologies Group is based out of Columbus, Ohio, visit Imaginetechnologiesgroup.com

About Cotney Attorneys and Consultants

Cotney Construction Law is an international law firm that fights for the roofing industry. Experienced in the representation of businesses and professionals in construction disputes and transactions, Cotney is a well-known advisor and legal counsel in the roofing industry. The firms practice areas include construction law, litigation, arbitration, business law, immigration, employment, OSHA defense, licensing defense, bid protests, lien law, bond law and alternative dispute resolution. The firm has offices throughout the US and Canada. For more information, visit http://www.cotneycl.com.
Paybotic is honored to attend NECANNs New Jersey Cannabis Convention to be held in Atlantic City. Paybotic Executive Brian OConnor, VP of Partner Relations, Mahlon James, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Tom Wondra, and Co-Founder and President, Max Miller will attend the convention on behalf of the national payment processing services provider. They will operate an exhibit at table 608 near the west entrance to the attendee lounge area.

Since 2014, NECANN has developed into a hub of knowledge and resources for cannabis entrepreneurs and enthusiasts throughout the industry and northeastern United States. The expos objective is to foster engagement, learning, and expansion for the potential of cannabis market opportunities among business owners, investors, academics, legal activists, and medical/retail consumers.

As a regionally-concentrated convention, NECANNs goal to highlight the needs and potential of proximal cannabis markets creates an expo that results in opportunities for success greater than what national shows offer. Paybotic looks forward to showing cannabis business owners and key decision makers in areas such as New Jersey, Maryland, and Massachusetts how its payment processing technology helps dispensaries thrive in a high-risk industry with varying demands and regulation.

The first two days of the conference will begin at 11:00 and 10:00 a.m. respectively, with each featuring several workshops and seminars that run throughout the session concerning various commercial and recreational cannabis subjects. The final day  ending at 3:00 p.m.  will commence with a series of events that specifically target those in fields such as cultivation, production, environmental sustainability, higher education, consumer behavior, tourism, social justice, and more.

Vendors, guest speakers, and potential investors are welcome to attend and participate in the 2021 New Jersey Cannabis Convention. Please visit the event website for more information on hosting an exhibit, obtaining a press pass, acquiring tickets, or becoming a NECANN sponsor.

About Paybotic

Paybotic is one of the largest payment processing solution providers for high-risk merchants in the United States. The company specializes in helping cannabis-related businesses process customer payments and maintain compliance amid evolving regulation.

As innovators in the FinTech space, products such as the Cashless ATM have been obvious solutions for Paybotic to implement across the cannabis industry. The company actively works with a variety of sizes of businessesfrom single store locations to multi-state operators and even publicly-traded companies.

Cannabis business owners or decision makers with interest in one or several of Paybotics full suite of industry payment processing services can call 844-420-4729 for more information. Those interested can also visit the Paybotic website to speak with a live agent.
Criminal Defense Attorney Morgan McNabb has been admitted to the Eastern District of Texas Federal Court

The Crowder Law Firm, P.C. is proud to announce that Associate Attorney Morgan McNabb has been admitted to the Eastern District of Texas Federal Court. Attorney McNabb represents clients facing state and federal crimes, including drug charges, property crimes, weapons offenses, and violent crimes.

The Eastern District of Texas Federal Court is made up of 43 Texas counties that include densely populated cities such as Plano, McKinney, and Frisco. The Districts mission is to provide residents of these areas with quality service and government, employ caring staff, and instill public trust.

Morgan McNabb is licensed to practice in her native state of Texas and is a member of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. Previously, Attorney McNabb served in the Caprock Regional Public Defenders Clinic as a Student Attorney. At the clinic, she gained experience fighting misdemeanor charges such as assault, theft, and criminal trespassing for indigent defendants. Her work at the clinic earned her the Judge Ken G. Spencer Award as well as the Distinction Award for Trial Advocacy.

Originally from Brownwood, Texas, Attorney McNabb attended Texas Tech University, where she graduated with a B.A. in Psychology in 2017. In May of 2020, she earned her law degree from Texas Tech University School of Law.

About The Crowder Law Firm, P.C.

Serving clients out of their Plano, Texas office, The Crowder Law Firm provides representation for state and federal clients throughout the state of Texas including Collin County, Denton County, Tarrant County, and Dallas County. The firm also handles federal cases in the Eastern District and Northern District.

The firm is dedicated to advocating for Texas residents who have been charged with criminal offenses, including manufacturing and trafficking drugs, DWI, sex crimes, burglary and criminal trespass, fraud, assault and battery, and weapons charges.

Attorney Darlina Crowder has been leading the firm for over 20 years. In that time, she and her team have been able to secure over 250 not-guilty verdicts and acquittals for their clients.

To learn more about The Crowder Law Firm, visit https://www.crowdercriminalfirm.com/ or call 214-303-9600 for a free consultation.
SALESFORCE CREST PARTNER We have delivered several innovative solutions leveraging Salesforce to help our clients address a variety of challenges while enabling new capabilities, said Vamsi Krishna, Founder and Director, TechForce Services

TechForce Services, a Salesforce consulting and technology services firm, today announced that it has advanced its partnership status to Salesforce Crest tier from the Gold tier.

TechForce Services offers end-to-end Salesforce services  from implementations, customisations, migrations, and deployments to DevOps, staff augmentation, and support.

The premier partner support access as part of the Crest tier will give TechForce Services access to Salesforces technical knowledge and 1:1 developer support. This will help the firm to confidently deliver consistent, repeatable, and exceptional app, integration, and implementation experiences to its customers.

We have delivered several innovative solutions leveraging Salesforce to help our clients address a variety of challenges while enabling new capabilities, said Vamsi Krishna, Founder and Director, TechForce Services. I applaud our partners at Salesforce for their great support as well as our team whose dedication to client success has enabled us to achieve the Salesforce Crest Partner status and make our collaboration even stronger.

Im thrilled for this recognition. Access to greater benefits and resources with this elevated status will enable our team to better serve our clients business needs at an even higher level, said Hitesh Madan, Partner and Director, TechForce Services. What makes this achievement even more remarkable is that we were able to do this while navigating the highly turbulent climate of recent months and battling through remote working and multiple lockdowns. Im incredibly proud of the entire TechForce team. Their unwavering hard work and dedication has helped us achieve this Salesforce status.

Salesforce evaluates partnership tiers based on consulting partners score value that measures a partners contributions against Salesforces set targets across various dimensions, including ACV (revenue influence and revenue growth), specialisation of resources and certifications on Salesforce, and CSAT achieved through project deliveries, among others.

About TechForce:

TechForce Services is an Australian Salesforce cloud technology consulting company and a Pledge 1% partner headquartered in New South Wales. Our experience covers the growing demands of organisations in dynamic areas such as government, financial services, higher education, and manufacturing, with over 100 Salesforce, AWS, and related certifications. We are also a member of the Professional Partner Program of Australian Computer Society and hold the ACS Trust Mark in four categories. With an ISO 9001:2015 certification and 50,000+ project hours under our belt, we focus on conceptualizing, designing, engineering, marketing, and managing digital products and experiences for high-growth companies.

For more information:

Sales: hello@techforceservices.com.au

Phone ( Aus) : +61 403505570

Website: http://www.techforceservices.com.au
Inc. Magazine Reveals Annual List of Americas Fastest-Growing Private Companiesthe Inc. 5000

Texas Tax Protest Ranks No. 2991 on the 2021 Inc. 5000 List with Three-Year Revenue Growth of 128% Percent

Inc. magazine today revealed that Texas Tax Protest is No. 2991 on its annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nations fastest-growing private companies. The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economys most dynamic segmentits independent small businesses. Intuit, Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

We are absolutely ecstatic about our growth over these past couple years thanks to our forward-thinking, dedicated team. Were honored to be part of such an elite list of like-minded companies, and were optimistic about the future of Texas Tax Protest. - Nicholas Olenec, Founder & CEO Texas Tax Protest

Not only have the companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 been very competitive within their markets, but this years list also proved especially resilient and flexible given 2020s unprecedented challenges. Among the 5,000, the average median three-year growth rate soared to 543 percent, and median revenue reached $11.1 million. Together, those companies added more than 610,000 jobs over the past three years.

Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at http://www.inc.com/inc5000. The top 500 companies are featured in the September issue of Inc., which will be available on newsstands on August 20.

The 2021 Inc. 5000 list feels like one of the most important rosters of companies ever compiled, says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis weve lived through is just plain amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people.

More about Texas Tax Protest

Texas Tax Protest provides comprehensive property tax appeal representation and advisory service for individual and institutional investors in Texas. Their goal is to make the property tax protest process easy for both residential and commercial property owners. TTPs proprietary software analyzes millions of property data records so that their team can build the most compelling cases for property tax reductions. TTP revenue is built around a risk-free or success-based model, meaning fees are directly based on the savings achieved for clients. If there are no savings, there is no fee!

Many of TTPs employees are certified real estate agents, investors, and are all located in Texas. To learn more about Texas Tax Protest and how they help clients save money on property taxes visit: texastaxprotest.com.

CONTACT:

NICOLE GRIFFETH, MARKETING - GRIFFETH@TEXASTAXPROTEST.COM

ALEX BERRY, MARKETING - BERRY@TEXASTAXPROTEST.COM

More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000

Methodology

Companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2017 to 2020. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2017. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independentnot subsidiaries or divisions of other companiesas of December 31, 2020. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2017 is $100,000; the minimum for 2020 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to three decimal places. There was one tie on this years Inc. 5000. Companies on the Inc. 500 are featured in Inc.s September issue. They represent the top tier of the Inc. 5000, which can be found at http://www.inc.com/inc5000.

About Inc. Media

The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including web sites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Vision Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com.

For more information on the Inc. 5000 Vision Conference, visit http://conference.inc.com/.
SBVWCD restored Plunge Creek back to a naturally braided stream system using natural processes and hydrology allowing the water to spread out and infiltrate into the ground to recharge the basin. California will be seeing wetter wet periods and drier dry spells. We are building infrastructure to capture as much water as we can no matter what the weather brings us.

Planning for that not-so-rainy day has helped replenish the Bunker Hill Basin with above-average levels of groundwater storage when compared to other recent periods of drought, the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District announced today.

Totals for the 2020-2021 water year, running from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, reflect a 66% increase from the amount of native surface water stored in previous dry years. A total of 7,266 acre-feet of native surface water was stored in 2020-21 compared to 4.004 acre-feet in 2007-2008; 6,097 acre-feet in 2013-2014; 2.625 acre-feet in 2014-2015; 4,277 acre feet in 2015-2016 and 4,617 acre feet in 1017-2018.

This years water storage, achieved at a time when local precipitation was just 44% of normal, totals about 2.4 billion gallons, enough to serve nearly 22,000 families for a year.

General Manager Daniel Cozad attributes the higher-than-average levels of dry weather storage to the work of staff preparing the Upper Santa Ana River Wash for optimal surface water capture, and to the recent completion of the Districts Plunge Creek restoration project.

In the near future, the active recharge projects done in coordination with the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District will contribute to higher levels of recharge. And long-planned diversion improvements at Mill Creek are expected to be underway next year making the most of dry years such as this one.

These and other collaborative approaches serve as a model for other regions to follow. At a time when much of the state faces mandates to increase groundwater storage, local agencies have been working together voluntarily  on recharge infrastructure projects and through participation in the San Bernardino Basin Groundwater Council  to ensure the sustainability of the regions underground water storage.

California will be seeing wetter wet periods and drier dry spells in the years ahead, Cozad said. We have been preparing for that and are building infrastructure to capture as much water as we can no matter what the weather brings us.

About the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District

For nearly a century, the SBVWCD has stewarded the San Bernardino Valley water basin and the native species of the Upper Santa Ana River Wash. Its collaborative approach to project management assures high-quality local water supplies for people, agriculture, and the environment. This includes groundwater recharge and oversight, and protection of habitat and native species in the wash.

Visit http://www.sbvwcd.org.

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Virtual HIPAA Privacy and Security Summit Content of the training for the Virtual HIPAA Privacy and Security Summit is appropriate for attorneys, compliance officers, human resources professionals, managers, nurses, medical assistants, healthcare professionals, and business associates in the healthcare setting.

The Virtual HIPAA Privacy and Security Summit is a joint effort of Widener University Delaware Law School and First Healthcare Compliance to provide resources and increase understanding for professionals facing the challenges of HIPAA compliance. The online event will be held on November 18, 2021, with a schedule that is convenient for professionals across the United States to gain an understanding of current risks and solutions. Registration is open to the public, with discounts available to First Healthcare Compliance clients and alumni of Delaware Law School.

Expert attorneys will provide six hours of education that covers a range of relevant topics and answer timely questions related to HIPAA privacy and security including Notice of Privacy Practices, Business Associates, employee training, patient rights, safeguards, electronic health records, breaches, cybersecurity, and more.

Attendees are eligible to receive 6 CLE credits (5 substantive, 1 ethics) in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. This program has been approved for 6 continuing education unit(s) by Practice Management Institute and PAHCOM. The Compliance Certification Board (CCB) has approved this event for up to 7.2 live CCB CEUs based on a 50-minute hour. Continuing Education Units are awarded based on individual attendance records. Granting of prior approval in no way constitutes endorsement by CCB of this event content or of the event sponsor. Sponsors of the event include the Professional Association of Health Care Office Managers (PAHCOM) and Weiner Benefits.

Content of the training for the Virtual HIPAA Privacy and Security Summit is appropriate for attorneys, compliance officers, human resources professionals, managers, nurses, medical assistants, healthcare professionals, and business associates in the healthcare setting. The schedule for the online learning event:

9:00 a.m.-9-30 a.m. Virtual Conference Opens/ Introductory Remarks

9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m. Rachel V. Rose, JD, MBA:

The Intersection Between HIPAA, Cybersecurity, & Fraud, Waste, and Abuse

10:30 a.m.-10:40 a.m. break

10:40 a.m.-11:40 a.m. C. Trey Scott:

Under Pressure: Reporting Requirements with OCR for Breaches

11:40 a.m.-11:50 a.m. break

11:50 a.m.-12:50 p.m. Sheba E. Vine, Esq., CIPP/US:

Data Privacy in 2021

12:50 p.m.-1:20 p.m. lunch

1:20 p.m. -2:20 p.m. Kathleen W. McNicholas, MD, JD, CHC, CCEP:

Ethics and HIPAA: Pivots, Guardrails, and Good Faith

2:20 p.m. -2:30 p.m. break

2:30 p.m. -3:30 p.m. Iliana L. Peters:

Next Level Security Incident Response: Do You Speak IT?

3:30 p.m. -3:40 p.m. break

3:40 p.m. -4:40 p.m. Jennifer Gimler Brady:

Business Associate Agreements: What They Are, Who Needs Them, and How They Can Go Sideways
Hackstaff, Snow, Atkinson, & Griess New Logo

Concurrently with this move from Blake Street in downtown Denver to the DTC (Denver Tech Center), the firm is rebranding.

Denver, Colorado. On October 1, 2021, Hackstaff & Snow will open new doors with a new name. Hackstaff & Snow will close their office at 1601 Blake Street Suite 310, Denver, Colorado 80202. They will reopen as Hackstaff, Snow, Atkinson & Griess, LLC with a new location at 5105 DTC Parkway, Suite 312, Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111.

With less traffic congestion and more client conveniences, including more accessible parking, the firm is excited to welcome existing and future clients to their new location. The Denver Tech Center (DTC) is home to many major corporations and area businesses, and the HSAG team looks forward to joining the thriving south Denver community.

Along with their move, Hackstaff & Snow is proud to announce a rebranding. Their new nameHackstaff, Snow, Atkinson & Griess, LLC reflects the high-level practices of attorneys James C. Hackstaff, John T. Snow and their existing partners J. Aaron Atkinson and Douglas R. Griess.

Aaron focuses on civil litigation in both state and federal courts, as well as in arbitrations and mediations. His litigation experience includes real estate, probate, employment, construction and more. Aarons approach to litigation success is client-focused: success is measured according to each clients unique outlook, and the clients goals are achieved through unique legal strategies and conscientious execution of those strategies.

Douglas has a broad business client base that includes manufacturing, distributing, construction, technology, and professional service companies and their owners. Among many other accomplishments, Douglas has overseen the sale of Colorado small business companies to publicly traded companies, investor groups and families relocating to Colorado in deals ranging from $2MM to $110MM.

About Hackstaff, Snow, Atkinson, & Griess

Since 2005, clients in the Denver community and surrounding areas have relied on Hackstaff & Snow, LLC for professional assistance with various business legal matters. Hackstaff, Snow, Atkinson, & Griess, LLC will continue to help people build their family and business legacies across the Denver metro area and Colorado with a new name and office. Existing and future clients will receive the same top-quality legal services at a reasonable rate, along with personalized and responsive service. The firms specialties include general business law legal services, estate planning, taxation, real estate, litigation, and intellectual property.

New firm name: Hackstaff Snow Atkinson & Griess, LLC

New firm address: 5105 DTC Parkway, Suite 312, Greenwood Village, CO 80111

Relocation Date: October 1, 2021

Current site: http://www.hackstafflaw.com

New site: hsaglaw.com

Phone: 303.534.4317
Margaret Atwood lives in Toronto, Ontario. Her dystopian novel The Handmaids Tale, published in 1985, became a bestseller again in 2017 after being adapted into a television series starring Elisabeth Moss in the leading role. A polemicist, renowned for her uncompromising works that push the norms and conventions of literature, Margaret Atwood has been capturing the issues of our world with humor and lucidity for decades.

When you wrote 'The Handmaids Tale', were you drawing on things that already happened?

Yes, partly because I didnt want anybody saying to me: Where does Margaret Atwood get this weird shit? I wanted to be able to say: From the behavior of the human race over time. And that is in fact what I did. Nothing went into either The Handmaids Tale or The Testaments that did not have a precedent or precedence. If you do just make stuff up, youll probably find that it has already happened.

Do you notice any difference in the impact The Handmaids Tale had as a novel versus as a series?

Every time there is an American election, the sales of The Handmaids Tale went up. Because when I wrote this book in 1985, it was a possibility. A backlash against women, a return to a theocratic form of government was a fictional possibility before the Berlin Wall came down, during the Cold War, when nobody wanted to see the United States as a potentially retrograde and oppressive place, although it already was for some people. They wanted it to be a beacon of light, freedom, democracy, free speech. There was a No, that would never happen here. Then, the Iron Curtain came down and the United States become autocratic and repressive. The book kept reminding people that it cant happen here is never true anywhere.

Do you think the conversation about notions of identitygender, race, and nationin the Canadian literary society is helpful?

I think in a country like Canada, which is very multitudeToronto is said to be the city in the world that contains the largest number of different ethnicities and identitiesthat is helpful. We have seen over the past 20, 30 years, a lot of people coming into literary expression who hadnt been doing it before. When somebody of my age started out being a writer, it wasnt a respectable thing to do. For a first generation of immigrants, you want your kids to be a doctor or a lawyer. Being a writer is something that arrives, probably with the next generation along, who then want to describe where theyve come from, where their parents have come from, what their grandparents were doing.

Are there some things that changed for the best in our difficult times?

We have seen a big change in attitudes towards racial inequalities. We have seen support for the protests, but that goes way up from where they were in France since 1968. I think its due to the existence of the cell phone. Reading about somebody getting killed by the police is different from actually seeing somebody being killed by the police. Images are very telling.

Should writers be trying to write about the pandemic?

We cant tell writers what they should or should not do. Some of them are writing about it now and some of them wrote about it before it happened. But that was just coincidence, because everybody writes about things that have happened. You cant actually write about the future, because there isnt any the future. There are multiple possible futures, and which one we get is not going to be known to us until we arrive at it.

Charles Foran is an author.

Back to Main Publishing in Canada 2021 Feature

Back to Main Canada FBM 2021 Feature
The 2021 Madrid Book Fair, known colloquially in Spanish as the Feria del Libro de Madrid, was among the first large-scale in-person consumer book fairs to take place anywhere in the world since the start of the pandemic. The event usually occurs in the spring but was bumped to September. This years fair opened on September 10 and ran to September 26 in Madrids Retiro Park in the center of the city.

Typically, the event has had as many as 40,000 people a day, but this year it was limited to 20,00022,000 daily because of Covid protocols. To meet Covid guidelines, the area with the exhibitors, which includes publishers and booksellers, was cordoned off from the rest of the park and attendees were asked to line up and go through an electronic booth, which monitored the number of people inside. Once the fair reached full capacity of 3,900, people needed to wait until others left, which led to long lines snaking through the park.

The fair is a major sales channel for Spains publishers and booksellers. For 2021, the fair ended with 9.1 million (approximately $10.1 million) in sales overall, down 10% from 2019, the last year it was held, according to Manuel Gil, the fairs director. It is essentially a good figure, considering the pandemic, Gil said at a press conference. Over the course of the 16 days, the fair had 384,000 visitors, with 1,700 authors signing books and participating in events.

Enrique Pascual Pons, head of the Madrid Booksellers Association and director of the Marcial Pons bookstore, was pleased with the outcome of the fair. Its great to see so many people lining up and eager to buy books, Pons says.

Sergio Bang, co-owner of Grant Bookstore in Madrid, echoes Pons when he says, Its great to have the event back. It is very important for our sales, Grant, which opened in 2014, is one of the citys hippest independent bookstores, known for its eclectic selection and popular book clubs. Colombia, the guest of honor, had several booths offering imported books from the country for sale. The Colombia exhibit caused some controversy when several authors, such as Melba Escobar, pulled out of the event to protest the decision of Colombian president Ivan Duque to attend the fair and to protest the exclusion of writers critical of the government or Colombian history, such as award winners Pilar Quintana and Pablo Montoya, neither of whom were invited.

This year the fair also expanded its programming for publishing professionals with a program called Libro 4.0. The events included a series of conversations hosted by Veronica Fernandez, content director of Netflix Spain, which is responsible for the countrys most popular cultural export, the Netflix series Casa de Papel (known in the U.S. as Money Heist), which saw its fourth season draw 65 million viewers last year. Among Fernandezs interviewees was Oriol Paulo, director of the series El Inocente, based on the novel The Innocent by Harlan Coben.

One of the questions raised by the professional program was why Spain has not produced more global blockbuster books and creative content in general, considering the language is used by more than 500 million people. One speaker asked, Where is the Spanish Sally Rooney, referencing the popularity and global ubiquity of the Irish author, whose new bookBeautiful World, Where Are You?was published the same week the fair opened.

This year also saw the introduction of Publishers Weekly en Espanol as the fairs main sponsor, supplanting Samsung. The magazine, which launched last year, hosted more than 200 authors across two booths, ranging from bestsellers such as Julia Navarro and Carmen Posadas, to celebrities like Queen Letizia of Spain, former prime minister Felipe Gonzalez Marquez, and adult film actor and feminist Amarna Miller. The PW booth featured a red Chesterfield sofa that attracted influencers, who turned getting photographed with the sofa into a must-do at the fair. Many of Spains top publishers also visited the booth for interviews. Nuria Cabuti, CEO of Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, was interviewed alongside Jesus Badenes, director of books at Grupo Planeta, in a conversation (available on YouTube) that grew personal and intimate. Another panel at the booth featured three of Spains top women publishers: Silvia Sese, editorial director of Editorial Anagrama; Ofelia Grande, director of Editorial Siruela; and Sandra Ollo, director of Acantilado.

The 2021 Madrid Book Fair had the very distinguished honor of leading the global publishing industry toward its post-Covid recovery, says Enrique Parrilla, publisher of Publishers Weekly en Espanol. After many years of declining sales, shifting markets, and juggernauts threatening bookstore livelihoods, people from all ages came in droves to support their local bookshops, see their favorite authors, and enjoy 16 days of bookselling activities, while standing in lines that stretched for hours in order to keep capacity and social distancing at safe levels. This event demonstrated that if bookstores are to thrive, they need to remember they serve a local constituency of readers that can be tremendously loyal.
Adult Comics

Sweeping surveys, whiz-bang storytelling, and moments of quiet reflection speak to a range of comics fans.

Bubble

Jordan Morris, Sarah Morgan, and Tony Cliff (First Second) $27.99

This sci-fi adventure comedy, adapted from the popular podcast, is set on a planet where human settlers are divided between cosseted urbanites living in corporate-controlled domed cities and those roughing it out in the Brush where mutant Imps roam free. Amid blowout fight scenes littered with sarcastic one-liners, a critique of the gig economy is just discernible, and the relationship comedytangled on-again, off-again connections and flirtations throughoutis surprisingly earnest. Its a recklessly fun, hoot and holler of a ride.

Codename: Sailor V Eternal Edition 1 and 2

Naoko Takeuchi (Kodansha) $27.99 each

In this prequel to the Sailor Moon manga series, 13-year-old Minako Aino meets a talking white cat named Artemis, who tells her that, with the help of a magic pen, she has the power to transform into the masked hero Sailor V. These two volumes collect all the color pages from the original 1990s magazine run, with new cover art, and a gift-y glitter coating.

Ex Libris

Matt Madden. (Uncivilized) $29.95

A postmodern puzzle narrative begins when the nameless protagonist awakens with amnesia in a nondescript room and discovers a bookcase full of comic books that seem to comment obliquely on the situation. Together, reader and protagonist move from story to story, assembling clues for an escape. Comics scholar Madden uses the comics-within-comics premise to recreate a dazzling array of genres and styles: romance comics, horror comics, gritty European realism, funny animal comics, autobio comics, manga. Hat tips to Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges round out the metafictional master class.

Feelings: A Story in Seasons

Manjit Thapp (Random House) $21.99

Thapp tracks her narrators creative process and mental health through the lens of a six-season South Asian calendar, using simple declarations and radiant colored-pencil-and-marker illustrations. The result gorgeously depicts the delicate dance between the internal and natural worlds, and offers space for readers to reflect on their own mood cycles.

Its Life as I See It: Black Cartoonists in Chicago, 19401980

Edited by Dan Nadel (New York Review Comics) $24.95

Nine trailblazing Black indie cartoonists receive overdue laurels in this collection, which frames Chicago as a Midwestern mecca for grassroots comics in the latter half of the 20th century. Among other artists, the book surveys the stylish fashion and anti-racist comics of the legendary Jackie Ormes, the sardonic cartoons of 1990 National Book Award winner Charles Johnsona cartoonist long before he was an acclaimed novelistand the work of the late Wee Pals creator Morrie Turner. One-page profiles convey the artists enterprising spirit and creative aspirations, while reprinted panels showcase their craftiness and idiosyncratic perspectives.

King-Cat Classix, Map of My Heart, and Perfect Example

John Porcellino (Drawn & Quarterly) $24.95 each

These D&Q reissues, with new, harmonious covers, show three stages of comics creator Porcellinos life and work. Classix collects material from the first 50 issues of his long-running zine, which Chris Ware cites as an inspiration; Map of My Heart came into being following Porcellinos divorce; and Perfect Example is a coming-of-age memoir spanning the crucial time between the end of high school and beginning of college.

Lore Olympus, Vol. 1

Rachel Smythe (Del Rey) $26.99

The Greek gods get cast as Kardashian-types in Smythes addictive soap opera, inhabiting a modern world of luxury cars, cell phones, and espresso machines. Hades, king of the underworld, meets newbie spring goddess Persephone at a swanky party and sparks fly. But divine forces assemble to keep the couple apart, including jealous love goddess Aphrodite, rapacious leather-jacketed bro Apollo, and Persephones protective roomie Artemis. Though Smythe plays with the comedy potential of her premise, she deals directly with the problematic elements of Greek mythology and takes the characters internal dramas seriously. This is hard to resist.

Queen of the Ring: Wrestling Drawings by Jaime Hernandez 19802020

Jaime Hernandez (Fantagraphics) $24.99

Hernandez, cocreator of the Love and Rockets series, shows off his genius for character drawing in this art book devoted to portraits of women wrestlers, in action and as pin-ups. The earliest sketches date from his teens, allowing the opportunity to see his work evolve over the decades: the carefully shaded photo-realism of his juvenilia develops into strong, simple silhouettes and clear anatomy, all inked in Hernandezs famously smooth linework.

Super Sentai: Himitsu Sentai GorengerThe Classic Manga Collection

Shotaro Ishinomori (Seven Seas) $24.99

The influential 1970s manga by the late Ishinomori is collected for the first time in English in this rip-roaring omnibus. He draws with an adults drafting skills but a grade-schoolers sensibilities and enthusiasm, furiously scrawling gung-ho heroes, outlandish foes, pulp sci-fi technology, and fights that tumble on for pages. The speedy pacing and childlike simplicity belie how well-crafted Ishinomoris work remains. While the original series was aimed at a younger readership, canny (and nostalgic) adults will also get a kick out of this blazing retro collection.

Children's and YA Comics

Fanciful narratives and sequential art keep the pages turning.

Blancaflor, the Hero with Secret Powers

Nadja Spiegelman and Sergio Garcia Sanchez (Toon, ages 812) $9.99

The creators behind 2015s Lost in NYC (emotionally astute, per PWs starred review) team up again for an inversion of classic fairy tale tropes. When a sweet, clueless royal falls from the sky into the ogres domain, the fearsome creature challenges him to a deadly game involving tasks he cant possibly complete. The ogres daughter, Blancaflor, conjures bread loaves from rocks and moves literal mountains to save her prince.

Fish and Sun

Sergio Ruzzier (HarperAlley, ages 48) $16.99

Fish has had it with the dark, cold, boring world under the ocean. He breaks for the surface, where he meets Sun. After a day of light and play, Sun turns red and sinks lower in the sky. Though Fish does not understand that Suns setting prefaces its return, young readers will, adding compassionate context to the following panels, which portray Fishs sorrow. Painted seascapes in rich colors warm the early reader comics minimal text, and small detailsFish sleeps underwater with a small pillowwill draw laughter.

The Girl from the Sea

Molly Knox Ostertag (Graphix, ages 12up) $24.99

Sixteen-year-old Morgan Kwon is eager to leave her home on Canadas Wilneff Island for college in the city, ANY city, where shell finally come out as gay. One night, feeling distressed, she slips on rain-soaked rocks and falls into the water, where shes rescued by Keltie, a selkie. A dreamy kiss between the two allows Keltie to shed her seal form and walk on land as a human, further complicating Morgans life. This endearing and often funny graphic novel cohesively combines queer teen romance, realism, and fantasy.

Jukebox

Nidhi Chanani. (First Second, 1014) $21.99

When 12-year-old Shahis father fails to return home one night, shes convinced that the record store where hes been spending all his time holds answers. She and her 15-year-old cousin, Naz, slip inside an open alleyway window to get inside, and find a jukebox that transports them to the same era as the tunes its playing. Beginning with a Bessie Smith record that sends them to a 1929 Lindy Hop contest at the Savoy, Shahi and Naz proceed to search for Shahis father, traveling from one great music era to the next.

Katie the Catsitter

Colleen AF Venable and Stephanie Yue (Random House, ages 812) $20.99

Neko Atsume meets The Tick in this laugh-out-loud funny, well-paced series starter from the creators of the Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye series. Preteen New Yorker Katie Spera longs to attend summer camp with her friends. Her single mother cant afford it, though, so Katie takes a job cat-sitting for Madeline Lang, a stylish woman who lives in their building. The catch: Ms. Lang has 217 cats. Yues expressive cartoons complement this enchanting story, the first in a series with a promising cast of charactersfeline and otherwise.

No One Returns from the Enchanted Forest

Robin Robinson. (First Second, ages 812) $21.99

When a series of progressively worsening earthquakes threatens to collapse the underground city that their ancestors founded, the goblins of Teacup Island plan to evacuate. Confrontational Pella, furious at the fabled Earth Queen for causing the earthquakes and canceling an annual festival, sneaks into the forbidding Enchanted Forest to tell the queen off, forcing her anxious older sister, the cautious Bix, to attempt a rescue. The colorful and charismatic story is buoyed by underlying thoughtfulness and visuals that recall Hildafolk and Steven Universe.

Otto: A Palindrama

Jon Agee (Dial, 912) $17.99

This fantasy adventure is written entirely in 200 palindromes, from the names of protagonist Otto and his little dog Pip to the passerby who remarks No jazz. I prefer pizza, Jon. When Pip runs away, Otto pursues on a trek filled with incidentand undeniably inventive palindromes. The concept fulfills its offbeat premise in sequences that gleefully underline the fun of a good palindrome, and the joy of finding wordplay wherever one looks. Whether Ottos visiting an art mueseum (Koons nook) or wandering through a cemetery (Del was awled), the results are supremely strange and funny.

Back to Main Guide
Poetry

Our picks include books by new voices and longtime masters of the form, and anthologies that mix the two.

American Melancholy

Joyce Carol Oates (Ecco) $26.99

Oatess first poetry collection in 25 years addresses the political as well as the personal, showcasing her talent as a storyteller and her powers of observation. In urgent and unsettling verse, she wrestles with the universality of grief while interrogating American history and the national psyche. When grief is translated into poetry, or the unspeakable into the speakable, Oates told PW, it brings some consolation.

The Best American Poetry 2021

Guest editor Tracy K. Smith, series editor David Lehman (Scribner) $35

Work by Chen Chen, Louise Gluck, Ada Limon, Kevin Young, and some 70 others highlight a breadth of American experiences. The chorus of voices assembled here consoled and quickened me as I lived out my own version of 2020, Smith writes in the introduction. But they also remind me that every year is many years, each experienced uniquely by all the many people alive within its frame.

Black Girl, Call Home

Jasmine Mans (Berkley) $15

Gorgeously precise in their diction, these poems span a range of forms, including lists, aphorisms, and found language, posing complex sociopolitical questions on race, gender, and sexuality through deceptively simple personal narratives. As a spoken word poet, Mans has opened for artists including Janelle Monae; videos of her impassioned performances have amassed hundreds of thousands of views.

Buzz Words: Poems About Insects

Edited by Kimiko Hahn and Harold Schechter (Everymans Library) $15.95

This Pocket Poets installment celebrates crawlers, gliders, weavers, and workers, to name a few. Entries range across centuries and continents: Tang dynasty poet Tu Fu writes of Watching Fireflies while, 1,200 years later and 12,000 miles away, Chiles Pablo Neruda explains why Fleas interest me so much.

Call Us What We Carry

Amanda Gorman (Viking) $24.99

Gorman captivated the nation when she read her poem The Hill We Climb at President Bidens inauguration; a bound edition has sold more than 475,000 copies. Her first collection includes that poem and other works that, she told her 3.7 million Instagram followers, explore hope, grief, and healing.

Collected Poems

Sonia Sanchez (Beacon) $29.95

This career-spanning collection invites readers to learn to live more fully, and to protest, rage, and love. Sanchez also allows room for playfulness, as in a poem for a two-year-old child: if i cud ever write a poem as beautiful/ as u, little 2/ yr/ old/ brotha,/ poetry wud go out of bizness.

The Essential June Jordan

June Jordan, edited by Jan Heller Levi and Christoph Keller (Copper Canyon) $18

When Jordan died in 2002, she left behind a body of work that stands as testament to her commitment to social justice. The rich, generous poems in this volume contemplate land, borders, race, and gender, suggesting that to hold and accept divisive truths is an act of love and solidarity.

Goldenrod

Maggie Smith (One Signal) $20

Smith is among the rare poets whove become known to the general public: her poem Good Bones went viral in 2016, and 2020s Keep Moving, a work of nonfiction, landed her on Today. With her fourth book of poetry, she continues to explore her major subjectsAmerica, grief, and her role as a motherwith empathy, wisdom, and honesty.

Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry

Edited by Jo Harjo (Norton) $15

U.S. poet laureate Harjo, the first Native Amer-ican to hold the position, assembles work by an array of contemporary Indigenous North American poets including Ray Young Bear, Natalie Diaz, siblings Louise and Heid E. Erdrich, and Jake Skeets.

Such Color: New and Selected Poems

Tracy K. Smith (Graywolf) $26

Pulitzer winner and former U.S. poet laureate Smith returns with an incisive collection that includes work from her four previous books of poetry as well as 18 new poems informed by what she called, in an interview with PW, the radical upheaval of 2020. Together, they reproach ignorance and denial while championing a collective voice for women and the Black community.

Back to Main Guide
Inside the 2021 College Free Speech Rankings

For the second straight year, survey data shows that a small private school in western Indiana is the nations worst college for free speech.

DePauw University again finished last in the 2021 College Free Speech Rankings, the second annual campus-speech-related survey and rankings project sponsored by the research firm College Pulse, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and RealClearEducation. More than 37,000 students at 159 colleges and universities participated in the survey, and their responses helped determine each schools place in the 2021 rankings.

What contributed to DePauws low ranking? Survey results and student responses to open-ended survey prompts suggest that DePauws biggest speech-related challenge may be the censorious views of its students. Thirty percent of DePauw students said using violence to stop a speech on campus was acceptable to some degree. Seventy-six percent of students surveyed said they would oppose allowing a speaker on campus who believed abortion should be illegal. Some students feel censorship is the appropriate response to speakers with harmful views.

I do not hold views that are harmful to others so [self-censorship] is not a problem I face, one DePauw student told pollsters.

Only seven percent of DePauw students reported having never felt unable to express their opinion on a subject.

Many DePauw students also lack confidence in the administrations commitment to free speech. Only 57% of DePauw students felt the administration was likely to defend a speakers right to express himself in a speech-related controversy, compared to 89% of students surveyed at top-ranked Claremont McKenna College.

Students lack of confidence may stem from the administrations inconsistent approach to speech issues. In the student handbook, DePauw tells students they are free to examine and discuss all questions of interest to them and to express their opinions publicly and privately. However, in its Electronic Communications and Acceptable Use Policy, the school prohibits students from making or otherwise transmitting offensive comments on their electronic devices.

DePauw is a private university and therefore is not required to protect students constitutional speech rights. Still, said FIREs Adam Goldstein, the school owes students consistency.

There are three basic problems. One is that DePauw promises that students are free to examine and discuss all questions of interest to them and to express their opinions publicly and privately, Goldstein told RealClearEducation. So having made that promise, the second problem is that the terms inappropriate and offensive give a student no actual warning about what conduct is prohibited, because what any given administrator might consider inappropriate or offensive might change. And the third problem is that, whatever those words happen to mean on a given day, they mean something less than the freedom to examine and discuss all questions of interest DePauw promises elsewhere in its handbook.

RealClearEducation asked DePauw whether the school believed it was necessary to place limits on students expressive freedoms in order to achieve a more inclusive and equitable campus environment but did not receive a response.

Ultimately, the biggest problem for DePauws campus-speech culture may be its lack of ideological diversity. One DePauw student, asked by survey proctors whether he had ever felt unable to express his opinion on a subject for fear of peer, faculty, or administrative reprisal, gave a telling answer.

I have rarely felt this way, the student said, because many of my professors and students surrounding me share my political views.

On the other hand, a survey response from one self-described conservative student revealed a different experience. She said that her brother, also a conservative, decided not to go to DePauw because of the lack of free speech here.

It's unbelievable, she added. Two years ago, Condoleezza Rice came to speak and DePauw professors told their students not to attend the speech because they think she's a war criminal. That behavior is the antithesis of free speech and liberal learning.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnsons call for aggressive action against a so-called climate crisis at the United Nations presages similar statements that surely will be made by the dangerously misinformed in the coming months and augurs disastrous energy policy.

Humanity has to grow up and tackle climate change, the prime minister told world leaders assembled in New York, predicting catastrophe if warnings are ignored.

We will see desertification, drought, crop failure, and mass movements of humanity on a scale not seen before, said Johnson, whose predictions surely will be as wrong as those of Al Gores visions of flooding coastlines but who will nonetheless host the U.N.s November Conference of Parties 26 (COP26) in Glasgow.

Attending COP26 will be world leaders who want to persuade more countries to adopt the CO2 emissions goal of Net Zero by 2050. Key conference speakers include Pope Francis, Her Majesty Queen of England, Greta Thunberg, and Sir David Attenborough, none of whom is a climate scientist or with an academic background in the subject.

COP26 is the first major international climate conference since the Biden administration took power in the U.S., a key player in international climate politics. Biden made the U.S. rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement and has vowed to make the U.S. carbon neutral by 2025  a physical impossibility.

It is also the first climate conference to follow pandemic-induced lockdowns, which some have suggested are an opportunity to introduce restrictions on energy use. The World Economic Forum (WEF) website, for example, says that there will be no point in rebuilding economies and lives if we sacrifice the future of the planet by failing to have nations reduce emissions.

Emissions fell during lockdown. Lets keep it that way, says the WEF, which plays a key role in shaping global, regional and industry agendas. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has stated that pandemic-like lockdowns may be needed every two years to control emissions.

Considering apocalyptic musings of world leaders like Johnson and Biden, the apparent naivete of many COP26 attendees and the affinity of some for lockdowns, the pronouncements of the Glasgow conference are likely to be both unprecedented and immature. Whether countries follow through with conference resolutions is a subject for another day, but the proposals at COP26 will affect the future of the energy sector.

Hostility toward fossil fuels in the West is already having an adverse effect on individual access to energy and on economies in general. The U.K., which has adopted an anti-fossil fuel stance, is facing severe increases in natural gas prices.

Wholesale gas prices have surged by 250% this year, including a 70% rise since August, reported Sky News. This is a major blow for 22 million households that are dependent on gas for heating and cooking. In addition, gas is a key fuel for electricity generation and industrial processes.

One immediate impact could be felt by food processors, who uses carbon dioxide derived from natural gas for carbonation of drinks, refrigeration and animal slaughter. The chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association said that product could be disappearing from supermarket shelves in two weeks.

So, what led to the U.K. gas crisis? Part of the answer lies with government policy to not extract the countrys massive gas reserves, depending instead on imports.

Difficulties in U.K.s power sector has been exacerbated by an overreliance on wind power. Wind production  usually a source of pride for the prime minister  dropped considerably during the past three weeks, requiring greater use of gas and coal.

The situation in the U.K. should be a warning to U.S. energy planners, who might face a similar situation if Biden moves ahead with his carbon-reduction proposals and replaces U.S. energy independence with a renewed dependence on imports. Additional commitments made at COP-2 can only put U.S. energy security at further risk.

In addition to instilling fear with climate alarmism, politicians are threatening an era of energy poverty for billions around the world.

Vijay Jayaraj is a Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, Arlington, Va., and holds a masters degree in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia, England. He resides in Bengaluru, India.
A landmark opioid trial is getting underway in Cleveland. For the first time, pharmacies better known for selling everyday items like toothpaste and diapers will be on trial, and there will be far-reaching implications for big-ticket policy questions far afield of the opioid crisis.

On one side will be Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart. On the other, two Ohio counties; whereas the 1990s tobacco litigation was handled at the state level, trial lawyers fanned out to sign up thousands of local governments on lucrative opioid litigation contracts, seemingly deciding that working with smaller, less-sophisticated governments would be an easier path.

The basic theory that will be trial-tested is whether pharmacies are legally responsible for creating a public nuisance by overlooking so-called red flags when filling customers prescriptions for FDA-approved opioids.

Cleveland is the home for major opioid litigation ever since the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decided that federal opioids-related cases should flow through a so-called MDL into the courtroom of Judge Dan Polster.

To help wrangle things, Judge Polster assigned a lead team of attorneys for the plaintiffs that featured some of the nations most politically connected trial lawyers, most notably Joe Rice of Motley Rice, a firm that is such a major player (and donor) in Democratic politics that Rice has been a rumored ambassadorial candidate for President Biden.

After putting Rice and his colleagues in place, Judge Polster has been particularly aggressive in pushing defendants to avoid trial, telling pharmacies they risked bankruptcy absent settlement. As Yale Laws Abbe Gluck put it, even by the standard of most MDLs, Judge Polster has been unusually open about his desire to arrive at a settlement.

And he has backed that up with aggressive procedural maneuvering. Perhaps most notably, Judge Polster imposed an unprecedented negotiation class, where local governments nationwide were to have their rights waived and be locked into whatever deal resulted from the lead lawyers settlement discussions, without knowing up front what the deal was going to be.

Judge Polsters use of this unheard-of ploy (concocted just for this case) drew a swift repudiation from the Sixth Circuit that sits in review over Ohios federal trial courts, with one appellate judge explaining that [a] new form of class action, wholly untethered from Rule 23, may not be employed by a court. Indeed, the Sixth Circuit has spoken up several times to rebuke Judge Polsters handling of this case.

Judge Polsters maneuverings did generate a multi-billion-dollar manufacturers and distributors settlement this year, although pundits have noted the zero guaranteed money for victims even as the trial lawyers walk with billions. But the settlement crusade came up short as to pharmacies.

The trials direct implications are huge. Serious questions have been raised about the logic of pursuing pharmacies for opioids. Take, for example, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, which critiqued pharmacy lawsuits while noting that Walmart and CVS didnt push opioids on their customers[,] [n]or did they break the law when they distributed opioids to their pharmacies, which fill valid prescriptions written by state-licensed doctors and often approved by the state-run Medicaid or federal Medicare programs. This trial will help define winners and losers in that high-profile debate, with billions at stake.

The trial will also help determine if state or local governments lead in future national litigation. Local governmentsas compared to Statesmore often rely on trial lawyers and have a bad habit of getting less favorable terms; too many local-government opioid contracts include inflated fees and weak ethics protections, especially given that law firms like Motley Rice represent multiple different governments in these cases with potentially divergent interests. State governments have their own failings, but we can expect trial lawyer empowerment and worse outcomes for consumers and victims if local governments are the lodestar of future litigation.

Similarly, the trial outcome will help shape the legacy of Judge Polsters bare-knuckle approach. Commentators have questioned Judge Polsters handling of this case, with his unrelenting emphasissome would say dictatorial commitmentto bullying defendants into settlement. They have asked whether a single judge should (by his own admission) be so plainly trying to solve the entire opioid crisis with maverick procedural moves and use of the courtroom gavel as a bludgeon. So far, Judge Polster has cowed defendants and gotten his way. But the trial could change the narrative and affect how judges handle future mega-cases.

Finally, this will be a meaningful test of the movement to use public nuisance to impose crushing liability on industries that sell legalindeed licensedproducts subject to extensive regulation. Public nuisance is being deployed by partisans in ideological cases far beyond opioids, and a win in Cleveland would give those efforts oxygenif pharmacies are liable for selling FDA-approved opioids to customers with prescriptions from licensed doctors, activists will be salivating at the potential to go after car dealers, gun stores, or anyone else who commits the sin of selling licensed products to licensed buyers in a regulated industry that happens to be on the wrong side of a major ideological divide.

Make no mistake, the upcoming opioid title-card bout in Cleveland will speak to hot-button policy debates with ideological implications well beyond opioids. Thatand the billions that might be at stakemakes this trial anything but ordinary and provides every reason to tune in.

O.H. Skinner is the Executive Director of Alliance For Consumers, and the most recent Arizona Solicitor General.
I must return to the subject of President Joe Biden's falsehoods. Despite devoting this space last week to White House Whoppers, it's necessary to discuss our chief executive's dishonesty further, for it's been glaringly exposed again, this time by the military brass.
On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris gave a talk about voting rights to students at George Mason University. During the question-and-answer session that followed, a student complained that just a few days ago there were funds allocated to continue backing Israel, which hurts my heart because it's an ethnic genocide and a displacement of people  the same that happened in America  and I'm sure you're aware of this.
Joe Manchin said it best: We have 11 million jobs that we havent filled, 8 million people still unemployed. Somethings not matching up here. The West Virginia senators instincts are right. Something in the labor market fundamentally changed during the pandemic. Fewer people seem willing to work.

The National Federation of Independent Business has been conducting a monthly survey of small business owners since 1974. The August results were disconcerting. A 48-year record high  50%  reported job openings that could not be filled. Of those owners hiring or trying to hire, 91% reported there were few or no qualified applicants. A record high 29% reporting no  zero  qualified applicants. All this despite a record high 41% reporting that they had increased compensation. As a result, another record high  28%  identified labor quality as their top business problem.

So, whats causing these historically bad results?

Conservatives believe the $300 weekly federal unemployment insurance bonus that expired in September suppressed the labor market. That makes intuitive sense and Goldman Sachs economists project that ending this program will account for 1.5 million job gains through the end of the year. But even assuming that is true, there were 5.3 million fewer jobs in August than when the pandemic began.

Attempting to explain the dismal August jobs numbers, President Biden blamed the delta variant. But 77% of Americans over 18 have had at least one vaccine shot and 68% have had both. About 700,000 additional doses are being administered every day. Add in unvaccinated individuals with natural immunity and one analysis recently found that roughly 80% of the country already has vaccinated or natural immunity.

Bottom line, neither the virus nor the weekly unemployment bonus fully explain the extent of the current labor shortage. To determine if there were other explanations for the slow return to work, I spoke with 10 business owners in the retail sector that Ive known for years.

While some mentioned COVID and the federal unemployment bonus as concerns, to a person their primary concern was that people seem to have lost the desire to work following more than a year of government support. Their experiences ranged from literally no one willing to work to prospective employees refusing to take jobs that required working full time, weekends or evenings.

The business owners were all willing to increase pay to get good employees but believe they are competing with work-free government largesse  and losing.

While Americans had $400 billion more in savings in July than when the pandemic began, the Biden administration has increased food stamp benefits by 25% and Democrats now want to make the current $3,600 per year tax credit for children under 6  and $3,000 for older children  permanent rather than letting it expire next July.

The child tax credit is a good example of the growing government support mentality businesses are up against. The very successful 1996 bipartisan welfare reform effort required that a substantial percentage of those receiving welfare work, if they were able bodied. Those reforms were good for employees as well as employers looking to hire. They helped struggling parents find jobs, become financially independent and lift their families out of poverty. The labor market grew.

The child tax credit ignores that success. Expressing concern with the structure  not the substance  of making this program permanent, Sen. Manchin complained that [t]heres no work requirements whatsoever. Theres no education requirements whatsoever for better skill sets. Dont you think, if were going to help the children, that the [parents] should make some effort?

Manchin got that right as well. But, apparently, encouraging work is not his partys goal.

We all want to lift children out of poverty. We also want  and employers want to provide  good jobs and fulfilling careers. But people struggling financially will never find those jobs if the government seduces them into living off what other people produce rather than realizing their potential, accomplishing financial independence and experiencing the dignity and self-respect that come with a job.

Government dependence is neither the way out of poverty nor the path back to 2019s thriving pre-pandemic labor market  where the labor force and real incomes were growing, family income hit a historic high while poverty hit historic lows both generally and for minorities. As for child poverty, it decreased to 14.4%, the lowest child poverty rate since 1973  down from 18% at the end of the Obama/Biden era. The best family welfare program truly is a job.

So, if encouraging work is not the goal, what is?

Increasingly, Biden and the Democrats are attempting to cobble together the socialists dream program  universal basic income with cradle-to-grave government dependence. That should come as no surprise. As Biden acknowledged in May of 2020, progressives have long viewed the pandemic as an incredible opportunity to fundamentally transform America. With lackluster jobs numbers, the inability of business owners to find workers and a declining work ethic, we have every reason to take them at their word.
Good morning, its Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, the day of the week I impart quotations intended to be inspirational or thought-provoking. Today, as the House of Representatives struggles to perform the most basic function of Congress -- appropriate money for infrastructure projects -- I have two quotes, both from historic House speakers.

The first comes from the current gavel holder, Nancy Pelosi. In 2006, as she marshaled Americans to vote Democratic in the upcoming midterms, she quipped, Maybe it takes a woman to clean house.

It hasnt been that simple, as we have seen during both of Pelosis stints as speaker -- and is evident again this week. That leads me to the second quotation, which Ill furnish in a moment.

First, Id point you to RealClearPolitics front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion pieces spanning the political spectrum. We also offer original material from our own reporters, columnists, and contributors, including the following:

* * *

On Unemployment, Joe Manchin Hit the Nail on the Head. Andy Puzder lauds the Democratic senator for identifying the reason so many jobs remain unfilled, and points to further complications for small business if the issue is not addressed.

Private Equity: A Political Target, Not a Loophole. Steve Klinsky argues that changing a longstanding feature of tax policy will harm the growth of 30,000 companies across the country.

How the Democrats Tax Plan Will Squeeze Small Businesses. At RealClearPolicy, Rea Hederman spotlights proposed increases for S-corporations and partnerships that pay according to the progressive income tax scale and whose rate would soar to over 40%.

Five Facts on the Debt Limit. Also at RCPolicy, No Labels has this primer.

What You Need to Know About the Landmark Opioid Trial. At RealClearMarkets, O.H. Skinner lays out the case that will determine whether pharmacies are legally responsible for creating a public nuisance when filling customers prescriptions for opioids.

Biogas Is Less Green Than It Seems. At RealClearEnergy, Jane Marsh examines the pros and cons of processes to capture methane from manure and landfills.

Martin Buber and the Student-Teacher Relationship. At RealClearEducation, Jonathan Gregg considers the great thinkers call to cultivate I-Thou connections in the classroom.

* * *

Nancy Pelosis 2006 use of an old sexist trope about traditional womens work was both clever and subversive. Unfortunately, the problems with governance on Capitol Hill have proved bigger than just having too many men in power.

In both of her stints as House speaker, it has become apparent that the incentives are misaligned in modern American politics. Once it was an insult to be called a show horse instead of a work horse. Today, show ponies get all the attention from the press, especially if they have huge social media followings. The unofficial motto of our age is The more outrageous, the better.

That is a symptom of a growing narcissistic streak in American society as a whole. In politics, the dynamic that makes it worse is the steady movement of each of our major political parties to their extremes: Democrats to the left and Republicans to the right. Certainly, the balkanization of the media into warring partisan camps helps fuel this polarization.

And so, in 2021, although Pelosi has 90 women in her caucus to help her clean house (along 33 Republican women), some of the female progressives are her biggest headache.

The question arises: Is there a model for adhering to principle, which the progressives say they are doing, while managing to pass legislation? Perhaps so, and the inspiration comes in the form of a former speaker whose name is on one of Capitol Hills sprawling House office buildings where several of the young firebrands have their offices. Im referring to Sam Rayburn, whose advise to first-termers and young back-benchers was If you want to get along, go along.

That might not work today, but even then, it didnt necessarily mean caving under pressure. As one of Rayburns fellow Texans, Rep. Jack Brooks once said, I never thought being a congressman was supposed to be an easy job, and it doesn't bother me a bit to be in a good fight.

An ex-U.S. Marine, Brooks was a Democrat to his core. A protege of Rayburn, he was with John F. Kennedy when the president was killed in Dallas. A proud partisan, he noted that during Rayburns tenure as speaker (the longest in American history) his mentor was sometimes known in the newspapers as Mr. Democrat.

This was true, but Rayburn had a more common sobriquet that better explains his success: Mr. Sam. The secret of Rayburn's success, opined former Mississippi Rep. Thomas Abernethy, was that he could work with liberals and conservatives, ran the House with a firm hand but was generous. Mr. Sam would also tell his fellow members of Congress: A jackass can kick a barn down, but it takes a carpenter to build one.

And thats our quote of the week.

Carl M. Cannon

Washington Bureau chief, RealClearPolitics

@CarlCannon (Twitter)

ccannon@realclearpolitics.com
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 09/30/2021



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

star Yara Zaya has finally revealed if she is pregnant again with husband Jovi Dufren 's second child.Yara recently posted a YouTube video and answered fans' questions about her life and relationship, and it seemed all of her fans wanted to know if she's currently pregnant.Yara, who is originally from Kiev, Ukraine but has been living with Jovi in New Orleans, LA, for about well over a year now, shared in her post, "The answer to, 'Are you pregnant?' or 'Do you want to have more kids?' -- so, guys, you see this child, [my daughter Mylah]? I am always alone with her... most of the time because Jovi has to work.""And yes, I do want to have another baby, so much," Yara said on September 21. "But no, not yet."The fashion and makeup influencer therefore confirmed she is not pregnant but would like to "maybe one day" welcome Baby No. 2."But not yet," Yara confirmed. "So yes, don't worry. The answer is no, I'm not pregnant yet, and we're not planning to get pregnant again soon."Yara and Jovi got married in February 2020 in Las Vegas and welcomed their first child together only a few months before Season 8 of premiered on TLC in December 2020, according to In Touch Weekly.Yara reportedly gave birth to Mylah in September 2020 and the baby's arrival was documented for : Jovi and Yara's Baby Special, which aired in early April 2021 on TLC.Yara sparked speculation she may be expecting again based on her comments that aired on Part 2 of : Happily Ever After?'s sixth-season Tell-All special hosted by Shaun Robinson Shaun asked Yara if she'd like to have more children with Jovi in the future, and Yara hesitated."I don't have my... period already for a long time," Yara revealed in response, before clarifying that she hadn't gotten her period in two months.Yara, however, had yet to take an at-home pregnancy test, which surprised everyone."I was so busy... and I don't want to take it if it shows me I'm pregnant. I don't want to see that!" Yara said.Jovi admitted he and Yara were "freaking out" over the possibility of having another baby together, and Jovi's mother Gwen pointed out how Yara seemed extra emotional that evening."Yara, you're pregnant, right?" Gwen asked."No, I don't take a test, so maybe [I'm just] hormonal," Yara replied.Although Yara and Jovi were in love with each other and their child at the time, the pair was still facing a lot of adversity in their relationship and appeared to argue pretty frequently over their parenting techniques and Jovi's desire for Yara to be more fun and show him attention."We make a perfect baby," Yara said on the Tell-All."I don't really want to be pregnant for now, but I think if I will have a second child, I would really just fly back to Ukraine. I would just go to my momma's side. That's it."Yara said she'd need her mother's help with two children and so she'd want to move to Ukraine if she ended up being pregnant again."With two kids [staying] alone in a new country, no, no, no," Yara explained. "I will go. [I'm] not saying I would divorce Jovi, but I would just make him travel for me all the time."Jovi told Shaun that he understood Yara's feelings and emotions and they had tried to get her mother a visa to come to the U.S. but everything was postponed with the embassy for the time being amid the coronavirus pandemic."Whenever I was at work and she told me this, I was literally freaking out. I've chilled out a little bit [since]," Jovi shared. "But I'm terrified to take the test, because if the results are positive, then one baby is enough right now. Let's just say [that]."Gwen said she'd be excited to have another grandchild but not about the idea of Yara moving back to Ukraine, which would make her really sad.co-star Ronald Smith called Jovi out for not putting up a fight, but Jovi said he could easily fly to Ukraine after getting off of work. Jovi said he could follow Yara wherever she goes if it's the best thing for his family.Jovi confessed Yara being pregnant again would be stressful but they'd just have to adapt. Jovi planned to "roll with the punches" like they already had been.Jovi concluded that they needed to take a pregnancy test soon.Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our homepage!
Amazon Prime Video has announced plans to release a Spanish-language re-imagining of the classic U.S. sitcom, I Love Lucy.

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The streaming service said Thursday All For Lucy will star Natalia Tellez as the titular heroine and Daniel Tovar as her husband Ricky.

"We are excited to continue showing the explosive creativity of our talent in Mexico and bringing it to our Amazon Prime Video customers," Francisco Morales, head of content for Mexico at Amazon Prime Video, said in a statement.

"We can't wait for this title to join our growing list of exclusive and original series and films from around the world and continue to show the high quality of productions in Latin America."

Lucille Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz, starred in the original show, which ran six seasons from 1951 to 1957. It remains popular in reruns.

Ball and Arnaz married in 1940 and divorced in 1960. Ball died in 1989 at the age of 77. Arnaz died in 1986 at the age of 69.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 10/01/2021



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[ Spoiler Warning: This report includes spoilers about Kenny and Mari's relationship and what viewers can expect to see on the finale.]

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So what happens between Kenny and Mari on the finale?

ABC has all but confirmed Kenny is one of the bachelors who got engaged

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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

couple Kenny Braasch and Mari Pepin-Solis have risen above adversity and overcome some obstacles on Season 7 of the summer series, so what happened between the couple when filming the finale? What do spoilers reveal about if Kenny and Mari get engaged and are still together and dating now?On 's seventh season, Mari, a marketing manager, connected with Kenny, a boyband manager, right off the bat, but then she decided to keep her options open.Once Mari broke the news to Kenny that she'd like them both to remain open to dating new arrivals on the beach, Demi Burnett pursued Kenny and bragged how "all is fair in love and war."Mari and Demi got into a heated spat over Kenny, and at one point, Mari even threw a birthday cake Demi had made for Kenny's 40th birthday into a bonfire.Mari subsequently told Kenny that she wanted to continue their romance, but Kenny, afraid his relationship with Mari had become "toxic," decided to go to "The Boom Boom Room" with Demi.Kenny's romance with Demi was fun and sexual, but he wasn't totally invested in her. Kenny even accepted a date from Tia Booth once she arrived on the beach.Tia and Kenny sparked a connection and played a naked game of volleyball with strangers, but Demi was convinced Kenny would return to her since she's "playful and sexy" and supposedly more fun than most of the other ladies in Paradise.Meanwhile, Mari still had feelings for Kenny and said she missed him and was prepared to fight for him, and so Kenny found himself in a love triangle -- and a bit of a pickle.Mari shared with Kenny once he returned from his date with Tia how she still really liked him and didn't enjoy watching him with other people.Mari said she needed to see Kenny with other women to solidify her own feelings for him and she wished she had never suggested being anything other than exclusive.But Kenny complained about Mari flip-flopping from one extreme to another."I got scared," Mari confessed. "I knew what was there... and I never felt so strongly for someone so soon and... I've been thinking about you this whole time."Kenny told the cameras Mari had "hurt" him when she suggested they explore Paradise with other people; however, Kenny said he definitely had "something special" with Mari that didn't exist with Demi or Tia.Kenny struggled to regain trust in Mari, but he declined going to "The Boom Boom Room" with Demi again, which was a clear indication of which woman had captured his heart at that point."I wanted Kenny to fight for me. I wanted to feel solidified with him, but I just feel like he's waiting for Mari," Demi told the cameras."He's, like, obsessed with her in some weird, f-cked up way. I did not fight this hard just to be placed in his pocket. That's a sh-t feeling and I feel like an idiot!"Mari later sat down with Kenny and said she wanted to be with him and her intentions were pure."I've been about you the whole entire time," Mari noted, assuring Kenny that she wasn't just after his rose.Kenny admitted his feelings for Mari were "pretty strong" from the start and he couldn't even explain why. He said there was "something different" about their connection and he never felt this way about a woman before.Kenny then kissed Mari, and Demi was left feeling like a used one-night stand."Why do you want her?! A girl who is stuck-up as f-ck? She's so completely different from me," Demi yelled at Kenny."[Mari] thinks her sh-t doesn't stink. She's rude to everyone. So is that what you like or do you like someone like me, who's playful and funny?... She's evil! She's a mean, mean girl. She's a pageant girl!"Despite Demi's negative view of Mari, Kenny and Mari proceeded to fall for each other more and more every day in Paradise.Kenny and Mari then entered "The Boom Boom Room" together so they could take their relationship to the next level and make their connection even stronger."Obviously I knew Kenny was hot," Mari gushed."I knew I was attracted to him and there's a lot of physical chemistry between the two of us, but just seeing how he's slowly but surely been more expressive about his feelings and opened up to me, he's shown me lots of different sides of him."Kenny eventually gave Mari his rose and then the pair was able to go out on a date.Kenny and Mari essentially created edible art by putting tacos all over each other's naked bodies before eating them off. It created a new level of intimacy for the couple, and Mari told the cameras she was "falling in love" with Kenny."Mari is the hottest plate I've ever seen. She is a freak. Behind closed doors, you've got to watch out," Kenny disclosed.Kenny told Mari that it didn't scare him to talk about being together after the show and he'd be willing to talk about getting engaged soon."I believe in what we have, and I really do think we're going to be good after this," Mari told Kenny.Kenny said he was "falling in love" with Mari, and she replied, "That's funny because I am falling in love with you too. [I am] 100 percent [sure]."Kenny began considering popping the question, especially since he rarely told women that he loved them in his past.Mari felt Kenny had swept her off her feet in Paradise, and she said she was "giddy" about what might happen next. The couple ended their date in "The Boom Boom Room."But it wasn't exactly happily-ever-after from that point on.After a Rose Ceremony, Kenny seemed a little off, and so Mari asked him what was wrong with only a few days left of the process. Kenny said something emotional was missing between them and he wasn't sure she felt the same way he did."If we're going to get engaged, we need to be pretty sure with where we're at, and I'm feeling you're not sure," Kenny admitted.Kenny said passion was missing in his relationship and Mari wasn't being fully honest about her feelings.Mari felt blindsided and never saw this coming, especially because Kenny questioned if they should pump the brakes a little bit. Mari realized she had pulled back a little bit and was trying to protect her heart, and she didn't want that to be the case.However, a spiritual healer later conducted a ritual or ceremony for Kenny and Mari to hopefully break down their walls and bring them closer together, and Thomas pointed out how the couple was very lucky and it was probably the most special thing to happen to anyone in Paradise.Kenny wanted to make sure his relationship had passion before getting engaged, and he could feel Mari was "hesitant" with him. However, Mari assured her man that she was falling in love with him and was really happy."I didn't necessarily plan to be engaged at the end of this, but now I'm actually seeing that for myself and I have found what I've been looking for with Kenny," Mari said in a confessional."I'm all in and I'm excited about it because I've never felt something like this before."Kenny and Mari determined that they wanted to be with each other, and then they got cozy on a daybed and Kenny felt the pair was back on track and 100 percent honest with each other.According to Reality Steve spoiler blogger Steve Carbone, Kenny and Mari continued to exchange roses in Paradise and stayed together.After enjoying an overnight Fantasy Suite date, Kenny and Mari ended up in the finale as one of the remaining three couples.Kenny reportedly proposed marriage to Mari in the end and she accepted the engagement ring.The couple has also reportedly remained together upon their return to the real world.In a July 28 blog post, Carbone even revealed he had received a picture from a person who had spotted Kenny and Mari together at a rooftop pool in Chicago, which is where Kenny lives.ABC previously aired an extended preview clip of what's to come on 's seventh season.The trailer showed Joe Amabile confessing his love to Serena Pitt Becca Kufrin calling Thomas Jacobs "too good to be true," and Kenny serving Mari food in bed during what appears to be their overnight Fantasy Suite date.In addition, the preview flashed a brief clip of a man's hands opening a ring box to display a flashy diamond engagement ring.That man was clearly Kenny!The network accidentally spoiled the bachelor's identity because the gold chain Kenny always wears around his neck is on full display in the background and part of Kenny's blue chest tattoo is clearly visible as well.Kenny has a large tattoo on one of his pecks that is a depiction of the American flag with red, white and blue colors -- stars and stripes.Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group
B.J. Novak says he tried to convince late Sopranos star James Gandolfini to join The Office.

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The 42-year-old actor said on Thursday's episode of Watch What Happens Live that he thought Gandolfini would be "incredible" on The Office.

Sopranos alums Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa had said on their Talking Sopranos podcast in July that HBO paid Gandolfini, who died at age 51 in 2013, $3 million to not appear on The Office.

On WWHL, Novak said he was at the meeting with Gandolfini where they discussed the actor replacing Steve Carell, who played Michael Scott, on the show. Novak said Gandolfini loved comedy, including The Office star Rainn Wilson's film The Rocker.

"He was shy and intrigued," Novak said of Gandolfini. "He's my favorite actor of all time in anything, so I just thought it would be great."

"To me, The Sopranos was actually the biggest influence on The Office, because of the way that comedy and drama and character were all completely indistinguishable," he added. "I thought he would have been an incredible replacement. I really, really wanted to work with him."

Novak said he got the sense that Gandolfini wanted to join The Office. He also said the actor rejected their idea that he play a white-collar character on the show.

"He said something I'll never forget, which is he said, 'I feel as an actor, whoever comes out at 3 a.m., that's who you should be playing. At 3 a.m., what comes out of me is a blue-collar guy,'" Novak recalled.

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The Office had a nine-season run on NBC from 2005 to 2013. On WWHL, Novak also played a game where he was asked to choose between pairs of his Office co-stars, including who had the most intimidating aura.
Charlize Theron discussed meeting Jane Goodall in the Congo and her experience with the primatologist and anthropologist while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

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The actress, who hails from South Africa, met Goodall as part of the Iconoclasts series in 2010.

"Jane was the no-brainer for me because of the work that she does in Africa and as a young African girl she was somebody that I always looked up to," Theron told Kimmel on Thursday before explaining how she doesn't think Goodall has seen any of her movies.

"This is a woman who now in her 80s is still traveling 300 days out of the year you know to help save this environment of ours. It's incredible the work that she does. She doesn't have time to watch Atomic Blonde," Theron continued.

Theron said Goodall requested that she bring whiskey and offered to cook for the chimpanzee expert. Theron wanted to impress Goodall by making pasta but she accidentally put out the camp fire they were using for light.

"Fire is very valuable when you're in the bush and she was not impressed," Theron said about the accident.

"We ended up drinking whisky and eating way overcooked pasta until like 3 a.m. and she's just an incredible storyteller," she continued.

Theron also got to interact with the chimpanzees and mentioned how they will urinate on guests. Kimmel additionally displayed a photo of Theron kissing a chimpanzee on the lips.

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"I have heard of people's faces being eaten alive. I'm a little apprehensive in that photo," she said.

Theron voices Morticia is animated sequel The Addams Family 2, which is available now in theaters and through video-on-demand services.
Staged, Good Omens and Doctor Who actor David Tennant is set to star in ITV's four-part drama, Litvinenko.

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Tennant will play Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian Federal Security Services and KGB officer who died from polonium poisoning in November 2006.

George Kay -- whose credits include Lupin and Criminal -- wrote the program, which follows the determined Scotland Yard officers who worked for 10 years to investigate and bring to justice those responsible for Litvinenko's death, according to a press release from the British broadcaster.

"In late 2006, Alexander Litvinenko was a living witness to his own murder," Kay said in a statement.

"He spent his dying days entrusting the Metropolitan Police with the details of what happened to him. It took those police and his remarkable widow Marina Litvinenko a decade to have those claims ratified. Their stamina, hard work and bravery are what make this not only an essential story of our times but a privilege to be asked to write."

The cast also includes Margarita Levieva, Mark Bonnar and Neil Maskell.
Deku and his friends from Class 1-A are racing against the clock to stop bombs from detonating around the world in the new English dub trailer for anime film My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission.

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Deku (Justin Briner), Bakugo (Clifford Chapin) and Todoroki (David Matranga) dawn new stealth suits and go after a new villainous organization that is targeting those with super powers known as Quirks in the clip released on Friday.

The organization's evil plan involves placing bombs around the world, and Deku, his friends and other heroes have only two hours to save the day.

World Heroes' Mission is the third film in the My Hero Academia series that is coming to the United States, Canada, Britain and Ireland for the first time in theaters on Oct. 29. Tickets are on sale now.

The film will also be heading to Australia and New Zealand on Oct. 28, and arrive later in Latin America.

Ticket holders in the United States and Canada will receive a My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission Vol. W Specialty Manga Booklet while supplies last, during the film's opening weekend.

The manga booklet contains 76 pages including original drawings from Kohei Horikoshi, a Q&A section and a story never released in English.
A budget wedding service in Seattle moved out of a shopping center to set up what the owner describes as America's first and only shipping container wedding chapel.

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Bronwen Stevenson, owner of Shotgun Ceremonies, relocated the 10-year-old business from Pioneer Square to a shipping container at the Georgetown Trailer Park Mall, a commercial area with artisan and craft businesses housed in trailers.

"Something a little quirky, a little different," Stevenson told KING-TV of her shipping container wedding chapel. She said Shotgun Ceremonies is believed to be the only shipping container wedding chapel in the United States.

"This trailer park just kind of fits the vibe of who I am. And away we went with that," she said.

Stevenson said the open-air nature of the trailer park mall makes it ideal for the COVID-19 era.

The business offers small weddings with minimal guests starting at only $350. She said some couples elope on their own, while some bring a small number of guests -- both human and animal.

"Any pets are allowed," Stevenson said, "I've had cats here. They usually don't have the best of time."

Stevenson hired Elvis impersonator Shane Cobain to perform for couples seeking a Las Vegas-style elopement.

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"He's also related to Kurt Cobain ," Stevenson said, "He's a very interesting guy and he makes the weddings really fun."
MGM Studios released the trailer for Sylvester Stallone's director's cut of Rocky IV on Thursday. The new cut has additional scenes restored, and the new title Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago.

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Stallone wrote and directed Rocky IV, which first came out in 1985. His third sequel saw Rocky Balboa travel to Russia to fight their best boxer, Ivan Drago ( Dolph Lundgren ) after Drago kills Rocky's mentor Apollo Creed ( Carl Weathers ) in an exhibition bout.

The trailer shows a new scene in which an official (Alan Rich) warns Rocky that Drago has only fought once and killed his opponent. Rich did not appear in the theatrical cut of Rocky IV.

Stallone began sharing Instagram posts from the edition room last year. Stallone initially intended to release the director's cut for the film's 35th anniversary in 2020.

In his Instagram posts, Stallone also shared that he is removing a subplot in which Rocky's brother-in-law, Paulie (Burt Young), has a robot.

Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago will play in theaters on Nov. 11 through Fathom Events. On Nov. 12 the new edition of the film will be available on video-on-demand.
UPI News Service, 10/01/2021



Today is Friday, October 1, the 274th day of 2021 with 91 to follow.

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Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra.

On this date in history:

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.

In 1890, legislation is signed by President Benjamin Harrison creating Yosemite National Park, making it the nation's third National Park.

In 1903, the first World Series opened in Boston. It was a best-of-nine competition, won by the Boston Pilgrims of the American League over the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League.

In 1908, Henry Ford introduced the Model-T automobile, selling it for $825, and changing the way Americans would travel throughout the country.

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In 1918, Arab forces under T. E. Lawrence, better known as "Lawrence of Arabia," captured Damascus. Lawrence would prove instrumental in the establishment of a provisional Arab government under Prince Faisal.

In 1936, the rebel Nationalist government in Spain named Gen. Francisco Franco its leader. He would go on to be dictator of the country from 1939 until his death in 1975.

In 1938, Nazi troops march into the Sudetenland, annexing the German-speaking border regions of Czechoslovakia.

In 1946, Herman Goering, Joachim Von Ribbentrop and 10 other Nazi arch-conspirators were condemned to hang within 15 days for their World War II crimes.

In 1962, James Meredith enrolled at the University of Mississippi, a campus littered with the debris of a major riot that took two lives and injured at least 75 persons, tearing down the barriers of segregation at the 114-year-old school.

In 1988, Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Supreme Soviet after the forced resignation of Andrei Gromyko.

In 1992, Dallas billionaire Ross Perot announced his candidacy for the presidency. He called his group the Reform Party.

In 1995, 10 Muslims were convicted of conspiring to conduct a terrorist campaign in the New York City area aimed at forcing the United States to drop its support of Egypt and Israel.

In 2005, 36 people, mostly foreign tourists, died in explosions at two resort restaurants on the island of Bali. More than 100 others were injured.

In 2013, a 16-day partial shutdown of the U.S. government began after Congress failed to approve a spending bill. The Office of Management and Budget later estimated the shutdown cost taxpayers $2 billion.

In 2017, a gunman on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas opened fire on a crowd attending a country music festival outside, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds of others.

In 2019, former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was found guilty of murder for the fatal shooting of an unarmed man -- Botham Jean -- in his apartment. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Emelynn Arroyave did not originally want to attend the University of Georgia. On a tour of the university with her father, she remembered not being able to see herself attending the school  after all, she did not see a single Hispanic person on campus.

But after she enrolled, Arroyave sought out a community through the Hispanic Student Association (HSA) and began to dedicate her time to organizations and projects that center around her passions: immigrant advocacy and empowering the Latino community.

Now a junior, Arroyave majors in international affairs and social work and minors in political science. Her work includes leading HSA as president, an organization with nearly 300 members, and serving as chief of staff of the Undocumented Student Alliance (USA).

Through these positions and others Arroyave has held, she has created real change for Latino students and for immigrants in Georgia.

Building familia

Arroyave first found her community at UGA through the HSAs first year committee program. In her sophomore year, Arroyave became political action chair of the organization.

Raymundo Moncayo serves as vice president of HSA. A sophomore studying social studies education, Moncayo describes Arroyave as a hard worker, a wonderful leader and a caring friend.

As political action chair, Arroyave began an awareness initiative called Educa-Day to educate the general community on things happening in the world that deal primarily with Hispanic and Latinx culture, according to Moncayo.

She really has stepped up to the plate and gone above and beyond even what people in the past years have done, Moncayo said.

In April 2021, Arroyave was elected president of HSA, and began her term with one goal in mind  she wanted to build the familia she experienced when she first joined HSA, even during the initial beginnings of the pandemic.

Every academic year of Arroyaves college experience was impacted by the pandemic. Nevertheless, Arroyave is still committed to strengthening the Latino community and carrying out initiatives such as Noche Latina, HSAs largest annual event.

This year, Arroyave is organizing Noche Latina with her executive board to be held Oct. 9 at Tate Grand Hall.

The theme of the event is Generaciones. Arroyave said the event will explore the beauty of generational traditions while emphasizing the need for change in the Latino community, especially in regards to issues such as homophobia, machismo and the dismissal of mental health issues.

John Alvarez Turner is the interim director of the Office of Multicultural Services and Programs at UGA. Since Arroyave was elected president of HSA, she has worked closely with Alvarez Turner to provide services and events to Latino students.

I am Latino myself and I remember as an undergraduate not having those resources, Alvarez Turner said. [Emelynn] makes all of us proud because of that passion that she brings to the work that she does. And she puts in more than 100% of herself into the organization.

Creating change

In September 2020, an HSA Zoom meeting was interrupted by several white men yelling derogatory phrases, mocking the Spanish language and showing explicit photos. As political action chair at the time, Arroyave felt it was important to speak out on the racist attack.

Arroyave helped draft a statement condemning the attack and the UGAs inaction in addressing the incident. Her work did not stop there.

HSA engaged in discussions with the Division of Student Affairs and offered suggestions to aid the Latinx community and other minority groups on campus, according to Arroyave.

The suggestions resulted in two new initiatives. First, through the Consejeria initiative of the Center for Counseling and Personal Evaluation, two Latino psychology graduate students offer free mental health services to Hispanic and Latino students at Aderhold Hall, especially to members of HSA, Arroyave said.

In addition, Student Affairs created a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Student Advisory Board that Arroyave now serves on. The board aims to create discussion between students and university leaders on issues and policies to make the university more inclusive.

This is not the first time Arroyaves work contributed to real change.

As chief of staff for the Undocumented Student Alliance (USA), Arroyave campaigns against and raises awareness about the restrictions at the university that disallow undocumented students from attending. Arroyave calls these restrictions a form of educational segregation.

In her freshman year, Arroyave visited the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, with USA in order to meet with detained immigrants, who normally do not receive visitors. Arroyave connected one man with legal services.

In addition to Arroyaves positions at HSA and USA, she is an intern for the American Civil Liberties Unions organizing team, works at the Office of Multicultural Services and Programs, serves on the Division of Student Affairs Student Advisory Board and more.

When does she find the time to sleep?

I really dont, Arroyave said. But  all of the things Im doing are things that Im passionate about.

Inspired and supported by family

According to Arroyave, much of her commitment to the protection of immigrants and to supporting a strong Latino community is inspired by her mom, Ingrid Lopez.

As a single parent, Arroyaves mother assisted the Latino community as CEO and owner of Premier Multiservicios, which provides legal assistance and consultancy to immigrants. Lopez helps immigrants obtain proper documents, adjust their immigration statuses and petition on behalf of family members.

Seeing the way that she has committed herself to helping the Latinx community and immigrants in our community has made me want to do the same, Arroyave said.

After earning her undergraduate degrees, Arroyave is considering getting a dual degree in law and social work. Eventually, she wants to work with policy to better serve the immigrant community.

Arroyave attended Mill Creek High School in Gwinnett County, which did not have a large percentage of Latino students. But Arroyave found a cultural community with her cousins who lived nearby and in the summer she often visited Colombia, where her parents were born.

That connection to my Colombian culture has been really important [to] forming my identity and how I see myself connected to my history and my roots, Arroyave said.

Looking to the future and celebrating the past

Although HSA and USA initiatives have made a difference on campus, Arroyave said work still needs to be done to support minority communities at UGA.

She suggests bridging the gap between multicultural organizations and other student groups on campus. Arroyave describes a physical divide between these organizations, with multicultural groups being housed in Memorial Hall, while most others are housed at the Tate Student Center.

When we talk about issues that Latinx students face, at HSA, its kind of like preaching to the choir, Arroyave said. Were not the ones that need to hear that. Its other students on campus that need to hear these things.

Arroyave is now hard at work delivering HSA programming in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month  and everyone is invited.

HSA is intended to be a space where Hispanic students can feel welcome and accepted, but its not exclusive to Hispanic students, Arroyave said. Something that I really want to do is increase that engagement  between the Hispanic organization and the rest of the campus.

Alvarez Turner sees this increase in outside engagement at HSA events already.

You see more than just Hispanic, Latinx students. You see a rainbow of everybody on campus attending these events, and I think that is her hard work that makes these things happen, Alvarez Turner said.

Despite her initial hesitations when touring the university, Arroyave does not regret coming to UGA. She said she has found belonging.

We have to work twice as hard to prove that we do belong here, Arroyave said. I do feel like Im qualified to be here, and my peers are too and I really love the community that I have found here on campus.

This article is the second installment of a series uplifting Hispanic and Latinx voices. To be a part of this series or to send a tip, reach out to Nimra Ahmad at nahmad@randb.com.
Climate change threatens our homes and our way of life, and thats why we are calling for a visionary program that would give people of all ages an opportunity to serve their communities and their country by addressing the twin crises of climate change and economic inequality: the Civilian Climate Corps.
More than 50 University of Georgia life sciences faculty members have signed a letter to the University System of Georgia stating that they will mandate masks in their classrooms. Current USG policy prohibits such requirements
FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2016 file photo, Rev. Pat Robertson listens as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va. The Christian Broadcasting Network says Pat Robertson is stepping down as host of the long-running daily television show the 700 Club. Robertson said in a statement that his last time hosting the networks flagship program was Friday, Oct. 1, 2021.
The University of Vermont Medical Center says 93% of its nearly 15,000 workers at its facilities in Vermont and upstate New York have complied with the requirement they be vaccinated against COVID-19
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is monitoring the spread of EHD in several counties in New York, and investigating possible cases in Vermont.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 52F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 52F. Winds light and variable.
Newfane grapples again with anti-bias training; 'I think it needs to be let alone,' says one board member
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Britney Spears' fight to end the conservatorship that controlled vast aspects of her life is putting the spotlight on ongoing efforts throughout the U.S. to reform state laws that advocates say too often harm the very people they were meant to protect.

Already this year, New Jersey cracked down on the circle of people who could petition for someone to be placed under a guardian. New Mexico created an independent review process to oversee how conservatorships are being handled, including the ability to check bank records. And Oregon is ensuring that anyone placed under a guardian gets free legal help.

On Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed into law a set of changes prompted by the attention generated by Spears' legal battle to free herself from a 13-year conservatorship run by her father.

The law includes greater oversight of professional fiduciaries, such as those who controlled Spears' life and financial decisions. It will increase scrutiny of financial, physical or mental abuse, which could result in $10,000 fines.

The new law also will allow people placed under a conservatorship to choose their own attorneys, which Spears was finally allowed to do in July.

California lawmakers had passed a series of reforms to the states conservatorship system in 2006, but they were never implemented by the courts because of budget cuts during the recession in 2008  the same year Spears was placed in the conservatorship after suffering a mental health crisis.

Her ordeal caught the attention of Congress, which held a Senate Judiciary committee hearing this week examining ways to reshape conservatorships.

The system "is failing people from every walk of life, whether they are a global superstar whose struggles unfortunately play out in public or a family unsure of how to take care of an elderly parent," said state Assemblyman Evan Low, a Democrat who introduced the bill after watching the recent documentary "Controlling Britney Spears.

Low added: "This bill saw unanimous, bipartisan support throughout the process because it's painfully clear that we can and should do better.

Changes to conservatorship laws in other states also have sought to protect assets and provide less severe alternatives to conservatorships, which also are referred to as guardianships.

In New Jersey, lawmakers introduced legislation that would eliminate a catch-all category that lets virtually anyone who claims to have concern for the financial or personal well-being of another adult petition the court to strip their decision-making power.

Studies have found that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or those with mental illnesses, dementia and Alzheimer's disease are at high risk of being placed under a guardianship.

Lets say some wealthy woman is worth millions and millions, and their nephew is going around saying shes not all there and she needs to be taken care of. Well, under current law you can do that, said New Jersey Assemblywoman Carol Murphy, a Democrat who was a primary sponsor of the bill. I want it to be hard for somebody to be a conservator and take money from somebody without adequate protections for that person.

High-profile cases of guardians exploiting vulnerable people in their care led Nevada and New Mexico to overhaul their laws governing conservatorships.

New Mexico reformed its system, starting in 2018, amid rising public complaints and a federal investigation that found 1,000 clients lost more than $10 million in a multi-year embezzlement scheme perpetrated by the Albuquerque-based company Ayudando Guardians. In July, a married couple that helped operate the company were sentenced to a combined 62 years in prison on fraud, theft and money laundering convictions. A judge said their conduct left former clients destitute and homeless.

Initial legislation provided greater access to secretive guardianship records and court proceedings. It also prohibited guardians from placing limits on visitation with the elderly and infirm after families complained they weren't allowed to visit or communicate with their loved ones. The state has added bonding requirements and training for conservators, new rights for the incapacitated and a grievance process to challenge court decisions.

New Mexico state Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino said he's glad Spears' legal battle thrust the conservatorship process into the spotlight. The Democrat cosponsored successful legislation that pays for judicial staff to review conservator and guardianship accounts.

It really goes to the heart of the matter, Ortiz y Pino said. Youre taking away basic civil rights from a person, and its not that apparent to the casual observer if a person is capable of managing their own affairs any longer. Thats why you have someone evaluate the persons mental acuity. You have someone check whether there are less restrictive options. You try to build in some protections.

In March, New Mexico lawmakers gave the state auditors office new authority to review conservator and guardianship annual reports, conduct audits and subpoena bank records.

Thats not necessarily public transparency, but transparency in the sense of third eyes are looking at what the conservator is doing, besides the judge, said Democratic state Rep. Marian Matthews, a co-sponsor of the legislation.

After a guardian was charged in 2017 with siphoning more than half a million dollars from hundreds of people she had been appointed by courts to protect, Nevada lawmakers enshrined a right to legal counsel for adults under guardianship, created a system to allow people to pre-nominate guardians in case they became incapacitated and formed a compliance office to crack down on abuse.

Karen Kelly, who heads the Clark County Public Guardian's office, said the number of private guardianships have plummeted since the reforms went into effect and more people challenged proposed arrangements.

In June, Oregon's Democratic governor signed a bill that provides legal counsel  paid by the state  for people potentially being placed into guardianship.

Protected persons currently dont have a right to representation, which obviously sets up people without means for potential abuse, said Sen. Michael Dembrow, a Democrat who was one of the measure's sponsors.

Delaware, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin area among a growing number of states seeking to provide a less restrictive alternative to full guardianship, a step that is intended to allow people to direct their own lives.

The laws, backed by advocates for people with disabilities, require the courts to consider supported decision-making agreements. They allow a person with a disability to choose someone who can help with critical tasks such as reviewing a lease, but cannot make a decision for them.

We're not calling for abolishing conservatorships, but changing the paradigm in which we see people with disabilities and see their ability to make choices in their own lives, said Judy Mark, president of Disability Voices United, a Southern California advocacy group.

Dennis Borel, executive director of the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, said that approach applies the lightest possible touch to the process of formal oversight.

Borel said its extremely hard for someone to be removed from a guardianship. In one memorable case, he recalled a man with an intellectual disability who had the support of his caretakers in a state institution to move into a community housing facility.

But the move was initially denied because the man remained under guardianship of his grandmother  even though she had died years before.

Its still harder to get your rights restored than to never go under unnecessary guardianship, he said.

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Associated Press writers Michael Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey; Kathleen Foody in Chicago; Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, N.M.; Samuel Metz in Carson City, Nevada, Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City, and Andrew Selsky in Salem, Oregon contributed reporting.
NEWPORT, Ark. (AP)  A northeast Arkansas man was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty Friday to killing a woman who went missing after going for a jog near her home.

Quake Lewellyn, 29, of Jonesboro, pleaded guilty to capital murder and rape charges as part of a plea deal in which prosecutors agreed to not seek the death penalty. Prosecutors also agreed to dismiss kidnapping and abuse of a corpse charges.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  A former Missouri governor is urging the current occupant of the office to grant clemency to a convicted killer who is days away from facing execution.

Democrat Bob Holden was elected in 2000 and served one term. In a commentary for the Missouri Independent, Holden notes that he supports capital punishment in principle, evidenced by the 20 executions that occurred during his time in office.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Kansas residents can now register to vote at the state agencies where they receive public benefits under an agreement with civil rights groups that brings the state back into compliance with federal election law, the governor said Friday.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Department for Children and Families have expanded opportunities for residents wishing to register or update their voter registration. The agencies have also committed to providing resources to help them register.

Every lawfully eligible Kansans deserves an equal opportunity to cast his or her ballot in every election, Kelly, a Democrat, said in a news release. By sharing resources and expanding opportunities to get registered to vote, we will encourage more voices to be heard at the polls and more Kansans to exercise this important right.

The National Voter Registration Act, passed in 1993, requires voter registration assistance at state agencies providing public assistance benefits. Although the agencies may have been in compliance in the past, previous administrations allowed them to abandon those obligations, Kelly's office said.

Several Republican legislative leaders have not responded to messages seeking comment.

To address those deficiencies, Kelly's office has been working since November 2019 with voting rights advocacy non-profit Loud Light that was represented by the think tank Demos, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, and the ACLUs national Voting Rights Project.

The most important takeaway is that were opening up opportunities to register to vote. Voter participation is always our biggest priority, said Davis Hammet, executive director of Loud Light.

The written agreement between Kansas and the advocacy groups avoided litigation, according to the release.

It also set out certain milestones to get Kansas back into compliance. Those include updating policies, incorporating voter registration information into benefits material and providing registration information at the agencies' offices and websites. The two agencies also sent out more than 277,000 voter registrations through remedial mailings before the 2020 general election.

Its unfortunate and, frankly, unacceptable that Kansas fell out of compliance previously, but we appreciate the current leaderships cooperation to remedy our concerns and take concrete steps towards fulfilling their obligations to help Kansans register to vote, says Sharon Brett, legal director for the ACLU of Kansas.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Republican Gov. Bill Lee is calling the General Assembly back to the Capitol to address funding, buildout and oversight of a $5.6 billion campus where Ford Motor Co. plans to build electric F-Series pickup trucks at the Memphis Regional Megasite industrial complex.

Lee said Thursday that the special legislative session will convene Oct. 18. It's unclear how long the special session will last.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP)  Pat Robertson, who turned a tiny Virginia television station into a global religious broadcasting network, is stepping down after a half-century running the 700 Club on daily TV, the Christian Broadcasting Network announced on Friday.

Robertson, 91, said in a statement that he hosted the network's flagship program for the last time on Friday, and that his son Gordon Robertson will take over the weekday show starting Monday.

I will no longer be the host of the 700 Club," Robertson said on the show Friday, although he vowed to return from time to time, if hes had a revelation he needs to share. I thank God for everyone thats been involved. And I want to thank all of you.

Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network started airing on Oct. 1, 1961 after he bought a bankrupt UHF television station in Portsmouth, Virginia. The "700 Club began production in 1966.

Now based in Virginia Beach, CBN says its outreach extends to more than 100 countries and territories in dozens of languages through TV and video evangelism, online ministry and prayer centers. The 700 Club talk show can be seen in the vast majority of U.S. television markets.

Pat Robertson had an enormous impact on both American religion and American politics, said John C. Green, an emeritus political science professor at The University of Akron.

One of Robertsons innovations with the 700 Club was to use the secular talk-show format, which was a break from more traditional broadcasts of revival meetings or church services.

Heres a well educated person having sophisticated conversations with a wide variety of guests on a wide variety of topics, Green said. It was with a religious inflection to be sure. But it was an approach that took up everyday concerns.

Robertson attracted a large audience and went on to have several U.S. presidents as guests, including Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, the network said.

Robertson was the son of a U.S. senator and received a law degree from Yale. He ran for president in 1988 and also founded the Christian Coalition, galvanizing American evangelicals into a conservative political force.

He opened up a path that many people have followed, Green said. Surveys show that lots and lots of people view  in one format or another  religious broadcasting these days. But in politics, I think what he did was help cement the alliance between conservative Christians and the Republican Party.

As 700 Club host, Robertson sometimes found himself in hot water for his on-air pronouncements. In 2005, he called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town not to be surprised if disaster struck them because they voted out school board members who favored teaching intelligent design.

But Robertson also called for ending mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions. He later said on The 700 Club that marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the governments war on drugs had failed.

After President Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020, Robertson said Trump was living in an alternate realty and should move on, news outlets reported.

Robertson will still appear on a monthly, interactive episode of The 700 Club and will come on the program occasionally as news warrants, the network said.

Gordon Robertson, 63, is a Yale-educated former real estate lawyer who is less known than his father, if at all controversial. He is chief executive of CBN and has served as executive producer of the 700 Club for 20 years, and even longer as a co-host. He's also been hosting a show called 700 Club Interactive.

He told The Associated Press on Friday that viewers should expect little to change about the show, which airs live from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on weekdays.

The younger Robertson said he hopes to host politicians from both sides of the aisle, while focusing on news and other topics from a Christian perspective.

He said he always wanted the show to be a beacon of light of what can happen when people get together and say, Lets do some good in the world today.

Lets feed the poor," he continued. "Lets clothe the naked. Lets give shelter to people in need. When disasters strike, lets strike back with love and compassion.

___

This story has been corrected. Gordon's surname is Robertson, not Peterson.
HIGHLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP)  Three Detroit men and a teenage boy have been arrested in connection with the theft of four high-end vehicles valued at nearly $330,000 from a southeastern Michigan car dealership.

The thefts occurred Wednesday in Highland Township, the Oakland County sheriffs office said Thursday in a release.

Vehicle key fobs were stolen from an office. Two of the vehicles were driven out through the showrooms glass door wall.

An area auto theft unit tracked a 2021 Dodge Durango Hellcat SRT later Wednesday to Birmingham, northwest of Detroit. The driver crashed the SUV into a brick wall while fleeing.

He and two passengers were arrested. The passengers were wearing masks that covered their faces except for the eyes. Police recovered $5,800, a loaded semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine holding 30 rounds and a computer device used to reprogram key fobs.

The sheriffs office said the men are not believed to have stolen the Durango but paid $5,000 for one of the vehicles. The Durango is valued at about $100,000.

A 15-year-old male, a younger brother of one of the men, was arrested later in Detroit.

A 2021 Dodge Durango GT, 2021 Dodge Ram TRX and a 2017 Dodge Charger Hellcat SRT also were stolen and later recovered.

Sheriff Michael Bouchard said the suspects were involved in a commercial auto theft ring.

The thefts also are connected to several break-ins Wednesday at gas stations in western Oakland County where cash, cigarettes and other merchandise were taken, Bouchard's office said.
PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP)  Police have arrested a juvenile in connection with the shooting of a 14-year-old Rhode Island girl.

The boy was arrested Thursday and taken to the state's juvenile detention facility pending arraignment in family court, Pawtucket police said. They did not disclose his exact age.

Police said they also recovered a gun.

The girl was shot in the leg in the middle of the afternoon on Sept. 24, but investigators said she was not the intended target.

She was taken to Hasbro Childrens Hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.

No names were released because of their ages.
TOKYO (AP)  Japan fully came out of a coronavirus state of emergency for the first time in more than six months as the country starts to gradually ease virus measures to help rejuvenate the pandemic-hit economy as the infections slowed.

At Tokyos busy Shinagawa train station, a sea of mask-wearing commuters rushed to their work despite an approaching typhoon, with some returning to their offices after months of remote work.

The emergency measures, in place for more than half of the country including Tokyo, ended Thursday following a steady fall in new caseloads over the past few weeks, helping to ease pressure on Japanese health care systems.

Outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga thanked the people for their patience and cooperation, and asked them to stick to their basic anti-virus measures.

Once again, I seek your cooperation so that we can return to our daily lives feeling safe, he said.

The lifting of the emergency marked a fresh start for some people.

Office worker Akifumi Sugihara, 46, said he is back to the train station for the first time in about a year. I had been working from home for more than a year, and I came to the office in Tokyo as (the emergency) was lifted today," he said. "Its really been a while. I feel its a new start.

Another office worker, Kaori Hayashi, 37, said it was an ordinary Friday. In my mind nothing really has changed," she said. "We still need to be careful. I will stay vigilant and carry on my life as usual.

Japan is eager to expand social and economic activities while balancing the need to prevent another wave of infections as the weather turns cooler. Officials say the government still needs time to create more temporary COVID-19 treatment facilities and continue vaccinations to prepare for any future resurgence.

The emergency measures have mainly involved requests for eateries to curb alcohol and hours. They can now serve alcohol and operate an hour longer but still have to close at 9 p.m.

Daily reported cases have fallen to below 1,600 as of Wednesday nationwide  less than one-tenth of the mid-August peak of around 25,000. Experts attributed the declining numbers to the progress of vaccinations and to people increased their social distancing efforts after being alarmed by the collapse of medical systems during the summer.

Nearly more than 59% of Japanese people have been fully vaccinated. Japan has had about 1.69 million cases and 17,641 deaths from COVID-19.

___

Associated Press journalist Chisato Tanaka contributed to this report.
BLACK CANYON CITY, Ariz. (AP)  A dentist previously charged with doing illegal dental work in the Phoenix area has been arrested for the same crime in a neighboring county.

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said 69-year-old Denis Froehlich was taken into custody Thursday night at his Black Canyon City home for practicing dentistry without a license and aggravated assault.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  A top U.S. official on Friday apologized for how Haitian migrants were treated along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying its not how border officials or the Department of Homeland Security behave.

The comments from Juan Gonzalez, the U.S. National Security Councils senior director for the Western Hemisphere, came during a two-day official visit to Haiti to talk with local leaders about migration and other issues.

I want to say that it was an injustice, that it was wrong, he said. The proud people of Haiti and any migrant deserve to be treated with dignity.

The U.S. government recently came under fire for its treatment of Haitian migrants, with images showing men on horseback, corralling Haitian asylum seekers.

Gonzalez was visiting with Brian Nichols, U.S. assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, amid ongoing expulsions of Haitians from the U.S. to their homeland. Since Sept. 19, the U.S. has expelled some 4,600 Haitian migrants from Del Rio, Texas on 43 flights, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Gonzalez said the gathering of migrants along the border is a public health emergency and warned those who are thinking of leaving not to risk their lives.

The danger is too great, he said.

Gonzalez and Nichols previously met with Haitian Americans and Cuban Americans in Miami on Wednesday and with Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, members of the civil society and political leaders in Haiti on Thursday to talk about migration, public safety, the pandemic and efforts to help those affected by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the countrys southern region in mid-August.

Nichols said that during their visit, they heard many people talk about the challenges that Haiti faces, noting that theres a surprising amount of agreement on potential solutions.

There is no solution that will work for Haiti and its people that will be imposed from the outside, he said, referring to recent criticism about the involvement of the U.S. and other countries in Haitian affairs as it tries to recover from the earthquake and from the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moise at his private home. However, we in the United States are committed to providing the Haitian people the support they need to succeed and implement their own vision.

Nichols said the conversation with the prime minister was constructive, adding that the U.S. is encouraging consensus and a holistic vision.

The future of Haiti depends on its own people, he said. The United States is committed to working with the people of Haiti to support as they work to bring prosperity and security back to their country.

Nichols said a technical team from the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement will visit next week as Haiti struggles with a spike in gang-related violence, with the bureau's assistant secretary visiting in upcoming weeks. He said later this month, the undersecretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights will visit with other senior officials to talk about police and security issues.

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Associated Press writer Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico contributed to this report.
In a major decision on Friday, the Tata Group won the bid to take over national carrier Air India. The bid marks Tata Sons' takeover of Air India again after 68 years since it was operated by the Government of India. In addition, it further cements Tata's position in India's aviation sector as the deal will boost the company's airline businesses. Apart from Tata, the only second bidder for Air India was SpiceJet chief Ajay Singh, in a personal capacity.

Even so, the Indian conglomerate is not new to the airline business as it already has made its mark in this sector. The inception of Air India began in 1932 when it was initially established as Tata Airlines. Tata Airlines was founded by India's legendary industrialist and philanthropist JRD Tata, who at the time was also India's first licensed pilot. Tata himself flew the company's first single-engine de Havilland Puss Moth aircraft. However, the airline was later nationalised and taken over by the Government of India.

Tata Sons Airline Business

Air Asia

Even so, the Tata Group still maintains a presence in the airline sector. Back in 2012, Air Asia expressed that it was keen to have more presence in India. Therefore a joint venture was announced which also included Tata Sons. Initially starting off with a 30 per cent share, the Indian conglomerate, therefore, marked its reentry in this sector after 60 years. Over the years, Tata Sons increased its shares and in 2020, the group announced that it would increase its holdings to over 84 per cent.

Vistara

Furthering expanding its presence in the Indian aviation sector, Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines announced a joint venture after India opened up its airline sector for 49 per cent FDI. The decision by the two parent companies was made in 2013 and Tata Sons own a 51 per cent share in Vistara Airlines. Vistara commenced its operations in January 2015 and was one of the first airlines to operate domestic flights out of Mumbai's newly inaugurated Terminal 2. The company is registered as TATA SIA Airlines Limited. The company achieved success soon and on August 20, 2015, it declared it had carried half a million passengers in just over seven months of operations.

In July 2020, Vistara informed that it had received its first A321neo aircraft, which has 188 seats in a three-class cabin configuration, from Airbus' Hamburg production facility. The A321neo is a narrow-body aircraft that can be used on short to medium-haul international routes that are within seven hours of flying time. In a statement, Vistara said this aircraft would consist of 12 seats in business class, 24 in premium economy class and 152 in economy class. The business class seats are in 2*2 configuration while the other two classes have 3*3 set-up. Prior to that, in February 2020, the airline had inducted its first wide-body aircraft - Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for long-haul international operations.

Back when it started operations, the TATA-SIA run airline announced the launch of its international operations with flight services to Singapore from New Delhi and Mumbai. The airline had informed that it will operate two daily flights to Singapore, one each from New Delhi and Mumbai. The Delhi-based carrier initially catered to 24 domestic destinations. The internal services to Singapore began its operations with a Boeing 737-800NG aircraft with a two-class cabin configuration - business and economy.
Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit has become a much active member of social media these days. The actor enjoys over 27 million followers on Instagram and also has her own YouTube channel. She recently went down her memory lane to share a photo with her kids and expressed how much she loves them.

Taking to the photo-sharing platform, Madhuri Dixit shared a childhood photo of her kids. In the photo, Madhuri was hugging her sons wearing a blue-coloured outfit. Her sons were dressed in their colourful nightsuits. Sharing the photo, the Dhak Dhak girl wrote, "The love of my life". She also added a red heart emoji with the caption. Dharmesh and Arjun Bijlani reacted to the photo and showered Madhuri with love.

Madhuri Dixit often shares childhood photos of her sons via Instagram. Earlier this year, the actor shared a then and now photo of her sons Arin and Ryan. The first one had Madhuri Dixit holding Ryan in her arms while Arin stood before them. The second photo had Madhuri with her sons all grown up. It also featured their pet dog.

Madhuri Dixit and Dr. Nene on their son Arin going to college

Madhuri Dixit, like any other mom, was emotional when her son was moving to the US for his higher studies. The actor's elder son Arin recently got admitted to the University of Southern California, USA. Sharing a YouTube vlog, Madhuri Dixit shared how she is concerned about her son as he would be on his own during college. On the other hand, Dr. Nene was excited for Arin as per his IG post. He shared a photo with his son and wrote, "Am so excited for Arin starting college. Give great thanks to all the educators before and the ones now, who have been great mentors and teachers. Proud to be the father of a Trojan! Look forward to his lifelong learning.".

Madhuri Dixit shares a loving bond with her sons. The actor tied the knot with Dr. Nene in 1999. The actor took a sabbatical from the film industry and relocated to the US where she had her two sons. The actor's family moved back to India a few years back. Madhuri even made her come back into the industry. She is currently serving as a judge on the dance reality show Dance Deewane 3. The actor also has an upcoming untitled film in her pipeline.

Image: Instagram/@madhuridixitnene
According to Republic Media Network sources, the Maharashtra Government will seek details from the Central government regarding reports of former Mumbai Commissioner Param Bir Singh fleeing India, possibly via the Nepal border. This development comes a day after Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil claimed that Param Bir may have escaped India.

As per sources, Patil on Friday summoned the Mumbai and Thane Police Commissioners to review cases against Param Bir. Both top cops have briefed the Home Minister regarding the FIRs against the 'missing' ex-CP, who now holds the position of Director General (DG) of Maharashtra Home Guard.

On Thursday, the Maharashtra Home Minister said, "I have heard that Param Bir has fled the country. The permission of the Chief Minister of the state is necessary for any government official of the state to go abroad. Param Bir Singh did not take any such permission. This is a very serious matter."

The state police has launched a manhunt for Param Bir, said Patil. A bailable warrant has also been issued against him by the Justice Justice Chandiwal commission.

Allegations against & by Param Bir Singh

In April, Param Bir Singh in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleged that then-Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had told now suspended Mumbai API Sachin Vaze to extort Rs 100 crore from over 1,700 bars, restaurants and establishments in Mumbai. While the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is investigating into Param Bir's allegations against the NCP leader, the ex-CP himself has been accused in four extortion cases- including by two bookies who accused Param Bir of extorting and deceitfully charging them in betting cases,

Police Inspector Bhimrao Gadge also accused Singh of interfering in a probe on collusion between builders and Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) officials to dupe the Maharashtra government of Rs 124 crore. The inspector also alleged that Param Bir had ordered him to remove the names of some municipal officials and builders from the chargesheet. On rejecting his demands, Gadge alleged that he was wrongfully imprisoned in a frivolous case till his acquittal by a court in September 2017. Sharad Agarwal, the nephew of Mumbai-based builder, has also accused Param Bir Singh of demanding Rs 2 crore. Meanwhile, the state government is also probing Param Bir's role in the Antilia bomb scare case.
It is often said that elderly people are the wisest among everyone. The phrase stands true for this couple from Keralas Kochi, who are ambitious and do not let their age restrict them from doing what they desire to. While running a coffee shop in Kochi, the couple remained determined to save enough for their trips to foreign countries.

The globetrotter Kerala couple has set some major travelling goals for the younger generation, as they have already visited 25 countries before the breakout of the pandemic. The couple, in their 70s, will be embarking on their 26th trip this year, after a long break due to the COVID pandemic.

Kerala Couple set Travel goals for millennials in their 70s

KR Vijayan (71) and his wife Mohana (69) run a coffee shop in Kochi named 'Sree Balaji Coffee House', which they started 27 years ago in 1994. The couple is planning to visit Russia this year and they even aspire to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on their trip to Russia. They will be embarking on their trip on October 21 for a week until October 28.

While speaking to ANI, Vijayan said, "The tourism destinations were reopened following the COVID-19 outbreak. When the travel agent told me that the next trip would be to Russia, I requested that our names be added first to the list of those travelling on that tour. The journey begins on October 21 and ends on October 28."

Their grandchildren will also accompany the couple on the trip, he added. "Russia is somewhere I'd like to visit. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we've had a lot of trouble. Now is the time to travel once more," Mohana, who is 69 years old, said.

The couple who were free after their children settled down, realised that it was the best time for them to pursue their dreams. Since the coffee shop made enough money for their sustenance, they realised that they had made enough to fulfil their dreams of travelling to foreign countries.

The couple had made their first-ever foreign trip in 2007 when they visited Israel. To date, they have travelled to the USA, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Germany. Their most recent journey was to Australia and New Zealand in November and December 2019, which was sponsored by Mahindra group chairman Anand Mahindra. Since they only have a basic understanding of English, the pair travels with the support of travel agents.

With ANI Inputs

Image: ANI
New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) India was not taken into confidence on various aspects of the Doha deal struck between the US and the Taliban last year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday.

At the same time, Jaishankar said India and the US are on the same page on many issues relating to the recent developments in Afghanistan including apprehensions about the possible use of Afghan soil for terrorism.

Speaking virtually at the annual leadership summit of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), he also suggested that there are some aspects relating to the Afghan crisis where the positions of the two countries are not exactly the same.

"I think to some degree, we would all be justified in having levels of concern and to some degree, I think the jury is still out. When I say levels of concern, the commitments which were made by the Taliban at Doha, the US knows it best. We were not taken into confidence on various aspects of that," he said.

The deal was signed between the US and the Taliban in Doha in February last year in which the US promised to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan while the Taliban committed to several conditions including ending violence.

The external affairs minister also noted that any question on according recognition to the Taliban dispensation has to be based on fulfilling of the commitments made by the group in the Doha agreement.

"I think we are on similar pages at a principle level on many of these issues, certainly say terrorism. The use of Afghan soil for terrorism is something both of us feel so strongly and it was something which was discussed when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Joe Biden," he said when asked about the position of the US and India towards the Afghan crisis.

The developments in Afghanistan figured in talks between Modi and Biden in Washington last week.

"There will be issues on which we will agree more, there will be issues on which we will agree less. Our experiences in some respects are different from yours (the US). We have been victims of cross-border terrorism ourselves from that region and that has shaped in many ways our view of some of the neighbours of Afghanistan," he said, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.

The external affairs minister said it is for the US to decide whether it shares that view, adding that India has concerns over the developments in Afghanistan.

Jaishankar said the most pertinent questions relating to Afghanistan are whether it will have an inclusive government and whether the rights of women, children and minorities are going to be ensured.

"Most importantly, are we going to see an Afghanistan whose soil is not used for terrorism against other states and the rest of the world. I think these are the concerns and these concerns were captured by a UN Security Council resolution in August," he said.

"When we look at what happened in Afghanistan and the region, I think these are going to have very very significant consequences for all of us. And we are so close to the region. There are a set of concerns and issues that flow from that," Jaishankar said.

To a question on recognising the Taliban dispensation, he suggested that New Delhi would take its time and study the situation.

On the Quad or Quadrilateral coalition, the external affairs minister said it has a broad agenda of cooperation including in the Indo-Pacific region. He said Quad should not be seen as "some kind of ganging up" against China.

Asked about India's ties with the US, he said they are at an important juncture and that the discussions in Washington opened up many more new possibilities. PTI MPB SMN SMN

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The Delhi Police has arrested four people for allegedly operating an illegal international telephone exchange in central Delhi Hauz Qazi area, officials said on Friday.

The exchange used to convert internet-based international calls into voice calls resulting in loss of revenue to the government, the police said.

The mastermind has been identified as Mohammad Irfan, a resident of Chandani Chowk here , they said.

Police said the illegal exchange used to receive around 50,000 calls everyday, the maximum of which were from the Gulf nations.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shweta Chauhan said Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls were coming daily from Gulf countries and Pakistan via this illegal telephone exchange.

The cyber cell team of the central district busted the gang, police said.

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The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the U.N. political mission in Libya until after the country's critical presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for late December.

However, the world body remained divided over the withdrawal of all mercenaries and foreign forces from the oil-rich North African nation and the missions leadership.

The vote extended the current mission until Jan. 31 to ensure the United Nations can continue supporting Libyas transitional government. The Dec. 24 elections aim to reunite the country after a decade of turmoil.

The end-of January date also coincides with the end of U.N. special envoy Jan Kubis's contract  a subject of a dispute between Western nations and Russia on where he should be based. Kubis currently works out of Geneva but a strategic review of the mission, known as UNSMIL, included having its chief relocate to Libyas capital, Tripoli. The West strongly backed this, especially in the run-up to the elections, but Russia opposed.

Earlier, the Security Council had extended UNSMILs mandate for only two weeks because of disputes between the West and Russia over the withdrawal of mercenaries, foreign fighters and foreign forces as demanded in an October 2020 cease-fire agreement between rival Libyan governments in the countrys east and west.

Facing rival Western-backed and Russian draft resolutions, and Thursday's end of the current mandate, council members decided to simply extend the current mandate.

Libya has been wracked by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 and split the country between a U.N.-supported government in the capital, Tripoli, and rival authorities loyal to commander Khalifa Hifter in the east. Each have been backed by different armed groups and foreign governments.

Hifter launched a military offensive in 2019 to capture the capital, a campaign backed by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and France. But his march on Tripoli ultimately failed in June 2020, after Turkey sent troops to support the Libyan government, which also had the backing of Qatar and Italy. This paved the way for the October cease-fire agreement and a transitional government charged with leading the country to Dec. 24 elections.

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Ethiopia said Thursday it is kicking out seven United Nations officials whom it accused of meddling" in the country's internal affairs, as pressure grows on the government over its deadly blockade of the Tigray region.

The expulsions are the government's most dramatic move yet to restrict humanitarian access to the region of 6 million people after nearly a year of war.

The U.N. has become increasingly outspoken as the flow of medical supplies, food and fuel has been brought to a near-halt.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was shocked by the announcement and expressed full confidence in U.N. staff, saying they are guided by impartiality and neutrality.

In a statement, he said the U.N. is engaging with Ethiopia's government in the expectation that the concerned U.N. staff will be allowed to continue their important work.

Ethiopias government has accused humanitarian workers of supporting the Tigray forces who have been fighting its soldiers and allied forces since November. Aid workers have denied it.

Thousands of people have died in the conflict marked by gang rapes, mass expulsions and the destruction of health centers, with witnesses often blaming Ethiopian soldiers and those of neighboring Eritrea.

The U.N.'s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, this week told The Associated Press that the crisis in Ethiopia is a stain on our conscience as children and others starve to death in Tigray under what the U.N. calls a de facto government blockade.

Just 10% of needed humanitarian supplies have been reaching Tigray in recent weeks, he said.

The remarks were one of the sharpest criticisms so far of the worlds worst hunger crisis in a decade, with some 400,000 people facing famine conditions.

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Irans national army began exercises on Friday near its border with Azerbaijan, state TV reported, putting on a display of military capabilities near a neighbor it is increasingly skeptical of for its ties to the West and Israel.

Artillery, drones and helicopters will participate in the drills, the report said, without elaborating on how long they would last or where exactly they would be held.

Iran occasionally holds such events, saying it wants to assesses combat readiness and demonstrate capabilities.

The exercises come amid escalating tensions along the border.

Iran is wary of Azerbaijan in particular for its deep military cooperation with the Islamic Republics archrival, Israel, and on Thursday voiced its concerns to Azerbaijani ambassador in Tehran Ali Alizadeh.

Amirabdollahian described relations between Iran and Azerbaijan as important, but insisted Iran had the right to hold the exercises.

Earlier this week, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said he was stunned by the planned exercises, in an interview with Turkeys state-run Anadolu Agency.

Azerbaijan and Israel have strengthened their military alliance in recent months, with Israeli-supplied high-tech drones helping Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region last year.

The tensions with Azerbaijan have also complicated a vital border passage that trucks use to ferry fuel and other goods from Iran to Armenia.

Azerbaijani authorities have detained two Iranian truck drivers in recent weeks for trying to take the route, angering Iran.

Ground forces chief Gen. Kioumars Heidari told state TV Tehran was also concerned about the presence of Islamic State fighters in the region.

The military drills come after Azerbaijan hosted joint military exercises in September with Turkish and Pakistani special forces for the first time.

The region remains on edge over Irans escalating nuclear program.

Talks in Vienna to revive Tehrans now-tattered 2015 accord with world powers have stalled since June, with no date set for their resumption.

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In an anti-terror operation conducted by Nigeria Defence Forces, at least 85 Boko Haram militants were killed last month, said Acting Director, Defence Media Operation, Brig.-Gen. Bernard Onyeuko. Speaking at a press conference in Nigeria's capital city Abuja, Brigadier General Onyeuko was appraising the media about successful operations carried out by the armed forces. He also disclosed the number of militants that surrendered in September.

A total of 2,783 Boko Haram militants and their families surrendered to troops from 2 September 2 to 30 September, following intense artillery fire and air bombardment in Borno, Onyeukwu said during the presser. Additionally, another 43 terrorists, collaborators and suspected logistics suppliers along with large contraband of arms, ammunition that allegedly belonged to the Boko Haram were also nabbed by the Nigerian Army in the same period.

According to PM News Nigeria, the subsequent operations in Borno led to the recovery of over 100 assorted weapons. The consignment included SMG, HK21 guns, AK47 and locally manufactured rifles and magazines. The troops retrieved at least 3,372 rounds of 7.62mm NATO/Special ammo, another band of local pistols and hand grenades and ROG-7 bombs.

The troops also located over 12,000 kgs of fertilisers that are used for making IEDs. Besides, they seized 178 rustled livestock among several other offensive items. "This feat was achieved at Daban Masara, north of Lake Chad in Kukawa, Borno state, from where the criminal elements launch attacks on Nigerian troops and innocent civilians in the area," Brigadier Gen. Onyeukwu updated the press.

He further informed that over a dozen of ISWAP/BHT militants and their collaborators were killed in a series of airstrikes executed by Air Components of Operation Hadin Kai on 26 September, PM News Nigeria reported. In a similar ambush in July, Nigerian troops eliminated at least 42 terrorists.

Boko Haram: A terrorist organisation based in Nigeria

According to the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), officially known as Jamat Albas-Subnag Iid Da'wah wa'l Jihad, Boko Haram is a radical terrorist organisation based in Nigeria. Since 2009, Boko Haram has been committing widespread human rights abuses in large parts of north-eastern Nigeria.

In December 2013, the group extended its attacks to other States bordering Nigeria, namely, Cameroon, then the Niger (in February 2015), and Chad (in June 2015). The expansion led to bilateral and multilateral counter-insurgency measures by the affected states. "In January and March 2015, the conclusion of a cooperation agreement between Cameroon and Chad and between Nigeria and Chad led to robust joint military operations against Boko Haram, removing it from much of the territory it had controlled. Despite the efforts, Boko Haram continues to commit gross human rights abuses and serious violations of international humanitarian law resulting in ongoing casualties and further destruction of property.

(Image: AP)
As a huge step forward, Somalia on Friday inaugurated its first-ever large-scale medical oxygen plant to support COVID-19 patients. The plant has been set up at the main Banadir Maternity and Child care hospital in the Somali capital city Mogadishu, BBC reported. The much-needed COVID-related assistance was developed with the collaboration of the Somali government and the Hormuud Salaam Foundation (HSF). The foundation is a charity led by the largest telecommunication operator in Somalia. As per BBC, the first public oxygen plant in Somalia was purchased at 2,82,000 euros ($240,700) from Turkey. The pieces of equipment and the oxygen manufacturing unit were inspected by Fartun Sharif, General Director of Banadir Hospital. The oxygen plant, which has a capacity to produce at least 1,000 cylinders of oxygen per week, is going to be a huge leap in bringing together the appalling health care infrastructure in the country.

According to Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the pandemic strained Somalia's already fragile health care system. Additionally, the government has also done little to deter the terrorist group Al-Shabab from carrying out further attacks that demolished vital wings of hospitals and other healthcare infrastructures. Even though Somalia implemented necessary measures like lockdown, social distancing and distributed protective gear but poor execution of measures hardly helped to prevent the forthcoming hardships.

According to the Lancet Journal report on COVID-19 infections in Africa, the continents suffered a major setback owing to several conflicts distributed across the Northern States. Additionally, oxygen and infrastructural shortages forced an unprecedented rise in equipment and medical care facilities. Meanwhile, conflict and climate-related disasters have also coalesced into a major humanitarian crisis.

WHO ramps up COVID-19 testing capacity in Somalia

According to a research report published by the World Health Organisation (WHO), at the inception of the COVID-19 outbreak, Somalia did not have a testing capacity for RTPCR. The country sent all collected samples to Kenya Medical Research Institute in Nairobi. Given the apparent transmission of infections in the population, the WHO decided to ramp up testing facilities in Somalia. Three laboratories were set up and operational by April 2020 in Mogadishu, Garowe and Hargeisa.

According to the Somali health bulletin, the country recorded over 19,000 COVID-19 cases. With eight reported deaths on September 30, Somalia's death toll shot up to 1,111. On the vaccination front, only 1.5% of the total population has been vaccinated so far.

Image: PTI (representative)
In a stark portrayal of self-imposed hegemony, during the 72nd China National Day on October 1, Beijing set out 25 fighter jets towards self-ruled Taiwan in a boastful display of force and military. The political, social and international status of the island state continues to be contentious as a result of the Chinese Civil War and a subsequent split of China namely, Republic Of China and Peoples' Republic of China. While Taiwan is claimed by the PRC, the Xi Jinping-led regime refuses to acknowledge and recognise Taiwan's independent diplomatic relations with foreign entities.

Taking to Twitter, the Ministry of National Defence affirmed the update and shared, "25 PLA aircraft (J-16*18, SU-30*4, H-6*2 and Y-8 ASW) entered Taiwans southwest ADIZ on October 1, 2021. Please check our official website for more information."

25 PLA aircraft (J-16*18, SU-30*4, H-6*2 and Y-8 ASW) entered #Taiwans southwest ADIZ on October 1, 2021. Please check our official website for more information: https://t.co/C7012S8hSo pic.twitter.com/HoalLl3Ewx   Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C.  (@MoNDefense) October 1, 2021

China sends 25 PLA fighter jets toward Taiwan on National Day

Escalating military intimidation of the Taiwanese government, of late, China has stepped up military and political pressure to try and force Taiwan to accept Xi Jinping's sovereignty. The latest incursion included People's Liberation Army-flown 18 J-16 fighter jets along with two H-6 bombers, among other military planes. Striking a response, Taiwan deployed air patrol forces and tracked the Chinese aircraft on the air defence systems, according to Taiwan's Defence Minister Joseph Wu issued a statement.

China's ever-increasing encroachment in Taiwan has consistently been on international bulletin as PLA-deployed planes toward the island nation, which Beijing claims the territory as its own. On a nearly daily basis in the last couple of years, China is stepping up military harassment with drills, AP reported. Throughout the last week of September, the PLA had flown fighter jets toward the autonomous state after Taiwan announced it would apply to join a Pacific trade group that China also seeks to join.

Taking to Twitter, Taiwanese authorities had shared, "19 PLA aircraft (J-16*12, Y-8 ASW*2, H-6*2, Y-8 EW and J-11*2) entered #Taiwans southwest ADIZ in the morning of September 23, 2021. Please check our official website for more information."

19 PLA aircraft (J-16*12, Y-8 ASW*2, H-6*2, Y-8 EW and J-11*2) entered #Taiwans southwest ADIZ in the morning of September 23, 2021. Please check our official website for more information: https://t.co/c5EJJFhzKL pic.twitter.com/81fIdFbWFI   Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C.  (@MoNDefense) September 23, 2021

Taiwanese stage protest against Beijing suppression on China National Day

Meanwhile, on the occasion of China's National Day, hundreds of Taiwanese gathered in solidarity to mark human rights' violations inflicted by Beijing on different sections of China as well as outsiders, namely, Uyghurs In Xinjiang, Tibetans, Hong Kong's sovereignty, Taipei's self-governance.

Taking to Twitter, a citizen of Taiwan shared images of the demonstration and stated, "On china's 72nd national day, Taiwanese gather in solidarity with Hong Kong, Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Burmese freedom fighters in Taipei to protest against the oppression of the Chinese state."

on china's 72nd national day, taiwanese gather in solidarity with hong kongers, uyghurs, tibetans, and burmese freedom fighters in taipei to protest against the oppression of the chinese state



catch me out here trying to hold all my signs at once lmao #ChineseNationalDay pic.twitter.com/d7UspqjLZL  Aurora Chang   (@aurorachaang) October 1, 2021

What is China - Taiwan feud?

Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island that shares maritime borders with China (People's Republic of China, PRC). The political, social and international status of the island state continues to be contentious as a result of the Chinese Civil War and a subsequent split of China namely, ROC and PRC. The question persisted through decades whether Taiwan should remain a territory of ROC or merge with the mainland under the newly-formed PRC. The Taiwan issue subsists in the international organisational system and points out whether Taiwan's existence as a sovereign state as part of both ROC and PRC should be legitimised and currently, the Taiwan identity row hinges on subjects and matters of international law as well.

In 1971, after the vote by a majority in the UN, PRC was recognised. However, ROC continued to claim itself as the legitimate representative of China compelling Taiwan to maintain unofficial and representational ties with states and institutions. While the island is claimed by the PRC, the Xi Jinping-led regime refuses to acknowledge and recognise Taiwan's independent diplomatic relations with foreign entities. Domestically, the major feud is between sides and political parties that either favour the Chinese unification notion as opposed to those aspiring a formal international recognition and legitimacy in a bid to attain Taiwanese identity.
Taiwan has decided to lodge a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against China over the suspension of imports of the islands fruits citing pest concerns. As per Kyodo News report, Taiwans deputy agriculture minister Chen Junne-jih told reporters that Taipei will take the matter of Chinas ban on two kinds of apples in an apparent attempt to squeeze the self-ruled democratic islands economy to the sanitary and phytosanitary committee of the WTO in October. Taiwan would seek WTOs intervention if China refuses to negotiate.

Reportedly, Chen has also said that Taiwan has been asking Beijing to provide scientific evidence of discovering pests. The senior Taiwanese official also said that islands government still hopes that the matter with the mainland is resolved through negotiations. On September 19, China banned the import of Taiwans sugar apples and wax apples after previously suspending the imports of the islands pineapples. Each time, Beijing alleged that the presence of bugs prompted the suspension.

COA demands evidence from China

As per CNA report, Taiwans Council of Agriculture (COA) has demanded China to produce evidence of such finds but is yet to receive a reply. After the island takes the case with WTO, the committee in charge of disputes under the Agreements on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) might discuss the issue in November.

Following the second ban on fruit imports from Taiwan, the islands foreign minister slammed the hostile move as the relations between both sides have continued to deteriorate. Taiwanese foreign minister Joseph Wu said on Twitter, Following a series of military threats, the #PRC is weaponizing trade by announcing an immediate ban on #Taiwans custard & wax apples referring to the Peoples Republic of China by its acronym.

In recent months, China has significantly hardened its stance on Taiwan which it claims as its own territory. Last month, the Chinese General Administration of Customs said in its statement that it had detected pests called Planococcus minor or citrus mealybug in the imports of Taiwanese custard and wax apples. According to Chinese authorities, the suspension of imports of the two fruits was to prevent the risk of plant epidemics. Earlier, in a news conference, Chen had said of the ban, We cannot accept this.

IMAGE: AP


India on Thursday reiterated that New Delhi has maintained a very substantial relationship with China and asserted that there were some international issues that would be solved bilaterally. The statement from India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar came in response to a question over New Delhi's stand on handling Chinas ascent.

Jaishankar was holding a virtual discussion with the US Ambassador to India, Frank Wisner, at an event organised by the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) on September 30. "India has a very substantial relationship with Beijing and Quad is for things, not against someone. We shouldn't be railroaded into a negative discourse and read from someone else's script," India's External Affairs Minister said when asked about New Delhi and Washingon's perspective on handling the perplexing issue of the emergence of Communist power.

EAM S Jaishankar on how to deal with 'Rise of China': In many ways, they are bilateral choices we have to make. China is such a big player, salient in the international economy.... What are my problems would not be the same as yours, but there should not some kind of 'ganging up' pic.twitter.com/DCvwSU1n8W  ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2021

Further, the Indian diplomat noted that Beijing has had a significant influence on the global order but suggested that countries respond with respect to their own interests and concerns. "As participants in the international order we need to assess Beijing's movement and respond to that in the light of our own interest," stressed Jaishankar during the US India Strategic Partnership Forum meeting. He highlighted that the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is a strategic dialogue between the United States, India, Japan and Australia, aimed to discuss the natural consequence of events in the region, "not a gang to pitch one's personal agenda".

I want to make one thing clear - Quad is a peaceful resolution, it's not against somebody. It's important not to be railroaded into some kind of negative discourse & we should not fall for it. We should be positive: EAM S Jainshakr on 'Rise of China', at USISPF Leadership Summit pic.twitter.com/qkeFLH3oQ4  ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2021

Jaishankar attacks Pakistan on Afghanistan issue

Apart from discussing Chinese aggression, EAM S Jaishankar noted the recent discussion between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden in Washington on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session has opened up many more new possibilities.

The top Indian diplomat said both New Delhi and Washington are on the same page on various issues associating with the current developments in Afghanistan. He asserted both India and America are the victims of terrorism nurtured by the same Talibani group which has been funded by some of the neighbouring countries. Notably, Jaishankar was pointing fingers at Pakistan without naming the Imran Khan-led government. "There will be issues on which we will agree more, there will be issues on which we will agree less. Our experiences in some respects are different from yours (the US). We have been victims of cross-border terrorism ourselves from that region and that has shaped in many ways our view of some of the neighbours of Afghanistan," he said during the USISPF Annual Leadership Summit.

(With agency inputs, Image: @DrSJaishankar/Twitter)
Israel and Bahrain cemented their year-old agreement to establish diplomatic ties on Thursday, with the king of the small Gulf Arab state hosting Israel's foreign minister who for the first time opened an embassy in the capital of Manama.

Meanwhile, Bahrain's carrier Gulf Air landed in Tel Aviv and was met at Ben Gurion International Airport with a water salute and a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The pageantry reinforced the accord between Israel and the island nation, one of four Arab states that signed the U.S.-brokered "Abraham Accords".

Lapid has already visited the United Arab Emirates and Morocco and opened Israel's diplomatic offices since he became foreign minister in June.

"This is an historic moment," said Lapid earlier, during joint statements with Bahraini counterpart Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani.

The Israeli diplomatic delegation and its Bahraini counterparts were to sign a raft of agreements to further cement bilateral ties, including economic deals and cooperation between hospitals and water companies.

The two countries had long enjoyed clandestine security ties over a shared distrust of regional rival Iran, but only last year took the relationship public.

Lapid also thanked King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, "for his leadership and inspiration without which we would not be here today."

"Our opportunities are shared, our threats are also shared, and they aren't far from here," said the Israeli Foreign Minister.

Lapid said "the global battle" isn't between left and right, or along religious divides, but rather "between moderates and extremists, a culture of life, against a culture of death and destruction."

"Together with our friends in the Gulf, we are leading a brave coalition of moderates," he said.

On Monday, as he addressed the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Israel's prime minister Naftali Bennett appealed to the international community to stand together against Iran, accusing Tehran of marching toward the development of a nuclear weapon and threatening to act alone if the world does not take action.

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Canada is recommending that the males aged between 18-24 are administered the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine due to the minimal risk of the heart inflammation associated with the Moderna jab. Theres a slightly increased risk of myocarditis and pericarditis in males 18-24 after administration of the Moderna vaccine, the Canadian health authorities said, when recommending the Ontario adolescents vaccine, according to multiple reports. Pfizer-BioNTech shots shall be given over Moderna "out of an abundance of caution, as studies conducted between June and August have shown that the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis in young males was higher, one in nearly 5,000 vaccinations. But no cases of fatalities were reported.

"I'm not holding any facts back, there is a risk," said Dr Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer of health was quoted as saying at the presser on Thursday, September 30. The risk of adverse event in those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was one in 28,000, he further informed.

While Canada is recommending young adults to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine instead of Moderna, those willing to choose the latter shot can still go ahead, the Canadian health authorities stated. Teenagers aged between 12 and 17, although, are required to receive only the Pfizer doses due to the heart inflammation risks as recorded on Ontarios surveillance system for adverse events following the immunization. Of the total 96,000 doses administered by Canada between June 1 and August 7, most cases of the myocarditis and pericarditis were detected among the males between 18 and 24, according to Canadian media reports.

Canada lifts travel ban on India

Earlier this week, Canada eased the COVID travel ban as it lifted its month-long ban on passenger flights from India. Justin Trudeau administration extended its ban on all direct commercial and private passenger flights until September 26 (Sunday). Now, as the ban expires, all Indian passengers would be able to travel to Canada, albeit with some restrictions, including complete vaccination against Coronavirus. However, the new travel rules are subjected to multiple restrictions. After the resumption of direct flights, travellers who are eligible to enter Canada who depart India for Canada via an indirect route will continue to be required to obtain, within 72 hours of departure, a valid negative COVID-19 molecular test from a third country  other than India  before continuing their journey to Canada, transport Canada said in a statement.

(Image: AP)
Colombian Vice President and Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez arrived in New Delhi on Friday, 1 October, to hold bilateral discussions. Taking to Twitter, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed that Ramirez arrived in the national capital with an accompanying business delegation for extensive engagements covering all aspects of bilateral relations. The team will be focusing on technology, vaccine development and biotechnology, the MEA said.

Colombian Vice President and Foreign Minister @mluciaramirez arrives in Delhi with an accompanying business delegation, for extensive engagements covering all aspects of bilateral relations.



Special focus on S&T, vaccine development and biotechnology. pic.twitter.com/LPGrhgkLiW  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) September 30, 2021

Separately, in a series of tweets, the Colombian Vice President informed about her arrival in India and said that the two nations have signed alliances with pharmaceutical laboratories to produce COVID-19 vaccines. Ramirez said that Colombian pharmaceutical production has had an average annual growth of six per cent for the last 10 years. So we will leverage this growth to work hand in hand with India, the world's largest supplier of vaccines and generic drugs, she added.

Moreover, Ramirez said that the two nations even signed alliances with research centres to ensure cooperation and continue exploration and use of space. She said that India and Colombia will strengthen bilateral relationships. She went on to say that as developing countries, the two nations will strengthen trade and investment with a view to turning Colombia into a window of progress for the region.

Colombia looking at India as an example to follow

Meanwhile, last month, the envoy of Colombia praised the Indian pharmaceutical ecosystem and said that it is an example for others to follow. Colombian Ambassador to India Mariana Pacheco expressed her enthusiasm for the Indian pharmaceutical industry. She told ANI, President and Vice President of Colombia have decided to promote the recovery of the pharmaceutical companies and the pharma industry in Colombia. We are looking at India as an example to follow."

While stating that she is impressed with the way infrastructure is developing in the pharmaceutical sector, the Colombian envoy stressed that the Indian pharmaceutical industry is an example from which they need to learn. First of all we need to learnwe need to learn from you (India)learn from your experience and admire your industry, the way India has built up the ecosystem for promotion the pharma industry. So first we have to learn, second, we are trying to learn about research, Ambassador Marian Pacheco added.

(Image: Twitter)
Iran Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on Thursday, 30 September, urged South Korea to resolve the problem of Irans access to its financial assets, which are frozen in the latters banks, as soon as possible. According to a press note released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Abdollahian, in a telephone conversation with his South Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong, criticised the continuation of freezing Irans assets. He called for ending the current impasse created by following the path drawn by the US so that the Islamic Republic can use them to buy essential items such as medicines.

Due to the existing problem and suspension of trade between the two countries, and even restrictions on the trade of humanitarian items, the Iranian people are very dissatisfied with this situation, Abdollahian said.

Further, the Iranian Foreign Minister even praised the friendly relations between the two nations in the past decades. He went on to stress the need to further develop bilateral ties. Chung, on the other hand, stressed the need to resolve the problems existing in bilateral relations.

South Korea-Iran relations

Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning that the relations between Tehran and Seoul have been strained since the US reimposed tough sanctions on Iran and banned countries, including major Asian customers, from buying its petroleum. Iran has said that it has at least $7 billion from oil sales trapped in South Korea and the funds are needed to purchase humanitarian goods, including the coronavirus vaccine. Seoul, on the other hand, in April said that it had resolved the dispute over $7 billion blocked from Iran, but was waiting for the US green light.

South Korea and other US partners had begrudgingly stopped buying oil from Iran after former US President Donald Trump imposed a unilateral embargo with threats to punish anyone who buys from Tehran. Trump had vowed to bring Iran to its knees through maximum pressure after he walked out of an agreement negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama under which Iran scaled back nuclear work in return for promises of economic relief.

Now, President Joe Biden favours returning the 2015 accord. But Iran has been calling for an end to the US sanctions and said that the Islamic Republic is keen on having large scale political-economic engagements with the world. Newly-minted Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has even asserted that nukes have no place in our defence doctrine and deterrence policy. Our countrys strategic policy is to consider the production and stockpiling of atomic weapons as forbidden.

(Image: AP)




United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced on Thursday that nearly 91 undocumented immigrants have been recovered from Libya's western coast. As per the UNHCR statement, 91 illegal migrants who spent two days at sea in a rubber boat with scant supplies were taken back to the nation's capital Tripoli on Wednesday night. The illegal migrants were mostly from the countries such as Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The UNHCR along with its medical collaborator, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), supplied relief goods and medical assistance to the migrants. Of the total 91 individuals, there were 12 women and four children, the UNHCR statement stated. According to the UN agency, for protection, there is a need for safe and convenient paths from Libya for individuals.

Other rescue instances of illegal migrants off the Libyan coast

Meanwhile, a few days back on September 15, UNHCR stated that over 400 unlawful migrants had been rescued and repatriated to Libya. UNHCR further reported that following being rescued, 32 people were landed at Azzawiya Refinery point in western Libya, while 313 other immigrants were brought to Tripoli. Further, UNHCR and (IRC) gave emergency medical and humanitarian aid to all survivors. In the rescued group of migrants, there were 28 women and four children.

Whereas just a day earlier, on September 14, Libya's Interior Ministry announced that it had apprehended about 109 undocumented immigrants on their way to Europe in the western city of Zliten, some 160 kilometres east of Tripoli. According to the ministry, the illegal immigrants are made up of 16 Eritrean women and two Sudanese children.

The International Organization for Migration has revealed that over 25,285 illegal migrants which comprise women and children have been retrieved so far in the year 2021, whereas hundreds more have perished or gone missing off the Libyan coast on the Central Mediterranean crossing. Since the assassination of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the year 2011, Libya has become a favoured departure point for undocumented migrants seeking to transit across the Mediterranean Sea to European coastlines. The rescued migrants wind themselves in congested receiving centres across Libya.

(Image: AP/ Representative image)
While hundreds of protesters gathered in the streets surrounding Peru's Congress, inside members were taking aim at the two-month old government of President Pedro Castillo.

The Congress is looking into whether or not Castillo's Minister of Labour, Iber Maravi, had a criminal record prior to his coming to work for Castillo's government.

The President of Peru's Congress said she had spoken to Castillo and would "take him at his word."

"The government will not present a vote of confidence," said Maria del Carmen Alva Prieto, putting Castillo on notice that if they do find something they may move towards a no-confidence vote.

After saying he was not guilty of any criminal activity Maravi released a joint police and Interpol document stating he has no criminal record.

The issue at stake is Congress' confidence in Castillo's government.

If Congress votes no-confidence twice for any government, whomever is president of Peru may dissolve and close congress and call for new elections.

In November of 2020, Peru had three presidents in a single week after one was impeached by Congress over corruption allegations and protests forced his successor to resign.

Castillo was a rural teacher who never held political office before he assumed office less than two weeks after he was declared the winner of the June 6 runoff election succeeding President Francisco Sagasti, whom Congress appointed in November to lead the South American nation after weeks of political turmoil.

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US General Frank McKenzie, the head of Central Command told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that the fall of the former government in Afghanistan was ingrained in the 2020 Doha peace deal between the Taliban and the ex-US President Donald Trump administration. The top commander of American forces in the Mideast told the committee that the signing of the Doha agreement had a really pernicious effect on the government before it collapsed in the face of the Taliban, who are the new rulers of the country which is renamed as the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

"The signing of the Doha agreement had a really pernicious effect on the government of Afghanistan and on its military - psychological more than anything else, but we set a date-certain for when we were going to leave and when they could expect all assistance to end," McKenzie said.

He added, "Once the US troop presence was pushed below 2,500 as part of Washington's bid to complete a total withdrawal by the end of August, the unravelling of the US-backed Afghan government accelerated."

Mckenzie was referring to a February 29, 2020 agreement that the Trump administration reached with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar following months of negotiations. Under the deal, the United States promised a complete withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan by May 2021 and the Taliban also agreed to a range of conditions including ceasing attacks on US coalition forces. This objective was to further elevate the peace negotiation between the Taliban and the former Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani.

However, the diplomatic efforts to enhance Taliban-Afghanistan government talks failed significantly before former US President Donald Trump was replaced by his successor Joe Biden. While Biden was criticised for the chaotic withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan, the US President has appeared to place the blame on Trump over the deal that the Biden administration was handed over with. However, Trump has repeatedly claimed that it would have been different if he were a president.

Taliban say its 'useless' to continue former Afghan govt

Meanwhile, amid the ongoing crisis in the war-torn country, the Taliban on 29 September claimed that it was "useless" to continue the former government of Afghanistan, reported Tolo News. A member of the Cultural Commission of the Taliban Information and Cultural Ministry, Anaamullah Samangai said the efforts to keep the former government of Afghanistan was useless. He added that there will be no opportunity for opportunistic people to deceive the global community.

"Now there is and will be no opportunity for such opportunistic people to deceive the international community from the address of Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan," said Samangani as per Tolo News.

IMAGE: AP


US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday denounced North Koreas recent series of new hypersonic missile launches, stating that the international community needs to take [launches] very seriously. Furthermore, he added that the United States envoy for North Korea was now in discussions with South Korea and Japan, and so, the US is engaged in very active conversations with them on the way forward. Blinken added, that North Korea's missile test-firing creates "greater prospects for instability and insecurity on the Korean Peninsula and the globe.

The United States supports the prospects of inter-Korean dialogue, inter-Korean work, said Blinken, according to the Department of State release. We leave that as well to our South Korean allies as they look to see if there are ways to move forward, he stressed. He suggested that the two regional allies, the US and South Korea were in talks to enact any measures that can appropriately reduce the risks. He added that the US was concerned about North Koreas repeated violations of the United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Test firing missiles 'jeopardise regional security' says US

Blinken told reporters during his trip to Pennsylvania for trade talks with EU counterparts, that Pyongyang's recent and the second test-firing of a new hypersonic weapon this week was unsettling for the world, and that the US has been in touch with regional partners to explore methods to engage towards North Koreas denuclearization. In its straight second launch this week demonstrating combat readiness, nuclear-armed North Korea test-fired a new anti-aircraft missile with twin rudder controls, double impulse flight engine and other advanced new technologies, states official press Korean Central News Agency said on Friday. North Koreas new missile launch was overseen by Pak Jong Chon, a member of the ruling Workers' Party's powerful politburo and Central Committee, and was not attended by the autocratic communist leader Kim Jong-Un, reports have confirmed.

The US State Department in its earlier statement condemned the DPRKs missile launches into the East Sea waters, stating that such ballistic tests jeopardise regional security and international ties, it called for the resumption of nuclear talks between the two Korean states. In a further revelation, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken-led department denied any possibility of US interference in the Korean conflict, saying that the US remains committed to a diplomatic approach".North Korea, earlier this month, test-fired a new long-range cruise missile, ahead of its Tuesday launch of a hypersonic missile. It also fired at least two ballistic missiles into waters within Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

(Image: AP)
A 22-year-old former nursing student was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Thursday for bursting into a Southern California synagogue on the last day of Passover in 2019 with a semiautomatic rifle, killing one worshipper and wounding three others.

An agreement with prosecutors spared John T. Earnest the death penalty, but the hearing gave victims and families their first opportunity to address the killer directly during victim-impact statements in San Diego Superior Court.

Earnest's attorney said Earnest wanted to make a statement but Judge Peter Deddeh refused, saying he did not want the hearing to become "a political forum" for white supremacist views.

There was no visible reaction from Earnest, who stared straight ahead.

Minutes after the shooting, Earnest called a 911 dispatcher to say he shot up the synagogue to save white people. "I'm defending our nation against the Jewish people, who are trying to destroy all white people," he said.

The San Diego man admired the gunman who killed dozens of worshippers at two New Zealand mosques shortly before he attacked Chabad of Poway, a synagogue near San Diego, on April 27, 2019. He frequented 8chan, a dark corner of the internet, for those disaffected by mainstream social media sites to post extremist, racist and violent views.

Earnest legally bought a semi-automatic rifle in San Diego a day before the attack, according to a federal affidavit. He entered the synagogue with 10 bullets loaded and 50 more on his vest but fled after struggling to reload.

Earnest killed 60-year-old Lori Gilbert, who was hit twice as she prayed in the foyer, and wounded an 8-year-old girl, her uncle and Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who was leading a service on the major Jewish holiday.

Earnest also faces sentencing in federal court on Dec. 28. He pleaded guilty to federal charges after the Justice Department said it wouldn't seek the death penalty. Defense attorneys and prosecutors are recommending a life sentence.

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A Bangladeshi couple was convicted and served a jail term in the USA for conspiring to help the Islamic State (ISIS). A press release by the US Justice Department on Thursday informed that US District Court Judge Joshua Wolson sentenced Shahidul Gaffar, a 40-year-old Bangladeshi residing in Pennysylvania, and his 35-year-old wife, Nabila Khan, to 18 months and two years imprisonment respectively.

According to the press release, Gaffar and Khan were found guilty of conspiring to give material assistance and resources to the Islamic State, a recognised foreign terrorist organisation. The press release added, The defendants encouraged and financially supported the efforts of Nabila Kahn's brothers to join the murderous terrorist group ISIS (Islamic State), which is a direct threat to the United States."

Khan sold her jewellery to fund brother's travel to Syria

The press release stated that according to court records, Gaffar and Khan gave financial assistance to two of Khan's brothers who flew to Syria to join the Islamic State in 2015. The press release highlighted that the couple had talked about the brothers' trip and even deeply planned it in early September 2014.

As per the press release, Khan had requested her sister in Bangladesh to sell Khan's jewellery and give the money to their oldest brother in addition to helping him go to Syria in January 2015. Furthermore, Khan's second brother came to the United States on a student visa and lived with Khan and Gaffar in Pennsylvania during the period of June 2014 to February 2015, before returning to Bangladesh. The couple also provided funds to assist Khan's second brother's journey to Syria to start working with ISIS.

A significant threat to the nation

As per the acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams, the case brings in great emphasis and prime priority on the US Justice Department and the United States Attorney's Office. It focuses on safeguarding the nation from any security threats, the press release said. The US attorney said the accused aided Nabila Kahn's brothers to join the terrorist organisation ISIS, which poses a significant threat to the USA.

The Islamic State is a Salafi jihadist terrorist organisation and formerly unrecognised state-like entity. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi established the Islamic State, which rose to worldwide attention in 2014 after driving Iraqi security forces out of major cities. The Islamic State, founded in 1999, swore allegiance to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network and was actively involved in the Iraqi resistance when Western forces invaded the country in 2003.

(Image: Unsplash)
United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on September 30 (local time) met with the French Ambassador Philippe Etienne at White House after the envoy returned to Washington. According to the official statement from the National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne, Sullivan and Etiennes meeting was in line with the commitment US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron showcased in the September 22 phonecall.

In the telephonic conversation, Macron and Biden spoke about kickstarting the process of in-depth consultations on a range of strategic matters in a bid to create the conditions for ensuring confidence and propose concrete measures toward common objectives. In the meeting on Thursday, the White House National Security Adviser welcomed the plan of the French envoy to meet with the officials across the US government to continue advancing the shared agenda of both nations before Biden and Macron are set to meet at the end of October.

Sullivan met with the French Ambassador to the US in the backdrop of tensions triggered by the announcement of a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK, and the US  AUKUS. Following the announcement last month, France reacted sharply to the cancellation of its billion-dollar agreement with Australia for 12 conventionally powered submarines because, under AUKUS, Canberra would get nuclear submarines from Washington. France had even recalled its envoys from the US and Australia for consultations.

Important meeting w/ @JakeSullivan46 on the implementation of the joint statement by our Presidents to develop a common strategic agenda including on supporting engagement in the Indo-Pacific, a stronger  defense and thefight against terrorism. pic.twitter.com/QhfTcCDQQS  Philippe Etienne (@Ph_Etienne) October 1, 2021

France and US seek to mend ties

Amid the AUKUS row, France and the United States have sought to mend ties. Macron and Biden spoke for 30 minutes on Wednesday, September 22 and agreed to find a way forward. The US even acknowledged that the situation would have benefitted from open consultations and France, in return, agreed to send its ambassador back to Washington. In a joint statement after the phone call last month, the US and French presidents said that they would open a process of in-depth consultations, aimed at creating the conditions for ensuring confidence."

Meanwhile, as per the BBC report, experts have described AUKUS as probably one of the most significant security arrangements between the three nations since World War II. But, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described it as a stab in the back after the deal cost Paris billions of dollars.

(Image: AP)
The United States Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has granted provisional approval to Australia to purchase a single unit of the EA-18G Growler aircraft. On Wednesday, the US State Department approved the sale of the carrier-based aircraft along with engineering and maintenance services, DSCA said in a statement. The total sale value of the equipment and the electronic fighter is estimated to be approximately $125 million.

The EA-18G Growler airborne electronic attack aircraft will replace an almost-new Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) EA-18, that was lost in a fire at the Nellis Airforce runway in the US in 2018. The proposed sale will allow Australia to effectively maintain its current force projection capability that enhances interoperability with US forces well into the future and maintains their original primary lave of aircraft authorised, the Defense Security Co-operation Agency (DSCA) said in its statement. News agency ANI reported that the DSCA had delivered the necessary certification to Congress notifying the possible handover on Thursday.

In a bid to strengthen its fleet, Australia had purchased twelve new-build Growlers under Project Air 5349 Phase 3. RAAF is expected to modify the US Navy EA-18G aircraft into a Royal Australian Air Force EA-18G configuration, DSCA said in a statement.

Australia and the US conduct joint air exercise

Meanwhile, an EA-18G Growler aircraft fleet conducted a joint exercise with the US on 24 August 2021. During the event, the United States Air Force KC-10 Extender and KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft provided support to the RAAF Growlers with air-to-air refuelling during the second leg of the journey to Alaska, between Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, the Australian Department of Defence said in a statement.

"With the help from @usairforce, EA-18G Growlers were able to successfully make the 11,400km journey across the Pacific Ocean to Eielson Air Force Base, United States for Exercises Red Flag Alaska and Distant Frontier," the Australian Department of Defence wrote on Twitter.

#ICYMI With the help from @usairforce, EA-18G Growlers were able to successfully make the 11,400km journey across the Pacific Ocean to Eielson Air Force Base, United States for Exercises Red Flag Alaska and Distant Frontier. 



 https://t.co/j3syp1X9tK#YourADF #AusAirForce pic.twitter.com/n0qVNyb1Od  Department of Defence (@DeptDefence) September 23, 2021

Flight Lieutenant Antonia said the exercises were critical to bilateral engagement and strengthening Indo-Pacific capabilities. "International exercises enable us to access complex airspaces and facilities that are not available in Australia," Flight Lieutenant Antonia added. Notably, Australia recently signed a trilateral security agreement - AUKUS - with the US and the UK to acquire, enabling it to acquire nuclear-powered submarines amidst rising tension in the Indo-Pacific region.

(With inputs from ANI, Image: @DepartmentofDefence/Twitter)
A Rivercat ferry passes by the Royal Australian Navy's Collins-class submarine HMAS Waller as it leaves Sydney Harbour on May 4, 2020.

China may face a significant challenge to its energy security if it tries to retaliate against Australia for plans to acquire nuclear submarine technology from the United Kingdom and the United States.

On Sept. 16, Beijing blasted the announcement one day earlier that Australia will join in a new security partnership known as AUKUS that plans to develop a nuclear powered submarine fleet "to sustain peace and stability across the entire Indo-Pacific region."

At a press conference, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, made it clear that China did not buy the assurance of senior U.S. officials in a background briefing for reporters that the security initiative "is not aimed or about any one country."

The submarine deal "has seriously undermined regional peace and stability, intensified the arms race and undermined international non-proliferation efforts," Zhao said, according to a ministry transcript.

"China always believes that any regional mechanism should ... contribute to enhancing mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries. It should not target any third party or undermine its interests," Zhao said.

Western media have interpreted the AUKUS pact as a response to China's military buildup and territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Under the plan to provide Canberra with more capable and stealthier subs, "Australia may be conducting routine patrols that could sail through areas of the South China Sea that Beijing now claims as its own exclusive zone, and range as far north as Taiwan," Britain's The Guardian said.

Although the conventionally armed but nuclear powered vessels are not expected to be launched until late in the next decade, the plan could open a new chapter in China's retaliatory campaign against Australian trade and economic interests in the near term.

Despite a free trade agreement since 2015, China has been punishing Australia for policies ranging from its support for Hong Kong democracy dissidents to its calls for investigating the origins of COVID-19.

Over the past two years, Chinese authorities have imposed cutbacks and crackdowns on Australian exports of products including wine, barley, lobster, copper and coal.

The retaliatory measures have mostly focused on products that Beijing can afford to forgo, although analysts are divided on whether the ban on Australian coal has contributed to shortages and record prices for China's main fuel this year.

Until now, the authorities have been careful to avoid restricting imports of largely irreplaceable Australian iron ore for fear of damaging China's steel industry.

But even that safe haven for Australia may be endangered as China cuts steel output to meet emissions targets and property development fades due to rising debt risk.

Trade friction

In mid-September, iron ore futures dropped by double digits following reports of expanded production controls, PMN Business news said.

As China runs out of Australian trade categories that it can safely punish, it may be tempted to retaliate against its supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the second leading commodity import from the country after iron ore.

For now, Australia remains China's leading supplier of the super-chilled fuel, accounting for 45 percent of its LNG imports until the share recently slipped to 43 percent, according to UK-based energy consultants Wood Mackenzie.

"I don't think China can afford to cut Australian LNG imports anytime soon," said Mikkal Herberg, energy security research director for the Seattle-based National Bureau of Asian Research.

"This winter would be disastrous to do so. LNG is sold out globally, essentially," Herberg said by email.

In May, Bloomberg News reported that two of China's smaller traders were told to avoid buying new LNG cargoes from Australia, although no similar signal was sent to the country's major importers, the national oil companies (NOCs).

In June, Wood Mackenzie said in a posting that the report of LNG restrictions was "unconfirmed," but it may have been an indicator of pressure for broader curbs to come.

The potential for targeting Australia's LNG trade has been closely watched this year because of a collision of factors.

After a slump that extended through February, Asian LNG prices on the spot market have soared to record highs as China displaces Japan to become the world's biggest buyer.

The price spike has reportedly made some Chinese importers reluctant to buy more LNG, but pre-winter stock building has combined with pressure to cut carbon emissions from coal, driving spot prices even higher.

Record gas prices, low storage levels and shortages in Europe have caused further tightening.

Some buyers are hoping that prohibitive LNG prices will eventually force fuel switching and temper demand, S&P Global Platts said.

Energy and climate

But China's demand for both pipeline gas and LNG has been high despite rising costs as the country faces pressure to constrain coal and meet climate goals.

In the first eight months of the year, combined gas imports jumped 22.2 percent from a year earlier, accounting for over 44 percent of China's supplies of the fuel, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data.

Despite bilateral tensions, Australia's LNG shipments to China climbed in August with nine additional cargoes compared with July, the Australian Financial Review reported, citing an analysis by consultancy EnergyQuest.

China's LNG imports climbed 23.3 percent through August, based on customs figures, lngprime.com reported.

In the longer term, Australia's submarine deal may pose a strategic predicament for China, with energy security at its core.

Beijing's claims to the South China Sea have been driven in part by its needs for offshore resources and demands to control its vital trade routes for energy imports.

But with a fleet of silent nuclear submarines patrolling the contested waters, the claims of control and issues of free passage may remain unresolved.

In the near term, China's attempts to punish Australia for the AUKUS initiative may only succeed in trading one vulnerability for another by highlighting its reliance on energy imports through the very same waters.

While deployment of Australian nuclear submarines may be far in the future, China's energy import dependence is also likely to continue for years.

"Their targets for domestic gas production are already very ambitious and still imply growing dependence on imported gas," Herberg said.

"It's hard to see when the LNG market will be supplied enough to make a shift feasible," said Herberg. "Only in the case that the global LNG market went into huge surplus could they entertain the notion of eliminating Australian LNG."

"I would put LNG in the same basket as Australian iron ore. It's very difficult for China to diversify away from Australian iron ore, so they just ignore the contradiction," he said.
Viral video and audio of the meeting are edited fabrications, ruling party says.

A screen shot of Hun Sen making a surprise appearance in a Zoom meeting with activists and former lawmakers of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which his government banned four years ago, Sept. 9, 2021.

Cambodias ruling party has denied that prime minister Hun Sen crashed a meeting of his political rivals from the countrys banned opposition party, saying that viral video and audio of meeting was edited to appear real, RFA has learned.

In video and audio of the alleged incident shared widely on social media, Hun Sen appears, surprising a Zoom meeting of about 15 Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) activists and former lawmakers on Sept. 9, and tells them to stop spreading anti-government messages.

A spokesman for the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) denied that Hun Sen had interrupted the meeting, saying that the audio and video clips were an elaborate fabrication in a report by Voice of Democracy (VOD), a Cambodian independent media outlet started by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) and operated by the Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM).

These are all exaggerations. Its made as if its real, but it is not, VOD quoted spokesperson Sok Eysan as saying.

[Theyre] exaggerating [to suggest] that the winner who has power in hand with the peoples support across the country, turned to negotiate with those who ran out of the country. It never happened, he said, adding that the CNRP was already dead and would never be revived.

Former CNRP lawmaker Long Ry, who lives in exile in Massachusetts, confirmed to RFAs Khmer Service that Hun Sen had interrupted the meeting

In video footage of the alleged incident obtained by RFA, while Long Ry is speaking, Hun Sens face appears suddenly to interrupt.

In VODs account of a 12-minute audio clip of the alleged incident, Hun Sen accuses the CNRP of making false reports about his death, and then launches into criticism of the CNRPs co-founder and Acting President Sam Rainsy, who has been living in exile in Paris, but has vowed to return to Cambodia to oppose Hun Sen politically.

Hun Sen then tells the meeting that he has been secretly watching them all along, the report said.

I have been listening and have entered to listen many times already. Even last night, you, Long Ry, had a meeting with Mu Sochua to strengthen forces in Bangkok and the Philippines. I received that too, Hun Sens voice says, referring to the CNRPs vice president, who lives in exile in the U.S.

Nowadays, you all want to return to the country. Nowadays, you all want to reunite, VOD quoted the voice of Hun Sen as saying.

Long Ry told RFA that Hun Sen was able to join the Zoom meeting because one of his team members shared the meetings link or password with others so that they could listen. He said he would be happy to invite Hun Sen to future meetings to discuss national issues.

But morally, when people sneak a peak into our affairs, we are not happy. For example, when someone furtively watches naked people taking a shower, thats bad, said Long Ry.

In politics, I think we should employ honest and straightforward methods, and not take advantages of others by secretly sneaking into their affairs, he said.

Cambodias Supreme Court dissolved the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in November 2017 over an alleged plot to overthrow the government.

The move came amid a wider crackdown by Hun Sen on the countrys political opposition, independent media, and NGOs that paved the way for his CPP to win all 125 seats in parliament in the countrys July 2018 elections.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
In a separate case, independent journalist Youn Cheav faces a lawsuit filed by Cambodia's defense minister because of his reporting on corruption, land grabs, and threats by authorities in Koh Kong province.

A Cambodian court on Friday ordered an opposition party activist detained after he returned from exile in Thailand, sending him to Prey Sar Prison in the capital Phnom Penh to face charges of conspiracy and incitement, Cambodian sources say.

Tum Bunthorn, a former commune councilor for the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arrested on Wednesday, a month after returning to his home from Thailand in order to live with his family, his wife Sieng Leng told RFAs Khmer Service.

Sieng Leng said she has not been yet been told of formal charges filed by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court against her husband, but called his arrest politically motivated and unjust.

I am asking the court to release him so that he can regain his freedom. He needs to feed his children and family, she said.

Tum Tunthorn was a member of a CNRP musical group that had performed songs criticizing the government of long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen, and was jailed for two months in 2019 on charges of incitement amid a wave of arrests of other opposition party activists and politicians.

Fearing further harassment by authorities, he had fled to Thailand following his release.

Speaking to reporters on the Telegram messaging service, Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesman Plang Sophal said that Tum Bunthorn had been arrested based on a warrant issued after his sentencing in absentia on Dec. 30 to a prison term of two years and eight months for actions seriously affecting social security.

Tum Bunthorns detention came as the Phnom Penh court questioned a land-rights activist, Lak Kien Ving, who was arrested this week after being summoned to appear at the court, according to his wife, Orn Chantho.

Armed police stormed her house after Phnom Penh deputy prosecutor Mut Dara issued a warrant on Wednesday requesting Lak Kien Ving to come to the court to be questioned over his role in a land encroachment case, she said.

The warrant gave Lak Kien Ving, a resident of Prey Nop district in Sihanoukville, a month in which to appear before the court, but authorities acted quickly to take him into custody, violating the warrants own provisions, she said.

Lak Kien Vings arrest was not carried out according to law, because the court itself had given him 30 days in which to appear, said Am Sam Ath, deputy director of monitoring at the Cambodia-based rights group Licadho.

Arrests of activists and opposition party members often surge after exchanges of rhetoric between Hun Sen and acting CNRP president Sam Rainsy, who now lives in exile in Paris, Am Sam Ath said.

In my own observations, I have seen that even when arrest warrants are issued, the authorities often wont make arrests except in times of political tension. So these arrests have more to do with politics than the law, he said.

More than 90 political opposition figures and social and environmental activists have been arrested in Cambodia in recent years on charges of incitement and conspiracy, sources say.

CNRP member Tum Bunthorn is shown in an undated photo. Facebook / Tum Bunthorn

Also on Friday, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court dropped ten arrest warrants issued against former CNRP youth workers now living in South Korea after one youth leader, Yim Sinorn, wrote to Hun Sen to ask his intervention in the proceedings against them.

The warrants had been issued on charges of conspiracy and incitement over the announced return, later abandoned, to Cambodia by CNRP acting president Sam Rainsy from exile in 2019. On receiving Yim Sinorns appeal, Hun Sen forwarded his letter to Cambodias Ministry of Justice and the court withdrew the warrants.

Separately, New York-based Human Rights Watch expressed concern over what it called the repeated harassment by Cambodian authorities of independent journalist Youn Cheav, who faces a lawsuit filed by Defense Minister Tea Banh because of his reporting on issues of corruption, land grabs, and threats by authorities in southwest Cambodias Koh Kong province.

The persecution of local online reporter Youn Cheav shows how the Cambodian government is systematically silencing the few independent journalists and media outlets left in the country, said HRW Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson in a statement Thursday.

Using the excuse of fighting so-called fake news and disinformation, the government is resorting to criminal prosecutions in Cambodias politicized court system to target independent journalists based on bogus allegations, Robertson said.

US lawmakers call for sanctions

Cambodian activists and opposition figures this week applauded the bipartisan passage by U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday of legislation calling for sanctions on Cambodian officials found responsible for suppressing political opposition in the authoritarian Southeast Asian country.

Titled the Cambodia Democracy Act of 2021, H.R.4686 would bar entry to the United States by senior Cambodian officials deemed responsible by the U.S. president for having directly and substantially undermined democracy in Cambodia.

The bill if signed into law by the U.S. president would also restrict financial transactions and freeze assets held in the United States by targeted Cambodian officials.

Speaking to RFA, Voeun Veasnaa forest activist who fled Cambodia and now lives in Thailandsaid that the bill if made law will benefit victims of government persecution in Cambodia and force Hun Sen to engage in talks with the CNRP to improve human rights and democracy.

As an activist, I urge Hun Sen to stop being stubborn and return to negotiations for the sake of peace in the nation, he said.

Another CNRP activist, Leng Sotheary, said though that the proposed law will only embarrass Hun Sen on the international stage. And when Hun Sen gets angry, he arrests even more activists and puts them in jail, she said.

Chhim Phalvorun, spokesman for Cambodias ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) said however that the bill is being used by the United States as a device to undermine what he called Cambodias position of neutrality in the competition between the U.S. and China, Cambodias powerful northern neighbor and supporter.

The U.S. legislation is just the title of a song," he said. "In fact, it is only a political tool for the U.S. to use against China, using Cambodia as a pretext."

Cambodias Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in November 2017, two months after arresting its president Kem Sokha over an alleged plot to overthrow the government. Scores of supporters of the group have since been incarcerated, awaiting a tortuous legal process made slower by COVID-19 restrictions.

The move came amid a wider crackdown by Hun Sen on the countrys political opposition, independent media, and NGOs that allowed the CPP to win all 125 seats in parliament in a July 2018 election and drew U.S. sanctions and the suspension of trade privileges with the European Union.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Sihanoukville officials take aim at Chinese-owned businesses in the beach resort town.

Cambodian workers lay in beds in a crowded room at The Century Casino in the eastern Cambodian coastal town of Sihanoukville, Sept. 25, 2021.

Authorities in Cambodias coastal city Sihanoukville have threatened to take legal action against casinos and other businesses that force staff to work during the pandemic, after employees accused a Chinese-owned casino of forcing people infected with the coronavirus to keep working.

After one of the sick laborers at The Century Casino died, her family asked authorities to order the Chinese owner to pay them compensation for forcing the woman to continue working while ill, said Ros Leng, cousin of worker Hean Sreynich.

A doctor told the family that the women who died Thursday at the casino had contracted the COVID-19 virus five days earlier and had died of food poisoning and dehydration, he told RFA.

The casino did not inform the family about Hean Sreynichs death or offer to pay them her salary, he said.

The family learned about her death from her coworkers, Ros Leng said.

We should like the casino to resolve the issue and to give us compensation, he said.

RFA could not reach the casinos human resources manager to comment on the matter.

News that some of the casinos 437 workers had contracted the virus spread after a group of employees livestreamed videos on Facebook on Thursday.

They said they were forced to perform their jobs, including managing online gambling platforms, while they were ill and that they had been forced to remain inside the building since March without any treatment.

On Sept. 25, the workers called on the provincial labor department to order the casino operator to stop forcing them to work.

Authorities banned the casino from asking employees to work while they were in quarantine, with provincial governor Kouch Chamroeun on Monday warning hotels and casinos not to use forced labor.

To avoid labor disputes and to avoid forced labor that leads to human trafficking and prostitution and to exploited labor, Sihanoukville provincial authorities have issued strict measures banning forced labor, employing workers in exchange for paying off their debs, fake marriages, producing pornography, and illegal detention, the governor said in a statement.

Provincial authorities will take action against any casinos or hotels that detain or force workers to work or [engage in] illegal trafficking, he said.

Authorities would shut down any business that violates the directive, prosecute the owners, and revoke their operating licenses, Kouch Chamroeun added.

A casino employee who declined to be named out of fear of retribution said the authorities sent two nurses to the casino to distribute medicine after the Facebook video the workers made went viral.

The treatment we received is acceptable, but we dont know if this will change in the future. Right now authorities are paying attention to us. There is some improvement needed, but it is acceptable, she said.

Yow Khemara, director of the Department of Labor and Vocational Training in Preah Sihanouk province, told RFA that medical professionals have provided treatment and medicine to the more than 200 workers who have the COVID-19 virus. He also confirmed that one employee had died.

Right now, we have doctors stationed there during the day because casino employees have complained, he said. We also are giving them four meals daily.

Chinese investment has flowed into Sihanoukville in recent years, bringing dozens of Chinese-owned casinos and other businesses.

While the businesses create jobs for Cambodians, many complain about what they see as unscrupulous business practices, criminal activities, and unbecoming behavior by Chinese businessmen, residents, and tourists alike.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
The stunt on China's National Day was followed by protests by Hong Kongers, Tibetans and Uyghurs in London and Washington.

A demonstrator sprays paint over an upside-down portrait of Chinese leader Xi Jinping during an anti-China rally outside the parliament in Taipei, Taiwan, Oct. 1, 2021.

UPDATED AT 08:30 a.m. EDT on 2021/10/01

Hong Kong pro-democracy activists marked China's Oct. 1 National Day on Friday with protests in Taiwan against oppressive behavior by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and warnings of its ongoing attempts to infiltrate the democratic island's media and political life, the first in a string of demonstrations by hundreds of Hong Kongers, Tibetans and Uyghurs in London and Washington.

As thousands of police boosted patrols in Hong Kong and the city's leaders attended an official flag-raising event at the Convention and Exhibition Centre, four members of the League of Social Democrats (LSD) staged a small protest in Wanchai, before being surrounded and searched by police.

The four were surrounded by more than 20 police officers as they made their protest, calling for the release of 47 former opposition lawmakers and pro-democracy activists, who are facing subversion charges under the national security law for taking part in a democratic primary.

They were prevented from taking a pedestrian footbridge that leads to Bauhinia Square outside the Convention and Exhibition Centre, but nevertheless managed to display a banner and shout: "Release the 47! Release all political prisoners! Fully democratic elections for the whole country!"

LSD chairwoman Chan Po-ying, who is also the wife of jailed former lawmaker and activist Leung Kwok-hung, called on the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to implement clauses in China's constitution guaranteeing freedoms of speech, thought, publication, assembly, and association.

Chan said: "Our request is simple: power belongs to the people, so we want universal suffrage throughout the country, and the release of all political prisoners."

"Without the participation, supervision, and checks and balances of the people, an irresponsible and bureaucratic government can easily form cliques and interest groups for personal gain," she said. "The evils caused by power struggles are a common feature of the 72-year history of the CCP."

Police said they had received a report that someone had "maliciously destroyed" a Chinese flag in Lok Fu, Kowloon, early on Friday morning, and had retrieved a damaged Chinese flag from the scene, they said.

Pro-democracy activists Tsang Kin-shing (L) and Chan Po-Ying (R) demand the release of China's many political prisoners in a rare protest in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong on China's National Day, Oct. 1, 2021. Credit: AFP Calls for boycott, reforms

Meanwhile, Hong Kong groups in Taiwan called on Taiwan's 23 million people to step up efforts to prevent an influx of Chinese money into their economy, for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and for democratic reforms in Hong Kong and Macau.

Since the CCP imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong from July 1, 2020, the authorities have launched a citywide crackdown on public dissent, peaceful protest, and political opposition, charging dozens of former lawmakers and democracy activists for taking part in a primary election, disqualifying pro-democracy figures from public office or candidacy, and jailing activists for peaceful participation in the 2019 protest movement against the erosion of the city's promised freedoms.

An organizer of the protest outside Taiwan's democratically elected Legislative Yuan who gave only the nickname Sky said he fears that a similar fate could befall Taiwan, if the island isn't careful about whom or what it lets in.

"Oct. 1 marks the date that their totalitarian regime was established, so we, the oppressed, are giving them the gift of protest in return," Sky told RFA.

"Those of us who are in a free and democratic Taiwan will be presenting our congratulations to China in the form of a portrait of [CCP leader] Xi Jinping, and invited guests will spray him with black paint," Sky said.

Sky said that, apart from high-profile national security law trials and arrests, there has also been a rapid erosion of pro-democracy media and civil society groups in Hong Kong, including the demise of the Apple Daily newspaper and the jailing of its founder Jimmy Lai and senior editors, and the dissolution of the Professional Teachers' Union, the Civic Human Rights Front, and the organizers of now-banned vigils for the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.

Political commentator Sang Pu, who chairs the Taiwan Hong Kong Association, said China is trying a slightly different approach to undermine Taiwan's democracy, which he likened to "termites" gnawing away at a building unseen.

"Everything points to the fact that there is no longer any room for civil society in Hong Kong," Sang told RFA. "District councilors are being disqualified, one after the other."

"We are honored to have this opportunity [to protest against the CCP in Taiwan], and hope everyone will united in their condemnation and criticism of the CCP," he said.

Later Friday in central London hundreds of people from Tibetan, Hong Kong and Uyghur communities rallied to condemn political crackdowns on those three regions of China.

In Washington, several hundred Uyghurs from around the world gathered with U.S. lawmakers and activists at the Lincoln Memorial in a protest against Beijings policies in Xinjiang, including internment camps, coercive birth control and forced labor.

I implore the United States government and the international community to make a concerted effort to end the genocide, Nury Turkel, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, told the gathering, which included survivors of the internment camp system.

Earlier this year, United States determined that the Chinese governments actions against Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang constituted genocide and crimes against humanity. Several Western legislatures have issued similar declarations.

One day I want to see the Uyghur people, Kazakhs, the people of Hong Kong, Tibetans, and the Chinese people exercise their freedom, U.S. Rep. Young Kim said.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. With reporting by RFA's Uyghur and Tibetan Services.
Sun Lijun is accused of 'building cabals and cliques to take over a key government department' and holding a stash of confidential materials.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has expelled former vice minister for public security Sun Lijun for "serious violations of discipline" on the eve of its Oct. 1 National Day celebrations, accusing him of building cliques and cabals to take over a key government department.

Sun, who has been held by the CCP's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) for several months, was found to have "overweening political ambitions" and "arbitrarily disagreed with central policy guidelines," the CCDI said in a statement on its official website.

Sun had "created and spread political rumors, taken actions against others, wove a web of deceit to obtain political capital and ... used unscrupulous means ... to form gangs, cliques and interest groups within the party and build his personal power," the Sept. 30 statement said.

"He formed a cabal to take control over [a] key department[s], seriously jeopardizing political security and party unity," it said.

Under the CCP hierarchy, the most critical departments are the "leading groups" under the CCP Central Committee, which coordinate the work of the ministries under them.

Departments engaged in military work, the domestic and external security apparatus, economic management, and ideology and propaganda are also considered crucial.

Sun's inclusion in the leading group managing the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that the public health emergency was also seen as a potential threat to domestic security, and the stability of the CCP regime.

According to the CCDI, Sun had also built a private stash of confidential materials, resigned without authorization on the frontline of the pandemic, and placed his "cronies" in positions of power.

The CCDI also accused Sun of "extreme greed" and of illegally accepting huge amounts of assets while in office.

"Sun Lijun seriously violated the partys political discipline, organizational discipline and integrity as well as Chinese laws, and is a criminal suspect," it said, saying the nature of Sun's alleged offenses was "particularly serious."

It said the CCDI and the Central Committee had decided that Sun should be expelled from the CCP and from any public posts held, and his case transferred to the state prosecutor, paving the way for a trial.

A selective campaign

Hu Ping, U.S.-based founder of the online magazine Beijing Spring, said Sun was definitely corrupt, but that didn't explain why he was only being investigated now.

"He has been corrupt for a very long time, so why is he falling from grace now?" Hu said. "It shows that Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign is selective."

"Anyone who is seen as politically reliable by Xi Jinping will be safe," he said.

Hu said the accusation that Sun had stored confidential materials was particularly important, as there had been rumors that Sun had leaked secrets about the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic to Australia.

"This is why Australia is getting particularly tough on China on the issue of tracing the origins [of the pandemic]," Hu said. "Maybe those rumors weren't groundless after all."

Sun, 52, has a degree in public health from New South Wales State University in Australia.

He was promoted to deputy minister for public security in 2018, and has previously served as director of the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan office within the same ministry.

His last public appearance was in March 2020 in Wuhan, where the pandemic emerged in late 2019, and where Sun was sent as part of a central government steering group to lead the pandemic response.

U.S.-based legal scholar Teng Biao said Sun's downfall is likely connected with a power struggle in the corridors of Zhongnanhai.

"At the very least, we can see that the power struggle in party ranks has intensified," Teng said. "The CCDI makes no secret of that in its report."

The CCDI statement was published one day after a meeting in Beijing of the public security leading group's education and rectification group.

Executive vice minister for public security Wang Xiaohong told the meeting that it was important to "totally eliminate the drug-like influence of [jailed security minister] Zhou Yongkang, [detained former Interpol president] Meng Hongwei, Sun Lijun and others" from the team to ensure "purity."

'The entire inside story'

A former local official in the domestic security apparatus who gave only the surname He said he was surprised by the admission that Sun had stashed secret documents.

"The most important thing in this announcement is that he kept a large number of top-secret documents in his possession," He said. "Given his professional expertise [relating to the pandemic], why was Sun Lijun detained?"

"The main reason is that he knows the entire inside story of [China's handling of] the pandemic," He said.

"He felt at the time that the measures being introduced would be disastrous, and so he lodged a complaint with the highest authorities," He said. "That's tantamount to saying the emperor has no clothes on."

"You come to a sticky end in this system if you annoy your superiors."

A Chinese journalist with connections to the political elite, who gave only the surname Liu, said professionalism has never been of much account in deciding the fate of CCP leaders.

"It's never about whether you are professional or unprofessional, but always about whether you are loyal or disloyal," Liu said. "If you won't be used by [the CCP], then you could bring disaster down on them."

Repeated calls to the ministry of public security and the Hubei provincial coronavirus prevention and control headquarters rang unanswered on Oct. 1, which is a national holiday in China.



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Fines are now based on market prices instead of citizens paltry government salaries.

Citizens wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walk in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021.

North Korea has increased fines for violators of its extensive COVID-19 emergency rules to levels many times citizens salaries in an effort to enforce its draconian national quarantine effort, officials of state-run enterprises told RFA.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, North Korea has imposed strict rules on its 25 million people, including shoot-to-kill orders near its border with China and lockdowns of entire cities and counties.

No measure has had a greater effect on society than the closure of the Sino-Korean border and suspension of all trade with China since January 2020, a move that devastated the North Korean economy, making it difficult for many citizens to make a living.

Up until now, minor violations of quarantine rules had been punishable by nominal fines based on government salaries. The average North Korean monthly salary in 2018 was about 4,000 won (U.S. $0.66), according to the Korea Joongang Daily, a South Korean newspaper.

But as the months passed, frustrated and desperate citizens began ignoring the rules, and the government decided to base fines on market prices instead of government salaries, sources told RFA.

Recently we had to attend a learning session titled Strict Compliance with the Requirements of the Emergency Quarantine Act, where the punishments and fines for violations were so high that the people were shocked, an official of a state-owned company in the central northern province of Ryanggang told RFAs Korean Service this week.

Every adult in North Korea must attend two-hour lecture sessions twice a month in party ideology and changes in policy.

Normally, the learning sessions are held separately for government officials and the general public, with different titles, but this time the title and content were exactly the same for both groups, said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.

The revised Emergency Quarantine Act listed fines the source called shockingly high, and punishments including unpaid labor, reeducation, dismissal from a job, and detention.

The session strongly stressed that the emergency quarantine project is the most critical challenge facing the country, in that it is directly related to the safety of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, so the people must be of the mind where there can be no mistake, the source said.

The source said that authorities told attendees that the higher fines were because citizens had become lax in complying with quarantine laws.

Another official, from a state-run factory in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong, the same lectures drew the same reaction.

At the session the punishments and fines for violations of the law were explained and everyone was surprised at the amounts, the second source said, who requested anonymity to speak freely.

The second source told RFA about fines for specific violations. On the low end of the spectrum were a 5,000 won ($0.82) to 10,000 won fine for failing to report suspected cases, suspicious packages, or animals that died with unknown causes.

The fine for doing business in an unauthorized place is between 50,000 and 100,000 won; while driving an overloaded bus carries a penalty of 100,000 to 500,000 won. Acts such as improperly disposing of wastewater from quarantined areas or raising pheasants in a cage-free environment are punishable by a fine of 500,000 to one million won.

Residents are increasingly dissatisfied with their living difficulties under this prolonged emergency quarantine The shift to market price-based fines pushes the fines into the territory that normal residents cannot afford, so they have no choice but to obey the governments harsh measures.

While imposing extensive quarantine measures and heavy punishment, North Korea maintains outwardly that it has been virus-free throughout the global pandemic, and has reported to zero confirmed COVID-19 cases and zero deaths.

Observers doubt the claim, citing costly quarantine measures and reports that hospitals isolate suspected cases, while those who die of suspected symptoms are quickly cremated before COVID-19 can be confirmed as the cause of death.

Reported by Chang Gyu Ahn for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Jinha Shin and Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
China condemned the frigates passage through the Taiwan Strait this week as "a meaningless display of presence with an insidious intention."

The British frigate HMS Richmond at Cam Ranh port in Vietnam at the start of a four-day visit, Oct. 1, 2021.

British Royal Navy frigate HMS Richmond has arrived in Vietnam on a four-day friendly visit after transiting through the Taiwan Strait, angering China.

The frigate posted a picture docked in Cam Ranh Bay on Friday, followed by a video, on its Twitter page, saying in Vietnamese: Hello Vietnam! So proud for Richmond to have an opportunity to visit your beautiful country.

A statement from the British Embassy in Hanoi said, the ship's presence underlines the U.K.'s commitment to the Indo-Pacific, at the heart of which lies the U.K.'s partnership with Viet Nam.

It also said the HMS Richmond and Vietnamese partners will conduct bilateral cooperation activities without giving details.

Four days ago, China condemned the frigates passage through the Taiwan Strait saying the United Kingdom is carrying out a meaningless display of presence with an insidious intention."

In an unusual move, HMS Richmond broadcast its location while sailing through the sensitive strait, prompting China to dispatch military units to follow and monitor the passage. Publicizing the passage was widely seen as a deliberate act by the U.K. to confirm that the Taiwan Strait is international waters and part of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

British naval officers at the welcoming ceremony for HMS Richmond at Cam Ranh port, Oct. 1, 2021. Credit: Twitter feed of UK Embassy in Hanoi. The Type 13-frigate, part of the HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier strike group, is visiting Vietnam after a busy period working with partners and allies in the East China Sea, it announced earlier.

The Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) led by the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier made its first port call in Japan earlier this month following exercises with Japanese and U.S. partners in August.

The Royal Navy has also deployed two patrol vessels to the Indo-Pacific on a five-year mission to bolster Britains presence in the region.

In July, the UK Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace made his first-ever visit to Vietnam.

Hanoi has always been careful not to offend Beijing and the HMS Richmonds visit is not being featured yet in main official news outlets such as the Nhan Dan (the Communist Partys mouthpiece) and Quan Doi Nhan Dan (the Vietnamese armys newspaper).

However Chinas increasing assertiveness, especially in the South China Sea where the two neighbors have overlapping claims, has led Vietnam to expand its military and strategic cooperation with other nations.
Police force Hoang Thi Phuong Lan to take a COVID-19 test outside her home in Thuan An, Binh Duong province, Vietnam on September 28, 2021.

Police in Vietnam broke into the house of a citizen and forced her to take a COVID-19 test according to a state media report that was deleted shortly after it was published  actions that lawyers said broke multiple Vietnamese laws.

Police in the city of Thuan An, in the southern province of Binh Duong, cut open a lock Tuesday to gain access to the apartment of Hoang Thi Phuong Lan to force her to get tested, reported Tuoi Tre, a Vietnamese daily newspaper.

Video footage of the incident shows the police dragging Lan out of her apartment, while a child can be heard crying in the background. She was taken to an outdoor testing site in front of her apartment building.

Lan wrote on Facebook that she was teaching an online yoga class at the time, had already tested negative in a home test for COVID-19, and didnt want to go to a crowded testing area where she might get infected.

The Tuoi Tre report, published on Wednesday quoted Hoang Van Huong, a lawyer, as saying the actions by police were a violation of human rights.

Because the implementation of a forceful act must follow an administrative process, said Huong.

The video clip shows that the coercion did not follow any decisions or processes, the lawyer said.

Huong also said that the video footage was shocking because it involved women and children.

The coerced woman did not receive any notice saying taking the COVID-19 test was mandatory. In addition, there was a child in the house, he said.

The child cried, screamed and was in a state of panic because they had broken the door lock and arrested the mother. The psychological shock could affect the childs long-term psychological development, said Huong.

Shortly after the report appeared on Tuoi Tres website, it was removed with no explanation.

Illegal entry

Ho Chi Minh City lawyer Dang Dinh Manh told RFA the police broke the law to gain access to Lans home.

The Party Secretary of the ward directed his staff to break the door lock of a persons home and force her to get tested. This is a coercive act of the local authority which is not allowed by law, he told RFAs Vietnamese Service.

Manh said the taskforce committed three illegal actsbreaking into Lans home, damaging her assets, and arresting her illegally.

Police also were in violation of Decree 117 of 2020, which allows authorities to fine those guilty of administrative health care violations, but does not allow coercive sanctions, Manh said.

State media reported Wednesday that Vo Thanh Quan, the Communist Party secretary of Thuan An visited the apartment and apologized to Lan over the incident. But they still cited her for breaking quarantine rules, seized her ID card, and put the citation on her record.

The party officials spent 40 minutes trying to persuade Lan to remove video footage of the incident from her Facebook account, she told RFA on Wednesday.

They asked her to forgive them, forget the incident, remove the Facebook post, and cooperate with them [in the fight against COVID-19], she said in a Facebook chat.

Lan said she could not make any promises.

It will depend on the situation. I can't talk about what hasn't happened yet. Depending on whether I will have been found to be in contact with confirmed COVID-19 cases or visited places where there are many positive tests, I will decide what I need to do, she told RFAs Vietnamese Service.

I acknowledge their apology but do not accept it. In addition to their illegal acts, they also humiliated and insulted me in front of the crowd and my child and caused mental harm to him.

Lan told RFA that the local authorities did not talk about returning her ID card and the records of administrative violations. She said that she would consult her lawyers about filing legal proceedings against the local government.

In a related development, Nguyen Hong Linh, party secretary of neighboring Dong Nai province, warned quarantine authorities there to refrain from violence while enforcing health policies.

The pandemic fighting forces are not allowed to break down doors, trespass on peoples property or use force to get people tested, he said.

Enforcement officers should observe tactful and soft measures to address the difficulties facing local people and avoid causing discontent amid the pandemic, said Linh

Vietnam had been among the most effective countries in tackling COVID-19, reporting no deaths through late July 2020a record that was attributed to effective contact tracing, strict quarantines, and early testing.

After weathering three waves of the virus with confirmed cases numbering in the low thousands, a fourth wave arrived in April 2021. As of Thursday, Vietnam has confirmed 779,398 cases of COVID-19 and 19,098 deaths according to data from Johns Hopkins Universitys Coronavirus Resource Center.

During the fourth wave, the country locked down its largest cities and forbade residents from leaving their houses except to procure food, a move that has led to widespread unemployment and loss of income.

Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
YEREVAN -- Yerevan has accused Azerbaijani snipers of opening fire on Armenian military positions near the border, the latest in a series of deadly incidents between the two neighbors since they fought a six-week war over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region last year.

The Armenian Defense Ministry alleged a junior sergeant, identified as Gegham Sahakian, sustained a fatal gunshot wound when Azerbaijani snipers opened fired in the Yeraskh section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on September 1.

The ministry strongly condemns the actions of the Azerbaijani side and warns that they will not go unanswered, it said in a statement on its website.

There was no immediate comment from Azerbaijani officials on the claims, but both sides have accused each other of causing incidents at border areas in recent weeks.

Sahakian is the 10th Armenian soldier to have been reported killed by Azerbaijani fire since a Russian-brokered cease-fire agreement signed between Yerevan and Baku put an end to a 44-day war over Nagorno-Karabakh in early November 2020.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but the territory and the surrounding districts came under the control of ethnic Armenians during a 1992-94 war.

The two sides have skirmished regularly over the years, and in September 2020 Azerbaijan launched a military offensive that resulted in Baku regaining control of much of these territories and in Russia deploying 2,000 peacekeeping troops to the conflict zone.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said last month that a total of 3,773 Armenian servicemen were killed during the latest fighting, while Azerbaijan has reported 2,783 fatalities.
A Kazakh court ordered the release of a dissident poet who has been in prison for 14 years and recently hospitalized for unspecified health problems.

The order freeing Aron Atabek, 68, was issued by the Pavlodar City Court on October 1.

After his release, Atabek flew to Almaty where dozens of supporters gathered to greet him at the airport. His daughter told RFE/RLs Kazakh Service that the poet was in poor health.

Atabek, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2007 after being convicted of helping organize protests that resulted in the death of a police officer, is said to be suffering from heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis.

Yelena Semyonova, a rights activist, said on September 28 that Atabek had been hospitalized several days earlier.

Atabek has maintained his innocence ever since his arrest in 2006.

In 2012, he rejected a government pardon offer that would have required him to admit guilt.

For years, Kazakh and international rights organizations have demanded the government release the poet.

Rights groups say he has been tortured in prison, with guards intentionally splashing water with high concentrations of chlorine on the floor of his cell to damage his health.

Last month, a photograph taken by activists who visited him in prison appeared to show Atabek exhausted and in poor health. The photograph caused a public outcry.

In December 2012, Atabek was transferred to solitary confinement after he wrote an article critical of then-President Nursultan Nazarbaev and his government, and the article was published online.

In 2014, his relatives accused prison guards of breaking his leg, which authorities denied.
MINSK -- Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka has vowed to punish those who have criticized a security officer that authorities say was killed in a shoot-out on September 28 during a raid on a private apartment in Minsk.



The officer of the Committee of State Security (KGB), identified as Dzmitry Fedasyuk, was buried on October 1.



Belarusian authorities claimed earlier that an especially dangerous criminal opened fire on security officers after they showed up at his apartment late on September 28 looking for individuals involved in terrorist activities, killing Fedasyuk.



The resident of the apartment, who was later identified as Andrey Zeltsar, an employee of the U.S.-based EPAM Systems IT company, was killed in the ensuing shoot-out with officers, authorities claimed.



Lukashenka said on October 1 that "it is too late" for those who praised Zeltsar and criticized both Fedasyuk and the government to remove their posts from social networks, as "we have all their accounts and we can see who is who."



Exiled would-be presidential candidate Valer Tsapkala earlier wrote on social networks that Zeltsar was an example for all Belarusians of how to resist Lukashenkas oppressive regime.



"Akrestsina is vacant," Lukashenka said, referring to Minsk's notorious Akrestsina detention center, many inmates of which said they were tortured there. "And rascals like Tsapkala think that we will be unable to get them, but they are mistaken. We will not forgive this guy's death."



Meanwhile, the Minsk-based Vyasna (Spring) human rights center said on October 1 that almost 90 people have been detained in Minsk and several other cities after the incident.



According to Vyasna, the arrests were connected to comments on social media about the incident. It said those arrested face charges of insulting government officials and inciting social hatred, which carry sentences of up to 12 years in prison.



Belarus was engulfed by protests last year after a presidential election in August -- which the opposition and the West say was rigged -- gave Lukashenka a sixth consecutive term.



In response, the government has cracked down hard on the pro-democracy movement, arresting thousands of people and pushing most of the top opposition figures out of the country.



On October 1, the Supreme Court of Belarus ordered the liquidation of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, the oldest human rights organization in Belarus.



According to Vyasna, in the last three months 130 nongovernmental organizations have been forcibly closed.
A Bulgarian fugitive wanted in several European countries on money-laundering and drug-trafficking charges has been arrested in Kyiv after years on the run.



The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry confirmed on September 10 that Ukrainian authorities had captured former wrestler Evelin Banev.



Ukraines National Police on September 7 announced it had arrested a man wanted on an Interpol notice but did not disclose his identity.



Banev was captured in a parking lot as he walked toward his car, according to a police video posted to YouTube.

Bulgaria said it is working on extraditing Banev to Sofia.



The 56-year-old was facing trials in three countries for money laundering and drug trafficking when he was last seen in public at a hearing in the Sofia Court of Appeals in September 2015.

Banev had been detained in Bulgaria in 2012 and handed over to Italian authorities for a trial in Milan. In Bucharest, Romanian authorities were also requesting his extradition on similar charges.



Then Italy allowed Banev to return temporarily to Sofia in 2015 in order to attend his Bulgarian trial.



That's when he disappeared, apparently fleeing and going into hiding before the authorities could return him to Italy or extradite him to Romania.



He's since been sentenced in absentia by an Italian court to 20 years in prison, by a Romanian court to 10 1/2 years, and more recently by a Bulgarian court, all for money-laundering or cocaine-smuggling offenses.



More recently, Swiss prosecutors in December indicted Banev along with Credit Suisse and one of the Swiss bank's former employees for allegedly helping to launder about $39 million of drug money through the bank.
Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka rejected any suggestion that he should apologize for the harsh police crackdown and sweeping arrests that targeted protesters in the wake of last years disputed election.

In an interview broadcast September 30 on CNN, Lukashenka dismissed media and rights groups criticism about widespread human rights abuses in Belarus.

"No, I wouldn't like to use this opportunity [to apologize]. If I would, I would do it via Belarusian media. They are quite good, I hear.... And, in principle, I have nothing to apologize for," Lukashenka said.

Lukashenka has been isolated and shunned by much of the international community after he claimed reelection victory in August 2020, sparking months of unprecedented protests from Belarusians.

Crisis In Belarus Read our ongoing coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka ramps up pressure on NGOs and independent media as part of a brutal crackdown against protesters and the opposition following an August 2020 election widely considered fraudulent.

The demonstrations drew a brutal police crackdown, with thousands jailed, and widespread reports of police torture.

Amid the isolation, Lukashenka has pulled closer to Russia, seeking loans and military support from President Vladimir Putin.

Asked about reports from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch about police abuse and torture, Lukashenka claimed that Belarus does not have "a single detention center...like Guantanamo, or those bases that the United States and [the United Kingdom] created in Eastern Europe."

"As for our own detention centers, where we keep those accused or those under investigation, they are no worse than in Britain or the United States. I can guarantee you that," Lukashenka said.

Many from Belaruss opposition have been arrested or forced to leave the country.

While Lukashenka speaks regularly to Belarusian state media, he rarely gives interviews to independent, or foreign media.

CNN said the full interview with Lukashenka would be broadcast on October 1.

Lukashenka's press service, meanwhile, issued another part of the interview on Telegram in which Lukashenka discussed further integration of Belarus and Russia as part of a long-stalled project called the Union State.

Lukashenka dismissed the suggestion that Belarus would be uniting with Russia as absolute nonsense and "a fiction of, as we say here, the collective West."

"We, along with Putin, the leadership of Russia and Belarus in general, are smart enough to create, in the framework of two independent, sovereign states, such a union that will be stronger than any unitary formation," Lukashenka said.

With reporting by CNN
The Romanian government says seven people have been killed in a fire at a hospital treating COVID-19 patients -- the third deadly hospital blaze in the country in less than a year.

The fire broke out early on October 1 at the intensive care unit at the Hospital for Infectious Disease in the port city of Constanta, officials said.

There was initial confusion about the number of victims, with local authorities reporting nine dead among the 10 patients in the unit treating serious COVID-19 cases.

However, prosecutors investigating the fire later said only seven people had been killed, Interior Minister Lucian Bode told a news conference.

Firefighters extinguished the fire after an hour, with help from additional teams brought in from nearby regions.

Patients and staff at the facility were evacuated, authorities said. Bode said that 125 patients were in the hospital at the time of the fire.

WATCH: With Only One-Third Of Adults Vaccinated, Romania Fears COVID-19 Surge

Romania has been marred by several deadly hospital blazes in recent years, including during the pandemic.

Five patients died in January in a fire in the COVID-19 ward of a Bucharest hospital, two months after another blaze killed 15 patients in the intensive care unit of a COVID-19 hospital in Piatra Neamt in northeastern Romania.



Romania is suffering a new wave of COVID-19 infections, as the vaccination rate for its population is second-lowest in the European Union.

The government has struggled to boost the number of intensive care beds and direct more resources for treatments and medication. As of October 1, there were only six intensive care unit beds available in the whole country, health officials said.

Authorities reported 10,887 new infections and 169 deaths on October 1, a day after more than 12,000 cases were registered -- a record since the start of the pandemic that so far has infected 1,244,555 people. A total of 37,210 people have died so far.

Complicating matters is political infighting which has put the government on the brink of collapse.

Prime Minister Florin Citu, whose government is facing a no-confidence vote on October 5 brought forward by the leftist opposition, blamed the latest incident on the neglected health-care system of the former communist country.



"It is unacceptable for this kind of thing to happen, for these kinds of tragedies to happen in Romanian hospitals. This is the reality that we have been trying to change starting from this year, after the 20 to 30 years during which nothing had been done for the health-care system in Romania."

President Klaus Iohannis said in a statement that he was "horrified" by the incident.

"The Romanian state failed its basic mission of protecting its citizens," he said.

With reporting by hotnews.ro, digi24.ro, and g4media.ro
Tensions have increased recently between Tehran and Baku over three issues: a joint military drill that Azerbaijani troops conducted alongside their Turkish and Pakistani counterparts some 500 kilometers from the Iranian border; Azerbaijani restrictions on Iranian truck drivers' access to Armenia and the detention of two drivers; and Azerbaijani ties to Irans archenemy Israel.



On October 1, Tehran added to those tensions by launching its own military drills near its northwestern border, days after the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) deployed military equipment to the region.



The move was met with expressions of concern from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who earlier this week said he was surprised by the planned drill.



"Every country can carry out any military drill on its own territory. Its their sovereign right. But why now, and why on our border? Aliyev said. He noted that it was the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union 20 years ago that Iran had planned such a show of force so close to its border.



Linking Drills To Israel



Iranian officials reacted by saying that the decision to hold war games is a matter of sovereignty, but others linked it to an Israeli presence in Azerbaijan.



Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Tehran had the right to hold exercises and underscored the importance of cooperation between Iran and Azerbaijan, who share a 700-kilometer border.



We do not tolerate the presence and activity against our national security of the Zionist regime next to our borders and will take any necessary action in this regard," Amir-Abdollahian said at a meeting with Azerbaijan's new ambassador on September 30.



Separately, Iran's ambassador to Baku, Abbas Musavi, said last week that Irans military maneuvers, which he said had been planned in advance, were not "a threat to Azerbaijan.



Speaking during the drills, Kioumars Heydari, the commander of the Iranian Armys ground forces, also made an allusion to presumed Israeli ties to Azerbaijan. Tehran has accused Israel of sabotaging its nuclear program and assassinating its nuclear scientists, including top scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Fakhrizadeh was credited with leading a secret Iranian nuclear program that U.S. intelligence and the UN atomic watchdog say was abandoned in 2003; he was killed in a remotely operated roadside ambush in 2020 widely attributed to Israel.

Since the arrival of this regime, our sensitivity to this border has increased and their activities here are fully under our observation, Heydari said. He added that Tehran was also worried about the presence of terrorist forces that came to the region from Syria, an apparent reference to reports that Turkey last year recruited Islamist fighters to go to Azerbaijan and help Baku in its war against ethnic Armenians in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. Heydari said Tehran wasn't sure the fighters had left the region.



Iran, which engages in proxy wars in the region, had last year expressed concern over alleged attempts to bring terrorists from Syria near its borders.



The Iranian drills, which include artillery, drones, and helicopters, followed military drills by Turkey, Pakistan, and Azerbaijan that were launched on September 12 in Baku.

The stated aim of the Three Brothers-2021 drills was further strengthening the existing ties between the armies of the three countries, and they prompted a warning by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's representative in Ardebil, who told Azerbaijan not to play with the lions tail.



Iran Concern At Being Left Out



Touraj Atabaki, professor emeritus of the social history of the Middle East and Central Asia at Leiden University in the Netherlands, told RFE/RLs Radio Farda that Tehran was concerned it was being sidelined.



Turkey has the second-largest NATO army, and Pakistan is a nuclear power in the region. When these two countries join Azerbaijan in military maneuvers, it worries Russia and Iran -- and the Islamic republics military maneuver [reflects] its concern, Atabaki said.



On September 17, Friday Prayers leader Ayatollah Hassan Ameli said countries have the right to hold military exercises, but added that here, there has been an incident that we cannot easily let go."



On the eve of the exercises, the Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak, which expresses the view of the government and of the president of Turkey, chose the following headline for an interview with a member of the Azerbaijani parliament: Iran Will Disappear From The Map,'" Ameli was quoted by Bornanews as saying.

He added: "Since Azerbaijan and Turkey did not respect Irans rights as a neighbor, we ask the Supreme National Security Council to allow the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to demonstrate just one-half of Iran's power on this side of the border and to tell them, 'Do not play with the lion's tail.'"



The comments came after Azerbaijan imposed a road tax on Iranian truck drivers transporting goods and fuel to neighboring Armenia via a route across Azerbaijan on lands Baku regained control of last year during six weeks of intense fighting with Armenia in a dramatic escalation of their decades-old "frozen conflict." Azerbaijan also detained two truck drivers, which resulted in a call for their immediate release by Iran's Foreign Ministry.



Iran and Azerbaijan have enjoyed good relations in the past, but Tehran has increasingly expressed concern about alleged Israeli influence there.



Speaking on September 24, Ameli was quoted by the semiofficial Fars news agency as saying the drills sent a message to Israel.



Israel has come to Azerbaijan to plot against Iran," Ameli said, without offering details.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has traveled to Tehran to become the first foreign leader to hold talks with newly installed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Kadhimi told a joint press conference on September 12 that the two "discussed certain joint economic questions and strategic projects," as well as boosting bilateral trade.

Raisi, who was sworn in as president in August, also stressed economic matters in summarizing the talks.

Iraq has been seeking a mediating role to resolve tense relations between regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia. In April, Saudi and Iranian officials met in Baghdad, the first high-level meeting between the two countries since relations were severed in 2016.

Raisi said that Iraq had agreed to waive visa requirements for Iranian pilgrims visiting Shi'ite holy sites in Iraq this month for the occasion of the Arbain holiday.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
NUR-SULTAN -- Kazakh police detained eight protesters, mostly women, demanding the release of relatives they say are being illegally held in China.

The October 1 protests were the latest in a series of demonstrations in Kazakhstan linked to the massive detention of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other ethnic groups in the neighboring Chinese province of Xinjiang.

Demonstrators have demanded Kazakh authorities do more to protect ethnic Kazakhs who have been caught up in the Chinese sweep. Kazakhstans government, however, has been wary of angering Beijing, which is a major investor in Kazakhstan and throughout Central Asia.

One of the protesters in the Kazakh capital on October 1 was wheelchair-user Khalida Aqytkhan, 65, who fell to the ground as police were forcing her into a vehicle.

The most recent wave of protests began September 20 when demonstrators traveled to Nur-Sultan from the countrys commercial capital, Almaty, where groups had rallied for months in front of the Chinese Consulate there.

As many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim, ethnic groups have been taken to detention centers in the western Chinese region, according to the U.S. State Department.

China denies that the facilities are internment camps but people who have fled the province say that thousands are undergoing "political indoctrination" at a network of facilities known officially as reeducation camps.

After Kazakhstan gained independence following the Soviet collapse in 1991, many ethnic Kazakhs from Xinjiang and elsewhere resettled in Kazakhstan, as part of a state program.

Many obtained permanent residence or citizenship but continue to visit Xinjiang either to see relatives or for bureaucratic reasons. Some have reported facing pressure from Chinese authorities or even arrests and imprisonment

Kazakhs are the second-largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans.

China's largest ethnicity, the Han, is the second-largest ethnic group in Xinjiang.

With reporting by RFE/RLs Kazakh Service
It took Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan a little longer than their neighbors to articulate their stances on a Taliban-led government in Afghanistan.



Distance has its benefits, and since neither Kazakhstan nor Kyrgyzstan directly borders Afghanistan, the governments in Nur-Sultan and Bishkek could react more slowly to events than Afghanistans immediate neighbors to the north: Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Representatives of both the Kazakh and Kyrgyz governments have finally met with Taliban officials, and so far, the policies of each of those Central Asian governments seem to be engagement aimed at keeping Afghanistan at arms length.



At the start of September, with nearly all Afghan territory in Taliban hands, Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev warned that Kazakhstan needed to brace for external shocks and a worst-case scenario."

The situation in Afghanistan...presents us with the task of rebooting the military-industrial complex and military doctrine," Toqaev said.



However, on September 9, Toqaev said Kazakhstan was ready for business contacts with Afghanistan."

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe on September 17, Toqaev spoke in favor of initiating an informal dialogue with the new authorities in Afghanistan."



On September 26, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry released a statement saying Ambassador to Afghanistan Alimzhan Esengeldiev had met with the acting foreign minister in the interim government of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi."

According to the Taliban, Esengeldiev and Muttaqi discussed trade with the ambassador, noting that Kazakhstan has been exporting grain, flour, and fuel to Afghanistan and also pledging that Kazakhstan would provide humanitarian aid.

The Kazakh Agriculture Ministry said shipments of flour and grain to Afghanistan had already resumed.



On September 16, members of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) met in Dushanbe.



Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov expressed concern that the situation in Afghanistan could adversely affect the security of CSTO countries, which include Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.



According to a statement from the Kyrgyz presidents office, the formation of a theocratic state in our region will undoubtedly negatively affect the current situation in the member countries of the CSTO.

But on September 23, the Kyrgyz government sent a delegation led by the deputy chairman of Kyrgyzstans Security Council, Taalatbak Masadykov, to Kabul.



Masadykov worked as a translator in Afghanistan when Soviet forces were there in 1987 and was also a specialist in a group of Soviet advisers from the Academy of Sciences who focused on Afghan tribal affairs and borders.



From 2002 to 2014, Masadykov worked for the United Nations in the Afghanistan-Pakistan-Iran region.



Masadykovs delegation brought a shipment of humanitarian aid with it.



On September 23, he met with the Taliban's acting Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and also with Muttaqi.

Focusing On Trade

Commenting on the meetings with the Kazakh and Kyrgyz representatives, Taliban officials stressed that trade relations were the focus and repeated the Taliban's vow not to allow any group to use Afghan territory to plot attacks on neighboring countries.



It is worth noting that Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan differ from their Central Asian neighbors in other key respects, beyond simply not directly bordering Afghanistan.



Although there are likely to be some citizens of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in militant groups in Afghanistan, they are reportedly far fewer in number than the citizens of Uzbekistan or Tajikistan who are there.



Further, groups like Jamaat Ansarullo, mainly comprising Tajik citizens, or the Islamic Jihad Union or the scattered fighters of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which are made up mostly of Uzbek citizens, all aim to overthrow governments back in their homelands.

No group in Afghanistan has publicly stated as its goal the overthrow of the Kazakh or the Kyrgyz government.



Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are also interested in bringing their ethnic kin out of Afghanistan.



Kazakhstan flew 35 ethnic Kazakhs out of Afghanistan on September 9, and Kazakh authorities have already arranged to resettle them in five regions of the country and provided them with stipends for their basic needs.



Sparsely inhabited Kazakhstan has been calling on ethnic Kazakhs around the world to make Kazakhstan their home under its so-called Oralman program, which was started shortly after 1991 independence.



There are also reportedly still hundreds of ethnic Kazakhs in Afghanistan who are seeking to leave for Kazakhstan.

No ethnic Kyrgyz from Afghanistan have arrived in Kyrgyzstan since the Taliban took control of nearly all of Afghanistan in August. But a group of 345 ethnic Kyrgyz from Afghanistans Badakhshan Province tried to reach Kyrgyz territory in July, only to be stopped in Tajikistan; they eventually returned to Afghanistan.



Some of the Pamir Kyrgyz from Afghanistan have resettled in Kyrgyzstan over the past two decades.

Immediately after the Taliban entered Kabul in mid-August, Kyrgyz Health and Social Development Minister Jypara Mambetova told RFE/RLs Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Azattyk, that Kyrgyzstan was willing to take 1,200 Pamir Kyrgyz from Afghanistan.



Like Kazakhstan's Oralman program, Kyrgyzstan has its own scheme to attract ethnic Kyrgyz from abroad, known as the Kayrylman program.



On September 26, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov was shown shoveling cement into foundations for new housing for so-called Kayrylman in the Chong-Alai district of Osh Province in an apparent signal that Kyrgyzstan was ready to take in more Kyrgyz from Afghanistan.



The Uzbek and, especially, Tajik populations of Afghanistan are far larger. But neither Uzbekistan nor Tajikistan has shown any willingness to offer a new home to their ethnic cousins in Afghanistan.



Kazakhstan's and Kyrgyzstans overtures to the Taliban have been cautious, to say the least.

It is also notable the Kazakh Foreign Ministrys statement on the ambassadors meeting with Muttaqi never used the word Taliban.

But both countries have now established direct contact and seem to hope that gestures like sending humanitarian aid or maintaining trade ties will keep them further shielded from any Afghan spillover.
Kazakh police detained at least 10 protesters, mostly women, who were demanding the release of relatives they say are being illegally held in China. They traveled to Nur-Sultan last week to rally in front of the Chinese Embassy, having protested for months outside the Chinese Consulate in Almaty. The October 1 protests were the latest demanding that Kazakh authorities do more to protect ethnic Kazakhs detained in so-called "reeducation camps" in the neighboring Chinese province of Xinjiang.
BATKEN, Kyrgyzstan -- Kyrgyz and Tajik officials have agreed to jointly control law and order along a disputed segment of the border to ease tensions following deadly clashes late last month.

Officials in Kyrgyzstans southern region of Batken said on May 18 that a joint checkpoint has been established between the Kyrgyz village of Ak-Sai and Tajikistan's Vorukh district for law enforcement and border guards in the two Central Asian nations to control safety and security in the volatile area.

A day earlier, several Kyrgyz and Tajik nationals were briefly detained along the border.

WATCH: After Kyrgyz-Tajik Clashes, Residents Of Border Area Say Tensions Are All Too Familiar

The Kyrgyz side claimed that its three citizens were severely beaten while in Tajik custody, threatening to reignite the conflict after deadly clashes erupted on April 28 after the Tajiks tried to install security cameras at a position in the disputed territory.

Batken regional officials also said that a delegation led by the governor, Abdikarim Alimbaev, and a delegation led by the head of Tajikistan's Sughd region, Rajobboi Ahmadzoda, had agreed on May 17 that officials and individuals involved in the beating of the Kyrgyz citizens will be held responsible and face justice.

A member of the Tajik delegation confirmed to RFE/RL on condition of anonymity that the Tajik side agreed to punish its citizens involved in the beating.

According to the official, after that Kyrgyz authorities agreed to allow Tajik citizens and vehicles to pass through territory under Kyrgyz control. There was no official confirmation of that from the Tajik authorities.

The situation along the volatile segment of the border was reported to have calmed with police officers from both sides controlling the area.

Many border areas in Central Asia have been restive since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. The clashes that started last month left scores of people on both sides dead and injured.

The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the volatile Ferghana Valley, where the borders of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan meet.

In recent decades, there have been many incidents along the border which in some cases involved gunfire.
Natural gas prices hit new records in Europe, adding yet more worries for consumers ahead of the winter heating season and putting new scrutiny on the continents biggest supplier, Russia.



Gas prices have been climbing higher for weeks now, with a growing chorus of domestic and industrial consumers across Europe warning of sharply higher bills that could stretch through the winter.



The November gas price for a key European benchmark hit an all-time high of 97.73 euros per megawatt hour on October 1. Thats about 400 percent higher for the year.



Analysts point to a combination of factors for the unusually high prices, including some gas shipments being diverted to Asian markets, technical repairs that have crimped shipments from Norway, and colder-than-normal temperatures at the end of last winter that drained storage tanks.

But some experts have also pointed to Russias state gas giant Gazprom, which is the main supplier of gas to Europe.



Russian gas supplies via the main Yamal-Europe pipeline fell by almost 77 percent on October 1, from a day earlier, according to data from grid operator Gascade, which said the cause was Gazprom booking only one-third of its available capacity for October.



Last month, a group of European Parliament lawmakers asked the European Commission to investigate Gazprom.



The Kremlin has said that Gazprom was meeting all its contract obligations in full.



Gazprom has nearly completed a second undersea pipeline called Nord Stream 2 that will increase the amount of Russian gas that can shipped directly to Germany. German regulators are reviewing the final paperwork before giving it the green light to start operation.



The pipeline bypasses Russias traditional shipment route, via Ukraine. Kyiv has complained about that, while also warning that Russia might resort to using its gas supplies as a political tool, something that has happened in the past.

With reporting by Reuters and TASS
DUSHANBE -- Three nephews of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon have severely beaten the Central Asian nations health minister and other officials following their mother's death from COVID-19, sources close to the government have told RFE/RL.



Speaking on condition of anonymity, the sources in the Interior Ministry and the Health Ministry told RFE/RL on July 26 that Health Minister Jamoliddin Abdullozoda, the chief of the presidential medical center, Kholmuhammad Rahimzoda, and several other health officials and physicians were attacked on July 20 right after Rahmon's 64-year-old sister Qurbonbi Rahmonova died from the coronavirus.



According to the sources, the minister and other health officials were "severely injured" in the attacks. The sources also said that Tajik authorities had invited medical experts from Germany, Russia, and Uzbekistan to treat Rahmon's sister.



The sources said a preliminary investigation has been launched into the attacks.



No one from the government, presidency, or other authorities would comment publicly on the allegations.



Abdullozoda was not present at a July 26 press conference in Dushanbe devoted to Washington's move to supply Tajikistan with COVID-19 vaccines.



A day earlier, Tajikistan received 1.5 million doses of the Moderna shot donated by the United States via the international vaccine distribution system known as Covax.



When asked by a reporter about whether the absence could be linked to rumors of the beatings, Deputy Health Minister Shodikhon Jamshed rejected the question.



Rahmon's sister was buried on July 21. Although the official cause of death was not made public, physicians at a hospital in the Tajik capital told RFE/RL that she died of COVID-19.



Rahmon has been criticized by international human rights groups for years over his disregard for religious freedoms, civil society, and political pluralism in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.
Russia has held its first royal wedding since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution toppled the Romanov monarchy, with royals from across Europe attending the lavish ceremony in the city of St. Petersburg.



Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov, 40, tied the knot with his 39-year-old Italian fiancee, Rebecca Virginia Bettarini, at St. Isaac's Cathedral in the presence of dozens of royals.

Romanov said that the couple chose the former imperial capital for the ceremony because it was the first place in Russia where the family had returned following the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.



Among the 1,500 guests were some 50 royals from European countries including Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, and Spain.



After the wedding ceremony, which lasted for almost two hours, one-third of the guests were invited for a reception at the Russian Ethnographic Museum, which was founded by Russias last tsar, Nicholas II. He was executed along with his wife, Aleksandra, and their five children by the Bolsheviks in July 1918.



George Romanov, a descendant of Russia's former imperial family, was born in Madrid to the Prussian Prince Franz Wilhelm of Hohenzollern and Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna Romanova, the self-proclaimed heir to Russia's imperial throne.



She is the granddaughter of Grand Duke Kirill, a cousin of Nicholas II who fled Russia during the revolution.

With reporting by Fontanka.ru and AFP
Russia has urged Tajikistan and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to take mutually acceptable measures to resolve tensions along the Tajik-Afghan border amid reports of an increased military buildup on both sides.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has refused to recognize the Taliban-led government and condemned the militant group for alleged human rights abuses in the Panjshir Valley, which was the last pocket of resistance to the group.

The Taliban has accused Dushanbe of meddling in Afghanistan's internal affairs.

Ethnic Tajiks make up more than one-quarter of Afghanistan's 38 million people, but the Taliban is predominately Pashtun, the largest ethnic group in the war-torn country.

Last week, Rahmon reiterated his previous calls for the Taliban to form an inclusive government in Afghanistan with the participation of all political and ethnic groups in order to allay tensions.

Russia is "concerned about the growing tension in Tajik-Afghan relations against the background of the mutually acrimonious statements by the leaders of both countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksei Zaitsev told reporters in Moscow on October 1.

Zaitsev said the Taliban has revealed that tens of thousands of fighters have been deployed in the northeastern province of Takhar, which borders Tajikistan.

Russia's RIA Novosti news agency cited Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi as denying the movement was building up its forces at the Tajik border.

Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to the comments.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid last week said that members of the Taliban's special forces unit had been deployed to Takhar to beef up security in the region.

Mujahid added that Taliban fighters took over an airport in the neighboring Afghan province of Kunduz, which also borders Tajikistan.

During the Talibans lightning military offensive in July, Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin expressed concern as the militants seized large swaths of territory near the border with the Central Asian nation.

Tajikistan that month also urged the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization's member states to help strengthen security along the Tajik-Afghan border.

Since then, the alliance has staged military drills in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Russia and Uzbekistan, which also borders Afghanistan, have also held joint exercises near the Uzbek-Afghan border.

With reporting by TASS, Interfax, RIA Novosti, and Reuters
Georgian authorities have announced the arrest of former President Mikheil Saakashvili in Georgia, hours after he said he had returned from exile on the eve of local elections regarded as critical to the South Caucasus country's political makeup.



Saakashvili was held by law enforcement officers and taken to a penitentiary, Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili said on October 1, about 18 hours after Saakashvili announced he had returned to Georgia following an eight-year absence.

Details of the arrest were not immediately clear, but the Interior Ministry said the former president had been taken to Rustavi Penitentiary No. 12, about a 30-minute drive south of the capital, Tbilisi. The ministry distributed a video showing police officers taking a smiling Saakashvili in handcuffs out a car and leading him into a building.



Public ombudswoman Nino Lomjaria said she met with Saakashvili in the penitentiary. Lomjaria quoted him as saying he was arrested earlier in the day in the capital, Tbilisi, and that he didn't resist police. Saakashvili also said he was launching a hunger strike.

In an earlier Facebook video, Saakashvili said he was in the Black Sea city of Batumi, Georgia's second-largest city.

Saakashvili, who was convicted of crimes in absentia in 2018 and has lived in Ukraine in recent years, announced plans earlier this week to fly home for the October 2 balloting for mayors and local assemblies, despite facing prison, claiming he wanted to help "save the country" amid a protracted political crisis.

The polls are seen as a vote of confidence in the government in Tbilisi and could trigger snap elections next year.

Initially, the government denied he had entered the country but then Gharibashvili told a brief news conference, "I want to inform the public that the third president of Georgia, wanted person Mikheil Saakashvili, has been detained. He has been transferred to the penitentiary."

Calling the 53-year-old ex-president a "criminal," the prime minister said Georgian law enforcement officials "had prior information about the movements of Saakashvili, starting from Ukraine, toward Georgia."



"Relevant agencies worked in coordination and chose the time and place that would have minimal chance of external interference," he added.

Gharibashvili did not provide details about the circumstances surrounding Saakashvili's arrest.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has summoned the Georgian ambassador in Kyiv "to receive official information on the grounds and circumstances of such detention," a ministry spokesman told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is concerned about the arrest and the "tone" of statements coming from Georgia, a spokesman wrote on Facebook.



Saakashvili has been a Ukrainian citizen since 2015 and heads the executive committee of Ukraine's National Reform Council, which was created the previous year to carry out strategic planning and coordinate reforms.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili thanked law enforcement agencies for Saakashvili's arrest, accusing him of trying to destabilize the country.

Zurabishvili also said she would "never" pardon Saakashvili, who was sentenced in absentia to a total of nine years in prison after being found guilty of abusing his authority in two separate cases.



He was convicted of trying to cover up evidence related to the 2005 beating of an opposition lawmaker and about the killing of a Georgian banker.

The ex-president considers the charges against him to be politically motivated.

Saakashvili's whereabouts remained unknown for hours after he said in a video posted on Facebook on the morning of October 2 that he was in Batumi:

The authorities later said there was no record of Saakashvili crossing the border, and the ruling Georgian Dream party accused him of faking his return amid a protracted political crisis.



Earlier this week, Saakashvili said on his Facebook page that "the fate of Georgia is being decided. Georgia's survival is at stake, and that's why I took a ticket on the evening of October 2 so I can be with you and protect your [political] will with you, so I can take part in saving Georgia."



He also posted a photo of his purported plane ticket.



RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service quoted sources at Kyiv's Boryspil international airport as saying that Saakashvili "did not leave Ukraine" via the airport.

Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandr Darakhvelidze said the ex-president "did not cross the Georgian border," according to RFE/RL's Ekho Kavkaza.



"We got connected with the Ukrainian side. I can say precisely and for sure that Mikheil Saakashvili did not leave Ukrainian territory," Darakhvelidze said.

Gharibashvili had said the police would arrest Saakashvili as soon as he stepped on Georgian soil.

Parliament speaker Mamuka Mdinaradze, a member of Georgian Dream, called Saakashvili a "fraud."

"All the video footage circulated by Saakashvili from nighttime Batumi is fake and the latest clowning around," said Givi Mikanadze, another top party official.

Ukrainian member of parliament Yelyzaveta Yasko took to Facebook to urge Ukrainian authorities to "protect" Saakashvili.



The 30-year-old Yasko also posted a video of Saakashvili and herself, in which he announces their relationship.

"Today Lisa Yasko and I are together, we have our joint family, we want everyone to understand our story and wish us happiness," he said in the clip, which Yasko said was recorded before he departed for Georgia.

Tensions have been high in Georgia between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition, which Saakashvili supports, since parliamentary elections last year that the opposition said were rigged.

International observers said at the time that the election had been competitive and that fundamental freedoms had generally been respected.

Before it annulled a political deal with the opposition brokered by the European Union, Georgian Dream agreed to call early parliamentary elections if it failed to secure at least 43 percent of the vote in the local polls.

Saakashvili served as president of Georgia from January 2004 to November 2013, when he was voted out of office.

In recent years, he has held several top government positions in Ukraine, and was briefly the governor of the Black Sea region of Odesa.

With reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
TBILISI -- Last month, Georgian society was rocked when thousands of alleged security-service files were released, seeming to document massive and long-running state surveillance of journalists, clergymen, diplomats, and others.

"We live in a terrible country," public ombudswoman Nino Lomjaria said on Palitranews television on September 19. "I could not imagine this kind of monitoring, the extent of which I cannot even imagine."

"We are not talking about 20 or 30 people," she added. "We are talking about hundreds of people and the people associated with them."

Although the authenticity of the September 13 leaks has not been officially confirmed, many of the targets -- including journalists Nodar Meladze, Nino Vardzelashvili, and Levan Sutidze -- have said the accounts of their conversations were accurate.

The next day, the prosecutor's office announced an investigation into possible illegal eavesdropping and wiretapping, while State Security Service (SSG) head Grigol Liluashvili rejected calls for his resignation.

In comments on September 27, Liluashvili said the prosecutors' probe would uncover "what kind of provocation was being planned."

The contretemps comes as the country approaches October 2 local legislative and mayoral elections that have become something of a referendum on the ruling Georgian Dream party.

In April, the party that has dominated the country's politics since it won the 2012 parliamentary elections said it would call early elections in 2022 if it failed to win at least 43 percent of the vote in the local balloting. A few months later, however, Georgian Dream cancelled that pledge.

Adding to the tension a day ahead of the vote, exiled former President Mikheil Saakashvili, a staunch opponent of Georgian Dream, said on October 1 that he had returned to the country despite the government's warning that he would be arrested on an abuse of power conviction that he contends was politically motivated.

Without commenting on the specifics of the leaked files, Georgian Dream has denounced the scandal as a political provocation aimed at destabilizing society during the election season.

"What does it mean to listen?" said Georgian Dream lawmaker Lado Kakhadze, who was an obstetrician before entering parliament. "I have listened to the heartbeats of babies in their mothers' wombs, and I didn't ask permission. If the baby is sick, I need to help."

Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili also downplayed the surveillance revelations that so profoundly shook Lomjaria.

"As for the surveillance, it happens in every country, and our country is no exception," Gharibashvili said on September 27. "Yes, we conducted surveillance, but in accordance with the law and within the limits of the law."

Gharibashvili has suggested that former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, head of the rival For Georgia party, may have been responsible for the leak.

Opposition politician Khatuna Gogorishvili, of European Georgia, accused Georgian Dream of orchestrating the leak as part of an effort to intimidate the Georgian Orthodox Church leadership into supporting the party's campaign.

The Georgian Orthodox patriarch and other high-ranking church officials were among the primary targets of the purported surveillance, and the files contain references to drug use, sexual licentiousness, and associating with known criminals by priests and monks.

The church's response has been to denounce the revelations as an assault "by certain forces," adding in a statement that even those files that contain information that could be true may have been "fabricated."

"Television stations with a negative attitude against the church are disseminating covert, unsanctioned wiretappings and contributing to sowing baseless suspicions and distrust in the population," the church's statement said.

The church has urged the public to ignore the leaks.

"This poison has an antidote, and this antidote is silence," Archbishop Nikoloz said. "Absolute silence regarding these files. Silence will be the cure, I promise you."

Relatively few Georgians have shared ombudswoman Lomjaria's outrage about the surveillance revelations. Even among the files themselves, there are numerous notations that the people being wiretapped remarked that their conversations were likely being monitored.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), however, called the monitoring of journalists illegal and unacceptable in a statement on September 24.

WATCH: In Tbilisi's Mayoral Race, A Nigerian-Born Candidate Draws Attention And Racist Reactions

"We call on the Georgian authorities to stop this unprecedented surveillance at once and to ensure that the investigation opened by the prosecutors office on September 14 is completely transparent and independent," Jeanne Cavelier, head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, said.

Likewise, the European Union was outraged that its diplomats appeared to be among the surveillance targets.

EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell said on September 22 that the "volume and nature" of the surveillance seemed to go beyond the scope of normal state security, adding that such means "should be used carefully, be monitored, and kept under control with appropriate oversight."

Robert Coalson contributed to this report
Ukraine said that Gazprom had suspended the transit of natural gas to Hungary, days after the Russian state-controlled gas giant signed a long-term contract with Budapest.

The move, announced October 1 by Ukraines gas pipeline operator, was expected to add to jitters about Russian gas supplies in Europe, which is already grappling with record high prices for gas.

Gazprom did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The suspension of flows to Hungary via Ukraine does not affect other gas transiting Ukraine to European customers. And Hungary will receive Russian gas via other routes, including TurkStream, a pipeline crossing under the Black Sea.

But it cuts into the revenues Ukraine receives from transit fees, and it complicates Ukraines ability to reimport gas from Hungary, which just days earlier signed a long-term supply deal with Gazprom.

"The monopolization of gas routes by Gazprom, which we are now observing, raises the question of the fundamental principles of the functioning of the EU gas markets -- competition and transparency," Serhiy Makogon, the head of the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System operator, said in a statement.

Ukraines pipeline network has long been the dominant route for Russia to export its gas to Europe. But that has shifted in recent years as new undersea pipelines have come online.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline will add to Russias ability to ship gas directly to Germany when it comes online sometime next year. But Ukraine, along with the United States and some other countries, have warned that Nord Stream 2 will only tighten the grip that Gazprom has on European gas markets.

Compounding those fears are record high gas prices, which are being registered in Europe and elsewhere just as the continent gears up for the winter heating season. Some European lawmakers have accused Gazprom of using its dominant market power to push prices higher.

Under the deal with Hungary that takes effect October 1, Gazprom will ship 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Hungary annually, via Serbia and via Austria.

Kyivs criticism of the Hungary gas deal adds to ill-will between the two countries; the two have been at odds in recent years over the use of the Hungarian language in Ukrainian schools.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban dismissed Ukraine's criticism of the gas agreement.

"We need gas. This is the reality. You need to agree with the Russians," Orban told public radio.

With reporting by Reuters, TASS
Welcome to The Week In Russia.



I'm Steve Gutterman, the editor of RFE/RL's Russia Desk.



Every Friday, I dissect the key developments in Russian politics and society over the previous week and look at what's ahead. Subscribe here.

The elections are over, but the state keeps piling pressure on Kremlin opponents, independent media, and civil society. Aleksei Navalny and his associates are targeted again, along with several outlets and organizations that have chronicled the persistent clampdown. Meanwhile, the government warns of a difficult period ahead as COVID-19 cases rise and deaths from the virus hit record levels.

Here are some of the key developments in Russia over the past week and some of the takeaways going forward.

Predictable Putin?

Kremlinology is said to be a fools game, or at least a guessing game, and that is often the case: Mapping out a land where motives are often hidden from view and the truth buried beneath shifting strata of obfuscation can be daunting, particularly if youre standing on the other side of a high brick wall.

But its not always so complex: Sometimes, the riddle is easily answered even if the mystery and the enigma remain, and the contours of the bulldogs are not hard to make out as they battle under the rug.

For example, heading into the State Duma elections on September 17-19, there were plenty of forecasts that the Kremlin-controlled United Russia party would preserve its constitutional two-thirds majority in the lower parliament house despite ratings that, never high, have fallen below 30 percent. Those forecasts were accurate.

In 2020, there were those who predicted that once President Vladimir Putin completed the elaborate process of securing a constitutional amendment that gives him the option of seeking reelection in 2024 and 2030, the Russian states pressure on dissenting voices -- on enemies real, perceived, and conjured from thin air, or from the most well-meaning corners of civil society -- would intensify. They were right.

A year later, observers guessed that there would be no let-up in the clampdown after the Duma elections, which were marred by the campaign to keep genuine opposition politicians out and by evidence of fraud. So far, that has turned out to be a good guess.

In the short time elapsed since the elections, the authorities have taken aim at the same type of targets they had in their sights before the balloting: independent media, civil society, and the already badly beleaguered political opposition.

As he has been since he returned to Russia from Germany in January following treatment for a near-fatal nerve-agent poisoning he blames on Putin, one of those in the crosshairs, along with his allies and associates, is imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.

Supporters of Navalny were kept out of the Duma elections -- and some chased out of the country -- with a one-two punch in June, when a court declared three organizations he founded extremist five days after Putin signed a law barring people with ties to groups deemed extremist from running for public office.

Now -- on September 28, nine days after the Duma elections ended -- the Investigative Committee announced it has opened a new criminal probe accusing Navalny of creating an extremist network and accusing several top allies of running or participating in it.

Free By '51

Navalny is currently serving a 2 1/2 year prison term on a parole violation that he calls absurd and is due for release in 2023. But in a bitterly wry reaction to the new investigation, he said there are now a total of four cases against him that could lead to a total of 30 years in prison.

So dont worry, Ill walk free no later than the spring of 2051, Navalny wrote in an Instagram post punctuated with a wink-face emoji.

Media outlets and civil society groups have not been spared since the elections, either: On September 29, the news outlet Mediazona and protest-and-police monitor OVD-Info were among 22 organizations to be designated foreign agents by the government.

Both OVD-Info and Mediazona have played key roles in chronicling the clampdown on dissent in recent months and years --and have now become its victims.

The former, whose name is derived from the acronym for a police precinct, has provided detailed information about public demonstrations and the law enforcement response, counting crowd sizes and tracking the progress of detainees to police stations and lockups.

The latter has reported doggedly and in detail about the court cases that put people behind bars and their treatment as inmates in jails and prisons across Russia. Its name comes from zona, or zone, as the myriad prisons of the sprawling Soviet gulag were known both individually and collectively.

'Sucked Out'

The clampdown has put a number of Russians in prison, branded others with a Soviet-style moniker that contains threatening echoes of the term enemy of the state, and pushed many who simply seek peaceful change to the political margins.

Some have been pushed from the country altogether.

On September 30, Federal Security Service (FSB) officers searched the apartment of investigative journalist Roman Dobrokhotov, where his wife and small children live, as well as his parents' apartment next door.

The searches came after the authorities opened a fresh criminal investigation accusing the editor of the media outlet The Insider of crossing the border illegally when he left Russia in the summer, days after the online publication was labelled a foreign agent.

Law enforcement officers raided both Dobrokhotov's and his parents' apartments at that time, as well. This time, according to The Insider, the operatives arrived at 6 a.m. and six hours later led Dobrokhotovs wife out onto the stairwell in secret, without granting her lawyer access, and took her to the FSB for questioning.

Then they took his father, 71, while his mother stayed with her grandchildren -- but she will face FSB questioning another day.

In a statement published by The Insider, Dobrokhotov said he believes the September 30 searches were aimed at putting pressure on his family and discovering his whereabouts, which he has not disclosed.

Hard Times

He called the illegal border-crossing accusation absurd -- or rather "sucked out of the finger," a colorful Russian term for fabricated -- contending that the authorities had illegally confiscated his passport and were now accusing him of leaving the country without using it.

WATCH: Russia's Daily COVID-19 Death Toll Hits Fourth New High In A Month

Like others who have fled Russia under pressure, Dobrokhotov said he had not wanted to leave but eventually felt he had no choice.

I remained in Russia until the last moment. Since 2018 everyone had been telling me that to staywas madness and suicide, he said. I ignored their warnings, and it was only when FSB officers knocked out my apartment door and took the computers and telephones that I realized they wouldnt let me work in Russia.

Another phenomenon that has persisted past the elections, and in some ways gotten worse, is Russias COVID-19 epidemic.

On September 30, the government recorded 867 deaths over the previous 24 hours, a record high for the third straight day, and two regions -- Perm and Udmurtia -- plan to reimpose restrictions on access to restaurants, movie theaters, and public events next week as case numbers and fatalities rise.

A difficult period is approaching once again, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said.

That's it from me this week. If you want to know more, catch up on my podcast The Week Ahead In Russia, out every Monday, here on our site or wherever you get your podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts).



Yours,

Steve Gutterman



P.S.: Consider forwarding this newsletter to colleagues who might find this of interest. Send feedback and tips to newsletters@rferl.org.
A comfortable retirement may be easier to achieve for many workers and seniors thanks to a new way to prepay.
SUPREME COURT'S STATEMENT ON FARMERS AGITATION

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, while hearing a petition seeking permission to hold a dharna on Jantar Mantar against agricultural laws, has expressed displeasure over the farmers' agitation. The Supreme Court said that you have the right to protest but you cannot destroy the property of others.

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"On the one hand, you have strangled the entire city and now you are demanding a dharna in the city from the court," the court said. People have rights too. Are you opposing the judiciary? You block the highway and then say the protest is peaceful.

Farmers Protest

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Asked to allow the dharna at Jantar Mantar, the apex court asked whether the people of the city should stop their work. Will people be happy with the dharna in the city? "You are also harassing the security personnel," the apex court said. Citizens also have the right to travel. Once you have made up your mind to go to court, why protest? The next hearing in the case is set for October 4.

Farmers Protest



"We have not blocked the highway, the police have detained us there," farmers' lawyer Ajay Chaudhary told the apex court. In the petition, the Kisan Mahapanchayat has sought permission for Satyagrahi on Jantar Mantar in Delhi. It seeks permission from the Center, LG, and Delhi Police for an indefinite Satyagraha of 200 farmers.
TATA SONS HAVE BEEN SELECTED AS THE WINNING BIDDER FOR AIR INDIA

New Delhi: A panel of ministers has now accepted the proposal from officials recommending the salt-to-software conglomerate ahead of an offer from Ajay Singh, promoter of India's airline operator Spicejet.

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Now when Tata Sons have been selected as the winning the bid for the debt-laden state-run to run Airlines-Air India, reports claimed on Friday. A panel of ministers even accepted a proposal from the officials for recommending that salt-to-software conglomerate ahead of an offer from Ajay Singh who is the promoter of India's airline operator Spicejet Ltd as reports said.

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Even spokesperson from the Tata Sons has now declined to comment. A finance ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to a Reuter's message seeking comment, while Air India declined to comment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been pushing to sell its entire interest in the loss-making airline, kept aloft by a bailout since 2012.



The government lost nearly ? 20 crores every day to run the national carrier, which has accumulated losses of over ? 70,000 crore officials have said. An effort to auction the majority of the stake almost three years ago drew no bids, forcing the government to ease the terms. It had also extended the deadline multiple times due to the pandemic.
TATA SONS WINNING AIR INDIA BID REPORTED TO BE "INCORRECT," SAY THE GOVERNMENT

New Delhi: The government now has denied the media reports that the Tata Group has won the bid for Air India. Bloomberg had reported earlier that Tata Group had won the bid for Air India more than half a century after it ceded control of the national carrier to the government. But the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management said in a tweet, "Media reports indicating approval of financial bids by Government of India in the AI disinvestment case are incorrect."

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Tata Group and SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh in his private capacity had bid for debt-laden state-run airline Air India earlier this month. In December 2020, the government invited an expression of interest for the disinvestment of Air India. Forbidding the company, four bidders had entered the race to take over the troubled airline, but Spicejet CEO Ajay Singh and Tata Group were the only ones to make it to the final stage.





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This has been the second attempt by the PM Modi-led government to sell Air India. However, its expression of interest to sell a 76 percent stake in Air India had no takers at that juncture due to concerns regarding the airline's burgeoning debt. The center had made an unsuccessful attempt to sell the ailing airline earlier in March 2018. Despite its unsettled finances, Air India still controls more than 4,400 domestic and 1,800 international landing and parking slots at domestic airports, and 900 slots overseas.



Air India has accumulated losses of over ? 70,000 crores and the government loses nearly ? 20 crores to run the national carrier every day, according to the reports. The beleaguered airline, which once ruled the Indian skies, began to lose ground with the advent of private carriers in the 1990s and the emergence of no-frill airlines in the mid-2000s. The merger now with the state-owned domestic airlines - Indian Airlines in 2007 proved to be the final call for Air India.
Captain Amarinder Singh

Chandigarh: Taking strong exception to Harish Rawats no-holds-barred attack against him, former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday rejected the Congress Punjab in charges outrageous claims and allegations, which he said were prompted by the pathetic situation of the party now who found itself in the state after being on a winning spree for four and a half years.

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Harish Rawat



Three weeks before stepping down as CM, I had offered my resignation to Sonia Gandhi but she had asked me to continue, said Captain Amarinder, adding that the humiliating manner in which he was pushed into resigning just hours before the CLP meeting, that was convened to oust him, was a matter of public record. The world saw the humiliation and the insult heaped on me, and yet Harish Rawat is making claims to the contrary, he remarked, adding If this was not humiliation then what was it? Rawat, he said, should put himself in his (Captain Amarinders) shoes, and then, perhaps, he would realize how insulting the entire affair was.

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The captain said that even worst critics can't question his secular credentials and asked why Rawat misled him on the party's stance. He even asked what hold Sidhu has on the congress and why is he being allowed to dictate terms even now.

The ex-CM of Punjab recalled that Rawat himself had publicly stated after meeting him that he was satisfied by his governments track record on the 2017 poll promises. The Congress in charge of Punjab had categorically stated, as recently as September 1, that the 2022 elections would be fought under his (Captain Amarinders) leadership and the high command had no intention of replacing him, he pointed out. So how can he now claim that the party leadership was dissatisfied with me, and if they were, then why did he deliberately keep me in the dark all this time? he asked.



Ridiculing Rawats remarks that he (Captain Amarinder) seemed to be under pressure, the former Chief Minister said the only pressure he had been under for the past few months was that of his loyalty to the Congress, because of which he continued to tolerate insult after insult. If the party did not intend to humiliate me then why was Navjot Singh Sidhu allowed to openly criticize and attack me on social media and other public platforms for months? Why did the party give the rebels, led by Sidhu, a free hand in undermining my authority? Why was no cognizance given to the uninterrupted spree of electoral wins I handed over to the party through the 4 and a half years I was in the saddle? he asked.

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Captain Amarinder asked why Congress was allowing Sidhu even now to hold the party to ransom and continue to dictate terms. What is the pressure he exerts on the party leadership that they are so defenseless against him and are allowing him to have his way even to the cost of the Congress future in Punjab? he asked.

Reacting to Rawats comment regarding his secular credentials, Captain Amarinder said even his worst critics and enemies could not doubt his integrity in this regard. But I am no longer surprised that a senior and seasoned Congress leader like Rawat is questioning my secular credentials. It is quite evident that I am no longer trusted and respected in the party that I have served loyally all these years, he added.

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Categorically denying Rawats allegation that he (Captain Amarinder) had refused to meet Channi after the latters swearing-in, the former Chief Minister said Channi had called him up on the day of his swearing-in and was supposed to come over but failed to turn up.



As for not taking Rawats calls, Captain Amarinder said it was all humbug. We spoke just a day before the CLP meeting was called. Rawat told me then there was nothing in the works and even claimed he had not seen any letter sent by 43 MLAs. I am shocked at the blatant way in which he is now lying about this, the former Chief Minister added.

Captain Amarinder said as CM twice and PPCC chief on three occasions, he had worked with stalwarts like Pranab Mukherjee, Moti Lal Vohra, Mohsina Kidwali, Meira Kumar, and Shakeel Ahmed as Congress in-charge for Punjab. I never had a single problem with any of them. I fail to understand Mr. Rawats behavior and actions, he added.

Captain Amarinder Singh and Harish Rawat



Captain Amarinder dismissed as total nonsense Rawats remarks that he was circulating the theory of humiliation after meeting Amit Shah, and pointed out that he had clearly said on the day of his resignation (long before his meeting with the Union Home Minister) that he had been humiliated by thrice by the Congress party, which had sidelined him to convene CLP meetings twice in Delhi and the last time in Chandigarh even though he was the CLP leader then.

As for the implementation of poll promises, the former Chief Minister said contrary to the lies being touted by Rawat, he had fulfilled nearly 90% of the promises made in the 2017 election manifesto, which was a matter of record and could not be negated with frivolous and baseless statements.
ARVIND KEJRIWAL

Chandigarh: On one hand, there is a battle for seats in Congress and on the other hand, AAP's Kejriwal has offered a second guarantee for Punjab. The guarantee given by AAP has been given very wisely recognizing the pulse of Punjab. AAP had given the first guarantee of free and cheap electricity. The Punjab authorities were not even talking on the issue, but as soon as Kejriwal gave the guarantee, the whole atmosphere became chaotic. The Akali Dal and the Congress have also been forced to increase the number and quantity of their election gifts and the new leadership of the Punjab Congress is all set to implement it.

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Now Kejriwal has promised to improve health facilities. By coming here, the rest of the parties became weak. In the last 19 years of Akali Dal and Congress rule, the health facilities in Punjab have not done any good to the common Punjabis whereas the AAP government in Delhi has done all this in the last six years. Delhiites are very satisfied with AAP's Mohalla Clinic scheme but it should not be forgotten that the Delhi government was unable to catch Covid by the horns.

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Hospitals in Chandigarh, Moga, Patiala, and Bathinda had more patients from Delhi. The Covid Kit which was given to the patients by the Punjab government was not being given by any other state earlier and it was started in Punjab. But the initiative for which the Punjab Health Department can be commended during Covid has failed to meet the day-to-day health needs. The general picture in the villages today is that there are clinics but no doctors. If there are doctors, there are no medicines. Elderly people have to go to private hospitals for treatment which cannot even meet their new pension of Rs 1,500.



Politicians in Punjab are also adept at putting up barriers for their glory as we have seen for the last 4 years and the work in the AIIMS in Bathinda has stalled due to the Jeth Bharjai battle but now the cancer train from Bathinda to Rajasthan has also started emptying. . So if the politicians want, the health facilities in Punjab can be significantly improved.

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What is special about AAP is that it is recognizing the plight of the people and bringing them under its guarantee scheme. Could not What Congress has not been able to do in four years, it has only three months left to do. There is a glimmer of hope among the people that this government is thinking about Punjab's concerns. At the end, who the people will vote for will be known in 2022, but it will raise the standard of thinking of political parties. - Nimrat Kaur
DESPITE CHANGE OF RULING PARTY'S FACE, VICIOUS CYCLE OF FARMERS KILLING NOT STOPPED: KULTAR SINGH
Forest landowners in Northeastern North Carolina have the opportunity in late October to learn about the role of conservation practices in forestry and agriculture to address the challenges of climate change.

The Forest Landowner Conference will be held on October 26 and 27.

The conference will be held as a virtual event due to the Coronavirus pandemic and is free to the public.

It is being organized by the Sustainable Forestry and Land Retention Project which is supported in part by Roanoke Electric Cooperative.

The conference will feature two sessions as follows:

Session 1  6 p.m. to 8 p.m on October 26

The keynote speaker is Dale Threatt-Taylor, executive director of The Nature Conservancys South Carolina chapter.

Other Session 1 speakers are Kevin Harnish, forest analyst for The Conservation Funds Resourceful Communities Program, and Michael Gavazzi, coordinator for the U.S. Forest Services Southeast Climate Hub.

Session 2  10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on October 27

SFLRP Director Alton Perry and Amanda Egdorf-Sand, executive director of the North Carolina Foundation for Soil and Water Conservation, will provide an overview of the Carbon Farm Planning Project.

Other Session 2 speakers are Renard Turner, owner of Vanguard Ranch in Gordonsville, Virginia., and Steve Woodruff, state agronomist for the Natural Resources Conservation Services East National Technology Service Center in Greensboro.

This conference is sponsored through a grant from the United States Department of Agricultures North Carolina Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Register at: https://ncsu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xWIkUfgOSK6OP7T2fgUPlQ.

Forest landowners do not have to live in the region to participate. Phone charges and/or data rates may apply if participating via phone or over a mobile network.

Logistical support is being provided by N.C. State Extension Forestry.

The Sustainable Forestry and Land Retention Project began in 2013 as a partnership between the United States Endowment for Forestry and Communities, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the United States Forest Service and, more recently, the American Forest Foundation.

The program works to restore and conserve threatened forestland in Roanoke Electrics Cooperatives service area by increasing forest-owner income and land asset values.

All landowners owning at least one contiguous 8-acre parcel of woodland are eligible to participate.

See www.recforestry.org for more information on the program.
Could you tell us about the strengths of the current Vietnamese workforce?

Viet Nam is in a golden period of population structure. Thanks to 67.8 per cent of the population being aged between 15-64, there is an abundant labour force.

Figures in 2020 showed that employment was at 97.7 per cent, which is quite high compared to developed countries. The human development index of Viet Nam increased from 0.683 in 2015 to 0.702 in 2020.

The division of labour by economic sector has also moved in a positive direction. In 2015, employment in agriculture, forestry and fishery accounted for 43.56 per cent. By 2020, this proportion has decreased to 33.06 per cent.

The scientific research industry, accounting for about 0.3 per cent of the total number of people working, has made practical contributions to the economic development of the country. Science and technology have improved the production, quality and competitiveness of products, goods and services.

Although Viet Nam's high-quality human resources have developed quite strongly, the low-quality labour force still accounts for a high proportion of the population. So, what are the limitations of Vietnamese human resources?

The proportion of low-quality labour force is still quite high. In 2020, the proportion of trained workers with certificates was at 23.6 per cent, but over 60 per cent of jobs were in the agricultural and informal sector, with low labour productivity. The labour discipline of Vietnamese people is generally low, lacking soft skills, the ability to cooperate and take risks, and hesitating to promote initiatives and share experiences.

Although the labour structure has changed in a positive direction compared with other countries in the region, Viet Nam's labour restructuring is still quite slow. Labour in service industries such as finance and banking, which is one of the main pillars of the economy, was only at 0.8 per cent in 2020.

The quality of human resources in science and technology is also limited, with a lack of leading scientists and experts in high-tech fields. Human resources for science and technology are unevenly distributed. Research cooperation and teamwork skills are still weak, making it difficult to form strong interdisciplinary research groups for long-term and sustainable operations.

In particular, we should think about the quality of education and training systems. In 2020, the World Bank ranked 1,000 universities according to three prestigious rankings: Webometrics, QS and THE. Viet Nam ranked lowest, lower than the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

The qualifications of cadres and civil servants in the administrative sector have not yet met the level demanded by industrialisation and modernisation because of poor community responsibility, tardy workmanship and slow innovation.

Viet Nam urgently needs a methodical, professional and specific strategy for the training of quality human resources; especially for attracting and utilising talent.

Can you point out how other countries train and attract talent?

The fourth industrial revolution will cause fierce competition between countries that take advantage of new technologies as they appear. These countries will be able to attract top talent, wherever it may lie.

As I see it, leaders of countries and CEOs of corporations are deeply aware of the fact that talented intellectuals will determine the development and position of countries in the international arena. Governments have strategies and policies to attract talent with incentives on wages, working conditions, additional support and other benefits.

To create and develop the world's leading human resource system, the US Government has always placed "human resources are the centre of all development". Their government focuses on attracting talent from all over the world and considers it vital to the country's development. The United States attaches special importance to higher education and fostering talent development.

The US government established human resource management agencies to attract, recruit and retain top talented students from universities. Those that come are always honoured in the world-class workforce.

China also has a policy of training and attracting talents and the country implements a lot of key economic and social policies relating to this. One of the key policies is training and attracting talent.

Singapore has the most methodical and clear policy of attracting foreign talent in the world. The government has encouraged the belief that talented people should always have higher positions, with salaries to match their capacity. Singapore is always ready to welcome foreign talents into the state apparatus.

Besides focusing on training and employing domestic intellectuals, the Party and State of Viet Nam always welcome overseas Vietnamese intellectuals. What policies does Viet Nam have to attract talented intellectuals?

Currently, our country has about 4.5 million people living, working or studying abroad, of which 3-3.5 million are of working age. Highly qualified people account for 10-15 per cent of the Vietnamese community abroad; 450-600 thousand people.

Currently, about 25 per cent of Vietnamese people in the US have a university or post-graduate degree; Vietnamese intellectuals in France number 40,000 people; Australia and Canada each host over 30,000 Vietnamese people and in Russia and Eastern Europe there are about 10,000 Vietnamese people. In Japan, there are up to 80,000 Vietnamese students, an increase of 15 times in the past 9 years. Of those living in Japan the number of PhD candidates is estimated to be up to 3,000 people; at least 1,000 people have obtained a doctorate degree and are doing post-doctoral research.

However, Viet Nam does not have a proper policy to attract overseas Vietnamese intellectuals back home to participate in scientific research and technological development in the country.

What solutions do you think Viet Nam needs to implement to address this problem?

In my opinion, in the immediate future, the Government needs to improve mechanisms for development, management and the effective use of the country's human resources. This incorporates many areas; law, mechanisms and policies on education and training, vocational education, wages, the labour market and civil servant recruitment.

The Government should also establish a national committee on reforming academic and vocational education. This must go hand-in-hand with scientific and technological development, with the needs of the labour market in mind.

The Government should also use assessment and retraining resources to fundamentally and comprehensively renew policies on recruitment and promotion within the state apparatus.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs should assume responsibility for reviewing the wage regime according to market principles, developing a remuneration regime that aligns both work results and the qualifications of employees.

In addition, the Government can improve on current policies of attracting overseas Vietnamese talents. The Government should make a list of overseas Vietnamese experts for domestic agencies, to help businesses invite these people to work for them.
HiCaliber Horse Rescue is gone.

The controversial operation that earned the wrath of horse lovers, animal rights activists and rival rescues last year amid allegations of fundraising fraud, improper euthanasia of old and crippled horses, and mistreatment of animals ceased operation last month.

Michelle Cochran, the brash leader of the rescue, and her supporters were evicted from the property they leased in rural Valley Center and are being sued by the owner, who is seeking $4 million in damages.

The HiCaliber signs are gone from the 15-acre ranch, replaced only by the name of property owner, Brenda Markstein, on a lone mailbox.

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According to the lawsuit, filed Nov. 26 in Vista Superior Court, Cochran, who also goes by the last name Knutilla, failed to pay the monthly rent of $6,000 from July to November of last year as well as additional rent for use of a tractor.

Cochran, according to the lawsuit, further breached the lease, which was first entered into in 2014, by damaging the property in an abusive vexatious manner including irreparable damage to residential structures, farmlands, barns and ranch buildings, pens, stalls, landscaping trees, drainage and otherwise... wrote attorney G. Richard Green in the complaint.

Court files indicate Cochran has yet to responded officially to the allegations. She declined to comment on Friday.

Things began to fall apart for HiCaliber in 2017 when online attacks targeted the rescue. Numerous investigations by various local and state agencies began, and HiCalibers extensive online fundraising abilities were crippled.

 Michelle Cochran and HiCaliber Horse Rescue are at the eye of a gathering storm. Critics, and there are many, contend she is killing horses at far too high a rate and the Internet has been abuzz for months about what many think is animal abuse.

Cochran called her detractors haters and said the accusations were borne from jealousy about the success of her operation. She said her personality also made enemies in the horse rescue world.

In April, Cochran announced the ranch would shutter by June and the more than 100 horses on the property would be adopted out. By Dec. 13, when sheriffs deputies came to the property to execute the eviction, there were still a couple dozen horses on the property and volunteers said conditions at the ranch had deteriorated dramatically.

Cochran and co-defendant Romney Snyder were allowed to take 22 horses to another ranch in Valley Center. The location of that property has not been revealed.

Later that day, according to published reports, Markstein and others toured the property and found the main home and other buildings trashed. A spokesman for Markstein and her husband, Travis Fox, said the ranch was filthy. Markstein told the nonprofit news organization inewsource.org the damage to the main house was extensive and included urine-soaked floors. A spokesman said after the eviction the body of a dead baby horse was found buried in a pile of manure.

In a statement released to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Fox said when a professional cleaning company came onto the property following the eviction, workers wore hazardous material suits while cleaning the main house.

That was $20,000 down the drain just to make the home livable again, Fox said. We have two more units that still need to have the animal and human feces cleaned out.

Markstein told inewsource she had been trying to get Cochran and the others out of the house for many months, but the legal process took time.

We shared so many beautiful memories on the property prior to renting it out, Markstein said in the statement. Now it brings tears to my eyes when I walk through here. How could someone live like this? How could they treat innocent animals this way? I only hope we can get it back to where it was and put this nightmare behind us.

Back in 2014, things were far different. HiCaliber was about to be evicted from a smaller property in northern Escondido where a monastery that had been leasing some of its land to what was then a much smaller rescue operation decided it needed the property for expansion.

An article in a horse-related magazine depicting HiCalibers need for a new home came to the attention of Markstein and her husband, at the time Los Angeles residents, who agreed to lease the property. Cochran called it a Godsend at the time and for several years the ranch flourished.

Horses came to the ranch in various ways. Some were neglected horses that had been seized by authorities. Some were starving or abandoned horses. Many were purchased by HiCaliber at auctions, outbidding what Cochran called kill buyers who purchased horses with the intent of reselling them to slaughter houses in Mexico.

But by early 2018, there were about 150 horses on the property, far more than were permitted by the county. As online criticism increased, and complaints were filed with the county and other agencies, officials began looking closely at the operation.

The county noted numerous minor violations of county code, all of which were handled administratively. In March, the state Attorney Generals office suspended the nonprofit rescues ability to raise funds because of improper tax filings. Cochran admitted there had been paperwork issues. Less than two months later, after the proper paperwork had been filed, fundraising efforts were reinstated. But by then, the bad publicity surrounding the rescue had doomed the enterprise.

The controversy surrounding Cochran and HiCaliber appears to have been based primarily on a fundamental difference of opinion about what a horse rescue should be.

Cochran believes putting a sick horse out of its misery is a viable, even sacred duty.

Critics said some of the horses Cochran would kill, usually with a gunshot to the head, could have been saved. They said her euthanasia practices were out of control and her fundraising techniques questionable.

Cochran denied all wrongdoing.

Various agencies opened investigations, but no charges have been filed and it is unclear if any are still ongoing.

In the statement, Fox said he and his wife thought they were doing a public good by giving HiCaliber a discount on rent to help horses in need.

Instead, our 15 acres has been reduced to a landfill, he said. At least 30 truck loads of manure are still piled up, the homes are unlivable, and there were animal carcasses all over the property. This place has become a death camp and we are doing everything we can to help heal the land.

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
With its disc-shaped body, silvery belly and bright orange fins, the deep-diving Opah is an odd fish to begin with.

Adding to its enigma, researchers recently found that theres not one or two, but six species of the creature, which looks something like a big, swimming manhole cover.

Scientists, who published their findings in the journal Zootaxa, made that discovery after a buyer at a Honolulu fish auction noticed variations between the Opah on offer there. Some had much bigger eyes than others, and their spots and colors looked different.

Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration measured the fish, and then John Hyde and Matthew Craig, researchers with NOAAs Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, analyzed their DNA and physical traits such as eye size, fin length and spot patterns.

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Their findings dealt a thunderclap to the Opah family tree, splitting the species instantly into six.

We initially thought there was one global species of spotted Opah, Hyde said. But as we investigated the new one in Hawaii, we discovered that there are two new ones in the Pacific, a new species that we described from the Southern Hemisphere from Chili, Australia and South Africa. There was a species that had previously been described but was thought to be a synonym, that we re-validated as a valid species from the Canary Islands. And the original Opah species, weve only found in the North Atlantic.

SWFSC fisheries biologists, Dr. John Hyde and Helena Aryafar, collect opah specimens and biological samples aboard a research trip in the Southern California Bight. (Photo Courtesy of NOAAs Southwest Fisheries Science Center )

Opah, also known as moonfish, are relatively rare, but regulators with NOAA Fisheries believe their population is stable. Theyre typically about 100 pounds, but linger in depths of 100 to 400 meters in the water column, Hyde said, making them difficult to spot or track.

Despite their pudgy appearance, theyre fast, muscular predators with a special fish superpower; theyre the only fully warm-blooded fish, which probably helps them live and hunt in cold, deep waters.

They arent usually targeted directly by fishermen, but are hauled in as bycatch in swordfish or tuna long-line fisheries. You can buy opah at San Diegos Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, or from select fish vendors. Its even more popular in Hawaii.

Historically, its prevalent in the fish market in Hawaii, enough so that you can buy it at Costco, Hyde said. Its becoming more prominent here, as we get more commercial fisheries that are landing their catch in San Diego.

Although theres no formal fishery for them, theyve become popular at the table. Three distinctive cuts of their sweet, firm flesh are used for dishes including steaks, sushi and fish sausage. San Diego chefs have even fashioned opah bacon from their belly cuts.

Until now, scientists recognized two species. Southern Opah are slimmer than their northern counterparts  more oval than round  and inhabit oceans of the Southern Hemisphere. Opah  the swimming silver frisbee we know here  are found everywhere, from both hemispheres in all oceans from tropical, temperate and sub-polar waters, according to the study.

At the Honolulu fish auction, however, fish buyer Garrett Kitazaki noticed strange distinctions between the fish for sale. Their eye size, in particular, varied substantially. If no one had noticed before, it was probably because they hadnt seen many opah side by side.

When theyre sitting next to each other, the eye size is pretty apparent, Hyde said. But these animals have been rare enough that you dont necessarily have enough animals sitting next to each other to notice. One situation where you might is at the fish auction in Honolulu, where they happened to land both species.

Following up on Kitazakis observations, Karen Underkoffler and Megan Luers from NOAA Fisheries took measurements and tissues samples, and shipped them to Hyde and Craig.

Hyde ran genetic tests on a region of DNA called the bar code region, which showed five distinct genetic lines. Craig compared those results to physical characteristics, searching through worldwide fish museums, collections of preserved fish dating back as far as the 1820s, where scientists can check out specimens to study.

You go into a giant room and see if they have specimens, he said. They have basically jars and jars of fish that are preserved in alcohol, and say I would really like to look at these three specimens, and they pack it and mail it to you. You get a moist fish that you keep in alcohol at your work station to study it.

Their combined research showed that the globally dispersed Opah species was actually five  including one that had been previously described as a potentially new species. Adding that to the Southern Opah made a total of six species. Their discovery adds fuel to efforts to study and survey the fish, and develop fisheries management plans for each of the species, the researchers said.

It just shows how much we still dont know about things in the open ocean, Hyde said. This is a species that has been known to science for hundreds of years. We can buy it at Costco, we can buy it at dockside markets, but this is a well-known species that we still dont know that much about.

deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan


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UofSC secures funds to establish new investment in SC tech startups

The University of South Carolinas Office of Innovation, Partnerships and Economic Engagement will create South Carolina Rising, a new state-wide investment program to identify, qualify and provide equity investments to promising early-stage technology companies based in South Carolina. The fund will be established in partnership with the South Carolina Research Foundation using a newly awarded $400,000 grant from the US Economic Development Administration Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

As a part of the EDAs "Build to Scale Capital Challenge Program," the new grant will help the university continue to drive innovation and economic development in South Carolina. With a commitment to equitable inclusion across age, gender, race, and religious beliefs, South Carolina Rising will seek to support a variety of perspectives to help generate better ideas to solve complex problems of a changing world.

We would like to thank the EDAs Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for choosing our proposal to be part of this program, said Bill Kirkland, Executive Director of OIPEE. The creation of South Carolina Rising is all about making sure that entrepreneurs have all the tools they need to start and build a successful company right here. This investment in our startup community demonstrates UofSCs commitment to continuing to build a thriving innovation ecosystem across the state.

South Carolina is one of only 17 organizations in the nation and the first higher education institution in the states history to be awarded the grant, which aims to increase access to capital in communities where risk capital is in short supply. The federal program helps provide operational support for early-stage investment funds, angel capital networks or investor training programs that focus on both traditional and hybrid equity-based models.

The EDA funds have already been matched by a group of local partners to build a sustainable pool of capital available to emerging, high-growth technology companies. The university will collaborate closely with organizations and firms that are actively investing in South Carolina companies and looking for investment opportunities that are a good fit with their investment capital and thesis.

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The bright green and red lights of an aurora embracing clouds moving around Earth's night side were captured in a breathtaking new shot by an astronaut onboard the International Space Station (ISS).

"Another aurora, but this one is special as it is so bright," European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet wrote on Twitter and Instagram. "It is the full Moon lighting up the shadow side of Earth almost like daylight." Pesquet snapped the photo on Aug. 20.

ZME Science said he saw the Aurora Australis, the counterpart of Aurora Borealis. The Aurora Australis can be seen in New Zealand (particularly the South Island), southern Australia (including Tasmania), south Chile and Argentina, and occasionally South Africa when the solar cycle is reaching its maximum. They generally range in height from 100 to 300 kilometers (62.1 to 186.4 miles) but can sometimes exceed 500 kilometers (310.7 miles).

Auroras, named after the Roman goddess of dawn, could be viewed plainly from ground and space, even from the International Space Station (ISS), where numerous astronauts have taken photographs of the ghostly light shows.

Not A First Time For Astronomers To See Auroras From Space

According to Business Insider, anyone orbiting Earth is likely to see these lights. They were seen by SpaceX's first tourist crew while circling earlier this month.

Inspiration4 was a three-day mission that transported four people into orbit. Mission commander Jared Isaacman, replied to Pesquet's photo on Twitter. He said his team had seen the aurora as well but "not like that."

Not like that.  Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) September 24, 2021

ALSO READ: Geomagnetic Storms and Intense Aurora: Do Solar Storms Cause Northern Lights?

Pesquet, like Isaacman's party, traveled to orbit on SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship. He is a member of Crew-2, the company's second complete astronaut mission.

NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, Pesquet's crewmate, also said that the polar lights had amazed her as well. In November, Pesquet and McArthur will return to Earth.

NASA Explains What Causes Auroras

The interaction of the solar wind - a stream of charged particles from the sun - and the Earth's magnetic field causes auroras. According to NASA, once the particles approach Earth's upper atmosphere, the magnetic field accelerates them, causing them to smash with atoms and molecules.

Atmospheric atoms and molecules gain energy due to the collision, which they later release as light. NASA explains aurora has a billion separate collisions that light up Earth's magnetic field lines. Live Science said various ions in the environment release different light hues. Oxygen atoms emit green or red light, whereas nitrogen atoms emit orange or red light.

The Earth's magnetic field directs solar particles toward the poles, where auroras are most commonly seen. However, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said auroras may be seen outside the poles during significant geomagnetic storms. According to Live Science, geomagnetic storms occur when massive volumes of plasma, or charged particles, exit the sun's atmosphere and collide with our planet's magnetic field.

RELATED ARTICLE: NOAA: G2 Level Geomagnetic Storm and Aurora Borealis Predicted to Head South

Check out more news and information on Space in Science Times.
Loyer a Dakar : La caution passe du double au quadruple

Il faut maintenant verser une caution de 4 mois pour avoir un logement a Dakar. Cette nouvelle exigence des bailleurs rend plus salee la facture des locataires.



Alors que les locataires nont pas fini de decrier la hausse vertigineuse du prix du loyer a Dakar, les proprietaires des batiments corsent la facture. Le montant de la caution passe du double au quadruple. Cest du moins la tendance dans certains quartiers de Dakar prises par les locataires.



Courtier residant a Mermoz, Fassely Camara, la trentaine, confirme cette hausse de la caution et rejette la responsabilite sur les bailleurs. Ce sont ces derniers, accuse-t-il, qui exigent les quatre mois.  Les bailleurs demandent maintenant quatre mois sans aucune explication. Ils demandent deux mois de loyer, un mois de caution et un mois pour la commission du courtier , a explique M. Camara, trouvant cette requete exageree. Etayant ses propos, il donne un exemple en expliquant le cas dun locataire quil a accompagne aupres dune agence immobiliere.  Javais une cliente qui voulait prendre en location un appartement dune chambre plus salon a Dieuppeul a 115.000 FCfa. Une fois a lagence qui gere ledit appartement, la dame lui a reclamee quatre mois. Elle devait alors donner 460.000 FCfa comme caution pour avoir le logement. Somme quelle navait pas , a raconte M. Fassely Camara, courtier depuis 10 ans. Son camarade Youssou Coly embouche la meme trompette pour denoncer les quatre mois de caution. Il le trouve anormal meme si, souvent, ce montant est remis au courtier pour sa commission.



Exigee lors dun contrat de location meublee, dans le cadre dun bail non meuble, la caution permet au proprietaire de financer la reparation deventuels degats causes sur la residence par le locataire apres le depart de celui-ci. Le bailleur peut donc se servir de cette somme pour refaire la peinture de lappartement loue, reparer une fenetre cassee ou pour couvrir toute autre reparation locative. Mais, selon El Hadji Mbaye, gerant dun immeuble en location a Liberte 6, les quatre mois se justifient.  Il y a des locataires qui, quand ils partent, laissent la maison dans un etat de vetuste avec des factures et des arrieres souvent qui depassent largement la mensualite , explique-t-il. Il est conforte dans sa these par M. Doucoure, vigile reconverti courtier. Ce dernier juge adequat les quatre mois.  Cest une sorte de garantie. En reclamant ce nombre de mois, les bailleurs anticipent sur les eventuels contentieux. Il arrive quun locataire cumule des arrieres et quand le bailleur saisit la justice, il peut rester quatre a six mois avant davoir gain de cause. Cest pourquoi certains bailleurs reclament parfois six mois , justifie-t-il.  Injuste , fulmine Dieynaba Sall, ingenieure en genie civil. Elle setait confrontee a cette situation quand elle cherchait un logement. Dieynaba avait dit niet.  Jai filtre sur les trois mois que je considerais le minimum , indique la jeune dame, fraichement mariee, considerant la location comme un vrai probleme a Dakar.  Si lon vous reclame quatre mois, il faut debourser entre 600.000 a 800.000 FCfa. Ce nest pas raisonnable de demander un tel montant si lon sait que le mois qui suit, on doit encore payer, sans compter les autres depenses a faire , a-t-elle denonce. Elle interpelle les autorites en charge de la question et leur demande de reagir en reglementant le secteur immobilier de maniere a soulager un peu les locataires.



4 mois, un abus



Residante a Ouakam, Arame Ndoye, responsable commerciale dans le secteur informatique, na pas vecu cette situation mais elle trouve exageres les quatre mois de caution que les bailleurs veulent eriger en regle.  Quand jai emmenage dans mon appartement, la caution representait deux mois de loyer. Quand on sait combien les loyers sont chers, meme ces deux mois ne sont pas donnes, mais passer la caution a 4 mois me semble exagere. Cest a se demander si les bailleurs veulent louer leurs chambres ou leurs appartements , declare-t-elle. La jeune dame comprend que les bailleurs ont investi dans leurs batiments et quils cherchent aussi a se proteger mais, rappelle-t-elle,  nous vivons tous au Senegal et connaissons tous la realite economique du pays. Peu de gens sont ceux qui peuvent se permettre de sortir autant dargent dun coup. Il faut que les bailleurs se mettent a la place des locataires . Trouvant que les locataires sont trop livres a eux-memes, elle plaide pour la reglementation du secteur avancant que lacces au logement est un droit pour tous.  Les prix ne cessent daugmenter et les conditions dacces aux logements de plus en plus difficiles, au grand dam des honnetes citoyens qui ne cherchent qua vivre decemment. Nous locataires aussi devons-nous organiser et dire non a certains abus des bailleurs , preconise-t-elle. Lenseignant a la retraite Abdoulaye Diene, rencontre a Liberte 6, demande lintervention de lEtat pour mettre fin a ce quil considere comme  un diktat  des bailleurs. Le Secretaire general executif de la Ligue des consommateurs du Senegal, Assane Boye, interroge sur la question, denonce un laisser-aller total sur beaucoup de choses au Senegal. Il juge illegaux les quatre mois de caution et demande aux locataires de refuser de verser ce montant.



Pourtant, le probleme de la caution ne devrait pas se poser si les articles 572 et 573 du Code des obligations civiles et commerciales (Cocc) etaient respectes par les bailleurs. Cest du moins lavis de Me El Hadji Amath Thiam, juriste consultant, specialiste en fiscalite des entreprises. Se referant a ces deux articles, il explique que le montant du depot de garantie doit etre limite a deux mois de loyer sans les charges et est restituable en fin de bail.  Seuls les frais eventuels de remise en etat des lieux susceptibles de vous incomber peuvent etre deduits de cette garantie , explique-t-il.  Vous pouvez inciter le proprietaire au respect de cette exigence en stipulant dans votre contrat des penalites par jour de retard, mais dans ce cas vous devrez admettre quune penalite, du meme ordre, vous soit appliquee au cas ou vous accuserez, vous aussi, du retard dans le paiement de vos loyers , ajoute-t-il.





ELIMANE SALL, PRESIDENT DE LASSOCIATION DES LOCATAIRES DU SENEGAL




Google had a slew of Google Search related announcements at the Google Search On 2021 event. The announcements ranged from improvements and more uses for MUM, to the about this result expanding, to Shoppable search experiences, in-store inventory, Google Lens updates and a bunch of features and redesigns to the Google Search experience.

It seems like Google expanding the use of MUM from just figuring out COVID vaccine names to many more applications since MUM launched last May was the big news.

Here is a summary, the day after, of what was announced at the event, as promised.

Google said it has redesigned Google Search and introduced new features that enable natural, more intuitive ways to search through the use of "advanced AI systems like MUM." These include additions like things to know, new search refinements, visually browsable result pages and more - many of which we covered as tests in our Google user interface section.

New for About This Result: Google is adding more details to the About This Result feature. Specifically there will be more information about the source, searches will be able to read what a site says about itself in its own words, when that information is available. Searchers can see what others have said, what others on the web have written about a site -- news, reviews, and other helpful background context -- can help you better evaluate sources. Finally, more about the topic will show you information such as top news coverage or results about the same topic from other sources.

Google told me there is no way for a site owner to say that this information is not accurate or should be removed. Google said it aims to provide a broader view of information, it knows it won't be perfect but it has a quality bar the sites need to meet to show in this about this result.

Also, Google said this feature has been used about 400 million times, which is obviously a small percentage of searches overall. So some publishers might be upset by some of the information shown at time, but keep in mind, I doubt it will be seen by a large percentage of your users.

This also is launching in the coming weeks for English search results.

Here is how Paul Haahr from Google put it on Twitter:

Today is one of the days that makes the hard parts of work worth it. Very proud of the team that built More About This Result and looking forward to it rolling out over the next few weeks. https://t.co/M5juvTM8Mn  Paul Haahr (@haahr) September 30, 2021

Things To Know: Google said "when you search for a topic, like acrylic painting, you can see all the different dimensions people typically search for, and find the path that's right for you." This will extrapolate more details and serve up categories for the topic, then as you click on them, it shows you a featured snippet for that option and also the ability to click on and show more results. Google is launching this feature in the coming months.

Refine this search / Broaden this search: Additional search refinements named refine this search and broaden this search will roll out in the coming months in English search results. It is basically a supped-up related search features.

Visually browsable: Google also is launching a feature called visually browsable results pages that makes it easier to visually browse to find what you are looking for. We've seen Google testing this like I said, where Google had huge images in the search results. It also reminds me of the customized headers for idea queries but only a portion of this is live it seems. I believe Google calls these large images "image universal blocks" and they can appear for idea queries and apparel queries. This will be available soon for in English in the U.S. when you search for visual ideas.

MUM with videos in Google Search: Google said it now can more deeply understand videos using MUM. Google said it has a new MUM-based experience that identifies related topics in a video, even if the topic isn't explicitly mentioned. This is launching in the coming weeks in English Google search results.

This is about Google understanding not just the title and description of the video but also the audio and video inside of the video. This is launching I think on YouTube first and then in search as illustrated below.

Shoppable Google Search experience: Google launched in the US a new "shoppable search experience." This should make it easier to browse for apparel on mobile right from your Search results. Google's example is when you search for "cropped jackets," Google Search will show you a visual feed of jackets in various colors and styles alongside other helpful information like local shops, style guides and videos. Google said this is powered by the Google Shopping Graph.

In-store inventory: Google said people want to experience in-person shopping from home so now you can filter the results using an "in stock" filter to see if nearby stores have specific items on their shelves. This is launching in English in the U.S. and select markets, including the UK, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland on September 29th.

Google Lens gets MUM: Google added a bunch of MUM improvements to Google Lens. With Google Lens you can add text to your visual searches and ask questions about what you see. Google said if you see a shirt you like, but you'd prefer the pattern on socks, you can point your camera and ask the question. This is launching on Google Lens in the coming months, starting in English soon.

It is nice to see Google launch more enhancements in search with MUM. Here is what it looks like:

Google Lens is also coming to Chrome and more places in Google Search, like the iOS app.

Those are the bulk of the big announcements from Google's Search On event.

Forum discussion at Twitter & WebmasterWorld.
Good morning, Bay Area. Its Friday, Oct. 1, and warm weather is on the way for the weekend. Heres what you need to know to start your day.

On Thursday, the University of California approved a $312 million plan to build housing for students and indigent people at Berkeleys historic but crime-riddled Peoples Park.

The final budget was $50 million less than originally recommended by UC President Michael Drakes office after Regent Hadi Makarechian expressed concern about the price tag. But ultimately he and supporters agreed it was a win-win decision for all.

Now is the time for a new vision for the park, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin told the regents committee Wednesday.

There were dissenters, though, including two groups that are suing UC to stop the project, arguing that it will destroy the cultural and historical legacy of the city. But UC Berkeley houses just 23% of students, the lowest rate of all UC campuses.

Read more from Nanette Asimov.

Policing reform

California will become the 47th state to create a system to strip police officers of their badges for professional misconduct.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed SB2, which will allow state regulators to revoke the licenses of officers who commit serious misconduct, including using using excessive force, committing sexual assault, displaying bias and participating in a law enforcement gang.

The system prevents officers sanctioned by one agency from moving to another jurisdiction. Supporters and opponents of the legislation are expected to continue arguing as it develops through regulations, which could settle questions like whether misconduct outside the line of duty counts.

Also:

 California is about to get billions of dollars in federal aid to address wildfires and drought after Congress passed a government funding bill.

Coronavirus updates

Peter DaSilva/Special to The Chronicle

 COVID isnt disappearing anytime soon, but public health experts say this years anticipated fall-winter surge will almost certainly be nothing like last years.

 New population figures change what we thought we knew about COVID in San Francisco.

 How COVID vaccination rates stack up against Newsom recall votes in each California county.

 San Francisco could see less tax revenue from tech and other industries as fewer workers commute into the city and some move away for good.

Around the Bay

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

 A dramatic stand: Activists briefly shut down the Golden Gate Bridge to protest Congress inaction on meaningful immigration reform.

 Integrity: The Oakland chapter of the NAACP wants KTVU to reinstate veteran news anchor Frank Somerville, who was suspended over coverage of Gabby Petitos death.

 Piece of history: An 1890s Sausalito building will be razed to make way for a food hall and new condominiums.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

 A mystery: Officials have narrowed down possible causes of death for the Mariposa County family found dead in August, but arent ruling out toxic algae or heat.

 Big cost: The San Francisco Unified School District must pay nearly $200,000 after declining to pursue reimbursement of legal costs in a court case it won and being forced to cover opposing attorney fees in a lawsuit it lost.

 Sunny days ahead: Summer conditions havent quite ended in the Bay Area. Expect higher temperatures this weekend before a cooldown next week.

 From Peter Hartlaub: Meet the Bibliobicicleta, a mobile pop-up library for kids in the Tenderloin.

Rock out in your PJs

Brian Feulner/Special to The Chronicle 2019

The popular Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival returns starting today, but for the second year in a row, it wont be in person.

Because of the summer delta surge, organizers decided to play it safe and go online again. Last years virtual three-hour concert was a hit.

This year organizers will go even bigger: the festival will features 15 live-streamed performances from a secret location in San Francisco, as well as a dozen prerecorded sets. The event stretches over three days  just like the in-person festival would have  through Sunday. Streaming starts at 1 p.m. today.

Read more from Aidin Vaziri.

Bay Briefing is written by Gwendolyn Wu and Kellie Hwang and sent to readers email inboxes on weekday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter here, and contact the writers at gwendolyn.wu@sfchronicle.com and kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com.
California will require all public and private school students to be vaccinated against the coronavirus once the shot receives final approval for younger age groups.

The rule, announced Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, adds COVID-19 to the list of diseases that children must be immunized against in order to attend school in the state, which already includes chickenpox, measles, polio and tetanus. Students who refuse will be offered independent study instead.

The first-in-the-nation mandate creates a state standard in line with steps that school districts like those in Oakland and Los Angeles have already taken to require the vaccine for eligible students. But implementation is still months away, and may not kick in until the next academic year. The directive is almost certain to face challenges, though legal observers say mandates appear to be on firm legal ground.

We want to end this pandemic. We are all exhausted by this, Newsom said during a news conference at San Franciscos James Denman Middle School. These requirements are working across the country. I think the evidence is rather overwhelming in getting people vaccinated.

California has distinct immunization schedules for students entering kindergarten and the seventh grade. State officials said the new mandate would take effect for those grade spans  K-6 and 7-12  once the COVID-19 vaccine receives full regulatory approval for all students within them. Even then, they would wait until the following semester to begin enforcing it.

While federal regulators have approved the Pfizer shot for anyone 16 or older, the coronavirus vaccines remain in emergency use for 12- to 15-year-olds and are not yet permitted for children under the age of 12. If regulators sign off on full approval for everyone 12 and older this fall, then middle and high school students in California would need to be vaccinated starting in January; otherwise, the mandate may not take effect until July.

Newsom said Friday that he has no trepidation, no hesitancy in encouraging local districts to move forward more expeditiously to institute their own requirements. More than 63% of 12-to 17-year-olds in the state received at least one vaccine dose so far, he said, compared with 84% of all eligible Californians.

The state plans to adopt a similar mandate for school employees once the student requirement kicks in, though it will require a separate public health order. As of mid-October, all staff of K-12 schools must get the COVID-19 vaccine or submit to weekly testing. Newsom said he anticipates removing that testing option by the time middle and high schoolers must be vaccinated.

Newsom declined to explain why he wouldnt require teachers and other school staff to get the shots now. He acknowledged that he could do so, but said he is waiting on the Biden administration for guidance on mandatory vaccinations for workers.

According to the California Teachers Association, 90% of its 310,000 members are vaccinated and an overwhelming majority supports mandatory vaccines for staff and students. The organization, however, did not advocate for an immediate requirement for educators, but supports phased-in implementation to ensure districts have time to prepare for the mandate and set up vaccination sites.

As of Thursday, all California health workers must be vaccinated or face dismissal or suspension.

The absence of a mandate for educators did not sit well with some parents, who noted that the Pfizer vaccine is fully approved for adults and said its unconscionable that teachers and staff are not required to get it now.

Today, once again, politics trumped public health in our state, said Megan Bacigalupi, executive director of OpenSchoolsCA, which represents 181 parent groups. The governor missed an opportunity to announce a clear and decisive mandate that all adults in public schools must be vaccinated now, failing to send a message across California that vaccination among adults is the best way to keep our kids safe.

Because this is a new shot being added to the immunization schedule, state law does permit certain medical and personal belief exemptions. Rules around those will be determined by the California Department of Public Health in the coming months.

But California eliminated personal belief exemptions for the existing vaccine schedule six years ago to crack down on what critics said was abuse of the system. Newsom said Friday that he would return to the Legislature to close the loophole for the COVID-19 shot if it becomes necessary to raise vaccination rates.

The mandate for students takes the pressure off local school boards to decide whether to require vaccines.

We find it extremely troublesome that each and every school district in California must act as medical experts and determine whether or not to require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in California schools, officials at Sequoia Union High School District in San Mateo County said in a letter to Newsom on Sept. 16.

While Oakland and West Contra Costa approved vaccine mandates in recent days, other districts were in wait-and-see mode.

San Francisco Unified Superintendent Vincent Matthews, whose district has not adopted a student vaccine mandate, stood by Newsoms side during the announcement.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

We are proud of our efforts and we believe vaccinations and mask wearing are the ways out of the pandemic, Matthews said following the news conference.

State officials also applauded the announcement.

California requires a more comprehensive strategy that frees local school boards from the need to act as de facto public health officials, said Susan Heredia, president of the California School Boards Association. Those decisions are better left to people at the state level who are designated to perform public health functions. In addition, a statewide standard for student vaccinations may help defuse some of the unlawful behavior directed at school board trustees by those who oppose local mandates.

The announcement comes just weeks after Newsom resoundingly defeated an effort to recall him from office, in large part by leaning into mask and vaccine mandates to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

With coronavirus cases rising and hospitals increasingly overrun this summer as the delta variant surged, Newsom began implementing new public health directives, including a mask mandate for schools and vaccine requirements for health care workers, government employees and school staff. Many of the leading candidates seeking to replace the governor promised to overturn those orders if they were elected.

That created a sharp contrast that Newsom emphasized during the closing weeks of the campaign, suggesting that recalling him would put Californians back in danger and even running an ad that called the election a matter of life and death.

The governor has not embraced all vaccine mandates, however. His administration is fighting a recent court order mandating that guards and other prison employees get vaccinated against the coronavirus because of the low number who have voluntarily done so. While 75% of inmates are fully vaccinated, only about 58% of prison employees  and fewer than half of guards  have received both shots.

Newsom, whose campaign to fight the recall accepted $1.75 million from the prison guards union, defended his position Friday, citing the relatively small outbreaks of COVID-19 among inmates in recent weeks.

On the vaccine front, I think theyve made progress, and I appreciate the leadership there for taking it as seriously as they have, he said.

Alexei Koseff and Jill Tucker are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com, jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff, @jilltucker
Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press

Politics and COVID-19 vaccination rates are strikingly correlated in the U.S., with redder states generally having lower vaccination rates than bluer ones.

Thats true within California, as evidenced by the connection between vaccination rates and the election this month  ultimately unsuccessful  to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Bill Hutchinson/Chronicle file photo

Los Altos High School was evacuated after a bomb threat Friday morning and most students were sent home at noon as emergency crews remain on campus, according to authorities.

The Los Altos Police Department reported just after 11 a.m. that the school had received a call warning of a bomb on campus. The school was evacuated, with students sent to athletic fields, and police and the Santa Clara County Fire Department were on the scene. Shortly after noon, school officials sent students home, supervising their departure from camp, authorities said.
Veteran news anchor Frank Somervilles suspension after sparring with KTVU management over coverage of the Gabby Petito case and the medias dismissal of missing women of color has drawn international attention. Now its coming under attack from a prominent local civil rights group.

The Oakland branch of the NAACP is calling for Somervilles reinstatement  and for the station to hold a public discussion on the topic of disparate coverage of missing Black, Latina and indigenous girls and women. George Holland, president of the 106-year-old civil rights group, made the request in a letter sent Tuesday to KTVU general manager Mellynda Hartel.

We appreciate Mr. Somervilles integrity and willingness to ask incisive questions that challenge those inside and outside his bubble, Holland wrote. Instead of punishing him, KTVU should be honoring him and elevating his example.

The NAACP plans to hold a news conference at 11 a.m. Saturday in front of KTVUs studios in Jack London Square in Oakland to protest the stations coverage and to call for Somervilles reinstatement.

It isnt so much about Frank Somerville, Holland told The Chronicle. Its about the kind of treatment were used to getting in the media. If someone white is missing, they go out and look for them and it gets lots of coverage, which is right. But if theyre indigenous, Black or brown, they dont do anything.

Somerville was suspended indefinitely, sources at the station told The Chronicle, after the news director nixed his proposal to add commentary about racial justice to coverage of the Gabrielle Gabby Petito homicide case and then learned that a shortened version of Somervilles verbal tag remained in a subsequent newscasts script. The rejected addition noted disparities in media coverage of white and Black crime victims.

News of his suspension  and the reason  went viral on social media and was the subject of stories in national and international publications.

Petito was slain during a cross-country van trip with her fiance, Brian Laundrie, whom authorities have identified as a person of interest. Both are white.

Somerville, meanwhile, has been absent from KTVUs newscasts and the station hasnt said when  or whether  hell return. Calls and emails to the station on Thursday afternoon seeking comment were not returned.

The NAACPs letter urges KTVU to question whether its coverage is consistent, whether its based on the beauty of the subject and whether the stations news programming is a news program or a tabloid?

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Holland credited Somerville for raising the issue, which some have labeled missing white woman syndrome, and criticized media coverage  not just KTVUs  for neglecting the stories of women who arent white.

Imagine the resentment that breeds when your friends and relatives go missing and you hear nothing about it, he wrote. The missing Native American women, disappearing Black girls and exploited Latino girls are all tragically ignored to the dismay of their communities.

Holland said he hopes that KTVU will contact the NAACP and host a public discussion of the issue, as well as other racial justice issues including crime coverage  and the newsrooms racial makeup.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
Oracle Park concessions workers overwhelmingly voted to approve a new contract with their employer Thursday, putting an end to their plans to go on strike and paving the way for changes that union leaders say will be transformational for the ballparks food service staff.

The new contract, which 99.8% of the stadiums concessions employees voted to ratify, runs through March 2024. It includes wage raises of $7 per hour, a hazard pay bonus of $1.50 per hour for games worked in 2020 and 2021, increased pension benefits, family health care with lower eligibility requirements and a commitment to enforce COVID-19 safety rules in the ballpark, according to officials with Unite Here Local 2, the hospitality workers union representing hundreds of workers at the Giants stadium.

About 97% of the ballparks food service workers voted in early September to strike in response to concerns about COVID-19 safety protocols, health care and pay. The strike, which union organizers had already started planning, was avoided with Thursdays vote, just days before the Giants are scheduled to start postseason play.

Workers got organized and were ready to strike for their safety, health care, and wages, and the deal we won will transform food service jobs at Oracle Park and change the lives of almost 950 workers, Anand Singh, the union president, said in a statement. Ballpark workers fierce, determined leadership has paid off.

Oracle Park concessions workers are employed by Palo Alto-based Bon Appetit Management Co. In a statement, Singh praised the contractor for setting an industry standard for safe, family-sustaining jobs with the new contract.

Bon Appetit CEO Fedele Bauccio said in a statement that the company has always strived to offer the best possible work environment and benefits for our employees and to work collaboratively with union representatives.

Union employees were seeking a new contract amid growing concerns over worker safety and calls for improved pay and benefits. Workers had said that they were required to work 10 events per month in order to qualify for health insurance but that sometimes there were fewer than 10 events scheduled per month.

At least 20 Oracle Park concessions workers tested positive for COVID-19 after fans were allowed back in the stadium, union representatives said. Many were frustrated by the fact that mask and social distancing policies were not being enforced, and they asked for an additional $3 per hour in hazard pay. Employees approved half that amount in the new contract.

This deal will help us be safer on the job, said Oracle Park suite attendant and union negotiator Deborah Torrano in a statement. It means that ballpark workers will be able to support our families in the Bay Area, get medical care without worrying about the bill, and retire with dignity. We were ready to strike, and now our lives will change.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Concessions workers wages will increase by $3 per hour immediately and by $7 per hour by 2024. The newly approved health care policy includes platinum medical, dental and vision insurance with a low monthly cost to cover an unlimited number of dependents, union officials said.

The union will continue to call for the Giants to require fans to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result to enter Oracle Park. The Giants have three games remaining before the start of the postseason.

Andy Picon is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: andy.picon@hearst.com Twitter: @andpicon
An exciting array of restaurants made their debuts on the Peninsula and in the South Bay in September. Downtown Campbell got a high-end seafood bar from a former Atelier Crenn chef. A newcomer to Sunnyvales thriving Indian dining scene incorporates unexpected touches like dry ice and savory ice cream. And popular spots including Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks and Oaklands Orbit Coffee expanded to the South Bay.

Read on for more on each opening.

One Fish Raw Bar, Campbell

Provided by Trent Lidgey

One Fish Raw Bar, Atelier Crenn alum Trent Lidgeys solo debut, is officially serving chips and dip with caviar and pudgy lobster rolls in Campbell. His fish-focused restaurant is at once upscale and playful, with dishes like $175 caviar-topped waffles, pigs in a blanket topped with house-made kimchi and Champagne. Lidgey launched a new omakase tasting menu this week, served at the chefs counter, featuring that days sashimi creations.

Indoor and outdoor dining, takeout. 193 East Campbell Ave., Campbell. onefishcampbell.com

Shosha, Sunnyvale

Provided by Shosha

At Shosha in downtown Sunnyvale, classic Indian dishes are presented in unexpected ways. Three flavors of pani puri, an Indian street food staple, are served in shot glasses suspended below a container with dry ice spilling over dramatically. Chicken tikka arrives totally blackened, coated in activated charcoal after its cooked in a clay oven. Owner and Punjab native Navleen Jaggi realized a years-long dream when she opened Shosha, which means to show off in Punjabi. We want to show off Indian cuisine in a different way  the creativeness of it, the flavors of it and how pretty it can be, she said.

Indoor and outdoor dining, takeout and delivery starting the week of Oct. 4. 141 S. Murphy Ave., Sunnyvale. shosharestaurant.com

Pre-Hispanic Mexican Cuisine, San Jose

Head to Pre-Hispanic Mexican Cuisine in San Jose for tacos with octopus and house-made chorizo piled on fresh blue corn tortillas. Partners Cenobio Mendoza and Jesus Varguez are behind the new San Jose food truck, where they are putting their own spins on pre-Hispanic recipes. Theres al pastor yucateco, Varguezs play on al pastor pork but with recado negro, a dark, smoky chile from Yucatan, Mexico, and a smoked salmon tostada with salsa macha. Quesadillas get amped up with fresh xni-pec, a bright-orange Yucatan habanero salsa. Theyre making the tortillas from scratch through nixtamalization, soaking the corn and then grinding it into fresh masa. Varguez comes with experience at South Bay restaurants including Orchard City Kitchen, Zona Rosa and Alexanders Steakhouse. The truck is typically parked at Moitozo Park in San Jose, but double-check social media for location and hours.

Takeout and delivery. 80 Descanso Drive, San Jose. facebook.com/prehispanicmxcuisine2021

Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks, Santa Clara

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

Westfield Valley Fair in Santa Clara is home to the newest location of Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks, inspired by the food culture at a famed Taipei night market. Diners can grab Shihlins signature extra large, extra crispy fried chicken and popcorn chicken, which come piping hot in paper bags with skewers for on-the-go snacking. (Its also conveniently located next to Uncle Tetsus Japanese cheesecakes.) Critic Soleil Ho recently named Shihlin one of the top places to eat fried chicken in the Bay Area. This is the chains sixth Bay Area location, joining others in San Francisco, Milpitas and Berkeley.

Takeout. 2855 Stevens Creek Blvd., Santa Clara. shihlinca.com

Shepherd and Sims, Los Gatos

Courtesy MyMediaDesigner.com

Shepherd and Sims, which opened in September, is the newest project from South Bay restaurateur Jim Stump (the Table in San Jose; Forthright Oyster Bar & Kitchen in Campbell; and the Vesper, also in Campbell). The menu isnt easily categorized to a single cuisine; there are kombu-steamed potatoes, seared Spanish octopus and ratatouille as well as a burger with bacon-onion jam.

Indoor and outdoor dining, takeout upon request. 15970 Los Gatos Blvd., Los Gatos. sandslosgatos.com

Indian Spice, San Mateo

Indian Spice is now serving kathi rolls, paneer tikka and other Indian fare in downtown San Mateo. Its geared toward quick, casual service  diners order at a counter but can eat in the bright dining room decorated with photographs and drawings of spices.

Indoor dining, takeout and delivery. 146 E. Third Ave,. San Mateo. indianspiceusa.com

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Kiroro, Belmont

Provided by Kiroro

The most stunning dish at Kiroro, Belmonts newest sushi restaurant, has to be the chefs choice box: a wooden box divided into nine squares, and in each square sits a different sashimi dish (it costs $99). Kiroro also serves an unusually large number of vegetarian rolls, plus classic rolls, chirashi bowls and special nigiri flown in from Japan.

Indoor dining and takeout. 1200 El Camino Real, Suite A-2, Belmont. kirorosushi.com

Orbit Coffee, San Jose

Oaklands Orbit Coffee, known for Instagrammable iced Vietnamese coffee drinks mixed with ingredients like ube and strawberry preserves, has arrived in San Jose. The Oakland coffee shops get lots of customers driving from San Jose, said Orbit marketing director Krystal Chan, so when they found an affordable space tucked away in a San Jose office complex, they jumped at the opportunity. The San Jose cafe  Orbits first outside of Oakland  serves drinks using coffee sourced from Vietnam, plus buckets of mini doughnuts, waffles and breakfast sandwiches. For now, this location is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday-Sunday only, until they can hire more staff.

Outdoor dining and takeout. 1520 The Alameda, Suite 105, San Jose. orbit.coffee/index.html

Mendocino Farms, Mountain View

The Southern California-born sandwich and salad chain Mendocino Farms opened its eighth Bay Area outpost in Mountain View in September. The fast-casual restaurant, located at the Village at San Antonio shopping center, serves classic turkey sandwiches, but also a plant-based Reuben and Impossible burger. This marks Mendocino Farms 40th location.

Indoor and outdoor dining, takeout and delivery. 401 San Antonio Road, Suite 64, Mountain View. mendocinofarms.com

Elena Kadvany is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: elena.kadvany@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ekadvany
In this weekly column, critic Soleil Ho highlights the best dishes shes been eating across the Bay Area. This weeks edition includes a shot of crab, sizzling roasted sardines, and beignets. Check out her recommendations from her previous column here.

Crab shots from Alioto-Lazio Fish Co.

This isnt the first time Ive been to this old-school fish shop, but this week was the first time I caught its daily offering of crab shots ($4). The Alioto-Lazio Fish Co. has been operating in Fishermans Wharf for more than 70 years, and its one of the main reasons why I love this neighborhood. Dungeness crabs and Maine lobsters waddle around in shallow pools reminiscent of the educational touch pools at aquariums. (But you cant pet them here.)

Soleil Ho / The Chronicle

By the register is a tub of ice filled with little plastic cups of crab and lobster meat, plus tinier cups of cocktail sauce. When youre in the shop to buy seafood anyway, the $4 shot, with all the decadent immediacy of prepicked shellfish, is a clear Why not? kind of purchase. The crab was sweet and briny, the leg meat enriched by a trace amount of fat. I sipped the juice with a sigh; and then it was all gone.

Alioto-Lazio Fish Co.. 6 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday; 6 a.m.-noon Saturday. 440 Jefferson St., San Francisco. 415-673-5868 or https://crabonline.com/

Roasted sardines from Portofino Cafe

The windows at Portofino Cafe, a Sicilian seafood house in North Beach, declare that the business originated in 1937, though I wouldnt blame you for not knowing about it since its been closed for more than two decades. San Francisco natives may recall that the original, previously located on Columbus Avenue, shuttered in the late 1990s, around the time when the owners were embroiled in an international drug trafficking case. The restaurant finally reopened in early 2020 in a new location on Grant Avenue and under the ownership of the previous owners son, Frank Balistreri. Its a real neighborhood restaurant, with the jovial Balistreri frequently making the rounds at tables to check on orders and tell stories about his crew.

Soleil Ho / The Chronicle

When available, sardines ($21) are a special here, and you should absolutely order them. The little oily fish are served whole in a hot cast iron skillet, their meat tender and rich; at the table, your server will pour white wine over them to deglaze the pan. A small ramekin of pungent garlic butter is served with them, and Acme sourdough bread is available for soaking up the sauce. If youve never eaten whole sardines before, note that most of the bones are edible, but chew slowly.

Portofino Cafe. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. daily. Indoor and outdoor seating and takeout. 1318 Grant Ave., San Francisco. 415-400-5776

Beignets from Just For You Cafe

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Near the shipyards of the Dogpatch neighborhood is Just For You Cafe, a petite diner that does a brunch service tinged with Cajun, Creole and Mexican influences. Its staff is kind and attentive, quick to top off your coffee if your mug is anything but full. On a given weekday morning, your fellow diners are likely to be neighborhood families, shipyard staff and construction workers, all hunched over big platters of French toast and scrambled eggs topped with chili con carne.

Beignets (three for $6.75) are made from scratch here and are worth going out of your way to eat. The New Orleans-style doughnuts are fragile, air-filled pillows that collapse under the slightest pressure. A snowy sprinkle of powdered sugar slowly melts into icing as the warm doughnuts sit. Dont wear black when you come here.

Just For You Cafe. 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday; 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Indoor and outdoor seating, takeout and delivery. 732 22nd St., San Francisco. 415-647-3033 or www.justforyoucafe.com

Soleil Ho is The San Francisco Chronicles restaurant critic. Email: soleil@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hooleil
On a recent muggy San Jose afternoon, Dr. Sara Cody sat on a shady bench outside her downtown office in the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. Even the mask covering half her face couldnt quite hide her smile, and definitely not her laughter.

Its been a grueling 18 months for Cody, the county health officer, and though shes anticipating a bumpy fall and winter in the pandemic, shes buoyed by signs that the worst of COVID may be in the past, at least in her pocket of the country.

I feel pretty confident that in the Bay Area, whatever the ups and downs we have ahead, theyre going to be softer and milder here than elsewhere, said Cody, eyes crinkling with happiness.

But to be honest, I really dont know what will happen, she added. The virus could mutate into something almost unrecognizable. Human behavior, she said, is almost equally hard to predict. And so its a dance between them.

No one thinks COVID is disappearing anytime soon, but the past few months of this year could be the last big gasp of the pandemic in the Bay Area. By early 2022, when children as young as 2 may be eligible for vaccination, community-wide immunity may crest well over 90% in much of the region, and the dizzying roller coaster of surges and troughs may finally wind down, even if COVID lingers for years to come.

Cody isnt yet ready to say that the next six months could be the end of this most urgent phase of the pandemic, but other experts have suggested as much. And across the Bay Area, millions of people are beyond eager to move on  if not quite to declare the pandemic over, at least to reclaim much of their former lives.

Theyre eager to travel, go back to work, meet friends for dinner and hug family members at Thanksgiving. Many want to take off their masks.

I feel blessed to have this, said Alan Nguyen, 43, moments after getting his second dose of vaccine at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds on Monday. Nguyens shot will help push Santa Clara Countys total vaccination rate past 75%, remarkably high among the states largest counties.

Standing in the dusty parking lot, Nguyen said hes feeling more hopeful now than at any other time in the pandemic. The vibe here is that were ready to go out and live, he said.

Peter DaSilva/Special to The Chronicle

Still, the pandemic isnt over. And after a year and a half of humbling setbacks, few experts are willing to guess when it might end, or what that end will look like. Its unlikely the Bay Area will face another surge as deadly and devastating as last winters, when hospitals filled to capacity and more than 3,000 people died in the region in just three months.

Beyond that, its hard to predict what even the next few months will bring. There are factors both controllable and not. Young children likely will become eligible for vaccines this month or next, though no one knows how eager parents will be to get them shots. Vaccine mandates may further boost overall vaccination rates that could suppress the next surge.

The holiday season and associated gatherings could drive up cases again  but its impossible to guess by how much. People know how to protect themselves with masking and social distancing and other well-tested tools, but their willingness to use them may be blunted by COVID fatigue.

And a new variant thats able to evade vaccines could undermine everyones best efforts.

Its prudent to prepare for another winter wave. It would be a mistake not to at least consider that possibility very seriously, said Dr. Nicholas Moss, the Alameda County health officer. But it is possible that things could start to change in 2022. Im generally optimistic, but we have work to do before we get to that place.

The list of challenges officials like Moss are preparing for in the coming months is long and daunting, even assuming a new, more problematic variant doesnt replace the highly transmissible delta.

Stephen Lam/The Chronicle

Most experts anticipate the return of the flu this year, which could add stress to already strained health care systems. They are expecting more respiratory illnesses in general, with children back in classrooms and more people returning to office work. Hospitals are used to preparing for flu every year, but this winter they have to factor in COVID and a workforce thats weary from nearly two years of unprecedented physical and emotional pressure.

Its something that keeps me up at night, and has kept me up at night even before first surge: How are we going to be able to weather this for an unknown period of time? said Dr. Lukejohn Day, chief medical officer of San Francisco General Hospital.

The hospital has developed and revised its COVID surge plans repeatedly as new information became available, factoring in everything from treatment protocols to how best to contain the virus in a health care setting. And still, Day said he expects to face fresh challenges in the coming months. The delta surge came as a particularly frustrating surprise, hitting vaccinated health care workers and raising concerns about staffing levels.

But the way the fourth surge went in San Francisco  in a city that was highly vaccinated, that instituted masking, thats really trying to employ best practices, showed that even with a tough variant you can minimize a surge significantly, Day said. I think these surges will be less and less eventful over the next year or two. On the flip side, as a physician, Im always trained to think about the worst-case scenario.

San Francisco General and other Bay Area hospitals began delivering the first booster shots to staff last week, in some places administering them at the same time as flu shots. A pop-up clinic at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center was buzzing with appointments scheduled every few minutes; the line outside crossed over faded green and blue Xs on the floor that marked socially distant spacing for earlier testing and vaccination clinics. They delivered more than 300 boosters in just the first day, said nurse Joyce Van De Pitte.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Though the vaccines are proving tremendously effective at preventing severe illness and death from COVID, much remains uncertain about the durability of that protection, and whether waning immunity will lead to more breakthrough infections. Boosters are just starting to go into the arms of older adults, people with compromised immune systems or other underlying health problems, and some frontline workers. But its too soon to know how the complicated equation of vaccination rates and fading effectiveness will play out.

More complex still is the national and global picture: What happens in other parts of the country and the world can directly impact the Bay Area, no matter how well protected the region is by high vaccine uptake and the cultural will to beat back a surge with masking and other mitigation efforts.

The local context is overall positive, given where weve been and hopefully where were going. But we have to see whats going to be happening nationally and internationally as well, said Dr. Grant Colfax, head of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Stephen Lam/The Chronicle

At a community meeting in the Mission District on Tuesday, Colfax fielded questions about when the city might drop its indoor mask mandate and loosen other precautions. The three dozen masked audience members were welcoming, offering warm applause when Colfax briefly broke down while describing the immense pride and relief he felt in beating back the first surge in the spring of 2020. But they also pushed back at him, clearly frustrated by nearly two years of living with varying degrees of pandemic restrictions.

Everyones exhausted, said Manny Yekutiel, the owner of Mannys restaurant, which hosted the event. Theyre tired of being afraid, he said, and theyre tired of the uncertainty built into the pandemic.

Colfax acknowledged that fatigue  and said he feels it, too. But everyone needs to hold on a little longer, he said. This week there is an average of 2,000 Americans dying of COVID-19 every day, he said. How does that get normalized? For some people (COVID) is already in the background now. Its amazing how resilient and adaptive Americans can be, but how did we get to this place?

In Santa Clara County, Sara Cody echoed his concerns, recognizing that resilience has its limits. And the next few months of uncertainty may further test the collective resolve to fight back another surge.

There are a lot of people who are beyond tired of the pandemic, and of all the upheaval in their life, she said. I dont know how people will behave going forward. The ongoing chronic stress of the pandemic may drive some behavior that facilitates transmission  people feeling like, I cant take it anymore, I dont want to think about risk anymore, Im just going to do whatever I want to do.

But we have to be more adaptive, because were going to be living with COVID for quite some time, Cody said. We have been living with uncertainty for almost two years, and were going to continue to live with uncertainty. But we cant bring everything to a halt again. We have to figure out how to live safer.

Erin Allday is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: eallday@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @erinallday
While COVID is expected to linger for years, the next few months could witness the last big gasp of the pandemic in the Bay Area. California commercial and office tenants are at risk of eviction now that the states pandemic-era moratorium has expired. Even with California recording the lowest coronavirus transmission rate in the country, data shows that the partisan gap between who is suffering the most in the post-vaccine era is intensifying. The Outside Lands music festival will require guests to show proof of vaccination, among a host of other safety measures this year.

Resources on COVID-19 and Californias reopening: For detailed maps and new city-by-city Bay Area data, check out The Chronicles Coronavirus Tracker. To get regular updates on our coverage, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter.

Latest updates:

American Airlines issues vaccine mandate for employees: The worlds largest airline said Friday that it will require all its employees based in the United States, as well as select international crew members, to get vaccinated against COVID-19 according to new guidance from the Biden administration. While we are still working through the details of the federal requirements, it is clear that team members who choose to remain unvaccinated will not be able to work at American Airlines, CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom said in a letter to employees obtained by several media outlets. The company will offer medical and religious exemptions. It did not give a deadline for vaccinations.

Santa Cruz public health officers win national courage award: Pen America awarded its 2021 PEN/Benenson Courage Award honoring exceptional acts of courage in the exercise of freedom of expression to Mimi Khin Hall, Santa Cruz Countys health services director, and Gail Newl, the countys health officer. The human rights group praised the officers for speaking out about threats and personal attacks they faced while mandating anti-COVID rules, and said they helped bring light to the tumultuous journey health officials across the country have been on since early 2020. The group also cited Hall and Newl for combating the crisis while fighting an onslaught of disinformation and vitriol that has imperiled attempts to control the pandemic. The award will be given Tuesday at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

U.S. at risk of another surge if vaccine holdouts persist: Even with the delta wave of the pandemic showing signs of subsiding, the U.S. death toll could surpass 700,000, according to the latest estimate by the Department of Health and Human Services. The Associated Press reports that nationwide, the number of people now in the hospital with COVID-19 has fallen to somewhere around 75,000 from over 93,000 in early September. New cases are on the downswing at about 112,000 per day on average, a drop of about one-third over the past 2 1/2 weeks. But the nations top infectious disease expert said the country could experience another surge if people let down their guard too soon or choose not to get vaccinated. I think that the people who are unvaccinated, when they see the curve starting to come down, that is not a reason to remain unvaccinated... you want to ensure that we get down to a very low level and that we dont re-surge again, Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC News on Friday. We still gotta get a very large proportion of those 70 million people who are eligible to be vaccinated who have not been vaccinated, weve got to get them vaccinated.

FDA group to meet on J&J/Moderna boosters, vaccines for younger children: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration independent vaccine advisory committee will meet on Oct. 14-15 to discuss boosters for those who received the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots, the agency announced on Friday. The advisory group will hold an additional meeting on Oct. 26 to review Pfizers vaccine data for children ages 5-11.

San Jose police union negotiates for a vaccine mandate loophole: San Jose police officers will have more flexibility with the citys vaccination mandate, through a last-minute agreement that will allow about 150 unvaccinated officers to have the option to be tested twice a week for the coronavirus at their own expense, according to a spokesperson for the San Jose Police Officers Association. The officers will also have to take a one-week unpaid suspension next month. The offer will extend to other city workers who have held out on getting their shots, according to city officials.

San Jose doesnt want to push anyone out of their employment with the city, but we have a responsibility to continue to deliver critical city services, safely, to our residents, Mayor Sam Liccardo said in a statement.

We know new variants are emerging, which only furthers the need to ensure we have a vaccinated workforce. Our ability to provide essential services to our community without increased risk of interruptions from exposures depends on it.

California medical group supports school vaccine mandate: Dr. Peter N. Bretan, president of the California Medical Association, said the organization strongly supports the Gov. Gavin Newsoms announcement on Friday that requires all elementary through high school students get the COVID-19 vaccine once it gains final approval from the U.S. government for different age groups. This is not a new idea. We already require vaccines against several known deadly diseases before students can enroll in schools, Bretan told the Associated Press.

The Newsom administration is simply extending existing public health protections to cover this new disease, which has caused so much pain and suffering across our state, our nation and the entire globe over the last 18 months.

Newsom has made it a point of pride to be the first in the nation to issue a variety of pandemic-related school mandates. We want to end this pandemic. We are all exhausted by it, the governor told reporters at a San Francisco middle school.

California to require vaccination for eligible school-age children: The state will become the first to require children in schools to be vaccinated against COVID-19, starting Jan. 1 or July 1, depending on when the vaccines are approved by the FDA. Gov. Gavin Newsom made the announcement at a briefing in San Francisco, adding that all school staff K-12 will also be required to be vaccinated. We hope this encourages folks to get vaccinated, Newsom said. We have no hesitancy encouraging local districts to move forward more expeditiously. Read the story here.

All but 2 Bay Area counties move out of high level of transmission on CDC map: Seven of the 9 counties in the Bay Area region are among the first nationally to move out of the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions high coronavirus community transmission level. San Francisco, Sonoma, Marin, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties have advanced to the substantial transmission category, which in California also includes Los Angeles, Ventura and Alpine counties. Napa and Solano counties remain in the worst category. Rural Modoc County is classified as having moderate transmission and Sierra County is classified as low, which means there is minimal virus risk. California and Connecticut remain the only states at the substantial transmission level while the rest of the country is in high.

Merck to seek authorization for antiviral COVID pill: The drugmaker said Friday that it intended to seek authorization for its antiviral COVID-19 pill molnupiravir after clinical trials showed it reduced the risks of hospitalization and death from COVID by 50% when taken early after an infection.

New population figures change what we thought we knew about COVID in San Francisco: If you look at the San Francisco Department of Public Healths data on neighborhood vaccination rates, Mission Bay looks like its way ahead of the curve. Almost 91% of the neighborhoods estimated 13,222 residents are fully vaccinated, according to the department. But if you incorporate the latest population data from the 2020 U.S. census, the picture changes dramatically. Read the story here.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Why experts hope this is the last big gasp of COVID in the Bay Area: No one thinks COVID is disappearing any time soon, but the last few months of this year could be the last big gasp of the pandemic in the Bay Area. By early 2022, when children as young as 2 may be eligible for vaccination, community-wide immunity may crest well over 90% in much of the region, and the dizzying roller coaster of surges and troughs may finally wind down, even if COVID lingers for years yet. Read the story here.

How COVID vaccination rates stack up against Newsom recall votes in each California county: Politics and COVID-19 vaccination rates are strikingly correlated in the U.S., with redder states generally having lower vaccination rates than bluer ones. Thats true within California, as evidenced by the connection between vaccination rates and the election this month  ultimately unsuccessful  to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom. Read the story here.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh tests positive for COVID: Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh tested positive for COVID-19 following a routine test, the U.S. Supreme Court said in a press release Friday. Kavanaugh was exhibiting no symptoms, the court said, and was fully vaccinated in January. The courts next term starts Monday.

Outside Lands festival faces a new set of challenges with pandemic return: The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival will feel very different this year, organizers said during a community meeting on Wednesday. Read more about the steps promoters are taking to bring the festival safely back to the park.

East Bay woman who survived 1918 flu and two world wars dies of COVID: Primetta Giacopini, a resident of Richmond, was two years old when she lost her mother to the Spanish flu in 1918, escaped Europe ahead of Benito Mussolinis fascists in 1940, and ground steel for the U.S. war effort. The 105-year-old contracted COVID-19 earlier this month, the Associated Press reports, and struggled with the disease for a week before dying on Sept. 16. I think my mother would have been around quite a bit longer if she hadnt contracted COVID, her 61-year-old daughter, Dorene Giacopini, said. She was a fighter.

Monterey Bay Aquarium to require COVID vaccination or negative test: The Monterey Bay Aquarium said on Thursday that it will require all visitors 12 and older to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test for entry, starting Nov. 1. While the Aquarium is not required to implement these safety policies, we are committed to following the latest science and acting responsibly to protect the health and safety of all of our visitors, staff, volunteers, and our community at large, the aquarium said in a statement.

Marin County opens new booster clinic: Marin County Public Health on Thursday opened a special clinic for COVID-19 booster shots at Northgate Mall. This site is offering booster shots until 7 p.m. Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, for eligible Pfizer vaccine recipients, as well as flu shots. The opening of the clinic follows the CDCs recent recommendation that adults 65 and older and select populations at risk for health or workplace reasons, who were vaccinated with Pfizers shots, get a booster dose after six months. Advanced appointments are encouraged, with walk-ins also served as supply allows, the county said.

Will Bay Area hospitals see problems from the health worker vaccine mandate?: Hospitals around the Bay Area will likely avoid the staff shortages and suspensions seen in other parts of the country as the states deadline arrives for health care workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Read the story here.

With hundreds of officers still unvaccinated, SFPD shuffles assignments: So many San Francisco police officers have yet to get COVID-19 vaccinations that officials have been forced to shuffle around assignments to make sure theyre prepared to keep operating regardless of the number of unvaccinated officers  and whether they remain employed  according to a departmental email obtained by The Chronicle. Read the story here.

Dont skip your flu shot, health officials urge: Amid all the focus on COVID-19 vaccinations, U.S. health experts have another plea: Get your flu shot. The Associated Press reports flu cases dropped to historically low levels during the pandemic but with schools and businesses reopened, international travel resuming and less masking this fall, flu could make a comeback and put extra pressure on hospitals already struggling with COVID-19 surges. We probably as a population dont have as much immunity against this virus as we typically might, said flu specialist Richard Webby of St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis. It makes absolute sense to go on out and get that vaccine and at least prepare for something that, you know, could be quite severe.
If you look at the San Francisco Department of Public Healths data on neighborhood vaccination rates, Mission Bay looks like its way ahead of the curve. Almost 91% of the neighborhoods estimated 13,222 residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the department.

But if you incorporate the latest population data from the 2020 U.S. census, the picture changes dramatically. Just 69% of Mission Bays estimated 17,432 residents are at least partially vaccinated  lower than the city average.

Thats because, to calculate coronavirus vaccination and case rates by neighborhood, the Department of Public Health has been using estimates from the American Community Survey, or ACS. Among other things, the ACS uses data on new housing, births, deaths and migration, plus population counts from the prior decennial census, to estimate a regions average population over five years  or 2015 through 2019 for the 2019 ACS 5-year estimates. It is these 2019 numbers that are currently used by the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

The decennial census is generally considered to be more accurate than the ACS at estimating populations because its an attempt to count every single person in the U.S., rather than provide an estimate. But it only happens once a decade. So for most of the pandemic, the ACSs number was the most up-to-date population estimate for the citys neighborhoods.

But then in August, the Census Bureau released detailed population data from the 2020 decennial census, which the Chronicle used to obtain new estimates of the population of each San Francisco neighborhood, as defined by the San Francisco Planning Department. Using these more up-to-date population figures produces a picture of San Franciscos vaccination rates that, in some cases, deviates significantly from the figures currently used by the Department of Health.

For instance, the Bayview appears 91% vaccinated when its rates are calculated using ACS population figures, but 80% vaccinated if its 2020 census population figure is used. The Tenderloin is 86% vaccinated according to the ACS figure, but 71% vaccinated according to the census figure.

Basically, where the ACS underestimated a neighborhoods population, that neighborhoods vaccination rate looks higher than it actually is. For neighborhoods that had their populations overestimated by the ACS, the reverse is true. For instance, Lakeshore looks like its 45% vaccinated according to its ACS population, but its vaccination rate according to its smaller 2020 census population actually looks to be 11% higher, at 56%. The Presidio looks like its about 59% vaccinated now, but using 2020 census figures its closer to 67%.

The S.F. Department of Public Health uses ACS population estimates for its coronavirus case rates, too. So when using the 2020 census population figures, overall coronavirus case rates in some neighborhoods change significantly. For instance, the Bayviews overall case rate per 10,000 residents goes down from 1,327 residents to 1,168.

That being said, the Bayview still has the highest case rate of any neighborhood by far. More than one out of 10 residents have tested positive for coronavirus since the pandemic began.

Of course, the decennial census population counts arent perfect even in an ordinary year  and last year was anything but. Pandemic-induced migration of San Franciscans into and out of the city may have changed its neighborhood populations over the population-counting period. Most demographers also agree that the 2020 census likely undercounted Black and Latino people.

Still, its likely the 2020 population figures are closer to accurate than the 2019 ACS estimates. And these differences could mean the department has been significantly under- or over-estimating the vaccination and case rates of various neighborhoods in San Francisco.

In a statement to The Chronicle, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Department of Public Health said the department would likely not switch to the new census data to assess case and vaccination rates.

One of our primary goals is to monitor the trends in COVID cases and deaths, and this is one of the main reasons why we would choose to remain consistent in using ACS data, the person wrote in a statement. Even with newer data sets available, our use of the 2019 ACS data is critical for historical context and to monitor trends.

Instead, the department said it would likely switch to using the 2020 ACS population estimate once it became available.

Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF, said the discrepancies between case and vaccination rates based on differing population estimates points to a well-known data concern among epidemiologists, what she calls the denominator problem. This refers to the idea that experts may use rough or inaccurate population estimates to calculate a communitys disease rates in emergency situations  in this case, during a period of immense social upheaval with potentially large population fluctuations at the neighborhood level.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Bibbins-Domingo added that the denominator problem may have changed how public health officials in San Francisco understood vaccination prevalence in the city, and thus how they targeted their vaccination outreach efforts. For instance, the Bayviews higher-looking vaccination rate could have led these officials in the city to believe the neighborhoods population  which is nearly one-third Black, a high-risk demographic group  was more vaccinated than it really is.

She added that providing San Franciscans with accurate case and vaccination rates by neighborhood can help inform their decision-making about daily life activities.

But Bibbins-Domingo said that while the 2019 ACS population estimates arent perfectly accurate, theyve been available since last March, and stayed consistent over time. So at least theyve allowed public health officials to measure progress on case and vaccination rates at the neighborhood level since the pandemic began.

The better denominators help you think through comparisons across (groups), she said. But for each of them, a stable denominator can help you know if youre getting better over time.

These discrepancies also only exist at the neighborhood level: Citywide, San Franciscos 2019 ACS population estimate is off from the 2020 census count by less than 0.1%. So regardless of the population figure, as of September 29, San Franciscos overall cumulative case rate was about 550 per 10,000, and its vaccination rate was 78%  over 22% more than the U.S. overall.

Susie Neilson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: susie.neilson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susieneilson

Correction: This story was updated from its original version to reflect that San Francisco Department of Health neighborhood vaccination data refers to the total number of people who have received at least one dose.
Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. Whoever said that could have been talking about climate policy.

Republicans in Congress have long abandoned bipartisan cooperation on climate and have wielded the Senate filibuster to block any legislation that would meaningfully slow the emission of greenhouse gas pollution.

Today, however, a rare confluence of events now gives us a chance to do something about it before climate disruption tips the Earth into uncharted territory. First, climate deniers have lost any remaining credibility as Americans witness daily evidence of unprecedented climate-related disasters. Second, a Democratic president once again enjoys support, albeit by the thinnest of majorities, in Congress. And third, an arcane rule called the reconciliation process allows the Senate to pass a narrowly defined budget bill by a simple majority.

A frantic debate is now under way to determine what goes in that omnibus bill.

Most Democrats hope to use it as a vehicle to slash greenhouse gas emissions. Theyre currently battling with centrist holdouts Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema over the details.

But what policies will actually get us to climate sustainability?

An overwhelming majority of economists  more than 3,600  argue that taxes on fossil fuel polluters, or carbon taxes, offer the most cost-effective lever to reduce carbon emissions at the scale and speed that is necessary. Faced with a rising fee on their sales of climate pollutants, oil, gas, and coal companies will try to raise prices to compensate. That will motivate every business and consumer to look for innovative ways to shift away from dirty fuels toward cleaner and more efficient alternatives.

Using taxes to discourage harmful things can be spectacularly effective. Just look at the success of tobacco taxes in slashing rates of smoking by youth.

Prosperous Sweden, which first introduced carbon taxes in 1990, today emits only a third as much carbon dioxide per dollar of gross domestic product as the United States.

Virtually every serious analyst acknowledges the benefits of carbon taxes. However, some question their political viability in a country where millions of Americans swear by no new taxes. An article by the Atlantics Robinson Meyer in July was headlined, Carbon Tax, Beloved Policy to Fix Climate Change, Is Dead at 47.

With apologies to Mark Twain, that obituary was premature.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., recently confirmed that legislators are seriously considering a per-ton tax on the carbon dioxide content of fossil fuels, starting at $15 per ton and rising over time. (Such a tax would initially raise gasoline prices about 14 cents per gallon.)

For some Democrats, a major selling point is the hundreds of billions of dollars such a tax would raise to help pay for ambitious new social programs in the reconciliation bill. But others, like Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, are wisely resisting that temptation in favor of returning most of the revenue to households with low and moderate income as a form of universal basic income.

A notorious 2018 voter revolt in France against higher fuel taxes could be repeated here if Americans are asked to bear higher energy bills with only the future promise of reduced climate change. Manchin has already indicated he wont back a plan with new taxes passed on to the people.

When taxes are sweetened with a dividend back to individuals or households, however, polls show that 60% to 70% of U.S. voters would support such a package. In Canada, a national carbon fee and dividend policy enacted in 2019 has proven popular in the face of all-out attacks by the Conservative Party.

The dividend would keep most Americans financially whole as they transition to a zero-carbon economy.

A Treasury Department analysis found that an equal dividend to all individuals would protect the bottom two-thirds of households, by income, against the impact of higher energy costs. The bottom 10th would actually see their net incomes rise about 9%!

Economic justice advocates should appreciate that a carbon dividend  more than any other climate policy  would ensure that the costs do not fall on those least able to pay.

Environmental justice advocates should also applaud, since carbon fees would slash harmful air pollution from fossil fuels and limit the cost of future natural disasters, both of which fall disproportionately on communities of color.

Climate activists should embrace carbon polluter fees since they would cover the entire economy. Another leading proposal would address only the electric power sector, which accounts for only a quarter of greenhouse emissions.

Resources for the Future, a respected environmental think tank, projects that three pending carbon fee and dividend bills would achieve President Bidens ambitious goal of slashing carbon emissions 50% by 2030.

Persuaded by such evidence, 42 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus have co-sponsored carbon fee and dividend legislation, as have most Bay Area representatives. California Senators Diane Feinstein and Alex Padilla also back the policy. It even has inklings of Republican support.

Coupled with a dividend, a carbon tax would win broad public favor. Its time for carbon polluter fees to rise from the dead and help vanquish the threat to human survival.

Jonathan Marshall is the former economics editor of The San Francisco Chronicle and a co-founder of the Economics Policy Network of Citizens Climate Lobby.
With their deafening roar and death-defying aerobatics, the Blue Angels are the signature of Fleet Week for many Bay Area residents. They are returning for this years event after the pandemic moved the celebration online in 2020.

The Blue Angels will roar through the skies starting Thursday as they scope out the area between the Golden Gate and Alcatraz Island, where their show will center on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The air show will also include a United 777 performing tricks, the Navy parachute team, the U.S. Air Force F-16 Viper Demo Team and a host of other aircraft. Hours for the air show are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 8, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 9 and 10.

The Blue Angels may be the flashiest and noisiest part of Fleet Week, but the event, which officially begins on Sunday and continues through Oct. 10, is more than the Blue Angels.

It begins  somewhat quietly  on Sunday evening when four Navy ships, whose identities have not yet been disclosed, will arrive in San Francisco, bringing about 1,000 sailors to the city.

Events kick off on Monday with a different kind of noise. A series of 26 neighborhood concerts presented by Navy and Marine Corps bands throughout the week at locales ranging from the Transbay Terminal to Chinatown to the Excelsior district to Duboce Park to the Italian Heritage Festival in North Beach.

A concert by the First Marine Division Band  the Honor Our Fallen concert  will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at San Franciscos Herbst Theatre. The concert is open to the public, and is free, but space is limited and tickets are required. They can be obtained online through the Fleet Week website, fleetweeksf.org.

Another Fleet Week highlight is the public tours of Navy ships docked at Piers 30/32 and Pier 35. Theyll take place Wednesday through Oct. 10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Oct. 11 from 9 a.m. to noon.

The Parade of Ships, which precedes the air show, features a procession of ships from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Bay Bridge led by San Francisco Fire Department fireboats spouting streams of water into the skies to celebrate the return of Fleet Week to the Bay Area.

Marina Green will play host to the Humanitarian Assistance Village, a display showcasing how the military has prepared to help the Bay Area in the event of emergencies, including earthquakes. Instead of showing off military weaponry as has been done in the past, the village displays field hospitals and underwater search-and-rescue equipment. The village will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

San Franciscos Fleet Week, held virtually last year, is the only such event taking place in person this year, with similar events in Los Angeles, Seattle, New York and Baltimore being held online only.

Lewis Loeven, executive director of San Francisco Fleet Week, said event planners, who usually work on the event year-round, only decided in late June to hold this years festivities, cramming a lot of planning into a little more than three months and worrying that COVID trends might force them to cancel.

He credited San Franciscans with making the event possible by getting vaccinated, wearing masks and heeding health care guidance.

Hopefully this will make a good almost-end-of-the-year economic impact on the city, he said. Hopefully everyones vaccinated, wears masks and follows guidelines.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
When the famous Lake Tahoe ski resort formerly called Squaw Valley announced last year that it would change its company name to do away with the harmful epithet, its decision rippled across the global ski industry and generated headlines as far away as Europe.

It also stuck in the mind of Roman Rain Tree, a 39-year-old Native American financial auditor in Fresno whose indigenous family roots tie him to Californias original Squaw Valley, a rural ranching community in Fresno County, 200 miles south of the ski resort.

They laid the precedent in the state, so I want to use that as a road map, Rain Tree said.

Rain Tree soon created a petition on Change.org to rename the place and included a photo of himself and his young daughter standing beneath the town sign. In the image, his daughter holds a poster board that reads, I am not a squaw.

If you allow this name to exist, youre ignoring the plight of our community and how that name is seen by many of us as a verbal and violent attack, Rain Tree said. This name is divisive.

The term squaw adorns hundreds of geographic features, trails, streets, public lands and some towns in the United States. Many people believe it benignly refers to a married indigenous woman and was bestowed on these places in honor of the continents earliest inhabitants.

But for decades, Native American tribes that regard it as derogatory have made clear their distaste for the word. At the least, they say, it exoticizes and objectifies indigenous women. At worst, it has been used as a dehumanizing slur to subjugate a race of people still fighting for rights and representation today.

Clara Mokri / Special to The Chronicle

As a result, there has been a reckoning on the word in the past quarter-century. States including Oregon, Montana, Minnesota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Maine, have passed laws to excise it from place names, maps and markers.

California, however, is not among them. But Rain Tree hopes to foster a similar level of awareness here, starting with the place he calls S-Valley in Fresno County. Rain Tree, a member of the Dunlap Band of Mono Indians and Choinumni tribes, both of which are indigenous to the region, says he is taking up the issue, in part, because his mother grew up in the valley.

By changing the name, what youre really doing is helping a community heal from intergenerational trauma that exists to this very day, he said. Not changing the name, he added, amounts to a continuation of the colonial mentality of just get out of the way.

Established in the 1800s as a cattle ranching community in the Sierra foothills, Fresno Countys Squaw Valley is a collection of low-slung homes sprawled across 200 square miles of low mountains off of Highway 180 between the Central Valley and Kings Canyon National Park. Theres no traffic light or fast-food restaurant. Fewer than 5,000 people live there; many are retired.

There are several tribes with connections to the land around Squaw Valley, and an estimated 1,000 Native people live in the area today.

The genesis of the towns name is murky at best, a subject of local lore more than well-documented historic fact.

Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig, who oversees Squaw Valley, has heard Rain Trees proposal but says any campaign to rename the town must come organically from its residents or representatives from the local tribes.

So far, he says, it hasnt.

Photos by Clara Mokri/Special to The Chronicle

Rain Trees petition has more than 17,000 signatures, but Magsig said a quick examination showed that nearly all of the signees are associated with outside ZIP codes. Further, hundreds of Magsigs constituents have contacted him to say they oppose a name change, including some Native residents, he said.

Magsig acknowledged that the condemnation of the term squaw extends beyond Fresno County but believes there is disagreement about the meaning or affect of the term.

There are people who have lived here for generations, and the name is part of their identity, and the term to them is positive and carries positive memories, he said.

One of them is Lonnie Work, 70, a fifth-generation resident and broker at Squaw Valley Realty, whose forebears moved to the region in the 1850s. He has heard rumblings about Rain Trees idea to rename the town since the Tahoe ski resorts announcement last year, but sees the effort as disingenuous given that Rain Tree isnt a resident and hasnt held a town hall to air the proposal publicly.

Hes creating a ruckus where no ruckus existed and has upset some people here, including some of the local Indians, Work said. He added that his wife, who belongs to the Potawatomi tribe, which is indigenous to the Midwest, doesnt have an issue with the term.

All married Indian women are squaws, Work said.

Clara Mokri/Special to the Chronicle

Rain Tree has support from the American Civil Liberties Union, which hosted an online forum on the topic in July. He feels that he speaks for tribal members who find squaw to be a toxic term but may worry about speaking out publicly. Thats why the local tribes havent formally weighed in on the subject, he says  because it could jeopardize a decades-long quest to gain federal acknowledgment, which grants tribes important government assistance.

One way to change the towns name is to submit a proposal to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, a part of the U.S. Geological Survey that is in charge of such things. Rain Tree has inquired about that process but says he would rather collaborate with local residents to find a new name rather than impose one via government intervention.

In the weeks ahead, hell release a short video commercial on PBS about the cultural harm of the name and speak about his idea on local radio stations.

Its just about education right now, Rain Tree said. We dont want it to be a call to action.

Rain Tree spoke about the idea at a panel discussion of the issue at Cal State Fresno in September. He shared the floor with Leece Lee-Oliver, assistant professor and director of the schools American Indian Studies department, who supports a name change.

If a compromise cant be reached, the question may turn to who deserves priority: the people who live in Squaw Valley now and who, in some cases, have family ties going back a century and oppose a change? Or the people whose ancestors occupied the region first, and for thousands of years, until they were, in some cases, violently removed?

It shouldnt be about one side winning or one side losing, Lee-Oliver said. I think those who are the most injured should be served first. From there, everyone benefits.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the Potawatomi tribe's indigenous land. The Chronicle regrets the error.

Gregory Thomas is The San Francisco Chronicles editor of lifestyle and outdoors. Email: gthomas@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @GregRThomas
A man with a katana, dressed in ninja gear, slashed multiple Army special operations soldiers in California during a late-night attack in September.

As first reported by Stars and Stripes following what appears to be a leaked internal memo shared on Instagram, the attack took place in the early hours of Sept. 18 at Inyokern Airport after which the soldiers retreated into a hangar to recover from their injuries.

According to the unconfirmed memo, a sergeant was sitting outside of an administrative building when the "ninja" approached.

The attacker asked, "Do you know who I am? Do you know where my family is?" To both questions, the sergeant responded "no."

Then, the ninja slashed the soldier's knee and leg before proceeding to break through windows and doors. He then grabbed a chunk of asphalt and threw it "through the window" of the administrative building, hitting a captain.

The suspect, a 35-year-old man, was spotted by Kern County sheriffs and wielded the sword as officers shot projectiles at the man, according to the Daily Independent in Ridgecrest.

Deputies then tased the suspect, the Daily Independent reports, before he was taken into custody.

Stars and Stripes reports that the attacked Army members are likely members of the Night Stalkers, or the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

The suspect was charged with attempted homicide and assault with a deadly weapon, among other charges.
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP)  Outsiders have long profited from Africas riches of gold, diamonds, and even people. Digital resources have proven no different.

Millions of internet addresses assigned to Africa have been waylaid, some fraudulently, including through insider machinations linked to a former top employee of the nonprofit that assigns the continent's addresses. Instead of serving Africa's internet development, many have benefited spammers and scammers, while others satiate Chinese appetites for pornography and gambling.

New leadership at the nonprofit, AFRINIC, is working to reclaim the lost addresses. But a legal challenge by a deep-pocketed Chinese businessman is threatening the bodys very existence.

The businessman is Lu Heng, a Hong Kong-based arbitrage specialist. Under contested circumstances, he obtained 6.2 million African addresses from 2013 to 2016. Thats about 5% of the continents total  more than Kenya has.

The internet service providers and others to whom AFRINIC assigns IP address blocks arent purchasing them. They pay membership fees to cover administrative costs that are intentionally kept low. That left lots of room, though, for graft.

When AFRINIC revoked Lus addresses, now worth about $150 million, he fought back. His lawyers in late July persuaded a judge in Mauritius, where AFRICNIC is based, to freeze its bank accounts. His company also filed a $80 million defamation claim against AFRINIC and its new CEO.

Its a shock to the global networking community, which has long considered the internet as technological scaffolding for advancing society. Some worry it could undermine the entire numerical address system that makes the internet work.

There was never really any thought, particularly in the AFRINIC region, that someone would just directly attack a foundational element of internet governance and just try and shut it down, try and make it go away. said Bill Woodcock, executive director of Packet Clearing House, a global nonprofit that has helped build out Africas internet.

Lu told The Associated Press that hes an honest businessman who broke no rules in obtaining the African address blocks. And, rejecting the consensus of the internets stewards, he says its five regional registries have no business deciding where IP addresses are used.

AFRINIC is supposed to serve the internet, its not supposed to serve Africa, Lu said. Theyre just bookkeepers.

In revoking Lus address blocks, AFRINIC is trying to reclaim internet real estate critical for a continent that lags the rest in leveraging internet resources to raise living standards and boost health and education. Africa has been allocated just 3% of the worlds first-generation IP addresses.

Making things worse: the alleged theft of millions of AFRINIC IP addresses, involving the organizations former No. 2 official, Ernest Byaruhanga, who was fired in December 2019. It's unclear whether he was acting alone.

The registrys new CEO, Eddy Kayihura, said at the time that hed filed a criminal complaint with the Mauritius police. He shook up management and began trying to reclaim wayward IP address blocks.

Lu's legal gains in the case have stunned and dismayed the global internet-governance community. Network activists worry they could help facilitate further internet resource grabs by China, for starters. Some of Lus major clients include the Chinese state-owned telecommunication firms China Telecom and China Mobile.

It doesnt seem like hes running the show. It seems like hes the face of the show. I expect that he has got quite a significant backing thats actually pulling the strings, said Mark Tinka, a Ugandan who heads engineering at SEACOM, a South Africa-based internet backbone and services provider. Tinka worries Lu has access to an endless pile of resources.

Lu said allegations hes working for the Chinese government are wild conspiracy theories. He said hes the victim of ongoing character assassination.

While billions use the internet daily, its inner workings are little understood and rarely subject to scrutiny. Globally, five fully autonomous regional bodies, operating as nonprofit public trusts, decide who owns and runs the internets limited store of first-generation IP address blocks. Founded in 2003, AFRINIC was the last of the five registries to be created.

Just shy of a decade ago, the pool of 3.7 billion first-generation IP addresses, known as IPv4, was fully exhausted in the developed world. Such IP addresses now sell at auction for between $20 and $30 each.

The current crisis was precipitated by the uncovering of the alleged fraud at AFRINIC. The misappropriation of 4 million IP addresses worth more than $50 million by Byahuranga and perhaps others was discovered by Ron Guilmette, a freelance internet sleuth in California, and exposed by him and journalist Jan Vermeulen of the South African tech website MyBroadband.

But that was far from all of it.

Ownership of at least 675,000 wayward addresses is still in dispute. Some are controlled by an Israeli businessman, who has sued AFRINIC for trying to reclaim them. Guilmette calculates that a total of 1.2 million stolen addresses remain in use.

Someone had tampered with AFRINIC's WHOIS database records  which are like deeds for IP addresses  to steal so-called legacy address blocks, Guilmette said. It's unclear if it was Byahuranga alone or if other insiders or even hackers were involved, he added.

Many of the misappropriated address blocks were unused IP space stolen from businesses, including mining giant Anglo American.

Many of the disputed addresses continue to host websites that have nonsense URL address names and contain gambling and pornography aimed at an audience in China, whose government bans such online businesses.

When Kayihura fixed his sights on Lu this year, he told him in writing that IP address blocks allocated to his Seychelles-registered company were not originating services from within the AFRINIC service region  contrary to the justification provided.

Lu would not discuss the justifications he provided to AFRINIC for the IP addresses hes obtained, but said hes never broken any of AFRINICs rules. Such justifications are part of what is typically an opaque, confidential process. Kayihura would not comment on them, citing the legal case. Nor would the two men who were AFRINIC's CEOs when Lu received the allocations.

Emails obtained by the AP show that in his initial request for IP addresses in 2013, Lu made clear to AFRINIC that his customers would be in China. In those emails, Lu said he needed the addresses for virtual private networks  known as VPNs  to circumvent the Chinese governments firewall that blocks popular websites like Facebook and YouTube there.

He said he discussed this with Adiel Akplogan, AFRINIC's first CEO, in Beijing in a 2013 meeting cited in the emails. Akplogan, who stepped down in 2015, would not comment on any discussions he may have had with Lu on the subject.

Akplogan's successor, South African internet pioneer Alan Barrett, would say only that all appropriate procedures were followed.

By that time, in 2016-17, Lu said his company, Cloud Innovation, had quit the VPN business and shifted into leasing address space.

Lu notes that other regional registries  including RIPE in Europe and ARIN, the North American registry  routinely allocate address blocks outside their regions.

That may be so, experts say, but Africa is a special case because its still developing and vulnerable to exploitation  even if AFRINICs bylaws dont explicitly ban geographical outsiders from obtaining IP space.

Unlike at other regional registries, AFRINICs stewards neglected to forge strong alliances with governments on the continent with the resources to fend off legal challenges from wealthy usurpers, said Woodcock of the Packet Clearing House.

The governmental relationships necessary to get it treated as critical infrastructure were never prioritized in the African region, he added. This is not a threat coming from Africa. This is a threat from China."

The international registry community has rallied to the aid of AFRINICs embattled reformers.

ARINs president, John Curran, said in a statement of support that the Mauritian court should also consider whether any fraud was committed in awarding the IP addresses to Lu. His legal battle has potential for significant impact to the overall stability of the Internet number registry system, he wrote.

A mutual assistance fund of more than $2 million created by the regional registries is available  and has been offered  should AFRINIC need it to keep running during the court fight.

The AP found several pornography and gambling sites aimed at a Chinese audience using IP addresses that Lu got from AFRINIC. While those sites are banned in China, they can still be accessed there via VPNs.

Lu said such sites make up a minuscule part of the websites using his IP addresses and his company has strict policies against posting illegal material like child pornography and terrorism-related content. He said he does not actively police the content of millions of websites hosted by those leasing from his company, but all actionable complaints of illegal activity are immediately forwarded to law enforcement.

It is not clear whether the police investigation into Byaruhanga has advanced. Mauritian police did not respond to attempts to determine if they have even sought to question him. Byahuranga is believed to be living in his native Uganda but could not be located for comment.

Akplogan, his former boss, said he was not aware at the time of Byahurangas alleged misappropriation of addresses.

I dont know how he did it, said Akplogan, who is Togolese and now based in Montreal. And for those who know the reality about my management of AFRINIC they know very well that its not something that I will have known and let it go (on).

Inducted two years ago into the Internet Societys Hall of Fame, Akplogan is currently vice president for technical engagement at ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the California-based body that oversees the global network address and domain name businesses.

-

Bajak reported from Boston and Suderman from Richmond, Virginia.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that his state will be the first to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for children in public and private schools.

Under the mandate, the COVID-19 vaccine will be added to the list of other compulsory vaccinations required for schooling such as vaccinations against measles, mumps and rubella. Newsom said that parents can claim religious and medical exemptions.

More for you WHO says new COVID variant 'Mu' could be vaccine resistant

The new mandate will be phased in through two phases: One for children grades seven through 12, and another for kindergarten through sixth grade. The requirement takes effect once the Food and Drug Administration grants full approval for specific age groups, the governor's office said. The office estimates that children grades seven through 12 will have to be vaccinated by July 2022, while the kindergarten through sixth grade timeline is more nebulous as the FDA has yet to issue even an emergency use authorization for the vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.

There is no testing alternative to the mandate, and students who are not vaccinated can remain enrolled in independent study but cannot participate in in-person instruction, the governor's office said.

"We have no trepidation and hesitancy to encourage local school districts to move more quickly," Newsom said, speaking of other school districts who have imposed their own mandates.

In the Bay Area, Oakland Unified School District and Piedmont Unified School District became the first districts in Northern California to mandate vaccines but did not announce a timeline.

Los Angeles Unified  the second largest district in the country with 600,000 students  approved a mandate that requires all eligible students 12 years of age and older to get their first shot by no later than Nov. 21 and to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 19.

SFGATE news editor Amy Graff contributed to this report.
PARIS (AP)  Valentino gave its pared down fashion audience a taste of real Parisian life on Friday. Its show featured flower stands, traditional bistro chairs and tables at which guests, including singer Giveon and The Crown star Vanessa Kirby, were served wine by waiters.

Members of the public stared on from real-life cafes in Le Marais outside the venue in disbelief. But they too got some of the action when, to vibrant applause, the models spilled out onto the real Parisian streets following the show in myriad sparkling, color-rich designs.

Here are some highlights of Spring 2022 collections presented Friday:

VALENTINO

In the heart of Paris most fashionable and streetwise district Le Marais, Valentinos Pierpaolo Piccioli let his hair down. It made for a vibrant and varied collection entitled On the Streets of Paris.

For spring, his aim was to show fashion as it should be - worn on the street. And that he did literally.

There were gleaming gold sequins, eye-popping color, baggy jeans and sheeny Juliette sleeves that smacked of the 80s. This season, the Italian designer moved in a welcome disco-infused direction.

Yet, the designs remained finessed despite the street-musing: One loose, menswear suit in emerald had a silk foulard collar in lavender flapping out delicately from underneath. Silken material ensured that this collection maintained a real sense of luxuriance throughout.

(This is) street not meant as streetwear but conceived... as real life, clarified the house of Picciolis intentions.

When the show ended, like true Parisians, guests were handed bouquets of local flowers sourced from real flower sellers in the Ile-de-France region, while the models strutted around the city streets to thunderous cheers.

ISSEY MIYAKE IS SOFT

The elasticity of water was the anchor for Issey Miyakes collection, which featured swimming caps and vividly colored hats resembling marine creatures.

But it was shape in its purest form that began Fridays collection  against a backdrop of minimalist square paneling.

A sporty vest, pared-down and in pale pastel, set the spring tone. It was the top part of a dress whose skirt was constructed with flattened Japanese lanterns. This idea of flattened, three-dimensional shapes ran throughout the 40 looks. The lantern motif also reappeared on several key items  one with the hole positioned on the models chest like a talisman.

Instead of regular lantern ribbing, the Japanese house, which is known for its use of techno fabrics, employed elastic pleating to give the bottom of its lightweight dresses structure and bounce. The house called this the link rings motif.

It was a soft and wearable display.

RAF SIMONS SHE-WOLF OF WALL STREET

Paris Fashion Week has for years now blurred the boundaries between mens and womens fashions. Raf Simons took this tried-and-tested theme for his spring show, but pushed a little further.

This was a collection exploring androgyny in the corporate office -- the last place that would spring to mind as a non-binary safe space.

It was a lot of fun.

In the Bourse de la Commence, a finely tailored business-like jacket filed by above a gray skirt with a flounce cut on the bias. Models sported non-gender-specific, grunge-style hair  the long styles that were all the rage in the mid-1990s.

Simple oversize tops, and large swathes of bare fabric, added the Minimalist touch often associated with the Belgian designer, who once designed for Dior.

But there was also a splashing of color that broke up the collection, which employed an otherwise mute palette. Red prints infused the front of a black jacket while blue text on a skirt looked almost like it had been sprayed on as graffiti.

MCQUEEN RECRUITS PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTISTS

With many houses still only a digital presence during Fashion Week, some are engaging in focused campaigns to promote their designs. Alexander McQueen is one. The brand launched a global art-fashion campaign this season in which it enlisted photographers to snap their popular Tread Slick book in a natural world setting. Photographers such as Katie Burnett, Max Farago, Gwen Trannoy and Charlie Gates took part in the project photographing the chucky soled boots by the water's edge, on rocks, next to flowers and covered in foam bubbles. It's probably as romantic as fashion week gets.

___

Thomas Adamson can be followed at Twitter.com/ThomasAdamson_K
LONDON (AP)  Britain's Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi have named their newborn daughter Sienna Elizabeth.

In a tweet Friday, Beatrice revealed the name  in full, Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi  alongside a picture of the newborn's footprints.

Sienna Elizabeth is Queen Elizabeth II's 12th great-grandchild. She was born on Sept. 18 at Londons Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, weighing in at 6 pounds and 2 ounces (2.78 kilos).

Beatrice, 33, is already stepmother to Mapellis son Christopher Wolf, who is known as Wolfie, from a previous relationship.

We are all doing well and Wolfie is the best big brother to Sienna, Beatrice said.

Beatrice is 10th in the line of succession to the British throne, the eldest daughter of Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York.

After a whirlwind romance, Beatrice and Mapelli tied the knot in July 2020 in a private wedding ceremony at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor, after their initial wedding date in May was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Siennas arrival has come at a time when Andrew is facing a U.S. civil sexual assault lawsuit.

The duke, who stepped down from royal duties in 2019, is being sued by Virginia Giuffre for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager. She claims she was trafficked by Andrews friend  convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein  to have sex with the duke when she was aged 17.

Andrew, who denies all the allegations, was pictured driving from the queens Balmoral home in Scotland this week, prompting speculation that he was on his way to meet his newest grandchild.
Pulling up to the drive-through window at Dutch Bros on a recent trip to Portland, I panicked when I realized I had no idea what to order. The Oregon-based coffee chain known for eschewing pretentious third-wave coffee culture in favor of sugar-crammed iced lattes and electric green energy drinks was not my usual cup of tea (Im more of a black coffee only, snobby Chemex-using kind of gal).

Suddenly, a head popped out the window.

Welcome to Dutch Bros! What can I get you? asked an extremely friendly man.

Uhh  Ive never been here before. Whats your most popular drink? I stammered.

The bro-istas (yes, theyre really called that) eyes lit up. I was fresh meat, a new customer on the precipice of falling into the clutches of the cult favorite chains cavity-inducing concoctions. He put out some feelers, trying to figure out how best to get me hooked.

Do you like coffee? he asked earnestly.

I found this a ridiculous question. Was my rental car not idling in the drive-through line for Dutch Bros Coffee? Did he think I took a wrong turn on the way to Dutch Bros Soup?

But in hindsight, this question made perfect sense.

A brief jaunt through the menu reveals that Dutch Bros does not sell regular drip coffee. In fact, there is barely a single beverage that has escaped a heavy dosing of flavored syrup. These drinks may contain coffee, but they almost certainly wont taste like it  except maybe the 9-1-1, a heart attack in a cup with six espresso shots.

A good portion of the menu is represented by variations of Blue Rebel, Dutch Bros' neon-colored energy drink, as well as noncaffeinated milkshakes, smoothies, lemonades and sodas. Noncoffee drinks apparently actually outsell espresso-based drinks at Dutch Bros.

All that said, this is not a coffee shop for people who love the taste of coffee.

---

Janis B. via Yelp

I had wanted to try Dutch Bros after hearing they were opening a new location in Concord, the chains third East Bay location and the closest to where I live in Oakland. The new drive-through at the corner of Clayton and Bailey roads just got approved in early September, though its still in the very early stages of development.

Id actually lied to the barista  I have tried Dutch Bros once before, when I was 17. I was on a summer road trip in Oregon with some friends to celebrate graduating high school, and it was early morning. Dutch Bros, which is open 24/7, was the only thing nearby that was open.

I cant remember what I ordered, but I liked it. Thats probably because I was a teenager.

Dutch Bros was started in 1992 by two actual Dutch American brothers, Travis and Dane Boersma. They opened their first pushcart in Grants Pass, Oregon, in an attempt to move on from their familys failing dairy farm.

Dane, who lived with his wife and three kids in a trailer on the farm, was skeptical about espresso after sampling a bitter cup in a local Italian restaurant, read a Forbes profile of the company. When he tried a vanilla latte, though, he was hooked.

Their sugary lattes served by famously friendly bro-istas took off, and today, Dutch Bros has more than 400 locations in nine different states. These days, its just Travis running the company, as Dane passed away from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2009. Just a few weeks ago, the company went public, making Travis a billionaire overnight.

Most Bay Area locals I know have never heard of Dutch Bros, but the brand has a pretty strong regional following, which calls itself the Dutch Mafia. It seems mostly beloved by young people, from sweet-toothed teenagers to bleary-eyed college students searching for caffeinated fuel to pull them through all-nighters.

Dutch Bros business model is perfectly primed to create a cult following: They have a secret menu, baristas who are literally required to be super friendly ("We simply don't tolerate toxic or cancerous behavior to the culture," Boersma told Forbes) and collectable stickers. Some have even called it the "In-N-Out of the coffee world."

They also dont take themselves too seriously: Their founder is a flip-flop wearing bro-dude who says rad a lot, and they sell cotton candy milkshakes and electric red caffeinated juice called the Double Rainbro. I mean, it sounds disgusting, but in an era where you can spend as much as $75 on an extremely fancy hand-poured cup of coffee, theres something sort of refreshing about that.

Though there maybe is something a little off-putting about their whole good vibes only shtick  Eater calls it toxic positivity. In 2020, the company removed all Black Lives Matter signs in their shops, saying, We removed the signs not because we dont support the Black Lives Matter movement.  Weve chosen to focus on taking massive action internally to ensure were making extraordinary strides in diversity, equity and inclusion. Theyve also previously stated that the company doesnt take political stances.

---

Tiffany D. / Tiffany B. via Yelp

Despite my apprehension, I took the bro-istas recommendations: the Kicker for me, made with espresso, half and half and Irish cream syrup, and the Caramelizer for my boyfriend, made with chocolate milk, espresso and caramel sauce. We got them iced, because that seems to be the Dutch Bros way.

After pulling away from the blue, peak-roofed building with its iconic windmill symbol beckoning undercaffeinated customers from miles away, I took my first sip.

Yuck.

The Kicker was impossibly, sickeningly sweet. It tasted how sunscreen smells. Perfumey in the way only a 12-year-old girl could love, it was like drinking a Bath and Body Works vanilla marshmallow candle.

I tried the Caramelizer. It was equally as sweet, but in more of a chocolatey way, which was sort of an improvement. A single sip immediately transported me back to glugging little cartons of chocolate milk in the elementary school cafeteria.

Ultimately, I tried valiantly but could not finish my Kicker, as a sugar headache started to come on before I reached the bottom. It did, however, shake me wide awake after an early morning flight.

Dutch Bros star is rising, but is it poised to take over the world? Should Starbucks watch its back? Is this peppy sugar factory the type of coffee shop we deserve in 2021?

I mean, the Portland bro-ista was genuinely really, really nice. And as a born-and-raised Pacific Northwesterner, I really wanted to feel a burst of regional pride with my first sip of the Kicker.

But no, Starbucks has nothing to fear  unless all adults suddenly develop the taste buds of chocolate milk-loving babies.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  The mayor of Alaska's largest city apologized Thursday for his comments supporting some residents' use of Holocaust imagery to liken a proposed citywide mask mandate to the oppression of Jewish people in Nazi Germany.

Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson has said he staunchly opposes the proposal and initially defended the use of yellow Stars of David worn by other critics this week at heated public hearings. Such imagery has been used by opponents of mask and vaccine mandates across the U.S., drawing condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish organizations.

The proposal before the Anchorage Assembly would require people to wear masks in indoor public spaces and outdoors at large events. If approved as written, businesses and building owners would be required to deny entry to people not wearing masks, though there are exceptions for small children and some others.

It comes as Alaska experiences a spike in coronavirus cases. The state has seen a 42% increase in newly confirmed COVID-19 cases over last week, officials said, and its largest hospital has declared crisis standards that allow the overwhelmed facility to modify its normal levels of care.

The mask proposal has provoked a strong response.

Four people were arrested during a Wednesday assembly hearing on the measure, two for disorderly conduct and two for trespassing. One also faces a weapons misconduct charge for allegedly carrying a concealed gun, Anchorage Police Sgt. Ken Bushue told the Anchorage Daily News.

Anchorage instituted mask mandates under two different mayoral administrations. But Bronson was elected in May after pledging not to enact mask mandates.

During a Tuesday assembly meeting, he said the proposed mask mandate is reckless and ill conceived.

I oppose this ordinance because it is based on inconclusive science, because it is bad policy, and because it is an unconstitutional infringement on the freedom guaranteed to every Anchorage citizen by our federal and state constitutions, Bronson said. But most of all, I oppose this ordinance because it pits neighbor against neighbor, shop owner against customer and friend against friend.

At a hearing the next day, he defended the use of the yellow stars, with the words Do not comply, worn by some attendees opposing the mask mandate.

Christine Hill, who twice ran unsuccessfully for the assembly, printed out the stars at home and handed them out for others to wear to draw a comparison to the oppression and genocide of Jewish people in Nazi Germany.

Were going down that same road, whats happening now, taking more and more of our freedom away. And thats whats happening. Thats whats frightening, Hill said.

Assembly member Forrest Dunbar, who is Jewish and lost to Bronson in the mayoral race, decried the use of the Star of David, reading a letter he received from his rabbi, Abram Goodstein.

It was heart-wrenching for me when I noticed individuals were wearing yellow Stars of David, mimicking my Jewish ancestors who perished during the Holocaust, Dunbar read, quoting Goodstein.

For myself and most Jews, seeing the yellow Star of David on someones chest elicits the same feeling as seeing a swastika on a flag or the SS insignia on a uniform," the letter said. "I believe it is a constitutional right to protest for your values. But I request that you do not use symbols that diminish the 6 million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust.

During his comments on the subject Wednesday, Bronson said: There was a formal message that came out within Jewish culture about that, and the message was, Never again. Thats an ethos. And thats what that star really means is, We will not forget, this will never happen again. And I think us borrowing that from them is actually a credit to them.

On Thursday, the mayor issued a statement apologizing for his remarks.

I understand that we should not trivialize or compare what happened during the Holocaust to a mask mandate, and I want to apologize for any perception that my statements support or compare what happened to the Jewish people in Nazi Germany, Bronson said.

Many in the crowd testified against the mask mandate.

Others called into the meeting expressing support for the proposal, citing rising case numbers and overburdened hospitals. They included Dr. Tom Hennessy, who specializes in public health and preventative medicine at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Theres clear and convincing evidence that the use of facial masks and mask mandates in public settings reduces transmission and deaths from COVID-19. We know this from laboratory studies and real world evaluation of mask policies, Hennessy said.

The hearing was scheduled to continue Thursday. Bronson could issue a veto on the proposal, but the assembly has the authority to override it.
MARKSVILLE, La. (AP)  Two inmates who escaped from a Louisiana jail this week are back in custody but three others remain on the loose.

The Avoyelles Parish Sheriff's Office said Kyle Cavalier, 19, and Davantae Williams, 20, were found Thursday in Alexandria by U.S. Marshals and Alexandria Police officers, KALB-TV reported.
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP)  Outsiders have long profited from Africas riches of gold, diamonds, and even people. Digital resources have proven no different.

Millions of internet addresses assigned to Africa have been waylaid, some fraudulently, including through insider machinations linked to a former top employee of the nonprofit that assigns the continents addresses. Instead of serving Africas internet development, many have benefited spammers and scammers, while others satiate Chinese appetites for pornography and gambling.

New leadership at the nonprofit, AFRINIC, is working to reclaim the lost addresses. But a legal challenge by a deep-pocketed Chinese businessman is threatening the bodys very existence.

The businessman is Lu Heng, a Hong Kong-based arbitrage specialist. Under contested circumstances, he obtained 6.2 million African addresses from 2013 to 2016. Thats about 5% of the continents total  more than Kenya has.

When AFRINIC revoked the addresses, now worth about $150 million, Lu fought back. His lawyers in late July persuaded a judge in Mauritius, where AFRICNIC is based, to freeze its bank accounts. His company also filed a $80 million defamation claim against AFRINIC and its new CEO.

Its a shock to the global networking community, which has long considered the internet as technological scaffolding for advancing society. Some worry it could undermine the entire numerical address system that makes the internet work.

There was never really any thought, particularly in the AFRINIC region, that someone would just directly attack a foundational element of internet governance and just try and shut it down, try and make it go away. said Bill Woodcock, executive director of Packet Clearing House, a global nonprofit that has helped build out Africas internet.

Lu told The Associated Press that hes an honest businessman who broke no rules in obtaining the African address blocks. And, rejecting the consensus of the internets stewards, he says its five regional registries have no business deciding where IP addresses are used.

AFRINIC is supposed to serve the internet, its not supposed to serve Africa, Lu said. Theyre just bookkeepers.

In revoking Lus address blocks, AFRINIC is trying to reclaim address space critical for a continent that lags the rest in leveraging internet resources to raise living standards and boost health and education. Africa has been allocated just 3% of the worlds first-generation IP addresses.

Making things worse: the alleged theft of millions of AFRINIC IP addresses, involving the organizations former No. 2 official, Ernest Byaruhanga, who was fired in December 2019. Its unclear whether he was acting alone.

The registrys new CEO, Eddy Kayihura, said at the time that hed filed a criminal complaint with the Mauritius police. He shook up management and began trying to reclaim wayward IP address blocks.

While billions use the internet daily, its inner workings are little understood and rarely subject to scrutiny. Globally, five fully autonomous regional bodies, operating as nonprofit public trusts, decide who owns and runs the internets limited store of first-generation IP address blocks. Founded in 2003, AFRINIC was the last of the five registries to be created.

Just shy of a decade ago, the pool of 3.7 billion first-generation IP addresses, known as IPv4, was fully exhausted in the developed world. Such IP addresses now sell at auction for between $20 and $30 each.

The current crisis was precipitated by the uncovering of the alleged fraud at AFRINIC. The misappropriation of 4 million IP addresses worth more than $50 million by Byahuranga and perhaps others was discovered by Ron Guilmette, a freelance internet sleuth in California, and exposed by him and journalist Jan Vermeulen of the South African tech website MyBroadband. Byahuranga is believed to be living in his native Uganda but could not be located for comment.

AFRINIC's CEO from 2003 to 2015, Adiel Akplogan, told the AP he was not aware at the time of Byahurangas alleged misappropriation of addresses.

I dont know how he did it, said Akplogan, a Togolese who is currently vice president for technical engagement at ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the California-based body that oversees the global network address and domain name businesses And for those who know the reality about my management of AFRINIC they know very well that its not something that I will have known and let it go (on).

Ownership of at least 675,000 wayward addresses is still in dispute. Some are controlled by an Israeli businessman, who has sued AFRINIC for trying to reclaim them.

Many of the disputed addresses continue to host websites with nonsense url address names like www.mzcmxx.com and that contain gambling and pornography aimed at an audience in China. The AP also found similar websites using IP addresses that Lu got from AFRINIC. While those sites are banned by the government in China, they can still be accessed there.

Lu said such sites make up a minuscule part of the websites using his IP addresses and his company has strict policies against posting illegal material like child pornography and terrorism-related content. He said he does not actively police the content of millions of websites hosted by lessees but all actionable complaints of illegal activity are immediately forwarded to law enforcement.

-

Bajak reported from Boston and Suderman from Richmond, Virginia.
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A Texas judge has found Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones liable for damages in three defamation lawsuits brought by the parents of two children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre over his claims that the shooting was a hoax.

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin, home of Infowars, entered default judgments against Jones, Infowars and other defendants for what she called their flagrant bad faith and callous disregard of court orders to turn over documents to the parents' lawyers. The rulings were issued on Monday and released on Thursday.

The cases now head to trial for juries to determine the amount of damages Jones and the other defendants will have to pay the families.

The shooting at the Newtown, Connecticut, school on Dec. 14, 2012, killed 20 first-graders and six educators. The gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, fatally shot his mother at their Newtown home before going to the school, and killed himself as police arrived.

The shooting was portrayed on Jones Infowars show as a hoax involving actors aimed at increasing gun control. Jones has since acknowledged the school shooting did occur.

Families of some of the school shooting victims sued Jones, Infowars and others in courts in Texas and Connecticut over the hoax conspiracy, saying they have been subjected to harassment and death threats from Jones' followers. The Connecticut cases remain pending.

Jones and his attorney in Connecticut, Norman Pattis, criticized the Texas judge's ruling in a statement on the Infowars website.

It takes no account of the tens of thousands of documents produced by the defendants, the hours spent sitting for depositions and the various sworn statements filed in these cases, they said. We are distressed by what we regard as a blatant abuse of discretion by the trial court. We are determined to see that these cases are heard on the merits.

Jones' lawyers have denied the defamations allegations and argued his comments about the school shooting were protected by free speech rights.

One of the Texas lawsuits was filed by Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose son Noah was killed in the shooting. The two others were filed by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse was killed. Several other families of the victims are suing on similar claims in Connecticut.

Bill Ogden, a Houston lawyer representing the four parents in the Texas cases, said Jones and Infowars have failed to turn over documents for the past few years. He added such default judgments are rare.

My clients have and continue to endure Defendants 5-year campaign of repulsive lies, Ogden said in a statement, which quoted the judge's ruling. We believe the Court hit this nail on the head when it considered Alex Jones and Infowars bad faith approach to this litigation, Mr. Jones public threats, and Jones professed belief that these proceedings are show trials.

Guerra Gamble said in her rulings that she was defaulting Jones and the other defendants after an escalating series of admonishments by judges, monetary fines and other actions was ineffective in getting the defendants to turn over documents.

In 2019, Jones was ordered by another Texas judge to pay $100,000 in legal fees to Heslin's lawyers for disregarding a court order to produce witnesses.

Jones also was sanctioned in the Connecticut cases for violating numerous orders to turn over documents and for an angry outburst on his web show against an attorney for some of the victims' relatives. A judge barred Jones from filing a motion to the dismiss the case  a ruling that was upheld after being appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear Jones' appeal in April.
Blue sky and wispy clouds framed the outline of an ultra-Orthodox man of the Kiryat Sanz Hasidic sect on a hill in Israel during a Tashlich ceremony, in which Jews symbolically cast off their sins into a body of water, ahead of the Yom Kippur holiday.

Tibetan exiles in India threw fistfuls of barley flour into the air at an early morning gathering, chanting through face masks worn to guard against the coronavirus.

Eyes closed in rapture, a Haitian migrant pressed a paperback bible to the crown of her head during a Mass at an improvised shelter in the Mexico-U.S. border region where thousands of her compatriots recently arrived hoping to cross.

Images captured by Associated Press photographers around the world last month showed how prayer has diverse manifestations across faith traditions and human-drawn frontiers.

In Cuba it took the face of a young girl kneeling in church before flickering candles for the countrys patron, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, whose customary feast day procession was scrapped for a second year due to the pandemic.

In Lebanon it was Muslim men standing shoulder-to-shoulder with heads bowed over prayer rugs at a gas station, where they demonstrated against severe fuel shortages amid a crippling economic crisis.

And in India, a woman clasped her hands to her face and bent in veneration before a cow, considered holy by Hindus, during the Teej festival marked by daylong fasting by women asking to find a good husband or for the longevity of an existing one.

Prayer was a central part of many observances of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States, such as in Chicago, where uniformed firefighters standing in formation bowed their heads in solemn ceremony.

And at ground zero in New York, workers installed thin panels of marble on the dome of a rebuilt Greek Orthodox church, the only house of worship destroyed in the attacks, in preparation for a lighting and memorial service held days later, on the eve of the anniversary.

These and more are among the APs top faith-related images from the month.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
BRUSSELS (AP)  A round of free trade talks between the European Union and Australia has been postponed by one month in the wake of a dispute over the Australian government's decision to cancel a multibillion-euro French submarine deal, EU and Australian officials said Friday.

EU commission chief spokesman Eric Mamer said the decision to delay the meeting was taken by the EU's executive arm. Asked whether it was a retaliation measure, Mamer said the EU is not in the business of punishing anybody.

Miriam Garcia Ferrer, the EU commission spokesperson in charge of trade, insisted the delay does not mean the end of discussions while Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan said he would continue planning to meet with his EU counterpart Valdis Dombrovskis next week to discuss the negotiations now set for November.

A free trade agreement is in the interests of Australia and the European Union and will strengthen our relationship that is built on a shared commitment to democracy, human rights, the rule of law and economic openness, Tehan said in a statement.

We understand the French reaction to our submarine decision, but ultimately any nation must act in its national interest  which is what Australia has done, he added.

The EU launched negotiations for a trade agreement with Australia in 2018. The 12th round of talks was scheduled to take place later this month via videoconference.

Australia signed the 90 billion Australian dollar ($66 billion) deal with French majority state-owned Naval Group in 2016 to build 12 conventional diesel-electric submarines. But Prime Minister Scott Morrison canceled the deal last month as part of an alliance with the United States and Britain that will give Australia at least eight nuclear-powered submarines.

The move infuriated France, and prompted criticism from European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

An EU official directly aware of the matter said the submarine row played a role in the decision to delay this month's talks but insisted a deal was not ready to be sealed in any case. The person spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

France has accused the United States and Australia of betrayal over the canceled contract and the replacement trilateral alliance negotiated in secret. France briefly recalled its ambassador from Washington in protest; there is no word of when a French ambassador might return to Australia.

According to EU data, the 27-nation EU represented Australias third-largest trading partner in 2020, after China and Japan, ahead of the United States.

After the previous round of talks in June, the EU said discussions were held in a good and constructive atmosphere and showed a shared commitment to negotiate an ambitious and comprehensive agreement."

Garcia Ferrer said the monthlong delay would allow both sides to prepare better for the next round.

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Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, contributed to this story.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australia has outlined plans to lift a pandemic ban on its vaccinated citizens traveling overseas from November. But no date has yet been set for welcoming international tourists back.

Travel restrictions that have trapped most Australians and permanent residents at home over the past 18 months would be removed when 80% of the population aged 16 and older were fully vaccinated, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.

Australia introduced some of the toughest travel restrictions of any democracy in the world on people entering and leaving the island nation on March 20 last year.

Most Australians have had to argue for rare exemptions from the travel ban to leave the country. There are a few exceptions from the ban including government employees and essential workers. Tourism is never accepted as a reason to cross the border.

Hundreds of thousands have failed to reach relatives death beads, missed funerals or weddings and have yet to be introduced to grandchildren because of restrictions aimed at keeping COVID-19 out of Australia.

New South Wales would likely become the first state to reach the 80% vaccination benchmark and Sydneys airport the first to open to international travel, Morrison said.

Weve saved lives. Weve saved livelihoods, but we must work together to ensure that Australians can reclaim the lives that they once had in this country, Morrison said.

Sydney-based Qantas Airways announced international flights would resume from Nov. 14 to London and Los Angeles.

Morrison offered no clue to when other nationalities would be welcome to visit Australia.

Well be working towards complete quarantine-free travel for certain countries, such as New Zealand, when it is safe to do so, he said.

Australia has its closest relationship with New Zealand, whose citizens are considered Australian permanent residents. The neighbors allowed quarantine-free travel across the Tasman Sea before the delta variant outbreak began in Sydney in June.

The Australian Tourism Export Council, which represents a sector that made 45 billion Australian dollars ($33 billion) a year from international tourists before the pandemic, said the end of the travel ban paved the way for visitors from around the world returning by March.

"It marks a shift in thinking within both the government and community sentiment to reengaging with the world, the council's managing director Peter Shelley said in a statement.

A cap on the number of Australian citizens and permanent residents allowed to return each week has left 45,000 people stranded overseas. It's aimed at reducing pressure on hotel quarantine, which the more contagious delta variant had made more difficult to manage.

The cap would only apply to the unvaccinated under the new regime. Fully vaccinated Australians would be able to quarantine at home and for only a week instead of the current two weeks in a hotel.

Australia on Friday added Chinas Sinovac and Indian-made AstraZeneca shots known as Covishield to a list of vaccines that Australians can take and be recognized as fully vaccinated.

Travel restrictions would not be lifted for Australians who chose not to be vaccinated. People who could not be vaccinated for medical reasons or children too young to get the jab would have the same privileges as those inoculated.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)  Parents in California on Friday had mixed reactions to Gov. Gavin Newsoms plan to mandate coronavirus vaccinations for schoolchildren after they gain final federal approval.

Some welcomed the move as a way to keep children safe and classrooms open for learning and to try to put the pandemic behind. Others blasted the decision as premature, noting there is still no vaccine approved for children under 12 and there were more questions than answers about the potential impacts of the shots, and need for them, for youngsters.

Sarah Burwick, a lawyer in Los Angeles and parent of a soon-to-be 5-year-old, said she is fully vaccinated but that it isnt clear at this time whether the risk to her child is greater from getting the shot or not getting it.

I think any mandate on this vaccine for kids is way too soon, she said. We keep hearing the buzzwords safe and effective, but I think the question for kids should be: is this necessary?

Newsom on Friday announced a plan to have all students in seventh through 12th grades vaccinated by next fall once the shots gain final federal approval for everyone 12 and over. The Democratic governor said he expects the U.S. government to give that final sign-off sometime next year, and that the state would require students in kindergarten through sixth grades to get the vaccine once final federal approval comes for children 5 to 11.

The move comes as several public school districts in the state have said they will require the coronavirus vaccine. In Los Angeles, a vaccine mandate for eligible students is set to take effect in January for the nations second largest school district.

Jenna Schwartz, co-founder of the Los Angeles Unified group Parents Supporting Teachers, welcomed the states move after supporting her districts. She said she believes it will prevent parents from pulling their children from public schools thinking they can avoid vaccine requirements and encourage students who are learning from home due to health concerns to return to campuses.

I think this is just a great way to back up science and back up data and say, this is actually whats best and safest for all students, she said. Were hearing from families who opposed, were going to form our own schools. Well, thats terrifying.

Janet Meadows, whose children are in first grade and preschool, said shed consider homeschooling her children before vaccinating them. The 41-year-old from Kern County said shes worried about the health effects of the not-yet-approved shots for children and a potential exodus of families from public schools.

I dont think we know enough about the vaccine to make our children get it, she said. Theres just a lot of unknowns. We dont need to rush into this right now.

Los Angeles mother of two Jenny Monir said she feels Newsoms mandate was made more for political reasons than public health. She predicts that parents like her, who oppose the idea of a vaccine mandate, will act by pulling their kids out of public schools.

Im furious. On so many levels, she said. Were just pawns in an elite game.

But some parents said they felt the time was right to require the vaccines, especially in light of widespread school closures and coronavirus cases among schoolchildren in other states. At Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland, parent Adam Silverman said everyone he knows has been vaccinated without a problem.

Im delighted to see that were trying to get this health crisis under control, said Andrew Patterson, father of an elementary school student in San Francisco. And we have lots of other vaccine requirements. I dont see why this one would be any different.

But Fabio Zamora, whose eighth grader attends the Oakland middle school, said he doesnt trust the shot, and the state shouldnt be requiring it for kids.

I just think its a parents decision, you know. Period. The government in no shape or form should be having mandates like that, Zamora said.

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Taxin reported from Orange County. Associated Press reporters Jocelyn Gecker and Haven Daley in San Francisco contributed to this report.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  The owner of several Southern California trucking companies pleaded guilty to five felony charges involving tax evasion, COVID-19 relief fraud and an illegal repair of a tanker that resulted in a fatal explosion, federal prosecutors said.

Carl Bradley Johansson, 63, of Newport Beach entered the pleas late Wednesday, the Los Angeles U.S. Attorneys Office said in a statement.
AP

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)  China sent 38 fighter jets toward self-ruled Taiwan in the largest display of force this year on China's National Day.

The Peoples Liberation Army flew 25 fighter jets Friday in the first maneuver, then sent an additional 13 planes that night. Taiwan deployed air patrol forces in response and tracked the Chinese aircraft on its air defense systems, the islands Defense Ministry said in a statement.
LASALLE, Colo. (AP)  A dairy in northern Colorado has been fined nearly $25,000 after the death of a worker whose truck slipped into a pit filled with liquid manure.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Shelton Land and Cattle LTD, which does business as Shelton Dairy Corp., on Sept. 24 for the March death of 44-year-old Juan Panzo Temoxtle, The Greeley Tribune reported Friday. Temoxtle was pulled from the cab of the vacuum truck and died at a nearby hospital.
CHICAGO (AP)  A new court-based program aims to help Cook County residents repay their rent and avoid eviction.

The rental assistance program, scheduled to launch Friday, comes as the statewide eviction moratorium put in place by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in response to the Covid-19 pandemic is set to expire Oct. 3. Researchers at Loyola University Chicago estimated that as many as 30,000 new eviction cases could be filed in Chicago after the moratorium expires.

The program, funded with federal money from the $21 billion American Rescue Plan that Congress passed in March, is a collaboration between Chicago, Cook County, and state agencies and Cook County Legal Aid for Housing and Debt, a collection of legal aid organizations. A similar program, run by the Illinois Department of Housing and the Illinois Supreme Court, will be available to renters in other counties across the state.

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The nonprofit news outlet Injustice Watch provided this article to The Associated Press through a collaboration with Institute for Nonprofit News.

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The court-based program is designed to reach people who have active eviction cases the first time that they appear in court, said Bob Glaves, executive director of the Chicago Bar Foundation, one of the legal aid partners for the program. City or county representatives in eviction court will inform tenants that they are eligible to apply for rental assistance and assist them with the application, Glaves said.

Susan Campbell, director of planning and development for the Cook County Bureau of Economic Development, which oversees all rental assistance in the county, said the goal is to process applications and provide funding within two weeks after the first court date.

When they come back to the court in two weeks time, the judge can look in the system and say, Oh, OK, that persons been approved, and I can dismiss (the case) and make sure that landlord has that payment, Campbell said.

A spokesperson for the Circuit Court of Cook County referred questions to the other program partners.

The court-based program is part of a larger round of rental assistance made available through the American Rescue Plan. Cook County landlords and tenants who are not in active eviction proceedings can apply for funding to pay back rent or utilities through an application that opens Oct. 4.

More than 17,000 people applied in the first round of rental assistance, and just over 7,300 applicants were approved, according to county data. Of those approved, about 40% were immediately facing eviction.

The new court-based program is meant to give such people one final opportunity for financial assistance before they are evicted.

We know there are people who, for whatever reason, fell through the cracks, ending up in court for eviction, where they might still benefit from one of these rental assistance programs, Glaves said.

Court representatives will help people apply when they first appear in court, Glaves said. Applicants who request the relief will be moved into breakout Zoom rooms, where the representatives will instruct them on what documents they need to provide. Applicants will be able to upload necessary documents on their own or with the help of a housing advocacy organization, Campbell said.

Campbell said the federal government is allowing more leniency in eligibility for this round of rental assistance, but there are still certain income requirements. Renters are eligible if they make less than 80% of the area median income, or $74,500 for a family of four. Applicants can receive up to $25,000 to pay 12 months worth of back rent or up to three months of future rental payments. Landlords must agree to the program for tenants to receive the money. When a tenant is approved, the Housing Authority of Cook County will disburse the money directly to landlords, Campbell said.

People who are not immediately facing eviction but need help to cover their rent or utilities can still apply for rental assistance through the links below:

Anyone in Illinois can apply for rental assistance from one of the providers listed at https://www.illinoisrentalassistance.org/providers

Cook County residents can apply at https://www.cookcountyil.gov/service/covid-19-recovery-rental-assistance-program beginning Oct 4.

Chicago residents can also apply at https://www.rentrelief.com/allchicago/.
LIBERTY, Mo. (AP)  All judges in the 16th Judicial District based in Jackson County will be prohibited from presiding over an evidentiary hearing that could determine whether a Kansas City man would be exonerated in a triple murder committed more than 40 years ago, the Missouri Supreme Court ordered Thursday.

The ruling came in the case of Kevin Strickland, 62, who was scheduled to have an evidentiary hearing next week to determine if he would be freed, after Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters-Baker announced in May that new evidence indicated he did not commit the murders.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt argued in a petition filed Thursday with the state Supreme Court that Judge Kevin Harrell and all judges in the 16th Judicial District, which includes a large portion of Kansas City, were biased in favor of Strickland. He cited a letter from the circuit's presiding judge that said he agrees that Strickland was wrongfully convicted.

Schmitt, a Republican who is running for the U.S. Senate, has said he believes Strickland is guilty.

Earlier this month, Harrell rejected a motion from Schmitt that he recuse himself and all other 16th Circuit judges. A Missouri appeals court rejected Schmitt's arguments last week.

The Supreme Court issued a brief ruling that said Harrell had not shown any disqualifying bias in previous hearings in Strickland's case.

Nevertheless, to avoid even the appearance of partiality or impropriety, this Court finds it necessary to prohibit (Harrell) and all other judges in the 16th Judicial Circuit from presiding over (Strickland's hearing), the order said.

Senior Judge James Welsh was appointed to preside over the hearing. Welsh was named a senior judge after serving on the Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals and in Clay County courts. He retired in 2018.

The ruling was likely to delay the evidentiary hearing, which was scheduled to be held Tuesday and Wednesday.

Jared Bustamante, a spokesman for Peters-Baker's office, said she would have no comment on Thursday's ruling.

And Chris Nuelle, a spokesman for Schmitt, said the attorney general also would not comment on the decision.

Peters Baker and Strickland's attorneys have argued that evidence used to convict him in 1979 has been disproved or recanted. Prosecutors said the only person to identify Strickland as the shooter later recanted and two men who were convicted have said Strickland was not with them when John Walker, 20; Sherrie Black, 22; and 21-year-old Larry Ingram, were killed.

Under a new state law that took effect in August, Peters Baker filed a motion asking a judge to hold the evidentiary hearing to determine if Strickland should be freed.

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This story was first published on Sept. 30. It was updated on Oct. 1 to correct that the entire state Supreme Court, not just its chief justice, issued the order recusing the judges. It also clarifies that the attorney general's spokesman's name is Chris Nuelle.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  An expert told Michigan's redistricting commission Friday that some of its draft congressional maps would be fairer to Democrats than current gerrymandered seats but that legislative districts  especially in the House  would still favor Republicans.

Lisa Handley, a consultant who was hired to advise the 13-member panel, provided it with anticipated partisan-fairness data including measures such as the efficiency gap. The formula determines which party is more efficient at translating votes into victories and can help gauge whether one party has an unfair advantage.

I would try to get these numbers down," she said.

The commission, which voters empowered to draw district lines instead of partisan lawmakers, is expected to make changes before voting on draft proposals. Residents will be able to weigh in on those maps at five public hearings from Oct. 18-26.

Handley produced a composite of the results of 13 statewide elections over the last decade and projected that, under a draft Senate map, Democrats would win 52% of the vote but 47% of the seats, resulting in a 20-18 GOP majority.

The efficiency gap would be 8.4%. A score near zero is considered politically neutral.

That is ... above the goal of where the commission would want to be, Julianne Pastula, the panel's lawyer, said at its meeting in Troy. Using these metrics, trying to go back in and make those adjustments to have an impact on these scores, would be advisable.

The bias would be even greater in the House, where Republicans could take 48% of the vote but 55% of the districts for a 61-49 edge, Handley said.

The Michigan Democratic Party this week raised concerns that the panel of four Democrats, four Republicans and five independents might repeat mistakes of decades past"  when the GOP-led Legislature and Republican governors controlled the process  and gerrymander the maps.

Handley was impressed, though, with some of the draft congressional plans. Under one, Democrats could win 52% of the vote to the GOP's 48% and hold a 7-6 advantage. Three of the seats would be tossups. Michigan is losing a seat due to the census.

Under the 2018 constitutional amendment creating the commission, districts cannot provide a disproportionate advantage to any political party. But the partisan-fairness data is lower on the list of criteria, behind requirements that districts have equal population, comply with federal law, be geographically contiguous and reflect Michigan's diverse population and communities of interest.

Other factors complicating the process are the Voting Rights Act's requirements that district boundaries allow minority voters an equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice and the fact that Democratic voters are more geographically packed than Republicans.

Commissioner Anthony Eid, an independent, said having the partisan-fairness software is very useful because I think now we know the work we need to do as a commission in order to get these numbers closer to zero. ... We might have to get a little creative, but I think there is a way to do that.

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Follow David Eggert at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)  The FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have joined a search that spans three counties for a missing college student who disappeared a week ago. Miya Marcano vanished on the same day a maintenance man improperly used a master key to enter her apartment, authorities said.

Orange County Sheriff John Mina said Armando Caballero, a maintenance worker at the apartment complex where Marcano lived and worked, is considered the prime suspect." Caballero, 27, apparently killed himself; his body was found three days after Marcano was last seen.

At this time we dont believe there was another person involved, Mina said Thursday.

The sheriff has said that Marcano had repeatedly rebuffed romantic advances by Caballero. Detectives spoke to Caballero after Marcano was reported missing, but had no evidence to detain him at that time. They obtained a warrant for his arrest after learning that he had entered her apartment before she disappeared. His body was then found inside a garage.

More than 60 detectives are working exclusively on the case, the sheriff said, and a total of about 176 personnel across Orange, Seminole and Volusa counties are assisting the search, which includes trained dogs from multiple agencies, helicopters, dive teams and digital methods. Detectives have conducted nearly 30 searches, he added.

Marcano, a 19-year-old Valencia College student, was last seen just before 5 p.m. last Friday; her family reported her missing after she missed a flight home to South Florida that evening.

I know that Miyas family and her loved ones are going through unimaginable anguish as they try and find out what happened to Miya, said the sheriff, who encouraged people across central Florida to report anything that they feel could be relevant.

We welcome the family and friends and anyone else who wants to help out, as well, Mina said.

The company that owns the Arden Villas apartment complex said all potential employees undergo criminal background checks, and no records of burglary or sexual assault appeared for Caballero.

A Florida Department of Law Enforcement criminal history for Caballero shows one prior arrest in the state. In December 2013 he was arrested in Polk County on charges of using a destructive device resulting in property damage and discharging a weapon on school property, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

An arrest report said Polk County Sheriff's deputies were called to the campus of Warner University after a report of a bomb going off inside a dorm. The explosive turned out to be a toilet bowl cleaner concoction inside a plastic drink bottle. The report said Caballero admitted to using the improvised explosive as a prank on other residents of the dorm. No one was injured.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  The former state Supreme Court justice leading Assembly Republicans' probe of the 2020 election has sent subpoenas to election officials in Wisconsin's five largest cities and the state elections administrator demanding information about private donations used to run voting operations.

Michael Gableman sent subpoenas to election officials in Milwaukee, Green Bay, Madison, Kenosha and Racine as well as Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The subpoenas seek documents related to grants from the Center for Tech and Civic Life.

CTCL gave more than $10 million to more than 200 Wisconsin communities last year to help cover election costs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the money went to those five cities, drawing criticism from Republicans that the money was meant to boost turnout in Democratic areas.

The subpoenas command the officials to appear before Gableman in Brookfield on Oct. 15 with their documents.

Officials in Green Bay and Racine said attorneys were reviewing the subpoenas. Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall-Vogg declined comment. Madison City Attorney Michael Haas said he hadn't had a chance to review the subpoena in detail. Kenosha City Clerk Matt Krauter didn't immediately return a message. Wolfe said the agency is analyzing its subpoena and had no further comment.

A recount and court decisions have affirmed that President Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes. Only four voters out of roughly 3 million who cast ballots have been charged with fraud.

Regardless, Trump still refuses to concede defeat and has pressured GOP legislators to investigate election fraud. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos hired Gableman in June at a cost of nearly $680,000 in taxpayer money to conduct the investigation.

Gableman released a video last month saying he's not trying to overturn the election results. But he told Trump supporters in November that he thought the election was stolen and a former Trump official appears to be working with him on the investigation.

The probe has drawn bipartisan criticism, with Republican state Sen. Kathy Bernier, chair of the Senate elections committee, saying there's no reason to spread misinformation about the election.

Republican Rep. Janel Brandtjen, chair of the Assembly elections committee, filed her own subpoenas seeking ballots, voting machines and other data from Milwaukee and Brown counties. But Vos declined to sign them, rendering them invalid.

Vos did sign Gableman's subpoenas. He issued a statement saying Gableman is dedicated to finding the truth.

Republican lawmakers also have ordered the Legislative Audit Bureau to review the election.
NASHVILLE, Ga. (AP)  A south Georgia mayor has been convicted of theft and property damage after he used an excavator without permission last year and damaged it.

Local news outlets report Taylor Scarbrough, 57, of Nashville was convicted Wednesday of theft by conversion, theft by deception and criminal damage to property in the second degree, court records show. He was acquitted of theft of services.

A judge Thursday sentenced Scarbrough to six months in jail, to be followed by another nine-and-a-half years on probation, according to court records.

Gov. Brian Kemp had earlier suspended Scarbrough from the Nashville mayor's post and Scarbrough resigned before he was sentenced.

District Attorney Chase Studstill said Scarbrough will also have to complete 200 hours of community service. A judge will hold a hearing later this month on forcing Scarbrough to pay restitution for the damage.

Mayor Pro Tem John Clayton, who has been serving as acting mayor, told The Valdosta Daily Times the Nashville City Council will meet next week to consider a special election. Scarbrough's term would have run through December 2023.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Scarbrough used James Hobbs' excavator without permission in August 2020 and caused significant damage to the machine. Video showed some parts of the excavator were heavily dented. Hobbs valued the damage at $12,000.

Hobbs said he was working for Scarbrough and left his excavator on the mayor's land overnight. Hobbs said Scarbrough did not have permission to use the equipment.

Scarborough disputed Hobbs, saying he did have permission. He admitted to damaging the machine, but said Hobbs did not give him enough time to file an insurance claim to pay for the damage.
BERLIN (AP)  German prosecutors said Friday that they are investigating a Turkish man who was arrested in Dusseldorf on suspicion that he spied on supporters of cleric Fethullah Gulen's movement while acting on behalf of Turkish intelligence.

The suspect, identified only as Ali D. in line with German privacy rules, was detained at a Duesseldorf hotel on Sept. 17 after an employee found a weapon on him and called police.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)  A lack of answers from Hungary's government about alleged spying on journalists, politicians and business figures has raised questions for a fact-finding committee of the European Union's legislature on whether the government itself may be behind the surveillance.

The head of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, said Friday that while on an official visit to Hungary this week, her delegation interviewed several Hungarian journalists whose phones had been infected by Pegasus, a malicious spying software.

An investigation by a global media consortium published in July showed that Pegasus, a military-grade spyware from Israel-based NSO Group, was used in Hungary to infiltrate the digital devices of a range of targets  including at least 10 lawyers, one opposition politician and several government-critical journalists.

Speaking at a news conference in Budapest, Delbos-Corfield said that several of the journalists the delegation spoke with said the Pegasus affair had been quite traumatizing. The malware infiltrates phones to collect personal and location data, and can surreptitiously control the phones microphones and cameras.

In the case of journalists, that lets hackers spy on reporters communications with sources.

Delbos-Corfield said the Hungarian governments refusal so far to confirm or deny whether it was responsible for the spying was of great concern for the European Parliament. While the malware was shown to have been used in other EU countries, elsewhere it seems that its not coming from the governments of the member states," she said.

Im not saying for sure, because I have doubts about this, but Hungary is the case where today, we have a clear sign that it was done by the government itself, Delbos-Corfield said.

Hungarian officials, without denying having used Pegasus, have maintained that all secret surveillance activities are conducted in accordance with Hungarian law.

Justice Minister Judit Varga declined to appear for questioning by the Hungarian Parliament's national security committee and told reporters in July that every country needs such tools.

Its an illusion if anyone tries to make an issue out of it, Varga said.

The LIBE committee was in Hungary to gather information on judicial independence, media pluralism, fundamental rights, academic freedom and the functioning of democratic institutions, part of a so-called Article 7 procedure the EU launched against Hungary in 2018 for alleged breaches of the bloc's fundamental values.

Delbos-Corfield said the delegation had met with refusal to answer questions and clear hostility in meetings with Hungary's Constitutional Court and the Curia, its highest court.

Delegates were twice threatened with contempt of justice in meetings with the Curia, she said.

The delegation originally planned to be in Hungary in March 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the visit.

We came with concerns. Those concerns are there since 2018, at least.These concerns remain, Delbos-Corfield said.
AKRON, Ohio (AP)  A jury recommended Friday that a man convicted of killing nine people in separate arson fires in his Akron neighborhood should be sentenced to life in prison instead of the death penalty.

Stanley Ford, 62, was found guilty Sept. 21 on 26 of the 29 counts against him, including aggravated murder and aggravated arson. A judge will make the final decision on his sentence, but a hearing has not yet been scheduled.
NEW YORK (AP)  The New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sued New York Citys police department on Thursday, saying it is illegally keeping the vast majority of officer disciplinary records out of public view.

The New York Civil Liberties Union said in the lawsuit in state court in Manhattan that the NYPD has publicly disclosed only a fraction of the misconduct records that should be public following last years repeal of the decades-old state law that was keeping them secret.

In March, the police department started posting final discipline decisions on its website, while keeping other information under wraps, such as complaints about officers and disciplinary matters that didnt lead to punishment, the organization said.

The NYCLU said it filed the lawsuit after the NYPD denied its request under the state public records law for access to all department databases containing records of officer misconduct and discipline.

By no means has the NYPD entered a new era of transparency by disclosing only those misconduct complaints that they themselves deemed worthy of prosecution, said NYCLU lawyer Lupe Aguirre.

The NYPD said in a statement that last years repeal of the secrecy law, known as 50-a, does not mean that the Department is now compelled to publish all personnel related information.

The department said it rushed to get an initial wave of data online in the spring and that older records and lesser violations are being scheduled for scanning and formatting and will be added over time. All records, it said, are subject to legal reviews and redactions under the law.

The NYPD, in its statement, did not address the NYCLUs chief complaint: that the police department is violating public records and transparency laws by picking and choosing which records are released and when.

There is no other agency in city government that provides this breadth or depth of information on their employees accessible to the public, the NYPD said it its statement.

In August 2020, the NYCLU published data on complaints against more than 81,000 current or former NYPD officers after prevailing in a fight with public safety unions that had sought to keep the records secret.

It obtained from the data from the citys police watchdog agency, the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

The NYPD, meanwhile, has found other ways to deny public records requests for disciplinary information. Over the summer, it refused to release records on Eric Adams, a retired police captain-turned-politician whos the Democratic nominee for mayor.

The police department cited an  unwarranted invasion of personal privacy  in denying a request by The Associated Press for records pertaining to another officer.

After a reporter highlighted such a denial on Twitter, the department said it had done so in error and later provided information on several requested complaints.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  A longtime Democratic state senator from northwestern Indiana has decided to leave her seat in frustration over iron-fisted Republican control of the Legislature.

Sen. Karen Tallian of Ogden Dunes submitted a letter Thursday to Senate leaders that she would be resigning effective Nov. 1, about a year before her term ends.

Tallian was sharply critical of Senate Republicans, saying that after 16 years Ive had enough,

The process has become degraded. Every bill is vetted, in secret, by the Republican caucus, Tallian told The (Northwest Indiana) Times. So it becomes impossible to have real debate on the floor most of the time because theyve already decided what gets to be heard and what wont.

Tallian has been a longtime advocate of legalizing marijuana, an issue thats been blocked from debate by Republicans who have a 39-11 Senate majority.

Tallian raised that issue as she spoke on the Senate floor Friday.

Some time in the future, maybe near, maybe nearer than you think, Indiana will join the rest of the country and address the marijuana question, Tallian said. And when you do, think of me.

Democratic precinct committee members in Tallians district will select a new senator for the 2022 legislative session.
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  Louisiana's largest health system is ratcheting up pressure to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Ochsner Health told employees it will charge them a monthly premium of $200 if a spouse or domestic partner covered under an Ochsner health plan is not vaccinated, The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate reports.

Ochsner has said all employees must be vaccinated by October 29 to keep their jobs.

President and CEO Warner Thomas said the surcharge for unvaccinated spouses and partners is part of an effort to keep health premiums low for employees. As a self-insured organization, Ochsner bears the cost of COVID treatment for patients who are on its insurance plan. Unvaccinated people account for the vast majority of the health system's COVID patients.

The reality is the cost of treating COVID-19, particularly for patients requiring intensive inpatient care, is expensive, and we spent more than $9 million on COVID care for those who are covered on our health plans over the last year, Thomas said in a statement emailed to the paper.

The COVID vaccine fee for spouses will begin in 2022 and could deduct up to $2,400 yearly from the employee's paycheck. The fee is only for domestic partners or spouses, not other dependents such as children who are covered by the employees health insurance and are eligible for vaccination, according to a letter Ochsner leaders sent to employees.

Thomas said the surcharge isn't a mandate because spouses and partners can choose other insurance coverage, and because they can also apply for a medical or religious exemption.

Meanwhile, Louisiana is trying to encourage more people to get the COVID-19 shot by offering them a cash incentive.

Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Friday that Louisiana's Shot for 100 program, which has been offering $100 cash cards to college students who get vaccinated, is expanding to offer the money to anyone who gets newly immunized against COVID-19.

Those interested can get more info online at ShotFor100.com.

If youve not yet been able to go sleeves up yet, were hoping a cool $100 will help make the decision easier, the Democratic governor's statement said.

More than 2.1 million people in Louisiana are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, about 45% of the state's population, according to health department data.
BOISE, Idaho (AP)  Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin has made public a collection of documents to journalists Thursday shortly after a judge again ordered her to reveal the records.

The public records included feedback from the public regarding her newly created Education Task Force, which was tasked with investigating alleged indoctrination in the states public school system, something McGeachin said was necessary to protect our young people from the scourge of critical race theory, socialism, communism and Marxism.

Several journalists first requested copies of the public records months ago. But McGeachins office mostly denied the requests, telling some reporters it would cost them hundreds of dollars to access the materials and cited exemptions to Idahos public records law that didnt apply to the documents.

McGeachin also falsely claimed in public Facebook posts that the journalists were only seeking the records to encourage employers to retaliate against anyone who expressed concerns about the state's public education system

In July, the Idaho Press Club sued McGeachin for the documents on behalf of Audrey Dutton and Clark Corbin with the Idaho Capital Sun, Blake Jones with Idaho Education News and Hayat Norimine with the Idaho Statesman.

In August, 4th District Judge Steven Hippler sided with the state press association and ordered McGeachin to release the documents. In the scathing ruling, Hippler said McGeachins attempts to withhold the documents were baseless and frivolous, noting that she tried to use an exemption that applied to hunting and fishing licenses to to keep the materials hidden.

After that ruling, McGeachin did not release the documents for weeks. When some journalists pressed again to get the public records, McGeachins attorneys asked the judge to reconsider his motion, effectively delaying their release.

She never followed up the legal request with a required court filing that would have explained her legal arguments in more detail.

On Wednesday, the Idaho Press Club asked Hippler to hold McGeachin in contempt of court for keeping the documents hidden. The next day, the judge denied McGeachins motion for relief, requiring the lieutenant governor to release the records. Her office did so a short time later.

This approach is nothing short of sandbagging ... She cannot now attempt a second bite of the apple under the guise of unique and compelling circumstances. Any other conclusion would erode the publics right to prompt examination of public records under the Act, the judge wrote in Thursdays order.

McGeachin did not respond to repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press.

The documents released Thursday included thousands of comments from people who identified themselves as parents, students and concerned citizens, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Many of the comments were in opposition to the task force, with some saying McGeachin was supporting censorship. Others said children need to learn history and how to think critically.

Some of the comments in support of the task force expressed concerns that critical race theory was being taught in schools, although educators have said critical race theory isnt taught at the preschools, elementary or secondary school level.

___

This story has been updated to correct that the Idaho Press Club's motion to hold McGeachin in contempt of court was filed Wednesday, not Thursday.
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP)  A man found guilty of what police say was the first murder in Montpelier, Vermont, in almost a century is appealing his conviction to the Vermont Supreme Court.

Jayveon Caballero was found guilty by a jury in November 2019 of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Markus Austin, 33, in January 2017.

At the time, police said it was the first murder in Montpelier since the 1920s.

Caballero is now serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Because Caballero was sentenced to up to life in prison, the conviction was automatically appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court.

The Times Argus reports that in his appeal, Caballeros attorney Dawn Seibert said the trial court judge didnt allow the jury to hear about a call Caballero made to a family member hours after the shooting.

She also argues the jury saw graphic photos of Austin they werent supposed to see and the state failed to provide prove that Caballero knew the shot he fired could fatally strike Austin.

The court skewed the trial toward the prosecution by making critical evidentiary errors in both directions  preventing admissible defense evidence from going to the jury and at the same time permitting the prosecution to show to the jury photos that had been excluded," the appeal said. The aggregate impact of these errors was to deny Mr. Caballero a fair trial.

Police have said Caballero and Austin were involved in an altercation outside a bar in the nearby city of Barre, and Caballero later confronted Austin outside his apartment and shot him.

After the shooting Caballero fled to Florida. He was captured in May 2017 and later returned to Vermont for trial.

Montpelier has about 7,500 residents and is the nations smallest capital city. The last known murder, in the 1920s, was when a woman shot her husband.
NILES, Mich. (AP)  Police officers fatally shot a 28-year-old man in southwestern Michigan after authorities say he charged at them with a knife.

The confrontation happened about 11 p.m. Thursday at a trailer park near Niles after a 911 caller reported a man with a knife, the Berrien County sheriffs office said in a statement.
ST. LOUIS (AP)  A Missouri man on federal death row for a 2002 botched bank robbery that left a security guard dead has died in prison.

Robert Bolden Sr., 58, died Sunday behind bars, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not give the cause of Boldens death, but court records said Bolden was transferred in 2016 to the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, after he suffered kidney failure and was placed on dialysis. He also had diabetes.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Mexicos president has revealed he sent a letter to the Israeli government asking for the extradition of a former top security official, Tomas Zeron.

Zeron was the head of the federal investigation agency at the time of the abduction of 43 students in southern Mexico in 2014. He is being sought on charges of torture and covering up those disappearances.

Zeron fled to Israel in August 2019, where he may have connections to an Israeli firm that sold the Mexican government spyware during his time in office.

The students from a radical teachers college were abducted by local police in southern Guerrero state who presumably killed them and burned their bodies.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador showed a copy of a letter he sent in September to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, asking him for help.

I write you to ask for your valuable attention on this extradition process, which is a priority for our country," the letter reads.

Despite reports that Israel had expressed disinterest in extraditing Zeron, Israels Ambassador to Mexico, Zvi Tal, wrote in July that the process was moving forward.

Israel does not take political considerations into account in extradition proceedings, Tal wrote. The goal of the dialogue between the respective Israeli and Mexican authorities is to ensure that the extradition request is properly submitted and considered. There has been no delay on the part of Israel.

Zeron oversaw the criminal investigation agency of the Attorney Generals Office and also its forensic work in the 2014 case. Most of the students bodies have never been found, though burned bone fragments have been matched to three students.

Zerons investigation had long been criticized by the families of the 43 students who disappeared in September 2014 after they were detained by local police in Iguala, in the southern state of Guerrero. They were allegedly handed over to a drug gang and slain, and have not been heard from since.

Zeron was at the center of the governments widely criticized investigation, which has failed to definitively determine what happened to the students. Two independent teams of experts have cast doubt on the insistence of Mexican officials that the students bodies were incinerated in a huge fire at a trash dump.

Many of the suspects arrested in the case were later released, and many claimed they had been tortured by police or the military.

The supposition is that Zeron and others tortured witnesses, illegally detained suspects and mishandled evidence to try to bring the investigation to a quick conclusion or cover up what really happened.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  Minnesota lawmakers have $250 million in federal COVID-19 aid to give away, but they can't agree on how to spend it.

The Frontline Pay Working Group, a panel of lawmakers and members of Gov. Tim Walz's administration, is tasked with figuring out how to divide the pot among frontline workers. The panel blew past a Labor Day deadline, and it was made clear Thursday that its Republican and Democratic members are still at loggerheads over who should get the money and how much they should receive, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

Republicans want to offer the tax-free bonus to those workers who they say took on the greatest risk by having close contact with COVID-19 patients: nurses, long-term care workers, hospice providers, jail guards and first responders, including EMTs, firefighters and police officers.

So many stepped up, Republican Sen. Karin Housley, a panel member from Stillwater, said at a news conference. But a few groups stood out to us (for their) sustained and intimate exposure to COVID every day.

Thats estimated to be a little over 200,000 people, and Republicans are hoping for a $1,200 check for each frontline worker.

Democrats want to spread the money more widely. They would add people such as food service workers and janitors, who couldn't work from home and who kept society going while putting themselves at risk of catching the disease, often with little protection. Unions suggest that pool would be around 670,000 workers, leaving around $375 per person.

Something is better than nothing, Troy Brown, a Minneapolis janitor who contracted the coronavirus, said at a separate news conference called by unions that back the Democrats plan.

Democrats don't agree that $250 million should be the limit. They have suggested that the goal ought to be $1,500 per worker and that lawmakers should come up with more money.

Walz has indicated that his thinking is generally in line with his fellow Democrats. But when lawmakers established the panel, they intentionally forced it to be bipartisan. Of the nine members  three Democratic lawmakers, three Republican lawmakers and three Walz appointees  seven must agree. So they remain stuck, for now.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  A county supervisor in Mississippi was arrested on misdemeanor charges Thursday after insulting some of his colleagues during a public meeting, and he destroyed COVID-19 barriers as officers were trying to lead him out of the room.

Hinds County Supervisor David Archie said during a budget discussion that two other supervisors were dummies," according to WJTV. Video posted by the television station showed Archie pulling down the plastic barriers.
HELENA, Mont. (AP)  Most of Montana's Republican lawmakers are urging their leadership to appoint a special committee to investigate the security of the state's voting system.

The effort is led by GOP legislators who are pushing false theories of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, the Montana State News Bureau reported. Republicans hold a two-thirds majority in the Legislature.

The letter, signed by 86 of the state's 98 Republican lawmakers, was sent Wednesday to Senate President Mark Blasdel and House Speaker Wylie Galt and asks for a response by Oct. 6. Blasdel declined to comment Friday, and the bureau could not reach Galt for comment.

The letter proposes forming a committee, whose membership also would be two-thirds Republican, to conduct hearings about the election process and security and decide if any new laws are needed.

Many of our constituents have reached out to us with questions about Montana election security, the letter says. All Montana voters must have absolute faith in our state, county and local elections.

The push to review Montanas 2020 election and cast doubt on the security of the states election system follows similar efforts by Republicans in battleground states won by President Joe Biden, including Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. More recently, reviews have been sought in Texas, Idaho and now Montana  states where former President Donald Trump won.

Trumps false claims of election fraud have been rejected by both Republican and Democratic judges, his own Justice Department and numerous recounts and audits.

Montana House Minority Leader Kim Abbott, a Democrat from Helena, said the Republican letter offers no evidence that there are any problems with the state's election system.

County election officials run fair and secure elections following state laws, Abbott said Friday, adding that she thinks residents have confidence in the state's election system.

Last week, Republican Sen. Theresa Manzella of Hamilton told the Montana State News Bureau that she wants hand recounts of ballots cast in all 56 counties.

Manzella was an emcee for a recent event in Hamilton where speakers who said hackers infiltrated Montana voter databases and ballot-counting machines. She argued a forensic audit was needed to reveal fraudulent votes.

Dana Corson, elections director for the secretary of state's office, said Montana does not certify voting systems that include modems, cellular or networking capabilities, and that voting devices are not connected to the internet, the Daily Inter Lake reported in mid-September.

Republicans won all five of Montanas statewide elected offices last year, including the governors office for the first time in 16 years. Trump won 56% of the vote in Montana, and Manzella won her race with 67% of the vote.

Republican Rep. Geraldine Custer of Forsyth said she signed the letter requesting the committee because she thinks it's going to take something like the proposed review to restore voter confidence.

Republican Sen. Doug Kary of Billings declined to sign on to the letter. He said a 56-county audit would cost a ridiculous amount of money and that he doubts an investigation would turn up any voter fraud or election tampering.

Detractors, he said, will likely then argue, Well, they still did it, we just couldn't find it.

Republican lawmakers passed several measures this year that they argued were meant to improve election security but Democrats argued were designed to suppress turnout among people who tend to lean Democratic. Four of the bills face legal challenges.
HICKORY, N.C. (AP)  Two North Carolina police officers shot and wounded a man who its believed pulled a gun on a worker at a night spot and threatened the officers, authorities said Friday.

The Hickory Police Department says in a news release that two officers were called to a bar Thursday night to look into the report. Officers found the man in a rear parking lot near a metal trash bin.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP)  About 2,000 nurses and other employees at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo went on strike Friday after their union and Catholic Health System failed to reach an agreement.

The Buffalo News reports that hundreds of workers represented by Communications Workers of America Local 1133 picketed outside the hospital as the strike began at 6 a.m.
BEND, Ore. (AP)  A grand jury has indicted a white man on charges, including murder, in the shooting death of a Black man outside a nightclub in Bend, a district attorney said.

Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said during a news conference Thursday evening that Ian Cranston was indicted on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter, assault and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon in the death of Barry Washington Jr. earlier this month.

Cranston has since been arrested and held in Deschutes County Jail on a no-bail warrant, Hummel said. It wasn't immediately known if Cranston has an attorney to speak on his behalf.

An investigation into whether the shooting was motivated in part by race remains active, he said.

It is believed that the initial interaction between Barry and Mr. Cranston began when Barry complimented Mr. Cranston's girlfriend," Hummel said.

Police were called to downtown Bend on Sept. 19 at 12:11 a.m. and found Washington, a resident of Bend, on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound, authorities said. He was taken to a hospital and later died of his injury, police said.

Hummel said before the shooting, Washington was out with friends inside The Capitol, a downtown bar, and had approached the woman and complimented her. According to Hummel, the woman said she was flattered, but in a relationship. That was the extent of the interaction.

Hummel said outside later there was some pushing and some punches thrown, but that things had calmed down before Washington was shot.
TACOMA, Wash. (AP)  A man has been found guilty in the 2019 armed robbery of a popular Puyallup market that ended in the death of its 79-year-old shop owner and the fatal shooting of the convicted mans friend days later.

Robbrie Thompson, 19, was convicted Thursday by a jury in Pierce County Superior Court. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 19, the News Tribune reported.
SEATTLE (AP)  A recently demoted Seattle police commander is suing the city of Seattle and interim police Chief Adrian Diaz, alleging discrimination and unfair blame for a flashpoint pink umbrella incident during police clashes with racial justice demonstrators.

Capt. Steve Hirjak contends in his lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court this week, that Diaz made him the scapegoat for the misconduct of another commander and punished him unfairly compared to other white officials, The Seattle Times reported. That commander, Lt. John Brooks, ordered riot-gear-clad officers to unleash tear gas and blast balls into a crowd on June 1, 2020.

The incident  a moment in Seattles George Floyd demonstrations captured on video and shared across social media  erupted near the departments East Precinct after an officers tug of war with a protester over a pink umbrella. The clash drew public outrage and led to an investigation by the citys police watchdog group.

The city's Office of Police Accountability found Brooks broke department crowd dispersal protocols by ordering the heavy-handed tactics against a largely nonviolent crowd.

Diaz overruled OPAs recommendations and blamed and demoted Hirjak, a 27-year officer and the departments first Asian American assistant chief, who was the citys overall incident commander for the protests.

Defendants discriminatorily demoted Mr. Hirjak  from his position as an Assistant Chief back to the rank of Captain, treating him differently than similarly situated White officers, according to the lawsuit, filed by attorney Toby Marshall. This demotion resulted in lower pay, loss of reputation, diminution of future career opportunities, and emotional distress.

Dan Nolte, a spokesperson for the city attorneys office, said Hirjaks claims are being fully investigated. The City takes its obligation to provide a workplace free of harassment and discrimination seriously, he told the newspaper in a statement.

Hirjaks suit contends Diaz and former Police Chief Carmen Best falsely blamed and mistreated him multiple times while ignoring and promoting other white commanders who engaged in improper conduct during the tumultuous period.

The lawsuit cites multiple examples of such disparate treatment. It says Brooks, who, besides being found solely responsible for the improper orders during the pink umbrella incident, also racked up 14 misconduct complaints during the protests. Nonetheless, he was promoted to captain, the lawsuit says.

And, under the command of Assistant Chief Thomas Mahaffey, whom Best chose to replace Hirjak as incident commander during the protests, SPD was held in contempt of court on four separate occasions for the use of tear gas, the suit said.

The lawsuits allegations largely echo those in a $5.48 million damages claim Hirjak filed against the city in July, which gave the city and Diaz an August deadline to agree to mediate Diazs claims. Under state law, damage claims must be filed at least 60 days before a government entity can be sued.
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (AP)  A man wanted in the killings of three people in Maryland has been arrested in West Virginia, police announced Friday.

West Virginia State Police arrested Jeffrey Burnham, 46, who was wanted in the death of an 83-year-old woman in Cumberland and the shooting deaths of his his brother and sister-in-law in Ellicott City, according to Howard County and Cumberland police. Burnham was spotted on the side of a road in Davis, West Virginia, with his brother's stolen red Chevrolet Corvette and was arrested without incident, police said. Burnham is being held pending an extradition hearing.
WARRIOR, Ala. (AP)  A police officer investigating drug sales in a small Alabama town was hospitalized in stable condition after being shot multiple times Thursday night, news outlets reported.

Warrior police detective Lee Glenn was in a vehicle when the suspect walked toward him, Police Chief Scott Praytor said. Glenn got out and the suspect ran before turning around and opening fire, striking Glenn multiple times in the chest, according to Praytor.

Warrior is about 25 miles (40km) north of Birmingham.

It wasnt immediately clear whether the 33-year-old officer was wearing a bullet proof vest. He was conscious when he arrived at an emergency room, and Praytor said he spoke to him.

He was stable, and he was looking better than when he was transported, so that's good news, Praytor said. I would ask that everybody pray for this officer. Hes a good officer. He was out there doing a good job.

Glenn returned fire, but the suspect was not hit. Julian Scott McKenzie, 20, of Warrior was jailed on a charge of attempted murder, news outlets reported.

Glenn is assigned to the narcotics unit and has been with the department for roughly five years. Gov. Kay Ivey, in a message posted on social media, commended the quick action of his colleagues and other agencies for helping to apprehend the suspect.

According to al.com, he was involved in another shooting last year that left another officer dead. In that case, Glenn was chasing a vehicle when the driver opened fire at him and Kimberly Police Officer Nick ORear, who was in another vehicle.

Glenn was not injured, but O'Rear died.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP)  An Annapolis High School teacher accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with a student was arrested Friday and charged with sex offenses, Anne Arundel County police said.

Jennifer Arnold, 41, of Arnold, is charged with sex abuse of a minor, third-degree sex offense and fourth-degree sex offense involving a person in the position of authority, police said in a news release.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP)  Books about sex, LGBTQ issues and how to have a baby have public library employees in a deeply conservative Wyoming city facing possible prosecution after angry local residents complained to police that the material is obscene and doesn't belong in sections for children and teenagers.

For weeks, Campbell County Public Library officials have been facing a local outcry over the books and for scheduling a transgender magician to perform for youngsters, an act canceled amid threats against the magician and library staff.

The books are This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson, How Do You Make a Baby by Anna Fiske, Doing It by Hannah Witton, Sex is a Funny Word by Corey Silverberg, and Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy by Andrew P. Smiler, according to Susan Sisti, a local pastor who has been raising concerns about those and other books in the library.

Its really easy to go into the library and look around a little bit and find a filthy book that should not even be in a public library, said Sisti, pastor of Open Door Church in Gillette. These books are absolutely appalling.

Now, after a complaint filed with the sheriffs office, prosecutors are reviewing the case. They will seek appointment of a special prosecutor to weigh in as well before deciding whether to pursue charges, County Attorney Mitchell Damsky announced Friday.

Investigators haven't contacted library officials about the case, leaving them unsure which books got the library in potential legal trouble, said the library's executive director, Terri Lesley.

Told the list provided by Sisti, Lesley said library officials had reviewed a complaint about This Book is Gay and determined it belonged in the library's Teen Room. The decision was being appealed to the library board while library officials review pending complaints about the other four.

In all, the library has been working through 35 recent complaints about 18 books, she said, a situation she said appeared to be quite unusual for a public library.

It's unexpected, Lesley said. We are trying to be the force of reason, trying to work through these things using the policy we have in place  review these books and do our due diligence.

The LGBTQ advocacy group Wyoming Equality said it's up to parents to decide when their children should have access to such books.

Maybe the answer is never. If its never, thats fine. But do you get to make that choice for other families? said the group's executive director, Sara Burlingame.

The book dispute has gotten contentious and out of hand when it may have been resolvable by putting the books among material for adults, said Damsky, the prosecutor.

"Personally, as a parent, I find the material to be just inappropriate for children and disgusting. But as a lawyer Im sworn to uphold the Constitution and thats why we are dealing with it with a fine-toothed comb, Damsky said.

Sisti has been working with Hugh and Susan Bennett, who went to the Campbell County Sheriffs Office on Wednesday with concerns that the five books may have violated state child-sex laws. Sheriffs officials reviewed the complaint and referred the case, which was first reported by the Gillette News Record, to prosecutors.

"It's very challenging to imagine how a child who's sexually immature, physically immature, if there's any reasonable purpose for exposing them to sexual behavior that's far beyond their physical and mental and emotional and intellectual abilities to understand," Hugh Bennett said.

He called the books hard-core pornography to children.

This Book is Gay, Sisti pointed out, includes illustrations of male and female genitalia and descriptions of oral and anal sex. But child access to all kinds of material on the internet might be pertinent to the case, suggested Damsky.

What 9-year-old kid today cant access Pornhub or whatever they want, you know what I mean? Damsky said.

The library already faced protests and threats last summer over plans for a performance by a transgender magician. The magician canceled the show due to the threats.

The furor over the magician and the books prompted Wyoming Equality to talk with local officials about the threats and offer support to library staff. Local leaders had left Burlingame hopeful the rancor over the library would tone down, she said.

It seemed like there was some kind of opportunity to put the brakes on this and can we talk to each other," Burlingame said. "It seems like the train has jumped the tracks.

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Follow Mead Gruver at https://twitter.com/meadgruver
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Belarus' most prominent human rights group said Friday that some 100 people have been detained in the wake of a shootout that left an opposition supporter and a security officer dead.

The Viasna human rights center said the detentions took place in the capital, Minsk, and seven other cities and appeared to be connected to comments made on social media about the incident. It said those arrested face charges of insulting government officials and inciting social enmity, which carry sentences of up to 12 years in prison.

Belarusian authorities reported the incident on Tuesday night, alleging that an especially dangerous criminal opened fire on security officers after they showed up at his apartment looking for individuals involved in terrorist activities. Authorities said one of officers of the Belarus state security service, or KGB, was killed and the perpetrator was killed by return fire.

A large U.S.-based IT company founded by Belarusians, EPAM Systems, said the dead civilian was its employee Andrei Zeltser. EPAM last year started a program to train Belarusian IT workers who lost their jobs for supporting the massive protests that broke out against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko after elections opponents called a sham in August 2020.

Lukashenko on Friday held a minute of silence during a meeting with presidential administration officials in honor of the dead KGB officer and vowed to not forgive the death of this guy.

Earlier this week, the deputy head of Belarus' Interior Ministry, Nikolai Karpyankov, in televised remarks called for mass detentions of those who commented on the incident on social media, denouncing them as absolute freaks.

Top Belarus opposition activist Pavel Latushko told The Associated Press that a fair investigation (of the incident) is impossible under Lukashenko.

Not only Andrei Zeltser  a calm, kind and compassionate man  has been declared a terrorist. All of those who disagree with the regime have been declared terrorists, Latushko told the AP from Warsaw, where he is currently in exile.

On Wednesday, the Belarusian Ministry of Information blocked access to the website of Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus  the Belarusian subsidiary of a popular Russian newspaper of the same name.

The ministry didnt provide any reasons for the decision to block the website, which is visited by some 20,000 users daily, but access to it was restricted several hours after it ran a story about the shootout, which featured a comment from the dead civilians friend, who described him a positive light.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday said the Russian authorities categorically disagree with the move. We believe that it violates the principles of media freedom. We would expect the Belarusian side to ensure conditions for the work of our media outlets, Peskov said.

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Daria Litvinova in Moscow contributed reporting.
BEULAH, Mich. (AP)  A state-run shooting range in northern Michigan has been shut down after bullets hit a house.

The North Pioneer Road shooting area in Benzie County will be closed for 90 days while the Department of Natural Resources looks at ways to prevent people from shooting outside designated areas.

Unfortunately, expanded target shooting activities in Benzie County have created unsafe conditions for public land users and neighboring land owners in the vicinity of North Pioneer Road, the DNR said Thursday.

DNR Director Dan Eichinger said the shooting area won't reopen until safety concerns are solved.

Hunters wanting to practice before the fall hunting season can look for other shooting areas at Michigan.gov/ShootingRanges.
ROME (AP)  Curbside weeds in Rome grow so tall, they cover car door handles, giving new meaning to the term urban jungle. With sidewalks impassable because of piles of uncollected trash, people resort to pushing baby strollers down the middle of pothole-pocked streets. Overflowing garbage bins attract wild boars, terrifying passersby.

As for mass transit, some subway stations in the commercial heart of the city, awaiting sorely needed escalator repairs, have been closed for months.

Romes first populist mayor, Virginia Raggi is running for a second term in an election Sunday and Monday, and the sorry state of basic municipal services such as trash pickup and street maintenance is a major issue in this city of ruins, just as it was the first time around.

In 2016, Raggi was a 37-year-old, little-known lawyer and city council member when elected. She quickly became one of the most prominent faces of the 5-Star Movement, a grass-roots populist phenomenon created a decade earlier by an Italian comic, and, as of 2018, the largest party in the national Parliament.

Raggi's election was hailed as something savior-like. Great change was expected,'' said Paolo Conti, who for years has curated a letters-to-the-editors section, not surprisingly heavy with citizen complaints about trash and public transportation, in the Rome pages of the national newspaper Corriere della Sera.

After five years of Raggi's administration, plagued by frequent turnover of city commissioners and heads of public agencies, objectively, the city is in worse shape" than when she arrived, Conti said in an interview.

Worse is particularly damning, considering that when Romans elected her, they were desperate. They had taken to cleaning up Rome themselves, neighborhood by neighborhood, park by park, bagging trash, filling potholes and passing the hat to pay gardening businesses to pull weeds in playgrounds.

Romans then didn't even have a mayor. Raggi's predecessor, a surgeon-turned-politician, had resigned months earlier amid an expense account scandal in which he was later vindicated.

None of the 22 candidates for mayor this time is given any real chance of clinching more than 50% of the vote. That means the top two finishers will meet in a runoff two weeks later. Several polls, whose publication is banned in the last two weeks before the election, have indicated that at most, 15% of voters want five more years of Raggi, though a large percentage of people said they were undecided.

Nadia Titti, walking her dog in an overgrown field near towering low-income public housing in Tor Bella Monaca, a neighborhood on the city's eastern edge long considered the turf of drug dealers, said Raggi didnt get her vote the first time and won't get it now.

Titti lamented that people from other neighborhoods where garbage is piling up have taken to dumping their broken appliances and other trash along Tor Bella Monacas streets.

Others argue Raggi deserves a second mandate.

Flavia Vauro, 21, was too young to vote in 2016 but is eager to cast a ballot for Raggi. Errors were made, but there were also many accomplishments," she said.

Vauro, a university student, cited the brand-new buses she takes to campus, instead of the older vehicles that have been known to break down or burst into flames. In these last five years there has been a tangible change for the better, Vauro said.

Raggi and her rivals have been campaigning heavily in Tor Bella Monaca and other low-income neighborhoods. She owes her populist victory in 2016 largely to votes from these outlying areas, and she has pronounced herself the mayor of peripheries.

In these five years, I worked on lot on the peripheries, Raggi recently said.

She boasted that she brought street lights for the first time to some of these neighborhoods. During one of her appearances in one such periphery,'' she recalled, people came out of their apartment buildings with tears in their eyes" in gratitude.

Raggi turns defensive about the out-of-control weeds. Since 2000, no new gardeners have been hired by the city, and when she took office, they didn't even have the tools to properly do their job tending to Rome's many parks and other green spaces, she said.

As for citizens' trashing of the municipal garbage collection agency Ama, Raggi said that when she became mayor, Ama was a debt-ridden mess. It had 13 years of falsified balance sheets. We worked a lot to clean up their finances," she said.

Still, in January, Ama cut off funding to local districts to cut down the weeds.

When traffic practically vanished during the very first strict months of Italys pandemic lockdown, road crews had a rare opportunity to work 24/7 filling crater-like potholes without causing tie-ups. But the lockdown is over and the holes largely remain, tripping up motor scooter riders, sometimes with fatal results.

Asked about the long closings of entire subway stations for maintenance work, Raggi shot back: You cant order a new escalator on Amazon.

Three years ago, an escalator at a central subway station went out of control as Russian soccer fans, in town for a match, rode it, and several people were injured.

In Tor Bella Monaca, some residents expressed satisfaction at Raggi's campaign to evict undeserving tenants from public housing. A police roundup in September, for example, removed an alleged drug dealer with ties to organized crime.

After that eviction, we are breathing easier, said Tiziana Ronzio, who lives in public housing and created a tenants association to foster pride in their building and neighborhood.

Still, Ronzio gave the mayor a mixed review. Raggi "didn't make the city function" well, she said. But she quickly added: Whoever becomes mayor will have it hard.



AP journalist Andrea Rosa contributed to this report.
TRAVELERS REST, S.C. (AP)  South Carolina health officials are urging residents to keep pets up to date on their rabies vaccination after a fox and a bat tested positive for the disease.

A rabid fox in Travelers Rest north of Greenville exposed one person and two dogs to the virus, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said Thursday. The bat was found in Gaston outside Columbia, but it is not known to have exposed any humans or pets.
State employee union leaders on Friday asked Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont to extend the latest looming deadline for workers to get vaccinated for COVID-19 or else tested, saying they have zero confidence the Democrat's administration will have accurate numbers on Monday as to how many employees are not compliant with the order.

The request comes a day after the governor requested the state's National Guard to be ready to help provide critical state services if necessary. Those workers who don't submit proof of vaccination or weekly testing results by 11:59 p.m. Monday will be placed on unpaid leave as soon as Tuesday.

The State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition said this week it was strongly opposed to any suggestion that employees who are sent home but subsequently come into compliance would lose their jobs.

Max Reiss, Lamonts spokesperson, said Friday afternoon that SEBAC had not yet made a formal request for an extension of the executive order requiring shots or testing, issued Aug. 19.

There are no plans to further extend the deadline. We are confident that everyone who is working to come into compliance will be able to do so by Monday evening, he said in a statement. The week-long grace period the governor announced earlier this week was to ensure everyone had plenty of time to get vaccinated, get tested or clear up issues with their submissions.

SEBAC leaders warned in a written statement that strict enforcement of Monday's compliance deadline, coupled with zero confidence in Governor Lamonts administration to collect and present accurate numbers on noncompliance by that time could trigger extremely harmful consequences for workers and the people of Connecticut depending on the services they provide. Some unionized state employees said the order will exacerbate existing staffing shortages.

Long before the global COVID pandemic, our members and other state employees were telling elected officials, the press, and the public that short staffing in state agencies is a wasteful risk to the health and economy of our state and its residents. It should not have taken a deadly virus for Governor Lamont to recognize that," said Steve Anderson, an environmental analyst at the Department of Agriculture and president of the union CSEA SEIU, Local 2001.

The governor plans to disrupt services and put soldiers to work in state worksites when the real problem is short staffing combined with a poorly executed compliance system, he said in a statement.

State employees were originally given until Nov. 27 to comply with Lamont's order, but that date was extended this week until Oct. 4. As of Thursday, Lamont's office said just over 8,000 of the roughly 32,000 state employees who work for executive branch agencies were considered not in compliance. Anderson said he is fully vaccinated and submitted his information months ago, but has been told that hes one of those considered not in compliance.

In other coronavirus-related news in Connecticut:

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FAKE COVID EXEMPTIONS

A retired Connecticut physician and surgeon voluntarily surrendered her license to practice medicine on Friday to the Department of Public Health after being accused of providing fraudulent medical exemption forms through the mail.

Dr. Sue Mcintosh had her license suspended last week by the Connecticut Medical Examining Board during an emergency hearing. A full hearing on the merits of the case was scheduled for Oct. 5.

State officials, who had received an anonymous complaint about the doctor, allege Mcintosh provided an unknown number of blank, signed forms exempting people from the COVID-19 and other vaccines, as well as mandatory mask-wearing and routine COVID testing to people who sent her a self-addressed envelope. Mcintosh, who hadn't treated the patients, signed a letter included in the packet of bogus forms with the phrase Let freedom ring!

Mcintosh did not respond to a request for comment.

Christopher Boyle, a spokesperson for DPH, said agency officials are considering whether to refer the case to state and federal law enforcement entities. Meanwhile, he said the agency does not know yet if any of Mcintosh's forms were given to any state employees to avoid vaccination and or testing requirements.
MOBILE, Ala. (AP)  An Alabama woman whose 9-month-old daughter died has filed suit against the hospital where she was born claiming it did not disclose that its computer systems had been crippled by a cyberattack, which resulted in diminished care that resulted in the baby's death.

Springhill Medical Center was deep in the midst of a ransomware attack when Nicko Silar was born July 17, 2019, and the resulting failure of electronic devices meant a doctor could not properly monitor the child's condition during delivery, according to the lawsuit by Teiranni Kidd, the child's mother.

Left with severe brain injuries and other problems, the baby died last year after months of intensive care at another hospital.

The lawsuit, initially filed in Mobile County in 2019 while Nicko was still alive, was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

The malpractice lawsuit, which seeks an unspecified amount of money from the hospital and Dr. Katelyn Braswell Parnell, who delivered Nicko, contends Springhill did not reveal the severity of the cyberattack publicly or to Kidd. The woman would have gone to a different and safer hospital for labor and delivery had she known what was going on, it claims.

Springhill has denied wrongdoing and asked a judge to dismiss the most serious part of the lawsuit, which contends officials conspired to publicly create a false, misleading, and deceptive narrative about the cyberattack in a scheme that made the child's delivery unsafe.

The hospital claimed any blame lies with Parnell, who was fully aware of the inaccessibility of the relevant systems, including those in the labor and delivery unit, and yet determined that (Kidd) could safely deliver her at Springhill. Under Alabama law, the hospital did not have any legal duty to provide Kidd with details of the cyberattack, the hospital argued.

Parnell and her medical group, Bay Area Physicians for Women, denied she did anything that hurt Nicko or caused the child's injuries and death.

Springhill released a public statement about the cyberattack the day before the child was born saying staff "has continued to safely care for our patients and will continue to provide the high quality of service that our patients deserve and expect, WKRG-TV reported at the time.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Texas Republicans released their proposals to redraw maps for their own seats Thursday, and their aspirations for the statehouse mirrored their plans for congressional representation: Keep the party in power amid big demographic shifts.

Democrats and Latino advocacy groups and others immediately protested, as the proposed maps had fewer districts with a majority of minority voters or that number remained the same, even though census figures show nine of every 10 new residents in rapidly growing Texas' are people of color. Hispanic people are nearly equal to white people in the latest Census data.

We consider the map offered today as a starting point, said state Rep. Rafael Anchia, a Democrat and the chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. Texas voters deserve fair maps that allow them to elect their candidate of choice, not another decade of politicians picking and choosing their voters instead.

Majority-Hispanic state House districts would decrease from 33 to 30 in this plan, the caucus said, while majority-Black state House districts went from seven to four in the 150-seat House of Representatives. The number of of majority-minority districts remained stable in the proposed 31-seat Texas State Senate map.

It was the last batch of newly proposed boundaries for the state's election districts. In Republican proposals to redraw congressional lines released earlier in the week, the number of districts with a majority of Hispanic voters would drop by one to seven, even though the state's gained two extra seats in Washington, D.C. Texas will now have 38 representatives in Congress after gaining 4 million residents over the past decade.

Meanwhile, in a Thursday hearing in the Texas Senate, state lawmakers debated a proposed congressional map which Democrat state senators said had been drawn without their party's input and moved hundreds of thousands of minority voters, particularly in the Houston area, out of historically Black majority districts. In a letter opposing the proposed maps, the state senators said the Houston address of fellow Democrat and U.S. House Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee had been drawn out of the district she represents, though that would not prevent her from running for re-election.

Anyone could have contacted me, no one did," said Republican State Sen. Joan Huffman, chair of the state Senate's redistricting committee and author of the map, adding that she worked with an attorney representing the Republican congressional delegation who reached out to her.

Huffman said the maps had been viewed by attorneys and determined to be legally compliant according to the federal Voting Rights Act and said race was not taken into account in the drawing of the districts.

Under the proposed map, you are aware we are trading a congresswoman who lives five miles from Fort Bliss for a member of Congress that lives 550 miles from Fort Bliss?" Democratic State Sen. Cesar Blanco said, pointing to a proposed move of the Texas military base and a nearby airport into Texas Congressional District 23, which extends from West Texas to San Antonio.

Republicans' proposed congressional districts focus on the shoring up suburbs as Republican stronghold, while one of the states two new congressional districts is expected to concentrate the growing Democratic vote in the state capital of Austin.

A representative from the League of United Latin American Citizens testified Thursday that the maps were not representative of the states growing Hispanic population which gained nearly 2 million people and should include a Hispanic opportunity district in one of the states diverse growing areas, such as Austin, Dallas or Houston.

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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.
ATLANTA (AP)  Thousands of Georgia health care workers are facing a Friday deadline to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or risk losing their jobs.

Half of metro Atlanta's hospital systems set an Oct. 1 deadline for mandatory staff vaccinations, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Among them is Piedmont Healthcare, which told the newspaper only a minimal number of its full-time employees will not be vaccinated by the deadline, and their loss will have no impact on operations. Piedmont has more than 23,000 employees.

Other hospital systems with an Oct. 1 deadline are Emory Healthcare, which has more than 24,000 workers, and Wellstar Health System, with about 25,000 workers. The AJC said they did not respond to questions about the number or type of staff expected to leave because of the mandate.

Wellstar has faced protests from employees objecting to the vaccine mandate.

Many of those who are opposed just want time, said Beth Stein, a maternity nurse from Cartersville with 22 years of experience at Wellstar.

She has had her first shot and intends to get her second because her daughters asked her to, she told the AJC. But she said she is absolutely sick over the mandate" and knows of six employees who are leaving because of it.

Dr. Kimberly Manning, an Emory University physician who works at Grady Health System, said she empathizes with people who have rejected the shots, but their decisions have broader consequences.

We all like autonomy, she said. But if the decision that you make can greatly impact other people, then that becomes something that isnt just only about you.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)  Three candidates aiming to unseat Hungary's right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban in elections next spring have cleared the first round of a countrywide opposition primary contest that was the first in the Central European nation's history.

The poll, which closed late Tuesday, gave Hungarians a chance to choose between five opposition candidates vying to challenge Orban in national elections slated for April. The top three candidates will go on to a second round of voting scheduled to begin next week.

Klara Dobrev, the candidate for the liberal Democratic Coalition party and a vice-president of the European Parliament, won the most votes, with 34%, followed by the center-left mayor of Budapest Gergely Karacsony, supported by the Hungarian Socialist Party and two smaller green parties, with 27%.

In third place was Peter Marki-Zay, an independent conservative and mayor of a small city in southern Hungary, with 20%.

If elected in the spring, Dobrev, a 49-year-old lawyer and economist who favors closer integration with the European Union, would be the first female prime minster in Hungary's history. She has promised to dismantle Orban's political system and challenge Hungary's 2012 constitution authored and unilaterally passed by his party.

We won't stop until we've defeated Viktor Orban's system, Dobrev said at an event celebrating her victory late Thursday. We will not stop until next April, when we will finally be able to say that we live in a European, democratic, Hungarian republic.

Nearly 634,000 votes were cast in the week-long contest, around 8% of Hungarys voting-age population. Observers noted that the turnout was similar to the 2020 Democratic primary in the United States.

The five candidates held two televised debates ahead of the primary, a novel sight in Hungary where Orban has refused to debate with challengers since 2006.

In an online statement Thursday, Karacsony, the mayor of Budapest, said that a great victory was achieved through the primary contest.

Democracy has won, the cause for change has won, and our belief that there is room for fair debate and clean competition in politics has won, he said.

Beside the election of a candidate for prime minister, candidates for parliamentary seats were also chosen in each of Hungary's 106 individual electoral districts.

Candidates from Dobrev's party took the most districts with 32, followed by the formerly far-right Jobbik party with 29.

The contest was part of a hard-won strategy by Hungary's six main opposition parties to put aside ideological differences and coordinate their candidates after more than a decade of bitter losses to Orbans Fidesz party, which holds a two-thirds majority in parliament.

Their coalition, which includes green, liberal and right-wing parties, will field a single prime ministerial candidate to face Orban, and single joint candidates against the Fidesz contender in each electoral district  the only method, they say, to overcome an electoral system authored by Orban's party that gives it an unfair advantage.

That method led to significant gains during municipal elections in 2019, when the coalition flipped the leadership of Budapest and most of Hungarys larger cities.
Kent Nishimura/2020 Los Angeles Times

HONOLULU (AP)  Hawaii authorities arrested two people from California for submitting fake COVID-19 test results to avoid a mandatory traveler quarantine meant to curb the virus' spread in the islands.

A 34-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman uploaded falsified negative test results into the Hawaii Safe Travels portal and arrived in Lihue on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles earlier this week, Kauai police said.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  In a scene worthy of a comedy sketch, a Turkish man joined a search party for a missing person not realizing the individual being pursued was him.

Beyhan Mutlu, 51, went drinking with a friend in a forest in the town of Inegol, northwest Turkey, late Tuesday. His wife reported him missing after he did not return home and she heard he had walked away from his friend, drunk.
Delivery slowdowns at the U.S. Postal Service take effect Friday, and higher prices are soon to follow. The nation's mail service is preparing to implement core components of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's 10-year plan for the agency, a program designed to cut costs and raise new revenue to fix its many financial problems.

The Postal Service has struggled for years with financial losses due to declining mail use, and the pandemic exposed more issues within the agency as it struggled to cope with an avalanche of e-commerce purchases, worker availability problems and a disorganized processing network.

DeJoy, the controversial Trump ally who took over the agency months before the 2020 presidential election, introduced his vision for the agency in March with the backing of the Postal Service's bipartisan governing board. A major component of that plan - slower service - is set to kick in.

Here's everything you need to know about the changes at the Postal Service.

Q: Why is my mail going to slow down? And how much slower will it be?

A: The simple answer: Your mail may slow down because the Postal Service lengthened its "service standards," or the amount of time it says it should take for a piece of mail to get delivered. And how much slower it will get depends on where you live.

A little more detail: Up until Oct. 1, the Postal Service said it should take no more than three days for a piece of first class mail to be delivered anywhere in the country. After Oct. 1, it will take between two and five days.

That's because the Postal Service is changing the way it transports your mail. The Postal Service used to put about 20% of your mail on airplanes to move it across the country. This is the mail that was going from coast to coast, and to make the three-day service standard, the agency had to move it faster than was possible on a truck.

Now it's going to drive. The new service standard will cut air transportation to only 12 percent of first-class mail. Postal leadership says this will both cut costs - the agency spends a lot more flying mail than it does trucking it - and increase predictability. During the 2020 holiday season, the air-transport network was not reliable enough to keep the Postal Service's processing centers running on schedule. So even if trucks take longer, the agency hopes they will be more predictable.

Q: Does the quality of my mail delivery depend on where I live?

A: Yes, it absolutely does. The Washington Post studied the data the Postal Service sent to its regulator to justify the service slowdowns and found that where you live will be the determining factor of if your mail arrives slower than it used to.

Seventy percent of first-class mail sent to Nevada will take longer to arrive, according to The Post's analysis, as will 60% of the deliveries to Florida, 58% to Washington state, 57% to Montana, and 55% to Arizona and Oregon. In all, at least a third of such letters and parcels addressed to 27 states will arrive more slowly under the new standards.

Why is that? Because, as earlier noted, the Postal Service is not going to fly as much of your mail anymore. Therefore, areas on the coasts or the mainland extremities of the country - pretty much anywhere West of the Rocky Mountains, parts of southern Texas and Florida - are going to be hit the hardest.

Q: How much will it cost to send something in the mail?

A: From Oct. 3 to Dec. 26, the Postal Service is raising prices on some products through a holiday season surcharge. The price hikes are modest for some products (30 cents more for first class package service), a bit more for others ($1 more for parcel return service, deliveries from consumers back to retailers), and heftier still for others ($5 more for priority mail, priority express mail, parcel select and retail ground services for items weighing between 21 and 70 pounds).

But even after holiday season, postage rates are not going back to what they used to be. The Postal Service this summer raised prices on everything from stamps (from 55 cents to 58 cents) to flat mail, such as marketing pieces (from $1 to $1.16), to media and library mail (from $3.71 to $4.11).

And be prepared for mail prices to keep going up. The Postal Service announced in September that it will now adjust rates twice annually - once in January and again in July.

All this is because the Postal Service is desperate for money. It has $188.4 billion in liabilities, and agency leaders project it will lose another $160 billion over the next decade. DeJoy is cutting costs where he can to try to fix the balance sheet - the cuts to transportation are chief among them - but he's also trying to raise new revenue. Price hikes are a key plank in that strategy.

Q: Who decided to slow down the mail and raise prices?

A: The decision to slow down mail delivery and raise postage prices was made by DeJoy with the backing of the agency's governing board.

Here's how the leadership of the Postal Service works, because it's important context to understand these moves. DeJoy was hired last May by the Postal Service's board of governors - a group of nine people appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The postmaster general is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the agency, and his performance is evaluated by the board of governors, similar to the way the CEO of a private company answers to the board of directors.

Together, DeJoy and the board of governors decided to both slow service and raise prices. The board voted unanimously to implement DeJoy's "Delivering for America" plan in March.

But when the board voted to support that plan, it had only six members, and all of them were chosen by former president Donald Trump. That Trump-appointed board endorsed DeJoy's plan shortly after President Joe Biden nominated three members of his own to the board. Many liberals and mailing industry officials hoped Biden's appointees would prevent some of the more controversial parts of the 10-year plan from taking effect. Instead, DeJoy and the six Trump-appointed governors have forged ahead.

Q: Why is the Postal Service making so many changes?

A: The answer to that is simple: We're all sending a lot less mail than we used to.

The Postal Service generally supports itself only on the sale of postage products. Outside of extreme circumstances, it does not receive taxpayer funding. So when individuals and businesses send less and less mail, the Postal Service brings in less money. Meanwhile, it has to keep up a vast amount of infrastructure - think about all those post offices and sorting centers, and all of its 30-year-old mail delivery trucks - and it has some hefty and unusual financial obligations tied to its retiree healthcare costs.

Put all these things together and result is simple. The Postal Service is running out of money, and is projected to lose even more. DeJoy hopes the price increases will generate between $35 billion and $52 billion in new revenue over the next decade, and the service slowdowns will save another $10 billion to $17 billion.

Together, experts say that's a significant amount of money - but still not enough to solve the Postal Service's problems.

Q: Who is Louis DeJoy?

A: DeJoy is the 75th postmaster general of the United States, a position first held by Benjamin Franklin in 1775. (Yes, the U.S. mail system is older than the nation itself.) DeJoy is a former supply-chain logistics executive and a major donor to Republican causes, including Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign.

Members of the board of governors, which hired him in May 2020, have lauded his expertise building a logistics company. DeJoy turned his father's family trucking business into a national shipping powerhouse called New Breed Logistics that contracted with the Postal Service. Then he sold New Breed to global logistics titan XPO Logistics in 2014 for $615 million.

Critics, including more than 100 Democrats in Congress, have called for DeJoy's removal citing a host of criticisms - from his connections to Trump to arguments he has conflicts of interest. He still owns four office buildings that he leases to XPO for more than $2 million annually. Others still say that the performance issues the Postal Service has experienced under his watch - plus the planned price hikes and delivery slowdowns - are grounds for removal.

DeJoy has not responded to those critiques, but an agency spokesperson said his continued involvement with XPO was cleared by ethics officials. The majority of members of the Postal Service board of governors have continued backing DeJoy. Republican governor John Barger told a Senate committee in Sept. 2020 that the board was "thrilled" with DeJoy's performance.

"The board is tickled pink, every single board member, with the impact he's having," Barger said.

Finally, DeJoy is under FBI investigation for his campaign finance activities. Former New Breed employees told The Post that DeJoy pressured them into giving to Republican candidates, and later paid the employees back with raises or bonuses. A DeJoy spokesman told The Washington Post that DeJoy "has always been scrupulous in his adherence to the campaign contribution laws and has never knowingly violated them."

Q: Can Biden fire Louis DeJoy or the board of governors?

A: Yes and no. Let's go through them one at a time.

For the postmaster general: The conventional wisdom is that the president cannot fire the postmaster general. The postmaster general serves at the pleasure of the board of governors and is therefore not answerable to the president.

But some of DeJoy's critics have begun advancing an alternate legal theory to the White House that would allow Biden to fire the postmaster general. The Supreme Court held in two recent cases (Selia and Collins) that the president can remove the director of a federal agency headed by a single Senate-confirmed executive. Under those precedents, some liberals are encouraging Biden to fire DeJoy, and fight out his job status in court. Such a scenario, however, is unlikely.

For the board of governors: The president can fire members of the board of governors "for cause," but there is some debate over what "cause" means. Does "cause" mean that a governor has to have committed some impropriety? Or does "cause" mean that the president thinks the governor is doing a bad job?

Again, a host of liberals have asked Biden to interpret "cause" more broadly. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., has asked Biden to fire all the Trump-appointed members of the board of governors. Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Pa., as recently as Sept. 28 tweeted the same request.

The Biden administration has been generally mum on the topic, but White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in February that "I think we can all agree, most Americans would agree, that the Postal Service needs leadership that can and will do a better job."

Q: Can Biden nominate anyone new to the board of governors?

A: Biden can nominate two new people to the board of governors to replace John Barger, a Republican, and Ron Bloom, a Democrat, when both their terms expire in December. Governors serve staggered seven year terms, and the board can approve a one-year "holdover" term if the president has not nominated a replacement.

Barger is likely to be replaced, postal insiders say. Bloom is another story. He has the fierce backing of the National Association of Letter Carriers, one of the Postal Service's strong unions. But he's made opponents of some Democrats who are frustrated in his continued support for DeJoy.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP)  Kentuckys COVID-19 test positivity rate dropped into single digits for the first time in nearly two months Friday, but the virus continues to exact a heavy toll on the state.

Gov. Andy Beshear reported 4,118 new coronavirus cases and 34 more virus-related deaths, pushing the statewide virus death toll past 8,800. The newest reported deaths included two Kentuckians as young as 36, the governor said. Younger people have been hit hard by the fast-spreading delta variant.

But in a hopeful sign after a prolonged surge of the virus, the rate of Kentuckians testing positive for COVID-19 dipped to 9.67%  the first time it's been below 10% since Aug. 3, Beshear said.

The state reported 1,900 virus patients hospitalized in Kentucky, including 553 in intensive care units. Both totals were down from the prior day, continuing a recent downward trend that the Democratic governor emphasized Thursday while warning that hospitalizations remained far too high.

If we went back a month and a half, where we are right now would rightfully scare the heck out of us. So lets make sure that that decline continues, he said Thursday.

Meanwhile, Kentuckians can now tap into the state's COVID-19 website to help them search for health care facilities that provide monoclonal antibody treatment.

Supplies of the therapy are limited because of high demand nationally, Dr. Steven Stack, Kentuckys public health commissioner, said Thursday. For people infected with COVID-19, the treatment can help give their immune system a boost, helping reduce the likelihood of hospitalization, he said.

Based on the available inventory, we fulfill as fully as possible every request, Stack said. Now the last two weeks, we have not been able to meet 100% of the requested doses. But we've been able to come close.

Kentucky received about 6,100 antibody treatments this week, about 800 fewer than last week, Stack said. The number of weekly COVID-19 cases and virus patients hospitalized are part of the calculation to determine the amount of antibody treatments the federal government allocates to each state.

Obviously, the hope is the disease will go down, we'll need less of this and everybody who needs it will have access, Stack said. That's the hope. At the moment, that's not the reality but hopefully we're not that far off.

The website is kycovid19.ky.gov.

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Follow more of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  A Wisconsin woman has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for trying to hire a hitman using bitcoin currency.

Federal prosecutors announced late Thursday that 38-year-old Kelly Harper of Columbus received the sentence after she pleaded guilty to using the Internet to hire a hitman. Her attorney, federal public defender Joseph Bugni, didnt immediately respond to a message Friday.
The government agency that provides long-term weather forecasting favored above-normal precipitation for most of California in its nationwide precipitation outlook for Oct. 5 to 9.

The Climate Prediction Center, an arm of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, released the map Sept. 29, and many meteorologists are celebrating the promising forecast in the drought-ridden state that's desperate for rain.

The National Weather Service's Eureka office, which monitors the weather in California's most northern reaches, called it "exciting stuff."

"What we need!" tweeted NBC Bay Area meteorologist Jeff Ranieri.

ABC7 forecaster Drew Tuma noted the center puts the chance for above-average rainfall for California at 40% to 50%.

Just how much rain could fall?

In short, meteorologists can't answer that question accurately, as the confidence around any forecast that's a week out in the future is low, but the fact that there is any suggestion of rain is promising.

"The catch is its so far out that it could start to change," said Gerry Diaz, a forecaster with the weather service's Bay Area office. "The fact were seeing this early on is a good indicator."

READ MORE: How much rain does California need to get out of the drought?

Weather models show a trough of low pressure, the sort of system that can bring rain, developing over the Bering Strait in coming days and dropping into the Pacific Northwest. The system could reach Northern California mid-week next week.

The big question is whether this system will push enough moisture into California to deliver significant rain.

Doug Boushey, a meteorologist with the weather service's Eureka office, looked at the weather models Thursday morning and said at this point none were signaling heavy rain.

"Around Wednesday into Thursday theres potential for some precipitation, but it appears to be what I would describe as showers, broken rain," Boushey said. "Its not continuous rain. It looks as though up here [Eureka] and into Sonoma County Im looking at making 20% to 30% probability for a 10th of an inch. Thats the wetter of the two global ensembles."

It's not uncommon for storm systems, especially those at the start of the rainy season, to dump rain over the Pacific Northwest and then dry out as they move south into California.

Two weak storm systems pushed across Northern California in late-September. One brought minimal rain across the region, while the second one delivered an inch of rain to many spots in far Northern California, and one spot on the Sonoma Coast recorded about a half-inch.

"I think they underestimated the rain with that event," Boushey said. "For the most part we saw about 1 inch to 1.25 inch. In this drought were in, thats the kind of rain we need every week."

The good news, said Diaz, is the so-called ensembles used to predict long-term forecasts are already suggesting a potential for rain a week out.
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A gas station manager could sue Shell Oil for violations of the California Labor Code even though Shell operated its gas stations through contracts with separate companies that ran the day-to-day operations, a California appeals court ruled. Shell's level of control made it a joint employer along with the company that ran the station, the court said.

Shell owned more than 300 gas stations in California, but operations were conducted through a multisite operated (MSO) model. Under the MSO model, Shell entered into a set of nonnegotiable form agreements with each MSO operator, which, in turn, operated the station. The operators leased station convenience stores and car washes and paid monthly rent. The operators' employees performed all work at the station.

The MSO operators were required to use Shell's electronic point-of-sale cash register system, with the proceeds paid directly to Shell, not to the operators. The operators were required to follow detailed terms that were set forth in Shell's manuals and guides. They were also required to provide daily reports to Shell and submit to periodic inspections.

The MSO contract provided detailed instructions for compliance with labor laws, but called for the operators to hire, fire, train, discipline and maintain payroll records for their own employees. The operators did not have discretion to modify the tasks set forth in the MSO contract and manuals, which were performed by their employees.

The plaintiff was a cashier and later a station manager at a Shell station operated by R&M Enterprises. The plaintiff was always paid directly by R&M. He received no employment benefits directly from Shell, and R&M determined whether he was exempt or nonexempt and controlled his compensation and benefits.

The plaintiff was terminated by R&M in December 2008. He subsequently sued R&M and Shell for failure to pay overtime wages and failure to pay premiums for missed breaks.

The trial court ruled that the case was the same as two prior court of appeal cases against Shell, in which Shell was not found to be a joint employer of MSO employees. The case was dismissed before trial, and the plaintiff appealed.

The appellate court reversed, ruling both that this case was factually different from the two prior cases and that the two other appellate courts incorrectly applied established law as to how joint employer status was to be determined.

Legal Standards for Joint Employment

Under a 2010 California Supreme Court case (Martinez v. Combs, 49 Cal.4th 35), employer status for wage and hour purposes is controlled by the Industrial Welfare Commission's wage orders. The applicable wage order defines employment as consisting of three alternatives:

To exercise control over wages, hours or working conditions, directly or indirectly.

To "suffer or permit to work."

To engage.

The "suffer or permit to work" definition of employment, the court noted, is very broad, reaching all individual workers who can reasonably be viewed as working for the employer's business.

The court concluded that Shell both indirectly controlled the station manager's wages and working conditions, and allowed the manager to work at a Shell station, either of which was enough to make Shell the manager's joint employer.

As to control over wages, hours or working conditions, the undisputed facts in the case, the court said, show that Shell provided extremely detailed technical instructions to the MSOs for managing their stations, and deviations from these standards were prohibited. The court noted that the plaintiff was even threatened with termination by a Shell employee for an alleged violation of these standards. Another Shell employee told the plaintiff that she had fired "many" MSO operator managers for violating these policies, according to the record.

As to the "suffer or permit" standard, the fact that Shell could not directly fire the manager was not determinative, the court noted. Under the contracts with the MSO operators, Shell had the practical power to force an MSO operator to terminate any particular employee, the court said.

Medina v. Equilon Enterprises LLC, Calif. Ct. App., No. G058820 (Sept. 10, 2021).

Professional Pointer: The appellate court's ruling in this case differs from other courts' rulings in similar cases. California's appeals courts are divided into six appellate districts based on geography. A decision of the appeals court in one district is not binding on the appellate courts in the other five districts. In the event of conflicting appellate court opinions, the California Supreme Court, the state's highest court, may step in to settle the dispute.

Joanne Deschenaux, J.D., is a freelance writer in Annapolis, Md.
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The Maine Department of Labor (DOL) announced on Sept. 17 that the state's public sector employees will be subject to President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate due to Maine's state plan agreement with the federal government.

On Sept. 9, Biden directed the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to develop a rule requiring all private employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is either fully vaccinated for COVID-19 or subjected to weekly testing. President Biden's plan also calls for employers to provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated. Since OSHA has not yet issued the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), it is unclear whether the employer or employee will be required to pay for testing or whether time spent testing should be considered compensable time.

The Maine DOL stated in its press release that it "sought clarification from OSHA about the rule's applicability to public employers because, under longstanding State law and a 2015 agreement with the Federal government . . . Maine is required to adopt and enforce for public employers all of OSHA's occupational safety and health standards."



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As noted in the press release, "Maine is one of 26 states and two territories to have a state plan agreement with the Federal government." Due to the agreement, public sector employers with 100 or more employees in Maine will be required to follow the OSHA ETS on COVID-19 vaccinations and testing. Covered employers will include state, county, and local governments as well as public school systems.

Considering the Maine DOL's announcement  and pending the release of OSHA's ETS and the outcome of various expected legal challenges to it  all public and private employers in Maine with 100 or more employees should prepare to implement vaccination requirements or weekly testing programs likely before the end of 2021.

Maine's healthcare industry is already subject to a state COVID-19 vaccination mandate requiring all healthcare workers to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 1 with enforcement beginning on October 29. This includes all employees of hospitals, nursing homes, EMS organizations, dental practices, and other healthcare facilities regardless of size.

Once OSHA releases its ETSno set timeframe for its publication in the Federal Register has been announcedthe Maine Board of Occupational Safety and Health must adopt and enforce the forthcoming rule within 30 days of its release.

This is a rapidly evolving subject still rife with uncertainty.

Steve Silver and David Strock are attorneys with Littler Mendelson in Portland, Maine.  2021 Littler Mendelson. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.
"This will be one of the most advanced and the most productive terminals, not just from the Sri Lankan point of view but even from the global standard's point of view," Karan Gautam Adani, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Adani Ports & SEZ Limited, said after joining the event virtually.

The over $700 million deal, which was struck in Colombo with the Indian partners joining virtually, is to run for 35 years with the Adani Group having majority 51 per cent share, followed by John Keels (34 per cent) and SLPA (15 per cent).

"It is one of the largest ever FDI projects in the country with over $650 million investment so it is a big boost to the port and to the Sri Lankan economy," said Krishan Balendra, Chairman, John Keells Holdings PLC.

Following a 2019 tripartite agreement with India and Japan, the Adani Group was to develop the East Container Terminal (ECT) jointly with Japan. But in March this year the project was withdrawn due to pressure from the trade unions and political oppositions. Later, Sri Lanka announced the awarding of WCT to India.

The signing of the WCT project comes in the wake of Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar's urge to Sri Lanka to "conclude pending agreements to fast-track relations between the two countries".

Jaishankar had stressed the need for a practical conclusion of the number of projects pending implementation, indicating that it would give more confidence to New Delhi to move forward in enhancing relations.

Jaishankar met his Sri Lankan counterpart G.L. Peiris on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 22.

--IANS

sfl/arm
As he arrived in Manama on Thursday, Lapid became the highest Israeli official to visit Bahrain, Xinhua news agency.

Manama, Oct 1 (IANS) Visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and his Bahraini counterpart Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani have jointly inaugurated the Israeli embassy here in the wake of the two countries normalising their ties.

The visit is "a milestone" in the rapid development of the bilateral relations, Zayani told a press conference.

The two Ministers signed several cooperation agreements on environmental protection, sports, innovation, and development of water resources.

Later in the day, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa received Lapid at the Sakhir Palace, said a statement quoted by the Bahrain News Agency.

Also on Thursday, a Gulf Air Airbus A320 arrived at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, which was the first direct commercial flight between Bahrain and Israel.

The flight by Bahrain's national carrier departed from Manama about an hour after Lapid landed.

The flight between Manama and Tel Aviv would be operated twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays, according to a statement issued by the Israeli Transportation Ministry.

The trip from Bahrain to Israel will take two hours and 50 minutes, and two hours and 35 minutes for the return trip.

During an ceremony held at the Ben Gurion Airport, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll said that the new route would "allow citizens of the two countries to work together and develop scientific, cultural and business collaborations".

Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed the US-brokered agreements called the Abraham Accords to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in September 2020.

--IANS

ksk/
"We observe with concern growing tensions in Tajik-Afghan relations against the background of mutual harsh statements by the leaders of the two countries. Reports have appeared about the deployment of armed forces by both sides to the common border. According to information from the Taliban, tens of thousands of special forces units have been deployed in the bordering (northern) Afghan province Takhar alone," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexei Zaytsev.

New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed to have reports indicating troop deployments by Tajikistan and Afghanistan along the two countries' shared border amid tensions with the Taliban, DW reported.

Moscow, said Zaytsev, calls on Dushanbe and Kabul "to search for mutually acceptable solutions" to de-escalate the current situation.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has refused to recognize the Taliban government, accusing the group of human rights abuses, the report said.

The Taliban leadership has harshly rejected such sentiments, demanding that Tajikistan stay out of Afghanistan's domestic affairs.

On Thursday, long-time Tajik ruler Rahmon presided over a military parade near the border. The show of force followed a similar parade near another section of the border a day earlier.

Tajikistan is the only neighbouring country of Afghanistan which is emerging as the toughest critic of the Taliban.

Earlier, Tajik authorities have taken a different position and that has raised questions about why Rahmon and his government continue to make clear their strong opposition to a Taliban government in Afghanistan, Bruce Pannier wrote in the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

Pakistan, a long backer of the Taliban, clearly welcomed the group's success in Afghanistan.

China, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan all conceded there was nothing they could do about Afghan internal politics and held out hope that some form of cooperation with the Taliban might be possible, he adds.

Tajikistan's government is no doubt saying what many governments are thinking.

--IANS

san/ksk/
India's three-decade-old Pakistan-sponsored Islamist militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir stands vulnerable to intensified terrorist violence with the Taliban takeover. Pakistan, facing heat from the FATF pressure, is likely to shift terror training camps from the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) to Afghanistan as Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, on account of Taliban's endemic ties with the GHQ Rawalpindi, will be like a de facto Pakistani colony and a favourite safe-haven for jihadists of all hues and colors. Such an exercise equips Islamabad with much-needed deniability in a major terror attack by a Pak-sponsored terrorist group in India. Also, it will help in easing off the FATF pressure.

Reportedly, training of the cadres of India-focussed terror groups has already begun in Afghanistan, in the Taliban training camps. In April 2020, in a raid at Taliban camp in Nangarhar, the Afghan Security Forces killed ten militants of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), a Kashmir-focussed terror group responsible for some of the deadliest fidayeen attacks like Pulwama (2019), Pathankot(2016), and the parliament attack(2001). After the abrogation of article 370, Pakistan is trying to revive Al Badr, a Kashmiri terror group active in the 1990s. After the 1990s, Al Badr went dormant in Kashmir; however, it sustained its presence in the FATA region and cultivated strong links with Haqqanis and the Taliban. Reportedly, its present commander, Hamza Burhan, a resident of Pulwama, met Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a pro-Taliban leader and Hizb-e-Islami chief. It seems the ISI has revived Al Badr in Kashmir because the latter can have better coordination with Taliban foreign terrorists due to its generational ties.

Pakistan may divert a segment of the Taliban's battle-hardened terrorists to Kashmir for the following reasons. After three decades of a war-like jihadist lifestyle, they may not be an ideal fit for governance-related positions, and keeping them idle may transform them into an internal security challenge for Pakistan. Sending them to Kashmir in a calculated and well-strategized manner may be the best bet for Pakistan and perhaps for its benefactor China, to keep the region on the boil and keep India under pressure and boxed in. It serves the Chinese interests as they would focus on consolidating in the Indian Ocean, where the Indian Navy continues to be a force to reckon with. India's headaches in Kashmir are likely to adversely impact its counter-measures against the Chinese moves in the Indian Ocean.

Reportedly, terrorist commanders from PoK have instructed the valley-based terrorist leadership to lie low and protect themselves for another month and a half to two months, with the promise of intensifying militancy and social unrest after that by sending foreign fighters. In the short run, Pakistan may confine itself to a medium-level terror strike in Kashmir to test India's response. However, in the long run i.e. after seven-eight months when Islamabad is done with providing a semblance of stability-cum-establishment to Taliban and some rudimentary level of diplomatic recognition for Taliban as a counterweight or evil necessity against ISIS-K, Pakistan is likely to focus its proxy assets on India and intensify terror attacks/radicalisation/communal riots and other forms of sabotage in Kashmir as well as other states of India.

Reportedly, 150-300 Kashmiris who fled Kashmir in the 90s and 2000s have fought alongside the Taliban, on the assurance of the latter, helping them in Kashmir. According to the author's informed interlocutors, some of the prominent Kashmiris commanders active in Afghan theatre are Nasarallah Hasan, who reportedly has robust ties with Sirajuddin Haqqani, Ayub Bangroo, and Majid Bangroo. Deobandi-leaning terrorist groups like HuJi (Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami), JeM and HuM (Harkat-ul-Mujahidin) have generational ties with the Taliban. Most of their leaders, including Masood Azhar, Sadatullah, and Maulana Fazlur Rahman Khalil, began their careers in anti-Soviet Jihad. Also, they come from Deobandi fortresses of Binoria and Haqqania madrasa, also the intellectual nurseries of the Taliban. Reportedly, 10,000 JeM and LeT fighters fought alongside the Taliban in the battles against the Afghan forces and Americans. Taliban is likely to reward them by rendering them support in Kashmir.

In the Taliban regime, Afghanistan is likely to become 'Jihad central,' in the words of India's former R&AW chief Vikram Sood. Jihadist groups of all flavors are likely to flourish under the protective umbrella of ISI. Among them, Al Qaeda and ISKP will pose a serious threat to India's national security. AQIS, AQ's South-Asian affiliate, has been attempting to find a foothold in India. In the past, its affiliated groups like Indian Mujahidin and SIMI carried a series of terror attacks before the Indian agencies dismantled their modules. In his video message (July, 2019) on Kashmir, AQ chief, Ayman al Zawahiri displayed his keen interest in expanding in Kashmir.

Further, many top-level leaders of ISKP have Lashkar background and are from Kashmir, substantial proof of its linkages with the ISI. ISKP also has robust ties with the Haqqanis, a 'veritable arm' of ISI. ISKP has targeted Indian interests in Afghanistan. They are likely to ramp up their activities in India, and it will not be confined to Kashmir. IS' khilafat model, proving the possibility of realization of the sharia-ruled state, attracted Indians to IS, who, for long, kept their distance from AQ. In 2016, the ISI facilitated ISKP's recruitment in India; as a result, about 100 individuals from India's southern state Kerala, the new hub of Islamist radicalization, joined ISKP. Under the Taliban's regime, this trend may witness an upward trajectory. Also, ISKP's brand may lure Indians from other states to join Jihad in Kashmir. This is worrisome because so far, non-Kashmiri Indian Muslims have stayed away from Islamist insurgency in Kashmir. Also, India's communally polarised socio-political milieu adds fuel to the fire and provides a fertile ground for ISKP and AQ's expansion.

Turkey's presence in Afghanistan can also be problematic for India. Lately, after the abrogation of Kashmir's special status, Erdogan voiced strong protest against India. Since 2016, Turkey has also expanded its outreach among Indian Muslims, mostly with the Islamist tone and tenor for gaining support for Erdogan. Turkish president Erdogan has made soft-power inroads in Kashmir. Turkey's presence in Afghanistan raises strong possibilities of SADAT, Erdogan's private army, known for training jihadists in Syria and Libya, training Kashmiri militants. Turkey helping terrorist groups with advanced drone technology, used in smuggling weapons and infiltration, is also an alarming but realistic possibility.

India also needs to worry about the 600,000 assault rifles and pistols left by Americans. Kashmiri militants have been facing massive weapons shortages for the last five-six years. M4 Carbines, pistols, RPGs, Pika guns, and missiles are likely to be used by terrorists in Kashmir. Taliban's rise to power will also give a fillip to drugs smuggling for terror financing. Drug addiction is already a significant challenge in India's Punjab and Kashmir.

Another factor that may embolden Pakistan is that now FATF pressure appears to be increasingly ineffective. Since Pakistan has emerged as a central player with leverage and penetration to manage unstable Afghanistan, with both the US and China dependent on Pakistan, Pakistan is least likely to face problems in receiving aid money and face diplomatic humiliation in global forums like UNSC and FATF. As a result, Pakistan is much less likely to bother about the FATF. Also, after the US withdrawal, there has been a sharp decline in its credibility as a reliable ally. Hence, the Pak-China combine may attempt to test India's patience. After the Balakot airstrikes, Pakistan's nuclear blackmail was shattered, making Pakistan apprehensive of India's retaliation in future terror attacks. However, after the Taliban conquest and worsening India-China ties (Galwan clash), Pakistan believes India is vulnerable. Hence, Pakistan may test India's red-lines through a major terror strike. Besides, Xi Jinping facing serious leadership challenges in the CCP may open up the Ladakh front to make quick territorial gains. To divert India's resources, Beijing may ask Pakistan to boil LoC, organize terror strikes and street anarchy in Kashmir, rendering the Indian forces' movement difficult.

Radicalisation Challenges

A section of Indian Muslims, including some prominent intellectual and journalistic voices, perceive the Taliban as freedom fighters. For radical extremists, the Taliban's win is the victory of Islamic forces against infidels. The establishment of the sharia-state in Afghanistan and IS' caliphate (destroyed now) has presented a successful model of sharia state for the radical elements. Taliban's strengthening will intensify jihadist radicalization in India, in general. Though India's Deoband is cross with Pakistan's Deoband, i.e., Taliban and JeM's religious ideology, there are pockets of sympathy. JeM will try to expand and capture recruits from those Deobandi pockets of sympathy spread across the country. Additionally, the radicalization of Indian Muslims will lead to more social frictions and violent communal riots, resulting in more acrimony and terrorist recruitment. Taliban's sharia state model will also strengthen radicalisation trends in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and the Maldives. Reportedly, some youth crossed into India from Bangladesh to join the Taliban. Lastly, if radical Islamist spreads to Central Asia, Pakistan will get strategic depth there also, again a loss for India.

(Abhinav Pandya is the founder and CEO of Usanas Foundation, an India-based geopolitical and security affairs think-tank. The article has been published with permission from Usanas Foundation)

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

--indianarrative
Cognizant today proclaimed an agreement to join the United Nations Global Compact India (UNGCI), a country-level leadership platform for strengthening sustainable business practices. The agreement imitates the company's focus on promoting tech and STEM education, climate and environmental responsibility, and working against corruption in all forms.

"We are proud to reaffirm our support of the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact which are aligned with Cognizant's core values," stated Rajesh Nambiar, Chairman, Cognizant India, and President Digital Business and Technology. "As part of our global membership, we will participate in collaborative projects to advance the broader goals of the UN across India, especially the Sustainable Development Goals. We continue to embed these principles into the company's strategy, day-to-day operations, and culture."

UNGC is a worldwide network of more than 9,500 companies and 3,000 nonbusiness participants committed to establishing a sustainable future. A key requirement for participation is a member's annual submission of a Communication on Progress (COP) report detailing efforts to implement the Ten Principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

In 2021, Cognizant crossed several milestones in endrosing sustainability. The company joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) in February 2021. It released its 2020 Sustainability report  Living with Purpose  providing a comprehensive overview of the progress made in its environmental, social and governance (ESG) journey. Cognizant also joined World Economic Forum's "Partnering for Racial Justice in Business" initiative to help foster a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Joining the UNGCI reaffirms Cognizant's longstanding commitment to social responsibility in India, evident in the focused work of its Foundation and Cognizant Outreach, the company's employee-led volunteering program. Over the past fourteen years, Cognizant volunteers have mobilized a wide range of social impact programs across India to boost community well-being and improve diversity in technology; Cognizant Foundation India has been dedicated to improving lives in vulnerable communities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We deployed all available resources to help India overcome the COVID-19 humanitarian crisis and worked closely with the government and public hospitals to help ramp up the medical infrastructure," stated Nambiar. "We remain committed not only to the safety and well-being of our 2,00,000 strong associates in India, but also the underserved and vulnerable communities where we operate."

At the onset of the deadly second wave, Cognizant launched Operation C3, the company's COVID-19 rapid response program to combat the pandemic crisis and help save lives. Key initiatives included:
Apple, Sony, Google, Zoom, PayPal and several other tech firms as well as scores of banks have cautioned customers and partners in India to expect a surge in declined transactions as the worlds second-largest internet markets central bank imposes a new directive for the way recurring payments are processed in the country.

The Reserve Bank of Indias directive, which goes into effect on Friday, requires banks, financial institutions and payment gateways to obtain additional endorsement for auto-renewables transactions worth over 5,000 Indian rupees ($67) from users by conducting notifications, e-mandates and Additional Factors of Authentication (AFA). The directive impacts all such transactions for debit cards as well as credit cards.

The directive, which was first unveiled in 2019, was scheduled to go into result in April this year but was extended to September 30 after banks and other players said they were not fully prepared to comply.

Indias central bank was not amused by the way the industry handled its directive, saying in March that any further delay in ensuring complete adherence to the framework beyond the extended timeline will attract stringent supervisory action.

The Reserve Bank of India said in the original circular in 2019, that the framework was deliberated to serve as a risk mitigant and customer facilitation measure, adding that the issuer processing such transactions shall send a pre-transaction notification to the customer, at least 24 hours prior to the actual charge by SMS or email, as per the customers preferences.

Several firms have reminded their customers and in some cases, other business partners, about the new directive.

On Wednesday, Apple reminded developers that because of the new directive, some transactions that dont meet these requirements will be declined by banks or card issuers.

HDFC, the largest private bank in India, has posted the following message on its website: Please note: Effective 1st Oct 2021, the Bank will NOT approve any Standing Instruction (e-Mandate for processing of recurring payments) given at Merchant Website / App, on HDFC Bank Credit card/Debit Card, unless it is as per RBI compliant process. Several banks, including HDFC, Axis and Kotak have said this week that they will be complying with the novel rule.

In May this year, Google stopped on-boarding new recurring payment customers on its Play Store. The firm told developers that free trials and introductory pricing should be removed from the apps until the ecosystem challenges are addressed. YouTube has moved to support only a prepaid  pay as you go  payments acceptance model for its Premium service.

In the same month, Amazon said it was temporarily discontinuing new member sign-ups for Amazon Prime free trial until further notice. There hasnt been any change to that notice since.

The directive doesnt impact recurring payments made through UPI, a payments infrastructure built by a coalition of retail banks. Which explains why some firms  including Netflix  have added aid for auto-pay on UPI in the country.

But its impact is expected to be far-reaching. A fintech founder told TechCrunch that the payments provider they use to advertise on Facebook and Google had informed them that their automatic-payments wont be processed starting later this week, citing the central banks rule. The founder requested anonymity to discuss what he deemed to be sensitive.

The new rule is the latest in a series of guidelines the Indian central bank has proposed or enforced in recent years. As Pratik Bhakta outlines in a post on The CapTable, the moves illustrate that though the regulator has supported the proliferation of fintech startups that are innovating for users, the RBI is directly watching whether any trend is attempting to hurt those consumers.

Until legislation catches up, regulation has to adapt to ensure that the financial system absorbs digital innovation in a non-disruptive manner, stated RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar at a conference earlier this week. We would only be able to reach a thriving and mature payments system if, over time, all stakeholders attach due importance to long-term improvements over short-term gains and internalise mature practices like informed consent and transparency of data usage.

In emails to PlayStation Plus subscribers on Thursday, Sony said, From 30 September 2021, you may see your credit and/or debit card payments for PlayStation Plus fail when trying to pay for a subscription on PlayStation Store.

This applies to both new subscription purchases and payment of recurring subscription fees. This means that any future PlayStation Plus subscription fees set up to be charged automatically may fail. If that happens, your PlayStation Plus subscription will come to an end.
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Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Nicola MacPhail was soaring over South Africas rugged south-west coast in a Cessna 152 light aircraft when she knew her accounting career was over. I was blown away that you could do something that filled you with so much joy, and you could get paid for it, she explains. Nicola MacPhail, at Brisbane Airport near her home, hopes she can return to flying as the aviation industry recovers from its COVID-19 crisis. Credit:Madeline Begley Jumping at a suggestion offered by her brother (a South African Air Force pilot) 14 years ago, her maiden flying lesson over the stunning Saldanha Bay, north-west of Cape Town, prompted MacPhail to leave the world of London finance to fly charter planes around Botswana and South Africa before moving to Australia in 2016. But like many pilots, COVID-19 brought the 43-year-olds career to an abrupt halt, costing her job as a second officer on Virgin Australias Boeing 777s flying between Brisbane and Los Angeles. Qantas and Virgin Australia together laid off around 11,500 people last year as the pandemic grounded aircraft globally, inflicted billions of dollars of financial losses and tipped Virgin into bankruptcy. Now, after a gruelling 19 months, the aviation industry is dusting itself off. State borders should open and stay open when the 80 per cent vaccination target is reached under the state and federal reopening plan (although West Australian, Queensland and Tasmania are threatening to go rogue).

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Qantas will start brining some of its A380s out of deep storage at the low-humidity Mojave Desert facility in California. Credit:Google Earth And in a surprise announcement, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday he will lift the ban on Australians leaving the country in November, and open the border for vaccinated Australians who will be able to complete seven days quarantine at home, rather than a fortnight in a hotel. Airlines are hopeful domestic passenger numbers will recover to pre-pandemic levels early next year, after hitting one-fifth of normal volumes in July and falling further since then as the Delta COVID-19 wave plunged NSW and Victoria into lockdown. Just 51,000 passengers passed through Sydney Airport in August, compared to 3.7 million in August 2019. And while the international recovery will take years, Qantas said on Friday it will start thrice-weekly flights from Sydney to London and Los Angeles from November 14 in light of the Prime Ministers border announcement. Flights to the US and UK from other capitals, and to Japan, Singapore and Fiji are scheduled from December 18. Virgin will return to Fiji two days before Christmas, and then Bali in March. Airlines hope domestic travel demand will return to pre-pandemic levels early next year. Credit:James Brickwood MacPhail considers herself lucky to have found a new job she loves with a drone (or unmanned aerial vehicle) consultancy on the Gold Coast, but is also hopeful that an industry recovery will mean she can return to the flight deck. I miss it terribly, she says.

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Even if everything goes to plan, restarting an industry that has largely been in hibernation for almost two years is far from straightforward. More jets, more crew Grounded pilots need to be retrained, mothballed aircraft need to be restarted, and there are still unanswered questions about exactly who will be allowed in and out of Australia this summer. Its a big challenge, no doubt about it, but its a really exciting time, says Qantas chief pilot, Captain Dick Tobiano. Virgins chief operating officer Stuart Aggs says the companys biggest challenge is getting pilots and flight crew trained in time for the anticipated up-lift in flying. Were as busy as weve ever been, he says. Virgin shed 3000 jobs after the pandemic pushed it into administration in April 2020, and has since relaunched as a much slimmer airline under the ownership of US private equity firm Bain Capital.

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And the carrier is bullish about the recovery in domestic travel demand when borders open. It has ordered more nine Boeing 737s to enter service by March next year, boosting its mainline jet fleet to 68 jets (compared to 85 before its collapse). Loading Virgin has also re-employed 80 pilots it laid off last year and around 400 cabin crew over the past few months. Sixty more pilots (for a total of 840) and a few hundred more cabin crew are set to join by March. Our [flight training] simulator capacity is nearly full and all of our training people are [working] full-time and are pushing people through the training system as efficiently and as fast as we can, Aggs says. Virgin Australia is leasing more jets and hiring crew in anticipation domestic travel demand will return to normal next year. Credit:Wolter Peeters Pilots need constant training and assessment to maintain their certification to fly. Those who have been grounded during the pandemic need weeks, or up to three months if they are changing aircraft type, of full-time training before they can return to the job. To be current and recent, and as such permitted to fly, they must complete three take-offs and landings every 90 days among other requirements.

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Virgin is scheduling around 700 flights each month which it otherwise wouldnt need to operate while travel demand is so low, just so there are enough opportunities for pilots to do supervised flight training and assessment. Qantas, likewise, is planning to fly some empty long-haul aircraft (Airbus A330s and Boeing 787s) to and from the same domestic airport, as well as on some short domestic passenger hops, to help get its pilots trained up. Tobiano, the chief pilot, says the airline has been trying to keep 2000-odd pilots (250 have left during the pandemic) as up-to-date with their training as possible, sharing any available flying time among the workforce, and implementing regular ground training for those not flying. We had to think about how we were going to bring back a whole cohort of pilots who hadnt been flying for an extensive period of time, he says. Around half the pilots who fly its Boeing 737 domestic workhorses are stood down currently, but will be able to return to work easily after doing regular flying earlier this year, before the Delta wave locked down NSW and Victoria. International flying is a different beast. It never completely stopped, with Qantas Boeing 787 Dreamliners used for government-funded repatriation flights and its A330s flying freight. But some long-haul pilots (around a third of the total 787 crew) have not been flying due to the onerous quarantine requirements, or because they wanted to stay in secondary employment, and will need more extensive training.

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Qantas will restart its international flying a month earlier than expected after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday Australias international border would reopen in November.

Mr Morrison said the ban on international travel in place since March 20 last year would lift for states that had vaccinated 80 per cent of their adult population, which would start with NSW.

Qantas has put international tickets back on sale from November 14. Credit:Getty

Australian citizens and permanent residents who are inoculated with a vaccine approved or recognised by the Therapeutic Goods Administration will be able to do seven days home quarantine, Mr Morrison said. Unvaccinated travellers will still need to complete 14 days in hotel quarantine.

Qantas had put flights to major overseas destinations on sale from December 18, but on Friday afternoon said it would bring that forward in light of the Prime Ministers announcement, with three weekly return flights from Sydney to London and Los Angeles from November 14.
Singaporean fund manager AIMS APAC REIT (AA REIT) has swooped on the Woolworths headquarters in Sydneys north-west in a deal worth $463.25 million.

Having looked at the site for many months, the fund exchanged contracts on the Bella Vista site on Thursday night after being given the conditional green light by the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board. It was announced on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

The third acquisition in Australia for the fund will provide entry to a strategic business park and data centre location with connections to road and rail transport.

Woolworths sprawling headquarters at Bella Vista in north-west Sydney has been sold for $463.25m

The A-grade rated corporate campus is 100 per cent leased to supermarket giant Woolworths, and comes with a long lease term balance of 10 years and built-in rental escalation of 2.75 per cent per annum.
Australian shares were thumped on Friday, finishing the first day of trading for October down two per cent.

The ASX200 finished the day at 7815.5, bringing total losses for the week to 2.1 per cent.

Helloworld was one of the few winners for the day.

Global economic uncertainties hung heavy over the bourse throughout the week and Wall Street set the tone on Thursday evening, with September proving the worst month for shares in the US since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Congress managed to pass a bill to avoid a government shutdown in the United States on Friday morning Australian time, but the house postponed a planned vote on a $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

Australian stocks opened lower and dipped as much as 2.3 per cent in early afternoon trading as S&P 500 futures declined.

Banks and mining stocks bled heavily throughout the day, with Commonwealth Bank leading the losses down 4.1 per cent to $100.08. Its other big four banking peers also finished the day with losses of more than 2 per cent each, while BHP lost 2 per cent for the session, throwing off any optimism about a stabilising iron ore price.

Blue-chip stocks slid across the board, with biotech giant CSL also providing a big weight with a slump of 1.5 per cent to $288.87.

The bearish sentiment came against the backdrop of a big day of domestic political news, including the resignation of New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian and the news that Australian would reopen its international borders from November.

Investors and analysts watched moves in bond yields closely throughout the week, noting that increasing yields will put pressure on valuations. The Australian 10-year yield was sitting at 1.49 per cent on Friday morning.

The moves in bond yields are pressuring valuations. This, combined with a clear rolling over in earnings for our market and some risks around AGM updates, keeps us similarly cautious on the index direction, Morgan Stanley equities analyst Chris Nicol said in a note.

A move below the 7000 level would not surprise us.

Gold stocks proved the most resilient part of the market for Fridays session as investors looked for a safe haven from the uncertainties. Northern Star Resources gained 2.5 per cent to $8.71, while Evolution Mining was 2.3 per cent higher to $3.57.

Travel stocks also received a small leg-up thanks to news of the nations reopening plan. Webjet gained 2 per cent to $6.47, Qantas finished the day up 0.7 per cent to $5.71, and Helloworld Travel was the standout up 5.5 per cent to $2.70.

Despite a tough week, the ASX200 still managed to post gains of 2 per cent for the September quarter. S&P Global associate of index investment strategy Sherifa Issifu noted every sector finished the quarter stronger except for mining stocks.

Large cap stocks also finished narrowly in the red for the three months to September. The micro-cap S&P/ASX Emerging Companies was the only Australian size range to finish ahead this month, rising 8% to close the quarter with a 19% gain, S&P said in its quarterly index update.
Several large firms in the Zhejiang textile hub have been shut until the end of this month. Others are facing de facto triage based on relative energy use. With market attention now laser-focused on Evergrande and Beijings unprecedented curbs on the property sector, another major supply-side shock may have been underestimated or even missed, said Ting Lu, China strategist at Nomura. Loading The Japanese bank expects Chinas economy to contract by 0.2 per cent this quarter and barely eke out any growth over the rest of the year. That is a double-dip recession with Chinese characteristics. It is puzzling that global markets have been so insouciant about a power crisis in Asias anchor economy. The slowdown is happening just as fiscal stimulus fades in Europe and America, and as Western central banks start to tighten in the face of incipient stagflation and a rising misery index.

What can possibly go wrong in global equity markets still at nosebleed P/E ratios? While this column does not give investment advice, as a personal precaution I have liquidated most of my modest salarymans portfolio and intend to ride out the early autumn with 80 per cent in cash until risk and reward come back into plausible alignment. Nor am I buying Anglo-Saxon or eurozone safe-haven bonds, given rising structural deficits and the imminent retreat of the chief buyers amid so much debt issuance. The auction of two-year US treasuries was a shocker, the worst cover ratio since December 2008. Talk of a Chinese Lehman moment as developer Evergrande collapses with $US309 billion of debts has obscured the greater danger. Xi Jinping has deliberately precipitated a crunch in Chinas encephalitic property sector via his three red lines, deeming a purge necessary to safeguard social order and prevent the further misallocation of resources. Construction accounts for a quarter of Chinese GDP and half of the worlds diggers, cranes and cement mixing. It diverts funds from the green, hi-tech, robotics, AI, cloud computing, and advanced semiconductors sectors, where the struggle for superpower mastery is really taking place. Markets have largely shrugged off the energy woes. Credit:NYSE Beijings determination to suppress the whole property sector, not the fallout of Evergrande, is what represents the major near-term risk to Chinas growth and financial stability, said Ting Lu. Land sales were down 64 per cent in August from a year ago - the leading indicator of the building industry.

Xi has brought forward a denouement bound to happen because Chinas workforce is shrinking by 3 million a year, marriages have fallen by a third in seven years, household formation has slowed and rural migration has all but ended. Buyers will be progressively scarcer, rendering the developer model of pre-selling homes to cover past costs a slow-motion Ponzi scheme. The property crunch is compounded by a parallel squeeze on carbon. Xi has promised peak CO2 emissions by 2030, a 25 per cent cut per unit of GDP by 2025, and a 3 per cent cut in energy intensity this year. He knows that China is paying a high credibility price for foot-dragging as Europe and the US launch green deals, and may soon face a carbon border tax in its top markets if it is not careful. Loading Energy-saving edicts are raining down. Party cadres have been mobilised to pursue CO2 crimes, and are reportedly doing so with the zeal of the Cultural Revolution. The state planner (NDRC) says 20 Chinese provinces have failed to meet this years goals on cutting energy intensity. Nomura says nine have received level 1 warnings, including Guangdong and Jiangsu, 35 per cent of Chinas economy between them. Woe betide the party officials responsible.

The steel, cement and aluminium industries face production caps by the industry ministry (MIIT). They stole part of their allowance over the first half and must cut back this half to compensate. That means drastic falls in steel output. It has already begun and is hammering iron ore prices, along with miners such as Vale and BHP. Chinas energy crunch is happening for much the same reasons as in Europe. COVID upset the rhythms of the global fuel market. The weather was extreme: drought hit hydropower and the hot summer boosted air conditioning. The result was an explosion in demand for coal and gas. Chinas coal levels are dangerously low. Credit:Bloomberg The cost of liquefied natural gas in Shanghai reached $US26 per mmBtu, luring away shipments that would otherwise have gone to Europe to replenish depleted inventories. China is now the worlds biggest LNG importer. In August it bought 6.4 million tonnes, compared to 4.9 million in Europe and Turkey combined (ICIS data). Put another way, Britains gas crisis is a function of Chinas industrial cycle.

Yuriy Vitrenko, Ukraines gas and pipeline chief, told me over the weekend that demand destruction is already working its brutal cure and that global gas prices have probably peaked. That might seem hard to believe with storage so perilously low. The futures market for UK contracts show prices continuing to rise in seasonal contango, hitting 187 pence per therm in January. Loading But markets roll over when you least expect. I dont wish to pick on Goldman Sachs, and agree that depressed investment in upstream oil and gas implies a fossil supercycle in the early 2020s. But I watch with a jaundiced eye as the bank raises its crude oil forecast to $US90 this year, in part citing gas to oil switching for power plants. Goldman issued its infamous $US200 call for crude in 2008 at the exact top of the price spike. We now know that core Europe was already in recession by then and that Americas sub-prime debacle was nearing its climax, with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac already crumbling. If China is slowing as hard as some suspect, it will do the world a big favour and head off a political crisis in Europe and the UK this winter. No elected government can easily survive loss of control over energy security. Nor should it.
Gender pay gap reporting in Australia is failing to deliver constructive change, with an international study on the subject saying current practices are failing to account for a significant chunk of the countrys workforce.

Despite Australia being one of the first countries to legislate for gender equality, the nation has ranked joint last, with the United Kingdom, on gender pay gap reporting in the Bridging the gap? report by Kings College London and the Australian National University.

The study used 11 indicators to rank womens pay relative to men in Australia, France, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Australia and the UK scored four out of 11 each, while Spain scored eight-and-half. France came second (8), followed by South Africa (5.5) and Sweden (5).

A significant proportion of the Australian workforce is not reflected in the governments gender pay gap data. Credit:Shutterstock

Women in Australia have to work an extra 61 days to earn the same as the average man. The gender pay gap for full-time employees in Australia is 14.2 per cent, only marginally better than at the turn of the century, and 30 per cent for all employees, the reports authors said.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size To rank the James Bond movies, the key question is how much you view them through modern eyes. We wince now when Sean Connery slaps a woman, rips off a bikini top or holds her down until he can kiss her but audiences seemed to find this unremarkable behaviour for a British secret agent in the 1960s. The series recognised how much times had changed when Judi Denchs M called 007 a sexist, misogynist dinosaur in 1995s GoldenEye. For almost six decades of official Bond movies, the formula has proven enduringly popular: action-packed spy adventures in exotic locations, spectacular stunts, glamorous women who usually fall into bed with 007, gadgets, explosions, fast cars and witty asides. But it has been reinvented repeatedly as Connery gave way to George Lazenby then Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. With No Time to Die finally opening in cinemas, heres how the Bond movies rank. 24. On Her Majestys Secret Service (1969)

Lazenby has been the only Australian 007 but he is, unfortunately, also the worst. One of the best stories of the series had Bond facing perennial villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas) over a plan to use his brainwashed henchwomen to destroy the worlds agriculture. But the movie suffers for Lazenbys acting and the in-jokes. Iconic moments: the bobsled chase; Bond gets married. George Lazenby in On Her Majestys Secret Service. Credit:Apic/Getty

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23. Quantum of Solace (2008)

The Matrix sequels of Bond movies. After Craig re-energised 007 in Casino Royale, the follow-up was frantic, cold and grim. Seeking revenge for Vespers death, Bond teamed up with Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko), who was on her own revenge mission, for a fiery showdown at a desert hotel. As well as the worst title, it had a script that was badly affected by a writers strike. Iconic moment: the dogfight with Bond flying a DC-3. 22. Octopussy (1983)

The switch to comedy went too far when Bond (Moore) defused a nuclear warhead dressed as a clown after earlier hiding in a gorilla suit. Investigating the death of a British agent, 007 tracked an exiled Afghan prince (Louis Jourdan) and his jewel-smuggling associate Octopussy (Maud Adams) and discovered a plot to explode a warhead. Iconic moments: Bond flies a mini jet through a hangar; he and henchman Gobinda fight atop a plane. 21. You Only Live Twice (1967)

Bond (Connery) was dispatched to Japan to confront Blofeld (Donald Pleasence) at his volcano lair in a movie with hokey space scenes, badly dubbed Japanese actors, weak double entendres and 007 getting a makeover to supposedly look Japanese. Iconic moments: the helicopter picking up a car with a magnet; Little Nellies dogfight; death by piranha pool; and the liferaft containing Bond and Kissy (Mie Hama) being collected by a surfacing submarine. Sean Connery in You Only Live Twice. Credit:Getty Images 20. A View to a Kill (1985)

In Moores final appearance, Bond faced crazed villain Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), who wanted to destroy Silicon Valley. It was a hit but Moore was showing his age at 57 and his love scene with Grace Jones as May Day was comically awful. Iconic moments: Duran Durans theme song; May Day parachuting from the Eiffel Tower; the climactic fight when Zorins airship crashed into the Golden Gate Bridge. Roger Moore and Tanya Roberts in A View to a Kill. Credit:Getty

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19. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Bond (Moore) tracked down villain Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) who was using a stolen device to create a destructive solar energy cannon. While Lee classed up the movie, low points included Lulus theme song, Sumo wrestlers in Thailand, the bizarre reappearance of Sheriff J. W. Pepper, the clumsy product placement and Britt Eklands acting as agent Mary Goodnight. Iconic moments: the corkscrew car jump across a river; the flying car; the climactic shootout in Scaramangas fun palace. 18. Die Another Day (2002)

Things got wild for Brosnans final movie: Bond surfed a giant wave into North Korea, there was a hovercraft chase, Madonna was a fencing instructor, John Cleese was Q, a billionaire British businessman was really an exiled Korean terrorist in disguise, there was an invisible car and Bond kitesurfed another giant wave in Iceland. After 14 months of torture, 007 had to foil a plan to use a satellites laser power to unite the Korean Peninsula. Iconic moments: Bond being saved by the bell; Halle Berry as Jinx exiting the surf. Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day. Credit:Twentieth Century Fox 17. The World Is Not Enough (1999)

While protecting an oil heiress (Sophie Marceau) from a Russian terrorist (Robert Carlyle), Bond uncovered a plot to destroy Istanbul with a nuclear explosion. Brosnans third movie, which also stars Denise Richards as nuclear physicist Christmas Jones, was briskly entertaining but a step down from his previous two. Iconic moments: the jetboat chase down the Thames; Qs lethal bagpipes; defusing a bomb in a pipeline; Bonds line I thought Christmas only comes once a year. 16. Live and Let Die (1973)

Investigating the death of three British agents, Bond (Moore in his debut) hunted down a drug dealer who turned out to be the dictator of a Caribbean island in a ham-fisted take on blaxploitation. Iconic moments: Paul McCartneys theme song; Bond seducing the psychic Solitaire (Jane Seymour) with a stacked deck of tarot cards; using alligators as stepping stones and flying a speedboat over a road. Gloria Hendry, Roger Moore and Jane Seymour in a publicity shot for Live and Let Die. Credit:Terry O'Neill/Iconic Images 15. For Your Eyes Only (1981)

In a colourful Mediterranean travelogue, Bond (Moore) hunted for a stolen missile command system while helping crossbow-wielding Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) get revenge for her parents murder. Iconic moments: Bond escaping on a ski jump then a bobsled run; Qs identigraph machine; Bond climbing a sheer cliff face; and, at the end, being thanked by Maggie Thatcher.

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14. The Living Daylights (1987)

A new Bond (Dalton) teamed up with a Czech cellist (Maryam dAbo) to investigate a KGB plan to kill British agents. The movie had a brooding darkness but little wit and arms dealer Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker) was a weak villain. Iconic moments: the snow chase on a cello case; Bonds fight dangling off the back of a plane. Timothy Dalton and Maryam dAbo teamed up in The Living Daylights. Credit:UIP 13. Thunderball (1965)

Bond (Connery) headed to the Bahamas to track down two NATO atomic bombs stolen by Spectre. It was the biggest hit of the early Bond movies but now seems to have far too many underwater scuba-diving scenes. Iconic moments: Bond flying a jetpack; the plane hijack; the pool full of sharks; the foot chase during a Caribbean street parade; Bond and Domino (Claudine Auger) being hooked from a liferaft by a plane. 12. Licence to Kill (1989)

After the CIAs Felix Leiter (David Hedison) had been dropped into a shark tank and his new wife killed, Bond (Dalton) went rogue to take down Colombian drug lord Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), with help from DEA informant Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell). Iconic moments: Bond and Leiter hook an escaping light plane to a helicopter; the helter-skelter truck chase. Timothy Dalton and Carey Lowell starred in Licence To Kill. Credit:Eon 11. From Russia with Love (1963)

Dispatched to Turkey for the defection of a Russian consulate staffer, Bond (Connery) discovered a plot by Spectre to avenge the killing of Dr No. With a McGuffin, a train scene and a chase in a field  it was all very Hitchcock. Iconic moments: Bond gets his first high-tech gadgets from Q; the first appearance by Blofeld (Anthony Dawson), villainously stroking a cat. 10. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Bond (Brosnan) had to take down a ruthless media tycoon (Jonathan Pryce) before a missile attack on Beijing. Michelle Yeoh impressed as sassy Chinese spy Colonel Wai Lin, who became 007s ally. Iconic moments: a chase through a carpark with Bond driving remotely from the back seat; Bond and Wai Lin slide down a building on a tearing banner.

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Pierce Brosnan in Tomorrow Never Dies. Credit:Eon 9. Moonraker (1979)

Investigating the theft of a space shuttle, Bond (Moore) confronted an industrialist who wanted to repopulate the world with a master race. In a cheesy comical sci-fi adventure, the stunts stood out. Iconic moments: Bond being pushed out of a plane without a parachute; surviving being trapped in a centrifuge chamber; the gondola chase through Venice; the fight with Jaws in a cable car in Rio; Qs droll line: I think hes attempting re-entry, sir. 8. GoldenEye (1995)

Brosnans debut was the series first real blockbuster  with more action, comedy and gravitas with Dench playing M. Bond uncovered a plot to use a satellite to destroy London. While the movie revived the series, the product placement was over the top. Iconic moments: the spectacular attack on a chemical weapons facility; assassin Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) crushes a target with her thighs; the climatic fight with 006 (Sean Bean) on a satellite dish. 7. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Bond (Moore) teamed up with Russian agent XXX (Barbara Bach) to track reclusive megalomaniac Karl Stromberg (Curd Jurgens) who was stealing British and Russian subs. In a return to form for the series, Bond was more English and smoother. Iconic moments: Carly Simons song Nobody Does It Better; the ski chase that ended with Bond opening a Union Jack parachute; henchman Jaws; Strombergs ocean lair; the Lotus Esprit that became a submarine. Roger Moore and Barbara Bach in The Spy Who Loved Me. Credit:Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images 6. Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Connerys final movie as 007  enticed back by a huge fee  had Bond uncover a plot by Blofeld (Charles Gray) to use smuggled diamonds in a space laser. While the plot took a long time to unfold, it was entertaining, colourful and witty. Iconic moments: Shirley Basseys theme song; camp assassins Mr Wint and Mr Kidd; Bonds meeting with Plenty OToole; his near-cremation then later burial in a pipeline; the chase in a lunar buggy; Bond tilting a car to get through an alley; bodyguards Bambi and Thumper. 5. Dr No (1962)

For the first Bond movie, director Terence Young reputedly cast Connery, introduced him to his tailor and showed him how to walk, talk and eat as 007. Investigating the disappearance of MI6s station chief in Jamaica, Bond confronted Dr No (Joseph Wiseman). Hokey, cartoonish, ridiculously sexist but still entertaining. Iconic moments: the famous Bond theme; the first Bond, James Bond, witty banter and trademark martini; 007 is nearly killed by a tarantula; sees Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) emerging from the sea; and, at the end, kisses her in a boat.

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Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size What a day it is. A cloudless spring afternoon at Mackenzies Point, a flat shelf of rock poking out over the Pacific Ocean on the jagged southern headland between Sydneys Bondi and Tamarama beaches. Tourists flock to this lookout, snapping selfies against a perfect, uninterrupted stretch of horizon where vivid blue sky meets deep blue ocean. On a perfect day just like this one in 1982, Elton John came to shoot a video for his hit song Blue Eyes, his white grand piano standing in the middle of this clifftop perch, encircled by a low stone wall. Less than eight years later, this same spot would be the site of a horrific murder, the bare rock flecked with blood stains leading to the edge of the precipice. Scattered nearby were a pair of tinted prescription glasses, a light blue handkerchief smudged with red, a mans wristwatch with a broken band, two keys on a ring and a page from a letter between mother and son  the belongings of a whippet-thin Thai man with floppy black hair called Kritchikorn Rattanajurathaporn. On a frigid night in July, 1990, Kritchikorn, 31, stumbled here in a blood-soaked shirt, woozy from concussion after he and his companion, Geoffrey Sullivan, were subject to a savage Clockwork Orange-like attack by three young men wielding a claw hammer, a pipe and their fists. Sullivan was left lying in a pool of blood nearby; Kritchikorn, who had only arrived in Australia four months before, was chased along the cliff edge where he was either pushed or lost his footing, landing on a narrow ledge some metres below, before over a period of hours falling to another ledge. Here he would lie shivering, drifting in and out of consciousness, before turning and falling into the choppy waters below, where he would gasp for air for frantic seconds before drowning. Two days would pass before police divers discovered Kritchikorns body wedged between rocks below the surface. As our five-episode podcast Bondi Badlands, which launches today, explains, Kritchikorn was one of three men murdered on this headland in 1989 and 1990; it was also the scene of a number of assaults, a rape, a miraculous escape and a much earlier mysterious disappearance. The unvarnished fact is that late at night, Marks Park, a grassy verge capping the headland and the concrete pathway skirting the cliff face, had been a gay beat  a place where homosexual men would socialise and hook up  since at least the late 1920s. Gangs like the Bondi Boys (otherwise known by their graffiti tag PTK, or People that Kill) would prowl here, carrying out brazen acts of violence; its likely that at least a few were serial offenders; perpetrators of an anti-gay murder spree that swept across Sydney at the time. This is no simple whodunnit; it involves a tangled tale of hate crimes involving multiple suspects, gangs comprising up to 30 members, some of whom circulated among other gangs across Sydney, composing a dark mosaic of murder. Teenage boys represented the bulk of these killers, but there were young women, too. As our podcast shows, these types of homicide cases are among the toughest to solve. Kritchikorns slaying was one of the few at the time to receive a thorough police investigation. We will never know if he was still alive as he lay on that ledge, unconscious and out of view, after police arrived. In this case, at least, he was awarded a competent murder investigation by Detective Sergeant Steve McCann of Waverley police, resulting in his three killers being brought to justice and serving time in prison. This is a lot more than can be said for the other men killed here, or for that matter, the vast majority of other murders of gay men blighting Sydney at the time.

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Almost a year to the day earlier, on another freezing night in July 1989, Ross Warren, a handsome, charismatic weatherman and newsreader from WIN-TV in Wollongong, vanished on this headland in the early hours of a Saturday morning. The 25-year-old left a few clues behind  his chocolate-brown Nissan, parked on a nearby street, his wallet tucked away in the glove box, and a thick clump of his keys, attached to a brass ring, discovered by two of his friends in a honeycombed rock face a couple of days later. Warrens mysterious disappearance drew a frenzy of media attention, but even this wasnt enough to drive a proper investigation by Bondi police. Within three weeks of Warrens disappearance, which is the focus of the first episode of our podcast Bondi Badlands, the senior detective coordinating the so-called investigation closed the case without a body being found, although he speculated it might wash up on a shoreline. Earlier, on this long afternoon spent with the dead, I stopped at another point on the concrete pathway skirting the cliff face, past the Bondi Icebergs pool, surveying the rock platform 10 or more metres below. I fixed on the spot where a 31-year-old barman called John Russell landed after being dragged along the pathway and likely hurled over the cliff in the pre-dawn darkness of a hot November morning, only four months after Warren disappeared. I pictured Russell in the moonlight, surrounded by his attackers, knowing there was no way out, but fighting for grim life anyway. He had his best years ahead of him that night, having just inherited $100,000 from his maternal grandfather, whod run Clacks Cakes, a decades-old Bondi institution. Russell had been saying his farewells to Bondi: within days, he was to move to his dads property in Wollombi, in the Hunter Valley. Hed planned to build a kit home there and spend a year travelling around Australia. Credit:

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Back in the 1980s, Bondi was still known as a working-class area, albeit a rapidly gentrifying one: many locals paid rents in decaying art deco apartments with names like the Cairo Mansions or the Venice Flats, and street crime along the foreshore wasnt unusual. This is where John Russell grew up; hed long learnt to keep his wits about him. He was a man who exuded decency, warmth and strength, but he could also be handy with his fists  in the bars along Oxford Street where he worked during much of his 20s, he was the first barman called on to remove drunk troublemakers. And on the night of his death, Russell put up a real fight: inflicting damage on one of his killers, evidenced by a bunch of blond hairs still clutched in his left hand when his body was found at the cliff base  hairs containing the DNA of his murderer. Less than a year earlier, in December 1988, the body of a brilliant, 27-year-old mathematician from the US, Scott Johnson, was found at the base of cliffs at Manlys North Head. Like John Russells, Johnsons death was dismissed by police as not suspicious, as a likely suicide. Scotts brother Steve Johnson, a highly successful IT entrepreneur, hired investigative journalist Dan Glick in 2007 to look into the murder. What he unveiled was a shocking testament to continuing police inaction over three decades. Last year, Steve offered to match the existing million-dollar police reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for Scotts murder. Within a couple of months, a man from Sydneys Lane Cove, Scott White, was arrested for the murder. A pre-trial hearing is due to begin in January next year. White, who is now 50, has pleaded not guilty. Cliffs were the easiest weapon; you didnt have to carry anything with you. All you had to do was go to a certain location and hurt someone or push them off the edge. In what was perhaps another watershed moment this year, a 75-year-old man was arrested for the murder of Raymond Keam, a martial arts expert and father of two who was found beaten to death in January 1987 at Alison Park, Randwick, then a well-known gay beat in Sydneys east. Stanley Early, also known as Spider, has been extradited to NSW after he was arrested in south-east Melbourne in August; this followed a million-dollar reward offered some months earlier. (Rewards of $100,000 have also been offered for information leading to the killers of Ross Warren and John Russell, as well as a French man, Gilles Mattaini, who disappeared from the Bondi coastal stretch in 1985.) Its quite possible that there were other clifftop murders in and around Bondi, and across other locations on Sydneys northern beaches, in the years preceding the major thrill-kill years of the late 1980s. As Sue Thompson, a former state ombudsmans investigator who joined the police force in 1990 to coordinate its liaison with the gay and lesbian community, tells me in the podcast: Cliffs were the easiest weapon; you didnt have to carry anything with you. All you had to do was go to a certain location and hurt someone or push them off the edge. Things did not change magically in 1984 [when homosexuality was decriminalised in NSW]. In fact with the advent of AIDS, hate violence increased.

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For Thompson, becoming a liaison officer was deeply personal: one of her close friends had been murdered in a gay-hate killing only months before she took the role. The gay communitys mistrust of police at the time wasnt helping to quell the violence. Things did not change magically in 1984 [when homosexuality was decriminalised in NSW], Thompson outlined in one of her reports. In fact with the advent of AIDS, hate violence increased. It was my job to bring peace between police and the gay and lesbian communities and effect organisational change in police culture. If there remains any doubt that gay mens lives were seen as of less value at that time, look at how these murders were investigated by the Bondi police. Ross Warren? A four-page police statement on his disappearance was not even forwarded to the Missing Persons Unit. There were no comprehensive door-knocks, no record of police divers searching the headland after his disappearance, not even an appointed investigator, despite friends and colleagues insisting this was not a suicide. John Russell? His clothes were washed without any forensic analysis. The only person who gave evidence at the first inquest into his death in July 1990, which lasted all of 35 minutes, was a sergeant from Bondi police, who dismissed it as death by misadventure. Russells younger brother Peter strode out of the courtroom in disbelief and disgust. The Warren and Russell cases lay dormant. Then, on a brisk autumn day in 2000, a detective at Sydneys Paddington Police Station, Steve Page, was moved by a series of letters from Ross Warrens mother, Kay, who had one simple request: for her son to be officially declared dead, so she could tend to his affairs. As Sydney partied to the Olympics, Page created a new investigation  code-named Taradale  and began joining the dots between the two murders. Detective Steve Page led an investigation into the murders at Bondi, Operation Taradale, that would consume years of his life. He has since left the force. Credit:James Brickwood After 18 months of solid investigation, Page needed more witnesses to come forward  and more public attention on the cases. He struck on the idea of staging a re-enactment of John Russells fall from the Bondi clifftops using a weighted, flexible dummy, and chose a quiet news day, a Sunday morning. As a result of the media attention, a handful of people came forward to tell their stories, among them a man who had been dragged to the cliff edge only a month after Russells death. Lets throw him off where we threw the other one off, one of his assailants had yelled, near the same spot Russell had met his fate. But the man, 22 at the time, had made a miraculous escape  and lived to tell his story. Sadly, it was after this that another strange disappearance on the headland came to light, that of 27-year-old Gilles Mattaini. Lets throw him off where we threw the other one off, one of his assailants yelled.

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Operation Taradale rattled more than a few cages, and resulted in a coronial inquest in 2005. In her findings, deputy state coroner Jacqueline Milledge delivered a scathing assessment of the early police investigations into the murders of Russell and Warren, describing them as lacklustre, disgraceful and shameful to a packed courtroom while applauding Pages work in unveiling a dark web of hate. A dummy was thrown over the cliff at Bondi as a re-enactment of John Russells murder. The re-enactment made the evening news and resulted in new witnesses to the violence coming forward to police. In the late 1980s and early 90s, Sydneys gay and lesbian community was under siege (bashings and murders of gay men were also happening in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, but not on the same scale). Something, however, broke after the murder of Kritchikorn Rattanajurathaporn. The escalating violence brought a sea of angry protestors that filled Macquarie Street in front of state parliament. Activists splattered red paint over 11 city buildings, including state parliament, the Downing Centre court complex, and the headquarters of Channel 10 and The Sydney Morning Herald, then located in Jones Street, Ultimo. Self-defence classes were springing up in inner-city gyms and community groups, and a group of gay volunteers  some of them former members of the army, navy and police force  began foot patrols along Oxford Street and Darlinghurst Road. Oxford Street foot patrol in 1991. Credit:Reuters

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And the years of thunderous outrage at the ruinously high price of renewable energy  remember Barnabys $100 leg of lamb? - that belongs in historys fan-forced oven of overheated hype. While power prices did rise sharply in the tumultuous years of outages and chaos, in the past three years the average annual household power bill has fallen by $307, according to the SA government. With electricity, the more renewables that come in, the lower the prices go, the chair of the federal governments Energy Security Board, Kerry Schott, told The Australian this week. Point for point, the experience of South Australia demolishes every one of those three scare campaigns run by the federal Liberal-Nationals over the past decade. It has only one left: that a pledge to make further cuts in carbon emissions will destroy jobs in regional areas. How does that claim look to South Australias Liberal Premier, Steven Marshall? Weve been the beneficiary of billions of dollars of investment in renewables, he tells me, and beyond that a whole new group of investors because its more environmentally aware and sustainable.

Some of the largest companies in the world are coming to South Australia, Amazon for example. We just havent attracted these sorts of companies before. Amazon this year opened a new office for research into machine learning and artificial intelligence in Adelaides Lot 14 tech hub. Microsoft and Nokia recently opened a centre at Lot 14 to explore how space and 5G technologies can boost digital transformation. These businesses are not drawn by the renewables in themselves, says Marshall, but by what they have come to represent: Sustainability is fundamental to all the large tech sectors around the world. These are companies that want to align themselves with the values they want to represent. In South Australia we are reorganising ourselves around renewable, climate and creativity  these are all points of difference. The interface of sustainability, tech and creativity is one where we can see tremendous opportunity. Then treasurer Scott Morrison with a lump of coal in Parliament in February 2017. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Heres a critical point. New investment is not only flowing into new industries but also to old. The grid is stable, prices are coming down, investment is rolling in and the future is looking bright for traditional industries, says Marshall.

Theres no doubt that we are going to go from the highest-cost, least-reliable energy in the world to very sustainable, low-cost, very reliable energy that will support jobs in the traditional sectors that had been struggling in Australia. He gives the example of steel. We were told steel manufacturing wont happen in Australia any more. COVID has shown we need to have sovereign capability in steel as well as so many other areas. Cheap, reliable, renewable energy is a huge advantage for steelmaking and other manufacturing, he points out. Remember how the South Australian town of Whyalla was going to be wiped off the map according to Tony Abbott? Even two years after Abbott abolished the Gillard governments carbon tax, the BHP-owned Whyalla steelworks was on deathwatch and in 2016 went into administration. British investor Sanjeev Guptas GFG Alliance bought it, expanded it and announced a Greensteel plan  to make steel from entirely renewable energy, green hydrogen in particular. Guptas empire was thrown into disarray when its main financier, Greensill Capital, collapsed this year. Premier Marshall says that the steelworks is already a very viable business, the green steel technology is almost there now and once GFGs finances are sorted I think we will see more steel and green steel made at the plant. All of this is exactly as outlined by the eminent Australian economist Ross Garnaut. His 2019 book Superpower sketched a future where Australia takes advantage of the fact that it has the worlds lowest-cost renewable energy to transform itself into a manufacturing powerhouse and to be an economic superpower of the future post-carbon world.

Steven Marshall aims to make South Australia a green hydrogen energy superpower. We will soon have enough renewable energy to satisfy all our states demands, when it will be able to export electrons to the rest of Australia through the promised $2 billion connector line to NSW. Ultimately, SA expects to be able to export five times more renewable energy than the states own needs. With green hydrogen, the skys the limit, says Marshall. Japan and South Korea have announced plans to become green hydrogen economies. We are working on a range of projects to make it, convert it to ammonia and export. We will not only affect our own environmental credentials but improve the environmental credentials of these overseas economies. We are getting inquiries from investors right around the world. Renewable energy export plans are booming across Australia. The Sun Cable project is investing $30 billion to send electricity from the worlds biggest solar farm in the Northern Territory, through an undersea cable, to supply 15 per cent of Singapores power needs from 2027 and abating 8.6 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year. Its expected to create thousands of jobs and add $8 billion to the NT economy. Remember Scott Morrisons ridiculous 2019 scare campaign against electric vehicles? That theyd end the weekend because they were too feeble to tow boats or trailers? This week, Ford Motor announced that it would spend $US11 billion to build three factories to make fully electric versions of its F-150 and Super Duty pick-up trucks. It would be Fords biggest manufacturing investment in the firms 118-year history. The Morrison government is out of scare lines. And this week we saw that its out of excuses, too, when another Liberal government delivered its new carbon emissions targets. The NSW government said it was raising its sights  instead of cutting emissions by 35 per cent by 2030, it would cut by 50 per cent. This is the short-term target that economies will need to achieve to demonstrate that theyre serious about delivering a net zero target by 2050.

This brings NSW exactly into line with targets set by US President Joe Biden. And, carefully timed to pressure Morrison, it leaves the federal government exposed  the 26-28 per cent cut by 2030 pledged by the Abbott government is now revealed to be seriously inadequate. The Abbott target was devised to match the US. But now the US has doubled its, leaving Australia as a first-world laggard. Even Australias own states of NSW, Victoria and SA are in line with the US target. How can Canberra not? If Australia maintains its current targets, it will be inviting pariah status  international investors will avoid it, creditors will charge it a carbon criminal premium, and the EU will seek to impose carbon tariffs on its exports. The global climate summit scheduled for Glasgow on November 1 is putting the federal government under irresistible pressure to upgrade its ambitions. Morrison is out of scare lines and down to his last excuse  you cant just announce a target unless you have a plan. Loading What does Steven Marshall say to that? We have a plan, were implementing it, and the results are extraordinarily positive for our state. If the federal government cant produce a plan, whose fault is that? Morrison needs to produce a plan, unify his party, and bring or bribe the Nationals along. He has a month to do it. Anything less will be an abject failure of leadership.
Residents in the Central West are picking up the pieces after a tornado ripped through the region on Thursday afternoon, while more storms have been predicted for parts of NSW.

Three people were injured and a number of properties damaged or destroyed when the rare tornado hit Clear Creek, north-east of Bathurst, and travelled along a 30-kilometre stretch in the area.

Farmer Scott McKinnon was in Meadow Flat, east of Bathurst, when the tornado tore the roof off his home and uprooted trees on his property.

He is now recovering in hospital after describing being nearly sucked out of his window during the freak storm.
NSW government minister Victor Dominello has lashed out at plans for a $100 million bus interchange at Macquarie Park, describing them as not worthy for the fast-growing area and demanding that his ministerial colleague revise them.

His intervention follows criticism from Ryde Council that Transport for NSW had discarded two designs it had proposed for the bus interchange and precinct upgrade at Macquarie Park.

Mr Dominello, the Member for Ryde and Customer Service Minister, said Transport Minister Andrew Constance should rethink his agencys proposal, and urged people to sign a petition to push for a fit-for-purpose transport and community hub for Macquarie Park.

Customer Services Minister Victor Dominello, left, and Transport and Roads Minister Andrew Constance. Credit:SMH

Mr Dominello said Transport for NSWs latest plans were not worthy of the Macquarie Park area, which deserved more than a bus interchange.
It did artist Ben Quiltys head in when he moved to NSWs Southern Highlands only to find that an area chock-full of artists and home to 42 schools lacked a regional gallery.

It felt like going back to the 70s in Rouse Hill back in Kenthurst, said the award-winning painter who grew up in north-west Sydney. There was nothing, no cultural infrastructure.

It has taken Quilty five years of fundraising and calling in favours, many repaid with gifts of his paintings, to turn the old dairy on the National Trust property Retford Park near Bowral into the areas first regional gallery.

Artist Ben Quilty, founder of Ngununggula Gallery in Bowral. Credit:James Brickwood

With hopes of becoming a cultural and tourist hub, the gallery, named Ngununggula, meaning belonging in the language of the local Gundungurra people, will open on October 12.
Gladys Berejiklian has resigned as NSW Premier and will exit Parliament following revelations the states corruption watchdog would investigate whether she breached public trust or encouraged corrupt conduct during her secret relationship with disgraced former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced she will stand down as NSW Premier. Credit:Rhett Wymann, Brook Mitchell

When was their relationship revealed?

Ms Berejiklians relationship with Mr Maguire was a tightly held secret until she appeared before an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry in October 2020 and revealed she had been in a close personal relationship with him for a number of years.

The inquiry was set up to investigate Mr Maguire, who allegedly used his position in Parliament to further his business dealings.
A poor choice in a boyfriend and a grant to a regional shooting club will be added to a bottle of Grange and a job for the boys in the trifecta of trip-ups that has seen the downfall of three Liberal premiers.

While two former Labor ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald look set to be jailed in the wake of industrial-sized corruption uncovered by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, a chain of less spectacular events has seen the political demise of Liberal premiers Nick Greiner, Barry OFarrell and now Gladys Berejiklian.

Then NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian fronting the media after her revelations before a 2020 ICAC inquiry. Credit:Jessica Hromas

Love is blind is as good a political epitaph as any for Ms Berejiklian. Her choice of the backbencher nicknamed Dodgy Daryl Maguire as her secret lover was one thing, but her willingness to turn a blind eye to his activities appears to have been fatal.

Under the ICAC Act, a Minister of the Crown has a public duty to notify the commission of possible corrupt conduct. In an intercepted call with Mr Maguire in 2017, he was heard rattling on about his efforts to broker a $330 million land sale at Badgerys Creek. I dont need to know that bit, said the then-premier, appearing to turn a blind eye to his worrying activities.
A billboard truck sat quietly on the Pacific Highway at Wahroonga this week, opposite Knox Grammar, bearing the message You will not silence our pain. Ovira  which sells products designed to deal with period pain  tweeted: This weekend we drove a billboard around Sydney to send a strong message of support to our countrys most recent victim of abuse and make it known that we are fed up with the way womens pain is consistently dismissed.

It was both clever marketing and genuine lament; a decision made by a NSW judge to not record the conviction of a former Knox boy who punched a woman in the face had been met with howls of fury and disgust. It was, I think, not so much the decision but the reasoning behind it.

Knox Grammar School. Credit:Rhett Wyman

But first, the facts: last December, 20-year-old Nicholas Drummond went to the Greengate Hotel in Killara. There he told a woman to put her tits away and called her a slut. (Where, youd ask, was she meant to put them? Her armpits?). She asked him to apologise. He told her to f--- off.

Later that night, they both ended up at another bar in Chatswood. The woman took a photo of him on her mobile phone  something the judge oddly described as a provocative action  after which he snatched the phone. The security staff kicked Drummond out  on the way he randomly punched a man.
The decision taken by ICAC would have followed weeks of careful investigation and deliberation. Once the facts were collected they would have been placed before independent persons of the highest integrity. Irrespective of how difficult it would have been to make, the decision would have been taken free of any political considerations.

This was obviously an important and difficult moment for the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). The announcement of an inquiry to look into the conduct of any politician is fraught, but when it involves the premier it is 10 times more difficult than usual. Apart from anything else, ICACs decision is bound to attract a partisan political backlash  a matter to which I will return.

The resignation of the NSW premier is a dramatic political event, but it should not be allowed to cloud the larger issue at stake  the preservation and protection of integrity in the public sector.

A glance at the terms of references of ICACs investigation demonstrates that the matter is sufficiently serious matter to warrant this course. The central issue is now a familiar one  it involves the questionable allocation of public money through grants. Specifically, the commission is investigating the 2017 $5.5 million grant given to the Australian Clay Target Association in Wagga Wagga for its clubhouse, in Maguires electorate, while Berejiklian was Treasurer. Maguire is accused of later trying to profit from the fit-out of the clubs new headquarters. The Premier has maintained that she followed all proper processes.

There is an additional question over whether the Premier personally approved the allocation of $20 million in funds for a Wagga Wagga music conservatorium while she was in a secret relationship with Maguire. Berejiklian has insisted she did not approve the funds.

Sports rorts, car park rorts  it is becoming a sadly familiar theme. What is under investigation is whether public money was taken from where it should have been allocated and reallocated as a favour to a politician. If that happened it is a disgrace. We have seen too much of this going on, and needs to be exposed for what it is.

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The underlying issue is important. For that reason we should be pleased that this matter is going to receive a public airing. We need to know what is going wrong with these grants schemes. That public airing, incidentally, helps everyone involved. It may well be that ICACs investigations disclose no wrongdoing on the part of Berejiklian  and if that occurs we will all be grateful and relieved. The fact that it will be the subject of a public hearing will allow all of us to be better informed and permit each of us to make our own judgments.
Queensland police have fined a NSW-based truck driver for breaching strict freight protocols after crossing the border more than two weeks ago while infected with COVID-19.

The driver, who was active in the community with the virus, is among the several COVID scares being stared down by the state.

Protesters gather in Coolangatta on Friday morning. The heavily intertwined cross-border community has been host to a number of demonstrations against vaccines, lockdowns and travel restrictions in recent months. Credit:Twitter / Mackenzie Colahan

The move comes as authorities urge people to follow tightened restrictions in place to help manage multiple COVID-19 threats and avoid a sixth lockdown, as police report an increase in masks handed out and protesters gather again on the NSW border.

In a statement on Friday afternoon, police said they had fined the 38-year-old Punchbowl man  now in quarantine  $1378 for breaching freight protocols of the state's border direction, which require interstate drivers to strictly limit their exposure to the community while in the state for work purposes.
TREVOR JARVIE: 1944  2021

Classical music was once a luxury in Australian radio. For those who wanted it, it was always meant making a beeline for ABC Radio 2FC, now Radio National. And that was about it. So, music buffs had to get what they could from a service that was continually being interrupted by news bulletins, parliamentary hearings and whatever else.

Then, with the development of frequency modulation radio, allowing sound to be broadcast in stereo form and greatly enhancing the enjoyment of classical music, the idea arose of having an entire radio station devoted just to classical music.

Trevor Jarvie, pioneer of classical music on FM band. Credit:Keith Saunders

In 1973 music enthusiast Trevor Jarvie said: It would be a very nice thing to have a radio station which played the kind of music that I liked to hear all the time. He went on to become the father of the volunteer-run community radio, 2MBS FM, now 2MBS Fine Music Sydney, and more generally, community radio in Australia.
Australians will be able to holiday abroad within weeks and quarantine at home for just seven days without seeking a permit, following the federal governments decision to scrap a contentious 18-month ban on overseas travel.

Qantas announced it has brought forward its resumption of international flights to November 14 after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday the trigger to restart international travel will be a national average vaccination rate of 80 per cent of over-16s. All passengers will be required to be fully vaccinated as well as return a negative PCR COVID-19 test within 72 hours of departure.

International borders are set to be reopened for Australians. Credit:James Brickwood

Individual states will also have to hit the 80 per cent threshold before flights can arrive in their airports freely.

Mr Morrison said it was time to give Australians their lives back and the reopening of international borders was a key part of the national plan, released at the end of July.
More than 80,000 Chinese international students are set to be allowed back into Australia when international borders reopen after the countrys top drug regulator recommended approving the Sinovac vaccine for travellers.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the decision by the Therapeutic Goods Administration was a major milestone that would allow authorities to determine international travellers as being appropriately vaccinated. He said it did not mean that the vaccine would be approved for local immunisations.

Declaring certain COVID-19 vaccines as recognised vaccines is separate to a regulatory decision on whether they are approved for use for vaccination in Australia, which has not been made by the TGA, he said.

A health worker prepares a dose of the Sinovacs COVID-19 vaccine. Credit:AP

The move brings Australia into line with the United States - one of its largest competitors in the international student market - and ahead of the United Kingdom in approving the Chinese-made vaccine for travellers but not locals. China has not approved any internationally made vaccines, including Pfizer or AstraZenca, for residents or travellers. The TGA has yet to recommend approving Chinas other major vaccine, Sinopharm.
Wind hurled itself across the bay, slamming into the walls of the house. The ocean slammed the seawall, booming. You could feel the concussion in your bones.

There was something unfamiliar in it. Weather down here comes mostly from the west and south-west from autumn through winter and into the spring. But this gale came from the south-east, blasting across the ocean, peeling the waves.

A blue whale takes advantage of the Bonney Upwelling to feast on krill near Portland in south-west Victoria. Credit:Sandy Scheltema

On this wild coast, there is an annual phenomenon called the Bonney Upwelling.

South-easterlies from November to around April drive coastal waters offshore, and between Portland in south-west Victoria and Robe in south-east South Australia they are replaced with cold currents that rush in, forced to the surface by the nearby continental shelf.
The European Union has postponed talks on an Australian trade deal amid anger at the federal governments decision to scrap a mammoth contract with France to build a new submarine fleet, delaying the next negotiations until November.

Trade Minister Dan Tehan confirmed the delay as he heads to Paris to meet ministers from other advanced economies without gaining a one-on-one meeting with his French counterpart.

Trade Minister Dan Tehan says Australia and India will agree on an interim trade deal by the end of the year. Credit:Sarah Baker

The European Union did not name the submarine controversy as its reason for delaying the 12th round of negotiations, which were due to start in October, but the move did not surprise Australian officials aware of the French fury over submarines.

Mr Tehan flies to Europe in the coming days after holding talks in New Delhi on Thursday to clear the way for an interim trade deal with India to be signed by Christmas as a step toward a final agreement next year.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size When the Hazelwood coal-fired power station announced it would be shutting its doors in March 2017, it was Tony Abbott, from the backbenches, who demanded the federal government intervene. The former prime minister, who 18 months earlier had been deposed by Malcolm Turnbull, said if the federal government was serious about tackling Australias looming energy crisis, then the last thing it should be doing was closing 20 per cent of Victorias baseload power supply, even if it did involve burning coal. Nationals MP Darren Chester, whose electorate of Gippsland was home to the hundreds of workers employed at the 50-year-old plant, was furious at the call for a bailout, suggesting it was far too late and even the company didnt want it. Nationals MP Darren Chester is taking a break from the party room. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen It is unhelpful for him to be providing false hope in my electorate when hundreds of workers are to be displaced, Chester said at the time. Our focus as a government needs to be on developing alternative uses for the extremely valuable coal resource in the Latrobe Valley and investing in infrastructure that will create more jobs and opportunities for the region. Chester knew then, as he still says now, that coal communities like his would one day have to come to terms with a rapidly changing economy. He wasnt cutting them loose by any stretch; he was simply preparing them for the inevitable shift.

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Four years on and most of the Coalition are singing from the same song sheet. The world is changing and fossil fuels are no longer regarded as the future, even if they are not, just yet, a thing of the past. But the climate remains vexed for the Nationals, who proudly represent regional Australia, and have in the past decade slowly grown their traditional appeal beyond farmers and graziers to encompass the resources sector. Their leader Barnaby Joyce led the charge against the Gillard governments carbon tax and has for years cast doubt over man-made climate change. Now it has fallen to Joyce to negotiate what some of his colleagues fear could be the death knell for the resources sector in Australia: an agreement to transition to a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. The pro-fossil fuels stance has delivered the Nationals electoral success, particularly in Queensland, where the Coalition holds 23 of 30 seats. The Sunshine state and resource-rich Western Australia are the only two states where the government holds the majority of seats. Its MPs know this well. But Chesters dramatic decision to walk away from the federal Nationals party room this week is not based on the partys climate stance. His views are basically widely shared by many of his colleagues. They are that the party must be at the table when negotiating any pact, regional Australia must not pay the price but that the Nationals cannot afford to be seen as climate deniers.

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Victorian senator Bridget McKenzie says you wont hear her challenging climate science either. She just wants to make sure that the regional constituencies and industries she supports arent adversely affected by mandated climate targets. Despite her personal attacks on some cool for climate Liberal colleagues this week, she hasnt spoken against net zero. She just wants to see the plan to get there. Chester is still a Victorian National and a member of the Coalition, but he will not attend party room meetings for the foreseeable future. His decision to step out, albeit temporarily, was a reflection of the spiteful, personality-driven internal spats within the party over the past five years. The move threatens to derail any climate debate the party has in the coming weeks. Its out of sadness rather than anger. Its a degree of frustration, he said this week. The party room and the way its working at the moment is quite dysfunctional. His criticism is reserved for some of his extreme right-wing colleagues, namely Queenslanders George Christensen and Matt Canavan, over their outspoken views about COVID-19 restrictions, vaccinations and climate. But the internal clashes run much deeper.

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The lingering wounds from the ousting of Michael McCormack three months ago show no signs of healing any time soon. And it is that challenging backdrop Joyce now has to navigate if he is to reach any deal with his Liberal partners on Australias emissions targets. Nationals MPs Mark Coulton, Michael McCormack and Darren Chester in June Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The 21-member partyroom has for many years been at differing ends of the political spectrum on issues ranging from same-sex marriage and abortion to economic, COVID-19 and climate policy. Im not sure why people are surprised that climate isnt settled within the Nats, one senior party source said this week. Just look at the past 10 years. Apart from the Greens none of these fights have been easy for political parties. And you need to have the fight. There are many within the Nationals who arent giving up on coal, even coal-fired power, for a second. They think the idea of setting a target for net zero emissions is the stupidest thing a nation whose wealth is tied to a booming resource sector could do to itself. Canavan, who says hes deadset against net zero, last week joined with retiring Flynn MP Ken ODowd and his potential successor, Colin Boyce, to call for a new taxpayer-funded coal-fired power generator on the site of the damaged Callide power station in central Queensland.

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Another Queenslander, Resources Minister Keith Pitt, says hes just deadset against doing dumb things. My colleagues will put forward their views, and at the moment its a blank canvas, Pitt said of the discussions set to occur in the Nationals partyroom this week. So Joyce is wedged. The Liberals believe it is critical electorally for them to strengthen their climate credentials with voters who, party officials say, are telling pollsters more and more that they simply just want governments to get on with tackling climate change. Loading It is not the top voting priority across the nation, but it has become critical in Liberal-held inner-city seats. If Joyce wants to remain deputy prime minister after the election, a position he feels was unfairly taken from him for three years, then he has to consider the concerns of the Liberals when navigating his own partyroom. Queensland MP David Littleproud, whose electorate of Maranoa boasts coal-fired power stations, gas fields and coal mines, this week went into the lions den for a Nationals minister  Triple Js youth-oriented current affairs program Hack  to defend the partys net zero debate.

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has promoted one of his closest allies by elevating Immigration Minister Alex Hawke to federal cabinet in a small reshuffle triggered by the resignation of former industry minister Christian Porter.

Mr Hawke, a significant powerbroker in the NSW division of the Liberal Party, will keep his portfolio but enter federal cabinet amid a growing debate over the future of immigration as the country emerges from the pandemic.

Scott Morrison with Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, who he has promoted to cabinet. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Hawke was a key tactical adviser to Mr Morrison during the Liberal leadership spill of 2018 when the two friends, joined by fellow cabinet minister Stuart Robert, sought support to defeat Peter Dutton in the ballot to decide a successor to Malcolm Turnbull.

In a move to avoid a broader reshuffle, Mr Morrison gave the industry portfolio to Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor to expand his responsibilities given both roles share the same federal department.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard, Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello and Environment Minister Matt Kean attended Ms Berejiklians final press conference as Premier on Friday. Loading Resigning at this time is against every instinct of my being ... I love my job and serving the community, but I have been given no option, Ms Berejiklian said. Ms Berejiklian also took aim at the ICACs timing given the critical point NSW finds itself in during the pandemic, but said she was left with no alternative than to resign from public office. My resignation as premier could not happen at a worse time, but the timing is completely outside of my control as the ICAC has chosen to take this action during the most challenging weeks of the most challenging times in the history of NSW, she said.

She said standing aside was not an option during the pandemic when NSW needed certainty. History will demonstrate that I have always executed my duties with the highest degree of integrity for the benefit of the people of NSW who I have had the privilege to serve, Ms Berejiklian said. My only regret will be not to be able to finish the job to ensure the people of NSW transition to living freely with COVID. Gladys Berejiklian walks away from office and from the NSW Parliament. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Ms Berejiklians colleagues were left shaken by her announcement, but factional bosses immediately began planning for her replacement.

Mr Perrottet is expected to announce over the weekend his intention to contest the leadership. One of Ms Berejiklians most strident supporters Environment Minister Matt Kean is likely to be deputy leader if Mr Perrottet is elected, however, Planning Minister Rob Stokes is also a contender for premier. Outside contenders for premier are Jobs Minister Stuart Ayres and Transport Minister Andrew Constance. The departure of Ms Berejiklian plunges the Coalition further into minority government. A byelection in her seat is unlikely to happen until after Parliament rises for the year.

One of the first challenges for the new premier will be to negotiate an agreement with two key crossbenchers, Alex Greenwich and Greg Piper, for their guarantee of supply and confidence. This is likely to be conditional on the new premier committing to a conscience vote on Mr Greenwichs voluntary assisted dying bill, which he will introduce to Parliament on October 14. Mr Greenwich and Mr Piper have both indicated that the bill is their priority, and Ms Berejiklian had made a promise to her MPs that there would be no more conscience votes in this term. Ms Berejiklian was first embroiled in the ICAC scandal in October 2020, when she revealed to the commission that she was in a close personal relationship with Mr Maguire for five years, including after he was forced to quit Parliament. The inquiry last year heard tapped phone calls between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire during their five-year secret relationship.

Loading The ICAC confirmed earlier this year it would extend Operation Keppel, which was set up to investigate Mr Maguire, who allegedly used his position in Parliament to further his business dealings. Liberal MPs were in talks on Friday about leadership options, although Oatley MP Mark Coure, a prominent moderate, cancelled a faction meeting on Friday night. Mr Coure told colleagues this is a tough day for our state, our party, but most importantly the Premier. We will no doubt have a follow-up meeting over the weekend. After her announcement, many of Ms Berejiklians colleagues issued statements of support and thanks.

Loading Mr Perrottet said Ms Berejiklian had worked tirelessly during the pandemic and put the states welfare ahead of her own with unstinting dedication to public service. I would like to offer my gratitude and thanks to Gladys Berejiklian for the leadership and strength she has shown throughout her career and especially during one of the most challenging periods any leader could ever encounter, Mr Perrottet said. Mr Kean said he was proud to have served under Ms Berejiklian as Premier. She has shown how much evidence-based, diligent leadership can achieve in an age of mistruths, conspiracy and misinformation, he said. No doubt over coming months there will be much public discussion over what has occurred today, its circumstances and the wisdom of this weeks decisions that brought it about.
MARCH 2015: Then transport minister Gladys Berejiklian and parliamentary secretary and Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire begin a secret close personal relationship about the time of the NSW election. Maguire was separated from his wife.

APRIL 2, 2015: Berejiklian appointed NSW treasurer after the Coalition re-elected.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and former MP Daryl Maguire were in a secret relationship for five years. Credit:AAP, Janie Barrett

JANUARY 23, 2017: Berejiklian becomes NSW Premier, replacing Mike Baird. Maguire is retained as a parliamentary secretary in her government.

AUGUST 2017: Berejiklian tells Maguire she would like him to quit Parliament at the 2019 election so they can go public about their relationship. Berejiklian says Maguire also wanted that.
Aged care advocates say visits should be allowed at all nursing homes in Victoria if people coming to see fully immunised residents have also had a double dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

Most residents and staff in Australias 2600 aged care homes have now had at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine and the NSW state government this week announced from October 11 aged care residents could have two visits daily. Visitors must be fully vaccinated for coronavirus and aged over 12.

Emily Riglars grandmother lives in a retirement village and, due to strict COVID-19 rules, rarely has visitors or treatment. Emily, a physiotherapist, has watched her movement go downhill due to on-again off-again visitor bans. Credit:Paul Jeffers

But Victorias rules on visitors to aged care homes do not mention vaccination, instead stipulating residents can have visitors for reasons including their physical or emotional wellbeing, or if they are living with dementia.

Victorian homes interpret the rules in different ways; some welcome visitors while others insist relatives can only come into a home if a residents physical or emotional wellbeing takes a dramatic downturn.
Washington: Joe Bidens legislative agenda is hanging in the balance. So, quite possibly, are the US Presidents hopes of winning a second term and the Democrats chances of retaining control of the Congress in next years midterm elections. And theres no sign of a resolution any time soon.

The week in Washington has been dominated by infighting between progressive and moderate Democrats over how to shepherd two giant spending bills through Congress.

President Joe Biden speaks with reporters as he departs after a House Democratic Caucus meeting on Capitol Hill on Friday. Credit:AP

The legislative process is rarely pretty, but this weeks negotiations have been especially unsightly and acrimonious. Especially when you remember that this is a single party trying to make a deal with itself rather than bridge the divide between Democrats and Republicans.

It was a sign of how badly things had deteriorated that Biden made a rare trip from the White House to the Capitol on Saturday (AEST) to address the Democratic House of Representatives caucus. He knows the gridlock at the Capitol is reinforcing perceptions that his presidency is adrift and that he has lost control of events.
How to build smarter, more secure cities from the ground up

Today, we live in a technology-obsessed age. Whichever way you look, its hard to avoid the increasing number applications, products and solutions that continue to redefine the boundaries of what we previously thought possible. From autonomous vehicles and edge computing to 5G and the Internet of Things, all facets of our lives are continuing to evolve, thanks to an endless stream of differentiated innovations. In this article, well be focusing on the latter of these - the Internet of Things (IoT). Deployment of IoT technologies Smart homes, smart utilities, smart retail, smart farming, smart supply chains and many of the other smart versions of sectors that were already familiar with, are all called as such because of the implications of IoT. Indeed, it is a technology that has manifested itself in billions of devices, which today underpin the truly transformational levels of connectivity that we see across industries of all shapes and sizes. The statistics speak for themselves. According to Statista, over US$ 1 trillion is expected to be spent on IoT technology worldwide, in 2022. Be it added convenience, efficiency, productivity or intelligence, many benefits are poised to emerge from this spike in IoT-related activities. Yet to say this digital transition is going to be entirely positive would be naive. Threats faced by smart cities It is said that by 2040, 65 per cent of the worlds population will be living in cities Lets consider smart cities. It is said that by 2040, 65 per cent of the worlds population will be living in cities. To accommodate such an influx, without facing significant logistical issues, with limited space and infrastructure, policy makers have begun to recognise that these urban environments need to become not only larger, but smarter as well. As a result, the global smart cities market is on the rise. Statista states that, globally, technology spending on smart city initiatives is expected to double from US$ 81 billion in 2018 to US$ 189.5 billion in 2023. Threat of attackers with expanding IoT landscape The challenge here is that such a stark uptick will drastically expand the IoT landscape, presenting more opportunities than ever to threat actors. As connectivity and computing power is distributed more widely across large-scale outdoor networks, hackers will scale-up their own operations in tandem. According to a Nokia report from October 2020 (based on data aggregated from monitoring network traffic on more than 150 million devices globally), IoT devices now account for roughly 33 per cent of all infected devices, up from the 16 per cent estimated in 2019. Whats more concerning is how these figures are translating into real world events. 2021 alone has already witnessed an attack on a water plant in Oldsmart, Florida, which was designed to poison residents drinking water. Furthermore, Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest fuel pipelines in the US was also hacked, earlier this year, resulting in major shortages across the countrys East Coast. Security through IoT authentication From weak password protection, a lack of regular patch updates and insecure interfaces, to insufficient data protection, poor IoT devices management and an IoT skills gap, there are plenty of weaknesses existing within the IoT ecosystem, which continue to provide open goals for attackers. To defend against such lethal threats, security-by-design and open standards should be the guiding principles of IoT, working to prioritise security, interoperability and robust, internet-based protocols to mitigate risks. Device authentication and encryption A sound place to start is to make device authentication and encryption the central pillars of your IoT security architecture A sound place to start, in this regard, is to make device authentication and encryption the central pillars of your IoT security architecture. The goal is to be able to prove that each and every device joining a network is not malicious, with tell-tale signs being rogue code, for example. By ensuring each device is uniquely identifiable with digital certificates and therefore, properly authenticated when joining a network, you can ensure no tampered devices are able to infiltrate your overarching network. Using technologies, such as Hardware Secure Element Critically, passwords should be avoided altogether, these vulnerable to being stolen and cracked. And, while a similar vulnerability lies in the fact that all secure devices contain a private key, you can leverage technologies, such as Hardware Secure Element (a chip designed specifically to protect against unauthorised access, even if the attacker has physical access to the device), as an extra layer of defence. Digital certificates are not the only option available in protecting those IoT devices that, if tampered with, could become the cause of physical threats. Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) can also be used to prevent tampering. Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) Through Physical Unclonable Function (PUF), a form of IoT device fingerprint is developed from the unique make up of a piece of silicon, which can be used to create a unique cryptographic key. Unlike digital certificates, a secure infrastructure can be achieved through PUF, without the need for any additional hardware, as the key is not only stored securely, but it also becomes invisible to hackers, when the device is not running. The importance of encryption Use of AES encryption within radio chips, to scramble messages on the move, is the method adopted at Wi-SUN Alliance Now, lets turn attentions to encryption. The use of AES encryption within radio chips, to scramble messages on the move, is the method that we have adopted here at Wi-SUN Alliance. Its a means of maximising data security, but also reducing power consumption in the devices themselves. Beyond AES encryption, its also worth considering topography at the design stage. Indeed, mesh networks are advantageous for several reasons. They are more reliable, allowing data to be re-routed, should devices lose contact unexpectedly. Transmissions usually travel shorter distances, which improves power efficiency and performance, and frequency hopping functionality prevents attackers from jamming signals, which could deny the service altogether. Open standards and interoperability But where do open, interoperable standards fit in? As is defined by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), interoperability enables a computer programme to communicate and exchange information with other computer programmes, allowing all programmes to use that information. Open standards then allow any vendor of communications equipment or services to implement all standards necessary, to interoperate with other vendors. This is incredibly useful from a security perspective. It means that all specs are stress-tested and verified by many users, and that any vulnerabilities are quickly detected, and remediated, enhancing security and reliability. Need for open standards Equally, open standards can accelerate time-to-market, reduce costs and ensure products are usable, with a variety of manufacturers processors and radios, with a steam of publicly available protocol stacks, design information and reference implementations available that can help build and future-proof secure products. Indeed, large-scale corporate IoT networks alongside smart cities, smart utilities, and other key smart infrastructure will only continue to evolve, in the coming years. With the immense threats of attackers in mind, these systems must prioritise security-by-design, both now and in the future.
Manchester United had scouts at Benfica's Champions League clash with Barcelona on Wednesday, according to a report.

Manchester United reportedly had representatives at Benfica's Champions League clash with Barcelona on Wednesday, with the Red Devils scouting a number of the home side's players.

Benfica recorded a 3-0 victory over the Catalan giants in Portugal, with Darwin Nunez registering twice and Rafa Silva also getting his name on the scoresheet during a strong performance.

According to A Bola, officials from the 20-time English champions were in Lisbon with the view to scouting the home side, who have also made a strong start to their domestic campaign, winning all seven of their league games.

The report does not mention any particular individuals that were being watched by Man United, but Nunez hit a brace in an impressive performance, while Julian Weigl was among those to impress.

The Red Devils were also victorious in the Champions League on Wednesday night, with Cristiano Ronaldo's late goal seeing them record a 2-1 win over Villarreal.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side will now be looking to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they welcome Everton to Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)  A teenage boy was shot and critically wounded Thursday inside a school in Memphis, Tennessee, and police detained a second boy believed to be the shooter. The K-8 school was placed on lockdown and students were taken by bus to a nearby church to be reunited with frantic parents.

Memphis police identified both the victim of the shooting at the Cummings School and the alleged shooter as 13-year-old boys, Assistant Police Chief Don Crowe said. Both were students at the school.

The wounded child underwent surgery at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital and was expected to recover, officials said. Crowe said the shooting took place in a stairwell. Video footage showed there were no other students in the stairwell when the shooting occured, Crowe said.

The suspect fled the school after the shooting, but later surrendered at a police precinct. He was expected to be charged with criminal attempt of first-degree murder and taken to juvenile court, Crowe said.

Police have not released details about what led to the shooting, where the alleged shooter got the gun, and where on his body the wounded child was shot. School officials said Cummings performs random metal detector scans on students.

We also have to think, How did a 13-year-old get their hands on a gun?' Crowe said. "It's a question we all want the answer to. I'm not sure we'll ever find the full truth. But certainly, it begs of everyone to keep their guns secure."

After the shooting, parents held umbrellas in a light drizzle and talked with each other as they waited for children to arrive at the church. Ebonnie Hayslett rushed to the school to make sure her two nieces were safe.

The worst news you could receive is a shooting at a kids school," she said. "My main concern was the kids being OK, the teachers, the faculty. No one wants to go pick up their kids and be surrounded by SWAT cars and police officers.

A school resource officer who was inside the building responded to the shooting and informed police about it, said Shelby County Schools Superintendent Joris Ray. A school nurse applied pressure to the child's wound to help stop the bleeding, Ray said.

Students were lined up and taken out of the school into buses, which brought them to the church.

Tempers flared briefly as parents lined up outside the church, demanding information about the shooting and pushing for the release of their kids. When the students were dismissed, some of them were crying and hugging their parents as they left the church.

Ray said emergency procedures were followed closely. He praised teachers and staff for keeping the children calm and safe, and for using training from an active shooter drill held in early September.

Ray became emotional while speaking with news reporters outside Metropolitan Baptist Church.

Were doing all we can to keep our students safe, Ray said. We cant allow our children to hurt from gun violence.

School board president Michelle McKissack acknowledged that the relatively young age of the detained student, 13, was shocking.

A former TV news reporter, McKissack recalled covering the 1998 Westside Middle School shooting in Jonesboro, Arkansas, which was committed by two boys ages 13 and 11. Four students and a teacher were killed, and 10 others were wounded.

It was very shocking today to find out that this was happening at a middle school, McKissack said.

The shooting is the latest in a rash of incidents in the past two years in which children in Memphis have been shot, some fatally.

Dr. Barry Gilmore, chief medical officer at Le Bonheur, said more than 100 children have been treated for gunshot wounds this year at the hospital. He added that Le Bonheur was expected to surpass its single-year record of 135 child gunshot patients, set last year.

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Reynolds reported from Louisville, Kentucky.
RABAT, Morocco (AP)  Millions of Moroccan students returned to school on Friday for in-person classes after a prolonged summer vacation.

The government had planned to reopen schools back in September but postponed the start date because of virus fears.

The North African kingdom has the continent's highest vaccination rate and virus infections are now receding. The school reopening came a month after the government kicked off an ambitious vaccination campaign for children aged 12 to 17, becoming one of the first African countries to inoculate that age group.

School staff and teachers across the country greeted waves of students who showed up for the first day at school. Many safety measures are still in place. They are required to mask up at all times, use hand sanitizer and respect social distancing guidelines.

In the Abdeslam Sayeh middle school in Rabat, 95% of students are vaccinated, according to director Touria Tourayf, who expressed hope Friday that this will be more like a normal school year at last.

The students were also eager to return to study in the classrooms. They felt how important it is to attend school and study in classrooms, as well as their closeness to their classmates and teachers, said Islamic education teacher Hajar Yazghi.

Overall Morocco has registered more than 933,000 infections and 14,000 deaths from COVID-19, according to the Health Ministry.

In recent weeks, the country has witnessed a drop in infections. More than 50% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to figures by the Health Ministry.

As a result, the government has decided to ease some COVID-19 restrictions, notably allowing the assembly of 50 people for wedding ceremonies and other events.

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Houda Benalla in Rabat, Morocco contributed.

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Follow all of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
HONOLULU (AP)  Hawaii authorities arrested two people from California for submitting fake COVID-19 test results to avoid a mandatory traveler quarantine meant to curb the virus' spread in the islands.

A 34-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman uploaded falsified negative test results into the Hawaii Safe Travels portal and arrived in Lihue on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles earlier this week, Kauai police said.
STAMFORD  The Stamford Board of Education has agreed to pay $440,000 to one alleged sexual assault victim of a former Stamford elementary school teacher, lawyers for the victim said Thursday.

The settlement marks the latest payout the Stamford Board of Education made in connection with allegations that Robert Martinez, a gym teacher, inappropriately touched students in the late 1970s and early 1980s, records show.

One of the victims, a local man whose name is being withheld, claimed in a lawsuit filed in May 2020 that Martinez had assaulted him while he was under the age of 10 and a student at Rogers Elementary School in Stamford.

The Stamford Board of Education has said it was not aware of the alleged abuse at the time. A spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the news of Thursdays payout.

Attorney Cindy Robinson, who along with attorney Doug Mahoney of Robinson Mahoney has been representing the multiple plaintiffs suing the school, said the settlement represents accountability for the school system, which they argued had failed in its duty to keep children safe under its care.

Its a situation where his parents trust that school school system will be the safest place for their children to go and horribly, that was not the case here, Robinson said.

Robinson said the board agreed to the settlement during mediation this past summer. The case was withdrawn earlier this week.

Several victims, including the plaintiff of the most recent case, have alleged Martinez assaulted them during gym classes, in his private office and in school buildings and buses, records show. In their lawsuits, they claimed Martinez touched them, disrobed them, told them to touch him and forced them into sexual acts.

Robinson said the attorneys know of other victims in addition to the six who have chosen not to come forward for various reasons. Their testimony was used in depositions, Robinson said.

Martinez was a gym teacher at Rogers from 1972 to 1982 before transferring to Hart Elementary and later Toquam Elementary until his retirement in 2005.

Robinson said attorneys are currently investigating other claims of assault that occurred while Martinez was at Toquam.

Martinez is currently living in Florida and has never been charged. An attempt to reach him was not successful.

Robinson said the statute of limitations had expired for such cases between the time the sexual assault allegedly occurred and the lawsuit was filed.

The school board previously reached a $3.25 million settlement with five other victims.
Addressing today the Charlemagne Prize Forum in Aachen, President Klaus Iohannis began by requesting a moment of silence for the victims of the fire that hit the Constanta Infectious Diseases Hospital this morning.

He went on by saying that "It is clear to all of us that we are at a turning point for the European Union. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a crisis that has gripped not just Europe but the entire world. More than other difficult moments we had to face over the past decade, such as the 2008 financial and economic crisis, the pandemic has forced us to look for quick solutions. Despite some initial hesitation, they were put into practice in a very short time. Together, within the EU, we managed to take the fastest action in order to return to a social life as close to normal as possible. Now it is extremely important to revert to normalcy, while at the same integrating the lessons learned from this crisis."

Iohannis then highlighted the merits of EU cooperation and joint action, of European unity and solidarity in finding the right answers, like for instance in duly repatriating EU citizens at the beginning of the pandemic and creating a reserve of medical supplies.

"Together we decided on joint action to support the recovery of the European economy and prepare social and economic resilience. The most important lesson is precisely this one - of the indisputable added value of European unity and solidarity. Fair access to vaccines, the adoption of the Next Generation EU economic recovery package and of the European Green Deal are evidence of our joint action at European level, reflecting the added value of European action and the rationale for the European project ever since its launch," Iohanis said, remarking that the pandemic has also revealed some weaknesses, such as the lack of European production capacities that should provide greater security in the health and pharmaceutical sectors.

"We need to strengthen the Union's internal market. The so-called green corridors that have been set up have proven to be absolutely necessary for maintaining the flow of goods and services. We need to rethink our foreign partnerships so as to consolidate our relationships with those states and organizations that share our values and goals, as well as with our neighborhood partners. We need to invest in the EU's internal and external resilience in order to be better prepared for unforeseeable or destabilizing events inside or in our neighborhood. We need to pay particular attention to the new challenges such as cybersecurity and the EU's autonomy in key economic sectors. In addition, we need to limit the effects of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions so that we can achieve climate neutrality by 2050," the President said.

He continued by pointing out the areas of EU future action he considers of paramount importance: the European Recovery Plan, which provides the necessary instruments for enhancing the EU's resilience, for preparing the digital and the green transition, as well as for alleviating the social shock of the pandemic; the combat of climate change, seen as an imperative at European level, as European economies must redirect towards a sustainable approach, and relevant international actors must be persuaded to take emission-cutting measures for all the efforts to have a tangible global impact; the move to digitization, which must be pushed ahead, along with improving the citizens' digital skills and cybersecurity.

Iohannis also called for a better coordination between member states and the recently established institutional actors, such as the EU Cybersecurity Competence Center - the first EU institution that will be based in Romania, in Bucharest - in order to give substance to an efficient European cybersecurity ecosystem.

President Iohannis concluded by saying that as we face unprecedented challenges - whether we are talking about the pandemic, the effects of the digital transformation, or the rising number of natural disasters, we must learn from the mistakes of the past in order to create a better future, and voiced his confidence that within the European Union, the member states will have the strength to secure this future.
In the aftermath of another deadly hospital fire, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) requested on Friday the initiation of criminal prosecution against the head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, on ground that he carries "the main moral responsibility for all the tragedies occurred over the last years in the country's hospitals."

"Raed Arafat must go now! And not just go, but also be held accountable to the law for his incompetence, irresponsibility and complicity! For the people who died in torment, suffocated and burned, for the suffering caused to their relatives, the guilty must pay! And we'll go out into the street tomorrow, as we did after the Colectiv fire, to show our solidarity with the victims of the rulers' indifference. Enough with so many sacrifices on the altar of incompetence!," AUR Co-chairman George Simion said, as cited in a press statement.

Seven people died in a fire that broke out on Friday morning at the ICU of the Constanta Infectious Diseases Hospital.
Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Thursday that there are very high chances - over 50% - of him remaining in office with full powers even after Tuesday, when a motion of censure tabled by the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) against him is scheduled for a debate and vote, adding that the National Liberal Party (PNL) will not be "brought to its knees" and does not negotiate with "those who sit at the table with PSD."

"PNL just had a congress convention where I won the PNL chairmanship. There is no other option for PNL; I said that before the convention and I'm saying it now. It was the vote of the BPN [National Political Bureau] twice. There is no other option for PNL and that must be understood by all negotiating with PNL. What I can say is that PNL will stay in power and govern with a prime minister until 2024. There is no other option for PNL. We have so much to do and we have a government agenda focused on reforms. I do not believe and I want to see those from USR [Save Romania Union] voting in Parliament with PSD and AUR [Alliance for the Union of Romanians] against the reforms in PNRR [National Recovery and Resilience Plan], against the pension reform that we did together, the pay reform, the administration reform. I would like to see that happen," Citu told TVR1 public broadcaster, agerpres reports.

He added that PNL will keep on governing.Asked what the chances are for the government to survive the motion of censure on Tuesday and for him to stay the prime minister with full powers, Citu said: "Chances are very high. Yes, I think they are higher than 50%. I am counting on all strategies, person-to-person negotiations, and many other things."Asked how PNL will govern if the government falls, Citu said: "We will mount a majority that supports a government. I am sure that there are responsible lawmakers in the Romanian Parliament who will vote for a government that comes with a reform agenda that will lead to benefits for Romanians, something I have already started."According to Citu, if the incumbent government falls, the next one will be created by PNL, UDMR [Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania], national minorities, without USR PLUS [Save Romania Union - Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party], through negotiations.He added that President Klaus Iohannis supports him.In his opinion, the "way out" of this situation would be if USR gave up its "toxic" alliance with PSD and AUR before the vote on the motion of censure.Asked why PNL does not give up on him as prime minister, Citu replied: "There are two things. First of all, there is no guarantee that it will not happen again.""Secondly, PNL has had a congress convention that elected its leadership, it elected its PNL national chairman, and the prime minister is the PNL national chairman," Citu added.
The Custodian of the Romanian Crown, Margareta, urges, on the International Day of Older Persons, to cherish and protect them, appreciating that seniors are "a living archive of our history".

"We celebrate the International Day of Older Persons together. We have almost 4,000,000 elderly people in Romania. The Royal Foundation Margareta of Romania has always been concerned about the problems of seniors. For five years we have been organizing this international conference. With the help of specialists we try to offer them dignity and a life with less worries. Old age is a stage in our lives. We need to look at it with serenity and hope. Many times, old people are considered a burden. It is not true. In fact, they are a treasure. They are a precious source of experience, a fountain of wisdom, witnesses of our past, a living archive of our history. Without them, the world would be poorer, without depth and without soul. Elderly people deserve the respect and appreciation of all. They are the ones who raised us, love us and inspire us every day. It is our duty to protect them. Many happy returns and health to all seniors in Romania," shows a video message of Her Majesty Margareta, posted on Friday on the Facebook page of the Royal Family of Romania.

On the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons, the Royal Foundation Margareta of Romania organized, on Thursday, the online conference "Good practices for a beautiful old age".The conference was opened with the message of Her Majesty Margareta, President of the Royal Foundation Margareta of Romania, who expressed her desire for the elderly to be respected and appreciated, and for their experience to be capitalized on.In its fifth edition, the event brought together national and international speakers and participants specialized in the field of old age, eager to share and find out the latest solutions through which the lives of Romania's 3.8 million seniors can become better.The topics discussed included current statistics and trends regarding Romanian seniors, information about their support services, legal and desirable standards in residential centers, inclusion of seniors in the digital world, opportunities for participation and community involvement of older people.
Eleven migrants from Afghanistan, asylum seekers in Romania, have been caught when trying to illegally cross border to Hungary, through the Arad and Bihor counties.

According to a press release on Friday of the Arad Border Police, the police officers discovered six persons who were walking in the area of the Nadlac rural town, about one hundred metres near the border, and who couldn't justify their presence in the area. They were caught and following investigations it was established that they were migrants from Afghanistan, asylum seekers in our country, agerpres reports.

Another group of migrants were caught at the Bors border crossing point, in a truck that was about to exit the country. The truck was driven by a Georgian driver, who transported peanuts to a company in Poland."After thoroughly checking the vehicle, the Romanian and Hungarian authorities discovered five foreign citizens hidden in the cargo compartment. The persons were taken over and transported to the headquarters of the border police for investigations. After preliminary checks, they were found to be citizens from Afghanistan, asylum seekers in Romania," reads the same press release.In both cases, the border police continues to investigate.
A fire broke out on Friday at the intensive care unit of the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Constanta that triggered a code red emergency plan.

According to the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) the fire generated an open flame and large smoke emissions.

Currently, action is being taken to evacuate patients.
President Klaus Iohannis stated, on Friday, in Aachen, that the European Union "should go through profound integration" and that he does not believe in elimination from the organization, comparing the community block with a family.

There are some, and I am among them, that believe we should tighten our ranks. The European Union must go through profound integration, fact which was seen very clearly, said Iohannis.

The head of state detailed that on the one hand, some desire more profound integration, while others view the Union as "something cute."We want to have joint action together, but we don't want to isolate, Iohannis added.Furthermore, he said that, in his opinion, the accession of the candidate countries in the Western Balkans should be accelerated.Iohannis also spoke of Romania's neighbors - Ukraine and Moldova - as states that want to move things forward together with us.Unfortunately, there are also neighbours with which Romania doesn't have so good relations, said the President, stating, however, that isolation is never a solution.Furthermore, Iohannis said that slowly, but surely, the Union is managing to build a joint foreign policy.He pointed out the example of Syria, a country at war for 10 years, where he believes that the European Union was missing "100%", fact which is inadmissible, in his view. The President also emphasized that the EU's role was helpful, but could have and should have been more significant and involved more presence.He was asked, during the debate in Aachen, about 'a neighbor who sometimes has an anti-European attitude and questions the Trianon borders'.In reply, the Romanian head of state compared the situation to that of a family, where at family meetings a "cousin" who messes up every five minutes but is not kicked out, instead he is taught, integrated, and calmed down. He emphasized that he is not a believer in exclusion from an organization, as such punishment does not yield the results many desire.In regards to the statements regarding the borders established through the Treaty of Trianon, the head of state spoke of his annoyance with the statements, pointing out that he is from Transylvania and the people decided by popular vote to join Romania, stealing "nothing from no one", as it was their right to self-determination.The head of state is present in Germany as he is due to receive the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen for the Unity of Europe, on Saturday.
A moment of silence in memory of those who died in the deadly fire that hit at the Constanta Infectious Diseases Hospital was held in Aachen, where President Klaus Iohannis delivered a speech.

The head of state is present in Germany as he is due to receive the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen for the Unity of Europe, on Saturday.

"I will start with a sad piece of information. Today a great misfortune took place in Romania, in a hospital in Constanta and unfortunately seven patients died. I kindly ask you all to keep together a moment of silence for the victims of the fire at Constanta Hospital," Iohannis said, according to the official translation.
Crews of the Calarasi Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (ISU) and Ialomita Inspectorate for Emergency Situations were dispatched to Constanta on Friday to help put out a fire that broke out at the intensive care unit of the Constanta Infectious Diseases Hospital, agerpres reports.

"In support of the local emergency workers, seven SMURD ambulances and a special vehicle for transporting multiple victims will be sent from ISU Calarasi, and a SMURD ambulance and a special vehicle for transporting multiple victims will come from ISU Ialomita," according to the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU).

A fire broke out on Friday at the intensive care unit of the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Constanta that triggered a code red emergency plan.According to IGSU the fire generated an open flame and large smoke emissions.Action was being taken to evacuate the patients.
Prime Minister Florin Citu, speaking about the deadly fire that hit the Constanta Infectious Diseases Hospital this morning, said that it is important that the Health Ministry "looks exactly at the short-term, immediate solutions", so that such tragedies do not repeat.

"First of all, I want to offer my condolences to the families left grieving after the tragedy at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Constanta. (...) Such things, such a tragedy in Romanian hospitals is unacceptable, yet this is a reality we are trying to change this year after long years during which almost nothing has been done for the Romanian health system. I will not comment now on the fire, we are waiting for complete information to see exactly what happened. Just as a few months ago I asked the Health Ministry to prepare for the 4th Covid wave, and then requested an inquiry into these preparations, at this point it is important that the Health Ministry looks exactly at the short term, immediate solutions, so that such tragedies do not happen again," Florin Citu said today at the Victoria Palace of Government.

Seven people died in the fire that broke out on Friday morning at the ICU of the Constanta Infectious Diseases Hospital.
Prime Minister Florin Citu stated that the allotted budget for this year for Healthcare, up to this time, was by 5.7 billion RON bigger than last year and mentioned that the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Constanta benefited from European funds worth 22.6 million RON, allotted for the management of the health crisis, of which 5 million RON were used this year.

"Because in the public space there are discussions on the budget, that more money wasn't allotted. Those who invoke the lack of money, the budget allotted at the start of the year for the Health Ministry, for Healthcare, was of 58.3 billion RON, and in the budget revision another 4.5 billion RON were added. On Wednesday we added another 400 million RON, of which 70 million went to ICU sections, and the rest towards medicine. This means that this year saw allotments by 5.7 billion RON higher than in 2020 and 10 billion RON more than in 2019," said Florin Citu, on Friday, at the Victoria Palace.

In what regards the Infectious Disease Hospital in Constanta, he added, "there were European funds worth 22.6 million RON for the management of the health crisis, of which 5 million were used this year.""There was money, but it seems it was not used properly in this situation," said Citu.
Prime Minister Florin Citu stated that, at this point, there was no discussion about the option of establishing a state of emergency in Romania, adding, at the same time, that this would be "strange" for the almost 6 million Romanians who are vaccinated, agerpres reports.

While being invited to a TVR 1 broadcast he was asked whether the option of establishing a state of emergency at some point had been taken into account or discussed yet, given the rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.

"We haven't discussed this yet. Well, you realize that there are people who are vaccinated and there are already almost 6 million people who are vaccinated, and it would seem strange to them to be in a state of emergency when there are very many people who didn't want to get vaccinated and then you can't punish those who did have the vaccinate because of those who really didn't want to get vaccinated. For we cannot say that we didn't have the vaccine. We had the vaccine in Romania and we have it, we were the first country in the European Union to have had it, in fact... and we allowed people to get vaccinated only based on their ID anywhere in Romania," Florin Citu underscored.Asked if, given the current situation, the health system is close to collapse and if it can handle so many cases of COVID, he replied: "No, no, we have resources... But it is, of course, a pressure on the health system and therefore we need to get vaccinated.""So this is our problem, if people got the vaccine, then the pressure on the health system would be reduced," he said.
President Klaus Iohannis on Friday sent a message of condolences to the families of the victims of the fire that broke out at the Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Constanta and asked the PM and the Minister of Health to take all the necessary measures and "do everything in their power" to prevent any other accidents from ever happening in the hospitals in the country.

"I am terrified to hear about the tragedy that occurred this morning at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Constanta. It's a terrible tragedy that confirms that the Romanian healthcare system has a deficient infrastructure, an old one, which is under an imaginable pressure under the 4th wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. I send my condolences to the mourning families and wish them to be strong during such very painful moments. I also wish fast recovery to all patients and the medical personnel who suffered from the fire. It is impossible to imagine the suffering of all these people who came to hospital hoping that they will be cured," said the head of state, in a press release of the Presidential Administration sent to AGERPRES.

Klaus Iohannis said that "unfortunately, the Romanian state failed in its fundamental mission of protecting its citizens.""This is a dark day, of mourning, for the Romanian people. Regardless of the conclusion of the investigation into the cases of the fire, those who lost their lives today aren't coming back and they will leave a huge empty space behind them," said the head of state.He also urged PM Florin City and the interim Minister of Health, Cseke Attila, to take all the necessary measures and "do everything in their power" to prevent another accident of the same kind from ever happening again in the hospitals in the country.
Social Democratic Party (PSD) national chairman Marcel Ciolacu claims that, "on the last leg of disastrous governing," Prime Minister Florin Citu is getting ready to give money from the government reserve fund "exclusively to some areas with PNL [National Liberal Party] mayors."

"It is a bad and desperate decision, taken in the vain hope that he can cling to an illusory government. Bad news to Citu: he can't change anything anymore; he will leave Victoria Palace on Tuesday. Therefore, I am publicly asking him to give in! In this new brutal wave of the pandemic, emergencies cannot be resolved solely on the basis of the PNL membership card. There are communities led by PSD, USR [Save Romania Party] or PMP [People's Movement Part] mayors who need just as much money to save lives," Ciolacu wrote on his Facebook page on Friday, agerpres reports.

He is also asking President Klaus Iohannis to step in to prevent such a situation."I'm also asking President Iohannis to step in quickly to prevent such disgrace! Otherwise, he will wake up to PSD elected officials from the around the country staging a concert/festival/circle or whatever the law will allow us, outside the the gates to the Cotroceni Presidential Palace," Ciolacu also wrote.
As many as 1,200 delegates from all over the country will be present on Saturday, in Bucharest, for the USR PLUS (Save Romania Union - Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity alliance) Congress, in which the new National Bureau will be elected, as well as the new president of the alliance will be validated, agerpres reports.

The event will take place at Romexpo, but given the pandemic context, there will be a limit of 150 people at the same time in the vast hall of the exhibition centre.

The delegates who will express their option regarding the constituent of the new National Bureau will be divided by time flows, in order to cast their vote.Only vaccinated people can take part in the congress.For the National Bureau 93 USR PLUS members have submitted their candidacy, grouped in three lists, alongside three independent candidates.The Congress will start at 09:00 and will include the presentation of an election report for appointing the president, as well as a speech from the new chair of USR PLUS.Candidates will be presented for the National Bureau, the National Arbitration Committee and for the National Audit Committee.During the second day of Congress, on Sunday, the debates regarding changing the USR PLUS Status will take place in an exclusively online session.On this occasion the results of the elections for the National Bureau will be presented.The chairperson of USR PLUS is to be announced on Friday evening, October 1, at 20:00, following two rounds of elections which will took place online, throughout the last two weeks.After the first election, which ended on September 23, the co-chairmen Dacian Ciolos and Dan Barna remained in the competition.For the first election round as many as 32,815 from 44,114 members with a right to vote (representing 74.4% of the total) have expressed their option online, through the means of a secure platform. Dacian Ciolos received 15,111 votes (46%), Dan Barna 14,404 votes (43.9%), and Irineu Darau 3,300 votes (10.1%).The USR PLUS National Bureau will secure the executive leadership of the party alongside the president.During the month of May of this year, USR PLUS merged, when after the last years the two parties led by Dan Barna and Dacian Ciolos participated as an alliance to the elections for the European Parliament, Presidency, localities and county councils and Romanian Parliament.
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North Korea has been devoting more time, money and resources to finding and arresting those using foreign, usually Chinese, cell phones because another side effect of 18 months of economic lockdown is the growth of violent crime in urban areas, even Pyongyang. The government does not release crime statistics but if people continue to obtain and use foreign cell phones, or hacked North Korean phones, the news gets out inside North Korea and to the rest of the world. There has been a growing incidence of crime in general, especially robbery and burglary, often accompanied by violence if the theft is challenged. In some towns and rural areas there have been incidences of vigilante groups forming to protect themselves and neighbors. This is more common in areas where the police are often the criminals and too busy taking care of themselves to deal with robbery and burglary. The farmers, despite several years of poor harvests, have more incentive to guard their crops and harvested food from the growing number of thieves and the decline in government efforts to deal with the problem. This resistance now applies to marauding soldiers. For over a decade, civilians living near military bases suffered growing theft by soldiers from nearby bases. In some areas the foraging became so bad that civilians abandoned their farms and businesses for somewhere experiencing less of this theft. Since 2020 the government has been moving more soldiers to the Chinese border and was unable to supply these larger border forces with enough fuel, food and housing. Even though some of these troops were from elite infantry units, they began stealing from the locals. Despite this growing crime rate, the government pays the most attention to those who import and distribute videos of foreign, especially South Korean TV and movies. More of these thought criminals are being caught and their severe punishments, often public execution or exile of their families to poor rural areas, are given a lot of publicity. Its not just viewing this video that is a crime, singing K-Pop (South Korean pop music) in public or, even worse, emulating the dance moves that K-Pop groups use in videos is forbidden. There is a legal form of K-Pop in North Korea and thats because Kim Jong Un is a big fan and allowed the formation of North Korean K-Pop groups. He claimed that K-Pop was a North Korean invention. North Korean K-Pop groups were good but were not free to create or perform any songs they wanted. Most North Korean K-Pop songs had a political theme and could not compete with South Korean K-Pop. A few of the North Korean K-Pop songs that were apolitical became hits in South Korea, where North Korean K-Pop groups were recognized for their talent but ideological lyrics were unpopular north and south. The current crackdown on South Korean culture specifically goes after the decadent K-Pop hits that are often sung by young North Koreans. This is not because they want to make a political statement, but because the southern stuff is better. This is something Kim Jong Un will not tolerate.

The Misclassified

Another embarrassing trend is the number of soldiers who have died from covid19, rather than illnesses with similar symptoms. North Korea has little covid19 testing capability and the military has put any soldier with a high fever, shortness of breath and so on into the same special isolation facilities at military hospitals. Until recently nearly all those deaths in the isolation wards of military hospitals were not considered covid19 related. Then someone did an excess deaths analysis, comparing recent military deaths to the averages for past years. This is the simplest and most efficient way to determine the surplus deaths attributable to a current pandemic disease. Not only were there thousand of deaths that were caused by covid but a similar comparative study of soldiers visibly ill who survived was also much larger. Many of the troops and career officers had already figured this out because they remembered how many troops got sick or died in past years and what was happening now was unprecedented.

A Marshal You Can Trust

Kim Jong Un has quietly promoted vice marshal Pak Jong Chon to a senior civilian post in the government. Pak was demoted from senior marshal rank three months ago because of a scandal involving distribution of military food reserves that one of his deputies was directly responsible for. In East Asia it is customary for the superior of the guilty officer to also be punished. In this case he lost the senior marshal promotion he had received a year earlier as a bonus for continued good work. Pak did lose his job as Chief of Staff (commander of the military) but was quietly shifted to a more powerful civilian job.

Pak has been one of the younger fast-track military and government officials Kim has been seeking and promoting since he took power a decade ago. Pak was a very competent artillery officer who impressed Kim with his ability to explain the way artillery works, plus North Koreas current and future capabilities in that area. Pak first did this before Kim Jong Un took power, when Kim was a university student and Pak an officer instructor for courses on artillery. When Kim assumed power in 2011 he remembered Pak.

Pak received his initial promotion of vice marshal for successfully developing new ballistic missiles. It was probably on the advice of Pak that Kim allowed the new cruise missile to be developed and successfully tested three weeks ago, along with the new railroad car launched missiles. Pak is now a very senior government official who no longer commands military forces. But he does know how things work, or dont, in the military and thats a skill Kim Jong Un values highly. When Kim Jong Un took over from his recently deceased father in 2001, Pak was one of the young officers Kim turned to for advice. Kim soon began removing elderly generals and replacing them with younger, more capable ones.

September 29, 2021: Apparently with the approval of China, Kim Jong Un promoted his younger (34-year-old) sister Kim Yo Jong, to the State Affairs Commission, a group that includes her older brother and is often consulted by Kim Jong Un for advice on how to proceed. This promotion is seen as confirmation that Kim Yo Jong is seen as the best successor to her brother. Kim Jong Un apparently has three children aged between 4 and 11. Because of that his able and trusted younger sister has been seen as a potential heir. Kim Yo Jong stepped up when her brother underwent heart surgery in early 2020 and was out of action for several months. Kim Yo Jong was decisive and suitably vicious in the Kim tradition. During that period, she received several promotions and was portrayed as a senior official who was making a lot of decisions. Now she has more promotions.

In 2020 Kim Yo Jong received several promotions and is portrayed as a senior official who is making a lot of decisions. There is much to do and more of those problems are showing up in the capital, which is no longer isolated from all the miseries common in the rest of the country. Kim Jong Un is still the supreme leader even if he was incapacitated for several months during 2020. The only thing holding North Korea together is the dictatorial power of the Kim dynasty and as long as Kim Jong Un lives his sister can only borrow some of that power some of the time. Doing otherwise could be fatal for the younger sister. She has apparently assured everyone that she would be a loyal and able heir to a dynasty that is fading fast.

North Korea also announced it was willing to revive the hotline between the two Koreas, which the north cut in early 2020. Two months ago South Korea revealed that it had been approached by North Korea officials about reviving the hotline. Various hotlines between the two Koreas have been around for fifty years but the north often shuts them down, or revives them as a negotiating tactic. Now North Korea wants to negotiate again and is bringing forth all it has to offer, which is less and less each year.

September 28, 2021: For the third time this month North Korea has tested a new missile, the Hwasong-8. This missile was specifically designed for nuclear warheads. That means the warhead can maneuver as it plunges at high speed towards the target and that makes it more difficult to intercept.

September 26, 2021: Britain released data on its investigation of fuel smuggling to North Korea by several foreign countries. This is nothing new but Britain obtained more information about how the foreign ships changed their identities to get past existing restrictions on smugglers.

September 25, 2021: North Korea offered to resume peace negotiations with South Korea, that would include officially ending the 1960-53 Korean War. North Korea said negotiations could start as soon as South Korea abandoned all the economic sanctions on North Korea. This approach has been tried many times in the past and always failed. North Korea gave no indication about how it would be different this time.

September 20, 2021: China has quietly introduced the use of mandatory permits for any legal exports to North Korea. The legal items are usually food, or medical supplies. Given the precarious financial situation in North Korea, the Chinese merchants demand as much as half the money in advance and the rest on delivery. Export laws mandate that Chinese exporters report what they sell to North Korea but many exporters have been slow in that reporting and the government made their point about mandatory reporting and permits when they blocked a shipment of 20,000 tons of rice from being transferred to the North Korea ship sent to carry the rice back to North Korea. China believed some exporters were allowing illegal items to be unofficially included in legal cargoes.

September 17, 2021: In North Korea the government has ordered provincial officials to implement stricter rules for providing families with young children (under five years old) with additional food, especially dairy products for the very young. The government wants more attention paid to the health and welfare of new mothers and their infants. The problem is not just a sharp decline in the birth rate over the last few years but more incidences of young children being abandoned and fewer couples planning to start families. Since about 2006 the North Korean annual birth rate has fallen below 2.1 ( children per woman, on average) and the decline visibly accelerated in the last year. Both Koreas are now faced with declining birth rates and the inability to reverse the problem. South Korea had this problem first, but for different reasons. In the north the birth rate fell below the replacement rate once before, in the 1990s when the end of Soviet subsidies after 1991 triggered years of unprecedented famine, starvation deaths and economic decline. The birth rate recovered in the late 1990s but that lasted for less than a decade. As a result Both Koreas now suffer shrinking populations because births are below replacement rate for over a decade. In the north the decline increased because of extreme poverty. The situation is much worse in South Korea where, by 2010, it had the lowest birth rate, 1.15, in the world and held that dubious achievement for two years in a row. This is because of growing affluence over the last half century. South Korea is now one of the wealthiest nations on the planet. At the current birth rate, the South Korean population is expected to stop growing in the 2020s, after reaching about 52 million, which is (about twice the population of the north. North Korea has not reduced the size of its military because of the shortage of new recruits. Instead, they have extended the time conscripts serve to as many as 12 years. This made military service even more unpopular. Morale and readiness have suffered.

September 15, 2021: North Korea tested two existing ballistic missiles but launched them from special railroad cars that elected the missile and fired the two missiles that travelled 800 kilometers before landing off the east coast.

South Korea tested a new ballistic missile today, one that was launched from the first of the one of their new 3,400-ton Dosan Anh Changho class submarine. The sub officially entered service a month ago and this missile test was planned some time ago. The Hyunmoo-2B ballistic missile has a range of 500 kilometers and is launched one of the six VLS tubes the new sub is equipped with.

September 12, 2021: North Korea successfully tested its first cruise missile, one with a range of 1,500 kilometers and the ability to hit targets in Japan. Cruise missiles are not sanctioned by the UN, while North Korean ballistic missiles are. South Korea and Japan have been spending a lot of money on ABM (anti-ballistic missile systems) but little on cruise missile detection. South Korea has developed a growing number of detection systems for small UAVs that North Korea has been sending south for reconnaissance. As Iran has demonstrated, such UAVs equipped with explosives and sent on one-way pre-programmed missions can be very effective. North Korea mentioned Japan as a target because cruise missiles coming in low over water are the most difficult to detect. The North Korean cruise missiles look remarkably like the American Tomahawk, the first modern cruise missile that entered service in 1983 and has been continually updated. About 8,000 Tomahawks have been produced since introduction. Although Tomahawk is a simple design using widely available components, many nations have paid for the wreckage of Tomahawks to obtain details of its design, especially the guidance system, so they can produce clones. A new generation of cruise missiles are in the works that use a stealthier shape and electronic countermeasures to defeat detection. These double the $1.5 million cost of current designs. North Korea can build Tomahawk clones for less than $500,000 each. Meanwhile, neighboring South Korea is way ahead in cruise missile technology as well as defenses against them.

In Pyongyang, North Korea held a military parade to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of North Korea. The parade began just after midnight and there were hundreds of thousands present to view the event. Nearly all of them, as well as the marchers, were wearing face masks and some of the contingents in the parade were wearing containment suits as well as face gear resembling gas masks. Thousands of marchers and observers were not masked, including Kim Jong Un. Since all the participants were from military organizations the government had issued strict rules for those attending and any suspected of having covid19 were not to participate. Staff at the Civil Defense University were not strict enough and several students who appeared to have colds were allowed to attend the parade. Several days later their colds turned out to be covid19. Those students were taken to a special hospital by ambulance crews dressed in containment suits and everyone at the Civil Defense University were quarantined at the campus for 15 days. Kim Jong Un and dozens of other senior officials observed the parade but their health was apparently not an issue for the medical personnel testing those who were near the parade participants who got ill. All those in the parade marched past Kim and his associates. This revived the rumor that Kim and senior members of the government had received covid19 vaccines, even though the government denies this.

One change that is not a rumor and is popular is the significant weight loss Kim Jong Un has undergone since late 2020. Back then Kim was estimated to weigh nearly 140 kg (320 pounds), which is way too much for a guy who is 172 cm (68 inches) tall. Carrying all that weight was apparently the main cause of the health problems Kim has been having over the last few years. This culminated in heart surgery in early 2020, which involved a team of Chinese heart specialists coming to North Korea to assist. The Chinese doctors were helpful and apparently blunt in telling Kim that he had to lose a lot of weight or die young. That was scary because covid19 was newly arrived and a disproportionate percentage of the dead were people in poor health. Kim Jong Un qualified. Kim finally acted to change his lifestyle. He was making very few public appearances because of the covid19 lockdown. A year later Kim was visibly thinner and healthier.

All that weight was also a political liability because nearly all North Koreans were much thinner. His weight loss efforts first became visible three months ago and today Kim was visibly slimmer and healthier than three months ago. This change is popular in North Korea and that is apparently Kim to keep losing weight because he is still overweight and has to lose as much more as he has already lost to no longer justify the fat jokes North Koreas have been sharing privately for years.

September 8, 2021: In mid-2021 South Korea revealed its 2022 military budget and one of the more interesting items was $2.56 billion for a South Korean C-RAM (Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar) system suitable for the very specific needs of South Korea. Obtaining such a system had been discussed in detail for several years and by 2020 there seemed to be a consensus that a C-RAM was essential to defend key civilian and military targets within long range artillery and rocket range of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) separating North and South Korea. South Korea had examined other C-RAM systems already in use by the United States. Germany and Israel. None met South Koreas unique needs. Developing, testing, manufacturing, and deploying this South Korean C-RAM system is expected to take until 2035.

The South Korea capital, Seoul is only 40 kilometers from the DMZ and the Seoul metropolitan area is where much of South Korean economic growth took place in the last fifty years. South Korea is now among the top ten economies on the planet and the one with the second smallest (after Canada) population. The Seoul region contains half of South Koreas population and about 40 percent of the economy (GDP). North Korea has, since the 1950s, stationed hundreds of long-range artillery and rockets that could reach Seoul. The quantity and quality of those weapons increased as Seoul became a more valuable target.
BELLEVUE, Wash., Sept. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 5G Americas, the wireless industry trade consortium and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas, today announced the election of Uruguay operator Antel to its Board of Governors. Antel joins other key stakeholder entities committed to the progress 5G in North, Central and Latin America.

5G Americas is pleased to welcome Antel to the Board of Governors, stated Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas. We are honored to have another technology leader from the Latin America region contribute their expertise and insight to our association.

Antel, the state-owned Uruguayan full-service telecommunications provider, headquartered in Montevideo, is a technology innovation leader in Latin America. It was the first operator to launch commercial LTE services in the region in late 2011, as well as the first operator in the region to launch a 5G commercial network in April of 2019. The operator provides fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) connectivity to more than 80 percent of Uruguayan households.

Antel recognizes wireless communications' pivotal role as a catalyst for digital transformation and economic growth. We look forward to collaborating with other leading wireless companies from the Americas on technical and regulatory issues to help drive 5G adoption and promote measures that will help it meet its full potential, said Humberto Roca, Chief Technology Information Officer, Antel.

About 5G Americas: The Voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas

5G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of leading telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organizations mission is to facilitate and advocate for the advancement and transformation of LTE, 5G and beyond throughout the Americas. 5G Americas is invested in developing a connected wireless community while leading 5G development for all the Americas. 5G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. More information is available at 5G Americas website and Twitter.

5G Americas Board of Governors Members include Airspan Networks Inc., Antel, AT&T, Ciena, Cisco, Crown Castle, Ericsson, Intel, Liberty Latin America, Mavenir, Nokia, Qualcomm Incorporated, Samsung, Shaw Communications Inc., T-Mobile US, Inc., Telefonica, VMware, and WOM.

Contact:

5G Americas

Viet Nguyen

+1 206 218 6393

Viet.Nguyen@5GAmericas.org

About Antel

Established in 1974, Antel is a Uruguayan telecom company (Administracion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones) with over 6000 employees and revenues near $900 million. Headquartered in Montevideo, the company provides various types of communications services throughout the nation of Uruguay including mobile, broadband, fixed and Internet services. Antel is committed to closing the digital divide in providing a wide array of communication services to individuals, households, and businesses.

Contact:

Antel (Administracion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones)

Humberto Roca

Chief Technology Information Officer

hroca@antel.com.uy
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (IDX: BBRI) has raised IDR 95.9 trillion from the issuance of IDR 28.2 billion rights issue for Ultra Micro Holding's establishment. The figure has shown a great achievement with oversubscribed rights issue, as stated by BRI's President Director, Sunarso, at the Indonesia Stock Exchange Opening Bell event, September 29.

Also present at the event were Indonesian State-Owned Enterprise (SOEs) Minister, Erick Thohir; SOEs Deputy Minister II, Kartika Wirdjoatmodjo; OJK Capital Market Supervision's Chief Executive, Hoesen; IDX President Director, Inarno Djajadi; BRI Vice President Director and Head of PMO (Project Management Office), Catur Budi Harto; and the President Director of Pegadaian, Koeswiyoto.

"This has been an historic achievement as BRI's rights issue now becomes the largest in Southeast Asia, ranked third in Asia, and ranked seventh worldwide, providing more investment opportunities for capital market in Indonesia," said Sunarso.

The Indonesia's SOEs Minister, Erick Thohir, also praised BRI for the outstanding result during this turbulence situation. "MSMEs now contribute to around 60% of economy in Indonesia. Through the establishment of Ultra Micro Holding (UMi), we will help ultra-micro players with easier access to funds, assistance, and access to scale up," said Thohir.

With this rights issue's result, shareholders can maintain the ownership of above 40%, that aligns to BRI's target. "This also reflects their confidence in our vision to provide financial inclusion, while securing growth in microsegments to create more values for all shareholders. Along with UMi, BRI will bring millions of ultra-micro business players to scale up and make positive contributions to stakeholders and the national economy," added Sunarso.

OJK Capital Market Supervision's Chief Executive, Hoesen, pointed how the rights issue's result has answered widespread doubts from many investors about the economic growth in Indonesia. "In the future, our economy will rely more on MSMEs growth. As most Indonesian people focus on everyday life to make a living, we at OJK are confident that these MSME sectors will continue to grow," said Hoesen.

Since first entered LQ45 in 2005, BRI has garnered the largest market capitalization in Indonesia, with the most active stocks traded based on value. "With outstanding performances and potential growth with UMi, BRI shares can certainly increase new optimism from investors," concluded IDX President Director, Inarno Djajadi.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bris-rights-issue-oversubscribed-raises-idr-95-9-trillion-in-funding-301389630.html

SOURCE PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BRI)
Col. Travis M. Habhab and other members of the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade leadership have been cleared after a monthslong investigation into incidents and allegations stemming from a rotation to Europe, the 18th Airborne Corps said this week. (U.S. Army)

STUTTGART, Germany  The leadership of an Army aviation brigade has been cleared of wrongdoing following a lengthy investigation into misconduct complaints, the 18th Airborne Corps said this week.

The 101st Airborne Divisions Combat Aviation Brigade, which came under scrutiny in April after soldiers on an official trip visited a Polish strip club where a senior battalion officer went missing, was probed after various complaints were filed against the command.

An exhaustive, months-long follow-on investigation led by a brigadier general identified no adverse findings against Colonel Travis Habhab or his subordinate leaders, Capt. Javon Starnes, a spokesman for 18th Airborne Corps, said in a statement.

Habhab is the commander of the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based brigade, which in April completed a nine-month rotation to Europe in support of the militarys Atlantic Resolve campaign, focused on deterring Russian aggression.

Bullying, instances of suicidal thoughts at the brigades headquarters company and drunken carousing by officers were among the problems reported within the unit, according to internal command documents and Inspector General complaints obtained by Stars and Stripes.

In May, the Fort Bragg, N.C.-based 18th Airborne Corps sent a senior officer to Fort Campbell to investigate allegations of wrongdoing, the nature of which were not disclosed by the command.

But during the brigades Europe rotation, there were indications of a morale problem. A command climate survey of the brigades headquarters company conducted during the Europe deployment found that 44% of those polled reported knowledge of suicidal thoughts and 25% reported some type of bullying behavior in the unit.

And in April, the brigade was embroiled in scandal after revelations emerged about a battalion trip approved as a tour of World War II sites.

On the first night of the trip, soldiers drank heavily and went to the off-limits Club Obsession in the seaside city of Gdansk, according to an Army investigation report obtained by Stars and Stripes.

The battalions executive officer went missing for a day after he was likely drugged and was charged thousands of dollars on his credit card, the investigation report said.

The battalion commander who organized the September staff ride was issued a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand and will retire, while the executive officer faces separation, Army officials said last month. Other members of the unit also were punished.
A Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve patrol encountered a hostile pro-Syrian regime militia at a checkpoint near Qamishli, Syria, Feb. 12, 2020. The 82nd Airborne Division will court-martial Sgt. 1st Class Robert Nicoson, who was involved in an Aug. 17, 2020, firefight during an attack on his convoy near Qamishli. (Jodi Eastham/U.S. Army)

An 82nd Airborne Division soldier whose patrol came under fire in Syria last August will face court-martial for a series of charges that include violating orders and reckless endangerment, the military said last week.

Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue referred the case against Sgt. 1st Class Robert Nicoson to trial, division spokesman Lt. Col. Brett Lea said in an email Thursday.

Nicosons case underwent an Article 32 preliminary hearing in May, similar to a civilian grand jury proceeding, to review evidence against him on charges related to several incidents, including a patrol that got caught up in a deadly firefight near the northeastern Syrian town of Qamishli on Aug. 17, 2020.

It is alleged that Sgt. 1st Class Nicoson was involved in incidents of violating orders, reckless endangerment, making unlawful threats and obstruction of justice after the fact, Lea said.

The charge sheet will not be available until Nicoson is arraigned, which could be in the next couple of weeks, Lea said.

Nicosons attorney, Phillip Stackhouse, did not immediately return a request for comment on the case. Stackhouse told Stars and Stripes after the May 20 hearing at Fort Bragg, N.C., that prosecutors did not call a single witness and instead relied on a very thin Army CID (Criminal Investigation Command) investigation and a low burden of proof to push for court-martial.

Prosecutors also provided the defense with two classified investigation reports just prior to the hearing" that they had not previously made available, Stackhouse said. Both investigations, conducted before any Army CID involvement, contained very favorable evidence for SFC Nicoson, he said.

While I cant go into the facts contained within those investigations yet, I think its fair to say that SFC Nicoson was not even in the country at the time two of the charges are alleged to have occurred, he said. Some of the charges stem from a patrol in June, and from events after the August firefight, Stackhouse said in an earlier phone interview.

The defense entered both records into evidence and sought to have them declassified, Stackhouse said.

The May proceedings were recessed to allow the preliminary hearing officer to review and consider evidence before issuing a report to the commander, said Lt. Col. Mike Burns, division spokesman at the time.

Long story short  new information was made available and is being considered, Burns said.

Military officials have declined to discuss specifics of the charges against Nicoson. Nicoson was a platoon sergeant with the 82nd Airborne Divisions Blackhorse Troop, 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment on what Operation Inherent Resolve has described as a routine anti-Islamic State patrol last August when a firefight broke out at a Syrian checkpoint.

A Syrian fighter was killed and two others were wounded in the firefight, but there were no coalition casualties. It was one of several high-profile altercations last year between U.S. military patrols and pro-regime Syrian forces or their Russian backers in the civil war that began in 2011.

Nicoson had been under consideration for a Bronze Star with valor device for his actions during the battle, at least until September, Stackhouse said earlier this year. Nicoson's wife, Beverly, told Stars and Stripes via email earlier this year it wasn't clear why the Army went from considering an award to seeking punishment.

Prosecutors claim he put the platoon at risk by going where they shouldn't have been, then threatened Syrian forces before the fighting broke out, Stackhouse said. Prosecutors do not allege misconduct during the actual gunbattle or say that Nicoson started the firefight, he said.

The charges are merely accusations, said Lea, the division spokesman.

The accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty, he said.

Chad Garland Chad is a Marine Corps veteran who covers the U.S. military in the Middle East, Afghanistan and sometimes elsewhere for Stars and Stripes. An Illinois native whos reported for news outlets in Washington, D.C., Arizona, Oregon and California, hes an alumnus of the Defense Language Institute, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Arizona State University.
An MH-47G Chinook assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment refuels at Naval Air Station North Island, Calif., in 2019. Soldiers who may have been members of the 160th SOAR were attacked Sept. 18, 2021, by a sword-wielding man dressed as a ninja while they were training at Inyokern Airport, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. (Daniel Snider/U.S. Air Force)

A sword-wielding man dressed as a ninja attacked several special operations soldiers who were training at a California airport, reportedly forcing them to shelter in a hangar and inflicting wounds that required stitches.

The bizarre assault took place at Inyokern Airport, an airfield in the Mojave Desert about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, sometime after 1 a.m. on Sept. 18, according to what appears to be a military incident report shared on Instagram and Reddit.

Records from the Ridgecrest Police Department seem to confirm some details in the document posted to social media in a photo late Wednesday that said two soldiers had to receive stitches before returning to duty.

After confirming that the incident described in the document leaked on social media did occur, U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command spokesman Maj. Jeff Slinker said officials did not have any further information to add.

The soldiers names were redacted in the photo shared on social media  but one was identified as a staff sergeant and the other as a captain. The details suggest that they are members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, an elite helicopter unit known as the Night Stalkers.

The staff sergeant was sitting outside the administration building at the airport hangar smoking a cigarette when he was approached by an unknown person wearing full ninja garb, the photographed document states.

A screenshot of what appears to be a military incident report shared on Reddit describes an attack on a group of soldiers Sept. 18, 2021, in California by a sword-wielding man dressed as a ninja. (Reddit)

It is unclear from the records whether the man was an actual practitioner of ninjutsu.

Do you know who I am? the ninja asked, to which the soldier replied no, according to the document.

Do you know where my family is? the black-clad man then asked. The staff sergeant again answered no.

The person in ninja garb began to slash at (the soldier), striking his phone and his knee and leg, the record states.

The staff sergeant took off running across the parking lot to escape the attacker, and then he jumped a fence and entered the administrative building, where he and the captain locked doors and called 911.

Meanwhile, the man dressed as a ninja was kicking and punching doors and windows before leaving to grab a large block of asphalt, which he heaved through the window of the administration building.

The captain was struck by the chunk of asphalt, said the document on social media.

The first assistance call was recorded about 1:20 a.m., the Ridgecrest Police Department log shows. A man with a sword was in a parking lot, and there was at least one victim, the log states.

About 30 minutes later came a second call via 911: 26 spec op military members doing training at the airport, the log states. Hunkered down in a hangar wondering where help is.

The ninja fled and was arrested elsewhere, according to the document shared on social media.

It indicates that the soldiers were with F Co., 2nd Battalion, 160th SOAR, which had been tasked with support at Fort Irwins National Training Center.

The incident report photo was shared Wednesday on the Instagram meme page Daddy SOARbucks before appearing on Reddit.

The Daddy SOARbucks page posted several more memes mocking the company and the battalion over the incident.

The regiment did not immediately respond to a query seeking confirmation of the information shared on social media. It was unclear which law enforcement agency responded to the calls.
Buy Photo A member of 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment readies an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, during the Noble Jaguar exercise at Central Training Area, Okinawa, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)

CENTRAL TRAINING AREA, Okinawa  The Marine Corps has taken a big step in developing the commandants island-fighting doctrine by coordinating simulated air and surface strikes with sailors aboard an aircraft carrier.

Exercise Noble Jaguar began Sept. 28 and involved approximately 60 Marines from the 3rd Marine Division, 12th Marine Regiment, rocket crews from 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines, and the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, regiment operations officer Lt. Col. Joshua Montero told Stars and Stripes at Camp Hansen on Thursday.

For the first time, Navy planners and intelligence officers from the USS Carl Vinson joined the staff at 3rd Marine Division headquarters for the exercise. Meanwhile, the nearby carriers crew took part in the communications exercise alongside other units of the 7th Fleet.

Well have a Navy or Marine aircraft up in the air, find a target, communicate that, sometimes through the Navy, sometimes through the Air Force, Montero said. And then eventually at our level, well have all of the missiles come on to the same [target], so were combining those strikes together.

In my opinion, thats varsity level stuff. Its not easy to do and the only way you can get after it is to practice, and thats what were doing right now.

Buy Photo A member of 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment provides security during the Noble Jaguar exercise at Central Training Area, Okinawa, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)

Certain Marine and Navy communication systems are compatible, while others are not, Montero said. Developing the patches, or establishing connections prior to any engagement, is key to readiness.

The main focus of this is communication; how are we talking to each other and how can we do workarounds when we run into some issues, he said.

The exercise, which was slated to end Friday, began with the loading and offloading of two M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, from the expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Brunswick, Capt. Nathanael Wasik, the HIMARS platoon commander, said Thursday.

The platoon headed into the Central Training Area and set up a concealed fire direction center under camouflage netting to coordinate strikes against air, land and sea targets.

Marines dispersed to make themselves difficult to target. They had to sustain themselves for several days with a limited amount of food, water and fuel.

All of this was part of the Corps new island-fighting doctrine, known as expeditionary advanced base operations, Wasik said.

Commandant Gen. David Berger introduced the doctrine in July 2019. It calls for Marines to move inside the range of an adversarys long-range precision fires and establish difficult-to-target forward bases.

This doctrine translates to seizing and holding territory, supporting naval units at sea, refueling, rearming and relaunching aircraft and denying sea lanes to the adversary.

The III Marine Expeditionary Force on Okinawa has been developing each phase of expeditionary advanced base operations, month by month, with each exercise, Marine officials told Stars and Stripes previously.

Typically, a fire mission comes into the direction center from higher headquarters, Wasik said. His operations chief and fire direction officer process the information and then task out the launchers.

The radio crackled Thursday morning with a fire mission.

Minutes later, a HIMARS barreled down one of the training areas paved roads. It came to a sudden stop next to a concealed joint light tactical vehicle. A motor hummed as the rocket tubes rose off the bed.

Moments later, the tubes came back down, and the truck barreled back down the street to hide again. No rockets were fired in this simulation.

Theres always going to be some troubles that we have to work through with communications, Wasik said. However, our guys have done a really good job troubleshooting.

Operations chief Sgt. William Botelho said the platoon encountered no insurmountable problems during the exercise.

We shoot; we move; we cant be detected and just use the terrain and our surrounding area to hide us to the best of our ability, he said. Theres always a way to work around whatever challenge youre presented with and to accomplish the mission.
Tyler Andrews, 23, underwent his 20th surgery this week as part of ongoing treatment for catastrophic injuries he suffered as a result of a suicide bomber attack on Aug. 26 at Kabuls Hamid Karzai International Airport. (Facebook)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Tribune News Service)  Tyler Andrews of Folsom, Calif., a Marine critically injured in Afghanistan, is still fighting for his life.

Andrews, 23, underwent his 20th surgery this week as part of ongoing treatment for catastrophic injuries he suffered as a result of a suicide bomber attack on Aug. 26 at Kabuls Hamid Karzai International Airport.

Tyler is the most severely wounded to have survived, said Warfighter Overwatch, a veterans organization supporting Andrews and his family, said in a social media post. With two amputations, we are lucky Tyler is still with us. He is a miracle.

Andrews was among 18 U.S. service members injured in the bombing as he and others helped evacuate Americans and Afghan refugees. The blast killed 13 service members.

Following the attack, Andrews was transported to Germany for medical treatment. His mother, Tiffany Andrews, an attorney in Folsom, joined her son there and has been at his side every step of the way, Warfighter Overwatch said.

Andrews was transferred to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center earlier this month after his injuries stabilized.

The Folsom community has rallied around Andrews and his family, providing meals, raising money and tying yellow ribbons around the city.

A fundraiser for Andrews and his family will be Oct. 5 at the Folsom Chick-fil-a on East Bidwell Street from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Twenty percent of the proceeds of each purchase will go to the Andrews Family, Warfighter Overwatch said.

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Roy Suber, an education counselor with the Navy College Virtual Education Center in Virginia Beach, Va., assists a sailor over the phone on Sept. 23, 2021. (Leslie Dickey/U.S. Navy)

The Navy College Program, which enables students to receive academic credits for regular work and training, has permanently shut down in-person counseling at overseas offices, according to a program statement.

The change finalizes a shift to providing sailor counseling online during the coronavirus pandemic through the Navy College Virtual Education Center, the statement said.

Sailors interested in pursuing off-duty educational opportunities will continue to have a wide array of virtual services available to them, Lt. Cmdr. Adam Walski, Navy Voluntary Education director, said in the Sept. 27 statement. More importantly, services will not be interrupted for those in need of education assistance or counseling in any location worldwide.

The Navy had closed its last four physical offices stateside in 2017, after closing 16 offices the year before and 20 in 2009.

Navy officials said in 2017 that the closures would save $2.3 million. However, the services had kept the college offices outside the continental U.S. open.

Offices now providing virtual services include Naval Station Rota in Spain, and Naval Air Station Sigonella and Naval Support Activity Naples, both in Italy. The change also affects offices in Bahrain; Misawa, Yokosuka, Atsugi, Sasebo and Okinawa, all in Japan; Guam; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Academic institutions already on Navy bases within and outside the U.S. remain in place, the statement said.

Virtual services include call-in and live chat with counselors from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern time. There also is an automated chatbot on the Navy College website, or people may leave a question or request a counselor to call back using Issue Tracker in MyNavy Education.

All virtual education center customers will now use the MyNavy Career Center toll-free number, 1-833-330-MNCC, the statement said.
Buy Photo The Navy began issuing new Sig Sauer M18 pistols to security forces personnel at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. (Daniel Betancourt/Stars and Stripes)

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan - U.S. sailors and Japanese security personnel checked out new 9 mm handguns at this base south of Tokyo on Friday morning, ending nearly four decades of service with Beretta M9 pistols.

As part of a servicewide transition, security officers have been training with the SIG Sauer M18 pistol, which is replacing the M9. The Navy adopted the M9 in 1985, according to Yokosukas head of security, Lt. Cmdr. Roel Rosalez.

At Yokosuka, the transition meant more than 31,000 rounds fired by approximately 350 security officers as they became certified to use the new sidearm over the course of nearly a month.

For a single person, its roughly about 12 to 16 hours [of training] from beginning to end, Petty Officer 1st Class Gasper Pena told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday. It took us approximately two weeks to accomplish all of the actual training and evolutions, and then an additional two weeks on the administrative side.

Buy Photo Advantages of the M18 over the M9 include a lighter weight, easily replaced components and a larger magazine capacity. (Daniel Betancourt/Stars and Stripes)

Pena, an armory supervisor at Yokosuka, said the Navy has been transitioning toward the M18 for nearly a decade, a process that was delayed because the pistols initially lacked certain features, such as an external safety catch.

Were talking 10 years ago; thats literally when I joined the Navy, Pena said. Ten years later, we finally got them, and its a really, really good weapon system.

Yokosuka is likely the first Navy installation outside of the United States to put the new weapons into service, according to Rosalez and Pena.

Other installations in Japan are in various stages of the transition to M18s, Cmdr. Katie Cerezo, spokeswoman for Naval Forces Japan, said in an email Friday. However, she could not comment on specifics as a matter of policy.

A spokesperson for the Navy Chief of Information could not be immediately reached Friday for comment regarding the M18s rollout across the service.

Advantages of the M18 over the M9 include a lighter weight, easily replaced components and a larger magazine capacity.

Yokosuka security officers will be carrying three, 17-round magazines, meaning an increase of six rounds per person over the three, 15-round magazines carried with the M9.

Pena said security personnel at Yokosuka score about 10% higher on the range with the M18 than they did with the M9.

I think this weapon will be easier for sailors, as far as drawing and using the weapon because its lighter, smaller and more compact, Pena said. Its going to be more comfortable when theyre doing their daily duties.

The new pistols are also approximately $6 cheaper than the M9, coming in at $580 per handgun.

Rosalez declined to reveal how many pistols the base has ordered but said there would be enough to adequately arm security personnel.

The M18 and its larger M17 variant are customized versions of the civilian-use SIG Sauer P320 pistol, developed under SIG Sauers Modular Handgun System program. Over the past several years, the Marines, Air Force and Army have also begun to phase out their older handguns for the SIG pistols.

In November 2020, the weapons manufacturer delivered 200,000 M18s and M17s to the U.S. military, a milestone that coincided with the first month it had delivered handguns to all the armed services, according to a news release.

The Army in 2017 was the first service to begin using the M17 and M18, after a $580 million contract was awarded to SIG Sauer that year. The contract called for a delivery of 480,000 pistols over 10 years to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

The Air Force began fielding the pistols in 2019, and the Marines followed suit in 2020.
A fado band performs the traditional sounds of the melancholy style on the square of the Alfama neighborhood in Lisbon, Portugal. (iStock)

An encounter with the sounds that move a nation is one of the absolute joys of travel. From unexpectedly stumbling upon locals singing and dancing in a leafy park to attending a highly anticipated concert by a well-known artist, music is one of the few languages we all speak. Here are just a few of Europes traditional styles of music.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sevda or Sevdalinka is a genre of music likened to a Bosnian version of the blues. The genres name derives from an Arabic word to describe a melancholy state of mind, and its lyrics speak of forbidden love, love affairs gone wrong and other forms of suffering. Originally accompanied by a gentle, lute-like instrument known as the saz, its role was gradually taken over by the more boisterous accordion. Following decades of decline, young artists are now breathing new life into the genre.

The Sevdah Art House is a museum dedicated to sevdalinka and the artists who have performed it. In a renovated storehouse in Velike Daire, one can see items that once belonged to the great masters and the instruments they played, along with old concert posters, archived recordings and costumes the artists wore while performing. Online: tinyurl.com/ne4ajxk6

Croatia

The Klapa singing tradition traces its origins to southern Dalmatia. Multi-part, a cappella songs led by a tenor voice sing of life, love and an attachment to ones natural environment and native soil. Skilled amateurs inherit the tradition from seasoned performers, resulting in many groups in which members are of vastly different ages. Once a tradition for males only, a handful of all-female groups now perform as well. Famous Croatian pop stars will often collaborate with klapa groups to add an element of tradition to their songs.

Since 1967, a festival of Dalmatian klapa groups has taken place annually in the resort town of Omis. Held over four weeks in June and July, it attracts a cappella choirs from around the world.

Italy

The Canzone Napolitano is a generic term for a traditional form of music sung in the language of Naples. It is most often sung by a male soloist, although females perform it as well. Many songs reflect nostalgia for the Naples of old. Well known songs of the genre include O sole mio and Funiculi, Funicula, a song composed in 1880 to commemorate the opening of the first funicular railway on Mount Vesuvius.

The Napulitanata concert hall in the Galleria Principe di Napoli is dedicated to traditional Neapolitan folk music. Shows run an average of an hour and are offered on most days of the week. Online: napulitanata.com/en/show

Portugal

The melancholy sounds of fado can trace their roots back to the 1820s and reflect a certain social context. Lisbons fado was the music of fallen and restless souls, from sailors to prostitutes, and reflects the emotion of the Portuguese word saudade, one of loss and longing for that which is not to be. Voice is accompanied by one or a pair of guitars and violas, and occasionally by a small bass.

A second fado tradition hails from the university city of Coimbra. Within this context, it is sung by those costumed in the robes, capes and leggings of academics. Exclusively male musicians perform in the streets or squares of the pretty town once darkness has fallen. In contrast to the fado of Lisbons working-class appeal, the fado of Coimbra belongs to a more sophisticated class of listener.

Lisbons fado is associated with its bars and restaurants, meaning it is not necessary to time a visit to coincide with a festival in order to catch a memorable performance. The Tasco do Chico in Bairro Alto is a popular venue; other neighborhoods where one can go to hear fado include Alfama and Mouraria.

Spain

The musical traditions of Spain are a rich tapestry sewn from the roots of its diverse regions. The ancient Guanche culture shows itself in the music of the Canary Islands, while the bagpipes in the Galician tradition speak of Celtic ties.

Flamenco, Spains best known musical style, is much more recent, tracing back to the early 19th century. This passionate form of music and dance is attributed to Andalucias persecuted gypsy culture and influenced by Moorish and Jewish musical tradition. Its oldest and most profound form, the cante jondo, is characterized by profound emotion and deals with themes such as death, despair or religious insecurity.

Cities that celebrate flamenco with vibrant festivals include Jerez de la Frontera, Madrid and Murcia. The Bienal de Flamenco in Seville is a spectacular music festival that takes place every second year in September. It is next scheduled to take place in 2022, although exact dates have yet to be determined.
Buy Photo Then-U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris poses at his residence in Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 16, 2020. (Stars and Stripes)

Washington should review its ambiguous position on defending Taiwan during a Chinese attack, according to a former Indo-Pacific Command leader who warned that Beijing seeks to dominate the island democracy.

The Communist Party of China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that must be reunified with the mainland, even by force. Since 1979s Taiwan Relations Act, Washington has left some doubt as to what conditions would dictate U.S. involvement to prevent that from happening.

"We should reconsider  our longstanding policy of strategic ambiguity, retired Navy Adm. Harry Harris told Japans Kyodo News during a recent interview from Colorado. "If, at the end of that  reassessment, we keep the same policy, that's fine. But we shouldn't keep it simply because we've done it that way since the late 1970s.

The policy is intended to deter both Beijing and Taiwan from escalating their feud by leaving doubt as to when or if the U.S. might intervene in conflict. However, Chinas military buildup and aggression toward its neighbors have led to calls for a reassessment of the stance.

In March, then-INDOPACOM commander Adm. Philip Davidson told the Senate Armed Services Committee he believed China could overtake Taiwan and force reunification in the next six years.

He also suggested the U.S. review its policy regarding relations with Taiwan.

I would submit that weve got more than 40 years of the strategic ambiguity that has helped keep Taiwan in its current status, he said. But, you know, these things should be reconsidered routinely. Id look forward to the conversation.

The sitting INDOPACOM commander, Adm. John Aquilino, has also warned that "this problem is much closer to us than most think," without giving a timeline for China achieving the capability to invade the island.

Harris told Kyodo the U.S. should be "clearer in what our responsibilities are" under the Taiwan Relations Act that governs U.S. ties with Taiwan. Washington has "not been consistent," he said, especially over its arms sales to the island.

"If you're not consistent in what you sell Taiwan or any other country, then how can they be  how can they adequately plan for their military readiness, in the long run?" said Harris, who recently served as U.S. ambassador to South Korea.

U.S. Navy warships have made eight transits of the Taiwan Strait this year, the latest on Aug. 27 by the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd and Coast Guard cutter Munro.

Meanwhile, Taiwans Defense Ministry, in an annual report, warned that China could "paralyze" its defenses in a conflict, Bloomberg News reported Sept. 1.

A debate over strategic ambiguity has merit, according to Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.

The policy was adopted to restrain Taiwan, as much as China. Today it seems less likely that the islands leaders would be provocative, Chong said by telephone Wednesday.

Taiwan seems far more willing to be the restrained party, he said.

Beijing, at the same time, is increasingly forward leaning and aggressive with flights of military aircraft and patrols of naval vessels, Chong added.

Theres an argument to be made that the U.S. has to be clear about its commitment to deter aggression across the Taiwan Strait, he said.
This photo released by North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency puports to show an anti-aircraft missile test on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. (KCNA)

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  North Korea claimed to have launched a new anti-aircraft missile Thursday, its fourth missile test in recent weeks, as its leaders signaled peaceful overtures amid frozen relations.

The new surface-to-air missile displayed remarkable combat performance through new key technologies, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Friday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not appear to have inspected the test, according to the report.

South Koreas military, which typically gives details of significant missile tests shortly after they are conducted by the North, said it was aware of the latest launch but did not provide further insight.

North Koreas production of surface-to-air missiles is not a novel development; it has tested the missiles in the past decade and claimed they were successful.

At least three other missile variations were launched by North Korea in recent weeks. The communist regime in separate tests last month fired a ballistic missile from a train, launched long-range cruise missiles capable of reaching Japan, and test-fired a hypersonic short-range missile off its eastern coast.

The latest test comes one day after Kim said the inter-Korean communication lines would reopen by early October. The lines were reinstated in July after an extended pause but were again severed after two weeks in an apparent protest to joint U.S.-South Korean military drills.

In a statement through KCNA on Thursday, Kim said the restoration of the hotline was an effort for realizing the expectations and desire of the entire Korean nation to see the earlier recovery of the North-South relations.

His sister, Kim Yo Jong, relayed the same sentiment in a separate statement last month but added the U.S. and South Korea needed to quit their hostile policies against her country.

In her statement, Kim described the notion of formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War as a good idea, but noted that the declaration would be meaningless if the current conflicted relationships and antagonistic relations continued on the peninsula.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has advocated for formally putting an end to the Korean War throughout his presidency, urged the two countries to come together in a speech before the United Nations General Assembly in September.

The Koreas remain at war following the signing of an armistice agreement, rather than a peace treaty. Roughly 28,500 U.S. troops are currently stationed in the South.

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.
A Chinese PLA J-16 fighter jet flies in an undisclosed location. (Taiwan Ministry of Defense via AP)

TAIPEI, Taiwan  China sent 25 fighter jets toward self-ruled Taiwan in a large display of force on China's National Day on Friday.

The People's Liberation Army flew 18 J-16 fighter jets as well as two H-6 bombers, among other planes. Taiwan deployed air patrol forces in response and tracked the Chinese aircraft on its air defense systems, the island's Defense Ministry said in a statement.

China has sent planes toward the island it claims as part of its territory on a near daily basis in the last couple of years, stepping up military harassment with drills.

Last week, the PLA flew 24 fighter jets toward Taiwan after it announced it would apply to join a Pacific trade group that China also applied to join.

Taiwan and China split during a civil war in 1949, and China has not ruled out force to reunify with Taiwan. Beijing opposes Taiwan's involvement in international organizations.
An F-35B Lightning II takes off from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Aug. 18, 2020. The B variant of the joint strike fighter is capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings. (Lauren Brune/U.S. Marine Corps)

Marine Corps aviators are preparing to fly two of their F-35B Lightning II fighters from the Japanese flattop JS Izumo, a test of the warships newly acquired ability to carry the stealthy aircraft.

Plans to land and launch the short-takeoff, vertical-landing F-35s from the Izumo were announced Thursday by the Defense Ministry, although theyd been signaled by Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger during a security dialogue last month.

The drills are scheduled to happen between Sunday and Thursday in the Pacific Ocean and involve jets from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, the ministry said in its announcement. The Izumo arrived at the coastal air station on Thursday.

MCAS Iwakuni, about 50 miles south of Hiroshima, is home to two F-35B squadrons, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242.

The aircraft landing on the Izumo will be from VMFA-242, known as the Bats, according to 1st Marine Aircraft Wing spokesman Maj. Ken Kunze.

Marine aircraft controllers and public affairs staff are already on the Izumo ahead of the operation, he said in a telephone interview Friday.

Its a demonstration for the Japanese as they begin to accept F-35Bs and they begin carrier operations, he said. This is  landing on the Izumo and showing that it is capable of handling them.

The ship, commissioned in 2015 as a helicopter carrier, had heat-resistant coating added to its deck this year, enabling it to support F-35B vertical landings.

The Japanese helicopter carrier JS Izumo arrives at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. (Darien Wright/U.S. Marine Corps)

Its sister ship, the JS Kaga, is scheduled for a similar makeover ahead of Japans acquisition of 42 F-35Bs, which are slated to arrive sometime in the next five years. U.S. CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft made their first-ever landing on the Kaga during the Keen Sword drills off Japans coast in October 2020.

Japan already operates the F-35A, a conventional takeoff-and-landing version of aircraft, from Misawa Air Base in the countrys northeast.

Japans return to carrier operations for the first time since World War II comes as China builds its own fleet of flattops. Beijing launched its first carrier, the Liaoning in 2012 and a second, the Shandong, in 2017.

A third carrier, similar in size to the Navys USS Gerald R. Ford, is under construction in Shanghai, Naval News reported April. 15.

Stars and Stripes reporter Mari Higa contributed to this report.
In this 2018, photo, U.S. journalist Danny Fenster works out of his van that he made into a home/office in Detroit. Myanmars military-installed government spokesman said Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021, that Fenster, detained in the Southeast Asian country four months ago, was arrested for actions incompatible with his professional duties. (Fenster Family photo via AP)

BANGKOK  Myanmar's military-installed government on Thursday defended its detention of an American journalist it has now held for four months, without offering any details of the crimes it alleges.

Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun did not elaborate in his response at a news conference to a question about Danny Fenster, who is awaiting trial on a charge of incitement, also called sedition. Fenster, 37, is managing editor of the Yangon-based online news and business magazine Frontier Myanmar.

The charge, used frequently against dissidents and journalists, criminalizes "any attempt to cause fear, spread false news, or agitate directly or indirectly a criminal offense against a government employee." It is punishable by up to three years in prison.

Asked about the reason for the arrest, Zaw Min Tun responded: "As for journalists, if they do only journalist's work, there is no reason to arrest them. Danny Fenster did more than just what a journalist does." He said he could not say more, other than that Fenster was kept detained because he has been charged.

Fenster's lawyer and colleagues have denied any wrongdoing on his part.

Fenster was among about 100 journalists detained since the Feb. 1 military takeover ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. More than half have since been released, but free speech remains under tight restrictions, with independent media forced to operate underground or from outside the country. Resistance to military rule was initially met with widespread peaceful street protests, but security forces used deadly force against demonstrators  killing more than 1,100  and now face violent counterattacks.

Zaw Min Tun denied Fenster's statement in mid-July that he believed he had contracted COVID-19 and was not given medicine he had requested. The authorities at Yangon's Insein Prison also have denied he is infected. He also told his lawyer on Sept. 20 that he had not received a COVID-19 vaccination.

"Danny Fenster is in good health," said Zaw Min Tun. "The COVID-19 vaccine is being given to all those in prisons. It is up to him to decide whether or not to get vaccinated."

Fenster's lawyer Than Zaw Aung said Fenster seemed demoralized when he last spoke with him in a video conference during a Sept. 20 court hearing.

"His hair grew longer. He seemed disappointed and he told me in a frustrated tone that 'I have nothing to say,'" the lawyer said. "I asked him if he had been vaccinated by the prison authorities, and he said no. His words showed that he is not feeling well. He didn't request anything."

Fenster was detained at Yangon International Airport on May 24 as he was trying to board a flight to the Detroit area in the United States to see his family, who are now leading a campaign for his release. The U.S. government and international media organizations backed their call for the release of Fenster and other journalists.

Than Zaw Aung said in July that his client was charged in connection with his previous job as a reporter and copy editor for the online news site Myanmar Now.

Myanmar Now, along with several other media outlets, had its license revoked in early March, banning it from publishing on any platform. However, it has continued to operate online.

Fenster resigned from Myanmar Now in July last year and joined Frontier Myanmar a month later, and it was unclear why he was arrested, his lawyer said.

"What I can say is that he was accused as a staff member of Myanmar Now. I'm not clear if it concerns a story posted on Myanmar Now or not," he said.
Buy Photo A teenger receives a COVID-19 vaccination at clinic in Tokyo, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

TOKYO  Life in Japans capital city took a turn toward normal Friday, a day after the government lifted a state of emergency in 19 prefectures that stood in some places for 2  months.

Commuters crowded railcars in central Tokyo, despite persistent rains from Typhoon Mindulle that skirted the city at sea far to the east.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus further loosened its grasp in Tokyo, which registered 200 newly infected people Friday, according to public broadcaster NHK. The number of seriously ill people in the city fell by seven to 93, the first time that number has dipped below 100 in nearly two months.

U.S. military bases in Japan reported 13 new cases of COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease, from the past week.

Yokosuka Naval Base, the homeport south of Tokyo for the U.S. 7th Fleet, reported two new cases, according to a base news release Friday.

Both patients  one immunized and one unimmunized  tested positive sometime since Tuesday after falling ill with COVID-19 symptoms. Yokosuka has five patients under observation.

Kadena Air Base on Okinawa reported 11 new cases since Sept. 25, according to a weekly update posted on its website Friday. The air base also relaxed restrictions it imposed during the most recent COVID-19 surge.

The list of prohibitions is short: No one from Kadena, vaccinated or not, may dine indoors at restaurants off base between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Concerts, festivals, bars, clubs, karaoke parlors and lounges remain off-limits for all.

For unvaccinated individuals, many indoor activities remain off-limits, including bowling, indoor gyms, arcades, movies and pachinko parlors.

Okinawa prefecture said another 41 people turned up positive for the coronavirus Friday and five died, according to the prefectural Department of Public Health and Medical Care.

Japan registered 1,568 new cases on Thursday and another 42 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Nearly 60% percent of its population are fully vaccinated.

South Korea update

U.S. Forces Korea reported another 17 people turned up with COVID-19 since Sept. 19, according to a news release Thursday.

Three service members at Camp Humphreys, one at Osan Air Base and three at Camp Casey, plus two South Korean employees at Humphreys, tested positive after developing symptoms.

Contact tracing discovered seven more: two service members at Suwon Air Base, one at Osan and one at the K-16 Army airfield, along with three family members at Humphreys.

Finally, a family member at Osan came up positive Sept. 26 on a test required for international travel, according to the USFK news release.

South Korea registered 2,486 new cases, including 907 in Seoul and 817 in Gyeonggi province, where Humphreys and Osan are located, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

Of the total population, 76% have received the first of a two-dose coronavirus vaccine; 50.1% are fully vaccinated, according to KDCA.

Stars and Stripes reporters Yoo Kyong Chang and Mari Higa contributed to this report.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses the media after a roundtable with local labor leaders at the IBEW Local #5, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021, in Pittsburgh. (Rebecca Droke/AP)

WASHINGTON  Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit France next week as the Biden administration tries to smooth over hurt feelings and potentially more lasting damage caused by its exclusion of America's oldest ally from a new Indo-Pacific security initiative, the State Department said Friday.

The department said Blinken will visit Paris starting Monday for an international economic conference but highlighted that he will also meet with French officials to discuss the rupture in relations.

The administration has been scrambling to mend fences with France and the European Union more broadly since the Sept. 15 announcement of the Australia-U.S.-UK agreement, known as AUKUS, which canceled a multibillion-dollar Australian-France submarine deal.

All sides agree it will take time to repair those ties. The State Department said Blinken's talks will be aimed at "further strengthening the vital U.S.-France relationship on a range of issues including security in the Indo-Pacific region."

"We recognize this will take time and it will take hard work," said Karen Donfried, the newly confirmed top U.S. diplomat for Europe.

Other matters to be discussed will include "the climate crisis, economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Transatlantic relationship, and working with our Allies and partners to address global challenges and opportunities," the department said.

Friday's announcement came a day after the White House announced that national security adviser Jake Sullivan had met with the French ambassador to the U.S. to try to restore trust between the countries. French officials have said AUKUS was a "stab in the back."

Sullivan met with French Ambassador Philippe Etienne on his return to Washington after having been recalled to Paris by French President Emmanuel Macron in an unprecedented display of anger to protest the exclusion of France and the European Union from AUKUS, which is aimed at countering China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.

Those discussions followed a Sept. 22 phone call between President Joe Biden and Macron and a Sept. 23 meeting between Blinken and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in New York on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly. Biden and Macron are due to meet in Europe later this month.

The ostensible reason for Blinken's trip to France, which had been planned well before the AUKUS ruckus, is to co-chair a ministerial meeting of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Tuesday and Wednesday about climate change and security.

Former Secretary of State and current U.S. climate envoy John Kerry will also attend the Paris talks, which will take place just weeks before the next U.N.-backed international conference on climate, in Glasgow, Scotland.
Buy Photo A Norwegian F-35 and a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor stand on the tarmac after landing at Orland Main Air Station, Norway in 2018. A 3,000-year-old Bronze Age burial mound has been uncovered near the air base, where Americans and other allied forces train. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

A huge, ancient burial mound has been uncovered near an air base in central Norway where Americans and other NATO forces regularly train, Norwegian media reports said.

The mound near Orland Main Air Station is over 130 feet in diameter and was built some 3,000 years ago, well before the Vikings emerged, according to the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, known as NRK.

Like the base, historians believe one of the main functions of the gravesite was to warn off enemies, a sort of Bronze Age version of deterrence.

This is a sensationally large burial mound and it had exactly the same function as todays fighter base, historian Daniel Johansen said in an NRK report Wednesday.

The sheer size of the structure would have made it clearly visible from the sea, and it would have signaled to foreigners that if the inhabitants had enough manpower to build such an impressive grave for their dead, theyd also have the same manpower to fight off enemies, Johansen explained.

The burial mound is strategically located near the entrance of the Trondheim Fjord, near what would become Norways first capital city. The site and the nearby Orland Main Air Station are about 330 miles north of the capital Oslo on the Norwegian Sea.

Orland, home to Norways fleet of F-35A Lightning II fighter aircraft, is also where the first U.S. Air Force bombers ever deployed to Norway arrived earlier this year. An expeditionary B-1 Lancer bomb squadron and more than 200 personnel arrived from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, underscoring the growing importance of the Arctic region to U.S. defense strategy.

Excavators are still working to uncover the full extent of the nearby burial mound, whose builders remain a mystery, as there are no writings from the period it was constructed, NRK said.

A cultural trail is being built in the area that will allow visitors to walk past the site.

It is very nice to show off the very large, beautiful cultural monuments we have in the area, especially one that has not been available before, said local archaeologist Knut Stomsvik, who was quoted by NRK. We want people to know a little about history and get to know it.

Phillip Walter Wellman
Buy Photo Afghan journalist Zainullah Stanikzai keeps photos on his phone of Aliyas Dayee, his friend and a fellow reporter, who was killed Nov. 12, 2020, in southern Helmand province when a bomb attached to his car detonated. Press freedom has been restricted since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, a human rights group and Afghan journalists say. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)

A human rights organization is accusing Afghanistans Taliban rulers of stifling media freedom and depriving the country of one of the few success stories from American nation-building efforts there.

Human Rights Watch issued a statement Thursday decrying the Talibans recently adopted media regulations, which prohibit reports that are contrary to Islam, insult national figures or distort news content.

The Taliban regulations are so sweeping that journalists are self-censoring and fear ending up in prison, said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

The U.S. invested millions to support Afghan media, believing that strong, independent journalism would support the growth of democracy and promote human rights.

Service members led workshops throughout the country to build up Afghanistans nascent media outlets, and the U.S. State Department provided grants to organizations such as Tolo TV, one of the countrys most popular television channels.

Buy Photo Afghan journalists work in the newsroom of Pajhwok news agency on Sept. 4, 2019. Despite assurances that the Taliban would allow a free media after taking control of the country, rules ban reporting that is contrary to Islam or that insult national figures. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes) U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. Matthew Stroup, a public affairs officer, discusses photography with journalists during training in Farah, Afghanistan in 2013. The U.S. invested millions to support Afghan media. (Joshua Ives/U.S. Navy)

Watchdog groups had ranked Afghanistans broadcasters and newspapers highly in press freedom relative to nearby countries.

Reporters in Kabul told Stars and Stripes that they are afraid to speak freely about what is happening now out of fear for their safety.

The situation in Kabul is very bad, especially for journalists, one reporter told Stars and Stripes in an online message.

Taliban spokesmen have said they would allow the press to report freely if the reporting respected Islamic values.

But the regulations issued by the Talibans Ministry of Information and Culture are so broad and vague that they effectively prohibit any critical reporting about the Taliban, Human Rights Watch said.

The Taliban have arrested at least 32 journalists since taking power Aug. 15, Human Rights Watch said. Most were released after receiving warnings about their reporting. But one lost much of his hearing and eyesight after being beaten up on the job, while others have reported similar attacks.

Many other Afghan journalists fled as part of an evacuation of people at risk from Taliban retribution that airlifted approximately 124,000 people out of the country.
Soldiers exchange fire with Houthi rebels west of Marib on Aug. 15. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/for The Washington Post)

MARIB, Yemen  The young men pour into the hospital straight from the front lines, their limbs broken or missing, their skin burned by missiles and drones, bullet wounds in their heads and necks. Their relatives follow, keeping vigil next to their cots or producing permission slips to carry those who have succumbed to the cemetery across town, where row after row of identical headstones now stretch out in the sand.

This grim flood has been relentless over recent months because of the unceasing determination of the two main sides in Yemens civil war to win what could be the pivotal battle of the seven-year conflict.

In harsh desert terrain on the outskirts of Marib, Iran-backed Houthi rebels are fighting the internationally recognized government, backed by a Saudi-led military coalition, for control of its strategic stronghold in the countrys north.

If the Houthis were to seize control of the province, also called Marib, this would award the group near-total control of northern Yemen, access to key oil and gas infrastructure, and an upper hand in talks aimed at ending the conflict. For government forces, this would mark an enormous setback.

More than 1 million civilians fleeing fighting elsewhere have streamed into Marib province in recent years, and many could now be displaced again as the battle inches closer. Some, including children, have already been killed and wounded by missile attacks and shelling.

This year, the Houthis rejected a cease-fire offer from Saudi Arabia that could have ended this bloodletting, saying they will agree to discuss a truce only once the airport in the capital, Sanaa, is reopened and all restrictions are lifted from the port of Hodeida. The Saudi-led coalition continues to control the countrys airspace and the port, a crucial lifeline for the country, which is submerged in what the United Nations has described as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.

The Houthis have instead pressed their campaign to wrest control of Marib province. To hold the Houthis back, government troops and allied local forces have dug trenches into hillsides and positioned themselves atop the peaks that dot the arid landscape, using the high ground to fire across the sandy expanse.

They are bolstered by frequent Saudi airstrikes against Houthi positions nearby. But the government forces are themselves vulnerable to Houthi missile and drone strikes.

Lt. Gen. Sagheer bin Aziz, bottom left, sits near a front-line position outside Marib on Aug. 15. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/ for The Washington Post)

Facing the ballistic missiles and drones, this is the biggest problem, said Lt. Gen. Sagheer bin Aziz, chief of staff of the Yemeni army, speaking near the front line west of Marib city. The interview was briefly interrupted when a Houthi drone was spotted overhead, forcing soldiers and Washington Post journalists to scramble to a safer location.

The Houthis have stepped up those missile and drone attacks in response to Saudi airstrikes, according to Dhaifallah al-Shami, minister of information in Houthi-controlled Sanaa, saying that its one eye for another.

At least 1,700 government troops in Marib province have been killed and around 7,000 wounded so far this year in such attacks as well as by persistent sniper fire and other hostilities, bin Aziz said. The Houthis, who do not release official death counts, are also believed by analysts to be sustaining serious casualties, largely due to the Saudi airstrikes.

- - -

Badr al-Mufa, left, said to be 18 years old, is seen in August in Marib after being injured in June by a Houthi drone or missile. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/for The Washington Post)

Ammar Abu Saleh, 29, lost his left leg in a land mine explosion in 2018 while fighting on the front lines with government forces, he said, and then had it amputated after he was taken hostage by the Houthis. Eventually, he was released in a prisoner exchange, fitted for a prosthetic and sent back to the front line.

But late last year, he came under fire and had to leave his new leg behind.

Since then, he has continued to fight anyway, operating a machine gun in the mountains outside of Marib. Its easier with the leg, he said, but the disadvantage is not enough to keep him home. I feel I was made to fight.

On a recent day, Abu Saleh briefly left his position on the front line to travel into town and join the growing line of people waiting for new legs at the general hospital.

There, the miseries of the war are on full display. Outside, young men missing legs lean on crutches or practice walking laps with new prosthetics provided through a Saudi-funded rehabilitation center, where the waiting list for new limbs has soared in the past year.

Inside, hospital staff described a relentless cycle of traumatic cases that have left them exhausted. There is rising pressure day by day, said Mohammed Abdo al-Qubati, head of the hospital authority. The facility now treats few civilians, given a constant influx of wounded soldiers.

Upstairs, Haroon Abdullah, 20, was resting, propping up his burned and broken leg as he recovered from what he described as a drone attack on his position outside of Marib in early August. At around noon, we heard the sound of the drone buzzing, then it just exploded, he recalled.

The drones are continuous, he said, dropping four to five bombs each day.

His latest injury marks the fourth time he has been badly wounded in the war. Behind him, photos of troops killed on the front line peeled off the chipped wall. All around him lay other young men recently wounded on the battlefield. This war has made us grow old, Abdullah said.

Even children have been aged by battle. In the nearby surgical ICU, a boy who said he was 15 years old recounted how he had been shot while fighting on the front lines for the Houthis about 11 months ago. The gunshot caused a spinal injury that left him paralyzed.

Al-Shami, the minister, denied that any children are fighting for the Houthis and said that any such claims are not true.

- - -

A new cemetery, seen in mid-August, has been established near an older one to accommodate civilian and military casualties. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/for The Washington Post)

The battle for this strategic province is hampering renewed efforts to put an end to the war, analysts say, with talks largely stalled.

What we see is full-on determination by the Houthis to take Marib, said Timothy Lenderking, who President Joe Biden appointed as U.S. special envoy for Yemen. And the battle for the province, he said, is the stumbling block in negotiations.

Early this year, the Biden administration, eager to distance itself from the widely criticized conflict, withdrew its support for the Saudi-led coalitions offensive operations and reversed a Trump administration decision labeling the Houthis a terrorist group. That designation threatened to interfere with international aid efforts, relief groups said.

The withdrawal of U.S. support affected our morale as leaders, said bin Aziz, the army chief of staff. We want our American friends to reconsider this decision.

After Saudi aircraft roared overhead, he described the sound of their airstrikes as the best symphony. Government forces have held the Houthis back largely through that support, analysts said, although the rebels have recently made some notable advances.

You cant really win a war with air power, said Elana DeLozier, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. And this is where the government really gets itself into trouble because it doesnt have enough oomph to push out the Houthis, so its just the Saudi airstrikes (holding them back).

- - -

A sense of dread is closing in on those Yemenis who fled fighting elsewhere for what they believed would be the safe haven of Marib.

Jamila Saleh Ali Dumas family abandoned their home in Amran province several years ago and now lives in a cramped apartment in Marib. In June, a missile struck a gas station where Dumas husband, Taher, was in line, burning alive him and their 2-year-old daughter, Layan, she said.

Al-Shami, the Houthi minister, said that the strike targeted a military site and that their forces would never intentionally kill a child.

Now, Duma is afraid to allow her son outside. I have no one but him, she said. Theres no way Im going to let him go out.

Fatima Mohammed al-Sharafis family fled for the fourth time this spring, seeking refuge in a camp on the outskirts of the city. Soon after, strong winds ripped through the area, knocking over their tent on top of her infant daughter, killing her, al-Sharafi said.

When asked her daughters name, she paused for around 10 seconds, stunned at her own inability to recall.

Then it came to her.

Amal, she cried out. The only way she has been able to cope with the loss, she added, has been by trying to forget her.

- - -

Mourners gather Aug. 18 to remember soldiers Abdo al-Kahli and Ibrahim al-Qamhi. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/for The Washington Post)

Ibrahim al-Qamhi and Abdo al-Kahli did not know each other in life. But on a recent morning, as a crowd of men and boys gathered outside the morgue at the hospital, the bodies of the two soldiers, shrouded in white cloths, were loaded into an ambulance side by side.

Al-Qamhi was killed in a strike by a missile or drone, fellow fighters said. Al-Kahli was killed by a planted explosive, his relatives said.

Their young and serious faces were the latest to adorn memorial fliers heralding them as martyrs for a great cause that were distributed before their funerals.

As they were buried, their friends, back from the battlefield for the ceremonies, bemoaned the conditions on the ground. Drones are whats causing us problems on the front line, said Bilal Abdullah, 38, adding that they also need antimissile defenses. But the troops are prepared to continue defending Marib from Houthi advances, Abdullah said, even if it means to sacrifice ourselves.

Nearby, al-Qamhis father knelt by his sons freshly buried body, gently packing the sand around a photo propped against his headstone.

Then he stood up and slowly walked away, hanging his head as he passed rows of other new graves shimmering faintly in the late-morning light.
There are 10 U.S. Army posts named after men who were Confederate generals during the Civil War. Top row, from left: Braxton Bragg, George Edward Pickett, Henry Benning, A.P. Hill and Leonidas Polk. Bottom row, from left: John Brown Gordon, John Bell Hood, Robert E. Lee, Edmund Rucker and Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. (U.S. Army)

Among more than 27,000 public submissions of new names for Army bases now honoring Confederate generals were a number of quite intense proposals that disparaged the Congress-mandated renaming process, the leader of the commission undertaking the effort said Thursday.

There are some folks who are distinctly opposed [to renaming bases named for Confederates] and the verbiage they used is quite deliberate, said Michelle Howard, the retired Navy admiral and chairwoman of the Naming Commission. They make it clear that they do not support the commission.

Howard said the majority of suggestions would be taken into consideration, including 5,000 names proposed multiple times by members of the public. The eight-member commission, which began work in the spring, is charged with providing recommendations to Congress by October 2022. Lawmakers will then instruct the defense secretary to change the names of bases, ships, buildings and other military assets that commemorate the Confederacy.

In addition to at least nine Army bases, Howard estimated there were thousands of items across the military that likely qualified to be changed.

Commissioners spent the summer months visiting several of the Army bases named for Confederate generals and other military institutions with Confederate-linked items, Howard said. They met with military and civilian leaders -- including elected officials, business leaders and local nongovernmental organizations -- in those communities in an effort to hear directly from those who would be most impacted by the name changes.

Most of the meetings went smoothly, she said, though people often expressed their displeasure with the decision to change the names.

There are those who took the opportunity to vent a little to the commission and made it clear  they feel it's part of the history of the area, and they're very tied to the history of the area, Howard said. But, in the end, they understand that the law has already been written  that its not a decision for the commission, that that decision has already been made by Congress.

Congress mandated the commission in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which sets annual spending and policy priorities for the Defense Department, as Army and Pentagon leaders began looking at stripping bases of Confederate-linked names last year amid a nationwide racial reckoning after the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Then-President Donald Trump vetoed the law, objecting to the renaming commission, but Congress overrode his veto.

The Army installations in question, all in former Confederate states, were named during the 1910s and 1940s during the souths Jim Crow era. They are Fort Polk in Louisiana, Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia, Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee and Fort Pickett in Virginia, Fort Rucker in Alabama, and Fort Hood in Texas. Camp Beauregard in Louisiana was also named for a Confederate general, but it is owned by that states National Guard and it is not within the commissions authority to rename, officials said in May.

The commission is also considering whether it should suggest renaming Fort Belvoir in Virginia, Howard said. That Army installation just outside of Washington was initially named for Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys who served in the Union army during the Civil War. It was renamed in 1935 after the family who owned the plantation on which the installation now sits.

Howard said the commission will determine whether that previous renaming was tied to the honoring the Confederacy in any way. She said the panel has tasked historians with looking for clear evidence on the decision to rename the post.

The retired admiral spoke with reporters Thursday after briefing House and Senate Armed Services committee staffers on where the commission stands. After several months of work, she said she finally understood why Congress gave the commission almost two years to complete its work.

Among the details that the commissioners provided Congress on Thursday was an early estimate of the costs that would be associated with changing Army installation names, Howard said. However, she said those were rough figures and declined to provide further information about them.

She also appeared dismissive of some suggestions to rename certain installations for different individuals with the same surnames as the Confederate generals for whom the bases names now honor.

For example, Wisconsin state Sen. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, in May suggested renaming Fort Bragg for a cousin of its current namesake Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg. The lawmaker suggested the post could simply honor Braxtons cousin Union Gen. Edward Bragg, who was from Wisconsin.

Any name that's provided to us we're going to take that into consideration and work our way  down the names and then get to a final list that we can consider, Howard said. I will tell you, though, there were members of communities we met with who stood up and said, If you do that  if you use the same name, even with a different human in a different context, then you almost undo what they thought the intention of the law was.

So, I took that to heart  hearing members of the community say that.

Howard said the public submissions include names that would honor women and people of color and others. She said Sherman and Benavidez were among the most common names submitted. Sherman would honor Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, who was perhaps most famous for his 1864 scorched-earth march through Georgia. Benavidez would honor Green Beret Staff Sgt. Roy Benavidez, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for valor in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. She did not tie either name to a specific base on Thursday, however Benavidez name has been suggested publicly for Fort Hood.

The commission will accept public suggestions for military installations through Dec. 1. It is seeking names that commemorate individuals, high-profile military operations, geographic locations or core military values. Suggestions can be submitted at www.thenamingcommission.gov.
Buy Photo Jeff Struecker is presented the Silver Star on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021 at Fort Benning, Ga., by Army Gen. Richard Clarke, head of U.S. Special Operations Command for actions in the infamous October 1993 Battle of Mogadishu. Struecker was a staff sergeant and squad leader with the Armys 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment during the battle made famous by the book and movie Black Hawk Down. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

FORT BENNING, Ga.  During 23 years in the Army  much of it in the elite ranks of the 75th Ranger Regiment  Jeff Struecker saw combat in Panama, Iraq and Afghanistan, but nothing compared to the infamous October 1993 gunfight through the streets of Mogadishu.

Id been to combat a couple of times before Somalia and a lot of times after, but Ive never seen heroism, Ive never seen fighting, like we saw among these guys on the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, said Struecker, one of 18 veterans who fought in the battle officially known as Operation Gothic Serpent and awarded the Silver Star for valor Friday. Nothing came close to Somalia. I mean not even close.

The Silver Stars presented in a ceremony at Fort Benning, Ga., for those who were serving 28 years ago in the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment were upgrades of Bronze Star medals with combat V for valor that the Rangers were presented months after returning from Somalia. The Battle of Mogadishu, in which 18 American soldiers were killed, was later made famous by the best-selling book Black Hawk Down and the Hollywood movie of the same name.

For Struecker, the honor was bittersweet and unexpected. He said others who fought in that battle were more deserving of the Silver Star, the nations third highest honor for battlefield heroics. He said he was particularly proud to see some of the other troops from that fight honored.

Its truly an honor, said Sean Watson, who was a sergeant first class at the time and would go on to retire as a command sergeant major in 2015. I believe that being an awardee is actually a representation of everybody in the position I was in. They earned it  theyre the ones who really earned this.

The Army announced in July, 60 veterans of the battle  mostly Army special operators, many of whom have not been named publicly  would receive award upgrades for their actions in the fight. That includes 58 Silver Stars and two Distinguished Flying Crosses. Award ceremonies are planned for other units in the future, Army officials said Friday.

Buy Photo John M. Collett is presented the Silver Star on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021 at Fort Benning, Ga., by Army Gen. Richard Clarke, head of U.S. Special Operations Command for actions in the infamous October 1993 Battle of Mogadishu. Collett, then a specialist, was a squad automatic weapon gunner with the Armys 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment during the battle made famous by the book and movie Black Hawk Down. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

The fight

The battle broke out as American special operators  primarily Rangers, and other elite soldiers from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, or Delta Force  set out to capture two top lieutenants of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, who was responsible for attacks on U.N. peacekeeping troops working to end civil war in Somalia.

The assault force was inserted into the city by helicopter, and another element was to follow that group into the city in Humvees, according to the Army, which said many elements of the battle remain classified despite the enormous attention it has received publicly.

Struecker, then a staff sergeant with the Rangers 3rd Battalion, was leading a squad assigned as the ground reaction force to support the helicopter-borne troops entering Aidids stronghold in the Bakara Market. The helicopter assault force went in first to search for the warlords henchmen and the ground force came into the market later, according to the Armys description of the battle.

It was the Rangers seventh mission in Somalia, but this one, Struecker said, was in broad daylight in a well-defended part of Mogadishu with an unknown number of enemy fighters.

This is the middle of bad-guy territory, and were kicking down the door and walking into the heart of it, he said. You know as soon as you get in its going to be a fight, and it's going to be a fight the whole time that you're in there, and it's going to be a fight until you get out. All of us knew that. What I don't think anyone anticipated was the sheer numbers.

That U.S. force of less than 200 operators would find itself in a fight with some 10,000 to 12,000 well-armed Somali fighters. After the assault force nabbed Aidids aides, militants attacked the troops and shot down two MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters with rocket-propelled grenades  something the Army had never seen before, officials said.

It set off a frantic mission to secure the locations of the downed Black Hawks and recover wounded and fallen Americans. U.S. special operators would spend 18 hours running and fighting their way through the citys streets, according to the Army.

Struecker, 52, led his ground unit through the city three times as the battle raged. Their Humvees were like bullet magnets, he recalled. His Silver Star citation credits him with repeatedly sacrificing his own personal safety to help other soldiers.

We go back and forth, in and out of the city all night long, Struecker said. The Humvees are the biggest, easiest target to hit out there, and so were losing guys right around me.

Dominick Pilla, a sergeant and machine gunner, was just behind Struecker when he was shot and killed  the first American death in the battle. His Silver Star citation credits Pilla with suppressing numerous enemy positions while under fire himself. His heroics, it added, saved the lives of all the other Rangers with him at the time. He was 21.

Meanwhile, Watson  a platoon sergeant at the time who had entered the fight by helicopter  moved his force toward one of the downed Black Hawks, fighting their way through the city. His Silver Star citation credited him with securing the crash site from enemy forces until reinforcements came the next morning.

It was brutal work, Watson said. But he was awed by the actions of the Rangers and others around him.

It was something to behold from my position to watch what was going on  the way they performed, he said. It was beyond compare.

Buy Photo Sean T. Watson is presented the Silver Star on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021 at Fort Benning, Ga., by Army Gen. Richard Clarke, head of U.S. Special Operations Command for actions in the infamous October 1993 Battle of Mogadishu. Watson, then a sergeant first class, was a platoon sergeant with the Armys 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment during the battle made famous by the book and movie Black Hawk Down. His platoon was inserted into the operation by helicopter and later helped secure the location of the crashed MH-60 Black Hawks, which was struck by enemy rocket-propelled grenade fire. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

The fall out

Three of the four pilots in the downed Black Hawks would die, and the fourth was captured and later released.

Two Delta Force operators  Master Sgt. Gary Gordon and Sgt. 1st Class Randy Shughart  were posthumously awarded Medals of Honor for their actions to secure the site of one of the Black Hawk crashes to recover survivors. Both of those operators were among the U.S. dead in the fight.

In all, 73 U.S. troops were injured in the battle, according to the Army. The botched mission left a long-lasting mark on American foreign policy after television news broadcast images of an U.S. soldiers body dragged through Mogadishus streets as locals cheered.

The defense secretary at the time, Les Aspin, would resign his post in wake of the battle. Ultimately, former President Bill Clinton elected to end the mission to capture Aidid and he removed all U.S. forces from Somalia by March 1994. U.S. troops would not return to the country until 2007.

The book Black Hawk Down would be published in 1999, receiving high praise for its detailed retelling of the battle. In 2002, the movie brought the Battle of Mogadishu onto American screens in the months after the first U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Struecker, who would commission as an officer after 10 years of enlisted service and serve as a chaplain until retiring as a major in 2011, described the book as an extraordinarily accurate" accounting of the battle. The movie, he said, followed the book closely, though it took some liberties  blending several events into a single incident or multiple characters into a single individual.

What you see in the movie 'Black Hawk Down' basically happened, he said. It's about as accurate as you're going to get. It's not a documentary, but for a major motion picture, I don't know how you can make it much more accurate.

The difference, for those of us who were there, right, is the violence, Struecker said. "It isn't even close to the real thing  the level of violence, of course.

Watson said he rarely talks about his time in Mogadishu, and he does not think about it very often, either. Later, he deployed to Afghanistan three times and saw combat there. But, like Struecker, he said the fighting there was incomparable to Mogadishu.

I felt very fortunate that I never was in the extreme position that I was in Somalia ever again, he said. Was I prepared for it? Yes, I was. I was very prepared. And it was a lot. And, thankfully, [fighting] never, ever occurred at that level again for me.

Buy Photo Current U.S. Army Rangers look at photos of 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment Rangers in action in Somalia in 1993 before 18 former members of the unit were awarded Silver Stars for their actions in the infamous Battle of Mogadishu that year. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

At A Glance:

The Army on Friday presented 18 Silver Star medals to former members of the Fort Benning, Ga.-based 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment for their actions in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Oct. 3 and Oct. 4, 1993. The awards were upgrades of the Bronze Star medals with combat V device for valor that the Rangers received shortly after the battle  among the most infamous fights in recent decades in which U.S. troops fought.

Those receiving the Silver Star on Friday were (ranks at the time of the battle):

Sgt. Alan Barton

Sgt. John C. Belman

Staff Sgt. Kenneth P. Boorn

Spc. James M. Cavaco*

Spc. John M. Collett

Staff Sgt. Michael Collins

Sgt. James C. Joyce*

Pfc. Brad M. Paulsen

2nd Lt. Larry D. Perino

Spc. Robert R. Phipps II

Sgt. Dominick M. Pilla*

Sgt. Randall J. Ramaglia Jr.

Pfc. John D. Stanfield

Cpt. Michael Steele

Spc. Richard Strous

Staff Sgt. Jeffrey D. Struecker

Spc. Joseph F. Thomas

Sgt. 1st Class Sean T. Watson

*Denotes posthumous award to Rangers who died of wounds suffered in Somalia
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Tribune News Service)  A federal judge sentenced a 19-year-old from Starkville, Mississippi, to 37 months in federal prison for arson after the teen set his father and stepmothers military home in Fort George G. Meade on fire in August 2020.

Cornelius Hendrix pleaded guilty to arson in July, according to the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, which announced the sentence. Hendrix admitted as part of his plea to pouring lighter fluid in areas of the home, including outside his parents bedroom door, at the top of a staircase, and on the front door welcome mat, according to the release. He then ignored a fire inside the house and jumped off the rear porch and injured his leg.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze with minimal property damage and no physical injuries, according to the news release. U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake presided over Hendrixs case.

Hendrix was interviewed by Fort Meade military police and acknowledged spreading the lighter fluid and lighting the fire, according to the attorney generals office. Hendrix remains in custody and is awaiting transport to Mississippi for an unrelated case. He was charged with two counts of attempted murder in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, for a shooting that occurred before the arson in August 2020, the release said.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Baltimore Field Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office, the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, the Howard County State Fire Marshals Office, the Fort Meade Fire Department and the Fort Meade Military Police for their work in the investigation.

___

(c)2021 The Capital (Annapolis, Md.)

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A sign warns motorists of the closure of Sequoia National Park as the KNP Complex fire threatens the area on Sept. 15, 2021 in Three Rivers, Calif. (Brian van der Brug, Los Angeles Times/TNS)

LOS ANGELES (Tribune News Service)  The KNP Complex fire tearing through Sequoia National Park triggered a flurry of evacuations Friday morning, as flames  spurred by a drying trend  threatened communities and burned toward more giant sequoias.

A spot fire ignited across the North Fork Kaweah River, along the northwestern end of the blaze, growing to about 600 acres by the following morning, fire officials said.

As crews focused on battling the spot fire, an evacuation order Friday morning was issued for the communities of Grant Grove, Wilsonia and Cedar Grove in Kings Canyon National Park  near where towering giant sequoia rise and park staff live, according to Cassie Adams, a spokesperson for the fire. Non-fire personnel are required to leave the areas by 2 p.m. Pacific time.

Around the same time, the Tulare County Sheriffs Office issued its own mandatory evacuation orders for the communities of Big Meadows, Weston Meadows and Quail Flat in the Giant Sequoia National Monument. Those evacuating should travel westbound on Highway 180, authorities said.

Additional orders and warnings went out Thursday as fire activity in the north picked up. Authorities placed the communities of Eshom and Hartland Camp in Tulare County under mandatory evacuation. Fresno County issued its first warnings  for the Miramonte/Pinehurst area.

More evacuation information can be found on the Tulare County Sheriffs Office Facebook page, the Fresno County Sheriffs Office Facebook page and the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Facebook page.

The KNP Complex fire  one of two lightning-sparked blazes tearing through the southern Sierra Nevada  had seared 51,596 acres and was 20% contained Friday morning. To the south, the Windy fire  which has destroyed more than a dozen homes  was 89,804 acres and 40% contained. Both blazes erupted Sept. 9 amid a massive lightning storm.

Containment for the twin fires has risen significantly in recent days. Cooler temperatures and higher humidity dampened fire activity, allowing firefighters to wage more direct attacks and firm up containment lines.

But a drying trend already underway is forcing temperatures up and humidity down  conditions expected to spur more aggressive fire behavior.

Those fuels, that stored energy on the ground ,from grass to timber  its just marinating in that dry air, said Jeff Shelton, a fire behavior analyst with the Windy fire, during a Friday morning briefing. And so without moisture in the fuels, the fire is able to move through it and just translate as energy all the way across the landscape unimpeded.

The Windy fire has torn through rugged landscape across the Sequoia National Forest and Tule River Indian Reservation, burning into communities and groves of towering giant sequoia trees across the large burn area.

At least 14 homes and a dozen other minor structures were lost, primarily in the Sugarloaf and Long Meadow areas, fire officials said.

At least 30 giant sequoia trees were killed by the fire, said Garrett Dickman, a botanist assigned to the fire who counted the fatalities himself.

An aerial assessment, to be conducted once weather permits, is likely to reveal much greater devastation, he said.

2021 Los Angeles Times.

Visit at latimes.com .

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A Marine pulls a baby over the wall at the Kabul airport on Aug. 19, 2021. (Screen capture from video)

(Tribune News Service)  At a rally in Middle Georgia last Saturday, former President Donald Trump introduced a Marine who claimed he pulled a baby over a wall at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, an act captured in a viral video .

CNN reported Thursday that a U.S. Marine Corps spokesperson said Lance Cpl. Hunter Clark was not the individual who lifted the child over the wall , and Clark is now under investigation for his attendance at the rally.

During the rally at the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry, Trump introduced Clark and invited him to the stage to say a few words.

Were also honored to be joined by one of the Marines who bravely served in Kabul during the withdrawal and helped evacuate children over the airport and over the airport wall, Trump said.

Clark thanked the crowd for their support and said he was glad to be home.

I am the guy that pulled the baby over the wall, and its definitely probably one of the greatest things Ive ever done in my entire life, Clark said at the rally.

The crowd followed Clarks comments with cheering and chanting U-S-A.

Perry, Georgia, did a good job  You grow them well in Perry, Georgia, Trump said.

Kelton Cochran, a spokesman for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, said in a statement that Clark was not the Marine identified in the viral photo that began circulating around Aug. 20. Multiple Marines helped lift children over the airport wall, and Cochran didnt specify whether Clark could have been in a different photo or video.

An investigation has been launched into Clarks attendance at the rally because the Defense Department usually doesnt allow active duty members to speak at partisan political events.

Further details of Clarks military service were not available at the time of publishing. A Trump spokesperson has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

2021 McClatchy Washington Bureau.

Visit mcclatchydc.com .
In this screenshot from a YouTube video, Jannique Martinez talks to WAVY TV 10 about her family being harassed by a neighbor in Virginia Beach, Va., in late September. (YouTube/WAVY TV10)

A Black Navy veteran in Virginia who has been subjected to months of racist harassment by a neighbor took to the national airwaves to share her ordeal, which police say they can do little to remedy.

Jannique Martinez and her family moved to Jessamine Court in Virginia Beach five years ago, she told CNNs Don Lemon. Soon afterward, the neighbor began blaring recordings to antagonize other residents, and has now stepped it up by playing monkey noises and racial slurs whenever her family steps out of the house.

Martinez said her youngest son, who is 7, is terrified of the man. In addition to more typical bad-neighbor behavior like yelling at kids who step on his lawn, he has the cul-de-sacs residents under the eye of eight security cameras, she said.

As soon as she opens her front door, his lights flash or the speakers boom with the racist recordings. The noises were tailored to taunt whichever neighbor triggers the sensors after such innocuous behavior as pulling into their own driveway, she said.

The Virginia Beach Police Department has responded to several calls related to nuisance and loud music on the block, but it has no authority to intervene, it tweeted this week.

As appalling and offensive as the neighbors behaviors are, the city attorney and Virginia magistrates have separately determined that the actions reported thus far did not rise to the level that Virginia law defines as criminal behavior, police said Thursday.

Martinezs only direct interaction with the neighbor over the noise came about a year ago, when she was working from home and her children were starting virtual classes during the pandemic, she said. She asked him to turn down music that was blasting from his open window at 8 a.m.

His response to me was, Well, let me call the police to make sure Im in good standing with the law to play my music, she said on CNN. I was floored, because how about you just be a neighborly person, a parent, just anything to understand where Im coming from, and he was adamant that he was doing nothing wrong.

After her repeated complaints about the loud music, he set the sounds that played for her family to include screeching monkeys and skits using the N-word.

So racist its disgusting, she told the local NBC station WAVY News last week. I dont even know how else to explain it.

When she called police to complain about the noise, officers would come and tell him to turn his music down, and he would, she said on CNN.

But when she called about the escalation with the racist language and noises, she was told the department could do nothing and she was advised to go to a local magistrate.

When she did, she felt dismissed, she told Lemon, adding that he said that it was a figure of speech or freedom of speech or a phrase.

A civil court judge was a little more compassionate but told her that if the neighbor did not threaten the family or pose bodily harm, the courts could do nothing about it.

Leaving the courtroom, I felt deflated, she said. I just felt like I couldnt protect my kids. I couldnt imagine living like this in my own home. It really broke my heart.

Martinez served in the military for 11 years, and her husband is also a veteran, she told WAVY.

We fought for this country, but yet theres no one to fight for us, she said.

Several neighborhood residents gathered last week to protest, holding signs that said love thy neighbor and spread love not hate, WAVY reported.

Police pledged to help the family within the limits of the law.

The Martinezes plan to stand their ground. When asked on CNN if theyd considered moving, Jannique Martinez didnt hesitate: Absolutely not.
Zara Rutherford, who turned 19 in July and is from Belgium, is trying to become the youngest woman to fly solo around the world. (Beatrice De Smet/Facebook)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Tribune News Service)  Zara Rutherford landed in Anchorage on Wednesday during a brief stop on her quest to be the youngest woman to fly solo around the world.

A crowd gathered and welcomed Rutherford as she taxied her Shark ultralight aircraft to the University of Alaska Anchorage hangar at the Merrill Field Airport. Stuffed animals  including a moose from Juneau wearing aviator goggles  sat copilot.

Right now, Im just focusing on the flying, she said. Its one leg at a time. I never look at the bigger picture just because it kinda freaks me out.

Rutherford, who turned 19 in July and is from Belgium, was grounded in Juneau last week due to weather and mechanical issues with her plane.

She departed Juneau on Wednesday and landed in Yakutat for a quick break after turbulence triggered her planes G-force warnings. After a break and a chocolate cookie she was back in the air.

That second half was amazing, Rutherford said. It was really beautiful. It was also kind of my first (solo) flying ... in terrain, dodging mountains.

Rutherford has roughly 270 total flight hours since obtaining her private pilots license in 2020. About 120 of those hours have been racked up on this journey as she makes her way northwest to Nome, where she landed on Friday. Nome marks the trips halfway point. From there, she will head across the Bering Sea to Asia. She plans to complete her circumnavigation in mid-November.

As long as Im home before Christmas, Im happy, she said.

Rutherford credits her interest in flying to her family of aviators, as both her parents are pilots. She recalled spending her childhood growing up around airplanes and flying with her dad to places like southern Africa and across Europe.

I always just thought it would be amazing to fly around the world but I never thought itd be a real thing, she said. So Ive got a year free, with nothing planned, so I might as well do something a bit crazy with it ...

Rutherford hopes her journey will help highlight the gender gap in aviation and science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related careers.

Only five percent of commercial pilots are women. I think thats appalling, she said. Im hoping to get more girls into aviation and I think its working, so Im really excited.

As the event concluded, people lingered near Rutherford and waited to take photos and check out her plane.

Sonny Venes, who is from Bethel and Nyac, was in Anchorage for medical appointments and decided to attend the event. Venes said he worked in aviation for most of his adult life and was an air traffic controller for the U.S. Navy.

I cant believe she sits in that little airplane and so far from home, he said.

Odin Nelson, 9, watched her land with his grandfather Rod Hanson. The pair came to Anchorage from Mat-Su for the event. Hanson is a pilot and has been flying with his grandson since Nelson was about 5 years old.

Nelson, standing at about wing height, walked up to the plane for a photo. He flexed his muscles as Rutherford joined behind in her orange flight suit.

Hira Rhaa stood back in the crowd and quietly waited for her turn. Rhaa, 31, completed her final check ride two weeks ago for her private pilot license.

I am so excited for her, she said. It means that women can do anything. Its just great that so many people came out and support her.

If I can get a couple girls to go into aviation, then Ive done my job, really, Rutherford said.

The current female record-holder for circumnavigation in a single-engine aircraft is Shaesta Waiz, who was 30 at the time of her 2017 solo trip.

Rutherford left Merrill Field early Thursday afternoon to fly to her next stop, Nome. Follow her journey here.

Daily News journalist Bill Roth contributed to this story.

(c)2021 the Alaska Dispatch News (Anchorage, Alaska)

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Veteran Ed Desmond tosses a memorial wreath off the back of the USS LCS 102 during the Landing Craft Support Museum 7th Annual Convention Memorial Service on Mare Island on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2021. (Chris Riley, The Times-Herald/TNS)

VALLEJO, Calif. (Tribune News Service)  Four remain, but hundreds of thousands still remember.

Decades may have gone by since World War II, but those who gave their life in in the war  especially those that fought on a LCS (Landing Craft Support)  were honored and remembered Wednesday afternoon in a memorial service on Mare Island in front of the USS LCS-102.

It was a somber moment of reflection, especially for the final four LCS sailors, who went on board the USS LCS-102 and together tossed a wreath into the Napa River as a few dozen spectators and other veterans watched. A fifth veteran from Vallejo who fought in WWII and the Korean War joined the four last surviving LCS sailors  96-year-old Preston Edwards and Ed Desmond, as well as 95-year-olds Bill Mason and Gill Nadeau.

The USS LCS 102 is a heavily armed World War II gunboat which has served since 2007 as a floating memorial and naval history museum located at the former Mare Island Navy Base. It is the last ship remaining from 130 of those ships that were built in 1944 and 1945 to provide extra close-in firepower and protect American and allied troops in the Pacific as they stormed the beaches of famous islands such as Iwo Jima, the Philippines and Okinawa.

The mission of these men and their ships was to provide gunfire support for the landing forces all the way to the shore and then remain close in, providing supportive firepower to the men on the beach. Their tremendous firepower and their ability to lurk just a few hundred yards or less from the shore earned them the nickname of Mighty Midgets.

It means a lot to me, Mason said about the ship and himself and the other veterans tossing the wreath into the river. Especially that there are only four of us left. You think of a lot of things when on that ship. I think of Burpie who was the last surviving member of the LCS-86 (the ship Mason was on). You think of the Battle of Okinawa. Im glad they brought this ship here (the LCS-102) back from Thailand so we could view it.

Edwards made the trip all the way from North Carolina and was glad his family could be there with him to see the ship again.

Its amazing to step on it again even after all these years, Edwards said. All kinds of memories come back. Its the only time Ive seen the ship but I wouldnt miss this chance for the world.

Edwards still remembers what it was like to be on the LCS-70, caught in a typhoon that seemed to lift the ship seven stories in the air before coming crashing down. The ship would rock and rock and you thought it was going to turn over. But it would straighten out, he recalls. I was glad to serve on it.

Landing Craft Support Museum chairman Christopher Lehman reminded the audience that, in the space of just a few months, 26 of the 130 LCS ships built were either sunk or damaged beyond repair  resulting in the loss of thousands of lives. Lehman said that in February 1945, three LCS ships were sunk in just a few minutes in a middle-of-the-night attack by small and fast suicide boats packed with explosives.

In another battle in June of 1945, the LCS 122 was attacked by Japanese kamikaze suicide planes with a direct hit on the bridge of the ship. Commanding Officer LT Richard M. McCool was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery in saving his ship and rescuing sailors.

During the ceremony, a bell was tolled for each of the 56 sailors who had passed away since the last reunion. The names were read aloud, with the ships bell tolling and a white carnation being pinned to a wreath.

At the end of the ceremony, the group sang God Bless America. The somber sounds of Bag Pipes were then heard playing Amazing Grace, followed by a lone bugler playing Taps.

There were four sailors here today, and Im glad they were able to travel and see this, but we think of the over 10,000 sailors lost on a day like today, Lehman said. I have to give an absolute shout-out to the Mare Island Dry Docks for how theyve maintained this ship. Especially people like Bill Dunbar, Steve DeLeo and Christina Snyder. Its such a great thing to witness and I feel that most of the town doesnt even know about it. It really is a hidden treasure in Vallejo.

The Landing Craft Support Museum is located at 289 Waterfront Avenue on Mare Island. Tour guides provide tours of all areas of the museum ship, everywhere from the engine room to the pilothouse. The vessel is open to the public on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.. To learn more about the ship, the museum and countless other stories during the era visit the site www.usslcs102.org.



(c)2021 Times-Herald (Vallejo, Calif.)

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Combat Arms earplugs as manufactured by Aearo Technologies. The plugs, which were standard issue in Iraq and Afghanistan, were found to be defective and allowed damaging sounds to enter the ear canal. ()

A federal jury on Friday awarded $8.2 million to Army veteran Brandon Adkins in his lawsuit against manufacturer 3M that claimed the companys earplugs that he used during his military service damaged his hearing.

It is the fourth trial against Minnesota-based company 3M related to earplugs that it sold to the military. Those earplugs were used during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 250,000 cases have been filed against the company.

All cases have gone before Judge Casey Rogers in the Northern District of Florida, and three of the four have ended in favor of the veteran. In one trial, the jury sided with 3M.

"We are humbled by the bravery and courage shown by service members like Brandon Adkins not only for their service to our country, but also for standing up against 3M on behalf of all the veterans who now face preventable hearing loss and tinnitus as a result of the [combat arms version 2] earplugs, said Adkins attorneys Bryan Aylstock of Aylstock Witkin Kreis & Overholtz, PLLC, Shelley Hutson of Clark, Love & Hutson GP, and Christopher Seeger of Seeger Weiss LLP.

Adkins, who lives in Washington state, has hearing loss and bilateral tinnitus, or a ringing in the ears, according to the lawsuit filed Jan. 17, 2020. Aside from 3M, the lawsuit named Aearo, which was acquired by 3M in 2008. His trial began Sept. 20 with the jury reaching a verdict Friday.

While we are disappointed in todays verdict, it is just one of several initial steps in this litigation, with many more cases to be tried before different juries, 3M representatives said in a statement. We do not believe the plaintiff here met his burden of proving his allegations, and we are evaluating our legal options. We remain confident in our case and are ready to defend ourselves against plaintiffs allegations at all upcoming trials.

During the first trial, held in April, a jury awarded $7.1 million to three Army veterans. 3M won in the second trial in May, which involved one veteran. In June, a jury found 3M partially liable and awarded $1.05 million to another Army veteran.

Rogers initially ordered a series of bellwether trials for earplug cases, which have become the nations largest multidistrict litigation, and last month ordered attorneys move 1,358 more cases onto the docket and closer to trial to alleviate a backlog that has formed. Bellwether cases are used to present a representative of the cases before a jury to gain useful information for potentially reaching a settlement for all cases.

The next trial is scheduled for Oct. 18 for Texas military veteran Michelle Blum, according to online court records. Five more cases are scheduled for trial by the end of the year.

The cases target 3Ms combat arms version 2 dual-sided earplugs. Work on designing the earplug began in the 1990s and it was used in the military until 2015. The company never issued a recall on the product and version 4 of the earplug remains in use by the military, according to 3M.

Rose Thayer
(Tribune News Service)  Connecticut Veterans Affairs Commissioner Thomas J. Saadi read the names Friday of eight men who served in World War I through Vietnam and were either forgotten by their families or died alone with no loved ones around.

As each name and the veterans service record was announced during the ceremony at the State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown, uniformed service members and veterans brought forth folded American flags and blue marble boxes containing each mans cremains.

The ashes had been left on funeral home shelves, some for decades. Under a bright blue sky, Saadi proclaimed to an audience packed with veterans and active service members that the wartime vets were forgotten no longer, because you are here and we say their names.

In 2008, then-veterans Commissioner Linda Schwartz joined the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association and the state chapter of the Missing in America Project to identify veterans remains. At the time, the Missing in America Project had helped locate, identify and inter the ashes of more than 100 veterans nationwide.

Ceremonial burials for the remains of such honorably discharged veterans started in Connecticut in 2009. The ceremony was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, the remains of four veterans  one from the Spanish American War, one from World War I and two from World War II  were buried.

The veterans interred Friday were:

Victor Herbert Anderson, U.S. Marines/Korean War, Aug. 4, 1933-Nov. 1, 2018, died in Seymour.

Orville K. Davis, U.S. Army/World War II, May 10, 1923-Nov. 5, 1993, died in Southington.

Stephen Yoder Forrester, U.S. Army/Vietnam War, Feb. 7, 1946-Nov. 29, 1972, died in Branford.

Joseph P. Galipeau, U.S. Army/World War II, March 23, 1929-Oct. 29, 2001, died in Southington.

Lawrence W. Jordan, U.S. Army/World War I, Oct. 10, 1898-Aug. 5, 1976, died in Branford.

Bernard Joseph Lafleur, U.S. Navy/World War II, Nov. 30, 1925-March 17, 2007, died in Southington.

George Dalton Parker, U.S. Navy/World War II, Oct. 30, 1916-Sept. 10, 1984, died in Hartford.

Lawrence Earl Tefft, U.S. Navy/World War II, July 14, 1927-Feb. 9, 1998, died in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Teffts home at the time was in Connecticut).

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy remarked on veterans loyalty to the U.S. and to each other and said it made him proud to serve such a nation. U.S. Air Force veteran Alfred A. Montoya Jr., director of the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, said veterans do not forget.

The burial ceremony, Montoya said, is testament that looking out for your battle buddy stands the test of time.

jleavenworth@courant.com

2021 Hartford Courant.

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Nonprofit Dream Flights and its Operation September Freedom is offering free flights to veterans. (Dream Flights)

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (Tribune News Service)  British-born World War II veteran Ron Holdsworth turned 100 in September.

But Holdsworth, who has lived in Bakersfield since 1954, made it clear Thursday morning he was not too old to climb into the open cockpit of a 1940s-era Boeing Stearman biplane and take flight over Bakersfield.

After Holdsworth gave a thumbs-up, pilot Molly Littlefield lifted the vintage aircraft off the tarmac and gave Holdsworth what she hoped would be the flight of his life.

Its been a privilege to provide these flights to members of the greatest generation, said Littlefield, who has flown about 60 veterans aboard the restored, open-cockpit biplane.

You look into their eyes and hear their stories, she said.

Its important for us to honor the World War II generation and to always remember what they did, what they sacrificed, she said.

Because pretty soon its gone.

Thursdays flight out of Bakersfield Jet Center at Meadows Field Airport was just one of hundreds flown on behalf of Operation September Freedom, nonprofit Dream Flights last mission to honor members of the greatest generation with free flights aboard several restored WWII-era Boeing Stearman biplanes.

Since 2011, Dream Flights has honored more than 4,200 seniors and veterans with these and similar flights.

For Holdsworth, a resident of Brookdale Riverwalk, the flight was remarkable, but likely not as adrenaline-inducing as the 32 combat missions he served on as a rear gunner aboard a four-engine Halifax bomber for the British Royal Air Force.

Holdsworth had already served three years in Africa as an airplane mechanic before joining combat missions in 1944 as a bomber crewman.

I left England in April 41 and got back in January 44, he said. I spent time in South Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Kenya, Madagascar, Egypt.

But the war changed for him in 1944, when he began flying six bombing missions over France, and 26 more over Germany.

On Christmas Eve 1944, Holdsworth and his fellow crew members were on a daytime bombing mission to target an industrial section of Germanys Ruhr region.

We were going to an airfield in the industrial Ruhr, he recalled. I believe we were flying over Duisburg when we got hit with the flak.

Duisburg is a city in western Germany, at the junction of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers.

Me being at the back, and the only one that faces the other way, I didnt know what had happened, he said in an English accent that hasnt left him in 100 years.

I felt the initial shock, he remembered of the metal flak slamming into the planes fuselage and causing an oxygen canister to explode.

At the time I thought I was going to be a guest of Adolfs, he said, referring to the infamous Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and the fearful possibility that he might have to bail out.

But that didnt happen and plane and crew limped back to England in one piece, but not before dropping its payload.

Deb Johnson, who heads up the California Veterans Assistance Foundation and is closely associated with Veterans of Foreign Wars 10859, was there Thursday to witness the flight.

As a veteran of the Gulf War who was deployed to Saudi Arabia, Johnson said its an honor to be involved in any way with veterans of World War II.

Both she and VFW Californias State Junior Vice Cmdr. Tim Bryant, who also attended, stressed the importance of impressing upon young Americans the value of knowing our history.

I have two young girls, Bryant said. Its important that they know what our veterans have done, and what our allies have done.

With Thursdays leg of Operation September Freedom completed, the 100-year-old guest of honor was asked whether he had any advice for other veterans who may be on the fence about going up on one of these Dream Flights.

Holdsworth didnt skip a beat.

Go for it, he said. Id tell them to go for it.

And when he was asked how it felt to add his autograph to the Stearmans rudder, where scores of other vets had already signed, he grew quiet for a moment.

It was something else, he said. It really was.

(c)2021 The Bakersfield Californian (Bakersfield, Calif.)

Visit www.bakersfield.com
Waihi Drama hopes to be flushed with success when it presents the musical fundraiser All Together Now! Which goes live in November.

Proceeds from the musical will go towards installing disabled toilets at The Theatre in Boyd Road.

Theatre-goers will enjoy a huge variety of music from Broadway shows including Rent, Les Miserables, My Fair Lady, Matilda, Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof, and Mamma Mia.

At the helm of the production is internationally experienced musical director and vocal coach Edwin Randell who says he was impressed with the calibre of auditionees.

"We truly have some great voices within our community and we now have a fantastic cast that are raring to get stuck into rehearsals."

Lucy James, President of Waihi Drama Society, is looking forward to a more hopeful future. "MTI's All Together Now! will be a powerful way to celebrate musical theatre while raising crucial funding for the upgrade of our facilities. This will benefit cast and crew as well as our audience"

New to the Waihi stage, Isabella Howells will be performing the song Middle of a moment from James and The Giant Peach.

She recently moved to Whangamata from Cambridge and says she is very excited to be part of a show being performed in 44 different countries and territories.

"It's a huge global event with some really famous songs, she says.

19-year-old Jackson Pool says he is excited to secure a song from Les Miserables for the event.

Jackson is a well experienced tenor singer who has singing deep in his genetics.

"My great aunt was an opera singer as was my great great-uncle, Richard van Helvoirt-pel" says Jackson.

Waihi Theatre will be joining more than 2,300 schools and groups around the globe producing their own local version of the Music Theatre International show All Together Now!

The event celebrates the reopening of theatres after the country-wide lockdowns, and all the performances will take place over the same weekend  November 12-15.

Waihi Drama Society President Lucy James says she is looking forward to a more hopeful future.

"MTI's All Together Now! will be a powerful way to celebrate musical theatre while raising crucial funding for the upgrade of our facilities. This will benefit cast and crew as well as our audience," says Lucy.

The cast includes Koen McKenzie, Cindy Bridson, Jimi Randell, Helen Gudsell, Hollie Weir, Isabella Howells, Jackson Pool, Lauren Old, Linda Haines, Tate Randell, Lucy James, Paul Schuler, Sue Towler, Tracey Carter and Abi-Mae McHardy.

All Together Now! will be held at 'The Theatre on Boyd Road, Waihi from 12-14 November.

Tickets will be available from mid-October through www.waihidrama.co.nz
Pyes Pa School is participating in the first Water Skills for Life Plus pilot programme.

The programme aims to teach children lifesaving skills and knowledge surrounding the water in order to help children to not only survive, but thrive in the regions waterways.

Pyes Pa School principal Blake Carlin says the programme is an awesome initiative.

We feel fortunate, privileged and very lucky that we get to be a part of this.

The school is one of ten in the Bay of Plenty participating in the programme.

I just think survival skills in the water are so important. They are as important, if not more important than any academic skills you can pick up.

Living in the area that we live in and the accessibility of the water, not just the ocean but the lakes and rivers as well, shows that being safe and surviving in the water is key.

Blake himself grew up next to the beach and water safety skills were as important to him then, as they are now.

I grew up in Raglan and so water was always a part of my upbringing.

I was certainly brought up with an awareness of the water and how conditions can change very quickly.

Due to my personal upbringing, and now as an educator, you could say Ive got a bit of an affinity with water safety.

Im a keen surfer myself, so safety in the water is a massive part of my life.

Blake, who has been the Principal of Pyes Pa School for almost four years, says swimming is a big part of the curriculum, with the school pool being open in terms one and four.

Were one of those schools that are lucky enough to still have a school pool.

With our job as educators we are always imparting knowledge and if we can impart this knowledge and it saves a life in the future thats incredibly important.

I think that if kids at any point feel compromised in the water, or their safety is at threat that they have the confidence and skills to know what to do, even if its just as simple as knowing how to float.

With the rise of tragic events resulting from incidents in the water, we as educators have an obligation to try to help reduce that number and thats something we can start early in schools.
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Why it matters: A new threat report from security firm Eset has detailed several developments regarding cyberthreats, one of which touches on Androids well-documented malware issues. Researchers noted how aggressive ransomware tactics have increased in recent months, in addition to a sharp uptick in brute-force attacks and workers from home being targeted by deceptive phishing campaigns.

One area focused on within the report is the current state of Android malware. "It is an open source system with many vendors having their own Android versions (with their own vulnerabilities and patching problems)," Eset security awareness specialist Ondrej Kubovic told The Register.

There is good reason for Kubovics concerns: the report highlighted how Android threat detections increased in T2 2021 -- the second analysis report out of three in a year -- by 32.6%. Android banking malware, in particular, grew by 49% (158.7% in T1). Growth has declined, but "the trend is worrying given the direct impact of these threats on the financial situation of their victims," the company stressed.

Leading the top 10 Android threat detections in T2 2021 is Android/Snaptube PUA, which requests affected users to download several additional apps. Spyware and Adware are categories that experienced a 71% and 63% increase, respectively. Android threat categories that were declining but are starting to grow again are Clickers (26.9%), HiddenApps (11.3%) -- deceiving apps that hide their own icons -- and SMS trojans (3.8%).

Threat categories for Googles smartphone operating system, found on around 80% of the worlds phones, that declined during T2 were Cryptominers (-14.3%) and Ransomware (-7.7%), both declines being mostly attributed to the variations of cryptocurrency prices.

Countries that were affected the most by Android threats in T2 were Russia, India, Brazil and Argentina -- theyre the usual suspects because of the substantial amount of users and size of the countries -- but accompanying them are also Mexico, Ukraine, Turkey, Peru, and Slovakia.

Not to say Apples iPhone and iOS are immune to attacks, but Androids malware problems are prevalent due to its open platform, whereas iOS is a closed ecosystem, hence the emphasis on Googles OS in the report. Apple has complete control over both the OS and apps that can be installed -- although some apps do slip through the review process -- while Android imposes no limitations on the applications that can be installed, thus making it considerably easier for hackers to target victims.

One such case where malware had an adverse impact on Android users was a new trojan called GriftHorse. It was spread via 200 malicious apps approved on the Google Play store and several third-party app stores. More than 10 million Android devices from over 70 countries were infected, resulting in tens of millions of dollars being stolen from victims.

"One notable difference though: most cases where iOS was (or has been) targeted were high-profile attacks targeting zero-days or leveraging zero-click attacks," Eset's Kubovic added. "Based on that, we could say Android is more interesting to the 'average' cybercriminal as means of earning money, whilst iOS is typically in the cross-hairs of sophisticated groups, nation states, and/or spyware companies, aiming at very specific users. This of course is not clear cut  more of a blurry border  and each of those actors can target both operating systems."

So how is Google combating the worrying amount of malware attacks Android is subjected to? Researchers pointed towards some encouraging changes being implemented in Android 12. "Android's new iteration promises to provide users with more control over, and transparency about, how their data is being handled," the report said.

One such feature will be the Privacy Dashboard, which "will provide a clear and simple overview of app accesses to the device location, microphone, and camera over the past 24 hours." Currently in a beta phase, Android 12 will also "add indicators that show users in real time which apps are accessing their camera and microphone feeds."

While the report wasnt as comprehensive regarding iOS threats, it did touch on exploits achieved on jailbroken devices. Recent reports also showcase how, while not as severe compared to Android malware cases, the iPhone can be exposed to vulnerabilities; a recently discovered flaw, for example, allows hackers to steal money on locked iPhones. Either way, Apple has claimed Android has 47 times more malware than its own OS.
In brief: PCIe 5.0 SSDs for consumers have yet to land on the market, but manufacturers like Phison are hard at work developing controllers that will usher in the next generation of solid-state storage for enthusiasts who feel the need for speed.

The PCIe 5.0 standard was announced in 2019, right before PCIe 4.0 was finalized. As of today, PCIe 4.0 does little to improve performance even with the beefiest graphics card you can buy, but it has allowed SSD manufacturers to come up with some of the fastest consumer storage devices to date.

These drives reach speeds in excess of 7,000 megabytes per second, but as we've seen with Kioxia's prototype PCIe 5.0 SSD, it won't be long before we'll have access to NVMe drives that can reach over 14,000 megabytes per second. This is possible thanks to PCIe 5.0's 32 Gb per second of bandwidth per lane, which is double that of PCIe 4.0.

Phison says it's making progress on a next-generation SSD controller for M.2, U.3, E1.S, and E3.S form factors, which is aptly called E26 Gen5. The new customizable chip is based around Arm Cortex-R5 cores paired with an array of low-power accelerators collectively named CoXProcessor 2.0. It offers support for ONFI 5.x and Toggle 5.x NAND interfaces, as well as enterprise features like PCIe Dual Port, single root input/output virtualization (SR-IOV) and zoned namespaces (ZNS).

The company says it has avoided the use of several third-party IP blocks, which means it should have a faster time-to-market and better control over the firmware development than competitors like Silicon Motion. The E26 Gen5 chip will be manufactured using a 12 nm process node, and is already being sampled by motherboard and SSD manufacturers for testing and tuning. Phison doesn't have an exact date for when we can expect to see the first commercial products based on the new controller, but the company expects they'll land sometime in the second half of 2022.

This means the first PCIe 5.0 SSDs for consumers will arrive several months after Intel's Alder Lake release, which is expected to happen by the end of this month. As for what's next after that, Samsung is looking to copy and paste a human brain onto an SSD, and the Korean company will need all the speed it can get to make it happen.
In context: It's no secret that Foxconn has set its sights on electric vehicles. Parent company Hon Hai Precision has been making bank on assembling iPhones and PCs, but it also wants a piece of the EV pie, especially as governments are pushing for the electrification of everything.

Recently, the Taiwanese company purchased Lordstown Motors Corp.'s electric truck factory in Ohio. The deal is valued at $280 million, and will allow the struggling EV startup to stay afloat, while Foxconn gets to have its first ever EV factory. The latter company will also build Lordstown Motors' electric pickup truck at the facility while it pursues its own electric car projects.

Foxconn has been trying to establish a significant presence in the US for years, but only managed to build a factory in Wisconsin that could, at most, build robotic coffee houses. This was originally supposed to be an LCD manufacturing plant, but Foxconn has given up on that goal and also reduced its planned investment to just $672 million from $10 billion.

When Lordstown Motors bought the Ohio facility from General Motors, it poured $240 million into retooling it to build its Endurance electric pickup truck. However, it has struggled financially ever since, and is now the subject of two separate probes from the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Foxconn Chairman Young Liu says the Lordstown factory will help spearhead the company's EV efforts, as it was already planning to build an EV factory in North America. Earlier this year, Liu told investors during an earning call that Foxconn was planning to invest up to $1 billion into a manufacturing plant that would be capable of producing 10,000 electric cars per month.

The Taiwanese company has been talking up plans to build the "Android system of the EV industry," which is essentially a barebones EV platform that big brands and startups can customize to their linking. The project is dubbed MIH, and already has over 400 companies backing it, including Texas Instruments, ST Micro, Amazon Web Services, MediaTek, and Qualcomm.

This new open-source EV platform is key to Foxconn's "3+3" plan to improve its gross margins to at least 10 percent by 2025. By expanding into electric cars, the company is greatly increasing its chances of reaching that goal. Liu says the target is to manufacture three million electric vehicles annually by 2027, which would be 10 percent of the estimated global volume for that year.

To that end, the company has been forging partnerships with companies like Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Fisker, the latter of which plans to make over 250,000 electric cars per year in the US with Foxconn's help. At the same time, there's a flurry of EV startups looking to disrupt big automakers, and Foxconn could help them figure out how to cheaply manufacture electric vehicles that sell for tens of thousands of dollars each.

Manufacturing EVs is much more challenging that consumer electronics, but Liu is confident the company has the drive and expertise to overcome any challenges. Its main advantage over traditional automakers is speed, but that will depend on whether the company can develop the necessary supply chain, especially when it comes to sourcing the large volume of batteries needed to make electric vehicles.

It's also possible that Apple might lend a hand to Foxconn during its expansion into electric vehicles. Not much is known about the state of the Cupertino giant's EV project, but it's definitely high up on CEO Tim Cook's agenda. Cook will reportedly retire only after overseeing the release of one major new product category, and that could be an electric car or a mixed reality headset.

In the meantime, Foxconn is building an EV manufacturing plant in Thailand that is expected to begin rolling out 50,000 units by 2023 and ramp up to 150,000 units per year by 2030. At the same time, the company is working out deals with battery makers and recently bought a Taiwanese chip plant to secure much-needed semiconductors for EVs.
In context: Now and then, a company will change its branding. For instance, KFC (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken) has changed its logo and branding six times since its founding in 1952. These redesigns fly under the radar most of the time, with people only noticing after the fact. That's not the case with a recent Bandai Namco announcement.

Bandai Namco is changing its logo starting next year, and fans aren't impressed. The new logo features a magenta "speech bubble" that looks more like a child's broken model train track at first glance. The company name appears linearly in the neon frame in a plain, rounded, black font. Alternate logos have the tagline: "Fun for All into the Future," one in the linear fashion and another with the company name stacked.

According to a Bandai Namco press release issued Friday, the new logo is supposed to reflect the company's "new purpose." Under the banner, "Fun for All into the Future," the company states its new vision.

"Bandai Namco exists to share dreams, fun and inspiration with people around the world. Connecting people and societies in the enjoyment of uniquely entertaining products and services, we're working to create a brighter future for everyone."

Its current, widely recognized logo was designed in 2005 when Bandai acquired Namco for $1.7 billion. The overlapping colors represented the merging of the two companies.

Bandai Namco says the new logo reflects its reimagined purpose more accurately. The "Fukidashi" (speech bubble) is symbolic of the brand's ability to "connect with people around the world." It also represented the manga culture. It says the magenta-colored motif represents diversity and fun.

Judging by the comments left on the Japanese bulletin board 2ch, fans aren't pleased with the change. Kotaku noted a selection, and most seemed confused or annoyed at the new logo.

"They really thought this was good?" posted one commenter.

"This for real? It's so sh**ty," said another.

Others were more pointed, saying things like, "No personality," "This is so dull," and "It's just letters."

Not all hated it. Some fans said they liked the simple look of the logo. Others were indifferent, "It's fine. I don't really care about logos."

Like it or hate it, Bandai Namco's rebranding begins in April of next year.
Why it matters: In an attempt to get an antitrust violation with a fine in the billions dropped, a lawyer for Google pointed out this week how successful the search engine is by giving an example of how many people rush to switch to it from competitors.

In 2018 the European Union hit Google with a 4.34 billion (around $5 billion) fine for an antitrust violation. The infraction concerned how Google required Android device manufacturers to pre-install its search engine and Chrome browser to be granted a license to the Google Play store. EU regulators also claimed manufacturers who pre-installed Google software weren't allowed to use Android forks. An EU commissioner said this stifles competition and innovation.

Bloomberg notes that Google is still trying to get the fine overturned, and this week, it told an EU general court in Luxembourg that its search engine is just that popular.

"We have submitted evidence showing that the most common search query on Bing is by far Google," said Alphabet Inc. (Google's owner) lawyer Alfonso Lamadrid.

Lamadrid is likely suggesting that most people use Bing simply because it's the default search engine for Windows' pre-installed Edge browser and that they immediately search for a way to switch to Google.

"People use Google because they choose to, not because they are forced to," Lamadrid said. "Google's market share in general search is consistent with consumer surveys showing that 95% of users prefer Google to rival search engines."

According to StatCounter, Google has 92 percent of the search engine market share, with Bing in second place at 2.66 percent.

Last month Bernstein Wealth Management estimated that Google might pay Apple as much as $15 billion this year to ensure that Google remains the default search engine on Apple devices, including iPhones.
The Ingenuity helicopter's 14th flight did not push through as planned, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

This is due to an anomaly detected by NASA's Mars helicopter in two of its small flight-control servo motors. The Ingenuity has a total of six servo motors.

Scientists still are not sure what caused the anomaly as of press time. NASA's Mars helicopter will have to stay grounded for a few more weeks due to the fact that the planet it is on is currently in solar conjunction.

Ingenuity Helicopter's 14th Flight Aborted

The Ingenuity, NASA's Mars helicopter, has chosen not to push through with its 14th flight after detecting an anomaly in two of its six small flight-control servo motors.

The 14th flight of the Mars helicopter was supposed to take place on September 18.

According to a report by Space, the 14th flight was meant to demonstrate "the little chopper's ability to fly with slightly higher rotor speeds - 2,700 revolutions per minute (RPM) rather than the usual 2,537 RPM."

Jaakko Karras, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Deputy Operations Lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement posted on the NASA website that the "Ingenuity detected an anomaly in two of the small flight-control servo motors (or simply "servos") during its automatic pre-flight checkout and did exactly what it was supposed to do: It canceled the flight."

The two servos that had an anomaly were detected by the Ingenuity during a "servo wiggle" test. As of press time, the team behind the Mars helicopter has not yet figured out the cause of the anomaly.

The Space report adds that the Ingenuity went through two other servo wiggle tests on September 21 and 23, which the helicopter passed. However, the Ingenuity helicopter will have to stay grounded for a few more weeks due to another reason.

Related Article: Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity, Set For Its First Flight on April 19, NASA to Livestream the Event

Mars is in Solar Conjunction

According to the report by Space, the reason why the Ingenuity helicopter will not be able to take off for another flight anytime soon is because Mars is currently in solar conjunction.

What this means is that Mars is on the other side of our planet. Because of its location, the sun "can corrupt and otherwise interfere with communications sent between the two planets."

Due to the solar conjunction, NASA is refraining from sending commands to the Ingenuity helicopter, its Perseverance rover companion, and NASA's other robots on the planet.

Ingenuity Helicopter's 13th Flight

The Ingenuity helicopter previously completed its 13th flight on Mars early this month. While it flew at a speed slower than its 12th flight, the helicopter was able to snap some photos of the southwest area of Mars' South Seitah region. The helicopter likewise flew at a lower altitude, reaching just 26 feet above the surface.

Its 13th flight was the second time that the Ingenuity flew over the planet's South Seitah region.

Also Read: NASA's Perseverance Rover, Ingenuity Helicopter Mark 1st Anniversary Since Launch

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Isabella James

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Exercise moderately or vigorously, even if the workout only lasts for a short time, if you want to improve your overall fitness level as fast as you can.

This is the result of a study which was recently published in the European Heart Journal, which examined the exercise habits of over 2,000 adults, reported Fox News.

In fact, moderate to vigorous exercise is actually three times better to any person's health than any mild physical activity done over a longer period of time, such as walking.

But why is that?

Exercise Intensity Matters

Going into the study, the researchers expected that the actual length of the exercise mattered more than its intensity. But they were quite surprised when they found out that exercise intensity was far more important.

However, what really constitutes "moderate" to "vigorous" physical activity anyway?

The researchers defined moderate activity as going at a rate of 100 to 129 steps per minute. Anything greater than 129 is considered vigorous.

All of the study's participants, regardless of their sex, age, and health status, exhibited higher-than-average fitness levels regardless of how much time they spent being sedentary, according to the Boston University website where the study was discussed by Matthew Nayor, one of its authors.

This is more or less the same as high-intensity interval training or HIIT, which, according to HealthLine, can give you these perks:

Reduced blood pressure

Muscle gains

Fat loss

You still burn calories for hours after working out

You burn a lot of calories within a very short time.

Read also: Obesity May Shrink Structure Of The Brain: Other Things That Can Happen If You Have Too Much Body Fat

Does This Mean Mild Exercise Is No Longer Good?

According to Nayor, people must be a bit more careful with this assumption.

It's still important to note that whether the exercise is rigorous or not, the amount of steps still matters in terms of maintaining high fitness levels, more so for older people or those who have medical conditions that prevent them from exerting too much.

However, if you really want to lose weight, you can't rely too much on mild exercise.

Walking, for instance, has been found to not be enough for fitness anymore. You'll also need some strength training to add up to it if you want to see results.

Obesity Rates Are Skyrocketing Once Again

In the US alone, drastic lifestyle changes largely brought upon by the pandemic have caused obesity rates to increase once more. 16 US states reported rates over 35% during 2020, when literally no state ever recorded anything above that as recently as five years ago.

There's a good chance that the amount of time you spent sedentary from last year until this year has increased. You must know that remaining inactive for too long is bad for your health.

But if you want to completely offset that, moderate to vigorous exercise is your key to negating all of the bad effects of being sedentary.

Related: Jump Rope Apps to Download if You Want to Add the Exercise to Your Fitness Routine

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Apple seems to be struggling with delivering iPhone 13 units to consumers shortly after opening up the orders for them.

According to TechRadar, Apple has been reporting longer-than-usual delivery times for the iPhone 13.

Furthermore, the waiting is apparently even greater for those who ordered an iPhone 13 Pro.

The estimated delivery times, according to Apple's online store, have been sitting at around five weeks. In the US, for instance, users can expect to receive their iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max orders within 3 to 4 weeks.

Orders for the base iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 Mini, on the other hand, are a bit more reasonable at just over a week.

Customers in the UK and Australia also have to endure long waiting times to get their phones delivered.

Delivery estimates for the UK customers range between October 13 and November 1, depending on which iPhone model people choose.

For one, ordering a 13 Pro or Pro Max will give an estimated delivery date of November 1 or November 8.

As for Australia, customers down under would have to wait 7 to 10 business days to get their iPhone 13 Minis, 2 to 3 weeks for the base iPhone 13, and as much as five full weeks for the Pro or Pro Max.

Perhaps one of the main explanations is that Apple is experiencing higher-than-expected levels of demand for their next-gen smartphones.

The Pro and Pro Max look to be the most in-demand models to date.

Apple first launched the iPhone 13 during their September 14 reveal event, eventually releasing a guided tour to introduce customers to the specifications and features of the device.

Read also: Apple iPhone 13 Accessories: What to Buy For Your New Phone? AT&T Sale Up to 15%

Apple iPhone 13 Delays: Probable Reasons

If you feel like you're waiting too long to get your hands on the newest Apple iPhone, you'll have to understand the current state of the world.

According to a report by Nikkei Asia, these delays might've been caused by the pandemic.

A bunch of suppliers based in Vietnam have been suffering from new COVID-19 outbreaks in the country, for instance.

Aside from that, Apple's decision to equip their phones with a new camera feature has also contributed to the extended delivery times.

As of late, there's an apparent issue with the supplies of these camera modules. And since most of the parts for the new camera are assembled in Vietnam, therein lies the rub.

There's Simply A LOT Of Demand

Supply constraints are more or less expected due to how the pandemic has affected the tech industry. With not enough supply, demand increases. This was always apparent even back during the pre-order phase, as reported by MacRumors.

Say what you want about Apple, but one thing they're really good at is marketing.

Despite a few early issues such as being unable to unlock the phone using Apple Watch, the hype surrounding the next-gen iPhone is still a masterclass in marketing and advertising.

Related: New iPhone 13 Pro Max Test Shows 10 Hours Battery Performance! This Could Be Apple's Longest Power Life

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Samsung's Galaxy S22 has several leaks on its upcoming design, price points, and release date which is speculated for this January 2022, something which fans of the South Korean smartphone are expecting. One of the first smartphones to release for the year is Samsung, and it is with their flagship device of the Galaxy S-series.

The upcoming smartphone from Samsung has a lot of nifty features that would come, as per the leaks that were revealed in previous releases of different sources. One of the earliest reveals for the device is that it would have plastic covers for its casing, and only the "Ultra" variant would retain the glass.

Other leaks suggest that it would have moving camera sensors for a better experience with the Camera app, able to capture better footage or images of the subject despite movement.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Leaks

Now is a busy fall and quarter for Samsung, particularly if the leaks and rumors are true and it would have the devices already available for release by January, and shipping out weeks later. That being said, early Samsung Galaxy S22 leaks point out to an improvement with the device's features and functions, but not so much of the body.

Samsung is known to always have the top-spec chip for its S-series, and for this release, it might be the Exynos-chip lineup for other parts of the world or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800-series for the US. That being said, there are no exact chips to be used by the South Korean smartphone flagship yet, as of this time.

However, one sure thing would be the 5G connectivity, 8K display for the Ultra, as well as 200MP quad-camera setup for its rear lenses (Ultra version).

Also, there are speculations that it would be a three-device release, removing the FE variants in the equation.

Nevertheless, its body would drop the glass and go with the "glass-plastic" mix for all variants, except for the Ultra.

Read Also: Samsung Galaxy S22 Leak Suggests the New Lineup Will Have Better Sizes and Display

Samsung Galaxy S22 Release Date

Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked 2021 has released the S21 series early in the year, and it was said that the South Korean manufacturer would have the same release period as this year.

The January showcase of the company brings the flagship smartphone right off the bat, giving people a chance to have it as early as the year, unlike that of rivals and competitors.

That being said, the S22 would most likely be available towards the end of January or early February for its actual release, something which the company has already planned as early as now. Speculators say that Samsung has begun manufacturing its devices already.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Price

The release of the latest Samsung smartphones would surely take it up to its premium price point, as it is no cheap device that lacks features. That being said, the expected price point of the Galaxy S22 should be around $999 to $1499 (price may vary).

Related Article: Samsung Galaxy S22 Vs. iPhone 13: Possible Advantages of Apple's Upcoming Smartphone Competitor

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Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : Image from Nikola Website) Nikola to Build Hydrogen Fueling Stations Across North America and Explore Renewable Natural Gas

Nikola has just signed a deal to build hydrogen fueling stations all across North America. The company will also reportedly be exploring the use of renewable natural gas.

Nikola Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Opal Fuels

The official EV automaker Nikola has just signed a memorandum of understanding along with Opal Fuels in order to build as well as operate hydrogen fueling stations all across North America. Under the whole preliminary agreement, these two companies will reportedly work to help co-develop the technology that is necessary to help accelerate that adaptation of fuel-cell EVs.

They reportedly also plan to explore the use of renewable natural gas. At first, the company notes that they plan to focus technically on infrastructure for private shipping companies before even looking at whether it makes sense to make something much similar available to the general public.

Opal Built 350 Renewable Gas Stations

To date, Opal has reportedly built over 350 different renewable natural gas stations. According to the story by Engadget, the president of Nikola's energy and commercial operations, Pablo Koziner, gave a statement.

According to Pablo Koziner, it was noted that now marks yet another important step forward when it comes to Nikola's stated energy infrastructure plans. This also includes its focus to help provide hydrogen fueling services to its customers. There are discussions as of the moment that the future of EV batteries could be with an all-silicon anode that provides higher energy at cheaper costs.

Nikola and Opal Fuels

The announcement officially comes just a few months after federal prosecutors indict Nikola, founder as well as the former executive chairman known as Trevor Milton, of fraud. Among the other allegations, the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC reportedly accused Milton of falsely claiming the company was actually producing hydrogen at four times less compared to the market rate.

According to Nikola's press release, the Nikola Corporation is a known global leader when it comes to zero-emissions transportation as well as energy infrastructure solutions. When it comes to OPAL Fuels LLC, the company is known as a trusted leader in delivering renewable gas as well as renewable fueling infrastructure for heavy-duty truck fleets.

Read Also: EPA Wants To Remove HFC-Based AirCons For Good to Reduce Carbon Emission in the US by 2100

Fuel-Cell Electronic Vehicles

Both of the companies have reportedly entered into an official Memorandum of Understanding when it comes to the development, construction, and even the operation of hydrogen fueling stations in North America. This also includes the use of renewable natural gas in the production of hydrogen. Electronics that can literally last forever are also being developed through the use of the new BFree system.

Under this specific strategic engagement, both of the companies, namely Nikola and OPAL Fuels, reportedly intend to co-develop and also co-market hydrogen refueling infrastructure in order to accelerate the adoption of heavy-duty zero-emission fuel-cell EVs. This is otherwise known as FCEV.

Under the supposed Memorandum of Understanding, both companies now intend to start beta products with a select number of customers to help drive engagement as well as accelerate the development. The Parties now intend to also develop the best practices as well as standards for hydrogen refueling station design and protocols.

Related Article: MIT Engineers Develop Plants That Emit Light--Here Are The Tech Implications

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NASA has awarded magniX with a $74.3 million contract so that it would soon demonstrate one of the earliest iterations of an electric airplane to fly the skies. This would be one venture for the aviation industry that focuses on clean energy and reducing the carbon footprint and air pollution which the aircraft of this world contribute.

Last May 2020, magniX has tested the first electric aircraft which they have created, and it shows the possibility of a clean energy aerial vehicle to be flying the skies soon.

However, this is not yet that of the commercial passenger spacecraft like the size of the airbuses, as even Microsoft co-Founder Bill Gates does not believe it can be a successful venture.

Nevertheless, companies like magniX, Rolls Royce, and others are here to prove doubters wrong.

NASA Awards magniX with $74.3m for Demos of Electric Aircraft

According to the press release by magniX, NASA has awarded the company a massive $74.3 million contract so that it may proceed to the demonstration and test flights of its electric aircraft. The funds can also be used to improve and upgrade the said venture, soon bringing it to the commercial stage where more people can use it.

Of course, its ultimate goal is to bring the technology for a lot of people to use, especially during these times that the public is leaning towards electric vehicles as a consideration for their next vehicles. MagniX Aero has several offers to the public, and it includes a retrofit of its electric propellers to single-engine chassis, as well as jets.

The company is also looking at the possibility of a hydrogen-powered aircraft, something which is also environment-friendly as it surpasses the use of jet fuel and combustion.

These aircraft would bring a new name to the aviation industry which has been long reliant on gas-powered engines, something which also contributes to air pollution and damage to the environment. Several states have already mandated against ICE vehicles, but not yet on aircraft.

Read Also: Nikola to Build Hydrogen Fueling Stations Across North America and Explore Renewable Natural Gas

magniX Electric Aircraft

MagniX's electric aircraft venture aims to help in bringing a vehicle that can be of service to the public, as well as the Earth with its power option that borders on electricity. They are one of the many companies that are aiming to debut their tech to this world and bring a device that would help and change the aircraft industry for the better.

EPUs or electric propulsion units are the main focus of the company, where they incorporate it into chassis that they design or retrofit, something that would help in the debut of these vehicles.

Would E-Aircrafts Prevail?

Electric aircraft is at its early stages, and it can be said that the industry is taking its first steps into making its innovations and ventures known to the public. Nevertheless, people should not treat it as something incapable of debuting its products yet or judging the book by its cover.

Related Article: Tesla-Like Electric Aircraft Arrives-But, With Shorter Range Than Eviation's Claimed 600 Miles Coverage

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YouTube has been given a ban threat by Russia after the platform deleted two channels backed by the state over violations of the COVID misinformation guidelines.

The two German-language channels that were deleted by YouTube over their violations are RT DE and Der Fehlende Part. RT DE was first given a one-week suspension over its violation of misinformation guidelines, but the channel went on to post content that violates the guidelines on Der Fehlende Part.

YouTube recently announced that it would remove any content that contains vaccine misinformation. The new policy covers misinformation on all vaccines and not just COVID vaccines.

YouTube Gets Ban Threat From Russia

YouTube has received a ban threat from Russia because it deleted two state-backed channels for their COVID misinformation violations.

The two channels that have been removed by YouTube are RT DE and Der Fehlende Part.

According to a report by the BBC, Roskomnadzor, which is called the "Russian media watchdog" in the report, has accused the platform of censorship and "'demanded' that the channels be restored."

Per the BBC report, RT DE first received a warning due to its COVID misinformation violation and was suspended for a week. RT DE then went to defy the suspension by posting content that violated the same guidelines on another channel, Der Fehlende Part.

Both channels were eventually deleted by YouTube.

YouTube's Crackdown on Vaccine Misinformation

YouTube has started its crackdown on channels that spread vaccine misinformation on the platform.

According to a previous Tech Times report, the platform began taking down content that contains misinformation beginning September 28. The crackdown covers not only COVID vaccine misinformation, but information about other vaccines as well.

Matt Halprin, YouTube's vice president for trust and safety, said that the ban covers any video that suggests that vaccines have chronic health side effects, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Per the BBC report, "the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine being falsely attributed to causing autism, was one example of the types of content the new policy will cover which had previously been allowed."

Related Article: YouTube Cracks Down on COVID-19 Misinformation Deleting Over 1 Million 'Dangerous' Videos

Russia's History of Banning Websites and Platforms

YouTube's implementation of its new vaccine misinformation policy has caused Russia to threaten to ban the platform. However, this is not the first time that Russia has threatened to ban or even completely banned an online platform.

Early in September, Russia blocked a total of six virtual private networks (VPN) services, including ExpressVPN and NordVPN. SpaceX's Starlink internet has also been banned by the state early this year.

Both Wikipedia and Reddit have been banned on separate occasions in Russia before eventually being unbanned. Wikipedia was banned due to its page about Charas Hashish, which discussed how marijuana is prepared.

Reddit, on the other hand, was banned over a "Magic Mushroom" post.

Also Read: Russia Demands Apple And Google To Remove Blocked LinkedIn From Local App Stores

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Google's AI-focused company, DeepMIND has taken the precipitation nowcasting to the next level through a new model.

Now, the engineers can use it to predict the chance of meteorological events in the next hours.

Google DeepMind Brings New Generative Model For Precipitation Probability

Before, we only relied on the news about weather forecasts. To be more prepared, we used to bring umbrellas and other protective equipment to shield ourselves from bad weather.

With natural disasters coming across the world, the chance of them hitting a community might be hard to calculate. But not all modern meteorological tools can provide a reliable reading of the precipitation.

According to a report by Science Alert on Friday, Oct.1, engineers from Google DeepMind have introduced a new precipitation model with high accuracy.

In 89% of cases, this model showed a promising result in the field of artificial intelligence. The so-called generative modeling makes use of machine learning to yield more trained data for nowcasting.

DGMR, or the Deep Generative Model of Rainfall, has been discovered to be an accurate predictive tool for precipitation. This model can produce results within the next hour or two.

Google DeepMind Nowcasting team wrote in its blog that the AI-centered collaboration would provide more opportunities for future environmental challenges.

Weather Prediction Model Has Some Flaws Too

Even though machine learning is often incorporated with weather prediction modeling, there is still an area that needs to be improved.

While we look at the accuracy of the new model when it comes to precipitation, the challenge was seen to be performing poorly around zero to two hours, according to DeepMind's staff research scientist, Suman Ravuri.

Meanwhile, the UK meteorologists lauded the development of the DeepMind model. For future purposes, the researchers could combine it in monitoring the current weather prediction patterns.

For the Google DeepMind team, there are still some improvements that should be implemented in the upcoming models.

Furthermore, the researchers will aim to boost DGMR's accuracy in the long run.

The research entitled "Skilful precipitation nowcasting using deep generative models of radar" was published on Nature.com last Wednesday, Sept.29.

Read Also: Drones Could Help With Airborne Seeding, But Only If Enough Seeds Grow

Weather Prediction Models Years Ago

In 2016, the researchers devised a weather model that could predict stronger yet smaller storms in the United States. The findings were affected by the existing presence of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

The model also suggested that the storms that would emerge in the next few years would be more intense. This is because climate change keeps on shaping them.

In another report in 2018, NASA introduced a landslide model that made use of torrential rains for landslide threat detection. The imaging model relies on real-time processing.

This would be helpful for areas that are landslide-prone.

At that time, the researchers hoped that fatalities and destruction of properties could be mitigated as much as possible.

Related Article: NASA Satellite Mission To View Earth In Terms Of Precipitation

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : Pexels/Pixabay) Netflix app

SK Broadband, an internet service provider in South Korea and a subsidiary of South Korean telecommunications company SK Telecom, has filed a counterclaim against streaming service Netflix to demand payment for the bandwidth it has used for the past three years.

SK Broadband Files Counterclaim

The case comes after the South Korean court sided against Netflix in June. Now, the internet service provider has the power to file counterclaims against streaming platforms for using excessive amounts of bandwidth and causing traffic on its network.

According to a Netflix spokesperson who had an exclusive interview with TechCrunch, the streaming service will review the SK Broadband's claim.

In the meantime, the company will continue to seek communication with the internet service provider. It will work with them to ensure a seamless streaming experience for their South Korean customers.

Also Read: Netflix Cracks Down On VPN Proxies As It Promises To Make All Content Globally Available

The United States-based streaming giant submitted an appeal to a higher court against the decision given in July after it lost the first case that they filed last year.

The case alleged that SK Broadband has no right to demand extra fees for bandwidth use as they should be responsible for managing their networks.

Netflix claimed that the internet service provider is trying to double the bill. The subscribers are already paying for the broadband used, and now SK Broadband wants to charge Netflix for it.

The internet service provider wants to charge the streaming giant $23 million per year for its network use.

In 2019, SK Broadband requested a settlement and reached out to the Korea Communication Commission but no avail.

SK Broadband claims that the traffic caused by Netflix on its network has increased 24 times, from 50GB per second in 2018, it became 1,200GB in 2021, according to Reuters.

Netflix' Contribution to South Korea's Movie Industry

On Sept. 28, the streaming giant stated that its investment in content production had brought $4.7 billion to South Korea's economy.

The worth covered everything from publishing the content to distributing them.

The streaming service also claims that it has helped create 16,000 jobs in the country since 2016, according to the figures given by the Deloitte Consulting report.

Netflix Korea has more than 3 million subscribers in South Korea as of last year, while globally, the streaming service has more than 200 million paid subscribers.

The Netflix spokesperson stated that the hit Korean series "Squid Game" is now slowly becoming Netflix's biggest show ever, and it is the first-ever Korean series to be on a No. 1 spot on Netflix US.

Another Korean Netflix show, "Kingdom," is becoming a fan favorite, with a video game set to launch based on the series.

Meanwhile, Disney Plus, another hit streaming service, is scheduled to launch in South Korea in November.

The streaming service plans to use third-party content delivery networks or CDNs instead of using the network of internet service providers to avoid paying extra for bandwidth usage fees.

Disney plus is also scheduled to launch in Hong Kong and Taiwan early next year. However, it is not clear what service it will use for its network, according to Variety. The streaming service plans to slowly expand to other Asian countries in the next few years.

Related Article: Netflix's Secret Codes for New Language Learning! Tips to Help You Learn Fast

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
FCC, or the Federal Communications Commission, is currently seeking a new set of policies that could bar SIM swapping scammers from taking necessary information from the victim's phone.

On Thursday, Sept. 29, the regulating body for communications said that it would now prevent the hackers from doing the scam, as well as the port-out fraud.

FCC Addresses Complaints About SIM Swapping Scam

According to The Verge's report, the FCC has been receiving back-and-forth complaints about the controversial scam.

According to the agency, the victims of the SIM swapping reported that they have experienced financial harm, distress, and other negative impacts.

Additionally, FCC noted that the latest attacks pointed out a growing number of users who fell victim to the scheme. When the scammers gain access to their mobile devices, confidential information is on the brink of being leaked or obtained.

For those who do not know the idea behind SIM swapping, this usual hijacking method involves hacking a particular contact number that holds the identity authentication of the victim.

The technique will help the scammers get access to the account of the user. The threat actors will be sent to the phones to deny access to the victim later.

On the other hand, the other method called port-out fraud is all about transferring the victim's phone number. When the target's contact has been "ported out," a new carrier will be incorporated into the new account.

These forms of hacking could leave the victims unaware of the situation. Without their knowing, the hackers have already obtained sensitive data from their smartphones.

To mitigate SIM swapping scams, the cybersecurity experts said that users should practice using a third-party authenticator app. This will provide safer log-in access to the mobile gadget.

In the latest press release, FCC announced that it would change the rules involving the carriers. The amendment will be focused on securing the people's identity.

Furthermore, the agency is laying out a proposal that would require carriers to leave notification right away at times when a port request appears on the account.

Engadget reported that the public could now take part in FCC's rulemaking procedure. This will help the agency evaluate the people's requests before concluding the final set of policies.

Recent Phone Call Scam

In Australia last month, many citizens complained about an anonymous hacker who kept on spamming calls on their phones. The random phone numbers have a pattern, according to some people who experienced the scam.

Some contact numbers began with the prefix 0480 036 while the other variations include 0401 747 and 0431 575. Most importantly, the scammers only changed the last digits.

One complainant issued a warning to those who received the creepy call. He said that when a call arrives, do not answer back.

Read Also: Google Probes Carrier Linking SMS Ad For Verification--Company's Security Director Says the Ads Do Not Come From Them

SIM Swapping in Crypto Accounts

In August, we reported that Coinbase accounts were hacked by scammers. At that time, $168,000 worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen in digital wallets.

The use of 2FA or the two-factor authenticator will not guarantee you 100% protection against scammers.

These days, many hackers began to do SIM swapping to get the accounts easily. Through a text message, the scammer could quickly snatch access to the victim's account.

Related Article: New UPS Delivery Scam Fools Victim Through Suspicious Email--Here's How to Identify and Avoid it

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Is Apple really planning to enter the car making business? Well, with this recent acquisition by their long-time supplier, rumors are floating once again.

That long-time supplier is Foxconn, who serves as Apple's largest iPhone manufacturer.

Recently, the company closed the deal to acquire a car factory in Ohio, which was a former General Motors factory, reported MacRumors.

Foxconn managed to buy the factory for a cool $230 million from Lordstown Motors, who hasn't had a lot of luck as of late. The price is part of a $280 million in total, which includes an agreement that the Apple supplier will be buying $50 million of Lordstown Motors common stock, as well as build the latter's new Endurance pickup style EV.

As such, a source familiar to Foxconn's future plans for its automaking business has stated that mass production of the Lordstown Endurance pickup truck will start in April of next year, according to Bloomberg.

This recent acquisition by Foxconn is well in-line with their vehicle-related investments for the past two years.

However, the company still hasn't released any car yet, but there's a good chance that once things start to heat up, they're going to have something good to court Apple into potentially entering the automaking industry.

But buying the car factory doesn't necessarily mean that Apple is closer than ever to releasing a theoretical Apple Car. However, since the factory is already established in its own right, it means Foxconn won't have to build up their capacity from the ground up.

Back in May, the Taiwanese chip maker signed with Fisker Inc in order to co-design and manufacture an electric vehicle, with Foxconn doing the semiconductor work and Fisker to focus entirely on designing the EV.

Read also: Apple Recruits Former Mercedes Engineers as Tech Giant Continues to Work on Apple Car

Apple Car: What's The Status?

As good as the Foxconn deal might sound, it might not even be directly related with Apple's plans to build their own car.

In fact, a report back in early September rumored that Apple wants to go independent when making a car; choosing the parts and suppliers on their own.

The tech giant used to talk with a lot of big automakers such as Honda, Toyota, and Nissan, but deals never fell through due to delays.

Furthermore, there were even rumors that large-scale automakers are a bit reluctant to work with Apple themselves, with Kia and Hyundai rejecting the company's proposals.

Apple has already had a department working on the design and development of a proposed EV way back in 2014.

A few development issues, however, essentially forced Apple to close down this department two years later. But this was the hardware side--apparently, the software research team, whose focus is the development of self-driving tech, continued to operate.

For now, one confirmed detail about the Apple Car is that the company wants to ensure that its battery is produced only in the United States.

Other parts for the car could also be affected by this.

Related: Apple Car Head Leaves in Favor of Ford-the Fourth Exec to Depart the EV Project

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
United Airlines announced its latest integration of the popular Apple Health app, which is expected to help its passengers upload their COVID-19 vaccination records.

The giant travel agency confirmed this information on Oct. 1, saying that travelers could soon take advantage of the verifiable COVID-19 vaccination records stored in the Apple Health app, allowing them to use them as proof of vaccination before they go on their journey.

As of the moment, people across the globe need to show their vaccination cards whenever they go from far places. They need to do this whether they are traveling by sea, air, or land.

This allows government officials or travel companies to ensure that visitors are protected from the deadly COVID-19. If you are vaccinated, there's a low chance that you will get infected by the virus. However, you still need to follow safety measures since vaccines are not 100% efficient.

United Airlines Now Use Apple Health App!

According to 9To5Mac's latest report, United Airlines explained how it would use the new Apple Health app integration to help its vaccinated passengers. These include the following:

Also Read: Speedy $15 Antigen Rapid Testing Give Results Valid for 24hrs and Can be Used to Fulfil Testing Requirements

Passengers can use the Apple Health app to share their vaccination proof with United Airlines employees. They can do this by clicking the Upload button and choosing the "Share Your Smart Health Card."

Travelers can visit the Travel-Ready Center on United Airlines' Apple Health integration if the place they are visiting requires vaccination cards.

"With iOS 15, users can download and store verifiable health records, including COVID-19 vaccinations and test results, in the Health app," said United Airlines.

United Airlines' Other Efforts Against COVID-19

Aside from the new Apple Health integration, United Airlines is also making other drastic efforts to prevent further COVID-19 infections.

CNBC reported that the fight company was able to reduce its unvaccinated employees from 593 to 320 unvaccinated staff.

As of the moment, the travel agency is one of the airlines with the strictest vaccine mandate policy in the United States.

For more news updates about United Airlines, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Apple Watch Tags All Types of Irregular Heartbeat and Not Just for Atrial Filbrillation

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The Livingston Parish Council took the next step in implementing new river safety rules after two patrons of a popular watersports company died this summer and dozens more were rescued while riding inner-tubes down the Amite River.

Members of the parish's ordinance committee introduced the tentative rules Thursday evening following weeks of deliberation about the most effective way to keep people safe without infringing on their personal liberty.

For instance, business owners will be required to provide life jackets for patrons engaging in water activities, but the patrons will not be required to wear them.

After Tiki Tubing deaths, rescues, Livingston Parish could require life jackets, safety videos Livingston Parish could require people tubing on the Amite River to wear life jackets and watch instructional videos beforehand.

After the public has the opportunity to weigh in on the ordinance at a future meeting, council members will approve or reject the requirements.

The tragedies this summer have centered on Denham Springs-based company, Tiki Tubing.

Family members of Keith Hilliard, who drowned on Father's Day weekend after paying the company for the inner-tubing experience, have been vocal advocates urging the council to clamp down on tubing in the Amite.

While Parish President Layton Ricks was initially hesitant to regulate tubing  particularly a specific company  his position eventually softened.

"I do think its time, because of the number of things that happened, that we put things in place," he said in August.

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Spurred by drownings, close calls on Amite River, Livingston Parish agrees to draft safety rules After emotional testimony from the family of a man who died while tubing on the Amite River, Livingston Parish leaders agreed to draft safety 

The rules will not regulate tubing so much as water activities, council members were careful to clarify.

Other measures in the ordinance include mandating water safety videos and commanding businesses to erect signs along the stretches of any waterway their company uses. The signs will help emergency services pinpoint anyone in distress on the river.

"I felt like, to start with  a whole lot of data out there and to develop such a well-written ordinance that will help protect future people who tube down that river  I applaud you for that," District 9 Councilman Shane Mack said. "That last meeting was so sincere. Everyone was really trying to do what they could to protect the people."

Other council items included moving trick-or-treating from Halloween night on Oct. 31 to 6 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 30 for the unincorporated areas of the parish. A "trunk-or-treat" event will be held simultaneously at South Park located on Vincent Road in Denham Springs.

+10 After tubing deaths, experts push for Amite River maintenance: 'We only react when it gets critical' On a Fathers Day weekend Amite River getaway, Keith Hilliard slid off his inner tube to look for something he dropped in the water. He never 

District 1 Councilman Jeff Ard adopted a solemn tone toward the end of the meeting while discussing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Ard announced two friends in their 50s died of the virus recently and wanted to remind the public to continue to be careful.

"This thing is still real. Everybody still needs to take precautions," he said. "Im going to two funerals this weekend.  People need to not let their guard down. Protect yourself."
Louisiana Congressman Troy Carter says the presidents decision to put his $1 trillion infrastructure bill on hold and to relink the legislati
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Past Life

William Lane, Transit Lounge, $29.99 Credit: William Lanes fifth novel dwells on the intersection of art and life, on the terrible trauma of war, on the way suppressed histories haunt the present. Anna moved to Australia post-WWII to be raised by an adoptive Russian mother in Parramatta, but her earliest memories are of wandering orphaned through snowbound forests, having lost her name and even the ability to speak. Anna unpicks a lost thread of her own story when she meets Friedrich  a former poet and novelist who abandoned his art to survive Stalinist purges and did worse to outlast the war. As their connection is revealed, the narrative leaps forward in time. For both characters (Friedrich through fiction and poetry; Anna through experimental photography) lost continuities are sublimated into the persistence of art. Lane hits upon arresting phrases and keeps the pages turning, but Past Life feels structurally incomplete somehow, the world-building too anaemic for the experiences it seeks to explore. CW

The Banksia House Breakout

James Roxburgh, Ventura, $32.99 Credit: Eighty-one-year-old Ruth Morris faces the dispiriting prospect of selling her house and moving into an aged care home, Banksia House, at the behest of a son unwilling to care for her. Always fiercely independent, Ruth has difficulty adjusting. And when she finds out that her best friend, Gladys, is dying in Brisbane, she joins forces with new friends she has made  the indomitable Beryl and the Houdini of Banksia House, Keith  to hatch an escape plan. Their jailbreak leads to a wild interstate road-trip as they high-tail it from Sydney to Brisbane, bonding with each other along the way. The trio will hitch-hike, cross paths with backpackers and bikies, rock up to a Byron Bay wedding, and do just about anything but act their age. Spry feelgood comedy yields to poignancy  will Ruth get to see Gladys before she passes?  but this is one of those books that doesnt rise above a predictable, all-too-easy-to-read template, as if written for an intended audience not as sharp as they once were. CW

NON-FICTION PICK OF THE WEEK

World Politics Since 1989

Jonathan Holslag, Polity, $51.95 Credit: When the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War ended it was hailed as a victory for the West and the end of history  Western, capitalist liberalism had prevailed. Jonathan Holslag paints a very different picture in this survey of the past 30 years of global political history  one of seriously missed opportunities, hubris and inconsistent policies. Its complex, he says, but at the heart of the story is the failure of globalisation to preserve social cohesion, and a rampant consumerism (the Wests demand for gas fuelled Putins rise) and lack of wisdom to use power with prudence on the global scene. The result, amid the rise of China and the re-emergence of Russia, is both interesting and uncertain. But, as much as the West may be on a slippery slope, he resists dire predictions. Accessible and timely. SC

The Yes Woman

Grace Jennings-Edquist, Affirm Press, $29.99 Credit: When ABC journalist Grace Jennings-Edquist posted an image of herself at the beach holding her daughter on social media, she looked every inch the gracious, multi-tasking young mother, woman and wife for whom no request was deserving of a No. But it was a fraud. She was a nervous wreck and wound up in a psych ward with five other women, all identifying as Yes women and perfectionists. Her combination of confession, analysis and guide for other women (although men really ought to read this too) is an engaging, astute journey down the rabbit hole of the Yes woman phenomenon by one whos been there and knows the way back. She traces her own anxiety and desire to please, incorporates interviews with more than 200 women and contextualises the study, looking at big picture nice girl social conditioning. SC

Fulfillment

Alec MacGillis, Scribe, $35 Credit: Brexit and Trump in 2016 concentrated the thinking of American journalist Alec MacGillis about his country. It was the indicator that wealth was shifting in new, grossly unequal ways, leaving disaffected cities and communities in its wake, with dramatic political results. Then came COVID-19 and the shift was accentuated even more. The company he felt was most emblematic of what was happening was Amazon, highlighted in the massive discrepancy between those high in the company and those in the warehouses. Retailers across America were closing, but one-click shopping online acted like an injection of growth hormone. Along the way he tells the stories of ordinary people coping with seismic changes that have a neo-Dickensian ring. Theres a touch of a latter-day Steinbeck to this snap-shot of the US now, and the rest of the world. SC

The Nazis Knew My Name

Magda Hellinger & Maya Lee (with David Brewster), Simon & Schuster $32.99

Credit: The title refers to the unusual fact that when Maya Lees mother was at Auschwitz (a camp leader in charge of more than 30,000 women inmates) the camp commandant called her by her name, Magda, not her number. Often she called the Germans bluff, and through a mixture of cool calculation and chutzpah saved many lives. One time a camp doctor promised to take Hungarian Jews to a sanatorium  a cruel trick that led to the gas-chamber. When the women volunteered, Hellinger stepped in, told them to stay and bravely confronted the doctor. Years later, in Melbourne, she wrote her story down. Lee, using her mothers testimonies, expands her tale, taking in the full sweep of events. Told through Magda Hellingers eyes, this is a vivid, remarkable tale of courage and resilience in the face of human-made horror. SC
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Dave Grohl cant immediately recall which visit to the White House it was. Maybe the time he was invited to say a few words about The Who when George W. Bush gave the former hellraisers a medal. Or it might have been the time Barack Obamas people asked him to sing at a similar ceremony for Sir Paul McCartney. This time he was scared, though, because a reckoning loomed. On the same trip to Washington, his multimillion-album-selling rock band Foo Fighters was booked at the 9:30 Club, an underground hangout hed played with his first teen punk band in the 80s. The Foo Fighters, from left, Chris Shiflett, Nate Mendel, Dave Grohl, and Pat Smear perform at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 12. Credit: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP) I heard that my heroes were all going to be there, Grohl says, namechecking righteous dudes from Scream, Black Flag, Husker Du, Fugazi and Minor Threat. I was nervous because I was actually in town to play the f---ing White House. I was so terrified that I wouldnt be accepted by my old friends; that Id be seen as some kind of sell-out. Loading The weird guilt trip carries sombre echoes. In his darkest hours, Kurt Cobain was consumed by the ethics of independence crushed by the phenomenal mainstream success Nirvana had so bitterly reaped. In many ways, that bands most successful survivor personifies this corporate-cultural fait accompli. Today, WealthyCelebrity.com lists Dave Grohl as the fourth richest drummer alive. Hes the rock star US presidents ask for by name. He gets where this is going, but hes not buying it. Foo Fighters run their own label, own their own studio, answer to nobody, he says. Theres no boardroom full of people making any of these decisions for us. We always call ourselves the highest-paid garage band in the world ... When I think of stardom, I think of other people.

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As it happened, that night at the 9:30 Club showered nothing but love on the homecoming hero who must be thoroughly sick of being called the nicest man in rock. Ethical showdown averted. Chalk up another happy ending in the life of astonishing good fortune recounted in his new memoir, The Storyteller. A life of astonishing good fortune is recounted in Dave Grohls memoir. Credit:Magdalena Wosinska In truth, The Humblebragger might be a more accurate title. But listen, you would be too if you were just lounging in a van one arvo and Iggy Pop banged on the door to see if there was a drummer he could borrow. Grohl was 21 when that outrageous boys own dream came true. Nirvana knocked a few months later. Fast-forward a decade or three and it was Tom Petty, McCartney, Mick Jagger  I never wander into that rehearsal space or onto that stage feeling like I am of the same calibre or merit as these people, he says. The book is meant to be read [as] through the lens of someone who is having an out-of-body experience. When these things happen to me I feel like theyre happening to someone else. A young Dave Grohl barbecuing in Virginia in 1999. Credit:Danny Clinch Born from a spontaneous series of Instagram lockdown posts, The Storyteller is an episodic montage of these surreal meetings, from Little Richard in an airport limo to dinner with AC/DC to Joan Jett reading the authors kids a bedtime story. Over nearly 400 pages, Grohl has so many names to drop that theres no room for that story about jamming on Led Zeppelin with Prince, or the time he played a Neil Young song on a David Bowie album.

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Befitting his all-American sweet guy image, its the authors mother who beats all contenders to emerge as the hands-down hero of his life story, rooted in the Happy Days-cum-Brady Bunch suburbia of North Springfield, Virginia. Both of my parents were brilliant writers, Grohl says. Not only the written word, but the spoken word was taken seriously. I mean, we would have articulation drills at the dinner table, where my mother would give us a subject and wed have to talk about it for three minutes without breaking speech. I f---ng hated school, but I loved doing that. Dave Grohl with his hugely influential mum, Virginia Hanlon Grohl. Credit: Andreas Neumann Virginia Hanlon Grohls heart-warming relationship with her son has been on the record since her 2017 book, From Cradle To Stage: Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars (now a Paramount+ TV series). It only makes Dads fleeting profile in The Storyteller more conspicuous. One of the reasons why he just sort of slips in and out of the book is because he just kind of slipped in and out of my life, Grohl explains. Two years ago, he wrote an affectionate eulogy in The Atlantic about the late James Harper Grohl, a buttoned-down political reporter/consultant who took a dim view of his sons middling school reports and punk-rock aspirations. Dave Grohl was both inspired and intimidated by his father James Harper Grohl My father wasnt the greatest communicator, he says today. He could write one hell of a Republican speech but he and I did not have a decent relationship when I was young. Ultimately, I dont know if he knew how to be a father. He had a very difficult relationship with his own father. And I think it influenced his parenting.

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At the same time, I really looked up to him. There was so much about him that I admired and was inspired by and I was intimidated by. He was an intellectual titan. He was so culturally versed in the arts and literature and he was a classically trained musician with perfect pitch. The father-son thaw occurred by email, eventually, as Foo Fighters stormed the world in the late 1990s. Every time he would send me an email, it was poetry. It was eloquent. It was entertaining. It was emotional. It could be one paragraph about making a pork roast at home and it read like Shakespeare. I felt like he was challenging me to write. After a few months he wrote me and said, Youre becoming a great writer, David. Your writing has punch and punch has power. That may have been my lifes greatest validation [although] he probably is rolling in his grave that Id write for The Atlantic. Dave Grohl with his wife Jordyn and daughters Violet, Harper and Ophelia. Grohl Juniors journalistic tentacles have expanded way beyond the odd left-leaning magazine article these past eight years. His documentary Sound City, his Sonic Highways TV series and the forthcoming What Drives Us are the kind of hands-on American histories that only a journeyman rock star could make: someone with lived experience, learned craft, and a contact book that reaches from Fugazi to McCartney to Obama. Theres a certain elegiac undertow to the films that Grohl has also been making. Credit:Magdalena Wosinska

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Although ostensibly celebrations of music, and contagiously passionate ones at that, theres a certain elegiac undertow to these films, a documentation of people and places and creative techniques that need preserving, not just in memory but in the bricks and mortar of imperilled live venues and recording studios. But hes not the kind to say die. Ive had long conversations about rocknrolls death rattle for a decade and a half, he sighs. Now, is it at the top of the charts at the moment? No. Will it be again? I dont know. But the fact that it hasnt been for so long, and theres still rocknroll bands in the corner bars, and in the theatres, and in the arenas, and some in the stadiums, to me, that means maybe its doing OK. And that being said  we sold 250,000 tickets in a day a few weeks ago, in England, so Im not the one to ask. You need to ask my daughter, whos 15 years old, who listens to Joni Mitchell all day long, and then she listens to the Misfits, and then she listens to the Suburban Lawns, and then she writes songs with her friends who play drums and guitars and love rocknroll. Nirvana in 1994, from left, David Grohl, Krist Noveselic and Kurt Cobain. Credit:Dave Geffen Company In a world where crumbling universities compete with cool rock colleges and presidents hand out medals to old counter-culture rebels, its fair to assume Violet Grohl and her little sisters will get more encouragement from their old man than he did from his own. Its sadly too late for his friend Kurt, but the ethically suffocating punk rock scene that Grohl describes surviving is simply no more. The world may be divided in all kinds of ways, but at a Foo Fighters gig, everyone is the same as everyone else. Obviously there are certain types of people that I would hope dont associate themselves with our band, he says, [but] for the most part, when we go out to play shows and you have 10, 20, 30, 40, 50,000 people joining in the chorus of the song, the energy of that communion, the energy of that connection, I think is healing in some way. I look out at the audience and I can kind of read people. I know that this guy might be a bit more conservative than this person over here. But when I see them join together and sing, it gives me hope. Maybe theres something to being the person that can deliver a song and bring everyone together.

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This is not a major problem when there are few cases. But models project substantial increases in caseload as restrictions are wound back. Its more about how much COVID is around, says Professor David Tscharke, head of the department of immunology and infectious diseases at the Australian National University. The more unvaccinated people there are, the greater the opportunity the virus has to spread. The more virus is around, the more infected people there are in the room. The more virus there is in the room, the more likely you are to be exposed to the virus. Long queues for vaccination outside the Exhibition Centre in Melbourne in August. Credit: Getty Modelling by Professor George Milnes University of WA team suggests if Australia were to reopen with 80 per cent of people vaccinated, some 80 per cent of cases would be in the unvaccinated.

The goal of segregating the vaccinated and the unvaccinated was to keep overall case numbers low, said Professor Tscharke. This is not a measure that is put in place to protect individuals who happen to be vaccinated. It is a policy that is put in place to cut the amount of COVID-19 that is spread in the community as a whole. Professor Vlado Perkovic, dean of medicine at the University of NSW, said those who chose to remain unvaccinated would put everyones safety at risk. Its like driving without headlights, or perhaps with your eyes closed. It puts the individuals risk up dramatically, but also increases the risk of all those around them who dont have a choice in the matter, he said.

No one wants to restrict an unvaccinated persons freedom, but other people have a right to not be exposed to large amounts of virus. Do unvaccinated people face any risk from the vaccinated? They sure do, said CSIRO public health expert Dr Rob Grenfell. People who are vaccinated can catch and spread the virus, although at much, much lower rates than unvaccinated people. This is primarily because they are much less likely to catch the virus in the first place.

Ambulances at Northern Hospital in Epping. Credit:The Age Even if they do catch it, they are between 36 and 65 per cent less likely to pass on the virus, new UK data suggests. In general, catching the virus does not pose a serious risk to a vaccinated person, due to the robust protection they enjoy from the vaccine. But if a vaccinated person passes the infection on to an unvaccinated person, they are much more likely to become very unwell. They are 10 times more likely to be hospitalised, and 10 times more likely to die, than vaccinated people.

We all still need to maintain a degree of caution, especially around the vulnerable groups, said Dr Grenfell. What about indirect risks? People who choose to remain unvaccinated pose a substantial indirect risk to society. That is primarily because they are more likely to spread the virus. But because they are more likely to end up in hospital, they strain the healthcare system, which can lead to worse care for everyone.

Unvaccinated people will continue to be admitted to hospital and will continue to strain our health system, said Dr Grenfell. Im going to be pretty cheesed off if the intensive care unit cant take me if I fall off a ladder or crash my car. Globally, unvaccinated people pose a risk because they allow the virus to continue to circulate, increasing the chances of a new vaccine-resistant variant evolving. The SARS-CoV-2 virus particles which cause COVID-19. Credit:AP Are there any people who are at particular risk? Yes. Vaccinated elderly people and those with compromised immune systems are most at risk of so-called breakthrough infections, with data suggesting they dont acquire as much immunity from vaccines as the general population. So people who are not vaccinated pose major threats to those people, whether they have had the jab or not.

Long-term, is everyone going to be exposed to the virus? The federal government advises that, over time, everyone in Australia will eventually be exposed to COVID-19, immunised or not. It remains unclear how this will affect our immunity over time, scientists say. People who have been infected and vaccinated appear to have even stronger immunity against the virus than those who are vaccinated, likely because they have been exposed multiple times. People who have been infected but have not been vaccinated do enjoy immunity that is similar to or slightly worse than the immunity generated by two doses of AstraZeneca or Pfizer.
South-west Sydney can be a dangerous place in 2021 if your last name is Alameddine and you attract the unwanted attention of the notorious Hamze family.

Just ask the staff member at a restaurant in Greenacre who was assaulted in June by Khaled Hamze, cousin of Bassam Hamzy, because he was talking shit about the besieged crime family.

Gangland tensions have claimed the lives of two members of the Hamzy/Hamze family. Credit:Kate Geraghty, Nine News

The victim  who has the common surname Alameddine but is not a member of the family locked in a violent gangland conflict with the Hamzes  suffered injuries to his face, neck, chest and ribcage as a result of the attack, according to a police statement of facts tendered in Bankstown Local Court.

The incident occurred after Mr Alameddine was heard badmouthing the Hamze family and word got back to Hamze, 40, who appeared outside the restaurant with two companions, one man and one woman, on the evening of June 27.
The past week of the states Delta outbreak has been the deadliest so far, as the trend in NSWs new coronavirus infections, hospitalisations and ICU admissions continues to fall.

NSW has reported 75 deaths in the past week, including six who died at home and the majority of these were only diagnosed with the virus after their death.

Infectious disease physician and ATAGI co-chair Professor Allen Cheng said the spike in deaths was expected, following Septembers significant surge in cases and the fact that time between diagnosis and death roughly lags by about three weeks.

The end of the first week is when people are hospitalised and theres usually another couple of days to when they deteriorate further and require ICU admission, said Professor Cheng. Particularly in people older than 50 or 60... thats when you start to see those deaths, and they usually occur a few weeks after [infection].
NSW has recorded 864 new local COVID-19 cases and 15 deaths, the equal most deadly day in the state since the pandemic began.

Of the deaths, three people were in their 50s, two people were in their 60s, two people were in their 70s, six people in their 80s, and two people were in their 90s.

Nine people were not vaccinated, one had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and five people had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. Two people acquired their infections in aged care and two in hospital.

It takes the death toll for NSWs current outbreak to 352 people.
The Australian Electoral Commission has written to a number of grassroots groups pushing to oust government MPs at the next federal election, reminding them of their legal obligations to disclose financial donations and carry proper authorisations for political material.

More than 30 community groups across Australia, typically named Voices of or Voices for, are searching for, or have endorsed, independent candidates to front their campaigns at the next federal poll.

Former independent MP Cathy McGowan campaigning for Helen Haines in Indi in 2019. Credit:James Wiltshire

So far in Victoria, only independent Susan Benedyka has been formally announced as a candidate, preparing to contest a Senate seat.

The groups are largely targeting Liberal-held seats including  in Victoria  Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in Kooyong, Health Minister Greg Hunt in Flinders, and MP Tim Wilson in Goldstein.
Companies providing security guards to the Sydney and Melbourne hotel quarantine schemes underpaid more than 1000 staff more than $1 million last year but so far only $303,299 has been recovered.

About $900,000  the vast majority of the underpayments  happened in NSW at Unified Security Group Australia, a principal contractor for both state governments quarantine schemes, but the company went into liquidation before repaying it.

Ombudsman Sandra Parkers office has found widespread underpayments among firms providing hotel quarantine security. Credit:Jason South

Of 37 businesses audited by the Fair Work Ombudsman, 41 per cent were found to be breaching pay rules by either underpaying staff or not keeping proper records that can make it hard for staff to know if they are getting the right wages.

Security guards at quarantine hotels repeatedly caught the coronavirus in the earlier stages of the pandemic and the Victorian hotel quarantine inquiry was highly critical of the state governments decision to use a casualised, poorly trained workforce of security contractors for the job.
McKenzie wrote: It is easy for the Member for Kooyong [Frydenberg] or the Member for Wentworth [Dave Sharma] to publicly embrace net zero before the government has a position, because there would be next to zero real impact on the way of life of their affluent constituents. Loading The following day, at a (virtual) joint news conference with McKenzie called on another matter, Frydenberg countered with climate change has no postcode. Scientifically hes right. But, politically, one challenge for both Coalition and Labor in the climate debate is that it is often seen variously according to voters postcodes. Hence Labors past problems in trying to deliver separate messages in coal and inner-city electorates. It is said by insiders that McKenzie was helping Joyce by making it clear the Nats cant be taken for granted, although the impression to the casual observer was she added to the chaos. The mood of Morrison, locked in The Lodge in quarantine, must be mixed. Hes buoyed by his US trip, with its AUKUS agreement and the promise of nuclear-powered submarines, even if by their delivery time hell be in his 70s (perhaps critiquing his successors, as has become the ex-prime ministerial fashion). But he must also be frustrated that the policy and political difficulties of reaching a climate agreement within the Coalition make the road to AUKUS start to look like a walk in the park.

The bar keeps being raised too, as it was this week by the NSW Coalition government increasing its ambition to a 50% emissions cut by 2030. Loading Nevertheless, Liberal backbenchers whod sought a virtual meeting with Morrison to put their views ahead of Glasgow were reassured by his feedback, including his indication hed found his discussions with Joyce constructive. Many of the Liberals on the Tuesday call spoke about the local political contexts they faced. Its not just Glasgow and pressure from Joe Biden and Boris Johnson thats making it imperative for Morrison to secure agreement on 2050. A number of Liberals in safe seats will face well-organised and cashed-up challenges from independent candidates campaigning on climate change. Climate 200s Simon Holmes a Court says theres already more than $1.5 million in the kitty. The independents will also be preoccupied with another issue thats a weak point for Morrison  integrity. The rorting (sports grants, car parks) is a touchy point with voters, tapping into their distrust of politicians, and the government still has not set up an integrity commission (it promises to introduce legislation before Christmas).

Coal-fired energy from the Latrobe Valley underpinned decades of Victorias economic prosperity, but its days are numbered. Credit:Simon Schluter Its very hard for independents to win seats in the House of Representatives, given the electoral system. Recently, their chances have been best where the incumbent has been weakened (this helped deliver victories in Indi, Mayo and Warringah), or has departed (Wentworth after Turnbull resigned, although the seat is now back in Liberal hands). Loading So no one should anticipate an influx of new independents next year. But the possibility of even one managing to get through, adding to the several expected to be re-elected, would concern Morrison. Especially if the election happened to produce a hung parliament, which is not out of the question, with voters disillusioned with both sides. Whatever Morrison announces on climate is unlikely to be enough because, even with a firm 2050 target and something for the medium term, the government can expect to be widely criticised for failing to have sufficient medium-term ambition.

Morrison raised the prospect of not attending the Glasgow summit in an interview with the West Australian while he was abroad, saying he hadnt finally decided. Its another trip overseas  and Ive spent a lot of time in quarantine. The Glasgow conference comes immediately after the G20; Morrison couldnt go to one without the other. While there would be much criticism of his failure to be at Glasgow, the hard-headed counter argument would be that leaving the country during a time of high COVID uncertainty could backfire. Prime Minister Scott Morrison talks to US President Joe Biden during his recent trip. Credit:AP/Evan Vucci Unlike the US trip, Morrison would get no plaudits at Glasgow. Hed be seen, as best, as the under-performer who, facing enormous pressure, had lifted his game to a greater or lesser degree.
Senior Nationals are ramping up the pressure on the Prime Minister to unveil a plan to reach net zero by 2050, which is yet to be released just weeks ahead of the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has signalled he wants to set a net zero deadline, but he needs the junior Coalition partner to endorse the move before it can become an official pledge.

Nationals Cabinet minister Bridget McKenzie. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen.

Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and many of his MPs have said rural and regional economies must be protected from losses and they need to see a plan that maps out the costs before they endorse the move.

Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie said on Friday that we want to see the plan the government is taking to Glasgow.
The pandemic forced theaters across the country to reconsider the logistics of live performance. In response, many of the theater organizations in and around the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota quickly shifted gears to adapt their programming.

Theatre Mu, the second-largest Asian American theater organization in the United States, put on a number of streamed performances at the height of lockdown, like Susan Soon He Stanton's Today Is My Birthday and Elizabeth Wong's China Doll. The Penumbra Theatre also shifted to streaming late in 2020, hosting A Celebration for the Soul, which included highlights from its acclaimed Black Nativity, after a series of canceled in-person performances throughout the summer and fall. While streaming works well for accessibility and Covid safety, the question of what live theater can look like in the post-pandemic era remains.

Mixed Blood Theater, a multiracial theater company founded in 1976, has taken the challenge head-on with the world premiere of Animate, written by Ken LaZebnik and directed by Jack Reuler. The run took place September 17-26 at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory in St. Paul, with the actors performing linked vignettes within various exhibits.

Animate centers on a $40 million donation from philanthropist Preston Davis (Clyde Lund) to the fictional Jackson Kennicott Zoo for an exhibit to save a rhino species from extinction. The endowment becomes fraught when an interview with Davis appears on social media, where the elderly philanthropist uses racially coded words to describe the director of the zoo, Keisha Hardeman (a compelling Regina Marie Williams). Davis's comments spark an outcry from some members of the board and passionate online activists, while other members of the board and members of the community feel that the long-term benefit of the endowment outweighs the actions of a single man.

The production makes smart use of the irregular spaces. A scene in the primate exhibit focuses on a pair of researchers (Kate Fuglei and Steve Yoakam) who encounter each other for the first time years after their messy divorce. The dialogue moves between their own failed love and the conflict between individual versus collective good, using the gorillas in the enclosure as their point of departure. The animal exhibit heightens the stakes of Robbins' and Glickman's fiery dialogue; as audiences watch the scene unfold, it is impossible to ignore the implications for the real-life gorillas going about their business in the background.

At the same time, a number of scenes have no overt link between exhibit and action. One of the most beautifully staged scenes takes place in the tropical exhibit, where the only source of light in the large greenhouse space is a single bright spotlight highlighting a bench nestled among tall palms and tropical plants. The effect is dramatic and captivatingly intimate. There are no animals, no other distractions to catch the audience's eye as Williams and Bruce A. Young (hilarious and energetic) work the small space expertly.

A scene from Animate at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory

( Rich Ryan)

While there are gimmicks involved in the show  the play does begin with an actual helicopter landing on the zoo lawns, after all  the script uses these flashier elements as a jumping-off point for deeply humanitarian discussions, culminating in the audience itself participating in the outcome of the play. After walking to each of the six vignettes in six separate exhibits, the audience is led to the outdoor amphitheater, where Williams, as Keisha, guides viewers through the final scene of the play. Using an app, the audience votes on the outcome of the three main plot points, including the future of the endowment. The outcome of the performance hinges on how the audience responds.

Cleverly built around a premise that might otherwise feel overtly contrived, Animate offers a blueprint for live theater in the uncertain pandemic era. Mixed Blood Theater is continuing its programming in a similar vein later in fall 2021 with their next production, The Most Beautiful HomeMaybe by Mark Valdez, which will take place in a car dealership. The high turnout for Animate's two-week run reveals an audience eager to return to theater. In a world fatigued by constant use of screens, this immersive approach is one avenue for performing live theater in the midst of the pandemic.
Hershey Felder Presents  Live From Florence has announced a 2021-22 season of new musical and dramatic films, to be produced in Europe and broadcast for American audiences.

Writer, pianist, and actor Hershey Felder together with the arts broadcasting company he founded, Live from Florence, will expand beyond its home base in Florence, Italy, with a season of new musical and dramatic stories set and filmed in Paris, Vienna, Venice, Warsaw, Avila Spain, as well as Florence.

The 2021-22 season will include the following films:

Dante in Florence (premiering November 28): The story of Italy's greatest poet Dante Alighieri and his muse, Beatrice.

Mozart and Figaro in Vienna (premiering January 9, 2022): The story of the outrageous collaboration between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte that created the perfect comic opera, The Marriage of Figaro.

The Verdi Fiasco (premiering March 27, 2022): The story of the disastrous opening night of Verdi's immortal La Traviata.

The Assembly (premiering May 29, 2022): The film will feature the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts and telling the real-life story of Holocaust survivor Eva Libitzky's visit to diverse urban schools and the shocking events that occurred.

Chopin in Paris (premiering August 7, 2022): Adapted from Felder's stage play Monsieur Chopin about the music and life of Polish Pianist-composer Fryderyk Chopin.

The Crazy Widow (of Moses de Leon) (premiering October 16, 2022): Set in Avila, Spain, the story focuses on 13th-century Jewish mysticism that is the basis for Kabbalah.

A Musical Surprise for Holiday Time (premiering December 18, 2022): The subject of the film will be decided by viewers who have purchased season tickets.

Live From Florence, Season 1, which was produced during the global pandemic, featured eight streaming productions that employed over 300 artists. The productions sold over 56,000 tickets and distributed over $1.5 million to US and international arts institutions in need.

After its live streaming debut, each production will be subsequently available on demand for one week after the premiere to single ticket holders. Season purchasers will have continuous access to the complete library of Hershey Felder Presents  Live From Florence including its first season, as well as additional content.
There are more than 4 million sedans sold in the U.S. each year. Carscoupes, convertibles, sedans, hatchbacks and station wagons--currently make up approximately 24 to 25% of new light vehicle sales.

Industry pundits say young people are buying cars because they dont want to be driving what their parents drove---a UV.

Kia has been attracting new buyers with its focus on good value and striking designs. Theyve been quite innovative of late. And now they are making their mark in the midsize sedan segment with a sedan that doesnt look like every other mainstream midsize sedan.

The entirely new 2021 Kia K5 is the new Optima, now adopting the K5 global model name. The 5-passenger front-wheel drive K5 has a sleek design. Its very sporty looking with its low sloped front hood and fastback roof. The K5s heartbeat front lighting signature, looking somewhat like an EKG pulse, is distinctive and attention getting.

Its longer, lower and wider riding on an all-new platform. The new platform using the latest in engineering and materials technology provides for top-notch noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) characteristics delivering a refined and comfortable ride. Overall K5 has slightly sporty ride and handling. With its unique style the K5 just looks fast.

Big news is the availability of all-wheel drive (AWD) in this sedan. So, you dont need to buy a utility vehicle to get AWD.

K5 is offered in five trims with two different turbocharged engines. A 180hp 1.6L turbo mated to a 8-speed automatic is equipped on LX, LXS, GT-Line and EX trims. AWD is optional on LXS and GT-Line trims.

GT trim comes with more punch. Up front is a 290hp 2.5L turbo 4-cylinder coupled to an 8-speed wet dual-clutch transmission. Suspension, wheel and tire performance upgrades on the GT make for more fun with the added power.

For my drive experience around by Chicago-area home I drove a K5 in the EX trim equipped with the additional Premium Package and finished in Sapphire Blue.

Inside the cabin the K5 provides a comfortable driver seating position. Tilt/telescoping steering wheel, nicely placed switches, a more traditional lever gear selector (vs. a rotatary controller or push/pull toggles) grace a well organized interior with everything seemingly well placed, at least for me. Premium materials, dual-zone temperature control, center mounted touchscreen10.25 inches with Nav in the EX Premium Package, plus a Bose 12-speaker premium audio makes things feel elegant. Theres even voice recognition, so you can tell the car what to do.

I thought the 1.6L engine delivered decent performance. I liked that Kia put a true automatic in the K5 and not a CVT--not one of my favorites, especially with a 4-cylinder. There are no shift paddles, but thats okay. Not every vehicle should have them.

Normal, Smart, Sport, and Custom drive modes adjust settings for engine, transmission, AWD (when equipped) and steering mapping to provide the desired driving experience.

I did spend a lot of time in Sport mode which overcame a bit of lag coming from stop. I do think this engine/transmission combination will deliver satisfactory performance to a wide range of drivers achieving a balance with low fuel consumption.

EPA test-cycle ratings for the front-drive EX are 27 city mpg and 37 highway mpg. I got 26 mpg in my mostly city-type driving.

Theres a complete array of driver-assist safety features on the K5 including forward collision avoidance for pedestrians. The EX I drove also had avoidance for cyclists and at junctions for vehicles approaching on a cross street.

The roomy 16 cu.ft. trunk is a good size when it comes to a midsize sedan. The 60/40 split-folding rear seat adds versatility.

The K5 pricing starts at $23,490 and goes up to $30,490. The EX I drove had a base price of $27,990. The optional Premium Package cost $3,400. AWD on the LXS or GT-Line adds $2,100. Destination charge is $965. Overall pricing provides good value.

More details and information can be found at www.kia.com. Kias 5-year/60,000 mile basic warranty is worth noting. The K5 is assembled here in the United Stated in West Point, Georgia alongside the Telluride UV.

The GT with its 290hp and 8-speed DCT gets shift paddles, sport tuned springs and shocks, upgraded front and rear disc brakes, 19-inch wheels, 40-series performance tires, plus D-shaped flat-bottom steering wheel and other GT interior and exterior trim bits. EPA ratings for the GT are 24 city mpg and 32 highway mpg.

Lastly, the 2021 Kia K5 is a candidate for the Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA) Family Vehicle of the Year award. The K5 has already received a number of accolades and awards, so well see.

 2021 Larry Nutson, the Chicago Car Guy

To See All Specs For All KIA K5 Cars Go To Costco Autos
Mitsubishi News: All-New Outlander PHEV Model Preview

Publisher's Note; This manufacturer's sales release has been published as a free advertising give-a-way of The Auto Channel, Why? Read An Open Letter To Car Maker Marketing Executives; One Hand Should Wash The Other - Automotive PR and Paid Advertising

New Outlander to Adopt an Evolved All-Wheel Control Technology to Provide Safe, Secure and Comfortable Driving

TOKYO, Oct. 1, 2021 -- Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) will use an evolved version of Super-All Wheel Control (S-AWC)* system in its plug-in hybrid (PHEV) model of the all-new Outlander crossover SUV, which is scheduled for launch in Japan in the second half of this fiscal year** and in the U.S. in the second half of calendar-year 2022. The new S-AWC integrated vehicle dynamics control system will provide safe, secure and comfortable driving in various weather and road conditions.

The all-new Outlander PHEV model employs twin-motor 4WD that consists of one motor at the front and another one at the rear of the vehicle. By taking advantage of the electric motors' characteristic high response, high precision and freedom in controlling the front and rear motors, the system optimally distributes the driving force between the front and rear wheels according to road and driving conditions.

Combining this with S-AWC increases vehicle maneuverability in driving, cornering and braking. Conventional models employ a braking control system to control the brake forces in the left and right wheels only on the front, but the evolved S-AWC adds a braking control system for the rear wheels. This reduces the load on the front wheels and makes it possible to extract the maximum performance from all four tires in a more balanced manner and delivers handling true to the driver's intent for safe, secure and comfortable driving in various conditions.

In addition, seven drive modes can be selected depending on road conditions and driving style. Normal, the basic mode, is optimized for normal driving on paved roads. Gravel mode provides balanced operability and road handling ability on unpaved or wet paved roads, and Snow mode delivers stable vehicle behavior on snowy and other slippery roads. In addition, there are Power mode, which offers powerful acceleration, and Eco mode that prioritizes economic and environmentally friendly driving.

*Mitsubishi Motors' all-wheel control technology that offers integrated control of Active Stability Control (ASC), Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and Active Yaw Control (AYC), which controls the left and right wheels via braking.

**Fiscal 2021 is from April 2021 to March 2022.

About Mitsubishi Motors

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation , MMCa member of the Alliance with Renault and Nissan, is a global automobile company based in Tokyo, Japan, which has more than 30,000 employees and a global footprint with production facilities in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, mainland China, the Philippines, Viet Nam and Russia. MMC has a competitive edge in SUVs, pickup trucks and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and appeals to ambitious drivers willing to challenge convention and embrace innovation. Since the production of our first vehicle more than a century ago, MMC has been a leader in electrificationlaunched the i-MiEV the world's first mass-produced electric vehicle in 2009, followed by the Outlander PHEV the world's first plug-in hybrid electric SUV in 2013. MMC announced a three-year business plan in July 2020 to introduce more competitive and cutting-edge models, including the Eclipse Cross PHEV (PHEV model), the all-new Outlander and the all-new Triton/L200. For more information on MMC, please visit the company's website at https://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/en/
Fisker Inc. to Establish Specialty Engineering Division in United Kingdom; David King to Run New Operation







Publisher's Note; This manufacturer's sales release has been published as a free advertising give-a-way by The Auto Channel, Why? Read An Open Letter To Car Maker Marketing Executives; Free Automotive PR Vs. Paid Advertising

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fisker Inc. (Fisker)  passionate creator of the world's most sustainable electric vehicles and advanced mobility solutions  today announced the establishment of The Fisker Magic Works, its UK-based specialty vehicle engineering and development division. This newly created operation will focus on low-volume, rapid-development vehicle programs and specialized versions of the Fisker portfolio. The Fisker Magic Works will instill futuristic design, technology and innovation into high-profile products supporting the mainstream business.

Fisker also confirmed it is hiring respected industry veteran David King as senior vice president of engineering to lead this new UK-based operation. Most recently, David served as vice president and chief special operations officer at Aston Martin Lagonda.

We are on full speed to deliver four distinct vehicle lines by 2025, driving innovation forward and pushing radical new ideas into the global car market, says Fisker CEO and Chairman, Henrik Fisker. The Fisker Magic Works provides us with an opportunity to create sustainable and fantastic vehicles outside the confines of established industry segments. Bringing on David King further strengthens our engineering and creative expertise, and Ive already assigned him two exciting projects which will showcase our capability in highly specialized materials and technologies designed especially for the eco-conscious automotive enthusiast.

In addition to this new commitment to the UK, earlier this year, Fisker confirmed London would be the location for the companys first UK brand experience center. The Fisker Ocean is on target for a Nov. 17, 2022 start of production, with deliveries to the UK commencing during 2023.

This is an incredibly exciting opportunity to create a new engineering center dedicated to bringing amazing ideas to life, said David King. Having spent my career working on vehicles with high displacement gasoline engines, I am relishing working with the design and engineering freedom that electrification provides.

David brings more than 30 years of vehicle engineering and product development leadership experience, primarily at Aston Martin, including serving as president of Aston Martin Racing. His accomplishments include the DB7 V12 Vantage and clean-sheet platform development resulting in the DB9 and Vantage. Davids work on several joint-OEM, rapid development platform-sharing projects with Ford, Jaguar and Daimler is particularly relevant to Fiskers asset-light, compressed timeline philosophy.

Most recently, David successfully led a team of approximately 100 engineers to launch a series of specialty vehicles and develop the Q by Aston Martin bespoke and customization service.

About Fisker Inc.

California-based Fisker Inc. is revolutionizing the automotive industry by developing the most emotionally desirable and eco-friendly electric vehicles on Earth. Passionately driven by a vision of a clean future for all, the company is on a mission to become the No. 1 e-mobility service provider with the world's most sustainable vehicles. To learn more, visit www.FiskerInc.com  and enjoy exclusive content across Fisker's social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. Download the revolutionary new Fisker mobile app from the App Store or Google Play store.
Electric Truck News: Taiwan's Foxconn iPhone Maker Buys Failing Lordstown Ohio Electric Truck Plant

SEE ALSO: EV's Are Only Built On Wall Street

ABC News reported that the agreement with Lordstown gives Foxconn a sprawling manufacturing site where GM built cars for more than 50 years before closing the plant in 2019. At its peak, the factory was home to roughly 10,000 workers.

Lordstown promised to revive the plant after acquiring it in 2019 and had planned to begin production of its marquee Endurance pickup truck in September. Its investors include GM, which took a 5% stake.

Global technology firm Foxconn and startup Lordstown Motors Corp said Friday they plan to pursue a U.S. Energy Department loan from a program to help pay for the costs of retooling a factory to build electric trucks. (WTF?>

Partnership to work jointly on scalable electric vehicle programs at Lordstown Motors assembly plant in Ohio

Lordstown Motors Corp. (Lordstown Motors) , a provider of electric light duty trucks focused on the commercial fleet market, and global technology company Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) (TWSE: 2317), today announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to work jointly on Lordstown Motors electric vehicle programs in Lordstown Motors 6.2 million square foot production and assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio. Beyond certain customary provisions, the Agreement is non-binding and subject to the negotiation and execution of definitive agreements. The parties on the same date have entered into a subscription agreement, under which Foxconn will purchase approximately $50 million of Lordstown Motors common stock directly from Lordstown Motors at a price of $6.8983 per share, the average daily volume adjusted price over the past 15 trading days prior to the execution of the Agreement in Principle. Foxconn has agreed to retain these shares for a specified period.

The agreement between both companies would allow Lordstown Motors to leverage the technology and manufacturing expertise of Foxconn, as Lordstown Motors pursues the production of electric vehicles at its Ohio facility. The goal of the partnership is to present both Lordstown Motors and Foxconn with increased market opportunities in scalable electric vehicle production in North America.

The Agreement provides as follows:

 Lordstown Motors and Foxconn will use commercially reasonable best efforts to negotiate a definitive agreement pursuant to which Foxconn would purchase the Lordstown facility, excluding Lordstown Motors hub motor assembly line, battery module and packing line assets, certain intellectual property rights and other excluded assets, for $230 million.

 Both entities would also negotiate a contract manufacturing agreement, which would be a condition to closing of the facility purchase, whereby Foxconn would manufacture Lordstown Motors Endurance full-size pickup truck at its Lordstown facility. Lordstown Motors would also agree to provide Foxconn with certain rights with respect to future vehicle programs.

 Concurrently with the closing under the definitive agreements, Lordstown Motors would issue warrants to Foxconn that are exercisable until the third anniversary of the closing for 1.7 million shares of common stock at an exercise price of $10.50 per share.

 The parties have agreed to explore licensing arrangements for additional pickup truck programs.

 Following the closing under the definitive agreements, Lordstown Motors would enter into a long-term lease for a portion of the existing facility for its Ohio-based employees, and Foxconn would offer employment to agreed upon Lordstown operational and manufacturing employees.

Young Liu, Chairman of Hon Hai Technology Group, commented We have high expectations through this partnership that we will be able to successfully integrate our resources with Lordstown Motors. In addition to achieving the goal of moving ahead our timeline to establish electric vehicle production capacity in North America, it also reflects Foxconns flexibility in providing design and production services for different EV customers. This mutually beneficial relationship is an important milestone for Foxconns EV business and our transformation strategy. I believe that the innovative design of the Endurance pickup truck, with its unique hub motors, delivers an advantageous user experience and has manufacturing efficiencies. It will undoubtedly thrive under our partnership and business model.

In addition, this facility would serve as a speed to market asset that would also support Foxconn's partner and customer, Fisker Inc.

Daniel Ninivaggi, Chief Executive Officer of Lordstown Motors Corp., stated We are excited about the prospect of joining forces with a world-class smart manufacturer like Foxconn and believe the relationship would provide operational, technology and supply chain benefits to our company and accelerate overall scaled vehicle production and increase employment in the Lordstown facility. The partnership would allow Lordstown Motors to take advantage of Foxconns extensive manufacturing expertise and cost-efficient supply chain, while freeing up Lordstown Motors to focus on bringing the Endurance to market, developing service offerings for our fleet customers and designing and developing innovative new vehicle models.

In connection with the Foxconn announcement, today Lordstown Motors also provided an updated financial and production outlook.

WASHINGTON/DETROIT, Sept 30 (Reuters reported that global technology firm Foxconn will buy an assembly plant owned by U.S. electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors Corp for $230 million and take over production of a new pickup truck, the companies said on Thursday.

Under the in-principle agreement, the Taiwanese tech giant, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. will manufacture Lordstown Motors Endurance full-size pickup truck at its Lordstown facility and it will also support Foxconn's partner and customer, start-up automaker Fisker Inc.

Young Liu, Chairman of Foxconn, said the deal would help Foxconn achieve "the goal of moving ahead our timeline to establish electric vehicle production capacity in North America."

Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker best known for assembling Apple's iPhone, will invest $50 million in Lordstown equity. Lordstown Motors plans to enter into a long-term lease for a portion of the existing facility for its Ohio-based employees, and Foxconn plans to offer employment to many Lordstown employees.
Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers taking part in military training at Pamir Mountains in Kashgar, northwestern China's Xinjiang region, on Jan. 4, 2021. On another Western Theatre Command boundary,100 PLA soldiers intruded 3 miles into Indian territory at Barahoti in Uttrakhand state and destroyed some infrastructure. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

100 Chinese PLA Soldiers Encroach on Indian Territory, Destroy a Bridge

Experts say incident is connected with changes in the PLA leadership

NEW DELHIOne hundred soldiers and 55 horses of the Chinese regimes Peoples Liberation Army crossed three miles into Indian territory, in the Barahoti region of the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, and destroyed infrastructure including a bridge, according to defense insiders who spoke with Indian media.

The incident on Aug. 30 at the Tun Jun La Pass mountain crossing went unnoticed initially by the Indian military and didnt lead to a military confrontation, the Mumbai-based The Economic Times reported, citing Indian government officials.

Locals reported the incident to the Indian army, which sent a patrol to verify. By then, the Chinese forces had left, after spending about three hours in Indian territory.

Experts said the timing of the incident is significant given the history of IndianChinese relations. They also think it may have been driven by the new leader of the PLAs western command, who specializes in patrolling and reconnaissance missions in mountainous terrain and who may have planned the incursion to please Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

What adds an element of concern to this complex situation is the timing of it. Since the intrusion was large  it means that the Chinese side wishes to underline the seriousness of its intent, Rajiv Dogra, a former senior Indian diplomat, told The Epoch Times by email.

Barahoti was the first area of India that saw a Chinese intrusion, in 1954. That expanded to other areas in the following year and led to the 1962 war between the two countries.

As [the recent incident in Barahoti] happened in late August, it is quite possible that it was equally a message for the Quad, which seems to have become a bee in the Chinese bonnet, Dogra said. On Sept. 24, the Quad nationsAustralia, India, Japan, and the United Statesheld their first in-person leadership summit.

Frank Lehberger, a sinologist and senior research fellow with the India-based Usanas Foundation, told The Epoch Times that he suspects that the recent incursion is an attempt by the Chinese to check Indian reaction time in the event of a larger PLA lightning operation.

There is a bit of psychological warfare involved, keeping Indian troops guarding the border on edge and annoying politicians and diplomats in New Delhi, he said.

Barahoti on the de facto border between India and China in the Himalayan state of Uttrakhand, where 100 PLA soldiers intruded on Aug. 30, 2021. (Google maps)

New PLA Leadership

The intrusion incidentally happened in Indian territory on the border with Chinas huge Western Theatre Command (WTC), which covers both Xinjiang and Tibet. Lehberger noted that changes to the WTC leadership took place just before the Barahoti incursion.

PLA General Wang Haijiang is currently in charge of the huge western theatre command  bordering India. Haijiang is only in charge since the beginning of August 2021, and he has recently been promoted by Xi Jinping from Major-General [2-star] to full general [3-star] on Sept. 6, 2021, in Beijing, he said, adding that Haijiang is an expert in patrolling and reconnaissance missions in mountainous terrain.

Haijiang has also published several papers on the physical and tactical aspects of training in mountainous regions and on the importance of defense structures in the Tibet Military District (TMD), a sub-branch of the WTC.

Haijiangs two immediate predecessors were sacked by Xi without any explanation, and there must be a particular, but so far undisclosed, reason why, Lehberger said. Maybe they  managed to arouse Xis anger, fear, or paranoia of attempting to betray him or being involved in some coup.

Haijiangs direct predecessor, WTC commander Xu Qiling, disappeared completely in late July after just two months on the job, according to Lehberger, who said the Chinese regime has provided no explanation.

It must be underlined here that similar unexplained and rapid-fire demotions plus disappearances of top PLA leaders have never occurred in the entire history of the PRC and PLA from 1949 till now, he said.

They are so significant because they remain unprecedented in communist Chinese military history.

Lehberger added that it remains to be seen how long Haijiang, who was previously stationed on the contested Chinese border with India and Bhutan at Doklam until 2019, will last in his new role.

Doklam, or Donglang in Chinese, was the site of a military standoff between PLA and Indian troops for two months in 2017.

In April 2019, Haijiang was publicly commended for his successful coordination of construction of roads and of those notorious militarized Tibetan border settlements at high altitudes [13,000 feet], during the harsh winter months of 2017 in Doklam, Lehberger said, adding that the generals efforts led to the first encampments in the inhospitable winters of Doklam, and that led to his promotion to lieutenant general in 2019.

All this expertise and professionalism of Haijiang can become dangerous to the army of India, as Xi is certainly trying somehow to avenge the humiliation he suffered personally at Galwan last year. So India must remain vigilant.

On June 15, 2020, in a mountainous region in the Galwan Valley, Chinese and Indian troops engaged in hand-to-hand combat, resulting in a reported 20 Indian and 43 Chinese deaths.

Lehberger pointed out that the Aug. 30 intrusion came shortly after a large Chinese war game, Mission Snow-Land 2021, which was organized and overseen by Haijiang in his new capacity as WTC commander around Aug. 25.

I guess this incursion  was the opus of Haijiang, or of one of his disciples who is now in charge of TMD, copying Haijiang, Lehberger said.

The Barahoti incursion also could be Haijiangs personal welcome gift to please Xi, he said.

This could also explain Xis hasty and out-of-schedule promotion of Haijiang. Military promotions in China are only done tightly around PLA-day on August 1, never months before or after.
A J-15 fighter jet landing on China's sole operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, during a drill at sea on April 24, 2018. (AFP via Getty Images)

25 Fighter Jets Enter Into Taiwans Defense Zone in 1 Day

The Chinese communist regime flew 25 fighter jets into Taiwans Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Oct. 1, a national holiday in China when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) commemorates its hostile takeover of the mainland in the late-1940s.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Taiwanese military said the fighters involved included 18 J-16 jets, four SU-30 planes, two H-6 bombers, as well as one anti-submarine aircraft.

Taiwan responded to the hostile actions by deploying air patrol forces and tracked the Chinese aircraft on its air defense systems, the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense said.

The ADIZ is a specific area beyond a countrys sovereign territory within which the country requires the identification, location, and air traffic control of aircraft in the interest of its national security.

25 PLA aircraft (J-16*18, SU-30*4, H-6*2 and Y-8 ASW) entered #Taiwans southwest ADIZ on October 1, 2021. Please check our official website for more information: https://t.co/C7012S8hSo pic.twitter.com/HoalLl3Ewx   Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C.  (@MoNDefense) October 1, 2021

China has sent military planes toward the island that it claims as part of its territory on a near-daily basis in the last couple of years, stepping up military harassment with drills.

The CCP claims that Taiwan is its territory, in spite of the fact that Taiwan has been self-governing since 1949, and that it has never governed Taiwan.

Last week, the communist regime flew 24 fighter jets toward Taiwan, one day after the island nation applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)a trade group that China also applied to join.

A Chinese PLA J-16 fighter jet flies in an undisclosed location in a file photo. (Taiwan Ministry of Defense via AP)

Beijings largest daily military incursion occurred on June 15, when the Chinese military sent 28 jets into Taiwans ADIZ after leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations issued a statement calling for a peaceful resolution of cross-Taiwan Strait issues.

Fridays show of force was the second largest daily incursion since the 28 jets breached Taiwans ADIZ in June.

Beijing labels any foreign governments engagement with Taiwan as a challenge to its sovereignty. It squeezes Taiwans international space, trying to isolate the Asian democracy from global groups like the World Health Organization. China also runs afoul of nations that wish to establish closer ties with Taiwan, like Lithuania and Japan, who donated vaccines to Taiwan this year.

Frank Yue contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Scarlett Johansson poses on the red carpet during the Oscars arrivals at the 92nd Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif., on Feb. 9, 2020. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

Actress Scarlett Johansson Settles Lawsuit With Disney After Claiming Breach of Contract

Actress Scarlett Johansson, star of the Marvel superhero movie Black Widow, has settled her lawsuit against Walt Disney after alleging that the company breached her contract when it released the movie in theatres while simultaneously streaming it on Disney+.

As of yet, details regarding the final outcome of the lawsuitincluding whether there was any financial compensationhave not been provided but both Disney and Johansson have released statements confirming the news.

I am happy to have resolved our differences with Disney. Im incredibly proud of the work weve done together over the years and have greatly enjoyed my creative relationship with the team. I look forward to continuing our collaboration in years to come, Johansson said in her statement on Thursday.

Alan Bergman, the chairman of Disney Studios Content, also released a statement on Twitter in which he shared his relief that the actress and Walt Disney were able to reach a mutual agreement.

Im very pleased that we have been able to come to a mutual agreement with Scarlett Johansson regarding Black Widow. We appreciate her contributions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and look forward to working together on a number of upcoming projects, including Disneys Tower of Terror, Bergman said.

Johansson took action against the Walt Disney Company back in July when she accused them of breaching her contract by offering the new Marvel movie via streaming while also playing it in theaters.

The lawsuit did not specify the amount of compensation Johansson sought to be rewarded for alleged damages but Johansson argued that releasing the movie via two separate mediums had reduced her compensation.

The actress claimed that the film was supposed to run exclusively in cinemas, on which her salary was party based.

At the time, Disney said there was no merit to the lawsuit and that they had not breached the actresss contract. Disney also claimed that the release of the movie on its streaming platform had significantly enhanced her (Johanssons) ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20 million she has received to date.

After more than a year of being delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Black Widow debuted on July 9 in theaters while Disney+ customers were able to stream it for $30.

In her lawsuit, Johansson claimed that Disney had purposely steered its customers towards Disney+, where it could keep the revenues for itself while simultaneously growing the Disney+ subscriber base, a proven way to boost Disneys stock price.

Its no secret that Disney is releasing films like Black Widow directly onto Disney+ to increase subscribers and thereby boost the companys stock price and that its hiding behind COVID-19 as a pretext to do so, John Berlinski, attorney for Johansson, said at the time.

Disney added that Johanssons lawsuit demonstrated a callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and had no merit.

Berlinski noted that he expects more Hollywood stars to challenge Disney going forward.

This will surely not be the last case where Hollywood talent stands up to Disney and makes it clear that, whatever the company may pretend, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts, he said at the time.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Alex Jones Ordered to Pay Damages to Families of Sandy Hook Victims

InfoWars founder Alex Jones must pay damages to the families of some of the children who were killed in a 2012 mass shooting in Connecticut, a Texas judge has ruled.

Jones and his company repeatedly violated this courts discovery orders, Travis County Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, a Democrat, said in her ruling, which was dated Sept. 27 and unsealed Thursday.

The defendants unreasonably and vexatiously failed to comply with their discovery duties in multiple lawsuits concerning Sandy Hook filed by parents of victims, including Scarlett Lewis and Leonard Pozner, Gamble also wrote.

The judge entered a default judgment against Jones and the other defendants. She said lesser penalties had not been effective in the past in compelling adequate responses to discovery and that she was taking into account the defendants general bad faith approach to litigation, Mr. Jones public threats, and Mr. Jones professed belief that these proceedings are show trials.'

A default judgement can be entered when one party fails to perform an action ordered by the court. Such judgements are rare.

The amount of the damages will be decided by a jury at a future date.

Jones and the other defendants showed blatant disregard for the courts authority, Bill Ogden, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told The Epoch Times. They believe the ruling was correct.

Norm Pattis, an InfoWars attorney, told The Epoch Times in an email that The ruling is wrong as a matter of law and as a matter of fact.

We will file a motion for reconsideration, and, if necessary, an appeal. Mr. Jones has been compliant with discovery. The plaintiffs are resorting to legal gamesmanship in the hopes of avoiding trying questionable cases on the merits, he added.

Jones said in a joint statement with Pattis that the judgement did not take account of the tens of thousands of documents produced by the defendants, the hours they spent sitting for depositions, and the various sworn statements filed in the cases.

A memorial to Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims is seen in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 18, 2012. (Charles Krupa/AP Photo)

The pair noted that the cases in question are all before the U.S. Supreme Court after the Texas Supreme Court in January denied attempts to dismiss them.

We are distressed by what we regard as a blatant abuse of discretion by the trial court. We are determined to see that these cases are heard on the merits. Nothing less than the fundamental right to speak freely is at stake in these cases, they added. It is not overstatement to say the First Amendment was crucified today.

The cases date back to 2018, when Pozner and other parents lodged separate complaints over Joness comments regarding the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012.

Authorities say Adam Lanza, 20, opened fire and killed 26 people, including 20 children. Lanza committed suicide before he could be arrested.

Jones has suggested that the shooting was faked and that parents of the victims are lying.

In depositions in 2019 that Jones sat down for as part of the legal cases, he said he had something akin to a form of psychosis that made him question everything. Jones also said that he talks for his show about four hours a day and I cant remember what I talked about sometimes a week ago.

Jones has lost at least one other case related to his comments about Sandy Hook. He was ordered later in 2019 to pay $100,000 to Neil Heslin, whose 6-year-old son was one of those shot.

Editors Note: This article has been updated with comments from Norm Pattis.
Labels of digital payment (from top) VISA, WeChat Pay and Alipay are displayed outside a boutique at a shopping mall in Hong Kong, China, July 31, 2018. (Reuters/Bobby Yip).

Alibaba Opens Up Apps to Support Rivals Payment Service Under Beijings Scrutiny

Analysis

Chinas largest internet corporations are decimating their walled-off ecosystems amid Beijing tightening regulations on its tech giants. The latest instance came when Alibaba Group allowed rival Tencents payment system to be integrated with some of its apps this week.

Such practices have come under scrutiny from Chinese regulators, which have launched new rules across areas from data security to anti-monopoly.

Alongside an existing payment service Alipay run by its affiliate Ant Group, Alibaba now allows users to purchase items on some of its apps via WeChat Pay, the payment service run by its rival Tencent.

Alibaba confirmed the change with state-run media The Paper on Sept. 28, adding that the company will continue to find common ground with peers to serve consumers better.

Alibaba reportedly added some online services to accept WeChat Pay, including its food delivery app Ele.me, video service Youku, online ticketing platform Damai, e-book reader Shuqi; its used goods marketplace Idle Fish, online grocery store Hema, and other apps will support Tencents payment service soon.

Consumers in China are far more accustomed to transacting on a daily basis using Tencents WeChat Pay and Ants Alipay rather than cash or credit cards. Both services have around one billion users and have historically blocked links from within their services to rivals content.

The countrys internet arena has long been dominated by ecosystems built around the two giants. Through their apps, users can access a range of services, from grocery shopping to flights and hotel booking services. Without leaving these apps, people can pay for most of their goods and services.

Top technology regulators have ordered large internet companies to stop blocking links to one anothers content as part of a broader campaign to curb their growing monopoly power over data.

Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) called a guidance meeting on Sept. 9 with a handful of tech giants over issues such as blocking links, according to the 21st Century Business Herald. Attendees included companies listed on the New York or Hong Kong stock exchanges, like Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Xiaomi, etc.

Days later, Tencents messaging app, WeChat, started allowing users to access external links. Previously, it had not allowed its users to click on links sent via chat to, for example, the product listings from Alibabas online Taobao marketplace.

The changes are taking place as Chinese authorities continue to tighten regulations in the internet sector. The integration of WeChat Pay with Alibabas apps is apparent to go one step further.

In April, Chinas antitrust regulators fined Alibaba a record $2.75 billion for anti-competitive behavior.
Alito Pushes Back on Sinister Portrayal of Supreme Court Shadow Docket

A top conservative justice on the Supreme Court on Thursday challenged critics who have claimed the court is abusing the so-called shadow docket process.

The process unfolds when the court is petitioned to make a quick decision by litigants who believe their cases have been wrongly decided by a lower court. The decisions are issued without oral arguments or other briefings. Theyre meant to be temporary while an appeal is made.

The court recently made three such decisions. Justices ruled against halting the pro-life Texas law, reinstated the previous administrations Remain in Mexico program, and rejected a Biden administration rule that was blocking evictions in most of the country.

Our decisions in these three emergency matters have been criticized by those who think we should have decided them the other way, and I have no trouble with fair criticism of the substance of those decisions, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, a George W. Bush nominee, said during remarks delivered at the University of Notre Dame.

My complaint concerns all the media and political talk about our sinister shadow docket. The truth of the matter is that there was nothing new or shadowy about the procedures we followed in those casesits hard to see how we could handle most emergency matters any differently, he added.

Critics are painting a sinister portrayal of the court and its decisions on emergency motions but that portrayal is misleading, according to Alito.

Critics include some of his colleagues.

Todays ruling illustrates just how far the Courts shadow-docket decisions may depart from the usual principles of appellate process, Justice Elena Kagan, in a dissent to the Texas decision joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, wrote last month.

The shadow-docket decisionmaking every day becomes more unreasoned, inconsistent, and impossible to defend, the Obama nominee added after accusing the majority of only cursorily reviewing the submissions by the parties in the case.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, claimed in a hearing on Wednesday on the Texas law that the majority of justices on the Supreme Court are abusing the emergency docket.

In recent years, the Supreme Court has started to use the shadow docket for more political and controversial decisions, with results that appear on their face to be ideologically driven, he said.

Others have backed the court, arguing there is nothing untoward with what has been done.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the top Republican on the panel, noted that many of the emergency docket decisions have dealt with last-minute appeals in death penalty cases.

We didnt hear complaints from the liberals in the Senate about the docket for those cases, he said.

While the proceedings are fast-paced, the reality is that litigation sometimes presents emergencies that require emergency action from whatever court is called upon to judge the matter, Edmund LaCour, Alabamas solicitor general, told the committee, calling the term shadow docket evocative but ultimately inept.

Alito acknowledged there have been more emergency motions in recent years but said that jump stemmed in part from the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw society changed dramatically by a wide range of new rules and procedures.

He also said he wasnt suggesting that our current practice is perfect and that possible changes should not be considered. But he said that the recent portrayal of the court feeds unprecedented efforts to intimidate the court or damage it as an independent institution.

Alito spoke on the same day justices received a fresh emergency appeal from teachers in New York City who object to a looming COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Masooma Haq and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
A vial of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine placed on displayed EU flag is seen in this illustration picture taken on March 24, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

AstraZeneca Says Its COVID-19 Vaccine Is 74 Percent Effective in US Testing

AstraZenecas COVID-19 vaccine is 74 percent effective in preventing symptomatic illness, according to data from its U.S. clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

The phase 3 trial involved more than 32,000 participants in the United States, Peru, and Chile, who either received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine or a saline injection four weeks apart. However, data was based only on 26,212 participants.

The vaccines overall effectiveness of 74 percent was slightly lower than the initial analysis of 76 percent reported earlier in March by the drugmaker. But the vaccine was still 100 percent effective against severe or critical disease as no cases were observed in the fully vaccinated group compared to eight in the placebo group.

Participants in the vaccinated group experienced more solicited adverse events, which were mostly mild or moderate and were fewer in number after the second dose, within 28 days than those in the placebo group (40.6 percent versus 29.7 percent). However, the number of occurrences of adverse events requiring medical attention or of special interest were similar in both groups.

Researchers of the study said there were no cases of a rare but serious blood clotting with low platelets disorder called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) associated with the vaccine, which began to surface in late February 2021.

Although no evidence of increased overall risk of thrombosis or thrombosis with thrombocytopenia was noted among participants who received AZD1222 in this trial, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (also known as vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia) is rare, the authors wrote.

Independent safety reviews by regulatory authorities of available clinical and real-world evidence have concluded that the benefits of AZD1222 outweigh the potential risks, with protection from the serious consequences of COVID-19 increasing with age and SARS-CoV-2 infection rate.

Exterior view of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in Amsterdams business district, Netherlands, on April 20, 2021. (Peter Dejong/AP Photo)

A committee responsible for preparing the European Medicines Agencys opinions regarding human medicines said that it could not identify particular risk factors that make TTS more likely after analyzing all the available data related to the blood clotting disorder that occurred after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The evidence did not allow EMA to identify particular risk factors that make TTS more likely. Although spontaneous reports when put in relation to the exposure have suggested that the risk may be higher in women and in younger adults, and lower after the second compared to the first dose, the limitations of the way the data is collected mean that none of these differences could be confirmed, the committee said in a statement on Sept. 17.

The committee also said that the second dose may be continued to be given between the recommended four and 12 weeks after the first dose since there was no evidence that delaying the second dose has any influence on the risk of TTS.

In April, the EMAs safety committee announced that blood clots with low platelets should be listed as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and reminded health care professionals and individuals getting the vaccine to remain aware of the possibility of the severe clotting disorder within two weeks of vaccination.

Despite the reported cases of blood clots and low platelets, the EMA says the condition is very rare, and the overall benefits of the vaccine in preventing COVID-19 outweigh the risks of side effects.

A study funded by the drugmaker and released in July showed that its COVID-19 vaccine carried a small risk of blood clotting with low platelets after the first shot. The estimated rate of serious blood clotting disorder after the first injection was 8.1 per million in those who were vaccinated.

A spokesperson for AstraZeneca told The Epoch Times in an email that it will submit an application for approval from the Food and Drug Administration later this year.

Currently, the situation with respect to the pandemic and availability of alternative vaccine supply in the US doesnt really support an Emergency Use Approval. So, we believe that US approval will be via a BLA [biologics license application] which we expect to be submitted later this year, the spokesperson said.

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is only administered to adults 18 and older and is being used in countries including several European countries, Brazil, Australia (for people over 50), Canada (for those over 55), India, South Korea, and Papua New Guinea.
Flags of Taiwan and the United States are placed for a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 27, 2018. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

At Event With UN Envoy, US Says Committed to Taiwans International Participation

TAIPEIThe United States remains committed to expanding Taiwans space for international participation, a senior U.S. diplomat said at an event with Taiwans foreign minister that was also attended by the deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The Chinese regime claims Taiwan as its own, despite the fact that Taiwan is a de facto independent country, with its own military, democratically-elected government, and constitution.

The Chinese regime blocks Taiwan from taking part in most global bodies such as the United Nations.

Speaking at a virtual panel on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals on Wednesday, Jeremy Cornforth, deputy director of the de facto U.S. embassy the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), said tech heavyweight Taiwan was committed to using its technological prowess for the common good.

Cornforth noted Taiwan was prevented from meaningful participation in bodies including the World Health Assembly, but said the event would highlight how Taiwan is using its technological prowess to help the international community solve shared challenges.

The United States remains committed to expanding Taiwans international space, he added, in comments released by AIT on Thursday.

AIT said Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeffrey Prescott gave closing remarks, though gave no details.

Washington has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is its strongest international backer and routinely denounces Chinese pressure against the island.

Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told the same event that Taiwan was an indispensable member of the international community.

It is now the time for the United Nations to take action to resolve Taiwans improper exclusion from the United Nations system, his ministry cited him as saying.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Republic of ChinaTaiwans formal namebeing replaced at the United Nations by the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing, which continues to claim the right to represent Taiwan globally.

The democratically elected government of Taiwan says only its people have the right to speak for it on the world stage.

Epoch Times staff contributed to this report
BHP's logo is projected on a screen during a round-table meeting with journalists in Tokyo, Japan, on June 5, 2017. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Australia to Eclipse 14-year M&A Record, Powered by Infrastructure, Resources Deals

HONG KONGAustralia is set for its best year ever in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) activity despite extended pandemic-induced lockdowns in its most populous states as cash-rich corporates and funds scoop up assets, with bankers seeing no sign of the momentum slowing.

Deals involving Australian companies totalled $329.2 billion in the first nine months of 2021, up nearly six times year-on-year and exceeding the same-period amount of the previous three years combined, Refinitiv data showed. The previous annual record was $139 billion in 2007.

The volumes were driven by a number of mega deals targeting listed infrastructure and resources firms.

Those included BHP Groups proposed $86 billion unification of its dual-listed company structure and the $14 billion sale of its petroleum business to Woodside Petroleum.

Infrastructure assets in Australia were particularly attractive to superannuation and pension funds, which are eager to deploy their low-cost capital for stable, long-term gains, bankers said.

Investors into semi-regulated infrastructure assets have high confidence in the future cash flows of the assets they are buying, said Nick Sims, Goldman Sachs Australia co-head of investment banking.

Goldman led the league table for announced M&A deals in Asia Pacific, followed by Morgan Stanley and UBS.

Rates are going to stay low for the foreseeable future, if they do increase it will be at a slow pace, so infrastructure investors are investing with a long-term time frame, Sims added.

The deals were struck while many states in the country have been in and out of strict lockdowns since the onset of COVID-19.

The lockdowns and the uncertainty around the demand side has really led corporate leaders to take a strategic reset of sorts, said Alex Cartel, Citigroups Australia head of investment banking.

You had a number of corporates, private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds with access to capital markets, that had strategic ambitions that have said lets get going.

Pent-Up Demand

Deals targeting Australian companies, at $200 billion, made up 20 percent of the regions overall value, compared to just 4 percent in the same period last year, according to Refinitiv data.

Tom Barsha, Bank of Americas co-head of M&A in Asia Pacific, said Australia represented a real shift in the overall relative contribution to Asia Pacific volumes.

There are a number of factors all coming together, including some pent-up demand from last year. Also noteworthy is the level of cross-border inbound activity. Im not seeing signs of activity slowing down.

U.S. payments firm Square Inc. made the years biggest foray into Australia in August with the $29 billion acquisition of local fintech firm Afterpay.

Overall Asia Pacific deals reached a record $1.25 trillion from January to September, up 46 percent year-on-year, with Southeast Asia and private equity-backed transactions also scoring new highs, Refinitiv data showed.

Samson Lo, head of Asia M&A at UBS, said more assets owned by private equity firms were set to be put on sale, while mergers between Special-Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) and their targets would likely be another volume driver.
Travellers walk towards the departures gate at the International Airport in Sydney, Australia on March 25, 2020. (Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Australia to Open International Border to the World Again

Australia will open its international border in November after 18 months of tough border restrictions.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday the detailed plan to lift the international travel ban. States and territories will reopen at varying rates, depending on when they hit the 80 percent double-dose vaccination goal.

New South Wales (NSW) is likely to be the first one to open its international border, with a date of reaching the 80 percent vaccination goal forecasted on Oct. 25.

Its time to give Australians their lives back, Morrison said in the press conference. Weve saved lives. Weve saved livelihoods, but we must work together to ensure that Australians can reclaim the lives that they once had in this country.

Fully vaccinated Aussies can leave or enter the country at will. Unvaccinated will still be restricted by travel caps.

Returning citizens and permanent residents fully vaccinated with a vaccine recognised by the nations drug regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) will also be able to quarantine at home for seven days, while others will be required to quarantine for 14 days.

Those who are under 12 or have medical exemptions will be treated as vaccinated.

Australians leaving the country are promised to have a vaccine document that is internationally recognised.

The TGA will also recognize two new COVID-19 vaccines as recognised vaccines, Chinas Sinovac and Indias Covishield, for those entering the country. The TGA will however not recognise Chinas Sinopharm vaccine.

Australian universities have been urging the government to approve Chinese vaccines so that Chinese international students, a key market for the nations education sector, can return to Australia.

Australia shut its border on Mar. 20, 2020, with citizens and permanent residents needing government-granted exemptions to leave the country. Those who return are required to go through a 14-day hotel quarantine upon arrival, which costs over $3000 (US $2166).

The NSW government has indicated that it would like to welcome thousands of Australians back when borders reopen. Currently, over 45,000 Australians are still stranded overseas waiting to come home.

The federal government is also working on quarantine-free travel with countries like New Zealand, Singapore, and the South Pacific region. Qantas, Australias major airline, has already scheduled the first batch of international flights for vaccinated passengers. The flights will depart from Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, with destinations including London, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Vancouver, Singapore, Tokyo, and Fiji.
Leader of Australias Most Populous State Resigns as Corruption Probe Announced

NSW to get fourth leader in 10 years

New South Wales (NSW) Premier Gladys Berejiklian has resigned after the states anti-corruption watchdog announced an investigation into her relationship with a former member of Parliament who is suspected of corruption.

I was advised late yesterday afternoon, the Independent Commission Against Corruption will today, release a public statement in which it stated is investigating allegations made about me concerning matters relating to the former member for Wagga Wagga, she told reporters on Oct. 1.

It is clear from the ICAC statement the issues which it is investigating are historic matters that have already been the subject of numerous attacks on me by political opponents in the last 12 months, she added.

I have made it clear on numerous occasions that if any of my ministers were the subject of allegations being investigated by an integrity agency or law enforcement, then he or she should stand aside during the course of the investigation until their name was cleared.

The reason for my stance was not to have made any presumptions, as to their conduct, but rather to maintain the integrity of the public office  standing aside is not an option for me as the Premier of New South Wales, the people of this state need certainty as to who their leader is during the challenging times of the pandemic, she said.

Berejiklian will leave the states Parliament as soon as a by-election can be held for her seat of Willoughby covering north Sydney and will remain premier until a successor is appointed.

On Oct. 1, ICAC announced it would investigate whether the premier exercised public functions in conflict with her secret, five-year private relationship with Daryl Maguire, which was made public in late 2020.

Maguire is accused of abusing public officer while serving between 2012 to 2018 as a state member of Parliament.

He is accused of using his public office and parliamentary resources to gain benefits for himself or a company he effectively controlled, G8way International.

He was forced to quit in 2018 after a separate ICAC inquiry heard evidence he sought payments to help broker deals for property developers.

A public inquiry into Berejiklian will be held from Oct. 18 and overseen by Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl S.C., it is expected to last 10 days.

The Commission said the premier would be investigated specifically over funding grants to the Australian Clay Target Association in 2016-17, and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music in Wagga Wagga in 2018.

It will examine whether her relationship with Macguire, a member of Parliament at the time, influenced those arrangements and constitute a breach of public trust.

Further, it will look into whether Berejiklian should have suspected on reasonable grounds that Maguire may have engaged in corrupt conduct and whether she was liable to allow or encourage this conduct.
Protesters march across Victoria Bridge during a rally against Covid-19 vaccine mandates, in Brisbane, Australia. #ReclaimTheLine rallies across Australia, on Oct. 1, 2021. (Dan Peled/Getty Images)

Australians Strike Against Vaccine Mandates in Nationwide ReclaimTheLine Protests

Australian workers across multiple sectors held strikes across the country on Friday to speak up against state government vaccination mandates in what participants say is an effort to Reclaim the Line.

Workers gathered in almost two dozen regions across the country. Participants wore white shirts on which they wrote #ReclaimTheLine on the front and their profession and years of service on the back.

The initiative was spearheaded by National Education United (NEU), a recently-formed alliance comprising more than 18,000 members from multiple industries, according to the group. Workers across all sectors affected by mandatory vaccination policiesincluding police, paramedics, firefighters, nurses, health care workers, construction workers, miners, airline staff, truck drivers, and teacherswere welcomed to join the effort.

On October 1 we reclaim the line that was taken from us. Freedom, liberty, and our right to choose if we take the vaccine, the NEU announced on Sept. 25. This will be our defining moment in history. This is the line in the sand. The hill we stand on. We will do this in silence and wearing white. We will come peacefully and respectfully. We will show the authorities we are united as one country and that they have no need to be violent with us.

The event gained widespread traction on multiple Telegram channels that post about issues of mandatory vaccinations. The NEU said in a Telegram post at the conclusion of the strike, Do not underestimate the significance of what we accomplished today.

The strike came on the same day that New South Wales State Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced her resignation, after the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said it launched a probe into her dealings with a former politician suspected of corruption.

On the same day, Victorian State Premier Daniel Andrews announced that some 1.25 million authorised workers in the state must have a first dose of the vaccine by Oct. 15 and a second dose by Nov. 26.

Sydney, NSW

Protesters rallying against mandatory vaccinations gather along the Parramatta River in Sydney, Australia as part of the #ReclaimTheLine protests across the country on Oct. 1, 2021. (Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)

Protesters rallying against mandatory vaccinations gather along the Parramatta River in Sydney, Australia on Oct. 1, 2021. (Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)

Protesters rallying against mandatory vaccinations gather along the Parramatta River in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 1, 2021. (Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)

Melbourne, Victoria

Workers, including nurses and teachers, gather opposite Westfield Knox police station to demonstrate against vaccine mandates in east Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 1, 2021. (Alex Joseph/The Epoch Times)

Brisbane, Queensland

Protesters hold up signs as they march across Victoria Bridge during a rally against a mandatory Covid-19 vaccine in Brisbane, Australia, on Oct. 1, 2021. (Dan Peled/Getty Images)

Protesters hold candles outside Parliament House during a rally against a mandatory Covid-19 vaccine in Brisbane, Australia, on Oct. 1, 2021. (Dan Peled/Getty Images)

Protesters march across Victoria Bridge during a rally against a mandatory Covid-19 vaccine in Brisbane, Australia, on Oct. 1, 2021. (Dan Peled/Getty Images)

Read More West Australians March Against No Jab, No Job Mandate For Health Staff

Perth, Western Australia

West Australians gather to protest mandated vaccine requirements for healthcare workers outside the WA Department of Health building in Perth, Australia on Oct. 1, 2021. (Daniel Khmelev/The Epoch Times)

West Australians gather to protest mandated vaccine requirements for healthcare workers outside the WA Department of Health building in Perth, Australia on Oct. 1, 2021. (Daniel Khmelev/The Epoch Times)

Other regions organised for participants to gather on Oct. 1:

NSW: Penrith, Blue Mountains, Wollongong, Albury, Wagga Wagga, Central Coast, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay

Penrith, Blue Mountains, Wollongong, Albury, Wagga Wagga, Central Coast, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay Queensland: Coolangatta, Cairns

Coolangatta, Cairns ACT: Canberra

Canberra Western Australia: Perth

Perth Victoria: Ballarat, Geelong, North Melbourne, East Melbourne, South East Melbourne, Outer East Melbourne, and Sale
Britains Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Australias Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and U.S. President Joe Biden at a joint press conference via AVL from The Blue Room at Parliament, in Canberra, Australia, on Sept. 16, 2021. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image)

Australias New Course: Morrisons Foreign Policy Abandons Former PMs Asian Pandering

Commentary

For decades Australia sold its soul to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in exchange for getting rich on trade.

The recently signed AUKUS treaty represents a major foreign policy pivot born of an Australian awakening from self-imposed blindness about the CCP and a recognition that Australians have seen China through rose-tinted glasses for too long.

Both AUKUS and the Quad alliances signal a realisation that the costs of allowing China to become Australias leading trading partner were too high.

But Prime Minister Scott Morrisons policy shift is not just about China. It is a change that reveals two different prime ministerial visions of Australia and its place in the world.

To use journalist David Goodharts terminology, we are witnessing a shift from Paul Keatings anywhere (globalist and internationalist) vision to Morrisons somewhere (Australia-rooted) vision.

Goodharts book, The Road to Somewhere, states that anywhere people see themselves as global citizens of the world who are happy to live anywhere. Therefore, they are not interested in the sovereignty of their own countries and will happily hand over control to multilateral organisations like the United Nations and weaken their own borders.

Further, their identities are not acquired from embeddedness in national communities (Australia) or local communities (Brisbane or Sydney). Instead, anywheres learn their shared globalist identities from education and passing exams. These identities are often entangled with internationalist causesto help victimsand a strong need to be seen to have tolerance of others. As a result, anywheres will happily throw open their borders to mass immigration to demonstrate they are not bigoted.

Former prime minister Paul Keating waits for Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten at the Labor campaign launch at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre as part of the 2016 election campaign in Sydney, Australia, on June 19, 2016. (Mick Tsikas-Pool/Getty Images)

Somewheres, on the other hand, have identities that are rooted in their local communities and countries. They identify with their own nations traditions, institutions, and values and care about loyalty, authority, and the sacred.

Somewheres not only see themselves as first and foremost rooted in their own societies, but they also care about faith, flag, and family. Consequently, somewheres are prepared to negotiate deals with other like-minded countries but will not give up their sovereignty.

Similarly, somewheres will also resist open borders and mass immigration because these are seen as a potential threat to their own cultures and sovereignty.

Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating was a classic anywhere globalist who worked hard to try and realign Australian thinking.

At heart, Keating seemed embarrassed by his own country and culture. He disliked Australias Anglo heritage and British imperial past. For this reason, he proposed that Australians should turn their back on this heritage in favour of seeing themselves as a nation belonging to the anywhere Asia.

And so, in the decades during and after Keatings prime ministership, globalisation, mass migration, and multiculturalism became the yay words pushed by the Australian media.

Keatings reorientation of Australia raised three concerns.

First, globalisation resulted in mass deindustrialisation and the export of Australian jobs to China. By the time the CCP became militarily assertive, Australia had found itself, dependant on external supply chains that the CCP could disrupt.

Second, following Keating, Australians became obsessed with pivoting towards Asia and building Asian trade. This gave rise to a curious Asian cringe in which Australians fell over themselves to try and please the CCP rulers of China. Australian somewheres watched their fellow Australians became embarrassingly obsequious in their attempt to be liked by Asian leaders.

The business sector continually reminded politicians and media pundits that growing the economy meant pleasing China. Similarly, teachers and academics taught Australians that their economic future lay in Asia.

Former Labor Party Opposition Leader Bill Shorten (L), former Prime Minister Paul Keating and Prime Minister Scott Morrison (R) walk along with the Roll of Honour during the Remembrance Day Service at the Australian War Memorial Canberra, Australia, on Nov. 11, 2018. (Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images)

Anyone raising concerns about Australias over-dependence on Chinese trade, or criticising how Australian universities were at increasing risk due to a reliance on Chinese students, or even questioning Australias mass migration policy, would be scolded for being racist.

Ultimately this Asia pivot was catastrophic for Australia because although relocating factories to China may have resulted in cheaper goods, this simultaneously turned China into an industrial giant. Moreover, the failure to think through such unintended consequences led to Australians accidentally giving the CCP the resources with which to build their military that now threatens to bite.

Third, from the Hawke-Keating government (1983 to 1996) onwards, Australia rolled out a mass education system that propagated the concept of appeasing China, plus the notion that Australians should be embarrassed and apologetic about its colonial past.

The irony is that Keatings constant criticism of Australians and pandering to their British cousinsand pushing the education system to drop this positionwas instead, replaced with an Asian pandering.

The CCP quickly realised how they could use this and take advantage of naive Australian anywheres.

By the time Morrison became prime minister, Australians would find themselves hopelessly dependent upon trade with China. If that was not bad enough, China was ruled by a communist regime that behaved aggressively and began demonstrating signs of an expansionist power.

Once the CCP became sufficiently powerful, they made it clear to Australia that it needed to choose between Beijing or Washington D.C. Judging by Keatings latest outburst, aimed squarely at the AUKUS deal, the former prime minister would presumably have chosen Beijing.

Morrison, though has chosen the United States, and in turn, democracy and freedom.

Morrisons refusal to kowtow to the CCP despite immense pressure shows he has pivoted away from two features of the Australia that Keating worked to create.

First, Morrison has led Australians away from Keatings Asian pandering.

Second, he has demonstrated that he thinks like a somewhere by doing deals that benefit Australias national interest, including AUKUS and the Quad.

Looking at these deals, one notes that Prime Ministers Scott Morrison, Boris Johnson (United Kingdom), Narendra Modi (India), and now retired Yoshihide Suga (Japan) all fought and won somewhere elections. No wonder Keating is unhappy with this new-look Australia.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Surveillance cameras are seen in front of a Huawei logo in Belgrade, Serbia, on Aug. 11, 2020. (Marko Djurica/Reuters)

Beijing Groomed Telecom Giant Huawei to Expand Chinas Global Influence: Report

A recently released French report provides a comprehensive summary of Chinese telecom conglomerate Huaweis role in the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) decades-long global influence operations in the West.

The 650-page report was published by the French Military School Strategic Research Institute (known by its French acronym IRSEM), an independent agency affiliated with the French Ministry of Armed Forces.

Through heavy state subsidies and international lobbying efforts, Beijing has embedded Huaweis technology in a wide array of infrastructure around the world. However, Western governments are becoming increasingly aware of the security threats, including data gathering and industrial espionage, allegations that Huawei has repeatedly denied.

Illicit Data Collecting and Espionage

Many Chinese state-owned telecommunications companies are heavily subsidizedespecially Huaweito win overseas contracts, the report said. Consequently, Huawei has brought legitimate security concerns to countries using its technology, or where its employees carry out clandestine operations.

In 2019, the United States found that Huawei had access to 4G network equipment through backdoors installed in its system since 2009. The details were disclosed to the United Kingdom and Germany the same year.

We have evidence that Huawei has the capability to secretly access sensitive and personal information in systems it maintains and sells around the world, then-U.S. national security adviser Robert OBrien told The Wall Street Journal in February 2020.

Similarly, Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company KPN, which had been using Huawei technology since 2009, was previously warned of spy activities by Dutch domestic intelligence service AIVD.

A 2010 report made available to KPN confirmed Huaweis surveillance activities such as eavesdropping on Dutch mobile network customers, including the prime minister and government officials, obtaining personal contacts from mobile devices, as well as it could potentially disable the entire network. However, this report was kept confidential until the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant wrote an expose on Huaweis operations in April this year.

Also in 2019, two cases of Huawei employees accused of spying for the CCP were exposed in Poland and in the Czech Republic.

A Huawei sales director in Poland was arrested by Polish authorities based on allegations that his work with Huawei was a front to spy for the CCP. Huawei terminated the employee immediately after his arrest, stating the allegations have nothing to do with the company.

Two former Huawei employees in the Czech Republic told Czech public radio that they collected and shared sensitive client information with Chinese authorities. The data was entered into an internal database managed by Huaweis headquarters in China. The targeted clients include state officials, mainly department directors or deputy ministers, who would then be invited to a conference or a trip to China.

Huawei has repeatedly denied working with the Chinese regime.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping virtually addresses the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 21, 2021. (Spencer Platt/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

UN

The report pointed out that as of August 2021, four United Nations specialized agencies are headed by Chinese nationals. The report said that such leadership positions, although [they] cant fully control the agencies, but can provide [the] CCP the opportunities to advance its influence, such as in the process of defining international standards.

Li Yong, former deputy treasury minister of China, has led the U.N. Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) since 2013. Li set up a new bureau under UNIDO to control which countries are eligible for which kind of partnership program, and appointed another CCP official to run it. Li also promoted Beijings Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as One Belt, One Road), in which Huawei is a key player. In November 2019, Li signed a contract with the vice president of Huawei to strengthen the cooperation between UNIDO and Huawei.

Zhao Houlin, who worked at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China, served as deputy secretary and later secretary of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) since 2007. On numerous occasions, Zhao emphasized the importance of cooperating with Chinas Digital Silk Road, a long-term plan to lead the world into global connectivity under a Sino-centric global digital order, and Huaweis technology supports the initiative.

At the first Belt and Road Forum in May 2017, Zhao said Huaweis 5G technologies dont cause security issues. In 2020, Huawei and other Chinese state-run companies and government agencies proposed to the ITU a drastically different new standard for internet technology, which calls for more state intervention.

Military and Intelligence Agency Ties

The French report said that Huaweis founder, Ren Zhengfei, had close ties to the Chinese military. In the 1990s, Huawei built a communications network for military use, which established the special partnership between the company and the Peoples Liberation Army.

In 2013, Indias Intelligence Bureau reported that Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese telecommunications firm, are part of the Chinese militarys High Tech Research and Development (863) Program. Under this program, Huawei focused on switches and routers. At the time, Huawei had been operating in India for over 12 years with research and development centers that had more than 6,000 employees.

The report cited an investigation by Forbes about Huawei and Guangzhou Boyu Information Technology Co. (known as Boyusec), which is identified as one of Chinas hacker groups. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice charged three Chinese hackers who were associated with Boyusec and identified them as the companys co-founder, executive director, and an employee. Boyusec is a Chinese government contractor thats linked to the APT3 hacker group that actively targeted Hong Kong and the United States.

According to an internal report by the Pentagons Joint Staff J-2 intelligence directorate, Boyusec and Huawei are working together to produce security products that will be loaded into Chinese-manufactured computer and telephone equipment, a November 2016 report by Washington Free Beacon stated. The doctored products will allow Chinese intelligence to capture data and control computer and telecommunications equipment.

Huawei dismissed the assertion and claimed that it only asked Boyusec to provide security analysis.

Xinjiang Rights Abuses

The French report quoted German researcher Adrian Zenz, the leading expert on the Uyghur crisis in China, as saying that Huawei is involved in the surveillance and detention of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

The outer wall of a so-called re-education camp is equipped with several surveillance cameras in Chinas northwestern Xinjiang region on May 31, 2019. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)

Huawei denied the accusation.

In a June 2020 report, Zenz said that Huawei does engage in business with the security services in Xinjiang, worked with them for years on dedicated, custom-made security solutions, and it even proudly advertises how they are being operated.

Zenz found that one former Huawei engineer worked on the Kashgar Public Security Surveillance and Video Link Network Project. Kashgar is home to a majority Uyghur population in Xinjiang.

Further evidence of Huaweis collaboration with Xinjiangs security authorities, including a strategic research collaboration with the public security agencies in Urumqi have been described by others, such as the Global and Main and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Zenz wrote.

One might want to highlight the fact that Fan Lixin, deputy director of Xinjiangs Ministry of Public Security, praised the collaboration with Huawei as fulfilling key goals of the regions domestic security strategy during the 13th 5-year plan (20152020).

Huawei Communications Infrastructure in Africa

The French report said that Chinese companies have built or renovated at least 186 government buildings throughout Africa. These buildings include at least 24 residences or offices for the countries leaders, at least 26 congress buildings, at least 32 military or police facilities, and at least 19 foreign ministry buildings.

Huawei and ZTE also built at least 14 electronic communications networks for government use, including those for the police and the military.

The Chinese regime also donated office equipment, including computers, to 35 African countries.

The report said that the Chinese-made infrastructure could gather data, including personal information of politicians and persons of interest. Such data is useful in advancing Beijings influence in Africa.

Among the 54 countries in Africa, 40 countries have been compromised, the report claims.

Undersea Cables

Undersea cables are a crucial part of the Digital Silk Road. Huawei Marine Networks Co. Ltd. and related companies have been investing heavily in undersea cables.

The report noted that in Asia, the CCP owns 30 percent of existing undersea cables and more than 50 percent of those under construction. Around the world, the CCP owns 11.4 percent of undersea cables already installed and 24 percent of those under construction. In addition, Huawei is contracted to build an undersea cable in the South Atlantic Ocean between Brazil and the Republic of Cameroon, connecting South America and Africa. China Unicom is also involved, the report said.

The CCP has the capability to cut the undersea cable in Asia, which can be used to attack Taiwan, the report said. The CCP is also developing an undersea surveillance system in the South China Sea, in particular to monitor U.S. submarines.

A model of a wave energy test site shows undersea cables that hold machinery in place at Kaneohe Bay on Oahu in Hawaii, on July 26, 2016. (Cathy Bussewitz/AP Photo)

Huaweis Ownership

Huawei is a state-owned enterprise under the control of the CCP, according to the French report, citing Christopher Balding, associate professor at Fulbright University Vietnam and a researcher on the Chinese economy.

Huawei asserts that it is a private firm owned by its founder and all its employees.

However, Balding pointed out that Huawei Technologies is 99 percent owned by Huawei Investment Holdings, which is completely owned by the Huawei Investment Holdings Trade Union Committee. According to Chinese law, trade union committees are public organizations that dont have shareholders. An example of a public organization would be the Communist Youth League, an organization owned by the CCP.

Chinese state-owned and private enterprises are used as the CCPs data collectors and they are legally obligated to do so, the report said.

The report provided a timeline, starting from 2016, on how the CCP built up this legal framework. In 2016, Xi Jinping wanted the state-owned enterprises to melt the Partys leadership into all aspects of enterprise management.

In 2017, the CCP passed the National Intelligence Law. According to Article 7 of the law, all Chinese business entities and citizens must support, assist and cooperate with the states intelligence-gathering activities, and safeguard state secrets. This also applies to Chinese companies and individuals overseas.

In 2020, the report Strengthening Private Enterprise United Front Work was released to further exert the Partys influence over the private enterprises. Scott Livingston, a former analyst at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, said this document shows that Huawei isnt an independent business entity.

Huawei did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Home base primary care pharmacist Erin Emonds fills syringes with the allotted number of doses for the at home visits for the day at the US Department of Veterans Affairs' VA Boston Healthcare System's Jamaica Plain Medical Center in Boston, on March 4, 2021. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden Administration Proposal Would Renew Union Skimming From Medicaid Payments

Biden administration officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) want to renew an Obama-era regulation that allowed labor unions to skim an estimated $1 billion from Medicaid payments to home health care providers.

The proposal will place a federal stamp of approval on abusive state and union practices to pressure, mislead, and ultimately lock home-care providers into assigning portions of their Medicaid payments to union special interest groups and associated funds, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NRTWLDF) said in a comment on the plan.

Such assignments are generally irrevocable for a year or more, resulting in the diversion of Medicaid payments to third parties for political advocacy and other purposes over the express objections of home-care providers, the NRTWLDF said.

The Biden proposal from HHSs Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) would rescind a 2018 Trump administration rule that upheld the intent of Congress to deny third parties, including unions, access to Medicaid payments to providers of home-based health care for disabled persons.

Despite a federal lawSection 1902(a)(32) of the Social Security Actthat specifically prohibited assignment of payments to third parties, the Obama administration adopted a special exemption in 2014 that permitted them for labor unions. The only exceptions recognized by the law cover court orders for wage garnishments, child support orders, and judgments for debts owed to states.

The U.S. Supreme Court also ruled in 2014 that compulsory union payments violate the First Amendment rights of home health care workers who prefer not to support union activities.

Home health care providers in more than a dozen non-right-to-work states faced the requirement that a portion of their payments be provided to fund union activities, according to NRTWLDF. Those states were able to enforce such requirements by automatically deducting such fees from Medicaid payments, even though doing so violated federal law regarding Medicaid funds.

The skimming equaled an estimated $200 million annually prior to the Trump rule taking effect, according to the State Policy Network. There are more than 400,000 home health care providers in the U.S.

Prior to the [Trump] rule, union officials had siphoned upwards of $1 billion from Medicaid payments, an effort which had been aided by the Obama Administrations 2014 creation of a special exemption for union officials from Medicaid regulations, the NRTWLDF said in a statement announcing the filing of its comments on the HHS proposal earlier this week.

Union officials, especially at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), have long used deceptive and even unconstitutional tactics to divert taxpayer-funded Medicaid payments into union coffers, the NRTWLDF said.

A spokesman for the SEIU didnt respond to a request for comment by The Epoch Times. When the Trump administration proposed its rule in 2018, however, the SEIU issued a statement opposing the proposal.

In that statement, SEIU described the proposal as a transparent attempt to interfere with workers freedom to choose to join together in a union and advocate for higher wages, better training, and basic benefits like affordable healthcare and paid sick time that are crucial to ensure quality home care for our parents, grandparents, and children.

The SEIU includes among its membership hospital and nursing home workers, particularly in the state of California.

The NRTWLDF said in its comment that the proposed rule will undermine the purposes of Home and Community Based Service (HCBS) programs and facilitate abuses of home-care providers rights. HCBS programs exist to provide services to persons with disabilities so that they can live in their homes and avoid institutionalization.

The proposed rule will divert Medicaid monies from this noble cause to fund union political advocacy, both by union political action committees and by exclusive union representatives (whose conduct is inherently political), it wrote.

It is a gross misuse of federal Medicaid funds, as well as morally appalling, for CMS deliberately to funnel millions in federal funds, meant to pay for care for disabled persons, to political organizations for partisan political purposes.

Unless Congress acts to prevent it or the issuing department changes course, the proposed HHS rule will become effective by the end of 2021.
U.S. President Joe Biden gives a thumbs up as he walks with U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to a meeting with Democratic lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol to promote his bipartisan infrastructure bill on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 1, 2021. (Reuters/Tom Brenner)

Biden Goes to House of Reps in Closed-Door Meeting

President Joe Biden went to Capitol Hill Friday to meet with his deeply-divided caucus in the House amid divisions between progressives and moderates that threaten to derail his presidential agenda.

Bidens expansive agenda combines both the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, passed by a bipartisan vote in the Senate, and the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act, a bill that advanced in both the Senate and House on a party-line vote.

Divisions between moderate and progressive Democrats, whose priorities differ significantly, have threatened to tank both bills over the course of weeks of political brinkmanship. Bidens visit to the Capitol, normally a rare event, caps off continued inability by the partys leaders to bridge these gaps.

According to lawmakers in the meeting, Biden admitted that the caucus currently did not have enough votes to pass either of the bills.

Still, he remained confident that the bills would pass.

Biden told reporters It doesnt matter whether its in six minutes, six days, or six weeks, were going to get it done.

Earlier on Friday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) insisted that there would be a vote the same day, a move that Biden has now acknowledged to be impossible.

Democratic House Caucus chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said before the meeting that leadership is working through these issues and  were gonna land the plane.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) also said before the meeting that the party is working on trying to get to a place where everybodys comfortable.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi talks with members of her House of Representatives leadership team, including House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-M.D.), House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark (D-M.A.) at the In America: Remember public art installation on the Washington Monument grounds in Washington on Oct. 1, 2021. (Reuters/Leah Millis)

Moderates in the party are partial to the infrastructure bill, which Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) extolled as a bipartisan victory for our nation. Eight other moderates joined Gottheimer in protesting Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) plan to link the infrastructure bill with the partisan budget bill.

Still many House moderates who joined Gottheimer, including Gottheimer himself, have indicated that they are open to the reconciliation bill, but some are more hesitant.

However, for progressives, the budget bill is far more urgent than the infrastructure. The House progressive caucus, which controls a huge 95-vote plurality of the party in the lower chamber, made a corollary threat. Distrusting moderates to vote for the budget if the infrastructure bill was not passed, the caucus released a public statement vowing that its members would not vote for the infrastructure bill if the budget was not first passed.

Since this initial warning in August, progressives have held their ground.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who leads the progressive caucus, explained on Twitter: Its not the infrastructure bill THEN maybe the Build Back Better [reconciliation] package down the road. That wasnt the deal. Progressives wont back down. Were fighting the peoples fight and were going to deliver the entire Build Back Better agenda.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), one of the most progressive senators in the upper chamber, re-upped this challenge in a Tuesday tweet, advising his progressive colleagues in the House: No infrastructure bill should pass without a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. That is the agreement that was made & that is the agreement that must be kept. Physical infrastructure is important, but the needs of working families & combatting climate change is more important.

On Friday, progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released a tweet adding to this chorus of protest. A picture attached to the tweet showed poor living conditions in New York City.

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) (R) leaves after a House Democratic Caucus meeting with President Joe Biden at the U.S. Capitol in Washington Oct. 1, 2021. President Biden called the meeting in order to push through an impasse with his $1 trillion infrastructure plan. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Its not about the number, its about impact, Ocasio-Cortez wrote. These are our conditions in NYCHA. No winter heat, black mold, kids poisoned by lead. Politics-as-usual makes communities like mine politically disposable. We can do it later does nothing for them. They deserve details & answers.

Asked whether the infrastructure bill could pass, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), deputy whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said during a Wednesday appearance on MSNBC Right now, it doesnt look like it.

While progressives have not given any signs of relenting in their August promise, Pelosi has indicated that negotiations with the caucus are ongoing. However, the specifics of these negotiations have not been made public.

Meanwhile, Democrats can expect little bipartisan support for the bill, as Republican leadership is now advising its caucus to vote against the legislation.

Bidens visit Friday shows that these divisions remain very much alive in the lower chamber.

Much of Bidens efforts in negotiations thus far have been in the Senate, where moderates like Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have said that they will vote against the $3.5 trillion budget.
A man wearing a protective mask walks past the headquarters of the Bank of Japan amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Tokyo, Japan on May 22, 2020. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

BOJ Debated Risks From Supply Constraints, China Slowdown: September Summary

TOKYOBank of Japan (BOJ) policymakers in September saw rising risks to the economy from slowing Chinese growth, semiconductor shortages and Southeast Asian factory shutdowns, a summary of opinion expressed at their monthly rate review showed on Friday.

Such heightening external risks could affect the BOJs fresh quarterly growth projections, due at its next policy-setting meeting on Oct. 2728.

Exports and output continue to rise. But we must carefully watch how chip shortages and disruptions in Southeast Asian parts factories affect capital expenditure and corporate funding, one board member was quoted as saying in the summary.

There are signs Chinas economy is slowing even as the global economy continues to recover as a trend, according to another opinion shown in the summary.

While most policymakers maintained their view the economy was headed for a moderate recovery, one said it will temporarily take a hit from supply constraints and continued weakness in retailers sentiment due to the coronavirus pandemic, the summary showed.

Its important to maintain a mix of (expansionary) fiscal and monetary policy even when the economy emerges from the pandemics doldrums and begin to normalise, one board member said.

At the Sept. 2122 meeting, the BOJ kept monetary policy steady, but downgraded its assessment on exports and output, reflecting the widening impact of Asian factory shutdowns and supply constraints.

By Leika Kihara
The words Thank you for all your sacrifice cut in the corn maze at Cool Patch Pumpkins in Dixon, Calif., on Sept. 26, 2021. (Ilene Eng/The Epoch Times)

California Corn Maze Honors Military

DIXON, Calif.On the right, a patch full of pumpkins of all shapes and sizes awaits picking. On the left, a green wall of corn hides a large corn maze.

Cool Patch Pumpkins in the city of Dixon has been a family-owned pumpkin farm since 2001. A year later, the farm opened a corn maze, and it grew bigger and bigger over the years.

Only recently did the family decide to do a different theme annually. This year, their corn maze honors the military, which includes the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.

An aerial view of the corn maze at Cool Patch Pumpkins in Dixon, Calif., on Sept. 26, 2021. (Ilene Eng/The Epoch Times)

We plant the corn in July. So we kind of take a guess of whats going on in the world at the time, and hopefully it turns out that  that kind of has something to do with whats going on in America, Matt Cooley, founder of Cool Patch Pumpkins, told NTD News.

Looking at the maze from above, one can see two military personnel with the U.S. flag behind them and the words Thank you for all your sacrifice cut into the maze.

Im just your basic farmer whos an American, whos proud, who realizes this is the best country in the world, said Cooley. So I just want to do my thing and say hey, look at us. Look at this country; were awesome. We really are. And thanking everybody who has helped make that possible.

Matt Cooley, founder of Cool Patch Pumpkins, in Dixon, Calif., on Sept. 26, 2021. (Ilene Eng/The Epoch Times)

Visitors have expressed that its a great way to remember the fallen.

We seem to have forgotten about the military, TJ Osborne, a visitor, told NTD News. Its because were not in a crisis. We forgot all the people that have served for us over the years. And I really think that its kind of an important time where we as a nation, weve kind of tried to just pretend things dont exist, but we forget the millions and millions of people that have actually gone out of their way, been inconvenienced in their life, to do what was right.

Flags honoring the Marine Corps and Air Force hang at the pay station at Cool Patch Pumpkins in Dixon, Calif., on Sept. 26, 2021. (Ilene Eng/The Epoch Times)

Some people return to the farm annually to bond with family and friends.

I think thats the thing that we remember as family, is the experience, said Osborne. They always say its the quality time, but its really the quantity time that you spend together which creates those memories, and I think they look back and after the kids have all gone off to college, what do they have? [Its] their memories. Its not the toys or the Legos or anything like that, but its the memories and stories that they pass on, and I think thats what weve lost as a country, is our traditions.

Visitors at Cool Patch Pumpkins in Dixon, Calif., on Sept. 26, 2021. (Ilene Eng/The Epoch Times)

Its fun, and the kids love it. They pick out their own pumpkin, and its close to home. And its an awesome adventure, Jon Hall from Vacaville told NTD News.

In 2014, the farm was recognized as having the worlds largest corn maze, at 63 acres. This year, its 34 acres.

The path is six to seven feet wide. It takes about an hour and a half to get out of the maze.

Visitors enter the maze at Cool Patch Pumpkins in Dixon, Calif., on Sept. 26, 2021. (Ilene Eng/The Epoch Times)

After making it to the end of the maze, people said they felt hot and thirsty.

Im very hot. But it was challenging, too, Juliana Marquez from Napa told NTD News.

It wasnt as bad as I expected, just because you do have a map and they have little markers throughout the various roads just indicating where youre at. So it was a good time, Jared Breshears from Sacramento told NTD News. He finished the maze with seven friends.

Pre-picked pumpkins sit on haystacks for people to take or photograph with at Cool Patch Pumpkins in Dixon, Calif., on Sept. 26, 2021. (Ilene Eng/The Epoch Times)

They have advice for those venturing into the maze.

Go in a group, because it did help to have people.  Appreciate the lookouts. Bring more water, a group of friends from the Bay Area told NTD News.

I would say work with somebody else and not by yourself, said Marquez. My brother helped out a lot.

Bring a pen, and you can map it out as you go, said Breshears. And bring some water as well. [You] want to stay hydrated.

The corn maze will be open from Sept. 25 to the end of October. Tickets to the corn maze are $18 per person. Children five and under are free. Food and drinks are offered on weekends.
The 888 Tower office building, which will be turned into a residential complex, is seen from Main Street in downtown Santa Ana, Calif., on Nov. 13, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

California COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Expires

Californias 2021 Supplemental Paid Leave program, implemented at the beginning of this year, is set to expire Sept. 30 and there is no indication that the order will be extended.

Senate Bill 95, approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom on March 19, requires companies with 26 or more employees to provide their workers who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with up to 80 hours of supplemental paid sick leave.

The bill was made retroactive to Jan. 1, 2021. Between January and September, the bill entitled a covered employee to 80 hours of COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave if that employee either works full time or was scheduled to work, on average, at least 40 hours per week for the employer in the 2 weeks preceding the date the covered employee took COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave.

The paid sick leave was granted to employees when they were unable to work or telework due to a quarantine order, taking care of family members who were subject to a quarantine, experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, and suffering severe vaccine-related side effects.

A spokesperson from Gov. Newsoms office told ABC10 that there was no update on whether to extend the program and emphasized that California has been working proactively to prepare for the end of federal benefits this month by connecting Californians with other public benefits that have been expanded by the American Rescue Plan and California Comeback Plan.
John T. Earnest listens to Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh during his sentencing hearing in Superior Court in San Diego, Calif., on Sept. 30, 2021. (Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP)

California Man Gets Life Sentence for Fatal Synagogue Attack

SAN DIEGOA 22-year-old former nursing student was denied a chance to address a courtroom before a judge sentenced him Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for bursting into a Southern California synagogue on the last day of Passover in 2019 with a semiautomatic rifle, killing one worshipper and wounding three others.

An agreement with prosecutors that spared John T. Earnest the death penalty left little suspense about the outcome, but the hearing provided 13 victims and families a chance to address the killer. Many gave heart-wrenching accounts of how their lives were upended and how determined they were to persevere despite such devastating loss.

Earnests attorney, John OConnell, said his client wanted to make a statement but San Diego Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh refused, saying he did not want to create some political forum for him to start making White supremacist or White racist statements. Earnest has not spoken publicly or disavowed earlier statements.

Im not going to let him use this as a platform to add to his celebrity, the judge said, pointing to comments that Earnest made to police when he was arrested, hand gestures to the audience during a previous hearing and his probation report.

Earnest, who was tied to a device that prevented him from turning to the audience, showed no visible reaction during the two-hour hearing as speakers called him a lowlife coward, an evil animal, and a monster.

A prosecutor asked Deddeh to reconsider his refusal to let Earnest speak after conferring with the defense attorney about the substance of his remarks, but the judge didnt budge.

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan, who listened to victims from a front-row seat, told reporters that Earnests planned statement was more spewing of hatred and propaganda and that the judge made the right call. The prosecutor asked the judge to reconsider only to guard against any possibility that Earnest alleges he was treated improperly, she said.

Earnests court-appointed attorney declined to speak with reporters. His parents did not attend.

Minutes after the shooting, Earnest called a 911 dispatcher to say he shot up the synagogue to save white people. Im defending our nation against the Jewish people, who are trying to destroy all white people, he said.

The San Diego man was inspired by mass shootings at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh and two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, shortly before he attacked Chabad of Poway, a synagogue near San Diego, on April 27, 2019.

Earnest legally bought a semiautomatic rifle in San Diego a day before the attack, according to a federal affidavit. He entered the synagogue with 10 bullets loaded and 50 more on his vest but fled after struggling to reload. Worshippers chased him to his car.

Earnest killed 60-year-old Lori Gilbert-Kaye, who was hit twice in the foyer, and wounded an 8-year-old girl, her uncle and Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who was leading a service on the major Jewish holiday.

Dr. Howard Kaye, Loris husband of 32 years, said he has continued his rheumatology practice to help people heal regardless of their backgrounds in keeping with his faith but that it was difficult for him and their daughter to carry on at times. Lori was active in charities and sacrificed a banking career to raise their daughter, he said.

This is a superior person and a wonderful woman, Howard Kaye said.

Hannah Kaye said her mother was victim of an ancient hatred of Jews. She recounted their last day together on a visit home from college in exquisite detail: their deep and humorous conversation in the car, a final hug as her mother dressed for services and how she held her mothers head and said she loved her as she lay dying.

As she entered her seventh decade, Lori Gilbert-Kaye had lots of desires, Hannah said, including wanting to attend law school, ride a hot air balloon, and own a restaurant that served her fathers barbecue.

She wanted to live another day, she wanted to survive, Hannah said of her mothers last moments.

Almog Peretz, who was shot with his 8-year-old niece, was emotionally unprepared to attend the hearing but a Hebrew translator read his statement about how the episode killed my body and soul. He said his dreams are haunted and that others now define him as a terrorists victim.

I have no motivation to see things to the end, Peretz said, speaking of work and friendships.

Earnests parents issued a statement after the shooting expressing shock and sadness, calling their sons actions a terrifying mystery. Their son was an accomplished student, athlete, and musician who was studying to be a nurse at California State University, San Marcos.

To our great shame, he is now part of the history of evil that has been perpetrated on Jewish people for centuries, they said.

In a statement issued late Thursday, the family said our hearts are heavy and our sadness profound.

Right now, we cannot add to the words we have previously expressed, except to say that the hate that motivated him will not win. Love must win, the statement said.

His conviction for murder and attempted murder at the synagogue and arson for an earlier fire at a nearby mosque carry a life sentence without parole, plus 137 years in prison.

Earnest also faces sentencing in federal court on Dec. 28, having pleaded guilty after the Justice Department said it wouldnt seek the death penalty. Defense attorneys and prosecutors are recommending a life sentence.

Stephan, the district attorney, said prosecution in state and federal court makes me sleep better at night.

The attack was racism, antisemitism and every kind of hate all wrapped into one, she said.
California Pension Fund Increased Investment in Chinese A-shares as SEC Tightens Scrutiny of China Stocks

America has recently signalled a further tightening of regulations on U.S.-listed Chinese companies and warned investors about the potential risks of investing in these companies.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) on Sept. 22 approved a new framework that requires companies not audited by American audit firms (China Concepts Stocks) to disclose more information to help the PCAOB implement the Holding Foreign Company Accountability Act. The framework will become effective upon approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

SEC chairman Gary Gensler stressed in late August, and again on Sept. 14, that if China Concepts Stocks do not abide by the rules and do not allow the United States to review their audit briefs within 3 years, they will be delisted from the U.S. stock market as early as 2024.

On Sept. 20, the SEC warned people and institutions who invest in stocks, by pointing out that China Concepts Stocks listed in the United States under a VIE (Variable Interest Entity) structure make U.S. investors invest in a shell company set up overseas rather than a Chinese entity, meaning investors do not own equity in the Chinese entity and thus are potentially exposed to significant risks.

Currently, among companies listed in the United States, only Chinese (including Hong Kong) companies do not allow their original audit documents to be reviewed by the PCAOB on national security grounds.

The head of Chinas Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said on Nov. 20, 2020, that this is not a matter of not complying with relevant U.S. laws and rules, but a matter of cross-border regulatory cooperation.

On Aug. 18, Gensler asked the SEC to suspend the listing of Chinese companies in the United States through the VIE structure and reiterated that Chinese companies must allow U.S. regulators to review their original financial audits. Two days later, the CSRC responded by promising to create conditions to promote China-United States audit regulatory cooperation.

Luckin Coffee, the leading Chinese beverage chain listed in the United States, was delisted for falsifying financial figures in June 2020. In April, 2020, Anta Sports, Pinduoduo, and other Chinese stocks were shorted due to suspected financial fraud.

Closed-Door US-China Financial Roundtable

Mike Sun, a U.S.-based private investment adviser, told The Epoch Times that Beijing doesnt see the SECs increased oversight of Chinese Concepts Stocks as necessarily a means of delisting them, but rather as acting in accordance with U.S. laws and regulations to best protect the interests of U.S. investors.

Sun said he believes that the CCP, however, will not give in just because the United States is tightening its grip. Instead, it wont give ground on issues it considers to be a threat to itself, such as data security. The CCP will engage Wall Street, and Wall Street will continue to act as a middleman for its own benefit.

The CCP recently stepped up efforts to open its financial market to Wall Street, following a closed-door U.S.-China financial roundtable with top Wall Street investment bankers on Sept. 16. As of Sept. 22, three Wall Street firmsNeuberger Berman, BlackRock, and Fidelityhave received approval to set up wholly foreign-owned public fund companies in China.

Beyond The Wall Street titans, international accounting firms, led by the Big Four, will also play a big role, according to Sun.

California Pension Fund

According to Frank Xie, a professor of Business Administration at University of South Carolina Aiken, international accounting firms are turning a blind eye to the CCPs fake accounts and financial misrepresentations.

Hong Kong-based PricewaterhouseCoopers, the auditor for the recently troubled Chinese company Evergrande, failed to include even one going concern warning when signing off on the companys 2020 financial report.

Furthermore, the largest U.S. pension fund invested more than $3 billion in Chinese companies as of June 2020, according to the annual investment report 2019-2020 of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). Of that, over $450 million was invested in 14 Chinese companies with ties to the CCPs military that the U.S. government has blacklisted.

Xie believes that these big American funds have different ways of investing in China Concepts Stocks than small funds do. They do not necessarily operate through Wall Street investment banks. They have their own operators and can handle themselves in the open market, including the Hong Kong stock market and China A-shares.

For a large fund such as CalPERS, which has more than $400 billion under its management, the choice to invest in Chinese companies is directly related to its managers, Xie said. Meng Yu, the funds former chief investment officer, is of Chinese descent and once said his roots are in China. Prior to joining CalPERS in January 2019, Meng served as deputy chief investment officer at Chinas State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which manages more than $3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves.

Meng abruptly resigned from CalPERS in early August last year. Soon after, the California Fair Political Conduct Commission (FPPC) launched an investigation into two complaints filed against Meng which claimed that he had failed to properly disclose certain personal investments and sales of stocks and other holdings.

Comparing CalPERS investment reports for the two fiscal years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, The Epoch Times found that the fund increased its investment in many Chinese companies during these reporting periods. It also increased its holdings of some H-share companies in Hong Kong and A-share companies in China, particularly China A-shares.

For example, CalPERS investment in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. increased from zero in 2018-2019 to $18.65 million in 2019-2020. Its investment in Alibaba Pictures Group Ltd. increased from $2.62 million to $11.78 million, and its investment in Alibaba Health Information also quadrupled from $2.42 million to $9.84 million.

In addition, CalPERS increased investment in several companies that have been in the news recently, such as Evergrande, the worlds most indebted Chinese real estate company; China Huarong, a state-owned asset management company that was just bailed out by the CCP with a $7.74 billion injection; Alibaba and Tencent, Chinese internet giants that have been successively punished by Xi Jinping, including Tencent Music, which was invested through ADR; BGI, Chinas leading gene technology company, which is being questioned for helping the CCP collect and set up a global gene bank; Ping An Insurance that was recently purged by the Xi Administration; Sinophem and Sinovac, which develop and produce Chinese vaccines and assist the CCPs global vaccine diplomacy.

Among the Chinese companies that received increased investment from CalPERS in the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 fiscal years, at least six are on a U.S. blacklist that prohibits investment because of alleged CCP military links. These include China Communication Construction A-shares, China Communication Construction H-shares, China National Chemical A-shares, China Mobile Ltd., China Telecom Corp Ltd. H-shares, and China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd.

Jennifer Bateman Follow Jennifer Bateman is a news writer focused on China.
California to Require COVID-19 Vaccine for Students to Attend Schools

California students will be required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to attend school once the vaccines have received full approval by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Oct 1.

The government has fully approved the COVID-19 vaccine for individuals ages 16 and older, meaning all upper-class high school students will need to be fully vaccinated to attend both public and private schools.

Only an emergency authorization has been granted for anyone 12 to 15. When the FDA approves the vaccine for that age group, students in seventh grade and up also be required to get vaccinated. The requirement is foreseen to be implemented in the next term, either Jan. 1 or July 1 of 2022.

What we are announcing here today, a statewide requirement for in-person instruction for all of our children to add to a well-established list that currently includes ten vaccinations and well-established rules and regulations that have been advanced by the legislator for decades. To add to that list, the vaccination for COVID-19, we intend to do that once the FDA has fully approved the vaccine which will give us time to work with districts, Newsom said during an Oct. 1 press conference.

The governor announced the vaccine mandate at the San Francisco Unified School District alongside state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat.

The governor further announced staff working in K-12 schools will also be required to be vaccinated, and eventually everyone once FDA approval is granted for students in K-6.

Newsom said religious and medical exemptions will be permitted under the states mandate.

Wiener applauded the governors effort in combating the COVID-19 virus within schools.

The legislator has shown over and over again that we are willing to pass strong vaccination laws, and if we have to come back and do it again next year, we will do that, Wiener said.

However, the move drew criticism from some.

Mari Barke, Chair of the Orange County Board of Education, said that it should be up to parents to decide what is best for children.

Im certainly not proud that California is the first state to mandate this. I think parents are the best to make these types of decisions for their children, so Im very disappointed, Barke told The Epoch Times.

I believe strongly in parental rights and parents knowing whats best for their children. This vaccine has had the least testing of any vaccine. Its not a virus that is killing lots of children unless they have severe co-morbidities, and I think its government overreach.

Barke said that due to this measure, she believes a lot of parents will be taking their children out of school in order to homeschool them. Many parents do not want their children masked in school, let alone vaccinated, she added.

I really think youre going to see a huge amount of children coming out of schools and being homeschooled, she said. Were not in a state of emergency. Were not in one for adults, never mind children.

Jon Schrank, a parent of a student within Tustin Unified School District, said that he feels the move is typical government overreach.

[The mandate is] not unexpected. As soon as Newsom won the recall, we all sort of knew that all these little things were going to start to come about from him, Schrank told The Epoch Times.

My opinion is, its typical government overreach. Im not an anti-vaxxer. Im pro-choice, and thats your business, its not my business. So, the fact that theyre making this happen for a bunch of kids that have no risk of really getting terribly ill from it [is not good.]

Schrank said that those who are for the mandate will argue that the students will spread it to the adults who are more vulnerable, but that if the adults are vaccinated, that should take care of the problem.

If youre worried about it, get the vaccination, thats your business, he said. I dont think we need to have the government telling us what we need to do with our children. Thats my point of view if I want to get the vaccine for my kid, then I would do it. If I dont want to do it, that should be my choice  Its no longer about personal choice, its about government intervention.

Schrank added that the mandate will likely only force parents to put their children back into virtual education like last year, which caused many students to fall behind.

As of Oct. 1, California has administered one dose to 63.5 percent of youth ages 12 to 17, but the governor is aiming for the new requirements to create more of an advanced incentive.

There is still a struggle to get where we need to go, Newsom said. That means we need to do more, and we need to do better  we have continued to lead  California was the first state to require statewide school mask-wearing requirements. We were first in America to require all of our staff to either be vaccinated and or get weekly testing.
Chapman University Attacker Arrested, Charged After His Parents Notify Police

ORANGE, Calif.A 22-year-old man has been arrested and charged for allegedly assaulting an 18-year-old female student on Chapman Universitys campus after the mans parents recognized their son on the news and turned him into the police.

Dalante Jerome Bell, of Anaheim, is accused of wearing a skeleton mask and attacking the female student outside of her dormitory at Henley Hall at around midnight Sept. 23 while the victim was video chatting with her boyfriend. Campus safety alerts said the victim fell to the ground and was physically assaulted again.

The woman was able to fight back against Bell, who ran away after people came to help her. Bell was said to have been hiding in the bushes prior to the attack.

A number of surveillance cameras caught the attacker fleeing the scene. The incident, prior to Bell being caught, prompted campus police to increase the number of patrols around campus.

In a unique situation, Bells parents were watching the news of the attack when the security camera footage showed Bell, whom they recognized as their son.

Bells parents called the police, leading to the Orange Police Department arresting him soon after.

College students should be focused on learning, not worrying about being sexually assaulted by someone lurking in the shadows outside of their dorm, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.

This brave woman did what she could to fight back and call for help. Thankfully this individual was quickly arrested and is no longer able to prey on unsuspecting college students. And now the Orange County District Attorneys Office will do everything it can to ensure this sexual predator is held accountable.

Bell has since been charged by the Orange County District Attorneys Office with one felony count of assault with intent to commit a sex offense.

If convicted on all charges, Bell faces a maximum sentence of eight years in state prison. He is currently being held at the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange on a $500,000 bond.
People wearing protective masks look at their mobile phones on a subway train in Beijing, China, on Dec. 25, 2020. (Tingshu Wang/Reuters)

China Drafts New Data Measures, Defines Core Data

BEIJINGThe Chinese regime published new draft measures on Thursday aimed at bolstering its new data security law, including definitions of what it considered core and important data.

The Chinese regime implemented the Data Security Law on Sept. 1. which requires all companies in China to classify the data they handle into several categories and governs how such data is stored, and transferred to other parties.

But lawyers have criticized its ambiguities including its lack of definitions for data.

Thursdays draft measures describe in detail three categories of dataordinary data, important data, and core data.

The Chinese regime describe ordinary data as data with a minimal ability to impact society at large, or that will affect a small number of individuals or enterprises.

Important data is defined as data that poses a threat to the Chinese regimes national and economic interests or impact the rights of individuals and organizations, and has an obvious cascading effect across a range of industries and enterprises.

Core data, meanwhile, is defined as data that poses a serious threat to the Chinese regimes national and economic interests. Disruption of important data could cause major damage, leading to large-scale shutdowns, or large-scale network and service paralysis.

The regulator adds that organizations may self-assess the security of ordinary data, but must conduct annual assessments at least once each year.

Organizations must also receive approval for cross-border transfer of core data and important data via a special mechanism, the rules state.

Data policy has become one of several areas regulators have targeted amid an ongoing crackdown on industry that has unfolded throughout the past year. Chinas data security law builds on the 2017 cybersecurity law, which marked the first major set of rules governing the storage and transfer of data of Chinese origin.

By Josh Horwitz
Bobby Lee, CEO and Co-Founder of BTC China, China's bitcoin exchange at his office in Shanghai, on December 4, 2013 (PETER PARKS/AFP via Getty Images)

China Intends to Eliminate Virtual Currency Transactions

China has introduced its toughest regulations over bitcoin and other virtual currencies, as all related virtual currency business activities, including mining, and overseas exchanges services for domestic residents, are deemed to be illegal.

On Sept. 24, Chinas central bank issued a joint notice, with the Public Security Bureau and eight other departments, specifying that all virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities.

Affected by Chinas severe stance, the price of bitcoin encountered a steep drop at 4 p.m. on Sept. 26, plunging nearly $2,000 in one hour; Crypto-currency exchange company Huobi saw 22,000 bitcoins, equivalent to $930 million, transferred out in two days, according to China web portal site Sina.

China affairs expert Li Yanming told The Epoch Times that the crackdown on virtual money should be part of the Xi Jinping regimes overhaul of the financial system. While competing with ex-leader Jiang Zemins faction for [the] money bag, Xi still need to plug loopholes for capital flows to prevent the risk of instability in the financial system.

Early in July, a rumor circulated that Tether, the worlds largest stablecoin issuer, has reserve assets that include bonds or securities of China Evergrande, a real estate giant that is in debt crisis, said Chinese financial media East Money.

But Tether denied the rumors in a statement saying it doesnt hold any debt or securities issued by Evergrande.

Even if Tether doesnt specifically hold any of Evergrandes short-term debt, it could have huge exposure in the form of other Chinese obligations, said David Morris, a Coindesk columnist.

Approximately half of Tethers $62.8 billion assets as of the end of June 2021 were backed by commercial paper and certificates of deposit, Reuters said in an article citing Tethers data.

Financial System Problems

On several occasions, the Xi Jinping regime has raised the financial system problems to the same level as a criminal offense, Li said.

Xis authorities regard virtual currency as an uncontrollable money laundering path, because the secretive nature of Virtual currency makes it less traceable for money laundering or foreign exchange transfers, said Li.

On September 18, the Supreme Prosecutor was stationed at the Securities Regulatory Commission for remediation and supervision of the securities and capital markets.

Since 2016, the Central Bank of China has fined various paying institutions a total of $175 million, said Fan Yifei, deputy president of the Central Bank at a forum on Sept.24.

In a Sept. 25 article titled Preventing leading cadres from being kidnapped by interest groups, Baoshang Bank was linked to unscrupulous financial groups on the official site of the Discipline Inspection and State Supervision.

Baoshang Bank is backed by Zeng Qinghong, the former leader of Jiangs faction, according to a Sound of Hope radio network report.

Virtual Currency Mining Industry

On Sept. 24, the Development and Reform Commission issued a notice banning investment and construction of virtual currency mining projects and other related activities.

Virtual currency mining uses computers to analyze data, which then creates new bitcoin. It maintains a ledger of transactions on which bitcoin is based. The machines use large amounts of energy.

According to a report released by the Development and Reform Commission in 2021, 19 of 32 provinces were on a red or yellow alert on energy consumption and carbon emissions. The areas included Xinjiang district, Yunnan Province, and Sichuan Province, which are where the virtual currency mining industries are located.

Wei Tuo, a current political commentator, told The Epoch Times that the banning of virtual currency mining project might be linked to the energy crisis. Recently a large-scale power outage occurred in many places in China.

But more than the energy issue, Wei said that in fact the ban of virtual currency began as early as 2013, but many local authorities turned a blind eye to the mining industry because it can add local fiscal revenues.

This time Xi decided to wipe out the entire virtual currency industry, which means virtual currency could affect financial stability and political security for Xis regime, said Wei.

Overseas Virtual Currency platforms

Major overseas Chinese trading platforms like Binance, Huobi, and OKEx have closed the registration services for new users in mainland China.

On Sept.24 SparkPool announced that it will shut down its mining pool service in China in line with the latest regulatory policy; BeePool said on Sept. 28 that it will stop mining pool services on October 15; Bitmain plans to suspend sales of mining machines in China.

Loopring said on Sept. 26 that it would stop providing trading-related products and services to Chinese users; BHEX, BiONE, and other small trading platforms announced their permanent closure; UP Fintech announced on September 29 that it would gradually stop Chinese customers who want virtual currency funds.

Even though the Chinese Communist regimes firewall would block overseas websites from operating in mainland China, the virtual currency trading would hardly be extinct in China, said Wei.

According to Wei, in 2017 when Beijing banned virtual currencies, some Chinese-funded virtual currency trading platforms transferred their headquarters out of China, including Binance, Huobi, and OKEx, but they did not cut off operations in China. Around 2018, all of these platforms started to appear in China again, conducting covert or semi-public activities.

Jennifer Bateman Follow Jennifer Bateman is a news writer focused on China.
Chinese street vendors and customers gather at a local market outside a state owned coal-fired power plant in Anhui Province, China, on June 14, 2017. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Chinas Factory Activity Hits the Lowest Level in 19 Months Amid Power Crisis

Chinas factory activity shrunk in September for the first time since February 2020, following sweeping curbs on electricity usage, according to Chinas National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Data show the official manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) in September was at 49.6, down from 50.1 in August. The economic indicator fell below score 50 for the first time in the past 19 months, which equals a decline in sector activity.

The 50-mark separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis.

The manufacturing PMI fell below the critical point due to the low sentiment of high energy-consuming industries, senior NBS statistician Zhao Qinghe said.

Thursday data indicate production dropped in September as the purchase price index of major raw materials was 63.5 percent, 2.2 percentage points higher than the previous month. It has risen to highs in the past four months. Raw prices of petroleum, coal and other fuel processing, chemical raw materials and chemical products, non-metallic mineral products have all risen sharply.

China is now in the grip of a power crunch as coal supply shortages, tougher emissions standards, and strong domestic demand push up coal prices to record highs. Some generators cut off power to reduce output or minimize losses.

Power rationing is currently taking place in at least nine provinces and regions. Local governments in major manufacturing hubs like the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Guangdong have asked factories to limit power usage or curb output.

Some power providers have sent notices to heavy users to either halt production during peak power periods that can run from 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., or shut operations entirely for two to three days a week.

Chinese workers commute as smoke billows from a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi, China, on Nov. 25, 2015. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Others have been told to shut until further notice or a particular date, including soybean processing plants in Tianjin city in eastern China which have been shut since Sept. 22.

The power cut is mounting more pressure on the manufacturing sector.

This week, Goldman Sachs lowered Chinas economic growth forecast this year to 7.8 percent from 8.2 percent, citing energy shortages and deep industrial output cuts.

Chinas factory output growth also hit a 13-month low in August, NBS recorded.

Yet the September composite PMI, including both manufacturing and services activity, rose to 51.7 versus 48.9 in August.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A woman walking past empty buildings in Conch Bay, opposite the new Yujiapu financial district, in Tianjin, in northern China, on May 14, 2015. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese Authorities Dont Care About Real Estate Defaults: Homebuyers

Chinese homebuyers have been badly hit by defaults in residential property developments. Numerous families are suffering with unbearable financial loss due to unfinished housing units they purchased. An array of these half-completed residential villas sits right in front of the local district office of Tianjin, the largest coastal metropolis in northern China.

On Sept. 15, homebuyers protested in front of the district office of Binhai New Area, a sub-provincial district and state-level new area within Tianjin which the government once touted as a replicate of developments in Shanghai.

The banners said, There is a story in Binhai. Who are the hooligans? The unfinished homes are in front of the government! The homebuyers shouted in unison, Unscrupulous developers, give me my home!

Homebuyers also hung up a banner on the sales office of the Binhai Bay Fortune Center. It said, Unscrupulous developer Fenghua Land, give back peoples homes!

Mr. Wang (pseudonym) is one of the victims of the unfinished construction. He said the realtor has delayed the project for over five years. He was issued a Delayed Delivery Notice every year since he bought the property five years ago, and the last notice states the project will be postponed to Sept. 15, 2021.

Homebuyers Trapped in Debts

Sept. 15 of this year happens to be the fifth year after we bought the house. The homebuyers were left with no choice but to defend their rights to the local government, Wang told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on Sept. 21.

However, the local governments response was, its still under investigation, according to Wang.

Mr. Cheng (pseudonym) was one of the first phase customers in the presale by Fenghua Land. He invested all his savings and money borrowed from friends and family to pay a down payment of $186,000 in September 2016.

A business store costs more than $310,000. We have to pay a monthly mortgage of $1,550 plus. I thought when the building was ready at the end of 2017, we could rent it out or do some business on our own to reduce some burden, Cheng told The Epoch Times on Sept. 22.

However, the construction was halted, even power and water were not connected.

That house, we havent even moved in yet, was already surrounded with weeds, cracked, and even leaking, Cheng said, moreover, it was only half done.

The developer found that the local development will not sustain the sale of the properties, and decided to stop the construction. They wont return the payment or finish the construction. We won the lawsuit, but they wont pay the penalties for breach of contract, he said.

Cheng said that many Chinese developers have failed to deliver housing projects, and its the government pushing for performance that has resulted in the pit that traps homebuyers.

There was a leader in Tianjin who believed that since there was a bay area in Shanghai, Tianjin should have one too. The government invited developers over and promised everything. He promised the Tianjin bay area would run parallel to the Shanghai bay area. But now, the Tianjin bay area has become a deserted land, he said.

For five years, the construction was abandoned. Its sitting right next to the government, but no one cares.

We went to the district government and pulled up a banner, and the management committee said that it would be resolved, but they couldnt even find the developer.

Tourists fish on a roof of a submerged house at the Huanxiu Lake, in Jixian County of Tianjin Municipality, China, on Oct. 1, 2006. (China Photos/Getty Images)

The protest on Sept. 15 went on from the morning until 4 p.m. There was no answer from the government.

Cheng said that many families were heavily in debt because of the delay in delivery of the housing. Basically, each family paid more than $310,000, and theres no payback for five years. There was a 70-year-old man who bought a house; he almost died after undergoing an operation just a few days ago. The old man wandered around the building every day, just hoping to see his house ready.

He said there is another man, near 60, thinking of selling his house to pay the mortgage because he has no other income. He was even thinking of jumping from the building.

Cheng explained his own situation: living in a 430-square foot house with two kids and a monthly mortgage. Being a migrant in Tianjin, we have wanted to buy a house and settle down. Were trying our best to earn some money. Now, the kids are staying in my hometown for school, he said.

Collapsed Real Estate Companies

Many Chinese homebuyers have found themselves trapped in the cycle of unfinished homes, without any relief channels.

Cheng said: When we filed the lawsuit in 2018, the developer said that he would hand over the house in 2018. When the lawsuit was filed in 2019, he said that the house will be handed over in 2019. When the lawsuit was filed in 2020, he said the house would be handed over in 2021. There was no one on the construction site; the court didnt even look at it at all, and it was delayed indefinitely  now theres no place for justice.

An analysis showed that, as of July 20, there have been at least 1,100 real estate companies filing bankruptcy since 2017. Thats one bankruptcy a day on average in the Chinese real estate industry.

The Epoch Times tried to contact Binhai Bay Fortune Center, but the phone was already disconnected.

Cheng said the Chinese land developers still operate businesses in a primitive way, that is: buying land, borrowing money, drawing a big pie to attract local governmental investments, and selling when the prices go up. If the market is bad, its game over.

He indicated that the real estate industry itself is after huge profits, and when the profit disappears, the project just gets abandoned: Chinese companies care nothing for credibility. The government does nothing about it  This is whats happening in Tianjin, a relatively larger city in China.

Hong Ning Follow
Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London on Sept. 27, 2021. (Steve Parsons/PA)

Climate Group Insulate Britain Blocks Two UK Motorways

Climate activists from Insulate Britain on Friday morning blocked two UK motorways in their 10th day of protests in the past three weeks.

The group said approximately 30 of its activists blocked the M4 at Junction 3, near Heathrow Airport, and the M1 at Junction 1, at Brent Cross, north London.

Insulate Britain said the demonstrators include eight people released from police custody on Thursday after blocking the M25 at Junction 30 in Essex, and others who were arrested earlier this week.

We are going nowhere: actions will continue until the government make [sic] a statement to insulate Britains 29 million leaky homes, the group said on Twitter.

Insulate Britain, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, has been demanding that the government insulate all homes across the UK to cut carbon emissions.

After the group repeatedly shut down parts of M25, the UKs busiest motorway, last month, the government obtained an injunction against the protests and warned that activists would face possible imprisonment if they made further such attempts.

But the group disregarded the injunction and further escalated their protests by blocking the Port of Dover in southeast England, the busiest ferry port in Europe, on Sept 24.

This week, the activists increased the frequency of their actions and blocked the M25 on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Sir Stephen House, Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said on Thursday that he was concerned police forces are under so much pressure to quickly clear the protests that officers are putting their lives at risk.

The most recent one I saw had officers running between articulated lorries that were moving on the main carriageway of the M25. We cannot be doing that. We cannot put peoples lives at risk. My officers lives at risk and indeed the demonstrators lives at risk, he told the London Assemblys Police and Crime Committee.

They started off on the slip roads, which is bad enough, but weve now moved on to the main carriageways of the M25, which is absolute lunacy, he added.

The government said on Wednesday that legal proceedings had begun against green activists who had been arrested for blocking motorways.

But police have said it is very difficult to bring charges against the offenders.

Lisa Townsend, police and crime commissioner for Surrey, which has also been affected by the road-blocking protests in recent weeks, said on Wednesday that her inbox had been inundated with emails from local residents asking: How are these people being arrested only to be released to do it again?

It has been very difficult for the police because if they charge the protesters with a relatively minor offence, it is likely to be discontinued. And if they try to elevate the charge to a more serious one, they are finding it is not reaching the necessary threshold, she explained.

PA contributed to this report.
U.S. military medical personnel, including U.S. Army reserve and Connecticut National Guard train with Stamford Hospital staff on April 24, 2020 in Stamford, Connecticut. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Connecticut to Deploy National Guard to Address Staffing Shortages Due to Vaccine Mandate

Connecticuts governor has directed the National Guard to replace state employees who will be placed on unpaid leave starting next week due to their non-compliance with the COVID-19 vaccination mandate.

Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, announced on Wednesday that he has directed executive branch state agencies to prepare for placing their employees on unpaid leave between Oct. 5 and Oct. 11 if they do not provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or comply with weekly testing requirements, according to a statement.

Lamont instructed the Connecticut National Guards Maj. Gen. Francis Evon to prepare for the deployment of the National Guard if state agencies that provide critical health and safety services become short of staff. If deployed, qualified members of the Connecticut National Guard would supplement the operations of those understaffed state agencies until replacement employees are hired or employees placed on unpaid leave comply with the vaccine mandate.

As of Thursday, 63 percent of the states roughly 32,000 state employees have been fully vaccinated, 12 percent are undergoing a weekly testing regimen, and 25 percent are in non-compliant status, the statement said.

Lamont called on state employees to comply with the mandate out of respect [for] their coworkers and the public, and to lead by example.

We have provided most state employees with the option to get tested weekly instead of getting vaccinated, providing more flexibility than our neighboring states, Lamont said in the statement. We have also provided our employees with a compliance grace period. There is no reason all our employees should not be in compliance. I continue to count on state employees to lead by example and to respect their co-workers and the public by complying with this executive order, which is the law.

The COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which was enacted in Connecticut in mid-August, requires all state employees and staff of all childcare facilities and pre-K to 12 schools statewide to receive at least one dose of the vaccine by Sept. 27.

The Governors executive order (pdf) allowed for medical and religious exemptions from vaccination that would be granted on an individualized, case by case basis. Exempted employees are required to undergo mandatory weekly testing against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19.

However, state hospital and long-term care employees are not given the option of being exempted and tested in lieu of vaccination.

The original deadline for workers to comply with the mandate was extended by a week to Oct. 4.

Maj. David Pytlik with the Connecticut National Guard told News 8 WTNH in a statement, At this time, we havent been asked to support any particular function, but we will continue to monitor and prepare as necessary.

The National Guard has different types of units and its members have different types of skill sets.

Typically Connecticut National Guard focuses on protect life/limb/eyesight and property but during the CCP virus pandemic it stepped up to support critical tasks such as skilled nursing facility inspection, distributing food, and delivering personal protection equipment, the statement said.

The last two years have taught us to be flexible and that we may be called upon to support the state in new ways, the National Guard said in its statement.
Cotton, Gallagher Urge Biden Administration to Blacklist Chinese Biotech Companies

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) on Sept. 30 called on the Biden administration to blacklist Chinese biotech companies, citing U.S. national security concerns, and the Chinese regimes ambitions to dominate biotechnology.

In a letter (pdf) to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the Republican lawmakers called for Shenzhen-based company Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI), and others, to be added to the Treasury Departments Non-SDN Chinese Military Industrial Complex Companies List, the Department of Commerces Entity List, and the Department of Defenses list of Chinese military companies.

The pair argued that Beijing intends to use biotechnology for military purposes against U.S. interests and that BGI, which manages Chinas national gene database, has a history of acting on behalf of and collaborating with Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) as part of the Chinese regimes strategy of Military-Civil Fusion.

Beijing has for years been collecting large amounts of American health care data, using illegal methods such as cyber hacking, investments in American biotech companies, and partnerships with hospitals and universities to gain access to sensitive information.

BGI is involved in activities contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States, and it is a clear military-civil fusion contributor to Chinas defense industrial base, they wrote.

Further, the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) focus on biotech extends to its potential military application, the lawmakers cautioned, citing a 2017 publication that detailed how the former head of the PLA National Defense University identified biology as one of seven new domains of warfare, including the possibility of specific ethnic genetic attacks.

The pair said BGI has purchased U.S. companies and is working to undercut the global DNA sequencing market using state subsidies.

BGI and at least 14 other Chinese companies perform genomic sequencing for U.S. health care patients. As mandated by Chinese law, these companies have almost certainly shared this data with the Chinese government, they wrote. Joint BGI-PLA research could have an application in future bioweaponswhich is especially concerning because BGIs national gene bank is presumably made available for military research.

The United States must not turn a blind eye to the threat posed by Chinese biotechnology companies operating at the CCPs behest, Cotton and Gallagher added in their letter. Blacklisting BGI and its fellow biotech companies will help the United States counter the Chinese Communist Partys efforts to capture Americans most private informationtheir DNA.

In February, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) said in a fact sheet (pdf) that vast amounts of genomic information (a persons entire genetic sequence) can fuel developments in the cutting-edge field of precision medicine (or personalized medicine), allowing China to overtake the United States to become a global leader in biotech.

Such data can also be weaponized to target individuals in the country for intelligence and military operations, according to the NCSC.

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment.

Cathy He contributed to this report.
Ships await to come ashore at The Port of Los Angeles, in Long Beach, Calif., on Jan. 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdowns Caused Jams at California Ports

Commentary

If you go down to the coast in Southern California and look out to sea, you easily can spot dozens of container ships stuck waiting to move into port and unload their goods.

The Wall Street Journal headlined, Cargo Piles Up as California Ports Jostle Over How to Resolve Delays. Subhead: U.S. shipping operations remain clogged as ports, truckers and warehouses cant find enough workers or agree on 24/7 operations.

This happens now and again over the years when port unions go on strike. This time theres a different cause: Supply disruptions from the COVID-19 lockdowns last year, and potential new lockdowns.

Its going to take a long time to clear up, even with everybody back to work, Randal OToole told me; hes a Cato Institute Senior Fellow working on urban growth, public land and transportation issues.

He gave this analogy: Youre driving on the freeway, with traffic flowing freely at 60 mph. Then it goes bumper-to-bumper. You never even saw the cause of the slowdown. But somebody ahead of you had to slow downmaybe to avoid a rabbit jumping in front of a car. That first car was going 60 mph, but slowed to 59 mph. Then the car behind it had to slow to 58 mph. The third car to 57 mph. And so on.

Everybodys all jammed up, he said. But eventually it clears up. Thats what happened to ports.

Last year, the COVID-19 lockdowns caused people to cut back on spending, so fewer imports were needed coming into the ports. With the lockdowns largely over (we hope), demand has soared, but the ports top capacity has not expanded. So the container ships remain offshore, waiting to sail into the ports and slack the increased demand.

Its similar to the problem with rental cars. During Peak COVID in 2020, rental companies were practically giving cars away. Hertz went bankrupt, but Avis tried harder (as its old ad used to put it), and didnt. Most rental companies dumped large numbers of vehicles on the rental market.

Now, rental car prices have skyrocketed, according to Detroit News, as the pandemic causes supply shortages. Cars Direct reported, Used Car Prices May Not Normalize Till 2024.

California isnt the only area hurt by port problems. The Port of New Orleans reopened Sept. 2 after being closed for three days during Hurricane Ida. Business Insider reported Sept. 26, Dozens of cargo ships stuck waiting off New Yorks coast amid port staff shortages and surging demand for goods.

Infrastructure Bill

The $3.5 trillion infrastructure billitself causing congestion, in this case in Congresscould provide some future relief. Final numbers, including the total, are undetermined. But on Sept. 30, Transportation Topics wrote, Specifically, the budget reconciliation bill would dedicate $2.5 billion to the Maritime Administration for supply chain resilience, congestion reduction and development of offshore wind infrastructure at ports, among other enhancements.

However, OToole cautioned that Congress has a habit of spending money on the wrong thing.

The whole impetus for the infrastructure bill is we supposedly have a crumbling infrastructure, he said. Thats largely not true. Private infrastructure largely is in good shape. Whats in bad shape is tax-supported infrastructure. Members of Congress want new infrastructure, not the maintenance of existing infrastructure.

On the port money, he said, I suspect a lot of that money will be going to ports along the Gulf Coast. Because the expansion of the Panama Canal has allowed a lot of shipping going, instead of to the West Coast, to Ft. Lauderdale or New Orleans. Those places will be asking for money for port expansion.

From 2009 to 2016 the new Panama Canal project, called the Expanded Canal, greatly increased the size of container ships it could handle. That allowed greater shipping to flow directly from Asia to the East Coast of the United States, avoiding the West Coast and transshipment across the continent.

The Expanded Canal intensified competition between West Coast ports and those on the East Coast.

Aftermath

OToole said the best solution would be to shift from government-run transportation projects, such as airports and seaports, which depend on tax money, to private facilities depending on user fees. Private facilities must keep up their infrastructure to maintain customer satisfaction. Americas mostly government-run airports have become so rundown theyve become an international embarrassment.

But privatization is something for the future. For now, the ships at sea waiting for a port are another COVID-19 aftermath.
A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chemist checks confiscated pills containing fentanyl at the DEA Northeast Regional Laboratory in New York on Oct. 8, 2019. (Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images)

DEA Agents Arrest More Than 800 in Crackdown on Fentanyl-Laced Fake Pills

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced on Thursday that it made more than 800 arrests and seized more than 1.8 million fake pills as part of a two-month operation and crackdown on fentanyl-laced fake pills.

Working with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, the DEA seized 1.8 million fentanyl-laced fake pills and arrested 810 drug traffickers in cities, suburbs, and rural communities across the United States.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid thats blamed for an escalating overdose death rate in the United States. Its most often manufactured in Mexico using chemicals supplied from China, and mixed with other narcotics to increase potency, as well as pressed into counterfeit pain pills commonly known as Mexican oxys.

In the past, fentanyl had mainly been mixed with heroin to boost the drugs potency, but now its often pressed into small blue tablets and stamped with M30 to closely match the color and markings of prescription oxycodone pills. Buyers may be unaware the pills contain fentanyl, of which a 2 mg dose can be fatal.

Opioids were responsible for nearly three-quarters of the more than 93,000 fatal drug overdoses in the United States in 2020, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement on Thursday. The pervasiveness of these illicit drugs, and the fatal overdoses that too often result, is a problem that cuts across America from small towns to big cities and everything in between.

DEA administrator Anne Milgram said that as part of the eight-week operation, DEA targeted the criminal drug networks flooding the country with fentanyl-laced fake pills.

The fentanyl-laced fake pills seized by DEA could potentially kill more than 700,000 Americans. I urge the American public today to talk to their loved ones about the threats and dangers of fake pills and the simple fact that one pill can kill, Milgram added.

According to DEA laboratory testing, 4 out of 10 fentanyl-laced fake pills contain a potentially lethal dose. Further, the number of fake pills containing fentanyl has jumped nearly 430 percent since 2019.

Also seized by the DEA as part of the operation was 712 kilograms (1,570 pounds) of fentanyl powder, which it says is sufficient to potentially make tens of millions of lethal pills, the Justice Department.

Authorities also seized nearly 8,843 pounds of methamphetamine, 1,440 pounds of cocaine, and 158 weapons. Multiple felony charges are pending as a result of the operation for crimes including drug distribution and drug trafficking.

This is a national emergency, Milgram told reporters at a press briefing on Thursday And this is just the start of the work that the DEA will do to address it.

According to a U.S.China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) report published in August, China remains the primary source of illicit fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances being trafficked into the United States, despite the Chinese regime banning fentanyl and its analogs in 2019.

Charlotte Cuthbertson contributed to this report.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) talks with reporters as she leaves a lengthy Democratic caucus meeting in the U.S. Capitol building as negotiations continue on the fate of the bipartisan infrastructure bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 1, 2021. (Leah Millis/Reuters)

Democratic Leadership Downplays Threats to Passage of Budget, Infrastructure Bills, Rank and File Still Uncertain

As divides between Democratic moderates and progressives continue to threaten the passage of the infrastructure and budget bills, Democratic leaders insist that the two pivotal pieces of legislation will pass.

On Friday, President Joe Biden went to the House to negotiate between the two wings.

Moderates have demanded a swift passage of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which passed through the Senate by a bipartisan vote. Progressives have demanded that the much more partisan $3.5 trillion budget bill be passed before the House even considers the infrastructure bill. Each group has threatened to tank the priorities of the other if their demands go unmet, and each controls enough votes to follow through on these threats.

In the Senate, divisions persist as well. Recently, moderate Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) reiterated their opposition to the budget bill, which cannot pass without their support.

Biden, who has been deeply involved in negotiations with Manchin, Sinema, and other moderates, is focusing his efforts on the House, which is the first hurdle the legislation must overcome.

I Dont Think Anyone Knows Whats Going On

One Democratic congressman who supports the reconciliation bill, Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), indicated on Friday that he and other congressmen were uncertain about what the situation.

I dont think anyone knows whats going on, Crow said.

Democratic leaders have been deeply involved in negotiations with the two wings, but have been tight-lipped on the content of those negotiations.

Asked whether the infrastructure bill could pass, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), deputy whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said during a Sept. 29 appearance on MSNBC, Right now, it doesnt look like it.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) also indicated this general lack of confidence among the Democratic ranks. Asked whether he was confident that the reconciliation bill would pass, Hoyer said simply, Nope.

Adding to this atmosphere, throughout the week progressives have one by one restated their commitment to a vote on the budget before the infrastructure bill is considered, as moderates have restated their opposition to such a large bill.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) advised progressives in the House on in a tweet: No infrastructure bill should pass without a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. That is the agreement that was made & that is the agreement that must be kept. Physical infrastructure is important, but the needs of working families & combatting climate change is more important.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who leads the progressive caucus, explained on Twitter: Its not the infrastructure bill THEN maybe the Build Back Better [reconciliation] package down the road. That wasnt the deal. Progressives wont back down. Were fighting the peoples fight and were going to deliver the entire Build Back Better agenda.

At the same time, Sinema and Manchin doubled down on not supporting any $3.5 trillion bill.

Senator Sinema said publicly more than two months ago, before Senate passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, that she would not support a bill costing $3.5 trillion, Sinemas office said in a statement shared on her Twitter account, confirming that Sinema stood by her original opposition.

Manchin in a statement released to Twitter called the $3.5 trillion budget fiscal insanity. Manchin also indicated for the first time that he would not support a bill larger than $1.5 trilliona huge blow for progressives who feel that $3.5 trillion is already a difficult compromise.

Were Gonna Land the Plane on Both Bills

Still, despite the appearance of uncertainty and continued division, Democratic leaders insist that the bills are moving on schedule and will pass.

Democratic Caucus chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on Friday that even though moderates and progressives are ideologically divided, there is no disagreement in the caucus about the importance of both [the infrastructure bill and budget reconciliation bill].

Were working through these issues and I think as we always do were gonna land the plane, he added.

Jeffries emphasized that House Democrats, despite their disagreements, remain committed to the two-track agenda of passing the Build Back Better Act and the infrastructure bill. In the Senate, Jeffries noted, the future of the former bill is still unclear, but Jeffries said Democratic leadership is hoping for an indication from the Senate that they are willing to pass the bill as well.

Jeffries extolled Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for her success in landing the plane under much more challenging conditions, such as her negotiations with Republican Presidents Donald Trump and George Bush to pass legislation.

In view of this, Jeffries asked, Do you think were not gonna arrive at an agreement with President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats? Thats speculation that is not going to end in a good place.

Jeffries was also asked if Biden would be able to successfully close the deal on the infrastructure and reconciliation bills during his visit to the Capitol.

Weve maintained from the very beginning that we were gonna close the deal, and [were] looking forward to getting both the infrastructure agreement done as well as the Build Back Better Act done, Jeffries concluded.

Friday morning, Pelosi was challenged on whether a vote on the infrastructure bill would be doable on Friday. There will be a vote today, she replied.

After Manchins statement restating his opposition to the budget bill, Pelosi was asked whether it seemed like he would be open to further negotiation.

Pelosi responded Yes it does.

Katabella Roberts contributed to this report.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) (C) speaks in support of the Women's Health Protection Act, with primary sponsor Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) (R), outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Sept. 24, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Democrats Push to Codify Unlimited Abortion Law

Democrats held their second hearing this week on Thursday in the House Oversight and Reform Committee about their urgent need to pass legislation giving women unlimited access to abortion, up to nine months. The hearings are in response to abortion laws like the one recently enacting in Texas that limit abortions to the first few weeks of pregnancy.

Chairman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said it is urgent the Senate pass the Womens Health Protection Act because of all the extremist state abortion laws being filed and the hostile Supreme Court, referring to the conservative majority.

Maloney said women need to have control over their own bodies and that state governments are putting womens rights in peril, as they are bulldozing right through them. We must take bold action to protect and expand abortion care rights and access.

Last week, the House of Representatives passed Congresswoman Judy Chus Womens Health Protection Act, which would establish a federally protected right to abortion care for every person in the United States, no matter where they live, Maloney added.

Democrats also have a bill that would reverse the Hyde Amendment and allow taxpayer dollars to be used to fund abortions for those who cannot afford them, by passing Rep. Barbara Lees Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Act.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-W.Va.) said she does not want to normalize abortion.

I refuse to normalize abortion and reject its very premise that the sacrifice of an innocent life that cannot speak for itself is justified in any way. We live in a society that mistakes choice for liberty and denies the dignity of unborn life, said Foxx during the Thursday hearing.

With the Supreme Court currently having a conservative majority, Democrats are afraid the court may overturn the landmark abortion decision Roe v. Wade. They are also trying to stop states from enacting abortion restrictions like the bill passed recently by the Texas legislature, which restricts almost all abortions after six weeks and allows whistleblowers to turn in someone breaking this law.

Pro-choice activists hold signs in response to anti-abortion activists participating in the March for Life, an annual event to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States, outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Jan. 18, 2019. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

The Supreme Court will consider a case by the state of Mississippi on Dec. 1, in which the court is being asked to overturn the 1973 ruling that allows abortion up to 23 weeks, as decided with Roe v. Wade.

Mississippis lawyers said in papers filed with the court in July that the Roe v. Wade ruling was wrong and should be overturned. Acting Solicitor General Brian H. Fletcher, in a separate Supreme Court filing of new friend-of-the-court briefs, asked the Justices to uphold the federal abortion ruling.

In the meantime, the Democratic-controlled House on Sept. 24 voted 218211 to pass the broad abortion access bill, the Womens Health Protection Act. One Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) opposed the abortion bill.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a moderate who supports a womans right to choose, has said she opposes the recent abortion legislation because it weakens exceptions provided to health care providers who refused to perform abortions on moral or religious grounds.

Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), the sponsor of the Democrats abortion bill, said her bill is countering laws like the one in Texas.

But anti-abortion extremists have been working ever since the passage of Roe v. Wade to put abortion services out of reach for as many Americans as possible. Texass SB8 is just the latest example. The Texas law is egregious and downright chilling. It deputizes vigilantes to harass anyone helping someone obtain an abortion, said Chu.

Under the new abortion bill, Womens Health Protection Act of 2021, a woman can receive abortion services without certain limitations or requirements: no specific tests or medical procedures in connection with the provision of abortion services, no medically inaccurate information before an abortion, no limit on providers ability to prescribe or give drugs, no medically unnecessary visits to a provider or other entity, and no requirement to disclose reasons for seeking abortion services before viability of the fetus.

Opponents of the broad abortion bill have objections to the lack of consideration for the infants rights. Chus bill states that a woman can get an abortion at any point prior to fetal viability, including a prohibition or restriction on a particular abortion procedure and that abortion is allowed even after fetal viability when, in the good-faith medical judgment of the treating health care provider assesses that continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the pregnant patients life or health.

Pro-choice demonstrators wave signs in front of the U.S. Supreme Court as it prepares to take up an abortion case, in Washington on Nov. 30, 2005. (Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images)

One of two pro-life witnesses at Thursdays hearing, Dr. Ingrid Skop, a Texas-based OB/GYN, told the committee that science has advanced since Roe v. Wade, and lawmakers should take new findings into consideration when passing abortion laws to consider the life of the baby.

We have created a class of humans considered unworthy of life on their own merits, valuable only if someone else desires them. This is the definition of genocide. We need to re-examine this as a scientific and human rights issue, not through the lens of political partisanship or social engineering, said Dr. Skop.

The Democrats abortion bill will now move to the Senate, and Maloney called on the upper chamber to expand abortion access. I call on the Senate to meet the moment, and immediately pass this critical bill, said Maloney.
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss reopening schools during COVID-19 at Capitol Hill in Washington, on Sept. 30, 2021. (Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Wont Say Parents Are Primary Stakeholders in Childrens Education

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona refused to say at a congressional hearing that parents are the primary stakeholders in their childrens education.

Near the end of his Sept. 30 hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Cardona was asked by Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) about what he thinks of parents who want to be more involved in the education of their children after the first school year amid the pandemic.

Do you think parents should be in charge of their childs education as the primary stakeholder? Braun asked.

I believe parents are important stakeholders, Cardona replied. But I also believe educators have a role in determining educational programming.

I think thats going to be a little out of focus what I think youre going to find across all elements of education, an unimpressed Braun said, Since they pay the bills, they raise the kids, they probably need to be the primary spokespeople for their own kids good education.

Braun also asked Cardona to rescind a previous comment that parents expressing opposition to mask mandates and critical race theory is a proxy for being mad that their guy didnt win. The comment was publicized by Business Insider in a story about Cardonas recent road trip to Indiana, where school board meetings have been disrupted by community members protesting against school districts masks policies.

I was a little disturbed, and I want to see if you really meant the comment, Braun said. Is that something youd want to take back?

I know across the country our school board meetings are a little intense, Cardona replied, without directly addressing the statement Braun was referring to. School boards are unwavering in their support for returning students to school and providing a safe learning environment.

What about the statement? Would you want to take that back and not politicize something where I think its an honest, sincere difference of opinion across the country? Braun pressed, but Cardona again declined to directly address his comment.

A similar exchange took place earlier this week during the final debate in Virginias high-stakes gubernatorial race between former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe and his Republican challenger Glenn Youngkin. In 2016, McAuliffe vetoed what was known as the Beloved bill, a measure that would have made Virginia the first state to require schools to warn parents of sexually explicit content in books and allow parents to block their children from reading those books.

You vetoed the bill that would have informed parents that they were there, Youngkin said to McAuliffe. You believe school systems should tell children what to do. I believe parents should be in charge of their kids education.

In response, McAuliffe said that parents would have had the power to remove books from library shelves if the 2016 bill passed.

It was not that the parents had the right to veto books  also take them off the shelves, he said. Im not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions.

I stopped the bill and I dont think parents should be telling schools what they should teach, McAuliffe added.
French President Emmanuel Macron (R) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen look at the view during the 8th MED7 Mediterranean countries summit at the Stavros Niarchos cultural center in Athens, on Sept. 17, 2021. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP via Getty Images)

EU Postpones Trade Talks With Australia Following Submarine Row

Trade deal discussions between the European Union and Australia have been suspended as the Australian trade minister flies to the continent.

The move comes after French displeasure at Canberras decision to cancel a $90 billion (US$64 billion)submarine project, following the signing of the AUKUS deal with the United States (U.S.) and the United Kingdom (UK) last month.

Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan said in a statement to Reuters on Oct. 1, I will meet with my EU counterpart Valdis Dombrovskis next week to discuss the 12th negotiating round, which will now take place in November rather than October.

A free-trade agreement is in the interests of Australia and the European Union and will strengthen our relationship that is built on a shared commitment to democracy, human rights, the rule of law and economic openness, he added.

We understand the French reaction to our submarine decision, but ultimately any nation must act in its national interestwhich is what Australia has done.

Last month, the Australian government cancelled the troubled multi-billion-dollar Future Submarine Program with French defence contractor Naval Group.

The original 2016 plan was for Naval to convert 12 of its Barracuda-class nuclear submarines into diesel-electric powered Attack-class submarines fitted with U.S. weapons systems.

However, the French project has been riddled with ongoing delays and cost blowouts, with the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealing $2.4 billion (US$1.7 billion) had already been sunk into the project.

However, the signing of AUKUS saw the Australians cancel the dealwhich Morrison said was within the federal governments rightand instead explore the acquisition of at least eight nuclear-powered submarines from the United States or the United Kingdom.

French ministers reacted angrily to the deal accusing Australia and the United States of stabbing it in the back and recalling its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington D.C.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also questioned whether the incident could affect a potential trade deal with Australia.

In reaction to the delayed EU-Australia trade negotiations, Euan Graham, senior fellow for Asia-Pacific Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, wrote on Twitter on Oct. 1, Astonishing. Im guessing economic retaliation wasnt in the EU Indo-Pacific policy guidelines?

Whats the betting this suspension was timed to enable (French President Emmanuel) Macron to lobby an incoming German government for a supportive EU position? he added. Will be interesting to see if Australia now fast-tracks (Australia-United Kingdom) Free Trade Agreement negotiations.
An exterior view of the headquarters of China Evergrande Group in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, on Sept. 29, 2021. (Aly Song/Reuters)

Evergrande Misses Second Offshore Bond Payment; Some Onshore Investors Get Partial Payment

SHANGHAI/BEIJING/HONG KONGChina Evergrande Group missed paying bond interest due on Wednesday, two bondholders said, its second unpaid offshore debt obligation in a week, although the cash-strapped company on Thursday made a partial payment to some of its onshore investors.

The company, reeling under a debt pile of $305 billion, was due on Wednesday to make a $47.5 million bond interest payment on its 9.5 percent March 2024 dollar bond, after having missed $83.5 million in coupon payments last Thursday.

With liabilities equal to 2 percent of Chinas GDP, Evergrande has sparked concerns its woes could spread through the financial system and reverberate around the world, though worries have eased somewhat after the central bank vowed to protect homebuyers interests.

The central bank on Wednesday urged financial institutions to cooperate with relevant departments and local governments to maintain the stable and healthy development of the real estate market and safeguard housing consumers interests.

Evergrandes silence on its offshore payment obligations has, however, has left global investors wondering if they will have to swallow large losses when 30-day grace periods end for coupons that were due on Sept. 23 and Sept. 29.

Some offshore Evergrande bondholders had neither received interest payments nor any communication by the end of Wednesday New York time, said the people familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified due to sensitivity of the issue.

A spokesperson for Evergrande did not have any immediate comment. Reuters was unable to determine whether Evergrande has told bondholders what it plans to do regarding the coupon payment due on Wednesday.

The developers treatment of offshore investors, however, contrasts with the way the company is managing its onshore liabilities.

Evergrande said on Thursday that its wealth management unit has made a 10 percent repayment of wealth management products (WMPs), which are largely owned by onshore retail investors, that are due by Sept. 30.

The payment was made on Thursday and relevant funds have been issued to investors accounts, Evergrande said in a notice posted on its website. It did not specify how much money was paid.

The two missed offshore payments come as the company, which has nearly $20 billion in offshore debt, faces deadlines on dollar bond coupon payments totaling $162.38 million in the next month.

Once Chinas top-selling developer, Evergrande is now expected to be one of the largest-ever restructurings in the country. It has been prioritizing its onshore liabilities amid concerns that its troubles could trigger social unrest.

I cant see there being much willingness to give a fairer outcome to offshore bondholders rather than onshore banks, let alone house buyers and people who have lent onshore through the personal loan structures, said Alexander Aitken, a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills in Hong Kong.

Of course legally there is also structural subordination from being offshore, which means lenders to Evergrandes onshore subsidiaries get paid before lenders to the parent company or any offshore debt issuer.

Construction Resumption

The Chinese regime is unlikely to intervene directly to resolve Evergrandes crisis in the form of a bailout, but analysts say it is wary of a messy collapse that could fuel unrest.

Some instant messaging groups used by people owed money by Evergrande to organize protests and discuss claims have been blocked on Tencent Holdings WeChat platform, group members said on Wednesday.

Disgruntled home buyers, investors, and suppliers have staged protests at Evergrande offices this month, although authorities have clamped down on such activity. On Thursday there was a visible police and security presence outside Evergrandes headquarters in the southern city of Shenzhen.

Authorities have in recent days prodded government-owned firms and state-backed property developers to purchase some Evergrande assets to reduce such risks.

Evergrande said on Wednesday that it would sell a 9.99 billion ($1.5 billion) stake it owns in Shengjing Bank Co Ltd to a state-owned asset management company.

The bank, one of Evergrandes main lenders, demanded all net proceeds from the sale go towards settling the developers debts with Shengjing, which had 7 billion ($1.5 billion) in loans to Evergrande as of the first half last year.

Separately, Evergrandes Pearl River Delta business said in a WeChat post on Tuesday that construction had resumed on nearly 20 developments in the area. The post showed photos of various sites, and said that work resumption had accelerated since Evergrande vowed at the beginning of the month to deliver homes to buyers.

Its main onshore unit Hengda Real Estate Group announced a resolution of an onshore bond coupon payment on Sept. 23 through private negotiations.

Evergrandes shares opened sharply higher on Thursday, rising as much as 5.21 percent before reversing course to slump as much as 7.17 percent. The stock ended down 4 percent.

Regardless of how the debt is restructured, Evergrande shareholders and investors in offshore, USD-denominated corporate bonds will suffer large losses, said Jing Sima, chief China strategist at BCA Research in a note.

By Andrew Galbraith, Xiao Han, and Clare Jim
A view of the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery in Baton Rouge, La., on May 15, 2021. (Kathleen Flynn/Reuters)

Exxon Offers New Proposal to Locked-Out Texas Refinery Workers

HOUSTONExxon Mobil Corp. on Wednesday offered its first concession in a new contract proposal to locked-out workers at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery and lube oil plant to include some seniority protection.

Exxon on May 1 locked some 650 workers out at the 369,000-barrel-per-day refinery, replacing them with temporary workers and saying the company was afraid a strike might lead to disruptions to production.

The amended offer, which comes after months of good-faith bargaining meetings, provides further support to our represented employees concerns about security and seniority, spokesperson Julie King said in an email.

The leaders of United Steelworkers union (USW) local 13-243, which represents the locked-out workers, said Exxons new offer fell short.

Although these changes are recognized as movement by the company, the overall 40-page comprehensive offer still leaves much to be desired, the leaders said in a statement issued Wednesday night.

Exxon has not withdrawn proposals that would eliminate lead operator positions, give it the right to right to move operators among different units regardless of job seniority and to eliminate the practice of workers bidding for jobs that come open, the leaders said.

These three proposals alone are still a direct attack on the core values of the unions safety, seniority, and security, they said.

The new proposal includes seniority protection for job transfers between the lubricants and refinery portions of the complex.

The USW 13-243 leaders said this was not a change, but clarified what Exxon had previously said.

It also includes layoff protection for certain jobs and warehouse operator promotions in lubricants, Exxon said.

The USW leaders said this proposal could result in the elimination of a department and the cutting jobs in another department.

The refinery and lube plant has continued to produce motor fuels and Mobil 1 oil with managers and supervisors.

If the new proposal is ratified before Nov. 1, the workers will receive a $500 bonus, Exxon said.

By Erwin Seba
A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen placed on a keyboard in this illustration taken March 25, 2020. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

Facebook Could Face Hefty Fine in Russia Over Banned Content, Says Regulator

MOSCOWRussian authorities on Thursday warned social media giant Facebook it faces a fine of up to 10 percent of its annual turnover in the country unless it deletes content Moscow deems illegal.

Upping the ante in its standoff with U.S. Big Tech, state communications regulator Roskomnadzor told Reuters it was planning to send Facebooks representatives in Russia an official notification saying it had repeatedly failed to remove banned information.

That, it said, could lead to a fine of 5 percent or 10 percent of Facebooks annual Russian turnover unless the situation is remedied.

Facebooks violations include failing to remove posts containing child pornography, drug abuse and extremist content, the Vedomosti daily reported separately.

Facebook had no immediate comment.

Moscow has increased pressure on foreign tech companies over the last year as part of a long-running push to assert greater sovereignty over its segment of the internet, including efforts to make companies store Russians personal data on its territory.

On Wednesday, Russia threatened to block YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc., after the video-hosting giant removed Russian state-backed broadcaster RTs German-language channels from its site.

Earlier this year, Roskomnadzor wrote to Facebook and other social media firms demanding they remove posts containing calls for minors to participate in anti-government protests after the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Vedomosti cited experts who estimated Facebooks annual Russian turnover at around 12 billion roubles ($165 million).

Reuters could not immediately verify that estimate.

Roskomnadzor has opened 17 different administrative cases against Facebook this year for failing to delete banned content, court documents showed, with 64 million roubles owed in fines or pending.

A turnover fine would dwarf those levied so far.

Facebooks administration has not paid the fines, Vedomosti cited Roskomnadzor as saying.

($1 = 72.5975 roubles)
Your child isnt immune to making poor judgments when it comes to using adult technologies. (fizkes/Shutterstock)

Facebook Whistleblower Expected to Testify on Instagrams Impact on Kids

A Facebook whistleblower is expected to testify at a Senate hearing on Oct. 5 about the companys knowledge regarding Instagrams allegedly harmful effects on children.

The hearing is based on a Sept. 14 expose by The Wall Street Journal that claims Instagram has a toxic impact on the self-esteem of young girls and that Facebook knew about the issue but made minimal efforts to address these issues and plays them down in public.

The hearing will provide an opportunity for a Facebook whistleblower to discuss their perspective and experience with the Subcommittee, including how to update childrens privacy regulations and other laws to protect consumers online, reads a statement announcing the hearing, headed by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) of the Senates Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security.

The internal documents showed how Facebook was acutely aware of the effects of its platform on teens and their mental well-being.

Presentations done by researchers inside Instagram, reviewed by WSJ, revealed some of the effects the photo-sharing app had on its young users, especially girls.

We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls, said a 2019 presentation slide as a research summarization on young girls with similar issues.

Seventy-six percent of American teens use Instagram, while around 22 million teens log into the platform on a daily basis in the country. Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression, said another slide.

The presentations done over 18 months concluded that Instagrams core features had the most harmful effect on teens. This included, The tendency to share only the best moments, a pressure to look perfect and an addictive product can send teens spiraling toward eating disorders, an unhealthy sense of their own bodies and depression.

Social comparison, where people compare with others on the criteria of wealth, physical beauty, and success, is worse on Instagram compared to TikTok and Snapchat, where users compete for performance and shared funny face filters. Instagram, on the other hand, focused mostly on the body and lifestyle.

In August, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was requested by Senators Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) to release company research regarding the platforms effects on youth mental health. In response, the company sent back a six-page letter without any of their own studies and alluding to their apparent ignorance regarding the effects.

Facebooks answers were so evasivefailing to even respond to all our questionsthat they really raise questions about what Facebook might be hiding, Blumenthal said in an email, according to WSJ. Facebook seems to be taking a page from the textbook of Big Tobaccotargeting teens with potentially dangerous products while masking the science in public.

Late Wednesday, Facebook released their own documents opposing the findings, and in a move presumed to be gearing up for the hearing.

Contrary to how the objectives have been framed, this research was designed to understand user perceptions and not to provide measures of prevalence, statistical estimates for the correlation between Instagram and mental health or to evaluate causal claims between Instagram and health/well-being, the company wrote in one of its annotations, The Washington Post reported.

On Thursday, Facebooks global head of safety, Antigone Davis, testified before Congress. Lawmakers grilled the executive on what the company plans on doing with the research at hand.

The announcement of the hearing comes a day after Instagram halted its plan on releasing an app targeted at children.

The identity of the whistleblower had not been made public at the time of writing.

Facebook and Instagram did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A woman wears a jersey reading "No to female genital mutilation" during a demonstration to defend women's rights on International Women's Day in Marseille, France, on March 8, 2018. (Bertrand Langlois/AFP via Getty Images)

Federal Judge Tosses Female Genital Mutilation Charges

A federal judge has tossed charges against a Michigan physician who had been accused of performing female genital mutilation (FGM) on young girls, and accused the prosecutors of vindictively pursuing new charges after he previously struck down as unconstitutional an earlier version of the federal anti-FGM law.

FGM is a procedure performed on a woman or girl to alter or injure her genitalia for non-medical reasons and most often involves the partial or total removal of her external genitalia, according to UNICEF.

In some countries where the practice persists, it is seen as a rite of passage into womanhood, while others see it as a way to suppress a womans sexuality. The practice, widely condemned in the Western world, is associated with Islam even though that belief system is said not to require it and it is carried out in some non-Muslim countries.

Some communities in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia practice FGM on the theory it will ensure a girls marriageability or family honor.

When this case came before him in November 2018, U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman struck down the old 1996 federal law that banned FGM, finding that states, not Congress, had the power to regulate the practice, which doesnt fall under the Constitutions commerce clause because it isnt a commercial activity.

Congress responded by passing a new law, the Stop FGM Act of 2020, which then-President Donald Trump signed into law on Jan. 5. The statute describes FGM as a form of child abuse, gender discrimination and violence against women and girls, and a global problem whose eradication requires international cooperation and enforcement at the national level.

The new law gives federal law enforcement the authority to go after perpetrators of FGM, doubles the punishment to 10 years imprisonment, and requires government agencies to track the practice and report what they do to curtail it.

In the case at hand, prosecutors filed a series of superseding indictments, the most recent indictment coming in February of this year, but the charges werent brought under the new anti-FGM law.

Originally, prosecutors claimed that mothers from Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois brought their 7-year-old girls to Dr. Jumana Nagarwala for the operation. Nagarwala and the other defendants denied they committed any crime. Nagarwala maintained she was carrying out an innocent religious custom on girls from her India-based Muslim sect.

In the fourth superseding indictment filed by the government in February, Nagarwala, another medical doctor and his wife, and a mother of one of the alleged victims were charged with different offenses. The federal charges included Conspiracy to Make False Statements, False Statements, Conspiracy to Tamper with a Witness, and Tampering with a Witness, according to court documents.

The defendants lawyers argued in May that the government manipulated the charges in an effort to win this case at all costs.

The government did not just go back for a second bite at the appleit is working its way through the entire orchard, they said at the time.

But on Sept. 28, Friedman, a Reagan appointee, dismissed the charges remaining in the 4-year-old prosecutorial effort against Nagarwala and the three others.

The government obtained the fourth superseding indictment, which asserts new and additional charges, in retaliation for defendants past success in having other charges dismissed, Friedman wrote in his order, a copy of which was obtained by The Epoch Times.

Such vindictive or retaliatory prosecution is a due process violation of the most basic sort.

Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Saima Mohsin was unhappy about the ruling.

We are very disappointed in the Courts decision today dismissing the indictment, she said in a statement on Sept. 28.

We take our duty to protect children very seriously. Congress sought to protect young girls from the cruelty of the practice of female genital mutilation when it enacted 18 U.S.C.  116 in 1996. Congress reaffirmed the importance of this law when it reenacted the statute in 2020 after the Courts dismissal of the charge in this case as unconstitutional.

Child victims are vulnerable and they deserve our best efforts to hold accountable those who harm them.

The Ayaan Hirsi Ali Foundation responded with shock, dismay, and heartbreak for the girls that may never see justice.

There needs to be Anger, motivation, and a renewed drive to abolish FGM in America. We lost the battle but are fighting to win the war, tweeted the foundation, founded by an ex-Muslim who had FGM performed on her in her native Somalia.
Four Firefighters Injured Battling Large Warehouse Fire in Carson

Four firefighters were injured from a massive 3-alarm fire on Sept. 30 at an industrial complex in Carson, California.

According to the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LAFD), the fire started at around 2 p.m. on Thursday, and approximately 200 firefighters were assigned to the site, with 12 additional fire engines and 5 paramedic squads on the scene supporting the firefighters.

As of right now, we have four injuries to report, all minor injuries. Two of those injuries were transported to local hospitals but again, all the injuries were minor. All those individuals are in stable condition. Two of them actually went right back to work after being checked out by our medical personnel on scene, LAFD spokesman Jonathan Matheny told The Epoch Times, adding that the entire firefighting crew belonged to LAFD.

The official cause of the fire is still under investigation, officials said.

Matheny explained that the burning building is a distribution facility that was full of palletized cardboard boxes and highly flammable alcohol wipes and that there are laws in place to help prevent and abate fires in commercial structures. Commercial buildings are regularly inspected by fire department personnel as well as Fire Prevention Bureau.

At around 6 p.m. on Sept. 30, LAFD posted on Twitter: Despite significant winds and a heavy fire load, consisting of palletized cardboard boxes (including highly flammable alcohol wipes), firefighters were able to prevent significant damage to 11 surrounding businesses, which were threatened by intense flames.

The firefighters stayed overnight at the facility monitoring the active fire, Matheny explained. There was still active fire as of Oct. 1 and the firefighters were expected to stay until Friday evening to put out all the hot spots.

Some of the residents from the mobile home park nearby voluntarily evacuated due to an electricity outage. Matheny clarified that the electricity in the surrounding neighborhoods had to be cut for firefighters to safely do their job without electrical interference. Matheny added that the electricity was expected to be restored on Oct. 1.

After aggressively attacking this fire for hours, firefighters have made significant progress and were able to prevent damage to 11 surrounding businesses which were threatened by flames.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who is representing the second districtincluding Carsonposted on Twitter at 5 p.m. Thursday that her office was in contact with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and confirmed that the fire was already under control. She also urged the nearby residents to stay indoors and close their windows.

On the same day, another large fire occurred in El Sereno and approximately 146 firefighters were on scene extinguishing the fire.
French Craftsmen Discover 239 Pre-Revolution Gold Coins in Walls of Mansion During Reno

While remodeling an old mansion in the French countryside, three craftsmen stumbled on hidden treasure: 239 rare gold coins stashed away in the walls of the property. The hoard is valued at roughly $350,000.

In 2019, the married couple who owned the home in Plozeveta commune in the Finistere department of Brittany in northwestern Francedecided to renovate the plot, which they purchased seven years earlier, joining three buildings together.

Stonemasons were hired, and they set to work.

They literally struck gold late October 2019 in two separate spots: inside a wall, they found a metal box filled with pre-French Revolution gold coins; days later, a purse containing the remainder of the coins was discovered above a beam, stated a press release from Ivoire Angers/Saumur Auction House.

I thought it was a joke, but no! homeowner Francois Mion, 63, told Le Telegramme in French.

Mion handed in the 239 coins to Finisteres Regional Preventive Archeology Service, who deemed them to all be authentic.

The collection is said to have been minted between 1638 and 1692, under the reigns of French kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV; products of the latter, the most recent, were part of monetary reforms to finance war efforts and expand the Palace of Versailles.

The Archeology Service said that the oldest part of the Plozevet mansion was likely once home to wealthy 13th century traders. While the transport of Bordeaux wines to England and grains to northern Europe brought prosperity four centuries later, 1750 introduced 100 years of economic decline, until new fishing and canning industries saw an upswing, they added.

The 239 gold coins, minted in 19 different cities, were apparently squirreled away as savings.

Among them, two rare coins contribute significant value to the find: one being a Louis dor with a Templar Cross, valued between 8,000 and 12,000 euros (approx. US$9,300 to $13,900); and the other, a 1646 Louis dor by the Atelier de Dijonone of just 120 known to remainvalued at 15,000 euros (approx. US$17,400).

The coins were auctioned at Ivoire Angers/Deloys Auction House on Sept. 29. As per French law, the proceeds will be split two ways, with half going to the homeowners, and the remainder to be divided among the craftsmen who unearthed the stash.

A law introduced in 2016 decrees that artifacts found on private properties belong to the state, The Local France reported. But Francois Mion and his wife are lucky; having acquired the Plozevet property in 2012, they are exempt, and thusly are permitted to sell the extraordinary treasure.

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Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak arrives at The Sun's Who Cares Wins Awards in London, Britain, on Sept. 14, 2021. (May James/Reuters)

G-7 Finance Ministers Make Some Progress on Tax Deal, UK Says

LONDONFinance ministers from the Group of Seven (G-7) said they made some progress on Wednesday at reaching a joint position on a global corporate tax deal, days before it needs to win over a wider international audience.

A common understanding was reached on some of the important open issues to support reaching final political agreement within the OECD Inclusive Framework in October, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.

Britainwhich chairs the G7 this yearbrokered an outline agreement in June on a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15 percent and measures to squeeze more money out of tech giants such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook.

Next week the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which has been trying to shepherd through tax reform for years, wants to get full agreement on detailed proposals from 139 negotiating countries.

Todays meeting of finance ministers evidences the continued ambition and collaboration of G-7 countries in achieving historic global tax reform and ensuring that companies pay their fair share of tax in the countries they do business, Britains finance minister Rishi Sunak said.

A British finance ministry spokesperson said the G-7 finance ministers had reached a common understanding  on some important remaining issues before OECD and G-20 tax meetings next week.

Earlier, Japanese finance minister Taro Aso said there had been agreement on some points under discussion. French Finance Minister Bruno LeMaire also cited progress on key negotiating points.

A sticking point previously has been how exactly large multinationals should be taxed, with the United States concerned the measures would divert tax revenue from tech giants to Europe rather than their U.S. headquarters.

Irish finance minister Paschal Donohoewho attended the G7 meeting in his capacity as chair of a group of euro zone finance ministerssaid he expected the OECD to produce updated proposals in the coming days.

Next week will be a critical moment for the negotiations that have been underway for years and will show whether an agreement is possible by the end of next week, Donohoe said.

Ireland, which has a corporate tax rate of just 12.5 percent, has so far declined to sign up to OECD proposals.
A 3D printed Android mascot Bugdroid is seen in front of a Google logo in this illustration taken July 9, 2017. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters/File Photo)

Google Tells Court Staggering $5 Billion EU Antitrust Fine Flawed

LUXEMBOURGA 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) European Union antitrust fine was based on flawed calculations, Alphabets Google said on Thursday, urging Europes second-highest court to scrap or reduce what it said was not an appropriate penalty.

Google was fined for using its Android mobile operating system to thwart rivals and cement its dominance in general internet search from 2011, in the largest penalty meted out to any company found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules.

The fine that was imposed, a staggering 4.34 billion euros, was not appropriate, Googles lawyer Genevra Forwood told the five-judge panel of the General Court on the fourth day of a week-long hearing, which is taking place three years after the European Commission sanctioned the company.

The problem is not the headline-grabbing fine per se. The problem is how the commission reached that figure, she said.

Forwood said there was no anti-competitive intent in Googles actions nor could it have known that its conduct was an abuse based on EU case law and there was no precedent for it.

So it was wrong for the commission to impose any fine at all, let alone turn up the dials to reach its biggest fine ever, Forwood said.

She also took issue with the EU competition enforcer adding an 11 percent gravity factor to Googles fine compared with 5 percent for Intel in 2009 in a separate case.

Even if this court considers that a fine is appropriate, it would only be proper to turn the dials right down, she said.

However, the European Commissions lawyer Anthony Dawes said Google simply could not be unaware of the anti-competitive behavior of its practices.

Infringements committed negligently are no less serious than those committed intentionally, Dawes said, adding that the fine was just 4.5 percent of Googles revenue in 2017 versus a 10 percent cap allowed under EU rules.

A verdict is likely to come next year. The case is T-604/18 Google vs European Commission.

By Foo Yun Chee
New Skid Row Housing Project Could Be Triggering for Those in Recovery: Homeless Advocate

When Los Angeles broke ground on the new Weingart Towers housing project in Skid Row on Sept. 28, many Los Angeles officials, including Mayor Eric Garcetti, touted the move as one of the most comprehensive solutions to homelessness, also crediting Proposition HHH, a 2016 ballot initiative that partially funded the project.

A total of $48 million of the Prop HHH funds will go to the construction of the Weingart TowersLos Angeless largest expected homeless housing developmenton Skid Row; $32 million to the first tower, which will provide 382 units to homeless people, and another $16 million to a second 104 unit-tower.

Over 75 percent of voters passed Prop HHH, a $1.2 billion ballot initiative that aims to combat homelessness by building 10,000 supportive housing units. Five years later, city officials are coming to the end of Prop HHHs funds after building only about 10 percent of their initial goal.

Some critics question the efficacy of the new Skid Row project, Prop HHH, and the citys overall approach to homelessness.

Skid Row in Los Angeles on June 9, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Los Angeles Controllers Report

Los Angeles Controller Ron Galperin published a report in 2019 that found that only 892 supportive housing units and 368 affordable units had been built. In 2021, the number is estimated to be about 1,000 units. The majority of these units are one-bedroom or studio apartments ranging from 275 to 750 square feet, and cost the city between $350,000 and $690,000 per unit to build, according to Galperins report.

The report estimates that the overall cost of the projects increased 12 percent between 2016, when the project costs were first estimated, and 2019; the cost of several of those projects jumped 25 percent in those first three years.

Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) estimated that there were 28,464 homeless people in the city of LA in 2016, with 21,338 of them unsheltered. In 2020, LAHSA reported 41,290 unhoused Angelenosa nearly 50 percent increase in 4 years.

The jump in cost, along with the rapid growth the homeless population has seen in recent years, caused Galperin to report that the project is not keeping pace with the growing demand for supportive housing and shelter.

In addition, Galperin criticized the programs management, saying that the developers were spending large amounts of money on soft costs, or non-construction activities such as fees, consultants, and financing costs, and spent millions paying interest payments by borrowing bonds before the projects were ready to use the money. Galperin recommended that the program create a centralized accounting authority for the rest of the program.

In addition, Galperin also recommended that the city find other ways to use any remaining funds to deliver faster and less expensive projects, while also reviewing the most expensive projects in predevelopment to see what can be done to reduce costs.

Skid Row in Los Angeles on Nov. 17, 2018. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Skid Row Could Be Triggering

Homelessness and drug addiction recovery advocate Tom Wolf told The Epoch Times that the lack of financial oversight speaks to the mess around permanent supportive housing.

Wolf spent several years struggling with addiction to pills and heroin, going from being a family-oriented child support officer to being homeless in San Franciscos Tenderloin district.

Tom was forced to get clean after an arrest and three months in jail in 2018. Wolfs brother bailed him out, and he spent the next six months in a Salvation Army rehabilitation facility. Wolf has now been sober for three years and served as a case manager at a different Salvation Army in San Francisco, where he has helped others in recovery.

Its very traumatic to be homeless. Some of the basic challenges [about] housing someone, and also you have to think about where theyre housing, Wolf said, adding that walking outside the building and seeing drug dealers on Skid Row may be problematic for someone in addiction recovery.

Look, youre breaking ground on that housing project in Skid Row, that [would be] a trigger for me as a person thats trying to live in that place clean and sober, and then it gets a double down on when I walk outside, Im back on Skid Row, because thats where they built the housing project. So, these are the questions that I think that are worthy of asking as to why they chose that spot and not somewhere else, Wolf said. It just doesnt make sense. The way I look at it is that its a humanitarian crisis and we need all hands on deck.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on July 22, 2021. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

House Delays Vote on $3.5 Trillion Budget Bill as Democrats Struggle to Reach Deal

House Democrats late on Thursday night again delayed a vote on the Democratic leaderships $3.5 trillion spending bill, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyers office confirmed in a statement after hours of closed-door talks.

The House will remain in recess subject to the call of the Chair during this same legislative day of September 30, and will reconvene no earlier than 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning, the statement, issued shortly before 11 p.m., said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a separate statement said that Thursday had been a day of progress in fulfilling the Presidents vision to Build Back Better. The reconciliation bill had been scheduled for a vote on Thursday.

Discussions continue with the House, Senate, and White House to reach a bicameral framework agreement to Build Back Better through a reconciliation bill, Pelosi added.

Thursdays postponement came as two key Senate moderates, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) indicated that they wouldnt back the bill without adjustments. Both votes are critical to the bills passage, and they have long maintained that the price tag is too high.

I dont see a deal tonight. I really dont, Manchin said shortly before 10 p.m. as he exited a meeting with senior congressional and White House staff in the Capitol basement.

Manchin indicated for the first time that $1.5 trillion is the farthest he will go on reconciliation, telling reporters that he thought that figure was the most the government could do without jeopardiz[ing] our economy.

He said he was willing to work with leadership to negotiate our priorities at a $1.5 trillion price point, adding that if Democrats wanted to do more they can run on the rest of it later, adding theres many ways to get where they want to, just not [by] doing everything at one time.

Were in good-faith negotiations, Manchin added.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Sinema, who has said little about the bill since its introduction, said simply, Kyrsten will not support a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill.

The delay marks the second time this week that the House Speaker has been forced to postpone a planned vote on the bill as negotiations continue.

[Negotiations] can take place tomorrow, they can take place next week. We should not get hung up on a date, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told reporters as he left a meeting with top White House staff on Thursday night.

Manchin late on Wednesday said that he believes that it will take a while to work out the specific changes needed to pass the broad measures proposed in the Biden-backed Build Back Better Act, which was not drafted in a bipartisan fashion.

Without elaborating on the specifics of his discussions with President Joe Biden, Manchin said that [the] reconciliation [bill] is going to take a while; its not going to be a week or two or three weeks.

Theres a lot, just [even] the tax code itself, to iron out, he said.

The reconciliation bill should be driven by what we need and can afford and not to reengineer the social and economic fabric of this nation or vengefully tax for the sake of wishful spending, he added in a statement.

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment.

Joseph Lord contributed to this report.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks before signing a bill to fund the government avoiding a federal shutdown at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Sept. 30, 2021. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

House to Vote on Infrastructure Bill: Pelosi

Friday morning, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters that the House would vote on the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill during its Friday session. This vote comes as the gap between progressives and moderates continues to widen.

Initially, the House was set to vote on the infrastructure bill, crafted by Senate Republicans and Democrats, on Monday. However, divisions within the party forced Pelosi to delay that vote.

Party Divisions Persist As Pelosi Expresses Confidence

Since early August, moderates and progressives in the House have been playing a game of political brinksmanship with the infrastructure bill and the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill. Both wings control more than enough votes to tank the others priorities.

Pelosi originally wanted to move the bills forward together as part of what Democratic leaders called a two-track strategy.

Nine moderates rejected this strategy in an August letter to Pelosi, saying that they would not vote for the budget bill unless it was de-linked from the infrastructure bill. The infrastructure bill, they said, was a bipartisan victory for our nation, and they opposed entangling the legislation with the more partisan budget bill.

Pelosi initially dismissed the rebellion as a kind of political amateur hour. However, these moderates refused to relent, forcing Pelosi to make an eleventh-hour agreement with them on the day of a vote to advance the budget bill to committees for drafting. Under the terms of the agreement, moderates would vote to advance the bill in exchange for a promise on a Sept. 27 vote on the infrastructure bill.

Monday, the deadline laid out in the agreement, came and passed without a vote. Pelosi delayed the vote to Thursday, but was unable to fulfill the promise because of continued threats from progressives.

Many progressives demanded that the infrastructure bill not be passed before the budget bill. The House progressive caucus, with its 95 votes, has continued to insist that they stand by the threat. A prominent progressive in the Senate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) re-upped this challenge on Tuesday when he demanded that the infrastructure bill not be passed until a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill was passed.

Other progressives have shared this demand.

Its not the infrastructure bill THEN maybe the Build Back Better [reconciliation] package down the road. That wasnt the deal. Progressives wont back down. Were fighting the peoples fight and were going to deliver the entire Build Back Better agenda, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who leads the progressive caucus, wrote on Twitter.

Asked whether the infrastructure bill could pass, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), deputy whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said during a Sept. 29 appearance on MSNBC Right now, it doesnt look like it.

Despite these challenges in the House, Pelosi and other Democratic leaders in the lower chamber have remained confident of the bills success.

Failure is not an option, said Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic House Caucus.

Challenged on whether the bill would go to a vote Friday, Pelosi continued this confidence, snapping back There will be a vote today.

Moderates Frustrated By Delays, Continue to Demand Separate Passage of Budget, Infrastructure

With Thursdays delay, the vote on the infrastructure package has already been pushed back three times.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus (PSC), expressed frustration on Sept. 29 on CNN at how things are unfolding.

You dont hold up and not vote for an infrastructure package thats historic once in a century that will help fix everything from water, to broadband, to fighting climate change, to the gateway tunnel between New York and New Jerseyyou dont hold that up, and hold it hostage while were working on another piece of legislation, he said.

Still, he also expressed hope. Were going to get both done, he insisted.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), PSCs Republican co-chair, supports the infrastructure bill even as Republican leaders have asked their party not to vote for the bill. Like Gottheimer, Fitzpatrick was frustrated with the delay, and warned that if the infrastructure bill and budget bill are bundled, he and other Republicans who support the bill will vote against the package.

Such a bundling, Fitzpatrick said, is a one-party solution that should not be pursued.

Zachary Steiber contributed to this report.
Facebook is one of the big tech companies who are a part of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

Lawmakers Grill Facebook Over Leaked Internal Research on Instagrams Harmful Impact on Teens

Facebook was heavily criticized by members of Congress on Thursday during a hearing examining how the social network giant handled internal research relating to its Instagram platform and how it can be harmful to the mental health of teenagers.

Antigone Davis, Facebooks global head of safety, was grilled for over three hours by lawmakers who accused Facebookwhich owns Instagramof concealing its findings showing that the Instagram app is harmful to significant numbers of teenage girls.

The hearing was convened by the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security after internal documents regarding Facebooks findings were disclosed to the Wall Street Journal by a whistleblower at the company.

The documents showed that Facebook found that Instagram makes body image issues worse for a substantial number of teen girls and is blamed by teens for increases in anxiety and depression. In some cases, the app led to body-image problems such as eating disorders, as well as suicidal thoughts, the research showed.

During Thursdays hearing, lawmakers scrutinized Facebook for its lack of transparency, accusing it of covering up the data and demanding it make changes, even drawing comparisons to the tobacco industrys coverups of cigarettes harmful effects.

Were here today because Facebook has shown us once again that it is incapable of holding itself accountable, Committee Chair Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in his opening remarks. This month, a whistleblower approached my office to provide information about Facebook and Instagram. Thanks to documents provided by that whistleblower, as well as extensive public reporting by The Wall Street Journal and others, we now have deep insight into Facebooks relentless campaign to recruit and exploit young users.

We now know that Facebook routinely puts profits ahead of kids online safety, he added. We know it chooses the growth of its products over the well-being of our children, and we now know that it is in defensively delinquent in acting to protect them.

Davis denied Blumenthals claims while defending Instagrams efforts to protect young people using its platform and condemning the way the research had been shown in news outlets.

She also acknowledged that questions have been raised about the companys internal research, noting that it was conducted to better understand young peoples experiences on Instagram.

We strongly disagree with how this reporting characterized our work, so we want to be clear about what that research shows, and what it does not show, Davis stated in written testimony. We undertook this work to inform internal conversations about teens most negative perceptions of Instagram, she added. It did not measure causal relationships between Instagram and real-world issues.

We care deeply about the safety and security of the people on our platform, Davis said. We take the issue very seriously.  We have put in place multiple protections to create safe and age-appropriate experiences for people between the ages of 13 and 17.

Amid growing scrutiny, Instagram has paused its plans to create an Instagram product for children under 13 after some 44 state attorneys general from both major parties urged it to scrap the plans, noting the latest internal findings regarding Instagrams impact on teenagers mental health.

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, wrote in a Sept. 27 blog post that the company still believes building the version for children is the right thing to do, but its pausing the work to consult with parents, experts, and policymakers.

The pause will give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators, to listen to their concerns, and to demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today, Mosseri wrote.

Zachary Stieber and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Los Angeles Redistricting Commission Approves Map That Would Reshape 2 Key Districts

The Los Angeles Redistricting Commission moved forward on Sept. 30 with a drafted map that would almost completely reshape several of the 15 districts in the city.

Cities redesign their districts every 10 years based on the latest U.S. Census Bureau data. The commission board is made up of individuals appointed by city council members. In Los Angeles, each of the 15 districts must have roughly 260,000 people, meaning that densely populated areas such as the San Fernando Valley and Koreatown may get shifted from district to district.

The commission board received the Census data much later than usual in August due to complications from the pandemic. The commission must submit the map to the city council by Oct. 28, and the new district map will go into effect by Jan. 1, 2022.

Under the tentatively approved K2 map, neighborhoods currently in Councilwoman Nithya Ramans District 4 and Councilman Paul Krekorians District 2 would be shifted to other districts. The district that currently covers Hollywood Hills, Sherman Oaks, and Central Los Angeles would drop Central Los Angeles and add Encino and Studio City under the K2 map, while Krekorians current district would add Winnetka, Canoga Park, and Lake Balboa to the West Valley.

Earlier this week, Commission Chair Fred Ali said that the proposed new Hollywood Hills district would still be designated as part of Ramans District 4, and the West Valley District would remain part of Krekorians District 2. Later in the week, however, Ali said the decision should be left up to the council.

The two councilmembers opposed the K2 map, arguing that the redesign would be unfair to their current constituents who voted them into office; both Raman and Krekorian have three years left in their respective terms.

Two commission members, appointed by Raman and Krekorian, advocated during the meeting for alternate maps that would keep their neighborhoods together and put all of Koreatown into District 4. However, the committee ultimately voted 146 against an alternate map.

Other residents called in support of the K2 draft map, arguing that it serves the interests of their respective communities.

Sun Valley resident Lionel Marez said he supported plan K2 because I believe as a predominantly Latino and Spanish-speaking neighborhood, we deserve as much attention and political representation.

Ive been publicly engaged with the city council for the past year and a half, and I feel like were largely ignored by the city of LA, Marez said. Many people forget that the valley is part of LA, and I do believe we need to be unified and strengthened  because many constituents dont engage in public comment as I do.

Jennifer DeVore of Hancock Park said she supported plan K2s redesign of her Greater Wilshire neighborhood, saying her neighborhood asked to be a part of district J on the K2 plan.

We are a community of shared interests; this map keeps our neighborhood council, the [Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council], whole. And the proposed plan K, District J shared significant community interests, including parks, historic neighborhoods, and historic sites. Orthodox Jewish institutions and schools with the neighborhoods to our west, DeVore said at the commission meeting.

The commissions selected plan will now be subject to several public hearings on Oct. 13 and Oct. 16, in which more residents will comment on the drafted maps.

Neither Krekorian nor the LA Redistricting Commission responded to requests for comment by press time.
Los Angeles Students Can Use Metro For Free

LOS ANGELESStarting Oct. 1, students enrolled in the Los Angeles Unified School District and other participating districts in Los Angeles County will be able to take the Metro for free under a pilot program that will last through June 30, 2023.

Getting free Metro TAP cards into the hands of every Los Angeles Unified student will be a game-changer, Los Angeles Unified Interim Superintendent Megan K. Reilly said. Our commitment in providing free transportation will expand our students worldviews. Theyll be able to access

additional educational opportunities such as internships, employment, and other meaningful experiences and recreational activities outside of their immediate neighborhoods.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation (LADOT) Authority Board of Directors approved the 23-month pilot on Sept. 23. It applies to all K-12 and community college school districts that agree to cost share with L.A. Metro. As of Sept. 23, 41 of Los Angeles Countys 87 school districts have expressed interest in the program, and Metro said Wednesday that agreements are being finalized with 30 schools and districts.

A majority of the $49.9 million pilot program$41.5 millionwill be paid by the federal American Rescue Plan.

Students will get a free TAP card that can be used on all Metro-operated transit options and theyll be able to use other municipally operated transit systems in the area for free, including those of Culver City, Norwalk, LADOTs DASH, Montebello, and Santa Monica.

The costs of transportation should never stand between our students and opportunity, said Mayor Eric Garcetti, who serves on Metros Board of Directors. Access to our systems should be a right, not a privilege, and the decision to move forward with free ridership for young Angelenos is a critical step toward a system that is accessible to every riderregardless of zip code or income level.

Metro fare revenue currently pays for transit operations and maintenance, but Metro receives additional funding through sales tax and state and federal grants. Additional funding options for the pilot program identified by Metro officials include advertising revenue, cost-sharing, and grant funds through the Traffic Reduction Program.

Now more than ever, as we recover from the pandemic, it is critical that our youth have access to public transportation, Metro Board Chair and Chair of Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Hilda L. Solis said. In January 2020, I was proud to author a motion at Metro to explore providing free transit for students in Los Angeles County. Today, that vision is now being fulfilledthrough Metros Fareless System Initiative. Students across the county will now be able to use our transit system to get to and from school, extracurricular activities, and jobs without worrying about how to pay for it.

The pilot was tested in August, with 5,600 test TAP cards distributed to Los Angeles County students. Metro initially explored expanding the program to low-income riders, which represent 70 percent of Metros riders, in January 2022, but that expansion is contingent on $416 million in new funding.
Louisiana Coroner Releases Name of Baby Found Dead After Mother Allegedly Threw Him Into Lake

SHREVEPORT, La.A Louisiana coroners office has released the name of a baby found dead in a lake after his mother allegedly threw him and his older brother into the water.

The child was identified as 10-month-old Joshua Black, the Caddo Parish Coroners Office said in a news release Wednesday night. Police had previously given his age as 8 months old.

An official cause of death was pending based on autopsy results, coroners office spokesman John Andrew Prime said in an email.

The babys mother, Ureka Black, is accused of throwing Joshua and his 5-year-old brother into Cross Lake in Shreveport last Friday.

Her sisters, Felicia and Pycolyia Black, told KSLA-TV that theyve long been concerned about Blacks mental health, but she rejected any suggestion of treatment.

Every time we tried to get her help, she refused, Felicia Black said. She just felt like nothing was wrong with her.

Ureka Black was arrested on charges of second-degree murder, which has a mandatory life sentence, and attempted second-degree murder, which carries at least 10 and up to 50 years.

She is represented by the Caddo Parish Public Defenders Office. Her attorney was in court when The Associated Press called for comment Thursday.

A yard crew working near a bridge alerted authorities to the babys body, and the Cross Lake Marine Patrol found the older child floating on his back, KTBS-TV reported. Rescuers thought at first that he was dead, but tapped him and he opened his eyes, the station reported.

Blacks sisters told KSLA that the family had tried weeks earlier to get custody of Blacks children.

We just knew something wasnt all the way right with her, but I didnt want to hurt her in that way of taking her kids. We feeling guilty that we shouldve, Felicia Black said.

Calls to Child Protective Services were fruitless because Ureka Black acted normal, they said. The sisters said they hadnt known that she had a baby.

For my mom, the first time she will ever see that grandchild is in a casket, Felicia Black said.
The pretrial confinement initial review hearing for Lt. Col. Stuart Schellerthe U.S. Marine jailed for criticizing senior military officialscould be held in secret, The Epoch Times has learned. (screenshot from Scheller's Sept. 16 video/The Epoch Times)

Lt. Col. Schellers Pretrial Hearing Could Be Held in Secret

The pretrial confinement initial review hearing for Lt. Col. Stuart Schellerthe U.S. Marine Corps officer jailed for criticizing senior military officials over the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistancould be held in secret, The Epoch Times has learned.

Members of Congress and Schellers family are seeking to attend the hearing, but the militarys position is that such matters should be held behind closed doors, according to a source familiar with the situation. The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid backlash from the military, provided The Epoch Times with documentation supporting these claims.

The public affairs office for Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolinawhere Scheller is confined at the regional brigdidnt respond to media inquiries by press time. USMC spokesperson Samuel Stephenson also didnt respond to requests for comment by press time, nor did government counsel Troy Campbell.

Schellers attorney, Brian Ferguson, declined to speak publicly about the case.

When Scheller was initially jailed, a Marine Corps spokesman said he would be afforded all due process.

The hearing, set for Oct. 5, will decide only whether Scheller is to remain in confinement. Either way, military officials must still decide whether to bring charges against him.

Scheller captured headlines in late August for criticizing senior military leadership on the handling of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. His initial video was posted on the same day that 13 U.S. troops and more than 100 Afghans were killed in an attack outside of the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

He published another video on Sept. 16, saying that he was calling for accountability of my senior leaders over obvious mistakes that were made. In that video, Scheller also said he was submitting charges against Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Gen. Kenneth Frank McKenzie for his role in the disastrous withdrawal.

Scheller was reportedly thrown in the brig on Sept. 27, sparking outrage from some lawmakers and members of the public.

In a Sept. 29 letter to Marine Corps Gen. David Berger and Gen. David Bligh, 35 members of Congress called for Schellers release.

In fact, this confinement appears to be simply for messaging, retribution, and convenience in flagrant violation of R.C.M. [Rule for Court Martial]: a person should not be confined as a mere matter of convenience, says the letter, whose signers include Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.).

Furthermore, R.C.M. 305(h)(2)(B) also states that LTC Scheller should be accommodated in the less serious forms of restraint. For the above reasons, we urge you to use your considerable authority to correct this misapplication of law and immediately remove LTC Scheller from his confinement.

In a separate letter, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) questioned Berger about why Scheller is being detained.

Requirements for pretrial confinement are very specific. Restraint is not every case and should be no more rigorous than required to ensure the persons trial or to prevent foreseeable serious criminal misconduct, Wicker said. Please provide the rationale, including any associated administrative or judicial records, used by Lt. Col. Schellers chain of command to justify and document the decision to place him in pretrial confinement.

Regardless of the accusations, he deserves the same rights as any other service member.

According to online publication Task and Purpose, the pretrial confinement hearing was initially scheduled for Sept. 30, but was delayed until Oct. 5 so that the defense and prosecution could seek a joint resolution of the matter. Scheller has agreed to stay in the brig in the meantime as a show of solidarity with fellow Marines in far worse conditions around the world, according to a person familiar with the matter.

During a Sept. 29 hearing on the Afghanistan withdrawalthe same hearing at which McKenzie provided false information about the Aug. 29 drone attack that killed Afghan citizensGaetz lamented the fact that senior military officials are still in positions of power while Scheller sits in the brig.

When people in the military like Lt. Col. Scheller stand up and demand accountability, when they say you all screwed up, when they point out General Milleys statement that Afghanistans not going to be defeated by the Talibanwell, he ends up in a brig, and you all end up in front of us, Gaetz said.

And your [Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins] former employer Raytheon ends up with a lot of money, and we have poured cash and blood and credibility into a Ghani government that was a mirage.
A modified Tesla Model X rests on an elevator above the pit and tunnel entrance before an unveiling event for the Boring Company Hawthorne test tunnel in Hawthorne, Calif., on Dec. 18, 2018. (Robyn Beck/Pool Photo/AP)

Man Asks California Reparations Task Force for 40 Acres and a Tesla

Californias Reparations Task Force recently heard ideas ranging from 40 acres and a Tesla to cash settlements to compensate the descendants of chattel slavery in America.

The Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans listened to hours of professional and personal testimony from witnesses and public comments at a two-day hearing on Sept. 23 and 24.

The meeting focused on the evils of chattel slavery during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and its effect on the descendants of black Americans who were enslaved. Although the tone of the meeting was mostly somber and emotional, the 40 acres and a Tesla comment drew smirks from a few individuals on the nine-member task force, including Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) who broke into laughter.

A man who said his name was Kash Gaines made the remark on Sept. 23 during public comments.

Aside from direct cash payments to descendants of slavery, Gaines suggested 40 acres and a Tesla would be more in step with modern times than the 40 acres and a mule, as the phrase is popularly known.

Since the task force often mentioned that California is one of the richest states in America and comparable economically to some countries, Gaines said, its a shining beacon for setting a high ceiling for what reparations could look like.

So just keeping that in mindI hope that thats well understoodwhat are yalls thoughts on trying to connect our reparative justice to so-called influencers of our time and specifically Silicon Valley  and in a way, even the black church, and thats by having a 40 acres and a Tesla claim, essentially an update to the mule, where Elon Musk would have to argue why he wouldnt fulfill a claim for 38 million cars for black Americans? he asked the task force.

Gaines, also poked fun at California Gov Newsoms executive order to phase out gasoline-powered cars by 2035.

It is my understanding Gavin Newsom is trying to move California off of being on gasoline cars anyway, he quipped. So just something to keep in mind that we are very, very interested in not just the direct cash payments as reparations, but in our land, and trying to connect it to something sexy for the next generation. And again, this connects to the black church, as was mentioned earlier, because it was the black church who gave that solution to General Sherman of 40 acres. Its just Im not with a mule no more, Im with Tesla or something thats an update.

The phrase 40 acres and a mule is commonly used to exemplify broken promises made to the descendants of slaves, and it has surfaced often during task force hearings.

The saying stems from the words of Union Army Gen. William T. Sherman, whowith the support of President Abraham Lincolnpromised 400,000 acres of confiscated Confederate land in the Carolinas to freed slaves near the end of the American Civil War.

Sherman and Union leaders met with black church ministers in Savannah, Ga., where the former slaves were asked what they wanted. The slaves told the famous general they wanted their own land. Sherman, in his Special Field Order 15, stated that land along the Southeast coast was to be set aside for 4,000 black families that had been enslaved so that each family shall have a plot of not more than forty acres of tillable ground.

He then assigned Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton to the job of dividing up the land into 40-acre plots.

Though the words and a mule were never mentioned in Shermans order, it is said some of the freed slave families were given Army mules, and by Jan. 16, 1865, the promise of 40 acres became popularly known as 40 acres and a mule.

As it turned out, Shermans order was short-lived. Not long after Lincoln, a Republican, was assassinated on April 15, 1865, his successor, President Andrew Johnson, reversed the order and returned the 400,000 acres to its previous Confederate owners. Johnson was a southern Democrat who ran as Lincolns running mate on the National Union ticket in 1864.

The Reparations Task Force has two years to draft an apology to the descendants of slaves and recommend ways the state might compensate them. It was established on Sept. 30 last year when Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3121, authored by then-Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, into law. She now serves as Secretary of State in Newsoms administration.
In this image from video, members of the far-left Antifa network are seen in Olympia, Wash., on Sept. 4, 2021. (Olympia Police Department)

Man Linked to Antifa Charged in Shooting of Proud Boys Leader

A suspected member of Antifa has been arrested and charged in the shooting of a Proud Boys leader in Washington state in early September.

Benjamin Anthony Varela, a 36-year-old resident of Olympia, was taken into custody on Sept. 23 on suspicion of assault and vandalism. Varela was later charged with assault in the first degree for shooting Tusitala Toese, a Proud Boys leader, according to court documents obtained by The Epoch Times.

The Proud Boys, a right-wing group that has engaged in violence in the past, clashed with members of Antifa, a far-left, anarcho-communist network, in Olympia on Sept. 4. The Proud Boys had volunteered to provide security for anti-vaccine mandate protesters and Antifa mobilized to try to shut the protests down.

Surveillance footage showed Proud Boys pursuing members of a group allied with Antifa when the groups confronted each other at the Intercity Transit Station.

Shots were fired by someone from the Antifa group and a bullet struck Toese, known as Tiny, Olympia Interim Police Chief Aaron Jelcick said in a statement.

According to a probable cause statement filed with the court, surveillance video showed a man pulling a gun from his waist area and opening fire at Toese and those near him. Five rounds were fired, one of which hit Toeses foot, and five 9mm shell casings were discovered at the scene.

In this image from video, a member of the far-left Antifa network is seen firing shots at a Proud Boys leader in Olympia, Wash., on Sept. 4, 2021. (Olympia Police Department)

Toese told detectives he was shot by an Antifa member. Andy Ngo, a reporter, said that Varela has a history of posting far-left content on social media, that Varelas profile on Twitter described him as a professional anarchist, thug, and paid protester, and that his YouTube account featured an Antifa flag as its profile image.

Detectives were able to find video of Varela unmasked before the shooting and of the Olympia man changing clothes after the shooting. The individual was spotted with Jessica OConnor. Police had pulled OConnor over in August and she was driving a vehicle registered to Varela. Additionally, surveillance of OConnor on Sept. 21 showed her with Varela.

Varela was interviewed after being arrested and OConnor told a detective that she and Varela, who are dating, went to downtown Olympia on the day of the shooting dressed in all-black, which is Antifas style. She also said they were in the area to protest. She said she did not witness anybody firing the shots.

Law enforcement executing a search warrant for the couples apartment found a handgun in a locked container under a bed.

Its not clear if Varela has hired an attorney and he could not be reached for comment.
Haitian migrants board a plane as part of the "assisted voluntary return" to Haiti by Mexican authorities, at the Carlos Rovirosa Perez International airport, in Villahermosa, Mexico, on Sept. 29, 2021. (Mexico's National Migration Institute/Reuters)

Mexico Sends 70 Haitian Migrants Back Home by Plane

MEXICO CITYMexicos government sent 70 Haitian migrants back to Haiti on Wednesday in what it described as a voluntary return flight, days after the United States cleared thousands of Haitian illegal immigrants from a camp at the Mexican border in Del Rio, Texas.

Mexicos interior and foreign ministries said in a joint statement that the first group of migrants including 13 childrenwere flown to Port-au-Prince as part of an agreement between Mexican and Haitian authorities to manage a jump in Haitian migrants moving through Mexico to the U.S. border.

Haitian migrants walk toward a plane as part of an assisted voluntary return to Haiti by Mexican authorities, at the Carlos Rovirosa Perez International airport, in Villahermosa, Mexico, on Sept. 29, 2021. (Mexicos National Migration Institute/Reuters)

Nearly 30,000 illegal immigrants were encountered over a two-week period this month in Del Rio, where they had been living in a sprawling, makeshift encampment.

The United States had sent some 4,000 of those people back to Haiti as of Monday, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

An estimated 8,000 migrants returned to Mexico, where officials have urged them to follow through with asylum applications in southern Mexico.

The 70 migrants on Wednesdays flight had been in Mexico City and the states of Hidalgo, Tabasco and the State of Mexico, the government statement said.

A Haitian migrant walks toward a plane as part of the assisted voluntary return to Haiti by Mexican authorities, at the Carlos Rovirosa Perez International airport, in Villahermosa, Mexico on Sept. 29, 2021. (Mexicos National Migration Institute/Reuters)
Protesters are seen at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, on Sept. 22, 2021. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

More Australians Valuing Freedom Over the Law: Survey

The younger the age group, the more value placed on freedom

According to a survey of Australian attitudes, ongoing government-mandated lockdowns are pushing more Australians to value freedom over the law.

At the end of the June quarter of 2021, 29.3 percent of Australians agreed with the statement that Freedom is more important than the law. This was a significant shift compared to the 21.6 percent that valued freedom over the law during the quarter ending March 2020, one year prior.

Overall, positive attitudes towards freedom increased sharply after lockdowns and health restrictions were regularly deployed by governments across the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic began in mid-March 2020, and by the end of that month, Australia had entered an unprecedented nationwide lockdown that confined people to their homes for large parts of the next two months, Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said.

Percentage of Australians that agree with the statement: Freedom is more important than the law. (Source: Roy Morgan Single Source, July 2016  June 2021. Average quarterly interviews, n = 13,468.)

Immediately following the imposition of the nationwide lockdown, the share of Australians agreeing that Freedom is more important than the law jumped seven percentage points to 28.6 percent. This figure has remained elevated ever since and is now at 29.3 percent in the June quarter 2021, she said in a press release on Sept. 28.

The figures were obtained from Roy Morgans Single Source survey, a long-running research program into consumer behaviour and attitudes conducted over several years. Each quarter Roy Morgan interviews over 10,000 Australians.

Attitudes among women towards freedom also shifted with an increase of 8.4 percentage points from 16.5 percent (March 2020, pre-pandemic) to 24.9 percent at the end of June.

Mens attitudes also increased 6.8 points from 27 percent (March 2020) to 33.8 percent.

The figures also found that younger age groups were more likely to value freedom, with 38.1 percent of Generation Z (born 1991-2007) agreeing with the statement followed by 35.4 percent of Millennials (1976-1990), 26 percent of Generation X (1961-1975), 18 percent of Baby Boomers, and 17.2 percent of pre-Boomers.

Percentage of Australians agree that: Freedom is more important than the law by Generation in March Quarter 2020 (pre-COVID-19) cf. June Quarter 2021. (Source: Roy Morgan Single Source, JanuaryMarch 2020, n=10,852, April  June 2021, n=16,183. Base: Australians 14+)

Generation X and Millennials saw the most significant change in attitudes compared to last year, with an increase of 12.2 points (Millennials) and 8.5 points (Gen X), followed by 6.4 points from pre-Boomers, and 5.4 points from Gen Z.

These two generations (Gen X and Millennials) are primarily comprised of young people in their 20s and 30s who also constitute a large share of workers in the construction industry that drove the protests in Melbourne last week, Levine said.

Its a fair guess that protesters arguing against mandatory vaccinations and the latest lockdown would be very likely to agree that freedom is more important than the law.

Australia has seen some of the lowest infection and death rates from COVID-19 by global standards, resulting in state and territory leaders (barring New South Wales) readily using tough measures to contain any outbreak of the virus, including locking down entire cities or states (sometimes over a single infection), closing borders, and implementing tough restrictions.

Protesters walk down Swanston Street in the Melbourne CBD, Australia, on Sept. 22, 2021. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

The Victorian government under Premier Dan Andrews, for example, has relied heavily on a tough suppression strategy to deal with COVID-19, such as imposing immediate Stage Four restrictions, which include curfews, limits on movement within a 5km radius, and closing non-essential retail outlets.

Melbourne is also is now on track to break the world record for the longest number of days under lockdown, with the city enduring 243 days of lockdown since the pandemic broke out last year as of Oct. 1just shy of the 245-day record set by Bueno Aires.

However, after six separate lockdowns, Victorian frustrations with restrictions has bubbled over with protests breaking out in Melbourne several times last week. At the same time, footage has emerged showing police deploying heavy-handed tactics that have led to investigations by senior officers.
Morrison Government Faced With Choice Between the City or the Country

Commentary

The current Liberal-National Coalition government is faced with two competing electoral strategies ahead of a likely election in the early months of the new year.

They can continue with the teal strategy of pursuing inner-city seats by moving closer to the Greens party on climate policy, or they can return to the heartland strategy aimed at winning working-class seats from the Australian Labor Party in the regions and outer suburbs.

A teal strategy involves the Coalition focusing more on the concerns of affluent voters in inner-city seats who have expressed their desire for more action on climate change. This strategy aims to prevent the loss of seats like Kooyong in inner-city Melbourne, which is likely to increase their vote for the Greens or a teal independent.

On the other hand, the heartland strategy involves speaking directly to the people who are forced to pay for such action on climate change. These are the suburban, outer suburban, and regional voters who are more likely to work in the agriculture, mining, or manufacturing industries which will be shut down in the race to decarbonisation.

The experience of the past three elections demonstrates which strategy would be most beneficial.

In 2013, then-candidate for prime minister, Tony Abbott, led the Coalition to a historic victory under a heartland strategy, the cornerstone of which was a promise to repeal the carbon tax. The result was the most secure government majority seen in almost two decades, won from the opposition benches no less.

In 2016, the Coalition switched to a teal strategy under Malcolm Turnbull, and ended up haemorrhaging seats and barely retaining government. Current Prime Minister Scott Morrisons apparent shift back towards a heartland strategy ahead of the 2019 election was the primary reason the Coalition was delivered a third term in power.

But since May 2019, Morrison has repivoted back towards a teal strategy demonstrated by his gradual inching towards adopting a net zero emissions target. In recent weeks, internal debate within the Coalition has become more public as politicians pick sides ahead of the Glasgow Climate Change Conference in November.

The tension within the Coalition was summarised well by Liberal MP Garth Hamilton who said, Net-zero wont reduce the number of baristas in Melbourne, but it has already reduced the number of miners in Oakey. This is not a theoretical issue for us.

This was precisely the conclusion of the Institute of Public Affairs research released earlier this year, which found that a net-zero emissions target could put up to 653,600 jobs at risk. Moreover, these at-risk jobs are concentrated in industries such as agriculture, mining, and manufacturing, which provide many job opportunities in outer-suburban and regional areas.

Our research highlighted precisely why the debate between the teal and the heartland strategists would become more potent as the next election approached.

The Coalition holds 12 of the 20 electorates with the fewest jobs put at risk from a net-zero target, but it also holds 17 of the top 20 seats, which are most at risk. Thus, the Coalitions current voter base includes both those who will be harmed most and least by the adoption of a net-zero emissions target.

As Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie wrote in the Australian Financial Review in late September, It is easy for the member for Kooyong or the member for Wentworth to publicly embrace a net-zero target before the government has a position, because there would be next to zero real impact on the way of life of their affluent constituents.

Settling this divide, and choosing one strategy or the other, will be key to unifying the Coalition before the next election. Currently, it appears that the prime minister thinks that he can have his cake and eat it too.

Earlier this year Scott Morrison tried to bridge the gap between competing voter bases when he said that Australia would not achieve net-zero [emissions] in the cafes, dinner parties and wine bars of our inner cities, but in places like the Pilbara, the Hunter, Gladstone, Portland, Whyalla, Bell Bay, the Riverina. In the factories of our regional towns and outer suburbs.

But it was telling that he said this to a teal audience at a Sydney dinner party rather than to a heartland audience at a Gladstone pub.

There is something deeper at stake than the Coalition remaining in government, and that is whether mainstream Australians will have a voice in the houses of Parliament in Canberra.

The 2019 election showed that the realignment which occurred across the West, where working-class and lower socio-economic voters flocked to right-of-centre parties, is underway in Australia too.

Blue collar workers, those who have not been to university, and lower income earners are increasingly turning their backs on the Australian Labor Party (the former workers party) that has become obsessed with identity politics and climate alarmism.

Electorates such as Hunter in regional New South Wales, Blair in outer-metropolitan Brisbane, and Paterson north of Newcastle are the kinds of working-class electorates that swung towards the Coalition at the last election and are attainable under a heartland strategy.

These voters seek a party that will speak to their concerns and focus on the issues that affect their day-to-day lives, like housing affordability, job opportunities, and energy security, rather than the flights of fantasy that too often occupy the detached political elite.

The Coalition must decide if it will speak for these mainstream Australians. If it doesnt, there is a risk that no one else will.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Protesters march across Victoria Bridge during a rally against a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine in Brisbane, Australia on Oct. 01, 2021 (Dan Peled/Getty Images)

MP Receives 2,000 Inquiries in 2 Weeks Over Mandatory Vaccination

A member of Parliament in the Australian state of Queensland has received over 2,000 inquiries in the last two weeks, including from nurses, miners, and even police officers, reaching out with concerns over mandatory vaccination policies.

George Christensen, the federal member for Dawson and fierce critic of mandatory vaccination, said his office received inquiries from individuals who said they could end up vacating their roles because of no jab, no job policies.

Ive had a few queries from the construction sector, but also within the public sector. Ive personally had police officers in New South Wales contact my electorate, saying disciplinary action is going to be taken against them, as well as subsequent suspensions. Ive had nurses contact me who are likely to be escorted off Queensland Health premises on Friday (Oct. 1), he told The Epoch Times.

I have had mineworkers who have expressed concerns that some of the large corporations are hinting that they are going to have mandatory vaccination requirements for their workers, he added.

Students wait to receive the Pfizer vaccine for Covid-19 at Qudos Arena in Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 9, 2021 (Dean Lewins-Pool/Getty Images)

A lot of these people feel like theyve been left in the lurch because their unions arent standing up for them and have latched onto the zeitgeist that getting vaccinated is for the greater good.

However, he noted that there were unions fighting for workers who were reluctant to get vaccinated including the Nurses Professional Association of Queensland, as well as certain transport, teaching, and medical unions.

Christensen has received hefty criticism for taking a tough stance against mandatory vaccinations and other public health restrictions, particularly on social media platforms like Telegram.

Fellow Nationals Party member of Parliament Darren Chester, who recently decided to take a break from politics, including opting out of party room meetings, said he believed party leaders were not doing enough to rein in outspoken MPs like Christensen and Senator Matt Canavan.

My decision follows months of frustration with the repeated failure of the leadership to even attempt to moderate some of the more disrespectful and offensive views expressed by a minority of colleagues, he said in a statement on Twitter.

Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said he did not plan to muzzle George Christensen, saying he was a free individual and could say what he likes.

In July, the National Cabinetcomprised of state and territory leadersagreed on a national roadmap to begin easing health restrictions across the country. However, opening the country is predicated on each jurisdiction vaccinating most of its population.

This has spurred state leaders in New South Wales and Victoria and business leaders to encourage vaccination rates.

However, the move has left individuals reluctant to take the vaccinesome with genuine health concernsfacing the prospect of unemployment.

As a result, the NSW government is currently battling several lawsuits simultaneously regarding vaccine mandates and health restrictions.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken(3rd L), Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo (2nd L), and Trade Representative Katherine Tai (L) stand near European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager (R) and EU Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis (2nd R) as they participate in the U.S. and European Union trade and investment talks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 29, 2021. (John Altdorfer/Reuters)

New US-EU Trade and Technology Council Is Designed to Counter China, Experts Say

The United States and European Union (EU) agreed on Sep. 29 to deepen transatlantic cooperation to solve a variety of trade disputes and key technology areas. China experts say the move counters the Chinese regimes hegemony.

It marks the first meeting of the newly-established U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC), a group that President Joe Biden launched at the Group of Seven summit in June.

We stand together in continuing to protect our businesses, consumers, and workers from unfair trade practices, in particular those posed by non-market economies, that are undermining the world trading system, according to the statement released on Sept. 29 after the first day meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

While the joint statement contained no direct references to China, analysts suggested that the TTC was designed to deal with Beijings unfair trade practices and to curb its hegemonic ambitions.

The United States and EU had expected China to transform into a market economy after it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, but things did not work out that way, said Cheng Chin-mo, chairperson of the Department of Global Politics and Economics in TamKang University in Taiwan.

The Chinese regime has taken advantage of the free markettypically through domestic subsidies and unfair trade practices such as intellectual property theft and dumpingto boost its economy and seek technological advances, Cheng said.

To make itself a dominant player, the Chinese regime has established a network of relationships in Europe to weaken and divide traditional Western alliances, Cheng noted. This included launching the 17+1 platform to intensify cooperation with EU members in Central and Eastern Europe, and investing or buying stakes of businesses across Europe through state-owned or state-controlled companies.

The West is concerned with Beijings increasingly aggressive behavior as it refuses to play by international rules and follow fair economic practices, said Lee Yeau-tarn, a professor at the Graduate Institute of Development Study in Taiwans National Chengchi University.

This meeting of democratic allies forms part of a burgeoning unified front against the Chinese regime, especially in the technology field, Lee said.

On Wednesday, senior cabinet officials from Washington and Brussels pledged to cooperate on trade issues, including screening foreign investments, maintaining export controls, and addressing the global shortage in semiconductors. The parties also said they would develop artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that are innovative and trustworthy.

Through forging common trade and technology standards, the two sides could target Beijings ambitious industrial strategies such as the China Standards 2035 and Made in China 2025, said Su Tzu-yun, a senior analyst at Taiwans government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research. The two national plans serve as the guiding framework that drives Beijings aggressive economic and technological practices.

Under the Made in China 2025 initiative, Chinas goal is to achieve self-efficiency in 10 high tech sectors by the year 2025. The plan drew intensified scrutiny during the Trump administrations trade war, causing Beijing to downplay the importance of the initiative. Analysts, however, say the plan is still being carried out.

Beijing rolled out China Standards 2035 in March 2018 during a meeting held at the state-run Chinese Academy of Engineering. The plans objective is for China to dominate new technologies, including AI, big data, and IoT (Internet of Things), by developing technology standards and exporting them to the international market.

The two plans pose threats to the free world, Su said, pointing to security risks posed by Chinese technology that could be used by the regime for spying or disrupting critical infrastructure around the world.

In recent years, the United States and its allies have been increasingly wary over security issues related to Chinese software and hardware, ranging from popular video app TikTok to telecom equipment provider Huawei. Critics say that these companies are ultimately beholden to the Chinese Communist Party and are thus unable to prevent their technology from being used by Beijing for malign purposes.

Its a new cold war, Lee said, adding that ideological warfare between the free world and the Chinese regime is an inevitable situation.

Luo Ya and Frank Frang contributed to this report.
Teachers and students are seen in Yung Wing School P.S. 124 in New York City on Sept. 27, 2021. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

New York City Teachers File Emergency Request With Supreme Court to Block COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

Update: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has denied a request by New York City school teachers to block citys vaccine mandate.

Original story below:

A group of teachers on Thursday filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court, asking justices to block New York Citys school COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs, a group of teachers, said in a 12-page petition that the mandate threatens the education of thousands of children in the largest public-school system in the country and violates the substantive due process and equal protection rights afforded to all public-school employees.

The mandate forces teachers and other school workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine to remain employed unless they are approved for a religious or medical exemption.

A federal judge last week granted a temporary injunction against it but a federal appeals panel on Monday decided to let the mandate take effect. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel did not explain their ruling.

Thousands of teachers will lose their jobs when the order imposes punishment at 5 p.m. on Oct. 1 even though municipal employees who dont work for schools can opt-out of a separate mandate by submitting to weekly testing, lawyers for the teachers wrote to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an Obama nominee.

That amounts to discrimination against public school workers, they argued, appealing for intervention from the nations top court.

Applicants will suffer irreparable harm if their request for injunctive relief is denied, they said.

Emergency requests can be filed to the Supreme Court by lawyers who think lower courts have ruled wrongly and who believe irreparable harm will result if a stay is not granted. The requests are sent to a single judge, who has the power to deny them or to agree, which would temporarily block the mandate and move the matter to the full court for consideration.

Danielle Filson, a spokeswoman for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat who announced the vaccine mandate, said on social media that the teacher plaintiffs have no valid claims.

New York Citys Department of Education has the authority to implement a mandate that is firmly grounded in science & the expertise of public health officials from across the nation, she added.
This photo shows what North Korea claims to be the test firing of a newly developed anti-aircraft missile in North Korea, on Sept. 30, 2021. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

North Korea Fires New Anti-Aircraft Missile in Latest Test

SEOULNorth Korea fired a newly developed anti-aircraft missile on Thursday, state media KCNA reported on Friday, the latest in its recent series of weapons tests amid deadlocked denuclearisation talks with the United States.

The test conducted by the Academy of Defence Science, a military weapons developer, was aimed at confirming the practical functionality of the missiles launcher, radar, comprehensive battle command vehicle and combat performance, KCNA said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to have not attended the test, which was instead overseen by Pak Jong Chon, a member of the ruling Workers Partys powerful politburo and Central Committee.

The overall test is of very practical significance in studying and developing various prospective anti-aircraft missile systems, the official KCNA news agency said, citing the academy.

South Korea, Japan and the United States typically publicly confirm North Korean missile launches soon after they occur, but did not do so for Thursdays test, indicating it may not have been a major weapons test.

By Hyonhee Shin

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
OC Sheriff Department Honors Hero Deputies Who Went Above and Beyond

The Orange County Sheriffs Department awarded 54 brave individuals, mostly comprising deputies, for going above and beyond the call of duty in the year 2020, during its 33rd annual Medal of Valor event on Sept. 30.

The event featured deputies recalling individual and group accounts during a prerecorded presentation in front of a live audience. After the video presentation, Sheriff Don Barnes personally awarded the deputies their medals. Awards included medals for life-saving, merit, courage, distinguished deputy, and others.

Todays honorees exemplify what it means to be a servant leader. Someone focused on their contributions to the community they serve, not on what is in it for them, Barnes said during the event.

I can say without reservation, these 54 awardees represent the vast majority of peace officers who come to work each and every day to protect and serve their community. Fifty-four people whom we heard in their own words, sharing their stories and experiences, giving up themselves for the benefit of people they did not even know.

While only a select few were chosen to receive the prestigious awards, Barnes highlighted a number of courageous acts during 2020, an unprecedented year with COVID-19, civil unrest, and more. Additionally, the Sheriffs Department had 306,000 calls for service, 61,000 pieces of evidence collected, 6,900 death investigations by the coroners office, 1,024 pounds of narcotics seized by the narcotics team, and 51 guns seized.

There were also 267 bomb squad responses, 141 helicopter pursuits, 139 surrenders to K-9 teams, 23 activations by SWAT, and six boat fires put out by harbor patrol.

This is what we do, Barnes said. We run towards the danger, while others are running from it. We help people during their worst times of crisis, often during the worst moments of their lives. Our profession is comprised of courageous men and women who are sworn to duty to protect all people regardless of their personal risks. Policing has become more challenging than ever before, but one that I find has tremendous individual benefit. Wearing this badge is an incredible honor, we must always strive not to tarnish it.

Barnes finished the event by saying that the last 18 months would have been more difficult if not for the tremendous support of the Orange County community.

During the trials of the last 18 months, I have seen the tremendous depth of support for the law enforcement community, especially here among Orange County residents, Barnes said.

Kind words of encouragement, homemade cards from school children, donated coffee and lunches from local businesses, prayers from our faith community, and countless thank yous have not ceased. We feel the love and support from our residents. This genuine support is meaningful to all of us at the Sheriffs Department. It makes the difficult parts of our job all the more worthwhile.
A maze of crude oil pipes and valves is pictured during a tour by the Department of Energy at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas on June 9, 2016. (Richard Carson/Reuters)

Oil Slips to $78 as Sources Say OPEC+ Weighs Further Output Hike

LONDONOil fell to around $78 a barrel on Friday on the prospect that OPEC+ producers might step up a planned increase in output to ease supply concerns, although crude remained in sight of a three-year high reached this week.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, meet on Monday. Four OPEC+ sources said on Thursday the group was looking at going beyond an existing deal to add 400,000 barrels per day to supply each month.

Beyond October, a faster ramp-up in OPEC+ production cannot be excluded, said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM. The prospect of $80 oil does not sit well with the producer group.

Brent crude fell 47 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $77.84 at 1015 GMT, heading for a weekly decline after three weeks of gains. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) slipped 53 cents to $74.50, set for a sixth consecutive week of rises.

Crude also came under pressure on Friday from a strong U.S. dollar and rise in U.S. crude inventories reported this week.

A strong dollar makes oil more expensive for holders of other currencies and tends to reflect lower investor risk appetite.

Even so, Brent has risen 50 percent this year and reached a three-year high of $80.75 on Tuesday. OPEC+ is facing pressure from consumers such as the United States and India to produce more to help reduce prices.

Jeffrey Halley, analyst at brokerage OANDA, said there was potential for Mondays OPEC+ meeting to disappoint in terms of adding more supply, citing the inability of some members to raise output and the appeal of high prices to boost revenues.

Whichever way you cut it; shorting oil is only for the brave with very deep pockets, he said.

Oil is also finding support as a surge in natural gas prices globally prompts power producers to move away from gas. Generators in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Middle East have started switching fuels.

By Alex Lawler
Pro-democracy activists carrying a placard during a protest in the Wan Chai district in Hong Kong, on October 1, 2021. (Sung Pi-lung/The Epoch Times)

On Anniversary of CCP Rule, Dissidents Call on Beijing to End Its Abuses

As the Chinese regime celebrated 71 years of one-party rule on Oct. 1, overseas dissidents drew attention to Beijings ongoing suppression of freedoms and human rights.

Meanwhile, authorities across the country, including Hong Kong, put police on the streets to stamp out petitioners and protestors, as is usual practice ahead of important events.

As a Thursday evening reception in Beijing, Chinas Premier Li Keqiang praised the regimes performance over the past year under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and urged efforts to fully and faithfully implement the principles of One country, two systems in Hong Kong, according to state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV).

One country, two systems, is the framework under which the CCP pledged to govern Hong Kong when the city reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997. The regime had promised to permit freedoms and autonomy to the city not found in the mainland. But since last year, Beijing has imposed a series of measures, including a draconian national security law and electoral reforms limiting democratic participation in the city, that has caused observers to say that Hong Kong is being transformed into just another Chinese city.

Li also claimed that Beijing would also continue to promote peaceful development of cross-strait relations, but firmly oppose any efforts supporting the de facto Taiwans independence. The Chinese regime has long described the self-ruled democratic island as its own territory.

On Friday, Beijing sent 25 aircraft to Taiwans air defense zone, according to the defense ministry in Taipei.

Xi Jinping, who heads the Party and also serves as the country leader, made no remarks at the reception.

Counterterrorism police guarded at a metro station in Hong Kong on October 1, 2021. (Sung Pi-lung/The Epoch Times)

Hong Kong

Hong Kongs Chief Executive Carrie Lam vowed to take a firm stance in safeguarding national security and implementing the principle of patriots administering Hong Kong at a Friday reception in the city, said CCTV.

Meanwhile, the city was on high alert for protest activities. Hongkongers saw counterterrorism police and plain cloth officers on streets and metro stations, and surrounding pro-democracy protesters.

In the morning, four members of Hong Kongs local pro-democracy party League of Social Democrats marched in the city while chanting slogans such as release all political prisoners and human rights stand above any regime. They also demanded universal suffrage to choose the citys chief executive, a position currently filled by pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam.

The citys once-bustling pro-democracy camp has been decimated since the national security law took effect last July, with waves of politicians, activists, and media figures arrested and charged under the law or similar offenses. To many, those arrests have confirmed fears that the law would be used to clamp down on dissent in Hong Kong.

The protestors had originally planned to march to a public square where the Hong Kong government was holding a flag-raising ceremony to commemorate the CCP anniversary, but were stopped by police before arriving at their destination.

Chan Po-ying, a leagues chairperson and the wife of imprisoned activist Leung Kwok-hung, read out a declaration, calling on Xi to improve peoples political rights. She condemned Beijing for responding to peoples dissatisfaction with oppression and surveillance.

Leung, also a former Hong Kong lawmaker, is currently in prison in Hong Kong after being sentenced over his roles in pro-democracy activities in the city.

A perimeter fence is constructed around what is officially known as a vocational skills education center in Dabancheng in Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China, on Sept. 4, 2018. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Persecution

Meanwhile, victims of the regimes oppression in other regions used the day to shine a spotlight on Beijings abuses.

Every year, the 1st of October is not a celebratory day for Uyghurs, but rather an occasion to reflect on all that we have lost at the hands of PRC [Peoples Republic of China] governmentsfrom our rights and freedoms to the lives of our loved ones, stated Dolkun Isa, president of The World Uyghur Congress, a Munich-based advocacy group, according to a statement.

Isa added, At the same time, this day has become symbolic for oppressed communities from China to join in solidarity and once more call for an end to the Uyghur genocide and Chinas other human rights crimes.

More than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities have been incarcerated in internments camps located in Chinas far-western Xinjiang region, in a campaign described by the United States and other Western countries as a genocide. Uyghurs have been subjected to forced sterilization, torture, forced labor, and political indoctrination. Children have also been removed from their families.

The Tibetan government-in-exile, formally known as the Tibetan Central Administration, released a document titled Tibet: 70 Years of Occupation and Oppression on Sept. 30. Since the CCP forcibly took control of Tibet in 1950, the regime has been systematically attempting to eradicate the regimes unique culture and religions.

The CCP celebrated with much fanfare the so-called 70 years of liberation of Tibet, which in fact is 70 years of CCPs occupation and egregious atrocities China perpetrated in Tibet, the document stated. For the Tibetans, there was nothing to celebrate the occasion, which was a painful reminder of the years leading to the CCPs gruesome invasion of Tibet.

The Hong Kong edition of The Epoch Times contributed to this report.

Frank Fang journalist Follow Frank Fang is a Taiwan-based journalist. He covers news in China and Taiwan. He holds a Master's degree in materials science from Tsinghua University in Taiwan.
Orange County Human Trafficking Town Hall Highlights Growing Threat

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.Orange County officials were joined by over 100 residents Sept. 30 during a Human Trafficking Town Hall to discuss the countys human trafficking crisis.

Orange County District Attorney (OCDA) Todd Spitzer said that the county is taking a stronger stance against handling human trafficking crimes than the state.

We are not going to allow Sacramento to change our quality of life here in Orange County; were always going to fight, Spitzer said.

When we get our convictions, we have a 95 percent conviction rate. These traffickersIm talking about the pimpsthey are going away for decades. We are locking them up forever. Im proud of the fact were taking them off the streets and were actually breaking the shackles that these women have had to live under.

The Human Trafficking Taskforce highlighted the $32 billion dollar industry in the United States, with 80 percent consisting of female victims and 70 percent male traffickers.

Nicole Strattman, coordinator of the Orange County Social Services Agency, highlighted since that 2014, 90 percent of exploited youth the agency has made contact with have had prior child abuse; and 100 percent of trafficked youth law enforcement have made contact with had prior child abuse history.

Eighty-nine percent of the victims of child abuse in Orange County knew their perpetrator, Strattman said. It gives them a connection with somebody, and a trust is sort of built in there.

Officials focused on sexually exploited children in the county, citing that prior abuse and neglect are a massive risk factor of exploitation, making youth more vulnerable to strangers they meet online.

In 2015, the number of exploited youths the Human Trafficking Taskforce found in Orange County was evenly divided between inside and outside the county. As time persisted and school officials received effective training, the calls for children in Orange County have increased while the calls from kids outside the county have decreased, Strattman said.

Orange County Deputy District Attorney Kimberly Wah stated that human trafficking cases in the county often consist of sex trafficking with known cases of boyfriend-pimp relationships, with the average woman being about 14 years old.

These relationships can look to the untrained eye as a domestic violence relationship, Wah said. They keep going back to their abuser  because they believe that their trafficker loved them.

The OCDAs Office officially formed in 2012 and currently staffs five assigned prosecutors and three investigators to the Human Trafficking Task Force.

Pending legislation in Sacramento, Senate Bill 357 threatens to legalize loitering with the intent to commit prostitution. If approved, the human trafficking task force will be nonexistent, an investigator at the press conference said.

Why on earth would we condone that and legalize that? an investigator said. All we are doing is condoning the manipulation and the exploitation of our young girls  I trust that our DA and our legislation at least down in Orange County will support us on that. Im not worried about being out of a job. Im worried about our girls being victimized.
Photojournalist Detained by Taliban For 23 Days Released Amid Death Sentence Fears

A photojournalist who was detained for 23 days by the Taliban after he covered a womens protest against the terrorist group has been released, a close friend of the 21-year-old confirmed in an interview with The Epoch Times.

Freelance photographer Morteza Samadi, 21, was arrested by the Taliban on Sept. 7 after he covered a protest in the western city of Herat. He was, according to fellow freelance photojournalist Massoud Hossaini, accused by the Islamic terrorist group of spying and of encouraging people on his Facebook page to stand up to the Taliban.

A friend of Samadi, Eliasa pseudonym used for safetytold The Epoch Times that he was released late on Thursday after more than three weeks in a Taliban detention center. He said he learned of his release during a phone call with Samadi.

News of his release follows mounting pressure from the international community on the Taliban to release the photographer amid circulating reports that he had been handed a death sentence. The Taliban quickly dismissed those rumors in a statement.

For 23 days, his family couldnt talk to him. This was the only thing that made me happy after three weeks, the journalist, who met Samadi in university three years ago, told The Epoch Times in a phone interview from Afghanistan on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal from the Taliban.

U.S. nonprofit the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement late on Thursday welcoming the news.

CPJ welcomes the release of photojournalist Morteza Samadi from a Taliban detention facility, where he should have never been detained in the first place. CPJ reiterates its call on the Taliban to cease targeting journalists for their work, the New York-based organization wrote on Twitter.

Elias pushed back against the Talibans public narrative for arresting the photojournalist, saying that he believes Samadi had long been on the groups radar for his previous work before the terrorist group seized control of Kabul on Aug. 15.

I think part of the reason they arrested him and they had planned for arresting him was not because of just the protest, he did cover the protest  but the main reason comes from the fact that he was covering the Herat battle before the fall of Kabul.

Samadi, he said, had previously photographed the forces under Ismail Khan, the former governor of Herat and leader in the Afghan Security forces. He had posted these images on Facebook, Elias said.

So, from a long time ago, the Taliban knew that this  I think thats also the reason they were looking for him.

Spying is just a narrative of the Taliban, he added. Ive known him for the past three years. If he was a spy, he would be very rich, not poor with a small camera.

Elias told The Epoch Times that he believes his close friend was only released due to mounting international pressure and the backlash that followed the death sentence rumors, which originated from local news agency report.

I was happy, I couldnt believe that, he said of Samadis release. But it was a bit strange how they [Taliban] changed their mind suddenly.

Taliban co-founder Mullah Nooruddin Turabi announced last month that the extremist group will resume carrying out executions and the amputations of hands and feet, as was the practice during the regimes rule more than 20 years ago.

They [Samadis family] couldnt even see him or talk to him on the phone call, and there was no assurance that he is alive or not. So, since we know the Taliban from the past that they always executed people, even [though] they announced general amnesty, they are starting killing people, Elias said.

Local witnesses and residents last month told foreign media outlets that the Taliban hung four dead bodies in a public square in western Afghanistan. An alleged Taliban member told The Associated Press that the aim of this action is to alert all criminals that they are not safe.

I couldnt trust them [Taliban]. I knew that something is happening to him [Samadi], but if there was no such kind of reaction from the media or hashtags to release Morteza, I think they would have already killed him, Elias said, adding that he isnt at this stage aware if his friend was harmed by the Taliban during his time in detention.

Taliban Suppression of Journalists

Elias, who has for weeks been trying to obtain a visa to flee the country, said that he has been left shaken by the ordeal and worried for his life. He said that just hours before speaking with The Epoch Times, someone knocked on the door of his home before quickly leaving.

He said it wasnt clear whether the individual was a Taliban member, but it comes amid reports that the terrorist group is going door-to-door conducting manhunts, for people on their wanted list, threatening to kill or harm their relatives if they do not surrender.

That really shook my entire body, he said, highlighting the dangers and hardship local Afghan journalists now face under Taliban rule. The majority of Afghan journalists are now in hiding, without income, fearing reprisal from the Taliban for their work prior to the takeover, he said.

Elias said he was offered a temporary position with a U.S. news outlet on Wednesday, but he fears retribution from the Taliban.

Im so deeply worried about this and whether to accept it or not, but since Im running out of money, and there is no way to get out, I tell myselfthis is the only thing I can do, just accept and just work.

He told The Epoch Times that the Taliban has recently adopted a three-tier warning strategy, for telling journalists to stop reporting on something that they oppose.

That first day will send you an alarming message that you need to step down and stop reporting  but they just alarm you for a second time and the third time, they may raid your house and behead you in front of your family, he said. Thats the kind of thing that happened to many journalists  they will just simply come down to your house.

Elias said that the day after Mortezas arrest, he began to delete previous posts on Twitter that could make him a potential target.

Western countries or other countries are not giving a visa for Afghan journalists  journalists are in Afghanistan are running out of money, and yet they cannot get out because even the closest country like Pakistan is not issuing them [a] visa, he said.

You feel alone, youre hiding, and you cannot trust anyone out of your housethats the kind of feeling I have, and the Taliban may kill you in your house, Elias added.

Correction: A previous version of this report misquoted the name of the battle before the fall of Kabul and the name of the forces photographed. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, Quebec's minister responsible for the French language, speaks at the beginning of a legislature committee studying a proposed reform of the French language law, on Sept. 21, 2021, at the legislature in Quebec City. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot)

Quebecs Overhaul of Its Strict French Language Law Under Microscope at Hearings

MONTREALQuebecs proposed overhaul of its French-language charter is under the microscope at legislative hearings, with participants this week raising concerns about the bills effect on English speakers and the independence of the judiciary.

Tabled in May, Bill 96 is Quebecs plan to upgrade Bill 101, the provinces French-language charter first adopted in 1977 by the government of Rene Levesque.

Premier Francois Legaults government has described its proposed reform as a reasonable response to studies by Quebecs French-language office that indicate French is on the decline in the province, particularly in Montreal.

The time has come to take strong action, Simon Jolin-Barrette, the minister responsible for the French language, said at the outset of hearings.

The bill is still making its way through the legislative process but drew national attention during the English-language federal election debate. Moderator Shachi Kurl described Bill 96 as one of two discriminatory pieces of legislation in Quebec, the other being Bill 21, which bans some public sector workers from wearing religious symbols on the job.

Bill 96 seeks to unilaterally change the Canadian Constitution to affirm Quebec as a nation and French its official language. It also includes 200 amendments that aim to strengthen the status of French. They include a call for tougher sign laws, more language requirements for businesses and less access to English-language junior colleges.

The Legault government has invoked the Canadian Constitutions notwithstanding clause to shield the bill from charter challenges.

The Quebec Community Groups Network, an umbrella organization representing English community organizations, called for the Legault government to withdraw the bill or at least remove the notwithstanding clause.

Bill 96 proposes the most extensive overhaul to Quebecs legal order since the Quiet Revolution, Marlene Jennings, the networks executive director, told the hearings. A change of this magnitude requires serious discussions and debate within Quebec society.

Jolin-Barrette said English-speaking institutions would be respected.

I want to reassure the English-speaking community  this bill is for inclusion, to include every Quebecer in Quebec, that everybody is part of the society, he said. We are not taking any rights away from anybody in that bill.

The network agreed that protecting the French language is important, but it disagreed that French was on the decline in the province. The group also called on the government to seek a reference from the Quebec Court of Appeal on the constitutionality and meaning of amending the Constitution.

The Quebec Bar Association told the hearings it was concerned the bill undermines the independence of the judiciary because it removes a requirement for judges in the province to be bilingual.

The association also took issue with a section of the bill that states the Frenchlanguage version of laws would take precedence over the Englishlanguage translations, which it said could be a violation of the Constitution. Article 133 of the Constitution states federal and Quebec laws must be enacted in both languages, and that section does not fall under the notwithstanding clause.

For its part, the Conseil de Patronat, which represents Quebec employers, raised concerns about the impact of the bill on small businesses. Bill 96 forces companies with 25 employees or moredown from 50 employeesto operate in French, which creates more red tape for small firms.

And part of the bill would limit the ability of companies to require job applicants to speak a language other than French, something the employers council said doesnt take into account the impact on companies that do business in the rest of Canada or internationally.

The responsibility falls on the businesses themselves, who must demonstrate theyve taken all reasonable means to avoid requiring knowledge of a language other than French.

This measure could also have the perverse effect of limiting the hiring of certain candidates, especially among marginalized populations, the council said. In a globalized economy like ours, speaking more than one language has added value and should not be penalized.

Another point of contention is access to Englishspeaking junior colleges, known as CEGEPS. Language hardliners, such as the Societe SaintJeanBaptiste, argue that access to those schools should be strictly limited and fall under the charter, which currently prohibits most francophones and immigrants from attending Englishlanguage primary and high schools.

The government has chosen a moderate approach, declining to extend the charter to junior colleges but introducing caps on the number of students who can attend.

Guy Rocher, an academic and sociologist and an architect of Bill 101, told the hearings the government had erred in 1977 by not including junior colleges in the original language law. Rocher, now 97, suggested the government at the time had no idea how important the junior college system would become.

Things have changed, the context has changed, Rocher said. If I am here it is because I am worried about the future of the French language. At my age, I have the right to be worried about the future.

The consultations continue until Oct. 7.

By Sidhartha Banerjee
Sen. Sinema Doubles Down on Not Supporting $3.5 Trillion Spending Bill

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) doubled down on her position not to support the Democratic leaderships $3.5 trillion spending bill on Sept. 30, while claiming that she had raised concerns about the bill with Democratic leaders in August.

On Thursday, Sinema joined Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in indicating that they would not back the bill without adjustments. Both votes are critical to the bills passage, and they have long maintained that the price tag is too high.

Manchin said that he would not support any bill that costs more than $1.5 trillion, adding that if Democrats wanted to do more they can run on the rest of it later, and that theres many ways to get where they want to, just not [by] doing everything at one time.

Manchin also said that he had shared his $1.5 trillion figure with President Joe Biden.

Senator Sinema said publicly more than two months ago, before Senate passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, that she would not support a bill costing $3.5 trillion, Sinemas office said in a statement shared on her Twitter account. In August, she shared detailed concerns and priorities, including dollar figures, directly with Senate Majority Leader [Chuck] Schumer and the White House.

Claims that the Senator has not detailed her views to President Biden and Senator Schumer are false, she added. While we do not negotiate through the pressbecause Sen. Sinema respects the integrity of those direct negotiationsshe continues to engage directly in good-faith discussions with both President Biden and Sen. Schumer to find common ground.

The statement was in response to some Democrats calling for clarity from Manchin and Sinema after they had back-to-back meetings with President Joe Biden regarding the bill; stating they had no idea what both senators were asking for in negotiations.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) even went as far as to brand Manchin and Sinema Republicans during an interview with CNN while urging them to be united behind the Presidents agenda and have urgent conversations on how to get this agenda done.

Manchin told reporters Wednesday that he believes the $1.5 trillion figure was the most the government could do without jeopardiz[ing] our economy.

He also noted it will take a while to work out the specific changes needed to pass the broad measures proposed in the Biden-backed Build Back Better Act, which was not drafted in a bipartisan fashion.

Manchin and Sinemas votes are crucial to the passing of the trillion-dollar package which has repeatedly hit stalemates in Congress in recent weeks as Republicans and Democrats share differing views on everything from taxes, health, climate change as well as the overall price tag.

Isabel van Brugen contributed to this report.
The dome of the US Capitol is seen in Washington on Aug. 8, 2021. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Senate Confirms Accused Eco-Terrorist to Lead Bureau of Land Management

The U.S. Senate approved the nomination of accused eco-terrorist Tracy Stone-Manning to lead the Bureau of Land Management, overcoming Republican opposition by invoking cloture to end debate.

The Senate voted for cloture 50-48 along party lines. Senators Rand Paul (R.-Ky.) and Jon Cornyn (R.-Texas) did not vote.

Her nomination was approved by a 50-45 vote.

The extent of Stone-Mannings involvement in eco-terrorism has been a matter of significant dispute.

In written testimony to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Stone-Manning maintained she had no involvement in the spiking of trees as a graduate student at the University of Montana, claiming she merely retyped and sent a written warning to the U.S. Forest Service from fellow activist John Blount about an act of tree spiking in Idahos Post Office Timber Sale, after which she worked with her attorney to gain immunity for testifying in the trial of Blount and others.

But the USDA Forest Service agent who investigated that tree-spiking incident, Michael Merkley, disagrees.

In a letter to that same committee, he claimed that Blounts one-time girlfriend, Guenevere Lilburn, told Merkley that Stone-Manning had helped plan the tree spiking, even deliberating whether to use metal or ceramic spikes. Merkley further stated that Ms. Stone-Manning only came forward only after her attorney struck the immunity deal, and not before she was caught.

A woman who appears to be Lilburn has not responded to repeated requests for comment from The Epoch Times.

Merkley has also argued that Stone-Manning violated several federal laws, including by downplaying her involvement during nomination hearings before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

By typing the threatening letter to the Forest Service, she was aiding and abetting those who committed an offense against the United States. When she hid her knowledge of the crime for three years and was intentionally obstructive while under investigation, she made herself an accessory after the fact, Merkley wrote in a Sept. 30 Fox News op-ed.

By not immediately reporting the crime or divulging what she knew about who was involved, she concealed a felony. When she planned to mail the threatening letter to the Forest Service she involved herself in a conspiracy against the United States. It was also a felony to send the letter through the U.S. Postal Service.

Sen. John Barrasso (R.-Wyo.), ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources, voiced his strong opposition to Stone-Mannings nomination in remarks before the full Senate, citing statements from Stone-Manning beyond her remarks on eco-terrorism.

She has written articles and a graduate thesis supporting the idea of human population control, said Barrasso.

And one year ago, she tweeted an article her husband had written calling for homes built in the forestallowing them to burn during fires.

Tracy Stone-Manning is a dangerous choice to be put in charge of Americas public lands, and each and every senator who votes to confirm her will be held personally responsible for that vote, Barrasso later added.

Democrats voiced their support for Stone-Manning on the floor, including Sen. Jon Tester (D.-Mont.), who said that Tracy Stone-Manning did nothing wrong before responding directly to Barrassos comments.

Character assassination isnt something we should put up with in this body, said Tester. God only knows if we looked into the past of everyone who serves here, what we might find.

But Im here to tell you, to listen to the senator from Wyoming and say, Were going to hold every Democrat accountableyoure damn right. Hold me accountable for Tracy Stone-Manning.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is seen at his confirmation hearing to serve as associate justice on the Supreme Court at the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 4, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh Tests Positive for COVID-19

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.

Kavanaugh, 56, had a routine test done ahead of Justice Amy Coney Barretts Oct. 1 investiture, Supreme Court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe said in a statement.

Kavanaughs wife and daughters tested negative.

All are fully vaccinated against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19.

Kavanaugh is not showing any symptoms but as a precaution, he and his wife will not attend Barretts investiture, according to McCabe.

Both Barrett and Kavanaugh were appointed by President Donald Trump.

Barrett was sworn in on Oct. 27, 2020, but was scheduled to have a formal investiture ceremony on Oct. 1.

A COVID-19 outbreak occurred in the fall of 2020 when Trump announced Barrett as his nominee. Over 24 people who attended the announcement tested positive, though no serious cases were reported.

Kavanaughs positive test came several days after all of the justices were tested on Monday morning, a week before they were slated to start a new term. All of the justices tested negative, including Kavanaugh.

A Supreme Court spokeswoman said in an email that Kavanaugh will participate in next weeks oral arguments from his home.

All other justices tested negative, she said.

Kavanaugh was spotted at the U.S. Capitol by reporters on Thursday wearing a mask. The Office of the Attending Physician, which attends to members of Congress, also attends to Supreme Court justices.

Editors Note: This article has been updated with details on next weeks oral arguments.
Teen Indicted in Fatal Shooting at North Carolina School

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.A North Carolina grand jury has indicted a teenager in the fatal shooting of a high school student, and a prosecutor will transfer his case to adult court.

Maurice T. Evans Jr., 15, appeared in juvenile court Thursday for a custody hearing, news outlets reported.

Forsyth District Judge Ted Kazakos confirmed with Forsyth County District Attorney Jim ONeill and Evans attorney, J.D. Byers, that Evans was indicted on a murder charge, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. The grand jury handed down an indictment Monday, but it will remain sealed for 10 days.

Byers asked Kazakos to release Evans to his parents custody with an ankle monitor. Kazakos said that while the juvenile justice system has ankle monitors, the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office no longer provides ankle monitors for defendants in adult court. The judge ordered that Evans will remain in custody at a juvenile detention center without bond.

Evans is charged in the Sept. 1 shooting death of William Chavis Raynard Miller Jr. at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem. The newspaper reported that ONeill has said that the shooting was the culmination of a summer-long dispute between Evans and Miller, but he hasnt elaborated. The DA also said Evans was shot earlier in the summer but didnt say what led to that shooting or if anyone was arrested.
A tornado in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, on Sept. 30, 2021. (Dean Whiting via Reuters)

Tornado Lashes Southeast Australia, Leaving Hundreds Without Power

SYDNEYA tornado tore through Australias rural southeast on Thursday, ripping roofs off houses, uprooting trees, toppling power lines, and causing minor injuries, authorities said.

Police and ambulance crews were called to Meadow Flat, a town of 300 people near the regional centre of Bathurst, following reports of a tornado destroying a house just after noon, the emergency services said.

A man was taken to hospital with cuts to his arm. About 20 minutes later, the crews went to Clear Creek, with a population of about 100, about 30 km (20 miles) away, where a man and a woman were treated for minor injuries, the New South Wales ambulance service said.

Its not every day you get called out to a tornado and this one packed quite a punch, said NSW Ambulance Inspector Meah Ferguson.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Agata Imielska said the tornado was part of a weather system crossing Australias most populous state and causing thunder storms.

The NSW State Emergency Service issued a warning for people to secure loose items outside their homes.

The tornado upended power lines and blew part of an iron roof into electricity wires, triggering an automatic power outage for 164 homes, said Essential Energy.

Crews are working as quickly as safety allows to clear debris and carry out repairs to the network, however there is no restoration time available at present, a spokesperson said in a statement.
Toronto Police Charge Peter Nygard With Multiple Counts of Sexual Assault, Forcible Confinement

Fashion mogul consents in Winnipeg court to be extradited to US on human trafficking charges

Toronto police have announced multiple charges of sexual assault against former fashion mogul Peter Nygard. Meanwhile, the 80-year-old designer consented in court Friday to be extradited to the United States to face charges there.

The Toronto Police Service said in a news release that Nygard has been charged with six counts of sexual assault and three counts of forcible confinement involving six women.

The alleged assaults mainly took place between the 1980s and the 2000s.

On Sept. 29, members of the Sex Crimes  Human Trafficking Enforcement Team secured an arrest warrant for Nygard, who is implicated in six cases where a man forcibly confined and sexually assaulted a woman.

Nygard is currently being held in custody in Manitoba, where he is awaiting extradition to the United States.

He was arrested in December 2020 on charges including sex trafficking and racketeering. He faces nine charges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

A press release issued by the U.S. Attorneys Office of the Southern District of New York at the time said that over a 25-year period, Nygard used the influence of a constellation of corporate entities organized in various countries as well as its employees, funds, and other resources to recruit and maintain adult and minor-aged female victims for Nygards sexual gratification and the sexual gratification of his friends and business associates.

Nygard frequently targeted women and minor-aged girls who came from disadvantaged economic backgrounds and/or who had a history of abuse. He controlled his victims through threats, false promises of modelling opportunities and other career advancement, financial support, and by other coercive means, the release stated.

Nygard, who has denied all allegations, appeared in court in Winnipeg for an extradition hearing on Friday morning, where he consented to being extradited to the United States only on the charge of sex trafficking.

Nygards lawyer Brian Greenspan said after the court hearing that his client maintains his innocence, even though he has consented to be extradited.

As in the past, Mr. Nygard denies any allegations of criminal conduct. He denies any suggestion that he engaged in conduct for which he should be charged criminally, Greenspan said.

Greenspan said the justice minister will decide whether Nygard will first face charges in Canada, or per a condition of the Extradition Act, have him returned to Canada after his U.S. trial.

The extradition process is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Nygard is also the subject of a class-action lawsuit in the United States alleging he sexually assaulted of dozens of women.

With files from The Canadian Press
Truth Tellers: Henry David Thoreau and the Essential Truth

Great poets and seers do not write for classrooms or scholars; they write for other people, other souls. I call to witness Leo Tolstoy, who dropped out of school; Virginia Woolf, who was not allowed to go to school; and Charles Dickens, who was expelled from school.

Although Henry David Thoreau (181762) did indeed graduate from Harvard, he thought so little of it that he refused to pay the six dollars required to receive his diploma.

Like Tolstoy and Woolf, he wrote his most intimate thoughtssome of them never intended to be known to the worldin his journals and diaries. His Walden diary (184547), conceived with publication in mind, is slightly more self-conscious than the rest of the two-million-word document begun in 1837, when the author was just 20.

Title page from the first edition of Henry David Thoreaus Walden (1854). (Public Domain)

The complete opus reveals the soul of the man, and a beautiful soul it was. There were hints of its beauty in his outward appearance. A Harvard schoolmate of Thoreaus, later to be known as the Reverend John Weiss, remembers his grey-blue eyes [that] seemed to rove down the path just in advance of his feet. He also remarked, We remember him as looking very much like some Egyptian sculpture of faces, large-featured, but brooding, immobile  The Life of Henry David Thoreau.

Behind those grey-blue eyes were thoughts like, What if we feel yearnings which no breast answers? I walk alone. Of course, he was far from alone as he was close to God and nature, his two lifelong companions that never failed to support and fill him with wonder. He preferred their company to the company of mortals who interrupted his communion with them.

Portrait photograph of Henry David Thoreau by Benjamin D. Maxham. National Portrait Gallery, Washington. (Public Domain)

High Expectations

Although Thoreau might have loved mankind collectively, his encounters with individuals were seldom felicitous. He was left bored, disappointed, and disillusioned with them. Their very presence disallowed his own higher world with its higher thoughts and sensibilities:

There sits one by the shore who wishes to go with me, but I cannot think of it. He thinks I could merely take him into my boat and then not mind him. He does not realize that I should by the same act take him into my mind where there is no room for him.  I know very well that I should never reach that expansion of the river with him aboard with his terrene qualities.

The institutions of mankind, its governments, courts, and churches evoked his displeasure as well. When, in 1856, the threat of war loomed between the United States and Great Britain, he wrote: Both nations are ready to take a desperate step, to forget the interests of civilization and Christianity and fly at each others throats. When I see an individual thus beside himself, ready to shoot or be shot, I think he is a candidate for bedlam.

He felt that God was too often absent from churches. For the majority of mankind, religion is a habit, or, more precisely, tradition is their religion. The stark contrast between Gods law and mans lawthe law of his time, for examplethat a man could be bought and sold, caused him great anguish:

Massachusetts  deliberately and forcibly restored an innocent man, Anthony Burns, to slavery.  The sight of that political organization called Massachusetts is to me morally covered with scoriae and volcanic cinders such as Milton imagined. If there is any hell more unprincipled than our rulers and our people, I feel curious to visit it.

Thoreau himself chose the laws of God rather than mans, hid runaway slaves in his own home, provided money and clothes for them, and arranged paths of escape. Just put a fugitive slave, who has taken the name of Henry Williams, into the cars for Canada, he wrote.

The Walden Pond Conservation Area marks the site of Henry David Thoreaus hut in Concord, Massachusetts. (James Kirkikis/Shutterstock)

God and Nature

Gods law and the laws of nature were to him kindred, inseparably linked, just, and perfect. I love nature partly because she is not man, but a retreat from him, he wrote. In her midst, I can be glad with an entire gladness. If this world were all man,  I should lose all hope. He is constraint, she is freedom to me. He makes me wish for another world. She makes me content with this.

God revealed in the beauty of nature was the foundation of his faith. The beauty, the logic and symmetry of a snowflake, for example, was as powerful as any vision of any saint or seer: A divinity must have stirred within them before the crystals did thus shoot and set.  The same law that shapes the earth-star shapes the snow-stars.

The beauty of natures songs enchanted him. When I hear a bird singing, I cannot think of any words that will imitate it. And the meaning of their song? The music of all creatures has to do with their loves, even the toads and frogs. Is it not the same with man?

Although Thoreau knew much of science, he harbored a healthy skepticism toward scientists and their institutions. He rejected an invitation from the Association for the Advancement of Science to share his ideas. They do not believe in a science which deals with the higher law, he wrote. How absurd, that though I probably stand as near to nature as any of them,  a true account of my relation to nature would excite their ridicule only! If it had been the secretary of an association of which Plato or Aristotle was the president, I should not have hesitated to describe my studies at once and particularly.

The Walden Pond Conservation Area marks the site of Henry David Thoreaus hut in Concord, Massachusetts. (James Kirkikis/Shutterstock)

He believed that All the phenomena of nature need to be seen from the point of view of wonder and awe. He also remarked, Men are probably nearer to the essential truth in their superstitions than in their science.

The essential truth is perhaps Thoreaus favorite name for God. Higher light is another name he used. It is by obeying the suggestions of a higher light within you that you escape from yourself and travel totally new paths.

Thoreaus path was not a long one, just 43 years. When someone asked him, just before his death, whether he had made his peace with God, he replied, I didnt know we had ever quarreled.
Two 70-Year-Old Men With an ATV Rescue a Moose Stuck Neck-Deep in Muddy Swamp

When an Ontario man came across a moose stuck up to his neck in a muddy swamp, he called two friends for help. With no official bodies on hand to perform the rescue, the men took it upon themselves to save the moose.

Prospectors Maurice Valliere and Pat Greba, both 70, were contacted by 82-year-old Helmer in the town of Timmins on Aug. 25.

Another friend, Bill Desloges, later shared photos of Valliere and Grebas valiant effort on Facebook.

Thanks to my two prospector friends, this moose is back on the loose, wrote Desloges. They worked hard to help rescue this moose from certain death.

(Courtesy of Bill Desloges)

They tried contacting MNR [the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry] for over an hour with no response, he said. Pat used his Argo to pull the big guy out. Way to go, guys!

According to Desloges, the moose was discovered in the bush off Timmins Highway 655. Vallierewho believes the muddy swamp was once a roadside ditchlives nearby with his Labrador retriever.

I was at home and I got a call from a buddy saying hes in the bush, taking soil samples, and hes found a moose 20 feet from the road, Valliere regaled to blogTO.

(Courtesy of Bill Desloges)

Armed with map coordinates, it took the two 70-year-old prospectors over an hour to clear a path for Grebas Argo ATV. They initially struggled to find the terrified moose, who was nearly invisible in neck-deep mud. The mooses mouth and eyes were covered in mud.

I was hoping to try to go around his stomach and try and get him out, but he was in too deep, Valliere told Canadas CBC News. Theres no way I could have jumped in there, so the only option I had was to go around his horns.

With the moose hooked by the antlers, Valliere and Greba were able to use the ATV to haul the exhausted creature out of the mud onto a mossy bank. If the moose had been female, thus lacking antlers, Valliere said that the rescue might have failed.

(Courtesy of Bill Desloges)

The mud-covered moose lay on his side to catch a breath before jumping up suddenly, one strap still attached to his antlers. The prospectors took photos of his departure to celebrate their successful rescue.

I felt good that we got him out, cause I felt so sorry for him. He was struggling and struggling and just couldnt do it, Vallier said.

In an email to CBC News, the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry (NDMNRF) claimed their Timmins office never received a call about the moose stuck in the mud. Rescues such as these, they stressed, are rare and can be dangerous.

Often the outcome for the moose is unsuccessful, they explained, especially if it has been stuck for some time, leading to capture myopathy: muscle damage resulting from extreme exertion, struggle, or stress.

(Courtesy of Bill Desloges)

The quick-thinking prospectors Valliere and Greba struck lucky that day, and Deslogess Facebook post went viral, amassing some 1,600 reactions. Yet neither thinks their actions were heroic.

Everyone in Timmins would have probably went out and helped, said Valliere. We all love our animals here  It wasnt a big deal, but I guess it turned out to be a little bigger deal than I thought it would be.

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Two Plead Guilty to Unemployment Benefits Fraud Scheme

SAN DIEGOA man and woman who took part in a scheme to use prison inmates personal information to fraudulently obtain unemployment benefits have pleaded guilty to felony charges of making false statements on an unemployment application.

Ryan Kubista and Maereichelle Marquez, both 34, entered their pleas Sept. 30, about six months after the San Diego County District Attorneys (DA) Office announced charges against them.

Kubista and Marquez are expected to be sentenced next month to state prison terms. Co-defendant Stacy Wright, 62, remains charged, with a preliminary hearing set for next month.

The DAs Office said after fraudulently applying for the benefits, the trio had the Employment Development Department (EDD) benefits and EDD Bank of America debit cards mailed to their homes or P.O. boxes in Escondido, Carlsbad, and Vista. The defendants received more than $1.3 million in illegal payments for using at least 64 inmates identities to apply for the benefits, according to the DAs Office.

The case is one of numerous others across California related to accusations of prison inmates and others defrauding the state unemployment benefit system amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Locally, the San Diego County DAs Office announced in January that nine defendants had been charged with conspiracy, grand theft, and making false statements for unemployment benefits in connection with a scheme that allegedly netted those defendants more than $160,000 in unemployment payments.

All nine defendants were inmates assigned to the Male Community Reentry Program, which allows some inmates to serve the finals months of their sentences in a halfway house. The men allegedly lied on EDD application forms and violated state prison rules regarding applying for public aid in order to receive the ill-gotten payments, which were used to buy everything from luxury items to food deliveries from restaurants, according to the DAs Office.

Federal prosecutors in San Diego also charged former EDD contract employee Nyika Gomez with conspiring with her inmate boyfriend to submit fraudulent pandemic unemployment insurance claims for California state prisoners and out-of-state residents whose identifying information was stolen.

Gomez pleaded guilty earlier this year to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft counts and is set to be sentenced in December.
Under 18s No Longer Able to Get Botox for Cosmetic Reasons in England

People under 18 years of age will no longer be able to get Botox and dermal lip fillers for cosmetic reasons under a new law in England.

The Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers (Children) Act, which was brought into force in England on Friday, means it will be illegal to administer the products to or book an appointment for those under 18, according to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

The department said failure could result in a criminal prosecution and an unlimited fine.

The law applies to those visiting from outside England or who have the permission of someone aged over 18.

Treatments can, however, still be approved by a medical practitioner to be carried out by a doctor, nurse, dentist, or pharmacist on those under 18 with a clinical need.

Then health minister Nadine Dorries announced the law last month following a significant spike in the number of young people attempting to achieve a so-called Instagram face.

Then Health Minister Nadine Dorries arrives at Downing Street, London, on Sept. 15, 2021. (Victoria Jones/PA)

Dorries wrote in the Mail on Sept. 5, No child needs cosmetic procedures unless for medical reasons. Their physical and mental development is not complete.

The change comes after MPs said a complete absence of regulation of beauty treatments such as Botox and fillers is putting the public at riskand maintaining the status quo is not an option.

There was a complete lack of a legal framework of standards around non-surgical aesthetic treatments, which has left consumers at risk and undermined the industrys ability to develop, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Beauty, Aesthetics, and Wellbeing found.

By Benjamin Cooper
University of CaliforniaSan Diego Researchers Help Map Out How Cancer Mutations Affect Proteins

SAN DIEGOResearchers at the University of CaliforniaSan Diego (UCSD) and the University of CaliforniaSan Francisco (UCSF) have mapped out how hundreds of mutations involved in two types of cancer affect the activity of discrete groups of proteins that are the ultimate actors behind the disease, reports published Oct. 1 revealed.

The work points the way to identifying new precision treatments that may skirt side effects common with much current chemotherapy.

The effort, dubbed Cancer Cell Mapping Initiative (CCMI), is led by Trey Ideker, professor at UCSD School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center, and Nevan Krogan, director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute at UCSF, who are co-senior authors on a set of three related studies that describe the map.

The papers appear in Fridays online issue of Science.

The bottom line is that were elevating the conversation about cancer from individual genes to whole protein complexes, Ideker said. For years, different groups have been discovering more and more mutations that are involved in cancers, but in so many different genes that scientists cant make sense of it all.

Now were able to explain these mutations at the next levelby looking at how the different gene mutations in different patients actually have the same downstream effects on the same protein machines, he said. This is the first map of cancer from the protein complex lens.

DNA contains the instructions for building proteins, which then interact with other proteins, almost always in large groups called complexes.

These protein complexes, in turn, make up most of the machinery of cells, dictating basic cell functions like feeding, growth, and whether the cell develops into cancer. If the underlying DNA has a mutation, the resulting protein machines often will as well.

In cancers, a subset of genes is commonly mutated, Krogan said, and each of these genes can be mutated in hundreds of different ways. In addition, the function of a particular protein may be different in different types of cells, so a mutation in a breast cancer cell might have different effects on protein complexes than that same mutation in a cell in the throat.

CCMIs goal was to map the constellation of protein complexes formed by approximately 60 proteins commonly involved in either breast cancer or cancers of the head and neck, and to see what each looked like in healthy cells. Alongside that effort, they created maps of how protein complexes are affected by hundreds of different gene mutations in two cancerous cell lines.

Currently, physicians look for a small number of mutated genes as biomarkers to decide whether or not to prescribe a particular drug. For instance, patients with breast cancer who have an alteration in their HER2 gene are given the medication Herceptin because thats what has been determined to work best for them.

The problem is that there are still only a few genes that work in this way, providing reliable biomarkers that are clearly actionable with an FDA-approved drug, Ideker said. Our studies provide a new definition of biomarkers based not on single genes or proteins but on large, multi-protein complexes.

Because each protein complex incorporates mutations from a larger collection of genes, it is typically relevant to more patients, Ideker said.

For example, XRCC5 is a DNA-repair gene altered in just 2 percent of colon cancers, which limits the usefulness of this biomarker. Now, however, researchers can look at CCMIs new map of cancer protein complexes and see that XRCC5 is part of a 15-protein assembly altered in 14 percent of patients, and that these patients are typically very resistant to standard therapies.

Indeed, by targeting simultaneously multiple components of these oncogenic networks, our collaborative studies will pave the way for the development of more effective combination cancer therapies, while preventing treatment resistance, said co-author J. Silvio Gutkind, chair of the

Department of Pharmacology at UCSD School of Medicine and associate director of basic science and co-director of the Head and Neck Cancer Center at Moores Cancer Center. These studies in breast and oral cancer can now be expanded to most human malignancies.

The most powerful aspect of these extensive protein interaction maps is that they can shed the same light on many other conditions, Krogan said. For example, the team is also at work on similar studies of protein interactions in psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders and infectious diseases.
US Service Members File Lawsuit Against Department of Defense Over Vaccine Requirement

Two U.S. service members have filed a lawsuit against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to bring an end to his requirement that all troops must receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

As part of that, they have called for exemptions based on natural immunity.

Army Staff Sgt. Dan Robert, an infantryman at Fort Bragg, N.C., and Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Hollie Mulvihill, an air traffic controller at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Colorado on Aug. 17.

The filing names Austin as a defendant alongside Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, and Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Both the service members are filing the lawsuit on behalf of themselves and other active duty service membersincluding those that have survived COVID-19who have been mandated to have the vaccine.

As per the lawsuit, Robert and Mulvihill claim that Austin had publicly notified them via a memo that they are to be immediately vaccinated and that the Department of Defense (DoD) are already vaccinating military members in open violation of their legal obligations and the rights of service members under federal law and the constitution.

Roberts and Mulvihill also based their argument on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines previous emergency-use authorization standing, noting that Federal Statutes prohibit the use of any unlicensed vaccines whatsoever on service members without their informed consent.

The plaintiffs are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief because the DoD is using an Emergency Use Authorization COVID-19 vaccine.

Pfizer-BioNTech received full FDA approval on Aug. 23, days after the lawsuit was filed.

The service members also want to create a medical exemptionbased on evidence submitted through serologic tests, documented infection, or similar circumstancesfor those who were previously infected with the virus and have survived because they have natural immunity.

Neither the President, not the Secretary of Defense, nor the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor the Secretary of the Food and Drug Administration have complied with the requirements of those controlling pieces of federal law, the service members wrote in the court filing.

Therefore any involuntary vaccination of plaintiffs is a direct violation of federal law, attendant regulations, and the U.S. constitution, denying plaintiffs Equal Protection laws under the 14th Amendment by treating plaintiffs with natural immunity differently that their similarly situated peers in the military who have only simulated immunity, and violating their bodies with an experimental vaccine.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon said it has a range of tools to compel military service members to get the COVID-19 vaccine but noted that those who refuse to get vaccinated may not necessarily face dishonorable discharge.

Speaking at a press briefing, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby told reporters that it was important for service members to understand the ramifications of their decision should they choose not to have the vaccine.

When an individual declines to take a mandatory vaccine, they will be given an opportunity to talk to both medical providers as well as their own chain of command so that they can fully understand the decision that they are making, Kirby said.

And the other thing Id say is that our commanders have a range of tools available to them short of using the Uniform Code of Military Justice to again try to get men and women in the department to make the right decision here, he added.
Vaccine Mandates Pit COVID Tyrants Against the Woke

Commentary

An unlikely silver lining is emerging from the acrimony that COVID-19 vaccine mandates have created: a fracture on the left that, if pressed, threatens to either break the morally, legally, and ethically dubious mandates or a core pillar of the woke regime.

Consider a recent story out of New York City, home to one of the most draconian coronavirus responses in the country.

A skirmish broke out on the Upper West Side at a popular Italian restaurant, Carmines, that seems to have hinged in part on the citys recently implemented rule requiring diners to show proof of vaccination if they wish to eat inside.

According to reports, a brawl broke out between a hostess and several black patrons over this issue, three of whom were charged with assault and criminal mischief.

Accounts of what transpired differ, but lawyers for both Carmines and the three women arrested reportedly agree that the altercation occurred after two men who were not carrying proof of vaccination attempted to join this group of women at the restaurant.

The womens lawyers claim racism was at play, that the hostess allegedly used a racial slur and suggested the women were using fake vaccination cards, and that the hostess assaulted them.

The restaurant denied that story.

Black Lives Matter found the denial wanting.

Its New York chapter protested outside Carmine.

The BLM chapters co-founder, Chivona Newsome, had some choice words.

Seventy-two percent of black people in this city from ages 18 to 44 are unvaccinated, she said. So what is going to stop the Gestapo, I mean the NYPD, from rounding up black people, from snatching them off the train, off the bus?

Offensive as the comparison is, as recent images from Australia make clear, one could conceive of cops being forced into just such a position in the way of demanding papers or detaining people. The West has taken on a dystopic character in these last 18 months under the banner of public health.

Newsome didnt stop there. She said: Were putting this city on notice that your mandate will not be another racist social distance practice. Black people are not going to stand by, or you will see another uprising. And that is not a threat. That is a promise.  The vaccination passport is not a free passport to racism.

The co-founder of the Black Womens March, Kimberly Bernard, added: We are serving notice on the mayor, on the governor, on the restaurant industry that we will not allow for you to use this pandemic, vaccination cards, and masks as another reason to be racist, to put us in prisonbecause theres enough of us in there.

The rhetoric may seem hyperbolic, but the underlying logic holds. Black New Yorkers lag all other race/ethnicity groups for which the city provides data in terms of vaccination rates. Therefore, they stand to be disproportionately targeted as New York requires proof of vaccination to partake in the most basic aspects of everyday life.

This tracks with the national data on vaccination rates as well. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, across 43 states, the percent of White people who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose (53%) was 1.2 times higher than the rate for Black people (45%). The black population also lags the Hispanic population across these states.

Why is the disparity in vaccination rates significant? Well, it would stand to reason that if restaurants in New York, and perhaps businesses across the country, are going to be forced by the government to mandate that employees and patrons be vaccinated, then this burden will fall most heavily on blacks.

And by the standard of not just the most radical of so-called anti-racists, but most of the left, this would stand as government-enforced bigotry.

As the doyen of anti-racism Ibram X. Kendi puts it, racist policies are any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups.

Given the relative vaccination rates among people of different races, how could mandates do anything but produce or sustain racial inequity between racial groups?

These mandates have a disparate impact in the terminology of the relatively less radical legal left.

Disparate impact refers to judging, as the likes of Kendi do, too, whether a policy is discriminatory on the basis of outcomes, rather than intentthat is, if a policy is completely racially neutral, but leads to different outcomes for different people on the basis of race, it may be cast as discriminatory.

If vaccine mandates generate inequityif they have a disparate impactthis presents a paradox for the left that on the one hand is devoted to an agenda of coercive coronavirus policies, but on the other embraces wokeism.

Either vaccine mandates are racist, or disparate impact isnt evidence of racism.

The left cant have it both ways.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
West Australians gather to protest mandated vaccine requirements for healthcare workers outside the WA Department of Health building in Perth, Australia on Oct. 1, 2021. (Daniel Khmelev/The Epoch Times)

West Australians March Against No Jab, No Job Mandate For Health Staff

Hundreds of West Australians gathered outside the WA Department of Health on Friday to protest the states decision to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for healthcare workers.

The directions issued last month covers staff providing services for heath, medical, nursing, pathology, pharmaceutical, and social work, along with administrative, security, and other ancillary services. Non-compliance will result in a fine of up to $20,000.

According to marked white shirts adorned by some members of the crowd, individuals present spanned from healthcare to construction and mining.

A nurse told The Epoch Times that she believed the decision to force staff into receiving the jab went against the principles of healthcare.

Its coercive, she said. One of the foundations of healthcare is that care should be consented to. You cant forcibly treat someone with a therapeuticthats just not what healthcare is.

Police keep watch of West Australians gathered to protest mandated vaccine requirements for healthcare workers outside the WA Department of Health building in Perth, Australia on Oct. 1, 2021. (Daniel Khmelev/The Epoch Times)

The nurse said that she was concerned with insufficient evidence around the long-term safety of vaccines given that all of the available vaccines had not completed clinical trials.

Its something that were all willing to lose jobs over. All these professionals are willing to give up years of work. Look at the numbers on everyones shirts, 15 years, 17 years, 20 years, she said, she said. Im devastated to lose my job, but Im not going to be coerced into taking an experimental drug.

Western Australia is currently experiencing a healthcare staff shortage, which will be exacerbated if staff leave over a refusal to adhere to the mandate.

Protesters were joined by non-healthcare staff, with one construction worker concerned the mandate could eventually cover other industries.

Im not anti-vaccine, Im anti-untested medicine, he told The Epoch Times. Im mainly here because Im concerned about losing my job and whats going on with the nurses. If we dont stand up for each other, therell be no one to stand behind you when they come for you.

West Australians gather to protest mandated vaccine requirements for healthcare workers outside the WA Department of Health building in Perth, Australia on Oct. 1, 2021. (Daniel Khmelev/The Epoch Times)

The demonstrations were also joined by a group of around 20 members of a pro-vax and anti-fascist movement. A spokeswoman for the group said she was for mandatory vaccinations given the severity of the epidemic wrought by the virus.

We should be doing everything we possibly can to save peoples lives, she said. If that means lockdowns, making our workplaces safer, I think that includes vaccinations.

She also said she did not think that the demonstrators should be allowed to protest against the vaccine mandate because it promoted selfish, anti-human ideas.

A tradesman not participating in the protest said he thought the protests should be allowed, and also that the mandate may be needed to ensure Australians safety against the pandemic.

Youve got to have freedom of speech, he said, adding, If we want to get out of this then enforcing the vaccinations might just have to be the way to go. Sure, it may not be completely the most moral way of doing things but in the end, its probably the way it has to be done.

Another passerby said he supports peoples own decisions.

I think it should be your own choice, he told The Epoch Times. I think the human race, we should all just work together to protect each otherinstead of being under a wing saying you have to do this, you have to do that.'
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signs the fiscal year 2022 budget into law at Lansing Community College in Lansing, Mich., on Sept. 29, 2021. (Courtesy of Whitmer's office)

Whitmer Signs $70 Billion Budget Into Law

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law a $70 billion budget on Wednesday. The spending marks an 11.5 percent increase compared to the last budget.

This is a budget that puts Michiganders first. We are coming together to grow the middle class, support small businesses, and invest in our communities, Whitmer said in a statement.

This is a comprehensive budget that builds on the school aid budget I signed this summer, which made the largest investment in K-12 education in Michigan history without raising taxes.

The budget signing two days before the new fiscal year shows a change of pace after 18 months of partisan bickering between Democrats and Republicans over COVID-19 policy.

The budget focuses on child care, education, infrastructure, and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. About $1.4 billion of child care spending is expected to qualify 105,000 more children for child care by increasing income eligibility to 185 percent of the federal poverty level through fiscal year 2023, then 160 percent ongoing in the following fiscal years. About $700.7 million will fund stabilization grants, with another $100 million for startup grants for child care providers and $30 million for a one-time $1,000 bonus for child care staff.

The ramped-up child care spending aims to unlock a workforce of women and young parents who left because of child care costs, scarcity, or virtual schooling. Between February 2020 and December 2020, roughly 136,000 women left Michigans labor force, a 5.8 percent decline. Even 17 months into the pandemic in August 2021, the states total labor force remains 202,100, or 4.1 percent below the pre-pandemic February 2020 level.

The budget appropriates $196 million to repair or replace nearly 100 crumbling bridges, and $14.3 million to help local governments prepare for climate change and extreme weather, including flooding and coastal erosion. Another $19 million will fund dam repairs and flood mitigation, while $10 million will replace lead service lines in Benton Harbor to provide access to safe drinking water, and $15 million would fund the Emergency Drinking Water Fund.

In July, Whitmer and the Legislature approved a $17 billion school aid bill aiming to eliminate the funding gap between districts at the minimum and maximum foundation allowancesa goal for nearly 30 years.

The budget aims to pave a path to higher education or advanced skills through multiple programs.

$55 million for the Reconnect program to provide a tuition-free pathway to an in-demand industry certificate or associate degree for Michigan adults age 25 and older.

$25 million for the Futures for Frontliners scholarship program paying for frontline workers to attend local community college tuition-free.

$40 million for the Going Pro program to expand employer-based training grants to get industry-recognized credentials and certificates to help raise wages and fill job openings.

$8 million for pre-apprenticeship/apprenticeship training programs will expand Michigans talent pool in the construction and building trades.

The spending package includes $146.9 million for 176 Michigan Enhancement Grants in lawmakers local communities typically deemed as pork spending.

The budget will also deposit $500 million into the Budget Stabilization Fund, bringing the total fund balance to nearly $1.4 billion, representing the most significant rainy day fund balance in state history.

The Michigan Health and Hospital Association welcomed the new budget.

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged hospitals throughout the state and, on behalf of our members, we commend Gov. Whitmer for signing today a state budget that continues vital funding sources for our hospitals, increases support for direct care workers and ambulance services, and maintains extended Medicaid coverage for mothers up to 12 months postpartum, MHA CEO Brian Peters said in a statement. We extend equal appreciation to both the Legislature and Gov. Whitmer and her administration for passing a budget on time that maintains access to care throughout Michigan.

By Scott McClallen
Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk walks next to a screen showing an image of Tesla Model 3 car during an opening ceremony for Tesla China-made Model Y program in Shanghai, China, on Jan. 7, 2020. (Aly Song/File Photo/Reuters)

Woman Who Protested Against Tesla at China Auto Show Now Claims Carmaker Is Suing Her

A woman, who jumped on the top of a Tesla car at a Shanghai auto show in April while shouting brake failure, has claimed she is now being sued by the electric carmaker for 5 million yuan ($750,000).

The woman said via her Weibo social media account on Sept. 27 that Tesla is suing her for reputation damage.

The womanwho reportedly is surnamed Zhangsaid she received a request for pre-litigation mediation from the Peoples Court of Qingpu District of Shanghai city issued on Aug. 14, which says if no agreement is reached, the case will enter the trial procedure.

Zhang also posted a photo of Teslas civil complaint against her.

The alleged complaint listed Teslas three litigation requests with the first asking her to issue a statement of apology on her Weibo account, which should last no less than 30 days, and publicly apologize on national media.

The second request was that she should pay 5 million yuan ($750,000) to Tesla as compensation. The third request was that she shall bear all litigation costs.

The complaint is a result of Zhangs April 19 protest when she stood on the roof of a Tesla car while shouting brake failure at the Shanghai International Auto Show. She was also wearing a T-shirt brazened with the same phrase.

She claimed that in February the brakes of her Tesla Model 3 failed as she was driving, which she said caused her to crash into two cars while nearly killing four of her family members.

Zhang demanded Tesla pay a huge amount of compensation.

Tesla responded twice that they dont compromise with unreasonable demands.

Three days after the Shanghai auto show protest, Tesla published Zhangs driving data that showed the car had been driven at a high speed before the accident. The company said that its automatic braking system significantly reduced the speed of the car.

Not long after, Tesla also issued a statement on its official Weibo account, revealing that on the day of the accident on Feb. 21, the driver was Zhangs father, and Zhang was in the passenger seat.

Zhang also held numerous other protests about her claims.

During the dispute, Chinas state media uniformly criticized Tesla while there have been opinions voiced that the Elon Musk-led company will eventually be forced out of the country.

Ji Da, a U.S.-based China analyst, told the Chinese language Epoch Times that Tesla will be discarded after the Chinese communist regime has learned the car companys high-tech skills.

After another year or two, when Chinese domestic electric vehicles companies learn the technology from Tesla, the Chinese regime will find a way to kick Tesla out of China, or use various rogue tactics to force Musk to sell Tesla to a Chinese regime owned enterprises at a low price, Ji said.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  After eight years of planning and billions of dollars in spending, the Middle East's first world's fair opened Friday in Dubai, with hopes that the months-long extravaganza will draw both visitors and global attention to this desert-turned-dreamscape.

The coronavirus pandemic pushed Expo 2020 back a year and may affect how many people flock to the United Arab Emirates. But the six-month-long exhibition still offers Dubai a momentous opportunity to showcase its unique East-meets-West appeal as a place where all are welcome for business.

Not long ago, the site of the 1,080 acre (438 hectare) Expo was barren desert. Now, it's a futuristic landscape buzzing with robots that bark automated orders at bare-faced visitors to mask up, a new metro station, multi-million dollar pavilions and so-called districts with names like sustainability and opportunity"  all built, like much of the Gulf, by low-paid migrant workers.

More than 190 nations are using their pavilions to spotlight their greatest tourist attractions, discoveries and ambitions. The American pavilion, paid for by the UAE after the U.S. could not raise the funds in time, boasts a replica of the Space X Falcon 9 rocket and takes visitors on a conveyor belt past multimedia infomercials for American inventions. It also displays a Quran that belonged to the nation's third president, Thomas Jefferson, as an example of how religious freedom is woven into the very fabric of American society.

China's vast, lantern-shaped pavilion focuses on the nation's space ambitions and future inventions, featuring a Transformer-like car that SAIC Motor hopes will function one day also as a submarine and helicopter.

Draped over Italy's pavilion is 70 kilometers (40 miles) of rope made from 2 million plastic bottles. The main attraction, though, is a marble 3-D replica of Michelangelos biblical hero, David. The 5.2 meters (17 feet) high nude giant is not easily accessible  visitors must must enter separate floors of a building to view it at eye-level or peer up from its feet. Public nudity is outlawed in the UAE, where traditional Muslim norms largely prevail.

The UAE's falcon-shaped pavilion, by far the site's largest, takes visitors on a two-hour-long immersive experience through dunes of real orange sand and footage from the country's 50-year history.

Other attractions include an African food hall, a massive mirror-like fountain with silver cascades of water flowing back and forth, a recently excavated royal Egyptian mummy, concerts and performances from around the world, and the option to dine on a $500 three-course meal with glow-in-the-dark cuisine.

As night fell and the call to prayer echoed musically through the grounds, pavilions came to life with lights, lasers and kaleidoscopic shows.

Isabel Fu, 50, said she flew in for Expo all the way from Beijing to see the kind of changes that well see in the future, the technology that makes us look forward to the next era. Upon her return to China, she faces 21 days of quarantine.

Since first making a splash in London in 1851, world fairs have long served as an opportunity for nations to meet, exchange ideas, showcase inventions, promote culture and build business ties.

For more than a century, global exhibitions have captured the imagination and showcased some of humanitys most important innovations. The first world's fair held in the United States in 1876 debuted Alexander Graham Bells telephone, the typewriter, a mechanical calculator and Heinz Ketchup. One of its main buildings, Memorial Hall, is now a museum.

Other fairs introduced inventions like the sewing machine, the elevator, carbonated soda, the Ferris wheel and, in 1939 in New York, the television.

This year's Expo is unfolding as the virus continues to course across the world, with untold numbers still working and studying remotely  and connecting to the world virtually. It's unclear how many visitors Dubai can attract, and how much the Expo will stimulate its tourism-driven economy  especially in the blistering early autumn heat, which on Friday caused tempers to flare, some visitors to faint and most people to sweat through their shirts.

We're dying! Humans can't tolerate this weather, exclaimed 35-year-old Warda Abadi from Saudi Arabia as she shepherded her limping mother into the shade.

To enter the Expo site, visitors must show a negative PCR test or proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

Dubai's ruler and the force behind the emirate's transformation, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, described Expo 2020 as a chance to showcase the best of human excellence.

It offers a platform to forge a united worldwide effort to build a more sustainable and prosperous future for all of mankind, he told guests at the Expo's opening ceremony.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince and de-facto ruler of the UAEs seat of power, Abu Dhabi, emphasized the ethos of this land as a meeting point for cultures and tolerance.

Whether Iran or Israel, every nation is welcome at Dubai's Expo. The space marked for Afghanistan's pavilion, however, appeared vacant weeks after the Taliban takeover of Kabul.

It makes me very proud to see so many different kinds of cultures, countries and traditions coming to my country for the first time, said Isa Nuaimi, a 25-year-old government pilot from the Emirati city of Al Ain.

Human Rights Watch, however, said that the UAE's efforts to promote itself as an open and tolerant country remain at odds with its human rights abuses, including the suppression of peaceful criticism, jailing of activists and pervasive government surveillance.

The UAE has embarked on a decades-long effort to whitewash its reputation on the international stage, the rights group said.

The Expo site will attempt to dazzle visitors with a centerpiece dome, marketed as the worlds largest 360-degree projection screen.

Some world's fair structures remain iconic markers of the human journey and our industrial evolution. None more so than the Eiffel Tower, which was constructed in Paris, not only to be the tallest structure in the world at the time, but to serve as the entrance to the 1889 world's fair. The Space Needle in Seattle, Washington, built for the 1962 world's fair, also continues to enjoy global prominence.

While most fairs were held in Europe and the United States, none have been hosted in the Middle East until now.

___

Follow Aya Batrawy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ayaelb and Isabel DeBre at https://twitter.com/IsabelDeBre
CAIRO (AP)  The head of the World Bank held talks Thursday with Sudan's transitional leaders, focusing on the country's daunting economic challenges and a reform program the African nation is undertaking to overhaul the battered economy.

David Malpass landed in Khartoum late Wednesday, the first visit by a World Bank president to Sudan in around 50 years. From the Sudanese capital, he delivered a virtual address to the annual meetings of the financial institution and the International Monetary Fund on Thursday.

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok called the visit a historical moment for his country, which is on a fragile path to democracy after a popular uprising led to the militarys overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

This transition can only succeed if it is anchored on economic opportunity for all Sudanese, irrespective of gender, geography, race, religion, or income level, Hamdok said. Our economy requires deep, fundamental reforms."

Sudan embarked on what Hamdok called homegrown economic reforms last year. The program is meant to transform Sudan's economy and have the nation rejoin the international community after over two decades of isolation.

Battered by years of mismanagement and sanctions, Sudan was also plunged into an economic crisis when the oil-rich south seceded in 2011 after decades of war, taking with it more than half of public revenues and 95% of oil exports.

Sudan's government program, backed by the World Bank and the IMF, has included a series of austerity measures such as floating the currency and slashing fuel subsidies. The measures have led to hikes in the price of fuel and other essential goods.

Malpass welcomed Sudan's bold reforms," re-engagement with the international community, and the clearance of its its overdue payments to the World Bank after the U.S. provided bridge financing of $1.15 billion.

The debt clearance has allowed the government to access new types of international financing for the first time in nearly three decades. The World Bank said in May it has allocated $2 billion to Sudan to finance big infrastructure projects along with others over the next 12 months.

Finance Minister Gibreil Ibrahim hailed Malpass' visit as a sign that Sudans integration into the international community is progressing in strides."

Malpass, however, warned about tensions between the generals and civilians in the government, which have increased over the past week after authorities said they foiled a coup attempt on Sep. 22.

Its critical to avoid political slippages, because there is no development without peace and stability," he said.

Still, thousands of Sudanese took to the streets in Khartoum and elsewhere on Thursday to demand an exclusively civilian transitional government. The protesters also accused the generals of derailing its transition to democracy.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  The leader of Australias most populous state quit Friday after an anti-corruption watchdog revealed it was investigating her over a secret relationship with a former lawmaker.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that standing aside while the Independent Commission Against Corruption investigated her would distract her government at a critical stage of Sydneys COVID-19 outbreak.

Numbers of COVID-19 patients in Sydney hospitals are expected to peak during October as vaccination rates rise across the state and the city emerges from a lockdown that began in late June.

My resignation as premier could not have occurred at a worse time, but the timing is completely outside of my control as the ICAC has chosen to take this action during the most challenging weeks of the most challenging times in the states history. That is the ICACs prerogative, Berejiklian told reporters.

Resigning at this time is against every instinct in my being and something which I do not want to do. But I have been given no option following the statement thats been issued today, she added.

ICAC, an independent state-based public sector watchdog, said it was investigating whether there was conflict between the popular leaders public duties and her undisclosed personal relationship with former government colleague Daryl Maguire.

The five-year relationship that has ended became public last year when Berejiklian gave evidence to an ICAC investigation into whether Maguire used his position as a lawmaker to gain an improper benefit for himself and his associates. He resigned from Parliament in 2018.

Berejiklian will be investigated over government grants awarded or promised to community groups in Maguires electorate.

She said she had always acted with the highest level of integrity.

Berejiklian said her only regret in resigning was not being able to finish the job of ensuring the states transition from pandemic restrictions as vaccination rates rise.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is a member of Berejiklians conservative Liberal Party, described her as a person of the highest integrity.

Gladys is a dear friend, weve known each other for a long time. She had displayed heroic qualities ... as the premier, Morrison said.

Berejiklian was a government minister in 2014 when then-Premier Barry OFarrell resigned over an ICAC investigation into his failure to declare receiving a 3,000 Australian dollar ($2,800) bottle of wine on a gift register.

Berejiklians government colleagues will elect a new premier at a date to be announced. She would leave politics at a by-election which has yet to be called.
EDWARDSVILLE  Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Illinois SBDC International Trade Center (ITC) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is making a bigger impact than ever.

For nearly four decades, the ITC has been educating, equipping and empowering small businesses to navigate the ever-changing waters of international trade, by delivering no-cost, customized and 100% confidential export advising services to help them grow and succeed globally.

Our businesses in southern Illinois have been resilient and they dont give up, ITC Director Silvia Torres Bowman said. They believe in exports, they believe in the economy, and they believe in continuing no matter how hard the road ahead seems to be. We always tell them that when there are challenges, we serve as a bridge between them and their goals.

Even during the pandemic, weve been able to hook up our clients with consulting firms around the world. Weve been able to provide these businesses with the latest on what has been happening in a particular country or a particular region. Because of the pandemic, instead of looking at country A, we might look at countries B and C and regear their business plans to fit the situation.

The ITC is a key member of the Illinois SBDC Network, funded through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and SIUE as a service to the regions entrepreneurial and business community.

Their financial support allows us to offer our services at no cost, which many times is a surprise when we talk to businesses, Torres Bowman said. Since 2020, with the huge challenges that resulted from the global pandemic, we had to become more creative, and we adapted to virtual formats. With technology, we were able to build solid relationships. We ensured that business owners can survive and thrive in the world of exporting with our assistance.

In 2009, we had our first in-person southern Illinois trade mission to South America. This year, we have a virtual trade mission to South America which started on Sept. 20 and continues through Oct. 15. We recently had our first Zoom meeting with the participants to give them an overview of South America, its culture and its business etiquette in a virtual format.

Before the pandemic, the ITC had funding available for small businesses from the ISTEP (Illinois State Trade and Export Promotion) program, where they could participate in international travel and trade shows. The center provides both financial and technical assistance to increase their exports.

When the pandemic took place, the federal government, through the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act, awarded COVID-19 funding to our ITC and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network, Torres Bowman said. Well have the CARES funding through September 2022 to expand our business advising network and to provide additional resources for education and training to small businesses.

Some of that money went to fund EXPORT NOW, which was a customized, action-oriented export training initiative to put local businesses on the international map. Five regional businesses participated in the program, which featured three spring sessions.

Since September of 2020, we also had monthly (virtual) roundtables and it was exciting to see how participating businesses have been able to form new relationships and friendships, Torres Bowman said. They shared not only their challenges but also their successes. They learned from each other and they can become mentors as well.

I dont think (virtual presentations) are going away. I think they will complement the in-person connections with our businesses.

The ITC covers all counties from Springfield south, but for Torres Bowman, part of the battle is making sure that small businesses are aware of the center and what it does.

The center has been open for business nonstop since 1984 and I cant say enough about how supportive SIUE and its School of Business has been, Torres Bowman said. Its role is to educate southern Illinois small businesses about how to export their products to markets throughout the world.

It can be challenging, especially for businesses that have never exported before. They may be hesitant, and some feel they are too small, but I always tell them there is no business too small to export, especially now with the internet. We provide continuous support for those who have already entered foreign markets.

Being affiliated with and being located on the campus of a major university offers numerous advantages for the ITC and the businesses it serves.

Through the SIUE School of Business, we have been working on international business partnerships with other universities, Torres Bowman said. Its not just one university to another because SIUE is connected with the business community and trade organizations.

One of the focuses for the ITC since the start of the pandemic has been to reach out to rural communities and minority-owned businesses to help them recover from the strains put on their business.

We continue reaching out to women-owned businesses to see if they would consider expanding or exploring other markets, Torres Bowman said.

I feel the message is much more effective when small businesses hear directly from their peers. They are the ones who can share the benefits of selling abroad and tell them how our assistance made a difference with their exporting, their sales and their bottom line.

Small businesses in southern Illinois, like their counterparts throughout the nation, have also had to deal with a shortage of certain items that are vital to their operation.

One of the participants in our virtual mission to South America is facing a major challenge due to a microprocessor shortage and prices going up 50 to 100%. Torres Bowman said. That issue is affecting greatly our exporters and theyve been struggling to deal with it.

It can take months to get their parts, which are needed to finish their products. This particular business involves electronics and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), so the owner is having a hard time with it.

Through CARES Act funds, the ITC is working on the development of a new online directory of southern Illinois manufacturers that offer products for international buyers.

We hope this new platform will put southern Illinois manufacturers on the world map, Torres Bowman said. In 2019, I went to South America and spoke about our region to leaders of trade organizations, and they didnt know about southern Illinois. They knew about Chicago and they asked which part of Chicago we were from.

Thats another reason why we think this platform will help. It can open doors and make the world realize there is more to Illinois than Chicago.

For more information about the Illinois SBDC International Trade Center at SIUE, go to https://www.siue.edu/itc/ or call 618-650-3851.
EDWARDSVILLE  Jury selection is set to begin Monday in the trial of Timothy M. Banowetz, who is accused of murdering prominent Edwardsville attorney Randy L. Gori.

Chief Judge William Mudge told members of the Madison County Boards Judiciary Committee Friday the trial could last more than a week, and that he is seeing unprecedented media interest in the trial.

According to an order signed by Circuit Judge Kyle Napp, who will preside over the trial, there will be a coverage pool and press access to the courtroom itself will be limited with a number of restrictions, including no interviews except in designated areas, and juveniles giving testimony and prospective jurors cannot be photographed.

In addition to maintaining decorum, there are also concerns about complying with COVID-related restrictions.

The proceedings will also be live streamed to several courtrooms in the Madison County Courthouse, and there has been some discussion of setting up a link to the Madison County Board room.

Gori was found murdered Jan. 4, 2020, after police received a 911 call at about 9 p.m. Banowetz and Goris vehicle were located between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 5.

Banowetz, now 30, of Wentzville, Missouri, faces three charges of first-degree murder, all Class M felonies; three charges of armed robbery, all Class X felonies; aggravated offenses relating to motor vehicles, a Class 1 felony; and three counts of aggravated unlawful restraint, all Class 3 felonies.

He is currently being held without bond.

The theft and unlawful restraint charges involve two minors at Goris home in the 4500 block of Mooney Creek Road. At the time of the arrest, then-Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons said Gori took heroic actions to save the lives of others at the home, but he declined to be more specific.

After the murder Banowetz allegedly fled in Goris 2020 Rolls Royce, which was located near the wooded area in which the victim was found about 1,200 feet from the home. Authorities said the suspect had been in the woods for a considerable length of time.

Investigators called the murder a heinous and senseless crime.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  A top Southern Baptist Convention committee is facing mounting pressure from within the denomination to move forward without further delay an investigation into how it handled sexual abuse allegations.

Many seminary presidents, state convention leaders and pastors in the nation's largest Protestant denomination are frustrated with the Executive Committees inaction.

The critics, growing in number, have called for the committee to accept the terms of the investigation set by thousands of Southern Baptist delegates in June. Some have warned a failure to do so risks financial contributions from churches, erodes trust within the convention and runs counter to the evangelical denominations bottom-up structure.

The Executive Committee, which acts on behalf of the convention when it is not holding a national meeting, is facing a crisis of confidence, said the Rev. Adam Greenway, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. The Executive Committee is at this point because of a colossal failure of leadership, he said.

Were seeing play out before a watching world something that should never have been allowed to escalate to this point, Greenway said.

The Executive Committee is facing a third-party investigation into allegations it mishandled sexual abuse cases, resisted reforms and intimidated survivors, but it is divided on the terms of the review, including a request to waive its attorney-client privilege that protects some communications with its lawyers. The waiver is viewed as a key demand of the delegates, known as messengers, who put the investigation in motion.

This is the latest tension point in the SBCs reckoning with its abuse scandal. A 2019 report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News showed the scope of the issue by documenting hundreds of cases in Southern Baptist churches, including several in which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

The recent wave of pushback includes a letter signed by 25 Southern Baptist pastors in South Carolina. They called on the Executive Committee to submit to a thorough, independent assessment and said they plan to consider directing their churches' financial support of the committee elsewhere if it does not comply.

This work necessitates waiving attorney-client privilege  as the messengers directed  in order to unequivocally support a transparent investigation, engender trust from the churches and messengers, and, most importantly, show Christ-like love to victims of sexual abuse, says the letter, posted Thursday on Twitter.

A statement attributed to an Executive Committee spokesperson said investigators will be given appropriate access to documents and the committee thinks the delegates' intentions can be achieved without exposing the SBC to unnecessary damage. They are concerned too many of the statements inaccurately reflect the Executive Committee's motives.

At the national SBC gathering in June, thousands of delegates sent the message that they did not want the Executive Committee to oversee an investigation of its own actions. Instead, delegates voted overwhelmingly to create a task force charged with providing oversight of a third-party review, which will be conducted by investigative firm Guidepost Solutions. The delegates also want the firms findings given to the task force and made public ahead of next years annual meeting.

The divided Executive Committee has held two meetings with hours of discussion on the investigation. Although it approved allocating $1.6 million for the assessment, the committee has twice delayed finalizing an agreement for the investigation in favor of further negotiations between its officers and task force representatives. Pushback among many Southern Baptists has grown with each deferral.

The task force has urged the Executive Committee to waive attorney-client privilege for the investigation. But attempts to do so have failed to get enough votes during the top panels two recent meetings. Some Executive Committee members are wary of taking that step, saying it could jeopardize their insurance policies, while others are concerned about the consequences of not doing what the delegates have asked.

The task force is not budging on the privilege waiver and shared a revised contract Friday, emphasizing the waiver as a priority for the investigation.

We believe the outcry of Southern Baptists this week has reinforced that position, the task force said in a statement.

In a letter Friday to Southern Baptists, Executive Committee President Ronnie Floyd urged the members of the committee, the task force and Guidepost Solutions to cooperate and find a way forward together. Floyd wrote that Executive Committee members are weighing how to do their job without harming the SBC.

No one is trying to defy the will of the messengers, rather to prayerfully and carefully fulfill the will of the messengers, Floyd said.

The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, issued a statement Wednesday saying the question facing the Executive Committee is not whether to comply with the delegates mandate, but how.

This is not just a matter of sentiment, it must be a matter of action, and time has run out, said Mohler, who leads the SBC's flagship seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

The board of trustees and officers of the Baptist State Convention of Michigan also spoke out. They passed a resolution this week calling on the Executive Committee to abide by the delegates' terms, including waiving attorney-client privilege.

The Rev. Jerome Taylor, recording secretary for the Michigan convention, said he supported the resolution because the voice of the messenger is so much of a primary emphasis in our polity and how we believe church governance should go. Taylor said the investigation is about justice and prevention as well as kindness and care for those harmed.

The Rev. Grant Gaines, the Tennessee pastor who proposed creation of the task force in June, told The Associated Press any investigatory agreement must include waiving privilege and an unredacted report of the findings. Gaines and several other Tennessee pastors also signed a letter urging the Executive Committee to act.

The groundswell of pushback to the Executive Committees refusal to waive attorney-client privilege is happening because Southern Baptists want justice for survivors and because Southern Baptists want to preserve our democratic polity, Gaines said. When an overwhelming majority of SBC messengers vote to do something, we want it to be done.

The Executive Committee is expected to meet again next week.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
I'm not hip like other millennial travelers. I like to travel (I took an obvious break for about 18 months), but I'm not one of those people who has "40 countries and counting" in their social media bio. I don't even own an Away suitcase  but I did get a chance to review the lookalike brand, July.

You don't need to be a travel expert to know that Away has surged in popularity in the last few years. You also don't need to be an expert to tell that a July suitcase looks pretty similar to an Away suitcase. Lookalike or not, they've built the most lightweight suitcase I've ever owned.

What is July luggage?

July

July is one of the hottest months of the year in the U.S., but in Australia it's actually a winter month  and an up-and-coming luggage company. "We exist to bring better design and thinking around how we travel," their website says. "Born in Melbourne, Australia. We've taken an Aussie approach to luggage: tough to break, beautiful to look at."

July offers various luggage types (in a number of sizes) and accessories, including:

July luggage features

July

July Carry-On Luggage

Carry On July $245.00 Shop Now

46L in volume

Ejectable battery with USB-C

Crush-proof German shell

Integrated TSA lock

Hidden laundry bag

July Y-Strap compression system

SilentMoveTM wheels

Water-resistant and stain-proof nylon lining

External dimensions including wheels 21" H x 14.5" W x 8" D

Total linear dimensions 43.5" (approved to fit as a carry-on for all American and International standards)

July also offers a lifetime warranty on their luggage: You can give your new suitcase a 100-day trial and if you don't love it, you can return it for free, with free shipping across the U.S. and Canada.

July vs. Away

Away Travel/July/Hearst Newspapers

I started this article comparing July to Away in appearance  and sadly, that is all I can do, as I don't actually own an Away suitcase to review. However, despite the fact that the two brands look fairly similar, there are two differences:

July's Carry On suitcase automatically comes with a USB charger (that is removable), whereas it costs an extra $20 to have one added to the same size Away suitcase (which costs $225). That isn't a huge jump in price, but if you're spending $20 on a portable charger, I would not recommend spending it on an Away charger (no shade at Away, but there are better chargers out there than a luggage brand's). Instead, I'd recommend investing in an Anker portable charger. You can get one for anywhere between $10 and $50 on Amazon, depending on the Anker model). That will get you a faster, more reliable portable charger.

When it comes to size, Away is a little lighter but fits less than a July bag. The Away carry on of the same size and function is actually .3 lbs lighter, but only can fit 38.9 L, whereas the July suitcase can fit 46L.

July luggage review

July

There are four types of carry-on bags offered by July:

For my review, I tested out the regular ol' Carry On. The brand also sent over a Carry On Light, but I am a notorious over-packer and that was not a feasible size for me. I found it on the small size for any adult, actually  my 10-year-old goddaughter saw the bag and thought it was meant for her. She said it was the perfect size for a kid her age.

Before July, I was a pretty standard Samsonite gal. I used to always be team softside luggage because I overpack and I've been under the impression you could fit way more in a softside than a hardshell suitcase. This July carry on is my first foray into hardshell suitcases and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could stuff it to the brim.

July luggage pros

Sleek and customizable

Easy to use and organize

Built-in USB charger

Lightweight

July's design adheres to industry standards for carry-on bags, but it still looks very nice. It comes in an array of colors, with boring options like monochrome and navy and then limited-edition colors like rose quartz and moss green. You can personalize your luggage (normally $50, but that feature is free at the time of publishing) with your name or initials. You can choose the font, color, and location of where your personalization goes.

For something that is small, you can fit a whole lot in this carry-on. I utilized the zippered pocket for loose items that might shift more in transit, like my hair tools, shoes, and jewelry bag. There's a hidden pocket inside the suitcase that is great for stuffing small items (like socks) into. I found the Y-Strap compression system most useful for storage, as it helped me stuff my clothing into one half of the suitcase and keep it firmly in place. I was recently away for just four days, but I packed four changes of clothing, pajamas, my makeup bag, sneakers, two pairs of sandals (including my thick Merrell sandals), and a ton of hair tools, but I still had plenty of room for the souvenirs I brought back with me.

This carry on comes with an ejectable USB charger (July's carry on light does not, FYI). This is great if you're stuck in the terminal and don't want to be hunched over an outlet to charge your phone. It is easy enough to eject and put back in, since you'll need to remove this at the TSA security line and when boarding the plane, per TSA guidelines.

I like how lightweight this suitcase is because no matter how much I forced into it, it never got too heavy. On its own, the bag only weighs 7.4 lbs (honestly, it feels like much less when empty). I have virtually no upper body strength (honestly, a toddler could take me in a fistfight) but this suitcase was still easy to throw into and pull out of the overhead storage bins.

July luggage cons

Expensive

$245 is not cheap. It is a quality bag, don't get me wrong  it is sturdy, reliable, and pretty nice looking  and the price is pretty on par with competitors like Away and Monos. Still, $245 is a hefty chunk of money for a suitcase.

As the carry on is new to me in only the last few months, I can't speak to if the price is because it will last me for many years to come or just because they're meeting other industry standards. I'll find out by 2022!
Australia readies to reopen, praised as good news for Phuket

PHUKET: The Australian Government has announced its framework to allow fully vaccinated Australians to travel and return home to observe only a seven-day quarantine period at home.

tourismeconomicsVaccineCOVID-19

By The Phuket News

Friday 1 October 2021, 11:13AM

Matthew Barclay and his team at the Australian Consulate-General in Phuket. Photo: The Phuket News / file

The much anticipated news came in a release issued today (Oct 1).

Australian citizens and permanent residents who cannot be vaccinated  for example if they are under 12 or have a medical condition  will be treated as vaccinated for the purposes of their travel, the release noted.

Todays announcement by the Australian Prime Minister is great news for Australia and Thailand, said Matt Barclay, Australian Consul-General for Phuket and the surrounding area.

The eventual reopening of Australias borders will have the two-fold impact of increasing opportunities for Australians to return home, while also seeing Australians beginning to strike out to destinations they have not been able to get to for the past 18 months, he told The Phuket News.

For our friends in Phuket who have been doing it tough the last two years I have this message  Australians will be back soon, he said.

The release reads, in full, as follows:

Australia is ready to take its next steps to safely reopen to the world, with changes coming to the international border.

Our government is setting out the framework for how international travel will look in coming months.

With first dose vaccination rates at over 78 per cent and double dose rates nationwide at 55 per cent and on track to reach 70 per cent in some jurisdictions over the next week, our government has been finalising plans so Australian families can be reunited, Australian workers can travel in and out of our country, and we can work towards welcoming tourists back to our shores.

Within weeks, large parts of the country will be moving to Phase B and then to Phase C of the National Plan to safely reopen Australia and to stay safely open. Under Phase C, international travel is on track to reopen safely to fully vaccinated Australian travellers. Many countries around the world have now safely reopened to international travel and it will shortly be time for Australia to take the next step.

To enable fully vaccinated Australians to travel, our government is finalising new arrangements.

Following completion of home quarantine pilots in New South Wales and South Australia, it is anticipated that states and territories that are ready to do so will roll out:

Seven day home quarantine for Australian citizens and permanent residents fully vaccinated with a vaccine approved for use in Australia or recognised by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)

14-day managed quarantine for anyone not vaccinated or vaccinated with a vaccine not approved or recognised by the TGA.

Australian citizens and permanent residents who cannot be vaccinated  for example if they are under 12 or have a medical condition  will be treated as vaccinated for the purposes of their travel.

States and territories will begin this program at different times given their varying vaccination rates but we expect the system to commence in November.

Under Phase B and C of the National Plan, 14-day managed quarantine caps apply to unvaccinated arrivals. These will return to previous levels at Phase B of the National Plan. We will work with states and territories to remove all travel caps on vaccinated Australians.

In line with the National Plan, our government is balancing the need to minimise the risk that the spread of COVID-19 presents, with the need to live with the virus.

The Governments intention is that once changes are made in November, the current overseas travel restrictions related to COVID-19 will be removed and Australians will be able to travel subject to any other travel advice and limits, as long as they are fully vaccinated and those countries border settings allow. Border settings and quarantine requirements in other countries continue to change and we strongly encourage all Australians to closely monitor DFAT travel advice, available on smartraveller.gov.au.

https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/

These changes mean there will be no travel restrictions if you are a vaccinated Australian entering or leaving our shores.

We will also work towards completely quarantine-free travel for certain countries, such as New Zealand, when it is safe to do so.

Testing is expected to continue to be a requirement of international travel, but subject to further medical advice, Rapid Antigen Tests may be used.

Australians who want to travel overseas once restrictions are removed will be able to access an internationally recognised proof of vaccination document in the coming weeks to prove their vaccination status abroad. The proof of vaccination for international travel will include a QR code that is readable globally, and will comply with the standards set out by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. Engagement with commercial airlines and foreign governments has already begun to ensure they are familiar with the system.

We know it has been an extraordinarily difficult 18 months for Australians overseas trying to come home and for Australians with family and friends overseas.

To maximise the number of Australians who can return, our government is also offering facilitated flights into any state or territory that agrees to commence seven day home quarantine trials for returning Australians.

More than 680,000 Australians have returned since the Government recommended people reconsider the need to travel abroad in March last year. The Government stands ready to assist more people to return with the cooperation of states and territories.

Australian citizens and permanent residents who have been vaccinated with a TGA-approved vaccine overseas can already visit their GP or local pharmacist in Australia to have their COVID-19 vaccination status updated in the Australian Immunisation Register, to be able to show proof of vaccination in Australia.

In coming weeks the government will finalise the processes for people to be able to show their vaccination status if they have had a TGA recognised vaccine. People who have received vaccines not recognised by the TGA, or who are unvaccinated, will be required to undertake 14 days of managed quarantine on arrival.

In addition to the four COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved and registered for use by the TGA  Pfizer (Comirnaty), AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria), Moderna (Spikevax) and COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen  the TGA has also been reviewing other vaccines in widespread use around the world for the purposes of determining recognised vaccines.

We need to ensure that we keep Australians safe without creating unnecessary obstacles to people who have been fully vaccinated overseas from coming to our country.

Today, the TGA has published its initial assessment of the data on the protection offered by the Coronavac (Sinovac) and Covishield (AstraZeneca/Serum Institute of India) vaccines and has advised that these vaccines should be considered as recognised vaccines for the purpose of determining incoming international travellers as being appropriately vaccinated.

Declaring certain COVID-19 vaccines as recognised vaccines is separate to a regulatory decision on whether they are approved for use for vaccination in Australia, which has not been made by the TGA.

The recognition of these two additional vaccines is a major milestone towards more Australians vaccinated overseas getting home sooner.

The TGA will continue its assessment of other vaccines for the purpose of determining recognised vaccines based on the available data and data that is provided.

In coming weeks the Minister for Health will consider updates to the Biosecurity Act Emergency determinations to facilitate some of these changes for fully vaccinated Australian travellers as we move forward on the National Plan to get Australia back to normal and reopen our country safely.
Man held for allegedly shooting Din Daeng protester

BANGKOK: Police arrested a man in Kanchanaburi province yesterday (Sept 30) for allegedly shooting a teenage protester in Din Daeng district in August.

crimeviolence

By Bangkok Post

Friday 1 October 2021, 10:45AM

Chutipong Thitkrathok, 28, is held by police for allegedly shooting a teenager during an anti-government protest in Din Daeng district, Bangkok, in August. Photo: Police

Pol Maj Gen Piya Tavichai, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said Chutipong Thitkrathok, 28, was taken into custody for allegedly shooting a 15-year-old boy in the neck while the latter was demonstrating near the Din Daeng police station on the night of Aug 16. The shooting happened at the mouth of Soi Pracha Songkhro 14, reports the Bangkok Post.

Chutipong was charged with attempted murder, illegal possession of a gun and bullets and illegal use of a gun. The suspect admitted he was the man caught on surveillance cameras but denied having shot anyone.

Pol Maj Gen Piya said the suspect, who stayed in a flat in Din Daeng district, was upset by demonstrators and randomly shot them. After the incident, he hid in Kanchanaburi.

Police believed the suspect was one of a group of 3-4 people who committed the crime, said the deputy Bangkok police chief.

Media reported that the injured boy was still in a coma.
Rising drug use in Phuket questions policy

PHUKET: Rising drug use across Phuket has led to increased drug arrests over the past year, Niphan Sirithorn, chairman of the House of Representatives Anti-Money Laundering and Narcotics Commission, was told during his visit to Phuket yesterday (Sept 30).

drugscrimeeconomics

By The Phuket News

Friday 1 October 2021, 02:05PM

The rising incidence of drugs use in Phuket was discussed at the meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday (Sept 30). Photo: PR Phuket

The rising incidence of drugs use in Phuket was discussed at the meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday (Sept 30). Photo: PR Phuket

The rising incidence of drugs use in Phuket was discussed at the meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday (Sept 30). Photo: PR Phuket

The rising incidence of drugs use in Phuket was discussed at the meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday (Sept 30). Photo: PR Phuket

The rising incidence of drugs use in Phuket was discussed at the meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday (Sept 30). Photo: PR Phuket

MP Niphan Sirithorn (3rd from left) is greeted on arriving at Phuket Provincial Hall by Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew (2nd from right). Photo: PR Phuket

Mr Niphan, an MP of the ruling Palang Pracharath Party from Trang province, was in Phuket to be briefed in person on the drugs situation in Phuket, at a meeting held at Phuket Provincial Hall led by Phuket Provincial Chief Administrative Office (Palad) Anupap Yodkwan Yodrabham.

Mr Anupap said that the situation of the drug epidemic in Phuket during the 11 months of fiscal year 2021 (Oct 2020 - Sep 2021) saw increases in the number of drug arrests in Phuket for kratom, crystal meth (ya ice), methamphetamine (ya bah) and marijuana.

Ya ice was seized than any other narcotic, Mr Niphan noted.

Now the price has dropped, causing more and more people to become addicts, Mr Niphon said.

It has become increasingly popular among people of higher status and in the workforce in occupations with relatively high incomes, he added.

Amphetamine and marijuana use continued to spread, but had declined over the past year, Mr Niphon noted.

The relevant agencies have continuously monitored, investigated and arrested [drug] sources to prevent the spread of drugs in the area, he continued.

The rising incidence of drug use has given the commission a reason to review its policy in the war on drugs, Mr Niphon noted.

In this regard, the Commission has questioned the guidelines for the prevention and suppression of drugs, as well as exchanging information and expressing opinions in order to bring the information to be presented to relevant agencies to solve the problem, he said.
Visiting Austria From Thailand: What Are the Latest Restrictions?

Austria is updating its rules and restrictions for foreign nationals who wish to visit. Check out this page to find out the latest info about visiting Austria.



By In Conjunction

Friday 1 October 2021, 03:41PM

For more information about the current entry requirements for visiting Austria, read on.

The effectiveness of vaccine campaigns is beginning to have a huge effect on the travel industry. Where before, countries were forced to close down their borders to limit the spread of the coronavirus, now, there is an encouraging wave of reopenings, which is exciting news for travelers.

Many countries are customizing their border restrictions based on both vaccination rollout and COVID-19 transmission rates from each individual country. Austria, for example, has a multi-tiered system whereby it categorizes rules and regulations for people visiting every respective country around the world.

As these regulations are subject to change at any moment, travelers must pay attention to the most up-to-date information. One of the best ways to do that is to familiarize yourself with the local embassy of the country or countries you wish to visit.

For example, if you are a Thai passport holder hoping to take a trip to Austria, you can stay informed about what is required to enter Austria via the Austrian embassies in Bangkok and Phuket.

For more information about the current entry requirements for visiting Austria, read on.

Who Can Enter Austria Without Having to Quarantine?

One of the main factors for travelers deciding whether or not they want to jump through the extra hoops required for international vacation during the pandemic is if they will have to quarantine upon arrival. For most people, spending the first five to ten days locked inside their hotel room does not exactly scream relaxing.

However, governments are understandably pleading with their visitors to comport themselves responsibly when it comes to the transmission of the virus. Above all else, that means adhering to the guidelines currently in place.

At the moment, the Austrian government has three separate categories, each with its own sets of regulations. These include vaccination requirements, testing requirements, and, of course, requirements for quarantine upon arrival.

Currently, the nations whose citizens are allowed to enter Austria without facing the possibility of quarantining are largely inside of Europe. However, European nations are not the only ones.

In fact, citizens of Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Jordan, Macau, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Uruguay, and Vietnam are also allowed to visit Austria without quarantining.

Citizens from the countries listed above are eligible to enter Austria provided they show proof of one of three things. A negative viral COVID-19 test, that they have been fully vaccinated, or that they show proof of having recently (90 days or fewer) recovered from a COVID-19 infection.

As more and more of the larger nations around the world being to open up their borders for foreigners, expect this list to continue growing.

Which Countries Are Required to Quarantine Upon Arrival in Austria?

For passport holders of countries who are not listed above, there are stricter requirements to visit Austria.

Currently citizensor those travelers who are flying from the following nationsare not permitted to enter Austria except for business or medical reasons:

Brazil, Chile, Suriname, and Costa Rica.

Should anyone from these nations be cleared to enter Austria, they will be required to quarantine upon arrival for ten days. Note: Provided that they are exhibiting zero COVID-19 symptoms, they will be allowed to take a test after five days of quarantine and join the public provided that they test negative for the virus.

What About the Rest of the World?

As of the writing of this article, the remaining nations, which include Thailand, fall into a third hybrid category, one that is subject to change. For example, depending on their vaccination rates and incidents of COVID-19 , their placement in this category is subject to change.

Passport holders from these nations are allowed to enter Austria depending on their current vaccination status or their ability to provide proof of a recent recovery from infection.

Those travelers who can provide proof of either a recent infection or of being fully vaccinated are not required to quarantine upon arrival.

Those who only have a negative COVID-19 test will have to quarantine after entering Austria. The quarantine will last either for ten days or for five days with a second negative test.

How Long Does the Austrian Government Accept the Vaccine for?

Austrian health officials consider any person who has received two doses of an approved vaccine to be fully vaccinated after two full weeks have passed. In the case of certain vaccines, only one dose is required for full coverage.
Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

Isolated thunderstorms early, overcast overnight with occasional rain likely. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms early, overcast overnight with occasional rain likely. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
Editor: Valrie Chambers, CPA, Ph.D.

With the enactment of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), P.L. 117-2, in March 2021, important changes were introduced to the child tax credit (CTC). These included that the amount increased for certain taxpayers, the definition of qualifying children expanded, the credit became fully refundable, and an advance CTC payment program was introduced.

It is important to note that these changes are temporary and apply to only the 2021 tax year. They also may present preparers with important cash flow and financial planning opportunities if acted on timely, which can also help clients avoid surprises during the 2021 tax return preparation season. The monthly advance CTC is the most novel modification; the credit is normally part of a taxpayer's income tax return.

Under Sec. 24(i)(2), the definition of a qualifying child is expanded to include a child who has not attained the age of 18 as of the end of the 2021 calendar year. Sec. 24(i)(1) makes the CTC fully refundable for taxpayers with a principal place of abode in the United States for more than half of the 2021 tax year (or who are bona fide residents of Puerto Rico). Taxpayers may be eligible for the refundable credit even without having earned income.

The CTC amount is up to $3,000 for each qualifying child between the ages of 6 and 17 as of the end of 2021 and $3,600 for each child under the age of 6 at the end of the calendar year.

The CTC phases out in two ways based on the taxpayer's modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) in 2021. Taxpayers can receive the full credit if their MAGI does not exceed $150,000 for married-filing-jointly (MFJ) or surviving spouse filers, $112,500 for head-of-household (HOH) filers, or $75,000 in any other case. At higher income levels, the first phaseout reduces the credit by $50 for each $1,000 (or remaining part thereof) of MAGI. However, taxpayers filing jointly with no more than $400,000 in MAGI, or $200,000 in any other case, can receive the same CTC amount as under prior law, $2,000 per qualifying child. The second phaseout reduces the remaining CTC by $50 for each $1,000 (or remaining part thereof) by which taxpayers' MAGI is above these higher income limits.

ARPA also introduced Sec. 7527A to provide the advance payments program, which allows eligible taxpayers to receive 50% of the estimated CTC amount for which they are eligible on the 2021 tax return by periodic advance payments. Taxpayers generally do not need to take any action to receive the advance payments.

The total advance CTC payment amount is one-half of the 2021 estimated CTC. That amount is then divided into monthly advance installments. The estimate is based on information available to the IRS from the taxpayer's 2020 return or, if that is not yet filed or available, the 2019 return, and any updates provided to the IRS through the Child Tax Credit Update Portal.

If the amount received in advance payments exceeds the total that should have been received, the taxpayer may be required to repay the IRS some or all the excess. If the taxpayer did not receive all that he or she is entitled to when filing a 2021 tax return, the remaining amount will be included as a credit on the tax return. To help reconcile the amount of advance payments received with what taxpayers are eligible for on their 2021 return, the IRS will send each taxpayer who received 2021 advance CTC payments a Letter 6419 in January 2022 with the total amount issued.

There is repayment protection for some filers who received more CTC than they were eligible for through the advance payments. If they don't qualify for this protection, they would pay the excess back with their 2021 tax return as additional income tax. No repayment protection will be available for taxpayers with MAGI on their 2021 tax return over $120,000 for MFJ filers, $80,000 for single filers, or $100,000 for those filing as HOH. However, they will qualify for full repayment protection if their MAGI for the 2021 tax year is less than $60,000 for MFJ filers, $40,000 for single filers, or $50,000 for HOH filers. For filers falling in between the repayment protection thresholds, the repayment amount will be reduced.

Just as with a normally filed tax return, the advance CTC is not taxable income. The advance CTC payments could be garnished by nonfederal creditors; however, the advance CTC payments are also not counted as income when determining benefits assistance under any federal, state, or local program funded in whole or in part with federal funding. The advance CTC payments will not be offset for any overdue taxes, child support, or federal or state debts. If a refund is due on the 2021 tax return, any remaining CTC amounts included in the refund may be subject to offset for tax debts or other federal or state debts.

Advance payments are made to eligible taxpayers electronically based on the bank information previously provided on filed tax returns. If no bank information is available, payments are mailed according to the same monthly distribution dates.

In addition, the Child Tax Credit Update Portal allows taxpayers to opt out of receiving advance CTC payments or to provide or update their bank account information. Sometime in 2021, the portal also will allow taxpayers to make any necessary changes such as for the birth of a child, changes to the number of qualifying children, a filing status change for 2021, or a change in income levels that might affect the CTC eligible amount. The portal is also available to check the status of payments. Payments to eligible taxpayers who have not opted out began July 15 and are being made monthly through Dec. 15, 2021.

Taxpayers may opt out of advance CTC payments at any time before the end of the year, with specific unenrollment deadlines for each payment. To stop the payment that will otherwise be issued on the 15th of each month (and all subsequent advance payments), taxpayers must unenroll by 11:59 p.m. ET on the Monday before the first Thursday of that month. Currently, reenrollment in advance payments after opting out is not available, but the IRS states it will be available starting in late September. It is also important to note that the unenrollment is per individual, meaning that, for MFJ taxpayers, both spouses would need to unenroll. If only one of the individuals unenrolls, one-half of the joint payment would be made.

As mentioned above, it is important to note that these changes related to the CTC and the advances are temporary and only apply to the 2021 tax year. The Child Tax Credit Update Portal is available at www.irs.gov.
Editor: Mark Heroux, J.D.

Along with most of the population, the IRS has been trying to figure out cryptoassets for more than a decade. In Notice 2014-21, the IRS describes cryptoassets  which it calls virtual currency  as "a digital representation of value that functions as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and/or a store of value," other than a representation of the U.S. dollar or a foreign currency. The IRS made clear in the notice that cryptoassets are property for tax purposes and that taxpayers have gain or loss upon an exchange of cryptoassets for other property.

Cryptocurrency is a type of crypto-asset that uses cryptography to secure transactions digitally recorded on a distributed ledger, such as a blockchain, in units typically referred to as coins or tokens. Income reporting issues arise with cryptoassets because of the lack of reporting requirements compared to, for instance, a traditional brokerage house that provides Forms 1099 for reporting income derived from those investments. Due to cryptoassets' largely unregulated nature and the lack of reporting, along with a continued growth in both users and market capitalization, the IRS has dramatically ramped up its focus on cryptoassets.

This item describes the Service's recent efforts to increase enforcement against taxpayers who fail to report income from transactions in cryptoassets.

Background

In frequently asked questions (FAQs) on its website, the IRS discusses a number of instances where a taxpayer will recognize income or loss from a cryptoasset transaction, including:

Selling cryptoassets for real currency;

Providing services and receiving cryptoassets as payment;

Cryptoassets paid by an employer as remuneration for services constituting wages;

Exchanging cryptoassets for other property or vice versa; and

Cryptocurrencies going through a "hard fork" followed by an "airdrop" when the taxpayer receives new cryptocurrency (see also Chief Counsel Advice 202114020).

The IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) division has increased its initiatives to understand and properly address cryptoassets over the last several years. Interestingly, as cryptoassets have grown in popularity over the past decade, the IRS has noticed a negative correlation between the customer base listed on cryptoasset company websites and the number of taxpayers reporting income related to cryptoasset transactions on their income tax returns.

Use of John Doe summonses

The first IRS attempt at identifying cryptoasset transactions and users came against California-based cryptoasset trading platform Coinbase. By the end of 2015, Coinbase had 5.9 million customers and almost $6 billion traded. In stark contrast, only 800 to 900 taxpayers reported cryptoasset transactions annually to the IRS during the period of 2013 through 2015.

The IRS served a so-called John Doe summons on Coinbase in 2016 in an attempt to identify the first group of taxpayers who may have failed to report income from cryptoasset transactions. Once the IRS narrowed the request for information, a federal district court granted enforcement of the summons for tax years 2013 through 2015. Coinbase was ordered to comply and provide financial records for any taxpayers that conducted transactions through Coinbase in excess of $20,000 during those specific years. This summons covered approximately 14,000 customer accounts that were handed over to the IRS. Identified taxpayers were sent letters advising them to file amended returns for the years in question and to report their cryptoasset transactions.

In concert with the John Doe summons efforts, the IRS announced a cryptoasset compliance campaign in July 2018. The stated goal of the campaign was to use multiple streams of delivery including exams and taxpayer outreach to address noncompliance related to the use of cryptoassets. Interestingly, the IRS also noted that it was not contemplating a voluntary disclosure program specifically to address tax noncompliance involving cryptoassets.

In 2019, taxpayers with cryptoasset transactions who potentially failed to report income from the transactions or did not report the transactions properly began to receive IRS letters. The letters revealed the IRS had information that showed the taxpayer had an interest in a cryptoasset account but that the transactions were not adequately reported, and advised the taxpayer to file an amended or delinquent return as soon as possible.

In April 2021, a Massachusetts court upheld a second John Doe summons against Circle Internet Financial, a cryptoasset trading platform operating out of Boston. That was followed by a third John Doe summons filed against Payward Ventures Inc. and subsidiaries d/b/a Kraken for tax years 2016 through 2020. The information the IRS receives from these summonses will likely produce more IRS letters to taxpayers holding cryptoassets  and the expectation that more taxpayers will be amending their tax returns to report cryptoasset transactions.

Operation Hidden Treasure

In response to tax evasion concerns with the use of virtual currencies, in 2021 the IRS established a new program titled "Operation Hidden Treasure." The operation is a partnership between two IRS internal divisions, the Office of Fraud Enforcement and the CI unit. The Office of Fraud Enforcement was created in 2020 to support the national fraud program, as well as existing IRS operations, while the IRS CI unit investigates potential criminal violations and related financial crimes.

Agents in Operation Hidden Treasure are specially trained in virtual currencies with a primary focus on identifying areas of tax evasion on both civil and criminal levels. Specific items relating to money laundering and intentional evasion techniques, such as structuring transactions below future anticipated reporting thresholds or the use of shell companies, are of particular interest to Operation Hidden Treasure agents.

Going forward

President Joe Biden's tax plan proposal would increase resources to combat tax evasion relating to cryptoassets. Furthermore, Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) plans to propose an amendment to the regulations with respect to the Bank Secrecy Act to include cryptoassets as a type of reportable account. This amendment would require banks and money services businesses to increase their recordkeeping, gather appropriate information on their customers, and submit reporting to FinCEN.

In early June 2021 in testimony to a Senate committee, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig requested Congress grant the IRS more authority to require reporting in the cryptoasset market as well as additional tools and resources. Rettig mentioned in his statement that there are more than 8,600 cryptoasset exchanges worldwide and made it clear that the authority to collect that information is critical.

It is fair to say cryptoasset platforms can expect more John Doe summonses  along with increased reporting  in the future. Taxpayers holding crypto-assets can also expect more IRS letters and increased enforcement in future years. Tax preparers could see a large influx of amended returns for prior-year cryptoasset transactions. Tax preparers should have a discussion with their clients informing them of the increased scrutiny surrounding virtual currencies. Taxpayers need to understand their responsibility of reporting income derived from virtual currencies.

EditorNotes

Mark Heroux, J.D., is a tax principal in the Tax Advocacy and Controversy Services practice at Baker Tilly US, LLP in Chicago.

For additional information about these items, contact Mr. Heroux at 312-729-8005 or mark.heroux@bakertilly.com.

Unless otherwise noted, contributors are members of or associated with Baker Tilly US, LLP.
My Sept. 3-4 column which dealt with Union soldier John Kuhn of Alton contained information drawn from Marion Morrisons 1864 work A History of the Ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry.

Kuhn was probably unaware that he was also prominently mentioned in yet another 1864 publication that put him in a decidedly unflattering light.

The article in the March 30, 1864 edition of the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser begins, The darkest chapter in the history of this cruel war if not in any other war, will record the atrocities of the Yankees wherever in the Confederate States they have been permitted to march their thieving, brutal hordes.

After comparing the Union armies to Goths and Vandals pillaging Europe, Turks devastating Greece and Russians despoiling Poland, the writer finally settles down enough to give an account of the Illinois Ninths alleged behavior in Limestone county, Alabama.

The Ninth was encamped near and in the grove of Mrs. Coleman, the widow of Judge Daniel Coleman, deceased. Virginia-born Daniel Coleman (1801-1857) enjoyed a long, distinguished career in Alabama and served on that states Supreme Court. One of our secret scouts who were in the enemys lines a day of two after the raid, said that the treatment of Col. (Jesse) Phillipss men to Mrs. Coleman and family was unparalleled in the history of the war. A secret scout was a Confederate soldier wearing a Rebel uniform who infiltrated Union troops to gather information.

Men of the Ninth rushed into the house of Mrs. Coleman and commenced plundering. Mrs. Coleman appealed to Maj. (John) Kuhne (sic) to control his men and so give her his protection as a defenseless female. He ordered her from his presence saying, Woman, go away, I have no protection for you. Men, pitch into her house, and sack it from bottom to top. 

The article states, The vandals needed no encouragement from their officer but immediately obeyed to do their work of destruction. Mrs. Coleman had her two little boys, her only protection, she having lost in this cruel war two as noble and as brave sons as any mother had, and her oldest son absent in the services of his country. Her little boys were torn from her in the night and carried to the jail. Their mother plead with the Colonel for their release, when he added to her already unmiterable anguish by saying that he would have to send the older one of the boys to Northern prisons  he however relented in a few days, after torturing their mother sufficiently, as he thought, and released the boys from their imprisonment.

Brussels carpets were cut up into saddle-blankets, according to this article. Beds and bed clothing, including the finest blankets and Marseilles quilts, were dragged away to the Union camp. After the completion of their work of destruction, the officers, Major Kuhne (sic) and others, took possession of the home and are now quartered in it. Mrs. Coleman, daughter and two sons, were ordered out of the Yankee lines.

This article notes that the Yankee invaders relented and showed Mrs. Coleman a measure of compassion. Due to her poor health, she was allowed to remain in her home. However, the vacate order stood for her three children. Miss Coleman and her two little brothers are now exiles in our lines.

Is this account accurate? Its author loathed the Yankees who had invaded his state, so he could hardly render an objective report of their activities. One must also keep in mind that he wasnt an eyewitness to these events Instead, he relied on the account of the secret scout.

There is undoubtedly some measure of truth in even so biased an article, however. Union troops frequently made use of whatever they found in Confederate homes, particularly when those homes belonged to well-to-do Southern families.

If the Illinois Ninth needed saddle blankets, cutting up those Brussels carpets would have made perfect sense. For Phillips and Kuhn, the needs of the Ninth came before the needs of the Coleman family.

John J. Dunphy is an author, the Godfrey 15th Precinct Democratic Committeeperson and recording secretary for the Godfrey Democrats.
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  In a school in a remote corner of the Afghan capital, a cacophony of childrens voices recite Islams holiest book.

Sunshine streams through the windows of the Khatamul Anbiya madrassa, where a dozen young boys sit in a circle under the tutelage of their teacher, Ismatullah Mudaqiq.

The students are awake by 4:30 a.m. and start the day with prayers. They spend class time memorizing the Quran, chanting verses until the words are ingrained. At any moment, Mudaqiq might test them by asking that a verse be recited from memory.

Attention is turning to the future of education in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, with calls among urban educated Afghans and the international community for equal access to education for girls and women. The madrassas  Islamic religious schools for elementary and higher learning, attended only by boys  represent another segment of Afghan society, poorer and more conservative.

And they too are uncertain what the future will hold under the Taliban.

Most of the students hail from poor families. For them, madrassas are an important institution; it is sometimes the only way for their children to get an education, and the children are also sheltered, fed and clothed. At night they lie on thin mattresses, preferring the ground over rickety bunk-beds, until sleep comes. Like most institutions in Afghanistan, madrassas have struggled in the decline of the countrys economy, which has accelerated since the Taliban takeover on Aug. 15.

The Taliban  which means students  originally emerged in the 1990s in part from among the students of hard-line madrassas in neighboring Pakistan. Over the past two decades, madrassas in Afghanistan have steered clear of militant ideologies, under the eye of the U.S.-backed government fighting the Taliban. Now that government is gone.

Staff at Khatamul Anbiya were cautious when asked if they hoped for greater support from the new Taliban rulers.

Regardless, with or without the Taliban, madrassas are very important, explained Mudaqiq. Without them, people will forget their religious sources  The madrassa should always be there no matter what government is present. It doesnt matter the cost, it should be kept alive.

Historically, the Afghan government has lacked the resources to provide education in rural areas, enabling madrassas to grow in influence. The madrassa system has been kept alive largely through community-driven efforts; most of its funding comes from private sources. But with financial shortfalls as a result of U.S. sanctions and freezes from international monetary institutions, public salaries have not been paid. Madrassas are not seeing the same funding they used to.

The young boys who grow up in the madrassa system can qualify to become religious scholars and experts. The schools usually teach a conservative interpretation of Islam and have been criticized for an overreliance on rote-learning over critical thinking.

But for some, the system is just a way to get basic education and stay fed.

Between religious study the young men convene in large seating areas for a meal of bread and hot tea. Before sunset, they play marbles until its prayer time  the last before nightfall.

___

This story has been corrected to show the date of the Taliban takeover as August 15, not October 15.
EDWARDSVILLE  The Illinois Nurses Foundation (INF) has named Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Nursings (SON) Chelsea Howland and Ashley Whitlatch among its 40 Under 40 Emerging Nurse Leaders.

Howland is an instructor in the SONs Department of Primary Care and Health Systems Nursing. Whitlatch is an advanced practice nurse at OSF Medical Group and a SON teaching assistant.

The two were selected as award recipients by a panel of peers based on professional achievement, leadership, and community and association involvement. They were honored Sept. 23 in a virtual.

As a nursing faculty member and nursing PhD candidate, I aspire to lead future advancements in nursing education and patient-centered outcomes research, Howland said. Being recognized as an Emerging Nurse Leader solidifies the impact my role as a nurse can have on the community. Being nominated by nursing colleagues demonstrates the positive support and encouragement I have received as a faculty member.

Howland became interested in the profession while watching her mother complete her nursing degree and take care of her community.

Knowing that nursing offered an opportunity to provide care to individuals in need and make a difference in their quality of life has inspired my career, she added.

Howland is currently pursuing a PhD in nursing from the University of Missouri. Her doctoral work focuses on improving the health of those living in rural communities. She is currently developing an innovative physical activity intervention for rural adults with type 2 diabetes.

At SIUE, Howland teaches courses on nursing research and caring for those with complex needs. She has partnered with faculty colleagues to develop and implement a comprehensive refresher course for registered nurses returning to the acute care nursing workforce. Additionally, Howland is active in numerous professional nursing organizations, including the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists, National Rural Heath Association, and the Illinois Rural Health Association.

Howlands advice to fellow nurses is to take time for self-care, develop a mentoring relationship with other nurses, and continue to pursue education and improvement opportunities within the field.

Whitlatch decided to pursue nursing at a young age, having been inspired by visits to the doctor.

I find complete joy in providing assistance to others, said Whitlatch. I love learning about the human body, how it works, and how to properly take care of our bodies. I also love applying my critical thinking skills to patient care.

Whitlatchs responsibilities as a teaching assistant include tutoring nursing students in pre-clinical and nursing courses, assisting in developing study plans, reviewing NCLEX questions, and assisting students in enhancing and developing effective learning strategies.

To be recognized for my efforts in nursing is rewarding and warms my heart, said Whitlatch. It proves that all my hard work is paying off, and I am truly making a difference. It also means that I am making my family and children proud. This motivates me to keep walking within my purpose.

Ashley is deserving of the 40 under 40 leadership award because of her strength, ambition and determination to positively impact her clients health while meeting SON students learning needs in multiple classes, said Stacy Skelton, PhD, instructor and student success coordinator in the Department of Primary Care and Health Systems Nursing. She helps students with time management skills, improving study habits, and practicing test questions. She is shaping the future of the nursing profession.

Whitlatch urges fellow and aspiring nurses to keep working hard to fulfill their goals and dreams.

Nursing is one of the most challenging but rewarding careers, she shared. When it gets tough, push through. Youll make a difference in someones life. This career is humbling, and will make you grateful for your personal situation and life experiences.
On Thursday, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced a more than $56 million settlement with the largest Medicaid managed care organization in the United States. The settlement resolves an investigation the attorney generals office conducted into whether, as a pharmacy benefit manager for the state of Illinois, Centene Corp. entities submitted inaccurate billing requests to the state.

The settlement requires Centene to pay the state of Illinois two installments 12 months apart totaling $56,717,652. Illinois is the fourth state to reach a settlement with Centene this year, as Arkansas announced a $15.2 million settlement also on Thursday and Ohio and Mississippi announced settlements earlier this year.



"Pharmacy benefit managers are part of a larger issue, which is the accessibility and affordability of prescription drugs," Raoul stated. "No one should have to choose between paying for basic necessities or costly but essential medications. My office is continuing to investigate pharmacy benefit managers operating in Illinois because I am committed to stopping unfair and unlawful conduct by PBMs and drug companies."
SPRINGFIELD  The states eviction moratorium will expire Sunday. What comes next for renters will likely depend on their county of residence, as county courts and sheriffs will all have different approaches to executing evictions.

The original eviction moratorium was issued in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began shutting down the state and national economy, and it has been amended several times in the months following. The most recent iteration prevented law enforcement officials from carrying out evictions on covered persons, while a coinciding state Supreme Court order prevented certain trials and final judgements on eviction cases. Both will expire Sunday.

Bob Palmer, policy director at Housing Action Illinois, said hes hopeful there wont be a crush of evictions to happen on the day the moratorium expires, because the Supreme Courts order has slowed the process of eviction cases moving through the courts.

Susan Simone, director of litigation and advocacy at Land of Lincoln Legal Aid, said her organization has already started to see a huge upswing in cases being filed.

Land of Lincoln Legal Aid provides services such as legal advice and court representation free of charge to low-income individuals in central and southern Illinois. More information is available at lincolnlegal.org or 877-342-7891.

I ran some numbers earlier in September and we saw a 40 percent increase in housing calls from pre-COVID to 2021, Simone said. In August, we had 45 to 60 calls per week which was up from 25 to 35 in the weeks before.

Simone said the organization had 405 open cases at the beginning of September, and that had increased to 480 open cases as of Friday.

I dont know whats going to happen come Monday, but I do know that some landlords are waiting, or some landlords attorneys are waiting until Monday and have cases stacked up, she said. Some have already started filing. In Sangamon County, one attorney, we understand, filed over 55 cases just last week.

The Chicago-based Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance, an alliance of several smaller neighborhood building owners associations, said in a news release that eviction proceedings are a necessary tool for landlords, even if they dont always lead to an eviction.

Just because we can begin the eviction process doesnt mean that we want to, Michael Glasser, president of NBOA, said in a statement. Our housing providers dont want to go through the long and painful legal process of eviction, especially when they have the opportunity to receive rental assistance.

Gov. J.B. Pritzkers office said it has released $443 million in legal aid Illinois has received from the federal government. Theres $61 million still to be distributed, and another $60 million is available through a court-based rental assistance program which is meant to serve as a safety net for those who may be eligible for rent assistance but otherwise have not applied. Landlords must include information on the program in court filings, and more information can be found at https://ilrpp.ihda.org.

The state has received more than 99,000 applications for rental aid and approved about 49,100 of them, according to the governors office. IHDA is reaching out to applicants who had incomplete or incorrectly filed applications, and applicants can check their status at https://ilrpp.ihda.org/status.

Assistance may also be available through the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Illinois Housing Development Authority, at https://www.illinoisrentalassistance.org/providers. The IHDA call center can be reached at 866-454-3571.

Free legal help, such as that offered by Land of Lincoln Legal Aid, may be accessed through Eviction Help Illinois by visiting https://evictionhelpillinois.org or calling 855-631-0811.

Simone said there are also several rights that renters should be aware of if they are facing eviction.

I think people really need to understand that if they get a summons for eviction, they have to go to court, she said. They have to get there on time, because orders are entered into if theyre not there.

Renters can always request a trial, especially if they believe their landlord is refusing to apply for rental aid, and they should not agree to anything they dont understand or that is not very specific.

If the landlords attorney says, you know, do you agree to be out? and they are agreeable to being out, make sure they know what the dates going to be, that they understand they have to be gone by that date. If they need more time, they should ask for more time, Simone said.

Simone said those who fear they are facing eviction should call their county sheriff to see if theres anything scheduled in terms of an eviction date. If there is an eviction order entered, if its more than 120 days old, she said, the sheriff should not be enforcing it, and the landlord is required to get an extension order from the court.

Palmer said Housing Action Illinois maintains a database of homelessness prevention services, including local Continuum of Care networks. It can be viewed at https://housingactionil.org/get-help/resources-homeless/. Housing Action Illinois can be reached by phone at 312-939-6074.
After facing pressure from congressional Democrats and Republicans, and before a bipartisan committee hearing was set to be held Thursday, Instagram announced it has paused the development of a version of Instagram meant for younger teenagers and preteens on Monday.

The Senate Commerce subcommittee on Thursday held a hearing with Facebook's Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis during which lawmakers repeatedly expressed skepticism regarding the plans for a kids version of Instagram. The hearing followed the release of internal Facebook documents by the Wall Street Journal in which it was shown that Instagram worsened body issues for one in three teenage girls and that among teenagers, 13% of British users and 6% of American users of Instagram traced the desire to kill themselves to the app.

Facebook billed the Instagram plan as an alternative and safer app for kids than its flagship product.

"We firmly believe that its better for parents to have the option to give their children access to a version of Instagram that is designed for them  where parents can supervise and control their experience  than relying on an apps ability to verify the age of kids who are too young to have an ID," Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, said in a blog post on Monday.

The Journal's reports based on the company's own research found that Facebook knew about the potential harms Instagram can cause to teenagers, especially teen girls, regarding mental health and body image issues. Facebook had attempted to downplay those reports and its own internal research.

The Senate Commerce Subcommittee is examining how Facebook handled information from its own researchers on Instagrams potential threat to younger users while the company publicly played down the issue.

"If were dealing with Facebooks real world, where the safeguards are more illusory than real, there should be no Instagram for kids, period," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, who sits on the Commerce Subcommittee. "If they were really committed to kids safety, if there were real-world evidence of it, I might think differently about it. But Instagram for kids is plainly just more of the same.

"Theres no partisan difference," Blumenthal told reporters outside of the hearing room, regarding how the bipartisan committee came together in their shared troubles with Facebook's plans. "And I might add, theres no sympathy for Facebook on its failure to act responsibly."

In a statement earlier this month, an Instagram official noted that the app gives a voice to marginalized people and helps people stay connected, although it can be a place where people have "negative experiences."

"This is a watershed moment for the growing tech accountability movement and a great day for anyone who believes that children's wellbeing should come before Big Tech's profits," Josh Golin, executive director at Fairplay, a child advocacy group formerly known as the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said in a statement Monday.

In May, 44 attorneys general, including Kwame Raoul of Illinois, signed a letter addressed to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, urging him to scrap plans for an Instagram intended for younger users, citing mental health and privacy concerns. The letter came less than a month after child safety groups and members of Congress expressed similar concerns.

"While we stand by the need to develop this experience, weve decided to pause this project," Mosseri wrote Monday. "This will give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators, to listen to their concerns, and to demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today."

Facebook had a difficult time defending itself on Thursday, Brooke Erin Duffy, a communications professor at Cornell University, told the Associated Press.

"The focus on protecting children may be much more of a catalyst for regulation than other concerns and criticisms," Duffy told the AP. "The senators deployed this knowledge of big tech in a way that I dont think weve seen before."

Duffy noted that U.S. senators came prepared with research and difficult to answer questions.

For its part, Facebook wrote in an annotated version of part of the Instagram slide deck the night before the hearing that its earlier phrasing of the research figures "may be sensationalizing the negative impact on the graph," and even "ignores potentially positive interpretations  for example, more than half of respondents self-report that Instagram makes their feelings of loneliness better."

Facebook also said after the Journals series of released documents that the reporting cherry-picked data and lacked critical context, according to CNBC.

"Our intention is not for this version to be the same as Instagram today," Mosseri wrote. "It was never meant for younger kids, but for tweens (aged 10-12). It will require parental permission to join, it wont have ads, and it will have age-appropriate content and features. Parents can supervise the time their children spend on the app and oversee who can message them, who can follow them and who they can follow."

"Instagram is that first childhood cigarette meant to get teens hooked early, exploiting the peer pressure of popularity and ultimately endangering their health," Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, said.
EDWARDSVILLE  Jury selection is set to begin Monday in the trial of Timothy M. Banowetz, accused of murdering prominent Edwardsville attorney Randy L. Gori early last year.

The trial could last more than a week, Chief Judge William Mudge told the Madison County Boards Judiciary Committee Friday. He said he is seeing unprecedented media interest in the case.

According to an order signed by Circuit Judge Kyle Napp who will preside over the trial, there will be a coverage pool for the trial. Media access to the courtroom itself will be limited, with a number of restrictions. Interviews can only occur in designated areas, and photographs of juveniles giving testimony and prospective jurors will not be allowed.

The proceedings will be livestreamed to several courtrooms in the Madison County Courthouse. There also has been discussion of setting up a link in the Madison County Board room.

Additionally, the court is addressing COVID-related restrictions.

Now 30, Banowetz, of Wentzville, Missouri, faces three charges of first-degree murder, all Class M felonies; three charges of armed robbery, all Class X felonies; aggravated offenses relating to motor vehicles, a Class 1 felony; and three counts of aggravated unlawful restraint, all Class 3 felonies. He is being held without bond.

On Jan. 4, 2020, Gori was found dead after police received a 911 call at about 9 p.m. Investigators called the death a heinous and senseless crime.

Between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 5, Banowetz and Goris 2020 Rolls Royce were located near a wooded area about 1,200 feet from Goris home. Authorities said Banowetz had been in the woods for a considerable length of time.

The theft and unlawful restraint charges involve two minors at Goris home in the 4500 block of Mooney Creek Road in Edwardsville. At the time of Banowetzs arrest, then-Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons said Gori took heroic actions to save the lives of others at the home, but declined to be specific.
EDWARDSVILLE  A Madison man faces several felonies related to drug and weapons charges filed last week.

Dillon M. Voegele, 23, of Madison, was charged Sept. 20 with unlawful possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, a Class X felon; unlawful possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, a Class 1 felony; unlawful possession of psilocybin with intent to deliver, a Class 1 felony; and unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, a Class 3 felony. An amended information, or charging document, was issued Wednesday.

The case was presented by the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois.

According to court documents, on Sept. 13 Voegele allegedly was found to have more than 5,000 grams of cannabis and more than 50 grams of Psilocybin, as well as a Walter Arms PPS 9 mm handgun.

He has a 2020 Madison County conviction for mob action. Bail was previously set.

Other drug-related felony charges filed Sept. 29 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office include:

 Chris R. Watson, 23, of Florissant, Missouri, was charged with unlawful possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, a Class 3 felony, and aggravated unlawful use of weapons, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Pontoon Beach Police Department. On Sept. 28 Watson allegedly was found to have more than 30 grams of cannabis with intent to deliver and a loaded and accessible 9 mm Smith & Wesson MMP 2.0 pistol without a Firearm Owners Identification Card or concealed carry license. Bail was set at $40,000.

 William C. Beiser IV, 37, of Alton, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony, and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department. On Aug. 2 Beiser allegedly was found to have less than five grams of methamphetamine and less than 15 grams of fentanyl. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Donald G. Carlyle, 55, of Collinsville, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Collinsville Police Department. On June 26 Carlyle allegedly was found to have less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $30,000.

 Amy B. Chance, 49, of Caseyville, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On June 2 Chance allegedly was found to have less than 15 grams of fentanyl. Bail was set at $20,000.

 Ricky A. Wedderburn, 27, of Alton, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department. On Aug. 4 Wedderburn allegedly was found to have less than 15 grams of fentanyl. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Eric C. Mahan, 45, of Caseyville, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Illinois State Police. On June 4 Mahan allegedly was found to have less than 15 grams of fentanyl. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Heather Misuraca, 32, of Overland, Missouri, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Illinois State Police. On May 13 Misuraca allegedly was found to have less than 15 grams of fentanyl. Bail was set at $15,000.
MEG BEAL, Westerly volleyball, senior: Beal had 13 aces and 28 assists in three Westerly victories. Beal also contributed 15 digs for the Bulldogs.

ZOOT BOSCHWITZ, Chariho football, senior: Boschwitz completed 14 of 16 passes for 176 yards in the Chargers 42-6 win over Central Falls/Blacksone Valley Prep. Boschwitz threw three touchdown passes.

MADDIE PERKINS, Wheeler girls soccer, senior: Perkins scored two goals and assisted on another in the Lions 3-0 victory against Tourtellotte.

WILL SAWIN, Stonington boys soccer, senior: Sawin, a senior, scored four goals and assisted on three others in a pair of Stonington victories. For the season, Sawin has 11 goals and 10 assists for the Bears.

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In a matter of weeks, Britain and the world have moved from the 'roaring twenties' to the 'winter of discontent'. Even Chancellor Rishi Sunak, in his interview with the Mail acknowledges that shortages facing the economy are 'very real'.

The notion that this is a 'Made-in-Brexit' crisis needs to be challenged.

Maybe the shortage of HGV drivers, including those driving tankers, might be less acute were there more visas.

Economic shock: Chancellor Rishi Sunak acknowledges that shortages facing the economy are 'very real'

Also to be considered are Covid-19, the hold-ups at DVSA in testing new drivers and the lack of foresight by hauliers, who like to blame everyone else.

In March 2020, as the pandemic spread across the globe, the International Monetary Fund described the downturn in the world economy as 'a crisis like no other', downgraded its output forecast by 6.3 per cent from January 2020 to minus 3 per cent and declared it be the biggest hit to the global economy since the Great Depression.

The impact of that on shipping, global power generation, commodities and manufacturing was enormous as large parts of international trade infrastructure were mothballed. The world economy did bounce as vaccines gave us all hope. It is easy to forget that in the second quarter Britain's economy did expand by an unexpectedly strong 5.5 per cent. What we have learned in the last month is that bringing the global economy back to where it was in 2019 is not an overnight job.

European gas prices surged in latest trading as shipments of liquid natural gas were diverted to China. In Germany and across the EU, the latest IHS/Markit survey shows that manufacturing  the locomotive of German output  is hamstrung by supply bottlenecks and rising prices leading to a fall in the index to its lowest level in eight months.

In the US, President Biden's infrastructure spending is caught up in a Congressional quagmire. Biden has already been defeated on his plan to soak the rich to pay the bill. None of this will be very comforting to commercial drivers and ordinary motorists stuck in petrol queues and fearful about not being able to get on with work commitments.

The winter will be difficult with global energy prices bubbling away, as Russia, through Gazprom pipelines, and Chinese demand disrupt markets.

After the prolonged Covid economic shock, the 'coiled spring' of recovery jammed and loose talk about fuel deliveries created unnecessary chaos.

Supply bottlenecks have become the new wrong-kind-of-rain for companies, from Wetherspoons to online electrical group AO posting disappointing financial results.

In a trading nation as open as the UK, global factors will always have a big say. Nevertheless, there should be optimism that an economy that is as flexible, innovative and creative as that of Britain's will recover the lost ground.

Power play

Want to know what is next for Morrisons if Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) wins the Takeover Panel-sponsored auction?

Take a look at the front cover of weekly business magazine EG, formerly Estates Gazette. It cross refers to an advertisement placed by MFG, the Motor Fuel Group, controlled by CD&R.

The owner of 900 garage forecourts is seeking new sites for UltraRapid Electric charging. If the Terry Leahyheaded buyout wins the Morrisons shootout, MFG sites will likely be combined with Morrisons convenience stores, and possibly Morrisons forecourts, and could lead the journey to EV. At least it is a plan.

Much less is known about the Fortress offer, a more financially driven buyer than CD&R. But that will likely make little difference to the compliant Morrisons board.

Its willingness to prostrate itself in front of any buyer means that Andy Higginson and his fellow directors will have little choice but to accept the highest offer, fill their boots and retreat.

As for protecting workers, suppliers, food security and the nation's tax base, forget it. There is an ambition deficit and moral vacuum at the top. Cheap shot bargain hunting in the foothills of the London Stock Exchange is regrettably in vogue.

No recent deal demonstrates this more clearly than the 1.1billion bid for UK robotics pioneer Blue Prism from private equity sharks Vista Equity Partners.

Rebel investor Coast wants more money and points out that the buyer is seeking to capture the Warrington-based firm at a 40 per cent discount to its January 2021 high.
After slashing payouts as the Covid crisis hit, companies are now bringing back their dividends.

Dividends from UK-listed firms jumped a 51.2 per cent to 25.7bn between March and June, according to the latest UK Dividend Monitor from Link Group.

This beat its expectations but the total payout remains a sixth below its pre-pandemic average levels.

Mining and banking accounted for two-thirds of the increase, according to the report, while the oil sector acted as a brake.

However, oil big guns Shell and BP are keen to lure investors back in with payouts and for those hunting income, the FTSE is making something of a return.

On this episode of the Investing Show Simon Lambert and Richard Hunter discuss which firms and sectors are returning to rewarding investors.
Shares in online electricals retailer AO World tumbled more than 20 per cent today after it reported lower-than-expected sales and warned of a squeeze on profits due to a shortage of lorry drivers and supply chain disruption.

The company, one of the pandemic winners, has said sales have continued to grow as more people shop online, but warned that these issues have held back growth in the first half.

AO World, which sells laptops, washing machines, mobile phones and printers, said UK sales grew by 6 per cent in the six months to the end of September, against forecasts of 10 per cent growth.

AO World, which sells electricals like washing machines, said growth is being held back by a shortage of drivers

The company blamed it on the nationwide shortage of delivery drivers and ongoing disruption in the global supply chain.

In Germany, its other market, the company reported sales growth of 3 per cent in the period - much lower than the 30 per cent pencilled in by analysts at broker Jefferies - highlighting strong competition.

'The challenging market dynamics in both the UK and Germany resulted in lower volumes than expected which affected operational leverage, particularly in the second quarter,' the company said.

On the back of slower growth - which is expected to continue in the second half - AO World expects annual adjusted profits to come in between 35million and 50million, down from the 64million it reported in the previous year.

Shares in the FTSE 250 company hit their lowest level in a year today as they fell 25 per cent to 162p in late afternoon trading.

They have fallen by around 55 per cent since the start of the year.

It comes after AO World saw impressive growth since the start of the pandemic, which has triggered a boom in online shopping.

Like-for-like revenue in the six months was 66 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels two years ago, with UK sales up 63 per cent and Germany up 84 per cent, the company said today.

In July, it said it was optimistic that it could deliver double-digit growth this fiscal year and announced plans to expand its business into France, Italy and Spain as part of a five-year plan to double the size of its business.

But the well-documented deficit of about 100,000 lorry drivers in the UK has left a hole in supply chains and affected several businesses, including AO World.

'It's astonishing how fortunes can change in the matter of a year,' noted AJ Bell investment director, Russ Mould.

'AO was struggling, then hit the ground running with considerable success, and now it is back to darker times again.

'Online operators were the envy of the retail world as the pandemic took hold, many already having a proven platform capable of meeting extra demand.

'Now being an online operator means having to contend with shortages of drivers to get the goods to the customer, as AO has found out.'

He added: 'Selling fridges, TV and washing machines online is a low margin business and success is down to achieving high sales volumes. With cost pressures intensifying and sales volumes disappointing, AO faces a big squeeze on profits.'
The humanitarian situation in Ethiopias war-torn Tigray is set to worsen dramatically and to deadly effect, the UN warned Thursday, blaming an aid blockade for the escalating crisis.

Northern Ethiopia has been wracked by violence since November, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray to topple the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, the regional ruling party, saying the move came in response to attacks on army camps.

Although the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner promised a swift victory, the war has dragged on for months, triggering a humanitarian crisis in Tigray that has left 400,000 people facing famine-like conditions, according to the United Nations.

Stocks of relief aid, cash and fuel are running very low or are completely depleted. Food stocks already ran out on 20 August, the UNs acting humanitarian coordinator for Ethiopia, Grant Leaity, said in a statement.

The region remains under a de facto humanitarian aid blockade, where access to bring life-saving humanitarian relief continues to be extremely restricted, Leaity said, adding that no trucks had been able to enter Tigray since August 22.

With the inability to bring in sufficient and sustained levels of humanitarian supplies, cash and fuel, the humanitarian situation in the north of Ethiopia is set to worsen dramatically, particularly in Tigray region, he added, urging Abiys government to ease restrictions.

Since the conflict erupted, the Ethiopian authorities and the Tigrayan rebels have traded blame over the issue, with each side accusing the other of obstructing aid convoys and driving a desperate population into famine.

As the rebels have pushed into the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions, the situation there has also worsened, with 1.7 million people facing hunger, Leaity said.

The lives of millions of civilians depend on our capacity to reach them with food, nutrition supplies, medicine and other critical assistance. We need to reach them immediately and without obstruction to avert famine and significant levels of mortality.

 Stealing aid 

Ethiopian forces and Tigrayan rebels alike have also been accused of looting aid, with the US aid agency this week calling the alleged thefts a great concern for humanitarians.

Throughout nine months of conflict all of the warring parties have been stealing aid, Sean Jones, head of the USAID mission in Addis Ababa, told Ethiopian state broadcaster EBC on Tuesday, according to a transcript released by the American embassy.

TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda on Wednesday condemned the alleged looters for their unacceptable behaviour, but said that while the rebels could not vouch for off-grid fighters in such matters, we have evidence that such looting is mainly orchestrated by local individuals and groups.

In a separate statement, the UNs Leaity condemned the killings of aid workers in Tigray, saying another 11 deaths had been reported between January and July this year, bringing the total number slain to 23 since war erupted.

Once again we are shaken by this news. Violence against aid workers is intolerable, he said.

We reiterate our call for humanitarians to be respected and protected and for the acts that led to the death of our colleagues to be fully investigated. Accountability must be pursued to deter attacks against humanitarian personnel, he added.

SOURCE: AFP
Flooding killed at least nine people, swept away cars, submerged subway lines and grounded flights in New York and New Jersey as the remnants of Hurricane Ida brought torrential rains to the area.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio described the flooding and weather on Wednesday night as a historic weather event, and the National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency in New York City for the first time.

Recovery efforts were underway early on Thursday to bring back transportation systems serving millions of residents in the densely populated metropolitan area.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul urged commuters to stay home from work and pleaded for patience to give us some time to have complete restoration of the trains after service was knocked out in much of the area, leaving many riders stranded overnight.

This is one for the record books, Hochul told CNN.

The storm dumped extreme rain rates of 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.6 cm) per hour along the Philadelphia to New York City corridor, the National Weather Service said.

Subway service in New York City remained extremely limited on Thursday morning, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) said. Janno Lieber, the MTAs acting chair and CEO told local media it was going to take until later in the day to restore full service.

The Long Island Railroad, which is also run by the MTA, said early on Thursday that services on most of its branches has been restored, but commuters should expect systemwide delays of up to 30 minutes.

Images posted on social media overnight showed water gushing over subway platforms and trains. First responders evacuated people from the subway system, Lieber said in an earlier statement.

At least one person was killed as the flooding inundated the New Jersey city of Passaic, Mayor Hector Lora told CNN.

NBC New York reported that one more person had died in New Jersey and seven had died in New York City, including a 2-year-old boy. Local media reported that people had been trapped in their basements as the storm sent water surging through the city.

Lora said the body of a man in his seventies was retrieved from floodwaters. The vehicle the man was riding in was swept away by the water and firefighters were swept under the vehicle, preventing them reaching him, CNN reported.

The governors of New York and New Jersey declared a state of emergency late on Wednesday.

All non-emergency vehicles were banned from New York Citys streets until 5 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Thursday due to the weather, city authorities said on Twitter.

At least five flash flood emergencies were issued on Wednesday evening by the National Weather Service, stretching from west of Philadelphia through northern New Jersey.

All New Jersey Transit rail services apart from the Atlantic City Rail Line were suspended, the service said on its website.

Tornadoes spawned by the storm ripped through parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, images on social media showed.

New Jerseys Newark Liberty Airport said on Twitter it was experiencing severe flooding. It said it resumed limited flight operations close to midnight after all flight activity was suspended late on Wednesday.

More than 200,000 electricity customers were without power early on Thursday in five northeastern states that got most of the rains overnight, mostly in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, according to PowerOutage.US, which gathers data from utility companies. There were also outages in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, it said.

The hit to the region came three days after Ida pounded southern Louisiana as a very powerful hurricane. Reconnaissance flights revealed entire communities devastated by wind and floods.

SOURCE: REUTERS
CLIFTON PARK  Necessity is the mother of invention and just over a year ago there was plenty of necessity, thanks to the pandemic.

Protective masks were in short supply as were bottles of hand sanitizers. Hospitals put out a desperate call for more ventilators and pharmaceutical companies were running at warp speed to devise a vaccine as well as treatments for the spreading virus.

COVID-19 remains with us, even though many critical shortages have eased. But those desperate months in 2020 have had a lasting impact on society, including the business sector, where unexpected players found themselves thrust into the forefront of an effort to combat the pandemic.

In the Capital Region, distillers switched to making alcohol-based hand sanitizers and at least one manufacturing firm, Precision Valve & Automation, retooled and started building ventilators. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute set to work building a special ultraviolet box that could disinfect items like masks, while others at the school developed smartphone apps designed to help people avoid dense crowds.

The efforts evoked the wartime industrialization that occurred during World War II as government and industry worked in concert toward a shared goal. And like the war, which led to innovations in optics, radar, aeronautics, medicine and other fields, the fight against COVID will likely spawn new industries.

Today, as pandemic medical supply shortages have eased, many of the initial players in the Capital Region are getting back to normal, but their rapid innovations will nonetheless have a lasting effect.

Jumping hurdles

I still have people buying it, Matthew Jager, of Albanys Yankee Distillers said of the gallons of hand sanitizer he started making last year. While hes back to focusing on top-shelf whisky, Jager still has several hundred gallons of sanitizer at the distillery.

The initial conversion was simple. Jager knew he could mix denatured ethanol and glycerin in batches to produce an effective disinfectant. What was confusing was the welter of Food and Drug Administration regulations and rules about how to do it.

In addition to navigating the bureaucracy, Jager also faced supply shortages, including a lack of containers for the new product. He ended up using what was available, which were plastic milk jugs, equipped with warning signs that this was disinfectant, not a dairy product.

He gave away and sold it, and after a while, people were coming by the distillery for refills. Like his whiskey, Jager decided to go high end, running his ingredients through a carbon filter to ensure it was extra pure.

I turned all these people into hand sanitizer snobs, Jager said with a chuckle. It was kind of a neat thing.

Ventilator production

Twenty minutes north in Clifton Park, staffers at Precision Valve & Automation knew early on they could help with what was at the time a dire shortage of ventilators.

The company makes valves, automated devices such as those that spray coat materials. Some of their products already were used in ventilators. Once then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo put out a call for more ventilators, they were able to put together machines that use a bag mask that pushes air in and out of a patients lungs.

They were simple devices as ventilators went but they did the job and could be built for less than $8,000, which was a bargain by modern ventilator standards.

The FDA authorization was the biggest hurdle, said Frank Hart, PVAs managing director of sales and marketing. The actual building of the devices wasnt that difficult and it was about six weeks from the initial plan to production.

As it turned out, doctors were easing off on their use of ventilators and they built about 100 units, many of which were exported to Africa and Asia.

They halted production and went back to their mainstream business but the exercise also opened up some business opportunities. The federal approval process brought PVA an ISO 9001, or International Organization for Standardization, certification.

Thats roughly akin to a Good Housekeeping seal of approval for industrial devices like valves. As a result, they are finding it easier to export their valves to Mexico and China, which is where about 60 percent of those sales go.

The company is on track to surpass their 2019 sales and the 200-person organization is looking for new employees, although Hart notes that every business he knows is hiring these days.

Ultraviolet, polymers, apps

The pandemic has created an explosion in researching new approaches to personal protective equipment and nowhere is that truer than at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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As the mask shortage was at its peak, researchers at RPIs Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications constructed a light box that bombards masks with ultraviolet C waves that kill the COVID virus. The closet-sized machine took about two weeks to build and was sent to New York Citys Mount Sinai Hospital, which has been working with the school on a number of Covid-protection developments.

The hospital tested the machine in its biohazard lab and found it to be effective with 120 seconds of UV exposure on all sides of the mask.

The success was that we could kill the virus and figure out the dose, said Deepak Vashishth, director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies and a professor of biomedical engineering.

As with PVA, the immediate need for such machines was reduced after the mask shortage eased. But building the machine was a proof of concept, showing that this was a viable approach to sterilization although it didnt go into actual use.

Vashishth believes such devices could be useful in places where there may be a shortage of sterile masks and other equipment. Much of that, he said, depends on future calculations about whether they can be made at an affordable price. They have heard from one firm in India that expressed an interest in building the devices on a commercial scale but it remains unclear precisely what those plans are.

Also in the development stages at RPI is a special antiviral coating that could be sprayed on masks or other medical devices that COVID virus might land on. Aided by a grant from the National Science Foundation in April 2020 at the height of the mask shortage, RPI researchers Helen Zha and Ed Palermo experimented on thin polymer coatings as an antiviral agent.

Zha, an assistant professor of chemical engineering, said thats in contrast to other researchers who are looking at substances like copper or silver as antiviral agents.

There are a lot of companies in this space now, said Zha.

There are no immediate plans for a startup company or other commercialization efforts. And Zha said their main goal is to get the technology proven and out in the public arena so people can use it in manufacturing if they so choose.

This definitely is a pandemic-motivated innovation, she said.

Also motivated by the pandemic was the Study Safe smartphone app that Kristin Bennetts students developed at RPI.

Working with the United Health Foundation, Bennett, a math and computer science professor, worked with her students to develop the app, which locates the least crowded spots on the RPI campus, which are presumably the safest for studying during a pandemic.

The app tallies anonymized Wi-Fi signals by location to map the changing crowd numbers and compares it with past data about crowds in those areas. The numbers also are updated about every half hour.

We made it happen using all undergraduate researchers, said Bennett.
DENVER  At least 92% of Denvers municipal employees were vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Friday, a day after the citys vaccine mandate took effect in a bid to slow the spread of the virus during the fall and winter, according to a review of city compliance data.

The employee vaccination rate is higher than Denvers latest overall vaccination rate of 76% and the statewide rate of 70%.

Employees were required to either prove they were vaccinated or obtain an exemption to the mandate by the end of Thursday or face possible termination.

According to city data, 98.6% of its current 10,869 full-time employees complied with the mandate, either by being vaccinated or receiving an exemption. So far, 652 workers have been exempted, about 6% of the workforce, while another 14 exemption requests were still pending.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

 California to require school children get vaccines, once age approved

 Merck says experimental pill cuts effects of COVID-19 hospitalizations, deaths

 Justice Kavanaugh tests positive for virus, has no symptoms

 Foundations aim to persuade Americans to get vaccinated

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See all of AP's pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

HARTFORD, Conn. - A retired Connecticut physician and surgeon voluntarily surrendered her license to practice medicine on Friday to the Department of Public Health after being accused of providing fraudulent medical exemption forms through the mail.

Dr. Sue Mcintosh had her license suspended last week by the Connecticut Medical Examining Board during an emergency hearing. A full hearing on the merits of the case was scheduled for Oct. 5.

State officials, who had received an anonymous complaint about the doctor, allege Mcintosh provided an unknown number of blank, signed forms exempting people from the COVID-19 and other vaccines, as well as mandatory mask-wearing and routine COVID testing to people who sent her a self-addressed envelope. Mcintosh, who hadnt treated the patients, signed a letter included in the packet of bogus forms with the phrase Let freedom ring!

Mcintosh did not respond to a request for comment.

Christopher Boyle, a spokesperson for DPH, said agency officials are considering whether to refer the case to state and federal law enforcement entities.

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MINNEAPOLIS  A decline in COVID-19 cases across the United States over the past several weeks has given overwhelmed hospitals some relief, but administrators are bracing for yet another possible surge as cold weather drives people indoors.

Health experts say the fourth wave of the pandemic has peaked overall in the U.S., particularly in the Deep South, where hospitals were stretched to the limit weeks ago. But many Northern states are still struggling with rising cases, and whats ahead for winter is far less clear.

Unknowns include how flu season may strain already depleted hospital staffs and whether those who have refused to get vaccinated will change their minds.

An estimated 70 million eligible Americans remain unvaccinated, providing kindling for the highly contagious delta variant.

If youre not vaccinated or have protection from natural infection, this virus will find you, warned Mike Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesotas Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

Nationwide, the number of people now in the hospital with COVID-19 has fallen to somewhere around 75,000 from over 93,000 in early September. New cases are on the downswing at about 112,000 per day on average, a drop of about one-third over the past 2 1/2 weeks.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala.  Amid a national debate over the use of pandemic relief funds, Alabama lawmakers swiftly approved a plan Friday to tap $400 million from the American Rescue Plan to help build two super-size prisons, brushing off criticism from congressional Democrats that the money was not intended for such projects.

In a bipartisan vote that brought few dissents, the Alabama Senate voted 29-2 to approve the $1.3 billion prison construction plan, and 30-1 to steer $400 million of the states $2.1 billion from the rescue funds to pay for it.

With legislative leaders standing behind her, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bills into law. Republican Sen. Greg Albritton said state officials are confident they can legally use the pandemic funds, and said the construction to replace many existing prisons will go a long way to addressing the states longstanding problems in prisons.

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PHOENIX  Arizonas reported COVID-19 death toll has passed the grim milestone of 20,000 amid the states third virus surge.

The latest surge has started easing but continues to strain hospitals. The state reported 55 additional deaths as well as over 3,600 additional confirmed cases Friday. That increases the pandemic totals to 20,039 deaths and nearly 1.1 million cases.

Arizona currently is 11th highest among states in the number of COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began, and sixth in the number of deaths per 100,000 population.

The current surge has seen the states hospital system burdened again with large numbers of patients. More than 1,750 COVID-19 patients occupied hospital beds as of Thursday.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska  A highly contentious debate over a proposed mask mandate for Alaskas largest city that has included Holocaust imagery and a gay slur will continue next week on Monday.

Mayor David Bronson opposes the mask mandate and apologized Thursday for his comments supporting some residents use of Holocaust imagery, like wearing yellow Stars of David, to liken the proposed mandate to the oppression of Jewish people in Nazi Germany.

The Anchorage Daily News reports Bronson also called for people on both sides of the issue to be more civil. Four people at Wednesdays meeting were arrested, including a man who called the assemblys vice chair, Chris Constant, a homophobic slur.

I didnt stand up and speak in your defense. And I apologize for doing that. Quite frankly, I was caught off guard. And then he was gone before I gathered my thoughts, and I apologize for not speaking up. What was said was intolerable. Bronson said.

Constant said he wasnt surprised with the slur.

The part that in fact shocked me to silence was when roughly 200 people cheered zealously. That was the part that zinged me and really took my breath away for a minute, he said.

Constant added: What we have to do is figure out how together, we can be better. And that is not a that-tribe-versus-that-tribe issue. That is a community issue in Anchorage, and this moment is an opportunity for us to move through this to a better place.

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HONOLULU  Hawaii authorities arrested two people from California for submitting fake COVID-19 test results to avoid a mandatory traveler quarantine meant to curb the virus spread in the islands.

A 34-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman uploaded falsified negative test results into the Hawaii Safe Travels portal and arrived in Lihue on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles earlier this week, Kauai police said.

After they were arrested, they were released pending investigation and caught a flight back to Los Angeles.

They couldnt immediately be reached for comment Friday.

Travelers entering Hawaii must quarantine for 10 days unless they have been fully vaccinated in the United States or test negative for COVID-19 before departing for the islands.

Hawaii authorities have been arresting people who violate travel rules, including a woman from Illinois investigators said uploaded a fake vaccination card that misspelled Moderna as Maderna.

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WASHINGTON  U.S. health officials are preparing to consider more COVID-19 vaccine boosters for adults and the first vaccine shots for children younger than 12.

The Food and Drug Administration said its panel of outside vaccine experts will meet Oct. 14 and 15 to consider whether to recommend booster doses for adults who received the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The FDA is not required to follow the panels advice, though it often does.

If the FDA authorizes third doses of the vaccines a separate panel of advisers to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make specific recommendations on who should get them.

The FDA and CDC signed off on booster shots of Pfizers vaccine last month for key Americans who face higher risks from COVID-19.

Additionally, the panel will hear presentations on the safety and effectiveness of mixing different vaccine brands when giving booster shots.

The FDA also set an Oct. 26 panel meeting to consider Pfizers COVID-19 vaccines for children 5 to 11 years old. Currently the vaccine is authorized for children 12 and older.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill.  Gov. J.B. Pritzkers office says more than $443 million in emergency rental assistance has been paid on behalf of 49,100 state households through the Illinois Rental Payment Program.

It provides up to $25,000 in emergency rental assistance to cover up to 12 months of past due rent and up to three months of future rent payments for tenants suffering a financial hardship related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Payments are made directly to the landlord on behalf of the tenant, but only if the landlord doesnt pursue eviction.

Having a roof over your head is the foundation of a thriving life, Pritzker said Friday in a release, and Illinois is fiercely combatting the pandemics destabilizing effects on that foundation by keeping our residents on their feet.

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SAN FRANCISCO  California has announced the nations first coronavirus vaccine mandate for school children.

Gov. Gavin Newsom says the mandate wont take effect until the COVID-19 vaccine has received final approval from the U.S. government for various grade levels.

The government has given final approval for the vaccine for anyone 16 and older. Once final approval comes for anyone 12 and older, the state will mandate vaccines for students in seventh through 12th grades.

The state will mandate the vaccine in kindergarten through sixth grades once the federal government gives final approval for anyone 5 and older.

The states vaccine mandate would take effect the semester after the federal government grants final approval. If it comes in January, then the mandate would take effect in July.

Students would be granted religious and medical exemptions, but the rules for how the state would apply those exemptions have not been written yet.

In August, California became the first state in the U.S. to require all teachers and staff in K-12 public and private schools to get vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. Newsom also issued a school mask mandate this summer for indoor classes that applies to all teachers and students.

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NEW ORLEANS  Louisianas largest health system is ratcheting up pressure to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate reports Ochsner Health told employees it will charge a monthly premium of $200 if a spouse or domestic partner covered under an Ochsner health plan is not vaccinated. Ochsner has previously set an Oct. 29 deadline for all employees to be vaccinated.

President and CEO Warner Thomas says the surcharge is part of an effort to keep health premiums low for employees. As a self-insured organization, Ochsner bears the cost of COVID-19 treatment for patients who are on its insurance plan.

We spent more than $9 million on COVID care for those who are covered on our health plans over the last year, Thomas told The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate in an emailed statement, which included intensive patient care.

Thomas says the surcharge doesnt amount to a mandate because employees spouses and partners can choose other insurance coverage. The spouses and partners can also apply for an exemption on medical or religious grounds.

More than 2.1 million people in Louisiana are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, about 45% of the states population, according to health department data.

The state reported 872 coronavirus cases and 49 confirmed deaths on Thursday. Louisiana has registered a total of 740,533 cases and 13,949 deaths.

(This item has been corrected to show Louisiana has fully vaccinated 45% of population, not 56%.)

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ROME  Some 1,100 doctors and dentists in Italy are currently suspended because they havent been vaccinated against COVID-19.

The National Federation of Doctors President Filippo Anelli stressed Friday that those who arent vaccinated are a minority of the federations 460,000 members (less than 1%) and indicated many are currently correcting their status through vaccination.

The federation says some 290 others had their suspension lifted because they got vaccinated. Anelli said in a statement about 500 doctors who appealed their suspensions are still allowed to practice until a final decision is reached.

The federations web site lists the names of 363 doctors or dentists who have died of COVID-19.

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WASHINGTON  Biden administration officials say a new pill that could provide an easier, effective way to treat COVID 19 is good news, while adding vaccination remains the key to controlling the pandemic.

Officials at drugmaker Merck say theyll soon seek regulatory approval for the experimental pill, which reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus.

Dr. Anthony Fauci calls it very good news and Mercks data on its medicine impressive.

White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients says vaccination will remain the governments main strategy for controlling the pandemic.

We want to prevent infections, not just wait to treat them when they happen, says Zients at the briefing on Friday.

If its approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the government has contracted to buy 1.7 million doses of Mercks medication.

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NEW DELHI  India says arrivals from Britain will be subjected to COVID-19 tests and a 10-day quarantine, in response to the same measures imposed on Indians visiting the U.K.

India has been demanding that Britain revoke what it calls a discriminatory advisory that includes Indians, even if they are fully vaccinated with the Indian-made AstraZeneca shots.

Indias external affairs minister S. Jaishankar discussed the issue with the British foreign secretary Liz Truss in New York this week. India was irked that while the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been recognized by Britain, its version produced by Serum Institute of India has been excluded.

Starting Monday, all British arrivals, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to undertake PRC tests within 72 hours before travel and again after travel.

India, the worlds largest vaccine producer, said this week it will resume exports and donations of surplus coronavirus vaccines in October after a long freeze because of the massive surge in domestic infections last spring.
Liz Joy, a Republican congressional candidate, said Friday two of her family members used an unproven coronavirus treatment called ivermectin to help their COVID-19 symptoms and is recommending on social media that others consider using the medication.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved or authorized the drug ivermectin for use in people or animals to treat COVID-19. The National Institutes of Health also has determined there are insufficient data to recommend ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19. Clinical trials are ongoing.

Ivermectin is used in humans to treat some parasites and is common in veterinary medicine for conditions like heartworm disease.

The drug has received significant attention on social media and in conservative media as a treatment for COVID-19, making the drug hard for veterinarians to get and leading some Americans to poison themselves with large doses.

A recent study cited by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found ivermectin prescriptions have increased 24-fold over the pre-pandemic baseline. Also, this year, U.S. poison control centers have reported three times the number of calls regarding ivermectin exposures in humans.

Joy, who is running to represent the Capital Region in Congress, said her family member who tested positive for the coronavirus took ivermectin  prescribed by a provider  and was feeling better soon after. She said another relative who lived with the coronavirus patient took the drug for "preventative" reasons, too. Joy declined to name her relatives or the doctor who prescribed the drug.

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Joy is not vaccinated for COVID-19, she said, and has protested against vaccine and mask mandates. But she said she'd take ivermectin with the recommendation of a health care provider.

She claimed the FDA, CDC and NIH have been ignoring studies of ivermectin uses because, "I personally think a lot of this has to do with money. She said providers who want to prescribe it have been "censored, silenced and shamed."

The U.S. has approved one antiviral drug, remdesivir, for treating COVID-19, and allowed emergency use of three antibody therapies that help the immune system fight the virus. All the drugs have to given by IV or injection in health care settings. Drug-maker Merck said it will soon ask health officials authorization of an anti-viral drug its studied with promising results.
ALBANY  New York's ethics commission will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, and according to a person with knowledge of the matter, is set to discuss whether to launch an internal inquiry into last year's approval of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's $5.1 million book deal.

While a meeting notice issued on Friday did not list the meeting's topic, a source said that a motion is likely to be put forward by David McNamara, a Senate Republican appointee on the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, seeking the internal inquiry.

During a conference call on Thursday with JCOPE commissioners, the body's executive director, Sanford Berland, was said to have resisted launching the inquiry looking at the actions of their staff, as well as those of certain former commissioners, since it could hurt morale.

At the JCOPE meeting scheduled for Tuesday, if the motion receives eight commissioner votes in favor and moves ahead, the review would likely focus on how JCOPE's deputy general counsel, Martin Levine, came to approve Cuomo's book deal on July, 17, 2020. The book, "American Crisis," focused on Cuomo's early response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2012, JCOPE's commissioners had passed a resolution allowing JCOPE staff to unilaterally take certain actions between JCOPE's meetings.

Last year, when Cuomo was seeking approval to author the book, JCOPE had a regular meeting scheduled for June 23, and one for August 11. But JCOPE did not have a meeting that July, the month when the book was quickly approved by JCOPE staff.

In justifying approving the book, JCOPE's staff has cited the 2012 resolution, although that resolution did not state that formal outside income approvals were among the powers delegated to staff between meetings.

Levine's approval was issued on July 17 last year  a week after Cuomo's counsel requested the approval  rather than waiting until the commissioners had a meeting. That timing would be an issue examined by an internal inquiry. It's also not clear that, before making the approval, JCOPE staff was given pertinent information by Cuomo's office, such as a manuscript detailing the book's subject matter. (As of July 4, 2020, a substantial draft of the book was available, and was being edited by then-Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa.)

There are other possible questions for a review. Former JCOPE chairman Michael Rozen has said he was privy to certain information that other commissioners were not. And two legislatively appointed commissioners were said to have sought a copy of Cuomo's book contract as the process was proceeding, but did not receive a copy from the Executive Chamber.

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The contentious JCOPE conference call on Thursday included an attorney from the law firm Hogan Lovells, which was retained by JCOPE to respond to a subpoena, issued by state Attorney General Letitia James' office, seeking information about its approval of Cuomo's book. The former governor's use of government staff to produce the book is the subject of a criminal inquiry by James' office.

The internal JCOPE inquiry could also involve using outside counsel, though it's not clear whether a different law firm would be retained.

At a JCOPE meeting in September, a motion to rescind the staff's book approval failed by one vote, with some commissioners saying more investigation was needed. Cuomo, however, has acknowledged using his government staff on the book, which is pertinent, because his counsel explicitly promised that would not occur when she sought JCOPE approval.

Cuomo has said his government staff's work on the book was voluntary, and therefore legal, a contention relevant to James' investigation into whether Cuomo misused government resources, as well as a forthcoming state Assembly Judiciary Committee report.
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the U.N. political mission in Libya until after the country's critical presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for late December.

However, the U.N.'s most powerfule body remained divided over the withdrawal of all mercenaries and foreign forces from the oil-rich North African nation and the missions leadership.

The vote extended the current mission until Jan. 31 to ensure the United Nations can continue supporting Libyas transitional government. The Dec. 24 elections aim to reunite the country after a decade of turmoil.

The end-of January date also coincides with the end of U.N. special envoy Jan Kubis' contract  a subject of a dispute between Western nations and Russia on where he should be based. Kubis currently works out of Geneva but a strategic review of the mission, known as UNSMIL, included having its chief relocate to Libyas capital, Tripoli. The West strongly backed this, especially in the run-up to the elections, but Russia opposed.

Earlier, the Security Council had extended UNSMILs mandate for only two weeks because of disputes between the West and Russia over the withdrawal of mercenaries, foreign fighters and foreign forces as demanded in an October 2020 cease-fire agreement between rival Libyan governments in the countrys east and west.

Facing rival Western-backed and Russian draft resolutions  both almost certain to be defeated  and Thursday's end of the current mandate, council members decided to simply extend it without any updates or changes.

Britains U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward expressed regret that not all council members supported its compromise draft resolution, stressing that Libya is at a critical point" and that it's essential that the elections take place on time and are credible and inclusive.

She urged Security Council members to insist on implemention of the cease-fire agreement, including the withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya, without qualification and without delay."

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the consensus on the resolution shows international support to the Libyan people at a very sensitive and very momentous stage" leading up to elections. He said implementing the strategic review's recommendations should wait until after the election.

Libya has been wracked by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 and split the country between a U.N.-supported government in the capital, Tripoli, and rival authorities loyal to commander Khalifa Hifter in the east. Each have been backed by different armed groups and foreign governments.

Hifter launched a military offensive in 2019 to capture the capital, a campaign backed by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and France. But his march on Tripoli ultimately failed in June 2020, after Turkey sent troops to support the Libyan government, which also had the backing of Qatar and Italy. This paved the way for the October cease-fire agreement and a transitional government charged with leading the country to Dec. 24 elections.

Thursday's vote postponed a Security Council statement on mercenaries and foreign fighters and Kubis' base.

The British draft resolution had called on all countries to comply with the U.N. arms embargo on Libya, including by ceasing all support for and withdrawing all armed mercenary personnel. It also expressed concern at the impact of the Libyan conflict on neighboring countries.

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The Russian draft meanwhile called on all Libyan parties to fully implement the October 2020 cease-fire agreement, and urged all countries to pull their foreign forces and mercenaries out of Libya in a synchronized, parallel, balanced and phased withdrawal."

The U.N. estimated in December 2020 that there were at least 20,000 foreign fighters and mercenaries in Libya, including Syrians, Russians, Sudanese and Chadians. But diplomats said speakers at an informal council meeting in late April declared that there were more  including 13,000 Syrians and 11,000 Sudanese.

Last September, U.N. experts monitoring the implementation of sanctions on Libya said the warring parties and their international backers  the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Jordan vs Turkey and Qatar  violated a U.N. arms embargo on the oil-rich north African country.

Their report also said 11 companies violated the arms embargo, including the Wagner Group, a private Russian security company. In May 2020, the panel said Wagner provided between 800 and 1,200 mercenaries to support Hifter, the eastern Libyan commander.

The British draft had also said the U.N. mission chief should be based in Tripoli, and asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to retain Kubis as special envoy for six months to focus on engaging with the Libyan actors, and with the international actors to end their role in the conflict."

The Russian draft was similar but asked Guterres to retain Kubis for six months with further extensions for a period to be decided by the Security Council  which would have given Russia veto power over any decision on the special envoy's tenure and base of operations.
ALBANY -- The driver in a deadly 2019 Christmas morning crash on Central Avenue in Colonie has been charged with the alcohol-and-drug impaired killing of a passenger.

Veeshram Ramdeo, 19, of Schenectady, pleaded not guilty Friday to a four-count indictment accusing him of aggravated vehicular homicide and second-degree manslaughter in the Dec. 25, 2019 death of Lakhraj Premnauth, 24, known as Derrick. The married father of two children from Schenectady died at the scene.
HALFMOON  A head-on crash that left one driver with permanent injuries is sending the other driver to state prison.

Sarah Zimmerman, 25, of Colonie, was sentenced to one to three years in prison after being convicted of vehicular assault, a felony, according to Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen's office.
CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP)  A helicopter and a single-engine plane collided in midair Friday near a suburban Phoenix airport, sending the helicopter crashing into a field and killing both people on board. The plane landed safely, and the flight instructor and a student inside were not hurt.

The collision happened in the city of Chandler near its municipal airport, said police Sgt. Jason McClimans. He said no one on the ground was hurt but the airport would remain closed for several hours.

The Chandler Fire Department received reports of a fire in a brush field next to the airport shortly before 8 a.m. Crews found a large plume of smoke and the wreckage of the helicopter on fire but were able to extinguish it relatively quickly, fire officials said.

They inspected the helicopter and found the bodies of the two people on board. The Maricopa County medical examiner's office will determine their identities.

The chopper was operated by Quantum Helicopters and the plane by Flight Operations Academy. Both are flight schools, according to McClimans, of Chandler Police.

Richard Bengoa, owner of Flight Operations Academy, told The Associated Press the four-seat plane is used mostly for flight training. The only people aboard were the flight instructor and the student pilot.

Though officials did not allow Bengoa to get close to the plane, he said it appeared from a distance that its landing gear had been damaged. He said he had no information about how the collision happened and was not allowed to speak with the instructor or student.

Bengoa described his operation as more of a family business to kind of promote aviation and help people get their licenses.

A statement from the Federal Aviation Administration also indicated evidence of damage on the Piper PA-28 aircraft's landing gear. The agency listed the helicopter as a Robinson R22.

The airport's control tower was operating at the time of the collision. But FAA officials declined to say how many of the staff were there, noting that detail will be part of the overall investigation.

The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into the cause of the collision and crash.

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Police are seeking any witnesses or people who may have filmed the ordeal.

Chandler Municipal Airport does not provide commercial airline service. Most of the flights there are for chartered trips, private excursions and training. It's considered one of the nations 50 busiest general aviation airports with more than 200,000 flight operations a year, according to Chandler's tourism office.

Dodge City Community College in Kansas operates its DC3 Flight Instructor Program out of the Chandler airport. The school said in a statement on its Facebook page that officials are working to notify the appropriate families of those involved in the incident. Authorities have not mentioned any ties to a specific training program.

____

Davenport reported from Phoenix.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP)  A Black civilian grounds-keeping and kitchen worker at a U.S. Air Force base in Wyoming was retaliated against and ultimately fired for complaining when other workers called him racial epithets, a lawsuit said.

A supervisor told Bryan Wheels to keep quiet about the racial harassment, which began soon after he was hired in 2015 and continued through 2017, said the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit against Spokane, Washington-based Skilskin.

After laying off Wheels in December 2017, Skils'kin didn't follow its practice of honoring his seniority by rehiring him that winter. Instead, the nonprofit gave a job to a less-senior white employee, the EEOC said in its lawsuit filed Monday in Wyoming U.S. District Court in Cheyenne.

The company didn't offer a Wheels a job the following spring, either, the lawsuit said.

Its quite concerning how egregious the conduct was and that the employer didnt take care of it, EEOC regional attorney Mary ONeill said Thursday. "Theres such a low percentage of African Americans in Wyoming. We worry when theres very few African Americans in the workplace and theres hostility like this.

Wheels was the only Black member of the Skils'kin contract crew at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, which oversees 150 Minuteman nuclear missiles in underground silos in Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado.

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Skilskin hires people for contract business and government jobs in Wyoming, Washington and Montana, according to the companys website.

The nonprofit subjected Wheels to severe and persistent racial harassment," the lawsuit said.

At one point, after Wheels complained about a coworker's racist comments, a supervisor put him on a two-man grounds crew with the worker who made the remarks, the lawsuit said.

The EEOC sought to negotiate an out-of-court settlement with Skils'kin but was unsuccessful, according to the federal agency.

Phone messages left Wednesday with Skils'kin and F.E. Warren Air Force Base seeking comment on the lawsuit weren't immediately returned.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Britney Spears' fight to end the conservatorship that controlled vast aspects of her life is putting the spotlight on ongoing efforts throughout the U.S. to reform state laws that advocates say too often harm the very people they were meant to protect.

Already this year, New Jersey cracked down on the circle of people who could petition for someone to be placed under a guardian. New Mexico created an independent review process to oversee how conservatorships are being handled, including the ability to check bank records. And Oregon is ensuring that anyone placed under a guardian gets free legal help.

On Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed into law a set of changes prompted by the attention generated by Spears' legal battle to free herself from a 13-year conservatorship run by her father.

The law includes greater oversight of professional fiduciaries, such as those who controlled Spears' life and financial decisions. It will increase scrutiny of financial, physical or mental abuse, which could result in $10,000 fines.

The new law also will allow people placed under a conservatorship to choose their own attorneys, which Spears was finally allowed to do in July.

California lawmakers had passed a series of reforms to the states conservatorship system in 2006, but they were never implemented by the courts because of budget cuts during the recession in 2008  the same year Spears was placed in the conservatorship after suffering a mental health crisis.

Her ordeal caught the attention of Congress, which held a Senate Judiciary committee hearing this week examining ways to reshape conservatorships.

The system "is failing people from every walk of life, whether they are a global superstar whose struggles unfortunately play out in public or a family unsure of how to take care of an elderly parent," said state Assemblyman Evan Low, a Democrat who introduced the bill after watching the recent documentary "Controlling Britney Spears.

Low added: "This bill saw unanimous, bipartisan support throughout the process because it's painfully clear that we can and should do better.

Changes to conservatorship laws in other states also have sought to protect assets and provide less severe alternatives to conservatorships, which also are referred to as guardianships.

In New Jersey, lawmakers introduced legislation that would eliminate a catch-all category that lets virtually anyone who claims to have concern for the financial or personal well-being of another adult petition the court to strip their decision-making power.

Studies have found that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or those with mental illnesses, dementia and Alzheimer's disease are at high risk of being placed under a guardianship.

Lets say some wealthy woman is worth millions and millions, and their nephew is going around saying shes not all there and she needs to be taken care of. Well, under current law you can do that, said New Jersey Assemblywoman Carol Murphy, a Democrat who was a primary sponsor of the bill. I want it to be hard for somebody to be a conservator and take money from somebody without adequate protections for that person.

High-profile cases of guardians exploiting vulnerable people in their care led Nevada and New Mexico to overhaul their laws governing conservatorships.

New Mexico reformed its system, starting in 2018, amid rising public complaints and a federal investigation that found 1,000 clients lost more than $10 million in a multi-year embezzlement scheme perpetrated by the Albuquerque-based company Ayudando Guardians. In July, a married couple that helped operate the company were sentenced to a combined 62 years in prison on fraud, theft and money laundering convictions. A judge said their conduct left former clients destitute and homeless.

Initial legislation provided greater access to secretive guardianship records and court proceedings. It also prohibited guardians from placing limits on visitation with the elderly and infirm after families complained they weren't allowed to visit or communicate with their loved ones. The state has added bonding requirements and training for conservators, new rights for the incapacitated and a grievance process to challenge court decisions.

New Mexico state Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino said he's glad Spears' legal battle thrust the conservatorship process into the spotlight. The Democrat cosponsored successful legislation that pays for judicial staff to review conservator and guardianship accounts.

It really goes to the heart of the matter, Ortiz y Pino said. Youre taking away basic civil rights from a person, and its not that apparent to the casual observer if a person is capable of managing their own affairs any longer. Thats why you have someone evaluate the persons mental acuity. You have someone check whether there are less restrictive options. You try to build in some protections.

In March, New Mexico lawmakers gave the state auditors office new authority to review conservator and guardianship annual reports, conduct audits and subpoena bank records.

Thats not necessarily public transparency, but transparency in the sense of third eyes are looking at what the conservator is doing, besides the judge, said Democratic state Rep. Marian Matthews, a co-sponsor of the legislation.

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After a guardian was charged in 2017 with siphoning more than half a million dollars from hundreds of people she had been appointed by courts to protect, Nevada lawmakers enshrined a right to legal counsel for adults under guardianship, created a system to allow people to pre-nominate guardians in case they became incapacitated and formed a compliance office to crack down on abuse.

Karen Kelly, who heads the Clark County Public Guardian's office, said the number of private guardianships have plummeted since the reforms went into effect and more people challenged proposed arrangements.

In June, Oregon's Democratic governor signed a bill that provides legal counsel  paid by the state  for people potentially being placed into guardianship.

Protected persons currently dont have a right to representation, which obviously sets up people without means for potential abuse, said Sen. Michael Dembrow, a Democrat who was one of the measure's sponsors.

Delaware, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin area among a growing number of states seeking to provide a less restrictive alternative to full guardianship, a step that is intended to allow people to direct their own lives.

The laws, backed by advocates for people with disabilities, require the courts to consider supported decision-making agreements. They allow a person with a disability to choose someone who can help with critical tasks such as reviewing a lease, but cannot make a decision for them.

We're not calling for abolishing conservatorships, but changing the paradigm in which we see people with disabilities and see their ability to make choices in their own lives, said Judy Mark, president of Disability Voices United, a Southern California advocacy group.

Dennis Borel, executive director of the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, said that approach applies the lightest possible touch to the process of formal oversight.

Borel said its extremely hard for someone to be removed from a guardianship. In one memorable case, he recalled a man with an intellectual disability who had the support of his caretakers in a state institution to move into a community housing facility.

But the move was initially denied because the man remained under guardianship of his grandmother  even though she had died years before.

Its still harder to get your rights restored than to never go under unnecessary guardianship, he said.

____

Associated Press writers Michael Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey; Kathleen Foody in Chicago; Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, N.M.; Samuel Metz in Carson City, Nevada, Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City, and Andrew Selsky in Salem, Oregon contributed reporting.
Foxconn Technology Group, the worlds largest electronics maker, has a deal to buy a huge auto assembly plant in Ohio from startup electric truck maker Lordstown Motors, the companies announced Thursday.

The agreement stands to give Taiwan-based Foxconn, best known for making Apple iPhones, an entry into the growing electric vehicle market, a move it has been looking at for months.

It also brings much-needed funding to struggling Lordstown Motors, which has been under increasing scrutiny over its lack of orders and said last month that it couldnt guarantee that it will last through the year.

The two companies announced a nonbinding agreement to negotiate a deal under which Lordstown would sell the former General Motors plant in Ohio near Youngstown, excluding some assets, for $230 million.

Foxconn will also buy about $50 million of Lordstown Motors stock, which rose more than 8% in Thursday's regular-session trading but is still down 60% for the year. It rose another 7% after hours.

Foxconn in March said it was considering making electric vehicles in either Mexico or at its highly anticipated Wisconsin plant, which was first announced in 2017 and has since been scaled back.

Company Chairman Young Liu said at the time that Foxconn wants to take 10% of the market share of electric vehicles by making entire vehicles or components.

Then in May, Foxconn and Stellantis, the worlds 4th-largest automaker formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Peugeot, announced theyre developing a jointly operated automotive supplier focusing on technology to make vehicles more connected.

The agreement with Lordstown gives Foxconn a sprawling manufacturing site where GM built cars for more than 50 years before closing the plant in 2019. At its peak, the factory was home to roughly 10,000 workers.

Lordstown promised to revive the plant after acquiring it in 2019 and had planned to begin production of its marquee Endurance pickup truck in September. Its investors include GM, which took a 5% stake.

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But Lordstown has struggled to raise money, gone through management shakeups and faced increasing scrutiny from federal regulators.

The fledging automaker's top two executives stepped down in June amid doubts over the number of orders placed for the Endurance. In July, the company acknowledged receiving two subpoenas from federal regulators and also that prosecutors in New York have opened an investigation into the company.

The Securities and Exchange Commission asked in a pair of subpoenas for documents related to the companys merger with DiamondPeak, a special purpose acquisition company.

After the company acknowledged that it had no firm orders for its vehicles, it said that the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York was investigating these matters.
TROY  A Petersburgh plastics company has agreed to pay $23.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that will benefit hundreds of residents whose drinking water supplies  and in many instances, their blood  was contaminated with a toxic manufacturing chemical.

The proposed settlement was filed in state Supreme Court on Friday and will need to be approved by a judge. It would establish three funds: one to pay property owners on the town's small public water system, another to pay those with private wells that were contaminated, and a third to set up a 15-year medical monitoring program for individuals who had a certain level of PFOA detected in their blood.

The proposed settlement was agreed to by Tonoga Inc., which owns the Petersburgh company, Taconic Plastics. The company for years manufactured products coated with perfluorinated chemicals, including those that contained perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. The lawsuit alleges the chemical contaminated water supplies in and around Petersburgh when it was released from the smokestacks of the company's plant off Route 22.

PFOA exposure has been linked to health problems, including testicular and kidney cancer and thyroid disease.

In a similar case, three of the companies blamed for the pollution of public and private water supplies in and around the village of Hoosick Falls agreed in July to pay $65.25 million to settle a federal lawsuit that will secure cash payments and long-term medical monitoring for thousands of property owners and residents in that nearby community, including those who were found to have elevated levels of a toxic manufacturing substance in their bloodstream.

"It's been a long time; I'm happy with the outcome," said Connie Plouffe, a Petersburgh resident who was one of eight plaintiffs in the case. "Its been quite the ride, emotionally, just trying to work through that whole process. Theres a lot of people in the town. ... A lot of very concerned citizens. It was a town effort, for sure."

Plouffe's daughter Jennifer will be a beneficiary of the class-action settlement in Hoosick Falls, where she purchased a home just before she and many other residents became aware of the water pollution that had contaminated their drinking water supplies.

"It was pretty devastating to find out she had a toxic chemical in the water of the first house she ever bought," Plouffe said.

But aside from the class-action settlements, Plouffe noted that the pollution had galvanized residents in the communities who became organized and successfully pushed legislation to strengthen laws governing clean water, including monitoring smaller water systems  under 10,000 people  and notifying those individuals of contaminants.

The property settlement class fund would hold about $4.4 million. That fund would pay claimants roughly 10 to 12 percent of their property's total market value in 2015. Those who file to receive the claims, if approved, would need to have owned those properties in February 2016.

A second "nuisance class" fund would set aside roughly $4.03 million that would be divided among property owners with private wells that had been polluted with PFOA. Attorneys for the plaintiffs estimate that will work out to be about $10,000 for each nuisance class member, and there may be more than one person per household who qualifies.

Under the nuisance class, to be eligible the law requires that a person have a legal interest in the property through ownership or a lease at the time the contamination was discovered. If there were two people on the deed or two people on the lease, there would be two separate nuisance class members entitled to a separate nuisance payment, according to Stephen G. Schwarz, a Rochester attorney whose firm has been a lead counsel in the case.

A third fund, with about $8.5 million, would be established to set up a long-term medical monitoring program for those who were found to have elevated levels of PFOA in their bloodstreams of 1.86 parts per billion or more. That fund will also provide a $100 "incentive payment" for those who complete an informational survey and screening consultation within the first year that the settlement is finalized.

We are satisfied that this is an extremely beneficial settlement for the affected current and former residents of Petersburgh," Schwarz said in a statement. " ... Trial of this case had been scheduled for May of 2022 and this proposed settlement, if approved, will eliminate the risk of trial and allow this compensation and the commencement of the medical monitoring program to begin sooner.

The long-term medical monitoring had been a key objective of plaintiffs in both the Petersburgh and the Hoosick Falls class-action cases. The program is to help individuals with PFOA in their bloodstream gain access to medical providers who screen patients for early detection of any health issues that may be associated with exposure to the chemical.

The amount of the payments under the proposed settlements in both communities will depend on multiple factors, including the number of certified class members.

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If the settlement agreement in Petersburgh is approved by state Supreme Court Justice Patrick J. McGrath, the process would follow a similar track to the federal case, with formal notifications sent to all potential members of the settlement class, including former residents and property owners. Following that there will be a period in which individuals could seek legal advice and opt out or oppose the settlement.

Attorneys who handled the litigation also are asking the court to award them fees of up to 25 percent of the settlement fund  up to $5.6 million, plus reimbursement of litigation costs  up to $400,000. Similar to the settlement in Hoosick Falls, they are also asking the court to approve $25,000 "service awards" to the eight plaintiffs who participated in the litigation on behalf of the town.

James Bilsborrow, one of plaintiffs' attorneys, said the settlement "fairly compensates the people of Petersburgh" after more than five years of litigation.

With the medical monitoring, "We are hopeful that because of this program, fewer people will develop diseases caused by PFOA and, if they do, they will be in a better position to obtain prompt treatment," he added.

Timothy Kosto, president of Taconic, issued a statement Friday saying he is pleased that the case has been settled.

"For more than 60 years, Taconic has been committed to the success of our local community," he said. "We look forward to continuing our commitment to the health and safety of our employees and members of the community and to providing sustainable employment opportunities and economic stability to Petersburgh and the surrounding communities."

Emily Marpe, another plaintiff in the Petersburgh case, said she is grateful to Michael Hickey, the Hoosick Falls resident who launched a one-man investigation nearly seven years ago of what he perceived as a high rate of cancer, including unusual cancers, in the Hoosick Falls community.

Hickey emerged as a folk hero in the tight-knit community last December when his role in detecting and alerting village leaders about the dangerous chemical was revealed in a Times Union story in December 2016. For more than a year, Hickey said, he had met resistance from municipal leaders when he urged them to take more urgent action to warn the public that laboratory sampling showed elevated levels of PFOA in the public drinking-water supply.

Marpe credited Hickey with "fighting to expose this issue and for sparing two communities that I love from future exposure."

"From day one of finding out my well was contaminated I have fought like hell for my children and their future," Marpe said. "I will sleep better knowing that for the next 15 years they will be medically monitored after not only drinking the contaminated water at home but at school as well. This is not a winning scenario for our communities, people have lost their lives while some suffer daily from the effects of consuming contaminated water. Its about time Taconic has taken some accountability ..."
Police say a man wanted in the killings of three people in Maryland has been arrested in West Virginia
Three Detroit men and a teenage boy have been arrested in connection with the theft of four high-end vehicles valued at nearly $330,000 from a southeastern Michigan car dealership
For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.
[October 01, 2021] A $5.5 Billion Global Opportunity for Grinding Machines by 2026 - New Research from StrategyR

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new market study published by Global Industry Analysts Inc., (GIA) the premier market research company, today released its report titled "Grinding Machines - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics". The report presents fresh perspectives on opportunities and challenges in a significantly transformed post COVID-19 marketplace.

FACTS AT A GLANCE

Edition: 19; Released: April 2021

Executive Pool: 2536

Companies: 145 - Players covered include 3M Company; Amada Co, Ltd.; ANCA Pty. Ltd.; Chevalier Machinery, Inc.; Danobat Group; ELB-SCHLIFF Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH; EMAG GmbH & Co. KG; Falcon Machine Tools Co., Ltd.; Fives Group; Glebar Co., ; Hardinge, Inc.; Heinz Berger Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG; JTEKT Corporation; Kent Industrial Co., Ltd.; Komatsu Ltd.; Koyo Machinery USA, Inc.; Kunshan Huachen Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd.; Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool Co., Ltd.; Okamoto Corporation; Pietro Carnaghi Spa; Shanghai Machine Tool Works Ltd.; Shigiya (USA) Ltd.; Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd.; Toshiba Machine Co., Ltd.; United Grinding Group Management AG and Others.

Coverage: All major geographies and key segments

Segments: Product Segment (Surface Grinding Machines, Cylindrical Grinding Machines, Center-less Grinding Machines, Other Product Segments)

Geographies: World; United States; Canada; Japan; China; Europe (France; Germany; Italy; United Kingdom; Spain; Russia; and Rest of Europe); Asia-Pacific (Australia; India; South Korea; and Rest of Asia-Pacific); Latin America (Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; and Rest of Latin America); Middle East (Iran; Israel; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates; and Rest of Middle East); and Africa.

Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; comptitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry





ABSTRACT-



Global Grinding Machines Market to Reach $5.5 Billion by 2026

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Grinding Machines estimated at US$4.5 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$5.5 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 3.1% over the analysis period. Surface Grinding Machines, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record a 3.2% CAGR and reach US$1.9 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Cylindrical Grinding Machines segment is readjusted to a revised 3.2% CAGR for the next 7-year period. The U.S. Market is Estimated at $1.3 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $1.1 Billion by 2026

The Grinding Machines market in the U.S. is estimated at US$1.3 Billion in the year 2021. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$1.1 Billion by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 5.7% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 0.9% and 2.3% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 1.5% CAGR. Center-less Grinding Machines Segment to Reach US$1.3 Billion by the year 2026

In the global Center-less Grinding Machines segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 2.2% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US$815.7 Million in the year 2020 will reach a projected size of US$952.3 Million by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. More

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Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android

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Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world`s only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years.

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Info411@strategyr.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/a-5-5-billion-global-opportunity-for-grinding-machines-by-2026---new-research-from-strategyr-301388532.html SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

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[October 01, 2021] GeoX Launches New Intelligence Online Platform Allowing Access to 6 Billion Data Points

GeoX has announced a new facet of its property intelligence service, providing online information on all commercial and residential properties in the US. The AI-enabled, P&C platform covers 160 million properties in the US, and contains up to 6 billion data points. The platform is an extension to the GeoX worldwide database covering 340 million properties. Launching in Q4 2021, the platform contains a pre-process national property intelligence database and web service portal, through which insurance professionals can find up-to-date, 3D property attributes to accurately and rapidly determine insurance premiums. It includes comprehensive aerial imagery and proprietary property data. The product addresses the industry-wide challenge of outdated, incomplete, and unreliable data upon which insurers still depend for critical P&C decisions. GeoX fills this knowledge gap by elevating simple data to rich, insightful, and complete soures for insurers to assess risk more accurately and estimate rebuilding value.



Almost 1 million homes along the Gulf Coast are predicted to have been damaged by the recent Hurricane Ida. The subsequent underwriting process would benefit greatly from the insights GeoX provides to hundreds of organizations around the world. Izik Lavy, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at GeoX, says: "The insurance industry needs to better predict a property's propensity to disaster."

"A more proactive approach to risk management, highlighting opportunities for preventative measures, is required to better align products to customer needs; and GeoX provides 3D property intelligence and insights that enable this." With insurance customers in the US, Australia, EU and Asia, GeoX delivers patent-protected, automated modeling of aerial images that enables the richest attributes to be at the disposal of underwriters. "The resulting instant response of the platform to any property data request leads to a smoother, faster, and more effective end customer experience," says Lavy, "with no limits imposed upon scale, infrastructure, and impact." Lavy looks forward to a future free of traditional hold-ups in the insurance industry. "Our machine vision and deep learning technology open a new generation of accuracy and richness of built environment data, leaps and bounds ahead of the usual property assessment methods," he says. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005280/en/

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Global Aerospace Business, Ontic, Expands Footprint with Latest UK Acquisition and Licensing Agreement

Ontic has completed the sale and licensing of certain legacy product lines from Triumph Group's Staverton facility in the UK. The transaction includes the existing facility and select product lines associated with the site.

The Staverton facility in Gloucestershire supports a range of platforms in the Military, Civil and Marine Markets including the Airbus A330, BAE Hawk and Tornado, as well as the weapon handling systems on a variety of submarines.

This acquisition expands Ontic's capacity in the UK following the successful growth of its existing facility in Cheltenham.

Gareth Hall, President and CEO of Ontic, said, "Ontic is excited at the opportunity to grow our UK presence with the purchase of the Staverton facility as part of our long-term strategy to expand the licensing solutions we are able to provide our partners across the industry. Not onl will we be growing our business footprint with space, equipment, and product lines, but we will be welcoming 90+ talented new employees to the Ontic family, with expertise in mechanical solutions."







Ontic maintains a global focus by supporting customers and licencing partners from manufacturing and MRO facilities in Chatsworth, California; Creedmoor, North Carolina; Plainview, New York; Cheltenham and Bolton in the United Kingdom, Singapore, and newly added Staverton.

About Ontic:

With over 47 years of aerospace product manufacturing and aftermarket support experience, Ontic provides FAA, CAAS, CAAC, TCCA, DCA, EASA Part 21 and 145 OEM support, including new and serviceable spares and repairs for over 7,000 established aircraft parts. Ontic's portfolio of products, licensed or acquired from major OEMs such as Honeywell, Collins Aerospace, Safran, Thales (News - Alert) and GE Aviation, span all major aircraft systems in both civil and military markets.

For more information, please visit www.ontic.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005101/en/
[October 01, 2021] Goodin MacBride's Public Utility Regulation Practice Joins Downey Brand

Downey Brand, a prominent full-service law firm known also for its statewide prowess in natural resources, water, land use, and environmental matters, is pleased to announce that six attorneys previously with Goodin MacBride specializing in public utility regulation have joined its San Francisco office. With the arrival of veteran attorneys Thomas MacBride, James Squeri, Michael Day, Brian Cragg, Megan Somogyi, and associate Nirvesh Sikand the firm has expanded to 16 attorneys in its San Francisco office and more than 100 attorneys firm-wide. "This is an exciting development for our firm," said Downey Brand Managing Partner Scott Shapiro. "Expanding the depth and versatility of our San Francisco office (and the stature of the firm's multidisciplinary natural resources department) by adding a public utility practice is a key strategic opportunity for the firm." Christian Marsh, a member of the firm's Executive Committee and senior land use partner in the San Francisco office emphasized, "Downey Brand has always offered a unique blend of services to public and private clients in the environmental, natural resources, and energy sectors. The combined experience and excellent reputation of the Goodin MacBride team is a tremendous addition and provides us with a solid foundation for further expansion in these developing areas of practice." Kathryn Oehlschlager, the Executive Partner of Downey Brand's San Francisco office, added, "We are beyond thrilled to grow our San Francisco team and are excited to collaborate on the unique cross-serving opportunities this presents. We have several mutual clients, and we are confident that the natural synergies between our practices will benefit our clients immensely." The public utility attorneys from Goodin MacBride are recognized as among the top practitioners in their field, representing clients before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and other state agencies that regulate electric, natural gas, energy and water utilities, telecommunications providers, and certain transportation companies. Additionally, they guide clients in appeals from regulatory agency decisions and advocate legislative issues impacting energy and utilities regulation throughout California. Senior partners have held influential positions in key state agencies, giving the department unmatched experience in this highly specialized field. Clients include a broad spectrum of electric generators, energy storage developers, transmission companies, telecommunications carriers, natural gas pipeline and storageproviders, petroleum pipelines, and water utilities.



Tom MacBride, co-founder of Goodin MacBride's regulatory group noted his lifelong interest in, and respect for, Downey Brand, stating that "as one born and raised in Sacramento, I became familiar with the firm's stellar reputation at an early age. My father, Thomas MacBride, lawyer, legislator, and U.S. District Judge always spoke very highly of the firm's attorneys, in particular John F. 'Jack' Downey. Accordingly, I could not be more pleased that our public utility group is joining Downey Brand, a firm that I have always associated with the top tier of the legal profession and that, today, has the skills to serve our clients that are so complementary to those we have developed at Goodin MacBride." Michael Day, Goodin MacBride Managing Partner and former Acting General Counsel of the CPUC, added that, "we were attracted to Downey Brand because of their expertise in water, air quality, waste water management, and other environmental regulatory matters. Clearly they understand what is necessary to practice administrative law before California state agencies, and that convinced us that our practice would fit in well with the firm's overall strategic goals."

More About the Public Utility Team Thomas MacBride co-founded the Goodin MacBride regulatory group in 1985 and has practiced before the CPUC for over 45 years representing the interests of ground and water transportation providers, publicly and privately owned water service providers, telecommunications and energy companies, real estate developers, and municipalities, among others. Tom participated in drafting and advocacy leading to the enactment of the Calderon-Peace-MacBride Judicial Review Act of 1998, greatly enlarging the scope of judicial review of CPUC decisions. A former attorney at the CPUC, Tom earned his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1975 and holds a B.S. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. James Squeri represents clients in all aspects of regulation affecting the supply, delivery, and consumption of natural gas, electricity, and oil. Before joining Goodin MacBride in 1986, James was in-house counsel to the CPUC and served as an administrative law judge. James is a Stanford University graduate and earned his J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1975. Michael Day has a statewide practice representing the interests of clients in natural gas and electric ratemaking proceedings, natural gas and electric transmission siting cases, and wireless telecommunications cases. Much of his practice focuses on the creation of competitive energy markets in California, primarily through advocacy before the CPUC, as well as through legislation under consideration by the California Legislature. Mike spent nine years in the legal division at the CPUC as lead counsel in natural gas matters and later as acting general counsel. Mike earned his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1976 and his B.A. from Cornell University. Brian Cragg practices before the CPUC and other regulatory agencies with a special emphasis on energy matters. His clients range from solar, wind, geothermal, landfill gas, and other renewable energy producers to owners and operators of conventional electric power plants and energy storage companies. Before joining Goodin MacBride, Brian spent 18 years at the CPUC as an assistant chief administrative law judge involved in matters ranging from rate cases and mergers to cost reviews of nuclear power plants. Brian is a Yale University graduate and earned his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1977. Megan Somogyi has a decade of experience in regulatory, transactional, and appellate matters relating to public utilities, with a focus on energy, transportation, and water. She represents municipalities and utility clients in electric transmission line siting proceedings, ratemaking litigation, sale and transfer of electric utility property, and utility certification proceedings before the CPUC and other regulatory agencies, with the occasional trip to the appellate courts. She also has significant expertise on CPUC regulation of utility wildfire prevention and proactive de-energization of power lines. Megan earned her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 2011 and her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. Nirvesh Sikand assists clients with a variety of regulatory matters before the CPUC, where he also interned during law school, gaining valuable experience from his research of cases involving the regulation of energy, telecommunications, water, and transportation. Nirvesh earned his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2018, where he served on the editorial board of the Hastings Environmental Law Journal, as well as a senior editor at the Hastings Business Law Journal. He received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. More About Downey Brand and Its Natural Resource Department Founded 95 years ago in California's capital city, Downey Brand is a preeminent full-service law firm well-known for its deep industry knowledge in natural resources, as well as its breadth of business practices and litigation strength. With over 100 attorneys, it is the largest law firm based in Sacramento. It operates in California and Nevada, with headquarters in Sacramento and additional offices in San Francisco, Stockton, and Reno. The firm's Natural Resources Department is one of the largest and most diverse practice groups of its kind in California. With 39 attorneys, it's a well-coordinated, multi-disciplinary team with deep experience handling litigation and regulatory compliance in a broad spectrum of specialties, including all aspects of water, land, and air. Areas of expertise within the department include water rights, flood protection, water quality, endangered species, energy, land use, environmental, hazardous waste and toxics, air quality and climate change, and now, public utility regulation. For more information, visit www.downeybrand.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005165/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Open Europe experts search for cooperation with Russia

RIGA, Latvia, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 'Open Europe' expert club carried out an online discussion 'European Dialogue: New Format' to talk about the EU-Russia relations. The expert club was founded by Ruslan Pankratov, leader of Latvian 'Ricibas' ("Action") political party, to give the floor to politicians, diplomats and academics and share the outcomes with the EU institutions. Many Europeans lately have been going through stress and pressure related to the pandemic and economic decrease, while new sanctions and active spread of propaganda in the media targeted at their eastern neighbour and consequent militarization, more noted in the Baltic states with a significant percent of Russian-speaking population, is adding challenges within the EU. The event was attended by experts from Belgium, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal and Latvia. Ruslan Pankratov started off highlighting the difficulties that the Russian-speaking minorities are facing in the Baltic States, mentioning the list of rights that they are deprived of, which consists of 82 points. Ongoing militarization and brain drain are not encouraged to tak about in the public space, as the new legislation promotes controversial official policies and 'truths', not shared by many citizens, and is enforced by censorship mechanisms.



Edikas Jageayvichus, a board member of the Socialist Front of Lithuania, added some concerns regarding the freedom of speech in Lithuania, speaking about political figures and citizens being interrogated and even arrested for their political views and doing business with Russia. Fernando Cabrita, writer, journalist, lawyer and International Criminal Court expert explained that the people of the EU and Russia are negatively affected by the Cold War mentality and myths spread in the media. He suggested building bridges through people-to-people diplomacy and fostering the cultural ties.

Gregoire Tolsloy, honorary member of Peter the Great Foundation, direct descendant of the famous author of 'War and Peace', Leo Tolstoy, shared his impressions about the awareness about Russia in Brussels, saying that he expected deeper knowledge of Russia from the European diplomats, which could have made official dialogue more effective, and suggested to re-establish civil servants exchanges and study visits to improve the mutual understanding. Professor Roberto de Primis, Italian diplomat, representative of Belgium in the UN has named the carbon tax as an issue that can challenge EU relations with Russia in the future even more than sanctions. The new laws taking action in 2026 will imply major changes in the structure of economics, new rules and regulations for major industries (energy, agriculture, metal industry and production). Areas that could serve as a cooperation basis: climate change and collaboration for peace, security and development of the African continent. "Russia is always a dilemma for European countries, on the one hand EU is willing to have strategic partnership with its neighbor, on the other there is still quite a lot of the Cold war heritage and influence of the USA that wouldn't allow to build the future together," Roberto concluded. Experts intend to continue discussions in this format and share the reports with the officials promoting strategic cooperation goals. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/open-europe-experts-search-for-cooperation-with-russia-301389582.html SOURCE Open Europe

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[October 01, 2021] Part B Premium Givebacks, Comprehensive Dental Care, and Richer Pharmacy Coverage: SCAN Offers 'Gold Standard' in Medicare Advantage Benefits for 2022

An array of health plans offered by SCAN to Medicare-eligible seniors in California, Arizona and Nevada will offer industry-leading, innovative benefits designed to support the health and independence of members at every stage of their lives. Among the many standard and supplemental benefits that SCAN will offer its Medicare Advantage members in the three states are Part B premium give-backs, reduced maximum out-of-pocket limits (MOOPs), comprehensive and robust dental care, low-cost prescription medications, and in-home technology support designed to get seniors online and in touch with their health providers. "What we're offering this year is the gold standard in Medicare Advantage benefits," said Sherry Stanislaw, general manager of SCAN. "When we designed them, we took what we heard straight from the seniors we serve and developed comprehensive plans that will address their unique needs at every point in their healthcare journey, while also reducing cost barriers." Starting in 2022, select SCAN plans will feature: Healthtech+ , a one-of-a-kind in-home tech support program designed to bridge the 'digital divide' that causes barriers for so many older adults. Tech teams will be dispatched to members' homes to help them set up their devices to connect to providers, pharmacists and more

, a one-of-a-kind in-home tech support program designed to bridge the 'digital divide' that causes barriers for so many older adults. Tech teams will be dispatched to members' homes to help them set up their devices to connect to providers, pharmacists and more In-person and virtual fitness benefits , including gym memberships, online access and Fitbits

, including gym memberships, online access and Fitbits Part B give-backs of up to $125 per month that substantially reduce the burden of monthly premiums

of up to $125 per month that substantially reduce the burden of monthly premiums Improved pharmacy benefits that make more than 700 common medications available at retail pharmacies for zero copay

that make more than 700 common medications available at retail pharmacies for zero copay Reduced Maximum Out-of-Pocket Limits as low as $499

Out-of-Pocket as low as $499 Zero dollar and low-cost copays for select insulins wit no donut hole coverage gaps

wit no donut hole coverage gaps Robust and comprehensive dental benefits, because oral health is key to physical and mental health.



Beyond these extras, many SCAN plans include benefits that provide support in the home. These include medical alert systems, respite care for caregivers, and Returning to Home, a SCAN program that provides in-home care visits after a hospital or skilled nursing facility stay for things like bathing and dressing, as well as meal delivery.

The Annual Enrollment Period for selecting a Medicare Advantage plan for 2022 runs Oct. 15-Dec. 07, 2021 for membership beginning Jan. 1, 2022. As of January 1, 2022, SCAN Health Plan will operate in 13 California counties including Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange (News - Alert) , San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura, Alameda, San Mateo, Sonoma, San Francisco, Napa, Stanislaus and Santa Clara. SCAN Health Plan (Nevada) will operated in Clark County, Nevada. SCAN Desert Health Plan will operate in Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties in Arizona. SCAN Health Plans in California and Nevada and SCAN Desert Health Plan are HMO plan(s) with Medicare contracts. Enrollment in SCAN Health Plans and SCAN Desert Health Plan depend on contract renewal. For more information about plan benefits and enrollment details, please visit www.scanhealthplan.com. About SCAN Group SCAN Group is a mission-driven organization that is tackling some of the biggest issues in health care for older adults, including chronic illness, access to care, homelessness, inequities and loneliness. SCAN Health Plan, which is part of SCAN Group, is one of the nation's foremost not-for-profit Medicare Advantage plans, serving more than 220,000 members in California. Independence at Home, a SCAN Health Plan community service, provides vitally needed services and support to seniors and their caregivers. To learn more, visit www.scanhealthplan.com or follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @scanhealthplan. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005122/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Statement From Attorneys Phil Brewster of Brewster Law Firm and Patrick Mincey of Cranfill Sumner

Two attorneys, Phil Brewster of Brewster Law Firm, Illinois and Patrick Mincey of Cranfill Sumner, North Carolina, were recently mentioned in a Wall Street Journal article for their representation of a North Carolina whistleblower who exposed an alleged international conspiracy to launder no less than $100 million through major U.S. securities firms, including Morgan Stanley and Interactive Brokers. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005688/en/ The Wall Street Journal reported the alleged conspiracy involved a network of international actors and firms collaborating to steal $2 billion from PDVSA, the state-owned oil company of Venezuela. As part of the investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal agencies are trying to determine why U.S. firms managed more than $100 million in securities for a suspicious Venezuelan businessman when the accounts displayed what authorities have listed as red flags for potential money-laundering activities. U.S. authorities launched the investigation after attorneys Brewster and Mincey filed their client's whistleblowercomplaint with the SEC (News - Alert) in 2019. "It is one of the greatest privileges of our careers to represent whistleblower Mark Coffey," Brewster and Mincey said in a joint statement. "Our client has made extraordinary sacrifices in his endeavor to shed light on the money laundering crisis in the U.S. securities industry, and there is no doubt he should be-and will be-hailed for his unshakeable courage."



Attorney Phil Brewster is the founding partner of Brewster Law Firm LLC in Winnetka, Illinois, a firm dedicated to whistleblower matters and government investigations. Attorney Patrick Mincey is Chair of the White Collar, Government Investigations & Special Matters Group at Cranfill Sumner LLP in North Carolina.

ABOUT BREWSTER LAW FIRM LLC Brewster Law Firm LLC is dedicated to whistleblower matters and government investigations. For more information, visit www.brewsteradvisory.com. ABOUT CRANFILL SUMNER LLP Cranfill Sumner LLP serves clients in 28 practice areas. For more information, visit www.cshlaw.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005688/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Stop & Shop Restore to Sponsor the Great Boston Cleanup with Keep Massachusetts Beautiful

Stop & Shop's Restore program today announced that it will be the exclusive sponsor of the Great Boston Cleanup Event on Friday, October 1st from 1-4 pm. The event is organized by Keep Massachusetts Beautiful, a nonprofit organization which works to make Massachusetts communities cleaner, greener places to live, work, and play. The Stop & Shop Restore team will join 260 volunteers from Boston-area companies and other organizations to help collect and remove the litter that accumulates on city streets, sidewalks, and public spaces over the summer months. "We're excited to sponsor The Great Boston Cleanup as part of our overall commitment to health and sustainability in our communities," said Jen Brogan, Director of Community Relations for Stop & Shop. "We're proud to partner with Keep Massachusetts Beautiful and we thank the hundreds of volunteers who came out today to support another local impact project."



The announcement comes on the two-year anniversary of the launch of the Stop & Shop Restore Program, which offsets carbon dioxide tailpipe emissions on all fuel purchased at Stop & Shop fuel locations. Through a partnership with GreenPrint, an environmental technology company, carbon dioxide emissions are calculated on each gallon of fuel purchased. Investments in certified carbon offset projects are made to capture or reduce carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. The entire process from carbon calculation to carbon credit retirement is attested to for accuracy. To date, the program has offset 158,895 metric tons of carbon, the equivalent of 28,862 homes' electricity for one year. The Restore program also has planted 100,000 trees through a partnership with Arbor Day Foundation and supports local non-profit organizations including Keep Massachusetts Beautiful and the Rhode Island Tree Council by conducting and hosting tree plantings, neighborhood cleanups, and other local projects to support the local community.

About Stop & Shop A neighborhood grocer for more than 100 years, Stop & Shop offers a wide assortment with a focus on fresh, healthy options at a great value. Stop & Shop's GO Rewards loyalty program delivers personalized offers and allows customers to earn points that can be redeemed for gas or groceries every time they shop. Stop & Shop customers can choose how and where they want to shop - whether in-store or online for delivery or same day pickup. The company is committed to making an impact in its communities by fighting hunger, supporting our troops, and investing in pediatric cancer research to help find a cure. The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company LLC is an Ahold Delhaize USA Company and employs 58,000 associates and operates more than 400 stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. To learn more about Stop & Shop, visit www.stopandshop.com. About GreenPrint GreenPrint is a global environmental technology company, offers sustainability as a service with patent-protected programs that deliver environmental impact and bottom-line results. An Inc. 5000 company and a member of 1% Percent for the Planet, GreenPrint's turnkey offerings help companies meet sustainability goals while increasing brand value and customer loyalty - making it easy for businesses to do well by doing good. GreenPrint, A Public Benefit Corporation, is on pace to offset over 30 million metric tons of carbon by 2025. Follow GreenPrint on LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005125/en/

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[September 30, 2021] CMTC Helps LED Lighting Array Manufacturer Increase Sales with Customized Marketing Program

California Manufacturing Technology Consulting (CMTC) recently engaged with Tail Lights Inc. to help the company increase its sales through a customized marketing program. Established in 2012, Tail Lights Inc. is the world's only manufacturer of LED lighting arrays that are designed to be mounted to the tails of horses to enhance visibility and safety not only for the horses and riders, but for motor vehicles that are sharing the road with them. The Tail Lights product was conceived as a result of owner Sami Gros and her horse being hit by a motor vehicle-after the accident, Sami realized that there was a need for this safety product. Today, Tail Light units are sold worldwide to mounted police and patrol units as well as to recreational equestrians. A Physician's Assistant by education and training, Sami has funded her company and the development of its products on her own. Not only is she the owner, but she wears all of the "hats" associated with a manufacturing company. When CMTC was introduced to Tail Lights in April of 2020, Sami was developing the company's 3rd generation of products and needed help to reach the next level of sales.



CMTC identified several consultants to assist in making three critical changes: 1) the Tail Lights website was completely redesigned - content was updated, navigation was streamlined, and eCommerce was accommodated; 2) search engine optimization was implemented; and 3) a social media campaign was initiated to create a network of influencers. As a result, Tail Lights experienced a 65% increase in website traffic which helped generate a sales increase of 47.8% within a year of the project's completion. After the project concluded, CMTC also followed up with a lead generation campaign which improved customer awareness and found an alternate supplier of critical components.

Tail Lights' Owner Sami Gros says of the experience, "Working with CMTC has been a godsend. They have provided me with assistance that I couldn't have done on my own. Invaluable! Assistance and support when I needed it most." For more information about CMTC's business services, contact Rachel Miller at rmiller@cmtc.com or 310-984-0096. About California Manufacturing Technology Consulting (CMTC) Established in 1992, California Manufacturing Technology Consulting (CMTC) is a private non-profit organization that provides technical assistance, workforce development, and consulting services to small and medium-sized manufacturers throughout the state of California. CMTC operates under a number of cooperative agreements with the Federal and State government, the largest of which is with the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the Department of Commerce for the State of California. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210930006038/en/

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[September 30, 2021] Coro Global Responds to Recent Request for a Special Meeting of Stockholders

Miami, FL , Sept. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Coro Global Inc. (Coro Global or the Company) develops and commercializes financial technology products in the United States. The Company was co-founded by David Dorr and Brian Dorr after living through the last financial crisis and watching the extreme inequality created by a financial system that is fundamentally broken. Banks and the 1% thrived while the average global citizen were made poorer. Coro Global was built on the belief that there was a better path forward that could be made available to everyone. That path is built on strong technology and sound money. Mr. Nasers press release. On Monday September 20, 2021, the Ex-Chairman of the Company, Lou Naser issued a press release purporting to represent Holders of More than Fifty Percent of the Outstanding Common Stock of the Company and alleging a wide-ranging set of accusations without any support. The Company and public can easily confirm, based on Exhibit A  Requesting Stockholders (below) from a letter sent from Mr. Nasers counsel on Friday September 17, 2021, that Mr. Naser and his Group of Stockholders do not constitute more than fifty percent of the Company. Furthermore, the Company denies the allegations in their entirety. The few buzz words and conclusory sentences in the press release do nothing to establish any valid claims but instead only serve to expose the defamatory and baseless nature of the press release. The press release is refuted by publicly filed documents, as well as Company records including its financials, board meeting records, and other books and records. The Ex-Board joins the Company. In his press release, Mr. Naser makes baseless arguments concerning the management of the Company and its direction going forward. These allegations are untrue. Indeed, Mr. Naser, along with the two other independent directors (Mr. Hueppi and Mr. Naupari) had become directors of the Company on June 24, 2020. For more than six months they directed the company along with Mark Goode and Nikki Noel as the complete Board of the Company. Mr. Naser, supported by the other independent directors Mr. Hueppi and Mr. Naupari, solicited the co-founders of the Company, David Dorr and Brian Dorr, to take on the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) beginning January 1, 2021. At the same time Mr. Naser persuaded the Board to appoint him Chairman of the Board, a position he held until just recently when he suddenly resigned on August 17, 2021. Mr. Naser induced David Dorr and Brian Dorr to take the officer positions, without any form of compensation, by committing that with his new title of Chairman he would raise $10 million in funding for the Company. The CEO and the COO are appointed by the Board. On January 1, 2021, David Dorr and Brian Dorr agreed and took on their roles for no compensation in cash, stock, or other benefits. They were appointed to their positions in the best interests of the Company shareholders, and since that time, have done everything in their power to gain customers and investors in the Company by developing the software, the product, and installing proper bookkeeping, and marketing. They reduced the Companys net losses by approximately 36% from ($2,717,361) for the first 6 months of 2020 to ($1,734,787) for the first 6 months of 2021, which can be clearly verified by anyone reviewing the Companys public filings1. They installed a complete accounting system and accounting policies and hired ex-Deloitte consultants immediately to implement and correct operational deficiencies left by prior management. Each issue which was identified was reported to the Board. Unfortunately, the prior Board (who resigned) failed to resolve the issues identified by the CEO and COO of the Company. Indeed, during Mr. Nasers, Mr. Hueppis and Mr. Nauparis tenure as directors of the Company, the stock price declined approximately 88%. Mr. Naser failed to raise the $10 million in funding he committed to raise as a condition to David Dorr and Brian Dorr taking on their positions as CEO and COO of the Company. Having failed in their governance of the Company and refusing to take responsibility, on August 17, 2021, Mr. Naser, Mr. Hueppi, and Mr. Naupari abandoned ship and spontaneously and coincidentally resigned. Brian and David Dorr develop the Company  a revolutionary financial technology business. As the remaining Board Members of the Company, David Dorr and Brian Dorr have taken every action to preserve and develop the value of the Company from the time they were appointed by the Board of the Company, through and beyond the abandonment of the Company by directors who resigned. The Company scaled its applications robustness and functionality, completing over thirty API updates and releases so far this year. The Company also acquired approximately 1,600 new customers. All these milestones had been predicated upon having the capital to execute and indeed, the current Board was able to accomplish these milestones without the capital Mr. Naser had committed to raise. The Company and its current Board have operated in a transparent manner, and the burn rates and financials were routinely reported to Mr. Naser who in turn as Chairman reported them to the Board of the Company. Mr. Nasers baseless claims of mismanagement at the Company are without basis and are denied. Appropriate executive compensation. As set forth in its publicly-filed Form 8-K Report, on September 9, 2021, Coro Global granted an aggregate of 6,000,000 restricted shares of common stock to six officers, employees, and consultants of the Company, including 1,000,000 shares to David Dorr (as CEO), 1,000,000 shares to Brian Dorr (as COO), 1,000,000 shares to Anna Milaeva (Chief Marketing Officer), 1,000,000 shares to Albert Rodriguez (CEO, Coro Corp.), 1,000,000 shares to Lorenzo Delzoppo (Chief Compliance Officer), and 1,000,000 shares to Jonathan Beck (Chief Technology Officer). The shares were issued as compensation to the executive officers of the Company to ensure that the Company has a successful executive team for the next four years. These six executive team members have supported the company since its inception in 2018 and have earned the rights to be compensated for their ongoing efforts and contributions to the Company. The former board of directors and officers of the Company all received restricted stock during their tenure. All of the restricted stock they received was without cash consideration. David Dorr and Brian Dorr started their employment as officers and directors of the company on January 1, 2021. They have worked without salary, health benefits, stock or any other forms of compensation. All previous management and directors received combinations of cash, stock, and health benefits. On May 17, 2018, Mark Goode, the former CEO received 500,000 in restricted stock immediately upon becoming CEO with a closing stock price of $2.50, thus granting him $1,250,000 in immediate compensation.2 On September 9, 2021, the day the restricted stock was granted to our senior management team, the company's stock closed at $1.32 and the first 250,000 shares that each executive will be eligible to have vested will not occur until September 10, 2022. None of the shares are vested and thus are future compensation , which is both acceptable and valid in the industry. These restricted shares were issued to ensure that the current management of the Company is appropriately compensated, in a manner which would ultimately inure to the greatest benefit of the Company and its shareholders. Mr. Nasers press release conveniently ignores the fact that none of the restricted shares have vested yet. The shares vest over the course of four years with a one-year cliff. That means that any executive that leaves before September 10, 2022, loses 100% of the shares granted to them. Each executive that is with the company on September 10, 2022, will only receive 250,000 shares. They must continue with the company to earn the remaining shares. The balance of their stock is vested each quarter over the remaining three years they serve the company. The restricted stock granted to the Companys senior management team does not possess any anti-dilution rights. In other words, all financing rounds over the next four years will dilute the positions of the senior management who received the restricted stock. This is not evidence of mismanagement, this is evidence of proper management, of the Company, and actions which were necessary in order to incentivize the executive team to stay at Coro Global (particularly after the prior Board members left) and encourage them to continue working over the course of four years, and against leaving the Company. Simply put, the shares were validly issued, for compensation, are not self-dealing or entrenchment and were validly issued by the Board of the Company. Moreover, under the Amended Bylaws of the Company (effective as of January 22, 2021), it was not necessary to hold a meeting to issue these restricted shares. Mr. Nasers request for a meeting is invalid. Although Mr. Naser claims that he has secured a majority of the shareholders to request a special meeting under the Amended Bylaws, his press release does not evidence such a majority. The shares which were validly issued for executive compensation, and which have not vested, still provide voting rights to the holders of those restricted shares. The total number of voting shares, therefore, is 31,458,746 (which includes the restricted shares issued on September 9, 2021). Mr. Naser has identified 12,926,234 votes as those voting in favor of holding a special meeting. However, that amount results in only 41.1% of the shareholders voting in favor of holding a special meeting. There is no valid basis for Mr. Naser to hold a special meeting pursuant to the Amended Bylaws and such meeting appears to be for an improper purpose. Doubt about the Companys ability to continue as a going concern. In every annual and quarterly public filing since 2018, when the Company started, there has been a public disclosure regarding the uncertainty in the Companys ability to remain a going concern. Despite this ongoing, and now heightened uncertainty, David Dorr and Brian Dorr have remained committed and aligned with the Company since they co-founded it in 2018. This commitment has been demonstrated in their tireless efforts to build the Company and Coro product, willingness to serve as officers of the Company without compensation and supported by the fact that they have never sold a single share of the Companys stock. Messrs. Naser, Hueppi, and Naupari served the Company as directors from June 24, 2020, through August 17, 2021, a period in which the Companys stock price declined 88.74%. Messrs. Naser, Hueppi, and Naupari were the sole members of the independent board as well as the sole members of the Companys Audit, Compensation, and Nomination Committees. They resigned simultaeously along with the Companys Corporate Secretary and General Counsel Glenn Truitt on August 17, 2021, as was reported in the Companys most recent 10Q. While Mr. Nasers allegations suggest a litany of baseless reasons for their resignation, the fact is that the Company was provided in writing from Mr. Truitt that Each of these members is resigning to focus their efforts on sectors and opportunities outside of the gold industry.



It is also disappointing that a review of the Group of Stockholders list from Mr. Naser, provided in Exhibit A, compared against public filings, shows that his Group of Stockholders appear to be responsible for greater than 60% of every single share sold in the public market since the Company was founded.3 This begs the question as to what their true intentions are for the Company and if those intentions would be in the best interest of all stockholders. The irresponsible and sudden departure of the directors, Mr. Nasers failure to deliver on his commitment of a $10 million funding, continued fall in the Companys stock price  likely driven by share sales from the Group of Stockholders Mr. Naser represents, and defamatory press release filled with unsupported allegations, have dramatically heightened the risk of the Company remaining a going concern.

Considering the current circumstances, the Company and Management intend to take a number of actions, including but not limited to, the following. First, with financial and legal risks a clear and present danger, the Company will take all actions necessary to preserve resources. To do so, the Company will be notifying customers of the Coro App that services will be suspended effective October 31, 2021. During that period, Company Management will explore opportunities to partner, license, or sell part of its assets. All actions taken will be done with the requisite transparency and procedures required under the Companys Amended Bylaws. Management is also considering withdrawing some or all its money transmission licenses to preserve operational resources. The Company will continue to preserve the technology assets and resources and evaluate monetization strategies for them on a standalone basis. Second, the Company has retained advisors to do a thorough review of the Company, including but not limited to its finances, operations, and history of officers, directors, and shareholders since inception. The purpose of this review is to document transparently how the Company has evolved to the present situation. All shareholders deserve such a review. The Company moves forward. The Company always has been, and continues to be, transparent. The Companys board meetings are recorded and well documented. The Companys current Board and Management is dedicated and has maintained their roles as CEO and COO, as true fiduciaries of the Company, and as the co-founders who established the very foundation for the Company business. On a positive note, the prior Board is no longer managing the Company  having abandoned their fiduciary duties to the Company, and their positions  and the Company can now focus on all available options to preserve the core mission of the Company, which is to develop an inclusive new financial system where gold, as stable money, can be used safely and securely in everyday transactions as easily as fiat currencies. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "may," "intend," "expect" and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance, or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed, or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations of the Company and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with our history of losses and our need to raise additional financing, the acceptance of our products and technology in the marketplace, our ability to demonstrate the commercial viability of our products and technology, and our need to increase the size of our organization. Further information on the Company's risk factors is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason except as may be required under applicable law.

Exhibit A Requesting Stockholders Requesting Stockholder Shares of Common Stock Held of Record Lou Naser 56,000 Carlos Naupari 30,000 Rudolph Hueppi 30,000 Anthony Naser 4,000 Raja Nasir 5,000 Ramiz Yousef 5,000 Dinh Family Trust, Jonathan Dinh TTEE 60,000 Forever 21 Trust, Victor Nguyen TTEE 80,000 John Bayrakadarian 30,000 Maurice Wooden 20,000 Scott Leary 200,000 SYU Holdings LLC 700,000 Aspire Ventures, LLC 225,000 J. Mark Goode 595,000 JMG Horseshoe LLC 433,333 Richard E. Ward 328,501 Kirk Wiles 464,400 Eric Swallow 50,000 Mike Leibowitz 80,000 Shane McGonnell 10,000 Luke Walker 5,000 Chris Erwin 5,000

Requesting Stockholder Shares of Common Stock Held of Record Jerry Moradi 80,000 Ehud Nahum 40,000 Sam Katz 10,000 Dustin Goodman 20,000 Mary Aloisio 10,000 Steve Cestro 10,000 Jacob Fried Stahl 20,000 Ezra Hanz 5,000 Robert Karger 5,000 Helene Fried Stahl 20,000 Eli Galicki 10,000 Romelli Cainong 80,000 LLH Irrevocable Trust, Kevin Hauser TTEE 2,200,000 LH Irrevocable Trust, Jonathan Feuerman TTEE 2,200,000 RH Sun & Surf Irrevocable Trust, Jonathan Feuerman TTEE 4,800,000 TOTAL 12,926,234





1 https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000842013/000121390021044284/0001213900-21-044284-index.html 2 https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/842013/000157570518000123/hash_8k.htm 3 Since March 2, 2018, through September 30, 2021, the total volume of shares traded of the Company is 1,595,736. Comparing the share positions in Exhibit A to the Companys S1 Registration Statement filed on October 29, 2018, shows a notable decrease in share positions. See filing https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000842013/000121390018014589/0001213900-18-014589-index.html



Investor Relations 1 (866) 806-2676 ir@coro.global

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[September 30, 2021] DigitalBridge to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences in October 2021

DigitalBridge Group, Inc. ("DigitalBridge" or the "Company") (NYSE: DBRG) today announced executives from DigitalBridge will participate in the following upcoming investor conferences: October 4-6: 2021 Deutsche Bank 29th Annual Leverage Finance Conference Marc Ganzi, President and CEO of DigitalBridge, will be speaking at 4:15pm ET on Monday, October 4, 2021. The presentation webcast will be broadcast over the Internet and can be accessed on the Shareholders section of the Company's website at ir.digitalbridge.com/events. October 18-21: J.P. Morgan Third Annual Media and Communications Industry Panel Forum Marc Ganzi, President and CEO of DigitalBridge, will be speaking at 12:05pm ET on Tuesday, October 19, 2021. Additionally, the Company will be holding 1x1 meetings with investors during the conference.

The presentation webcast will be broadcast over the Internet and can be accessed on the Shareholders section of the Company's website at ir.digitalbridge.com/events.



About DigitalBridge DigitalBridge (NYSE: DBRG) is a leading global digital infrastructure REIT. With a heritage of over 25 years of investing in and operating businesses across the digital ecosystem including cell towers, data centers, fiber, small cells, and edge infrastructure, DigitalBridge manages a $35 billion portfolio of digital infrastructure assets on behalf of its limited partners and shareholders. DigitalBridge is headquartered in Boca Raton with key offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Singapore. To learn more, visit www.digitalbridge.com.

Cautionary Statement regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," or "potential" or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases which are predictions of or indicate future events or trends and which do not relate solely to historical matters. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, and may cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Factors that might cause such a difference include, without limitation, the timing and pace of the Company's digital transformation, including the Company's ability to rotate the balance sheet and redeploy capital into digital infrastructure, whether the Company will realize any of the anticipated benefits of such transformation, and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in DigitalBridge's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2021 and June 30, 2021, and its other reports filed from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (" SEC (News - Alert) "). All forward-looking statements reflect the Company's good faith beliefs, assumptions and expectations, but they are not guarantees of future performance. DigitalBridge cautions investors not to unduly rely on any forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. DigitalBridge is under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this press release, nor to conform prior statements to actual results or revised expectations, and DigitalBridge does not intend to do so. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210930006046/en/

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[September 30, 2021] Weebit demonstrates successful scaling of its ReRAM technology to 28nm

Key highlights:

Weebit, together with its development partner CEA-Leti, demonstrate production-level parameters for its ReRAM technology at 28nm

Key step in productising the technology for the embedded memory market

Weebits ReRAM technology can support smaller geometries used in AI, autonomous driving, 5G and advanced IoT

Weebits ReRAM is well-positioned to be a key memory technology for embedded non-volatile memory for advanced process nodes where flash memory is no longer feasible HOD HASHARON, Israel, Sept. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Weebit Nano Limited (ASX:WBT), a leading developer of next-generation memory technologies for the global semiconductor industry, together with its development partner CEA-Leti, have demonstrated production-level parameters of Weebits Resistive Random-Access Memory (ReRAM) technology in a 28 nanometre (nm) process. Demonstrating production level parameters of Weebits ReRAM technology at 28nm is a key step toward productisation of embedded Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) for applications such as AI, autonomous driving, 5G, and advanced Internet-of-Things (IoT) processors. Weebit and CEA-Leti, the French research institute recognised as a global leader in the field of microelectronics, jointly tested, characterised and measured functional 1 Megabit (Mb) ReRAM arrays in a 28nm process technology on 300 millimetre (mm) wafers, the largest diameter used in mass production and the standard in advanced nodes. The 28nm ReRAM arrays are implemented using a small and power-efficient switching device, taking full advantage of the low power and low voltage capabilities of the 28nm process, and enabling an up to 4 times increase in memory density. Testing of Weebits one-transistor-one-resistor (1T1R) ReRAM arrays, embedded in 28nm Fully Depleted Silicon on Insulator (FDSOI), proved its robustness with very good endurance and data retention alongside other production-level quality parameters. This successful demonstration of reliability and robustness at 28nm strongly positions Weebts ReRAM technology to be a key memory technology in NVM for advanced processes where it is no longer technically or economically feasible to embed flash memory technology.



Olivier Faynot, Head of Silicon component Division at CEA-Leti, said: The semiconductor industry is constantly moving to smaller geometries for advanced processes. Since embedded flash faces scalability challenges below 40nm, companies today use complex and inefficient solutions when embedding it into their chips. The industry has been crying out for a new technology to succeed flash memory in advanced geometries, and these results show Weebit has a viable solution. Commenting on another key development milestone achieved by Weebit, CEO Coby Hanoch said: Weebit, through its close partnership with CEA-Leti, has already demonstrated the significant advantages of its ReRAM technology at larger geometries, and we have now shown that we can successfully scale this technology down to 28nm. Mark Liu, Chairman of TSMC, the worlds largest fab, recently called 28nm the sweet spot for our embedded memory applications since the 28nm geometry is widely deployed in a range of applications and is considered the gateway to the most advanced process nodes.

Given the achievements we have managed in scaling down Weebits technology to date, we believe our ReRAM technology can scale to most advanced nodes, enabling Weebit to offer a highly competitive embedded memory solution that replaces flash memory for leading-edge applications. Weebits first commercial deal with SkyWater was a major milestone for the Company, providing commercial validation of our innovative technology and enabling us to bring Weebits cutting-edge ReRAM technology to volume production at 130nm. With our ReRAM technology now achieving production-level parameters at 28nm, we are significantly expanding the range of potential industries and total addressable market for Weebits cutting-edge memory technology. This announcement has been authorised for release by the Board of Weebit Nano Limited. About Weebit Nano Limited

Weebit Nano Ltd. is a leading developer of next-generation semiconductor memory technology. The companys ground-breaking Resistive RAM (ReRAM) addresses the growing need for significantly higher performance and lower power memory solutions in a range of new electronic products such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, smartphones, robotics, autonomous vehicles, 5G communications and artificial intelligence. Weebits ReRAM allows semiconductor memory elements to be significantly faster, less expensive, more reliable and more energy efficient than those using existing Flash memory solutions. Because it is based on fab-friendly materials, the technology can be quickly and easily integrated with existing flows and processes, without the need for special equipment or large investments. See: www.weebit-nano.com or follow us on https://twitter.com/WeebitNano Weebit Nano and the Weebit Nano logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Weebit Nano Ltd. in the United States and other countries. Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. For further information please contact: Investors

Eric Kuret, Market Eye

P: +61 417 311 335

E: eric.kuret@marketeye.com.au Media  Australia

Tristan Everett, Market Eye

P: +61 403 789 096

E: tristan.everett@marketeye.com.au Media  US

Jen Bernier-Santarini, Weebit Nano

P : +1 650-336-4222

E: jen@weebit-nano.com



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[September 30, 2021] Flex By Finaxar Continues Mission to Eliminate Friction in B2B Payments For SMEs

SINGAPORE, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital payments, and managing finance on digital platforms is now the new norm. Especially for cash-tight SMEs, an agile money management service is crucial to increasing overall efficiency. Finaxar Holdings Pte Ltd's Flex by Finaxar is the first fintech platform in Singapore to offer Advanced Spend Controls to help SMEs regulate business expenditures. With Flex, SMEs can now issue Flex Visa Debit cards to employees, both physical and virtual. These cards have direct access to an SME's Flex account and businesses can set up spend controls and permissible categories to reduce the risk of misuse. For instance, a business owner can issue physical or virtual cards for a group of employees on the Flex app to be used for transportation and block all transactions, except for use on transportation and taxis. In doing so, the employees' cards can only be used in these merchant categories. For additional control, the business owner can set a specific monthly spend limit, layered with transaction limit, which helps businesses stay within budgets. With Flex cards, employees can facilitate payments more efficiently, while empowering business owners full control of all expenses made on the businesses' behalf. This 24/7 visibility to financial transactions at a granular level on the Flex by Finaxar platform, provides SMEs with a peace of mind, so they can focus on their core activity of growing their business Dr. Tan Sian Wee, Group Chief Executive Officer of Finaxar Holdings Pte Ltd, says: "We believe that you can't manage what you can't control. The addition of Advanced Spend Controls on the Flex app will allow SMEs to wield complete control of their business expenses from end to end." Indeed, the ability to control and manage in real-time has never been more important given the changing COVID-19 situation, which can disrupt business plans and affect revenue and profits. Bundled with receipt capture and integration with accounting software Xero, business owners can now manage payments at one glance and in real-time. Integration with other accounting software platforms is scheduled for the next 6 months to cater to the needs of more SMEs. Flex by Finaxar enables SMEs to obtain accurate and real-time insights for a comprehensive financial outlook, encompassing spend, payables and credit lines. When in need of urgent working capital, Flex cardholders can also access working capital up to S$100,000* in interest-free credit for up to 35 days, which can be approved within 48 hours. Billing periods are adjustable and there are no hidden fees typically associated with traditional lending. What's more, Flex by Finaxar's partnership with ipaymy helps Singapore businesses tap into credit lines using their Visa cards to pay their suppliers for expenses such as rent, salaries, invoices and corporate tax, who typically do not have card payments acceptance. This will help businesses with tight cash flow to accommodate all types of business payments. According to a survey among 2,188 SME employees and employers, the most common payment types are payroll (100%), rental (94%), suppliers (93%) and software subscriptions (57%). Flex by Finaxar's features target key pain points of small business owners and employees. The same survey shows that the biggest barriers to applying for a corporate credit card are card fees (72%), inadequate credit line (57%) and low acceptance among suppliers and vendors (45%). As Flex Cards are powered by Visa, they have high acceptance among suppliers and vendors. Domestic business payments are free, and businesses that procure from outside of Singapore or have regional teams can also benefit from zero forex markup. "Providing SMEs with a solution that is simple to use, flexible, and with real-time capabilities is front and centre of our innovation," adds Dr Tan. "This will empower SMEs to stay responsive to business demands and reduce manual administrative tasks."







*Credit lines are subject to approval by Flex's partner, Finaxar Capital ll Pte. Ltd.

About Flex by Finaxar Founded in 2016, Finaxar is a Singapore-based fintech firm, with a mission is to eliminate friction for SMEs in the process of managing payments and gaining access to working capital. In 2020, Finaxar partnered with Visa to launch Flex Business Cards to provide SMEs with digital payments and spend management capabilities, in addition to affordable working capital to support short-term financing needs. Flex by Finaxar aims to dramatically improve how SMEs manage B2B payments and boost cash flow in a simpler, flexible, more affordable and functional way on a single, integrated platform, so they can grow without limits. For more information, please visit: https://www.flexnow.co . For media inquiries, please contact Verra Asia on behalf of Finaxar

Olivia Leong

Olivia@verraasia.com

+65 98484783 SOURCE Finaxar Holdings Pte Ltd

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[September 30, 2021] Simple2Trade pivots to FYNXT to usher in a new era of digital transformation in financial services

SINGAPORE, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Simple2Trade today unveiled a transformation in its brand to purposefully reflect the transition from a purely functional to a deeply experiential product and solution set. The company, now known as FYNXT (aka FINNEXT), offers vertically integrated digital platforms for a range of financial services firms including, FX/CFD Brokers, Multi-Asset brokerages, Global remittance providers, Banks, and others. Long on domain expertise and brimming with an accumulated base of intellectual capital, these new product suites have reset the benchmark for features, functions, and user experience. The financial services sector is on the cusp of a revolutio, driven in no small part by the shifting needs and expectations of end customers.



FYNXT's products combine the very best of contemporary technology with a deep understanding of real-world business needs Modular, sociable, and extensible with open APIs, this new suite of products is production deployable in both SaaS and license formats, promising minimal upfront costs, ease of use, almost infinite scalability, and accelerated time to market. Aeby Samuel, CEO of Simple2Trade, comments, "This is a very exciting time to be in the FINTECH space. We've long known that for our customers, it's always about (client) acquisition, engagement, retention, and ultimately, client lifetime value. This is really where we shine. Everything we do is ultimately designed to help our clients get customers, keep customers. Superior functionality alone no longer cuts it. Today's financial services firms need to craft a compelling customer experience, from onboarding through real-time data-driven insight to consume the Products / Services and make informed decisions quickly."

FYNXT is a Singapore-based fintech that empowers FYNancial Services with the NXT-Gen Digital Front Office and transforms its legacy business into an agile, efficient and modern Digital Business. The company offers specific turn-key solutions for FOREX-CFD and Multi-asset brokerages, Remittance Providers, Banks and other Financial Services firms globally. For more information about FYNXT, visit www.FYNXT.com or follow us on Twitter @fintech_S2T SOURCE Simple2Trade

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[October 01, 2021] Santhera will Publish its Interim Report for the First Half of 2021 on October 15, 2021



Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR Pratteln, Switzerland, October 1, 2021 : SIX Exchange Regulation has permitted Santhera to publish its interim report for the six-month period ended June 30, 2021, on October 15, 2021, at the latest. Following the successful completion of Santhera's equity financing last week, Santhera is in the process of completing the 2021 interim report and Santhera's auditors are currently performing the final review procedures, in particular with regard to the financing, which is a significant event after balance sheet date under applicable reporting standards. Previously, on September 20, 2021, Santhera has already published key preliminary unaudited financial results for the six months ended June 30, 2021. These can be viewed here. As required by SIX Exchange Regulation, Santhera hereby reprints the following extract of the decision of SIX Exchange Regulation (translation from the German original): The exemption from the obligations for maintaining listing and thus the deferral of the publication of the interim report for the first half of 2021 as well as the filing of this report with SIX Exchange Regulation Ltd by October 15, 2021 at the latest is hereby approved subject to the following proviso (lit. a) and conditions (lit. b): a. SIX Exchange Regulation Ltd reserves the right to potentially suspend trading in the securities of Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding Ltd for a certain period of time if it does not publish its interim report for the first half-year of 2021 in accordance with the provisions on ad ho publicity (art. 53 Listing Rules in conjunction with the Directive on Ad hoc Publicity) by 23:59 on Friday, October 15, 2021, at the latest.



b. Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG has to publish a media release regarding the present decision in accordance with the provisions on ad hoc publicity (art. 53 Listing Rules in conjunction with the Directive on Ad hoc Publicity) by Friday, October 1, 2021, 07:30 at the latest. Such media release has to include the full text of clause I of the present decision in a prominent place;

must mention the reasons for postponing the publication and filing of the interim report for the first half-year of 2021. About Santhera

Santhera Pharmaceuticals (SIX: SANN) is a Swiss specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative medicines for rare neuromuscular and pulmonary diseases with high unmet medical need. Santhera has an exclusive license for all indications worldwide to vamorolone, a first-in-class dissociative steroid with novel mode of action, which was investigated in a pivotal study in patients with DMD as an alternative to standard corticosteroids. The clinical stage pipeline also includes lonodelestat (POL6014) to treat cystic fibrosis (CF) and other neutrophilic pulmonary diseases as well as an exploratory gene therapy approach targeting congenital muscular dystrophies. Santhera out-licensed rights to its first approved product, Raxone (idebenone), outside North America and France for the treatment of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) to Chiesi Group. For further information, please visit www.santhera.com.

Raxone is a trademark of Santhera Pharmaceuticals. For further information please contact:

public-relations@santhera.com or

Eva Kalias, Head External Communications

Phone: +41 79 875 27 80

eva.kalias@santhera.com Disclaimer / Forward-looking statements

This communication does not constitute an offer or invitation to subscribe for or purchase any securities of Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG. This publication may contain certain forward-looking statements concerning the Company and its business. Such statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Readers should therefore not place undue reliance on these statements, particularly not in connection with any contract or investment decision. The Company disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. # # # Attachment 2021 10 01_Release_1H2021_e_final



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[October 01, 2021] Chandigarh University's 'CU-SAT' will be amongst the 75 student-made satellites to be launched during 75th Independence Day

- Indian Technology Congress Association in partnership with Chandigarh University organizes the 9th Indian Technology Congress - Chandigarh University announces CU-World UNITYsat Program; Aims to impart knowledge on Satellite designing to students 75 countries CHANDIGARH, India, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- India will launch 75 student-made satellites as a part of 75th Independence Day celebrations next year. This was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent UNGA speech. CU-SAT satellite, being designed and developed by the students of Chandigarh University, would be part the ambitious project and would be one of the 75 student-made satellites which would be launched in space on the eve of 75th Independence Day in 2022. This is was announced by Dean Academic Affairs (DAA), Chandigarh University, Dr. B. Priestly Shan during his virtual address in the 9th Indian Technology Congress. The 2-day 9th Indian Technology Congress (ITC-2022) on the theme 'Satellites for Everyone and Space for Everyone' was jointly hosted by International Technology Congress Association and Chandigarh University. More than 36 eminent speakers from National & International space agencies and organizations across the globe including the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States of America, Germany, Italy, Israel, Portugal, France, Canada, Netherlands, Serbia, and Peru participated during the 2-day technology congress. Indian Technology Congress is the country's largest conference in the field of satellite and space. More than 15,000 students and professionals from educational institutions, space agencies and manufacturing institutes from across the country and abroad participated in the virtual event. During the event, Chandigarh University launched the CU-UNITYsat program, in which students and scientist from 75 countries would be participating. The program will introduce cutting-edge space & satellite applications and solutions, ushering in a 'new space age' for space development. DAA, Chandigarh University, Dr. B. Priestly Shan said, "The CU-UNITYsat program aims to impar knowledge on satellite and space technology and build a ground station and technology centre for the development of student satellites." He further added that, "The program creates a sense of opportunity, inspiration and success in countries that are not able to be a part of the space program and launch a satellite into space. International Technology Congress Association announced the hosting of 10th edition of Indian Technology Congress at Chandigarh University in 2020 with theme 'Pathways for Intelligent, Digitised and Sustainable Execution of Mega Projects."



Alejandro J. Roman Molinas, Director General Aerospace Development Paraguay Space Agency; Padma Shree R.M Vasagam, Director of Advanced Technology and Planning, ISRO Headquarters; Dr. Wooday P Krishna, National President, Indian Institute of Production Engineers; Dr. YS Rajan, former Scientist and Professor, ISRO; L.V Muralikrishna Reddy, President Indian Technology Congress Association, UNISEC India and Dr. R.S Bawa, Pro-Chancellor, Chandigarh University were amongst the dignitaries who were present during the inaugural ceremony. During the conference, individuals and organizations who have contributed in the field of space, satellite, technology, research, innovation, manufacturing, automobile, and health were awarded with Lifetime Achievement Award and Technology Excellence Award. The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Dr. V. Abhaikumar, CEO, TCE-TBI, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai; O.P. Khanna, Chairman, Needy Heart Foundation; Dr. S.K. Prasad, Professor of Management, REVA University. Apart from this, Prof. Alejandro J. Roman Molinas, General Director of Space Development, Paraguayan Space Agency, Paraguay; Dr Guido Parissenti, GP Advanced Projects SRL, Italy; Dr Jayakumar Venkatesan, CEO, Valles Marineris International and Visionary, Upgreat Technology Contests (RVC, Skolkova Foundation, ASI) Russia, New Tech Solutions Bangalore, Nagarjuna College of Engineering and Technology, Devanahalli, Bangalore, Mangalam College of Engineering Kottayam, Kerala conferred with 'Technology Excellence Award'.

Addressing the virtual conference, Alejandro J. Roman Molinas said, "The whole world has realized the need to collect data through space technology for the challenges like corona pandemic crisis and climate change." "Space technology is playing an important role in our daily life. There is an utmost need to set up infrastructure and invest in the field of space and technology," added Alejandro. "Over the years, Indian Technology Congress has emerged as a leading global think tank for technology, science and business think tanks working on implementing technological solutions to contemporary challenges," said Dr. Wooday P Krishna. Describing the conference as important, Dr. Wooday P Krishna said that this initiative will be important for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations by discussing the importance of satellites and Nanosatellites in future technologies. He further said that nano satellites will play an important role in making the world a technology power in future. Speaking on the occasion, Padma Shree R.M Vasagam said, "The launch of Sputnik-1 in 1957 started a new Space Age in the space sector, which ushered a new political, security, technological and scientific development. Prior to this, there were no man-made satellites in space, but since its inception, thousands of satellites have been active in space orbit and student-made satellites are also playing an important role." R.M Vasagam further said, "IoT based technologies are one of the emerging tools for the data collection globally, while nano satellites act as a guide in data collection." "The cloud-based storage and cloud computing are important technologies for smooth functioning of ground stations. Massive advancement in the field of space & technology have proven to be instrumental in making things affordable, dynamic, and quality-oriented," added R.M Vasagam. While talking about the role of satellites, Padma Shree Dr. YS Rajan said, "In the present era there is a need to develop new technology in the field of space and satellite keeping in view the increasing needs of the people." Describing the UNITYsat program as historic, Dr. YS Rajan said, "The Indian Technology Congress program has proved to be a forum for network building and collaboration, where various academic institutions and national and international space agencies have exchanged ideas in the field of space and satellite." About Chandigarh University Chandigarh University is a NAAC A+ Grade University and an autonomous educational institution approved by UGC and is located near Chandigarh in the state of Punjab. It is the youngest university in India and the only private university in Punjab to be honoured with A+ Grade by NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council). CU offers more than 109 UG and PG programs in the field of engineering, management, pharmacy, law, architecture, journalism, animation, hotel management, commerce, and others. It has been awarded as The University with Best Placements by WCRC. For more information, please visit our website www.cuchd.in. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1639872/Chandigarh_University_Image.jpg

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[October 01, 2021] ISAP2021: The 13th International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific "The Decisive Decade: Towards Integrated Solutions to Climate, Biodiversity and Other Planetary Challenges"

The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) will host the 13th International Forum on Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP2021). Plenary Sessions will be held on Wednesday, 24 November at Pacifico Yokohama, and Thematic Tracks will be held online from Thursday, 25 November to Friday, 3 December. ISAP is an annual forum held in Japan, featuring a range of discussions on sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific. The overall theme of ISAP2021 is "The Decisive Decade: Towards Integrated Solutions (News - Alert) to Climate, Biodiversity and Other Planetary Challenges". Discussions from various perspectives will focus on what approaches we need to take now for the decade up to 2030, which will be the turning point for realising the transition to a sustainable society. ISAP2021 webpage: https://isap.iges.or.jp/2021/en/index.html In the face of COVID-19, many of the world's decision-makers have demonstrated the kind of commitment to tackle biodiversity and climate change that could inject momentum into the sustainability agenda more generally. There is good reason to "prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems" -- not only for nature's own sake but also because of the key role nature plays in addressing poverty and combating climate change The most sustainable solutions to the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss involve acting upon their interrelationships with each other and other SDGs. In short, if the decisive decade is to be a distinct turning point, then government agencies, the private sector, civil society, scientists and the public need more integrated approaches to biodiversity and climate change. ISAP will therefore provide a unique platform for a diverse group of speakers and attendees to offer their perspectives for integrated solutions. Featured Speakers

Johan Rockstrom Diretor, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam





ISHII Naoko Executive Vice-President, Professor at the Institute for Future Initiative, Director for the Center for Global Commons, The University of Tokyo

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity

TAKAMURA Yukari Professor, Institute for Future Initiatives, The University of Tokyo, Chair of the Central Environmental Council

TAKEUCHI Kazuhiko President of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Dates

Plenary Sessions: 24 November 2021

Thematic Tracks: 25 November - 3 December 2021

Venue

Plenary Sessions: Pacifico Yokohama and online (Zoom)

Thematic Tracks: Online (Zoom) Organiser

Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Language

Japanese/English (Simultaneous translation) Dedicated ISAP Website & Registration

https://isap.iges.or.jp/2021/en/index.html About the International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP)

The International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP) is held annually to share information and facilitate diverse discussions on sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific, with the participation of front-line experts and diverse stakeholders from international organisations, governments, business and NGOs. The Forum has been providing venues for up-to-date discussions with experts and diverse stakeholders from international organisations, governments, business and NGOs and knowledge/information sharing with a wide range of practitioners.

ISAP2021 webpage: https://isap.iges.or.jp/2021/en/index.html About the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)

The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) is a collaborative research and outreach organisation working to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, resilient, shared, and inclusive Asia-Pacific region, both across borders and within the world at large.

Our strategic research and operations are defined by a mission-- to drive action on the world's most critical environmental and social challenges through the delivery of trusted expertise on sustainable development and resilience.

IGES operates as an agent of change. Together with key international organisations, governments, academic institutes, business and civil society leaders we seek to foster a world where planetary boundaries are fully respected, a green economy is flexibly implemented, and the well-being of people is steadily improved. In so doing we emphasise workable and inspired approaches to cross-cutting global development issues ranging from climate change, natural resources and ecosystems management, and sustainable consumption and production, among many others.

The Institute -- established in 1998 with support from the Japanese government and Kanagawa Prefecture -- maintains its international headquarters in Hayama, Japan. With offices and local centres in Tokyo, Kansai, Kitakyushu, Beijing, Bangkok, and New Delhi, IGES supports a regional and global network for ground breaking sustainable development research and practice. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005253/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Banc of California Announces Schedule of Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Release and Conference Call

Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE: BANC) today announced it will release 2021 third quarter financial results on Thursday, October 21, 2021. The Company will host a conference call to discuss its third quarter earnings at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time (PT) on the same day. Interested parties are welcome to attend the conference call by dialing (888) 317-6003 and referencing event code 9764771. A live audio webcast will also be available on the Webcasts page of the Company's investor relations website. The slide presentation for the call will also be available on the Company's investor relations website prior to the call. An audio archive of the conference call will be available on the Company's investor relations website within 24 hours after the end of the call.



About Banc of California, Inc. Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE: BANC) is a bank holding company with approximately $8.0 billion in assets and one wholly-owned banking subsidiary, Banc of California, N.A. (the Bank). The Bank has 35 offices including 30 full-service branches located throughout Southern California. Through our dedicated professionals, we provide customized and innovative banking and lending solutions to businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals throughout California. We help to improve the communities where we live and work, by supporting organizations that provide financial literacy and job training, small business support and affordable housing. With a commitment to service and to building enduring relationships, we provide a higher standard of banking. We look forward to helping you achieve your goals. For more information, please visit us at www.bancofcal.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005128/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Half of Canadian employees not concerned about cyber crime, but vigilance is key to preventing attacks

- Almost 40% of employed Canadians say their company does not provide cybersecurity training: ISA Cybersecurity poll - TORONTO, Oct. 1, 2021 /CNW/ - Cyber crime is rampant today, and 2022 is predicted to be the worst year ever. Yet, half of employed Canadians (51%) say they are not concerned their place of employment will experience a cyber attack or security breach. And almost four in 10 say they don't receive cybersecurity training at work. For Cybersecurity Awareness Month, ISA Cybersecurity is providing advice on how to follow cyber-smart work practices. That includes encouraging business owners to educate employees that cyber attacks are a real threat, and they must play a part in preventing them. "Creating a cyber-aware culture in the workplace is a must in 2021," says Kevin Dawson, President & CEO of ISA Cybersecurity. "Employees are the front line of defense against cyber crime, and as an employer it's up to you to make cyber awareness a priority. Continuous training and adherence to best practices will make employees less likely to click on a phony link or open an infected attachment. These are simple but powerful ways to prevent a cyber attack." Businesses of any size can easily adopt cyber-smart work practices for employees, such as:

Train employees on the different types of cyber attacks and what to watch for. Teach employees how to identify a phishing attack and other forms of social engineering.

Develop a basic set of IT policies and bes practices so that employees know and understand the standards to follow.

Require the use of complex, single-use passwords and augment the organization's security by employing two-factor (or more) authentication.

Ensure employees access company resources using a VPN to protect business assets and communications. Make sure employees understand that using free Wi-Fi in a public place to access corporate systems is not safe.









Keep your systems up to date: Some of the biggest breaches in the news have exploited known operating system bugs that had fixes available. Many patches can be automated and applying the latest versions of your mobile phone software, computer operating systems, applications, and anti-malware software is one of the most important activities you can do to protect your business. Back up your data: Conduct full backups of systems and essential data on a regular basis. Backups are critical for preserving your data and enabling fast recovery if your business experiences a cyber attack. Protect your physical IT infrastructure: Restrict access to assets, provide protection for portable devices, and guarantee the secure destruction of obsolete equipment and media so that you minimize the risk of a breach through hardware. Hire a cybersecurity firm to monitor your systems: Most cyber attacks are on nights or weekends: get peace of mind by having a team to alert you of any issues, 24/7. It's similar to hiring a security company to monitor your physical premises  and just as necessary. Act quickly if you've been attacked: Time is of the essence after a cyber attack. It's important to retain a cybersecurity firm so that you have someone to call in case of an emergency. A cybersecurity firm will be able to contain the attack as fast as possible and accelerate recovery efforts. It will also have the digital forensic expertise to investigate the source and ensure you're better prepared in future. "Do things the right way from the start, because the cost of a cyber attack in terms of time, money and brand reputation is far higher than the cost of prevention," says Dawson. "Have basic controls and monitoring in place and have an expert you can call when you need one  it's a reality of doing business in 2021 and beyond." About the Survey:

The survey findings are from a study conducted by ISA Cybersecurity from September 21  23, 2021, among 937 employed Canadians who are members of the online Angus Reid Forum. For comparison purposes only, a sample of this size would yield a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The survey was offered in both English and French. About ISA Cybersecurity:

ISA Cybersecurity is Canada's leading cybersecurity-focused company, with nearly three decades of experience providing customers with advisory and technical services on complex and evolving issues related to cybersecurity. Their vision is to help create a world in which everyone is safe from cyber threats. Recognized by IDC MarketScape as a Major Player in Canadian Security Services, ISA Cybersecurity has offices in Toronto, Ottawa, and Calgary, and operates multiple 24/7/365, SOC 2 Type 2 security operations centres. ISA Cybersecurity delivers cybersecurity services and people you can trust. Learn more at www.isacybersecurity.com. SOURCE ISA Cybersecurity

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[October 01, 2021] Top Industry Executive Tim Ronda to Join TigerRisk

TigerRisk Partners LLC, a leading risk, capital and strategic advisor to the global insurance and reinsurance industries, today announced the impending appointment of Tim Ronda as a senior executive. The hire further strengthens TigerRisk's position as an elite player in the reinsurance marketplace. Mr. Ronda's most recent position was Global Geographic Leader of Reinsurance Solutions at Aon. Before that, he was Aon's President of Reinsurance Solutions for the U.S. He was also a member of the firm's reinsurance solutions global executive committee. Before joining Aon, he was a Senior Vice President at Guy Carpenter. "This move means that TigerRisk will have, hands down, the best leadership team in our industry," said TigerRisk Chief Executive Officer Rod Fox. "We are delighted with Tim's decision to join TigerRisk. He is one of the most experienced and capable reinsurance executives in the industry today. He brings with him two qualities especially important to us at TigerRisk: first, his broad-based relationships and experience; and second, his instinctual understanding of insurance and reinsurance markets." Rob Bredahl, who joined TigerRisk as President n 2019, welcomed Mr. Ronda's impending appointment. He said: "This is a real coup for TigerRisk - I have known Tim for 16 years as a former colleague and competitor and have always admired his approach to broking. We have had remarkable interest in our company from both potential clients and people wanting to join the team. Someone of Tim's caliber joining will continue to add to our appeal. With Tim's help, we'll continue reshaping the industry."



In addition to his executive roles at Aon, Mr. Ronda is known for his expertise in areas such as property, management liability, E&O, employment practices, general and excess liability and workers' compensation. Mr. Ronda graduated from Washington & Lee University with degrees in Business Administration and Accounting. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst. Mr. Ronda's employment with TigerRisk will start on October 14.

Ends Issued by Rein4ce on behalf of TigerRisk About TigerRisk TigerRisk Partners LLC is a leading risk, capital and strategic advisor to the insurance and reinsurance industries founded in 2008. TigerRisk Capital Markets & Advisory (TCMA), a broker dealer registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a member of FINRA and a member of SIPC, is a wholly owned subsidiary providing clients strategic advice on mergers, acquisitions, and capital markets products and transactions. Headquartered in Stamford, CT, TigerRisk has offices in Stamford, New York, Bermuda, London, Hong Kong, Minneapolis, Chicago and Raleigh. For more information, visit www.TigerRisk.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005333/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Cornerstone Building Brands to Host Manufacturing Day Events in Six Communities

In honor of National Manufacturing Day 2021, Cornerstone Building Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CNR) (the "Company"), the largest manufacturer of exterior building products in North America, today announced that it will host events throughout October as part of an ongoing effort to showcase the importance of U.S. manufacturing and increase awareness of the outstanding career opportunities in the field. After hosting virtual-only events in 2020, this year's events will offer a number of options to ensure students and community members can experience the programs safely. The following facilities, all part of the Cornerstone Building Brands family, will participate in National Manufacturing Day: October 1: Siding Group facility in Martinsburg, W. Va.

October 15: U.S. Windows facility in Dallas, Texas

October 22: Siding Group facility in York, Neb.

October 26: Metal Coaters facility in Middletown, Ohio

October 27: U.S. Windows facility in Welcome, N.C.

October 28: Engineered Buildings facility in Houston, Texas National Manufacturing Day is an annual event supported locally by hundreds of manufacturers across the country. These in-person and virtual tours and presentations are designed to showcase modern manufacturing technology and career opportunities available to students, teachers, parents, job seekers and other local community members. This year's outreach is especially important as companies look to rebuild the workforce amidst the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June, for example, the number of manufacturing job openings was at the highest level since the 1990s, by far.1 This shortage underscores the importance of education regarding the many unique and exciting career opportunities that exist within manufacturing. "Our teams work together to create exterior building solutions that enable structural, environmental and aesthetic needs of our customers across North America, as well as strengthen our economy. We're honored to raise awarenss through Manufacturing Day events showcasing the many diverse opportunities in U.S. manufacturing," said Rose Lee, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cornerstone Building Brands. "In fact, manufacturers in the U.S. will need to fill four million jobs by 2030, an unprecedented need for skilled workers who can design, implement and operate the technologies that will be needed to manufacture the products to sustainably grow our communities. For our company and countless others, it is crucial to help fill the skills gap that exists today to build a powerful manufacturing workforce of the future."



Manufacturing Day is produced by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) with key contributions and support from the Manufacturing Institute (MI). In addition, they have launched the larger Creators Wanted initiative to reduce the skills gap and increase the number of students enrolling in technical or vocational schools. To learn more about local Cornerstone Building Brands Manufacturing Day events, visit www.CornerstoneBuildingBrands.com/MFGDay. Or, to get more information on Manufacturing Day or Creators Wanted, please go to www.creatorswanted.org. About Cornerstone Building Brands

Cornerstone Building Brands is the largest manufacturer of exterior building products for residential and low-rise non-residential buildings in North America. Headquartered in Cary, N.C., we serve residential and commercial customers across the new construction and repair and remodel markets. Our market leading portfolio of products spans vinyl windows, vinyl siding, stone veneer, metal roofing, metal wall systems and metal accessories. Cornerstone Building Brands' broad, multichannel distribution platform and expansive national footprint includes more than 20,000 employees at manufacturing, distribution and office locations throughout North America. Corporate stewardship and environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibility are deeply embedded in our culture, and we are committed to contributing positively to the communities where we live, work and play. For more information, visit us at www.cornerstonebuildingbrands.com. ________________________

1 https://www.barrons.com/articles/labor-shortage-manufacturing-retail-transportation-51623247411 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005363/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Axele Webinar - Make Your Driver Training Work

DALLAS, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Axele, LLC, a Transportation Management System (TMS) company, will be hosting a free webinar, Im Training My Drivers But Its Not Changing Behaviors. What Do I Do Now? on Thursday, October 14, 2021, at 2:00 PM EST.

This is a very timely webinar as safety issues account for up to 20 percent of fleet turnover, said Belinda Rueffer, Director of Marketing, Axele. This is driven by the fact that many drivers see training as punishment rather than professional development. As a result, they reluctantly take training courses and see it as a nuisance which drives dismal results at best. Kelly Anderson, President of Kelly Anderson Group, will give the presentation. He will share techniques and best practices to create a culture of excellence in safety. The policies, procedures, and programs outlined in this presentation can significantly improve training outcomes. Attendees to the free webinar will learn how carriers can successfully change key factors around compliance, safety, and training, including: Results

Culture

Driver Attitudes

And more Kelly Anderson has worked in the tansportation industry for over 30 years in positions including the US Coast Guard - Federal Law Enforcement Officer, Professional Driver, Driver Trainer, Driver Recruiter, Safety Supervisor, and Safety Manager for a 1720 truck fleet. Using these experiences Kelly founded Kelly Anderson Group, Inc., which provides seminars, e-learning, driver engagement surveys, and recruitment services.



To register for the free webinar, visit: https://optym.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PdwV1UQKQ0SnqrSeL9EO2w. About Axele

Axele offers transportation management system (TMS) cloud software for truckload carriers leveraging decades of experience and insights into optimization and automation technology. Launched by Optym in 2020, Axele is the industry's first intelligent, connected solution, built specifically for small to mid-sized truckload carriers. Axele serves for-hire truckload operators and private fleets who haul general freight, dry van, flatbed, and refrigerated loads. The Axele TMS integrates with load boards, ELDs, market rates, maps, and accounting systems, to enable an owner-operator or carrier to find better loads, increase profits, and grow their business. For more information about Axele, go to www.axele.com.

Media Contact for Axele:

Becky Boyd

MediaFirst PR

(770) 642-2080 x 214

Cell (404) 421-8497

Becky@MediaFirst.Net



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[October 01, 2021] Tauriga Sciences Inc. Generates Record Quarterly Revenue for its 2nd Fiscal Quarter 2022

NEW YORK, NY, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: TAUG) (Tauriga or the Company), a New York based diversified Life Sciences Company, today announced that it has generated record quarterly revenue for its 2nd Fiscal Quarter 2022 (Period: July 1st September 30th, 2021). The Companys net quarterly revenue exceeded $125,000 for the first time (gross revenue was substantially higher). The Company obtained its main product inventory during the first week of August 2021, and since then, has been pleased by the feedback from its consistently growing customer base.

The Company now has six active sources of revenue: 1) E-Commerce Sales 2) Retail Sales 3) Tradeshow Sales 4) International Sales 5) Amazon.com Sales 6) Subscription Recurring Sales The Companys highest margin E-Commerce business segment accounted for approximately 65% of the total net quarterly revenue. Separately, the Company continues to realize important progress with respect to its ongoing pharmaceutical development efforts, and plans to provide an additional update to shareholders, as soon as practicable. Please See Below, the Companys Updated/Revised Tradeshow Itinerary: 1) HAMPTON CANNABIS EXPO 2021 August 29th, 2021 (East Hampton, New York) STATUS: Completed 2) The AATAC C-STORE TRADESHOW September 22nd-23rd, 2021 (Richmond, Virginia) STATUS: Completed 3) The WHITE LABEL WORLD EXPO September 30th, 2021 (New York City, New York) STATUS: Completed Today 4) MJ BIZ CON 2021 October 20th-22nd, 2021 (Las Vegas, Nevada) STATUS: Upcoming 5) USA CBD EXPO CHICAGO October 28th-30th, 2021 (Chicago, Illinois) STATUS: Upcoming 6) KOSHERFEST 2021 November 9th-10th, 2021 (Secaucus, New Jersey) STATUS: Upcoming ABOUT TAURIGA SCIENCES INC. Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (TAUG) is a revenue generating, diversified life sciences company, engaged in several major business activities and initiatives. The company manufactures nd distributes several proprietary retail products and product lines, mainly focused on the Cannabidiol (CBD) and Cannabigerol (CBG) Edibles market segment. The main product line, branded as Tauri-Gum, consists of a proprietary supplement chewing gum that is Kosher certified, Halal certified, and Vegan Formulated (CBD Infused Tauri-Gum Flavors: Mint, Blood Orange, Pomegranate), (CBG Infused Tauri-Gum Flavors: Peach-Lemon, Black Currant), (DELTA 8 THC Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Evergreen Mint), (Vitamin C + Zinc Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Pear Bellini), (Caffeine Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Cherry Lime Rickey), & (Vitamin D3 Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Golden Raspberry). The Companys commercialization strategy consists of a broad array of retail customers, distributors, and a fast-growing E-Commerce business segment (E-Commerce website: www.taurigum.com). Please visit our corporate website, for additional information, as well as inquiries, at http://www.tauriga.com



Complementary to the Companys retail business, is its ongoing Pharmaceutical Development initiative. This relates to the development of a proposed Pharmaceutical grade version of Tauri-Gum, for nausea regulation (specifically designed for the following indication: Patients Subjected to Ongoing Chemotherapy Treatment). On March 22, 2021, the Company announced that it had Converted its U.S. Provisional Patent Application (filed on March 17, 2020) into a U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application. The Patent, filed with the U.S.P.T.O. is Titled MEDICATED CBD COMPOSITIONS, METHODS OF MANUFACTURING, AND METHODS OF TREATMENT. On December 18, 2020 the Company disclosed that it had entered into a Master Services Agreement with CSTI to lead the Company's clinical development efforts. The Company is headquartered in Wappingers Falls, New York. In addition, the Company operates two full time E-Commerce fulfillment centers: one located in Montgomery, Texas and the other in Brooklyn, New York.

DISCLAIMER -- Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 which represent managements beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are often indicated by using words such as may, will, expects, anticipates, believes, hopes, believes, or plans, and may include statements regarding corporate objectives as well as the attainment of certain corporate goals and milestones. Forward-looking statements are based on present circumstances and on managements present beliefs with respect to events that have not occurred, that may not occur, or that may occur with different consequences or timing than those now assumed or anticipated. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in forward looking statements due to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, such as are not guarantees of general economic and business conditions, the ability to successfully develop and market products, consumer and business consumption habits, the ability to consummate successful acquisition and licensing transactions, fluctuations in exchange rates, and other factors over which Tauriga has little or no control. Many of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in greater detail in the Risk Factors section of Taurigas Form 10-K and other periodic filings made from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release, and Tauriga assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Contact: Tauriga Sciences, Inc. 4 Nancy Court, Suite 4 Wappingers Falls, NY 12590 Chief Executive Officer Mr. Seth M. Shaw Email: sshaw@tauriga.com cell # (917) 796 9926 Company Instagram: @taurigum Personal Instagram: @sethsms47 Twitter: @SethMShaw Corp. Website: www.tauriga.com E-Commerce Website: www.taurigum.com Attachment A. Image for Oct 1 PR



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[October 01, 2021] Sophos Named a 2021 ChannelPro SMB All-Star

BURLINGTON, Mass., Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, today announced it has been named a 2021 ChannelPro SMB All-Star. It is recognized for making significant impact on the channel in the last year  notably through the launch of four open source SophosAI breakthroughs, including datasets, tools and new methodologies for advancing industry collaboration and cumulative innovation.

Theres tremendous opportunity to improve  if not completely rethink  how the artificial intelligence (AI) community approaches all aspects of cybersecurity, including protection and detection in products, threat intelligence, threat hunting, and much more, said Joshua Saxe, Sophos chief scientist. Our team of SophosAI data scientists is catalyzing an industry-wide change toward greater information sharing in an effort to sharpen collective defenses against ransomware and other cyberthreats. Cybersecurity vendors have a lot more to gain in being open, collaborative and transparent around new innovations, and this award is validation of the importance of the steps weve taken toward this mission.



The ChannelPro SMB All-Star program recognizes a select group of IT vendors that have significantly impacted the SMB channel in the last 12 months. Winners are chosen by the ChannelPro Network editorial team. In an industry that makes torrents of news on a daily basis, its hard to stand out from the pack with something truly stellar, said Rich Freeman, executive editor of the ChannelPro Network. Sophos is setting an example worth emulating in a time of runaway threat activity, and the ChannelPro Network team is proud to recognize it as an All-Star.

To learn more about the need for AI transparency within cybersecurity and how SophosAI is leading the charge, attend Saxes speaking session, No More Secret Sauce! How We Can Power Real Security Machine Learning Progress Through Open Algorithms and Benchmarks, at Black Hat Europe 2021, taking place November 8-11, and visit SophosAI on Sophos.com.

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 the IT channel. Via ChannelPro-SMB magazine, live and online events, and our online properties, the network delivers expert opinion, analysis, news, product reviews, and advice vital to an IT solution provider's business success. Perspectives from VARs, vendors, distributors, and analysts are spotlighted daily. No other media company focuses on the small and midsize marketplace like The ChannelPro Network.

Contact Info: Samantha Powers Sophos@marchcomms.com

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[October 01, 2021] Siemens Awarded $1.78M FDA Contract to Showcase Advanced Digital Design and Manufacturing

The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats (OCET) has awarded a contract worth over $1.78M to Siemens (News - Alert) Government Technologies (SGT) with technology from Siemens Digital Industries. Siemens will provide its expertise to implement advanced industrial software for digital design and an automated manufacturing production demonstration line for regulatory science use in the FDA OCET advanced manufacturing program. This program is collaborating with the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) to provide FDA with access to extensive software from Siemens Digital Industries Software's Xcelerator portfolio including advanced integrated software capabilities for design control and risk management; product lifecycle management; product, plant, and process design modeling and simulation; manufacturing execution; closed loop quality management; Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and much more. The digital showcase will help facilitate evaluation, education and industry adoption of smart design and manufacturing processes, which can improve performance, speed regulatory review, reduce supply shortages and increase supply chain resilience in the Lifesciences industry. "The FDA is focused on developing standards, metrics and data needs for the use of advanced digital design and manufacturing technologies," said FDA Chief Scientist Rear Adm. Denise Hinton. "Furthering the adoption of these new technologies can help increase U.S. manufacturing capacity, increase supply chain resilience, decrease time to market for medical diagnostics, therapies and vaccines that are needed for public health emergency response." "We are excited to support the FDA as it evaluates applicable digital technologies for supply chain resilience in the face of great national challenges," said Tina Dolph, president and CEO of Siemens Government Technologies. "Our supply chains are the true lifeblood of our ability to respond and adapt when facing a crisis, which is why the FDA's work is so consequential." In addition to providing demonstrations of "the art of the possible" with advanced digitalization and factory automation, the showcase will help the FDA to gain an understanding of the different processes and technologies to help inform industry guidance, develop regulatory science tools and standards to evaluate incoming submissions, and prepare for potentially disruptive changes to design and production norms. This preparation and understanding aids in rapid responses to pandemics, such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and future emerging threats. This collaboration with Siemens, Carryline USA and Premier Automation will also include the commissioning of a conveyor system. "Siemens is proud to support the FDA in the exploration of and experimentation with advanced digital capabilities that can be used to develop and manufacture life-saving products," said Del Costy, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, Americas at Siemens Digital Industries. "In addition to helping the FDA gain new perspectives in developing industry guidace, evaluation of submissions, and preparing for the next disruption; this technology showcase will also help demonstrate to manufacturers the possibilities that exist today to accelerate product development, improve performance, increase production capacity, and enable more flexible and agile manufacturing networks. With the FDA leading the way, this partnership will help accelerate the digital transformation occurring across the healthcare industry," said Barbara Humpton, President and CEO of Siemens Corporation.



The contract between Siemens and the FDA will last for several years as new use cases are developed and implemented. Once the first set of use cases are live, the FDA may also host public events such as workshops. This project is funded by the FDA under contract but does not necessarily express the views or policies of the FDA. For further information on the use of digital twins for advanced manufacturing, please visit https://www.sw.siemens.com/en-US/.

Siemens Government Technologies is the wholly-owned, cleared U.S. subsidiary of Siemens Corporation whose mission it is to secure and modernize the largest infrastructure in the world, the U.S. Federal Government. It does so by being the leading integrator of Siemens' innovative products, technologies, software and services in the areas of digital engineering and modeling, efficient and resilient energy solutions, and smart infrastructure modernization. Siemens Digital Industries Software is driving transformation to enable a digital enterprise where engineering, manufacturing and electronics design meet tomorrow. The Xcelerator portfolio helps companies of all sizes create and leverage digital twins that provide organizations with new insights, opportunities and levels of automation to drive innovation. For more information on Siemens Digital Industries Software products and services, visit www.sw.siemens.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Siemens Digital Industries Software - Where today meets tomorrow. Siemens Corporation is a U.S. subsidiary of Siemens AG (News - Alert) , a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 170 years. Active around the world, the company focuses on intelligent infrastructure for buildings and distributed energy systems and on automation and digitalization in the process and manufacturing industries. Siemens brings together the digital and physical worlds to benefit customers and society. Through Mobility, a leading supplier of intelligent mobility solutions for rail and road transport, Siemens is helping to shape the world market for passenger and freight services. Via its majority stake in the publicly listed company Siemens Healthineers, Siemens is also a world-leading supplier of medical technology and digital health services. In addition, Siemens holds a minority stake in Siemens Energy, a global leader in the transmission and generation of electrical power that has been listed on the stock exchange since September 28, 2020. In fiscal 2020, Siemens Group USA generated revenue of $17 billion and employs approximately 40,000 people serving customers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Note: A list of relevant Siemens trademarks can be found here. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005071/en/

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[October 01, 2021]

Dvm360 Welcomes Eleven New Global Strategic Alliance Partnership (SAP) Members

CRANBURY, N.J., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- dvm360, the No. 1 multimedia platform in the veterinary industry, has added 11 new partners to its Strategic Alliance Partnership (SAP) program.

dvm360 Welcomes Eleven New Global Strategic Alliance Partnership (SAP) Members

The rapidly expanding SAP program consists of organizations committed to providing expert insights and research on animal health, pet care products, real-time updates to regulations for veterinary practices and veterinary medicine news.

As an indication of its commitment to the global field of veterinary medicine, dvm360 joined forces with the Ask Jan for Help, LLC, BondVet, Companion Animal Euthanasia Training Academy (CAETA), Companion Consultancy, FirstVet, MedVet, Mount Laurel Animal Hospital, NorthStar VETS, Pawsibiities Vet Med, The Veterinary Cooperative, and TEEF for Life. The new partners make up the organization's first group to include international inductees.







"We are thrilled to welcome the first international group of strategic alliance partners, who will help us continue to raise the standards of animal care," said Mike Hennessy Jr., president, and CEO of MJH Life Sciences, parent company of the dvm360. "We are looking forward to collaborating on initiatives that give back to the animal care community."

The SAP program provides partnering advocacy organizations, medical associations, and veterinary schools with international and national reach and visibility. Through the program, dvm360 fosters collaboration and an open exchange of information among trusted veterinary practitioners for the benefit of the profession. dvm360 works with its affiliates to share information and highlight the diverse veterinary communities they support.

About dvm360

The leading media-content provider in the veterinary market, dvm360 has been in operation for more than 50 years. It provides readers with top-of-the-line digital and print content that focuses on every aspect of a veterinary professional's life. In addition, dvm360 hosts continuing education (CE) conferences that provide a 360-degree educational engagement experience for veterinary professionals. These conferences include several Fetch dvm360 conferences and the Atlantic Coast Veterinary Conference, CE events that have been a staple in the veterinary community for decades. dvm360 is a brand of MJH Life Sciences, the largest privately held, independent, full-service medical media company in North America, dedicated to delivering trusted health care news across multiple channels.

Media Contact

Kristie Luff

+1-609-516-3722

kluff@mjhlifesciences.com

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SOURCE dvm360
[October 01, 2021] Robotic Assistance Devices Receives Order from Regional Financial Institution

Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions (News - Alert) , Inc., (OTCPK:AITX), today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Robotic Assistance Devices Inc. (RAD) has received an order from a leading regional financial institution. Although not disclosed due to confidentiality agreements, the end-user for this 1 ROSA180 unit will be RAD's first deployment into the financial services industry. "It's thrilling to open new markets, especially since we see so much potential for a significant number of deployments in this industry," said Steve Reinharz, CEO of AITX and RAD. "This ROSA180 deployment opens up a new vertical market that is desperately in need of the solutions RAD provides. We'll build on this win, and I'm excited to see this industry's response when ROSA3.0 is revealed on October 13," Reinharz added. ROSA180 is a compact, self-contained, security and communication solution that can be deployed in about 15 minutes. Like other RAD solutions, it only requires power as it includes all necessary communications hardware. ROSA180's AI-driven security analytics include human and vehicle detection, license plate recognition, responsive digital signage and audio messaging, and complete integration with RAD's software suite notification and response library. Two-way communication is optimized for cellular, including live video from ROSA180's dual high-resolution, full-color, always-on cameras. Within the financial services industry, RAD's ROSA180 has the unique ability to detect, deter and report the occurrences of loitering near ATMs or in bank entry vestibules. According to Statista, in 2019 there were 76,837 commercial bank branchs in the U.S., with over 470,000 ATM locations.



Robotic Assistance Devices (RAD) is a high-tech start-up that delivers robotics and artificial intelligence-based solutions that empower organizations to gain new insight, solve complex security challenges, and fuel new business ideas at reduced costs. RAD developed its advanced security robot technology from the ground up including circuit board design, and base code development. This allows RAD to have complete control over all of design elements, performance, quality and the user's experience of all security robots whether SCOT, ROSA180, Wally, Wally HSO, AVA, or ROAMEO. Read about how RAD is reinventing the security services industry by downloading the Autonomous Remote Services Industry Manifesto. Follow Steve Reinharz on Twitter (News - Alert) @SteveReinharz for future RAD and AITX updates.

CAUTIONARY DISCLOSURE ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this news release other than statements of historical fact are "forward-looking statements" that are based on current expectations and assumptions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements, including, but not limited to, the following: the ability of Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions to provide for its obligations, to provide working capital needs from operating revenues, to obtain additional financing needed for any future acquisitions, to meet competitive challenges and technological changes, to meet business and financial goals including projections and forecasts, and other risks. Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement(s) and/or to confirm the statement(s) to actual results or changes in Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions expectations. About Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions (AITX): AITX is an innovator in the delivery of artificial intelligence-based solutions that empower organizations to gain new insight, solve complex challenges and fuel new business ideas. Through its next-generation robotic product offerings, AITX's RAD, RAD-M and RAD-G companies help organizations streamline operations, increase ROI and strengthen business. AITX technology improves the simplicity and economics of patrolling and guard services, and allows experienced personnel to focus on more strategic tasks. Customers augment the capabilities of existing staffs and gain higher levels of situational awareness, all at drastically reduced cost. AITX solutions are well suited for use in multiple industries such as enterprises, government, transportation, critical infrastructure, education and healthcare. To learn more, visit www.aitx.ai and www.roboticassistancedevices.com, or follow Steve Reinharz on Twitter @SteveReinharz. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005161/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Polunsky Beitel Green Announces Major Houston Expansion

Polunsky Beitel Green LLP, Texas' oldest and largest law firm specializing in residential mortgage document preparation and review, today announced that it will expand its Houston operations into the 5555 San Felipe Tower in Houston, TX, on October 1, 2021. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005201/en/ Polunsky Beitel Green moves into 5555 San Felipe Tower in Houston (Graphic: Business Wire) The firm has committed to one-half of the 19th floor in the class AA building located within the largest concentration within Houston Mortgage Lenders. Polunsky Beitel Green (PBG) has established a large presence n the Houston area in recent years and expects to expand substantially moving forward. Claire Barber and Andrew Duane are the Associate Attorneys of the Houston Office. Barber and Duane focus in legal and regulatory compliance and mortgage operations and bring substantial knowledge and experience in residential mortgage lending to their roles.



Lou Ann Davis is a veteran in the preparation of loan documents for residential mortgage closings and is the Director of Document Preparation for the Firm. Stacey Maisano, the Director of Business Development, serves the Firm's clients nationwide. Both will be based in Houston. "Although Polunsky Beitel Green has historically served clients in Houston, we have experienced explosive growth the last 2 years," said Marty Green, Principal and Attorney in Charge, DFW operations. "Our new office location in the dynamic Post Oak area will provide our growing team with a fabulous environment to continue to serve this important market and demonstrates our firm's long-term commitment to Houston."

Polunsky Beitel Green is one of the leading lending law firms in the country and provides mortgage document preparation, review, full-close services, construction loan and legal support compliance nationwide to many of the country's premier residential mortgage lenders. The Houston operations expansion completes the Texas trifecta for the firm, which has major operations in San Antonio and Dallas. PBG now employs more than 250 mortgage professionals and attorneys. The Houston office is the perfect location for serving the growing base of the firm's national clients. "Houston is a great international city and moving people to our 5555 San Felipe Tower is a logical inception of growing our operations with quality professionals," said Allan Polunsky, managing partner and founder of PBG. "Our nucleus is in place and we expect to continue to grow at a rapid rate." About Polunsky Beitel Green LLP Founded in 1976, Polunsky Beitel Green is Texas' oldest and largest law firm exclusively dedicated to representing residential mortgage originators. Through its proprietary MortgageLaw system, the firm delivers accurate and timely closing packages, as well as full-close services, nationwide. PBG maintains a comprehensive library of up-to-date, state-specific and investor-approved loan documents used nationwide. The firm is also a nationally recognized innovator and provider of eClose services in all states. PBG has offices in San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005201/en/

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Metalcraft Announces Kyle Bermel as President

Metalcraft's Chief Operating Officer becomes president today in a succession move strengthening the Iowa-based manufacturer's ability to serve a growing market for their ID solutions. Kyle Bermel joins CEO and former president Steve Doerfler in leading Metalcraft's culture of innovation.

"As CEO, I have tremendous confidence in Kyle's servant leadership," said Doerfler. "We're preserving the values that have served Metalcraft for decades. I'm particularly dedicated to our vision for innovative products and development of our member-owners - work that will keep the company growing and successful."

Bermel joined Metalcraft as an RFID Engineer in 2012, advancing innovation and technology in his ascending roles. During his two years as COO, Bermel's operational excellence earned the respec of Metalcraft' board and member-owners while developing subsidiaries ARK Business Systems and Inlay Innovation.







"Today I'm grateful for the confidence of our board and member-owners in my ability to help lead Metalcraft," said Bermel. "It's been rewarding to serve a strong, innovative, growing company; I know we have experience, and expertise company-wide to exceed our customers' expectations."

Since 1950, Metalcraft has provided property identification solutions from a headquarters in Mason City, Iowa. Metalcraft designs, engineers and manufactures custom RFID and barcode tags and labels for almost any tagging need, especially asset tracking, access control and OEM applications. Metalcraft also provides a wide range of services including RFID prototyping and pilot projects. Visit www.idplate.com for details.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005208/en/
[October 01, 2021] Better Together: Regions Bank Completes Acquisition of EnerBank USA

Regions Bank and home improvement lender EnerBank USA on Friday announced the acquisition of EnerBank by Regions has received regulatory approvals and is completed, effective today. EnerBank employees join Regions as part of its Consumer Banking Group. Regions Bank is a subsidiary of Regions Financial Corporation, one of America's largest full-service providers of consumer and commercial banking, wealth management, and mortgage products and services. Scott Peters, senior executive vice president and head of the Consumer Banking Group for Regions, said EnerBank and its team are an ideal fit as Regions accelerates its strategy to serve as the premier lender to homeowners. With a client base that stretches across the U.S., EnerBank serves contractors and homeowners through a series of loan programs and financing solutions that support a wide range of home improvement needs. "The addition of EnerBank's exceptional team and leading-edge technology will help Regions deliver even greater value to customers who are seeking convenient, competitive solutions for efficiently financing home improvement needs," Peters said. "In recent years, we have seen tremendous demand not only for mortgage and refinancing solutions but also for new options to finance upgrades people are making to their homes. The services provided by EnerBank will enable Regions to deliver a more complete range of options as part of our focus on serving as the premier lender to homeowners." Since 2002, Salt Lake City-based EnerBank has offered leading home improvement loan programs to not only U.S.-based contractors but also enterprise-level strategic partners in the home improvement industry. As a pioneer in specialized home improvement lending, EnerBank has worked with hundreds of loan program sponsors, inclusive of thousands of home improvement contractors, serving over a million homeowners and funding over $12 billion in home improvement projects. EnerBank will maintain its headquarters presence in Salt Lake City, with many team members scheduled to occupy portions of 650 Main, a modern Class A office and retail complex under development downtown. The division will continue to be led by Charlie Knadler who will join Regions as part of the Consumr Banking Group.



"Today starts a new journey as part of a strong and united Regions Bank team," said Knadler. "Together, we will expand home improvement lending opportunities, products and services to continue our leadership in the industry. We look forward to serving contractors and homeowners nationwide under the Regions Bank brand. And we are excited to be part of an organization that is investing in long-term growth and creating even greater value for the customers and communities we serve." EnerBank will continue to operate under the EnerBank brand during the coming months; however, contractors and sponsors can expect to see a gradual branding transition to Regions over time.

About EnerBank USA-America's home improvement lender of choice EnerBank USA is a specialized home improvement lender, providing home improvement loans through strategic business partners and independent home improvement contractors. We work hand-in-hand with manufacturers, distributors, franchisors, and major retailers of home improvement, remodeling, and energy-saving products and services. Our mission is to grow contractors' businesses by increasing leads, boosting close rates, and growing average job size, while helping homeowners fulfill their home improvement dreams. Learn more at enerbank.com. About Regions Financial Corporation Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF), with $156 billion in assets, is a member of the S&P 500 Index and is one of the nation's largest full-service providers of consumer and commercial banking, wealth management, and mortgage products and services. Regions Financial Corporation serves customers across the South, Midwest, and Texas, and through its subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates more than 1,300 banking offices and 2,000 ATMs. Regions Bank is an Equal Housing Lender and Member FDIC. Additional information about Regions and its full line of products and services can be found at www.regions.com. Forward-Looking Statements This release may include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which reflect Regions Financial's current views with respect to future events and financial performance. The words "future," "anticipates," "assumes," "intends," "plans," "seeks," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "objective," "estimates," "expects," "targets," "projects," "outlook," "forecast," "would," "will," "may," "might," "could," "should," "can," and similar expressions often signify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not based on historical information, but rather are related to future operations, strategies, financial results, or other developments. Forward-looking statements are based on management's expectations as well as certain assumptions and estimates made by, and information available to, management at the time the statements are made. Those statements are based on general assumptions and are subject to various risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the views, beliefs, and projections expressed in such statements. If underlying assumptions prove to be inaccurate or unknown risks or uncertainties arise, actual results could vary materially from these projections or expectations. Factors that could cause Regions Financial's actual results to differ from those described in the forward-looking statements herein include: expected synergies, cost savings, and other financial or other benefits of the EnerBank transaction might not be realized within the expected timeframes or might be less than projected; difficulties in integrating EnerBank's business; inability of Regions to effectively cross-sell products to EnerBank's customers; the continued or potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related variants and mutations on Regions Financial's business, financial condition, and results of operations; and risks identified in Regions Financial's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and the company's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, these risks and uncertainties are not exhaustive. Other sections of such filings describe additional factors that could impact Regions Financial's business, financial performance, and consummated acquisition transactions, including the EnerBank transaction. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Regions Financial assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements that are made from time to time. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005516/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Proofpoint Named Best Overall Enterprise Email Security Solution Provider of the Year

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Proofpoint, Inc., a leading cybersecurity and compliance company, today announced that for the second straight year it has been named the winner of the Overall Enterprise Email Security Solution Provider of the Year award at the annual CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards. The awards program is conducted by CyberSecurity Breakthrough, a leading independent market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies, and products in the global information security market today.

The importance of an effective email security solution for organizations cannot be understated. Email remains the No. 1 threat vector for cybersecurity attacks, with 94% of threats starting with an email. The costs of these attacks can be devastating. The latest FBI report shows that email fraud represented the largest financial losses in 2020nearly $1.9 billionwhich is 44% of the total reported losses. Further, 75% of ransomware is delivered by email, and email phishing has become the most profitable and popular method for threat actors to gain initial access to corporate networks. Fifty-seven percent of organizations experienced a successful credential phishing attack last year, and U.S. organizations are particularly vulnerable to people-centric attacks. Phishing has a low entry barrier for cybercriminals with a high-value return. These emails are very easy to create, require little technical knowledge and most importantly, depend solely on one user clicking to succeed. Eighty-five percent of breaches involved a human element according to the most recent Verizon DBIR. Unfortunately, threat actors actively use social engineering to convince people to click a link or open an attachmentoften by exploiting ther instinctive decisions without proper vetting.



With remote and hybrid work in the spotlight, people are increasingly the target when it comes to these and other cyber threats, making a people-centric approach to cybersecurity necessary to fortifying the human element against advanced threats, data loss, and compliance risks, said Ryan Kalember, executive vice president of cybersecurity strategy, Proofpoint. Proofpoint has blocked millions of malicious messages from ransomware-linked threat actors, and we block 45,000 fraud attempts each day. We are committed to developing security innovations that protect people from todays most damaging threats. Email attacks are inherently about people and Proofpoint provides unique, actionable visibility into the human attack surface by revealing the risks that VAPs (Very Attacked People) and peer groups pose, said James Johnson, managing director, CyberSecurity Breakthrough. The threat ecosystem has really evolved over the past year and Proofpoints people-centric approach to cybersecurity is a breakthrough approach to significantly reducing todays risks. We are thrilled to recognize them for the second year in a row with our Overall Enterprise Email Security Solution Provider of the Year award.

Powered by Proofpoint NexusAI advanced machine learning technology, the Proofpoint Threat Protection Platform delivers a comprehensive, integrated solution that helps organizations worldwide stop a broad range of threats, understand which employees are threat actor targets, and automate email threat remediation. Proofpoints high standard of detection and efficacy is driven by its history of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and broad data set analysis including over two billion messages daily, over 400 million domains, and over 35 million cloud accounts. With email the most efficient method for delivering ransomware, Proofpoints comprehensive approach to email security is critical to safeguarding organizations. Proofpoint also provides security professionals with actionable visibility into an organizations greatest risk  their Very Attacked People (VAP). By enabling automated detection and response, the platform helps security teams quickly identify who is being targeted and respond to threats while improving security and operational effectiveness. Additionally, NexusAI, the companys dynamic, multi-layered threat detection technology, continuously learns from the threats that are analyzed and rapidly updates to address changes in the threat landscape. The mission of the CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards is to honor excellence and recognize the innovation, hard work, and success in a range of information security categories, including Cloud Security, Threat Detection, Risk Management, Fraud Prevention, Mobile Security, Email Security and many more. This year is the 5th annual program, attracting more than 4,000 nominations from over 20 different countries throughout the world. For more information on Proofpoints Email Protection platform, please visit https://www.proofpoint.com/us/products/email-protection/email-security-and-protection. For additional information on how to combat email fraud and stop business email and account compromise, please visit https://www.proofpoint.com/us/resources/webinars/how-combat-email-fraud-stop-business-email-and-account-compromise. About Proofpoint, Inc.

Proofpoint, Inc. is a leading cybersecurity and compliance company that protects organizations greatest assets and biggest risks: their people. With an integrated suite of cloud-based solutions, Proofpoint helps companies around the world stop targeted threats, safeguard their data, and make their users more resilient against cyberattacks. Leading organizations of all sizes, including more than half of the Fortune 1000, rely on Proofpoint for people-centric security and compliance solutions that mitigate their most critical risks across email, the cloud, social media, and the web. More information is available at www.proofpoint.com. Proofpoint is a trademark or registered trademark of Proofpoint, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. About CyberSecurity Breakthrough

Part of Tech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence and recognition platform for global technology innovation and leadership, the CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards program is devoted to honoring excellence in information security and cybersecurity technology companies, products and people. The CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards provide a platform for public recognition around the achievements of breakthrough information security companies and products in categories including Cloud Security, Threat Detection, Risk Management, Fraud Prevention, Mobile Security, Web and Email Security, UTM, Firewall and more. For more information visit CyberSecurityBreakthrough.com. PROOFPOINT MEDIA CONTACT:

Kristy Campbell

Proofpoint, Inc.

(408) 850-4142

kcampbell@proofpoint.com



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[October 01, 2021] Snapmaker Reveals its First Brand Video and the Virtual Party is Coming

SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 1, 2021 /CNW/ -- Digital manufacturing company Snapmaker releases its first brand video today and the 5th-anniversary Virtual Party will be held on October 15, 2021. "Idea Means Nothing Until You Make It Happen." On the special occasion of its fifth anniversary, Snapmaker decided to make its first brand video. During the five years, Snapmaker has connected with more than 32,000 community members worldwide, providing accessible tools for their creative journey. Snapmaker users come from all walks of life at different ages, including engineers, architects, teachers, designers, lawyers, and many more. Inspired by Snapmaker's user stories worldwide, the video tells three compelling stories from different perspectives: self-fulfillment, family heritage, and social responsibility, delivering its brand value: Make Something Wonderful. Creativity is your gift to the world Making as a hobby can unleash one's creativity and bring fulfillment, especially for those who re overwhelmed by their day-to-day work. The story depicts a young man Jason who leads a dull and busy life yet develops a passion for making, which helps him gain a reputation in the community.



Passing the maker spirit onto the next generation Making is not just a way to explore creativity, but also a bridge to connect with your loved ones in modern life. In this story, we watch the bond between a grandfather and his granddaughter Emma. Together they have fun setting up the machine, working on the frame and car shell, and doing the assembling work.

Making a positive impact on the minority With a kind heart, you can utilize your imagination to make a positive impact on society. The third story shows care for the minority. Designer Sally notices a disabled dog hiding at the street corner and makes a wheelchair for him with the help of the Snapmaker machine. Make It Happen | The Snapmaker Virtual Party Besides the featured interactive website, online events, and global anniversary sale, the Virtual Party is also part of Snapmaker's 5th-anniversary campaign. The party will feature its first brand video, free gifts, and great deals, as well as new products that make 3D printing even more accessible for everyone. Channel:

YouTube Live Stream Time:

Oct 15, 2021 7:00 AM-9:00 AM (PST)

Oct 15, 2021 4:00 PM-6:00 PM (CET) To join the Snapmaker Virtual Party, please subscribe on https://www.snapmaker.com/event/5th-anniversary View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/snapmaker-reveals-its-first-brand-video-and-the-virtual-party-is-coming-301388997.html SOURCE Shenzhen Snapmaker Technologies Co., Ltd.

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[October 01, 2021] Wasatch Launches Long/Short Alpha Fund

Wasatch Global Investors announced today the launch of the Wasatch Long/Short Alpha Fund (WALSX/WGLSX). The Fund will typically purchase U.S. common stocks ("long" equity positions) in what Wasatch believes are promising companies and sell short those stocks ("short" equity positions) in companies it expects to underperform. Under normal conditions, the Fund intends to maintain a net long exposure to the market (measured as the market value of the long positions minus the short positions). The goal is to allow the Fund to benefit from a rising market while still affording some protection from a falling market. The Fund will have the flexibility to invest in companies across all market capitalization levels but expects to invest a significant portion of the portfolio in small- and mid-sized companies. Mick Rasmussen, Lead Portfolio Manager of the Fund, said, "In developing the Wasatch Long/Short Alpha Fund, we have applied Wasatch's classic fundamental, bottom-up investment analysis with increased support from our internally developed quantitative signals and tools. As a result, we believe we can capture stock-specific alpha with reduced market risk."







Fund Inception Date: October 1, 2021 Fund Name Share Classes Portfolio Management Wasatch Long/Short Alpha Fund Investor - WALSX Institutional - WGLSX Mick Rasmussen, CFA, Lead Portfolio Manager

About Wasatch Global Investors Wasatch Global Investors is a 100% employee-owned investment manager founded in 1975 and headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Named after the nearby Wasatch Mountain Range, the firm brings unparalleled experience to U.S. and international micro-, small- and mid-cap investing with a culture that emphasizes collaboration, excellence and intellectual curiosity. Wasatch had $39.8 billion in assets under management as of August 31, 2021. Wasatch Global Investors is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Risks Equity investing involves risks, including potential loss of the principal amount invested. Short selling incurs significant unique risks, including potentially unlimited downside risk, high short-sale related expenses, and unavailability of securities to sell short, among others, all of which could negatively impact the performance of the Fund. Additionally, the Fund may not be able to borrow the securities it intends to sell short Because the Fund invests in both long and short equity positions, the Fund has overall exposure to changes in the value of securities, which far exceeds the value of the Fund's assets. This may magnify gains and losses and increase the volatility of the Fund's returns. Investment in the Fund will involve market risks associated with different types of investment decisions than those made for a typical "long only" fund. There is no guarantee that the use of long and short positions will succeed in limiting the Fund's exposure to market movements, sector-swings or other risk factors. Being non-diversified, the Fund can invest a larger portion of its assets in the stocks of a limited number of companies than a diversified fund. Non-diversification increases the risk of loss to the Fund if the values of these securities decline.. Portfolio holdings are subject to risk and may change at any time. Securities in the Fund are generally added to the portfolio as long or short positions based upon security rankings provided by multi-factor quantitative models and on fundamental analysis of securities. The reliance on quantitative models entails unique risks, including the risk that a model may be limited or incorrect, that the data on which a model relies may be incorrect or incomplete and the risk that the Advisor may not be successful in selecting companies for investment or determining the weighting of particular stocks in the Fund's portfolio. The Advisor will generally sell a security if, among other things, the rankings provided by the quantitative models decline and/or research analysis reveals a deterioration of the company fundamentals. The COVID-19 health pandemic has negatively affected and may continue to affect the economies of many nations, individual companies, and the global securities markets. This has impacted and may continue to impact the issuers of the securities held by the Fund. The Wasatch Long/Short Alpha Fund's investment objective is long-term growth of capital. An investor should consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus, containing this and other information, visit wasatchglobal.com or call (800) 551-1700. Please read it carefully before investing. Wasatch Funds are distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc. (ADI). Eric Bergeson is a registered representative of ADI. ADI is not affiliated with Wasatch Global Investors. CFA is a trademark owned by CFA Institute. 2021 Wasatch Global Investors. All Rights Reserved. WAS005494 Exp: 12/31/2022 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005079/en/

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[October 01, 2021] NWFCU Foundation Donates $20K to Northern Virginia Community College's Student Support Programs

The Northwest Federal Credit Union Foundation, the charitable arm of Northwest Federal Credit Union, awarded $20,000 in grants to Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) for their student support programs. This partnership has been in place since 2018, and this marks the fourth straight year of support. The grants will go towards NOVA's Lifeline and Helping Hands programs, which are emergency relief funds for students of NOVA. These programs provide assistance to college students close to completing their Associates degrees who, due to unforeseen circumstances, may not otherwise have had the funds to finish their education. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005547/en/ Dr. Julie Leidig and Kaycee Childress (Photo: Business Wire) "The Lifeline and Helping Hands programs at Northern Virginia Community College are vital to the success of so many students who, because of unexpected financial difficulties, like a broken down car, housing insecurity, or a computer that needs repairs, face the very real possibility of not being able to finish their degrees," said Executive Director of the NWFCU Foundation, Kaycee Childress. "When these students have nowhere else to turn, the Lifeline and Helping Hands programs come to their aid and often mean the difference between getting a degree or not. We are thrilled to continue our support of these life-changing programs." Checks for $5,000 were presented to Dr. Moly Lynch of NOVA Manassas, and Dr. Annett Haggray of NOVA Alexandria. Additionally, a $10,000 check was presented to Dr. Julie Leidig of NOVA Loudoun. These funds will go to support their Financial Stability and Advocacy Centers, whose mission is to enhance student capability for academic success by providing personalized services that build strong financial foundations and access to community resources.



"We would like to thank our many generous donors, whose contributions to the NWFCU Foundation enable us to aid many schools, including Northern Virginia Community College and their student support programs," said President and CEO of Northwest Federal Credit Union and Chairman of the NWFCU Foundation, Jeff Bentley. "An unexpected expense can happen to anyone and it should not derail a student's ability to reach their academic goals." Learn more about the many ways the NWFCU Foundation supports local children and those pursuing higher education.

About Northwest Federal Credit Union Foundation The NWFCU Foundation was established in 2004 to promote and manage Northwest Federal Credit Union's philanthropic activities. The mission of the NWFCU Foundation is to empower young people to achieve their goals by helping them learn, excel and celebrate life and by supporting their health, well-being and education. The NWFCU Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. Donations are tax deductible to the extent permissible by law for those who itemize deductions. For more information, visit www.nwfcufoundation.org. About Northwest Federal Credit Union Northwest Federal Credit Union is a full-service financial institution ranking among the largest credit unions in Virginia and in the top 60 credit unions in the Nation. Established in 1947 and headquartered in Herndon, Va., Northwest Federal's Why is to serve and inspire to transform lives. The Credit Union currently serves more than 260,000 members (and has assets in excess of $4 billion). For more information, visit www.nwfcu.org or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005547/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Extending Career Success from College Acceptance through the Complete Life Cycle of a Student's Career

NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at Infobase Holdings, a cloud-based educational solutions provider specializing in facilitating the connection between content, people, and learning, announced the acquisition of Purple Briefcase, a platform offering solutions for career services administration and employer recruiting, as well as student-facing tools for jobs, internships, and mentor networking. Through Infobase's Vault / Firsthand platform, this acquisition broadens the partnership between Ruffalo Noel Levitz and Infobase, providing a continuous and curated experience for students, professionals, and employers who seek to explore, research, and connect on their college and career journey. This partnership responds to the growing need for employers to connect authentically with students and alumni. "This partnership responds to the growing need for employers to connect authentically with current students and alumni who are ready and willing to have a meaningful conversation on the Firsthand Career Engagement Platform. From the moment students arrive on campus through their increasingly complex career journey, they now have a personalized, curated, and meaningful experience that they build upon throughout their lives" explains Paul Skordilis, President and CEO at Infobase. Creating a Best-in-Class Solution Positioned to Enable Career Seekers to Connect, Research, and Upskill

Together with Purple Briefcase, the Firsthand Career Engagement Platform will serve more than 2,400 Fortune 1000 employers, 1,000+ universities and community colleges, and 8M users internationally. With trusted information, access to virtual career fairs or company profiles, internship and job opportunities, and personal mentorship relationships, insider information is readily available on the Firsthand platform. "We are excited to extend our college, university, and student populations more access to the tools and information they need during their college and career journey. Developing efficient, systematic, and equal access to these resources is increasingly important in our mission to achieve positive student outcomes, successful job placement, and alumni engagemnt," explains President and CEO of Ruffalo Noel Levitz,the firm that acquired Purple Briefcase in 2017 Sumit Nijhawan.



Students mentored on Firsthand's platforms are 18% more likely to graduate with a full-time job and secure 22% higher-starting salaries on average. The engagement score within Purple Briefcase allows students and administrators to gauge their preparedness to land their first job or internship. Every year, the Vault / Firsthand team surveys more than 100,000 professionals to identify and rank employers in their given industries by the attributes that young professionals care about most: diversity, quality of life, technology, prestige, and more, all in an attempt to demonstrate an unfiltered view of the best places to work.

Through the technology and resources this partnership provides, students, alumni, and professionals will have a continuous and authentic experience not just with their current and former higher education institutions, but with the diverse and varied people who have also lived, worked, and attended school there. Similarly, the platform provides a launchpad for relationships with employers, including the people who work within the company. Check Out Some of the Key Features That Drive Leading Academic Institutions like Harvard, MIT, Austin Community College District, and University of Connecticut to Value Firsthand and Purple Briefcase: Useful tools that connect current students with appropriate alumni who are determined to be a match

Pre-scheduled 1:1 meetings with employers guarantee access to impactful conversations and opportunities for students

Employers can fully customize profiles, career fair booths, host live events like webinars and group chats, feature resources, showcase job openings, and access reports on engagement

Targeted virtual events for specific groups, from the school of business to graduating seniors Learn More about the Companies Recruiting on the Firsthand Career Engagement Platform Cravath, Swaine, and Moore - Ranked #1 in Law

- Ranked #1 in Law PWC - Ranked Most Prestigious Accounting Firm

Bain & Company - Top Ranked for Diversity, LGBTQ + Equity

Boston Consulting Group - Top Ranked for Diversity and Inclusion Browse companies . To learn more about Purple Briefcase and the Vault Firsthand Career Engagement Platform or to demo the platform, contact Dr. Thomas D. Iwankow at tiwankow@infobase.com today. About Infobase: Infobase, a Centre Lane Partners portfolio company, is an educational solutions provider facilitating the connection between content, people, and the learning experiences that empower all users to evolve personally and professionally throughout their lives. Infobase delivers award-winning multimedia reference content, online tools and technology, and professional development and training solutions to the school, academic, public library, and professional communities. Enabled by such well-known brands as Facts On File, Learn360, Credo, The Mailbox, Films Media Group, Bloom's, Ferguson's, and Vault / Firsthand, Infobase provides students, educators, librarians, parents, and professionals with the broad range of solutions they need to inspire, enable, and inform lifelong learners. For more than 80 years, Infobase has been a reliable, authoritative resource providing flexible options for accessing educational content whether in school, at the library, or at home. To learn more, visit www.Infobase.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/extending-career-success-from-college-acceptance-through-the-complete-life-cycle-of-a-students-career-301389888.html SOURCE Vault Career Intelligence

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[October 01, 2021] Kirstin Marr, Head of Insurity Analytics, Leads Panel Discussion on Next-Generation Analytics at InsureTech Connect 2021

Insurity, a leading provider of cloud-based software for property and casualty (P&C) carriers, brokers, and MGAs today announced that Kirstin Marr, Head of Insurity Analytics, will lead a panel discussion at InsureTech Connect in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 4-6, 2021. InsureTech Connect Vegas is one of the world's largest industry events of the year, providing attendees access to a wide variety of technology entrepreneurs, investors, and experts, along with some of the largest insurance organizations. Marr's panel at InsureTech Connect, titled, "The Data Cloud Unleashes Next Gen Analytics in P&C," will explore how P&C carriers and MGAs can take advantage of data insights and predictive analytics in their underwriting and claims performance. Through modern, cloud data architecture, P&C carriers can enable real-time, centralized access to all data sources, structured and unstructured, to drive better business decisions while maintaining data security and governance. The panel will cover how new developments, including the Data Cloud platform and unstructured data management, can empower insurers to make their data more actionable and insightful. Marr has a wealth of experience in data and predictive analytics and is a recognized thought leader in the insurance industry. As Head of Insurity Analytics, Marr leads product strategy, development, and operations for Insurity's portfolio of data and analytics solutions. Her leadership has enabled insurers to enhance underwriting and claims performnce while delivering a modern experience for their customers. For example, Insurity Analytics in the Data Cloud enables P&C insurers to easily unify, integrate, analyze, and share their data to write more profitable policies, optimize claims, and deliver better combined ratios.



Marr's panel discussion will take place on Tuesday, October 5 at 10:30 a.m. PST. Marr will be joined in the panel by Matt Glickman, VP Customer Product Strategy, Data Marketplace, and Financial Services at Snowflake, Saurin Shah, Senior Product Manager at Snowflake, Sri Ramaswamy, Chief Executive Officer at Infinilytics, and Kathleen Zarzycki, VP, Information Technology, CIO and CISO at the Greater New York Mutual Insurance Company. "I'm excited to be leading this discussion alongside my fellow panelists at InsureTech Connect in Las Vegas," said Marr. "The insurance industry is on the cusp of major change, thanks to rapid digitization and rising customer expectations. It is vital that P&C carriers and MGAs rise to the challenge with robust data and analytics they can turn into actionable insights. Insurity is leading the market by making our integrated data analytics suite accessible, flexible, and open to software platforms everywhere through the data cloud, helping our customers hone their competitive edge."

If you are interested in meeting with Kirstin Marr at InsureTech Connect, please visit this link to schedule a meeting. About Insurity Insurity is a leading provider of cloud-based software and analytics for insurance carriers, brokers, and MGAs. Insurity is trusted by 15 of the top 25 P&C Carriers in the US and has over 275 cloud-based deployments. Through its best-in-class digital platform and with unrivaled industry experience and thought leadership, Insurity is uniquely positioned to deliver exceptional value, empowering customers to focus on their core businesses, optimize their operations, and provide superior policyholder experiences. Insurity is a portfolio company of GI Partners. For more information, visit www.insurity.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005551/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Allstate Closes Sale of New York Life and Annuity Businesses

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) today announced that it has obtained all required regulatory approvals and closed the sale of Allstate Life Insurance Company of New York (ALNY) to Wilton Re for approximately $400 million. "Closing on the sale of ALNY is a significant step in Allstate's strategy of increasing personal property-liability market share and expanding protection services, while deploying capital out of the life and annuity businesses," said Mario Rizzo, Chief Financial Officer of Allstate. In a separate transaction announced earlier this year, Allstate agreed to sell Allstate Life Insurance Company to Everlake US Holdings Company, an entity managed by Blackstone Group. This transaction is expected to close in 2021, subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions. These transactions will complete Allstate's exit from the traditional life and annuity businesses. Allstate agents and exclusive financial specialists continue to meet customers' needs by offering a full suite of life insurance and retirement solutions from third-party providers. About Allstate The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) protects people from life's uncertainties with a circle of protection including cars, homes, electronic devices, benefits and identity theft. Products are available through a broad distribution network including Allstate agents, independent agents, major retailers, online and at the workplace. Allstate is widely known for the slogan "You're in Good Hands wit Allstate."



Financial information, including material announcements about The Allstate Corporation, is routinely posted on www.allstateinvestors.com. About Wilton Re:

Wilton Re is a leading provider of in force and reinsurance solutions in the North American life insurance industry. With its proven experience, Wilton Re creates customized solutions that address the capital and operational needs of its clients. For more information about Wilton Re, please visit www.wiltonre.com. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" that anticipate results based on our estimates, assumptions and plans that are subject to uncertainty. These statements are made subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and may be identified by their use of words like "plans," "seeks," "expects," "will," "should," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "believes," "likely," "targets" and other words with similar meanings. We believe these statements are based on reasonable estimates, assumptions and plans. However, if the estimates, assumptions or plans underlying the forward-looking statements prove inaccurate or if other risks or uncertainties arise, actual results could differ materially from those communicated in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements may be found in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the "Risk Factors" section in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K. Forward-looking statements are as of the date on which they are made, and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005555/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Ravenswood Opens New Office within UCF Innovation District in Central Florida

ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ravenswood Solutions (Ravenswood) announces the opening of its new Product Development Center (PDC) within the University of Central Florida (UCF) Innovation District at Research Park. This move expands the company's engineering footprint beyond Silicon Valley and solidifies their commitment to being part of, and better serving, Team Orlando. According to Ravenswood's CEO Kipp Peppel, "We are excited to be here in the heart of the modeling and simulation community. We look forward to strengthening our partnerships through this unique intersection of industry, government, and academia to help solve the national security challenges of today and tomorrow." Principal Engineer Stacy Corcoran, the chief architect of the Ravenswood product family, will lead the new Product Development Center. Together with UCF, Mr. Corcoran will work to rapidly grow Ravenswood's local engineering presence, with a focus on augmented reality, expeditionary networks, and data analytics. "I am eager to bring our technology and ideas from Silicon Valley and blend them with the rich experience and know-how of Orlando's modeling and simulation community to develop better solutions for our customers," says Corcoran. Corcoran is joined in Orlando by Ms. Kathy Keyser (Ravenswood's Director of Contracts & Procurement) and Mr. Rob DeGaine/span> (Senior Program Manager). "You have to be there with our customers to help them know what you are working on that could benefit them," says DeGaine.



Ravenswood Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of SRI International, the globally renowned research institute headquartered in Menlo Park, CA. For more than 25 years, the Ravenswood team has delivered high-performance modeling and simulation solutions for clients around the world. Launching the Orlando-based PDC is the next milestone in Ravenswood's drive to deliver innovative, open, cost-effective solutions tailored to each customer's needs. For more information media should contact 

Ravenswood Solutions: Naomi Atlas, 650-646-2895, naomi.atlas@ravenswoodsolutions.com UCF Business Incubation Program: Carol Ann Dykes Logue, 407-635-9882, carolann.dykeslogue@ucf.edu or Alan Byrd, Alan Byrd & Associates, 407-415-8470, Alan@ByrdConnections.com About Ravenswood Solutions. Ravenswood Solutions, a subsidiary of SRI International, enables world-class performance through exceptional technology and partnership. Born in Silicon Valley, Ravenswood specializes in rapidly delivering data collection, visualization, and analysis capabilities to your point and time of need, anywhere in the world. For more than 25 years, Ravenswood has successfully converted research to revenue and fielded scalable, modular solutions for training, testing, and operations across a variety of defense and commercial applications. Our expert team of geeks and grunts is dedicated to ensuring you achieve your goals in an efficient and cost-effective manner. At Ravenswood, we are committed to delivering on-time, on-budget, with unparalleled performance. About the UCF Business Incubation Program: The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program is a community resource that provides early-stage companies with the tools, training and infrastructure to become financially stable, high growth/impact enterprises. Since 1999, this award-winning program has provided vital business development resources resulting in over 300 local startup companies reaching their potential faster and graduating into the community where they continue to grow and positively impact the local economy. With seven facilities throughout the region, the UCF Business Incubation Program is an economic development partnership between the University of Central Florida, the Corridor, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia Counties, and the cities of Kissimmee, Orlando and Winter Springs. For more information, visit www.incubator.ucf.edu. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ravenswood-opens-new-office-within-ucf-innovation-district-in-central-florida-301389892.html SOURCE Ravenswood Solutions

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[October 01, 2021] Schroders Global Investor Study 2021: Many Canadian Investors Interested in ESG, but Lag Global Counterparts

Canadian investors have sharpened their focus on environmental and social issues due to the pandemic, but less so than the rest of the world, the Schroders Global Investor Study has found. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005573/en/ Source (News - Alert) : Schroders Global Investor Study The sustainability-focused findings of the annual flagship study, which surveyed over 23,000 investors from 33 locations globally, found that 44% and 40% of Canadian investors, respectively, are now placing greater importance on social and environmental issues, compared to 55% and 57% of investors globally. More than half (54%) of Canadian investors believe that data/evidence demonstrating that investing sustainably delivers better returns would encourage them to increase their allocations. A further 36% of investors said that regular reporting that highlights the impact their investments are having would motivate them to increase their sustainable investments and just over a third (34%) would like their financial advisor to provide them with more information aligned to their sustainability preferences. While many Canadians are at ease with the prospect of embracing sustainability, they are slightly behind their global counterparts. Forty-three percent stated they would feel positive with their advisor moving their assets to an entirely sustainable portfolio, so long as the same level of risk and diversification was maintained, compared to 57% of investors globally and 68% of U.S. investors. Of that 43%, three quarters said the opportunity to have a positive impact on the world was the most appealing factor, ahead of 41% who were confident about returns. "Across the globe, ESG has firmly cemented its place in mainstream investing," said Sarah Bratton Hughes (News - Alert) , Head of Sustainability, North America, at Schroders. "As we begin to see externalities related to climate change, corporate governance and other factors materialize, Canadian investors can not only have a positive impact on the world but also uncover risks and opportunities to potentially enhance returns through their allocation strategy." Canadian investors seek to avoid financial, climate risks with ESG investing The study also asked what controversies would drive people to withdraw from investments. Financial scandals are the most likely to occur, with these issues creating greater investment obstacles than cyber security hacks or climate change catastrophes. With that, some 63% ofCanadian investors stated they would sell out if their investments were impacted by financial or accounting scandals.



This was ahead of 52% of investors who cited human rights scandals, and the same percentage who identified a scandal relating to treatment of a company's workforce. Interestingly, Canadian investors were less concerned than their global counterparts with a climate change catastrophe. Only 48% identified they would sell out of a company experiencing this, versus 60% of investors globally. "The pandemic has encouraged investors to want more from the companies they are invested in, with a microscope put on the way management teams treat employees and the communities they serve," said Bratton Hughes. "Many Canadians want to ensure that they are only owning those that are having a positive impact on the world, with less risk of scandals that may hurt returns and company reputation."

At an increasing level, investors are expecting global action to be taken to address climate change. The study found that pressure was growing on almost all key global stakeholders - from governments, companies and even asset managers - to mitigate the impact. Over three-quarters of Canadian survey respondents (71% 77%) agreed that this responsibility should fall on the shoulders of national governments and regulators, while 70% placed responsibility on companies for tackling climate change. Note to Editors In 2021, Schroders commissioned Raconteur Media and iResearch to conduct an independent online survey of 23,950 people who invest from 33 locations around the globe. The research defines "people" as: Those who will invest at least CAD17,300 (or equivalent) in the next 12 months

Have changed their investments within the last 10 years Due to this threshold, Schroders acknowledges that this group and thus the research findings are not representative of everyone's experience. Note: Figures in this document may not add up to 100 per cent due to rounding and multiple selection questions. For trade press only. To view the latest press releases from Schroders visit: https://www.schroders.com/en/media-relations/newsroom/ Schroders plc As a global active asset manager, the way we direct capital not only shapes the financial returns we achieve for our clients but also the impact that the companies in which we invest on their behalf might have on society. The relationship between these two outcomes has rapidly evolved as we see a fundamental shift in how companies are viewed and valued. Understanding the impact that they can have on society and the planet is crucial in assessing their ability to deliver risk-adjusted profits. Our ongoing success is built on a history of experience and expertise, whereby we partner with our clients to construct innovative products and solutions across our five business areas consisting of Private Assets & Alternatives, Solutions, Mutual Funds, Institutional and Wealth Management and invest in a wide range of assets and geographies. By combining our commitment to active management and focus on sustainability, our strategic capabilities are designed to deliver positive outcomes for our clients. We are responsible for 700.4 billion (815.8 billion/$967.5 billion/)* assets of our clients, managed locally by 42 investment teams worldwide. As a global business with over 5,500 talented staff across 37 locations, we are able to stay close to our clients and understand their needs. We have over 200 years of experience in investment and innovation and remain committed to creating a better future by investing responsibly for our clients. Further information about Schroders can be found at www.schroders.com. Important Information: All investments involve risk, including the loss of principal. Diversification cannot ensure profits or abate all risk. The views and opinions stated are those of the individuals quoted and are subject to change. This document does not purport to provide investment advice and the information contained is for informational purposes and not to engage in any trading activities. The material is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for accounting, legal or tax advice, or investment recommendations. Issued by Schroder Investment Management Limited. Registration No 1893220 England. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For regular updates by e-mail please register online at www.schroders.com for our alerting service. *as at 30 June 2021 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005573/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Igloo to Donate 100% of the Sales Price of 2022 Playmate Calendars Sold to the American Cancer Society

In honor of and support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October 1-31, 2021, Igloo will donate 100% of the sales price from its 2022 Playmate Calendar sold on igloocoolers.com to the American Cancer Society, a nationwide, community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem. This special-edition, 12-month calendar - featuring original Igloo Playmate photography spanning 50 years - is available now with free ground shipping at igloocoolers.com/playmatecalendar. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005574/en/ Igloo to Donate 100% of the Sales Price of 2022 Playmate Calendars Sold to the American Cancer Society (Photo: Business Wire) "Continuing on with our recently formed tradition of donating the sales from our Igloo Playmate Calendar, we're proud to support the mission of the American Cancer Society - to free the world from cancer," said Brian Garofalow, Chief Marketing Officer at Igloo. "By establishing our donation period during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we hope to offer our consumers the opportunity to make a donation to this important cause while getting a cool calendar for themselves in return - featuring fun, vintage Igloo photos and quirky holidays to celebrate in 2022!"



Igloo's 2022 Playmate Calendar celebrates the world's most famous cooler: The Playmate. Each month within the 12-month calendar features original Igloo photography - from advertisements and catalogs - throughout the Playmate cooler's 50-year history. This special-edition calendar also includes all standard U.S. holidays and nontraditional holidays, like National BBQ Day and National Take a Hike Day, to encourage everyone to do fun activities with others throughout the year. Visit igloocoolers.com/playmatecalendar through October 31, 2021 to shop Igloo's 2022 Playmate Calendar and take part in donating to the American Cancer Society.

Each Igloo Playmate Calendar sold from October 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021, the American Cancer Society will receive $7.00. For each Igloo Playmate Calendar given away from October 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021, the American Cancer Society will receive $1.00. The American Cancer Society does not endorse any service or product. These funds are restricted to the American Cancer Society's breast cancer awareness and support program of work. To keep up with all things Igloo, follow and like: Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube About Igloo: Born from a modest metalworking shop back in 1947, Igloo has been instrumental in redefining how we live, work and play. What began with bringing clean water to the worksite quickly moved into super-functional, best-in-class ice chests. Igloo products made the family outdoor recreation movement of the 20th century possible. Suddenly, taking your kids camping on the weekend became easy and cross-country road trips became a summer vacation staple. As we approach our next century, Igloo is 1,200 employees strong. We are proud to call-a 1.8-million-square-foot, three-building facility in-Katy, Texas home. With more than 500 products sold at thousands of retailers around the globe, we can confidently call ourselves the number one cooler manufacturer in the world. And through it all we haven't lost sight of our original goal-to create products that enable the pursuit of happiness (however you define it). That's why we're still working hard every day to innovate, create and make it easier for you to get out, work hard and play even harder. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005574/en/

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[October 01, 2021] AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Farmers New World Life Insurance Company and Farmers Reinsurance Company

AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of "a+" (Excellent) of Farmers New World Life Insurance Company (FNWL) (Bellevue, WA). At the same time, AM Best has affirmed the FSR of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term ICR of "a" (Excellent) of Farmers Reinsurance Company (Farmers Re) (Woodland Hills, CA (News - Alert) ). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. The ratings reflect FNWL's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM). The ratings also recognize the continued strategic value FNWL provides to its ultimate parent, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd. Additionally, FNWL's ratings are supported by its risk-adjusted capitalization being maintained at the strongest level, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), the company's historically positive earnings trend and material contributions to the overall group in terms of new business value and operating profits. Partially mitigating factors include the COVID-19 mortality related headwinds, relatively flat premium trends and high use of reinsurance through highly rated unaffiliated and affiliated entities. The ratings of Farmers Re reflects its balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriat ERM. The ratings also reflect the company's strategic importance to the Zurich Insurance Group Ltd.



This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings & Assessments. AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2021 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005599/en/

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[October 01, 2021] Transfix CCO Sophie Dabbs to Host FreightWaves Webinar on Strategies For Navigating the Supply Chain this Holiday Season

NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Transfix Inc., a leading transportation solutions provider, today announced that Sophie Dabbs, Chief Commercial Officer at Transfix, will be hosting a fireside chat with Jonathan Gold, Vice President of Supply Chain and Customs Policy at the National Retail Federation, during a FreightWaves Webinar on Tuesday, October 5, 2021 at 1 p.m. ET. With the holidays fast approaching, the ramifications of the supply chain capacity crunch continue globally. Dabbs and Gold will focus on this moment of immense pressure, and how it validates the digital evolution of the supply chain industry. The fireside chat will cover: Results of the NRF's latest survey on the impact of supply chain disruptions

A discussion on moving from tactical maneuvers to long-term strategy shifts

How resiliency is fueling the new era of freight innovation Sophie Dabbs was recently appointed as Transfix CCO, where she oversees sales, partnerships, account management, carrier management, marketplace strategy, pricing, and operations. Jonathan Gold represents the retail industry before Congress and the administration on supply chain, international trade, product safety and customs-related issues impacting the retail industry. The fireside chat will take place on Tuesday, October 5 at 1:00 p.m ET. Register here. About FreightWaes





FreightWaves is the leading provider of news, data and market analysis for the freight markets and is responsible for commercializing Trucking Freight Futures to industry participants to build awareness and market liquidity. The company's news site, freightwaves.com, is the number one freight and logistics news site globally and receives 2.7X more on-site engagement than any other freight-related news site. The company's SaaS product, SONAR, is the industry's first and only freight market data and analytics platform. FreightWaves' core customers are both freight industry professionals and financial institutions with direct and indirect exposure to the freight or related markets. For more information, visit www.freightwaves.com. About Transfix

Transfix is a market-leading, next-generation freight platform transforming the traditional and digital freight sector while bringing transparency, trust, and sustainability to the transportation ecosystem. The company combines deep industry expertise and a world-class class carrier network with advanced technology. The result? Competitive pricing, superior service and reliability, and an intelligent platform designed to optimize the supply chain from start to finish. Today, some of the world's most recognized brands rely on Transfix's trusted carrier network.. Transfix was named one of Forbes' "Next Billion-Dollar Startups" and is headquartered in the heart of New York City with an office in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, visit www.transfix.io.

About NRF

The National Retail Federation, the world's largest retail trade association, passionately advocates for the people, brands, policies and ideas that help retail thrive. From its headquarters in Washington, D.C., NRF empowers the industry that powers the economy. Retail is the nation's largest private-sector employer, contributing $3.9 trillion to annual GDP and supporting one in four U.S. jobs  52 million working Americans. For over a century, NRF has been a voice for every retailer and every retail job, educating, inspiring and communicating the powerful impact retail has on local communities and global economies. nrf.com. Media Contact

Chelsea Horn, Carve Communications for Transfix

chelsea@carvecomms.com

(210) 378-8580 View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/transfix-cco-sophie-dabbs-to-host-freightwaves-webinar-on-strategies-for-navigating-the-supply-chain-this-holiday-season-301389925.html SOURCE Transfix

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[October 01, 2021] Cloud Infrastructure Spending Decreased in Second Quarter of 2021 But Is On Track for Growth in the Full Year, According to IDC

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker: Buyer and Cloud Deployment, spending on compute and storage infrastructure products for cloud infrastructure, including dedicated and shared environments, decreased 2.4% year over year in the second quarter of 2021 (2Q21) to $16.8 billion. This decrease comes after six quarters of year-over-year growth, and most notably compares to the 39.1% annual growth seen by the market in 2Q20, when the world just entered the pandemic with the first wave of business and country closures causing a spike in investments in cloud services and infrastructure. Investments in non-cloud infrastructure increased 3.4% year over year in 2Q21 to $13.4 billion recovering from a 7.2% decline in 2Q20. Spending on shared cloud infrastructure reached $11.9 billion, a decrease of 6.1% compared to 2Q20, and a 17% increase from 1Q21. Weakness in year-over-year demand from public cloud service providers comes after an exceptionally strong 2Q20, in which spending increased 55.5% driven by the spike in demand for cloud services in the first months of the pandemic. Such discrepancy in growth rates attributable to exceptional events creates "hard" comparisons that don't reflect long-term trends. IDC (News - Alert) expects to see continuously strong demand for shared cloud infrastructure with shared cloud infrastructure spending surpassing non-cloud infrastructure spending by 2022. Spending on dedicated cloud infrastructure increased 7.8% year over year in 2Q21 to $4.9 billion with 46.5% of this amount deployed on customer premises. IDC expects that cloud environments will continue to outpace non-cloud throughout its forecast. Despite weakness in 2Q21, IDC is forecasting cloud infrastructure spending to grow 12% to $74.3 billion for 2021, while non-cloud infrastructure is expected to grow 2.7% to $58.9 billion after two years of declines. Shared cloud infrastructure is expected to grow by 11.1% year over year to $51.4 billion for the full year. Spending on dedicated cloud infrastructure is expected to grow 14.1% to $22.8 billion for the full year. As part of the Tracker, IDC tracks various categories of service providers and how much compute and storage infrastructure these service providers purchase, including both cloud and non-cloud infrastructure. The service provider category includes cloud service providers, digital service providers, communications service providers, and managed service providers. In 2Q21, service providers as a group spent $17.1 billion on compute and storage infrastructure, down 1.9% from 2Q20 and up 13.6% from 1Q21. This spending accounted for 56.5% of total compute and storage infrastructure market. IDC expects compute and storage spending by service providers to reach $74.6 billion for 2021, growing at 10.5% year over year. At the regional level the year-over-year changes in spending on cloud infrastructure were mixed: spending increased across the Asia/Pacific subregions, in Latin America, Canada, and Central and Eastern Europe, and declined in the United States, Western Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. Canada showed the strongest year-over-year increase in cloud infrastructure spending in 2Q21 at 25.6% while Western Europe recorded the strongest decline at 8.8%. For the full year, spending on cloud infrastructure is expected to increase across all regions compared to 2020. At the company level, major vendors showed mixed results in their cloud infrastructure revenue in 2Q21, with Dell Technologies, HPE/H3C(a), and Lenovo/Lenovo NetApp Technologies(c) increasing sales while Inspur/Inspur Power Systems(b), and Huawei (News - Alert) experiencing declines compared to 2Q20.







Top Companies, Worldwide Cloud Infrastructure Vendor Revenue, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, Q2 2021 (Revenues are in Millions) Company 2Q21

Revenue

(US$M) 2Q21

Market

Share 2Q20

Revenue

(US$M) 2Q20

Market

Share 2Q21/2Q20

Revenue

Growth 1. Dell Technologies $2,614 15.5% $2,365 13.7% 10.5% 2. HPE/H3C(a) $1,911 11.4% $1,773 10.3% 7.8% T3. Inspur/Inspur Power Systems(b)* $1,438 8.5% $1,917 11.1% -25.0% T3. Lenovo/Lenovo NetApp Technologies(c)* $1,225 7.3% $1,107 6.4% 10.6% T5. Huawei* $439 2.6% $573 3.3% -23.4% T5. Cisco (News - Alert)* $362 2.2% $423 2.5% -14.4% T5. IBM (News - Alert)* $343 2.0% $491 2.8% -30.2% T5. NetApp* $293 1.7% $263 1.5% 11.3% ODM Direct $6,166 36.7% $6,832 39.6% -9.8% Rest of Market $2,033 12.1% $1,492 8.7% 36.2% Total Vendor Revenue $16,824 100.0% $17,238 100.0% -2.4% IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker: Buyer and Cloud Deployment, Q2 2021

Notes: * IDC declares a statistical tie in the worldwide cloud IT infrastructure market when there is a difference of one percent or less in the vendor revenue shares among two or more vendors. (a) Due to the existing joint venture between HPE and H3C, IDC is reporting external market share on a global level for HPE and H3C as "HPE/H3C" starting from 2Q 2016. Per the JV agreement, Tsinghua Holdings subsidiary, Unisplendour Corporation, through a wholly owned affiliate, purchased a 51% stake in H3C and HPE has a 49% ownership stake in the new company. (b) Inspur revenues include revenues and server units for Inspur Power Systems. Inspur is reported as a separate company with revenues including Inspur OEM systems and Inspur Power Systems locally developed and branded systems revenue. Per the JV agreement, Inspur Power Commercial System Co., Ltd., has total registered capital of RMB 1 billion, with Inspur investing RMB 510 million for a 51% equity stake, and IBM investing RMB 490 million for the remaining 49% equity stake. (c) Lenovo/Lenovo NetApp Technologies revenues include revenues from the joint venture which is comprised by Lenovo with a 51% equity stake, and NetApp with the remaining 49% equity stake In addition to the table above, a graphic illustrating the worldwide market share of the top 5 cloud infrastructure providers in 2Q21 and 2Q20 is available by viewing this press release on IDC.com. Long term, IDC expects spending on compute and storage cloud infrastructure to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.4% over the 2020-2025 forecast period, reaching $118.8 billion in 2025 and accounting for 67.3% of total compute and storage infrastructure spend. Shared cloud infrastructure will account for 69.9% of this amount, growing at a 12.4% CAGR. Spending on dedicated cloud infrastructure will grow at a CAGR of 12.3%. Spending on non-cloud infrastructure will rebound in 2021 but will flatten out at a CAGR of 0.1%, reaching $57.7 billion in 2025. Spending by service providers on compute and storage infrastructure is expected to grow at a 11.2% CAGR, reaching $115 billion in 2025. A graphic illustrating IDC's 2020-2025 enterprise cloud infrastructure forecast by deployment type (non-cloud, shared cloud, dedicated cloud) is available by viewing this press release on IDC.com. IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker: Buyer and Cloud Deployment is designed to provide clients with a better understanding of what portion of the compute and storage hardware markets are being deployed in cloud environments. The Tracker breaks out each vendors' revenue into shared and dedicated cloud environments for historical data and provides a five-year forecast. This Tracker is part of the Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker, which provides a holistic total addressable market view of the four key enabling infrastructure technologies for the datacenter (servers, external enterprise storage systems, and purpose-built appliances: HCI and PBBA). Taxonomy Notes IDC defines cloud services more formally through a checklist of key attributes that an offering must manifest to end users of the service. Shared cloud services are shared among unrelated enterprises and consumers; open to a largely unrestricted universe of potential users; and designed for a market, not a single enterprise. The shared cloud market includes a variety of services designed to extend or, in some cases, replace IT infrastructure deployed in corporate datacenters; these services in total are called public cloud services. The shared cloud market also includes digital services such as media/content distribution, sharing and search, social media, and e-commerce. Dedicated cloud services are shared within a single enterprise or an extended enterprise with restrictions on access and level of resource dedication and defined/controlled by the enterprise (and beyond the control available in public cloud offerings); can be onsite or offsite; and can be managed by a third-party or in-house staff. In dedicated cloud that is managed by in-house staff, "vendors (cloud service providers)" are equivalent to the IT departments/shared service departments within enterprises/groups. In this utilization model, where standardized services are jointly used within the enterprise/group, business departments, offices, and employees are the "service users." For more information about IDC's Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker, please contact Lidice Fernandez at lfernandez@idc.com. About IDC Trackers IDC Tracker products provide accurate and timely market size, vendor share, and forecasts for hundreds of technology markets from more than 100 countries around the globe. Using proprietary tools and research processes, IDC's Trackers are updated on a semiannual, quarterly, and monthly basis. Tracker results are delivered to clients in user-friendly Excel deliverables and on-line query tools. Click here to learn about IDC's full suite of data products and how you can leverage them to grow your business. About IDC International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology, IT benchmarking and sourcing, and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data, and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter (News - Alert) at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights. All product and company names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005642/en/

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[October 01, 2021] White Lodging and Purdue University enhance relationship, honor J.W. 'Bill' Marriott, Jr.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- White Lodging, one of the leading hospitality development and management companies in the United States, is enhancing the development of the next generation of hospitalitarians as part of the White family's significant continued support of Purdue University. Purdue hospitality school to honor White Lodging, J.W. "Bill" Marriott, Jr., with name change. In addition, Purdue University trustees voted Friday (Oct. 1) to rename the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management in honor of the White family's longstanding financial and in-kind support. At the request of Bruce White, White Lodging's founder and CEO, the school's name will also honor the career and contributions of J.W. "Bill" Marriott, Jr., executive chairman and chairman of the board of Marriott International. Effective immediately, Purdue's School of Hospitality and Tourism Management will officially be known as the White Lodging  J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Bruce and Beth White's and the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation's $5 million pledge provides the foundation for an honors program in hospitality, an endowed scholarship for top hospitality students and a named headship in the school. This follows Bruce and Beth White's and the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation's pledge of $30 million in the aggregate in 2018 to Purdue for the transformation of the historic Union Club Hotel. "Our goal is to create an environment that allows associates to be their best selves and grow through training, development and mentorship," Bruce White said. "This goal stands as a foundation that Bill and the Marriott team built for the hospitality industry and continue to support at all levels. I'm very appreciative of Bill's support throughout our time together and proud that we can play a role in creating the next generation of hospitalitarians at Purdue  at a time when it's needed more than ever." J.W. "Bill" Marriott, Jr. said, "I am delighted and humbled by this incredible recognition. We have had a wonderful relationship with White Lodging and Bruce and Beth White for decades. The relationship with Purdue is also a longstanding one, and I am grateful to be part of this initiative preparing future hospitality leaders." The Marriott family has a longstanding relationship with Purdue, including The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation providing the lead donation of $5 million in 2012 to create Marriott Hall on Purdue's campus. The Marriott family also supports the annual Marriott Executive in the Classroom series, which brings top leaders from across all segments of the hospitality industry to West Lafayette, Indiana, to engage with students about the industry's exciting career pathways and visit with faculty to provide business insights to advance the students' learning experience. Purdue's hospitality and tourism program, housed in the College of Health and Human Sciences, is widely known as one of the best in the nation, with graduates serving in hospitality positions the world over. Dean Marion Underwood said this gift and new name will help extend its reach even further. "The generous endowment to support a named headship will allow the College of Health and Human Sciences to attract a creative, visionary and transformative leader of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management," Underwood said. "The gift also provides vitally important support for exceptional students to pursue an education in finance and hospitality." The Union Club Hotel anticipated to be designated an Autograph Collection Hotel As part of the announcement of the school's name change, Marriott International, White Lodging and Purdue are working toward an agreement to designate the Union Club Hotel at Purdue as an Autograph Collection Hotel. Autograph Collection hotels are a collection of more than 200 independent hotels around the world hand-selected for their inherent craft and distinct perspectives on design and hospitality. In 2020, the nearly 92-year-old, 182-room Union Club Hotel reopened on campus after a comprehensive $35 million, yearlong transformation. The project involved a complete overhaul of all guest rooms and public spaces, as well as the creation of three dining concepts honoring Purdue's legacy. Original Purdue architecture and academic-inspired design are preserved in carpet patterns, upholstery, room fixtures and countless other elements in the hotel. The hotel is also used as a hands-on learning laboratory for Purdue hospitality students where they spend time working and learning about hotel and restaurant operations while earning college credits. Additionally, the Union Club Hotel is host to the White Lodging LAUNCH Hospitality Immersion Program designed to propel high-caliber university students into the industry by providing paid, hands-on experience. The transition is expected to occur in early 2022. Upon the designation of the Union Club Hotel as an Autograph Collection Hotel, guests will be able to book stays on marriott.com and participate in Marriott Bonvoy  Marriott International's award-winning travel program  where members can earn and redeem points on stays and experiences. "The continued involvement of Marriott, the Marriott family and White Lodging have helped accelerate our hospitality program to international recognition, and their latest endeavors on campus  today and in recent years  further position us as one of the top hospitality programs in the country," Purdue President Mitch Daniels said. "Our students will have support and learning opportunities from the top hospitality company in the world and one of America's leading hotel owners, developers and management companies  a combination no other university has." Developing the next-generation hospitalitarian "While the definition of hospitality hasn't changed, the business of hospitality has evolved greatly  even before the COVID-19 pandemic," Bruce White said. "The industry is complex, and the key to thrive like we have in the past is by developing a generation of college graduates with advanced critical thinking, financial, business AND service skills. There's no question that hospitality remains an incredible career choice." Purdue's hospitality program develops future global leaders through rigorous learning, cutting-edge research, and innovative engagement in the areas of hospitality and tourism, financial counseling and planning, retail management, and selling and sales management. About White Lodging White Lodging, established in 1985, is one of the leading ownership, development, and management companies in America. An innovative trendsetter, the organization's portfolio includes convention, urban lifestyle, and suburban select hotels with more than $1 billion in managed revenue. White Lodging operates approximately 90 premium hotels, 40 restaurants and 30 brands. Success knows no boundaries at White Lodging, where associates and leadership have consistently earned superior guest satisfaction scores, top market share and industry-leading profit margins while recruiting the best, brightest, and most passionate professionals in every discipline. White Lodging is a proud winner of the Gallup Great Workplace Award. For more information about White Lodging, visit www.whitelodging.com , or connect on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn and Instagram . About Purdue University Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today's toughest challenges. Ranked in each of the last four years as one of the 10 Most Innovative universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://purdue.edu/ .







For more information:

White Lodging

Mike Banas

Mike.Banas@whitelodging.com

312-730-7329 Purdue University

Abigail Nickel

nickela@purdue.edu

740-326-0481

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/white-lodging-and-purdue-university-enhance-relationship-honor-jw-bill-marriott-jr-301389977.html SOURCE White Lodging

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[October 01, 2021] SpotLite360 Announces Stock Option Grant

DENVER and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SPOTLITE360 IOT SOLUTIONS, INC. (SpotLite360 or the Company) (CSE: LITE) (OTC: SPLTF) (Frankfurt: 87A) announces that it has granted, effective after market close on September 30, 2021, an aggregate of 450,000 stock options (each, an "Option") to certain officers of the Company in accordance with the Company's stock option plan.

Each Option is exercisable for a period of ten (10) years for one common share in the capital of the Company (a "Share") at a price of $0.24 per Share, being the closing price of the Shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange on September 30, 2021. This is a normal-course grant that comprises part of the long-term compensation and retention incentives program provided by the Company. An initial 75,000 Options will vest immediately, and the remaining Options will vest in equal 75,000 tranches every six (6) month periods thereafter. On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company, SpotLite360 IOT Solutions, Inc. James Greenwell James Greenwell, President For more information about SpotLite360, please visit: http://spotlite360.com Charles Lee

Investor Relations and Media Inquiries

+1 (720) 830-6120

ir@spotlite360.com THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (CSE) HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE, NOR HAS OR DOES THE CSES REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER. About SpotLite360 IOT Solutions, Inc. SpotLite360 is a logistics technologies solutions provider unlocking value, opportunities, and efficiencies for all participants in a supply chain. Building upon existing applications of IoT technologies, distributed ledgers, and machine learning, SpotLite360 endeavours to set new standards of transparency, integrity, and sustainability in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, and agriculture industries. As regulators across the globe begin to impose new tracing and accountability requirements for the protection of consumers (e.g., DSCSA and FSMA from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration), the need for reliable, cost-effective, and versatile tracking technology is expected to grow considerably. SpotLite360s flagship SaaS solutin has been engineered to seamlessly track the movement of a product by integrating with systems of all major stakeholders in a supply chain ranging from the raw materials to the hands of the end consumer. With a primary objective of onboarding new clients in 2021, SpotLite360 plans to explore innovative use cases for its proprietary stack of technologies which could transform logistics workflows in some of the worlds largest industries.



Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, with respect to the Company. The forward-looking information included in this news release is not based on historical facts, but rather on the expectations of the Companys management regarding the future growth of the Resulting Issuer, its results of operations, performance, business prospects, and opportunities. This news release uses words such as will, expects, anticipates, intends, plans, believes, estimates, or similar expressions to identify forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information reflects the current beliefs of the Companys management, based on information currently available to them.

This forward-looking information includes, among other things, statements relating to: the intentions, plans and future actions of the Company; statements relating to the business and future activities of the Company; anticipated developments in operations of the Company; market position, ability to compete, and future financial or operating performance of the Company; the timing and amount of funding required to execute the business plans of the Company; capital expenditures of the Company; the effect on the Company, of any changes to existing or new legislation or policy or government regulation; the length of time required to obtain permits, certifications and approvals; the availability of labour; estimated budgets; currency fluctuations; requirements for additional capital; limitations on insurance coverage; the timing and possible outcome of regulatory and permitting matters; goals; strategies; future growth; the adequacy of financial resources; our expectations regarding revenues, expenses and anticipated cash needs. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, intentions, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of the experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, and expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate, and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the assumptions underlying these statements are reasonable, they may prove to be incorrect, and there can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Given these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, prospective investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Whether actual results, performance, or achievements will conform to the expectations and predictions of the Company is subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors, including those listed in the Company's non-offering prospectus dated May 26, 2021. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results might vary materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Information contained in forward-looking statements in this news release is provided as of the date of this news release, and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or future events or results, except to the extent required by applicable securities laws. Accordingly, potential investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or the information contained in those statements. All of the forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements. Statement Regarding Third-Party Investor Relations Firms Disclosures relating to investor relations firms retained by SpotLite360 IOT Solutions, Inc. can be found under the Company's profile on http://sedar.com .



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[October 01, 2021] Vanguard completes acquisition of Just Invest

VALLEY FORGE, Pa., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vanguard today announced it has completed the acquisition of Just Invest, a provider of tax-managed, tailored wealth management technology. Just Invest's offerings, including direct indexing platform Kaleidoscope, provide financial advisors with technology solutions that cater to their clients' unique financial needs. The acquisition adds direct indexing, or personalized indexing, capabilities to bolster Vanguard's world-class investment product lineup and service offering for advisors. "Financial advisors understand that each client's circumstances and values are personal," said Tom Rampulla, managing director of Vanguard Financial Advisor Services. "We are excited to integrate Just Invest's personalized indexing offering into our intermediary business and help advisors unlock new ways to tailor client experiences and provide value." Personalized indexing capabilities at Vanguard will initially be implemented within Vanguard's $3 trillion financial intermediary business, Financial Advisor Services, which serves registered investment advisors (RIAs), banks, and broker-dealer financial advisors. Through its decades-long partnership with U.S. financial intermediaries, Financial Advisor Services provides investment produts, research, thought leadership, model portfolio capabilities and strategies, and portfolio analytics tools and consultations.



"Just Invest has always focused on empowering financial advisors with the technology they need to care for clients' financial futures," said Jonathan Hudacko, CEO of Just Invest. "We are excited that Vanguard shares in that mission, and we look forward to expanding the value we bring to financial advisors together." In 2020, Vanguard and Just Invest launched a direct indexing pilot program for RIAs. The pilot, which utilized Just Invest's large-scale data analysis, quantitative algorithms, and risk modeling, garnered positive feedback and sustained interest from advisors.

The acquisition reflects Vanguard's commitment to innovation through client service, technology, and product development with the aim of creating a world-class client experience and driving better investment outcomes. About Vanguard

Vanguard is one of the world's largest investment management companies. As of August 31, 2021, Vanguard managed $8.3 trillion in global assets. The firm, headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, offers 417 funds to its more than 30 million investors worldwide. For more information, visit vanguard.com. About Just Invest

Just Invest, an SEC-registered investment adviser and independently operated, wholly owned subsidiary of The Vanguard Group, is a tech-driven asset manager that uses large-scale data analysis, quantitative algorithms and risk modeling to deliver innovative portfolio and tax management, greater client engagement and world-class economics for both advisors and their clients. The firm empowers advisors to enter the new era of wealth management, driven by unprecedented customization through its proprietary direct indexing technology and transparent, efficient tax management. All figures as of August 31, 2021 unless stated otherwise. For more information about Vanguard funds, visit advisors.vanguard.com or call 800-997-2798 to obtain a prospectus or, if available, a summary prospectus. Investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information about a fund are contained in the prospectus; read and consider it carefully before investing. All investing is subject to risk, including possible loss of principal. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss. Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor of the Vanguard Funds. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vanguard-completes-acquisition-of-just-invest-301390003.html SOURCE Vanguard

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[October 01, 2021] OTC: ILUS, ILUS International (Ilustrato Pictures International Inc) Acquisition, BCD Fire, Secures a New Contract Valued at $ 1 Million and Hires 46 New Staff

NEW YORK, NY, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire  ILUS International Inc (OTC: ILUS), ILUS is a M&A company focussed on acquiring and developing technology-based companies globally. The company has already completed four acquisitions in 2021, including that of BCD Fire, on April 12th. BCD Fire was already awarded 3 contracts in the 3rd quarter of 2021, valued at $1.5 million. The company has now been awarded a $1 million contract for the second phase of the Burj 2020 project. BCD Fire was previously awarded the contract for the supply and installation of fire systems, including fire alarm panels and detectors, a central battery system and fire sprinkler system for the Burj 2020 Tower in Dubai. At 2333 feet high with 115 floors, Burj 2020 will be the worlds tallest commercial tower when completed. The BCD team commenced work on the first phase of this project during the 3rd quarter of 2021, with the contract value for this phase sitting at just under $1 million. The team has now been awarded the next phase of this project, valued at $1 million. To complete this project as well upcoming projects, which the company expects to be awarded, BCD Fire is in the process of hiring an additional 45 technicians and an additional salesperson. The additional 45 technicians will put the company in the position to apply for the lucrative A-level license for the supply, installation, and maintenance of fire protection systems in residential, industrial and oil field facilities in the United Arab Emirates. Once this license is granted, BCD Fire will be able to complete larger projects on multiple sites simultaneously as there will be no limitation on the size of project they can be awarded. BCD Fire recently completed a $ 426 000 contract for the installation of fire alarm systems and a central battery system for a 13-story residential building on the upmarket Dubai Hills Estate in Dubai. It also completed a $ 141 000 contract for the installation of Emirates Hospitals new fire system. BCD Fire has achieved so much since we acquired it earlier this year and the award of this next phase of the Burj 2020 project is reward for the progress made by the ILUS and BCD teams. Obtaining the A-level license will rocket this acquisition to a whole new level. There has also been overwhelming interest from regional Fire Safety Training Companies in our new Virtual Reality Fire Extinguisher Training Courses which are being launched this month. The BCD Fire pipeline is so strong that it really is just about scaling up the business quick enough to take on the projects that are lined up. I said in August that we are barely scratching the surface of BCD Fires potential and since then we have made excellent progress but looking at how many projects there are in the region and how primed BCD Fire is for growth, reminds us how bright the future is for this company, said ILUS Managing Director, John-Paul Backwell. ILUS CEO, Nick Link, said the following: ILUS just closed out its best quarter yet and we are looking forward to releasing an update on this in the next week or so once the team has finished consolidating the figures. FireBug and TVC have received several purchase orders during the 3rd quarter and they have been making excellent progress, but we have felt it best to provide updates on the more significant deals in the region of $1 million and upwards or noteworthy clients. The FireBug pipeline is looking particularly promising for the 4th quarter. Well done to the ILUS team and thank you to the ILUS Family for your ongoing support. We are looking forward to another record-breaking quarter ahead.



About BCD Fire: Located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and founded in 2014, BCD Fire is a leading systems integrator for fire and life safety systems in the region and is certified by Dubai Civil Defence. The company delivers turnkey projects which incorporate specification, design, installation, support, and maintenance for its customers and works extensively on large hotel, resort, industrial and commercial projects in the region. Since its acquisition by ILUS earlier this year, the ILUS management team has been working closely with BCD Fires management to improve overall efficiency, implement a more effective sales strategy and increase recurring revenue generated from maintenance services.

For further information on the companies please see their communication channels Website: https://ilus-group.com Twitter: OTC_ILUS Contact:

Email: IR@Ilus-Group.com Source: ILUS Related Links

https://ilus-group.com

Forward-Looking Statement Certain information set forth in this press release 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 the 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 customer, supplier and other material 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 in this presentation 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. The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has provided guidance to issuers regarding the use of social media to disclose material non-public information. In this regard, investors and others should note that we announce material financial information via official Press Releases, in addition to SEC filings, press releases, Questions & Answers sessions, public conference calls and webcasts also may take time from time to time. We use these channels as well as social media to communicate with the public about our company, our services and other issues. It is possible that the information we post on social media could be deemed to be material information. Therefore, in light of the SEC's guidance, we encourage investors, the media, and others interested in our company to review the information we post on the following social & media channels: Website: https://ilus-group.com, Twitter: OTC_ILUS Note: ILUS Coin does not sit within ILUS International Inc (Ilustrato Pictures International Inc) so the public are recommended to follow the correct Media Channels relating to the public company OTC: ILUS



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[October 01, 2021] Capital Senior Living Enters into Amended and Restated Investment Agreement with Conversant Capital

Capital Senior Living Corporation ("Capital Senior Living" or the "Company") (NYSE: CSU), a leading owner-operator of senior living communities across the United States, today announced that it has entered into an Amended and Restated Investment Agreement (the "Amended Agreement") with affiliates of Conversant Capital LLC ("Conversant"). Under the terms of the Amended Agreement, which replaces, in its entirety, the previously announced Investment Agreement with Conversant, the Company will raise up to $154.8 million through the combination of (a) the private placement of convertible preferred stock, common stock and warrants to Conversant; (b) an amended common stock rights offering to its existing stockholders, with a revised subscription price of $30 per share; and (c) an incremental $25 million accordion from Conversant for future investment at the Company's option, subject to certain conditions (collectively, the "Amended Transactions"). Conversant and one of the Company's largest shareholders, Arbiter Partners ("Arbiter"), will backstop the rights offering through the purchase of additional shares of common stock (if the rights offering is not fully subscribed). Arbiter and Silk Partners, another of the Company's largest shareholders, have agreed to participate in the rights offering, which, together with the backstop, guarantees that the Company raises the full amount of proceeds sought in the rights offering. Silk Partners, Arbiter, and Kimberly S. Lody, President and Chief Executive Officer of Capital Senior Living, who collectively own approximately 32% of the outstanding stock of the Company, have signed voting agreements supporting the Amended Transactions. "We appreciate the feedback we have received from our shareholders throughout this process and the collaborative approach taken by Conversant. We also welcome the support and participation of two of our largest shareholders, Silk Partners and Arbiter, and are pleased that they have decided this transaction is in the best interest of all Capital Senior Living shareholders," said Kimberly S. Lody. "Our Board and management team are confident that the Amended Transactions represent the right path forward for the Company and our stakeholders by providing the critical capital we urgently need to address our liquidity and Going Concern issues while offering an enhanced opportunity for existing shareholders to participate through the revised rights offering." Lody continued, "We believe these transactions will enable us to invest in our platform and talent, further improving our already engaging resident experience. We look forward to working closely with Conversant and believe that they will bring valuable strategic perspective to the Board." Michael Simanovsky, Founder and Managing Partner of Conversant, stated, "We are very pleased to partner with Capital Senior Living and two of its largest shareholders in reaching this revised agreement. There is a tremendous opportunity for the Company to build on its recent positive momentum and we are confident that this new structure optimally positions the Company for its next phase of growth and shareholder value creation. We are excited to work with Kim, the Board and the Capital Senior Living team to support the Company's strategic and operational initiatives." The Company's Board of Directors has approved the Amended Investment Agreement and recommends that the Company's stockholders vote in favor of the Amended Transactions. An amended proxy statement (the "Amended Proxy") will be filed by the Company with the SEC (News - Alert) . Under the amended agreement, the Company will have a nine-member Board of Directors composed of four members appointed by Conversant (one of whom will be required to be independent), two members appointed by Silk Partners, Ms. Lody, and two additional independent directors. Amended Transactions Benefits Certainty of proceeds - Backstop and participation agreements for rights offering provide certainty of total capital raised

- Backstop and participation agreements for rights offering provide certainty of total capital raised Common equity PIPE - Half of Conversant's private placement via common equity provides for less convertible preferred stock and more alignment with existing shareholders

- Half of Conversant's private placement via common equity provides for less convertible preferred stock and more alignment with existing shareholders Rights offering backstopped with common equity - Common equity backstop holds constant the amount of convertible preferred, and together with the private placement, guarantees more than $113 million raised in the form of common equity

Common equity backstop holds constant the amount of convertible preferred, and together with the private placement, guarantees more than $113 million raised in the form of common equity Smaller convertible preferred with improved terms - Smaller convertible preferred stock component, which is capped at $41.25 million with a fixed dividend of 11% Amended Transactions Details $82.5 million private placement to an affiliate of Conversant consisting of $41.25 million of common stock at $25 per share and $41.25 million of newly designated Series A Convertible Preferred Stock The preferred stock will accrue dividends, to be paid in cash or in kind at the Company's option, at 11% The Company would have the right to repay Conversant for the preferred stock 3.5 years after closing at par plus accrued interest, and Conversant would have the right to take the payment or convert to common stock

Conversant to receive warrants to purchase approximately one million shares of common stock at $40 per share with an expiration date of five years after closing

Approximately $72.3 million common stock rights offering to existing stockholders to allow them to purchase 1.1 shares of common stock for each share of common stock they held as of the record date of September 10, 2021 at $30 per share Expiration date to be extended to October 27, 2021 Conversant to backstop $50.5 million through the purchase of additional shares of common stock at $30 per share Silk to commit to purchasing 100% of its pro rata share of common stock in the rights offering Arbiter to commit to purchasing at least $5 million of common stock in the rights offering and to backstop $5 million through the purchase of additional shares of common stock at $30 per share Backstop fee equal to approximately 192,000 shares of common stock to be paid to the backstop participants pro rata based on their backstop commitment amount

Each of Silk Partners, Arbiter and Kim Lody have agreed to vote in favor of the Amended Transactions, representing ownership of approximately 32% of the Company's outstanding shares



Advisors

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC was the Company's financial advisor and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP was the Company's legal advisor in connection with the proposed Transactions, and Baker Botts LLP was counsel to the Company's board of directors. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP acted as Conversant's legal advisor in connection with the proposed Transactions. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP was Silk Partners' legal advisor in connection with the proposed Transactions. Transaction Timing and Approval The Amended Investment Agreement, supplement to the proxy statement and other related documents will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), and the proxy supplement will be mailed to stockholders as of the record date of August 25, 2021. As previously announced, the Special Meeting will be held on October 22, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. (Central time), at the Residence Inn Dallas by the Galleria, Highland Park Conference Room, 5460 James Temple Drive, Dallas, Texas 75240. Voting Instructions Because the Amended Proxy will describe a new proposal to be voted on at the Special Meeting that was not reflected or described in the original proxy statement, proxies submitted before the date of the Amended Proxy will not include votes on that proposal. In addition, because the Amended Proxy will amend a proposal to be voted on at the Special Meeting, votes submitted before the date of the Amended Proxy for such proposal will not be counted. As a result, if shareholders want to vote on the new and amended proposals described in the Amended Proxy, they must cast a new vote for the Special Meeting by signing, dating and returning a new WHITE proxy card, or by voting in person at the Special Meeting. Signing and submitting the new WHITE proxy card, or voting in person at the Special Meeting, will revoke any prior proxy in its entirety. Therefore, if shareholders submit the new WHITE proxy card, they must mark the new WHITE proxy card in the appropriate place to indicate their vote on all proposals. No Offer or Solicitation / Additional Information and Where to Find It This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor will there be any sale of any securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. The amended rights offering will be made pursuant to the Company's shelf registration statement on Form S-3, which became effective on May 6, 2020, a prospectus supplement containing the detailed terms of the rights offering filed with the SEC on September 10, 2021, and an amendment to the prospectus supplement to be filed with the SEC. Any offer will be made only by means of a prospectus and prospectus supplement forming part of the registration statement. Investors should read the prospectus and prospectus supplement and consider the investment objective, risks, fees and expenses of the Company carefully before investing. Copies of the prospectus and prospectus supplement may be obtained at the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. In connection with the proposed transaction with Conversant, the Company filed a proxy statement with the SEC on August 31, 2021 and will file an amendment to the proxy statement with the SEC. The Company may also file other relevant documents with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction. The proxy statement, and any amendments thereto, have been and will be delivered to stockholders of the Company. This communication is not a substitute for the proxy statement or any other document that may be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction. INVESTORS AND STOCKHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT, AS IT WILL BE AMENDED, AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT MAY BE FILED WITH THE SEC, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THESE DOCUMENTS, CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN OR WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors and security holders are able to obtain free copies of the definitive proxy statement, and when available, the amendment to the proxy statement and other documents containing important information about the Company and the proposed transaction through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. Participants in the Solicitation The Company and its executive officers and directors and certain other members of management and employees may, under the rules of the SEC, be deemed to be "participants" in the solicitation of proxies in connection with the proposed transaction. Information regarding the Company's directors and executive officers is available in its Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A for its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, filed with the SEC on November 3, 2020, and in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on March 31, 2021, as amended on April 30, 2021. These documents may be obtained free of charge from the sources indicated above. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is contained in the proxy statement and other relevant materials relating to the proposed transaction filed with the SEC. About Capital Senior Living Dallas-based Capital Senior Living Corporation is one of the nation's leading operators of independent living, assisted living and memory care communities for senior adults. The Company operates 75 communities that are home to nearly 7,000 residents across 18 states providing compassionate, resident-centric services and care and engaging programming. The Company offers seniors the freedom and opportunity to successfully, comfortably and happily age in place. For more information, visit http://www.capitalsenior.com or connect with the Company on Facebook or Twitter (News - Alert) . About Conversant Conversant Capital LLC is a private investment adviser founded in 2020. The firm pursues credit and equity investments in the real estate, digital infrastructure and hospitality sectors in both the public and private markets. Further information is available at www.conversantcap.com. Safe Harbor The forward-looking statements in this press release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results and financial condition to differ materially, including, but not limited to, the Company's ability to obtain stockholder approval for the proposed transaction; the satisfaction of all conditions to the closing of the proposed transaction; other risks related to the consummation of the proposed transaction, including the risk that the transaction will not be consummated within the expected time period or at all; the costs related to the proposed transaction; the impact of the proposed transaction on the Company's business; any legal proceedings that may be brought related to the proposed transaction; the continued spread of COVID-19, including the speed, depth, geographic reach and duration of such spread; new information that may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19; the actions taken to prevent or contain the spread of COVID-19 or treat its impact; the legal, regulatory and administrative developments that occur at the federal, state and local levels in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; the frequency and magnitude of legal actions and liability claims that may arise due to COVID-19 or the Company's response efforts; the impact of COVID-19 and the Company's near-term debt maturities on the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; the Company's ability to generate sufficient cash flows from operations, additional proceeds from debt refinancings, and proceeds from the sale of assets to satisfy its short and long-term debt obligations and to fund the Company's capital improvement projects to expand, redevelop, and/or reposition its senior living communities; the Company's ability to obtain additional capital on terms acceptable to it; the Company's ability to extend or refinance its existing debt as such debt matures; the Company's compliance with its debt agreements, including certain financial covenants, and the risk of cross-default in the event such non-compliance occurs; the Company's ability to complete acquisitions and dispositions upon favorable terms or at all, including the transfer of certain communities managed by the Company on behalf of other owners; the Company's ability to improve and maintain adequate controls over financial reporting and remediate the identified material weakness; the risk of oversupply and increased competition in the markets which the Company operates; the risk of increased competition for skilled workers due to wage pressure and changes in regulatory requirements; the departure of the Company's key officers and personnel; the cost and difficulty of complying with applicable licensure, legislative oversight, or regulatory changes; the risks associated with a decline in economic conditions generally; the adequacy and continued availability of the Company's insurance policies and the Company's ability to recover any losses it sustains under such policies; changes in accounting principles and interpretations; and the other risks and factors identified from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005692/en/

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[October 01, 2021] LGL Announces Approval of Spin-off and Holdings of IRNT Shares

The LGL Group, Inc. ("LGL" or "the Company") announced today that its Board of Directors ("BOD") has approved a spin-off of the MTronPTI subsidiary. The Company had previously announced its exploration of this potential spin-off transaction and will now proceed with the spin-off, which will be submitted to a shareholder vote for approval. As a result of the business combination and LGL Group's investment in the SPAC ("DFNS") sponsor, LGL Systems Acquisition Holding Company, LLC., LGL were distributed in kind 2,843,935 shares of IRNT, of which 1,543,935 shares had their restrictions on sale lifted as of today's IRNT resale S-1 effectiveness, and 1,300,000 shares are restricted from sale for at least six months from the date of closing and are subject to the applicable shareholder lock-up agreements. In an effort to continue its stakeholder responsibilities in the context of global corporate citizenship, the company made a charitable gift of 50,000 of these IRNT shares for charity. LGL Group continues to hold a partnership interest in LGL Systems Acquisition Holding Company, LLC, although it is expected to be immaterial. While the Company's SPAC investment offers potential returns it also provides increasingly positive network effects for the benefit of LGL Group's shareholders for the longer term, including with merger and acquisition opportunities. "We are generally pleased with the SPAC team's efforts in analyzing over 100 deals and ultimately effecting a business combination with IronNet," said Marc Gabelli, the LGL Chairman, former DFNS CEO and along with Michael Ferrantino, a former DFNS Board member. "IronNet is an important actor protecting our national interest against a relentless and invisible enemy" he continued. According to IronNet filings, "IronNet's Collective Defense platform offers network detection and response (NDR) capabilities for advanced behavioral-based detection of unknown cyber threats via its IronDefense solution, and a system for real-time threat intelligence sharing within its IronDome solution. The platform provides a radar-like view of potential incoming attacks-a capability that is especially critical for rapidly detecting and mitigating advanced persistent threat attacks, where individual companies and organiztions are forced to defend against nation-state-level cyber capabilities. This real-time picture empowers organizations to more proactively defend against cyberattacks, both on-premise and in the cloud. The IronNet Collective Defense platform is the only solution that can both identify anomalous behaviors on enterprise networks and share this attack intelligence anonymously and in real-time among Collective Defense community members."



The Company further announced the resignation of Robert "Rob" LaPenta Jr. from LGL's board of directors and that of its subsidiary, MTron/PTI, effective September 27, 2021. Marc Gabelli, the Company's non-executive Chairman, said, "We would like to thank Rob for his service to LGL and appreciate his efforts with the SPAC as he joins the Board of IronNet. We wish him all the best." Mike Ferrantino, LGL's CEO, stated, "The Company's sponsorship of the SPAC that resulted in a business combination with IronNet has been successful and should prove to be profitable. We will prudently monitor our investment and work to maximize LGL's benefit for our shareholders. Our shareholders should note that our investment in IRNT will transition to mark-to-market accounting, which may not reflect the actual return we might expect upon the sale of our IRNT stock."

About The LGL Group, Inc. The LGL Group, Inc., through its two principal subsidiaries MTronPTI and PTF, designs, manufactures and markets highly-engineered electronic components used to control the frequency or timing of signals in electronic circuits, and designs high performance frequency and time reference standards that form the basis for timing and synchronization in various applications. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, the Company has additional design and manufacturing facilities in Yankton, South Dakota, Wakefield, Massachusetts and Noida, India, with local sales offices in Hong Kong and Austin, Texas. For more information on the Company and its products and services, contact James Tivy at The LGL Group, Inc., 2525 Shader Rd., Orlando, Florida 32804, (407) 298-2000, or visit www.lglgroup.com and www.mtronpti.com. Caution Concerning Forward Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21 E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts, and can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "expect," "project," "estimate," "anticipate," "plan," "believe," "potential," "should," "continue" or the negative versions of those words or other comparable words. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future actions or performance. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to us and our current plans or expectations, and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect current plans, anticipated actions and our future financial condition and results. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are described in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005697/en/

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[October 01, 2021] First BanCorp. Announces Payment of Dividends on Preferred Stock

First BanCorp. (the "Corporation") (NYSE: FBP), the bank holding company for FirstBank Puerto Rico, announced today that its Board of Directors has declared the following monthly cash dividends on its outstanding shares of Series A through E Noncumulative Perpetual Monthly Income Preferred Stock (the "Preferred Stock"):







Series Annual

Dividend

Rate (%) Monthly

Dividend Per

Share Outstanding

Shares Record Date Payment Date (a) (b) (c) A 7.125% $0.14843750 197,386 October 28, 2021 November 1, 2021 B 8.35% $0.17395800 296,146 October 15, 2021 November 1, 2021 C 7.40% $0.15416670 249,852 October 15, 2021 November 1, 2021 D 7.25% $0.15104167 285,522 October 15, 2021 November 1, 2021 E 7.00% $0.14583330 415,240 October 15, 2021 November 1, 2021

About First BanCorp. First BanCorp. is the parent corporation of FirstBank Puerto Rico, a state-chartered commercial bank with operations in Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Florida, and of FirstBank Insurance Agency, LLC. Among the subsidiaries of FirstBank Puerto Rico are First Federal Finance Limited Liability Company and First Express, Inc., both small loan companies. First BanCorp's shares of common stock trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "FBP." Safe Harbor This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" concerning the Corporation. The words or phrases "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "look forward," "should," "would," "believes" and similar expressions are meant to identify "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, and are subject to the safe harbor created by such sections. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Corporation's ability to declare dividends on the Corporation's Preferred Stock in any future periods. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations, intentions, beliefs, plans, estimates or predictions of the future expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, but are not limited to the factors described in the Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K, in its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in other filings with the SEC (News - Alert) . The Corporation does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to update any "forward-looking statements" to reflect occurrences or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements, except as required by the federal securities laws. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211001005673/en/

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This case has become a rallying cry for local activists . . . Meanwhile, Missouri GOP leaders uphold his conviction in a murder case and discount the testimony of an eyewitness and two convicted killers.



Today's development . . .



"The Missouri Attorney General's office has successfully argued the potential appearance of impropriety . . . Kevin Strickland has spent more than 43 years in prison for a crime (Jackson County) prosecutors now say he did not commit. The court that convicted him has been recused, and a new judge has been appointed."



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . .

The Missouri Supreme Court assigns a new judge, delaying Kevin Strickland wrongful conviction trial The Missouri Attorney General's office has successfully argued the potential appearance of impropriety in the wrongful conviction case of Kevin Strickland.This means that a Jackson County judge cannot preside over the case. The Missouri Supreme Court sided with the AG's office Thursday and assigned a new judge, Judge James E.

Missouri Supreme Court Removes Jackson County Judges From Kevin Strickland's Innocence Plea The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday removed the entire Jackson County Circuit Court from the innocence petition of Kevin Strickland, a Kansas City man who prosecutors say has been wrongfully imprisoned for more than four decades. The high court appointed a retired judge from Clay County and the state's Western District Court of Appeals to take up the innocence hearing.

New judge assigned to Kevin Strickland's case, postponing hearing KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kevin Strickland has a new judge on his case as he fights for his freedom, which means his hearing next week will be postponed. The Missouri Supreme Court assigned a Judge James Welsh to the Kansas City man's case after Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt argued the entire 16th Circuit Court of Jackson County should be disqualified.

Kevin Strickland trial delayed again after Missouri Supreme Court assigns new judge KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- The Missouri Supreme Court has assigned a new judge in the Kevin Strickland case. This means Strickland's upcoming hearing scheduled for next week will not happen. The Missouri Attorney General successfully argued that the "appearance of impropriety" means no Jackson County judge should hear the case.

New judge assigned in Kevin Strickland case, delays case further KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Missouri Supreme Court issued a ruling Thursday appointing a new judge in the case reviewing the 1979 triple murder conviction of Kevin Strickland. The ruling likely further delays a hearing the case, which had been set for Oct. 5-6.

Developing . . .
Thankfully, Summer wasn't as violent as many expected and so far the number of murders hasn't kept pace with last year's horrific and record-breaking count.

However . . .

There's still a great deal of work to accomplish and the level of violence remains consistent with an overall upward trend over the past 7 years. Whilst there were 148 murders at this time last year . . . The year before that, the number was 114 and only 99 at the outset of October in 2018.



Moreover . . .

Let's not forget that this last part of the year is typically just as violent as Summer given holiday season pressure and a worsening financial situation for many locals.

Accordingly . . .

Tonight we focus on local crime news links that start with KCMO's latest homicide along with info on less crimes, police action, law enforcement trends and all manner of news related to local street life.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news links . . .

FBI data: Kansas City ranks in top 10 of highest violent crime rates in U.S. by: Becky Willeke Posted: / Updated: ST. LOUIS- Violent crimes increased nationwide during 2020, and St. Louis is third in the nation when it comes to its violent crime rate. Kansas City and Springfield, Missouri also landed among the top 10 cities in the country according to new data from the FBI.

27-year-old dies days after shooting, crash in Kansas City KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City police say a 27-year-old man has died from his injuries two days after he was shot inside a vehicle. The shooting happened Tuesday near 53rd Street and Brighton Avenue. Police were initially dispatched to an injury wreck after a driver crashed into a pole.

Man shot Tuesday at 53rd & Brighton dies from his injuries KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- A man who was shot in Kansas City on Tuesday afternoon has died from his injuries, according to the KCPD. Officers went to the area of 53rd and Brighton Avenue at 3 p.m. for what was originally reported as an injury accident due to a vehicle crashing into a pole.

KCK police, local congregation looking for killers of innocent bystander WYANDOTTE COUNTY, KS (KCTV) -- A KCK congregation is in mourning after one of their own was shot and killed while driving home from church earlier this month. Sister Lillian Jackson, 62, was an active member for more than six years at the Mount Zion Baptist Church in KCK.

Highway patrol looking for suspect involved in fatal hit-and-run by: Juan Cisneros Posted: / Updated: KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Missouri State Highway Patrol is trying to identify the suspect(s) in a fatal hit-an-run just after midnight on Thursday. According to police, at about 12:34 a.m., two women parked their motorcycles facing each other under the Blue Ridge overpass on Truman Road to take pictures of their bikes.

2 teens charged with murder in deaths of 2 other juveniles in KCMO KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Two teens were charged Thursday for their alleged involvement in the murders of two juveniles who were shot and killed in March. The Jackson County Office of the Juvenile Officer charged both teens in juvenile court with two counts of second degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action.

Woman says she tried running over Kansas City mechanic to protect her kids KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Jackson County woman said a Kansas City mechanic isn't telling the whole truth about an incident that involved a gun. Nearly the only thing Yanna Sigars and her former mechanic Jugbear Kitara agree about concerning their mutual August 20 meeting is the location at the intersection of Wabash and Lexington in the city's Old Northeast.

KCPD says missing 9-year-old has been found safe KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- The Kansas City Police Department is looking for a missing 9-year-old. Police say Keron Livingston was last seen around 5 p.m. today, walking west from the 3700 block of Highland Avenue. He left the area wearing tan shorts and no shirt or shoes.

One year later, Kansas City family still looking for answers in 1-year-old's deadly shooting KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Kansas City mom's life took a drastic turn around this time last year. Juhna Payton, her husband and son were shot in a car right in front of their home last September. That shooting killed 1-year-old Tyrone Payton and a year later his mom is still searching for answers.

2 former Leavenworth guards charged with smuggling drugs into federal prison LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - Two former prison guards at Leavenworth Detention Center have been indicted by a federal grand jury on counts accusing them of smuggling drugs and other contraband into the prison, according to federal authorities. According to court documents, Jacqueline Sifuentes, 25, of Laredo, Texas, previously worked as a correctional officer at Leavenworth Detention Center, a privately run, maximum-security federal prison in Leavenworth.

Lee's Summit shooting victim remembered for legacy of providing for others KANSAS CITY, Kan. - 24-year-old Brian Salinas was identified Monday as the victim in a Lee's Summit shooting from Sunday night. Salinas' friends and family held a candlelight vigil in Kansas City, Kansas, Thursday night. Those that knew him say his legacy of providing and caring for others deserves to be honored.

Homicides up nearly 30% in 2020, biggest 1-year jump ever, FBI says WASHINGTON (AP) - Homicides in the U.S. in 2020 increased nearly 30% over the previous year, the largest one-year jump since the FBI began keeping records, according to figures released Monday by the agency. Homicides and non-negligent manslaughters climbed an estimated 29.4% to 21,570, an increase of 4,901 over 2019, FBI data showed.

KCPD working to build police academy, while department sees staffing concerns Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department is pushing to hire as many new officers as they can, while many officers are leaving the department. "Here (Kansas City Police Academy) they try to simulate that will put them in situations to get you ready," said Officer Damon Harrell, a recruiter with KCPD.

Developing . . .
As always, the news about the current plague is contradictory and hyper-partisan.



However, we share a peek at recent headlines in order to garner a glimpse about local talking points whilst political leaders garner the next set of mandates and rules that will "evolve" over time.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news links . . .

Some Kansas City doctors say they fully expect another surge in COVID-19 cases As positive tests and hospitalizations trend downward, health experts are encouraged but preparing for what comes next.Doctors with the University of Kansas Health System say they fully expect another surge in COVID-19 cases in part because not enough people are vaccinated."Things get better. We take masks off.

Get an inside look at one Kansas City area hospital as COVID patients stress staff to max KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Dr. Kenneth Marshall said, normally, people don't doubt that doctors are trying to help, but now there's a peculiar disconnect. But doctors at the University of Kansas Health System want to bridge that disconnect and take you through their emergency room doors.

Hundreds flock to KCK vaccine clinic to get COVID-19 booster shots KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV) -- Just a week after the FDA gave emergency use authorization for some COVID-19 booster shots, an estimated 500 people came to a clinic at the old K-Mart at 78th Street and State Avenue on Wednesday. Several people heading in for their booster used the same word when asked why.

Spring Hill School District issues nearly 500 mask exemptions by: Sydnie Holzfaster Posted: / Updated: SPRING HILL, Kan. - Nearly 500 students in the Spring Hill School District have received exemptions to the district's mask policies. The Spring Hill School Board unanimously approved a policy Monday to report mask exemption numbers alongside weekly COVID-19 case numbers.

Heres our favorite pandemic news link of the week that offers a glimpse that cute wild animals are getting better healthcare then broke-ass plebs . . .

Missouri plans to test deer for COVID-19 this hunting season The Missouri Department of Conservation plans to test hundreds of deer for COVID-19 this hunting season following a recent federal report.The U.S Department of Agriculture reported the results of a federal study testing white-tailed deer in Illinois, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania. Samples showed at least 7% of the population having antibodies for the virus that causes COVID-19.

Is The Worst Over? Models Predict A Steady Decline In COVID Cases Through March Americans may be able to breathe a tentative sigh of relief soon, according to researchers studying the trajectory of the pandemic. The delta surge appears to be peaking nationally, and cases and deaths will likely decline steadily now through the spring without a significant winter surge, according to a new analysis shared with NPR by a consortium of researchers advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Doctor treating pregnant Covid patients warns this could be 'just another lull before another potential surge' On the heels of the deadliest month of the pandemic for pregnant people yet, Dr. Manisha Gandhi told CNBC that she's not optimistic about Covid-19 this winter. "To be dealing with this surge and taking care of really sick women, has just really taken a toll," said Gandhi, who is chief of maternal-fetal medicine at Texas Children's hospital.

Developing . . .
For late night #TBT readers following a longstanding local story concerning the fate of an activist convicted of attempting to torch the office of an elected official . . . We share an update and a bit of encouragement to stay on the straight and narrow path.



Here's a horrific report about the reality of prison life from TKC Readers . . .



According to new motions to dismiss filed by the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC), a legal nonprofit, BOP prison staff attacked King after leading him into a small, off-camera storage closet, then deleted video evidence, and may have misrepresented facts about the incident to the FBI. Kings attorneys also claim officers tied him to a four-point restraint device for approximately five hours, and then proceeded to interrogate him despite his asserting his constitutional right to counsel. King admitted to defending himself against Wilcox during the interrogation.



The case raises larger questions about the extent to which surveillance footage behind bars is manipulated, destroyed, or circumvented at the expense of incarcerated defendants. All of these surveillance devices are controlled by those who it would also potentially expose, Bianca Tylek of Worth Rises, an advocacy organization working to dismantle the prison industry, told Motherboard.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . .
Bad news for 3rd District At-Large Councilman Brandon Ellington today . . . In KCMO municipal court he confronted legal rebuke and a probation order.

For those who don't remember . . .

"Ellington was charged with assault in March after (Freedom Inc. Stalwart) Rodney Bland accused Ellington of poking him in the chest multiple times. It happened while the two were at Soriee Steak & Oyster House in the 18th and Vine District."

An interesting aside . . .

Insiders note that part of the judge's ruling and a (standard) condition of his probation includes a mental health evaluation.

These kind of orders are more commonplace nowadays but mostly reserved for domestic drama.

Councilman Ellington will appeal the decision but the probation and diversion rulings typically stand in muni court.

The open question here . . .

Will Kansas City voters remember this in 18 months?!?

This is Brandon's last term before reaching the council limit . . . An even bigger question will be if his rivals at Freedom, Inc. will be able to find a suitable candidate to challenge him with a citywide rep . . . Rather than just another minister unknown outside of the 3rd District.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news links . . .

KC Councilman Brandon Ellington guilty of assault; plans to appeal KANSAS CITY, Mo.  A municipal judge found Kansas City Councilman Brandon Ellington guilty of assault. The judge sentenced Ellington to one year of probation.

Kansas City councilman found guilty of assault, plans to appeal ruling KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) --- A Kansas City councilman has been found guilty of a municipal assault charge. Councilman Brandon Ellington will appeal the judge's decision, court documents state. He was charged with assault in March and was accused of poking a man in the chest. Ellington was placed on one year's probation.

KCMO Councilman Brandon Ellington guilty of municipal charge KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City, Missouri, City Councilman Brandon Ellington has been found guilty of a municipal assault charge from March 20, 2021 . A municipal court spokesperson said Ellington was found guilty on Friday. As part of Friday's hearing, Ellington will face one year of probation and pay a $500 fine.

Kansas City Councilman Brandon Ellington found guilty of assaulting a political foe A judge on Friday found Kansas City Councilman Brandon Ellington guilty of a municipal assault charge stemming from a March 20 encounter he had with a political adversary. Ronald Johnson, a Grandview municipal judge who was appointed to handle the case after Kansas City judges recused themselves, heard testimony for about three hours.

Developing . . .
Gunfire starts the first October pumpkin spice weekend in a metro area wherein crime rankings are getting consistently worse . . .

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . .

KCKPD investigating shooting that left one dead KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department is investigating a shooting that left one person dead Friday morning. KCKPD said that officers were dispatched at 7:30 a.m. to the 2100 block of North 33rd Street where they discovered a deceased male who had been shot, according to a release.

KCKPD investigating homicide on N 33rd Street KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV) -- Kansas City, Kansas police are working an early morning shooting that has left one person dead. According to police, officers were called to the 2100 block of N 33rd Street around 7:30 a.m. on a shooting call. Upon arrival, police found a deceased black male who was the victim of an apparent shooting.

KCK police investigate fatal shooting on North 33rd Street KMBC file image SOURCE: KMBC file image Police in Kansas City, Kansas, said they are investigating a deadly shooting Friday morning in the 2100 block of North 33rd Street.Police officers were called at 7:30 a.m.

Developing . . .
Anniversary Cruise Pays Tribute to the Early Days of the Company



(TRAVPR.COM) CANADA - October 1st, 2021 - Kingston, ON: St. Lawrence Cruise Lines is celebrating their 40 year history of river cruising with a special Anniversary Cruise from September 27th to October 1st,, 2021. The cruise will transport 40 passengers, many of whom have previously travelled with the cruise line, on a journey through the Thousand Islands and St. Lawrence Seaway with an itinerary that celebrates the rich history of the company and the launch of the small ship CANADIAN EMPRESS in 1981.

We believe that it is important to pay tribute to the origins of the company, including the construction of the CANADIAN EMPRESS in Gananoque, as well as our first voyages through the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence River. This Anniversary Cruise gives us a chance to do that. said St. Lawrence Cruise Lines President, Jason Clark.

The Anniversary Cruise is a 4 night, 5 day return cruise between the lines home port of Kingston, Ontario and Morrisburg, Ontario. The voyage will feature unique stops that will include afternoon tea at Cosies Tea Room (www.cosiestearoom.com) in Brockville, a celebratory dinner at the Harvest Barn at Upper Canada Village (www.uppercanadavillage.com), and a Dedication Ceremony for the CANADIAN EMPRESS on October 1st at 9:30 AM at the 1000 Islands Boat Museum in Gananoque (www.tiboatmuseum.org). The museum is only a short stroll from the location where the ship was originally built and launched in 1981.

We are excited to share this Anniversary cruise with our passengers and crew. We will also be welcoming a number of past crew members many of the original journeymen involved with building the Canadian Empress to the Dedication Ceremony on October 1st. said Jason Clark.

St. Lawrence Cruise Lines operates calm water overnight cruises on the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers, with departures from Kingston, Ottawa, and Quebec City. The vessel travels exclusively in Canadian waters and makes overnight stops at select ports in Ontario and Quebec. Travellers may request a free travel brochure by visiting www.StLawrenceCruiseLines.com or by calling 1-800-267-7868.

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While in Greece, dont miss out the opportunity to visit Meteora - one of the worlds most popular UNESCO sites. Join this all-inclusive 2-day journey in Meteora by taking the 07:20 Train from Athens or the 08:18 Train from Thessaloniki to Kalambaka. Alternatively you can travel to Kalambaka with your own car or by taking the public bus.
Hello everyone, I will be traveling to Taiwan via Qatar Airways and I noticed I will be transiting Doha with a 10 hours layover and Hong Kong with 22 hours layover.

Due to these layovers, am I required to purchase a transit visa for any of Doha or Hong Kong?

I am traveling to Taiwan from Nigeria.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: NIGERIA 

NOTE: I DO NOT PLAN LEAVING THE AIRPORT
By Alex Wilson, September 29, 2021



Shown conducting a demonstration in a kinesiology lab, Matthew Garver, Ph.D.,, associate professor and chair of the University of Central Missouri School of Nutrition, Kinesiology, and Psychological Science, led a research team that recently studied the perceived psychological impact of the pandemic on student-athletes and members of other student groups who engage in competitive activities.

WARRENSBURG, MO  For college athletes and members of other student groups the perceived anxiety surrounding the beginning of a new academic year in times of COVID-19 evokes emotions some students equate with those associated with major events such as a significant injury, surgery, or even losing a loved one. These are among the findings reported in a recent research paper published in the "Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare" conducted by a research team that included three University of Central Missouri faculty members, a former graduate assistant, and a faculty member at an Ohio institution.



The article, titled Change -Event Steals 'Athlete'' from 'College Athlete': Perceived Impact and Depression, Anxiety and Stress, was published on July 14, 2021. The research paper was produced by a team led by Matthew Garver, associate professor and chair of the UCM School of Nutrition, Kinesiology, and Psychological Science, with school faculty members, Aqualus Gordon and Amanda Wakeman; Nicolas Phillip, a former UCM graduate student who is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Kansas; and Matt Huml, an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati.



In their study, which included student athletes, Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) members, marching band, and Esports team members, the researchers noted students arrived in the fall of 2020 with much uncertainty about what the pandemic would mean for their participation in workouts, practices, rehearsals, and competitions. To assess the impact of this major-change event on mental health, the research team conducted a survey between mid-August and early October 2020. A total of 249 participants volunteered for the research, which was approved by the UCM Institutional Review Board Human Subjects Committee.



The focus was to gather data on how athletes were feeling during this moment in time. We also wanted them to think back and perceive or surmise what in their life felt similar to this, Garver said. A survey tool was used to collect answers to 37 different questions, many of those related to academics, what they perceived was the impact of this change-event, and specifically their depression, anxiety, and stress symptomatology.



The assessment of students psychological well-being was taken from the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, Garver said. The data indicated the pandemic resulted in major life changes for many of the students surveyed which contributed to elevated levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. Over 69% of the total participants indicated that a lot has changed in their lives while an additional 24% noted that some things have changed. Also of note was the higher perception of stress in the female population, possibly due to the lesser likelihood of the male population to report their mental health concerns, the researchers noted.



Part of the survey involved open-ended questions in which students used words to describe their feelings in the midst of the crisis. Words most frequently used were disappointed, upset, frustrated, and sad, according to the study. In equating the magnitude of their emotions, some respondents also used phrases like having no purpose and described the life-changing events associated with COVID-19 as nothing they have ever experienced before. This helped to confirm the hypothesis that the modal terms would align with depressive and stress symptomatology. The data presented in the article and the ideas posed in the discussion indicate that in times of major life-changing events, such as a pandemic, campus leaders should be prepared to aid students with issues pertaining to mental health, the researchers stated.



The Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare is a publication of Dove Medical Press Ltd, and is part of the Taylor & Francis Group, the Academic Publishing Division of Informa PLC. This group specializes in peer-reviewed journals across science, technology, and medicine. Through Dove Medical Press, open-access academic papers from across the globe are available to users for reading.



One main benefit of the Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare is that it is open access, so, there is not going to be anybody that gets access to solely the abstract and then has to interpret what the authors might have intended. Anyone can instantly get access from start to finish, from the title to the references, Garver said. We hope they look at the abstract, gain interest and then go in and find our methodology, look at our background, figure out the discussion.



The article has already been recommended on ResearchGate, tagged on Twitter, and cited. For more information about the research article, contact Garver at garver@ucmo.edu. To read the publication, visit Dove Press.
Over the past 24 hours, Ukraine reported 13 ceasefire violations by Russian-led armed groups in the Joint Forces Operation zone, including two episodes where arms proscribed by the Minsk Agreements were employed.

Thats according to the press service of the Joint Forces Operation Headquarters, Ukrinform reports.

Near Novotoshkivske, Russian-controlled armed groups twice fired at the positions of Ukrainian defenders, employing grenade launchers of various systems, large-caliber machine guns, and small arms.

Near Kamianka, the occupiers twice fired 122 mm artillery, as well as 82 mm and 120 mm mortars.

Read also: OSCE says September sees peak number of ceasefire breaches in Donbas since July 2020

Near the settlement of Popasna, Russian mercenaries two times attacked Ukrainian forces, using grenade launchers of various systems.

Enemy machine guns anti-tank grenade launchers of various systems were fired in the direction of Zolote-4 and Katerynivka.

Near Svitlodarsk, the enemy employed large-caliber machine guns and small arms.

Not far from Krymske, the invaders fired grenade launchers of various systems and large-caliber machine guns.

In the Pavlopil area, mercenaries twice engaged the positions of Ukraines Armed Forces with grenade launchers of various systems, large-caliber machine guns, and small arms.

In the direction of Talakivka, the enemy fired automatic machine grenade launchers and small arms.

As a result of enemy shelling, a Ukrainian soldier sustained a wound non-compatible with life. Another soldier was wounded and remains in a moderate condition, undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Read also: Zelensky explains how UN can help liberate Ukrainian territories

The Command and staff of the Joint Forces have expressed sincere condolences to the family and friends of the hero who died for Ukraine.

Ukrainian defenders returned fire amid enemy attacks, forcing the adversary to cease shellings.

As of 7:00 on October 1, no new ceasefire violations were reported.

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Ukraine has called on Russia to explain what part of the Minsk agreements on the peaceful settlement of conflict in eastern Ukraine contains a clause that allows Russia to supply to the occupied Donbas modern weaponry and equipment, such as the recently spotted Kasta-2E1 radar.

The statement came during a meeting an OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna on Thursday, September 30.

On September 23, the SMM saw a modern Kasta-2E1 radar station in the temporarily occupied Donetsk region, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to international organizations in Vienna Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk said in his address.

According to the envoy, yet another proof of the supply of hi-end Russian military hardware to the Ukrainian territory, along with the shutdown of the OSCE mission on the Russian-Ukrainian border, emphasizes the need for effective discussions in the Council, which would allow opening new advanced patrol bases and improve SMM's technical capacity to implement the provisions of the Minsk Agreements, which provide for constant monitoring and verification of the Ukrainian-Russian state border, as well as the creation of a security zone at the border.

The head of the Ukrainian mission to the OSCE also pointed to the deteriorating security situation in eastern Ukraine.

Over the past week, the SMM registered 2,445 ceasefire violations, including 466 explosions, which is 155% more than in the previous week, he said.

Read also: OSCE says September sees peak number of ceasefire breaches in Donbas since July 2020

It was earlier reported that in February, the OSCE SMM UAV had spotted Russias 51U6 Kasta-2E1 radar at a test site of the Russian-led armed groups near the village of Buhaivka in the non-government-controlled part of Luhansk region. This decimeter-range Russian mobile radar station is designed to detect aerial targets, including those flying at ultra-low altitudes. Given the fact that Ukrainian aircraft do not operate in the Joint Forces Operation zone, experts suggested that the Russians had deployed the radar to hunt for the OSCE SMM-manned UAVs.

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Natural gas transit through Ukraine to Hungary was halted at 07:00 on October 1, 2021, the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) has told Ukrinform.

"Applications for gas transit were not received, despite the fact that Ukraine's capacity [on gas transit] to Hungary has been contracted for the entire gas year (from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022) in the amount of 24.6 million cubic meters per day," the company's press service said.

GTSOU recalled that a contract between Hungary and Russia for the supply of 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year came into force on October 1, 2021. According to the contract, natural gas will be supplied to Hungary through the TurkStream gas pipeline.

Given that natural gas was imported from Hungary via virtual reverse flows, there are no opportunities to import gas from Hungary without transit.

"Hungary has been receiving gas through Ukraine for decades, and the Ukrainian side has never violated its obligations. Moreover, the Ukrainian route is the most economically reasonable one because it is the shortest way to supply gas to Hungary, as evidenced by trade between the two countries' companies in recent years," said Sergiy Makogon, CEO of GTSOU.

GTSOU said that Gazprom's ongoing monopolization of gas routes raises questions about the fundamental principles of the EU's gas markets - competitiveness and transparency.

"The strengthening of the dominance of one player and its use of leverage for obvious political purposes amid a shocking rise in gas prices in Europe must be stopped," Makogon said.

Despite the U.S.-Germany declaration on the need to maintain gas transit through Ukraine, Gazprom continues to reduce transit through Ukraine.

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Ukraine Pavilion opened at Expo 2020 Dubai, which is the largest exhibition event and brings together more than 190 countries, international organizations, and the worlds largest innovation campaigns.

"For the first time, Ukraine has built its own pavilion to participate in the World Expo, which is the largest exhibition event of its kind, to find ways to communicate, cooperate and create new partnerships, develop innovations and new ideas to create a better future," said Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Mykhailo Lev at the grand opening of the Pavilion at Expo 2020, the Embassy of Ukraine in the UAE informs.

Ukraine Pavilion has the shape of a spikelet of wheat. Its emblem is nine yellow and blue dots which symbolize Pavilions theme Smart Ukraine: Connecting Dots.

The opening ceremony was attended by Undersecretary of the UAE Ministry of Economy Abdullah Al Saleh.

"We have excellent relations with Ukraine. We observe positive dynamics of development and the spheres of innovations presented in your Pavilion are one of our priorities," he said.

Ukraine Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai is a single space divided into three thematic groups: smart life, smart thinking, smart feelings. Each of the groups reveals the possibilities of rational, technological, and ecological existence through the prism of technologies and tools available today to the majority of the world's population. The interiors of the Pavilion reflect the uniqueness and originality of the Ukrainian people, our culture through the prism of modern technologies. The main emphasis is laid on innovations that make life environmentally friendly, energy efficient, and rational. Ukraine Pavilion visitors seem to find themselves in a "field" created from real ears of wheat, "nano-wheat", and digital wheat. This solution symbolically demonstrates Ukraine's movement into the future in harmony with nature and technological progress.

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has dismissed Ukraine's criticism of a long-term gas supply agreement signed by Budapest with Russia's Gazprom, according to Reuters.

He stressed that he could not take Kyiv's viewpoint into account, the report said.

Orban said he was only accountable to Hungarian voters, who would be forced to pay much higher gas prices without the new agreement.

Earlier reports said that Gazprom had halted natural gas transit to Hungary via Ukraine. A contract between Hungary and Russia for the supply of 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year came into force on October 1, 2021. According to the contract, natural gas will be supplied to Hungary through the TurkStream gas pipeline.

"Hungary has been receiving gas through Ukraine for decades, and the Ukrainian side has never violated its obligations. Moreover, the Ukrainian route is the most economically reasonable one because it is the shortest way to supply gas to Hungary, as evidenced by trade between the two countries' companies in recent years," said Sergiy Makogon, CEO of GTSOU, the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine.

GTSOU said that Gazprom's ongoing monopolization of gas routes raises questions about the fundamental principles of the EU's gas markets - competitiveness and transparency.

"The strengthening of the dominance of one player and its use of leverage for obvious political purposes amid a shocking rise in gas prices in Europe must be stopped," Makogon said.

Despite the U.S.-Germany declaration on the need to maintain gas transit through Ukraine, Gazprom continues to reduce transit through Ukraine.

Photo: Getty Images
Lithuania opened its honorary consulate in Mykolaiv on Wednesday, September 15, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"Ukraine is not only one of our important partners, but also our favorite friend. Lithuania will always support you in our fight against Russian aggression. We must make every effort to develop bilateral cooperation between our countries in various areas - cultural, educational, military and other areas," said Valdemaras Sarapinas Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Lithuania to Ukraine.

He also noted that the main task of the consulate is to promote the development of trade and economic ties between the two countries.

Serhiy Sypko, Lithuania's honorary consul in Mykolaiv and the president of the Agrofusion agricultural holding, said he would make every effort to make his work in this position useful and the office headed by him to become a place where Lithuanian businesspeople, politicians and the military can work.

Chairman of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration Vitaliy Kim, in turn, emphasized that it was the first official consulate in the region since Ukraine gained its independence in 1991.

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The International Court of Arbitration, established in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, will hold a hearing in The Hague on October 11-16 of the Ukraine v. Russia case on the seizure of Ukrainian Navy boats and capture of crews near the Kerch Strait in November 2018.

Thats according to Ukrinform's own correspondent in The Hague, referring to the press service of the Permanent Court of Arbitration which is handling the case.

The hearing will take place at the Palace of Peace in a hybrid format. Video conference will be used due to the coronavirus restrictions.

According to the schedule, the hearings will be held in two stages.

On Monday, October 11, the Russian Federation will lead the first round of oral debate. The Ukrainian delegation will have the floor on Tuesday, October 12.

The second round of debates will take place on October 14-15, 2021.

October 16 remains reserved.

The opening address by representatives of both parties will be broadcast live.

The hearings concern preliminary objections filed by the Russian side.

Background

On November 25, 2018, Russian security forces fired on and captured off the coast of Russia-occupied Crimea three Ukrainian Navy boats the Berdyansk, the Nikopol, and the Yany Kapu  that were on their way from the Black Sea port of Odesa to the port of Mariupol in the Sea of Azov. Twenty-four Ukrainian crewmen were captured and three of them  wounded.

The Ukrainian navy crews returned to Ukraine as a result of a detainee exchange with Russia completed in September 2019. The servicemen were accused of illegally crossing the Russian border (facing up to six years in prison). Ukraine considers Russias act a violation of the immunity of warships.

On May 25, 2019, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ordered that Russia immediately release all servicemen and allow them to return to Ukraine, as well as to hand back the seized boats.

On September 7, a 35-for-35 swap took place between Ukraine and Russia, during which 24 captured Navy servicemen were released.

On November 18, 2019, Russia handed over to Ukraine the seized boats. On November 20, the heavily damaged boats docked at the Ukrainian port of Ochakiv.

The first hearing of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on the violation of immunity of three Ukrainian boats and 24 crew members (Ukraine v. the Russian Federation) under the UNCLOS was held in The Hague on November 21, 2019.

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Ukrainian public institutions will be strengthening defenses against cyber threats through an OSCE-run cyber hygiene project for public servants.

Thats according to the OSCE press service, Ukrinform reports.

A new cyber hygiene project for employees of state institutions in Ukraine was presented on 30 September 2021 by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine with the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service and the Ukrainian School of Governance (USG). The project comprises an online and in-person programme for basic cybersecurity skills, an equipped mobile training centre and a pool of trainers prepared to teach public servants, the report says.

The projects short-term course, Cyber Hygiene Essentials, comprises nine online modules, available at Diia. Digital Education Platform and DESPRO online resource, which are complemented by a 2-day in-person training session delivered by the USG, an official provider of training courses for public officials.

The short-term course covers a range of topics related to the most widespread digital threats, including hacking and phishing, and ways to avoid them.

Further training courses were delivered at various locations using 20 laptops provided by the OSCE Project coordinator, equipped with appropriate software and complemented by a Methodological Manual and Workbook for Participants of Cyber Hygiene Training.

In addition, a pool of 52 trainers were selected and prepared to provide training courses, including pilot training sessions.

Once a public servant completes the course, they are entitled to one European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) point in the states system of retraining and career management. One ECTS stands for 30 hours of annual mandatory re-training of civil servants, the OSCE press service wrote.

To further support Ukrainian partners in addressing cyberspace-related risks, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator will launch in October 2021 an awareness-raising campaign and develop advanced training courses for IT specialists hired by state institutions.

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Russia must withdraw its personnel and weapons from Ukraine and stop access restrictions to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission so as not to endanger the civilian population, British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons has said.

According to Ukrinform, she wrote this on her Twitter account.

"Horrified by OSCE SMM reports that the number of civilian casualties by shelling in eastern Ukraine is at its highest since the July 2020 ceasefire. Russia must withdraw its personnel & weapons from Ukraine and stop access restrictions to SMM. Transparency matters. Innocent lives are at risk," she wrote.

An average of over 250 ceasefire violations per day were recorded in eastern Ukraine during September, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Mikko Kinnunen, said in a press statement after a regular TCG meeting on September 29.

He said that of special concern is the high number of civilian casualties by shelling and shooting, which in September 2021 reached the highest number since July 2020 ceasefire measures.

The OSCE SMM recorded 15 ceasefire violations in the Donetsk region and 28 ceasefire violations in the Luhansk region on September 30.

The majority of ceasefire violations occurred at easterly directions of Maiorsk and in areas south-east and north-east of Popasna.

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Russia is not only a party to the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, but the prime driver of it as Russia started the bloody confrontation and continues to fuel it.

Last week, and most weeks, we in this Permanent Council hear Russia deny involvement in the conflict it initiated and continues to sustain in Ukraine. Russia has brought peace negotiations to a standstill by refusing to participate unless Ukraine implicitly recognizes Russias proxies in Donetsk and Luhansk by directly engaging with them a move which would only advance Russias false narrative that the conflict in the Donbas is an internal conflict, Courtney Austrian, Charge dAffaires of the U.S. Mission to OSCE, said at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting on September 30, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

According to the U.S. diplomat, these Russias attempts also aim to mask the truth  Russia is not only a party to this conflict but began this conflict and continues to directly fuel and lead it despite signing onto to a peace deal more than seven years ago.

In addition, Austrian commented on the Russian delegations constant statements, in which it focuses only on the Minsk Package of Measures as necessary for the implementation of the peace agreements. The U.S. representative drew attention to the fact that the Minsk agreements  as also defined on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry  consist of three documents: the Minsk Protocol of 5 September 2014, the Minsk Memorandum of 19 September 2014, and the Minsk Package of Measures of 12 February 2015.

I urge you to focus on the fact that Russias own MFA rightly mentions three specific components of the Minsk agreements. It seems to us that if Russia is going to continue to demand Ukraine fulfill its Minsk commitments, Russia should fulfill all of its own, and stop parsing the Minsk agreements to reflect only those parts Russia wishes to see enacted, the Charge dAffaires of the U.S. Mission to OSCE stressed.

As the diplomat underscored, Russia continues to supply its proxies in eastern Ukraine with weapons, funding, and leadership, making Russia not only a party to the conflict, but the prime driver of it.

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We need to somehow coexist with Budapest  either by putting relations on "freeze" or act and negotiate beyond public diplomacy

The relations between Kyiv and Budapest are seeing yet another aggravation. This time it was due to Hungary signing with Russias Gazprom a 15-year contract for gas supply possibility, which entered into force on October 1. According to the deal, the Russian monopoly will annually supply 4.5 billion cubic meters of fuel to Hungary, including 3.5 bcm via Turkish Stream through Bulgaria and Serbia and 1 bcm  through Austria.

Against the background of the recent completion of Russias Nord Stream 2 construction (while the battle over its EU certification is currently underway), this is another deliberate and pre-planned blow to Ukraine's position as a gas transit power and a country thats been at war with Russia for the past seven years.

Ukraines losses and risks

The current deal between Gazprom and Ukraines Naftogaz provides for the annual shipment of and payment for at least 40 bcm of gas until 2024. However, through its alternative pipelines, Gazprom may redirect all additional exports, stripping Ukraine of both major transit fees an important security factor.

"In fact, this is about Gazprom imposing the supply route and manipulating prices," Serhiy Makogon, CEO of Gas TSO of Ukraine, told UA:PBC on September 28.

Last year, Ukraine transmitted to Hungary nearly 10 bcm of gas.

 All this transit may be put to a halt as we see that since October 1, Gazprom has not booked with the Hungarian operator any incoming capacity from Ukraine to Hungary. We conclude that Gazprom doesnt plan to ship gas to Hungary via Ukraine from October 1," Mr. Makogon said.

For Ukraine, he explains, its not only about the loss of part of the transit flows it is also about Gazprom pursuing the policy of creating bypass gas pipelines and switching supplies to the Turkish Stream. Last year, they did the same with Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece, when Ukraine lost about 15 billion in transit over 12 months.

"The general security risk is that we will completely lose transit, including the one thats currently in place through Slovakia. It is clear that Gazprom will gain leverage and influence over European countries, while toward Ukraine the Kremlin will have, say additional opportunities of "hybrid" influence and increased aggression in the east," said the chief of the GTS operator.

Now it turns out that Mr. Makogon's predictions have come true: on October 1, at the beginning of the new gas day (07:00), Gazprom halted gas transit to Hungary m through Ukraine. The press service of the Gas TSO of Ukraine said no applications for gas transit were received despite the fact that the capacity had been contracted for the entire gas year, from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022, in the amount of 24, 6 million cubic meters per day.

Kyiv's reaction: "This is a blow to us so we will respond"

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has slammed Hungary's decision, canceling the meeting of the intergovernmental commission scheduled for September 29-30. According to Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, the meeting was actually canceled even before the agreement between Budapest and Gazprom was actually signed off.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba

"We were already aware that the Russian delegation was heading there, that the deal would be signed. So as they were signing this agreement, they had already heard our position," the minister said.

Amid such developments, Dmytro Kuleba threatened retaliation.

"This is a blow, so we will respond accordingly because there should be no pity and no sympathy," said the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, announcing further measures "to protect the national interests of Ukraine in this situation."

However, what exactly is in question has not been specified. It would be logical to assume that this most likely means the appeal of the Ukrainian side to the European Commission to assess whether the Russo-Hungarian deal complies with European energy legislation.

The EUs highest executive body has already begun the relevant audit of the deal.

European Commission Spokesman Tim McPhee said he had already asked his colleagues to check what the possible consequences could be.

Budapest's reaction: "European Commission attacking us This is too much"

After the gas deal with Russia was inked, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto referred to Ukraine's steps as "outrageous" and "unfriendly." Budapest summoned the Ukrainian ambassador for consultations, while MFA Ukraine went for a mirror move.

"We consider it a serious violation of our sovereignty and national security interests that they (Ukrainians, - ed.) seek to prevent a secure gas supply to our country," Szijjarto said.

Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto

He also stressed that attacks on his country over the deal that guarantees that the houses and apartments of Hungarian citizens will be heated and the industry will work are unacceptable.

"Attacks on us by the European Commission over ensuring the security of our energy resources are just too much. () It is Budapest's sovereign right to sign energy supply contracts with whomever we want, the head of Hungarys diplomacy stressed.

Ukraine needs to change its policy and act, but how exactly remains an open question

The already difficult relations between the two countries due to the row over the distribution of Hungarian passports in Ukraines Berehove, accusations against Ukraine over education and language legislation, outright blackmail of Ukraine by Hungary which has been blocking Ukraine's path to join the EU and NATO, etc. have now become even more difficult. It is hard to call Ukraines southwestern neighbor a friend or even a partner, while the latest contract with Gazprom in the conditions of Russias ongoing aggression against Ukraine confirms such a suggestion. But what is todays Hungary?

"This is Russia's Trojan horse in the European Union and in NATO. Why did this happen? Thats because for Russia, the collapse of these two structures is, so to speak, a sweet dream, their deepest wish, so they seek to achieve this in any way possible. So theyve been looking for such ways in every country. And so it happened that in Hungary, with Mr. Orban and Mr. Szijjarto, they succeed, Ukrainian Foreign Minister (2007-2009) Volodymyr Ohryzko told Ukrinform.

We also know what tools Russia uses to this end. Its a notorious tradition and practice of Russian secret services to buy politicians.

"If we recall Mr. Orbans biography, he used to be one of the first Hungarian Euro-optimists, that is, an ardent supporter of all liberal European values. But then, apparently, he turned into a Eurosceptic, and after Hungary joined the EU and NATO, he began to pursue a policy that went against what the country had to do when it became a member of these structures. I have no doubt that this is the result of the thought-out efforts by the Russian special services toward the current leadership in Hungary," the diplomat said.

Is it possible to change anything about this leaderships stance today? Mr. Ohryzko believes its not.

"In this case, our ally is time, as well as the general situation in Hungary as such. Some real opposition to Orban is maturing there, and this opposition has a good chance of sending him into political oblivion, he says. But what about us? We need to remain patient and not take any steps or make any decisions that could harm us in the future."

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

To put it bluntly, the diplomat believes, the whole situation should be "put on freeze" for now. And after the situation in Hungary changes, we will revisit all the issues that have accumulated in our bilateral relations.

"We will then return to them on a completely different legal basis. Thats because now its absolutely hopeless to talk about anything with Orban or Szijjarto. You have seen for yourself what they have come to  accusing our country of violating their sovereignty. Although theyve simply been told that Hungary is doing things that are counterproductive, let alone unethical  not so much in the context of Ukraine but rather in the context of European solidarity. What can we say here? They are good students of their Moscow-based teachers," Volodymyr Ohryzko emphasized.

As for Ukraine's policy toward Hungary, political scientist Oleksandr Yusupov says it is obviously necessary to change the approach to the one thats tougher and longer-term.

"Our Foreign Ministry's attempts to quickly normalize relations with Budapest, by minimizing criticism of unfriendly steps and other concessions, including through involving Hungarian officials in the implementation of the Ukrainian education law, have yielded no results," said the expert.

Moreover, Hungary's actions have become even less constructive.

At the same time, it should be borne in mind that "Hungary is a member of the EU and NATO, so this narrows the space for Ukraine to respond. Therefore, Kyiv should focus not on confrontation with Budapest in international organizations, but on systematically reducing its influence in Zakarpattia, where many politicians, businessmen, and media outlets openly work in Hungary's favor, helping mobilize votes for authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban," Yusupov said.

As for the EU's reaction, the political expert says, it is unlikely that Brussels' reaction to the deepening crisis in Hungary-Ukraine relations will go far beyond the traditional claim they cannot interfere in bilateral relations.

"Especially since the EU is now busy with more significant problems, such as a sharp gas hike, negotiations with the United States in the field of trade, and the Afghan refugees issue," added Oleksandr Yusupov.

"Signing agreements with anyone is, in fact, Hungary's sovereign right. However, when it comes to such a sensitive issue for Ukraine as gas, and Russian gas, in this sense there can be no question of an exclusively economic context of bilateral relations, "- said political scientist Dmytro Tuzhansky.

Finally, Budapest must not just realize, but begin to take into account in its moves that the gas issue, as well as language, education, etc., can be used by Russia against both Ukraine and Hungary.

"I am sure that Hungary doesnt want a war in Europe, and neither does it want any new aggravations. But this requires relevant action. Hungary, together with Slovakia and Poland, should become a guarantor of Ukraine becoming part of all EU energy projects. It is important that they consider how part of Central Europe will live infrastructure-wise once Nord Stream 2 is launched," the expert emphasizes.

It is, first of all, about the gas reverse flow, which Ukraine has in fact been applying since 2014.

"The key reverse-flow gas supplier is Slovakia, but Hungary also can and should become one. Second, they guaranteed this reverse flow. This is besides the fact that it really is cheaper and more profitable for Hungary and Slovakia to continue getting their gas through Ukraine."

So there must really be something like "good neighborliness." Not in the public domain, as it would probably harm Hungary, but in real action, in frank conversations

"Hungary must honestly answer how it sees Ukraine  as its partner, simply a neighbor of a sovereign state, or a bargaining chip that is playing or trying to play exploiting the imperial plans of the Kremlin and Putin. Its either this or that. Without this frank talk, nothing will change in the relations between Ukraine and Hungary. And these disputes, these conflict situations  over language, education, passports, and now gas  will keep arising," Dmytro Tuzhansky concluded.

Myroslav Liskovych, Kyiv

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First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzheppar discussed further steps within the framework of the Crimea Platform with Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Ukraine Melinda Simmons.

I met with Ambassador of United Kingdom to Ukraine Melinda Simmons and thanked her for the UKs participation in the Crimea Platform summit. Further steps within the Crimea Platform initiative were discussed. Currently, we are working towards the launch of its activities, in particular the annual Conference on Security in the Black Sea, Dzheppar posted on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

As reported, the inaugural summit of the Crimea Platform took place on August 23 in Kyiv with the participation of 46 foreign delegations.

The Crimea Platform is a new consultative and coordination format initiated by Ukraine to improve the international response to the occupation of Crimea, respond to security challenges, increase international pressure on Russia, prevent further human rights violations, protect victims of the occupation regime, and achieve the main goal of de-occupation of Crimea, and restoration of Ukraines sovereignty over the peninsula.

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Poland has allowed Ukrainian citizens to cross in, including for tourism purposes, starting September 9.

Thats according to Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba who spoke at an online briefing on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Some very good news everyones been waiting for. From September 9, Ukrainian citizens have been added to the category of persons allowed to enter the territory of the Republic of Poland, including for tourism purposes, the top diplomat said.

Kuleba noted that those vaccinated against COVID-19 or who had recovered from the coronavirus were exempted from the quarantine mandate after crossing in.

The minister also said that as of today, Ukrainians are able to travel to 133 countries, under varying conditions.

"Somewhere you need to provide proof of COVID vaccination, somewhere a negative PCR test or rapid antigen test will be enough, but, on principle, you may enter 133 countries and this number will continue to grow," - the official emphasized.

The head of Ukrainian diplomacy reminded of the launch on September 1 of an assistance and tourist support hotline in Egypt: 196-54.

Read also: Ukrainian PM to visit Poland on Sept 9

"This is a phone number in Egypt where you can get all the necessary advice on your vacation in your native language that you understand," Kuleba said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on July 15, the EU Council added Ukraine to the list of countries with which member states are recommended to gradually remove restrictions on non-essential travel.

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As Ukraine is introducing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for certain jobs, employees will not be laid off if they do not undergo the required medical procedure.

Thats according to Minister of Health Viktor Liashko who spoke with Espreso, Ukrinform reports.

"We are not talking about layoffs, we are talking about them being suspended without pay. It is key  suspension without pay. But the position shall be reserved for the employee in question. We are talking about the fact that we will suspend them pending quarantine, no matter how long its in place, if they dont get vaccinated, Liashko said.

The minister added that the list of jobs requiring vaccination is yet to be approved by central executive authorities and registered with the Ministry of Justice.

As reported, the Ministry of Health has drafted an order laying down the list of jobs where employees shall be subject to mandatory preventive vaccinations in the absence of absolute medical reservations.

According to the draft document posted on the ministrys website, mandatory preventive vaccination for COVID-19 pending quarantine shall be applied to employees of central executive bodies and their territorial units; local state administrations; institutions of higher, postgraduate, professional higher, professional (vocational), general secondary, including special, preschool, and out-of-school education, specialized education facilities and scientific institutions, regardless of the type and form of ownership.

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Scientists at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine are working on two types of COVID-19 vaccines.

"We can now make a domestic vaccine of the highest quality, very similar to Pfizer or Moderna," Serhiy Komisarenko, the Academician-Secretary of the Biochemistry, Physiology, and Molecular Biology Department of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Director of the Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, said on the air of Dom TV channel, Ukrinform reports.

He added that work advanced slowly due to insufficient funding.

"We are working on our vaccine. But, unfortunately, the Ministry of Health practically does not finance this process. I wish we held another meeting with the Minister of Health and the Chief Sanitary Doctor [to discuss this issue]," said the academician.

Komisarenko noted that there was also an opportunity to create a vaccine with the support of the World Health Organization. According to him, he recently had a meeting in Geneva "with a person responsible for the development of vaccines at the WHO."

As reported, in May, Viktor Liashko, incumbent Minister of Health, said that three COVID-19 vaccines were being developed in Ukraine. In particular, the National Research Foundation funded the development of vaccines by the Institute of Cell Biology in Lviv, headed by academician Andriy Sybirny, and the Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, headed by academician Serhiy Komisarenko. Another vaccine is being created by a group of scientists in cooperation with the business.

According to Liashko, the result of the Palladin Institute of Biochemistrys vaccine development is expected in the autumn. The Institute expressed readiness to develop its own mRNA vaccine.

The Cabinet of Ministers budgeted UAH 100 million to resume vaccine production in Ukraine. The Government also established a procedure for using funds to set up a specialized infectious materials laboratory at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

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The launch of Ukrainian interface of Netflix streaming platform proves that Ukraine is gradually approaching recognition in the film industry.

"It's nice when the world's film giants respect their viewers and make the service comfortable. Netflix in Ukrainian, as well as official social media accounts, is definitely a very important step. We, Ukrainians, will get movies and TV series in our native language with high-quality dubbing. The streaming service will get grateful viewers and even more subscribers. Ukraine is gradually approaching recognition in the world of the film industry. This is evidenced by the projects created in co-production, the first Netflix film  The Last Mercenary  that was almost entirely shot in Ukraine, and the interest of foreign producers in our great filming locations," Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko posted on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

As reported, Netflix streaming platform now has Ukrainian interface and the websites Ukrainian version netflix.ua.

In September 2020, Ukrainian studios Postmodern Postproduction and Tak Treba Production became official partners of Netflix.

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Nikola Kovacevic starts his workday as a lawyer not in a suit, but in a T-shirt and trainers. Day and night, he stands ready to jump in his car and rush to help asylum-seekers and refugees in need.

The 32-year-old has devoted his life to helping asylum-seekers and refugees. He offers not just free legal advice, but also helps them apply for asylum and find shelter, a job and access education and medical assistance in the hope they will find opportunities and a new life in Serbia.

Kovacevic, who has worked in refugee protection since 2012, has represented almost 30 per cent of asylum seekers granted protection in Serbia. He tracks cases long after they are resolved and remains friends with his clients, sharing food and learning about their culture.

Because of his exceptional dedication and substantial contribution to the improvement of asylum systems in Serbia, he has been chosen as the regional winner for Europe of the UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award, a prestigious annual prize that honours those who have gone to extraordinary lengths to support forcibly displaced and stateless people. He is the first ever winner from Serbia.

Nikolas work contributed towards important improvements of the asylum procedure in Serbia, including an increase in the number of refugees being granted international protection. Francesca Bonelli, UNHCR Representative in Serbia said. His devotion to the refugee cause in Serbia showcases the importance of everyones involvement and contribution to protection of the people forced to flee their homes. Nikola's example serves as an inspiration to all those, especially the young, who are ready to go the extra mile in providing support to refugees in need.

"What we are witnessing is the twilight of rule of law at the border."

For refugees, access to a country is a precondition for being able to apply for asylum. States have the right to control their borders, but under international refugee law they also must ensure that refugees can access protection. This is not always respected. Many of Kovacevics clients have been exposed to violence during their search for safety. Some have even been pushed back by authorities as they attempt to cross borders.

What we are witnessing is the twilight of rule of law at the border. If we lose the battle at the borders, we will lose the battle for the entire system, said Kovacevic.

A Syrian asylum-seeker holds his son in front of the office of human rights lawyer, Nikola Kovacevic.  UNHCR/Vladimir Zivojinovic

Nikola Kovacevic looks at the injuries of an Afghan asylum-seeker who was pushed back from the border.  UNHCR/Vladimir Zivojinovic

A well-travelled path near the border in Adasevci, Serbia.  UNHCR/Vladimir Zivojinovic

Nikola Kovacevic talks to two Afghan asylum-seekers through an interpreter at a reception centre in Adasevci.  UNHCR/Vladimir Zivojinovic

Nikola Kovacevic and Andras Lederer, Advocacy Manager for the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.  UNHCR/Vladimir Zivojinovic

Many of the asylum-seekers he has helped have been deeply affected by the experience of being violently pushed back from a border.

Recently, he met Abas, an asylum-seeker from Afghanistan, who had suffered serious injuries to his ribs and spine during a push back. Kovacevic offered him legal aid and arranged a medical examination. He is continuing to work with Abas to help him access asylum and make Serbia his new home.

Unfortunately, this is just another day in the office, said Kovacevic. This is something we see on a regular basis. It is very important to continue doing what were doing, because we need to find a way for this to stop.

"I was completely lost, it's like nobody could hear me."

Bilal, an asylum-seeker from Syria, recalls meeting Kovacevic at a dark time in his life in 2016. I was completely lost, it's like nobody could hear me, said Bilal, who was homeless at the time. But then there was this light at the end of the tunnel and there was Nikola.

The lawyer offered him free legal assistance and helped him to settle into a home in Serbia, vouching for him with his new landlord. He then referred him to UNHCR and to a psychologist for counselling. He also empowered Bilal to help others, by using his case for strategic litigation.

He is one of the bravest people I have ever met, Kovacevic says about Bilal. By allowing us to litigate his case, he contributed immensely to the protection of countless others.

In addition to his work with asylum-seekers, Kovacevic is building a community of young lawyers interested in human rights through his role as assistant law professor at Union University in Belgrade.

Jana, a former student, explains how his example inspired her to get into human rights law. Seeing somebody that believes so much in what theyre doing was what inspired me and made me want to do this as well, she said.

For Kovacevic, it is his interactions with refugees and asylum seekers that keep him motivated. When you speak with someone in a desperate situation, you explain who you are, what you do... they relax and appreciate that there is someone who wants to speak with them, he said.

This is the essence of the work that we do, to find humanity and to treat every human being with dignity.

All the names of asylum-seekers and refugees used in this article have been changed for protection reasons.


A view of the LBJ Student Center from outside the building's ballroom, which will serve as Texas State's mass vaccination site.
CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2021) The contract for the supply of gas from Russia to Moldova has been extended until the end of October, enabling Moldova to receive Russian gas on the same terms, while the parties are negotiating a new three-year contract, Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spinu said on Thursday.

The contract, signed by Moldova and Russia in 2008, was due to expire at the end of September, but has been extended for another month. The negotiations on a new contract between Gazprom and Moldavagaz, initiated in the summer of 2020, are still in process.

"Negotiations on the supply of natural gas to Moldova continue. In order not to interrupt the supply of gas for a short time, a few minutes ago we confirmed the extension of the contract between Moldova and Gazprom for 1 month," Spinu said on Facebook.

The deputy prime minister noted that during this month Moldova will receive gas on the same terms.

Moldova does not have its own proven gas reserves and meets its fuel needs by importing from Russia. The contract, according to which Russia supplies Moldova with natural gas, has been extended several times since its signing.
Mongolia registered 2,153 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing its national tally to 298,519, the health ministry said Tuesday

ULAN BATOR, Sept. 28 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Sep, 2021 ) :-- Mongolia registered 2,153 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing its national tally to 298,519, the health ministry said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the countrywide death toll rose by 17 to 1,169 in the past 24 hours.

A total of 62,415 infected patients are receiving home-based care due to limited hospital beds and medical staff, the ministry said.

"Our country's health sector is now in a difficult situation due to the pandemic. The workload of this sector has reached its peak," Health Minister Sereejav Enkhbold said.

So far, 65 percent of Mongolia's population have been fully vaccinated since the Asian country launched a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in late February.
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DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 01st Oct, 2021) His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, toured the venue of Expo 2020, which began in Dubai today.

His Highness visited the pavilions of the UAE, USA, China and Kazakhstan on the first day of the six-month mega global event.

Being held for the first time in the middle East, Africa and South Asia region, Expo 2020 houses the pavilions of countries participating in the event as well as those of diverse organisations from across the world. The global show runs for 182 days until 31st March, 2022.

Speaking at the beginning of the visit, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed said that under the leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the follow up of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and the support of Their Highnesses Members of the Supreme Council and Rulers of the Emirates, the UAE continues to shine as a beacon of peace, progress, and diversity, as envisioned by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan.

His Highness was accompanied on the tour by H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai; H.H. Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance; and H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, and Chairman of the Expo 2020 Dubai Higher Committee along with a number of ministers and senior officials of Dubai entities.

H.H. Sheikh Mohammed began his tour of Expo 2020 by visiting the UAE pavilion.

He expressed his appreciation for the iconic architectural design of the UAE pavilion that evokes the wings of a falcon in flight and tells the story of the UAE as a global hub, and the vision of its leaders to create a peaceful and progressive society with ambitious plans for the future. "Following in the footsteps of our founding fathers, we are determined to lead our nation to greater levels of achievement and excellence. With a clear vision, determination and a steadfast focus on our goals, we are making rapid progress in achieving our aspirations," His Highness said.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed was received at the Pavilion by Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Youth and Commissioner General of the UAE Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.

During the visit, His Highness expressed his appreciation for the efforts of all the people who were involved in the construction of the pavilion.

Located in the heart of Al Wasl Plaza, the pavilion designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava is a symbol of the nations bold and daring spirit. Created to highlight both the UAEs rich heritage and bright future, the pavilions four storeys cover an area of more than 15,000 square metres. The design of the pavilion also evokes the pioneering spirit and power of connections that transformed the UAE from a collection of small, desert communities into a global connection point.

Featuring an immersive experience that evokes a range of emotions, the 60-minute tour of the pavilion narrates to the visitor the unique history and future aspirations of the UAE. Built with sustainability in mind, the pavilion uses sustainable elements such as photovoltaic (PV) panels that have been produced in the UAE integrated into the roof structure, bringing the entire building to life with the opening of the wings.

The UAE pavilion was designed with the safety of visitors in mind. Precautionary guidelines are stringently observed. The pavilion is open to visitors from 10.00 am to 10.00 pm, with the last tour starting at 8:30 pm. school tours to the pavilion take place on weekdays from 9:00 am to 11:45 am.

Speaking on the importance of Expo 2020 Dubai, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said: "Bringing together participants from 192 countries, Expo 2020 paves the way for a new united approach to overcoming one of the most difficult periods in the planets history and forging a new path of sustainable development.

Expo 2020 held in the UAE can serve as the catalyst for the emergence of a new interconnected world in which nations come together in a spirit of partnership and cooperation to create a glorious future for mankind."

His Highness later visited the US Pavilion at Expo Dubai, which extends over an area of 36,000 square feet and provides a unique experience for visitors to celebrate American values and culture under the theme "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of the Future." The theme reflects the USAs commitment to promoting prosperity, opportunity, and innovation globally and domestically.

The pavilion highlights the USAs leadership and achievements in the space sector. It features a one-to-one scale replica of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Falcon 9 is the first orbital class rocket capable of re-flight and most-flown operational rocket in the United States. Other exhibits featured at the US pavilion include moon rocks, one of the robotic vehicles that landed on the moon's surface, and many others.

Guests to the US pavilion are taken on a journey through its exhibits via a moving walkway that meanders through the pavilion. The high-capacity transportation system provides a unique experience that is safe for all ages and abilities.

H.H. Sheikh Mohammed also visited the China Pavilion, one of the largest country pavilions at Expo 2020 Dubai at over 4,500 sqm. Named The Light of China, the pavilions design is inspired by the iconic traditional Chinese lantern.

Under the theme Constructing the Community of Human Destiny  Innovation and Opportunity, the pavilion showcases the nations achievements in the fields of information, science and technology, education, and communications.

H.H. Sheikh Mohammed saw a panda robot called Youyou, which serves as a guide for visitors at the China Pavilion and represents the technological prowess that the country is showcasing at Expo 2020.

Chinas strong participation at the mega global event reflects the robust ties between the UAE and China. Currently China is both the UAEs and Dubais largest trading partner with total non-oil trade valued at AED174 billion and AED142 billion respectively.

H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid tour of Expo 2020 Dubai also included a stop at the national pavilion of Kazakhstan. He was received by the Commissioner-General of the pavilion, who gave His Highness a comprehensive presentation of what Kazakhstan is showcasing at Expo 2020.

Featuring three storeys and four exhibition areas, the pavilion highlights Kazakhstans dynamic development, cultural diversity, rich human and natural resources, and its tourist, technological and investment opportunities.

Located within the Expo venues Opportunity District, the pavilion comprises interactive and tactile surface installations that allow visitors to explore Kazakhstans beautiful natural landscapes, resources, culture, biodiversity, and flora and fauna. The pavilion also showcases various projects in several areas including transit and transport potential, digitisation, industrialisation, human capital development and the environment.

Participants from 192 countries have converged on Dubai for Expo 2020, which is being held for the first time in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region. Taking place from 1st October, 2021 to 31st March 2022, the six-month mega global event features more than 200 participants  including nations, multilateral organisations, businesses, and educational institutions, as well as millions of visitors who have come together to create the largest and most diverse World Expo ever.

The event provides all attendees with the opportunity to celebrate the history and achievements of other countries.
Sydney, Oct 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2021 ) :Australia will begin to reopen its borders next month, the country's prime minister said Friday, 18 months after citizens were banned from travelling overseas without permission.

Scott Morrison said vaccinated Australians would be able to return home and travel overseas "within weeks" as 80 percent vaccination targets are met.

On March 20 last year Australia introduced some of the world's toughest border restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

For the last 560 days countless international flights have been grounded, overseas travel has slowed to a trickle and Australians have been banned from returning home.

More than 100,000 requests to enter or leave the country were denied in the first five months of this year alone, according to Department of Home Affairs data.

Families have been split across continents, with nationals stranded overseas while foreign residents were stuck in the country unable to see friends or relatives.

"The time has come to give Australians their life back. We're getting ready for that, and Australia will be ready for takeoff, very soon," Morrison said.

Morrison also announced that vaccinated residents would be able to home quarantine for seven days on their return, dodging the current mandatory and costly 14-day hotel quarantine.
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Ouagadougou, Oct 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2021 ) :Burkina Faso has stopped the Norwegian Refugee Council from working in camps for displaced people in the conflict-hit north after accusing the body of discrediting the government.

This is the first time an international NGO has been temporarily stopped from working in the West African country, where attacks have burgeoned since 2015 claiming nearly 2,000 lives.

"I have decided to immediately suspend the activities of the NRC in camps for internally displaced people," said a letter by Minister for Humanitarian Action Helene Marie Laurence Ilboudo, addressed to the governor of the Centre North region and dated September 27.

"Several other governors and heads of regional councils for aid and rehabilitation have received similar decisions to suspend the activities of the NRC and have taken measures," a regional official said, on condition of anonymity.

Ilboudou accused the NRC of "discrediting the government" and said it had stopped NGOs from registering internally displaced people "in the most inaccessible zones".

The NRC did not comment on the decision.

But in mid-September it said government authorities took weeks to register displaced people to allow them to source food and other aid, thereby forcing them to return to dangerous zones.

"The failure to address urgent humanitarian needs forces vulnerable families to make an impossible choice between feeding their children and their own safety. Many people tell NRC that they want to return home to access their food stocks and feed their families, but fear attacks," it said in a statement.

The NRC has been working in Burkina Faso since July 2019.
Colombo, Oct 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2021 ) :Sri Lanka on Friday lifted a near six-week lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus but maintained a night curfew and a ban on public gatherings and parties.

Daily deaths had jumped to over 250 with 4,000 infections after Sri Lankans celebrated the traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year in mid-April, but case numbers have since eased.

The health ministry on Friday urged companies to encourage staff to work from home but there was no decision yet on reopening schools that have been closed since March last year.

"It is imperative to maintain the progress made to curb Covid-19 infections and the dreaded daily death toll," Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said.

Official figures show that nearly 13,000 people have died of the virus, with more than half a million infections, but health sector experts say the actual numbers could be at least twice as much.

The easing of restrictions came as the government aggressively pushes a vaccination drive, fully inoculating 56 percent of the population of 21 million.

Alongside the six-hour night curfew, the health ministry said that inter-provincial travel would remain banned.

Numbers attending weddings and funerals will be restricted to a maximum of 10 till October 15.

Permission has been granted for sporting events to go ahead but without spectators.
(@FahadShabbir)

Khartoum, Sept 30 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2021 ) :Thousands of Sudanese protesters flooded the streets of Khartoum on Thursday in support of civilian rule, more than a week after a coup bid involving military officers, witnesses said.

Sudan has been led by a civilian-military administration under an August 2019 power-sharing agreement signed after the army ousted long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April that year following mass protests against his rule.

Many of Thursday's protesters arrived in Khartoum by train from other areas, an AFP correspondent said.

Some threw rocks at security forces who fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators who were chanting "civilian".

"The main goal of our revolution has been a civilian government and a democratic country, and we will not back away from this," one of the protesters, Salima Youssef, told AFP.

Witnesses said the demonstration was organised to support the civilian-military Sovereign Council against any bid to overthrow it.

Sudan's government said it thwarted a September 21 coup attempt involving military officers and civilians linked to the regime of imprisoned Bashir. At least 11 officers were among those arrested.

According to civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok "extensive preparations" had preceded the coup attempt, including unrest in the impoverished east where anti-government protests in late September shut down oil pipelines and the main port.

Hamdok has also called for reforms within the army, a highly sensitive issue in Sudan.

A transition to full civilian rule has remained shaky, reeling from deep fragmentation among political factions, economic woes and a receding role for civilian leaders.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Denmark Jeppe Kofod Friday called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa here at General Headquarters (GHQ).

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2021 ) :Minister of Foreign Affairs Denmark Jeppe Kofod Friday called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa here at General Headquarters (GHQ).

Danish Foreign Minister appreciated Pakistan's role in Afghan situation including successful evacuation operations, efforts for regional stability, said an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) media release.

He also pledged to further improve cooperation with Pakistan at all levels.

Speaking on the occasion, the COAS said that Pakistan valued its relations with Denmark and earnestly looked forward to enhance mutually beneficial multi-domain relations based on common interest.

During the meeting, matters of mutual interest, regional security, current situation and collaboration and partnership in Humanitarian measures in Afghanistan were discussed.
Kamran Khan Bangash, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for Information & Higher Education KP Wednesday lauded the role of World Health Organization (WHO) in supporting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for the development of health services and prevention of epidemics

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Sep, 2021 ) :Kamran Khan Bangash, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for Information & Higher Education KP Wednesday lauded the role of World Health Organization (WHO) in supporting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for the development of health services and prevention of epidemics.

He said that Khyber Medical University (KMU) is unique being in the forefront of promoting higher education and research as well as prevention of epidemic diseases and provision of health services to the people.

He was speaking as chief guest at the inauguration ceremony of the WHO- collaborated Drive Through Mass Vaccination Center and new building of the Institute of Public Health and Social Sciences at Khyber Medical University Peshawar.

On this occasion, WHO Country Director Dr. Palitha Mahipala, Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Zia-ul-Haq, Registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Saleem Gandapur, Dr. Khalid Rehman, Vaccination Center in charge, and Dr Yasir Yousafzai, Director PHRL also spoke on the occasion who eulogized the efforts of the provincial government in timely tackling global pandemic like the COVID-19.

Kamran Bangash said that our successful endeavors were testimony to the vision and leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Mehmood Khan that Pakistan emerged as one of the seven luckiest countries on Covid-19 control that was even acknowledged by WHO.

"With more than 50% vaccination in most districts of the province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has overtaken the rest of the country, leading to a steady decline in corona casualties," he added.

He said that Khyber Medical University has now set an excellent example by providing mass vaccination facilities after diagnostic PHRL Lab for Covid control.

Responding to a media query, Kamran Bangash said that 1173 people have been affected by Dengue in the province so far while the worst affected districts included Peshawar, Khyber, Buner and Nowshera.

The first point is to launch a massive awareness campaign to prevent dengue, he added.

Kamran Bangash further revealed that the second point is to establish a task force under the Chief Secretary to take practical steps for the prevention of dengue while under the third point, sanitation, drainage and development projects in dengue affected areas will be completed on emergency basis, he maintained.

Earlier, Dr. Palitha Mahipala, Country Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), acknowledged that Pakistan was one of the seven countries that had suffered the least number of casualties from Corona due to adherence to WHO guidelines.

He said that the important role that Pakistan has played through best Corona strategy has resulted in the least risks to human lives that else certain other countries of the world have had to bear.

He said that one million people are being vaccinated daily in Pakistan which is a testament to the success of the vaccination campaign and it is expected that as a result Pakistan will soon join the list of safe countries from Corona.

He said that the KP government's measures against Corona have yielded excellent results. "I'm personally impressed of the efforts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in dealing with Corona", he concluded.
A unique exhibition of paintings, reflecting the views of Russian artists on Syria, has opened to the public in Damascus, Nikolay Sukhov, the head of the Syrian office of the Russian Agency for International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo), told Sputnik on Friday

DAMASCUS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2021) A unique exhibition of paintings, reflecting the views of Russian artists on Syria, has opened to the public in Damascus, Nikolay Sukhov, the head of the Syrian office of the Russian Agency for International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo), told Sputnik on Friday.

"The vernissage (of the exhibition) of Russian artists Mikhail Gorshunov and Lilia Ustyugova took place in Damascus. Art historian and artistic director of the Russian Fund Oksana Ermolaeva-Vdovenko was also with them. Syrian Minister of Culture Lubanah Mshaweh attended the opening ceremony. She was completely delighted with what was presented by our artists," Sukhov said.

The exhibition is taking place at the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Damascus. The artists presented several dozen works that were created at the Russian military base in Syria.

This includes paintings portraying paratroopers and aviation, and several portraits of the military, as well as brand new paintings created in Syria during the several days that the artists spent there.

They captured the landscapes, portraits and views of the Old City of Damascus. Gorshunov presented one of the pieces to the Syrian minister.

"In recent years, this is the first exhibition of Russian painters building a human bridge between the Syrian and Russian peoples through art. A few days ago, our painters also held a four-hour master class at the Damascus art school. Our artists shared their methods, showed how to proceed. Many students also performed graphic works, artists provided advice, guided their hands. Everything was very cool, sincere and useful," Sukhov said.

The Syrian culture minister, in turn, noted that the paintings by Russian artists, on the one hand, showed the beauty of the Syrian civilization, and on the other hand, reflected the safe situation in the country, thereby indicating that life has returned to Syria. Mshaweh also raised the importance of a regular artistic exchange and stated that cultural cooperation between Russia and Syria was developing in a stable way.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has met with Indian counterpart Bipin Rawat to discuss the bilateral partnership and cooperation in the areas of space, cyber and emerging technologies, Defense Department spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2021) US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has met with Indian counterpart Bipin Rawat to discuss the bilateral partnership and cooperation in the areas of space, cyber and emerging technologies, Defense Department spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday.

"Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III met with India's Chief of Defense Staff, General Bipin Rawat, during his first visit to the Pentagon, Sept. 30, 2021. The two leaders exchanged views on priorities for advancing the US-India defense partnership, including through enhanced cooperation in new defense domains such as space, cyber, and emerging technologies," Kirby said.

The Defense Department spokesperson said Austin emphasized during the talks that the United States was ready to support the Indian military's transition into a greater institutional integration.

"This historic meeting highlights the enduring strength of the US-India Major Defense Partnership as the two countries work in concert with like-minded partners to sustain a free and open Indo-Pacific," Kirby said.

Also on Friday, the Indian Defense Ministry announced the two nations had agreed to establish a bilateral working group to cooperate to ensure security of their defense industries. The decision was reached during the US-India Industrial Security Agreement (ISA) that is taking place in New Delhi September 27-October 1.

The United States and India inked the ISA deal in December 2019 to facilitate the exchange of classified information between their defense industries.
(@FahadShabbir)

:Australia announced on Friday that it will reopen its international borders to fully vaccinated citizens beginning next month

ANKARA (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2021 ) :Australia announced on Friday that it will reopen its international borders to fully vaccinated citizens beginning next month.

"We will be able to open those international borders again and that will enable Australians who are fully vaccinated, and Australians and residents of Australia who are overseas who are fully vaccinated," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at a news conference in the capital Canberra.

"This will happen next month," he added.

Australia has been one of the countries in the world since March of last year with the tightest border controls, even prohibiting its own citizens from leaving the country.

Initially, the borders will be opened to states that have met the targets and vaccinated at least 80% of their populations, starting with New South Wales, the premier said.

Australia's compulsory 14-day hotel quarantine will be phased down, Morrison said.

Travelers who are properly vaccinated with a vaccine approved by the country's health officials would, however, be subjected to a seven-day home quarantine when they arrive in Australia, he added.

Those who have not been vaccinated or who have been vaccinated with an unapproved vaccine by the Australian government will be placed in a 14-day supervised quarantine.

Morrison said his government would consider quarantine-free travel between some countries, such as New Zealand, "when it is safe to do so."
MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd October, 2021) Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that his country would turn into a "united military base of Belarus and Russia" in case of external aggression.

"If needed, Belarus will turn into a united base of Belarus and Russia, a military base to resist your aggression.

If you or some neighboring countries deem to do that, you must clearly understand that," Lukashenko told the CNN broadcaster, as quoted by the Belarusian state media.
NEW DELHI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2021) Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla will depart on Saturday to Sri Lanka for an official visit that will last until October 5, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said.

"At the invitation of the Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka Admiral Prof.

Jayanath Colombage, Foreign Secretary Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla will pay an official visit to Sri Lanka from 02-05 October 2021," the ministry said in a statement.

Sri Lanka is one of the key nations in India's 'Neighbourhood First' policy aiming at maintaining peaceful relations between New Delhi and neighboring governments.

In this regard, Shringla's visit underscores the importance of bilateral cooperation, the statement read. The sides will review the overall ties and bilateral projects, including the fight against the coronavirus.
Mongolia will plant a billion trees next week to combat desertification, the country's presidential press office said Friday

ULAN BATOR, Oct 1 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2021 ) :-- Mongolia will plant a billion trees next week to combat desertification, the country's presidential press office said Friday.

Mongolia aims to realize the target by 2030 to combat climate change and desertification, the country's president Ukhnaa Khurelsukh recently told the United Nations General Assembly.

"Planting trees is not something to be politicized.

It is now time to end any acts of politicization and enhance national unity in order to combat desertification and reduce land degradation," Khurelsukh said on Thursday at a meeting with representatives of the country's forest specialists, scientists, researchers and civil society organizations.

He called on all citizens and organizations to join the national tree planting campaign.

Mongolia has a total land area of 1,564,116 square km and only 7.9 percent is now covered by forests.
Russia on Friday was to hold its first royal wedding since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution toppled the Romanov monarchy, with royals from across Europe expected at the lavish ceremony

Saint Petersburg, Oct 1 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2021 ) :Russia on Friday was to hold its first royal wedding since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution toppled the Romanov monarchy, with royals from across Europe expected at the lavish ceremony.

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov, 40, and his Italian fiance Rebecca Virginia Bettarini, 39, will say their vows at the Saint Isaac's cathedral in the former imperial capital Saint Petersburg in the presence of dozens of royals.

Hundreds of foreign guests travelled to the second city for the religious ceremony, including Queen Sofia of Spain, Prince Rudolph and Princess Tilsim of Liechtenstein, and the former king and queen of Bulgaria.

Romanov said that the couple chose the city as the venue for tying the knot because it was the first place in the country where the family returned in the early 1990s.

"It is very, very close to our family," he told the Saint Petersburg-based news website Fontanka ahead of the wedding.

Saint Petersburg is "the history of Russia," he added, "the history of the House of Romanov.

" Born in Madrid, Romanov is the son of Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna Romanova, the self-proclaimed heir to Russia's imperial throne.

She is the granddaughter of Grand Duke Kirill, a cousin of Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar who was executed along with his wife and five children by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

The family was canonised by the Orthodox Church in 2000 as martyrs.

Romanov, who graduated from Oxford and spent much of his life in France, met Bettarini in Brussels, where he worked in the European Parliament.

Bettarini converted to the Orthodox faith last year and changed her name to Victoria Romanovna.

Romanov also held jobs at Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel before moving to Russia three years ago.

The couple first lived in the Moscow suburbs before relocating to the city center next to the Kremlin.

Now Romanov works on several charity projects.

Romanov said he believes European and Russian royals could help Moscow and the West mend fraying ties. "I think that we can be ambassadors of goodwill."
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has been detained in Georgia, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Friday

TBILISI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2021) Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has been detained in Georgia, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Friday.

"The third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, has been detained, he has been transferred to a penitentiary institution," the prime minister said.

According to the prime minister, "law enforcement officers carried out the arrest procedure at the highest level."

"Our law enforcement officers had preliminary information about his movement from Ukraine to Georgia," Garibashvili said.

He did not specify where Saakashvili had been detained.
The Syrian Kurds are appealing to the United States to work with Russia on asserting pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to make compromises to expedite a political solution, Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) head Ilham Ehmed told reporters on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2021) The Syrian Kurds are appealing to the United States to work with Russia on asserting pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to make compromises to expedite a political solution, Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) head Ilham Ehmed told reporters on Friday.

"But we ask they to agree with Russia that the Russians and the Americans work with each other so we can pressure the Assad regime to give some compromises and to get to a political solution," she said. "They showed their readiness. Despite the fact that the regime is not ready at all to start this process, but we give this a shot."

When asked what efforts are made to bring the Syrian Kurds into the Geneva process, Ehmed said, "what we heard from the US Administration is that any serious political process in Syria cannot happen without having you (Syrian Kurds) included.

"

The war in Syria, which erupted as part of the wave of Arab Spring protests, has been ongoing for a decade now. What started as protests demanding reforms later turned into a full-scale war between the government and opposition armed groups, as well as the Islamic State terrorist organization (banned in Russia). Numerous international forces have also taken sides in the conflict by aligning with one group or another.

In an effort to settle the conflict, Russia, Turkey, and Iran launched the so-called Astana talks in 2017, so that the government and opposition could negotiate a peaceful solution. Another international format is the UN-brokered talks of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva. The 150-member body, with equal representation of the government, opposition, and civil society, was launched on October 30, 2019, to work toward drafting a new constitution.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2021) Nusra terrorist group (banned in Russia) has opened gunfire at the positions of the Syrian government troops in the Aleppo province, leaving one soldier injured, Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit, the deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, said.

"As a result of the gunfire opened by terrorists from the settlement of Kafer-Taala at the positions of the government troops near the settlement of Urum al-Sughra in the province of Aleppo, one Syrian soldier has been injured," Kulit said at a press briefing on late Thursday.

According to the Russian military official, Jabhat al-Nusra opened fire in the Idlib de-escalation zone 16 times within the past 24 hours.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2021) The US government has given its tentative approval for Australia to purchase a single EA-18G Growler aircraft with engineering and maintenance services costing $125 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced.

"The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Australia of EA-18G Growler aircraft, related defense services and related equipment for an estimated cost of $125 million," the DSCA said in a statement on Thursday.

The agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of the possible sale on Thursday, the statement said.

"The Government of Australia has requested to buy a United States Navy (USN) EA-18G aircraft. The USN EA-18G aircraft will then be modified into a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) EA-18G aircraft configuration. The sale would include one EA-18G Growler aircraft," the statement added.

The total estimated value is $125 million and the proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States, according to the statement.
The United States will not pull out its military from Syria under the Biden Administration, Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) head Ilham Ehmed told reporters on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2021) The United States will not pull out its military from Syria under the Biden Administration, Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) head Ilham Ehmed told reporters on Friday.

"Under this Administration, what I have heard from top officials is that there will be no withdrawal under this administration," Ehmed said.
A newly approved abortion law has been strongly criticized by the Chilean Bishops Conference (CECH) in a statement recalling that "the first human right is the right to life" and pointing out that abortion is not a solution to problems.

By Lisa Zengarini

The Catholic Bishops of Chile are deeply disappointed by the approval of new legislation decriminalizing abortion within 14 weeks of pregnancy in the country.

The Lower House of Parliament passed the Bill on Tuesday by a margin of 75 votes to 68, with two abstentions. The text will now be examined by the Commission on women and gender equality and will be subsequently debated at the Senate.

Until now, abortion was allowed during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy only when the mother's life is at risk and when the foetus will not survive the pregnancy.

Value of life an essential foundation of life in society

The Standing Committee of the Bishops' Conference of Chile (CEC) issued a statement on Wednesday which reaffirms that "the value of life and the dignity of the human person are an essential and inalienable foundation of life in society."

It points out, citing with Pope Francis words, that defending the unborn life is closely linked to upholding each and every other human right.

Unconditional respect for human life 'a moral duty'

Bishops remind that "the first human right is the right to life, which must be respected from conception to natural death."

For this reason, they say, not to kill directly and deliberately an innocent person is an absolute moral duty the recognition and protection of which is essential for the life of a community.

They further note that biological science confirms that a new human life begins from the moment of conception: although this human being depends on the mother, he is not part of her body and must therefore be respected as an individual life,the bishops say.

They insist that unconditional respect for human life should always guide any ethical, legislative, human and health consideration when facing the reality of unwanted pregnancies.

Problems cannot be solved by killing a human life

Indeed, bishops acknowledge that there can be complex and sometimes dramatic human situations arising from pregnancy.

However, no such problems are solved with the deliberate elimination of a defenceless and innocent human being." The statement adds that a society is measured in its capacity to take care of the weakest and not in trying" solve problems through violence.

A child is not a thing or an enemy

Chilean bishops are also concerned by the future implications of the new legislation.

Although pro-abortion laws often start out as an exception, experience shows they end up affirming a so called right to abortion and the primacy of the sexual and reproductive rights of women, ignoring the existence and rights of other human beings.

This encourages a mentality by which a child is a thing or an enemy and not a human being, a wonderful gift from God."

In light of all these considerations, the Chilean bishops reiterate with Pope Francis that if the dignity of the human person is not ensured and, the contrary, we consider some people less valuable or disposable, there is no future either for fraternity or for the survival of humanity."

Call for action

The statement therefore calls on Catholics to act in the public arena affirming the convictions of their faith and the constant teaching of the Church on the "immorality of abortion", which is the "the deliberate elimination of an innocent human being."

The bishops conclude by raising their fervent prayers that "the consciences and hearts of decision-makers may be enlightened so that, in pursuing the common good, they are able to defend the most vulnerable."
Foreign investors in Vietnam looking to establish retail outlets are often subject to the economic needs test (ENT) criteria. Several investors have cited this requirement as a hindrance to the business environment adding to bureaucratic issues and delays. While the government has acknowledged the issue and may in the future reconsider the requirement, the ENT criteria has been waived in some free trade agreements.

What is the ENT?

The ENT is a test that conditions market access upon the fulfillment of certain economic criteria, and is applicable for the establishment of the second and subsequent outlets, as per Decree 09.

ENT does not apply for retail outlets less than 500 m2, located at commercial centers, and not categorized as mini-supermarket or convenience stores. ENT also does not apply to the first retail store, which only requires a store establishment license.

ENT criteria includes:

The effect of the retail outlet on the scale of the geographical area;

Number of retails outlets operating in the geographical market area;

Impact of the outlet on the market stability and operation of other retail outlets and traditional markets in the geographical area;

Impact on traffic, environmental sanitation and fire prevention in the geographical market area;

Contributions of the retail outlet to the regions socio-economic development in creating local jobs, development of the regions retail sector, improvement of environment and living conditions for local people, and contributions to the State budget.

Decree 9 states that any outlet established under the same name or same trademark with another retail outlet in Vietnam owned by any other FIEs will be treated as an additional retail outlet and need the necessary licenses for operation. As a result, the franchising model, which is currently used by some giant retail chains or chain stores, are likely to have to pass the ENT to obtain the relevant licenses.

The Peoples Committee at the province level is the authority that considers whether an outlet passes an ENT or not. This means that for such outlets, the Peoples Committee and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) are responsible for approving the establishment application.

Investors deploy different methods to bypass ENT

To get around the issue, Nikkei Asia reported that South Koreas E-Mart which operates a supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City decided to franchise its stores to domestic company Truong Hai Auto Corporation (Thaco)  which assembles and manufactures automobiles in Vietnam. If E-Mart was able to pass the ENT criteria it would be allowed to operate its own stores. While this was a solution for E-Mart, other investors such as H&M and Uniqlo have complied with ENT to retain control of their stores.

Other investors bypass ENT by locating their stores in shopping malls and occupy less than 500 square meters. Another way is a joint venture. South Korean minimart company GS25 went into a collaboration with Vietnams Son Kim Retail to operate.

Vietnams traditional markets have declined in popularity while the number of convenience stores in 2020 jumped 6.7 percent from the previous year and the number of supermarkets rose 3.8 percent, as per Nielsen. This presents a significant opportunity for investors looking to establish their presence in the retail market.

ENT scrapped from three free trade agreements

Nevertheless, the government seems to be listening. Vietnams government has agreed to scrap the ENT for countries that are part of the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement (EVFTA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the UK-Vietnam free trade agreement (UKVFTA). The ENT will be scrapped five years after the EVFTA and CPTPP are in effect; for the UKVFTA, the Vietnamese government has committed to phasing out the ENT five years after the EVFTA is in effect. For investors not part of these agreements such as South Korea, which has a significant investment in Vietnam, they are still subject to ENT.

Vietnams business environment

Vietnam has strived to improve its business environment over the last few years and continues to remain a magnet for attracting foreign direct investment. While further reforms are necessary, the government is listening, it recently eased restrictions for some requirements for foreigners getting work permits. It also took into consideration the business impact of lockdowns and movement restrictions and reopened business activities in Ho Chi Minh City and its neighboring provinces.

While foreign investors have shared concerns about the ENT, the above responses show that the government has considered the requirement. As Vietnam further liberalizes its economy it may ease some of these conditions in due time.
United Airlines will soon be expelling 593 of its employees who failed to comply with the companys vaccine mandate. In August, United Airlines became the first American carrier to implement a vaccine mandate, demanding that workers be vaccinated by Sept. 27 or else face termination by Oct. 2.

In a Sept. 28 memo sent to employees, United Airlines informed employees that they would soon begin the firing process. The company claimed that 99 percent of United employees have been vaccinated.

For the less than 1 [percent] of people who decided to not get vaccinated, well unfortunately begin the process of separation from the airline per our policy This was an incredibly difficult decision but keeping our team safe has always been our first priority. The pandemic is now killing more than 2,000 people per daya 65 [percent] increase in just the past 30 daysand the most effective way to keep our people safe, is to make sure theyre vaccinated, stated a memo obtained by The Epoch Times.

The 99 percent vaccination claim does not include workers who have applied for a medical or religious exemption. Less than three percent of the workforce have applied for an exemption.

Employees approved for an exemption will be placed on unpaid medical leave beginning Oct. 2. In addition to losing wages, exempt employees will also lose their medical coverage and other benefits.

Six employees have already filed a lawsuit against United Airlines, arguing that the vaccine mandate violates the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

On Sept. 28, their attorneys announced that United Airlines had temporarily delayed applying the vaccine mandate on employees, extending exemptions to Oct. 15. A judge is scheduled to hear arguments and evidence on the case on Oct. 8.

United Airlines has also dismissed arguments that the vaccine mandate requirement will make it harder for the company to hire employees. A spokesperson said that they received 700 applications for 400 postings from a career fair last month. For its 2,000 flight attendant job positions, the airline has received over 20,000 applications. Over the next few years, the company plans on hiring 25,000 more. COVID-19 vaccines will be mandatory for all new hires.

Despite some employees protesting against United Airlines vaccine mandate, public sentiment does not appear to be on their side. Theres public policy in favor of vaccine mandates, so its almost impossible for an employee to argue that its against public policy to terminate them as long as the employer provided exemptions on medical and religious grounds, Aditi Bagchi, a labor law professor at Fordham University School of Law, told The New York Times.

Other airlines have also implemented stringent vaccine requirements. Alaska Airlines is offering its employees $200 to show proof of vaccination. Unvaccinated employees will have to participate in vaccine education programs while following protocols like social distancing and masking.

American Airlines is offering a $50 gift card to those who are vaccinated by Oct. 1. Employees who have not received a COVID-19 vaccination will not be eligible for special leave in the event they contract the disease and have to be quarantined.

While not all airlines have mandated vaccinations, the situation might soon change as President Joe Biden issued an order last month requiring all companies employing 100 or more workers to impose vaccine mandates.If indeed the mandate now is everyone must be vaccinated, or rigorously tested, tested once a week, we will obviously comply by that mandate. All along, as weve been going through this, we have been considering mandates and may have done one on our own. But what we wanted to do was do everything we could first to encourage everyone to do so, Doug Parker, CEO of American Airlines, told the Washington Post.
Prior to the Sept. 26 federal election in Germany, Facebook increased its censorship in the country, suppressing content it considered as COVID-19 misinformation. According to an Associated Press (AP) report, Facebook even banned users who tried to rebut posts tagged as false.

The Facebook crackdown, announced on Sept. 16, was part of the companys policy against coordinated social harm, which the firm says involves networks of primarily authentic users who organize to systematically violate our policies to cause harm on or off our platform.

Almost 150 pages, groups, and accounts of the Querdenken movement were suppressed. The movement began as a protest against government measures including COVID-19 lockdowns and face mask mandates. While the company justifies such suppression, people affiliated with the Querdenken movement have accused Facebook of censorship.

Some of the Querdenken posts censored by Facebook include content that talked about COVID-19 vaccines creating new viral variants.

Facebooks policy was also slammed by researchers from Reset, a nonprofit that criticizes the role of social media in democratic discourse. This action appears rather to be motivated by Facebooks desire to demonstrate action to policymakers in the days before an election, not a comprehensive effort to serve the public, Reset told the AP.

Reset pointed out that some of the comments deleted by Facebook were by people who were arguing against the Querdenken posts and did not contain any misinformation. Facebook is planning to expand its new policy worldwide. However, many have expressed concerns that the companys campaign against misinformation will simply result in infringing on freedom of expression.

FB is describing its social engineering actions: censoring those with a different view is enforcing rules denying freedom of speech. That is literally taking away our right to free speech. Who voted for this? Our governments have betrayed us, one Twitter user said.

Simon Hegelich, a political scientist at the Technical University of Munich says that Germany was only a test case for Facebooks new policy.

Facebook is really intervening in German politics The COVID situation is one of the biggest issues in the election. Theyre probably right that theres a lot of misinformation on these sites, but nevertheless its a highly political issue, and Facebook is intervening in it, Hegelich said.

Facebooks censorship actions have been a topic of hot debate in Germany recently. In July, a German court ruled that Facebooks act of taking down a post it claimed to be racist was illegal. The company blocked the account of the user without informing them or giving an appropriate answer, which was also found to be illegal by the court.

The post in question had alleged that Islamist immigrants were carrying out murder with impunity in the country. Migrants can murder and rape here and nobody cares! Its about time the Office for the Protection of the Constitution sorted this out, the post stated.

Meanwhile, the German election was won by the Social Democrats (SPD) who beat Chancellor Angela Merkels conservative party. Prior to the election, there was reportedly a rush by German millionaires to shift their assets to Switzerland. Wealthy people were said to be afraid that if the SPD and environmentalist parties come into power, they might raise taxes on wealth, including on inheritance. In an interview with The Epoch Times, a tax lawyer from Germany said that the political situation for the super-rich was red hot and that many entrepreneurial families were highly alarmed.
Noting that COVID-19 infections have significantly declined from their peak, the Japanese government will end the state of emergency covering Tokyo, Osaka, and 17 other prefectures today, September 30. The restrictions have been in effect in some form for more than half a year. The government will ease restrictions in stages while dining establishments will have their hours curtailed for 30 days. Forbes reported that new daily infections have fallen from 22,000 a day to approximately 2,500 per day this past month. It has been relegated to the governors of each prefecture to decide which countermeasures should remain and which should be lifted.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga addressed Japan in what became his final press conference before leaving the leadership office. Suga credited vaccinations with bringing a new phase in which restrictions on social and economic activity could be gradually relaxed.

Going forward, its important that we balance COVID-19 countermeasures with normal life while preparing for future waves of infections, he said.

This move comes just a day before Suga, of Japans Liberal Democratic Party, steps down. Suga announced in September that he would decline to try for continued office, amidst sinking summer approval ratings below 30%, which were said to be related to the surge of COVID-19 infections. Suga served just one year in office and is succeeded by a member of his own party, former foreign minister Fumio Kishida.
According to the official website of Chinas Ministry of Commerce, on Sept.16, Peoples Republic of China (PRC) Commerce Minister, Wang Wentao, submitted a formal application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to New Zealands Minister of Trade and Export Growth Damien OConnor, the official depository for the CPTPP parties.

This took place less than 24 hours after the U.S., Australia, and the UK announced a new military partnership, AUKUS, which will enable Australia to have nuclear-powered submarines for the first time.

Less than a week later, on Sept. 22, Taiwan also applied to join the CPTPP, under the designation of Taiwan, Penghu, Jinma Individual Tariff Area.

According to Taiwan media reports, Deng Zhenzhong, the chief envoy for economic and trade negotiations of the Taiwan Executive Yuan, said, Taiwan, Penghu, Jinma, Individual Tariff Area (TPKM) is currently the name of Taiwans membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Taiwan has signed economic and trade agreements with other countries in this name.

In recent years, Taiwan  officially known as the Republic of China  has signed free trade agreements with New Zealand and Singapore, using the same designation.

After Taiwan applied to join the CPTPP, Chinese Communist Party-run tabloid Global Times published an article saying We oppose Taiwans participation in any free trade arrangement or signing any free trade agreement with an official nature, the PRCs Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson, Zhu Fenglian, said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

There is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. Taiwans participation in regional economic cooperation must be based on the one-China principle, Zhu said.

Taiwan ranks sixth in the world on the Heritage Foundations 2021 Index of Economic Freedom; China is ranked 107th.

According to The Diplomat, Taiwan is a far more natural fit than China for the CPTPP, which is touted for its high standards on issues like labor protection, environmental issues, and state subsidies.

Eleven countries signed the CPTPP on March 8, 2018, in Santiago, Chile, including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Singapore, and Vietnam. The United States, Australia, Japan, and other countries joined later, following negotiations by the Obama administration.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump signed an executive order in January 2017 to fully withdraw from the TPP out of concern that the agreement would harm the U.S.s manufacturing industry.

Subsequently, the TPP was renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on November 11 of the same year under the impetus of Japan and other countries. As per the provisions of the CPTPP, an applicant needs to be approved by all 11 member countries.

According to the Financial Times, The CPTPPs three largest members are pursuing complaints against China at the World Trade Organization. Japan over steel, Canada over canola and Australia over wine.

Rex Patrick, an independent Australian senator, argued that China would need to behave properly before entering the CPTPP and stop throwing out trade sanctions here, there and everywhere.

Dan Tehan, Australias trade minister, said Chinas track record of compliance with other trade agreements would affect its CPTPP application. CPTPP parties want to be confident that an accession candidate would fully implement its commitments in good faith, Tehan said.

But several Japanese ministers were quick to point to other areas that could pose hurdles for PRC entry, such as the CPTPPs stringent rules on intellectual property.

Is China really in a state where it can join? Taro Aso, Japans Finance Minister inquired.

In addition, China has territorial sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea with Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia, and its relations with these countries are strained.

A former White House National Security Council spokesman said President Bidens position is clear that the United States will not return to the TPP as it was originally structured.

In February, it took four months for member nations to agree to launch accession negotiations with the UK, which formally applied for CPTPP membership.

Mainland China applied earlier than Taiwan to join the CPTPP, but Beijing may not be accepted before Taiwan, if at all.
Are government operated Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) camps being established in the United States? The answer is yes, according to a September job posting by the Washington State government. However, the state has been quietly operating quarantine hotels and modular trailer parks since early 2020.

The Department of Health for Lewis County in Washington State is hiring three people for the position of Isolation & Quarantine Team Consultant. The role is a 12 month contract, pays between $3,200 and $4,286 per month, and is described as having a number of roles, including:

Providing transportation to and from the facility in vans that have been altered to separate air flow to protect the driver;

Accompanying nurses on their rounds and taking notes for nurses;

Providing laundry services, delivering hygiene products, delivering ready-made foods or microwaveable foods; and

Duties such as answer phones, check inventory and keep track of supplies needed to safely operate the facility.

The position is located at our State Isolation and Quarantine Facility in Centralia, a small town with a population of slightly more than 17,000, located approximately 84 miles South of Seattle and 91 miles North of Portland

The job posting says the site is operated from within a motel in Lewis County.

While the advertisement is listed on the website governmentjobs.com, the same ad can be found directly through the careers.wa.gov website.

A June 2 article by local newspaper The Chronicle reported Lewis County officials had fought with the state to move the facility, which it said was located at a local motel that the owner had leased to Washington State, out of their county.

News of the facility growing from four to 23 patients did nothing to soothe the situation, read the article, noting Lewis County was frustrated with the Washington Department of Health (DOH) over a lack of communication. The article notes the motel only has 40 units.

The Chronicle also said, The facility was previously housed in a Thurston County summer camp, where DOH officials say they didnt face this level of local pushback.

Nathan Weed, a spokesperson for the DOH, was paraphrased as telling the countrys council that the facility hosts the small percentage of people who exceed local health jurisdictions capabilities, or who arrive in Washington and are not under any one countys jurisdiction.

Weed also spoke of the voluntary nature of the facility, while trying to abate fears of community transmission from the facility.

A May 19 article by the same outlet revealed the facilitys presence had never been welcomed by local residents, which reported that local Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-WA) wrote to Governor Inslee, I have met with a number of these local residents and business owners who were shocked to first learn in the local newspaper about the states decision to open this facility on a Wednesday, and then find out that it was up and running 48 hours later.

A similar article by Oregons Public Broadcaster on May 22 quoted Lewis County Commissioner Sean Swope as saying, The ink had already dried on the contract, theyd already moved in and started converting the hotel. No one knew about it.

They just came in and commandeered the hotel. Paid a sum of money that we dont know and didnt go through any zoning, planning or permitting.

The owner of the hotel, Sher Singh, told OPB the contract books all 40 rooms in his hotel and pays for his three staff members, who arent required to work unless an an on-call issue arises.

Singh declined to state the size of the contract he was awarded.

Meanwhile, in Washingtons King County, located approximately 108 miles North of Lewis County, the local governments website has extensive video documentation of its isolation and quarantine facilities, which it describes as provid[ing] supervised care to symptomatic or COVID-positive adults who cannot safely quarantine or recover in their own home, or do not have a home.

One video posted on the KingCountyTV YouTube channel from April of 2020 shows both a commandeered hotel and a tent-like facility erected for quarantine purposes, while a map posted in the video shows 9 different locations in the county hosting facilities.

In the video, in a section captioned This is how placement works Leo Flor, Director of Department of Community and Human Services states, The hospital gives us a call, and the hospital says, Weve got somebody that doesnt need emergent care, but who we believe should be isolated or quarantined, and then we make a decision about what type of facility is going to be most appropriate for a person and where we identify that we have a space available, transport them there, and then sustain them once they get there.

A second video hosted on the channel from March of 2020 showcases the deployment of modular units, which are branded trailer units in a camp setup for the purposes of quarantine.

Footage from inside the units shows two elevated single mattresses with plastic covers. A wooden cabinet is placed in between the mattresses, with a sink and the bathroom only a few feet away.

The phenomenon has also emerged in Canada. In November of 2020, independent media outlet Rebel News reported on a similar set of trailer-based quarantine camps being deployed near Portage la Prairie in Manitoba, located approximately 56 miles west of the Winnipeg metropolis.

Footage taken on the ground by Rebel News showed the camps surrounded by barbed wire fencing.
The United States faces a growing threat from domestic violent extremists, according to a strategy released this week by the Biden administration. The warning comes as U.S. lawmakers continue to investigate the January sixth storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump seeking to derail the Electoral College vote count confirming Joe Bidens presidential victory. VOAs Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more. VOA Khmer's Pochin Choeung narrates the story in Khmer.
Issues in the News moderator Kim Lewis talks with VOA senior diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine and VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell about the brinksmanship involved in passing two infrastructure bills, which are key to US President Joe Bidens domestic agenda. They also discuss fallout from congressional hearings on the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, a historic meeting between President Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and the ramifications of North Korea's third recent missile launch. Listen to Issues in the News on the Voice of America.
Host Carol Castiel and senior broadcaster in VOAs Persian Service, Siamak Deghanpour, talk with author and Iran specialist, Hussein Banai, about the internal and external challenges facing the Irans new hardline administration led by President Ebrahim Raisi. Banai also discusses the need for the Biden Administration, which wants to revive the nuclear deal (JCPOA) from which the Trump administration withdrew, to design a wholistic policy toward the Islamic Republic which addresses not just the nuclear file, ballistic missiles, and malign regional activities, but also Tehrans dismal record on democracy and human rights.
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After the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the international community stopped funding government agencies. The Taliban is appealing to China for assistance, and that has some regional experts worried. Shahnaz Nafees has the story.
Rwanda's President Paul Kagame has removed the justice minister but made him ambassador to Britain amid international scrutiny over the trial of Paul Rusesabagina, the hotelier credited with saving many lives during the 1994 genocide.

A government statement issued on Tuesday gave no reason for the dismissal of Johnston Busingye, who had served as justice minister and attorney general since 2013.

Busingye was appointed Rwanda's ambassador to Britain, the statement said.

Kagame did not immediately name a new justice minister. Requests for comment to government spokespeople and the presidency office were not answered.

Rusesabagina was hailed as hero after he used his connections as the manager of a Kigali hotel to save ethnic Tutsis from slaughter during the genocide. He was portrayed in the 2004 Hollywood film "Hotel Rwanda."

Now he is accused of nine terrorism-related charges, including forming and funding an armed rebel group. Before his arrest, Rusesabagina, who was living in the United States, was a vocal critic of the Kagame government.

Prosecutors have requested a life sentence for Rusesabagina, whose family says he is in poor health and being mistreated in prison. The court is scheduled to issue its verdict on Sept. 20.

In an interview with Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel in February, then Minister Busingye said the government had paid for the flight that brought Rusesabagina to Rwanda last year, which Rusesabagina's family said resulted in his kidnapping.

Rusesabagina's trial has drawn attention to Kagame, whom rights groups say has used authoritarian tactics to crush political opposition and extend his rule.

The government's arrest of Rusesabagina amounted to an enforced disappearance, a serious violation of international law, New York-based Human Rights Watch said at the time.

Kagame became head of state in 2000 after he and his rebel forces halted the genocide in 1994 after 100 days of bloodletting and around 800,000 deaths of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. He won landslide victories in subsequent elections, the most recent in 2017, when he won nearly 99% of the vote. He changed the constitution in 2015, enabling him to rule legally until 2034.
A major aid agency operating in Libya said Friday that it had reports that at least 500 migrants had been arbitrarily detained during a security operation in Tripoli announced by Libyan authorities.



We are hearing that more than 500 migrants, including women and children, have been rounded up, arbitrarily detained and are at risk of abuse and ill-treatment," Dax Roque, the country director of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said in a statement.



Libya's Interior Ministry said security services had carried out a "major security operation" against what it called criminals, liquor and drug dealers, and illegal immigrants. Pictures posted by the Interior Ministry showed dozens of migrants sitting with hands cuffed behind them or being taken away in vehicles.



Hundreds of thousands of migrants live in Libya, many hoping to pass through and cross the Mediterranean to reach a better life in Europe.



Libya has had little peace or stability, however, since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled Moammar Gadhafi, and rights groups say migrants face threats of detention, extortion and abuse.



Thousands of refugees and migrants are held in official detention facilities, some controlled by armed groups. An unknown number are held in squalid centers run by traffickers.
About two centuries ago, American local, state and federal governments poured millions of dollars into building canals to move the nations people and goods. By 1840, there were 3,000 miles of canals in the United States. But, within 20 years, the rise of the railroads would make canals practically obsolete. In the 1840s, several U.S. states ended up defaulting on the loans they took to build canals and railroads.

The defaults are an example of what can happen when governments spend on infrastructure  because trying to guess the future can be like shooting at a moving target.

You try to foresee a future. You try to guess what you're going to need 10, 20, 30 years down the line, says Richard White, professor emeritus of American history at Stanford University in California. It takes a long time to construct this kind of infrastructure. And secondly, you're going to be paying for it in the futureso very often you can be paying for something you no longer need well into the future.

Yet, not spending on infrastructure can be costly.

If we continue to not invest, Americans  between now and 2039  will lose on average $3,300 per year in lost disposable income, says Greg DiLoreto, past president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). That's money they'll lose because they're spending it on fixing their cars because it ran into a pothole, for example. That's wasted gas stuck in traffic. Or, this past year where I live, we have the big freeze. People were investing in generators so they would have power. Or that's when a water line breaks and you go out and you buy bottled water.

Every four years, the ASCE grades Americas Infrastructure. The assessment looks at several categories including energy, waste water, drinking water, aviation, roads, bridges, dams and rail. The 2021 Report Card gives the nations infrastructure a low C grade  essentially the lowest passing grade possible.

President Joe Biden has made infrastructure funding a signature piece of his agenda. In August, the U.S. Senate passed a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan that focuses on transportation, utilities, including high-speed internet for rural communities, and pollution cleanup. The proposal, which would be the largest federal investment in infrastructure in more than a decade, must still pass in the House of Representatives.

DiLoreto says its hard to prioritize one infrastructure category area over the other because they all hinge together.

Youve got to have strong electric to have strong water and wastewater and broadband, DiLoreto says. Youve got to have a strong road system if you're going to feed your ports. Youve got to have strong ports if you're going to ship your goods and get your goods into this country. And, without the roads to support that, what happens when [goods] wind up on the ports and cant go anywhere [because] congestion is a problem?

While its challenging to predict the future, White sees several places where infrastructure money would be wasted. That includes places like coastal Louisiana, the San Francisco Bay and large parts of Florida and the Atlantic coastline, which could be impacted by climate change and rising sea levels.

Do we really want to build infrastructure in places where we're no longer going to be able to inhabit? White says. Are we really going to want to build a huge amount of infrastructure to protect coastlines that we really cannot protect? Are we going to want to set up sewage systems that, in fact, will be overwhelmed by ocean rise? We have a whole series of things which are going to be controversial because people live there now and they're going to want that infrastructure to protect them.

Another potentially unpopular move would be to refrain from spending money on more fire-prone areas of the country, primarily in the West. From January 1, 2021, through September 29, 2021, more than 46,000 wildfires burned through almost 2.4 million hectares of land across the United States.

We should not be building up infrastructure that encourages people to move into places where these kinds of fires are going to ravage them, force them out, [and] we're going to have to spend huge public resources trying to protect them, White says. It seems to me the writing's on the wall. It's not that hard to figure out, but none of these things are necessarily going to be particularly popular.

Local governments own most of the nations infrastructure, but any ambitious infrastructure plans require at least some federal funding.

There's no question that all the spending increases happen because of bold elected officials, and elected officials are only bold when the people they represent tell them to be. So we need bold leadership to make this happen, DiLoreto says. We also need to design these projects both sustainably and to be resilient.
Australia will reopen its international borders in November to allow vaccinated travelers into the country for the first time in 18 months.

Australia banned most foreign nationals in March of last year and required its citizens to seek official permission to leave the country. Now it is preparing to reopen to the world. Under a government plan, international passengers will be able to quarantine at home for seven days rather than the current 14-day mandatory period in hotel isolation.

There will be no travel restrictions for fully vaccinated Australians entering or leaving the country, although major airlines have warned they are not yet ready for a swift increase in flights. The government is also working toward quarantine-free travel with other countries, including New Zealand.

Passengers who are not vaccinated, or who have received a drug that is not recognized by Australian authorities, will be required to undergo 14 days in official quarantine.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that Sydney, the New South Wales state capital, would most likely be the first city to allow international travelers back.

However, he warned that domestic travel could still be restricted.

Now, Sydney is the biggest arrivals port for Australia, he said. Now, that is good news if you are anywhere around the world because that is where most of the flights go. Now, if you live in another state, it may well be that your state may not let you back into your state, and so youll need to remain in New South Wales until they let you do that.

Western Australia and Queensland are threatening to keep their internal borders closed to other parts of the country with high delta variant infections.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was not told about the prime ministers plan to resume international travel.

I am not going to agree to anything when I havent seen any formal paperwork, she said. It would be irresponsible, and I think Queenslanders would expect me to see some paperwork to understand the issues before an announcement is made.

Australia has recorded 105,000 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began. More than 1,200 people have died.

Millions of Australians, including residents in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, remain in lockdown.

The government plans to gradually ease restrictions when double-dose vaccination rates reach 70% and beyond. They are currently just over 55%.

Gladys Berejiklian, who has guided New South Wales through the pandemic, unexpectedly quit as leader after it was revealed she was being investigated by the states corruption watchdog.
President Joe Biden's administration urged a judge Friday to block a near-total ban on abortion imposed by Texas  the strictest such law in the nation  in a key battle in the ferocious legal war over abortion access in the United States.



The U.S. Supreme Court on September 1 allowed the Republican-backed law to take effect even as litigation over its legality continues in lower courts. The U.S. Justice Department eight days later sued in federal court to try to invalidate it.



During a hearing in the Texas capital of Austin, Justice Department lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman to block the law temporarily, saying the state's Republican legislature and governor enacted it in an open defiance of the Constitution.



"There is no doubt under binding constitutional precedents that a state may not ban abortions at six weeks," said Brian Netter, the lead Justice Department attorney on the case.



"Texas knew this but, it wanted a 6-week ban anyway. So, this state resorted to an unprecedented scheme of vigilante justice." Pitman allowed Netter to argue for about 15 minutes before interrupting him to ask about the limits on the Justice Department's authority to challenge state laws.



The authority claimed by the Justice Department "is pretty expansive," the judge said.



Netter said the Justice Department does not often challenge state laws but will do so when a law violates the U.S. Constitution and is written in a way that preclude citizens from vindicating their rights on their own.



"What is unique and different about this law is that it specifically deprives those affected by the law of the ability to obtain redress," Netter said.



In the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, the Supreme Court recognized a woman's constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. The high court in December is due to hear arguments over the legality of a Mississippi abortion law in a case in which officials from that state are asking the justices to overturn Roe vs. Wade.



The Texas law bans abortions starting at six weeks of pregnancy, a point when many women may not yet realize they are pregnant. It and the Mississippi measure are among a series of Republican-backed laws passed by various states restricting abortion.



About 85% to 90% of abortions are performed after six weeks. Texas makes no exception for cases of rape and incest. It also lets ordinary citizens enforce the ban, rewarding them at least $10,000 if they successfully sue anyone who helped provide an abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected.



The four Whole Woman's Health abortion clinics across the state have reported that patient visits have plummeted, and some staff have quit since the Texas law took effect.



In an emergency motion to the court, the Justice Department provided sworn statements from doctors who described the impact of the Texas law on patients.



In one statement, Dr. Joshua Yap said he witnessed a "surge" of women crossing into neighboring Oklahoma for abortions. "One of the most heart-wrenching cases I have seen recently was of a Texas minor who had been raped by a family member," Yap said, adding that a guardian made an eight-hour drive to Oklahoma from Galveston because the girl was more than six weeks pregnant.



Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the state's top law enforcement official, argued in a court filing on Wednesday that the Justice Department's lawsuit must be dismissed on jurisdictional grounds. The Texas law must be challenged in state court through lawsuits brought against abortion providers by private citizens, Paxton said.



Democratic former President Barack Obama appointed Pitman to the judiciary in 2014.



The hearing will also include arguments from other interested parties, including Oscar Stilley, a disbarred lawyer in home confinement for tax evasion who in September became one of the first people to test a key provision of the law by suing a San Antonio doctor who provided an abortion.
A man who admitted to killing one worshiper and wounding three others in a shooting rampage inside a California synagogue about a month after setting fire to a nearby mosque was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

John T. Earnest, 22, pleaded guilty in July to a single count of murder, three counts of attempted murder and a charge of committing arson in a place of worship, in a deal with local prosecutors sparing him from possibly facing the death penalty.

The defendant was sentenced in a San Diego courtroom to a life prison term less than two weeks after pleading guilty to federal hate-crime charges stemming from the same two attacks in 2019.

He faces an additional life term when he is sentenced in the federal case in U.S. District Court on Dec. 28.

Earnest opened fire with an assault-style rifle at the Chabad of Poway synagogue north of San Diego on April 27, 2019, during Sabbath prayers on the last day of the weeklong Jewish Passover holiday. He was 19 at the time.

A 60-year-old member of the congregation, Lori Gilbert-Kaye, was killed and three others were wounded in the attack, including the rabbi, who was shot in the hand and lost an index finger.

After the gunman's weapon apparently jammed, he was chased from the temple by an ex-Army sergeant in the congregation and sped away in a car, escaping an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent who shot at the getaway vehicle but missed the suspect.

Earnest later stopped at a shopping center, called the emergency 911 number to report he had committed the shooting and waited for police to arrive to arrest him.

Authorities later identified Earnest as the author of a rambling, violently anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim manifesto found posted on the internet under his name minutes before the shooting had begun.

He stated in the post that he had planned the synagogue rampage for months and claimed responsibility for a predawn arson attack weeks earlier that damaged the Islamic Center of Escondido, a nearby town, although no one was injured in the fire.

Earnest also professed in the letter to have drawn inspiration from the gunman who killed 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand around that time, and he made reference to a shooting that took 11 lives the previous October at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

San Diego County Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh denied Earnest an opportunity to address the court, as is customary before sentencing, so as to avoid providing "a political forum for him to start making white supremacist or racist statements," the Los Angeles City News Service (CNS) reported.

Several of Gilbert-Kaye's loved ones spoke during the hearing, including her daughter, Hannah Kaye, who called white supremacy "an epidemic that thrives all over this country and overseas," according to CNS.
In Cameroon, scores of seniors marked Friday's International Day of Older Persons by calling on authorities to do more to support the elderly in the country's conflict areas.

Many of those demonstrating in Yaounde fled from Boko Haram terrorism in the north or Cameroon's separatist conflict in the west. They say hundreds of seniors remaining in those regions have been left to fend for themselves.

Sixty-seven-year-old Veronica Ngum, an activist for the elderly in Cameroon, said a majority of protesting seniors are suffering.

She said they lack energy to work, are frail, and lack the financial means to buy healthy food or be treated in hospitals.

The Cameroon Association of Elderly Persons organized the 30-minute walk to raise awareness of what they said is the plight of older persons in the country. Similar protests took place Friday in the cities of Bafoussam and Douala.

The Timely Performance Care Center for disabled children and older persons helped organize the protest.

The manager of the Yaounde-based center, Betty Nancy Fonyuy, said older persons suffer neglect from their families and communities.

"Most of them that are here are the elderly that have been abandoned by their families," she said. "Some of them are already visually impaired. The center gives them ambulatory materials, medications and reading glasses, with food supplies, bathing supplies, and their basic needs."

Fonyuy said her center has received at least 120 older persons displaced from Cameroon's English-speaking regions since January. Some have no relatives in Yaounde. She said her center is finding it difficult to help all elderly in need, and pleaded with donors to help.

Pauline Irene Nguene, Cameroon's minister of social affairs, said Cameroon has a national solidarity plan that includes the treatment and resettling of people, especially vulnerable civilians like older persons affected by Boko Haram terrorism and separatist conflicts.

Nguene said the government is inviting older persons who have been displaced to report to social affairs offices of their choice for medical assistance.

The United Nations General Assembly instituted the International Day of Older Persons in 1990 to examine issues and challenges faced by the elderly. The day is marked every year on October 1.

A 2020 government report indicates there are about two million people older than 60 among Cameroon's 25 million population. The report says most of them are poor and need lodging, food and health care.


"It's easy to be green," Boris Johnson said at the United Nations General Assembly last week.

He and other European leaders equally committed to net-zero carbon emissions, however, may discover turning green is not so simple, and there may be a high electoral price to pay, analysts say.

The energy crisis buffeting the continent has placed Johnson and other European leaders in the difficult position of decrying fossil fuels while urgently prioritizing affordable access to them to avoid a political backlash by voters and businesses furious at the spiking costs of heating homes and running factories.

Energy prices have hit a seven-year high and stockpiles of gas and coal are dwindling. Russia has not increased its natural gas exports. Natural gas price jumps are largely due to a surge in Asian demand and low supplies in Europe, which has seen a 250% to 280% rise in wholesale gas prices this year. Electricity prices are also soaring because natural gas is used across the continent to generate a large percentage of electricity.

Spiking prices are coming at a delicate time for governments as they plan to speed a net-zero transition to post-fossil energy generation, which they say will eventually see cheaper prices. Consumers and voters, though, won't see the benefits of cheaper post-fossil energy for some time  now they are just seeing higher costs caused by the energy squeeze compounded in some cases by carbon and green taxes.

Some advocates fear the energy-price crisis will be seen by voters as a harbinger of things to come and prompt a backlash against net-zero policies.

From Britain to Germany, Europe's mainstream party leaders have been scrambling to respond to the surge in support for Green parties and carbon-neutral policies as their voters grow increasingly anxious about the impact of climate change. Many governments have announced ambitious carbon-reduction targets to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

In June 2019, Britain, which will host the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, later this year, became the first G7 country to enshrine in law a commitment to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Delivering on radical climate action will be complicated and harder than governments are letting on, though, some analysts and politicians, both advocates for radical climate action and their opponents, warn. The energy-price crisis is due to be discussed by EU national leaders when they meet in Brussels for a summit later this month, say EU officials. Last month, Spain warned the European Commission that emission reduction measures "may not stand a sustained period of abusive electricity prices."

Even before the energy crunch, some government ministers and think tanks had been warning that it was not clear Europeans are ready to make the sacrifices necessary for a carbon-free future and might become more reluctant as the transition from fossil fuels plays havoc with living standards and lifestyles.

Earlier this year Britain's Tony Blair Institute for Global Change warned, "Meeting our future targets will have direct impacts on the lives and livelihoods of people across the country." In its study Polls Apart? Mapping the Politics of Net Zero, the London-based institute founded by Britain's former prime minister said, "While climate change has moved up the political agenda, and all the major parties are committed to delivering net zero, we are still in the early stages of understanding how the politics of climate change will evolve  and, crucially, how a political coalition can be built and maintained."

The institute said an examination of British voter attitudes and values suggested "politicians can be confident there is a strong and sustained desire for climate action," but also cautioned that "the development of a long-term political coalition to support the action needed for net zero is under threat."

Similar conclusions have been reached by other think tank studies about the likely political struggles ahead to implement the European Commission's net-zero proposal to cut pollution by at least 55% from 1990 levels by 2030.

In a paper for the London School of Economics, Patrick Bayer, a lecturer in the School of Government and Public Policy at Scotland's University of Strathclyde, and Federica Genovese, an environmental policy expert at England's University of Essex, warned of the need to get buy-in from the general public as the proposals "will make it more expensive to run appliances, drive cars, and heat homes."

They questioned whether proposed EU compensation plans for the most vulnerable and the poorest "will be enough to hedge the economic resentment and social anxiety that tend to spark upheavals across the continent."

The LSE paper was written before the energy price crisis started to unfold across Europe last month. Some opponents of radical climate action plans have seized on the current crisis. "If consumers come to believe that net zero exposes them to punitive cost or insecurity of supply, they will rightly reject it," Charles Moore, former editor of The Daily Telegraph, warned last month.

Craig Mackinlay, a British Conservative lawmaker and member of a group in the House of Commons critical of net-zero plans, challenged Johnson in Parliament last month about the costs of implementing the government's carbon-emission targets and has warned "extravagant plans for a greener country will provide cold comfort for ordinary people."

Mackinlay has warned that British government projections on how much it will cost to turn Britain green are seriously flawed and underestimate the true costs.

The British government formally accepts the cost projections of a Climate Change Committee, which estimates the country will have to spend over $67 billion a year until 2050 to shift Britain away from fossil fuels. That is around 1% of the country's gross domestic product. Internal government documents recently showed, however, that Britain's own Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy suspects the projection is flawed and estimates costs to be 40% higher.

Some independent experts have been even more scornful and have pointed out that New Zealand's government, which is also thinking about adopting a 2050 net-zero benchmark, believes it could cost advanced economies as much as 16% of their GDPs to rid themselves within three decades of fossil fuels.

The costs to strip out gas boilers, switch from gas and diesel cars to electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles and to move households and businesses to renewable energy sources as industrial processes are reimagined will have to be shared among governments, homeowners, producers and consumers. That will have political and electoral repercussions, according to analysts, who point to how carbon taxes and higher fuel costs roiled France in 2018 and 2019 with the Yellow Vests protests.

Electorates seem hesitant already about embracing climate action  or at least worried about prohibitions and costs. Germany's Green Party, the strongest in Europe, saw its share of the vote increase in last month's federal elections but was disappointed not to get a much bigger jump.

"The election result makes one thing clear," Volker Wissing, general secretary of the pro-business Free Democrats told broadcaster ARD Monday. "People don't want climate protection at the expense of prosperity, and people also don't want prosperity at the expense of nature and environment. That's why we need to bring these things together and work out a solution as to how we can reconcile climate protection and prosperity."
The brother of slain Rohingya community leader Mohib Ullah on Thursday blamed militants for murdering him in a Bangladesh refugee camp because of his popularity and rights work.

Mohib Ullah had emerged in recent years as one of the most prominent representatives of around 850,000 Rohingya stuck in camps in Bangladesh since fleeing violence in Myanmar in 2017.

Unidentified assailants gunned him down late Wednesday, prompting Bangladeshi authorities to deploy hundreds of extra armed police in the camps on Thursday.

Up to 25,000 people attended funeral prayers at the main Kutpalong camp on Thursday, police said. Nazir Hossain, a Rohingya leader, said there were 200,000.

Habib Ullah told AFP that his brother had received death threats from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army in recent months, and that at least eight men from the group took part in the attack.

"ARSA forces have committed this murder. They often threatened to kill my brother," he said. "ARSA did not just kill our brother -- they killed our great leader."

Police have said at least four unidentified assailants were involved in the shooting, which happened as Mohib Ullah chatted with other community leaders outside his office.

Mohib Ullah, 48, had set up the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), a community-based rights group that documented atrocities allegedly committed against the group by the Myanmar military during a 2017 offensive.

That campaign prompted hundreds of thousands of the long-oppressed mostly Muslim minority to flee into Bangladesh where they remain four years later in squalid refugee camps.

The former schoolteacher rose to prominence after his group held a grand rally on the second anniversary of the crackdown in 2019, which an estimated 200,000 Rohingya attended.

That year, Mohib Ullah also met then-US president Donald Trump at the White House during a meeting on religious freedom, and spoke at a UN Human Rights meeting in Geneva.

The current US administration said Thursday it was "deeply saddened and disturbed" by Mohib Ullah's killing.

"We urge a full and transparent investigation into his death with the goal of holding the perpetrators of this heinous crime accountable," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

"We will honor his work by continuing to advocate for Rohingya and lift up the voices of members of the community in decisions about their future."

No arrests

There was no immediate comment from ARSA, which was behind a spate of attacks on Myanmar security posts in 2017 and is also blamed for attacks on Hindus living in Rohingya villages in the country's western Rakhine province.

A senior member of Mohib Ullah's group also blamed ARSA, saying the group was enraged by his growing popularity in the refugee camps and his work, which gave the "Rohingya a non-violent, progressive and liberal voice of reason."

Rights activist Nur Khan Liton said Mohib Ullah told him earlier this month that he had received death threats from ARSA after his rights group expanded to all the Rohingya refugee camps.

"His peaceful activism angered ARSA," Liton told AFP.

Saad Hammadi from Amnesty International said the killing "sends a chilling effect across the entire community", calling on Dhaka to speed up the investigation.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) condemned the murder "in the strongest possible terms" and said it was "deeply shocked and saddened."

The agency enhanced its presence "to ensure that the Rohingya refugees have direct access to support services and can report their concerns," the UNHCR said in a statement.

Police spokesperson Rafiqul Islam said the probe was still at a preliminary stage.

"No one has been arrested yet," Islam told AFP.
Members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team said Friday that recent trials showing the effectiveness of the U.S. drug company Merck's experimental new COVID-19 pill were certainly good news, but they stressed that vaccines would remain the best way to end the pandemic.



During the response team's virtual briefing, top U.S. infectious-disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said early data from the studies on the Merck COVID-19 pill were "impressive," including a 50% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths.

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said the U.S. government had already arranged to buy 1.7 million doses of the pill, with an option for more if needed.

If approved for emergency use, the Merck pill would be the first COVID-19 treatment that could be taken orally and not through injection or intravenous drip. Fauci said he would not predict when the pill might be approved as both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention evaluate the medication.

Vaccinations still seen as best choice

But, Zients said, while the pill is very good news, vaccinations are still the best way out of the pandemic, and the response team spent the bulk of its briefing presenting statistics to encourage the unvaccinated 70 million U.S. residents to take the shot.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said new data from her agency demonstrated the vaccination's value at preventing serious illness. The data, collected in August during the peak of the surge of infections caused by the delta variant of the virus, showed that areas where 55% or less of the total population was vaccinated had more than twice the infection rates of areas with greater vaccine coverage. Hospitalization and death rates also were significantly higher where vaccination rates were lower.



Fauci presented statistics compiled over the past 30 days at hospitals in King County in Washington state, information he said also demonstrated the vaccine's effectiveness against the delta variant. That data showed that unvaccinated people were eight times more likely to test positive for COVID-19, 41 times more likely to be hospitalized from it and 57% more likely to die from it.



Noting the recent overall decline in new cases and hospitalizations in the past few weeks, Fauci said people should not interpret that decline to mean they now did not need to be vaccinated. He said the best way to prevent resurgences of the disease and end the pandemic was to get vaccinated.
A federal court order compelling the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to hand over Trump-era policies on media interactions has been welcomed by First Amendment experts.

The ruling came a year after the Knight First Amendment Institute filed a lawsuit against the CDC because the public health agency had failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request

"We're thrilled with the decision, and we think it is the right result," Knight Institute staff attorney Anna Diakun told VOA. "The government was hiding these documents behind claims of privilege that weren't well supported, and the court recognized that the government had not met its burden and hadn't showed that it could properly withhold these documents."

The court initially ordered the release of documents by September 24, but that date was extended to November 16 to give the government time to decide whether it wants to appeal.

The court, which issued its ruling on September 17, ordered the CDC to conduct a new search for documents under the FOIA request, saying the original request had been interpreted too narrowly.

The original request, submitted by Knight in March 2020, sought copies of policies that the CDC issued to staff about speaking with the media and the public.

Reporting at that time alleged that the Trump administration was requiring CDC officials to coordinate with the vice president's office before speaking with journalists. Reports said that the government had instituted this policy to control the narrative after public health officials had publicly contradicted the administration's talking points.

In June 2020, an initial set of documents was released in response to Knight's FOIA request.

Included in the documents was an April 30, 2020, email from a CDC spokesperson ordering communications personnel to ignore interview requests from Voice of America.

"NOTE: as a rule, do not send up requests for Greta Van Sustern or anyone affiliated with Voice of America," read the email, which addressed guidance on approving media requests before they were sent to the Department of Health and Human Services or the vice president's office. The surname "Van Susteren" was misspelled in the original document.

The email included a link to a White House newsletter that had accused the U.S.-funded broadcaster of promoting foreign propaganda.

Veteran news anchor and lawyer Van Susteren reported extensively on the pandemic for VOA.

The CDC did not respond to VOA's request for comment.

When asked for comment, VOA referred to the statement it had issued at the time, which described the CDCs denial of advance media requests as troubling. The statement rejected allegations that VOA promoted foreign propaganda.

Information lifeline

Policies around media communications threatened the flow of information during an unprecedented and hectic time, Diakun said.

"Transparency is critical during a public health emergency, and it's vital to know how an administration is controlling the flow of information," she said. "Especially now, when there are so many conflicting sources of information, knowing how the government is controlling what you hear is really important for understanding the state of affairs."

Lucy Dalglish, dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism in Maryland, said the case underscores what she sees as broader inadequacies of the Trump administration's communications regarding the pandemic.

"It was so disorganized. It was frightening. And you don't know how much of the blame belongs to the White House, how much belongs to the CDC, how much belongs to the [National Institutes of Health] or the [Food and Drug Administration]. This was an incompetent nightmare," Dalglish said in an interview with VOA. "And it doesn't really matter, in the end, if it was political incompetence, deliberate incompetence or just plain incompetence."

In some ways, this case underscores the realities of the challenges that journalists will always face, Dalglish said.

"Like it or not, we're all going to be handled," she said. "But there are degrees of professionalism in the handling."

Restricted access and reduced transparency made reporting on the pandemic more challenging, according to Dan Diamond, who reported on COVID-19 for U.S. news site Politico until January 2021.

"Being able to talk to officials who were directly involved in the response is essential for the reporters  like, if you don't hear directly from those officials and you're forced to either parse official statements that have been filtered through the press office, or you're going on background, off record, to try and get the true story," said Diamond, who works as a national health reporter at The Washington Post.

Those policies restricted the flow of information to the American population, according to Diamond.

"It makes it that much harder to convey to the American people what's actually going on at the highest levels of government," he said. "It requires more detective work, more due diligence."

Government-instituted barriers to reporting on the pandemic have likely also had implications for public health, according to Dalglish, who serves on the board of the nonprofit News Leaders Association.

"There is no question in my mind that this behavior and these instructions really aided the anti-vaccine movement," Dalglish told VOA. "By sowing confusion and doubt, it aided their particular mission."

Although the court ruling is a probable win for news access, reporters who cover the pandemic are not out of the woods, according to Diakun.

"The Biden administration is certainly doing a better job of putting science front and center in its messaging," she said. "But there are always problems surrounding access. And this administration should do everything in its power to facilitate communication between agency experts and the public that they serve."
A former high-ranking lawmaker in Malawi committed suicide Thursday afternoon in the countrys parliament building.

Clement Chiwaya, 50, a former second deputy speaker, fatally shot himself in the head with a pistol while inside the National Assembly. Details about what led Chiwaya to kill himself remained sketchy.

The parliament said in a statement that the public would be informed at an appropriate time, as the Malawi Police Service was investigating the incident.

When in office, Chiwaya represented the opposition United Democratic Front.

According to the statement from parliament, Chiwaya recently was involved in a court case regarding his vehicle. The car was in an accident before the transfer of ownership was completed, and the insurance had expired.

Chiwaya sought help from the governments Office of the Ombudsman, who made a determination in his favor, but Malawis High Court set the determination aside.



The parliament statement said guards have the proper equipment and protocols to ensure safety in the building. However, Chiwayas suicide raised concerns.

Former military officer Sheriff Kaisi, a security expert based in Blantyre, said, "To me, I would say that there is negligence on how security should be provided at high-risk places like parliament. This is a wake-up call in the management of security. There is no way you can manage security in that sense, when you have cameras and detectors.

Chiwaya had used a wheelchair for a number of years. In its statement, the National Assembly said that while Chiwaya's entrance had set off alerts when he passed through metal detectors Thursday, the alerts were deemed to be from the wheelchair, and therefore guards did not look for any firearms.
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After the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the international community stopped funding government agencies. Now, the Taliban is appealing to China for assistance, and that has some regional experts worried. Shahnaz Nafees has the story.
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This week on Healthy Living, a look into rabies and how Africa is addressing the disease. We hear from Dr. Felix Lankester, a veterinarian and Clinical Associate Professor at the Washington State University and Director of Rabies Free Tanzania. Also, what can you do to avoid dog bites? Lastly, we head to the United Arab Emirates where some people are using ice baths to cool off and boost immunity. These topics and more on the show this week.
Analysts say prospects for future nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea are dimming because of Pyonyang's unwillingness to engage in diplomacy with Washington and the Kim Jong Un regime's demand for U.S. concessions.

The experts' assessment comes as North Korea advances its weapons systems with a series of missile tests while it rejects the Biden administration's offer of talks without preconditions.

North Korean leader Kim, in a speech directed to the regime's Supreme People's Assembly on Thursday, accused the United States of pursuing a "hostile policy" toward his country.

"It is no more than a petty trick for deceiving the international community and hiding its hostile acts and an extension of the hostile policy pursued by the successive U.S. administration," Kim said.

North Korea said Wednesday it successfully tested a new hypersonic missile. North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency said the "strategic" weapon was one of the "five most important" new weapons systems presented in the country's five-year military development plan.

Pyongyang recently said it had tested rail-launched short-range ballistic missiles for the first time, a move seen by military analysts as an attempt to diversify its launch options. The launches followed the country's test of new long-range cruise missiles presumed to be designed to evade missile-defense radars.

However, in contrast to the harsh rhetoric directed against Washington, Kim offered to restore severed communication channels with Seoul starting in October.

"Kim Jong Un is hoping that (South Korean) President Moon Jae-in will persuade Washington to lift sanctions against North Korea as a condition for resuming U.S.-DPRK negotiations," said Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration. He used the acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

Ken Gause, director of the Adversary Analytics Program at CNA, said, "Unless the U.S. put something on the table, North Korea is not interested in having discussions for discussion's sake. They're not interested in no-precondition discussions, which is what the U.S. has been offering."

After realizing the Biden administration's unwillingness to make concessions before entering a dialogue, Kim expressed willingness to restore the hotlines with Seoul, Gause said. Kim was "trying to set up a situation where South Korea potentially could be the intermediary that goes between Pyongyang and Washington to figure out what each side is willing to put on the table."

Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said North Korea's mention of Washington's "hostile policy" is nothing new.

"It is a code word for ending U.S.-ROK military exercises, the alliance and the U.S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula," he said, using the acronym for the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.

"North Korean strategic objectives have not changed, but its tactical approach will now be focused on testing the waters with South Korea in an effort to make gains and divide the allies," said Scott Snyder, director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Snyder said the Biden administration is unlikely to lift sanctions as a condition for Pyongyang's engagement with the U.S.

"The Biden administration probably feels there is no point in offering sanctions relief, because they view sanctions relief as a possible outcome, not an inducement," Snyder said.

'A calibrated, practical approach'

After the North's missile test this week, some members of Congress called on the Biden administration to put more pressure on the regime.

"This apparent missile test is just another example of Kim Jong Un's petulance," Representative Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican, told VOA's Korean Service this week. "The Biden administration should resume vigorous enforcement of sanctions against North Korea. Appeasement and silence by President Biden will only invite further provocations."

Representative Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, told VOA's Korean Service, "U.S.-led sanctions would have to continue and be strengthened if North Korea's provocative nuclear and missile tests continue. I strongly urge North Korea to engage in a meaningful and substantive dialogue with the U.S. and our allies."

The U.S. State Department rejected the North Korean claim that the U.S. has been hostile toward the country.

"The United States harbors no hostile intent toward the DPRK. Our policy calls for a calibrated, practical approach, that is open to and will explore diplomacy with the DPRK to make tangible progress that increases the security of the United States, our allies, and our deployed forces," said a State Department spokesperson in an email to VOA's Korean Service on Wednesday.

"We are prepared to meet with the DPRK without preconditions. We hope the DPRK will respond positively to our outreach," the spokesperson said.

Talks between Washington and Pyongyang have been deadlocked since 2019. Former President Donald Trump rejected Kim's offer to dismantle the Yongbyon nuclear complex in return for sanctions relief when the two met in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February 2019.

The subsequent working-level talks in October of that year broke down, and the stalemate continues as North Korea makes making rapid strides in advancing its missile development.

Jiha Ham and Joeun Lee contributed to this report.
A popular Chinese-made phone has a built-in censorship tool that can blacklist search terms on the web, according to research by the Lithuanian government. The country is urging owners of the phones to replace them, as Henry Ridgwell reports.
A popular Chinese-manufactured phone has a built-in censorship tool that can blacklist search terms on the web, according to research by the Lithuanian government, which is urging owners of the phones to replace them.



The Lithuanian Ministry of Defense analyzed three popular Chinese-made phones currently sold in Europe: the Xiaomi Mi 10T 5G; the Huawei P40 5G; the OnePlus 8T 5G. It reported finding a censorship tool built into the Xiaomi phone that can block certain search terms, including "Long live Taiwans independence, "Free Tibet," "Democratic Movement," and "Voice of America.



It is very, very worrying that there is a built-in censorship tool and of keywords, which filters or could filter your search on the web, Lithuanian Vice Defense Minister Margiris Abukevicius told VOA.

Xiaomi



Xiaomi is the most popular smartphone brand in Europe. The Lithuanian researchers said the blacklist function was turned off on the Xiaomi phone sold in Europe, but it can be activated remotely. The list of blocked search terms appears to be continually updated. There were 449 words or phrases on the blacklist in April 2021. By September, that number had tripled to 1,376.



We clearly saw that all of those key words are politically motivated, Abukevicius said. Terms such as Tibet, Taiwan, democracy, U.S., and some companies like yours [Voice of America], are mentioned in that list. And they are adding [words] not only in Chinese, they are also adding words in Latin [script].



German security services also have begun a technical examination of the Xiaomi phone.



Xiaomi did not respond to VOA requests for comment. The firm said this week it was engaging an independent expert to assess the findings.

Huawei



The Lithuanian researchers found the Huawei P40 5G model collected users data  including how long they spent using the apps  and stored it on servers outside the European Union, beyond the jurisdiction of the EUs strict data laws.



The report said Huaweis official app store, called AppGallery, directed users to apps containing malware.



A portion of the mobile applications contained on the application distribution platforms are imitations of the original applications, with malicious functionality or virus infestation; such applications can be downloaded and installed by the user on the mobile phone, thereby jeopardizing the security of the device and the data contained in it, the report said.



Data security risks have also been identified in the Xiaomi device; factory-installed system applications send statistical data on the activity of certain applications installed on the device to servers of the Chinese cloud service provider Tencent, located in Singapore, the USA, the Netherlands, Germany and India, the researchers wrote.



In a statement, Huawei told VOA, Huawei has always adhered to the principle of integrity, abided by the laws and regulations of the countries and regions where it operates. Huawei has a strong cybersecurity record in more than 170 countries and regions and has served over 3 billion users. Data is never processed outside the Huawei device.



It added, Huawei is transparent about the necessary data it collects from customers, which is kept to a minimum and used to enhance personalization and the users experience. Huawei makes it clear that these apps are from publicly available sources, so the user isn't forced to download an app.



National security

Lithuania has told government workers to get rid of the Xiaomi and Huawei phones. Abukevicius told VOA that other countries should take note of the research.



On the basis of national security, really, we are looking for ways to protect our state institutions and institutions working in national security and give them a chance to only work with trusted suppliers. When it comes to consumers, we are giving recommendations of course, you know, to really avoid using cloud services, avoid using some applications, Chinese-made applications, Abukevicius said.



China has yet to comment on the report. Many Western countries, including the United States, have blocked Huawei from the rollout of 5G mobile networks, fearing the company poses a security risk.



I think our research is an illustration of how we should go beyond that discussion in the telecommunications sector, that we should think about other sectors, Abukevicius said.



Diplomatic tensions



The report comes against a backdrop of tense relations between Lithuania and China.



Both countries have withdrawn their ambassadors after Lithuania agreed to allow Taiwan to open a de facto embassy there using its own name. China claims Taiwan as its own territory.



In many countries, Taiwans diplomatic missions are named after the capital, Taipei, rather than the island itself. In retaliation, Beijing last month halted rail freight to Lithuania and suspended trading licenses for Lithuanian producers.



The United States has reiterated its support for Lithuania in the face of what Washington called "economic coercion" by China.
Malawi has deployed soldiers to distribute fuel at gas stations after a strike by fuel tank drivers this week led to shortages. The drivers are pressuring the government for a minimum wage increase and to ensure local drivers get contracts they say are dominated by foreign transporters.

Tanker drivers started the strike Monday in the country's major cities of Lilongwe, Blantyre and Mzuzu.

On Wednesday they blocked the road in the capital Lilongwe, resulting in some arrests.

Government spokesperson Gospel Kazako told a press conference Thursday that the strike is surprising, considering that government officials already addressed all the demands the drivers raised during a similar strike in November 2020.

He said among the demands was that the government should review the minimum salary for drivers, which was at about $60 per month.

"Government had to go all out listening to their problems," Kazako said. "Government made directives and this was made into law that there shouldn't be any international truck driver who should be paid less than MK140,000."

That figure is equivalent to about $170 per month.

But drivers have yet to receive the increased salaries. This, they said, is largely because their employers are going through financial difficulties due to lack of business from the government.

They said the strike is also aimed at pushing the government to award their employers local fuel supply contracts they say are dominated by foreign transporters.

This spurred truck owners to join the strike on Wednesday.

Kazako, also Minister of Information, said he believes the strike is a ploy to sabotage government operations.

George Khaki, president of the Employers Consultative Association of Malawi, said the strike is baseless.

"If they wanted to have industrial action, that industrial action should have been against their employers. Not against the government, because the government is not a party to the employment contract," he said. "This is where they are getting it wrong and it is unfortunately an unlawful strike."

The strike led to panic buying this week at the few Malawian gas stations which had fuel.

Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority said the country has enough gas to last for a month, but the problem is the failure to supply the pump stations because of the strike.

To address the problem, Kazako said the government has deployed the military to help distribute fuel.

Starting Thursday night, soldiers began escorting fuel tankers to pump stations and, in some cases, are driving the tankers themselves.

In a statement Thursday, Acting Public Information Officer for the Malawi Defense Force, Major Emanuel Kelvin Mlelemba, said the move is in line with its constitutional role in assisting civilian authorities to maintain essential services in times of emergency.

Meanwhile, the striking drivers maintain they will not resume work until their demands are met.


Fighting between junta forces and local defense forces in the northwestern part of Myanmar has been intensifying since the opposition National Unity Government declared a defensive war against the ruling junta on September 7.



Explosions have been frequent in cities, with the NUG saying September 18 there had been 101 bomb blasts in Yangon alone between September 7 and September 17. Dozens were also reported in Sagaing region in the northwest and Mandalay region in the central part of the country. Local militia groups and underground forces have targeted security forces, banks, junta assets and facilities including telecommunications towers. The junta said September 12 that 68 towers had been destroyed in the seven months since the coup.



Signs point to a worsening situation.



The NUG has told us to be ready to take action, 26-year-old Yangon resistance fighter Hein Zaw Latt, told VOA September 18.



We have conducted six operations in Yangon, he said, adding, We are collecting information about the activities of security forces for further attacks.



More attacks will be conducted very soon, said Naung Cho, a member of the oppositions People's Defense Force in the capital, Naypyitaw. He spoke to VOA a day after launching the fourth guerrilla attack on a police checkpoint in the citys Lewe Township September 20, injuring three police officers.



Fighting in remote areas escalates



Clashes between the local resistance fighters and junta forces have intensified in four of the countrys divisions  the northwestern Chin state and Magway and Sagaing regions, and the eastern Kayah state. NUG defense minister Ye Mon wrote on his social media page on September 20 that the opposition Peoples Defense Force had taken control of many villages and would soon take another step toward the revolution.



Critics of the minister's remarks have also emerged, though.

Many small groups fighting on the ground mainly depend on makeshift weapons and hunting rifles, and they cannot counter junta airstrikes and heavy artillery attacks. Critics say the minister should focus more on getting promised weapons to the PDF than writing on Facebook.



Fighting is likely to intensify because military forces are stationed in villages, a local PDF member said.



More clashes, more victims



All of the sources told VOA the junta forces keep committing serious crimes, from arson to massacres of civilians. They say the junta also blocked internet access in some areas surrounded by heavy fighting.

Photographs and a short video have been widely circulated on social media showing houses on fire in the town of Thantlang in Chin state on the evening of September 18. At least 20 homes were burned down by military artillery strikes and a pastor of the Thantlang Baptist Church was killed.



After that incident almost all residents fled the town. Some families went to the Indian border while others stayed in makeshift camps in border villages inside Myanmar, according to a spokesman for the Thantlang Placement Affairs Committee, which helps displaced people.



The Chin Baptist Association has strongly denounced the military's actions in Thantlang, saying it could lead to religious and ethnic clashes in the country.



It was an insult to religion and religious community, the statement said.



VOA was unable to obtain a military response on the case, but military spokesman General Zaw Min Tun told a local news outlet September 21 that the fighting between the army and local PDF erupted in Thantlang when the local PDF began attacking security forces. The pastors death is still being investigated, the spokesman said.

Another incident occurred in Myain Thar village, Gangaw township in Magway region on September 9. The NUG said 18 villagers, including 12 under the age of 18, were killed by junta forces.



Thousands of displaced civilians in makeshift camps around the country are facing food shortages and other difficulties, local charity group members told VOA.



Yangon security tightened



Security was tightened in Yangon after the NUG declaration. Security forces patrol townships, making random checks of homes, and personal belongings of people on the street are searched. Many young activists and students are reportedly arrested every day and accused of being linked to anti-regime attacks.



Nan Thandar Htway, a Yangon resident, said she is worried about her sons security.



My son isnt involved in any violent attacks, but he could be taken at any time by the military if they wanted. I dont let my son to go outside alone, Nan Thandar Htway said. I am terrified when I hear a knock on the door.



Inspections and random checks have become more frequent in Mandalay after the NUG announcement, a freelance journalist told VOA. The journalist said people very rarely go outside at night for fear of arrest.



The Thai-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said that as of September 30, 1,146 people have been killed by junta and over 8,500 people had been arrested since the coup.


As COVID-19 has spread in Nigeria, Africa's most populated country, so have myths about the virus, especially among children. A Nigerian author has written a children's book to help them understand the pandemic and ways to avoid being infected.

A team of educators arrives at a government school in Abuja. Equipped with books, face masks and sanitizers, they're here to educate schoolchildren about the coronavirus pandemic and personal hygiene.

The initiative is the brainchild of team leader Raquel Kasham Daniel, a Nigerian author and founder of the nonprofit Beyond the Classroom Foundation.

She started the foundation 11 years ago to help make education accessible to vulnerable children. But she said when COVID-19 hit Nigeria last year, she had to focus on teaching children how to stay safe or reduce their risk of contracting the virus through her books.

"Because COVID was evolving, I knew we'll not have one edition of the book, she said. So, we've had different editions of the book where I've had to update it from time to time. The support that we've received has mostly come from social media and some funders who have seen our work."

The COVID-19 children's book is titled There's a New Virus in Town. It contains colorful images, along with text, to help children better understand the coronavirus. It also contains a quiz at the end where children can guess the next character or topic.

Twelve-year-old Jemila Abdul read it at the Abuja school.

"I'll wash my hands regularly, and I'll wear face masks, keep social distances, and keep my compound clean, she said.

Nine-year-old Peculiar Oyewole said he'll keep safe in order to keep his friends safe.

"I was angry because the coronavirus killed so many people, he said. I don't want it to kill my friends."

Nigeria has recorded more than 200,000 cases of the coronavirus, but authorities say myths and misinformation about the pandemic continue to spread, and children are among the most susceptible.

Daniel's program, which has reached some 14,000 children so far, is helping to address this problem not only in schools but also among vulnerable groups.

"Some will say only older people are dying because God wants to save the children, that God is cleaning the Earth, Daniel said. We heard all sorts of things. So, what we do with our volunteers is to teach them and arm them with information about this myth and teach them (that) when you get on the field, this is how to debunk it."

Nigerian authorities have been making efforts to educate the public and try to overcome misinformation, which authorities blame for a slow vaccine uptake.

But in the meantime, Daniel will be having an impact on kids.
North Korea has test-fired an anti-aircraft missile, its fourth set of launches in September using allegedly new missile technology, the countrys state media reported.

The Korean Central News Agency posted a single picture of the newly developed anti-air missile, fired Thursday using a mobile launch vehicle from an undeclared location.

Missile analysts said the test appeared to represent a relatively minor development but was part of a broader North Korean strategy of rapidly modernizing and showing off its missile fleet.

It appears they're suggesting this is a more capable [surface-to-air missile] than the Pongae-5, an existing anti-aircraft missile that was a bit of a mess, said Ankit Panda, a nuclear policy specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

North Korea declared the Pongae-5 operationally capable in 2017, after overcoming what state media called some defects. The missiles are meant to provide a challenge for South Korean and U.S. aircraft during a hypothetical war.

Busy month

State media provided very few details about the latest test, which came on the last day of a very busy month of North Korean launches.

North Koreas tests in September also involved a new long-range cruise missile, short-range ballistic missiles launched from a new train-based platform, and a new hypersonic missile.

Most of the tests appeared aimed at making North Koreas shorter-range missiles harder to detect and intercept. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has hinted he may also resume long-range missile tests, which have not occurred since 2017.

North Korea is banned from conducting any ballistic missile activity  short or long range  under multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. However, U.S. officials in recent years have mostly downplayed the Norths tests of short-range missiles.

Under President Joe Biden, U.S. officials have repeatedly said they are willing to go anywhere, anytime to hold talks with North Korean officials. U.S.-North Korea nuclear negotiations have been stalled since 2019.

'Hostile policy'

In a speech this week, Kim dismissed the U.S. offer of talks, saying it was only a show to cover up what he called Washingtons hostile policy.

North Korea regularly objects to the U.S. military presence in East Asia, U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises and South Koreas military modernization.

There is no change in the U.S. military threat to and hostile policy toward us at all, and instead, their expressions and methods get more cunning, Kim said, according to KCNA.

Responding to Kims speech, the State Department stressed in an email to the VOA Korean Service that the U.S. harbors no hostile intent toward North Korea.
Pakistans prime minister, Imran Khan, has said his government is engaged in peace talks with some groups of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, an alliance of outlawed militant groups waging terrorist attacks in the country.



Khan told TRT World, a Turkish state-owned broadcaster, the talks with the militants are taking place in Afghanistan and the new Taliban rulers of the neighboring country are helping in the process.

There are different groups which form the Pakistani Taliban or TTP, yes, so we are in talks with some of them on a reconciliation process, Khan said in a portion of the interview the Turkish network released Friday. The full interview will be aired Saturday.



The Pakistani prime minister said the aim of the discussions with TTP groups is to convince the militants to lay down their arms and then we forgive them and they can become normal citizens.



The talks are taking place in Afghanistan, so in that sense yes, Khan noted when asked if the Afghan Taliban were helping in the process.



A spokesman for the ruling Taliban in Kabul, when contacted by VOA for a reaction to Khans assertions, said he would try to get one but sent no further response.

Prime Minister Khan said he is expecting the talks will produce the desired outcome, insisting he believes there is no military solution to tackle the militancy challenge and the political dialogue is the way ahead.



We might not reach some sort of a conclusion in the end, a settlement, but we are talking, he said.



Khans disclosure comes as the TTP has intensified attacks against Pakistani security forces and other targets in recent weeks. Islamabad says leaders and commanders of the banned group use sanctuaries in Afghanistan to orchestrate cross-border attacks.



The United States and the United Nations have both designated the TTP as a terrorist organization.



The Afghan Taliban is under pressure from the U.S. and other countries to prevent transnational terrorist groups from using Afghan soil for external attacks.



Pakistans traditionally close ties with the Afghan Taliban might have generated hopes the Islamist group would help rein in TTP cross-border violent activities from their Afghan hideouts. But critics say those expectations could be misplaced, citing the ideological closeness between the Afghan and the Pakistani Taliban.



Just before the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in August, their chief, Hibatullah Akhundzada, set up a three-member high-powered commission to persuade TTP members to stop violence against Pakistan and return to their homes across the border to live peacefully, VOA had learned from highly placed official sources in Islamabad.



However, the Taliban have not confirmed the commissions formation and TTP attacks have continued against Pakistani forces.


Police gained control of an Ecuador prison Thursday where rioting has left at least 118 inmates dead, some of them decapitated, as rival drug gangs went to war armed with guns and grenades.

Another 86 inmates were wounded, six of them critically, according to Ecuador's prisons authority, in one of the deadliest prison battles in South American history.

The riot broke out Tuesday at a prison complex in the port city of Guayaquil between prisoners believed to have links to Mexican drug gangs -- mainly the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

By late Thursday police commander General Tannya Varela told reporters that the inmates "no longer have control of the cell blocks," adding that the prisoners were now back in their cells and "everything is calm."

The restored order came after a massive security operation involving some 900 officers and members of tactical units engaged in what the police service said was a "mega-operation" to regain control.

On Wednesday at least two officers were injured when rioting inmates, armed with guns, attacked police sent in to retake control of the facility.

Soldiers and tanks were also stationed outside the jail, where hundreds of worried family members have gathered, desperate for news from the men locked up inside.

"It is a very painful thing.... They say people have had their heads taken off," said Juana Pinto, who was seeking news about her inmate son.

Ermes Duarte, 71, who came from the nearby rural town of Salitre, said his son "was only 15 days away from being released. I came because I saw a video, sent to me by cell phone, where I recognized his head."

'A war'

According to local news site Primicias, the violence erupted when prisoners from one gang celebrated the birthday of one of their leaders and bragged about their control of the prison, sparking the fury of rival groups elsewhere in the facility.

Tuesday's violence was the latest in a series of bloody prison clashes that have claimed the lives of more than 230 inmates in Ecuador so far this year.

At least six victims were beheaded, according to the national prosecutor's office.

In response to the riot, the government decreed a state of emergency allowing it to suspend prisoners' civil rights and to use public force -- including the military -- to restore order. President Guillermo Lasso visited Guayaquil on Wednesday.

Ecuador's prison system has 65 facilities designed for about 30,000 inmates but actually houses 39,000, watched over by 1,500 guards -- a shortfall of about 3,000, according to experts.

Corruption is rife and inmates are able to acquire arms and ammunition.

On Feb. 23, simultaneous riots at four jails including Guayaquil left 79 inmates dead, several of them also beheaded.

Last week police confiscated two pistols, a revolver, some 500 rounds of ammunition, a hand grenade, several knives, two sticks of dynamite and homemade explosives at one of the city's prisons.

Two weeks ago, Guayaquil's Prison Number 4 was attacked by drones, part of "a war between international cartels," prison authorities said. There were no casualties in that attack.

'Collapsed' prison system

The country's human rights ombudsman said there were 103 prison killings in 2020.

Criminal groups "have taken over the country's prisons and are trying to send a message to the state that they are stronger than the rule of law," said Itania Villarreal, a former director of the agency in charge of prisoner rehabilitation.

"The prison system has collapsed," she said.

Security expert Freddy Rivera of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Quito said many prisoners had ties not only to Mexican cartels, but to gangs in neighboring Colombia.

Ecuador's prisons have become "criminal central command centers" from which illicit activities are planned and ordered, he told AFP, adding that the country's prison massacres in recent years have exceeded those of Brazil and Venezuela.

Located between Colombia and Peru, the world's leading cocaine producers, Ecuador is a key transit for drug shipments to the United States and Europe.

Guayaquil is Ecuador's most populous city and its main port.
In the West African country of Burkina Faso, a de facto ban is preventing journalists from visiting sites for internally displaced people.

For at least a year, the Ministry of Women, National Solidarity, Family and Humanitarian Action has been turning down official requests to visit camps, local journalists say.

A Burkina Faso government spokesperson has cited two reasons for visits being denied: the protection of the "dignity" of those in the camps and the safety of journalists.

While armed groups are a threat in some parts of the country, many of the camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) are in safer regions and have not been the target of attacks. Many are accessible to media with little risk, journalists say.

Humanitarians and journalists believe the ban is linked to a report published by the nongovernmental organization Oxfam in May 2020. The report focused on the experiences of female IDPs, who it said are at risk of sexual abuse.

Analysts and those who cover the camps say the ban comes amid a more restrictive environment for reporting in Burkina Faso, including a 2019 law that carries a 10-year sentence for reporting that "demoralizes" the military.

"This new policy follows the worsening censorship trend in Burkina Faso," said Alexandra Lamarche, a senior advocate for West Africa at the Washington-based advocacy group Refugees International. "While the government may claim to be preserving the dignity of its displaced citizens, this is yet another effort to deny and hide the true magnitude of the crisis."

More than 1.2 million people have been displaced by Burkina Faso's war with rebel groups in the north and east of the country, which started in 2015, according to United Nations estimates. Many of the armed groups are linked to the Islamic State group and al-Qaida.

"At present, 78% of these displaced people live in displacement sites," Lamarche said.

Unlike refugees, IDPs seek safety within their own country.

Burkina Faso Minister of Communications Ousseni Tamboura, who earlier cited media safety concerns for the ban, defended the country's relationship with journalists, telling VOA, "Freedom of the press is doing very well."

The Ministry of Women, National Solidarity, Family and Humanitarian Action did not respond to VOA's request for an interview.

Media access

An international journalist described the lack of access to the camps as "unfortunate."

"The people I've spoken to say they want their voices heard so people will know what they're going through," said the journalist, who is based in the region and asked to remain anonymous. "It's the best way for people to understand their situation."

The government's argument that the ban is designed to protect the safety of journalists doesn't hold water either, the journalist said. There are sites where neither IDPs nor journalists are in danger.

"If the government wants to protect their dignity, it shouldn't silence them," the journalist told VOA, adding that "it's part of a larger picture of a shrinking media freedom space."

Some members of the media say they have found other ways to report on the camps, such as visiting IDPs in unofficial host communities or walking in without permission when sites are unattended. Others say they ask residents to come out to be interviewed.

Without access, journalists cannot verify reports of water shortages and other issues that the camp residents say they face.

Press freedom record

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said that Burkina Faso is "one of Africa's success stories" and cited its "dynamic, professional and diverse media."

In RSF's 2021 World Press Freedom Index, where 1 is the freest, the country ranks 37th out of 180 countries, the fifth best in Africa.

In the country, however, reports deemed to have "demoralized" the military carry a 10-year prison sentence and large fines. To date, no journalist or outlet has been prosecuted under the 2019 law, but its vague wording has raised concerns.

A 2020 report in the Columbia Journalism Review found that local journalists, when reporting on the ongoing conflict, have "complained of a culture of intimidation in which informants are afraid to speak."

Two news outlets were reprimanded over their coverage of a raid on the village of Solhan, the biggest attack the country has seen since its conflict began.

A local radio station, Omega, was suspended for five days after it reported apparently false claims of further attacks in the vicinity one day after the initial assault. And the French radio station RFI was reprimanded for reporting that the deputy mayor of Solhan had said there was a second attack one day later, which the military denied.

In response to the RFI case, government minister Tamboura said the deputy mayor had not been at the location and therefore could not "guarantee the truth of the facts."

Tamboura also referred VOA to Burkina Faso's high ranking on the RSF index, saying, "The professional media associations and the ministry are in a regular working relationship on many matters of concern, and I have not yet heard or received any letters relating to these complaints."

French Burkinabe journalist Fanny Noaro-Kabre said recent events "show things are getting tougher, [but] I find it easy to be a journalist here."

"No threats, no intimidation. Accreditation can be obtained, for the moment, easily, said Noaro-Kabre, who has been based in the country for six years. "Compared to other countries on the continent, we don't have to hide."

Vital role

Investigative reporting and coverage of human rights is important, said Jessica Ni Mhainin, a policy research and advocacy officer at the freedom of expression organization Index on Censorship.

"Journalists fulfill a crucial public service by holding power to account, but the authorities must provide them with an enabling environment in order for them to do so," Ni Mhainin added.

Lamarche said her organization had seen similar policies enforced in other countries with humanitarian crises, adding, "Very limited good comes of such efforts."

In northeast Nigeria, where Boko Haram is active, security forces control the movement of people in and out of camps and have used this authority to prevent reporters from reporting on the crisis, she said.

IDP sites in Burkina Faso fall under the jurisdiction of the government, not humanitarian groups.

When asked if they had seen a dearth of local reporting on IDPs since the ban was implemented, a local journalist replied, "Of course."

The journalist, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, added, "Now, we can't be expected to gather information on all sorts of subjects that need to be reported: the rapes and sexual abuse committed at the [IDP] sites, sometimes the lack of food, water and housing."
A 49-year-old lawyer who favors closer ties with the European Union pledged to unseat Viktor Orban as Hungary's prime minister, after she won the first round of a contest that will produce his challenger in an election next year.

Klara Dobrev, the leftist Democratic Coalition's candidate, won the first round of primary vote ahead of another leftist, Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony, who also campaigned on a pro-European agenda.

In next year's parliamentary vote Orban will, for the first time since he came to power in 2010, face a united front of opposition parties that also includes the Socialists, the liberals and the formerly far-right - and now center-right - Jobbik.

Opinion polls put Orban's nationalist Fidesz party and the opposition coalition neck and neck, raising the prospect of the tightest election in more than a decade.

Orban and Fidesz have held office largely due to an election system that favors big parties, though Karacsony, 46, unexpectedly defeated the Fidesz candidate in the 2019 Budapest mayoral election.

Either Dobrev - who preliminary results showed won 34.8% of the votes in the primary - or Karacsony - with 27.3% - could yet win through to face Orban for leadership of the country next year.

Dressed in the blue and yellow colors of the EU, Dobrev told a news conference late on Thursday that, after a fair race, she was ready for the second round.

"We will not stop until we defeat Viktor Orban and his regime," Dobrev said, a vice president of the European Parliament who has pledged to reduce poverty and work for adoption of the euro.

Karacsony has promised a more just tax system and to heal political divisions.

Conservative Peter Marki-Zay, mayor of a southern Hungarian city, was in third place with 20.4% in the primary, for which opposition voters turned out in higher-than-expected numbers, with more than 633,000 people casting votes nationwide.

There will be a runoff next month among possibly the three top vote-getters.

While Dobrev leads now, it is not clear whom Marki-Zay would back in the second round if he decided to step down. Dobrev is also the candidate of a party led by her husband, former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, a deeply divisive figure who admitted in 2006 in a leaked speech that he lied about the economy to win national elections.

Orban has portrayed the opposition, especially Karacsony and Dobrev, as puppets of Gyurcsany.
China now leads the world in trade with Africa and in direct investment in parts of Asia, but despite rapidly increasing its trade and investments with Latin America it still lags behind the United States with no immediate chance of displacing it.

Latin America stands out from other regions where China has invested due to its more protectionist government policies plus a long legacy of U.S. economic involvement thats less obvious in other parts of the world, analysts say.

Data show that China has become an emerging investment partner for Latin America, but it does not appear to be an immediate threat to traditional investors in the region, the Boston University Global Development Policy Center said in a study earlier this year.

This week, a group of U.S. government officials is in Latin America scouting infrastructure projects for the Group of 7s plan for the groups Build Back Better World, which was announced in June and seen as an alternative to Chinas Belt and Road Initiative building infrastructure projects in the developing world. The Group of 7, or G-7, comprises wealthy, highly industrialized nations.

Some economists have raised concerns over China's lending practices, saying countries can take on too much debt for massive projects that do not justify their cost.

Chinese investment in all-new projects in Latin America rose from 4% of all sources between 2005 and 2009 to 6.8% over a five-year period ending in 2019, the database fDi Markets has calculated. In a bellwether case, China began investing in Chile just five years ago and its now the South American nations top source of foreign capital, said Jorge Heine, the former Chilean ambassador to China.

The United States has held steady as the regions top investor at around 22% of all foreign sources. American consumers rely on Latin America for agricultural goods while Mexico, the regions second most populous country, counts the United States as its biggest direct investor.

Chinas share of mergers and acquisitions in Latin America rose from 2.4% over the five years to 2009 to 16.3% between 2014 and 2019  second after the United States, according to data from the analytics service DeaLogic.

On the trade side, the regions $16 billion in trade with China in 2000 has grown to more than $400 billion, Heine told VOA.

But Chinese firms have found it harder in Latin America than in Africa or Asia to win government contracts, pay bribes or win over local communities concerned about environmental preservation, analysts say. Theyre often barred from taking resources or any direct proceeds from resource extraction industries, said Yun Sun, co-director of the East Asia program at the Stimson Center in Washington.

Latin American countries are very protective of their natural resources, so they dont usually let China into the asset or into the equity of, for example, the mineral resources, Sun said.

Trade and investment

In Latin America, analysts say China mainly is looking for food, oil, refinery investments and minerals  such as the mobile phone battery ingredient lithium. Chinese investors have focused mostly on Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru, the Boston University study says.

State-owned companies are investing in the energy sector of Brazil, Latin Americas biggest economy, for example. In Panama, the Chinese Landbridge investment consortium intends to spend $1 billion for a new container port that would support Chinese vessels.

But a lot of common merchants still identify the United States as their major market. Artisans from Guatemala, the source of brightly colored hand-woven fabrics, sell more wares to Americans because of their willingness to buy, Loreda Gomez has found. Gomez has run the Guatelinda crafts market in Oakland, Calif., for three years.

Consumers from the United States use the fabrics as tablecloths, shop for keychains with an indigenous Guatelaman design and seek out the Central American countrys tableware, said Gomez, herself from Guatemala. Chinese seldom buy her goods.

Their students come in and though they cant find the right sizes, they like what we have, the hand-woven textiles and T-shirts for men that are hanging up here, thats all wed have for now, Gomez said. But in Guatemala, she recalls, lots of plastic household items are made in China.

Risks to Latin America

China isnt consciously competing with the United States for influence in Latin America, experts believe. Its looking to the region for alternative resources as part of its global expansion of investment over the past decade, said Song Seng Wun, an economist in the private banking unit of Malaysian bank CIMB.

From the Chinese side they do have the scale, Song said. Theyre very targeted in terms of what they want for their own benefit plus obviously how it benefits their business.

China represents an economic opportunity for the Americas, the Boston University study says. China is buying as top traditional partners in the region are also selling, and it appears to be filling in some spaces, it says. But its a challenge as well, the study adds.

Chinas investment in needier countries can tilt Latin American governments away from U.S. favor, said Evan Ellis, a research professor of Latin American studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. He points to oil-rich Venezuela, which has accepted Chinese loans and sold oil to China.

In pursuing its own goals, China ends up profoundly affecting the political as well as the economic character of the region in terms of who benefits and by extension ends up profoundly affecting the security and situation of the United States, Ellis said.
When the COVID-19 pandemic took hold early last year, artists such as Patricia Boyer of Charlotte, North Carolina, were panic-stricken. Who would see  not to mention purchase  her creations when much of America was on lockdown?



It was really bad, because here you are with all this art, and youre like what am I going to do with it?, the 65-year-old painter told VOA. And the anxiety level was through the roof.



Amid a severe economic downturn and restricted in-person interactions, artists were forced to get creative. Boyer, who specializes in acrylic on canvas, said she was able to display some of her art with the help of friends and colleagues.



I now have my inventory in three different spaces  one of my friends got me in her gallery. So, its a way for me to get my name out, Boyer said.



Artists have faced unprecedented challenges triggered by the pandemic. Data published by the National Endowment for the Arts show, from 2019 to 2020, unemployment rates more than tripled for fine artists like Boyer and surpassed 50% for many types of performing artists.



Among major U.S. economic sectors, creative industries were among the hardest hit by the pandemic, second only to the hospitality sector.

Arts scene reemerges in Charlotte

After more than a year of gloom, artists recently had cause to rejoice. Last weekend saw the resumption of Festival in the Park, a showcase of artisans and artwork Charlotte has held every year since 1964  except last year.



The event draws a wide variety of artists and entrepreneurs, including photographers, ceramists, jewelers, bakers, carpenters, tattoo artists and puppeteers.



I love coming out here and meeting so many people, Boyer said between conversations with clients. This is the best thing thats happened in a long time for me. I look at all these people and I am just in awe that people are coming out to support us artists during COVID.



Signs remain of the toll the pandemic has taken on artists. VOA spoke with Haydar Serezli, a jeweler based in Atlanta. He pointed to a drop in vendor attendance compared with pre-pandemic festivals.



Its a little different this year, said Serezli, who has been displaying work at Festival in the Park since 2011.The amount of people coming, thats stayed the same. But the vendors, many artists, weve known them for years, didnt come.



The event drew 130 vendors this year, down from an average of 180 in previous years.



For us (Serezli and his wife), the pandemic didnt affect us as badly. But for many artists around here, it wasnt as easy for them. So, I hope some of them can come back around next year, Haydari told VOA.



Renewal after 2020

The biggest challenge was scaling it back, said David Dalton, who has served on the festivals board of directors for 30 years.



Even so, Dalton pointed to a sense of jubilation at the event.



Look at this crowd here, Dalton remarked, gesturing at festivalgoers. You can tell everyones been penned up.

Dalton added, Its an entirely outdoor event, but were still doing what we can for COVID (precautions).



Hand sanitizer stands dotted the grounds, and the Mecklenburg County Public Health Department staffed a booth to distribute pamphlets with tips for preventing coronavirus transmission.



Signs were placed throughout the park urging mask-wearing, although relatively few attendees were seen with face coverings.

Charlotte resident Jason Norvell said he has attended the past six festivals.



Personally, Im vaccinated so Im not really worried about being out in public. Its great weather, so we thought, hey lets come out and have a nice evening, Norvell told VOA. I think, frankly, so many people are kind of fed up with being cooped up, and so they want excuses to go to activities.

It felt so nice to attend this year, said Hayley Schnackenberg, who grew up in Charlotte and works remotely as a technology consultant.



Some of the best memories I have as a kid were from going to the festival, she added. Thered be dancers from local schools or local theaters and those were some of the things that I felt were missing [this year].
Taiwan's government called on the European Union to quickly begin trade talks after the bloc pledged to seek a trade deal with the tech-heavyweight island, something Taipei has long angled for.

The EU included Taiwan on its list of trade partners for a potential bilateral investment agreement in 2015, the year before President Tsai Ing-wen first became Taiwan's president but has not held talks with Taiwan on the issue since then.

Responding to the EU's newly announced strategy to boost its presence in the Indo-Pacific, including seeking a trade deal with Taiwan, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said on Friday talks should start soon. The European Parliament has already given its backing to an EU trade deal with Taiwan.

"We call on the European Union to initiate the pre-negotiation work of impact assessment, public consultation and scope definition for a Bilateral Investment Agreement with Taiwan as soon as possible in accordance with the resolutions of the European Parliament," it said.

"As a like-minded partner of the EU's with core values such as democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, Taiwan will continue to strengthen cooperation in the supply chain reorganization of semiconductors and other related strategic industries, digital economy, green energy, and post-epidemic economic recovery."

EU member states and the EU itself have no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan due to objections from China, which considers the island one of its provinces with no right to the trappings of statehood, so any investment deal could be tricky politically for the EU.

But the EU's relations with China have worsened.

In May, the European Parliament halted ratification of a new investment pact with China until Beijing lifts sanctions on EU politicians, deepening a dispute in Sino-European relations and denying EU companies greater access to the world's second-largest economy.

The EU has also been looking to boost cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductors, as a chip shortage roils supply chains and shuts some auto production lines, including in Europe.
The United Nations is issuing a $139-million flash appeal to provide assistance to 1.3 million people in Kenya hardest hit by a severe drought.



Millions of people across Kenya are suffering from two back-to-back seasons of poor rainfall, resulting in severe food shortages.



The latest Integrated Phase Classification, which analyzes the severity of food insecurity, finds nearly 370,000 Kenyans are in a state of emergency and two million others are in crisis.



World Food Program Resident Coordinator in Kenya Stephen Jackson, speaking via Zoom from the capital, Nairobi, says acute malnutrition rates are rising rapidly. He says 465,000 children and 96,000 pregnant and lactating women are acutely malnourished. He warns many are at imminent risk without urgent nutritional feeding.



On a visit to a clinic Thursday in Wajir, northern Kenya, he said people told him it had been more than a year since they last felt rain.



I spoke with a young mother, Zeinab, who told me that she could not feed her children that morning and that she did not know if she would be able to put food on the table that evening. And that many of her livestock had already died because of the drought and those that are left are not in a good condition to sell. And you know, of course, in northern Kenya, livestock is the basis of life, he said.



Jackson said problems arising from drought are compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, insecurity, the recent locust infestations, and diseases.



The Kenyan government so far has allocated about $17 million to assist the most vulnerable drought victims and has announced another $20 million for this effort. However, Jackson said that is not enough and support from international donors is needed.



The time to act is now. As I already stressed, if the October rains fail, that would be the third season in a row without rain. And we would be the end of this year be facing a much deeper crisis still. Something on the order of what we saw 10 years ago. So, any support we provide now will save lives and livelihoods, Jackson said.



The 2011 East Africa drought caused a severe food crisis across the region, threatened the livelihoods of 9.5 million people and resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.



The current appeal will provide food and livelihoods, special nutritional treatment for acutely malnourished children and women, access to water, sanitation, and hygiene, health care, education, and other essential needs.


The United Nations is calling on the Ethiopian government to rescind its decision to expel top U.N. officials from the country, warning the action puts life-saving humanitarian operations at risk. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.



On Thursday, the Ethiopian government told seven senior officials, including the heads of the U.N. Childrens Fund and OCHA, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, that they had 72 hours to leave the country.



U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet says she deplores the governments decision to declare the U.N. officials as persona non grata, or as unwelcome persons.



She rejected allegations that one of her staff and four human rights monitors were meddling in the internal affairs of Ethiopia. Her spokesman, Rupert Colville, said no warning of the impending expulsions was received.

Basically, this was a bombshell that dropped suddenly yesterday afternoon and I think we were all caught completely by surprise. Also, by the scale of it. Seven staff across three agencies is extremely rare if not unprecedented, Colville said.



OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said the senior U.N. officials are responsible for overseeing the humanitarian operations of many agencies, including non-governmental organizations. He warned their expulsion will have serious repercussions for millions of destitute, homeless people in northern Ethiopias conflict-ridden Tigray region.



It remains very dire and there is a spillover of the conflict into neighboring Amhara and Afar regions, which rapidly means that the humanitarian needs are increasing and also the number of internally displaced people is increasing.The food insecurity continues to increase with at least 5.2 million people targeted for emergency food assistance in Tigray, Laerke said.



However, trucks containing emergency food and other humanitarian supplies are stuck in Afar. They are not moving on to Tigray because of insecurity and other restrictions.



Laerke said only 11% of designated humanitarian trucks have entered Tigray since July.



U.N. agencies are appealing to Ethiopian authorities to reconsider Thursdays decision and allow the U.N. officials to remain in the country to continue their human rights and humanitarian work.


U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that Ethiopia has no legal right to expel seven U.N. humanitarian officials.

Guterres told the Ethiopian leader in a phone conversation Friday that the world body does not accept Ethiopia's decision to expel the senior U.N. officials, according to U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.

Haq said the U.N. Office of Legal Affairs sent a note to Ethiopia's U.N. mission in New York on Friday stating the U.N.'s "longstanding legal position" that the action of declaring someone "persona non grata" does not apply to U.N. personnel.

Ethiopia announced the expulsion on Thursday, giving the U.N. officials 72 hours to leave.

In a tweet, Ethiopia's ministry of foreign affairs said the seven were "meddling in the internal affairs of the country."

The tweet came amid growing pressure on the government over its deadly blockade of the Tigray region where children are reportedly starving to death. Ethiopia's government has accused humanitarian workers of supporting the Tigray forces who have been fighting its soldiers and allied forces since November, a charge that aid workers deny.

Spokesperson Haq said the U.N. officials remained in the country. When asked by a reporter if the U.N. officials would leave Ethiopia by the end of 72 hours, Haq did not directly answer.

The U.N. officials include the deputy chief of the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs and a representative of the U.N. Children's Fund, UNICEF.

UNICEF said Friday the Ethiopian government's decision to expel the U.N. officials from the country is "regrettable and alarming."

Declaring its work "is more urgent than ever," UNICEF said in a statement that children are bearing the brunt of the country's worsening humanitarian crisis.

"We have full confidence in the teams working on the ground to save children's lives, guided  as always  by the principles of impartiality, humanity, neutrality and independence. Our programs will continue," UNICEF added, noting it has been present in the African nation for more than 60 years.

Conflict-induced hunger

The Ethiopian federal government has been engaged in an armed conflict with forces in the northern Tigray region for nearly one year. The government declared a unilateral cease-fire and withdrew its forces in June, but the conflict has continued to spill into the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.

Of the 6 million people who live in Tigray, the U.N. says 5.2 million need some level of food assistance. More than 400,000 people are living in famine-like conditions, and another 1.8 million people are on the brink of famine.

"It is critically important that the humanitarian operation continues, and it does," OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said Friday at a Geneva briefing, according to Reuters. "Until now there is no indication that [Ethiopia's decision] stops the operation."

U.N. human rights spokesperson Rupert Colville said at the briefing that the expulsion of the head of its reporting team was a "really grave step."

On Wednesday, U.N. Humanitarian Chief Martin Griffiths said that after 11 months of conflict and three months of a de-facto government blockade, the humanitarian crisis in Tigray is spiraling out of control.

One hundred aid trucks are needed daily in the region, but in the past week, only 79 in total were allowed in, a U.N. spokesman said.

"Trucks carrying fuel and medical supplies still cannot enter into Tigray," U.N. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday. "Trucks are waiting in Semera, in Afar, to travel to Mekelle."

The federal government headed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, blames the rebels for blocking aid deliveries.

U.S. condemnation

"The U.S. government condemns in the strongest possible terms the government of Ethiopia's unprecedented action to expel the leadership of all of the United Nations organizations involved in ongoing humanitarian operations," White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday.

Earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order allowing the government to impose financial sanctions on those who prolong the Tigray conflict.

"We will not hesitate to use this or any other tool at our disposal to respond quickly and decisively to those who obstruct humanitarian assistance to people of Ethiopia," Psaki said.

The U.N. Security Council held private talks Friday about Ethiopia's decision as well as North Korea's recent missile launches.

Kenya's Ambassador to the United Nations, Martin Kimani, who took over as the Security Council president for October, told reporters Friday, "A number of members expressed very strong concerns" about both situations during Friday's talks, but said no resolutions were passed on either matter.

Diplomatic sources told Reuters news agency that any aggressive action by the council on Ethiopia's actions was unlikely because China and Russia long have maintained the Tigrayan conflict is an internal matter.

VOA's Patsy Widakuswara contributed to thsi report. Some information in this report came from Reuters and the Associated Press.


The U.S. government says it wants to partner with African countries to combat climate change.

A U.S. climate envoy, who is in South Africa to prepare for a key conference next month, said the fight must be an international one.

"These kinds of damages do not limit themselves to one country," said Jonathan Pershing, U.S. deputy special presidential envoy for climate change. "You can't say I have got a problem and nobody else does. But neither would any country be immune. You don't have to be a landlocked country or an island country or coastal country. We are all in this together.

"That brings me to why I have come to Africa. It's the fastest growing continent, it's a continent in many ways it represents the future, what it chooses to do could either leapfrog the past or follow the previous historical trajectory."

The State of the Climate in Africa 2019 report, a publication coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization, showed increasing climate change threats to people's health, food and water.

The predictions on weather patterns, covering the years between 2020 and 2024, call for a continued warming trend and less rainfall in northern and southern Africa.

This has major consequences for the continent. Farmers in Africa depend on their natural environment to grow crops, and due to unpredictable weather patterns, they are getting less food from the farms.

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the number of undernourished people in sub-Saharan Africa has increased by 45% since 2012.

Pershing said despite the challenges, Africa's natural resources can transform the economic fortunes of many countries.



"We could have the critical minerals Africa has in abundance servicing that global demand, that is countries like Kenya, it's countries like Namibia," he said. "We have forest opportunities in countries like the Congo, both of the Congos  Brazzaville and Kinshasa  real windows of opportunities. We have an extraordinary capacity around ports, fishing choices that could be all of our coastal nations. This is an opportunity that is continent-wide."

Pershing said climate issues matter to Americans and said the U.S. wants to work with Africa to solve the global problem.

Developed countries have pledged some $100 billion per year to help developing countries mitigate climate change. In 2019, $80 billion was collected.



Wanjira Mathai, vice president and regional director for Africa at the World Resources Institute, based in Nairobi, said Africa needs to invest in its people and lands to mitigate climate change.

"We have to invest in adaptation, we have to invest in cushioning and building resilience in our cities, in our rural settings and certainly investing in energy because energy will ensure that we can make the necessary transition that will cushion us building resilience, especially in the rural areas will require protecting and restoring nature," she said.

High-level officials are expected to gather in Glasgow next month for the COP26 climate summit to accelerate action toward the goals of the Paris Agreement.

The 2016 agreement set out to limit global warming caused by climate change to 1.5 degrees. It also supports countries' efforts to deal with the impacts of climate change.


A U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday that the Biden administration can continue expelling migrant families caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border under a COVID-19 pandemic order while a lawsuit challenging the policy proceeds.

The order, known as Title 42, was issued in March 2020 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Donald Trump, which cited the need to limit the spread of the coronavirus. A federal judge ruled on Sept. 16 that the policy could not be applied to families, but the administration of President Joe Biden appealed the ruling.

In his original ruling against the Biden administration, Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that the public health law the Title 42 policy is based on does not authorize the expulsions of migrants.

Expelling asylum-seekers denies them the "opportunity to seek humanitarian benefits" they are entitled to under immigration law, he wrote. The order was set to take effect Thursday, but the Biden administration appealed.

The judge's order only applies to families and not to single adults.

"We are disappointed in the ruling, but it is just an initial step in the appellate litigation, and nothing stops the Biden administration from immediately repealing this horrific Trump-era policy," Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.

Biden, a Democrat, faces pressure from Republicans over the number of border arrests, which have hovered around 20-year highs.

A camp of nearly 15,000 Haitians in South Texas who had crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico ramped up attention on the issue in recent days. Using the Title 42 policy, the administration rapidly expelled thousands of people, including families with small children, back to Haiti, a country that has been devastated by a political crisis and multiple natural disasters. The U.S. special envoy to Haiti resigned in protest over the expulsions.

The camp has now been cleared with several thousand other migrants still in U.S. custody awaiting processing and others released into the United States to face U.S. immigration court hearings.

Biden has faced growing criticism from some health experts, immigration advocates and fellow Democrats to stop applying the Title 42 order, that has essentially cut off access to asylum for hundreds of thousands of migrants.

Biden in February exempted unaccompanied children from the expulsion policy and his administration had been applying it to fewer families apprehended at the border in recent months. In August, the Biden administration expelled about 19% of families apprehended at the border under Title 42.

The Biden administration has said the Title 42 policy remains necessary to limit the spread of the coronavirus, although it has not provided scientific data to support that rationale.
Nearly 120,000 Afghan nationals who were evacuated after the Taliban takeover on August 15 are now in temporary camps in locations around the world, starting a months- or yearslong process to resettle abroad.

The immigration paths of these displaced Afghans vary widely, depending on their previous jobs, their status as vulnerable Afghans under Taliban rule and the locations they ended up in after evacuating.

On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a federal spending bill that included $6.3 billion to help evacuate and resettle in the United States what the administration projects will be 95,000 Afghan evacuees in the next year.

Of the estimated 120,000 Afghans evacuated, 64,000 are already in the United States. Their first stop is at U.S. military bases, where their relocation paperwork is being processed while they are given access to medical screening and vaccinations.

Tens of thousands of other Afghans are being housed in temporary facilities in third countries while their applications are being processed.

And an unknown number of potential migrants remain in Afghanistan, where many are still trying to complete the logistical and bureaucratic steps that would let them leave.

Here are the different groups of evacuated Afghans and how their statuses affect their immigration paths.

Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) recipients

Afghans who hold SIV status have worked for the U.S. government or contractors in Afghanistan for at least a year. They went through a 14-step SIV application process, which can take several years to complete. SIV status also covers applicants' immediate relatives.

Before traveling to the U.S., SIV holders will receive documents to present to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) once they arrive in the United States. After that, permanent residency cards, also known as green cards, are mailed to the addresses they provided.

Pending SIV status

Under Operation Allies Welcome, Afghans who had not finished the SIV application process at the time they were evacuated are admitted to the United States under humanitarian parole while their SIV applications are adjudicated.

Once paroled, the Afghans can also apply for a different immigration status through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Other paths to permanent residency include work or family sponsorship, according immigration lawyer Dean Murray.

There is a category where an employer can sponsor [a worker], but you have to fulfill the [permanent labor] requirement, meaning there has to be a labor certification. You don't want to displace a U.S. worker, Murray said. Or they can be a beneficiary of the family-based [categories], and they can adjust that way. But in the family base, you have a long wait time unless you're an immediate relative.

The family reunification path can take one to five years or longer depending on the individual circumstances.

Humanitarian parolees

Afghans who were not SIV applicants at the time of their evacuation qualify for humanitarian parole. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, certain individuals can enter and stay in the U.S. without visas temporarily because of urgent humanitarian reasons, but they are ineligible for permanent residency.

According to DHS, Afghan nationals who are paroled into the country will have conditions placed on their statuses, including medical screening, vaccination requirements and other reporting requirements to U.S. immigration authorities. If they fail to follow the conditions, the government can deny their applications for work authorization and potentially terminate their parole and deport them.

Parolees can apply for asylum in the United States, the same avenue open to some migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. But refugee advocates call it a very bureaucratic and inefficient way to help resettle Afghans because of the long timetable for completing the process.

Going through that whole system doesn't seem like the best way to address a population [of evacuees] that, all of whom, will likely qualify for asylum, said Melanie Nezer, a spokesperson for the immigrant advocacy group HIAS.



Afghan nationals may claim asylum immediately, or up to one year after their arrival in the United States. After filing, each applicant will then meet with an asylum officer who approves or rejects the claim. If an asylum case is not approved, it is sent to an immigration judge.

Refugees in third countries

In early August, the State Department announced the new P-2 Direct Access Program for Afghans who worked for the U.S. government, U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations or American news organizations.

The program provides a straightforward path to the refugee resettlement process but the refugees must, on their own, first reach a third country where they can contact the State Department to begin the resettlement process.

According to DHS, the State Department is managing referrals to the refugee program, but there is no direct contact with the U.S. government prior to an applicant's departure from Afghanistan.

Approved applicants will then receive travel documents and resettle in the United States.

Under U.S. immigration law, refugees may apply for green cards to become permanent residents after one year in the United States. After five years of permanent residency, they can apply for U.S. citizenship.

Backlogs could delay timetable

Aid groups say vulnerable Afghans can state a fear of persecution in their home country in order to remain in the United States, but the U.S. asylum system is heavily backlogged with applicants coming through the U.S.-Mexico border. Processing delays for Afghans could stretch for four to five years.



Refugee advocates are urging the Biden administration to work with Congress to ensure that, regardless of their immigration status, a pathway to permanent residency exists for all Afghan nationals.



Congress must pass an Afghan Adjustment Act to establish a road map to citizenship for Afghans," Paul OBrien, executive director at Amnesty International USA, said in a statement.



According to DHS, from August 17 through September 20, about 64,000 Afghan evacuees arrived in the U.S.



Of those, approximately 7% are U.S. citizens, 6% are Lawful Permanent Residents, and 87% are Afghan nationals with SIV status or pending applications, U.S. visa holders and other vulnerable Afghans. Only 3% had the SIV process completed.



In response to a VOA question, General Glen VanHerck, head of U.S. Northern Command, said 14,000 Afghans remained in the United States European Command region, awaiting travel to the U.S. VanHerck said U.S.-bound flights could start next week.

VOA's Carla Babb contributed to this report.
The fragile nature of the security situation in Sudan was exposed by a deadly gunfight in Gabra earlier this week. Authorities arrested 11 alleged terrorists following the battle in which five Sudan General Intelligence Service members were killed.

Analysts blamed the violence on the presence of foreign insurgents in the country and the transitional nature of the military-civilian government that has governed Sudan since 2019, when President Omar al-Bashir was ousted by the military after months of protests.

Khalifa Sidiq, a professor at the International University of Africa in Khartoum and an expert on Islamist groups, told VOA that Sudans proximity to other troubled states contributes to the problem.

The Gabra incident, Sidiq said, is not removed from that context. During this transitional period, Sudan is experiencing a security crisis with open borders to hot spots in the region. As examples, Sidiq pointed to Libya and to Somalia, where the jihadi group al-Shabab operates.

Sudans borders with Chad and the Central African Republic are also porous, he said.

Sudans history of terrorism goes back to the 1970s and was amplified during the 1990s, when it harbored al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and was found to have assisted al-Qaida in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Only after the ouster of al-Bashir and the payment of $335 million in compensation to the victims of several terror attacks did Washington remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terror.

Sidiq pointed out several factors prompting extremist groups to operate in Sudan.

Among them is the presence of United Nations [and] African Union troops under UNAMID and its successor UNITAMS, which he said were foreign multinational forces operating in a Muslim country that encourage extremist groups to rise and combat them.

Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Councils Africa Center who was formerly with the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan as well as the former White House Africa director, agreed with Sidiq.

There are genuine security threats in the country and those security threats require a competent, capable and professional security service to confront them. That much is not in doubt, he said, adding, I think the challenge that Sudan faces today is beyond these legitimate threats.

Role of armed forces

This weeks killings in Gabra and an attempted coup last week, Hudson said, should not be used as an excuse by Sudans military to undermine the civilian-led government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

This will likely be used by the military to demonstrate that they need to have a prominent role in running the country again, he said. And this weeks shootings just further underscore the need for a comprehensive conversation on security sector reform and the role of the military in the country going forward.

As military and civilian officials in Sudans transitional government have traded accusations about what led to last weeks coup attempt, observers said the situation exposed the fragile military-civilian partnership in Sudans government.

No clear link to IS

Last year, Hamdok survived an assassination attempt when his motorcade was targeted with explosives while he was on his way to his office. Hudson said it wasn't clear whether the most recent events were connected to the assassination attempt.

Officials have not released information about the nationalities and motives of the terrorists connected to the latest events in Sudan.

My sense is that [the Gabra incident] is separate, that there are former regime elements, [including] Islamists, which remain present in the country. I do not think that they are the same as Islamic State cells, Hudson said. I think that theres been no demonstration that theres overlap between elements of the former regime and more hard-core terrorists  you know, international terrorist elements. That link has not been established.
Rwandan President Paul Kagames remarks on Zimbabwean teachers at the inaugural Rwanda Zimbabwe Trade and Investment Conference on Wednesday, have set social media on fire with some professionals showing interest in working in the tiny central African nation.

A video clip captured by the Rwanda Broadcasting Authoritys Rwanda Television, circulating on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp, shows Kagame telling Zimbabweans that he is interested in hiring the countrys teachers.

Zimbabwean teachers are currently demanding salary increases of up to US$580. An ordinary family of six in Zimbabwe now needs ZWL$39,924 to cover its monthly expenses, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT).

Kagame is quoted by Rwanda TV as saying, I heard the presentations made to us, very important things we can do together, what each country offers so on and so forth. I want to emphasize one thing. I think there is a deputy CEO of RDB (Rwanda Development Board) who mentioned in passing what Zimbabwe can offer in the area of education. He talked about equipment or something.

Before equipment, I want people, said Kagame amid applause from the audience, adding that I think Zimbabwe can offer us good teachers. So please work on that as a sense of urgency  You can find whatever number you find of quality teachers. I think we can absorb.

VOA Zimbabwe Service could not reach the Zimbabwean delegation in Kigali, led by Foreign Affairs Minister Frederick Shava, and local teachers unions.

ZIMSTAT reported Thursday that the Food Poverty Line (FPL) for one person in August 2021 was ZWL$4516.52. It increased to ZWL$4734.33 in September 2021 while the Total Consumption Poverty Line (TCPL) for one person stood at ZWL$6,653.65 in the same month, a 4.8% increase from the month of August, which was ZWL$6,350.25.

Zimbabwes education is highly rated worldwide. According to Africa Check, which identifies important public statements, interrogates the best available evidence and publishes fact-checking reports to guide public debate, ZIMSTATs labour force survey estimated that 97% of people over 15 were literate in 2011. This figure is based on the percentage of people in this age group that had completed Grade 3 of schooling.

Africa Check further notes that the countrys 2011 Demographic and Health Survey estimated that 96% of men aged 15 to 54 and 94% of women aged 15 to 49 were literate. This figure was calculated from a nationally representative household survey but it only applied to certain age groups. Respondents were considered literate if they had attended secondary school (generally aged 15 and older) or could read a whole sentence or part of a sentence in a reading test.

Africa Check said to evaluate Zimbabwes literacy rate in Africa, it consulted the most recent global literacy list produced by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, released in June 2013.

Africa Check said UNESCOs Institute for Statistics estimated that 83.6% of Zimbabweans aged 15 and older were literate in 2011. This estimation was based on Zimbabwes 2011 Demographic and Health Survey results.

Africa quotes a senior statistician and policy analyst at UNESCO, Nicole Bella, as telling the organization that they had made some re-estimations to include older age groups which typically have much lower literacy levels.

According to Africa Check, the organization doesnt consider people who can only read part of a sentence to be literate so they were excluded, unlike in the Demographic and Health Survey.

Bathabile Masuku contributed to this article.
One on One with Joe Korkowski, as heard Saturdays on KXRA-1490AM (@7:40am) and KXRA-92.3FM (@8:00am), as well as each Sunday morning on KXRZ Z99.3fm (@10:15am).

The interview is also re-broadcast on Monday mornings on KX92 at 10:00am and on Z99 at 9:10am.
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Ulaanbaatar (102.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : My furnitures were shaking for about 3 to 5 seconda | 7 users found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (101.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Woke up from my sleep. The bed shakes vigorously side to side. Much stronger than the previous earthquakes happened earlier this year | 3 users found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar, Bazanzurkh district 14th khoroo (100.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Many apartments and housing can not handle this level of shaking, therefore, I'm afraid of my life and my family, that what uf the unthinkable happen all of a sudden!? I, along with my family, live in a 10 story apartment house | 3 users found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (102.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : The sofa i was on was shaking sideways, which I thought my brother were playing prank on me. | 4 users found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar central / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s : On the sofa, felt everything shake and creaking. Woke up the whole building. It was a noticeable quake, around 5.0 and lasted 3 seconds | 3 users found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (102.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : Woke up from sleep. Realized it was earthquake after 3 second. I believe i heard what sounded like something drop with great force. | 2 users found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (100.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I was laying in bed when it started. It was definitely the most shook earthquake I have felt. Wine glasses that were hanging clanged together. Felt a bit scared. | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (101.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : i'm so scared. | 2 users found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (99 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : 2 I was in the bed and i saw light shaking heard walls cracking like but not cracked | 2 users found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : It was over a 6.0 because I have experience of living in Turkey. It was a strong shake that awakened the whole building. Strongest I have felt in four years of being here. | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / not felt / 10-15 s : It was a light shaking but more intense than the previous ones, it was vibrations at first then a big shake | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (101.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Scared the hell out of myself It was so scary I was sitting on my sofa but I felt like I was sitting on swing horrible

Ulaanbaatar (101.7 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : It was a gentle yet somewhat nerving shake. I could hear the objects placed in furnitures shaking. Happened for about a half minute or less than that. Much stronger than the previous earthquake we had in Ulaanbaatar during summer.

Ulaanbaatar (105 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Light shaking Felt mostly indoors. Wakes light sleepers, may vibrate like heavy traffic or cause a jolt. Possible rattling or creaking.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (93.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : I was sitting on floor, felt strong and continuous vibrations, the lamp shades were clinging, I felt like entire building was shaking... I started feeling nausea, vomiting and my heart beat gets stronger... My son woke up and asked me what it was.

Ulaanbaatar / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : Lying in bed on 11th floor. Felt light shaking. | 2 users found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (103 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s : So shocking | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (100.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very strong shaking (MMI VII) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 5-10 s : ... | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (99.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : That earthquake made me woke up | One user found this interesting.

Home (100.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : It was scary | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (101 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : The bed moved for 3 seconds | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (99.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 30-60 s : Moderate shaking i was scared | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar City center (99.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I woke up from being shaken in my hotel bed | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbatar (97.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 10-15 s : Shaking and swaying of building I am in on the 17th floor Weak | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar Mongolia (99.5 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Light shaking whine when I laying down on my bed. | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (102.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 15-20 s : Bed shiok and woke up | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (102 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s : No apparent breaking of objects. But it felt scary. | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (99.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s : At home, was working on laptop, then building shacked sideways | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaator, Zaisan, 11 khoroo, was sleeping get w / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : actually i didn't realize that was a real quake, but i had also strange feelings about that and now after i know it was a quake i get scared and carefully (funny you live in the 7th floor)

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (96.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : While I was laying on my bed, closet and bed were shook. | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I was lying on floor and our apartment shaking for 2-3 seconds | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 1-2 s : Moderate shaking 2 times | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Weak shaking | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar, Chingeltei District / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s : Tremors, shaking, strange noise like drum beating | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Shaking my bed. Around few seconds | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s : I was sleeping and i woke up | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Vibrating | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I haven't got a second to think about. It was horrible. | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : Felt like a bumpy landing on a plane | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Quite strong lots of shaking | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 5-10 s : Severe shaking for several seconds | One user found this interesting.

ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : threw me out of my bed | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : woke up from sleep | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : It was actually frightening i am still shaking i was play val on my laptop | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / very short : quick but heavy jolt..few seconds duration.. | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar / not felt / vertical swinging (up and down) / 10-15 s : I though that building may collapse. | One user found this interesting.

ulaanbaatar city center / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : light shaking.we were sleeping.a felt it and was not sure what is it! | One user found this interesting.

Ulaanbaatar (103.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

Ulaanbaatar (103.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s : bed was shakin

Ulaanbaatar (98.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

near Ulaanbaatar (109.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (98.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (97.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt

erdenet (156.3 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : surprised

Ulaanbaatar (97.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Swings

Ulaanbaatar (99.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : it seems like a light shaking. but i've never felt it strong. i've feared of it however i am man.

Ulaanbaatar (96.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s

Ulaanbaatar (98.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex rolling (tilting in multiple directions) / 15-20 s : Light shaking

Ulaanbaatar (100.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 5-10 s : Everything was shaking

Ulaanbaatar (100.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Was Shaking everything

Ulaanbaatar (99.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (101.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (96.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : First vibrating then strong shaked.

Ulaanbaatar (98.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

Ulaanbaatar (96.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex rolling (tilting in multiple directions) / 10-15 s : Moderate shki g. I was afraid. I do not know how i do and

Ulaanbaatar (99.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 30-60 s : Awful, i think its gone be died

Ulaanbaatar (102.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (104.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging

Ulaanbaatar (101.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (99.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex motion difficult to describe

Dzuunharaa, Selenge Aymag (35.6 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 10-15 s

Ulaanbaatar (98.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Daaaaaam

Ulaanbaatar (99.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (102 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt / horizontal (sideways) swinging (reported through our app / not felt / horizontal (sideways) swinging

Ulaanbaatar (101.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : fear

Ulaanbaatar (98.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (98.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : 2 times strong shakin on 8th floor

Ulaanbaatar (105.6 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging : Hanging objecs swing

Ulaanbaatar, mongolia (97.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) I was lying trying to sleep on the bed. My bed was shaking or felt like it was moving. (reported through (reported through our app / Light shaking (MMI IV)

narnii khoroolol (99.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (98.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (101.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

ulaanbaatar (100.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (159.3 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (99.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (94.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s

ulaanbaatar (108.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : 2 times bump

Ulaanbaatar (102.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s

Ulaanbaatar (99.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s

In Ulan-bator, Khan -Uul district, 17 khoroo (101.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

Ulaanbaatar (98.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

Ulaanbaatar (103.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

Ub mongolia (95.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : It was really earthquake, me move on outside there a lot of dog barking on street!

ulan (96.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 20-30 s

Ulaanbaatar (100.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s

Ulaanbaatar (102.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (96.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s felt scary (reported through (reported through our app / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (97.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s : Moderate shaking

Ulaanbaatar (98.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar (101.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : God

Ulaanbaatar (101.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Vibrating

Ulaanbaatar (102.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : God bless us

Ulaanbaatar (99.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 15-20 s

Ulaanbaatar (97.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (98.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (101.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

Ulaanbaatar (97.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (98.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : shaking strong on the bed

Home (99.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : Light shaking

Ulaanbaatar (98.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar (97.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt / rattling, vibrating / 30-60 s

Ulaanbaatar (98 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s : Shaking tv

Ulaanbaatar (101.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar (103 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating

home (101.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : Horribly

Ulaanbaatar (98.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : Scary shaking

Ulaanbaatar (101.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : omg

Ulaanbaatar (96.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (102.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (105.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar (100.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (101.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar (98.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (103.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating : Scare

Ulaanbaatar (99 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 15-20 s

Ulaanbaatar (98.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar (101.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : All furniture shaked

Ulaanbaatar (103 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

Ulaanbaatar (98.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging

near Ulaanbaatar (92.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 30-60 s : Scary. felt like the base of the house are breaking

ulaanbaatar mongolia (102.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Ulaanbaatar (101 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 minutes

near Ulaanbaatar (98.7 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : a

Ulaanbaatar (103.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (102.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s

Ulaanbaatar (103.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short

Ulaanbaatar (102.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / very short

Ulaanbaatar (98.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Reportreport

Ulaanbaatar (101.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (102 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Enough to swing around in bed

Ulaanbaatar (98.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

near Ulaanbaatar (102.4 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (92 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Bed shaking

near Ulaanbaatar (109.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Mongolia ulanbatar (86.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s : I was a bed and my bed is shaking

Ulaanbaatar (100.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Light shaking

Ulaanbaatar (99.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : closets shaking and chair tilting

Darkhan (94.4 km N of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

ulaanbaatar (100.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / several minutes : Happened when i was about to sleep and got me shook

Ulaanbaatar (101.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : Woke up when bed was shaking. Light shaking

Ulaa (105.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Dude it felt like a goddamn swing

near Ulaanbaatar (108.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : Shake bed

Ulaanbaatar (99.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (102.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (98.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Baga Mandal, Central (61.6 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (96.7 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / very short : Light shaking

Ulaanbaatar (99.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / 15-20 s

Darhan (93.8 km N of epicenter) [ Map ] / Strong shaking (MMI VI) : Strong shaking

Ulaanbaatar (103.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s : Fear

Ulaanbaatar (99.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (99 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar city of Mongolia (101 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Erdenet also felt in ULAANBATOR (157.7 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : Quick shake felt in erdenet full shaking in ULAANBATOR

Ulaanbaatar (99.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Bed moved horizontaly and light bulbs were moving

Ulaanbaatar (97.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 5-10 s : Bed was shaking hard

Ulaanbaatar (95.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s light shaking (reported through (reported through our app / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (96.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar (102.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s

ulaanbaatar (103.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 20-30 s

ulaa (102 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : awful

Ulaanbaatar (101.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s Shaked (reported through (reported through our app / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (99.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

Ulaanbaatar (99.6 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : that was about 10 second light shake

Ulaanbaatar (100.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 30-60 s

Ulaanbaatar (93.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Home (100.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : It was scary

Ulaanbaatar (101.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

ulaanbaatar (98.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s : I felt like some kind of huge wave traveling.

Ulaanbaatar (97.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : i was home

Ulaanbaatar (102.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : I was at home

Ulaanbaatar Zaisan (102.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Felt like a strong vibration through my chair and legs

Ulaannaatar (97.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : i was in my bed using phone then i felt a shake, then another shake hit and it went off

Ulaanbaatar (96.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : afraid

ulaanba (100.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : so scared

ulaanbaatar (105.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

ulaanbaatar (97.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Light shack

Ulaanbaatar (101.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : I

Ulaanbaatar (101.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Ulaanbaatar (99.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : Cup fell from desk

Ulaanbaatar (99.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (99 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Ulaanbaatar (99.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Feel vibrating

Ulaanbaatar mongolia (98.7 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : Scary

Ulaanbaatar, Bayangol district (99.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 1-2 s : badly

Ulaanbaatar (101.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar (97.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar (97.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s

Darkhan (93.8 km N of epicenter) [ Map ] / Strong shaking (MMI VI) : Sound

Ulaanbaatar (102.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Ulaanbaatar Mongolia (99.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (100.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 5-10 s : Shaking im so confused its feel very weird

Ulaanbaatar (100.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s : My body shaking

Ulaanbaatar (100 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s : Its so horrible

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I felt it as if whole apartment shaked

narnii khoroolol (99.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s

Zaisan, ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / very short

Ulan Bator / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Shaking

narnii khoroolol (99.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / 1-2 s

narnii khoroolol (99.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (99.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating : I was sleeping and I thought I was dreaming but I got woken up by the shake

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (100.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

ulaanbaatar, unur khoroolol / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s

Home (99.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : Light shaking

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : I was scared

99.5 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : That earthquake made me woke up

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating

Ulaanbaatar (108 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : I heard an earthquake sound. It was howling

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Hah

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Light shaking

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar, Zuunsalaa / not felt : Vibrating for 5-10sec,

Darkhan-Uul aimag, Mongolia / Weak shaking (MMI III) : It felt really scary, because it was 1 AM in the midnight

Ulaanbatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating : I feel lik it was around the magnitude of 5-6

Erdenet / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling

ulaanbaatar (100 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

U / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

100.2 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Light shaking

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

On my bed (99.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : 12:52 am

Ulaanbaatar / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / rattling, vibrating

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 1-2 s : A

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / not felt : Although there were posts regarding earthquake at my recidency, i havent felt it. I live on 23rd floor

Sleeping / not felt : Slept through it, woke up but didn't realize that it was a quake

Ulaanbaatart / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

District 21 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

ulAANBAATAR / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Def happened

Ub, home. Sleeping / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Scary

Kino uildver (101.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 15-20 s : It felt too long, so made me suspicious about next quake would be more severe.

Orkhon, mongolia / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : A

Darkhan (93.1 km N of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : I am slept.

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : Shaking bed

Ulaanbaatar (1.4 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : 4-5 sec

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Light shaking rumbling woken up by the noise and vibration

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (99.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating : I was sleeping and I thought I was dreaming but I got woken up by the shake

Ulaanbaatar (97.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s

Gavgiin Schand / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Window shaking, felt like big truck driving by, our dog barking afterwards

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Weak shaking

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 5-10 s : It was awkward

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

bayanzurh / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : scared

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) (reported through our app / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV)

ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling : Woke up due to the earthquake, doors were moving, the chandlers were shaking. Moderate shaking.

Ulaanbaatar (99.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Furnitures and floor was shaking,

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

ulaanbaatar (98 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 10-15 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Confused since it was the first time I felt earthquake.

Ulaanbaatar, Khan uul district, 2nd khoroo / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : I was in the kitchen. The refrigerator had shaked front and backside swinging motion within 2 seconds. It was stronger former two significant quakes.

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III)

ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 15-20 s

Ulaanbaatar (100.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Felt like someone had just pushed me

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 5-10 s : Horrible

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I felt it as if whole apartment shaked

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 1-2 s : It felt like strong ocean wave from north to south, suddenly. Light shaking.

Ulaanbaatar (100.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 10-15 s

100.4 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s : Light shaking. I was sleeping on the 20th floor. Woke up to my bed shaking and my closet making noise.

99.9 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex motion difficult to describe : I thought someone kicked the bed on purpose realized i was alone and the bed was hitting the wall, i felt strong motion while i was sleeping and woke up

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : I felt earthquacke and i was so scary. Everything was shaking.

ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : i felt it

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 15-20 s : Light tremor with an audible rumbling sound followed by a stronger rolling wave type motion. From start to finish just over 15 seconds. Felt on third floor.

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 20-30 s

Ulaanbaatar / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : Furnitures shaking bad

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar (100.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Light shaking

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar, Zaisan / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : It lasted for about 7 seconds

99.3 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Really scaried worried for kids

99.8 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 30-60 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

102.6 km SSE of epicenter [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s

101 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : damn that was scary

103.4 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 5-10 s : hanging objects swinging around 2-5 seconds

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : I heard an earthquake sound. It was howling

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV)

103.1 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s : bed was shakin

ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV)

ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Nausea

ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : 5 magnitude according to the officials

Mongolia Ulaanbaatar BGD 5-r khoroo ( 16081-postal / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s

ulaannaatar / not felt / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) : hj

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Shaking

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Bayanbulag zuslan / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Moderate

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 15-20 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ulanbator / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating

Ulaanbaatar 5-n Shar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : nice

Home / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Scared

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Shaking

ulaanbaatar / not felt / 2-5 s : moderate shaking

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short

ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar city / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s

 11-  / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : It was very terrible

ulAANBAATAR / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 15-20 s : T

ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s : light shaking

ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s

ulaabaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 10-15 s

ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : Moderate shaking

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 5-10 s : Very dangerous

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s

Zaisan, ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / very short

Ulaanbaatar bayangol / not felt / vertical swinging (up and down) / 5-10 s

ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Darkha / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Light shaking

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : Light shaking

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Scared

Ulaanbaatar city / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : Bed shaking

ulaanbaatar / not felt / single vertical bump / 2-5 s

ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 1-2 s : I was asleep and made me woke

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 20-30 s

ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Shaking

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ul / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Ulaanbator, Mongolia / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : This earthquake is during my slipping time

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : It made me have a stomach ache lmao

ulanbator / not felt / rattling, vibrating / very short

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

ulaanbastar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatart / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Light shaking

Ulaanbaatar city Bayanzurkh district / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 10-15 s

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Observing

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 30-60 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : desperate

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Def happened

darkhan / not felt / rattling, vibrating / 15-20 s : aimr ym bno

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) (reported through our app / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : whole building swinging

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / 1-2 s

ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar city / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 1-2 s

ulaabaatat / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : Felt nauseous

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake : bed shaked

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Hah

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Earthquake

Ul / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / very short

Darkhan / not felt / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Home / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Light shaking

ullanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s : Windows slightly rattling and decent rolling motion in 3-4 waves.

ulaanbaatar mongolia / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : glass cabinet doors were shaking and making vibrating noises
Some background first: the Minoan eruption at around 1613 BC

Ruins of the Minoan city buried on Santorini near the village of Akrotiri The famous ship fresco - a wall painting from the Minoan city possibly representing the island with its caldera at the time before the eruption. The present-day caldera of Santorini with the white Minoan deposit visible as the thick topmost layer in the cliffs. The Minoan pumice layer in the quarry near Fira.

Discovering the site (Nov 2002)

The caldera cliffs near the site looking north; the Minoan deposit is the thick topmost layer including a 5 m thick base of fall-out pumice. Construction is consuming the pumice layer from top down, and destroying important geological features visible in the wall. The caldera cliffs near the site looking south. The first photo of the site: holes in the basal pumice layer, here about 5 meters thick, where the branches of the tree were. The "Science" branch was from the large hole. A piece of wood is lying on the ground... Other holes left of the one where the "Science" branch was from; they have been covered now (in 2007) by continuing careless building activity. Near the site is a man-made structure resembling a wall or well; perhaps the spot had a particular significance due to the presence of rare trees, as today, 4000 years ago. (my fieldbook for scale) Two large, connected holes at the base of the pumce. Deep inside one of them, one could barely see wood, too. This piece was first recovered in July 2007 and brought a wonderful, almost 2 meter long branch back to light, which is now displayed in the new geological museum in Perissa. The cross section of the branch visible in the large hole at about 2 meters height in the wall; this is the piece that was first recovered and subject of the published investigation. Walter Friedrich at the site (Feb. 2003)

Recovering the branch of the olive tree (May 2003)

From Santorini to Heidelberg (2003-04)

Destruction of the site (ongoing)

Debris of loose deposit is being dumped from the construction site in 20 meter above the site. The first hole where the "Science" branch was recovered is now accessible by foot and will soon be covered. View inside the hole, were the continuation of the original branch is still visible (now recovered and destined for the museum in Perissa) Organic remnants of olive leaves in the basal layer of the pumice, proof that the tree was alive at the time of the eruption. The site and the second branch. Sample of ash with olive leaves. The second piece of wood from the same hole after its recovery. Numerous pottery fragments are found in the Minoan soil near the site Walter Friedrich on his way from the site

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, the eruption began with a heavy rain of hot pumice falling out from the eruption column that reached about 40 km height. The pumice fall-out from the first phase of the eruption blanketed the whole of the island, the surrounding sea and islands to the east of Santorini. In some places, the pumice layer deposited was more than 7 meters in thickness.is given by mainly two factors: the deposit of the eruption is very widespread in the whole region of the Eastern Mediterranean and even beyond, and it can thus be used as a time marker: everything beneath is older, everything above it is younger. The second fact is that it happened during an epoch in Early history that attracts great interest among historians for various reasons: the era of decline of the Minoan civilization, where wide-spread effects of the eruption (such as disruption of regional trade lines, tsunami damage, climatic perturbations in years following the eruption) might play a significant role, a mysterious period of foreign leadership in Egypt, possible connections to many ancient myths and stories from many cultures including biblical references and so on., the island was host to a sophisticated and rich, seafaring and trading society who was related to the Minoans on Crete. Their city was totally buried under many meters of volcanic ash.The so-called Minoan eruption can be compared to, but was much stronger stronger than the famousvolcano in Italy, which happened almost 2000 years later, in the year 79 A.D. near Pompeii - the famous Roman city buried under the pumice of Vesuvius. The Ancient Minoan city excavated near the village of Akrotiri on Santorini is therefores often called the, to stress the similarity to Pompeii and its importance for prehistoric archaeology. One of the most notable findings were a large number of vivid wall frescoes showing life in the town at around 1600 B.C.present in man-built structures seems to have been burnt,- despite intense geological, archaeological research, excavations and mining on the island for about 200 years, no significant amounts of preserved wood, organic material or charcoal from the time of the eruption have been recovered (although once found and tragically lost, but this is another story,- read Walter's book...!) Unfortunately, because it would have provided geologists and archaeologist with a means to determine the precise age of the eruption using theI found the site in late 2002, when I was doing field work on Santoriniabout the shape of the island and its caldera before the eruption. It is located in the upper caldera cliffs near Athinios harbour. When I found a way to reach the base of the pumice at a spot where construction of a new building had opened an access route into the cliff below, I wandered along the base of the Minoan pumice which forms a narrow ledge in most places and allows to inspect it for several hundred meters in this area. Going south, I first noticed a number of larger and smaller round holed in the first layer of pumice. Immediately I thought about a tree that once must have stood here, but didn't hope much to find charcoal or other remnants - so far, virtually none had been found anywhere during many decades of research.The bigger my, when I came closer: one of the first things I noticed was a dark piece of wood lying on the ground beneath one of the larger holes. It was a 40 cm long, 5 cm thick piece of an olive tree branch, partly charred on the outside, but essentially, it was still intact wood! Around on the ground were many smaller pieces of wood and black charcoal... This alone would not have meant necessarily it came from the tree holes and was 4000 years old, but I lcould peer into one of the larger holes about 2 meters above this spot and one could see aI knew this was a major discovery, which felt as if I had struck a gold mine and somehow unreal. It took some time to get used to it and really believe it. Another, even larger hole, as wide as a man and nearer to the ground, was located about 7 meters right of the first cluster of holes and belonged to another tree. It was empty in the lower accessible areas. Its hollow shape was gently curved and let easily imagine the trunk or a major branch that was itself branching into two parts. Far inside to the above of the larger hole, I could barely see something dark, what must be more charcoal or wood...(eventually, this was recovered in 2007 and provided a wonderful 2 meter long piece of a branch now displayed in the new geological museum in Perissa.)There was little I could do immediately, and I left only with some wood sampled from what had fallen out from the holes and was simply sitting on the ground.When I talked with archaeologists working at the excavation site of Akrotiri, I met very little interest! I decided to show it to ome of them (who turned out to suffer vertigo at the spot and was only happy to get back alive...). Unfortunately, I was then told that the site was not important enough and besides that, impossible to protect. There was no a comment on the possibility to have not only many kilograms of WOOD, but intact tree rings etc. from the eruption!I informed professor Walter Friedrich who came as soon as he could free himself from teaching and we visited the site again in February 2003. Given the negative reaction from Akrotiri, we agreed it was best to try to recover wood on ourselves to investigate it ourselves.The opportunity arose when was guiding a group for the tour Fascination Volcano in May 2003. One of the participants was Peter, a Dutch geologist. Peter agreed to help me to try to recover the branch whose cross section one could easily see in the larger hole about 2 meters above ground; it looked as if one might be able to simply pull it out... But how wrong!It turned out difficult enough: the site was (is) only accessible on a narrow ledge on the steep caldera wall, 200 m above the water, and below a 30 m vertical cliff of pumice and ash, with large blocks in the loose deposit. Bringing a ladder seemed too difficult and risky, so we decided we would try it by standing on each oach other's shoulder. In fact, this worked well. Peter climbed on my shoulder, so his own shoulder was at the height of the hole and he could begin digging away the pumice around the piece of wood, which was falling around me.Trying to simply pull out the branch didn't work. Peter dug pumice away around the branch as much as he could reach, which took a while. Finally, we realized that the branch was curved and still stuck deep inside, refusing to get loose. We simply had to move the branch itself, even risking to break it and only recover a part. The risk that the site would be destroyed within one season - there's construction of a new hotel going on in the pumice wall above the site.It took us almost two hours carefully moving the branch up and down, left and right, making it loose slowly from its surroundings, until Peter finally could pull it out: it was around 10 kg heavy, about 1 meter long and 15-20 cm in diameter. In perfect condition, it was only charred on the outside where the bark was still visible, and my greatest fear was it might be used as firewood if someone local got hands of it. However, I had to leave it on the island, for sure.I left the branch with friends on Santorini whom I could trust they would not burn it. During the summer months of 2003, Walter managed to built a team of scientists and specialists who were to analyze the wood. The branch thus travelled to Athens, then to Arhus and finally to Heidelberg, where the analysis were made that were eventually published presented in the Science paper. This part of the story is found in numereous places elsewhere.The sad news is that the site is being destroyed quickly: construction in the pumice layer above is ongoing, dumping debris onto the narrow ledge at the site. Drainwater is diverted into the old gully next to the site, which increased local erosion.In 2007, the hole of the original piece of branch was almost covered by debris already. In a sense, this was an advantage, too, as it allowed me to recover another piece of the same branch as the one from the "Science" story (see photos); it had been just deeper inside the hole, but now I could simply creep into the hole and dig myself towards the branch piece...Later, in July 2007, a group of 4, with more adequate equipment, managed to recover the third larger piece, a beautiful, 2 meter long part of a branch from the second tree to whom the larger holes just right of the original site belonged. This piece is now in the new geological museum of Perissa; the other one shown here is still with friends on the island, but it's planned to give it to the the museum as well.In late 2007, only about half of the site is still intact and it is foreseable that within a few years at most, all evidence in situ will be gone.
During the Geneva negotiations (dubbed Yalta 2), held on 16 June 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected the request of his US counterpart Joe Biden for permission to open military bases in the countries bordering Afghanistan. However, he suggested - perhaps seriously, perhaps in jest - that the United States may wish to use Russias bases in those locations.

At the secret meeting between Russian and US chiefs of staff, which took place in Helsinki on 22 September 2021, General Valery Gerasimov reformulated the offer made by President Putin. Russia intends to retain control of its inner space, but would not be opposed to the United States continuing to act in Afghanistan. Moscow clearly differentiates between the former Soviet republics and Afghanistan, which was never part of the USSR.

On 30 September 2021, Defense Secretary Lylod Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and CentCom Commander Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. reported to the Senate behind closed doors, confirming that they are considering the Russian proposal.
The nightmare that Washington experienced with Turkeys purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system is coming back to haunt it India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed at the Quad meeting on 26 September at the White House that his country has decided to buy Russian anti-ballistic missiles. New Delhi intends to protect itself from China without becoming a pawn of the United States.

In keeping with the "Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act" of 2017, Washington is expected to impose sanctions on India. However, its entire strategy in the Indo-Pacific is based on the creation of the Quad (USA, Australia, Japan, India) over which it bickered with France.
The holiday season isn't looking so merry for Dena Fargo this year. Her best-selling toy, a multi-colored, smiling stuffed animal called Snowcone the Happy Unicorn, won't make it to eager parents and kids this year.

Fargo, who imports Snowcone from a manufacturer in China, paid $1,300 in May for 500 of them. When she went in to re-up her order in August, the same order cost $9,000.

"I can't place an order. My margins just do not support it," said Fargo, whose Costa Mesa, California-based business Cre8ive-D normally sells the product on its website and in Hallmark stores. Fargo is searching for manufacturing options in India and Europe to produce a couple hundred of the stuffed animals for Christmas, but her hopes are fading. Fargo had considered raising prices on customers to offset her higher costs, but her window to secure the toys for the holidays has passed.

"It's really a big blow," she said.

The problem is not demand from customers for the toy, according to Fargo. "The demand is there. It's the supply."

Increased expenses and myriad supply chains pressures  factory shutdowns, bottlenecks at key ports, and struggles hiring domestic truck drivers  are taking a toll on businesses of all sizes entering the pivotal holiday stretch. They are especially difficult for mom-and-pop owners like Fargo to navigate. That could impact the products they are able to carry during the holiday and the prices they sell them for more so than larger competitors, supply chain experts say.

"Large retailers have an enormous advantage over small stores because of their scale, resources, supplier relationships and systems," said Patrick Penfield, a supply chain management professor at Syracuse University. "Smaller retailers are going to really struggle to fill their shelves. It's going to be a difficult holiday season for them."

Thirty-seven percent of small business owners report supply chain disruptions have had a significant impact on their business, while 29% reported a moderate impact, according to a survey of 595 businesses in August by the National Federation of Independent Business, a small business lobbying group. A September survey of 2,682 small business owners by Alignable, a small business social networking company, found that 78% said they are having difficulties getting supplies.

As companies battle to secure inventory for holiday shoppers, large companies have the upper hand over smaller competitors at nearly every link of the chain, according to supply chain experts. They also have greater ability to absorb higher costs, say experts.

"If you are a supplier to Walmart or Target, you are going to do whatever they ask just because of the sheer volume of what they purchase and getting potential business in the future," said Penfield.

Why small stores are at a disadvantage

This year, top players such as Walmart, Costco, Target, Home Depot and others are chartering their own private ships to bring in merchandise from overseas, loading up on extra inventory, and using more expensive air freight to ship merchandise.

"We'll be ready for the holidays," Target CEO Brian Cornell said in a CNBC interview in August. "We have got a lot of inventory flowing our way right now."

One big advantage for top chains is scale, which translates to priority with shippers. Edwin Keh, head of the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel and a former chief operating officer and senior vice president of Walmart's global procurement, said large retailers have long-term contracts with shipping companies and enough volume that make them shippers' most important customers. That's a big benefit when containers are stuck at ports.

"This makes their containers first to get onboard and last to be offloaded," he said in an email. "They also have dedicated agents at the ports to help smooth the clearance process, saving them time."

Large retailers also often have backup suppliers in different parts of the world to allow them to avoid port bottlenecks, he said. "If some of the ports or routes from Asia gets too crowded, they can shift to Central or South America to manufacture their goods and vice versa," Keh said.

Most independent stores don't have the access to capital to fund costly options like chartering ships, nor do they have backup suppliers on hand.

The holidays are usually a busy time of year for Simply Naked Candle Co., a boutique candle shop in Conyers, Georgia. But this year, the store is having trouble procuring jars, wax and fragrances from domestic suppliers that are essential to producing its most in-demand candles, such as Love and Honey, Brown Sugar and Pineapple Passion.

Co-owner Shante Smith has set up email alerts from essential oils' suppliers that notify her when oils she needs are back in stock. She recently get an alert at 2:00 a.m. and woke up to buy the product on the spot because she worried it would be sold out by the morning.

Smith is paying $5 for jars that cost $1.75 last year. A 50-pound box of wax costs $110, up from $55. Smith used to order these supplies in bulk, but now she's ordering them piecemeal when she's running low since she doesn't have the cash to pay for the quantity she'd normally get.

"If we could afford to order more, we would," she said. "We have a very, very strict budget."

Ideally, Smith would buy full pallets of around 1,000 jars, which would allow her to bring down the price she pays per unit. "If we could afford to order more, we would," she said. "We have a very, very strict budget." But she's stuck paying more for less since she can't meet that threshold.

"If I had enough to buy pallets at a time, that would be a good Christmas for me."

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
Pat Robertson, famed televangelist and founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, has stepped down as host of the long-running Christian talk show "The 700 Club."

The 91-year-old announced his departure during Friday's edition of the series, telling audiences that the episode would be his last and that his son and current CEO of the network, Gordon, will take over as host.

Robertson, a Southern Baptist minister and staunch conservative, will still appear on monthly episodes of "The 700 Club" but plans to focus on teaching at Regent University, the Christian university in Virginia that he founded, according to the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN).

"'Good and faithful' doesn't even begin to describe my father's service to CBN for 60 years," Gordon Robertson said in a statement to CBN. "His legacy and the example of his prayer life will continue to lead 'The 700 Club' in the years to come."

Robertson founded CBN in 1960 and six years later, created "The 700 Club." The program, initially named for its goal of 700 members whose pledges would keep the station afloat financially, became a showcase for Robertson's political views, including his anti-LGBTQ and anti-feminism beliefs.

Robertson made a number of controversial remarks throughout his time as host of "The 700 Club," including in 2013, when he falsely claimed that HIV-positive gay men deliberately tried to infect others with the virus. Three years prior, he suggested that the devastating earthquake in Haiti that killed hundreds of thousands of people in 2010 occurred because Haiti had entered into "a pact to the devil."

He also interviewed several presidents on the series, most recently Donald Trump. Though Robertson backed the former president, he said in December 2020 that Trump was living in an "alternate reality" for refusing to accept his loss in the 2020 election.

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
Huntsville Fire & Rescue say residents in seven apartments have been displaced after an accidental fire Thursday afternoon.

The fire occurred around 4:30 p.m. in the 5000 block of Galaxy Way. Huntsville Fire & Rescue reported six units responded to the fire, which left six apartments damaged.

The department said the cause of the fire appears to be related to a welding project on a staircase at the apartment complex. No injuries were reported.

The American Red Cross is assisting affected residents.
Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Friday that the state has received and accepted the $25,000 payment made to cover a state-mandated fine for the removal of Madison Countys Confederate monument.

Marshall said the state received the payment on Thursday.

On Sept. 1, a judge ordered a lawsuit the state filed over the violation of the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act dismissed because the fine had been paid.

The monument was removed from outside the Madison County Courthouse in October 2020.
WASHINGTON (AP)  With only hours to spare, President Joe Biden has signed legislation to avoid a partial federal shutdown and keep the government funded through Dec. 3.

Congress had passed the bill earlier Thursday. The legislation averts one crisis, but efforts to stave off a second crisis seem likely to continue for the next couple of weeks as Democrats and Republicans dig in on a dispute over how to raise the governments borrowing cap.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said failure to raise the debt limit will lead to a financial crisis and economic recession.
To get more people vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, Northwest-Shoals Community College is hosting vaccine clinics.

The clinics are set for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 5, 14 and 19 at the Patriot Center Gym on the Muscle Shoals campus, 800 George Wallace Blvd., Muscle Shoals.

The vaccine clinic will be administered by Helen Keller Hospital and is open to NW-SCC students, faculty, staff and members of the public at no charge. Appointments may be made through the following links:

Oct. 5  https://forms.gle/xkqVYtC4hDKjm6CS8

Oct. 14  https://forms.gle/foJDQ5mL7W2EzceS8

Oct. 19  https://forms.gle/JJUt9FL7QpCkuFmb7

However, walk-ins are welcome and will be seen on a first come, first serve basis. Face coverings must be worn. Participants 12 years and older will receive the Pfizer vaccine. Due to vaccination age restrictions, participants 12 and 13 years of age must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian to receive the vaccine.

Booster-dose vaccines will be given to eligible persons at least six months after completion of the primary series in:

 Individuals 65 years of age and older;

 Individuals 18 through 64 years of age at high risk of severe COVID-19; and

 Individuals 18 through 64 years of age whose frequent institutional or occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 puts them at high risk of serious complications of COVID-19.
The Fort Payne City School System will require the wearing of masks in schools for two more weeks.

The mask-wearing mandate now will expire on Oct. 15, Superintendent Brian Jett said. The requirement had been set to expire Oct. 1

Jett said the decision to extend the mask mandate is based on the number of Covid-19 cases within school populations, particularly in our staff.

Jett said cases will continue to be monitored, and a decision to either end the requirement early or extend it could come before Oct. 15.

See the mask-wearing rules at other North Alabama school system's HERE
The masking debate among parents in the Madison City School System is an ongoing battle.

On Thursday, the battle came down to a school board decision. Ultimately, the school board voted against the superintendent's proposed "Masking Matrix" guidelines.

The Masking Matrix was a proposed formula the district could use to determine when to shift from mask required to mask preferred.

In Dr. Ed Nichols's proposal, he first outlined the recommendation to let the existing mask mandate expire on Oct. 4. Future requirements would be determined by the Masking Matrix guidelines.

The proposed outline says on Oct. 11, if the student positivity rate is below .75%, then the district will be on a mask-preferred mandate. If the positivity rate is higher than .75%, masks will be required until the positivity rate ralls.

Currently, the positivity rate at Madison City Schools is .27%. Despite the low district-wide positivity rate, many parents want the mask mandate to remain.

Laura Harper, a parent in favor of the mask requirement, said, "It shouldn't be a popularity contest, it shouldn't be based off of people's opinions, it should be based on science."

Other parents, said their freedom is in jeopardy.

"Ill go by the rules, but you need to respect individuals' freedoms and individual rights," said Shema Rizo, a parent against the current mask requirement.

During public comment, parents were able to raise their concerns on both sides of the masking policy. Public comment had 21 speakers: 12 parents for the mask requirement and nine against it.

"It goes back to teachers being reprimanded and not speaking out. Students are being bullied and shamed, and I'm against that stuff. People died for our freedoms," said Rizo.

Rizo, along with other parents, said children have faced bullying because they're not wearing the mask properly. Parents also said that many teachers are afraid to speak up because they're fearful of losing their job.

Harper said Nichols' proposed "Masking Matrix" needs modifications to work. Multiple school board member said it's premature to put the presented "Masking Matrix" guidelines into effect right now.

"If they come up with a matrix that meets us somewhere in the middle, provides the protection we need for the younger kids, and is based off of the actual numbers," said Harper.

Harper said the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) should form a detailed outline for the school board to follow.

Nichols has previously said ADPH doesn't have set guidelines for the district to follow. He reiterated on Thursday night that it's frustrating not only for him but also for other superintendents in the state, that are looking for more medical guidance.
An Attalla woman was killed and an Albertville woman and child were sent to the hospital after a two-vehicle wreck Wednesday evening.

Stacey Davenport Scott, 44, was killed when her 2004 Chevy Trailblazer crossed the center line of Alabama 75 near Bethany Road and hit a 2012 Nissan Maxima, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. Scott was brought to the hospital, where she died Thursday, ALEA said.

The driver of the other vehicle, Christy Denise Keeton, 44, and a child in that car were brought by helicopter to the hospital.

The crash happened approximately 2 miles south of Albertville at about 9:50 p.m.

ALEA is still investigating the wreck.
A plan to build new prisons in Alabama has won approval in the state Senate  with a change to one bill.

The senators' change means the bill will go back to the House of Representatives, which must approve the change. Gov. Kay Ivey said on Twitter she looks forward to signing the bills into law as soon as possible.

Ivey called a special session of the Legislature to address the state's outdated and overcrowded prison system. The special session began Monday, with some legislators saying at the time they expected to have a plan approved by the weekend.

This week, the state House approved a $1.3-billion prison construction package that would use $400 million of the state's pandemic relief funds to help pay for building three new prisons.

The plan to use pandemic funds drew sharp criticism from some Democrats, including the state's lone Democratic congresswoman. Ivey has argued it's an appropriate expenditure.
Five years ago, Calhoun's dean of health science, Bret McGill, had an idea  expand the department by offering a dental hygiene program for students.

"Its a process for us," McGill said. "We do community surveys, we went to Mississippi, we toured Wallace State. We looked at hygiene labs that were currently in place. All that took time."

The College was eventually ready for accreditation for the program, but the ongoing coronavirus pandemic delayed the process, McGill said.

"We ended up being accredited this April," he said. "We had our site visit, they voted on us in June and then we could enroll students in August."

Now students are getting hands-on experience in a brand-new dental hygiene lab and preparing themselves for employment once they complete the program.

"Itll make the dentists in our community want to hire the graduates, because theyve got so much actual skill in their craft," said McGill.

According to one dental hygiene student, Zaria Rice, that skill is being taught by some of the best dentists North Alabama has to offer.

"Were being taught by people who have been doing this for over a decade," said Rice. "Maybe I'm biased, but here at Calhoun, we have the most amazing dentists and the most amazing teachers that came out of North Alabama."

Rice, who previously worked in health care, said she couldn't wait to become a student in Calhoun's dental hygiene program.

"I knew I wanted to take the dental route," she said. "As soon as I heard about it, I refreshed the page over and over, 'cause I knew I wanted to be a Calhoun student and a dental hygienist student at Calhoun."

Now that Rice and her classmates are fully immersed in the program, there is a buzz in the air about practicing on real patients in January.

"Im gonna be excited," Rice said. "I will have some nerves, but I will be excited."

The new dental hygiene lab at the Health Science building has the same state-of-the-art equipment one would find at modern dental offices. Rice said her and her classmates refer to their brand-new equipment as "the Cadillac of the dental industry" and that everyone loves working with the top-of-the-line tools.

The application process for the dental hygiene program at Calhoun's Decatur campus begins in the spring for fall admission. For more information, you can visit their website here.
MOBILE  An Alabama woman has filed suit claiming a hospital's response to a cyberattack led to the death of her infant daughter.

The lawsuit by Teiranni Kidd contends Springhill Medical Center in Mobile was deep in the midst of a ransomware attack when Nicko Silar was born on July 17, 2019. It says the resulting failure of electronic devices meant a doctor couldnt properly monitor the childs condition during delivery, resulting in brain injuries.

The suit says the hospital failed to disclose how badly the cyberattack had hampered its systems. The hospital contends any blame lies with the doctor, who knew about the cyberattack. The doctor denies she did anything that hurt the baby.

Read more here.
October marks the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Each week, WAAY-31 is highlighting what it is like for those diagnosed with the second deadliest cancer for women in the United States.

For many women, while they are in the midst of cancer treatment, they are only focused on taking it day by day. But what happens when the day comes and they are cancer-free?

Huntsville Hospital workers know life after a breast cancer diagnosis will never be the same. That is where the eight-week program, Surviving and Thriving, comes in.

"When I started this journey  and I'll say it here on camera  it was a gift," Kristin Manary said.

In just one year, Manary said she already feels like a stronger person.

"My lump was a size of a lime, which is pretty incredible," Manary said.

She noticed the lump after a self-examination. She then went to the Huntsville Hospital Breast Center and was diagnosed on Sept. 2, 2020, with stage 2 breast cancer.

Manary said she underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy and 28 rounds of radiation. She also had a double mastectomy in March and reconstructive surgery about 10 days ago, she said.

Manary has been cancer-free since March. That is when she began a new journey by taking part in Huntsville Hospital Foundation's Surviving and Thriving program.

"It offered more hope, a sense of community," Manary said.

The program has been around since 2014 and has helped more than 250 breast cancer survivors. It is open to both men and women. This October will be the 27th group of survivors it has served.

Coordinator Beverly Henry said it is a way to offer support beyond the hospital walls.

"They're just not really sure how to move forward and what tools they need to move forward and to live their best life," Henry said. "That's where this program comes in, to help the women bridge that transition."

Like many things in 2020, the program had to adjust to the pandemic. It moved completely virtual.

"The delivery of the program has changed a little bit, but we still have the same mission and focus," Henry said.

Manary said despite joining the program while it was virtual, she still felt connected to her fellow survivors. She said through the program, she learned more about her physical and mental health.

While she knows the fight is not over, she is thankful for the fighter she has become.

"It's emotional. It's emotional every day, but I look back, and I look forward," Manary said. "I don't want to look too much in the rearview mirror; I really want to look forward, and I try to focus on that."

If you are interested in the program, click here. It is funded through the Huntsville Hospital Foundation.
12 million people eligible to vote in Italy's municipal elections.

Italy's four largest cities - Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin - along with Bologna, are preparing for municipal elections to elect new mayors and city councillors.

Some 12 million residents of more than 1,000 Italian towns and cities will be eligible to vote in the elections which will be held on 3-4 October.

To be elected mayor in the first round, a candidate must get more than 50 per cent of the vote, otherwise the two highest-polling candidates will head into a run-off ballot on 17-18 October.

In addition to the five big cities, there will be a parliamentary by-election in the Tuscan city of Siena, where the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD) leader Enrico Letta is seeking a seat, and a vote for the governor of the southern Calabria region following the death of former governor Jole Santelli a year ago.

In Rome the outgoing mayor Virginia Raggi of the populist Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S) is being challenged by the lawyer and radio host Enrico Michetti (centre-right), the former finance minister Roberto Gualtieri of the PD (centre-left) and the Azione leader Carlo Calenda , along with 18 other candidates.

Challenging the outgoing mayor of Milan Beppe Sala are the pediatrician Luca Bernardo (centre-right), the manager Layla Pavone (M5S) and 10 other candidates.

In Naples the PD and M5S are behind the former minister Gaetano Manfredi (centre-left) who is running against Catello Maresca (centre-right) and five other candidates.

In Turin the PD is backing Stefano Lo Russo (centre-left) while the M5S backs Valentina Sganga, with the centre-right supporting entrepreneur Paolo Damilano, in a race comprising 13 candidates.

In Bologna Matteo Lepore is the centre-left candidate, with the support of the M5S, up against entrepreneur Fabio Battistini (centre-right) and six others.

The municipal elections will be the first test of voter sentiment since the arrival of Mario Draghi as prime minister in February, with the outcome watched keenly by Italy's main political parties.
Mattarella is house hunting as his term in office draws to an end.

The president of Italy Sergio Mattarella is searching for a new home in Rome, reports Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

The 80-year-old head of state, who is nearing the end of his seven-year term in office, reportedly looked at an apartment in a residential area not far from the city centre, between Villa Ada and Villa Borghese.

The president visited the property on Wednesday afternoon, before travelling to Milan for the Pre-COP26 climate talks, and was accompanied by his daughter Laura.

The home-owner, after her initial shock of opening the door to President Mattarella, asked him if she could take a selfie.

The president duly obliged and posed next to the woman whose 120-sqm apartment will be available to rent from December, according to the Corriere.

The president is reportedly seeking to rent, not buy, a new home when his time in office comes to an end in January.

Mattarella has been resident at the Quirinal Palace since becoming president in February 2015.

Previous to this, while serving as a judge, he lived in a property belonging to the Constitutional Court, while before that he shared a home with his late wife in the heart of Rome's historic centre.

News of a house-hunting president would appear to confirm that Mattarella is not likely to seek a second mandate as head of state, reigniting rumours that Italian premier Mario Draghi could be the next resident of the Quirinale.

In the meantime those in the Roman property market are now wondering whether Italy's president will be knocking on their door in the days ahead.
Tourists fined for bathing in historic fountain in Piazza Navona.

Rome police caught three young American tourists splashing around in the waters of Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona last night, at around 02.30, reports Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.The US tourists - an 18-year-old male and two women aged 24 and 25 - were fined 450 each as well as receiving temporary 'daspo' bans on returning to the area.In June a group of five people - two Germans, one Belgian, one French and one Iranian - received similar penalties for jumping into the same 17th-century fountain.
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Thats all we have for you tonight everyone.

Before I go, here is a quick look at some of the major stories from today:

Where did daylight saving come from and which states have it?

Victorian outbreak peak still in sight, but delayed by rule breakers

Australians rush to book flights home and for holidays following border news

Best person: Howard backs Perrottet for NSW Premier

Experience, vision and integrity: Stokes nominates for top job

NSW records 813 new coronavirus cases, 10 deaths

Grand plan: The snap decision that saved the NRL season

Thanks again for all the comments and interactions throughout the day and night, we will be back early tomorrow morning with another national news blog so please join us then.

Remember to change your clocks tonight if you live in a daylight savings state and bye for now.
Margaret Thatcher was the Iron Lady but former deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop has staked her own claim to mineral metaphors by posing in a pink ball gown at a lithium mine.

The keen follower of fashion is normally more restrained in her Carla Zampatti-adjacent clothing choices but donned the extravagant gown by South Australian dressmaker Jaimie Sortino as her way of getting loud to launch Frocktober, an initiative of the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.

Credit:John Shakespeare

Last year, the camera-confident ambassador bravely posed on a pylon off Perths Cottesloe Beach for former Victorias Secret photographer Russell James, but this time it was off to the Mt Marion lithium mine in outback Western Australia. Ive worked with Russell on a number of occasions, Bishop said. Im always up for it, so when he asked me to climb a pile of lithium ore, I did it.

While at the mine, Bishop encouraged women working on site to talk about ovarian cancer. The only way to fight the silence is to get loud.
Double-dosed Australians should be free to leave the country without seeking permission from next month, several Liberal MPs argue, ahead of a national cabinet meeting on Friday that is set to progress plans to end more than 18 months of hardline restrictions.

The nations borders have been shut since March 2020 following the first domestic outbreak of the coronavirus, with residents seeking to leave the country required to apply to the federal government for a travel exemption for specific reasons.

Liberal MPs want to end the requirement for Australians to get an exemption to travel overseas. Credit:AP

About 210,679 Australians have been granted approval to fly overseas in that time, according to Home Affairs department data, with 122,131 applications rejected.

Major airlines have opened international bookings for December but have warned several issues will need to be sorted, including recognition of vaccines not recognised by Australian health authorities, hotel quarantine caps for un-vaccinated travellers and negative pre-departure testing.
Liberal backbenchers emerged from talks with Scott Morrison this week with a little more confidence that the Prime Minister might be able to commit to greater action on climate change in the next four weeks.

One remark gave heart to Liberals who believe the governments fortunes will turn in part on whether Morrison can endorse the target, so divisive for so long, of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Morrison expressed an opinion that many outside the government already know but some within the Coalition refuse to accept: that climate change is an issue for voters well outside city electorates.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is in quarantine after his trip to visit US President Joe Biden. Credit:AP/Evan Vucci

Luckily there were no Nationals on the conference call to fly off the handle at that remark. And the Liberals who were brought into the briefing, set up for about 30 MPs who wanted to hear about Morrisons visit to the United States last week, are doing everything they can to avoid antagonising their rural colleagues.

With Morrison preparing to unveil new climate policies within weeks, the debate within the Coalition is so sensitive that most Liberals who joined the conference call would not even confirm it took place.
Major banks are preparing for lending restrictions to kick in before the end of the year following new data showing property prices are rising at their fastest rate in more than 30 years and investor activity continues to climb.

As Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed the average new mortgage grew by $120,000 over the past 12 months in NSW and $94,000 in Victoria, there are signs the biggest run-up in house prices since 1989 is now forcing first home buyers out of the market.

Mortgage restrictions are expected to kick in soon with first-home buyers already struggling in the market. Credit:Erin Jonasson

CoreLogic data for September showed Sydney house prices up 25.8 per cent since the year began with the median value now at $1.3 million. In September alone they increased by $18,000.

Melbourne prices have climbed 16.2 per cent since January 1 with the median value now at $962,250 after adding another $7750 last month.
London: A British police officer has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of British woman Sarah Everard as she walked home in the evening after visiting friends in south London, a case that stirred protests over male violence towards women.

Wayne Couzens, 48, a serving London police officer who had guarded diplomatic premises, had pleaded guilty to murder, rape and kidnap.

Sarah Everard, 33, was abducted as she was walking home in London. Credit:Metropolitan Police

He had used his position to stop and abduct her, Londons Old Bailey court heard. His whole life sentence means he has no chance of parole.

He abducted Everard, 33, in a hire car as she walked home from a friends house in south London on March 3. Her body was found in woodland around 80 kilometres away in south-east England. A post-mortem concluded she had died as a result of compression of the neck.
Justice Samuel Alito pushed back Thursday against criticism, including some from colleagues, that recent Supreme Court actions in major cases have been done hastily and in the shadows. A dangerous cabal improperly deciding important matters  hardly, he said.

Alito, in remarks at the University of Notre Dame, took aim at critics of three recent decisions in which the court's conservatives prevailed over dissents by liberals.

In rapid succession beginning in late August, the court reinstated a Trump-era immigration program, allowed evictions that had been paused by the coronavirus pandemic to resume and let a Texas law severely limiting abortion go into effect.

All three cases came to the court as emergency motions, and were decided quickly and without the courts more typical full briefing and oral argument. That process has been called the courts  shadow docket.

Our decisions in these three emergency matters have been criticized by those who think we should have decided them the other way, and I have no trouble with fair criticism of the substance of those decisions, Alito said.

He added: My complaint concerns all the media and political talk about our sinister shadow docket. The truth of the matter is that there was nothing new or shadowy about the procedures we followed in those cases  its hard to see how we could handle most emergency matters any differently.

Alito noted that its not up to the court but to the parties in cases when they bring emergency motions. He said the recent criticism has suggested that a dangerous cabal is deciding important issues in a novel, secretive, improper way in the middle of the night, hidden from public view, without waiting for the lower courts to consider the issues.

Alito said that "picture is very sinister and threatening, but it is also very misleading."

The string of recent emergency decisions began with a 6-3 vote to reinstate a Trump administration program that forces people to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the United States. A majority of the court said the Biden administration likely violated federal law in trying to end the program.

Days later, the justices, again on a 6-3 vote, blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a temporary ban on evictions that was put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Most recently, the high court on a 5-4 vote declined to block a Texas law that has resulted in a near-total ban on abortion in the state. The unsigned majority opinion in that case was issued around midnight and was not even two full pages. Unlike the previous two emergency cases, Chief Justice John Roberts joined his liberal colleagues.

Alito said it was false and inflammatory for critics to claim that the conservatives in the Texas case effectively nullified the landmark Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing a womans right to an abortion. Critics have said that by letting the law take effect, the court has allowed the state to sharply curtail abortions in the nations second-largest state.

It was also in that decision that Alitos colleague, Justice Elena Kagan, said the majority's ruling illustrates just how far the Courts shadow-docket decisions may depart from the usual principles of appellate process.

The majority made a significant ruling without any guidance from an appeals court and then after reviewing only the most cursory party submissions, and then only hastily, Kagan wrote. She accused her colleagues of barely bothering to explain their conclusion.

In all these ways, the majoritys decision is emblematic of too much of this Courts shadow docket decisionmaking  which every day becomes more unreasoned, inconsistent, and impossible to defend, she said.

Roberts also criticized the case's path to the court, saying the justices were asked to resolve these novel questions  at least preliminarily  in the first instance, in the course of two days" without oral argument, additional briefs and guidance from lower courts.

Alito went through and rejected 10 different criticisms of the court's emergency practices, from the argument that emergency orders are secretive to the fact that they aren't typically signed by the justice who wrote them.

Alito acknowledged there have been more emergency motions in recent years but he attributed that to an influx of civil cases brought about by President Donald Trumps initiatives, as well as issues sparked by the coronavirus, including those relating to prisons and religious freedom.

Alito said he wasn't suggesting "that our current practice is perfect and that possible changes should not be considered. But he said that the recent portrayal of the court "feeds unprecedented efforts to intimidate the court or damage it as an independent institution.

Alito's speech came just days before the justices' planned return to their courtroom for oral arguments, more than a year and a half after the in-person sessions were halted because of the coronavirus pandemic. The justices had been hearing cases by phone during the pandemic but are currently on their summer break.

Justice Clarence Thomas also recently spoke at Notre Dame, where Justice Amy Coney Barrett attended law school and taught for many years.

___

Gresko reported from Washington. Casey Smith, who reported from South Bend, Indiana, 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 Biden administration on Thursday put final touches on consumer protections against so-called surprise medical bills. The ban on charges that hit insured patients at some of life's most vulnerable moments is on track to take effect Jan. 1, officials said.

Patients will no longer have to worry about getting a huge bill following a medical crisis if the closest hospital emergency room happened to have been outside their insurance plan's provider network. They'll also be protected from unexpected charges if an out-of-network clinician takes part in a surgery or procedure conducted at an in-network hospital. In such situations, patients will be liable only for their in-network cost sharing amount.

The rules released Thursday spelled out for the first time a key part of the new system: a behind-the-scenes dispute resolution process that hospitals, doctors and insurers will use to haggle over fees, without dragging patients into it.

When an insurer and a service provider disagree over fair payment, either side can initiate a 30-day negotiation process. If they still can't come to an agreement, they can take the matter to an independent arbitrator.

The arbitrator will use as a guide a set amount intended to balance the value of the medical services provided with goal of keeping costs from ballooning out of control. Clear justification will be required for the final payment to end up higher or lower.

There will also be a new way for uninsured people and patients who pay their own way to get an estimate of charges for medical procedures, as well as a process for them to resolve billing disputes.

Were hoping to give folks a sigh of relief, who have been blindsided by billing, said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Surprise medical bills have been a common problem for people with health insurance, all the more irritating because most patients might have thought they were protected. Charges running from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars came from doctors and hospitals outside the network of patients' health insurance plans. Its estimated that about 1 in 5 emergency visits and 1 in 6 inpatient admissions triggered a surprise bill.

Although many states already have curbs on surprise billing, federal action was needed to protect patients covered by large employer plans, which are regulated at the national level. A 2020 law signed by then-President Donald Trump laid out a bipartisan strategy for resolving the issue, and the Biden administration filled in critical details.

The idea was to take patients and their families out of the financial equation by limiting what they can be billed for out-of-network services to a fee thats based on in-network charges. That amount gets counted toward their in-network annual deductible.

The law's new protections are aimed at:

 Protecting patients from surprise bills arising from emergency medical care. Protections apply if the patient is seen at an out-of-network facility, or if they are treated by an out-of-network clinician at an in-network hospital. In either case, the patient can only be billed based on their plans in-network rate.

 Protecting patients admitted to an in-network hospital for a planned procedure when an out-of-network clinician gets involved and submits a bill.

 Requiring out-of-network service providers to give patients 72-hour notice of their estimated charges. Patients would have to agree to receive out-of-network care for the hospital or doctor to then bill them.

 Barring air ambulance services from sending patients surprise bills for more than the in-network cost sharing amount.

Before the ban on surprise billing, patients usually had to take the initiative themselves to work out unexpected charges. In many cases the hospital or doctor would go back and forth with the insurance company until they reached an agreement. But there was no guarantee that would happen, and patients were at risk of being placed into collection proceedings in situations they had no control over.

Some health care industry groups have urged the Biden administration to take more time to set up the new arbitration system. Officials said Thursday they remain committed to the Jan. 1 effective date and said 50 organizations have expressed interest in taking on the role of arbitrators.
Gov. Ned Lamont has asked the Connecticut National Guard to prepare to be activated early next week as the state anticipates staff shortages from workers unwilling to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Lamont has informed the heads of the state agencies to prepare for staff shortages as the deadline to submit proof of vaccination or submit to weekly testing looms. State officials said employees have until 11:59 p.m. on Monday.

I continue to remain optimistic that our employees will submit their testing and vaccination information quickly, Lamont said in a statement Thursday. But as we have done throughout the pandemic, we will prepare for the worst to prevent impacts to the critical services the state provides. The health and safety of our employees and the people of Connecticut remain our top priority.

As of Thursday afternoon, 8,000 state employees were still in non-complaint status, meaning they had not provided proof of vaccination or have started weekly testing. Lamonts office said that number has dropped by about 2,000 employees in the past two days.

Those who are non-complaint as of the deadline could be placed on unpaid leave as early as Tuesday, but no later than Oct. 11, officials said.

While those 8,000 employees are are non-complaint represent 25 percent of the workforce, about 75 percent have already submitted proof of a vaccine or started testing, Lamonts office said.

Lamont has instructed Maj. Gen. Francis Evon, head of the states national guard, to prepare for an activation. Where possible, national guard soldiers will fill critical positions until replacement employees are found or employees come into compliance, according to Lamonts office.

We have provided most state employees with the option to get tested weekly instead of getting vaccinated, providing more flexibility than our neighboring states, Lamont said Thursday. We have also provided our employees with a compliance grace period. There is no reason all our employees should not be in compliance. I continue to count on state employees to lead by example and to respect their co-workers and the public by complying with this executive order, which is the law.

Lamont issued a mandate that state employees working under the executive branch get vaccinated by Sept. 27, but postponed the deadline while officials worked to get a clearer picture of who still had not received a vaccine.

Look, there will be some people who say hell no, and Im sorry, but that means youre not safe, youre not safe to the people around you and youre not safe to the people youre treating and they cannot come into work, Lamont said Wednesday when the deadline was pushed back to Monday. Connecticut, for the last year, has always done the right thing. And we have done it with some pushing, weve done it with some explanation and I think Connecticut and our employees are always going to do the right thing.

The mandate was established, officials said, in an effort to defend against COVID-19 infections and the spread of the delta variant, which is more infectious than the native strain of the virus that started the pandemic in March 2020.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  The Michigan Legislature on Thursday passed election bills that would limit who can access the state voter file, keep voting equipment from being connected to the internet and require election challengers to receive training.

The legislation sent to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was supported by majority Republicans and opposed by all but one Senate Democrat and many House Democrats.

The bills blocking outside groups' access to the voter database and prohibiting the connection of electronic pollbooks or voting systems to the internet would codify existing practice.

It's a good idea to take this bill and take the best practices and put them into law so they can't be changed," Sen. Ruth Johnson, a Holly Republican and former secretary of state, said of the internet-connection legislation.

Senate Democrats said the bills are unnecessary and expressed concern that voting for them would corroborate lies about the 2020 presidential election. A GOP-led Senate committee, for instance, found no evidence that vote tabulators at Detroit's absentee counting operation were connected to the internet, debunking claims from some Republican poll challengers.

We should not be passing bills in this chamber for things that already do not exist because all that does is perpetuate and validate a lie that is dangerous, said Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Royal Oak Democrat.

One bill would require election challengers to attend training offered by the secretary of state and each clerk in the 90-day period before an election and boost training for election inspectors about challengers' role. If challengers completed the training before a primary, they would not need to repeat it for the general election.

Another measure would expand the types of buildings that can be polling places. One would update procedures for canceling the registrations of dead voters.

Most bills were passed 21-15 in the Senate and on votes ranging between 72-33 and 84-21 in the House.

The Senate also voted on party lines for legislation that would require the state elections board to canvass signatures for a ballot initiative within 100 days of the filing. It currently must make a determination no more than 100 days before the election in which the proposal would appear on the ballot.

Unlock Michigan, a Republican-affiliated group that successfully wiped from the books a law Whitmer used to issue COVID-19 orders, has complained it took too long for the petitions to be reviewed. State officials have said they were busy preparing for the presidential election and doing postelection audits, and the deadline was not until 2022.

The House passed a similar bill in April.

___

Follow David Eggert at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00
As COVID cases have been reported in more than 100 Connecticut school districts, the state has launched a project to test thousands of school-aged children for the coronavirus.

More than 55 percent of school districts in the state have reported at least one COVID case in the past week, according to the latest state data released Thursday.

Of the 204 school districts listed in the Connecticut database, 113 of them have reported COVID infections among students and staff.

Though COVID is widespread in schools, the numbers are low and declining, according to school district officials.

Five of the 113 school districts that reported COVID cases to the state last week have more than six cases in at least one school, according to the data. Due to privacy laws, if any school reports fewer than six COVID cases the state lists it as less than six.

Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, said district leaders do not seem to be overly concerned about widespread infections.

I have not heard their concern about mounting numbers, she said.

Though few districts are reporting high COVID numbers in any individual school, there have been some clusters of cases. There are 10 schools in the state with more than six active COVID cases.

In an effort to get a better picture of COVID spread in schools, the state has started Project COVID DeteCT, which keeps schools safe by catching cases before they spread to other students and other staff, according to Department of Public Health spokesperson Chris Boyle.

So far, the program has been rolled out to 38 public school districts, which include 421 individual public schools and 39 individual state-approved private special education programs, and private or charter schools.

The program offers free COVID testing to all students attending a Connecticut public school in grades K-6, as well as unvaccinated students in grades 7-12 in the states largest school districts: Bridgeport, Danbury, Hartford, New Britain, New Haven, Norwalk, Stamford and Waterbury.

Were starting next week, said Jonathan Supranowitz, director of communications for the Greenwich school district. Were testing the younger students that are not eligible for the vaccine in Greenwich.

Not every student will be tested for COVID. Supranowitz called it a pool test, and participating students will get tested weekly.

Parents have to sign their children up to be a part of that testing, he said. Whoever has signed up will get tested.

Though Boyle said the states goal is to provide COVID testing to as many students as possible, it will likely be hundreds if not thousands of students statewide.

Though he couldnt share an exact number, Supranowitz said in Greenwich alone, Ill say its in the hundreds.

The state announced Thursday a daily positivity rate of 1.26 percent for new COVID tests  one of the lowest in weeks. Hospitalizations dropped a net of 16 patients for a total of 234. The state also announced Thursday there were 53 COVID-related deaths in the past week, bringing the total number to 8,629 Connecticut residents who have died with the disease.

The state said Thursday 78 percent of children age 16 and 17 had been vaccinated, and 68 percent of children age 12 to 15 have received their doses.

Manchester High School has more COVID cases than any other school in Connecticut with 14 active cases and 40 districtwide, according to the states data.

Greenwich has 12 active COVID cases among students and faculty as of Thursday, according to district data, down two from Tuesday. Westport school officials told parents the district had 15 total COVID infections identified over the past week.

We are actually trending down right now, Supranowitz said. On Tuesday, we added only five new reported positive cases  our lowest since the second week of school.

We are finding that our mitigation strategies are working right now, and overall, the staff, parents and students seem to be very determined to do all of the things to keep us safe, Supranowitz said.

In New Haven, schools spokesperson Justin Harmon said the district had nine active cases and 49 people quarantined as of Wednesday.

Since the start of the school year, 49 individuals have had cases of COVID confirmed after they presented in school  290 individuals have quarantined as a result, Harmon said.
Indiana State Police say a Missouri truck driver is facing several charges after being stopped in Posey County Thursday night.

ISP says a Trooper stopped the driver of a semi, identified as 31-year-old Tiffanie Vallotton, I-64 near the 3.5 mile-marker for making an unsafe lane movement.

Police say during the traffic stop, the Trooper developed probable cause to search the semi.

We're told a search revealed approximately three grams of meth, one gram of cocaine, and a small amount of marijuana.

Vallotton was arrested and taken to the Posey County Jail where she is currently being held without bond.
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Some patchy fog early, then becoming partly sunny and quite warm. .

Tonight

Becoming mostly cloudy with a spotty shower late at night.
Chimerica and The Children playwright Lucy Kirkwood will present her new piece Maryland in a script-in-hand production from next week.

The piece, which will play without any press night or show photography, will run at the Royal Court (in the theatre's upstairs space) from 7 to 16 October 2021.

The venue's artistic director Vicky Featherstone and Royal Court associate directors Milli Bhatia and Lucy Morrison will co-direct the show, which is set to run for 30 minutes.

Kirkwood said today: "This play was for many years a private conversation with myself. The horrific murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa this year have galvanised me into making it public. I hesitate to even call it a play when it is simply a howl, a way of expressing what I feel about a culture of violence against women, but I am sharing it because I wonder if it might express a little of what other people feel about it too. It was written very quickly, and I am grateful to the Royal Court for snatching up a gauntlet thrown down last Friday night with such energy, care and seriousness."

Ticket prices are 5 for these readings and audiences are encouraged to make a donation to Rape Crisis England and Wales alongside buying tickets.

Featherstone added: "Sometimes you don't know what you need until it arrives like a bolt from the blue and things are turned upside down. This is what happened to us at the Royal Court when Lucy Kirkwood's play Maryland arrived in our inboxes on Friday night. Since then we have all stepped up to her extraordinary rallying cry and are able to give her voice our space in search of some kind of understanding, howl, communal event in light of the horrific actions still being committed against all women and victims of gendered violence.

"We all live in the same world, hear the same news, share the same existential fears and longings. Some people specialise in tending to our health, and some people tend to our roads and buildings, and some people tend to the food we eat and some people teach us to read and write and some people move important things from a to b. And then there are some other people who sit in the same world as us but with their pattern of words and ideas show that world back to us in a way which momentarily stops us feeling so alone, so fearful, so lost. There is order. There is hope. This is what this tiny enormous play does. This is what the Royal Court is for. This is what art is for.

"We are so proud to be stepping up. We are devastated we still have to."
About Elly follows a group of professional couples from Tehran on a weekend break by the Caspian Sea. With them is Elly, a young school teacher whos joined them to look after their children, but whilst enjoying a picnic on the beach, she goes missing. Tensions rise amongst the families as they second guess their involvement in what happened to Elly and who may be at fault for her disappearance. As Farhad immerses us in the centre of a tense situation, he provides a window into the troubling power dynamics at play between men and women both in modern Iranian society, as well as that around the world.
A Texas judge has found Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones liable for damages in three defamation lawsuits brought by the parents of two children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre over his claims that the shooting was a hoax.

A Texas judge has found Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones liable for damages in three defamation lawsuits brought by the parents of two children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre over his claims that the shooting was a hoax.

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin, home of Infowars, entered default judgments against Jones, Infowars and other defendants for what she called their "flagrant bad faith and callous disregard" of court orders to turn over documents to the parents' lawyers. The rulings were issued on Monday and released on Thursday.

The cases now head to trial for juries to determine the amount of damages Jones and the other defendants will have to pay the families.

The shooting at the Newtown, Connecticut, school on Dec. 14, 2012, killed 20 first-graders and six educators. The gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, fatally shot his mother at their Newtown home before going to the school, and killed himself as police arrived.

The shooting was portrayed on Jones Infowars show as a hoax involving actors aimed at increasing gun control. Jones has since acknowledged the school shooting did occur.

Families of some of the school shooting victims sued Jones, Infowars and others in courts in Texas and Connecticut over the hoax conspiracy, saying they have been subjected to harassment and death threats from Jones' followers. The Connecticut cases remain pending.

Jones and his attorney in Connecticut, Norman Pattis, criticized the Texas judge's ruling in a statement on the Infowars website.

"It takes no account of the tens of thousands of documents produced by the defendants, the hours spent sitting for depositions and the various sworn statements filed in these cases," they said. "We are distressed by what we regard as a blatant abuse of discretion by the trial court. We are determined to see that these cases are heard on the merits."

Jones' lawyers have denied the defamations allegations and argued his comments about the school shooting were protected by free speech rights.

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One of the Texas lawsuits was filed by Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose son Noah was killed in the shooting. The two others were filed by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse was killed. Several other families of the victims are suing on similar claims in Connecticut.

Bill Ogden, a Houston lawyer representing the four parents in the Texas cases, said Jones and Infowars have failed to turn over documents for the past few years. He added such default judgments are rare.

"My clients have and continue to endure Defendants 5-year campaign of repulsive lies," Ogden said in a statement, which quoted the judge's ruling. "We believe the Court hit this nail on the head when it considered Alex Jones and Infowars bad faith approach to this litigation, Mr. Jones public threats, and Jones professed belief that these proceedings are show trials."

Guerra Gamble said in her rulings that she was defaulting Jones and the other defendants after an "escalating series" of admonishments by judges, monetary fines and other actions was ineffective in getting the defendants to turn over documents.

In 2019, Jones was ordered by another Texas judge to pay $100,000 in legal fees to Heslin's lawyers for disregarding a court order to produce witnesses.

Jones also was sanctioned in the Connecticut cases for violating numerous orders to turn over documents and for an angry outburst on his web show against an attorney for some of the victims' relatives. A judge barred Jones from filing a motion to the dismiss the case  a ruling that was upheld after being appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear Jones' appeal in April.
WINNIPEG - On the same day former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard agreed to be extradited to the United States to face a charge of sex trafficking, police in Toronto announced their own charges.

The Nygard headquarters is shown in Winnipeg on Feb. 26, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

WINNIPEG - On the same day former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard agreed to be extradited to the United States to face a charge of sex trafficking, police in Toronto announced their own charges.

Police said Nygard, 80, is to be charged with six counts of sexual assault and three counts of forcible confinement. They said the pending charges relate to alleged assaults in the late 1980s and mid-2000s.

Peter Nygard arrives at the 24th Night of 100 Stars Oscars Viewing Gala at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., on March 2, 2014. Toronto police say they will charge the former Canadian fashion mogul with multiple counts of sexual assault. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Invision - Annie I. Bang

The charges were announced Friday as Nygard was in a Winnipeg court for an extradition hearing related to the U.S. charges.

"Mr. Nygard denies any allegations of criminal conduct," defence lawyer Brian Greenspan said outside the courthouse.

Earlier, Nygard appeared via videolink and consented to his extradition.

He was arrested in Winnipeg last year under the Extradition Act and faces nine counts in the Southern District of New York.

Authorities there accuse Nygard of using his influence in the fashion industry to lure women and girls with the promise of modelling and other financial opportunities.

The extradition request from the U.S. details accounts from seven alleged victims who are expected to testify in a criminal trial in that country that their livelihoods and movements became dependent on having sex with Nygard.

Nygard has denied all allegations. He consented only to be extradited on the charge of sex trafficking.

His lawyers said Nygard is looking forward to addressing the allegations against him in the U.S.

"The only place you can be vindicated is in a trial," said Greenspan.

The justice minister will have to choose whether Nygard faces charges in Canada first, or if a condition of the extradition is that he will be returned after the U.S. trial, Greenspan said.

Nygard's lawyers said they expect the extradition to be completed by the end of the year.

They said they will argue to the federal minister that the extradition should include assurances Nygard not be held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York. Greenspan said it has horrible conditions that could threaten the life of his client, whose health the lawyer said is already in decline.

Court has heard that Nygard is kept alone in a cell meant for three prisoners at Headingley Correction Centre outside Winnipeg. There is a television and phone in the cell and he has access to a diet for diabetics.

Nygard applied for bail in January, but it was denied by a judge who cited concerns that Nygard would contact witnesses if released. Nygard appealed that decision and was again denied release in March.

Justice Jennifer Pfuetzner of the Manitoba Court of Appeal said at that time that Nygards detention was necessary to maintain confidence in the justice system, given the enormity of the allegations. She said the allegations "paint a picture of criminal conduct that was planned, financed and executed on a staggering scale."

The Supreme Court of Canada denied Nygards request to challenge the two lower court decisions.

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He is also the subject of a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. involving 57 women with similar allegations.

Nygard founded his fashion company in Winnipeg in 1967. It grew from a partial stake in a womens garment manufacturer to a brand name sold in stores around the world.

He stepped down as chairman of his company after the FBI and police raided his offices in New York City in February 2020.

Nygard International has since filed for bankruptcy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said Nygard is facing sexual assault charges in New York.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP)  Pat Robertson, who turned a tiny Virginia television station into a global religious broadcasting network, is stepping down after a half-century running the 700 Club on daily TV, the Christian Broadcasting Network announced on Friday.

FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2016 file photo, Rev. Pat Robertson listens as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va. The Christian Broadcasting Network says Pat Robertson is stepping down as host of the long-running daily television show the 700 Club. Robertson said in a statement that his last time hosting the networks flagship program was Friday, Oct. 1, 2021.(AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

NORFOLK, Va. (AP)  Pat Robertson, who turned a tiny Virginia television station into a global religious broadcasting network, is stepping down after a half-century running the 700 Club on daily TV, the Christian Broadcasting Network announced on Friday.

Robertson, 91, said in a statement that he hosted the network's flagship program for the last time on Friday, and that his son Gordon Robertson will take over the weekday show starting Monday.

I will no longer be the host of the 700 Club," Robertson said on the show Friday, although he vowed to return from time to time, if hes had a revelation he needs to share. I thank God for everyone thats been involved. And I want to thank all of you.

Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network started airing on Oct. 1, 1961 after he bought a bankrupt UHF television station in Portsmouth, Virginia. The "700 Club began production in 1966.

Now based in Virginia Beach, CBN says its outreach extends to more than 100 countries and territories in dozens of languages through TV and video evangelism, online ministry and prayer centers. The 700 Club talk show can be seen in the vast majority of U.S. television markets.

Pat Robertson had an enormous impact on both American religion and American politics, said John C. Green, an emeritus political science professor at The University of Akron.

One of Robertsons innovations with the 700 Club was to use the secular talk-show format, which was a break from more traditional broadcasts of revival meetings or church services.

Heres a well educated person having sophisticated conversations with a wide variety of guests on a wide variety of topics, Green said. It was with a religious inflection to be sure. But it was an approach that took up everyday concerns.

Robertson attracted a large audience and went on to have several U.S. presidents as guests, including Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, the network said.

Robertson was the son of a U.S. senator and received a law degree from Yale. He ran for president in 1988 and also founded the Christian Coalition, galvanizing American evangelicals into a conservative political force.

He opened up a path that many people have followed, Green said. Surveys show that lots and lots of people view  in one format or another  religious broadcasting these days. But in politics, I think what he did was help cement the alliance between conservative Christians and the Republican Party.

As 700 Club host, Robertson sometimes found himself in hot water for his on-air pronouncements. In 2005, he called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town not to be surprised if disaster struck them because they voted out school board members who favored teaching intelligent design.

But Robertson also called for ending mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions. He later said on The 700 Club that marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the governments war on drugs had failed.

After President Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020, Robertson said Trump was living in an alternate realty and should move on, news outlets reported.

Robertson will still appear on a monthly, interactive episode of The 700 Club and will come on the program occasionally as news warrants, the network said.

Gordon Robertson, 63, is a Yale-educated former real estate lawyer who is less known than his father, if at all controversial. He is chief executive of CBN and has served as executive producer of the 700 Club for 20 years, and even longer as a co-host. He's also been hosting a show called 700 Club Interactive.

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He told The Associated Press on Friday that viewers should expect little to change about the show, which airs live from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on weekdays.

The younger Robertson said he hopes to host politicians from both sides of the aisle, while focusing on news and other topics from a Christian perspective.

He said he always wanted the show to be a beacon of light of what can happen when people get together and say, Lets do some good in the world today.

Lets feed the poor," he continued. "Lets clothe the naked. Lets give shelter to people in need. When disasters strike, lets strike back with love and compassion.

___

This story has been corrected. Gordon's surname is Robertson, not Peterson.
OTTAWA - There's no definitive word on just how many people need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to reach herd immunity but, whatever it is, Canada's top doctor says the highly contagious Delta variant has set the goalpost even farther away.

Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam looks on during a technical briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic, in Ottawa, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. Tam says the Delta variant is moving the goal post on the rate of vaccination to reach herd immunity from COVID-19. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - There's no definitive word on just how many people need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to reach herd immunity but, whatever it is, Canada's top doctor says the highly contagious Delta variant has set the goalpost even farther away.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, has previously said she would like to see all eligible age groups at least 80 per cent fully vaccinated as soon as possible to fight the surge in COVID-19 cases.

As of the latest update, that's true for everyone over the age of 50, with people in their 40s close behind at 79 per cent.

"Delta variant, of course, being more transmissible has led to an increase in vaccine coverage level requirement to help move towards community immunity, or herd immunity," Tam said at a briefing Friday.

Herd immunity  when enough people have been vaccinated that COVID-19 can no longer thrive  has been described as the finish line for the pandemic: if only enough people get vaccinated, Canada could cross that line and life could return more or less to normal.

Tam suggested vaccination coverage may now need to be 80 per cent for the whole population, as opposed to just those who qualify for the vaccine.

While 81 per cent of those who qualify are fully vaccinated, Canada's total population is only about 70 per cent vaccinated. There's no vaccine currently approved for children under 12.

Public Health Ontario went even farther in a July evidence brief related to the province's reopening plans.

"The critical threshold for vaccination is now estimated to be at least 90 per cent of the Ontario population, and over 100 per cent of the vaccine-eligible population," Public Health Ontario reported.

Tam said the magic number will be different for each community based on how many people in the area have already contracted the virus and the density of the population.

Her message, as ever, is that the more people who get the shot the better.

"Reach for the stars, get to 100 per cent if you could, even though that seems like a stretch goal," Tam said. "That's what you need to do with a very transmissible variant."

The average weekly rate of new COVID-19 cases was 10 times higher among the unvaccinated compared to the fully vaccinated, Tam said. The weekly rate of hospitalizations was 38 times higher.

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Of those that are eligible for the shot, 18 to 39-year-olds are the least fully-vaccinated group in the country at only 70 per cent. But public health officials have seen a big uptick in recent weeks as vaccine passports have come into effect.

"At the end of the day I think it's about giving privileges to those who've made, I think, the right decision to get vaccinated," said Dr. Howard Njoo, Tam's deputy chief.

"I feel much more comfortable and safe knowing that everyone around me as well is taking the decision to get vaccinated and we're all not only protecting ourselves but protecting each other."

Between Aug. 21 and Sept. 18, a little more than one million people received their first dose of vaccine and 52 per cent of them were in the 18 to 39 age bracket.

 With files from Mia Rabson in Ottawa.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  The Biden administration on Friday urged a federal judge to block the nation's most restrictive abortion law, which has banned most abortions in Texas since early September and sent women racing to get care beyond the borders of the second-most populous state.

FILE- In this Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021, file photo, women protest against Texas' restrictive abortion law at the Capitol in Austin, Texas. A federal judge on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, will consider whether Texas can leave in place the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S., which since September has banned most abortions and sent women racing to get care beyond the borders of the nation's second-largest state. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  The Biden administration on Friday urged a federal judge to block the nation's most restrictive abortion law, which has banned most abortions in Texas since early September and sent women racing to get care beyond the borders of the second-most populous state.

But even if the law is put on hold, abortion services in Texas may not instantly resume because doctors still fear that they could be sued without a more permanent legal decision.

That worry underscores the durability of Senate Bill 8, which has already withstood a wave of challenges. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman of Austin, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, presided over a nearly three-hour hearing but did not say when he will rule.

The law bans abortions once cardiac activity is detected, which is usually around six weeks, before some women know they are pregnant. To enforce the law, Texas deputized private citizens to file lawsuits against violators and has entitled them to at least $10,000 in damages if successful.

The Biden administration says Texas has waged an attack on a womans constitutional right to abortion.

A state may not ban abortions at six weeks. Texas knew this, but it wanted a six-week ban anyway, so the state resorted to an unprecedented scheme of vigilante justice that was designed to scare abortion providers and others who might help women exercise their constitutional rights, Justice Department attorney Brian Netter told the court.

Anti-abortion demonstrators pray and protest outside of a Whole Women's Health of North Texas, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, in McKinney, Texas. A federal judge did not say when he would rule following a nearly three-hour hearing in Austin during which abortion providers sought to block the nation's most restrictive abortion law, which has banned most abortions in Texas since early September. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade)

So far, abortion providers trying to block the Texas law have been rejected at every turn. That makes the lawsuit filed by the Justice Department their best chance yet to deliver the first legal blow to the GOP-engineered restrictions, which were signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May and took effect Sept. 1.

Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Whole Woman's Health, said some of the 17 physicians at her four clinics are ready to resume normal abortion services if the law is put on hold. Preparations began this week when some doctors gave patients found to have cardiac activity information to comply with another restriction  requiring a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion  so that they would be ready to be called back.

Its not the hundreds of people weve had to turn away," Hagstrom Miller said in an interview. But there is a significant group of people who have said, Please, let me do whatever I can. Keep me on a list, and call me if you get an injunction.'"

But the majority of her physicians, Hagstrom Miller said, remain wary and fear lawsuits absent a permanent court ruling. Clinic staff are also worried. Of course, we understand that," she said.

Abortion providers say their fears have become reality in the short time the law has been in effect. Planned Parenthood says the number of patients from Texas at its Texas clinics decreased nearly 80% in the two weeks after the law took effect.

Some providers have described Texas clinics that are now in danger of closing while neighboring states struggle to keep up with a surge of patients who must drive hundreds of miles. Other women, they say, are being forced to carry pregnancies to term.

This is not some kind of vigilante scheme, said Will Thompson, defending the law for the Texas Attorney General's Office. This is a scheme that uses the normal, lawful process of justice in Texas.

If the Justice Department prevails, Texas officials would likely seek a swift reversal from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which previously allowed the restrictions to take effect.

The Texas law is just one that has set up the biggest test of abortion rights in the U.S. in decades, and it is part of a broader push by Republicans nationwide to impose new restrictions on abortion.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court begins a new term, which in December will include arguments in Mississippis bid to overturn 1973's landmark Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing a womans right to an abortion.

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Mississippi has told the court it should overrule Roe and the 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey that prevent states from banning abortion before viability, the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb, around 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Last month, the court did not rule on the constitutionality of the Texas law in allowing it to remain in place. But abortion providers took that 5-4 vote as an ominous sign about where the court might be heading on abortion after its conservative majority was fortified with three appointees of former President Donald Trump.

Ahead of the new Supreme Court term, Planned Parenthood on Friday released a report saying that if Roe v. Wade were overturned, 26 states are primed to ban abortion. This year alone, nearly 600 abortion restrictions have been introduced in statehouses nationwide, with more than 90 becoming law, according to Planned Parenthood.

Other states, mostly in the South, have passed similar laws that ban abortion within the early weeks of pregnancy, all of which judges have blocked. But Texas' version has so far outmaneuvered courts because it leaves enforcement to private citizens, not prosecutors, which critics say amounts to a bounty.

Texas officials argued in court filings this week that even if the law were put on hold temporarily, providers could still face the threat of litigation over violations that might occur between then and a permanent ruling.

At least one Texas abortion provider has admitted to violating the law and been sued  but not by abortion opponents. Former attorneys in Illinois and Arkansas say they instead sued a San Antonio doctor in hopes of getting a judge who would invalidate the law.
A group representing school board members around the country asked President Joe Biden on Thursday for federal assistance to investigate and stop threats made over policies including mask mandates, likening the vitriol to a form of domestic terrorism.

FILE  In this Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021 file photo, community members gather inside the Dr. Karen M. Trujillo Administration Complex to give public comment against masking policy at a Las Cruces Public Schools board meeting in Las Cruces, N.M. The nation's school boards are asking President Joe Biden for federal assistance to investigate and stop a growing number of threats made against their members, on Thursday, Sept. 30. (Miranda Cyr/The Las Cruces Sun News via AP, File)

A group representing school board members around the country asked President Joe Biden on Thursday for federal assistance to investigate and stop threats made over policies including mask mandates, likening the vitriol to a form of domestic terrorism.

The request by the National School Boards Association demonstrates the level of unruliness that has engulfed local education meetings across the country during the pandemic, with board members regularly confronted and threatened by angry protesters.

School board members are largely unpaid volunteers, parents and former educators who step forward to shape school policy, choose a superintendent and review the budget, but they have been frightened at how their jobs have suddenly become a culture war battleground. The climate has led a growing number to resign or decide against seeking reelection.

"Whatever you feel about masks, it should not reach this level of rhetoric," NSBA Interim Executive Director Chip Slaven told The Associated Press by phone.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said responsibility for protecting school boards falls largely to local law enforcement but "were continuing to explore if more can be done from across the administration."

"Obviously these threats to school board members is horrible. Theyre doing their jobs," she said during a press briefing.

The association asked for the federal government to get involved to investigate cases where threats or violence could be handled as violations of federal laws protecting civil rights. It also asked for the Justice Department, FBI, Homeland Security and Secret Service to help monitor threat levels and assess risks to students, educators, board members and school buildings.

"As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes," the association wrote.

The association represents more than 90,000 school board members in 14,000 public school districts.

The letter documents more than 20 instances of threats, harassment, disruption, and acts of intimidation in California, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Ohio and other states. It cites the September arrest of an Illinois man for aggravated battery and disorderly conduct for allegedly striking a school official at a meeting. In Michigan, a meeting was disrupted when a man performed a Nazi salute to protest masking.

"We are coming after you," a letter mailed to an Ohio school board member said, according to the group. "You are forcing them to wear maskfor no reason in this world other than control. And for that you will pay dearly."

It called the member "a filthy traitor."

Last week, a crowd of up to 200 protesters who banged on doors and shouted at police shut down a school board meeting in Coeur dAlene, Idaho, where members planned to consider a temporary COVID-19 mask mandate.

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At a U.S. Senate committee hearing on Thursday, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona decried the hostility against school board members and praised their "unwavering support" to reopen schools safely. He said the lack of civility in some meetings is disappointing and, in some places, it has been "very dangerous."

He made the comments in response to questions from Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., a former school board member who said contentious meetings are a part of civic engagement.

The threats have gone beyond board meetings.

The father of an Arizona elementary school student was arrested after he and two other men brought zip ties to the campus, threatening to make a "citizens arrest" on the school principal over a COVID-19 quarantine. In California, a parent barged into his daughters elementary school and punched a teacher in the face over mask rule.

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Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Aamer Madhani in Washington and Collin Binkley in Boston contributed to this report.
BERLIN (AP)  Environmentalists have chained themselves to giant excavators in an effort to halt the expansion of a vast open-pit coal mine in western Germany.

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A climate activist climbs his tree house near the Garzweiler open-cast coal mine in Luetzerath, western Germany, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. The village of Luetzerath, now almost entirely abandoned as the mine draws ever closer, will be the latest village to disappear as coal mining at the Garzweiler mine expands. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

BERLIN (AP)  Environmentalists have chained themselves to giant excavators in an effort to halt the expansion of a vast open-pit coal mine in western Germany.

More than 20 climate activists clambered onto the diggers in the Garzweiler lignite mine in the early hours of Friday. Eight have since been removed, police said.

Garzweiler, operated by utility giant RWE, has become a focus of protests by people who want Germany to stop extracting and burning coal as soon as possible.

Activists and local residents say expanding the mine runs counter to Germany's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Paris climate accord's target of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit).

They also oppose the destruction of several villages and woods to make way for the mine. Some activists were camped out in the hamlet of Luetzerath to block workers from felling surrounding trees in preparation for the mine expansion.

If (the expansion) happens, theres no chance of staying within 1.5 degrees, activist Alexandra Bruene of the environmental group All Villages Remain said in a statement.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  After eight years of planning and billions of dollars in spending, the Middle East's first world's fair opened Friday in Dubai, with hopes that the months-long extravaganza will draw both visitors and global attention to this desert-turned-dreamscape.

A woman carries the flag of the Expo Dubai 2020 among other national flags during the opening ceremony of the Dubai Expo 2020, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  After eight years of planning and billions of dollars in spending, the Middle East's first world's fair opened Friday in Dubai, with hopes that the months-long extravaganza will draw both visitors and global attention to this desert-turned-dreamscape.

The coronavirus pandemic pushed Expo 2020 back a year and may affect how many people flock to the United Arab Emirates. But the six-month-long exhibition still offers Dubai a momentous opportunity to showcase its unique East-meets-West appeal as a place where all are welcome for business.

Not long ago, the site of the 1,080 acre (438 hectare) Expo was barren desert. Now, it's a futuristic landscape buzzing with robots that bark automated orders at bare-faced visitors to mask up, a new metro station, multi-million dollar pavilions and so-called districts with names like sustainability and opportunity"  all built, like much of the Gulf, by low-paid migrant workers.

More than 190 nations are using their pavilions to spotlight their greatest tourist attractions, discoveries and ambitions. The American pavilion, paid for by the UAE after the U.S. could not raise the funds in time, boasts a replica of the Space X Falcon 9 rocket and takes visitors on a conveyor belt past multimedia infomercials for American inventions. It also displays a Quran that belonged to the nation's third president, Thomas Jefferson, as an example of how religious freedom is woven into the very fabric of American society.

China's vast, lantern-shaped pavilion focuses on the nation's space ambitions and future inventions, featuring a Transformer-like car that SAIC Motor hopes will function one day also as a submarine and helicopter.

Journalists arrive for visiting the Israeli pavilion during a media tour at the Dubai Expo in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. Delayed a year over the coronavirus pandemic, Dubai's Expo 2020 opens this Friday. It will put this city-state all-in on its bet of billions of dollars that the world's fair will boost its economy. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Draped over Italy's pavilion is 70 kilometers (40 miles) of rope made from 2 million plastic bottles. The main attraction, though, is a marble 3-D replica of Michelangelos biblical hero, David. The 5.2 meters (17 feet) high nude giant is not easily accessible  visitors must must enter separate floors of a building to view it at eye-level or peer up from its feet. Public nudity is outlawed in the UAE, where traditional Muslim norms largely prevail.

The UAE's falcon-shaped pavilion, by far the site's largest, takes visitors on a two-hour-long immersive experience through dunes of real orange sand and footage from the country's 50-year history.

Other attractions include an African food hall, a massive mirror-like fountain with silver cascades of water flowing back and forth, a recently excavated royal Egyptian mummy, concerts and performances from around the world, and the option to dine on a $500 three-course meal with glow-in-the-dark cuisine.

Artists perform during the opening ceremony of the Dubai Expo 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

As night fell and the call to prayer echoed musically through the grounds, pavilions came to life with lights, lasers and kaleidoscopic shows.

Isabel Fu, 50, said she flew in for Expo all the way from Beijing to see the kind of changes that well see in the future, the technology that makes us look forward to the next era. Upon her return to China, she faces 21 days of quarantine.

Since first making a splash in London in 1851, world fairs have long served as an opportunity for nations to meet, exchange ideas, showcase inventions, promote culture and build business ties.

A 3D re-production of Michelangelo's David is on display at the Italy's pavilion of the Dubai Expo 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

For more than a century, global exhibitions have captured the imagination and showcased some of humanitys most important innovations. The first world's fair held in the United States in 1876 debuted Alexander Graham Bells telephone, the typewriter, a mechanical calculator and Heinz Ketchup. One of its main buildings, Memorial Hall, is now a museum.

Other fairs introduced inventions like the sewing machine, the elevator, carbonated soda, the Ferris wheel and, in 1939 in New York, the television.

This year's Expo is unfolding as the virus continues to course across the world, with untold numbers still working and studying remotely  and connecting to the world virtually. It's unclear how many visitors Dubai can attract, and how much the Expo will stimulate its tourism-driven economy  especially in the blistering early autumn heat, which on Friday caused tempers to flare, some visitors to faint and most people to sweat through their shirts.

People visit an interior exhibition at the Japan pavilion during the first day of the Dubai Expo 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct, 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

We're dying! Humans can't tolerate this weather, exclaimed 35-year-old Warda Abadi from Saudi Arabia as she shepherded her limping mother into the shade.

To enter the Expo site, visitors must show a negative PCR test or proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

Dubai's ruler and the force behind the emirate's transformation, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, described Expo 2020 as a chance to showcase the best of human excellence.

A troop of performers dressed as jaguars pose near the water at the Brazil pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. After eight years of planning and billions of dollars in spending, the Middle East's first ever World Fair opened on Friday in Dubai, with hopes the months-long extravaganza draws both visitors and global attention to this desert-turned-dreamscape. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

It offers a platform to forge a united worldwide effort to build a more sustainable and prosperous future for all of mankind, he told guests at the Expo's opening ceremony.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince and de-facto ruler of the UAEs seat of power, Abu Dhabi, emphasized the ethos of this land as a meeting point for cultures and tolerance.

Whether Iran or Israel, every nation is welcome at Dubai's Expo. The space marked for Afghanistan's pavilion, however, appeared vacant weeks after the Taliban takeover of Kabul.

The United Arab Emirates' pavilion is seen at sunset at Expo 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. After eight years of planning and billions of dollars in spending, the Middle East's first ever World Fair opened on Friday in Dubai, with hopes the months-long extravaganza draws both visitors and global attention to this desert-turned-dreamscape. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

It makes me very proud to see so many different kinds of cultures, countries and traditions coming to my country for the first time, said Isa Nuaimi, a 25-year-old government pilot from the Emirati city of Al Ain.

Human Rights Watch, however, said that the UAE's efforts to promote itself as an open and tolerant country remain at odds with its human rights abuses, including the suppression of peaceful criticism, jailing of activists and pervasive government surveillance.

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The UAE has embarked on a decades-long effort to whitewash its reputation on the international stage, the rights group said.

The Expo site will attempt to dazzle visitors with a centerpiece dome, marketed as the worlds largest 360-degree projection screen.

Some world's fair structures remain iconic markers of the human journey and our industrial evolution. None more so than the Eiffel Tower, which was constructed in Paris, not only to be the tallest structure in the world at the time, but to serve as the entrance to the 1889 world's fair. The Space Needle in Seattle, Washington, built for the 1962 world's fair, also continues to enjoy global prominence.

While most fairs were held in Europe and the United States, none have been hosted in the Middle East until now.

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NEW ORLEANS (AP)  President Joe Biden's administration says it has followed a court order to schedule an offshore oil and gas lease sale for the Gulf of Mexico after the Democratic president's moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands was blocked by a judge.

NEW ORLEANS (AP)  President Joe Biden's administration says it has followed a court order to schedule an offshore oil and gas lease sale for the Gulf of Mexico after the Democratic president's moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands was blocked by a judge.

The sale will be livestreamed from New Orleans on Nov. 17, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced in a news release Thursday. Bidding will be only by mail; walk-in bids won't be accepted, it said.

The agency postponed lease sales scheduled in March to comply with Bidens executive order to combat climate change. Scientists urge immediate action to slash greenhouse emissions to avoid the worst consequences of global warming, including devastating storms, floods, wildfires and droughts.

But Louisiana and 12 other states sued, and in June a federal judge found that the government had omitted steps required for such actions. The administration said in August it would comply while appealing the judges order.

The Biden Harris Administration is continuing its comprehensive review of the deficiencies associated with its offshore and onshore oil and gas leasing programs, the bureau's statement said.

The sale will cover roughly 136,000 square miles (352,000 square kilometers) located from 3 miles to 231 miles (five to 370 kilometers) offshore in the Gulf of Mexico with water depths ranging from 9 feet to more than 11,115 feet (3 to 3,400 meters).

Less than 2% of available water bottom was leased in August 2020.

The agency said lease stipulations will protect biologically sensitive resources, mitigate potential adverse effects on protected species, and avoid potential conflicts between oil and gas development and other activities and users in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia joined Louisiana in challenging the lease sale suspension.

The scheduling is welcome news for the American worker and our national security, said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association.

The U.S. Gulf of Mexico supports more than 345,000 jobs, many of which are accessible, high-paying and cannot be easily substituted, and generates vital government revenues for conservation and recreation programs, he said.

And, he said, U.S. offshore oil and gas produces less carbon than imports that would be needed if U.S. wells all shut down.

Several environmental groups sued Interior Secretary Debra Haaland in August, trying to prevent the sale. The lawsuit, brought by Friends Of The Earth, Healthy Gulf, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, contends that the bureau didnt meet a legal requirement to carefully study the sales environmental impacts and substantially underestimated such effects..

Climate change is rapidly intensifying Gulf storms, fueling uncontrollable wildfires in the West and threatening numerous species with extinction, said Kristen Monsell, oceans program litigation director for the Center for Biological Diversity. We need to end offshore oil drilling, not burden future generations with this dirty and dangerous folly.
For months, Maria Cristina was hesitant about getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Her fears came from social media, where she heard ample amounts of misinformation about what was in the vaccine and what it could do to her.

FILE - In this April 26, 2021 file photo, a nursing student administers the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center at UNLV, in Las Vegas. Philanthropies are pouring millions into programs aimed at persuading Americans to get vaccinated for COVID-19. The money is being spent on community-based organizations, local social media influencers and other things aiming to dispel myths and misinformation. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

For months, Maria Cristina was hesitant about getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Her fears came from social media, where she heard ample amounts of misinformation about what was in the vaccine and what it could do to her.

The 35-year-old Guatemalan immigrant was confused until the day she called the local Latino Community Center in Pittsburgh to ask how she could better protect herself and her four kids, one of whom has cancer. A staffer there encouraged her to get vaccinated and shared with her a story about how COVID-19 affected one family: everyone in the family got the virus, they told her, except for one person  the one who was vaccinated. Cristina says that story helped her decide to take the shot.

Its the best decision to make to protect your family, she said.

Philanthropies hope to replicate stories like Cristina's by pouring millions into programs aiming to persuade vaccine-hesitant Americans to get the shots. Most new infections of the virus are among unvaccinated Americans  nearly 23% of all U.S. adults. They've refused to budge, despite pleas from officials and offers of lottery prizes and other gifts.

The center that helped Cristina make her decision is one of the more than 150 community-based organizations funded by the CDC Foundation, a charity created by Congress in 1992 to help the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advance its mission. Since June, it has pushed $32.7 million into local organizations in 38 states to promote the shots.

A large chunk of the money came from the CDC itself. Private donors, including Googles charitable arm and other foundations have also contributed, but fundraising hasn't been easy. The CDC Foundation doesnt have an endowment so it depends on donors, many of whom stopped giving when case numbers fell in late spring and early summer, said Judy Monroe, the foundations CEO and president. The group has been scrambling to get more resources to areas with high virus infection rates as case numbers climbed back up.

We need to reach those communities really quickly, Monroe said.

When misinformation swept through some conservative circles, the Helmsley Charitable Trust began running TV and radio ads in rural counties across seven states encouraging people to take the shot. Two of its targets  North Dakota and Wyoming  have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.

Unfortunately, its been so politicized and were seeing politics come into something thats a public health decision, said Walter Panzirer, a Helmsley trustee and the grandson of Leona Helmsley, the late hotel magnate who established the charity.

Ive heard many people in rural America say that they dont want their daughters to get the shots because theyre worried about fertility problems -- truly misinformation, Panzirer said. So were trying to correct that... and really tell the story that it is a safe and effective shot.

More than $1 million has been spent on these ads, one of which shows vaccinated people having a good time eating at restaurants and going to a concert. Another one asks Americans to get vaccinated so heroes, like doctors and other frontline workers, can avoid a big, variant-induced health crisis.

Foundations are taking different approaches since theres no recipe for getting someone to change their mind on this issue. However, a July report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows conversations with family and friends have played a major role in changing attitudes. It found 17% of adults who, in January, were vaccine-hesitant  saying they either did not want to get the shot, wanted to wait or said would only do it if it was required  were persuaded to get vaccinated by a family member. Five percent say they were persuaded by a friend.

Christienne Alexander, a medical doctor who teaches at Florida State Universitys College of Medicine, says sometimes, the best approach is a simple conversation where the person is given accurate information and space to think about what was said. And then, revisiting the topic later.

Those conversations are happening in the Bronx, where the group Bronx Rising Initiative begins a typical day on their street outreach program by stationing their van in highly concentrated areas of the New York City borough. Then, they walk around, asking anyone they find if they're vaccinated, or not.

Their conversations typically begin with street vendors, said Jason Autar, the groups chief operating officer. He often listens as some people express their fears and worries about the vaccine, some of which comes from misinformation spread on social media. He then attempts to poke holes in their argument, and offer them a $50 or $100 gift card as an incentive to get the shot, which could be administered on the spot.

It ultimately comes down to trust, and what institutions theyre going to trust, Autar said. Health care hasnt necessarily been prioritized in this borough. And then all of a sudden the government is coming in, or institutions are coming in saying you need to get vaccinated. Theres going to be a disconnect there.

This is going to take time, he added. Theres not a silver bullet.

To date, the New York-based nonprofit the Oyate Group has poured $2 million into the initiative, which estimates about 3,000 people have been vaccinated after speaking with a member of their team about the shot. Autar says they've also been partnering with schools and community centers to tap into trusted community messengers during their vaccine outreaches.

The Knight Foundation has also focused on finding trusted voices, giving the city of San Jose, California, $125,000 to hire local social media influencers to dispel vaccine myths. Similar work is being done through grantees of The New York Community Trust and The Rockefeller Foundation, which has poured $33.5 million into virus-related initiatives since April.

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About $20 million of that is supporting community-based organizations in five major U.S. cities, aiming to help them tackle misinformation and establish better access to vaccines in communities where historic mistrust in the healthcare system is high. The rest will be used to help dispel confusion globally.

Estelle Willie, the foundations director of health policy and communications, says the misinformation-oriented funding is necessary because we don't have the tools to counter it effectively on a global scale.

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An earlier version of this article improperly categorized references to misinformation and has been clarified.

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The Associated Press receives support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
As an immigrant to Canada who came from Argentina about seven years ago, Pablo Listingart has gained an oversized level of empathy for the challenges Indigenous people face in this country.

As an immigrant to Canada who came from Argentina about seven years ago, Pablo Listingart has gained an oversized level of empathy for the challenges Indigenous people face in this country.

Hes been operating a non-profit free computer programming micro-learning service called ComIT primarily targeted at new Canadians for more than five years with the support of $1 million from Western Economic Diversification and participation from employers across the country.

Last year, he secured $250,000 in funding from Google Canada through its philanthropic division to focus on Indigenous students in a program called Recoding Futures that includes a free one-month introduction to programming courses and a three-month more intensive course (also free) to some of the graduates of the introductory course which includes assistance in resume and interviewing skills.

Prior to Recoding Futures, ComIT delivered its courses to new Canadians in person across the country.

But because of the pandemic and the programs desire to be accessible to Indigenous youth across the country, the instruction would be offered online.

Listingart knew there would be issues with availability of good internet service, especially in northern and remote communities, but he wasnt prepared for how bad it was.

"I was worried about connectivity issues," he said. "I have some Indigenous students on reserves who sent me speed tests for their internet connections and the speeds were similar to what I experienced in Buenos Aires in the 1990s."

ComIT figured out all sorts of workarounds so that students located in broadband deserts could still enrol in the program. Every class is recorded and then emailed to students an hour after the class is over. Messaging protocols were set up so that students could reach out to instructors at any time of the day or night. Instead of linking into the class over Zoom, they could use their mobile phones and call in and then watch a recorded version of the class later.

He understood that with poor internet service people would get discouraged and frustrated.

He said the lack of connectivity in the community goes a long way to understanding why Indigenous people are underrepresented in IT.

"When people talk about the digital divide  and we should be talking more about that  people think about whether or not an individual has digital skills," he said. "Of course there is going to be a digital divide if the infrastructure is not there to support their will to learn."

But through the support of organizations like the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Indspire and the local professional Indigenous engagement service Amik, the program has been over-subscribed with more than 300 students having completed the one-month course and about 60 currently in the three-month program.

Sherman Kong, the CEO of Amik who has a lengthy history of successfully recruiting Indigenous candidates for positions with CN Rail, Great-West Life, Assiniboine Credit Union, Johnston Group, PCL Construction and Air Canada, said it looks forward to working on more creative initiatives with ComIT that advance the socio-economic prosperity of Indigenous people.

"Over the past year, Amik Inc. has developed a working relationship with ComIT and helped promote their courses in the Indigenous community," he said. "Our organizations share a common value of overcoming employment barriers to ensure Indigenous people have every opportunity to pursue a variety of career paths and participate in an economy which has been historically unwelcoming to them."

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Mike DeGagne, president and CEO of Indspire, calls the program "a ground-breaking way to assist First Nations, Inuit, and Metis learners as they overcome historical obstacles."

The hope is that the graduates of the one-month introductory course would then go on to more intense training offered by ComIT or elsewhere. But Listingart said there has already been unexpected outcomes that are surprisingly positive.

"The thing that started happening is that so far one third who finished the one-month course have used that introductory knowledge in programming to actually build websites for things they want to do and to help their community," he said.

ComIT has a stellar track record of assisting graduates of more intense courses in finding employment. Last year, 300 graduates from about 15 courses found work and Listingart figures they should hit the same number this year. Some of them will be Indigenous students from the Recoding Futures program.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP)  Regulators want the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice to pay a penalty and follow through on a promise to fix environmental problems at eastern Kentucky coal mines.

FILE - In this March 12, 2020, file photo, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice speaks during a news conference at the State Capitol in Charleston, W.Va. Justice said that 745 of the record 893 people hospitalized, or 85%, for the coronavirus on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021, are unvaccinated. If you have chosen to be unvaccinated, in my opinion, it was a bad choice, Justice said. (F. Brian Ferguson/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP, File)

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP)  Regulators want the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice to pay a penalty and follow through on a promise to fix environmental problems at eastern Kentucky coal mines.

The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet asked a circuit judge this week to enforce an agreement over reclamation violations against Justice; his son, Jay Justice; and several family coal companies. It included a $3 million penalty, plus interest, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

In a motion filed in Franklin County, the Kentucky agency wants to revoke five permits at Justice-company mines and seize money that had previously been posted for reclamation. The motion seeks to force the companies to fix the site violations and block any new or amended permits until then.

The Justices and their companies have been provided many second chances to meet their permit obligations and time and again have failed, the motion said.

Lexington attorney Richard Getty, who represents the family, said the states request was unnecessarily severe.

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Justice has said many of the violations were inherited when he acquired the properties.

The companies admitted to hundreds of reclamation violations in eastern Kentucky in 2014 and agreed to monitor water quality, fix drainage problems, stabilize landslides, clean out sediment ponds and eliminate highwalls at dozens of mines.

After the companies missed a deadline to fix the issues, the state sued in 2015 to enforce the earlier agreement. A new settlement was reached in 2019 setting deadlines to complete reclamation work at five mines, along with other requirements.

Last year, Justice's companies agreed to pay more than $5 million for thousands of mine safety violations in a civil case brought by prosecutors in Virginia on behalf of the U.S. Department of Labor and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Justice blamed a bankrupt United Kingdom bank in a court filing earlier this year for fraudulently inducing him into personally guaranteeing $700 million in loans that were taken out by his companies.

The Republican governor, who Forbes recently took off its list of billionaires because of mounting debt, also revealed in a separate lawsuit that he is personally on the hook for $368 million to Virginia-based Carter Bank & Trust.
NEW YORK (AP)  An environmental lawyer who waged a decadeslong campaign to hold Chevron accountable for oil pollution in the rainforests of Ecuador was sentenced Friday to six months in jail for violating a federal judges orders related to his fight against the energy giant.

NEW YORK (AP)  An environmental lawyer who waged a decadeslong campaign to hold Chevron accountable for oil pollution in the rainforests of Ecuador was sentenced Friday to six months in jail for violating a federal judges orders related to his fight against the energy giant.

U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska, who decided the sentence after a criminal contempt trial earlier this year in New York, said Steven Donziger's commitment to his Ecuadorian clients and their cause did not justify his defiance of court orders.

Mr. Donziger's offenses are extremely serious, Preska said during the sentencing hearing in Manhattan federal court. Given Mr. Donziger's repeated, willful refusal to obey court orders, it seems that only the proverbial 2-by-4 between the eyes will instill in him any respect for the law.

The prison term, if it stands on a likely appeal, will be the culmination of a long downfall for Donziger, who is viewed as a hero by some environmentalists for his work on behalf of the people of Ecuador.

He has already been under house arrest in New York for more than two years and been disbarred for his actions in the case. At Friday's court hearing, he told the judge that he was innocent, and that he wasn't sorry.

Ive been fighting through the law to help the people of Ecuador for almost 30 years, he said. For that reason, I cannot today express remorse for actions that I maintain are ethical and legal and that I am appealing.

Donziger and other attorneys sued Texaco in 1993 on behalf of 30,000 farmers and Indigenous people from Ecuador's Amazon region over pollution and health impacts from oil production. Chevron became the defendant when it bought Texaco.

Chevron didn't dispute that the pollution happened, but says Ecuador's state oil company, Petroecuador, was primarily responsible for the damage and that Texaco was released from liability after a $40 million cleanup.

A court in Ecuador ordered Chevron to pay $9.5 billion, but that judgment was later invalidated in New York by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who ruled in 2014 that it was obtained through fraud, bribery, witness tampering and other misconduct.

Kaplan also said Donziger was guilty of obstructing justice, in part on the testimony of a judge in Ecuador who said he was bribed.

Preska ruled in July that Donziger was guilty of criminal contempt of court for defying Kaplan's orders in the case, including refusing to turn over documents and electronic devices that the court sought in order to determine whether he had been profiting from the judgment against Chevron, which he is barred from doing.

Mr. Donziger's conduct was a pattern of contumacious behavior that bore out over the better part of a decade, Preska said. In our system of laws, it was a most serious offense."

Donziger argued that he delayed turning over the materials while appealing Kaplan's orders, citing reasons including attorney-client confidentiality.

Donziger, 60, will remain on home confinement if his lawyers file a request within a week for an expedited appeal to stay out while he appeals his conviction.

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Donziger asked to be released. He said his confinement has exacted a high cost on his wife and his son, who just started high school. He said his son has suffered quietly for a good 15% of his life as a collateral consequence of my house arrest.

He was disappointed by the sentence, defense lawyer Ron Kuby said after the hearing.

But hes been fighting this for 30 years" in many different courts, Kuby said, "and so he continues to fight.

In court, Kuby asked Preska to view the proceedings through eyes of Ecuadorian villagers harmed by oil drilling, but Preska said the contempt case was not about pollution in Ecuador but only about Mr. Donziger's disobedience of Judge Kaplans orders.

Rita Glavin, the special prosecutor for the case, said, Mr. Donziger knew what he was doing every step of the way. His conduct was not appropriate, and it was certainly not ethical.

A message seeking comment was sent to Chevron.
A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

FILE - This 2020 electron microscope image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - Rocky Mountain Laboratories shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles which cause COVID-19, isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells cultured in a lab. On Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly asserting people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 carry a heavier viral load if infected with the disease than those who are unvaccinated. Scientists have found that vaccinated people who get so-called breakthrough infections can carry about the same amount of coronavirus as those who did not receive the shots, not more. (NIAID-RML via AP)

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

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Vaccinated people do not carry more coronavirus than the unvaccinated

CLAIM: People who are vaccinated against COVID-19 carry a heavier viral load if infected with the disease than those who are unvaccinated.

THE FACTS: Scientists have found that vaccinated people who get so-called breakthrough infections can carry about the same amount of coronavirus as those who did not receive the shots, not more. Social media users are misrepresenting comments made by Dr. Leana Wen, former Baltimore health commissioner, to make the false claim. One widely circulating post falsely states, Dr. Leana Wen, one of the MSMs biggest lap dogs, is confirming what has been said by us all along. The vaccinated carry a heavier viral load. In the image, a syringe is used rather than the word vaccinated. The post supports the false claim using a short clip from a 25-minute interview Wen did with the news program Democracy Now! In the segment, she discusses the delta variant and the new issues surrounding it. We know that a person infected with the delta variant carries a thousand times the viral load than someone infected with the previous variant, Wen said in the full clip. What that means is the person can transmit a lot more virus. But the post leaves that information out, using only a portion of the video where Wen discusses how the vaccinated can also spread the disease. Those who are vaccinated, we now know based on the CDC, are now able with the delta variant, because they carry so much more virus, they could transmit it to their unvaccinated family members, Wen said in the edited clip. I, for example, even though Im fully vaccinated, my children are not because theyre too young to be vaccinated. So I need to be careful for my children because of all the unvaccinated people around us. Previously, vaccinated people who got infected were thought to have low levels of virus and to be unlikely to pass it to others. But, according to AP reporting, more recent data shows that is not the case with the delta variant. In July, after the delta variant began spreading more widely, the CDC highlighted a study that found that the vaccinated can carry as much of the coronavirus as the unvaccinated. According to the CDC, the greatest risk of coronavirus transmission is among the unvaccinated, who are much more likely to get infected, and therefore transmit the virus.

 Associated Press writer Terrence Fraser in New York contributed this report.

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No truth to claims that 86K voters dont appear to exist in Arizona

CLAIM: A cybersecurity firm hired by Arizonas Republican-controlled Senate to review 2020 election results in the states largest county was unable to identify 86,391 voters, showing that these voters dont appear to exist.

THE FACTS: A Sept. 24 report that spun falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County reverberated online this week, as social media users took the reports claims out of context to spread false claims of their own. In one section of the report, Cyber Ninjas explained that it checked voter information in the countys Final Voted File against a private commercial identity database called Personator, by the company Melissa. It said reviewers could not find the identity records of 86,391 voters in Personator, but acknowledged that this didnt prove any of the voters were not real. It is expected that most if not all of these individuals are in fact real people with a limited public record and commercial presence, the report said. Conservative websites stretched the claim further, holding up that report section to suggest thousands of votes were cast by fake people. AZ Audit Could Not Find the Identity of 86,391 Voters  They Dont Appear to Exist, read one widely shared headline. The claim misrepresents the information in the Personator data tool, which is private, doesnt belong to the government and does not include all voters, according to Greg Brown, Melissas vice president of global marketing. Brown said the company estimates its database includes about 80% of U.S. adults. It is continually edited with opt-out requests from law enforcement officials and others, he said. Being absent from the Personator data tool is not an indicator that an individual does not exist, Brown said. The AP has debunked several other erroneous claims relating to the review that spread on social media, including the false claim that the verified and approved stamp that is supposed to be used after signatures are verified on mailed ballot envelopes was actually pre-printed on the envelopes. County election officials and an election services firm that works with the county explained that the scans of the envelopes being referenced were captured in binary format to prevent the file from being too large, which makes it appear that the stamp is behind an arrow pointing to the signature box in the scanned image, when it is not.

 Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed this report, with additional reporting from Associated Press writer Angelo Fichera in Philadelphia.

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Mileage tax study, not actual mileage tax, proposed in infrastructure bill

CLAIM: President Joe Biden has called for a driving tax that is estimated to be 8 cents per mile.

THE FACTS: Biden has not proposed that tax. As members of Congress mull a bipartisan, $1 trillion infrastructure bill that was approved by the Senate in August, social media users are misrepresenting one aspect of the massive legislation. An image repeatedly shared on Facebook shows a screenshot of a Newsmax report on Biden tax increases that refers to a driving tax. The screenshot shows bullets saying per-mile user fee, estimated to be 8 cents per mile, and amounts vary depending on vehicles. Text above the screenshot reads: Just to put this in perspective, if you drive 26,000 miles X 0.08 per mile = $2,080.00. (now get mad). But the Biden administration has not proposed such a mileage tax, as the image falsely suggests. What has been proposed is a pilot program that would study the mechanics of such a tax, said Andy Winkler, director of infrastructure projects at the Bipartisan Policy Center. That program  a National motor vehicle per-mile user fee pilot  is included in the infrastructure package still before Congress. It is not a tax, it is not on everybody and it is voluntary, Winkler said. The idea, he said, is that volunteers with passenger and commercial vehicles across the country would participate in the program that would provide insights into how such a per-mile fee could be collected. Such a tax has been weighed as a potential replacement for the gas tax, he said. Likewise, Ulrik Boesen, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, said in an email the purpose of this program is to study (vehicle miles traveled) taxes to understand how they could work. The proposal for the pilot program also does not include an 8 cents per mile rate, or any rate for that matter, Boesen said. Its unclear why that specific rate was referenced. An inquiry to Newsmax about its report was not returned.

 Associated Press writer Angelo Fichera in Philadelphia contributed this report.

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Walmart is not requiring customers to be vaccinated

CLAIM: Walmart recently announced it will require customers in its stores to be vaccinated for COVID-19 starting Nov. 1.

THE FACTS: TikTok videos and a fake press release image circulated online this week with the false claim that Walmart was planning a vaccine requirement for its in-store customers. So Walmart came out and said the other day that by November 1, anybody who is not vaccinated will not be allowed to shop in a Walmart supermarket, a man told the camera in one widely shared TikTok video. Social media users across platforms also shared a fake press release from Walmart of Canada, which featured the Walmart logo alongside the message Proof of Vaccination Required. Walmart spokesperson Charles Crowson told the AP, That claim is false. Walmart Canada also confirmed the claims are false with a statement posted in multiple social media comments. This information is not true, the statement read. Customers do not have to show proof of vaccination to shop at our stores. We continue to work with governments across the country and are following required restrictions. A search of Walmarts public social media accounts and news releases found the company has not announced any requirement for customers to get vaccinated.

 Ali Swenson

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Michael Baden did not perform Gabby Petito autopsy

CLAIM: Dr. Michael Baden was the medical examiner for Gabby Petitos autopsy and also served in the same role for President John F. Kennedy, George Floyd, Jeffrey Epstein, Martin Luther King Jr. and Phil Spector.

THE FACTS: Baden, a former New York City chief medical examiner and forensic pathologist known for investigating prominent and controversial cases, did not perform the autopsy of Petito, a 22-year-old woman who was killed while on a cross-country road trip with her boyfriend, nor did he serve as the medical examiner for the other cases. In the weeks since Petito was reported missing, a number of theories surrounding her disappearance and death have circulated online. Social media posts falsely alleging her autopsy was performed by Baden gained popularity after he spoke about Petitos case on Fox News on Sept. 21. Some social media users sharing the claim have baselessly suggested Baden has been involved in coverup schemes, including in the deaths of Kennedy, King and Epstein. However, Baden did not perform those autopsies, nor did he perform Petitos. In his Fox News appearance, Baden described how autopsies are performed and explained that insects present on Petitos body could help investigators determine her time and place of death. Baden did not suggest he was involved with the proceedings. Brent Blue, the coroner in Teton County, Wyoming, identified Petitos remains and determined she was a homicide victim. Blue has not disclosed a cause of death pending final autopsy results. Petitos body was found Sept. 18 near an undeveloped camping area in remote northern Wyoming along the border of Grand Teton National Park. Authorities are still searching for her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, who has been named a person of interest in the case and charged with unauthorized use of a debit card. The incorrect assertion that Baden performed Epsteins autopsy has been circulating since 2019, but he just attended it as an independent observer at the request of Epsteins lawyers. Early in his career, Baden was top pathologist for a congressional committee probing the Kennedy and King killings, though he didnt perform those autopsies either. He made a name for himself testifying in high-profile cases, including for the defense in O.J. Simpsons 1995 murder trial, and for record producer Phil Spector in his first murder trial in the 2003 death of actress Lana Clarkson. But different medical examiners were tasked with performing the official autopsies for the murder victims in those cases. More recently, Baden performed private autopsies in the police killings of Michael Brown and George Floyd.

 Associated Press writer Sophia Tulp in Atlanta contributed this report.

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Canadian health officials remarks about COVID-19 misrepresented online

CLAIM: Albertas top doctor said that if youre feeling unwell and you dont have a COVID-19 test, youre still counted as a positive case.

Ready, Pet, Go! Leesa Dahl looks at everything to do with our furry, fuzzy, feathered, fishy (and more!) pet friends. Arrives in your inbox each Monday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

THE FACTS: Posts online are misrepresenting comments made by Alberta's chief medical officer for health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw. During a Sept. 23 news conference, Hinshaw was answering questions around how to manage outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools. Hinshaw was asked by a reporter to explain why parents dont have the right to know if there are COVID cases in their childs school. Hinshaw responded that because the current framework in schools does not require mandatory quarantine or close contact tracing for respiratory illnesses, disclosure of a students positive COVID-19 test would violate privacy rules. She said schools are using the same outbreak protocols for all cases of respiratory illnesses, regardless of whether there is a known COVID-19 diagnosis. If individuals choose to not get tested for COVID but are home with an illness, they are now counted in the list as now being part of that outbreak. It is less dependent on needing a test to be a part of identifying where there is an issue, she said in the clip being shared online. We are working with education to determine if there are any adjustments that need to be made to this framework. Some social media users shared the brief clip without making it clear that she was referring to school protocols for tracking respiratory illness in general, not official COVID-19 case counts. Posts online falsely claimed the clip showed Alberta would now count anyone who feels unwell as a positive COVID-19 case. That report is false, Tom McMillan, assistant director of communications for Alberta Health, said in an email. Dr. Hinshaw was simply referring to outbreak management protocols in school settings, where all respiratory viruses are treated similarly by the current protocols in place, which helps reduce the chance of onward spread. McMillan said those staying home from school are not counted automatically as positive COVID-19 cases. All cases reported in the province are those that are confirmed COVID-19 cases or those whove been tested and are awaiting results, he said. The posts online are a part of a broader conspiracy theory that claims that COVID-19 case numbers are being inflated around the globe, which experts have repeatedly debunked.

 Associated Press writer Beatrice Dupuy in New York contributed this report.

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MOBILE, Ala. (AP)  An Alabama woman whose 9-month-old daughter died has filed suit against the hospital where she was born claiming it did not disclose that its computer systems had been crippled by a cyberattack, which resulted in diminished care that resulted in the baby's death.

MOBILE, Ala. (AP)  An Alabama woman whose 9-month-old daughter died has filed suit against the hospital where she was born claiming it did not disclose that its computer systems had been crippled by a cyberattack, which resulted in diminished care that resulted in the baby's death.

Springhill Medical Center was deep in the midst of a ransomware attack when Nicko Silar was born July 17, 2019, and the resulting failure of electronic devices meant a doctor could not properly monitor the child's condition during delivery, according to the lawsuit by Teiranni Kidd, the child's mother.

Left with severe brain injuries and other problems, the baby died last year after months of intensive care at another hospital.

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The lawsuit, initially filed in Mobile County in 2019 while Nicko was still alive, was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

The malpractice lawsuit, which seeks an unspecified amount of money from the hospital and Dr. Katelyn Braswell Parnell, who delivered Nicko, contends Springhill did not reveal the severity of the cyberattack publicly or to Kidd. The woman would have gone to a different and safer hospital for labor and delivery had she known what was going on, it claims.

Springhill has denied wrongdoing and asked a judge to dismiss the most serious part of the lawsuit, which contends officials conspired to publicly create a false, misleading, and deceptive narrative about the cyberattack in a scheme that made the child's delivery unsafe.

The hospital claimed any blame lies with Parnell, who was fully aware of the inaccessibility of the relevant systems, including those in the labor and delivery unit, and yet determined that (Kidd) could safely deliver her at Springhill. Under Alabama law, the hospital did not have any legal duty to provide Kidd with details of the cyberattack, the hospital argued.

Parnell and her medical group, Bay Area Physicians for Women, denied she did anything that hurt Nicko or caused the child's injuries and death.

Springhill released a public statement about the cyberattack the day before the child was born saying staff "has continued to safely care for our patients and will continue to provide the high quality of service that our patients deserve and expect, WKRG-TV reported at the time.
Foxconn Technology Group, the worlds largest electronics maker, has a deal to buy a huge auto assembly plant in Ohio from startup electric truck maker Lordstown Motors, the companies announced Thursday.

FILE - In this June 22, 2021, file photo, a mural is displayed on the wall outside the Lordstown Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio. Foxconn Technology Group, the worlds largest electronics maker, has a deal to buy a huge auto assembly plant in Ohio from startup electric truck maker Lordstown Motors, the companies announced Thursday, Sept. 30. (AP Photo/David Dermer, File)

Foxconn Technology Group, the worlds largest electronics maker, has a deal to buy a huge auto assembly plant in Ohio from startup electric truck maker Lordstown Motors, the companies announced Thursday.

The agreement stands to give Taiwan-based Foxconn, best known for making Apple iPhones, an entry into the growing electric vehicle market, a move it has been looking at for months.

It also brings much-needed funding to struggling Lordstown Motors, which has been under increasing scrutiny over its lack of orders and said last month that it couldnt guarantee that it will last through the year.

The two companies announced a nonbinding agreement to negotiate a deal under which Lordstown would sell the former General Motors plant in Ohio near Youngstown, excluding some assets, for $230 million.

Foxconn will also buy about $50 million of Lordstown Motors stock, which rose more than 8% in Thursday's regular-session trading but is still down 60% for the year. It rose another 7% after hours.

Foxconn in March said it was considering making electric vehicles in either Mexico or at its highly anticipated Wisconsin plant, which was first announced in 2017 and has since been scaled back.

Company Chairman Young Liu said at the time that Foxconn wants to take 10% of the market share of electric vehicles by making entire vehicles or components.

Then in May, Foxconn and Stellantis, the worlds 4th-largest automaker formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Peugeot, announced theyre developing a jointly operated automotive supplier focusing on technology to make vehicles more connected.

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The agreement with Lordstown gives Foxconn a sprawling manufacturing site where GM built cars for more than 50 years before closing the plant in 2019. At its peak, the factory was home to roughly 10,000 workers.

Lordstown promised to revive the plant after acquiring it in 2019 and had planned to begin production of its marquee Endurance pickup truck in September. Its investors include GM, which took a 5% stake.

But Lordstown has struggled to raise money, gone through management shakeups and faced increasing scrutiny from federal regulators.

The fledging automaker's top two executives stepped down in June amid doubts over the number of orders placed for the Endurance. In July, the company acknowledged receiving two subpoenas from federal regulators and also that prosecutors in New York have opened an investigation into the company.

The Securities and Exchange Commission asked in a pair of subpoenas for documents related to the companys merger with DiamondPeak, a special purpose acquisition company.

After the company acknowledged that it had no firm orders for its vehicles, it said that the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York was investigating these matters.
DENVER  At least 92% of Denvers municipal employees were vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Friday, a day after the citys vaccine mandate took effect in a bid to slow the spread of the virus during the fall and winter, according to a review of city compliance data.

Tourists wearing face masks view from an observation deck at the Kuala Lumpur Tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. Public recreational parks were allowed to reopen for leisure activities under Malaysia's National Recovery Plan, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic restrictions. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

DENVER  At least 92% of Denvers municipal employees were vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Friday, a day after the citys vaccine mandate took effect in a bid to slow the spread of the virus during the fall and winter, according to a review of city compliance data.

The employee vaccination rate is higher than Denvers latest overall vaccination rate of 76% and the statewide rate of 70%.

Employees were required to either prove they were vaccinated or obtain an exemption to the mandate by the end of Thursday or face possible termination.

According to city data, 98.6% of its current 10,869 full-time employees complied with the mandate, either by being vaccinated or receiving an exemption. So far, 652 workers have been exempted, about 6% of the workforce, while another 14 exemption requests were still pending.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

 California to require school children get vaccines, once age approved

Sri Lankan men drink tea next to a roadside food stall after easing of restrictions that were imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. Sri Lanka lifted a six-week lockdown Friday as COVID-19 cases and deaths decline but will restrict people's movement for work and obtaining essentials only which are running short in the island country amid economic worries. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

 Merck says experimental pill cuts effects of COVID-19 hospitalizations, deaths

 Justice Kavanaugh tests positive for virus, has no symptoms

 Foundations aim to persuade Americans to get vaccinated

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See all of AP's pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

HARTFORD, Conn. - A retired Connecticut physician and surgeon voluntarily surrendered her license to practice medicine on Friday to the Department of Public Health after being accused of providing fraudulent medical exemption forms through the mail.

FILE - This Dec.18, 2014, file photo, shows the Merck logo on a stained glass panel at a Merck company building in Kenilworth, N.J. Merck & Co. announced Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, that its experimental COVID-19 pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus and that it would soon ask health officials in the U.S. and around the world to authorize its use. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)

Dr. Sue Mcintosh had her license suspended last week by the Connecticut Medical Examining Board during an emergency hearing. A full hearing on the merits of the case was scheduled for Oct. 5.

State officials, who had received an anonymous complaint about the doctor, allege Mcintosh provided an unknown number of blank, signed forms exempting people from the COVID-19 and other vaccines, as well as mandatory mask-wearing and routine COVID testing to people who sent her a self-addressed envelope. Mcintosh, who hadnt treated the patients, signed a letter included in the packet of bogus forms with the phrase Let freedom ring!

Mcintosh did not respond to a request for comment.

Christopher Boyle, a spokesperson for DPH, said agency officials are considering whether to refer the case to state and federal law enforcement entities.

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MINNEAPOLIS  A decline in COVID-19 cases across the United States over the past several weeks has given overwhelmed hospitals some relief, but administrators are bracing for yet another possible surge as cold weather drives people indoors.

Health experts say the fourth wave of the pandemic has peaked overall in the U.S., particularly in the Deep South, where hospitals were stretched to the limit weeks ago. But many Northern states are still struggling with rising cases, and whats ahead for winter is far less clear.

Unknowns include how flu season may strain already depleted hospital staffs and whether those who have refused to get vaccinated will change their minds.

This undated image provided by Merck & Co. shows their new antiviral medication. Pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. announced Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, that its experimental COVID-19 pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus and that it would soon ask health officials in the U.S. and around the world to authorize its use. (Merck & Co. via AP)

An estimated 70 million eligible Americans remain unvaccinated, providing kindling for the highly contagious delta variant.

If youre not vaccinated or have protection from natural infection, this virus will find you, warned Mike Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesotas Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

Nationwide, the number of people now in the hospital with COVID-19 has fallen to somewhere around 75,000 from over 93,000 in early September. New cases are on the downswing at about 112,000 per day on average, a drop of about one-third over the past 2 1/2 weeks.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala.  Amid a national debate over the use of pandemic relief funds, Alabama lawmakers swiftly approved a plan Friday to tap $400 million from the American Rescue Plan to help build two super-size prisons, brushing off criticism from congressional Democrats that the money was not intended for such projects.

In a bipartisan vote that brought few dissents, the Alabama Senate voted 29-2 to approve the $1.3 billion prison construction plan, and 30-1 to steer $400 million of the states $2.1 billion from the rescue funds to pay for it.

With legislative leaders standing behind her, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bills into law. Republican Sen. Greg Albritton said state officials are confident they can legally use the pandemic funds, and said the construction to replace many existing prisons will go a long way to addressing the states longstanding problems in prisons.

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A woman receives Pfizer vaccine jab from a healthcare worker during the inaugural vaccination weekend drive in Katlehong, east of Johannesburg, South Africa Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. The aim of the vaccination drive is to mobilise citizens and people living in South Africa to get vaccinated as a means to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

PHOENIX  Arizonas reported COVID-19 death toll has passed the grim milestone of 20,000 amid the states third virus surge.

The latest surge has started easing but continues to strain hospitals. The state reported 55 additional deaths as well as over 3,600 additional confirmed cases Friday. That increases the pandemic totals to 20,039 deaths and nearly 1.1 million cases.

Arizona currently is 11th highest among states in the number of COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began, and sixth in the number of deaths per 100,000 population.

The current surge has seen the states hospital system burdened again with large numbers of patients. More than 1,750 COVID-19 patients occupied hospital beds as of Thursday.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska  A highly contentious debate over a proposed mask mandate for Alaskas largest city that has included Holocaust imagery and a gay slur will continue next week on Monday.

Mayor David Bronson opposes the mask mandate and apologized Thursday for his comments supporting some residents use of Holocaust imagery, like wearing yellow Stars of David, to liken the proposed mandate to the oppression of Jewish people in Nazi Germany.

The Anchorage Daily News reports Bronson also called for people on both sides of the issue to be more civil. Four people at Wednesdays meeting were arrested, including a man who called the assemblys vice chair, Chris Constant, a homophobic slur.

A health worker checks body temperature of a traveler as a precaution against the coronavirus before allowing her to proceed at train station in Mumbai, India, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

I didnt stand up and speak in your defense. And I apologize for doing that. Quite frankly, I was caught off guard. And then he was gone before I gathered my thoughts, and I apologize for not speaking up. What was said was intolerable. Bronson said.

Constant said he wasnt surprised with the slur.

The part that in fact shocked me to silence was when roughly 200 people cheered zealously. That was the part that zinged me and really took my breath away for a minute, he said.

Constant added: What we have to do is figure out how together, we can be better. And that is not a that-tribe-versus-that-tribe issue. That is a community issue in Anchorage, and this moment is an opportunity for us to move through this to a better place.

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HONOLULU  Hawaii authorities arrested two people from California for submitting fake COVID-19 test results to avoid a mandatory traveler quarantine meant to curb the virus spread in the islands.

A 34-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman uploaded falsified negative test results into the Hawaii Safe Travels portal and arrived in Lihue on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles earlier this week, Kauai police said.

After they were arrested, they were released pending investigation and caught a flight back to Los Angeles.

This undated image provided by Merck & Co. shows their new antiviral medication. Pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. said Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, that its experimental COVID-19 pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus and that it would soon ask health officials in the U.S. and around the world to authorize its use. (Merck & Co. via AP)

They couldnt immediately be reached for comment Friday.

Travelers entering Hawaii must quarantine for 10 days unless they have been fully vaccinated in the United States or test negative for COVID-19 before departing for the islands.

Hawaii authorities have been arresting people who violate travel rules, including a woman from Illinois investigators said uploaded a fake vaccination card that misspelled Moderna as Maderna.

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WASHINGTON  U.S. health officials are preparing to consider more COVID-19 vaccine boosters for adults and the first vaccine shots for children younger than 12.

The Food and Drug Administration said its panel of outside vaccine experts will meet Oct. 14 and 15 to consider whether to recommend booster doses for adults who received the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The FDA is not required to follow the panels advice, though it often does.

If the FDA authorizes third doses of the vaccines a separate panel of advisers to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make specific recommendations on who should get them.

The FDA and CDC signed off on booster shots of Pfizers vaccine last month for key Americans who face higher risks from COVID-19.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, right, poses for a selfie with a healthcare worker during the inaugural vaccination weekend drive in Katlehong, east of Johannesburg, South Africa Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. The aim of the vaccination drive is to mobilise citizens and people living in South Africa to get vaccinated as a means to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Additionally, the panel will hear presentations on the safety and effectiveness of mixing different vaccine brands when giving booster shots.

The FDA also set an Oct. 26 panel meeting to consider Pfizers COVID-19 vaccines for children 5 to 11 years old. Currently the vaccine is authorized for children 12 and older.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill.  Gov. J.B. Pritzkers office says more than $443 million in emergency rental assistance has been paid on behalf of 49,100 state households through the Illinois Rental Payment Program.

It provides up to $25,000 in emergency rental assistance to cover up to 12 months of past due rent and up to three months of future rent payments for tenants suffering a financial hardship related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Payments are made directly to the landlord on behalf of the tenant, but only if the landlord doesnt pursue eviction.

Having a roof over your head is the foundation of a thriving life, Pritzker said Friday in a release, and Illinois is fiercely combatting the pandemics destabilizing effects on that foundation by keeping our residents on their feet.

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SAN FRANCISCO  California has announced the nations first coronavirus vaccine mandate for school children.

Medical staff support a patient breathing through an oxygen mask after a fire in the COVID-19 ICU section of the Hospital for Infectious Diseases in the Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. Authorities say a fire at a hospital in Romanias port city of Constanta has killed nine COVID-19 patients in the ICU. All patients have been evacuated following Friday's blaze at Constantas Hospital for Infectious Diseases. (AP Photo/Costin Dinca)

Gov. Gavin Newsom says the mandate wont take effect until the COVID-19 vaccine has received final approval from the U.S. government for various grade levels.

The government has given final approval for the vaccine for anyone 16 and older. Once final approval comes for anyone 12 and older, the state will mandate vaccines for students in seventh through 12th grades.

The state will mandate the vaccine in kindergarten through sixth grades once the federal government gives final approval for anyone 5 and older.

The states vaccine mandate would take effect the semester after the federal government grants final approval. If it comes in January, then the mandate would take effect in July.

Students would be granted religious and medical exemptions, but the rules for how the state would apply those exemptions have not been written yet.

In August, California became the first state in the U.S. to require all teachers and staff in K-12 public and private schools to get vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. Newsom also issued a school mask mandate this summer for indoor classes that applies to all teachers and students.

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NEW ORLEANS  Louisianas largest health system is ratcheting up pressure to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate reports Ochsner Health told employees it will charge a monthly premium of $200 if a spouse or domestic partner covered under an Ochsner health plan is not vaccinated. Ochsner has previously set an Oct. 29 deadline for all employees to be vaccinated.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a news conference to sign a number of housing bills at the Coliseum Connections apartment complex in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. Newsom signed seven new laws aimed at addressing the state's homeless crisis during an event in Los Angeles, on Wednesday, Sept. 29. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group via AP)

President and CEO Warner Thomas says the surcharge is part of an effort to keep health premiums low for employees. As a self-insured organization, Ochsner bears the cost of COVID-19 treatment for patients who are on its insurance plan.

We spent more than $9 million on COVID care for those who are covered on our health plans over the last year, Thomas told The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate in an emailed statement, which included intensive patient care.

Thomas says the surcharge doesnt amount to a mandate because employees spouses and partners can choose other insurance coverage. The spouses and partners can also apply for an exemption on medical or religious grounds.

More than 2.1 million people in Louisiana are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, about 45% of the states population, according to health department data.

The state reported 872 coronavirus cases and 49 confirmed deaths on Thursday. Louisiana has registered a total of 740,533 cases and 13,949 deaths.

(This item has been corrected to show Louisiana has fully vaccinated 45% of population, not 56%.)

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ROME  Some 1,100 doctors and dentists in Italy are currently suspended because they havent been vaccinated against COVID-19.

The National Federation of Doctors President Filippo Anelli stressed Friday that those who arent vaccinated are a minority of the federations 460,000 members (less than 1%) and indicated many are currently correcting their status through vaccination.

The federation says some 290 others had their suspension lifted because they got vaccinated. Anelli said in a statement about 500 doctors who appealed their suspensions are still allowed to practice until a final decision is reached.

The federations web site lists the names of 363 doctors or dentists who have died of COVID-19.

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WASHINGTON  Biden administration officials say a new pill that could provide an easier, effective way to treat COVID 19 is good news, while adding vaccination remains the key to controlling the pandemic.

Officials at drugmaker Merck say theyll soon seek regulatory approval for the experimental pill, which reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus.

Dr. Anthony Fauci calls it very good news and Mercks data on its medicine impressive.

White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients says vaccination will remain the governments main strategy for controlling the pandemic.

We want to prevent infections, not just wait to treat them when they happen, says Zients at the briefing on Friday.

If its approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the government has contracted to buy 1.7 million doses of Mercks medication.

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NEW DELHI  India says arrivals from Britain will be subjected to COVID-19 tests and a 10-day quarantine, in response to the same measures imposed on Indians visiting the U.K.

India has been demanding that Britain revoke what it calls a discriminatory advisory that includes Indians, even if they are fully vaccinated with the Indian-made AstraZeneca shots.

Indias external affairs minister S. Jaishankar discussed the issue with the British foreign secretary Liz Truss in New York this week. India was irked that while the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been recognized by Britain, its version produced by Serum Institute of India has been excluded.

Starting Monday, all British arrivals, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to undertake PRC tests within 72 hours before travel and again after travel.

India, the worlds largest vaccine producer, said this week it will resume exports and donations of surplus coronavirus vaccines in October after a long freeze because of the massive surge in domestic infections last spring.
TOKYO (AP)  Japan fully came out of a coronavirus state of emergency for the first time in more than six months as the country starts to gradually ease virus measures to help rejuvenate the pandemic-hit economy as the infections slowed.

A man and a woman talk over food and drinks at a restaurant in the famed Asakusa tourist spot in Tokyo after 8 p.m., the time the government suggested to close under the ongoing state of emergency on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. On Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, Japan fully came out of a coronavirus state of emergency for the first time in more than six months as the country starts gradually easing virus measures to help rejuvenate the pandemic-hit economy as the infections slowed.(AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

TOKYO (AP)  Japan fully came out of a coronavirus state of emergency for the first time in more than six months as the country starts to gradually ease virus measures to help rejuvenate the pandemic-hit economy as the infections slowed.

At Tokyos busy Shinagawa train station, a sea of mask-wearing commuters rushed to their work despite an approaching typhoon, with some returning to their offices after months of remote work.

The emergency measures, in place for more than half of the country including Tokyo, ended Thursday following a steady fall in new caseloads over the past few weeks, helping to ease pressure on Japanese health care systems.

Outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga thanked the people for their patience and cooperation, and asked them to stick to their basic anti-virus measures.

Once again, I seek your cooperation so that we can return to our daily lives feeling safe, he said.

Mothers wearing face masks with their children come out of a department store in Tokyo during a state of emergency on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. On Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, Japan fully came out of a coronavirus state of emergency for the first time in more than six months as the country starts gradually easing virus measures to help rejuvenate the pandemic-hit economy as the infections slowed.(AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

The lifting of the emergency marked a fresh start for some people.

Office worker Akifumi Sugihara, 46, said he is back to the train station for the first time in about a year. I had been working from home for more than a year, and I came to the office in Tokyo as (the emergency) was lifted today," he said. "Its really been a while. I feel its a new start.

Another office worker, Kaori Hayashi, 37, said it was an ordinary Friday. In my mind nothing really has changed," she said. "We still need to be careful. I will stay vigilant and carry on my life as usual.

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Commuters wearing face masks walk in a passageway during a rush hour at Shinagawa Station Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, in Tokyo. Japan lifted its COVID-19 state of emergency in all of the regions on Oct.1. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan is eager to expand social and economic activities while balancing the need to prevent another wave of infections as the weather turns cooler. Officials say the government still needs time to create more temporary COVID-19 treatment facilities and continue vaccinations to prepare for any future resurgence.

The emergency measures have mainly involved requests for eateries to curb alcohol and hours. They can now serve alcohol and operate an hour longer but still have to close at 9 p.m.

Daily reported cases have fallen to below 1,600 as of Wednesday nationwide  less than one-tenth of the mid-August peak of around 25,000. Experts attributed the declining numbers to the progress of vaccinations and to people increased their social distancing efforts after being alarmed by the collapse of medical systems during the summer.

Nearly more than 59% of Japanese people have been fully vaccinated. Japan has had about 1.69 million cases and 17,641 deaths from COVID-19.

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Associated Press journalist Chisato Tanaka contributed to this report.
British Columbia is subsidizing oil and gas well drilling on the same land it has promised to protect for caribou, new research has found.

Wild caribou roam the tundra near The Meadowbank Gold Mine located in the Nunavut Territory of Canada on March 25, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

British Columbia is subsidizing oil and gas well drilling on the same land it has promised to protect for caribou, new research has found.

"The B.C. government has made a lot of commitments to caribou habitat restoration and it's not really working," said Adriana DiSilvestro, a University of British Columbia graduate student and lead author on the project.

"The fact there are oil and gas operations being subsidized in areas the federal government has deemed critical habitat is a piece to this puzzle."

DiSilvestro and her colleagues first identified wells in northeastern B.C. and located them on federal maps showing critical habitat for woodland caribou, a threatened species for which the province has promised the federal government to develop a recovery plan.

The team then used government and industry data to determine which of those wells had benefited from a government subsidy. Those subsidies include programs such as the Deep Well Royalty Program, which covers part of the drilling and completion costs for these wells up to $2.8 million per well and can be used to reduce royalties by half.

DiSilvestro said the research shows 3,114 active oil and gas wells within critical caribou habitat in B.C. Of these, 1,678 wells -- just over half -- are run by companies that have received assistance from one of three provincial subsidy programs over the past three years.

Previous research has identified industrial use as a major driver of caribou habitat loss and herd declines. Energy and logging both damage the old-growth forest caribou rely on and create easy pathways for predators to reach formerly safe hideouts.

"We conclude that public funds are subsidizing caribou extinction," the report says.

Of B.C.'s 53 caribou herds, 14 are stable or increasing while 25 herds are either shrinking or have disappeared. No data exists for the rest. Some First Nations have been forced to step in with extreme conservation measures, such as penning up pregnant caribou cows until they can safely calve.

In February 2020, B.C. signed a so-called Section 11 conservation agreement with Ottawa that promised "commitments related to habitat protection and restoration." That agreement, under the Species At Risk Act, was seen as an alternative to the federal government stepping in to impose protections under an emergency protection order.

In an emailed response, Meghan McRae of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation pointed to a series of programs the province funds to remediate old wells, including $27 million from industry to clean up wells for which no owner currently exists.

"The province is working with First Nations, local governments, industry, and stakeholders to identify acceptable outcomes for caribou recovery as well as continued resource development in B.C.," she said.

"We continue to work with the federal government on our efforts of conservation and recovery of caribou herds."

DiSilvestro said the findings suggest that conservation agreements made with one handbe undercut by programs from the other.

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"We can say pretty clearly that (Section 11) agreement isn't working. The continued subsidization of industry in these areas is a major factor in (caribou) decline."

Alberta and Saskatchewan also have Section 11 agreements with Ottawa, promising caribou recovery efforts and habitat protection.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development and Environmental Defence has calculated that Alberta spent about $1.6 billion a year in fossil fuel subsidies between 2016 and 2019. Its work does not detail where that money has been spent.

It doesn't have equivalent data for Saskatchewan.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.

-- Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960
OTTAWA - Canada and Germany are making "a lot of progress" convincing rich countries around the world to pony up more cash to help the developing world fight climate change, Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Friday.

Federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson makes an announcement in Calgary, Alta., Tuesday, July 20, 2021. Wilkinson says Canada and Germany have made "a lot of progress" convincing rich countries around the world to pony up more cash to help the developing world fight the climate change battle. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

OTTAWA - Canada and Germany are making "a lot of progress" convincing rich countries around the world to pony up more cash to help the developing world fight climate change, Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Friday.

The Canadian environment minister is in Italy this week for the final set-up talks to establish the agenda for the 2021 United Nations climate conference in Scotland next month, known as COP26.

The talks include a deadline for countries that signed onto the Paris climate agreement to show more ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, with time running out to slow climate change before it becomes irreversible.

But it's equally critical to have the funds to actually implement those plans.

More than 10 years ago, the wealthiest nations agreed to collectively raise US$100 billion a year in climate financing by 2020 so developing countries could afford to both adapt to and mitigate against climate change.

The world's most developed nations are responsible for the vast majority of emissions that are now causing the planet to warm at unsustainable rates, while the least developed economies are the least responsible for climate change and can't afford to act on their own.

The OECD reported last month that developed countries were US$20 billion short of the $100 billion goal. Wilkinson and Germany's state secretary for the environment, Jochen Flasbarth, agreed in July to lead a charge to close that gap before the COP26 talks start.

Wilkinson said Friday that Flasbarth initially described the task as "mission impossible." But after the two spent the better part of the last two days in Milan in nearly a dozen bilateral meetings with some of the world's wealthiest nations, Wilkinson said there has been movement.

"I would say that we have made a lot of progress and certainly Germany and Canada are working very hard to ensure that we can and we will deliver on the $100-billion commitment," he said during a telephone news conference from Milan on Friday afternoon.

He later confirmed that while no new promises of cash had been announced so far, he has been given assurances from a number of countries that there will be new commitments coming.

Some of the gap had already been closed before the latest push.

At the G7 leaders' summit in June, Canada promised to double its funding, to about CDN$1 billion a year for the next five years and Germany committed to bump its annual contribution up one-third by 2025, to more than US$7 billion.

Last month United States President Joe Biden said he would double the American contribution to $11.4 billion by 2024. The U.S. had cancelled much of its climate financing under former president Donald Trump, who had also withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris agreement.

Wilkinson said having the U.S. back in Paris has made "an enormous difference" already, and the American financial commitment is "critical for us to be able to achieve that $100-billion goal."

Eddy Perez, international climate diplomacy manager at the Climate Action Network Canada, said the task Canada and Germany agreed to is a 'huge hot potato" that could ultimately make or break the negotiations to push the world to do more, faster to slow climate change.

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Wilkinson and Flasbarth intend to publish a report documenting what has been promised and how to get the rest, by the third week of October.

"It is not yet certain that they will be able to put forward a plan that is going to be credible enough," Perez said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

The environment and climate ministers from Costa Rica and Grenada said in an op-ed published in July that hitting the promised climate financing targets are the only way countries like theirs would have "a fair shot at a resilient future."

The money itself is only one part of the puzzle. The type of financing provided is also critical. Oxfam last year said 80 per cent of climate financing from wealthy governments was in the form of loans instead of grants.

Other studies have shown there is eagerness to fund climate mitigation projects like clean energy, that can bring a return on investment, and less interest in funding infrastructure projects to help poorer countries protect themselves from the impact of the already changing climate. Those projects are typically the most expensive with no clear return on investment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.
MONTREAL - The Quebec government should recognize the existence of systemic racism and make a commitment to root it out of institutions, says the coroner who investigated the 2020 death of Joyce Echaquan.

Carol Dube, husband of Joyce Echaquan and her mother Danielle stand next to a photo of his wife during a memorial marking the first anniversary of her death in front of the hospital where she died in Joliette, Que. on Tuesday, September 28, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

MONTREAL - The Quebec government should recognize the existence of systemic racism and make a commitment to root it out of institutions, says the coroner who investigated the 2020 death of Joyce Echaquan.

Released Friday, the report by coroner Gehane Kamel concluded that while Echaquan's death was accidental, the racism and prejudice the Atikamekw woman was subjected to contributed to her demise.

The report includes several recommendations to various bodies, but the first one is for the government to acknowledge systemic racism, something Quebec Premier Francois Legault's government has repeatedly refused to do.

Echaquan, a 37-year-old mother of seven, filmed herself on Facebook Live as a nurse and an orderly were heard making derogatory comments toward her shortly before her death Sept. 28, 2020, at a hospital in Joliette, Que., northeast of Montreal.

The video of her treatment went viral and drew outrage and condemnation across the province and the country.

"In Ms. Echaquan's case, if there hadn't been a video, it's a safe bet that this event would never have been brought to public attention," Kamel wrote. "When the system withdraws defensively on itself, this is the very definition of systemic racism."

Kamel said the existence of systemic racism was raised numerous times by the public after Echaquan's death, particularly with regard to the Atikamekw community's experiences receiving medical care.

She noted the report of the Viens Commission, a Quebec inquiry that reported in 2019 on Indigenous communities' interactions with government services, stated the Atikamekw had long-standing complaints about the Joliette hospital well before Echaquan's death.

"It is therefore my duty, as coroner, to do everything in my power to avoid that a member of the Indigenous community or of any other origin receives care such as that offered to Ms. Echaquan," Kamel wrote.

She appreciated that the government has taken steps to address the situation, including removing the head of the regional health authority and mandating cultural sensitivity training. But, she added, "the recognition of a disparity in treatment is fundamental, if not vital," to restoring trust.

"Efforts are all the more necessary as the findings of this investigation indicate that Ms. Echaquan was indeed ostracized, that her death is directly related to the care received during her hospitalization in September 2020 and that her death could have been avoided," Kamel wrote.

Echaquan was rushed to hospital on Sept. 26, 2020, by ambulance, complaining of severe stomach pains. The inquiry heard she was initially misdiagnosed as going through withdrawal from opioids or narcotics.

"Based on this prejudice, it followed that her pleas for help will not be taken seriously," Kamel wrote. "This label will follow her throughout her stay and will guide the actions of the nursing staff until her death."

The inquiry heard a nurse in training was assigned to Echaquan, who wasn't properly monitored after being restrained twice, including just before her death. Better surveillance would have got her to intensive care more quickly when she needed it most, Kamel concluded. Echaquan died of a pulmonary edema that was linked to a rare heart condition.

In the aftermath of her death, the Atikamekw community drafted Joyces Principle, a series of measures aimed at ensuring equitable access to health care for Indigenous patients and recognizing systemic racism. The province has agreed to adopt much of what is in the document, but it does not accept the reference to systemic racism.

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Several senior cabinet ministers were questioned about the coroner's recommendations on Friday, including deputy premier Genevieve Guilbault, who told reporters the government's position is to focus on tangible actions aimed at fighting racism.

A Leger survey for the Association for Canadian Studies released this week indicated two-thirds of Quebec respondents agreed the term "systemic racism" is an accurate way of describing the level of prejudice and discrimination faced by certain groups in the province.

Kamel made several other recommendations involving the regional health authority. She said it should improve patient-staff ratios, impose periodic training sessions on proper restraint measures and create a code of ethics.

The coroner also recommended that the province's college of physicians as well as the nurses order review the quality of care provided to Echaquan by their members.

Kamel said she will not comment further until a news conference Tuesday in Trois-Rivieres, Que., where hearings were held on Echaquan's death earlier this year. Echaquan's family is also expected to comment after that event.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.
WASHINGTON - The Canadian architect of the controversial Line 5 cross-border pipeline expansion project said Friday it remains committed to a negotiated solution to its impasse with the state of Michigan, even though the government has effectively walked away from the table.

In this June 8, 2017, file photo, fresh nuts, bolts and fittings are ready to be added to the east leg of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline near St. Ignace, Mich. Enbridge Inc. says it remains committed to a mediated settlement of its Line 5 dispute, even though the state of Michigan has given up on the talks.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP - (Dale G. Young/Detroit News via AP, File

WASHINGTON - The Canadian architect of the controversial Line 5 cross-border pipeline expansion project said Friday it remains committed to a negotiated solution to its impasse with the state of Michigan, even though the government has effectively walked away from the table.

Both sides are obliged by court order to engage in a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute, and Enbridge Inc. "remains ready to do just that," the Calgary-based pipeline giant said in a statement.

"Our goal from the beginning has been to work co-operatively to reconcile interests, resolve disputes and move forward in the best interest of people throughout the region," the company said.

"We believe in the process and participated in mediation in good faith. We are committed to continuing to seek resolution, whether through mediation or by asserting our rights in the courts if necessary."

Line 5 ferries upwards of 540,000 barrels per day of crude oil and natural gas liquids across the Canada-U.S. border and the Great Lakes by way of a twin line that runs along the lake bed beneath the ecologically sensitive Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

Proponents call it a vital and indispensible source of energy  particularly propane  for several midwestern states, including Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and a key source of feedstock for critical refineries on the northern side of the border, including those that supply jet fuel to some of Canada's busiest airports.

Critics, however, among them Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, want the line shut down, arguing it's only a matter of time before an anchor strike or technical failure triggers a catastrophic environmental disaster in one of the area's most important watersheds.

That's why last November, Whitmer abruptly revoked the easement that had allowed the pipeline to operate since 1953, giving the company until May to voluntarily cease operations and triggering a court case that has only dragged on since then.

Enbridge has insisted from the outset that it has no plans to voluntarily shut down the pipeline.

"We understand the stakes in this matter are important not only for Enbridge and the state, but for many others on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border who have a strong interest in its outcome," the company said.

"Meanwhile, we will continue to safely and responsibly deliver the energy the region relies upon from the Line 5 system."

A court-sanctioned voluntary mediation process, which began in April, has failed to yield any agreement and appears to have fallen apart, although the official status of those talks is difficult to divine.

Following the last meeting Sept. 9, Michigan's emissaries "unambiguously communicated to the mediator that any further continuation of the mediation process would be unproductive for them, and they have no 'desire to continue with the mediation process,'" court documents show.

Michigan District Court Judge Janet Neff, however, appears reluctant to call a halt to the process.

"Voluntary facilitative mediation necessarily requires voluntary participation by both parties," Neff said in a decision last week that dismissed as moot one of the state's motions aimed at short-circuiting the talks.

The process, Neff wrote, "is at least at a standstill, although the parties remain under a continuing obligation to engage in good faith to resolve this case."

Where that leaves matters is unclear. The attorney general's office in Michigan refused to comment Friday, referring media inquiries back to the court documents.

Enbridge has also pointed to a possible "diplomatic solution" under a 1977 U.S.-Canada treaty covering cross-border pipelines, which the Canadian government has argued applies in this case and obliges the court to step aside in favour of a negotiated bilateral settlement.

Environmental groups, meanwhile, have been unequivocal in their opposition to the pipeline and a potential replacement project.

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Cathy Collentine, associate director of the Sierra Club's "Beyond Dirty Fuels" campaign, said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the process of an environmental impact assessment on the Line 5 project. It would then be up to the White House to decide whether to take action based on the findings, she said.

If President Joe Biden's administration is serious about confronting climate change, the most contentious cross-border pipeline projects of the last 15 years  Keystone XL, Line 5 and also Line 3, another Enbridge upgrade, this one in Minnesota  are the ones they should be blocking, Collentine said.

Such projects, with their capacity to increase fossil fuel production and consumption, are already affecting communities on the front lines of climate change, she said.

"Those are the exact projects that we have long said we cannot continue to build, we cannot continue to approve," Collentine said.

"It's a moment where the Biden administration, through these analyses, we believe should and hopefully will see that that is also true and not allow these projects to move forward or to continue operating."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.
OTTAWA - Michael Spavor is thanking Canadians and the world for their support one week after his 1,020-day ordeal in Chinese prison came to an end.

Michael Spavor, director of Paektu Cultural Exchange, talks during a Skype interview in Yanji, China, in a still image made from a March 2, 2017, video. Spavor is thanking Canadians and the world for their support one week after his 1,020-day ordeal in Chinese prison came to an end. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP

OTTAWA - Michael Spavor is thanking Canadians and the world for their support one week after his 1,020-day ordeal in Chinese prison came to an end.

Spavor, along with Michael Kovrig, were released a week ago after the United States dropped its prosecution of Chinese high-tech executive Meng Wanzhou.

The two men had been arrested and convicted of spying by China in what is widely seen as retaliation for the RCMP's Dec. 1, 2018, arrest of Meng at the Vancouver airport on an American extradition warrant.

The saga came to an end when the U.S. entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with Meng that resulted in charges against her being dropped and the extradition request withdrawn in a Vancouver court.

Meng, who was under house arrest in Vancouver in a luxury mansion, was set free and was on a chartered airliner back to China at the same moment as Kovrig and Spavor departed on a plane out of China accompanied by Dominic Barton, Canada's ambassador to the country.

Spavor arrived in his hometown of Calgary early Saturday morning aboard a Canadian Forces Challenger jet, along with Kovrig, and the pair were greeted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before Kovrig made the final leg of his journey to Toronto.

I'm overjoyed to be finally reunited with my family. It's humbling as I begin to understand the continued support that we've received from Canadians and those around the world, thank you," Spavor said in a statement that was released Friday by Global Affairs Canada.

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"I'm appreciating being outside and the simple things around me."

Spavor and Kovrig spent almost all of their time in captivity in separate prisons, much of it in solitary confinement.

The message included an attached photo of a smiling Spavor and a large grey dog.

A statement from Global Affairs accompanying the photo and statement said: "At this time, the family requests that you continue to respect their privacy  no further comment will be provided."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version incorrectly attributed a statement to Michael Kovrig.
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced backlash Friday over his decision to fly to British Columbia to spend time with his family on the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to media as he visits a vaccine clinic in Ottawa on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced backlash Friday over his decision to fly to British Columbia to spend time with his family on the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The Native Womens Association of Canada (NWAC) said it is shocked that Trudeau ducked out entirely from a national day set aside to reflect on the legacy of residential schools.

Lynne Groulx, the head of the political advocacy organization for Indigenous women, said in a statement that she is astounded by the "sheer level of callousness" of Trudeau's decision to take a trip to B.C. rather than attending events marking the historic day.

She added it showed "disregard for what the First Nations, Metis and Inuit people have endured as a result of colonization.

The prime minister flew to Tofino, B.C., on Thursday, where Global News filmed him walking along the beach at one point, refusing to comment.

Later Thursday, Trudeau tweeted that he had spent some time that day having telephone conversations with residential school survivors from across Canada, "hearing their stories and getting their advice on the path forward."

Alex Wellstead, a spokesman for the prime minister, said Friday that Trudeau "spoke with eight residential school survivors from across the country over several hours yesterday. It was an important opportunity to hear their stories of trauma and healing, and to hear their advice on the path forward.

Thursday marked the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which was created this spring in response to one of the 94 calls to action put forward by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that documented atrocities committed against First Nations, Metis and Inuit children in government-funded, church-run residential schools over more than a century.

The day was already known as Orange Shirt Day, in honour of the experience of Phyllis Webstad, from the Stswecemc Xgattem First Nation in B.C., whose gift of clothing from her grandmother was taken away on her first day at a residential school.

Groulx said in the statement that while Trudeau was not in the public eye, millions of other people across the country wore orange shirts, spoke out on social media and took part in ceremonies, reflecting on "the dark history of Canadas treatment of Indigenous people and what needs to be improved."

Trudeau had participated in a ceremony on Parliament Hill on Wednesday night near the Centennial Flame, where mounds of stuffed toys and pairs of children's shoes have been left in honour of the children who never returned from residential schools.

Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council on Vancouver Island, which includes the Tofino area, said Friday the organization had not heard from Trudeau and had no idea he was going to be in the territory on Thursday. She said he could have joined the Nuu-chah-nulth in Tofino for some brief remarks and left.

I understand he's on vacation and wants some time off, but he shouldve prioritized the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This is big for us and for us here. It was a really important day," Sayers said.

"I always reflect back to how Trudeau says Indigenous Peoples are the most important relationship but he doesnt show it. He always says good things but doesnt follow it up with actions.

Health Minister Patty Hajdu, who said she took part in a ceremony commemorating the day in her Thunder Bay, Ont., constituency, declined to answer questions Friday about Trudeau's trip.

I cant speak to other peoples scheduling, Hajdu said. What I saw in my community was a commitment to reconciliation."

"For me, it is hard to put into words how moving that day was," she said at a press conference in Ottawa on Friday, "and how moving it was to see so many citizens out meeting with Indigenous people and hearing stories that I know for sure some have never heard before."

Blake Desjarlais, a Metis leader and newly elected NDP MP for Edmonton Griesbach, said Trudeau's actions increased the public perception that Thursday was "a family day" rather than a day for serious reflection about the treatment of Indigenous Peoples.

"The first day requires a precedent," Desjarlais said. "It's hard to imagine the future of Sept. 30 without the prime minister's condolences, presence and messages."

Trudeau's daily public itinerary said at first that he was in private meetings in Ottawa on Thursday, though this was later changed to reflect his actual location.

One 75-year-old survivor who spoke Thursday to Trudeau "never thought in his lifetime that the would have the ear of the PM to talk about what he went through as a child," according to his counsellor, Sharna Sugarman.

Sugarman said the man told her he was upset about media coverage focusing on the prime minister's family trip to Tofino, rather than Truth and Reconciliation issues.

Sugarman, a Blackfoot survivor of the Sixties Scoop whose parents and grandparents went to residential schools, defended Trudeau's decision to spend time with his children. She said he has a track record fighting for Indigenous people.

"The PM, in my opinion, has done his job, and if it weren't for his government, (Sept. 30) wouldn't have been marked as a day of mourning and reflection. It's not a holiday," she said.

"He has kept a lot of promises to my people. Is he perfect? No. No one's perfect except a new-born baby."

Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who was in Italy for global environment talks Thursday, said the prime minister has been clear there is no more important relationship for the government than its relationship with Indigenous Peoples.

He has spoken with survivors across the country," he said. "I know how much this means to him.

Groulx said Trudeau's decision to flit off to Tofino for a holiday rather than "taking the time his government set aside to reflect upon the tragedy of the Indian residential schools" gave the impression he did not take the issue seriously.

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It is almost as if he checked off one of the calls to action of the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) by declaring the statutory holiday, and then wiped his hands and said job done, lets move on, she added.

Frank Caputo, Conservative MP for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, wrote to Trudeau on Friday to ask why he had not visited the site of the former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., where earlier this year Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation said ground-penetrating radar located what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children in unmarked graves.

"Despite being in the province and only a short distance away from the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, you chose this important day to vacation," he wrote.

On Thursday, Chief Rosanne Casimir of Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation said the community had twice invited Trudeau to join residential school survivors and their families.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.

 With files from Nick Wells in Vancouver and Mia Rabson in Ottawa.
SAINTE-ADELE, Que. - Quebec's police watchdog is probing the death of a man shot by provincial police in Ste-Adele, north of Montreal.

A Surete du Quebec police car is seen in Montreal on Wednesday, July 22, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

SAINTE-ADELE, Que. - Quebec's police watchdog is probing the death of a man shot by provincial police in Ste-Adele, north of Montreal.

According to preliminary information, provincial police were called to a chalet in the Laurentians town at about 9:50 p.m. on Thursday.

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Quebec's Bureau des enquetes independantes says police were unable to reason with the 44-year-old man who was inside the building.

According to police, the man stuck his hand inside a backpack and police attempted to subdue him using a stun gun without success.

Police say the man took a handgun out of the bag and an officer opened fire, striking the man with at least one bullet.

He was transported to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Five investigators were dispatched to the scene, and Montreal police are providing technical and forensic support to assist the investigation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.
MONTREAL - Quebec's proposed overhaul of its French-language charter is under the microscope at legislative hearings, with participants this week raising concerns about the bill's effect on English speakers and the independence of the judiciary.

Simon Jolin-Barrette, Quebec's minister responsible for the French language, speaks at the beginning of a legislature committee studying a proposed reform of the French language law, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021, at the legislature in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

MONTREAL - Quebec's proposed overhaul of its French-language charter is under the microscope at legislative hearings, with participants this week raising concerns about the bill's effect on English speakers and the independence of the judiciary.

Tabled in May, Bill 96 is Quebec's plan to upgrade Bill 101, the province's French-language charter first adopted in 1977 by the government of Rene Levesque.

Premier Francois Legault's government has described its proposed reform as a reasonable response to studies by Quebec's French-language office that indicate French is on the decline in the province, particularly in Montreal.

"The time has come to take strong action," Simon Jolin-Barrette, the minister responsible for the French language, said at the outset of hearings.

The bill is still making its way through the legislative process but drew national attention during the English-language federal election debate. Moderator Shachi Kurl described Bill 96 as one of two "discriminatory" pieces of legislation in Quebec, the other being Bill 21, which bans some public sector workers from wearing religious symbols on the job.

Bill 96 seeks to unilaterally change the Canadian Constitution to affirm Quebec as a nation and French its official language. It also includes 200 amendments that aim to strengthen the status of French. They include a call for tougher sign laws, more language requirements for businesses and less access to English-language junior colleges.

The Legault government has invoked the Canadian Constitution's notwithstanding clause to shield the bill from charter challenges.

The Quebec Community Groups Network, an umbrella organization representing English community organizations, called for the Legault government to withdraw the bill or at least remove the notwithstanding clause.

"Bill 96 proposes the most extensive overhaul to Quebecs legal order since the Quiet Revolution," Marlene Jennings, the network's executive director, told the hearings. "A change of this magnitude requires serious discussions and debate within Quebec society."

Jolin-Barrette said English-speaking institutions would be respected.

I want to reassure the English-speaking community  this bill is for inclusion, to include every Quebecer in Quebec, that everybody is part of the society," he said. "We are not taking any rights away from anybody in that bill."

The network agreed that protecting the French language is important, but it disagreed that French was on the decline in the province. The group also called on the government to seek a reference from the Quebec Court of Appeal on the constitutionality and meaning of amending the Constitution.

The Quebec Bar Association told the hearings it was concerned the bill undermines the independence of the judiciary because it removes a requirement for judges in the province to be bilingual.

The association also took issue with a section of the bill that states the French-language version of laws would take precedence over the English-language translations, which it said could be a violation of the Constitution. Article 133 of the Constitution states federal and Quebec laws must be enacted in both languages, and that section does not fall under the notwithstanding clause.

For its part, the Conseil de Patronat, which represents Quebec employers, raised concerns about the impact of the bill on small businesses. Bill 96 forces companies with 25 employees or more  down from 50 employees  to operate in French, which creates more red tape for small firms.

And part of the bill would limit the ability of companies to require job applicants to speak a language other than French, something the employers' council said doesn't take into account the impact on companies that do business in the rest of Canada or internationally.

The responsibility falls on the businesses themselves, who must demonstrate they've taken "all reasonable means" to avoid requiring knowledge of a language other than French.

"This measure could also have the perverse effect of limiting the hiring of certain candidates, especially among marginalized populations," the council said. "In a globalized economy like ours, speaking more than one language has added value and should not be penalized."

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Another point of contention is access to English-speaking junior colleges, known as CEGEPS. Language hardliners, such as the Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste, argue that access to those schools should be strictly limited and fall under the charter, which currently prohibits most francophones and immigrants from attending English-language primary and high schools.

The government has chosen a moderate approach, declining to extend the charter to junior colleges but introducing caps on the number of students who can attend.

Guy Rocher, an academic and sociologist and an architect of Bill 101, told the hearings the government had erred in 1977 by not including junior colleges in the original language law. Rocher, now 97, suggested the government at the time had no idea how important the junior college system would become.

Things have changed, the context has changed," Rocher said. "If I am here it is because I am worried about the future of the French language. At my age, I have the right to be worried about the future.

The consultations continue until Oct. 7.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2021.
REGINA - Saskatchewan recorded its highest daily case count of COVID-19 and its highest number of people needing intensive care, as a member of the government caucus resigned for ''misrepresenting her vaccination status."

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe speaks at a press conference at the legislature building in Regina, Thursday, March 25, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michael Bell

REGINA - Saskatchewan recorded its highest daily case count of COVID-19 and its highest number of people needing intensive care, as a member of the government caucus resigned for ''misrepresenting her vaccination status."

Premier Scott Moe said he accepted Thursday the resignation of Nadine Wilson, who has represented the constituency of Saskatchewan Rivers since 2007.

She will remain as an MLA but will be considered an Independent in the legislature.

Moe said the remaining 47 members of the Saskatchewan Party caucus are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

At a news conference in Saskatoon, Moe said information about Wilson came to light as the province moved toward its proof-of-vaccination policy for government staff, which starts Friday.

Caucus chair David Buckingham said that in the spring, he was given verbal confirmation that all caucus members were vaccinated.

"The process was for me to find out  before the Oct. 1 deadline for vaccinations  that I would find out that all of our members are in compliance. So, I asked to actually see it  a paper version of their vaccination status," he said at the news conference with Moe.

"And that's when we found out that one of our members was not indeed vaccinated, and so that had to be dealt with."

Wilson said in an email Thursday that she can "no longer support the direction of the Saskatchewan Party government or follow the government with true conviction regarding the current health situation."

"I believe in the fundamental values of freedom of personal choice, voluntary informed consent, without the element of duress or coercion," she said.

The province reported 601 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday and there were 72 people in intensive care  both figures are the highest since the pandemic began last year.

There were 4,669 active cases and 307 people in hospital with the virus. Ten more people died of COVID-19, bringing the provincial total to 695.

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Of all the provinces, Saskatchewan has the highest case rate in the last seven days and the highest death rate. Data compiled by Health Canada also shows Saskatchewan residents are four times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people in any other province except Alberta.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to provide any supports necessary to help Saskatchewan with its growing COVID-19 crisis.

In a conversation Wednesday with Moe, the Prime Minister's Office said the two leaders spoke about Saskatchewan's COVID-19 cases, increasing vaccination efforts and what the province needs to overcome the fourth wave of the pandemic.

A statement from Ottawa said Trudeau reiterated that the federal government "remains ready to respond to any requests" from Saskatchewan for aid.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2021.

 By Daniela Germano in Edmonton
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came under fire Thursday for spending part of Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation flying to Tofino, B.C., to join his family.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wraps residential school survivor and Inuk senior elder Levinia Brown in a blanket to keep her warm during a ceremony on Parliament Hill on the eve of the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, Wednesday, September 29, 2021, in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came under fire Thursday for spending part of Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation flying to Tofino, B.C., to join his family.

But his office denied Trudeau was taking a vacation on a day meant to commemorate the estimated 150,000 Indigenous children who were taken from their families and forced to attend residential schools.

Many of those children suffered physical and sexual abuse, malnutrition and neglect. More than 4,000 are believed to have died.

Spokesman Alex Wellstead said Trudeau spent "hours" on the phone Thursday speaking to survivors of the schools, "to hear their stories of trauma and healing, to hear their advice on the path forward."

Trudeau's itinerary for the day initially said he was in "private meetings" in Ottawa.

That was later updated on the Prime Minister's Office website to say he was in private meetings in Tofino. His office confirmed Trudeau went to Tofino to spend a few days with this family.

But Wellstead said just because Trudeau was in Tofino doesn't mean he spent the day lounging on the beach  although Global BC did film him taking a walk along the beach at one point, refusing to comment.

While he will be taking some downtime with his family, Wellstead said Trudeau will continue working while in Tofino on other government business, including presumably putting together his new post-election cabinet.

However, a spokeswoman for Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole slammed Trudeau for using the day to travel to B.C.

"Truth and Reconciliation Day shouldnt be treated like a holiday but thats what Justin Trudeau did," said Chelsea Tucker.

"This is the pattern Canadians have come to know with Justin Trudeau. He says nice things about reconciliation but never follows through. As Prime Minister, Erin O'Toole will always mark this day with the respect and dignity it deserves."

O'Toole attended a Truth and Reconciliation Day ceremony Wednesday night on Parliament Hill, at which Trudeau and several survivors spoke about the importance of Canada coming to terms with its ugly history of residential schools.

Tucker said O'Toole spent Thursday in Ottawa "taking the opportunity to remember and honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families, and their communities."

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Wellstead said he hopes O'Toole took the opportunity to actually speak with some survivors, as Trudeau did.

He would not go into details of Trudeau's phone calls "because they were private calls with individuals."

But he said survivors "shared their heartbreaking stories of what they experienced and the lasting impacts. Some expressed hopefulness about the path forward and the importance of this day and the opportunity for Canadians to continue learning about our country."

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh attended an "orange shirt day" walk and ceremony Thursday outside Vancouver's Aboriginal Friendship Centre, according to a spokeswoman.

Parliament passed a bill last June to create an annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation each Sept. 30. It is a statutory holiday for federal workers but the Trudeau government has said it's intended to be a day of reflection, akin to Remembrance Day, not just a day off.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2021.
RCMP say they are negotiating with demonstrators who have taken control of a Coastal GasLink construction site in northern B.C. as tensions surrounding the natural gas project rise again.

Trees fell across the roadblock access to Gidimt'en checkpoint near Houston B.C., on Wednesday January 8, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

RCMP say they are negotiating with demonstrators who have taken control of a Coastal GasLink construction site in northern B.C. as tensions surrounding the natural gas project rise again.

Protests last year against the pipeline on Wet'suwet'en First Nation territory set off rail blockades across the country and protesters in the latest dispute issued a news release accusing police of using excessive force during arrests.

Dawn Roberts, an RCMP spokeswoman, says two people have been arrested in the past week at the site near Houston, B.C., and Coastal GasLink staff have been unable to work there since Sept. 20.

An open letter from more than two dozen archeologists addressed to the B.C. Archeology Branch criticized the Coastal GasLink work, saying the company and the B.C. government failed to properly consult the Wet'suwet'en and could lead to the destruction of Indigenous artifacts.

TC Energy, which owns the project, disputed the accusations in a statement, saying it had engaged with the Office of the Wetsuweten and had unearthed and saved artifacts under the supervision of a trained archeologist.

Indigenous Relations Minister Murray Rankin said the pipeline project has been approved by elected Indigenous leaders and the provincial government is working with hereditary chiefs to come to an agreement about rights and titles.

The 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline was approved by both the province and all 20 elected First Nations councils along its path to transport natural gas from northeastern B.C. to a processing and export facility on the coast in Kitimat.

However, Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs claimed the project had no authority without consent through their traditional system of governance, inspiring supporters across the country to act in solidarity.

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The open letter signed by 25 archeology professionals and academics from Canada and the U.S. says the work and alleged damage at the Lamprey Creek site could have a large effect on future studies and consultation with the Indigenous groups would have shown that.

"You would have realized that the destruction of archeological resources  non-renewable resources - ... will result in the erasure of much of the context associated with Ts'elkay Kwe Ceek cultural landscape," the letter said of the traditional name for the territory where the work is being done.

TC Energy's statement said it is has worked with Indigenous communities and representatives to ensure work can be done safely.

"Coastal GasLink has engaged with Indigenous communities, to ensure open and constructive dialogue to protect Indigenous values and cultural heritage," the company said.

It said 21 artifacts were discovered on the site from 2015 to 2020.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2021.
"Life has been so empty, like the world just stopped."

"Life has been so empty, like the world just stopped."

Those anguished words from Roxanna Moar were read aloud in a Winnipeg courtroom Friday before the man who killed her three-year-old nephew was led away to prison.

Daniel Jensen, 34, will not be eligible for parole until Oct. 29. 2044 after being convicted of first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of his then-girlfriend's little boy.

Hunter Smith-Straight was stabbed six times in the head and neck in the early hours of Oct. 29, 2019, as he slept in the second-storey Pritchard Avenue suite he shared with his mother, Jensen and a cousin.

Hunter Smith-Straight's family gathered outside the law courts in Winnipeg Friday after his killer was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. (John Woods / The Canadian Press)

A jury convicted Jensen of the crime Wednesday following a two-week trial.

"We are relieved to have justice for Hunter, although it does not bring him back to us," the boys grandmother, Charlene Straight, said outside court, reading from a short prepared statement.

"We feel justice has been served and Hunter may rest in peace now. Thank you to everyone who has supported our family through this horrible nightmare."

First-degree murder comes with a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Sentencing was adjourned until Friday to allow family members time to prepare victim impact statements.

Crown attorney Jennifer Mann read Moar's statement:

"I was by his bedside as he took his last breath. No amount of time can take away the hurt of losing my nephew or the anger I feel for the man that took him," she wrote.

Hunter, Moar said, "was a smart kid, always made you wonder where he learned it from."

The "vicious murder" was a tragic case of domestic violence, Mann said.

"Crimes like this irreparably damage our collective sense of humanity and trust in each other," she said.

Jensen, 34, did not address court.

Justice was served and Hunter may rest in peace now, said his grandmother, Charlene Straight. (John Woods / The Canadian Press)

The Crown argued at trial Jensen was enraged after his girlfriend, Clarice Smith, told him she and Hunter were moving to her mothers home without him, and he plotted to hurt her "in the most cruel and permanent way."

Security video played for jurors showed Jensen assaulting Smith at the Northern Hotel before leaving from the back door and making his way to Pritchard Avenue.

Two of Hunters older cousins testified Jensen was let into the house to check on Hunter and left minutes later, a short time before family members discovered the fatally wounded child.

Jensen was arrested later that day after leaving a Leila Avenue liquor store. Blood found on a hoodie Jensen left behind at a Boston Pizza restaurant, as well as his T-shirt and sweatpants, was later matched to Hunters DNA.

Hunter was taken to hospital suffering massive blood loss and irreversible brain damage. He was removed from life-support three days later and died.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Every student who enrols in West Kildonan Collegiate is required to complete a reconcili-action course to obtain their high school diploma.

Every student who enrols in West Kildonan Collegiate is required to complete a "reconcili-action" course to obtain their high school diploma.

Kristin Erickson, one of the curriculum developers, however, is in no rush to see every school in Manitoba follow suit.

In fact, the teacher of Cree, Metis, Swedish and Scottish descent says a course such as the one she co-created is unnecessary  if educators are doing their jobs properly.

"Talking about Indigenous history shouldnt be quote unquote, Indigenous history. It should be Canadian history, and it should be easily integrated throughout lessons," said Erickson, who teaches social studies, history and reconciliation in Winnipeg.

"There needs to be an invisible line. (Indigenous education) should just always be there."

Among the 94 calls to action released by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 was a request for governments to create and make mandatory age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, treaties, and Indigenous peoples historical and contemporary contributions to Canada. The TRC also called on governments to fund post-secondary institutions to offer teacher candidates training on integrating both Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods.

At the time, chief commissioner Murray Sinclair said: "Education got us into this mess and education will get us out of it."

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS In the years since the TRC, teacher Kristin Erickson said she has noticed her students are showing more knowledge about Indigenous peoples, beyond understanding of the seven sacred teachings.

Not long after the commission wrapped up, a group of Indigenous teachers in the Seven Oaks School Division, Erickson included, acted on those calls. They met to brainstorm ways to better teach young Canadians about the history of the land they live on, the people who inhabited it long before their families settled here, and what it means to reconcile.

The result is a curriculum entitled "Reconciliation: Building Relationships through Reconcili-action," which was first piloted in 2018-19.

The following year, West Kildonan made the malleable curriculum  which includes cultural activities, Indigenous literature, and related assignments that explore four key themes: self-reflection and identity; treaty relations; environmental stewardship; and "reconcili-action"  a mandatory component of Grade 9 English language arts.

In the years since the TRC, Erickson said she has noticed her students are showing more knowledge about Indigenous peoples, beyond understanding of the seven sacred teachings.

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"Kids are coming in with a little bit more knowledge about Indigenous people, in general, and the real Canadian history  not the one-sided, biased history," she said, adding 2021 headlines about how communities have used technology to locate hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children have made students realize the legacy of residential schools is ongoing.

Some of the educators go-to teaching resources include Borders by Thomas King, John McLeods The Shivering Tree, and Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. Incorporating Indigenous authors and stories into any course, she said, is an easy way to Indigenize it.

Where Erickson sees room for improvement across the schooling system is in ensuring students are not taught that Indigenous people are a monolith; she said teachers could do a better job emphasizing the wide-ranging diversity that exists, when it comes to language and tradition.

There are upwards of 630 First Nations, in which more than 50 languages are spoken, in Canada.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
Sept. 30, 2021: Today marks the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which asks all Canadians to reflect upon relationships with Indigenous people, remember the harms of the past, and focus on ways to commit to healthy and positive growth throughout all communities today.

The following gallery captures how some are honouring the day.
Peter Nygard has agreed to be extradited to the United States to face prosecution on sex charges.

La Liberte Manitoba / Tadens Mpwene Peter Nygard at bail hearing in January, 2021.

Peter Nygard has agreed to be extradited to the United States to face prosecution on sex charges.

Nygard, 80, consented to the extradition on one charge of sex trafficking during an early morning hearing Friday before Court of Queens Bench Justice Glenn Joyal.

Nygard has been in custody since last December when he was arrested on a U.S. extradition warrant. He faces prosecution in New York on nine counts of sex trafficking and racketeering.

Nygard appeared for the hearing via video from Headingley Correctional Centre and consented to his extradition. Court heard he signed consent forms Thursday.

"That's correct, yes," said Nygard, who wore a mask and a green jacket. His grey hair was pulled back in a bun.

Nygard is being represented by lawyers Brian Greenspan, Richard Wolson and Jay Prober.

The U.S indictment against Nygard alleges that from 1995 to 2020, Nygard  alongside his business associates and co-conspirators  engaged in a "pattern of criminal conduct involving at least dozens of victims in the United States, the Bahamas and Canada."

Nygard is accused of raping and sex trafficking young girls, often targeting individuals from "disadvantaged backgrounds" with a "history of abuse," and keeping them quiet via "threats, false promises of modelling opportunities" and "other coercive means."

Nygards agreement to extradition is not an admission of guilt, Greenspan said outside court.

"The threshold for extradition is a very low threshold, its the same standard as committal for trial at a preliminary (hearing)," he said. "All that was conceded today was that because of this low standard there is sufficient evidence based on extradition law to warrant a consent to committal on the one charge."

It will now be up to the federal justice minister to ultimately approve Nygards extradition, a process complicated, at least in the short term, by the fact the position is currently vacant, Greenspan said.

Nygard has been charged with nine offences relating to sex crimes alleged to have taken place in Toronto between 1987 and 2006.

University of Manitoba law professor Gerard Kennedy said the justice minister has a number of options to weigh before extradition is granted, including how close to prosecution the cases are, Canada's treaty obligations and the general administration of justice in both countries.

"It certainly would be permissible for the justice minister to want to proceed with the Canadian charges first, but it would be equally permissible for the justice minister to decide that if the U.S. prosecution is further on, to allow the U.S. prosecution to proceed," Kennedy said.

"(The justice minister) can also extradite on the condition that (Nygard) be returned to Toronto to face trial once the process in the U.S. is over. Thats a possibility the justice minister may well consider, if hes trying to keep both Canada and the United States content."

A four-day extradition hearing had been set for November but a decision was made to "expedite" the process, given Nygards age, his lawyer said.

"He is 80 years old and this has taken a tremendous toll on him," said Wolson. "We can only assume that he is not going to get any better in the short term. This whole process was about him having a trial in the U.S. His hope and ours is that he will be vindicated."

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Greenspan said he hopes to make submissions to the federal justice ministers office within the next 10 days and have a decision within the following 60 days.

"Hopefully, we will have the identity of the minister by then," he said. "We hope to have that process done by the end of the year."

Greenspan said lawyers will be seeking assurances from the justice minister that Nygard will not be held in "inhumane" conditions while in detention in New York.

Greenspan said it will be up to the justice minister to decide whether to await the outcome of charges in this country before approving extradition or to seek assurances from U.S. authorities that Nygard will be sent back to Canada following the conclusion of proceedings in New York.

 With files from Erik Pindera and The Canadian Press

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Accused serial rapist Peter Nygard is facing criminal charges in Toronto  but not in Winnipeg, where he launched and grew his multimillion-dollar fashion empire.

Accused serial rapist Peter Nygard is facing criminal charges in Toronto  but not in Winnipeg, where he launched and grew his multimillion-dollar fashion empire.

Toronto police secured an arrest warrant Wednesday for six counts of sexual assault and three counts of forcible confinement. The charges cover alleged incidents, all involving women, between October 1987 and March 2006.

The Winnipeg Police Service investigated Nygard from February to December 2020. The service sent eight files, based on eight women's complaints, to prosecutors for review.

However, one of the Winnipeg complainants and a Toronto advocate for victims both told the Free Press Friday the Crown attorney's office decided recently not to pursue charges against Nygard in any of the complaints.

Toronto police secured an arrest warrant for Peter Nygard on Wednesday for six counts of sexual assault and three counts of forcible confinement for alleged incidents that took place between October 1987 and March 2006. (Phil Hossack / Winnipeg Free Press files)

A Manitoba Justice spokeswoman said there are no outstanding charges against Nygard in the province but would not comment about "matters that may come for a Crown opinion." The disgraced fashion mogul has repeatedly maintained his innocence.

"Each one of the eight women learned separately from Victim Services, attached to the Crown, that for a variety of reasons, their cases were not going to be pursued," KC Allan said in a brief phone interview Friday.

Allan alleges Nygard violently raped her shortly after she graduated from high school in the fall of 1979 at the age of 17. She said she wasn't surprised to learn, two weeks ago, that her June 29, 2020 complaint to Winnipeg police wouldn't be pursued given how long ago the alleged offence occurred.

"(But) its been an incredible blow to see these women denied their day in court... and frankly Im f---ing pissed off that Ontario had the prosecutorial gall to go after him... when Manitoba lacks the prosecutorial zeal to see this thing through," she said.

"Peter Nygard is a homegrown monster and Manitoba exported him to the rest of the world, just like he was wheat or barley."

Allan declined to speak further with Victim Services about why her criminal complaint wouldn't be pursued.

"They merely said to me that they only bring charges that they can win, and I thought in my instance, fair enough, but I was deeply disappointed to learn that seven of my fellow sister survivors were not given their day in court," she said.

A Winnipeg complainant and a Toronto advocate for victims told the Free Press Friday Manitoba's Crown attorney's office decided recently not to pursue charges against Nygard in any of the local complaints. (Phil Hossack / Winnipeg Free Press files)

Shannon Moroney is a Toronto therapist and social worker who counsels about 40 people affected by Nygard's alleged crimes. She also said the women were contacted by Manitoba Justice during the summer and told the Crown was not pursuing charges.

"Frankly, the Crown in Manitoba needs to be honest and say, 'Actually, we've already decided, we are not pursuing these charges and we have notified those survivors, and these are our reasons why,'" Moroney said.

"These survivors have already been told, they've already been grieving and angered for several weeks, having found out their charges are not going forward."

The Toronto Police Service's communication manager said she could not provide details on whether the warrant will be served on Nygard in Winnipeg and, if so, when. The new charges are complicated by developments Friday in a case seeking Nygard's extradition to stand trial in New York.

"We are moving forward with our investigation while the extradition process continues," Toronto police spokeswoman Meaghan Grey told the Free Press.

In a Winnipeg hearing Friday morning Nygard, 80, consented to being extradited to the United States, where he is charged with rape, racketeering and sex trafficking after a lengthy criminal probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A group of 10 women filed a class-action lawsuit in the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York in February 2020 alleging Nygard had drugged, raped and sodomized them as part of a decades-long sex-trafficking scheme.

Many of the initial accusers were under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offences.

The accusations against Nygard soon began to mount, with more than 50 accusers signing onto the class-action suit in the months to come, and others still who came forward with stories. The Free Press has interviewed more than a dozen accusers.

A sketch of Peter Nygard during his Jan. 9, 2021 bail hearing. (La Liberte Manitoba / Tadens Mpwene)

Despite years of rumours, out-of-court settlements and open allegations, the nine criminal charges from Toronto mark the first time in 41 years he has faced criminal repercussions in Canada.

Winnipeg police charged Nygard, then 39, with a single count of rape in 1980, after an 18-year-old woman said hed assaulted her. The charge was quickly stayed by the Crown after the accuser refused to testify in court.

Nygards longtime lawyer Jay Prober has repeatedly maintained his clients innocence.

Canadian law enforcement arrested Nygard in Winnipeg at the behest of U.S. authorities on Dec. 14, last year after prosecutors in New York secured a criminal indictment against him, alleging a long reign of terror involving dozens of victims in multiple countries.

Nygard is accused of using the "facade of legitimacy his fashion business created  as well as the Nygard Groups business operations, reputation and resources  to facilitate and conceal his crimes," U.S. authorities said.

His bail request was denied and he has been in custody since his arrest.

 With files from Dean Pritchard

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe

Erik Pindera

Multimedia producer Erik Pindera is a multimedia producer at the Winnipeg Free Press. Read full biography
Although former Premier Brian Pallister has stepped down from his roles as first minister and leader of the Progressive Conservative party, his presence will be felt in government for some time to come. Particularly when it comes time to cover the costs of foolish decisions he made when he was in charge.

Although former Premier Brian Pallister has stepped down from his roles as first minister and leader of the Progressive Conservative party, his presence will be felt in government for some time to come. Particularly when it comes time to cover the costs of foolish decisions he made when he was in charge.

There are several instances where Pallister, desperate to shrink the overall footprint of government to create the fiscal wiggle room to cut taxes, left huge unpaid bills behind. But none may be as problematic as the cost of unsettled contracts with public-sector workers.

The Pallister government passed but never proclaimed Bill 28, otherwise known as the Public Services Sustainability Act in 2017 to help wrestle the province's deficit under control. Pallister stopped short of enacting the law, choosing instead to use the threat of proclamation to bully unions into settling.

Former premier Brian Pallister stopped short of enacting Bill 28, otherwise known as the Public Services Sustainability Act in 2017 to help wrestle the province's deficit under control. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files)

That plan fell apart one year ago, when a Court of Queen's Bench judge determined the PSSA was "draconian" and violated the right of 120,000 public sector union members to meaningful collective bargaining. Pallister sneered at the verdict and instructed his government to appeal.

The sense from Pallister government insiders was the court decision was irrelevant because they had won years of wage freezes from public-sector workers by simply waiting for unions to come willingly to the table and accept the PSSA's terms: two years of wage freezes and then annual pay increases of 0.75 and one per cent.

But is that what really happened? Did Pallister get what he wanted without having to enact a controversial law?

New figures provided by the Manitoba Federation of Labour tell a much different story. According to the MFL's database of contract settlements, hardly any public-sector unions took the bait and willingly accepted the terms of Bill 28.

From passing of the legislation until June 2020, when the law was struck down, 24 collective agreements representing about 8,865 workers involved in the legal challenge settled for the PSSA terms.

The more than 100,000 remaining employees that waited until the law was struck down have had a much different experience.

The throbbing hangover from the illfated bill will linger for years to come.

Bit by bit, those unions have won wage increases that outstrip those mandated in the PSSA. Many teachers in the province have been settling for annual wage increases of 1.4 to 1.6 per cent. Crown attorneys recently won an arbitrated three-year settlement with government for annual wage increases averaging more than one per cent.

In total, nine contracts have been signed in the year since the PSSA court decision, providing increases for more than 23,000 employees that are at least double what the government sought in its ill-fated wage-freeze legislation. That leaves just under 100,000 other public- sector workers who need agreements, and the sense from the unions is they will get more than the government wanted to give under the PSSA.

And that means the throbbing hangover from the ill-fated bill will linger for years to come.

The wage increases post-PSSA are not exorbitant. But there are tens of millions of dollars  potentially hundreds of millions  in retroactive pay owed to civil servants when Pallister suspended collective bargaining. That means the two years of wage freezes Pallister hoped to achieve on the front end of the four-year PSSA schedule will be wholly unrealized for all but a handful of public servants.

And, depending on how the appeal goes, there's a good chance any union that settled before the PSSA was struck down might get a do-over.

Pallister and the PSSA have soured government's relationship with publicsector workers.

The coalition of unions that fought the PSSA are seeking court costs, potential damages for the government's violation of the right to collective bargaining and  wait for it  the court's permission to allow any union that settled for PSSA terms to reopen negotiations. Those requests cannot be dealt with until the appeal is decided.

It's also important to note that most of the contracts being settled right now do not provide much in the way of wage certainty past the next year or so. Given that so many contracts had expired years earlier, the new deals carry forward just until later this year or next.

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That means shortly after settling overdue contracts, government will be forced back to the table for new negotiations with public-sector unions that are already cranky about being threatened by the PSSA. And now that the government has a legitimate fiscal crisis to deal with  the pandemic has driven a record deficit  it will be interesting to see if any union is interested in accepting a wage freeze going forward.

It would be easy to call the whole debacle surrounding the PSSA penny wise and pound foolish. Others may revel in the fact that Pallister tussled with the unions, without worrying about the costs.

But the negative consequences of this cynical, flawed legislation go so much deeper than the combined value of all the retroactive wage increases that the government is being forced to pony up now.

Pallister and the PSSA have soured government's relationship with public-sector workers. And at some point the next leader of the government is going to realize these people are not just employees, they are also going to be motivated voters in the 2023 provincial election.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
WITH democrats everywhere grieving over recent events in Afghanistan and last months 20th anniversary of 9/11, it is worth recalling that as the first plane struck the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001, all 35 Organization of American States (OAS) member governments were in Peru signing a democratic charter that denied OAS membership to any dictatorship.

Opinion

WITH democrats everywhere grieving over recent events in Afghanistan and last months 20th anniversary of 9/11, it is worth recalling that as the first plane struck the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001, all 35 Organization of American States (OAS) member governments were in Peru signing a democratic charter that denied OAS membership to any dictatorship.

As a member of the Canadian delegation to Lima, I recall the sense of great pride in making such an advancement for the cause of democracy and freedom, quickly shattered by a terrible blow for tyranny struck by the 9/11 plotters.

And even as we mourn the fall of Afghanistan into darkness under the Taliban again 20 years later, we should remember that the two decades since the OAS stood up for democracy have seen significant advancements for the democratic cause. While there have been serious setbacks, if the community of nations can commit itself to freedom and the rule of law around the world, millions more can benefit from democracy.

Democratic governance has expanded across much of the world since the 1970s. In 1977, only 35 of 143 nations with a population of at least 500,000 qualified as democratic according to the Center for Systemic Peaces Polity Project. By 2017, 96 of 167 countries were deemed democratic; only 21 remained unreformed autocracies. Democratization has unfolded in a myriad of narratives. Ill take three examples.

In 2004, for example, 80 per cent of Afghans risked their lives to vote in their first presidential election. One was Dr. Sima Samar, later deputy president in the Afghan Transition Team but afterwards compelled to resign for questioning religious laws. She lobbied for democracy as chair of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Sudan. Samar has dedicated her life to womens empowerment.

The now-controversial Aung San Suu Kyi spent almost 18 years under house arrest in Myanmar/Burma. In 1990, her National League for Democracy (NLD) party won the majority of election votes but werent allowed to take their seats. On February 1, 2021, the military staged a coup following the NLDs landslide election victory. The world is horrified that the generals have killed more than 1,000 protesters to date, including children.

The late Vaclav Havel, the Czech dissident whose dissections of totalitarian rule helped ultimately lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, was asked about his countrys newfound freedom. He responded, "From where did (Czechoslovakias) young people ... take their desire for truth, their love of free thought, their political ideas, their civic courage?" The answer lies in the human desire everywhere to choose the types of societies we want to build for ourselves  ones grounded on values of human dignity for all and the rule of law.

In addition to the action taken by the OAS against dictatorships 20 years ago, multilateral bodies have had an important role to play in spreading democracy.

In the 54-nation Commonwealth, shared governance values were reflected in the Harare Declaration of 1991, when governments pledged their commitment to the protection and promotion of the Commonwealths democratic political values and rule of law. Members in good standing must have democratically elected civilian governments.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) enhances democracy from "Vancouver to Vladivostok" through monitoring democratic processes among 57 participating states.

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La Francophonie comprises 88 member governments and observers that share French as a common language. It represents 300 million Francophones on five continents. Canada has worked with it to support democracy, undertaking several informal political initiatives in countries at risk.

Representative democracy is indispensable for a peaceful, prosperous world with equal opportunity for all, although the roads to open democratic societies are challenging. With the economic crisis arising now from COVID-19, democracies face both enormous pressures and new opportunities. This turmoil tests our commitment to democratic principles and best governance practices.

Democracy works in tandem with the spread of the rule of law and the enhancement of human dignity. International institutions must accord incrementally more weight to human rights, the rule of law, and multi-party democracy. We must safeguard and enhance our democratic practices and help to strengthen democracies abroad, remembering always that it begins with each of us as individual citizens.

In Afghanistan, the 20-year struggle to build democracy faced many significant failures. Its current situation illustrates what can result if democratic governance, however imperfect, is replaced by intolerance and violence against fellow citizens.

David Kilgour is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and the former secretary of state (Asia-Pacific) from 2002 to 2003.

 Troy Media
Much of the discussion of the results of the 2021 federal election has centred on the somewhat-annoying fact that the parties standings were pretty much the same after as they were before the writ was dropped, with Justin Trudeau leading a minority government, the Conservatives as the official Opposition, et cetera.

Opinion

Much of the discussion of the results of the 2021 federal election has centred on the somewhat-annoying fact that the parties standings were pretty much the same after as they were before the writ was dropped, with Justin Trudeau leading a minority government, the Conservatives as the official Opposition, et cetera.

The question buzzing around the nations Tim Hortons  what was the point of that!?  is an entirely fair one.

But that discussion obscures something that was particularly notable about this election: the Liberal partys vote share dropped yet again, this time to 32.63 per cent of the vote. Justin Trudeau will now form a government with the support of less than one-third of Canadians who voted last week. Never in Canadian history has a government been formed with so little support from the people.

Further, the Liberals received fewer votes than the Conservatives, but won anyway because they secured more seats in the House of Commons.

Obviously, this has enormous democratic implications. In a democracy, the majority is supposed to rule. Governing with the support of only one-third of voters sounds more like oligarchy than democracy. And how did we get here, anyway?

Im glad you asked. As it turns out, the Liberal party used to win Canadian elections with a majority of the popular vote. In the 1900 election, for example, Liberal leader Wilfrid Laurier scored roughly 50 per cent of the vote and a majority of the seats. Fast forward 100 years to the 2000 federal election  once again, a Liberal leader, Jean Chretien, won the election and formed a majority government. But Chretien did so with only a little more than 40 per cent of the vote, 10 points less than Laurier.

Looking at these bookend elections to the 20th century illustrates how the Liberal partys vote share, like those of most old democratic parties, experienced a long-term secular decline from 1900 onward. Yet the 20th century was also characterized by Liberal success, with the party sitting in government a remarkable seven out of every 10 years in that century, while the Conservatives languished on the opposition benches, throwing buns at each other rather than winning elections.

This seeming contradiction between the declining Liberal vote share and its success in winning elections is explained by Canadas single-member plurality electoral system, which is designed to give winning parties a boost in seats. So Laurier in 1900 scored roughly 50 per cent of the vote but won 60 per cent of the seats. And Chretien in 2000 won roughly 40 per cent of the vote, but that translated into 57 per cent of the seats, a whopping boost of 17 per cent.

By the 1990s, the Liberals were entirely reliant on the electoral system to form majority governments. Now, in 2021, Liberal support has plunged so far that majority governments appears out of reach. Instead, the Liberals are now reliant on maximizing the efficiency of their vote to win the most seats with fewer votes than the Conservatives.

The idea of vote efficiency is simply that, in a system like ours in which a candidate wins the seat with a one-vote or a 30,000-vote margin over their opponent, parties face incentives to spread their resources out to win seats but not rack up massive landslides. So parties will move resources  including volunteers and money  out of ridings that are either hopeless or safe and into competitive ones where the extra boost might push them over the top.

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Relatively new technology which relies on both polls and data collected by volunteers on the ground as they canvass can detect these marginal seats during the campaign with startling accuracy.

The Liberals have become quite skilled at maximizing the efficiency of their vote through this moving about of resources. The Conservatives are less good at this, which helps to explain why the party could receive more votes but fewer seats than the Liberals. Theres another reason for this: the Conservatives are so popular in some parts of the country that CPC candidates rack up massive local vote shares. But theres no consolation prize for these huge margins, so landslides in Conservative heartland seats in Alberta and Saskatchewan, for example, inflate the partys vote share but not its seat share.

Short-term Liberal success, however, should not obscure long-term Liberal decline. The party used to win outright majorities of the vote, but as its vote share declined, the party relied on the electoral system to boost its seat share. Now, the partys vote share has declined so much that the Liberals must rely on campaign techniques designed to maximize the efficiency of the party vote in order to hang on to power.

From a historical perspective, the party is in a remarkably precarious position.

This is something the Conservatives should perhaps keep in mind as they contemplate descending into yet another round of leadership squabbling and drama.

Royce Koop is a professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba and academic director of the Centre for Social Science Research and Policy.
When members of Manitobas Progressive Conservative party elect a new leader this month, the question they may want to ask themselves is: of the two candidates in the race, which one would the NDP prefer?

Opinion

When members of Manitobas Progressive Conservative party elect a new leader this month, the question they may want to ask themselves is: of the two candidates in the race, which one would the NDP prefer?

Whoever that is, party members  who had until Friday to buy a membership to vote in the Oct. 30 contest  should choose the other one if they want a chance at winning the next provincial election.

Manitoba's Tories are struggling badly in the polls, especially in Winnipeg, where they have fallen well behind their NDP rivals, thanks mostly to the damage caused by former premier Brian Pallister. If a provincial election were held today, the Tories would be annihilated.

Fortunately for them, the next election is not scheduled until October 2023. They have two years to rebrand and convince the voting public that all traces of their former leader have been expunged from the party.

That will not be easy to do. The Tories political opponents, mainly the NDP, will remind Manitobans at every opportunity how badly the Pallister government managed the pandemic, especially during the third wave when 57 critical-care patients had to be airlifted out of the province. The NDP will talk a lot about the Tories attempt to eliminate English-language school boards (Bill 64) and how they bungled health-care reform.

Of the two candidates vying for leadership, MLA Heather Stefanson will have the most difficulty distancing herself from those political liabilities. She was, after all, the health minister during the third wave. She also supported Bill 64 (one of five bills government intends to quash next week when the house resumes sitting) and seconded the motion to introduce it last year.

Stefanson brings a lot of baggage to the race the NDP would surely exploit, including her ties to Pallister when she served as deputy premier. Kinew would love nothing better than to stand on a stage with her in a leaders debate and ask where she was during the pandemic when critical-care patients couldnt be treated in their own province.

Thats not to say the Tuxedo MLA couldnt make the case that those things occurred under Pallisters watch and that she would pursue a different agenda. It may take some convincing, but Stefanson could argue that under her leadership, the Tories would take a more collaborative and consultative approach to governing. Whether Manitobans would buy that is unclear, although she would have two years to prove herself.

Former Conservative MP Shelly Glover doesnt bring any of that baggage to the table. She has a clean slate, at least when it comes to Pallister. She wasnt a member of his government and doesnt have to make excuses for his actions. Glover openly criticized Pallisters handling of the pandemic before she entered the leadership contest. She would be in a strong position to take on Kinew without having to answer for the Pallister government record. Glover is also Metis and fluently bilingual.

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She has other baggage, though. The NDP would remind Manitobans that the former Winnipeg Police Service officer served as a member of Parliament under former prime minister Stephen Harper, whose brand of Conservative politics doesnt sell well in many parts of Manitoba, especially in Winnipeg.

Glover also got off on the wrong foot last month when she declared her opposition to vaccine mandates and later to "economic lockdowns." Her muddled stance on governments pandemic response appears directed at the anti-vax segment of the party; a strategic move to pick up support from those opposed to governments proof-of-vaccination policies.

Stefanson has played a similar game, although to a lesser extent. She says shes opposed to "mandatory vaccines" but supports governments vaccine policies.

Meanwhile, Stefanson has the benefit of caucus support and could transition to power more seamlessly than Glover (who doesnt have the backing of a single Tory MLA). However, that could work to Glovers advantage by signalling a clean start to a new PC government.

Tory members have a big decision to make. If theyre looking for advice on who their next leader should be, they should ask some of their NDP friends who they prefer.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca
Family and friends of a retired Winnipeg real estate executive are issuing a sombre reminder to Manitobans to remain vigilant against COVID-19  even those who are fully vaccinated  after he caught the virus and died.

Family and friends of a retired Winnipeg real estate executive are issuing a sombre reminder to Manitobans to remain vigilant against COVID-19  even those who are fully vaccinated  after he caught the virus and died.

Arch Honigman died Sept. 23 at St. Boniface Hospital, six days after being admitted for COVID-19 symptoms. The 61-year-old had been fully immunized since May, having had early access to the vaccine due to pre-existing health conditions that made him more vulnerable to the disease.

Supplied photo Arch Honigman was a life-long Winnipegger who was the co-owner of Winpark Dorchester Properties.

"My husband was the most vibrant, happy person," Joanna Biondi said in an interview with the Free Press Tuesday, just days after her partner of 11 years was buried at Shaarey Zedek Cemetery. "He wanted to be out of the house, he wanted to be go, go, go.... He was a free, loving, spirited and out-and-about people person.

"And for COVID, its heartbreaking how I really put my foot down for his health," Biondi said. "We did all the right things to keep everybody safe and it just didnt work."

Throughout the pandemic, the Lindenwoods-area couple kept a small social bubble that included Biondis parents. Even after everyone in their circle was fully vaccinated, the pair continued to double-mask, avoid crowded places, get groceries at off-peak hours, steer clear of restaurants, and only gather outdoors with a small group of trusted and fully vaccinated friends.

Biondi said her husband, a lifelong Winnipegger who was the co-owner of Winpark Dorchester Properties, was well known in the Jewish and Italian communities, and was eager to get vaccinated and back to the things he enjoyed.

He signed up for the AstraZeneca shot when he became eligible because of his pre-existing health conditions.

Supplied photo Winnipeggers Arch Honigman and Joanna Biondi, seen on their wedding day in 2017. Honigman died Sept. 23 at St. Boniface Hospital, six days after being admitted for COVID-19 symptoms.

"He was so proud. Every day he asked me, 'When is my immunization card coming?'" Biondi said. "He wanted that card so bad.

"He wanted it for when things got better, knowing that he could possibly take another step in doing more things."

Biondi, while still reeling from the shock of her sudden loss, said she hopes by sharing her grief, others will double-down on their mask use, get vaccinated and follow public-health requirements in order to protect their loved ones and the community at large.

Ultimately, public health was not able to determine where her husband was exposed to COVID-19, she said.

"My husband was loved. He was adored. He was a pillar in the Jewish community and he did a lot for people," she said.

Supplied photo 'My husband was the most vibrant, happy person,' Joanna Biondi says of Arch Honigman, who died earlier this month of COVID-19.

"You think that this is over, we think that were all getting vaccinated, and its not. Its just not. I didnt want it to happen to my husband, but if anything comes out of this, its going to make people reconsider their thoughts of dropping their guard."

People who are fully vaccinated rarely experience severe outcomes from COVID-19, medical experts say.

Since the vaccine became available in December last year, 18 fully immunized Manitobans have died after contracting COVID-19, including five people between the ages of 60 and 69, and 13 people 70 or older.

A total of 941 infections have been reported in fully immunized Manitobans during the same period, or 0.1 per cent.

Since the pandemic began, 1,211 Manitobans have died from the virus.

Health officials have continued to recommend mask use, social distancing and following public-health orders after vaccination, as the shot is not 100 per cent effective, and each person will have a different immune response to the vaccine.

Being vaccinated is very important, and it helps lessen the risk of getting sick from the virus and having a bad outcome... but it doesn't eliminate the risk.  Physician Mitchell Cosman

Winnipeg physician Mitchell Cosman said the news of Honigman's death has been a wake-up call. The two were close friends for the better part of a decade.

He said Honigman will be remembered as a generous and kind soul, beloved by many in the community.

"Even amongst those who are familiar with the rules and completely accepting of the public-health guidance, theres this tendency to rebound back to the way weve always done it, which is to gather closely, to talk closely," Cosman said, adding his friend's death has renewed conversations on the need for caution, social distancing and wearing masks.

"Being vaccinated is very important, and it helps lessen the risk of getting sick from the virus and having a bad outcome... but it doesn't eliminate the risk."

Biondi applauded the team of doctors, nurses and staff at St. Boniface Hospital for the attentive and compassionate care her husband received. She was grateful for the opportunity to be with him in the intensive-care unit before his death.

"They were all calm and orderly and wonderful to us. But I saw them coming off their shifts, and I saw the nurses in tears. I saw the doctors with such saddened faces. It was awful," Biondi said. "Theyre not only working with their education and knowledge and their persistence, theyre working with their hearts on their sleeve."

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca
The marchers arrive at St. John's Park at almost exactly the minute predicted. They arrive in a great orange wave, all wearing shirts the same colour. They arrive led by the drum, and the riders on horseback, and the tendrils of smudge that curl over Main Street, cleansing the path to the park where the powwow is underway.

The marchers arrive at St. John's Park at almost exactly the minute predicted. They arrive in a great orange wave, all wearing shirts the same colour. They arrive led by the drum, and the riders on horseback, and the tendrils of smudge that curl over Main Street, cleansing the path to the park where the powwow is underway.

"Are we all going to fit into the park, guys?" one young woman gasps, laughing as she surveys the scene.

In a way they do, in a way they don't. For hours, the people flow into the park from all directions. They flow by the hundreds, and then the thousands. They flow until the fields show less green than orange, until lines for the porta-potties stretch into the dozens, until the whole park is alive with laughter and conversation.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A march arrives at St. John's Park.

The crowd looks like Manitoba. It contains faces of all ages, all races. Most of the people here are Indigenous, but on this day they are joined in solidarity by people of all nations; a movement, generations in the making, to call for a way forward, to call for action on reconciliation, to call for justice for Indigenous people.

So many people turn out on this Thursday to share in that call, the park itself almost cannot hold them.

They surround the white tent at the event's heart until the dancers inside can be seen only by the feathers crowning their regalia, if at all. Until the beat of the drums can be heard only as a muffled thrum, if at all. Until the voices of the powwow's emcee and speakers are muted and lost to most watching from outside the tent.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS People stream into St. John's Park.

That's OK, though. Because on this, the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the crowd has come together in memory of the children and the survivors. They've come together to mourn what was taken, and also to honour what persisted: Indigenous nations, cultures and spirit.

To see that spirit rising, vibrant and full of life, all one needs to do is watch the children playing.

On the park's eastern edge, the kids play in sight of the Red River. They play in sight of watchful parents. They wear orange shirts, some a few sizes too big. They spin and swing, begging patient older siblings to push them just a little bit higher, shrieking with joy when that wish is granted.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Anastasia Hudson, 5, plays at a powwow at St. John's Park.

A boy clambers to the top of a climbing block, then turns to beam proudly at his father.

"Remember when I did this?" the child calls out.

His father looks up with a slight grimace. "I know," he replies. "But be careful."

Under the trees, a boy blows bubbles that scatter over the grass. Behind the white tent, a girl, about six years old, stands straight and proud in her jingle dress. Nearby a man cranes his neck for a glimpse of the dancers, while his son holds his hand; the boy is happily chattering away about what he would do if he had superpowers.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Callie Thompson, 6, gets her shawl adjusted by her mom, Pamela Demas.

There are kids eating ice cream, kids petting dogs, kids tapping drums. Kids rolling down hills until their braided hair is adorned with yellow leaves, until the grown-ups have to rub the grass from their cheeks, until they come to rest at the bottom of the hill in a tangled and giggling mess, before running back up to try again.

Every child matters, the crowd says, whether by the words emblazoned on their shirts or the chants welling up from their throats. To think what they are fighting for are moments like these. Honouring the children who never got to live these moments and declaring, in unison, that no child should ever have their joy or their love stolen from them again.

Inside the tent, the emcee pauses the proceedings to make an announcement: two little girls have lost their parents, he says. He asks if anyone recognizes them. NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine takes one of the girls by the hand. But it's hard to hear from outside the tent and even harder to see, so for a while at least, there's no reunion.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Anastasia Hudson (centre) and Destiny Thompson (right) dance at the powwow.

Yet these children are safe, they're with people who care, they are protected. They are lost for a little while, perhaps, but their community is all around them. They are seen, they are held, they will go home to the family that loves them. And that is what all children deserve although, for far too long in Canada, a right not all were given.

As the powwow winds down, people begin to drift back to their cars, or their walk home. As they leave the park, the sound of the drums falls away from their ears, and then the sound of a thousand conversations. In the end, the last song that can be heard on the breeze, drifting from the park to the street, is the laughter of children.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Witsies win six Science Oscars at prestigious national research awards

Wits researchers won six National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)-South32 research awards .

Dr Tegan Bristow, Professor Raymond Durrheim, Dr Bavesh Kana and team, Dr Musa Manzi and team, Professor Bruce Mellado, and Dr Boitumelo Innocent Ramatsetse were winners across six different categories at the 2020/2021 NSTF-South32 Awards.

The dual-city hybrid event, live-streamed from gala events in Johannesburg and Cape Town simultaneously, took place on Thursday, 30 September 2021.

Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education, Innovation and Training, the official patron of the awards, delivered the keynote address.

The prestigious awards, considered the Oscars of Science, recognise outstanding contributions to science, engineering, technology (SET), and innovation, in 13 categories.

Wits researchers won in the Special Annual Theme Award; Innovation: Corporate Organisation; Emerging Researcher; Researcher; Data for Research; and Lifetime Award categories.

Professor Lynn Morris, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation at Wits, says: Winning awards in six categories highlights the extent and the richness of research excellence at Wits. Congratulations to all the winners and their teams for using their ingenuity to create a better society for all.

Special Annual Theme Award



The NSTF this year made a Special Annual Theme Award for an outstanding contribution to science, engineering, technology and innovation towards the Creative Economy for Sustainable Development.

This is in recognition of the declaration by the United Nations of the year of the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development.

Dr Tegan Bristow, Senior Lecturer in the School of Fine Arts and Director of the Fakugesi African Digital Innovation Festival, won the Special Annual Theme Award for her contribution to the direction of the Fakugesi African Digital Innovation Festival and for leading development and research in the digital creative industry in Africa.

Dr Tiisetso E Lephoto, Lecturer and Researcher in the School of Molecular and Cell Biology at Wits, was also nominated in the Special Annual Theme Award category, as was Dr Alseno Kagiso Mosai, a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Chemistry (based on the NSTF-Water Research Commission and the Engineering Research Capacity Development nomination).

Bristow was also a finalist in the Management Award category.

Innovation Award: Corporate Organisation

Professor Bavesh Kana is Director and CEO of the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB Research. He is the team leader of the Biomimicry Diagnostic Verification Controls Team. DSI-NRF refers to the Department of Science and Innovation and National Research Foundation.

Kana and his team won the Innovation Award: Corporate Organisation, for innovations and research and/or development by a team or an individual over the last five to 10 years. The award recognises the team's use of biomimicry to verify diagnostic tests for Covid-19 and other infectious diseases.

Dr Tiisetso E Lephoto, Lecturer and Researcher in the School of Molecular and Cell Biology was also nominated in this category, and Dr Boitumelo Innocent Ramatsetse, Lecturer and Researcher in Engineering Graphics and Design, Educational Information and Engineering Technology was a finalist.

Data for Research Award



Dr Musa Manzi accepted the Data for Research Award on behalf of the School of Geosciences Data Collection and Storage Facility. Manzi co-leads the team with Professor Raymond Durrheim and Glen Nwaila. The award is for developing techniques to use legacy data to explore for mineral resources, support safe and efficient mining, and assess and mitigate geohazards.

Wits Biomedical Informatics and Translational Sciences (WitsBITS), a Division of Wits Health Consortium under the leadership of Ms Irma Adele Mare, REDCap Manager and Honorary Lecturer in Surgery at Wits, was also nominated in this category.

TW Kambule-NSTF Award: Emerging Researcher

Dr Boitumelo Innocent Ramatsetse, Lecturer and Researcher in Engineering Graphics and Design, Educational Information and Engineering Technology in Mathematics Education in the School of Education, won the Emerging Researcher Award for designing and developing an innovative beneficiation solution called a Reconfigurable Vibrating Screen (RVS). The RSV separates mineral particles according to size and volumes as demanded by customers in the mining and mineral processing industries.

Other Wits nominees in this category were Dr Geoff Beck, School of Physics; Dr Tiisetso E Lephoto, School of Molecular and Cell Biology (also profiled as part of the NSTF's Brilliant Minds Programme); Associate Professor Thashree Marimuthu, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology; and Dr Alseno Kagiso Mosai, School of Chemistry.

TW Kambule-NSTF Award: Researcher

Professor Bruce Mellado won the TW Kambule-NSTF Award: Researcher, which recognises an individual from 6 years up to 15 years of research work from the commencement of the research career, predominantly in South Africa.

Mellado is Research Professor in the School of Physics at Wits and Senior Scientist at iThemba LABS. Here he is coordinator of the Technology Innovation Platform in Artificial Intelligence and Director of the Institute for Collider Particle Physics.

The award recognises Mellado's contribution in SA (through the management of the SA contribution) to the Large Hadron Electron Collider at the CERN facility, the oversight of the development and production of a unique 16-layer electronics circuit board, and numerous other contributions in physics and artificial intelligence.

Wits Professor Raseelo J. Moitsheki, Head of the Wits School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, was also nominated in this category.

Lifetime Award



Professor Raymond Durrheim, in the Wits School of Geosciences, won the Lifetime Award, which is bestowed on an individual over a lifetime (15 years or more).

Durrheim is the DSI-NRF SARChI Research Chair in Exploration, Earthquake and Mining Seismology.

DSI-NRF SARChI refers to the Department of Science and Innovation-National Research Foundation South African Research Chairs Initiative.

Durrheims research interests include geophysics, seismology, exploration, earthquakes, mining, engineering, environment, and geohazards.

The award recognises Durrheims application of his expertise in geophysics and seismology to learn how the Earth works, where to find ore bodies and energy resources, to make mining safer, and how to mitigate the risks of earthquakes.

Professor Raseelo J. Moitsheki, Head of the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics and Shirley Abelman, Professor Emeritus in the School, were also nominated in the Lifetime Award category.

Wits finalists for the NSTF-Water Research Commission Award

Tamiru Aibye, Professor of Hydrology in the School of Geosciences and Professor Craig Sheridan in the School of Geography, Archeology and Environmental Studies at Wits were finalists for the NSTF-Water Research Commission Award.



Abiye is a widely published NRF-rated researcher. His work advances sustainable use of groundwater to alleviate poverty and enhance economic development, given that Africa has large groundwater reserves which are resilient to climate change. Abiye was involved in establishing and managing the Ethiopian Association of Hydrogeologists and the Africa Groundwater Network.

Sheridan is a chemical engineer and Director of the Centre in Water Research and Development (CIWaRD) at Wits. He is currently the principal investigator on a Joint Programme Initiative (Water JPI) project, funded by the European Union. The project involves constructing and monitoring two small-scale community-usage grey-water treatment wetlands in Setswetla, near Alexandra township. He also conducts research on the treatment of acid mine drainage.

About the NSTF-South32 Awards



The NSTF Awards honour and celebrate outstanding contributions to science, engineering and technology (SET) and innovation.

The awards encourage and reward excellence in:

Scientific research

Management of SET and Innovation

Engineering research capacity development

Water solutions

Data for research

Innovations

Science communication

NGO Award

The NSTF Awards date from 1998 and have since 2015 been organised in partnership with South32, a resources company which was established after the demerger of BHP Billiton.

The Awards are the largest and most prestigious public SET and innovation awards in South Africa.

Endorsed by the DSI, the Awards are unique in South Africa and Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology is the official patron.

Youth outreach is an integral part of the awards project. Top performing learners in mathematics and science in Grade 12 are recognised every year through the Brilliants Programme. There is also a year-long series of interactions with students and learners by Award Winners across the country. This is called the NSTF Share n Dare Programme.
NEW YORK (AP) - Teachers opposed to New York Citys vaccine mandate for public school educators and other staff have filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking an emergency injunction that would keep it from going into effect.

The city has given school employees until 5 p.m. Friday to get at least their first vaccine shot, or face suspension without pay when schools open on Monday.

Lawyers for the teachers had said they would go to the Supreme Court after a federal appeals panel decided on Monday that the nations largest school district could go ahead with the mandate. An email was sent to City Hall seeking comment.
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)- Getting your meat from a Butcher Shop isn't as common as it used to be, but one butcher shop that just opened in Lafayette is trying to change that.

This Old Butcher Shoppe had its grand opening on Thursday afternoon. While owning this business is new to Jessica Roosa, the Purdue graduate is no newbie to the agricultural industry.

"I went into meat processing so I own this old farm meats and processing which is outside of Colfax," said Roosa the owner of This Old Butcher Shoppe.

Roosa has been involved in the agricultural industry for over 20 years. Her butcher shop is focused on providing locally sourced products to the community.

"We are really focused on who the farmer was," said Roosa. "So who raised that piece of the meat that you are about ready to eat and that gives a whole advantage from that traceability about where that product comes from, and also knowing your butcher. So it's about knowing your farmer, knowing your butcher, then we can get exactly what you are looking for."

While providing people with peace of mind about where their food is coming from is a big part of Roosa's business. She also wants to create an environment where people interested in the craft can learn.

"It's about apprenticing butchers, apprenticing farmers, helping others start businesses," said Roosa. "So this one location in here in Lafayette is about bringing me back to helping others get started in the craft.

This Old Butcher Shoppe has pasture-raised pork and also has non-GMO-fed pastured poultry available for purchase.

The shop is open from 10 AM to 6 PM Tuesday through Saturday and is located at 3623 Braddock Dr, Lafayette Indiana. For more information about service and products call 765-767-4886 or click here.
NEW CASTLE, Ind. (AP)  Police have seized about 400 pounds (181 kilograms) of marijuana following a traffic stop on a central Indiana freeway.

A van was stopped about 1:35 p.m. Wednesday on Interstate 70 near New Castle for following another vehicle too closely, The (Muncie) Star Press reported Thursday.

Inside were 16 cardboard boxes with vacuum-sealed packages of pot.

Two men from Baltimore and Glen Burnie, Maryland, were arrested and face charges of dealing marijuana.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  Students organized a sit-in Friday morning at the Purdue University Board of Trustees meeting, packing the board room with signs calling out the university administration.

Protesters are pushing for change in the face of an uptick of reported sexual assaults.

Students gathered outside Stewart Center and marched through the building before sitting in on the meeting.

"I think my main goal in being here and being a part of the #MeToo movement is to be a voice for all women," said Sophomore Hannah Miller

Miller was among several students meeting with trustees ahead of the meeting.

"The Board of Trustees basically just said they hear us, they're here to help us," she said. "There was no plan of action that was made. I think that's our next step but for now this is a good starting point."

Protesters are concerned about the administration's response to a rash of reported sexual assaults on campus, at frat houses and residence halls.

"I personally am a victim of sexual assault and I'm tired of staying silent ... and I'm tired of seeing other women being put down and victim-blamed and being accused of lying," said Senior Sarah Whitaker, one of the organizers behind the #MeToo Purdue Greek Life Instagram account, where survivors are sharing their stories and pushing for action.

As News 18 previously reported, the movement started after an alleged rape on Sept. 18 at Zeta Beta Tau.

"Everybody out there, your voices are being heard and if you've been too afraid to report anything, you still have a strong support system," Whitaker says.

Throughout the morning, dialogue ignited between trustees and protesters. After the meeting, Chairman Michael Berghoff said one report of sexual violence is too many.

"We're trying to get to zero ... so we've got to keep innovating, we've got to keep understanding what the true causes of this are and then, What can we do differently to continue to improve it? So to the extent that students can help us with that, great. We need them."

As News 18 previously reported, Purdue sororities canceled events with fraternities until at least Oct. 17. That's when frat members must complete a sexual assault education program.
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) -- A fallen Lafayette firefighter is being honored nationally.

Lafayette Fire Department Sgt. Don Thelen served for 36 years and died July 31, 2020 after a battle with occupational cancer.

Thelen will be honored during the 40th Annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend.

He is among 215 firefighters becoming a permanent part of the National Memorial in honor of their sacrifices.

LFD firefighter Jeff Smith worked with Thelen and said he is more than worthy of the honor.

"Nobody every wants to be that guy that's honored, but Don definitely deserves it," said Smith. "He's a good guy. He knew his job forward and backwards."

The Memorial weekend is Saturday and Sunday in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

There will be a candlelight service Saturday, and the National Fallen Fighters Memorial Service is Sunday.
The Communist Party of China and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, attend a reception to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China along with nearly 500 guests from home and abroad in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2021. China's State Council on Thursday held the reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. [Xinhua/Xie Huanchi]

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua)  China's State Council on Thursday held a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The reception, held a day ahead of the National Day, was attended by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad.

Premier Li Keqiang addressed the reception, while Vice Premier Han Zheng presided over it.

This year marks the centenary of the CPC. Under the leadership of the CPC, China has achieved outstanding development over the past 72 years that has attracted the world's attention, particularly completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and embarking on the new quest to fully build a modern socialist country, Li said.

Noting that this year is the first year in China's 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2015), Li stated that China, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, has coordinated epidemic response with social and economic development, and has effectively responded to the complex and grave international environment, as well as multiple other challenges from COVID-19 and severe floods.

China's economic performance has enjoyed sustained recovery and growth and people's living standards have kept improving, Li said.

"On our way ahead, we still face many difficulties and challenges, and the journey remains long toward realizing the second centenary goal," Li said, stressing that development is the foundation and key to overcoming all challenges.

To foster a new development paradigm and promote high-quality development, efforts should be made to implement regular epidemic prevention and anchor reasonable expectations, with focuses on scientific and technological innovation, expanding domestic demand and rural vitalization, Li noted.

He said reform and opening-up is China's fundamental state policy, which also serves as the key source of momentum for China's future development. He underlined the need to deepen reform across the board and achieve more significant progress on reforms in key areas and sectors.

Li stressed the commitment to reforms oriented toward the socialist market economy and higher-level opening-up on an institutional basis, and called for efforts to create a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment.

A raft of measures should be taken to create more jobs, promote equal opportunities, encourage entrepreneurship and innovation and increase urban and rural personal incomes, Li said.

Li urged efforts to fully and faithfully implement the principles of "one country, two systems," "the people of Hong Kong governing Hong Kong," "the people of Macao governing Macao," and a high degree of autonomy for both regions.

Calling for actions to safeguard sovereignty, security and the development interests of the country, and measures to promote common development and progress of Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland, Li highlighted the need to continuously improve people's wellbeing and ensure long-term stability and prosperity.

He stressed adherence to the overall principles and policies on work related to Taiwan and upholding the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, while promoting the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and advancing national reunification for the benefit of people across the Taiwan Strait.

Li also urged moves to firmly oppose and deter any "Taiwan independence" separatist activities and external interference, calling on people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to make joint efforts to achieve national rejuvenation.

China will step up exchanges and cooperation with other countries to jointly tackle global challenges and promote the recovery and growth of the world economy, Li vowed.

Li closed his speech by calling for rallying more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core and unremitting efforts to build China into a great modern socialist country and realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang addresses a reception held by the State Council to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2021. [Xinhua/Shen Hong]

Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, presides over a reception held by the State Council to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2021. [Xinhua/Xie Huanchi]

(Source: Xinhua)
Soldiers attend a commemorative event at the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) martyrs' cemetery in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 30, 2021. Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Thursday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. [Xinhua/Yang Qing]

Students attend a commemorative event at Shahe Martyrs' Cemetery in Shahe City, north China's Hebei Province, Sept. 30, 2021. Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Thursday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. [Xinhua/Luo Xuefeng]

Students attend a commemorative event at Shahe Martyrs' Cemetery in Shahe City, north China's Hebei Province, Sept. 30, 2021. Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Thursday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. [Xinhua/Luo Xuefeng]

Volunteers sweep tombstones of martyrs during a commemorative event at Longhua Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery in east China's Shanghai, Sept. 30, 2021. Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Thursday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. [Xinhua/Wang Xiang]

People visit the Memorial Museum of the Huaihai Campaign in Xuzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Sept. 30, 2021. Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Thursday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. [Xinhua/Li Bo]

People attend a commemorative event at Ma'anshan martyrs' memorial park in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Sept. 30, 2021. Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Thursday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. [Xinhua/Liu Kun]

Police officers attend a commemorative event at a martyrs' memorial park for police in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sept. 30, 2021. Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Thursday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. [Xinhua/Wang Fei]

A student lays flowers during a commemorative event at the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) martyrs' cemetery in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 30, 2021. Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Thursday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. [Xinhua/Yang Qing]

People attend a commemorative event at Ma'anshan martyrs' memorial park in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Sept. 30, 2021. Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Thursday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. [Xinhua/Liu Kun]

People attend a commemorative event at Longhua Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery in east China's Shanghai, Sept. 30, 2021. Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Thursday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. [Xinhua/Wang Xiang]

(Source: Xinhua)
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Based on CoreLogic's annual Wildfire Report for 2021, while California traditionally tops the list each year for wildfire risk simply because it's the most populous state, Wyoming and Idaho are the top states most at risk for a prolonged wildfire recovery.

Understanding Risk and Resilience

If a fire destroys 800 homes in California, the road to recovery and lasting impact is not synonymous with 800 homes burning in Wyoming, when considering the size of each state's housing stock. In states like Wyoming and Idaho, the number of homes at risk is a larger fraction of the total number of homes in the state. If a larger portion of the population is displaced at a single time, recovery times may be elongated, fewer local workers might be available -- and likely distracted rebuilding their own lives -- and fewer hotels and housing options may be available to outside workers due to local populace demand.

"There's no denying a state like California is at severe risk for wildfire destruction every year, as seen in the ongoing Dixie Fire," said Tom Larsen, principal, insurance solutions at CoreLogic. "But it's important to acknowledge that not all communities and their catastrophic events are the same, and the road to recovery can look drastically different. Resilience is often measured as how fast you can recover from a catastrophe -- and the deeper the wound, the longer it takes to heal."

Within these states, CoreLogic identified the five counties at highest risk. These counties, if impacted by wildfire, would likely have a longer and more difficult road to recovery than counties in more populous states.

Anticipating Climate Change Complications

The changing climate creates abnormal weather activity, like unusually high rainfall during seasons of vegetative growth, that then creates an overgrowth of plants known as ground fuels.

The environment is changing too rapidly to rely solely on wildfire loss history to plan for future wildfire mitigation and response. Probabilistic risk models, which can evaluate simulations of weather variation in today's environment, can produce planning scenarios relevant to communities now.

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Police respond to the scene of a shooting on Thursday, September 30, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Lawmakers are racing the clock to avert a government shutdown ahead of a midnight deadline. Nancy Pelosi, Janet Yellen, and Chuck Schumer speak to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, September 23.
Fresh calls to provide better facilities for HGV drivers using industrial estate  project was supposed to be done by now

The Councils contractors are experiencing problems with sourcing construction timber, steel, plasterboard, roofing membranes and cement  with the authority warning an increase in tendered prices is expected.

The Customers, Performance, Resources and Governance Scrutiny Committee met to discuss a report on The Impact of Brexit in terms of the local council that detailed the current and predicted impacts locally.

2019 saw several meetings in the run up to Brexit with concerns over the preparedness of the council for various scenarios, with some questioning what exactly it would actually mean, although the authority believed they were doing everything needed.

As we documented at the time other councils across the UK were taking action to avoid issues with school school nutrition standards, with Hastings Council going further saying there might be the need for rationing, North Tyneside stating fresh produce could be difficult to come by. Others invested in items to help predicted capacity issues, with Chichester District Council buying a 24,000 litre fuel tank & filling station as they had concern over supplies.

Council Leader Mark Pritchard presented the report yesterday as part of his role as Lead Member for Organisation and Finance, This is the third report on this subject. Our members received an information report in December 2020, outlining the councils work in preparation for no deal. Then a report was brought to this committee in March 2021 detailing the impact of Brexit and the early implications of the New Deal. We are nine months into the New Deal and this report provides members with the latest information on these key area issues.

Members will no doubt have seen the reports in the media lately on the UK shortage of qualified HGV drivers resulting in some supply chain issues on delivering products. With all other councils in Wales, Wrexham is expecting delays in the receipt of some goods, increases in the lead times deliveries, for vehicles, for contractors, and contracts, and have had a difficulty in securing some products, particularly building materials.

However, it is difficult to separate the issues caused by Brexit and those occurring as a result of the worldwide pandemic with COVID.

I think its difficult for us all, all councils, authorities across the UK because none of us have a crystal ball and we dont know the full impact of Brexit and the pandemic.

The report before councillors detailed the national shortage of building materials and the Councils contractors experiencing similar problems with sourcing construction timber, steel, plasterboard, roofing membranes and cement.

Lead times have increased to up to 12 months for vehicles, and the council are experiencing delays in the receipt of parts to repair its fleet vehicles.

With freight delays and costs going up there is a knock on effect on council contracts, with the report stating Price increases are putting pressure on the profitability of some of the Councils contracts and frameworks for contractors, who are asking to increase their tendered rates and complaining that the annual indexation increases are now not sufficient to cover the cost of materials.

Cllr Pritchard also praised council staff, Id like to say at this moment in time a big thank you to all members of staff who have worked tirelessly since Covid to deliver services in in this authority. Theyve been a credit to themselves, to the organisation and to the residents of Wrexham, and thats everybody who delivers services from this council. Its been a fantastic response.

The meeting was told by the officer that Chief Officers have reviewed the Brexit risk register, The majority of the risks have now been closed, just apart from for planning and regulatory, and theyre going to be transferred to them to the main register for monitoring purposes.

It was noted things are forever changing from a week to week basis, but councillors were assured theres nothing serious to report at the moment

Chair of the Committee Cllr Carrie Harper asked for more detail on school meal provisions, as noted as amber in the report, and asked what discussions and updates are happening with Welsh Government and with UK government in terms of contingency plans if this gets more acute over the next few weeks?

The Officer explained, In terms of all our supply chains, they are being monitored by the procurement unit within finance. There havent been any significant issues. We were all suffering with the delay of freights being increased, prices, everybodys suffering the same things, but theres been no significant problems in terms of providing school meals etc

Cllr Prichard answered, With regards to discussions, yes there are with Westminster, with Cardiff with the WLGA. This is a common theme, we are discussing it all the while. I sat down with Cllr David A Bithell from the environment department and he briefed me with regards to the winter pressures with regards to fuel, hes confirmed that weve got enough fuel in Abbey Road because weve got our own tanks.

The ordering of the salt has been done, we are training up more HGV drivers within our own staffing level. So Davids been active in doing that. Theres a lot of work going on in the background, locally, regionally, in North Wales, and obviously, nationally, between Westminster in Cardiff.

Cllr Mike Davies raised the well documented issues around LGV and HGV drivers, linking the issue partially to Brexit.

Cllr Davies called on Wrexham Council to do more, As a town or county, which has one of the largest industrial estates in the country, we rely on these workers to keep a lot of our factories provided the supplies etc

Ive spoken to a few drivers recently, Ive read so many reports and comments from drivers as why theyre leaving. A lot of its down to conditions and I think as as as a town which uses a lot of LGVs because of the factories we have got, I would like to encourage the council to provide better facilities.

We do hear so many stories of drivers parking up overnight, there are no toilets, they are parked all of the industrial estate in laybys.

Pointing out this perhaps was not the right meeting for it, he added: Id like to see the council maybe try to provide something, maybe a lorry park with facilities, showers, toilets on the industrial state just to encourage people to stay in jobs  because yes Brexit weve lost a lot of drivers, but a lot of drivers are leaving because they are just fed up with the job.

Council Leader Pritchard said he fully supported the comments, but batted the problem elsewhere: The thing I would disagree with you on is when you said the council  it isnt our responsibility, its Westminster and Cardiff to find the funding.

There has been on ongoing discussions with Wrexham industrial estate for a transport site there thats been ongoing for a long time, that was supposed to be done by now.

There are discussions between the Lead Member David Bithell and Lesley Griffiths MS, there was a discussion took place last week or the week before on that actual subject.

So yes, absolutely fully support what you have said, but the funding has to come from the Welsh Government, not the council.

Councillors requested to be kept up to date on the current HGV issues, potential impact on fuel and food, food supplies, on council services and potentially the wider local impact and if there are urgent things that we need to look at the committee requested notification from officers.
It has never been so important  North Wales nurses urge people to get their flu jabs this winter

Frontline healthcare workers have called for people across North Wales to protect themselves and their loved ones by getting the flu vaccine this winter.

Nurses from across the Betsi Cadwaladr area have joined forces to urge residents to take up the offer of vaccination  to keep themselves, their families and their communities safe.

The flu virus can be deadly and typically results in dozens of admissions to critical care units across North Wales each year.

Tens of thousands of people aged 50 and over will be called a for a free flu vaccine from the start of this years campaign for the first time.

Other priority groups include two and three year olds, health and care workers, and anyone with an underlying health condition.

Specialist respiratory nurse Linda Tadgell has delivered thousands of flu shots over the last five years in her role as a staff flu vaccinator at the health board.

Last year she received a national award for her role vaccinating colleagues at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

She said: Make sure you get your flu vaccine this year, because it will help to protect you and the people who are important to you  your loved ones, family and friends, and relatives who are vulnerable or who might be shielding.

Getting the flu jab is easy  it takes five minutes, is free for people in the target groups, and reduces the risk of severe illness.

Her message was echoed by Katherine White, a Medicines Management Specialist Nurse at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Flu can spread very easily. We can do our bit to protect ourselves by washing our hands regularly, and by sneezing and coughing into tissues and making sure that they go into the bin, she said.

Particularly this year more than ever, because of COVID, its so important that people do what they can to protect themselves and others  and by having the flu vaccine we can protect those people who are more vulnerable.

Behaviour analyst Tony Green works with the Complex Needs Service based at Bryn Y Neuadd in Llanfairfechan.

He said: If you catch flu then you could go home, maybe give it to your family, your children, or particularly elderly relatives who could be a lot more vulnerable, and anyone with any underlying health complications.

Flu is a serious condition, with serious consequences. As we know, the flu mutates every year  so its important to have your jab every year to update that protection.

Trainee Nurse Endoscopist Sandra Ewing volunteers to deliver flu vaccines to her colleagues at Ysbyty Gwynedd.

We want people to be well and we want our staff to be well, she said. We want to reduce the impact on critical care and reduce the pressure on hospital beds.

My advice would be to not just think of yourself, but think of the protection youre giving to others as well. It is really important  it has never been so important.

People in priority vaccination groups should look out for invitations to receive their flu vaccination from their GP surgery, or attend one of the dozens of community pharmacies delivering flu vaccines across North Wales this winter.

Schoolchildren will receive their flu vaccine via nasal spray through their school.

Betsi Cadwaladr Executive Director of Public Health Teresa Owen said the NHS in North Wales again faced the prospect of an extraordinarily busy winter, with coronavirus circulating widely in the community.

Because of a successful flu vaccination campaign and measures to control the spread of COVID-19 there were very few cases of flu in North Wales last winter, she said.

But, with the easing of restrictions over recent months, there is a real risk from flu this winter. With more of us are circulating and socialising, the flu virus has greater opportunity to spread.

If you meet the criteria, the best thing you can do to stay healthy this winter is make sure you get both your free flu vaccine and your COVID booster. This will give you and your loved ones the best possible protection against both viruses, help to slow their spread, and help to protect the NHS.

For more information about the flu vaccine, visit the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board website.
Welsh Government warning over fake Covid vaccine consent form circulating in schools

The Welsh Government has issued a warning over a bogus Covid consent form reported to have been circulating in schools as the rollout of jabs for 12 to 15-year-olds gets underway.

There are reports that some headteachers across the UK have reportedly been targeted by letters which are presented as being a consent form with information to be sent to parents ahead of pupils being given Covid vaccinations.

The Welsh government said: Were aware of fake vaccine consent forms circulating in schools by anti-vaccine groups aiming to spread fear, division and mistrust.

WARNING: Were aware of fake vaccine consent forms circulating in schools by anti-vaccine groups aiming to spread fear and mistrust. Remain vigilant, and help us share this warning with friends and family. Get your facts from reliable sources https://t.co/TgsCDMgf6Y pic.twitter.com/Nk4vqFXEa3  Welsh Government #KeepWalesSafe (@WelshGovernment) September 28, 2021

Below an NHS Vaccines logo, it includes claims such as the vaccine being a risk for strokes, blindness, deafness, clotting, miscarriages, anaphylaxis and cardiovascular disorders.

The health board in North Wales has begun sending letters to children aged 12-15, inviting them and their parent/guardian to a vaccination centre from Monday October 4 onwards.

Children in Wrexham will be invited to attend vaccination sites which will be running after school and weekend sessions.

Young people in this age group will not be able to attend walk in clinics.

Speaking earlier this week, Ffion Johnstone from Betsi Cadwaladr health board said: There is no need for them or their parents/guardians to contact us to book an appointment as they will be invited by letter when it is their turn.

A parent or guardian will need to provide consent on behalf of the young person and accompany them when receiving their vaccination.

At this stage we are not planning to vaccinate this age group in school-based clinics, but we will keep this under review.

The health board said it is important that young people and their parents/guardian make an informed decision about vaccination, based on information from trusted sources, such as Public Health Wales.

For answers to frequently asked questions about vaccinating 12-15-year-olds, visit the BCUHB website.

Advice from the JCVI on whether a second dose should be offered to this age group is expected at a later date.
Previously redacted portions of the Mueller report into supposed Russian interference in the US, released this week, have shown that despite every effort, the Justice Department was unable to concoct evidence of any criminal wrongdoing on the part of WikiLeaks or Julian Assange in relation to their 2016 publications exposing the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton.

The revelation is the latest proof of the fraudulent character of the entire Russiagate narrative, used not only to smear Assange, but also to justify expanded online censorship and to push for greater US military aggression. It is evidence that the US state had been attempting to manufacture criminal charges against Assange, before an indictment was finalised in late 2017 over WikiLeaks completely unrelated 2010 and 2011 publications.

Assange interviewed by CNN in August, 2016. The network had a strap beneath him reading Political disruption throughout most of the interview. (Credit: Screenshot CNN online broadcast)

The 13 new pages of the 448-page Mueller report were released on Monday as the result of a successful Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Buzzfeed News.

The Justice Department has sought to block the full release of the report since it was brought down in March, 2019, including through the use of extensive redactions. In September, a US judge ruled that the government had violated the law by withholding sections of the report without legitimate cause, labelling some of the redactions as self-serving.

The contents of the new material shows why the Justice Department was so intent on keeping it hidden. The documents disclose that despite a two-year investigation, Special Counsel Robert Mueller came up with nothing to prove the collusion between WikiLeaks, the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence that had been trumpeted by the intelligence agencies, the Democratic Party and the corporate media.

This is in line with the character of the report as a whole, which was unable to substantiate any of the Russian interference in the 2016 US election that the Mueller investigation had been tasked with identifying.

The new pages reveal that one of the focuses of the Mueller investigation was laying the groundwork for criminal charges against Assange and WikiLeaks under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

This was premised on the assertion that the internal Democratic National Committee (DNC) communications and emails of Clintons campaign chair, John Podesta, were hacked by the GRU Russian military intelligence agency before being published by WikiLeaks.

In May, it was revealed that CrowdStrike, a cyber security company handpicked by the Democratic Party to examine the DNC servers had been unable to find evidence that documents had ever been exfiltrated from them. In other words, there may not have been any successful hack, Russian or otherwise.

This aligned with Assanges repeated insistence that Russia was not the source of the material. It lent weight to the claims of WikiLeaks collaborator and former British diplomat, Craig Murray, who has stated that he has personal knowledge of the source of the DNC documents, and that they were provided by disgruntled insiders.

Significantly, even though it is based on the discredited Russiagate framework, the newly-released material from the report concluded that there was no basis for laying conspiracy charges against Assange.

The most fundamental hurdles to such a prosecution, it stated, are factual ones. There was not admissible evidence to establish a conspiracy involving Russian intelligence, WikiLeaks and Trump campaign insider Roger Stone.

To justify the fact that all of the resources of the American state were insufficient to manufacture evidence of the theory that it had promoted for years, the Mueller report pathetically claimed that one of the problems was that WikiLeaks communications with the GRU were encrypted.

The lack of visibility into the contents of these communications would hinder the Offices ability to prove that WikiLeaks was aware of and intended to join the criminal venture comprised of the GRU hackers, the report stated.

This is truly clutching at straws and desperately attempting to save face. Mueller was left to claim that the only possible evidence of a conspiracy was contained in encrypted messages that he and the intelligence agencies had presumably never seen!

The report concluded that an attempted prosecution would fail. [S]uccess would also depend upon evidence of WikiLeakss and Stones knowledge of ongoing or contemplated future computer intrusionsthe proof that is currently lacking, it stated.

The centrality of Stone to the attempts to concoct charges against Assange underscores the frame-up character of the entire operation. After the Mueller report was finalised, Stone was successfully prosecuted. But it was not for involvement in any conspiracy. Rather, Stone was sent to prison for falsely claiming under oath that he had ever had any relationship with WikiLeaks or Assange.

The new documents show that Mueller was intent on establishing the grounds for a prosecution of Assange, with the precise allegations and charges a secondary matter entirely subordinate to the overarching goal of imprisoning the WikiLeaks founder.

Thus the Mueller investigation extraordinarily canvassed the possibility of charging Assange with having made illegal campaign contributions to Trump. These contributions were not financial, but were the publication of the DNC and Podesta emails.

Mueller was well aware that this would be an attempt to criminalise the publication of true and newsworthy information, concluding that such a prosecution would come up against the First Amendment of the American Constitution, which protects freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Significantly, the Mueller report also warned that a conspiracy prosecution, even if evidence could be concocted, would confront similar obstacles. Precedent, it noted, had established that the First Amendment protects a partys publication of illegally intercepted communications on a matter of public concern, even when the publishing parties knew or had reason to know of the intercepts unlawful origin.

The Russiagate narrative had already been entirely discredited before the release of new information from the Mueller report.

But the material further highlights the flagrant illegality of the US attempt to extradite Assange from Britain, and prosecute him on conspiracy and Espionage Act charges over WikiLeaks 201011 publications of the Iraq and Afghan war logs, US diplomatic cables and files from Guantanamo Bay.

All of the First Amendment issues relating to the 2016 publications apply with equal force to the 201011 releases. They were obtained by the courageous whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who had lawful access to them as an army intelligence analyst. The documents were published by Assange, who acted as an editor and a journalist exposing evidence of war crimes, human rights abuses and diplomatic intrigues.

That Mueller was seeking to lay the grounds for a criminal prosecution against Assange, on matters completely unrelated to those he has since been charged with, demonstrates the vindictive and political nature of the US Justice Departments campaign against the WikiLeaks founder.

It paints a picture of a US state apparatus, intent on silencing Assange because he exposed their crimes, searching for years to find some basis for bringing legal action against him. Virtually all of the evidence relating to the 201011 publications has been known for a decade. The Mueller report suggests, however, the US state may first have been seeking to charge Assange over the 2016 releases. Only as it became clear that this would fail was a December, 2017 indictment filed in relation to the 201011 material.

That indictment, which has since been repeatedly superseded, was based on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the exact same legislation Mueller unsuccessfully investigated prosecuting Assange under.

The clearly political character of the entire process means that Assanges extradition to the US would be unlawful. Existing treaty arrangements between Britain and the US explicitly ban extraditions for offences of a political nature.

The latest Mueller material has been overshadowed by the 2020 US election crisis. It has been ignored by almost all of the publications that promoted the fraudulent Russiagate campaign, including the New York Times and the Washington Post.

The timing, however, is somewhat fitting. For the past four years, the Democrats, in line with their character as a party of Wall Street and the intelligence agencies, have sought to divert all opposition to the Trump administration into right-wing channels, including feverish claims that the president is an agent of Russia.

The current election crisis has underscored the utter bankruptcy of that strategy.
The COVID-19 catastrophe now ravaging Alberta is a social crime. Canadas fourth most populous province has been subjected to a cruel and inhuman experiment by Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party (UCP) government. On July 1, Kenney declared Alberta open for summer, making the province the first in Canada to scrap all COVID-19 safeguards. The entirely predictable results of this homicidal policy are now plain for all to see: skyrocketing infections, a collapsing health care system, and a looming wave of unnecessary and preventable deaths.

Albertans are already dying from COVID-19 at more than three times the national rate, according to figures gathered for a seven-day period beginning September 20. In neighbouring Saskatchewan, the death rate is almost four times the national average. Both provinces are led by hard-right conservative governments that have spearheaded the dismantling of all pandemic public health measures.

Protest against UCP government's plan to eliminate all anti-COVID 19 measures. (Twitter)

Hospitals in Albertas northern zone surpassed 100 percent ICU surge capacity on Wednesday, four days after the first reports emerged of doctors invoking triage protocols due to shortages of beds, ventilators or trained personnel. Under triage, patients deemed least likely to survive are denied life-saving treatment.

Hospitals in the northern zone, which includes Grand Prairie and Fort McMurray, transferred 33 patients to Edmonton between September 15 and 22 to receive care. But even this respite cannot continue much longer. The latest figures show that there are 313 intensive care patients across the province, which has just 373 ICU beds, including all those added in recent weeks as surge capacity.

Infections have risen more than seven-fold since Aug. 1 to more than 1,500 per day, even as testing has been scaled back, and are now close to the peaks reached at the height of the provinces second and third waves. The governments own modelling shows that daily infections will continue to rise for weeks to come, indicating that the strain on the health care system will not soon abate. On Monday, Alberta had 21,307 active COVID-19 cases, almost half of the Canadian total; yet the province accounts for little more than 10 percent of the countrys population.

The dire state of affairs was laid bare in a statement from the Canadian Medical Association Wednesday, which appealed for a circuit-breaker lockdown. CMA president Dr. Catherine Smart said, We are now witnessing an unprecedented health care crisis in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and patients and health care workers are facing unfathomable choices and consequences. What is happening is as heartbreaking as it was preventable.

This is merely the latest in a series of desperate warnings from doctors and medical organizations, all of which Kenney has blithely ignored. The premier, who spent the first six months of the pandemic comparing COVID-19 to the flu, and has modelled his COVID-19 policy on Trumps and Boris Johnsons, cynically described the CMAs proposed lockdown as unfair to the vaccinated.

One of the main driving forces of Albertas and Canadas fourth pandemic wave is in-person schooling. The Kenney government reopened schools at the beginning of September after eliminating all COVID-19 protections. Even contact tracing was scrapped.

Conditions in Edmonton are emblematic of the disaster unfolding across the provinces schools. On Tuesday, Edmonton Public Schools published an alarming report noting the presence of 573 self-identified infections across its school system, almost 10 times more than the 68 recorded at the same time last year. The infections have been located at 165 schools across the city. Thats 78 percent of our schools that have cases of COVID, remarked board chairwoman Trisha Estabrooks. Seventy percent of that total number of COVID cases are in our kindergarten to grade 6 (population), among students who cant be vaccinated. We have 57,000 elementary students that arent eligible to receive a COVID vaccine.

Estabrooks criticized the governments halt to case reporting and contact tracing, which has left the school board to document self-reported cases independently. She added, We know that (573) isnt accurate. We know there are more.

Infection rates are also rising sharply among children in rural areas, where vaccination rates among the adult population are lower.

The only way to put an end to this accelerating catastrophe is for working people across the province and Canada to take up the fight for a hard lockdown, including an immediate and complete shutdown of all nonessential production. This must be combined with the closure of all schools to in-person learning and the payment of full wages to all workers affected, funded by the confiscation of the wealth accumulated by the pandemic profiteers over the past 18 months. To wage a struggle for these urgently necessary measures, workers must form rank-and-file safety committees in every workplace, school, and neighbourhood across the province to coordinate a mass mobilization in opposition to the political establishment, which bears full responsibility for the rising toll of infections and deaths.

This struggle must not stop at the provincial borders of Alberta. Workers across Canada and internationally have an urgent interest in mobilizing to eliminate and eradicate the virus, which does not respect borders. Cases among school age children are already spiking dramatically in neighbouring British Columbia, while Ontario has recorded over 1,500 infections among school-aged children since in-person learning returned three weeks ago. Without the decisive intervention of the working class, the nightmarish conditions gripping Alberta will sooner rather than later be the reality for the entire country.

Kenney implemented his homicidal reopening strategy with the support of the entire Canadian ruling elite. Justin Trudeau only got round to criticizing him almost three months later, in the dying days of the federal election campaign, so as to score some political points against Conservative leader Erin OToole, a close Kenney ally. Significantly, the Alberta premier, at his latest press conference Tuesday, approvingly cited the reopening policy of John Horgans New Democratic Party government in British Columbia, which has rejected school closures out of hand.

The UCP governments policy of mass infection and death is the spearhead of the murderous pandemic response supported by the entire ruling elite, which has already claimed the lives of over 27,700 Canadians. Last fall, the Trudeau government urged provincial governments to impose only short-term lockdowns, restricted to the local level if infections spiked. Trudeau also applauded the reopening of schools across all provinces. These policies resulted in the second wave over the winter, with over 10,000 fatalities. During the recent federal election, which Trudeau irresponsibly triggered as a fourth wave was erupting, none of the parties proposed any strategy to suppress the virus. Their support for the back-to-work/back-to-school campaign and claim that it is possible to vaccinate our way out of the pandemic without taking any other public health measures has led directly to a swelling fourth wave that could prove to be the most devastating yet.

The lack of popular support for this profits before lives strategy, which has facilitated a vast explosion of the wealth controlled by Canadas big banks and super-rich, is underscored by the deepening crisis of the Kenney government. He is under attack from all sides, with ongoing efforts to oust him as UCP leader. A faction of the party, fearing that the UCP will be wiped out at the next election, is demanding Kenney impose stricter public health measures. A far more vocal far-right faction is denouncing Kenney for re-imposing the most limited social distancing measures.

Kenneys crisis-ridden government confronts an even greater threat from the working class, which is moving into struggle against its homicidal pandemic policy and savage austerity measures. In a move ostensibly aimed at combatting protests by right-wing extremists and anti-vaccine groups outside health care facilities over recent weeks, Kenney announced Tuesday that hospitals would be added to the list of protected sites under the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act. This law now criminalizes all protests at the relevant sites, including those by health care workers against the government. The CIDA was first introduced in 2020 following railway blockades by anti-pipeline protesters.

There is no doubt that the real target of this measure is the working class. Nurses have been demanding strike action for months after the government sought to impose a pay and benefit cut of 5 percent. Public sector workers have protested on various occasions over the past year due to low pay, wage cuts and social spending rollbacks. Just this week, over 10,000 supermarket workers voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action, citing the risks posed by COVID-19 as a major concern.

The only reason this simmering class anger has yet to develop into an open political clash with the Kenney government is that the trade unions have done everything in their power to smother and sabotage social opposition. Even now, with hospitals on the verge of collapse and patients being denied care, all the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) could muster Wednesday was a polite appeal to the provincial and federal governments, i.e. the very people responsible for the current catastrophe, to implement a firebreaker lockdown. The union federation, which claims to represent 175,000 workers, also called for financial support to workers and businesses similar to what we saw in the first wave of the pandemic nationally, i.e. poverty-level, makeshift benefits to workers and unlimited funds for the major corporations.

These pathetic appeals come from an organization that has done absolutely nothing to mobilize workers against the entirely predictable fourth wave. It was only thanks to the courageous actions of doctors and other medical professionals, acting independently of the trade unions, that any protests against the Kenney governments murderous reopening agenda took place. Those protests, which won support from tens of thousands of Albertans over the course of several weeks in late July and August, provided a glimpse of the depth of popular hostility to the ruling class disastrous handling of the pandemic. Precisely for that reason, out of fear that a social explosion could be triggered that would disrupt the unions cozy corporatist ties with big business and governments at all levels, the AFLs Wednesday statement did not propose a single protest or action that workers should take to enforce a change in course.

Only the independent political mobilization of the working class in Alberta and across Canada can impose a lockdown and other public health measures that are so urgently needed. Contact tracing, vaccinations, case isolation and mass testing must be deployed as part of a comprehensive strategy to eliminate and eradicate COVID-19.

To prevent a repetition of the horrendous scenes of mass casualties witnessed in New York and Italy in the pandemics initial stages, and in India earlier this year, workers must organize rank-and-file committees and immediately begin organizing strikes and other forms of protest, such as todays international school strike initiated by British parents. Their aim will be to enforce a shutdown of all nonessential production with full compensation for all workers impacted. This must be coupled with a political struggle directed against capitalist austerity and for the placing of the health and social needs of society as a whole ahead of the profits of the wealthy few.
On Tuesday night, BBC Radio 4 aired the results of its months-long investigation into the deaths of 54 London bus drivers. It was hard-hitting journalism, offering a rare platform on the mainstream media for the voices, views and insights of bus workers and their families.

BBC Radio 4's File on 4 programme Occupational Hazard: The bus drivers who died from Covid (Credit: BBC Radio 4)

Occupational Hazard: The bus drivers who died from Covid , was produced by Annabel Deas with BAFTA-winning journalist Paul Kenyon for BBC 4s current affairs programme, File On 4. The episode starts with a little-known fact: that Londons bus drivers have died during the pandemic at a rate similar to frontline nurses.

Did the companies do all they could to protect their drivers once they knew the danger?, Kenyon asks as the programme begins. What follows offers an unmistakeable answer, presenting what amounts to an indictment of the bus companies, Transport for London (TfL), the office of Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Unite the union and Public Health England.

The BBCs investigative team shows how the pandemic was experienced by Londons bus drivers and their families. They also interview the scientists and whistleblowers whose warnings were ignored.

At the heart of the story are the preventable deaths of 69 London bus workers, 54 of whom were drivers. Their plight is told by Leshie Chandrapala, the daughter of bus driver Ranjith Chandrapala, 64, who died on May 3, during the pandemics first wave.

Kenyon begins this story in Sri Lanka, where 14-year-old Ranjith dreamed of living in Britain and of riding one of Londons famous red buses. He later migrated to the UK, started a family, and worked in various trades before becoming a proud London bus driver in 2007.

Ranjith drove the 92 bus-route that began and ended at Ealings Central Middlesex Hospital in west London. As Kenyon explains, Ranjith was in effect the ferrying service for frontline medical staff and the sick. But when it came to workplace protections from the deadly coronavirus, Ranjith and his colleagues were left defenceless.

Paul Kenyon (Credit: @paulkenyonTV)

Leshie describes her father, denied hand sanitiser at work, scrubbing his hands so frequently that they became cracked and wounded they bled. Unable to source medical grade face masks, Leshie bought her father a lycra mask from Amazon, so it wasnt medical grade, and it definitely wasnt suitable for someone working in such a dangerous environment.

In addition to the risk of infection from passengers and from common touch points on bus vehicles, there were frequent bus changeovers between drivers. Back at the garages, Kenyon explains, drivers shared crowded canteens, mess rooms and toilets.

Potters Bar driver Kevin Mustafa recalls busy sign-on areas and ferry cars (taking drivers to their bus vehicles) that breached social distancing guidelines. A ferry car driver whose identity is protected by a voice actor, explains she took up to 25 driversin ones, twos and threesin the same small vehicle each day, with no masks, inadequate cleaning, and poor ventilation. University College Londons Professor John Ashton tells Kenyon this is a recipe for COVID transmission, This is absolutely shocking, and in my view completely negligent.

Did the drivers die as a result of their job?, Kenyon asks pointedly, Because if they did, the way is open for a raft of civil lawsuits. In the name of operational efficiency and mileage, bus drivers tell Kenyon that companies made concerted efforts to conceal infections and to victimise drivers for speaking out.

Sacked Cricklewood driver David OSullivan, a member of the London Bus Rank-and-File Committee, is currently waging a prominent public campaign for his reinstatement. He tells File O n 4, There was a hostile environment created, where anyone who wanted to raise concerns about their health and safety were regarded as troublemakers.

The BBC cites TfLs claims about a range of safety interventions introduced on the buses in the lead-up to lockdown, but OSullivan rejects this narrative: The limited measures that were taken by the company were only after drivers took safety into their own hands. When drivers began cordoning off front passenger seats as a social distancing measure, he explains, they were taken off the buses and disciplined for such actions.

Potters Bar driver Kevin Mustafa concurs. He picks up the story 17 days after lockdown, with more drivers becoming ill and dying from COVID, We sadly found out that a member of staff had died from COVID. Thats when my safety mind kicked in. I felt there was nothing being done It was time for someone to step in and take the lead because no-one was taking responsibility. So, I walked the garage and did a risk assessment.

He tells Kenyon, I typed it up, I provided it to the manager at the garage, and then social distancing started to appear. Tables were being moved out of the mess rooms and seats were being spaced out with one-way systems being implemented and that was everything I suggested needed doing, and more. Kenyons voiceover cuts in, But why, says Kevin, should it have required his intervention?

An especially strong part of the programme is Kenyons reference to a controversial declaration made by the bus companies, TfL and Unite the union, known as the tripartite letter. It was issued to drivers on April 7, with signatories, including Unites lead officer for buses John Murphy, declaring that routine use of PPE, including facemasks, should be reserved for medical personnel and is not recommended for transport workers.

Khan appeared on ITVs Good Morning Britain to deliver the news, his words provoking stunned outrage among Londons public transport workforce: Weve chased this [with Public Health England] as recently as yesterday and their advice is clear, public transport workers should not be wearing PPE.

Back at the garages, as Mustafa explains, We were begging for it, saying please, we need some sort of protection. We need sanitiser, we need masks, but nothing was forthcoming. If doctors and nurses needed masks to protect themselves from COVID, when were dealing with hundreds of different people on our buses every single day, then we needed that protection too.

Jenny, the ferry driver who joined London buses in 1979 and whose husband is clinically vulnerable, tells Kenyon, I can remember at the very start of the pandemic, I was actually told by a manager that if you came into work wearing a mask, youd be disciplined. Why?, asks an incredulous Kenyon, with Jenny replying, Its because it didnt suit the companys image, did it? This is what Im saying, they didnt seem to be taking it seriously at all.

That the unions tripartite letter became notorious was largely due to the efforts of the World Socialist Web Site. On April 10, the WSWS published a condemnation of Unites letter, declaring it proof that the union was operating on behalf of the bus companies, Khan and Boris Johnsons Conservative government. The article was shared by drivers across London. It concluded, The collaboration of Unite with the companies and the Johnson government makes clear the urgent need for workers to take matters into their own hands and form independent rank-and-file committees to ensure safe working conditions.

Labour Mayor of London on Good Morning Britain explaining that London transport workers should not wear PPE (Credit: GMB)

While the BBCs programme does not investigate this aspect of the story, it does feature comments from OSullivan, a founding member of the London Bus Rank-and-File Committee formed in September 2020. The Committees members at Cricklewood and other garages issued statements opposing Unites collusion with TfL and the bus companies and calling for united action by workers to protect health, safety and lives. Their statements were published on the WSWS.

File O n 4 s programme includes the damning words of Professor Ashton, I believe the reason they said that PPE wasnt needed for transport workers at the outset was because they didnt have sufficient PPE and they werent sufficiently minded to look out for that group of workers. The advice was based on the availability, not on the scientific evidence.

Kenyon asks, What about [the bus operators] saying they were just following national guidance? The professors reply is unambiguous, The health and safety regulations in this country, for a long time, have placed the responsibility on employers, with a duty of care to their own workforce. Its not for them to offload that responsibility onto others. It defies belief that they wouldnt realise what a risky position they are in when they are ferrying the general public around.

In January, as a second wave of infections swept garages, OSullivan, whose daughter has a heart condition, was informed that up to 12 drivers at Cricklewood had caught Covid. He sought to alert fellow drivers. After his repeated attempts to flag safety breaches were ignored by Metroline, OSullivan phoned work. He explained he would not be reporting for duty, citing his rights to a safe workplace under Section 44 of the Employment Rights Act.

Kenyon picks up the story from here, explaining that OSullivans warning of a cluster of infections had actually underestimated the spread of Covid at Cricklewood. A later Freedom of Information request showed that from October 2020 to January, there were actually 46 cases at his garage.

The programme explains that OSullivan distributed leaflets informing his co-workers of their rights under the Act, and that Metroline dismissed him. Metroline says it was because he was damaging their reputation by spreading inaccurate information and that he was attempting to instigate a mass walkout at the garage. His case is now going through an employment tribunal.

The bus companies, along with TfL and Mayor Khan, have denied that workplace transmission is responsible for COVID-19 infections and deaths among London bus workers. But the BBCs investigation strongly suggests otherwise. As Kenyon concludes, No-one can prove that Ranjith, or any other driver for that matter, died at work, but the likelihood could hardly be higher.

Victimised London bus driver David O'Sullivan has launched a public campaign for his reinstatement (Credit: WSWS Media)

Leshie says of her fathers death, I am 100 percent certain. Every part of my being knows that he died from being in that bus, catching COVID in that bus, and being in a workplace setting, because he wasnt doing anything else, he wasnt seeing anyone else. Im really sure.

It is Leshies words that are chosen to end File O n 4 s programme, I know that he was worried every day going to work, and that he caught it and died from it whilst he was on a week-long shift.

And theres no getting away from that fact. That truth is ingrained in my body now, and I wont stop until I get answers and I get corroboration of what I know was happening to Dad. And those bus drivers deserve that acknowledgement of that truth. You can put it off, but the truth will out, and I really believe thatthat they cant hide from it.

The BBCs programme raises fundamental issues. How are the conditions facing bus and transport workers to be remedied and justice achieved?

To the extent that File O n 4 suggests a way forward for bus workers, this centres on the call by whistleblower Michael Liebreich for a Royal Commission into COVID deaths. A former TfL board member and potential Conservative contender for Mayor of London, Liebreich has exposed systemic failures, incompetence and neglect by TfL of transport workers safety throughout the pandemic. His proposals are echoed in the programme by calls for a public inquest.

But no state inquiry has ever delivered justice. The recent experience at Grenfell bears witness to the real purpose of all such official enquiriesto politically nullify and dissipate working class opposition and protect the guilty.

The deaths among London bus workers are an expression of the social, economic and political failure of capitalism. More than 4.7 million people have died during the pandemic, as governments the world over, aided and abetted by the pro-company trade unions and labour and social-democratic parties, have enforced a herd immunity agenda allowing the uncontrolled spread of a lethal virus.

Workers and their families can only achieve justice and eradicate COVID-19 through relying on their own independent strength. Not appeals to the very capitalist state authorities who are responsible for mass deaths, but the formation of mass organisations of struggle, rank-and-file committees, based on scientific knowledge and informed by a genuine socialist programme, to overthrow capitalism and reorganise society on the basis of social need not profit.

What you can do

 Read OSullivans latest campaign statement

 Donate to the CrowdJustice campaign

 Send a message of support

 To provide information relevant to OSullivans unfair dismissal case, or to request more information about OSullivans defence campaign, please contact: londonbusrankandfile@protonmail.com
Last month former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that he would allot $1 billion to a conservation campaign aimed at the preservation of 30 percent of the worlds biodiversity. Bezos, up until recently the worlds wealthiest individual, declared on September 19 that his Earth Fund philanthropy would fund conservation efforts where there is significant need and opportunity, as well as where there is a strong political commitment to nature.

The investment will be part of the 30 by 30 campaign which various conservation charities have announced. The campaign aims to protect 30 percent of the worlds habitats by 2030. The Earth Fund investment will target areas that are important for biodiversity and carbon stocks and will give emphasis to the central role of local communities and Indigenous peoples in conservation efforts.

Jeff Bezos (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The Fund will seek to develop regions in the Congo Basin of Africa, the tropical Andes as well as the tropical Pacific region, where there is significant need and opportunity, as well as where there is a strong political commitment to nature. Bezos did not announce what specific projects the money would be funneled toward.

He received immediate praise from politicians, such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Ivan Duque of Colombia. President Joe Bidens special envoy for climate John Kerry declared that the pledge comes at a pivotal moment as we seek to avoid the loss of irreplaceable biodiversity and further destabilization of the climate.

The announcement marks the first tranche of funding offered by the Earth Fund. Founded in 2020, Bezos declared its aim was to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet. To this end, the then-Amazon CEO pledged $10 billion of his vast wealth (calculated at $198 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index).

The Earth Fund was unveiled amid the public health and social catastrophe which has accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic. Officially, over 4.7 million lives have been lost, while other sources have estimated the death toll to be several magnitudes higher. In the United States, the global epicenter of the pandemic, over 700,000 have lost their lives.

While Bezos professes his sympathy for various species of flora and fauna facing extinction, the giant corporation he founded has taken advantage of the extinction of large numbers of human beings in the course of the pandemic. Amazon specifically has profited enormously from the shelter-in-place and remote working conditions that many in the population have adopted because of coronavirus.

In 2020 the corporation raked in $21.3 billion in profits. In late July, the company posted a second quarter 2021 income of $7.8 billion, which was an increase of 50 percent from the same quarter in 2020. Amazon expects this years third quarter revenues to improve upon 2020s numbers by only 10-16 percent, a slowing growth, which Variety explains is a product of the laws of large numbers and the abating surge of online orders a year ago.

The Fund follows other philanthropic efforts provided from the grotesque fortunes of Americas billionaires. The Washington Post, which is owned by Bezos, notes that its boss remains among the worlds largest contributors to climate philanthropy. Aside from his climate pursuits, Bezos has supported numerous charity initiatives, including funds for the homeless and preschool services for low-income children.

Other wealthy benefactors to the climate cause include former New York City mayor and Democratic Party presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, who has given more than $100 million to the Sierra Clubs Beyond Coal campaign, and Bill Gates, who has led a for-profit initiative, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which runs a $1 billion fund focused on climate-mitigation technologies.

While the Earth Funds investments may find their way to a few worthy causes, the vast wealth commanded by Bezos is a particularly crude expression of the degeneration of modern capitalist society, characterized by immense poverty and social inequality.

The World Socialist Web Site, describing the charity of one of Bezoss fellow billionaires, wrote in 2010 that such initiatives represented the return of the aristocratic principle. Under this precept, the population was essentially at the mercy of the great ones in society, who bestowedor did not bestowfavors and gifts as they saw fit.

The summer has been dominated by billionaire aristocrats venturing into space. Now, with the green ventures of Bezos and other billionaires, this principle has been extended to animal and plant life as well.

Due to criticism over Amazons own substantial contributions to global warming, the e-commerce giant introduced the Climate Pledge campaign in 2019. The campaign, which over 200 corporations have signed onto, boasts that its members account for $1.8 trillion in global annual revenues and have more than 7 million employees across 26 industries in 21 countries. The Post notes, Bezos unveiled the initiative after Amazon, for years, resisted revealing its environmental impact through CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Projecta widely used framework for corporate reporting.

The fortune behind Bezoss Earth Fund has been made possible by the backbreaking exploitation of the Amazon workforce throughout the pandemic and before. Amazons workforce has surged from fewer than 800,000 workers in 2019 to over 1.3 million today. According to Business Insider, 1 in 153 American workers currently works for Amazon.

At the same time, Bezoss stock wealth grew by $75 billion in 2020 alone. According to Yahoo Finance, $1.7 million for Jeff Bezos is the same as $1 for the average American. Bezos rakes in an astonishing $3,715 per second, an amount which dwarfs the average American weekly income of $984.

The conditions in Amazons warehouses give lie to the American oligarchs humanitarian pretensions. A Post review of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) files since 2017 recently found that the retailer had more instances of injuries that caused employees to miss work or be shifted to light-duty tasks than other businesses in the warehousing industry.

In a recent exposure of Amazons abusive practices, the state of California recently passed laws which bar the company from demanding productivity from workers at rates which force them to forego state-mandated breaks and bathroom visits.

Rather than abiding by the oligarchic principle, the protection of biodiversity and the environment requires a massive redistribution of social wealth from the capitalist class to societys producers. Only in a society in which social activity and life itself are freed from the intrusions of the profit system can a truly scientific response to climate change be mounted.
The Biden administration is preparing for a record surge of migrants entering the US following the lifting Thursday of restrictions first implemented by Trump under the guise of the COVID-19 pandemic which allowed the US government to quickly deport migrant families with children on public health grounds. The rule, known as Title 42, was blocked by a federal court order last month.

Haitian migrants use a dam to cross into the United States from Mexico in Del Rio, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

A report by NBC News on Thursday said that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas held a call this week with senior department officials and asked if the department, was prepared for a worst-case scenario in which 350,000 to 400,000 migrants cross the border in October. The information was provided to NBC by two unnamed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) representatives.

According to NBC News the DHS officials said that Mayorkass estimate is not based on intelligence information or immigration department calculations but was meant to prepare the agency for what could be an overwhelming number of migrants who cross.

The officials also told NBC News that DHS is concerned that migrants may view the lifting of Title 42 as the time to cross the border and that they will be permitted to remain in the US despite rulings on their asylum cases.

On September 16, US District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that Title 42a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) authority implemented by the Trump administration in March 2020could not be used by the Biden administration to stop asylum seekers from entering the US through Mexico.

Judge Sullivans ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by immigrant rights groups and was scheduled to go into effect after 14 days on September 30. The Biden administration has appealed the ruling to the US Circuit Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C. and may also appeal it to the Supreme Court if the ruling is not overturned by the lower court.

The Trump administration used Title 42 early on in during the pandemic, not as a public health measure but to prevent asylum seekers from entering the US. The migrants were turned back to Mexico regardless of their nationality.

The CDC extended Title 42 indefinitely in August, saying it would remain in effect, until the CDC 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, and the Order is no longer necessary to protect the public health.

In his 58-page judgment striking down Title 42 blocking, Sullivan ruled that the border policy does not allow for expulsion of migrants and therefore does not allow for those removed to be denied the opportunity to seek asylum in the US. According to international and federal law, individuals coming to the US must be permitted to apply for asylum.

The Biden administration used the 14-day window provided by Judge Sullivan to deport more than 5,000 refugees, mostly from Haiti, who had arrived at Del Rio, Texas on the US-Mexico border. With the use of expulsion and removal flights, the migrants were transported to Border Patrol facilities and then to planes which departed from San Antonio, Texas bound for the capital of Haiti, Port-Au-Prince. Most of these refugees have not lived in Haiti for decades, if they ever lived there at all.

In August alone, the Biden administration used Title 42 to expel more than 93,000 people. More than 1 million migrants have been deported from the US under Title 42 since it was implemented by the Trump administration and nearly 700,000 of these have been carried out since Biden took office.

On Thursday, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a memorandum to the heads of the divisions within the Department of Homeland Securityincluding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP)outlining how immigration law is to be enforced in advance of what is expected to be the biggest increase in migrants crossing the southern US border in decades.

Indicating the intentions of the Biden administration, Mayorkas begins the document by noting, This memorandum provides guidance for the apprehension and removal of noncitizens. The arrest and deportation guidelines, scheduled to take effect on November 29, are part of the Biden administrations effort to conceal the fact that it is extending and intensifying much of the border policy and immigration law enforcement tactics carried out by the fascistic, openly xenophobic Trump administration.

The memo states, for example, that DHS will prioritize for apprehension and removal noncitizens who are a threat to our national security, public safety, and border security. In an interview with the Washington Post, Mayorkas presented the plans for a massive roundup of immigrants as a matter of resource management. He said, Are we going to spend the time apprehending and removing the farmworker ... Because if we pursue that individual, we will not be spending those same resources on somebody who does, in fact, threaten our safety. And that is what this is about.
The US Congress passed a continuing resolution Thursday, giving two months of additional spending authority to the federal government and averting the shutdown of many federal departments at one minute after midnight Friday morning. The bill was forwarded to the White House for President Bidens signature Thursday evening.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., walks to sign the temporary funding bill that will avert a government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The Senate passed the bill by a 65-35 margin, with 15 Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Whip John Cornyn, joining all 50 Democrats. The House of Representatives passed the bill a few hours later by a margin of 254-175, with 34 Republicans joining 220 Democrats. No member of the House Republican leadership voted for the bill.

The bill provides authority through December 3 for the majority of federal departments to spend discretionary funds, the money appropriated annually by Congress. Money which the Treasury is obliged by law to spend, such as Social Security and Medicare benefits, would not have been cut off in a federal shutdown, nor would the shutdown have affected the Pentagon and other agencies that are part of the military-intelligence apparatus.

Nonetheless, a shutdown would have idled nearly a million workers, closed most federal offices and halted the day-to-day functioning of agencies like OSHA and the Department of Agriculture. The Biden administration was scrambling to find legal authority and budget shortcuts to prevent the shutdown from impacting agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), centrally involved in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The continuing resolution also provides $26.8 billion in assistance to victims of hurricanes, wildfires and other natural disasters, as well as $6.3 billion in emergency funds to resettle Afghan refugees. An amendment backed by Senate Republicans, to set strict limits on the Afghan refugee aid, was defeated just before the final vote.

While a federal shutdown was narrowly avoided, the near-miss was symptomatic of the dire straits in which the Biden administration finds itself, faced with intransigent opposition from congressional Republicans and a handful of right-wing Democrats who hold the balance of power in the closely divided House and Senate.

The continuing resolution was stripped of one of its main provisions, raising the federal debt ceiling from its present level of $21 trillion, after Senate Republicans filibustered the bill on Monday. Rather than overturn the filibuster rule, an anti-democratic provision that requires 60 votes to pass legislation, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer accepted defeat and removed the debt ceiling provision, although Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a letter to Congress Tuesday warning of the catastrophic consequences if the federal government defaulted on its debt, which she said would take place by October 18.

In testimony before a House committee Thursday, Yellen appealed for legislation that would eliminate the debt ceiling entirely, pointing out that Congress passed laws prescribing what could be spent and how much revenue could be raised, leaving the Treasury no option but to borrow the difference. This made breaching the debt ceiling inevitable, she said.

After the continuing resolution passed the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she still intended to bring up a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill for a vote Thursday night, but there was no indication that she had been able to cobble together the 218 votes required for passage.

At least 40 progressive Democrats have threatened to vote against the infrastructure bill if there is no assurance that the Senate will pass companion legislation to provide $3.5 trillion over 10 years for social programs and aid to families, while barely a dozen Republicans were expected to buck their leadership and vote for the infrastructure bill.

Defeat of the infrastructure bill would mean the collapse of the political strategy that Biden has pursued since taking office in January: making concession after concession to the Republicans in pursuit of bipartisan support for his policies. The infrastructure bill was the high point of this policy, approved by the Senate in August by a 69-30 vote, with 19 Republicans, including Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell, joining all 50 Democrats.

The social spending sought by the House Progressive Caucus and their allies in the Senate like Bernie Sanders would include making permanent the child tax credit which has been provided on a yearly basis in the various coronavirus emergency spending bills. It would also add vision, hearing and dental benefits to Medicare, expand Medicaid eligibility, broaden Head Start into a universal pre-K program for three and four-year-olds, and extend limited benefits to community college students, working mothers, and elderly people who need home health care services in order to avoid moving into nursing homes.

The total bill for these social policy improvements would come to $3.5 trillion over ten years, less than half the Pentagon budget over the same period, and about the same as the federal government pays in interest on its debt. At $350 billion a year, the sum is far less than the increase in wealth enjoyed by Americas billionaires in the first year of the pandemic, $1.8 trillion. The pandemic profiteers could pay for half the total cost of the package over 10 years just with the rise in their wealth since the pandemic exploded in March 2020.

The social spending is to be passed through the Senate under a procedure known as budget reconciliation, which allows the majority to pass a single bill each year by a simple majority vote without facing a filibuster. Since the Democrats have 50 seats plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris, and face the opposition of 50 Republicans, every Democrat must back the reconciliation bill to ensure passage.

Two right-wing Democrats, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have held up passage of the bill in opposition to both the spending total and the tax increases on the wealthy which are its principal financing mechanism. On Wednesday night, Manchin denounced the $3.5 trillion top-line number as financial insanity. Then on Thursday he declared, Ive never been a liberal in any way, shape or form.

Manchin said that he could not support a spending level greater than $1.5 trillion, less than half the total requested by the Biden administration. Remarkably, he added that he had communicated this position to Senate Majority Leader Schumer, who undoubtedly told the White House, earlier this summer. Kyrsten Sinemas office released a similar statement, confirming that she too had given a detailed statement of opposition to Schumer and Biden more than two months ago, including dollar figures.

These revelations demonstrate the complete cynicism of the entire Democratic leadership. They have been proclaiming their determination to pass a $3.5 trillion bill, and utilized Bernie Sanders, now chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and various House progressives to give a left face to the maneuvers by Biden, Schumer and Pelosi. And all the time, they were well aware that Manchin and Sinema would torpedo the bill.

Moreover, when Pelosi made a deal with the House Progressive Caucus to schedule a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill in tandem with the reconciliation bill, she undoubtedly already knew that the two right-wing senators would block the reconciliation bill and that the promise would not be kept.

Whether or not the infrastructure bill is ultimately passed, the much larger reconciliation bill, at least in any form resembling that hailed by Sanders, is as dead as the dodo. The Democratic Party progressives will once again play their assigned roles while Pelosi & Co. will express their regrets and wring their hands, a process that is now under way.
The Committee for Public Education (CFPE) in Australia sends international greetings and support to the October 1 school strike and protests called by parents in the UK, initiated by Lisa Diaz.

Diaz has called on parents to keep their children home to oppose Prime Minister Boris Johnsons herd immunity policy of deliberately infecting children. The homicidal policy of opening schools is now the program of governments internationally, policed and imposed by the teacher unions in every country. In Australia, infections in schools have continued to grow in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, the most populous states, despite vastly reduced student numbers, with only children of essential workers and others designated as vulnerable attending on-site.

In NSW, more than 200 schools have closed due to infections, and in Victoria more than 90 have shut, not including hundreds of childcare centres. This week, data from the NSW Health Department showed that in just seven days more than 1,200 children under 9 years old were infected along with nearly 1,000 more under 19 years. A similar process is underway in Victoria, where infections have surged to record numbers in the last week with a 50 percent increase in the past 24 hours.

Despite infections, hospitalisations and deaths, both the Berejiklian Liberal-National Coalition government and the Andrews Labor government are proceeding with a staggered reopening of schools, beginning in Victoria on October 5 and NSW on October 18. The reckless re-openings have been endorsed by the New South Wales Teachers Federation and the Victorian branch of the Australian Education Union.

The CFPE has received statements of support from educators and parents across Australia for the October 1 strike.

Renae, a secondary teacher from Adelaide: Evan Blakes interview with UK parent, Lisa Diaz, was brilliant. As teachers and school staff, we will always do everything we can to keep your children and young people safe, but governments prove time and time again that they are not listening to us. They didnt listen when we told them we didnt have enough hand sanitiser or soap when all this started, they didnt listen when we said its impossible to socially distance in classrooms, they are not listening now to educators telling them our windows are nailed shut and our air-conditioning systems dont work. And they are not even pretending to listen when they decide to reopen schools early without consulting with school leaders and staff.

This idea that students can catch COVID on a bus but not in a classroom is crazy. The proof that students are the next victims, carriers and transmitters of COVID can be seen in the US and the UK. Educators are doing everything we can to keep our communities safe. We need a Lisa Diaz here in Australia.

Erika, a retired teacher from Sydney: I salute Lisa Diaz for her courageous stand in defence of life. The pandemic is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. Its obvious that this doesnt matter to the ruling elite and their mouthpieces, including the teachers unions. The economy must open up and the most fundamental health protection measures must be compromised.

In Australia, we watch in horror the outcome of school reopenings in the northern hemisphere, knowing that this is what were facing here over the next months. Lisas description dystopian is correct. Her voice has cut through the lies and is being supported by tens of thousands of parents, teachers and students.

The October 1 strike must be the start of a fightback against the squandering of life in pursuit of corporate profits.

Susan, a primary schoolteacher from Melbourne: The conditions in UK schools are absolutely appalling. As a parent and teacher watching the situation unfold in the UK and across the world, I am deeply disgusted that governments are forcing students and teachers into unsafe schools. Lisa has stood strong against this, and I applaud her strength and fully support the school strike on October 1.

Governments in Australia are following suit, opening schools under the same conditions. This will cause hospitalisations and death. Lisa has provided an extremely important lead that needs to be seen as the beginning of a world-wide opposition to the murderous policies of governments everywhere.

Colleen, a retired worker from regional Victoria: I give my 100 percent support to Lisa Diaz and her call for a strike by parents until all students and staff are made safe with all the stated health measures. This return to school policy is murderous, purely to support the corporate world.

Colleen

A two to three months world-wide eradication lockdown, with support for workers, would have been far better than 18 months of the hell we have lived throughand will live or die through because of the current herd-immunity policies. As a grandparent with four grandchildren who are being forced back to school in Victoria, I do not want my family members to become part of the necessary statistics. They are not expendable!

Ardan, a primary school teacher in Melbourne: Lisa, you are absolutely right and you have support from teachers in Australia. How can we be sending children back to school and into harms way when they are currently the most vulnerable members of society? The so-called leaders need to be given a message that the health and wellbeing of students is of utmost importance!

Ardan

Will, a secondary school teacher in Melbourne: Lisas call should be the start of a coordinated international movement opposed to governments and unions to ensure the safety of the global population. To fight the virus means to fight the propaganda that is being pushed onto the population every day by the media, politicians, and unions.

For the sake of profit, children are being offered up as guinea pigs, unprotected in super-spreading conditions. In the US three children and three educators die each day due to COVID. What will be the impact of long COVID on literally millions of children? No-one can say. I fully support the parent school strike.

Campbell, a secondary teacher in regional Victoria: I congratulate and support Lisa Diazs call for a school strike by parents on October 1, as it is a much needed, forward thinking step in the eradication of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Campbell

There is no political desire or will by politicians, unions or the media to address this immense crime where a brutal experiment is being carried out on British children, and where the lives of working people are viewed as expendable. The response by parents and teachers internationally shows the urgency and growing support to address this crime.

Kaye, a secondary teacher from Sydney: I fully support the call by #SafeEDForAll parent Lisa Diaz for a school strike. Its a courageous step. The UK governments policy of forcing the reopening of schools has created a disaster and this is being mirrored all over the world.

Kaye

Im a teacher in Sydney, Australia and the government in the state of NSW just announced in the media last night that they were bringing forward the reopening of schools to October 18. This is under conditions where there were 2,000 cases of COVID reported last week in the 0-19 age group, and we are currently on school term break. What happens when students start coming back through the school gate? Its just NOT safe.

Carolyn, a university lecturer, and grandparent from Sydney: I strongly support Lisas call for a parent and student strike and an end to the homicidal experiment of herd immunity and call on others to do the same. Our children are preciouswe should be fighting to protect them. The risks to our children are enormous, and even if not fatal, the detrimental long-term impact on the health of so many children is appalling.

Carolyn

Instead of learning to live with the virus we should be uniting to demand proper public health measures (masks, lockdowns, social distancing) and global vaccination programs and be fighting for the eradication of COVID-19 worldwide.

Frank, a retired secondary teacher from Melbourne: Lisa Diazs call for a parent strike is resonating with teachers, parents and students all over the world as governments push to reopen the economy in order to force parents back to work. Children are known spreaders of the coronavirus and as is being shown internationally die and develop severe symptoms such as impaired cognitive ability.

Lisa has shown the way forward as she has bypassed the unions who have endorsed every government lie to justify their murderous experiment with childrens lives. Teachers, parents and students must unite and take matters into their own hands, form rank-and-file committees to take forward this life and death struggle.

Nicole, a retired teacher from regional New South Wales: Its time to be heard and the strike called by Lisa Diaz and parents in the UK is an effective way to be seen and heard. Kids have died, staff have died, their families have suffered loss and grief. When the information is controlled by governments and their media cronies, they can attempt to sell the lie that schools are safe.

Nicole

Wendy, a casual English teacher in Sydney: I support Lisa Diazs call for a strike. Here in Australia many parents and teachers in Sydney have great concerns about the lack of protocols to prevent the spread of COVID and more particularly the potential mutations which could more easily develop in crowded classrooms. It only takes one case to start a spread. The opening of schools seems premature and will not achieve the desired effect of eradication of the virus.

Patrick, a primary school literacy teacher in Melbourne: I strongly support the preparations for an October 1 global school strike. There is no scientific basis whatsoever for returning to face-to-face teaching in conditions where the virus is widely circulating, insufficient time and resources have been allocated to the universal delivery of vaccines, and the necessary safety investments for classrooms have not been made. The dragooning of children, teachers, and school staff back into the schools is a class-based policy, aimed at ensuring workers go back to their workplaces and allow the corporations to go back to business as usual.

The global strike initiative must be actively supported here, and developed as the opening shot of a sustained campaign against the rushed and unsafe reopening drive. As in Britain and internationally, the teachers unions in Australia are actively collaborating with the government to ensure that the schools reopen, and are suppressing opposition from school workers and families. The fight against a dangerous and premature return to face-to-face teaching means a fight to build rank-and-file safety committees in every school.
To get in touch with the World Socialist Web Site to discuss forming a rank-and-file committee, John Deere workers can email deerewrfc@gmail.com or text (484) 514-9797.

The previous six-year contract between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and farm and construction equipment giant Deere & Company expired at midnight on October 1, setting the stage for a possible strike of 10,100 workers from Iowa, Illinois and Kansas.

However, early Friday morning, the UAW announced an extension of the agreement, instructing its members to return to work as normal. According to company statements, the previous contract has been extended two weeks, until October 15.

Iowas Des Moines Register reported that Deere workers stopped work as the contract expired at midnight, only to be told minutes later by UAW locals to continue production under the extension.

A worker inside a Deere plant (John Deere)

The UAW kept workers in the dark over the content of its discussions with Deere and whether there would be a strike up until the last moment. They did this same thing six years ago, a worker at one of Deeres facilities in the Quad Cities told the WSWS. In 2015 we didnt get word until almost 2:00 a.m.

On Thursday, workers voiced their resolve to fight for a contract that meets their demands. Another worker told the WSWS, Were sick of getting sold out. Its time to take a stand and fight back. A third said, For weeks now Ive been talking to workers whove been telling me theyre ready to strike.

Workers commenting on the Waterloo, Iowa UAW Local 838 Facebook page on Thursday evening pressed for strike action, with some appealing a walkout even if the UAW doesnt call one.

Send us walking! They will not present a contract we are willing to be a part of. 10k signing bonus is not what we are looking for. TAKE US OUT!!!!!, one worker said.

Another wrote, Better be striking tonight or put your for sale signs on that building and tell all your committee to get back to work no more living high on the hog in your offices.

Strike no matter what tonight. Send a clear message to John Deere for a great contract and for future contracts, commented another. A fourth wrote, What if they dont call the strike and we take it upon ourselves and not go in/walk.

Deere workers must not allow control of the situation to remain with the UAW, which has betrayed one struggle after another for decades at Deere, Caterpillar and throughout the auto industry. Early in September, the UAW announced it would hold a contract ratification vote on October 10, more than a week after the expiration of the previous contract, even though negotiations were supposedly still underway.

This shows that the discussions taking place between union officials and Deere executives are not negotiations between two adversaries but planning sessions over how to force through a contract which was worked out long ago. A week later, the union publicized an initial offer from the company containing massive givebacks on health care and overtime, in an evident attempt to manage workers expectations.

The WSWS Autoworker Newsletter urges workers to take matters into their own hands and form rank-and-file committees. Such committees will formulate demands based on what workers need, including an immediate end to the tier system, substantial wage increases for all workers, the restoration of fully funded health care and pensions and more. Plans and an appeal for joint action should be made to link up with workers at auto parts maker and Deere supplier Dana Corporation, where a UAW-backed concessions agreement was recently voted down by 90 percent.

There is an immense amount of pent-up anger after workers experience with the 2015 UAW-Deere contract, not to mention the nearly 25 years of a divisive wage and benefit tier system, increasingly precarious job security and ever-growing demands for speedup.

In 2015, the UAW did not release any information on the tentative agreement until the contract votes themselves, distributing only selective highlights of the six-year deal. Despite widespread opposition to the contract, the UAW claimed it passed by a margin of less than 200 votes, with many workers calling for a recount, which the UAW predictably ignored.

The head of negotiations for the UAW at the time, former Vice President Norwood Jewell, later pleaded guilty for his part in a bribery conspiracy with automaker Fiat Chrysler. Jewell was released early from his minimum-security Club Fed prison last year, allowed to serve the rest of his sentence at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On September 12, Deere workers authorized to strike by a margin of 99 percent, a clear signal of their determination to fight. This stood in stark contrast to the UAWs release of scant details of the companys provocative initial offer, which included the ending of a plant closure moratorium, an increase in workers share of health care premiums from 0 to 20 percent, and ending overtime pay for working over eight hours.

Such a proposal is all the more provocative given the enormous amounts of money Deere has been making.

The latest financial results show Deere brought in profits of over $1.6 billion for the third quarter of its fiscal year alone. In August, Deere was forecasting that its net income for fiscal 2021 would be between $5.7 and $5.9 billion. At $15.58 million in compensation last year, Deere CEO John C. May made 220 times the median employee pay of $70,743.

Deeres board of directors is comprised of a whos who of the corporate and political elite, including Alan Heuberger, a senior investment manager at BMGI (Bill and Melinda Gates Investments, the private family investment fund of the billionaire couple); Dmitri L. Stockton, former top executive of General Electric and GE Asset Management Inc.; Michael O. Johanns, retired US Senator from Nebraska and former US Secretary of Agriculture; Charles O. (Chad) Holliday, Jr., former CEO at DuPont; former CEO of agribusiness giant Cargill, Inc.; and Sherry M. Smith, former Gregory R. Page, CFO of Supervalu Inc, a $35 billion supermarket chain based in Minnesota.

The UAW is pushing for a contract that meets the demands of these corporate executives and Deeres Wall Street backers, not the workers.

But Deere workers hold a powerful and strategic place in the American and global economy. A recent report in the Wall Street Journal, U.S. Farm Belt Revival Prompts Mad Dash for Dirt and Iron, noted, A monthslong rally in prices for major agricultural commodities such as corn and soybeans is pushing up incomes for U.S. farmers and unleashing spending and investment that had been subdued for years.

It continued, Prices for new and used farm equipment have soared, as rising sales and disruptions in key components, such as semiconductor chips, cause shortages and delivery delays for new machinery.

Workers have powerful allies among the working class in the US and internationally. Deere has factories and facilities in more than 70 countries, with nearly 69,000 employees.

What is needed is the formation of a John Deere Worker Rank-and-File Committee to provide the means to link up and communicate across Deere plants in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas and internationally, and with workers at Caterpillar, Volvo, Mack Trucks, Amazon, the auto plants and elsewhere. All over the world, sentiment among workers is growing for a common fight against low wages, intolerable working conditions, and an end to the pro-corporate policies which have seen millions die needlessly from the COVID-19 pandemic.

We urge Deere workers to contact the World Socialist Web Site today to discuss organizing a rank-and-file committee at your workplace.
A growing number of workers and parents in France support the call for an October 1 school strike made by Lisa Diaz, a mother of two children in the UK, and supported by the World Socialist Web Site.

The demonstration on Friday is being held to oppose the policy by governments internationally of allowing the coronavirus to spread unhindered among children through the reopening of schools. It is raising the demand for the eradication of COVID-19, through a combination of temporary lockdowns and coordinated public health measures on an international scale.

Students arrive at school in Le Chesnay, west of Paris, Modnay, May 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

The appeal for the strike has met with support from parents and workers in France. As in the UK, the Macron government is allowing the virus to spread unchecked among children in France. Yesterday, there were more than 40 children hospitalised with coronavirus in France, including nine of them in intensive care units. At least seven children under the age of ten have died in the country since the beginning of the pandemic, including one on August 20. Thousands of others are being left with the damaging and as-yet still unknown consequences of Long Covid.

The Macron government is responding to the spread of the virus through schools by further loosening protocols, abandoning even mask mandates in primary schools beginning in some districts on October 4, and trialling a new policy that would prevent closures of classes even after a case is detected.

A WSWS reporter spoke to Elisa Zeno, a member of the Forgotten Schools and Children Association, founded to protest state policy on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Asked about the call launched by Lisa in Britain, Elisa said: We fully support it. We support it as individuals and also as a group of parents who are struggling to make our schools safe. We understand the problems they are facing [in Britain] very well, because we have the same problems here. I would even say that we admire these parents in Great Britain who are reacting to defend the children. We fully support their initiative  It is an unacceptable risk for children now, since it is possible to prevent infections at school.

Elisa criticized the policies implemented by the Macron government and across the European Union: It is the same problem as in Great Britain. It is unacceptable to let children get infected. Their last protection has just been withdrawn, because in France they were going to wear masks, but now this is to be changed. This is for children, who are aged between 5 and 12. How is it possible that children are supposedly the priority, which is what the president always says, but at the same time  they are withdrawing this protection without even providing others, like air purifiers?

Elisa welcomed the international support Lisas call for a strike was receiving, in the United States and beyond. She said, We hope French parents will show solidarity for this initiative, like parents in other countries. Finally, defending the interests of children is a universal issue, it goes beyond national borders, and unfortunately our governments have all adopted unacceptable policies.

Elisa pointed to the enormous difficulties facing working parents in each country due to state policies and official disinformation: Here, we face a situation where the Pediatric Society is still going on comparing COVID-19 to the flu!  Parents are not well informed about the risks of Long Covid or other long-term risks involved.

Amande, a mother of two students in pre-school and primary school in Aix-en-Provence, told the WSWS, I support this strike in the UK for many reasons. I do not think that children are protected by the French state faced with the risk of coronavirus compared to other countries which have put in place protocols that are more serious

She added that the concerns of parents like myself are not related by any opposition party or parents association. There is only the group @Ecole_Oubliee which has restated our demands. Like other parents I have the impression of preaching in the desert The English strike could allow us to extend our voices, but perhaps for that it will be necessary that it be continued and perhaps repeated.

Raphaelle Lapotre, a mother of two children aged one and three years old, from the Sens region of central France, explained why she supported the October 1 school strike call. This virus has been presented to us as a severe flu, which while yes causing a lot of deaths among adults, is nonetheless harmless once the infection is over. But this is not true. Many scientific studies have shown that COVID affects all the organs, including the brain, pancreas, heart and lungs.

Raphaelle

It affects those who are vulnerable and the healthy, adults and children, and even if its true that not everyone is affected the same way, the damage caused must be taken into account in every case. But in France, with regards to children, the government endlessly minimises the impact of the virus on their health, and these even though the Delta variant is more dangerous and more likely to affect them. She noted that it is claimed that children who have had COVID have only had psychological problems, caused only by the anguish of lockdowns.

When I refer to this situation with those around me  I am often asked why the government would want to do harm to children, she said. Even investing in schools and public places to improve their aeration involves a cost, clearly minimal with regard the impact of coronavirus, but still too great for the French state, which has been pursuing austerity for more than a decade.

I think there is a vicious cycle, she added. The economic world (finance and big business) does not want a new strict lockdown, which would be inevitable if we want to suppress the virus; this layer therefore promotes scientists and personalities to introduce ambiguity or even argue against restrictions among public opinion.
Witch-hunts, armed police everywhere, hymns of praise to Tony Blair, law-and-order rhetoric and militarism. Such was this years Labour Party conference.

This was a leadership at war with its own members, as it careens to the right and deals ruthlessly with all opposition.

Leader of the British Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer makes his keynote speech at the annual party conference in Brighton, England, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was under instruction from big business and its media to prove that the ghost of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn and any suggestion of a left turn by the party was finally exorcised. He did not disappoint his masters.

Conference began with changes to the partys rules to prevent any repeat of a left-wing candidate getting on a leadership ballot ever again.

Starmers reforms mean that anyone wanting to stand for the leadership must first win the backing of 20 percent of Labour members of parliament, rather than the current 10 percent. This veto for the Parliamentary Labour Party is hardly necessary, given the absence of any significant number of even nominally left MPsCorbyn only got on the ballot in 2015 because some MPS thought it wise to put a token left in the race to replace Ed Miliband. But it was demonstrably bolting an already closed door. The motion passed against majority opposition from members thanks to the block vote of Unison, Britains largest trade union, with 53.7 percent in favour overall.

That day Shadow Security Minister Conor McGinn said that people who had joined the party to support Corbyns nominally left push300,000 and the overwhelming majority of the partys membershiphad been misguided, or misled by others, though some were not irretrievable.

The process of deselecting Labour MPs was also made more difficult, and votes in leadership elections denied to registered supporters.

There were also changes to Labours disciplinary process with the declared aim of speeding up the witch-hunting of members on bogus charges of anti-Semitism for opposing Israeli repression of the Palestinians. Labour sources told the Times that defending the party against legal action relating to anti-Semitism had cost around 2 million, with an extra 1 million spent on responding to a backlog of complaints.

The next day, conference overwhelmingly passed a motion calling for sanctions against Israel, which was promptly disavowed by Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy. She made clear that this position will never become party policy. And neither will an emergency motion describing the formation of the AUKUS military pact with the US and Australia as a dangerous move that will undermine world peace, which was passed by 70.35 percent to 29.65 percent, or votes supporting public ownership of energy companies, a 15 an hour minimum wage or anything else that contradicts Labours pro-business, pro-imperialist agenda.

The livestream of the conference debate on Palestine was cut. That day, Louise Ellman, the leading Zionist who quit as a Labour MP in 2019 in furtherance of the anti-Semitism witch-hunt, announced that she had rejoined after Sundays vote to set up an independent complaints process for claims of racism.

Ellman, who famously claimed that anti-Semitism had become 'mainstream' within the Labour Party under Corbyn, praised Starmer as someone in whom, Britain's Jews can have trust. She was joined in attending the conference by Police Federation Chief John Apter.

In contrast, at least 20 delegates were excluded for alleged membership of the recently proscribed groups, Socialist Appeal, Labour in Exile Network, Labour Against the Witchhunt and Resist. The bans also led to the disaffiliation from Labour of the small 17,000-member Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union. Its president, Ian Hodson, was expelled from the party over alleged links with proscribed groups, amid bogus accusations of anti-Semitism for pointing out the Zionist Jewish Labour Movement worked with the Israeli embassy to undermine Corbyns leadership of the party.

After the conference ended, Labour announced that some of those who heckled Starmer during his address to conference also face suspension. His risible performance brought a fitting conclusion to the conference debacle.

As he spoke, armed police positioned themselves in the conference aisles in an intimidatory fashion. Parts of the conference hall were closed off, and additional day visitors bussed in to give an illusion of popular support.

Starmer began by saying to Ellman, welcome home, before segueing into his customary trite homilies explaining how his humble working class beginnings had somehow helped shape his right-wing politics, with unambiguous pledges that Labour was back in business as a potential party of government for Britains ruling class.

Pointedly targeting Corbyn, he said, To the voters who thought we were unpatriotic or irresponsible or that we looked down on them, I say these simple but powerful words. We will never under my leadership go into an election with a manifesto that is not a serious plan for government.

Labour had got our own house in order this week, he said, before stressing his credentials as having the great honour of becoming this countrys chief prosecutor, leading a large organisation: the Crown Prosecution Service. Three very important words.

Starmer would not stand for the 2 million incidents of anti-social behaviour this year, or knife crime, unsolved crimes and the loss of 8,000 police officers under the Tories.

His nebulous plans for the National Health Service were only a preamble for a promise to work with the pharmaceuticals, materials, defence, chemical engineering, consumer goods environmental technology, transport and biotechnology industries under Labours Buy, Make, Sell in Britain programme good business and good government are partners.

All public spending would be scrutinised by an Office for Value for Money There will be no promises we cant keep or commitments we cant pay for. For good measure, Labours own levelling up agenda would be modelled on the record of Tony Blair. You want levelling up? Thats levelling up.

In this party we are patriots, said Starmer. Regarding Our military, he declared, Labour is the party of NATO and will do right by the Great Britons who serve in our armed forces.

The Blairites response to conference was ecstatic.

Zionist former MP Ruth Smeeth said, to a standing ovation in the expected quarters, Today we need to send a message to the vile racists and bullies who thought that our party could become a place for Jew hate.

Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey declared, It was Labour that established NATO and the nuclear deterrent. With Labour and Keir Starmer, the country will get the leadership to forge a new and powerful role for Britain in the world. We will insist on the UKs say with the US as our most essential ally, stepping up Britains leadership in NATO.

Writing in the i newspaper, Ian Dunt crowed, It was a full spectrum-attack on Corbynism: a commitment to tackling crime, celebrating patriotism, prioritising defence and embracing the record of New Labour. All the things which had alienated voters from Labour were addressed in turn. It was like we were watching Corbynism being buried.

However, to anyone outside the political bubble in which the Labourites operate, informed only by the opinion of fellow thinkers and a right-wing media, it is becoming ever clearer that it is the Labour Party that is being buried, not merely Corbynism.

Wes Streeting MP, touted in some circles as a future party leader, boasted of taking the fight to the left. But the Blairites victory was only made possible by the deliberate refusal of the Corbynites to fight them on anything. Capitulating on every policy issue, including NATO membership, Trident and war against Syria, Corbyn and his allies opposed all efforts to drive out the Blairites and allowed their own supporters to be driven out instead.

Without the fig-leaf provided by Corbyn, the stage is being set for a direct confrontation between the Labour and trade union bureaucracy and the working class, from which the former will never recover.

Corbyn, having had the Labour whip removed by Starmer, was of course still busy touring fringe meetings at the conference such as Momentums The World Transformed, where he was joined by some of his inner coterie and most uncritical fans among the pseudo-left tendencies. But he had nothing to say. In a September 28 opinion piece in the i newspaper, he described the party conference as a time for our movement to come together. His only oblique reference to Starmer et al was to write, So far this week, Labours leaders have shown they want to prop up, not challenge that wealth and power.

Corbyns most prominent ally, former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, marked the start of conference with advice to Starmer in the Guardian .

Celebrating his and Corbyns determination not to rock the boat, he recalled, When Jeremy Corbyn and I stood down from the leading positions in the Labour party, we agreed Keir Starmer should not be treated the way we were by some Labour MPs, doing all they could to undermine us. He advised Starmer against blundering around stoking up internal disputes when he should be setting out the argument for radical change at the head of a united party.

Nothing Starmer does will call into question the slavish loyalty of Corbyn and company to the Labour and trade union bureaucracy, of which they are an integral part. This was the central lesson of Corbyns five years as party leader, which proved a decisive refutation of the claims of the pseudo-left groups that he could lead a progressive transformation of the party.

The shattering of that lie has forced the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and Socialist Party to change rhetorical tack.

The Socialist Party has reverted to its pre-Corbyn position of calling for the trade unions to fight for a new workers party, while still portraying Corbynism as having been a threat to the defenders of capitalism. It continues to work with the leadership of the RMT rail union and others in the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition to take steps in that directiontiny steps that will never arrive at the SPs stated destination.

The SWPs Socialist Worker commented, The question for the Labour left is whether thats a party they want to stay in. Last November, Charlie Kimber wrote, We need a party that puts struggle first and that sees the streets and the workplaces as more important than elections, but listed only participation in various protest movements as the basis for building, politics on struggle and revolutionary socialism to change the whole set up.

Their rhetorical shift has a broader significance, however. The embrace of Corbyn by the pseudo-left was a desperate attempt to reinforce the grip of the Labour and trade union bureaucracy over the working class. He was one of a series of similar figures relentlessly promoted as representing a broad left alternative to the building of a genuine socialist leadership in the working class.

Kimber now presents this as the catalogue of disaster it proved to be.

It was certainly extraordinary when Corbyn, so recently leader, was expelled, he writes. Most of the Labour left will now stay in the party and push for Corbyns reinstatement, but there is some talk of a breakaway from Labour, perhaps based on some councillors and trade union officials. While That talk should be turned into reality, according to Kimber, it will be no solution to set up a Labour Party 2.0, the same animal in different clothing.

Podemos, formed in Spain in 2014, was hugely successful but now sits in a government with the right-wing PSOE social democratic party administering a disastrous coronavirus strategy where profits come before people. In Greece, Syrizas Alexis Tsipras implemented a worse round of austerity than those imposed by his Tory predecessors.

In the US, much hope was invested in Bernie Sanders. But, working inside the Democratic Party, he has ended up as a frontman for neoliberal Joe Biden.

One would never know that the SWP et al boosted the political credentials of every one of these political bankrupts. They are only belatedly taking their distance from Corbyn, Tsipras, Sanders and their ilk because many workers and youth have already concluded that they are worthless.

Today their musings over possible left splits from Labour only disarm the working class in face of the dangers they confront from a de facto alliance between the Conservative government and Starmers Labour Party, implementing a pandemic policy of deliberate mass infection, illness and death, and the ramping up of tensions with China and Russia.

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) was alone in systematically opposing the concerted attempt to subordinate the working class to Corbyn and other left defenders of capitalism. We advanced a critique based on an historically grounded understanding of Labourism/social democracy, of Stalinism, and of the pseudo-left groups which serve as the last line of defence of the labour and trade union bureaucracys domination of the working class. It is essential that this record, collected on the World Socialist Web Site, is carefully studied, assimilated and then acted on through the building of the SEP as the genuinely revolutionary, socialist and internationalist leadership workers need.
Workers at the Lennox Industries plant in Stuttgart, Arkansas, report that at least two more workers have died from COVID-19 infections since the World Socialist Web Site published a September 14 expose about the deadly outbreak at the factory. Workers and their relatives have told the WSWS that a total of seven workers at the plant, located 55 miles southeast of Little Rock, have succumbed to the disease.

Lennox Industries produces climate control products for the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration markets. The company and plant management have refused to confirm these reports or charges by workers that Lennox was using inmates from COVID-infected jails to fill in for missing workers. Local management hung up the phone on this reporter, and the public relations department for the Dallas, Texas-based corporation has not responded to our inquiries. Similarly, the WSWS has gotten no response from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) offices in Little Rock.

On the assembly line (Source: Lennox Media)

Workers at the plant, however, welcomed the exposure of the conditions they face, and several printed and distributed hundreds of copies of the original WSWS article to their fellow workers and family members. The workers said the article was great. Management threatened to fire anyone who they caught reading it. So most went out on their lunchbreak to read it. The workers say the company started vaccine shots shortly after the article came out.

Thousands of workers have also read the WSWS article online. After reading it, a worker at the Stuttgart plant who recently quit because of the callous response of management to outbreaks of infections at the plant emailed the WSWS, saying, The day I walked out, the supervisor for the line came up to me and the crew leader and told us that there was a COVID outbreak on two lines, and about 30 people had it. They evacuated all management, all human resources, all of payroll, all supervisors and the two lines that were infected. They told the rest of us and the crew leader we had to stay there and work, that it was up to us for the next week to come to work and get everything done while they all got to go home for a week.

The crew leader said to the production manager, What the hell, man, yall just gonna leave us here? The production manager said, Sorry, but we got kids and wives to look after, like everybody elses dont matter. So, I packed my stuff and walked out. I wasnt about to be left there with an ongoing outbreak because they care more about the higher-ups than the blue-collar workers. If they didnt have the blue-collar workers, they wouldnt have a factory, but they just look at us like toilet paper, easy to get more and for them to crap on. I quit because of the way they treated me.

Even before the pandemic, the worker said, management exhibited an utter disregard for the health and safety of workers. When people get hurt out there, they will either fire or treat you like junk to make you quit. So, when people get hurt, they try to hide it and keep working. I was a run test operator and ran the risk of getting electrocuted, which I did on a few occasions, and I hid it.

The factory, which manufactures air conditioners, also has no air conditioning for its workers. In addition to the sweltering heat, there are also mosquitos, roaches and other pests in the plant. When there was a bomb threat at the plant, the worker reported, management evacuated the building but sent us back within 30 minutes without even calling the fire department to secure the place.

The Stuttgart plant (Source: Lennox Media)

Commenting on OSHAs failure to respond to WSWS inquiries about a COVID outbreak at the plant, the former worker said, The reason OSHA wont comment or respond to yall is because OSHA is paid off at the door before they ever get to walk the factory. If OSHA ever did get to walk the plant, they would shut it down immediately, he said.

It is clear Lennox prioritizes profits over lives. It has made a bundle during the pandemic. Announcing the companys last quarterly results in July, Lennox CEO Todd Bluedorn boasted, Lennox International posted record revenues and profits in the second quarter with strong growth across all three of our businesses. Our Residential business set new highs for revenue, margin and profit. Revenue rose 30 percent on strong growth in both replacement and new construction business. Segment margin expanded 290 basis points to 22.6 percent, and profit rose 49 percent.

According to a company release Lennox made a record $222 million in the second quarter. It also announced a plan to repurchase $200 million of stock to drive up the companys share price and a 19 percent dividend increase for its wealthy shareholders. Last year, Bluedorn pocketed $7.6 million in compensation, or 271 times the $28,000 annual wage a machine operator earns at the Stuttgart plant. Bluedorn makes 1,542 times the annual $4,928 salary of (101,616 pesos) the highest paid manufacturing workers at Lennoxs Saltillo, Mexico plant.

The company exploits the high level of poverty and economic desperation to fill its factories. Stuttgart, with a population of 8,232, has a poverty rate of 17.9 percent (1,480 people), while Arkansas County, of which Stuttgart is located, has 3,372 (18.82 percent) COVID-19 cases and 56 deaths. The county has a total population of 17,914, as of 2019 census report.

Lennox executives and its wealthiest shareholders are pandemic profiteerswho have enriched themselves while over 700,000 people in the US and 277,000 in Mexico have died, including an unknown number of workers in its sweatshops.

Workers in the factory (Source: Lennox Media)

In March, John Whinery, the vice president of product management for Lennox, boasted about the release of a new line of high-cost air purifiers, which he said would protect homeowners and their families from COVID. With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping homeowners indoors more than ever, clean air has never been more important. Thats why Im especially excited and proud to announce that, after months of rigorous testing, the PureAir and PureAir S Air Purification Systems, with the Lennox Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16 air filter, remove over 99 percent of the virus that causes COVID-19 from the air. When it comes to the safety and comfort of homeowners and families, we dont take our role lightly, and we hope this announcement serves as further evidence of our unwavering dedication to whole-home purification for perfect air.

The companys executives and corporate management have little concern about cleaning the air workers have to breathe at the Stuttgart factory and its other manufacturing facilities. It is up to workers to act to defend their lives and the lives of their loved ones. The WSWS urges workers to form a rank-and-file safety committee to communicate with each other, bring out the truth and prepare collective action, if necessary, to force the closure of the factory and protect the health and safety of all workers. We urge Lennox workers and other workers facing similar conditions to email us at comments@wsws.org to provide confidential information about conditions and to discuss how to build a rank-and-file safety committee. We will take all precautions necessary to protect the identity of those workers who contact us in order protect them from retaliation.
WSWS Media

The call for a school strike on October 1 in the UK to protect children from the COVID-19 pandemic is finding a powerful response in Germany. The WSWS has already published two articles with statements of solidarity from parents and students. Also among German teachers and educators, resistance is growing against the criminal herd immunity policy, which is supported and organised by all government parties and the trade unions.

Cristin, a self-employed educator, sent us this message:

For me as an educator, it is so important that we as parents and teachers and educators finally set an example that we need to protect our children. Usuallyespecially with childrenBETTER SAFE THAN SORRY. We do that in everything, whether it is bottles, the way we put a baby to sleep, car seats, rockers, baby food, bike helmets, toys, playgrounds ... Everything! Only in the case of a multisystem disease that affects both organs and the endothelium and is neurotropic do we completely throw these safety aspects out the window. We know zero about what COVID disease (even asymptomatic) can do in one, two, five or 10 years. We already see diabetes playing a role, kidney disease, microthrombi developing, brain damage. We have to ask ourselves, would we put our children in a car seat that has been poorly tested? No, we would not, even though the likelihood of an accident is already very low. And right now, were infusing our children with a potentially dangerous virus that can have massive long-term consequences. And even parents who want to protect their children are being forced into the schools. We have to show the politicians that we as parents, educators and teachers no longer play this dangerous game. We have to get attention; we have to inform about the dangers and we finally need safe schools. That means air filters, small classes, masks, tests, vaccinationsthats the only way we can prevent children from becoming infected. Thats why we need a strikewe need to get loud and we need to finally make it clear that we no longer accept the contamination of children! Therefore, as an educator, I expressly support this strikewe cannot protect the children entrusted to us under the current circumstances and we have a responsibility. We can only do justice to this by showing clearly now, as parents, teachers and educators, that we will not support the mass infection of children. We finally need safe educational facilities.

Harald, a teacher from Duisburg, wrote:

Dr. Feigl-Ding, a leading epidemiologist, in an interview with WSWS on the issue of fighting COVID-19, said this: If you say, Kids shouldnt be dying of cancer, at a media conference or a hearing you would mostly get nods across the room. But if someone said the same thing about COVID-19, namely that no child should die from it either, then he would not currently receive the necessary attention in the established media. The media erroneously assumed that serious consequences of a coronavirus infection in children were statistically quite insignificant, that allegedly such cases hardly ever occurred. However, it is a fact that just in the US about as many children are dying per week from COVID-19 as from cancer. These statistically unquestionable numbers are simply withheld from the public. And there is one major difference between cancer and COVID-19: COVID-19 is controllable through consistent methods of containment. The method is called ZERO COVID and not learning to live with the virus. No one would demand that we learn to live with the cancer threat today either. In addition, schools that are open worldwide are among the most significant places where the pandemic spreads. Moreover, no country can vaccinate as quickly as the Delta variant of this disease is spreading, thus also increasing its mutation and risk potential. It follows that there must be no hesitation in protecting our school children and their families, educators and teachers, and the entire international workforce, through consistent containment measures, vaccination and consistent lockdowns in schools and workplaces. This demand is underlined by the widespread initiative by British parents for a school strike on October 1.

Helmut, a young teacher from Berlin, states:

A few weeks have now passed since the school opened in August, and I can say with certainty and not a little bitterness that nothing has improved since last school year. The situation at my school is so tense that many colleagues are absent due to illness. Some also due to COVID-19 infection, whole classes have to be quarantined. And some classes would have to be quarantined, but often only seat neighbours of infected pupils are required to do so. Health departments are clearly still overworked and unavailable to school administrators. There have also already been deaths among parents. What are the politicians doing? Practically nothing. There are only two room filters for the whole school! Many colleagues cannot find any other words for the situation than infiltration policy. I support the concern of parents and teachers, who are the only ones who really care about the welfare of children. The politicians definitely do not. Since the unions have done nothing to support teachers since the pandemic began, teachers should now organize themselves into independent action committees and take workplace safety into their own hands. It is encouraging that this is already happening in other countries.

Anna, a primary school teacher, sent us a detailed message that reviews her situation and experiences during the pandemic. Her statement also ends with a strong appeal to support the school strike on October 1:

Children are basically my life, both personally and professionally. I teach at a primary school and am a mother of three U12 [under 12] children. I love my job, from the very beginning. Often the circumstances were not easy, but always somehow manageable. It was very clear to me from the beginning that children unfortunately do not have the value in society as a whole that they should have. No, they must have! I became even more aware of this when I became a mother myself. Then came COVID-19. As I had just had our third child, it was our great good fortune in the first year of the pandemic that I was at home and able to school and look after my children well myself. While I could definitely take some positives from the first few weeks, the longer it dragged on, the more stressful the situation became. Homeschooling for us, as for so many kids, meant a weekly exchange of worksheets. If a teacher ever tried to contact the kids via a video platform, it usually failed. So, it stuck to worksheets. My kids were annoyed. So was I. Over and over, I thought: how do parents who cannot stay home do it? How do parents who have no training to be teachers do it? Conversations with other parents revealed that they were usually in despair. So there was great joy among many when schools fully reopened. I can understand it. I, too, was weary. Despite the benefits I had from parental leave and a job. When it became clear that unfortunately it would not be over with COVID-19 in the summer of 2021, I was still a bit naive, because I assumed that something would be done to enable the children to have a normal school year. I did not think for a second that it would not be about protecting the children, but about infecting them. I am now back in the teaching profession. And I am honestly sad. For months, face-to-face teaching was described as indispensable, children would suffer so much at home. Mental health problems, abuse, maltreatment: all these things must be prevented by face-to-face teaching. It was clear to me even then that none of this would matter once the children were back in class. And I was right. The children do indeed still have all these problems, but simply no one is interested in them anymore. The situation at the school is depressing. We do not have hot water in the classrooms, so we cannot wash our hands properly. We test twice a week. When we do this, all the children sit in a small room, many sneeze. In the square and outside, as well as in the gym, there is no mask requirement. With the low quality and often completely filthy, ill-fitting masks, it is, in my opinion, only cosmetic anyway. Basically, we cannot keep any of the AHA+L rules [distance, hygiene, everyday masks, ventilation]. We keep it to pray and hope. I wear FFP3 mask at school throughout. For one important reason: my own kids. I dont want to bring COVID home to them. They have not seen the inside of a school yet this school year. In our state, compulsory attendance has been lifted. I am not an authority on this virus. But I do read and try to stay informed. And I try to reflect and evaluate what I read. So far, the evaluation is always the same: the risk of possible consequential harm is too great for me. I protect my children as best I can. In our area all adults are vaccinated and usually tested. We try to build nest protection for our children until they are vaccinated. I cannot understand why many parents talk down the dangers for their children. But I can tell you: there is hardly any protection for your children at school. Even if the politicians try to tell you otherwise. Do not be naive. Protect your children. Set an example with us: join the global school strike this Friday, October 1. Show the government that you will not and cannot accept the infection of your children. There are many of us! Of that I am firmly convinced.
UK campaign group Parents United has issued a statement opposing todays school strike and seeking to intimidate its supporters.

Published Wednesday, the statement cites the potential legal implications embedded in any proposal to withdraw a child from school as the reason for opposing such radical action, as protecting vulnerable families must remain the heart of our work.

The Parent's United statement opposing the October 1 school strike

This last-minute intervention is an indication of the broad support which parent Lisa Diazs call for a strike has received. Lisas videos calling for the action have been viewed 124,000 times. The hashtags #schoolstrike2021 and #parentstrike2021 have had a reach of over 2 million in the last week.

The World Socialist Web Site has posted messages of support from parents, students, school teachers and other workers in the UK, United States, Germany, Canada and Sri Lanka. Resolutions and statements of support have been published by the Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee (UK), the Network of Safe Education Action Committees in Germany, the Teachers-Students-Parents Safety Committee in Sri Lanka, the Cross-Canada Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, the Tennessee Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee and West Coast Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committees in the US.

Doubtless, there are many followers of the Parents United group who feel the same way. But the response of its leaders exposes them as political policemen, seeking to contain opposition to unsafe schools rather than mobilise it.

The words COVID, Long COVID, infections, hospitalisations and deaths do not feature once in their statement, despite tens of thousands of children catching COVID-19 every week, scores being hospitalised with the virus every day and close to 90 dead.

Instead, their statement warns of the need to protect vulnerable families from the formation of political allegiances, proposed initiatives that are attached to fringe political parties or groups, fringe groups who hold political beliefs and motives that inhabit the far ends of the political spectrum, political point scoring and overtly political parties that we believe have the potential to co-opt the direction and intentions of the movement.

Despite the references to parties, this broadside is levelled solely against the Socialist Equality Party (SEP). Parents Uniteds claim that the SEP is seeking to co-opt the movement for safe schools is a McCarthyite slander. The SEP, its international sister parties and the World Socialist Web Site have waged a fight against the policy of mass infection since the start of the pandemic. We have argued that such a struggle must necessarily be taken up by the working class.

Our attitude to the school strike was detailed in a perspective this Monday, British parents plan October 1 school strikeAn important step forward in the fight against the pandemic, noting that the proposal reflected the growing opposition in the international working class to the homicidal pandemic policies of the ruling elites and was part of a growing wave of resistance by the working class, which is entering a new stage of the class struggle.

Its central significance, we argued, is that it has been organized independently of the unions and capitalist political parties and has evoked a powerful response among parents and workers worldwide.

The independence of the school strike initiative and the global response it has received is why Parents United is so fiercely opposed to it. The organisation was formerly known as Boycott the Return to Unsafe Schools (BRTUS). Last year they called their own school strike for November 5 and asked the education unions to stand shoulder to shoulder with parents.

The unions instead continued to work with the Conservative government and the Labour Party to demobilise opposition to the opening of unsafe schools. When the SEP criticised the trade unions for refusing to support the parents action, the leadership of BRTUS banned anyone who posted WSWS material from its Facebook page.

To cultivate ever closer relations with the trade unions, local authorities and others, their next action was to reject any repeated protest by their members, which their latest statement says, diminished our standing to advocate for our group with respected stakeholders.

When they write that their programme is to apply pressure on various political and legal institutions through established and legitimate channels and based on a wider understanding of the socio-legal systems in place, what they are advocating is the complete subordination of parents and workers to organisations that have spent more than a year suppressing opposition to unsafe schools and enabling Prime Minister Boris Johnson to pursue his murderous agenda.

The Tories have no qualms about working with the real fringe groups on the far right of the political spectrum. Last September, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak held a private meeting with Sunetra Gupta, a leading signatory of the Great Barrington Declaration calling for a policy of mass infections. Last week, leading Tory right-winger Sir Graham Brady met with supporters of the anti-vaccine, mask and lockdown HART (Health Advisory and Recovery Team) group in Westminster.

With no way forward to offer their followers, Parents United resorts to outright intimidation to oppose todays strike. Their statement warns that we are unsure that we will have sufficient resources to support all those parents who will need help as a consequence of taking strike actionby which its supporters are put on notice that anyone victimised by the state can expect no help from Parents United.

More ominous still, the statement declares, We cannot ethically, or in good conscience, advocate for the use of children in political point scoring. This places families and children at risk of radicalisation, and safeguarding is essential [emphasis added].

Radicalisation and safeguarding are terms closely associated with the governments anti-terror Prevent scheme, established by Tony Blairs Labour government in 2007 as a means of giving the state the tools to police political thought in education. Invoking this threat and accusing parents of using their children is despicable.

The efforts of Parents United to undermine todays school strike only underscore the events significance. There is an unbridgeable political gulf between the Labour and trade union bureaucracy, and those organisations oriented towards it, and the broad mass of the working class now coming forward to defend health and lives.
The Pennsylvania Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee supports and stands in solidarity with parents striking this Friday, October 1, against unsafe conditions in schools in the United Kingdom amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Parents and educators are organizing the walkout using the hashtags #SchoolStrike2021#SittingDucks and #October1st.

Every day, the ongoing pandemic fueled by the decision of the ruling authorities to reopen schools and nonessential businesses is infecting an average of over 600,000 people and taking the lives of 8,000 throughout the world.

The right-wing Boris Johnson administration in Britain, supported by the Labour Party and the unions, has adopted the homicidal policy of herd immunity, pushing for the infection of millions, including children. Johnson has gone so far as to ban basic mitigation measures such as masks.

Unconcerned with the suffering brought onto parents, children and their families, Johnson has taken the position that the population needs to learn to live with the pandemic.

Pennsylvania classroom with in-person instruction (Credit: Conestoga Valley School District Facebook page)

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Governor Tom Wolf, in line with the policies of the Biden administration, has also pushed for the full reopening of schools and non-essential businesses. They claim that with limited mitigation measures, primarily vaccines and masking, children can be safe in school.

Since the reopening of schools, infections and deaths are skyrocketing. In Pennsylvania, daily new cases climbed to 5,429 on September 28. This is more than 25 times their July low, when the seven-day average was below 200 new cases per day, and well below the same time last year when new cases stood near 1,000 per day.

The conditions in public schools are intolerable for educators, staff and students, and increases the spread of the deadly pandemic. Students are being crammed into classrooms with 20, 25 and often 30 other students, lacking even the most basic sanitary supplies. Many of our buildings lack windows that can be opened, let alone proper air conditioning. To claim that mitigations can stop the spread of COVID-19 under these conditions is absurd.

The teacher, bus driver and staff shortage is becoming epidemic, as many have either gotten sick, or been forced out of the profession for fear of becoming sick or infecting their loved ones.

Last week, students at an elementary school in Philadelphia went hungry for breakfast and lunch that did not arrive at the school, which had no staff to serve it. The principal and teachers depleted the supply of snacks and ordered pizza and soda to feed their students.

Testing has all but been abandoned. The School District of Philadelphia, with its 200,000 students, announced that because of the increased number of COVID-19 cases, they will no longer test students who had come into contact with them.

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten, who is among the richest Americans, with an annual salary of roughly $500,000, has committed the resources of the union to work for the reopening of all schools.

On Thursday, Weingarten held a town hall meeting with parents from Open Schools USA, an organization that opposes public education, attacks educators and opposes mask mandates and vaccines. They call upon parents to withdraw their children from public schools in order to siphon away funding.

Made up of educators, staff and parents from Pennsylvania, as well as neighboring Maryland and Ohio, the Pennsylvania Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee is fighting for a policy for eradicating COVID-19 globally. Nothing short of ending this pandemic is acceptable. We cannot live with our kids and community members dying needlessly.

The courage that Lisa Diaz has shown to protect her children and all children is applauded and supported by us all. The ruling classes and union officials are lined up against us. Only the independent organization of the working class can fight this pandemic.

The action that you are taking is an important step for the working class throughout the world. The support you are receiving is a statement that people are looking for a way forward.

Our committee wishes you the best of success this Friday and are confident that you will continue in this struggle. We will stand with you and continue our fight for a complete shutdown of in-person learning and all nonessential production as part of a massive public health campaign to bring this pandemic to an end.

The action that you are taking is an important step for the working class throughout the world. The support you are receiving shows the urgency with which parents, educators and communities desire the leadership you are demonstrating.
The call issued by Lisa Diaz for parents in Britain to keep their children home today in a one-day strike, as a protest against the irresponsible reopening of schools that has placed young peoples lives at risk, has evoked deep-felt support from the working class.

Messages of solidarity are pouring in from working people in Britain and throughout the world. Videos posted by Lisa Diaz on her Twitter account have been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.

The exact number of parents who will keep their children home today cannot be known. The call for action has not been reported in the national media. But what might be described as a global online picket line has been established and it is being honored by an international working-class audience.

This critical initiative to oppose the unsafe reopening of schools takes place as the pandemic is raging out of control, particularly among children. In the UK, 59,000 children were infected with COVID-19 in the first two weeks of school reopenings. In the United States, more than 200,000 new pediatric infections each week have been reported over the past five weeks, the vast majority the direct product of the full reopening of schools.

With nearly five million dead already, according to official figures, more than 500,000 new COVID-19 cases are now reported every day, along with more than 7,500 deaths. In the UK, new cases have risen from 2,000 a day in May to nearly 35,000 a day over the past month. In Canada, cases have increased ten-fold, from 400 a day in July to more than 4,000 a day in September. More than 1,600 people are dying every day in the United States, as hospitals, including pediatric facilities, overflow with the sick.

The October 1 action takes place as the class lines have emerged very clearly. On the one hand are the proponents of mass infection, which is pushed in one form or another by governments and corporations throughout the world. On the other are workers, who are demanding emergency measures to stop the pandemic and save lives.

Whether it is the UKs Johnson government, which has promoted herd immunity from the start of the pandemic, or the Biden administration, which promotes the fiction that inadequate mitigation measures combined with vaccination can stop the pandemic, the end result is the same: Schools and factories are to remain open even as the pandemic rages out of control. The universal reopening of schools is driven by the imperative to keep workers on the job to sustain corporate profits and the enrichment of the financial elite.

Around the world, the ruling classes are demanding that whatever measures are still in place be removed. In New Zealand, one of the few countries that has pursued a policy of elimination of the virus, cases have jumped sharply in recent days, as the opposition National Party is demanding a shift to vigorous suppressionthat is, the loosening of economic restrictions.

The Financial Times reported this week on an open letter from 79 major corporations in Australia denouncing the big mistakes of federal and state governments in attempting to mitigate the spread of the virus. The companies, according to the FT, said the nation will have to learn to live with the virus, as many other countries have done.

Its time for corporate Australia to turn its disquiet and rumblings into a roar, Greg ONeill, chief executive of Melbourne-based fund asset management company La Trobe Financial, told the FT. Its time for courage and honesty.

The courage and honesty of the ruling class means the demand that the virus be allowed to spread, infecting millions of more people and killing hundreds of thousands.

The October 1 UK school strike is significant in a number of respects.

First, it articulates the strivings of the working class for a policy based on saving lives, not profit. It is based on the demand for the implementation of the measures that leading scientists and epidemiologists insist are necessary to eliminate and eradicate the virus: the shutdown of schools and non-essential production, combined with mass vaccination, universal testing and contact tracing, and the provision of full income to all workers and real assistance to small businesses that are affected.

Second, the action has been organized independently of the unions, which have at every point worked to implement the homicidal policies of the ruling class. In the UK, the Trades Union Congress has opposed vaccine mandates while accepting the reopening of schools without even the most minimum mitigation measures.

In the US, the teachers unions have campaigned aggressively for the reopening of schools, threatening the lives of teachers, children and the broader community.

On September 30, the day before the October 1 strike, the American Federation of Teachers held a town hall meeting with the far-right parents group Open Schools USA. The panel included Jay Bhattacharya, one of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, the document drafted in consultation with the Trump White House aimed at promoting mass infection as a means to achieving herd immunity.

Third, the initiative is developing as an international movement. While the call for the parents strike began in the UK, it has attracted the support of workers throughout the world. In addition to the individual statements of solidarity, the action has been endorsed by teachers groups and rank-and-file committees in many countries.

In a Twitter post published on Thursday afternoon, Lisa Diaz called the response overwhelming, noting that her initial call had been retweeted in Canada, the US, Germany, France, Spain, Australia, and Japan. It really has shown that we might be from different corners of the world, but our struggle is still the same. We just want our children to be safe at school.

Lisa called on parents and workers throughout the world to post their videos and messages of support on social media using the hashtags #SchoolStrike2021, #SittingDucks, and #October1st. The World Socialist Web Site endorses this action and encourages its readers to join the online picket line by posting messages of support on Twitter and other social media platforms.

The October 1 strike confirms certain critical elements of the perspective of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI): the revolutionary role of the working class, the international character of the class struggle, and the irreconcilable conflict between the interests of workers and the corporatist trade unions.

In May of this year, the ICFI established the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC), based on the perspective that the fight against the pandemic requires a genuine rank-and-file rebellion from below, organized on an international scale.

The initiative of the October 1 strike must be carried forward through the building of independent committees in every section of the working class, uniting the fight against the pandemic with the growing struggles of workers throughout the world against inequality and capitalist exploitation.

As we encourage and promote this development, the ICFI and its national sections raise with workers engaged in this struggle the need to draw the more fundamental political conclusions. The fight against the pandemic, and against war, inequality, exploitation and dictatorship, is a fight against the entire capitalist social and economic order. It raises the necessity for workers of all countries to take power, expropriate the ruling elites, and establish a socialist society based on rational, scientific and democratic control of production.
Campaign group Parents United posted a statement Wednesday opposing todays school strike as a radical action with potential legal implications, insisting the campaign for safe schools remain apolitical and accusing parents of being co-opted by fringe groups. The statement has been met with widespread opposition.

Lisa Diaz, who made the call for the strike, told the World Socialist Web Site, Martin Luther King would be spinning in his grave, referring to Kings comment that One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. She continued, Whatever happened to Boycott the Return to Unsafe Schools aka BRTUS [the former name of Parents United]? An average of 3 children a day are dying of COVID in the USA. 9 kids have died in the UK so far in September only.

We have been writing strongly worded letters and petitions since March 2020. What has changed? Things have gotten worse not better. If now is not the time for action when is?

The post of the statement made in the Parents United Facebook group has had its comments section disabled, preventing discussion. However, several people responded to the post on Twitter.

One user wrote, Kids are collateral damage in the UK infection strategy. Have you seen the child infection rates? And we know 14% will get long Covid and many will lose a parent, carer or significant adult to Covid. How far has lobbying got us with gov? We have fewer mitigations now than before We need to stand up together.

Leah explained, I joined PU very early in the pandemic, when they were BOYCOTT RETURN TO UNSAFE SCHOOLS. If I'm honest after 19 months, schools are the most dangerous they've ever been. I'm seeing CV/CEV families infected at an alarming rate. After strict shielding and sacrifice.

When school attendance makes infection a foregone conclusion. Action must be taken. I don't fear punitive measures half as much as reinfection. As much as loss of life and quality of life for families.

She challenged Parents Uniteds claims that the strike involved the use of children for political point scoring and places children and families at risk of radicalisation, questioning, One day? Or a letter of solidarity, for action globally with media engagement? You condemn this?? You call this radicalisation?

Lizzy wrote, Whilst I accept your position I dont understand what you mean by vulnerable families could be radicalised and it could be a safeguarding issue? A one day strike? Are you serious?

Michelle asked, Please look at this from a historical perspective. How many more lives will be lost, students harmed waiting for policy changes? To me, the extreme action here, is the assumption this will move through those means. This needs a pressure cooker. Not a simmer.

I think it's unfair to suggest any parent would Use their child here. You are assuming students themselves aren't looking for a way for their voices to be heard. I am being threatened with prosecution. I can't just wait around anymore.

On the threat of fines and Parents Uniteds claim to be unsure we will have sufficient resources to support parents who take strike action, Amrit wrote, You seem to have concerns about legal implications and 'attendance policies' but you fail to address the views of @GoodLawProject that the law is on parents' (and not schools/LAs') side in these circumstances.

Cal said of the statement touting Parents Uniteds work empowering our members to make informed choices and pushing for policy reform through legitimate channels, Whatever all that means, it aint working!

Speaking with the WSWS, teacher Ruth said, This strike has come from ordinary parents and very quickly gathered momentum and support internationally.

Three children died from Covid every week this month in the UK. A whole class of children is admitted to hospital every day with Covid in the UK. Thats before we consider the onward transmission to siblings, parents and grandparents. A thousand people a week are dying from Covid in the UK. Who do we think all these people are and how do we think they caught the virus? We know that schools are vectors for transmission

Parents United seem to imagine that speaking with government or political parties or being seen by them as reasonable, will give them some kind of power to change things. Look at the teaching unions and learn. It will not.

Many of us who are not able to withdraw our children from school completely need advocacy, support and solidarity just as much as those who are educating their children at home during the pandemic. The new attendance crackdown in the UK is going to make it harder for us too to keep our children away from school when there are outbreaks in the school or class which would previously have resulted in closure or isolation, or even when our children themselves are sick or need to be isolating.

We know that there are a significant number of children and young people missing from UK schools But tomorrows School Strike will make a huge impact if it also includes students who are normally in school. We have the right to be safe, a right to life, health and education. We have the right to safe schools. Why are we accepting this illegal policy that is a clear breach of our human rights? Enough is enough.

Claire, a former teacher and a parent and founder of SafeEdForAll (Safe Education for All), told us, I would say that it is hardly 'radical', whatever that is supposed to mean, with its connotations of danger. As a parent, to wish to remove your child from the path of danger, it is an innate human response. It is self-evident that schools are not safe places for our children during the pandemic, and not a penny, nor a thought, have been used to try and make them so

I think also, many families, hitherto apolitical, have become aware of politics around this issue, suddenly becoming aware that their government are not taking their and their family's health and safety seriously, and have begun to wonder what else this government are failing to do?

Many of them have already become frustrated with 'official channels', they have written hundreds of letters to those in charge, MPs, Councillors, Heads and Academy Trusts, to no avail. Same for the organisations designed to monitor these, the Health and Safety Executive, the Department for Education, the Children's Commissioner and politicians from all parties.

This symbolic, one day strike is borne of the frustration that they have done absolutely the right thing, calling out their concerns about guidance, policy, and the safety of their families, and eighteen months later, NOTHING has happened. It's like living in a nightmare version of Groundhog Day.

Our children are sitting ducks. There are no mitigations in place, no reduced class sizes, no masks, no bubbles. Nothing has been done about ventilation or vaccination.

Brian, also a former teacher and a parent, said, The government have implemented a policy of the mandatory mass infection of children by forcing them into schools, absent of any measures to protect them.

In their statement, Parents United talk about how we have moved into a very different phase of the pandemic. They are right, we have entered a different phase of the pandemic, a phase where we should be taking action and standing up for the health of our children

The Parents United group state the need for them to remain apolitical and a concern for children being radicalised as a reason for them not supporting the recent call for a school strike. What a lie! What about protecting children from the worst consequences resulting from exposure to Covid-19?

I fear this statement may expose a link between Parents United and the apparatus of the state (the unions and/or the main political parties), who are absolutely complicit in their support of the criminal and murderous actions of the government. It seems like groups like this exist to dilute the growing resentment against the actions of the government and funnel the anger through the political apparatus.

Rather than stating a concern against the radicalisation of children, the group should focus their efforts on protecting children starting with supporting the actions of Lisa Diaz and the World Socialist Web Site.

...

After this article was published, Lucia, a teacher, sent the following remarks:



The statement from Parents United is pathetic. You can't change government policy by being apolitical. The SEP is one of the very few political groups to take a principled stand against the government's murderous pandemic policy. I am not a member of the SEP but I stand united with them and all those parents who object to our children and teaching staff being used as Covid fodder in a mass infection experiment, which is in the words of Mike Ryan of the WHO 'epidemiologically stupid and morally bankrupt'.
This is the second of a two-part series on messages supporting the parents strike sent to the WSWS from workers, educators, parents and teachers in the US. The first part is viewable here.

Educators, workers and students in the United States are expressing their support for the October 1 school strike called by parents in the United Kingdom to protect children against the spread of COVID-19. UK parent Lisa Diaz has called on parents to keep their children home to oppose Prime Minister Boris Johnsons herd immunity policy of deliberately infecting children. All over the world, capitalist governments are keeping schools open even as the number of childhood infections, hospitalizations and deaths grow.

Pre-K teacher Vera Csizmadia teaches 3-and 4-year-old students in her classroom at the Dr. Charles Smith Early Childhood Center in Palisades Park, N.J. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

In the US, nearly a quarter of a million children have been infected each week since schools opened in mid-August, with three children dying on average each day.

Pennsylvania

A Pittsburgh bus driver commented, We should all stay out. They are forcing us to take a situation where people are going to die. The politicians dont care about the kids. Schools have been declining for years. They just want the parents at work, all you hear is that there are not enough workers. The problem is that they dont want to pay us. You cant live on minimum wage, and you cant live on part-time. I support the parents strike, we have got to stand up for ourselves.

A Pittsburgh parent of a fourth grader spoke in support of the strike, saying, I am terrified every day. The kids line up; they check their masks; they take their temperatures, but there are 20 or more children in his room. Everybody is not going to keep their mask on all day every day. That is just not realistic.

They say that kids are safe in school, but what kind of fools do they think we are? They have to get shots before they can come to school because all kinds of things will spread in school, but somehow COVID wont. Dont be ridiculous. Im glad to see what they are doing in Britain. We should be doing this here as well. We have got to get organized and stand up for ourselves.

An auto parts worker from Dana Inc., where working conditions are akin to those of the early 19th century and where COVID-19 is rampant, voiced support for the October 1 school strike. He stated, Its bogus that the parents are getting attacked by the media and school administrations for keeping their children home. COVID-19 is not at a lower level, it is bad right now like it has always been. Parents are well within their rights to keep their kids at home. Its wrong that Lisa would get any negative repercussions about keeping her kids at home. I've had talks with my wife about this. We both agree that if our kid gets sent home to quarantine, then thats the last time shes going back to school for the semester.

A Philadelphia high school social studies teacher stated, I think it is great what Lisa is doing. Ive already tweeted about the event. Parents need to be aware of the consequences. The science now shows that a small but substantial minority of their children are going to get Long COVID or worse.

An advanced society shouldnt tolerate a product that gives children brain damage or organ failure. An advanced society shouldnt tolerate their children getting lead poisoning, but the powers that be are saying that we should tolerate this. Lisa is showing that parents have another direction, that they dont have to accept this, that by mobilizing parents, factory workers and educators we can fight this.

Referring to the announcement by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten that the union was holding a town hall with the far-right Open Schools USA, the teacher commented, On Twitter I blasted the union president for holding this, and I see that she has already gotten a lot of negative comments that she had to try and explain this. She said that she wants to talk with all sides in the debate. One of the speakers on the panel said that we had to accept that some teachers are going to die. Why do we have to accept this? Would you hold a panel discussion with a Nazi?

The situation at our school is terrible. We are all stressed out, and it is only the beginning of the year. We are so short-staffed; teachers are leaving almost every day. We are supposed to get one prep period a day, but we are always being called to cover for someone who didnt come in.

I have a teacher aide; he has been off for three days. There is no information, they are not telling us if he has COVID. He is in my class one hour a day. He goes to seven or eight other classes. There is so much intermingling going on that there is going to be a major outbreak in the school.

They are not testing the students. No one knows what is facing the student, what they might be bringing home to their parents, families. The policies of the ruling classes are homicidal. Lisa and the rank-and-file committees are showing that we have to stand up for ourselves and fight this system.

Michigan

Joe, a municipal worker in Michigan, told the WSWS, I support the school strike! I have a four-year-old daughter, and weve chosen not to put her in preschool last year and this year because we dont trust the mitigation strategies in place. I am horrified by the stories told by Lisa Diaz and other parents about being forced to send their children into school environments that dont have any mitigation strategies in place. Coordinated action is needed to halt the pandemic and protect the children!

Ed, a teacher in Detroit, stated, Im in complete support of Lisa Diazs parent strike on October 1. I believe this pandemic is being ignored by the Democratic and Republican parties as the deaths pile up. Our school is one of the better schools from the standpoint of mitigation strategies. However, I still dont believe that these schools are safe, and mitigation is not enough. Im triple vaccinated, and yet I have comorbidities and certain ailments that involve the immune system, so I am very cautious. And in fact, Im concerned about my continuing to teach face-to-face.

He added, I believe that parents, teachers, students and the entire working class have to come together to put an end to this virus and oppose the policies coming out of the Democratic and Republican parties.

A Detroit teacher, Jeff, said, I agree with the #SchoolStrike2021! Im angry. Its not safe. I was vaccinated and had both doses back in the spring. Plus, I had COVID prior to being vaccinated, and they told me Id have strong antibodies for about six to nine months. I still caught it after only eight full days of teaching. I was so sleepy and tired all last week, and I guess that explains why. Other than that, no symptoms. Exhaustion was my first sign. I just thought I was worn out from getting back to work.

The headache never lets up. Its nagging and nasty, and I have a scratchy, minor sore throat. I lost my sense of smell the first time I had COVID, but so far not this time. There is no way we can last in school all year. It only took eight days for one of us to get sick! Thats ridiculous.

I dont want to go back in the building, not ever until this is under control. If I caught it twice and have been vaccinated, we could catch it several times over the year, and perhaps not be so lucky one of those times. I agree with Lisa. Its so not safe. Staying home and having some strict measures in place is the only way to do it. I know New Zealand and a couple other places are doing very wellbut it was a FULL closure.

Ohio

An educator and parent from Ohio told the WSWS, I support it. It is time that parents want to take matters into their own hands because theyre the only ones who could do it. Our childrens health is in jeopardy because this thing spreads like crazy.

Everywhere in the world, its important that people can do something. Parents care about their children more than anyone, and if we leave it to the administration, they are not going to do it. The governments not going to do it, and certainly companies are not going to give the parents the time to stay home while the kids stay home from school. So its time that they do things for themselves.

He added, Eradication is the only policy that will work with COVID-19 and any of its variants. That requires the closing of schools. Not just masks, not just social distancing but the closing of schools and nonessential workplaces.

I completely support this walkout on Friday, and I will spread the word because I know that its maybe the only way that its going to get peoples attention. We can do the right thing. So far we havent been, or this virus would have been stopped a long time ago. I completely support Lisa Diaz. I completely support this movement to walk out of schools and I definitely want to be a part of that. Im keeping my kid home from school on October 1.

New York

A 6th grade teacher in southern New York stated, Families everywhere need to stand in solidarity to oppose the unnecessary reopening of school buildings, which are resulting in so many contracting COVID, getting sick, dying and facing unknown long-term effects. There is no need for another human to become infected with COVID due to the herd immunity experiment going on in schools across the world right now. Schools can still educate safely. Please keep your children home on October 1st to oppose the governments herd immunity experiment. Show them, we know better and deserve better!

Schools are putting on a performance that is beyond deceiving. Parents are led to believe that schools are doing everything to ensure their child is safe. This has never been the case, and now more than ever they appear to be purposely avoiding safety measures and turning their heads as COVID cases are increasing in school-aged children and school staff. In my district, like so many, there are no health checks. Kids are not being tested or sent home even if they have COVID symptoms. Plus when there is a positive case in a class, no one other than the positive student is asked to quarantine.

Parents are not even informed of any positives in their childs room. I work with 11 year olds so they dont even have the option of any vaccine protection. COVID-19 can be eradicated. Please stand up for the safety of everyone being forced to cram into classrooms with no alternative daily. There is no need for another child or school faculty member to become infected with COVID. We need to choose safety over trying to pretend that everything is back to normal.
The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) invites all health workers, their family and friends, to attend an online public forum on Saturday, 2 October at 12 p.m. (AEST), to discuss and outline the realistic and achievable measures necessary to eradicate the coronavirus, end the pandemic and save lives, and how to take forward the fight for this.

Register for the meeting here: https://us06web.zoom.us/.../reg.../WN_aYKMflf6SZejCaMBLD8uOg

Twenty-two months since the emergence of COVID-19, the pandemic is only escalating, with growing numbers of infections and deaths around the world, and increasing reports of breakthrough infectionsthe more the disease has spread, the better it has become at evading the immunity offered by vaccinations. The virus is also infecting children in alarming numbers, resulting in long-term debilitation and even death.

The pandemic can and must be defeated. In a meeting of scientists held by the World Socialist Web Site in August, it was demonstrated that emergency, coordinated action at the start of the pandemic could have successfully eliminated the virus in a relatively short period of time. Even now, emergency action can bring this terrible disease under control.

The social force blocking a rational and scientific approach aimed at the eradication of the virus is the capitalist ruling elite. Capitalist governments around the world have effectively abandoned all measures to contain the pandemic, ending lockdowns and other safety restrictions, and removing any barriers to the profit-making activities of big business.

In Australia, state and federal governments, Labor and Liberal alike, have declared a strategy to eradicate COVID-19 is not possible and that the population has to learn to live with the virus.

Such comments are nothing short of a declaration of war on all workers and youth seeking to protect their health and lives.

There is growing opposition in the working class to these criminal policies, including among health workers, who are on the frontline of the pandemic. However, the opposition of the working class comes into conflict with all of the institutions of the state, above all the trade unions, which have deliberately kept workers struggles isolated. They have refused to mobilise their members to demand adequate public health measures and have waged a campaign, alongside big business, to keep non-essential industries open, putting workers and their families lives at risk.

The international working class must be organised and mobilised to put an end to the pandemic and eradicate the virusworkers must take these struggles out of the hands of the unions, who have no interest in this task, and build independent, rank-and-file-committees to take forward this fight.

We are very pleased to announce our speakers include Saman Gunadasa, the convenor of the Health Workers Action Committee (HWAC) in Sri Lanka.

We urge you to attend our meeting and participate in this vital discussion.
Directed by Tom McCarthy; written by McCarthy, Marcus Hinchey, Thomas Bidegain and Noe Debre

Stillwaterwhich premiered at the Cannes film festival in July and was then released theatrically in the US by Focus Featuresis a generally intriguing critique of the attempt to pigeonhole individuals or groups.

Matt Damon and Lilou Siauvaud in Stillwater

Tom McCarthys film recounts the story of a father who goes to enormous lengths to free from a foreign prison a daughter whom he believes has been wrongfully convicted of a serious crime. In this effort, hard-bitten Oklahoma oil-rig worker Bill Baker (Matt Damon) travels to Marseille in southern France and navigates a thoroughly unfamiliar environment with all its contradictions and challenges.

Bills daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin), who has served five years in jail and faces four more for the murder of her roommate and lover, has come up with what she believes to be an important piece of evidence, the name of an individual who may be responsible for the crime. Her French lawyer refuses to attempt to re-open the case on the grounds that the new information is mere hearsay. Bill lies to Allison about the lawyers rebuff and sets out himself, rather recklessly (and, at a certain point, unconvincingly), to find the man named, one Akim (Idir Azougli). In the course of his investigations, he encounters a local woman, Virginie (Camille Cottin), and her young daughter Maya (Lilou Siauvaud), and becomes involved, for better or worse, in their lives.

Rather than being an action movie for the most part, Stillwater strives to bring to life the situations and conditions of the people involved across the two continents.

Abigail Breslin and Matt Damon in Stillwater

McCarthy has explained that the original inspiration for the movie was the Amanda Knox case. Knox spent almost four years in an Italian prison following her conviction for the 2007 murder of a fellow exchange student with whom she shared an apartment in Perugia. In 2015, Knox was definitively acquitted by the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation. Although the movie veers sharply away from that story, and centers on fictional figures and fictional events, Knox has objected to McCarthys use of her story without consent, at the expense of her reputation.

In any event, McCarthys movie treats its characters sensitively and generally examines their flaws with compassion. However, while the movie critiques certain prevailing moods and trends in liberal and left circles, in particular the snobbish disdain for working class residents of states like Oklahoma, it does not sufficiently dig into these phenomena.

In the wake of the 2016 election, McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor, Win Win, Spotlight) repurposed a movie he had started to make in 2011. Stillwater was largely transformed from a thriller into a drama that explores characters and cultures stereotyped in the media and in popular culture, not to mention in American politics, including backward rednecks, socialist France, etc.

As the movie opens, Baker is cleaning up the wreckage of a house destroyed by a tornado. We also see a couple trying to salvage what they can of their belongings, while two women sit disconsolately in front of what was once a fireplace. Bill has lost his job in the oil industry and has been doing the clean-up work to earn a living. His mother-in-law, Sharon (Deanna Dunagan), asserts early on that he cant be trusted with simple tasks, and throughout the film the viewer feels for Bill as someone whoin the face of some serious past mistakeskeeps plodding along, persisting when everyone has given up on him.

One of the movies central themes seems to be how a person can changefor the betterwhen placed in a different, more forgiving, cultural setting. Still, there is no happy ending, and the viewer feels the force of the past acting on an individual like Bill, despite the changed surroundings and his best intentions.

To develop Bakers character, McCarthy and Damon spoke to oil-rig workers in Oklahoma, observed them and tried to understand their condition. In an interview, McCarthy speaks about wanting to get beyond the expected story pointswhich would be a depiction of the roughnecks as not deserving sympathy, as being responsible for their own fate. One commends McCarthy for taking this road, and much of the strength of the movie lies in its depiction of how human beings from sharply different backgrounds can help each other.

Stillwater also criticizes a prevailing view in certain circlesof a pristine, liberal France, with a higher culture, greater social equality and a more sensitive population, in contrast to the American roughneck. We are introduced to one of Virginies friends, who is rigid in her preconceptions about Bill and Oklahomans (Do you own a gun?), as well as a racist bar owner who refers to Arab teens as monkeys. We also see the poverty, squalor and gangsterism in the Marseille projects, the other side of French life.

Without revealing too much of the narrative, we can simply point out that McCarthy tellingly satirizes local politicians in Oklahoma, in their double-faced duplicitywho know nothing and do nothing, yet go around parroting lying catch-phrases designed to garner votes at the next election, when thosein this casewho know the truth are only a few feet away from them.

The movie tackles fleetingly the level of despair, neglect and brutality that is visited upon rural or semi-rural Oklahoma. At one point, speaking of her father, Allison observes sadly to Virginie that Hes a fuck up. He always has been. I know because Ive got it in me too.

Matt Damon

Stillwater does not do enough, however, to get beyond the immediate harshness of reality for the Bakers and Allisons somewhat misanthropic views. The phrase Life is brutal is repeated, but the filmmakers do not even hint at the real social and economic roots of this brutality.

Life is not brutal for everyone in Oklahoma, including such notable natives and corporate raiders as billionaires T. Boone Pickens and Henry Roberts Kravis. The states population has been particularly vulnerable for decades to the ups and downs of the oil industry. After the collapse of the oil economy in the late 1980s, for example, Oklahoma was looted, its infrastructure systematically dismantled, federal subsidies drastically cut and employees laid off and left to fend for themselves.

All in all, Stillwater is not a film made for oil-rig workers. It seems to be essentially an attempt by McCarthy to convince his fellow liberals, following the 2016 election, that not everyone in Oklahoma and other such regions is a racist, Trump-loving reactionary. To say the least, that is a limited aim.

McCarthy recounts a story that reveals more than he perhaps realizes. He refers to a conversation with an oil-rig worker who didnt dislike Hillary [Clinton] that much, but she told me she was going to shut down oil and fracking, and if she does that, I cant put food on my table. This points to some of the critical economic and class issues, and the inability of the Democratic Party to attract widespread working class support. In fact, the socialist Bernie Sanders defeated Clinton by a wide margin in the 2016 Democratic Party primary in Oklahoma. In 2018, tens of thousands of teachers in the state conducted a militant two-week strike, a struggle betrayed in the end by the Oklahoma Education Association and the Oklahoma City-American Federation of Teachers.

Stillwaters final moment is poignant. In Bills reply to Allisons comment that nothing in their hometown has changed in all those years, he says, It all looks different to meI dont hardly recognize it anymore.

The viewer senses that Bill is seeing the same landscape, but with new eyessomething of what he has experienced has made him understand the world better or more deeply. The viewer exits the cinema wishing both father and daughter well.
On Saturday, Womens March will hold nationwide mass mobilization events in all 50 states to protest the counterrevolution against reproductive rights in Texas, Mississippi and many other Republican-controlled states. Demonstrations will take place ahead of the Supreme Court reconvening on October 4.

In this June 30, 2021, file photo the Supreme Court is seen in Washington. The Supreme Court allowed a Texas law that bans most abortions to remain in force, stripping most women of the right to an abortion in the nations second-largest state. The court voted 5-4 to deny an emergency appeal from abortion providers and others that sought to block enforcement of the law that went into effect Wednesday, Sept. 1. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Protests were spurred by the U.S. Supreme Courts refusal to block the Texas law, which imposes the fetal heartbeat rule adopted by half a dozen states previously, which effectively prohibits abortion after about six weeks of pregnancybefore most women even know they have become pregnant. The law also encourages a form of vigilante justice, allowing private citizens to sue anyone suspected of aiding in an abortion procedure.

Protesters are also appalled by Mississippis Gestational Age Act, which bars abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy except for loosely defined medical emergencies. Health professionals who perform abortions outside the parameters of the law will have their medical licenses suspended or revoked and could face additional penalties and fines. The law, originally passed in 2018, has been blocked by two federal courts, but the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on a case concerning the law on December 1.

These laws were written in open challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that affirmed womens rights to make their own choices about their bodies, with the express aim of being taken up by the five-member ultra-right majority on the Supreme Court.

The Womens March announced it would be teaming up with 90 other groups in organizing the protests, including the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Planned Parenthood, SHERO Mississippi, Mississippi in Action, Access Reproductive Care-Southeast, SisterSong, The Frontline and the Working Families Party. It must be noted that the main organizations organizing Saturdays protests are politically connected, in varying degrees, to the Democratic Party. However, the oldest capitalist party in the world cannot be relied upon to defend this basic democratic right.

Already, it is clear that the parties involved intend to channel justified outrage at these draconian laws into support for the Democrats, identity politics and the right-wing #MeToo movement.

Anti-choice extremists have a deep desire to return to a time when there was more clear and effective domination and control over queer and trans folks, women, and people of color; they want to revive those old values and societal norms to the point of re-acceptance. The authoritarian agenda of reproductive control is fueled by misogyny and racismand we must challenge it, together, Womens March wrote in its statement announcing the protests.

But the political record of the Democratic Party, despite its professed differences with the Republicans, demonstrates that it is unwilling and incapable of offering any serious resistance to the mounting attacks on the democratic rights of the working class, including abortion rights.

After the Texas law went into effect, President Joe Biden issued a statement denouncing the law as unconstitutional chaos and an unprecedented assault on a womans constitutional rights, But other than declaring, in words, that his administration would take what steps it could to ensure that women in Texas have access to safe and legal abortions, nothing has been done.

The Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, have made no effort to pass a law to codify Roe v. Wade, which would require overriding a Senate filibuster. However, too many Democratic senators oppose changing filibuster rulesor are themselves opposed to abortion rights.

The ultra-right majority on the Supreme Court has repeatedly been used as an excuse for inaction, but each of the five justices determined to overturn Roe v. Wade owes his or her seat to the perfidy and cowardice of the Democrats.

Biden himself played a leading role in confirming Clarence Thomas to the high court: Biden was then the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and refused to block Thomass nomination. Samuel Alito was only confirmed after Democrats joined their Republican colleagues to override a filibuster. Neil Gorsuch was chosen to replace the late arch-reactionary Antonin Scalia after Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell blocked President Barack Obamas nomination of Merrick Garland, and the White House offered little resistance.

More recently, after President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh for the vacancy created by the retirement of Anthony Kennedy, Senate Democrats avoided any discussion of his right-wing judicial record and focused his confirmation hearing on #MeToo-style denunciation of actions he allegedly carried out as a teenager. Following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Republicans rammed through Trumps nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, whose gender earned her the blind support of layers of the upper middle class obsessed with identity politics (i.e., the Democratic Party and its political satellites).

Now, after decades of the Democrats capitulating to the Republicans on abortion rights, the right to an abortion is in serious danger of being destroyed. However, this unraveling will have a disproportionate effect on working-class women, who cannot afford traveling to another state for an abortion. These state laws, if upheld by the Supreme Court, would force many working-class women to seek back-alley procedures that greatly increase the risk of death or mutilation. Of course, wealthier women will be able to travel to other states to have the procedure done.

The decades-long counterrevolution against Roe v. Wade has slowly eviscerated access to an abortion. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 90 percent of all US counties have no abortion provider. Seven states in America have only a single abortion provider in the entire state. Twenty-seven large American cities have no abortion provider. Texas is home to the largest number of cities in the United States where a patient must travel at least 100 miles for the procedure.

This ongoing assault is a brutal attack on democratic rights that must be opposed by the entire working class. The Democrats have shown time and time again that they cannot be relied upon to defend even the most basic democratic rights. The fight to defend abortion rights, and all democratic rights, can only be successfully waged through the independent mobilization of the working class, in open opposition to the Democratic Party and the capitalist system.

The attack on the right to an abortion is bound up with the colossal growth of social inequality. Amid the deadliest pandemic in a century, a handful of billionaires saw their wealth skyrocket while their political representatives forced workers and children into unsafe workplaces and schools.

Democratic rights can only be achieved in a struggle to abolish the capitalist system, the source of all social inequality. The only social force capable of carrying out this historical necessity is the working class. The millions of workers justly outraged by the attacks on democratic rights must link their struggles with the mounting resistance of teachers, health care workers, industrial workers and all other workers who are beginning to rise up after decades of the suppression of the class struggle.

Those who agree with this perspective should join the Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) to build the revolutionary leadership to lead the mass struggles that lie ahead.
The Texas Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee wholly endorses the courageous call to action by Lisa Diaz, a parent in the United Kingdom, for a school strike uniting parents, teachers and workers worldwide. We are heartened by the support this has received from workers internationally, as well as scientists, and encourage others in public health to come forward and support these efforts. Her call was also retweeted by Dr. Yaneer Bar-Yam, an expert in the quantitative analysis of pandemics, and Dr. Malgorzata Gasperowicz, a developmental biologist and a researcher at the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary and a co-founder of ZeroCOVIDCanada.

Millions in Texas have been infected with COVID-19, with more children having been infected within the first month and a half of schools reopening than were infected in the whole 2020-21 school year. Total infections, including educators, are already 82 percent of the total 2020-21 school year at 183,000 cases, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Elementary school students in Godley, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Similar to the UK, safety measures have been thrown to the wind across Texas. The state government is engaged in its homicidal herd immunity policy, which has already led to numerous deaths among educators and children this school year and the bleeding dry of the education system of teachers and staff, while obscuring the true spread of COVID-19 in schools.

In the United States, more than 200,000 children have been infected every week for the past five weeks, with 20 children dying every week for the same period. At the present trajectory, nearly 1,000 children will die over the course of a year.

The deaths of children, educators, parents and the general public from this preventable disease has killed almost 700,000 Americans and counting, eclipsing the total cumulative combat casualties for all US wars combined. Half of all states recorded more deaths than births in 2020. This must be put to a stop! There is no acceptable level of spread of a deadly airborne virus like COVID-19.

In the face of these massive infections and deaths, the Democratic Party have continued its policy of fully reopening schools, with extremely limited safety measures under its mitigation policy, leading to schools being the number one source of cases in many of these states .

Meanwhile, the AFT has partnered with the far-right parents group Open Schools USA to promote these clearly homicidal school reopenings in a town hall event on Thursday, which includes Dr. Jay Battacharya, a signatory of the Great Barrington Declaration, as well as Dr. Tracy Heg, another prominent herd immunity proponent, anti-masker and anti-vaxxer.

In opposition to the herd immunity advocates and their mitigationist allies in the teachers unions, we fully endorse the eradication strategy which entails the shutting down of nonessential businesses and schools, full pay for workers and small businesses during temporary lockdowns, mass testing, contact tracing, and all other public health measures, as well as an actual campaign to educate the population on vaccines and fully vaccinate them.

There can be no living with the virus. The only scientific policy is eradication, and any attempt to compromise on this can only lead to disaster. SARS-CoV-2 is a virus governed by biological laws, it cannot be reasoned or bargained with. Given the chance, it can and will spread, mutate, produce more deadly, contagious and vaccine-resistant strains, as has already been seen, and pose an even greater threat to humanity.

We call on parents, teachers and workers to read the perspective statement published on the World Socialist Web Site calling for an eradication strategy, as well as to watch the recording of the webinar held on this topic, and adopt the strategy of eradication, and to sign up to build or join rank-and-file committees in their schools and workplaces to fight to end the pandemic and save millions of lives.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI)- The Memorial United Methodist Church hosted a blood drive today from 9 am to 2 pm. The drive was at the Sanctuary Lobby located at 2701 Poplar Street. This opportunity gave the community a chance to help out the Red Cross and save lives.

The demand for blood keeps increasing, which is why regular donor, Carol Davis, plans to continue to donate blood to help the community. Davis donated blood for the eighth time today and will continue to donate more.

"You never know until you need it what the actual demand actually is. Having the opportunity to volunteer and give something of ourselves to others" says Davis.

The next blood drive will be on December 2nd.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI-TV)- Meghan Holscher Bilyeu is the office manager at Airport Veterinary Clinic in Terre Haute. Early this summer, she began to notice that Ivermectin was hard to find.

"The summer when we tried to order some Ivermectin products," she said. "And we weren't able to get our hands on them. I was a little concerned. I thought that's kinda strange."

Holscher Bilyeu contributed this to the growing interest in Ivermectin and its relation to COVID-19.

Ivermectin is an anti-parasite drug. Versions for both humans and animals exist.

For humans, the drug can be used to treat diseases caused by parasitic worms, like lice. In pets, the drug can be used to treat heartworm diseases.

Recently, online groups have suggested using Ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19 in humans. While the FDA has not approved the drug to treat COVID, many people are still purchasing it. Some are even purchasing animal versions.

The animal versions of these drugs contain a much higher dosage. The FDA warns that this can be highly toxic for humans.

With the supply of the drug low, animals with parasites cannot be treated. Holscher Bilyeu said food producers are now having to take drastic measures.

"Basically, they are slaughtering their animals because there is nothing else they can do," she said.

Holscher Bilyeu said this is concerning because many animals are too young for this to happen. Food producers have to make this choice, though, because that kind of meat cannot be in our food.

For now, Holscher Bileyu has bought an extra supply of the drug. But, if the problem continues, she said the clinic will have to rethink how to treat patients.

"We're just going to have to completely revamp the routine and find new medication," she said. "And that can be challenging."

There are several studies on human Ivermectin and COVID-19, but each has varying results. Earlier this year, the World Health Organization recommended the drug only be used to treat COVID-19 in clinical trials. As always, you should always consult your doctor before trying new medications or treatment.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) - An Oktibbeha County medical worker is celebrating three decades of dedication to helping save lives in his community.

Michael Hunt is the EMS director at OCH Regional Medical Center. After 30 years as an EMT, he still finds just as much joy coming into work each day as he did his first day on the job.

It excited me to learn this field," said Hunt. "Ive been blessed to work in something I truly love.

Since starting in the early 90s, Hunt said the field has changed dramatically.

For instance, when he first started, he had to know basic life support skills like CPR and oxygen therapy. Now, he's performing Advanced Life Support (ALS) which requires similar skills to what doctors do inside the hospital.

However, more than anything, he's noticed changes since the pandemic began.

He said it's a lot tougher to pick up patients and keep them safe while in the hospital.

Even as the job continues to change, Hunt said his love for what he does will never fade.

When you get that call that says, hey, you guys made a difference, that just kind of starts you all back over again and re-energizes you," he explained.

Hunt said he sees no end to working at the hospital in the near future. He said he would continue the work for as long as he can.
RICHMOND, Miss. (WTVA) - Workers demolished a building Thursday morning in Lee County in order to replace it with a storm shelter.

The site is on County Road 810.

Building demolished in Richmond, Mississippi. Storm shelter to replace it. Photo Date: Sept. 30, 2021. Building demolished in Richmond, Mississippi. Storm shelter to replace it. Photo Date: Sept. 30, 2021.

We care about our community. And thats what were here for, Richmond Fire Chief Joe Banik said.

This is a large step towards improving the community, he believes.

State leaders awarded a $50,000 grant to demolish the building and secure the land.

The planned storm shelter is expected to fit up to 250 people.

Two storm shelters currently sit behind the Richmond Fire Station. But those shelters are not enough for the publics safety, Banik said.

Out here in the county, we lose lives like we do in the big city or the medium-size cities, Banik said. So thats what were trying to do today  protect our neighbors here in Richmond.

Lee County Supervisor Billy Holland worked alongside Banik to knock down the building.

Holland said hes looking forward to getting another grant for the new shelter.

Anything the county could do; well be glad to help the volunteer fire department, Holland added.

Banik said the town will use the new shelter as a multipurpose center too.
WARRIOR, Ala. (AP)  Authorities say a police officer investigating drug sales in a small Alabama town was shot multiple times, but was in stable condition at a hospital.

The shooting occurred Thursday night in Warrior, a town about 25 miles north of Birmingham.

Warrior Police Chief Scott Praytor tells news outlets Det. Lee Glenn was in a vehicle when the suspect walked toward him.

Glenn got out, and the suspect ran before turning around and opening fire, striking Glenn multiple times in the chest.

Glenn was conscious when he arrived at an emergency room, and Praytor said he spoke to him.

A suspect was taken into custody.
Xbox Game Pass is Adding Phoenix Point, Lemnis Gate, Sable, Subnautica: Below Zero, and More Later This Month
bella the dog

Animal Control Officers Desi Sage & Abbe Balderstone

Bella is a beautiful dog with a loving demeanor who recently escaped an ugly past.

In August, a concerned citizen stopped a mail carrier on their route in Saginaw, Michigan, to report a dog in distress in a nearby backyard. The mail carrier went to check on the animal and discovered a gruesome scene.

They found Bella, without food or water, tangled in tethers and missing one of her back legs. The mail carrier called 911 for help freeing the dog, and rescuers from Saginaw County Animal Care and Control responded to the request.

Saginaw County Animal Care and Control helped carefully remove Bella from the tethers that had kept her trapped in place, surrounded by dirt and debris, for days. While releasing the 1-year-old dog, the details of Bella's situation became distressingly clear.

"She was intentionally placed and tethered there," Bonnie Kanicki, the director of Saginaw County Animal Care and Control, tells PEOPLE. "She was tied up in a position where she could not move and left behind."

bella the dog

Whoever tied up Bella did it so tightly that when the canine tried to escape on her own, the tethers wrapped around her legs and started cutting off circulation to her limbs. In distress, Bella at some point chewed off one of her back legs in an effort to free herself and was at risk of losing another when rescuers reached her.

Luckily, Saginaw County Animal Care and Control freed Bella and got her medical help in time to save the pooch's other limbs. Veterinarians also treated the dog's open wound from her self amputation, allowing the injury to heal fully.

Today, Bella's physical rehab is right on track, and Saginaw County Animal Care and Control is focused on the canine's mental health.

"This poor girl had to chew off her leg, but her personality is still so loving, even though can in here starving, abandoned, and neglected," Kanicki says.

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RELATED VIDEO: Hikers Rescue Dog Trapped In Deep Cave For Two Weeks

While Bella remains a loving and social canine, her traumatic past has affected her and some of her behaviors. To give the dog the best fresh start possible, Saginaw County Animal Care and Control is searching for a rescue that has experience helping dogs overcome trauma.

Once Bella has had the chance to work with canine trauma specialists, Saginaw County Animal Care and Control is hopeful the dog will find a forever family. Bella is not adoptable at this time.

Bella has garnered quite a fanbase while starting her next chapter. Numerous animal lovers have donated to Bella's care, helping cover the canine's numerous medical bills.

RELATED: Born with Misshapen Front Legs, Thumbelina the Dog Is Ready for a Home After Relearning to Walk

"She landed in this situation through no fault of her own," Kanicki says. "She has gone from the horrors to the joy of people. There are so many now that have a heart for her. "

Saginaw County Animal Care and Control is diligently working on getting justice for Bella and will report the findings from their cruelty investigation to the Saginaw County Prosecutor's Office, according to Kanicki.

Those who know a trauma specialist that could help Bella on her path forward to a better life are asked to contact Saginaw County Animal Care and Control at scacc@saginawcounty.com or 989-797-4500.
Mummies may be par for the course on Halloween, but when the Disney Channel gets involved, the undead creatures take on a life of their own. Just on time for the holiday comes Under Wraps, a movie about a 4000-year-old mummy named Harold (Phil Wright) who is brought back to life by three friends.

Since Harold speaks only through a series of grunts, Wrights expertise as a dancer and choreographer were key as he uses physicality to help define the character. Writer and director Alex Zamm provided Wright with a personal reference when describing how he envisioned the role, recounting when his son was a constipated toddler who would walk in this way, lumbering forward, teetering always off balance.

Phil Wrights dance experience helped him emote for Under Wraps - Credit: Disney

Disney

Beyond Zamms son, physical comedians like Harpo Marx and Lucille Ball became touchstones of Harolds development.

Apart from the broad strokes of physical comedy inspiration, Harolds look was created by makeup effects designer Joel Echallier in a way that allowed Wright as much adaptability as possible. Echallier augmented Wrights face with thin silicone where parts peeked through the mummy wraps of the costume. It was chosen, versus a thicker latex prosthetic, to allow for greater movement and expression to come through while Wright was acting. He also wore special teeth and color contacts for the role. All became essential components to humanizing Harold.

The body of the costume was designed to provide Wright with a full range of motion, a necessity during a big dance sequence. Partaking in a skill as common as dancing helped humanize Harold as well. It involved music and dance and joy, says Wright. So, we had a great time developing that scene.

While Harold dances to a known song  Calling All the Monsters by China Anne McCain  there were multiple re-mixed versions in the works during filming. The artist agreed to keep the tempo the same, key in ensuring the background actors could all commit to the same beat. The worst, says Zamm, and Ive been there, is suddenly you dont have the music and you wind up with everyone dancing in incongruent ways in the background of the same party. He notes that it can lead to a whole series of editing difficulties down the road in post-production.

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Wright enjoyed utilizing his own expertise in bringing dance to the movie. That scene was very special to me because I am a dancer, Im a choreographer, says Wright, and it was just so fun to collaborate on that moment.

Phil Wright is Under Wraps and making friends - Credit: Disney

Disney

Under Wraps premieres Oct. 1 on the Disney Channel.

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Photo credit: USA Network - Getty Images

The Chrisley family is making headlines again, and this time Todd Chrisley took to social media to share news about the ongoing investigation against him from the Georgia Department of Revenue.

After a year and a half of ongoing drama involving the now-former Georgia Department of Revenue employee Josh Waites, the reality show star shared two back-to-back celebratory Instagram posts on Wednesday, September 22. "The office of the Inspector General has released their findings after an investigation that has spanned over the last year and a half. These findings prove everything we have said, since this trail for deceit and lies began, is the truth," Chrisley wrote.

The lengthy post goes on to outline findings from the State of Georgia Office of the Inspector Generals investigation, which began in early 2020 after the Chrisleys' lawyer raised allegations against Waites, who was the director of the Office of Special Investigations at the Georgia Department of Revenue at the time. Waites was instrumental in helping federal agents bring charges against Todd and his wife Julie, including bank and tax fraud in August 2019.





Among other crimes, the full 32-page report finds that Waites illegally used federal databases to obtain information, and, along with other state employees, committed a variety of ethical and regulatory violations"; the OSI created an office slush fund from money seized in tax investigations and practiced clearly wasteful spending on everything from Fitbits to a Ford truck; and includes a section of shocking text message photos of Waites posing on a bed and chair seized from the Chrisleys.

By posing on the Chrisleys furniture, Director Waites and other senior DOR leadership undermined DORs ability to maintain a position of impartiality in the enforcement of state laws. Further, acting in this manner harmed DORs professional reputation and lends credence to Todd Chrisleys complaints that he was unfairly targeted for investigation due to his celebrity status. Based on these findings, OIG substantiated the allegation.



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Fans came on strong with their support for the Chrisleys after he shared these messages. "Finally! Its great to see some vindication for your family," one person wrote. "Never doubted this would come to light!! I love your family and my prayer is justice is served," said another. "Im sorry youve had to go through all this hell and unnecessary aggravation but the truth will always prevail. Good for you, Todd," one more chimed in.

According to the September 21 Office of the Inspector Generals report, several matters regarding Waites involvement have been referred to the Office of the Attorney General for criminal prosecution. However, it doesn't seem the Chrisleys are out of the woods yet. According to WSB-TV Atlanta, Todd and Julie are still facing federal tax and banking charges.

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large safari cat walking across path in front of safari van

Todd Plummer

When COVID-19 hit in 2020, I had already been itching to get back to Africa for some time  to be in the bush, cruising around in a Land Rover, watching for game and enjoying long campfires under the African stars. Even as a person whose literal job is to write words about places I've been, I still find it challenging to capture what I love so much about that continent. When describing Kenyan mornings in "Out of Africa," Karen Blixen (under the pen name Isak Dinesen) called it this sensation of waking up with a feeling of, "Here I am, where I ought to be." In "The Green Hills of Africa," Ernest Hemingway described Africa as being so beautiful and exhilarating, it kept him up at night: "We had not left [Africa], yet, but when I would wake in the night I would lie, listening, homesick for it already."

Some people waited all pandemic long to get back to Vegas. Others couldn't get to the Amalfi Coast soon enough. But for me, it was Africa.

Southern Africa is a personal favorite, and Zambia was the last major safari destination in that region which I hadn't yet visited, so as soon as it became possible, I began weighing the risks and plotting how, if at all, I could make it back. After a year of lockdown and staying put at home in Boston, I would've been happy to fly anywhere  but Zambia was calling.

Personally speaking, I feel quite strongly that travel these days  international or otherwise  is complicated. Obviously there are the ever-changing rules and regulations of both where you're going and how you can return home. But then there are the deeper questions: what is your personal risk tolerance, are you willing to risk having to quarantine somewhere before returning home, what is your plan should you fall ill abroad, and so forth. For Africa, in particular, I was concerned about exposing vulnerable, likely unvaccinated communities to unnecessary risk. Did I really want to be the travel writer that sparked a super-spreader event in Mfuwe because I really wanted to go see some elephants? After a lot of research, a lot of thought, and consulting with my family and my doctor, I felt that there would, in fact, be a way for me to make this trip happen. Here's how I did it.

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multiple cheetahs sleeping in large tree in Zambia

Todd Plummer

Testing isn't as difficult as you think

Proof of vaccination and a pre-departure PCR test within 72 hours of departure from the U.S. appears to be more or less the norm when traveling internationally these days, and the same went for Zambia. I carried a hard copy print out of my negative test results with my passport, and it was checked before airport security, before boarding, and then at customs in Zambia. Easy peasy.

It was the return journey home which worried me. Where was I going to get a COVID-19 test in South Luangwa National Park? Luckily, my safari hosts at The Bushcamp Company sorted everything out and made all the logistics a breeze. To facilitate a pre-departure PCR test so guests can return home, the company has forged a relationship with a local doctor (Dr. Nellie!), who, for a nominal fee, will literally come meet you at your camp to administer a nasal swab. In my case, that meant Dr. Nellie drove three hours each way  each way!  into the bush so I could get my test in time for the flight home. It just so happened that my PCR test was administered during a signature The Bushcamp Company experience: sundowners in the Kapamba River, which is shallow enough to set up camp chairs and enjoy the setting sun as it reflects off the swirling river water and your toes dig into the silt. Who said COVID-19 tests can't be glamorous?

My results were promptly delivered two nights later, just in time for my departing flight. The Bushcamp Company's coordination of the entire affair was exemplary  so when planning a safari of your own, make sure to ask the company you're traveling with how they handle COVID testing. While I can't promise anyone else administers their tests in the middle of a literal river, the answers might surprise you.

The airline situation is still, admittedly, fluid

A month before my trip, I was shocked to hear that because of COVID, the original airline I planned to fly had halted all passenger departures from Zambia  which meant I could fly from Boston to Lusaka, but that I wouldn't be able to get home. Lucky for me, Qatar Airways would let me fly from Boston to Lusaka and back again!

I didn't think much of the flight situation again until I was on the ground in Africa. On my last day, an American couple from Chicago were just arriving, and seemed rather distressed. They had flown another airline into Zambia, but had no idea whether or not they would be able to fly home  despite allowing them to fly Chicago to Lusaka on a ticket booked earlier this year, the couple alleged that the airline had provided no notice of exactly how long that ban would be in effect. This couple's stress was only compounded by the fact that they were now going for a week to a part of South Luangwa National Park which had absolutely zero cell service or Wi-Fi  ultimately, they left the situation in the very capable hands of The Bushcamp Company's operations manager, as well as their travel agents from back home.

These days, with variants looming, I think it's equally worth noting that long-haul travelers still need to prepare themselves for ongoing fluid situations. For a trip of this magnitude, you need to be OK with plans fluctuating, sometimes at the last minute.

multiple chairs sitting in shallow river overlooking sunset in Zambia

Todd Plummer

The very concept of safari involves a lot of social distancing

The very concept of safari is socially distant: cruising around in open-air vehicles, individual tents, enjoying the great outdoors. Once you arrive at your camp, it's entirely possible to keep six feet (or more) of distance from all people at all times. The Bushcamp Company founder Andy Hogg shared with me that business these days is still a fraction of what it was pre-pandemic, which on the bright side means you'll be sharing your safari camps with very few companions, if any.

These days, it is entirely acceptable to inquire with your safari company about their COVID-19 protocols. I was very impressed with The Bushcamp Company's adherence to the rules: staff and guides were masked pretty much around the clock; all guest-facing staff I encountered were vaccinated; I was told that over 90% of all staff were vaccinated; hand sanitizing stations were set up in both the main lodge and the outlying camps; game drives were limited to a maximum of 4 guests (unless your group is traveling together); common and dining areas were spread out, and in-room dining was available upon request; and all guests were subject to temperature checks both upon arrival and every three nights during their stay.

man sitting in chair in shallow river getting covid-19 test from doctor

Todd Plummer

In the end, getting to Africa has never been "easy" but it's more worth it now than ever.

This isn't a weekend in Miami where your only job is to show up for your Spirit Airlines flight on time  an African safari is a big deal. It's a long journey, you need to pack a specific way, there are often special visas involved, you sometimes have to pick up malaria pills or other medications before you go, and it can be pretty expensive. Let's not forget the word "safari" is Swahili for "journey."

That being said, I didn't find the additional COVID-19 protocols for traveling to Africa that onerous  we've basically been living with them here at home for well over a year now. Having just completed the journey myself, my best advice is to ask your safari company for their perspective and guidance about how to navigate the requisite testing. They're ready to start welcoming guests back, and are willing to make this as seamless an experience as possible.

After all, tourism dollars provide vital support to many communities in Africa. In the case of the The Bushcamp Company, the flow of visitors has innumerable impacts on the town of Mfuwe, as demonstrated by the company's numerous projects in that community: over 140 clean water boreholes dug; over 34 classrooms built for the local school; over 1,000 students have completed their education through The Bushcamp Company's scholarship programs; and over 2,900 meals are provided to students each day. Yes, safari is about witnessing wildlife and getting that epic Instagram picture with a giraffe  but traveling with the right company can also mean that your dollars are creating a measurable impact on the lives of others. And after nearly two years of COVID decimating the safari business, the need has never been greater. There simply has never been a better time to go.
LONDON  Yoox Net-a-porter is the latest retailer to join in the resale game, as part of a partnership with resale technology provider Reflaunt.

Resale services will first become available to Net-a-porter customers at the end of October and will extend to Mr Porter and The Outnet in early 2022. Customers will be able to sell pre-loved designer items across the jewelry, ready-to-wear, bag and shoe categories with Reflaunt powering the journey from beginning-to-end and ensuring its as seamless as possible.

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Complimentary pickup from customers homes, digital product authentications, pricing recommendations and photography of the secondhand products will all be part of the service. Customers will be able to receive Net-a-porter credit or direct bank transfers once their products are sold. When it comes to designer bags, one of the most popular categories in the resale sector, there will also be instant buy-back options so that customers can receive credit immediately without having to wait for their item to sell.

The service will first launch in the U.K., followed by the U.S., Germany and Hong Kong at a later date.

The move is part of the retail groups 2030 sustainability strategy which aims to support the circular economy and extend the lifelines of luxury products.

A number of Nets key competitors, including Farfetch and Mytheresa, have also been piloting resale as part of their sustainability efforts, with Farfetch debuting its Second Life designer bag resale service in early 2019. Earlier this year, Munich-based Mytheresa partnered with Vestiaire Collective, offering handbag resale services to its top European clients. The service is currently limited to 20 luxury designers, but the aim is to start rolling it out to a wider customer base, more brands and new categories.

Net and Reflaunts new proposition is certainly raising the bar higher by making the service immediately available across all categories, offering instant buy-back options and complimentary services such as collection and photography management  all industry firsts.

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Stephanie Crespin, Reflaunts chief executive officer and cofounder, said that this is all possible thanks to the platforms tailor-made resale technology solutions.

The data this service provides is invaluable and will help [Yoox Net-a-porter] fuel its next phase of growth. Net-a-porter, Mr Porter and The Outnet customers will be able to explore a fully branded and trusted resale experience and extend the life of their luxury products. It is greatly encouraging to see one of the global leaders in fashion e-commerce take this positive step forward into the circular fashion economy, she said.

Alison Loehnis, the retail groups president, added that as well as supporting circularity, the move into resale was also a direct response to customer demand: More than ever, our customers are looking for fashion that is not only designed to last, but for ways in which it can go on to be reloved, she explained.

While this marks the companys first big move into resale, earlier in 2021 it tested the waters by partnering with Watchfinder in the U.S. to offer a selection of pre-loved luxury watches on Net-a-porter and Mr Porter.

It has also been increasing its offer of sustainable labels with a dedicated Sustain section on Net-a-porter, and piloting a Digital ID initiative where customers will be able to access information on certain items provenance, design and circularity.

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Ron DeSantis

Michael Reaves/Getty Ron DeSantis

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is continuing to downplay speculation he's preparing a 2024 presidential run, saying in a new interview that he is "not considering anything beyond doing my job."

The 43-year-old Republican told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday that he would be running for reelection in 2022, in what is sure to be a closely watched battleground race against his Democratic opponent.

And DeSantis said that, rather than the White House, he is also focused on "a lot of things in the state beyond the governor's race," such as school board races and banning critical race theory in public schools, which he did by executive order in June.

Critical race theory  an academic movement that views racism as embedded in the institutions and legal systems of the U.S.  has been thrust into the spotlight both because events like the murder of George Floyd have increased public awareness about racial inequality and because the theory has been turned into a flashpoint by conservatives who have described it in vast, menacing terms.

DeSantis previously called critical race theory a move to "indoctrinate [students] with ideology." He told Hannity this week: "I want to make sure people are not supporting critical race theory, making sure that parents have the ability to send their kid to school the way they want to."

He said 2024 was not on his radar.

Those remarks echo comments made earlier in September, when DeSantis insisted during a news conference that speculation about a presidential campaign was "purely manufactured."

"I just do my job and we work hard  I hear all this stuff and honestly it's nonsense," he told reporters on Sept. 7, per Fox News.

None of that is likely to dispel the discussion, however.

Despite a divided opinion on his handling of COVID-19, DeSantis is popular with the conservative base and often governs in a similar style to Donald Trump, the party's standard-bearer.

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DeSantis has also worked to raise his national profile, sometimes by fueling culture-war conflicts similar to Trump.

On Sept. 12, he appeared alongside former Vice President Mike Pence (another rumored presidential contender) at an agricultural event held in Nebraska City.

RELATED: Florida Gov. Criticized by Local Democrats After Suggesting He'll Move Vaccines to 'Counties That Want It'

Ron DeSantis

Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Getty Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

The Republican governor, who narrowly won his 2018 election, is not without controversy.

Though DeSantis touted his decision last year not to impose widespread restrictions to  he said  protect the economy, he has faced much scrutiny for his handling of the pandemic, particularly over a spike in infections due to the delta variant, which drove tens of thousands of deaths since the summer.

Still, DeSantis opposed mandating public health measures in the state. He has said he would not declare a state of emergency over the virus and attempted to block local leaders' authority to issue mask mandates in municipalities throughout the state.

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber told CNN in an August interview he and other Florida mayors were trying to "get around the governor's very wrong-headed desires."

"He should be screaming for people to get vaccinated, he should be urging them to wear masks," Gelber told CNN. "He creates a false choice that if you wear a mask it's going to shutter the economy. Of course that's not true. It feels like he's doing everything he can to make it harder."

RELATED: As Florida COVID Cases Spike, Miami Beach Mayor Says Gov. Ron DeSantis is Leading State 'Off a Cliff'

In July, DeSantis issued an order barring local school districts from requiring students to wear masks, despite federal recommendations that all students in kindergarten through 12th grade wear face coverings when they return to the classroom in the fall.

DeSantis has also fought cruise ship companies that sought to require their passengers be vaccinated against the virus.

A fundraising group affiliated with DeSantis also released a line of merchandise that takes aim at masks and White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci, such as a $12 "Don't Fauci My Florida" koozie.
A newly developed anti-aircraft missile is seen during a test conducted by the Academy of Defence Science

SEOUL (Reuters) North Korea fired a newly developed anti-aircraft missile on Thursday, state media KCNA reported, the latest in a recent series of weapons tests that has come as denuclearisation talks with the United States have been in deadlock.

It was North Korea's second known weapons test this week after the launch of a previously unseen hypersonic missile on Tuesday. It has also fired ballistic missiles and a cruise missile with potential nuclear capabilities in recent weeks.

The tests highlighted how North Korea has been steadily developing increasingly sophisticated weapons, raising the stakes for efforts to press it to give up its nuclear and missile programmes in return for U.S. sanctions relief.

The Academy of Defence Science, a military weapons developer, said the test was aimed at confirming the practical functionality of the missile's launcher, radar, comprehensive battle command vehicle and combat performance, the official KCNA news agency reported on Friday.

The missile has new key technologies such as twin rudder control and double impulse flight engine, it said.

South Korea's military said detailed analysis was needed to verify the KCNA report.

FILE PHOTO: A North Korean flag flies on a mast at the Permanent Mission of North Korea in Geneva

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not appear to have attended the test, which was instead overseen by Pak Jong Chon, a member of the ruling Workers' Party's powerful politburo and Central Committee.

"The remarkable combat performance of the new-type anti-aircraft missile with features of rapid responsiveness and guidance accuracy of missile control system as well as the substantial increase in the distance of downing air targets has been verified," KCNA said, citing the academy.

North Korea has said in recent weeks that its weapons tests are aimed at boosting its defence capabilities just as other countries do, accusing the United States and South Korea of "double standards" and "hostile policy" toward it.

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On Wednesday, Kim said he has no reasons to attack South Korea and was willing to reopen severed inter-Korean hotlines. But it criticised U.S. President Joe Biden's administration for using "more cunning ways and methods" in pursuing hostile policy while proposing dialogue.

South Korea's Unification Ministry, which is in charge of North Korean affairs, said the North did not answer the lines on Friday but it vowed to continue efforts to restore the channels and resume talks.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, in a speech celebrating the 73rd Armed Forces Day on Friday, did not refer to North Korea but said he was committed to fostering lasting peace while sternly responding to any life-threatening action.

Analysts say the North's carrot-and-stick approach is aimed at securing international recognition as a nuclear weapons state and driving a wedge between the United States and South Korea, with an eye on Moon's desire for a diplomatic legacy before his term ends in May.

The Biden administration has said it has no hostile intent toward North Korea and has called on it to accept its offers of talks to break the impasse over denuclearisation negotiations.
Port of New Bedford

50 fishing businesses based in New Bedford, Mass. have signed onto a federal lawsuit over offshore wind construction Credit - Viktor PosnovGetty Images

A few hundred yards south of the fishing boat docks at the Port of New Bedford in southeastern Massachusetts, workers will soon start offloading gigantic turbine components onto a wide expanse of gravel. Local trawlers and lobster boats will find themselves sharing their waterways with huge vessels hefting cranes and massive hydraulic jacks. And on an approximately 100-square mile patch of open sea that fishermen once traversed with ease, 62 of the worlds largest wind turbines will rise one by one over the ocean waves.

Known as Vineyard Wind, the project is set to be the first-ever commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the United States, generating 800 megawatts of power, or enough to power about 400,000 homes. Dozens of other offshore wind projects are in development up and down Americas east coast. But some in the fishing industry, including many New Bedford fishermen, are concerned that the turbines will upend their way of life.

Earlier this month, a coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing outfits, including 50 New Bedford fishing boats, filed a lawsuit against several U.S. agencies, including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which approved Vineyard Wind in May, alleging that they violated federal law in allowing the project to go forward. The fishing groups frame that fight as a matter of survival, a last ditch effort to slow down a coalition of banks, technocrats and global energy companies set on erecting multi-billion dollar projects that they worry could devastate their livelihoods.

Money is certainly a big issue for many of those behind Vineyard Windbackers like Bank of America and J.P. Morgan have pledged about $2.3 billion in funding for the project, and theyre looking for returns on that investment. But theres also a societal imperative to push ahead with such projects, with many green energy proponents saying there is little choice but to get offshore turbines built as soon as possible if the U.S. is to have any chance of meeting its obligations under the Paris Agreement and averting the worst effects of climate change. The Biden Administration is counting on such turbines to produce about 10% of U.S. electricity by 2050, and in coastal, population dense states like Massachusetts and New York, leaders view sea-bound wind farms as a lynchpin of their net zero ambitions.

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Read More: Biden Is Pouring Billions into Offshore Wind Energy. Will It Be Enough?

Fishing industry interests have long been opposed to offshore turbines elsewhere in the world. In France, for instance, fishermen helped sink an early offshore wind project back in 2004. In the U.S., however, much of the early opposition to offshore wind came from wealthy homeowners opposed to turbines that they thought would mar their ocean views. (A coalition of Cape Cod residents led an effort championed by billionaire businessman Bill Koch and the late Senator Ted Kennedy that, after years of legal opposition, in 2017 helped torpedo what might have been the U.S. first major offshore wind project, known as Cape Wind.) Many subsequent offshore wind leases were extended in waters farther offshore, where turbines would be out of sight of land. Beachfront homeowners could rest easy. Instead, fishing interests worried about hits to their business became offshore winds primary opponents.

Some of those fishing operators have been fighting offshore wind long before Vineyard Wind was approved. Scallop fishers on New Yorks Long Island, for instance, sued BOEM in 2016 over a proposed wind area lease that they said would hurt their industry. A federal judge dismissed the case the following year, saying that the project still faced years of federal review before anything would be built. Other proposed projects have caused concern for fishermen in North Carolina and Maryland, while a planned 1.1 gigawatt wind farm off the coast of New Jersey has worried some fishers, though the project is largely steering clear of traditional fishing areas. This March, 80 lobster crews in Maine held a boat protest over the planned construction of a single floating wind turbine off the states Monhegan Island.

Its gonna mess with the ocean and our way of life, one fisherman told NBCs local affiliate. This one off Monhegan, I truly believe, is the foot in the door to get more than one out there.

In Massachusetts, the fishing advocates who sued BOEM say that the federal government ignored their requests for more rigorous scientific study of offshore wind turbines effect on fishing, as well as their concerns over wind turbines making it harder to traverse to fishing grounds, among other grievances.

This project is really important because it is the first one, says Annie Hawkins, executive director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), the coalition suing the federal government. We need to make sure that the government and the offshore wind industry arent just paying lip service to other ocean users.

Representatives from BOEM and Vineyard Wind declined to comment on the case. Claire Richer, director of federal affairs at the American Clean Power Association, a green energy trade group, pushes back at the notion that local fishing interests were left out of the planning process, citing the fact that millions of acres were cut out of Massachusettss wind energy lease area in large part due to fishing industry concerns. In 2019, wind energy developers in the region also changed the orientation of their turbines in order to make it easier for fishing boats to traverse between them, alterations that the companies say cut about 30% of the future wind farms potential generation capacity, though an upgrade to newer, more powerful turbines made up the difference.

The offshore wind industry has made an effort to be a good player, and has made a lot of compromises in this space at the request of fishermen, says Richer. Theres momentum that might have caught some folks by surprise. But there has been a process, and theres been some real changes made.

That development momentum has been largely caused by rapidly shifting political realities. Under the Trump Administration, Vineyard Wind was stalled for months. Emails released under an E&E News Freedom of Information Act request showed that BOEM was prepared to make a decision on the project starting in 2019 before the administration delayed it for more than a year, along with the rest of the countrys planned offshore wind projects. And after Joe Biden was elected, the outgoing administration issued a legal memo designed to make it especially difficult for wind developers to get a leg up on fishing interests in the federal approval process. But after Biden was inaugurated, federal policy on offshore wind snapped back. New Interior Department officials issued their own memo to cancel out the Trump Administrations brief, while the new administration pushed hard for rapid offshore development, pledging in March to have 30 gigawatts of wind power installed off U.S. coasts by 2030. Its first approval, for Vineyard Wind, followed soon after.

That new speed reflects the urgency of an accelerating climate crisis. The U.S. is running far behind other nations in efforts to build out offshore wind power, and faces a rapidly shrinking window of time to decarbonize its still largely fossil fuel-powered electricity sector. Fishing industry representatives say the current administration is overemphasizing offshore wind in decarbonization efforts when it should be pushing more into other renewable energy options. But in some sense there isnt much choice but to build out large amounts of offshore wind as soon as possible. Clean-energy experts say other renewable energy sources, like land-based wind turbines and solar fields, often run into vehement political opposition of their own, and in many cases offshore wind is one of the only realistic options to provide renewable power for densely populated shoreline states.

Moreover, concessions to the fishing industry, like wind area reductions and turbine arrangement changes, may result in less energy production and higher costs, says Alison Bates, an environmental studies professor at Colby College who researches interactions between offshore wind and local communities. The fact that fishermen have traditionally been primary users of coastal waters, she adds, doesnt mean they have a right to block projects that would benefit others.

The oceans are commonsthey dont belong to the fishermen, Bates says, referencing an economics term used to describe natural resources from which all citizens are supposed to benefit. We as a society have an equal share in what happens in ocean space.

Read More: This Vermont Utility Is Revolutionizing Its Power Grid to Fight Climate Change. Will the Rest of the Country Follow Suit?

Theres another broad issue with the fishing industrys demands: Before turbines go in the water, fishermen want more research into how offshore wind installations could affect their livelihoods. But the unfortunate reality is that the climate clock for such investigations may have already run outat least with respect to these first early offshore wind projects.

For us to collect all of the information that we need, were going to be so far into this climate crisis that itllI mean its already irreversible, says Bates. The amount of emissions reduction that we need to get to to even stabilize and have anything that even resembles the world today in the future, its dramatic, and we dont have time. Erin Baker, the director of UMass Amhersts Energy Transition Institute, says were better off moving ahead with building offshore wind farms and then studying what happens, and make necessary adjustments for subsequent projects. Were never gonna learn what we need to learn if we dont get started at least putting some offshore wind in the water, she says.

As for the hundreds of families in New Bedford and other ports south of Cape Cod that rely on fishing, the immediate effects of building Vineyard Wind might not be devastating: the impact will be moderate, according to BOEMs environmental impact statement, potentially making it harder to access some fishing areas, for instance, or causing losses of fish populations. But the report warns such impacts are likely to get much more severe if other proposed offshore projects in the area end up being approved and constructed. Still, offshore wind industry representatives have insisted that their industry can coexist with traditional fishing, pointing to concessions like transit lanes between turbines and plans to hire local fishing boats to help collect data on wildlife and warn away potential trespassers.

Fishing representatives are skeptical that such programs will provide the employment they need, and many fishing families may look askance at the idea of giving up a trade often passed down through several generations for the chance to become ocean-faring security guards. But as ocean temperatures rise due to climate change, many fishing families traditional way of life may be threatened whether offshore wind moves in or not, especially in the waters off New England, which are warming faster than anywhere else in the U.S..

Climate change has given fishing workers an impossible choice: Either fight offshore wind while bracing for a warming climate, or embrace an encroaching industry thats part of the climate solution. Baker, of UMass Amherst, says that the huge overall societal benefits of offshore wind are clear, and that climate change will ultimately hurt fishermen vastly more than would offshore wind development. But for fishermen, its hard not to see the skyscraper-sized towers and long, swinging blades of offshore turbines as the more visible and immediate threat to their way of life. There is always going to be conflict between offshore wind and commercial fishing, says Hawkins of RODA. They are, in some sense, mutually exclusive.
TikTok star Gabriel Salazar and three passengers were killed in a car crash during a police chase on Sunday  and now authorities are releasing more details.

Salazar, 19, was driving a 2014 Chevrolet Camaro around 1 a.m. when authorities attempted a traffic stop on US Highway 83 near La Pryor, Texas, the Zavala County Sheriff's Office said.

The Texas Department of Public Safety told PEOPLE that "all three passengers were Mexican Nationals" who have been identified as Jose Luis Jimenez-Mora, 41, Jose Molina-Lara, 23, and Sergio Espinoza-Flores, 36.

Authorities said the incident began when a deputy overheard a call from the Crystal City Police Department initiating a traffic stop on Salazar's car. The police officer then told deputies he was involved in an active pursuit with the vehicle, according to authorities.

RELATED: TikTok Star John Kelly, 'Gentle Giant' Who Went Viral with Son, Dies at 45: 'A Surprise to Us All'

The deputy assisted the officer in attempting to deploy a tire deflection device, but it was unsuccessful, the Zavala County Sheriff's Office wrote on social media.

Gabe Salazar

Gabe Salazar/Instagram Gabe Salazar

"The Chevrolet Camaro drove off the road, over-corrected, and traveled across the roadway, onto the west barrow ditch," DPS said in a statement. "The vehicle struck some trees, rolled several times, and the vehicle caught fire."

Salazar and the passengers died due to injuries from the crash.

A DPS spokesperson said an investigation is underway and did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for more information about what prompted the attempted traffic stop.

Never miss a story  sign up forPEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.

Salazar, who used the handle Gabenotbabe on TikTok and had more than 1 million followers, was known for posting lip-syncing videos and skits, according to the Houston Chronicle.

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Salazar's loved ones wrote on a GoFundMe created to raise money for his funeral expenses that they didn't "want to get into the details [of the crash] because it's so hard for us to even talk about the pain." As of Friday, the GoFundMe has raised more than $38,000.

"Gabriel loved his family and was always horsing around with [his] sister and little brother. He was always there with a big hug and smile, and his family will never forget those warm moments," wrote organizer Chris Vasquez. "He was so funny with a quiet sense of humor and sarcasm. I cannot believe that I am sitting here writing this."

"Words cannot express the heartbreak our entire community is feeling from the loss of our Gabriel," Vasquez continued. "Your family and friends miss you."
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The Interart Foundation has launched an initiative to give the best Hungarian contemporary artists the opportunity to have virtual originals of their works displayed on the crypto exchange using blockchain technology, according to a press release sent to the Budapest Business Journal.

The ArtPass.Cards project is a Hungarian idea that is the first in the world to create a global and authenticated IT environment for building contemporary artists' brands using blockchain technology.



In the first round, the project will offer the most highly-listed Hungarian art galleries the opportunity to nominate their most outstanding works, with the first call for entries to be published this September. The artists who make it to the crypto market will have the chance to gain international exposure and even a significant income.



Gyorgy Gajzago, director of the Contemporary Art Collecting Academy (CCA) and coordinator of the program, said, "The impact of the recent developments in the creative industries has also been felt in the digital economy. The creation of a digital marketplace for the most outstanding and qualified artists, separated from the talismanic, is a Hungarian idea, which will be created by domestic IT development, and which we intend to make available to the entire international contemporary world. The solution is artist-friendly, which will also create competition for the most talented artists, galleries, curators, collectors and even museums."



Interart Foundation's partner in Singapore will provide the virtual environment for the program, which will also serve as the flagship Asian hub for the ArtPass.Cards project.



The idea is to create and make available a virtual portfolio of the best works of 200 artists from each country as soon as possible in the near future.



"In September, we will launch our call - for the time being exclusively for the domestic scene - which will allow artists and their works to be featured and competed on the crypto market. Our aim is to update the Hungarian and international ranking annually, following the movements of the ranking, so that emerging creators can very quickly gain international recognition," Gajzago emphasized.



"There is no global benchmark for a qualified and ranked digital contemporary art platform, which is why we consider the ArtPass.Cards project unique."



According to Tamas Czegledi, head of Blockchaineum, Hungarian contemporary artists can easily move from the virtual space to the progressive and much more inclusive crypto world, where they can represent the modern art of Hungary in a secure, artist-friendly and transparent IT environment.
New Delhi: In what could be good news for EV lovers, Chinese carmaker Wuling HongGuang could launch what could be the cheapest electric car globally. The company has decided on the upcoming affordable four-wheeler Nano, which can be seen as inspiration from Tata Motors cheapest car in India.

If reports are to be true then Wuling HongGuangs Nano could be the smallest and cheapest electric car to go into production. A CarNewsChina report said that the Wuling Nano EV could be launched under 20,000 yuan, which are roughly equal to Rs 2.30 lakh.

If the car is launched at such a price point, then it could be cheaper than a Maruti Alto. Moreover, Nano is going to be cheaper than the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV. The carmaker had introduced the Nano EV at the 2021 Tianjin International Auto Show.

Nano EV is a compact car that comes with only two seats. The turning radius of the four-wheeler stands at less than four meters. The car is developed for city usage where theres a low-speed limit.

Overall, the cars dimensions are as follows: 2,497 mm in length, 1,526 mm in width and 1,616 mm in height. In comparison, Tata Nano was more than 3000 mm longer.

The car is powered by a 28 kWh IP67-certified lithium-ion battery mated to a 33 PS electric motor that is said to be capable of generating a maximum torque of 85 Nm. The car offers a maximum speed of 100 kmph. The car can run for about 300 km on a single charge. Also Read: iPhone 13 Pro Max fast charging? Check the truth behind it

Wuling HongGuang is already known for making compact and affordable electric cars. Its Mini electric car is already a success and is the second-best-selling four-wheeler. In 2020, more than 1 lakh units of Mini electric cars were sold by Wuling HongGuang, which is a part of the larger SAIC-GM-Wuling group of carmakers in China. Also Read: Alert! Google bans 136 malicious apps from Play. Full list here

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New Delhi: The Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management has refuted claims that approval of financial bids by Government of India in the AI disinvestment case has been awarded to Tata Sons.

The Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, has tweeted, "Media reports indicating approval of financial bids by Government of India in the AI disinvestment case are incorrect. Media will be informed of the Government decision as and when it is taken."

Media reports indicating approval of financial bids by Government of India in the AI disinvestment case are incorrect. Media will be informed of the Government decision as and when it is taken. pic.twitter.com/PVMgJdDixS  Secretary, DIPAM (@SecyDIPAM) October 1, 2021

Earlier in the day it was reported by several media houses quoting sources that India`s Tata Sons has been selected as the winning bidder for the debt-laden state-run airline Air India. The Tata Group founded Air India as Tata Airlines in October 1932. The government nationalised the airline in 1953.

A panel of ministers accepted a proposal from officials recommending the salt-to-software conglomerate ahead of an offer from Ajay Singh, promoter of India`s airline operator Spicejet Ltd, a Bloomberg report said on Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s government has been pushing to sell its entire interest in the loss-making airline, kept aloft by a bailout since 2012.

The government is seeking to sell 100 per cent of its stake in the state-owned national airline, including Air India's 100 per cent shareholding in AI Express Ltd and 50 per cent in Air India SATS Airport Services Private Ltd.

The stake sale process, which begun in January 2020, faced delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2021, the government asked potential bidders to put in financial bids. The last day for placing financial bids was September 15.

With Agency Inputs

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NEW DELHI: The Rouse Avenue District Court discharged AAP MLA Sharad Kumar Chauhan in an abetment to suicide case and took note of the fact that there was no prima facie evidence against him on the same.

The case pertained to the suicide of one female named whose name has not been disclosed to conceal her identity. The female was said to be a member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). An FIR was filed on 20.07.2016 at PS Narela under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the basis of a written statement made by one Ajay, who posed to be another member of AAP.

Ajay claimed he was told by the deceased that she had consumed some poisonous substance because of the false allegations of extortion of money and a flat levelled against her and further as she could not get justice. Thereafter, Ajay talked to one Pratap who told him in turn that they were taking the deceased to Satyawadi Raja Harish Chandra Hospital (SRHC) and then Ajay had directly reached the hospital. The woman was then referred to LNJP hospital where she passed away during the treatment.

A charge sheet, in this case, was filed for the alleged commission of offences punishable under IPCs relating to abetment of suicide, causing disappearance of evidence of offence and criminal conspiracy.

The court, however, noted that circumstances alleged against MLA Sharad Kumar Chauhan are not prima facie sufficient to hold him to be a member of any criminal conspiracy for commission of the offence of abetment to suicide or the other alleged offences nor these are sufficient to make him liable for the same individually.

It has been further found by the court that MLA Sharad Kumar Chauhan has not been named in the audio/video recordings of the dying declarations of the deceased.

The court on Thursday also noted that the acts done or omissions made by Sharad Kumar Chauhan and others cannot be considered by the court to have been done by them with reference to any such criminal intent or design, the object of which was to push the deceased to commit suicide and further, cannot be considered as incriminating enough or sufficient to provoke, incite or urge the deceased to take her life.

The court said the circumstances even fail to make a complete chain to enable the court to draw an inference about the existence of any such criminal conspiracy as it is well settled that this inference has to be reasonable and well-grounded. They even fail to establish any criminal intent on part of these accused persons to commit the alleged offence.

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New Delhi/ Prayagraj: In Prayagraj, known as the educational capital of the country, Delhi's Education Minister and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia made a big announcement saying that if the Aam Aadmi Party forms the government in Uttar Pradesh, then 25% of the first budget will be spent on education.

Accusing the present government of decimating the state's education system, he said that the Yogi government has only reduced the education budget by 17 percent to 13 percent and contributed to the worsening situation of government schools.

During the program 'Shiksha Ki Baat with Manish Sisodia of UP' on Thursday, while interacting with students and people from the intellectual class, he called upon the people of the state to vote for better education of their children this time. It is Kejriwal's guarantee that we will make all government schools in Uttar Pradesh better than private schools.

Manish Sisodia, while strongly attacking the Yogi government on the issue of education, said that five years of the state government are about to come to an end but even today 40 percent of the schools in UP do not have electricity. There is a shortage of teachers from primary, secondary to higher education.

According to Sisodia, "Till 2017, the number of children studying in government schools in UP was 60 percent and the number of children studying in private schools was 40 percent, but the Yogi government in its tenure so far has reversed this figure. Today 40 percent of children are studying in government schools and 60 percent in private schools. Fees of private schools are being increased continuously, but due to the sad state of government schools, the poor are also forced to take their children out of government schools and get them admitted in private schools."

Sisodia referred to his visit to Lucknow when he was stopped from visiting a government school by the police. "The Yogi government avoids any discussion on the matter of education. They stopped us from seeing that one school, but we received pictures of the poorly maintained schools across the state under the Selfie with School campaign. In Uttar Pradesh, government schools and colleges are lying in ruins and are used to tie up animals. While in some schools, rotis and only salt are being served as mid-day meal, at others girl students are even forced to make these rotis," he said.

"Many schools do not have toilets. In the absence of desks, children are forced to sit on the ground and study. Many people of the intellectual class including state in-charge, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and state president Sabhajit Singh were present on this occasion," added Delhi's deputy CM.

Manish Sisodia raises issue of teachers' struggle

Manish Sisodia raised the issue of the struggle of the teachers in the state. Describing the anguish of over one and a half lakh Shiksha Mitra and agitated candidates over teacher recruitment in Yogi Raj, he said that if our government is formed in UP, we will immediately recruit to all the vacant posts of teachers. Raising the issue of married educationist sisters who shaved their heads in protest, he called the Yogi government anti-teachers and clearly said that only education will change the future of UP. So this time the people of the state should vote in the name of better education for their children and the development of the state.

Will stop corruption existent in the name of education

Manish Sisodia accused the Yogi government of corruption in the name of education. He said that when schools and colleges were closed during the Corona period, a big scam was committed in Kasturba Gandhi Residential School in the state. Rupees Nine Crore were withdrawn in the name of stationery and food for girls in these schools. This type of corruption will be brought to an end if our government is formed. No officer or leader would have the courage to embezzle money that is for the education of children. The only place for such corrupt people will be in jail.

We will change the face of government schools

Manish Sisodia said that until now the political parties here used to discuss only issues like caste religion, temple-mosque. There was no discussion over education. For the first time, the people of the state have got a political alternative in the form of AAP which places education as the centre of the debate. Not only do we discuss, but we also have demonstrated by our performance in Delhi. Today the government schools there are outperforming private schools. From infrastructure to results, government schools are delivering better than private schools.

Until a few years ago, the result of government schools was around 80%, it has now reached 99.6%. This result is an outcome of the training teachers received from prestigious institutions including IIMs, Cambridge and Oxford. If we form the government, we will also provide such training to the teachers of UP.

Govt job is to make children cultured and patriotic

Manish Sisodia said that we are running a five-minute meditation class in Delhi schools to make children cultured. Parents themselves believe that this effort of the government has brought positive changes in their children. Five students of a Delhi government school got admitted to IIT, one of whom is the son of a washerman. There, 20-30 out of 80 girls are pursuing medical studies after successfully clearing NEET.

We are giving a loan of ten lakhs without any interest to the meritorious students in Delhi for studies. It is the responsibility of the government to make the children cultured and patriotic. With this spirit, under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, we started the Happiness Curriculum followed by the Deshbhakti Curriculum in Delhi schools with a patriotic curriculum. We have also started the Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum in Delhi Schools which will encourage job-givers instead of job seekers in Delhi schools. If we are elected in UP, we will deliver similarly here also.

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New Delhi: Starting from October 1, senior citizens seeking work opportunities will be able to bag jobs from the Indian governments first-of-its-kind dedicated employment exchange.

The portal known as Senior Able Citizens for Re-Employment in Dignity (SACRED) will help Indians above 60 years of age to find jobs easily, right at the comfort of their homes. The portal is operated by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJ&Es)

In a statement, the ministry said that any job provider - individual, firm, company, partnership, and voluntary organisation - can also register on the portal. The job provider will specify the task involved and the number of senior citizens that are required to complete it," the ministry said.

The ministry will spend Rs 10 crore to fund the platform development while a maintenance grant of Rs 2 crore has been approved as well. Moreover, additional Rs 10 crore will be spent annually for the publicity of the portal so that more people know about the initiative.

For registration purposes, senior citizens will have to share their relevant education, past experience, skills and areas of interest. The ministry pointed out that the individuals on the platform can also add select keywords related to their expected job roles, which will enable job providers to find them automatically.

"Therefore, the Employment Portal will serve not only the senior citizens seeking employment, but also the employers, the Self Help Groups (SHGs), the senior citizens gaining skills, and other agencies or individuals," the ministry said.

The ministry is also encouraging voluntary organisations to help senior citizens in applying for jobs on the SACRED portal. No charge will be taken from any of the senior citizens by any voluntary organisations. Also Read: ABB launches world's fastest charger! Can charge up to four vehicles at once, fully charge any electric car within 15 minutes

However, the ministry has clarified that the Employment Exchange Portal for senior citizens doesnt provide a guaranteed job or selling of products of SHGs. "It will act as an interactive platform where stakeholders meet each other virtually and decide on the course of action with mutual respect, consent and understanding. The web portal will be developed through NIC. There will be adequate publicity both among elders and enterprises to enrol on the portal," it said. Also Read: Petrol Price Today, Oct 1: Petrol, diesel rates soar to record high, check prices in your city

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New Delhi: Popular television and film actress Mouni Roy is making headlines and this time it's not for any of her social media posts or videos. The Naagin fame star has been hogging limelight currently for her personal life.

Speculation about Mouni Roy dating Dubai-based businessman Suraj Nambiar has been doing the rounds. Now, as per a report in India Today, the actress's cousin has spilled the beans on her impending wedding.

Mouni Roy's cousin Vidyut Roysarkar spoke to a local newspaper in Cooch Behar, as per the India Today report and revealed that she will be getting married in January 2022. He added that the gala wedding will be taking place either in Dubai or Italy.

As Mouni hails from Cooch Behar, the couple will hold separate functions there for relatives as well.

WHO IS SURAJ NAMBIAR?

As per reports, Suraj is a Dubai-based businessman and banker. With no official confirmation yet on the wedding or their relationship status, fans are still waiting for the actress to make it public.

Mouni ushered in her 2021 New Year celebrations in Dubai with Suraj and his fam-jam, reportedly. He hails from Bangalore and studied investment science and International management from Stanford University.
New Delhi: Famous television actress and Khatron Ke Khiladi 11 contestant Shweta Tiwari's estranged husband Abhinav Kohli has got a breather from Bombay High Court over son Reyaansh's custody.

According to a report in ETimes.com, the court has allowed Abhinav Kohli to speak to his son Reyaansh for 30 minutes on weekdays through video conference and meet on weekends for two hours.

Abhinav Kohli told ETimes, 'Yes, the news is true. It is a huge relief for me. I have been fighting a tough and long battle. I haven't met my son for 11 months now, I will finally meet him. I can't express my happiness in words. This is just the beginning and there's a long way to go. I would like to thank Honourable Justice Shri S S Shinde and Honourable Justice Shri N.J. Jamadar for granting me access. I wish I could meet him daily, I am getting greedy as a father, I know but I will struggle for it also. This is not a victory for me, it is my son Reyaansh victory. He has won between Shweta and my fight. Reyaansh will get to meet his father.'

Reportedly, the Bombay High Court told the estranged couple that they can fight for their son's custody in the Family Court.

Meanwhile, Shweta Tiwari was hospitalised a few days back after she complained of weakness and low blood pressure.

Shweta and Abhinav tied the knot in 2013. The couple has a son named Reyansh Kohli.

Before Abhinav, Shweta was married to actor Raja Chaudhary. They got divorced in 2007 after nine years of marriage. Shweta has a daughter Palak Tiwari with him.
Film: No Time To Die (Running in Theatres)

Duration: 163 minutes

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga

Cast: Daniel Craig, Lea Seydoux, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Winshaw, Jeffery Wright, Ana de Armas, Billy Magnussen, Christoph Waltz, Naomie Harris and Rory Kinnear.

Rating: ***

Director Cary Joji Fukunaga's 'No Time To Die' is the franchise's twenty-fifth film and marks Daniel Craig's fifth and final turn as the secret agent, James Bond.

Visually, the film is a brilliant piece of action drama that takes place in a generic but convoluted spy narrative where Bond is pulled into action to save the world, the love of his life Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux), his daughter Mathilde (Lisa-Dorah Sonnet), and himself.

The world is a under a threat after a scientist, Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik), is kidnapped. Obruchev had developed Project Heracles - a weapon of mass destruction where the bioweapon contains nanobots that spread like a virus upon touch and are coded to specific DNA strands. They can be dangerous only if programmed to the specific individual's genetic code.

Bond, who is in both hiding and retirement on a remote tropical island, is drawn back into action. He joins forces with the CIA, and heads to Santiago de Cuba, where SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion) is holding a kind of underworld convention. Soon, Bond realises that the task is not as simple as it seems, especially after he accidentally kills Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), his arch-enemy and foster brother, and is made to believe that he was infected by Madeleine.

When he tracks down Madeleine, he realises that she is being hounded by Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek), an adversary of Bond and Madeleine, and a terrorist leader on a revenge mission. How he lands up in Lyutsifer's remote island to battle him and devolves into a sideshow of resigned fate, forms the crux of the narrative.

Daniel Craig as James Bond is suave, stylised and brilliant in a way that outshines everything else around him. Unlike his previous avatar of a flippant killing machine and womaniser, here he displays an ocean of battered emotions trying to reach the surface. And your heart reaches out to him when he sees Mathilde and comments that her eyes are like his.

Lea Seydoux as James Bond's love interest, Madeleine Swan, has more to offer than many leading ladies in the franchise have ever been able to.

Safin with his facial disfigurement is played to the brutal hilt by Rami Malek. He makes his creepy presence felt in the drama with his mottled skin and the caressing voice of a depraved monk.

There are many returning characters in this edition too, but Ben Whishaw as the gadget guy 'Q', with his hairless cat on his home turf, is prominent and noticeable.

The new cast members include Dali Benssalah, playing Safin's henchman; Ana De Armas as Paloma, a feisty CIA agent in Cuba; David Dencik as the Russian scientist Valdo Obruchev; and Lashana Lynch as Nomi, the secret agent who has taken on the 007 moniker, ever since Bond retired. They all have their moments of on-screen glory.

The film boasts of some fine chases, explosions, stunts, and a big, hour-long finale on Safin's fortress, but there is as much emphasis on relationships here, their conflicts, complications and complexities, as there is on the fast-moving thrills. The film also shares themes like trust, betrayal, secrets, lies, and a distinct connection or through-line of all the past Bond films. And, most of all, the stars of any Bond film are the exquisite locations. This time they stretch from Jamaica to Norway, Italy and London.

With a run time of two hours and 43 minutes, it is the lengthiest Bond film.
New Delhi: With the data and studies regarding COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin submitted to the World Health Organization, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi Director Randeep Guleria is hopeful that the authorisation for emergency use listing to the vaccine will be accorded soon.

Speaking on the issue Guleria told ANI, "We are hopeful that now with all the data in and studies having been done it should happen soon rather than happening late."

"It will make travel easy; it will encourage people, especially those who have taken both the shots of the vaccine to be able to travel abroad. Also as we start moving out from the pandemic it is very important to have the approval so that one does not have to quarantine or isolate at any place," added Dr Guleria.

He further appealed to remain alert and vigilant for the next 6-8 weeks, then we will be able to see a decline in the overall number of COVID-19 cases.

During the festive season, we have to remain alert and vigilant. If we remain careful for the next 6-8 weeks, then we will be able to see a decline in the overall number of COVID19 cases: AIIMS Director Dr. Randeep Guleria pic.twitter.com/nwQoWKEXTo  ANI (@ANI) October 1, 2021

Though individual European countries have recognised the Serum Institute of India`s (SII) Covishield, however to date the European Union (EU) that introduced EU Digital Covid Certificate (EUDCC) is yet to give nods for the visa procedures for India. In a relaxed approach, the UK altered its visa status for India with an "amber" category.

WHO`s observes four steps for the approval procedure for the COVID vaccine that includes acceptance of the manufacturer`s expression of interest (EOI), a pre-submission meeting between WHO and the manufacturer, acceptance of the dossier for evaluation by WHO and the decision on the status of assessment.The dossier of Bharat Biotech is under review since July.

Earlier union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya met WHO Chief Scientist to hold discussions over the approval of Covaxin.

Bharat Biotech earlier tweeted, "Covaxin clinical trial data was fully compiled and available in June 2021. All Data was submitted for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) Application to World Health Organization in early July. We have responded to any clarifications sought by WHO and are awaiting further feedback."

WHO has so far approved COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, US pharma majors Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, China`s Sinopharm and Oxford-AstraZeneca for emergency use.

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New Delhi: Amid Captain Amarinder Singhs declaration of leaving Congress, AICC in-charge of Punjab Harish Rawat on Friday (October 1) urged him to rethink and not help BJP in any way.

Denying reports of Singh being snubbed by the Congress, Rawat said that former Punjab CMs recent statements sound as if he is under some pressure. No facts in reports that state Captain Amarinder Singh was insulted by Congress. It appears from Captain's recent statements that he is under some sort of pressure. He should rethink, and not help BJP directly or indirectly, ANI quoted Rawat as saying.

He added, All that has been done by the Congress party till now is to protect the respect and dignity of Captain Amarinder Singh and increase the party's chances (in 2022 assembly polls) in Punjab.

All that has been done by the Congress party till now is to protect the respect and dignity of Captain Amarinder Singh and increase the party's chances (in 2022 assembly polls) in Punjab: AICC in-charge of Punjab, Harish Rawat, in Dehradun  ANI (@ANI) October 1, 2021

Amarinder Singh resigned as Punjab CM on September 18 citing humiliation by the Congress. After his recent meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah stoked speculations of him joining BJP, Singh clarified, "I will be leaving the Congress party. I am not remaining in Congress, I am not joining the BJP.

Commenting on his meet with Shah, the former Punjab CM said it was to discuss farmers agitation on Centres three farm laws. Captain also met National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval during his Delhi visit.

Further, Singh has removed the Congress reference from his Twitter bio, which now reads, Army Veteran | Former Chief Minister Punjab | Continuing to serve the State. His future political course remains to be seen.

Leaving the party red-faced, a few days after Singhs resignation, his bete noire Navjot Singh Sidhu stepped down from the post of Punjab Congress chief. Hitting out at Sidhu, Singh said on Thursday, I had said it before also that Navjot Singh Sidhu is not the right man for Punjab, and if he contests, I will not let him win.

The development comes amid crucial Assembly elections in the state next year.

(With agency inputs)

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New Delhi: Visiting Australian Trade minister Dan Tehan has said that his country is "warmly looking forward" to welcome back Indian students to the country as Canberra gives a nod to Covishield for international travelers.

The development comes even as Australia is all set to reopen its borders in the month of November after months of closure amid the pandemic.

Tehan speaking to reporters in Delhi said the Australian side giving go ahead for Covishield, "means pathway for our Indian International students to return to Australia is there again. With semester one starting in Feb/March next year, those International students will be able to start returning towards the end of this year and towards beginning of next year. Can I say to all those Indian students that we are warmly looking forward to welcoming back to Australia. We can't wait. It's terrific news"

Australia's department of health's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has declared the Covishield (AstraZeneca/Serum Institute of India) vaccine as a recognized vaccines for purposes of travel into Australia.

TGA in its initial assessment of the data on the protection offered by the India-made vaccine advised it for travel purposes, along with China's Coronavac (Sinovac).TGA is responsible for regulating the supply, import, export, manufacturing, and advertising of therapeutic goods in the country.

The number of Indian students currently enrolled for studying in Australia is around 90,000. The number of Indian students going to the country continues to grow and forms an important people-to-people linkage between the 2 countries.

People who have received vaccines not recognized by the TGA, or who are unvaccinated, will be required to undertake 14 days of managed quarantine on arrival.

The problems faced by Indian students were raised by the Indian external affairs minister with his Australian counterpart, Minister Payne during the 2+2 dialogue in Delhi in early September.

During the talks, he urged that the difficulties faced by the students due to travel restrictions be "sympathetically addressed as soon as possible."

Asked about Indian vaccine Covaxin's approval by Australia, the Australian trade minister said, "It still before WHO, so obviously that steps need approval process and then TGA has to look into it". WHO or World Health Organization is expected to take a call on Covaxin's authorization on 5th of October.

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New Delhi: After much political drama, Navjot Singh Sidhu will continue as the Punjab Congress chief and a coordination panel is likely to be set up which will be consulted before taking significant decisions by the Punjab government in future, party sources told PTI.

Sidhu met Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Thursday (September 30) and this decision was reached after an over two-hour meeting at the Punjab Congress Bhavan. The meeting was also attended by Congress leader and central observer Harish Chaudhary, minister Pargat Singh and Punjab Congress working president Kuljit Nagra.

The panel may comprise the CM, Navjot Singh Sidhu and a representative of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC), a Congress source told the news agency. An announcement is expected in this regard soon, the source added.

Sidhu resigned as the Punjab Congress chief on Tuesday over several issues including the appointments of the DGP, state's advocate general and "tainted" leaders. Following Sidus resignation, a minister and some other leaders considered close to him also resigned.

The development comes ahead of the crucial Punjab Assembly polls next year.

To resolve the crisis in the state unit, Punjab CM Channi had reached out to Sidhu. Accepting his offer, Sidhu tweeted on Thursday, Chief Minister has invited me for talks, I will reciprocate by reaching Punjab Bhawan, Chandigarh at 3:00 PM today, he is welcome for any discussions!

Meanwhile, former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh said he will quit the Congress but will not join BJP. The rumours were rife of Captain switching over to the saffron party after he met Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi. "I had said it before also that Navjot Singh Sidhu is not the right man for Punjab, and if he contests, I will not let him win, ANI quoted Amarinder Singh as saying.

(With agency inputs)

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New Delhi: The Delhi government has allowed the reopening of religious places in the city for devotees from Friday (October 1, 2021) with strict adherence to Covid guidelines and standard operating procedures.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority issued fresh COVID-19 guidelines on Thursday.

Religious places in the national capital were closed for devotees for over five months, since April 19, following the imposition of a lockdown due to the severe second wave of Covid infections.

Although the DDMA order permitted the entry of devotees to religious places, it prohibited large gatherings there.

It also directed the district magistrates and deputy commissioners of police to ensure strict compliance with Covid-appropriate behaviour in view of the upcoming festivals.

The authority in its fresh COVID-19 guidelines stated that fairs, melas, food stalls, jhoolas, rallies and processions will not be permitted during festivals in Delhi.

"Chhat pooja celebration shall not be allowed in public places and people are advised to celebrate the same at their homes," the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) said in official order.

The activities permitted and prohibited by the DDMA will continue up to October 15 midnight.

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New Delhi: Delhi University (DU) will be releasing its first cut-off list for the year 2021 today (October 1, 2021). Once released, the cut-off list will be available on individual college websites as well as on the official website of Delhi University- du.ac.in. Students can also check the cut off on admission.uod.ac.in.

Students need to note that the admission procedure will be the same as last year, which means the entire DU UG Admission process would be done online in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Students can read the detailed guidelines by the university on du.ac.in.

According to the announcement made by the university on September 27, 2021, the first cut-off list will be released on October 1, followed by the second on October 9 and the third on October 16. Nearly 70,000 seats under various courses are up for grabs.

It may be noted that the colleges will declare their first cut-off list on October 1 and admissions will start from October 4 at 10 am and will go on till October 6 at 11.59 pm, the varsity said on Monday.

DU colleges are expected to approve admissions under the first list by 5 pm on October 7 and the last day of payment will be October 8 by 5 pm, it said.

Students can check the admissions 2021 schedule by DU here

Meanwhile, students who want to apply for UG courses in DU can expect higher cut-offs than last year as over 70,000 students have scored more than 95 percent in CBSE Class 12 board exams this year.

Heres step-by-step admission process for DU UG courses:

1. As soon as the university releases its First Cut off list 2021, the students will have to choose a college of their choice and respective course on the admissions portal dashboard.

2. The students must check the cut-off carefully and see if they are eligible for the choice they are filling.

3. Once this is done, students need to complete the DU UG Admission form in all respects, as these forms will later be duly verified and checked by the members of the admissions committee.

4. After filling the forms in the correct manner, it will be transferred to the Convenor of admissions who will then keep a check on the recommended cases for admissions, following which the forms will be sent to the principals of respective colleges for approval.

5. The students must note that the colleges can reject an application, but will have to give a reason or remark why they did so.

6. If the application is accepted, the next step for the students is to upload the necessary documents on the portal for verification.

7. Here is the list of documents  Class 12 or qualifying exam marksheet and passing certificate, Class 10 marksheet and passing certificate, Caste certificate/EWS Certificate (if applicable), Transfer Certificate from school, Migration Certificate from Board, Character Certificate and OMR form of University Registration.

8. The students need to be careful while uploading the documents as in case any of these documents are missing or have problems, their admissions might get forfeited by the respective college.

9. After the documents are uploaded, the students will have to pay the admission fee and save the receipt for future reference.

10. Once they have made the payment, the students will receive a confirmation from the respective college stating the status of their admission with them.

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New Delhi: Visiting Australian trade minister Dan Tehan has said that his country is keen to diversify trading ties with India, amid a spat with China straining economic ties. China has increased tariffs on Australian goods like barely, wine, coal in the backdrop of Canberra raising the issue of the origin of the COVID-19 crisis. China's Wuhan reported the first case of the coronavirus, and questions remain on it being natural origin or human-made.

While spekaing to reporters in Delhi, Tehan said, "Australia currently has difficulties in our economic relationship with China. They have been very well documented and one of the reasons we have been looking to diversify our trading relationship. We obviously, want to have a very constructive relationship with China but we also understand given the difficulties we are facing at the moment, need to use to diversify."

Australia has canceled the Bejing belt and road initiative projects, which angered Beijing more. China canceled the economic dialogue with Canberra earlier this year. Remarks come even as Australia and India have announced to conclude a free trade agreement by end of 2022 and work on an interim agreement by December 2021.

Asked about the talks with his Indian counterpart, trade minister Piyush Goyal, Tehan said, "Focus of discussion was on the economic partnership between Australia and India. I think both of us recognize there is a lot more we can do, with regards to the economic partnership. $25 billion doesn't represent the capacity of our 2 economies to really grow and work with each other to produce the outcomes, that we both need. That was absolutely the focus.."

Both ministers met on Thursday for three hours, after which an announcement on FTA was made. Both the Indian and Australian trade ministers will again meet later this month on the sidelines of the G20 trade ministers in Italy.

Asked about, lower import tariffs on Australian wine, the minister on a lighter note said, "There is nothing I would enjoy more than being able to provide India more with some of Australia's fine wine. We produce, the best wine in the world and it will be wonderful if Indians can enjoy a little more Australian wine at a more affordable price."

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New Delhi: In todays era a womans role is not limited to the walls of her house. Women in the 21st century are marking their presence in every field by attaining the positions which were once thought to be a mans job.

And Preeti Chandra, the first woman SP of Bikaner, Rajasthan is the best example of this. Born in 1979 in Kundan village of Sikar district in Rajasthan, Chandra is a nightmare for criminals.

Many dacoits had surrendered fearing Chandras name when she was posted as SP in the Karauli district of Rajasthan.

But theres more to Pritis story as becoming an IPS officer was not her first choice. She was a teacher and wanted to become a journalist. But she started preparing for UPSC and qualified the exam in her first attempt in 2008 and the rest is history.

Piti Chandra, a name that frightens criminals:

Priti Chandra's first posting was in the Alwar district of Rajasthan, after that she served in Bundi, Kota ACB and Karauli. At present, she is posted as SP in Bikaner.

She has also served as the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Jaipur Metro Corporation. During her tenure in Karauli, many dacoits had surrendered.

She fearlessly went out into the ravines of Chambal. She also saved many girls from prostitution in Bundi and these are some of the many reasons why she is called Lady Singham.

She has caught many dacoits and their associates like Hariya Gurjar, Srinivas of Ramlakhan gang, Shriram Gurjar, Kala and they do not face any problem in entering the ravines.

Pritis support system:

Mother is said to be the first teacher of a child who does not only teaches the lessons written in books but also the life lessons. Although Chandras mother was not educated, she knew the importance of education.

And because of this, she encouraged Priti to chase her dreams despite the pressure of marriage from relatives. She even supported Priti and her sisters when they chose to marry inter-cast.

ALSO READ: With 26,727 new COVID-19 infections, India logs slightly higher daily count

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New Delhi: October 2 of each year is commemorated as the Gandhi Jayanti to mark the birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who is famously known as Mahatma Gandhi throughout the world.

A little bit of history:

The man, who was instrumental in Indias gaining independence, was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, Gujarat, and got married at the very young age of 13 years to Kasturba. Mohandas and Kasturba lost their first child and that is considered to be one of the main reasons why Gandhi firmly opposed child marriages.

Interesting fact:

Gandhi who apparently paved the way to peaceful protest: NOT apparent Gandhi, who is today synonymous with peaceful protest, never won a Nobel Peace Prize despite being nominated for 5 times. And in the year 2006, the committee for the Nobel prize publicly admitted its regret for never honoring him with the award.

The year 2021 marks the 152nd birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation whose chief weapon in the fight for independence was non-violence.

Gandhi immortalised himself with his ideology of non-violence and peace and became relevant to all societies, religions, countries, and generations.

He continues to inspire global leaders to follow the path of truth, peace, and non-violence. even while they are protesting against the state and demanding their rights. Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela and Dalai Lama are some of the contemporary leaders whose political movements were largely influenced by Gandhis non-violent approach.

ALSO READ: Gandhi Jayanti 2021: Top 5 films to watch on Mahatma Gandhi's inspiring life!

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Google has celebrated the life and works of acting maestro Sivaji Ganesan on his 92nd birth anniversary with a doodle. One of the most respected names in the Tamil film industry, Ganesan was once called the Marlon Brando of South Indias film industry. He was conferred upon the highest honour for cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, in 1997.

Ganesan, whose name was synonymous with quality and commercial success in the 60s and 70s in many languages, was much more than just an actor. His influence on popular culture was unbelievable as his hairstyles and clothes immediately became the choice of the masses.

While working in nearly 288 languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi, Ganesan maintained a high profile status of an actor known for delivering long dialogues and who has acute understanding of the Indian mythological texts. He was also a trained dancer in Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Manipuri dance forms.

His initial roles of substance came with a recommendation from the late Tamil Nadu CM M Karunanidhi, but he soon found his footing and amazed everyone with his charm.

Interested in acting since his childhood, Ganesan was a risk taker. He played some negative shade characters in the beginning of his career before moving on to mostly positive roles.

The rivalry between him and MGR was always a talk of the town with both of them reaching new heights of acting.

Sivaji Ganesan passed away in 2001 aged 72.

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (October 1, 2021) launched Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) 2.0 and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0 at Dr Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi.

Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0 have been designed to realise the aspiration to make all our cities `Garbage Free` and `Water Secure`.

"The aim of Swach Bharat Mission 2.0 is to make the cities garbage-free. With this 2nd phase, we also aim sewage and safety management, making cities water-secure and ensuring that dirty nullahs don't merge into rivers," said PM Modi on Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 & AMRUT 2.0.

The prime minister also noted that this is the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 & AMRUT 2.0 and both these missions are an important step in fulfilling the dreams of BR Ambedkar. It's our privilege that today's program has been organised at BR Ambedkar Center. He believed that urban development was pivotal to equality, said PM Modi.

"Toffee wrappers are no more thrown on floors but kept in pockets. Kids alert elders not to litter around. The youth are taking initiative. Some are earning wealth from waste, while some are creating awareness. There is segregation of dry and wet waste, there's awareness," PM Narendra Modi added.

The prime minister revealed that the country is processing about 1 lakh tonnes of waste every day currently, adding that at the start of these missions this was as low as 20 percent. PM Modi also revealed that India is currently processing about 70% of daily waste, and emphasised upon the need to take this number to 100 percent.

The garbage mountains in cities will be processed and removed completely as part of Swachta second phase. One such garbage mountain has been in Delhi for long, it's also waiting to be removed, PM Modi said at the launch.

The event was attended by Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and the Ministers of Urban Development of States and Union Territories. While, addressing the occasion, Puri said, "Swachh Bharat Mission has succeeded not only because of lakhs of toilets or bringing waste processing to 70 percent but also because PM Modi made this project into a `Jan Andolan`."

These two flagship missions are a step forward in our aim of effectively addressing the challenges of rapidly urbanizing India and will also help contribute towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, said the PMO.

Swachh Bharat and AMRUT Missions have brought transformative changes in the lives of people in the past 6-7 years. These two missions have improved the urban landscape in the nation by adopting a scientific approach.

The release further added that the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 envisions to make all cities Garbage Free and ensure grey and black water management in all cities other than those covered under AMRUT. This mission will focus on source segregation of solid waste, utilizing the principles of 3Rs (Reduce, reuse, recycle). The outlay of SBM-U 2.0 is around Rs 1.41 lakh crore.

On the other hand, AMRUT 2.0 mission will make the cities self-reliant and ensuring water security. This mission aims to provide 100 percent coverage of water supply to all households in around 4,700 urban local bodies by providing about 2.68 crore tap connections and 100% coverage of sewerage and septage in 500 AMRUT cities by providing around 2.64 crore sewer/ septage connections, which will benefit more than 10.5 crore people in urban areas. The outlay of AMRUT 2.0 is around Rs 2.87 lakh crore.

AMRUT 2.0 will adopt the principles of circular economy and promote conservation and rejuvenation of surface and groundwater bodies. The Mission will promote data-led governance in water management and Technology Sub-Mission to leverage the latest global technologies and skills. Pey Jal Survekshan will be conducted to promote progressive competition among cities, the release added.

(With Agency inputs)

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New Delhi: An encounter broke out between security forces and terrorists on Friday (October 1, 2021) in the Rakhama area of Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Jammu and Kashmir police said that a terrorist has been killed in the gunfight. "One unidentified terrorist killed. Operation in progress. Police and Security Forces are on the job. Further details shall follow," tweeted Kashmir Zone Police.

#UPDATE | One unidentified terrorist neutralized. The operation is underway. Details awaited: Jammu & Kashmir Police  ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2021

The encounter broke in the wee hours of Friday. The operation is still underway.

Further details are awaited.

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New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday (September 3-, 2021) met the family of the Kanpur businessman who died during a police raid at a Gorakhpur hotel, assuring a fair probe and a government job to his wife.

The CM has also directed the Kanpur district administration to prepare a proposal to increase the ex gratia to the family from Rs 10 lakh announced earlier, sources at the Chief Minister's Office said.

Victim Manish Gupta's wife, Meenakshi Gupta, told reporters that the CM has accepted their all demands and agreed to transfer the case from Gorakhpur to Kanpur.

Meanwhile, according to the post-mortem report, Gupta had injury marks on the whole body besides a skull injury.

Earlier in the day, the CM had said the guilty won't be spared in the case, in which six policemen have been booked on the murder charge.

ALSO READ | Kanpur businessman's death: UP police on backfoot after new video goes viral

The sources said CM Adityanath announced that Gupta's wife will be given the job of an officer on special duty (OSD) in the Kanpur Development Authority.

Meenakshi Gupta told reporters, "The CM has accepted all our demands and we are satisfied with the meeting."

"The CM has asked for an application for a CBI inquiry as per our demand and has accepted my plea for a government job and financial security for my son's future," she said.

"Besides, he has also agreed to transfer the case from Gorakhpur to Kanpur, taking note of the seriousness of the matter," she said.

Meanwhile, the Opposition slammed the state government over law and order.

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, who rushed to the home of the businessman at Burra in Kanpur, demanded a CBI probe under the supervision of a sitting High Court judge.

ALSO READ | Kanpur businessman's death: UP Law Minister Brajesh Pathak assures strict action against accused policemen

He also announced Rs 20 lakh to the family besides assuring of meeting legal costs in the fight for justice.

Yadav said the incident is part of the state government's "thoko neeti" (encounter policy), which has given a licence to kill to "trigger-happy policemen".

Akhilesh alleged that evidence has been destroyed from the hotel where Gupta was "murdered".

If justice is not done, then SP will launch a march from Kanpur to Lucknow to wake up the government from its slumber, he said.

BSP supremo Mayawati too sought a CBI inquiry into the matter.

Mayawati termed as "grossly unfair" the "attempt" by the Gorakhpur police to "save" the policemen, who were prima facie guilty of vandalism in the hotel.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also hit out at the BJP government and according to party sources, she is likely to pay a visit to the victim's family.

Meanwhile, two senior Gorakhpur officials were allegedly caught on tape, apparently asking a Kanpur businessman's family not to pursue his death case.

It is not immediately clear whether the video was recorded before or after a murder case was registered.

In the video put up by the Uttar Pradesh Congress on its Twitter handle, an officer in a police uniform and another sitting next to him are seen with the kin of the dead businessman.

The officer in police uniform has an IPS badge on his shoulder.

Samajwadi Party's district president Ram Nagina Sahni said they appeared to be District Magistrate Vijay Kiran Anand and SSP Vipin Tada.

The Kanpur police and the district administration on Thursday morning persuaded Gupta's family to perform the last rites.

The autopsy report said there were injury marks on the entire body of the victim, including eyes, limbs and back besides a wide skull injury.

Gorakhpur ADG Akhil Kumar inspected the hotel and told the reporters that the probe has been handed over to the crime branch.

The ADG said medical reports and CCTV footage will be incorporated in the probe.

Since the accusation is against police, care will be taken to conduct the probe in an impartial manner, he said.

Gorakhpur SSP Vipin Tada said three policemen--Ramgarhtal SHO Jagat Narayan Singh, Sub-Inspectors Akshay Mishra and Vijay Yadav--have been named in the case.

Inspector K K Rana, who was recently transferred from Gonda, has taken the charge of the Ramgarhtal police station.
New Delhi: After confirming that he will be leaving Congress", former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday (September 30) attacked his bete noire Navjot Singh Sidhu and said he will not let him win the 2022 assembly elections.

"I had said it before also that Navjot Singh Sidhu is not the right man for Punjab, and if he contests, I will not let him win, ANI quoted Amarinder Singh as saying.

Congress is staring at a crisis ahead of Punjab Assembly polls next year after state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu tendered his resignation, days after Captain Amarinder Singh stepped down from the CM post. Following Sidus resignation, a minister and some other leaders considered close to him also resigned.

During his Delhi visit, Captain met National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. However, putting speculations to rest about his joining BJP, Singh told the news agency, "I will be leaving the Congress party. I am not remaining in Congress, I am not joining the BJP.

On his meet with Shah, the former Punjab CM said it was to discuss farmers agitation on Centres three farm laws.

Amarinder Singh resigned as Punjab CM on September 18 and has since been openly hitting out at Sidhu. Calling him incompetent, Singh had said he will oppose any move to make Sidhu chief ministerial face for reasons of "national security".

"Sidhu could not manage a thing. I know him very well. Don`t think that he is some sort of magic word for Punjab. He is going to be a disaster," Captain had said after resigning from the CM post.

Meanwhile, Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi has called a cabinet meeting on October 4 in order to resolve the ongoing crisis in the state unit. Channi met Sidhu on Wednesday to pacify him as his resignation has not been accepted by the party yet.

(With agency inputs)

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New Delhi: Amid speculations over a group of Chhattisgarh Congress MLAs huddling up in Delhi, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday (September 30) downplayed the situation and said the visit should not be seen through a political prism.

Tell me one thing - can't legislators go anywhere. Every step should not be seen as politics. Anybody can go anywhere? Even you (media persons) tour with your friends and it doesn't mean every time the purpose is getting news. Similarly, if anyone has gone (to Delhi) it should not be seen through political prism, Baghel was quoted as saying by PTI.

Amid turmoil in Punjab Congress, the Chhattisgarh party unit stoked speculations of a possible leadership change after around 15 Chhattisgarh MLAs reached Delhi on Wednesday seeking to meet the party high command. However, the MLAs who are in Delhi had said their visit was linked to the proposed tour of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to the state.

One of the MLAs camping in the national capital said there was no question of a change at the top in the state and Baghel would complete his full term, adding that they are in Delhi to meet AICC in-charge Chattisgarh P L Punia regarding Rahul Gandhis visit.

"Our visit does not have any connection with the ongoing Punjab crisis, "Congress MLA Brihaspat Singh said.

As per ANI report, these MLAs have reached Delhi supporting Bhupesh Baghel saying he should continue as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh.

In August, Baghel was successful in convincing the Congress top brass and there was no immediate threat to his CM post from his minister TS Singh Deo. The supporters of Deo claim a two-and-a-half-year power-sharing formula for the chief minister's post was agreed upon in Chhattisgarh.

Punjab Congress has been witnessing a crisis ahead of the state polls next year after state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu tendered his resignation, days after Captain Amarinder Singh stepped down from the CM post.

(With agency inputs)

Live TV
Bhubaneswar: Odisha government on Thursday (September 30) prohibited the sale and use of firecrackers during the festive season.

"With a view to protecting the health of general public and to curb the spread of infection, sale and use of firecrackers shall remain prohibited during this festive month," reads the state government order.

The state government further extended the night curfew between 10 pm and 5 am for a month from October 1 to November 1, 2021 in all urban areas of the state.

However, the night curfew in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack will be imposed from 8 pm to 5 am from October 11 to October 20. "All religious festivals/functions will be observed in restricted manner, considering the local COVID situation. District authorities will take the decision and may impose restrictions to the entry of devotees into religious place or place of worship," the order adds.

It further said local authorities may decide the number of persons to attend any religious festival/ ritual/ puja in their jurisdictions with strict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines.

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0 at 11 AM on Friday (October 1, 2021) at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi.

According to a release by the Prime Ministers Office (PMO), SBM-U 2.0 and AMRUT 2.0 is in line with the vision of PM Narendra Modi and are designed to realize the aspiration to make all cities Garbage Free and Water Secure.

These flagship Missions signify a step forward towards effectively addressing the challenges of rapidly urbanizing India. It will also help in achieving the targets set under the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, the release said.

The event will also be attended by the Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and the Ministers of Urban Development of States and Union Territories.

Swachh Bharat and AMRUT Missions have brought transformative changes in the lives of people in the past 6-7 years. These two missions have improved the urban landscape in the nation by adopting a scientific approach.

The release further added that the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 envisions to make all cities Garbage Free and ensure grey and black water management in all cities other than those covered under AMRUT. This mission will focus on source segregation of solid waste, utilizing the principles of 3Rs (Reduce, reuse, recycle). The outlay of SBM-U 2.0 is around Rs 1.41 lakh crore.

On the other hand, AMRUT 2.0 mission will make the cities self-reliant and ensuring water security. This mission aims to provide 100 percent coverage of water supply to all households in around 4,700 urban local bodies by providing about 2.68 crore tap connections and 100% coverage of sewerage and septage in 500 AMRUT cities by providing around 2.64 crore sewer/ septage connections, which will benefit more than 10.5 crore people in urban areas. The outlay of AMRUT 2.0 is around Rs 2.87 lakh crore.

AMRUT 2.0 will adopt the principles of circular economy and promote conservation and rejuvenation of surface and groundwater bodies. The Mission will promote data-led governance in water management and Technology Sub-Mission to leverage the latest global technologies and skills. Pey Jal Survekshan will be conducted to promote progressive competition among cities, the release added.

Live TV
Chennai: If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it was the main motivation behind Author Dr. Vikram Sampath embarking on an arduous journey of writing three books on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. During the launch of his book Savarkar: A Contested Legacy in Chennai, the author said that the common people had every right to admire or hate a person, provided it was an informed opinion, rather than calumny or pre-conceived notions against the individual.

In conversation with Journalist Akhila Krishnamurthy and K Annamalai, Presiden of Tamil Nadu BJP, the author highlighted that Savarkar had aimed to consolidate and unite Hindu society, back in the 1920s, by ensuring that Vedas and Sanskrit were not the preserve of one community, giving sacred thread to everybody, advocating meritocracy over dynasty/ hereditary authority, eliminating untouchability and caste, enabling common dining of people from across castes, setting up temples that were open to all communities etc.

Referring to the demonizing and slander directed against Savarkar, Dr. Sampath said that it was common to hear the terms British stooge, apologist, Islamophobe, as a result of the political machinations against him.

He strove to eradicate untouchability, but became a political untouchable; was a persona non grata in Indian history and everyone associated with him paid a heavy price. But, his political relevance is intense in contemporary India and his ideology of Hindutva is on the ascendant the author added.

Sampath also threw light on how his books on Savarkar were not stocked by several bookstores and how he faced boycott from eminent personalities and intellectuals.

He made a mention of how the delegates had backed out of the Bangalore Literature festival (which Sampath had founded), thus forcing him to quit from his own venture. Half-jokingly, he also added that he was fortunate not to have a job and that he couldnt be sacked for writing on Savarkar. However, it was on Thursday that Dr. Vikram Sampath got elected as the Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Elaborating on the torture perpetrated on Savarkar and scores of other Indian freedom fighters at the British-run Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, the author spoke of how they were fed inedible, unhygienic food, not provided toilets or medical facilities and how they were forced to perform hard labour such as grinding an oil mill, that was meant to be ground by cattle.

The prisoners were whiplashed, flogged, fed food that was crawling with insects, were subject to fixed, limited toilet timings, were subject to stress positions such as standing handcuffs, lying down handcuffed in their cells, all while eating and defecating within the cell etc. It was also added that Savarkar was subjected to 6-month solitary confinement in a cell that was overlooking the gallows.

On his experience of having visited the 'Celluar Jail' in Andaman, Annamalai said that he realized that solitary confinement and forcing a person away from his loved ones would do. He also read out a page from the book, that carried the vision that Savarkar had for Independent India (India of Savarkars dreams).

It referred to a democratic state that was home to different religions, where people of all sects and races lived in equality and there was no domination or deprivation of rights, and people had to discharge their common obligation to the state and how 'Hindustan would extend from Indus to the seas. It also makes a mention of a country that was self-reliant in food, clothes, shelter, and defence, it emphasized on a Foreign policy of neutrality and peaceful and powerful centralized state of Hindustan.

Referring to Savarkars plea for release from the his over two-peace long arrest and torture by the British, Annamalai said that even Gandhi and Dr. Ambedkar had supported the cause of Savarkars release and pardon.

Touching upon how Savarkar was maliciously framed for Gandhi's assassination, Sampath refers to how Dr. Ambdekar had shared his sympathy for Savarkars plight. Quoting Ambedkars lawyer on the trial of Savarkar in the Gandhi assassination case, the author said, Its a fixed match and the highest power ordered to fix him, (a blatant reference to Indias first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru). However, it was also added that leaders after Nehru, including Indira Gandhi had publicly praised Savarkar.

On the lesser-known program that was orchestrated by the Congress party after Gandhi's assassination, the author said that Gandhis killers community names were leaked out deliberately. Several thousand Marathi Brahmins (spread across Bombay, Pune, Nagpur, Belgaum etc) were either killed or forced to flee their homes forever.

Dr.Sampath said that history was a means of recounting horrors of the past and healing the wounds and ensuring that these crimes are committed again. He said that, had the then powers punished the perpetrators of the riots in 1948(against Maharashtrian Brahmins), the 1984 riots(against Sikhs) would not have happened. He connects the unfortunate and gruesome pogrom of Marathi Brahmins after Mahatma Gandhi's assassination to the Sikh program after Indira Gandhi's Assassination, both the massacres which were perpetrated by the Congress party and its functionaries. After having spent a decade writing on fine arts and tracing the life and times of Savarkar, Dr. Vikram Sampath also dropped a hint about his upcoming biographies of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Tipu Sultan.
New Delhi: Amid continuing polticial crisis in Punjab, speculation about escalating tension in Chattisgarh made many wonder if another crisis awaits India's oldest party and the Gandhis. While several Congress MLAs in Chhattisgarh reached Delhi on Thursday (September 30) to meet party leader Rahul Gandhi and the party in charge of state PL Punia, the MLAs have now said there's no Punjab-like situation in Chattisgarh.

"Our visit does not have any connection with the ongoing Punjab crisis, " said party MLA Brihaspat Singh. He made a reference to the leadership tussle in the state between CM Bhupesh Baghel and state's Health Minister TS Singh Deo. He lauded Baghel and said that he is a "grounded leader" and is taking decisions after consultations. "Everyone wants to become Chief Minister but there is no situation like Punjab," he said."We want to meet and discuss the proposal of Rahul Gandhi's tour to Chhattisgarh," the MLA said.

He further stated that last time also they came to meet Chhattisgarh in-charge PL Punia. "Workers don't need any time to meet with their leaders. Whenever we need to meet our leaders, we meet, " he said.

Nearly 15 MLAs are in Delhi and a few more are planning to come. He said they will go back after meeting Punia, who is in Lucknow. Rahul Gandhi returned from Kerala on Thursday afternoon. Amid the ongoing political turmoil in Punjab, more than a dozen Chhattisgarh Congress MLAs had reached Delhi on Wednesday (September 29) with the demand that Bhupesh Baghel should continue as the chief minister of the state.

Speaking about the visit of the Chattisgarh MLAs to Delhi, Baghel said that their visit does not have a political objective.The ruling Congress is facing a fresh crisis in Punjab after state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu tendered his resignation.

Meanwhile, TS Singh Deo himself told a news channel that the situation in Chattisgarh should not be compared to the Punjab crisis. Any decision taken in the trust of each other shouldnt be discussed in public. These are matters which are before the High Command. My understanding is that Congress has 70 MLAs in a 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly. All of these 70 MLAs will do whatever the High Command decides. One way or the other. I dont see any situation like Amarinder Ji arising here in Chhattisgarh, Singh Deo told CNN-News18.

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New Delhi: In a tit-for-tat move, India has made a 10-day quarantine mandatory for all travellers visiting India from the United Kingdom. This rule will be applicable for all, irrespective of vaccination status. In the backdrop UK not recognising India's covid vaccine certificate, New Delhi has decided to impose this reciprocal measures on UK nationals arriving in the country from the UK.

It will be applicable to all UK nationals irrespective of their vaccination status. Sources said, "Authorities in the MOH&FW and MOCA would be taking steps to implement the new measures." This will be applicable from October 4. Whatever be their vaccination status, all UK passengers will have to undergo this mandatory quarantine upon arrival in India. They will also have to undertake three COVID-19 RT-PCR tests - within 72 hours before travel, on arrival at airport, and on Day 8 after arrival, as per media reports. Home or the destination address can be the place where mandatory quarantine is done.

As per the UK government's latest travel rules, while Covishield is an approved vaccine against Covid-19, India's vaccine certificate is not recognised. The Indian government's measure comes as a response to this. Since India's vaccine certification is not on a list of 18 approved countries, Indian travellers to the UK continue to be treated as non-vaccinated and therefore required to quarantine for 10 days on arrival.

Currently, Indian travellers who have received both doses of Covishield (as well as other jabs) are considered unvaccinated and they have to undergo self-isolation for 10 days. UK had announced new guidelines last month which will come into effect on October 4. UK's guidelines were seen as discriminatory by India and it includes rules like quarantine at home or in the place you are staying for 10 days and COVID-19 test on or before day 2 and on or after day 8 for passengers who aren't fully vaccinated with UK authorised vaccines and certificates. Interestingly India's new rules for UK also come into effect from October 4.

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New Delhi: Amid the ongoing Punjab crisis and turmoil in the state Congress, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the capital. "Chief Minister of Punjab Charanjit Singh Channi called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the PMO India had also tweeted.

This was Channi's first meeting with Modi after becoming chief minister. The issue of farmers protest was one of the key topics of discussion. Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at Delhi's borders against three farm laws since November last year and have been demanding the legislations be repealed.

"I asked the PM to resolve the matter of farmers' protest and resume dialogue with the protesting farmers. I demanded that the three laws should be withdrawn," Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi said after meeting PM Modi in Delhi.

He added, "I also requested the PM that the Kartarpur Corridor, which was closed due to COVID-19 pandemic, should be reopened at the earlies."

The delay in the paddy procurement was also on the agenda at the meeting, sources said.

(With Agency inputs)

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Dubai: The Dubai Expo 2020 will be an unique opportunity to showcase India's potential, said Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal in a conversation with Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhary in Dubai. He said the expo will provide a platform to a young, confident India to showcase its talent to the world.

The image of India that the expo will present to the world

"The Dubai Expo 2020 will showcase India's immense power and will display the country's potential through the Indian pavilion at the expo. It will symbolize India's growing power. India is capable of meeting the needs of the world. The pavilion, which will remain even after the expo, will continue to showcase to world our country's immense potential," said Goyal.

The picture of India, from the stage of Dubai

Goyal explained, "The image of India has changed under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. Be it the field of technology or space, the world will see a new image of India. India is a leader today in the field of energy, environment. The world knows about our potential. India's time has come. The world has faith in India."

Challenges and opportunities for India

"India has dealt well with several challenges that she had to face in the corona era. We have made digital expansion, we strengthened our healthcare. But India took several big steps before COVID, which became a boon in these tough times," said Goyal, adding, "India connected people to the bank, brought electricity to large number of houses, those in need were provided with the gas stove, toilets were built. Imagine what would have happened if these facilities were not in place when COVID had hit! Also India has proven that it can be self-reliant when it came to vaccine. We are planning to make 30 crores vaccine this month. The world is watching and realising that partnership with India is necessary."

Dealing with the challenge of the supply chain

"India's entrepreneurs and youth are full of confidence. India has lived up to the expectations even in the COVID period. We fulfilled every contract in the world. The world feels that they can safely give work to India and be free of worry. India understands and takes responsibility," the minister further said.

Achieving the target of 5 trillion economy

Goyal said, "People used to laugh when the Prime Minister used to make many promises earlier. When the PM talked about toilets in every house, people laughed. When the Prime Minister said that everyone will have a bank account, then people would laugh. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered on his promises. The PM aims big and accomplishes things."

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New Delhi: Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) is looking to hire for vacancies in Gujarat Administrative Service, Gujarat Civil Services, and other departments. Interested candidates can read the detailed notification on the official website at gpsc.gujarat.gov.in.

The last date to apply for the various posts is October 13. The recruitment drive will fill up to 183 vacancies in GPSC.

Vacancy details:

Gujarat Administrative Service, Junior scale Deputy Collector /Deputy District Development Officer- 15

Deputy Superintendent of police- 8

District Registrar- 1

Asst. Commissioner of state tax- 48

Deputy Director, Scheduled Castes- 1

Taluka Devlopment Officer- 10

Assisitant District Registrar-10

Social Welfare Officer (Scheduled Castes)- 1

Govt. Labour Officer- 2

State tax Officer- 75

Important dates:

Online Application process begins: September 28, 2021

Last date for Submission of Online Application: October 13, 2021

Tentative Date of Prelim Exam: December 19, 2021

Tentative Date of result of Prelim Exam: February 2022

Age limit:

Candidates should not be less than 20 years of age. The upper age limit is 35 years as of October 13.

Selection process:

Candidates will be selected on the basis of Competitive Exams consisting of the preliminary exam (objective type) and the main examination (written and Interview).

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Bengaluru: Karnataka BJP core committee will meet on October 3 to discuss the party's strategy and candidates for the coming by-polls to Sindgi and Hangal assembly segments.

The by-polls will be held on October 30 and counting of votes will be taken up on November 2.

"Arun Singh (BJP national General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka) is coming to the state. On October 3 there will be a core committee meeting and on that day all matters related to the by-polls will be discussed," Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Friday.

According to BJP sources, candidates are likely to be finalized that day and will be sent to the high command for approval.

The by-elections have been necessitated as the seats fell vacant following the death of Sindgi JD(S) legislator M C Manguli and BJP's C M Udasi from Hangal.

While the filling of nominations began today, October 8 is the last day for it. Scrutiny will take place on October 11. October 13 is the last day for withdrawal.

This being the first polls for assembly seats after Basavaraj Bommai became the Chief Minister, it is being seen as a test for him.

Congress has already finalized M C Managuli's son Ashok Managuli, who has joined the party, as its candidate from Sindagi, and according to sources, former MLC Srinivas Mane may be fielded from Hangal.

JD(S) has already announced Niyaz Shaik as its candidate for Hangal but is yet to finalize a candidate for Sindgi.

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Mumbai: The civic body in Mumbai on Friday issued an order capping the number of visitors to places of worship to 50 percent of total capacity.

It said that barring the point about places of worship, all other guidelines issued on September 24 by the Maharashtra government under its 'break the chain' initiative to rein in the COVID-19 pandemic will be applicable in the metropolis as has been laid down.

"The number of religious attendees will be limited to 50 percent of the total capacity of those places of worship. Full compliance of COVID-19 preventive measures will be necessary," the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation order said.

It said all COVID-19 norms like social distancing and wearing of masks must be adhered to while visiting places of worship and stringent action would be taken against violators.

The state government had, earlier, announced that places of worship would open from October 7 but had given local authorities, like collectors and civic chiefs, the right to decide on the attendance limit at such venues based on factors like size, ventilation, etc.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday granted protection from arrest to Farhan Shahrukh Mirza, the estranged husband of TV actor Chahatt Khanna, who had levelled allegations of rape and unnatural sex, and also making a video of such acts, against him.

A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Abhay S. Oka, in an order, said: "Issue notice, returnable on November 8, 2021... In the meanwhile, there shall be stay on arrest of the petitioner in FIR No.431/2018, police station Oshiwara, District Mumbai, until further orders. The petitioner shall cooperate in the pending investigation."

The top court order came after hearing arguments by senior advocate Siddharth Aggarwal and advocate Ejaz Maqbool, representing Mirza, who had moved the top court challenging the Bombay High Court's September 1 decision, which declined to grant him relief.

The top court also ordered that copy of the petition be served additionally to the standing counsel of Maharashtra.

In his plea, Mirza said: "It is submitted without prejudice that at its worst, this is a case of a marriage between two parties, both of whom have had successful careers in their respective fields, going through tough times."

The plea contended that FIR was lodged against him as a counter-blast to his matrimonial petition for restitution of conjugal rights. Chahat alleged that Mirza, under the influence of drugs, committed unnatural offence as contemplated under Section 377 of the IPC with her.

Mirza claimed his estranged wife is a habitual liar and she had previously adopted the same modus operandi against her former husband/partners, against whom also she filed identical false cases.

The plea contended that high court order failed to consider that the present FIR is an abuse of process and ex facie levels false, concocted, and whimsical allegations in retaliation to the petitioner's attempts to save his marriage and keep his family (consisting of two minor daughters) together.

In her complaint, Chahatt Khanna of "Bade Achhe Lagte Hain" fame claimed she had married Mirza on February 8, 2013, who told her that he is the owner of Green Wheel Construction Company and was a financially sound person with a substantial bank balance.

However, after the marriage, she said that she realised that Mirza is a drug addict and has no work to do, and he had painted a false picture of his financial status.
NEW DELHI: In a big respite to Shweta Tiwari, the Bombay High Court granted her the custody of her 5-year-old son, Reyansh. According to a report in ETimes.com, the court has allowed Abhinav Kohli to speak to his son Reyansh for 30 minutes on weekdays through video conference and meet on weekends for two hours.

Several allegations were levelled against Shweta by her estranged husband Abhinav Kohli. She was accused of leaving her son alone in a hotel and leaving for Cape Town to shoot for Season 11 of reality show 'Khatron Ke Khiladi'. Abhinav had also claimed that Shweta did not inform the court before leaving the country to fulfil her work commitments.

Speaking to TOI, Shweta revealed that she was mentally harassed by her husband Abhinav who would follow her at every event and created a ruckus to embarrass her. "This is what I wanted and I am honestly satisfied with the judgement," said Shweta Tiwari when reached out to her. "Abhinav would follow me everywhere I went in the last two years. He would end up in Delhi or Pune or wherever I travelled with Reyansh for my shows and create a ruckus. It was mentally exhausting for both, me and my child. He would not stop at that and would create a scene and end up at my doorstep anytime," Shweta added.

She also mentioned that she never stopped Reyansh and Abhinav from talking but the wrong allegations were put to her.

"I had always allowed him the right to visit Reyansh. In fact, as per the previous court order, he was only supposed to speak to Reyansh on a video call for half an hour but I never stopped them from talking more because I understand. But that same person went on to paint me as a bad mother, someone who doesn't care about and is neglecting her child's health. I work for my family and to give them a good lifestyle, whats wrong in that? But he kept using that against me and I am glad that court dismissed those allegations," Shweta sighed.

Reportedly, the Bombay High Court told the estranged couple that they can fight for their son's custody in the Family Court.

Shweta was recently hospitalised a few days back after she complained of weakness and low blood pressure. The actress shared a picture of herself from her hospital bed, while holding a bed.

Shweta and Abhinav tied the knot in 2013. The couple has a son named Reyansh Kohli.

Before Abhinav, Shweta was married to Bhojpuri actor Raja Chaudhary. However, they separated after nine years of marriage in 2007. Shweta has a 20-year-old daughter Palak Tiwari with Raja.
New Delhi: Kotak Mahindra Bank, on Friday (October 1), announced the launch of a new service that will allow investors to invest in the National Pension System (NPS) directly from its mobile app.

Customers of the private lender can now open and operate their NPS accounts directly from the mobile bank. In a press statement, Kotak Mahindra Bank said that a customer beads to upload a copy of the PAN card and a photograph via its mobile app to open an NPS account.

The process is completely paperless and the account can be opened instantly with just a few clicks," Kotak added. The verification process usually takes a day to activate the NPS account.

Existing NPS subscribers can also use the Kotak mobile banking app to make their scheduled contributions in the savings scheme. The bank said that users can also check the details of their NPS account from the app.

"Existing NPS subscribers can...view details of their account including total invested amount, total gain/loss, and returns generated," it said. Kotaks both Android and iOS app will offer NPS features to customers.

For those uninitiated, NPS is one of the popular savings schemes in India. The scheme is regulated by the Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). In the past five years, the subscriber base of NPS has grown manifold. Also Read: PM Modi launches AMRUT 2.0: Heres everything you need to know about the scheme

How to open an NPS account on the Kotak Mobile Banking app?

Investors planning to open a bank account on the Kotak Mobile Banking app can follow these steps:

Step 1: Open and log in to the Kotak Mobile Banking app with your ID and password.

Step 2: Go to the Invest section and click on the National Pension System (NPS) icon.

Step 3: Now, you need to enter investment details such as investment amount, frequency, etc.

Step 4: Share your personal details and add a nominee

Step 5: Upload PAN Cards copy and a photograph

Step 6: Confirm the details

After following the above-mentioned steps, your NPS account will be opened instantly. Also Read: RBIs new auto-debit rules start today: 5 key things to know

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New Delhi: The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world upside down, causing a paradigm shift in the lifestyle of people. Take the instance of health insurance, prior to COVID, most people depended on their employer-sponsored health insurance coverage or invested in a basic plan to save taxes.

However, with the onslaught of COVID-19 and the consequent loss of employment, salary cuts, financial uncertainties, the mindset has completely changed.

Post COVID, there has been a surge in demand for comprehensive family health insurance plans. The narrative has changed from buying any policy to buying the best policy.

In times when the average cost of private hospitalization has reached Rs 31,845 (Source: Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation) for a single day, and illnesses are on the rise, a health insurance policy has become an indispensable part of an individuals portfolio.

Health is wealth and to nurture it, a health insurance policy is needed which allows you to opt for quality healthcare facilities. Moreover, when we talk about health insurance plans, a family floater plan should be the ideal choice.

Family health insurance plans are family-centric plans. They cover all your family members under one policy. If any member falls ill and needs medical assistance, the family floater policy pays for the hospitalization costs.

Looking for reasons to invest in a family floater policy? Here are 5 aspects to ponder on -

1. You can cover your entire family under the same plan such as you, your spouse, dependent children as well as your dependent parents. Some plans even allow coverage for extended relations too like parents-in-law, grandparents, uncles, aunts, nephews, siblings, nieces, etc. In fact, new members can be added and deleted very easily.

2. It is usually cheaper compared to buying an independent plan for each member of the family.

3. It is a lesser hassle as you do not need to worry about multiple renewal dates, service issues, etc.

4. The premium that you pay makes you eligible for a deduction under Section 80D. The deduction limit is Rs 25,000 or Rs 50,000 if you are a senior citizen. There is additional coverage for premiums paid towards parents.

5. Under a family floater policy, the entire cover can be shared by all members without restriction.

Should parents be included in your family floater plan?

Although a family floater policy usually allows coverage for your dependent parents, it is better to opt for separate coverage for them. It is because by adding parents, the premium increases since the floater premium is computed using the age of the eldest member. Moreover, there might be coverage restrictions considering your parents higher health risk. Also, your parents might make frequent claims on the policy which would take away your no claim bonus.

Would you rather be exposed to the financial uncertainties of illnesses or have the security of a health insurance plan? Think about it!

(Expert comment by Dhirendra Mahyavanshi, Co-Founder & CEO, Turtlemint [an InsurTech Company]).

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Dehradun: Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Rawat on Friday (October 1, 2021) said Amarinder Singh's "proximity" with BJP leaders like Amit Shah puts a question mark on his secular credentials and warned the Centre not to attempt toppling a majority government in the state.

Alleging that the former Punjab chief minister was playing into the hands of people with whom he had no ideological ties, Rawat said Singh should have stood with the Congress leadership to save democracy. "His proximity with (Union home minister) Amit Shah and some other BJP leaders puts his secular credentials in doubt," he said at a press conference.

Rebutting allegations that the party had humiliated Singh, Rawat said it always gave him respect.

"Amarinder Singh was Punjab Congress president thrice and chief minister twice. Is it humiliation? He should compare himself with senior party leaders who had got much less than him in terms of opportunities," the former Uttarakhand chief minister said.

"At a time when the country faces the challenge of saving democracy, Amarinder Singh should have stood with (Congress chief) Sonia Gandhi and strengthened her fight to save democratic values instead of playing into the hands of people who are using his so-called humiliation for political reasons," Rawat said.

Rawat also warned the BJP-led Centre not to attempt to topple a majority government in Punjab. His warning comes just a day after Singh met Shah in New Delhi on Thursday.

The Punjab Congress in-charge also said there is positive progress in the negotiations between Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Navjot Singh Sidhu. Channi is from the Dalit community and every political party should support him, Rawat said.

"But I warn the BJP government at the Centre not to try to topple a majority government in Punjab," he said and advised Singh not to walk into the BJP's trap.
New Delhi: Supertech has paid a sum of Rs 2 crore to the Resident Welfare Association (RWA) on a September order of the Super Court in relation to the Noidas Sector 93 twin tower case. The apex court had directed the real estate developer to pay Rs 2 crore within a month of the order.

The RWA will use the recently received funds to re-continue the halted development works in society. These works include installation of a generator, repairing of non-working lifts, and installation of chimneys, among others.

RWA President Rajesh Rana reportedly said that the amount of Rs 2 crore was credited in the account of the association on Wednesday (September 29) evening. The association was fighting tooth and nail with Supertech for the past 11 years. The tussle between Supertech and flat owners was started in 2011 by retired DIG Udaybhan Singh Tewatia.

At present, Supertech has to return money to 252 homebuyers along with a 12% interest. Last month, the Supreme Court had also ordered to demolish the Noida's 40-storey twin towers made by Supertech within 90 days.

The decision had come after the apex court had found there was collusion between Noida authority and Supertech, while allowing construction of two towers in one of its projects in Noida.

The bench headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said that Noida authority gave permission to Supertech to construct two additional 40-floor towers, was in violation of the rules and directed that demolition should be carried out within 3 months. Also Read: Driving license, RC, other vehicle documents validity extended in Delhi, check new deadline

The top court had also told the Noida Authority, "From the way you are arguing it appears that you are the promoter. You cannot be fighting against the homebuyers". Also Read: LPG cylinder prices October 1, 2021: LPG gas becomes costlier by Rs 43, check out how much you need to pay for a cylinder

- With inputs from wires.

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Have you wondered how you would contact someone in case of an emergency like a hit and run situation where you fall unconscious? Well, Apple Watch has got your back as a feature in the smartwatch can send text to emergency contacts with your location.

In one such incident, a Singaporean motorcyclist named Mohammed Fitri fell off his bike after colliding with the Van. Fitkari claimed that the Van drove off after hitting him and he fell unconscious. Police also confirm that the incident was of hit and run

Fitri explained that the Apple Watch which he was wearing was able to detect a hard fall and send messages with his location to his emergency contact which included his girlfriend. The watch also contacted the ambulance service.

Mohammad Fitris sister wrote on a Facebook post that his brother was on his way home. He was riding his bike at the T junction and there was an incoming Van from the left turning right. The van dashed out and hit her brother exactly inside the yellow box. The mentioned van then left the scene. Her brother was left unconscious but luckily his Apple Watch called the ambulance.

A fall detection feature in the Apple Watch Series 4 and above notifies emergency contacts and local emergency services in case a person becomes unresponsive. It will first notify the owner and give them a small window to respond to the alert. But if you don't dismiss the alert, the watch senses that you have become unresponsive and calls for rescue. (Also Read: Moto Tab G20 tab with 8-inch LCD display launched in India: Price, features, specs )

For all the Apple Watches, one can enable this feature by visiting the health app section, followed by clicking on the health checklist option. After you enable the fall detection feature, you will be informed first in case of a hard fall. Your apple watch will first notify you before sending a message.

For setting up emergency details, go to the medical ID section on the health app. You will be able to find your contacts and your other information like allergies and blood type. (Also Read: TCS introduces Youth Employment Program to skill youth, help rebuild livelihoods of COVID-19 victims )

Samsung galaxy watches also have similar features. In case a fall is detected by the galaxy watch, It shows an alert on a screen which could allow the user to get help by a single tap.
With a significant number of UNESCO sites, pleasant temperatures practically all year round, and a booming tourism industry, its no wonder why Mexico is a popular destination.

In fact, Mexico was ranked as the sixth-most visited country in the world for tourism in 2017 and continues its meteoric rise.

Although the coronavirus pandemic has affected the tourism industry worldwide, Mexico continues to be a popular choice for travelers thanks to its lax entry requirements.

Besides being quick and convenient, the Mexico visa for Indians offers an opportunity for adventurers to explore this beautiful country in Latin America. However, before booking those airline tickets and setting off to travel, its important to read up on the latest Mexico entry requirements.

Current entry restrictions in Mexico

Plenty of countries around the world have strict entry requirements in place, such as mandatory quarantine, extensive PCR testing, and/or filling out travel forms.

However, thats not the case with Mexico. In fact, Mexico has some of the most relaxed border restrictions at the moment, and all travelers are welcome to enter the country for business or leisure. There is no need for PCR and/or antigen testing, nor are there any self-isolation measures in place.

The only requirement to enter Mexico is to fill out the mandatory health declaration form and present the QR code when entering the country.

Those planning to travel to neighboring countries after Mexico, however, should pay extra attention to entry requirements. The land border between Mexico and the United States of America is still closed to non-essential travel until October 21, with the option to be extended.

Traveling from India to Mexico

Those who are planning to travel from India to Mexico should keep a few important things in mind.

Despite the pandemic, there are plenty of airlines that fly between the two countries. The most common airports to fly into include Cancun International Airport; Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City; Licenciado Gustavo Diaz Ordaz International Airport in Puerto Vallarta; and Cozumel International Airport.

The majority of flights are operated by major airlines such as Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, Emirates, Air Canada, and Aeromexico.

When flying from India to Mexico, its extremely important to note the country (or countries) where you will have a layover. This is because some countries may require travelers to provide a negative PCR test even if they are in transit and do not leave the airport.

Last but certainly not least, all Indian citizens should be aware of the visa requirements. Mexico requires two documents for Indians who wish to enter the country: a valid visa, and the tourist card.

The Mexico Tourist Card  which is officially known as Forma Migratoria Multiple (FMM)  is an electronic travel authorization. The FMM is a requirement for all foreign citizens who are visiting Mexico for less than 6 months (180 days) and allows the holder to enter the country.

The FMM is valid for 180 days and is a single-entry permit. It was originally launched by the Mexican government to streamline the arrival process, improve border security, and reduce queues for visitors.

The current COVID-19 situation in Mexico

To date, Mexico has had more than 3.57 million cases within its borders and more than 272 thousand deaths.

As part of its vaccination rollout program, the government of Mexico has administered more than 95 million doses. About half of the population has at least one dose, while about 33 percent of citizens are fully vaccinated.

To curb the coronavirus, Mexico has introduced a traffic light system across all 32 states in the country. Each state is assigned one of four colors  green, yellow, orange, or red  and has certain restrictions depending on that color. At the moment, the majority of states in Mexico are either yellow or orange.

Green states have no restrictions at all, while yellow states economic and social activities can operate at a capacity of 75 percent and require the use of masks in all closed public spaces.

Orange states place tighter limitations on establishments such as hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions, which are limited to 50 percent capacity. Meanwhile, stores and beaches can only have 40 percent of its normal capacity.

Finally, states who are in the red zone have maximum restrictions, including extremely reduced capacity, curfews, and temporary closures.

The latest update shows that only four states are considered green: Baja California Sur (home to Cabo San Lucas), Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and Chiapas.

The majority of popular tourist sites, such as Cancun (in Quintana Roo state), Puerta Vallarta (in Jalisco state), and Oaxaca are yellow.

However, the Mexican government regularly updates its list of colour-coded states, which is why it is important to stay up to date and refer to the latest updates before traveling.

By keeping these restrictions and tips in mind, travelers can enjoy a stress-free and relaxing holiday in Mexico.

(Disclaimer- Brand Desk Content)
New Delhi: Brides and grooms not only worry about their perfect wedding dresses but also about the budget and sometimes they go overboard to cut the expenses.

In one such bizarre incident, a bride demanded one of her guests to pay extra money for an additional slice of cake taken by the guest.

Sounds crazy! Doesnt it? But is true as the guest took on Reddit to reveal how he was asked to pay extra money just because he ate one additional piece of cake at the reception.

The bride demanded the money via text, just days after the wedding when the couple spotted that the guest took extra slices of their wedding cake while they were looking at the CCTV footage.

After sending the CCTV footage to the guest, the bride wrote: Hey, so we were looking at the CCTV and saw that you had two pieces of the wedding cake. We announced that each guest must pay per slice and noticed that you only paid for the one, the couple replied, before asking: Can you please send the 3.66 asap.

The incident stunned the netizens and the comment section was filled with hilarious statements with over 8k upvotes.

One of the users wrote: The little bride and little groom on the cake should have to attend very small claims court, I mean I dont know about you, but Id rather have an extra 3.66 in my pocket than enjoy my honeymoon commented another sarcastically.

ALSO READ: Spicy twist! Image of Maggi mirch goes viral on social media, heres how netizens react
New Delhi: India's foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla will begin his 4-day Sri Lanka visit starting tomorrow. During his visit, the FS will be visiting 4 cities--the national capital Colombo and Kandy, Trincomalee, and Jaffna. The key focus during the visit will be strengthening economic partnership and people-to-people ties.

A release from the Indian ministry of external Affairs said, "The visit of Foreign Secretary will provide an opportunity to review our bilateral ties, progress of ongoing bilateral projects and ongoing cooperation to tackle Covid related disruptions."

During the visit, FS will call on the Sri Lankan President, Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and the Foreign Minister. This will be Shringla's first visit to Sri Lanka since the assumption of office as the Foreign Secretary of India.

Last year, amid the pandemic, India agreed on a $400 million currency swap agreement with the Reserve Bank of India extending the swap facility for Sri Lanka till Nov 2022.

A currency swap is a transaction in which two parties exchange principal and interest in different currencies. Companies doing business abroad often use currency swaps to get more favorable loan rates in the local currency than if they borrowed money from a local bank.

The MEA highlighted that "Foreign Secretarys visit signifies the importance both countries attach to strengthening their close and cordial relations in all spheres of mutual interest."

One of the locations where FS will visit is Jaffna, which has a number of Indian-assisted and constructed projects. The visit comes months after Sri Lanka unilaterally cancelled the trilateral pact with India and Japan for the development of the Eastern Terminal container of Colombo port irking New Delhi and Tokyo.

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